Blatant Lies That Are Shaping Our Society for the Worse

The Birds can teach us by Geoff Thompson

I presented this Christian  message on 8/3/20 at the Lifecare Parkrose Nursing Home United Congregation on Sunday 8/3/20.

The Birds our Teachers

You would have noticed in my power point presentations for this service I often have pictures of Australian Birds.

That stems from my love of birds and bird watching and bird photography.

Today I would like to speak about how we can learn from the birds much about God.

(I got the idea to do this today as a few weeks back Roger Brown was using the Eagle as part of his message.)

In fact you often come across people who say there is no God and that we just evolved as slime from the mud of the ocean.

They don’t believe there is a creator and therefore don’t believe in God let alone Jesus.

All they really have to do is look around and think about the beauty of our creation.

Where did it all come from?

As Paul says in Romans 1.20

“Since earliest times men have seen the earth and sky and all God made, and have known of His existence and great eternal power. So they will have no excuse when they stand before God on judgement day.”

The birds are part of creation and they do feature quite a bit in the Bible.

I started bird watching on the encouragement of my father when I was about 12.

Mainly because at that age I had my own air rifle and I was in the habit of shooting the sparrows in the backyard.

I had no regard for them as creatures.

Not a good habit to get into.

Back then Australia had a “own your own gun and use it mentality” just like America still does.

Thankfully that is largely a thing of the past although some still insist on recreational duck shooting.

Well I got myself a bird identification book, was given some binoculars as a Christmas present and a groundsheet to sit on while I watched birds.

 These days they would probably have called me a nerd.

Anyway my interest and knowledge grew.

When I finally got into photography in about 1970, then my passion for bird photography started to take off.

So what has all this got to do with today’s message?

Well my father in law was an expert on birds and he was always saying they were cleverer than us and even had a language they could communicate with each other.

He believed we could learn a lot from birds.

He used to talk about birds as if they were humans.

For example he  would call them husband and wife.

Not male and female.

They are not humans of course and the message we had read to us today from John 3 does not apply to them.

In the sense they are not sinners and do not need salvation in the way we do.

Our response to God and the Gospel also has an impact on our world and indeed the birds.

A famous Theologian, the late John Stott, was also a keen birdwatcher and photographer.

He wrote a book some years back called “the birds our teachers”.

He invented what he called “Ornitheology”.

I am going to draw on some of his ideas today and share one or two of my own.

He was introduced to birdwatching by his father at the age of 5 or 6.

His interest grew and as his preaching duties took him around the world he was able to observe and photograph birds everywhere he went.

In the book of Genesis,

Adam was given the job of naming the birds and animals.

They were first assigned to him as companions.

Then God gave him Eve.

I wonder how many of his names are still used?

Please note that the subject of birds is a big one.

Many have written about birds,

many have drawn and painted them,

many have photographed them,

many have recorded their songs,

many study them,

there are many documentaries about birds,

some try to teach us about evolution through them,

many have worshipped them and also used them as sacrifices,

 and of course many are eaten daily as food.

My focus today is on birds as exclusively created by God and how in some ways they can point us to Him.

My aim, as always, is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ;

 and how the birds around us can assist us in this.

Jesus was and is their creator.

So lets start talking about some of these birds and how they might help us draw closer to God in our thinking.

The Sparrow.

Luke 12:6-7 Living Bible (TLB)

⁶ “What is the price of five sparrows?

A couple of pennies? Not much more than

that. Yet God does not forget a single one of

 them. ⁷ And he knows the number of hairs

 on your head! Never fear, you are far more

valuable to him than a whole flock of

sparrows.

(show slide of sparrows)

It is a fact that in some countries small birds such as sparrows and songbirds are still sold in market places for food.

The little dead sparrow in the picture I photographed on Everard terrace just out the front of Parkrose some years ago when visiting Aunty Doreen.

I took it because of this verse, and I thought one day I might give a talk such as todays.

John Stott focuses on this well known verse in his book.

(That was our call to worship today.)

John says there is an epidemic around the world these days of what is called low self esteem and depression and mental health issues.

We don’t have to look far to notice this.

Well he argues that we should realize how blessed our lives are, and we really don’t have a good reason to be down in the dumps.

By learning from this passage we are given a glimpse of the way out.

He tells the story of Joni Earekson-Tada.

You might remember her as the 17 year old all American teenager who tragically broke her neck in a diving accident.

She had a re awakening of her faith when this happened but has been in a wheel chair all her life.

She married Ken Tada and although she started and still leads a ministry for disabled people she has had her bouts of depression.

Especially after 25 years in a wheelchair and she became bed ridden for a time.

Her husband Ken, placed a bird feeder outside her window.

This is what she is quoted as saying in John’s book.

“I glanced at the bird feeder and smiled. I could understand Jesus noticing an eagle…but a scrappy sparrow?  They’re a dime a dozen,

Jesus said so Himself.

Yet from thousands of bird species the Lord chose the most insignificant, least noticed ,scruffiest bird of all.

A pint sized thing that even birdwatchers ignore.

That thought alone calmed my fears.

I felt significant and noticed….if the great God of Heaven concerns Himself with a ragtag little sparrow,

clinging to a bird feeder outside my window,

He cares about me.”

This was the catalyst that helped her overcome her depression.

He cares about all of us.

So we can learn from the sparrow when we remind ourselves of this verse.

How impressive is it when you see a hen bird of any species protecting it’s young under it’s feathers.

(show slide)

I was admiring with Shirley Rumbelow a few weeks ago, the little quails in the atrium/aviary here in Parkrose.

A little Hen quail ,

though itself is tiny,

had even tinier little chicks under the protection of it’s feathers.

How wonderful is the gift of Mothers,

 who are like hens for us when we are little,

 and usually throughout our lives.

And God Himself is likened to our protector as we shelter in his “wings”.

He is both our Father and Mother.

We can learn from the protecting and nurturing nature of hens.

The Thrush

(show first slide)

There are many birds around the world that  are wonderful songsters.

We have several species in Australia.

However I would like to concentrate on one bird we have in Australia.

It is a beautiful songster.

The Grey Shrike Thrush is common in the countryside in Australia and has a number of beautiful calls.

They can become very tame if you are lucky enough to have them on your property.

(show video clip)

They and other birds such as the Nightingale, The Black Bird, The Willy Wagtail and the Butcher Bird have beautiful calls.

The Australian Magpie also has beautiful warbling song,

If you are ever fortunate enough to be in woodland in Australia at Dawn you can hear the beautiful dawn chorus of any number of species all joining in together.

Music and song is such a great gift God has given us and the birds.

A reminder that with this gift we can praise God together and in doing so inspire each other and be uplifted as we touch our living God in joyful song.

The Thrush, and other songbirds

give us a wonderful example of the beauty of praise.

Of making a joyful noise unto the Lord.

The Apostle Bird

(show slide)

Here is a link to my youtube posts about Apostle Birds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0DqMeEYtpc&t=407s

The Apostle Bird is a bird of inland Australia.

I first saw these birds when I was 13 on a station property on the Darling River in NSW.

A mid sized grey bird that always seems very busy and noisy when not resting in the shade of a tree.

They are called Apostle birds because when first observed by early settlers they seemed to always be together in groups of about 12.

I have actually seen lot larger groups than that but never big flocks.

They are very communal birds,

a fellowship if you like.

They build one mud nest that is utilized by all in their group.

They look out for each other and their young.

I’ve seen them surrounding a sparrow hawk and chasing him off when he was too close to their nest.

(show slide)

The early disciples of Jesus were very communal and shared possessions with each other.

We could learn a lot from the “love” and sharing the Apostle Birds have  for each other.

The Dove.

(show slide)

The dove is widely recognized as a symbol of peace and also of God’s Holy Spirit.

When Jesus was baptized a dove descended on him representing the Holy Spirit.

The Bible tells us when we are baptized we receive the Holy Spirit.

Acts 2:38

We are also told in the Bible that God is always with us.

No matter what our circumstances

 He is with us every day,

every hour,

every minute,

every second.

As a dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit

their presence all around in our gardens and parks is a great reminder of The Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives as our comforter, our helper,our teacher our source of God’s power in our lives.

So in conclusion:

We have touched on some Birds about :

God’s love for us, no matter how insignificant we think we are,

The need to work together as Christians

and love and support each other.

God is always with us.

His Holy Spirit is always with us.

We have much to praise God about and can do so in song.

Of course we have our Bibles to tell us so much more

 but if we didn’t

we can still learn about  God’s love from the

“Birds our Teachers”

They have many more lessons for us if we take notice.

When I gave Valmai today’s reading she said there is nothing about birds in it.

That’s true in a sense.

But this reading is recommended in the lectionary for today as we are approaching Easter,

The reading features the famous “ God so loved the world” verse.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”

and verse 17 says

“God did not send His son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”

In regard to v17 it should be realized when Jesus came the world was already condemned since the fall in the Garden of Eden.

In verse 16 we can put our own name in the place of world to allow that verse to hit home to us with the Gospel.

But the verse also says He loves the world.

His creation.

He loves His whole creation including the birds.

The sparrow in particular is highlighted to help us in our understanding of God’s love for us.

Sparrows can’t believe in Him, well they don’t have that capacity, but we can on their behalf and all other creatures.

The Birds and all of creation rely on us humans to help sustain the planet and their habitat.

We have heard a lot about that lately, haven’t we?

Perhaps I will close with a famous encounter with a bird in the new testament.

It happened just before the Crucifixion of Jesus.

It is found in Luke 22:31- 34,54-62

(Read from Bible).

Peter was found out by the crowing of a rooster.

It was not a message for the whole world to hear.

Only for Peter!

But in turn we who are Christians can now heed it’s lesson.

It applies to us.

Is our love for Jesus genuine?

Would we give our lives up for His sake?

Would we ever deny Him before men?

Do we need to take steps to grow in our faith?

That is a lesson for us to ponder.

As we approach easter and people are talking about the resurrection as they do, will we walk away from the conversation like Peter?

What a challenge!

Below is a link to John Stott's book and how you can obtain an audio version.

https://www.audible.com.au/pd/The-Birds-Our-Teachers-Audiobook/B075DFDGSN?source_code=M2MOR1341126180055&ipRedirectOverride=true&source_code=M2MOR131091619005N&ds_rl=1252391&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3-WC3Pms6AIVQouPCh39wANvEAAYASAAEgI5N_D_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

If you would like to see more about Australian birds I have done a small series on you tube.

Here is a link to my introduction to this series and then you can checkout the later videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riaxYpUyLgg&t=17s 

Boxed in in a black dark place?

Today I read of yet another discovery of a previously unknown "blackhole".

This from the ABC.

"Professor Tamara Davis, an astrophysicist at the University of Queensland, says it has implications for our understanding of how it all began.

YouTube: YouTube: Stephen Hawking explains black holes

"There's a big mystery about how these supermassive black holes form, because we don't understand how something could get that big that quickly; our normal theories don't work," she says.

"And it might mean that there were seeds to these black holes in the very early universe.
"During the birth of the universe, some really massive seeds were created that these black holes then formed around."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-05-15/monster-black-hole-discovered,-and-its-growing-very-fast/9761540

I always find it interesting when new discoveries like this are made.

We all ponder the heavens particularly when we are somewhere where we can see the night sky in all its brilliance.

As a creationist rather than an evolutionist it seems to me that  secular scientists are ever learning but each new discovery puts them back to the drawing board when their previously long held views are challenged.

And yet for the Christian who is a scientist, each new discovery makes them marvel even the more about our Creator and His creation.

A dichotomy for sure.

Where do you stand?

Have you examined the evidence for the creation story with an open mind?

We can of course be in a deep dark space within.

 The creator of the "black holes"Jesus, can assist you to escape from your own.

I love what Stephen Hawking says in the linked you tube video.

"If you feel you are in a blackhole you can get out of it so don't give up".

I couldn't agree more.



 .

Masterpiece of Design- The Bottle Brush

The Bottle Brush trees of Australia are a wonderful testimony to God's design and creation.
They are beautiful to look at and such a smorgasbord of food and shelter for the birds and bees and insects that make them either a temporary or permanent home.

Why I belive in Biblical Creation rather than Evolution by Geoff Thompson

"For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God." Romans 1:20
           

                                                By Geoff Thompson

If people wanted to give me a title re my Christian beliefs they would probably tell you I am an evangelical,fundamentalist, creationist type of Christian.I would probably satisfy that label.

Before I continue let me say one thing at the outset. I have a very good sermon in my collection of tapes called “Hearing God’s Word”.

In it the speaker points out that the moment we put a “label” on a Christian we immediately because of our bias , restrict ourselves from possibly ever hearing what God might want to say to us through that person. All truth is God’s truth is what I believe no matter the source. That does not mean I am a Universalist.

So why would I want to tell you my views on the creation debate.

Well it just might be useful to someone exploring faith in God and related matters.

I don’t believe I alone can convince anyone to believe my position.

I have tried with a few people.

As a young person, I am now 69, I had a great interest in the natural world, animals, birds and the heavens and the plant world to a lesser extent.

I knew pretty much in the early stages what evolution taught. I had a basic belief in God having attended a Christian Sunday school until I was 12 years old at which time I walked away from the Church.

I loved stories about animals, particularly the Jungle books by Rudyard Kipling.

When I became a Christian at age 28 I still had a basic belief in evolution and thought well that was probably how God created everything.

I must have read a few books by “Creationists” or “Intelligent Designers” which  is the current more in vogue title for such people. Some of them argued very convincingly for the creation account of the Bible.

I became more and more challenged by such writings and eventually came to my current position.

Some of the things that I found were important in having a Christian creationist view point are included hereunder.This by no means a treatise of this subject. There are many who have written excellent material on the subject who can do a far better job than I can.

1. Jesus is our Creator. He and others in the New Testament quite clearly accepted Adam and Eve and Noah as real people. The Bible claims God the Father as Creator, Jesus the Son as the Creator and the Holy Spirit as the Creator.Another way of understanding that  God is a triune God.

2. For many Christians as, JB Phillips once wrote, “Your God is too small.”

If God is the Creator of the Universe He is big enough to create an already functioning universe or earth with a command.

How big is your God?

I believe God is that “big”

3. There is much scientific knowledge recorded in the Bible. Read the books, I am not going to document it here.

Things that the writers of scripture at the time they wrote them must have been under inspiration of the Holy Spirit as according to scientific discovery they were not known  at the time.

Eg That snowflakes all have a unique individual design.

That in one part of the world people would be sleeping at night while others were awake during the day.

That electricity could be used to communicate.

You might say such things are coincidental but when there are  many so called coincidences  one can conclude there is a greater power at work.

4. Human Psychological theory is dependent on evolutionary teaching to a great extent and academics will admit to you as I once found out when I started to study Psychology, there is no agreed paradigm for Psychology. Eg all scientists and most laypeople would agree the Law of Gravity is an agreed paradigm but not so is there an agreed paradigm in psychology. Every few years a new theory of Psychology becomes the in thing. Eg Transactional analysis in the seventies, the teachings of freud earlier , the Cognitiive behaviour therapy of the present times.A more accurate assessment and explanation of human behaviour and psychology is able to be constructed based on the Biblical view of man in my opinion and that of people like C.R. Solomon and F.C. Hunting who are noted on this blog. This is based on the Biblical teaching that mankind is created in God’s image eg. Body, soul and spirit which equates to the triune God. Oswald Chambers (author of My Utmost for His Highest)was also a man with a deep Christian understanding of human behaviour.

Dr Paul Kaschel  when speaking in Adelaide once at a seminar on the “Exchanged Life” told how he had once been in charge of a secular psychiatric hospital and he had been fully qualified in secular therapy.

He pointed out however that using techniques of the day thay could get some people well enough to go home but the minute some storm in their life came along they would be back in hospital.

He likened what they were doing in therapy to making a dirt road full of potholes passable by filling them in with dirt and gravel but the minute a storm came along they were washed out and the road became treacherous again.

He discovered a more excellent way to help people through Jesus.

Using evolution and the idea that we were cavemen and the danger and flight response is  part of that scenario rather than what is taught in Genesis is why there is no agreed Paradigm in Psychology.

5. Being able to trust the whole Bible is paramount to discovering the “full”   

    salvation that Jesus offers.

6. Many people are ignorant of the Spiritual world ie. Those with a rationalist   scientific viewpoint. There is an unmistakable presence of evil in this world.How does evolution explain that?

7. You would have to be a fool to ignore the existence of  a creator. People will of   course say that I am a fool for believing the bible. Well I am in good company.Read Romans 1:18-23

  

8. I believe it is possible for people to become “creationists” or “intelligent

designers” without becoming Christians. I know of one such person at least.

12. Many people give examples of variation within a species as support for the theory of evolution. 

This has nothing to do with the transition from one species to another that evolution maintains.Variation within a species  is not counter to a creationist viewpoint.

There are and always will be millions of so called “missing links”.

The fossil records support Creation and not Evolution. See the book by Duane Gish.“The Fossils say no!“
Below is a youtube talk given by the late Dr. Gish

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8H35GDLNuw

13. I believe the only thing that really gets in the way of belief in God and as the  

Creator is the human failing of pride and the fear of being considered “unintelligent”.

We all of us in our fallen state want to be as God ourselves and control our own destiny.

We all have a definite appointment with our creator, if He exists, one day.

I don’t doubt He does.

Why not investigate the claims for creation and the wider question of Jesus Christ now before we meet our maker.

Someone once coined  the phrase. “ If Christ is the answer, what are the questions?

There are lots and I find the Bible satisfies all the questions I have come up with.

Start studying the Bible seriously today and put your scepticism and judgements to one side and you will be surprised at what you will find.


Below is a link to a significant Creationist, Intelligent Design Ministry if you want to explore further. Please note I am not saying there is no such thing as helpful science in many fields.
The science I believe in is evidence based and demonstrable by repeated experiments after developing a hypoyhesis.

http://creation.com/

Ps. You will notice a gap in my numbering system. Not a freudian slip but my having problems with the formatting.

Yet another blow for Evolution

I have commented before on this blog how time and time again new scientific observations are being made that turn evolutionary theory on it's head.

Now lizards found encased in amber have been seen to have not changed in 20 million years at all but scientists are perplexed because the 20 million year period was seen to be a time  in which major evolutionary changes were happening in animals.

Follow the link below to the ABC reporting of this.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/07/28/4279562.htm

One day I think there will be enough of this type of "evidence" for scientists to declare the theory of evolution is dead in the water.(where it was supposed to have started)
But then people will come up with new ideas so as to avoid being confronted by the truth that God created the world and us and that we are accountable to Him.

STOP PRESS

And now we have another report suggesting some flowers are a lot older than they were thought to be.
Many of these expose, in my opinion, and of those much more qualified than me,on a system of measurement of age of fossils and rocks based on false assumptions that are based on evolutionary theory.
The paradigm of evolution keeps on being challenged because it is untrue.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2015/08/11/4288322.htm

If you follow the link to the origins of this article you have this statement.

"Our discovery drastically pushes back the assumed origin of Asteraceae, because these pollen grains are the oldest fossils ever found for the family. "

The link below is for a youtube talk  by Dr Duane Gish who wrote a book many years ago called.
"Evolution,The fossils say no!"
A brilliant treatise of the case for Biblical Creation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8H35GDLNuw

The Lord God made them all

Yet another new species discovered of God's amazing creations.
A beautiful animal.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-16/researchers-discover-new-mammal-in-central-america/4890918

And what about this?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-07/scientists-throw-more-light-on-mystery-sea-creatures/4869902