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Hebrews 13:1-6 – How to live your lives in Christ! By Pastor Lee Hemen January 27, 2013 AM If you only had a few days to live or if you knew, you may not see certain people you cared about ever again, what advice would you leave them? In Douglas Adams’ book “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” all the dolphins and whales leave earth right before it is destroyed to make room for an intergalactic interchange and off ramp. Their final message is, “So long and thanks for all the fish!” Not to worry, earth is later rebuilt by the dolphins in their Save the Humans campaign. As silly as this is, what message would you leave? Perhaps you might share how those you leave behind should live their lives in Christ. The author of Hebrews is closing his sermon to his fellow Jewish believers. He is concerned for their future and rightly so. He had spoken to them in general terms before but now he gets down to the nitty-gritty and very specific moral obligations they are to be mindful o...

Hebrews 12:18-29 – Shaken, not deterred! By Pastor Lee Hemen January 20, 2013 AM There is the line from the older James Bond movies where he ordered his martinis to be “shaken and not stirred.” Bond supposedly wanted his drink well mixed and chilled with crushed ice. Though you will rarely see a vodka martini mentioned in a peer-reviewed paper, the scientific principles that go into creating the favorite drink of Ian Fleming's James Bond are more sophisticated, perhaps more than his imaginary gadgets. It is a matter of chemistry. Twenty shakes, makes any drink as cold as it is going to get. How in the world would this apply to what I am going to teach today? We as believers in Christ should display the same cool character while under fire in life as James Bond did when confronted with an evil adversary. The author of Hebrews describes how the Hebrews had been shaken and terrified when Moses went up on the mountain to receive the commands of God. God has replaced that f...

Hebrews 12:12-17 – Get Up and Get Going! By Pastor Lee Hemen January 13, 2013 AM Have you ever had one of those days where it is tough to get out of bed? The other day I think my get up got up and went! It was tough to roll out of the covers. Usually, I am happy and singing the moment my feet hit the floor but the other day I thought that someone set off firecrackers and then I realized it was the sound of my bones cracking! I ended up having to claim the verse out of Revelation that states, “And he swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, ‘There will be no more delay!’” (Revelation 10:6 NIV) I had to get up and get going! The writer of Hebrews now focuses on the fact that his listeners needed to get up and get going with their faith. It was time to stop procrastinating. Perhaps many of them, like many of us, had decided to be more faithful, tomorr...

Hebrews 12:1-11 – Discipline Yourself! By Pastor Lee Hemen January 6, 20 12 AM Whom would you emulate in life if you could? As I remarked last week, few adults have heroes anymore. We see those who society holds up as heroes and they fall far short of what true heroes are all about. In fact, we have reduced heroism to anyone who faces a difficulty in life, an illness, or anyone who we think is special. Now, do not get offended. I personally believe that heroes are more than that. While there are those who are very courageous and those who are strong in character, that does not necessarily make them heroes. Heroes are those individuals who are, in the face of personal danger, willing to sacrifice themselves or risk it all for others. We want to be careful not to reduce heroism to a politically correct definition in order to sooth our conscience. Courageous folks who face a terminal illness or overcome difficult circumstances in life are great role models for us and Hebrews ...

Hebrews 11:17-40 – Faith Expressed! By Pastor Lee Hemen   December 30, 2012 AM What kind of heroes do we hold up to be emulated? Columnist Leonard Pitts Jr. writes about the need for heroes: “My middle son, Marlon, complained to me just the other day that his generation is coming of age ‘in a world without heroes.’ . . . His words tugged at me. . . . Our children have learned to wait for the other shoe to drop, for ‘heroes’ to be unmasked and values betrayed.” A survey by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University shows that 60 percent of adults have no heroes. It’s an unhealthy trend, according to former U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett, author of the best-seller The Book of Virtues: “It is particularly important for young people to have heroes. This is a way to teach them by moral example, so that we can point to someone as an ideal.” I believe this is why true heroes, heroes of our faith can give us a renewed vigor to live for the Lord. In a summar...

Hebrews 11:7-16 – What Faith Means! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 16, 2012 AM In what has occurred in the past few days, people are trying to find meaning out of the violence. Sadly, bad people will do bad things to innocent people. Sin exists. And, this kind of violence has always been with us because we live in a sin-fallen world. Never forget that a madman king tried to wipe out a perceived rival for his throne by killing all the children, ages 2 years and younger, in Bethlehem following the birth of Jesus. When these kinds of horrendous things occur, we need to hide in the loving wings of the One who loves us and sacrificed His son for us. It is time to understand what faith means again. Jewish believers were trying to go back to a worldly faith where the emphasis was on their feelings and good works. The author of Hebrews would have none of it and begins the process of defining exactly what faith has meant all along. God rewards those who seek Him and we can only beco...

Hebrews 11:1-6 – What Is Faith? By Pastor Lee Hemen December  9, 2012 AM What is faith? Is it a feeling, an emotional response, or the intellectual exercise of one’s will to decide to believe in something based on the evidence no matter what others say? Webster’s Dictionary states that it is defined as, “allegiance to duty or a person, loyalty, fidelity to one's promises, sincerity of intentions, firm belief in something for which there is no proof, complete trust, something that is believed especially with strong conviction, or belief and trust in and loyalty to God.” The author of Hebrews gives us a definition of what faith is and then he spends the rest of this chapter in giving us examples of what faith meant for specific people. As we look at what he wrote and why, it should make us think about what our faith means to us. READ: Hebrews 11:1-6 What in life are you certain of, that you know without a doubt you can depend upon? We can absolutely depend in l...

Hebrews 10:32-39 – Keep On Keeping On! By Pastor Lee Hemen December 2, 2012 AM Do you remember when you first came to Christ, how you felt, and how others viewed your conversion? Were you excited, were they excited for you, and what about your friends? When I came to faith in Christ, my family was not that thrilled and my friends did not understand. In fact, from both groups I received a certain amount of grief. In fact, my boss bluntly told me that he could not stand Christians and would make my life miserable. How did your salvation change your life and what in your faith makes you want to keep on keeping on in life? These very important questions challenge us to make some thoughtful answers. The author of Hebrews knew his listeners were confused and wanted the easy way out by going back to what they felt was spiritually comfortable for them. Sin often works that way. Sin usually occurs in our lives not because some dramatically evil thing entices us, but rather because ...

Hebrews 10:26-31 – Apostasy? Me? By Pastor Lee Hemen November 25, 20112 AM Sometimes the anticipation of something can be far more than the reality. You know what I mean, as children we may have anticipated Christmas, the presents, and then when the actual day arrives, it is not quite what we thought it might be. For the believer however, our anticipation of heaven and eternity does not come close to the reality. Paul wrote, “However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” How do we know this to be true, Paul continues by telling us that “God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”(1 Corinthians 2:9-10 NIV) I bring this up in order to say that some of us have a convoluted view of eternity. There are those who think that heaven is some kind of ethereal place and hell is only what you make of it, neither is true. Heaven is being in th...