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Our Unshakable God: God Renews Our Strength
April 15, 2025 · 38 min
John Mark discusses the significance of Isaiah 40, illustrating how God renews strength and hope, allowing us to soar like eagles, even amid life's trials.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton April 15, 2025 · 38 min · "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton
John Mark discusses the significance of Isaiah 40, illustrating how God renews strength and hope, allowing us to soar like eagles, even amid life's trials. ...more Show the full description Show less John Mark discusses the significance of Isaiah 40, illustrating how God renews strength and hope, allowing us to soar like eagles, even amid life's trials.
Series "Pastor Talks" with John Mark Caton Support this leader Liking this video? Support this ministry.
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John Mark is the Senior Pastor of the thriving Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, where he has served since 1995.
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Our Unshakeable God and Renewed Strength 0:00 As we kick off this, Easter week with Palm Sunday, we also close a series we've been in, the last couple of weeks entitled Our Unshakeable God. And here's the beauty of, of the reality of this0:12 week. There is nothing about this week when we celebrate, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus that that shook God up. This was always his purpose. This was always his plan that God created you in his0:24 image, me in his image, the world in his image, knowing we would be sinful but also wanting to offer us a way back so that if we chose his grace and his mercy, we could be his child0:36 again. That's what this whole week is all about. And so as we've been journeying through Isaiah chapter 40, we've been talking about our unshakable God. Nothing about this week shook God up. This was always his0:48 plan to provide a way of salvation for you and for me. Now if you're new here in person or online, we've been in a series just walking through verse by verse. Isaiah chapter 40, this amazing chapter in the bible that1:00 is kind of a turning point chapter for the book of Isaiah. We've talked about God's comfort and his grace. God's hope and his mercy. We've talked about the power of God's word,1:11 that if God says it, we can believe it. We talked about his amazing creation, the beauty of his creation. Last week, we talked about God's faithfulness in the midst of our fragility. Now today I1:23 want to talk to us about this, God renews our strength. Regardless of what we're going through, regardless of of how bad things look, regardless of the people and the problems in1:35 your life, God can renew your strength and give you strength for the days ahead. If you didn't know this or if you've never heard about it, a lot of people refer to the book of Isaiah as a Bible within the1:47 Bible. I don't know if you've ever heard that. They call it the Bible within the Bible. You say why would they call Isaiah the Bible within the Bible? Well, how many chapter, how many books are in the Bible? 66. 66. How1:57 many chapters are in Isaiah? 66. How many chapters are in the Old Testament? Books in the Old Testament? 39. How many in the New? 27. We're2:09 in chapter 40 of Isaiah. Remember I told you that is the turning point chapter of Isaiah? It's almost like when you look at God's word, the old testament2:21 leads up to the new testament. When you look at first 39 chapter chapters of Isaiah, it's kind of like the Old Testament, talking about judgment, repentance, then you go to chapter 402:33 immediately starts talking about grace and comfort. When you look at Isaiah the prophet, he's the 1 that said listen, behold, there'll be a virgin and she will be with child, that's your sign.2:45 But he also told us about this week, because you go over to Isaiah chapter 53, he talks about the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He says all we like sheep have gone astray, each unto2:57 our own way, but God has chosen to lay upon him the iniquity of us all. First 39 chapters of Isaiah, God is saying repent,3:09 be obedient. When they weren't, immediately the enemy comes in, overwhelms them, takes them off, God begins to talk about his mercy is great, grace and his hope.3:21 The old testament, a lot of law, a lot of obedience. The new testament is all about God's hope, God's mercy, and God's grace through his 1 and only son, Jesus3:32 Christ. So when you think of Isaiah, it's a Bible within the Bible. So let's go back and let's just read a couple of these verses we've been talking through and we're really gonna look at the last verse. Everybody say3:44 last verse. We've made it all the way through this chapter and it's all really, we've been picking up pieces of the puzzle, how we get to verse 31, how we ultimately live out verse 31. He says this, going back to3:56 28, talked about this a couple of weeks ago. If you miss these, you can find them online. He says do you not know and have you not heard? The Lord your God is an everlasting God. He is the creator of the ends of the4:06 earth. He will not grow tired and he will not grow weary, and we all thank the Lord for that. And his understanding no 1 can fathom. In other words, God knows it all. Verse 29, he gives strength to those who are4:18 weary and increases power to those who are weak. We looked at that last week. Hey, here's the reality, we all get worn down. Even youths grow tired and weary, children and even young men stumble4:30 and fall. That's where we stopped. Alright, now we're going to look at verse 31. But, notice this, everybody struggles but there's something different about the people in4:42 this last verse. But those, my prayer today is you're 1 of those. My prayer today is you become 1 of those, whether you're in the room or in person or4:54 online, but those who do what? Hope in the lord will do what? Renew their strength. What will they be like? They5:06 will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. I love the idea that he says, listen you and I can be like eagles. Now let me give you some fun facts about5:18 eagles if you haven't studied up on them lately. Did you know the vision of an eagle is 8 times that of the best human vision we have. You say I have twentytwenty vision. Best eagles vision, typical5:29 eagles vision, 8 times better than yours. They can spot prey from 2 to 3 miles away. They can fly that high, spot prey or they can be in their nest in a on a5:41 cliff or up on high on a tree, some place that is safe. They can spot prey 2 to 3 miles away. They are also a monogamous type. If you didn't know this, that an eagle,5:53 once it chooses a mate, that is its mate for all of life. Now here's kind of what happened. If you want to know their mating patterns or their connection patterns, that that you get a couple of eagles, you got a young6:04 young male eagle and a young female eagle and they're just kind of flying through and all of a sudden they catch each other's eye. Now, they can be 2 to 3 miles apart because they have great vision, right? And but the6:14 guy just kind of looks over and says, woah. And so he just kind of soars and he'll flap his wings a little bit and she'll kind of look back and sometimes she'll go, nah I'm out.6:26 She just flies on, he goes, yeah let me go find another 1, right? You always end up with your equal, that's what it says. Not in the bible, but that's just kinda what I said. But so, all of a sudden you catch a lady's6:37 eye and all of a sudden they will start circling closer and closer and closer to each other just to make sure that distance didn't deceive me, right? You always want to get a6:49 close-up, right? So then as they get closer and closer and look, now I'm not encouraging you to date this way, but this is the way they do it, alright? And so all of a sudden, they're getting closer and closer and closer7:00 and after they've gone by and she says, you know, he may be the 1. She's got 1 final test for him. She will all of a sudden, after they've made eye contact, she will turn over,7:12 fold her wings up, and begin to fall. She's asking the question, is he gonna be there for me when I need him?7:24 And a good young eagle who is in love will fly down with his talons and grab her by the talons and lift her up. If he lets her hit the ground, she he's not the 1.7:36 Go walking back in to mom and say, well I'm still looking, right? And all of a sudden, they then they then literally will start building a nest together. And if you've never seen an eagle's nest, they7:48 can be massive, they can be up to 10 feet wide, they're always prepared, I'm always working on them. Some eagles nest weigh over a ton, that's how much they've because they're always working on them, they're always7:58 putting together. That becomes kind of their base camp. She'll go out and hunt, he'll go out and hunt, but they're always gonna show back up at base camp. Then all of a sudden they're gonna have eaglets.8:12 And when they have eaglets, mom kinda hangs around, helps them out, brings back a little food and then then what happens is what should happen more today perhaps, is is all of a sudden mom will mom will start putting the8:23 food a little further to the end of the nest. And all of a sudden, someday mom just has the boy, has the little boy or little girl sitting there eating, mom just kind of kicks it out of the nest.8:37 Good luck. But it doesn't stop there. Because dad's flying and if that eagle's not ready to fly, dad'll swoop in, pick it up, go put it back in8:49 the nest and mom will keep feeding it. But the next day, It's 1 of those fly or else type things. Tell let me tell you something else9:01 about eagles. Eagles aren't buzzards and they aren't vultures. They eat only fresh food. So as a child of God, here's my key and here's my encouragement in9:13 you as we think about eagles. God is about to say he wants you to soar like an eagle. Be powerful like an eagle, But God also tells9:25 us over and over, he wants you to eat like an eagle. Child of God, you don't spend the rest of your life chewing the cud of what happened when you were a kid,9:36 spiritually. That we want to constantly be constantly be looking for fresh food, nourishing food. Man, I want to spend time in worship and I want to I want to walk9:48 with God, I want to see God move in my life fresh today. So that's my encouragement. He says listen, we want to be like eagles.10:00 I grew up all my life, I don't know if you were as shocked as I was last year, I grew up all my life thinking the eagle was a national bird. How many of you have thought that? And then all the sudden last year they10:10 declared it the national bird and I thought well, hadn't that always been the case? And the answer's no. Just this accepted bird that officially10:22 became the national bird. So maybe there's some of you that you've just been flying around this Christianity thing for a while and just kind of said I I I'm not opposed to it.10:35 Can I tell you there needs to come a time in your life and in my life where you say this is my savior and he is Jesus? Look at Deuteronomy,10:47 I love this passage, it's the children of Israel are getting to go into the promised land thinking about gaining some nourishment and some food, I I I love this. So the children of Israel are about to go into the10:57 promised land and God stops them and he says listen, I want you to feed on fresh words from God and fresh spirit and fresh miracles and fresh this and fresh that. And so here's what he says, he said when11:09 all of Israel comes in to appear before the Lord, your God at a place that he will choose. In other words, in the old testament God chose the place that people would worship. Started off on a mountain, then it11:21 went to a tabernacle, then it went to a temple. In the new testament, the place God chose is called the church. So God has always been choosing a place, alright? So So he says listen, when you come into the land, your11:32 God will choose a place. Here's what you're gonna do when you come into that place, you shall read this law, God's word before them in their hearing. Now notice who's supposed to be in the11:44 room when God's word is read? All the people it says assemble them, men and women and children and foreigners residing in your town. Interesting step back, even going into the11:56 promised land, God cared about the the foreigner. God cared about the outsider. Even to this day, God cares about the outsider. That's when you think what should church be? There there's a similar seminary discussion12:08 going on with a bunch of professors and stuff. Who's the church for? There are there are some churches out there that it's it's for believers and believers only. That's okay. But12:20 I want you to know if you look at the pattern of God's word, yes, there are only certain people that could go into the tabernacle and go into the temple, but listen, the gospel12:32 viewing online or if you're in this room and you're just kinda doubting, you're kinda listening in, let me tell you what, you're in the right place. Now being in this place doesn't make you a Christian at some point, you12:42 have to step across that line and say Jesus is my savior. But what is church supposed to be with? Supposed to be filled with everyone, people, men and women,12:55 children, those who are saved and those who are seeking, those who once were far off and others who are making their way towards faith. So let's13:06 continue, read that verse. He says read in front of all of the foreigners residing in the towns so that they can do what? Listen and learn, that's fresh meat. That's fresh food. Don't ever13:18 live on what you heard last week or a month ago. Man, you're always looking to listen and learn, that's fresh food. To fear the lord your god and follow him carefully, all the words of the lord.13:30 So alright, how do we nourish ourselves? If we want to be like an eagle and eat fresh food and nourish ourselves on fresh food and not something that is dead, man it starts God's word,13:43 God transfers you or takes you somewhere you always wanna land in the church that they open up God's word and they read it to you every day. And it's for all the people, it's for men and women. Man that's called the New13:54 Testament church, we want to worship in such a way, man that we are finding ourselves in the very presence of God. And that place in the Old Testament like I said, started with the mountain,14:06 then it was the tabernacle, then it was the temple and in the new testament it's the church. What did Jesus say? I will build my church and the gates of hell will not14:18 prevail against it. Child of God, find yourself in a church that preaches God's word and worships to put you in God's presence. That's what you wanna do. That doesn't mean hard things aren't gonna come your way.14:29 Remember, a guy named Job? Man Job lost it all. You think you have problems, he had problems. You think you have problems with people, he had problems with14:41 people. I mean early on after everything had happened, Job was just sitting there and and and Job's wife gave him this advice, hey just go ahead and curse God and die.14:53 Hopefully your wives give you better advice than that and you're sitting there going, then his friends show up and things get worse. How many of you know? I mean sometimes that's what we're surrounded with. But I love so15:03 Job is pretty honorable all the way through but there comes a time in Job's life where he just kind of mouths off at God a little bit. We've all done it. Just kind of, you know God you clearly15:15 were looking the other way when this came into my life. And so Job kinda gets to that place, he stayed righteous, he stayed faithful. Man all of his all of his friends said hey listen Job, just just confess your sin. Job15:27 says I hadn't sinned. They go well, you know, let's be honest, this doesn't happen to people who don't sin, so just go ahead and confess your sin, back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And finally Job kinda15:37 says, God, you took everything away from me and then this is the best I have to have for friends. He starts complaining about God and notice this is God's response in Job chapter 39 to Job kind of mouthing off15:49 to God. He said, Job, does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high at your command? It dwells on16:00 cliffs and stays there at night, a rocky crag or crevice is its stronghold. From there it looks for food and detects it from afar.16:12 Man. So God in Job's worst moment brings up the eagle. If you didn't know this, it'd be good for bible trivia, the 2 most often mentioned16:24 birds in the bible are the eagle and the dove. The eagle talks about the power and the strength that God has given the eagle its ability16:36 to soar above and beyond all other birds. Its ability we're gonna see here in a second to regenerate itself and renew self and restore itself, and then the dove.16:49 Referring to peace and calm in the spirit of God, which can indwell every believer once you trust Jesus Christ as savior and lord and seal you17:01 until the day of redemption. So what is what is God saying to Job? He says man, you you and I sometimes in the midst of it, let me tell you if there was anybody who had a reason to complain it was17:12 Job. Sometimes the best thing that you and I can do when we're going through problems is gain a new perspective, that's what God says. I said Job, does does the eagle sword your command or mine?17:24 Does it build its nest way up in the crevice because that's the way you designed them or I did? You say alright, so if I'm going through 1 of those Job tight seasons, what do I do? Gain a new perspective. Best way you17:36 and I can gain a new perspective is by diving into God's word, not just now but each and every day. Number 2 is do what you just finished doing. Man, come to God in praise. Man, you17:48 just need to walk in there. 1 of the beautiful things that I see and I notice because of many times I know what's going on in people's lives, I I'll see you out there worshiping and some with tears streaming down their17:58 eyes. Cause you're going through some stuff. Man, if you were going through the stuff that's not the time to withdraw from praise, it's the time to go all in. Develop a little perseverance18:11 and persistence. Say you know what, this has been a hard week. Let me tell you what, your immediate response to this has been a hard week is I need to be18:23 in God's house. I need to hear God's truth. I need for God to remind me that man, I might feel like a sparrow but I can be an eagle again.18:36 There might have been vultures and buzzards circling you all week. Best thing you could do is come into God's house, Say God, I'm gonna stay faithful and then say God give me some endurance, that18:48 when I live here today and I begin to focus on my Monday, I can say let's go. And finally prayer. Man when you put all those together, God's word, man you look at praise, you19:00 you ask for persistence, God says I will give it to you each and every time. Alright so then the question becomes, how does God renew my strength? Let's just walk through verse 31, we're going through that 119:12 verse. Everybody say 1 verse. Number 1, what happens? Hope is restored. If you're sitting here today or you know someone around you that's a little bit hopeless, notice the first19:24 thing God says is but those but remember everything before, young people get tired, young adults they make mistakes, they fall, they blunder. But those who19:36 hope or wait, and that's the word nest, those who hope or nest in the Lord will what? They're gonna gain some new strength. If you find yourself hopeless, that's when we return to19:48 the nest. That's when we come back to say, man, God refresh me. That's what God was even saying to Job, hey hey hey does the eagle soar at your command? Does it build its nest way up there? I I don't19:59 know, they that I told you a little bit about the nest. They're amazing. They're 10 foot wide and all throughout their life the eagles are coming back20:11 adding some sticks, adding some mud, adding some feathers, adding some of this. Sometimes what they're doing, they're adding the skins of the animals that they've killed to make it soft. And you see this20:23 example, this is just someone just sitting in it. Again, this isn't just a little thing. Man, when they go back there to be restored and be repaired, this is a great thing. And it's20:35 oftentimes built on a high place and they put the old feathers in it, they don't Airbnb this thing out, it is for them. And God wants you to come back to him20:48 and rest in Him and have a reset in Him. Why? Because those who hope in the Lord, we're gonna see will find new strength. You say, pastor what does hope21:00 mean? You might want to write this acrostic down. There's a lot of acrostic down. How do I hope in God? First of all, humble yourself before God. Just acknowledge like Job had to as21:11 you're God and I'm not. I don't get it God. Just humble yourself. Say, God, man, you know what I'm going through and I can't handle this. Here's the o, open21:23 yourself up to hear God's voice. Say God, I've got this problem, I've got these people in my life, God I want, I need, I just need you to tell me21:35 what to do. Here's the p in hope, find God's presence. I'm gonna be where God is. I'm gonna find people who find21:47 themselves consistently in the presence of God. That's why I think God developed this pattern of church every Sunday, every Sunday, every Sunday because as you go through you get beat up, you get worn down, You've got a21:58 place you can come back where other people are in the presence of God too and then E, regain your energy. That's hope. Because man, if I've gotten a little hopeless, man I want to gain22:10 God's perspective. I I I love what it says in Hebrews, listen to this, maybe some of you can relate. He says we have this hope, God's hope, as an anchor for22:22 the soul, both firm and secure. And it's the imagery, the idea that that you even though you have a massive a warship or battleship or22:34 cruise ship that is out in the middle of the ocean, and a storm is waging that they've got the anchor that is set, that regardless of the waves, regardless of the wind, that anchor22:46 is gonna hold that ship together and hold that ship in place. And he's saying that's just the way our faith is. Is that we have this hope in our faith through Jesus Christ, ultimately that God22:58 is going to protect us. And that hope and that anchor, it's the idea that it's not just any old anchor. If you've ever been boating, I love to boat, we love to boat, there have been times when I've realized because of23:10 the winds on Texoma or Lake Comerau when I grew up, the winds are too strong for my anchor to hold. If you're a boater, you've been there. That you throw that anchor out and all of a sudden you look up and you23:22 are moving. And see and if we aren't careful, if our faith isn't strong enough, if our anchor isn't heavy enough, if we haven't grown enough, we haven't spent time in God's word, been with God's people in his23:33 presence, praise God enough, guess what? Our anchor won't hold. God will hold but our anchor won't hold. And so as the storms come, that's why you and I want to constantly grow our23:45 faith and grow stronger in our faith, gain God's perspective not our perspective, feed on God's word, worship him with a reckless abandon because listen, the storm is coming. How many of you know23:57 that? It regrow on ice. It's all the advancement in weather and technology and stuff like that. I just wish I had a problem app. How many of you how many of you24:09 have a weather app? Don't you wish you had a problem app? Where you could just open it up, it says looks like a good week. Lots of sunshine, no wind, and then all24:21 of a sudden you go you know, next week you'll be Tuesday, light rain, which precedes a big storm. And what would you do? You'd24:33 begin to hunker down, right? But let me tell you what, that is not the time to learn to hunker down. Do it now. When the winds are calm and you have an opportunity to feed yourself24:45 and nourish yourself and grow yourself, we all wish, I wish I had a problem app. I don't. I don't. And neither do you. But I will promise24:56 you storms are going to come. But 1 of the things that the app also shows, if you're like me and you look at the weather app, you ever just seen like 3 full days of just rain and then sometimes25:08 with the cloud it's got the lightning coming out and then you see day 4 some sunshine? That's hope. Yeah, I'm gonna go through this for a season. It may last a couple of25:20 days, but there's always sunshine on the other side. Look at what what Paul said in the New Testament, Romans chapter 15 verse 13. He says may the God of hope fill you25:32 with all joy and peace as you learn to trust or have hope in him. So thought number 1, it's real soon, real clear. When God renews our strength, our hope is restored. Here's25:44 number 2, God refills what the world depletes. When we learn to hope in God and he renews our strength, God will refill what the world depletes. Just like your gas tank,25:55 there comes a moment that you say, you know what, I need to pause and get some gas. And and you say, what depletes us most? If you look at it, 2 things. Problems and people, we've been talking about those. And26:07 when those begin to drain us, God wants to refill us. Here it is, God will, but those who open the lord will renew their strength. Now now26:19 the context here is the eagle. If you do much research or study on eagles, eagles live a long time. I mean 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years depending on whether in captivity or what26:31 the environment is. They live a long time. There comes a moment in every eagle's life, several times in your life, where they go through what is referred to as a molting process. How many of you know what a molting26:42 process is? It's when it's when your feathers have gotten brittle, they're broken, they can't fly like they used to, their wings are more stiff than they used to, they can't catch the air. So what happens is26:54 they go through what's called a molting process. It's a painful process. That sometimes they will have to go back to the nest, sit in the nest and they're letting some feathers but they're also their own27:06 selves. They're pulling out some of the old feathers. And new feathers are growing in their place. See see the last thing the eagle wants to do is hold on to the old27:17 feathers. They want the new ones to show up. They want something refreshing and new to show up. Now let me tell you what, when an eagle goes through the multi process, they are fragile27:32 and they need some help. This is what they look like. How many of you ever woke up in the morning and go, whoo that's not an eagle right there? Yeah, when they're27:43 going through the multi process, this is what they look like. They're just kinda like, yeah, I don't know what just happened last night, right? And that's the multi And maybe there's some of you,27:55 you've been through some storms, you've been through some fights, you've been through some battles, it's time for a little restrengthening, it's time for God to renew your strength, to do something new. Now here's the28:05 key, the eagles who make it don't go through molting alone. Did you get it? The eagles that make it don't go through molting28:17 alone because it's not uncommon for them not to be able to defend themselves or feed themselves. Say pastor, how long does the molting process take? It depends on the eagle.28:29 The older they are, the longer it takes. Sometimes it's 2 weeks, sometimes it's a month. Well guess what the mate does during that time? Goes, kills28:40 food, brings it back to the nest, and feeds them. See molting is a season, it's not permanent. That's just the way it is in our life, and maybe there's some28:52 of you that you feel like you're going through some stuff. Can I just remind you your stuff, it's a season? Don't go through it alone, that's why God29:04 created the church. Man if you're going through 1 of those seasons and man it's a hard season, you're a little bit fragile, you're a little bit broken, you can't soar like you used to, that's when you need to be29:15 surrounded by other people that will help eagle ever desires permanent multi.29:27 Sometimes I think people do, they they they rest into this situation, they just go to the nest, they want everybody to take care of them. Let me tell you what God's call on your life is go through your season and start29:37 soaring again. Does that make sense? Man, there has to time come a time when we we do that. Why? Because God wants to renew us. I love Lamentations. It's just a29:49 promise of God's blessing. Look at Lamentations Chapter 3 Verse 22, it said because the Lord's, the Lord's great love, we are not consumed, we don't molt forever. For his compassions30:01 or his mercies never fail, they are new every morning. Great is Your faithfulness. Here's number 3, just walking through this30:13 verse. Man, when God renews our strength, not only His hope returns, he refills what the world depletes. Here's number 3, we can soar above the storms again. You say will ever get back to30:25 where I was? God's word promises, yeah, you can soar above the storms again. Notice what he says, they will. Everybody say will. Who? Those who are hurting, those who are molting, those who are broken, those who have30:36 been through a season, they will after molting and after hoping, what will they do? They will soar on wings like eagles again.30:48 Alright. So if you're going through a season, it's a season. Don't go through that season alone, don't stop eating, don't stop nourishing, look for God's perspective. But also, look above the clouds and say God, I can't30:59 wait for you to get me back there. If if you haven't done a little eagle research lately, do you know that 90 percent of the time an eagle flies its soaring not flapping?31:12 90 percent. That's why it's so important that the feather Only 10 percent of the time are they flapping. When are they flapping? Well, when they're chasing prey, when they're about to get in a31:24 fight, when they're about to move on, or when a storm is coming. Eagles can fly up to 16000 feet high. What keeps them from going higher? They run out of31:35 oxygen just like you and me. But it's interesting that an eagle, when a storm begins to come, most birds and sometimes eagles do, I'll explain those moments to you. Some most birds turn and go31:47 hunker down and hide because a rainstorm or a cloud storm is coming. You know what an eagle does? Turns faces a storm, uses the winds off the storm to lift it above the storm.31:59 Why would it want to do that? Well let me tell you what, how many of you know in the midst of a storm the sun is still shining? And so if it's not a if it's not a hurricane32:11 or something, they're gonna go above the clouds, soar on the other side and follow it looking for prey. Now you say, when do they32:24 go back to the nest and hunker down like the rest of the birds? If the storm is too overwhelming, they sense I'm not up for this task. So they go back32:36 to that massive nest that they've created and they've made for themselves. The other time is when they have young, they have to go back and protect. Don't ever go through it32:47 alone. And God says listen, if you and I will move forward, we'll press on, we'll feed on God's word, we'll worship with God's people, be surrounded by God's people, listen there will come a time when you and I can32:59 soar again when we study God's word of worship. Some of it, it's not physical. What does it say in the New Testament? Is that you and I need to renew our mind. There33:11 are times that we need to molt our minds, that we need to let some of the bad stuff go, from the bad memories go. We let some of33:23 those feathers of failures fall away. But it's kinda interesting as you think about that nest when they mote some of those old broken brittle feathers they33:35 use to build the nest. I think that just kind of reminds us God will never waste your experiences, even the bad ones. They just become part of your testimony.33:47 Can you imagine that young 1 looking over there, dad look those feathers look look like you lost that fight? Dad goes, yeah I did almost lose that 1. Become33:59 part of your legacy and your testimony that yeah, then you show them that feather of victory and that feather of failure. We all journey through that, we all move that direction. So finally just34:11 jump down to the end, notice what it says, here's number 4. Number 1, when your strength is renewed, hope is restored, God refills what he, what the world depletes, we can soar above the storms, storms again and here's34:22 number 4, we will ultimately have grace to go to the distance, go the distance. Last part of verse 31, they will.34:36 Here's the beautiful part about that transition. Can't really see it in the English, but there was a turning point right there. God through Isaiah kind of said, alright that's pretty cool we've34:48 been talking about eagles, but now we're talking about you. It's cool to think about being an eagle, but it's more cool to think about being you.35:00 That's why he says they, that's us, those who hope, those who molt, those who soar, they will run. There are those flapping seasons, remember the eagle does 1035:12 percent of its time. There are those flapping seasons, they will run and not grow weary. Everyday endurance we need, they will walk, this is the soaring seasons of life where we just need endurance going35:24 forward. They will walk and not faint. Man, there is a difference between running and walking. You can't run your entire life. There can be that 10 percent of your35:36 flapping seasons, man that's critical moment. Man something going on with your kid or your marriage or whatever, you better start flapping, you better put some energy into it. Most of your life, you need to trust God and35:47 soar and follow him in obedience. Just choosing to say, God whatever you want me to do. There are times to run and there are times to soar. No 1 can run all of their life35:59 and you don't want to soar all your life. I don't know what your shoes look like. The very first marathon Jean and I ran together, as we took off running, we weren't really sure we could complete it. We36:11 we we ran the marathon because I mouthed off to a guy. Just shook hands on it and then I was like alright we gotta do it. Alright, I told him I could do it, we do it. And and as we're running, she'll she'll tell you36:21 this. So we're we're running and as we're running all of a sudden you hear this and it's clearly someone running. And they would36:33 go quiet. Then all of a sudden you'd be running along, you'd hear, then it would go quiet. Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa36:45 pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa36:55 pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa. And what he would do, he would run past us and he would need to give his feet a rash and so he'd start walking. That's why we kept hearing, we would run past and he'd pa pa pa pa pa pa37:05 pa pa pa pa. You say what was wrong? I finally said dude, what's up with the shoes? You know, they make them where they have tops on them. He says, I've got bunions. My first thought was,37:16 well go and run a marathon. But I also thought, you know some of us are like that 1. We've got some things in our life when we're moving it's a pa pa pa pa pa pa pa37:28 pa pa pa pa pa pa pa. Then you gotta slow down and walk. Then you start running again and just pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa pa. It's part of your testimony. That listen,37:40 God wants to give you favor and grace and strength for the days ahead. That's what it means you will run and not grow weary, and you37:52 will walk and not faint. Let's pray. God thank you so much for this moment this season. God as we leave here today, some of us will walk with a limp, some of us will soar sore a38:04 little off kilter, some of us are in molting seasons, But let us stay faithful because God, you are faithful. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen and Amen.In this video 0:00 Our Unshakeable God and Renewed Strength
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