Life From The Dead
I remember writing an article a few years back about the advantages of a long tenure as pastor of the church. The average pastorate today is only about 2-3 years, and I am happy to have met and exceeded that statistic many years ago. In 21 years, I have ministered to hundreds of people. As you see, most have moved on, but I am pleased to report their absence is not mostly because of dissatisfaction with the church. Death claims some, politics takes others (California’s not ours), retirement, job opportunities, economic conditions, fear surprisingly—there are many reasons. I hope and pray those still living remember me teaching them the word of truth. If this is the case, God deserves the glory.
Most of these relationships are memorable. Except for a few in the beginning who never took hold in a meaningful way, there is hardly anyone I have forgotten. There are only a few the church is better off without but that assessment is ultimately God’s not mine. Again, happily, I call those who left, friends, and I hope in glory to reunite with them, if not before.
Another great blessing of lengthy ministry is the volume of sermons prepared and preached from this pulpit. The number is better than 2500. You would scarcely think I would preach this many messages and not deal with the same subject many times. I certainly have and continue to. This is the nature of teaching scriptures. I must bring you back to the same fountain many times. God designed His word with repetition in mind. You cannot read it once, hear it once, study it once, and expect to keep it in memory. If you could, we would have exhausted the value of the Bible in a few short years. Rather, this fountain is deep and wide. We could apply verses from Ezekiel 47 to describe it—waters to the ankles, waters to the knees, waters to the waist, waters deep enough to swim in, and finally, a river impossible to cross.
All this brings me to my point—2500 sermons and 2499 forgotten. I am pleased if you have remembered last week’s exposition. With so many forgotten sermons, I am free to repeat. I chose to do this today. I have favorite sermons on which you may not concur (honestly, you don’t remember). This one from Ezekiel takes me back too many years. Hundreds, or more like thousands of preachers have preached from this unusual text. It is a passage with wonderful spiritual applications apart from the literal past partial fulfillment and the still yet future perfect fulfillment. One day, Christ’s literal glorious Kingdom will come to this earth. No one will need to move then for any reason. The entire world will be a Garden of Eden with every need met and universal happiness. Groaning creatures will groan no more. Ezekiel 37 predicts the reunification of Israel’s kingdom with the restoration of the Davidic throne. David’s last and everlasting descendant will sit on it.
The spiritual application is my subject today. Spiritually, we are born dead. We are as dead as bleached dry bones left under a hot burning sun. No life, no ability, no thoughts, no activity, no hope of understanding who, why, and what we are. In other words, we are nothing, we have nothing, we expect nothing. The only way we do is by the power of an external, eternal living being. He gives us life. This is what I hope to show you today. When I am through, I hope you say, “Blessed be God for Jesus Christ!”
Pastor V. Mark Smith