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UPDATE: Josh S does some “lectionary criticism” at his blog. Just so you know it’s not a flawless medium. Even with the flaws, I recommend using it. I also recommend “filling in the gaps” whenever possible.
Sam is a worship leader at a local Southern Baptist church, and he called me tonight to talk about the […]

I preached this message- or a version of it- this morning at a church nearby.
“What Now?”
A Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas, December 30, 2007
First Presbyterian Church, London, Kentucky
Michael Spencer, preacher

Scripture: Matthew 2:12-19, John 1:1-18
As our students were preparing to leave school the Friday before Christmas, we had a power outage. There’s nothing like […]

What do you do when God answers your prayers?
I am a fairly consistent reader and user of the Book of Psalms in my devotional life and worship leadership. Along the way, I’ve noticed that many of the Psalms are prayer or report episodes of prayer in the Psalms. In many of these Psalms, the Psalmist […]

1Timothy 3:1 The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. 2 Therefore an overseer* must be above reproach, the husband of one wife,* sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of […]

This is most of a sermon on humility I preached in the Monday chapel service at the school where I serve. It’s taken from the lectionary text for the previous Lord’s Day. In many places I included illustrations and more content, but this gets the sermon across.
Text: Luke 14: 1, 7-11.
If someone were to compliment […]

A few nights ago, Denise and I were reading the scriptures together when I was struck by what we see in regard to church leadership in Acts 15. When we are discussing how Jesus established leadership in the early church, and how that leadership functions, this passage is crucial. The implications for the claims of […]

The last few weeks of my men’s morning Bible study has been about “Texts That Will Get You In Trouble,” and we spent two sessions on John 8, and Jesus’ words to the woman caught in adultery: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more.”
Read Leviticus 20:10 and the other older testament indictments […]

My adult Bible study is starting an Old Testament survey for the summer months in preparation for studying I Kings this fall. I did this little exercise with them this morning. I guess it’s kind of original with me. I’ve never seen anyone else do it. Consider it all yours for the glory of God.
Why […]

I received some good questions from a reader on the subject of giving to panhandlers. Here are a few thoughts and responses. I may have more to say in the comments.
Matthew 5:38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ 39 But I say to […]

In my work setting, I’ve done a Holy Week meditation each day this week. This is today’s Good Friday meditation.
My mother had an unusual experience as a teenage girl. She was present at the last public hanging in the United States.
She recalled that day in the mid-1930’s very clearly. It was, she said, like a […]

This post is an odd soup. Call it one part “Second Half of Life,” for just getting old and pathetic; one part “In The Study,” for the sermon idea I’ll get out of it; and one part “Parable, Metaphor and Illustration” for what you can do with it. Laugh at me, with me, and then […]

In The Study posts examine actual sermons I preach. These are primarily, chapel messages, preached to approximately 450 students/staff from all over the world. My goal is to provide models of evangelistic, apologetic proclamation to those who might be engaged in similar ministry.
Every year I do a sermon series with the purpose of laying […]

This post is a survey of some thoughts about evangelism that I’ve wanted to share for some time in response to several discussions and posts in the blogosphere. I hope they are helpful in some way to those of you who do evangelism.
When I came to work at the ministry where I serve 15 years […]

UPDATE: What if the TR watchbloggers fisked this post for orthodoxy? It might look like this.
I am frequently challenged in comments around here to come up with some kind of a book list. I’ve published a list of authors before, but never a list of books that I would recommend. The reasons became evident as […]

(The following post is a summary of a recent chapel message. I originally thought of the message after hearing C.J. Mahaney teach on the passage. My use in chapel and here is my own, but I acknowledge his excellent exposition and application as my starting point.)
I Corinthians 6:1 When one of you has a grievance […]