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Showing posts from December, 2015

Prayer for the Disciples! - John 17:14-26

Prayer for the Disciples! - John 17:14-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 27, 2015 If you knew your life was going to be cut short, how would you pray for those you care about? Perhaps you do not know what you would pray, but it is a good question to consider. I believe it is because so many of us say we will pray for others but few of us truly know what to pray or how to pray for others. Often we fall back into the trite and simplistic prayers we have often voiced. I have learned over the years that prayer is so much more than we realize. We should stand in awe of the fact that our prayer is our conversation with God himself. It is not some psychological or mystical crutch we use to sooth our guilty conscience. Here in John's gospel we find Jesus intimately praying for his disciples and for us! Why would Jesus pray if he was God? We have learned that although Jesus is God he willingly placed himself in human form, developed and taught by his example what it meant to walk closel

4th Sunday of Advent - Love! - Psalm 118:1-4, 22-29

4th Sunday of Advent - Love! - Psalm 118:1-4, 22-29 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 20, 2015 There is a lot of confusion concerning love in our day and age where far too many think it is sexual act or an emotion instead of what it truly is meant to be. Love is more than a feeling or a Hallmark® card moment. Love is the most revealing and intimate attitude and action a person can choose to do. It comes from the inner core of who someone is and lays bare who we are and lets down any personal guard we might possess. The Apostle Paul defined love by relating, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NIV) Of course he meant this as defined by Jesus who is the very definition o

3rd Sunday of Advent - Joy! - Jeremiah 31:11-13

3rd Sunday of Advent - Joy! - Jeremiah 31:11-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 13, 2015 Joy for a lot of people depends upon their physical state instead of their state of mind; they want to be happy all of the time through material things and this is impossible. We can never achieve the convoluted ideal of a perpetual happy nirvana in life. Trying to say to one's self over and over that every day in every way I am getting better and better does not make one joyful, especially when others remind you just how incompetent you might be. Joy comes from inner peace and contentment which can only truly be found in Jesus Christ. The reason is obvious; his joy is not just internal it is eternal and cannot be taken away by outside circumstances. When the Messiah was promised by the prophets of God people began to realize that his coming would mark a new era not just in the way things were done here on earth, but his coming would affect all of creation. There would be the joy of the Lord in th