Man, I am so excited about our Night of Worship tonight. I love every opportunity we have to get our church family together to worship and experience God. I wanted to post an excerpt from this past Sunday’s message because it will dovetail with what our desire is for tonight. I truly believe that we’ll never, EVER, be able to do real ministry as a church without the presence of the Holy Spirit working in and through us. We talked Sunday from Ezekiel 37 in the Old Testament, specifically verses 1-14 (Go take a minute and read that… I’ll wait!). As I said Sunday morning,
“From this passage, I believe that we can see two qualities of a church that is alive. Now, understand that we are going to talk about the church in the context of it being a body. In the New Testament, in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, and specifically in Colossians 1, the church is referred to as a body, the Body of Christ. In verses 4-8, we see that Ezekiel has a vision where he sees a valley of dry bones begin to come together and form bodies that become a vast army. If we, as the Body of Christ, are going to be alive and healthy, there first has to be physical activity. Just as these bones came together, and then muscles and tendons, and then skin formed on them to make them whole, we as the Body need to be healthy and together. Two Hebrew words are important here. In verse 6, when you see the words make and come, the word Alah is used, which means to grow, bring up, or lift up. In verse 7, when you see the phrase come together, the word Qarab is used, which means approach or draw near. If we’re going to be a church that is alive, then we’re going to have to be united together and draw near to God so He can work in and through us to help us live and share the Gospel to the world around us. In Ephesians 3, it says that God’s intent is that the church would work together to make Him and the Gospel known. But here’s what we have to remember. There can’t be any physical activity in and through the Body if there isn’t first, spiritual activity. The Body of Christ needs to be spiritually growing and becoming like Jesus. Here we see three different Hebrew words used. In verse 9, when we see the word breath, the Hebrew word ruah is used. It means spirit, the presence of God. When you see breathe in vs. 9, the word puah is used which means to kindle a fire. In verse 10, where we see the phrase came to life, the Hebrew word hayah is used which means to make alive, quicken, preserve, refresh, or rebuild. Here’s what we’ve got to remember for us to be a church that is alive… WE CAN’T BE THE CHURCH UNLESS WE”RE FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. Only then can we truly be a living church. Life comes from God. We see that all the way back in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. When God created Adam, the first man, it says He created Him from the dust of the earth and literally breathed His breath into him. God gave Him life. He gives us life. But, He also wants to give us NEW LIFE.”
God has tasked us with sharing this NEW LIFE with those who aren’t really living. I kind of see it as us inhaling the breath of God and it brings us life. Then we exhale it to those around us who can, hopefully and prayerfully, inhale it. That’s when God will raise them to NEW LIFE in Christ! But it begins with us, both separately and collectively as a church.
Tonight our night of worship will be an opportunity for us to inhale the breath of God as He breathes it into us. We’ll be providing an environment where we can have an experience to encounter Him, to breath in. It will give us the opportunity to be encouraged, comforted, and challenged to follow Jesus…. but, we’re gonna talk more about that tonight.
And hey, come a little closer…. In case you can’t make it in person tonight, we’re going to stream it on reGeneration’s Facebook page live at 7:00…. But, honestly, we’d love to give you a hug in person!
SEE YOU TONIGHT!