001. Where Eagles Fly

Friends, today, I’m going to appeal to each one of us throughout this message to make some good changes in our lives. 

Prayer

Well it’s a beautiful day today, just like it was when the farmer trudged through the wet grass one morning towards the hills near his home. Below a tall tree lay a big branch that had come down in the storm during the night. With it had come a nest with one unbroken egg in it. 

Now, since he was in the business of raising chickens, he took this big egg home and placed it in the incubator to be hatched with the other eggs. Finally, this strange looking egg produced an even stranger looking chick. It was larger than the other chickens and darker, and had feathers on its legs right to its feet. 

As it grew, it had a peculiar air about it. It carried its head high, and generally seemed more noble than the chickens around it. 

You could tell it was different, but the farmer decided to raise it as a chicken. So he fed and treated that strange bird like a chicken, and since that was the only name the bird ever knew, it began to think and act like a chicken. 

It was obviously designed for nobler things, but after all, it thought, it was just a chicken, and so it lowered its noble head to scratch in the dirt and peck at the dusty grain. It was frustrated, but after all, if you think you’re only a chicken then you’ll act like a chicken. 

Deep inside, this stately bird wanted to be more than just an average chicken, yet succumbing to peer pressure and not wanting to be different from the others, it tried again and again, ever so hard to be just like them, until finally, it no longer felt out of place amongst those chickens.

One day, a clean-cut visitor dressed in white, came to the farm and saw this strange looking bird scratching in the dirt. Surprised at what he saw, the visitor asked the farmer, why, he had an eagle amongst his chickens.

The farmer replied that though the bird looked like an eagle, it had learned to live, eat and think like a chicken, and since that’s all the life it ever knew, that’s all it would ever be. A chicken. 

The visitor argued that the farmer must not try to change one of God’s creatures. He told the farmer that God had created this bird to fly in high places, and no matter how long it had been since it had been confined to the farmyard, this creature could change. 

The bird, said the visitor, may have the habits of a chicken, it may walk, eat and sound like a chicken, but deep inside it has the heart and soul of a noble eagle. The visitor then decided to prove this to the farmer and he picked up the eagle, held it aloft and said, “You’re an eagle, not a chicken. Spread your wings and fly!” 

The eagle flapped its large graceful wings and stretched those majestic pinions which lifted him, and he soared towards the clouds.

But as it was ascending, the farmer made clucking sounds and threw some chicken feed on the ground and when the eagle saw it, he flew right back down to the ground and started to eat it up. And the farmer gloated over his success as this scene was repeated over and over again with the same results. 

Early the next morning, the visitor decided to give the eagle a greater vision of its high calling. He took the bird to the top of the hay shed where he pointed out the vast expanse of countryside and the mountains beyond - where eagles fly. 

Again the visitor told the eagle it was not a chicken but a magnificent bird created by God to scale the heights and fly above the clouds, and again the eagle, eager to find its proper identity, spread its wings and took off. But alas, as the bird ascended toward the sun, again the farmer clucked like a chicken and threw some chicken food on the ground.

But, just as the eagle began to dive towards the feed on the ground, it heard the sound of another eagle calling in the distant sky, and precisely at that moment, the rays of the rising sun of a new day warmed its body and its eyes opened wider. The eagle’s body trembled as it paused, deciding, hanging in mid-air, mesmerised by the call that came from the throat of another of its kind. 

Then, with one great swoop, that majestic bird stretched its wings and soared out towards the deep recesses of space. It flew up, up and away, slicing the air as it rose towards the dawning of a new experience. Not once did it look back, not once did it look down as it kept soaring higher and higher with seemingly little effort towards the call of the other eagle, never to be a chicken again, now to live out its destiny ‘where eagles fly’. And that’s our message title today...

Where Eagles Fly

Today, I want you to choose what you want to be …. 

chickens (low like a chicken) 

or … 

eagle (high like an eagle. Friends, you must choose.)

chickens (low like a chicken) 

or … 

eagle (high like an eagle. You must choose.)

chickens (low like a chicken) 

or … 

eagle (high like an eagle.)

chickens (low like a chicken) 

or … 

eagle (high like an eagle. Friends, you must choose.)

Girls and boys, young people, older folk. Satan is like that farmer, and most of the time, we Christians fall into his trap as we behave like chickens instead of eagles. 

How does that happen? We find that people of all nationalities and from all walks of life, because of peer pressure, become chickens, wasting their noble bearing.

So what’s the problem? Firstly, if you are a chicken, you can never become an eagle as long as you take notice of people who say you’re no good. 

If you’re young, they say you’re too young for the job. Well, prove them wrong, and become an eagle. - If you’re old, they say you’re too old for the job. Well prove them wrong. Show them you are an eagle and prove it to yourself and to them. 

If you’re a new on-fire Christian and they say you’re not experienced enough – that you’re only an average chicken and only a very young one at that, then show them that with God’s help you are going to fly high for Him with the eagles – and fast. Don’t let them hold you back. Get up, friend, where eagles fly.

A young Christian asked his minister if he could give him a Bible class to teach. The minister told him he was too inexperienced – didn’t have enough knowledge. But this new Christian didn’t want to be a chicken, He wanted to be an eagle for God. So he went out and started his own Bible study group in the slums. We know him today as the famous preacher D.L. Moody.

Friends, I’d like to tell you my experience. Maybe in some way you can relate to what happened to me. 

For the first 8 years of school I wore shorts and bare feet, summer and winter. But now, at age 13, I had headed off to high school. Now it was long pants and ties and shoes and socks! I hated it. I hated school! In those days we got the cane for disobedience. For the two years I was there I held the record for receiving the most canings (or ‘cuts’ as we called them). I just couldn’t seem to do anything right.

Some things I won’t mention, but I’d put touch powder on the teacher’s duster and when he went to dust the board it would explode and burn a hole in the duster. 

My first business venture as a kid way back in Grade 3, was to sell cigarettes to my mates at a profit. 

The police took me away from High School one day with gelignite, fuse and detonators that I’d stolen from a farm and I was going to use them to blow up the church I went to. I hated church. My parents took me to church, on average, eight times a week. 

It seemed that nearly every day I was at the head teacher’s office to be caned. 

When I started to spend time with a girl called Delphine Osborne, who had gone to that same school, her friends found it hard to believe, and they said, “No! Not him!’ Praise the Lord, we’re still together over 50 years later. You might want to say, “Praise Delphine for sticking with me.” -- I do! 

But I’ve never forgotten one teacher’s words to me... “Archer, you’ll never amount to anything.” 

That’s like saying, “You’re only a useless chicken Archer, you’ll never make an eagle.” Would I accept what that teacher said? Would I remain a chicken who would spend the following years scratching the surface of my true potential? 

Would the teacher’s words haunt me for the rest of my days? Or would I break free, and fly?

All around us, you and I have people telling us we’ll never amount to anything - we’re no good! And then we lack self-confidence, because deep down we start to believe the people who knock us. 

Some of you may have walked into this church today, broken images of who you truly are, with negative thoughts ringing in your minds. 

No matter how well dressed or how well educated we are, we often come disguising our misgivings about ourselves, about our inadequacies, bowed down by the storms of life, broken by failed friendships, and disappointments. 

But, despite the negative words by so-called friends and families, we read this verse in Ephesians 2 which goes something like this :- 

(Ephesians 2:1-5) 

“And you He has made alive. In times past you followed Satan, disobedient, children of anger, just like the others.” 

Now I want you to remember the next two words in verse 4 because they may be the most important words that we’ll ever hear as human beings … 

(Ephesians 2:4,5) (“But God”! “But God”!) 

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, …. made us alive together with Christ (by grace you are saved), …” 

Friends, by grace we are saved and are called to be eagles, to reign with God in majesty like princes and princesses, and we must not settle for anything less.

If you’re following God’s Word and doing all that He’s asking you to, then don’t let anyone hold you back. Step out and stand up, and work for God like the eagle He wants you to be.

If on the other hand, someone is holding you back because you’re not living up to all the truth that God has so far given to you, then with God’s help, get your act together, stop pecking around in the dirt, and spread your wings, and fly for the Lord and for yourself! 

Have you heard the saying… “People who say it can’t be done, shouldn’t interrupt people who are doing it.” 

On the highway it says… ‘Slow drivers keep in left lane.’ 

If someone is being a road hog and is trying to slow you down and hold you back in the chicken yard, then get around them quickly and move on past. Friends, ... Don’t let anyone crush the eagle out of you. 

A man was selling hot dogs at the side of the road. He was doing a roaring trade. He had the courage and confidence of an eagle and sold hundreds every day. Until... until his son came home from university to stay with him for a few weeks and said, “Dad, don’t you know we’re in a recession? Things are bad!” Well Dad didn’t know about the recession because he was too busy selling hot dogs! But then he thought to himself, “My son should know, he goes to university, maybe I shouldn’t buy so many sausages and rolls tomorrow.”

So he didn’t, and of course he didn’t have so many to sell, and of course he didn’t have quite as much money from sales to buy a larger number the next day. And so, day by day he bought and sold fewer and fewer, until finally, discouraged, he closed down his little hot dog stand and went out of business, all because, all because he’d listened to his son who convinced him it couldn’t be done.

Eagle people, watch out for negative statements, even-by-your-family-and -friends! 

Another problem, a crippling problem, that stops young people and new Christians from spreading their wings, is hypocrisy in churches and in homes - parents who have double standards as they fight each other, as they abuse their children, and even as they abuse certain substances. Children and new Christians, and older Christians are held back from flying because they have to contend with the hypocrisy of members who gossip about other church families six days a week, then pose as pious pretenders of the faith one day a week at church. 

I’m appealing to you people and to myself, I want you to please make positive decisions today.

If you, today, are a chicken, then say today, “World, step aside. I’m spreading my wings to soar up where I belong, where eagles fly.”

The eagle is well represented in the Bible. Why does God use this bird to represent the character traits He so dearly wants each of us to have? Why?

Today friends, be imaginative! We’re going to compare some of the eagle’s qualities with the characteristics that Christians should emulate.

Firstly, let’s look at the eagle’s regal presence and his reputation as the King of Birds. 

With regards to ‘royalty’, in this world there are more ordinary folk, commoners, than those of royal bearing. There are more chickens than eagles. In fact throughout the world eagles are relatively rare. On the other hand, we went to photograph some chickens, and there were 16,000 chickens in just one shed, in one suburb, of Sydney. Millions are produced every year in Australia alone. It only takes 21 days to produce a chicken from an egg and after living an almost meaningless life for the next two months, they’re ready for someone’s dinner table.

On the other hand there is the eagle -- An eagle is not as easily reproduced as a chicken, and no matter how well disguised, once an eagle, always an eagle. So it is with royalty.

You may recall the story of the ‘Prince and the Pauper’ in which the young prince swapped his royal throne and clothing for the rags of a street urchin. He moved among the beggars and paupers to discover how he could better serve all his people in his kingdom. But no matter how hard he tried, or how tattered his dress, everyone who came in contact with him recognised that he did not belong among the beggars. He had a royal bearing and a peculiar air and speech which contradicted his shabby appearance. They could see he was different - an eagle in a chicken yard.

Come with me in the Bible to read of another Prince who did likewise.

(Philippians chapter 2) Phil 2:5-8. 

(Verse 5) “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God; but made Himself of no reputation, and taking the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” 

Friends, the great Prince of the heavens, the greatest eagle of all, willingly chose to be Jesus, a man made lower than the angels, a pauper, a slave, so that He could teach the poor in spirit and slaves of sin, how to live as eagles in His kingdom. And yet one of the most striking things about Jesus was His royal bearing and genuine Godly authority.

The Bible tells us how people marvelled because He did not speak like the scribes and Pharisees but spoke with freshness and great wisdom, qualities that are fast disappearing from among our people.

Why is this happening? Perhaps because we have forgotten that we are members of the royal household of God, princes and princesses with all the life and power to so live. If anything marks us as chickens today, it’s our inability to reach higher into God’s Word – to reach higher in the Christian life – to reach up where eagle fly.

Is it possible that we have grown content? 

Some years ago ‘Carnation Milk’ advertised that its milk comes from contented cows. The opposition came up with this powerful slogan, “Our cows are not contented, they’re always trying to do better.” 

Have we grown content? And lukewarm? Have we become content to sit on our unique church perches where we repeat meaningless mottoes about ‘having the truth’ and ‘being followers 12 of Christ’ – vain words which no longer have the power to convince ourselves, much less others around us?

Are we fast becoming overpopulated with uniform birds of a feather who flock together once a week and sometimes even twice, to pat our soft bellies, boast about our sharp beaks and muse over our little knowledgeable heads which continue to hold fewer and fewer spiritual ideas and more and more philosophical and humanistic ideas? 

Have we become chickens who are too chicken to take risks for God and dare to be different? We desperately need a lot more keen-eyed, wide-winged members who are willing to soar, soar out and up where eagles fly, to explore the unlimited ranges of the kingdom of God. Jesus is seeking people in this Church to be His eagles ‘today’! …. Can we? Will we?

You see, chicken people are different from eagle thinkers, and you can tell the difference when you are in their presence. Chicken people like to stay on the same old spiritual ground where it’s safe, no risk, where they can feel the earth beneath their feet. (Incidentally, it’s earth that was carved out by the blood, sweat and tears of risk-taking eagle pioneers.) 

Chicken people like to pick over the same old material and listen to the same old words over and over again until they can follow the pattern by rote. They like to get around in groups, scratching around the place, staying in the same yard, in the same rut, year after year. And you and I can’t remember the last time we saw a chicken truly fly.

I read a little daily devotional book called ‘Our High Calling’. The thoughts were written over one hundred years ago, and apart from the Bible, it’s probably the best daily devotional book I’ve ever read. Its message is timeless. Listen to the Preface.

(The book) ‘Our High Calling’ (The Preface)

“God’s ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. The living God has given in His holy law a transcript of His character. The greatest Teacher the world has ever known is Jesus Christ; and what is the standard He has given for all who believe in Him? - ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ Matthew 5:48. As God is perfect in His high sphere of action, so man may be perfect in his human sphere.

(It goes on to say,) 

“…. The ideal of Christian character is Christlikeness. There is opened before us a path of continual advancement. We have an object to reach, a standard to gain, which includes everything good and pure and noble and elevated. There should be continual striving and constant progress onward and upward toward perfection of character.” 

Friends, we need to spend a lot of time in the company of Jesus and our Father. We grow like the company we keep. 

The Bible verse that the book ‘Our High Calling’ is based on is the statement by Paul where he explains that learning to fly like the eagles is an ongoing growing thing. The verse is in … Philippians 3:12-14 (where Paul says)

V12 “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 

V13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, V14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

Friends, it is an upward call, to forsake the chicken yard and to fly like an eagle, for God. 

Remember that old hymn called ‘Higher Ground’ - 

that’s God’s goal for you and me. …. 

Higher Ground 

“I’m pressing on the upward way, 

New heights I’m gaining every day. 

Lord, lift me up. 

Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.” 

Friends, sometimes we go away from reading a daily Bible study lesson or listening to a sermon and we say, “Well I didn’t get much out of that.” 

Friends, that-should-not-be-so. Sometimes it seems that the lesson writer or the preacher has only a very limited spiritual life. Their relationship with our Father and Jesus doesn’t seem good, and they can only lift us up from a ‘nothing’ relationship with God to a ‘lukewarm’ relationship with God. … 

Maybe sometimes we feel like we’re in a chicken yard being fed more dust than food. 

Please don’t condemn me for making a statement like that. You know it’s sometimes true. We sometimes go away from church and think, ‘Well I didn’t get much out of that today.’ 

Deep down we want to be eagles.

Eagles are out to search, discover, learn, grow like Jesus. They are courageous, spiritually vibrant, tough minded, willing to perform – for Jesus and for humanity. 

Job 39:27,28 (tells us that) “…the eagle … makes her nest on high. She dwells and abides on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.” 

Friends, the ROCK represents JESUS – the strong place! 

A girl was asked if she liked ROCK and ROLL. “No,” she said. “Gospel rock? – No! I like Rock & Roll,” she said, “but not that kind – Jesus is the ROCK and my name is on the ROLL!”

Proverbs 30: 18,19 (1st part) 

“There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yes, four which I do not understand. The way of an eagle in the air,” … (that’s the first one). 

Sometimes we can be like this writer here – Just a chook, busy scratching around in our half-hearted Christian experience, but nevertheless from time to time looking up at some of the Christians around us who remind us of eagles – flying high in their Christian experience with a vitality and joy and peace that we as chickens don’t seem to have. 

So the writer said, “It seems too wonderful for me, I don’t understand, the way of an eagle in the air.”

If you and I are chickens, we need to decide, with God’s help to soar to a higher plane in our Christian experience, to a place where eagles fly!

(In) Psalm 103:5, (David was giving his testimony about the good things God had done for him and in verse 5 he says about God,) “Who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.” 

Friends, if we want our youth to be renewed like the eagles then we too need to eat the good things – good physical food (not junk food) and good spiritual food (God’s Word) which will renew our youth and give us the strength, power and courage that’s not seen in chickens, but eagles. 

Come with me to Isaiah 40. Here we read about the eagles again. The earlier verses tell us about the people being weak and weary, but in …. 

Isaiah 40:31 (it says) “But, those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run, and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” 

Isn’t that what we want – to fly like the eagles, to be strong and not faint? Of course it is. Then let’s give up chickenhood, and fly with the eagles. 

(In) Exodus 19:4,5 (God says) “You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings, and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice, and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me, above all people;” 

Friends, we need to be obedient to God, to truly follow the things He asks us to do in His Word, then He says, “You’ll be a special treasure to me.” We’ll be lofty and noble like eagles – “He’ll bear us on eagle’s wings as He brings us to Himself.”

Will you say ‘Amen’ to this? 

“Lord I don’t want to be a chicken anymore, scratching in the dust, - take me and bear me on eagle’s wings as a noble child of the king.” (Amen?)

The eagle is recognised in every culture as a rare bird, as a king of birds. It’s a prized national emblem, while chickens are so common they’ve never made the ‘endangered species’ list. No matter how many chickens are killed, they just keep right on multiplying, while the eagle, regal and reputable as it is, still remains in the minority. 

God repeatedly uses the eagle as the symbol of His genuine people, while chickens could represent those who are half hearted, lukewarm, (ever heard that word? lukewarm,) and who seem to multiply faster than we can count. 

And here’s another thing, you’ve got to risk to be an eagle. You get out there in the sky and people will take pot shots at you. If you dare to be different for God then you’d better believe it – you’ll cop it from the far ‘left’, you’ll cop it from the far ‘right’, and you’ll cop it friends from the ‘lukewarm middle’. You’d better believe it, and with God’s help get used to it, because Paul said in …. 

Tim 3:12 (that) “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” 

It’s in God’s Word and God doesn’t lie. He put it in there to prepare you for the dangers as you spread your wings to fly with the eagles. 

We need intestinal fortitude! We need guts! As the old hymn says, will we ‘Dare to be a Daniel’? God puts out the challenge to you and to me today, -- “Who is going to be an eagle for God?” Will you spread your wings and fly?

I Corinthians 6:9-11 has a good description of chickens which we all were at one time or another before Jesus came to our rescue. I’ll give it to you in Ray Archer’s version, Corinthians 6:9-11 RAV “And even though God found us in desperate straights, He lifted us up to the level of His only begotten Son whom He sent as a visitor to deliver us and redeem us out of the barnyard, into His kingdom of grace to live with Him as eagles, forever more.” 

Older folk, you are no longer to be chickens. Middle aged folk, you are no longer to be chickens. Young adults, you’re not to be chickens. Children, do not allow anyone to treat you as a chicken because you too are eagles, created to spread your majestic wings and fly away from common things into the arms of our living Lord, and be at rest. And we shouldn’t do this tomorrow, but today, today, while it is still today.

Did you know that an eagle’s muscles are four times more efficient than the average human’s? As Christian eagles, how do we get our power? From God imparting His Holy Spirit into our lives! And the Bible says that God’s Spirit is given to those who obey God. 

If you or I lack that Holy Spirit power from God, in almost every case it’s because in some things we are being disobedient to God. Not prepared to follow Him all the way. Think about it for a moment – will you let go and give yourself fully over to God! Then you’ll receive the power of God’s Spirit in a special way that will propel you into the open sky where only eagles fly.

Don’t be afraid to step out and risk for God, because no matter how rough the storm, an eagle is never blown to its death or smashed by fierce winds against the rocks while in flight. That’s because its strength causes it to rise above the storm into clear calmer skies. To be an eagle person means that you also possess the power to face the storms of life and rise above them. Storm clouds will always appear in our lives. None of us are immune to them, but we must confront them in the strength of the Lord as we soar above them and into the calm air of His presence.

Friends, a smooth sea never made a skilful sailor. 

The eagle gets out in the strong storms to perfect its flying skills. Its strength increases as it soars in the face of the storm. Being an eagle person can also be a lonely experience, because not everybody understands eagles, and what human beings don’t understand, they fear, they attack, or reject or attempt to destroy.

PP So if eagles are a noble minority, then what chance have I got to become one and fly up there where I really would love to, where Jesus wants me? How can I be an eagle when the chicken farmer, the devil, keeps pulling me down? What’s the answer? 

Listen, the answer is this .… 

Spend more time with Jesus, the white clothed visitor to the farmyard. 

He and His Father are the ones who encourage us to fly. The only answer is to spend more time with Jesus and His Father – letting them talk to us as we read Their Word, the Scriptures, and then talking back to Them too, in prayer. Then the age-old saying will come to pass, that …. 

“We grow – like the company – we keep.” 

Have you got that? “We grow – like the company – we keep.” 

So spend more time with Jesus, and other eagles, and therefore have what it takes to do and to dare.

Let us then, like the eagle in our beginning illustration, make our majestic flight above the clouds of spiritual mediocrity into the pure air of the Word of God, rather than linger one single moment longer amongst the tired worn out lukewarmness of the hot and dusty chicken yard. Let us soar together with the spiritual eagles that God has so strategically placed around us so that their lives may call us and inspire us to the higher plane where eagles fly. 

Be courageous church. Be courageous. Dream dreams and see visions, because if we dare to dream them, God will empower us, will give us the ability, to make them happen. Be courageous and soar up where we belong – where eagles fly!

Please stand as we pray.

Firstly friends, before we pray, you are building a new church. 

Each one of you has sacrificed a lot of blood, sweat and tears and dollars, to make it happen. 

I hope and pray that the folk will allow me also to have the privilege of being a part of the new church.

Let’s pray

We know Father, that it’s very, very, important that the new church doesn’t slowly become known as a lukewarm church. We remember what we read from the little book ‘Our High Calling’ where You want to lift us up to a higher place. 

Father, we pray that every dear person here today will set the standard. Please help each of us to set the example so that people who come to visit, and hopefully stay, will not want to be chickens, but eagles, for You God. 

Please help us to live up to our noble bearing, in the precious name of Jesus. Amen. 

Friends, if you have been blessed and challenged by this message, then please take time now to send it on to your friends.