PastorBlastor

The King Comes! - Mark 11:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 3, 2010 AM Is it Passover time again? It seems as if we had just celebrated it! Last year, it was marked by the same dusty dirty pilgrims on the same dusty dirty road. Nothing much usually happens here in Nob. Being a suburb of Jerusalem people usually pass us by and leave us alone. Sure, some of the priests live here when they are in attendance in the temple, but nothing more than that. But then there was that year Yeshua of Nazareth came. How could I have forgotten! Let me tell you it was quite a spectacle. But he could not have done it without my old donkey Judith. She had given birth to a small little foal we named… but of course, I am getting ahead of myself! We were just standing around, gawking at the pilgrims, and telling stories about passed events and arguing about the taxes, when these men come up and begin to untie my new foal! I began to protest that they had no right to take my donkey, when I remembere...

The Disciples’ Mistake - Mark 10:35-45 September 19, 2010 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen School had just ended and Tyler was eager to leave the campus for several reasons: One, because school was so boring to him and, two, his mother was picking him up in their clunky old van. He didn't want anyone to see him with his mother or get into that rotten old van. Of course being the great mother she was, she parked the “hunk-of-junk” right smack dab in front of the school where it could easily be seen by pretty much everyone. So, having been already embarrassed that he had to be seen getting picked up by his mother in their trashy old van, he reaches for the sliding door, and the slider just keeps right on sliding and does not stop. It falls off its rail and clunks right onto the parking lot. His mortification did not end there though, Tyler then had to trudge to the wood shop and ask for a screwdriver to fix it! One of life’s wonderfully embarrassing moments. Have you ever had one o...

Jesus’ Mission – Mark 10:32-34 September 12, 2010 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen “Hindsight is always better than foresight,” is an old expression that rings true every time because we can continually think of ways we should have done something better. We often want to know what the future brings, especially when it concerns what we may become, where we might live, or whom we might marry! As children, we may have wanted to become one of our favorite heroes like a fireman, policeman, soldier, pilot or sailor. But what if we knew what was going to happen to us in the future? What if we learned that what would occur was awful; would we still want to know? Some may think that it is good to know, however, it can be frightening to know what the future brings. This is why some folks think, “ignorance is bliss” in not knowing the future. Mark’s gospel presents to us an unvarnished view of Jesus and his disciples. It is wonderful in its simplicity, yet vibrant in relating the human conditio...

The Kingdom Parables – Mark 4:26-34 by Pastor Lee Hemen November 22, 2009 AM In the hymn "In the Sweet Bye and Bye," it tells us that "There's a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar; For the Father waits over the way, to prepare us a dwelling place there. In the sweet Bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. In the sweet, Bye and bye, we shall meet on that beautiful shore. We shall sing on that beautiful shore, the melodious songs of the blest, and our spirits shall sorrow no more; not a sigh for the blessing of rest." It is a wonderful hymn that tries to describe for us the wonders of heaven. Sadly, there are those who confuse the wonders of heaven with God’s kingdom here and now. We would do well in understanding the differences and why it is important for us to do so. It is no wonder that we have all wondered what heaven might be like. The Apostle John tried to relate what he saw when he was given a small glimpse of the hea...

The Witnesses - Mark 1:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 9, 2009 AM Mark’s gospel is as beautiful in its simplicity as it is in its depth of the theology. It is a mystery, in some ways, do to some of the apparent insertions by scribes much later. In fact, its name comes from one such addition. Technically, Mark’s Gospel is anonymous since it does not name its author at all. The title “according to Mark” (Kata Markon) was added later by a scribe some time before a.d. 125. Then there is the ending to Mark that does not belong, but more about that when we finally get there. However, the “unanimous testimony of the early church fathers is that Mark, an associate of the Apostle Peter, was the author. The earliest known statement of this comes from Papias (a.d. 110), who quoted the testimony of John the elder… .” (Bible Knowledge Commentary) Mark, as the author, does not mean that he made the story up but rather he was the human instrument that God used to testify about what he learned from Pe...