You Had One Job…

Mike Leake 2 Comments


I’m excited about a new writing opportunity. I’ve been selected—I’m still convinced by mistake—to write for Midwestern’s new project For the Church. I can’t share my excitement any better than Aaron Armstrong shared his.

Here is a sample of my first article for them:

The disciples frantically shuffle through all their belongings hoping to find some bread.  “I thought Andrew was bringing the bread,” remarks a beleaguered Thomas. “No, it was Thaddaeus,” Andrew responds. Back and forth they go only to find one measly loaf of bread. 

Then their greatest fear is realized. Jesus says, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” 

“Great! The Master knows. Our foolish act of forgetting bread has been exposed. And now Jesus, speaking in parables like he always does, is rebuking us for being so dense. We are going to starve out here in the middle of the ocean all because none of us remembered to bring the bread.”

In these moments our humanity lies bare. Our greatest fears are realized—we are exposed for the weak and woefully inadequate people we are. We failed to meet even the lowest expectations. Things that are so seemingly obvious nobody should mess them up. When you go on a journey, you bring bread! Any dolt knows that.

When you are called to lead a church, you’d better set vision. If you spend hours in your study, you shouldn’t emerge with a real stinker of a sermon. Shepherds aren’t supposed to mess up relationships. Spiritual leaders shouldn’t go through period of intense doubt or numbness.

But here you are. Confused. Unsure of what direction the church should go next. You are preaching so poorly you’d be happy with something even semi-cogent. Gone are the days when you are disappointed because you didn’t hit a home-run in your sermon. Now you’d be happy to get a bloop single. You’ve blown relationships. And you’ve endured painful dry periods.

You had one job to do (bring the bread) and you left it at home.

Then Jesus speaks…

Continue…

Today in Blogworld 04.28.15

Mike Leake 2 Comments

4 Reasons I Preach From Notes, Not a Manuscript

My seminary professor would likely be angry with me but I still mostly preach from a manuscript. Or rather I take a manuscript to the pulpit with me. But articles like this cause me to rethink a bit.

Why the Local Church Is More Important

I appreciate this word from D.A. Carson on how the local church is more important than popular parachurch organizations.

Difference Between the Present Heaven and Future Heaven

Just had a discussion about this with my son…I appreciate Randy Alcorn’s answer.

The Necessity of Hardship for Young Men

Young men need to go through hardship. Here are 10 fruits of hardship.

This one ends on a bit of a cliffhanger…I’d really like to know the ending to this one:

We Know How to Meditate

Mike Leake

That’s right. I walked right to that office – that’s what I did – and I reached across that desk and I grabbed him by his big fat head and I said “Listen, man. I’m not going to jail for you or for anybody.  -Garth Algar*

You are forgiven if you’ve never seen Wayne’s World. In the sixth grade I watched it every day after school, so I can still picture Dana Carvery as Garth Algar pretending to be a big bad tough guy who put his crooked lawyer in his place.

Garth is doing what all of us have done. We’ve had imaginary conversations in our head where we are tougher, wittier, and more compelling than we are in real life. We’ve rolled the scene over in our minds hundreds of times, each time crafting it a bit to chisel out the image of ourselves we want to project.

In those moments what we are doing is meditating. And so I find it strange that as Christians the concept of meditation seems a bit foreign to us—or at least something that only hippies like the Beatles are supposed to practice. But biblical meditation is something that can transform our lives. And its not something that is all that foreign to us.

This is what Edmund Calamy meant when he said,

How often have you have chewed the devil’s cud; what swarms of unclean thoughts, of proud thoughts, of unbelieving thoughts, have possessed your hearts? Oh friends, shall we lie musing upon our bed in a way of sin, and shall we not think and muse and meditate on God and the things of God?  (Quoted from God’s Battle Plan for the Mind)

You and I know how to meditate. We do it all the time. The problem is few of us know how to meditate on God’s Word. We’ve gotten so much practice in ruminating on the thoughts of the world that we’ve grown ill-acquainted with giving our minds to the things of God.

I’m dedicating a bit of time in this season to recover and maybe even learn the practice of biblical meditation. One resource I’m using is God’s Battle Plan for the Mind by David Saxon. The Puritans got this—perhaps this is why they are such deep wells of gospel truths—and Saxon helps us to understand their practice.

We all meditate…let’s pursue meditating on the right things.

Today in Blogworld 04.27.15

Mike Leake

Do Your Illustrations Help or Hurt?

Here are five major (and common) pitfalls to avoid.

What Does John Calvin Say About SSA?

Owen Strachan beat me to it. I’ve been trying to gather my thoughts on this topic for awhile now. Interesting look.

The Failure of Gay Marriage

Peter Leithart believes gay marriage cannot sustain and he gives compelling reasons why he believes this.

An Arresting History

This is the history of the police car.

Some day this little dude is really going to run for president and this video will win him the election. He clearly understands the nature and duty of the office: