Steven Furtick - Don't Hold Your Breath (01/27/2026)
This sermon from Ezekiel 37 focuses on the power of speaking God's promises over "dry bone" situations instead of just describing problems. The preacher emphasizes that we must "prophesy to the breath"—worship and invite God's Spirit (Ruah) to bring life. The key message is "Don't Hold Your Breath," encouraging believers to actively breathe in God's grace and breathe out praise to transform graveyard surroundings into gardens.
The Graveyard Shift: Don't Hold Your Breath
Well, I want to read you a scripture that is going to speak today to this subject that we've been focusing on about surround, this word that God has called us to gather around here toward the end of the year. And I want to preach to you from the Old Testament book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter 37. It's a relatively well-known scripture. It's one that I've preached on before, but I never preached on it like this. I want to show you a picture today of what worship does in our lives, both individually and corporately.
I believe that what God is releasing through this word today will make a substantial difference in your life if you lean in and if you have an ear to hear. Ezekiel chapter 37, verse 1. The scripture says, The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord, and set me in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. And he asked me, Son of man, can these bones live? I said, Sovereign Lord, you alone know.
And then he said to me, Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. Say amen to that, somebody. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. The title of my message today is Don't Hold Your Breath. Don't hold your breath. Find as many people as you can around you that look like they're willing to speak to you, and tell them, Don't hold your breath. Don't hold your breath. Don't hold your breath. Don't hold your breath. You may be seated. Don't hold your breath.
The Power of Our Surroundings
I believe this passage of Scripture is a powerful case study. concerning the power of surroundings in our lives. It's really a study in surroundings and how our surroundings either affect us or we affect our surroundings, depending on our perspective. It's quite a contrast, as we look at Ezekiel chapter 37, between what God says he is able to do and what Ezekiel sees in his current situation. Surroundings are so powerful that retailers study our patterns, our buying behaviors, and our psychology, to the point that they determine what colors will make you spend more money during certain seasons in their store, because surroundings are a very powerful thing.
What music will make you more likely to spend? What BPM? How fast should the music be? How loud should it be? What fragrance, even, should they pump through the ventilation system of the store to get you to spend more money, because they understand the power of surroundings. The power of surroundings is very apparent in the educational system. The first few years that Holly and I were married, she was a school teacher. And she taught at an income, lower income, in a lower income district. And a lot of the students that she would try to help would seem to be making progress.
But she would become very frustrated, because while they were in the surroundings that she could control as a teacher, they would flourish. But then they would go back home many times to surroundings that were chaotic and often abusive. Eventually, your surroundings will begin to change you, and what's around you will get inside of you. This is why I like to be organized. I'm, by nature, not a very organized person. But I've learned that if my surroundings are more organized, it will allow me to think more clearly. And so I don't brag about this necessarily. But my closet, yes, it is color-coded. Don't even judge me. I hate you. But yes, I want all of the things facing the same way. Because, well, the first thing I've got to do when I wake up is put something on. And if the closet is cluttered, and if the closet feels chaotic, then before I even begin my day, I've already sent a message to myself that life is chaotic. There is no order to the universe. And it's amazing the power that our surroundings can have.
From Garden Vision to Graveyard Reality
Ezekiel is surrounded in this apocalyptic vision by decomposing bodies. That's a tough way to start your day. You saw dirty clothes spilling over. How about dead bones? And Ezekiel is transported, not physically, but in his spirit, or we could say mentally, to a valley. And he's set in the middle of the valley. And what he sees around him are sad surroundings. He sees around him not just death, but decomposing rotten corpses. It's a grotesque scene, to say the least, in Ezekiel 37, which is a contrast with what he sees in Ezekiel 36. Ezekiel 36, which comes right before Ezekiel 37, that's the kind of stuff they taught me in seminary. Very deep theological insight. Ezekiel is seeing another vision from the Lord, and he sees life. He sees hope. He sees restoration.
Look at Ezekiel 36, verse 34. He says, "'The desolate land,' this is God speaking to Ezekiel, "'will be cultivated, and instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass through it,' they will say, "'This land that was laid waste has become like the Garden of Eden. '" This is God's original intention for humanity, that we would flourish, that we would grow, that everything would work like it's supposed to work before sin and shame entered the picture, the Garden of Eden. God is taking Ezekiel back to the Garden in his mind and saying, "'I am in the process of making all things new. '"
How many of you are glad that God is still in the process of making all things new in our lives, of restoring and reclaiming and redeeming what sin and shame had caused to deteriorate? The nation of Israel was in trouble. They had been laid waste because of their own sin and disobedience. God is about cleaning up messes that he didn't cause. God is about reaching into situations that weren't his fault but visiting people with his grace who would have no other hope. He says, "'I'm going to do such a work that I'm going to make the state of this nation like the Garden of Eden. '" He's speaking about the Garden of Eden. He says, "'The cities that were lying in ruins, desolate and destroyed, are now fortified and inhabited. '"
Of course, they weren't yet fortified and inhabited. They were currently destroyed, but God lives outside of time, so he doesn't need to wait until it happens to declare what is going to happen. He instead brings your past in alignment with his vision for your future, and he says, "'Listen to what I'm going to do. I'm going to put you back in the Garden of Eden. '" Tell somebody next to you, "'I want to go back to the Garden. '" He says, "'I'm going to make your wasteland like the Garden of Eden so that the people can see that I am the Lord. '"
But immediately after receiving this vision of the Garden of Eden, Ezekiel goes to a much different surrounding, and God takes him from the garden to the graveyard. You ever had to go from the garden to the graveyard? Is anybody leaving church today and this is like the garden, but Monday is like the graveyard? Anybody know what I'm talking about? Sometimes we have to shift from surroundings that are serene and peaceful and hopeful to surroundings that seem to contradict what God spoke and seem so far away from the ideal. Ezekiel, and I wanted to call this message… I actually thought about titling this message, "'The Graveyard Shift.'". Ezekiel is staring at a garden one moment, and then he's staring at a graveyard the next.
Life is like this. You have to go from situations where you see life all around you and you feel the pulsating possibility of God's power within you into situations where you're faced with the reality of your current context that contradict what God spoke. Has anybody ever had to work the graveyard shift? The graveyard shift. It is to be surrounded by dead, dry, disjointed things. The graveyard shift. I notice God gives Ezekiel an instruction. He gives them a strategy, and I want to share this strategy with you today. I believe if you implement this strategy in your life, you'll see graveyards turn into gardens by the power of God. I believe you will.
The Strategy: Speak to It, Not About It
Here's the strategy. God says, Ezekiel, I want you to build a bridge from the graveyard to the garden with your words. With your words. He said, I want you to look at it again, verse 4. He says, I want you to prophesy. To prophesy means to declare the word of the Lord. I want you to prophesy to these bones and say to them, dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. I want you to prophesy to these bones. I'm sympathizing with Ezekiel. I like to call him Zeke. He's my friend. I preached in some churches just like this that he's describing here. And I feel like I have, in my heart, I have a compassion for him. Because I preached in some settings. Not you. Other churches. I'm talking about other churches right now. It wouldn't apply to you. But sometimes I feel... In fact, my camera operators that program the videos for the TV show each week, they told me, Pastor, sometime we ought to show the church the outtakes of when we shoot the crowd for TV of all the people that we don't show. I see a few people right now that we would never cut to you on TV. It would not minister to anyone. It would not be a blessing to anyone.
So, I feel for Ezekiel, because he must have felt pretty stupid. saying stuff to dry bones, dead surroundings. But sometimes you have to do it. Sometimes you have to stop talking about what you see and start speaking to what you see. Let me tell you our problem. We spend too much time talking about what's around us and not enough time talking to what's around us. He says, Prophesy to these bones. Most of us are very good at describing the dry bones in our lives. Most of us are very good at describing the problems in our lives, describing the complexities of our lives. But yet, the sovereign Lord places Ezekiel in the middle of the valley, and he says, I don't want you to speak about what you see. I want you to speak about what I said. Until what you see looks like what I said. This is powerful, y'all. He said, I didn't bring you to the valley to give me color commentary on the bones.
Mimicking Knowledge vs. Manifesting Power
My oldest son, Elijah, is currently learning all about the human body in school. He takes great joy in sharing with us everything he's learning, as a nine-year-old is staggering his retention and the power of his memory. He can identify parts of the body. In fact, he gives us lessons about the digestive system as we sit down to eat dinner. It's like living with a walking Wikipedia search engine. Most of the time, I thank God for it until he asked me, Daddy, didn't you learn this stuff in school? To which I say, shut up if you ever want to play video games again. Eat your chicken. But it's endearing. It's adorable to hear him describe everything he's learning, and especially to see him teach it to his little siblings. He's now teaching them and disseminating the knowledge which he has so recently acquired to them.
In fact, we heard our three-year-old, Abby, the other day in the bathtub. She took some kind of fall or something, and we heard her cry from upstairs, Ow! It hurt my hiney and my patella. I love that juxtaposition. My hiney and my patella. Come on. How many of you are secretly wondering what exactly is a patella, but you're trying to look like you get the joke? You're laughing along. Yeah, me too. I had to ask. That's your kneecap. I thought, a three-year-old can mimic the vocabulary to sound like she knows something she really doesn't know. I thought about a lot of Christians who know how to identify every bone in their spiritual body and have a vocabulary and can tell you about the patella and can tell you about the gluteus Maximus and can use spiritual-sounding language and know Bible stories.
But, see, it's not whether or not you can point to the bone that determines whether or not you've got the life of God inside of you. It's not whether or not you can use spiritual vocabulary that determines your spiritual maturity. It's whether or not, when you open up your mouth and speak, do your surroundings change? Are you changing anything? Is anything becoming different around you? Are you moving things forward in the earth? So, I have a question for you. Are you going to change your surroundings, or are your surroundings going to change you? This is the decision we must make in the valley of dry bones, because all of us are surrounded by some stuff that's not working right. All of us are surrounded by some stuff that won't seem to come together and function according to God's Word.
I love what the Welsh preacher, Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, said. He said, Most of our problems in life happen because we spend too much time listening to ourselves and not enough time talking to ourselves. God said, Ezekiel, you see these bones? They look dry, don't they? Yes, Lord, they're dry. They look. dead, don't they? Yes, Lord, they look dead. They're decomposing, aren't they? Yes, Lord, they are. And the Lord asked a question. Can they live again? Now, see, the question here is not, can God make dry bones live again? But the question is, can these dead bones live again? Most of us have a belief that God can do big things. We just don't know if he can do big things through somebody as small as us. It's not God we doubt most of the time. It's these bones. It's this. It's this is my problem. Not that, but this. This. This. And the Lord said, Can they live again? And Ezekiel said, Only you know, Lord. And the Lord said, I want to use you to speak life into something that seems to be dead.
And so God brought me here today to challenge you to stop describing your problems problems and start declaring his promises over your problems. I'm going to say it again until the whole church explodes like you ought to. He said, As long as you're describing your problems, nothing's going to change. But if you'll start declaring my promises to your problems and stop telling me all the stuff that's wrong that I already know and start speaking what I said into the surroundings, you see, tell somebody next to you, talk to it. Stop talking about it and start talking to it. Stop listening to every dysfunctional thought that comes into your mind and start telling your mind to align with the Word of God, with the perfect, flawless Word of God, with the invincible, incorruptible, incorruptible Word of God. Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. Come on.
From Rattling Noise to Right Alignment
I'm done describing problems. I've spent my whole life letting my problems define me. I'm about to declare some promises until something changes. And he said, Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones. I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will… Listen to how specific. Dr. Ezekiel is about what he believes God is going to do. In great detail, he describes. the miracle before he can see the evidence. He says, See, I have to stop. You're using your imagination the wrong way. You're doing an autopsy of all of the things that are wrong in your life. You can describe in great detail everything that's wrong with you with great detail all the mistakes you've made, with great detail all the stuff that's working against you, with great detail all the disadvantages, all the people that hurt you with great detail.
But what if you made the shift, the graveyard shift, and started speaking about what you saw in the garden. while you stand in the graveyard. It's a shift. I'm done talking about this. It's time to talk to it. I'm done thinking about this. I want to think my way through this. I want to think some higher thoughts. So he said, here's what God is going to do. I will attach tendons to you, and I'll make flesh come upon you, and I will cover you with skin, and I'll put breath in you. And see the detail? I'll make your patella work right again. Your patella. That's how Abby said it. Your patella. Your patella. Come on, point to your patella right now. I don't know why. I don't know why. I just went with it. I want to see if you do it. But see, sometimes you have to point to stuff in your life. Yeah, that's it. That's the word. Sometimes you have to point to something in your life and specifically start giving instructions to the parts of your life that don't align with God's word and start... Watch what happened when he did. Watch what happened when he did. He starts speaking about what God was going to do before he could see it.
Verse 7, verse 7. Take me to 7. Take me to 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded. He didn't see the picture yet, but he had the power. And see, if you release the power, it's just a matter of time before you see the picture. But stop trying to wait until you see the picture to pronounce the power. You got to release it before God will reveal it. He said, so I prophesied. I feel this so strong. I'm not going to be able to hold back. I'm not going to be able to dial it down. I'm not going to be able to pace myself. I just got to go. I got to go with what I feel. I feel this. I feel this. He said, when I said what God told me to say, I heard a noise. See, I didn't see a sight yet, but I heard a noise. See, because faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the word of God. So if you wait for what you see, you'll always walk by sight Not by faith. But if you'll go by what you hear, you'll hear a sound. Elijah said, I hear the sound of the abundance of rain. I don't see a cloud in the sky yet, but I hear something starting to shift, starting to shake, something to rattle. There was a noise. Come on, make that B3 rattle.
He said, I heard a noise. I heard a sound. I heard a sound. I heard a sound. A rattling sound. God said, the stuff that's been rattling you, you're about to rattle it. When you make a sound and release a praise, something's going to happen. And the bones came together. And the bones came together. Grab somebody on either side of you and say, it's all coming together. It's all coming together. It's all coming together. You know, I don't have my act together yet. I don't have my life together yet. I don't have my business plan together yet. I don't have all my relationships together yet. I don't have my mind together yet, but it's coming together. I said, it's coming together. I said, it's coming together. I see it coming together. I see stuff coming together. I see bones starting to hook up that were dead for a while. Ezekiel preached so good that the bones came together bone to bone, bone to bone.
I came out here this weekend to try to preach so hard that stuff would start coming together in your life and in your mind. Stuff would start coming together that looked like it fell apart and stuff would start coming together. I wanted to preach so good today. I asked God to give me a word so strong that you would hear it like it was just for you, and you'd look at what's surrounding you, and you'd start to change what you say about your surroundings until your surroundings start to reflect. Oh my God! Come on! I want to preach till the bones stand up straight. I want to preach till everything in your life aligns with what God has said. Come on, stand up straight! That's what Ezekiel said. Stand up straight! You've been lying there long enough. Stand up straight! Come on, shake 13 people, tell them stand up straight! Stand up straight! Stand up! Stand up! Straighten up! Stand up! Straighten up! Woo! Okay. Okay. Okay. So now that we have established the introduction, let me preach my message.
Assembled but Not Alive: The Missing Breath
He said the bones came together, but something was wrong. He said the bones came together and started to come together, and there was skin on it and there was flesh on it, and looked better than it did when it got there. But just because it looks better doesn't mean it is yet. Just because you look successful. doesn't mean you really are. Just because you look happy. Just because you tucked it, painted it, botoxed it, tanned it. White people. Just because you… Oh, you can put some lotion on it too. I speak to everybody in the church. But he said, look, and they had all the stuff. They had all the stuff, but there was no breath in them. So what came next? What came next? What came next? What came next? This is the part that all week long, I've been reading this verse.
Now, the way that a sermon typically. comes to me is an idea or a thought, particularly a passage of Scripture or maybe just a phrase, will seem to jump off the page, do a cartwheel, and throw confetti, and scream and yell, over here, preach about me, until I finally engage with it. What got me to the point that every time I would read this phrase this week, I would become emotional and get teary-eyed reading what God said to Ezekiel next. I believe it's the thing that many of you have been missing that is why your life looks religious or why your life looks together, but something is missing. It's what God said to Ezekiel next. Then he said to me, prophesy to the breath. Everybody just breathe real quick. I need to breathe myself. Preaching like this is a physical endeavor. I have to get on the rowing machine if I'm going to preach like this, because you have to have a lung capacity to get after it and yell at people like I yell at you.
He said, there's a problem with my people. They're out of breath. He said, my people are out of breath. He said, my church is short of breath. He said, my church can't do what I want it to do, because my church is out of breath. He said, my church has assembled, and they look like a church, and they have skin, But they don't have enough breath. And I want you to prophesy. Just declare the word of the Lord to the breath. I believe this is a picture of worship. And I believe that because the Hebrew word for breath is ruah. Ruah. And that word ruah is translated in English both as breath and spirit. It's the same word. There's no distinction. Breath and spirit.
So when God breathed into Adam in Genesis chapter 2, verse 7, the breath of life, the ruah of life, he was breathing his breath, which became the spirit of the man. So he formed the man from the ground, and then he filled the man with his breath. God said, some of you are formed but not filled. You know, you've got designer stuff, but you're still just a skeleton. Until you are filled with my spirit. And so he said, prophesy. Go back to Ezekiel. Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to it, this is what the sovereign Lord says. Come breath from the four winds and breathe into these slain. Breathe into whatever's dead. Breathe into dead dreams. Breathe into dead hopes. Breathe into dying aspirations. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Breathe, and from the four winds, as the breath of God enters the body of these previously dead bones, they may live.
And I felt like the Lord said, when you go out there this week, don't preach. I mean, do a sermon, but instead of just preaching, prophesy to the breath. And then I said, well, Lord, what does that mean? Because if I just get up there and tell the people to prophesy to the breath, they're going to look at me like you're looking at me right now. This is what I predicted. I studied it, and I kept studying it, looking for a technical definition. And I found none, but toward the end of this week, as I was trying to figure out exactly what God wanted you to hear from this passage, I was walking past my bookshelf in my office, which is full of many big books that I have never read, books that they taught me how to purchase in seminary. And if you ever see them, it will look impressive to you. But I was walking on that bookshelf looking for a book that may give me some further direction.
The Story of Martin Smith: A Prophetic Coincidence
It's funny because I don't really believe in that much coincidence. I mean, some things are coincidental, but did you know in Hebrew there is no word for our English word that we call coincidence? Because to them it didn't exist. And so, I mean, I know that some things are just coincidental, but this seemed kind of weird to me. So I'm walking, I'm studying about prophesy to the breath, and one of the worship songs that is by a friend of mine, I call him a friend, he's really more like an acquaintance, but I'm sure we'd be friends if we had more time together, but I haven't been around him that much. His name is Martin Smith, and we've been at a few events together, and he led the Christian rock band called Delirious. In the 90s, they were the biggest Christian rock band. They were bigger than Bono and The Edge in the 90s, and they actually took a lot of Christian music mainstream. And he wrote a lot of the worship songs that we would have sung through the last few decades.
And I was walking through my office by the bookshelf, and one of his songs came on, on the speakers in my office, just randomly, one of his songs. But while the song came on, I walked by his book that he had given me in Bogota, Colombia, the last time we were together. The book is called Delirious, and it's about his band, and it's a memoir of his life. And I thought, well, this is kind of quirky, coincidental. Maybe it's not a coincidence. He's a worship leader, and I'm kind of talking about worship and release. Maybe I should take this book and read a little bit of it and see what's in it. And so I pulled it off the shelf, and Martin, if you ever watched this, I'm sorry it took me a year to pick up your book because most of the books I just put on my shelf. If you ever send me one, I probably won't read it because, you know, I've got a lot of books. But I pulled this one out. I said, I'm going to read the first chapter and see what's in it. And when I read it, it didn't take me long because I saw why God had me pick up this book, and I understood why God told Ezekiel to prophesy to the breath. And I realized why God had me preach this message to you today.
So he's telling a little bit about his life before he became a rock star. Tell somebody next to you, don't hold your breath. And he tells this story. He's telling about when he was a little child. He says, my mom and dad still talk about the day. At two months old, I developed bronchitis, which gradually worsened. At six months old, when my parents rushed me back to the hospital... See, I didn't know this part of his story. He said, I was six months old. My parents rushed me back to the hospital, and I was diagnosed with bronchial pneumonia. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe. I was crying. I wasn't even making a sound, so the medics took me and placed me inside an iron lung, a covered and sealed cot designed to get little bodies like mine breathing again. And my parents had no idea whether I would make it out alive. They watched me laying silent, my life in the hands of this strange-looking piece of equipment. All they could do was pray. Their prayer was simple. Thank you for giving Martin to us, Lord. We are willing to give him back to you, but could you please breathe into his lungs and let him make a noise? Then he says, I guess God heard them. I guess he took them up on their offer, because he went on to travel the globe singing songs of worship.
The Enemy's Attack on Your Breath
But watch this. He went on to make a noise that would shake the world for the glory of God. He went on to make a noise. But see what the devil did to Martin Smith, the devil will try to do to you, because he knows that your life is meant to make a noise, to make a sound, to declare the praises of him who brought you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So what the devil will try to do, he'll try to take your breath away, see? He'll try to hit you so hard. He'll try to let life confuse you so much that it'll knock the wind out of you, that it'll knock the breath out of you, that you'll spend your life gasping for breath, that you'll spend your life trying to breathe and wondering, why is this not working? But God said, I brought you to church this weekend so you could breathe again. I didn't just bring you here so you could hear a sermon and sing some songs. I want to breathe my life into your lungs till you make a sound. If you got what I was just preaching, you'd open your mouth and praise God a little bit. Because the devil knows that if you ever make the sound that your life was intended to make, if you ever line up straight with the Word of God, if you ever catch this breath that God is breathing, he knows you'll be unstoppable. See? He knows there's something God wants to release through your life, and that's why he's fighting you like he's fighting you. Don't you see it? That's why he's fighting your kids like he's fighting your kids. That's why he's attacking your mind like he's attacking your mind. He's trying Trying to take your breath away. That's why I preach. I preach like I'm preaching, because somebody is out of breath, and they're not going to make it if they don't breathe. They're not going to get it together if they don't breathe. They're not going to make the difference God intended for them to make if they don't breathe. Until you breathe, you're just bones. Breathe.
He said, Prophesy and say to the breath, Oh, I just saw this. He was surrounded by the bones, but he was also surrounded by the breath. I don't know why I didn't think of this before now. I preached his messages the third time, but I never saw it until just right now. It must be the inspiration of Tom Bush. I don't know why, but somebody in those churches made me think about this. He was surrounded by the bones, but he was also surrounded by the breath. Remember that little sermon I preached a few weeks ago where they were surrounded by the enemy, but the enemy was surrounded by God. Now you have to look past your immediate surroundings and see what God is doing all around you. He's surrounded by the breath. He said, I want you to talk to the breath. Come, breath, from the four winds, and breathe into these slain, that they may live.
Next verse, I'm on a roll, so I prophesy as he commanded me, and breath entered them. Then they came to life and stood up on their feet, a vast army, when he spoke to the breath. The Scripture says in Mark 15, 37, with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last. They thought it was over when he breathed his last. As he expelled the last bit of oxygen from his lungs, they watched as his life left his body. But when he breathed out, we breathed in. See, he breathed out. so you could breathe in. He was broken so you could be healed by his stripes. They broke his body, and he gave up his breath. But how many know that the breath that he breathed. is the air that we breathe? See, I know it.
In Acts chapter 1, after Jesus had risen from the grave, after he breathed his last with a loud cry, it is finished. Tetelestai, he said, as he hung broken on the cross. As he breathed his last, after he got up from the grave three days later, he had a meeting with the disciples. He appeared to them with convincing signs and proof for 40 days that he was alive, that he was alive, that he lives, that he lives, that he conquered death, that he lives forever. And he showed them the nail prints in his hand, and he showed them the nail prints in his feet. And when he got ready to go back up to heaven, the disciples wanted to know, Jesus, when are you coming back? When are you going to come and set straight all the stuff that's wrong in the world? Many of the same questions we ask today of religion. God, when are you going to fix stuff? And God, when are you going to put stuff back together? And God, when are you going to do everything to make it? When is everything going to be right? When are you going to come down?
The Promise of Pentecost: Power to Breathe Out
And Jesus said something interesting to them. He said, He said, "'It's not for you to know the times or the seasons that the Father has set in his own authority.'" In other words, don't hold your breath for me to come back. Don't hold your breath. Don't wait for me to come back. He said, "'Cause I'm going to prepare a place for you, and when I leave, I'm going to send my spirit. '" Hold up. I'm going to send my breath. The same breath that I breathed out on the cross, I'm about to breathe in. To my church. Come on, y'all. Help me preach this. I need to get this out. God said, "'I'm going to send my spirit.'"
Watch this. Acts 1-8. "'And you will receive power when the breath of God God breathes in to your lungs. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will receive power. ' You will receive power. Some of you are dying because you are not breathing. God brought you here I'm here to give you your breath back so you could breathe in his grace. Some of you are dying inside because you have the bones together, but you haven't learned to breathe, to worship God. That's what we're doing when we're worshiping. You know that, right? We're breathing today. Well, Pastor, I come to church and I try to put it into practice, but it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It seemed to work for me. Sweetheart, you can't breathe once a week and expect to live. I'm good until next Sunday. No. You're dead. That's why you have to breathe in his words. See, you have to get your breath back. Don't hold your breath. Breathe in his grace. Breathe deep the breath. Breathe from the four winds of the earth he sent the breath. Watch this. This freaked me out. In Ezekiel's vision... You're going to love this. Bible nerds, get ready. The winds came from the four winds of the earth, right? From the outside, the winds came.
But Jesus said in Acts 1-8, you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. I don't know if you see it. In Ezekiel, the wind came from the ends of the earth, but now the wind that is inside of you, the breath of God that left the body of Christ and went into the... You are Messiah. Soruton. We are nói in Jerusalem. We are his body. And it's time for the body to breathe out. Breathe out. Breathe out his grace. Breathe, church! Breathe, breathe! Breathe! giver worship him! Worship him! Shabbat! breathe! Breathe! Breathe! It said, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together. Everybody say, let's get together. It says, Acts chapter 2, verse 1, it says, when the day of Pentecost came, they were all together, just like those bones came together in the valley in Ezekiel.
I believe there's a church coming together across multiple locations, across all continents, across all cultures, across all traditions. It said, when the day of Pentecost, watch, when it came, they were all together in one place. Take me to the next verse, to the next verse. And suddenly, a sound like the blowing of a violent wind. I feel a wind blowing in this place. Do you feel it? Do you feel it? Do you feel it? It's the breath of God, my brother. It's the breath of God, my sister. Come on, breathe. Worship him. Worship him. You have to worship him. You have to breathe. You have to learn how to stand in valleys and worship him in valleys and turn your graveyard into a garden when you begin to glorify God with your mouth, with your life, with your praise, with your salt. Come on, breathe, church. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Everybody, everybody take a deep breath and hold it. Take a deep breath. Hold it. How long can you live like that? Some of you are dying inside because you're not breathing in, but some of you are dying inside because you're not breathing out. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. Let it go. I'm saying praise him. Praise him. Praise him. Praise him. When you praise him, you begin to prophesy to everything in your life and say, Hear the word of the Lord. I know I don't feel unstoppable, but my God is unstoppable. I know I don't feel grateful, but I am grateful. Hear the word of the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Don't leave me up here by myself at every location. Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary. Praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power. Praise him for his surpassing greatness. Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet. Praise him with the harp and lyre. Praise him with the timbrel and dancing. Praise him with the strings and pipe. Praise him with the clash of the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. With the cymbals. If you got breath, praise! If you got breath, don't hold it! If you got a praise, let it out! Praise! Praise!