PastorBlastor

John the baptizer – Matthew 3:1-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 20, 2019 Everyone is known for something. Notice I did not say that everyone is famous, well-known, or publicly recognizable. But each of usually is known for something. When I was in elementary school I was known for organizing all of the younger grades into a force to be reckoned with on the playground. You pick on one of us, we all attacked you. It stopped bullying in its tracks. I was surprised years later when this guy at Portland State University asked me if I was the same Lee Hemen who organized that group because he was one of the younger kids we “rescued”! Here we discover John, and no, he was not the first Baptist, rather he is known for his baptisms. He should be known correctly as John the Baptizer. We will discover that not everyone follows the normal dictates of social decorum or dress and John was one of these folks. He was not homeless as I have heard some liberal preachers try to emphasize; he was a man wit...

A New Relationship - Mark 12:18-27 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 21, 2010 AM A few years ago I was in a grocery store when a young mother with her little preschooler came walking down the aisle. The little girl kept asking for different things and the mother would patiently respond, “No, you cannot have that, stop asking.” When the little girl had evidently had enough of the answer she did not like, she lay down in the middle of the aisle and begin to throw one spectacular fit. The mother did not flinch; she just kept shopping, and related to her daughter, “When you are done, I will be in the next aisle over.” She then calmly put the item she had been looking at in her cart and walked around the corner. When some folks do not get the answer they want, they can act just like a little immature preschooler. Evidently the religious ruling class did not get the answer they wanted out of Jesus, so they send in another group to try and entrap him with a bizarre question concerning w...