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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 ...