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The Light! -- John 1:1-5 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 31, 2014 In the strictest sense this Gospel has no author named like Paul’s letters do. It is anonymous. In fact, none of the four Gospel authors identify themselves by name. There is a good reason for this, they are not meant to be private letters to specific churches or individuals, except perhaps Luke’s Gospel. Yet we discover that often the writer reveals himself through his writing and we discover that church history can often reveal who the authors were. Putting all of these facts together makes a good case for the author of the Fourth Gospel having been John, one of the sons of a fisherman named Zebedee. The date for the writing of the Gospel of John was probably between 85 and 95 AD, however, there is good evidence that it could have been written as early as 45 and 65 AD before the destruction of the Temple. And, John himself tells us why he wrote his gospel, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ...

The Confessed Life! -- James 5:12-20 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 24, 2014 What would you like your last words to be to those you leave behind before you die? Perhaps you would want to leave behind some good advice for those you are leaving or maybe you would want to just say, “so long”?  The comedian Bob Hope, to his wife Delores after she asked him where he wanted to be buried, replied, “Surprise me.” W. C. Fields, when he was asked why he was reading the Bible on his death bed, responded, “I’m looking for loop holes!” King David related with his last words that “When one rules over men in righteousness, when he rules in the fear of God, he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth. (2 Samuel 23:3-4 NIV)” How cool is that! James tried to fit into his final words all that he could so his readers would gain as much wisdom from his teaching as possible. For James it all boiled down to a simple li...

The Patient Life! -- James 5:7-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 17, 2014 When things did not turn out the way the little five-year-old girl wanted, she sat down in a huff and cried. Her father, trying to be sympathetic, told her that she just needed to be patient and that good things come to those who wait. She lamented back, “I am patient I just want it now!” That kind of sums up a lot of us; we want to be patient, but being so is a lot harder than we often anticipate. Someone once said that “If patience is a virtue, many of us aren’t very virtuous!” James realized that a lot of the struggles his readers were going through were of their own making simply because they wanted all of the blessings of God without any of the hardship involved. Now, doesn’t that sound familiar? While we can grin at the fact that folks haven’t changed a whole lot since James’ day, we should be ashamed and stunned that we haven’t changed. James’ answer for the fact that too many believers are indifferent t...

The Rich Life! – James 5:1-6 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 10, 2014 In the movie Little Orphan Annie the bad guys sing a song called “Easy Street.” They sing about a pie-in-the-sky place they think only rich folks enjoy. They blame all of their hard times on their not getting rich quick and how the wealthy keep them from doing so. Social Democrats have used class envy since the Great Depression. However, this is nothing new. There are several false theologies regarding distribution of wealth that are rampant in today’s world. One comes from the days of Jesus and James whereby folks incorrectly thought that if you were well off, then you were being blessed by God. This false doctrine still exists in the teachings on so-called Christian television. They teach that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to their ministries will always increase one's material wealth and health. It has been called health and wealth, name-it-...

The Lived Life! -- The James 4:11-17 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 3, 2014 Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you--who are you to judge your neighbor? Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins. (James 4:11-17 NIV) God sees no distinctions and as we live our lives in him...