24 | March | 2019 | CountUp Ministries

After 2 weeks off our Lead Pastor and our Praise & Worship Pastor returned back home to where they belong – up on stage and leading our church family in music and message.

Our Lead Pastor preached from the first-half of Ezekiel 37 with his sermon titled, “Can These Dry Bones Live ?” The answer is “YES !”

For most of us who are born again God rescued us when we were at our lowest of low points of our life. He rescued us from the valley floor.

He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along. (Psalm 40:2 NLT)

We were dead because of our sins, but God did not leave us in the pit. He lifted us out. He gave us life by His Spirit. He transformed us into a new creation. He gave us a purpose for a new life. We didn’t deserve any of that. But God chose us. He gave us grace and mercy.

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “Look ! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again ! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.” (Ezekiel 37:5-6 NLT)

It was a great message from our Lead Pastor. I appreciate his sermons from the Old Testament. I plan to spend more time reading and studying the Old Testament. Most of my sermons over the past 2½ years have been based on the New Testament. (It’s what I “grew up with” during my years as a baby Christian.) My next sermon that I’ll preach is titled “Gloom & Despair”, and it’s based on Psalms 34, 40, and 150. My next sermon after that (which I’m currently writing) is tentatively titled “Pray & Believe”, and it’ll be all about the power of prayer. For my next sermon after that I’m studying The Book Of Jeremiah. There’s 52 chapters there, so I need to narrow it down to the one (or portion of one) that I hope to share with my church family in a 35 to 45-minute message.

One of my favorite Twitter accounts to follow is @TheMajestysMen. There’s Good News posted there every day. This morning the following was tweeted, and I ended-up sharing it with my church family:

Read more than you write.
Listen more than you speak.
Pray more than you preach.
Compliment more than you correct.

I followed that up with Proverbs 16:24 – Kind words are like honey – sweet to the soul and healthy for the body.