JBC has a “Five Day Prayer Event” four times a year. We pray together from 5:00 to 10:00 am and 5:00 to 10:00 pm Monday through Friday. There is an average of 50 people in the prayer room every hour, with one person praying at a time and everyone else agreeing with them in their mind and heart. My goal is to pray for 40 of the 50 hours we have prayer. Every time we have it, this event is a very enjoyable spiritual experience for me. There is such a strong sense of God’s presence that my thinking mainly focuses on Him and my relationship with Him. I listen to my thoughts, assuming He will communicate with me, and usually take lots of notes on my thoughts. One of the negative things about previous prayer times is that my hearing is so bad that even with my hearing aids turned up until they whistle, I can’t hear many people when they pray. It is very frustrating for me. But now we have table microphones all over the tables where people sit and wireless headsets that I can wear so I can hear each person’s prayer perfectly.

I often think we have a difficult time hearing from God as we live life, but during these prayer times, it is as if I have a headset on from God. It works great.

I have been working for about four hours after prayer ends the last couple of days, helping to put back the chairs we took out for the new carpet to be installed in our sanctuary so I haven’t had much time to write my blog. So here is a short one

As you know, I discovered about one year ago that I am allergic to gluten. Whenever I eat something with gluten in it, most food with wheat or barley in it, my muscles go crazy, twitching, jumping, and spasms. I have done well in avoiding foods with gluten this past year and, as a result, I now sleep like a baby. Patty has done great when she shops, checks labels, and buys gluten-free food. But last night, she gave me spaghetti that was not gluten-free. She has purchased gluten-free spaghetti, so I assumed this was some of that. Not too long after eating my dinner, I started to feel my muscles starting to feel funny. I said to her, “That was gluten-free, wasn’t it. Her eyes got big, and she gasped, “Oh, honey! I forgot!” Needless to say, I had a terrible night and slept little. Patty felt bad, but that didn’t stop me from getting some mileage out of it with the kids and grandkids as I harrassed her about trying to kill me. It only takes a little bit of the wrong thing in eating to make my life miserable.

Jesus made it clear that what we eat with our mouths is not nearly as damaging to us as what we take in with our eyes and ears. There is so much garbage in our world today on television, movies, social media, and especially the internet. Even a little bit of the poison in the world will damage our hearts. We need to have a holy fear of taking it in and guard ourselves from the constant barrage of evil stuff all around us. What we bring into our brains and hearts matters a lot. What we look at and listen to dictates what we think about, and what we think about influences our choices and behavior. Don’t compromise in this area of life; even a little bit will make your life miserable.

One of the questions that I often ask people is, “What would it take for you to be the happiest person alive on the earth?” I often ask myself that question as well. I ask Patty periodically, “What one thing could I do that would move you to being the happiest wife alive?”

Joy and happiness are what we all want more than anything else: just to be happy. But, the problem is that we don’t know what it would take to be ultimately happy, and if we had a clue, we wouldn’t know how to get that thing, which would be the joy of our life. When surveys are taken, the most often given answer is good health; if I could just feel good and have energy, I would be happy. Another top answer is good relationships with family, marriage, friends, and work. If I really felt loved and accepted, then I would be a very happy person. Some also would say that success in life would bring a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction that would make life great.

A few people are bubbling over with joy because they have discovered the source of supernatural joy.

Psalms 21:6 For You make me most blessed forever;
You make me joyful with gladness in Your presence.

God gives joy; he gives a little to some people, more to others, and a lot to a few. God has conditions on His gift of joy. If you meet the conditions, He will give and give.

Condition #1. Don’t grumble and complain about anything; God always gives joy to those who rejoice and thank God for everything, good and bad.

Condition #2 Ask God for joy. God loves to give joy to those who seek it from Him and not the world. The emotion of sadness is genuine, and often, we don’t even know what brought it on or how to get rid of it, but acknowledging to God that we are down and would He please give us some joy is a healthy thing in our walk with God.

Condition #3 The Bible repeatedly says, “In God’s presence is fulness of joy.” The Bible also says that if we seek Him we will find Him, and if we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. The best way to seek God and draw near to Him is to faithfully practice the spiritual disciplines of Bible reading, prayer, gathering with other believers, and worship.

Condition #4 Recognize and acknowledge that trials and tribulations are good things God uses to make us holy and like Himself in character. James 1:2 says, “Consider it all joy when you have trials knowing that they make us perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Condition #5: Acknowledge that life is hard, full of tough things that steal our joy and make us sad. That is the way God created life; it is supposed to be like that, but heaven is coming, and then we will have the ultimate joy beyond our ability to comprehend now. It is amazing how meditating on heaven will fill our hearts with joy despite circumstances.

Pigs enjoy wallowing in the mud, and it seems some people enjoy wallowing in their misery. Those who seek joy in the right places will have it, but those who don’t, won’t.

I am home from my elk hunting trip to Eastern Oregon. We had three cow tags: my grandson Isaac, son Seth, and myself. Seth lives in Idaho and brought his ten-year-old son, our son Sam, Isaac’s Dad also came, and my friend Larry came, too. We had a great time camping together and eating all the good food Patty had fixed. Hunting was a blast, and we all killed a cow elk. During the day, when we weren’t hunting, we did a lot of fishing. I took my rubber, two-person pontoon boat with us. When I got home with my elk, it took Patty and me an entire day to cut all the meat off the bones, grind it up using our meat grinders, and put it in zip-lock bags and into the freezer. We ate some of it last night, and it tastes delicious. Elk are big critters, so we put a lot of meat in our freezer.

One of the things that happened on the trip was that my iPad got crushed when we brought in the tip-out on the RV we were using. It is now in one zillion pieces. That is why I am just now getting a blog written. It took me forever to figure out how to get all the data on my crushed iPad transferred to my new one.

The iPad cost me $1,400 so it was an expensive hunting trip, but it has been several years since I have had the joy of hunting with both my boys together. It was a great blessing from God for which I am very grateful.

I have been building a chicken coup on wheels for Patty for the last couple of days. It is like a big wheelbarrow. It has wheels on one side and a bar on the other side. You pick up the end with the bar and push it to a new location where they have fresh grass, and then when the chickens get that grass eaten down, you move it again. This way, I won’t have to mow the lawn, and it gets fertilized in the process. I bought the plans online for $10; they were very detailed and easy to build from. I enjoy building projects. I used to enjoy huge projects like building a house or a church sanctuary, but now I am more into chicken coups. Almost everybody enjoys something related to building, like painting a picture, making a quilt, or planting a garden. I think it is part of our being created in God’s image. He built the universe and me and you. Creating something is rewarding and gives us a sense of power. Probably the biggest and most enjoyable building project for me was building the sanctuary for Jefferson Baptist Church. We did the work from 1991 until 1999. All the work was done by volunteers in the church family, and we paid for it as we built it. It is a big building, able to seat 800 people, and it is also a very beautiful building, with its rock crosses and open wood trusses. The most enjoyable part of the building process was doing it together with others. Some things are impossible to do without help from others, and when a unified effort results in a significant accomplishment, it is incredibly rewarding. The Bible says that we ought to be growing in character to become more and more like Jesus. That growth in each of us happens in community. I influence you, and you influence me, and we grow together. We are building a spiritual sanctuary instead of a physical one. A basic law of “spiritual building” is that the more influence you choose to have on others the more influence others will have on you. We all have different spiritual gifts or gifts. Some teach, others clean, some build buildings or parking lots, some lead, others give money, some counsel and encourage. But the point is everybody ought to be doing something. We are all in this together, building a beautiful spiritual house for Jesus. Most of you who read my blogs are in a church, be a functioning part of the body.

1 Peter 2:5 you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house

PS I will be elk hunting for the next five days with no cell service so no blogs. I will show you a picture of my elk next week. I will also show you a picture of my chicken coup.

One of the things that happens to people as they get older is they fall more. I fall about once a week now, and it wasn’t that long ago that I never fell. It seems I sometimes fall over a shadow. So far, I haven’t seriously hurt myself, but I know one of these days it is going to hurt. Falling physically is a pain, but falling spiritually is much more serious and long-lasting. The saddest thing in life for me is to see someone who was living for the Lord fall away. It seems that it happens often, and it also appears that the number is growing and accelerating in these last days.

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.”

There are several reasons for the failure to run the race set before us with endurance, but I think the number one reason is loving the world and the things in it. It is so easy to do, and the drift away from God is so slow that most don’t notice it until it is too late to do anything about it.

2 Timothy 4:10 “for Demas, having loved this present world, has deserted me.”

1 John 2:15 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

I sometimes will say something to a person when I notice that a lukewarmness is setting in, but it rarely gets anyone’s attention; they just get defensive and irritated. So I pray for them like crazy, asking God to open their eyes so they can see where they are. If nothing seems to work I pray that God will bring a major trial into their life and wake them up.

I may be getting more unsteady on my feet, but I am running with endurance the spiritual race set before me. I am determined to finish the race well. The more I see others fall around me the more determined I become to pay attention to my own heart and the focus of my love.

Today we drove up to Trout Lake, Washington, for a memorial service for a family member. We got back home at 10:00 pm. Even though it was late, I read my daily commitment and goal of 12 chapters in my Bible. I don’t do that because I am supposed to, but because of all God’s supernatural Word does in me, one of which is to know what is true and false in the world. So much stuff is spewed out by various sources today, and very little of it agrees with anything else. In all the stuff, some are true, but most are from the pit of hell. How do I know what is true and what is false? There are many deceived people today, and I don’t want to be one of them. The Bible is a supernatural book; it is the source of truth, and those who read and study it will know what is true and what is a lie.

John 8:31-32 So Jesus was saying, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Hebrews 5:11-14 Concerning him we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the Word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

Living today is like walking through a minefield; only those who know the truth will walk in freedom.

Today, Patty and I have been married for 55 years. They have been good years with eight kids, 28 grandkids, and many adventures. We were very different when we got married. Patty was a city girl, and I was a country boy. Patty grew up in a family with two sisters and a Dad that treated them like princesses. My Dad was a male chauvinist through and through. He was the ultimate tough guy and expected us kids to be tough and not fuss or cry about anything; Patty, on the other hand, cried about everything. I would rank our marriage as being the best I have known over the years. I don’t think we have had a fight or argument that lasted more than an hour. Patty has never gotten angry at me in the sense of yelling or throwing a fit. She has cried a lot, and I always give in to that. We talk a lot about choices and decisions, but she has always been 100% supportive and submissive to my leadership and decisions about our future. She was right with me when we left the farm to Pastor Jefferson Baptist Church with 20 people and little income. When I wanted to buy our present house, which was over 100 years old, about to fall down, and full of rats and bats, she was not excited but jumped right in like a tough pioneer woman. Our life of parenting and pastoring has been a true partnership, and success has come into our lives because of our unity and love. We pray together about everything, don’t get angry at each other, we treat each other with respect and honor, forgive quickly, and talk and speak to each other in a way that builds up and doesn’t hurt. It has been a good 55 years with many stories that we love telling our grandkids.

There are about ten different writers of the New Testament books. I have memorized the books of Colossians, Philippians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, books written by Paul. I have memorized the book of Hebrews. I memorized the book of 1st Peter and most of 2nd Peter, which Peter obviously wrote. I have memorized about 50 verses in Matthew, about 10 in Mark, 10 in Luke, and about 30 in John. I am now working on the book of 1st John, and I am about done with chapter two. I also memorized the complete book of James. When you memorize a book of the Bible, you go over and over it again and again. As a result, you notice repeated words and styles of writing by the different writers. That is one of the reasons that I am convinced that the Apostle Paul didn’t write the Book of Hebrews. The vocabulary, the style, and the emphasis are much different than in Paul’s letters written to the Colossians, the Philippians, and the Thessalonians.

One of Paul’s favorite words is grace; he uses it over a hundred times in his letters. On the other hand, John doesn’t use the word grace in his three Epistles at all and only a couple of times in his gospel and the book of Revelation. That doesn’t mean that John didn’t believe in grace, but he expressed it differently and emphasized different truths of the Christian faith.

The primary cause of heresy and false teaching is that truth is out of balance. The various teachings and doctrines taught by different authors of the Bible are often in tension. When balance is maintained between the various writings, accurate and true doctrine is maintained.

The key to a balanced understanding of Biblical truth is reading and studying the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and working at fitting it together like a giant puzzle. By the way, one of the best ways to study the Bible is to memorize it.

There are about ten different writers of the New Testament books. I have memorized the books of Colossians, Philippians, and 1st and 2nd Thessalonians, books written by Paul. I have memorized the book of Hebrews. I memorized the book of 1st Peter and most of 2nd Peter, which Peter obviously wrote. I have memorized about 50 verses in Matthew, about 10 in Mark, 10 in Luke, and about 30 in John. I am now working on the book of 1st John, and I am about done with chapter two. I also memorized the complete book of James. When you memorize a book of the Bible, you go over and over it again and again. As a result, you notice repeated words and styles of writing by the different writers. That is one of the reasons that I am convinced that the Apostle Paul didn’t write the Book of Hebrews. The vocabulary, the style, and the emphasis are much different than in Paul’s letters written to the Colossians, the Philippians, and the Thessalonians.

One of Paul’s favorite words is grace; he uses it over a hundred times in his letters. On the other hand, John doesn’t use the word grace in his three Epistles at all and only a couple of times in his gospel and the book of Revelation. That doesn’t mean that John didn’t believe in grace, but he expressed it differently and emphasized different truths of the Christian faith.

The primary cause of heresy and false teaching is that truth is out of balance. The various teachings and doctrines taught by different authors of the Bible are often in tension. When balance is maintained between the various writings, accurate and true doctrine is maintained.

The key to a balanced understanding of Biblical truth is reading and studying the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and working at fitting it together like a giant puzzle. By the way, one of the best ways to study the Bible is to memorize it.