Author: Spencer Harmon

The Land of the Wealthy In Nocatee, Florida, the average household income approaches $200,000 a year. Most families own their homes, drive nice cars, take memorable vacations, and have access to top-tier education. On any given day, you’ll see families cruising in designer golf carts, headed to a luxury water park built just for them. Welcome to a land of the wealthy. That means I pastor at a church filled with people whom the world would consider “rich.” Many of our members are doctors, surgeons, lawyers, entrepreneurs, and investors—people who have worked hard to build their lives. Most of the people I serve live beyond necessities and can afford many luxuries. They steward significant resources compared with the rest of the world. They also love Jesus and want to be faithful to...

Are You Discouraged? Everyone has experienced the signs of discouragement. Your motivation is low, your confidence deflates, your courage is gone. You feel like you have been throwing seeds in a field, day after day, only to find no growth. You begin to wonder: “What’s the point?” Everybody gets discouraged. Discouragement is usually circumstantial – the accumulation of enough trial and struggle that our knees buckle under the weight. And sadly, the temptation to discouragement is inevitable in a fallen world. Constant euphoria is not the expectation of the Christian until we are with Jesus (Revelation 7:15-17). There are no silver bullets to avoid the thorns and thistles of this world. We don’t need silver bullets. We need biblical truth to help us understand the discouragement we are...

What Is Your Relationship with God Like? I want to share an easy indicator of your relationship with God. This indicator has nothing to do with how much you read your Bible or how often you go to church. It’s not about the verses you have memorized, how long you prayed today, whether you go on mission trips, or work with the homeless. These can all be helpful, but it’s not the indicator I want you to think about. The indicator I want to emphasize is how you handle relational drama. Our lives are filled with drama. From the teen that fights with his parents about curfew, to the gossip at work about why she got the promotion instead of me, to an icy atmosphere around the dinner table after one spouse snaps at another – we all have drama. What we do with that drama gives a clear indication...

Introduction: Are My Kids Addicted to Screens? Technology and kids is a scary topic. I don’t need to overview the stats. You already know that this generation of kids are on screens more than any other generation, that the impacts of this development are negative, and everyone is trying to figure out what to do. My wife and I struggle with the same thing. If our kids ask us to watch TV too much in a given week we think: have we failed? But we feel tension because we live in a technological age. Everyone has a computer in their pocket (including me!). Everyone has big TVs in their houses. How do we handle this? What does the Bible teach us? How can we navigate technology as families in a way that honors Jesus Christ? Let me suggest five resolutions to help you navigate the countless...

I hate the day after Christmas. Some call it the “post-Christmas blues” or “post-Christmas depression.” It happens when the most wonderful time of the year screeches to a halt. No more Christmas movies. No more Christmas food. No more get-togethers with family and friends. You go back to work. You go back to school. The Christmas cards come down off the mantle. It just feels wrong to take down words like “love,” “joy,” “peace,” and “hope” from the walls of my house. But we dutifully do it. How could something so good fade after only a month? The good news is that it doesn’t have to fade. Let me tell you why. Christmas Came to Us We tend to treat Christmas like a mood – something you get into and out of. With the right combination of music, movies, lights, and eggnog – you can get into...

When something exciting happens in your life, who do you tell first? You get the job. You find out the cancer is gone. You find out you’re having a baby. You find out the kids can come home this year for Christmas. Who we tell something to first matters. Conversely, we all love it when people say: “You know, you’re the first person I have told this to.” Why? Because it shows us who the messenger values. Now– enter Jesus. The Messiah is born. The Savior from our sins. The fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets has finally come. David’s Son! Abraham’s seed! Isaiah’s servant! Who do you think will find out first? Surprisingly, it’s the outcasts. As Jesus Christ is born, the news is delivered first to a group of shepherds in a field at night. This means something wonderful: Christmas is...

I love summertime. Getting away on summer vacation (or staycation!). The smell of burgers on the grill. The giggles of kids in the sprinkler in the backyard. The smell of smoke after the fireworks. The crack of the bat against the baseball. And – of course – getting lost in a good book. Summer is often like a deep breath between the busyness of spring and fall, a reset of sorts. I want to encourage you this summer to cultivate the habit of reading so that you’ll keep it going throughout the second half of this year. Here are a few tips to help you pick up the wonderful habit of reading this summer: Read Something Fun, Fascinating, and Fruitful. I am a pastor. Most of my reading intake involves commentaries, theology books, and other non-fiction works. So, during the summers, I try to...

What is a real friend? If you Google that question, you will find several common answers: They listen. They are loyal. They are accepting. They are supportive. They are interested in similar things. They stick with you. They want what’s best. These lists all contain nice traits that have their place, but they all neglect the most important ingredient in relationships – the foundation, the root that produces the fruit of fellowship: The Bible. Are your relationships orbiting around the Bible? If they aren’t, you are missing out on one of the most important ingredients in the types of relationships that glorify God and bind people together for decades. Why do you need the Bible in relationships? Because You Need Friends Who Watch You Do you remember the first days of quarantine during...

It’s a prerequisite for Christian leadership. It’s championed in Christian literature. Its absence is a red light in romantic relationships. It’s heralded in thousands of churches every Sunday. It motivates accountability groups, is commended by Christians around the world and is summarized in one word: Godliness. Godliness means conforming to the character of God in your thoughts, feelings, desires, and actions. Quite simply, being godly means being like God. But godliness is dangerous. Not because you may be persecuted if you pursue it – although you may. Not because Satan will oppose you at every turn of your striving towards it – although he will. Not because your sinful flesh will roar in resistance as you reach for it – although it will. No, godliness is dangerous for a much more...

If you are an evangelical Christian, the odds are that you know someone in the LGBTQ+ community. If you don’t, you will. 20% of Gen Z identifies as something other than heterosexual. Pretty soon, you will meet someone who has a partner of the same sex or “identifies” as something other than their biological sex. What do you need to know as you minister to your friend? This can be an overwhelming question if you are a Christian who believes the Bible. That is because two things are crystal clear: (1) the Bible teaches that the LGBTQ+ lifestyle is sinful and destructive, and (2) our culture is deeply hostile to anyone who would embrace what the Bible teaches. That means you are going to get into some tense moments if you are a Christian seeking to be faithful to Jesus during these...