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The righteous person! – Psalm 1 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 21, 2026 Many base their entire lives on their feelings. Emotionalism will get people into trouble if it isn’t tempered by rationality. The one thing my dad taught me was to rationally think things through, whether it was fixing something, doing a job, or my school work. Sadly, much of the church today is influenced irrationality. Colleges, the media, and politicians have all sold their souls on the altar of selfish emotionalism in order to gain an audience. Morality today is often dictated by how it makes someone feel so personal sin is regarded in the same way. The Psalmist teaches us that the righteous person does not live their life this way. The Christian is to live their life by their faith in Jesus and his teachings not their feelings or how we think he might have felt. Feeling good or bad about something does not make it righteous. Believers are to live holy lives. Our foundation is not in people, feelings, or what makes ...

Fellowship Is a Beautiful Thing! – Acts 2:42-47 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 31, 2026 New things are exciting; new houses, new relationships, new cars or new toys – all of these things can be exciting at first. The same is true for churches. But after the excitement wears off then there is the hard work of taking care of, maintaining, and developing believers. Volunteers can often be like herding cats. The disciples found this out in a hurry. The church was brand new and it was exciting. Things were happening and God was moving to build his church in the world so it could be the witness he needed. Within the newness of the early church, we discover that the disciples began to develop how the body of Christ was to operate in the world and in doing so we discover that fellowship is a beautiful thing. Let’s see how and why… READ: Acts 2:42-47 GBC is in the process of finding a Worship Leader and we should desire one that encourages fellowship, is willing to come alongside of others, and develo...

The bread of life! -- John 6:34-59 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 8, 2026 They say that a person's sense of smell is one of the most powerful memory trigger inducers. You can smell a certain scent and it will immediately remind you of a person, place, or time of your life. I know this is true because when I smell Aqua Velva, an aftershave lotion, it immediately reminds me of my father. the same is true for fresh baked bread. The smell instantly reminds me of my mother's kitchen when I was growing up and the smell of her wonderful bread. She made the best bread in the world. We could hardly wait to get a thick warm slice with melted butter or peanut butter. As I expressed before, bread was an important part of everyday life, especially during Jesus' day. It was how people survived and was the meal for even the poorest of folks. However, it was not like the bread we enjoy today. It was flat, chewy, small, round, thick, and kind of tasteless, but it sustained people for the day. It...

A soldier’s faith! -- Matthew 8:5-13 By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen July 20, 2025 What kind of discipline do you display in life? I have a sister who never saw a shoe store she couldn’t pass by or for that matter a jewelry display she would not stop for. For me it used to be bookstores. However, self-discipline is a good thing and is why the military focuses on it so much. They want soldiers who will follow orders and are disciplined enough to be able to handle anything that is thrown their way during a conflict. In fact, they are trained to act as a team and to depend on one another. Jesus desired that his followers learn how to not only have faith in him but also to have faith in one another because he knew their future was going to be tough. And here in this depiction of an incident that Jesus has with a Roman centurion teaches us about what it means to have faith in him and to have the willingness to follow Jesus wherever he leads. Let’s take a look at a soldier’s faith… READ: Matthew...

Psalm 34:1-3 Magnify the Lord, Putting the Emphasis on God! Retired Pastor Lee Hemen What do a telescope, a microscope, and magnifying glass all have in common? They all make things bigger so you can see them better! For some people it doesn’t matter what they use they just can’t seem to get God into focus for their lives. Sadly, we live in a day and age where YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat or Discord are the main ways a lot of young people and others get their information, is it any wonder our attention spans are about the same as a squirrel’s? This is why I am glad Vacation Bible School is focusing children on God. It’s a time for them to come and have fun while learning Biblical truths about discovering and magnifying God in their lives. According to the Bible Knowledge Commentary “This song of praise is attributed to David when he escaped from Abimelech by feigning insanity (1 Samual 21:11). In the psalm David called on the congregation to praise the Lord for their salvation. And after ...

Psalm 85 – Peace Pastor Lee Hemen December 8, 2024 In our world today, many feel we need peace more than during any time, yet this has been true since human history has begun. One of the names people like most for Jesus is Prince of Peace. However, what we think we need and what Jesus provides is often misunderstood by what we think we need. The Psalmist was concerned for his nation, Israel. There is an idea that this Psalm was written early after the Hebrews returned from Babylonian exile. Israel was able to return after God allowed them to come back to the Promised Land. The Bible recounts how after the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire the exiled Hebrews were permitted by the Persians to return to Judah. According to the biblical Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem began. The Psalmist wanted his nation to be safe, secure, and at peace. READ: Psalm 85 I like Christmas. The decorations, the carols, and the joy that seems to surround the whole season. It’s like...

Psalm 34:8 – Eating Is More than Tasting September 8, 2024   Bill Crowder wrote in Our Daily Bread: “The beautiful bride, gripping her proud father’s arm, was poised to make her way to the altar. But not before the entrance of her thirteen-month-old nephew. Instead of carrying the more common ‘ring’—he was the ‘Bible bearer.’ In this way, the bride and groom, as committed believers in Jesus, wanted to testify to their love for Scripture. With minimal distraction, the toddler found his way to the front of the church. How illustrative it was that the toddler’s teeth marks were found on the leather cover of the Bible. What a picture of activity that’s fitting for believers in Christ or those who desire to know Him—to taste and take in Scripture.”   Jesus related to his followers, “Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day, because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. The one who eats My flesh and drinks My ...

The Sufficiency of the Insignificant Exodus 1:15-21 Pastor Lee Hemen, May 05, 2024 Have you ever heard of Henrietta Lacks? “Henrietta was a poor tobacco farmer from Virginia. Her death was remarked by no one except her children, her family, and her friends. However, Henrietta Lacks is the source of the HeLa cell line—her blood contained uniquely immortal cells that can live outside her body indefinitely. After the birth of her fifth child in 1951, Henrietta was admitted to Johns Hopkins University Hospital complaining of “a knot in her womb,” and doctors took a sample of tissue. It was soon noticed that, unlike normal cells, Henrietta’s cells did not die after a few days but rather continued to grow, doubling every 20 to 24 hours. Henrietta’s cells can be found in the trillions in laboratories around the world. They have been used by medical researchers studying not only cancer but also hemophilia, influenza, leukemia, and Parkinson’s disease. They were also used in developing the poli...

Matthew 13:1-9 - Scattering the Seed of the Gospel By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen May 22, 2022 We have always loved putting out birdseed for the wild birds in our yards. It’s fun to watch all of the different species that come to our feeders. Recently, a pair of birds called Evening Grosbeaks has been coming to our feeders, and they are pigs. They kind of force out other birds, scatter the seed everywhere, and remind me of uninvited relatives that show up for dinner. However, one of the things that they do by scattering the seed from the feeders is provide for the dozens of squirrels and smaller birds that hop around the base of the feeders searching for scattered seeds. And some of the seeds, being grass seeds, have made my lawn area thick and rich. We forget that when we scatter the seed of the gospel that it falls on many kinds of ground, and we never know who might benefit from the process. Like those Evening Grosbeaks we are not to be just about feeding ourselves the seeds of the gos...