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Imitate Jesus! - Romans 15:1-13 April 29, 2007 AM by Pastor Lee Hemen In our day and age where people can remain intimately anonymous in cyber chat rooms and blog rings, they have submerged themselves into self-absorbed cocoons instead of servant churches. Encouraged into this kind of thinking, the local church is no longer a body of like-minded believers working together to build the kingdom of God. Instead, “herds” are ushered into spiritual slaughter houses, with the unsuspecting masses, to watch live video-fed messages projected onto a screen for spiritual entertainment. You can feel you are a part of something, while not really being a part of anything. Sadly, in many cases, the body of Christ in our world has become a prepackaged commodity and has ceased in being the loving intimate family of God it was meant to be. Paul relates to the Roman church that they were to first and foremost imitate Jesus Christ as a church. They were to be His body in the world. This cannot be done in ...

Dealing With Fellow Christians, Part II – Romans 14:13-23 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 22, 2007 AM It has always amazed me that those who are usually in sin are the first to scream, “Do not judge me! Judge not, least ye be judged!” In doing so they miss the context of the verse (Matthew 7:1) they quote. Jesus was referring His audience to the fact that too many in His day and age were quick to weigh other people’s faults without first looking closely at their own (v. 2). The main thrust here is not that you can never judge someone else’s sins, which in fact Christ indeed does say a righteous person can do (v. 6), but rather make sure that you inspect yourself first before doing so. Most Jews in His day were more than willing to judge not only one another but especially the non-believing “goyim” around them. Can Christians judge one another? Paul deals with this issue for us here this morning and gives us a foundation for dealing with fellow Christians. Of course we understand that when so...

Dealing With Fellow Christians, Part I – Romans 14:1-12 by Pastor Lee Hemen April 15, 2007 Although Psalm 133:1 reminds us “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity!” the Psalmist did not know about my brother Ed and me. While we get along very well now, because we are old and cannot run as fast as we used to, when we were younger we could put on a real show. While we could pound on one another until the cows came home, we also were the first to stand side-by-side one another as well. I will never forget the relief that surged through my scrawny body when behind the three upper classmen, who were trying to take may pants off in order to embarrass me, stood my “Big Brother.” It was kind of like the cavalry showing up in the nick of time! This is the way it should be for fellow believers within the church. Certainly everyone knows that it is often easier to deal with the splinter in someone else’s eye rather than pull the log out of our own. Jesus knew this to b...

Relating to Life! -- Romans 13:8-14 April 1, 2006 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen What one gift does the whole world need and that can never be exhausted? Now, think before you answer and be careful with your reply. It is the only debt you owe that is continually outstanding, that can never be repaid in full. In fact, in order to fully comprehend this gift you have to value the present day and age you live in. Origen, an Early Christian scholar, theologian, and one of the most distinguished of the early fathers of the Christian Church correctly deduced that this gift was “the debt of love [which] remains with us permanently and never leaves us; this is a debt which we both discharge everyday and forever owe.” It is the core of the Christian life. St. Augustine said many centuries ago that you are to “Love God and do what you like.” He did not mean we could do whatever we liked. Rather, we are to live for God and when we do we can do what we like. We forget that faith is not just another word fo...

Relating to Authority – Romans 13:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 25, 2007 AM Almost every young person goes through a time of rebellion to authority in some form or another. Whether it is deliberately ignoring a parent when they are speaking, getting a weird haircut, or dressing is some fashion that is supposed to be against society’s norm. However the one act of Christianity that is taught over and over throughout the pages of the New Testament is the fact that the believer is to be submissive. This does not mean an acquiescence of our faith, but rather our willingness to set aside our own needs for the needs of others. In this the Christian is following the example of Jesus. This attitude is to continue into the are of authority as well. While the Christian’s “citizenship is in heaven,” (Philippians 3:20) and we are now citizens of the kingdom of God, we are to be first and foremost living our faith out here on earth. Being citizens of God’s kingdom does not give us a “pass” on ignori...

Living the Transformed Life! - Romans 12:9-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 18, 2007 AM There is an old adage that states: “What you do speaks louder than what you say.” This could not be more true than as it is seen in the life of the Christian. There is almost a myopic phobia in Christian circles today that does not want to mention the word “responsibility” in connection to Christian living. The fear stems from the absurd notion that if we “offend” the unsaved they will not want to hear about Jesus. Also, there are those who think that this might in some way be an endorsement for the believer to try and gain God’s approval. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is not in support of works, but rather what is to spiritually occur after the love of God transforms the life of a believer. Paul would say that it is how a believer lives the transformed life. The transformed life is displayed in every responsibility, attitude, action and reaction, and relationship the Christian has in li...

Transformed Living! - Romans 12:1-8 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 11, 2007 AM Sometimes standing for your faith is tougher than simply deciding between a lesser or greater evil or lesser or greater good. It often requires the individual to make a decision on how they will live their lives. Most of Jesus’ disciples found this out rather quickly. In fact, to the point of their dying for the sake of the gospel message. Sadly, there are those in our day and age who claim to know Jesus, but are very willing to toss Him over board, rather than step out on the water and join Him, in order to be seen or viewed as nice or likable by the world. While we should not necessarily be contrary on purpose, the very nature of our lives lived for Jesus should make us “enemies to the world.” If we as believers are too well liked by those living in the ungodly realm of this world, then we should take a closer look at our faith walk and what it means. Living for Jesus means transformed living. Transformed livin...

God’s Election Through His People! – Romans 11:11-36 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 4, 2007 AM There is a commercial on TV where a group of office people are milling around in a jungle setting, when all of a sudden they all begin to run in a blind panic as if they are stampeding like wild animals. The camera pans back and you see them pushing, shoving, and headed for a cliff as they literally push one another off the edge. It is to depict the lemming-like mentality that exists in some offices. I am not quite sure who the commercial is for or what it is trying to sell, however, people can and often do act like the proverbial lemming. Remember the old Wonderful World of Disney where they showed lemmings headed for the cliff as they hurled themselves off into the sea below? Of course we later learned that this does not happen as depicted, yet the fact remains there are a lot of human lemmings in the world, madly rushing off spiritual cliffs of their choosing. If you knew someone close to you ...

God’s Election by Grace! - Romans 11:1-10 February 25, 2007 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen An 8-year-old girl wrote to a Christian leader, seeking advice. She wanted to know how she could get her daddy to carry her picture. She said her dad had a photo of her little brother in his wallet (the boy looked like his dad). And he carried a picture of his pretty 15-year-old daughter too. But when this 8-year-old gave him a photo of herself, he put it in a drawer. It seems that she wasn't good enough for her daddy. To be rejected for anything can leave a huge emotional mark on a person’s life. Of course, it depends upon what you are rejected from and why. However, rejection can carry a heavy burden in a person’s life. It would be especially hard to learn that your whole ethnic group or nationality were rejected by God! How worse would it be then if you were chosen by God, yet ignored that election? J. A. Meads Jr. began a sermon with: "The reason you and I cannot ignore God can be stated in ...

God’s Wonderful Offer! – Romans 9:30-10:1-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 18, 2007 AM Recently, Baptist Press reported on a story concerning a “radical new website” that is gaining popularity by “challenging people to deny the existence of God.” It is run by an obtuse atheist, a Mr. Fleming, who claims he “became a born-again Christian when he was 13.” (You can claim you are rational, but it doesn’t mean you are!) The really dim-witted thing is that he is giving away a free DVD on how to be an atheist. You have to go to a web site called YouTube and post a video of yourself denouncing God by saying the phrase, “I deny the Holy Spirit.” The website explains that “the phrase is required because Mark 3:29 says, ‘Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.’” This is so illogical and intellectually ignorant on so many levels. First, if you are truly born of the Spirit you cannot “blaspheme” Him no matter what you say. (Look at the conte...