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Psalm 34:1-3 Magnify the Lord, Putting the Emphasis on God! Retired Pastor Lee Hemen What do a telescope, a microscope, and magnifying glass all have in common? They all make things bigger so you can see them better! For some people it doesn’t matter what they use they just can’t seem to get God into focus for their lives. Sadly, we live in a day and age where YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat or Discord are the main ways a lot of young people and others get their information, is it any wonder our attention spans are about the same as a squirrel’s? This is why I am glad Vacation Bible School is focusing children on God. It’s a time for them to come and have fun while learning Biblical truths about discovering and magnifying God in their lives. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary “This song of praise is attributed to David when he escaped from Abimelech by feigning insanity (1 Samual 21:11). In the psalm David called on the congregation to praise the Lord for their salvation. And after ...

Psalm 34:8 – Eating Is More than Tasting September 8, 2024   Bill Crowder wrote in Our Daily Bread: “The beautiful bride, gripping her proud father’s arm, was poised to make her way to the altar. But not before the entrance of her thirteen-month-old nephew. Instead of carrying the more common ‘ring’—he was the ‘Bible bearer.’ In this way, the bride and groom, as committed believers in Jesus, wanted to testify to their love for Scripture. With minimal distraction, the toddler found his way to the front of the church. How illustrative it was that the toddler’s teeth marks were found on the leather cover of the Bible. What a picture of activity that’s fitting for believers in Christ or those who desire to know Him—to taste and take in Scripture.”   Jesus related to his followers, “Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My ...

Ramblings from Retirement – The Bigger they Are By Pastor Lee Hemen May 30, 2021 Have you heard the old saying “The bigger they are the harder they fall.”? Did you know that it is a reference to what occurred with a young shepherd boy and a military giant? His name was David and his advisory was Goliath. Recently there has been a real attempt at rewriting the history of our Nation. I was dismayed to recently read a story about how WWII would have been won within several months without D-Day or the USA getting involved. This simply is not true. We were a nation in the throes of Democratic socialism that introduced some of the largest budgets ever seen, until Presidents Obama, Trump, and now Biden. In fact, only WWII would bring us out of the malaise of a flat economy and joblessness we were suffering. It was the USA’s ability to retool, manufacture, and rebuilding so quickly that brought about the destruction of both Japan and Germany. Russia could not have stood up to the Nazi onslaugh...

Ramblings from Retirement – Reconnect! By Lee Hemen, Retired Pastor March 18, 2021 There was a popular folk song out when I was in High School by Joni Mitchell called The Big Yellow Taxi. It was supposed to be a statement concerning how the world was paving over everything and destroying it with insecticides. It was kind of a silly song but one line states “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone?” This is true whether it concerns green spaces or relationships but it can be true of things we begin to depend on in life without ever thinking about them. Here’s something for you to try for a week: Go without your Wi-Fi or cell phone. Few could make it a day let alone a week, but what if these things were taken away from you for good? What would you do and how would you cope? We lost our Wi-Fi for about 20 hours the other day and I realized just how much we as a family had come to rely on something we often took for granted. We can do the same thing in...

Great Is the Lord! – Psalm 145:1-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 3, 2020 How do you tell someone that they are doing a great job? Do slap them on the back and give them an “attaboy”? A high five or perhaps bake them cookies or a cake? We are all told to give out positive reinforcement to those we work with, our kids, and others but what about the Lord? Of course we often do not think that God needs our praise but nothing could be further from the truth because we are commanded to praise him. Here in this Psalm of David we find him praising the Lord and telling him just how great he is. During this time when we are faced with what seem dire circumstances, it can become difficult to praise the Lord but it is specifically during such times we should do so. And this morning as we look at the words of David’s Psalm we will discover just how great is the Lord… READ: Psalm 145 In the 1970s people were encouraged to “find yourself”. The idea was that with personal introspection you could discover w...

God Hears Us When We Call to Him! -- Psalm 86:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 26, 2020 I can remember my mother asking me, “Young man, did you hear what I said?” Of course no matter if I did or not the correct answer was always “yes”. Being distracted is the profession of teenage boys and unfocused believers. It is good to know therefore that God is never distracted and always hears us when we call to him. David, in this Psalm, was crying out to the Lord and if we just read what David says we might think that perhaps God had been distracted. The reason we would think this is because we often are distracted ourselves in how we talk with God, listen to him, and how we follow through with what he asks. David comes to the Lord asking that God hear him when he calls to him, let’s discover what this means… READ: Psalm 86:1-13 It is a curious thing but when we all of sudden need help we are often willing to humble ourselves in order to get a quick response thinking that we can perhaps fool God...

We Can Confidently Trust In the Lord! -- Psalm 25:1-14 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 19, 2020 There are certain poets that I like; most are those who tell stories. Robert Service was called “The Bard of the Yukon” because he wrote a lot of poems about the north like “The Cremation of Sam McGee” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”. I also like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote such poems as “The Landlord’s Tale, Paul Revere’s Ride” but of course one of my favorites is “There Was A Little Girl”: “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.” David from the Bible is also one of my favorite poets. He wrote many of the Psalms. One of my favorite Psalms is the one we will look at today. David boldly turned to the Lord for divine instruction and forgiveness from his sin. David knew he could because of God’s grace for Israel. This psalm is a meditation on the character of God th...

Unity among God’s people is precious! – Psalm 133:1-3 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 22, 2020 There is nothing better than seeing a family that loves one another. As I was at the local park last summer I watched as a young family came down to the park to play. It was precious to see them play, laugh, and just be a family. In a world where we are now being encouraged to distance ourselves socially because of COVID-19 and some because they can’t seem to live without their online social networking it is good to experience the unity among God’s people and just how precious it is. David as Israel’s king I am sure often felt cut off from being able to just be himself. Like our President who gets negative response no matter what he seems to do, David felt the isolation of his office as Israel’s king. Yet in the midst of his loneliness and isolation he knew that unity among God’s people is precious! Let see what David wrote… READ: Psalm 133:1-3 As we face the days ahead as a church with what is go...

God leads us to him! – Psalm 61 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 24, 2017 My Dad and I were headed home and in the yard of a stranger was my dog Tad. He was chained to a big old fir tree. I exclaimed, “Dad! There’s Tad!” We had been looking for him for days. My father just kept driving. Tad was one of those dogs I realize now that you look forward to the day when he runs a way. A friend of my parents had shoved him through our front door one Christmas Eve; we woke up to the tree on the floor, broken blubs, torn apart and half-eaten presents. He ran away once and I found him seven miles away in town by our elementary school. My teacher put him in her car until we could take him home later. He defecated all over inside of it; tore up her seats, and pretty much ruined her car. Sadly he was one dog you could not teach anything. My Dad was not going to turn around and claim him. There are people like my old dog Tad whom you can’t seem to teach anything. They never learn to listen to anyone...

God is our helper! – Psalm 70 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 17, 2017 A young man found himself in serious financial trouble. His business had gone bust. He was so desperate that he decided to ask God for help. He began to pray. “God, please help me. I’ve lost my business and if I don’t get some money, I’m going to lose my house as well! Please let me win the lottery!” After doing this several nights in a row and he still did not win he decided to pray one last time, “My God, why have you forsaken me? I’ve lost my business, my house and my car. My children are starving! I don’t often ask you for help and I have always been a good person! Please just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order!” Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light as the heavens opened, the young man fell backwards, and he was confronted by the voice of God himself: “Young man, you are going to have to do just one thing first -- buy a ticket!” Now I am not advocating wasting your ...

God is our teacher! – Psalm 25 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 10, 2017 I walked over to her and knelt down to ask her why she was crying. All the other kindergartners were having a great time running and playing with one another, only she was sitting all alone and tearful. She looked up at me with tear-stained cheeks and lamented, “Oh, Mr. Lee no one wants to play with me!” I asked, “Did you ask anyone if they would play with you?” “No”, was her reply, “I just knew they wouldn’t want to!” I went to the nearest group of girls and asked them, “Would you do me a favor?” And they all responded they would, so I asked them if they could use another person in their group to play with and of course they could and soon she was playing with her newfound friends. Sometimes we can feel all alone in whatever self-imposed predicament we have placed ourselves. It is good to know therefore that God has provided for us during these times when we need someone to come along side of us and teach us to ...