Dry Bones? Phooey!

You remember the story about Ezekiel’s dry bones?

Yeah, well growing up I heard it a lot. Seemed quite often some evangelist was screaming about Ezekiel’s dry bones, and the dry bones were “us” sitting in the pews. That’s why I never liked the “dry bones” message. It got sort of tiresome.

“Wake up, you sinners! Wake up! Do something, you dry bones!”

Well, I look for something a little more substantive in what is supposed to be a motivating message than “Wake up!”

Tell me why I should wake up. Tell me how I should wake up. Tell me why I should want to wake up, other than because I’m a dirty rotten sinner (according to you) . . .  so I need to wake up.

Brow beating has never motivated me. You get my drift?

But as for dry bones waking up, some of that is definitely happening.

There is the revival movement on the college campuses. There is the whole Charlie Kirk movement. I recently listened to the testimony of 22-year-old Bryce Crawford on the News. Here is a man who got “saved” really good, as they would say, and he’s doing something with his new “on fire” faith. He’s street preaching. Can you imagine? Going from town to town and preaching in the streets.

When I was doing very large events, I didn’t like street preaching. I thought it was very primitive and looked upon by the culture as kind of backwards.

Further, I didn’t think it really got results, only maybe to make people feel Christians were hokey.

Then in a private prayer session with a brother who asked for prayer, I prophesied that street preaching was going to come back. It was not the first time I prophesied something under the anointing of the Holy Spirit that I, myself did not like.

But street preaching is coming back, and it’s good. It’s good because the culture of our country has changed dramatically in the last five or so years. In some ways we resemble a third world country. Crime is rampant. Murders are commonplace. Estimates say that the Biden administration let as many as 20 million illegal aliens into the country, a great portion who are murderers, rapists, child molesters, gang members, and the like.

Consider that of these twenty million or so illegal immigrants, probably very few have ever heard the gospel. But as early as 2009, 25 million people in America had never heard the gospel. So now you have potentially 40 to 45 million people in America who have never heard the gospel.

Now, you add to that the great mass of Americans, who don’t attend church ever, except for perhaps a funeral or wedding. George Barna’s research of the early 2000’s put that number at about 194 million. Now you have at least 234 million people in America who desperately need the gospel.

Street preaching is good, certainly timely, because that is where the masses are who need to hear the gospel.

In the great revival in England in the mid 1700’s, the revival leaders preached in the fields. On June 17, 1739, John Wesley preached in the field in the morning to about 10,000 people and in the evening on Kennington Common to about 15,000. Charles Wesley preached twice in the prison. George Whitfield preached on Blackheath Common to about 20,000 people.

These people will never darken the doors of a traditional church, not unless revival fires draw them in, and that seems to be happening a little bit in America.

I have actually heard of some churches growing lately. Wow! That defies the declining church attendance of the past 70 or so years.

Over the past seven weeks our little church in Waskish has seen increased attendance. We praise God!

But what about the dry bones Ezekiel spoke about? If we are the dry bones, then why are we? What is the reason? And what can we do to acquire the fire.

I believe it is a foundational issue. Our foundation is faulty, and we need to fix it.     

If we are dry bones, there is a reason, a foundational reason.

Let’s get to the foundation that maybe we have forgotten or never discovered in the first place.

  1. If you get to know God for who He really is, you will no longer be dry bones.

Most people embrace Christianity from a distance. They may even attend church regularly, but they have not discovered who God really is . . . what He is really like.

Let me be blunt. God is really cool!

How do I know? From sitting for hours at His feet in the early morning hours for many years. The first thing I did was learn to hear His voice. When I first heard His voice, it changed everything. I had learned from church a system of legalism, trying to satisfy God by following a list of do’s and don’ts. I continually carried guilt around with me, because I could never keep the list of do’s and don’ts.  

When I first began to hear God speaking to me, sitting in the donut shop, in 1981, He began immediately to encourage me. He started telling me that “I could do it” and that He was behind me all the way. He loved me like my own earthly father who was always encouraging me in whatever I attempted and was always telling me I could do it. He never condemned me. When I fell short, He would say something like, “Hey, no big deal. You’ll get it next time.”  When I began to hear God speaking to me, I discovered who He was “really.”

If God be for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

2. When you discover who God is, what He is really like, you will want to be on His team, to actively be involved in His work, because it’s exciting. God wants the best for people. He wants them to experience a real, fulfilling life . . . and you can help Him do that

3. By becoming an on-fire joint worker with God, seeing people transformed, you will learn where “real life” is. It is with God who is love. Being on His team actively brings joy and satisfaction, the things of the world cannot bring . . . never, never, never. At best, the joys of the world, of the things you can buy and use for your own pleasure is a very poor counterfeit. It cannot ever satisfy the deep longing of the human soul that can only be filled with God Himself.

    What is the conclusion? I beg of you, rearrange your schedule so that you can spend time with God. Find a “secret place” away from the noise and distractions of the world.

    Sit before God.

    Wait on him.

    Ask Him to reveal Himself to you.

    Bring a journal with you so you can write down what He says to you.

    Tell Him you want to get to know Him personally. This is the beginning. If you accomplish step 1, you will be on your way to a better life.

    Don’t just think about it, do it!

    In His Service

    George and Lorraine Halama

    Photograph taken and designed by Lorraine