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Ramblings from Retirement - Do Not Fear By Retired Pastor Lee Hemen August 13, 2021 Are you fearful? Are you afraid? Some people like being scared or the feeling of fear. They will even do things in life to make themselves feel fear. Like bungee jumping from high places, climbing cliffs without any pinions or tie downs, or skydiving. Some will go to horror movies but then there are also those who keep themselves in a constant state of fear simply because they do not trust themselves, others, or Jesus to keep them. This is truly sad. Today is Friday the 13th and some folks are fearful of the date; kind of silly, if you ask me, but they are. Perhaps it is because they would rather live in a state of fear rather than peace. The news brings in to our lives a constant barrage of tragedy, horrors, and dismal happenings. My advice is to turn the news off and go read your Bible or listen to some good music. The world is full of fear and will not change until we go to our eternal rest or Jesus ...

Jesus, the Messiah? - John 7: 25-32 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 15, 2015 We misunderstand sometimes what the term Christ means but it is a Greek form of Messiah, both meaning anointed one. The Messiah would be anointed by God to perform and do his will in the world. He would direct people back to God, rescue them from their oppressors. The term came to refer to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line, who will be "anointed" with holy anointing oil, to be king of God's earthly kingdom, and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age. In Judaism, the Messiah was and is not considered to be God or a pre-existent divine Son of God as Jesus is. He is considered to be a great political leader that has descended from King David. The Bible plainly teaches us that Messianic prophecies were fulfilled in the mission, death, and resurrection of Jesus and that he will return to fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy. Still, there are those who ask, "Is Jesus the Messiah?...

The Understanding! -- John 3:22-36 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 9, 2014 We may think we know something to be true when in fact it is not. This can cause jealousy, anger, or misunderstanding. Kind of like those biblical sayings that are not really in the Bible but folks think they are: “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” “cleanliness is next to godliness,” “God works in mysterious ways,” “pride goes before the fall,” or “moderation in all things.” None of which are found in Scripture. Folks need to read their Bibles more in order to know their Bibles more! Here we discover that the disciples of John the Baptist were not immune to misunderstanding what God desired and how he was working through John and through Jesus. It resulted in an interesting discussion and following statement by John that clarifies for his followers and others exactly who Jesus is and who John is and what their ministries were meant to be. John wanted his disciples to come to an understanding about Jesus, let’s fi...

The Wise Life! -- James 3:13-18 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 22, 2014 Where does wisdom come from? Does it come about because of age? Does it come from the amount of knowledge one knows or has acquired? Mark Twain retorted, “The person who has had a bull by the tail once has learned 60 or 70 times as much as a person who hasn't.” Another quote that is often falsely attributed to Twain is the one that states, “When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years!” My father used to remind us that “Just because you think you know something, does not make it true.” We find this pithy bit of wisdom to be quite true in our day and age whereby so many think they know God when in fact they know nothing about him at all. Both the psalmist and the writer of Proverbs agree that, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom…. (Psalms 111:10 ...

Following God includes trust, understanding, and risk! -- Esther 4:1-17 By Pastor Lee Hemen April 28, 2013 AM Tyler felt that after his call from God he should have been given a clear sign. When he sought the advice of others, they cautioned him as to his calling. Most did not see that God was actually calling Tyler to be a pastor. In fact, one of the deacons in the church who taught at the local seminary bluntly told him that he needed to work on his interpersonal skills first. Tyler went ahead, signed up for seminary, and soon was working at a nearby church. Within the year, Tyler had quit seminary and was let go from his church position. Occasionally folks expect God to do everything and then blame Him when things in life do not turn out the way they think they should; this is not only unrealistic, it is unbiblical. Whatever had been Mordecai’s reasons for not bowing to Haman, he was now in great mourning. His feud with Haman, whether legitimate or not, had caused a gre...

The Cost of Christ - Mark 9:30-37 By Pastor Lee Hemen June 27, 2010 AM Sometimes we can hear someone say something to us but not understand what they are saying. There are several reasons for this. They could be speaking a foreign language, we could be hard of hearing, we could be distracted, or we could simply be ignoring the other person. Kind of like the old Peanuts cartoons where all the adults sounded like: “Wah, wah, wah, wah, waah!” However, there are times when we hear the other person speak, and we truly do not understand what they are trying to tell us. I had a calculus class like that. My Mother had a favorite expression she often used with me: “Young man, listen to me when I am talking to you! I am not speaking simply to hear myself speak!” It seemed, as I was growing up, she said this a lot to me. Perhaps it was because I was so easily distracted or maybe it was the fact I did not want to hear what she had to say. Whatever the reason, we find that Jesus’ disc...