{"id":10035,"date":"2020-06-28T20:00:08","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T03:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=10035"},"modified":"2020-06-28T23:18:12","modified_gmt":"2020-06-29T06:18:12","slug":"ezekiel-2_1-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/ezekiel-2_1-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Let God\u2019s Word Move You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ezekiel 2:1-10\u00a0 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 2:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 2:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 Sometimes God\u2019s Word will bring us to our knees.\u00a0 Sometimes God\u2019s Word will raise us to our feet.\u00a0 One way or the other,\u00a0when your heart is humble and open to God, God\u2019s Word will move you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ezekiel 2:3-7 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says.’
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0whether they listen or fail to listen–for they are a rebellious house<\/u>–they will know that a prophet has been among them.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You must speak my words to them,\u00a0whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious<\/u>.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 3-7:\u00a0 Before Ezekiel begins his preaching and prophesying ministry to the Israelites, God gives Ezekiel some important advice on how to measure success in his ministry.\u00a0 Ezekiel\u2019s measure of success will not be \u201cwhether they [the Israelites] listen or fail to listen\u201d (v5, 7).\u00a0 For God already knew that the Israelites would not listen, describing them as \u201ca rebellious house\u201d (v5, 7), \u201cobstinate and stubborn\u201d (v4), \u201ca rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day\u201d (v3).\u00a0 So instead of measuring his success exclusively based on how people respond, Ezekiel is to measure his success by another standard: did you \u201csay to them, \u2018This is what the Sovereign Lord says\u2019\u201d (v4).\u00a0 That is, did you say and do everything I called you to do?<\/p>\n

Likewise, for us as Christians who are called to live out loud, to make disciples and to share God\u2019s Word with others, it is crucial to know how to measure our success.\u00a0 There is always the temptation to measure our success solely based on how people respond.\u00a0 However, the more important measure of our success is: were we faithful to everything God told us to do and say?<\/p>\n

We can\u2019t always control how people respond to God\u2019s Word.\u00a0 For people\u2019s responses will very much depend on the condition of their hearts.\u00a0 But what we can control is how we lead and share God\u2019s Word with others.<\/strong>\u00a0 In our mission to lead people to Jesus and to share God\u2019s Word with others, we are called to be both faithful (1 Corinthians 4:2) and fruitful (John 15:16).\u00a0\u00a0So let\u2019s lead people and share God\u2019s Word with others as prayerfully, sensitively, courageously, passionately and creatively as we can, and then leave the results to God.<\/strong>\u00a0 When by God\u2019s grace we do the best we can with what God gives to us, that\u2019s God or anyone else can ask from us.<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 2:8-10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But you, son of man, listen to what I say to you. Do not rebel like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.”
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then I looked, and I saw a hand stretched out to me. In it was a scroll,
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0which he unrolled before me. On both sides of it were written words of lament and mourning and woe.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 8-10:\u00a0\u00a0Part of being obedient to God is listening to what God has to say and receiving His Word with a humble and willing heart.<\/strong>\u00a0 That is what is meant by \u201copen your mouth and eat what I give you.\u201d (v8) \u00a0Let us not be spoiled children who refuse to eat what our Father sets before us unless it is our favourite food, coated with sugar, presented in exactly the way that appeals to us, spoon fed to us and making us feel good.\u00a0 Because the Israelites made that mistake, God calls them \u201cthat rebellious house\u201d (v8) and they missed God\u2019s best for their lives.\u00a0 Instead,\u00a0with humility, maturity and a thankful heart, let\u2019s joyfully eat whatever word God gives you on a particular day, knowing that our Father knows what is best for us.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that You know what word I need to hear every single day.\u00a0 May I have a heart that is humble and open before You, that seeks out Your Word for me each day and eats it, so that Your Word can move me in the direction You want me to go.\u00a0 May I be faithful to Your call to share Your Word with others in the best way I can, and leave the results to You.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Ezekiel 2:1-10.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 2:1-2 (NIV)\u00a0
\n1\u00a0\u00a0He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.”\u00a0
\n2\u00a0\u00a0As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.<\/p>\n

On verses 1-2:\u00a0 Sometimes God\u2019s Word will bring us to our knees.\u00a0 Sometimes God\u2019s Word will raise us to our feet.\u00a0 One way or the other,\u00a0when your heart is humble and open to God, God\u2019s Word will move you.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ezekiel 2:3-7 (NIV)\u00a0
\n3\u00a0\u00a0He said: “Son of man, I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against me; they and their fathers have been in revolt against me to this very day.\u00a0
\n4\u00a0\u00a0The people to whom I am sending you are obstinate and stubborn. Say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign\u00a0LORD\u00a0says.’\u00a0
\n5\u00a0\u00a0And\u00a0whether they listen or fail to listen–for they are a rebellious house–they will know that a prophet has been among them.\u00a0
\n6\u00a0\u00a0And you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns are all around you and you live among scorpions. Do not be afraid of what they say or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10035"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10035\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10038,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10035\/revisions\/10038"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}