EZEKIEL

Ezekiel is what I'm reading today.  I have my coffee beside me and I'm ready to blog a little.  Ezekiel is not my favorite book, but it has all throughout it verses that speak to you.  The general theme is judgment on the nations, but there are rays of blessing scattered throughout.  Let me show you some: 1) Soul-Warning!  We go soul-winning when we tell people about Christ in hopes of seeing them trust the Savior, but in reality, we are only responsible to warn them or to share the Gospel.  The response is between them and God.  Ezekiel 3:17-19 tells us that.  It also tells us that if we fail to warn them, their blood is upon our hands!! 2) God knows His own!  Ezekiel 9:4 says he will set "a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof."  vs. 4  God knows who we are and where we are, and even in times of judgment, He will be with His own!! 3) Idols- Ezekiel 14:3 says "Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,..."  So it is today in America, most people do not have idols in their homes they bow down to, but so many have idols in their hearts that they totally give into.  When we put anything above God, that is an Idol, and most of the time, it takes place in our hearts!! 4) Does God delight in Judgment?  Ezekiel 18:23 says:  "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?  saith the LORD God:  and not that he should return from his ways, and live?"  God wants all to come to repentance and trust Christ as their Savior!  He does not delight in judging lost souls!  He wants them to be saved!! 5) HOW SHOULD WE THEN LIVE?  Ezekiel 33:10 says:  ..." If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?"  When sin comes up to our ears in America, both around us and in our very own lives, "how should we then live?"  A famous Christian philosopher, Francis Schaffer, once wrote a book with this very same title.  He was asking the same question and answering it.  We should live for Christ, with a Christian world view, not a secular one.  The world is at odds with our values, and we must stick to the values written in God's Holy Word.  This is how we should life!!   Well, so much for today, just a few gems from Ezekiel.  Have a blessed day!!  Pastor Mike Mutchler