We are in a series called Led. The song that we sung, the Breathe on Me song, I've never heard that song in my life. As they begin to sing that song, the Holy Spirit actually changed my message. The message I was supposed to preach, I'm not preaching that message anymore. Because in worship, the Holy Spirit was like, "I need you to preach something else," and so I was like, "Okay, this is a series called Led, so I think I better be led by you."

I do want to share with you a testimony that somebody dropped in our YouTube comment box, I think it was last week, as we were talking about dying to the flesh and stuff like this. I just love when people give really transparent testimonies like this. Here's what it says. K. Wamaina, that's why I'm going to try to say her last name. "I always look forward to these sermons." Thank you.

"I can no longer watch live, so I find some quiet time to watch because I always learn something from the Holy Spirit. Today, I am struggling to accept what the Holy Spirit is saying through this message. I will totally have to DIE," all caps, "to be in obedience to what the Spirit is addressing. Thank you so much for this message. I think I will listen again."  "I have already decided to obey, but this time, I will listen with even a more open heart because, truth be told, the first time around, I was like, 'You can't be serious. God, I can't apologize for that, et cetera.' Holy Spirit, lead. My flesh is hating, but I want and need it."

I love those types of testimonies. You know you are being led by the Holy Spirit when you feel like you're dying. That's how you know you're doing it right because, remember, the flesh and the Spirit are always at odds with each other. Once again, I'm being led in this. I just ask that you all pray for me. I'm just going to preach what I feel like the Lord has put on my heart. Then when He's done talking, I will shut up and I will leave. I'll just walk off.

I'm being led. I felt like the Holy Spirit said something that changed the trajectory of where I'm supposed to go in this message. If you have your Bibles, I want you to go to Ezekiel 37, Old Testament, major prophet. Not major because he's better than anybody else, just that he had a lot to say. Ezekiel 37, starting at the first verse, this is Ezekiel having an open vision, interacting with the God who created us all.

Here's what it says starting from verse number 1, "The Lord took hold of me and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then He asked me, 'Son of man, can these bones become living people again?' 'Oh, Sovereign Lord,' I replied, 'You alone know the answer to that.' Then He said to me, 'Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, 'Dry bones, listen to the Word of the Lord.'"

"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.' I spoke this message just as He told me. Suddenly, as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons."

"Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. Then He said to me, 'Speak a prophetic message to the winds, Son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says, 'Come, O breath, from the four winds. Breath into these dead bodies so they may live again.' I spoke this message as He commanded me and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life." I feel that right there. They all came to life. Not some of them, not most of them. They all came to life. Would you say that with me? They all came to life. Again, louder.

They all came to life.

One more time, real loud, "They all came to life and stood up on their feet, a great army." Ooh, that's good. If you're taking notes, please write this down. "I'm getting my breath back." "I'm getting my breath back." Right now, I'm about to get my breath back. I am not leaving this building until I get my breath back. [sighs] Bow your heads. Let's pray. Holy Spirit, thank you for giving us our breath back. Amen.

Ezekiel 37 is one of the most preached passages of Scripture in the entire Bible, especially if you came up in any type of Pentecostal or holiness denomination, camp meeting, revival, conference. It almost wasn't a camp meeting, a revival, or a conference if you didn't preach Ezekiel 37. The first four rows already knew soon as you said, "Turn to Ezekiel 37." They were, "Mm-hmm."

We know what's about to happen today. What is compelling to me about Ezekiel 37 is this open vision, this loving, very focused open vision that is given to the children of Israel about their return from Babylonian captivity to their own Promised Land that was given to them by God. He gives them a promise that He's going to bring them back together again and put them back in the place that He always promised them, that though they had experienced exile, captivity, and bondage, He was not going to leave them there. They were not going to die with the narrative that, "God left us out here to dry out, rot out, and be disconnected from our homeland."

He gives it to Ezekiel in an open vision. The Book of Ezekiel, if you ever read it, it is a visual masterpiece. The imagery that he uses is absolutely beautiful and most of it is utterly confusing. If you read through Ezekiel, it is like being transported into Dr. Strange's multiverse, only to have the world bend in all different ways and shapes for you to try to figure out what is going on. The will in the middle of the will alone is enough to turn your head into oatmeal. When I've heard the best preachers try to talk about this will in the middle of a will, they've never done a good job. I leave more confused than when they started. This is why in the 26 years I've been preaching, I have never touched a will in the middle of a will.

I'm sure somebody is smarter than me. A theologian can go after it and make that a tip. I'm going to leave it alone because I don't know what that man talked about.

Some stuff I won't get until I get to heaven. Ezekiel 37 is attractive. I believe one of the reasons why everybody keeps going back to it is because we all find ourselves in the narrative, in the story. It stops being about these dead bones. At some point, it starts being about us. Has anybody beside me read the Bible from the beginning and you stopped seeing Noah and started seeing yourself?

You stopped seeing Abraham and started seeing yourself. You stopped seeing Sarah and started seeing yourself. You stopped seeing Joseph and saw yourself in the pit. You stopped seeing Rahab, and remember how well you were? You stopped seeing Jacob, and remember that you was a liar as well? There's something about the brokenness of humanity in Scripture that keeps us coming back to it because we can all see ourselves in the story.

It's one thing to see yourself when the character is victorious. It's another thing to see yourself when the character is defeated. How much more when the characters aren't even named? It's not just a dead body. It's a body that's already gone through the stages of decomposition. It's not just a dead body that's going through decomposition. It's bones. All of the flesh has dried out. It's not even skin on bones. It is now bones.

The bones have been there so long that they're not even together anymore. This is not a valley filled with lifeless bones that are all connected. One full skeleton here and one full skeleton here. No, it is literally been so long in this valley that all the bones are scattered. Sheila's thigh bone is here, but her collarbone is over there. Fragments of her skull are way over there and her ankle bone is over here.

Derek got a shinbone here, but his foot is over there. His wrist bone is down the street for 2 miles because not only did Derek die, he got disconnected from himself. Not only did Derek not make it, not only did life leave his body but he's been there so long that he's now literally all over the place. Can I just submit to you that there are some people in this room today that you're not all together? The last 24 months has been such a pressure cooker for some of us that we don't have all of us back.

Some of us is in 2019 and some of us is scattered across 2020. Some of us still got some stuff in 2019. Who you are right now is just a leg bone. If somebody were to ask, "How are you?" you would say, "Which part?" Are you talking about work me, home me, married me, business me, college me, wife me, husband me, son me, daughter me? Depending on who you ask, I might just be able to show you a toe bone.

"You all right?" "Oh, my toe bone is-- the rest of me is all over the place." It is in this pile of bones that God asked Ezekiel a question, "Can these bones live again?" I'm so grateful for Ezekiel. This is the greatest response of any prophet I've ever heard. He is asked a direct question from the God of the universe, "Can these bones live again? Pop quiz, sir. I took you up in a vision. I dropped you off and I'm going to ask you one question. Can these bones live again?" Ezekiel answering in the way I hope I would, "Only you know the answer to that."

"You're not about to give me out here by myself, sir. You build different, sir. What you'll be doing is completely different than what I'll be doing, so you know."

"Don't ask me. Ask you."

"You're the one who created them. I have no creative power, sir. You told me to manage stuff. You did not tell me to create anything, so you know." He goes, "I'm so glad that was your answer because that's the only answer you could have gave because you can't do nothing with this. If I left you in this field by yourself, you wouldn't even know which bone goes to which person. Because without me, you can literally do nothing. You've answered right." "Can these bones live again?" "Yes, they can live again."

"Here's how they're going to live. You're going to talk to them." "I'm sorry, sir. What?" "I want you to talk to the bones. I want you to prophesy to these bones and tell them to live." "Okay." "Yes, I want you to talk to the bones. Tell them to live. When you tell them to live, something's going to happen because I have a purpose for what looks dead to you. I have a plan for what looks decimated to you. I have a supernatural ordered step for what looks absolutely destroyed to you, so talk to the bones."

I got to give Ezekiel some credit. Your boy did just that. I wish I was Ezekiel, but I have too many questions. Personally, I wish I could read that and be like, "That's exactly what I would do. The Lord would have told me." I would have been like, "Sir, I want to do exactly what you said. I just need some clarity. For a start, I'll say it. I'll obey you. I just had a real quick, real question. Can bones hear?"

"It's just a question." Maybe if they were fresher bodies and I could see an ear somewhere, maybe I would just pick it up and talk into it.

"Hello."

"I don't know where the rest of you is, but come back." Can you imagine being told to talk to an inanimate, unresponsive, disconnected valley of bones? Do you know how much faith it takes to speak life into a dead thing? Do you know how much faith it actually takes to look at your negative situation and still speak life into it? Do you know how much faith it takes to look your broken marriage in the face and say, "You know what? I know it's bad now, but I'm going to speak life"? Do you know how much faith it takes to look at your wayward kids and still speak life? Do you know how much faith it takes to look at your irresponsible spending habits?

Because you know that's not the devil, right?

Check your bank statement. That was you. Just a swiping, "I don't understand how I only have $17 left. I tried to get $20 from the ATM and the ATM told me no." It takes faith to speak into dead things, yet Ezekiel does it because he's obedient. He said, "Dry bones, live. Get up." A rattling noise started happening in the valley. Bones that was way over here started finding bones that was way over there. Bones that was way over there started finding bones that was way over there.

This is all happening in this miraculous vision in front of Ezekiel. He's just watching stuff happen just because he spoke. He was not told to pick up a bone, to try to put them back together, to try to do anything of his own volition to help the process. The only thing he was told was to speak the Word. When he started to speak the Word, the bones started to do what they needed to do, not based on what Ezekiel said but based on what God told Ezekiel to say.

I got to break this down. There is a difference between you giving a Word to somebody and God telling you to give a Word to somebody. Sometimes we think we're helping God when we try to preempt and get involved and God's going, "Please, shut up. Please, move back. I can reconnect things all by myself. I just need you to speak the Word and get out of my way."

Oh, my gosh. they just start getting back together. The knee bone connected to the hip bone. The hip bone connected to the thigh bone. The thigh bone found the pelvis. The pelvis found the spine. The spine found the collarbone and parts of Sheila did not mix up with Derek. Them bones rattled right around other bones that didn't belong to them and only found who they were.

I don't know who that is for, but God is about to reconnect you in such a way that all those other people you have soul ties with, all them other people that you are connected to, they are about to get out of you because He is only going to put you back together again. Not you and your ex, not you and your investment with your family, not you and your soul ties to your daddy, not you and your brokenness with your mama. Just you.

What would it be like for you to be you? Just reconnected to yourself. Not reconnected to your trauma, not reconnected to your past, not reconnected to your church hurt, not reconnected to the pain of what you just went through, but just be back to yourself. Them bones got back together. They're all lying there perfectly put back together. Skeletons. That's a miracle in and of itself, but then something else happened. All this dust started flying. I can't imagine how thick this dust was.

I would imagine that Ezekiel couldn't see more than a couple of feet away from him if all this dust is flying around everywhere. All of this dust contains all of this DNA. All of this dust starts landing on bones and turning into muscles and tendons, Achilles and lat muscles and deltoids and biceps and triceps and neck muscles, all started forming over the bones because you do know that without structure, you can't stand up.

Some people are trying to get back together with no structure to their life. You're trying to reconnect yourself, but you don't have any accountability and any support to hold you together. Every time you're trying to take a step, you fall all apart again because you have nothing to hold you together. The bones are there and all the muscles start getting on top of the bones and these tendons start getting all together. It's an exoskeleton. It's getting there, but it ain't there. It's an exoskeleton.

Without the skin over the exoskeleton, we just live our life exposed. We will be open to infectious diseases in a way that we can't even compare to. Right now, the skin that covers the muscles, the tendons, the bowels of your insides, without the protection of the outer layer of skin, you have no identity. This is why racism is so stupid because if we peel back all the skin and just left you with your exoskeleton, you couldn't find nothing. You would be like, "I guess we are just the same. Would you look at that?"

"Enemy got us out here fighting something stupid when it was supposed to be something that was supposed to be celebrated." He gave you a unique identity. He gave you the shoe that you are in as a glorification of who He is, not as a way to separate you from your brother, your sister. This identity comes back on them. It's a miracle they are all-- The skeleton is there and the muscles and the tendons are there.

Skin comes back over and you can see who it is. "Oh, my God. That's Derek. Oh, my God. Derek is back. There's Sheila. Oh, my God. Sheila is back. Sarah. Oh, my God. Sarah, you're so gorgeous. Marcus, you look so good." All back together. Big, old revival. All the bones have shaken and all the dust has cleared and they are back together standing up and dead.

Everybody's standing there, put back together again, and still dead. A miracle happened. God did it and you still have no breath in your body. This is how some of us look coming out of 2020. This is how some of us look coming out of '21. I got the degree, but I still don't feel no life. I made it out of the year, but I still don't feel like my life is back. I thank God that He put me back together, but can you imagine this scene in front of Ezekiel? He saw this miracle happen and all these people come back to life. All these people come back to life. This is Ezekiel.

"Hello."

"Sir, I say what you told me to say and they're all here, but they don't look alive to me. They look like they're still dead." "They are, Ezekiel, so I need you to preach another sermon, but this time, don't preach to them. The first sermon, you preach to them. You preach to them in their disconnected place," and they came back together. "I did a miracle. It was amazing. I was standing there, but they still have no life in them, and so you would think you need to preach another message to them."

He said, "Don't preach to them. Preach to the wind. Stop talking to them. Start talking to the wind and tell the wind to get in them. Prophesy to the wind. Tell it to come from all directions. North, south, east, and west. Look with the wind blew in." I love the fact that it was omnidirectional. Don't just call it from the north, don't just call it from the south, don't just call it from the east, don't just call it from the west. Call it from all directions. Blow them all in here and let's see what we got. This is what I love about Embassy City Church because He's literally blown us all in from all four directions.

Fort Worth way on that side, Dallas way on this side, Denton up here way on this side. McKinney, Anna, y'all up there. Southside, DeSoto, Mansfield, Midlothian. Oh, my gosh. That's far. Why did He blow them all in? Because He wanted everybody to know, "When I get ready to revive, I do not discriminate." Blow some White people in here and some Black people in here and some Latinos in here and some Russians that got 11% Croatian in them. Blow in some people that took their 23 in me and found out that they're 83% Nigerian but 11% European because you know that boat ride happened.

Just let everybody know that they are all welcome and blow them all in from all sides. Wind blow. Blow into them until they come back to life. Now, listen, this is the thing that's crazy. He did not ask those people's permission to put breath back in them. He just told him, "Oh, you're going to live again because I'm going to put you back together and I'm going to put breath back in you."

"I don't even care that you've already pronounced this season of your life dead. I'm not asking for your permission to revive you. I'm just going to do it because you're going to thank me after the fact. I know that you've already written this season off and thought to yourself, 'God, you've done enough, but this is over. I really appreciate it, but I guess this is the best that's going to happen. This is what it's been for the last seven years.'"

God is saying, "No, fam. You got me completely twisted. Just when you say it's over, that's when I am beginning. I am about to do a new thing in your life." He prophesized to the wind. I just need you to imagine now what this is like to go from [freezes], well, probably, He didn't have his hand in the pocket, to [gasps].

Because the babies got revived too.

Can you imagine going from [freezes] to [gasps]? I want you to see this the way I see it. You go from [freezes] to [gasps], but the last thing you remember is not you standing here. Here's the last thing you remember. [snores] "I guess we're going to die."

"Derek. Derek? I guess he died."

"Sheila. Sheila? I guess she's dead too."

"Sarah. Sarah? [coughs] Sarah. I'm thinking everybody's dead. I thought He said He was going to live for us. I stood on His word. [exhales] I thought He said He was going to help." [coughs] [breathes] That's the last thing you remember.

"You remember, you died right there." The next thing that happens is [gasps]. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't respond to that type of miracle like this. [gasps] "Huh. Gosh, the Lord is-- He did it. I thought I was dead, and yet He brought me back. That's just amazing. Thanks, God."

I don't think you can go through anything like that or anything you've been through in the last 10 years, the last 5 years, last 2 years, last 12 months. I don't think you can go through that and come back and just be like [gasps]. Now, everybody's personality is different, so I'm not trying to say everybody is going to respond the same way. Let's just take me, for example.

If that was me and I get up, I'm over here like [gasps]. "Yo."

"No, fam, what is happening right now? Am I alive? Sir, am I alive right now? Did you just do something that I could not do for myself? Did you just do something that I cannot take credit for on my own? Did you just do something so miraculous that the next time I order a burger if they ask me how I'm doing, they're about to get this work?"

"Would you like fries with that?" "Oh, absolutely."

The reason why is because, in the same way, I wouldn't want to eat a burger by itself. God brought me back together to not live my life alone. He wanted me to be in a combination, thank you, Holy Spirit, with Him. There is something that happens when you get your breath back.

You start breathing deep and you start telling people about it like, "Yes, I know you just asked what my occupation is. Since you're still here, I was dead about this time 18 months ago, but God's done such a miracle in my life that I just got to tell you about it. I know you're an atheist. I know you're an agnostic. I'm not trying to invite you to church, but you're about to be the church right now. I'm about to show you what the church looks like when breath gets back in your body." Just breathe deep. He's giving you your breath back. This year is not going to be like last year. You need to know that right now.

God has given you your breath back. He's bringing life back into dead spaces in places that you thought were never going to be resurrected. Not because you asked but because He said. I don't know who this is for, but you're getting your breath back. Here's the thing that you cannot do when He gives you your breath back. Hold your breath.

There's certain people in here who have literally started to hold their breath because they're waiting for the other shoe to drop. "God is doing something in my life that is very uncanny, but I remember last time, I thought it was going good and then it all fell out. I remember the last time, everything seemed to be going okay and then the bottom dropped out, and so my toe was out here. Yes, Lord, but I know it's not going to last, so I might as well."

God's saying, "Take a deep breath." He is not pranking you. He is not punking you. Take a deep breath. He did not bring you here to go, "Psych, thought you had one." Thank you, Holy Spirit. Some of you all are getting into relationships right now that are so safe that you don't know how to even respond to it. I don't know who this is for, but some of you are getting into-- and I'm not saying what type of relationship it is.

I just feel like there's some relational connections that God is making for you. As you're making those connections, you're trying to ease into them, but you're flinching because you have PTSD from the last person that abused you. God is saying, "This person is not that person and don't make that person pay for the last relationship you were in." I don't know who that was for. You're getting your breath back. Everybody like this. [inhales] Mask or no mask, just breathe in.

Breathe out. [exhales] Do it again. [inhales] Breathe out. [exhales] Breathe in. [inhales] Breathe out. [exhales] Breathe. You know what the last 24 months has been about? Breath. Do you know how many people I know that got COVID and wrote their wills because they couldn't get a full breath? The last 24 months has everybody shook, "I can't breathe," and not because someone has a knee on my neck. I just don't feel like I can breathe.

If I say what I really feel, will you still be here? If I tell you about my trauma, will you judge me or will you love me? I need to be able to breathe. If the church is not a safe enough space for me to bring my weaknesses, why am I here? I'm happy about the gifts and I'm happy about your StrengthsFinders and I'm happy about your Enneagrams and I'm happy about your INFJs and your Myers-Briggs personalities, but do you feel safe enough to say I'm scared?

I've been abused. I struggle with depression. I have to medicate my anxiety. Do you feel safe enough to breathe? Because He did not bring you back for you to hold your breath. He brought you back so you could live. [breathes] When you get your breath back, "Oh, my gosh." When you've been there for a long time and you get your breath back, "I wish somebody would."

When you lost something and you get it back, you love it and you appreciate it a little bit better. Everybody I know that survived COVID was like, "You know what? I'm going to enjoy his vanilla ice cream from Blue Bell just a little bit longer. I know it's a gallon."

"I'm going to eat it all, then get on my Peloton."

I'm going to breathe. I'm not going to keep taking these short breaths crippled by fear and anxiety thinking that my God is not with me through this season of my life. He's giving you your breath back. Not to whisper, not to shout either, but just to talk plain. I'm here. I'm alive. I have a story to tell and no one's going to be able to shut me up because when I was dead, I couldn't talk. If He brought me back to life, it's because I still got something to say.

Do you know who the enemy is the most intimidated by? Somebody with breath in their body. I can prove it. Jesus was in a grave for three days. All of hell was having a party.

"We got Him. We got Him. We got Him. We got Him."

Everything was good as long as they didn't hear any breath. On the third day when He was in that tomb-- because the greatest miracle ever experienced by Jesus is not the one He did. It's the one that was done to Him.

The same Spirit that reanimated those people in those dry bones is the same Spirit that got Jesus up from that grave.

All of hell got shook, not because of what He said, simply because of [gasps].

The moment He took a breath, they said, "Oh, dawg, we thought we had your boy." I'm telling you, as long as you have breath in your body, there is still something that God wants to do in and through you.

You are not done. You are not dead. God still has a purpose and a plan for your life, so breathe deep. Breath deep. [inhales] He's intimidated that you still have a breath because as long as you have a breath, you got a breakthrough coming. As long as you have a breath, you got a testimony to share. As long as you have a breath, He knows that He can't have any rest. Once again, breathe in. [inhales] Let it out. [exhales] I'm done preaching or whatever I just did.

If this was your message, I just want you to come right here because He's putting you back together again. I'm calling forth the bones and the muscles and the tendons and the skin. I'm calling for the people of God who need breath back in their bodies. I'm calling for the people of God that need a revival for their souls. I'm calling for the people of God that have written off this season of your life. I'm telling you, you're getting your breath back. Today, you are getting your breath back.