In the name of Christ Jesus, dear fellow redeemed people of God,

Imagine this situation. After many years of training, a young man receives his first Divine Call to be a pastor. The District President meets with him to discuss the call and says, "Your congregation has major problems. They don't want to listen to God's Word. They've run out one pastor after another. They are rebellious, obstinate, and stubborn. May God bless your work of preaching God's Word."

After hearing that, the young pastor might have second thoughts about the ministry. In Ezekiel's case, it was not the District President saying those things, it was God! It did not sound good, but this was Ezekiel's call. God called him to be a prophet. A prophet was a preacher who received God's Word directly, whether it dealt with the past, the present, or the future. Basically, a prophet was a preacher. So, if there had been a newspaper headline about what happened here, it might have said:

1. TO RECEIVE HIS WORD (vv. 1-2)

Ezekiel had been face down on the ground. He had just seen the appearance of the glory of the LORD. The LORD told Ezekiel to stand up. Then God spoke to him. As he spoke, the Holy Spirit entered Ezekiel. When Ezekiel received God's Word, he also received the Holy Spirit.

Today, we receive the Holy Spirit as we hear God's Word too. The Holy Spirit works faith through the saving Word of God. When we hear the Law, the Holy Spirit makes us sorrow over our sins. When we hear the good news that Jesus lived for us, and died for us on the cross and rose from death, the Holy Spirit gives and strengthens faith. That's important, because by faith in Jesus Christ, we get to go to heaven.

No one will get to heaven without faith in Jesus. No one can believe in Jesus unless they hear the gospel. Someone needs to tell people the good news. So, God calls and sends preachers. He makes preachers by giving them his Word, just as he did here with Ezekiel. Our preachers go to school for many years to learn God's Word. That isn't just so that we know what to say. It is also to make us eager to serve. God's Word makes believers willing to serve. God's Word brings faith, and faith produces fruits! As our faith grows and becomes stronger, we become more and more willing to serve.

Then, we need to continue to receive God's Word, or our faith will become weaker, and we'll become less willing to serve. If we are not in the Word enough, we can easily become less willing to serve. It is easy to lose that willing attitude of a servant. God is not pleased when his servants are self-centered, unloving, or unwilling when asked to serve. Through the Word, God makes servants willing to say, "Here am I, Lord, send me!" Through the Word, God makes us willing to serve with our time, talents, and treasures. God gave Ezekiel his Word. He equipped him to serve, and then called him...

2. TO PROCLAIM HIS WORD (vv. 3-4)

God sent Ezekiel to preach his Word to the Israelites. You might think that this would be a pretty good situation. The Israelites were supposed to be God's people. But, they really weren't acting like it. God described the Israelites as "obstinate and stubborn." Instead of being faithful to the LORD, they had become rebellious, idol-worshipers. They disobeyed God's commands. And so, after warning them over and over again through his prophets, God allowed them to be defeated and taken into exile. In fact, at this time Ezekiel was not even in the land of Israel. He was with the people in exile. And that's where God called Ezekiel to proclaim his Word saying, "This is what the LORD says."

God called Ezekiel directly, speaking right to him. Today, God calls preachers through congregations. Both of our preachers were called by God through the congregation to proclaim his Word. What we are to proclaim is what the LORD says. From time to time, we might be tempted to ease up on a tough message of the Law, but God's Word must be proclaimed. From time to time, a listener might be tempted to think that it's just pastor's idea, but if it comes from Scripture, it's God's idea.

Ezekiel had to preach to a bunch of obstinate, stubborn, idol-worshiping rebels who didn't want to hear God's Word. I think that we have it much better today. But we have our challenges too. Not everyone is eager to hear God's Word. People have more diversions that keep them from hearing God's Word. Wouldn't it be great if all of our members would worship regularly? But, God has called preachers to proclaim his Word whether many people come to hear it or only a few. God calls preachers...

3. TO NOT BE MOVED BY RESULTS (v.5)

God told Ezekiel to preach God's Word whether the people listened or not. In fact, it sounded like they were not going to listen. But God called Ezekiel to preach to them anyway. This would be their chance. He called them to repent. But Ezekiel's work was not going to be very fun. Telling someone that, unless they repent, they are going to go to hell isn't much fun. But it must be done today too!

Suppose that someone is living in a clear sin like adultery. And suppose that they are making excuses but not repenting. Eventually, we have to tell them, "Unless you repent, you are going to perish." They very seldom thank us for saying that. But we say it for two reasons. One, that's what God tells us to do. And two, that's the loving thing to do. We want them to repent, and leave their sinful lifestyle so that they won't perish. We hope and pray that they will sorrow over their sin, leave it behind, and trust in Christ for forgiveness. The fun part of ministry is telling repentant sinners, "You are forgiven through Christ!"

God wants his preachers to preach his Word no matter what the results are. That isn't easy. Sometimes, people think that the ministry is all about results. That isn't right. We should not change our message, just to please people. Then we would not be preaching God's Word, we would be preaching people's Word. And we would be worshiping people too. That would be a sin against the very First Commandment.

Sometimes, pastors have this nightmare that while they are preaching, people are walking out of church upset. It very seldom happens, but it happened to Jesus! He was the perfect preacher. He is the Son of God! But in John chapter 6, we read that after that day's sermon, people started leaving. I would be tempted to say, "Wait, come back, let me rephrase that," but Jesus didn't do that. Instead, he quickly turned to his disciples and said, "Are you going to leave too?" Then Peter said, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life" (Jn 6:68).

The LORD has given us the words of eternal life to proclaim to all the world. Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned" (Mk 16). Whether you listen or not, whether you like it or not, whether you like me or not, God has called me to preach this message to you. We are all sinners. We should hear God's Word more often and more gladly. We should believe it more firmly. We should be more willing to serve. We should be more eager to worship. We deserve to perish, but God has saved us. Jesus redeemed us and all people by dying on the cross. You are forgiven through Christ. Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! Amen.