PastorBlastor

Luke 19:28-44 – Palm Sunday By Pastor Lee Hemen March 24, 2013 AM I was wondering what you thought about peace. You know what I mean, not the peace the world tries to aspire to because that is impossible. I am referring to the peace that passes all understanding that only comes from intimately knowing the ruler of peace. Only He can give the human soul the peace it needs between the one who created us and ourselves. Perhaps you have realized peace does not come from people, places or things. Education, money, or power cannot give you the peace you need or seek. Only the one who died for you can give you peace when all else in life falters, fails, or falls apart. The absence of war, strife, or personal hurt is not the peace He gives. His peace comes by the sword of his truth that pierces the human soul right down to the spiritual bone marrow. The Jews of Jesus’ day were searching for a worldly peace, a solution to their national and personal problems as a race and a people...

What’s so good about this Friday? – Matthew 27 By Pastor Lee Hemen March 17, 2013 AM It was early in the morning on Yom Shishi of Passover, when all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Yeshua of Nazareth to death. We bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. That sad little follower of Yeshua, Yudas, who had betrayed him, when he saw that Yeshua was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to us. He actually wept in our presence and whined, “I have sinned, for I have betrayed innocent blood.” We retorted, “What is that to us? That's your responsibility.” So Yudas actually threw the money into the temple and left! Can you imagine? Then he went away and hanged himself. Good riddance, no one likes a traitor! We picked up the coins and agreed that was against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money. So we decided to use the money to buy the potter's field a...

Luke 22:1-23 – The Last Passover! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 10, 2013 AM People came into Jerusalem the same as they always had for the Passover. They hurried to their favorite places to stay, to celebrate, and to purchase foods for the meal to come. They had heard the rumors of Jesus being in the city. They had heard the stories or had participated in His triumphal entry. Perhaps He was the One they had been waiting for who would reign over them and throw off the yoke of Roman rule and their national humiliation. They could not understand that this would be the last Passover they would need to celebrate under the bondage of the old law. A new way had come. This indeed was the last Passover. The chief priests and teachers of the Law were wondering how they could thwart this perceived threat from Jesus. The people loved Him and people’s emotions always ran high during this holy time of Passover. They religiously clung to their old greedy ways and wanted the Romans to contin...

Isaiah 58:1-11 – Fasting for the Lord! By Pastor Lee Hemen March 3, 2013 AM I can remember my mother telling us, “How many times do I have to repeat myself in order to get you to listen?” Then she would admonish, “Do not make me repeat myself!” We knew were supposed to listen the first time and do what she had told us to do. Why is it that we often do the very same thing in our relationship with the Lord? We are supposed to listen to the words of the Lord and then do what He has told us to do. We forget that this is part of our lives of fasting for the Lord. Fasting for the Lord is more than about not eating or drinking. Fasting for God was and is about personal sacrifice. The Israelites of Isaiah’s day were a lot like many in our nation today. They had enjoyed success and years of religious and financial growth. So much so that many thought that they were blessed of God because of their success rather than the relationship they were to have with Him. God had been trying t...

Jude - Be On Guard! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 17, 2013 AM What motivates you in life? When I was in a JNROTC program, we were stationed for several weeks at Quadra, a Canadian military base. We had to learn basic commands in French because of the cadets that were from Quebec that were there training with us. All I remember is “stand easy” was “repos,” “dismissed” was “écartée!” and “attention” was “garde à vous!” We were motivated to be alert because if we did not follow the commands quickly enough, we were punished for our lack of knowledge. Our drill instructors did not care that some of us did not know French. We had to learn them correctly and quickly. We were highly motivated. For the Christian, our motivation needs to be Jesus Christ. When Jude wrote his letter there were those who had begun to get discouraged because they thought Jesus was going to return any day. The signs were all there but He still hadn’t come back. Then, in the midst of mounting persecution,...

Hebrews 13:18-25 – Vaya con dios! Pray! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 10, 2013 AM Saying “good-bye” is always tough with those you love and care about in life. Roger Ebert, the film critic, who has had multiple surgeries for cancer and was once declared dead agrees. He wrote in an e-mail interview that death scenes in movies put unrealistic pressure on the rest of us to be profound. “After all,” he wrote, “those scenes are well-written, directed, and performed by professionals.” Last words have an almost mystical significance in both Eastern and Western cultures, in part because they hold out the possibility of revealing a deep insight or lifting a veil on the meaning of life. Japanese poets wrote haiku at the moment of their death; Jesus related his forgiveness for those who murdered Him. What would you say if you knew the words you uttered could be the last thing the folks you are saying “good-bye” to were your last. We know the Bible tells us that, “The prayer of a righ...

Hebrews 13:7-17 – We’re following the Leader! By Pastor Lee Hemen February 3, 2013 AM In the Walt Disney cartoon “Peter Pan”, the Lost Boys sing a song entitled “Following the Leader.” The lyrics are “Following the leader, the leader, the leader; we’re following the leader wherever he may go! Tee dum, tee dee, A teedle ee do tee day. Tee dum, tee dee; It's part of the game we play! Tee dum, tee dee, The words are easy to say. Just a teedle ee dum a teedle ee do tee day!” It continues by relating, “We're one for all and all of us out for fun! We march in line and follow the other one! With a teedle ee do a teedle ee di tee dum!” And sadly, this can be the mantra of far too many in our day and age as they blindly follow politicians, the media, and superstars. We want to be very careful when we blindly follow earthly leaders. Hebrews is ending his sermon and desires to leave his listeners with some advice they won’t soon forget. With all the voices trying to gain thei...

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...