Live, Alive: The Walking Dead

For four weeks, I've been talking to believers about dry areas — a dry marriage, dry finances, dry faith. A believer can be dry and still be alive. Today I'm asking a different question: not whether parts of your life are dry... but whether you've ever been made alive at all.

Back in week one I said if you are a fan of The Walking Dead series, you probably saw this passage a little differently. DEAD people walked around, growled, popped up out of everywhere – kind of like relatives after you win the lottery. But they were NOT alive. And here is the AWKWARD truth. The walking dead are NOT just on television; some of them are here TODAY.

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NLT2)
1  The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. 2  He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3  Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” 4  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! 5  This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6  I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7  So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. 8  Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 9  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” 10  So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. 11  Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12  Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13  When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

 Today, I want us to settle into the tension in verse 8. Bone connected to bone. Muscles and flesh formed. Skin grew over the flesh, but verse 8 ends with “…they still had no breath in them.”

They had FACES. They had EYES. They looked like they were alive. But every single one of them… is DEAD.

Which brings us to the first truth…Spiritually speaking…

You can look alive and still be dead (Matt 23:27-28)

This vision that God gave to Ezekiel wasn’t just for the Israelites…God's pattern hasn't changed…He alone makes dead things live. It is a picture of every man and woman who has ever looked alive on the outside... while something inside was still dead. Some of us are caught in that tension of APPEARING to be alive – yet… we are not.

 Now…don’t call 911.  I’m not talking about PHYSICAL death. I am talking about SPIRITUAL life. Your heart can BEAT… but your spirit can be DEAD. Your lungs can be FULL… but your soul can be EMPTY. And honestly… we have learned how to FAKE spiritual life.

I have SUNG every word of a worship song… while making a grocery list in my head.
I have BOWED my head during prayer… and planned where I was going for lunch.
I have said “AMEN” to sermons I was not even listening to.
Not MY sermons, of course.

We're all experts.

We know when to stand.
We know when to sit.
We know when to sing.
We know when to bow our heads…pass the basket…serve in our community…
We know when to say, "Amen."
We know how to carry a Bible.
We know how to look spiritually alive.

Nobody gets better at pretending than religious people. The Pharisees were the religious PROFESSIONALS of Israel. They memorized huge portions of Scripture. They tithed down to the herbs in their gardens. They fasted twice a week. On the OUTSIDE, they APPEARED to have life when it came to GOD…If you and I had met them, we probably would have admired them.

But Jesus saw something nobody else could see…and one day…he put the Pharisees on blast…

Matthew 23:27-28 (NLT2)
…you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28  Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.

In Jesus' day, tombs around Jerusalem were PAINTED white. They were made BRIGHT, CLEAN – and beautiful.  BUT on the INSIDE – they were BONES. If an ISRAELITE was traveling to Jerusalem and TOUCHED one of the graves, they would become CEREMONIALLY unclean. The paint made the tomb LOOK clean, but it did not change what was inside.

Jesus looked at the most religious men in Israel and said, you are painted tombs. Beautiful OUTSIDE. Dead INSIDE.

That warning is aimed directly at people like US.

 You can sing every song this morning… and be dead.
You can serve on a team… and be dead.
You can carry a Bible, quote a verse, and GENEROUSLY give…
…and still be DEAD…

If a person is spiritually DEAD… how do they get so good at LOOKING alive? The answer is this...religion can POLISH the outside while leaving the inside unchanged. 

Religion can change habits, not hearts (John 3:7)

Let’s go back to the valley. The bodies were formed, and from a distance, it could have looked like the miracle was FINISHED. BUT it was still a valley of corpses. Religion can do that.

Religion can ORGANIZE you.
Religion can change your schedule… your vocabulary… your weekend routine.
Religion rearranges the OUTSIDE.
But religion CANNOT breathe LIFE into the INSIDE.

About six hundred years after Ezekiel stood in that valley, a religious teacher named Nicodemus came to Jesus with questions. He had devoted his life to studying God's Word. He had spent years trying to obey God's Law. But I think he MUST have known something was MISSING.

So one night, he came to Jesus with questions…

Jesus skipped the small talk. He told him if he wanted to see the Kingdom of God – he must be BORN a second time.

John 3:3-6 (NLT2)
3  Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” 4  “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” 5  Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.

If a PERSON wants a RELATIONSHIP with GOD and to enter Heaven when they die… There are two LIFE-Changing truths in this passage that the Valley of the Dry Bones foreshadows:
You must be Born AGAIN.
You don’t give BIRTH to yourself.

I was BORN on February 20, 1973, in Lewiston, Maine. I was BORN a second time in July of 1991 in Dover, TN. My first BIRTH gave me physical LIFE. My second BIRTH gave me spiritual LIFE. AND – I had NOTHING to do with EITHER one of my births.

I did not schedule it, plan it, or perform it. Life was GIVEN to ME…TWICE.

Now think about the valley again. Those bodies did not look at each other and say, "On three... everybody breathe." They didn't DECIDE to come alive. They didn't WORK harder. They didn't become more DISCIPLINED. They didn't develop better habits. God gave them life.

That is exactly what Jesus was telling Nicodemus.

The Holy Spirit makes dead people live (Eph. 2:5)

The BODIES did not give BIRTH to themselves…GOD breathed LIFE into them. Breath entered the bodies. They came to LIFE. They stood up on their feet… a great ARMY. In ONE breath of God… a GRAVEYARD became an ARMY…and THAT same God is still BREATHING life into spiritually dead people today.

Six hundred years later, a follower of Jesus named Paul explained exactly what Ezekiel had seen in that valley…People who have not been born that second time... are spiritually dead.

Ephesians 2:5 (NLT2)
5  that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)

Paul didn't say we were SICK… or STRUGGLING. He said… DEAD.

Dead people cannot TRY harder. Dead people need RESURRECTION. Not MORE religion. Not more GOOD habits. Dead people don't need another chance. Dead people need resurrection.

Maybe you walked in here LOOKING alive. You have the habits. You have the vocabulary. You have the attendance streak. But you have NEVER been BORN again by surrendering your LIFE to JESUS. Maybe today you're realizing you've spent years painting the outside...while something inside is still dead.

…Do not leave here PAINTED. Leave here ALIVE. You don't earn LIFE. You don't manufacture LIFE. You RECEIVE that NEW LIFE… by placing your faith in Jesus, who died for your sins and rose from the dead. Simply, admit you are DEAD without Jesus. Stop trusting the PAINT, the APPEARANCE, the SUCCESS…

Turn from your sin.
Place your faith in Jesus Christ.
And God will give you new life through His Spirit.

The Bible calls that being BORN AGAIN.

For every person in this room who is tired of performing… tired of pretending… tired of being one of the walking dead…God can MAKE you alive.  God can RAISE the DEAD in this room right now. That’s what he did IN me in 1991 – and that is what he can do in July 2026.

I am going to ask you right now – to simply say in the quietness of your heart –

“God, I admit I am DEAD in my sins – but I believe that Jesus paid the price for my sins.  I surrender my life to you and trust JESUS as my Savior. Thank you for BREATHING life into me.”

If you just surrendered your life to Jesus, you have been born again. I want to celebrate with you. Let us know you just gave your life to Jesus.

We want to help you take your first steps. You walked in spiritually DEAD. You walk OUT as part of the ARMY of God.