1 And
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son
of man...
Son of
man. God’s nickname for Ezekiel.
Ezekiel was called by
God to be a prophet of God.
So, the Word of the
Lord came to him, to speak to the people.
That’s how it worked
2,618 years ago.
Hebrews 11:1-2a
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past
to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in
these last days spoken to us by His Son...
2...prophesy against
Just to be clear, God
doesn’t agree with everybody all the time.
He’s not a big teddy
bear, I’m okay, you’re okay, let’s just hug and coexist.
But make
no mistake. God is good. All the time.
As is His Word, every
jot, every tittle. Even when it goes against the grain of the
hearers.
God always speaks Truth
in Love. Even when it hurts.
As children of God,
we must strive to do the same.
We must get
comfortable being uncomfortable, willing and able to have loving, peaceable, yet
hard, Truthful, conversations.
To do that we must be
disciples of His Word so we can rightly divide, wisely apply and articulate the
Word of Truth.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is given by inspiration of
God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be
complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
2 ...the prophets
of Israel who prophesy,
and say to those who prophesy out of
their own heart,
‘Hear the word of the Lord!;”
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to the dueling prophets.
In the right
corner we have Ezekiel, the prophet of God, and in the left
corner we have the prophets of man (Israel).
One is God anointed the
other self-appointed.
The motive of one is
obedience, the other is arrogance.
NLT 2 “Son of man, prophesy against the false
prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies.
Say to them, ‘Listen to the Word of the Lord”
For Ezekiel to speak
the Word of the Lord, he must hear the Word of the Lord.
SIDENOTE: Hearing the
Word of the Lord comes with a bonus. Faith.
Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of Christ.
So, as we receive
this Word, listen for Christ. Ask Him, “Lord help me to hear You.”
NOW A WORD OF CAUTION:
Be wary of anyone, pastor, teacher, preacher, mentor, anyone, who claims to be
speaking for the Lord, but they say all too often: “Well, I think...”
We don’t care what
you think.
We care what God
thinks. We want to hear what God says. We would see Jesus. John 12:21.
God told Ezekiel to
tell them (and us): “Listen to the Word of—”
Ezekiel? No!
“Listen
to the Word of the Lord.”
Whoever speaks FOR
the Lord must speak Words OF the Lord.
For everything we’ll ever need is found in the Word of the Lord.
Therein we find Him
and come to know Him.
2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given to us all things
that pertain to life and godliness, through
the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue
So therefore,
dear Saints...
2 Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker
who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.
That is key.
Diligently pay
attention, listen, hear the Word of the Lord, so when others speak
superstitions of their own inventions, like foolish false prophets, we can say
like Ezekiel, the prophet of God: “Hear the Word of the Lord...” And then,
appropriately apply the Word of the Lord.
Do not
say, “I cannot speak.”
Moses tried that. I-I
c-c-cannot s-speak, I’m slow of tongue.
God said: Who made
man’s tongue? I’ll be with you. Go! Ex. 4:10-12.
Jeremiah said: I’m
just a kid. I don’t know what to say.
God basically told
him, to stop making excuses. Get up and go. Speak to all I send you. Do not
fear, I AM with you. Jer. 1:6-8.
Even Jesus said, I only say and do what I see and hear from My Father. John 5:19-20, 7:16, 12:49-50, 14:10, 24, 17:8.
So don’t say, I can’t
speak, God can’t use me, I’m too weak, slow, broken.
It’s not about your
ability—God’s got that covered—it’s about your availability. Are you willing to
say, “Lord, send me. Use me. Speak to and through, me.”
Since the first Pentecost
after Jesus resurrection, the same Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead,
is available to all born again believers who will receive Him.
He reminds us and
teaches us and empowers us. Luke 12:12, John 14:6, 16:3.
He’s available. Are
you?
The Word
of God is more available and more alive today than ever.
Every tribe, tongue
and nation has at their fingertips, the living, breathing Word of God, as near
as their smart phone.
Two free websites
that have more translations, commentary, Bible studies, more access to the original
Hebrew and Greek, than you will ever use in a lifetime.
The Word of God is
literally available instantly around the world.
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than
any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and
of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of
the heart.
Starting today, for the next seven days, April 19-25, various national leaders from all spheres of influence, from the most powerful nation on the planet, will read publicly and online, from our nation’s capital, the most powerful Book on the planet, from cover to cover, the entire Word of God, for the entire world to hear.
The most powerful man
on the planet will read 2 Chronicles 7:11-22 on Tuesday, April 21
between 6 pm-7 pm ET from the Oval Office.
That text includes powerful
nation changing verse 14 which reads:
If My people who are called by My name
will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their
wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and
heal their land.
If there ever was a
day since the world began to raise your hand and say, “Lord send me, use me,
speak to and through me—it’s today.”
3 Thus says
the Lord God: “Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit
and have seen nothing!
Rather than following the Spirit of God, they follow
their own selfish desires, selling their soul to the highest bidder.
James 1:13-15. Let no one say when he
is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot
be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But
each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and
enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives
birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.
4 O Israel, your prophets are like
foxes in the deserts. 5 You have not gone up into
the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the
day of the Lord.
NLT: 4 “O
people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the
ruins. 5 They have done nothing to repair the breaks in
the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on
the day of the Lord.
These false prophets are scavengers, jackals, among
the ruins searching for what they can steal for themselves.
They do not go up to stand in the gap, to pray, to
intercede, to hear from the Lord for the people, like a prophet of God should.
They do not help to build broken walls or secure open
borders.
In battle they do stand for Truth. They are
doubleminded, ever changing, swaying whichever way will feed their greed and
lust for power and money.
Are we talking about 2,600 years ago or today?
The Word is timeless, thus, ever timely.
6 They have
envisioned futility and false divination, saying, ‘Thus says
the Lord!’ But the Lord has not sent them; yet they
hope that the word may be confirmed. 7 Have you not
seen a futile vision, and have you not spoken false divination? You say, ‘The Lord says,’
but I have not spoken.”
They pile lie upon lie and overcompensate with walls
of flowery words claiming the Lord is endorsing their behavior, when all the
while they are listening to the devil.
They are those who say: “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast
out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then
Jesus will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you
who practice lawlessness!’” Matt. 7:21-23.
Many false prophets are wolves in sheep’s clothing.
Matt. 7:15.
Test the spirits to see if they are from God.
Do they line up with the Word of God?
(This is why we must be disciples of His Word so we’re not deceived).
Do they draw people to themselves or the Lord?
What’s their motive? Jesus
came not to be served, but to serve.
What’s their focus?
Selfish, or selfless? Do they think godliness is a means of gain 1 Tim. 6:5. Do
they focus on getting stuff from God for this life, or dying to self to prepare
for Eternal Life?
8 Therefore
thus says the Lord God: “Because you have spoken nonsense and envisioned
lies, therefore I am indeed against you,” says the
Lord God. 9 “My hand will be against the
prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in
the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of
Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you
shall know that I am the Lord God.
You have reached the point of no return.
I am indeed against you.
1. You
shall never be among My people.
2. Your
name will not be found written with those who enter My house.
3. You
shall never set foot in the Promise Land I have prepared for My people.
Then, you shall know that I am the Lord
God.
But, for you foolish prophets, it will be too late.
10 “Because,
indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, ‘Peace!’
when there is no peace—and one builds a wall, (false
wall) and they plaster it with
untempered mortar (whitewash)— 11 say
to those who plaster it with untempered mortar, that it
will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall
fall; and a stormy wind shall tear it down. 12 Surely,
when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, ‘Where is the
mortar with which you plastered it?’ ”
13 Therefore
thus says the Lord God: “I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My
fury; and there shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in
fury to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall
you have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the
ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered; it will fall, and you shall
be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that
I am the Lord.
15 “Thus will I accomplish My wrath on the wall and on those who
have plastered it with untempered mortar; and I will say to you, ‘The
wall is no more, nor those who plastered it, 16 that
is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and
who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace,’ ” says
the Lord God.
These silver-tongued devils wax eloquent in their
deceptions, hiding their wickedness behind a whitewashed façade of
integrity and strength.
But the Lord knows the walls are a house of cards, built
on lies, and He will bring them all crumbling down.
Within about six years, the wind and hail and flood came
in the form of Nebuchadnezzar besieging
and destroying Jerusalem, her walls, her temple, almost all of her people.
Matthew 7:24-27
“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him
to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain
descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on
that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26
“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do
them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:
27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
Many false walls have been built by false prophets against
foundational principles of God’s Word.
Following are a few areas where many have been brainwashed
by whitewashed walls. We the people of God must stand against them by building
our lives on God’s Word.
Gender: male & female.
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the
sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth
and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So
God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created
him; male and female He created them.
Marriage: man & woman.
Genesis 1:28, 31, 2:21-25
28 Then
God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the
sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on
the earth.” ...31 and it was very good
2:21 And
the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he
slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then
the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made
into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
23 And
Adam said:
“This is now bone
of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
24 Therefore
a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined
to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
25 And
they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were
not ashamed.
Sanctity of Life. Prolife.
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you...
Psalm 139:13
For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
Ezekiel 33:11
As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his
way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways!
John 10:10
The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill,
and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may
have it more abundantly.
Jesus Christ: Only Way.
John 3:16
For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 14:6
I am the way, the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
On
Christ the Solid Rock we stand, all other ground is sinking sand.
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, thank You for Your Word that
lives and abides forever. You know, our lives are the only Bible some people
read. We pray for Your wisdom to understand and live Your Word, in such a way that
our life is a simple read, that leads straight to You. So that, of all those
You’ve given us, none are lost.
Thank You.
We love You, forever.
Amen.
Prayer Requests:
Call or text: 612-554-2522
Email: pray4measap@aol.com
Facebook: Church at WPV
Books: amazon.com/author/dougspurling
Watch online:
Facebook: Hear the Word of the Lord,
Ezekiel 13:1-16
You Tube: Hear the Word of the
Lord, Ezekiel 13:1-16
This was feed for you to read. Now it’s Seed for you
to sow.
Thank you for sharing.
