ALGORITHM DRY BONES. Week 2: October 1 & 2, Experiencing Personal Revival SCOTT CHAPMAN

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1 ALGORITHM Experiencing Personal Revival SCOTT CHAPMAN Week 2: October 1 & 2, 2016 We ll be taking the next few weeks to dissect what it means to live out our faith. This simple statement can get incredibly complex in a sea of messages, books, authors and speakers complex to the point where you just might want to throw up your hands and wonder, What the heck am I doing and how can I ever figure this out? We are going to approach this problem with an algorithm; a stepby-step process, with hopes that new connections and relationships will connect the dots in a powerfully transformative way. DRY BONES Ezekiel (HCSB) The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by His Spirit and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones. 2 He led me all around them. There were a great many of them on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry. 3 Then He said to me, Son of man, can these bones live? I replied, Lord God, only You know. 4 He said to me, Prophesy concerning these bones and say to them: Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! 5 This is what the Lord God says to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you will live. 6 I will put tendons on you, make flesh grow on you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you so that you come to life. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. While I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. 8 As I looked, tendons appeared on them, flesh grew, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them. 9 He said to me, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man. Say to it: This is what the Lord God says: Breath, come from the four winds and breathe into these slain so that they may live! 10 So I prophesied as He commanded me; the breath entered them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, a vast army. 11 Then He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look how they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off. 12 Therefore, prophesy and say to them: This is what the Lord God says: I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them, My people, and lead you into the land of Israel. 13 You will know that I am Yahweh, My people, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. 14 I will put My Spirit in you, and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I am Yahweh. I have spoken, and I will do it. This is the declaration of the Lord. Have you ever felt like dry bones? Have you felt like Israel dried up, hopeless, and cut off? We look around our world today and our human eyes see a lack of evidence that God has influence over a

2 situation, that His presence is lacking, or we may be deceived to simply think that God took the cosmic highway out of town. We can get so overwhelmed by anger, grief, and sorrow that we will go as far as to think that maybe God got it wrong somehow. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Friar, mentioned in an interview recently, Most people don t see things as they are; most people see things as they are. (Hanbury, 2016). We need to be aware of those moments of reality of God intersects in the actions and events of our lives. I don t know about you, but I find myself in today s world scratching my head and having to level-set. My prayers must be less about my perspective, and more about God s kingdom coming and God s will being done. Too often I find myself thinking, Where is the hope? Where is the love?, and I begin to limp through my life with some spiritual or social post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) that overflows into a world around me; a world I should be influencing much differently than I do. What I tend to find is that my PTSD, is more GDD (Gospel Deficit Disorder), because I m lacking a whole lot of GOD. Has there been a time in your life when you believed God was wrong, His presence was lacking, or that He just didn t care? What was it and how did it make you feel about your relationship with Him? Did you get beyond it, or does it still burden you? Explain how it burdens you or how you got beyond it. Maybe there is a sin, or there is shame, or a hurt that prevents you from experiencing God s peace. What is drying your bones? Discuss. Pray through it and ask for wisdom to see it. Can you think of a time when you experienced a moment of peace, comfort, or joy and you knew it was not from your own devices? Maybe it was a prayer you prayed to God about; something only He could do and He did it. Describe the situation. How often do you recall that moment. Does it help you get through other issues? Why or why not? THE GOSPEL OF LEGEND Let s focus on The Gospel, quite simply THE GOOD NEWS. A gospel was a message sent from a King, or a Governor that had profound importance. THE Gospel is a bit more specific; it is God s message to humanity and all other gospel pales in comparison. Western society has adopted a postmodern approach to faith and what it has done is create our faith to be more transactional instead of transformational. Our relationship with Jesus becomes more about what we are saved from instead of what we are saved to. Our tenant has been that if we believe in Jesus we will go to Heaven when we die. We have been taught that we should be focused on getting as many people to believe this message before they die so they can join us. The gospel of legend points to a finish line, where heaven is not present in this world (read Matthew 10.7). The gospel of legend is individually focused, with a transaction that benefits one s self in its entirety. It is an evacuation plan that has no interest in the world around us, again, transactional that has a trading of goods in the form of actions.

3 How did you come to faith? Was it a transactional process, similar to a fire insurance policy? Explain how you came to Christ and how your early Christian life matured. THE GOSPEL OF SCRIPTURE Matthew 4.17 (NIV) From that time on Jesus began to preach, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." There is more to Jesus than what we know. There is more than the softness, the meekness, and the teaching we have come to know. Jesus consistently stated that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. He wanted us to make a decision to reprioritize our lives for something greater. Daniel wrote of a timeline and the people in Jesus time knew this; they had an expectation for a King that would renew their covenant with God, reestablish the throne of David, free the land, and transform the values and qualities of earth to Heaven s. People understood this, but it was more of seeing things as they are, and not as they are. They saw it as an Israel thing and not a world thing. The enemy was not Rome, it was Satan. Jesus is telling us that the kingdom of Heaven is within reach we can extend and touch it. It can fill us, we can know the presence, the goodness, and the Greatness of God. It is a starting line, not a finish line. It is a focus on the world; not confined to our own ambitions. It is not evacuation, but restoration. There are no transactions, only transformations. The story ends differently than that of legend. It is on Earth, among the people. There are no more tears, no more death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. No more tyranny. Matthew 4.17 (NIV) 21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Look! God s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. What does the kingdom of heaven has come near mean to you? How does this relate to your life on a daily basis? How would you like it to relate on a daily basis? When you think about the Gospel as a starting line, with a global focus, as a restoration plan, and as transformational, what do you see compared to what the world around you see s? How can you communicate this vision to the people your life touches? LEAK A LITTLE There will be no more tyranny of darkness. We reign with Christ, we are children of the light.

4 Ephesians (NIV) 7 Therefore do not be partners with them. 8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. We are called to be the light of the world (read Matthew 5.14). People do not have to wait to die to know God. Anyone can switch from religion to relationship now, at this very moment. When evil comes your way, you don t have walk to the other side of the street (read John 14.12). He that is in us as believers is greater than he who is in the world (read 1 John 4.4). There is no more fear; if you die you don t stay dead (2 Timothy 1.10 and I Corinthians ). Chuck Colson, a politician turned evangelist, stated, "Where is the hope? I meet millions of people that tell me that they feel demoralized by the decay around us. Where is the hope? The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws are pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. That's where our hope lies in this country. And that's where our hope lies in our life." So, are your bones dry? Rise up. Christians lean into racism, poverty, and injustice. God wants people in bondage to be free. The gospel of legend doesn t care about these things, but the gospel of scripture moves mountains (read Matthew 17.20). The good news of Jesus was meant for the world (read John 3.16), not just Christians. The kingdom of God fills people and they become leaky, the cup overflows (read Psalms 23.5)and it drenches those around you. We can t have the world and the Kingdom (read Matthew 6.24). To repent means we must make a choice (read Luke 14.28) and understand the cost. We need to be missional in our vocation, in our world, in our actions. For heaven to leak from us we must breathe love, act love, sow love, practice love, employ love, and share love. The kingdom of Heaven is within our reach and it is better than anything we will ever know. Where are you now with the gospel of Jesus? Where are you? Where are you? Ask yourself continuously. Where do you want to be? How in your life can you be an overflowing cup to those around you? How can heaven leak out of you onto other people? How would the current events look different if all believers were to leak out into the world? Explain.

5 PROVIDE US WITH FEEDBACK We are excited about the potential these studies have to help each of us process the weekend message at a deeper level, and to see God change our lives in significant ways. In order to make these guides as helpful as possible, we would love to hear which elements are most helpful, which are least helpful, as well as any other comments, questions or suggestions. Feel free to send your feedback directly to Jon Holmberg at gabrielslyric@msn.com. REFERENCES 1. Hanbury 2016: