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Whispers! -- John 7:11-18 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 1, 2015 Have you ever had a vicious rumor spread about you or someone you know that was not true? I have. Gossip, like whispers in today's passage, can be like a burning fire and consume everything and anyone in its path. The Bible relates that "The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to a man's inmost parts. (Proverbs 18:8 NIV)" In other words gossip can seem satisfying at first, but in reality it is like poison and affects those who participate in it and those who it is often about. It is like digested food, retained and remembered. When folks gossip it says a lot about their character and what they value. How we handle gossip says a lot about who we are and our character as well. Jesus faced those who wanted to whisper or gossip about him and how he handled himself and those who wanted to spread rumors speaks volumes about Jesus' character and who he was. Let's find out what Jesus...

Family, what are you going to do? -- John 7:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 22, 2015 A comedian once quipped, "The problem with relatives is that they tend to be family." I am not sure exactly what he meant by that, but I am sure there are some folks in our families we would rather not relate to. Families can be close or they can be dysfunctional, sadly, far too many in our day and age are the latter. We know that Jesus had younger brothers; James, Joseph, Jude and Simon to name four (Mark 6:3), and some sisters as well. We also know that Mary was his mother was still alive and yet Joseph, his adoptive father, was probably dead by the time he began his ministry. And, we also discover that his family did not fully understand Jesus' calling nor who he was (Mark 3:21, 31) and tried to dissuade him from following the path God had set for him. I remember well when I decided to follow God's calling in my life, how my own family reacted. It wasn't all rose blossoms and...

Jesus saves when God selects! -- John 6:60-71 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 15, 2015 We often hear that hindsight is better than foresight, meaning that we know the past but not what the future brings in life. There are those who spend large sums of money in order to discover what the future holds. Houdini, the great escape artist and magician spent years debunking mediums and spiritist frauds that scammed innocent people of their hard-earned money. Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None was able to do so, and the prize was never collected. Christians would do well to remember what God told the Israelites concerning such things, "Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. (Leviticus 19:31 N...

The bread of life! -- John 6:34-59 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 8, 2015 They say that a person's sense of smell is one of the most powerful memory trigger inducers. You can smell a certain scent and it will immediately remind you of a person, place, or time of your life. I know this is true because when I smell Aqua Velva, an aftershave lotion, it immediately reminds me of my father. the same is true for fresh baked bread. The smell instantly reminds me of my mother's kitchen when I was growing up and the smell of her wonderful bread. She made the best bread in the world. We could hardly wait to get a thick warm slice with melted butter or peanut butter. As I expressed before, bread was an important part of everyday life during Jesus' day. It was how people survived and was the meal for even the poorest of folks. However, it was not like the bread we enjoy today. It was flat, ,chewy, small, round, thick, and kind of tasteless, but it sustained people for the day. It was oft...