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Don't be a Hagar! - Galatians 4:19-31 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 28, 2015 In the annals of history no one wants to be remembered as a Wrong Way Corrigan who was an American aviator who after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, though his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach. Nor do we want to be known as a Charlie Brown the cartoon character who falls for his friend Lucy's duplicitous football fakeouts or who always blows the neighborhood baseball game. And in the Bible we would not want to be equated with Hagar -- or, would we? Paul in making his case to the Galatians has given them several examples of how they're going back to their old faith habits was headed spiritually in the wrong direction and now he gives them the example of Hagar. She was a handmaiden, servant, of Sarah Abraham's wife. Later after Sarah's scheming to circumnavigate God's plan ...

The law fulfilled! - Galatians 3:13-22 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 24, 2016 There are those in our day and age who would have you do a lot of things in order to please God. Eat certain foods, read certain books, do an undetermined amount of penance or rituals in order to gain God's grace. I have often stated that I believe it is often used to cement their own power or control over folks who allow their guilty conscious to dictate their faith instead of the facts of the gospel narrative. When we do this we begin to wonder if we have done enough in order for God to like us let alone love us. Paul wanted his fellow Galatians to fully understand that their holding onto an old way of life simply because it assuaged their guilt was foolish. In fact they were placing themselves back under a curse instead of being free in their faith in Jesus alone! The no longer meant anything for those who had placed their faith and trust in the one who meant all the requirements of the contract of Go...

Abraham our example! - Galatians 3:6-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 10, 2016 My Dad stood in the water of the pool and asked me to jump into his arms. I was scared to do so but I also knew that my father would catch me and nothing would harm me. So I took the leap and jumped into his waiting arms. Our faith walk is very similar in that we are asked to walk with Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. We just have to take that first step and trust him to lift us up and carry us through life. We marvel at another's faith and wonder how in the world they can live so full throttle for God. What we fail to realize is the fact that these great men and women of faith were and are just like us. They have the same fears, the same doubts, and the same failures and yet have learned that the righteous will live by faith. Paul fully understood this and wanted the Galatians to understand it as well. Let's discover what this means for all of us this morning… READ: Galatians 3:6-12 ...

Who's Your Daddy? - John 8:37-47 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 24, 2015 One of the greatest detriments to our society's stability is the dysfunctional makeup of families; namely the amount of absentee father's in the home. According to the National Fatherhood Initiative, "There is a crisis in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 24 million children in America—one out of three—live without their biological dad in the home. Consequently, there is a “father factor” in nearly all of the societal issues facing America today." Children of absentee fathers are more likely to live in poverty, have emotional and behavioral problems, more likely to commit crime, use drugs, get pregnant, and more likely to face abuse and neglect. I see the affects of absent fathers daily where I work as a playground monitor. While the absence of natural fathers in families is a terrible thing, the absence of having our Heavenly Father in a family can be far worse. Strong Christian fatherl...

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...