TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Tomorrow (Wednesday,12/4, 7:00 p.m.), gather with your Calvary Chapel family in the Holy Grounds Cafe or on our website (www.calvaryinv.com), Facebook, and YouTube (Calvary Inverness) as we continue our study of Ezekiel (17-20).

Ezekiel was trained as a Priest but never ministered in the Temple of Jerusalem. He was taken into captivity as part of the second deportation in 597 b.c. when Nebuchadnezzar "carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land" (2 Kings 24:14).

God called His young priest to be a prophet to the nation of Israel. He was to call to account the country that, like most people today, blamed everyone and everything for being captives to the Babylonian people.

Some blamed their Kings; some blamed the priests and prophets; some blamed their military leaders, while others blamed God for abandoning them. The group they never blamed was themselves.

Therefore, Ezekiel challenged the captives through parables, riddles, and sermons. Before they could ever be free, not only from Babylon's tyranny but also from their sin, they had to acknowledge that God was correct in judging them for their disobedience.

Parents do this when their children disobey and rebel against their authority. Before discipling them, they sit them down and explain why they should be punished. It was nothing that parents wanted to do, but out of profound love for their children's well-being, they punished them so that they would learn about the consequences of their behavior.

Like the parents of his day and ours, Ezekiel was reluctant to tell Israel the brutal reality of why they were in Babylon. He may have even toyed with saying nothing because the captives had already had much to endure. But God would not leave him alone. He wasn't tormented or threatened. Instead, the Holy Spirit continued burning the message inside him until he could no longer contain it.

Israel needed to know the truth. They needed to understand why they were in Babylon. Once they acknowledged their sin, the process of restoration could begin.

Please pray that this journey through the Word of God will be received by open hearts that long to grow in Jesus' grace and Knowledge. Moreover, He will do deep and abiding work in and through us for a world desperately needing a Savior.

In His Strong Love,

Pastor