Berean Journeymen

In the Hebrew culture, the bride never knew when the bridegroom would come for her. The bridegroom himself didn't even know because until his father finally approved the new rooms he built for his bride and blessed him to go fetch his bride, he could not complete the marriage covenant. Thus it is for us, the Church of Jesus Christ.

The parable of the virgins in Mt 25:1-13 and passages in Luke 12:35-40 and Rev 15:16 speak to our being prepared, staying on watch, remaining awake and alert and keeping our garments, all of which speaks to our function as watchmen to the Body and to the world.

Well, if we are supposed to function as watchmen, what should we be doing? Scripture gives us a clear picture if we look at how the word is used: raised his eyes and looked, went up to the roof, called and told the king, saw men running, was standing on the tower, reported - so those are some things. A very sobering description comes from Ezekiel 33
[33:1] And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, [2] “Son of man, speak to the sons of your people and say to them, ‘If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one man from among them and make him their watchman, [3] and he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows on the trumpet and warns the people, [4] then he who hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head. [5] ‘He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning; his blood will be on himself. But had he taken warning, he would have delivered his life. [6] ‘But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned, and a sword comes and takes a person from them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require from the watchman's hand.’
[7] “Now as for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel; so you will hear a message from My mouth and give them warning from Me. [8] “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require from your hand. [9] “But if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

We are to be on mission to preach the gospel and make disciples but often our focus is diverted to the most recent or most troubling problem we are encountering. That's what has been our focus much of the time during our prayers. Perhaps we are focusing on the lesser things instead of what we should be doing. Yep, I'm suggesting that we should be focusing on our mission instead of our problems and that is the "E" word - Evangelism. Wow! I never in my wildest dreams thought I would be saying this as I don't even consider myself an evangelist but the Holy Spirit was speaking pretty strongly this morning and, in obedience, I accepted the challenge to be a watchman and to sound the warning that Jesus' return is imminent and that anyone dead in their sins will suffer the terrible wrath of God. I am trusting God to equip me as I cover myself with prayer and ask for divine opportunities to share the Gospel.

I would ask each of you to hold me accountable to this challenge over the coming weeks. I look forward to seeing how God will act on me and on those He puts in my life.

I encourage each of you to put aside all of those great-sounding excuses and accept this same challenge.

Here's a couple of things to think about:
Convince one of the disease so he can appreciate the cure.
With the law, Jesus breaks the hard heart,
With the Gospel, Jesus heals the broken heart.
Look at Luke 10:25-37 and 18:18-30 to see how Jesus did this.
There are many resources to help including http://www.wayofthemaster.com and www.eeinternational.org
Talk with Pastor Craig.

Let's sound the alarm to the sleeping world!

In obedience to Our Master, Jesus

Tom