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Showing posts from March, 2015

Luke 19:28-44 – Palm Sunday

Luke 19:28-44 – Palm Sunday By Pastor Lee Hemen March 29, 2015 AM I was wondering what you thought about peace. You know what I mean, not the peace the world tries to aspire to because that is impossible. I am referring to the peace that passes all understanding that only comes from intimately knowing the ruler of peace. Perhaps you have realized peace does not come from people, places or things. Education, money, or power cannot give you the peace you need or seek. Only the one who died for you can give you peace when all else in life falters, fails, or falls apart. The absence of war, strife, or personal hurt is not the peace He gives. His peace comes by the sword of His truth that pierces the human soul right down to the spiritual bone marrow. The Jews of Jesus’ day were searching for a worldly peace, a solution to their national and personal problems. Just like much of the world today. They had not learned from their history that going to war, throwing out the oppressor, or strivin

Who Are You Looking For? - John 7:33-36

Who Are You Looking For? - John 7:33-36 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 22, 2015 In the movie Alice In Wonderland by Walt Disney, the main character, Alice, meets up with the goofy Cheshire Cat. He appears first of all as a great big row of smiling teeth. She wants to know which way she should go, which road to follow in order to find the white Rabbit she has been chasing. He responds by telling her, "Well it depends on where you want to get to." She says it doesn’t really matter, so he tells her, "Well then, it really doesn’t matter which way you go." Then he begins a whole series of nonsensical statements concerning Alice's desire to follow the White Rabbit. He finally tells Alice that "everyone is mad here." I have discovered that this is the way a lot of folks live their lives, meaning that they are not sure what or who they are looking for. Last time we left the chief priests and the Pharisees trying to arrest Jesus because he told them he was the Messi

Jesus, the Messiah? - John 7: 25-32

Jesus, the Messiah? - John 7: 25-32 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 15, 2015 We misunderstand sometimes what the term Christ means but it is a Greek form of Messiah, both meaning anointed one. The Messiah would be anointed by God to perform and do his will in the world. He would direct people back to God, rescue them from their oppressors. The term came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy anointing oil, to be king of God's earthly kingdom, and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age. In Judaism, the Messiah was and is not considered to be God or a pre-existent divine Son of God as Jesus is. He is considered to be a great political leader that has descended from King David. The Bible plainly teaches us that Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in the mission, death, and resurrection of Jesus and that he will return to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy. Still, there are those who ask, "Is Jesus the Messiah?

Live or Let Die! -- John 7:19-24

Live or Let Die! -- John 7:19-24 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 8, 2015 In the song "Live and Let Die"  written by Paul McCartney he sings, " When you were young and your heart was an open book, you used to say live and let live (you know you did, you know you did you know you did). But if this ever changing world in which we're living, makes you give in and cry, say, "Live and let die!" In other words, go ahead and do what you want to do or believe whatever you want to in the first place and let everything that disagrees with your current philosophy die. Ignore it and them. Jesus confronts his accusers with kind of the same argument in that he tells them they needed to let their own corrupted view of God's commands die. He then gives them a specific example. While his detractors wanted to kill him for his truthful teaching concerning the gospel, he rebuts them by telling them to let their own false notions of God's commands die the death they needed. Th