BLOW YOUR TRUMPET!

EZEKIEL 33 This is an awesome passage of scripture! In verse one God is letting them know that he is going to bring the sword upon the land ...."When I bring the sword upon the land..." and he is even gracious (as He always is) to give them a way out. Aren't you thankful that God always provides us with the way to do right, and all we have to do is follow? He tells them to pick a man and set him as a watchman. Now this guys job is pretty self-explanatory, if you read the passage. Basically, if he sees any danger he is to blow the trumpet. Verses 4 - 6 go on to tell us that if the people hear the trumpet and heed not the warning, then their blood is on their own head. BUT, if the watchman sees the danger and doesn't sound the warning, then the people's blood is upon his head. Sounds pretty fair doesn't it? I mean if he doesn't sound the warning and I die, then it's not my fault. YEAH! It's his fault. ........WAIT! If he doesn't sound the warning, it's his fault, sure, but..........I'M DEAD! ...WAIT! I don't want to die if he doesn't do his job!!!!! Exactly. Today we live in a world where no one wants to be the "bad guy." Nobody wants to tell anybody when they have done something wrong because they don't want to offend anyone. We hear things like, "What about their self-esteem?" or "What if they get mad at me?" If we stick to that thinking then everyone does "that which is right in their own eyes." That is not Christian thinking. Proverbs 12:15 says, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise." What if the car that is heading toward your child, who is playing in the street, NEVER blows his horn? What if your child was in the cross walk and following all the traffic safety rules but still got hit? And what if the driver who has just struck your child with their car says, "Well, I didn't want to upset them, or hurt their ears with the sound of my horn." Are you telling me you'd not be upset? How much more then ought we as Christians to sound the warning for the world. God is LOVE! Yes. God DIED for you! Yes. But what about what happens if they don't listen? Are we not to tell them that God will cast them in the lake of fire because it might considered "negative"? Are we not to warn our children that there are things that God HATES (Pro.6:16-19) so that they will stay away from that thing? We also live in an age where no one takes responsibility for their own actions. It is NEVER our fault, it is always someone else's fault. We are NEVER wrong, the other person ALWAYS is. In this passage it states that the children of Israel tried to say that God's way was "not equal" (v.17). Wow, how bold? Yet we do the same thing every day. We either do not sound the warning so we can be every body's friend, or we ignore it because we enjoy what we're doing. Or, we will twist the Scripture to mean what we want it to mean, so we can do what we want to do. God expects more of "His own" than that. That's why he says, "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 sinneth. 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; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it." (Ez.33:12-13) God expects his children to be like Him. That is why our punishment is greater than the punishment of those who are not his. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." (Jms.4:17) I mean, aren't we as parents the same way with our kids? We expect more from them than someone else's kids, because they are ours.They belong to us. We taught them, and they should know better. We have a choice though. We can stand on our sword (v.26) or we can pick it up and fight! We can silence our horn, or we can blow it with all our might! I don't know about other Mom's but I sure want that car to honk it's horn REAL LOUD so my child has a chance to escape an injury that could affect the rest of their life. I also want to do my best to teach them to stay out of harm's way so that they see danger before they are in the middle of it. I also expect their pastor, their grand-parents, their Sunday school teachers, and any other Godly influence in their lives to "blow the horn" and "sound the warning" when danger is approaching. Sound it loud! Sound it often! Even if my children refuse to listen, keep sounding it until they do. To my children: I love you with all the love a person can possess. I promise to do my best to give you EVERY opportunity to do the right thing. If you choose to go against the Word of God, and make sinful wicked choices, you will do it WITHOUT my help, without my support, and without my encouragement. You can listen and live or you can choose "to not to."