Ezekiel 45: 18-20 ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In the first month on the first day you are to take a young bull without defect and purify the sanctuary. 19 The priest is to take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the temple, on the four corners of the upper ledge of the altar and on the gateposts of the inner court. 20 You are to do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance; so you are to make atonement for the temple.' This passage is about coming back to God through the temple sacrifices - through the law. I don't remember the specific circumstances.  That isn't even important for what I want to talk about. Part of the instruction given here is " for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance ". There are no examples given or further explanation. None are really needed for us to understand. The more we learn, the more we understand how far...

Ezekiel 28:2: ..... " 'In the pride of your heart        you say, "I am a god;        I sit on the throne of a god ....." This verse was spoken by God to Ezekiel about the ruler of Tyre. When I read it this morning, I stopped at the phrase: In the pride of your heart.   What can this mean for me? Anything?  Am I hiding pride in my heart?  Do we even understand that when we carry pride in our hearts, that we are really saying we are gods?  Well, we are. Aren't we? On some level? We must reflect on whether we have pride in our hearts, especially hidden pride that causes us to believe somewhere deep down inside that we are in control, that we have power, that we know the answers, that we are gods, our own gods. That we don't need another all-powerful, all-knowing, saving God. I'm certain that there are times that I think I am in control, when I'm really not. Times when I think that I can deal with it, or h...

Ezekiel 3:10 - 11 "And he said to me, "Son of man, listen...Go now to your countrymen....and speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says,' whether they listen or fail to listen." This passage seems appropriate to follow the post of August 17, 2010 titled Pass it on . Most of us want to see results. If we don't, we feel like we've failed. If our children don't attend church, if our spouses don't do as we like, if the youth in the youth group get into trouble, if things don't go as we think they should, we feel like our efforts to spread the word of God's might and God's love are in vain. We are a results-oriented culture. We give and take tests. We keep track of how many people we get through the drive through window in a certain amount of time. We count how many people we help during our busy day so others will know that we've been successful. We count. We test. We track results.  We reward results with bon...