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I have frequently asked myself will my following after Jesus mean someday end with the ultimate sacrifice of going overseas to a foreign culture on the front lines of the gospel. Certainly, if I was to go there that would be the ultimate sacrifice for the gospel.

The picture that God paints to Ezekiel is very different then that. God says I'm not sending you to a foreign nation with a foreign tongue, because they would surely listen. I'm giving you a more difficult task. Go to your own people. Go to these obstinate people who "know of God" but have hard hearts. These are a religious people who have lost the essence of their faith. Ezekiel was given the hardest mission of speaking the truth to his own, with the full knowledge that he would be despised for it and misunderstood.

I feel God's same prompting on my life. At this time I don't feel called to India, Papua New Guinea, or Peru. At this point I feel called to hard hearts that reside in Northern California. I feel called to speak the gospel to my neighbors and community. These are a people that speak my language, they share my culture, but in same breath despise the thing which means most to me JESUS. I must be honest though. I fear their reactions. I fear their rejections. That fear can be paralyzing.

This mission seems impossible at times. But I guess it is only impossible if I evaluate it by results and repentant hearts. By those standards Ezekiel would be a failure as well. I guess the real mission has nothing to do with results. The real mission has to do with faithful obedience. That is possible. Difficult, but possible.

Join me in bringing the gospel into your community, to your people, who speak your language. I guess this passage makes me reevaluate what the ultimate sacrifice really is. The ultimate sacrifice is faithfulness without results. Sacrifice without change. Join me in making the ultimate sacrifice a spent life. Paul says to Timothy, "join me in suffering for the gospel"

Many will not listen but the results were never included in our mission. Our only mission is faithfulness and obedience. Let's be faithful together.