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Rambling from Retirement – Join the Flock By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen April 28, 2021 Today as I came home from our Men’s Prayer the birds in my front yard trees were singing so loudly you could hardly hear anything else. They seemed to be just full of the joy of being alive, free, and just being birds. Even though they were not all in sync or in harmony it was wonderful to hear and it got me to thinking about the Psalm we had just read and prayed about as a group of men. The Psalmist writes his listeners to “Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. (Psalms 95:1-3 NIV)” He invited others to join him in a cacophony of singing praises to God simply because He is God. The birds in my trees reminded me of the Psalmist’s words for us to join him in song. Like those birds who sing simply because they are birds ...

Ramblings from Retirement – Freedom! By Pastor Lee Hemen (Retired) March 22, 2021 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18 NIV) At what point do believers “submit themselves to the governing authorities”? Paul would write the Roman Christians, who were under severe persecution, that they were to honor God and that those “who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2 NIV). However there does come a time when the Christian must follow the Lord and not man because man can do evil and ...

Nothing in life is free! -- John 6:22-33 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 12, 2020 There is a tale that the great circus promoter P. T. Barnum once quipped, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” There is a lot of doubt as to whether he actually said this or not, but one thing I have heard over and over again is the old truism “nothing in life is free.” This is true of anyone who wants to sell you the latest get rich scheme, diet pill, or quick spiritual fix. Nothing in life is free. However, the Apostle Paul wrote, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24 NIV)” In other words, we receive the gift of salvation freely from God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Nothing in life is free, except salvation from God through Jesus! And here in John’s gospel we find that ...

Christ’s church is not confused! – Galatians 5:6-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 8, 2020 Have you ever thought you were doing the right thing but in reality it was for the wrong reasons? We can fool ourselves into thinking that God’s will is what we like or what we want and when we do we might be guilty of trying to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. As we search for a new pastor we want to make sure that we are not trying to get our way instead of seeking the Lord’s will for our church. We should not be confused in doing what God desires. The church in Galatia had gotten itself all tied up in what they thought was the correct way of living for the Lord but in reality it was from the wrong reasons. They were confused and not doing what the Lord desired. Paul wanted them to come together in the Lord to do the will of God, let’s see how Paul clarified their confusion… READ: Galatians 5:6-16 Paul understood that all believers were God’s children “through faith in Jesus Christ” (Galati...

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...

Be free! - Galatians 5:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 4, 2016 It is interesting to see how many hospitals have become aggressive advocates for certain things regarding pregnancy, birthing, and the care of newborns. So much so it sometimes borders more on being politically correct rather than the actual health of the child or the concerns of the parents. For some hospitals and how they handle circumcision is a good case in point. In our day and age where circumcision is a personal choice and does not have any actual health benefit due to greater medical research and societal cleanliness. However, whether one wants to try and make the theological argument that it is healthier or not it is no longer spiritually necessary. Jesus put an absolute end to anyone having to follow the law in order to be saved and to go back into the law one is willingly enslaving themselves to a system that will eternally condemn them. Paul knew this to be true and desperately wanted the Galatians to u...

Nothing in life is free! -- John 6:22-33 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 1, 2015 There is a tale that the great circus promoter P. T. Barnum once quipped, "There's a sucker born every minute." There is a lot of doubt as to whether he actually said this or not, but one thing I have heard over and over again is the old truism "nothing in life is free." This is true of anyone who wants to sell you the latest get rich scheme, diet pill, or quick spiritual fix. Nothing in life is free. However, the Apostle Paul wrote, "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:22-24 NIV)" In other words, we receive the gift of salvation freely from God because of Jesus' death and resurrection. Nothing in life is free, except salvation from God through J...