Mike Leake

I would like to start reading The Lord of the Rings. Where should I start?

I’ve heard a ton about it. I saw a little bit of one of the movies too. Magic rings, hobbits, wizards, dwarves, giant battles, and that guy from The Goonies. Seems like it’d be a fun read.

You’re probably going to tell me to start on page one of book one. Isn’t that where you should start every book?

That’s also what happens with many people who start reading the Bible. Now, personally, I’d probably recommend someone starting in something like the Gospel of Mark. But Genesis isn’t the worst place to start. And eventually you’re going to need to read it for the first time.

But think for a second about me reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. I have to admit that I’ve actually watched all of the movies, but I haven’t actually read the book. That means that I’m going to be coming into those books with a ton of baggage and pre-conceived notions about what is there. When I read “Gandalf,” I picture Ian McKellen.

The same is true when we come into Genesis. We carry a ton of baggage into it and several preconceived ideas of what it’s all about. For that reason, it’s helpful to pause and consider a few things before you jump in. I’ll give you five.

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What is your favorite season?

I think my favorite season is Spring. Something about seeing flowers blooming and hearing baseball bats cracking rejuvenates me. With rare exceptions, Spring is usually the only season my Kansas City Royals still have at least a little hope. Hope, I think, is why I love spring the most.

Those around me (my wife chief among them) love fall. Don’t get me wrong; I really love being able to wear a flannel shirt, sit by a bonfire, and enjoy the slow rhythms of the season. But a week of pumpkin spice is about all I can handle. I’m not a big fan of wrangling all the leaves that fall in our yard. Fall means winter, winter means cold, and cold means yuck.

Whether you like or abhor this season, the Bible has something to say about changing seasons. There is a beauty to this rhythm and much we should embrace. The book of Ecclesiastes vividly shows this.

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I was so out of place.

It was our 10^th anniversary, and my wife and I decided to have a weekend getaway at this luxurious bed and breakfast in the hills of Tennessee. If you’re thinking, “how luxurious could that be,” you need to know that growing up, my idea of a fancy restaurant was going to Long John Silver’s instead of McDonald's.

You can imagine my confusion when I sat down at a table with what felt like 37 forks and 19 spoons, all meticulously arranged in a way that screamed, "Don't screw this up!"

It was weird because nobody took my order. But that didn’t stop them from bringing out food. First, a beautiful loaf of bread. Then something which I think was supposed to be an appetizer. Then soup. Then salad. I was starting to get a little full, but if I’m honest, this all amounted to rabbit food. I was hoping for a juicy steak or something.

Much to my disappointment, they brought out this tiny little scoop of ice cream in a little dish. I guess this insultingly tiny bit of ice cream is what they are calling dessert. How could you get full on this?

That’s when my wife informed me that this was likely some kind of palette cleanser. I had no idea what this was. How am I supposed to eat it? And which soldier in this army of spoons do I enlist for this battle?

Now, before I tell you this part, I need to set the scene for you. A fancy restaurant means that people are talking in hushed tones. There isn’t a game on a television in the background. Everyone in there is dressed to the nines. My wife and I had just come in from playing a riveting game of croquet. We were dressed to the threes… if I’m generous.

Already out of place.

And I’m staring at this tiny swallow of ice cream and not sure how I’m supposed to go about it. That’s when I fumbled one of the spoons. We’re not talking about dropping on the floor with a polite little clink on the floor. No, I’d sent that thing airborne. By the time it came to rest, it had rattled against every piece of silverware, porcelain, and glass within arm’s reach. My wife is laughing hysterically, and every face in the dining room turned toward us.

I was so out of place.

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Memorizing Scripture is a way to internalize it. It becomes part of us.

Hell is a place of separation from the goodness of God, and all the good which He has created. How could we say that God could create such an awful place? We begin to answer this question when we consider who hell is for.

I’ve always wondered how many hands reach for the bowl of mashed potatoes at the Foreman family table. The legendary boxer, George Foreman, has five sons and two grandsons who share the same name. I assume that if someone says, “George, can you pass the taters?”, a flurry of obedient hands meets at the center of the table.

We’re accustomed to saying things like John Sr, John Jr, and John III. Because of this it can a little confusing to the first-time reader when we see in our Bible a 1, 2, and 3 John. Are these three different Johns? Why are there three letters of John? And how are each of them unique?

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As I write this, we’re about a month away from New Year’s Day. That is the time when many of us will make resolutions to be better about prayer, Bible reading, and other spiritual disciplines. We know that having a quiet time with the Lord will boost our relationship, and yet we so often struggle to engage in these disciplines.

Before restarting in 2024, perhaps it would be good to do a brief assessment about why our intentions didn’t quite meet reality in 2023. Here are seven reasons our attempts at having a quiet time can fail — with a few tips on what you can do about it.

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Her persistence gets her justice. But what are we to make of this story? Does it mean that if you keep asking God over and over for something he will eventually buckle and give you what you want? Is this about a kid getting ice cream when he finally breaks his parents down?

A few years ago, I suddenly realized how much I liked Blue Öyster Cult. Not because I didn’t enjoy their songs, but because I had no idea they sang some of them. I had thought they were a one hit wonder focused upon the glorious cow bell. Turns out they had other hits.

Our experience with the Bible can be similar. We know about the greatest hit — that God sent His Son Jesus to die for the sins of humanity, but we fail to realize that the Bible speaks to many issues. In fact, the Bible is the story which holds all other stories together. God’s Word is not an instruction manual, it is so much more. Yet, it does tell us how to live life in all of the important areas. Marriage is included in that point.

Here are seven surprising things the Bible says about being a husband.

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Charles Spurgeon once talked about a pastor having two legs: a preaching/study leg and a prayer leg. He said that preachers needed to be balanced or else they’d walk funny. And I suppose you could also say that if one of those legs is incredibly short, you’ll end up spinning in circles.

My prayer leg is much shorter than my preaching leg. In other words, I probably shouldn’t be the one writing this article.

Now that most of you have left, for those of you remaining can we be honest with each other? There is something about the concept of prayer that seems a little, I don’t know…boring? That doesn’t sound right to say. Uncomfortable? Unappealing? None of these words are helping my case.

We know that we ought to be men of prayer. We know that God is the one who makes things happen, that we’re dependent upon Him, and that prayer is vital part of our relationship. But we still struggle. In order to help with this, some well-meaning people have attempted to give us a nice simple definition of prayer: “talking to God.”

Maybe that’s part of our problem.

Let’s think about this for a second. Let’s say the wife and kids are out of town for the weekend and I want to invite a friend over. How do I do it? If I’m a dude, I’m probably not going to say, “Hey bro, want to come over so we can talk together?” Even if both of us are hungry for companionship and having a good talk, the reality is that he’ll likely tell me he has to “do some work around the house” and won’t be able to come over. But what if I say, “Hey dude, want to come over and watch the game with me”? He’s all in.

We’ll probably have some conversation in-between pitches – or if it’s an inferior sport we can converse during a time out. The point, though, is that dudes don’t tend to schedule “talk time” on their calendars. And I think that is why “prayer time” is starting from a deficit for many of us. Maybe reframe your thinking on this a little. Compare it more to “7 ways to get the most out of a baseball game” and less “7 ways to muster up the courage to attend your ‘talk time.’”  

I don’t want to cast my net too far here. Some guys aren’t nearly as threatened by the idea of talking and they’re probably in a better place with this whole prayer thing. They might be better ones to write this article. But for the time being you’ve only got me. So here are seven things that I’ve found help me with prayer time. I’ll try to make each of them mercifully short.

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Zacchaeus is a picture of radical transformation. It’s meant to be a contrast to the rich young ruler. He can’t depart from money. To him, Jesus isn’t enough of a treasure to do that for. That’s not the case with Zacchaeus. No, he believes Jesus is the one who is worth abandoning everything.

I’m going to begin with a provocative statement, then explain. Here it goes.

If reading the book of Revelation freaks you out, you’re either an unbeliever or you’re reading it wrongly.

I say that because the purpose of Revelation is not to create panic for believers. It’s not to show us some scary future. It was written to real people, living under the real beast of Roman persecution, and meant to deeply encourage them. Underneath all of the cryptic and apocalyptic language is one consistent message: Jesus wins! And if you’re with Jesus, then you win too.

Now if you happen to be siding with “the beast,” then I could understand why this would freak you out. And if you read it as some kind of crystal ball for the future and you turn locusts into Apache helicopters or something, I suppose I can also see why that might freak you out a little. But it’s really meant to be a quite hopeful book. Here are five ways to find hope in the book of Revelation.

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We need to consider how God forgives. He has a posture of forgiveness towards everyone. He will forgive in practice any person no matter what they’ve done. And that forgiveness comes when we unite to Him through Christ, by grace and through faith (of which repentance is just the other side of the coin). Posture. Practice.