WITH WINGS LIKE EAGLES
Isaiah 40:28-31
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR
1. A nursery school teacher was delivering a station wagon full of kids home one day when a fire truck zoomed past. Sitting in the front seat of the truck was a Dalmatian dog. The children started discussing the dog's duties.
2. "They use him to keep crowds back," said one child. "No," said another, "he's just for good luck."
3. A third child brought the argument to a close. "They use the dogs”, she said firmly, "to find the fire hydrants....”
B. STATS ON CHRISTIANS
1. Statistics from Born Again Christians:
(1) Searching for purpose: 48% (2) In Too Much Debt: 40% (3) Needing New Friends: 50% (4) Stressed Out: 31% (5) Too Busy: 49%
2. Illustrate the busy of life and how youths even grow weary. We’re tired and weary, and yet most of us still want to do things for God, to be productive for Him, but it’s hard when we’re without strength!
3. Statistics say: Born Again Christians are tired and in need of personal renewal.
C. SCRIPTURE
Isaiah 40:28-31, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. (He’s busy!) He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. (Are you weary or weak?) Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” How long has it been since you experienced that kind of strength?
D. THESIS
1. The eagle is used as a simile in the Bible. A simile connects two unlike things by drawing like comparisons. The eagle is portrayed as an example for us of a creature who is able to maintain its strength. Why wasn’t some other bird used? What is unique about an eagle, among birds, that would give us hints on how we can maintain our spiritual strength?
2. I’m going to run through 10 or 11 types of birds and identify similarities between them and some members of the Body of Christ. Title: “With Wings Like Eagles.”
I. VARIETY OF BIRDS OF THE KINGDOM
Let’s take some time to find out just what type of Christian we are today.
A. THE CHICKEN
1. The chicken is generally afraid of life; selfdom flies or reaches its potential in life. The chicken basically just flaps around the chicken yard. Most of us spend our lives just flapping around rather than soaring.
2. When they get upset – they only get about 6 inches off the ground. They just flap around stirring up a bunch of dirt. Sooner or later – you are going to get tired of flapping and will want to learn how to soar. Flapping is equivalent to the works of the flesh in our lives. You never get anything done. Flapping wears you out! When you go home today… some of you can say – I got delivered from flapping.
3. The chicken is content with mediocrity. It is a fat, lazy bird usually spending most of its time scratching around the chicken yard for grubs and worms. They live inside the confines of a fence and are satisfied to do so.
When a storm arises, the first thing they do is RUN for the chicken house to huddle in fear with all the other chickens.
4. My goal in this series is that chickens will be turned into eagles.
B. THE MAGPIE
1. This is an overly aggressive bully who swoops down and harasses other animals and people.
2. This is the type of Christian who is abusive to others. He is selfish, arrogant and self-centered to the point of rudeness.
3. This type of person is disrespectful and causes much harm in the body of Christ.
C. THE KOOKABURRA
1. The Kookaburra is from Australia. He is loud and sounds like he’s laughing. They live around 20 years.
2. This is like the Christian who thinks life is one big party – one big joke. This person takes nothing seriously and laughs at everything, even when it is totally inappropriate. This person is a big clown. A coarse jester who wounds, hurts, and offends. He is not sensitive to people at all.
3. We need to pray that God would make us all more sensitive to those that are hurting around us.
4. Sometimes… when we have a problem in our own life – we think that is an excuse to be rude, unfeeling, and insensitive to those around us. If there was anything wonderful about Jesus – it was that he was compassionate and sensitive to those around him.
D. THE VULTURE/BUZZARD
1. This bird is a scavenging bird that rarely attacks and eats live animals. It feeds mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. This bird enjoys the filth of life – everything corrupt, rotten, and stinking.
2. Some Christians are like this bird. They come to church, carry their Bible but continue to be attracted to the filth of life. They are attracted to people with problems.
3. They love to “rip people apart” or “tear them to pieces” with their mouth. They love to spread rumors and don’t think anything of destroying a person or a ministry. They have the smell of death around them.
E. THE PARROT/COCKATOOS
1. There are 353 varieties of parrots or Cockatoos. These are the talkers of the bird kingdom. These are the super spiritual Christian who can talk the talk, but not walk the walk.
2. Everything they have learned, they learned it “parrot fashion,” mimicking someone else. We do something because we saw someone else doing it – not knowing what it means.
3. The parrot Christians have the head knowledge but not heart knowledge. They are all noise and no action.
F. THE CUCKOO
1. This bird does not like to work and is happy to “sponge” off someone else. It does not even want to build a nest, but looks for one that is already finished by someone else. It lays its eggs there, and then leaves the other bird to raise it babies.
2. There are “cuckoo’s” in the church today: they exist on handouts. They do not want to work.
G. THE PEACOCK
1. He is the “flashy, showy” bird.
2. This is the Christian who is overly ambitious, worldly and full of pride. He is very much in love with and impressed with himself. He feels superior to everyone else.
3. He loves to strut his “stuff” – clothes, cars, jewelry, but they do little or nothing for anyone else in need. They have huge egos that need to be stroked a lot. There are a lot of self-centered Christians in the world today.
4. We need to ask – “What are we doing to meet the needs of others?”
H. THE PELICAN
1. This big, old, fat, jolly bird is only interested in eating – seeking whatever he can find to fill his belly.
2. As a Christian – if he would turn this ravenous appetite toward the Word of God – He would then become a spiritual giant.
I. THE CROW
1. This bird is also a dirty bird of life. This bird enjoys destroying the young of other species. This bird loves to rip and maim; he is out for himself.
2. It is like the Christian who enjoy tearing down other churches. Nothing or anyone else matters in life – only his own selfish desires. This bird thinks nothing of ruining someone else’s reputation or ripping apart a church. This bird is one of the most cunning and dangerous birds in the kingdom.
3. It’s interesting… THE CROW SPENDS A GREAT DEAL OF TIME PESTERING THE EAGLE!! The way the eagle gets rid of this pest is to go higher and higher. It goes so high that the pest can’t breathe anymore.
4. You just need to go higher than the pests that bother you. They’ll fall off for lack of oxygen. Here’s a revelation for you today… You will never get rid of all the pests.
J. SPARROWS & FINCHES
1. These birds fritter about from place to place chattering away, rarely having anything to say worth listening to. They are a constant social whirl.
2. They can hop from church to church without ever settling anywhere. Rarely do these birds grow in the Lord. They rely on their loud chatter to gain recognition.
K. CANARIES & OTHER CAGED BIRDS
1. These are beautiful birds which a lot of potential – but they are content to spend the rest of their lives locked behind the bars of a cage – whatever the cage might be: religious tradition; inferiority, insecurity, an unsuccessful marriage, or an unhappy childhood.
2. These birds live and die behind the bars of their cage without ever really having lived.
II. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE EAGLE
A. THE EAGLE’S SOLITUDE
1. Eagles live on the rock – Jesus.
2. “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken” Ps. 62:1-2.
3. An eagle doesn’t live in a henhouse, with it’s constant bickering and disturbance, but chooses the solitude that affords it the opportunity to hear the voice of the Creator.
4. That’s why the question of Isaiah 40:28 is, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” If we seek solitude, we WILL “hear.”
B. THE EAGLE’S SOURCE
1. This magnificent bird is almost completely dependent on the winds for its survival. It cannot reach its home, get its food, or fly above its enemies without the marvelous wind.
2. Similarly, the “Eagle” Christian understands the necessity of the “thermal currents” of the Holy Spirit. He understands the moving of the Spirit and how to flow effortlessly and easily, and depends on the Spirit to lead him/ her into all the ways of Jesus. The victorious Christian life cannot be achieved apart from the dynamism of the Holy Spirit.
C. THE EAGLE’S COMMITMENT
1. The eagle is committed; they make a reliable mate and a devoted parent. Eagles share the duties of parenting.
2. In July 9, 2005, a group of Purdue University students studied the feathers left behind at nesting sites and were able to identify individual Eastern imperial eagles in a nature reserve in Kazakhstan. Their analysis showed that not one adult strayed from its mate - a degree of fidelity highly unusual among birds, the vast majority of which mate with and raise offspring from multiple partners.
3. God has chosen this bird to liken to us so He can motivate us to strive toward higher fidelity to Him and rise to our potential in life.
D. THE EAGLE’S CONFIDENCE
1. The eagle is confident even in storms. When other birds hide among rocks and trees, afraid to venture into the air, then the eagle’s grandeur shines forth. It changes the fury of the winds into his chariot, to carry him into the highest reaches of the sky. He is unafraid of the turbulence, but rather exults in the glad gusts.
2. The “Eagle” Christian is also confident in the face of the storms of life and spread his/ her wings of faith and soars upon the chariot of their Father God into heights only He can propel them to.
3. Isaiah says of the “Eagle” Christian, “those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” The eagle flies high and doesn’t get tired because the Lord is the One who carries him.
E. THE EAGLE’S COMPANIONS
1. Many types of birds coexist in the same tree or the same field, but not so the eagle. It lives apart from the other birds. It sticks to its own kind.
2. Sometimes, sadly, eagles are kept in zoos. Sometimes they are forced to live with other birds. They cannot hang around with chickens, crows, and peacocks and not eventually start acting like them!
3. That is why the wild eagle is our example. “Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high? He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold,” Job 39:27-28.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. A farmer took an egg from an eagle’s nest. He placed it under a hen, and it hatched with a brood of little chickens. The farmer raised it with much patience and attempted to tame it. The eagle never really seemed to fit in with the other chickens.
2. IT WALKED ALONE and could not seem to find proper fellowship the other chickens. It had never known any other existence but the routine of life in the chicken yard; however, deep inside, something seemed to be wrong. THIS JUST DID NOT FEEL LIKE HOME. The farmer had to “clip its wings” to prevent it form flying away. Unable to fly, it sat in the chicken yard looking upward.
3. One day, a storm cloud began to brew and the sky became dark. All the barnyard animals were scurrying around for cover. They were very frightened. The eagle stretched out its wings that the farmer had failed to keep clipped; and as he did, his eye caught sight of the great eagle riding the wind.
4. His wings were outstretched in majestic form. He was obviously not afraid of the storm at all. The eagle that had been raised as a chicken looked first at the chickens scurrying around frantically and then back at the eagle soaring above the clouds. He heard the piercing cry of the eagle from the sky; and at that moment he knew he had to get out of the chicken yard.
5. A gust of wind caught under his outstretched wings and lifted him from the post he was sitting on. With a shrill scream of victory and freedom, he left the barnyard forever – never to return to a caged life as a chicken.
6. CHICKENS ARE CONTENT WITH A LIFE FENCED IN WITH NO FREEDOM AND LIBERTY, NOT SO EAGLES! LET US FOLLOW IN THE WAY OF THE EAGLE, AS GOD POINTS OUT IN ISAIAH 40.
B. ALTAR CALL
[This is a rewrite of Dennis Selfridge’s message “Do You Want To Be A Duck Or Eagle?” He used bird illustrations from Joyce Meyers’ "Don’t Give up."]
