 Amen. Ezekiel chapter 33, so that's a great chapter in the Bible. I'm reminded from Friday night when I read the first few words here of the verse number one where it says, again, the word of the Lord. You know, we can never forget that, you know, when we're reading the Bible that, you know, all these, this is a great chapter in the Bible and there's all these great things in the Bible, but it's not just as, you know, Einstein, I told you Einstein said a couple weeks ago that they're just this, you know, it's a neat little collection of stories. It's the reason that this has power and the reason that this has truth is because the Lord said it, because it's God's word and that's what gives the Bible its power. We're going to talk about that this morning and a little bit this evening as well. Well, look at Ezekiel chapter 33 in verse number one as we're going to focus on verse number one through verse number nine where we see this interesting analogy of a watchman in the Bible. The Bible says in Ezekiel chapter 33 in verse number one, again, the word of the Lord came unto me saying, Son of man speak to the children of Israel or the children of thy people and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchman, just put that in your Bible, make a little bracket there and say and put Acts chapter three right there and I'll explain that to you as we get further into the sermon, but that's a good little proof of how God wrote the whole Bible, by the way, how the Bible just matches itself everywhere it goes. Verse number three, so we see the people, they take a man of their own people and they set him up as a watchman and when he see it, the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people. So he warns everybody, he sees an army coming, he sees danger coming and he warns everybody and the Bible says in verse four, then whosoever hear it the sound of the trumpet and take not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be on his own head. So somebody hears the trumpet, they say, ah, forget it, you know, forget about it, it's no big deal and then when he dies or he's taken away, that's his responsibility at that point. Then in verse number five it says, he heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him, but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. The but, if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet, now we see a different scenario between verse number five and verse number six. So up to verse number five, we see that there's danger coming and the watchman is on the wall and he sees the danger and he tells everybody, he warns everybody, some people don't listen, well that's their responsibility, the Bible says. In verse six, the watchman fails. The watchman, he sees the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take away any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So the Bible says here that if the watchman sees the danger coming and doesn't say anything, then God, look, the bad things are still going to happen, but God's going to blame the watchman for that. In verse number seven says, so thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I require at thine hand. Now God is talking to the watchman saying, I'm going to give you my words and if you don't tell these wicked people, he said I'm going to require their blood at your hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul. That's a singular pointing a finger right at the, and this is an analogy for the prophet right here. He's pointing a finger at the prophet saying, if you tell him, he's like you've delivered your soul, you've done what you were supposed to do, is what God is saying here. So we see in Ezekiel 33, we see this nice little analogy, basically outlining the responsibility of the prophets. Turn to Isaiah chapter 58. So let's look at it in that context. Now let's look at the prophets and there's so many, I'm going to kind of just give you a pattern here, but I mean we could just go through the whole. It's kind of pretty much the same for almost every single prophet in the Bible. It's kind of the same pattern that we'll see. Look at Isaiah chapter 58. So the prophet has a responsibility is what Isaiah, or not Isaiah, Ezekiel 33 is saying, and look at Isaiah chapter 58. We see that responsibility in Isaiah 58 and verse number one where the Bible says, you know, this is what the prophet is to do. It says, cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sin. So there's a first, there's a few things that we're going to point out here is that first of all, they're not, they're not supposed to leave anything unsaid. They're supposed to say everything, just cry aloud, don't spare anybody, you know, okay well what if I offend this, no, spare no one is what the prophet is supposed to do. And it says, show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. So I mean that's another thing to point out is that many times, I don't know why I'm making notes in my own notes right now, but I'm thinking about things while I'm reading it, but the point is, is that many times the prophets were preaching towards God's own people, and it shows my people, the house of Jacob. And you know the reaction, I mean that should surprise us a little bit because the reaction most of the time turned to Jeremiah chapter 38. The reaction when the prophets did exactly what Isaiah 58 says when they're preaching to their own people, God's own people, the reaction is mainly negative in the Bible. It's mostly not good in the Bible. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 38 and look at verse number three. We could just spend hours and hours and hours just looking at negative reactions to prophets in the Bible, but I'll just give you one example from the book of Jeremiah, look at verse number three of Jeremiah 38. The Bible says, thus sayeth the Lord. There we go again. There we go again. Why does it even have any authority? Why does it have, because God said it, because you know, this isn't Jeremiah saying it. Jeremiah is saying thus sayeth the Lord. This city shall surely be given into the hand of the King of Babylon's army, which shall take it. Now look, that's another thing about a lot of these prophets. So you sit there and you hear preaching or you hear, you know, Bible preaching and you're just like, oh man, you know, does that apply to me and all this? Look, this is some pretty specific, you know, prophecy right here. He's basically saying the city shall be given into the hand of the King of Babylon. I mean, could you get any more specific than that? He's saying, here's what's going to happen. This city is going to be given into the hand of not some certain king, not some army. He's like, the King of Babylon's coming to take over this city. That's what Jeremiah just said. And I mean, he's basically saying this is what's going to happen. I'll get verse number four. Therefore the princes said unto the King, we beseech you, let this man be put to death. For thus he hath weakened the hands of the men of war that remain in this city and the hands of all the people in speaking such words unto them. For this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. Then Zedekiah the king said, behold, he is in your hand, for the king is not he that can do anything against you. Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Melchia, the son of Hamalek that was in the court of the prison. And they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. So I mean, Jeremiah gave some very specific preaching here. He said, you know, you're going to be taken over by this army in this city. And they threw him in prison. They threw him in the mire in the dungeon for it. Turn to 1 Kings chapter 22. That's a pretty negative reaction. Like immediately they just put him in prison right away. They hated what he was saying. But he said it anyway. Look at 1 Kings chapter 22. This is Jehoshaphat going to war with Ahab. And Jehoshaphat's like just begging like, can we just get like a real prophet here to tell us what the truth is? They have all these prophets, you know, that are coming and just saying, oh, you know, you're going to win and everything's going to be great. And Jehoshaphat, you know, he might not be smart, tagging up with Ahab, but he's smart enough to know that these prophets aren't prophets of God. So he asks for a real prophet in 2 Kings chapter 22. Look at verse number 4. And this prophet is a prophet. This is what he says. And he said unto Jehoshaphat, will thou go with me to battle to Ramoth Gilead? And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, Ahab, says, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses as thy horses. And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, inquire I pray thee at the word of the Lord today. Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together about 400 men and said unto them, shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle or shall I forbear? And they said, go up for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king. And Jehoshaphat said, is there not a prophet of the Lord besides that we might inquire of him? These 400 prophets just go up and just tell King Ahab what he wants to hear. And oh, you're going to do great. And Jehoshaphat is smart enough to know. He's like, do you have a real prophet anywhere? Can we get a real prophet in the building, please? So they go and they get Micaiah, or Micaiah, look at verse 23 for sake of time. Now therefore behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit. This is Micaiah now talking to the kings, and he's saying, now therefore behold the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets. And the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee. But Zedekiah, the son of Chanaena, this is the guy that made the iron horns. He was the biggest of the men pleasers of these prophets trying to impress the king. But Zedekiah, the son of Chanaena, went near and smote Micaiah on the cheek and said, which way went the spirit of the Lord for me to speak unto thee? So this guy is preaching. He's preaching to these two kings, and he literally gets punched in the face while he's preaching. I mean, let's see if he learns his lesson. Look down at verse number 25. Micaiah said, behold thou shalt see in that day, when thou shalt go into the inner chamber to hide thyself. He's like, you're going to be afraid, you're going to be running from God. And the king of Israel said, take Micaiah and carry him back to Ammon, the governor of the city, and to Joash, the king's son, and say, thus saith the king, put this fellow in prison and feed him with bread of affliction and with water of affliction until I come in peace. So basically, the king of Israel says, go throw this guy in prison. He's just been punched in the face. And then the king says, throw him in prison. Just take him, put him in prison, just nothing but bread and water for this guy. He says he's going to go to prison. So look at verse number 28. Does he learn his lesson? Maybe he'll apologize now because he's just been threatened of being thrown in prison. And Micaiah says, if thou return it all in peace, the Lord hath not spoken by me. He says, you're going to die is what he says to Ahab. And he was right. And he said, harken, O people, every one of you. This guy gets physically assaulted during his sermon. He gets threatened with prison and he did get thrown in prison. And at the very end, he says, you're going to die because that's what the Lord said. Look, he spared, he spared not. We can find dozens and dozens of examples of the same pattern in the Bible. It's the prophet. He's fulfilling his responsibility as Ezekiel 33 lays out. And the people, they don't want to hear it. These are God's people. And many times they have like a violent, I mean not just negative but a violent reaction. That's why you know the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 11, many of these men were killed in horrible ways. You know they literally blamed the messenger if you've heard about that, you know, or they heard that saying, they shot the messenger in the Bible in the Old Testament. So I mean, what can we learn from this? What can we, what's the application? I think about this, basically I think about this as having two applications. The main application is us, our ministry here. And this is the way that I've most of the time seen Ezekiel chapter 33 applied. But it applies and it fits very well this analogy of the Watchman. It applies very well to our ministry here. You know, Mark 16, 15 he said, and go into all, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That is setting us up as the Watchman is what that verse is doing. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 33. Or just look at the front of your bulletin. Look at the front of your bulletin. That's the verse of the week. Look at Ezekiel chapter 33 and verse number six. So we have, we have Jesus setting us up as the Watchman as we have to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. In Ezekiel chapter 33, 6 the Bible says, but if the Watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned if the sword come and take any person from among them he is taken away in his iniquity but his blood why require at the Watchman's hand. So Jesus tells us that we have a responsibility to preach the gospel. And this is the big miss. I mean this is the, you know, between verses five and six is when we see, you know, that the narrative change in Ezekiel chapter 33 to where the Watchman could not do his job. And boy, is that not the Christian today. It's just, it doesn't change the fact that we still have the responsibility. It's just that the Christian today is the Watchman of verse number six. Basically, he's not blowing the trumpet. He's not doing what he's supposed to do. I mean, look, there's a reason that we're like the only church in town that goes out soul-winning and goes out preaching the gospel to people and not just, you know, handing out fliers or whatever. We're willing to warn people. We're willing to preach the gospel to people. And look, here's the thing though. And the reason I kind of gave you that quick little Bible study for seven minutes on the prophets is because you need to understand that as the Watchman as is the same as the prophet, look, it's largely going to be received in a negative way. You have to understand that. Why do I tell you that? I tell you that, you know, so you're not offended when it happens to you. Okay, look, but notice what our responsibility is. Look at the front of your bulletin or in verse number six. It says, if he blows not the trumpet, if he blows not, what are the next words there? The next words are, and the people be not warned is what the Bible says. Look, the responsibility is to warn the people. That's the responsibility. Soul-winning, look, soul-winning is as much about fulfilling our responsibility as it is about getting souls saved. It's, as a matter of fact, you know, getting souls saved turned to Isaiah 55. Getting souls, winning souls is a byproduct of just doing what we're supposed to do. It's a byproduct. Look at Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55. So we're supposed to go out and so many things in the Christian life are that way. We're just supposed to do what we're supposed to do and everything else God will take care of from there. That's all we have to worry about. All we have to worry about are what are my actions here? What am I supposed to do here? We're supposed to go out and preach the gospel. That's what we're supposed to do. We're supposed to warn the people as Ezekiel, Ezekiel, Ezekiel 33 says, and that's our responsibility. But God promises us, look at verse 11 of Isaiah 55. He says, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not, because what are the words that we're speaking? We're not speaking our words when we're out there. Once again, what gives the gospel message its authority? It's Jesus Christ that gives its message. It gives every single word in the Bible has authority because it comes from, it is actually Jesus Christ. That's why it has authority. It's not that we say something in a certain way. It has authority because it's Jesus. That's why. But look at verse number 11. It says that words that go forth out of my mouth, we're just repeating stuff. We're just parroting what God had said. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish which I please, not what we please, not what we want. Look, the word of God that we go out and we speak to people, the gospel, it will accomplish what God wants it to accomplish is what he is saying here. And it shall prosper in the thing where to I sent it. And he's like, so he kind of gives us the answer there at the end. He says, look, it's going to accomplish what I want it to accomplish. And he says, at the end he says, and I want it, you know, I want it to accomplish something. He says at the end, it'll prosper. Say, don't you worry, it'll prosper. So we go out and we warn people and we carry the word of God and God says, oh by the way, you know, accomplish what I want it to accomplish and it's going to prosper. Don't worry about that. Turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Look, the prophets, you read that. You kind of, it can be depressing reading the prophets in the Old Testament, whether it be the major or minor prophets, all the prophets, because the vast majority of the prophets, people didn't listen to them. Jeremiah, it's a depressing story. Not only did Jeremiah write, you know, have the book of Jeremiah about Jeremiah, all the things came to pass. Nobody listened to him. But if you look at it from a nation perspective, it is depressing because the nation didn't listen. But these prophets got many people saved. They got many people right. They got many people. And that's, look, that's the word of, how do I know that? Because of Isaiah 55-11. That's how I know that. Because the word of God will not come back void. And God wants it. You know, it'll do what he wants and it will prosper. If somebody is speaking the word of God, it will prosper. That's what the Bible tells us. Look at Hebrews 4 in verse number 12. The Bible says this. It says, for the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. And listen to this. Piercing. Piercing even to the dividing of thunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. This verse right here explained to us, while people may be angry at you when you go soul-winning. People may actually get angry at you. Look, they'll be happy if they believe it. If they believe it. But many, like many, you are carrying a message that many do not want to hear. Many people don't want to hear it. But here's the thing. That message that you're carrying, even though people don't want to hear it, it's powerful because it's God's message. And people will reject it. You know, the false prophets, think of Micaiah. They punched him in the face. They threw Jeremiah in prison. These people, it cuts. It pierces. And there will be people that they feel that piercing and they hate it. And you will find those people. But the responsibility is still there. The responsibility is still there. So don't think. Don't think. Oh, you know what? We didn't get anybody saved today. We didn't get anybody saved today. Look, your responsibility is to warn. That's what your responsibility is. If for people to, look, for people to accept the gospel, that is not yours to own. That is not your responsibility. It is your responsibility to blow the trumpet. That is our responsibility as we go out. Whether or not people, that's why I always say, again and again and again, we're looking for the right fish. You can't make somebody believe. We're never going to be able to make somebody believe. We blow the trumpet. We're looking for the right fish. We're looking for that person that has that right heart that will accept God's word. That leads me to, you know, just some reflections over the last couple of years. So we see that Ezekiel chapter 33 applies to our ministry. It applies to our ministry to, you know, the watchman applies to soul winning. It applies to preaching to all nations that Jesus tells us we need to do with the gospel. That's our ministry. But the watchman is Ezekiel chapter 33. When I think about it, when I read it, and I think about the last couple of years, it really applies to the ministry as well. I mean, you think about the prophets, and just think about these prophets. Don't forget, I mean, as we go out soul winning, who are we preaching to when we're out soul winning? We're preaching to the lost. We're preaching to people who might have never even heard of Jesus. They're not saved. They're not even close to saved. I mean, a lot of these people will find false prophets. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 46. But don't forget that the prophets themselves were largely preaching towards God's own people. Yes, they preach. I'm going to show you some examples where they preached against heathen nations. They did do that. But for the most part, they preach, you know, they preach to God's people. Look at Jeremiah chapter 46. Jeremiah chapter 46. Look at verse 13. Look what the Bible says in Jeremiah 46 in verse number 13. The Bible says, the word of the Lord that spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, should come and smite the land of Egypt. Declare ye in Egypt and publish in Migdal, and publish Naph and Taphonies. Say, stand fast and prepare thee, for the sword shall devour round about thee. Why are thy valiant men swept away? They stood not, because the Lord did drive them. So here, Jeremiah 46 is preaching against Egypt. Chapter 47 is preaching against the Philistines. Chapter 48 is preaching against Moab. Chapter 49 is preaching against the Ammonites and Edom. Chapter 50 is preaching against Babylon itself. So God is pretty complete in his judgment. I mean, he judges the land of Judah with the nation of Babylon. But then after he had done judging them with a wicked nation, he goes in and he just cleans house, judging all the nations that took advantage of that situation and that were wicked themselves. God's, I mean, God's a perfect judge. So he did judge other nations and prophets did preach against other nations. But for the vast majority of the time, and don't forget this, the vast majority of the time the prophet was preaching against God's people. Period. Enter the modern day ministry. That's, I mean, that kind of explains why preaching is, you know, directed towards what people in the church need. You know, I mean, look, yes, there's times when we're going to preach about the world and preach about those things. And, you know, I'm trying to strike a good balance there as the Bible strikes a balance, as we just saw. But look, the most of the time these people were preaching, I mean, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos, you name it. They're preaching against God's people and they're ripping face against God's people. They're hard on God's people. And why? Because many people, even God's people, will just not heed God's word. Ow, jammed finger. So what do the prophets do? What do the prophets do when these people, God's own people? It's not that they didn't care about these people. They're God's people. What do they do? Well, some of them turned to Lamentations chapter one. That's, I mean, just the name of the book right there tells you what some of them did. Lamentations chapter one. Lamentations chapter one, look at verse number one. I mean, how do these prophets handle it? I mean, think about it. They're just saying, I mean, they spend their whole life, they spend their whole life just preaching to God's people. And, you know, on the collective scale, God's people didn't listen in most cases. Look at verse number one of Lamentations one. How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people? How would she become as a widow? She that was great amongst the nations and princes among the provinces, how would she become tributary? She weep a sore in the night, her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she had none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies. Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwelleth among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. He's sitting here and he's like, nobody listened. What's he doing? He's lamenting. He's lamenting that nobody listened. I mean, Jeremiah kind of, I kind of like his heart. Jeremiah had a had a really good heart. I mean, he not only do you hear about everything that he did and it almost seems futile. Like I said, if you look at it at a national level, it is futile from Jeremiah's perspective, but I guarantee he got many people right with the Lord and brought to the Lord, many individuals in his life. And then, and then we see him just lamenting. Like, look, he's not like, he's not like good, good for him. I told him they didn't listen to me. I mean, if anybody could be bitter, it'd be Jeremiah, but it wasn't. He's just lamenting for these people. So, I mean, some of them, when they, when the God's people didn't listen, some of them literally lamented. You know, you'll find some in the Old Testament, some got angry. Some got angry. And then, look, some just realized, go back to Ezekiel chapter 33. Some just realized it as reality. Some just realized it as reality. It's like, okay, that's just what was supposed to happen and that's what happened because you didn't listen. I mean, that's what a lot of them did. But go back to Ezekiel chapter 33. Look, here's the thing. Ultimately, a proper ministry is just, a proper ministry of a prophet is just to tell the truth to the people. That's the ministry. It's to tell the truth to the people. I mean, many pastors, and I'm going to show you how we've ended up with heresies and doctrines that are not right because decades and decades ago, many pastors went wrong here. They, they took, look, they, they went wrong and they took where they were just supposed to warn and they took it too far. And when the people didn't listen, they tried to make people listen. They tried to gain too much control. And look, I'm telling you, I can see how it happened. From the perspective that I've been in for a couple of years, I can totally see how this happens. Look, they just tried to gain too much control. So, you know, I, you know, as a prophet, you preach to people, they don't listen. You keep warning people. They don't listen. You warn and warn and they don't listen. And all of a sudden, you're just like, what else can I do? Well, maybe I can start threatening people. Maybe I can start threatening people with things that aren't mine to give or take. See? Maybe I can start threatening you. You're not listening to me. I can start threatening you with something that's not mine to give or take like your salvation. Maybe I can start threatening you with those things and scare, and look, I'm sure it works in certain cases. I know actually that it works in certain cases because I've met people who've been saved for 20, 30 years who you will find that doubt their salvation on a regular basis. And it's because they've been sitting under this type of influence. It's where, look, it's where repent of your sins doctrine came from. Well, you know that repent of your sins, repent of your sins doctrine, it just started as a method. It started, think of it. It just started as a method of some pastor preaching, you know what? You're not listening to me. You're not turning from the things that I'm telling you to turn from. I'm preaching the Bible to you. I'm telling you to get these things out of your life. I'm trying to tell you to get separated. Do all these things that you just don't want to do. So I'm just like, you know what? If you don't really do these things, you know, are you even saved? It's a method, see? It's a method. It's a method of getting people to do what, you know, and look, it might come from a good place. I want you to get sin out of your life. I don't want you to be sinful. I don't want you to wreck your life with sin. I don't want you to wreck your life with alcohol and fornication and whatever else. And I'm just like, you know, whatever I can do to get you to stop those things. But no, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says not to warn you. The watchman is to warn. That's it. That's where this certain doctrine where it says, you know what? If you're, and that leads into this. If you are saved, you will do these things. If you're really saved, you will have the works. It's a method that turns into a doctrine. A doctrine of what we call now Lordship salvation. I mean, yeah, yeah. But if you're saved, you will have the works. You know, I mean, look, I mean, I get it. The Christian today, imagine if somebody, imagine if a Christian a hundred years ago could come and see Christians today. Imagine if that would be possible. Here we go with time travel again. But imagine they would look at the Christian today and they would say these people have no works. They would say these people have almost no works. It's like they look, they look just like the world. They act just like the world. You know, soul winning isn't happening. This is what somebody from a century ago would think if they came here today. Not here, but, you know, to Christianity today. They're just like, you know, the church, I mean, look, it's true because the churches of the world, the churches that look like the world, they're the ones that are full. The churches that don't look like the world, they're the ones that aren't full because nobody wants to hear this message. Nobody wants to hear, you know, nobody wants to hear what we are here to do. Nobody wants to hear that we should go out soul winning. So, I mean, worship salvation simply came from the frustrated pastor or the frustrated leader or the frustrated prophet that just said, if you're saved, you'll listen to me. That's where it all came from. It's really easy to see where all this stuff came from. And then it turns into false doctrine and pretty soon you got a church full of people that aren't even saved. Look, I mean, someone that doesn't listen to me, it doesn't, that doesn't, you know, make them unsaved. You know, I mean, these are slippery slopes is all I'm saying. And I can see where they came from. But personally, look, I mean, I could see the origins of this, but I get where it came from because, look, personally, I don't like seeing people not heed God's word. I don't like it. It's, it's, it's especially hard when you've addressed like specific things that people ignore. You know, I think about just reflecting over the last two years. And I think about just the, the things, you know, and the things that I've preached on. And I mean, I must have preached a dozen sermons on just the family, the family unit. I must have preached a dozen sermons or more on raising children, on disciplining children, on training children, all ages. I've gone through all the ages. Look, I cannot get more specific. That's how I feel. I cannot get more specific. So when you see people not heed that stuff, it's maddening. It's maddening. I've preached over a dozen sermons on separating and the dangers of not living a separated life. Over a dozen sermons on homeschooling and teaching your children and pulling your children out of the public school system and how that is necessary for the success and the well-being of your children. But look in all these, and then I've preached on so many sermons on how serious homeschooling is and how you must take it seriously and you must be diligent in training and teaching your children. But look in all these areas I will watch people just hear and not heed in all of these areas. By the way, if you ever think like, oh man, this is his hobby horse. Not really. It's just because I feel like that's what's not being heeded. So you're like, I don't want to hear the same message again and again. Well then heed the message. That's how you can shut me up. But at the end of the day, at the end of the day when I think of all these things as far as the the ministry, not our ministry, the ministry, I basically have three choices. I basically have three choices and I look at the prophets and I look at what's happened to churches over the last 50 years in this country. I basically have three choices. I can become an over-controlling zealot. That's choice number one. I can become an over-controlling. I totally get how it happens. It's absolutely maddening. It's absolutely maddening. Turn to Acts chapter 3. Turn to Acts chapter 3 and keep your place in Ezekiel chapter 33. We're going to look at verse number 2 in Acts chapter 3. But it's maddening. You feel like, look, and it's really maddening for me because you feel like you're wasting your time. And I hate wasting time. I've always hated wasting time. That's why I've never watched sports ever. Because it's just such a waste of time. It's ridiculous. You know, and then I mean it's all got all kinds of moral issues to it. But I mean just the fact that it was a waste of time, I never did it. I'm like, you're a loser. You're just wasting all your time. I mean four hours? I mean I couldn't even really get into golf because I would go out on a golf course for three hours and be like, man, I should be doing something. I should be doing something else right now. You know, but look, turn to Acts chapter 3. And look, this is something that I really cannot fully explain to you, but I'm trying this morning. You just can't see this perspective until you're in the ministry. It's one of those things where I heard Pastor preach on it. I never really got it until I was actually in the ministry. Look at Acts chapter 3 and verse 22. Look at Acts chapter 3 and verse 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up among you of what? Is he going to magically make somebody appear out of the clouds? It's like, no, he's going to raise someone up among you of your brethren. Like unto me, him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. Look, do you know that if men rise up to go into the ministry, you know what? Men will rise up from this church. They will rise up from among us. Men that will rise up to go into the ministry. That's where they come from, by the way. They come from amongst us. These men that rise up. And it shall come to pass that every soul, and look, that matches perfectly Ezekiel 33. Look at verse 2. Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon the land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchmen. So it says they are to take a man from amongst them and set him as the watchmen. And then he is the one that has all the responsibilities that we read about in Ezekiel 33. That matches perfectly with Acts 3. That's proof the same guy wrote the entire Bible right there. And you find that all over the Bible. Look what it says in verse 23 though. And it shall come to pass that every soul which hear not that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people. Man, is this true too? Is this true too? You know what's going to happen to people? You know what happens to people? You preach things and then people don't listen to things. And then you know what? People come and they ask you things and you tell people things? They're like, hey, what about this? You say this. And then they don't listen. It says they'll be destroyed from amongst the people. And you know what happens? Every single time somebody gets backslidden, they fall out of church. It's the first thing. They leave from amongst the people. It's crazy. But it follows the same pattern. It doesn't mean, it doesn't matter why they're backsliding. It could be, you know, it's usually sin of some kind. But it doesn't matter what sin it is. But when they backslide, like the first indicator is that they're not, they're not going to be amongst the people. It's just so repetitive. It's almost, it's such an old story. You see it again and again and again. You can see what's going to happen. The temptation, I mean, so I mean the temptation is there to just try to get people to listen in some way. And there you could become that over-controlling zealot. What's the second? What's the second thing I could do? So I don't want to do that, that one though. That one doesn't fit me. I don't want to be an over-controlling zealot. I don't want to be a cult leader. Never like, never had it aspired to that. Never thought about, you know, when I was a kid. You know, cult leader. That sounds pretty good. Fireman or cult leader. You know, it's never really fit me. So here's the second one I could do. I could go insane and let it destroy me personally. I've thought about this one a few times. I had a pastor like this once many, many years ago back in North Dakota. You know, you just get up and scream and just like, nobody's listening or things aren't going the way he wants. He's, don't you know, I'm in charge here. And he's just like, ah, you know, and I'm just like, oh, this isn't going well. You know, but you know, look, he didn't really like where things were going and I knew why. But look, no pastor feels like I'm wasting my time here. You know, and he's so, I mean, I've seen pastors literally feel like, you know, you feel like they're losing their minds because just no one's listening to them. So I don't want to like destroy myself personally either. Here's the third one though. Realize that God's given me a job to tell you, to warn you, and then you decide. That's the third one. It's just realize Ezekiel chapter 33. You ask, I'll tell you, you decide. That's it. And then look, guess what? You bear the consequences of that. I don't. That's Ezekiel 33. That's the comfort to the profit of Ezekiel chapter 33. People will bear consequences. You know, I mean, look, there's a reason it says in Acts chapter 3 that the people will be destroyed from amongst the people. They'll be taken away. And that, like I said, that thing repeats itself again and again and again. And you know what? I mean, it just kills me. It kills me, by the way, that we will be literally a couple weeks away from, you know, the launch of the independent church. It's like we're almost to the end of the two years. And like our attendance is going down. I mean, we're literally seeing it now. We're literally seeing, but it's just Acts chapter 3. Where will people be destroyed? They'll just leave the people. They'll leave the people. It may be small at first. You know, they just stop coming every now and then. Start, you know, it starts with losing interest in spiritual things and you can fake that for a while. But eventually you will see people exit from amongst the people. It just, it kills me personally. Like this is like, you know, I want to go back to item number two and go insane personally and stuff like this. Because guess what? You know what happens in two weeks? It's not the finish line, folks. It's the start line. Did you know that? And we're starting with or without you. So, I mean, that is, I mean, it's not like, oh, we're sliding into home and we made it. No, it's the start. It's the beginning. Current of Matthew chapter 13. But you see it, you see people, they'll start losing interest in spiritual things. They'll start, you know, they'll start being more concerned about worldly things. It's so, it's so easy for me to see this. It's ridiculous. It's ridiculous how easy it is to see this. I wish I could just walk up to people before they get to that point where they actually leave the church and just shake people and just throw them up against wall and be like, you understand where you're going? I told you. Back to number two. Let's just go back to number two. Matthew 13, look at verse 22. Jesus told you this too. He that received the seed among the thorns is like this person. It's like he that heareth the word. It's like he that heareth the preaching. He that heareth the preaching and the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the world and he become unfruitful. I don't care, look, I don't care if you're rich or poor. Greed infects everybody. I've seen just as many rich people and just as many poor people that are infected with greed. It will destroy you spiritually. So look, here's the thing about the watchman though. The thing about the watchman and why it's a hard job to be that watchman is that he gets full view of this, unfortunately. You know, he stands on the wall. He stands on the wall and he's like, and look, here's the thing. I'll stand on the wall and I'll keep yelling. I'll keep yelling as you exit, exit the city and you walk away from the city. I'll keep standing on the wall and I will just keep screaming and I'll keep blowing the trumpet. But here's the thing. And look, something, some people, some people, they just, they'll just keep going. They'll just keep going. They'll hear the trumpet. They'll get out of church and then I'll just have to watch them walk off the cliff. And you know, the thing is, or maybe hear that one day they walked off the cliff. The nice thing, I mean, if there is a nice thing about, you know, the biblical church and a church that just preaches the Bible, it's that most times before things get really, really bad, people will get out of church because if they're into sin and they're into things that they shouldn't be into, they're just not going to want to be here hearing this, hearing this message. But look, I mean, it saves all of you from having to witness the final fall of that person. But ultimately the preacher will see most of it because he sees more than you. You know, and here's the thing. One thing I've learned over the last couple of years and I've really learned this lesson is that I don't have to like this. I don't have to like watching that. But I also can't let it destroy me either. And it's not that I don't care. But the problem is this. If all I do is I stand on the wall and I scream at the people walking away from the wall and I keep blowing the trumpet and I do nothing but blow the trumpet at the people walking away. Guess what? There's a bunch of people inside the city that haven't walked away. And you know what? Those people deserve attention too. I mean, look, that's why you hear pastors say another thing I haven't fully understood until I was in the ministry in this position. That's why you'll hear pastors say people come and go. I mean, I heard the first couple sermons I heard like this. I'm just like, man, that's harsh. Man, that's rough. You hear pastors say, you know what? People come and go. This church is going to look different in a few years than it does today. Half the people here might not even be here. It's like, you know, if you don't want to be here, there's the door. And I'm just like, oh man, this guy doesn't even want me here. What's going on? You know? But I mean, the thing is, what are you going to do? Go crazy? People come and go. You can tell people, you can warn people, but ultimately it's on them. And that's what the prophet has to realize. It sounds harsh. Never really understood it fully. But I can't let it destroy. Look, my wife can't let it destroy her either. You know, she, I mean, you talk about, let me go off on this one for a second. You talk about somebody who gets like no reward. People come up to me, great sermon, whether it was good or not. People, great sermon. Brother Jared, that's the greatest thing I've ever heard, you know, in all this. And it's just all, you know, nobody says, I mean, there's nothing for the pastor's wife or for the preacher's wife. It's just, it's just give and give and give and give. There's no great sermon, Miss Heidi, after the church service. But the problems are all still there. You know what, she's on the wall too. And she gets to watch people walk away too. And you know, women actually are more emotional and maybe a little bit more caring than men. It's harder. It's harder for them. I'm very logical. I'm like, well, I told them, have a nice trip into the wall. It's a little easier for me to do that. But with women, with ladies, I mean, look, that's why they're designed that way. They're to match us. Right? But look, it's, it's, we can't spend all our time and effort on the people walking away. Not heeding the warnings because guess what? There's still people on this side of the wall. There's still 39 people in church here this morning. It's not 54, but it's 39. And there's still 39 people here. And they need attention too. And that's the saving grace, by the way. That's the saving grace. Many people will not listen, but guess what? Some will. Some will. You know what? If I came to Fresno and one person got saved in 20 years, that would be worth my life. And I feel like that from the, that is, it's honestly how I feel. If my life gets one person to heaven, well worth it. If serving the Lord in my life gets one person to not go to hell, it's worth it. Look, that's my solace. That's my solace is the people that still stay inside the walls and will continue to do so. Look down at verse number nine of Ezekiel chapter 33. Verse number nine of Ezekiel chapter 33. Verse number nine, the Bible says this, nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. That's not fun to watch that. That's not fun to watch somebody come down. And I mean, this is the extreme case of somebody who's maybe saved and walks away from the Lord and God kills them. You see that in the Bible too. That would not be fun to watch somebody that knew. And guess what? Your beatings are going to be harder if you know. So if you're not going to follow the Lord, look, if you're not going to follow the Lord, you're not going to do what the Bible says, you'd be better off not coming to a church like this. That's why people don't come that aren't going to do it. Because if you know it all, you're going to be beating hard. I mean, to the point where you could die in your iniquity, the Bible says. But guess what? My responsibility is fulfilled. I'm clear. I'm clear. Look, we've had people that don't come here anymore because of what is preached. Did you know that? But whatever, I'm not having God come down on me. You know, my responsibility will be fulfilled. I did my job. That's my reasonable service. I mean, I think all the time, don't get me wrong, how can I be more persuasive when I'm out so many? How can I be more persuasive to you all? How can I say these things in a way that will get you to actually want to listen? But ultimately, my responsibility is fulfilled as long as I read you the words of the Lord. And I hope I get better at it. I hope I get better at preaching. I hope I get better at expounding God's word to you and explaining and teaching you God's word. But at the end of the day, I'm just to warn you, not live for you. I'm just to warn you. And that's all I'm going to do. I'll do anything I possibly can do within my physical power on this earth to help you. Not just preach at you. I will help you in any possible way that I can. But ultimately, I'm not going to control you like a puppet. I have absolutely no interest in that. None. That's why there's been so many, I mean, that's why there's so many sermons on like, you know, men doing what you're supposed to do, trying to raise leaders here. But look, here's the thing. I can see negative results coming for people. That's the hardest part of the ministry. As I think about the last two years and what's been the good things, what's been the bad things, the hardest part is seeing the negative results coming to people and just, I've told you. I've told you. And you know, was there something I could have said differently? Maybe. And I'll keep saying it when I can. But that's a small taste of the ministry right there with Ezekiel chapter 33. I pray that you all heed the word of the Lord in your life. But in the end, I understand that not everyone will. And you need to know that as well. I am the watchman, not the policeman. I'm to watch and warn. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.