A few years ago, Heidi was in town in her car when a huge snow storm hit. She remembered what her dad had once told her. "If you ever get stuck in a snow storm, wait for a snow plow and follow it." Pretty soon a snow plow came by, and she started to follow it. She followed the plow for about forty-five minutes.

Finally, the driver of the truck got out and asked her what she was doing.

She explained that her dad had told her if she ever got stuck in the snow, to follow a plow.

The driver nodded and said, "Well, I'm done with Wal-Mart. Now you can follow me over to Lowe’s if you like."

Sometimes we lose our way and the path doesn’t seem as clear as it should be, but in the path that God has for us it is clear. The bible says in Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path.”

So, let’s dive into what the Word says in Ezekiel 23.

Now that is some pretty strong stuff. It could be a punch to the gut or cut us to the core, if we are not careful. Hebrews 4:12 says, “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.”

I think there are some of us that don’t want our innermost thoughts exposed and why not? Because they are not Christlike. I mean if you are more worried about what you can get out of life than what you can give back to God, then your thoughts are in the wrong place.

Some church goers, think that they are okay because they can check certain boxes. I go to church regularly. I give a tenth of everything I have. I give to the youth group and building fund. I signed up to help with the meal or VBS. Check the box. How about we check our reasons for doing things? First thing we should know is point #1.

1. We are all created by God. (For a purpose)

Just because we are created by God doesn’t mean that we are different from the world.

Ezekiel 23:2,4, John 1:1-3

Oholah (Aw ho la) which is a symbolic for a Samarian adulteress and Oholiba (Aw holy va) which is symbolic for an Israelite adulteress.

Anyone heard the name Le’Veon Bell. Bell was a running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He had signed a contract in 2013 with the Steelers for 4 years making a little over a million a year. When his contract was up, he was at the top of his game and wanted a lot more money.

In 2017 he got a one-year deal for $12 million. In 2018 he was offered a 5-year contract for 70 million which he refused. He ended up changing teams going from a very good team to a very bad team for a lot less money. He played one year before being cut from the team.

Bell got a little too high on himself and ended up losing out big time. It’s hard to feel sorry for someone like that, right. But don’t people do the same thing with God? Bell was wanted by the Steelers bad enough that they wanted to pay him a great salary. How about Mike Tyson? Anyone know that name?

He was an amazing fighter at the top of his game when he fired his manager and it cost him big. He went from not losing a fight ever to losing several because he didn’t have the focus or a good trainer, Tyson was on top of the world and got too big for his britches also.

People are wanted by God, wanted so much that Jesus paid the ultimate price for our souls, but we get too high on ourselves and think we are more than all that and a bag of chips and we forget that God created us, wants us and sent His Son to die for us. So, we reject Him. It seems to be okay for a while and maybe even our whole lives but there will be a time when we will lose the fight or signed to the wrong team. And that is not going to be what very many people expect. Which leads us to point 2…

2. The world will reject God.

Ezekiel 23:5-10, John 12:44-50

I am just going to say it. Sometimes people are just dumb. They think they are so smart and yet they really are not.

• "I do not believe the introduction of motor-cars will ever affect the riding of horses." Scott-Montague, 1903.

• "The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?"

• "Who wants to hear actors talk?" H.M. Warner (Warner Brothers)

• "This is typical Berlin hot air. The product is worthless." Head of the Bayer rejecting the aspirin.

• "The concept is interesting and well-formed, but in order to earn better than a 'C,' the idea must be feasible." A Yale university professor criticizing a paper about overnight delivery from the man that went on to found Federal Express

• "Who wants to copy a document on plain paper???" Rejection letter in 1940 to Chester Carlson, inventor of the XEROX machine.

There are many more. So called smart people can be very unintelligent sometimes. Looking back, it is easy for the world to see, how wrong they really were for rejecting a great idea.

Isn’t that what people do with God though? And it has been happening since way back in the garden when Adam and Eve rejected God’s command about not eating the fruit, and caused sin to enter into the world.

And people reject God with many excuses, “There is no God because of all the evil in the world.” “I am good enough” “I want to fit in with my friends” “There is no way the earth was created in 7 days, it took billions of years” “So called Christians don’t act any differently than I do”. That one is a heartbreaker. Why is it that the bible tells us to imitate God and yet we look like the world? We say that we want to help others find their way to God, but yet we are actually leading them away.

God loved us so much that yet while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. If we are the only Jesus people see, how well are we doing? Which brings us to point #3…

3. Don’t act like the world or you will be rejected also.

Ezekiel 23:11-13, 18-19, Mark 7:6

Don’t answer this, but how many of you read through Ezekiel 23 this week? How many of you that read it, thought that this might be inappropriate for church? Come on if we were completely honest this scripture was quite graphic.

Can you imagine how upset God was with the Israelites, that He would pass this kind of message on to His chosen people through the prophet Ezekiel?

Can you imagine how upset God is with the “church” for the things that it has done? This is God’s word and we should learn it, know it, and apply it. If we leave stuff out because it is too graphic or inappropriate, then what we are saying is that some of the bible can be talked about in church and some should not. Have we gotten so thin skinned that we are afraid of offending someone?

Maybe we should redo the 10 commandments too, How about you shouldn’t have any other gods before me, unless it makes you happy? Don’t take the Lord’s name in vain except the occasional OMG. Maybe do not kill unless someone makes you really mad. Do not steal unless you feel like you really want it?

Either we teach the bible or we don’t. I think this set of scriptures is a good representation of what is going on in the church in America today. Some churches do not preach about things that are clearly sin because they don’t want to offend someone. Let me tell you I would rather offend you all the way to heaven than kid glove you all the way to Hell.

We can not act like the world or we will be rejected by God. What’s that saying? “Better to be rejected by the world and accepted by God, than accepted by the world and rejected by God.”

Who are you looking to find favor with? You can’t ride the fence. You can’t go with the world and go with God. You must choose God and only God. Where are you this morning? Are you with God or the world? Hopefully with God. If not, come up and let’s get it right today.

That's No Lady, That's My Sister!