Hello, this is Ranger Danger Bailey. As we get back into Proclamation Safari Park, this is the third lesson that we did on our Saturday, June the 10th, 2023, the 21st of Savannah, 5783 of the Hebrew calendar from Bethel Crossroads Baptist Church with Pastor Keith Dempsey. Here we see we're located at 450 Iron Hill Road, Taylorsville, Georgia 30178. Now we had a wonderful time In our first one, we talked about lesson one of elephant encounter. Jesus came to rescue the birth of Jesus. And here we realize that we need to accept Jesus as our rescuer, our savior, our shepherd, and our friend. In lesson two, we talked about koala kingdom and how Jesus rescues by example. It was the early life of Jesus as a teenager. and how that we need to follow Jesus' example and respect our parents. And so how that the relationship was not only the elephant, that elephants need help before they become extinct and also that koalas, they need help and how they have a close relationship with their moms as they stay the many months in their mom's pouch. And the most important relationships That we should honor our parents like Jesus honored his parents. But here in lesson three, we deal with the eagle enclosure. How that we follow the rescuer. And so the first followers of Jesus was his disciples. And that'll be out of Matthew chapter four, verses 18 through 22. Our memory verse will be, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Now our guide is that we want every child to learn how important it is to live for Christ, his rescue after salvation. And so we need to be able to follow Jesus. And so our ages again, grades five and six and ages 10 and 11, our focus of our word, lesson one, it dealt with, it dealt with how they are of joy. The second lesson dealt with our focus word of happy. But here in our lesson three, it deals with peace. I made up a word just trying to explain an acronym of peace. When I spelled it, I said, Paul's eat, ask, commune, and examine. Hey, I know it sounds crazy, but I made it up. And I just put some together to spell peace. And you know what? There is a lot of homes in America that they wish they had peace, but they don't have it. Remember what I said. Proclamation Safari Park is about getting in a Jeep and traveling. We get in that Jeep, we're on our way. There's no footwork here. You're in danger if you're out of that Jeep where the animals are. Your best protection is to stay in the Jeep and follow along. And here we're fixing to get in and drive over around where there's some eagles flying around. Eagles can always be found where there's water. And so, We thank God for that Jeep. Now, when we look, believe it or not, at our lesson, our third lesson here about following the rescue, you know what? Fish was a very important part of the diet during the Bible times. Many people make their living fishing on the Sea of Galilee. Now notice, what was the first one? The first one was Bethlehem. What was the second one? Well, It was the temple and it was back in Jerusalem, but people, places, and things. This one is going to be on the Sea of Galilee. All the disciples, every one of them were from Galilee except for Judas. Judas was the only oddball that was not from Galilee. And so the men would go out in their boats, they would let down their nets, they would scatter bait on top of the water to attract the fish, and then they would, wow, They would sling that net out and buddy, they would catch a drought of fish and haul them back into the boat. And it was heavy. It was a tough job. It wasn't like a rod and reel that we have today. Fishermen were strong, hard working men. And so Andrew and his brother Simon Peter and James and his brother John were all fishermen. Let's wet a hook. And so they were all followers of John the Baptist, but John preached about the Messiah, the Savior who would surely come and save the entire world. And these four men believed John's message and they soon met Jesus. One day while the men were fishing, Jesus walked by and he saw Peter and Andrew. And he said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. In Matthew chapter four, verse 19. They immediately left their nets and followed him. He walked down the shore and they saw James and John and he called them. They too immediately followed him. Jesus promised that if we follow him, we will become fishers of men. And to follow him means to obey him. To try to be like him in every way. We want to be like our dads and our moms a lot of times. But you know what? If we do this, it's natural that we tell others Hey, you know what? I like what my dad does. I want to be just like my dad. I want to be just like my mom. Well, we need to follow the rescue. And that is the first swallows of Jesus, the eagle enclosure. And so we'll bring others to him. We'll be fishers of men ourselves. Ethan is the name of the eagle. All the animals have names. Follow Jesus. My rescue, my savior, shepherd and friend, follow the rescuer. Eagles have the ability to find water. And one way that you can find water is by following the eagle. Ethan, Ethan. Eagles can commonly be found around rivers, lakes and streams looking for fish. We need to follow Jesus and be fishers of men, telling people about the great commission of Acts chapter one, verse eight. Seven facts about an eagle. Eagles fly alone at a high altitude. They do not mix with sparrows or other smaller birds like geese, ravens, or pigeons. They stick to eagles. Eagles possess vision. They've got a strong vision, focuses up to five kilometers from the air in detail. They eat only live food, and the eagle is the only bird that loves the storm. They can get up in a storm and sail all over like a boat on the ocean. And it always, an eagle tests before it trusts. They prepare for training. They find a place of renewal. And so we learn how important it is to live for Christ, his rescuer, after salvation. As we see the animal fact that we can always find water when we see eagles, the lakes, the rivers that they do the fishing around. when its new talons grow back because after a while, as eagles get older, they have to bust off their talons and let them grow back. And the eagle starts plucking its old age feathers out because they begin to weigh them down and they're not as good. They need to get rid of some excess stuff. And so after five months, the eagle takes its famous flight of rebirth and it lives for 30 more years. Can you imagine if we could pluck all of our feathers off and bust off these old, of things that we got on us and get 30 more years, we'd do it too, wouldn't we? So why is this change needed? Many times in order to survive, we've got to start a change process. We sometimes need to get rid of the old memories, old habits, and other past traditions. Only freed from past burdens can we take advantage of the present. Eagles fly alone at high altitude. They fly with eagles, never in a flock. They have strong vision. When an eagle sights prey, even a rodent from this distance, he narrows his focus on it, sets out to get it, and no matter the obstacle, the eagle will not move his focus from the prey until he grabs it. Eagles do not eat dead things. He eats only fresh prey. Vultures eat dead animals, not eagles. And the eagle is the only bird that loves the storm, that when they get up in there, they can just soar and fly and use all of that wind and rough air to go and glide and get through all the storms of heights. Eagles always test before they trust. When a female eagle meets a male, and believe me, the female eagle is much, much bigger than the male eagle is. It's right the opposite with them. She flies down to earth with a male pursuing her and she picks a twig. She flies back into the air with a male still pursuing her and once she has reached a height high enough for her, she lets the twig fall to the ground and watches it as it falls and the male chases after the twig. The faster it falls, the faster he chases until he reaches it and has to catch it before it falls to the ground and then bring it back to the female eagle. And the female eagle grabs the twig and flies to a much higher altitude pursued by the male until she perceives it high enough and then drops the twig for the male to chase. This goes on for hours with the height increasing until the female eagle is assured that the male eagle has mastered the art of picking the twig which shows commitment, and then only then will she allow him to mate with her. Eagles prepare for training. When they're about to lay eggs, the female and the male eagle identify a place very high on a cliff where no predators can reach, and the male flies to earth and at first picks thorns, lays them on the crevice of the cliff, and then flies to earth again to collect the twigs which he lays in the intended nest. Then he picks thorns and lays them on the top of the twigs. On them he lays soft grass covering the thorns and then he picks rugs to put on the grass. And when this first layering is complete the male eagle runs back to earth, picks more thorns, grass, rugs, lays him on top of the thorns, then plucks his feathers to complete the nest. And the thorns on the outside of the nest protect it from possible intruders. Both male, female eagles participate in raising the eagle family. The little babies, wow, they are a different color. They're white when they come out. Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Matthew 4, 19. Following Jesus means a life of service. How will you serve Him? It's all about serving our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. People, places, and things. What did I say? This deals with the Sea of Galilee. Now, when you look over to the left, even though that we know the Sea of Galilee is here, in the Sea of Galilee, we see that This boat was found out in the muck and the mud. I took this picture and this picture of how a fishing boat would look during those days. I took these when I was with John Hagee in 2008. Now, we're reminded that the Sea of Galilee, when you follow Jesus, it means ignoring the things of this world and focusing our lives on serving God. And what kind of bait do we use when we go fishing for men? The Word of God. What is your favorite lure? The answers to this question may be varied, but share some great scriptures for soul winning, because everyone should have several of these memorized scriptures. What's the best time to go fishing? For men, every minute of every single day that we are able to do that. And so when I follow Jesus, I serve. And so if you're looking for water, you can find it when you follow an eagle. The scripture of the follow the rescue in lesson 3 of Matthew chapter 4 verses 18 through 22. And Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw two brethren Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother casting an ad into the sea for they were fishers and he said to them follow me and I will make you fishers with me and they straightway left their nets and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, in a ship with Zebedee, their father, mending their nets. And he called them, and they immediately left the ship and followed Jesus. Everyone must decide whether to follow Jesus or make bargains with the devil. How tragic that most of the people who followed him wanted his services, but not his salvation gifts, but not his giver. It's sad. Fish was a very, very important part of the diet during the Bible time periods. Many people made their living fishing on the Sea of Galilee. As we look, I read this earlier, but I just wanted to put it up and pin it up again for you because every one of us, when we look, as we realize that follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. I hope and pray that you youngsters will remember this as you grow older, that you'll never go wrong when you follow Jesus because you need to follow the rescuer. And so here, the list of scripture references tell about following Jesus. We look up the verses and then we draw a line from the reference to the picture of the item mentioned in the verse. Now, I'm not going to read each one of them, I'm just going to tell you which ones connect. In Luke 18.22, we find a treasure. In John 10.4, we find a lamb. In Matthew 9.9, we find a tax collector. In Matthew 4.19, we find a fish. And in Luke 9.43, we see the cross. Here we put a cross next to those things that might be interested in doing for the cause of Christ. Hey, leading others to Christ. Uh-huh. Singing praises to Him. Uh-huh. Writing study materials. Okay. Uh-huh. Preaching His Word. Okay. Christian servant. Uh-huh. Caring for the church, the building, the property. Okay. Yeah. Uh-huh. And so we look and we realize that all of these things can be something that we can put across by playing in the choir. Boy, all of these are great things that every one of us can contribute as our many gifts of being able to work and give back to the cause of Christ. And so, unscramble the phrases, of God's Word teaches to do when we have decided to follow Jesus. Here, accept Jesus as your Savior, be obedient, submit to baptism. Here, we see, be a willing servant, share the gospel, study God's Word, and then when I follow Jesus, I will have in my heart. And so, we continue to go forward because Each one of these, as it says, to follow Jesus means to follow his example in all things. To be saved means to have repented and trusted Jesus as your savior. And then repent to turn away from your sins and turn toward Jesus. We fill in the blanks with our memory verses. And he said in them, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. Before we can follow Jesus, we must know him. We must accept him as our savior. And we must live in our hearts. Here's a list of the things that you must know or do in order to know Jesus. Jesus, as your Savior below, there are numbered verses. Place the number and the verse next to the step that explains it. And so. Six. But we are all as unclean thing, and all our righteous are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. We have no goodness of our own and deserve to go to hell. Two, Jesus paid the price for our sins on the cross. who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed in 1 Peter 2 24. Number four, Jesus is our only hope for our home in heaven. Here we look down at Acts 4 12. Neither is there salvation in any other For there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Then, five, you must repent of your sins. We look down at number five. I tell you nay, but except you repent, you shall all likewise perish in Luke 13, five. Then you must ask God's forgiveness. Number three. in whom ye have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace in Ephesians 1, 7. And lastly, but not least, number one, call on him and accept him into your heart. And verse one, number one, and they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house in Acts 16, 31. Check one of the circles below. This was very personal. This is something that was very personal. They ain't no trying to trick nobody into heaven when it comes to that. That is something that you can get saved at home. You can call and talk to your pastor. You can talk to your mom or your dad and tell them that you feel like you need Jesus in your heart. These are the things that every one of us, that I have accepted Jesus as my savior. I would like to talk to my teacher or another adult about making a decision for Jesus. And I am not ready to make a decision for Jesus. I got to check in every one of them because Whatever your personal preference is, if you want to get the attention of your teacher, you can do so. And if not, you can get the attention of your mom and dad or your brother and your sister, and you can let them know that you're concerned about salvation and you want to be the Jesus to be the keeper of your soul, to step out on faith and to take him at his word and to trust him to be that keeper of your very soul. Again, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men, Matthew 4.19. Here we get ready as we get closer and closer that we, in our third, to follow the rescuer. That he, again, I tell you, I'm like an old-fashioned preacher with you, that I say it in threes and fours, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men in Mark 4.19. of all the beautiful pictures of our eagles, how important it is to live for Christ, his rescuer after salvation. Again, we see the ABCs. And again, I'm slowly gonna put these up to remind you again, to mark these in your Bible. I'm gonna put them up to leave them up longer for you to look at. But then remember, you control this PowerPoint. You can stop it, you can go in and highlight these scriptures of the Roman road in your Bible, and you can be a fisher of men and lead somebody to Jesus, just like every one of us as we follow the rescuer, as we look at the eagle to find the lakes, the water, and the river. In Romans 3.23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. In Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In Romans 5.8, but God committed his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And then Romans 10.9, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. That's how you get saved. Then For whosoever, Romans 10, 13, shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. Remember, you can put your name in the whosoever right there. And you can say, Lord, for my name is John. My name, for John shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. He didn't say you might be. He didn't say you could be. He said, shall be saved. When you step out on faith and take God at his word. Thank you, Heavenly Father. Thank you again for this wonderful blessing of planting seeds. Some's gonna fall on some hard ground. Some will fall on rocky, but there'll be that good soil that the seed will fall on and it will grow and it will be able to produce fruit that we realize that these young kids are our future church and we need to put the importance on them and having our junior church and being able to focus on that time, that Lord, they're not adults and they're not ready to sit in assembly with adults. They need to sit in a setting of the teaching of their caliber, of a junior church setting where they can grow and mature. And eventually, as they come out in the congregation of the body of Christ, that they'll contribute and there'll be a success. because they've come up through the ranks of maturity and got to the age of accountability and asked Jesus Christ to be the keeper of their soul. Thank you for this great honor and privilege in Jesus's marvelous mighty name. Amen. God bless you.