This is your daily reminder. God has not run
out of mercy, not for you, not today. Welcome
to the New Mercies Podcast. Welcome to the New
Mercies Podcast. Maybe you have been a listener
before. Maybe you've listened to one of the 400
episodes that are already out there. But we've
changed a little bit. It looks a little different
than before. Maybe you're watching on YouTube
for the first time. Maybe you are listening on
one of the many podcast streaming platforms.
But here's the deal. We are going to relaunch
this as a daily podcast again so that we understand
Scripture matters. And we need a little bit of
Scripture every single day. The more we get,
the better off we are. So this first episode
back, I want to give you the full explanation
of why this is a scripture -based podcast that
is coming to you every single day. Listen to
what it says in 2 Timothy 3, beginning at verse
16. All scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof. for correction
and for the training in righteousness. Verse
17, that the man of God may be complete, equipped
for every good work. I cannot help but think
what would we do if when we picked up the Bible
every day, it was no longer just a book of instruction
to us. It was no longer a textbook. It is the
very breath of God. When we open it, God breathes
on us. When we read the scripture, it's God's
breath coming out of it. It wasn't just given
to us by God. It was breathed out by God. It's
active. As scripture says over and over again,
it's sharper than any two -edged sword. It's
alive and active. And sometimes we... miss out
because we don't wait for the breath. You can't
rush breath. You can receive it. That's what
happens. So we need to look through scripture.
I want to give you a little example out of Ezekiel
chapter 37. When I open the Bible, I wonder sometimes
how is it we can read this book and And it come
out dry. It feel dry. Our relationship not change.
Our faith not grow. Our faith not deepen in the
Lord. And I realize it's because we're kind of
like the Valley of Dry Bones. Now, that was a
prophetic thing that happened that I believe
was pointing to the future. But I think we can
also get an application from it. Because the
bones stood up. Ezekiel was in a valley, right?
He was not on a battlefield ready to take over
something. He wasn't in a garden. He was in a
graveyard. A bunch of bones everywhere. The prophecy
takes out in Ezekiel 37, and we begin to watch
as he is speaking to the bones, and the bones
begin to shake and rattle whenever the prophetic
word comes, and they join together. The word
brings together that which was once broken apart.
But then the army is standing there in front
of him, and God says, can these bones live? And
Ezekiel saying, well, God only you know. You're
the only one that knows. And then he says, prophesy
to the breath. And when breath comes in, it's
a living army. The breath brought life. That's
what brought the army to life. It was the breath.
As I look through Scripture over and over again,
I can't help but think, if Scripture is God -breathed,
maybe we're wondering why we don't feel like
we're alive. It's because we're not letting the
breath come into us. I look through the scripture
again and I see Jesus showing up in the New Testament,
in the Gospels. Jesus is the Word, right? John
chapter 1, the Word was with God, the Word was
God. Jesus is the Word. Well, what does Jesus
do after he dies and raises from the dead? Listen
to what it says in the book of John chapter 20,
verse 22. And when he had said this, he breathed
on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
This is Jesus with his disciples in the room
after he's conquered death, and he breathes on
them. That word is important. That word is only
used one other place, and it's when God breathed
into the first Adam. Remember, God made Adam,
and then he was just a lifeless being until the
breath of God entered him. Then he was made alive.
Here Jesus is in this room after he's conquered
death, hell, and the grave and all of it, and
he breathes on his disciples. Why does he do
it? A few verses later, down in verses number
30 and 31, it says, Believing in him so that
you have life in his name. That's why Jesus breathed
into them. That's why he breathed on them. He
breathed out and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.
Why? Because you receive breath. That's what
you do. We open the word every day. And here's
the problem. We skim and we scroll and we move
past it too quickly. And we end up not waiting
on the breath. We end up not waiting. And then
we wonder why we have no life. We have no excitement.
We have no thrill anymore. This, let me just
go ahead and tell you, every day you're going
to get a podcast episode from me. And this is
not a podcast that's built on a commentary. I'm
not trying to get into the depths of Scripture
and help us understand little minute details.
I'm not trying to give you just content every
single day. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying
to open the Scripture daily and wait on the breath.
That's what I want for us. That's what I want
for us more than anything else. Whether you're
a member of the church that I pastor or whether
you are just a person in the body of Christ,
let's wait on the breath. Revival doesn't start
whenever everybody feels good in the room. Revival
begins whenever there's breath that enters. And
the breath enters when the Word is proclaimed.
It's not a feeling that we get. It's the Word.
If you're in the Word, that's where revival will
happen. That's where revival starts. That's where
we need to go first and foremost. If Scripture
has ever felt distant to you, if it's not because
God is not speaking, It's because we're Russian.
It's because we're not allowing the scripture
to breathe into us. It's God's breath. He didn't
stop speaking. He's still speaking. Open the
word, wait and watch and see what lives again.
Because see, here's the deal. The Bible is not
just a book we read. It is a moment where God
is breathing and something in you or something
in me refuses to stay dead. Let's wait on the
breath.