WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:02.399 Okay, how's everybody today? 00:00:02.959 --> 00:00:04.320 You guys doing well? 00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:08.160 We're good as long as we're in the air conditioning, right? 00:00:08.960 --> 00:00:11.839 I mean, some point the weather's got to break, right? 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:17.760 I'm beginning to feel like we leave in we live in uh Exodus, Egypt, right? 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.480 This is like some kind of a plague going on. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:23.440 All right, let me uh pray for us and we'll get rolling. 00:00:23.679 --> 00:00:25.039 Lord, thank you for today. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:33.840 Thank you for a chance to uh come and uh be together, spend time together, fellowship together, study your word together, break bread together. 00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:37.920 We thank you for the folks that um made lunch for us today. 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:41.679 We ask your blessings on them as they serve us and bless us. 00:00:42.079 --> 00:00:45.359 We ask that you be our teacher today and teach us from your word. 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:47.840 Uh equip us to be able to share your word. 00:00:48.240 --> 00:00:51.679 We thank you most of all for the gift of salvation that comes through Jesus. 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:52.960 In his name we pray. 00:00:53.039 --> 00:00:54.479 And everybody said, Amen. 00:00:55.280 --> 00:00:55.920 All right. 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:01.039 Well, I like this group because you guys, we can let our hair down in here because just us, right? 00:01:01.200 --> 00:01:05.040 I ignore the fact that this goes on the podcast and I just talk to us, right? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.840 So I got certain pet peeves as a pastor. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:10.799 There are just certain pet peeves I have in church, okay? 00:01:11.040 --> 00:01:14.239 One of those is everybody ought to have a quiet time. 00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:16.159 Like everybody's got to have a quiet time. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:19.040 Like we can't do anything if the church isn't having a quiet time. 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:20.319 So you got to have a quiet time. 00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:25.280 So that's why we talk about it all the time and stuff like the chronological Bible this time and all that. 00:01:25.519 --> 00:01:26.799 Second pet peeve. 00:01:26.959 --> 00:01:29.120 Invite somebody to church, please. 00:01:29.760 --> 00:01:32.560 Church people don't invite people to church every week. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:34.879 And so we're supposed to invite people to church. 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:38.159 It's amazing to me how many people don't invite people to church. 00:01:38.400 --> 00:01:39.439 It's just incredible. 00:01:39.599 --> 00:01:41.359 So, like, bring somebody to church. 00:01:41.439 --> 00:01:42.959 That's kind of how that works. 00:01:43.200 --> 00:01:57.120 Uh, another uh I have several other pet peeves, but um, you know, one of them is uh people come up and when they could ask a question, they give an accusation. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.159 You so-and-so, so-and-so. 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:01.840 Well, no, I didn't. 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:02.879 We didn't do it that way. 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:04.319 This is what really happened. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.480 Oh, well, okay. 00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:10.879 Well, why didn't you just ask me instead of jumping on me like that, right? 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:11.919 It's kind of a deal. 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:18.879 And uh I had a uh after a business meeting at my church, first cabot lady came up who was a friend, who was a friend. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.960 We'd done ministry together, all kinds of stuff. 00:02:21.120 --> 00:02:23.199 So she comes up after after it's over. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:24.560 I said, Hey, how you doing? 00:02:24.719 --> 00:02:28.719 And she got, I mean, she got in my grill like nobody's business. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:31.280 I mean, this was a total mama bear thing. 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:32.400 You did this, you did that. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:33.680 She's pointing her finger at me. 00:02:33.759 --> 00:02:35.039 I'm getting this business right here. 00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:38.240 I'm like, if you were a guy, this wouldn't go this way, right? 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:42.319 And she's going on and on and on and on, and she, all this kind of stuff. 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:44.879 And then she says, and you know what? 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.280 Like, I can't even talk to you. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:53.439 I'm afraid to talk to you because every time I say something, you do that lawyer thing and you change it. 00:02:54.319 --> 00:03:00.960 And I all I could think to tell her was after that berating, I'm sure glad you're intimidated. 00:03:01.520 --> 00:03:06.319 What would that have been if you weren't afraid to talk to me, you know? 00:03:06.479 --> 00:03:09.120 But it's like, why don't you just ask a question first, right? 00:03:09.280 --> 00:03:11.120 And then here's my other pet peeve. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.039 We've been in church a long time. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.919 Most people in church, man, we've been in church a long time. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:21.199 Now we're, praise the Lord, we're reaching a lot of people who hadn't been in church, they hadn't been in church in a long time, all that kind of stuff. 00:03:21.360 --> 00:03:23.919 But here's the deal: this is one of my pet peeves. 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:30.719 If you you only get 12 years in school and then you graduate from high school. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:43.199 And we got folks, they've been in church 70 years, and they come up and say, Well, Pastor, our teacher is retiring, and so you need to find us a teacher. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:51.039 I'm like, y'all have been collectively in Sunday school for 1,276 years in your class. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:53.599 I am not finding you a teacher. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.319 At some point, graduate from Sunday school. 00:03:58.639 --> 00:04:00.000 Is that terrible? 00:04:00.560 --> 00:04:02.800 Like, graduate from Sunday school. 00:04:03.039 --> 00:04:04.080 Teach a lesson. 00:04:04.240 --> 00:04:07.360 My dad taught a Sunday school like that at our church. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:11.039 I've mentioned before, he taught 52 consecutive years. 00:04:11.360 --> 00:04:14.479 So uh they're in their married Sunday school class. 00:04:14.560 --> 00:04:18.160 He taught for 35 years, fifth and sixth grade boys. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:22.639 And if you survive that, like you have all kinds of crowns in heaven, right? 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:34.720 And so he and mom literally joined, he retires because he had just retired professionally, they wanted to travel, and they do all kinds of ministry at church, so they're not retiring from ministry, they do all kinds of stuff. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:38.399 So they decided they would go to a married class together for a little while. 00:04:38.480 --> 00:04:41.360 So he resigned for the first time in 35 years. 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:43.120 They went to a married class. 00:04:43.360 --> 00:04:50.319 Now he's you know 62 years old or something, and it's the first time they've been in a married class together. 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:58.879 And uh so they go in there, and within three months, they've already had him substitute multiple times, and within four months, the teacher retired and dumped the class on my dad. 00:04:58.959 --> 00:05:03.040 So he taught another 17 years or something in this class. 00:05:03.439 --> 00:05:15.600 And so I was on staff at the church, that was before I moved to Arkansas for number those years, and so he would get bogged down with something where they would travel, and he'd call me and say, Son, I need you to come substitute my Sunday school class. 00:05:15.920 --> 00:05:19.279 I said, What do you mean substitute your Sunday school class? 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:22.480 Well, I need a teacher because we're traveling, I'm taking your mom somewhere. 00:05:22.560 --> 00:05:34.079 And I said, first of all, I'm glad you're taking care of mom, but second of all, you got a hundred people in your Sunday school class, and most of them have been members at Bellevue since before I was born. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:37.199 Make them teach the class. 00:05:37.600 --> 00:05:40.480 Somebody's got to graduate from Sunday school. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:47.600 Everybody who is a Christian and has been a Christian for any normal amount of time needs to be able to teach a Sunday school class. 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:49.199 Am I okay? 00:05:49.279 --> 00:05:49.759 Is that good? 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:50.240 All right. 00:05:50.319 --> 00:05:51.360 So here's what we're gonna do. 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:54.079 I'm gonna teach y'all how to write a Sunday school lesson. 00:05:54.319 --> 00:05:55.519 So here we go. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:08.160 I am going to use uh the sermon from Sunday, and I know some of you guys got good preaching at your home churches on Sunday, but it's a good classroom for us on how you come up with that lesson. 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.160 So I've got more notes here than you're going to get. 00:06:12.639 --> 00:06:20.720 Uh, and I'm just gonna highlight some things that I that I see that are issues, and everybody ought to be able to teach a lesson. 00:06:20.879 --> 00:06:28.480 Now, if you don't want to teach and you think you can't, after this is over, you can repent and ask for forgiveness to Jesus because you can, number one. 00:06:28.720 --> 00:06:32.319 Number two, uh, hopefully this helps you in your study. 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:37.040 This is a lot about how you study the Word of God and how you draw from it. 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:44.319 And the next thing is you may not teach a lesson, but you got people in your life, they need an encouraging word from the Lord. 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:51.600 And you can give them an encouraging word from the Lord, and this is all profitable and valuable for that. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:56.480 So that's what we're gonna do, and we're gonna take that lesson and we're gonna break it apart. 00:06:56.639 --> 00:06:58.079 How to write a Bible lesson. 00:06:58.240 --> 00:07:02.639 Alright, so you have the um you have the uh text. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:03.759 Do you have the text? 00:07:03.839 --> 00:07:06.079 I thought she typed it on there. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:07.439 Let me read you the text. 00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:10.720 This is a pretty, alright, it's in there in your sheets, right? 00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:13.279 So you see that you can read the scripture with me. 00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:19.040 Um we're gonna do that just quickly so you know what we're doing, but then we're gonna talk about how to make a lesson out of that. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:22.319 So here's this is the story of Ezekiel and the dry bones. 00:07:22.399 --> 00:07:25.839 If you've been in church a long time, you've probably heard reference to this. 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:29.839 We sing songs about these are the days of Ezekiel and all that. 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:32.319 So here's the passage of that. 00:07:32.480 --> 00:07:37.920 Uh, Ezekiel is a prophet in Israel, uh in Judah, actually. 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.120 You know, there's been a civil war, the nation's been divided into two countries. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.519 There's the two tribes, and then there's the ten tribes. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.160 The ten tribes have already been conquered by other people. 00:07:46.399 --> 00:07:50.480 Uh the two tribes, Judah, they've been walking away from the Lord a long time. 00:07:50.560 --> 00:07:53.519 He warned them through Jeremiah and everybody else, you're going to be conquered. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:55.680 I'm going to have Babylon come conquer you. 00:07:55.839 --> 00:07:58.720 And sure enough, now Babylon has been conquering them. 00:07:58.959 --> 00:08:03.600 They several times would come in and do battle with Israelites. 00:08:03.680 --> 00:08:04.560 They would defeat them. 00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:06.879 They would take people in captivity off. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:13.040 Ezekiel was taken in captivity off with people like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.759 So he is now a prophet in Babylon, speaking to the children of Israel. 00:08:18.000 --> 00:08:32.720 And so once they're defeated and all this is happening, he's recently had a guy come from another captive group who tells him the walls have been destroyed in Jerusalem, the temple has been destroyed, and it's been defiled, and it's all a mess and all of that. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:40.799 And so now the children of Israel are in this despondent state that we have been defeated and we have no more hope. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:47.600 And so God shows up into Ezekiel's life and he is going to give him a message here. 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:52.399 And so the way that he shares with Ezekiel is important in this. 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.039 So here's, we'll just read it, and then I'll talk to about, I'll talk about how to write a lesson out of it. 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:05.919 But here's what he says, Ezekiel 37, verse 1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the spirit of the Lord, and he set me down in the middle of a valley. 00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:10.000 So this is that we most scholars think this is a vision that he's given him. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.360 It may have been a real valley, either way, it doesn't matter. 00:09:13.600 --> 00:09:28.320 In the spirit, it's God putting him into a setting that God has created, and he is creating a movie here that he's going to unpack for Ezekiel to try to make a point to Ezekiel. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:34.080 And so he says, He led me around in this valley, it was full of bones. 00:09:34.320 --> 00:09:41.200 And he led me around them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 00:09:41.440 --> 00:09:43.279 So you got to paint a picture of this. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:49.840 He's in this big valley, and it is just the aftermath of battle, if you want to look at it that way. 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:56.080 It's just skeleton after skeleton, and they've been there so long that the bones have dried up. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:57.039 They're brittle. 00:09:57.120 --> 00:09:59.919 It's just this awful picture of desolation. 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:06.159 So God has put him in this setting where he's thinking this is the worst, most desolate thing he's ever seen. 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:11.679 God asks Ezekiel, son of man, can these bones live? 00:10:12.159 --> 00:10:17.679 And Ezekiel responds, O Lord God, only you know. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:24.320 Then God says to Ezekiel, Prophesy over these bones and say to them, in other words, preach to them. 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:30.320 O Lord, uh, he says, uh, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:35.279 So he is preaching to the bones now what God has said. 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:56.080 Uh and then thus says the Lord God, to these bones, behold, I, God, will cause breath to enter you, the bones, and you the bones shall live, and I, God, will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and to cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:10:56.480 --> 00:10:59.840 So Ezekiel says, I prophesied as I was commanded. 00:11:00.000 --> 00:11:07.919 And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:09.600 Now get a picture here. 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:13.200 This is a valley filled with dry bones. 00:11:13.440 --> 00:11:20.720 If bones are starting to come together, they're starting to come together all over this valley, and so this is a roar going on. 00:11:20.799 --> 00:11:22.799 I mean, this sounds like a train wreck. 00:11:22.960 --> 00:11:27.600 I mean, you got all these skeletons rattling and all these bones together coming, all this kind of stuff. 00:11:27.759 --> 00:11:32.639 It's this incredible picture and vision of what's happening. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:42.240 And then he says in verse 8, and I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come on them, and skin had covered them, but there was no breath in them. 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:45.120 So he watches literally they come back to life. 00:11:45.279 --> 00:11:54.639 It's almost like a virtual reality CSI show or something that you see where they take some skeleton and they run it through something and then they tell you what the person looked like. 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:57.440 I mean, it's literally that kind of deal, but in real life. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:00.159 And so he said, but he says there's no breath in them. 00:12:00.320 --> 00:12:07.279 So God says to Ezekiel in verse 9, Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath. 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:12.960 Now we're speaking, and he's talking about the four winds and all of that. 00:12:13.519 --> 00:12:19.279 Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:27.200 And this is a picture of speaking and calling out in prayer, basically, to the Holy Spirit to come and move. 00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:36.000 This four winds and the extent of the earth and all that is a picture of God as creator, and he's asking for God's breath to come and to breathe into them. 00:12:36.240 --> 00:12:44.960 So as I prophesied, as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:46.960 Imagine that picture. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:54.720 Verse 11, then God said to me, Son of man, these bones, and now he's going to explain what he's doing, these bones are the house of Israel. 00:12:54.960 --> 00:13:07.279 What you've looked at, this desolation, is what my people feel in captivity and in judgment and in destruction, and that's the spirit of the people that we see. 00:13:08.559 --> 00:13:19.600 Behold, they say, the people of Israel say, our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost or destroyed. 00:13:20.480 --> 00:13:23.919 And then he says, We are indeed cut off. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:35.360 That is the spirit of the people, and God has illustrated the spirit of the Israelites and the hopelessness that they were feeling in this moment by this picture of these dry bones. 00:13:35.600 --> 00:13:47.519 Therefore, prophesy and say to them, the people of Israel, thus says the Lord God, behold, I will open your graves, the children of Israel, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. 00:13:47.759 --> 00:13:55.919 I will bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:13:58.960 He keeps repeating, O my people, O my people. 00:13:59.279 --> 00:14:03.279 He is now speaking into this hopelessness. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:05.519 Their hope is lost. 00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:13.039 He wants Ezekiel to understand the extent of their hopelessness by this whole picture of dry bones and all this business. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:19.440 And when God reinvigorates them, he is now telling, that is what I'm going to do for Israel. 00:14:19.600 --> 00:14:29.039 And Ezekiel, I want that in your heart, and I want you to preach that message to my people, and I want you to preach it, believing in what you've just seen. 00:14:29.279 --> 00:14:35.279 And now he keeps saying, O my people, O my people, remind them that they are my people. 00:14:35.759 --> 00:14:44.879 And he says, Um, I shall bring, I and you shall know that I am the Lord when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:47.120 And I will put my spirit within you. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:50.639 Remember the breath coming into the dry bones and bringing them alive. 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:57.120 And you shall live, and I will place you in your own land, and then you shall know that I am the Lord. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:15:00.480 I have spoken and I will do it, declares the Lord. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.120 And the way that Lord is typed right there, you know that that means Yahweh. 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.120 That's the covenant name of God. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:14.639 So he keeps repeating, O my people, O my people, O my people, and he reminds them and puts his thumbprint on this. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:22.320 This says the covenant-keeping God of Israel, that I will bring you back to your land and restore you. 00:15:22.480 --> 00:15:35.200 So this is a prophecy and a reiteration of a prophecy God has given that one day he will restore the nation of Israel, the people of Israel, to their land, and he will be faithful to those promises. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:38.799 And he is reminding him that he is the promise-keeping God. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:56.639 And so, in essence, what he's telling him is listen, I need you to reiterate to my people that they do not need to be hopeless because my promises are real, and I will affirm my promises in the same way I brought this valley of dry bones to life. 00:15:56.799 --> 00:15:57.519 Does that make sense? 00:15:57.679 --> 00:15:58.639 So there's the lesson. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:03.200 As you continue to read through the chapter, there's more of those prophecies that affirm that. 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:05.679 So that's the textbook we're going to use. 00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:13.039 So I want to show you just a couple of things in the process of how we do this, and the process of how I how I do that. 00:16:13.200 --> 00:16:18.000 Not that I'm the greatest preacher or Bible teacher, but everybody ought to be able to teach a lesson. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:26.799 You ought to be able to have a verse or a passage and be able to come up with a message that that person in your life needs or your grandkids need to hear or whatever. 00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:33.200 If somebody in your Sunday school class, if your teacher's not there, don't call a pastor asking for a Sunday school teacher. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:37.759 Go volunteer to be a substitute in your class, right? 00:16:38.159 --> 00:16:40.879 So here's the first thing I want you to see about it. 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:49.759 When we're writing a Bible message, our first goal is to be clear with the message that God has written into that passage. 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:54.799 It does not do any good to babble, to confuse people, to not have a point. 00:16:54.960 --> 00:16:59.919 We ought to have a clear, specific point that we are communicating. 00:17:00.080 --> 00:17:05.200 Now, all of us have been in sermons where we couldn't figure out what the person was trying to say, right? 00:17:05.519 --> 00:17:10.000 And so that experience that's not teaching that message. 00:17:10.079 --> 00:17:18.720 Because the whole point in teaching is to get a message from God's word that is clear and clearly impacts each person's life. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:37.599 And so the way that I teach that mechanism, I teach that with our staff, I teach that young preachers, remember talking to them or whatever, is what I want everybody to do before you speak, you need to be able to write your entire message, the four corners of your message, into 30 words or less. 00:17:38.319 --> 00:17:45.359 If it's not that plain and that clear, you are not ready to teach that lesson. 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:53.119 Now that's an exercise that's important because a passage like this, there's at least seven different sermons in here. 00:17:53.279 --> 00:17:57.599 And there's all kinds of illustrations that are incredible in this passage of scripture. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:18:03.519 I mean, it's an incredibly rich passage of scripture, but I feel like I say that about every chapter in the Bible. 00:18:03.599 --> 00:18:06.640 It is all the living, powerful word of God, and it's all incredible. 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:19.839 And so what you've got to do is go from here's something I want to say, or here's all this stuff in Scripture, and I'm trying to dump as much of that truckload of stuff from the Bible onto this as I can. 00:18:20.079 --> 00:18:21.599 That's not how it works. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:26.079 You want to get a clear word that this is what God is saying. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:30.079 This is one of the things God's saying, and this is what He's laid on my heart to say to you. 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:34.880 So when you get that in your mind, that is 80% of the battle. 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:45.839 If you get that word and you shape it down into that message, then the rest of it is just expounding on that message. 00:18:46.079 --> 00:18:49.920 It also keeps you from tacking on stuff that doesn't need to be there. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:57.039 It teaches you from it keeps you from chasing rabbits and everything else because you have the four corners of your message. 00:18:57.279 --> 00:19:03.599 So, like when I wrote this message, you'll see from the title, it was the God of Hope. 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:10.720 And so this was only about God as the God of hope and how he brings hope. 00:19:10.880 --> 00:19:18.319 There's a bunch of other themes in there, there's a bunch of other illustrations in there, but that was the message that God laid on my heart to bring. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:21.119 So now let me walk you through kind of a process. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:24.079 So, how do we get to that clear message? 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:25.440 So, how do we get to that? 00:19:25.599 --> 00:19:29.599 Well, the first thing is you have to read the Word of God and study the Word of God. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:33.279 So, real simply, most of that's pretty easy. 00:19:33.519 --> 00:19:37.519 Study the passage, interpret the passage so you know what it's about. 00:19:37.680 --> 00:19:48.880 You're not just uh taking a verse and just hanging whatever your opinions are on some random verse you pulled out or whatever, and then you have to apply that truth. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:53.039 But the third bullet in there is what's important. 00:19:53.359 --> 00:20:03.759 When you're going to teach a lesson and you have to be clear as you're studying through that lesson, you have to learn to recognize this is what God wants me to teach. 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.319 This is what God wants me to teach. 00:20:06.720 --> 00:20:10.799 Again, in Scripture, it's all filled with stuff. 00:20:10.960 --> 00:20:17.200 I mean, God's word is incredible beyond anything we can imagine in the lessons of it. 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:23.359 But if you're going to teach that lesson, you what is the 30-word clear message I have? 00:20:23.599 --> 00:20:27.599 Well, you are listening to the Lord to tell you which one it is. 00:20:27.759 --> 00:20:39.039 So when I'm reading chapter 37, because we're going through Chronological Bible, we're moving into Ezekiel, when I'm going through that passage, I'm listening for God to tell me which one it is. 00:20:39.200 --> 00:20:52.559 As I read this passage, I could not get past this particular verse where he says that their hope has perished. 00:20:54.319 --> 00:20:56.880 What's the verse here in the screen? 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:01.200 Verse 11. 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:04.960 He said to me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. 00:21:05.119 --> 00:21:10.400 Look how they say, Our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.279 As I read through that, in fact, I sat down with one of the guys on staff and he asked me, What are you preaching this week? 00:21:15.359 --> 00:21:17.200 And I said, I'm preaching Ezekiel 37. 00:21:17.279 --> 00:21:18.799 I'm kind of going this with it. 00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:24.720 But the more I read, the more I kept hitting this as a speed bump in the whole passage. 00:21:24.799 --> 00:21:26.240 I could not get past it. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:29.200 And a lot of times that's how God speaks to us. 00:21:29.359 --> 00:21:31.680 That's how he pulls out that scripture. 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:42.079 So you were always listening as you're studying, as you're interpreting it, as you're you don't even want to get to the application because what are you going to apply if you don't have your 30 word deal? 00:21:42.240 --> 00:21:47.039 And so in this passage of scripture, with all of this stuff, I got stuck on that phrase. 00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:49.839 And he kept saying, Our hope has perished. 00:21:50.079 --> 00:21:53.039 And then he would talk to me about people need hope. 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:54.079 People need hope. 00:21:54.240 --> 00:21:59.519 We have so many people going through so many things, and there's so many struggles in that, and you've got to. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:02.160 Remind them that we're a God of hope. 00:22:02.240 --> 00:22:07.599 And then I begin to think God here is speaking to his children, and they are hopeless. 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:13.519 And this whole dry bone thing is illustrating to Ezekiel how hopeless they are. 00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:32.000 And as a prophet, he's trying to get them to understand I need to get my message of hope and faithfulness to my promises back in front of them because they are saying their hope has perished and it has not because I got and their hope, and you need to get this in front of them. 00:22:32.240 --> 00:22:43.359 And he even went, it was so important, he went through this whole rigmarole of this whole dry bone thing and everything else that he put in front of him because he's trying to get Ezekiel to understand. 00:22:43.519 --> 00:22:45.200 This is serious, Ezekiel. 00:22:45.440 --> 00:22:47.279 They feel that bad. 00:23:10.960 --> 00:23:12.160 That's that message. 00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:13.519 And so I kept getting it. 00:23:13.599 --> 00:23:16.319 So that became my hook, that became my anchor. 00:23:16.480 --> 00:23:19.519 That was the 30-word message. 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:21.440 Does that make sense so far? 00:23:21.680 --> 00:23:22.079 Yeah. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:22.880 Alright. 00:23:22.960 --> 00:23:28.400 Now when you begin to get that, or if you're looking for that word, here's a help to you. 00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:36.000 As you work through those things, ask these questions of the passage. 00:23:36.160 --> 00:23:42.400 If you hadn't quite figured out what God is speaking to you about, or you hadn't figured out which one, you may have had two or three threads. 00:23:42.480 --> 00:23:52.880 And a lot of times in my sermon notes, I just start making notes, and I'll have two or three columns of things that potentially are in that passage of Scripture that God wants to do. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:55.200 How do I narrow it down to the one? 00:23:55.359 --> 00:23:56.880 I look at these questions. 00:23:57.119 --> 00:24:00.480 What does it say about God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit? 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:04.480 And this passage, all of a sudden, it's what does it say about God? 00:24:04.559 --> 00:24:20.079 That he's the God of hope, that he loves his people, that he sees their despondency, that he steps into that, that he equips the preacher, the prophet, to be able to speak with a greater insight and passion about the hope that God brings when he speaks to them. 00:24:20.319 --> 00:24:24.000 Other things you might see, what is the primary truth in that passage? 00:24:24.160 --> 00:24:28.000 Sometimes God's beating you over the head with what that passage is about. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:31.920 Sometimes it is about how we respond to it. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:36.160 Is there a sin to confess or avoid, a promise to claim, a habit to create? 00:24:36.319 --> 00:24:44.880 And that deal, when it hits you, man, my people need to have a quiet time, or they need to have a greater love for the Lord, or they need to be in prayer, or they need to whatever. 00:24:45.279 --> 00:24:47.279 Maybe it's one of those things. 00:24:47.519 --> 00:24:57.200 But wherever it is, God is going to trip you through that, and He's going to keep making you trip over that one thing until you realize, okay, that's where I'm going to live. 00:24:57.440 --> 00:24:59.200 That's what I need to study. 00:24:59.519 --> 00:25:02.880 Then you draft your 30-word message. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:05.440 So I gave you my 30 words. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:08.079 I cheated, I think it's 33. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:11.119 I cheated for three. 00:25:11.279 --> 00:25:17.759 But here's what it says: God is always faithful to his promise, so there is always hope. 00:25:18.319 --> 00:25:24.720 God, creator of life and resurrection power, always keeps his promises. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:29.440 The source of our hope is that God keeps his promises. 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:43.519 Another source of our hope is that if God can raise these dry bones and bring breathe life into them, there is nothing that can get in the way of him accomplishing his promise. 00:25:43.680 --> 00:25:45.359 So I chose those words. 00:25:45.680 --> 00:25:51.440 God reveals himself to remind us he is always the God of hope. 00:25:51.599 --> 00:25:57.759 And that's that whole picture of what God is doing and giving this illustration of all this, right? 00:25:58.079 --> 00:26:00.079 And so that's my 30-word deal. 00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:08.559 And that becomes the four walls of the box that is the perimeter of this message. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:19.519 And so everything else that I'm going to put in there has to be in the box, and anything that's outside of the box, I need to cut it out and leave it on the cutting room floor. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:21.759 Then you get structure. 00:26:22.000 --> 00:26:31.200 If you want to be clear and you don't want to make things confusing and wander around everything else, then you have to have some structure to what you're doing. 00:26:31.440 --> 00:26:36.880 And so after you've drafted your 30-word message, you begin to create this structure. 00:26:38.000 --> 00:26:40.079 The big things of it are open. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:42.240 The opening, why does this matter? 00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:43.759 Why does this matter? 00:26:44.240 --> 00:26:45.599 Then you read the scripture. 00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:50.559 You always read the scripture and you always come back to the scripture, and it's always about scripture. 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:54.880 And it's not some Greg message, it's not your message, it's God's message. 00:26:55.119 --> 00:27:04.400 How often in this passage of Scripture does God say to Ezekiel, you prophesy to the bones what I said. 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:09.599 You prophesy to the wind what I said. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:17.759 Then when he gives them the lesson, you go to my people and you tell them this lesson. 00:27:17.920 --> 00:27:20.079 And it's always the word of God. 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:23.119 And you're going to come back to the word of God. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:28.720 Now, when you read the word of God, you need to do something to make it come alive, right? 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:31.359 So I modeled some of that with you here. 00:27:31.519 --> 00:27:34.640 This is an easy passage of scripture to teach this from. 00:27:35.759 --> 00:27:39.680 How simple is this, these set of words? 00:27:39.920 --> 00:27:46.799 And he led me among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry. 00:27:48.720 --> 00:27:51.359 Like that's kind of a boring sentence. 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:56.799 Unless you spend a little time thinking through what's actually happening here. 00:27:57.039 --> 00:28:08.799 And then when you read later on that it says, those dry bones represent my people whose perspective of life is our hope has perished. 00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:14.480 All of a sudden, you get, this is way more than just a collection of bones, right? 00:28:14.640 --> 00:28:17.359 This is a major thing going on here. 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:29.359 All this descriptiveness of the bones rattled and the sound and they stood up and then sinews and then skin, and then we had to go through another deal to the breath of life and all that. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:32.799 God is painting an incredible picture to Ezekiel. 00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:40.000 And there's power in that picture of all the ways that God could have explained to Ezekiel, he chose to do it this way. 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:42.640 So make that scripture come alive. 00:28:42.799 --> 00:28:47.839 Help people understand this is what's happening in the scripture, right? 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:49.920 And so you explain the scripture. 00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:51.440 You can amplify it. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:53.200 If it's a story, like I just did. 00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:56.240 You can give context so all of a sudden it makes sense. 00:28:56.400 --> 00:28:58.079 You can make the story come alive. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:04.400 Everybody's picking on me about last week in the sermon when I was going, whoosh, throw it in the fire, who throw it in the fire. 00:29:04.480 --> 00:29:05.920 Everybody's laughing about that. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:07.519 You remember it, right? 00:29:08.480 --> 00:29:10.480 Make the story come alive. 00:29:11.119 --> 00:29:14.079 Or you may have key words or concepts that are important. 00:29:14.240 --> 00:29:15.759 There's an illustration in here. 00:29:16.000 --> 00:29:30.720 When they say our hope is perished, the word hope, if you're defining that word, and I made this point on Sunday, the word hope is a confidence about what will happen in the future. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:39.519 It's not hope in the English sense that we hope something might happen, but it is a positive looking forward to what will happen. 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:43.839 And it's that word in Hebrew, it's that word in Greek in the New Testament. 00:29:44.000 --> 00:30:02.799 And what they are literally saying is what we expected to happen because God promised it to happen, we have given up any belief that God will meet his promises, and we are therefore no longer expecting what God promised to happen. 00:30:03.119 --> 00:30:04.240 Does that make sense? 00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:09.599 Man, all of a sudden, hopelessness begins to get a different definition when you start explaining that, right? 00:30:09.839 --> 00:30:13.200 So just a few things like that make that come alive. 00:30:13.519 --> 00:30:16.720 After you've explained the scripture, you want to illustrate it. 00:30:16.880 --> 00:30:17.920 You want to illustrate it. 00:30:18.000 --> 00:30:19.519 And there's a lot of different ways to do it. 00:30:19.599 --> 00:30:26.319 I'm not going through all those, but one thing I want to tell you is there should always be a spiritual purpose to your illustration. 00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:34.400 You can tell a story, you can give an explanation, you can do some logic thing, but you but you you it's gotta fit the moment. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:36.480 It's gotta attach to a thing. 00:30:36.640 --> 00:30:44.000 As a young preacher, I was preaching on a Wednesday night at my home church, and man, I had this great story, and I couldn't wait to tell this story. 00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:45.680 It was a great story. 00:30:46.000 --> 00:30:49.680 I had gotten on an airplane, and I mean I could really build this story. 00:30:49.759 --> 00:30:51.200 I was practicing law. 00:30:51.440 --> 00:30:54.000 I was headed off to this deal. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:31:00.720 I was going to take depositions, and I was the lead attorney on a thing in Portland, Oregon, and I was so excited. 00:31:00.880 --> 00:31:03.680 I was a young lawyer, I was being the leader, I was building all this up. 00:31:03.759 --> 00:31:05.680 So I get to Portland and I fly. 00:31:05.839 --> 00:31:07.599 At that point, Northwest Airlines. 00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:08.720 Some of y'all remember Northwest. 00:31:09.039 --> 00:31:10.240 They hub was in Memphis. 00:31:10.319 --> 00:31:13.519 They you went to Minneapolis and then I went to Portland, right? 00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:14.559 So it's good. 00:31:14.720 --> 00:31:22.960 And so I took all these depositions and I discovered another witness we had not found, and I went and had this meeting with this other witness, and it made me late for my flight. 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:26.000 So I finished this, but I've got this sense of accomplishment. 00:31:26.079 --> 00:31:26.960 I've done this thing. 00:31:27.119 --> 00:31:35.440 I go rushing back to the airport and I'm running through the airport and I'm trying to catch up to my flight, and I start telling go OJ Go jokes. 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:36.480 Y'all remember that? 00:31:36.720 --> 00:31:52.160 It was be, you know, and all that, and everybody's laughing, and I got everybody on the edge of their seat, and I'm embellishing this story, and I'm going through this thing, and I get on this plane, and I sit down and I'm sweating through my suit, and because I've been running through the airport, and all this kind of a deal. 00:31:52.319 --> 00:31:57.039 And I kind of let back and kind of went to sleep a little bit, just kind of calming down. 00:31:57.200 --> 00:31:58.640 And I woke up in time. 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:06.000 We had leveled out, and you know, the pilot comes on and we had leveled out, and the pilot says, Welcome to flight, so and so. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:07.920 So we've leveled out at 10,000 feet. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:16.319 We got an X number of hours, we'll be in the hour 40 in the air 45 minutes or so, and we'll be landing in Salt Lake City at so-and-so time. 00:32:16.640 --> 00:32:17.680 And I'm panicking. 00:32:17.839 --> 00:32:20.079 Salt Lake City, I fly through Minneapolis. 00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:20.880 How am I gonna get? 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:22.000 I got on the wrong airplane. 00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:33.759 I'm running through the airport, I got on the wrong plane, and all this, you know, I got all this, we land, you know, there's a layover in Salt Lake, and I'm pacing around trying to figure out where I'm going, and I told the story even longer, and I'm telling it now. 00:32:33.920 --> 00:32:38.960 And I'm doing all this, and people are laughing, and they're all in this thing, and I got the crowd, it's awesome. 00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:41.359 And I finally go, I gotta figure out how to get home. 00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:44.160 I'm gonna get in line, I go to the gate, I walk up there. 00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:46.559 The whole time I hadn't looked at my tickets. 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:50.240 They're in the breast pocket of my jacket. 00:32:50.480 --> 00:32:55.359 I walk up, and the person right in front of me, I've been in line, six people in line. 00:32:55.519 --> 00:33:04.000 The person in front of me says, I'm on the flight to Memphis, Tennessee, and I know that we connect from here to Dallas. 00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:07.119