A Religion of the Heart

This week, Pastor Chad begins a new five-part series that grew out of his visits to Spencerville Adventist Academy. He asked the students questions about their faith—what they wanted and needed to be addressed from the Spencerville pulpit. One word kept rising to the surface: hypocrisy. Oft misused, many people think hypocrisy is only a challenge for those who are ultra-conservative or legalistic. However, we are all in danger of living as hypocrites. In the first sermon of this series, Pastor Chad cites Jesus’ words from Matthew 23:1-12 to contrast a religion of the heart against a heartless religion. Why is it imperative to know the difference? One leads to hypocrisy, and the other protects us from hypocrisy.