Dead Things Stink!

Pastor Jason preached an awesome message today (Sunday 4-13) entitled “dead things stink”, and here are the highlights…
-Have you ever been driving down the road & suddenly you smell something “funky”? You then blame everyone in the car & make the mistake of rolling down your window…only to make the smell worse.
-Or, have you been walking in the woods & come upon something dead. It appears like a fresh kill, but then when you poke it with a stick you hear the hissing sound of the gasses (that have been building up inside the carcass) escaping …followed by a terrible smell.
-Some of us have that same stench of death upon us – death of a marriage, finances, you’re dead spiritually.
- Life stinks for you, how come everybody else has things going for them & you don’t? Why, God? What’s the problem, God?
-One of the greatest things we like to do in our circumstances is to blame God, it’s more convenient to blame others – even God.
-John 11: 38-44, story of Martha blaming God for her brother’s death.
-Ezekiel 37: 1-7, story of God taking Ezekiel to the valley of dry bones.
-Ezekiel must’ve been thinking that those dried up bones used to be people who were full of life.
-God says, “I’m not scared of dead-end situations”. He’s not scared of death, He’s not nervous about what you are going through…He doesn’t “freak out” over your messes.
-God loves you, He is for you and He is not playing games with you.
-In Ezekiel, God took a situation that looked hopeless and breathed life right into it, the bones came back to life as an “exceedingly great army”.
-That’s exciting…God specializes in this!
-God is a perfect gentleman, He invites you and calls you out of your “death”; He asks you to choose Him (free will) and He invites you to let Him change your life.
-When Lazarus died, Jesus shouted “Lazarus, come out (of the grave)!”
-If you’ll listen, you’ll hear him calling your name…to get out of that dead situation.
-He wants to be the God of your life.
-When He called Lazarus out, Lazarus didn’t come out in a 3-piece suit, smelling like roses!
-Lazarus didn’t come out all clean, he still had his grave clothes on and still stunk like dead things.
-When God calls us out, it’s just as we are. Don’t try to clean up your act first, come to God and let Him do it.
-When a person answers this call, it’s the responsibility of the church to come alongside him and help him.
-Jesus instructed the Disciples to help take off Lazarus’ grave clothes, it’s the responsibility of the body of believers (church) to come alongside and help take off people’s grave clothes.
-Pastor Jason wants to see us as a church come alongside people and help them to come out of their sin. “Here’s what it means to follow Christ” not necessarily “here’s what it looks like to be me”.
-Are you tired of dead things that stink in your life?
-How’s your relationship with God? On a scale of 1-10, where 10 represents you’re passionately flaming on fire for Him.
-Do you have a hunger and passion for God all week long in your private life when nobody’s watching?
-Are you reading and praying and getting the Word into you?
-Do you spend time growing yourself spiritually?
-God is ready and is calling you to let him breathe life into your situation.

During this message, God said to me “Candy, why don’t you spend more time with me?” “Why don’t you let me breathe life into all of your life situations?”

I said, “OK, God…I’m yours!”