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How to remain faithful! -- 1Timothy 4:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 26, 2017 Here in America we have not faced the persecution that exists in much of the rest of the world for our faith. We think that if someone feels ill-will towards us or says a nasty thing about our faith that this is the same as the persecution others around the world face -- it is not. Certainly we are facing more and more resentment, ungodliness, and outward bitterness towards Christianity but we are not yet suffering beatings, slavery, and religious genocide as others have and are. Yet how are we to remain faithful if persecution for our faith worsens? Paul knew very well what real religious persecution was all about. He not only felt it as he followed Jesus but had inflicted it on other believers before becoming a Christian himself. This is why he was being so urgent with Timothy; being a believer in Paul’s day meant being persecuted for your faith. So how does one remain faithful in light of such a prospect...

Mystery of Godliness! -- 1Timothy 3:14-16 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 19, 2017 If you only had one letter, email, or text to send someone that explained how important their faith in Jesus was what would you write? We live in an age where real writing has gone by the wayside. The conveying of ideas no longer relies on the logical progression of argument but rather on the emotional response invoked instead. Politics, science, morality, philosophy and or religion have been reduced to a visceral response garnered for the gain of the speaker and not the audience involved. In other words writing has been rendered to gain the reader’s or listener’s empathy rather than being based on actual facts. For Paul the gospel message was the single most important message ever given to mankind. Timothy needed to have a firm grasp of what this actually meant because if he did not he would fall into doubt, personal speculation, or worse the hybridization of the truth! Therefore in the following verse...

A deacon! -- 1Timothy 3:8-13 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 12, 2012 Often all you hear about, read about, or see in the movies and TV is a gross characterization of evangelical church leadership. In fact so much so that there is a societal mythos that is completely false concerning Christian leadership in evangelical churches; especially concerning deacons. The truth is there are literally tens of thousands of pastors and hundreds of thousands of deacons who serve in evangelical churches all across America and worldwide with grace and compassion as the servants of Jesus they are called to be. Paul is writing to his young friend in the ministry Timothy on how a church is supposed to function and how congregations were to choose their leadership. Were Paul’s suggestions supposed to be the absolute law for all time and all churches everywhere concerning how a local church chooses its leadership? No, I do not believe so, however, since his writing is Spirit-inspired we as believers wo...

An overseer! -- 1Timothy 3:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen November 7, 2017 When we think of leadership in our day and age we sometimes do not have a very good opinion or view of it and it is only natural considering what we see in politics, in entertainment, in business, or in sports. In fact there are religious leaders that have left a sour taste in our mouths as well. But should leadership get such a bad rap from us? Paul would say, “No.” Continuing his instructions to Timothy on how a church should act Paul relates who should be considered as leaders. He knew the entire world would be looking at the early church. Christians would need to be above any criticism. In other words they had to be like Jesus if they proclaimed the gospel message of Jesus to the world. Let’s see what Paul said about being an overseer… READ: 1Timothy 3:1-7 The word overseer is not used much in our day and age and when it is used we have a tendency to think it means a slave driver or task master, nothing cou...

Know your role! -- 1 Timothy 2:8-15 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 29, 2017 We all have different roles in life, some we like while others we may not like as much. In our world today there are those who are trying to redefine roles that have been in effect for thousands of years. What we used to think of as an absolute truism that was founded in biology and by the providence of God liberal society has redefined and pushed the boundaries of what was once thought of as foundational. Sadly it has become difficult to preach or teach on what Paul taught his friend Timothy concerning roles between men and women. In order to fully understand what Paul wrote we cannot allow our emotions or today’s politically correct definitions color what Paul taught and why he taught what he did. The church Timothy pastored and the area it was founded in was one of rampant paganism based on slavery and the subjugation of women as property. To force our preconceived modern-day notions on the world of Paul is...

Pray for all people! -- 1 Timothy 2:1-7 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 15, 2017 As I’ve mentioned before, prayer is our conversation with the Creator of the universe. However I often wonder not only what should I pray for but whom should I pray for as well. Now there are few of us who would not think it beneficial to pray for politicians but this is what I mean; we are faced with the conundrum of what we should pray! Now Jesus never suggested who we should or should not pray for but rather his encouragement was that we simply pray as often as we should. Paul faced a lot of harassment for his faith. There were his old Jewish cronies who wanted to see him simply to shut up about his faith and then there were the kings, potentates, and pundits of his day that wanted him silenced as well. Yet Paul could not be quiet because he realized that the gospel message of Jesus was for all people everywhere. Paul however did not have the luxury of deciding who he should or shouldn’t pray for becaus...

Hold on to the truth! – 1 Timothy 1:12-20 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 8, 2017 Like a lot of things in our society today, the truth has become subjective; truth depends upon how one feels, whether or not one thinks they are justified in whatever perverted proclivity they desire for the moment, or the deliberate movement of society’s moral boundaries. In a world where truth can be a slippery slope of a mixed bag of tricks one many wonder where in the world does the truth lie? What truth do we hold on to in our day and age? Paul was a convert to the Christian faith and it wasn’t an easy thing for him to do. He knew where he had come from and in the Book of Acts he related “I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagog...

False teachers exist! – 1 Timothy 1:1-11 By Pastor Lee Hemen October 1, 2017 We live in a day where any convoluted and faulty theology is readily accepted and protected by a non-critical thinking society. My Daddy used to say that it is “okay to be open-minded but not to the point where your brains fall out and you step on them.” Far too many think that acceptance of the individual means we can never disagree with or question what the individual thinks, says, or does. I say “hogwash!” There are false teachers who want you to believe or follow their latest form of theological perversion. Take for instance the recent proclamation that the world was supposed to end last week or is it next week or the week after? Who knows? And do not get me started with those who come up with the latest and greatest end-times scenario, bleah! False teachers exist! The Apostle Paul wrote his friend and new pastor Timothy in order to mentor and help him in his new ministry as a young pastor. Evidently h...

God leads us to him! – Psalm 61 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 24, 2017 My Dad and I were headed home and in the yard of a stranger was my dog Tad. He was chained to a big old fir tree. I exclaimed, “Dad! There’s Tad!” We had been looking for him for days. My father just kept driving. Tad was one of those dogs I realize now that you look forward to the day when he runs a way. A friend of my parents had shoved him through our front door one Christmas Eve; we woke up to the tree on the floor, broken blubs, torn apart and half-eaten presents. He ran away once and I found him seven miles away in town by our elementary school. My teacher put him in her car until we could take him home later. He defecated all over inside of it; tore up her seats, and pretty much ruined her car. Sadly he was one dog you could not teach anything. My Dad was not going to turn around and claim him. There are people like my old dog Tad whom you can’t seem to teach anything. They never learn to listen to anyone...

God is our helper! – Psalm 70 By Pastor Lee Hemen September 17, 2017 A young man found himself in serious financial trouble. His business had gone bust. He was so desperate that he decided to ask God for help. He began to pray. “God, please help me. I’ve lost my business and if I don’t get some money, I’m going to lose my house as well! Please let me win the lottery!” After doing this several nights in a row and he still did not win he decided to pray one last time, “My God, why have you forsaken me? I’ve lost my business, my house and my car. My children are starving! I don’t often ask you for help and I have always been a good person! Please just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order!” Suddenly there was a blinding flash of light as the heavens opened, the young man fell backwards, and he was confronted by the voice of God himself: “Young man, you are going to have to do just one thing first -- buy a ticket!” Now I am not advocating wasting your ...