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The Wise Life! -- James 3:13-18 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 22, 2014 Where does wisdom come from? Does it come about because of age? Does it come from the amount of knowledge one knows or has acquired? Mark Twain retorted, “The person who has had a bull by the tail once has learned 60 or 70 times as much as a person who hasn't.” Another quote that is often falsely attributed to Twain is the one that states, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years!” My father used to remind us that “Just because you think you know something, does not make it true.” We find this pithy bit of wisdom to be quite true in our day and age whereby so many think they know God when in fact they know nothing about him at all. Both the psalmist and the writer of Proverbs agree that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…. (Psalms 111:10 ...

The Teachable Life! – James 3:1-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 15, 2014 Are you teachable or do you only like to teach? They say the best teachers are those who are willing to learn themselves. While I am a conservative evangelical pastor, I still spend time reading what other faiths believe or what other viewpoints are concerning the world around me. In our world today it has become increasingly more difficult to try and have ongoing conversations with those whom one disagrees with; especially if you are a Christian. While we live in a world that says it is tolerant of differing views, I dare say what they really means is that they are accepting as long as the views agree with theirs! Often times one can become the enemy simply because you relate the truth. As Paul wrote, “Those people are zealous to win you over, but for no good. What they want is to alienate you from us, so that you may be zealous for them.” (Galatians 4:17 NIV) They are not very teachable. The teachable life is not on...

The Faithful Life! -- James 2:14-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 8, 2014 Latin for "always faithful," Semper Fidelis became the Marine Corps motto in 1883. It guides Marines to remain faithful to the mission at hand, to each other, to the Corps and to country, no matter what. It is too bad that the soldiers of the Lord could not adopt the same motto for their lives as well; to be always faithful to the Lord no matter what the cost. Christians are to have an unwritten motto that states, "Sola fide" or faith alone. However, in the constant confusion and societal blurring of today's walk with Christ, many have forgotten what the meaning of a faithful life is supposed to be. Just as the law of love gives no excuse for disregard of individuals, so one's faith gives believers no excuse to quit doing good works. A believer must not only demonstrate one's love by readily accepting others, but we must also demonstrate our faith by helping those around us. James went ...

The Judged Life! -- James 2:11-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 1, 2014 We do not like to be judged by others, but we are no matter if we like it or not. We can declare, “Don’t you dare judge me!” but folks immediately do, especially if we say such a thing because they immediately think we have something in our life to hide that we should be judged for! As a pastor I have heard folks whine, “Judge not least ye be judged!” thinking that by doing so they have scored a self-righteous advantage, yet failing because Jesus went on to declare, “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. (Matthew 7:2 NIV), meaning that if one truly judges by God’s standards and not their own self-righteousness, they can indeed weigh in balance a fellow believer’s ungodly life. That’s why you are to “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.” (Matthew 7:5) In fact, J...