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Betrayal - Mark 14:1-2; 10-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen February 13, 2011 AM He had been a successful Army officer, capturing several enemy strongholds, and the decisive factor in the victories of several major battles. Yet, even though he was successful in battle Congress did not reward him as they had done others of lesser skill. After his wife died, suffering from war wounds, mounting indebtedness, and the care of several children the hero of so many battles turned betrayer to his nation. While he was able to capture enemy strongholds on the battlefield he could not conquer the enemy’s stronghold in his life. He fled after being discovered, and ended his remaining years living away from his native land. Benedict Arnold became synonymous with the moniker of betrayer. What causes someone to betray another? Disappointment, not being appreciated, or perhaps a false sense of self-worth can contribute to someone betraying another. In the gospel narratives we find one person who is ...

The Trials of a Disciple - Mark 13:11-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 09, 2011 AM Americans are often accused of living sheltered lives. From the cradle to the grave we are encouraged not to personally think about the long-term effect of our actions, to immediately blame our lives on society, or to be completely dependent upon others to bail us out. We live in fractured relationships thinking that by getting rid of old-fashioned social stigmas we will experience true love. We do not plan for the future believing that the government should take care of us and death is something to be avoided at all cost and not talked about. This is true to a certain extent where Christians are concerned as well. We have swallowed the lie that there should not be any consequences for our ungodly actions. That our faith practice is dependent upon how we feel, that as long as we think good thoughts about Jesus, God will love and honor our superficial compliance and one-day, by-and-by, welcome us...

The Deceivers Will Come! - Mark 13:1-6 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 26, 2010 AM Mark 13 is sometimes called the eschatological discourse, the prophetic discourse, the Olivet discourse, or the Little Apocalypse. It depends on whether you see within these verses Jesus teaching about the culmination of events, future events, if you are concerned about where it occurred, or if you believe that Mark wanted us to read about the end of the world. However, we do not find the usual visionary and cryptic language that most apocalyptic literature contains. Rather, we read more of a practical and ethical discourse and warning by Jesus to his followers. He wanted them to be aware that deceivers will come and what they needed to do about it when it occurred. Whether one believes in the biblical narrative of the end times or not we live in a day and age where folks love to speculate about the end of the world as we know it. From movies that cater to pagan Aztec calendars predicting it or ...

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...

Have Faith in God - Mark 11:22-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 24, 2010 AM We find that what many people believe about their spirituality is often influenced in unorthodox ways. Sadly, in the movie “Hereafter”, we find one such view concerning life, death, and the afterlife. It centers on three people touched by death: a reluctant physic who supposedly communicates with dead people, a woman who has a near death experience with a tsunami, and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother in a freak accident. People often wonder what happens to them after they die it is one of life’s ultimate questions. People also long to communicate in some way with deceased loved ones. While mourning is different for each person, and thinking we can communicate with the dead can help some folks cope with loss, these misconceptions often allow folks to consider anything as valid. It has also created a lot of false teaching concerning faith. Christians have allowed the world to define faith f...

The Disciples’ Mistake - Mark 10:35-45 September 19, 2010 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen School had just ended and Tyler was eager to leave the campus for several reasons: One, because school was so boring to him and, two, his mother was picking him up in their clunky old van. He didn't want anyone to see him with his mother or get into that rotten old van. Of course being the great mother she was, she parked the “hunk-of-junk” right smack dab in front of the school where it could easily be seen by pretty much everyone. So, having been already embarrassed that he had to be seen getting picked up by his mother in their trashy old van, he reaches for the sliding door, and the slider just keeps right on sliding and does not stop. It falls off its rail and clunks right onto the parking lot. His mortification did not end there though, Tyler then had to trudge to the wood shop and ask for a screwdriver to fix it! One of life’s wonderfully embarrassing moments. Have you ever had one o...

Jesus’ Mission – Mark 10:32-34 September 12, 2010 AM By Pastor Lee Hemen “Hindsight is always better than foresight,” is an old expression that rings true every time because we can continually think of ways we should have done something better. We often want to know what the future brings, especially when it concerns what we may become, where we might live, or whom we might marry! As children, we may have wanted to become one of our favorite heroes like a fireman, policeman, soldier, pilot or sailor. But what if we knew what was going to happen to us in the future? What if we learned that what would occur was awful; would we still want to know? Some may think that it is good to know, however, it can be frightening to know what the future brings. This is why some folks think, “ignorance is bliss” in not knowing the future. Mark’s gospel presents to us an unvarnished view of Jesus and his disciples. It is wonderful in its simplicity, yet vibrant in relating the human conditio...

Leave Everything Behind! - Mark 10:28-31 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 5, 2010 AM In March of 2002 Petty Officer Neil Roberts, a U.S. Navy SEAL fell out of a stricken helicopter during Operation Anaconda in Afghanistan. According to a Pentagon report, Roberts survived the fall, and then held off Al Qaida and Taliban fighters for over 30 minutes, firing a belt-fed machine-gun. The terrorists finally overran Roberts’ position and killed him at close range, after his gun jammed. Believing that Roberts might still be alive, U.S. Special Forces mounted two rescue attempts. Six other Americans—including two airmen—died in the fighting that followed. The battle finally ended with the recovery of Roberts’ body, the evacuation of other casualties, and Air Force gunships raking the area with cannon fire. The effort to rescue Petty Officer Roberts typifies the military credo of “leave no man behind.” In Christianity, there is a credo that has all but been forgotten in our day and age....