Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to Faith Award Baptist Church this morning.
So good to see you all here for our Sunday morning service.
So find your seats now, grab the hymn,
and I'll go to hymn number 410.
And we'll begin this morning, hymn number 410.
Faith is the victory.
Hymn number 410.
We'll begin with that first verse together
once you find your place.
And camp along the hills of likey Christian soldiers rise.
Hymn number 410.
Sing it out together now.
It came along the hills of likey fished and soldiers rise
And pressed a battle where the night shall veil the glowing skies
Against the bowing veils we look, let all our strength be heard
We tread the road, the saints above We're shouts of triumph drawn
By fame they like the world
and shall begin before the angels who shall know his name.
blessing on the service so I've asked for the dance there to feel this
in purpose. Dear Lord, thank you for bringing us here safely this morning.
Please bless this time of worship and praise. We pray pray these things in
Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Him number 364 number 364. Standing on the promises of God.
the system cannot fail. When the healthy swords are not in fear of sale, by the landing
word of God, I shall prevail.
Standing on the promises of God
Resting in my Savior as my all-in-all, Standing on the promises of God.
All right, at this time we'll go through our announcements
together.
If you don't have a bulletin,
slip up your hand nice and high.
We'll get to you with one.
On the inside, we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 10 30 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at six, Wednesday nights at seven.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below
as well as salvations and baptisms.
And then don't forget coming up on June 13th and 14th.
We've got that Father's Day weekend soul winning
slash hiking trip.
It's on Father's Day weekend, but it's not just for fathers.
It's not even just for men.
It's really just for anybody who wants to participate.
We've got a sign up sheet if you want to use the church transportation
because that's going to be while supplies last.
So the schedule, the basic schedule there for Friday is there.
And so if you have any questions or anything,
we can definitely answer those for you.
And then on the back, next Sunday, one week from today,
we've got Pastor Dylan Oz preaching
from Anchor Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
And then one week after that, on Sunday,
we're gonna have Pastor Jonathan Shelley
from Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill, Texas
for both services.
So the next two Sundays in a row
are gonna be guest preachers, Pastor Dylan Oz
and then Pastor Jonathan Shelley.
And so I think you're going to be in for a treat with those
sermons and then get a break from me rattle in my cage every
week. And then below that, we've got the list of expectant
ladies pray for them to have a safe and healthy pregnancy and
delivery. And that is about it for announced. We've had a great
time at the King James Conference is just wrapping up
today. I just got back late last night.
But I preached on Thursday night and Saturday night or Saturday morning and then Pastor
Mejia preached on Friday night.
We had a lot of great fellowship and just a lot of information about the whole issue
of why we're King James only.
You know, it's not just something that we just kind of flippantly just decided, hey,
we really like the King James because it sounds cool.
And let's make no mistake, it does sound cool, all right?
And the other verses do not sound cool.
but it is more to it than that.
Obviously, there are a lot of spiritual reasons
and just a lot of just logical reasons
why we are King James only.
And so you can catch those sermons online if you missed them.
And I think that's about it for announcements.
So come lead us in our next song.
All right, you should find the answer
in front of your hymnal with Psalm 24.
If you don't have an answer, please raise your hand.
One of the ushers will get you one song 24 the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof
And established it upon the floods
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord
For who shall stand in his holy place?
He that hath clean heads, and up your heart,
Let not lift it up his soul unto bed,
It's he, nor swore, deceitfully.
He shall receive the blessing from the Lord.
and righteousness from the God of His salvation.
This is the generation of the dancing hymn
that sings like basil, jake of Silan.
Lift up your hands, O ye gates.
And be lift up the everlasting north, And the king of glory shall come in.
Who is the king of glory?
He even lit them up, he everlasting doors, And our King of glory shall come in, who is this King of glory?
All right, good singing, everybody.
Take your hymnos now and turn to hymn number 245, number 245.
The old account was settled.
Here's how we're gonna do this one.
When we get to that chorus,
you see how there's the phrase long ago
and then below that it says down.
my knees so every time there's an echo I want especially you men out there to
really just yell that just shout it don't don't even sing it just yell it
okay so there's a few of you that already do that so just follow each other
on that so so let's sing it on that first verse now there was a time on
earth one in the book of heaven number 245
There was a time on earth when able to have an old man now standing or standing up for him, unable to tap the top and many things below, I went up to the keeper and settled on to go, on to go, now I ease, on to go, I settled it all, yes the old man now will settle on.
today for he washed my sins away when the old account was settled long ago the old account was
large and growing every day for I was always silly and never tried to pay but when I looked ahead
When the old account was settled long ago When the records clear today before we wash my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago When the men got happy all my secrets all above
I'll sing redemption story and praise it for his love
I'll not forget the blood with ages bright as snow
Because I came and settled and settled long ago, long ago
Got my knees long ago, I settled it all
Yes, the old account was so long ago
Hallelujah! And the records we're today
Before he washed my sins away
When the old account was settled long ago
And then if you should live a hundred years below how dare you not re-grade and you sell the bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to go, bomb to
Today, boy, he lost my sins away
When the old man down was down
All right, this time we'll pass the offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 33.
Ezekiel chapter number 33, as we always do,
we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
Follow along silently with Brother Corbin Brock as he reads,
Ezekiel 33 beginning in verse number 1.
Ezekiel chapter 33.
Again, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
Son of man, speak to the children of thy people
and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land,
if the people of the land take a man of their coasts
and set him for their watchmen,
if when he seeeth the sword come upon the land,
he blow the trumpet and warn the people,
then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet
and taketh not warning, if the sword come
and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning his blood shall be upon him
But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul
But if the watchman see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be not warned
If the sword come and take any person from among them he is taken away in his iniquity
But his blood will I require at the watchman's hand so thou oh son of man
I have set thee a watchman under the house of Israel
Therefore, thou shalt hear the word in my mouth, and warn them from me.
When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die, if thou dost not speak,
to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood
will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from
his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Therefore, O Thou, Son of Man, speak unto the house of Israel.
Thus ye speak, saying, if our transgressions and our sins be upon us,
and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
Say unto them, as I live, say, at the Lord God,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but that the wicked turn from his way and live.
Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways,
for why will ye die, O house of Israel?
Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression.
As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness.
Neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he is senteth.
When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity
All his righteousnesses shall not be remembered before his iniquity that he hath committed he shall die for it
Again when I say into the wicked thou shalt surely die
If he turned from his sin and do that which is lawful and right if the wicked restore the pledge
Give again that he had robbed
Walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity. He shall surely live. He shall not die
None of his sins that he has committed shall be mentioned unto him
He had done that which is lawful and right. He shall surely live
Yet the children of thy people say the way of the Lord is not equal
But as for them their way is not equal when the righteous turn it from his righteousness and committed the iniquity
He shall even die thereby
but if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall live thereby. Yet ye say,
the way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you everyone after his ways.
And it came to pass in the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month,
and the fifth day of the month, that one that had escaped out of Jerusalem came unto me saying,
the city is smitten. Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening.
before he that was escaped came and had opened my mouth
until he came to me in the morning and my mouth was opened
and I was no more dumb. Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying
son of man they that inhabit those wastes of the land
of Israel speak saying Abraham was one and he inherited the land
but we are many the land is given us for an inheritance.
Wherefore say unto them thus say at the Lord God you eat with the blood and lift up your eyes toward your idols and shed blood and
Shall ye possess the land you stand upon your sword you work abomination and you defile everyone his neighbor's wife and shall
Ye possess the land
Say thou thus unto them thus say at the Lord God as I live surely they that are in the waste shall fall by the sword and
Him that is in the open field will I give to the beast to be devoured
they that be in the forts and in the caves shall die the pestilence. For I
will lay the land most desolate and the pomp of her strength shall cease and the
mountains of Israel shall be desolate that none shall pass through. Then shall
they know that I am the Lord when I have laid the land most desolate because of
all their abominations which they have committed. Also thou son of man the
children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the
and speak one to another every one to his brother saying come I pray you and hear
what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord and they come unto thee as the
people cometh and they sit before thee as thy as my people and they hear thy
words but they will not do them for with their mouth they show much love but
their heart goeth after their covetousness
And lo, thou art under them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and
can play well on an instrument, for they hear thy words, but they do them not.
And when this cometh to pass, lo, it will come, then shall they know that a prophet
hath been among them.
Father in heaven, we come before you once again with gratefulness for all that you've done for us and all that you do for us each and every day
We ask now Lord that you would please bless the preaching of your word. We pray that you would give pastor Anderson
Wisdom and knowledge that he can impart on to us. We pray Lord that we would change
Mom by moment as we hear the word of God. We ask now that you would bless this preaching and bless our time in Jesus name
Men, title my sermon this morning is a warning to the wicked, a warning to the wicked.
In Ezekiel chapter 33, the Lord is speaking to Ezekiel and what you have to understand
about these men like Jeremiah and Ezekiel is that they had a really frustrating job
because they're preaching to the Israelites at a time in their history where they're not
right with God.
and a lot of people are rebelling against the truth of God's Word.
And so it's frustrating, you know, to get up and preach the truth to people
and have them disregard and ignore these things
due to being stiff-necked. And that's the type of thing that Jeremiah and Ezekiel
dealt with. And in this chapter, God is explaining
to Ezekiel the importance of the fact that it's
our job simply to warn people and we can't make people do the right thing.
Right? All we can do is just preach the Word of God,
warn people, and at the end of the day it's their choice
what they do with that warning. And if we don't warn them,
then we're guilty. But if we do warn them and they disregard it, well, that's not
really our problem, is it?
Look at the Bible here in beginning in verse number two. It says,
If, when he seeeth the sword come upon the land, he bloweth a trumpet, and warneth the
people, then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the
sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head."
So if there's a guy who's the watchman, he's the security guard, if you will, he's out
there watching, and when the enemy comes, he's supposed to sound the alarm.
Well, that's not his problem.
He did his job, he sounded the alarm.
Whereas if he's asleep at the job,
then it's his fault when people end up being killed.
Okay, and the idea here with a watchman sounding a trumpet,
this is a metaphor for the preaching of God's word, right?
The Bible tells preachers to cry aloud,
spare not, and to lift up their voices like a trumpet.
And throughout the Bible, a trumpet is symbolic of preaching.
And so if the preacher gets up and warns people about sin
and then they go out and live a life of sin anyway,
you can't blame the preacher for that happening.
You know, for example, let's say in this church,
I never preached against fornication
and I didn't talk about it, I didn't turn to those verses,
I didn't emphasize that, I didn't get up and make a big deal
about how fornication is wrong
and maybe I just kind of beat around the bush
and there are a lot of churches that are like this.
They don't get up and hit on specific sins.
Well then, if a bunch of people in the church are fornicating,
you could say, well, you know, it's partially your fault
that you, pastor, did not preach those scriptures
that tell us not to do that and warn people
about the consequences of that.
You know, if I, as a pastor, didn't get up,
and preach about divorce, and preach that God hates divorce, and what God has joined together,
let not man put us under, and let not the wife depart from her husband.
You know, if I failed to teach those things, and failed to preach those things, that
that whosoever married with her that is divorced, committed adultery, and I just didn't turn to
those verses because they're not popular, well then, if everybody in church is getting divorced,
You could say, well, Pastor, that's kind of your fault
because you didn't warn us.
You didn't preach the Bible.
It's your job to get up and preach these things
and you skipped over these things
in order to be more palatable or popular or politically correct.
Whereas if I got up and preached the Bible
and thundered against divorce and thundered these truths
and then people just went out and did it anyway,
well, then what can you do?
Not my fault, not my problem.
And that's what the Bible is saying here, is that the watchmen, if he gives the warning and people don't heed it,
well then their blood's on their own head, that's their own fault and they have no one to blame but themselves because they were warned, okay?
It says in verse number five, he heard the sound of the trumpet, you know?
He heard the preaching, he heard the clear teaching from the Bible coming across the pulpit, and he took not warning.
His blood shall be upon him.
but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul."
And in this passage, we're not talking about salvation
in the sense of heaven versus hell.
We're talking about physical destruction, right?
We're talking about living a life of sin
and destroying your life on this earth,
or dying, or living a righteous life
and being blessed and living and thriving.
And the word soul in the Old Testament
is often just referring to the person.
It's referring to the self.
and that's what it is in this context.
It says in verse six,
but if the watchman see the sword come
and blow not the trumpet, right?
The preacher's not preaching the word of God.
He's not giving the warnings.
If the sword come and take any person from among them,
he's taken away in his iniquity,
but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand.
So you see, being a watchman,
being a preacher is a responsibility, okay?
And we're responsible.
The Bible says that we're supposed to watch for the souls
of the flock as pastors.
So if we don't warn people about the dangers of sin,
we have failed in the responsibility we've been given
and then we're to blame when people are living a life of sin
because we didn't warn them not to do those things.
We didn't teach those things and preach those things
and that's the job.
Look at verse seven,
so thou, O son of man,
It says, the Lord's being due Ezekiel.
So thou, O Son of Man, I have set thee a watchman
unto the house of Israel.
Therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth
and warn them from me.
When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man,
thou shalt surely die.
If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity.
But his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it,
if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity.
But thou hast delivered thy soul."
Again, same thing being repeated.
Now, here's the thing.
The primary application here in Ezekiel
is talking about just the House of Israel
literally sinning,
versus not sinning, and enemies literally coming in and killing them as a judgment from God,
physically on this earth, or people being executed, for example, if they commit crimes and refuse to
get right. But you could also use this passage as an analogy, even though it's not the primary
application, as an analogy for winning souls to Christ and preaching the gospel. So if you would
Acts chapter 20, because the same concept could be applied in that way when it comes to preaching the gospel.
And the Bible says in verse number 25 of Acts chapter 20, it says,
I know that ye all, among whom I've gone,
preach in the kingdom of God shall see my face no more."
Verse 26.
Wherefore I take you to record this day
that I am pure from the blood of all men.
And probably the apostle Paul has this passage
in Ezekiel in mind, from Ezekiel chapter 33.
He says, I'm pure from the blood of all men.
Why?
For I've not shunned to declare unto you all
the counsel of God.
So you say, look, I've preached everything.
It's not my fault.
Nobody's blood is on my hands
because I preached the whole Bible.
You know, I preached everything in the Word of God.
I didn't censor anything.
It says in verse 28,
take heed therefore unto yourselves.
Right? Because at the end of the day, personal responsibility must be taken by every person for their actions
and the way that they live their life.
You know, we live in a generation where everyone wants to blame their parents for their actions.
They want to blame the church, blame the pastor.
Oh, I had a bad experience at church.
Oh, I had a bad childhood.
Or, oh, it was this person's fault or that person's fault.
They want to blame the government.
They want to blame everybody except...
themselves and just take responsibility and realize,
hey buddy, if you wanted to live for God, you could do that.
If you wanted to do right, you could.
You could have gone to church.
You could read the Bible.
You could be praying.
You could love God, serve God, obey God.
I don't care if your dad's a drunk.
I don't care if your mama was a whore.
You can live for God.
Don't hide behind that.
Okay?
You can do right.
Take responsibility for yourself.
And if a preacher gets up and preaches the entire Bible to you, he says, you know what?
I'm free from the blood of all men and you know what, it's on you now.
So take heed unto yourselves.
Look out for yourselves and make sure that you're doing right.
He's speaking to elders, so he says,
Take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock
over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers
to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock.
Also, of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things,
to draw away disciples after them.
And again, this also lends credibility to the idea that the Apostle Paul is thinking
about as E.Kill33 a little bit because now we have this idea of the Watchman coming up
again, right?
Watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone
night and day with tears and now brethren I command you to God, right?
So you're saying look I've warned everybody and now you know what?
I'm just commanding you to, it's between you and God now.
I'm commanding you to, God's gonna have to look out for you, God's gonna have to take care of you because I'm leaving.
Now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance
among all them which are sanctified. So it's a really similar idea here.
in acts that we saw back in Ezekiel 33.
And again, as I said, the primary teaching of Ezekiel 33
is about not ruining our lives on this earth
and being destroyed physically on this earth,
but this could also be used as an analogy for soul winning.
So for example, if I go out soul winning
and I present the gospel to someone
and that person rejects the gospel,
well then you know what?
That's their problem, isn't it?
And unfortunately, we can't make people get saved.
I wish we could make people get saved.
I wish there was a way to force people to get saved
or really push people into getting saved.
But at the end of the day, they have to make that decision for themselves
to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
All we can do is just present the message,
just preach the gospel, and then it's up to them to act, right?
It's up to them to believe and call upon the name of the Lord.
And they have to do that, and we can't do that for them.
There's so many times that I've been soul-winning with someone
where I was a silent partner.
and maybe they were a newer soul winner.
And I'm kind of the silent partner, tagging along,
and they preach the gospel to someone
and then that person doesn't get saved.
then we walk away from the door and the person will ask me hey you know what did
I do wrong or is there anything I can improve or you know something I could do
better and I'm always just saying to that person you know no you didn't do
anything wrong you did a great job I don't see anything you need to improve
it's just the person just didn't get saved because the person didn't get saved
it's not like oh well if you would have been a better soul winner than that
person's gonna get saved
Here's the thing, you could have the best soul winner, you could have, you know, a person that's not that good at soul winning,
if they're preaching the correct gospel, if they're preaching in the power of the Holy Spirit, you know, at the end of the day,
it's up to that person what they're going to do with that message.
And if you go out and warn people and you tell them,
look, hell is real, heaven is real, Jesus saves,
being saved is easy, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and thou shalt be saved, it's a free gift, and you present all that,
you are free from the blood of that person. You know, that person's blood is not on your hands,
you have absolved yourself of responsibility
of that person because you preach the gospel to them, right?
and get people saved and we love it when we go out and preach the gospel and people get saved it's
exciting and it can be frustrating when we go out soul winning and people aren't getting saved
but you know what don't ever feel like oh i didn't accomplish anything if you go out soul winning
and people don't get saved don't feel like oh there's a waste of time it is never a waste of time
going out soul winning and i believe that you're accomplishing much more than you think that you're
accomplishing i think when we're going to when we get to heaven we're going to realize that we
Not less than we thought I don't think ready to get to heaven and be disappointed and it turns out we got less people saved
Or we impacted less people. I think it's gonna be more
Because I'm thinking about the fact that if I were some kind of watered-down
Baxled in Christian who's not really doing much and
Somebody came and knocked on my door and I was already saved and somebody came and knocked on my door
Attempting to preach the gospel and get me saved that would inspire me
And I would be thinking to myself,
I should be out there doing this.
This is pretty cool. Why am I not out there doing this?
Right? And I wonder how many people get inspired,
or convicted, or maybe think about the fact
that they need to be evangelizing
because they see us out there evangelizing.
You know, even on those doors where they're already saved.
And then, you know, you knock on a door and somebody blows you off,
even if you're able to just leave them with one verse,
that's a seed planted right there,
if you can just leave them with that one verse.
You know, or maybe you get through the whole plan of salvation
and they don't get saved.
Who's to say they're not going to get saved?
Two years from now, three years from now, five years from now,
because the Bible talks about how one sows the seed,
another comes along and waters it,
and ultimately it's God who gives the increase,
and it's really not our job.
to guarantee anybody's salvation except our own.
You know what I mean?
The only person that we really can control is ourselves
with respect to salvation and with respect to everything else.
You know, I'm saved and all I can do is just preach the gospel.
And if people get saved, great.
If they don't get saved, I did not waste my time
because I believe God is glorified.
Even if a person goes to hell,
I think God is glorified the more times that person heard the gospel.
You know because then at least God's not just sending people to hell that barely heard the gospel
It's like nope you heard the gospel again and again and again and again and rejected it
Apart from me. I never knew you. I think we're always bringing glory to God
I think we're inspiring people that are that are already saved and maybe motivating them
maybe kind of convicting them and prodding them a little bit and I think we're planning a lot of seeds
We're watering a lot of seeds and a lot of times we are getting people saved
And so we're getting a lot done out there when we go soul-winning
So don't get discouraged or frustrated if it's unreceptive because you're still performing a valuable function
You know a lot of times when I'll go out soul winning with a big group like let's say
It's a soul winning marathon or just you know a church van full of people
And there's 14 of us dropped off in the neighborhood and every door I get to bad door
You know what I think of myself. I'm just like a bad door absorber
Because then I'm thinking like I sometimes don't think like well
I'm glad I'm getting all the bad doors because I'm not gonna quit
I'm not gonna get discouraged, but maybe somebody else who's new or maybe somebody who's not as into it
You know if they got these doors, maybe they'd get discouraged
So I'm glad that they're getting the good doors because they might need that encouragement
I don't need the encouragement because I'm never gonna stop and so I'm just a bad door absorber
And then we could just shade in that street
and just call it good and be done.
Somebody's got to go to all those Mormon doors
and deal with all those people
that don't want to hear the gospel
or want to listen to it smiling without listening
and not getting a single thing that you're saying.
But you know what?
You're always...
performing a valuable function
when you're out there doing the work of the Lord.
Your labor's not in vain in the Lord
when you're serving God.
And, you know, you need to get liberated
from this feeling that you're responsible
for other people's decisions.
because this can be frustrating to you
and it can be upsetting to you
and it can be super discouraging
to give somebody the gospel and they don't get saved.
You know, obviously we want to care
and we want people to be saved,
but at the same time,
you don't want to just ruin your whole day,
like, ah, that guy didn't get saved.
You know, you have to just let it go
and just realize I can only control my own actions
and I can only make sure that I'm saved,
other people it's on them.
And here's the thing that, go back if you would to Ezekiel chapter 33.
You know, beyond soul winning, okay,
more the primary application of Ezekiel 33
is actually more about warning people about a sinful life
and the sins that they're committed
that can cause them to crash and burn on this earth
and destroy their lives on this earth.
get severe punishments and chastening from God on this earth.
Because obviously, heaven and hell is the big one,
but we're all saved here, you know,
or 90-some percent of us, I'm sure, are already saved.
And so the vast majority of us,
we're not worried about going to hell.
We're already saved. We're going to heaven.
We've believed on Jesus.
We have eternal life.
Nothing could separate us from the love of God,
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far as God separated us from our sins.
But I don't know about you,
but for the next few decades that I'm on this earth,
God willing, hopefully it's a long time.
You know, I want to also live a good life on this earth.
I don't want to just live this messed up life with God just constantly
chastening me and then go to heaven.
I want to live a life of blessing and I want to live a life where it's meaningful and significant
and my life matters and then go to heaven.
You know, I want to live a good life now and go to heaven, okay?
Not just live a stupid life now and go to heaven, okay?
So, it's important that we think about
The fact that if we want to be blessed by God, and we talked about this on Wednesday night,
if we want to be blessed by God, we need to obey God as far as here and now.
When it comes to salvation, that's a free gift believing in Jesus.
But when it comes to being blessed on this earth and having a good life now,
the path to God's blessings through the door of obedience.
And so we need to obey the Lord.
Now, here's the thing, as Christians, we will sometimes see other Christians
that are going down a dark path, that are going down a sinful path,
and we want to warn them, don't we?
You know, we don't like to see friends and loved ones start to get into drinking,
start to get into drugs,
start to get into fornication, start to get into gambling,
kind of just starting down these dark paths,
or when they start to just fade away from church,
and they're going to church less and less,
and they're just not caring about the things of God,
and then they start mutilating and doing things to their bodies
and looking like cannibals and everything else.
want to warn people and tell people hey man you know you shouldn't be doing this and a lot of times
that's uncomfortable right when we when we tell someone hey you shouldn't be marrying this person
because they're not saved or you shouldn't be living together because you're not married
or you shouldn't be drinking you shouldn't be doing drugs because you know we kind of want to
be everybody's buddy sometimes but sometimes we have to show people some tough love
and warn people and say unto the wicked,
look, this path is a wicked path
that leads to death ultimately, right?
And that's the kind of warnings that God gives
about the strange woman and fornication,
you know, the dead are there, right?
And it warns you about the consequences of those things.
And we should warn our fellow Christians.
I'm not talking about being a holier than thou,
like picking apart every little thing of other people's lives.
Right because everybody's the sinner nobody's perfect
I'm not talking about nitpicking and trying to find everything wrong with every person, but you know when you see people
Doing things that are blatantly against God's word
You can kindly and lovingly correct that person and you should do that and you should tell that person
Hey, you need to get back in church
you need to not drink, you know, you need to not do drugs, you need to not
fornicate and those you don't commit adultery. Be faithful
to your spouse and these are important things and here's the thing
if you warn people and they just blow you off and don't care then that's their
problem
and don't go through life stressing and worrying and trying to control other
people because unfortunately
you can't make people do right.
Me as a pastor again all I can do is preach against sin and if I preach against every sin in the Bible
I never feel responsible if someone in my church goes out and does those things if because I'm just like why preached
About that all the time
Now if somebody went out and did something I'd never preached about it. I would feel guilty
I would feel like man. I should have preached about that. I should have warned them. Why did I not cover that subject?
But if I'm getting up and screaming and yelling and preaching about drunkenness and then I hear about someone becoming an alcoholic,
I'm not going to feel guilty for even one second.
I'm not going to think like, oh man, I failed as a pastor.
I failed as a leader.
No way.
I would just say, well, that's ridiculous.
They probably heard more preaching on that subject than 99% of people go to church.
So what's their problem?
Right?
But if I if I'd been remiss I'd feel guilty, you know, and these these fun center pastors that don't preach against sin
You know, they should feel guilty
About the fact that they're not warning people. I've had people come to me over the years and say man
I wish I would have known when I was a kid what I know now wouldn't have lived a sinful life
I wouldn't have done all these wicked things if somebody would have told me, you know
That it was wrong or told me what the Bible said or told me what the consequences would be. Okay now
Back to Ezekiel chapter 33 where we kind of left off
It says in verse number eight when I say unto the wicked a wicked man thou shalt surely die
If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way,
that wicked man shall die in his iniquity,
but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way
to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way,
verse nine, latter part there,
he shall die in his iniquity,
but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel.
Thus
You speak if our transgressions and our sins be upon us and we pine away in them. How shall we live?
How shall we then live? Sorry, I'm losing my eyesight in my old age here. How should we then live?
Say unto them as I live say at the Lord God
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live
Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die? Oh house of Israel saying look
I don't enjoy punishing people is what God's saying.
I don't enjoy destroying the nation.
I don't enjoy bringing in foreign armies to come kill you guys.
I don't have any pleasure in the death of the wicked.
I would prefer that the wicked would turn from his way and live.
And he's saying, that's what you need to do.
And then I love this statement that he says
at the end of verse 11, he says,
why will you die, O house of Israel?
And again, this is kind of an older form of the language.
What he's saying is, why do you want to die?
Why do you want to die?
And they're like, well, we don't want to die.
Well, you know, the way you're living,
it looks like you want to die.
You know and that's all I want to say to a lot of people when you're out there
Drinking, partying, drugs, fornication, adultery. It's like you must just like God beating the crap out of you
You just must love death. You must just want to die. You must just be tired of being alive
Well, no, no, that's not it at all. Then what are you doing?
Because the Bible says when lust has conceived it bring forth sin and sin when it is finished bring forth death
That's what the Bible says.
And so he's saying, look, man, why do you want to die?
Get right with God and live, choose life, right?
You got two choices, life and death, choose life.
It says in verse number 12,
Now, I know it's a bit of a mouthful in verse 12 there,
but what that's saying is that, you know, the past doesn't matter.
The past doesn't matter, okay?
He's saying, look, if you've been righteous in the past,
you've done a lot of great things for God in the past,
you've been godly and clean and right in the past.
Great, but you know what, it's not gonna help you today.
If you start going down the dark path now,
You're gonna suffer now. You're gonna pay for it now
It's not like you built up all these credits of good works
And now you can go out and do a bunch of sins and it's gonna kind of like balance out and you're gonna be okay
All the righteousness that you did is not gonna help you when you go out and start committing adultery
And drinking and partying and doing these things
The past doesn't matter
And then the flip side is true too.
Maybe you lived a super wicked life in the past.
And you had gone down all those dark roads,
but thank God you were able to get right, get back on track,
live for God. You know what the Bible is saying?
You know what? Those bad things that you did back then,
you know what? Forget about those things.
And God's ready to forget about those things too.
And other people should forget about those things and let you live it down.
Because what matters is if you're living for God now.
Are you doing right today? Are you doing right now?
So you don't ever want to have this attitude of I'm too far gone.
I've already screwed it up so bad. I've already sinned so much.
No, if you are a saved child of God and you are breathing air,
it is never too late to get right with God,
to fix things and to make things right and to come back home to serving God.
So that's why he says in verse number 13 when I shall say to the righteous
That he shall surely live if he trust in his own righteousness and commit iniquity all his righteousness is shall not be remembered
But for his iniquity that he have committed he shall die for it and honestly this is kind of common sense as well
Because think about this, what if there was a really philanthropic person
who's just constantly donating money to charity
and they're just serving up food at the soup kitchen
and they're just donating and helping and volunteering and doing all these things
and then they just went out and murdered someone.
Just maybe they were a serial killer and just went on a killing spree and then they go to court
Do you really think that the judge is gonna say well?
I mean look at all the good this guy's done if we add up all the good that he's done, you know
This one murderer or two. Well, I mean two three murder who's counting look at all the good stuff. He did
That's not gonna work. Is it?
He's gonna be in fact, what's the Bible all that stuff's gonna be forgotten
Anything good if you become a serial killer, if you become a rapist, if you become some monster,
every good thing that you've done in the past is going to be forgotten, right?
You go down in history for the bad thing that you did, right?
Here's the thing, you know, let's take an example, Adolf Hitler.
Right, so Adolf Hitler obviously is responsible in a lot of ways for World War II and the
deaths of tens of millions of people in World War II, right?
It was a bloodbath, right?
World War I and World War II were both just horrible bloodbaths.
Well, you know, World War II, this horrible bloodbath, and so Adolf Hitler goes down in history as a horrible person because of World War II, right?
But like, here's the thing, what about, you know, his achievements in World War I, you know, when he was brave and, you know, earning awards as a dispatch runner?
What about all those wonderful little watercolor paintings that he did?
Nobody cares, right? Nobody's like, well, you know, these are some pretty cool watercolors
The art museum is not gonna have like a little Adolf Hitler exhibit, you know where we can we can examine all of his watercolor painting
You know, it's not like hey, let's talk about all of the good things that he did
Nobody cares, right? It says, no, you know, you plunged Europe into World War II and a bunch of people died and it was horrible and you just go down in history as a bad person.
And you think about even some people in the Bible who started out good and then they ended up bad and then you just kind of think of them as just bad.
And vice versa.
Somebody starts out bad and ends up good. You just think of him as good and it's funny because I can give an example of this
With the same name Saul and Saul to Saul's right because in the Old Testament you have Saul he starts out good
He ends up bad and you know people don't really think of him as a great guy or a good character
He's usually in most sermons or in most people's minds. He's thought of as a bad guy
Even though he did do a lot of good things, but because he ended bad
We think of him as bad. Okay, then you think of Saul in the New Testament
Saul of Tarsus who later becomes Paul because the apostle Paul
Started out being called Saul. That's his real name is Saul later
He changed the name to Paul and so when he is Saul in the beginning. He's persecuting the church
And, in fact, he's even getting people arrested and getting people in trouble, and he didn't
actually murder people in that sense, but he is responsible for getting people executed
and participating in Christians being executed.
Super wicked guy, but nobody thinks, oh man, that apostle Paul is a rotten person.
Nobody even barely thinks about the bad stuff that Paul did.
They think about the good stuff he did because that's how he ended.
And then Saul, in the Old Testament, is the exact opposite.
And it's funny how similar these two guys are because they're both named Saul
and they're both from a tribe of Benjamin. You know, so there are a lot of similarities between these guys.
And then you look at how one of them ended his life. You know, Saul, toward the end of his life, is saying,
I've played the fool, right? He ends up committing suicide, right?
Whereas Saul, in the New Testament, says, I fought a good fight. I finished the course.
I finished my course, I've kept the faith.
And so, you can see how the past isn't what matters.
It's the present.
So don't ride on past glory.
Oh man, I used to win so many souls.
Oh, I used to serve God.
I used to do so much.
What are you doing in 2025?
And then, oh, well, maybe you've been an unfruitful Christian in the past.
You've never been zealous.
You've never really been all in.
You've never really gotten involved in zealously winning souls.
You know what? Why not jump in now?
Because the past doesn't matter.
And I say, well, this is not who I am.
And you know what I think is so cool is when I hear about people that have been in our church for a really long time,
and they've been in our church for years and years and years,
and they're just starting to go soul-winning now in 2025.
That's awesome.
You know or maybe they've been a silent talker for you a silent partner for years now
They're starting to do the talking and I think it's amazing
You know and and it's like imagine being in a soul-winning church for 10 years and then starting soul-winning in the 11th year
I mean, that's incredible. That's great
That's awesome that you're that you're still growing that you haven't just stagnated and just gotten to your peak
And then you're just gonna coast for the rest of your life
You know, I like to see that people are pushing themselves and maybe doing something new and and maybe finding a new area
Of the Christian life where they can grow in and maybe there's a sin that they've been dealing with for years and years and years
And they're finally gonna overcome that and get been kicked that habit
and quit, you know, their people go to our church for years,
and then they quit smoking or something, you know, whatever, you name it.
Because these things can be difficult,
and everybody's got their own individual struggles that they're dealing with.
But you know what, don't get hung up on the past for better or for worse.
So don't ride on past glory,
and don't beat yourself up about past failures,
just realize the present is what matters.
Right the present is what matters and you know God is gonna bless you if you do right now
That's why I love that parable about the 11th hour right the famous parable where the guy's hiring people all day
He hires people at 6 a.m. You know, he's hiring him at 9 a.m.
He's hiring him at noon and then he gets those people
You know just an hour before quitting time and he hires them and they end up getting paid the same as the people who worked all
Day and Jesus basically just says well I can do whatever I want
It's my money, so if I want to just pay these people for a whole day,
even though they only worked an hour, who's going to stop me?
You got your paycheck, that's what you agreed upon, go home.
I can give this guy whatever I want,
I can just give away my money for free if I want.
And you know what, the Bible is trying to teach in that parable,
it's saying, look, if you jump in at the 11th hour of life
and start serving God, it's not too late to earn big rewards.
Right? You can jump in late in the game and still do great things for God and still earn great rewards.
And so don't get hung up on the past. The past doesn't matter. Think about the present.
Verse 14, it says again, when I say unto the wicked thou shalt surely die if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right.
If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life,
without committing iniquity he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Now look, this is not to say that there aren't consequences for the sins that you've committed in your past,
and if you have wronged people, then you need to make that right.
in order to be right with God, right?
If you go out and wrong people and harm people
and do all this damage,
and then just say, okay, I'm getting right with God now.
I'm gonna straighten up and fly right from here on out.
You know, the Bible says you need to make restitution
to those people.
You have to fix things with people
and not just say, well, hey,
let's just push a big reset button and go forward.
Well, no, you know, if you stole something,
you gotta give it back.
Right? You've got to make things right.
If you lied about someone or slandered someone,
then you need to apologize and recant those things
and say that you lied and admit what you've done
and fix things and do right and pay back what you stole
or whatever you can do to try to make things right.
That's what the Bible says, right?
Restore the pledge and give back what you stole
and do all that.
And it says, you know, if you do that, if you make things right,
If you take care of these things, it says in verse 16,
none of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him.
He hath done that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live.
You know, so if somebody does wrong and then they get right and they make it right,
it should be dropped and never brought up again.
Just don't even bring it up.
Forget about it.
Don't even mention it.
Verse 17, Yet the children of thy people say,
the way of the Lord is not equal.
You know God's not fair. I don't I don't think that's right
I don't think it's fair for God to just drop things from people's past or to forget about the good
We don't care what you think because the Bible says, you know, oh the way the Lord's not equal ask for them
Their way is not equal
Equal meaning like fair. Oh God's not fair. No, you're not fair. Your way is not fair God's always right
Everything God says is right your opinions wrong. God's opinion is right. That's what the Bible is saying
When the righteous turneth from his righteousness and commiteth iniquity, he shall even die thereby.
But if the wicked turn from his wickedness and do that which is lawful and right,
he shall live thereby.
Yet he say,
The way the Lord is not equal.
O ye house of Israel, I will judge every one of you after his ways.
He's just like,
No man,
you guys are wrong,
and you're going to suffer the consequences for being wrong.
You've got to do right now, and here's the thing.
Don't let the past either be a hang-up for you
or be an excuse for your current behavior in any way, shape, or form.
Now, if you were to first Samuel, just briefly,
we're just going to go to first Samuel, chapter 3.
First Samuel, chapter 3.
Now, here's the thing, we can't make people do things, can we?
We can't force people, like we can preach the gospel to somebody,
but we can't make them get saved.
I can get up and preach from the pulpit and say,
hey, we got to go soul winning, you know?
And what if just nobody shows up for soul winning?
Well, then it is what it is, right?
Here's the thing, you know,
why do so many people at our church go soul winning?
You know because we we talk about soul winning we preach about soul winning we emphasize soul winning and so people go soul winning, right?
So if let's say we were in a church where nobody's
Promoting soul winning preaching soul winning pushing you to go soul winning
Giving you an example of soul winning
Then you know in that church nobody's gonna go soul winning and there are tons of
Baptist churches that are really good on doctrine that just don't evangelize. They just don't do soul winning
Okay
What if I got up and preached hard about soul winning over and over again and no one went soul winning?
I wouldn't blame myself and say
Hey
It's my fault that people don't go so and I'd say well, it's their fault. They don't go soul winning because I'm I'm soul winning
Talking about soul winning. I'm demonstrating soul winning. I'm asking people to go. I can't make people do it
Does everybody understand?
But if I'm not preaching about it if I'm not talking about it, then it is my fault
because I'm not preaching the whole Bible.
I'm not teaching everything that needs to be taught.
Or maybe I'm not demonstrating by leading by example, right?
Because pastors are not just supposed to talk to talk,
they're supposed to walk to walk
and actually set an example of actually doing those things
and modeling the way, right?
The Bible says they should be an example to the flock.
But here's the thing.
Obviously, there are some situations
where you can control other people
because they are directly under your authority, right?
You know, people that you have authority over, yeah, you can control them.
So for example, it's not like, well, if I got up behind the pulpit and I said, hey guys,
you need to brush your teeth every day so that your teeth don't rot out of your mouth.
Right now obviously that's not really a spiritual thing
So I don't necessarily need to preach about that, but let's say I told you guys
I'm just using this as a silly example though. Hey guys brush your teeth because you don't want to your teeth right?
You know, you can either brush your teeth or not brush your teeth. I'm not gonna make you brush your teeth. Am I?
I'm not gonna be like look I'm watching your teeth. They're worse every time I see you
Meet me at the back of the auditorium and I am going to brush your teeth
You know, and I'm gonna be like, say, ah, ah,
and I'll just be back there just brushing people's teeth.
You know, I'm not gonna do that.
But you know whose teeth I have brushed
is my children's teeth, right?
Who here has brushed your children's teeth, right?
Anybody who's been a parent has pretty much
brushed their children's teeth
unless they just have a baby that doesn't have any teeth yet.
You know?
But when you have children, you brush their teeth
and you tell them, go get your toothbrush and brush teeth.
Don't want to you're not just gonna say to them. Oh, okay. Well, it's your loss
You're the one who's gonna have bad teeth not my problem. Is that what you're gonna say to your three-year-old five-year-old?
No, if they say to you, no, I don't want to brush my teeth. You're you're like you're gonna brush your teeth anyway
Whether you like it or not, you know, and maybe I'm gonna brush your teeth. I'm gonna show you how to brush your teeth
I'm gonna brush them for you or I'm gonna stand here and watch you brush them
And if you refuse and stomp your foot and say you're not gonna brush you get into spanking
But you're the teeth are gonna get brushed
Because they're not old enough to make that decision
And even if they were old enough to make that decision,
the bottom line is, I'm making it for you because I'm your authority,
and I have that authority over you as a parent.
Okay? So there are situations where you have employees
under you, for example, and you're telling them what to do
and you have enforcement as well,
because if they don't do what they're told,
maybe they get their pay docked or they get written up
or maybe they get fired or maybe they get sent home early
with no pay or whatever, right?
I mean, anybody who works out in the real world
has consequences that if their worker
just showed up high or something,
there'd be consequences, wouldn't there?
You're breaking the rules, you're not obeying policy,
you get punished, whether that's a write-up or sent home early or whatever.
Children who don't obey their parents,
there's going to be some kind of a consequence, right?
People that are in authority,
it's their job to enforce certain things.
And what if somebody called the company?
and you know let's say it's a plumbing company or something you know they
call the company and say hey you know one of your workers showed up at my
house he wore his money boots on my carpet he tracked mud in the house and
then he lit up a marijuana cigarette in the garage and he's smoking pot in my
garage. Well you know I told him not to do that so it's not really my fault
because I warned him. And I'm sorry ma'am but I just can't control him.
And so I'm not taking responsibility for this, it's not my fault.
Would that make any sense?
That would make no sense, would it?
So here's the thing, there are certain situations
where you are responsible for other people,
like when they work for you
or maybe people in your family that you have authority over
or whatever, you know, that's a different situation
where warning people isn't enough, you have to actually enforce things.
You know, and I'm going to give an example of this in the Bible,
it is the example of Eli.
So, Eli, he actually does warn them, he warns his sons in chapter 2 and, in fact, let's
go back there.
Sorry, I told you it's chapter 3.
Go back to chapter 2 and we'll just look at this quickly and then be done this morning.
But if we go back to chapter 2.
In 1 Samuel chapter 2 verse 22 it says now Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel
and how they lay with the women that assembled at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
So these guys are basically using church as a way to pick up chicks and fornicate with them.
It's wickedness, it's horrible, using church for fornication.
Why do ye such things?
For I hear of your evil doings by all these people, nay, my sons,
for it is no good report that I hear.
You make the Lord's people to transgress. If one man sinned against another, the judge shall judge him.
But if a man sinned against the Lord, who shall not treat for him, not withstanding,
they hearken not into the voice of their father, because the Lord would slay them. Here's the deal, okay? Eli here
is in a position of authority where God did not expect him to just warn his sons,
but that he was supposed to actually enforce and stop them.
Why? Because it's not just that Eli is their dad,
because obviously a father has authority,
but once your children grow up and leave your house,
obviously, how can you enforce something on people that don't even live in your home?
Somebody grows up, moves out, that's, you know, they're on their own now.
But that's not the situation here because in the situation here Eli is the high priest and these guys are directly working for Eli
So not only are they his biological sons. They are also in a sense under his ministry and his employee
They're working for the church
You know so you could think of it as like he's the pastor and then he has his son on staff as like an assistant pastor or deacon or something like that
And then his son's doing it. He's like, no, no, don't do that.
That's not going to be enough, is it?
Let's see if it's enough. Go to chapter 3.
It says in verse 12, In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I've spoken concerning his house, when I begin I will also make an end.
Verse 13, For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth, because his sons made themselves vile.
Watch this, and he restrained them not.
God is blaming Eli for what his sons are doing
because he didn't put a stop to it, he did not restrain them.
Okay? And so here's the thing, unfortunately, we can't change people's hearts.
We can't make people love God. We can't make people get saved.
We can't necessarily make people out in the world do the right thing
or people in the church do the right thing because everybody's got the freedom
and the liberty to do what they're going to do. And all we can do is just warn people
and then wash our hands and say, hey, that's all we can do. Love people, pray for them,
warn them,
try to teach them, try to help them.
And then, you know what? At that point, commend them unto the Lord.
It's between them and God and whatever.
But you know, when it comes to people that we directly have authority over,
like for example, you know, as a pastor of the church,
if I have someone on staff and one of the staff members of the church
is doing some wickedness, I can't just be like, well, I told him, I told him not to do that.
I warned him. I told him not to. You know, that's not enough, is it?
So when it comes to in our homes, there needs to be some enforcement.
There needs to be restraint.
You know, I'm not just going to shrug my, if my teenagers were out doing some horrible, you know, I'm going to put a stop to it immediately.
And I'm going to use whatever force is necessary to get them in line and to make sure that those things are stopped.
You know, I'm not going to have fornication going on in my house for any reason.
There's not going to be drunkenness in my house. There's not going to be drug use in my house
There's not going to be fornication in my house people in my house are not going to be stealing and killing and committing adultery and
gambling and partying and doing all these things uh-uh I
Will put a stop to it. It will not happen. Why because as for me in my house, we will serve the Lord
Not if they want to we're just going to serve the Lord in my house
Period and it's not up for debate. It's not up for a vote. It's not a democratic situation. It's just
My way or the highway when it comes to following the Lord got to follow the Lord not optional in my house
We follow Christ.
We follow the Bible.
We live for God.
So here's the thing.
I'm not just going to say, you know what, I can't control what someone living in my
house going out and doing, no, no, no, that's the job, to bring those people into subjection.
Or if you run a company, right, you have to make sure that your employees are following
the policies and if the customer gets mad, they're going to be mad at you.
and say, well, you sent this guy to my house, and this is how he acted.
This is what he did, right?
And so there's got to be enforcement.
So there's enforcement in the home, there's enforcement in business.
And here's the thing, when it comes to the church, obviously,
the church doesn't have that kind of authority structure.
But even in the church,
When things get extreme, there is enforcement, because the Bible does talk about that if people commit big sins like fornication, drunkenness, idolatry, that they get basically just kicked out of the church.
You know, that's the enforcement is they get kicked out, you know.
But let's face it, most people in this world, we have no control over what they do.
We have no control over them, and so all we can do is warn people.
So get liberated from this feeling of, I have to fix the whole world.
I have to fix Tempe, I have to fix Arizona, I have to fix America.
You can't.
You know, get liberated of, I have to make sure everybody in the church is living for
God.
It's just like, I can't really do that.
And instead, just focus on, you know what?
Be the example, preach truth when you see someone veering on a wrong path, warn them,
rebuke them, correct them, and if they don't want to hear what you have to say, you just
walk away and just say, all right, well, I warned you, I told you.
You know, there have been so many times that I've given people good advice and I could
tell they're not listening.
But then I'm just like, you know what, but I just feel better than I gave them that
advice because now, no matter what happens, I don't have to feel bad about it because
I wasn't silent.
I told them what you're doing is wrong.
And if they did it anyway, it's like, all right, man,
you know, it's on you at this point.
But when it comes to people that are
under our direct authority, right?
You know what?
We are responsible.
And so we can't just shrug our shoulders and just,
our kids are doing whatever, you know,
our wives are doing whatever,
our employees are doing whatever.
We can't just throw up our hands and just say,
well, what do you do?
Well, you know, you are responsible as the leader
for those things.
Now look, once your kids move out of the house,
what, you know, at that point it's on them.
You know because you can't control someone that's not even in your home
I mean or if someone leaves our church and goes and commits fornication or drunkenness, right?
There's nothing we can do with that boy, right? What do we do? What's the punishment? Kick them out. They're not even here
There's nothing you can do and so it's you're gonna get emotional
And it's going to be hard for you to be cool if you're going through life constantly feeling responsible for everyone's actions and having to fix everyone and everything.
It's going to be real frustrating for you.
And so instead, just focus on warning people and just living right.
Preach right, do right, warn people, and unless somebody's under your direct authority,
don't worry about it. If they're under your authority, yeah, you got to restrain them.
Don't pull an Eli and just warn them and just say, well, whatever.
You know, just my daughter's out of control. What can you do?
You know, hey, if she's living in your home, get her under control.
Take care of it.
And on the other side of this is that remember in your own personal life,
when you hear warnings, listen to those warnings.
And you say, oh, I'm too far gone.
I've already lived a super sinful life.
You're not too far gone.
Forget it, and just whatever you can make right.
If you've burned your parents,
make things right with your parents, right?
If you've burned other people,
you burned other friends or family,
make things right with those people.
If you've stolen, let's say you've done shoplifting.
You know, go back and return that stuff to the store or go and give the money to the store and ring it up and then
hand it back to them and say, well, I already stole one so you keep this one.
You know, I don't know what they're going to think when you do that, but you know what, that's what you should do.
You know, make things right and then forget about it.
Go on with your life.
Move on and live for God.
And you know what, this is the day which the Lord has made.
We'll rejoice and be glad in it.
And let's make 2025 your greatest year.
I already know it's going to be my greatest year,
our church's greatest year.
I want it to be your greatest year personally.
Push yourself, do something new.
Don't ride on past glory.
Don't be dragged down by past sins.
Let's pray in order to pray our Father.
We thank you so much for this great passage in Ezekiel, Lord.
Help us to apply it to our lives.
And help us to have a mentality of living for you in the present.
Lord when we see others going astray help us to be that warning that that warning watchman
That lets them know how they can get it right and Lord we love you and pray that you'd bless us as we go our separate ways
In Jesus name amen
Amen the right ladies and gentlemen take your hymnals, please go to hymn 276 number 276
Where he leads me I will follow keep in mind the chorus is kind of hidden there. It's at the bottom
It's not written in within the verses
So we'll say the first verse and the chorus move on to the next verse
So just keep that in mind as you're singing number 276. I can hear my Savior calling number 276
I can hear my Savior calling.
Take thy cross and follow, follow me.
I'll go with him, with him
I'll go with him through the judgment, I'll go with him, with him.
That good thing this morning we are dismissed.