PastorBlastor

Condemned by conformity! -- 2 Kings 14:8-14; 15:10, 13-14, 16 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 28, 2018 I used to go fishing for crawdads. As we caught them we would put them in a bucket of water. As the bucket got full of crawdads they would try to crawl out but the ones trying to get out were pulled back in by others trying to get out. As parents we warn are children about the influence of peer pressure. Peer pressure can be just like those crawdads that pulled others back into the bucket. I have learned however that peer pressure does not end in childhood, it continues into our adult life. There are those in our Christian lives who try to pull us back into conformity rather than live the lives God desires. 2 Kings 14–15 contains a brief history of the reigns of 3 kings over Judah and 6 kings over Israel. Their reigns were characteristic of life in Judah and in Israel. The reigns of the kings of Judah did okay but they compromised God’s requirements. They allowed people to offer sac...

Peter and the Denial - John 18:17, 25-27 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 24, 2016 Betrayal by a friend is a horrible thing to go through and so is desertion of one's companions as well. Jesus experienced both. And both are seen in our day and age as not just offensive but something whereby the guilty party can be imprisoned for life or even given the death penalty if it involves the betrayal of country or king. As awful as Judas' betrayal was, Peter's was in some ways far more personal and thereby worse. What can we learn from Peter and his denial this morning? Let's find out… Before James, Jesus' brother said, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." he related that the believer should "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." (James 1:19-20, 22 NIV) Peter was one to quickly jump into whatever situation he was in w...