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Christian Responsibilities – Colossians 3:18-4:6 by Pastor Lee Hemen April 20, 2008 AM We all have responsibilities in life. Some of may take them very seriously while others may have never prioritized their lives at all. I remember very well how I had to learn what responsibility meant when I got my first dog. It meant I had to make sure he was fed, tied up at night, bathed when he rolled in something awful, and I had to train him to behave. Which, would have been a whole lot easier if he did not run away so often! Paul knew that Christians have responsibilities as well. In his concluding section of his letter to the Colossians, Paul covered several subjects. He first outlined the responsibilities of the members of a Christian family. Paul further dealt with believers’ responsibilities toward Christian servants and their masters. Then he stated certain responsibilities believers have toward their church and toward non-believers. Let’s discover what Paul taught about Christian responsi...

Holy Living – Colossians 3:1-17 by Pastor Lee Hemen April 13, 2008 AM My mother had favorite expressions she would use when she caught us doing something we were not supposed to be doing. Sometimes she would declare, “What in God’s green earth do you think you are doing? or she would ask us, “In the name of all that is holy, what in the world are you up to?” I am not sure exactly what she meant by either of these. Maybe she felt that at that moment we were up to something unholy or that God’s green earth could not survive? Trying to do the right things that would not bring about these inquiries from my mother could be at times kind of tough. Living holy lives for the Lord is sometimes better said than done in the lives of Christians as well. This is especially true in a world that not only promotes ungodly living, but encourages it as being “normal.” Paul gave the Colossian church the answer they needed in order to live holy lives for God through Jesus Christ. What he related to them c...

The Revelation of Jesus – Colossians 1:25-29 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 6, 2008 AM Most folks like a good mystery. One where there is intrigue and suspense and maybe a surprise outcome as well! I will never forget the mystery of the “Broken Cookie Jar.” Never heard of it? Well, I am not surprised because it happened to my family. My mother had a cookie jar she loved and one day it got broken, but none of us siblings would confess to the dastardly deed. She therefore lined us all up in a row and asked each of us if we had broken it, and, each time she asked, each one of us said, “No, it wasn’t me.” Since none “confessed,” we all suffered the consequences. Many years later the mystery was solved when my sister came clean to breaking it. Sure, this is not as great a mystery as say some others, but it confused my brother and I for years until my sister plead guilty! The Apostle Paul spoke of another mystery. One that has eternal and spiritual consequences for our lives. It is the mystery of...

Reconciliation – Colossians 1:15-23 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 30, 2008 AM A ceasefire can only occur between two warring factions if there is an understanding and a settlement that resolves outstanding issues that led to the conflict in the first place. I found this out when as a third grader I began to like a little blonde girl with pigtails. Of course I could not let her know that I actually liked her, that would have been gross. Instead, I had to publicly tease her and pull her pigtails so that my guy posse would never find out my true intentions. There is only one problem with this scenario: The female you like, whom you are teasing, will not understand and will want to take revenge on you. It is at this point you have to begin to make appeasement. Which can include a lot of humiliation on your part. Needless to say, we were not soon reconciled. Spiritual reconciliation while being similar in some ways, is handled differently because of God’s mercy through Jesus Christ. Following h...

Freedom – Colossians 2:6-10 March 9, 2008 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen How did you come to Christ? Perhaps a better question would be: How did you receive Jesus? Some will relate their “salvation story” whereby they “accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord,” while others would say it was a gradual process of coming to a saving knowledge of Jesus. This is fine but this is not what I actually mean. In our Christianity we have reduced faith to an act that we have performed in the past. Faith is more than a past act, it is the daily acknowledgment of who you are, what you need to do, and thereby realizing that you cannot do it on your own, and that you moment by moment must trust completely in Jesus, whom you cannot see, with all that you are! When Jesus said, “Trust in me,” He was not saying we can depend on Him to be nice to us but rather that we are to give up all that we know, think we know, and set our complete faith in Him alone. We are to literally set aside everything we hold near ...