PastorBlastor

God chooses! -- 1 Samuel 16:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 19, 2020 It can be disconcerting when things we are used to in our life change. Moving, going to a new school, marriage, divorce, a birth, and or a death can all have consequences that can throw us for a loop in life. Most of us do not have obsessive compulsive disorder and do not require everything remain the same and we can accept change but change can still bring about circumstances we do not like. Samuel was God’s chosen prophet and God had just gotten through telling Samuel that Saul, Israel’s mentally and spiritually unstable king, would not be king anymore. In fact God was now asking Samuel to announce to his nation, that mentally-ill king, and an unsuspecting family that God was choosing another king entirely! Needless to say he was not overjoyed at the prospect. In this case change could be life-threatening. In the process we discover God had chosen who would be his messenger and who would be the future king of Israe...

Discover, Decide, and Defend! – 1 Peter 3:15-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 20, 2014 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. (1 Peter 3:15 NIV) Loyalty, we all like it when companies, family, or friends are loyal to us but are we loyal in return? And what does it mean for you to be loyal? You have to believe in the person, place, or thing you decide to be loyal to. God desires our loyalty. This is why Peter reminds us, “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord.” We are to hallow; honor as holy, enshrining God in our hearts as Jesus reminds us in the Lord’s Prayer where he reminds us to pray, “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name” (Matthew 6:9 NIV). God’s holiness is thus glorified i...