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Hebrews 11:17-40 – Faith Expressed! By Pastor Lee Hemen   December 30, 2012 AM What kind of heroes do we hold up to be emulated? Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. writes about the need for heroes: “My middle son, Marlon, complained to me just the other day that his generation is coming of age ‘in a world without heroes.’ . . . His words tugged at me. . . . Our children have learned to wait for the other shoe to drop, for ‘heroes’ to be unmasked and values betrayed.” A survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University shows that 60 percent of adults have no heroes. It’s an unhealthy trend, according to former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett, author of the best-seller The Book of Virtues: “It is particularly important for young people to have heroes. This is a way to teach them by moral example, so that we can point to someone as an ideal.” I believe this is why true heroes, heroes of our faith can give us a renewed vigor to live for the Lord. In a summar...

Hebrews 11:7-16 – What Faith Means! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 16, 2012 AM In what has occurred in the past few days, people are trying to find meaning out of the violence. Sadly, bad people will do bad things to innocent people. Sin exists. And, this kind of violence has always been with us because we live in a sin-fallen world. Never forget that a madman king tried to wipe out a perceived rival for his throne by killing all the children, ages 2 years and younger, in Bethlehem following the birth of Jesus. When these kinds of horrendous things occur, we need to hide in the loving wings of the One who loves us and sacrificed His son for us. It is time to understand what faith means again. Jewish believers were trying to go back to a worldly faith where the emphasis was on their feelings and good works. The author of Hebrews would have none of it and begins the process of defining exactly what faith has meant all along. God rewards those who seek Him and we can only beco...

Hebrews 11:1-6 – What Is Faith? By Pastor Lee Hemen December  9, 2012 AM What is faith? Is it a feeling, an emotional response, or the intellectual exercise of one’s will to decide to believe in something based on the evidence no matter what others say? Webster’s Dictionary states that it is defined as, “allegiance to duty or a person, loyalty, fidelity to one's promises, sincerity of intentions, firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust, something that is believed especially with strong conviction, or belief and trust in and loyalty to God.” The author of Hebrews gives us a definition of what faith is and then he spends the rest of this chapter in giving us examples of what faith meant for specific people. As we look at what he wrote and why, it should make us think about what our faith means to us. READ: Hebrews 11:1-6 What in life are you certain of, that you know without a doubt you can depend upon? We can absolutely depend in l...

Hebrews 10:32-39 – Keep On Keeping On! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 2, 2012 AM Do you remember when you first came to Christ, how you felt, and how others viewed your conversion? Were you excited, were they excited for you, and what about your friends? When I came to faith in Christ, my family was not that thrilled and my friends did not understand. In fact, from both groups I received a certain amount of grief. In fact, my boss bluntly told me that he could not stand Christians and would make my life miserable. How did your salvation change your life and what in your faith makes you want to keep on keeping on in life? These very important questions challenge us to make some thoughtful answers. The author of Hebrews knew his listeners were confused and wanted the easy way out by going back to what they felt was spiritually comfortable for them. Sin often works that way. Sin usually occurs in our lives not because some dramatically evil thing entices us, but rather because ...

Hebrews 10:26-31 – Apostasy? Me? By Pastor Lee Hemen November 25, 20112 AM Sometimes the anticipation of something can be far more than the reality. You know what I mean, as children we may have anticipated Christmas, the presents, and then when the actual day arrives, it is not quite what we thought it might be. For the believer however, our anticipation of heaven and eternity does not come close to the reality. Paul wrote, “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” How do we know this to be true, Paul continues by telling us that “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”(1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV) I bring this up in order to say that some of us have a convoluted view of eternity. There are those who think that heaven is some kind of ethereal place and hell is only what you make of it, neither is true. Heaven is being in th...

Hebrews 10:19-25 – The “Lettuce” Sayings! By Pastor Lee Hemen November 18, 2012 AM Integrity is truly an interesting word. It speaks to our core principles, of our steadfastness to hold to high moral standards in spite of the rest of the world. It is our completeness or our undivided attention to what we actually believe and adhere too. And finally, it is found in what makes us whole as a person. Someone of integrity can be counted on, is seen as one who is not only dependable but also upright, and someone who is not ashamed of their actions anywhere with anyone. Integrity should be the hallmark of a Christian’s life. Do you think many of us might be surprised to know how others view our integrity in the Lord? Perhaps we might also be ashamed at how God sees our lives as well. The author of Hebrews was writing to a group of folks who held themselves in high spiritual and moral regard. But as my Dad would say, “Their salad was just shy a few tomatoes.” Meaning, they were no...

Hebrews 10:11-18 - What the sacrifice has done! By Pastor Lee Hemen November 11, 2012 AM Up to ten Libyans were killed as well as Glen Doherty, a former Navy SEAL, who was one of the four Americans who died thinking that help was coming after defending their position for several hours. They were eventually overrun and slaughtered and the ambassador taken and killed. All of this occurred while the President and his Administration knew it was going to happen because they had been forewarned. The defenders reflected self-sacrifice, loyalty, and honor. What do you ascribe to the actions of those who could have done something but did nothing? They later claimed it was due to a protest of a video, when they knew it was actuality a planned terror attack by Ansar al-Shariah, an established offshoot of al-Qaeda, watched it live, and then told those who wanted to help to “stand down”. What would anyone call that? Certainly not, “sacrifice.” What would call the actions of someone who...

Hebrews 10:1-10 – The shadow of the reality! By Pastor Lee Hemen November 4, 2012 AM “True! Nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed - not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell.” Thus begins “The Tell-Tale Heart”, a short story by Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1843. It is told by an unnamed narrator who endeavors to convince the reader of his sanity, while describing a murder he committed. Ultimately, the narrator's guilt manifests itself in an auditory hallucination: The narrator hears his victim’s heart still beating under the floorboards where he hid the body. Guilt can make us hear things, do things, or say and promise things we would not normally hear, say or do. Sin is like that. Guilt coupled with pride convinces us to remain in ungodly relationships, do thi...

Hebrews 9:16-28 – Jesus, the ultimate sacrifice! By Pastor Lee Hemen October 28, 2012 AM Far too many folks in our day and age do not have a last will and testament, because they never bothered to have one written. They think it is unimportant or that they do not need to worry about it so they put it off. Some foolishly think that by doing one they might hasten their own demise! It is extremely important to have a last will and testament. Few realize that their net worth is what matters and not, necessarily, what is in their bank accounts. We have all watched TV shows or movies where folks gather to hear the last will and testament of some dearly departed soul. However, did you know that a will is not completely valid until someone has died? This is especially true where the Old Testament is concerned and was not fully understood until Jesus came and established the New Testament when he became the ultimate sacrifice. What will be your last will and testament to the world?...

Hebrews 9:11-15 – The blood of the Lamb of God! By Pastor Lee Hemen October 7, 2012 AM When I was younger, we had a clubhouse we had built in a huge fir tree and then we decided to build another by digging one just down from the tree in the hillside by the railroad tracks. In order to get into the clubhouse you had to know how to enter. We had a set of passwords and booby traps to entrap the unsuspecting who dared enter without knowing the secrets of our clubhouse. Of course looking back on those security measures we had, they seem pretty juvenile now. You know what, there are religions in our world today that have the same kind of secret handshakes and code words that you have to understand and do in order to get into the “secret” inner arena of their spiritual philosophies. It is a matter of genuflections or erasing one’s engrams. The Old Testament ritual had become, well, so much ritual because of Jesus Christ! But how does one show this to people who had for their enti...