I Just Need A Second Wind - Dr. Oscar Williams

3:04 nervous to preach because you've probably heard it preached and taught before, but I believe that God has burdened my spirit with something, and I got to get it out. I used to hear preachers say that, and I didn't understand. I didn't understand at that time what that meant when they would say, I have to get this out. But I was up at four this morning, and the Lord was still talking to me. And I said, God, I got to get some sleep. I got to get some sleep. And He was still showing me things. And so, I got to get this out. It's Ezekiel. Ezekiel, very familiar passage. Ezekiel, chapter 37. Ezekiel chapter 37. This is a familiar passage. We're going to read it, verses 1 through 14. It says this, The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley.

4:06 and it was full of bones. Then he calls me to walk around them and behold, I saw a lot of bones in the valley and indeed they were very dry. And God asked me a question. He said to me, son of man, can these bones live? and so I answered him I said oh Lord God you know and again he said to me prophesy to these bones and say to them oh dry bones hear the word of the Lord thus says the Lord God to these bones surely I will cause breath to enter into you and you shall live I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you cover you with skin and put breath in you and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

5:09 So I prophesied as he told me. And as I prophesied, there was a noise and suddenly a rattling, and the bones started coming together. Just tell your neighbor, coming together, it's coming together, it's coming together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them and the skin covered them. But there was a problem. There was no breath in them. So he said to me, prophesy to the breath.

5:50 Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, thus says the Lord God, come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded, and breath came into them, and they lived and stood up upon their feet an exceedingly great army. I'm going to tag this text right there. I'm going to stop at verse 10. I'm going to tag this text this morning. I just need a second wind. Can you help me declare that to your neighbor? Just tell them, I just need a second wind. Father, I thank you in this moment because truly you are more than able. So I surrender my whole self to you.

6:49 God, please don't allow your congregation, your people, to be inflicted by the frailty of my lips. Father, but if you speak through me, they will hear from heaven. And so we give you glory and we give you honor as it belongs to only you. In Jesus' name, amen. I just need a second wind. You can have your seat. We are so grateful that we got our firehouse in the house right now. Firehouse ministry. Y'all make some noise for firehouse. They've been worshiping at the altar and seeking God and hungry for God. And you know, the more I search for God, the more I search to know God and experience God, the more I find God in his creation. The more I recognize God through what he has created, specifically the elements of nature.

7:52 Psalms 19 and 1 tells us that the heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showcase His handiwork. Paul even tells us in Romans, he says, For since the creation of the world, the invisible things of Him are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. Throughout the Bible, God is aligned, defined, and anthropomorphized morphifies through the lenses of nature and the elements. We see God, and we can never get confused that He is the God over nature, but not create a God of nature. There are religions and sets that look at the things that God created, and they start to worship them, the universe, the sun, the moon, the stars, and they get confused. They get more enthralled about the creation instead of honoring the sovereign creator.

8:53 And we must be careful that we always recognize that he is the God over creation. And we see him in elements. We see him in elements of nature. We see him in water. Water being the first requirement of life. Nothing survives without it. Water cleanses. Water quenches. Water sustains. And water flows. Water cleanses. That's why we do baptism. Baptism is symbolic of the cleansing power of God. And so when we go down in the water, it is an agent, a cleansing agent. Water is a cleanser and it quenches. It quenches our thirst, both spiritually and naturally. Water sustains. Water is what we need to be sustained by. If you don't drink enough water, you'll become dehydrated.

9:50 The world needs water and water flows. Water is smooth enough to glide over a stone and powerful enough to carve a space in a rock. This is how we see God and his power, like water. Water is also the only substance that can come in three forms and still be water. Water can be liquid. It can be solid. It can be gas. And yet it's still water. He can be God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and yet He's still God. We see Him characterize through His elements, the elements of water. Jeremiah 2.13, God names Himself the fountain of living water. Psalms 23 and 2 says, He leaded me beside still waters and restored my soul. He can lead me by the same thing that He uses to restore me. Isaiah 51 says, hold everyone that thirsted, come ye to the waters. In John chapter 4, Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman who has a bucket and coming to a well because she thinks the thirst that she has is internal when it's really spiritual. And Jesus says, you can keep coming back to this same well, but you're going to keep ending up thirsty. But if you take of the water, I have.

11:02 I'll give you water and you'll never thirst again because water is a thirst quencher and Jesus quenches every thirst and so we see he satisfies the dry and he washes the filthy this is water but but but then there's fire Fire gives light and warmth, and we see God in fire. Fire's a purifier, refining and burning off the things that are not like God, the impurities. Fire transforms. Anything that fire touches, it transforms, and fire consumes. Exodus 3-2 gives us a story of Moses tending to the sheep, and all of a sudden, Moses turns to the side because he sees a bush that's on fire but not being burnt up because the consuming fire of God can get all inside of you and not burn you up. Exodus 13 tells us he led them by the pillar of fire by night. Deuteronomy 4 and 24 says the Lord thy God is a consuming fire. A jealous God. Malachi 3 says he is like a refiner's fire. He shall purify. Daniel 3 gives us a story of three Hebrew boys that jump into a fiery furnace and they think they're going to be consumed, but they didn't know they had company. Just touch your neighbor and say, you got company, you got company. They walked into the fire, but they went in the fire with the fire starter.

12:31 God is the refiner and the light and fire, just like water works on the outside of you. And then there's earth. Earth is the foundation, what our feet stand on, our stability, the thing that doesn't move. God is our foundation, our strong place. Earth is the soil that brings forth food. We heard it this morning. Earth is the soil that you put seeds in, and anything that's planted in soil has to grow. Anything that's planted in God has to grow. So if you're not growing, that means you're not… and in order to get real growth, you got to get deep in the soil. You can't stay on the top layer. In order to get real deep in God, you got to get in that thing of service. You just can't come when you want to, but if you want to get planted in God, you got to show up even when it's inconvenient because you're trying to go deep in the roots of God so that when you grow up, nothing can move you.

13:37 earth is dust, it's the raw materials, it is the thing you and I have been created from, and then earth is rock, it is our shelter, refuge, permanence, the ground holds us up, the ground keeps us stable, the ground covers us, Psalms 24 declares that earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, and they that dwell therein, Deuteronomy 32 and 4 says he is the rock and his work is perfect. Psalms 18 and 2 says, the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength in whom I will trust. Psalm 60 reminds us that when your heart is overwhelmed, there is a rock that sits higher than I. He is the rock. In Acts, Peter stands up in front of the Israel leaders and he says, the one that you rejected, the stone that you rejected has now become the chief cornerstone because Jesus is the rock.

14:35 This rock is Jesus. We used to sing, yes, he's the one. This rock is Jesus, the only one. Be very sure. that your anchor holds and grips the solid rock. God is the foundation like earth that we stand on. He is the potter who forms us from the clay. And all of this, the water, the fire, the earth, this happens around us. But I'm missing one more element. Can you throw a picture of the last element up for me? Can you put the last element up for me?

15:20 What? This must be the wind. There is no picture for the wind. It has no color. It has no shape. You can show me what all the other elements look like, But I wonder what the wind looks like. It must be why Jesus says the wind comes and you never know where it's coming from. And what is so amazing about the win, it is that it is the only element that can manipulate the other three. water by itself can stand still and yes it has a flow but let the wind come in the water will change its current fire by itself can stand still but when the wind comes fire becomes contagious and it moves and just in case the fire looks like it's getting ready to go out it just needs a second wind. Earth by itself is foundation and is stable, but when the wind comes, tall buildings start to sway, rocks start to move, because the wind is the only one that can work the other three.

16:47 water sustains you fire refines you the earth grounds you and forms you God works all these three around you but the wind God breathes in you He uses the wind and he breathes in us. And if you ever want to know where the wind is, you have to look at what's moving.

17:22 That's your only indication that wind is near by what is moving. If you want to know if God is present, just look at what is moving. If you came Wednesday night, you would have got a snippet of what it looks like to be in a windy situation. When programs are moved out of the way, agendas are moved out of the way, when all those things are moved, tell your neighbor, the wind is here, the wind is here. I dare you to look on your row and see what's moving right now. If you sitting on the row, ain't nobody moving, you ought to change seats. Tell somebody, I got to be where the wind is. If ain't nothing moving, that means ain't no wind over here. because wherever the wind is, stuff starts to move. The wind is indicated by what it moves.

18:16 Jesus tells us that the wind blows where it wishes, and we hear the sound, but we cannot tell where it comes from. Meteorologists tell us this, that wind is air that moves from high-pressure situations to low-pressure situations, to balance out the difference.

18:37 I'm going to say it over here. The job of the wind is it starts where it's high and it looks to where it might be low and it rushes to a low place because it has to balance out the difference. And I just came this morning to tell you that if you're in a low place, the wind is looking for you. So we see in scripture this word wind is connected and linked to a Hebrew word called ruach. Ruach. Now, you cannot look at the word Ruach and define it just by one word, because for us, Ruach is three. It is spirit, breath, and wind. If you were to read the scripture in its original language, specifically the Old Testament, you would see the word Ruach where we have translated it to either be spirit, breath, a wind. This is what God breathed into the man. It is tied to another Hebrew word, neshama. In Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, God breathed into man, into his nostrils, the breath of life. And we see in Genesis chapter 7, verse 22, these two words marry themselves together, Neshama and Ruach, to be the breath of life. When in chapter 7, the Bible is talking about Noah and those who died in the flood, and it says, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, was the Ruach.

20:31 so wind breath and spirit speak of life ruach speaks of life wind blowing movement speaks of life vitality when the wind is blowing and moving there is action happening but but i have a question this morning.

20:58 And my question this morning, Potter's House, is what do you do when God takes you to a place where there is no wind? What happens when God takes you to a place where you can't see and feel nothing moving? This is where we find ourselves in the text this morning, in Ezekiel. Ezekiel is a man born into Israel's lineage. Father is Zadok, born into the priesthood. he is raised a priest but called to be a prophet and Ezekiel is set to take his priestly position but then he's pulled into captivity with the rest of the children of Israel by the Babylonians and so while in the midst of captivity God calls him to be a prophet Ezekiel and we find ourselves right here in the text in chapter 37 where the Bible has said the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel, and he took him to a valley of bones.

22:13 Now, if you just read this and don't study a little bit, it won't bother you. But the dichotomy of this is that Ezekiel as a priest cannot go where dead things are. by the law in numbers numbers chapter 19 numbers chapter 19 can you pull it up for me numbers chapter 19 talks about that if a man there's whoever in the open field touches one who is slain by a sword or who has died or a bone of a man or a grave shall be unclean seven days. So wait a minute, God, you are taking me, the priest, into a place that's going to be unclean. God, you are breaking your own rules. This was the law that you gave.

23:11 As a priest, I cannot go there, but something in my prophetic calling is calling me to a place that others would run from. I know I was raised to be a priest, but my calling is pulling me to an uncomfortable place. My title keeps me on the stage, but my calling is pulling me down to the bones. My title keeps me in the pulpit, but my calling keeps calling me to communities that people ran away from. My calling keeps pulling me to people that nobody talked to. My calling keeps calling me to those who have been cast away. And sometimes when you end this thing called ministry, you got to put your title to the side and follow the call. You got to follow the call. Ezekiel was following the call.

24:08 Though going to where the bones are would have me be unclean, my calling takes me to where the need is. And God says to Ezekiel, I'm taking you from the mountain to the valley. Because there are some callings where you can't do it from up here. some callings you gotta come from up here natural see see we want to be comfortable in ministry we would rather stay on the mountaintop to prophesy but some problems you can't prophesy to them until you face them some stuff you you gotta you gotta face you gotta come down to where the bones are you can't minister up there all the time god is taking you from up there down Thank you.

25:16 this kind of reminds me of what Jesus did. Because when God had to save me, when God had to redeem me, when God had to wash me up, he said, I can't do it from up there. I got to come.

25:37 I got to come down to where it's unclean. I got to come to where the bones are because I got to be where the problem is. In order to understand the condition, I got to change my position. So Ezekiel is led by God to come down to where the bones are. And something interesting happens in the text. Because if you read it, the first time he identifies that there are a valley of bones. but it's not until he starts to walk around in them that he says and the bones were very dry because some things you will never know until you are in the community of it i am tired of people who have a solution for everything but are nowhere to be found when the work starts i am tired of people who can always look from afar and you've never been in the situation i mean how are you gonna prophesy to me and you don't know my condition.

26:48 you got an answer for what the church should be doing, but you don't even come to church on time. You got an answer for what the pastor should be preaching, but you barely know your scripture. How do you have a solution for everything? And you've never been where the bones are. He's walking around and he starts to notice what he could not see from up there. You know, it's interesting. Sometimes we have more applause for people who stand further away from us than the ones who are with us in ministry. I ain't trying to make you mad this morning.

27:54 I'm just trying to help you to think. Sometimes we applaud those who are up on the mountain as if their word is stronger than the ones who you see every day praying and interceding for you. When you down and out, you need them. But then you revere the one on the mountain. Because sometimes when we're looking up, we forget to look around. And Ezekiel, Ezekiel is walking around in the bones. He's walking around. He says, they're very dry.

28:38 Very dry. And a couple of thoughts, I started talking to the text.

31:07 Thank you. I said, how do bones become very dry? How does a bone become very dry? So I had to research. I had to research. And what it says is living bones have vitality and strength. But dry bones, the life has been sucked from them. Then, then it came to me, it dawned to me that Ezekiel was walking around in bones, but every bone used to be a body. See, we catch the story at the bones, but the bones didn't just get there. They started off as bodies.

32:05 Ezekiel was walking around. That used to be a Sunday school teacher. That used to be one of the deacons. That used to be one of the preachers, the pastors. That used to be the girl that ran around the church all the time. How did she become? How did she become a dry bone? Serving and showing up and not knowing that over time, life started to pull the marrow.

32:42 Trauma started to pull the marrow. Grief started to pull the marrow. And over time, the bones started to become dry. Walking around. The other thing that makes bones dry is when they are uncovered. bones that are left exposed to the elements start to dry up when they're left uncovered that's why the enemy doesn't want you to come to church because as long as he can keep you uncovered that's why the enemy wants you in isolation because you think it's good for you but he's just trying to get your bones to triumph You think you're running from the people in the sanctuary because you don't want nobody to know your business.

33:54 But the enemy is tricking you. Because over time, life is being pulled from you. Vitality is being pulled from you. And dry bones crack easy. Dry bones get offended easily. Dry bones get mad easy. If you don't give a dry bone its way, it'll break. I'm just talking about dry bones I'm just I was wondering how did the bones become dry when did they realize that they were drying up when did it start to happen when did you realize that you didn't have the fire that you had for serving when did you stop loving to worship God and sing when when did you notice that you would sit in the back and fold your arms while the service has been moved did you know that you even with your fancy clothes on may be dry bone and Ezekiel is walking around in the bones and then God asks him a question which is so interesting because nowhere in Ezekiel does God ask him a question before he tells him to prophesy and you have to be tuned in to know and see the pattern of God that God only asks questions not for his benefit, but for you to see your posture and where you really are.

35:54 Adam, Adam, where are you? It's not that God did not know where Adam was. He wanted Adam to look at his position. Peter, who do men say that I am? It is not that Jesus did not know who he was, but he needed the disciples to examine their position. Ezekiel. Can these bones live?

36:24 And Ezekiel answers God in a very interesting way. Ezekiel, the prophet, says, Lord, you know. Now, theologians and historians will often tell you that this is an answer out of humbleness. But the text started talking to me a little more. I'm gonna tell you. And if I haven't learned anything being under this great leader, is that when the texts start talking, you got to ask the right questions. And I could have accepted that But I have another interpretation of Revelation Because Ezekiel used to be married Ezekiel was married.

37:30 He is not an old man. By the time we get to Ezekiel 37, he's about 37 years old. He started in ministry, started prophesying at the age 30. And he got married to the desire of his eye. And God had Ezekiel go through a lot in ministry. this was not an easy prophet call because God had to use Ezekiel to be an example to the Israelites on how he was going to do them in judgment.

38:05 And all through the trials of what God had Ezekiel go through, the one thing he could do is always look to the desire of his eye for strength. He had his wife. God I can prophesy to them and I can lay on this side and and I can do these things as long as I have the desire of my eye the love of my life but around Ezekiel chapter 24 God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the people judgment but he but then he says oh and and by the way tonight I'm gonna take your wife but you can't mourn for her. You can't let even a tear drop from your eye. You got to suffer in silence.

39:02 Ezekiel is about 34. He has no time to prepare for this grief. He has no time to prepare for this loss. And it would be okay if God, you at least let me mourn. But God says the mantle and call on your life won't cause you and allow you to mourn publicly. to grieve openly.

39:33 And sometimes in ministry, the call is so uncomfortable that if we knew what it cost, we may have never answered the call that sometimes it costs to be on the platform. Sometimes it costs to have a word from God. Sometimes. and Ezekiel cannot mourn.

40:05 And then I went to a scripture in Proverbs that helped me see how could this equate to dry bones. Proverbs 17 and 22 says, as you've heard it, a merry heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit dryeth the bone. a broken spirit losing your mama losing your loved one losing a job situation after situation trauma after trauma so it started to make sense to me why Ezekiel couldn't definitively answer God when God asked him, can these bones live? The prophet could not say yes.

41:00 The prophet could not say no. He just said, God, you know. Because sometimes, even in ministry, you don't realize that your bones are drying up. Oh, you used to serve. You used to serve all the time. Can't run in a church. But all of a sudden, your bone started drying up. And you could recover. You could recover. You okay? You used to sing. You used to sing and play in the bandstand and do all that. But all of a sudden, your bone. You all right? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I don't need no help. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good. I'm good.

41:57 You got your elder's license and your minister's license and you start off good, but life hits you unexpectedly and all of a sudden. Come on, you!

44:01 All of a sudden, the bones don't recover like they used to. trying to have faith but sometimes when your bones dry up so does your faith and you're trying to come to church but you can't get that because

44:40 and now you find yourself lying with the rest of the bones. Nobody comes to check on the bones. Nobody thinks about the bones. just drop in the valley but the Bible says that God didn't answer Ezekiel according to his response but God answered Ezekiel according to the solution he said Ezekiel son of man prophesy to the bones and tell them hear the word of the Lord wait a minute bones don't have ears

46:08 how you gonna hear when you don't have anything to listen with how you gonna hear and you're dead how you gonna hear and you're forgotten about how you gonna hear and you're lifeless how you gonna hear and you're forgotten about how you gonna hear and you don't got nothing to hear with and that's because the word does not need it somebody to be able to hear it because the word is powerful enough itself death and life are in the power of sometimes you gotta prophesy even when they can't hear you because the word I got in my mouth is strong enough to go to every place that needs to hear it. I dare you to take 30 seconds and open up your mouth in this sanctuary. You ought to prophesy over your children. They may not even be in this room, but it don't matter because the word on your life will go to wherever they are.

47:10 You ought to prophesy to that job. you're not even there right now but when you open up your mouth the word that God gave you will go to that workplace and prepare it before you get there oh I don't hear you saying nothing He said, prophesy to the bones and tell the bones, hear the word of the Lord. Prophesy to the thing that looks like it's not listening and say, I don't care how dead you look. I don't care how lifeless you are. I don't care that you ain't moved for years. I don't care that it's been forgotten about