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God’s Election by Grace! - Romans 11:1-10 February 25, 2007 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen An 8-year-old girl wrote to a Christian leader, seeking advice. She wanted to know how she could get her daddy to carry her picture. She said her dad had a photo of her little brother in his wallet (the boy looked like his dad). And he carried a picture of his pretty 15-year-old daughter too. But when this 8-year-old gave him a photo of herself, he put it in a drawer. It seems that she wasn't good enough for her daddy. To be rejected for anything can leave a huge emotional mark on a person’s life. Of course, it depends upon what you are rejected from and why. However, rejection can carry a heavy burden in a person’s life. It would be especially hard to learn that your whole ethnic group or nationality were rejected by God! How worse would it be then if you were chosen by God, yet ignored that election? J. A. Meads Jr. began a sermon with: "The reason you and I cannot ignore God can be stated in

God’s Wonderful Offer! – Romans 9:30-10:1-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 18, 2007 AM Recently, Baptist Press reported on a story concerning a “radical new website” that is gaining popularity by “challenging people to deny the existence of God.” It is run by an obtuse atheist, a Mr. Fleming, who claims he “became a born-again Christian when he was 13.” (You can claim you are rational, but it doesn’t mean you are!) The really dim-witted thing is that he is giving away a free DVD on how to be an atheist. You have to go to a web site called YouTube and post a video of yourself denouncing God by saying the phrase, “I deny the Holy Spirit.” The website explains that “the phrase is required because Mark 3:29 says, ‘Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.’” This is so illogical and intellectually ignorant on so many levels. First, if you are truly born of the Spirit you cannot “blaspheme” Him no matter what you say. (Look at the conte

God’s Wonderful Choice! - Romans 9:19-29 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 11, 2007 AM People often have a wrong view of who God is. There are those who want to see Him as a lovable old man sitting upstairs in heaven in a comfy rocking chair benignly looking down on His lovable but bumbling creatures. Then there are others who view God as a malevolent being, gleefully waiting for His creations to mess up just so He can zap them into delightful submission. Still others look at God as an unknowing and uncaring entity. An ultimate being that exists but does not get involved and allows us to live in a universe that He has set spinning into motion, only to live our miserable lives out and then die an ignoble death. None of these views of God is biblical or correct. All neglect the fact of Jesus, God’s Son, coming into the world. The correct way to view God is through Jesus Christ, because when we do we get a better view of God, who He is, and of God’s wonderful choice. Paul understood this. He d

God’s Grace Revealed - Romans 9:1-18 February 4, 2007 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen People often want to argue the injustice they seem to find in predestination. They think that it is unjust because they do not have a choice, yet they forget the underlying truth of God’s sovereignty. It isn’t a matter of personal choice, which we enjoy, it is a matter of God being omniscient. Knowing all things. Either God is God or He is not. If He is God then He is the one who chooses and not us. He is the one in control and not us. It is His plan and not ours. However the believers, and especially the Jews of Paul’s day, struggled with this concept as well. Why? Because they felt that they were God’s chosen people and therefore should have special privilege in God’s choosing. Paul would say, “Hogwash!” God’s predestination revealed God’s grace. Recently I listened to a speaker who claimed to be Jewish even though he did not believe in God at all. In fact, he did not believe in religious expression or exper