Today in Blogworld 09.18.15

Mike Leake

Extemporaneous Preaching

I really want to do this. One thing that keeps me from it is not having a collection of manuscripts available. But I suppose I could write them out and the take nothing into the pulpit.

Eating to Make God Happy

What does it look like to eat and drink to the glory of God?

10 Dangerous Toys from Decades Past

Also known as the history of Wham-O

The Unbearable Burden of Uniqueness

Derek Rishmawy does a great job of saying this than I did a few years back.

I’ve been known to avoid social situations for this very reason…happy to learn how to gracefully get out of an unwanted conversation:

Help Bring Sophia Home

Mike Leake

Adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. Adoption is about an entire culture within our churches, a culture that sees adoption as part of our Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself. –Russell Moore

Adoption is a gospel issue. It’s also a great picture of the gospel and what the Lord has done for us. God, in His great love, has chosen to place His affection on sinners. He has set us as the object of His affection and has determined to make us His children. When I think about the biblical story it is amazing to me the great depths that God would go in order to secure our affection and to make us His children.

God has moved in the heart of my friend Nick and his wife Amy. They have been pursuing adoption for four long years now. They’ve taken out loans, sold cars, and cashed in a 401K,  only to have the adoption agency close their doors through bankruptcy. This means that Nick and Amy lost all of the money that they had put forward.

But they pressed on and began gathering funds again in order to bring their daughter—whom they named Sophia—home. But once again the adoption process seemed to hit a snag. It slowed to a crawl and Nick and Amy wondered if they’d ever be able to get a little girl from Ethiopia.

On August 4th, though, something amazing happened. The name Sophia now had a face. The adoption agency had found a little girl for them and they asked if they’d be willing to be her parents. As Nick has said, “The answer was a resounding, shocked, and tear-stained YES!”

As I think about all that Nick and Amy have done and sacrificed to bring this little girl home I can’t help but think about the great lengths the Lord went through to secure my adoption as His child. There was no sacrifice too great for Him to secure the object of His affection.

But there is one huge difference here. The Lord Jesus is omnipotent and has unlimited resources at his disposal. Nick and Amy do not. Their journey isn’t over. Sophia is not yet home. And with already going “all-in” and losing their money they’ve had to start over from scratch without those resources at their disposal. They have to make two trips to Ethiopia at about $2,000 per trip and they have other expenses related to this.

And so can we help this dear brother and his wife bring their daughter home?

Nick has set up a GoFundMe page to help bring Sophia home and I’d like our readers to help Nick out. He’s done such a tremendous job writing for us and proclaiming the beauty of Jesus. I’d love to help him proclaim the gospel even more through bringing this precious baby girl home.

Help Nick and Amy out by going here and giving what you can.

Today in Blogworld 09.17.15

Mike Leake

5 Marks of Revived Churches

Last sentence is gold: “a faithful pastor cannot do his job without accepting that the gospel he preaches will shake things up.”

3 Sinful Things to Say in Conflict

Our theology truly is on display in the midst of conflict.

3 Ways We Fight For Our Families

We’ve got to fight for our families. Here are three ways to do this.

Greetings From Heaven

Here is a visual history of the heavenly tourism business.

I’d be a bit more impressed if this was the voice of Norm Macdonald, but still this is unreal:

20 Reasons to Engage in Private Prayer

Mike Leake 2 Comments

I absolutely love reading the Puritans. In the words of Billy Joel, they’ve just got a way about them. But unlike Billy I think I do know what it is. It’s that Puritans are drenched in the beauty of the gospel. I’ve been greatly benefiting from Thomas Brooks’ work The Secret Key to Heaven. It has been convicting me and strengthening me.

One of the things Puritans did so well was to really drive a point home. It seems that their philosophy was, “why only give 4 examples when I’ve got 25”. They won’t give up until the truth is deeply buried into your soul. Here is Thomas Brooks giving us twenty reasons to engage in private prayer.

  1. The most eminent saints engaged in private prayer
  2. Christ engaged in secret prayer
  3. Secret prayer distinguishes sincerity from hypocrisy
  4. Secret prayer lets us unbosom ourselves before God (Brooks is saying this is where we cast all our cares upon him).
  5. Secret duties shall have open rewards
  6. God most manifests himself in secret
  7. This life is the only time for private prayer
  8. Private prayer has prevailing power
  9. Private prayer is the most soul-enriching of duties

10. Secret prayer tends to root out secret sins

11. Secret prayer delights Christ

12. Only believers share God’s secrets

13. Private prayer is the Christian’s refuge in trouble

14. God is omnipresent

15. If we neglect private prayer, God will not hear our public prayers

16. The times call for private prayer

17. Those near to the Lord should engage in secret prayer

18. God has put a special mark of favor, honor, and observation, upon those who have prayed in secret.

19. Satan hates secret prayer.

20. The Lord’s secret ones should engage in secret prayer

What Brooks says here is so much better than can be put into a list of twenty headings. Reading the rest of it would be a great idea. Get it here.