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Ramblings from Retirement – Stand Firm By Lee Hemen, Retired Pastor March 26, 2021 I like watching the wild birds that come to our feeders in our yard. Their music is sweet to listen to as is their antics. Some are very protective of their feeding grounds and chase other birds away while other seem oblivious and just enjoy the fellowship of the other varieties of birds that show up to feed. Some seem extremely skittish and flit from here to there at any sound. In Peter’s letter he writes, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered ...

Ramblings for Retirement – Do Not Allow Evil to Prosper By Lee Hemen (retired pastor) January 11,2021 When Jesus told the crowd that the “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NIV)” He never meant for the believer to roll over and allow evil to prosper. He was speaking to a crowd of people who understood what it meant to live under the hardship of Roman rule. The meekness He was referring to here was neither weakness nor spiritual blindness. There are those in the Christian community who are ready and willing to try to fool you into thinking that as a believer you should just roll over and pray and everything will be okay. This is simply not true and is frightening in its ignorance. Jesus went on to develop what He meant when He continued by telling the crowd that day: “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And...

Persevere! - Jude 1:17-25 By Pastor Lee Hemen May 20, 2018 Recently a lesbian couple went on vacation with their six adopted children; the couple got drunk and drove off a California coastal highway into the Pacific Ocean at 90 miles an hour killing all of them. They left Minnesota when they claimed one of their children was threatened by the Ku Klux Klan, and moved to Oregon, and finally Washington. Actually they fled Minnesota after bruises were discovered on a preschooler and the “mother” received a three-month suspended jail sentence and a year of probation. The Harts later moved to Oregon and began homeschooling their brood, but relocated to rural Woodland, Washington when Oregon began to suspect them of abuse. They fled their Woodland home after CPS workers tried to contact them about starving and neglecting their children. The warning signs were all over the place concerning this couple but few responded fast enough to rescue innocent children. Sadly many of us face warnings eve...

God leads us! - Psalm 18:1-6, 16-21, 32-36 May 21, 2017 By Pastor Lee Hemen When life smacks you in the head what do you do, to whom do you go to for advice, or for comfort? For some of us it is family, others it is a good friend, and yet as believers we are to first and foremost go to the Lord who is our help in times of trouble. It is during these times that God leads us. David was not favored by God because he served him but David served him because God had appointed David in his sovereign mercy. After David praises and tells of his confidence in God for the future, David gives a beautiful description of God’s deliverance, which he described as an illustration of God’s justice to the innocent. God’s own might and success are celebrated as the results of divine aid and the confidence it will continue. Let’s learn how through our lives God leads us! READ: Psalm 18:1-6, 16-21, 32-36 David knew about trouble in life. He had been given the kingdom of Israel while the still sitting king S...

The love of God! - John 15:9-17 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 25, 2015 Selena Gomez sings about how she is sick of the same old love, but the words in her hit song have to deal with how people mistreat one another in relationships. The artist Weeknd sings about being so deep in love his face goes numb. There must be literally hundreds if not thousands of songs that deal with love in some way or another. Love is such a frustrating and baffling thing for some of us that we sometimes misunderstand what real love is like. Here in John's gospel we discover the love of God displayed in the life of Jesus and now we learn what that loves is all about and just how truly wonderful it is. The love of God is complete, true, and open. When we see Jesus we see the love of God. Let's discover what this means for us… READ: John 15:9-17 If we say we love someone they expect certain things from us. Our words and actions should display what we say concerning our love for them, and our relationship...