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All right. Well, we're there in Ezekiel chapter number 3, and on Wednesday nights, we're just making our way through the book of Ezekiel. And tonight, we're just going to walk through chapter 3, and we're going to just go through it and make application as we go along and see what we can learn. But before we get into chapter 3, I'd like to just focus on the last two verses of chapter 2. I feel like I've got a little bit of a ring. If you could help me with that. I'd appreciate it. Ezekiel chapter 2, look down at verse number 9. If you remember the way that chapter 2 ended, it ended with a hand bringing a roll to Ezekiel. Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 9 says this, And when I looked, behold, an 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 there was written therein lamentations and mournings and woes. So Ezekiel sees this hand that comes to him, and it basically is bringing a roll to him. And this roll represents, of course, the word of God. If you look at verse 1 of chapter 3, it says, Moreover, he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. And before we talk about the eating of the roll, I just want you to notice that this chapter, the end of chapter 2, and as we enter into chapter 3, it emphasizes something that you might just skip over if you're not paying attention. But today, when we talk about the word of God, you know, at Verity Baptist Church, we believe that the King James Bible is God's not only inspired but preserved word in the English language. And if you have never heard that before, you don't know what that means, I'd be happy to sit down and talk to you about it after service, of course, but we have actually we have a documentary that we can give you that our church took part in making that explains our position on the King James Bible and why we believe that. And today, a lot is made of the originals. People often want to talk about the originals, and they'll say, oh, we don't have the word of God today because, you know, the translations that we have today have been changed, they've been altered. And people act like because we don't have access to the originals, and by the way, nobody has the originals, the originals don't exist, they're not around anymore. And people will say, well, because we don't have the originals, we can't have the word of God. But there is a misconception about the originals, because here's what I want you to understand, and see if you can, you know, and I want you to understand this as Bible believing Christians. When Ezekiel sat down to write the book of Ezekiel, or when, you know, Moses sat down to write the books that he wrote, or when Luke sat down to write the book of Luke or the book of Acts, when they took, you know, parchment and ink and wrote down the words, I just want you to understand this, when the man who wrote the Bible wrote the Bible and held those initial copies in their hands, they themselves did not have the originals. You say, well, what do you mean, how can that be? Because the Bible teaches, and here's what you need to understand, in fact, keep your place there in Ezekiel, just go with me to the book of Psalms just real quickly, and I want you to understand this, Psalm 119, and do me a favor, put a ribbon or a bookmark or something there in Psalms, because we're going to leave it and we're going to come back to it throughout the sermon tonight, so go to Psalm 119, and I want you to look at verse number 89, Psalm 119 and verse 89, Psalm 119, of course, is the famous psalm about the word of God, it's a long psalm, the longest psalm in the book of Psalms, it's all about the word of God, and in Psalm 119 and verse 89, the Bible says this, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. And here's what you need to understand, before any man ever, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the Bible tells us that holy men of God spayed as they were moved by the Holy Ghost, but before any man ever had the Holy Ghost speak through them the word of God, the word of God already existed in heaven. The Bible says, forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. The word of God has always been, that's why John 1 says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. You say, well, I thought that was Jesus, yeah, Jesus is the word. The Bible says, and the word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, And it's not just a name that Jesus has, it's the actual word of God has existed from the beginning. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. And I want you to notice where Ezekiel got the word of God from. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 2. Look at verse number 9. He says, when I looked, behold, and 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 there were written therein lamentations and mournings and woe. So I want to ask this question. Where did Ezekiel, where did this roll come from? It came from a hand that delivered it from the word of God, excuse me, from heaven. The word of God came from heaven, why? Because forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. So here's what I'm just saying. Don't get too tripped up on this idea of do we have the originals, or do we have the manuscripts that are closest to the originals, or could it be that, you know, the translation that we have today? Look, God is the one who is in charge of not only inspiring his word, but preserving his word. The Bible tells us that it's God who has put it upon himself to make sure that his word has been preserved. And this idea that people say, oh, well, the word of God is lost today because we've lost the originals. It's not lost, it's in heaven. Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven. You think God lost his word? You think God doesn't know what the Bible is supposed to say? Look, the Bible tells us that the words of the Lord are pure words. As silver tried in the furnace of earth, purified seven times, the Bible says, thou shalt keep them, O Lord. Whose job was it to translate the word of God? Was it the King James translators? And I'm thinking it was the King James translators. But you need to understand, it was not the King James translators who preserved the word of God. It was God himself. Thou shalt keep them, O Lord, from this generation forever. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3. That has nothing to do with anything, but I just want you to notice that the hand brought the scroll to Ezekiel, and it came from heaven. And that's where the word of God always comes from. It comes from heaven. And of course, in verse 1, we see that he is told, moreover, he said unto me, Son of man. Now, I want you to notice that phrase just while we're there, Son of man. I think we talked about this last time. That phrase, Son of man, is used I think 93 times in the book of Ezekiel, close to 100 times in the book of Ezekiel. About Ezekiel, it's used other times in other places about other men, but it's primarily used about the Lord Jesus Christ. One thing that I want you to notice is that in Ezekiel, he's never referred to as the Son of man or the Son of man. He's just referred to as Son of man. The Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as the Son of man. So just a little difference there. But the reason he's called the Son of man is because there's some similarities between the ministry of Ezekiel and the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we'll see a little bit of that tonight. But I want you to notice what he's told. He's told, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go unto the house of Israel. So he's commanded to eat the roll, which is the word of God. He's commanded to eat it. Notice verse 2. So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat, and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Now keep your place there in Ezekiel. Obviously, that's our text for tonight. But go to the book of Jeremiah just real quickly. Jeremiah chapter 15, and keep your place in Psalms because we're going to come back to it. But if you go backwards, you're going to go past Lamentations into the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 15, and we'll see that this is not the first time that a prophet has been told or instructed to eat the word of God. Jeremiah 15 and verse number 16. Jeremiah chapter 15 and verse number 16 says this, thy words, Jeremiah 15, 16, thy words were found, notice what he says, this is Jeremiah speaking, and I did eat them. And thy words were upon me, the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. And this is not the only place where it talks about eating the word of God. There's other locations that we can go to in scripture and see that. And you say, well, what's that about, eating the word of God? Go to the book of 1 Peter chapter number two. 1 Peter chapter two, if you start at the end of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you head back past Jude, past 3rd, 2nd, and 1st John, into the book of 2nd and 1st Peter. 1st Peter chapter two. While you go there, let me read for you out of Matthew chapter number four. Matthew 4 is a famous verse in which Jesus said, I'll just read the verse that says, but he answered and said, it is written, this is what Jesus said, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. See, the Bible teaches that the word of God itself is equivalent to food, the way that what food does for us physically, the word of God does that for us spiritually. What does food do for us? It gives us nutrition. It gives us strength. We eat so that we can grow, so that we can have the strength needed to do the things that God has called us to do physically. And the Bible says that spiritually, we as Christians ought to be consuming the word of God. Now, Ezekiel is literally eating that roll as a picture for us, but the Bible says, Jesus said, men shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. See, as Christians, you and I are to consume the word of God. Let's look at it in 1 Peter. First Peter chapter two, look at verse number two. First Peter chapter two, verse two, notice what the Bible says, as newborn babes. First Peter chapter two and verse two, as newborn babes. Now, look, it's talking about a spiritual baby, right? Jesus said, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye must be born again, marvel not that I said unto you, ye must be born again, right? When you got saved, you got born again into the family of God. When you got born, you started off as a baby. Everybody starts as a baby. We're newborn babes. Now, you don't have to stay a baby, but we all start off as babies. Notice what he says, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow thereby. I want you to understand that the Bible is equating this idea where he is talking about, you know, hey, a newborn baby requires the sincere milk of the word, just like you would not take a physical baby that was just born and hand them a Big Mac, right? Or hand them a steak. You know, what do babies eat? They eat milk, right? They drink milk. Why? Because they can't handle anything else, and in the same way, in the same way, new believers need to be taught some foundational, some instructional things, and look, be very careful. I feel like there's an imbalance in churches like ours. I hope it's not in our church, but churches like ours or churches in our movement where people get saved, you know, and the first thing they want to do is devour, you know, the book of Revelation series, or, you know, they're all excited about the book of Ezekiel series, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with listening to preaching those things, but you know, there are some basic things that believers, new believers need to hear like, you know, getting baptized, you know, like just helping them get basic Bible reading and devotional, you know, just helping them develop a discipline of Bible reading. You say, well, why is that important? I'll tell you exactly why it's important, because if you don't do that, you end up with what we have today, which is a bunch of, you know, Christians that are supposed to be mature in the Lord, why? Because they've listened to 50,000 videos on YouTube, you know, they've watched 50,000 hours of YouTube preaching, but yet they've never read their Bible one time cover to cover. There's an imbalance there. There's a problem there. There's an issue there. Look, you say, what do you start off with? Hey, how about get baptized? Hey, how about let's get you reading your Bible and developing a daily habit and a discipline of Bible reading and prayer time. And we can devour the book of Ezekiel some other time and look, and if you're in church and you're a newborn baby, that's fine. You know, we're studying the Bible together. You've got somebody feeding you and helping you. That's fine. What I'm telling you is this. Be careful about wanting to delve into all the deep, you know, theological doctrines of the word of God. When you haven't even developed, you know, you don't even pray every day. You know, you don't even show up to soul winning regularly. You know, you're still skipping out on church for worldly things. Hey, get the milk first. Get the first principles first. Get settled on the milk. Look, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word of God that he may grow thereby. Go to Hebrews chapter 5. You're there in 1 Peter. Just go backwards. Pass James into the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter number 5. Hebrews chapter 5. Look at verse number 12. Hebrews 5, 12. Hebrews 5, 12 says this, for when the time that ye ought to be teachers, you know, you're at the point where you should be teaching somebody else. You should be discipling somebody else. You should be taking a new believer under your wing and teaching them, you know, the first principles. He says, for when for the time that ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God. It's like when a guy's getting ready to be sent out as a preacher and you got to sit him down and explain to him the Trinity. You understand what I'm saying? You know, you should have got that settled a long time ago. Those are the first principles of the oracles of God. Notice and are become such as have need of milk, that's a spiritual baby, and not of strong meat. Strong meat is someone who's spiritually mature. Look at verse 13. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word. Look, if you just got saved and you're growing and you're learning, praise the Lord for it. We're not knocking you on that. You know, babies drink milk, praise the Lord. That's great. We all start there. But look, the reason, because people get this idea. They think, oh, well, you know, like physically, the longer I live, the more mature I am. That's not how it works spiritually. Spiritually, you're not more mature based on how long you've been saved. If you think, oh, I've been saved now for five years, I've been saved now for 10 years, I've been saved now for 20 years, I must be spiritually mature. That's not how it works spiritually. You say, how does it work spiritually? Your maturity is determined by your ability or your skill with the word of God. Notice verse 13, Hebrews 5, 13. For everyone that uses milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness. Why? For he is a babe. You are a babe if you're still struggling with the milk, if you're still struggling with the first principles of the oracles of God. If you're still struggling with trying to just show up to church consistently, I'm not trying to offend you, I'm not trying to hurt your feelings, but you're a babe. Look, if you're still struggling with, is it appropriate for me to put on these clothes versus those clothes, you know, you ladies, where the Bible talks a lot about clothing and things. Look, you're a babe if you're struggling with the first principles. He says, he that uses the milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. What does that mean? But strong meat, belonging to them at our full age. What does that mean? That means you're mature. Even those who by, how do you get there? Even those who by just being saved for a long time, is that what it says? Even those who by sitting in church, you know, week after week, for years and years, is that what it says? No, even those who by reason of use, say, how do I mature spiritually? You use the word of God. The more you use it, the more mature you are. You have their senses exercised to deserve both good and evil. That's why in the spiritual world, someone could physically be young and yet be spiritually mature. Remember Paul told Timothy, let no man despise thy youth. You say, why? Because there's some young people that could be using the word of God a lot, reading the word of God a lot, studying the word of God a lot, becoming skillful in the word of God, and they're growing spiritually, and then there could be somebody who's been saved for a long time, doesn't read the Bible, doesn't memorize the Bible, doesn't spend time in the word of God. Yeah, you've been saved for a long time, but you're still a spiritual baby, and here I want you to notice that Ezekiel was being instructed to eat the word of God. See, Ezekiel was a mature man in the word, and here's what I want you to understand. How do we determine maturity? It's determined based on the use of the word of God, and here's what we're looking for. When you can feed yourself, you're mature, because look, didn't you have more babies feed themselves? If you laid a newborn baby down, and it starts crying, and you told it, well, feed yourself. Been alive for four days now. Good night. Why can't you just take care? No, you know, a newborn baby needs a mother to pick that baby up and feed it. And even as they grow older and they start getting on solids, you know, they need someone to sit there and spoon feed it. And look, when you come to church, when you come to church, and there's nothing wrong with this, but when you come to church, you know what Pastor Jimenez is doing? He is spoon feeding you the word of God. Now at Verity Baptist Church, we do it in heavy doses. But you know what we do? We take something like the book of Ezekiel, we take something like the book of Isaiah, we take something like the book of Leviticus, and then I spend a long time just mashing that thing down, grinding it down, figuring out how I can feed it to you in a way that you will be able to swallow it and not choke on it. That's what we do at church. We just, you know, we just put it down at the lower level. I mean, even a theologian can understand the sermons here. But you know how you become mature? When you start digesting that thing on your own. You know, you start picking up that spoon and start feeding yourself. You start opening up the word of God and you start feeding yourself. You say, how does it matter? How can I know am I mature? How's your Bible reading? How's your prayer time? Did you read today? Did you read yesterday? When was the last time you were in the Word of God? Well, the last time I was in the Word of God was on a Sunday. Oh, when you were a baby. The last time you were in the Word of God, when somebody was spoon feeding it into your mouth, you're a baby. I'm not trying to offend you. I'm just trying to tell you that's where you are. That's what the Bible says. You are spiritually immature. You say, well, what do I do? Grow up! Wake up tomorrow morning and open up the word of God and start feeding yourself and start eating and consuming the word of God. Why? Because man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Let's go back to Ezekiel chapter 3. Notice what he says in verse 3, Ezekiel chapter 3 and verse 3. Ezekiel 3, 3, and he said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that I give thee, then that I eat. And notice what he says, it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. He said, it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Just a couple of cross references. Go to Psalm 119. If you kept your place there, Psalm 119, we won't spend a lot of time there, but let me just give you some cross references. You can maybe jot these down next to Ezekiel 3, 3, write a little arrow, and write these cross references. Psalm 119, 103. Say, Pastor, why would I write a cross reference? Because you're going to read this on your own later, right? Because you're going to study this out on your own later, right? Because the next time you're reading through the book of Ezekiel, you're going to be like, oh, there's something in Psalm 119 that goes with Ezekiel 3, 3. See, that's how you start growing and maturing, because you're going to teach this to somebody later, right? You're going to get a co-worker saved, and you're going to start teaching them the Word of God. Psalm 119, 103 says this, how sweet are thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth. See, God expects us to consume the Word of God. He says, how sweet are thy words unto my taste. Go to Psalm 19 and verse 7. Psalm 19 and verse 7. You know this. We sing this as the chorus of the week. Psalm 19, verse 7, the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise and simple. What does that have to do with? It has to do with the Word of God. Verse 10, more to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. See, the Word of God is sweet. How sweet are thy words. Ezekiel said, it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3, look at verse 4. Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 4, and he said unto me, son of man, go get thee unto the house of Israel. Now notice what he says. He just got done telling him, consume the Word of God, eat the roll, eat it up, eat it down to your bowels. And he says, man, this was good. It helped me. Now, notice, now he says, and speak with my words unto them. Remember verse 1, moreover, he said unto me, son of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll and go and speak. He said, look, here's how it works. You guys that want to be preachers, look, if you want to be a preacher, I want to help you. We've got to reach this country with the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we've got to reach this country with zealous soul winning, and we've got to reach this country with hard Bible preaching and doctrinal sermons, and you know, today churches are ignoring the Word of God. You're not going to find many churches preaching verse by verse through the book of Ezekiel. And look, we need you to step up and do it, but look, let me explain something to you, you guys that want to speak, that want to preach. Here's how it works. You eat the roll, then you go speak. He said, speak with my words unto them. You say, Pastor, why do you make the guys that are going to preach, you know, you make them read the Bible cover to cover 10 times before you send them out. Why do you do that? Because you're supposed to eat it first, then you speak, because you're supposed to consume it first, then, look, you guys, let me help you with something. You would quit fretting so much or quit fretting so much about what am I going to preach about? Men's preaching nights coming up. I don't know what to preach about. You know, here's what I figured out a long time ago. You learn to preach the Bible, you'll never run out of things to preach. Just preach the Bible. Just preach the Word. Look, you'll never run out. There's not a Sunday morning or Sunday night or Wednesday night that there's not a million things that you say, I don't know what to preach. Open up the book. Pick a place. It's all good. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and profitable. It'll help. You say, well, yeah, I just, I don't know. You know what you'll do? If you read the Bible and read the Bible and read the Bible and read the Bible, eventually something will hit you, and you'll say, man, that was good for me, and look, if it's good for you, it's good for everybody else. You eat, then you speak. You eat the roll, and then you go and speak. You think I get up here and preach Ezekiel just off a whim? Ezekiel chapter 3, let's just open it up. I spend time studying and reading and cross-references and reading and reading and taking notes and reading and reading, and I get full of the Word of God. Why? Because you can show up here on a Wednesday night, and I can give you from what I've consumed. And by the way, you don't read the book of Ezekiel the first time you're going to preach through it either. Here's what I'm trying to tell you. Read the Bible. Consume the Bible, and then you'll be filled with the words of God to be able to preach the Word of God. Go to, look at verse 5, Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 5. But thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, but to the house of Israel. See, Ezekiel wasn't being sent to the Philippines. He wasn't being sent overseas. He was being sent to his people, the house of Israel, verse 6. Not too many people of a strange speech, and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Notice what he says, surely had I sent thee to them, here's what he's saying. If I would have sent you to the Philippines, they would have hearkened unto me. If I would have sent you to Africa, they would have hearkened unto thee. If I would have sent you to Mexico, they would have hearkened unto you. But verse 7, the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee, for they will not hearken unto me, for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. What can we learn from this? Go to Matthew chapter 15. Remember, Ezekiel was told that he's not being sent to a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, but to the house of Israel. And remember, Ezekiel is referred to as son of man, and that is picturing the son of man, the son of man, that's to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's interesting because both Ezekiel and Jesus had a similarity here in their ministry. Matthew chapter 15, look at verse 24. Matthew 15, 24 says this, but he answered and said, this is Jesus speaking, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Notice Ezekiel and Jesus both had the same ministry. They were to go to the house of Israel. Go to Matthew chapter 13, just flip a few chapters back, Matthew 13. But here's what we can learn from this. There's a principle that Jesus taught, and Ezekiel's kind of being taught this principle. Matthew 13 and verse 57 says, and they were offended in him, talking about Jesus. And yes, Jesus offended people. But Jesus said unto them, notice what he says, because Jesus is speaking in his hometown right now. He's preaching in his hometown, and people are not accepting his word. They're not accepting what he's preaching. Notice what he says, a prophet is not without honor, save. The word save there means except for. He says, look, a prophet is not without honor, meaning a prophet does have honor. A prophet gets honor. A preacher who's preaching the word of God will get honor except for in his own country and in his own house. You know that your family will be the hardest people that will be for you to get saved? You'll go knock on some stranger's door, and they'll hear the gospel from you, and they'll get saved. But your brothers and your sisters and your cousins and your aunt and your mom and your dad, they'll be the hardest ones to get saved. You say, why? Because the prophet is not without honor, save in his own country and his own place. The problem with Ezekiel, later on we learned that Ezekiel is actually a very gifted speaker. He's a great orator. If he would have gone to a place, a people of a strange speech and of a hard language, they surely would have hearkened unto him, but he was going to his hometown. And like Jesus, a prophet, like the Son of Man, the Son of Man is without honor, save in his own country and his own house. Go to Ezekiel chapter 3, Ezekiel chapter 3, look at verse 6. Ezekiel 3 verse 6, not too many people of a strange speech and of a hard language whose words thou canst not understand. Surely had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee. And again, this is talking about the fact that if you would have sent them somewhere else, they would have heard him. Another thing that we learned from this passage, and that is kind of being emphasized here, is that the more that people are exposed to the truth, the more likely they are, if they don't receive it initially, the more likely they are to be hardened. Man, have we ever studied something like that in the Bible? I think it's called becoming a reprobate, right? And I'm not saying that these people were all reprobates, but the idea is this. The more access you have to the truth and the more you reject it, the harder you become towards that truth. That's why the United States of America, it's not the Philippines. It's not Africa. It's not Mexico. It's not these areas that are super receptive. Why? Because you know what? There's a church on every corner. Because you can go down to the 99 cent store and buy a King James Bible because the word of God is accessible and a lot of times that causes people to become hard. When they don't receive it, it causes people to become hard. By the way, let me say this, sometimes people get discouraged with this idea. They'll say, man, it seems like we got a lot of false prophets in churches like Verity Baptist Church or churches like ours that preach a lot of truth, but let me explain something to you. Our churches are a reprobate making machine. Do you understand what I just said? See, you can go to a church week after week after week, you can go to church down the street, you can go to some non-denom church, you can go to some Protestant church, you can go to some Catholic church week after week after week and not be confronted with the truth. But look, when you come to Verity Baptist Church, you're going to be confronted with the truth in heavy doses Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night, and you know what? If you don't receive it and you just keep rejecting it and keep rejecting it, eventually God will reject you. Look, you stick around in a church like this, either you get saved or you can't handle that much truth and not be hardened to it. So that's why the Apostle Paul talked about people in churches that he ministered and he said a questioning of, you become a reprobate because the way you become a reprobate is by rejecting the truth and the more you're exposed to the truth, like the nation of Israel, the more you're exposed to the truth, like the United States of America, the harder people become to it. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3, look at verse 7, notice what he said. Ezekiel 3, 7, he says, but the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee. Now the thee there is referring to the preacher, right? He will not hearken unto thee, why? For they will not hearken unto me. That's God. For all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted. Keep your place there in Ezekiel. Go into the book of 1 Samuel, 1 Samuel chapter 8, you find the 1 and 2 books, they're all clustered together towards the beginning of the Old Testament, 1 Samuel, 1 Kings, 1 Chronicles. Go to 1 Samuel chapter number 8, 1 Samuel chapter number 8. There's a similar wording or story in 1 Samuel 8 about the prophet Samuel, 1 Samuel 8, look at verse 6, the Bible says this, but the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us. Remember Samuel was not only a prophet, but he was a high priest, he was also a judge, meaning he was the one that was supposed to run the nation, judge the nation, be the leader. But the children of Israel came to him and they said, Samuel, we don't want you to be our judge, we want a king like the rest of the nations, right? They were giving in to peer pressure, they wanted to be like their friends. And the Bible says here, but the thing displeased Samuel when they said, give us a king to judge us, and Samuel prayed unto the Lord, and the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee. Why would God say that? Here's why, for they have not rejected thee, Samuel, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me that I should not reign over them. And please understand this, look, when we as ambassadors stand up to preach the word of God, and people reject the word of God, they're not rejecting me, they're rejecting God. Whether that means that I stand up here and preach, look, if I stand up here and preach about the fact that women should not wear pants, the Bible says that a woman should not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment for all that doest or abomination. The Bible says that, and you say, well, what garment is it talking about? You tell me what garment it's talking about. It's talking about a wristwatch? It's talking about a hat? You know, obviously there's a garment that men don't put on, and it's called a dress or a skirt. But here's the thing, and I'm not preaching on that, but I mean, I just got done preaching on that, but when I preach on that, when I preach on that, and a woman walks out of here and says, I don't care what pastor you met, I'm going to quit wearing my pants. You know, you say, pastor, does that offend you? They haven't rejected me, they've rejected God. I didn't write the book of Deuteronomy, God did. Do you understand that? When I stand up and preach, hey, you ought to go soul winning, bless God, you know, we need to go reach people with gospel, and people say, I don't care what pastor you met, I'm not going to go soul winning. I should not get offended by that, because you're not rejecting me, you're rejecting God. And by the way, you soul winners, be careful about getting, you know, I've been out with soul winners, and they get so offended, they get real offended, they get mad, like, no, you got to accept that, you know, and it's like, the person's trying to close the door, and they're like, no, you got to hear. Look, they're not rejecting you. Sometimes, it's also like, man, don't take it so personally, they get mad and angry, like, well, you're going to die, go to hell then. It's like, good night. It's like, listen, listen, they're rejecting God. Okay, they're not rejecting you. You're just the messenger. You're just the ambassador. You're just bringing the Word of God. Look, and look, we should be passionate and compassionate and all those things, I get that. But realize that when people reject the Word of God, they're not rejecting us. If I'm preaching God's Word, they're rejecting God's Word. They're rejecting God, not me. Look at verse 8, Ezekiel chapter 3 and verse 8. Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. And I remember, we just got done talking about the fact that they were hard towards the things of God, right? They were rebellious and impudent. Now God says, I have made thy face strong against their face, and thy forehead strong against their forehead. Look, the Bible is teaching us here that we need to take as strong of a stand for God and His Word as the world takes against God and His Word. You understand what I just said? We need to take as strong of a stand for the things of God. He said, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead strong against their foreheads. This is why the Bible says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God. Why? That ye might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Why? For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against power, against the rulers of darkness of this world, against spiritual wakenness in thy places. He tells us, look, we need to withstand, wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day. And having done all to stand, He says, stand. So look, as Christians, we need to stand and take a strong stand against wickedness as strongly as they look, as proudly as these flaming homos are just talking about all their filth and wickedness. As much as they talk about it, as proud as they talk about it, as out as they are about it, we should be that proud about the fact that God hates homosexuality. But you know, today you got Christians that are like, you know, the homos and the queers are just out and proud. And all the Christians are like, oh, let's not talk about it. Don't ever preach out Leviticus. We're going to do a series through Romans, but we're going to skip chapter one. And they're scared. Look, the Bible says that He told Ezekiel, He said, look, these people are strong against you, but I have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their forehead. Look, we need to quit backing up. We need to just take a strong stand. You know what? We should be as strong and as proud and as loud as the world is about their filth and their stupidity. We take a strong stand. That's what He says. Be strong in the Lord and the power is right. Look at verse nine. As an adamant harder than flint have I made thy forehead. That's what He says. Remember, we talked about this last week. Fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious God. Remember last week we were talking about people's looks. You wash people's faces while they're preaching, you know. It's funny because when you talk about it, all of a sudden everybody's like this. You know, I talk about like, hey, you know, people's looks are bad and everybody's like, you know, trying to make sure they're not that person. But again, the idea there is that you should look. When you preach the word of God, the word of God is going to offend people. When you preach the Bible, it's going to offend people. They're not going to lie to you. Now realize they're not rejecting you, Ezekiel. They're rejecting God. But with that said, realize that, you know, they might leave some nasty reviews on Google, right? They might leave some nasty voicemails on your phone. That's fine. They're not rejecting me. They're rejecting God. Look at verse 10. Moreover, He said unto me, this is Ezekiel. Son of man. Notice what he says. All my, this is God, all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears. Here's what he's saying. You know, at least we who are preaching the word of God, we need to make sure that we are at least receiving the word of God. If the world wants to reject it, then let the world reject it. If they want to say, oh, you guys are old fashioned. You're like little house on the prairie. You know what? Let them say what they will. Let's make sure that those of us who are preaching the word of God, that we're at least receiving it in thine heart and hear with thine ears. Let's make sure that we're at least receiving it, that we're at least doing what the Bible says. Look at verse 11. And go, get thee to them of the captivity. Remember, he was in captivity. Now he's being told to go get them of the captivity unto the children of thy people and speak unto them and tell them. I want you to notice that the way we reach people is by going to them. He says, look at verse 11, and go. Isn't that the word that's used all throughout the Bible about the Great Commission? Go ye therefore. Go and preach the gospel. He says, go and get thee to them of the captivity. Look, you say, Pastor Mays, why do we have soul winning on Saturday morning where we go out into the community? Why don't we just wait till people come to church and then you preach a sermon about salvation and then we get them saved that way? Because look, we're supposed to go to them. Go and get thee to them of the captivity unto the children of thy people and speak unto them and tell them, thus saith the Lord God, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. Then the Spirit, notice what it says, then the Spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of great rushing. And I don't have time to develop this, but all throughout the Bible you find this idea of the Spirit taking people up. Remember, Philip was taken of the Spirit to the eunuch. And we've got other passages where people are taken. John was taken in the Spirit when he wrote the book of Revelation. Here it says that the Spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of great rushing saying blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place. And by the way, you see that phrase there, a great rushing, kind of reminds you of Acts 2, right? When it says that the room was, the upper room was filled with a great rushing wind. And notice verse 13, I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touched one another and the noise of the wheels over against them and the noise of the great rushing. And it says about that in chapter 1, the cherubim, verse 14, so the Spirit lifted me up and took me away and I went in bitterness. Notice that word, in bitterness. Did Ezekiel want to go? It doesn't say that he went in rejoicing. It says that he went in bitterness in the heat of my Spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. See Ezekiel is a mature Christian and at this point the Holy Spirit is moving him to go somewhere and he doesn't want to go, but you know what, he just goes anyway. You know the problem with your soul winning? You know what the problem with your soul winning is? You go when you want to go. You expect to wake up some Saturday morning and the Holy Spirit of God is upon you and you open your eyes and the room is filled and you're just feeling extra spiritual and I'm going to go. No, you know what? You just go. I don't feel like going. Go anyway. I don't feel like reading the Bible. Read anyway. I don't feel like praying. Pray anyway. Look, I would not give you a dime for this spineless Christianity that just wants to do something when I feel like it. You know what? You'll lose your first love and you'll get backslay and you won't do it anymore. You know what Christianity, you know the word you need to memorize, the word you need to put? You need to write this word in your mirror or somewhere you see on your refrigerator. Just write this word, duty. You know what duty does? It does what it's supposed to do, whether it feels like doing it or not. I don't, look, do I feel like going? It doesn't matter. It's soul winning time. We're going to go soul winning. Say, I'm tired. Well, maybe you should have went to bed earlier. You know, I don't feel like reading the Bible. You just read it anyway. I don't feel like praying. You just pray anyway. I don't feel like coming to church on Sunday. You just come anyway. Why? Because you don't wait until you feel like doing something. You just do it because it's right and you know what happens? You show up for soul winning when you don't feel like it and by the time you're done, you're glad you went. You get someone saved and you're like, man, I'm excited. I'm rejoicing. But see, you're waiting for the flip side. You want to get excited and rejoicing before, you know what? Here we're told that he went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Look at verse 15. Then I came to them of the captivity of Tel Aviv, and that's not Tel Aviv, all right, like Israel today. This is talking about Babylon, that dwelt by the river Kibar. Notice what he says. And I sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days. You know that the difference between a called preacher and prophet of God is that Ezekiel didn't just sit there. Remember, we've been talking about the call of Ezekiel, right? He's been eating the word of God, consuming the word of God, being filled with despair, being driven to do these things. But notice, he didn't sit there and just, you know, thus saith the Lord God and start preaching all these hard sermons. Before he starts preaching the hard sermons, you know what he did? He sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them seven days. He said, what are we learning here? We're learning about a word called empathy. You know how empathy goes a long way in ministry? What's empathy? The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. I wonder how much more we would accomplish for the word of God and for the things of God if we sat where they sat. If we go where the people are that are broken and hurting, look, it's easy to sit there and cast judgment on people. And I'm not saying we shouldn't preach the word of God and let the word of God judge them, but you know the other thing that we should be doing is sitting with the people, living with the people, getting to know people. And I'll be honest with you. You know, the Bible talks about confessing your fault to one another. There was a time in our church where we really focused on follow-up, and it's not that we're not focusing it out, but we haven't been focusing it as much. There was a time in our church's history when 50% of our congregation was people that we reached outsole with, knocking on doors, bringing them to church. And you know, I'm just telling you right now, we're going to get back to that. And we're going to get back to that this year. We're going to get through this Red Hot Preaching Conference, and we're going to refocus our attention back on sitting where they sit and being with people and loving people and having empathy and sitting with them and learning them and knowing them. And look, when you go to some of these people's houses and you start realizing how some of these kids are living and these teenagers are living, it'll break your heart. You won't need me to get up and preach to you about soul winning. Your heart will just be broken when you sat where they sat, when you live with them, when you spend time with them, when you pray with them. We need to learn to understand and share the feelings of another. Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 9. First Corinthians chapter 9. We've got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians. First Corinthians chapter 9. Let me confess something to you. You know this movement that we're in? That's what we call it or whatever. Churches of life, faith, and practice. I love this movement, by the way. And here's the proof to me loving this movement. I got in this thing before it was a movement. I got in this thing before it was cool, you know what I mean? It wasn't cool when Verity Baptist just started. It wasn't cool. There was no conferences. There was no soul winning marathons. There was no t-shirts. There was no documentaries. I just believed in it. I believed in preaching and soul winning and ripping face and all that. I believed in it. So take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt realizing that I love this movement and I love the zeal in this movement. I love the soul winning. I love the heart preaching. I love the church planting. I love all of that. But if there's one thing that I can't stand about this movement is that it seems like we have learned, I mean, we have figured out the patent. We have figured out the magic formula to produce jerks. Pastor, you shouldn't say that. Well, when you sat where they sat, I mean, I feel like we've produced a lot of arrogant jerks in this movement. A lot of people that don't know what they're talking about, they want to stand up and judge everybody is wrong. I'm right because I said I'm right. You know, we need to get back to a little bit more of broken hearts and sitting where they sat. I'm not talking about some filthy reprobate pedophile, but looking at people like they're human beings, like they actually have lies with history, like things have happened to them. And we need to sit where they sat. And you know, here's what I've learned. When you sit where they sat, that'll give you the moral authority to preach the Bible to them. You know where we fail? We want to just show up. We don't even know their names. We're not going to remember their names. We're not going to ever pray for them. We're not going to take the time to write down their name. We don't care. We just want to get back to our soul-willing meeting and say that I got seven saved. And we want to sit there and tell them where they're wrong about everything and how you're doing everything wrong. You know, you haven't earned that right yet. Listen, you don't walk up to one of our first-time guests, ladies, and start telling them about how they're dressed wrong. You didn't earn the right to tell them that. Well, Pastor, you say it from the point where, yeah, it's called preaching the Word of God. But you haven't earned that right. Now, you sat where they sat, and you visit them in the hospital, and you be with them when they're hurting, and you earn that right, and you carefully approach them and try to teach them the Word of God. That's fine. But you just heard some YouTube video, and you think you've got the right to show up and start telling people what's up. You know what you are? A jerk. You know what we're real good at producing? Jerks. Why are you preaching the sermon? Because I don't want you to be a jerk. First Corinthians 9, look at verse 19, that's what Paul said. First Corinthians 9, verse 19, for though I be free from all men, Paul said, I don't have to do anything. I don't have to answer to you. I do what I want. Right? He says, yeah, have I made myself servant unto all. He said, I don't have to answer to anybody, but yet I've chosen to submit myself. You say, why, Paul? Notice what he says, that I might gain the more. Other than the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul is probably the most successful soul winner, evangelist, church planner, whatever you want to call it, church growth expert in the history of the world. And he's about to tell us how he gained the more. Look at verse 20. Unto the Jews I became as a Jew, unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. Now look, did he understand that the Jews' religion was a wicked religion? And did he understand that we have to preach against the wicked religion of Judaism? And look, I'm all for preaching against the wicked religion of Judaism, the synagogue of Satan. But you know what he didn't do? He didn't go around finding individual Jewish people and calling them names. You understand that? He said, unto the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews. And to them that are under the law as under the law, that I might gain them that are under the law. To them that are without the law as without the law, I don't miss this, this is where the liberals go wrong, being not without law to God. So he never did anything that would be a sin against God. He never did anything that would go against God. He said, without the law as without the law, under the law as under the law, to the Jews became as a Jew. But he said, never without the law of God, but under the law to Christ, why, Paul, that I might gain them that are without the law. To the weak became I as weak, and that I might gain the weak. I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some. And just to really nail it down, verse 23, and this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be my taker thereof with you. Here's all I'm trying to tell you. Before you start going around because you listen to some YouTube video and start telling somebody which way's up, why don't you sat where they sat for a while? Why don't you become like them? Spend time with them? Cry with them and mourn with them? Love on them? Why don't you take time to learn their name and pray for them for a while? Because see, the key to Ezekiel's ministry is that before he went to preach, he sat where they sat. Notice what it says. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 3. He said, and I came to them of the captivity of Tel Aviv that dwelt by the river Kebar, and I sat where they sat and remained there astonished among them. Notice, seven days. Seven days he sat where they sat. And look, we're not talking about preaching the word of God, we're talking about when it comes to the gospel, that's what we're reading about in 1 Corinthians 9. Here's the saying, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. I think we need to bring, doesn't Psalms talk about going out, you know, bearing, you know, they that sow in tears reap in joy, bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing. We need to get, you know, the soul back and soul winning, is what I'm trying to tell you. We need to get the heart back in reaching people with the gospel. Go back, go to Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 16, and it came to pass at the end of seven days that the word of the Lord came unto me saying, verse 17, son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word of my mouth and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die. Now give us him not warning nor speak us to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Now let me just try to get this done quickly because I've run out of time. But for the next several verses, we learn about this parable that Ezekiel is given and it's the parable of being a watchman, being a guard who's supposed to be watching for an enemy who's coming. And this is a great illustration of soul winning, but let me just explain something to you. We're not talking about soul winning in Ezekiel chapter three. These verses have nothing to do with spiritual salvation. He says, notice verse 18, when I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die. It's talking about physically dying. And thou give us him not warning nor speak us to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, talking about his physical life. That the same wicked man shall die, talking about a physical death. The primary application of Ezekiel, and look, the entire book of Ezekiel, is that there's a physical, there's an actual warning, Ezekiel is actually warning about impending danger. There's physical danger to the judgment, to the nation of Israel coming. Now we can illustrate spiritual salvation, but it's not spiritual salvation. And here's the proof, whenever you want people, when people want to bring up verses to try to disprove eternal security, try to show that you can lose your salvation, or they have to work your way to heaven, they never want to go to the book of John, which was written about salvation. They want to go to the book of Ezekiel, right? Well, guess what? The book of Ezekiel is about the physical nation of Israel, the literal nation of Israel in the Old Testament coming, the judgment of God is coming, and Ezekiel is warning them. That's the application. So I want you to be real clear about that. Well, it sounds like they're working their way to heaven. No one's getting saved here. Let's talk about literally warning them from a coming invasion. Now there is a spiritual correlation to this. We can use this as an analogy or as an allegory for spiritual salvation, but please understand that's not what's going on here. But with that said, let's look at the spiritual analogy that can be seen from it. Notice what the watchman is told to do, Ezekiel 3 and verse 17, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman into the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and notice what he said, give them warning. You see that word warning? Give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, thou shall surely die, and thou givest him not, notice this word, warning, nor speakest to, notice this word, warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Verse 19, yet if thou, notice this word, warn the wicked. And he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a something block before him, he shall die because thou has not given him, notice this word, warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou, notice this word, warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned also, thou has delivered thy soul. Go to the book of Acts, just real quick, we gotta finish up, I'm running out of, I ran out of time, but let's just finish this, all right, Ezekiel 3, and we'll move on to the next chapter. Acts chapter 20, real quickly, Acts chapter 20, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 20, look at verse 31, Acts chapter 20, verse 31, therefore watch and remember, this is the apostle Paul speaking, all right, here's the spiritual correlation or the, how we can use this as an analogy of being a watchman, therefore watch and remember, notice the word watch there, that by the space of three years, notice what Paul said, I cease not to win everyone, is that what he said? Well I will go out soul winning every week, I get somebody safe, is that what he said? I cease not to, notice the word, warn everyone, night and day, and here's the empathy, with tears, here's the I sat where they sat, with tears. It wasn't a game to him, it wasn't a competition to him, he was concerned for these people and he ceased not to warn everyone, keep your finger there in Acts, we're gonna come right back to it, go to Colossians chapter 1, you're there in Acts, got Romans, 1st Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Colossians chapter 1, look at verse 28, Colossians 1, 28, notice what he says, whom we preach, whom we preach, winning every man, is that what it says? Why are you quitting soul winning? I had somebody tell me, some guy, he ended up quitting the church anyway, but he's really excited about soul winning, about six weeks later I'm like, hey what's going on with your soul winning? He said, I quit. He said, why'd you quit soul winning? Well it doesn't work. What do you mean? Well I went for like six weeks and nobody got saved. Well you know our goal is to warn every man, you know how soul winning works every time, when your goal is to warn them, because that's on us? Now look, if you want to win them, I want to win them too, but God's got to do that. And more than that, they got to want to. But you know we can warn everyone, say Pastor Mendez, why are we knocking every door in Sacramento? So we can warn everyone. Now we'll win as many as we can along the way, but you know what our goal is? To warn them. We don't want anyone to live in Sacramento and not have the opportunity to get saved. Now if they don't want to receive it, that's on them. Remember, they're not rejecting me, they're rejecting God. But I'm going to warn them all. And you need to understand that we want to win as many as possible, but when we don't win any, we've done our duty. Why? Because our goal is to warn everyone night and day with tears. Colossians 1 29, who we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. Our goal is to warn every man. See, our job is to be the watchman. What's the idea? The idea is that you're on guard. You're on some tower looking over a city and you see the enemy coming. You see the impending danger. And our job as the watchman is to say, hey, the enemy's coming. Wake up. You're in danger. You say, what do you do when you go soul winning? We go to people and say, hell's coming. Get saved. What if they do it? That's on them. Look, my job's just to warn. Now, if they want help getting one, I'll help them get one, but our job is to warn, warning every man. That's what the watchman does. Keep your finger there and ask. Go back to Ezekiel 3. Look at verse 18. Notice the last part of verse 18. He says, if you don't warn him, he says, but his blood will I require at thine hand. God says, if you see the impending, don't miss this. Please don't miss this. Look, if you skipped out on soul winning on Saturday, listen up. Ezekiel 3.18. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die. Has God said to the wicked that the wages of sin is death? There is none that doeth good, nor not one. There is none righteous. When I say unto the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning. Well, Pastor Jimenez, you understand, I woke up on Saturday and I was tired. Look, he says, I told the wicked, thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity. Look, if I go soul winning and if I don't go soul winning, either way, if I don't warn them and they die and go to hell, they deserve to die and go to hell. Why? Because we all deserve to die and go to hell. But listen to me. If I fail to warn him, his blood will I require at thine hand, watchman. It was your job to tell him. Now you don't have to win him, but you have to warn him. Look at verse 19. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness. If you warn him, you get me, you say, hey, danger's coming, hell is coming, get changed, and they don't listen to it, they don't obey it. That's fine. He says, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity. But thou has delivered thy soul. Again, when a righteous man does turn from his righteousness and committed iniquity and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die, because thou has not given him warning. Yet he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered. But his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous should not, and he did not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned also, thou has delivered thy soul. You say, yeah, but this is talking about an actual army that's coming. OK, go to Acts 18. Acts 18, Mr. I-only-go-soul-winning-when-I-feel-like-it, Mrs. I-only-go-soul-winning-when-you-know-why-I-wake-up-and-the-Spirit-of-the-Lord-is-upon-me, Spirit of the Lord come upon you and you go. Acts 18, verse 5, and when Silas and Timotheus were come to Macedonia, Paul was present in the Spirit and testified to the Jews that Jesus was Christ, and when they opposed themselves and blasphemed, they didn't accept it. They forebore, right? They didn't want to hear it. They blasphemed. Notice what he did. He shook his raiment and said unto them, your blood be upon your head. You know what he's saying? He's saying, I've done my job. I am clean. Paul didn't walk away from this saying, oh, I failed. Nobody got saved. He said, look, I've done what I was supposed to do. I am clean. He said, your blood be upon your head. I am clean. From henceforth, I go unto the Gentiles. He was saying, I'm going to go to the receptive neighborhood. Go to Acts 20, verse 26, quickly, Acts 20, verse 26. Acts 20, verse 26, wherefore I take you to record this day. Notice what he says, that I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Let me ask you this question. Can you say I am pure from the blood of all men? Or are you, mister, I show up to soul winning when I feel like it? I show up to soul winning when there's not a football game. I show up to soul winning when the golfing outing got canceled. You say, why do you show up to soul winning, Pastor Mendez? Because I want to be clean. I want to be pure from the blood of all men, because if I can't win them all, I can at least warn them all. That's our goal. That's why we do it. Look, I don't know if you know this, but when you got saved, whether you knew it or not, you got enlisted and you became a watchman. You're supposed to warn. You're supposed to tell. I've been pending that. You say, oh, Pastor, you don't know. I had a headache. You know what? If the North Koreans are attacking us, I don't care if the watchman has a headache. I want him to tell me. I want him to be warned. I was so tired. I had to do my gardening. Let your gardening go to hell. Or do your gardening on Tuesday. You know, there's 24 hours in a day. It's funny how we make priorities for what we want. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel. Go back to Ezekiel. We've got to finish this up. Ezekiel chapter 3. Ezekiel chapter 3, verse 22. And the hand of the Lord was there upon me, and he said unto me, arise, go forth unto the plain, and I will there talk with thee. And I arose and went forth into the plain, and behold, the glory of the Lord stood there. As the glory which I saw by the river Kibar, I fell on my face. And you know that I already told you this, but Ezekiel, the theme of Ezekiel is the glory of God. Isaiah teaches about the salvation of God. Jeremiah teaches about the judgment of God. Ezekiel teaches about the glory of God. Daniel teaches about the kingdom of God. I just want you to notice the last part of verse 23. He says, and I fell on my face. In the Bible, whenever God's power is revealed to someone and they fall, just listen to me, the good guys always fall forward. Notice that. As you read the Bible, notice that. Remember someone is amazed by God and they have to fall? Always in the Bible, they fall to their face if they're good guys. I'm talking about if they're saved, they're righteous, they're believers. The bad guys always fall backwards. Remember they came to arrest Jesus? He said, I am he. They fell back. Say, why are you bringing that up? I'm just not. What does that say about the Pentecostal, you know, slaying and the spirit guys? I'm just telling you in the Bible, everybody always fell on their face. And all the bad guys fell on their back. So that should tell you something about Benny Hinn and his goons. Look at verse 24. Then the spirit entered into me and sent me upon my feet and spake with me and said unto me, go shut thyself within thine house. But thou, O son of man, they shall put bands upon thee and shall bind thee with them and thou shalt not go out among them. Say, why is he saying that? He's telling them to go. Now he's telling them not to go. I will make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth and thou shalt be dumb and shall not be to them a reprover for they are a rebellious house. I don't have time, but understand this. The more you reject the truth, the more you reject the truth, eventually God cuts off the truth. Pastor Mendez, you're not going to go preach to the homos? No. You know what? I shall not be to them a reprover. Once someone has rejected God, we don't have to go and talk to those people. We don't go. You say, oh, we should preach the gospel to everybody. Well, Ezekiel didn't think so. We should preach the word of God to everybody. Ezekiel didn't think so. There were some people that he did that, you know, God said, don't go. I will make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth that thou shalt be dumb and shall not be to them a reprover. Look, there's some people we don't have to give the gospel to. We don't have to try to reach. If they're a reprobate, if they hate God, they've made their bed. But you know what? When God says to preach, we preach. Verse 27, but when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth and thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord God, he that hath ears, let him hear and he that forbareth, let him hear. For they are a rebellious house. All over the book of Revelation, we hear this phrase, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. What is the idea here? Is that we are to preach God's word. If they reject it, that's between them and God. But we are to preach it and if they want to receive it, then praise the Lord. He that hearth, let him hear.