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The Life the Resurrection Gives

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UNDER THE RADAR

UNDER THE RADAR

Ashley Anthony

“In the beginning, God created” but it wasn’t too long before man messed it up. Believing equality with God a thing to be grasped, Eve ate the fruit and Adam ate too.

Our stories begin with Creation and the Fall because even though God created and it was good, our first parents sinned, and they’ve passed down their sinful natures to us. According to Scripture, sin has earned spiritual death for everyone.

but it never did. Week after week, I tried praying more earnestly, and feeling worse about my sins and living my life in a way that might be more pleasing to God. Even so, every Sunday I ended up in the same church sanctuary, all my weekly efforts producing more and more doubt within me.

Simply, my weekly labor was cleaning up the graveyard. The grass was neatly trimmed, the outside of my gravestone shone, and flowers rested neatly nearby. My grave looked spotless, but it was still a grave.

In Ezekiel 37, God led Ezekiel out into the middle of a valley and walked him through piles and piles of dried-up bones. Up close, Ezekiel witnessed no signs of life in that barren valley. The bones could do nothing in their own power except sit and rot, so God’s question may have been surprising: “Son of man, can these bones live?”

Before Christ, we are essentially graves, separated by thick layers of dirt and grass–layers of sin and spiritual death–from the One we need most.

When I was in sixth grade, I looked like a normal student on the outside, but I was spiritually dead on the inside. I spent my Sundays at church, reciting the sinner’s prayer and willing doubt to go away,

“O Lord God, you know,” Ezekiel responded. He probably wondered what we might wonder: What does God want with a mess of dried bones?

“Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

When Ezekiel prophesied, the bones started rattling and shaking as they came together, and soon sinews and skin covered them until they formed an army of lifeless bodies. Then God gave them his very breath so that they stood before Ezekiel–alive.

The call to the Israelites in Ezekiel 37 from the Lord is the same call he gives to the spiritually dead today: “Hear my words. Respond to them. You are dead now, but life is coming. One day, I will dig up your grave and empty it and bring you to life. I will resurrect your dry bones and give you my Spirit.” Just as I waited each week for Sunday to come, with fresh hope that my doubt might disappear, the Israelites waited and waited for their graves to be opened, just as God promised them. They were waiting for Sunday too.

Do you see God’s hand in the resurrection of the dried bones? He called to the bones, made them into men, gave them life, and gave them his Spirit. It may seem strange at first that we (as the dead ones) only have to hear and respond while God does all of the raising and shaping and breathing to make us alive, but this is what he does. We were once piles of dried bones, unable to come to life in our own power, but then Jesus Christ the Son of God came for us.

Opportunities For Prayer

Call the church office or email info@college-church.org for details on these prayer meetings.

Sunday Morning Prayer 8:15-8:40 a.m. in C101

Monday Morning Prayer 6:15-7:15 a.m. in the Board Room

Wednesday Night Prayer (Zoom only) 7-8 p.m.

APRIL 5: Phil Smith, training worldwide with Accessible Hope International

APRIL 12: Terri Miller, organizational leadership and communication worldwide with ReachGlobal

APRIL 19: Brian and Warrie Blackburn, administration and MK education worldwide with Mercy Ships

APRIL 26: Bill & Laurie Stough, organizational leadership and discipleship in Uganda with AIM

MAY 3: Janet, MK education worldwide with Services in Asia for Family Education (SAFE)

Friday Prayer for the Persecuted Church (C101 or Board Room) 12-1 p.m. Led by Wil and Lorraine Triggs. The weekly prayer guide is also available at our website: https://bit.ly/3vzdcAz

Falsely Accused. Betrayed. Seized. Delivered into the hands of sinful men. Condemned to death. Mocked. Flogged. Scourged. Scorned. Reviled. Crucified. Forsaken. Buried.

Risen.

The Israelites were waiting for Jesus, and as a middle school student, I was waiting for Jesus too. I hadn’t realized the spiritually dead can’t doubt less, or act better, or even pray in their own power–I hadn’t realized that bones can’t do much of anything. Then one day, I heard the word of the Lord, and this once pile of dried bones was resurrected to new life in Christ.

Because Christ’s tomb was opened and emptied, our tombs are opened and emptied. Believers who walk the halls of College Church are reminders that the Father has chosen to love piles of dried bones for our good and for his glory. We are living, breathing testimonies of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Christ, and we are new creations whom the Spirit enlivens.

On Easter, we celebrate the miracle of new life where there once was no life. Praise God that Christ is risen. He is risen indeed!

AARON-HUR PRAYER FELLOWSHIP

Aaron-Hur Fellowship will meet on Thursday, April 13, at 7 p.m. at the home of Eric and Marilyn Enstrom, 1460 Stoddard Avenue in Wheaton (630-248-5016). All are welcome!

BARNABAS PRAYER FELLOWSHIP meets in the Centrum (2nd floor) of Covenant Living at Windsor Park to pray for our missionaries and hear from one of them. Details for April will be in the prayer enews.

Our Prayer Pulse email goes out every Monday. You can get prayer updates via that email. Sign up by clicking “Enews signup” on our website. If you already receive other emails from College Church, click “manage my preferences” at the bottom of any email and select Prayer Pulse to add yourself.

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