In the Word

Pastor Mike Warren: for me. You know, we've gone through Revelation on Sunday morning. We went through Daniel on Wednesday nights, and as we finished Daniel, we backed up a book to Ezekiel because these are prophetic books and I think it's important in the time that we're living in to look at prophetic things. Amen. The things that are coming down the pike, we want to be aware of.

But the first three chapters, and we're going to go into chapter three tonight, we're going to finish chapter two, are very interesting to me because I think they mirror, I think they mirror the time that we are living in. And I think the instructions, listen carefully to me, because I think we ought to, every time we study scripture, we ought to look for the application for us.

How many know the old SOAP principle? SOAP, S.O.A.P., SOAP. None of you know the SOAP principle? Scripture, observation, application, and prayer. Well, some of you need SOAP, man. Maybe that's why some of the people aren't coming to Wednesday night that used to, because some of you guys need SOAP, but SOAP, it's scripture, study the scripture, get the observation, the application, because we told our men here on Monday nights that, you know, the benefit of studying God's word is never just in the instruction, it's in the application. And then pray that the power of the spirit would give that permanency in your life. Amen. SOAP.

So, as you look at the Old Testament, you're always trying to glean as you go through those things, how does it apply to me as a New Testament Christian? And I think as we're going to look up, we're going to back up a little bit up, back up to verse one of chapter two, and then I want to, I want to draw your attention to how it applies to us, because I think the same things that God is doing for Ezekiel, this man he's sending in a time where God's people aren't listening. In fact, we're going to see this evening, not only they're not listening, they're listening to the false prophets, the false teachers. And I think there's a lot of that going on in the church today, where they're prophesying that we're smooth things, easy things. Listen, America's coming back, Trump will be back in office, everything will be fine. And you know, we just and everything's going to continue to go on, things are going to get better. And they're and because we don't understand that we're moving toward the Lord removing his church and judging this world. And listen, there's no going back from that. It's dyed in the wool.

God always takes care of his people during that time. But I think and I want you to think with me tonight. You know, you be a student of the word, you be a good Berean, that I think that as we have come through chapter one into chapter two and we get to the first part of chapter three, I think the things that God is saying to Ezekiel, the things that Ezekiel is experiencing, is something that we as New Testament saints in the time that we're living in should also be experiencing. Amen. All right. Let me just give you what those things are. We saw in chapter one, get your notepad and a pen out, this is very important that you follow this through, and then go home and study it for yourself to see if the things I'm telling you are so. You see, you got to check me out, man. Don't just believe me because I'm saying it.

But I, I, I am convinced that in chapter one before God could ever use this man, Ezekiel, and he will become a great prophet of the Lord. You know, he was scheduled to be before he was whisked away in the second invasion by Babylon to Jerusalem in 597 BC, as he was whisked away, he was, he was online to be one of the priests, he was of the priesthood. And he turns 30 as he's in bondage in Babylon. And so God just repurposed him, reprogrammed him to be a prophet and not a priest. But we, we, some of the things we understand about him is that before God could use him, that he had to have a genuine experience with the Lord.

And so as he's praying, and this is the thing I find incredible. He has stripped as it were from his homeland. He has stripped as it were from his ministry. In fact, the temple was stripped on the second invasion. They left it in place in 605, but when they went back in 597 to quell that riot, they stripped all the instruments of worship. They took the priests back to Babylon. And so there he is, he knows in his mind the temple has been sacked. His ministry is gone. He's in bondage now. He's living on the banks as it were of the Shabar River. And he's going on prayer walks and and one of these prayer walks, it is as though heaven, well, it said, opened, and he sees the throne of God. He sees the cherubim and the seraphim. He sees the one seated on the throne. He sees the sea of glass. He sees what represents Christ. He sees what represents the Holy Spirit, as we went through chapter one.

And it's so overwhelming to him that he literally falls on his face as a dead man. Similar similar to what John experienced when he saw the risen Christ in in Revelation chapter one. They just faceplant. And that's at the end of chapter one, but like we said last week, we only got through five verses. And I just want to back up and go through them a little bit again, because there's a pattern here I want you to see. Because he is without strength. He is face planted in the presence as it were of the Lord. I think that's what we're going to do when we get to heaven.

But the first thing that we see is that God puts his hand on him and he stands him up. Number one, God expects us to stand in these last days. Put that down as number one, to stand. The second thing we're going to see again this evening, that after he stood him up and made him to stand, and it's God that does that, we're going to read a few verses about that. The second thing he does is put his spirit in him. Now listen, in the New Testament when you're born again, the spirit is placed in you. And then there's the the third work of the spirit, because you know the three. And they're all three described by different Greek prepositions, interestingly enough.

Jesus told his disciples before he went away that their heart shouldn't be troubled. He's not going to leave them comfortless. He said the Holy Spirit has been with you in this world, and he's in this world, and he's drawing people to Christ. But not many days hence, he shall be in you. E.N., with his power, he's convicting men of sin and of righteousness and of the judgment that is to come. But he told his disciples not many days hence he shall be in you. E.N. is the Greek word, is the same as ours to enter in. And after the resurrection, he met with his disciples, he breathed on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Then he told them as we're going to see tonight, to go wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit comes a P, upon them, encapsulates them, baptizes them, and empowers them.

And so the second thing that we see happening here, before God does anything with Ezekiel, he has an experience with God. It's so overwhelming that he faceplants. He stands him up, he puts his spirit in him, and then the third thing is he sends him. He is sent. And the fourth thing is he is sent with a message. And it better be God's word, not his opinion. And so the Lord says, when you go, Ezekiel, it better be thus saith the Lord. How can we stand up today and say thus saith the Lord? We have it right here. Amen. Thus saith the Lord. And then he says, I don't want you to be afraid. That's the next thing.

I don't want you to fear their faces, I don't want you to fear their words. I don't want you to be afraid. Now, I am sending you among briers and there will be scorpions in those briers that are going to bite and sting, but don't you fear them. Don't you be afraid. And then the last thing we're going to see that he give instruction to as far as his attitude is, don't be rebellious like they are, because I gave you a commandment to go, you better go. I gave you a commandment not to fear, so you better not fear. I stood you up, I filled you with the spirit, and I've sent you and you better be obedient. And then as we go into the end of chapter two and into chapter three, he hands him a book, written on both sides. And he says eat it. Consume it.

And I would say to you that the farmer has to be first partaker of the fruit. You cannot give what you do not have. And if you are not in the faith, filled with the spirit, baptized in the spirit, standing on the authority of God's word, you can't give what you do not have. Amen. So that's kind of the outline where we're going. So, let's just kind of back up and take a look at it. And we see there in chapter two, actually let's back up to chapter one, the last verse and it says, "And I fell upon my face, and I heard his voice as one that spake." Man, I'm, man in the presence of God, I'm overwhelmed. I lose as it were all control of my faculties. And I think that's going to be our experience because the sea of glass that he's seeing, the cherubim underneath and the seraphim above and the throne of God. That sea of glass, when you read Revelation, is where we're going to land after the rapture.

It's where we're going to sing his praises as we behold the one upon the throne. Ezekiel seeing that is so overwhelmed by the presence of God and the view of his throne, that he falls upon his face. Now watch chapter two, verse one, and it said unto me, "Son of man," which means human being. I know that you're not much. You're just a human being. "Stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee." Now listen, I know we looked at some of this, um, last week, but but I want to read it again, because I want to go through these things in context. Okay? So bear with me.

In Ephesians chapter six, verses 10 through 14, and we're in Ephesians on Sunday morning and it won't be more than a year before we get from chapter three to chapter six, we're we're making our way there. But when we get to chapter six, that's the warfare part. You know, the first couple chapters are seated at the feet of Jesus. And then this we move in this coming week, into chapter three, four and part of chapter six, it's the walk. How we walk in a way that pleases the Lord. And then it's the warfare. So it's waiting at the feet of Jesus, it's the walk, it's the warfare. But here's what he says. He says, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you might be able to stand against the stratagems, the strategies, as we would get almost as a direct translation from Greek to English, the wiles of the devil," because we're in a battle.

There's warfare going on around us. And listen, as we look at Ezekiel, we can make application because Ezekiel is literally sent into a battle. He's going to be sent to people that God already's going to tell him, "They're not going to listen." They're rebellious and stiff-necked. They're hard of face and hard of heart. They're going to be like thorns, and they're going to be like scorpions, but I'm still sending you. Because it's a battle today.

And so then he goes on to say, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, and against rulers of darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places." Wherefore? Because we're in this battle. And by the way, the battles that we're fighting today, politically, economically, are spiritual battles. Because we're moving toward the place where God will remove his church and judge the wickedness of this world. Listen, you just need to understand because sometimes you look at the news and you look at these people and it's like you think the adults have left the room. What is going on? God is putting all the pieces together as it were. Things are not falling apart, they're falling into place. Amen. And we're told when we see these things to do what? Look up. Don't look out.

Look out can be depressing. Because we're in this spiritual battle. Then he says, "Wherefore, take upon the whole armor of God, that you might be able to withstand." As you're standing, you're able to stand to the point that you can withstand those spiritual attacks in the evil day, having done all to stand. You almost think like he, you know, maybe Paul is talking to these Ephesians about standing, huh? Then he says, "Then stand therefore, having your your loins girt with truth, and having the breastplate of righteousness, stand." Listen, we need to stand in these last days. We need to stand on that rock and we need to stand on the truth. We need to speak up and not shut up. Amen.

Well, in fact, as we looked at last Wednesday night, in First Corinthians chapter 16, verse 13, this is one of my favorite verses. It really is because it speaks to me. There Paul tells the Corinthians, "You need to be alert. You need to be watching. You need to be aware of the times that you're living in." The idea is to be sober-minded, to be alert. "Watch ye," and then he says, "stand fast in the faith. Stand fast in the faith. Act like men." And the idea is, "act like a warrior and be strong." So the first thing that God does for Ezekiel, and I think in the New Testament he's commanding us to do, as we're, you know, here now, especially at the end of the age when the battle is increasing exponentially, is the first thing we need to do is after we have an experience with God, we need to stand up.

We need to stand up for the faith. You know, today as I was speaking to the pastors putting together these southern, um, Oregon and Northern California Calvary for the men's retreat. Um, I'd already picked two messages that I thought were important, but he he said, "No, no, no, we're giving you an assignment. We want you to speak on Jude, you know, uh out of the book of Jude." Well, I, when I went to the Berean call a few years ago, I guess some of the guys heard me speak out of Jude and that's the theme of their I don't know where they came up with but okay, I'll speak out of Jude. No problem.

But Jude there, and and when you get to to verse, well, there's one chapter. When you get to verse 20 of that one chapter of that little epistle, there are four foundational things that were given to do to be able to stand in a time of deception. And he's going to tell us that we need to build ourselves up on the most holy faith. That foundation, the word of God. We've been talking about, we talked about it Sunday. In Ephesians, where you're built upon a foundation. Praying for the power of the Holy Spirit. You see, Satan's done a good job of making the Holy Spirit look so foolish in the church that people don't seek him anymore. Listen, I couldn't do what I do. I wouldn't want to get out of bed if I wasn't not just filled but baptized in the spirit. And I need a fresh filling every day because I leak. I am leaky.

And it's not a bad thing because you can leak Jesus on people. You ought to be like a sieve because there's an unending source of the strength and of the power of the spirit. You know, I I tell my elders around here, I tell people around here, listen, I'm not a rock but I'm standing on one. Amen. And I am empowered by the spirit. Then it says, you know, praying in the Holy Spirit. And then it talks about keeping yourselves in the love of God. Keep that relationship alive and current. May it be intimate with you as you wait on him. And then lastly, keep your eyes on the prize. Keep looking to heaven. Stand.

And then he says, he fills him with the spirit. In Acts chapter one, listen, this is after the resurrection, Jesus meets with his disciples, he said, "You've already been baptized in water, but I want you to wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father, because not many days hence you're going to be baptized in the Holy Spirit." Let's just pick up our reading there in verse four, and we'll read verse five of Acts chapter one, and then we'll skip over to verse eight for the sake of time. He says there, "And being assembled together with them," this is Jesus after the resurrection, he's with his disciples, "he commanded them," notice carefully, "that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but they should wait." To wait on, to tarry for, "the promise of the Father which he saith, which he saith, you have heard of me. For truly John baptized you with water, but you shall be baptized immersed as it were, the Holy Spirit will come upon you, um, not many days hence."

And then we read in the eighth verse, listen carefully, "But you shall receive power." The word is dunamis. It's a strength that comes to you that's not your own. We see it demonstrated there on the day of Pentecost, when Peter before that was hiding, fearful, wanted to go back to his old profession in fishing, was weak. But after that Pentecost, where the rushing mighty wind filled that room and the cloven tongues of fire began to dance upon their heads, the most notable difference in those disciples, the 120 in that upper room, is when they left there, they there was power in their lives. And Peter stands up and and as people are rushing to see what's going on, this noise went abroad. And every different people group and nationality that was represented there on on Pentecost, were coming to see what this was. And they were asking questions, "What meaneth this?" And Peter stands up and says, "This this is what this means." Because some were saying, "These men are drunk." And he said, "They're not drunk. This is only 9:30 in the morning." But this is that was spoken by the prophet Joel, then in the last days God would pour out his spirit upon all flesh. Because in the Old Testament, kings and prophets only. But in this new covenant, this new relationship, on all flesh. Sons and daughters, servants and hand servants. The least would get the empowering of the spirit.

And then he preaches a simple message, and thousands are pricked in their heart, they cry out, "What must we do to be saved?" You see, the strength of the messenger is in the message and in the anointing of the spirit. We're going to see in a few moments he's going to send him. But he has to send him with an unction. He has to send him with an anointing. He has to send him filled with the spirit. Paul himself would say, the great apostle of the New Testament, wrote 14 of the New Testament letters, planted most of the New Testament churches. And if it hadn't been for this great apostle of grace, listen, I think Christianity would have become another sect of Judaism. This was a man mightily used of God. And he would say of his own self, "I'm not a great speaker, I'm not a great orator. But my message is in the power and in the demonstration of what? The spirit." It is the spirit that pierces people's hearts and takes the word down in there. It is the spirit that does the work. It is the spirit that Jesus said to convict men of sin and of righteousness and of the judgment that is to come. It is the Holy Spirit that makes God's truth come alive to us. It leads us and guides us into all truth.

So not only does he stand him up after his experience, he puts his spirit in him. We need that. That dunamis, the exousia, the power, the anointing of God. And may never his word go out without that. What you can be assured of when you're witnessing to people, that the Holy Spirit is already working on them. You put the words in their hearts and once it goes in their ears, man, they got no defense against it. And the Holy Spirit will work on it. And then maybe you can water, say a few more things, and then the Holy Spirit will get the harvest. So it's interesting that we see that the next thing that happens to Ezekiel, is that he's filled with the Holy Spirit. Isn't that what God did for the church when he birthed it? Were we not birthed in the spirit? Was it the church birthed on the day of Pentecost in the power of the spirit so they could stand on the authority of God's word? Amen.

That's what we need to be doing. Well, the next thing that we see is that he says to them, listen as we walk through this, this is very important. Let me read you through it. "And he said to him, 'Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak to thee.' And the spirit entered in me when he spake unto me, and it set me upon my feet, and I heard him that spake unto me." I didn't just hear him, I heard him. Amen. How many have been sitting alone sometimes and you hear God speak? You know, I hear him talk all the time. And some of you think, well, that's because you're crazy, man. Well, the Bible, who said that? But you know what the you know what the Bible says? The Bible says that that that my sheep hear my voice, and they don't follow any other.

And then he says this, listen carefully, verse three, "And he said unto him, 'Son of man,'" I know you're just a mere man. That that's the whole idea, son of man. Son of Adam. Son of human being. And listen, God's not looking for superstars. He's not. There are none. And if you're looking for them, you ain't found them either. Oh, there's some people that think they're all that and more, and they're not. They really aren't. He says to him, "Son of man, I gave you an experience. I stood you up. I put my spirit in you. Son of man." He says this, "I send thee." That's the next thing. After his experience, after he stands him up, after he fills him with the spirit, he's given a commandment. "I'm sending you."

Now, how does that apply to us in the time we're living in? Matthew chapter 28. Let me read this to you. I want to make sure that we I read this to you. I want to put it up on the screen. I want you to read it. And if you want to turn in your Bible and underline it, you see, we are all sent. Can I have you do one thing for me tonight? Can you all raise your hand? Raise your raise your raise your right hand. That's the one closest to your heart or is it your left? Is it your right? Which one's closest to your heart? Left. Okay, raise your left hand. I get confused on these things. Not my left hand, raise your left hand. And repeat after me, "I am an ordained minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ." "Because Pastor Mike just ordained me." "Amen." You guys should not have raised your hands. You have no idea. Because now the onus is on you.

Because we have a commandment in the New Testament. And it's not just for the prophets, it's not just for the pastors. It's just not for the deacons and the elders. It's not for those people in a place of leadership, it's for all of us. And here's what God says to us in Matthew chapter 28, verses 18 through 20. Listen carefully, "And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, 'All power, all authority is given unto me in heaven and earth. It's all mine. I redeemed it back from the wicked one. The god of this world has nothing on you now, because I put my spirit, the same spirit that raised me from the dead in you. All power, all authority is given to me.'" And here's the commandment he's saying to his disciples, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." So guess what our commandment is. He's sending us. You are sent. You didn't just went. You're sent.

Sometimes it feels like you went because nobody wants to hear what you got to say. But you were sent. You were sent. You've had an experience with God. I've had an experience with God. 42 years ago, God rescued me. He turned the light bulb on. He penetrated my heart. He ripped it open. He put something inside of me of eternity. Man, my eyes, my whole life was changed. I was broken on my face before him, and he stood me up. He put his spirit in me. And then he gave me a commandment. Go. Go into all of the world. I've been in I've been in the South Sudan, training Chaplains in the Christian army as the North Sudan is trying to kill the Christians because they're Muslim. I've been there. I've been in Africa. I I listen, I've been on the Nile. I was thinking of all the places God sent me, and I'd have never thought it.

I can't believe how many places God sends us through that little bitty box sitting up there. There are people all over the United States that that tune in to this little church. I don't even have to go anymore. They can send me. We've been to Belize, in Southern California, we've been we've been to Africa, listen, it's just incredible the places that God will lead you to go if you will simply submit. And you're not going in your own strength. I'll give you an experience. And it'll be so overwhelming that you will faceplant because of it. But then I'll stand you up, and I'll put my spirit in you, and I'll send you. "Go ye into all the world and and and teach all nations."

It doesn't mean preach at them, teach them, tell them what God says. "Baptizing them," when they come to salvation, "in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you." And listen to this, "And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world." Amen. So we have no excuse for not going. Amen. Ezekiel is being sent. God is doing this for him and sending him. Well, let's watch the next thing. "I send thee, and I'm sending you to the children of Israel." There's a really interesting play on words here in the Hebrew. Watch as we walk through it. "And a rebellious nation." Goyim is the word for nation. Please circle that if you don't mind circling it in your Bible. Goyim. It's an interesting play on words because in the Hebrew it's plural and it can be used of the nation of Israel or the nations of the world. What he's actually saying is, "I'm sending you to my people that are no different than the world."

Is there ever been a time that we've lived in that you could say that the church mirrors the world more than it mirrors the New Testament church? Yeah. In fact, we read in Jeremiah chapter 27, when Jeremiah was dealing with, uh, Zedekiah the king, because the false prophets were saying to Zedekiah, "Listen, don't worry, Zedekiah. God's going to crush the head of the king of Babylon. He's going to bring back Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim. He's going to restore Jerusalem back to its prominence and everything is going to be fine. All the articles of worship that he took away are going to come back and things are going to be fine." And Jeremiah said, "Not so. You better submit your neck to the foot of that king of Babylon, because God has brought his judgment upon us that you might save this nation from sheer death." You see, but they chose to listen to the false prophets and not the true prophets.

And here he's telling this man that listen, "I'm sending you to a nation." At that time that Ezekiel and Daniel, to a time that Jeremiah. In fact, 100 years earlier, Isaiah is prophesying, warning to the southern two tribes and to also Israel, for 100 years. And then Jeremiah comes upon the scene. And then during the captivity, he raises up Daniel and Ezekiel. But they're not listening. He said, "I'm sending you to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me. They and their fathers." This has gone on for a good long time. 100 years that we know of if we go back and listen to the warnings of Isaiah. "They have trespassed against me, even unto this very day." No matter how much I've warned them, they just don't seem to turn. And then he says this there, "They they are hard of face and they are firm of heart. They are stiff of neck. But I do send thee unto them that thou shalt say unto them," here's the next thing, "Thus saith the Lord God." Your message, Ezekiel, better be, "Thus saith the Lord."

I've given you a wonderful experience. It's been so overwhelming that you faceplant. I stood you back up. I put my spirit in you. I sent you. But I sent you with a particular message, a specific message as it were, that you should speak only my words. Not your opinion, my words. And it's interesting that Paul picks up on the same thing. Because in Second Corinthians chapter two, verse 17, they'll put it up on the screen. Listen to what Paul says. He says this, "For we are not as many which corrupt the word of God." The word for corrupt can also mean to hawk something. How how many know what what hawk means? You go to the pawn shop and you sell something, you hawk it. He said, "The word of God, as far as we're concerned as the ministers of the Lord, is not for sale. It cannot be bought. We're not going to compromise the word of God to get masses in our pew, to get finances to support our program." We're not going to do that.

We're going to speak the word of God under the authority and under the unction of the Holy Spirit, that it might cut men's hearts, that it might bring them to repentance, that it might bring them back into relationship with the true and living God. We're going to preach grace and forgiveness, mercy and love to those who will accept what Christ has done for them. He said, "Listen, we are not as many," even in Paul's day that would do this, "which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity." That word sincerity is an interesting word in the Greek. It means to be without wax. You think, what? What do you mean without wax? Well, there were people in that time, and you've seen some of the statues in museums where there's an ear missing or a nose. And you think they might have fallen over and they got broken along the way because they were done, you know, thousands of years ago.

But in those days, if you were an artist and you may have worked for six months, this is your paycheck, on a statue, and you're getting to the finer features right at the end and tick, tick, tick, and the nose falls off. So what they would do, and it's kind of like what you do today when you buy stuff. There's some stuff I ordered not long on Amazon that I thought was normal size. And when it came, it was miniature. That was not sincere. So they would take marble dust, seriously, you can study it for yourself, and they would put marble dust with wax, and they would put the nose back on, and they would sell it in the wintertime. And so when summer would come, your statue would look more like Jimmy Durante, how many know who Jimmy Durante is? Then it would what it was supposed to look like. And then you would say, "That statue is not without wax." You see, it's not sincere. It's not right. It's fake. It's phony. He said, "But as of sincere, it's with it it's it's right, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ."

And and then he moves on to a couple chapters later in chapter four, verses one and two. He says this, "Therefore, seeing we've been we have this ministry," the idea is, "we've been entrusted." Listen, every pastor's been entrusted with something. In fact, the Bible says that you need not to be many teachers, realizing you're going to receive the greater judgment. You see, I I don't need to fear what you think of me. It doesn't matter really. It really doesn't to me. I really have gone past the fear of men. And I'm never looking for the largest congregation, I never have. Although we're thousands out through that little thing there. I mean, all over the United States, we get people tuning in to us. 25 different countries. We right now know that we have four Bible studies in Iran pulling down every Sunday and every Wednesday. We have seven in China.

Literally, we're in the world through this wonderful thing called technology. So I can live in a place I want and this little Podunk town of 10,000 people, way up in the mountains, and I can still reach the world. I can still do what I'm commanded to, "Go ye into all nations." We are. We're tonight, we're in 25 different countries. Can you imagine? Well, we're setting here in little old Grass Valley. That's so cool. But we've been entrusted with something. And we're going to see receive as pastors the greater judgment for how we handle this ministry, how we handle the word. He said, "Therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy." And man, let me tell you anytime God puts an anointing on a man to stand up and represent him, man, he needs to put mercy on him too. Because we have more opportunity to offend people than any person on the planet. Amen. I have offended some of you all the time, don't I? I know. Don't raise your hand.

"May you mercy, mercy we that we faint not." That we faint not. "But have renounced," listen, "but as pastors, we have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully, but the manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Truth. In fact, when Paul is fading from the scene in his last will and testament, Second Timothy, as he comes to chapter four, and he's challenging his left young lieutenant. It's about to take his place because Paul knows he's been poured out like a drink offering. He commissions him with these words in the first two verses of chapter four, "I charge thee." It's a military term. It's a commandment. "I charge thee therefore, before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ," as though you're standing there, Timothy, "who shall judge the living and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom." God's coming back, he's going to judge, he's going to set up his kingdom, and you're going to give an account, Timothy, for how you handled your ministry. So I'm charging you. And here's what I'm charging you to do, "Preach the word."

Preach the word, proclaim it. "In season, out of season." What's that mean? When people want to hear it and when they don't want to hear it. And we're living in a time when they don't want to hear. So guess what I'm going to do? I'm going to preach the word. Because you can boo me and cheer me, you can leave the church mad at me. I really don't care. But when I get to heaven, guess what I'm going to hear? "Well done, thou good," not perfect, nowhere near, but good, "and faithful servant." You did what I told you to do. We're going to see in a few moments that God tells Ezekiel, even though he's sending him to people that won't hear, why he's still sending him. We'll get that in a few moments. But he says, "Listen, in season, out of season," and what's you do is you reprove. You challenge people with the word of God to live the word of God. First to accept Christ as their Savior, then to walk with him.

And then if they don't listen, you rebuke. And then when they finally get it, you exhort. And you do it with all long-suffering and with doctrine. I was talking to a guy today, and he was asking if Calvary Chapel actually had kind of like a doctrinal statement. Unfortunately, we don't. We came out of the Jesus movement, a bunch of hippies, and, um, we just followed Chuck and teaching the word. But luckily, I did a stint in a denomination before I became a Calvary Chapel pastor. And I used to teach in that particular denomination's Bible college. I was one of the instructors on doctrine. And so that's why you hear have been afforded a doctrine's course. A systematic theology. Because we are commanded as pastors to lay out a systematic theology.

And if you don't understand Bible doctrine, that's on you. Because we spent nine months on a Monday night going through all of the doctrinal themes. In fact, I did more than that for you. And it's on our website, you can pull down the notes, you can watch it. I put together how we got this so you could trust it. The history and authenticity of the Bible. Then we moved there to theology and then to Christology, pneumatology, which is the study of the Holy Spirit. Then soteriology, how we're saved. Then we moved to ecclesiology, what the church is about. And eschatology, where the church is going. So if you're ignorant concerning these things, that's on you. But I, who have been entrusted with this, have laid out a foundation of doctrine for this church. And by the way, some guy in Lancaster got so excited about our doctrines class that he took it, put it on MB3, and sent it to the Philippines, to Africa, to every missionary, to every lay pastor. All of a sudden, on on Facebook, I'm getting all of these like third world people wanting to be my friend. And I'm thinking, who are they? Why are they why who why are they asking to be my friend?

And then some guy from Moldova, you know, emails me, "Man, we are so enjoying your doctrines class." Moldova, "Where did you get my Moldova?" Now in Moldova, it's in the news. You know where Moldova is? It's next to Ukraine. And our little doctrines class from this church is in Moldova. Can you believe it? I I'm shocked. And I said, "Oh, I'm sorry." He goes, "No, man, we're really enjoying it." I have people call me all the time. One of your friends, Mary Ann, just this week, texted me about some of the doctrinal questions in our doctrines class because she's taking it. I know what what's Mary Ann, in her 60s? Yeah. Just digging it. Thank you, Mary Ann, for all of your encouragement. Ohio. Just it's amazing because we're called to lay this foundation. And so many churches are so few in this thing.

So he says, "Listen, you go and you do what I say, thus saith the Lord." And listen what he says in verse five, "And whether they will hear or whether they will forbear," refuse to hear, "for they're a rebellious house, yet you yet they shall know that there have been a prophet among them." God tells Ezekiel, it doesn't matter if they listen or don't listen. It doesn't matter if they accept or reject. It doesn't matter what their reaction to the preaching of the gospel is. That is has no effect on you. And I told you last week, you know, I didn't write it, and I'm not responsible for how you respond to it. My job is just to deliver the mail. I'm just a mailman.

And he and he's going to tell us because it doesn't matter. Listen carefully, because in verse six, "For thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither," this is the next one, "neither because they're briers and and they're like thorns and and and they're and they're their looks and they're going to rebel and they're going to do all of these things." He said, "Don't worry about it because back up in verse five, at the end of it he says, 'For for they need to know that there has been a prophet in the land.'" Two things. When when Ezekiel goes and speaks, when we go and speak. Number one, God is so merciful. God is so loving and he's so kind. He's so patient, he's so long-suffering. That he desires that none perish. So he sends you and me into this world, as sheep among the slaughters, to tell people, to warn people and and to invite people into this love relationship, into the forgiveness that Christ offers, into the washing of his blood and the filling of his spirit, into this redemption and regeneration.

So the first reason why there needs to be a prophet in the land is that God wants his people, he wants his creation to be warned, to have an opportunity to respond as it were, to that warning. Thus he says to us, "Go into all this world and preach this wonderful good news." And then secondly, is if they don't respond to the warning, that when I judge, they will be without excuse. Because they heard. And he says, "So, Ezekiel, I'm I'm sending you, and I'm sending you with my word, not yours, mine. You better say thus saith the Lord. You better represent me, you better speak for me. Because if they hear or don't hear, I want them to know at the end of the day, there's been somebody that represented me, that spoke for me, that told you that God loves you, that you need to be born again and filled with the spirit, washed in the blood, redeemed, have your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And if you refuse, then you're without excuse." Amen.

Every person that passes through our life should hear the gospel. Maybe they respond, maybe they don't, but nonetheless, they are now responsible. Amen. Amen. And he tells them, "Listen, it's not going to be an easy job." How many know that it's not going to be an easy job? But he tells them, "Don't be afraid." That's the next thing. Not only speak my words, but "Don't be afraid." And then we we pick it up again there in verse six, "And thou, son of man, be not afraid." Listen, fear is not from the Lord. Well, there is a kind of fear that is from the Lord that we should have, and that's the fear of the Lord. Let me read you a couple passages. I think I have them here. Um, I you know, someone asked me the other day for my notes, and all they are are scriptures that I think I want to use. And half the time I don't use them. These guys say, "You and you give us this list and you only use like three." I don't know what the Lord's going to do. I just study, study, study, and I get up here and open my mouth, and I'm expecting him to fill it. And if he doesn't fill it, we're all in trouble. We just pray and go home. Amen.

But listen to what he says concerning fear. Second Timothy chapter one, verses seven, eight. And and and by the way, this is interesting. Side note, it doesn't cost you anything extra. Timothy's name should have been timidity. Because he was fearful. Paul all the time had to prop him up and tell him, "Hey, you know, you know, don't be afraid because of your age, don't be afraid because of this, because of that." Because he was very timid. How many are timid? How many use your timidity as an excuse not to witness? Stop it. Because here's a man whose name should have been timidity. And yet God says through Paul to timidity, Timothy, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear." Doesn't come from the Lord. If it doesn't come from the Lord, there's only one other source. Can you imagine who that is? God has not given to you the spirit of fear, but rather of power. Dunamis. That's what Peter got on the day of Pentecost. "And of love," a compassion, a desire that God puts in his heart.

You know, one of the things I noticed right away when I was saved, because, you know, I was just bitter and resentful and envious and proud before I got saved. And, you know, I I I didn't like very many people. I hated a lot. You know, I didn't even like myself sometimes. I mean, I I wasn't just critical of people around me, I was critical of me, I was critical of everything. But the first thing that I noticed is God put in my heart I started liking people. We went to a church that was huggy. And there was this lady, Pat Powell, that literally would seek me out and hugged me. And the first couple times, you know, I'm like like a fly on a pole. What is this woman doing hugging me? You know? And and man, she warmed me down. And then I started looking for her hugs. And all the old ladies, I would just kind of hang out after church because they'd all come up and hug you. And I started liking it. And I'd hug them. Group hugs, man. I started loving on them, they started loving on me. I was liking it. Mikey liked it.

And when Pat Powell went to be with the Lord, I was there at her bedside. And dying of cancer and she said to me, "Lean in." And I leaned in. She goes, "You were my favorite." I hope that other guys, what are they're And I always knew you would make it. That woman taught me to love. In fact, her she had some teenage kids about our age, and we were over there one day just cutting each other down, and she hit me in the head with a broom. Hit us all with a broom. Beat us out of her house. And this mild-mannered, huggy, loving woman, chasing her kids and us out of her house with a broom. And we're standing on the, you know, the by the front porch, looking up at this woman with a broom in her hand. And and she says, "If you can't say something that's good about somebody else, don't you say anything at all. And you're not welcome back in my house until you learn how to love each other." Well, that was just banter, we didn't mean it. But then we found out that you you got to be careful with your language because you can hurt people.

So I don't know how I got off track. I don't know how I got off track. Oh, love and love and a sound mind. God restored my mind. Listen, I could actually hold a thought. God gave me a new mind. Some of you say, "I wish he'd have gave you a little better one," but I got a good one. A mind. "Be thou therefore not ashamed." Don't be timid "of the testimony of the Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be partakers in the affliction of the gospel," because it will come. We're sent among hard-headed and stiff-necked people. But go. "According to the power of God." May God put in us this boldness through the spirit to speak his word and not be afraid. In fact, in Hebrews chapter 13, verse six, it says this, "So that we might boldly say," under the unction and power of the spirit, "the Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me." I fear the Lord, but I don't fear man. I think that's important.

And so he tells him, "You go. And listen, don't be afraid. Oh, and by the way, don't be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou does dwell among scorpions." I mean, he's describing what it's going to be like to witness. Scorpions. "Be not afraid of their words, be not dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they're they are a most rebellious people." And then here's the last warning to him, then he's going to tell us something we're not going to be able to get to tonight. We'll be eating the book next week. Amen. Can we hold off to next week to eat the book? Because there's a lot about eating the book I don't want to just blow through. Listen, we need to devour this.

I'm just going to tell you before I get to the last point about not being rebellious, when I got saved, man, I was a Bible junkie. I exchanged my drugs and alcohol for this. I couldn't go to sleep at night without going through several, several, several chapters. Sometimes I would fall asleep and the Bible, I'd wake up in the morning, it'd be on or it'd be on the ground, it'd be somewhere. I'd roll over on it, wrinkle all the pages, because I became a Bible junkie. I'd go out to my car at lunchtime where I worked and just while I'm eating consuming the word. Get up in the morning early so I could be in the word.

And then I'd read where David hid his hid the word in his heart that he might not sin against the Lord. And so I started memorizing scriptures. When I got up to over 300, I started memorizing chapters. And then I I finally realized of all the books in the Bible that were the most important to me, and because I was thinking one day if this thing is taken from me, I want to have a book memorized, a whole book of the New Testament, that God could use me to speak his words if we're in a time of difficulty. I can't do it now, but at one time, I could quote the whole book of Ephesians, all six chapters. The word in my heart. And so you could speak it out. Consume it. We'll get to that next week.

But he says to him in verse eight, as we end these, and we're going to do 10 verses tonight, isn't that amazing? "But thou, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. Open thy mouth and eat that that I give thee." You guys, listen, when we gather on Monday nights for the men and women's study. When we gather on Wednesday nights for the Old Testament, and Sunday morning for the New Testament, open your heart and eat. And may the word become flesh in you. Just like the living word of God became flesh in Jesus. And then take your life out into this world and minister, but don't be rebellious. You need to eat that you might be prepared to be that witness.

And then he says in verse nine and 10 as he ends this section, he says, "And when I look upon when I look, behold a hand and it sent it unto me, and lo a roll of a book, a scroll was there." And notice carefully, "and it spread out before me, and it was written within and without." I'm going to make one point and then we'll close. "And there was written therein lamentations and mourning and woes." It was a warning. But notice carefully, it was written on the front side and back side. Why do you think that? So that we wouldn't add anything to it. There's no space. Isn't that profound? Because if he gave space, we'd put something in there. He says, "I I it's written on the front side, back side. I can't even add anything to it because there's no space to do it." Because we're not supposed to add anything to it or take anything from it.

And so this is why I say that these first three chapters, and we'll get into the third one next week, these first three chapters, I think is God is calling Ezekiel, this prophet, this major prophet that God will send to a rebellious nation, to his people that are no different than the world around them, that are listening to false prophets, that have been warned for as it were, for for a century through Isaiah, through Jeremiah, now through Daniel and Ezekiel. Daniel's up in the palace and Ezekiel's out in the villages. But he's still warning his people to turn from their wicked ways. He gives a man an experience, so overwhelming, so all-consuming, so dreadful and fearful that he falls down as a dead man, because he's been in the presence of God.

And then he stands him up, puts his spirit in him, and sends him. And he tells him, "You speak my words. You be my representative. And what you say better be thus saith the Lord. Oh, and don't be afraid. Oh, they're a stiff-necked bunch of people. They're they're like briers and scorpions, but don't you be afraid. Because I'm not the author of fear. But I am the author of love, power and a sound mind." And so you go and you preach my words, and listen, don't be rebellious. Don't be like them. Consume my word so that you have the message to give to others. Do you not see the application in the time we're living in? Because we're living in a day of hard-hearted people. We're living in a day in fact, he's going to tell us in the next chapter, that God's going to make Ezekiel's head like a rock so he can butt heads with them and not get hurt. Man, that's so cool. Butt heads with them and not get hurt. "Go make them like a rock, like a flint." But he's going to send him, but he's going to send him empowered in the spirit, full of the word of God, full of the message of Christ. Amen. And guess what? You guys just all got ordained tonight.

And so you are responsible. Amen. You are responsible for those people around you that don't know Jesus. You are responsible to bring the message. Now, listen, I'm going to leave you with one thought. One more thought. You are not responsible to bring anybody to Christ. Do you understand? That's a that's a heavy thing, man, to put on you. That I'm responsible to get people saved. No, you are not. You and I are not responsible to bring people to Christ, but we are responsible to bring Christ to people. And what they do with it is on them. Because they will have heard the message of God's mercy and warning. And if they don't receive it, then they will be accountable to it. But they will know that there has been a prophet. One who speaks for the Lord has been in their grill. As the kids say today, "Up in their grill." Amen. So get about the Lord's business. Amen. Because you are commanded to go. You have been sent. Amen. Well, let's all stand and we'll close in a word of prayer and and I'll close you out in a song. I like doing that. You know, I know that the worship team does a much better job than I do, but don't make any comments, Jason.

But listen, take the application. Take those things that we're seeing in chapter one, two, and on into three, and apply them to your own life. Because I don't think God's a respecter of persons. I think if he'd do it for Ezekiel, in the time Ezekiel's living in, it's no different than the time we're living in. Amen. So many similarities when you look at it. May we have an experience with God? And may he stand us up? May he fill us with his spirit? May he send us? May he take all fear out of us? And may we speak his word with authority? And may we be obedient as we consume this. Amen. Father, thank you tonight for your word. You know, it challenges me every time I read that section. In fact, often I go to that when when I want to quit, when I want to say, you know, that's enough, and I've done enough, and I've been at this for over 40 years. And and Lord, I just would like to go to a little cabin way up in the mountains and just be a hermit. And, uh, you know, eat locust and, you know, wear skins of animals and change my name to John the Baptist. And then you remind me that although he was a man of the wilderness, he was a man who still preached the word and so convicted about those things, Lord.

And so Father, strengthen us for the task that lies ahead. We're in the final moments, and we're given an opportunity. May we be the Ezekiels of our generation? May we be those who can say, "God has said," and do it under the authority of the spirit. We pray in the mighty name of Jesus, we ask, and all God's kids would say, "Amen."