Part 5: Work the Word

Bishop Joseph W. Walker, III

August 30, 2026

Ezekiel 37:4–5 (NKJV)

⁴ Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them,

‘O dry bones, hear the word of the LORD!

⁵ Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones:

“Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.””

Watch the full Sunday service: https://www.youtube.com/live/oEnwiJ6erAU?si=FeyEpQVN0857_bIA

Prayer: So we thank You for Your work today. Let Your word speak to us today, that we are made better because of what we’re about to receive, and we give You glory and praise, and it’s already done, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

I. INTRODUCTION

The context of this particular scripture is found between verse one and probably throughout much of it. The word for us today is that it was dead until you spoke it. You may be seeing the presence of the Lord today.

Have you ever had a situation in your life that you decided nothing you did was going to change? Have you ever experienced brokenness in your life and you just felt this was just going to be a part of your life, and so you accepted this is the way it was going to play out? All of us have had those moments where we’ve allowed our prognosis and even our diagnosis to collide and create a situation where we accept, “This is my lot in life.” But today I want you to understand the power of revelation — God will always intervene in our lives, and God will give us a word to speak over our situation that has the power to change it all, no matter what it looks like right now.

Ezekiel is the prophet of God who literally stood in a place where he witnessed something many of us have seen in our own lives in various forms and fashions. He looked out and saw a valley full of dry bones — disconnected, disjointed, dusty, affected by the elements because of their exposure. The prognosis of the bones is that they are dead. And God asked Ezekiel a question that perhaps sounded crazy at first: “Can these bones live?” Can what you see bounce back? Can your marriage live? Can your dream live? Can your family live? Can your academic pilgrimage live? Can you survive what you see?

Maybe you’re coming to school for the first time in a brand-new city, trying to figure things out. Maybe you’re starting your business and trying to navigate life. Maybe you’re at a point where your relationships have failed you, and you’re looking at the brokenness and the scattered pieces of your life, and it looks dry, it looks disconnected, and you’re trying to make sense of it.

But God said this word to tell you to open up your mouth and prophesy to it, because whatever God says it’s going to be, it’s going to be. God says He wants you to understand: it was dead until you spoke to it. Whatever thing in your life you speak to, that thing is going to get up. It’s going to live, up to date.

I come declaring at the beginning of this message: it will live — your family is going to live; your career is going to live; you are going to live. We shall live.

II. GOD COMMANDS SPEECH IN HOPELESS SITUATIONS

A. There’s too much at stake to be quiet.

God commands speech in hopeless situations. It is not a suggestion — God is literally commanding Ezekiel to speak. In this season, God is not asking you to tell Him what’s wrong. God is trying to help you understand what’s right. We know the bones are dry. We know it’s disconnected. We know the situation is hopeless. But God will give you a word to speak, and He commands this word in a hopeless situation.

This is what moves you from observation into faith. Observation is just observing what it is; declaration is declaring what it shall be:

•  Observation says, “There is no job.” Faith says, “But my God will provide.”

•  Observation says, “I’ve got all kinds of enemies around me.” Faith says, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper.”

•  Observation says, “My scholarship hasn’t come through yet.” Faith says, “My God shall supply all of my needs according to His riches in glory.”

God moves Ezekiel from being an observer to becoming a participant. Sometimes we pray about things, and we pray about it, but you can’t pray around what God commanded you to speak to. There comes a moment you just have to open up your mouth and say, “This is not going to define me.” You’ve got to speak over your children, your future, your mind, your marriage, your manager, your education, your purpose.

When they buried Lazarus, Jesus shows up and does not negotiate — He just says, “Come forth,” and “Get up.” This is a season, you’ve got to speak to everything dead in your life. Speak to your bank account. Speak to that sickness. Speak to that jacked-up relationship. There’s too much at stake for you to be quiet. These bones represent something bigger than you.

The enemy always wants to mute you, because he understands there is power whenever a child of God opens up their mouth. Remember Jeremiah — he said, “God, Your people are crazy, I’m done, I will not speak anymore in Your name.” But Jeremiah came back and said, “But Your word was like fire shut up in my bones.” When you have the word of God inside of you, you can’t help but open up your mouth and say something. Somebody needs your testimony. Somebody needs your wisdom. Somebody needs your leadership. There’s too much at stake for you to be quiet.

B. God often waits on your voice before He releases His breath.

God waits on you to say something before He divinely intervenes. We want God to move by His power, but God’s power does not excuse you from human responsibility. There’s an order to your miracle: first the word, then the response, then the movement, then the breath, then life. God operates like that.

There are some prayers that require a response from us before we see a response:

•  If you want to graduate, you’ve got to study.

•  If you want to be great, you’ve got to work.

•  If you want to seal the deal, somebody has to start the conversation.

•  If you want to be healthy, get rid of the honey bun, get the Skittles out of your pocket, get some water, and get on a treadmill.

I love how the partnership works with Ezekiel — God allows Ezekiel to partner with Him. God provides the power, Ezekiel provides the obedience; God provides the breath, Ezekiel provides the voice. God does not only do what He can do, but He expects us to do what He commands us to do. All you need to do is open up your mouth and say what He told you to say, and watch — the word then precedes the wind.

III. THE WORD PRECEDES THE WIND

A. Breath follows proclamation, not emotion.

God never operates in chaos, He always operates in order. God did not release the wind until the word was spoken. The order matters, because if you reverse the order, you disrupt the process. Emotion does not activate your resurrection — obedience does. Wind is powerful, but wind requires direction, so the word provides guardrails for the wind that’s about to come, because the word goes before the wind comes. God told them to go to the upper room, and in Acts chapter 2 He gave a word, and then Pentecost happened. Breath follows proclamation, not emotion.

When you look at your situation — imagine a valley full of dry bones, whatever that means for you. When you look at your current financial situation, all of us have a valley, a place of dry bones, and that can trigger an emotional response. But if Ezekiel waits until he feels like speaking, what God says won’t happen. God gives you a command regardless of how you feel about it.

Extraordinarily mediocre people are always mood-driven: For example, “I just feel… I don’t know, I just don’t feel it.” Like sheep — the Bible says, “All we like sheep have gone astray.” This is what happens: you don’t feel motivated, you don’t feel hope, you don’t feel confident — “just leave me alone, I don’t feel it.”

You operate in your emotional space all the time — that is your genesis, your emotion — because you operate in your emotions all the time, that’s why your life is full of commotion. You can’t trust your feelings, because one day you’ll feel one way, the next day you won’t.

The alarm clock goes off, and nobody wakes up every morning excited. Your mind says, “You deserve more rest,” but somewhere deep down inside, something says, “Get up.” That thing that says “get up” is speaking to your responsibility, because what you’re responsible for is greater than how you feel in your body.

He spoke to the bones while they were still dry. Dry, he declared. Nothing had moved. He obeyed — there was no evidence. Ezekiel’s responsibility was not to produce the proof, his responsibility was to release the word. You may not feel qualified to take the class, you may not feel courageous to have the conversation, but still put in your offer. You may not feel strong, but take the next step.

B. Resurrection begins when faith finds its voice.

Some of you right now are walking into stuff that you spoke many years ago — you talked yourself past your emotions, you talked yourself past your tiredness, and you spoke that thing into existence.

Your words always set up an atmosphere. Paul and Silas, in Acts chapter 16, had been tied up and beaten, but they didn’t wait for the situation to change — they began to praise God in the jail, and that’s when things began to change. You look at people who give God glory and think they’re crazy, but you don’t realize we’re praising God on our way to our next breakthrough.

Resurrection begins when faith finds its voice to believe, but faith has to have a voice. Ezekiel, can these bones live? If you believe that, then prove it by what your voice says. Faith has a voice, just like fear has a voice. Fear has a voice, but faith also has a voice that shows up and says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

It all depends on what you choose to say with your mouth. It has a voice:

•  You can say, “I’m never going to get out of this,” or you can say, “God will provide.”

•  You can say, “My life is over,” or you can say, “My life is just beginning, and this is going to be the best chapter of my life.”

•  You can say, “I’m broke, I’m busted, I’m depleted,” or you can say, “I’m blessed and highly favored, on my way to my next miracle.”

Remember, Jesus is on a ship, a storm comes, and the disciples wake Him and say, “Do You not care that we are perishing?” Jesus does not negotiate with the wind — He just says, “Peace, be still.” The wind had a voice, the disciples had a voice, the storm had a voice, but God’s voice, God’s word, was greater. Critics have a voice, and everybody around you has a voice, but you’ve got to get to a point where you begin to thank God for His voice over your life.

IV. LIFE RESPONDS TO AUTHORIZED SPEECH

A. Dry bones recognize the Word of the Lord.

Response — authorized speech. A lot of people are talking, but they’re not authorized. You can go into a courtroom and just start talking — that doesn’t make you the judge. You can go to the hospital and be talking stuff you learned on YouTube — that doesn’t make you a doctor. You can put on a referee outfit and go onto a football field — that doesn’t make you a referee, because you’re not authorized.

The prophet was authorized to speak exactly what God said. The reason we have so much false prophesying and homiletical malpractice is because people are inserting their own agenda and opinion into what God said. God doesn’t need you to add anything to what He said. All you’ve got to do is say what God said.

Ezekiel says, “I will only say what God told me to say.” The power of this is not Ezekiel’s personality, it is not his vocabulary, it is not his volume. The power is in the word that comes out of his mouth. Somebody who knows God’s word still has authority. His word has purpose. His word has power. You don’t need to add another word.

You don’t have to improve on the word, you don’t have to rewrite the word, all you’ve got to do is trust the word that God has given you. God sends a word to you — that word gets in you, and that word handles your whole life around you — it preaches all by itself. That word lives in you, so when life starts, guess what comes out of you — the word that was sown in your life.

When Jesus was being tempted in the wilderness, the devil tried to trip Him up, but Jesus says, “But it is written, but it is written” — giving us a great example. Whenever life starts, just remind the enemy: it is written.

You don’t choose a church home because it’s closest to your house, or because it’s the culturally cool place to be. You choose a church home because you need a word from God. Give God glory for His word.

Dry bones recognize the word of God. Bones that have been exposed to the elements and have been dried — you may think, “Do they even hear me?” — but dry bones respond to the word.

B. They thought you were dead, but God wasn’t done!

Some of you have been praying for a child but know that dry bones will respond. Some of you are praying for a spouse, but dry bones will respond. Be patient, because dry bones will eventually respond to the word of God.

Here is something I never want you to forget: they thought you were dead, but God wasn’t done! The Bible says when Ezekiel spoke, there was a noise, and then a shaking. Shaking is often misinterpreted as a demonic attack, but the shaking is not the devil. The shaking is divine. It is God setting you up for your next season.

Some of you right now have had a shake-up on your job, a shake-up in a relationship, a shake-up in a friendship. God had to remove everyone who didn’t have the capacity to be around you before He brought the blessing over your life. After the shaking, the disconnected, dry bones found their place.

This is not a situation where somebody died in one spot and all of their bones stayed right where they were left. Things got moved to places they were not supposed to be. So, when God told Ezekiel to speak to the bones, as he prophesied, there was a shaking. And bone came to bone. The cranium came together, the cervical vertebrae came into alignment, the clavicle found its place, and the sternum found its place. The ribs formed around the chest, the thoracic vertebrae lined up, the lumbar vertebrae came into place. The sacrum connected and the pelvis connected to the hip.The patella found its position, the tibia and the fibula lined up, the ankle came together. The tarsals and bones of the foot found their place. From the head to the feet, everything found its place.

All things in your life are coming back together again. God is putting all things back together. He is bringing your dream back together. He’s speaking your family back together. He’s speaking your peace back together. He’s speaking your purpose back together. He’s speaking your life back together. He’s speaking your joy back together.

And so when the bone came back together, now there is structure in the valley. Now God says, now I’m going to bring the sinews back onto the bones. This is muscle. So God is saying, “I have to give you strength for where I’m about to take you, because where I’m about to take you, you can’t be crying over everything — you’re going to need a deeper prayer life. You’re going to have to toughen up right now, because if that little thing almost broke you, you won’t survive where I’m getting ready to take you.

God is strengthening you right now. God is strengthening your core. He’s strengthening your family.

Then He put skin on the sinew, so that the way they saw it, they would never see it that way again. In this season, you’re going to have to reintroduce yourself to people. They’ve only seen you broken and disconnected.

It looks well put together. The bones have come together, that’s structure. Now you got strength, but we have a problem. You got the degree and you got titles behind your name. You got the friendships, the house you wanted, and the car you wanted. Now you got all the stuff you wanted and now you flossing, but there is one thing missing.

The bible says there was no life in the bones, until God blew his wind. We need God’s spirit. Breath on my spirit, breathe on my ministry, breathe on my job. Breath on my children. Breath on my carrier.

We cant make it without Him. In him we live move and have our being. Breath on us God!!

The same people that saw you dead is the same people that need to see you standing up in the valley. Everything is about to get up. Let everything that has breath, praise the Lord.

Have a blessed new week with the Lord! ❤️