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Ramblings from Retirement – Freedom! By Pastor Lee Hemen (Retired) March 22, 2021 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:16-18 NIV) At what point do believers “submit themselves to the governing authorities”? Paul would write the Roman Christians, who were under severe persecution, that they were to honor God and that those “who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves” (Romans 13:2 NIV). However there does come a time when the Christian must follow the Lord and not man because man can do evil and ...

Remain true! -- 1 Timothy 6:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen January 28, 2018 We truly have no idea what slavery is like unless we personally have been enslaved. We can theorize, emphasize, and philosophize about it but until we have experienced for ourselves we have no real clue what it means to be enslaved. It was and is one of the most horrendous things humans can do to one another. Christianity played a huge role in the abolition of slavery throughout the world. It still exists where the evil of mankind is allowed to go unchecked. Gangs, Islam, and socialist nations that rule through fear and intimidation we find enslavement still exists. When Paul wrote about slaves he was in no way endorsing the ungodly practice; instead he knew that those who were masters and those who were slaves that had been changed by Jesus Christ needed to practice a new way of life that reflected their change. Paul’s desire was that no matter what a person’s circumstance in life that they would remain true to thei...

Pray for all people! -- 1 Timothy 2:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 15, 2017 As I’ve mentioned before, prayer is our conversation with the Creator of the universe. However I often wonder not only what should I pray for but whom should I pray for as well. Now there are few of us who would not think it beneficial to pray for politicians but this is what I mean; we are faced with the conundrum of what we should pray! Now Jesus never suggested who we should or should not pray for but rather his encouragement was that we simply pray as often as we should. Paul faced a lot of harassment for his faith. There were his old Jewish cronies who wanted to see him simply to shut up about his faith and then there were the kings, potentates, and pundits of his day that wanted him silenced as well. Yet Paul could not be quiet because he realized that the gospel message of Jesus was for all people everywhere. Paul however did not have the luxury of deciding who he should or shouldn’t pray for becaus...

Be free! - Galatians 5:1-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 4, 2016 It is interesting to see how many hospitals have become aggressive advocates for certain things regarding pregnancy, birthing, and the care of newborns. So much so it sometimes borders more on being politically correct rather than the actual health of the child or the concerns of the parents. For some hospitals and how they handle circumcision is a good case in point. In our day and age where circumcision is a personal choice and does not have any actual health benefit due to greater medical research and societal cleanliness. However, whether one wants to try and make the theological argument that it is healthier or not it is no longer spiritually necessary. Jesus put an absolute end to anyone having to follow the law in order to be saved and to go back into the law one is willingly enslaving themselves to a system that will eternally condemn them. Paul knew this to be true and desperately wanted the Galatians to u...

Don't be a Hagar! - Galatians 4:19-31 By Pastor Lee Hemen August 28, 2015 In the annals of history no one wants to be remembered as a Wrong Way Corrigan who was an American aviator who after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, though his flight plan was filed to return to Long Beach. Nor do we want to be known as a Charlie Brown the cartoon character who falls for his friend Lucy's duplicitous football fakeouts or who always blows the neighborhood baseball game. And in the Bible we would not want to be equated with Hagar -- or, would we? Paul in making his case to the Galatians has given them several examples of how they're going back to their old faith habits was headed spiritually in the wrong direction and now he gives them the example of Hagar. She was a handmaiden, servant, of Sarah Abraham's wife. Later after Sarah's scheming to circumnavigate God's plan ...

Freedom! - Galatians 3:23-29 By Pastor Lee Hemen July 30, 2016 Americans do not truly understand what slavery is all about. Even those who decry it as a part of their family history have no idea what it means to be enslaved. You are not your own person, you cannot go where you want when you want, and you are a piece of property that can be disposed of, sold, or traded at the whim of your master. Those gained their freedom from slavery would never willingly go back to being enslaved, yet many who desire that others pay their way, give them something for nothing, or want a handout are just as enslaved as the slaves of Paul's day. When Jesus came he saw no racial, gender, societal, political, or financial barriers. For Jesus all lives mattered and in his statement "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16 NIV) proved this fact. God desired to set people free, not from ...

Sunday of Advent - Hope! - Isaiah 9:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 29, 2015 Sometimes we can be like the old song from the TV show Hee Haw that lamented, "Gloom, despair, and agony on me; deep, dark depression, excessive misery! If it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all; gloom, despair, and agony on me!" Some us understand the lament of this song while others sing it simply because things are not going the way they expected. Life hardly ever does. Yet on the Sunday of Advent we light the candle of hope. Hope is more than wishful thinking; it is the outcry of the human heart and the certainty of God's promise. We as his children hope in him because we know who he is and what he has done. The Israelites of Isaiah's day had no such experience. They should have been able to trust God and the promises he made from knowing their own history, but in the midst of war, famine, and the threat of enslavement it can be tough to see God or his promises. Perhaps...