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God Hears Us When We Call to Him! -- Psalm 86:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 26, 2020 I can remember my mother asking me, “Young man, did you hear what I said?” Of course no matter if I did or not the correct answer was always “yes”. Being distracted is the profession of teenage boys and unfocused believers. It is good to know therefore that God is never distracted and always hears us when we call to him. David, in this Psalm, was crying out to the Lord and if we just read what David says we might think that perhaps God had been distracted. The reason we would think this is because we often are distracted ourselves in how we talk with God, listen to him, and how we follow through with what he asks. David comes to the Lord asking that God hear him when he calls to him, let’s discover what this means… READ: Psalm 86:1-13 It is a curious thing but when we all of sudden need help we are often willing to humble ourselves in order to get a quick response thinking that we can perhaps fool God...

Mercy! -- Matthew 9:9-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 1, 2019 When the great Puritan preacher Thomas Hooker (1586-1647) was on his deathbed, a friend tried to console him by saying, “Brother Hooker, you are going to receive your reward.” “No, no!” he breathed. “I go to receive mercy!” What is this mercy Hooker longed to receive? God’s mercy is found in every act of Jesus, his every kindness, and especially in the unmerited favor we find when we come to him as Savior and Lord. It is sacrificial in its very nature. We set aside ourselves, our desires, and our needs to give everything to another just as Jesus did when he willingly sacrificed himself for our sins. Here we find Matthew a tax collector who others felt did not deserve God’s favor finding it in the unlikely place. Matthew finds mercy. Let’s see how… READ: Matthew 9:9-13 In our pride we think we know it all or have all the answers but we do not. In fact we discover that… I. Mercy is found in submission! (Vv. 9) As Jesus went o...

Anger! – Matthew 5:21-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 10, 2019 Angry words can never be taken back. Society’s standard of foul and angry words has declined in recent years, but we don’t have to decline with it, we should think about how to honor God with our speech. We please the Lord with our tongue when we show discernment. Proverbs 10:19 reminds us that “He who restrains his lips is wise”. When we do speak, we are to filter the words that escape our lips: “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23 NIV). Paul’s warns us to “let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth” (Ephesians 4:29 NIV). How can we keep our anger contained? How do we remain calm in a world that seems to be filled with hatred, evil, and ungodly behavior? Jesus in the Beatitudes sets an almost impossible situation where we are to speak right and think right all the time. Jesus did this to startle his listeners and to shock them into listening to what he was teaching about himsel...

Prayer! - Matthew 6:5-15 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 4, 2017 I have learned a lot by being a people watcher and listener. When I was younger it was hard for me to keep my mouth shut; I know it seems hard to believe but it is true! So, over the years I have made it a goal to really focus on how people pray and what they pray and in doing so I have noticed several things. First, a lot of folks misunderstand what prayer is and secondly, interestingly, they copy others in how they pray. Now that I have made you conscious and uncomfortable of how you should pray in front of me, I believe we need to learn what prayer is all about. Prayer for the Hebrew during Jesus’ day was much by rote. They were kind of “Catholic” in a sense in that they all got together and recited similar prayers all together at the same time. They were not as dreadful as some religions and their overly mind-numbing chanted prayers that begin to sound like so much background white noise than actual prayer. Jesus’ discip...

Return to the Lord! - Joel 2 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 15, 2016 Coming home is often never easy, especially after you have left and wanted to make it on your own and then you have to return and make amends. A good example of this is the story of the Prodigal Son that Jesus related to his followers as found in Luke's Gospel. Yet each of us could probably recount tales from our own lives at how we ran away when we were young or left home as young adults only to return and have to make some kind of amends or correction with those we returned to. The Prophet Joel related to the Israelites that they had to return to the Lord whom they had forsaken. Whenever the Israelite people faced trials or threats the priests were to call the people out in order to gather them for whatever purpose was needed. Sometimes it was for battle, sometimes for a public announcement, and sometimes it was for spiritual purposes. Here, I believe it was for the later. The Israelites needed to return to the L...

Forgiveness! - John 21:15-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 1, 2016 My father asked us what we should tell our mother when had not come home right away when she called. I grew up in a day and age when mothers would stand outside of their front doors and holler down the street for their children to "come home, it's dinner!" The only phones we had were the rotary dial kind and most children actually played outside and walked home by themselves! We both automatically responded, "Sorry." My Dad remarked, "Being sorry is not good enough, you need to apologize to your mother." Saying your "sorry" is totally different than being remorseful or repentant. The first is more of a response in order to deflect any consequences for our wrong doing or ungodly behavior, while repentance comes from being inwardly broken and open confession. Forgiveness cannot happen without repentance. Impulsive Peter had vehemently said he would never deny Jesus and of course...

Luke 15:1-7, 11-13, 22-24, 28-32 – When folks come to Christ! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 18, 2012 AM The meeting grew quiet. Tension filled the air. The pastor had just shared his concern for the lost of the community. A deacon stood. “Pastor, if they want to come to our church, they know where it is. We need to take care of our own. I’m not sure they are our kind of people anyway.” The pastor took that deacon visiting, and he experienced the joy of seeing someone saved. The deacon now leads witnessing teams to experience what he has experienced. He changed from hindering evangelism to promoting and leading it in his church. Evangelism is taught, but it is also caught. Salvation is a joy like no other. The point of Jesus’ parables in Luke 15 is to teach us to invite people to Christ and welcome all who come to Him. Jesus’ stories should inflame our hearts for outreach and turn skeptics into joyful participants READ: Luke 15:1-7, 11-13, 22-24, 28-32 In our Lord’s eyes, everyon...