On Being The Watchman

Today almost everyone from our church had the wonderful experience of meeting for the first time, a missionary that we support over in the Philippines. His name is Carl Henderson. He brought a message today that I would like to share a brief overview of it with you.

I want to start out with a Bible verse, and then a question;

6. "But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, and the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’
7. “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall 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 at your hand. 9 Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."
11. "Say to them: ‘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! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’"
~Ezekiel 33:6-9,11

So I ask you, what does this verse mean? Notice verse 8. It is saying that if we don't share the gospel with others, their blood will be on our hands. God is telling us through Ezekiel that if we pass up an opportunity to share the word of God with others, than He will hold us at fault for not witnessing to them. You may start to say, "I just don't feel led!" or "I was just waiting for the right time" but guess what, God never said "Go tell others about me when you feel like it and if you do your best than your good". No, if that watchman in verse 6 sees the enemy coming, it's his primary duty to warn others of the coming danger. I don't think it would go over well with the judge, if there was one left in that city after it had been pillaged and destroyed, if the watchman said "I just didn't feel like it". Well, as you can obviously see, it would have been his fault for not sounding the alarm! God is the one to do the saving of souls, but he has given us the duty to be the "watchmen" and sound the alarm of the coming day in which each and every non-believer will be cast into the eternal and unquenchable fire. God doesn't take delight in the death of the wicked as is stated in verse 11, but when they reject the warning from God's children who try to share the gospel with them, they aren't rejecting the one sharing the gospel at all, it's really God whom they are rejecting. Then the blame is not to be found on the Christian for not sharing, but on the unbeliever for hardening their hearts.
Pastor Henderson also talked about how if we share the gospel, hopefully God will use the message to plant a seed into the heart of that person. There's a statistic that says a person on average hears the gospel 7.5 times before yielding to Christ. If that's the case, then when we help bring someone to the Lord, most likely the first thought to cross through our mind would be "Oh yeah! I've just brought this person to Christ!" when really, you were probably the person who happened to be the last in a line of others who sowed seeds of God's promises into the heart of that person. It reminds me of the song "What if I'm 15". The great news is that you will be able to reap rewards in Heaven. By doing this you are obeying Matt. 6:19, by laying up treasures for yourself in Heaven. Because everything on earth will be destroyed, but in Heaven, you cannot lose what you have received. We must also be aware that the seeds we plant into peoples hearts may not sprout till another person comes along, so you may not see the results, but they happen.
Another thing Pastor Carlson touched on was the fact on how Christ should be self evident in your life. He told a story on how this person went to Canada and visited stayed with some lumberjacks then came back telling stories of how terrible the lumberjacks would treat Christians, and went on and on about it. Well, the pastor put his arm around the man and asked him how the lumberjacks treated him, and he said "Oh, they didn't bother me, I was only there for two years so they never found out". Now I'm not sure if this story was just a story or it had actually happened, but I'm sure there have been scenarios that have been similar to this in real-life. How terrible a thing it is to have been in a place for two years and no one ever realizes that Jesus Christ lives in you! Talk about hiding your light under a bushel! Christ should be evident every hour of our lives, let alone ever day.
It's getting late, so I need to bring this to a close, but all I know is that one thought that just kept going through my head after hearing Pastor Henderson's message; "How many people's blood do I have on my hands for not sharing the gospel of Jesus with them, or for not making Christ in me evident to all in the way I look and act?"