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Whom Do You Love? - Mark 12:28-34 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 28, 2010 This past Thanksgiving I heard people exclaim that they loved pie, sweet potatoes, dressing, turkey, and just about any other food that was placed in front of them. We use the word love for defining a lot of things in our lives. Sadly, the word love is often used in the wrong way concerning relationships in our lives. Perhaps no better definition for our day concerning love is better expressed than in the song Barney the Dinosaur sings: “I love you, you love me; we’re a happy family! With a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you; won’t you say you love me too?” Love has been reduced to an emotion we feel, rather than an expression. Here in Mark’s gospel we find Jesus answering his questioners concerning what the greatest commandment of God is. Contrary to what some may think, the love of God is conveyed throughout the commands of God. Jesus remarked to his disciples, “If you love me, you will obey wha...

A New Relationship - Mark 12:18-27 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 21, 2010 AM A few years ago I was in a grocery store when a young mother with her little preschooler came walking down the aisle. The little girl kept asking for different things and the mother would patiently respond, “No, you cannot have that, stop asking.” When the little girl had evidently had enough of the answer she did not like, she lay down in the middle of the aisle and begin to throw one spectacular fit. The mother did not flinch; she just kept shopping, and related to her daughter, “When you are done, I will be in the next aisle over.” She then calmly put the item she had been looking at in her cart and walked around the corner. When some folks do not get the answer they want, they can act just like a little immature preschooler. Evidently the religious ruling class did not get the answer they wanted out of Jesus, so they send in another group to try and entrap him with a bizarre question concerning w...

Render Rightly - Mark 12:13-17 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 14, 2010 AM When I was younger we used to set small snares that would safely trap small animals like mice, chipmunks, rabbits and squirrels. In fact, my brother Ed and I spent one whole summer trapping chipmunks, letting them go, and trying to tame them. While the taming never worked, they bit and clawed in a terror-stricken frenzy, the trapping went well. There are folks who spend their whole time trying to catch innocent people saying or doing things. They are called the press. Then there are the vultures known as the “Paparazzi.” It is an Italian term used to refer to photojournalists who specialize in candid photography of celebrities, politicians, and other prominent people. Then there are those who try to trap people with the words they use. These are called lawyers. In our lives we learn to render our words correctly from the time we are little and into adulthood. Like little politicians, children learn very ...

Are You Just A “Tenant”? - Mark 12:1-12 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 07, 2010 AM We like being in control. However, the Psalmist tells us to “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.” (Psalms 2:12) Many have deliberately forgotten this Scriptural truth because the convoluted reasoning goes: “If I can ignore God in my life, then I can do whatever I want whenever I want, even if it concerns ungodliness.” This was true for Israel. Yet time after time God had tried to bring them back to himself. Rather than being the people of God they should have been, they became mere tenants, renters of God’s truth, despising God and desperately trying to control their lives without acknowledging Him. Harvest time, before the advent of modern computerized corporate farms, was a time of great community celebration. A good harvest could mean survival through the winter and being able to plan...

Authority! – Mark 11:27-33 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 31, 2010 AM From the time we are born, until the time we leave this earth, some of us will go kicking and screaming. The reason is we have a problem with authority. We think either we are in control or that we should be in control, when in fact neither is true. Perhaps this is why some of us need to be smacked right away on our bottoms when we are born! There are those who will spend their entire lives trying to be in authority. I have met college professors who thought that simply because they had earned a PhD they were to be respected and thought of as an authority. Sadly, these professors were usually the most detrimental in their teaching and garnered the least amount of respect. The question concerning authority, who has it and who does not have it, has been around since the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve decided they were in control. And here is the truth of the matter: We decide who or what is going to be the s...

Have Faith in God - Mark 11:22-26 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 24, 2010 AM We find that what many people believe about their spirituality is often influenced in unorthodox ways. Sadly, in the movie “Hereafter”, we find one such view concerning life, death, and the afterlife. It centers on three people touched by death: a reluctant physic who supposedly communicates with dead people, a woman who has a near death experience with a tsunami, and a London schoolboy who loses his twin brother in a freak accident. People often wonder what happens to them after they die it is one of life’s ultimate questions. People also long to communicate in some way with deceased loved ones. While mourning is different for each person, and thinking we can communicate with the dead can help some folks cope with loss, these misconceptions often allow folks to consider anything as valid. It has also created a lot of false teaching concerning faith. Christians have allowed the world to define faith f...

Of Figs and Phonies - Mark 11:11-21 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 17, 2010 AM George Barna does research for Christianity and faith practices in America. Recently he completed a study on the “Diversity of Faith in Various U.S. Cities.” It revealed nothing new, except there are some interesting discoveries. Of course, in the Portland, OR market, which includes Vancouver, WA, we discover that they had one of the lowest shares of self-identified Christians at 71% right behind San Francisco. In fact, 16% of this market identified itself as agnostic or atheist with 42% stating they had not attended any church service within the last six months! Notice that the figures do not add up to 100% and the reason is obvious: While many may consider themselves “spiritual” or even “Christian,” they are unwilling to specifically identify themselves. Are these folks hypocrites, phonies, or just plain ignorant of what faith means? Interestingly, during Jesus’ day he faced similar problems conce...

The King Comes! - Mark 11:1-10 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 3, 2010 AM Is it Passover time again? It seems as if we had just celebrated it! Last year, it was marked by the same dusty dirty pilgrims on the same dusty dirty road. Nothing much usually happens here in Nob. Being a suburb of Jerusalem people usually pass us by and leave us alone. Sure, some of the priests live here when they are in attendance in the temple, but nothing more than that. But then there was that year Yeshua of Nazareth came. How could I have forgotten! Let me tell you it was quite a spectacle. But he could not have done it without my old donkey Judith. She had given birth to a small little foal we named… but of course, I am getting ahead of myself! We were just standing around, gawking at the pilgrims, and telling stories about passed events and arguing about the taxes, when these men come up and begin to untie my new foal! I began to protest that they had no right to take my donkey, when I remembere...

Bartimaeus – Mark 10:46-52 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 26, 2010 AM I watched a news story the other night that related how a man had noticed that his eyesight was being adversely affected. He had returned from a trip overseas and began to notice that he began to have headaches and his vision was getting worse. What the ophthalmologist discovered was kind of weird and scary. The man had a worm in his cornea. Evidently, he had been infected with this parasite while on vacation. Only 15 cases of this have ever been recorded. The doctor was able to kill it by using a laser. However, the man’s eyesight may never return to normal. How awful would that be, finding out your eyeball was infected with a parasite? Ugh! I guess that out of all the senses I have, my sight would be one of the most important to me. In today’s passage of Mark, we find a man whose whole life was one of darkness. In Jesus’ day, if a person was born blind, people thought that either you had sinned or perhap...