Weekly Devotions - Sowing Seeds of Faith

Article about Sowing Seeds of Faith and Internet Ministry

“God... Breathe Life Into Us!"

One dark stormy night, I dreamed God placed me in a church preparing for their Sunday worship service. God had me walk up and down the aisle among hundreds of people. They all looked... gulp... they all looked dead! There were all kinds of people: children with crayons in their hands, teenagers sitting among friends, mothers cradling babies and choir members holding music. They seemed normal enough... for dead folks. God asked me: “Preacher, can these dead people live?”

I said: “Lord, you are the only one who knows.” (Ezekiel 37)

Welcome to my feeble attempt at a modern translation of the Old Testament prophet Ezekiel from chapter 37… better known as the Valley of the Dry Bones. The question asked by Ezekiel is… “Can these dead people live?” In other words: can today’s church still make a difference in the world?

To answer the question, we need to face several important trends shaping our church and society.

Our nation is in severe crisis… ethically, morally and financially. The newspapers are filled with stories of corruption, corporate collapse and scandals of all kinds.
September 11, 2001 changed our nation… rise in patriotism and national pride. We thought there would be an increase in church attendance and there was, at first… but not for long.
Interest in spiritual growth is increasing… Christian web sites, increased Christian book sales and media attention on spirituality has shown we are a nation interested in discovering God.

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Church morale is low… declining attendance combined with higher costs have made it almost impossible for many churches to pay their own bills. There is little left over to help others.

The first two trends are somewhat obvious but three and four seem to contradict: Interest in spiritual growth is increasing yet the traditional source of our spiritual growth, namely our churches are experiencing steady decline? Why is that? Surveys and opinion polls quote many typical Americans saying: “I believe in God but I don’t need to be in a church.”

There are many reasons given why those who seek deepened spirituality are not necessarily utilizing the resources offered by the church? Comments like these are heard frequently:

“Worship services are boring and irrelevant.”
“Churches are always asking for money.”
“I need to do more than serve on a committee to be involved.”
“Churches don’t seem to do much to serve our community.”
“Church people are too quick to judge and exclude… Moslems, Gays, Abortion.”
“Church people are just a bunch of well-dressed hypocrites.”
“Churches are always trying to tell me what is right and wrong.”

Are these statements true? No… well, sometimes but if those outside the church believe it then we as the church obviously need to do a better job of communicating the passion and the daily excitement of serving Christ. We must work to change the world’s image of us and preach God’s truth.

The prophet Ezekiel goes on to say: Then God said to me, “Preach to these dead people and say to them, ‘Dead people, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Lord says to you. I will breathe into your dead bodies and you will come to life. You will begin to smile at one another and offer a hug. You will welcome the strangers, visit the sick and volunteer to help those who are helpless. I will put breath into you and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.” (Ezekiel 37)

Can God still breathe life into the church? Of course… but are we ready to receive it?

Ezekiel continues: So I preached to the dead people as God commanded. First one person began to smile and then another moved his head to look at me. One woman began to fold her hands together as if in prayer… but there was still no twinkle of light in any of their eyes or color in their cheeks.

Click here for Part 2: A few ideas that can help any church receive God’s new life… are you ready?

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Last modified January 14, 2003.

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