Thanksgiving was super, especially having two, one Thursday and another one Friday, so let’s keep it going through the weekend minus the food, I for sure don’t need any more food. This Saturday night at 7 pm there will be a great Concert at Jefferson Baptist Church with those whom God has given a special gift of music to, blessing us with that gift, and also thanking the Lord for all He has done for us. Then we will have the same inspiring music again on Sunday at 9 and 11:30 am. If you don’t go to church anywhere else this would be a good time to choose to go. God is real, and He promises to draw near to you as you draw near to Him. This service would be a nice step towards God. You really have nothing to lose, and a whole lot to gain.

Ephesians 5:18-20 says, “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father”.

This passage says to “speak or communicate to each other with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” and that will happen as these very gifted musicians bless our hearts, and the passage goes on to say, “giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus”, and we will do that as well. This is going to be a wonderful, uplifting, joy filled service, with a great sense of God’s presence.

Patty and I drove up to Trout Lake, Washington where my Mom, my sister and her family, and my youngest brother and his family live. Trout Lake is where the family dairy was and where I graduated from High School. It is about 30 miles straight North of Hood River Oregon, and very close to Mt Adams, a very beautiful place. We ate with and celebrated thanksgiving with my mom and my sisters family. Patty and I have 22 grandchildren with 23 on the way, my sister and her husband Monte Pearson have 24 grandchildren so it was a pretty big gang we ate with today. Our 8 kids, 6 son-in-laws, daughter-in-law, and 22 grandkids all love the Lord, and I think that is pretty special. Monte and Laura’s kids and son-in-laws, daughter-in-laws, and 24 grandkids all are committed Christians as well, and it was such a special time being with them today. Before we ate we went around the room and each person shared what they were thankful for, and as I listened to the little ones clearly articulate thankfulness I glanced over at my mother and thought, “my, what a heritage she has”, 5 children, around 22 grandchildren, and I think getting close to 90 great grandchildren, and I think almost all are walking with the Lord. As I think about all that I have to be thankful for, a major one is that I was well parented. I can’t take any credit for the positive character traits in me, they are there because of my parents.

This past weekend I preached on 10 key commandments in the New Testament. One of the 10 was, “Love anybody God sovereignly brings into your life, that is you are nice to them, you aren’t rude to them, you look for an opportunity to help them.” There was a homeless person in the audience who heard my sermon, and today they showed up at the church, walked into my office and quoted that whole point to me, and declared that they were sovereignly brought into my life by God, and I needed to take care of them, and they wanted to live with me. They talked non-stop for about 15 minutes presenting their case and need, and I listened attentively trying to figure out the solution to this situation. I suggested some alternatives to their plan and desire, but they seemed totally focused on this one thing and would not be deterred from it.

Last year we let a homeless guy move into my “Man Room” I had built out in my shop where I had my weight set, a chair and some books and a heater, he stayed about 2 months. About 25 years ago we had a visitor come to church that was basically homeless, old, and legally blind, and we moved her in with us in our home and we had all 8 kids still at home, and she got her own bedroom. She stayed with us about a year. That turned out to be a good experience for us and a great learning tool for our kids.

As I listened to this person quote my sermon back to me I had to admit that this was a significant coincidence or indeed a sovereign act of God, and perhaps I was supposed to let them move in with us. As I listened I let them ramble on much longer than I typically would have, but I was processing this situation in my mind trying to figure out what was right and what was God’s will not wanting to take the simple, and easy way out, but also wanting to be wise and the protector of my family. As I listened they said something that made all kinds of whistles, bells, and red flags go off in my head, and I then responded graciously and but firmly that if they didn’t want me to try and find a shelter for them then they needed to be on their way, and I stood and escorted them out of my office. They left, but I am not sure if we will see more of them in the days ahead or not.

As I was thinking about the whole scenario over again tonight, I thought, boy, I hope I don’t get to heaven and find out they were an angel in disguise, that would be embarrassing even if I was in heaven.

The admonition in the Bible to seek God is repeated about a dozen times, and each time it is, there is a blessing attached. My favorite one is “those who seek the Lord will not be in want of any good thing” God says, “If you seek Me, I will let you find Me, and if you draw near to Me, I will draw near to you”.”If you seek Me with all of your heart, you will find me.” What exactly does that mean to seek God? It means that we truly want more of God in our life, God waits to be wanted. God will not be second place in anyone’s life, if we start putting other things and activities before God, He will “hide His face from us”. Life without God’s presence around us is depressing, without joy, and lacking in energy. Psalms 16:11 says, “In Your presence is fullness of joy”. We seek God by reading the Bible, by giving Him time in prayer, by gathering together with other believers, and by worshiping Him. Psalms 42:1-2 are a couple of my favorite verses, “as the deer pants for water, so my soul thirsts for you O God”. The more crazy life gets the more I seek God’s presence, because His presence gives me peace, joy, strength, and great security in regards to the future.

I preached and taught for 8 hours this weekend, and I am feeling all done in. I am sitting in my chair attempting to write this and I have to keep deleting and starting over because I am so brain dead right now. It was a great weekend, and I feel incredibly blessed that I got to preach and teach God’s Word. I am looking forward to tomorrow because I am going to work on my boat all day. I am expecting that I will get all the plywood on and get started on the fiberglassing. After a weekend of using my brain it will be nice to think about nothing but my boat, and to talk to just a few people. It is going to be a good week in that Thursday Patty and I are going to drive up and visit my Mom for thanksgiving, and then we will have a bunch of kids and grandkids over on Friday for barbecued brisket and lots of food and conversation. This coming Thanksgiving weekend we are going to have a bunch of our best musicians and singers do a concert at each of our three weekend services. It is going to be amazing and I plan on being incredibly blessed.

Years ago I read Francis Schaffer’s book “How Should We Then Live”. The book was very good, and resulted in much thought and reflection on my part on what was right and wrong based on what God said, not man, as Schaffer put it, “there is a true truth”. The book was basically about the difference in values and standards between the culture of the Western World and the Bible. The book came out in the mid 70’s when I was a student at Western Baptist Bible College in Salem, Oregon now called Corban University. The difference now between the culture of the United States and the standards of the New Testament are much greater than when I first read it. As I read and study the Bible, and attempt to teach it with relevance and accuracy the greatest challenge is stated in Romans 12:2 where the Apostle Paul says, “do not be conformed to this world”. We live our lives submerged in a nation with values and standards that are increasingly contrary to the Words of the Bible, and it is very easy to allow the morals and standards that are all around us to seep into the “true truth”. Part of the problem is that it isn’t very comfortable being radically different, which is exactly what a person who follows the Biblical admonition of “do not be conformed to this world” will become. The greater the difference grows between these two world views the more pressure there is to conform. When the New Testament was written the difference between the Roman Empire and the brand new Christian belief was probably much like today, which probably is why Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 16:13, ” be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong”.

But in the midst of the clash between our two contrary cultures there is the need to be loving, gracious, kind, and wise, which is probably why Paul followed up verse 13 with verse 14 which says, “Let all that you do be done in love”. So “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong, and let everything you do be done in love”. Sounds nearly impossible, but the person who successfully lives that life will be an effective ambassador for “true truth”. One of the principles of Schaffer that I keep in mind is that the greater the difference between the two cultures grows, the clearer and more obvious ” true truth” will become to those truly looking for truth.

There are a lot of very important, or maybe a better phrase is well known people, who are being revealed as sexually immoral in the news lately. It is interesting that a country as sexually immoral as ours is, one where pornography addiction is increasing yearly, movies and television programs make moral purity seem odd, would all of a sudden make such a big deal out of these people’s sexual behavior. It wasn’t that long ago that the press was making fun of Tim Tebow for his public commitment to remain a virgin until he was married, and someone offered a million dollar reward to anyone who could get Tebow to sleep with them, and that offer became a point of mocking his commitment to be morally pure.

I am of the opinion that sexual purity is very important to God. People mess up on this area, and God forgives and restores, but He does so on the basis of conviction, remorse, and repentance. In our culture today the rules have changed from what the Bible clearly teaches as what is right and what is wrong. A passage of scripture that is one of my life verses is 2 Timothy 2:21-22

“Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

“Useful to the master”, useful to Jesus, useful to the God of the universe! That is what I want more than anything in all of my life, to be useful to the Lord. “If a man cleanses himself from these things” , and the context is sexual purity, God will use him.

I remember as a little kid lining up in a line as the two biggest and oldest kids picked who was on their softball team alternating choosing among those who were in the line, and being the one who got picked last. It happened so much that I got used to it and even expected it to happen. But now I want Jesus to pick me to be on His team and for Him to give me lots to do that matters. He doesn’t choose on the basis of size, athletics, intelligence, talent, education, personality, He chooses on the basis of moral purity, that motivates me.

One of the clear evidences of an almighty God who made us is the inner desire in us for justice. We have it when we are very small children, and become aware of injustice and cry “that’s not fair”. This inner sense that there is right and wrong, that wrong ought to have consequence and good ought to be rewarded is put in us by God. Our conscience is a key part of our inner, real person that is our guide through life. Our conscience is our inner google maps system, it guides us well in making choices that are good, right, and a blessing to others. Our conscience can become calloused, that is it becomes less and less sensitive to what’s right and what’s wrong. Our conscience becomes calloused by degrees, little by little, compromise by compromise, and before we know it we are capable of doing just about any evil with little remorse or sense of guilt for doing it. Our conscience is seared when we start allowing the world around us to begin programming our brain in what is right and wrong. Again it is little bit by little bit but before long we believe what the world believes and we act the way the world acts. The Bible talks about those who overcome the world and says that those who do will have great influence on others and will be used by God in the lives of others. Blessed are the overcomer.

Rules are a tricky thing. On the one hand they are good and absolutely necessary. Without rules chaos reins, driving would be suicide without them, games would be impossible without them, relationships would turn into war without them, and the planet earth would self destruct. But on the other hand they can be the source of criticism of others, pride, and external phony righteousness. 2 Timothy 2:5 says, “an athlete doesn’t win the prize unless he competes according to the rules.” The major factor in determining whether rules are good or bad is the question, “who made the rules”. When I was a kid my brothers and sister and I played monopoly a lot. I always won because I made up new rules as we went along. After awhile they rebelled and quit playing with me, and we had to find a new game to play, but it was good while it lasted! The Pharisees, the religious rulers during the time of Christ made up rules and declared themselves righteous, but Jesus called them hypocrites, and said they were like graves, on the out side they looked good with all the f lowers, but on the inside they were full of dead men’s bones.

I follow the rules of Christ for my life, and I teach those rules to who ever will listen. The rules that God has given us are not burdensome, but life giving. They are intended by God to make us free, to give us joy, and to make us successful in anything we set our hands to. There are lots of rules in the New Testament, but many of them are overlapping, and many are repeated. I like lists so I have made a list of 10 rules in the New Testament that are the most important and the most impactful of all the rules listed. I think they pretty much are a summary of all the commandments that are in the New Testament.

If you would like to know what they are you will have to come to church at JBC this weekend because I am preaching and that is the topic of my sermon, or you could down load the sermon from our web sight.

The amount of information that is being broadcast on tv, printed, and sent out via social media today that is false is mind boggling. It is virtually impossible any more to know what is true and what is false that we see, hear, and read. But One thing I know for sure is that the Bible is true, the inspired, inerrant Word of God that tells me how to live successfully in a way that results in joy and peace in my mind and heart. It tells me as well how to have eternal life with God and to soon escape all this craziness and live with God forever with a new body that will never ache or get sick or tired, forever. In the midst of all the craziness and stuff going on I have done what the Bible says to do in times like this, “set your mind on the things above, not on the things of this earth”.

The Bible promises that things will get worse and worse until Jesus comes, so there is no sense getting all tied in knots over current events. As for me I have set my mind and heart on the day that Jesus comes, and in the mean time I will try and accomplish as much with my life as possible to help people know the truth of God’s Word that sets us free from anxiety, and gives us a hope that becomes the anchor of our heart and soul. One of the principles that I live by is that if we saturate our minds with God’s Word, the Bible, we will know truth from error. Hebrews, a book of the Bible in the New Testament says that those who have their senses trained by the Word of God will be able discern between good and evil. Yep, I believe it.