PastorBlastor

Honoring God’s servants! -- 1 Timothy 5:17-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 21, 2018 Recently the news has had several truly horrendous examples of pastors gone bad both of which either had or are pastoring mega churches. One had sexual relations with underage girls and the other deliberately misappropriated tens of thousands of dollars of church money and was caught smuggling hundreds of illegal pounds of marijuana in his car. These examples are by no means how the vast majority of pastors humbly serve in their ministries but these ungodly few leave a bad influence and taste with those inside and outside the church. Part of the problem is when too much power is given to an individual who is supposed to be a servant of the Lord and not a sovereign. Paul understood that how a pastor follows through in his ministry reflects on the entire body of Christ. The same is true in how the body of Christ honors their pastors. While respect is earned, honor is to be given to those who serve. For wha...

Setting aside! - 2 Corinthians 4:5-7; Philippians 2:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 10, 2016 Paul shared with his friend and mentor Timothy what he expected of those who wanted to become leaders within the church by telling him that they "must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap." (1 Timothy 3:2-7 NIV) All of these were in the present tense meaning that this is how they were to be at the moment of th...