Faithbase

How you doing brothers and sisters? Good to see you again. You know, when you look up the word watchman, you know, many things come to people's mind, but let's see what the dictionary says about what a watchman is. A man employed to look after an empty building, especially at night. Another definition is a member of a body of people employed to keep watch in a town or any town at night. Many times we think of watchmen, we think of men that, you know, will keep an eye on areas, particularly at night. We hear about the watchtower, that when the ships were coming in and they would see the light, they would know where to come in and where to go out. Like you said, a person's watching over a building, especially at night, night watchman, you know, they have to guard this, this place when everything is closed. You know, that's what we see, what a watchman does. He looks over, he or she looks over settings where to keep people safe, to keep the area safe, or if people are there to keep the people safe, you know, this is what a watchman does. Now, in this case, we're looking at it in a biblical sense. What is a faithful watchman? That's the title of this one, the faithful watchman. And we're seeing how watchman still applies now in terms of God's love for humanity and what he has us to do for each other. And we're going to look at the story in Ezekiel because Ezekiel, God chose him to be a watchman. And we're going to look at it is Ezekiel 33, one to nine. So we'll read that first and we'll impact that. And remember it's called this title, this one is called faithful watchman. But again, Ezekiel 33, one to nine, and it reads, and again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, speak to the children, your people, and say to them, when I bring the sword upon a land and the people of the land take a man from their territory and make him their watchman, when he sees the sword coming upon the land, if he blows the trumpet and warns the people, then whosoever hears the sound of the trumpet, he does not take warning. If the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be on his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet, but he did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself, but he who takes warning will save his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, then the sword comes and takes any person from among them. He is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. So the son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from my mouth and warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, O wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that the wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But this blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless, if you warn the wicked to turn away from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul. So this is Ezekiel 33, one to nine. It says the watchman and his message. That's what it says in, you know, the title of that chapter. I gave it, you know, the faithful watchman. What we see here in this chapter, God is speaking to Ezekiel, and this is the responsibility God put on Ezekiel for the people. He was the priest during the time when God's people were removed to Babylon. So now they would take, you remember, because of their sins, because their sins is what took them into slavery of Babylon, because they were supposed to be spreading the word to the world, you know, where they were living. Their lifestyle was a witness about the coming of Jesus to save humanity, just like the church is supposed to be a witness for the coming of the Lord. But just like church, they chose to do like the world around them and became so debatable that they were basically eliminating the way Jesus was going to come to save the world. So God had to uproot them again, you know, just to preserve what he promised of salvation. And he took them to Babylon, and they were taken as slaves. But God didn't forget about them. Because while there, he still had individuals ministering. And here we see with Ezekiel, and he called them to prophetic ministry while they were in Babylon, you know, to govern the captives. So while they were in captivity, he still had his truth being preached to the children of Judah, as well as to Babylonia. Because again, by him teaching Judah, what they were supposed to do, it was a witness to the nation of Babylon. We read that this is where Ezekiel comes in. You see this also with Daniel and his friends. It was a witness. That's why centuries later, when the wise men came to look for Jesus, they heard about this truth. Because when you look at where they came from, this message was still spread throughout that world. But that's another story. But here, Judah was supposed to give them guidance, even in their darkest time. And that's why he was considered the watchman, to describe what he was supposed to do in terms of giving them the information that they needed to stay alive, to stay in graces of God, to stay pertinent on what God says. And when we look at what a watchman, you know, the task of what a watchman is, you know, a lot of times there's a city wall or a tower where the watchman stands out. And that's where the watchman is giving, you know, letting information know so people could be aware, you know, if they see, like I was saying earlier, if he sees danger come, he alarms the people, because if he doesn't, and they are killed on his watch, he could have warned them from getting hurt. You know, this is life and death. That's why a watchman was so important, because in pending trouble coming, the watchman has to stay alert. That's what it says, be vigilant. We look at it a lot of times, you know, just like ancient times, modern times, night security man can't be sleeping. You can't be sleeping on the job, because people are going to get killed, people are going to love, places could get robbed, danger, violence, like we said, death. So the watchman had to be alert and on point, couldn't be drunk or anything of that nature, because this is, that's what God said, wine is a mockery. He had to be alert to let people know what's going on. He had to be vigilant. You know, the responsibility was that great. And the faithfulness that he had to making sure everybody was safe is another, another keen aspect. And we see how the watchman was so important. We see in 2 Samuel 18, 24 to 27. Let me read that one. 2 Samuel 18, 24 to 27. And David sat between the two gates and the watchman went up to the roof above the gate onto the wall and lifted up his eyes and looked and behold a man running alone. And the watchman cried and told the king and the king said, if he be alone, there is tidings in his mouth. And he came a space, he came a space and drew near and the watchman saw another man running and the watchman called onto the porter and said, behold, another man runs alone. And the king said, he also bring a tiding. And the watchman said, he thinketh the running, he thinketh the runner of the foremost is like the running of Ezema, son of Zadok. And the king said, he is a good man who comes with good tiding. Now, this is just an example of a watchman. This is during David's time. This is actually when Absalom had tried to overthrow the kingdom and you know, the battle was going on and Israel had went out to fight with Absalom and David was waiting to hear the news of what was, you know, what transpired. And here we had the watchman looking and he saw the man running. First he saw one and gave him and then he saw another one. So this shows you the keenness that a watchman had to have. And that's where the information was given to David and them. And sometimes you could tell if it's good news or bad news. You could tell if it's something positive or something negative, but that's just one example. We'll read about a watchman in ancient history of the Bible, another verse, another chapter, second Kings 19, 17. And there stood a watchman on the tower in Jezreel. And he spied the company of Jura as he came and said, I see a company. And Jerome said, take a horseman and send to meet them and let him say, is it peace? Again, watchman is going to make sure in this situation, is it good news or bad news? Go and see. He saw him afar off. And he told him, he said, the King said, go and see whether it's peace, he's coming in good tidings or negative. You're preparing yourself, but you only can know that if somebody saw it ahead of time. So this is where the watchman in that chapter came out. Habakkuk 2 verse 1, I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me and what I shall answer when I am repooled. So again, we see the duties of what a watchman does. And these are just in scripture, different period of times where we see the importance of how watchmen were there. This watchman said, I'm going to sit upon the tower and watch to see that he will say unto me and what I shall say, what I shall answer when I am repooled. What I should say after I get this information, what I should do here. Now, when we see what Ezekiel was, if you go to Ezekiel 3, 17, 19, it says, 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 shalt surely die and thou givest him not warning, nor speaketh to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life. And to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked and turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou has delivered thy soul. So we see how Ezekiel was chosen, you know, to give this prophetic information to the house of Israel, the house of Judah, and what was entitled. Like we said, because of their sin, they were taken into captivity again. You know, a lot of times we don't like to hear, we don't like to be reprimanded. You know, we don't like to hear the negative things that we're doing because we want to justify it. But when somebody has our best interest, I'm not talking about being self-righteous. I'm not talking about people that are quick to point fingers and think there's nothing wrong with them. We're not talking about that because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. We're talking about love where you love one another. And God has given us this love to keep us up. And now we're choosing to do what we want. And we don't want to hear that we need to come back to him and give up our wicked way. We don't want to hear that. And that's what happened with Israel. And Ezekiel was one of the prophets that was chosen to warn Israel, to warn Judah, look, you need to get back on the right path and you need to get your things right. So that way we can live the way God wants us and he can come and save this world. You know, and this is what Ezekiel, this is what Ezekiel had to do. And this is what he was given that instruction to share with the kingdom of Judah. And we see the same thing with us as a church. You know, we're the watchman. This message that God gave us, that God gave humanity, that we've accepted because that's what makes it different. God gave it to the world, but you have to accept it. When you accept it, it's a blessing and you want to share that blessing with everyone else because you want to share the love of God to humanity. This is what God wants. And this is what the beauty of being a follower of Christ, being Christians. Christians means followers of Christ. We're following Christ and Christ came to save souls. And just like he did in the Old Testament and New Testament, he has faithful people out here spreading the word, watchmen to let people know that there's something that they need to be aware of. There's something that they need to be ready for. This is what the watchmen were saying. And just like we said, protecting, protecting the environment that they had to watch over. It's the same thing God has us doing as a watchman. We see impending danger and we have to want it. I remember when my father was alive, when we were kids, he used to always say, he said, you know, you know, he always giving us a lecture when we're doing something wrong and stuff like that. And he said, I know you're tired of hearing me say this all the time, but he said, I'm going to keep on saying it because he said, you know, people don't reprimand their children when they see their children doing wrong things, especially, you know, when they're doing things outside the will of God. But he said, I'm going to tell you because the Lord's not going to hold me guiltless on your sins. I remember my father used to always say that to us. He said, I'm not going to be held guiltless because I see people in the church crying about their children and stuff like that. And he wasn't being judgmental. He said, but some of us, talking about parents, don't tell our children when they're doing something wrong. Some of us don't reprimand our children when they're doing something wrong. And then we're crying when they're outside the ark of safety. He said, that's not going to be me. I'm not the Lord's because when the Lord comes, he's going to say, what did you do with your children? He said, I'm training y'all, I'm raising y'all right. So he used to always tell us that. And we used to say, and he said, I know you're tired of hearing me say this, I'm going to say that. And we look, Dad, you don't got to say it anymore. We heard you the first time. And trust me, God ain't going to hold you guiltless. If we mess up, he's going to lay it on us. We used to be saying, you know, small out of response. We used to say that, but you know, I realized what he was saying was right. You have to warn people when you see impending danger coming. And that's why I said, there's a difference between that and self righteousness. This is not talking about self-righteousness. If you see somebody walking into the middle of the street, when the traffic's going and the lights not for them to walk, they're going to walk in incoming traffic. You warned them, you're going to get hit. You're going to get run over by a car, especially if they're young. And they're, you know, at that age where they're not being responsible, but even somebody of sound mind that they're not paying attention. Hey, look out, you could get run over. This is the same thing with our salvation. Israel had a responsibility that they took for granted and they chose not to do. And now because of that, they were taken into captivity and God was warning them. He kept warning them. So he said, I'm going to keep warning you because I don't want y'all to be lost. And this is what Ezekiel was given the responsibility to do. And that's why in chapter three of Ezekiel says it. And then when we go into 33, he gives it again. And that's why he points this out. Therefore, hear the word of my mouth and give the warning from me. This is God telling us. So this is what we have for this world, this impending danger that this world is in. God is coming back. And that's a joyous thing that he's coming back because all this craziness that we're going through, we're not going to have to deal with it. He's coming back. But again, he's coming back for those who want to be with him. And the only way you're going to want to be with him is to give your life to the Lord. And the only way you're going to going to give your life to the Lord is reading his word, because then you're going to see the love he has bestowed upon us. And it's going to want to give your life to the Lord. So with that, we have to warn the world. We have to alert the world. We have to let them know there's danger coming. All these craziness that's happening in the world from the, you know, we see the sicknesses, the pandemic and everything like that. The world is going crazy. And you hear all people saying, well, you know, with the presidents, he should have did this. He should have did that. But the word of God told us these things were going to happen, and nobody wanted to listen to the word of God. And then when this comes down, everybody's pointing figures. And then the church who knows the truth. Not in a self-righteous way, but knows the truth because God has bestowed it and we believe it We're thinking like the world and now we're responding like the world when we see this chaos happening We start saying, you know, we justify what we want to do, but God said these things are gonna happen He told us that beforehand and when he told us these things were gonna happen He was preparing us so when they happen, we know how to take care of ourselves He was preparing us so when these things happen We wouldn't get caught off and get thrown off guard and we wouldn't know what to do To prepare for these things and we wouldn't get caught up in it You know health message if we take care of ourselves Outside of just the nature of sin because you could do all the right things to still get sick But I'm saying the basic aspect of the health message keeps you from falling victim to many sicknesses and diseases out of there That that if we follow that when all these other things start coming We'll be prepared for it many of the things that we see going on in terms of the violence and stuff like that if we follow the Word of God when we see these things happen, we'll be prepared to know how to deal with it and our church wouldn't be in a Upward we wouldn't get caught up where we up here fighting among ourselves because we're not thinking like the world. We're actually Put What do you call it precautionary and that precautionary makes a difference because then you're prepared and and then instead of what's the same? People want to be instead of being proactive They're reactive and God always wants us to be proactive because when you're proactive You don't have to be reactive because when you're proactive then people see something that's already Established and when other things happen in like how come they're able to Take care of themselves and deal with that and then they're gonna want to connect and when they connect they like you're not connected With us you're connecting with the real connector that power source that comes from the Lord You're connected with him and that's what keeps you afloat from all these things This is what a watchman the faithful watchman. He expects us to be faithful because again The responsibility too much who's much is given too much was given much is required That that he gave us because we accepted him is a blessing that we have and a responsibility to share to others So now we have to stay vigilant you know, like I said a watchman can't be drunk because if you Standing up there is supposed to be looking and you're trying to see what's coming in and you drunk Instead of seeing one thing you're gonna see two or three and stuff like that saying do you see something? Yeah, I see I see a shadow that's coming. You know, I Looks like a small guy looks like free guy, you know, I can't see which one which one how many you see three? So which one is it the one in the middle because that's the one that's coming. You got to be sober You got to be villages. So sober outside of the actual aspect of drinking Liquor and wine to get drunk. It's also staying sober with your lifestyle with the Lord because Once you take in sin, that's what intoxicates you. That's what makes you off balance Sin is what throws you off where you can't be sober. You can't be villager. You can't be strong so when temptations come you're not able to withstand it because you're already under the influence and then you fall victim to it and Just like a drunk you wake up and like I don't I wind up here How did I wind up in jail and the officer saying well I could tell you how you wind up in jail You wake up and where's my money and somebody out there saying I got it right here 2050 40 this is what happens when you're drunk So when you're drunk in sin and you're waking up what got me into this foolishness Then you're like, no you have to be alert because once you're alert nothing will catch you off guard Because God is keeping you alert and that's the importance of the watchman and then that alertness is what's saving the others because like you said The responsibility of a watchman you have a kingdom now you have to protect and his responsibility Like he said if you see impending danger coming other troops other nations coming to destroy this kingdom Somebody has to be alert to let them know look We are under attack. That's why the sounding of the arm trumpet the blowing of the alarm is usually for some major alertness That's why they would blow the horns. That's what it blowing But there's a positive was a good thing because not all of them were blowing for negatives But it was blowing for a several of celebration come together for a celebration. That's blowing to alert them This is happening. You know, sometimes it was different sounds certain blows were sounds for if it was like a celebration Certain sounds of the trumpet was like impending danger again You would only know that You can't if your mind is focused on Christ, you'll know how to disfit differentiate which sound is which So, you know what's going on what to be prepared for you hear all these trumpets all it sound like noise Yeah, it sound like noise because you just got noise in your head And that's why everything sounds like noise But when you have the calmness of the Lord in your mind, you know, what's the good time feeling and you know What's okay be prepared, you know, what's the sound some sounds was like they blew a trumpet It's time to close your eyes time to go to sleep, you know, okay This is a time to relax and we don't have to worry about nothing. We get some rest. This is time to wake up We see that a lot of times the military guys have to go through that because the trumpet has to wake them up and then Put them to sleep. It's the same thing with the Word of God this Sound that we hear with the blowing of the trumpet the blowing of the alarm to let the world know to let the church know That this is what God has and to stay village it Stay village it on This so that way we'll be alert This is what Ezekiel had and that's why Ezekiel was so important I had Ezekiel say this to Israel say this to Judah to let him know This You got to stay right with the law for your own sakes because I love you It's not I want you to not be enjoy yourself or anything there with anything of that It's not I'm trying to be a killjoy These things out here that you don't want to justify doing because it's destroying you and if somebody doesn't tell you that you're gonna keep Doing these things. They're gonna say why you didn't warn me. Well, I did warn you you didn't want to listen and By not listening. This is why you're in the problem. So something has to be changed, you know, there's that song it was old on It was friend of musical it was in though It was actually in the Wiz where the woman said don't bring me no, I don't wanna hear no bad news The part where she was supposed to evil in she don't bring in it was a song don't bring me no bad news Nobody wants to hear bad news. And that was the problem with messengers came if they came with bad news They got killed naturally said that's where the theory came The statement says don't kill the messenger, but sometimes you need to hear that news so that nobody gets hurt So you hear these news then you'll know when it's good news You'll be able to distinguish if I don't tell you this you won't get no good news You just gonna keep getting bad news. So I got to give you the news to put you on the right path I got to give you the information to keep you right and God's information is what keeps us, right? God's love of God's teachings what keeps us, right? And that's what being a watchman is letting the world know that the God is coming and we have to stay alert Because when he comes all eyes will see him it's gonna be the biggest event under the history of this planet and you want to be in that number where he says Where it says in Thessalonians and the dead in Christ shall rise and those that alive are caught up and Will be taken with him to heaven you want we want to be not just you me, too We want to be in that number. We want to be alert so that way we'll know that we'll be We'll be ready to be saved and that only comes by learning us now Preparing us now so we could put away our sinful nature put away these things because we already got stuff we're dealing with But if we give it to the Lord, he'll help us overcome them But the only way he's gonna help us overcome them is we give it to him and not justify doing it and not just if I Keep on sinning. This is why the watchman and since we have that responsibility It's that love that we have We're sharing to one another we're sharing to the world and then they will see the love that Jesus has and you want and wants to save us We're seeing that and that's what the watchman comes That's the important aspect of being a faithful watchman That's the important aspect of showing God's love and showing God's truth You know in this world with all the craziness that's happening But yet we're still aware of how to deal with it with all the wickedness that's bestowing upon this earth We know how to fight it. With all the sin that's rampant in this world we know how to overcome it by just focusing on the Word of God and when I say focus not just in a Arbitrary way and I'm not saying just being crazy No putting this as part of our lives helps us to deal with the situations that's going on when you exercise When you fall you don't bruise easily you get up because the muscles are strong. It's the same thing Impending danger doesn't catch us off guard We're prepared to deal with it and we're prepared to in some ways It's not even to deal with we can avoid it We see things coming and want to know how to get out the way so it doesn't catch us because the alertness we have and the alertness that we're told ahead of time to To abstain from those things that are coming to destroy us That's what the beauty of being a vigilant watchman is for this love that God has for us He's bestowed upon us to share with everyone else so they can be aware and know that is a better day coming and The importance of us staying faithful until the end. So I'm telling you let's stay watchman Let's keep alert Let's stay vigilant and let's share this with the world For to us to turn from our sinful ways and for us to hang on to the Lord and in that girl Let us pray Heavenly Father Thank you for being the ultimate watchman over us And as you bestow that responsibility on us Let us stay faithful so we can share it with others so we all could be saved in your kingdom This is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen You