Phil this is good something's to ponder
--
Lelia - I_love_my_husband
----- Original Message -----
From: "Phil Scovell" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, October 23, 2005 7:17 PM
Subject: Bird Sermon


> Why God Made The Birds
>
> By Phil Scovell
>
>
>
>     This weekend, I wasn't feeling too well physically.  It was
> sort of like the stomach flue or something.  Anyhow, I normally
> seem to get discouraged pretty easily whenever I get sick.  Some
> of it is related to the dozen eye operations I had 41 years ago
> because I used to wake up sick as a dog and puking my guts up
> after ever operation.  So, there's some healing there that needs
> to be done but fortunately, I've already received a great deal
> already in that area but there is more work to be done.
>
>     Anyhow, as the day wore on, I got to feeling better.  I had
> been thinking about what I was going to teach on this morning,
> Sunday, but somehow, and for some reason, I felt my spirit telling
> me to switch to another topic and that was about birds.  I
> remember at the moment I felt the change, I was walking near the
> bird cage where Chester, our African Gray Parrot lives, and I
> heard him chattering and playing around.  Parrots of all kinds
> love to play.  They, unlike people like me, have no problem
> keeping themselves occupied in one way or another.  So, as I said,
> I was walking by his cage and his chattering made me stop and
> think about him and other birds.
>
>     When I was a kid, I had a dog named Corky.  I've talked
> about him on the list before.  He was a rat terrier and I spent a
> lot of time with him.  I used to always say to him, "Corky, I
> wish I was a dog."  One day my mother heard me say that and she
> asked why I was saying it.  "Because," I replied, "dogs never have
> to go to school."  I have a feeling there was a lot more behind my
> secret confession but I'll save that for another time.
>
>     I was reminded of this when walking passed Chester and
> hearing him playing in his cage.  I sort of thought the same thing
> as when I was a child about being a dog but this time, instead of
> wishing to be a dog, I thought of being a bird in God's animal
> kingdom.  I heard myself saying in my thoughts, "Lord, why are
> birds so happy?"  I was thinking, why do birds sing, those that
> are song birds I mean, and why do they chatter and play around and
> seemed to always be having a good time.
>
>     Several years ago, I watched a two hour program on a local
> educational channel which was on birds.  They claimed that there
> were over 600 billion birds on the planet, sounds low to me, and
> 2800 different species.
>
>     Most of us probably never pay a whole lot of attention to
> birds but I was thinking, this weekend, what it must be like for
> all the birds in the world to awaken each morning and start
> singing and chattering to the Lord.  Millions of birds, billions,
> singing and to whom are they singing?  Well, they are for our
> enjoyment, that's for sure, but what do you bet that God hears
> them, every one, more than we take notice.
>
>     In the late seventies, we lived in western Colorado.  I was
> an assistant pastor in a small Baptist church at the time.  We
> lived in a brand new house and had one child about two years old
> or a little less when we moved there.
>
>     One morning, about 5:30 or 6 o'clock, in April, I put on my
> coat, after making some coffee, and carried my cup out on the
> patio.  the meadowlark has been just about my most favorite song
> bird for many years.  We lived in a very large valley and at the
> edge of town.  In fact, over our back fence you were considered
> out of the town proper.
>
>     that chilly mountain morning, as I stood and prayed, I had to
> stop to admire the thousands of meadowlarks I could hear all
> across the valley.  One came within about 75 feet, or less, of the
> patio and perched on top of a nearby telephone pole.  He sang so
> loud with all the others, you almost had to cover your ears.  I've
> never heard anything like it before or since.  As I poured out the
> small amount of coffee I had left in my cup on the ground and
> pushed open the patio door, I realized that those birds new more
> about praying and praising God than I did.
>
>     This weekend, when I asked the Lord why birds were so happy,
> He instantly said, "Because they know me."  Quickly on the heels
> of that knowledge, I realized that birds know him as their Creator
> and so they are happy.  Secondly, they know Him as their provider.
> You see, I know these things myself, theologically speaking, but
> the birds know it from experience.  More than anything in my life,
> I want to know God as his creation but to do that, you have to
> experience something like that.  How do you experience God's
> nature?  I personally believe it is accomplished through intimate
> prayer.
>
>     Have you ever seen a bird up on a telephone wire muttering to
> himself and saying, "What a lousy morning this is.  The whole day
> will probably be as lousy as yesterday.  That's the way life is
> for me," you hear him say, "nothing ever goes right for me.  I
> think," he says a little louder and with a little more courage,
> I'll just cash it all in right here and now.  I'm going to do a
> swan dive, a perfect header, right off this wire into the ground.
> I'll snap my little beak, my neck will break, and I'll be dead.
> I'm sick of life."
>
>     I hear little sparrows all the time around our house.  No,
> they aren't very pretty birds and they can't carry a tune in a
> basket.  All they do is chatter together.  I've noticed though,
> when I listen closely to their sounds, they seem to be happy.  I
> bet, I just bet you that they are chattering about the Lord and
> His goodness and that's why they sound happy.  Of course, I could
> be wrong and they could be belly achers and complainers like we
> are but somehow I doubt it.
>
>     "Oh," you say, "birds don't have anything to worry about like
> me."  Oh, really.  What about their predators?  Cats, squirrels,
> high voltage power lines, hunters, and a whole host of others that
> would love to have them for supper?
>
>     I've never seen a bird sitting up on my house saying, "I hate
> life.  Life just isn't worth living.  It ain't rained in days.
> The worms have gone so deep, I couldn't pull one out of the ground
> with a pile driver.  My stomach hurts I haven't eaten for so long.
> Not only that, every single freaking bird feeder in the
> neighborhood has been picked bone dry by them crazy squirrels.  I
> wonder why God made them dumb things any way.  All they do is
> steal my food.  Oh, my belly hurts.  God must not even care about
> me.  I'm so weak, I can't fly another inch," and with that, his
> little legs give out, he rolls down the roof, off the edge, and is
> dead before he hits the ground; dead of a broken heart.
>
>     Why do you suppose we don't hear birds talking and acting
> like that?  I'll tell you why.
>
> Matthew 10:29-31
> 29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them
> shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
> 30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
> 31  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many
> sparrows.
>
>     The word for "value" is a rather unusual word.  One meaning
> is that of a boat, a ship really, filled with precious grains,
> gold and silver, and many other such goods which will be sold in a
> land far away.  The returning sailors will be rich men because
> they will have sold everything in the ship to those who have no
> such provisions.  Plus, they will fill the same ship with new
> things from the far away land which they will sell when they get
> home and make even more money.  This describes the Greek meaning
> of the word for "value" that Jesus used to describe how much he
> values us.
>
>     Further more, He makes a comparison.  He reminded us that the
> Father is aware of ever single sparrow that falls to the ground.
> Sparrows, in those days, were worthless and were sold for a tenth
> of a penny or a tenth of a day's wages.  Oh, so you are thinking
> that isn't very much value?  Remove all the birds in one second
> of time from our planet and see what effect it has on our
> ecosystem.  In a week, this planet would be in big trouble if god
> removed all his precious little birds.  Jesus says, you are worth
> more to Him than the sparrows.  In fact, he says, He knows exactly
> the number of the hairs on your head.  Admittedly this is
> considerably fewer on some heads but regardless, God not only
> knows how many we have, He chooses to keep track of them.  Try and
> figure that one out.
>
>     So, why did God make the birds?  Because they know Him as
> Creator and Provider.  I wonder if you do.  I know I do
> theologically but I don't experientially.   I want to experience
> the truth that the birds know so I can sing and praise God with
> them every morning.  I, too, want to be as happy as they are
> because they know who they are and they know who their Creator is.
>
> Phil.
> Victory Isn't Something You Have; It Is What You Are.
> www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
>