Our Easter services at JBC we’re incredible, and to me obviously blessed by God. The worship, the seven baptisms, the amazing special music, and the gospel presentation were a result of five days of praying with 2,500 people/hours of pray! The response from people both regulars and visitors at the Easter services was that it was the best Easter service that they had ever experienced because of the strong sense of God’s presence. I believe that we will continue to see results from the “Five Day Prayer Event” for months to come. When God’s people pray together with unity, with focus on God’s will of reaching the lost, with passion, and sacrifice He works powerfully. God’s will is that we pray, not token, convenient, comfortable praying, but with, well, just like the Five Days of Prayer!

Philippians 2:5-8
Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

1. Jesus before His conception in the womb of Mary existed in the “form” of God.

2. Jesus before His conception was equal to God the Father.

3. As a result of His conception and birth Jesus took the “form” of man and was made in the likeness of men.

2 John 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.

4. It appears that acknowledging and believing that Jesus came in the flesh is an essential part of the gospel.

Luke 24:36-43 While they were telling these things, He Himself stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be to you.” But they were startled and frightened and thought that they were seeing a spirit. And He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. While they still could not believe it because of their joy and amazement, He said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave Him a piece of a broiled fish; and He took it and ate it before them.

5. The body that Jesus had after He rose from the dead was flesh and bones.

6. Jesus ate food with his post-resurrection physical body.

7. The post-resurrection body of Jesus, though it was physical with flesh and blood that ate real food, and that the disciples could touch, was also “glorified,” “supernatural,” in that He just “appeared” to the disciples out of thin air as it were.

1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

8. It appears that the “form” that Jesus was made into was permanent, He did not go back to his previous “form” that He existed in.

9. When we as believers in Christ are resurrected we will receive a body like Jesus has now.

10. Jesus chose to become like us in “form” so that we could become like Him in character, so that He can enjoy us and we can enjoy him for all eternity.

(I am going to preach on “Attentiveness” this Wednesday night at our regular service at JBC that starts at 6:30 pm. )

1 Peter 5:8
Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

“Be on the alert,” is a command that very few believers obey, or even work on. Our ability to live our life based on invisible truths is low. The devil and his demons are a very real force in our life, but because we can’t see them we rarely think about them. I hear people make comments about the devil working in their life, and they are almost always referring to difficult circumstances. It isn’t difficult circumstances and trials that are the problem in successfully living life but how we think about them.

1 Timothy 4:1 But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons,

“Paying attention to deceitful spirits.” If I pay attention to an advertisement on television that is attempting to talk me into buying a new car, I very likely will buy it. “Paying attention to” is “listening attentively to,” and allowing the information I hear to influence my choices.

2 Corinthians 11:3
But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

The devil’s goal is to control our thinking. How we think determines how we live. The devil tempted Jesus by talking to Him, and he does the same with us. He talks to us and we hear him in our thoughts. Those thoughts, if we pay attention to them will negatively influence our life.

Attentiveness is being quick to identify thoughts that pop into our mind that are most likely from the devil via one of his demons, and then countering that thought with a truth from the Bible. Those who infrequently read the Bible or memorize it won’t stand a chance in resisting the devil.

On good Friday, the words of Jesus on the cross are often highlighted. One of the phrases was to one of the thieves that were crucified with Jesus.

Luke 23:43
And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Paradise was not heaven, it was the place of the saved or righteous dead. Until Jesus rose from the dead no one was in heaven because sin had not yet been paid for. Paradise was in the center of the earth and was in the same proximity as hell though they were separated.

Luke 16:23-24
In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’

The rich man was in hades or hell, and Lazarus was in Abraham’s bosom or paradise. They could see each other and they could hear each other.

In the Old Testament, Samuel the prophet had died and Saul was frightened about an upcoming war with the Philistines so he hired a witch to see if she could talk to Samuel and ask him some questions. When Samuel appeared to her he came up from the earth.

1 Samuel 28:13-14
The king said to her, “Do not be afraid; but what do you see?” And the woman said to Saul, “I see a divine being coming up out of the earth.” He said to her, “What is his form?” And she said, “An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe.” And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and did homage.

When Jesus rose from the dead He led all those who were in paradise into heaven as a big parade.

Ephesians 4:8
Therefore it says, when He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives,

When Jesus died on the cross he went to the center of the earth and when He rose from the dead He entered heaven.

Ephesians 4:9-10
(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)

Matthew 12:40
for just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Now, because of our faith in what Jesus did and who he is we go directly to heaven when we die.

I have been having so many negative thoughts about going down and praying at the church during this “Five Days of Prayer.” I have felt terrible since day one of the prayer event, my muscles are killing me, I have had a constant upset stomach, my head aches, and I am exhausted. Sitting here tonight thoughts popped into my head nonstop about sleeping in and skipping prayer tomorrow morning, because after all I had already prayed 33 hours.

After I got over my pitty party which no one came to but me, I thought, this must be a really important prayer time, I can’t think of any prayer event in the past that I have struggled with going to as much as this one.

So, being the competitor that I am, there was no way I am going to let the devil push me around and win this fight. One more day, let’s end it with a bang!

There are so many people in our church who don’t participate in these prayer events. I know that there are legitimate reasons for some, but most I am thinking are like those Paul told Timothy about,”they are being held captive by the evil one to do his will instead of God’s.” Sad that Christians don’t have enough commitment to break free from the control of satan in their lives. I guess I shouldn’t be to critical, I came close to being one of those that the devil controlled.

It is amazing how much better I feel now after writing this.

Of all the things that we have to deal with in life I think physical pain is the most difficult for me. Not low-grade pain, but the kind that makes you wince and groan involuntarily. Of late my Parkinson’s seems to be getting worse, and I have been having increasing pain in my muscles when I move. The pain ranges from feeling like an electric shock, to being stabbed with a knife, to a cramp. It moves around but so far nothing below the knee or below my elbow. I have really never had real intense pain before, at least not that I remember, so I am learning how to manage it without turning into a whining wimp.

A major blessing is that I have zero pain while riding my stationary bicycle or when sitting in my hot tub. My hot tub is my go-to therapy when I wake up in the middle of the night with pain in my legs or arms. I am looking forward to my two month, 4,000 mile bicycle trip that we start in just over a week because when I ride my real bicycle for ten hours a day my Parkinson’s doesn’t bother me at all.

Pain has a way of wearing me out, and making me tired even though I may not have done anything. But it is mostly mental fatigue so a key to managing the consequences of the disease is to manage my thoughts. I do this by setting my mind on some physical activity that I am involved with and doing it in my imagination. It doesn’t produce the results of actually doing the activity, but close.

We all have blind spots, sin habits, and addictions in our life. They are extremely hard to get victory over, and most people just live with them creating so much heart ache in their life and relationships because of it.

The best way to get victory over entrenched sin habits and blind spots is to have good people in your life who will hold you accountable and reprove you for your lifestyle and decisions. In fact those who are humble enough to receive correction from wise people in their life will grow amazingly fast.

The problem is that most people are to proud, defensive, stupid to receive any kind of advice, correction or reproof, so they grow very little in character most of their adult life. The Bible has a word for those people.

Proverbs 15:5 he who regards reproof is sensible.

Proverbs 1:25 And you neglected all my counsel and did not want my reproof;

Proverbs 1:30 They would not accept my counsel, hey spurned all my reproof.

Proverbs 5:12 And you say, “How I have hated instruction! and my heart spurned reproof!

Proverbs 10:17 He is on the path of life who heeds instruction, but he who ignores reproof goes astray.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

Proverbs 15:31-32 He whose ear listens to the life-giving reproof will dwell among the wise. He who neglects discipline despises himself,
but he who listens to reproof acquires understanding.

This weekend was super full and busy. Friday I attended and taught a 15 minute devotional at Jim Lee’s graveside service, Saturday I preached at the “Memorial Service”for Jim at 11:00 am, then I taught my “Leadership Class” at 5:30 pm, and preached at the Saturday evening service at 7:00 pm. Sunday morning I taught my “Ladies Leadership Class” at 8:00 am, then preached at the 9:00 am worship service, next I taught my parenting class, then I preached again at the 11:30 am worship service, then my 1:00 pm “Men’s Leadership Class, then at 3:00 pm I taught my “Leadership Class II” class, and then we had a Church Elder’s meeting at 5:00 pm. And then I went home and played pinochle with my brother, his wife, and Patty until 9:00 pm and ate Rocky Road ice cream between games. Today we started our “Five Day Prayer” event so I was up at 4:00 am and prayed from 5:00 to 10:00 am. Then I went out to lunch with a friend, then I had a short appointment with another friend, and now I am home writing this blog and writing fast so I might have a 20-minute nap before I head back to the church for the evening prayer time from 5:00 to 10:00 pm

I lot of people complain about busy, but I like busy. There are several reason why I like busy.

1. I am busy with things that matter, that positively influence and impact other people.

2. I thank the Lord constantly for the tremendous and incredible privilege of serving Him. No one does anything significant for God unless He gives them the opportunity, takes them off the bench and puts them in the game as it were. I certainly don’t want to think or talk negative about such an awesome privilege.

3. At 73 years of age I probably don’t have a lot of time left to earn rewards from the Lord when I stand before Him at the ”Judgment Seat of Christ,” at the end of my life, so I appreciate very much the opportunities given to me to earn more eternal rewards.

4. Whenever I start feeling a little bit tired I pray and ask God to give me His strength to serve Him well. He loves to give His supernatural power to those who ask and ask a lot, that’s me.

5. I take little 15 minute breaks to sit and rest all through the day when it is possible to do so.

6. Tuesday and Wednesday I was at Klamath Falls shooting my Savage .17 caliber HMR rifle, at Belgium ground squirrels, known as sage rats, that were destroying an alfalfa field. I shot 900 bullets in two days, and thinned them out considerably. So when I started into this busy four days, my emotional gas tank was clear full.

7. I faithfully read the Bible every day for 30 minutes and also spend 30 minutes talking to the Lord in prayer. I ride my stationary bicycle for an hour every day, read 20 pages in a good book, listen to a great motivational speaker on a podcast while riding my bike, I spend 30 minutes memorizing and medtating on scripture, I write my blog, and I end the day spending a few minutes reviewing the day, examining my life and confessing all known sin to God. Those daily disciplines keep my soul healthy, and healthy souls enjoy life, whatever it might be.

There is a lot in the news about the war in Ukrain, but a more important war is the one that will be fought in the prayer room at JBC in the next five days. We will be praying for the next five days for ten hours each day for the souls of people who don’t know Jesus as their savior and are destined to spend eternity in the Lake of Fire with the devil in eternal torment. The war will be a spiritual one fought in the heavenlies all around us by the angels of God and the demons of Satan. The prayers of believers are what prompt God to commission His angels and it is also the source of their energy. So when we pray God commissions angels to fight and they are given energy as it were to successfully overcome the demonic enemy.

People are blinded by demons so that they can’t understand the truth of the Gospel. When we pray God delivers them and they are able to hear and understand the truth of God.

Come and join us in our prayer room.

When I was ten years old my Dad who was in the Navy for 20 years got stationed on Midway Island. He was also in the Naval battle of Midway during the Second World War on an aircraft carrier. Midway is a small Island, about 600 acres, the weather was warm, the water was warm, and because of the reef that went around the island there were only very small waves so swimming in the ocean was like swimming in a heated swimming pool. The depth of the water stayed relatively shallow for a long way out because of the reef. There was lots of different kinds of beautiful plants and trees and literally thousands of different types of birds, with the gooney bird being the biggest and most famous. There was about 100 people on the island with only about a dozen kids. There were no cars except a firetruck, an ambulance, and a car for the senior officer. Everybody road bicycles but the island was so small you could walk anywhere in 30 minutes or less. I would get up most mornings before school and walk around the island looking for Japanese fishing balls. They were round heavy glass balls, about the size of a basketball, that Japanese fishermen blew for floats for their fishing nets. They would break free of the nets, and because Midway was in the middle of the Japaneses current they would often end up on Midway’s beach. Midway was a ten-year-old boy’s dream place to live.

Dad left about three months before we did because they hadn’t yet finished the family housing. Mom took us to the Library and we checked out a bunch of books about Midway. As I read all the books and looked at the pictures of Midway I thought of “Swiss Family Robinson,” a book I had recently read, and got so excited about going, I could hardly stand it. It was like a dream and I got very envious of my Dad because he was already there. He wrote lots of letters describing the island, and he made it sound more wonderful than the books I was reading.

The day came for us to leave and I was so excited. On the first leg of the flight to Honolulu I got very airsick. So when we took off for Midway Mom loaded me up with some kind of motion sickness medicine. I promptly fell dead asleep and didn’t wake up until the plane landed. I remember waking up and looking out the window and yelling “we are here, we are here, we are here!”

So, that has become my description of death, “it is like falling asleep on an airplane and waking up in the most beautiful place ever.” We read all about heaven in the Bible, no death, no sickness, no politics, no war, no sin, a body that is better than superman’s, a mind smarter than the most intelligent person on earth, nobody feels anger, or jealous, or resentment, gets hurt feelings. But we have never been there so we get nervous about the unknown. We all have family and friends that are already there but they haven’t sent us any letters. We tend to think that those who die before the age of 99 have been shortchanged by God which is a totally stupid way to think in light of what heaven is like compared to here.

Death is like falling asleep on an airplane and waking up in the most beautiful place imaginable. I am looking forward to my airplane flight with great anticipation.