Yesterday was Jefferson Baptist Church’s 50th birthday. We had testimonies from a number of people who had been around for most of those years, pictures and video’s of people, events and building projects over the last 50 years, and cake after each of the three services. It was a very emotional time for me as every picture prompted memories of the past and how God has blessed and worked at JBC since we began with 18 people 50 years ago.

God has worked, guided, and blessed my life in my marriage and family, my health, my home and hobbies, but especially in my years of serving Him as the Pastor of JBC. Way back in 1976, my vision was that we might grow to a church of 100 if I worked hard. It is amazing all that He has done here and even more amazing that I got to be a part of this adventure and journey.

Some of you have been wondering why I haven’t written my blog for a couple of days, now you know. I can’t believe I did that! My insurance doesn’t cover water damage, wow these things are expensive! And besides the cost there is getting all the programs on my old, water logged iPad transferred over to my new one and all the passwords that I have to remember, it is a major pain in the buttocks!

I am in the process of growing in the character trait of patience and self-control, whoooeeeeee! But about the time I was getting really irritated I watched a few minutes of what was happening in Israel and to some of the families there and I thought my, oh my, I am amazingly blessed. Thank You Lord for all of Your blessings to me and my family, and please forgive me for failing to be more grateful for my relatively trouble free life.

The Bible is full of conditional promises. That means that God makes a promise to do something if we first do something. He is rewarding right behavior on our part. All good parents do it, and God is certainly a good Father.

One of these conditional promises is in Psalms one that starts right out in verse one with “blessed is the man.” It follows that in verse two and three with we will be like a tree planted by a river yielding lots of fruit, and in everything that we do we will prosper.

What is the condition, or what action on our part is it that God is going to reward? Memorizing and meditating on scripture.

Joshua 1:8 says that if we meditate on God’s Word day and night that we will have success at everything we do.

So God promises that those who meditate on His Word day and night will be prosperous and successful at what they do. In order to meditate on God’s Word we have to memorize it.

Very few people systematically memorize verses from the Bible, why? They don’t believe that the promise is true, a low level of faith in the promises that are in God’s Word.

I spend 30 minutes every day memorizing scripture and reviewing what I have already memorized, and I am going to kick it up to 45 minutes, why? Because I believe the promises of God, and I want what He promises, success at everything that I do.

Memorizing scripture isn’t hard, it just takes time. It is just a matter of going over it again and again until it sticks. Start by picking some verses, putting them on 3×5 cards and reviewing them regularly and often. As you master them add some more to the list. I have about 700 verses memorized well, but I know people who have memorized several thousand verses well.

God is in charge, and He is God. I believe Him and trust Him with all of my heart, so I memorize and meditate because I love being blessed by God with success at all that I put my hand to. Success isn’t a matter of talent, it is an issue of faith and obedience.

There are a lot of different and contradictory teachings on Spiritual gifts in the world wide church today. Here are some of the conclusions that I have come to in my study of Spiritual gifts over the years, and naturally I believe they are correct, though many of the differences between my view and others don’t really make that much difference.

– The church is repeatedly called the “Body of Christ” by the apostle Paul, and the people in the church who are believers each have a Spiritual gift or gifts, and they are a part of the body, either a foot, an ear, an eye, or whatever.

1 Corinthians 12:20-21 But now there are many members, but one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.

– When all of the different body parts are functioning well the body is healthy.

– Often the individual body parts are not functioning, and the result is that the body will be sick or unhealthy, the church will not grow, reach the lost, or make disciples.

Ephesians 4:16 the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

– God decided what our gift would be and gave it to us, we don’t get to pick which one we want. It is our responsibility to discover what our giftedness is.

1 Corinthians 12:18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.

1 Corinthians 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.

– Knowing the name of our gift isn’t important, but knowing what we do that seems to be blessed and used of God, empowered by God is what is important.

– I believe that we all are spiritual snowflakes, a unique person created by God to function and serve in a special way that will result in the growth of the body.

– When we are serving in the area of our giftedness we are empowered by the Spirit and we will feel energized and very joyful.

– There is no fast and easy way to discover your giftedness, but those who want to know and serve in the body will discover it.

– Serving, and functioning in the area of our giftedness is the only way to really live, and bear much fruit.

– God made me a teacher, and when I am teaching I sense His pleasure like nothing else I do.

– Everything makes me tired anymore at 75 years of age except for teaching, when I teach I am energized.

Over the years of being the Pastor of Jefferson Baptist Church I have read many books on leadership, I have gone to dozens of seminars on leadership, I have listened to literally 100’s of hours of podcasts on leadership by some of the best leaders in the world, I have been personally mentored by some very good leaders, and I have made more mistakes in leadership than most leaders, and I have tried to learn from those mistakes.

Over the years of making mistakes, getting counsel, reading books and listening to the best leaders in the world on podcasts, I have taken good notes. As I learn, I have written out my own personal book of Proverbs on Leadership, and I call it , “Dee Duke’s Leadership Axioms.”

A few of those axioms;

– The Achilles heal of all leaders is pride. Pride alienates me from those I am leading, and I will quickly lose the blessing of God because of pride.

– Pride is subtle and tricky, it sneaks into my thinking and attitude before I am aware of it, if I am not super diligent to keep guard over my heart and motives.

– Never boss people around and tell them what to do, instead appeal to their conscience.

– Every time I have a conflict with another person take the blame, be the one who is wrong. If I humble myself God will exalt me, but if I exalt myself God will humble me.

– Never say “no.” Don’t be a control freak, Jesus will protect and lead His church.

– in the midst of problems, pressures, and disunity always keep asking, “what will make Jesus happy?”

– God blesses unity not methods.

– When people in the church volunteer, anything they do, no matter how small, is gravy, so praise and appreciate it.

– At least a dozen times a day ask God for wisdom and strength, He gives it to those who ask a lot.

– With people who are leading a ministry or starting to lead a ministry, give them all the advice and training they want, but don’t tell them what to do. It is super easy to start right and only counsel and help, and then to move to being in charge.

– Remember the goal of ministry is to train and motivate people to do the work of the ministry, not to do the work of the ministry.

– People follow a happy and positive leader.

– Success is a good and Biblical word, the problem is when I don’t come up with a definition of success that is Biblical.

– I have to learn how to lead myself well before I can lead others.

– The most powerful tool that I have for self leadership are my personal goals.

I have many other axioms on how to be a “God blessed leader”, join my leadership class if you want the rest.

I did not write this material, I copied part and portions of it from a Fox News article.

“A recent study has shown that men who enjoy fishing as a hobby may have better mental health. The study conducted by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Ulster University, and Queen’s University in Belfast, found that fishing on a regular basis lowered the risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and other mental health problems.

Researchers polled 1,752 males about their fishing activities.

The participants who fished regularly were 17% less likely to experience mental health issues.

While it’s been well-established that fishing has positive benefits for mental health, the new research also highlights that people who engage in the hobby more often yield greater cognitive benefits, noted Dr. Mike Trott, one of the study researchers from the Centre for Mental Health Research at the University of Queensland.”

Wow, I knew fishing was good for me!!

I didn’t write this article. It was on a Fox News report.

Casting a line could reel in a lot more than the catch of the day. A recent study has shown that men who enjoy fishing as a hobby may have better mental health. The study, conducted by researchers at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, Ulster University, and Queen’s University, Belfast, found that fishing on a regular basis contributed to a lower risk of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and other mental health conditions. Researchers polled 1,752 males about their fishing activities, as well as other factors including previous mental illness, exercise and overall well-being. The participants who said they fished on a regular basis were nearly 17% less likely to have experienced mental health conditions compared to men who did not fish frequently. The more often the men fished, the better their mental health, according to the study, which was published in the journal epidemiologia this summer. In general, the findings suggest that encouraging frequent participation in recreational angling could be a dual method strategy for promoting relaxation and positive mental health, as well as encouraging increased levels of physical activity in those with mental health issues,” the study’s authors wrote in the journal summary. While it’s been well-established that fishing has positive benefits for mental health, the new research also highlights that people who engage in the hobby more often yield greater cognitive benefits, noted Dr. Mike Trott, one of the study researchers from the Centre for Mental Health Research at the University of Queensland. We were expecting to find that angling in general has positive effects on mental health — however, we did not expect that the more often you fish, the better the benefits are.”