Ep 94: Empty Feeders

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What can an empty bird feeder
teach us about consistency in

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soul winning?
We'll talk about that in just a

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SEC.
Welcome to the show.

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I'm Daniel Dalp and this is for
your Sunday morning drive.

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The short podcast with the goal
of providing some motivation,

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Dr. and encouragement on your
way to worship and helping you

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recenter your mind on those
spiritual things on a hectic

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Sunday morning.
I hope you're having a good one.

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I hope the snowpocalypse of 2026
hasn't taken too much of A toll

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on you.
And regardless of if you're or

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hunkered down in your homes or
you're on your way to worship

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this morning, I'm thankful that
you're listening.

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If you have a moment, I would
love it if you would share us

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with a friend.
That's the best way to help any

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podcast grow.
And man, I'd love to have as

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many of you riding along with us
as we can.

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Well, let's go ahead and get the
show on the road today.

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This is episode 94, Empty
feeders.

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Let's go to church.
Are we there yet?

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I have a confession to make.
As many of you know, I delight

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in watching the birds in my
backyard at all times of the

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year, but especially in the
winter.

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Well, I've really neglected my
feeders over the last few

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months.
I've just gotten real busy and

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life has been kind of heavy.
And honestly, with everything

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going on, it seemed more like a
chore and a burden than

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something I really enjoyed
doing.

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So I just moved it on down to
the bottom of my priority list,

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you know, down next to those
things that don't really matter.

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So I left them empty.
But with all the recent winter

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weather and Snowpocalypse 2026
on the way, several weeks back I

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started filling them again and I
noticed something interesting.

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The feeders were full.
They were in their usual spots,

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they had good seed in them, but
there was not a bird to be seen

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even on one of the coldest days
we've had this winter.

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Not so much as a Sparrow, not a
nothing zilch.

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And it took several days before
I saw the first feathered

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visitor returning to my yard.
And even after a week or two,

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I'm still not seeing the birds
show up in the same numbers and

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varieties that I did last
winter.

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So I asked myself, what changed.
It wasn't the birds, and it

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wasn't due to migration.
It wasn't the quality of the

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seed.
It wasn't the location of the

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feeders, and it wasn't even the
weather.

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It was the lack of consistency.
You see, I had let those feeders

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sit empty and unattended for so
long that the birds no longer

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expected to be fed.
They no longer knew where to go

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for food.
And when the promise of a good

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meal is taken away, the birds
will find it somewhere else and

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they'll just stop coming.
Now, sitting on that realization

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for the last week or so, I
couldn't help but notice the

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spiritual application.
Are we empty feeders?

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You see so often we sit around
in our church buildings or stand

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behind our pulpits looking out
at the lost and we say things

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like oh people just don't want
to study the Bible anymore or no

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one wants to come to church
anymore.

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When at the very most we are
content to stay in our church

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buildings and stand behind our
pulpits.

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Well Jesus tells us this in Mark
1615.

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He says, go into all the world
and preach the gospel to all

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creations creation.
Now partner that with what Paul

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says in Romans 10/14 through 17.
How then are they to call on him

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in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in

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him whom they have not heard?
And how are they to hear without

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a preacher, but how are they to
preach unless they are sent just

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as it is written?
How beautiful are the feet of

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those who bring the good news of
good things.

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However, they did not all heed
the good news for Isaiah says

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Lord, who has believed our
report.

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So faith comes from hearing and
hearing by the word of Christ.

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All of this going and preaching
and teaching, it's pretty

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active.
And it seems to me that maybe it

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implies that the burden to make
sure the lost in our

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communities, nowhere to be
spiritually fed is on the

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faithful, not on the faithless.
That maybe it isn't good enough

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to put up a church building or
put up a sign or to even hire a

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new preacher, but that we must
all be out there scattering sea

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consistently because it's all
about consistency.

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If we've stopped feeding those
around us with the word of God,

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we're hiding the feeder.
At the very least, we're leaving

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it empty.
Don't hide the feeder, don't

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hide that light under a bushel,
so to speak, because if we do,

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we might contribute to spiritual
starvation.

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Paul has this charge concerning
consistency and spreading the

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gospel in Second Timothy, 4/2
through 5.

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Preach the word, Be ready in
season and out of season,

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correct rebuke and exhort with
great patience and instruction.

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For the time will come when they
will not tolerate sound

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doctrine, but wanting to have
their ears tickled, they will

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accumulate for themselves
teachers in accordance with

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their own desires, and they will
turn their ears away from the

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truth and will turn aside to
myth.

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But As for you, use self
restraint in all things, endure

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hardship, do the work of an
evangelist and fulfill your

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ministry.
You see, those are words that we

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can all take to heart.
We often blame the lost for not

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hearing a gospel that we refuse
to preach.

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And friend, that's an awful lot
like being upset with a bird for

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not coming to eat from an empty
feeder.

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And when that feeder's empty
long enough, they'll find food

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somewhere else.
So we have to ask ourselves, are

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we consistently teaching the
gospel or are we just

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consistently empty?
Well, those are my thoughts for

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your Sunday morning drive.
Now it's time to hear yours.

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Our discussion questions for
this week are, do we

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consistently share the word of
God with others?

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If not, what's holding us back
and what can we do this week to

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make sure those around us are
spiritually fed?

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Hey, thank you for listening.
Thank you for being a part of

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the show and sharing it with
others.

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I hope you are safe and warm
this week, and I hope it's a

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good one.
Thanks for listening and I'll

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see you Sunday.