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Ramblings from Retirement – Jesus and Freedom of Speech By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen April 14, 2022 My father would remind us that “Words mean things”, usually when my brother and I were in the midst of calling one another morons or some other teenage moniker. Words are important. Many in today’s America have forgotten a fundamental right that is guaranteed by our Constitution: Freedom of speech. This is a core right that should be protected at all costs. You may not like or agree with what someone else says, writes, or films but you can turn it off, not read it, or respond to it. It is your freedom to do so. Lease we forget this is why Jesus was persecuted as he was. He openly proclaimed the truth of God which stood in stark contrast to the false narrative of the religious leaders of his day. Over and over, we hear Jesus telling his detractors, “You say” and then telling them the truth. Using his free speech eventually cost him his life. In Matthew’s gospel we find a perfect example ...

Fasting! – Matthew 6:16-18 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 14, 2019 There are some Christian disciplines that have gone by the wayside in our day and age. Of course becoming a hermit and forcing every bit of personal contact out of your life is not what Jesus meant when he said for us to “go into all the world”. And I confess I like zippers, buttons, and running water. However the disciplines of giving and prayer should be practiced. Today we are going to look at the discipline of fasting and why Jesus spoke about it. I remember the first time I led a group of youth to fast. After the first four hours some of them were already going into fits about being hungry and that it was not such a good idea for them to do. We did it to focus on world hunger and our fast was only for 24 hours. You would have thought it was for 24 days! Let’s discover what Jesus taught about fasting… READ: Matthew 6:16-18 We have to understand why Jesus mentioned fasting here and what it meant for the Hebrew people befo...