PastorBlastor

God's love and our duty! - Galatians 2:11-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 26, 2016 There are folks who confuse God's love with carte blanche which does not exist anywhere within the pages of Scripture. The love of God for us is founded in the person of Jesus and he was not some quasi mushy-hearted let it go good time fella. God does not wink at our sin in any form nor is he accepting of our halfhearted excuses for deliberately trying to circumnavigate our way into his presence through our own convoluted view of who he is. The Bible makes it plain that the gospel is all about God's love and our duty. Paul knew this to be absolutely true. While God accepts anyone from any circumstance he does not accept their sin. In fact, God sees it as abhorrent and totally contrary to his holy nature. This is why Paul got so upset with those who were trying to lead the Galatian Christians astray and back into a works oriented faith practice. And Paul was not afraid to stand up to and toe...

Set apart! - Galatians 2:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 19, 2016 What do you do when folks spread awful rumors about you that are not true? What do you do as a believer when others spread unfounded rumors and lies about Jesus or your brothers and sisters in Christ? Recently the local media did a story about a "Christian" pastor who related that Christians are to be accepting of anyone and that this was what Jesus preached. Sounds good until you realize that the pastor was gay and was saying that the message of Jesus meant inclusion of ungodly lifestyles, which it does not ever. The good news is not about everybody getting along and accepting each other's perverted proclivities. We are set apart to preach the good news that God has sent Jesus to save those who are lost in sin and separated from God. Paul fully understood that and knew that if people tried to add to the good news or to take away from the simple gospel message they were to be thoroughly condemned. Pau k...

Paul's past, present, and future! - Galatians 1:11-24 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 12, 2016 Everyone who comes to Jesus has a personal testimony they can relate to others. I came to the Lord one night at work after a co-worker and friend challenged me to read the Gospel of John. I went out at lunch, purchased a Bible, and begin reading it. I could not put it down. The next evening I accepted Christ on my own in between a couple of noisy greasy machines. When I speak of Paul's past, present, and future of course what I am talking about is his personal testimony. It is perhaps the most famous Christian testimony there is and Paul uses it on several occasions in his letters in order to get across the particular lesson he wanted his readers to learn. So this morning as we look at Paul's past, present, and future let's learn from his testimony in order that we may gain some insight in using our own. READ: Galatians 1:11-24 There are those in our world today that think ...

The scolding! - Galatians 1:6-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 5, 2016 What would you do if a family member or friend was about to join a cult that would cause them and their family a lot of distress? Sometimes there is nothing one can do because most folks are often unwilling to admit they are wrong and especially about what they believe about God or their spirituality. I have learned in the 30 plus years of pastoring that you can often have the answers, know all the counter arguments, and even understand how to witness to someone involved in a heretical situation but it often does little to sway them unless you are willing to go the extra mile and be there each time they need to be confronted or have their questions answered. Sometimes what works best is a direct confrontation, maybe even a personal scolding. Paul was deeply concerned for what the church at Galatia had fallen into. After accepting the good news of Jesus as Messiah, they had readily forsaken the truth and supplanted ...