All right, you may be seated.
Over here. Certainly, he has a right to
pass us by. We don't want what we deserve.
We'd like for him to stop by ourself and set us free. And we pray he does that for
someone today. I want to welcome those who are
joining us today all over the country. We're live on Facebook
today so I think we're back on now again after a short time
here being off so you can tell your friends to join us on Sunday
morning. Ezekiel chapter 37 verse 11 Then the Lord said unto me, Son
of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. And here's one
of my favorite words. Behold, what does it mean, church? Look! Astonishment, amazement,
wonder. Behold, the bones are talking. They say our bones are dried
and our hope is lost. We are cut off for our parts. I want to speak to you today
using the subject Peace in the Valley. Today we go to the valley. The valley where death seems
to reign. A place where there is no smile,
no laughter, except for the hideous giggles of demons. The valley
of dry bones, which represents the universal depravity of man. I'm sure that you understand
this to some degree, whether you're a Christian or non-Christian.
Man is evil. You don't have to go very far
to discover that. Just stick your head in your
belly button. You'll find enough there to send you to hell. Oh, today if we could just find a
sinner. The valley of dry bones then
represents depravity. There is none good. No, not one. Verse 11 says these bones are
the whole house of Israel or the whole house of humanity.
There is no difference whether you're a crackhead in here using
heroin or you're a deacon in First Baptist Church. You are
a sinner. And you by nature and by choice
and by practice have missed the mark, you've come short of the
glory of God, you are not good enough to go to heaven. All have sinned. Here in the
valley there is no light, only complete darkness. And for some
there is a double darkness in this valley, because some in
this valley of dry bones are religious, And for them, there
is not only the darkness of their own nature, but that of religion. I know you, some of you in here,
are not an addict. You are religious. You are in
a double darkness. You are without God and without
Christ. You don't have a needle in your
arm. You've got a Bible under your arm. and proclaiming yourself
to be righteous by your own doings. You too live in darkness, only
you have a double darkness, the darkness of your nature, which
is your natural depravity, and you have sought out a self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. You think
yourself better than others. In fact, I'm a little surprised
you're here today. An inner city church filled with
those who have walked the streets in prostitution, who have used
drugs. Maybe you've just come over to
make us a little better. You sat in the church pew. You
sing in the choir loft. You attempt to camouflage yourself
with the fig leaf aprons of religion. While claiming yourself to be
righteous, you are a fool. While claiming, Lord, Lord, have
we not done many wonderful works in your name? Pastor, I haven't been here 30
minutes and you've already offended me. That's good. That's good. Because you're hearing me. And maybe you will be awakened
today of your need of salvation. Here in the valley, you wrap
yourselves in the filthy rags of your own righteousness. Play
church. And to the God who gave His only
begotten Son to save poor sinners, you will not submit yourself,
but go about to establish your own righteousness. And there
is nothing that angers the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ any more than for you to try and attempt to establish
your own righteousness. God will not have it. I can tell you, as for me, I
would rather stand before God as a heroin addict without Christ
than a church-going self-righteous Pharisee. Now you know I have
covered both ends of the spectrum. There is none good, no not one. Today you're here and there's
not a shout in your heart. In fact, You are a little shocked
by all the joy in this place. You like that spooky organ music
and the church anodyne and that sort of thing. But there are
some in here who were in the valley of dry bones. And their bones were very dry.
and something happened. And so there is a shout in their
heart. There is a joy. There are others
in this valley who live in the dark shadows of the valley of
death, in the alleys, in the hood of life, whispering to the
suppliers of their addiction in code words, offering their
bodies in trade for a hit to fill their valley of needs with
a brief sense of fulfillment. Some in here have slept with
dogs. Some have performed unspeakable acts of depravity, committing
acts which generated in hell, and are only committed in sin's
dark valley. for they cannot bear the light
of day. Some in here nearing the brink
where they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and God
is close to finally giving them over to a reprobate mind where
they shall live in hell, go to hell for certain. It's been fixed. It's the unpardonable sin of
reprobate mind. You will not turn. You will not
acknowledge God. And your daily life is lived
in constant rebellion against the God of heaven who sent his
own son into the world. You will not bow. You will not
acknowledge him as Lord. Reprobate. doing things that are even contrary
to nature, as Romans 1 talks about. So in this valley there
is nothing but dry bones, very dry, the scripture says. Is that
your life? Are you a dry bone? Is life,
you have a dry bone existence? Every day you get up with the
purpose to try to bring life back into your very being and
Seeking those forms of life that only bring more destruction Are
you living life according to the course of this world? I? Hear all the time. Everybody's
doing it and everybody's going to hell to Look in your own soul you have
no life Whether you're Church entity
or you're using drugs, life is not good. You don't have abundant
life. Here's what Jesus said, I'm come that you might have
life and have it more abundantly. Are you living according to the
Prince and power of the air? Just take a look at yourself.
Does the devil do what you do? Yes. You and he are partners
in this walk of life, according to Ephesians 2. The prince and
power of the air, demonic spirits control your life, and you seemingly
don't have a clue. That's how desperate it is in
this dry bone valley. You're living in the lust of
your flesh. Just think about what you long for. What you crave
that comes from the very recesses of your depravity. And those of us who try to throw
up roadblocks and try to stop you, you will not have it. Dry
bone. Without God. Not living on the
mountain of life, but in the valley. I say this quite often
to this congregation. I hear this over 50 some years,
I've heard this, well, you know, pastor, the Christian life is
just so tough. No, the crack heroin life is
tough. The dry valley life is what's
tough. Miss Pam was rehearsing with
me why I ought to be happy today. This morning. I am so blessed. She said, Kent,
you got up this morning. You're smiling. You're in good
health. You have a house. You have a
beautiful wife. She didn't say that, but I said
that. You have two daughters. You have grandkids. You'll eat
today. We're going to go out and get
in a nice Chrysler 300. You're going to drive to church.
There are people waiting there. The Lord is there. That's my
life. That's my life. Some of you are past feeling.
Say, well, Pastor, you're frightening me just a little bit. That's
good, too. I hope you see yourself in this valley of dry bones,
and I hope today that someone here cries out this way, our
bones are dried and our hope is lost. I hope I can hear that
from somebody today. I hope somebody acknowledges
that. The desperately wicked heart
longs for nothing more or less than to fulfill its own selfish
desires. Look at yourself, look at your
life. You don't care what mom wants for you. You don't care
what dad wants for you. You don't care what the pastor
wants. You don't care what grandma or auntie want. You're going
to fulfill your own desires. That's called depravity. That's
called wickedness. Honey, you need a savior. It's demonic mentality. Caring
not for mom or dad or children, without natural affection. Dry
bones, very dry. Parched. I've been here at Grace
Centers for over 30 some years. I'm not surprised anymore. I'm
not surprised at the depravity. I'm not surprised at what I hear. I'm not surprised at what people
do. It's called depravity. The gloomy truth is that we are
all together become abominable, and all flesh has perverted its
own ways. And you, my friend, without Christ,
are lost. You're lost. You are so lost that you won't
even acknowledge you're lost. You have no sense. Every day
is a loss. You do the crazy stuff over and
over and over again and put on a persona like you have a sound
mind. You're nuts. doing the same thing over and
over and reaping the same consequence. Why do you do it? Like the poor wretch who was
possessed with a legion of devils. Fetters couldn't bind him, that's
you. Chains couldn't restrain him,
that's you. You're a wild ass's cult that
can't be tamed. We try to tame you, but the truth
is, Grace Centers of Hope can't tame you. Our programs can't
tame you. This church can't tame you. Religion
can't tame you. You're demonic. It's demonic. Now, let's get some relief. Some in this valley, and what
a wonder it is, some in this valley find it to be unbearable. That's what verse 11 tells us. Behold, I'm telling you, it's an amazing
thing when a dry bone goes like this. Behold, my life is a disaster. I am demon possessed. I can't bear it anymore. Oh,
that's a glorious thing. I hope some of you today, instead
of getting mad at me, you sit there and you go like this. That's
true, that's true. What you said to me, my life
is nothing. I have no life and I do the same
things over and over and over. I'm a dry bone pastor. I'm cut
off. I've lost everything. And I feel
inside there is no hope. Oh, I got some good news for
you. I've got some good news for you. You see, the word behold there
is there because this dry bone begins to feel. Begins to feel. Some of you are
so arrogant in what you do. You're not ashamed of it. You
don't feel. You don't mourn. You don't struggle. You don't cry out in desperateness. Why in your wickedness will you
not cry out? Because you don't see it. What
a glorious thing it is for the Holy Spirit of God to come where
you are and open your eyes to yourself. And you look and you say, behold,
I am a dry bone. and hope is lost. When you get
to the place where you surrender, I thought it was so awesome as
I read the testimonies in our newsletter, every girl in here
talked about getting to the place where they surrender, where there
was no hope left, where they gave up. Mary talks about in
her jail cell, calling on the Lord, giving up down on her knees. What a wonder to find a wandering
sheep who is most skilled in wandering. Oh, I'm not saying
you're not good at wandering. Oh, you are so good. I often
say, we have the best cons in all the world at Grace Centers
of Hope. We hire a new staff person, and I always go, these
people are good. They will convince you. There's
going to be problems with our drops. Every test we run, there's
something wrong with it. They're so smooth. When they
get their AVOs, they're not going to be where they say they're
going. They're liars. They're cheats. That's why we
have to call and say, don't come three days later and drop. Come
right now. Because we don't believe you.
How am I preaching today? That's how lost you are. We're
trying to save you in the sense of saving your life where you
don't die. We had another girl OD just this past week. Just wanted to make one more
run. And that was her comment, I understand. I think I have
one more run in me. And bless her heart, she did.
But that one more run took her out into eternity. What we're
doing is like this. Hey, the bridge is out! The bridge
is out! But you are so stiff-necked. Which reminds me of a scripture
in the book of Proverbs. He that hardeneth his neck shall
suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. There was a young lady sitting
in a service where Brother Barnard was preaching. And as he preached,
she broke down and was just sobbing. And Brother Barnard went up to
her and said, young lady, may I help
you? And she said, for God's sake,
preacher, leave me alone. And he said, for God's sake,
I will. She left that service, drove
a mile, and ran into a brick wall and died. You don't want the preacher or
God to leave you alone. What you want is a visitation
from the Holy Spirit. What you need is a God visitation. Some of you in here have never
had any serious thoughts about seeking the Lord. You're not
seeking the Lord. You're only here today somewhat
because you have to be here if you're going to eat our food
and live in our beds and take showers over there. The only
reason you're here is because the world has beat you up and
you ended up in a homeless shelter and then you had to come over
here to church. There is some sense in which I have a captive
audience, at least for a little while. But what needs to happen in your
life is you need to come to see that you are a dry bone. What's behind this outburst?
Our bones are dried and our hope is lost. What's behind it? Well, look at verse 5 of chapter
37. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, Behold! I will cause breath to enter
into you, and you shall live." Oh, something so awesome could
happen. You know, if God's not here and
God does nothing, we've just gone through a religious exercise
today. You do know that. But there is
a goosebump understanding on my part that God is here and
that God is speaking. through this preacher. But the
truth is, if my poor voice is the only voice you hear today,
you will leave here none the better. But if in the providence
of God, through my voice, the Holy Spirit speaks life to you,
what an awesome thing. If the Holy Spirit of God, which
is the Spirit of Jesus, comes where you are and says, The first evidence that you have
life is you will begin to mourn over your sin. You will know,
in fact, that you need a Savior. Only sinners get saved. It's
the truth. And only God, in the power of
the Holy Spirit, can turn you inside out and say, look at yourself. Just look at yourself. through
spiritual eyes. And when you see yourself, you
cry out, unclean like the leopard, unclean. Lord, if thou wilt,
thou canst make me whole. And the Lord will say, I will. He'll not turn thumbs down on
you. Think about this, dear church. If the Lord had left us until
our nature had spontaneous desired renewal, and our hearts had panted
after his salvation, he would have left us forever. For we
would have chosen the downward path, and after the lust of this
world, we would have gone. The truth is, Jesus is not lost,
you are. And he came to seek and to save
that which was lost. Wouldn't it be a great thing
today if he was seeking you? Wouldn't it be a great thing
if someone here, white while I'm preaching, couldn't take
it anymore? Pass me not, O gentle Savior,
while on others Thou art calling, do not pass me by. It's all right. You want to disrupt our service?
That's a way to disrupt it. I'll keep on preaching. You keep
on crying. Pass me not. You see, there's
only one spirit that can deal with the spirit of this age,
and that's the Holy Spirit. You're not going to quit running. You're not going to quit using
until something powerful outside of your dry bone life gets a
hold of you and does for you what you cannot do for yourself. And here's what the Lord says,
behold, all my people. Behold, all my people. I read
that and reading that this week. And on one occasion, as I read
it, the spirit of God jumped in my heart and this great to
behold, all my people. And I went like this, who? Dry
bones? Are you saying that these dry
bones, some of these dry bones are your people? Oh, some of
you don't even know as yet that you're His person. That you were
chosen before the foundation of the world. You don't get saved
accidentally. You get saved on purpose. You
have been predestinated to be here. God is so good to you that
in all of your craziness, He brought you in here. In all of
your stubbornness, He brought you here to hear the gospel.
And then he comes to you, the hound of heaven. Oh, he has tracked
you down. You went and hid in the hood.
You hid in the crack house. And every once in a while, you'd
even go to church and hide and sit there and go, hallelujah.
You were half high then. And did the religious thing. Amen. Behold, I will cause breath to
enter into you, and you shall live. I say this quite often,
and I'll say it again. There is no hope over at Grace
Center. There's a hope for the addict outside of Jesus Christ. And
here's what I see. And as I've gotten older and
longer in the ministry, I see we've got to do something about
this. People go through our little program. If you don't get saved
in our program in about seven, eight months, you're going to
move over to Seneca Street and get drunk. You're going to move
over to Seneca Street and put a needle in your arm. You're
going to get high. You're going to be sneaking from
house to house, you girls and guys over there. You know why? Because the same OU that came
in Grace Centers of Hope is still the same OU. We just moved you
over there. You just moved from one location
to another, but it's the same OU. The truth is, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creation. I was thinking about it this
week. We don't know what to do about the heroin addict. Everybody's
throwing their hands up in there. Let me tell you this, 33,000
people died this year from heroin overdose or more. I know the answer to heroin overdose. You must be born again. You're
not going to quit heroin unless something more powerful than
heroin gets a hold of you. It's true. But there is hope. Oh, if you're a heroin user here,
I'll get back to you church people in a little bit. If you're a
heroin user here and you've just run out of hope, you just have
no hope. It has just kicked your butt.
and you are just worn out. Oh, good. I've got some good
news for you. There is abundant life in Jesus
Christ. Come just as you are without
one plea to Jesus Christ. Here's what we all need to realize. And this will cause great praise.
Verse 14 says, then shall you know that I, the Lord, have spoken
it and performed it, saith the Lord. My one message is this, that
salvation is of the Lord. That's it. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's what you will say. If
you ever come to know him, you're gonna say it. Some people say,
I don't know about all that grace stuff. I don't know whether it's
all of grace. I mean, you know, I just feel like that we ought
to have a part. Yeah, you do the sending, he
does the saving. The sending is your part. If he had not come to you, you
would never have come to him. You see, God is sovereign. I'm
so glad that He has not dropped the reins to this universe, that
our God reigns. Amen. That He reigns. I'm so glad He reigns. All right,
I'll be right with you, baby. Miss Pam? I think we may have had a Holy
Spirit interruption, which is okay. Okay. We've come to Christ. And that's what I'm talking about. That's what I'm talking about.
Wait a minute, news alert, news alert. Let's have a flash here. What happened? Wants God to change
her life. You know, Oh, a dry bone. Wanting God to
change their life. That's the beginning. What He's done for others, He'll
do for you. Oh Lord, change my life. Have mercy. Our God is such a
great God. He is sovereign. Isaiah 46 9 Remember the former
things of old for I'm God and there is none else. I'm God and
there's none like me declaring they in from the beginning and
from ancient times the things that are not yet done saying
my counsel shall stand I will do all my pleasure and calling
a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel
from a far country. I have spoken it. I will also
bring it to pass. I have purposed it. I will also
do it." That verse says the same thing Romans 8 says, Romans 8
says, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate. Whom
he predestinated, them he also called. Whom he called, them
he also justified. Whom he justified, them he also
glorified who shall separate us from the love of God I am
persuaded that neither life nor death nor principalities nor
powers nor things present nor things to come nor any other
creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus young lady I don't know I don't know your
name and I don't know your experience here but I do know this By the
time you began to say, I want God to change my life, He's already
been working. He plants a hunger and a thirst. It's because God and the power
of the Holy Spirit has already come to you that you say, my
bones are dry. It's evidence of life. And you,
hath He made alive, who were dead He came to your grave, to
your tomb, and said, live. And here you are alive. Let's
stand and praise our God. Trust Him today.