Good morning. It's delight to be back here in Spanish Wales and to be able to fellowship with you, and, uh, delighted to have my wife Bridget with me. Sad to say that she's not going to be here too much longer. She's leaving first thing in the morning. She told someone that she just came to drop me off, and, uh, she can do it all the time if I, if I have anything to do about it, but when you have children at home and school, uh, these are, this is a treat for me, for her to be with me at this time. But it's good for us to be here, and we hope that our time will be fruitful and that the Lord will use us to encourage your heart as you encourage my heart. We want to share with you from a few passages. I want to turn to the book of Exodus. Uh, the book of Exodus, beginning at verse nineteen, Exodus chapter nineteen, and then we go to the book of Deuteronomy. And, uh, as we share a few passages from the word of God. Exodus chapter nineteen, just verse four. Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle's wings and brought you unto myself. The book of Deuteronomy chapter thirty two. Deuteronomy thirty two. Verse eleven and twelve. Deuteronomy 32, verse 11 and verse 12. As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttered over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, bareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God with him. And then to the book of Job. Job thirty nine. Job thirty nine, of verse twenty seven through twenty nine. Doth the eagles mount up at thy command and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rocks, upon the crag of the rock, in a strong place. For thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Then Psalm 103. Psalm one o three. We hope to connect all of these verses, not just giving you a Bible drill exercise this morning. Who satisfieth, verse five, Psalm um one o three— who satisfieth thy mouth with good things, so thy youth is renewed like the eagles. Now, final passage in the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter forty. And This is a very interesting passage. Uh, it can be divided into two sections, verse one to twenty six, where the fact that, um, an introduction of God to Israel, that's what I have coined it. And then the last section deals with an invitation by the God of Israel. But in the introduction, the first twenty six verses, God is sort of introducing himself to Israel and the fact that he reveals at least eight attributes of his. His mercy, his glory, his eternality, his gentleness, his omnipotence, his omniscience, his sovereignty, his uniqueness. He says, who can you compare me to? But my focus is on the latter part, an invitation by the God of Israel. And Israel, verse twenty seven and twenty eight, shows us Israel's promise, or problem. They had thought that God maybe had forgotten them, and, uh, they had forgotten God's wondrous attributes, as we also often do. Uh, they concluded that he did not know or care about them. And so the Bible reads, Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, my way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God? Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But I want to emphasize verse thirty one. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. And so in verse twenty nine to thirty one, we see Israel's promise. God says, if they ask that he will renew their strength, he will allow them to mount up with wings as eagles. And if you were observing as you read the various texts that we read in your hearing and that you were following, you would observe one word repeating itself over and over and over and over. Who can tell me what word is that? Pardon? Eagle. Eagle. And that's what I want to focus on this morning and Tuesday in the will of the Lord. I want to talk to us about the eagle Christian. The eagle Christian. The eagle is a regal bird. As a matter of fact, some refer to the eagle as the king of the birds, as the lion is the, uh, the animal, the king in the animal kingdom. The eagle is the bird, is the regal bird of the, of the, uh, bird kingdom. No other bird can compare to it in its, its, its regalness, its power, uh, the fact of its superiority. Uh, it is amazing as you read to the word of God and you take a note of it, the word eagle is mentioned at least thirty two times in the Word of God, and it's a very fascinating and interesting study. And so the Isaiah says, but they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. The prophet is saying that those of us who yield our life to God, who surrender our wills to him, that we will be renewed, we will be reinvigorated in strength, no matter what the circumstances might be. But when we yield ourselves to God, God will cause us to not only walk, God will enable us to run in the difficulties and in the storms of life. Not only that, God will cause us to soar over them. And so, for this morning and on Tuesday, in the will of the Lord, I want to talk about two things. The habits of the eagle, and then, Lord willing, on Tuesday, the heritage of the eagle. And so note with me, first of all, the habits of the eagle. The first thing I want us to notice is this: the eagle builds its nest in the clefts of the rock, in the crags of the mountain. That's what Job says in verse twenty seven and verse twenty eight of his book, chapter thirty nine. He sets his, uh, his nest. The word crag means a steep or ragged cliff on the point of a rock, out of the reach of everyone. And I have the idea of safety and security. And let me think about that in relation to us as Christians and the fact of ego that God has promised that to set us on a high rock, to place us in a position of safety and security. As a matter of fact, the psalmist says in Psalm sixty and verse two, uh, the rock that is higher than I is a place of refuge. It's a place where, uh, you and I could experience God. It is a place that God has promised for us, our people. It's a place that God has promised to set our feet on higher ground. It's a place of safety. It's a place of refuge. It's a place of assurance and security. What does the Word of God says about the fact of our security? The Bible says, Jesus says, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. He says, no man is able to pluck them out of my hand, and my Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to plug them out of my Father's hand. And as the eagle sits upon that, his perch in the high mountains, a place that it would take men who likes to climb mountain days to get to, he, he, he gets a secure place away from everyone. He makes himself secure, the same way with us. God secures us in his son Jesus Christ. We are eternally secure. And as Spurgeon once said, he believed that he could hang out over hell with a string, and he could never be more secure. And the Bible says that as Christians, we are eagle Christians. We are eternally secured in Jesus Christ. God not only gives us this whole idea of security, but he gives us this whole idea of assurance. He says, I will never leave you. Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the age. And that's good to know that when you're going through the difficult times and trials of life, that we have one who said that he always be with us. We have loved ones here. Their desire is to be with us, but you know what? They can't always be with us. They can't be with us twenty four seven, But there's one who said, you never leave us nor forsake us. Lo, I am with you always. A place of, uh, absolute assurance. As God, through the prophet Isaiah, wrote to Israel in the fortieth chapter of the book of Isaiah, he says, but now thus saith the Lord that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formeth thee, O Israel, fear not, for I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. But this is the one that really I want us to zero in on. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Why? For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior. See, the eagle Christian is one of not only secure, but have the assurance of the presence of God always. And he sets us on a rock, and he's there with us, always with us. We have the fact of the safety, an angel encamping round about them that ferried them, and the Bible says, delivereth them. And so the eagle builds his nest in the cleft of the rock, in the crags of the mountain, to assures itself of safety, gives itself the assurance of that no one would attempt to get to where it is, its nest is. It's a place of safety, and in Jesus Christ, we have all of that as Christians. We have that. We have this assurance. We have eternal security in him, no matter what the circumstances might be, we have it. And I like that. And so the first habit of the eagle is he builds his nest in the crack of the rock. The second is this. Second habit of the eagle is that he ri- he ri- that the eagle rises above the storms of life. Rises above the storms of life. Eagle soars high. The eagle goes, um, above, uh, everything else, above the fog, above the mist, above the the clouds. It soars above that which is, um, advantageous to those beneath, but he's above it. He soars high above all the storms, all of the, all of these things that seem to hamper people. He soars. And you think about it, you think about our world today. There are, uh, maybe hundreds of people today who are going through difficult times and storms, and they can't handle it. Some might even be jumping out of a window, even as I speak to you. Some might be taking some pills. Hundreds of people are going to commit suicide because there is no hope. Somehow they can't seem to get over and soar above the difficulties in life. But as Christians, we are like the eagles, or we should be like the eagles, because God, in his providence and in his grace, gives us the formula to soar above difficult times in life. In this life, Jesus says, you're gonna, you're gonna have tribulations, but be of good cheer. I have overcome. And because he have overcome, we will overcome as well. I don't know if you remember the story of David in the Old Testament, in the book of Samuel, First Samuel chapter thirty. When David had crossed the line and joined with Achish and the Philistines, and they were going to attack, uh, Saul and the armies of Israel. Uh, and the Philistine princes said, no, he's not going to go with us. It was said of him, of him and Saul, Saul killed his thousands, David killed his ten thousand. You might get in the heat of this battle, and David might turn on us and align himself with his king. And so Ahab sent him back. And so he did. So David and his men got back to Ziklag. Their families was attacked by the Amalekites, the children and their wives, and everything was gone. And the Bible said that the men began to mourn, and David began to mourn, but that was not the end of it. The Bible says that David's men turned on him, and they wanted to spoon him. Now, what would they, what, what would you have done? How would you, a sword, if you knew that you were an eagle, would you just flap your wings and die? The Bible says that David encouraged himself in the Lord. And that's the secret, I believe, with all of my heart. If we are going to soar like the eagle over the storms and the difficulties of life, our focus must be on the Lord, not on the circumstances, not on the difficult times. Difficult times and trials will come. In this life, we will have tribulation. We can't get around it. The Bible said that we're living in a groaning creation. We are part of this creation. But, as Christians, we can still soar in spite of the storms. Turn your Bibles with me quickly as we, uh, I shared with this in a passage, uh, just past, um, weekend in assembly in Freeport, Second Chronicles chapter twenty. Very interesting story that I came across on, in my study for another message. It's the story of Jehoshaphat. Second Chronicles chapter twenty, The story of Jehoshaphat. Where they were being attacked by the Amalekites, by Edom. As a matter of fact, when you read the preceding chapter, is as, um, Jehoshaphat was creating such great reform and, uh, putting judges and the priests and teaching the people the word of God, and all of a sudden, when things seem to be going just right, as if, you know, the enemy comes in. And that's what Satan does. Things could be going great, wonderful, and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, something domestic happens, sickness shows up, something financial, and it just simply just cut our legs out from under us. How do we respond? How should we respond? How could we use, in spite of the occasion, in spite of the situation, be like the eagle and soar over the difficulties and the trials of life? How can we mount up with wings of eagles? And even though things are difficult, the trials are there, how can we still soar? Two things I learned from this passage. Number one, when the news came to Jehoshaphat in chapter twenty of second Chronicles about the invading armies of Moab and, uh, uh, and the, and the children of Ammon, in verse three says, and Jehoshaphat feared. And sometimes that happens to us. When something unexpected happens, we panic. We, we worry. And instead of allowing what has happened to us to drive us to God, sometimes it causes us to move away from God. But not in this case. Jehoshaphat, even though there was fear, even though he was afraid, the Bible said he set himself to seek the Lord and proclaim a fast throughout all Judah, to all Judah. And I want to say that if you're going to be able to soar above and be like the eagle of God in terms of the eagle and soar above the storms and the difficulties of life, prayer must be an integral part of our lives. He, not only he prayed, he brought the nation together to pray. And I want you to notice some things in his prayer that caused him and the nation of Israel in this difficult time, that caused them to rise above this invasion, above this storm in their history, that caused them to be successful and victorious. First thing, four things I want you to notice about his prayer. He remembered who God was. And the Bible said that when he had gathered together the people in verse four, Jehosaphat, in verse five stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem and in the house of the Lord before the new court and said, O Lord God of our fathers, art thou not the God of heaven? And rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the earth? He's asking a rhetorical question. Of course God is all of this. And in thine hand, is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? He remembers who God is. And I'm saying to you, if we're going to be the eagle, like the eagles, to soar above the storms of life, we need to pray, and in our prayer we need to remember who God is. He is the sovereign God over everything that come against us. Everything. He's sovereign. Remember that. So if we're going to soar like the eagle over the storms and the difficulties, like we need to remember who God is. But not only that, we need to remember what God has done for us in the past. And so he says in verse seven, Art not thou our God who did drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gave, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham, thy friend forever, and they dwelt therein and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, and so, and so he says, this is what you did for us in the past. You brought us into this land, you helped us drive the inhabitants out, and you gave us this land. You helped us to co- conquer, uh, uh, all of the great peoples of this land. Not only he- he's concerned with God's sovereignty, he's acknowledging God's power. God's power to do, he's able to do exceeding, abundantly above all that we can even ask or think. He said, not only that, you need to remember your sanctuary is here. You placed your sanctuary here. And so he remembers who God is, but he also remembers what God had done. And you and I have a- have experienced God in ways, uh, uh, that, um, we could remember. You remember when you went through that situation and God brought you through. Well, the same God who brought you through that situation the is same God who caused you to soar over this situation. Remember that. But we often forget, don't we? That the God who was with us yesterday is the God who is with us today. The same God who said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. That's the assurance that we have. And so he, he, he remembers who God is. He remember what God had done. And then also he remembered God. He says in verse nine, if when, well, we connect verse eight— and they dwell therein and have built thee a sanctuary wherein thy name, saying, if when evil cometh upon us as the sword, judgment or pestilence or famine, we stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name is in this house, and cry unto thee in our afflictions, then thou wilt hear and help. He remind God of his promises, and again, it goes back to chapter six of this very book, and chapter seven, as Solomon was dedicating the temple, the sanctuary, and he prayed a prayer, God, if we, if, if, if we sin against you and, and you send pestilence and all these different things, but if we stand in this place and we pray and we call upon your name, that you will hear. He says, if you scatter us and we pray to watch this place as Daniel did three times a day, that you would bring us back. And Jehoshaphat, remember, God responds to Solomon in chapter seven of this book. God says, Solomon, I heard what you said, and I will, I will do exactly what you've asked me to do. If my people who are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and, um, turn from their sins, you know, turn from their wicked ways, he said, I will hear, and I will forgive them, and I will heal their land. And he remembers this. He remembers God's promise, and he claims it. And like the eagle, have the habit of soaring above the storms of life. If you want to soar like the eagle above the storms and the difficulties in our life, we need to remember the promises of God. We need to claim them. In the times of anxiety and worry, we need to remember, he says, be anxious for nothing, from everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known, and God's peace that, that passes all understanding will keep your heart, will guard your heart, will garrison your heart. We need to remember the promise. That's why it's so important that we stay in the book, that we can know what thus saith the Lord, what we can claim, and the promises of God as the people of God. He reminds God of his promise. Uh, remember God's promise, but also in the same breath, he reminds God, not only that he remembers God's promise, but he reminded, he's reminding God of his promise. And that's a common thing to the old Testament. Nehemiah does it in chapter one of the book of Nehemiah. Daniel does it in chapter nine of the book of Daniel. He reminds God, not that God forgets, but he says, God, this is what you promised. I'm just give, just telling you what you promised. And so if we're going to soar, we need to pray. If we're going to soar, there's a second thing in this chapter. As they finished praying and they stood before the Lord, and and God answers, and in God answering, our time will not allow us, but there are at least eight things that God said that they must do. Not to be afraid, not to be dismayed, and to put their trust in God, and to keep their eyes upon him, and all that stuff. And the part that the battle is mine, it's not yours. But in verse twenty two, verse twenty one, it says, and when he, that's that's Adah Hosapat, had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that, uh, that and that they should praise the beauty of holiness. And they went out before the army and to say, praise the Lord, for his mercy endures forever. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon and Moab and Munkathir, which were come out against Judah, and they were smitten. The New American Standard said they were routed. They were routed. In other words, you want to live above the, the storm that soar like the eagles, even in the midst of the difficulties and the storms of life. Not only is prayer vital, but praise as well. Praising God. And know that they praised God before the victory was theirs. They praised. Prayer and praise are vitally important. If we're going to soar like the eagles, if we're going to be eagle Christians, if we're going to soar, if we're going to rise above the storms of life, and that's why David was able to rise above what he was experiencing. He encouraged himself in the Lord, and no doubt he prayed and probably prayed, maybe he got his harp and went into a corner and he, and he just prayed and sang one of the psalms. Maybe that's what he did. The Bible doesn't say that, but maybe that's what he did. And as a result of that, he was encouraged in the Lord. And when he stepped out of that corner, he said, now this is what we're gonna do. He says, come here, bring me the ephod. Let's see God. Should we go after them? God said, go. God says, you're gonna, you're gonna sue them, and you're gonna bring back everything. And they did. Uh, that was a stormy time in David's life and the life of his men. What storms are you going through? Are you soaring like an eagle? Are you soaring like an eagle? Even, even in spite of the storms and difficulties we all have. Some of us are coming out of a storm. Some of us are in a storm, and some of us, a storm is on the way. Well, what are you gonna do? You're gonna soar in spite of? Or are we gonna wallow like turkey in the dirt? Or are we gonna be like eagles? We're gonna soar over. And so, one of the habits of the eagles, that the eagle is that, uh, is r- rise above the storms of life. That's what the eagle does. Mount up the wings as eagles and soar. The third thing about habit of the eagle is that the eagle does, uh, think about what the eagle does about his enemies. How does an eagle overcome the enemy is trying to destroy it? It's an amazing thing what it does because of his eyesight. The eagle simply soars up out of their reach. He puts himself for between the sun and the individual. The eagle's eye is so powerful that it, that it could, uh, endure the rays and the power of the sun. He flies straight into the sun to lose his enemy. Can you imagine a, a hunter trying to shoot down an eagle, and the eagle goes into the, into the very stratosphere and, and between the sun and that individual, that scope, and all of a sudden you see the sunlight shining in the scope and darkness comes to his eyes. That's what the eagle does. It soars. It gets nearer to the sun. As it gets nearer to the sun, uh, he's able to deal with the enemy. Now, apply that to our lives. As we get nearer to God, Satan, or who our enemies might be, they can't touch us unless God allows them to. If our lives are being directed by God, if our lives are directed towards the Son of righteousness, and we are walking close to Him, we are safe and secure. And even the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, many times the Pharisees and others came to take him. At one point, they even tried to throw him over a cliff, but the Bible says his hour had not yet come. They couldn't touch him. They couldn't. And it's the same with us, the same when we look at the book of Job. The Bible tells us that Satan came in chapter one, like the other angels, and, you know, just coming into God's presence. God said, have you taken note of my servant Job? Have you, have you seen him? God is, God is actually bragging over Job and his faithfulness and his commitment and his character. Satan says, I can't get at him. Why? Because you put a hedge about him, about his children, about his animals, about his, his, his, his, um, his food stuff, his crops. There is a hedge. And you see, when you and I do that, when we walk close to God, when we are that close and we are walking in the presence of the sun, S-U-N or S-O-N, of righteousness, the enemy of our souls cannot overcome us, cannot overcome us. And like the eagle that soar towards the sun to get away, we need to stick close to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to abide in his presence. We need to allow he, we need to, you know, just be taken up with him, and when we are, when things come at us, when difficulties come, when the enemy comes in like a flood, he won't overcome us. Isaiah says that when we, when we pass through the fire, you know, notice he says we're gonna, we go and enter the fire, but we're gonna pass through it. You know, we're gonna go through the difficult times. We are. The Bible said that he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Of the Almighty. And that's, that's, that's the key, abiding in God's presence. And even when he lets the enemy in, like in the case of Job, we know it's for a purpose. We know it's for his sovereign plan to be enfold, that we might learn something about him, that we might be conformed more to the image of his son. But the whole idea is, when we get close to the son, there is security, as we said earlier, there is safety, there is assurance. The eagle soars when the enemies come and he soars, he goes towards the sun. For many of us, we allow those situations to drive us away from the sun. No, that's not the way to go. That's not the way to go. The fourth habit of the eagle is how he cares for, uh, how an eagle cares for her young. And again, this have more the aspect of, of from God's perspective than from ours. We are seen, we can be seen in this one as the eaglet. God is the one looks at us in this context as the mother eagle. It says, the Bible says that the, as an eagle stirreth up her nest, flurret over her youngs, spreaded abroad her wings, taketh them and beareth them on her wings. And this verse pictures in the book of Deuteronomy chapter thirty two, an eagle trying to teach the young to fly. And what she does is she pushed the eaglet out of the nest and lets it drop hundreds and thou- hundreds of feet down. And if she sees that the eagle is in trouble, the eaglet is in trouble, quickly swoops down. Swoops down and bears it up, spreads her wings and bears up the little eaglet, so the life is not lost on the rocks below. And that's what God does to us sometimes. God too, at times, he will try us. This is the aspect of trials. God will not put on us more than we can bear. That's what the word of God says. Bear at no temptation taken you, such as is common to man, but God who is faithful will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able, but he's going to take that same temptation and make a way for us to escape. That's what he does. That's what he does. In Exodus chapter nineteen verse four, our God speaks to the children of Israel, and he, he recalls with them how he cared for them during their wilderness wandering and how he brought them out of Egypt. He says, I bear you on eagle's wings. I bear you on eagle's wings. What a beautiful picture. What a beautiful picture. An inspiring picture of God's care for those of us who are his people. He led Israel to the wilderness. He kept them in the wilderness. He cared for them like an eagle cared for her young. Sometimes they fainted along the way. Sometimes they were hungry or thirsty, but God was there to bear them up on eagle's wings. Now, sometimes you and I get weary, don't we? We get tired, we get discouraged, but we always need to remember, God says, I will bear you up on eagle's wings. You are my, you are my eaglets. I am gonna bear you up. Though the burden might be heavy, he said, nothing overwhelm you. I am here. Uh, Moses says, the eternal God is my refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And so, the fourth habit of the eagle is how she cares for her young, and it's a picture how God cares for you as an eaglet, how he cares for me. He cares for us, and we need to always remember that when things are rough and things are difficult, it is hard. Someone says, when you can't trace God, you need to trust God. When you can't see his hand, trust his heart. Trust his heart. And he cares for you as an eaglet. He will bear you up. He will bear me up. God bears us up on eagles. Eagle Christians. Eagle Christians. God created us, God saved us and gave us to soar among the stars, not to wallow like the turkeys in Egypt. Let's soar as we keep our eyes upon him. Lord willing, on Tuesday, we will look at the heritage of the eagle, of the eagle. The fact that how he has good eyes, eagle inherits a longing to be free, and so forth. How be that apply to us as well as the people of God. Are you an eagle Christian? Pray God that we will live like that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. The fact that we can mount up with wings of eagles, Lord. Father, we thank you that, uh, we can run and not be weary. We can walk and not faint. We can be renewed. Even though the outward man perisheth, yet the inward man can be renewed day by day. Father, help us to realize that even in the storms of life, even in the difficult times, that we can soar above them because, oh God, you are with us. You said you never leave us nor forsake us. Lo, you are with us always, even at the end of the age.