February 18, 2024

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If you brought your Bible open to Isaiah chapter 40, it’s good to see y’all this morning. How many of you here to ride bulls this evening? Look at that. Some of you old people didn’t raise your hand. What’s up, Mike? Hey, you’re listening to me. Oh, Brandy’s raising her hand, she’s ready. I think it is.

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Yeah, we need the mechanical bull from back there. Can you guys get that for me? Yeah, yeah. Hey, Brent, come back over here. Come back over here, because I can’t see him. Oh yeah, you can. Come on. How many February birthdays we got? Today’s Dennis’ birthday. Today is his birthday. He is 47 twice, right?

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Oh, going backwards, all right. All right. How many February birthdays did we have this month? Raise your hand. Come on, Dad. Raise your hand up over there. I know my dad’s was last week. I see one over here. I can’t tell who that is because I’m not wearing my glasses. All right.

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There we go. Hey Dennis, weren’t you there like helping bring Moses in from shore? To help bring Moses in from shore when they put him in the river?

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Oh, God.

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Ha ha ha.

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Alright, y’all sing with me. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear Dennis. Happy birthday to you.

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I vote next year he rides the mechanical bull. Yeah. With his guitar playing, I think it’d be good. You got a year to practice, all right?

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Yeah, the one we plug in.

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I don’t know if those gals here that got on it one night, she wanted to ride and her son was going to ride it too. And I had some other fellas with me and I said, yeah, all right, now, she was talking about riding one of the bulls up there. And I said, you probably should start here on the mechanical one.

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and we started it and she started falling off and I told them y’all catch her I’ll hit the button while I was trying to catch her and I forgot I had the button and that was a wreck. It was so you don’t want me to hold the button next year okay? Okay. Isaiah 41 I want to say to y’all good morning good to see you here. Visitors it’s good to have you with us I look around this morning when I was greeting several y’all here this morning. We’re glad that you came. We always say obviously.

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If it’s your first time here, you’re a visitor. By the time you come the second time, you’re family, all right? We just kind of include you in. If you leave here with your blood sugar at a normal rate, it’s your own fault, because we got plenty of donuts, coffee, and sugar back there. We can fix you up. But we’re glad you’re here. Good to see Mike sitting here on the front row. I hadn’t seen him in a while. And Helen. So.

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And I think our Chuck Wagon team is cooking some burgers or tacos? Burgers today at the Bull Riding Show. Y’all don’t want to miss that. Don’t want to miss that. And then a shout out to everybody watching online this morning. I want to say something before I get started. Listen, I feel like sometimes I’m beating a drum, and I don’t mean to. But.

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at the end of the service where I don’t I don’t pass off from here but if you want to give there’s milk can back there in the back and if you want to give to the Lord I can tell you this past month alone eighteen hundred dollar fee bill bull riding is part of our church ministry that that the bull riding get it that feed is paid for from our church uh… two thousand dollar electric bill for last month alone

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We’re not sinking and we won’t sink. But there’s a few holes in the boat right now, okay? Some big ones and we’re a peddling water real fast. So if the Lord leads you to give today, please do so. Okay, Isaiah chapter 40, 31 is where I’m gonna read from. What did I say?

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Okay, Isaiah 40 verse 31 I’ll get there Isaiah 40 verse 31 and maybe you have seen some picture or Painting I have a number of them matter of fact There’s one back there by the offering can that has this very verse on it and it has

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been a verse in my life that has meant so much and I hope that after today you never look at that verse again the same. I hope you can see it through the eyes of scripture and what God really meant and what it means to mount up with wings as an eagle. I told some of you this last week, if you weren’t here I’ll give you, I preached what I call the first part of my eagle sermon or series

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Listen for you hearing me say I preach because I’ve preached it before matter of fact when I was young in the ministry Long ago, okay. Y’all say long ago long ago

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I began preaching and I had heard as a boy a man preach using scriptures concerning eagles in the Bible. And it fascinated me. Anytime I read about animals, because I love animals and I have had many of them of all kinds and never had an eagle yet, but I said, yeah. I thought about getting a new t-shirt made the other day. Kangaroo ranching and hamster farming. My mom and dad don’t know what that means. They’re like, yeah, that sounds like him.

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But I’ve never owned an eagle, but I have always been fascinated by eagles and by animals in the Bible. And I shared with you last week how God uses animals in the Bible. For instance, if you read about a sheep in the Old Testament, a lamb, it’s always a type, a picture of Jesus Christ, the coming lamb of God.

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Or if you look at the dove, for example, anytime you see the dove, it is a type picture representation of the Holy Spirit. But when it comes to God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, we like to say, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the one animal that God uses to describe His Father nature is that of an eagle. And so last week I shared with you Exodus chapter 32 verse 11.

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shared with you Exodus 19 Deuteronomy 32 11 Exodus 19 11 and shared with you how God uses those verses to demonstrate how he loves us cares for us and even in the moments that we think God might be angry at us or God is forsaking us all along he’s stirring our nest all along he’s preparing us to become what God wants us

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to be to fulfill his purpose in us and what it is and so when you come to Isaiah chapter 40 in verse 31 I’m just gonna read this one verse and we’ll come back to it even more in a little bit but it says but those but those that means you and I it should mean you and I

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But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, and they shall mount up with wings like eagles, and they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.” So when you read this passage, you can’t help but notice he’s talking about individuals, just like you and I, who may grow weary, who may grow tired, who may find ourselves in weakness,

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moment of discouragement or depression but he’s telling us right there that defeat is never an option. Defeat is never an option and I’m going to explain further why that’s true. Discouragement, depression may come but defeat is never the option. In other words, when you find yourself weary, when you find yourself without strength, then you trust in the Lord, you hope in the Lord and here’s the

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you wait on the Lord. Now waiting on the Lord is not always easy. How many of you have ever prayed for patience? Not many of the few. Okay, I’ve learned and you’ve always heard, don’t pray for patience. Well, it’s not wrong to pray for patience. It’s just probably going to be tough when you do, but patience is something we’re all going to have to have. Patience produces endurance and endurance produces

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And so you’re never going to be what God wants you to be without having some measure of patience in your life, but in order to get there Sometimes you have to wait on the Lord. I always say to people

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I meet too many Christians who have the word no in their vocabulary, or they have the word I can’t, or the words I can’t in their vocabulary. And that’s not really what God wants you to do. I think for the Christian, the best words we can use to the Lord is yes and amen. Yes and amen. I’ll do it. But sometimes God will say go, and if God says go, you better go. If God says stop, you better stop.

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The steps of a godly man or woman, but I also like to say he orders the stops of a godly man And a godly woman in other words there’s times that you may think you need to go and God says whoa Stop just a minute. I want you to set down I want you to be still the Bible says be still and know that I am God now That’s not an easy thing to do especially if you’re someone wired like me I don’t like set and steel very long if my wife and I now

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that I’m older, I can sit and watch a movie and normally make it most of the way through without falling asleep.

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I normally I can get through one or two movies in the evenings I can sit especially this time of year when it’s cold outside, but I gotta be out if it’s good weather outside I can’t sit long. I cannot sit still people some people get sick and they go to bed I get that I understand that if I got to be real real real sick to be in bed for a day But by the second day I am driving myself my wife the dogs the canaries and everybody else crazy And it would have canaries but I’m

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I can’t set steel. Being steel and waiting on God is sometimes a difficult thing to do. It’s hard to do. Especially when you won’t answer from God, when you want God to move in a certain area of your life, when you want God to do something, and I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of prayers that are really deep, profound, and I have a whole lot more prayers that I like to kind of categorize.

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different ways. For instance, when I go to McDonald’s, I’ll pray, Lord help this mess digest. That’s it, that’s my prayer.

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And then there’s times when I have what I call 9-1-1 prayers How many of y’all ever prayed a 9-1-1 prayer? Lord, I’m in a mess and help me now Like not tomorrow tomorrow be too late matter of fact an hour from now will be too late I need you to answer me now and there’s times he does but a lot of times he doesn’t and Just because God doesn’t answer in that moment doesn’t mean that God doesn’t hear you

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it mean that he doesn’t care? And God in his sovereignty, that means he’s in total control. And I don’t know about you, but I believe in the sovereignty of God. I believe he’s in total control of my life. Even when I’m not, God is able to say, that’s just still, son, I’ve got something for you to learn. So here’s what I want you to understand. There is a process to greatness.

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If you write anything down I say today, write that down. There’s a process to greatness. I don’t believe God created any human being to just be average.

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I don’t believe he created people to just be mundane. I don’t believe God created you to be a loser. I don’t believe God created you to be defeated. I believe God called you and created you to be great for his kingdom and for his cause and to glorify his name. You say, well,

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Pastor I hear people say all the time that we have a calling in life or we have a purpose in life And I’m still trying to discover mine. How many of you feel that way? How many of you ever thought hey, I know God’s got something for me to do in life But I just don’t know what it is. Let me help you out. It’s simple Did you know that your calling is not any different than my calling? They may not be the same I mean, I may be called to be a pastor and stand up here and preach to you But did you know that your calling and my calling?

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Calling and all of our callings is the same and it’s this is to glorify Jesus Christ is to glorify the father is to glorify the Holy Spirit Our lives is to glorify God whatever you do your calling you you may you may be a mechanic You may be unemployed you may be a pastor you you could be what you may be retired It doesn’t matter what you made the bull rider a roper you you may be a barrel racer Whatever you are

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Your calling is still to glorify God in what you do. And that’s the purpose of my life, the purpose of your life. But do you realize that to get there, to glorify God in your life, there has to be a process and how many of you know that many times the process is painful and this is the reason it’s painful because that process is going to be painful because it’s going to bring about change.

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in your life. Now, most of us do not like change, do we? No. Let me tell you, for you young people in here, the older you get, the less you will like change. Am I right, Dennis? The more… You want to know why us old people complain a lot? Because we don’t like change. Change scares us.

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Right, and see there, he’s an amen. In other words, I like to know my path to the bathroom at night without Legos and Barbies laying in the floor to cripple me.

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Some of y’all getting that. All right. When you have change in your life, it causes you to be uncomfortable. If you remember last week, I was telling you about those baby eagles in the nest, and the mother begins to stir up the nest. And when she stirs up the nest, what does she do first? She grabs those little fur, the rabbit fur and the squirrel fur, and she throws that overboard. And then the next day or few days, she’ll begin to take the little sticks that she used to construct that nest.

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throw that overboard. That’s change in that eagle’s life, but it’s causing that change in order to get it out of, it’s a process to get it out of the nest and eventually to get it in the air and in the air to teach it to fly. Because if it never learns to do that, it’s no better than a turkey and it’ll live upon someone’s dinner table. I don’t know about these eagles, but that’s a good analogy.

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But you understand, God is going to do things in your life that will cause you to be uncomfortable and will push you through a process. That process will often be painful, but the outcome of that process, He’s going to mold you and make you into who and what He wants you to be. Well, I see a lot of young guys back there, bull riders. I look back at my bull riding career

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Some of y’all have heard me talk about this and I know there’s some guys in here my age that were Bullfighters and bull riders so y’all remember the days. I’ve told you before y’all had computers Before there were cell phones when America was still America Yo people help me out here. Yeah We didn’t have um all the stuff y’all got we had books in school I know you can go to the museum and see those now

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We had books. So when you started school every year, they gave you what was called a textbook.

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And it was kind of like a rental. In other words, you shouldn’t damage it. And if you do damage it, at the end of the year, you or your parents are going to have to pay for it. So along with the books, they passed out book covers. And these big book covers, the first thing you did the first day of school is you wrapped the book cover around the book by the teacher’s instruction. And you were to keep the book covers on the book all year long. One problem I had is I put them in the locker and never carried them after the first day, you see.

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book covers in there and they were to protect the book because I thought it was to protect the book from damage but I realized it was probably for kids like me who were bored in school and so I’d be sitting in English class or math class which math was really hard for me. The book of numbers in the Bible even gives me heartburns. That’s how much I like numbers.

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I would sit in class and all I would do is daydream about being a bull rider.

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While daydreaming about being a bull rider, all I could do is daydream about being a famous world champion bull rider. And so I thought, well, as soon as I get out of here, and I’m 18 and I can get my card and ride bulls professionally, I’m gonna be a world champion bull rider and I’m gonna be signing my autograph. So the natural thing for me to do while in school was not math, science, English, all that stuff, but it was rather work on my autograph. So by the end of the year, my book covers,

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I mean every inch of them because I’d be sitting in classes practicing my autograph because I thought that’s going to be my life and little did I know that What my dad was trying to tell me and older people were trying to tell me was You’re not going to ride bulls forever. You’re going to get old. Well, here is that day. I’m there

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Matter of fact, I look back and that bull riding career was pretty short. It didn’t have much, in other words, your body can only take some of the injuries. And what I didn’t know is how many things God was teaching me in bull riding about life. Some of those things like life is going to knock you down. How many of you know if a guy’s got a 50% riding average in bull riding, he’s probably in the top five or six in the world. In other words, he’s probably a pretty tight cat in bull riding. In other words, you’re going to get bucked off

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probably more than you ride. That’s just the truth. And you’re gonna hit the ground, and everyone will ride a bronc, and I’m gonna bronc too, okay? So I know the difference. The horse will kick you harder than the bull, but a bull can throw you on that ground, and the only thing is, you can ride a bronc, and you can almost bug over, and a pickup man’s gonna come get you.

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But in bull riding there was no pickup man. So you’re gonna hit the ground, right? And that ground hurts. I don’t care if you hit it on a horse or you hit it from a bull, the ground still hurts. It was never riding that got me. It’s a sudden stop at the end. That’s what it gets you. It’s like now that I’m older and I fall, it’s not the fall that gets me. It’s a sudden stop at the end when you hit the ground. Like gravity has always been there and it just gets worse the older you get. Some of your older people are starting to shake your head. You know what I’m talking about.

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And so I learned a lot of lessons and just one of those was you’re gonna get bucked off, you’re gonna get hurt, it’s gonna really stink when it does, but if you want to be good and you want to be great, you’re gonna have to learn to get up, work through the process and the pain and look at them bulls that threw you or those horses that threw you and say you know what the next one can’t throw me.

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the next one’s not gonna throw me. And you have to go with that mindset. If you show up at a bull ride and saying, well, I’m probably gonna get bucked off, you just donating money and you oughta go fishing. Be a pro bass fisher or something. In other words, when you walk up there, you better know that you have the heart to ride. I always tell people, hey, I’ve seen a lot of guys in my life that had a lot of talent but didn’t have a lot of heart.

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Show me a guy that has a lot of heart, I’ll show you a guy that’ll make it somewhere, not only in bull riding but in life. Somebody’s got to, the attitude won’t quit, but you’re going to go through a process to get there. So what does the eagle have to do with it? Well last week I shared with you how an eagle, pound for pound, inch for inch, is one of the most powerful animals on the earth. In other words, for what it weighs, its size, they have incredible strength. I shared with you how eagles, you will rarely see one on the ground.

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And if so, you’re not going to see him there long because God did not make them to dwell on the ground like a turkey or chicken But God caused an eagle or created an eagle to soar to heights beyond that of any other animal or any other bird and With that there’s certain ways that God made that animal’s body to adapt to what it is supposed to do and its purpose but there also comes a time that in order for that eagle to

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through the process and the change and the pain he has to go through what is almost a life-ending situation in his life. An eagle they say can take

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A bald eagle, golden eagle, that’s what we have here in the United States. There’s eagles in the Philippines, there’s eagles at different places in the world, but what you and I would be most accustomed to would be their golden eagle, which is brown, or a bald eagle, which we obviously recognize that as our national symbol in that bird with the white head. But what you may not know about the eagles with the white head is they don’t get that till after they go through what’s called a molting period.

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normally will go through some type of a molting period. If you’ve ever had chickens, you’ll notice about late summer, those chickens start looking really, really rough. And the reason they do is they’re losing their feathers. After they’re a year old, they’ll start losing their feathers. The ones they have get broken and dull looking. And matter of fact, I’ve seen some chickens that got plum naked. I mean, they just lost all their feathers. And then you see these other feathers, new feathers,

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poking through and when you see that that chicken that’s the process that God made for them to lose those feathers and bring on new feathers that will help it be more equipped for the winter that’s coming. An eagle

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Its feathers are designed in very specific ways. If you remember last week, I shared with you how when that mother eagle would drop her babies and then let them fall for a time, swoop down and pick them up, but eventually in order to get them to put out their wings and fly, she would come over them, move five primary feathers, they call on each wing, which would create a wind turbulence as she would swoop her wings like this and move those little feathers.

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creates a wind turbulence under the baby so that it doesn’t it’s not falling so fast and she can screech out to it telling it to stick out its wings and once it does it begins to ride on that wind current from its mother which is above it riding on the wind from the wings of the eagle above but for every bald eagle you see

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The ones with the white head, you need to know that eagle has gone through the molting process. That eagle has gone through a literal valley in its life. I don’t know about you, but I love mountaintops, but do you know that between every mountaintop is a valley? You can’t get from one mountaintop to the next mountaintop without going through a valley, and how many of you know that sometimes valleys are really tough?

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and the life of an eagle.

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And they say that when they’ve surpassed the juvenile stage, there comes a time in those eagle’s lives, especially when the next time you see a bald eagle, I want you to remember this. When you see that white head that that eagle has, you need to know that that eagle has been one of the rare birds to survive the molting process because they say that two out, or three out of every five that go into a valley area

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their life and through the molting period of their life normally die. That’s why they’re an endangered species, not just because they die but because of pesticides and stuff. But you need to know that when you see the white-headed bald eagle, you’re looking at an eagle that’s been through a process in which God put it through to allow it to be the animal that it is. For instance, let me give you a few examples.

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I told you those eagles were made to soar. Do you know that on their wings, if you ever see a picture of a bald eagle sitting on a limb, you’ll notice they shine and they look really pretty. They’re majestic looking, but you need to know that they have oil glands in their skin that come out on their feathers and that oil glistens on that. When you see that picture of a glistening eagle, that’s oil that its body has produced to make those feathers shine.

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The wind can just go right over their wings and go right over their feathers and gives it that that ability to fly higher and faster than any other animal they if you notice they have a big long beak which they can reach down and and tear meat apart with and and that beak is It’s designed so that whenever they focus in the air They can fly their eyes you you and I can see certain distances and ranges with our eyes

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to know that an eagle can see almost 180 degrees out of their direction at the same time while looking forward with the ability to see even something as small as a mouse or a squirrel going through the woods at a mile away while it’s in the air. I showed you how a buzzard can smell a stink a mile away. Well, an eagle can see live prey hopping through the forest at almost a mile away. And something else about their eyes, and it’s not just that they’re incredible,

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Vision they have but God gave them what you would consider like built-in sunglasses The Eagle doesn’t have many Predators in the sky

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that would attack it except for things like crows and blackbirds. And sometimes you might witness an eagle at a lower altitude and you’ll notice some smaller birds coming after it attacking it, but that eagle has a defense mechanism that those other birds don’t, that God made it with and that was simply this. It has those built-in sunglasses, I call them, they’re just an extra eyelid. And so whenever they begin to get attacked by other birds

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try to bring them down, the eagle will actually turn and look directly into the sun. Those eyelids come over and they’re able to fly directly into the sun and still see where they’re going. And the higher they go, the other birds can no longer see them. They lose sight of them. And before long, they have to fall back. They have to fall away. Because the closer the eagle gets to the sun, two things happen. The brightness of that sun.

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repels the other birds because they’re not equipped the same way nor can they soar that high because as they go higher and higher the oxygen level thins and their air sacs and their lungs they don’t have lungs their air sac but they’re not equipped to handle that same amount of pressure and lack of oxygen that the eagle can take and so the other birds will lose the lose sight of the eagle and

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When you begin to get attacked in life, whenever you defeat and discouragement and depression begin to creep in, the one thing you’ve got to remember is God equipped you as a Christian to set your eyes not on the SON son, but the S-O-N son and keep your eyes focused on him. Because I promise you, the closer you get to him, why do you hear me or my wife say,

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must flee in Jesus name because the devil knows that the name of Jesus the Son of God is so bright that his darkness cannot stand in it. I need you to know today when you get attacked you can call me the pastor and say hey would you pray for me and I’ll be happy to pray for you but what you most need to do is lean in draw in get close to Jesus because I promise you if there’s one

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of a risen Savior, who conquered him at the cross, who paid our sin debt and rose from the grave. And when the devil stands in his presence, the devil must bow to that. Demons have to bow at his name. They can no longer stand in his presence. So that eagle has a representation that when it goes toward the sun, its enemies have to fall by the wayside. But I told you about the valley experience.

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There comes a time that an eagle goes in that valley where it will molt. And they will literally find a valley area in the mountain range. And they’ll go down in that valley and they’ll begin to dwell on the ground.

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Now I mentioned talons a moment ago. Their talons are incredibly strong. And if many say that or two, you’ll see people who handle them will have that big strong leather guard on their arm. Because if you didn’t, that eagle could literally crush your arm with its talons. Crush it to the point you could probably never use it again. They could snap every bone in your arm.

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Those talons, those nails could pierce into your arm and literally puncture your arteries and cause you to bleed out. They’re that powerful. But when an eagle goes onto a valley floor, onto the ground…

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Normally covered they’ll go in an area that’s covered with trees. They’ll go in an area where they’re not easily seen by anything they could attack them or Predators that could come and kill them. But when they spend that time on a moist Valley for on the ground those talents that were once incredible with strength begin to get sore and on the bottoms of them They’ll begin to get so sore that the eagle can hardly move them they’ll begin to swell and even puss up to the point that they become

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infected because God never created that eagle to have contact that much with the ground.

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And their eyesight begins to change while in a valley area of their life. That eyesight that could once look into the sun and tear ducts that are in the eye that would create tears to keep the moist air or the eyes moist, especially when they can fly at speeds of 180 miles an hour, that tear duct begins to dry up because it’s no longer in function to be used the way God made it to be. So now their tear ducts are drying up.

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right, their eyes literally get scales begin to grow over the eyes because of the soreness and the lack of use of their tear glands and that extra eyelid that they have. And then the molting period starts where their feathers begin to die. Those feathers that were once very glistening and shiny and many, I told you last week, they have 1,250 approximate feathers on each wing and then their body included, those feathers

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to die and they began to lose their feathers. And then that beak that is strong that they can reach down grabbing fresh meat and tear it apart, that beak now because of the altitude they’re living in, the low altitude that is covered with far more carbon monoxide down here than you do in higher elevations or higher areas, that beak begins to corrode over to the point that the eagle’s

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able to breathe and if you see an eagle in this state you’ll see an eagle whose feathers are dull, dying and falling out. You’ll see an eagle that literally becomes blinded because it can’t produce tears anymore nor can it shut that eyelid that God gave it as a protectant to its eyes. Its beak is crusted over, it can’t breathe, its feet are swollen and sore and when you

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It can’t even fly, it can’t hunt, it can’t go look for fresh meat, and it no longer is able to live if it stays in that position, if it stays in that valley. And they say three out of every five that go into that valley area would die in that area. It’s a long time event in their life, but it happens. So when you see that white-headed eagle.

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You know that’s an eagle that’s gone through the valley and it survived the valley. And because it survived, it now can be what God has made it and called it to be. But when you see those eagles in a valley area, and matter of fact,

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I’ve seen pictures of multiple eagles in a valley area, in a valley region. I’ve actually seen one eagle that was actually in life that was going through that molting period and it was stunned there. But I’ve seen pictures where at times there’ll be multiple eagles down in that valley all dying if they don’t change, if the process doesn’t work, if they don’t pull through.

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depressed and discouraged bird that would die that way if it doesn’t get help.

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Can I tell you that’s exactly where Satan wants to put you and I, but the opposite of what God wants for us? But you say, well, if Satan wants us there, he wants us in a valley in our life, if Satan wants to take everything from us and destroy us, why does God allow it? Why would God even allow us to be in that position? Some Christians, they ask an honest question.

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from a book today, I am preaching from the book, but I’m not just preaching from some manual. You’re looking at a man who has lived this, who knows, that has been there. I understand what it feels like to be defeated. I understand what it feels like to be discouraged. I understand what it feels like to be depressed. I’ve walked through those valleys myself. I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to want to give up. I know what it feels like to think I’ll never make

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out of here. This will be the end of me. I know what it is to wake up in the morning, let me get real with some of you. I know what it is to wake up in the morning and wonder if a mortician will take my boots off by the time I, by the night time. I know what that feeling is like. I know what it feels like to wonder if in three days who the preacher will be standing doing my funeral service. I know what it feels like to think, you know what?

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I’m never going to make it through this attack. This will be the end of my ministry and maybe the end of my life. I’ve been there too. So you fill in the blank whatever is going on in your life and you feel like you’re so overwhelmed that you will never pull through that. And I just want to tell you this morning, I’m not one of those people just preaching from some something I read. I’m telling you, I know that feeling. I know what it feels like to be there.

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So what happens in the eagle’s life? Same thing that happened in my life. When you find yourself there, and when that eagle finds himself there, on his own, there’s nothing he can do.

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But what happens is, and I’ve actually seen footage, video footage of this, those eagles that would be in the valley, it would be dark, damp areas, it would be a place where they’re almost hidden, there’s not much sunlight, the oxygen level is much different than what they were built to be acclimated to or adjusted to, and they’re just in a miserable state, but what happens and what gets them out is maybe not even what you think.

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who have been through the same valley coming by and dropping fresh meat to them. The first thing that happens for them is like any living animal, they have to have food. I want you to listen to me this morning. As a pastor, as a Christian, I get so aggravated, not at you, I just get aggravated at other Christians so much. I was telling my wife this morning,

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About a person that put some stuff on Facebook or Instagram, and I’m gonna stop right there. I messed up last time So he over here They put some stuff on there and you know, they they were criticizing another Christian Actually a pastor and then another Christian my wife to be specific who was posting some stuff that was absolutely truth And actually a warning

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from the Bible. He even gave some scripture that was backing up that truth to encourage that person, hey stay away from evil. And this person quoted some things that I’m like that’s Buddhism, that’s Hinduism, that’s everything but the Bible.

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And the aggravation I have, and I hope you know it’s a righteous aggravation, is like, I don’t understand why so many people will read everything else. Things on TikTok, things on social media, things on Google. My gosh, I got a lady that’ll send me stuff from Snopes or Snoops.

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I don’t know, some fact checker. I’m like, I’m not dumb enough to believe some dude sitting in his underwear in his mama’s basement who believes a woman or a man, by the way, a man can menstruate and have a baby and lactate has any sense. I’m not believing that is truth. I’m sorry, I’m not that dumb.

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Come on, y’all say amen. You know what I’m talking about. I don’t buy that. In other words, and you meet people who believe everything but the Bible. Can I tell you what the Bible is? The word of God is meat. It is meat, it is fresh meat. You can feed on all the dead stuff you want. And you know what you got? A belly ache. You gonna get sick.

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You can feed on all kinds of garbage and there’s a lot of information out there. How many of you know there is a real such thing as disinformation?

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But most of what the world’s calling disinformation is the truth and what the what what christians call truth the world’s calling Disinformation in other words. I don’t care what dr. So-and-so bottle stoppers mr Mr. Wigglesworth or whoever else says it if it don’t line up with the bible It’s not truth It’s not truth and it’s not meat. It’s kind of like going to casa torres or taco bell Do you want to have a good meal or do you want to have dire ribs?

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I don’t care, but you’re gonna get one or the other because one of them is not very good food One of them is really good food and the Bible is good food It is food for your soul. And by the way, I did while I’m on this ramp I just gotta say listen, I believe in education. I believe in reading. I’ve read a lot of stuff that wasn’t Christians I I even listened I watched news

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what the enemy’s doing. Some of y’all will get that in a minute. I wanna know what the enemy’s doing. I wanna hear both sides. I’m wise enough to make decisions for myself. So I was like, listen, but when it comes to meat, when it comes to meat, me and me just, wow, I’m on this, boy, let me get. I found out there is a.

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Setting or an app or whatever on your phone and you can actually pull up and look at your screen time For the last week or the last month or the last day And I challenge you to do that and see how much time people say well I just don’t have the time in the day to read God’s Word. I Get it your life is busy as mine. I get that I understand but can I just challenge you something? Just look at your screen time

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do that and it’ll shock you how much time you spend on this thing. Now it’s helpful, I understand, I’m still trying to figure out how it’s helpful actually, but it’s helpful they say, see I am from the generation, well I’m on the rant, just let me rant, okay, you ought to stay with me. I am from the generation that was alive before cell phones. I am a generation.

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where if someone called you, they called you at home. And if you were not there, you did not want to answer. They spoke to this little box looking thing that was called an answering machine. And when you got home, you checked it, and you returned your calls accordingly. In other words, they couldn’t instantly communicate and contact you. In other words, they couldn’t instantly contact you and grab at you. Nice days.

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I remember a time when when you went to the store you paid cash or you wrote a check and you probably signed your name in cursive and they could read it. You could work on a truck that you bought without having to pay $1500 for a diagnosis test. I remember a day where if you were thirsty.

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I don’t remember when I was little them having bottles of water for $3 a gallon or $3 a pint or whatever it is. You got a water hose and drink it. I remember a time, well I’m going to get in some trouble with this. I remember a time, get this. You mean you ride with me? We got out of her truck yesterday and I saw the seatbelt was already latched. Because I grew up in a time before seatbelts.

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Now don’t misunderstand me guys, seat belts save your lives where I’m alright. But I’m still in that age where I got on the back of my daddy’s flatbed pickup and my brother and I would ride every day from Boyd, Texas to Keller, Texas to his job on the back of a pickup wagon and everybody going by. And we lived. I lived. My first baby crib was probably painted with lead paint.

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Y’all wonder what’s wrong with me. So I remember before all the tech nuts, so what I’m trying to tell you is, this cell phone thing you got, I understand. I do a lot of research, I really do. I do some Bible study, I have a Bible app on here. I can look up things on here. There’s a lot of good things. Some of you older folks in here, you can turn up your hearing aids with the thing. And that’s a good thing.

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Okay? You can figure out how many steps you took in a day with this deal, I don’t know what advantage that is, but you can do it. I broke mine the other day. You can do all of that stuff. But at the end of the day, this isn’t meat. This won’t sustain you in a valley. This won’t get you out of discouragement, depression, or keep you from defeat. But I know something that will.

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It’s tried and true. It’s never failed. It has a 110 percent perfect record. Okay, not one human being that’s ever walked this planet and banked and trusted their life to this, to the word of the living God has ever had to look at God and say, you lied or you failed me.

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But all every time, every time a man or woman has turned to the Word of God for the help of God and the hope of God, they found it without fail. If you ever do and it fails you, you will be the first person in human history that God has to look at and say, I’m sorry I failed you. He’s never had to do that. And believe it or not, there’s been a lot of people living before you lived.

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So when it comes to the Word of God, it’s meat, it’s nourishment, it helps. So my point to you is, hey, don’t feed on all the garbage of the world. There comes a time you need the meat and the Word of God. And I encourage you, if you don’t turn to this every day, if you don’t learn and memorize and read some scripture every day, you say, well, why do you want me to memorize it? How many of you have ever been in a position in your life you didn’t have your Bible handy?

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There’s a lot of times, right? I mean, you may be one of those folks that walk around with your 10 pound Bible, you know, like, hey, y’all, I’m going jogging with my Bible. Not very often. But there’s things that you encounter in life, and this is what David said in the Psalms. He said, thy word have I hid in my heart. That’s memorization. That are mine, not sin, against you. Talk to the Lord.

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They were, they were hit. You know how many situations I come up against every day? And I’m almost 51 years old, so I’ve been around quite a while. Wasn’t there when Moses crossed the Red Sea like Dennis, but I’ve been around for a while.

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I’m getting there to his sorry we’re picking on you but you shouldn’t have worn the person the the orange shirt you’re just easy target today but I’ve been around a while and there’s been a many a time that I’ve faced a situation in my life.

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and questions of the day that even I don’t have the answer for. And something comes up like, is this right or wrong? Is this a good decision? Is this a bad decision? Should I do this or should I not do this? How should I respond or how should I not respond? And you know what has helped me through life and has helped me get through those situations with victory is when I can remember scripture. It’s in my heart. I think, what does God’s word say about this? And without fail, He’ll give me a verse that speaks exactly to that.

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lie of some dude in his underwear sitting in his mama basement on google who are on tiktok who says the bible doesn’t have all the answers it does have all the answers complete from cover to cover whatever issue you’re facing it’s in the bible it’s in the bible there’s nothing new under the sun and if it is it’s not true read ecclesiastes by the way they’ll tell you that so you i need fresh

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doesn’t need a dead rabbit that got run over a week ago the transit.

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It needs fresh meat. And so what those other eagles will do, they’ll go out and they’ll fish the streams and they’ll catch fresh fish or a squirrel or a rabbit or some kind of animal. They’ll kill it fresh. And what they do is they’ll fly over that valley and they’ll begin to drop the meat down to the eagle that’s in the valley.

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That little eagle might not see it at first, and he might not be able to smell it, but he’ll hear the cries of those other eagles, which will stimulate them to move. And when they begin to move, one of the first things they’ve got to do in order to get any amount of energy to rescue them from certain death is they’ve got to get some nourishment, some fresh meat, some fresh food. How many of you know God’s Word is living? It is life. You say, man, I’m defeated. I’m discouraged.

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I’m just about done. What you need is some fresh living meat. That’s the Word of God. Because it has life. It has life. And they drop that fresh meat, those eaglets will begin to move over and they’ll try to eat a little bit. It may not be much at first, but a little bit’s better than nothing. And once they do that, they’ve heard the screeching, the scram, the sounds of those eagles flying over above. And those eagles continually bring fresh meat and they drop it.

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They’re crying out and they’re they’re screeching to those Eagles on the ground and what they’re trying to get them to do is to move To just move to move where move into the sunlight because they can’t fly if they can’t see You can’t see you can’t fight. How many of you know that how many of you have been in a fight? You said some real deal fight. No, I’m not like, you know, not a cat fight. I’m talking about a real fight I might the fight for your life See, I’m a small guy

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I had to learn to fight, because everybody was bigger than me. I don’t fight fair, by the way. I fight to win. But a couple things about fighting. If you can’t stand, you can’t fight. If you can’t breathe, you can’t fight. And if you can’t see, you can’t fight. That’s why the three students, first thing to do, take out eyes. I’m not trying to teach you to fight, but if you ever get in a real fight, just remember that. If they can’t breathe, they can’t stand. And they can’t see, they can’t fight.

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They can’t run either. But that eagle, he can’t fight for his life if he can’t breathe.

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And he can’t see. He’s dwelling in a valley on sore feet. He’s walking back and forth because of the pain. His eyes are scaled over. He can’t see. His beak is crusted over with carbon monoxide. He can’t breathe. He’s gasping for every ounce of air. He doesn’t have much time. And if he can’t breathe, he can’t see. He can’t fly because his feathers have fallen out. And he doesn’t get any fresh meat. He’s going to starve to death. So you can see, if he stays there very long, that’s why three out of five that go there die there.

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Because they’re defeated. They’re discouraged. They’re depressed. And it’ll be over. But when they eat a little bit of fresh meat, and then they begin to move into the sunlight, if the other eagles can ever get the eagles in the valley to eat a little food, and then move into the sunlight, the sun will cause the tear glands in the eyes to work again.

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And when that begins to happen, it moistens them so that the scales begin to fall off. And once again, the eagle can see.

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And now, if it can get that crust that’s on its beak, it’s eating, it’s seeing, and if it can get its beak cleaned off where it can actually just breathe a little bit, and those eagles will begin to move their beaks across a log or a rock from scraping off the crust on there. And those other eagles continually, day by day, they drop fresh meat, and they screech out to them, and now they can see them, and they will begin to cry out to them to try to fly, try to fly.

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that get over toward a cliff or an area nearby that they can just get a little bit of airborne and just move their feathers. And if they do that and try long enough, they’ll eventually get where they can lift their body off of the ground and those eagles will begin to kind of swoop in and out of the brush, pulling off the dead feathers so that the new ones can do. Now this takes a few weeks. They have to eat for a few weeks. It takes a few weeks for those eyes, those tear glands in the

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Few weeks for the new feathers to grow in for the the sores on their feet They’ll go over there begin to jump up and down on a rock just bursting those Talons open so that the pus infection goes out of them It’s all a process see it doesn’t happen overnight You remember what we read in Isaiah 40 31 but those that wait on the Lord

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That’s a process. We look at that one word and think, wait, that means wait 30 seconds. You know, we’re kind of the microwave generation. I was even alive before we had microwaves, y’all. I remember when we got our first microwave. My mom and dad would say, don’t stand in it. It’ll cook your insides. By the way, we heard if you’re sitting in front of the TV too close, it’d mess up your eyes. That’s why I’m blind, I don’t know. But we live as a generation where we think things should happen now, fast.

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Believe me. I’m that way. I am I’m probably the most least patient person you’ll meet Like if you’ve ever had a conversation with me, it’s not that what you say isn’t important It’s just I’m gonna be real real with you. You got about ten minutes before the squirrels start going in my mind Okay, it’s just how God made me. I mean you better say it fast because otherwise Squirrel I’m I’m already thinking about something else

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So, so patience and waiting on to me. But man, have I been you got to learn to wait on the waiting? He renews you. He eagle’s getting nourishment.

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While waiting, he’s getting new feathers. While waiting, he’s getting stronger, and he can breathe again, and he can see again. He’s being renewed. Renewed. See, sometimes you’ve gotta stop. You gotta stop. Some of y’all have heard me say this, and I hope you don’t ever take it arrogantly. I hope you don’t take it mean. I hope you don’t take it wrong.

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Hope you just take it as what I’m saying. That’s why in church, I am not about religious activities. I have been a pastor long enough and have been part of enough churches. I have seen people do a lot of religious activities for the sake of doing a religious activity. And you know what you get at the end of most of those religious activities? Burnout. In other words,

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I want to do what is beneficial to the kingdom of God. I want to do something that is impactful. And in the midst of that, I’ve learned to wait on God. So sometimes people go, hey, we ought to do this. And I’m like, why don’t we wait on the Lord and see what he says? And you know why I have that wisdom? Because I have been that dude that would swing over hell with a corn stalk and a water pistol in my hand and shoot the devil in the eye when I go by.

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Like, come on, there’s a fight, come on, we’re gonna do something for Jesus and wear myself and my family out only to find myself defeated and burned out and discouraged and disappointed when if I had waited on the Lord. If I had waited on the Lord and got my strength. Look at me. You don’t know church hurt till you’ve experienced church hurt. You ever experienced church hurt, that’s the hurt that hurts.

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I tie my hand in 15 bull ropes a day at my age before I want to experience church. You’ve never known defeated to the devil kicks your head in the ground and burns you out and you don’t even want to get up in the morning. You don’t want to read your Bible. You don’t want to do anything. You find yourself like that eagle in a valley. You’re saying I quit. I give up. And all along what you really need to do is wait. Just wait on the Lord.

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Did you know, listen to me, now I’m gonna give you a double-edged sword. The Bible says one of the 10 commandments, and we don’t normally talk about this, one of the 10 commandments is, remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. Six days thou shalt work, but the seventh day be a Sabbath. In America, traditionally, not all traditions are bad, in America, traditionally,

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In days gone by, most people worked six days a week, and on the seventh, this is what we call Sunday, which is actually the first day of the week, but to our American culture. Most, did you know, I told you I’m old, okay? Did you know when I was a boy growing up in Boyd, Texas, we would come to Decatur, and there were at very best two restaurants, period, open for lunch on Sunday afternoon. We had a thing in Texas that was called a Blue Law.

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Like it was actually illegal to even open on Sunday because it was pretty much agreed upon in the culture and in our state that everybody would take Sunday off and go to church. And here’s the other word. Rest. Rest. God made think about this. God made your body to work.

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I can say a lot about laziness. God condemns laziness. If you’re a young man, young lady in here, and you’re able-bodied to work, you should work. God made us to work. If you’re lazy, you’re going to be poor, broke, and homeless. And you deserve it. That’s just what the Bible says. But at the same time, you can become such a workaholic that you wear yourself out.

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your body out, your mind out, and you find yourself in a stinking valley. Now, I know some people have jobs on Sunday, alright? I get that. Your profession, your job may require… But let me remind you something. Why did God say that?

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the human body. There’s a reason when you got sick as a kid, your mama made chicken noodle soup, made you go to bed and rest. Rest will heal your body. It will heal your mind. Sometimes what the doctor may, and I’m not against doctors, you understand what I’m saying. Sometimes what the doctor may prescribe as depression and you need some medicine, you need some time off and just rest.

01:01:52
You need to change the scenery. You need to do something different. And when it really comes down to it, what you probably need is to just take some time and wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. How many of you in here have made decisions in the last year, whatever they be?

01:02:14
And you can look back and go, boy, I made a wrong decision. That was your stupid. Yeah, OK, I’m not alone. I’m not alone this morning. I’ve made a bunch of them. And by the way, the older you get, they kind of start stacking up. You’re like, boy, that was dumb. That was stupid. I should have made this decision. And then look back at most decisions I made in my life that I made wrong. And I think if I would have leaned in, pressed in, and waited on the Lord and endured the process, because of the pain, I started.

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wild and like a sissy girl and I wanted out of it, okay? But if I would have just took the pain a little bit and let God do some change in me, I’m gonna ask one more question. How many of you have ever made the same dumb decision more than once? Like, I can’t believe I’m going through this again.

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I cannot believe I’m experiencing this again. How many times in God’s going, it would have only been one time if you’d have listened and learned. See, some people say, well, I just seem to be having the same experience.

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over and over and over again. Indeed you may, but if you would evaluate that experience, learn from that experience, wait on God, listen for his voice, dig into his word, get some fresh meat, maybe we can learn the process. The process would be more completed in our life and we become what God wants us to be. He changes us because here’s what happens in an

01:03:45
Eventually that eagle will get up out of that valley. You know why he gets out of that valley? It’s because of the other eagles that cared enough.

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to come by and drop fresh meat and cry out every day, get out of the valley. And remember that the eagles that are doing that are the ones that have been in a valley themselves and lived through it. I don’t know in eagle language, but I’m pretty sure they’re saying something like this when they screech out to them. I’ve been there too. I know what you’re going through. Just get some fresh meat, rest in the Lord, wait on the Lord, let God renew you

01:04:24
You’ll survive this. Get up now. Get out of here. God never intended for you to dwell there permanently. And I’m here to tell somebody today, God never intended for you to dwell in defeat, disappointment, depression permanently. It may come in your life, but you’ve got to determine defeat’s just optional. Hey, discouragement’s going to happen. It’s a reality of life. Depression’s going to happen on some level.

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your life at some point. That’s a reality. But defeat is optionable. It’s optional. You don’t have to accept defeat. You can look at life a couple of ways. You can say, man, I messed up. I failed. I’m done. And that’s defeat. Or you can say, I messed up. I failed, but I got back up again and I know more now. I’m more experienced. I know what not to do and rather what to do according to God’s will.

01:05:24
defeat and that’s what God wants for you. Let me land the plane with this. Read that verse one more time with me. Isaiah 40 verse 31, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. You see that? They shall renew their strength. In other words, when in the valley you’ve really lost your

01:05:55
And by the way, anybody know what the Bible says is our strength? For the joy of the Lord is our strength. The joy of the Lord is our strength. Sometimes people just lose the joy of the Lord. And that brings how many of you know the Bible’s antidote for depression? The Bible says that if you have a heavy heart, that’s depression. You should put on the garment of praise.

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When you find yourself depressed, and by the way, this science has validated this, like for many people who are depressed, and by the way, I’ve been there. I’ve had doctors try to put me on depression medicine. When that happens, you know, even psychologists will tell you, hey, you know what would do good is to go out and serve somebody else.

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who is good to focus off of your own self and your own defeat, go out and serve. That’s why Jesus said, it’s more blessed to give than to receive. When you’re giving of your time, when you’re giving of your love and your kindness, even your money, whatever that is, whatever he’s asking you to give, when you’re doing for others, that brings joy. There’s an old acronym. Hey, if you want joy in your life, J-O-Y. Jesus first, others second, yourself last. That acronym spells joy.

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Is our strength how do I get the joy of the Lord back wait on the Lord say Lord? I don’t like this valley. I don’t like what I’m going through, but I accept the process I’m not gonna cry. I’m not gonna whine about it I want you to teach me what I need to learn because I don’t ever want to come back here again I want to get everything you have for me and by the way once you do once those Eagles get out of the valley You know what they do they soar for the rest of their life like the Eagles God made them

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to be. When you see that bald eagle, you’re looking at an eagle that’s been through the valley experiencing his life. You’re looking at the eagle who did not get defeated or discouraged or stay there, but rather got out of the valley. And those same eagles will go back year after year to the same valley they were in and drop fresh meat to the eagles that once were in those valleys. They will go out and cry out to the other eagles, I’ve been where you are and I’m here to tell you you don’t have to stay.

01:08:15
Isaiah 40, 31 says, but those that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength. And this is what it says, and they shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. Remember I told you those eagles get in that valley and they become weary. They lost their strength.

01:08:43
and they shall walk and not faint. When you look at an eagle, I want you to remember this verse. When you find yourself discouraged, when you get up any given morning and here comes bad news.

01:09:02
And before 10 o’clock in the morning, here comes more bad news. And by lunch, here comes another bad report and bad news. And by the time you pelt your head, it seems like every hour, only hour of that day has been nothing but bad news. I want you to say, Lord, I’m going to stop and I’m going to wait on you. Because in waiting, you’ll get your strength. You’ll get instruction.

01:09:28
from that fresh meat, you’ll get nourishment from that fresh meat. The best place to go is the word of God and prayer and lean in to the Holy Spirit and say, I’m not going to move. I’m not going to do anything till I hear your voice. You know, the eagles that the eagle that flies over our valleys is the Holy Spirit. And he’s the one who drops us life and nourishment.

01:09:58
and his word. And when you get that, you’ll get that strength and you’ll mount up like on the wings of eagles. You shall run and not be weary. You shall walk and not faint. Let’s pray. Lord, we love you today. Thank you for your word. And Lord, I pray for every person in the sound of my voice, whether it be those in this building or those listening online, folks that are discouraged.

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And Lord, that discouragement is real. Lord, I know there’s people sitting here and the sound of my voice going through bad financial hardship. How discouraging that is, Lord. But you are our provider and I pray you provide for them. I pray blessings. I play abundance over them and their family. I pray for those sitting in this building or listening that have lost loved ones this year.

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And Lord, it seems like grief is just so overwhelming, but Lord, you are our comfort. Holy Spirit, I pray that you pour out your love and your abundance on that person, Lord, that you give them encouragement today. Let them take a piece of this fresh meat home and feed on it. Let them know, Lord, that another ego has flown over today to say, I know how that feels, but there’s hope and victory in Jesus’ name.

01:11:24
Lord, for that person struggling with addiction, let them know, Lord, that there’s hope beyond. Satan will not bury them there. There’s freedom, deliverance in the name of Jesus. For that person here today, Lord, that’s overwhelmed with depression and don’t even know why, may the joy of the Lord be their strength. Give us all.

01:11:52
Lord, the ability to wait on you. Lord, help us to embrace the process that you may bring about change in us so we can be more like Jesus and we can honor and glorify you with our life. And last but not least, Lord, there’s somebody here today that doesn’t know Jesus as their savior. They’ve never had the hope of forgiveness and salvation.

01:12:22
Lord, I pray today they would believe the gospel that Jesus died for their sins in their place, was buried, and on the third day arose from the grave. And that if they would confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believe with their heart that God raised him from the dead, your word says they shall be saved. Lord, if they’d ever… If a person listening to me in this building or line that’s never bowed their knee…

01:12:51
with their heart humbled before you, cried out for mercy, and in repentance turned from their sin, and by faith turned to Jesus. Let them do that today. We thank you for your love for us. Thank you for your word. Thank you for the worship time we’ve had today in word and in song, and we pray, Lord, that

01:13:15
You would bless us and be with us the rest of this day. Bless every family and every person under the sound of my voice this week. I pray your favor and your blessings on everyone here. And Lord, I pray that you help us to remember you’ve called us to mount up with wings like eagles and to soar. Let the joy of the Lord be our strength. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.

01:13:44
Amen. All right. Well, thank y’all for being here. I know I preached a long I wanted to was going to, but if you’re visiting with us again, we say thank you for worshipping here today. We love you. I hope you’ll come back and worship again. If you want to give an offering of milk cans in the back. I have one prayer request before you leave. Crystal called me this morning.

01:14:11
And she asked that we pray for her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law was going into surgery with appendicitis while I was preaching. So you pray for her that that surgery was successful. Pray for her healing and recovery. And just lift up that family today. Because while we were in church, they were at the hospital. And we pray that that surgery was successful. And her recovery is swift, quick. And her healing is complete. God bless you. God see you at 230th Arena.