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Showing posts from September, 2006
God Hates Religiosity and Ritual - Romans 2:17-29 by Pastor Lee Hemen October 1, 2006 AM Should a person practice what they preach? Recently we heard and saw on the nightly news a past President loudly trying to defend his ability to do the job he had once been elected to do. Sounding like a petulant child he vociferously defended his record. However, there is just one problem, the history of his own office shows otherwise. Even those that served with him in the capacities required, disagreed with his statements. Little was done in eight years of his Presidency. In fact, our enemies have related that they were embolden to attack the us again because of this President’s inaction. He is learning that we are not only held accountable by the words we use, but by the actions we do. The same is true for our faith in Jesus Christ. God hates religiosity and ritual. The Jews of Paul’s day felt that they could rely on their past history of being pious people, but their spiritual and physical rec
God’s Divine Standards – Romans 2:1-16 by Pastor Lee Hemen September 24, 2006 The Bible relates that “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 14:12 or 16:25).” In today’s world there are those who want to decide who God is, what He desires, and how they should live for Him or not. In other words they want to set God’s divine standards. There are several problems with this ideology: 1) It tends to constantly change, 2) it is not biblical, and 3) which standard would be correct for you? Everyone’s? Paul relates that there is only one standard that matters. God’s divine standard. I will never forget when I was speaking to a machinist friend of mine. I wanted him to make a part for me for a table saw I had. He asked me what the measurements were for the specific piece I needed. I related, “Oh it is about so long and so wide.” He just shook his head and looked at me. Then I took out of my pocket a mechanical drawing I had done that had the exact

Spiritual Ignorance Is No Excuse – Romans 1:18-32

Spiritual Ignorance Is No Excuse – Romans 1:18-32 September 17, 2006 by Pastor Lee Hemen Bob Deffinbaugh, from Dallas Theological Seminary, writes that: “We know that these verses in Romans chapter 1 are… on condemnation. Paul is seeking to establish the fact that all men justly deserve the consequences of the eternal wrath of God. The thrust of these verses, however, is not primarily that God will judge the heathen because of his rejection of the truth, but rather that God is judging the heathen for his rebellion and rejection.” I believe it is both. When you reject the truth of God, as clearly manifested and seen in His creation, you reject the gospel. You are without excuse. Diffinbaugh goes on to write that “The wrath of God, then, is not merely future; it is also present. Men face the consequences for their sins in eternity but also in the present.” I agree. However, that being said, God does punish men for their choices, allows them to continue in their choices, and gives them ov

What Life Is All About - Romans 1:16-17

What Life Is All About -- Romans 1:16-17 by Pastor Lee Hemen September 10, 2006 Have you ever been ashamed of someone or something? I have. Personal embarrassment can cause us to do a lot of silly things. I remember in the old movie “Support Your Local Sheriff,” where James Garner walks outside of the boarding house he is staying at and the daughter of the mayor, Miss Purdy, does not want him to see her dressed as she is. She had just been involved in a street mud fight and was in her long johns washing in the kitchen sink trying to clean herself up. She is embarrassed and tries to hide, ending up in a tree where, of course, he discovers her hiding. Now that’s embarrassing! Sadly there are those who claim Jesus as Savior and Lord, who either act embarrassed or are embarrassed of others finding out. Paul, on the other hand, was not embarrassed by the gospel message nor its author. He knew what it meant for him personally and what it meant for the entire world. It was far to important fo

What Our Faith Means – Romans 1:8-15

What Our Faith Means – Romans 1:8-15 September 3, 2006 by Pastor Lee Hemen We all like to be encouraged. Many put a premium on encouraging others. So much so in fact that it is now a viable way to say you care about something or someone by just telling others you do. You know, kind of like the phony bumper stickers that say, “My Child Is An Honored Student.” What does that mean really? Or the ones that tell you to “Hug your kids.” The one I find really irritating is the one that states: “Be kind to Mother Earth.” What in the world does that mean? Am I supposed to bend down and kiss the dirt? Could I even possibly hug a planet? In my thinking there is nothing worse than phony effusion. Gladly, Paul never did that with the people he dealt with. When we find him handing out complements, there were good reasons for doing so. For him, it often defined what faith was all about. In the eight verses we will look at this morning, we discover what faith meant to Paul. Virtually all of Paul’s mes