MAKING A SERMON COME ALIVE

Ezekial 37:1-10 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, (2) And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. (3) And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord GOD, thou knowest. (4) Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD. (5) Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: (6) And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. (7) So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. (8) And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. (9) Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. (10) So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.

SCRIPTURE AND FACTS
Random scripture and facts are solid. They are as bones, the very structure for a firm foundation of a message. Used randomly and alone they can be very dry.

Put them together and arrange them in a skeleton outline and they serve as the basic form which to build on.

Sinews are facts, the flesh is the application. These need to be a part of the message before it is ready to deliver. Have a point to it. Have a practical application for the message. Preach with the intent of someone making a decision.

A skeleton no matter how well secured by sinew (facts) or however much flesh (practicality) is still not an attractive thing.

You must have a message with skin. The skin consists of illustrations, comparisons, something to make it interesting and attractive to the listener. The shape of our skin makes every person a little different. The skin (illustrations etc.) of the message make every sermon unique.

With all of these you are prepared and ready to step into the pulpit. With these alone you can deliver an attractive address to an attentive congregation. There is still something very much missing.

For the sermon to come alive, for it to inspire, instruct, and convict, God must breath His life into it.

Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you as you prepare. Let him pick you up and set you down in the valley of the bones. Allow Him to cause them to come together into a skeleton outline. Ask Him to put flesh on the skeleton to achieve His purpose and His will. He will cover the message with skin and make it beautiful if you will allow Him.

All of these things must be done in the power of the spirit but as you stand before a congregation, prepared, ready, even anxious to deliver a message from God and His Word, that is when you must step aside and let Him breath life into the message and use you to deliver His Word. It is His message, only He can make it come alive.