The Minister The Ministry & Me Show - The 3M Podcast

A Christian response to the corona virus and covid 19 pandemic. Face your Fears and Trust in God.
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Reflections on the sovereignty of God.
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Music: Mattia Cupelli
Full Text:
Here we are, we cannot wonder...
Not too far...
Lost or not, wether we think we are or not... we are here.. right where we are
and he knows it.
We are where we are, and here is where we belong... for now.. but not for eternity.

We have run.
Heart beat... run. Bump, pound, thump..
Thump thump heart. Run but go nowhere.
How can we run? Omnipresent does not follow... it does not run.
Where you are, there He is.
Run from God?
How is that?

In How many directions do we walk?
In how many ways do we wander?

Faint heart faint. Rest heart rest.
Fall, and what follows is all you were ever running after.
Running away, yet running after.

Embrace the Son...
For He has won every heart that belongs to the King.

Belong where you always belonged...
And, finally....rest.

Full text below.
Watch this in Blog Film format on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/_toN15clxc4
For all the doubters, discouraged and downtrodden... here is a letter to self. From my first blog post ever, almost a decade now. I wrote this because I have always struggled in faith. A letter to my self was a way for me to keep myself encouraged. If you ever ask questions like “what does it mean to believe in God?” Or “What is faith?” This one is for you.
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Music by Mattia Cupelli
FULL TEXT:
Dear Me,

Some say, “It is hard to believe.”

They honestly state, “I cannot believe in what is unseen.”

“I have no faith toward God, because I cannot see Him with my eye.”

And yet without reserve, doubting, they place their measure of faith in what is seen.

“Unless I can see it, it will not satisfy.”

The faith of disbelief in God is placed elsewhere.

You might say:

“I faith what I feel.”

“If I feel it, I believe it. If I taste, touch, hear or see it, I accept it.”

“If I can argue for it, or reason through it, than surely I would give my life for it.”

As people, we mostly believe that it is a satisfying thing to be able to see the object of our affections. But if you can see what you place your hope in, yet draw no joy from it, there is no pleasure in the seen thing at all. I have found most often that the seen things are the empty things – the letdowns in the end. We looked to be fulfilled and yet fulfilled we are not.

Empty we come to our table and there find no fullness at all – only the same old desire unfulfilled. And so we are on the hunt.

Searching to be satisfied.

Our hearts are beating for a single treasure.

The desire of man is probing the pleasures of life – hoping – expecting by faith, and panting for calm in a world full of storm. The desire of man is to be satisfied, and yet seeing, we are still wanting. And hearing many things, we are still deaf to the answer. Seeing the objects of our faith, most of us are unmoved. I don’t mean that we are not accepted or are without some definition or meaning or purpose, but I mean that we are left unaffected. Untouched by our roaming faith.

Money is the god of some and yet though they move money, money does not move them. I can change my surroundings or possessions with money but money cannot speak to me, comfort me, hear my cries and relieve my anxieties. It cannot bring relief and companionship to the lonely heart.

Sex is the god of many. All effort, emotion, and mind are consumed with this act or vision. Faith in the groped-for fleeting satisfaction of fornication. Yet we are untouched or fulfilled by sex. Though moving in sex, though moving from one partner to another in this act, we are not moved by it in heart. Satisfied but for a moment only, and then the moment passes. Lasting satisfaction is lacking because sex satisfies mostly the body but for a moment then, it is fleeting. The body is left hungering only for more but without being truly and lastingly pleased.

Dreams,

Degrees,

Education,

Self-worth,

Popularity,

Praise,

Heroism…

And the list could go on.

We are searching for contentment.

The mind and body are hungry for meaning, but what if man is more than just body and mind? Though what is seen is natural, what if in what lies beyond the “eyes-seen” world is where we are only satisfied? In the seemingly unnatural?

Though men move naturally toward satisfaction and self-worth, they are not moved by what they grope for.

What if the seen does not satisfy because the unseen in man hungers for the ultimate satisfying treasure – worth that cannot fade away. Love that is not fleeting. Purpose that lasts beyond this life – beyond time. The treasures that we know – the felt treasures are all effective for only a moment of pleasure. But what is unseen is unaffected by material treasures. The spirit of man that lives beyond this temporal life is yearning to be satisfied by the unseen – the spiritual. The body is possessed by spirit, and knowing that the body is rotting, the spirit is longing for its maker – the creator and satisfier of all things.

Your need and my need is spiritual, not fleshly.

Not worldly, but godly.

Reality is, that the body is dead without the spirit and the spirit is dead without God.

Long ago, God breathed His very breath into a pile of dust and brought man to life. His breath became our source of life and we are as His creation, longing to breath from the source once again. Satisfaction awaits but only at the fountainhead. You, being created in the image of God, who is Spirit, are longing to be touched by the God who formed you. To truly be moved by that which you place your faith in.

God moves me.

I am moved by Him.

He is moving in me.

Gushing out brilliantly.

Over and under, in, through and out of the deepness of my heart, spirit, mind and emotions.

I have searched the world over and have found only sweet, fulfilling satisfaction in Him alone. His Spirit lives in me and I am supremely satisfied in Him!

I have not seen Him with the eye but have experienced Him with the heart and deep into my spirit, which He has made alive. And in knowing Him, I am complete and satisfied in mind, heart and faith.

There are those who even see with the eye and still do not believe. But I have heard His still and small voice whispering to my spirit, calling me to be in Him complete and there be completely satisfied.

I am a faith-walker – needing not sight but knowing Him through the experience of His touch upon my life. He has lit the path of life and inflamed my heart to burn for Him. He walks upon the landscape of my soul, and in heaven, though here on earth I now walk with Him in pleasure forevermore.

My desires are for Him alone.

He changes me,

Renews me,

Makes me whole, therefore I am wholly His.

I have been delivered up to my God for His good pleasure. I am a sacrifice upon the alter of allurement. I have tasted and now see. I am lured by His immeasurable grace toward me. He is the hunter, I am His prey, and I have been caught by the one who only wholly loves me and cares for my soul. I am pleased to be trapped by His love. This is the result of his affections toward me and my experience of faith in Him.

He is a God to be experienced, not intellectually beheld.

But you must run after Him! Searching and calling after Him to be found, and there, you will no doubt be found by Him. But faith is an action as well as a reality, and the reality and faith-filled Creator of faith is longing to be your desire and object of faith.

Yet as we know, reality is often tested.

But know this my friend, the God of reality will be found as real as life and more powerful than death come the end of your life. And there, in that moment, having not experienced Him here you will surely never know Him there.

Are you experiencing your God, or just reading about Him? The seen does not satisfy because we were meant to be other-worldly.

Our unseen spirit is most greatly delighted when enraptured by His Spirit – seen with the spiritual eye.

Come boldly before your God today and experience Him in all of His glory. Let Him blow your mind. See Him and be seen by Him with Fresh eyes.

Safe in Him,

J.N.Wheels

FULL Christmas Special - The 3M Podcast
Our Full Christmas Episode with Andy Johnson, Joel Wheelersburg, Ryan Ritchey-Wilson, and J.N.Wheels. Also, with New Christmas Music by Brandon Bee and Kingdom Citizens! (links to their music below). Come have fun with us and celebrate the birth of our savior!
More: https://jnwheels.com/the-3m-podcast/
Music: bensound.com
Kingdom Citizens Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/kingdom-citizens-christmas-vol-1-single/1489833517

Brandon Bee Music:
https://music.apple.com/us/album/away-in-a-manger-you-changed-the-world-single/1490505227

What is Thanksgiving? What do we have to be thankful for in Jesus Christ?
Our Thanksgiving Special with guests Joel Wheelersburg, Ryan Ritchey-Wilson, and Lindsay Wheelersburg with host, J.N.Wheels.
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Sin caused us to go from unashamed to filled with shame. From peace with God to fear of God. “I was afraid,” said Adam. In his nakedness, Adam realized that what he was now feeling, was not in God. He had become something else. He had become sinful and this was something he had never experienced with God. God was not this new thing. The contrast was obvious to Adam. God was pure and man was stained. There had been no shame with God… but now, with sin, He was scared with God. Scared of God, His Creator and friend. God, in the garden with man as a sinner, was a scary thing to Adam. He recognized the Holiness of God in contrast to the sinfulness in his own heart and mind. His consciousness was no longer at ease but it was bothered. “Hide! Hide Adam!” That was the new thought in his mind. Because he recognized that He would be judged as unholy in contrast to the perfect creator before him. He was now a broken vessel. The pieces were scattered across the floor. And the thought of standing before His first love - God, and accepting this fact was too much to bare… and so he hid himself.

But God was not scared. He was not afraid of these consequences. He pursued his broken man and woman. His masterpiece was not beyond repair. Even from the first, God was ready to put the pieces back together. Man was about to find out what love is, and what love can do. It can forgive the greatest and gravest of failures and mistakes. It can heal the wounded and most broken of hearts. It can calm the storms and fears that we all feel. We recognize the failure and He provides the reconciliation. He takes it upon Himself to cover the shame we all feel and He covers it by His blood. He sacrificed His own creation and clothed Adam and Eve in the skin of an animal for the first time. He created the covering that would ease their shame until Christ would come to cover us forever! We are the broken and He is the saving grace. Let that comfort you in your pain and help you to look at Him once again, as loving creator of all things. Your gracious and loving creator, friend, and God. The broken things can and have been restored.

These are the Broken Pieces and Saving Grace.
Music: BenSound.com
More: https://jnwheels.com

The first loss that came to exist at the first error of mankind was the loss of peace. We were once content with and only mindful of the good things that God had graciously and lovingly provided for us - the fruit of the earth, comfort and care, the companionship of the spouse God had given to us as a good and needed, loving remedy to loneliness - a way for us to express and share the love God had put into our hearts, and lest we forget, the best and most complete gift we ever had - the gift of Gods presence - walking with God, in fellowship with Him, here on earth. The creature in conscience and physical relationship with the Creator. Man and women were complete in this relationship - but not for long. The first loss came - it was the loss of this peace. The man and woman had been naked and no shame was felt - they were unashamed. Imagine that. So at peace with one another and ourselves, that we were not preoccupied with the way we looked or didn’t look. We thought more about others and God than we thought about our own insecurities. But sin (that transgression and first error) entered the world as we chose to disobey God’s direction and choose against God. The results were the loss of our peace. We, for the first time in human history, we were ashamed. We felt shame. We noticed and identified with pain for the first time. It hurts to be a sinner. That is our reality. And sin had entered our being - our bodies and minds were now infected. The bodies suffer, but so does the mind. Naked. What a shame was felt when we noticed that we no longer were content to be noticed - now, with our flaws - we were no longer content to be ourselves wholly - and the pain of insecurity grabbed hold of ourselves and we did what scared people do - we hid… and we hide.
Music: BenSound.com
More at: https://jnwheels.com

We talked about easter, resurrection day and why is the resurrection of Jesus Christ important? Is it relevant and what does it have to do with us? Oh, and we also talked about spider man and comic book collecting... and Jesus!

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, TRAIN UP THE NEXT GENERATION
Mike Bullmore
I find there is a persistent temptation in my life and ministry. It is the temptation to just finish my own race faithfully.
“What’s wrong with that?” you ask. It actually sounds fairly biblical, almost Pauline. “I just want to finish the race. I don’t want to be disqualified. I want to be found faithful to the end.” Which is well and good, except if the understanding of faith- fulness to the gospel is limited to and concerned only with my allotted three score years and ten, or if by reason of strength, four score.
I don’t know about you, but with the challenges and weight of pastoral ministry, sometimes I can be reduced to “Lord, just help me to be faithful to the end.”
And on the flipside of that temptation is the simple fact that it is very hard to be passionate about, and to maintain passion for, the future, especially if that future is beyond our sight. It is easy for me to be passionate about my children’s well-being. And it is easy to extend that passion to their children. But for
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how many generations out can you maintain that passion? For me it’s hard to go much beyond three generations without fall- ing into abstraction.
I share that simply to illustrate that there is a difficulty, even in our understanding of something as good as gospel faithful- ness, in holding the future clearly and rightly in our minds. This can contribute to a tendency to define faithfulness to the gospel too much in terms of our own tenure.
Let me state my point positively: Necessary to our faithful gos- pel ministry is an investment in the gospel ministry that will come after ours. I see this laid out in the first two chapters of 2 Timothy.
Disciple Faithful Men
Paul says in 2 Timothy 1:14, “Guard the good deposit entrust- ed to you.” Then, a few verses later, picking up some of that same language, he tells Timothy, as part of his “guarding,” to
“entrust to faithful men” what has been entrusted to him, and part of that “entrusting” is teaching them to pass the same thing on to others (2 Timothy 2:2).
Paul is telling Timothy that an essential part of faithful gos- pel ministry is this investment in the next generation. It is not some optional add-on. In other words, when Paul tells Timo- thy to “guard” the gospel, he is not just calling Timothy to pro- tect the integrity of the gospel from the effects of false teaching. He is also calling Timothy to fight to preserve the continua- tion of the gospel against the effects of erosion over time, even beyond Timothy’s time.
So let me say it again. Essential to our faithfulness in gospel min- istry is this investment in a succeeding generation of gospel ministers.
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Beware Hezekiah Syndrome
I believe the greatest challenge to this is what we might call the “my lifetime” tendency, a tendency we see exemplified in a certain Old Testament Israelite king. Perhaps you remember the story. Hezekiah is king of Judah. Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, comes to attack. Hezekiah, with Isaiah’s help, prays and prevails. Hezekiah gets sick and is instructed by Isaiah to get his house in order. Hezekiah cries out to God and is grant- ed fifteen more years. Upon hearing of this, the king of Babylon sends envoys, ostensibly to congratulate Hezekiah on his recov- ery. Hezekiah in his dim-witted pride shows off the national treasures. The envoys return to Babylon. Isaiah asks for a report of their visit. Hezekiah tells Isaiah what he did. In response, Isaiah predicts the coming Babylonian captivity. Then this.
Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my lifetime.”
What makes this account even more compelling and sober- ing as a warning to us is the fact that Hezekiah was extremely influential in reforming the spiritual life of Judah: cleansing the temple, restoring temple worship, reinstating Passover, and reorganizing the priesthood. See the account in 2 Chronicles. He made an impressive contribution along very important lines.
But then there is this episode late in his life which betrays both his pride and his myopia. Despite all his zeal, there was, apparently, an absence of zeal for what happened after he passed off the scene.
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Avoid Temporal Shortsightedness
Richard Baxter brings a wonderful way of addressing this in his book The Reformed Pastor. He writes, “If you will glorify God in your lives, you must be chiefly intent upon the public good, and the spreading of the gospel through the world.” The alternative, according to Baxter, was “a private, narrow soul always taken up about itself that sees not how things go in the world. Its desires and prayers and endeavors go no further than they can see or travel.”
Baxter is talking about the possibility of a geographical shortsightedness, but we might also be guilty of a temporal shortsightedness. That was Hezekiah’s case.
Baxter called his readers to just the opposite—a largeness of soul that “beholds all the earth and desires to know how it goes with the cause and with the servants of the Lord.” Paul’s words in 2 Timothy call us to the very same thing but looking out into the future. “How will it go with the cause? And what can I do to fuel this cause into the future?”
Let us not be content to simply say, “As long as all is well in my lifetime.”
Cultivate Far-Seeing Vision
In contrast to Hezekiah’s myopia, we see Paul’s far-seeing vision, and it becomes especially poignant in view of Paul’s imminent departure. Remember this is the same letter in which he says, “The time of my departure is at hand.”
Paul asks Timothy to think a certain way about gospel ministry. And he asks Timothy to train the next generation to think this way about gospel ministry. And God asks us to think
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this way about gospel ministry. Necessary to faithful gospel min- istry is an investment in the next generation of gospel ministers.
This should translate into very concrete realities in our weekly lives. This is a responsibility the church shares corpo- rately, but it will require of you a very definite investment of time, energy and purpose.
Invest in the Next Gospel Generation
What will this look like? Let me suggest four possibilities. First, devote yourself to faithful gospel ministry, especially the min- istry of the word. The best way to train men to faithfully preach the gospel is to faithfully preach the gospel. William Perkins wrote, “So, let every minister both in his teaching and in his conversation work in such a way that he honors his calling, so that he may attract others to share his love for it.”
Second, pay attention to the young men of various ages in your congregation. Notice how they receive your preaching. Notice how they process your preaching. Notice any deepening affections for God and his word. Keep your eyes open.
Third, create contexts for the young men who catch your eye to practice and grow in their handling of the word.
Fourth, and this must not go unsaid, pray very specifical- ly for God to raise up the next generation of gospel ministers. Pray for your replacement, but pray also for more than that. Pray with an eye, and a heart, toward the future and the con- tinuing success of the gospel in the world, until Christ comes.

Still Not Professionals
Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

Still Not Professionals: Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors is a celebration and extension of John Piper’s Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. With two brief exhortations from Piper and eight others from veteran pastors, this short ebook aims to strengthen and challenge Christians in general, and pastors in particular, for the labor of everyday life and ministry. The contributors were asked to express their “heart of hearts” for fellow leaders. You’ll find these chapters tap into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use, we hope, beyond the North American context of the contributors.

by John Piper Modal , Daniel L. Akin Modal , Thabiti Anyabwile Modal , Mike Bullmore Modal , Sam Crabtree Modal , Ray Ortlund Modal , Jeff Vanderstelt Modal , and Douglas Wilson
Read here by J.N.Wheels

Find the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionals

Support The Minister The Ministry and Me Show (The 3M Podcast) or get T-Shirts, Mugs, notebooks and more while still supporting jnwheels.com here: https://jnwheels.com/donate-support/
Full Text:
BROTHERS, BUILD A GOSPEL CULTURE
Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr.
Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, a social environment of accep- tance and hope and freedom and joy. Jesus himself touches us through his truths to create a new kind of community. With- out the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile. Without the cul- ture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.
Isn’t the doctrine-creating-culture dynamic what we find in the New Testament? For example, the doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1–9). The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11–16). The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephe- sians 2:14–16). The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20–23). The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2) and honor (Romans 12:10). The doctrine of God—what could be more basic than that? — cre- ates a culture of honesty and confession (1 John 1:5–10).
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No Doctrinal Shortcuts
If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short- cuts. If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture. Churches where the doctrines of grace create a cul- ture of grace bear living witness to the power of Jesus. I think of it very simply like this:
Gospel doctrine – gospel culture = hypocrisy Gospel culture – gospel doctrine = fragility Gospel doctrine + gospel culture = power
If we want our churches to compel the attention of our mission field—and, of course, we do—then, brothers, build a gospel culture! Don’t settle for preaching the truth only. Build a rela- tional ethos that feels like the gospel. It’s powerful.
Not an Optional Add-on
Francis Schaeffer, in his book The Church Before the Watching World (page 62), wrote this:
One cannot explain the explosive dynamite, the dunamis, of the early church apart from the fact that they practiced two things simultaneously: orthodoxy of doctrine and orthodoxy of community in the midst of the visible church, a community which the world could see. By the grace of God, therefore, the church must be known simultaneously for its purity of doctrine and the reality of its community. Our churches have so often been only preaching points with very little emphasis
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Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today’s Pastors

on community, but exhibition of the love of God in practice is beautiful and must be there.
A gospel community is authoritative. Schaeffer used the phrase “orthodoxy of community” to say that. The beauty of human
relationships is not an optional add-on for an otherwise com- plete, biblical church. Gospel culture is as essential to our wit- ness as gospel doctrine.
Do you consider purity of doctrine essential? Probably. Do you consider beauty of community essential? Hopefully.
The urgency of this depends primarily, of course, on who God is. If God has revealed himself to us as truth only, then beauty of community is merely a preference for certain person- ality types. But if God has revealed himself as truth and love, both simultaneously, then the beauty of true community is authoritative. And it is authoritative: “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15).
Wonderful Grace
Theologically conscientious churches are not always gospel cul- tures. The Reverend William Still, a patriarch of the Church of Scotland in the twentieth century, preaching on Romans 5:5 and the love of God being poured into our hearts, said this:
I wonder what it is about poring all over a great deal of Puritan literature that makes so many preachers of it so horribly cold. I don’t understand it, because I think it’s a wonderful literature.... I don’t know if you can explain this to me. I’d be very glad to know, because
it worries me. But I hear over and over and over again
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this tremendous tendency amongst people who
delve deeply into Puritan literature that a coldness, a hardness, a harshness, a ruthlessness—anything but sovereign grace—enters into their lives and into their ministries. Now, it needn’t be so. And it isn’t always so, thank God. And you see, the grace, the grace, of a true Calvinist and Puritan—that is to say, a biblical Puritan and Calvinist—is wonderful.... But O God, deliver us from this coldness!
The problem is not Reformed theology. Inherent within that theology is a humbling and melting power. The problem is when that theology is not allowed to exert its natural influence. Instead, our own native religiosity can create a culture contrary to our theology. And our religious culture, whatever it is, reveals what we really believe as opposed to what we think we believe.
If we are ungracious in our relationships and ethos and demeanor and vibe, then we are contradicting the very grace we preach and disempowering our churches in the eyes of the watching world.
But when we press our theology humbly and boldly into the culture of our churches, starting with ourselves and our own need for God’s grace, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is!” (Psalm 133:1).