We Are A Sign Like Ezekiel

I. EXORDIUM:

Are you a warning sign to unbelievers?

II. AUDIENCE PROFILE:

Believers

III. OBJECTIVES:

To show that we are warning signs - a witness and testimony for the unbelievers. We need less talk and more actions of faith to convince them.

IV. TEXT:

Ezekiel 24:24 (Amplified Bible)

24:24 Thus Ezekiel is to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. And when this [destruction of the temple] comes, you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord God [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service].

V. THESIS:

Praise, worship and thank You very much LORD JESUS, we don't need to talk but just act the acts of faith and we can win souls to you.

VI. TITLE:

We are a sign like Ezekiel

VII. EXPLICATION:

A. Author: Ezekiel meaning "GOD strengthens"

B. Date written: Around 565 B.C., around 22 years of the prophet's ministry

C. Purpose: To explain the LORD to His unbelieving and sinful people

D. To whom written: Jewish exiles in Babylon and GOD's people everywhere

E. Main Themes: Prophetic book like Daniel and Revelation

F. Key words: "I am the LORD"

G. Key verses:

Ezekiel 36:24-26 (Amplified Bible)

36:24 For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land.

36:25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness; and from all your idols will I cleanse you.

36:26 A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

VIII. MAIN BODY:

A. According to what we done, they shall also do

"Thus Ezekiel is to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do."

Ezekiel or "yechezqel" in Hebrew meaning: "GOD will strengthen". Ezekiel represents or symbolizes all believers who are strengthened by GOD, who only depend on GOD. These are people who depended on GOD for everything.

Psalms 7:10 (Amplified Bible)

7:10 My defense and shield depend on God, Who saves the upright in heart.

Psalms 52:7 (Amplified Bible)

52:7 See, this is the man who made not God his strength (his stronghold and high tower) but trusted in and confidently relied on the abundance of his riches, seeking refuge and security for himself through his wickedness.

Psalms 52:7-9 (Amplified Bible)

52:7 See, this is the man who made not God his strength (his stronghold and high tower) but trusted in and confidently relied on the abundance of his riches, seeking refuge and security for himself through his wickedness.

52:8 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in and confidently rely on the loving-kindness and the mercy of God forever and ever.

52:9 I will thank You and confide in You forever, because You have done it [delivered me and kept me safe]. I will wait on, hope in and expect in Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your saints (Your kind and pious ones).

Our confidant is the LORD. Only the LORD knows all our problems, our joys and sorrows of the heart.

We are a warning sign to unbelievers, believers don't need a sign, they need faith.

Luke 11:29-30 (Amplified Bible)

11:29 Now as the crowds were [increasingly] thronging Him, He began to say, This present generation is a wicked one; it seeks and demands a sign (miracle), but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah [the prophet].

11:30 For [just] as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will also the Son of Man be [a sign] to this age and generation.

1 Corinthians 14:22 (Amplified Bible)

14:22 Thus [unknown] tongues are meant for a [supernatural] sign, not for believers but for unbelievers [on the point of believing], while prophecy (inspired preaching and teaching, interpreting the divine will and purpose) is not for unbelievers [on the point of believing] but for believers.

Ezekiel 24:24 (Contemporary English Version)

I am a warning sign--everything I have done, you will also do. And then you will know the LORD God has made these things happen.

B. When tragedy comes, they shall know the LORD

"And when this [destruction of the temple] comes, you shall know, understand, and realize that I am the Lord God [the Sovereign Ruler, Who calls forth loyalty and obedient service]."

Destruction of the temple represents tragedy in the life of people. What they dearly loved will be taken from them. As with Ezekiel, his wife was taken from him by the LORD.

Read the context:

Ezekiel 24:16-18 (Amplified Bible)

24:16 Son of man [Ezekiel], behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] at a single stroke. Yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears flow.