When a city is going to be attacked,  the people of that city choose a watchman to sound the alarm.  If those who hear the alarm choose to ignore it, it’s their own fault if they die.

But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm, he is responsible for their captivity.  They will die and God tells us in Ezekiel 33, that he will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.

Then God makes Ezekiel the watchman for the people of Israel.  God tells Ezekiel that he must warn the Israelites to repent and to turn from their wicked ways or they will die in their sins.   They are their own worst enemy.  They aren’t listening to God.  God says that, if Ezekiel doesn’t warn them, he will be responsible for their deaths.

Why? Because Ezekiel knew the truth.  God had told him the truth and had given him the responsibility to tell others.

Did we receive this same responsibility when Jesus gave us the great commission of going into all the world to make disciples and teach them everything that we have been taught?  Are we the watchmen for our generation because God has spoken to us and we know the truth?  

If so, how are we sounding the alarm?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up.  And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.  We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.” Hebrews 12:1-2.

  I read this passage I think about the long line of my ancestors who were believers and are now are in heaven cheering me on as I run this race of faith.  I know they did a good job of passing along their faith to their children because I’m one of them.  I was given the best start possible for this race because I was brought up in a Christian home with 2 faithful parents.  They weren’t perfect but they were faithful all the way to the end of their lives.  They ran with endurance, passing their faith on to the next generation.

If you weren’t brought up in a Christian home, you have the opportunity to be the start of a legacy just like the one that was given to me.  We all have our place in the chain and we each just need to be faithful in passing it along.  With God’s spirit alive within us, there never has to be an end to the chain.

I plan to keep my eyes on Jesus as I run this race with endurance .  One day I will have the honor of  joining the cloud of witnesses to cheer on the generations that come after me.

Are you with me?

In Ezekial 6, Ezekial is sharing with the Israelites words from the Sovereign Lord.

God tells Israel that he bring war upon them so that their pagan shrines will be smashed and their altars and places of worship for their idols will all be demolished.  Their people will be killed and laid out in front of their pagan gods who can do nothing to help them.  All of their religious objects will be destroyed and they will live in desolation.

Then they will know that he alone is  the LORD.

God had asked them over and over to get rid of their idols and to turn away from their pagan gods so they could worship him and him only.  They didn’t do it, so God took it all away amidst a lot of pain and sorrow.

What kind of idols do we have in our lives that God is asking us to turn away from?  What things distract us from our relationship with God and God’s purpose for us?  What are our priorities?  Where is God on that list?

What’s going on in our lives right now?  Is God trying to get our attention?

If God is not at the top of our list, today might be a great day for us to get our priorities straight…..before God has to do something drastic to reorganize our priorities for us.

He has done it before………………….