God called Prophet Ezekiel and set him as a watchman over the house of Israel. As a watchman for God, he was to hear from Him and warn the people concerning whatsoever God told him. Just like Ezekiel, believers in these end-times, particularly ministers of the gospel, are set as watchmen to warn the world of the impending judgement of God. One of the most important responsibilities of a watchman for God is that he or she must of necessity hear from God (Ezekiel 33:7). You must hear from God in order to warn on His behalf those who are perishing. You cannot warn them using your own wisdom; rather, you must tell them what God is saying to them. How do you hear from God as a watchman? The simplest way to hear from God is through the revealed truth, which is the Holy Bible. This holds true only for those who still consider the Bible as infallible and having eternal truths for all generations. As a watchman, you must therefore follow admonition of '2 Timothy 2:15: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth".
Another responsibility of a watchman for God is to maintain an intimate relationship with the One who commissioned you by remaining true to your message, because, you cannot give what you don't have. Paul emphasised the need to remain true to our message in 'Romans 2:21: "Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preaches a man should not steal, dost thou steal?"

In Ezekiel 33:8, the Almighty God said His appointed watchman is held accountable for every soul that perishes if the watchman fails to sound the note of warning at the appropriate time. This is one aspect of the responsibility of a watchman, where 21st century preachers need to be careful. We need to be careful not to be negligent in our responsibility to warn evildoers without minding whose ox is gored. Beware of the fact that some pastors and teachers of the word may be condemned to the lake of fire on the last day for failure to warn the people that God has set them over against sinful habits that have become part of popular culture. We are living witnesses to the tolerance and consideration the Church is showing towards issues like homosexuality, which brought fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah in the time of old. I pray that Christians, especially preachers of the word will not go to hell because of their failure to warn people against sin. Written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye.