PastorBlastor

The bread of life! -- John 6:34-59 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 8, 2026 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, especially 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...

It is time to stand up, speak up, sit down, and shut up! By Lee Hemen August 16, 2022 When I was younger, I was taught in a speech class to stand up, speak up, sit down, and shut up. It was a simple way to relate that we should know what we were going to speak on before we stood in front of the class to do so. Also, it showed that speech is important, and that freedom should not be taken lightly. I find it extremely interesting that for decades the left screamed that rascally Republicans would use their power to make America into a police state, and yet we see the exact opposite happening. It is the Socialist left that has used the FBI as a secret police force against anyone who is against the left and its ideologies. From parents to protestors, we find average Americans marked as “enemies” of the state. Now we find that the left is not ashamed to empower another branch of government under their control to be used as a means to strike fear and abuse the American people, the IRS. Doubli...

Ramblings from Retirement - Are You No Earthly Good? By Pastor (retired) Lee Hemen  April 3, 2022 There's an old saying that a Christian can be "so heavenly-minded you're no earthly good". It means that believers can be so focused on being holy, that they've lost sight of the world around them. Now this can be a good thing when it refers to one's looking to Jesus as they live, but it can be bad if they're so focused on the things of heaven that they forget about those around them that need Jesus. It can be bad in the life of a church or preacher that becomes so focused on knowledge or themselves that they become blinded to the needs of a hurting and sinful world around them. Jesus berated the spiritual teachers of his day because this was exactly what they were guilty of doing. Jesus really got into it with them, and he bluntly told them, ‘Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin....

Ramblings from Retirement: Give Thanks! By Lee Hemen (Retired Pastor) November 21, 2020 Thanksgiving is coming and it is one of my favorite holidays. The reasons for me are many because I not only love the food and family time but I enjoy what Thanksgiving represents. It is truly an American holiday where we are encouraged to pause and give thanks to God for the blessings He has given us. We discover that the early Pilgrims encouraged this with not just a one day celebration but with their entire lives as well. And far from being the black and white dressed grim faced people many think they were the Pilgrims were actually very joyous and colorful people. They came to these shores not to inflict slavery, as some would erroneously have you swallow, but they came here for religious and personal freedom. We discover that within a very short period of time that their communal form of governance caused huge problems with their colony and they decided to give each person the freedom to produc...

2nd Sunday of Advent - The peace of God - Isaiah 52:6-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 8, 2019 Last week we spoke of how the Messiah would be called by the names of Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. There were those who incorrectly thought that the Messiah would bring about the end of war or that everyone would find bliss. Interestingly, there are those in our day who still have misconceptions of who the Messiah is and the peace he brings. Isaiah introduces us to a Messiah who would bring peace to all mankind. He begins these verses by calling the nation of Israel to “Awake, awake, O Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendor, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised (ungodly) and defiled will not enter you again.” Jerusalem’s pagan conquerors — the uncircumcised and defiled — would never again invade and pollute the holy city after the Messiah came. This is part of the peace he would bring when he came. Let’s disco...

1st Sunday of Advent - Our expectation and hope! - Isaiah 9:2-7 December 1, 2019 Pastor Lee Hemen We should not allow outside circumstance to dictate how we respond to life. Recently however the political and social climate of our nation has caused many to become full of gloom and despair. There are those in the political arena that encourage their constituents to be despaired by their opposition simply because things are not going the way they want. Life hardly ever does, yet on the 1st Sunday of Advent we light the candle of hope. Hope is more than wishful thinking; it is the outcry of the human heart and the certainty of God's promise. We as his children hope in him because we know who he is and what he has done. The Israelites of Isaiah's day had no such experience. They should have been able to trust God and the promises he made from knowing their own history, but in the midst of war, famine, and the threat of enslavement it can be tough to see God or his promises. Perhaps...

You produce what you grow! – Matthew 7:15-20 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 9, 2019 We have a garden that I plant every spring. We usually grow tomatoes and green beans. We keep it pretty simple. One year I planted a variety of tomato that we really liked but a different one grew instead. I went back to the place where I had bought the plant and the clerk said that we were not the first to complain but what evidently had happened was kids had switched the tags on the young plants thinking that it was funny. Needless to say, that although the tomatoes were okay, they were not what we expected. People during Jesus’ day were dependent upon what they planted and there were a lot of factors that could be beneficial or detrimental to their future harvest. Weather, water, animals, and other things could influence the harvest. Jesus now uses familiar language about planting so that his listeners would fully understand what he meant about their spiritual growth as well. Let’s discover what Jesus taug...

Humility! - Philippians 2:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 1, 2018 There was an old Country/Western song that stated, “Oh Lord it's hard to be humble, when you're perfect in every way” but of course it was a parody on how the singer viewed himself. However if you listen to some of the folks in today’s headlines you would wonder if some of them need to take a reality pill. Sadly it has infected Christianity to the point where we have begun to arrogantly think that everything about Jesus revolves around us instead of his eternal plan. Paul knew that each believer was part of God’s plan for the spreading of his gospel. He understood this because it was what he had dedicated his life to. Because of Paul’s adamant belief in the saving grace of Jesus and his single-minded focus there were those who thought he was arrogant. This can happen to someone who is totally focused in life as Paul was. Needless to say this kind of irked Paul and so he did not want others to think this was t...

Living for the Lord! - Philippians 1:18-30 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 22, 2018 We live in a day whereby some people actually think that “if you disagree with me then you must hate me” therefore you are a “hater”. Discourse or critical thinking is gone. It has boiled over into religion as well. There are those who say that if you disagree with another faith then you must dislike the people who are involved in it. And if you dislike them then you are not very compassionate or kind like Jesus. This is all so much tripe. (If you do not know what tripe is -- it is “the first or second stomach of a cow or other ruminant used as food” and is often thrown away as trash.) Paul did not care why some believers did what they did only that the outcome was glorifying to the Lord. Paul’s desire was that people of all ages “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13 NIV)” This is why he taug...

Malachi 3:7-12 – Being obedient! By Pastor Lee Hemen April 15, 2018 At the turn of the century a young salesman approached a farmer and excitedly told him about a great new book he was selling. It had all the information needed to run a profitable farm: when to plant and harvest, how to predict the weather and care for livestock—everything that would make the farmer a success. The farmer patiently listened and then replied, “Young man, I know everything that’s in your book. My problem is doing it.” We may read our Bible, know how we are to live as Christians, yet find the hard part is to do what it tells us, why is that? It is a matter of obedience. Why is it so hard for folks to do what they know they should do? Paul wrote that he would “not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God.” (Romans 15:18 NIV) Malachi begins with a blanket condemnation of Israel’s disobedience to God’s decrees throughout her history. Let’s...

A new year begins with a new life! - 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 31, 2017 Someone once joked that "Every time I find the meaning of life, they change it!" What motivates you in life? This is a good question to ask oneself when facing a new year because it helps us to perhaps rethink what our lives are about, where we are headed, or what we think of as important. For some it is financial gain, for others it is greater education, and still there are those who think that finding themselves is the most important thing in life. But what if none of these were as important as knowing the truth; the truth concerning yourself, the world, history, and what the meaning of life is truly about. Perhaps in this New Year your life needs to begin again. There's the old joke about a man who wanted to know the meaning of life so he journeys to India, climbs a high mountain, and meets with a guru sitting outside of his hut. He asks him, "What is the meaning o...