Ezekiel 37:1-10
Message for CMC South 2018 Coworkers Meeting
By Pastor Brian
Fort Bend Community Church
2017.04.07
Introduction
1. Let us make a paper airplane and fly.
You see all the smiling faces of all of us.
2. Let's us fly high! Fly strong! Go far! Let's fly.
Let's Fly
1. Let's fly! But we don't want to fly. Flying is too risky. Too unpredictable. We are good at CMC. We have been successful. We break attendance record every year. We expand CMC to the West, to Europe, and the South. CMC is everywhere! We are good. There is no need to fly.
We know our stuff and the formula for success. There is no need to take unnecessary risk.
We have good people. David, the visionary and the torch bearer, from the Chow's family.
We have Cathy, the super manager who is so good in everything. She is so dedicated, working for CMC every Christmas and every New Year holiday.
We are good. Flying is too risky, too hard, and too unpredictable.
Let's fly! No! We don't want to! We are comfortable.
2. The text for us today is from Ezekiel 37. Verse 1-2 says:
The LORD shows the prophet a vision of the dry bones in the valley. Scattered, lifeless, disjointed and dry!
The year was around 572 B.C. Israel was launched and became a great nation about 900 years ago. They were slaves. They had nothing. They were rookies. They did not know much and didn't know how. Their leader was a 80-year old shepherd with a staff, who had zero executive experience!
But they had God. God was with them and led them in the front and in the midst of them. Now this great nation of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon and Elijah was crumbling into pieces. A nation no more. The people was in exile. Like those dry bones in the valley, scattered, lifeless, disjointed, and dry. A picture of stagnation and decline.
It is hard to see CMC in the vision. We are good, not bad! We are vibrant, not dry! We are successful, not defeated.
But the LORD asks, "Can you fly?"
3. Verse 3, "Can these bones live?" The prophet answered, "O Lord God, no way!" It s easy to see past greatness or successes and long for what was. We either do not believe that we can fly again or we do not want to fly again. We are rookies no more. We have history. We know what we can do and what we can't do. Flying. No way!
4. Verse 4-10. Here comes the greatest revival of all time.
First here comes the Word of the Lord. And the bones came together. Sinews were on them. Flesh grew. And skin covered them.
Second, the breath of God breathed on them. And they came to live and became a great army.
The word of "breath" is ruach in Hebrew. It means the spirit, the wind. God sent His Spirit and He gave life. The Spirit of God was with them. They came alive.
The Spirit of God is in every revival and in every Christian movements. Gordon Fee, the respected New Testament scholar and theologian, wrote a book on the Holy Spirit after he studied every single passages on the Holy Spirit in Paul's writings. He titled his book, "God's Empowering Presence". That sums up who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does. He is God's empowering presence with us. He empowers us to live the Christian life and to be disciples of Christ. He gives life to the dry bones. He breathed life into Adam and Adam became a living soul. He transformed the group of helpless, powerless, defeated disciples into the world changers. He made rookies all stars. He flies us.
5. That was how CMC was first started. Under the vision from Rev. Moses Chow, Rev David Chow and Rev. Su of AFC took great risk and signed the contract for 300 participants by faith at the first CMC 30 years ago. They had no experience, no money. They were young. But the Spirit was there. He is God's empowering presence. He made us fly.
In the 18th century, the Spirit empowered the Great Awakening, a revival in Europe and in the States. These were the God's appointed leaders.
Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" in 1741. People were trembling and fell to the floor. He was just reading his sermon. The Spirit was there in their midst doing the heavy lifting.
John Wesley ordained over 7,000 lay preachers. Most of them were farmers and workers. But the Spirit empowered them and through them came the great Methodist movement.
In the 19th century, here were the four major missionary sending agencies in London.
And together they sent hundreds and thousands to the mission field in the greatest missionary outreach in history. Most of, if not all of, these missionaries were commoners, not clergy, but they were sent by the Spirit. The missionary century was born.
15 years ago, I visited Botswana, the bush people. I had the privilege of visiting a missionary couple from Europe. They were lay people, not seminary trained, not clergy. They were called to Botswana to reach the Bush People. They fed them with food, served them with love, in a small trailer. The Spirit empowered His people to serve.
Our good coworker, Ka-Tong wrote the book, "The Life and Ministry of John Sung." After 10 years of studies, Ka-Tong concludes that the secret of John Sung is his dedication to God and his ceaseless confession, and his dependence on God. His spiritual power was legendary. The Spirit was with Him.
In the 20th century, the three greatest church growth movements were 1) the Cell Group Church; 2) the Charismatic Movement; and 3) The church planting movements. The Holy Spirit is in each and every one of them. That is the only way to fly.
Let's fly by the Holy Spirit. That is no other way! We need the empowering presence of the Spirit at CMC. It is He who calls us, sends us, empowers us, and transforms us.
We need to pray more for His empowering presence. We need to preach more on the Spirit at CMC. I have been to 5 CMCs and I think we do need more emphasis on the Holy Spirit. More! More! More!
Let's Fly TOGETHER by the Spirit
1. The bones were scattered across the valley, disjointed, lifeless, and dead. But God spoke to them and they came together. Bone to its bone.
Head bone, jaw bone, shoulder bones, arm bones, hand bones, rib bones, hip bones, leg bones, foot bones... They all came together. It is the work of God that brings us together.
2. Together let's fly by the Spirit of God.
The Mission statement for CMC is to inspire, equip and mobilize Christ followers to become reproducing Kingdom-builders.
That is why we are here. And the vision for CMC south is unleashing 500 Christ followers for God's global glory to be reproducing Kingdom-builders.
It is this picture that motivates us toward a common purpose. And together we deliver superior performance. Together we make distinctive impact. And together we achieve lasting endurance. The key word is TOGETHER.
3. Together, from scattered to joined. We will become an exceedingly great army for His Kingdom. Verse 10 "exceedingly great" is double adjectives. The first one means "great in number." The second one means "great in strength." Therefore it is both a huge army and a strong army. An army with so many people and together it is strong. No one alone can be a great army. The Spirit produces an army that is joined and together.
At CMC South, this is one of our key values. CMC South is a church-based, discipleship driven, family-friendly, intergenerational mission convention with a strong follow-up ministry.
It means churches work together. English works with the Chinese. Chinese works with the English. Together as a family, we minister to both adults, youth and children. It is the only family mission convention we know of. It is hard. Working together is not easy. But together we must. The task is too big for one person, too difficult for one church, too challenging for one city or one state.
The Spirit gives us gifts. And together we fly by the Spirit and become an exceedingly great army.
Let's fly together by the Spirit.
Let's Fly TOGETHER by the Spirit Now
The opportunity is now. Ezekiel 37 is a vision for the future. But the future starts now. 2015 is a good start. Let's continue now for 2018. The opportunity is now.
Conclusion
Let's fly together by the Spirit now!
