LESSONS FROM THE CHICKEN PEN

TEXT: Matt 23:37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"

INTRODUCTION:

A. THE LORD CARES ABOUT US
1. The Lord's care is compared to that of a Mother hen for her young chicks when they are
in danger.
2. Chickens are not very smart.
3. Some will go hide under the mother's wings and others will not.
4. Lost people are not very smart either.
5. Some will go hide under the shadow of the Almighty, and others will not
6. Psalms 36:7 How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men
put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

B. CHICKENS
   1. A chicken is a farm bird raised primarily for eggs and meat
   2. I have heard that all Preachers love to eat chicken.
   3. They say it is because a rooster "told on" Simon Peter, and preachers have been trying
    to get even ever since.
   4. Preachers are such famous chicken eaters, that it is said that a Preacher's belt is nothing
    but a leather fence around a chicken grave yard.
   5. Doug Jones said he knew at an early age that he was called to preach because he had a
    taste for chicken.

C. LESSONS FROM THE CHICKEN PEN
1. We raised chickens when I was growing up.
2. You can learn a lot about people by watching the chicken pen.

I. CHICKENS ARE FORMED DIFFERENTLY

1Cor 4:7 For who maketh thee to differ from another?

A. THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHICKENS
1. There are over 50 different standard breeds of Chickens.
2. There are Rhode Island Reds, Black Minorcas, White Plymouth Rocks, Barred Plymouth
    Rocks, Silver-gray Dorkings, White Wyandottes, White Leghorns, Bannies, and many more...
3. We raised White Plymouth Rocks (White Rocks) and White Leghorns.
4. There are also many different types of sinners.
    a) tall sinners or short sinners.
    b) skinny sinners or fat sinners
    c) rich sinners or poor sinners
    d) red, brown, yellow, black, or white sinners

B. DIFFERENT TYPES BUT SAME IN NATURE
1. I wanted to eat a banny rooster because I wanted to know what he would taste like.
2. I found out, it's all JUST CHICKEN once it's in the DUMPLINGS.
3. All chickens taste the same.
4. Before God, all people are the same.
5. We are all just SINNERS (Rom. 3:23 "All have sinned...")

II. CHICKENS "FOLLOW THE CROWD"

Matt 15:14 "...if the blind lead the blind, both... fall into the ditch."

A. CHICKENS FOLLOW MOTION
1. If a chicken sees another chicken running across the yard, he will go follow him.
2. He thinks that chicken must know something he doesn't, so he follows.
3. People will follow someone with zeal and energy, regardless of where he is headed.
4. That's why people followed Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Sun Moon and David Koresh.
5. Some people will follow anyone who is moving.

B. CHICKENS FOLLOW THE MAJORITY
1. If a chicken sees a bunch of chickens go a certain direction, he will go follow them.
2. My grampa had two or three pet chickens that he would hand feed. He never would
    eat them. We have the girl's pictures with one of his pet chickens. When he would come
    out in the yard, they would come running to him. Then the ones he wanted to butcher
    were easy prey.
3. The rest of those chickens thought this little group knew something they didn't know. So
    they would run to go follow the crowd.
4. People are JUST LIKE CHICKENS in this ASPECT.
5. They will follow the crowd.
6. That's why you hear such commercials as:
    a) "MOST dentists prefer..."
    b) "MOST doctors recommend..."
    c) "MOST people are using..."
7. Christians should follow the BOOK, not the CROWD! (Can I have an Amen?)
8. Matt 7:13-14
    13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that
    leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
    14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." (NIV)

III. CHICKENS FIGHT OVER THINGS

Ecc 6:7 All the labour of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled.

A. THEY FIGHT OVER FOOD
1. If a grasshopper accidentally jumps into a pen of hungry chickens, they are liable to kill
2 or 3 chickens trying to get to that grasshopper.
2. They will jerk it right out of each other's mouths.
3. They will jump up and peck each other on the head and sometimes in the eye.
4. If one of them ever draws blood, the others will peck at the blood until the chicken dies.

B. THEY FIGHT OVER SHINY THINGS
1. Some chickens will fight over anything.
2. You can throw something shiny in the pen and they will all run and fight over it until they've
all had a taste to see that it's not edible.
3. If one wants it, they all want it. They can walk over it all day and then one decide he wants
it and they all want it.

C. PEOPLE FIGHT OVER FOOD
1. People have to have food, and some compete with others for it.
2. It's awful, the way some people carry on in the woods when more than one person has
shot a deer or an elk.
3. They will kill each other over a piece of meat.

D. PEOPLE FIGHT OVER SHINY THINGS
1. It's obvious that people fight over money
2. But have you noticed how they also fight over baseball cards, football cards, and many
other things
3. As long as nobody wanted baseball cards, they were simply trash
4. When somebody started collecting them, the cards became valuable
5. Now people will fight and steal for a little card with a picture on it.

IV. CHICKENS FRIGHTEN EASILY

Pv 28:1 The wicked flee when no man pursueth...

A. "CHICKEN" MEANS "COWARD"
1. Look it up in the DICTIONARY
2. One definition of a chicken is a coward.

B. CHICKENS ARE AFRAID OF OTHER CHICKENS
1. They will run from each other.
2. If there is an old rooster that is rather agressive, he can chase the rest of the chickens
all over the chicken pen if he has a mind to.
3. Some PENTECOSTALS are afraid of other people.
4. That's why they never witness or tell anybody about Jesus.
5. They are afraid of people.

C. CHICKENS ARE AFRAID OF CHALLENGES
1. Most chickens will never even TRY to fly over the fence.
2. We would clip their wings with scissors if we caught them outside the fence, but we
    didn't have to clip all the chickens.
3. Flying over the fence was TOO BIG A CHALLENGE for most of them.
4. Some PENTECOSTALS are like chickens in this ASPECT:
    a) Joining a CHURCH is too big a challenge for some. YOU CHICKEN! (smile)
    b) Getting water BAPTIZED is too big a challenge for some
    c) Giving TITHES and offerings is too big a challenge for some.
    d) Giving up BAD HABITS is too big a challenge for some

V. CHICKENS FIND THINGS IN THE DIRT

Pv. 16:27 "An ungodly man diggeth up evil..."

A. CHICKENS ALWAYS LOOK IN THE DIRT
1. They are always scratching around in the dirt.
2. They are looking for a tasty morsel.
3. They may find an unfortunate roach or grub worm
4. If they do, they have a small feast on him and they all come running to get a piece of him.

B. PEOPLE ARE LIKE CHICKENS IN THIS RESPECT
1. They love dirt
2. They're just like a bunch of old hens scratching around trying to find something in the dirt
3. Trying to dig up some evil on someone.
4. Once they find some gossip about some unfortunate soul, they all want a piece of it.
5. They stretch it all out and embellish it.
6. Then they fight over it.
7. They fight over who first told it, over who first knew about it, over who told the truth
and who didn't... Just like a bunch of old hens.

VI. CHICKENS ARE HELPLESS AGAINST PREDATORS

1 Pet 5:8 "...your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:"(KJV)

A. ONE DOG CAN KILL EVERY CHICKEN IN THE PEN
1. We had a little red dachsund that got in the chicken pen once.
2. His name was Shorty.
3. He seemed like a rather helpless little dog.
4. The toy poodle down the street had almost killed him once.
5. But, shorty got in the chicken pen and killed over 20 chickens before we caught him and
    got him out.
6. He wasn't killing them because he was hungry, he was just killing them for fun or for sport,
    and the CHICKENS WERE HELPLESS!
7. He just mauled them until they quit moving and then grabbed another.
8. Sometimes the devil comes in the church like a dog in the hen-house.
9. He spiritually mauls people in broad daylight through some misguided soul who is always
    wanting to stand up in church and tell everyone what a rotten church or what a rotten pastor
    they have.

B. A COON IN THE CHICKEN PEN IS HARD TO DETECT
1. A coon will sneak in and take one chicken and leave.
2. Then he will come back another night and take another.
3. Later, the same coon will come back for another chicken.
4. He kills them off one at a time and no one will notice if they aren't paying attention.
5. Sometimes the devil comes in the church like a coon.
6. He takes one Christian one day and another some other day.
7. The devil is sometimes slow and methodical in his attempts to destroy the church.
8. One person gets discoruaged, and later another one gets discouraged.
9. He takes them one at a time and will continue as long as no one is paying attention.

C. A WEASEL WILL KILL THE WHOLE ROOST IN THE DARK
1. A WEASEL can come into a hen house and kill one chicken after another and they will
never move off of their roost.
2. A weasel is so sly he can kill a chicken without the one sitting next to it even knowing.
3. The devil sometimes uses a gossip to come to sneak around in the dark and kill a whole
church one at a time.
4. A tale-bearer is sly and makes people think he is their friend when he is actually destroying them.

VII. CHICKENS ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FRUITFUL

Rom 7:4 "Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should BRING FORTH FRUIT UNTO GOD.

A. CHICKENS ARE EGG BEARERS
1. The best egg-laying breed of chicken is the Leghorn.
2. A good leghorn will lay an egg a day for up to 260 days and then they will molt for about
2 months. Some will even lay an egg every 2 or 3 days while they are molting.
3. The Minorca breed has won many contests for the LARGEST eggs.
4. Christians are supposed to bear fruit.
5. Some Christians bear more fruit than others.

B. WHAT DO THEY CALL THE ONES THAT DON'T LAY EGGS?
1. Chickens that don't lay eggs are called "FRYERS"
2. Another way to put it is, They are called "LUNCH"
3. If it doesn't lay eggs, it's only good in the DUMPLINGS or in the FRYING PAN.
4. If it doesn't lay eggs, it's not worth what it cost to feed it.
5. How about you?
6. Are you worth what the Lord is feeding you?

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