PastorBlastor

Grow In Preaching By Pastor Lee Hemen June 30, 2023 One of things that has always frustrated me as a Christian and a pastor is that far too many pastors think they do not have to mature in their preaching skills. They will pound their pulpits to try and get their listeners to mature in their faith practices of prayer, Bible reading, witnessing and biblical knowledge but never address their own shortcoming of truly stagnant preaching. I was shocked when I went to listen to a fellow pastor preach and his style was exactly the same as when he graduated from seminary some thirty years ago! There are few pastors who would desire their congregations to remain spiritually stunted for thirty years, yet find no problem with their own stunted growth in being able to preach the word of God that truly meets the needs of their listeners today. This should not happen. Pastors often preach on what Paul wrote Timothy, “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not nee...

Ramblings from Retirement – Change Is Good By Pastor Lee Hemen April 30, 2021 As I was going through some old photos I got from my brother’s house I found some of an old dog we used to have; his name was Duke. He was a boxer and had the classic clipped ears and tail. Duke lived for about 18 years and was a good old dog but there was one thing he would do that was very hilarious. He would get downright contrite and embarrassed if you chastised him. He would hang his head, lie down, and roll his eyes and make light grumbling noises as if he were saying, “It wasn’t me, it’s not my fault.” My Mom would take great delight in asking him, “Duke! What have you done now?” even if had not done anything wrong he would be mournful, contrite, and go through his embarrassment antics. We would laugh and that often made him even more contrite. Now one thing that Duke loved to do was chase cats. He would streak after them like a madman on a mission. Duke would lose it all when he was chasing a cat. Ima...

Ramblings from Retirement – Scaredy-cats By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen April 27, 2021 There is a little grey cat that lives next door that thinks she is a mighty bird hunter. In fact she has already killed at least 3 birds at my front yard feeder and at least 2 in the backyard. So we have begun to keep an eye out for her and when she heads into or across our yard we chase her away. The other day she was in the midst of stalking some finches who were feeding. In the middle of her final stalk where she was bunching up to jump I opened the door and hissed real loud. She jumped about four feet, twisted in the air, and ran off like she was shot out of a cannon. It was hilarious and reminded me of a passage that the Apostle Paul wrote his friend Timothy: “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline. (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV84)” Paul was writing a young pastor who was facing all kinds of struggles within the local church and outside of the churc...

Two wonderful men! - Philippians 2:19-30 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 22, 2018 What qualities do you look for in a friend? Sometimes folks can ask a lot of friendship but give little in return. Winnie the Pooh said, “It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn't use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that “The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, not the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship.” Paul understood friendship because he understood Jesus. He enjoyed the friendship of many people but there were those who he considered more than friends; Paul saw them as brothers and sisters in Christ. Friends with the common bond of Jesus are closer than any earthly friendship. In his letter to the Philippians he shares about two wonderful men of God who he con...

A good servant of Jesus! -- 1 Timothy 4:8-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 7, 2018 People will spend money for gym memberships, take time to run every day, or make sure that they eat only certain things in specific amounts. What is interesting though is that these same folks who spend so much time and effort on some of these things do not spend the same amount of effort, time, or personal investment in their relationship with the Lord. Just as regular exercise for the body is good so is regular spiritual daily exercise with Jesus. Paul knew that his mentorship with Timothy included his investment daily in spending time with the Lord. Paul had studied the Psalms and he knew the question David asked: “Who may ascend the hill of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place?” and how David answered it: “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false. He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.” (Psa...

Mystery of Godliness! -- 1Timothy 3:14-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 19, 2017 If you only had one letter, email, or text to send someone that explained how important their faith in Jesus was what would you write? We live in an age where real writing has gone by the wayside. The conveying of ideas no longer relies on the logical progression of argument but rather on the emotional response invoked instead. Politics, science, morality, philosophy and or religion have been reduced to a visceral response garnered for the gain of the speaker and not the audience involved. In other words writing has been rendered to gain the reader’s or listener’s empathy rather than being based on actual facts. For Paul the gospel message was the single most important message ever given to mankind. Timothy needed to have a firm grasp of what this actually meant because if he did not he would fall into doubt, personal speculation, or worse the hybridization of the truth! Therefore in the following verse...

Hold on to the truth! – 1 Timothy 1:12-20 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 8, 2017 Like a lot of things in our society today, the truth has become subjective; truth depends upon how one feels, whether or not one thinks they are justified in whatever perverted proclivity they desire for the moment, or the deliberate movement of society’s moral boundaries. In a world where truth can be a slippery slope of a mixed bag of tricks one many wonder where in the world does the truth lie? What truth do we hold on to in our day and age? Paul was a convert to the Christian faith and it wasn’t an easy thing for him to do. He knew where he had come from and in the Book of Acts he related “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagog...

False teachers exist! – 1 Timothy 1:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 1, 2017 We live in a day where any convoluted and faulty theology is readily accepted and protected by a non-critical thinking society. My Daddy used to say that it is “okay to be open-minded but not to the point where your brains fall out and you step on them.” Far too many think that acceptance of the individual means we can never disagree with or question what the individual thinks, says, or does. I say “hogwash!” There are false teachers who want you to believe or follow their latest form of theological perversion. Take for instance the recent proclamation that the world was supposed to end last week or is it next week or the week after? Who knows? And do not get me started with those who come up with the latest and greatest end-times scenario, bleah! False teachers exist! The Apostle Paul wrote his friend and new pastor Timothy in order to mentor and help him in his new ministry as a young pastor. Evidently h...