Authenticity is Not Enough

Mike Leake
If you are sending out a flier to attract people to your church make sure to put the word authentic on there. Authentic community. Authentic spirituality. Authentic preaching. Authentic worship. And on and on and on, all in the hopes of being authentically Christian. Being authentic, by the way, is not a bad thing. In fact Ephesians 4:25 urges us to “put away falsehood”; which is the same thing as saying “be authentic.” Authenticity is not bad–but it is not enough.

There are several examples in Scripture of authentic people. One such person was Peter. You do not get much more authentic than Peter. He never hid his thoughts or emotions. Sometimes this got him in trouble; like when he thought it wise to rebuke Jesus (Mt. 16:22). Other times he was rewarded; like a few verses earlier when he authentically confessed Jesus as the Christ.

Why do I blog?

Mike Leake

Another great article on Challies.com are suggestions on blogging. The first one really struck me–Question Everything. In other words; ask yourself, ‘why am I blogging’? So, I thought it might be beneficial to ask myself this question. Here is what I have found:

  • I blog to benefit our students. I hope to give them access to sermons they have heard preached. I also hope to help them interact with good books, good articles, and good websites.
  • I blog to benefit my own spirtual walk. Writing while accountable helps me to interact with things I normally would not interact with. It helps me to be more cautious in my word choice. It helps me to think through issues.
  • I blog to make my writing skills gooder. (Oops, I mean “better”). Being a hick from a small town the more I write the more I stop sounding like a Perry Boy. If someone would like to take the time and help me with punctuation and word structure that would be welcomed.
  • I blog to blog. It’s fun! I love to write. I love to have conversations.
  • And lastly, and hopefully it is more and more most importantly, I blog for the glory of God. I blog in the hopes that the Lord might use anything that I write to further His kingdom and make Jesus look as precious as He is.

Today in Blogworld 12/07

Mike Leake

About everything in blogworld today mandates an HT: to Challies. First of all we are pointed to an article by the BBC concerning the Pope’s approval of the sale of indulgences at Lourdes. The sale of indulgences is one of the atrocities of the 16th century that sparked the Protestant Reformation. Britannica offers an informative article on Luther and the Indulgences that might be helpful for those who are not familiar with either indulgences or why they are so unbiblical. The Pope granting these indulgences is another reminder that the Evangelicals and Catholics Together document/movement is bunk.

Challies also points us to an interesting article by Don Whitney on Asking People How You Can Pray for Them. Whitney encourages us to ask people who you can pray for them. He suggests that it is an easy 6 word way to turn a conversation to spiritual matters. I have also heard it suggested in the past that a good conversation turner is to ask you waitress how you can pray for them before you pray over the meal. I have done this a few times with mixed reactions. This is a great idea and one I would like to put into practice even more. I would like to add two suggestions to Whitney’s article. One is necessary for people who are selfish like me–actually pray for them, and maybe not only once. My prayer life is way to general and not specific enough. Perhaps, adding something like this could help us to pray more specifically. Secondly, I would suggest keeping a note pad handy and writing down the persons name and request. Imagine what will be communicated if you ask about Aunt Gertrude’s gangrenous toe or that job your waitress’ husband was applying for the next time you see her. It’s actually quite sad that we have to be reminded like this to not be so wrapped up in our own little world. We would really reflect Jesus more if this were not an “evangelistic strategy” but if it came from an overflowing heart that actually cared. (Then I might not struggle with names and I certainly would actually pray for them).

Unless you are interested in Mitt Romney’s speech on “Faith in America” then there is not too much going on in blogworld today (at least not in mine).

The Message of Zechariah I

Mike Leake

Last night was rough! We were down in attendance, we were not able to do music, and it seemed as if half our listeners were going to sleep. What is the most disappointing about all of that is that this is one of the most important messages that you will ever hear. Not that my delivery of it or really even the sermon itself is the most important but the topic is vital to everything that we do. Perhaps our lack of feeling a deep burden like John Bunyan keeps us from clinging to the gospel of grace with as much passion as we need to. It is my hope that you will read over this sermon and that the Holy Spirit might use it to preach the gospel to your heart–that’s our only hope! The full text of the sermon can be found here.