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Luke 19:28-44 – Honoring Christ! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 25, 2012 AM The 82nd Airborne Division returned from Desert Storm. Their transport planes landed at Pope Air Force Base in front of a gathered crowd. Upon disembarking their aircraft, the troops marched before their commanding general. It was an impressive scene. The general spoke briefly. In essence he praised the troops for courageously facing the enemy and bringing a victory. Through bravery in battle, they had honored both their country and their commander. Theirs was a job well done. In the Bible verses before us, Christ was on His way to Jerusalem to face the difficult circumstances that awaited Him there. He was following the Father’s direction in coming to the place of His rejection and crucifixion. Jesus lived a life of dedication that He was inviting His followers to live. We honor Him by following in His footsteps. As faithful Christian soldiers, we obey Jesus as Lord, praise Him as King, and share His co...

Luke 15:1-7, 11-13, 22-24, 28-32 – When folks come to Christ! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 18, 2012 AM The meeting grew quiet. Tension filled the air. The pastor had just shared his concern for the lost of the community. A deacon stood. “Pastor, if they want to come to our church, they know where it is. We need to take care of our own. I’m not sure they are our kind of people anyway.” The pastor took that deacon visiting, and he experienced the joy of seeing someone saved. The deacon now leads witnessing teams to experience what he has experienced. He changed from hindering evangelism to promoting and leading it in his church. Evangelism is taught, but it is also caught. Salvation is a joy like no other. The point of Jesus’ parables in Luke 15 is to teach us to invite people to Christ and welcome all who come to Him. Jesus’ stories should inflame our hearts for outreach and turn skeptics into joyful participants READ: Luke 15:1-7, 11-13, 22-24, 28-32 In our Lord’s eyes, everyon...

Keep on praying! – Luke 11:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 11, 2012 AM It was a dark night. The traveler had a flat tire on a seldom used road. To complicate matters, he could not find his tire jack. The only solution lay in appealing to unknown persons in the dark farm house down the road. As he approached the house, the traveler thought to himself, “I’m sure that the farmer will be angry if I wake him and he will probably respond angrily to me. If he gives me anything at all, it will probably be out of total annoyance. The sleepy farmer came to the door and asked the traveler, “What can I do for you?” “Keep your old tire jack,” growled the traveler, “I didn’t want it anyway!” He stomped off, leaving a perplexed farmer scratching his head. Here was a needy person who returned to his needy situation without a needed solution. His approach only brought him frustration, not satisfaction. Sadly, many Christians have the same results with their prayer lives. Jesus gave the disci...

Luke 9:57-62; 14:25-33 -- Put Christ first! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 4, 2012 AM We would not think of taking a trip without counting the cost. Yet there are folks who do not think twice about spending money they do not have by placing their purchases on credit. Jesus related, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:28-30 NIV) Defaults on home mortgages are at an all time high, bankruptcies the same, and when a financial planner was asked recently if it was economy he replied, “Yes and no. “Yes”, the economy has left some of these folks in dire straits, but “No” because for the majority they simply were spending more than they brought in. They did not count the cost.” For disciples, the journey was not ju...

Luke 9:57-62; 14:25-33 -- Put Christ first! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 4, 2012 AM We would not think of taking a trip without counting the cost. Yet there are folks who do not think twice about spending money they do not have by placing their purchases on credit. Jesus related, “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” (Luke 14:28-30 NIV) Defaults on home mortgages are at an all time high, bankruptcies the same, and when a financial planner was asked recently if it was economy he replied, “Yes and no. “Yes”, the economy has left some of these folks in dire straits, but “No” because for the majority they simply were spending more than they brought in. They did not count the cost.” For disciples, the journey was not ju...

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a -- Love’s attributes! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 26, 2012 AM What is love? It is a question that poets, prognosticators, and psychologists have tried to answer. Love’s theme fills hundreds of thousands of books, songs, and blogs. Tina Turner cynically sang, “Oh what's love got to do, got to do with it? What's love but a second hand emotion? What's love got to do, got to do with it? Who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken?” Most contemporary songs in today’s society have reduced love to either feelings or lust, whichever fits the needs of the moment. It reflects the shallow and sometimes cynical view folks have for the meaning of love for their lives. However, if we are to understand Scripture we have to answer the question, “What is love?” The Bible does define for us what love is. It begins with God himself when we learn “God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NIV) Love’s definition is furthered clarified when he showed what his love is all abou...

1 John 4:10-12 – This is love! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 12, 2012 AM What does it mean to have a servant’s heart? It is more than good intentions or having a strong desire, it is an eagerness to act no matter the cost to yourself because at its core is the willingness to sacrifice. Jesus teaches us firsthand what it means when he related that “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 NIV) Paul wrote that “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus…but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant!” (Philippians 2:5, 7 NIV) There is a greater concern for self-fulfillment in today’s Christianity than there is in self-sacrifice. A servant’s heart comes from loving the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourselves! This is a servant’s heart! This is love! In the few verses we will take a look at this morning we are astounded when John def...

John 3:13-18 – The love of God revealed! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 5, 2012 AM The “Blind Men and the Elephant” is a fable that originated in India. It was translated into English in the 19th century as a poem by the writer John Godfrey Saxe. He incorrectly saw it as a means to warn against religious intolerance. Therefore, the story has become widely used in philosophy and religion classes to illustrate the need for either religious or cultural tolerance, thinking that we form our reality and belief system on our limited experiences. In other words, perhaps each religious faith only holds partial truths that make up one part of God. However, the original tale actually dealt with the spiritual blindness of the four individuals and how if blind men could not grasp the physical reality of an elephant they could touch, how are we, spiritually blind people, going to grasp a God whom we cannot see. This brings up a very interesting notion. If people in our day and age have a d...

Malachi 4:4-6 – Being prepared! By Pastor Lee Hemen January 29, 2012 AM Most of us on that Tuesday morning had not given much thought to what the day held. After all it was a pretty normal Tuesday. I was on my way to Morning Prayer and my thoughts were on what we would pray about when we met. I was not thinking about eternal things. This was true for most of those who boarded planes in Boston, went to work in New York City, or began their day behind a desk at the Pentagon. Few that day had any idea of what the next few hours would bring, yet with devastating swiftness we were all reminded just how quick death comes. Since 9-11, it has made me wonder how many folks are prepared for eternity. We find that the Prophet Malachi was very concerned about the subject of preparedness. It was in his thoughts as he wrote to the Israelites. He wanted them to consider the eternal consequences of their lives. He knew that if they did not think about their actions and faith now, there wou...