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Showing posts from September, 2008

Being Properly Equipped! – 2 Timothy 3:10-17

Being Properly Equipped! – 2 Timothy 3:10-17 By Lee Hemen September 28, 2008 AM I learned from my father-in-law that having the proper tool to do a job is important. It can make all the difference in a job well done or one that is only half finished. There are those in our day who actually think that only doing a job part way is good enough. “At least you tried,” is their reasoning. But folks, only trying does not get the job done and it does not get it done right. How many of us would say to a surgeon, who was supposed to do a by-pass on our heart, but decided not to finish, “At least you tried”? You not only need the proper tools, you also need to finish what you started! Timothy was an example to others in his church. He was to finish what he started. Paul intimately knew this to be true in his own life and expected it from others. This is why Paul had had problems with John Mark early on in his own ministry (Acts 15:37-40), and John Mark needed to mature in this area! Later, after

Living Godly Lives In Ungodly Times! – 2 Timothy 3:1-9

Living Godly Lives In Ungodly Times! – 2 Timothy 3:1-9 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 21, 2008 AM People can be caught so easily in Satan’s snares and then become part of his evil will in the world. In Kenosha, WS two boys, ages 14 and 15, are being held for murdering a women for her Xbox. They were caught by a 51 year old woman in the act of robbing her home when they killed her and made off with the Xbox, jewelry, cell phone and her purse that police later recovered at the home of the boys involved. Then there is the case of a 33 year-old Green Bay, WS mother who faces felony identity theft charges for stealing her 15 year-old daughter’s identity to attend a local high school and join the cheerleading squad. Wow! What ungodly times we live in, right? Timothy, like all Christians are, was to “gently instruct” people caught up in these kinds of sinful deceptions so that they would repent of their duplicity and sin and “come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has

Living In God’s House! – 2 Timothy 2:20-26

Living In God’s House! – 2 Timothy 2:20-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 14, 2008 AM Let me ask you a question: “Are you a hunk of firewood or a clay flower pot, a piece of silverware or a golden broach?” Perhaps if I asked you if you were a lowly mop or a fine china teapot, what would you say? This question pertains not only to how we perceive ourselves in God’s church, but how we behave in it as well. We all know that in our homes there are items that are set out for everyone to see and use and others that we keep behind closed doors. Few would place the toilet in the living room! Yet, the lowly mop that is kept in the cleaning cupboard is far more important in keeping the house clean than say the fine teapot that sits in a place of honor behind glass doors. A clean house reflects an attitude of the heart just as bringing out the fine china when we want to celebrate. This is exactly what Paul was writing to Timothy about. There were those who viewed their Christianity with less than

Be Approved of God! - 2 Timothy 2:14b-19

Be Approved of God! - 2 Timothy 2:14b-19 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 7, 2008 AM Every human being wants to be loved and accepted. We value what others think of us so much so that we know being accepted or rejected as a child can influence our entire life. Many of us can relate a time when we were rejected by our peer group and recount the hurt that this social dismissal caused. But how do we feel about being approved of God? Does it give us the same feelings of loss or of anxiety if we realized that God may not be happy with our lives? What if we discovered that God did not approve of us? Paul wrote his pastor friend Timothy to do “your best to present yourself to God as one approved.” Timothy, like all Christians should, needed to be able to handle the “Word of truth” correctly without hesitation so that God would surely approve of Timothy’s life lived for His kingdom. The questions remains for us therefore, “Are you approved of God?” Let’s discover what Paul writes to Timothy that