Thoughts for the morning:

This morning in my personal devotions I was reading in Ezekiel 3 and these verses stood out to me:

"17 Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore hear a word from My mouth, and give them warning from Me: 18 "When I say to the wicked, 'You shall surely die,' and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life, that same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 "Yet, if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul. 20 "Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die; because you did not give him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 "Nevertheless if you warn the righteous man that the righteous should not sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live because he took warning; also you will have delivered your soul."

Perhaps if you've read my blog for very long you have noticed that I "rant" a lot about the state of the Church in America. I am very concerned about the influence of men like Joel Osteen and Rick Warren. What concerns me even more than just these two men (and others like them) is that it seems that much of the Church world is not preaching about sin, repentance, righteousness, or judgment. It's all about living your best live now and your purpose driven life, and the true message of the Gospel is ignored in favor of "felt needs."

These verses in Ezekiel strike fear into my heart. I don't want to be guilty of failing to warn men of their sin! I have a responsibility as a minister to warn the unrighteous. This message is not an easy message to preach (just read what God required of Ezekiel), but I must preach it! This message won't necessarily cause the world to break down the doors of my church to get in, but I do believe that when God comes in honor to His Word great things happen when the true message of His Word is preached. I.e. The Great Awakening, The Wesleyan Revivals, etc.

So, if you are a preacher, are you warning the wicked? If you're not a preacher, are you attending a church where the pastor is faithfully preaching sin, righteousness, repentance, judgment? If not, perhaps it's time to find a new church.