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Love one another! – 1 John 4:7-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 25, 2018 After the horrific shooting in Florida a lot of folks are asking what went wrong. Some blame guns, law enforcement, the public school system, or society itself. At its core I believe it reflects how we view ourselves and God. Interestingly in the midst of all this discussion Pastor Billy Graham died. Perhaps God decided to take one of his children home to heaven this past week in order for us to refocus on what I mean. As believers we are to love one another. In our society many have elevated their children to a status of child worship while others totally ignore their kids and want others like schools to raise them. We allow children to be exposed to any and everything and no longer protect childhood innocence. We have reduced God to a myth and humanity to animals and wonder why life is not considered sacred. John knew that believers could lose sight of what love of God meant. Let’s learn what John wrote… READ: 1

The way of love! – 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a By Pastor Lee Hemen February 18, 2018 What is love? It is a question that poets, prognosticators, and psychologists have tried to answer. Love’s theme fills hundreds of thousands of books, songs, and blogs. Tina Turner cynically sang, “Oh what's love got to do, got to do with it? What's love but a second hand emotion? What's love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?” Most contemporary songs in today’s society have reduced love to either feelings or lust, whichever fits the needs of the moment. It reflects the shallow and sometimes cynical view folks have for the meaning of love for their lives. However, if we are to understand Scripture we have to answer the question, “What is love?” The Bible does define for us what love is. It begins with God himself when we learn “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) Love’s definition is furthered clarified when he showed what his love is all about in sending his

God’s everlasting love! – Romans 8:31-39 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 11, 2018 Nothing lasts forever; the Second Law of Thermodynamics makes sure of that. The Second Law of Thermodynamics is commonly known as the Law of Increased Entropy. While the quantity, the mass, of everything remains the same (First Law), the quality of matter/energy deteriorates gradually over time which is “Entropy” and is defined as a measure of unusable energy within a closed or isolated system. I know, boring physics lesson, but absolutely not relevant in the spiritual laws of God because we learn that there indeed is something that lasts forever – our relationship to the Creator of all things! All other religions teach us that mankind has to try hard to be better, do better, or that we have to do something grand in order for God to love us. Yet here in the beautiful gospel message of Jesus we find something totally confounding and wonderful for mankind. There is nothing we can do except trust what God

The expression of God’s love! – John 3:16-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 4, 2018 How do you express your love? Since February is the month when we celebrate love because of Valentine’s Day I thought it would be good for us to pause and reflect on what love truly means for the believer. And being able to express, know, and understand what love is supposed to be is extremely important. Far too many carry false notions and understanding of what love is all about therefore it is important for Christians to be able to help others truly know the expression of God’s love. When I first meant my wife she was my best friend’s kid-sister who took perverse joy in teasing us. Being the “mature” High School freshman I was I was not impressed by a 13 year old Junior Higher. Now for 42 years I am very impressed and interested in my best friend’s kid sister. Of course it took a lot of time, effort, and commitment for me to express just how much I care about her. It still does and I still do! God did t