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The Praise of Men - John 12:37-43 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 16, 2015 There's a saying that states, "Different strokes for different folks and some folks need a lot of strokes." I have always found it disconcerting people need constant affirmation for every little thing they do. The need for constant affirmation has created a self-indulgent and narcissistic generation. Of course this is nothing new; there have always been those who love the accolades of the adoring crowds, even if it is forced. It has been likened to a narcotic and those who become hooked need their fix often. Starlets, politicians, dictators, and now even the more common folk look for ways to be recognized, adulated, revered, and remembered. Instagram and Facebook postings that record our every waking moment, and the regurgitation our lives on the Tweetersphere are all part of this self-absorbed lifestyle. We love the praise of others, the praise of men. In fact, many of us live in fear of losing the pra...

The Living Water! - John 7:37-53 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 19, 2015 I was reading an old western the other day by Louis L'Amour. In it the hero was trekking across the Southwestern desert without water when he comes to a small watering hole. He figures out that the water is no good; it is poisoned and would kill him if he drank it, and since there is no other water for miles he has to do something about it before he can drink it. This little piece of the short story I was reading made me begin to wonder how in the world do folks in our day and age know, when they are dying of thirst, if the water they are drinking is poisoned or not? Folks can be poisoned by a lot of things: What they read, what they are taught, by the example given them from their peers or parents, or what they watch in movie or TV. Everything from our spirituality to our worldview can be slowly poisoned and we never realize it until we have to pay the ultimate price. The common folks of Jesus' day were slowin...

When Family or Man Does Not Understand - Mark 3:20-35 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 25, 2009 AM During a Youth Camp I was directing one young teenage girl was deliberately creating personal drama all around her. Because of her self-centeredness and total self-absorption in boys, she was keeping the whole camp in turmoil. Of course, being the Camp Director, I had to be the one to confront her. At first she got really angry and tried yelling at me that I “just did not understand her and what she was going through.” So, I patiently asked her to explain it to me. As she got into her lengthy dissertation on why she was being a pill, she realized how totally selfish she was and how the whole camp had begun to not want to be around her. All of a sudden she went kind of pale, began to cry, and apologized. We have all seen in situation comedies, or have experienced for ourselves, a pouting child that storms off into the next room while shouting to their bewildered parents, “You just do not unders...