"Destined to Soar" Message given by Rev.Shane Andersen DD (Hon)
A tiny eaglet fell out of his nest in a tall tree near a farm, and he landed in a chicken coop. He found himself surrounded by little chicks and thought they were his siblings. He grew up like them, learning to
scratch for insects and peck at the seeds the farmer scattered in the barnyard.
The young eagle’s wings and feathers began to grow,but he never perceived himself to be anything more than a member of his chicken family. One day an older eagle,soaring in the sky, spotted him in the barnyard. The eagle
swooped down and had a face-to-face talk with the young eagle. “You are not a chicken,” he said. “You are an eagle.
You are not supposed to hop around on the ground looking for bugs. This is not your life. You are meant to fly in the heavens and ride the wind.”
These words opened the little eagle’s eyes to who he really was and gave him the desire to join his new friend above the clouds. He spread his wings and, after a few attempts to lift off, flew to the nearest tree. With each try he flew farther
and higher; before long, he mounted up with the wind and disappeared into the vastness and freedom of the sky.
This story illustrates how we as believers are meant to live up to our God-given potential. It also teaches us that the foundation for our behavior and success comes from our understanding of who we are in Christ.
Jesus is our forerunner and our example.
How did He build a strong foundation of who He was? When we look at Scripture, we see that it was no easy road for Him. Throughout His ministry, Jesus faced temptations from Satan,severe accusations from His enemies, attacks on His life,
slander from religious leaders, blasphemy charges from the Pharisees, concerns about His sanity from His family and desertions from His followers.
He was 100 percent human, but without sin. Any one of these things could have plunged Him into deep emotional turmoil, severe doubts about His messiahship and questions about whether He had correctly interpreted the Scriptures regarding His mission on earth.
Yet the Gospels show us that Jesus never had an identity crisis. On the contrary, He knew—absolutely and without a doubt—who He was. No matter what happened to Him and around Him, His understanding of Himself never changed.
He told the Jews: “For I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. . . . For I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me”
(John 8:14, 42).
And without hesitation Jesus said of Himself: “I am the bread of life. . . . I am the light of the world. . . . I am the good shepherd. . . . I am the resurrection and the life. . . . I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me”
(John 6:35, 8:12, 10:11, 11:25, 14:6).
Both Jesus’ intimate relationship with God the Father and His earthly ministry were rooted in His complete understanding of His identity. It became the unshakable foundation for the course of His life on earth.This foundation gave Jesus immense strength to face His problems and battles.
In the midst of severe temptations in the wilderness, Jesus could have accepted Satan’s offers to turn stones into bread, jump from the tower and worship him to acquire all the kingdoms of the earth without going to the cross. Yet Jesus refused—because He knew who He was.
No matter what Jesus faced, He lived by what He knew about Himself, not by what others thought or said about Him. As the Son of God, Jesus subjected Himself to the Father in all things. That’s why He was always seeking His Father’s will and consulting with Him about His mission on earth instead of listening to the expert advice of those
around Him.
He said: “I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. . . . For I always do those things that please Him” (John 8:28–29).
No matter what Jesus faced, He lived by what He knew about Himself,not by what others thought about Him.The Jews were constantly after Jesus to figure out whether He was their awaited Messiah. They tested Him with questions, looked for signs, and compared Him and His ministry with their expectations.
Jesus found His identity in Scripture and always directed these people to the Scriptures and the prophecies that spoke of Him. He first established His identity in His hometown of Nazareth when He preached in the synagogue there. He read the passage in Isaiah that described the Messiah’s ministry:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hasanointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hassent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim libertyto the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptableyear of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19).
Then He said to His audience, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21).
As we, too, believe and understand our position in Christ, it will revolutionize our thinking, our walk with God and our service to Him. Like Him, we must go to the Word of God and find our identity in what it says about us.And when we face our battles, the knowledge of who we are will fill us with tremendous strength and the assurance that
as sons and daughters of the Living God, we indeed will be more than overcomers.
Take courage: Stand in the truth of who you are.
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The greatest gift you can give to anyone is the giving of yourself. Jesus gives this truth a new level of meaning in the institution of the Eucharist during the last supper. He offers himself completely, for all people for all time.
God is not bound by time and space, and our celebration of the Mass brings the sacrifice of Jesus to the present time. When we receive the body of Christ in Communion, we are united in an intimate way with Jesus, with one another, and with all the believers.
Let us pray...
Jesus Teacher Friend, and Savior, Thank you for sharing yourself in the Eucharist we will soon partake of.Before I finish, I just want to share with you a short story about faith.
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A short Story of Faith...
WHAT A GREAT STORY OF FAITH!!!!!! Phillippians4:13
This dog was born on Christmas Eve in the year 2002. He was born with 2 legs
He of course could not walk when he was born. Even his mother did not want him.
his owner also did not think that he could survive and he was thinking of 'putting him to sleep'.
But then, his present owner, Jude Stringfellow, met him and wanted to take care of him.
She became determined to teach and train this little dog to walk by himself.
She named him 'Faith'.
In the beginning, she put Faith on a surfboard to let him feel the movement..
Later she used peanut butter on a spoon as a lure and reward for him for standing up and jumping around.
Even the other dog at home encouraged him to walk..
Amazingly, only after 6 months, like a miracle, Faith learned to balance on his hind legs and to jump to move forward.
After further training in the snow, he could now walk like a human being.
Faith loves to walk around now.
No matter where he goes, he attracts people to him.
He is fast becoming famous on the international scene and has appeared on various newspapers and TV shows.
There is now a book entitled 'With a Little Faith' being published about him.
He was even considered to appear in one of Harry Potter movies.
His present owner Jude Stringfellew has given up her teaching post and plans to take him around the world to preach that even without a perfect body, one can have a perfect soul'.
In life there are always undesirable things, so in order to feel better you just need to look at life from another direction.
I hope this message will bring fresh new ways of thinking to everyone and that everyone will appreciate and be thankful for each beautiful day.
Faith is the continual demonstration of the strength and wonder of life.
Rev. Dr. Shane K. Andersen DD (Hon)
Email: omcsydney@gmail.com www.omcsydney.multiply.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/shane.andersen1 Ph: +61-2-9680-0575
P.O. Box 181,Ermington, Sydney, N.S.W. Australia 1700