Voice of the Nazarene 1-11-26

Voice of the Nazarene 1-11-26

Transcript

Unknown: 0:01

Coming to you from North Central Ohio. We share with you the voice of the Nazarene, a week by week, venture into the Word of God sponsored by the Bucyrus Ohio Church of the Nazarene. We join our pastor, Reverend Ray LaSalle and the voice of the Nazarene

Pastor Ray LaSalle: 0:18

Today I thought about the various kinds of Christians. And I thought about the eagle, having spoken on the eagle for a long, long time, at least several years, and being an eagle Christian, 1782, the Second Continental Congress was beating, and the reason for their meeting, they were trying to decide on a symbol for our country. Discussion came up about some kind of a bird, and it was suggested that the eagle represent America. Now, not everybody was to the liking. And Ben Franklin, he actually thought it was not a great bird of choice. He thought maybe a turkey was better, maybe because we've got so many moving along. And during that time of meeting and discussion, they decided that the Liberty Bell ought to be a symbol. And of course, there in Philadelphia, the city of love, we have that that Liberty Bell in their discussion, they also decided that the United States flag the stars and the stripes. And I don't know about you, but when the flag is flying, there's something rises up in my heart, and I love our flag and what it represents. If that doesn't suit you, that's fine. They're looking for you in another country, and you're going to be welcome now. Give the first dollar for you to leave. I love our country. You say, Well, our citizenship is in heaven, I know, but I'm living here right now, and God put us here. God made places before he ever made people. So places must be important. And then they decided that for a third symbol, the national anthem. Have you ever heard it played? You find yourself rising to your feet, your hand reaching for your heart, national anthem. And in their discussion, they decided that the Statue of Liberty ought to also be a great symbol for our nation. They decided also the pledge of allegiance to be another symbol, and the sixth and not last, but the bald eagle to represent our nation, to be a symbol of our nation, the monarch of the sky. Do you know it's the most mentioned bird in all of the Bible? It's listed 32 times. I happened to jump on the internet before I jumped off, and it said 34 just to mess up my figures, but I'll stand by the 32 that I located. And according to Revelation, chapter four, verse seven, among the beasts around heaven, there's one that's likened, it says, Unto an eagle flying around the throne of God, none other than an eagle. And I thought, God, there must be something about the eagle that you're trying to share with us, some characteristics, something effective about them that would make me to be a better Christian. What's, what's what's the parallel that you're trying to teach us? And I'd like to share just a few things this morning, something about the eagle, the eagle, Christian, an eagle will let nothing get between it and the sun, nothing. It wants to rise above all of that, and it's got a safe side, and that's above toward the sun. Now it's the only bird that can fly straight at the sun. Fact of the matter, if an eagle is being chased, it can direct itself toward the sun, and no other bird can face the sun long without burning out its retinas. But an eagle has two eyelids, two sets. And the one set is kind of a transparent set, and when it drops, it down, flying toward the sun, it serves, and it works like sunglasses, protects its eyes, and it'll fly literally toward the sun. It likes, hikes. And when an eagle is making its nest, it does it high up in a tree. It wants to be high enough that the snakes and other things cannot get in and destroy the eggs. So it'll go to the top of a tree. I want to remind you of James. I was thinking about James in my office yesterday, chapter one, verse four, submit yourselves. Therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and God will draw nigh to you. Somebody said, what you've got to do is resist the devil. Really, you can't. The only way to resist the devil, you've got to submit yourself, therefore, to God. And that's the power that makes the devil have to flee. And then God begins to move in close to us, drawing nigh. And I thought about myself, I don't know about you, every time in my life that I've ever gotten discouraged, it was some situation, somebody or something that I allowed to get between me and the Son of God, and it got me defeated, and it got me discouraged. And ladies and gentlemen, we need to be like the eagle and let nothing get between us and the brightness of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and then something else, the eagle. It feeds on the right stuff. They're not so much a scavenger. I jumped on the internet again this morning and and read issue after issue where they said a vulture is always eating something dead, but an eagle likes to eat its own prey. It likes fresh meat. I don't know about you, I think there's a message there, if something's dead, probably it would pay us to move on. Move on. I'll stop for a moment. It's not in the notes, so I probably won't get paid for this part. Well, that'll shake the board up on it. I we were staying my my kids were with us those days. They were little things and and I came up this little dirt road. We were staying at a in a travel trailer for a little bit there, and we were holding meetings, and there was a dirt road, and I came up the road and there was a skunk laying out in the road, and it rained, and people had gone around that skunk. I don't know why they didn't try to hit it, but they kept going around it until it made a rut in the mud road. So I said, you know how you are when you're a young dad. I said, watch this. And my car came up, hit that rut, went right around that old dead skunk, all bloated and swollen. And my little boy said to him, he said, Daddy, and he had to pull his thumb out of his mouth to ask me, Daddy, why? Why doesn't something eat that skunk? I said, it's a skunk. Well, why doesn't something come and get it? I said, it's a skunk. It stinks. Well, if there anything that'll get it. I said, Yeah, somebody from the wholeness crowd will come. They'll drag that skunk to this meeting, into that meeting, and let everybody sniff it. But you know, amazing thing about eagles, they don't hang around the skunks. And they don't hang around dead stuff. They have learned to move on. They want something a little bit more fresh. And I like that scripture flip against 313, brother, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before we got to get out of the past, there are people still fighting battles, as happened years ago, trying to get in the last jab and shoot the last bullet, get in the last stab. And friend, we need to move out of our past. And if you're living in your past, I would suggest move on. God said, Let the dead bury the dead, so don't be gorging on dead stuff. Have you ever noticed when there's a problem, there's always certain people kind of hanging around, sniffing it and sharing it, and they're over in the corner. Hey, I'm simply saying it's time to move on. Now, an eagle is a meat eater. That's what it survives on. It wants fresh meat. It's a meat eater from the moment it's born to the time it dies. It's born with its mouth open, and it wants to be fed, and it wants something fresh. And how does that apply to me? Pastor, I'm simply trying to say you need to be eating on the meat of the Word of God. And of all that you eat on is what you get here on Sunday morning. I. Quick to admit to you you're not getting enough. You're going to be starved to death. You're anorexic, you got a problem, and you need to be studying the Word, and you need to be having devotions, and you need to get into prayer, and you need to be feeding your soul. That's what I'm simply trying to say here for a moment. Over here, there's a little passage in First Corinthians, chapter three, I suppose you've read it, brethren. I would not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes. Have you noticed that babes, they're not much into meat, they're just kind of in to milk. Did you ever get around a baby that hadn't been cleaned lately, and how they smell kind of like sour milk? And have you ever been around somebody that they're saying, Well, I haven't been fed. I'm just not being fed here anymore. Well, the adults are being fed because they're big enough to pick up a fork and eat the meat. But babies are the only ones that don't get fed. You get a bunch of babies. It's time they grow up. And he's talking about that right here. He said, I fed you with milk and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet Are you now able. For ye are yet carnal. For whereas there is among you envy and strife to these Jesus, Are you not carnal and walk as men? And Paul is saying, after five years of trying to be in contact with this church, he said, I would have thought that you would have been on meat by now. And he said, you're still on milk. And here's the third thing that I thought about the eagle, it knows how to handle a storm. An eagle is the only bird that doesn't run from a storm. Storms hit, and all the other birds are they're trying to find a hiding place. But an eagle, instead of running from a storm, it'll head straight into a storm and go into the eye of the storm. And it's got this wing tip from one tip to the other seven and a half feet in average a male, full grown Eagle, 1200 feathers per wing. And they just head straight on into the storm. They're not running from any storm. And other birds, they get a little bit wet. They're just flapping. You ever see it? And I see Christians like they're just flapping and and a little storm is coming. Where's God? Where's God? But not an eagle. An eagle will put out his great wingspan and begin to ride the wind, and it begins to face the storm, and it'll head its way into the pathless wonders the great eagle, and it rides the wind and it soars. Do you know the word for spirit in the Bible, in the Hebrew and even in the Greek, is from the word wind, wind. And here's this great eagle out there riding the wind. You don't want our secret to make it through the storms of life. It's the spirit we need to soar in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, is our greatest secret. When the storms come, you can't handle them. I can't handle them, but through the Holy Spirit, we can make our way through and I love that little scripture for it says, If God before us, who can be against us, we're not operating in the flesh, but in the spirit. And Greater is he that's in you than he that's in the world. In that little scripture, it's not by power, nor by might, but by by what by spirit, saith the LORD. And when the enemy comes in like a flood, it's the spirit that raises up a standard against him. Isaiah, 4029, he giveth power to the faint, to them that have no might, he increaseth strength, even their youth shall faint, be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And that word renew, there is from the background of a word the root is Exchange. Exchange. In other words, I exchange my weakness for his strength. I exchange it I don't have it. And they that mount up with the Wings of Eagles, They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. What I like about the eagle, it understands relationships. We're in a world of people. There's people around us. Some of you have families. If you're going to survive, you've got to learn how to handle family, how to get along with family. Once in a while, you make that annual trip you know to the in laws better know how to handle. Relationships and the eagle in its courting process. I don't know if you've read anything about it. It doesn't fly in a formation. When it's in the courting process, the female bird will be flying and the male bird will come along in behind her. Now it doesn't mean that that's the right one. And if she's not interested, the female bird will fly away. And I can say to our young ladies, every little eagle that comes flying along, not necessarily the right one. I mean, if your philosophy of dating is whosoever will may come, you need to change your philosophy. That's what I that's what Keith told me to tell you. So here's this female. If it's interested in the male, she'll do something very unique. It's coming in behind her. It's suggesting he's interested in a future with her, she will circle him. If she's interested, she'll circle him three times, and then she does one of the most unusual things, she'll make a dive as she'll go down to the ground and pick up a twig and fly into a great hike, then drop that twig and watch to see if that male is capable of retrieving that twig before it hits the ground. And some of those male birds will fly over 200 miles per hour to retrieve boy. Females will drive a male nuts, won't they? I'm just thinking that's not in the notes either. He added that one. And so it'll go and get another tweak, and it'll go to a higher height and drop it. And over and over, this happens, and if they're in love and they're going to consummate their marriage, what they will do, they will lock their talents talents. You can't say Amen, so don't worry about it. But they'll lock their talents in mid air, and they'll actually begin somersaulting, and you'll see them plumbing toward the ground, and they'll fly up again and lock their talons. They'll only do that one time in the life of an eagle, except one other time, the only time they'll ever do it again is when the last eaglet has left the nest. That will make you celebrate, won't it? And they mate for life, and if one dies, they'll find another eagle and only have one partner at a time. And then there's something else. It has to get out of the nest. Little eaglets can't stay in the nest forever and become 40 years of age and need burped in their diaper changed. They gotta get out of the nest. And Deuteronomy, 32 verse 11, says, As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad. Her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings, a baby eaglet is allowed to stay approximately three months in this nest, and they have built the nest, and they put in thorns, they put in twigs, and they begin to layer it with leaves, and Then they ring it again with more needles and the thorns. And then they cover that again, and they put any kind of soft material they can find. And in that soft nest, that little eaglet is born hatched, and it enjoys its life for three months. And then the mama begins to do something very unique. It begins to take out the soft, comfortable material. The Bible calls it stirring up the nest. What's happening that Mama Eagle knows that little eaglet wasn't made to live in that nest forever. It was born for the skies. It was to soar in space. It's the Monarch of the blue. It's to be out yonder, somewhere in the winds. And so it begins to take out more, and pretty soon, little thorns are pricking that little eaglet, and it's becoming uncomfortable. And eventually it can't take anymore, and it gets to the edge of the nest. And you know what the mama does? She kicks it to the curb. Lives are rough ended, and there it begins to plummet and begins to fall. Have you ever had God make your life a little uncomfortable so we can take you to a new level, till it can take you to something bigger and brighter and better that God had a vision for your life. You know anything you can do and do it with your eyes shut, probably God's going to have to make you uncomfortable to take you to a new level. And God will if he has to. And this mama eagle has 200 270 degree turn with her eyes till she can spot that little eaglet. And if it's falling and it's not flying, it goes back to that little scripture, she'll spread abroad her wings and beareth them on her wings. She'll take it back up into the nest again, but after a few months, or even a few days knowing it's not born just to sit in a nest again, she'll stir it up and she'll cause it to fly. It's made for the sky. Now, if that English stays in that nest, it'll never do what God designed it, nor created it to do. And so Mama will see that it learns to fly. Now, I'm not gift give zoned with a lot of things you don't need to say, Amen, don't spoil your record. Nobody's asked me, except one time in my life to lead a choir. So I haven't been standing in line to be the choir leader. I did it one time. I survived. I told my wife, then I said, if ever get out of here, they'll never get me into this position again. That's not my gifting. But you know, while God may not shove me into that gift zone, God will try to shove me out of my comfort zone, and let me tell you, I'd have done anything but be in the ministry. The only reason I'm in the ministry right now is because God made my life so uncomfortable. I'm not going into it. I've never talked about it from the pulpit, but God will make your life uncomfortable to get you to where he needs to get you, that he can use you, and then an eagle will go through a low period. I don't know if I've ever heard it preached, but when an eagle is about 40 years of age, his feathers have become worn and broken. They've lost some kind of resilience, and they're not able to fly so well. Calcium begins to build up on its beak, and an eagle will seek a low spot. It becomes very discouraged. If you ever seen one during the molten stage, it'll be standing there with its wings all terrible looking, and the beak has built up, and it seeks a place to hide because it can no longer fly. It's prey to wolves and foxes and coyotes and and it'll go into this place and it'll either die or determine I'm going to live and I'm not going to die. Most of them die. And so there's three things that a eagle will do if it wants to live. And the first thing, it looks for a rock, a rock. And what it will do, it'll find that rock, it'll begin to beat its beak against the rock, to knock away the calcium, because it's struggling to eat now, and it'll Peck against that rock and peck against that rock now. I don't know whether that at that 40 year moment, it's called the midlife crisis. I don't know. Let me write my shirt here for a moment. Where's my gold chain? Mid life's hitting me? I got to give me a sports car and get my hair blowing in the breeze, give me some tight fitting jeans and some running shoes. Well, anyhow, that eagles in a midlife crisis, and he is literally fighting for his existence, and he's pecking against that, against that rock and and the feathers are bad, and it begins to pull those old feathers that are dying out of its wings, 1200 feathers per wing, and there it is depressed. Do you know that Christians are not exempt from depression? Did you know even the best Christian there is can have dark moments. The most quoted preacher in the world is Charles Spurgeon, and he had dark bouts of deep depression. People can get disappointed. People can be hurt, and that eagle goes down in that very low period, and what determines whether or not it makes it or not during that molten state, it's got to find that rock. And the psalmist said, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than i The Rock of Ages Jesus Christ. And the second thing that happens, it goes through this very painful process that I mentioned, where it begins to pluck out the feathers. Now, there it is. It can't fly. All the feathers are gone. It's struggling. It can't get any food to eat, and it will die in that kind of a position. Psalm, as David said in the. 19 Psalm, verse, 71 it was good for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. And I think that sometimes even Christians go through a real dark period and a little news flash. Did you know that stars are out right now? Did you know that all day long, the stars The sky is studded with stars. The only reason you can't see them is because we don't have the darkness, and sometimes it takes darkness to bring out the stars and the hurts of life. Life can be very painful and life can be very difficult. And the eagle not only has to deal with those feathers, but it needs to eat fresh meat. It can't fly. It can't hunt. There's no feathers. It has no resources. And the interesting thing the eagles that survive, other eagles, come and they see it down there, discouraged. They see it without any feathers, they see it hurting, and they'll begin to bring bits of fish and fresh meat and begin to drop it to that eagle. What are they doing? They're trying to lift it up. They're trying to get strength back to it. Can I just say the church needs to hear that message. We need to lift each other up. We need to encourage one another. Most people are caring more than they can handle. We oughtn't to shoot our wounded. We ought to encourage one another. What does the Bible teach? Incidentally, well, Galatians, chapter six, verse one says, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of bigness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. Restore that word. Restores a medical term, and it actually means to reset a bone. Now, I can't heal anybody, but God can. But the responsibility of the church is to give reset to people who've fallen, to people who are injured. We try to reset them and build their faith and help them to find a way back. And then last of all, the eagle is always reproducing. If it lives to be 100 it's still having baby eagles. It's still reproducing. It never quits. And folk, you know what we ought to be doing around the church, reproducing, reproducing. It ought to be about reaching men and women and boys and girls. Why am I here? I would say it's not complicated. It's to know Him and to make Him known. If you can get those two things down and get it into action, knowing that you know him, and trying to make Him known to your fellow men, reaching others I mentioned yesterday, and I'll just touch on it for a moment. Titanic. The year was 1912 April, 14, the white star ship building company had built these great ships. They not only built the Titanic, but it had a sister ship that matched it. It was setting off on its maiden voice from over in England, and it was selling to New York City, the wealthy of the wealthy board of that those ships and people that worked their way over they had more than 2000 passengers. They even announced it that even God couldn't sink the Titanic, yet 1500 people lost their lives. I don't know if you've ever heard this, but the Titanic had 12 warnings to change course, and didn't do it. 12 warnings. I know denominations has had warnings, and they ignored them, and they've died now You better not just build on denominations. You better be sure you're just building on Jesus Christ. The warning signs are everywhere. This is an old man talking to you. I've seen it everywhere, and they're dying. Movements are dying, but I was a young man. I'd be struggling right now. They set sail with that great ship. On that board. That ship was a preacher. His name was John Harper. Diller, when they hit that iceberg, it backed that ship off. There were creaking sounds, there were breaking sounds. Metal began to tear, water began to pour in, and immediately they realized we're going to sink. They began to unload lifeboats, people stood on board with their mouths open. Couldn't believe what they had heard. They couldn't believe what they were seeing as they lowered those lifeboats, and people were fighting to who would get on the lifeboat and not die. John Harper stood on that deck and he screamed, women, children and you who are unsaved on the lifeboat. And then he kept saying it over and over, women, children and all of you unsaved on the lifeboat. And he helped load them on the lifeboat. He saw a man standing there, and the lifeboats were filled up and and tears were going down his cheeks. And John Harper said to him, are you a Christian? He said, Oh, and he he began to take off his own life jacket. And he said, Here you take my life jacket. You're going to need it. I don't need it. And then when that thing began to shudder and the ship began to go underwater, and he was thrown into the cold depths of the sea. When he came up above the water line, he saw a man right near him, and he called out to him, are you a Christian? And the man screamed back, no, I'm not well. He said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And he said unto him again, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And the man testified later, he survived. He said, I watched John Harper go under never to come back again. And he said, I survived, and I'm the last convert of John Harper reproducing clear to his final moments. Now back in England, word had it to the ship had gone under, and people were rushing down to Liverpool, and they were going down to the White Star office. They were going down to the big office where the shipbuilders were, they wanted to know, is my family survived? Is my Are they dead? Or are they alive dead, or is one of the other? And so they had put up a sign, and they're adding names to it, and all the on these big two columns they had, one said, no one to be saved, and the other column read, known to be lost. And people were coming, and they were looking at those names, looking to see if their family members were saved or lost. Only two columns either saved or they were lost. And in that list, it said John Harper, known to be lost. I've got news for you. He may have been on that list on Earth, but his name had been written down in another book, the book of life and you know something. I conclude my little message today. I don't know if you know it or not, but you're in one or two categories, either saved

Unknown: 33:35

or you're lost. Thanks for being a part of the voice of the Nazarene. Visit us every Sunday at 9am with B and C's pastor, Ray la salle. For more information regarding B and C, visit Bucyrus nazarene.org. You.