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Amen. All right, well, we're there in Ezekiel, chapter number two. And if you remember last, can you turn me up a little bit? I feel like I can't hear myself. Thank you. Last week, we started the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel chapter number one. And we went through that chapter, learned all about the cherubims and things like that. And now we're in Ezekiel chapter two. And it's a short chapter, only 10 verses. But there's a lot here. So we'll move through it, go through it, and learn about it. I just want to remind you, if you remember in chapter one last week, the book opens up with Ezekiel basically seeing this great vision. If you remember, there was a fiery whirlwind, there was the four cherubims, and then there was a throne of God. And when we ended chapter number one, we ended with Ezekiel basically just face down. The Bible says that he fell upon his face. In fact, if you look at verse 28 of the previous chapter, Ezekiel chapter one, if you look at verse number 28, the Bible says this, as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake. So that's where chapter two begins. You've got Ezekiel falling upon his face, and he's basically in fear of the vision that he's seen. And it's not the fiery whirlwind, it's not the cherubims, it's the vision of the throne and the glory of God. In verse one of chapter two, the Bible says this, and he, now the he there is referring to God. It says, and he said unto me, son of man. And I want you to notice that phrase there, son of man. If you're familiar with the gospels, you'll know that the Lord Jesus Christ is often referred to as the son of man. And of course, he's often referred to as the son of God. But the Bible actually refers to Jesus as the son of man more than the Bible refers to Jesus as the son of God. And those have to do with the humanity and the deity of Christ. Son of God dealing with his deity, son of man dealing with his humanity. It's interesting because all throughout the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel is referred to as the son of man. I think it's 92 times in the book of Ezekiel, 93 times, excuse me. We find that phrase, son of man. And it says here in verse one, he says, the Bible says, stand upon thy feet. Now of course, he tells him to stand upon his feet because he's fell upon his face in verse 28. And I, this is God, will speak unto thee. So now it begins in chapter two, this conversation that God is going to have, this vision that Ezekiel's having, and God is speaking with him and helping him. And there's basically just three things I'd like you to notice from this chapter tonight. Like I said, it's just 10 verses, not very long. And if you're taking notes, I'd like you to maybe write these statements down. But the first thing we see is we see God's call of the prophet Ezekiel. This is where the prophet Ezekiel is called into ministry by God. You notice verse two, it says this, and the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me and set me upon my feet that I heard him that spake unto me. So Ezekiel is called by God. Remember, he was a priest, we learned in chapter one, and now he will be a prophet here in chapter two. Now I want you to notice just a couple of things about Ezekiel's calling. First of all, he was filled with the spirit. Notice verse two, and the spirit entered into me, meaning that he was filled with the spirit of God. He had the fullness of the spirit. This is often used, different verbiage is used for this, being filled with the spirit, having the spirit come upon you, all of that is referring to the power of the spirit of God. And if you're gonna be a prophet for God or a preacher for God, if you're gonna be someone that's gonna stand up and preach God's word, you've gotta be filled with the Holy Spirit. You've gotta have the spirit enter into you. And the Bible talks a lot about this, and I'm not gonna spend tonight going through and looking at all these verses. Actually, in planning for next year, the first part of next year, we're gonna spend a lot of time talking about the Holy Spirit and being filled with the spirit and walking in the spirit and what the Bible teaches about those things. But I want you to understand just from this passage here that there is a connection. If you ever wonder, am I filled with the spirit? Or if you ever have asked the question, how do I get filled with the spirit? There's many ways to do that, and we'll learn about that next year when we begin the year. But I want you to notice here, we're given one of those answers, and there's a connection between the spirit of God and the word of God. Notice verse two again. And the spirit entered into me. The Bible says the spirit entered into me when? When did the spirit enter into Ezekiel? When he spake unto me. So there's a connection between the spirit of God and the word of God. Keep your place here in Ezekiel chapter two. That's our text for tonight. Go with me just real quickly to the book of John in the New Testament. John chapter number six. Of course, you've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter number six. And look at verse number 63. I'll show you this connection of the spirit and the word of God. John chapter number six and verse number 63. John chapter six and verse 63 says this. It is the spirit that quickeneth. Now the word quickeneth there is talking about to be made alive. It is the spirit of God that makes something alive. It is the spirit of God that revives something. It is the spirit of God that gives life to something. It is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. Notice what he says. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. That's that word quickeneth there. Today, you hear a lot of talk about revival. People want revival to come to America and people want revival to come to their community. And revival is really something that happens in your heart, something that happens to an individual. People want to talk about revival coming to America, but revival can just come to you. It can come to you and your heart and your mind. And there are definitely in scripture, we find times when many people get right with God and revival comes in that way and we get that. But you say, well, how does revival come? And one way that life comes, that things are quickened, things that are dead are made alive is through the word of God. It's through the preaching of the word of God. You say, I want my spiritual life to be quickened. Maybe I lost my first love and maybe my spiritual life has kind of died down. I'm not as excited as I used to be. There's probably a connection between that and how much time you spend in the word of God and how much time you spend with God's word, either under the preaching of the word of God or just studying the Bible on your own. You say, why? Because the spirit, it is the spirit that quickeneth. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. And Ezekiel tells us, if you go back to Ezekiel 2, that the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me. When he heard the word of God, that's when the spirit came in. So I want you to notice that when we see here God's call of the prophet Ezekiel, we not only see that he was filled with the spirit or that he has the spirit of God, but I also want you to notice that he was sent. He has the spirit of God and he was sent by God. Notice verse three, the Bible says this. And he said unto me, son of man, notice these words, I send thee. He says, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this day. Notice verse four, for they are impudent children and stiff hearted. We're gonna come back to those words here in a little bit, but I want you to notice this phrase. He says, I, this is God speaking, I do send thee unto them. Here God says, hey, I send thee or I sent thee. So this man of God did not only have the spirit of God, but he was sent by God. He was commissioned by God. He was called by God into the ministry. You're there in Ezekiel, go to the book of Jeremiah, just real quickly, Jeremiah chapter 23. You say, why is that a big deal, the fact that Ezekiel was sent by God? And it's a big deal because of the fact that today and in the time of Ezekiel, in the time of Jeremiah, and all throughout history, there have been false prophets. And you say, what makes a prophet false? And there's many ways that we can answer that question, but one of those is that they were not sent by God. Jeremiah 23, and look at verse number 16. Jeremiah 23 and verse number 16, if you're there in Ezekiel, if you just head backwards, you're gonna go past lamentations into the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 23, and we're gonna come back to Jeremiah a couple of times tonight, so if you can keep your place there, that'd be great. Jeremiah 23, look at verse 16. Jeremiah 23, 16 says, thus saith the Lord of hosts, hearkened, notice what he says. The word hearkened means listen to, pay attention. He says, hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you. You say, well, why would God tell them not to listen to these prophets? Here's why, that they make you vain. Notice what he says. They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord. See, he says there are prophets out there, and they speak from their own heart. They speak from their own mind. They bring their own message, their own word. They say in other passages, and we won't run the verses, but we learn, especially as we go through the prophets, that many prophets will say peace, peace, when there is no peace, why? Because they're just speaking of their own hearts. They're not preaching the word of God. They're not bringing the word of God, and here we see that Ezekiel was not one of these preachers and listen to me, every preacher of God, every prophet of God, every man of God has to know that he has been sent by God, Almighty God. Now today, and I'm gonna say this, I'm not trying to offend anybody, and I'm not trying to pick a fight with anybody, but today you hear a lot of, people will mock at this idea of the calling of God upon your life, and I understand what they mean by that and when they mock at it. Obviously we've all heard the stories of people, you know, they get called into the ministry and they had some dream where they were supposed to go preach to millions of people, or you know, the room got all bright, and you know, and look, that stuff, you don't see stuff like that in the word of God, you know, you say, what do you see in the word of God? You see God calling people into the ministry, yes, but how does it happen? Well remember, and we won't turn there, but we learned about it on Sunday morning. How was Paul and Barnabas, how were they called into the ministry? Because they were called into the ministry. Remember the Holy Ghost said separate unto me, you know, Saul or Barnabas and Saul. You say, well how did that happen? I'll tell you exactly how it happened. It happened under the authority of the local church, you know, when the church as a whole looks at an individual and says, hey, you're ready, you know, you've met the qualifications, you have the Spirit of God upon your life, and we're gonna separate you onto that, and you know, you say, Pastor Jimenez, do you believe in the calling of God, or do you believe in volunteering for the work of God? You know, the answer to that question is yes. You know, it's both. You know, God calls you into the ministry. Saul and Barnabas, the Holy Ghost said, separate them unto the ministry. You know, the Bible talks about the fact that God will lay things upon your heart. You say, well how do you determine the call of God? Here's how you determine. If a man desired the office of a bishop, he desired the good work. If someone has a desire to do that work, then it's probably God calling them into that ministry. That's why it's the same thing. You know, do you volunteer? Well, everybody has to volunteer. Just because God calls you doesn't mean you do it. You know, so you say, oh, I just wanna, because people always wanna argue about, were you called into the ministry, did you volunteer? Look, it's both. You know, if you have the desire to do it, it's because God put it there. You know, and if a man desired the office of a bishop, he should just go and do it. You know, you say, Pastor Jimenez, were you called into the ministry? You know, I can tell you this, my entire life I knew this is what I wanna do. You know, just from, even from a little kid, you know, I just knew that this is what I wanted to do with my life, and this is what I wanted to pastor, and I wanted to preach, is that what you called? Well, there was never, you know, a shining light in my room, you know? There was never some odd dream, you know, where I was preaching to millions or whatever, but you know, the desire was there, and the call of God was there. But here, you say, Pastor, you know, is it just, you know, semantics? No, here's what you need to understand. The problem is, when you've got preachers that are called by their wives, you don't think that happens? Where guys are kinda pushed into the ministry, they don't really wanna do it, but their wife wants them to do it, or their mom wants them to do it, or their dad wants them to do it, or their whoever, you know, that's the problem. When a guy's getting pushed into the ministry by his wife, that guy was not called by God. Or when he wants to do it for filthy lucre's sake, or when he wants to do it for popularity, you need to know that you were sent by God. Why? Because the ministry can get difficult. It can get hard. And we're gonna learn about it here in the life of Ezekiel. Just cause God calls the prophet Ezekiel, doesn't mean that everything's gonna go great for Ezekiel and listen to me, Ezekiel needed to know, as we go through these chapters, and as things begin to get difficult, and as he gets asked to do certain things that are maybe uncomfortable, that are maybe not convenient, that are maybe not the greatest thing that he wants to do, he needs to know that he's in this fight and he's in this thing because God himself called him into the ministry. You know, and again, I'm not trying to argue with people but people say, oh, nobody gets called into the ministry. Oh, really, what about Jeremiah? The Bible says that God called him into the ministry from the womb. You know, I just believe that God puts that desire in you because God has ordained, God has given talents and aptitudes and abilities to certain people to do certain things and look, if that's you, don't be covetous, don't be greedy, forsake all and go into the ministry and if it's not you, then don't feel like a second class citizen, go run a great business and go help a pastor somewhere. You know, we all need to just run the race that is set before us. So we see in this chapter here, God's call of the prophet Ezekiel but secondly, we see tonight, God's caution about the people to Ezekiel. We see God's caution. God calls Ezekiel as a prophet but then God cautions Ezekiel about the people that he's going to minister to and you say, well, why does he do that? Well, here's what you need to understand. Sometimes, we go into the ministry thinking that, well, you know, when I get to preach, you know, when I get to preach, revival will break out, right? When I get to preach, I mean, many people are going to get saved and the church is just going to be full and you know, everyone's going to listen to what I have to say and listen to me, it's just not so. People are people and we all deal with people and some people are right with God and some are not. Some people are right with God sometimes and then they get back to them, some people get back to them, they get right with God. It's just ministry. When you're in ministry, you have to learn to just kind of ride that emotional roller coaster because sometimes, you know, I mean, you will literally, you know, be weeping in your office with one person and then rejoicing for joy with another one. You know, why? Because that's how ministry is. We deal with individuals and God begins to caution Ezekiel about the people. Notice what he says. Look at verse three. Ezekiel chapter two and verse three. The Bible says this and he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel. But he says, listen Ezekiel, let me just give you a warning. He says, I send you to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me even unto this very day. God tells Ezekiel that these people are going to be rebellious people. They're going to be, they're going to rebel against the ministry of Ezekiel. Keep your place there in Ezekiel chapter number two. Go to the book of 1 Samuel, just real quickly. 1 Samuel chapter 15. Towards the beginning of the Old Testament, you got all those one and two books, 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel Kings, 1 Chronicles. Go to 1 Samuel 15 and look at verse number 23. 1 Samuel 15 and verse 23. 1 Samuel 15 and verse 23. I think, you know, 1 Samuel 23, excuse me, 1 Samuel 15 and verse 23 is probably one of the most famous verses when it comes to rebellion, the idea of rebellion. And I think it's interesting, I want you to notice it. 1 Samuel 15, 23 says this, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. I've always thought that verse was interesting because, you know, when I read that verse, I thought to myself, what does rebellion have to do with witchcraft? You know, it's not necessarily something you think of. You know, you might think of like arrogance and rebellion going together, you know, rebellion and disrespect going together, but he says, rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. And we're gonna come back to 1 Samuel 15. So keep your place there if you can, put a ribbon or a bookmark or a bullet in there. Go to the book of Revelation, chapter number 12, and you say, what's the connection? Why does God tell Saul here? You know, the word of God is speaking about Saul. Samuel is telling Saul, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. When you think about it, what is witchcraft? It's the occult, right? It's the worshiping of devils, it's the worshiping of Satan, it's this demonic influence. You know, he says, hey, rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. When Revelation, chapter number 12, and verse number seven, notice this verse, Revelation chapter 12 and verse seven says this, and there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. Now the dragon is referring to Satan, and the dragon fought and his angels. See, the truth of the matter is, you cannot be more like Satan than you are when you are arrogant and rebellious. See, so when he says, for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, you say, why is he saying that? Here's why he's saying that. Because when you are rebelling, when you are rebellious, you are being like the devil. You are being like Satan. You are being like a demon. And I'm not saying you're filled with a demon but the connection there of rebelling, being like witchcraft is why? Because the original rebel without a cause was Satan himself. The original rebel that rebelled against God was the dragon, was the serpent that rebelled against God. So let me ask you a question, are you rebellious? Are you rebellious? Because rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft. And you say, well, you know, in what context? Well, the context that we're talking about here is how do you receive the word of God? How do you receive the preaching of the word of God? Let's look at more of these characteristics, these cautions. Go back to Ezekiel chapter two. Keep your place there in verse 10. We're gonna come right back to it. But go to Ezekiel chapter two. Look at verse four again. Ezekiel chapter two and verse four. In verse three, he said that they are a rebellious nation that have rebelled against me. In verse four, he says this, for they are impudent. See that word impudent there? The word impudent means not showing respect. What it means is that they're disrespectful. And here's what God, God is cautioning Ezekiel, because he just called Ezekiel into the ministry, right? He just called him and said, hey, you're gonna be a prophet for me to the nation of Israel, but let me tell you something, Ezekiel, you're going to deal with people that are rebellious and you're gonna deal with people that are rude, that are disrespectful, that are mean. They're gonna be mean to you. They're not gonna be kind to you. They're not gonna be nice to you. He said they're impudent children. He said they are impudent children. Notice what he continues to say in verse four, and stiff-hearted. So he says not only will they be rebellious, not only will they be rude, but he said these are gonna be people that are going to resist. They're going to be stiff-hearted. They're not gonna be soft-hearted. They're not gonna have soft hearts ready to receive your message. They're going to have stiff hearts. They're going to resist what you say, and if you kept replacing it in 1 Samuel 15, look at verse 23 again. 1 Samuel 15, 23 says, for rebellion is as a sin of witchcraft, notice the connection, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Stubbornness is being stiff-hearted. It's being stiff-necked. It's saying I'm not gonna change. I'm gonna resist the preaching, the teaching of the word of God, and we saw why rebellion is connected to witchcraft. Why is stubbornness connected to idolatry? Here's why. Because when you're stubborn, you're God. You're your God. You don't yield to the will of God and what God tells you. You say here's all I'm willing to do. That's all I'm willing to do. That's as far as I'm willing to go. I'm not willing to receive it. So look, we see here in this passage, if you make your way back to Ezekiel chapter two, not only do we see, number one, that God calls the prophet Ezekiel, we saw secondly that God cautions about the people to Ezekiel, and we see thirdly tonight God's counsel for preaching of Ezekiel, God's counsel for the preaching of Ezekiel. Notice verse five. God begins to give Ezekiel counsel. He says, look, I gave you a caution about these people, but I'm gonna give you some counsel in regards to your preaching. Notice what he says. He basically tells Ezekiel, you need to not worry about a couple of things. If you're going to be the man of God, if you're going to be the prophet of God, if you're going to be the preacher that I'm gonna use, there's a couple of things that you need not worry about. He tells them don't worry about these things. Number one, don't worry about the results. Notice verse five. The Bible says this, And they, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, the word forbear means to restrain. Remember, they're stiff-hearted, they resist. He says whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are a rebellious house, ye shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. Now I want you to notice God is telling Ezekiel here, He's telling Ezekiel, don't worry about the results. Don't worry about the results. And I really think that we've just gotten this whole concept of church growth and church growth philosophy as Christians. We've gotten it completely backwards today. You know, and we talk a lot about church growth. And look, I'm all for church growth, and I want to see our church grow and other churches grow. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. But we need to understand that church growth does not come from us. It is not our great programs and administration. It's not our great ability to put on good days and this and that or great ministries. Jesus said, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The Bible says in the book of Acts that the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. And look, here, God is telling Ezekiel, He's saying, Ezekiel, don't worry about the result, whether they hear or whether they forbear, whether you preach and they accept it and they acknowledge it and they repent and they get right with God, or if they rebel and resist in our stiff neck. He said, don't worry about that because here's what God is trying to explain to Ezekiel. Ezekiel, you will not be judged off of the results. This is what I tell every new soul winner I go with whenever we go soul winning. Don't get so caught up on the results. You know, it is God that gives the increase. It is God that saves the soul. You know, here's what I believe, and I believe this from the bottom of my heart. When I go soul winning for two hours or four hours and I get three people saved, or if I go soul winning for two hours and four hours and get nobody saved, I believe that I earn those same rewards in heaven. Either way, why? Because God will reward us for our labor, not our results. It's God that gives the results anyway. It's God that saves the soul anyway. He's just going to reward us for the work that we do. And when it comes to the preaching of the word of God, I'm here to tell you that there are a lot of preachers in America today with big auditoriums and big congregations and they got big ministries and everybody looks at them and says, this is a leader, this is a great leader. But you know what? The result is not how we measure. Because it's God who gives the result. So how do we measure the success of a preacher? We measure it by how faithfully they preach the word of God. And whether they are able to preach the word of God and have a great church or whether they preach the word of God in some little country church somewhere and maybe they don't have a big crowd, it doesn't matter because we need not worry whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Look, tonight when I stand up to preach the word of God or on Sunday morning when I stand up and preach the word of God or on Sunday night when I stand up to preach the word of God, if I'm preaching on soul winning, you know that God is not going to reward me in heaven if I stand up and preach a sermon on soul winning and nobody comes out soul winning as a result of that sermon, God's not gonna be like, well, you know, you're not getting any rewards for that one. No, you know, I get rewards for trying. I don't get rewards for how you responded. So if I preach on soul winning and 100 people go soul winning, if I preach on soul winning and nobody goes soul winning, as long as I preach the word of God, I've done what God has called me to do. Because God is telling Ezekiel here, he's saying, look, don't worry about the results, whether they hear or whether they will forbear. And we'll learn about this later on in the book of Ezekiel as we continue. Ezekiel was a gifted speaker. Ezekiel was a talented speaker. Ezekiel, we learned about him that people would go home and they would say, wow, that guy can preach. Man, that guy has some talent. Man, I really enjoy those sermons. But you know, they went home and they complimented his preaching, yet they did nothing with it. And at the end of the day, we need not worry about the results, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Our job, our job. And look, when you're out soul winning, you say, I haven't had anybody saved in a month. As long as you're out there warning people, you are doing what God has called you to do. You know, we call it a soul winning, but we should really call it a soul warning, because that's all we can do, is warn people and give them the opportunity to be saved. And if they want to hear it, praise God. And if they don't, we've done our job. Their blood is not upon our hands. So God's counsel for the preaching of Ezekiel is number one, don't worry about the results. But number two, he says this. He says, don't be afraid of the people. Don't be afraid of the people. Notice verse six. He says, and now, son of man, be not afraid of them. Neither be afraid of their words. Though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions, be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed of their looks, though they be a rebellious people. I want you to notice a couple of things here. He tells them, don't be afraid of the people, then he tells them two specific things not to be afraid. He says, don't be afraid of their words. He says, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words. He repeats that a couple of times. And then secondly, he says, don't be afraid of their looks. Don't be afraid of their looks. Notice the last part of verse six. Excuse me, verse six. He says, and thou dost dwell among scorpions, be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed. You see how we're dismayed there? It means don't be concerned or overwhelmed at their looks though they be a rebellious house. You say, why would God tell him to not be afraid of their looks? And if you're asking that question, you're asking that question for one reason, because you've done very little preaching. Because you don't have to ask a preacher why God tells Ezekiel not to be dismayed at their looks. One of these days, I'm gonna install a big old mirror up here. Or like a big screen with cameras this way. So you can see your faces. So you guys can see what I see when I preach. Because most people are not able to hide their look on their face. When you're preaching, and sometimes it's kind of easy to know when you kind of hit someone on their sin, because their countenance changes real quick. And look, it can be scary. I mean, some of the looks I get from time to time, they can be scary. You know, they could affect you if you allowed them to. They, you know, you look at people and you're like, oh man, why are they looking at me like that? You know, like, and people are just sad and angry or sad or whatever. And God says, Ezekiel, God tells Ezekiel, hey, don't be dismayed at their looks. And by the way, Ezekiel's not the only one. This is taught commonly through the preaching of the word of God. Go back to Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter five, just real quickly. Jeremiah chapter five, I'll give you another example of this. I'm sorry, I'm gonna give you another example. Let me show you something just real quickly. Now the reason for this about being afraid of their looks and being afraid of their words, you know, these different things, why is that? Here's why it is. Because when you preach the word of God, you hurt people. I don't know how else to say it. When you preach the Bible, when you step on people's toes, look, real Bible preaching will offend you. Real Bible preaching will step on your toes. If it doesn't, look, if it doesn't, if you can go to a church and the message is always positive, always uplifting, always good, never offended, never upset, you've got a false preacher on your hands because they're preaching out of their own heart. They're preaching their own words, why? Because when you preach the word of God, you know what the word of God does? It rebukes and it reproves and it exhorts and it will correct you and it will offend you. It is the word of God, Jeremiah five and verse 14. Notice what the Bible says, Jeremiah five, 14. Here's what a real preacher of God does. Wherefore, thus saith the Lord God of hosts, because you speak this word. Notice, talking about the word of God, he says, because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire. Notice what he says. I want you to get this picture of preaching. Here, God's having a preaching class with Jeremiah. He says, when you preach my word, I'm gonna make my words in thy mouth fire and this people wood. Did you get that? Now look, wood doesn't like fire. Wood gives angry looks to fire. Wood would say mean words to fire. But here's what God tells Jeremiah the prophet. He says, when you preach my word, my words in your mouth will be like fire and this people will be like wood and it shall devour them. See, biblical preaching, biblical preaching will offend. Go to Jeremiah chapter one. So just like Ezekiel, Jeremiah chapter one. Look at verse eight. Just like Ezekiel, Jeremiah's told, be not afraid of their faces. Be not afraid of their faces, Jeremiah 1.8. For I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. God is telling Jeremiah, you're gonna say some things, when you preach the Bible, you're gonna say some things that people are not gonna like. Be not afraid of their faces. Look at verse 17. Thou therefore good up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee. Notice what he says. Be not dismayed. Isn't that the same word he told Ezekiel? Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. He says, don't be dismayed at their faces. Be not afraid of their looks. And listen to me, when you preach the word of God, you're gonna offend people, you're gonna hurt people's feelings. And let me explain something to you because there's a misconception on hard preaching. There's two different types of hard preaching. There's hard preaching that the world would consider hard preaching and then there's hard preaching that Christians, they don't consider hard preaching but they don't like it and really it is hard preaching for them. See, people get this idea, they think like, oh, hard preaching is when you're preaching against the homos, you're preaching against abortion, you're preaching against drugs, you're preaching against the homeless and look, I'm all for preaching about all those things. But you know who doesn't get offended when I preach against the homeless and the homos and the drug addicts and alcohol and you know who doesn't get offended? All of you. Now, if I go out there and preach it, they're gonna get offended. None of you get offended. I mean, very few of you get offended. Sometimes when we have a visitor that comes in and they're a homo or something, they get offended but you don't get offended. You know when you get offended? You know when you get offended? You know what I've noticed when your look changes? Not when I'm preaching about the homos. You guys love that stuff. When I start preaching about your marriage, when I start talking about your children, when I start talking about the sins of the heart, the pride and the rebellion, the arrogancy, that's when the change all of a sudden, oh, why is he talking about that again? When you actually start talking about the things that affect Christians like, see, we all like hard preaching till it steps on my toes. Then all of a sudden, angry face. And you say, oh, well, that wasn't really that hard of a start. You'd be surprised how many hard, not hard sermons are pretty hard. When you preach about responsibility for three weeks to people that are very irresponsible, they don't like it. When you preach about things, see, see, Christians, Christians, they can deal, you know, independent fundamental baptism, they can deal with the hard preaching. But when you start dealing with the matters of the heart, all of a sudden, we're offended, we don't like it. When you start talking about motives, why do you do what you do? Is it just to be seen of men? Then everyone who does it to be seen of men is like, why is he getting on that again? See, you need to understand this, understand this. There's a reason why, please get this, and I'm not against anybody who does things differently, people can do things however they want. But if you've noticed, it's like, at Verity Baptist Church, 90% of our sermons are like something you need for your life, and like 10% are the homos and the drug addicts and, you know, the homeless. Say, Pastor, yeah, but I really like, yeah, but here's the thing with that, we don't have any homos here. It's not that I know of. And if we do, let me know, and we'll get rid of it real quick, you know, we'll be done. So, you know, but you know what I have here? You know what I have here? A lot of unsubmissive wives. You know what I have here? A lot of guys that don't know how to lead their families. You know what I have here? A lot of people that have no clue what they're doing with their finances. You know what I have here? A lot of people that did not read their Bibles today, did not read their Bibles yesterday, did not read their Bibles the day before that. You know what I have here? A lot of people that don't go soil winning. You know what I have here? A lot of people that don't pray every day. So I focus on those things, because that's what we have here. You say, well, that sermon on prayer wasn't real hard. Yeah, but it's hard for the guy that doesn't pray, and their countenance changes, and their attitudes change, and their words change. So let me ask you this. What type of Christian are you? Are you like the, like the Bible says they were more noble than those in Thessalonica, the Berean Baptists, because they received the word with all readiness of mind? Or are you like the group that Ezekiel's talking to, that is rebellious, and rude, and resistful? See, today, today, there are people who just do not want to accept Bible preaching. And I find myself asking the same question that Paul asked the church at Galatia. Am I, therefore, become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Because I tell you the truth? You're mad at me? You hate me? Now, let me explain something to you. I, like Ezekiel and every other preacher, has to make a decision. I can be your best friend, or I can preach the truth to you, but sometimes I can't be both. I want to be your friend, and I'll do my best to be your friend. But if I have to not be your friend, if I have to be the scorn of your conversation every time you leave church, if I have to be, you know, just the one that you hate and you talk about all the time, but I get the truth to you, I'm okay with that. Because I will be judged not by the results, but by the faithfulness of the word of God. You know what the Bible says? It says, great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. So, actually, man, as I get offended by preaching all the time, look, if you're constantly offended, you know what that tells me? You don't love God's word. Because great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. I mean, you know that there are some people who actually want to get their faces ripped? There are some people like, Pastor, get off of that, you know? I don't care about, you know, the transvestite. Give me something I need, you know? Some people actually want to come to church and learn something and find out where they're messing up so they can fix it so they can get it right. Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. So if you're constantly offended, always offended about something, it just shows us you don't love God's law. You say, what should you do? Get right with God. Just get your heart right. Just make right. I told people all the time, like, oh, you know, I feel like I'm always gonna preach that. You know, there's two sides to preaching. Look, if I'm preaching on soul winning, you know who's not offended? The people who go soul winning. You know who's offended? Who's uncomfortable? The people who don't go soul winning. All those soul winning sermons make me uncomfortable. Here's how you fix that. Start going soul winning. And then the next time I preach on soul winning, you're like, amen! That's how it works, you understand that? Oh, Pastor Jimenez, your sermons are always offending me. No, you're always sinning. That's the problem. If the sermons are constantly offending you, you just have a lot to work on. That's what you need. Just get on the right side of that thing, and you'll be good to go. So we see God's call of the prophet Ezekiel, and we see God's caution about the people to Ezekiel. We see God's counsel for preaching, for the preaching of Ezekiel. Go back to Ezekiel chapter two. Ezekiel chapter two. I want you to notice that word dismayed. God told Jeremiah, be not dismayed. He told Ezekiel, don't be dismayed. Again, that word dismayed means be concerned. And I'll tell you, look, I'm just a human being like anybody else. You can ask my wife. Thank the Lord for my wife, someone that I can talk to and vent to and whatever. There are many, there are many a Sunday night when I leave this, and I'm not trying to get your pity. Please understand, I'm just trying to help you understand. You know, there's many Sunday nights when I leave here a little discouraged. You say, why, Pastor? Because I know that people are hurt. Because I know that people are upset. Because I know that I spoke the truth, and somebody didn't like it. But you know, I have to remind myself about what God told Ezekiel, be not dismayed at their faces. He says, don't get overly concerned. You make sure you preach the truth. Look, it's like your kids. You gotta spank them. That's what they need. And I'm not saying you're my children. Please understand that better. Sometimes we need to hear the truth. And when you're wrong and the shoe fits, you know, then you need to just wear it and acknowledge that thing and take responsibility for that thing, right? And repent to get right with God. Ezekiel chapter two, verse seven. Ezekiel chapter two, verse seven. And thou shalt speak my words unto them. We find the responsibility of the preacher. Whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious. We see the responsibility of the preacher, but I just want you to notice just quickly the rebellion of a preacher. Verse eight. But thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious. Now remember, this whole time he's been telling, he's been telling him, these people are rebellious. They're rebellious and they're rude and they resist. They will not hear it. They will give you mean looks. They will not say kind words. They're not gonna accept your ministry. They're gonna be upset at you. But then God tells Ezekiel, be not thou rebellious. Like that rebellious house. You say, why? Because look, the tendency is, go to 2 Timothy chapter four, just real quickly. We're almost done. 2 Timothy chapter four, if you don't mind. You know what the tendency is for preachers? Is to just not preach anything negative. Is to just say things that are just nice all the time. Is just to have like a little pep rally every Sunday, say something positive, say things that, you know, preach the Bible, but not say anything that's gonna ruffle anyone up and get anybody upset. You know, why? So that they don't give you the bad look. So that they, you know, tell you, great job. You know, so that they put money on the offering plate. You say, why? 2 Timothy chapter four, look at verse three. 2 Timothy four, three says this. For the time will come, and I will say to you, that the time is come. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, after their own desires, they shall heed to themselves teaching. Man, praise God that I go to a church that offends me. Do you understand what I just said? I'm not saying you have to be nice to me. That's fine. I'm an adult, I can handle that, okay? I love ya, I want you to like me, and I wanna like you, but that's fine. But here's what I'm telling you. If you go to church, look, if you've come to Verity Baptist Church, and you've been here for three months, or six months, or a year, or six years, and you've never been offended, you need to go to another church. You understand that? You need, I am failing you. I am failing you as a pastor. Why? Because my job is to reprove, and rebuke, and exhort. Did you get that? Two-thirds negative, one-third positive. You say, pastor's always offending me. Then give him a raise. You know, I'm just kidding. You know what I mean? Then just tell him he's doing a good job. Then say, good. Look, if you've ever been offended, raise your hand. I'm just kidding. Don't do that. I'm saying, raise your hand if you've been offended. Some of you are like, I'm offended right now. Here's what I'm telling you. Understand this. The easy thing would be to not offend you. The easy thing would be to just preach generic sermons about nothing, fluff about nothing that only makes you feel good, and then, you know, never have Orlando protests, never have negative reviews, never have people hate on us. That would be the, do you understand? That would be the easy thing to do. So if you're offended or you've ever been offended, you should be thankful that you go to a church that would offend you. And then you should really take a look at yourself and say, is there a problem here? Because God is going to use the man of God and the word of God to work on me. And he says, be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. And I want you to notice verses nine and 10 and we'll be done. And I'm not going to deal with nine and 10. We're just going to read it. Last part of verse eight, Ezekiel is told, open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. And when I look, behold, a hand was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was therein. And he spread it before me, and it was written within and without. And it was written therein, lamentations and mourning and woe. And I'm not, I just wanted to read that. I just want you to know that that gets connected into chapter three. We're going to deal with that in chapter three next week. So that's where we're going to leave off and pick up basically right there in chapter three where this role comes down from heaven. And Ezekiel is told to deal with this role and to have it and to use it. But in this chapter, just 10 verses, we see the call of Ezekiel. God calls him in the ministry. And then the caution, God warns him about the people. And then the counsel about hard biblical preaching. And not all hard preaching is hard preaching. Sometimes it's just preaching the steps on your tables. That's why I had the Navajo Word of Prayer.