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Day 227, or August 15th. Be content to do your best.

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Our thoughts today are rooted in Ezekiel 3 verse 19.

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But if you do warn the wicked person, and they do not turn from their wickedness or

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from their evil ways, they will die for their sin, but you will have saved yourself.

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And now the big picture surrounding this verse.

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Ezekiel is one of two prophets who reside in Babylonia and minister to the Jews in exile.

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Like his fellow prophet Daniel, he began his life in Judah before being scooped up and

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brought to Babylon by the invading Babylonian army.

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The Bible confirms Daniel's removal, but we have to rely on the historian Josephus

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to clarify Ezekiel's.

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His name means God Strengthens, which is a very helpful name to remind God's people

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that he is always ready to strengthen them during their exile.

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As part of his prophetic responsibility, he was also to relay to the Jews God's warning

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of Jerusalem's coming destruction, due to the sins of the Jewish people.

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When God commissions Ezekiel by the river Kibar, in the area where Iran and Iraq meet

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today, he was thirty years old, the age when he would have been able to enter the priesthood

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if he had remained near the temple in Jerusalem.

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God, however, called him to be a prophet instead.

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His ministry lasted over twenty years.

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He was probably born and greatly influenced during the godly reign of Josiah, king of

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Judah, the last godly king to reign.

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And now, today's action step.

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We can so easily feel inadequate when we see what a small impact we often make in the lives

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of others.

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That is probably why God reminds Ezekiel that it is not his responsibility to determine

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how people react to what he says.

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He simply has to say it and then leave the rest to God.

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So many times we try to do the work of the Holy Spirit and persuade our hearers with

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as much eloquence as we can muster.

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Remember, the apostle Paul said, he didn't rely on eloquence but on the power of God.

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He reminds us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5.

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And we should do the same.