Latest / Faith by annm2705 / 825. Bible Study: Ezekiel 3 (Resisting God's calling? Obedience to God; Holy Spirit help)

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825. Bible Study: Ezekiel 3 (Resisting God's calling? Obedience to God; Holy Spirit help) · Faith by annm2705

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  Chapter 3 from the book of Ezekiel.
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  First let's pray. Dear Lord, please be with us as
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  we read through this. Open our eyes, our minds, our
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  thoughts to your words and reveal what you need to reveal
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  to us. We ask this in Jesus name, Amen.
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  So it starts as he said to me, son of man, eat what is before
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  you eat the scroll. Then go and speak to the people
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  of Israel. So I opened my mouth and he gave
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  me the scroll to eat. Then he said to me, son of man,
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  eat the scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.
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  So I ate it and it tasted as sweet as honey as in my mouth.
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  So this was something that this wasn't an experience that was
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  unique to only Ezekiel because this also happened another
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  another time where it was with John when he was on the island
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  of Patmos and the Angel vision that came to him.
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  In Revelation chapter 10 verse 9, it says, let's see where does
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  it start? O it then the voice on in
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  Revelation Charter 10 verse 8, it says.
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  Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me.
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  This is John talking spoke to me once more.
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  Go take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the Angel
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  who is standing on the sea and on the land.
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  So I went to the Angel and asked him to give me the little
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  scroll. He said to me, take it and eat
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  it. It will turn your stomach sour,
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  but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.
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  I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it.
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  It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten
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  it, it turned my stomach sour. Then I was told you must
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  prophecy again about many peoples, nations, languages and
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  kings. So the difference between what
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  happened with John and what happened with the Ezekiel was
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  they had two different commissions.
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  Ezekiel was called to speak to the people of Israel, but John
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  was called to speak again about many, many people, nations,
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  languages and kings. So he had a much broader
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  audience. And that's what the Book of
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  Revelation is for, a very broad audience.
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  It often says, you know, those who read it will be blessed
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  because there's a lot of information in there that is
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  meant for all nations, everyone. So that's something that came to
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  me when I was reading this before was just that there was,
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  you know, a similar event that happened.
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  And I also noticed something that was kind of interesting.
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  And I don't know the exact timing of this.
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  We we can't really, I don't think we can really know like
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  when these things happen. The book of Ezekiel was written
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  about 571 BC. And then John, when he was at on
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  the island of Patmos, it was somewhere between 90 and 95 or
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  93 AD. So between those two, it's
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  roughly like approximately 120 years.
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  I mean, it's within that range. And I just thought that 120
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  years is kind of interesting because if we think back to what
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  Genesis said about giving man, you know, how long will I
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  contend with man? I will give him 120.
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  And so I just, that was something that came to mind.
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  I have no idea if that's significant or if these times
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  were exactly 120 years apart, but they're approximately within
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  that range, which I just thought was interesting.
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  Let's see. He said that.
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  He then said to me, Son of man, go now to the people of Israel
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  and speak my words. OK, I'm going back to the book
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  of Ezekiel. He then said to me, Son of man,
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  go now to the people of Israel, and speak my words to them.
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  You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and
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  strange language, but to the people of Israel, not to many
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  peoples of a obscure speech and strange language whose words you
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  cannot understand. So he would God is being or the
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  Angel is being very specific with Ezekiel that this is meant
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  for Israel. It's not meant for all of the
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  others. Like he is not sending him to
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  anyone else. It's just he's focusing on
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  Israel. And it says, surely if I had
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  sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
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  He's talking about the other people, the other nations, but
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  the people of Israel are not willing to listen to you because
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  they are not willing to listen to me.
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  For all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.
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  So something else that we can see from here is that in if you
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  are a true Christian and you feel compelled to bring other
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  people to know God here we can see and as Amir had written in
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  his book that I referenced before about exploring Ezekiel,
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  he also he says a few times that notice that Ezekiel's only
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  supposed to tell the people what God says.
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  He's not responsible for getting them across the finish line.
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  And I think a lot of Christians when we first I can speak for
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  myself in this way, when we first experienced knowing God
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  and we experience or see or our eyes are open to the truth found
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  in Scripture, We can be a little bit probably overbearing to
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  others, like people that are close to us because we I guess
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  we do have the fear of God. Like we know who God is and we
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  know God is just, and we know that we were in a lot of sin and
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  if God judged us, our eternal placement wouldn't be secure.
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  And so that kind of a fear rises up in a person whose eyes are
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  opened. And then they, you know, go to
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  all the people that they really care about.
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  And they're like, you got to do this.
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  You got to know this, you know, and it's just like there is a
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  way that people go about it. That isn't probably the best way
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  to do it. But when you're that's seems to
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  be what happens to a lot of people is that this passion
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  about like getting this information out to somebody
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  after experiencing it is something that I've seen in
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  myself. And I've tried to tone it down a
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  bit, but I've also seen it in other people.
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  I've seen it expressed in other people.
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  But here's something that is assuring that, you know, God
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  just wants you to say it. He's not going to hold you
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  responsible for the way that they respond to it.
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  However, just out of, you know, when we say something to
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  somebody that we love and care about, it's not so much about
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  our fear of being punished if they don't do what we say.
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  It has nothing to do with that. The way I look at it, it's just
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  like, I want them to be in God's Kingdom.
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  Like if I'm there and they're not there, that's upsetting to
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  me. And so that brings about that,
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  that I guess I don't know what you want to call it, but that
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  tenacity about talking about this, because I, you know, I, I
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  don't want to not see people I care and love about in God's
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  Kingdom. I mean, I want them to be there.
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  So anyway, this is what, you know, God is, this is like a
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  whole group of people or a nation of people that Ezekiel
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  has tasked with a much greater thing than just your, the people
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  that are in your own circle. Ezekiel has a much bigger
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  picture that he has to address. And, and God, you know, he's
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  it's, it's interesting, like God is so patient with all of us
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  that he is, he keeps pursuing like he, he says he goes, but
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  the people of Israel are not going to listen to you because
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  they are not willing to listen to me.
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  For all the Israelites are hardened and obstinate.
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  So God has been trying to talk to them.
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  And even in, well, in the New Testament, when we read that, it
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  often says, like, I sent servants, I sent prophets, but
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  you would not listen. So Ezekiel is one of these
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  people that God is sending to the people of Israel, and they
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  are still not listening. And God tried to speak with them
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  directly, but they still didn't listen.
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  I mean, he gave them the commandments that he was with
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  them. God chose Israel as his people.
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  It's not because Israel's any better than anybody else, but he
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  chose them and made them a nation, and they are who he
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  chose to bring about salvation because Jesus is from, you know,
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  he's descended from the line, the tribe of Judah, and he's the
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  one who made it possible for us to be in God's Kingdom.
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  So that's how all people are blessed through Israel.
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  Jesus came through Israel, and Jesus is the Son of God.
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  So that's how we are blessed through Israel.
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  But yet at the same time, the people are not different than
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  any other people. In fact, the way God is putting
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  it here is that they're, they're completely hardened and
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  obstinate. And, and he's also saying you
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  are, you are not being sent to people of obscure speech and,
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  and strange language, but to people of Israel, not to people
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  of obscure and strange language whose words you did not
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  understand. Surely if I had sent you to
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  them, they would have listened to you.
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  So God's recognizing from His own experience how hard headed
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  that Israel is. And then it continues.
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  And actually this is similar about the hard headed part.
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  I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than
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  Flint. Do not be afraid of them or
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  terrified by them though. They are a rebellious people.
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  This is something I forgot to mention in chapter 2 that that
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  God said like 3 different times. Do not be afraid.
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  So if we go back to chapter 2, he's, it's like in verse 5 and
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  verse 6. And I know there were three
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  different times that he said it. Yeah, well, verse 6 has two
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  different sentences in it. But there were like 3 times
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  where he where God said do not be afraid.
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  And that's something that the Holy Spirit gives us is courage.
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  And Ezekiel is strengthened by the Holy Spirit.
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  He's giving, he's given words by the Holy Spirit.
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  And we'll talk a little bit more about that later too.
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  OK, going back, he says, do not be afraid of them or terrified
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  by them, that they are a rebellious people.
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  And he said to me, Son of man, listen carefully and take to
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  heart all the words I speak to you.
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  Now go to your people in exile and speak to them.
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  Say to them, this is what the Sovereign Lord says, whether
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  they listen or fail to listen. So here again he's confirming
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  whether they listen or fail to listen.
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  You speak. OK, Verse 12.
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  Then the spirit lifted up and I heard behind me a loud rumbling
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  sound as the glory of the Lord rose from the place it was
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  standing. It was the sound of wings of the
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  living creatures brushing against each other and the sound
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  of the wheels besides them, a loud rumbling sound.
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  So again, this is a the angels that that certain type of
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  angels, I think they were the cherubim that Ezekiel had seen.
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  Because later on in Scripture it's described who they are,
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  those ones that have four different heads on each side.
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  And they have these wheels that are intersecting wheels that
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  Ezekiel is trying to explain. So he hears their presence
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  there. OK, verse 14, The Spirit then
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  lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness and in
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  the anger of my spirit with the strong hand of the Lord on me.
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  I hope that actually the study Bible says something about that
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  because I, I don't know, like what that reaction was.
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  He went in bitterness and anger in my, of my spirit.
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  So I don't, it doesn't really say like, why was Ezekiel in
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  anger and bitterness? Maybe because of the message
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  that he knew he was just going to be unsuccessful and maybe he
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  didn't want to do this. I, I don't know.
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  I mean, that's me reading into this.
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  So it Scripture does not say, but I just wonder, I mean, I
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  guess if we were told that that we had to go to a bunch of
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  people and tell them what the Lord said and knowing that what
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  was in the scroll was lamentations.
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  Whoa, it wasn't good news. It was all bad news.
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  That would probably be like what I mean, that's kind of like
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  Moses too. Like God, I can't I can't speak,
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  you know, like I'd I'm not a man of good words.
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  And God again says, don't worry about what words you use because
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  the Holy Spirit. And this also brings me to this
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  study that I did on the Holy Spirit and all the things that
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  the Holy Spirit does within us, each one of us.
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  If we are not sure if we have the Holy Spirit, it's something
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  we should ask Jesus for because Jesus is basically the, the, the
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  person who releases the Holy Spirit to a person and decides
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  whom they're going to get. He receives the Holy Spirit from
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  the Father and gives it to whomever he chooses.
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  And Jesus knows our heart and what we intend to do that if we
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  have selfish motives for having the power of the Holy Spirit, it
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  will not be given to us. But if we have the right
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  motivation behind it, the Holy Spirit will be given it.
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  You know, in Scripture it says you do not have because you do
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  not ask. So if you are a Christian, if
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  you are committed to Christ and Jesus is your Lord, you're, you
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  know, you are willing to live by live in obedience to him,
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  whatever he calls you to do. If that is you and you don't
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  feel like you have the Holy Spirit, ask Jesus for the Holy
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  Spirit. I don't think a lot of churches
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  talk about this today and, and I am Jesus was very clear in John
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  chapter 3 when he was talking to Nicodemus that unless you have
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  the Holy Spirit, you're not going to be in the Kingdom of
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  God. So this is like something that's
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  very important. And I think churches really need
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  to focus on the Kingdom of God and what God has promised and
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  God's plan to restore what he originally intended without sin.
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  And he is preparing. God is preparing a people, all
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  of us, all nations through the Holy Spirit to live in his
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  Kingdom, you know, forever more. And this is an invitation from
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  God and it's so important for people to understand this and
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  to, you know, when it talks about hearing the good news or
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  the gospel, the gospel, look it, look that up and in the Bible
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  and do a deep dive in it. Somebody else, I don't remember.
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  I can't give credit to the person who flagged this for me,
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  but I always thought about the gospel as the message about
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  Jesus, his death on the cross and everything.
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  And it is that, it contains that, but it's much bigger than
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  that. It's the good news.
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  It's about the Kingdom of God, God's ultimate plan for us.
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  That's what the gospel is. It's about the Kingdom of God
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  and we maybe get so focused on details, but not the big
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  picture. And, and somebody that I was
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  listening to pointed this out and then I looked into it in the
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  original, I guess it was, I don't know if it was the Greek
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  or Hebrew, but I didn't save it, but I confirmed that that's what
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  the look up the gospel. I guess it would be in the New
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  Testament, so it'd be in Greek. So look it up and see what you
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  find and read all the details. Especially go to
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  blueletterbible.org because it gives you all the different
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  references and it's much deeper. It shows you other manuscripts
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  and when you read so that it's, it becomes much clearer.
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  Anyway, let's get back to Ezekiel then this.
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  Let's see, we talked about the his anger.
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  Actually, I'll go to the study Bible right now because it does
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  address this. So why was Ezekiel bitter and
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  angry like the rest of the Exiles?
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  Ezekiel was resisting the call of God.
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  The visions he had seen and his call to be a prophet were
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  received with bitterness, frustration, and anger.
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  Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah depicted with great candor his
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  frustration at God's call found in Jeremiah chapter 15 and and
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  20. So a lot of you know, there's a
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  lot of people online that call themselves a prophet of God and
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  they just feel like they're, you know, special people and they
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  might seem kind of like, I don't know, proud about that.
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  But we look that how the Bible depicts the prophets, the true
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  prophets of God. They were not thrilled about
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  their assignment. It wasn't when they were a
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  prophet. They were generally, I mean, I'm
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  trying to think about all the different times I was the
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  different prophets. They weren't, they were, they
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  were telling both sides of the story.
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  But they weren't just speaking about all the good things of the
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  Kingdom. They were definitely saying,
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  preaching a message of repentance.
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  And people tend not to want to hear repentance.
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  They people resist change. People are hard headed.
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  They want to do what they want to do and they don't want to be
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  told what to do. And essentially these prophets
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  are telling people what to do. They're saying, hey, if you keep
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  doing what you're doing, you're not going to be in God's
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  Kingdom. Well, people don't want to hear
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  that. And they shut it out.
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  And that's the same today with all nations.
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  Nobody wants to hear that. And it's just interesting,
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  though, that some people online, you know, will be like, think
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  they're cool because they call themselves a prophet, but.
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  Pay attention to what they say. Are they just speaking good
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  things or are they saying are they like the prophets of the
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  Old Testament that were warning people and saying you need to
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  get right with God? And that's usually not a good
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  message that people want to hear.
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  So anyway, going back to Scripture, verse 15, I came to,
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  I came to the Exiles who lived at Tel Aviv near the Kibara
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  River, and there they were living.
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  And there they were living. I sat among them seven days,
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  deeply distressed. See, Ezekiel's not excited about
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  his call to be a prophet. But let's continue.
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  Verse 16, at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came
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  to me. That's interesting.
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  Just like he said, there he sat there for seven days.
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  It had to sink in and then God came back to him again to say
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  something. And this is this is interesting
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  too, just how God speaks to people.
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  And if you if a person is called by God with a message, God is
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  going to speak to them. Amir says something kind of
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  interesting in his book. He just poses the question about
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  Ezekiel. And so I think I'll read that to
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  the, oh, he says, you know, this is a divine message from God.
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  What if he accidentally wrote off a divine vision as a bad
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  dream? It says, as always, there was no
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  need for the new prophet to worry.
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  An assurance that God, that God now gave to him.
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  But just think about that. Like if Ezekiel saw all this
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  stuff and just said, wow, that was just that was a bad dream.
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  I'm not going to do this. I'm not going to talk to Israel.
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  Just what would have happened if he just discounted his
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  experience and said, well, that's too weird that that's,
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  you know, I don't know what that was, but it was something weird.
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  And I'm just, I don't like what I heard and what I have to do,
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  so I'm just going to ignore it. That was just a bad dream.
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  That was a weird dream. Going to forget about it.
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  I mean, like what would have happened?
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  There's, you know, Ezekiel has 48 chapters in the Bible.
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  If he would have ignored God and none of this was written down,
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  we would have lost all this information that Ezekiel
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  provides. So just something to think about
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  and let's see Ezekiel's task as a watchman.
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  At the end of the seven days, the word of the of the Lord came
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  to me. Son of man, I have made you a
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  watchman for the people of Israel.
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  So hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
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  When I say to a wicked person, you will surely die and you do
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  not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil
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  ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will
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  die for their sin and I will hold you accountable for their
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  blood. I mean, that's a sentence worth
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  reading again because when God calls a person for a task, he's
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  going to hold them responsible for the task.
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  And God is saying you're going to be, or you know the word of
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  the Lord is saying you are going to be a watchman.
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  And this is the line again, when I say to a wicked person, you
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  will surely die and you do not warn them or speak out to
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  dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their
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  life. That wicked person will die for
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  their sins and I will hold you accountable for their blood.
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  So people who know better and keep silent, I don't know if
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  this pertains could pertain to all people or only the I, I
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  don't know. I mean like God doesn't have
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  favoritism. Like if we know and keep silent,
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  I think there's other parts in the Bible where that's not good.
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  Like that is not what God. If God says do not be afraid, do
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  not be afraid, do not be afraid, then if we know something and we
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  see something that's going to essentially lead someone to die
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  for their sins, will we be held accountable if we stay silent?
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  It's a question we can all ask ourselves and it's not to judge
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  other people because that's the way the world receives it.
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  Most of the time it's to actually save them to, I mean,
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  if they only could understand, if their minds could only be
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  opened to the Kingdom of God and what God has in store.
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  And that a person who warns them is, you know, there's like all
• 25:30
  of these great treasures that are in the future if they just
• 25:35
  listen, if they just pay attention.
• 25:39
  And I believe that God, if we know better and we don't say
• 25:46
  anything, we don't try to save someone, I think God's going to
• 25:51
  judge us for that. What do we do with what we know?
• 25:56
  I think that is, you know, despite, you know, being told
• 26:00
  you are a watchman And I, I just think it's something like that.
• 26:05
  You should help other people. I mean, we are supposed to be
• 26:09
  servants of God. We are supposed to be serving
• 26:13
  God. God's will is that everybody
• 26:18
  gets into his Kingdom or chooses that.
• 26:20
  I mean, he's the the Kingdom is not going to have everybody
• 26:23
  because there's a lot of people who reject him and want to do
• 26:28
  evil. So they will not be in his
• 26:29
  Kingdom. But there's a whole lot of
• 26:33
  people who, you know, need to know this, I guess.
• 26:38
  And so we all have different connections and that's why it
• 26:42
  takes a lot of different people to reach people.
• 26:47
  So there might be people that we know that maybe they don't know
• 26:52
  if, if, if we are all considered Christians, maybe the people
• 26:57
  that we know don't come in in contact with other people who
• 27:02
  are true Christians and maybe they won't hear it from someone
• 27:05
  else. So it has to be done in a loving
• 27:09
  way, encouraging way, a way to build up someone, not tear them
• 27:13
  down in judgement, But to redirect, It's kind of like when
• 27:18
  you have children that you don't necessarily you want it to be
• 27:22
  received well. You want to redirect to
• 27:25
  something positive and away from something negative.
• 27:28
  And that's the same with adults. You know when you're talking to
• 27:31
  people about the Kingdom of God to redirect them from the
• 27:35
  worldly ways into ways you know into God's Kingdom.
• 27:40
  So then verse 19 it says, but if you do warn the person and they
• 27:45
  do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil
• 27:49
  ways, they will die for their sin, but you will have saved
• 27:55
  yourself. So as long as we, you know, as
• 28:00
  long as let's just take it for what it says here, as long as
• 28:03
  Ezekiel does what God says to him, then he won't be held
• 28:07
  accountable for that, but he has to speak.
• 28:11
  So verse 20 again, when a righteous person turns from
• 28:16
  their righteousness and does evil and I put a stumbling block
• 28:20
  before them, they will die. So this is, you know, a
• 28:26
  righteous person when somebody turns and we see that today in
• 28:30
  the world too, where somebody was, you know, more righteous.
• 28:34
  I mean, nobody's perfect. I guess righteous is, you know,
• 28:37
  AI don't know. I mean, it's not perfection, but
• 28:43
  they do the right things. But then all of a sudden they
• 28:45
  start doing evil things. And we've seen that where there
• 28:47
  was like a quote, good person, but God says there's no one
• 28:50
  who's good who all of a sudden turns and starts doing these
• 28:54
  things that it's like, wow, that doesn't even seem possible with
• 28:57
  that person, like such a different person.
• 29:00
  And that is, you know, again, when a righteous person turns
• 29:07
  from the righteous and does evil and I put a stumbling block,
• 29:10
  they will die. Since you did not warn them,
• 29:14
  they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person
• 29:19
  did will not be remembered and I will hold you accountable for
• 29:25
  their blood. But if you do warn the righteous
• 29:28
  person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live
• 29:34
  because they took warning and you will have saved yourself.
• 29:39
  So there's kind of like 2 benefits like he put he's
• 29:42
  putting a heavyweight or heavy load on Ezekiel.
• 29:44
  He's saying you have to warn him, and if they listen, you've
• 29:49
  saved yourself and them. Verse 22 The hand of the Lord
• 29:55
  was on me there, and he said to me, get up and go out to the
• 29:59
  plain and I and there I will speak to you.
• 30:02
  So I got up and went out to the plain, and the glory of the Lord
• 30:07
  was standing there, like the glory I had seen by the Kibar
• 30:10
  river, and I fell face down. Then the Spirit came into me and
• 30:17
  raised me to my feet. This again I'll, I'll address
• 30:21
  when I go through what I found, but they're like all throughout
• 30:24
  the Old Testament. The spirit came upon people and
• 30:30
  I'll lead after we read that I'll, I'll share some thoughts
• 30:35
  that I have about that. So then the Spirit came in to me
• 30:38
  and raised me to my feet. He spoke to me and said, Go shut
• 30:42
  yourself inside your house, and you, son of man, they will tie
• 30:47
  with ropes. You will be bound so that you
• 30:50
  cannot go out among the people. I will make your tongue stick to
• 30:55
  the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to
• 30:59
  rebuke them, for they are a rebellious people.
• 31:04
  But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you shall
• 31:09
  say to them, this is what the Sovereign Lord says.
• 31:13
  Whoever will listen, let them listen.
• 31:16
  And whoever will refuse, let them refuse, for they are a
• 31:20
  rebellious people. And that's the end of chapter 3.
• 31:25
  When there's something that I'll I'll read what the study Bible
• 31:29
  says about this, where he says go shut yourself inside that
• 31:32
  your house, which is kind of a strange thing like to wrap your
• 31:36
  head around. So why it says why was Ezekiel
• 31:39
  tied up? This was probably an enactment
• 31:42
  prophecy, God's use of drama to deliver a message.
• 31:46
  If so, this message seems to have been primarily for
• 31:50
  Ezekiel's benefit. It was perhaps a sign that he
• 31:54
  was restricted to God's purposes only.
• 31:57
  It is not clear, however, who tied him up, or even if this was
• 32:03
  to be taken literally. Certainly, Ezekiel was called to
• 32:07
  be God's prisoner, subject to God's will.
• 32:13
  Why would God give Ezekiel words but then make him speechless?
• 32:17
  Ezekiel was not free to proclaim God's words in his own way.
• 32:22
  He was bound as a prophetic witness to the same fate that
• 32:28
  would befall Israel. He was unable to protest or
• 32:32
  rebuke that judgement, just as the people would also be
• 32:37
  speechless. Now there's another thing.
• 32:39
  When I was reading that, it made me think about what happened
• 32:43
  when John the Baptist was when an Angel came to Elizabeth and
• 32:52
  Zechariah and told them that you're going to have a child.
• 32:57
  And John the Baptist is Jesus's cousin essentially.
• 33:03
  And you can read about him in Luke chapter 1.
• 33:07
  And So what happened to Zechariah is when he told this,
• 33:13
  Let's see, I don't know which part I should start with, but
• 33:19
  I'll, I'll just start with verse 13 in Luke chapter one.
• 33:23
  But the Angel said to him, do not be afraid Zechariah, your
• 33:27
  prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear
• 33:31
  you a son, and you are to call him John.
• 33:34
  He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice
• 33:39
  because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of
• 33:43
  the Lord. He is never to take wine or
• 33:46
  other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy
• 33:50
  Spirit even before he is born. So this is interesting, and it
• 33:55
  goes along with the other study on the Holy Spirit.
• 33:58
  So John the Baptist, the one who baptizes people, he is filled
• 34:04
  with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.
• 34:09
  Isn't that interesting? That is Luke chapter one, verse
• 34:12
  15. He will bring back many peoples
• 34:15
  to the people of Israel, to the Lord their God, and he will go
• 34:19
  before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn
• 34:25
  heads of the parents to their children and make the
• 34:27
  disobedient and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous
• 34:32
  to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
• 34:36
  There's a lot in there and I, I kind of just can't pass by this
• 34:40
  spirit of Elijah. So Elijah was someone who never
• 34:46
  experienced death and was taken up to the Lord.
• 34:50
  He had the power of the Holy Spirit on him and the power of
• 34:55
  Elijah. It's interesting what Elijah's
• 34:59
  name is. And of course the Internet is
• 35:02
  not OK. So Elijah is my God is Jehovah.
• 35:11
  So that's what Elijah the name is.
• 35:13
  That's what it means. My God is Yehovah.
• 35:16
  So I don't know. And Jesus did say this was
• 35:20
  interesting because people were talking to Jesus about the end
• 35:24
  times and he says, well, isn't the prophet Elijah supposed to
• 35:26
  come first? And Jesus said, well, if you can
• 35:30
  comprehend this, I think something to that effect.
• 35:32
  I'm paraphrasing. He has already come and he was
• 35:38
  John the Baptist. So that same maybe you know,
• 35:41
  it's that same spirit, the spirit and power of Elijah, the
• 35:45
  Holy Spirit. He will go out before the Lord
• 35:49
  in the spirit that like in the same spirit and power that
• 35:53
  Elijah had and he brought about. You know, he was speaking what
• 35:58
  God you know, again, this is God take it over somebody's speech
• 36:03
  and speaking what he wants to proclaim to people.
• 36:07
  And John was had a baptism of repentance, like putting death
• 36:12
  to your old life and rising up out of the water.
• 36:15
  That's what his baptism was. And even John said, you know,
• 36:19
  when he baptized Jesus, he said I'm not even worthy to do this
• 36:23
  and he knew who Jesus was, but he said he Jesus is the one who
• 36:28
  can give you the Holy Spirit. So even though, and you know, of
• 36:33
  course John had this wisdom because he was filled with the
• 36:36
  Holy Spirit before he was ever even born.
• 36:39
  So that's just something interesting from the Bible.
• 36:45
  And so anyway, about Zechariah and his speech, the Angel said
• 36:49
  to him, I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God, and I have
• 36:52
  been sent to speak to you and tell you this good news.
• 36:56
  And now and now you will be silent and not able to speak
• 37:02
  until the day this happens, because you did not believe my
• 37:08
  words, which will come true at their appointed time.
• 37:12
  So God's pretty serious when he sends a message and somebody
• 37:17
  just as like, well, I don't know.
• 37:18
  I don't know if I believe that, you know, because Zechariah was
• 37:22
  he questioned it kind of like Sarah and Abraham.
• 37:26
  Zechariah asked the Angel, how can I be sure of this?
• 37:29
  I'm an old man and my wife is well along in years.
• 37:33
  So again, this is like, don't doubt when he has this like
• 37:37
  supernatural experience with this Angel and he's
• 37:39
  communicating, speaking to this Angel.
• 37:42
  And so he's obviously in connection with something
• 37:45
  supernatural and he's, he's still not believing it.
• 37:49
  What what the Angel was saying. So the Angel makes him silent.
• 37:55
  And so then later on in chapter 1, it talks about what happens
• 38:00
  when John the Baptist. That's what we, I guess to not
• 38:04
  confuse him with John, the author of the gospel.
• 38:07
  He's called John the Baptist. And so it said when it was time
• 38:15
  for Elizabeth to have her baby, she gave birth to a son.
• 38:18
  This is verse 57. Her neighbors and relatives
• 38:21
  heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy and they shared
• 38:25
  her joy. On the 8th day they came to
• 38:28
  circumcise the child and they were going to name him after his
• 38:32
  father Zechariah. But his mother spoke up and said
• 38:36
  no, he is to be called John. They said to her there is no one
• 38:42
  among your relatives who has that name.
• 38:44
  Then they made signs to his father to find out what he would
• 38:48
  like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet.
• 38:52
  So here he's still unable to speak and to everyone's
• 38:55
  astonishment he wrote his name is John.
• 39:01
  Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free and he
• 39:05
  began to speak, praising God. So that's just kind of
• 39:12
  interesting how God, you know, it's another example of how God
• 39:18
  works with people. And when he gives a word and
• 39:21
  when God is serious about it, he's not playing around.
• 39:25
  He, you know, this is important and he will do whatever he has
• 39:31
  to do. Now the last statement in
• 39:36
  chapter 3, it says this is what the sovereign Lord says.
• 39:38
  Whoever will listen, let them listen and whoever will refuse,
• 39:42
  let them refuse for they are rebellious people.
• 39:45
  Again, God keeps emphasizing you're not responsible how
• 39:48
  somebody reacts once you give the information, just give the
• 39:52
  information. So then this whoever will
• 39:58
  listen, let them listen. And it reminded me of lots of.
• 40:04
  Like whoever has ears. That's what came to my mind, and
• 40:08
  in the NIV version that I have, it occurs 42 times in 14 verses.
• 40:13
  In the NIV edition, it's in Matthew 1115.
• 40:18
  Whoever has ears, let them hear. Matthew 13, nine.
• 40:22
  Whoever has ears, let them hear. Matthew 1343 Then the righteous
• 40:28
  will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
• 40:32
  Whoever has ears, let them hear. In Mark chapter 4, then Jesus
• 40:38
  said Whoever has ears let them hear.
• 40:43
  And in a parable in Luke chapter 8 verse 8, still other seed fell
• 40:48
  on the good soil. It came up and yielded A crop
• 40:51
  100 times more than what was sown.
• 40:53
  When he said this, he called out whoever has ears to hear, let
• 40:58
  them hear. See, there's more in these
• 41:01
  messages that God is saying and, and people if they listen, let
• 41:07
  them hear because this is like this is the good news, the good
• 41:10
  news about the Kingdom In Luke chapter 14 verse 35, it is
• 41:15
  neither for the soil nor for the manure pile.
• 41:18
  It is thrown out. Whoever has ears to hear, let
• 41:22
  them hear. He's giving warnings, he's
• 41:24
  giving details and he's saying whoever has ears.
• 41:28
  Then in Revelation chapter 2 and Revelation chapter 3 and
• 41:37
  Revelation chapter 13, it says whoever has ears.
• 41:42
  So whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the
• 41:46
  churches. The one who is victorious, I
• 41:48
  will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in
• 41:52
  the paradise of God. That's Revelation 27.
• 41:57
  Revelation 211 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit
• 42:00
  says to the churches. The one who is victorious will
• 42:03
  not be hurt at all by the second death.
• 42:07
  Revelation 2, verse 17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the
• 42:11
  Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I
• 42:15
  will give some of the hidden manna.
• 42:18
  I will also give that person a whitestone with a new name
• 42:21
  written on it, known only to the one who receives it.
• 42:26
  Revelation 229. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 42:29
  what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 42:32
  So all of Revelation is a message to the churches.
• 42:36
  The churches are the people, the believers of Christ.
• 42:39
  So if you call yourself a Christian, the Book of
• 42:41
  Revelation is important for you. Whoever has ears, I mean, how
• 42:46
  many times? Revelation 36 Whoever has ears,
• 42:50
  let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 42:53
  Revelation 313 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit
• 42:57
  says to the churches. Revelation 322 Whoever has ears,
• 43:01
  let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
• 43:04
  Revelation 13 Nine. Whoever has ears, let them hear
• 43:09
  God. It gets repetitious when he
• 43:10
  wants somebody to pay attention and so whoever has ears, that's
• 43:15
  whenever that's said. This is something important that
• 43:18
  God wants us to pay attention to.
• 43:22
  And anyway that that wraps up besides the questions and
• 43:27
  answers in the study Bible. So I will read those questions
• 43:31
  and answers. Why did God tell Ezekiel to eat
• 43:35
  the scroll? Eating the scroll was a graphic
• 43:37
  way of saying Ezekiel was to preach only the words God gave
• 43:40
  him and nothing else. He could fulfill the Commission
• 43:42
  only by God's strength, not his own.
• 43:45
  Remember that this was a spiritual vision, not a natural
• 43:49
  incident. Why did the scroll taste sweet
• 43:53
  to Ezekiel? We were not told exactly why the
• 43:56
  scroll tasted sweet. The message Ezekiel had to
• 44:01
  deliver was not sweet. In fact, it was difficult word
• 44:05
  to deliver. The sweetness of taste may have
• 44:07
  had to do with Ezekiel's intimacy with the divine Word.
• 44:11
  Recall the description of the law of the Lord from Psalm 19 as
• 44:15
  sweeter than Honeywell. I think Amir actually had a
• 44:20
  pretty good explanation. And I don't know I'd, if I have
• 44:22
  it open to that, but I, I thought he kind of explained it
• 44:28
  well, that about the word of God, You know, to those who are
• 44:34
  in rebellion, it's not going to be a good message.
• 44:37
  But the truth of it is that is a wonderful message.
• 44:42
  It's about the Kingdom of God. It's you know what Amir wrote
• 44:47
  it's it's possible that this is because God's justice seems
• 44:52
  harsh to the unrighteous, but is pure and proper to the
• 44:57
  righteous. So it's probably a matter of the
• 45:01
  state of our spirit and and how we receive it.
• 45:06
  So if we are still God's enemy, if we still don't have the Holy
• 45:11
  Spirit, we might receive it with resistance and that we don't
• 45:17
  want it. But when the Holy Spirit starts
• 45:19
  to work in our life, it starts changing how we receive what God
• 45:22
  says. So let's see what does my I
• 45:27
  think. Oh, that was the wrong chapter.
• 45:29
  So why bother speaking to people who refuse to listen?
• 45:33
  Because God's offer of mercy always precedes judgement.
• 45:37
  Although we know their response beforehand, God consistently
• 45:41
  warns sinners about the coming consequences of their actions
• 45:46
  whether they listen or not. Being warned, however, means
• 45:50
  there can be no excuse. When judgement comes, we can't
• 45:54
  blame anybody else. If we hear it, we can't blame.
• 45:58
  That was another thing that actually I had a reaction to
• 46:01
  once I read the Bible. I was like, Oh my gosh, I wish I
• 46:04
  didn't read this because now I'm responsible for what I've read.
• 46:08
  But we shouldn't have that way because we're going to be
• 46:09
  responsible either way. But it's good to know in
• 46:12
  advance. It's kind of like an open book
• 46:15
  test. We get all the answers here.
• 46:18
  If we look at it, we're going to do better than if we go into it
• 46:22
  blindly. So did the Spirit physically
• 46:27
  transport Ezekiel? Although it's entirely possible,
• 46:31
  it's unlikely. It's more likely that God caused
• 46:33
  Ezekiel to see and experience these things in visions.
• 46:38
  Why was OK? We read about why he was bitter
• 46:41
  and angry. What?
• 46:42
  What was a watchman and what did he do?
• 46:45
  This was usually someone on a tower or a high point entrusted
• 46:49
  to watch for approaching messengers or enemies.
• 46:53
  God wanted to impress Ezekiel with the critical responsibility
• 46:57
  of being alert and warning people of coming judgement.
• 47:01
  In a sense, Ezekiel was accountable for their fate.
• 47:06
  Are all those who speak for God held accountable?
• 47:08
  Like Ezekiel? None of us is free to leave
• 47:12
  God's call on our lives unfulfilled.
• 47:16
  We will be held responsible for our faithfulness to God's call,
• 47:21
  not the results of our laborers. Compare this verse with Paul's
• 47:26
  sense of responsibility in First Corinthians 916.
• 47:31
  I didn't call that verse up, so I don't.
• 47:36
  So what is a stumbling block? A stumbling block is an obstacle
• 47:40
  in a path that causes a person to lose balance or fall.
• 47:44
  It can be an enticement to sin or, as in this verse, a test
• 47:49
  from the Lord intended to reveal a person's true commitments and
• 47:54
  beliefs. There's nothing better than a
• 47:57
  test, a temptation that comes across that lets us know where
• 48:03
  we stand with God. And I think that's might be, you
• 48:06
  know, just the way the study Bible says that's that's a good
• 48:11
  point that it's probably the way God makes it like he uses this
• 48:16
  so that we know he knows our heart.
• 48:18
  But maybe we're kidding ourselves thinking that, oh,
• 48:23
  we're good. We, you know, we're fine with
• 48:25
  temptation. We can overcome it with the Holy
• 48:27
  Spirit. But then when we actually get
• 48:30
  put in that situation, what do we actually do?
• 48:34
  And when God does that, maybe he's just opening up our eyes to
• 48:40
  see where we stand and what we need to accomplish.
• 48:46
  Like where we need, where we're falling short and where we need
• 48:50
  more of the Holy Spirit. We need to yield to the Holy
• 48:53
  Spirit and not yield to what we want necessarily.
• 48:58
  So I did look up First Corinthians 916, what Paul said.
• 49:05
  He said, for when I preach the gospel, I cannot boast since I
• 49:12
  am compelled to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the
• 49:17
  gospel. If I preach voluntarily, I have
• 49:19
  a reward. If not voluntarily, I am simply
• 49:22
  discharging the trust committed to me and says, what then is my
• 49:29
  reward? Just this, that in preaching the
• 49:31
  gospel I may offer it free of charge and so not make full use
• 49:37
  of my rights as a preacher of the gospel.
• 49:41
  So it looks like, you know, Paul was basically saying I'm giving
• 49:45
  it away for free. I'm not using it as my right to
• 49:51
  get paid as a preacher. That's kind of what that seems
• 49:54
  to say to me. But and he but that's missing
• 49:58
  the point of what the reference was, is that he was compelled to
• 50:03
  preach. I think that, you know, there's
• 50:06
  a lot of things that when God's call happens on a person, I
• 50:10
  think Jeremiah even expressed that too, that he couldn't keep
• 50:15
  it in. Like it would just come out.
• 50:17
  Like he didn't even want to say some of the things, but it would
• 50:20
  just come out like that was how powerful the Holy Spirit was on
• 50:25
  Jeremiah. And I can't remember that verse,
• 50:27
  but I remember him saying like, if I try to hold it in, it still
• 50:31
  comes out. So this is something like when
• 50:33
  God wants you to do something, he's, he's going to enable the
• 50:39
  Holy Spirit to make it happen even though you don't want,
• 50:44
  maybe you don't, you don't know what you're going to say.
• 50:46
  The Holy Spirit will speak for you.
• 50:48
  There's there's evidence of that.
• 50:51
  And OK, so more, a few more questions and then we'll be
• 50:54
  actually one more question. How can we obey God's commands
• 50:57
  without knowing the outcome? In one sense, we do know the
• 51:01
  outcome. God's God's justice will prevail
• 51:05
  and He will maintain His sovereignty.
• 51:09
  Though the people of Israel were doomed to destruction, there
• 51:13
  would be one day. There would one day be a
• 51:17
  glorious restoration and a new, beautiful temple.
• 51:22
  Ezekiel knew that what he did not know was the timing and the
• 51:26
  method of God's righteous anger and exactly how the people would
• 51:32
  respond to the prophecies. Similarly, when Apostle Paul was
• 51:37
  in prison, he told the Philippians that although he
• 51:40
  wanted to be away from the body and with the Lord, he knew that
• 51:45
  he must remain in the body for them.
• 51:49
  Whatever the outcome, Paul knew the Lord would be with him.
• 51:54
  The witness of Scripture is consistent.
• 51:56
  We know the end of the story. Short term problems sometimes
• 52:01
  challenge our faith, but we can pray and minister with
• 52:04
  confidence, trusting that God will work out His purposes.
• 52:11
  And that concludes Chapter 3.