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Luke 1:26-38 – Listen! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 4, 2022 One of my least favorite Christmas songs is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” Sorry if it is one of your favorites, but I’ve never liked it that much except for the last verse when the King commands, “Listen to what I say! Pray for peace, people everywhere! Listen to what I say! The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night He will bring us goodness and light, He will bring us goodness and light.” Now don’t get me wrong the message of the song is great, the night wind whispering to a little lamb about a “star with a tail as big as a kite.” The lamb asking a shepherd boy if he can hear the same song he hears, and the shepherd boy asking the mighty king, “Do you know what I know?” Now if you listen closely at the words, you will notice that each phrase is contingent upon one thing: listening! In our day and age where everything demands our immediate attention it is often hard to get people to simply listen. In the verses we will look at ...

How God uses those who are willing! -- Judges 7:1-9 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 12, 2020 We all want God to do mighty things just like those described in the Scriptures but there are few of us that truly want God to do those mighty things through us! When the rubber meets the road in our spiritual walk with God the rubber often turns to gravel. The pavement comes up to meet us in the face, so-to-speak. But it is here where we discover the power and strength of God when we are willing to be used of God! And how he chooses to use us depends on how willing we are! Gideon, that “Mighty Warrior” of God not only had to learn this lesson for himself but he had to try and teach it to an entire nation! As we begin the process of looking for our future pastor we must be willing to go where God leads us. It can be a scary prospect but it is also a rewarding one as well. Here in Judges we discover how God uses those who are willing… READ: Judges 7:1-9 Letting go and allowing God to work in one’s l...

Believers will be ill-treated! - Matthew 10:16-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 3, 2019 In today’s politically correct climate individuals can feel threatened by anything, everything, and anyone. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, then you have a personal right to whine about it and make a spectacle of yourself concerning your hurt feelings. It makes one wonder what these same wilting Willies would do if they were truly persecuted. Jesus knew that his message was not and would not be popular with the established religious leadership. And in fact they would do anything to silence it and its messengers including lying, threatening, and imprisoning those who dared share it. Evil does not like to be exposed and the world was enshrouded in evil. I believe this is why there are those who are emboldened in our day and age to not just disagree with the gospel message but to personally persecute in any way possible anyone who dares to try and share it. Jesus knew believers would be persecuted; ...

A soldier’s faith! -- Matthew 8:5-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 7, 2019 What kind of discipline do you display in life? I have a sister who never saw a shoe store she couldn’t pass by or for that matter a jewelry display she would not stop for. For me it used to be bookstores. However self-discipline is a good thing and is why the military focuses on it so much. They want soldiers who will follow orders and are disciplined enough to be able to handle anything that is thrown their way during a conflict. In fact they are trained to act as a team and to depend on one another. Jesus desired that his followers learn how to not only have faith in him but also to have faith in one another because he knew their future was going to be tough. And here in this depiction of an incident that Jesus has with a Roman centurion teaches about what it means to have faith in him and to have the willingness to follow Jesus wherever he leads. Let’s take a look at a soldier’s faith… READ: Matthew 8:5-13 The wa...

Where is your heart? – Matthew 6:19-24 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 28, 2019 When I was going to seminary one of things we were told to look at very closely was the reason why we wanted to be a pastor in the first place. And one of my instructors bluntly told us that if we could not confidently say we were called of God we should go do something else. He continued by relating that our calling was what would keep us grounded during tough or good times because it came from the Lord. Ministering was not a “job” but when it became one, and it would sometimes, we could rely on our calling from God to strengthen us. It would show us where our heart truly was. Jesus wanted his listeners to understand that following God was more than following a set of rules. After Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead everything would change concerning an individual’s relationship with God. What became important was not past history or one’s heritage but rather if you could confidently say you trusted the...

Humility! - Philippians 2:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 1, 2018 There was an old Country/Western song that stated, “Oh Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way” but of course it was a parody on how the singer viewed himself. However if you listen to some of the folks in today’s headlines you would wonder if some of them need to take a reality pill. Sadly it has infected Christianity to the point where we have begun to arrogantly think that everything about Jesus revolves around us instead of his eternal plan. Paul knew that each believer was part of God’s plan for the spreading of his gospel. He understood this because it was what he had dedicated his life to. Because of Paul’s adamant belief in the saving grace of Jesus and his single-minded focus there were those who thought he was arrogant. This can happen to someone who is totally focused in life as Paul was. Needless to say this kind of irked Paul and so he did not want others to think this was t...

Honoring God’s servants! -- 1 Timothy 5:17-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 21, 2018 Recently the news has had several truly horrendous examples of pastors gone bad both of which either had or are pastoring mega churches. One had sexual relations with underage girls and the other deliberately misappropriated tens of thousands of dollars of church money and was caught smuggling hundreds of illegal pounds of marijuana in his car. These examples are by no means how the vast majority of pastors humbly serve in their ministries but these ungodly few leave a bad influence and taste with those inside and outside the church. Part of the problem is when too much power is given to an individual who is supposed to be a servant of the Lord and not a sovereign. Paul understood that how a pastor follows through in his ministry reflects on the entire body of Christ. The same is true in how the body of Christ honors their pastors. While respect is earned, honor is to be given to those who serve. For wha...

A good servant of Jesus! -- 1 Timothy 4:8-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 7, 2018 People will spend money for gym memberships, take time to run every day, or make sure that they eat only certain things in specific amounts. What is interesting though is that these same folks who spend so much time and effort on some of these things do not spend the same amount of effort, time, or personal investment in their relationship with the Lord. Just as regular exercise for the body is good so is regular spiritual daily exercise with Jesus. Paul knew that his mentorship with Timothy included his investment daily in spending time with the Lord. Paul had studied the Psalms and he knew the question David asked: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?” and how David answered it: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.” (Psa...

A deacon! -- 1Timothy 3:8-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 12, 2012 Often all you hear about, read about, or see in the movies and TV is a gross characterization of evangelical church leadership. In fact so much so that there is a societal mythos that is completely false concerning Christian leadership in evangelical churches; especially concerning deacons. The truth is there are literally tens of thousands of pastors and hundreds of thousands of deacons who serve in evangelical churches all across America and worldwide with grace and compassion as the servants of Jesus they are called to be. Paul is writing to his young friend in the ministry Timothy on how a church is supposed to function and how congregations were to choose their leadership. Were Paul’s suggestions supposed to be the absolute law for all time and all churches everywhere concerning how a local church chooses its leadership? No, I do not believe so, however, since his writing is Spirit-inspired we as believers wo...

Slaves and masters! – Ephesians 6:5-9 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 2, 2017 There are times when employees may feel they are slaves or just a cog in one big giant machine only good for what they can turn out for the “man” but to equate our boredom or nasty bosses to actual slavery is a bit much. Real slavery is no laughing matter and it still exists in many countries of the world today; most notably within those that are predominately Muslim or socialist. While slavery was the predominate thinking for much of the world’s history Christianity has played a huge role in ending this horrendous system of slaves and masters. Jesus taught that God views all people equal and while Paul and others addressed slaves and masters they knew that God so loved the whole world and that Jesus came to save all mankind. Within those nations who were influenced by Christianity the ungodly system of slavery would eventually be done away with. We can find the seeds to its destruction in how Paul addresses the at...