Always Reforming

We Christians pray things like, "Teach me to rely on You," and "Help me to grow spiritually."  We talk about how hardships force us to develop graces like patience and endurance.  We quote Jeremiah 29:11 and Romans 8:28 and feel good about our outlook on life.  Boy, it's easy to say all that stuff when life is going well, but it's so much more difficult to be enthusiastic about hardship when your actually experiencing it!  Life has been throwing some pretty stressful things the way of the Spencer household the last few weeks.  It's so easy to freak out and to forget just how blessed we really are (spiritually and monetarily), but, as I continue to pray these things, I am beginning to realize that God is answering my prayers. The question, then, that we must ask ourselves is, "Do I really want to grow spiritually?"  Carnal disciplines (carnal meaning earthly or worldly, as opposed to spiritual) illustrate this idea for us.  I always loved to e...

A friend of mine recently experienced a horrible tragedy.  As I dwelt inescapably on what had transpired, my mind wandered to the importance of taking advantage of the tragedies that occur in our lives.  That may sound like a crude way of putting it, but let me explain.  What I don't mean is that you should use the tragedies in your life as avenues of self-promotion.  We all know those guys. Those are the people who tweet/post melodramatically after the friend of their cousin's acquaintance dies in a horrible car accident.  Those are the people who find a way to make everything about them. They're no better than the class-action lawsuit lawyers who have the cheesy ads on TV.  Never be one of those people (I sincerely hope this post doesn't come across as that type of post).  What I am talking about is reacting to the tragedies that happen in our lives, whether to us, to a friend/acquaintance, or to someone in our communities, in a positive way, that ...

If I were asked to identify the greatest danger to the Church in the modern United States, I would have to say materialism.  To be sure, there are many theological errors that threaten her foundation, but materialism goes beyond these to the issue of idolatry.  It is a question of the heart.  More specifically, it is a matter of who owns the heart.  Such heinous crimes as disdaining the Word of God and compromising with the world often find their ultimate cause in materialism.  As the Scriptures say, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil." Jesus was not silent in regards to how the citizens of His Kingdom should spend their money.  If you read through the Gospels, you will find that our Lord spoke about money/possessions as often as almost anything else.  He knew how powerful the lure of lucre can be.  In His Kingdom Manifesto, that homily we commonly call The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus deals with foundational life issues. It is n...

I am the proud father of three beautiful girls (and one handsome son, but this tale focuses more on my daughters).  Our middle girl, Galilee (Gal for short), is a little bit of a daddy's-girl.  Okay, she a huge daddy's-girl. It's rare for me to sit down in the living room without her trying to sit on my lap.  She loves to cuddle with her daddy, and he doesn't mind one bit either!  I love and cuddle with all three of my daughters, but Galilee was our second child, so I naturally held her more her older sister.  I guess she sort of got used to being with me. Occasionally when she is sitting on my lap, she will gleefully grab my arm and drape it across her torso, saying something to the effect of, "Daddy is my seat belt!"  To be honest, I barely even noticed what she was saying the first few times she did it, but when I took the time to listen, the profundity of her words struck me.  Now, she's just an almost-four-year-old having fun, but those words ...

This is a sermon I delivered on 6/4/17.  I do not speak from a manuscript, and I rarely turn my notes into one after the fact, but I felt compelled to for this sermon because of the reception I received and the important, controversial nature of the subject.  I welcome sincere interaction on the topics presented here.  I do not expect nonchristians to agree with the perspective given, but I would challenge anyone who claims to be a Bible-believing Christian to examine their hearts if they do not agree with the Biblical view of the home presented in this passage. Likewise, wives, be subject to your own husbands, so that even if some do not obey the word, they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives,  when they see your respectful and pure conduct.  Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear—  but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperisha...