A Fresh Wind - Breathe
The Holy Spirit can enter your life like a fresh wind and breathe in the love of Christ
"Breathe" by shawnzrossi is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Sunday was the first day of Pentecost for the church. This is the portion of the church calendar where we celebrate and remember the birth of the church as an organization being filled with the Holy Spirit, as Jesus said it would be. The comforter now, as then, is there for those of the faith who seek Him and pray fervently for His intercession on their behalf. Sunday marked our celebration of His arrival and opened a new sermon series based on a book by Jack Levison, 40 Days with the Holy Spirit.
Sunday’s sermon was titled Breathe, in the “A Fresh Wind” sermon series. The scripture for Sunday was Ezekiel 37:1-10. Let’s read that now.
1The hand of the Lord was upon me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones.
2He caused me to pass among them round about, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley; and lo, they were very dry.
3He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, You know.”
4Again He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’
5“Thus says the Lord God to these bones, ‘Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life.
6‘I will put sinews on you, make flesh grow back on you, cover you with skin and put breath in you that you may come alive; and you will know that I am the Lord.’ ”
7So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8And I looked, and behold, sinews were on them, and flesh grew and skin covered them; but there was no breath in them.
9Then He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, 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 come to life.” ’ ”
10So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they came to life and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
Ezekiel 37:1–10 (NASB95)
Pastor Lee opened up by talking about the breath of God, the spirit of God, stating that it is in everything in the Bible. From Genesis 1:2 to Revelation 22, God’s spirit is in scripture. She mentioned the Greek word pneuma when talking about the “breath” of God, but that word doesn’t just mean the air a being breathes in and out. This Greek word specifically relates to God's divine breath, which is inextricably tied to His Holy Spirit. Let’s look at that definition.
Pneuma
Greek Strong’s Number: 4151
Greek Word: πνεῦμα
Transliteration: pneuma
Phonetic Pronunciation: pnyoo’-mah
Root: from <G4154>
Cross Reference: TDNT - 6:332,876
Part of Speech: n n
Vine’s Words: Breath, Breathe, Spirit, Wind
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
Spirit 111
(Holy) Ghost 89
Spirit (of God) 13
Spirit (of the Lord) 5
(My) Spirit 3
Spirit (of truth) 3
Spirit (of Christ) 2
human (spirit) 49
(evil) spirit 47
spirit (general) 26
spirit 8
(Jesus’ own) spirit 6
(Jesus’ own) ghost 2
miscellaneous translations 21
[Total Count: 385]
from <G4154> (pneo); a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze; by analogy or figurative a spirit, i.e. (human) the rational soul, (by implicaiton) vital principle, mental disposition, etc., or (superhuman) an angel, dæmon, or (divine) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy Spirit:- ghost, life, spirit (-ual, -ually), mind. Compare <G5590> (psuche).
[1] James Strong, “Πνεῦμα,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
Here is Genesis 1:2
1In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Genesis 1:1–2 (NASB95)
And Revelation 22
16“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.
Revelation 22:16–17 (NASB95)
This line of statements led to a question from Pastor Lee. What does the Holy Spirit look like in our lives? This question led to the discussion about Jack Levison’s book linked above. According to Pastor Lee, The book holds several descriptive words relating to various aspects of the Spirit. Sunday’s sermon was on the word “Breathe.”
She stopped at this point and told the congregation to email them to her if they had questions, and she would work to get answers. I’ll put that call out to you all. If you have questions relating to the Holy Spirit, what it is, how it works, etc., Post them to me, and I’ll forward them to see what kind of answers we get.
When we moved on, we read the Ezekiel passage here. It struck me that maybe this passage was somewhat prophetic about Jesus bringing us back from the dead spiritually when we believe in Him and have faith. According to Haley’s Bible Handbook, this is accurate. There is apparently some discussion among scholars about how much or if the prediction relates to just Judah and Israel of their time or the broader sense under the new covenant and adoption of sons and daughters in all believers. I will leave that to the reader to decide, but I like the idea of broadening the coverage.
If we accept that it is a prophecy of the broader interpretation of resurrection for all believers, then we all have “dry bones,” as Ezekiel lists. We have dry bones until we have faith in Christ. We are dead until that faith comes alive in us. Jesus revives and renews us to His purpose and His Spirit. This becomes a message of hope and restoration “for those who call upon the Lord.” That hope breathes “new life” into the “dry bones” of our former selves. We become the new creature returned to a new life in Jesus.
Pastor Lee shifted her explanation to starvation. She related how starvation eventually causes the hunger reflex at the end to shut down. When aid workers go into regions beset by famine, they sometimes have to kickstart the hunger pangs again by moistening their tongues with a little sugar water. This kickstarts the system causing the starving person to cry out for bread. Those screams for food are so much better than the silence of slowly wasting away, no longer carrying the desire to eat. This struck me very much like how some people waste away in depression until suicide claims them. If only we could find a way to “moisten the tongue” with hope for those suffering from depression, we could get them back to the bread and water of Life in Jesus. Sadly, that isn’t always possible, but modern medicine is making wonderful leaps in that regard.
In truth, the world needs to reawaken to the hunger for God. There is great starvation for faith in Jesus out in the world. We need to live our lives, serve our fellow man, and do all we can to be the sugar water that reawakens someone’s hunger for the bread and water of life, that hunger for God to lead them in their lives. For those who do not know God, it might be as simple as a helping hand from someone who does. For those who know God, it might be the confession and repentance from those things that interpose themselves between us and Jesus. We must let God and life strip away all those things that obscure His love from us. This then reignites our desire for His new life for us. At that moment, we break the surface of the water like a drowning man, gasping for air, and we once again breathe in His Holy Spirit in deep gasps until we can see Jesus in our lives again. Then maybe we will let hope back in, return to His path for our lives, and walk in His ways again. The Holy Spirit can do that. We must be open to putting off the old life and taking on the new one. In that way, we acknowledge God as our Sovereign, Jesus as our Savior, and the Holy Spirit as our guide.