Maranatha Grace Church

Brothers and Sisters,

The man brought me back to the entrance to the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. ² He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was trickling from the south side.

³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits^[y] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. (Ezek. 47)

In our walk with the Lord, we should aim to go deeper and deeper. We walk by faith, not by sight; we go from glory to glory.

Please read Ezekiel 45 - 48. And Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

³⁰ The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household.  (Ezek. 44 NIV)

³⁰ And the first of all the firstfruits of all things, and every oblation of all, of every sort of your oblations, shall be the priest's: ye shall also give unto the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in thine house. (Ezek. 44 KJV)

Many Christians think of their pastor as a coach, a motivator, or a great administrator. I think a church misses out a lot when they think of their pastor solely on those terms. The individual Christian needs to position himself in a way toward his pastor so "that he may cause the blessing to rest in your house," or "so that a blessing may rest on your household."

Don't just overlook that thought, there is indeed a blessing that comes from your pastor. 

Please read Ezekiel 40 - 41. Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

³ He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?”

I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”

⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! ⁵ This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath^[ enter you, and you will come to life. ⁶ I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. ⁸ I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” ¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army. (Ezek. 37)

Everything is possible to God. There is no lost case.

Please read Ezekiel 37-40. Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²⁵ “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of savage beasts so that they may live in the wilderness and sleep in the forests in safety. ²⁶ I will make them and the places surrounding my hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season; there will be showers of blessing. (Ezek. 34)

God will do all of these things for the sake of his holy name. He did it for the people of Israel, he will do it for all of us because of Jesus, "Showers of blessing."

Please read Ezekiel 33 - 36. Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

⁶ Then all who live in Egypt will know that I am the Lord. “‘You have been a staff of reed for the people of Israel. ⁷ When they grasped you with their hands, you splintered and you tore open their shoulders; when they leaned on you, you broke and their backs were wrenched. (Ezek. 29) 

Don't give us false hope to people. Don't go after false hope. 

⁵ This is what the Lord says:“Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:5)

Please read Ezekiel 29 - 32. Listen. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

Your heart became proud
    on account of your beauty,
and you corrupted your wisdom
    because of your splendor.
So I threw you to the earth;
    I made a spectacle of you before kings. (Ezek. 28)

Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 6:18) Unfortunately, many people who are prideful do not even know that. Are you a bad receiver, are you ungrateful or resentful? Check your heart.

Please read Ezekiel 25 - 28. Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

¹³ “‘Testing will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.’ (Ezek. 21)

Always ask God to give you a teachable spirit. Without a heart which is open to learning there can be no spiritual progress. If the is no test, there is no promotion to higher grade. 

Please read Ezekiel 21-26. - Listen. 

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²⁰ The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

²¹ “But if a wicked person turns away from all the sins they have committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, that person will surely live; they will not die. ²² None of the offenses they have committed will be remembered against them. Because of the righteous things they have done, they will live. ²³ Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign Lord. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live? (Ezek. 18)

The theology of "generational curse" is very appealing to some people. It absolves people of their responsibility regarding their own life decisions. Playing the victim can be very comforting for some people, but the truth is we are responsible, not our fathers and not our mothers. We can change.

Please read Ezekiel 17-20. Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

⁴⁹ “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. (Ezek. 16)

"Blessed are the compassionate, for they shall receive compassion. (Matthew 5:7)" As long as we are  living an imperfect life (most of us do), we will need compassion. May we never be arrogant, uncaring toward the poor and needy. 

Please read Ezekiel 13 -16. --Listen.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²⁶ The word of the Lord came to me: ²⁷ “Son of man, the Israelites are saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies about the distant future.’²⁸ “Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer; whatever I say will be fulfilled, declares the Sovereign Lord.’” (Ezek. 12)

Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3 gives us a warning about the last days, he also tells us what to do to avoid the wrath of God: "You ought to live holy and godly lives." (v.11)

⁸ But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

¹⁰ But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. ¹¹ Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives.

Please read Ezekiel 9 -12.  - Listen

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

¹⁷ He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? Must they also fill the land with violence and continually arouse my anger? Look at them putting the branch to their nose!  (Ezek. 8)

God is against violence in the land. A lack of fear of the Lord will always lead to an increase of violence in a community. We have to pray more than ever when we see so much violence in our country.

Please read Ezekiel 4 - 8.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

And he said to me, “Son of man, eat what is before you, eat this scroll; then go and speak to the people of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.

³ Then he said to me, “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth. (Ezek. 3)

I think the ultimate direction of learning, instead of spending hours studying a subject, we will eventually learn any subject by eating the encoded information regarding the subject. We will eat the book instead of reading the book. “Son of man, eat this scroll I am giving you and fill your stomach with it.” So I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth." The first book printed on paper was the Bible, hopefully the first book to be encoded for eat-and-learn will be the Bible.

Please read Lamentations 4 - Ezekiel 3.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²² Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
    for his compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
    therefore I will wait for him.”

²⁵ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
    to the one who seeks him;
²⁶ it is good to wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke
    while he is young. (Lamentations 3)

My hope is on you Lord. I will wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. Discipline is best learned when one is young. The prophet writes, "It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young." Without discipline no one can attain true success.

Please read Jeremiah 52 - Lamentations 3.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

⁵⁸ This is what the Lord Almighty says:

“Babylon’s thick wall will be leveled
    and her high gates set on fire;
the peoples exhaust themselves for nothing,
    the nations’ labor is only fuel for the flames.” (Jer. 51)

We came to the United States to work and to prosper, but many times persevering Haitian Christians go to the extreme with their work forgetting  to spend time with God and with his people at the church. We must remember the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:19-21

¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Please read Jeremiah 48-51.

May the Lord richly bless you!

Brothers and Sisters,

²⁷ “Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant;
    do not be dismayed, Israel.
I will surely save you out of a distant place,
    your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
    and no one will make him afraid.
²⁸ Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant,
    for I am with you,” declares the Lord.
“Though I completely destroy all the nations
    among which I scatter you,
    I will not completely destroy you.
I will discipline you but only in due measure;
    I will not let you go entirely unpunished.” (Jer. 46)

Please read Jeremiah 44-47.

May the Lord richly bless you!