Participants: Pr. Doug Batchelor
Series Code: EG
Program Code: EG002720
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00:09 It's been 2000 years since the glorious light of the cross
00:12 illuminated a world veiled in darkness and confusion about 00:15 the character of God. And still today the greatest need of 00:19 mankind is a revelation of God's love as revealed in the life of 00:23 Christ. Amazing Facts presents the Everlasting Gospel with 00:26 Pastor Doug Batchelor coming to you each week from Sacramento 00:30 Central Church in sunny California. Discover hidden 00:34 treasures in God's word today. 00:37 I want to welcome our visitors this morning. We're very 00:41 thankful that you have come to worship with us at Central 00:46 Church whether you're here visiting family or on a 00:48 pilgrimage from some other country. We're just delighted 00:52 to see each of your here. Earlier in this week, it's 00:57 typically my custom once a week I do the worship at Amazing 01:02 Facts and it's just supposed to be 10-15 minutes, a little 01:06 devotional and in preparing for a brief worship I saw the 01:10 scripture that we considered during our scripture reading 01:14 this morning. Wasn't that fun to see that dear little girl having 01:19 to stand on a pedestal to open her Bible, talking about ants 01:24 from Proverbs and so I began this little worship at Amazing 01:29 Facts. In preparing for that there was so much information 01:34 there I was absolutely floored with the diversity of the ants 01:39 and how complex they are and the very fact that they don't have a 01:44 leader. The more I thought about it and the more I studied I 01:48 thought this is a whole sermon. Well you know I did a sermon 01:51 once just on lions became they are in the Bible and I did a 01:55 sermon on snakes. I don't know how well that went over with the 01:59 ladies. I did a sermon on bees, eagles and I thought I've never 02:02 done a sermon on ants. Now there may be some of you who are 02:06 thinking right now, Pastor Doug, I dressed up before I came this 02:12 morning and this is a holy place Do we really need to talk about 02:17 bugs? Well the Bible does. You'll have to take that up with 02:21 the Lord. God has asked us at least two different places in 02:25 the scriptures to consider ants. And so I took God at his word 02:31 and I did a study on ants. And I think it's going to be very 02:35 edifying for us this morning as we direct our attention to some 02:40 very interesting creatures in our world that God tells us we 02:44 can learn something through. So I'd like to invite you to 02:48 consider the ant, if you will, and there's a lot we can learn. 02:54 Ants are amazing, absolutely amazing. For one thing just in 03:00 the Amazon jungle they figure that 15% of the biomass of all 03:05 living creatures are ants. In other words, if you were take 03:10 all the animals that live in the whole Amazon basin and weigh 03:14 them, 15% of the weight of all the animals there would be just 03:19 ants. They're all the way across the world from the tip of South 03:24 America up to Alaska and just about everything in between. 03:28 You can go to deserts, you can go to mountain tops, you can go 03:32 to tundra; you will find ants. You find them in virtually every 03:37 color. Ants come in green, red, brown, black, white, yellow, 03:45 blue, purple and pink. Kind of like people. Some colonies of 03:50 ants like one they have on the coast of Japan are reported to 03:59 have an incredible 180 million queens and 306 billion workers 04:05 that are in 45 interconnected nests. Just in doing a little 04:11 more research this morning on ants, they said they've now 04:16 discovered networks of colonies that are many miles wide under 04:22 some cities. Some of you remember in Arizona a few years 04:26 ago they developed this green house. They called it Biosphere 04:31 Two. I used it a couple of times as amazing facts for one of our 04:36 evangelistic meetings. Some millionaire donated this money 04:39 to develop this Biosphere and they filled it with all these 04:42 different parts of the world. they had one that was supposed 04:45 to be like the rain forest in one section of this great big 04:48 self-contained greenhouse was to be like a desert and one was 04:52 supposed to be like a savannah and a forest and they put these 04:56 eight biospherians, sort of like Noah's ark, in here. They were 05:01 supposed to live entirely on the environment for I think two 05:06 years. And within a few months everything began to die. All of 05:10 the vegetation, the fruits they were supposed to farm and just 05:13 live off everything that was inside this self-contained unit. 05:16 They bribed some of the observers on the outside to 05:18 smuggle pizza inside. They all began to fight among themselves. 05:21 The whole thing just was total disaster. They all came out long 05:25 before their first few months went by and they found out that 05:30 the only thing that thrived in there were ants and cockroaches. 05:35 Everything else died. And someone speculated that if the 05:39 world was to ever end in some nuclear holocaust ants would 05:42 rule the world. Comforting thought. So some advice. 05:47 Make friends now with the ants. There's a lot we can learn from 05:55 them and I'll share a little more trivia as we go on. 05:58 For one thing, I think everybody knows they're very industrious. 06:01 They work hard. They carry on very complex social 06:06 organizations, building projects communications. Now in most 06:10 animals when there are groups of animals, someone in the group 06:14 is the leader. You get a pack of dogs, you've got the alpha dog. 06:18 You get a group of horses, a herd of stallions and you've got 06:22 one the leads the herd. Even among cows they've got the 06:25 matriarch and among elephants they've got the leader. But ants 06:28 accomplish so much and you say well don't they have a queen? 06:32 Yeah, but she never gives any orders. She just lays eggs. 06:36 There's nobody, unlike some cartoons and things that have 06:39 depicted like there are captains and sergeants and all. No. They 06:43 all seem to know what their job is. And this has been one of the 06:47 big conundrums for evolutionists There is no logical way to 06:52 explain how ants would ever evolve with every one of them 06:58 needing the other. Their very complex structure, it all had to 07:02 happen at the same time because they all have different roles. 07:06 Very industrious creatures. Matter of fact, another 07:09 conundrum for the evolutionist is the fossils that they have 07:13 found of ancient ants that date back to some of the earliest 07:18 dinosaurs that are supposed to be 200 million years old are 07:23 identical to ants today. They don't know why haven't they 07:27 changed in all that time. Well of course, their dating method 07:32 is all wrong. Again our verse, Proverbs chapter 6 verses 6-8: 07:36 Ants are not lazy. Go to the ant you sluggard. You know what a 07:39 sluggard is. That's the old English word for someone who's 07:43 sluggish and slow and lazy. Consider her ways and be wise. 07:59 And we'll talk about some of that in our study. They are hard 08:03 workers and there's something we can learn from them. Ants are 08:06 not lazy. They work and they don't let some others take up 08:10 the slack while they drag their feet. They're all going full 08:14 bore all the time when they're working. Proverbs 13 verse 4: 08:18 The soul of a lazy man desires and has nothing but the soul 08:22 of the diligent shall be rich. We should be diligent like ants 08:26 and industrious in serving God as well as in our regular 08:31 occupation. Oh, by the way, they say that ants are probably the 08:34 most intelligent of the insects. They actually have a brain. 08:37 Many insects they can't find anything in them that even 08:40 resembles a brain. Ants have this little organ that's kind of 08:44 mushroom shaped and when they began to examine it they said it 08:48 has the same material from which human brains are made. And so 08:51 believe it or not, they do have an element of intelligence 08:55 which is something to consider. Something else about ants that 08:58 I think we could learn from. In spite of the fact that you 09:03 think they're icky bugs, they are actually very clean. Ants 09:07 are some of the great cleaners of the world. Not only do they 09:11 spend a lot of time grooming and cleaning each other to keep 09:14 their bodies completely disinfected, but ants also... 09:18 You can drop something on the trail. Pastor Mike reminded me 09:21 of when he was in Central America, he'd see these trails 09:23 running through the jungle. I actually put one up on the 09:27 screen there that I found on line. That's not a path. You've 09:30 got to go back to the other picture, there Cheryl, the 09:33 previous picture. You'll see that path there. That's not a 09:35 human path. That is a path that is made by either parasol, leaf 09:39 cutter, army ants or something, but they have some ants, their 09:42 whole job is just to keep the road clear. They're road workers 09:45 And you go out and you drop a piece of debris in their path 09:48 and sure enough they all get it and they throw it out of the 09:51 path. Some of you have seen ant hills and they've got their own 09:54 little junk yard. You know after they get done having their 09:57 little feast you'll see all the little grasshopper wings and 10:01 debris and stuff. They pile it neatly outside the den and they 10:05 clean each other up. Matter of fact, ants of so clean, 10:09 scientists are trying to learn what the chemical mechanism is 10:15 but ants actually spray a disinfectant on themselves and 10:21 the food that they bring down in the den because if some 10:24 disease... This might be why those ants thrived in that 10:28 biosphere when everything else got sick and died. If ants get 10:30 some bacteria and they bring it into the colony they know it'll 10:33 spread and kill everybody. So they keep themselves clean to 10:39 avoid being contagious. Ants to a great extent clean the world. 10:43 You'd be surprised all around the world ants are cleaning. If 10:47 you were to add up all the people in the world and put them 10:51 on a scale, and get all the ants in the world and put them on a 10:53 scale the ants would weigh more than the people. You and I make 10:58 a lot more mess than ants do. Ants are cleaning the world all 11:02 the time from debris. Now Christians can learn something 11:06 from that. God's commanded us in his word that we should be 11:11 clean. Isaiah chapter 1 verses 16 and 17: Wash yourselves clean. Put away the 11:16 evil from your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil 11:20 learn to do good. Like the ants we should spray ourselves with 11:25 the antibiotic of Jesus' blood and be clean. Amen? Something 11:31 else I thought was interesting as I began to study ants. They 11:36 have interesting, complimentary, considerate relationships in 11:41 God's world in a number of ways and I'll just tell you about a 11:44 few of them right now. There are ants, for instance, when they 11:48 live in a tree, they take care of the tree. Like they might 11:51 live in a acacia tree. This is a picture where you can see 11:54 a little ant holding this acacia tree or this vine and they clean 11:58 the tree. The tree provides food for them. They protect it from 12:03 other bugs, but they will not bother the bees that come to 12:06 the tree to pollinate the tree. They know what animals and 12:10 caterpillars to keep away from eating it that will harm their 12:13 home but they take care of it. There are ants that live in 12:17 birds' nests that will protect the birds and their chicks. 12:21 They live in the nest. The ants inhabit it. Matter of fact, in 12:25 some cases the next is the ant colony and they have this 12:30 symbiotic relationship. They'll clean the birds' home and all 12:32 and all over the birds but they won't bite them. All through 12:35 nature they've got a lot of this very interesting symbiotic 12:38 relationships where they protect and they care for. In other 12:42 words, there's a loyalty there that you can expect. You know 12:46 ants typically will not bite you. If you're just standing 12:50 somewhere and an ant walks along and he runs into your foot they 12:53 won't bite you. It's when you get close to their house and you 12:55 start creating problems for their environment. That's when 12:59 they're more of a threat. Ants farm. You know in the Bible 13:03 Christians are told to farm too aren't we? It's amazing. I mean 13:06 they really farm. There are some ants in Texas for instance that 13:10 have fields that are one or two square yards around their nest. 13:14 They collect rice from other places, the grain. They plant 13:19 the rice. They keep the rice cleared. They keep away the 13:23 other bugs. They let it grow. They cut it down and they 13:27 harvest it just like farmers. They put the seeds in the 13:30 ground. They wait. They know when to put them in the ground 13:33 when it's watering. They know how to weed around it to keep 13:36 everything out of the rice except the rice and then they 13:39 bring the grain back in and save it for the winter. By the way, 13:44 we've been invited to farm. II Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 13:49 Paul says: By this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap 13:54 sparingly and he who sows bountifully will reap 13:57 bountifully. You know, Christians are compared to 14:01 farmers. Jesus said the Bible is like gospel seed and we are to 14:05 spread it, we are to cultivate it, we're to harvest it. 14:09 One sows, one reaps. Our food, our bread of life, is the word 14:14 of God. Some of you have heard of leaf cutter ants. How many of 14:17 you have heard of leaf cutter ants? These are very interesting 14:21 If you've been down to Central and South America in the jungle 14:24 have any of you seen them in the wild? It's really interesting. 14:27 They are found in many parts of the world, mostly in the 14:29 tropical regions. These ants can totally strip a large tree of 14:35 most of its leaves in one day. Their jaws, their mandibles, 14:40 are made like scissors that overlap. They've got a zinc 14:45 coating so they don't wear out. Their heads vibrate. They make 14:49 this resonating high-pitched sound with their heads so their 14:52 heads are vibrating. Do any of you remember those knives that 14:55 you could turn on the electric know for carving the turkey or 14:58 whatever. It was actually serrated and vibrating and they 15:01 found it cut much faster that way. So here their heads are 15:05 vibrating while their cutting through these leaves with these 15:08 mandibles that are sharp and serrated with zinc on them to 15:11 keep them sharp. And just think it only took 50 million years 15:16 for that to evolve that way; an electric knife. And so they 15:19 are constantly cutting these pieces of leaves. But then they 15:22 take the leaves after they cut them. They bring them down. 15:26 They carry them and it's really something. Sometimes you'll see 15:29 them cut flowers and you'll see a whole trail of moving petals. 15:33 Sometimes they're called parasol ants instead of leaf cutter ants 15:36 because they always carry them over their heads. And there's a 15:39 couple reasons for that. One reason is it's probably easier. 15:44 The other reason is there are wasps that like to eat them and 15:47 they try to use it to try to fan the wasps away if they come 15:50 after them because they can't protect themselves when they've 15:53 got this piece of leaf or this rose petal in their mandibles 15:57 and their mandible is the only way they can use their pincher 15:59 to protect themselves. Matter of fact, one group of leaf cutter 16:02 ants... Can you tell I'm excited about this? I've enjoyed 16:05 this study. It's increased my faith. There's one group, they 16:08 actually take a hitchhiker on the leaf with them, another ant, 16:12 that is there to ride shotgun. And so every ant is not only 16:16 carrying a leaf, he's carrying a buddy. Did I mention they can 16:19 carry 20 times their own weight? Some ants more. They're very 16:23 strong. And so they carry these leaves back down into their den. 16:26 They don't eat the leaves. They put the leaves way down in the 16:30 den. They have another group of ants, much smaller, they chew 16:33 them up into a very small pulp and in one day... Oh they 16:37 disinfect every leaf they bring down with this disinfectant they 16:41 spray on them. In one day those leaves that are chewed into a 16:44 pulp begin to grow a fungus. Have you ever seen mushrooms 16:47 grow overnight? Just in one day they make a fungus. They make a 16:51 bread out of it. They dry it, they store it and then they eat 16:54 that. Then they take out the debris after they've made their 16:57 bread and they bring in new leaves. They constantly have 17:00 this factory down there where they are growing, or farming, 17:04 this fungus. They call them fungus gardens that they have 17:09 down there. Isn't that appetizing? Potluck next week. 17:15 You know it says in Proverbs, I told you there are a couple 17:20 of scriptures that talk about ants. Proverbs 30 verses 24, 25: 17:40 They are a very amazing, strong people. It's interesting that he 17:45 calls them a people. You know not only do they farm, they 17:49 bake. Ants actually bake. There is another group of ants, 17:52 Mediterranean ants. They will go out and they will gather grain. 17:57 They plant the grain. Catch this. This is really amazing. 18:01 The grain sprouts. As soon as it sprouts they grab it. 18:04 It's because it softens the seed as soon as it breaks the 18:07 sprout. They cut off the sprout. They bring it back down to their 18:11 den. They've got these workers and they're only job is they 18:15 take their big mandibles. They mash this stuff up and they make 18:18 a dough out of it. Then another group of ants make it into 18:21 cookies. They actually shape it into little bitty anty 18:23 cookies. They then bring it back out of the den. On a hot day 18:27 they set them out in the sun. They bake their cookies. Then 18:31 once they're dry they bring them back down again and they store 18:33 them and they eat them through the winter. They eat cookies all 18:36 winter long. Isn't that amazing? And they're so different. 18:40 Not only that there are some ants that are called honey pot 18:44 ants. Have any of you ever heard of honey pot ants? Look at that. 18:48 That is the ant's abdomen. That almost looks edible. 18:52 You've heard of people eating ants before. Have any of you 18:56 ever eaten ants? Accidentally. My brother and I one day, I 19:01 remember, Tujunga, California, vividly still one of my memories 19:04 earliest memories. Sitting out in my grandma's pool. Sometimes 19:07 she'd give us ice cream on a hot day. We're sitting out there in 19:10 the back yard and my brother told me, you know Dougy, there's 19:13 some people that eat chocolate covered ants in Paris. He was 19:16 older than me. He used to make fun of me. I said really. 19:20 He said yah, put some in your ice cream. So I trusted my 19:25 brother. I don't remember any ill effects. I felt sorry for 19:30 them swimming around in the melting ice cream in my bowl 19:33 and I put a bunch of ants in there and I ate them. Yah. 19:36 I mean if you don't feel sorry for them what a way to go. 19:40 Drown in ice cream, that can't be that bad. But these ants are 19:44 really interesting. What they do they're not born like that 19:47 obviously. None of us are born like that but some of us get 19:51 that way. What happens is these ants, after they're born, they 19:56 are fed a lot of nectar by the other ants with an objective and 20:00 then they hang themselves from the ceiling. Go to the next 20:03 picture. Then they suspend themselves all winter long. 20:06 When the other ants get hungry they come along and they just 20:09 sort of tickle them with their antlers, what do they call those 20:12 things, they antennae and they then excrete some of the honey 20:17 that they've stored. So they're feeding them and nourishing them 20:21 and they give it back. You know one of the things that excited 20:24 me about ants, there's a lot we can learn about ants. They don't 20:29 think about themselves. They are very selfless. It's not about 20:34 any one individual, it's all about the whole colony. And you 20:38 know church is something like that in that you and I are all 20:43 just different parts of the body of Christ. I might be the pastor 20:48 but really I'm just doing my part I am called to do. I'm no 20:52 more important than any other part of the body. We are all 20:56 parts of the body and God's given us different gifts. 20:58 And the big thing is that we are here to represent Christ in the 21:02 world. Sometimes everybody's so interested in what is in the 21:06 church for me, what can I get out of the church, what can they 21:10 do for me. You're not thinking like an ant. You didn't know you 21:14 were supposed to. But the Bible says we should consider it. 21:19 They're wise. It's not all about one individual. Something else 21:23 about ants I thought was interesting. Oh we'll talk about 21:27 the honeypot ants how generous they are. They store for others. 21:31 Let me give you a few verses on that. Let each of you look out 21:35 not only for his own interests but the interests of others. 21:38 Isn't that the Christian spirit? It's not just all about me. 21:42 It's about us. I'll remind you in the Lord's Prayer you know 21:45 you don't find the word I anywhere. It's lead us, deliver 21:49 us, give us, feed us. We should all be thinking more as a body. 21:55 Amen? Ephesians chapter 4 verse Let him who stole steel no 22:00 longer but rather let him labor for what purpose? Working with 22:04 his hands what is good that he might have something to give. 22:08 It's not just about getting as Christians. We're working so we 22:12 we can give to others. Matter of fact, Paul, when addressing the 22:16 wealthy in the church, he said you should be ready to give, 22:19 willing to share. It's this idea about feeding others. We should 22:23 all be honey pots, right? Be willing to store that we may 22:26 give to others. By the way, that was I Timothy 6:18. I heard a 22:31 story one time about a man who had a dream and he was taken 22:36 and given a glimpse of heaven and hell. And at first glimpse 22:42 he saw that in heaven there was a banquet table spread will all 22:47 of the most wonderful delicacies and people sitting at the table. 22:51 Then we was taken down and he saw in hell there was a banquet 22:55 table spread with all of the very same delicacies. People 22:59 were dressed the same sitting at the same kind of table. And he 23:02 turned to his angel. He said I don't understand. He says they 23:05 have got the banquet and the feast in heaven and they've got 23:07 the banquet and feast in hell. And the angel said look closer. 23:10 And he looked closer and it didn't look like the people in 23:13 hell were very happy but the people in heaven were very happy 23:16 and he couldn't understand. And the angel said look closer. 23:19 And he looked closer and he could see that people all had 23:24 these three-foot chop sticks taped to their hands and in hell 23:28 they were all miserable sitting at the table and starving 23:32 because they could not get the food to their mouths with these 23:35 three-foot chop sticks taped to their hands. In heaven everybody 23:38 was happy because they were feeding each other. They'd take 23:42 the food and they'd feed someone else and someone would feed them 23:45 And you know this is kind of the way it should be for the 23:49 Christian church. If we're all preoccupied with bearing one 23:54 another's burdens and, by the way ants are good burden bearers 23:58 aren't they? Bearing one another's burdens, making sure 24:01 the others are fed and loving each other. You know I think 24:05 before Jesus comes back the church is going to return to the 24:09 place that's described in Acts where it says no man said that 24:14 ought that he had was his own but every man gave and 24:17 sacrificed that others might be cared for. That we're all so 24:21 preoccupied about giving to each other that you wouldn't 24:24 have the selfishness and the squabbling that is so often seen 24:29 today. Something about ants that I thought was fascinating. 24:33 Christians should be good shepherds. Jesus talks about 24:36 hireling shepherds that don't really care about the sheep. 24:40 Do you know ants are shepherds? Ants have domestic livestock. 24:45 Yes they do. Many different kinds of ants do this. One of 24:49 the cases of this is a lot of the ants take care of aphids. 24:53 How many of you have heard this before? They have little bitty 24:56 aphids and they take the aphids and they put them on the tree 25:00 or the plan that happens to be where their home is and they 25:03 move them from place to place so these aphids can lock into 25:06 the plant and they drink sap from the plant and then when the 25:09 ant gets hungry it comes along and it sort of milks the aphid. 25:12 Except the aphid doesn't have an udder. I won't tell you how he 25:15 gets the milk. But he strokes them and the aphid gives him a 25:18 little bit of nectar. So they take care of these aphids. 25:21 They move them and when the plant starts drying out in a 25:24 certain spot, they pick them up and they carry them off to 25:28 another plant and they do this again. And they watch over them 25:32 and they vigorously protect their little bugs that they take 25:36 care of and their bugs like them evidently. There's not been an 25:39 interview yet but eventually I'm sure someone will figure out a 25:42 way. They carry them around, they protect them, they feed 25:45 them. Matter of fact, they'll even make, yah, so that next 25:49 picture. I thought that was a beautiful photograph. See the 25:53 little ant take care of all his little bugs. They've got these 25:58 other ants called herdsmen ants. When they drain the resources 26:02 in this one location, the herdsmen ants go pick up their 26:04 their little baby bugs. They'll take them to another tree. 26:07 They'll set them down. They even build barns for them to 26:10 protect them. It's just amazing. They're good shepherds. Here's 26:14 another one of all the big ants taking care of their little 26:18 domestic livestock. Those are called shoot bugs. Now I don't 26:21 know what they are. They're just some little bugs that they take 26:25 care of, they feed them, they guard them and protect them. 26:28 And they milk them every now and then. They don't eat them. They 26:33 protect them. The Bible says that we are to be shepherds and 26:37 to be good shepherds. Jesus said I am the good Shepherd and he 26:40 appoints us as under shepherds. What did Jesus say before he 26:44 ascended to heaven to Peter? If you love me, feed my sheep. 26:47 Right? We should take care. Jesus said, I am the good 26:50 shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep but 26:54 a hireling is he who is not the shepherd, one who doesn't own 26:57 the sheep. He sees the wolf coming and he leaves the sheep 27:00 and he flees. And the wolf catches the sheep and scatters 27:03 them. The hireling flees because he's a hireling and he doesn't 27:07 care about the sheep. We ought to be jealous for and care about 27:11 each other's welfare. We ought to protect one another. One of 27:16 the great challenges when you have a larger church like this 27:20 is to make sure that people don't slip between the cracks, 27:23 that folks are cared for. It's so easy for people to miss a few 27:28 weeks and then you forget about them and the wolves come in and 27:32 get them. And so what you need in a church is the pastors need 27:35 under shepherds who will also care about the sheep and who are 27:39 watching out for each other and making sure that the sheep are 27:44 prospering and that they are being fed. Something else about 27:49 ants that I thought was fascinating. Ants are good 27:52 soldiers. You've all heard about army ants and the idea of army 27:57 ants strikes terror into a lot of people, but you've got to 28:02 respect them because they are very dependable soldiers. 28:06 Not just the army ants but in almost every ant colony they 28:10 have some that are the soldiers that protect. Sometimes they 28:15 will be 400 times bigger than the other ants. For instance, 28:20 in a leaf cutter colony of ants they've got these soldier ants, 28:25 the guard ants and they are hundreds times bigger than the 28:29 itty bitty ants that are on the inside that are mashing up the 28:33 leaves and they are there as guards to protect the trails and 28:37 to protect the den and they are very tenacious. They'll lay down 28:41 their lives to protect the other ants. Something else about army 28:46 I thought was interesting. Army ants don't really have a nest. 28:51 They have what they call a bivouac. They don't dig a hole 28:53 in the ground, they don't dig a hole in the tree. What they do 28:58 is they are pilgrims. When they travel from place to place they 29:02 carry their babies with them, they carry their queen with them 29:07 and they're pilgrims. They're on a journey. They'll bivouac 29:11 somewhere for a few days and they'll go on raids and they'll 29:14 clean up everything in the jungle that's in their way. 29:17 Pastor Mike was telling me in Central America if army ants 29:19 came through your house you had to move out for a little while, 29:22 but he said it was great. When you came back in there wasn't 29:24 a mosquito, there wasn't a lizard, there wasn't a cockroach 29:28 He said everything was totally cleaned up. Then they go back 29:31 to their bivouac. When they move you can see army ants when 29:34 they're moving their bivouac they've got their queen and 29:36 there's 50 of them carrying their queen and there she is 29:39 laying eggs along the way and they're carrying their babies 29:43 on the nest and they're carrying all of their supplies. I don't 29:47 know what they have, pots and pans and things, but they live 29:50 like pilgrims. You know the Bible tells us that we're 29:53 something like that. Hebrews chapter 11 verse 13: These all 29:58 died and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims 30:02 in the world. Like army ants, we should be brave and we should 30:06 also recognize that we're just here for a little while. 30:09 II Timothy 2 verses 3 and 4, Paul says we're soldiers. 30:14 Now, therefore, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus 30:18 Christ. No man who wars, we're involved in a war here in this 30:22 world, entangles himself with the affairs of this life. 30:25 Army ants, they don't put their roots down because they're 30:29 living a war. We don't become entangled with this world. 30:33 We are pilgrims. We're on our way somewhere else. No good 30:37 soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he 30:42 might please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. Army ants 30:47 are also fearless. It would be good for us to live without fear 30:51 I thought this was a great picture. Here you've got one ant 30:57 taking on a snake. If anybody threatens the colony they'll lay 31:03 down their lives to defend it. Absolutely fearless and 31:09 courageous. It reminds me of that passage in Deuteronomy 20 31:13 verse 8. When the Israelite army was about to go into battle 31:17 Moses had instructed the priests to gather the soldiers together 31:20 and one of the first things the priests were supposed to say, 31:23 there's only one time in the Bible it's recorded they did 31:26 this and that during the time of Gideon. The priest was to say, 31:29 if there's anyone among you soldiers who is fearful and 31:33 faint-hearted, go home, because your fear will be contagious 31:37 among the troops and you cannot be faint-hearted when you're 31:40 charging into battle. You must have courage in your heart. 31:44 God's people must be without fear. How many times did Jesus 31:48 say don't fear? The world's already afraid. We shouldn't be 31:51 afraid. People will be attracted to a place where we've got 31:55 courage in our hearts. Joshua going into the Promised Land 31:58 over and over he said be courageous, be courageous, be 32:02 very courageous. So we can learn something from ants. They're not 32:08 afraid. They work together, they cooperate doing their different 32:14 responsibilities. Romans chapter 12 verses 4-6. You know I 32:19 thought that this was interesting. How many of you 32:22 have seen a variety of different ways where ants have some big 32:25 obstacle and they manage to move something no one of them could 32:28 ever move, but they move... Have you ever heard the 32:30 expression, ants can eat an elephant one bite at a time? 32:34 Have you heard that expression before? I mean, it's amazing how 32:37 much they do when they work together. They can just move 32:40 tremendous things. Ants, by undermining something, have 32:44 moved giant boulders just by digging under them. Little by 32:47 little this whole bolder starts to roll and it's because ants 32:50 are digging under it and undermining it. They accomplish 32:52 great things by working together We should be working together. 32:57 I started reading this verse. Romans 12 verses 4-6: For as we 33:02 are many members in one body and all members don't have the 33:07 same office, so we being many are one in Christ and every one 33:12 member is a member of one another having gifts differing 33:16 according to the grace that is given to us. One of the things 33:19 that impressed me as I was preparing and studying about 33:23 ants, it's almost like every ant in the colony with his little 33:29 bitty brain is one cell in a big collective brain. I mean it's 33:34 the closest thing you've ever seen to communicating 33:40 psychically with others without speaking. It's like bees when 33:44 they find honey they'll come back and they do this dance 33:47 to show where the honey is and they've figured out how these 33:50 bees communicate location with a dance. Have you heard about 33:54 that? They can't figure out how the ants manage to communicate 33:57 with each other but somehow it's almost like they've got 34:00 telepathy where their brain cell is connected with the combined 34:04 brain cells forming one brain of the colony and they all know 34:07 what to do and their jobs to get it right. They know right where 34:12 to put their pebble when they carry it. Wouldn't it be nice if 34:16 the church was like all collectively the brain of Jesus? 34:19 We all had collectively the mind of Christ and we're all doing 34:24 our part, our role, in the body and showing the world what the 34:28 body of Jesus is like. I Corinthians 12 verse 4. 34:32 Do you know what your place is in the body of Christ? If you 34:36 are a Christian, if you are in the church, you have a job. 34:42 Maybe pastors are just longing for you and the elders to let 34:47 them know that you want to help, that you've got a spiritual gift 34:50 waiting to be activated and you've just been kind of coming 34:53 saying well it's nice to be saved and come to church and 34:56 have a church and I grew up in this church. But you're not part 34:58 of the body, you're not doing anything. You want to make a 35:02 good ant. Don't mean to insult you but every ant's busy doing 35:06 something for the colony. Every Christian ought to be using 35:10 their gift in some capacity for the body. Now some of you might 35:15 be thinking, oh Pastor Doug, you know I'm getting up there in 35:19 years and I can't do much physically, I can't sew any more 35:23 Well you be a prayer warrior. Can you think. I mean every body 35:26 if you can pray you can be part of it. Everybody has a role 35:30 that they can use in the body of Christ. It's not good for your 35:33 soul to be sitting on the sidelines. It's a sign of health 35:37 for you to be engaged using whatever gifts Jesus has given 35:41 you. I Corinthians 12 verse 4: There are diversities of gifts, 35:44 but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries but 35:48 the same Lord. There are differences of activities, but 35:51 it's the same God working all in all by the manifestation of the 35:56 Spirit, each one is given for the profit of all. God has given 36:00 you some gift to be used in profiting the body of Christ. 36:04 It's like the parable of the 10 talents. Jesus said that to each 36:09 one of these servants he gave something according to their 36:13 ability. God has given you gifts to be used in his service 36:19 somehow. Have you heard about weaver ants? Weaver ants. 36:25 They've got these ants that live in Australia, we've got some 36:28 friends from Australia here, maybe they have weaver ants 36:31 where they live, I don't know. But these ants actually all work 36:36 together. When they make their nest they grab onto different 36:40 parts of a leaf and little by little they start to pull it 36:43 over. At first they can't reach both ends of the leaf, so they 36:46 grab the legs of the other ant in front of them and they kind 36:48 of make these human chains, except they're not human, they 36:52 are ant chains, and they pull the leaf over and they all pull 36:56 together in the same direction, which is really phenomenal. Then 37:00 what they do is they take the larvae, the little babies, and 37:05 they take them and just at the right moment these babies know, 37:09 I don't know whether the ant is pinching them to make them do 37:13 it, but they start to squirt out a silk and they use this silk 37:17 and they start to sew and weave back and forth on these leaves 37:21 all night long and then it dries and it holds them together. And 37:25 they build these whole big nests by weaving these leaves 37:28 by weaving these leaves together and sewing them together and 37:30 they're stitching it on the inside and they're stitching it 37:33 on the outside and when they're done they're extremely strong. 37:36 And the wind can blow at them. Matter of fact, here's a picture 37:38 of the ants weaving together. Oh you already saw that one. 37:43 Yah, there they are all pulling and stitching together. Weaver 37:48 ants. I thought that was amazing A colony may have 150 nests on 37:53 20 trees over a span of 600 yards and sometimes they use 37:57 them to protect the trees. They'll run off beetles and 38:00 birds. Well you know Christians are supposed to be sewing a 38:07 tapestry of love, helping others find the robe of Christ's 38:13 righteousness. Have you ever heard of trap jaw ants? Another 38:18 ant called trap jaw. I know that looks pretty scary. Listen to 38:23 this. Keep that picture on the screen for just a second. Trap 38:28 jaw ants close their mandibles at a speed of 145 miles/hour. 38:34 Researchers say, listen to this, it is the fastest self-powered 38:40 predatory strike in the world. The average duration of the 38:45 strike is a mere 0.13 milliseconds. That's a 38:51 thousandth of a second. It's the fastest snap of anything in the 38:58 animal kingdom. Matter of fact, I've heard that some doctors use 39:06 some ant heads and their mandibles as stitches. Have you 39:11 heard of that before? Yah, that's right. They found that 39:15 they'll take the heads of these ants and there may be a human 39:20 wound and you can pinch together with your fingers this cut. You 39:23 take the ant, you press his head there and he will bite and pinch 39:27 it together and then you twist it. It will break off and he 39:30 won't let go. And they leave them there until they basically 39:32 dry up and fall of naturally and you never need to remove them. 39:36 And I guess that they're sterile as I said. So we'll try this out 39:41 after church if anyone wants to volunteer. I wasn't sure exactly 39:47 how to apply that about the trap jaw ants mouth's closing so 39:52 quickly. But maybe there's something we could learn about 39:55 closing our mouths sooner than we normally do. I don't know. 39:59 It's just I wanted you to know that amazing fact. Ants protect 40:04 their own. They are very loyal to their colony. If some outside 40:09 force whether it's another bug or animal or ant comes to 40:14 invade, they will lay down their lives to protect their own. 40:20 Matter of fact, all ants in a colony are brethren. Talk about 40:25 incest. Every ant, technically they're all sisters, did you 40:30 you know that? The queen ant when they start a new colony 40:34 there are a few male eggs that are laid and hatch and all their 40:38 job is they mate with the queen. Once that happens they 40:42 die and they're gone forever. Then every other egg she will 40:46 lay, and she may lay a million eggs in her life. A queen could 40:51 live 15-20 years. One queen at minimum is 5 years and they 40:56 spend all their time taking care of her so that she'll keep 41:01 producing eggs. One of their big missions is to take care of that 41:04 queen because if the queen doesn't make it the colony is 41:07 doomed. She's sort of like evangelism for the church. 41:10 I mean if we're constantly spreading the gospel, it saves 41:13 us, it saves others and that's got to be our goal. Oh back to 41:17 the brethren. So every other egg she lays is a female and they're 41:21 all sisters. Well every illustration could fall apart at 41:25 some point but you know I like this. Have you been to churches 41:28 before where everybody says brother this and sister that and 41:31 it's like they're all family. It's not so much anymore. 41:36 But the little church I first got baptized into everybody 41:40 talked to someone else and they said brother so-and-so, sister 41:43 so-and-so. And when our kids would talk to the others in the 41:46 church we would say this is Aunt Linda, this is Uncle Joe and to 41:49 this very day even some of our kids that are in their 30s, they 41:53 still call our friends back in Covelo aunt and uncle because 41:57 they just had that family feel. Wouldn't that be nice. The ants 42:01 they're all sisters, they're all brethren you might say. 42:04 We should really look at each other as brothers and sisters. 42:08 We're a family, right? That doesn't mean you're not allowed 42:11 to fight so don't get discouraged. Families fight so 42:13 you can still fight but you're still family, right? You were 42:17 starting to worry. All brethren and they protect each other. 42:21 They bear one another's burdens. Romans 12:15: Rejoice with those 42:26 who rejoice, weep with those who weep. They're community minded. 42:32 That's what I got out of this study that I thought was so 42:36 helpful. You know another part was encouraging to me was 42:39 they care tenaciously for their young. Ants when threatened the 42:47 first thing they will do is they will run to the nursery. 42:49 If there's a threat from flood, if there's a threat from fire, 42:54 if there's some problem they have a mechanism that triggers 42:59 and they run to the nursery and they begin got collect the eggs 43:03 and you'll see them begin to pour out of the nursery to 43:06 protect the eggs. They're very tenderly carrying the eggs from 43:09 the queen after they're laid. They put them in the nursery. 43:12 They roll them. They keep them the right temperature to make 43:15 sure they're going to grow and when they get the place where 43:18 the little larvae are going to shed their shell, they're there 43:22 to help them to unpack and to unfold and they care for them 43:26 so tenderly. They know that if they don't take care of the 43:29 young the future of the colony is doomed. I was listening to 43:32 the announcement that Alberta was sharing with her husband 43:36 earlier about the school and caring for the young and if we 43:39 don't rightly train the young now and the church is just a 43:44 slow death is all we're going to see. I saw a church service, 43:47 large church, on TV this morning Won't say where it was. Matter 43:51 of fact, I don't know where it was. And while I was dressing 43:54 I was watching the service somewhere and they took an 43:56 audience shot and quite frankly it was just a lot of senior 44:02 citizens. And I thought oops. If you don't have some young 44:06 families, if you don't have some children that are getting 44:09 involved and being kept active. And you know from the time an 44:13 ant is born and it crawls out of it's little shell, it goes to 44:17 work doing something. That's why you saw today we got little 44:20 kids up here participating in the service. They're helping 44:23 with the music. You've got to get them involved in the work of 44:27 Christ right from the beginning. I'm not in favor... I think it's 44:31 OK sometimes for the youth and the kids to have a special 44:34 service for them. It's OK to have special things. It's OK to 44:37 have a women's meeting and a men's meeting and stuff, but if 44:41 the women met separately every week we'd have problems wouldn't 44:45 we? If the teenagers and all the kids are relegated during the 44:48 worship service to some other part and they're not part of the 44:51 family you've got a problem there. I don't think that's 44:53 healthy personally. I think that we all need to see ourselves as 44:57 family, study together, worship together and develop these 45:00 habits. When I saw that service today with all those senior 45:04 citizens sitting in the pews together and not a young face 45:08 in their midst, I thought they came from the generation where 45:11 coming to church was a commitment. You did it no 45:14 matter what and they have that commitment. We need to raise up 45:17 another generation that has that kind of commitment and watch 45:21 out for our young. Say amen. Watch out for the youth. 45:28 Ants are sacrificial and by the way this is my last point. 45:35 Ants are sacrificial. I mean what chance does an ant... I 45:39 got this one picture I didn't think it would bother you too 45:43 much to see an ant biting down on someone's finger nail. 45:47 But an ant will take on a giant if it means he needs to lay down 45:52 his life to save the colony, they do it. You've probably seen 45:56 ants getting to the place where there's some chasm that they 45:59 can't cross or some height that they can't reach and they join 46:04 all their bodies together and make a bridge and some of them 46:07 will basically donate themselves They'll say I'll just stay here 46:11 and hang on as long as I can and you walk across me. They create 46:15 a bridge and all the other ants pass over. What's really amazing 46:18 is when you seeing them develop a ladder like the picture on the 46:22 right there. They go up and they lift each other up and everyone 46:25 climbs up on them. We want to do that, don't we friends. 46:29 We want to offer ourselves as a bridge that others might cross. 46:32 You know, Jesus came to be a bridge between heaven and earth. 46:36 The cross is the ladder between heaven and earth. Jesus said to 46:40 Nathaniel, hereafter you will see the angels of God ascending 46:44 and descending on the Son of Man Jesus provided that link between 46:48 earth and heaven. We've been separated by our sin. And ants 46:52 do that. They say, I'll be a bridge, walk on me. Wouldn't it 46:55 be nice if every Christian had that attitude, I'm going to be 46:59 meek. I'm going to be spent by God. Use me, Lord, to help 47:03 others find their way back to you. Sometimes if there's a 47:07 flood, especially this happens in the Amazon basin and the ants 47:12 are at risk of drowning, they'll ball themselves together and 47:16 here's a raft of ants that you'll see. They put all the 47:19 babies on top. Remember what I said about taking care of the 47:22 young. They'll all link themselves together. 47:24 They'll say the only way we're getting through this storm is if 47:27 we hook together. Some of them know they're going to be at the 47:30 bottom of the raft and yes ants do drown because they breathe 47:33 through their skin. And they will die clinging together 47:38 sacrificing themselves that those up on the top might live. 47:43 They're extremely sacrificial. You know I think you realize 47:48 that's a principle for Christians in the Bible. 47:50 I remember the prayer of Moses where he said when Israel got 47:55 into trouble, he said Lord yet now if you'll forgive their sin 47:59 but if not I pray blot me out of your book that you've written. 48:04 Paul said something similar in Romans where he said I am 48:08 willing to perish that Israel, my people, might be saved. 48:11 That spirit of sacrifice. It's not about what's in it for me? 48:16 It's about God's glory. And what did Jesus say? Greater love... 48:21 John 15:13: Greater love has no one that this; to lay down his 48:27 life for his friends. You know sometimes in an army a general 48:32 will order a group of reluctant soldiers to their death and they 48:38 will march off on a suicide mission for the sake of others. 48:44 Nobody tells an ant to go off on a suicide mission. They all 48:48 do it on their own. It's built into every one of them to be 48:53 willing to sacrifice their lives I love this verse. Romans 5 48:59 verse 6, Paul said: For when we were yet without strength in due 49:04 time Christ died for the ungodly and then Paul begins to muse in 49:09 his heart and say for scarcely for a righteous man will one die 49:13 yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 49:16 Even in this world occasionally people will lay down their lives 49:19 to save a child or some other good person. But look at the 49:24 amazing love of God. He's inviting us. He says, God 49:26 commended his love towards us in that while we were sinners 49:31 enemies of God, Jesus died for us. He sacrificed his life for 49:36 us even taking a risk that we wouldn't accept it, while we 49:40 were enemies because he loved us that much. Maybe you didn't 49:45 know we could learn so much from little bugs. But I think that 49:49 even as you behold the things that God has made there are 49:54 little stars, there are illuminations, there are little 49:58 sparkling spots that reveal the character of God in the things 50:03 that he's made. Yes, even ants. You can see the goodness of God. 50:07 There are some lessons for the church in cooperation, in love, 50:11 in bearing one another's burdens in sacrifice. You know before I 50:16 run out of time I saw this study that I thought had some... 50:20 Quick outline here. Look at some things that people do and then 50:25 look at what ants do. Livestock farming, ants do that. They herd 50:30 aphids, they milk them for nectar-like food, cultivation, 50:34 ants do that. Growing, underground and above ground, 50:37 gardens for food. Childcare in nurseries, feeding and tending 50:41 young, providing intensive care nursery. Education, teaching 50:45 younger ants the tricks of the trade. Climate control, 50:49 maintaining a strict 77 degrees Fahrenheit for developing ants. 50:54 Career specialization, changing and learning new career. They 50:58 do. Sometimes they'll train and they'll change careers as they 51:03 age. Armed forces, raising an army of specialized soldier ants 51:08 for security. Well that's another thing. Security, 51:10 warding off other ants, insects and mammals. Earth movers, 51:15 moving at least as much soil as earthworms do. Social planning, 51:19 they maintain a ratio of workers soldiers and those who reproduce 51:23 and clean and they just keep things balanced. Engineering, 51:28 they can tunnel from two directions and meet exactly in 51:30 the middle. They know how to build retaining walls, they know 51:34 how to build flood control and they don't have but a brain 51:37 bigger than a fraction of a grain of sand. 51:41 Communications, complete tactile chemical communication system 51:45 and they seem to use telepathy. They still don't know how they 51:50 give information. And they have a limited free will. They have 51:53 interrelationships that are more symbiotic than coercive. They're 51:57 not forced. They seem to choose to sacrifice themselves. They go 52:01 out scouting on their own. They bring back the information. They 52:04 are amazing; the ants are amazing. You know I'm inspired 52:09 by ants. Maybe you think, Doug you're easy. I'm inspired by 52:13 ants. I want to be a better servant. I'm inspired by their 52:17 selflessness. They attitude... Now I'm not teaching communism 52:22 here. I'm teaching Christian body that we would have the 52:26 spirit of it being about the body of Christ, about the church 52:30 and saying Lord how can you use me in your cause? I want to 52:34 serve you. Is that your desire friends? Am I the only one who 52:37 found this was fascinating. If for no other reason I thought 52:41 how could evolution be believed by anybody. There are over 8,000 52:44 different kinds of ants that I've only given you a fraction 52:48 of the diversity and amazing things that they do. But I see 52:52 a picture of God in that. And I see inspiration to be a better 52:56 servant, to be a better part of God's colony called the church. 53:00 Do you share that desire? Would you like to say as we close, 53:04 Lord, that's my plan. Now our closing song is not going to be 53:07 in your hymnal. It'll be on the screen and I think it's a 53:11 familiar song. Oh, you're kidding! I didn't even practice. 53:15 We didn't have the music for this and so... 53:19 I wrote the cords for you. 53:21 All right. I didn't have anything to do with it. 53:26 Did you check to see if it's in tune? All right, let's 53:31 stand together and sing this. It's on the screen. It's a 53:34 simple Gaither chorus. We'll do this a couple of times. 53:38 I will serve thee Because I love thee. 53:48 You have given life to me. 54:00 I was nothing before you found me. 54:07 You have given life to me. 54:16 Heartache, broken pieces, 54:25 ruined lives are why you died on Calvary. 54:36 Your touch was what I longed for You have given life to me. 54:52 Say Amen. How many would like to say Lord by your grace I'd like 54:57 to be a better part of your body bearing the burdens of others, 55:02 be willing to be spent and spend myself for Christ. Is that your 55:07 prayer? Let's ask him right now. Father in heaven, we are so 55:12 thankful for the things that we learn from taking your word 55:17 literally. You've asked us to consider the ant. Well we've 55:21 done that today, Lord, and it's been inspiring as we contemplate 55:27 the incredible, miraculous, power and features the we see in 55:31 this part of your creation. We're also inspired by the way 55:35 they cooperate, the way that they sacrifice, the way that 55:40 they give. Lord I pray that we humans with brains that are 55:44 infinitely greater can model those attributes of Jesus of 55:48 love and sacrifice and work, industry, cleanliness, giving. 55:52 I pray that you'll bless each of us that we can be better parts 55:56 of your body and that you'll give us that selfless, self 56:00 sacrificing spirit, the mind of Christ. Be with us Lord. I pray 56:04 that you will give us wisdom about how to apply these things 56:08 in a practical way in our lives and in our church. We ask in 56:12 Jesus' name. Amen. 56:15 If you've been encouraged by today's message and would like 56:18 to know more of what God's word says to you today, Amazing Facts 56:22 invites you to visit our educational web site at 56:25 www.BibleUniverse.com. At Bible Universe you'll discover 56:29 exciting truths that will fill you with peace and purpose. 56:34 The mysteries of the Bible will unfold for you at your own pace. 56:38 Visit www.BibleUniverse.com today. Expand your universe. 56:44 Amazing Facts ministry has been broadcasting the gospel since 56:49 1966 when it aired it's first radio program in Baltimore, 56:53 Maryland. Elder Joe Cruse was the speaker/director for more 56:58 than 30 years. At that time no one dreamed that Amazing Facts 57:03 would become a multifaceted worldwide ministry. The 57:07 heartbeat of the gospel pulsating from this ministry is 57:10 heard today on radio, television the internet, the correspondence 57:15 Bible school, the publishing ministry and local and worldwide 57:20 evangelism. Pastor Doug Batchelor stepped into 57:23 the leadership of the ministry after Joe Cruse died in 1994. 57:28 Currently Amazing Facts is on more than 100 TV stations and 11 57:32 satellite and cable networks throughout the United States 57:36 Europe, Australia, Central and South America, the Middle East 57:39 and Asia. For more information call 1-900-835-9606. |
Revised 2014-12-17