An Idiot’s Guide to Week 12 #NFL Predictions

Mike Leake

Happy Turkey Day!

Not too bad last week at 10-4. Almost got that Browns upset. Not so good on my other crazy picks. Mendenhall wasn’t a sleeper but he helped my fantasy team squeak by with a narrow victory keeping my slim playoff hopes alive for one more week. It’s turkey day so I’ll cut straight to the chase so we can get to consuming our tryptophan.

Lions over Texans (upset of the week)
Cowboys over Redskins
Patriots over Jets
Vikings over Bears
Raiders over Bengals
Browns over Steelers
Colts over Bills
Broncos over Chiefs
Dolphins over Seahawks
Falcons over Bucs
Jags over Titans
Chargers over Ravens
Saints over 49ers
Rams over Cardinals
Packers over Giants
Panthers over Eagles

Fantasy Stud of the Week: Trent Richardson
Fantasy Sleeper of the Week: Tony Scheffler

Other Crazy Picks:

Scheffler scores twice and goes for 100 yards
Pats beat Jets on last second FG
Lynch fumbles twice
Huge day for Philip Rivers
Fair showing for Eli but Giants ST gives up the game
Browns beat the Steelers by double digits
Lance Dunbar goes for 100 yards
Henne leads the Jags to a solid victory
3 turnovers for Flacco

A Prayer for My Son Isaiah From the Prophet Isaiah

Mike Leake 1 Comment

    “Behold, God is my salvation;
        I will trust, and will not be afraid;
    for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song,
        and he has become my salvation.”
    With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day:
    “Give thanks to the LORD,
        call upon his name,
    make known his deeds among the peoples,
        proclaim that his name is exalted.
    “Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously;
        let this be made known in all the earth.
    Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
        for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
(Isaiah 12:2-6 ESV)

Isaiah, your name means something very similar to “God is my salvation”. Literally, your name means “Salvation of God”. It is my prayer for you that someday this will be your song. Daddy is not your salvation. Mommy is not your salvation. You are not your salvation. Salvation will only be found in the Lord. I pray that your name is a constant reminder of that truth.

It is also my pray that “with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation”. It is a deep well, son. It will never dry. There are many cisterns that you will drop your bucket into to find fulfillment. They will never satiate. Only Christ can eternally quench.

It is further my prayer for you that your life would be one that is marked by “giving thanks to the LORD” and for “making known his deeds among the peoples”. As you draw deeply from the well that is Christ, know that it is not meant to stay only with you. You dig deeply so that you can proclaim the excellencies of Christ to the nations. Jesus fills you so that you can exalt His fullness.

It is a great blessing that the “Holy One of Israel” is in your midst. May the truth behind your name cause you to shout, and sing for joy.

Suggested Resources for Marriage Help

Mike Leake

Earlier today I outlined one component of our churches strategy for assisting marriages. I promised a list of suggested resources for marriage help. Here you go.

What Did You Expect? by Paul Tripp
One of the strengths of this book is that it gives six commitments that couples can slowly work through to strengthen their marriage. It will help to build a solid foundation and these commitments will give a framework from which to build.

The Meaning of Marriage by Tim Keller
Perhaps the greatest strength of this book is its author. Tim Keller is always helpful in explaining things boldly as they are but in a way that is compelling and reasonable. This is a decent book if you are married to a religious skeptic.

This Momentary Marriage by John Piper
Classic Piper. As typical Piper is unswervingly biblical. He looks at marriage from its eternal perspective. Sometimes the most helpful thing in marriage is to take a step back and to get a God-sized vision of things. Piper’s book helps with that.

No Ordinary Marriage by Tim Savage
Savage seems to pick up where Piper leaves off. His central claim is similar to Piper’s, in that God’s glory is the glue that bonds together our momentary marriages. However, Savage is more practical in how this works out in a marriage.

When Sinners Say I Do by Dave Harvey
You are a sinner married to a sinner. That is the central component to Harvey’s book but it is very helpful. Harvey shines in showing how the gospel informs and transforms our marriages.

Pursuing Peace by Robert D. Jones
Because marriage is the union of two sinners we will have conflict. Jones’ book is an excellent treatment of handling conflict biblically. This book makes practical the theology the other books set in place.

At every marriage conference we give away a free copy of one of these books.

Marriage Retreat Outline

Mike Leake

I wrote the material for our marriage retreat. Actually, that is kind of a lie. Paul Tripp, Tim Keller, Dave Harvey, Robert D. Jones and a few other authors wrote a good chunk of it. All I did was take many marriage books and put them into a digestible form. Here is the outline of the marriage retreat.

Session One: A Theology of Marriage.

In this session we introduce the material and explain why the material is not immediately practical. We then attempt to define marriage. We use this definition. Our aim in this session is to get everyone on the same page as to what constitutes a biblical marriage and to help couples see that their marriage has meaning.

Session Two: The Gospel, Our Roles, Our Model, and Our Redemption

This session is an adaptation of a sermon I preached on Ephesians 5:21-33. Here we look at a sacrificial husband and a submissive wife. We also note that both of these are broken pictures and the reality is found in Christ Jesus. We use this session to not only inform couples of their biblical role but also to present the glorious gospel of Jesus.

Session Three: Marriage in a Broken World

Here we get honest about all of the struggles we face in marriage. We begin by having couples outline all of the problems that couples have in marriages. Then we attempt to get at the root of these problems. We look at the inward cycle of sin. We also use some material from Robert D. Jones’ book and give couples a way to think through the fog of marital conflict.

Session Four: Putting Our Theology Into Practice

In the final session (usually on Sunday morning) we watch a clip from The Dick Van Dyke Show. You can find the video and a brief outline of this session here. We use this episode to apply everything we learned in our marriage retreat. We close up the final session with a Q & A time and invite people to help us improve our marriage retreats.

Those are the basic teaching outlines. We also have group time after each session. After these sessions the guys and girls separate and discuss what they learned using a few guided questions. We then come back together and discuss everything as a group. There are also a few guided questions for couples to consider during their alone times.

Every conference we also send home a free book from our suggested resources list with each couple. I will post that suggested resource list later today.