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Lazarus! Part Two -- John 11:17-44 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 7, 2015 The death of a loved one affects folks differently. No one's grief is the same nor is their emotional healing. I know my mother's death affected me as has the death of my father. I still have a tough time going into hospitals and often have to fight panic attacks, especially since my mother's death. However, one thing that helps me is when I remember that this life is but momentary. Death holds no fear for those who know the giver of life, Jesus Christ. Here in John's gospel we find a wonderful account of Lazarus and his two sisters Mary and Martha. Lazarus had gotten ill and died. Sadly, this was often more common than it is nowadays and what occurs when Jesus finally arrives teaches us in graphic detail exactly what eternal life is all about and exactly why Jesus came. Let's discover what this means for us today… READ: John 11:17-44 It is sad when we hear that someone we love is dying and especial...

Lazarus! Part One -- John 11:1-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 28, 2015 Roger Miller was a folk singer from the sixties and he wrote a song called, "Lou's Got the Flu" and one of the stanzas went something like this, "Some people bad and some people good; Too bad the bad can't be like the good. But everything changes a little and it should; Good ain't forever and bad ain't for good." Sadly, far too many have this view of their lives because they think that good is forever and bad ain't for good! However, Miller meant it as a play on words, meaning that bad people aren't good for anything, yet there are those who think that God winks at our living dangerously. He does not. They forget what God's purpose is for their lives. The final days of Jesus' life is winding to a close and John takes the next eleven chapters to share with us in intimate detail what occurs. Each part of the gospel narrative from here on is important for us to understan...

Mary: Unwavering focus! – Luke 10:38-42; John 12:1-8 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 20, 2012 AM In 1941, Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish priest, was arrested by the Nazis and taken to Auschwitz for publishing “inappropriate” literature. In the horrific environment of the concentration camp, Father Kolbe ministered to his fellow prisoners. Then one day, after a prisoner had escaped, soldiers lined the men up and began selecting ten to die in the starvation bunker. When one prisoner was selected, he cried, “My wife and children! What will they do?” Hearing the man’s cry, Father Kolbe volunteered to die in his fellow prisoner’s place. The prisoner for whom Kolbe sacrificed himself survived Auschwitz. In fact, he lived another 53 years. However, he never tired of telling people what Father Kolbe had done for him. He stated that as long as he lived, he would consider it his duty to tell people everywhere about the heroic sacrifice Maximilian Kolbe had made for him. Shouldn’t believer...