These dear people, Evan and Carmen Williams, missionaries working in Honduras and looking for somebody to go back and help them. Got so much going on, they can't do it all themselves and praying for God to send somebody to be with them. Okay? Amen. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Okay. The Lord bless you. Thank you ever so much, Pastor, for the invitation to come to your conference and what a joy it is to be able to return from the field and to be able to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your faithful support over these last four years. It's only because of churches like yourselves that missionaries like us can do what we do for the Lord. And so everything that we do is to your account, because without you, nothing would be done. We praise the God for you, and we praise God for all the churches like you. And we ask God to bless your ministry here in this place. If you open your Bibles with me, please, to Ezekiel in chapter 33. Ezekiel in chapter 33, we're going to be dealing with a passage of scripture that talks about horns, blowing a horn. It's very apt that we should look at this passage. And indeed, I've been enjoying the music. I believe that Christians have the best music because it's the music that exonerates our great and heavenly Father. And what better music than that? And what a blessing the music has been here in this place. But in Ezekiel chapter 33 in verses 1 through 7, I'm going to read down through this passage, but then we'll look at some other verses. It says, And again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of thy people and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon the land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for their watchman, if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people. Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet and taketh not warning, if the sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. Amen. And we know that the reading of God's infallible truth brings light to our eyes. You know, as we talk about missions and missions conferences, there's a misconception amongst believers, and that is that the missionaries are the ones who go overseas. The Word of God tells us very, very clearly that each and every one of us who are saved by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, we have been saved to serve. The New Testament was written to the believers to instruct them in their service for the King of Kings. But so often today people get saved and they get stuck. They get saved and only sit in the pews and don't get involved in the Lord's work. They think that the Christian worker for the full timers, those that have given up their jobs and have gone out full time and the missionaries are the ones that go overseas and the ones responsible for the local ministry are the pastor and the pastoral staff. But the Word of God doesn't say that. The Word of God says that each and every one of us are servants of the King of Kings. And as servants, we are His watchmen. You know, I believe that the Bible is a continuous. It's a testimony from one end to the other. The Old Testament is telling us that Christ is coming. The Gospels tell us he's here and this is what he's teaching. And the rest of the New Testament tells us he has come, he has left these instructions, and he's coming back again. And you know, as we read the New Testament, we discover that God is asking each and every one of us to tarry here for a time in order to serve him. Our God, if he had wanted, could have saved us and took us home to be in his presence. What a joyful time that would be for each one of us. But then who would have shared the gospel with you? Who would have shared the gospel with me? Each one of us are watchmen, and so it is fitting that we take this passage of Scripture and we look at the requirements of a watchman and his responsibilities. The first thing that we find in this passage is that a watchman must have a clear vision. must have a clear vision. Look at it there in verse 3 with me please. It says, if when he seeth the sword come, then in verse 7 it says, thou, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth. Whenever the word of God is talking about a clear vision, it is talking about understanding what God's word is saying to each one of us. Do you know the theologians call this having a biblical worldview. It is seeing things as God sees them. I went on the website on one occasion and I was looking at the pie diagram that they have there of the world religions and they claim that 33% of the world's population, now topping over 7 billion people, over 33% of them are Christian. But if you go to fundamental biblical websites you find that 33%, now we are only talking about 33% of the whole, only 3% or less claim to be born again Christians. Do you know what that means? That means that your next door neighbor, let me bring it home even closer, your children need the Lord. Do you know, there is a fallacy about, that was about at the time of Christ. You remember whenever the Israelites said to Jesus that we are the sons of Abraham. And Jesus said to them, think not of yourselves that you are the sons of Abraham, because I say unto you, God can make from the stones under your feet, he can lift up a generation unto Abraham. God's not interested in genealogies. But a lot of people today seem to think that because they're born in a Christian country, or because their mom and dad are Christians, or because they go to a Christian church, that that makes them a Christian. Do you know, in England and the United Kingdom from which I come, the people have that mindset. They think that because Britain is a Christian country, then they are Christians. I remember the fallacy that I made the first time I ever did door-to-door work in the United Kingdom. I went to the door, knocked the door, and speaking to the person I said, are you a Christian? And the fellow looked at me and he said, well, do I have a grass skirt or a bone through my nose? Of course I'm a Christian. You know, there's the fallacy. But listen folks, if you're born in a garage, does that make you a car? You know, whenever we look at it, and we look at it from God's point of view, what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who follows Christ. A Christian is someone who has come to a knowledge of their own personal sin, and they realize that without Christ, without God in their lives, they will be damned into eternal fire for all eternity. Listen folks, there are many born again believers that have lost the vision. You see, the Lord says to Ezekiel, the watchman must have a clear vision. What about your family? What about my family? Are all of your family truly born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? We heard the news, the wonderful news of that couple that have just had another grandson added to their family circle. But you know that's another little sinner that has come into the world that needs Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. Do we recognize that? In our Sunday school class as we're preparing our Sunday school class lesson, do we realize that the children in our class, perhaps not all of them, are born again Christians and they need to hear the gospel, they need to be challenged about the relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ? You know some of the sad things that I find is as I talk to believers, sometimes I'll say to them, and what about your son, is he a Christian? Is he a born again? And they'll say, well, I think so. Do you not think it's about time you found out? Listen, each one of us should be sure about those that are in our family. Each one of us should be sure about those who are in our district. Do you know there's oodles numbers of churches? Just in Santa Lucia alone, where Carmen and I are working, there are thirteen charismatic so-called Christian churches. And yet whenever you examine the lives of those who go to those churches and claim to be Christians, you see that they're living together out of wedlock. You see that they're involved in corruption. You see that they're involved in stealing. They're involved in so many things. There's plenty of people who call themselves Christians just because they're going to a church doesn't make them a Christian. You and I need to realize that we live in the midst of a mission field, and the missionaries aren't just the ones that go overseas, but that God is calling you to be a missionary right here in Volusia County, right here in Orange City, right here in Volusia County Baptist Church. God is calling you to be a missionary to reach precious souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. Can I ask you, are you involved in your local church fellowship? Are you serving the Lord? I praise God that this church is serving, serving the Lord collectively as a body, and that we know the benefits of that service through your faithful support of our ministry over the last four years, and I know there are plenty of other missionary couples that could say exactly the same thing. But how are you individually serving the Lord? I'm sure Pastor Reynolds could fix you up with a ministry right this very evening if you were to realize and have a vision for Valluzzi County and you were to go to your pastor and say, Pastor, I believe God is calling me to be better involved in my local church. Is there anything I can do? I'm sure Pastor has a whole list of things that he could get you involved in. We're all missionaries, but the first thing that we must have as missionaries is a clear vision. The second thing that we have to realize is that we have a clear responsibility. Look what the Word of God says there in verse 3. It says, if when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet. It goes on in verse 7 and it says, so thou, O son of man, I have sent thee a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore thou shalt hear the word of my mouth and warn them from me. You see, whenever you give a command to somebody, you need to be very, very clear they understand what you mean by that command. Whenever the Word of God says that you have to blow your trumpet, well, we can blow our trumpet. The watchman could get down in his little watchtower box and blow his trumpet. I'm sure whenever the brass band is practicing individually, sometimes whenever we come in, each one's tuning up, and they're all playing their own little tune to themselves. They're blowing their trumpets. But is that what the Lord wants us to do, just to blow the trumpet for ourselves? They could have slid down their ladder and gone into a house and gathered around their family to themselves and played the trumpet to their families. But was that what God was asking the watchman to do? No, God was asking the watchman to get up in his box when he saw the sword coming and blow his trumpet. With every fiber of his body, with his last breath, he was to blow the trumpet so that all would hear. To what end? You see, there's a lot of trumpet blowing going on in our country, in our world today. Not everything that is termed Christian is truly biblical. And there's a lot of trumpet blowing going on. Do you know in Honduras, the greatest scourge to the gospel is the so-called prosperity gospel. And the prosperity gospel is a feel-good gospel. Whenever the watchman got up in his box and he blew the trumpet, did the people that heard it say, ooh, that gives me a lovely fuzzy feeling inside? Is that what they said? No. Whenever they heard the trumpet, the very hers on their arms, the very her on their neck stood on end because they knew what that word trumpet blowing meant. But today there seems to be more emphasis on helping people feel good. I remember witnessing to a Lutheran minister, and he said to me, what's wrong with you Baptists is you're always talking about sin. I like to woo the people to Christ, talking about the love of Christ, and the benefits of Christ, and the wonders of Christ. But the Word of God says that we must explain to the people, we must show them their need of a Savior. You see if you go to a riverside and there is a guy swimming in the river and you grab a life ring and throw it out to him and start yelling for help and everything and he doesn't realize that he is in danger he is going to look at you as though you have two heads. But if he realizes, if you start screaming and start pointing that he's floating slowly down towards a waterfall, and he needs to get back, and that the currents are too strong for him to swim against it, and he must need to grab hold of that life raft, then he's going to heed you. He's going to take hold of it, because he has seen the danger that he's in, and he has seen his own incapacity to save himself. He needs to be saved. And that's the type of preaching that we need from our pulpits today, not a feel-good gospel. We need a gospel that is going to awaken people in the Spirit of God to their sinfulness before a holy God, and show them how God has wonderfully provided for their salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ upon the cross of Calvary. And folks, as we preach the word of God, we preach repentance. That's a word that isn't very popular today. I remember doing a Bible study in Santa Lucia on the word of repentance. The following Sunday, a lady came up to us after the service and asked to speak to Carmen and myself. And as we sat down, she burst into tears. Now, this was a woman who had come to us, had started to come to us from a charismatic Pentecostal group, had heard about us, had started to come, and had enjoyed the services, and was starting to come regularly. And as she fought over the tears, she said, last Wednesday night, you were talking about repentance. And you know, whenever I came to Jesus, nobody ever told me I had to repent of my sin. Whenever I came to Jesus, my son was lying dying in the hospital, and the person who led me to Jesus came to me and said, if I were to ask Jesus to be my Savior, then somehow God would save my son. And I accepted Jesus so that my son might be saved from this disease that was going to take his life. And she said, all these years, I'm a baptized member of my church, I've been singing in the choir, and nobody ever told me I needed to repent. And then we talked with her and we counseled her from the Word of God, and weeping, she repented of her sin and asked Jesus Christ to be her personal Savior. That's the type of preaching that we need today, folks. We need to be telling people the things that are in the book, not the things that are in their heads. Do you know so often we see that this feel-good gospel is wooing people along a Christian road, but it's not turning their hearts away from sin, and certainly not turning their hearts towards the risen Savior that can only save them. Do you know, as we work amongst the children in Santa Lucia, at one point we had something like 48 children gathering just in Santa Lucia, and all of a sudden the numbers started dropping off. And whenever we made inquiries as to why the numbers had dropped off, we found that a lot of these children, their families went to the charismatic Christian churches in the town. And we thought to ourselves, well, so long as they're getting the word of God, at least they're going somewhere. But then we made more inquiries, and we discovered that the churches were peeved at us because we were teaching that there's no such thing as female pastors in the scriptures. They were peeved at us because every single one of them have a female pastor. And they were peeved that we were daring to teach their children that the Word of God says that there's no such thing as a female pastor. And do you know what they put on on Saturday mornings at the same time as our Good News Club in order to woo away their children from the preaching of the Word of God? They put on dance classes. Dance classes. The best that they could come up with in their arsenal against the preaching of the Word of God was dance classes. Folks, there are so many churches today, and all they're doing is pondering to the people's whims and to their wants. What they should be doing is sounding the Word of God, and you and I have to be involved in that. Do you know you can be involved in that in your own workplace? You can be talking to your work colleague and sharing with them the blessing that you get from the Word of God being expounded by Pastor Reynolds each Sunday in this place. You could invite them and encourage them to come unto the sound of God's Word, because as they would come unto the sound of God's Word, the entrance of thy Word bringeth light, and the light bringeth repentance. It's a wonderful opportunity for us to be involved, but if we don't have a vision for our own involvement in the work of God in our own place, then we're never going to sound our trumpet. It's our responsibility, folks. God has you here in Volusia County. God has you here in Orange City in order that you might sound the trumpet of the Word of God to the people in this area. so that as you sound the trumpet, God's Holy Spirit will get a hold of the people's hearts and draw them unto himself in a biblical way. The first thing is that we must have a clear vision. The second thing is we have a clear responsibility. The third thing is that we have a clear accountability. One of the reasons why people don't want to get involved in anything anymore is that the term accountability is a term that doesn't sit well with people. You see, if your responsibility is to clean the restrooms, and somebody goes in and the restroom is an absolute mess, then they come out and say, who's responsible for cleaning the restrooms? And everybody points at you. Well you see, the Word of God says that we have to have a vision, a vision that we are called to be involved in God's work. We have a responsibility to be blowing our trumpet in our local area, but having that responsibility we also have an accountability. And you see the word of God says very clearly here, look what it says in verse six, but if the watchman see the sword come and blow, not the trumpet and the people be not warned, if the sword come and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand. You see this is why people say, uh-uh, it's the pastor's responsibility, it's the staff's responsibility, not mine. We don't want the responsibility. Because we don't want to be held accountable. But you see, whenever we go into the Great Commission, the Great Commission says, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Now as Peter and James and John and the others went forward and they preached the gospel, Jesus went on in that passage and said, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. What did he command them to do? Go ye into all the world. And so as they saw people coming to know the Lord as their savior, they taught them that their responsibility was to go. So whether we fulfill our responsibility or whether we don't fulfill our responsibility, the responsibility still falls upon us. So there is an accountability. We don't believe in saved and lost, and certainly I would, that's one of the scourges that is in Santa Lucia. Every single one of those charismatic churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, teach people that you can be saved and lost. And I don't feel for one minute that this is what is being taught here. You see the word of God teaches us about the great white throne judgment at which all unbelievers will stand before God as their judge. But it also tells us about the judgment seat of Christ where each and every born again believer will stand and give an account of themselves for service rendered. And so each one of us will give an account of ourselves, not to see whether or not we're getting into heaven. Praise God that was settled at the foot of the old rugged cross that day that we confessed our sin and asked Jesus to be our Savior. But we will give an account to Him of what we've done for Him since that glorious day that we came to know Jesus Christ as our Savior. and brothers and sisters in Christ, each time we rub shoulders with that neighbor, each time we rub shoulders with that colleague at work, God is presenting us the opportunity to say something to them that will awaken in them the interest and awaken in them a curiosity about the things of God. And God will hold us accountable. So therefore it behooves us, we are constrained to preach the gospel. And I trust that each and every one of us see this, and that each and every one of us are involved in this. Perhaps God is speaking to your heart tonight about getting involved in missions, not only here in Volusia County or Orange City, but perhaps God is opening your eyes to the harvest fields afar off, and he's laying on your heart to thrust out into the harvest field and be used of God in other places. We would love to talk with you, because as a missionary couple supported by this church, we want to extend to you an invitation, an invitation to your pastor to authorize a missions team to come down and work with us, either in the winter or in the summer, or to send down short-term missionaries to work alongside us. We would love to start several ministries. There's three that we want to start this next term. We want to start a Bible Institute. We want to start a primary school ministry. And we also want to open other mission points, other church plans. But we need help. We have missions work every single night of the week, and we're stretched to an absolute limit. We need more workers. There is a place for you to serve the Lord, both here in Orange City, Valoozie County, and in the further mission fields across the globe. But be involved, no matter where you are, be involved in the things of God. So that whenever you stand before the judgment seat of Christ, you will hear these great and eternal words, well done my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful and little. Come on, I will put you in charge of much. May God richly bless His word to each and every one of our hearts.