Hillview Family and Friends!
Children’s Ministry will be with the Ministry leader during worship time starting in the fall. Pray with us in our transition. Sis Debbie.
Youth ministry will meet in the fellowship hall at 9:30 am. Youth Ministry will be meeting every 2nd Sunday of the month at 9:30 am.
Please add pocket change in the “Stones of Truth” jar in the foyer. All monies collected will go to offset cost to the Branson 2025 trip.
October is Pastor Appreciation Month. Save the date for Saturday, October 26, 2024! Details coming soon
It’s Boo Tea Time! KC Heartland Events is hosting three Friday evening events in October. See attached flyer for Information.
Mark your calendars now! Your Branson Committee is working hard to make the 2025 Branson trip the best ever. What days will be? Wednesday, July 23-Saturday, July 26, 2025. We hope to see you there!
Oct 9th Dinner 5:30pm Bible Study 6pm.
Oct 12th – Hillview Church Clean Up 8am- 12pm.
Oct 13 – Lunch-to-go , We are privileged to have Hillview’s Chili cook off winner’s Chili with all the fix ins. Adults $10 and children 12 and under $5. Please contact Sis. Linda Marshal. All proceeds go the Branson 2025 Trip.
Oct 17th Pastor Dexter and Sis Karens Whites 25th year of pastoring at Hillview.
Oct 19th Board Management Meeting at 9am.
Oct 20th Baptism Sunday. If anyone wants to be baptized , contact Pastor Dexter White.
If you want to volunteer to be on the calling team, please contact LaTanya Dunn.
We will need volunteers to help with cleaning the Sanctuary, Foyer, and vacuuming. Contact LaTanya Dunn hillviewchurchofgod@gmail.com
Happy Birthday and Wedding Anniversary to all family and friends celebrating in the month of October.
Pastor Dexter will be having a 6 week study “Horizontal Jesus” by Tony Evans. If anyone is interested, contact Pastor Dexter White.
Offering Envelopes are located on the wall outside of the sound booth.
Church of God News
I consider my role as pastor to be like the role Ezekiel had as a watchman for Israel. Ezekiel’s challenges with Israel were greater than my challenges here at Hillview, yet our goal is the same, to proclaim the Word of God. I’ve had the privilege of being your watchman for 25 years on the 17th of October.
From our text we see the role of the watchman. He is the messenger of God to the nation of Israel. The role of Israel was to hear (understand) the message, then obey it.
Ezekiel 3:4-9
4 He then said to me: “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.
5 You are not being sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel–
6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely if I had sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
7 But the house of Israel is not willing to listen to you because they are not willing to listen to me, for the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate.
8 But I will make you as unyielding and hardened as they are.
9 I will make your forehead like the hardest stone, harder than flint. Do not be afraid of them or terrified by them, though they are a rebellious house.”
Ezekiel was sent to his people that understood what he said. There wasn’t a problem understanding his message, the problem was
listening to the message and obeying it. God said, they won’t listen to me, so they won’t listen to you either. Furthermore, God told Ezekiel, if I had sent you to foreigners that would need an interpreter to understand you, they would listen to you. It’s like the Gospel was first preached to the Jews and most didn’t accept it, but when Gentiles heard the message, they received it with glad hearts.
From our text we see four realities the watchman was made aware of. If I claim to be your watchman, these four realities also apply to my life.
The first reality says, “When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
As your pastor, whether you are saved or not, I do not want to be held accountable for your blood. So, one question you must answer is, am I your pastor, am I your watchman? If I am, you have given me permission to warn you of the willful sin you are committing. Now, I don’t have spies lurking in the shadows watching your every move. You might ask, how do you know what I am doing? Sometimes people inadvertently tell me what they are doing. Sometimes people that love you and are concerned about you tell me what you are doing and ask me to talk to you. Sometimes God gives me a message to preach, and, in that word, it reveals what you are doing that must be addressed. You leave the service wondering how did he know what I’m dealing with?
The second reality the watchman was told was, if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
I’m not by nature a confrontational person. If you attend service here, refer to me as pastor, and support the ministry of this church and I see or am made aware that you are engaged in willful sin, I’ve at least got to address it with you to save myself.
Let’s be honest, I care about all of you. The word wicked probably sounds worse than what you think you are doing. We must remember that God’s Word doesn’t change, but the world we live in changes all the time. Things that are considered as sin by God are still sinful even though the world says they are now acceptable. Who are we going to believe? If you are not a student of God’s Word, you can easily be tripped up. My job is to at least make you consider what you are doing.
The third reality the watchman was told was when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
Again, the role of the watchman is to warn the righteous man when he turns from his righteousness and does evil. God said He would put a stumbling block before this person, a calamity or a cause of downfall or ruin. Because the watchman did not warn this person, he will die and the former good (righteous) deeds they had done will not be remembered. The watchman will be accountable for his blood.
We are supposed to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. We should be becoming more and more like Jesus every day. In this life bad things happen to good people. Good people sometimes retaliate against those that hurt them or someone they love. We might call that temporary insanity because the action of the person is not normal for them. I had to tell a person once; you can’t avenge the death of your loved one with the same evil or violence that took your loved one. We must let the legal system do its job. If you have information that will help in the investigation, give it to the police, don’t become a vigilante.
The fourth reality is when the watchman warns the righteous not to sin and they don’t sin, they have saved themselves, and because the watchman warned him, he saved himself as well.
“These instructions to Ezekiel function, in part, to demonstrate Yahweh’s intention that the entire “house of Israel” both the wicked and the backsliding righteous, receive warning about the consequences of their actions. Equally clear, however, is the text’s overriding concern that Ezekiel carry out his responsibility to warn them of impending danger—divinely imposed (untimely) death. To that end, the prophet’s own life is placed in the balance; in cases involving the “incorrigibly” wicked, Ezekiel’s singular concern must be “to acquit himself before God. Whether or not his warning is heeded matters not; as soon as he has performed his appointed task he is in the clear. In one case involving the lapsed righteous, however, the prophet’s warning is efficacious (effective): His life is saved by Ezekiel’s warning.”1
As your pastor my responsibility is to give you God’s message. What you do with it is your responsibility. My prayer is that you receive God’s Word, and your actions or responses are in line with God’s will for your life.
In the 33rd chapter of Ezekiel, God reminds him of his call to be the watchman of Israel.
Ezekiel 33:1-6
1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 “Son of man, speak to your countrymen and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman,
3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people,
4 then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not take warning and the sword comes and takes his life, his blood will be on his own head.
5 Since he heard the sound of the trumpet but did not take warning, his blood will be on his own head. If he had taken warning, he would have saved himself.
6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes the life of one of them, that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for his blood.’
Being a watchman comes with a price. If you do the job right, you will be blessed. If you accept the position of watchman, but fail to carry out the assigned responsibilities, you are held accountable for the blood of the ones killed, though they were worthy of death.
God’s true position involving Israel is found in:
Ezekiel 33:10, 11
10 “Son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you are saying: “Our offenses and sins weigh us down, and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?” ‘
11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’
The words Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:1-7 align better for me when it comes to my role as your pastor and watchman.
1 I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–
2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior,
4 who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men– the testimony given in its proper time.
7 And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle– I am telling the truth, I am not lying– and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles.
Ezekiel’s calling to be a prophet and watchman and my calling to be a pastor and your watchman are similar. If we preach God’s Word, telling everyone God’s desire for all is to come to the knowledge of the truth. So, turn from your evil ways. Why will you die?
Topic: Called to be a Watchman
Text: Ezekiel 3:16-21
16 At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me:
17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.
18 When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
19 But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
20 “Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. Since you did not warn him, he will die for his sin. The righteous things he did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.
21 But if you do warn the righteous man not to sin and he does not sin, he will surely live because he took warning, and you will have saved yourself.”
Support Hillview’s Greeting Card Ministry – We have anniversary, birthday, and get-well cards on the table by the front entrance for you to send to others to let them know you are thinking of them. A donation of $1.00 will help cover the cost of cards and postage.
Continue to pray for the sick and shut-ins and their caregivers. Prayer is needed for our entire congregation as we are all dealing with spoken and unspoken needs and requests.
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