Word Of Mouth | Crossland Community Church

Devotional

Day 1: Vision of Glory Fuels Relentless Proclamation

Ezekiel’s encounter with God’s overwhelming presence wasn’t meant to dazzle him but to steel him for a costly mission. Just as John’s vision of Christ in Revelation emboldened him to confront seven churches, believers today need a fresh grasp of Jesus’ authority as judge and king. This unshakable vision alone produces the courage to speak hard truths in a rebellious world. When we see Christ as the Ancient of Days, sword-mouthed and fire-eyed, we stop measuring success by human standards and embrace faithfulness. [01:50]

“And he said to me, ‘Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.’ And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me.” (Ezekiel 2:1-2, ESV)

Reflection: What aspect of Christ’s authority or character have you neglected that, if reclaimed, would embolden your witness? How might seeing Him as Judge deepen your urgency to share both warning and hope?

Day 2: Swallowing the Scroll of Lament and Woe

The scroll Ezekiel ate wasn’t a feel-good devotional but a gut-punch of judgment. Modern believers often cherry-pick comforting truths while avoiding God’s wrath. Yet the full gospel—hell’s reality as much as heaven’s promise—must be internalized until it becomes part of our spiritual DNA. Like communion, consuming Christ’s sacrifice means tasting the horror He endured to save us, fueling compassion for those still facing that horror. [24:59]

“So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, ‘Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.’” (Revelation 10:9, ESV)

Reflection: When have you hesitated to share the “bitter” parts of God’s truth? How might embracing the whole counsel of Scripture deepen your love for those unaware of their danger?

Day 3: Hard-Headed Messengers for a Stiff-Necked People

God didn’t call Ezekiel to out-preach the rebellion but to outlast it. When confronting a culture that rejects Christ’s lordship, believers need flint-like resolve. This isn’t about arrogance but unwavering conviction—the kind that keeps inviting coworkers to church even after 20 “no’s” or gently correcting falsehoods at family gatherings. Our persistence testifies to the worthiness of the message. [35:22]

“Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. Like emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks.” (Ezekiel 3:8-9, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you grown soft in your witness to avoid conflict? What practical step can you take this week to embody “holy stubbornness” for someone’s sake?

Day 4: Measuring Faithfulness, Not Crowds

Churches obsess over attendance numbers, but God measures obedience. Crossland’s focus on baptisms and discipling children mirrors Ezekiel’s call to steward the remnant. Success isn’t about filling seats but faithfully scattering seed—whether through teaching toddlers or preaching to empty pews. Every act done in Jesus’ name, unseen or uncelebrated, echoes eternally. [18:37]

“Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Corinthians 11:28-29, ESV)

Reflection: What ministry metric have you wrongly equated with God’s favor? How can you shift your focus today to faithfulness in small, unseen acts?

Day 5: The Sweetness of Truth After the Sting

Ezekiel expected the scroll of judgment to taste bitter, but God made it sweet. Proclaiming Christ’s wrath isn’t a grim duty but a mercy—like warning neighbors about a wildfire. When we grasp that hell’s reality makes the gospel urgent, even hard conversations carry hope’s aftertaste. Truth may sting at first, but for those who receive it, grace becomes honey. [29:29]

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103, ESV)

Reflection: When has speaking a hard truth later revealed God’s kindness? How can you pair warnings of judgment with invitations to grace this week?

Sermon Summary

Ezekiel 2 puts God in the driver’s seat. God stands Ezekiel up after glory knocks him flat, not to wow him but to ready him. The Spirit comes in, lifts him to his feet, and then God sends him to a people that he calls rebellious, obstinate, and stiff necked. The assignment sounds brutal. Say what the Sovereign Lord says, whether they listen or fail to listen. The point is not applause. The point is faithfulness to the Word.

The text takes aim at word-of-mouth. Influence always runs person to person. That is how truth moves. But the message Ezekiel must carry is not sugary. The first scroll is covered front and back with lament, mourning, and woe. God refuses a one-sided gospel. Flip the scroll. Eat both sides. Internalize it. Then speak. Communion echoes that same rhythm. Take, bless, break, and consume the whole story. Not just Christ crucified, but Christ risen, ascended, and returning as Judge with fire in his eyes and a sword in his mouth.

The Spirit in the chapter descends and then God speaks. That is the pattern from creation to exile to church. The Spirit indwells to make mouths open. The church’s job is to say what God says, not to sell opinions or chase likes. Success is not the measure. Faithfulness is. God even makes the messenger’s forehead like flint. Among briars, thorns, and scorpions, fear cannot lead. Pressure from culture on the left or the right cannot edit the Book. If a church swaps truth for approval, the lampstand goes.

The bad news does the hard work of making the good news good. Hell is as real as heaven. The verdict is already in on unbelief. Behavior was paid for at the cross. The line God draws is living and dead, not good and bad. Believe and live. Refuse and stay condemned. That sounds like vinegar, but swallowed in faith it tastes like honey. Ezekiel learns that the hard word, fully internalized, becomes sweet because it saves.

The chapter finally locates mission near at hand. God sends Ezekiel to his own people, not a strange tongue. The church’s first field is across the street, on the first tee, at the office, among familiar faces. Say what God says. Eat all that God gives. Stand up when the glory of God puts a person on his face. The vision fuels the courage. The Word supplies the content. The Spirit supplies the lift. And God handles the results.

Key Takeaways

1. Vision births courage for hard words The glory encounter is not spectacle, it is fuel. God shows himself to embolden a servant to speak when the assignment will sting. When Christ is seen as he is, the spine stiffens and the mouth opens with clarity rather than compromise. [01:50]
2. Speak what the Sovereign Lord says Opinion cannot raise the dead, but God’s Word can. The task is not to be creative, but to be faithful, to say, this is what the Sovereign Lord says. Results belong to God, responsibility belongs to the messenger. [15:05]
3. Eat both sides of the scroll The gospel must be fully swallowed, not sampled. Lament, mourning, and woe on one side, sweetness on the other, together tell the truth. Communion trains the palate to take all of Christ, so the tongue can tell all of Christ. [24:59]
4. Bad news makes good news sweet Judgment named plainly makes mercy shine. What sounds like vinegar on the lips becomes honey in the heart when believed. Hell is real, but grace is nearer, and belief draws a line between the living and the dead. [29:29]
5. Be harder than flint in love God promises to harden the messenger more than the rebel is hard. Tender hearts do not need soft heads. Holy stubbornness keeps truth central when thorns, scorpions, and cultural pressure press in. [34:44]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:41] - Exile and Babylon context
[01:50] - Glory encounter that prepares
[02:27] - Exiles now and the church’s task
[04:00] - Word-of-mouth and witness
[06:52] - Called to deliver bad news
[10:27] - Sent among wolves
[12:32] - Spirit descends, words rise
[15:05] - Say what the Sovereign Lord says
[16:09] - Faithful, not successful
[20:01] - Briars and scorpions, no fear
[24:59] - Scroll of lament and woe
[29:29] - Bitter truth tastes like honey
[34:44] - Forehead harder than flint
[40:39] - Communion for the redeemed

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading
Ezekiel 2:1-10 (ESV)
1 And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” 2 And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. 3 And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. 4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ 5 And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. 6 And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. 7 And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house. 8 But you, son of man, hear what I say to you. Be not rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth and eat what I give you.” 9 And when I looked, behold, a hand was stretched out to me, and behold, a scroll of a book was in it. 10 And he spread it before me. And it had writing on the front and on the back, and there were written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.”

Observation Questions

What specific characteristics does God use to describe the people Ezekiel is sent to (vv. 3-4)? How does this relate to the sermon’s emphasis on delivering hard truths?
The scroll Ezekiel is told to eat has “words of lamentation, mourning, and woe” on both sides (v. 10). What examples from the sermon illustrate the importance of sharing all of God’s message, not just parts of it? [25:14]
How does the Spirit’s role in Ezekiel 2:2 mirror the sermon’s point about courage to speak God’s Word?

Interpretation Questions

Why do you think God included both lament and hope (the “two sides” of the scroll) in Ezekiel’s message? How does this reflect the balance between judgment and grace in the gospel?
The sermon says, “The bad news does the hard work of making the good news good.” How does Ezekiel’s mission to rebellious Israel demonstrate this principle?
God tells Ezekiel not to fear the people’s words or looks (v. 6). What cultural or relational pressures today might make believers hesitant to share difficult truths?

Application Questions

Where in your life (work, family, friendships) do you avoid sharing “hard” truths about sin or judgment? What practical step could you take to speak with both clarity and love this week?
The sermon compares communion to “eating the whole scroll” of Christ’s story. How could intentionally reflecting on both Jesus’ sacrifice and his return as Judge deepen your worship? [27:00]
The phrase “be harder than flint” was used to describe holy stubbornness. Where do you need to stand firm in God’s truth despite opposition—and what would that look like tangibly?
The sermon emphasizes that faithfulness, not results, matters. How might shifting your focus from “success” to obedience change how you pray for or engage with someone who rejects the gospel?
Ezekiel was sent to his own people first. Who in your immediate circle (neighbors, coworkers, family) needs to hear the full gospel? How could you start a conversation this month? [33:52]

Sermon Clips

What do we believe? Jesus did not come to make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. We're not talking about good and bad. He's coming to judge the living and the dead. The bible very clearly says that, not the good and the bad. The living and the dead, you're either alive in Christ or dead in your trespasses. If you're alive in Christ, you shall live forever with him where he is forever. No doubt. No stop. That's it. You're going. But if you don't accept Christ, you're gonna live forever too. [00:30:02] (36 seconds) #LivingOrDead

This is what the sovereign Lord says. Not what you say, not what I say. I'm not I'm not here to give you my opinion. I'm not here to give you my advice. And the last thing I wanna do is share with you my ideas. What we're here to declare is what God has said, and you got 66 complete books of it right there. Surely, can temporize it a little bit, but at the end of the day, you're here to preach the word, preach the word, preach the word, preach the word. That's what God wants us to do is to tell people the truth of the living word and the written word. Now, this is so relieving, whether they listen or fail to listen, that ain't on you. [00:15:07] (39 seconds) #PreachTheWord

We think it's all vinegar. No, man. You give them the vinegar and it's gonna taste like honey. Because remember, that had woe, lament and horror on it. But when he swallowed it, it was sweet. We're so afraid to tell people the bad news. But if we tell them the bad news and they swallow it, it's gonna taste sweet or sunny. You gotta trust that. You gotta trust it. But again, I'll give you the balance. Yeah. It can't be all hellfire and brimstone. It can't be your bad people who do bad things. You need to be better people who do good things. [00:29:29] (33 seconds) #VinegarTastesLikeHoney

Now the good news is, it's the vision of a risen Christ that can produce the courage to deliver the message of Christ. And you, like I, might conclude, well, I've never had what Ezekiel had. No, you had better. You had better because you've been changed. You've been transformed. You've been saved. Christ came, Christ lived, Christ died, Christ rose, Christ ascended. I mean, what Ezekiel saw was powerful, but not life changing. Had Christ not come in the flesh, nothing would have changed on this earth. Ezekiel saw who he was and always will be, but what we needed was a moment in time where he became like us so we could become like him. [00:09:10] (41 seconds) #RisenChristCourage

Often, if we're not careful, all we really wanna present is one side of the scroll. Right? God's like, no, flip it over. Oh my God. Oh my God. Right? This scroll has nothing written on it, but words of lament, mourning and woe. This is the first scroll, we'll get later in the book. In other words, it's the message is not the message until we can clearly explain to people the misery of the alternative. If you wanna know what the why every organization, every human being ought to have a why. Why do you get out of bed? Why do you do what drives you? What you do is not nearly as important as why you do it. The why at Crossland is because the alternative to Jesus Christ is eternally devastating. [00:25:05] (51 seconds) #FlipTheScroll

You're gonna live forever in hell in the full presence of the torture and the torment that was created by God, the bible says, for the devil and his angels. And you're gonna be there, And you're gonna be fully aware that you don't belong there. You're gonna be fully aware that you had a shot not to be there. But you stand condemned, Jesus said, because you refuse to believe God, not because you misbehaved. Behavior's been taken care of. Don't let anybody lie to you. If anybody tells you that your behavior is dooming you to hell, they've lied to you because behavior was conquered at the cross. He paid for the sins of the world. You don't go to hell because you misbehaved. You go to hell because you don't believe. That's the message of the bible. [00:30:38] (43 seconds) #BelieveNotBehavior

It's easy to look at a person to say you're a wretched, rotten, human, big. That's not the message of the bible. The message of the bible is you were made in the image of an almighty God and his eternal plan for you was he chose you before the creation of the world. He's been calling you since your first breath to lead you, to save you, to claim you, to redeem you, to glorify you, justify you, sanctify you, and to keep you with him forever. But if you don't believe what Christ did, you're bound for hell already. The judge has already determined your destiny. Quit waiting for your last breath. God ain't gonna judge you on your last day. You've already been judged with your first sin. [00:31:21] (42 seconds) #ChosenInHisImage

I need to be reminded consistently and constantly of the horror of what he went through. So I can be inspired to tell people that there's a way for you to avoid it. But if I'm not telling you what to avoid, then Jesus is just another TED talk, another opportunity to follow other principles that can lead to a better life. Yeah. And you still end up tragically separated from God in hell. Hell is just as real as heaven. Now, do we wanna be hellfire and brimstone people? Yes. But then we gotta tell them about heaven and Christ's glory. [00:27:27] (34 seconds) #RememberTheCost

For they are rebellious people and know this, they're gonna know that a prophet has been among them. So the good news is, is the church of Jesus Christ has never been called to be successful. She's been called to be faithful. Faithful to the word. That's it. Any other church growth strategy is negligible in my opinion. That we are here to do two things. We are to worship God in spirit and in truth. That a crowd of a crowd will always gather where the spirit of God feels welcome [00:15:45] (35 seconds) #FaithfulNotSuccessful

it's not our responsibility what they do and do not do, what they believe and do not believe, how they respond or refuse to respond. Because who are we dealing with? We're dealing with a rebellious people who for the last nearly seven thousand years have completely rebelled against the one true God. The wrath of God is being revealed against the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth of God for a lie. So we're not offering, if you will, a product that's going to be willingly received. Because on the front end of the product, we gotta say, now listen, there is a God and you're not him. [00:16:39] (41 seconds) #NotOurResponsibility

It's all about Trump and this and then, like, what are you doing? It ain't about Trump. I don't care who the president is. Obama, Biden, Trump, Nothing's more important than Christ. Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ. And that's why we needed a vision of his glory last week because you know what that ought to do? That ought to scare you to death. You ought to realize who you're messing with when you mess with that word. It ain't some crying Messiah on a cross. You are messing with an almighty God who is full of wrath. And what we see in Revelation is, you mess with the word, he removes his lamp stand. Because if you are not gonna shine the light of his glory, you don't need his lamp. And he just walks away. [00:22:33] (43 seconds) #ChristAbovePolitics

He being God, the Lord Himself said to me, Son of man, stand up on your feet and I'll speak to you. What happened to Ezekiel is the same thing that happened to John, he got knocked off his feet. I mean, just completely blown away. But God did not necessarily come knock him down or knock him out, it was to build him up. Not to blow them away, but to send them on his way. That what Ezekiel was called to is what the disciples were called to. The honesty of Christ with the disciples cannot be denied. I'm sending you amongst wolves, [00:10:27] (29 seconds) #SentAmongWolves

He's made the rules and you need to obey, but the bad news is you haven't. So the punishment for you not obeying is eternal death, separation from God Almighty forever. That you will live forever, absolutely, but you're gonna live forever in hell. You're gonna be fully separated from God, there's one reason, because you think you're God. Because you continue to think that you get to decide how things go in this world, and they you don't get to decide that at all. The only thing you do get to decide is whether or not you're going to or not going to submit to an almighty God. If you choose not to, you're gonna spend eternally in hell separated from but and that's like the last 20 chapters of this book. [00:17:20] (41 seconds) #ChoiceLeadsToSeparation

but you can't we can't just alter the message and give them all good news because in the absence of what they're avoiding, you're not telling them the true gospel. Our encounter is intended to motivate us to be faithful. Right? Not necessarily successful. It's amazing how churches measure, if you will, success. Okay? And maybe you're wondering, well, how does Crossland measure it? The primary measure of our, if you will, faithfulness to what God's called us to do is the number of children in those classrooms. That's it. [00:18:02] (37 seconds) #FaithfulnessOverSuccess

That God is not interested in the self pity of oh my gosh, I can't believe I found myself here because God's got one word for you. The only reason you're there is because of you, because of your poor choices, because of your refusal to submit yourself to me. I've been telling you and telling you and telling you, you know right from wrong, you are where you are because of who you are and what you did. Who wants to deliver that message? Right? Who wants to go do a prison visit to a [00:07:29] (29 seconds) #YouAreWhereYouAre

I didn't just come to knock you down. I didn't come just to blow you away. I came to give you a deep and meaningful experience that will carry you, carry you. The depth of your experience determines the breadth of God's calling in your life. The spirit came into me and raised me to my feet and I heard him speaking to me. This is so typical of the spiritual all throughout the Bible. Right? You realize that, I hope. At cross when we talk about it all the time, the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. The spirit of God descended and God said, [00:11:47] (40 seconds) #DepthDeterminesCalling

I know. It's like nobody wants to hear that at work. Who cares if they wanna hear it? We still gotta say it. We gotta live it. We gotta be it in order for people to know that there is hope. If you're serving communion, please come to your station today. [00:40:27] (22 seconds) #SpeakEvenIfUnpopular

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Word Of Mouth | Crossland Community Church

Devotional

Day 1: Vision of Glory Fuels Relentless Proclamation

Day 2: Swallowing the Scroll of Lament and Woe

Day 3: Hard-Headed Messengers for a Stiff-Necked People

Day 4: Measuring Faithfulness, Not Crowds

Day 5: The Sweetness of Truth After the Sting

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Word Of Mouth | Crossland Community Church

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