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How Good It Is to Sing to the Lord! -- Psalm 147:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 17, 2020 One of my favorite old time movies is “Singing in the Rain”. I like the simple storyline where boy meets girl, girl misunderstands, and boy finally gets the girl. Of course one of the iconic scenes in the movie is when Gene Kelly sings and dances in the rain outside of his girlfriend’s building. During this time all of us could do well to remember to not just sing in the rainstorm of life but rather how good it is to sing to the Lord! God’s grace and greatness is a couple of things all believers should be willing to sing to the Lord about. Singing to the Lord is a wonderful way of praising him. The Psalmist understood this and here in this song to the Lord we discover just how good it is to sing to the Lord. Let’s see how… READ: Psalm 147:1-11 We are not sure who wrote this Psalm but the verses are really good for us to remember. I have divided them by premise so that when we read them they...

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...

We Can Confidently Trust In the Lord! -- Psalm 25:1-14 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 19, 2020 There are certain poets that I like; most are those who tell stories. Robert Service was called “The Bard of the Yukon” because he wrote a lot of poems about the north like “The Cremation of Sam McGee” or “The Shooting of Dan McGrew”. I also like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow who wrote such poems as “The Landlord’s Tale, Paul Revere’s Ride” but of course one of my favorites is “There Was A Little Girl”: “There was a little girl, Who had a little curl, Right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, She was very good indeed, But when she was bad she was horrid.” David from the Bible is also one of my favorite poets. He wrote many of the Psalms. One of my favorite Psalms is the one we will look at today. David boldly turned to the Lord for divine instruction and forgiveness from his sin. David knew he could because of God’s grace for Israel. This psalm is a meditation on the character of God th...

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...

4th Sunday of Advent - The love of God fulfilled – Luke 2:1-20 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 23, 2018 There are certain dates in life that stand out. I remember my parents and grandparents talking about what they were doing when Pearl Harbor was bombed. I remember watching the first American go into space and when we landed on the moon. I also remember when terrorists flew passenger jets into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. On a happier note, I also remember the day I was married, when we brought our daughter home, and when my grandchildren were born. Is it any wonder then that as believers we should remember the birth of Jesus? On the fourth Sunday of Advent we pause as Christians remembering the day Jesus was born. Before we pass out presents, drink the hot cider, or eat the first candy canes of Christmas perhaps we would do well to stop and remember why there is Christmas. It’s the day the love of God was fulfilled! Let’s see how… READ: Luke 2:1-20 We dis...

God brings joy! – Psalm 30 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 13, 2017 George Weiss and Robert Thiele wrote the lyrics: “I see trees of green, red roses too; I see them bloom for me and you, and I think to myself what a wonderful world.” It’s a song everyone knows because it has been used over and over again in different movies. And it was made famous by the Jazz singer and musician Louis Armstrong in 1967. It goes on to say, “I see skies of blue and clouds of white; the bright blessed day, the dark sacred night, and I think to myself what a wonderful world. The colors of the rainbow so pretty in the sky are also on the faces of people going by. I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do, they're really saying I love you. I hear babies crying, I watch them grow, they'll learn much more than I'll never know. And I think to myself what a wonderful world. Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world.” The song hits home because it speaks of the wonder of the world, God’s creat...

Goodbye! – Ephesians 6:21-24 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 7, 2017 There was a very schmaltzy song from the 1980s called “Friends” sung by Michael W. Smith that everyone and their monkey were singing. The chorus went: “And friends are friends forever, if the Lord’s the Lord of them. And a friend will not say never ‘cause the welcome will not end. Though it’s hard to let you go, in the Father's hands we know that a lifetime's not too long to live as friends.” I got sick and tired of hearing this over and over at every youth camp I did but it does express some spiritual truths concerning Christian friends and goodbyes. Paul became close to the people in the churches he established. He knew that because of their small size and how few and far between these congregations were Paul feared for them as friends. And when he had to leave them for whatever reason it was tough for him to say “goodbye”. Let’s discover what Paul wrote about this… READ: Ephesians 6:21-24 How would you say goodbye ...

Confess! – Micah 2 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 16, 2016 All of us have likely heard the truism, “Confession is good for the soul.” It’s an old Scottish proverb but there is a word missing. The proverb actually reads, “Open confession is good for the soul.” Perhaps it supports open and honest confession from one caught in their transgressions or it could come from Catholic guilt. I believe its roots come from Jesus who declared, “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32 NIV) King David declared, “Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” (Psalms 32:5 NIV) Micah teaches us that confession is good for the soul; not just for individuals but for nations and its leaders as well. The Hebrews had forsaken their God, their faith, and their own people for selfish gain. Micah wanted to restore them before ...

The greeting! - Galatians 1:1-5 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 29, 2016 Depending upon the reason for the message we may use the salutation of "Dear", "Sir or Madam", "To Whom It May Concern", "Folks", or the name of the person or persons we are addressing. Sadly, many greetings have gone out of vogue do to instant messaging or texting and email. And it is important to note that many young people do not understand the importance of a formal or business style of greeting when putting together correspondence for a job or college application. This is because our world has become way too lax in how it addresses others or the politeness, articulation, and education of what these kinds of greetings infer. Galatians, though one of Paul’s shorter letters is highly respected as one of his greatest and most influential. Since both Romans and Galatians teach the doctrine of justification by faith alone (sola fide), it has been seen as a shorter version of Ro...

The Man Who Went to the Mat! -- John 5:1-15 By Pastor Lee Hemen December 14, 2014 To “go to the mat” may come from the Old English matte, from Late Latin matta “mat made of rushes”, probably from Punic or Phoenician matta (Hebrew mittah “bed, couch”). Meaning “tangled mass”. That of “piece of padded flooring used in gymnastics or wrestling” is attested from 1892; hence figurative phrase go to the mat “do battle”. The Latin word also is the source of German Matte, matze ; Dutch mat, Italian matta. French natte “mat, matting” is from Late Latin. Interestingly, it was also a phrase from chess in the Arabic that meant to checkmate someone. When we go to the mat for someone it means we are willing to stand up and support that person. Paul writes about this wonderful truth by telling us, “And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will…. Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is G...