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

If The Foundations Be Destroyed..Guest contributor: Randy Pritts1  “I trust in the Lord for protection. So why do you say to me, "Fly like a bird to the mountains for safety! 2  The wicked are stringing their bows and fitting their arrows on the bowstrings. They shoot from the shadows at those whose hearts are right. 3  The foundations of law and order have collapsed. What can the righteous do?"4  But the Lord is in his holy Temple; the Lord still rules from heaven. He watches everyone closely, examining every person on earth. 5  The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked. He hates those who love violence. 6  He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked, punishing them with scorching winds. 7  For the righteous Lord loves justice. The virtuous will see his face.”-Psalm 11 (NLT)Allow me to rephrase this for our current consideration: If the foundations of civil society be destroyed, what can the righteous do? I will explain why.Religion and PoliticsThe old adage "religion and politics don't mix" no longer fits. At one time, it may have been polite for the saints to bite their tongues and not ruffle anyone's feathers. However, in the current social climate, politics is exactly where the ungodly is making his most ardent and divisive attack. The foundations of civil society are being destroyed, and being nearly destroyed, what is left that the righteous can do? In this psalm (kjv@Psalm:11 ) we see the wicked "bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart". Let there be no mistake that it is at the upright he is pointing his bow. So frequent are these attacks, and uncomfortable, that the saint's soul might be tempted to say "Flee as a bird to your mountain". This psalm is not about what the wicked are doing however, no it is about the saint on which this psalm focuses. Under pressure and ensuing wickedness, what is the response of the righteous?The mountain is a tempting place for us to flee. After all, what matter is it of ours what this society chooses for itself to become? What matters is that "the righteous LORD loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright". Therefore, "The LORD trieth the righteous". Like as with precious metals, HE puts them to the test in a foundry to separate us from the dross and prove to us HIS righteousness's worth. This separation and purification is not to be sought from atop some distant mountain top away from it all. It comes only from being in the boil and tumult of the cauldron's hottest flames. For us, no doubt, these are dangerous and unfamiliar grounds. So much so, that it must be said to us as a reminder that "In the LORD,” the saint must put his or her trust.Before we run out onto the political and social battlefield shooting at whatever target seen fit, let's better consider verse four at the heart of this psalm:“The Lord is in His holy temple, The Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.”- Psalm 11:4"The LORD is in his holy temple” (Gods Holiness)Our LORD is much different from the lords of the rest of this world. This LORD alone is holy. It is not for this LORD to rule as we see fit. Who are we? Are we holy in the same sense? Not unless we allow HIS reign to have its effect upon us to such an extent that we reflect nothing but HIS holiness. Sadly, this is something that in our haste, we often neglect to maintain.
There have been plenty of similar occasions when we have raced onto the battlefield with our thoughts and bias, our beliefs, our strict legalism, our own insistence and our way of fixing things - only to shoot ourselves or our brothers in the foot. And by our inept misrepresentations of Christ, the person and purposes of Christ have been ill presented and represented.
"the LORD'S throne is in heaven” (Gods Reign And Judgement)The view of the battlefield that this LORD has from above is much different from ours here in the trenches. What is right in our own eye, so often is not the correct place from which strategic judgments should be made. Countless times we have foolishly played right into our enemy's stronger hand. No, this is a different kind of war, fought with different kinds of weapons - not the weapons we bring in from home on our own. Our fleshly weapons do not suffice.
"his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men” (The Inescapable Watching of Gods Eye)As saints, we should never think that this LORD's critical eye is not upon us as well. HIS eye beholds all the children of men. If anything certain can be said of the scriptures, it is that this LORD's eye is more upon HIS saints - more than any other. "The wicked and him that loveth violence,” this righteous LORD may "hateth" but, "the LORD trieth" with a keen loving interest those whom HE has chosen and imputed HIS righteous covering over - desiring from them a willing and constant improving compliance.The Search for AnswersIt is quite natural for the world at large to neglect these crucial political and social foundations: God's holiness.God's reign and judgment.The inescapable watching of God's eye. This is how they end up with this unruly and divisive climate that they have trapped us into. Neglect. The wicked neglect the holy things. They also ask, "What can be done?” “What can the wicked do?” and answer it with, "radicalize what we've been doing and cram it down the peaceable and law-abiding citizen's moral conscience". These citizens, these masses, have become easy prey for the wicked to take full advantage of for much more wicked and hidden purposes. They have been made to feel disenfranchised, victimized, systematically oppressed, made to covet what they do not have for themselves, and become inflamed - led by the snoot of social compassion by the wicked to a place upside-down, where upright and civil society would rather not go - forsaking God and holy things.It is quite inexcusable however when the congregation of saints also personally neglect these pillars of sanity. That is how the saints end up in the unenviable and indefensible position of having allowed these societal ills to fester unattended and undressed for far too long. Instead of becoming influencers of society, we saints are labeled the neanderthal - we are the archaic, we are the racist and insensitive and bigot. We ponder, “how did it all came to this?” What is left that we might do? Well there is not much of anything left to do when we've already allowed the foundations to collapse in all around us. That is unless the LORD Himself is willing to do something about it through us.Some saints might ask, "What is it that is different about this particular age?”Lets observe:Today, there is the talk of "cutting the tree down at the trunk.” Marxism exists in this country like it has never existed before. In Marxism there will be no space afforded for this LORD we freely today speak of here, nor will there be a place for these foundations - not even the thought of HIM or them. What do we do then? The Marxist doctrine plans to use Socialism as the blowtorch to clear and level the field for this “inevitable", they say, "stateless society". No one is served by this wicked ideology in the end - not the disenfranchised, nor the victim, nor the impoverished, not even those foot soldiers fighting for it - nor the elite, nor intellectual, not even the socially compassionate. By that time, these all will have been proven to have been "useful idiots” - as will have, the saint. This truth has been proven numerous times in the previous century. Is it time now for this to be proven again?For Country? Yes and NoThe psalmist nearly pleads for us, the church - saints! - to sing forth in unison: "In the LORD put I my trust: how say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain?" A good many of us, I believe, are being guided by the scripture such as the Psalms and by the Holy Spirit to replenish the “front-line” as a test of this generation's metal. It is not that this country is morally superior and worth the extra fight. It is not that this country does not have massive problems needing to be addressed. It is that the "righteous LORD loveth righteousness” and so should we, and that the LORD is our foundation bedrock no matter what the country. If the godless have made it close to impossible socially and politically for the upright to operate in, and attack us politically and socially and ever increasingly, then it is time for the foundations to be upheld and boldly defended, Not for us to once again flee! If, in a society, the foundations have been destroyed, now they must be rebuilt. If they are on the brink of collapse, then the righteous must hold them together, Not sit back and watch them crumble - reinforce them!We have only to make sure that we are upholding the foundations of our LORD's righteousness in fact and not just what we see as right in our own eye!"If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”[END]About Randy: Randy Pritts is the author of the “Back to the Psalms Series” audio project and the upcoming 2020 book “Foundations Of The Like Precious Faith Series”. Follow Randy at his website likepreciousfaith.us which features a wide variety of original and classic Christian content, bible translations, dictionaries, indexes, and other public domain resources for the modern “like precious faith” believer's ongoing edification.J.N.Wheels is now on Patreon! Support my work for as little as $3/Month.https://www.patreon.com/JNWheels?fan_landing=true

This video is about Mark chapter 4 verses one through twenty (Mark 4:1-20) in the Bible (The Parable of the Sower). Not everyone who hears the gospel and the message of salvation wants to bow the knee to Jesus Christ as their Lord and as their Savior. More at https://jnwheels.comMy BOOK: https://jnwheels.com/a-book-about-assistant-pastors-for-assistant-pastors-by-j-n-wheels/Support me here:https://jnwheels.com/support-my-patreon/

“Awaken Deaf Ears”I woke this morning and these three words were the first thought in my mind.Awaken. Deaf. Ears.I really believe that phrase. I believe that God wants that. Not because it popped into my mind this morning but because thats what He does. He's good at this sort of thing.But were good at other things, like deafening our ears and blinding our eyes.I believe God is moving to cause this generation to hear Him and see Him.But right now the many idols of our age are blinding us to the one who would become our rescue and salvation.So many distractions exist in our lives. And the idolatry of self is a hard and mighty foe to cast down.But, like passing through the eye of a needle, nothing is impossible with our God.Do we still believe that God opens blind eyes?Do we still believe in Jesus, the one who raises the dead?Do we still believe that deaf ears can be opened?Can the dead bones be raised to life and made whole?I believe. I still believe that. Thats not ancient history, its a present reality.We must now proclaim this reality that is ours in Christ, that He is Savior of the world. That he is the one who has rescued us from our sins.Be bold believer. It is time. Its time to obey that great commission. To go into all the world and proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ. Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.What grabs our attention, better than most anything? Pain.I believe that God is using the pain and realities of these times to bring us to our knees. To humble our hearts and allow us, by the grace and mercy of God, to see Him. To Hear Him.So, Where are the preachers?Where are those who will go for him?Where are those messengers who are willing to be counted as fools for His sake and for His Gospel?He is saying, “who will go for me, who will I send?” Where are those who will answer?“Here I am Lord, send me.”ENDSupport me on Patreon! $3/Month helps a ton!https://jnwheels.com/support-my-patreon/My New Book:https://jnwheels.com/a-book-about-assistant-pastors-for-assistant-pastors-by-j-n-wheels/

This Sermon about the church in Antioch addresses these topics:What is a christian?What does Christian Character look like?Antioch was where the church was first called christians.My Book: https://jnwheels.com/a-book-about-assistant-pastors-for-assistant-pastors-by-j-n-wheels/Podcast: https://jnwheels.com/the-3m-podcast/

For The Historical Record - How We Processed The Onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic - Corona Virus With Joel Wheelersburg & Ryan Ritchey-Wilson. This recording was recorded 4 weeks prior to when stay at home orders were issued throughout colorado and the country. more at JNWheels.commusic: Bensound.com and Evan Schaeffer

Have you ever wondered how previous generations of christians processed pandemics, plagues and virus's? Join me as we travel back in time 500 years and find out how Martin Luther processed how he and others might think about the bubonic plague that was ravishing Europe and his town. Audio Book reading of Martin Luthers, "Whether One May Flee From A Deadly Plague." From Luther: https://blogs.lcms.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Plague-blogLW.pdfFrom "The Hill": https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/488675-the-plague-coronavirus-and-martin-luther-why-they-all-matter-nowMade Possible by Craftsman Home Inspections llc CraftsmanColorado.com Music: Evan Schaeffer and BenSound.com More at jnwheels.com

On the Minister The Ministry and Me Show, Jeremiah shares about Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem before His death on the Cross and then Resurrection Three days later. Come enjoy part of the Easter Story. What is Easter?What is Resurrection Sunday?Music:BenSound.comAndEvan SchaefferMore at jnwheels.com

We talk about Facing The Reality of Death and Finding Our Hope in Christ during the corona virus (Covid 19) pandemic and we talk about Martin Luthers courage during the Bubonic plague. With Jeremiah Wheelersburg (J.N.Wheels) and Joel Wheelersburg. Subscribe to this Christian Podcast 2020 on iTunes, iheart radio and wherever you listen to podcasts.More at:https://jnwheels.comFollow on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/JNWheels-199365716784076/Subscribe to the Podcast:iHeart RadioiTunesListen to “The Minister The Ministry & Me Show” on Spreaker.PodbeanGoogle PlayStitcherPlayer FMMusic: BenSound.comand Evan Schaeffer

Lindsay wanted to talk about something other than the Covid-19 pandemic so we decided to record a podcast about running while running! We wanted to give you a podcast moment where you can sit back and chill with us and enjoy our conversation and not feel so isolated. We talk about running, what to do when you have to Pee on a run (thanks to Joel dropping in on our podcast via speakerphone)! we reminisce, talk of learning discipline and mental toughness and laugh a little. I hope it provides that moment away from the coronavirus and gives you some time in community with us, the Wheelersburg's.Made possible by Craftsman Home Inspections llcCraftsmanColorado.comMusic:Evan Shafer and BenSound.com

A Word to Pastors, Leaders and Content Creators during The Corona Virus. Be Brave. Be Bold. Music: BenSound.comMore at jnwheels.comMade possible by Craftsman Home Inspections llc www.craftsmancolorado.com

A Christian response to the corona virus and covid 19 pandemic. Face your Fears and Trust in God.more at www.jnwheels.com made possible by Craftsman Home Inspections llcwww.CraftsmanColorado.com

Word Art by J.N.Wheels Reflections on the sovereignty of God.More at jnwheels.comMusic: 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/_toN15clxc4For 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. More at https://jnwheels.com/the-3m-podcast/Music by Mattia CupelliFULL 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 PodcastOur 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.comKingdom Citizens Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/kingdom-citizens-christmas-vol-1-single/1489833517Brandon 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.https://jnwheels.com

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.comMore: 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.comMore 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 ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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 GENERATIONMike BullmoreI 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 42Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorshow 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 MenPaul 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. 43Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsBeware Hezekiah SyndromeI 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. 44Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsAvoid Temporal ShortsightednessRichard 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 VisionIn 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 45Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsthis 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 GenerationWhat 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 ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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 CULTURERaymond 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). 38Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsNo Doctrinal ShortcutsIf 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 = powerIf 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-onFrancis 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 39Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorson 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 humanrelationships 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 GraceTheologically 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, becauseit worries me. But I hear over and over and over again 40Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsthis tremendous tendency amongst people whodelve 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).

Lindsay and Jeremiah Wheelersburg talk about being refined by God in marriage and embracing change in life and family. Also, we talk about the fact that we are each marrying a sinner.

Jeremiah and Lindsay Wheelersburg talk about marriage beginnings and setting expectations grounded in grace and forgiveness. Book by Paul Tripp:https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/143354945X/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, PRAISE SOMEBODY OTHER THAN GODSam CrabtreeBrothers, praise somebody other than God.I can hear blasphemy sirens going off in readers' minds. If“somebody other than God” means “somebody instead of God,” or “more than God,” the concern is warranted indeed. But if “somebody other than God” means “because God is honored byit,” that's another thing entirely.Commending Whom God CommendsIs it possible that God actually receives more honor from us when we praise somebody other than God? The answer can be yes. In the same way that the heavens are declaring the glory of God (Psalm 19:1), God's common kindness in everyone around us (both saint and sinner) is declaring his glory as well. But just as God does not receive as much glory when we fail to pause, observe the heavens, and verbalize our praise, so he does not receive as much glory when we fail to pause, observe his good- ness in others' lives, and verbalize our praise. 33Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsSo, we could say, “Brothers, praise somebody other than God, for God's sake.” Or even, “Brothers, agree with God, and commend somebody he commends.”Merely praising somebody other than God isn't enough. God isn't necessarily honored by that. The question is, How can we praise somebody other than God for God's glory?God-Centered Praise for Those Who Are Not GodWe do it by praising persons who are not God in a God-cen- tered way, by praising them for being godly, for being Christ- like, by commending them for God's glory, by applauding them for doing something good in the strength God supplies (1 Peter4:11). This is how we complete the loop when Jesus teaches us that people should let their lights so shine that others see their good works... and what? Glorify their Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). If we don't glorify God for people's good works, we miss the point of Jesus's teaching and the point of their good works, which are works that are... what? Good! We must recognize them as such, and say so. And they did those good works, because God was at work in them. So he gets the final, ultimate credit.For many of us, our churches and homes and offices and marketplaces are full of people doing good works in the strength God supplies. Our job is to get for God the glory he deserves by calling out the goodness he's worked through oth- ers and commending it openly.God Praises OthersGod himself—to whom all praise is finally due—praises oth- ers. Is he violating his own most basic revelation? As a jealous 34Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsGod, he permits no competition. “You shall have no other gods before me,” he says in Exodus 20:3. “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruc- tion,” says Exodus 22:20. “Let no one boast in men,” enjoins the apostles Paul (1 Corinthians 3:21).God straightforwardly warns the wise, the mighty, and the rich to not boast in anything but him.Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.” (Jeremiah 9:23–24)Jesus Joins the ChorusJesus himself says, “No one is good except God alone” (Mark 10:18). If God alone is good, how can I exhort us to praise any- one else? Even more startling, how can God praise anyone else? Well, Jesus models such praise of others, calling Nathaniel a man in whom is no guile, calling his disciples salt and light, saying his followers are more valuable than many sparrows, saying the woman of ill repute did a beautiful thing, marvel- ing at the faith of the centurion, commending the woman of great faith, and more.God the Father describes Noah as righteous in his genera- tion, Jabez as more honorable than his brothers, and Solomon as very great and even majestic. And what does the Bible say 35Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorswe are to do with the noble woman of Proverbs 31? She is to be praised! (Proverbs 31:30).Well Done, Good and Faithful ServantThere is something defective about a person who does not want to be praised by God. Every person in existence should want to hear God say at the end of his life, “Well done, good and faith- ful servant” (Matthew 25:23). Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will exalt you (James 4:10). And when we are so praised, we will immediately deflect the praise to God saying, “It was God's grace at work in me.” We get the praise — and the joy of deflecting it back to him.We should desire to be like Paul when he says, “Our boast is this: the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God” (2 Corinthians 1:12). Paul is boasting about his own behavior—but only by the grace of God. So affirmation travels horizontally toward people and passes vertically through them to God where it lands.For God's Good and OursIf anything is commendable, we should take delight in com- mending it. We are commanded to esteem our leaders very high- ly because of their work in the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13).When we become fountains of affirmation, God gets the honor he deserves, others are refreshed, we gain a hearing (peo- ple tend to be influenced by those who commend them), gen- eral morale is lifted, our mouths are filled with praise instead 36Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsof complaint and grumbling, and good things are increasingly valued and are more likely to be repeated.So, brothers, for God's sake, praise somebody other than God. 37

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, LIVE A VISIBLE, EXEMPLARY, EVERYDAY LIFEJeff VandersteltAs I mentor and coach leaders in North American churches, I find a common theme among many pastors: They live and lead in such a way so as to disqualify themselves as elders in their own churches.Living “Among” the FlockFirst of all, they are not living and leading “among.” First Peter 5:2–4 exhorts the elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you... being an example to the flock.”When meeting with a leader, I will often ask, “Are you liv- ing in such a way that people can see your life and follow your example?” In other words, is your daily life visible, accessible, and reproducible? Not visible and accessible to everyone, of course—your life and home are just not that big, and hopefully you are not the only leader. But is your life visible and acces- sible to everyday people? Can people see your marriage, your parenting, your interaction with neighbors and others? From 27Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorswatching your life, can they see what their life would look like if they loved Jesus and lived for him daily?Jesus lived among his disciples, and they could say that they saw, touched, and heard the Word in flesh. Paul reminded the church in Ephesus that they knew how he lived because he lived among them in the everyday stuff of life. It's a beautiful thing when those who have open access to your life and see who you really are in everyday life, regularly say to you, “We don't under- stand what's the big deal about you. Why would anyone ask you to come speak? You're just a regular guy like everyone else!”Living Visibly and AccessiblyDo they see you struggle as a parent, work through tension with your wife, repent from your idolatry, and regularly share how in need of grace you are?This visibility and accessibility helps to keep us grounded— less prone to become overly impressed with ourselves. It also keeps us in the know of what people, including ourselves, need from our teaching. We know the struggles. We see the challeng- es. We fail. So, when we teach, we are able to speak from both a real awareness of what we all are going through and a credibility that we are struggling in community with the same things.Unfortunately, many pastors find that the majority of their life includes working in an office, seeing people at church gath- erings, meeting with their staff, and primarily just hanging out with their own family. How will people know what it looks like to live out gospel convictions in everyday life if they never see the leaders of the church live it out in front of them? 28Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsLiving the Way We Call Our People to LiveSecond, far too many pastors are not living the life they call everyone else in their congregation to live. They have given themselves permission to be the exception to the norm. What does your church expect of its members? Are you setting an example to the flock by doing what you expect others to do?I have had countless conversations with pastors who expect the people in their congregation to be in a small group or a mis- sional community, while they excuse themselves from the same expectation. Or, they conclude that the staff meeting together or the elders regularly meeting together is the equivalent of a small group. Really? If you are going to come to that conclu- sion, please give your people the freedom to count their regular business meeting with their staff at work as their small group. Or free up your members to only meet with the people they like doing life with. Forget calling them to reach the unlovable, the broken, the “much-grace-necessary” people. Unfortunate- ly, that is much of what takes place in the church because the members are following the example of their leaders.Leaders, whatever you ask the church to do as normative, set the example by doing it yourself.Living the Biblical RequirementsThird, often I find that elders fail to live out the biblical requirements for overseers that we find in 1 Timothy 3:1–7 and Titus 1:7–9. Not all of the requirements, of course, but I do see a pattern around some of them today. And this pattern, I believe, is connected to seeing the elders primarily as the pro- fessional teachers. 29Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsMost leaders I meet with take seriously the requirement of being able to teach sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. What they don't tend to take as seriously are the requirements of being hospitable, not being a lover of money, and having a good reputation with outsiders.Living HospitablyHospitality means making space for the stranger in your world. Too often Christians think hospitality is just a group of Chris- tians meeting over a meal. That is not the biblical meaning of the concept.A better picture is what God has done in Christ Jesus for us. He has made a place for his enemies to become part of his fami- ly by Jesus being treated like an enemy on the cross. He brought us into his home, treated us like family, and gave us access to all that he owns, making us co-heirs with Christ. When lead- ers open their homes and lives to the stranger—the outsider— we show the world and the church how the gospel reshapes our view of our homes.I have found too often that pastors have given themselves a pass on this one. They often say that their home is their ref- uge, and they fail to remember that Jesus is our refuge, not our homes. Our homes are one of the primary places of ministry according to the Scriptures. Our churches need to see pastors lead by example in this area so their example will lead to every Christian home becoming a place of ministry for those outside of the family of God. 30Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsLiving for More Than a PaycheckNot being a lover of money could be restated as not doing min- istry primarily for a paycheck. Jesus referred to this kind of shep- herd as a hired hand whom he would not entrust with the care of his sheep.I often ask pastors, “Would you do what you're doing, even if you weren't paid for it?” Many would not. They see the pas- torate as a career, not a calling. Please do not forget the grace of God that has enabled you to serve Jesus and his sheep with the best of your time. We are not paid to do ministry, we are freed up financially for ministry.If you or your church believes you do ministry because you are being paid, the example you are setting is that the only ones who do ministry are paid workers. This leads to further pro- fessionalization of the ministry—where only a few do ministry, while the many just watch the paid professionals.This can also lead to a pastor seeing his 40–50 hours of work each week as “ministry” and the rest of his time being primar- ily family or personal time. The problem with this is that most church leaders ask their members to give extra time outside of their 40–50-hour workweek to the work of the church. There is hypocrisy here. Leaders, you are asking your church to do something you are not willing to do.Living Among Non-ChristiansLastly, having a good reputation with outsiders means you have non-Christians in your life that would call you their friend. They invite you to their parties and events, call you when they are in need, and regularly bring you into their world. They not 31Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsonly call you friend, but they also respect you—you have a good reputation with them. It doesn't mean they always agree with you or are never offended by the gospel, but regardless, they believe you love them and in turn entrust themselves to you.A few years ago, during a party at my neighbor's home, I had a very direct and heated conversation with my neighbor and some of her friends about the reality of coming judgment. I pleaded with her to put her hope in Jesus as the only means by which she would stand in the day of judgment.The next day I knocked on her door and asked if everything was okay. She said, “What do you mean?” I then recounted the conversation of the previous night and my concern that it might have hurt our relationship. To which she replied,“You're my friend, Jeff. I know you love me. I expect you to tell me about Jesus. That's what you believe. It doesn't change our friendship at all.” I have a good reputation with her. As a result, she sends people who are asking spiritual questions to my wife and me. One of the lines she says when introducing me is, “This is Jeff. The guy I told you about — you know, the pastor that is not like most pastors...”I'm always glad, and sad, to hear her say that. Glad, because she sees me as her friend who is a regular guy who loves Jesus. Sad, because she

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, WE SHOULD STINKThabiti AnyabwileThese days, pastoral ministry has become more glamorous, fabulous, and fashionable than ever. We hear nowadays of pas- tors driving expensive cars, being chauffeured, owning private jets, and living in opulent mansions. Once only “the prosperity preachers” and bona fide hucksters touted such lives; now your neighborhood “orthodox” super-pastor does the same. It's all so pretty, perfumed with the world's “best” of everything.But, brothers, we are not professional models or entertainers hawking the world's airbrushed version of “the good life” from the lofty heights and flashing lights of public adulation. Brothers, we are shepherds down in the fields of life—and we should stink.Do We Live Among Them?Our model of ministry comes from the faithful shepherds and fellow elders of the holy Scriptures. Men like the apostle Paul who defended his ministry, in part, by appealing to his life with the sheep. He writes in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, “You know how we lived among you for your sake.” 23Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsI'm challenged by the apostle's confidence here. Here's a man that could describe himself as formerly a blasphemer, per- secutor, and violent man (1 Timothy 1:15). He was no perfec- tionist. He felt himself to be trapped in a wretched body of sin that warred with the Spirit (Romans 7). Yet, I find it remark- able that without flinching, and without caveat, he can call upon the Thessalonians' own memories of him to testify to the blamelessness of his life.Many of us won't hesitate to swear by our own lives but would tremble in fear if our people were asked, “How does he live among you?” We can talk of ourselves in ways that excuse our failings, justify our sins, and shift the blame we deserve. But some of us would panic if the reputation of the gospel came down to the testimony of our people about our lives.Paul Didn't Phone It InWe all know the message we preach is better than the messen- gers who preach it, but that doesn't mean the messenger should settle beneath the message. There must be a striving to be what we are in Christ, so that the message is adorned and defended by the messenger's life. If we find this is not the case, we should either repent or leave the ministry.Notice carefully Paul's words: “...how we lived among you....” It's not just “how we lived,” which could be reported from afar, airbrushed and beautified for the pages of Jerusalem Home Journal. Paul says—with confidence—you know how we lived “among you.” He's no absentee apostle or church planter. He doesn't “phone it in.” 24Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsSmelling Like the SheepThe apostle understands that shepherds should smell like sheep. The sheep's wool should be lint on our clothes. Our boots should be caked with their mud and their mess. Our skin ought to bearteeth marks and the weather-beaten look of exposure to wind, sun, and rain in the fields. We belong among the people to such an extent that they can be called on to honestly testify that our lives as messengers commend the message. We should be so frequently among them that we smell like them, that we smell like their real lives, sometimes fragrant but more often sweaty, musty, offensive, begrimed from battle with the world, the flesh, and the devil.Our people should be able to testify that we “lived among them for their sake.” Our living with them is to benefit them. We should be welcomed among the people because our pres- ence means spiritual gladness and profit (Hebrews 13:17). The goal of all our living is the blessing of all our people. That's why we come and dwell among them.An Insidious Idea AboardThe more gifted we think ourselves to be, the more closely we should live among them. There's an insidious idea abroad that suggests that the more gifted the pastor, the less time he has to be with the sheep. It implies that being with the people is a hin- drance better left to less gifted men.The power of the gospel does not depend upon the giftedness of the messenger. Everyone God has saved in the cause of our preaching has been saved despite the messenger—not because of him. Even Paul—arguably the most gifted Christian ever— would rather boast in his weakness. Here you have a messenger, 25Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorskeenly aware of his brokenness, living out both his brokenness and his giftedness among the sheep for their benefit.Stop Pimping the SheepLet me admit that there are limitations we pastors face. Some of them may be due to the size of our churches. Some may be due to the vastness of the region over which our people are scat- tered. Most of us don't live in Baxter's Kidderminster. Some of our limitations may be based on good priorities—like spending more time training leaders than attending certain social functions. I want to allow every good caveat and qualification necessary.But if our hearts say either we're too gifted or too big to be with our people, we should stop pretending we're motivated by their benefit. We should stop pretending we're not pimping them or feeding on them. If we honestly feel we're too gifted to be with them, we're not shepherds. We're wolves.Plan to Get SmellyDo you know how to tell the difference between sheep and wolves in sheep's clothing? Sheep eat grass; wolves eat sheep— it doesn't matter how prettily they are dressed.Paul was among the Thessalonians for their profit. It was so obvious that he could confidently call them to testify to it. That's the kind of messenger in whose hands the message ought to be trusted.A powerful message in the hands of a humble messenger among the people is how God normally works. Brothers, we should smell like sheep. Do we have a plan for regularly getting smelly with the sheep?

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, WE ARE NOT SUPERSTARSDaniel L. AkinJesus summarizes the purpose of his incarnation in Mark 10:45 when he says, “Even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”This profound and crucial statement—which weds the “Son of Man” of Daniel 7:13–14 to the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah 52–53, and redefines what kind of Messiah-Savior our Lord would be—comes on the heels of James's and John's request that Jesus would give them seats on his right and left in Glory (Mark 10:37). James and John are crystal clear in their inten- tions and goal: They want status, not service. They want the position of a king, not the calling of a slave. They want to be looked up to, honored, and revered. They wanted to be super- stars, not servants.Don't Play the OstrichTragically, today, when it comes to the ministry, the stan- dards and criteria for success are too often culled from the world, and not from the Word of God. To deny this is to play the 19Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsostrich, stick our head in the sand, and simply ignore the mas- sive evidence that swirls around us. Allow me to share what I see. Evangelicals have their cult-heroes and cult followings.This is true both inside and outside the local church. We have our groupies who pine after their “Christian rock stars.” Such stars are given almost infallible status, at least by their devoted fans, and if they are not careful, they may begin to believe what blogs, fans, and fellow superstars say.Suddenly, the green monster of pride sneaks into their lives and an attitude of entitlement begins to transform a once gra- cious and humble servant into a hulk-like prima donna who less and less resembles the simple carpenter from Galilee. Sub- tly, over time, I convince myself that I deserve a six-figure sal- ary. I deserve to live in a big home and drive an expensive car. I deserve to have people wait on me hand and foot and respond immediately to my every request. Furthermore, they can expect to receive a quick and painful tongue-lashing if they move too slowly or fail to meet my exalted expectations. Why, I may even fire them for not measuring up to my personal expectations.I become too important and my time is too valuable to meet with common people, people who cannot help me further my agenda. I am too busy in “my ministry” to respond to letters, answer emails, return phone calls, or schedule appointments.And amazingly, I become almost self-righteous in defending my lifestyle, my perks, and my prideful behavior because what I do is valuable to the kingdom and I've earned the right to be treated as one of its kings. 20Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsBattling the Green MonsterI wish what I have written to this point was theoretical or at least hyperbolic. Sadly, it isn't.As someone who has been in the Christian ministry for 35 years, and who battles daily the green monster of pride, I have seen and continue to see this superstar mentality and lifestyle far too often among a number of current day pastors. You see, I am now a seminary president who, if not careful, can get caught up in all of this “malarkey.” I am easily seduced by the sirens who feed a superstar mentality that knows nothing of the way of Jesus.So, what biblical counsel and wisdom can help keep our heads out of the clouds and our feet on the ground where “real people” live? Let me offer one avenue of Scriptural exhortation that may help.Our Model of LeadershipKeep continually before you the biblical model of leadership. We are not CEOs. We are not professionals. Brothers, we are shepherds—and under-shepherds at that. We are servant-lead- ers. First Peter 5:2 instructs us to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you.” The word “shepherd” is an imperative receiving the force of a command. Shepherds who follow in the footsteps of the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:11), the “Chief Shepherd” (1 Peter 5:4), the “Great Shepherd” (Heb. 13:20), will love and lead their sheep. They will not drive them and use them and make ungodly carnal demands of them. They will continually remind themselves that they tend over “the flock of God” and not their own. 21Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsThey also understand it is the “flock of God among you.” That means they live with their sheep, they spend time with their sheep, they know their sheep, they care for their sheep.With Joy and a Clear ConscienceI once heard a famous and well-known pastor brag about the fact he had never had a single meal in the home of one of his mem- bers, nor had he ever invited any of his members into his home for one. When I asked him why, he simply responded, “I never wanted to get that close to any of my people.” Words cannot express how this broke my heart. It still grieves me to this day.Brothers, we never have been and never will be superstars. We are lowly shepherds, servants of the “Great Shepherd of the sheep.” One day we will give him an account for the souls we are keeping watch over (Hebrews 13:17). May we by his grace and for his glory do so with joy and a clear conscience, serving him and his sheep “honorably in all things” (Hebrews 13:18).

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, WE ARE NOT PROFESSORSR. C. Sproul, Jr.It has been said by one great Reformed theologian that we are living in the most anti-intellectual age in the church's history. We are the TV generation, making way for the Internet gen- eration. Images tickle our eyes, and sound-bites massage our brains. We are, compared to our Puritan fathers, ignorant shep- herds leading sensate sheep in a dry and dusty land. Surely what we need then is more thought, more scholarship, more earnest hours spent pouring over the ancients in our studies. Right?We are worldly when we, like the world around us, give our- selves to an entertainment mentality, when we amuse ourselves to death. We are still worldly, however, when we rightly reject the eye candy and froth of pop culture and then conclude that our problems are intellectual, and our solutions more learning. It was the Enlightenment, not the Light of the World, that gave us education as its high and holy sacrament. What Jesus calls us to is to repent and believe the gospel. It is more important to us 15Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsand our sheep that we would learn to believe more, than that we would find more to believe.The Call of the ShepherdThat means first that when we prepare to serve in the minis- try, we have to prepare to serve in the ministry. Our seminaries, if we must have them, should more reflect a training hospital than a university. Divinity is not a body of knowledge to be mastered like geology. The Bible is not a book to be dissected like Moby Dick. We go there, if we must go there, not to study the Word, but to begin to learn to have the Word study us. We go to pursue not advanced degrees but the fruit of the Spirit. We go to lose our reputations, not to gain them. We go not to be thought wise, but to learn what fools we are.That means next that when we are called to the ministry, that we minister. Our pulpits, sadly, are filled with men who started as seminarians eager to shepherd a flock. There they were introduced to a dynamic, likely godly professor, and sud- denly the student determines he will pursue still more degrees, that he might follow in the footsteps of his hero. As seminary comes to a close, growing debts, a growing family, and a grow- ing urge to go and teach derail the plan to become a professor. Instead the young pastor determines to take a church that his flock can become his student body, and His Body, a tiny little seminary. He will lecture then during Sunday School, and regale them through each sermon.The Shepherd, however, calls us to feed His Sheep. We are not to give our wisdom, our insights, the fruits of our scholar- ship. Rather, like Paul before us, we serve up our weakness, our 16Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsfrailty, our need. That's how the Word breaks through, where the power comes from.Fools for JesusBrothers, your flock may need some more information. What they need more, however, is someone to lead them, to show them the Way. They need to see you repenting. They need to see you wrestling with your sins. They need to see you preaching the gospel to yourself, not because you like the sound of your voice, but because you hate the sin that yet remains, and you need grace. They need to see you rejoicing in the fullness of his prom- ises, and mourning both sin and its fruit, the last enemy, death.No man needs advanced degrees, and arcane letters after his name in order to follow Jesus. Which means that no man needs these things to lead others in following Jesus. If you follow him, they will follow you. If, however, you merely tickle their brains, they will soon go off in pursuit of someone who seems smarter than you. If they are taught to hear your voice, they won't dis- cern the voice of the Master.When our days of ministry come to an end, our labors will either be dust, or they will be dust. No matter how many downloads our wisdom garners, no matter how many journals publish our insights, these will all one day decay. Our scholars' hoods and robes, pulpits and libraries will become mere chaff.If, however, we spend our days as shepherds, pasturing the flock, our labors will last forever. For we minister to dust, to men into whom the Spirit breathed twice. We minister to dust that is, through faithful, pastoral preaching, being burnished into the image of the Pearl of Great Price. Brothers, we are not 17Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsdoctors, but the sick—not scholars, but fools. Let us then be fools for Christ. Preach.

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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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 Here:BROTHERS, WE ARE NOT SISTERSDouglas WilsonTo say that one thing is not another thing is not to register a complaint against either.To say that the sun is not the moon is not to criticize the moon, and to say that the land is not the sea is not to file a com- plaint against the sea. God establishes differences in the world with the intention of them complementing one another, and not so that his variegated world would try to melt itself down into one great indistinguishable mass. A pine cone is not a cheesecake is not a covered bridge. A man is not a woman, but God bless them both.And so to exhort my brothers in the ministry to remember that they are not sisters is in no way a form of disdain, either open or disguised, toward the sisters. As brothers in ministry, there are many things we must learn from the sisters, and we must take care to learn these things carefully and appropriately.For just one example, the apostle Paul says he was gentle among the Thessalonians, the way a nurse with small children would be (1 Thessalonians 2:7). The Bible says that women 11Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsshould not set up to teach the men authoritatively (1 Timothy 2:12), but this is a very different thing than men learning from women (Acts 18:26). How on earth would it be possible for a man to live with his wife with understanding (1 Peter 3:7) with- out learning anything from her?Masculine Presence in the PulpitThat said, in these egalitarian times, we must insist on a mas- culine presence in the pulpit because the church is the bride of Christ, and needs to obey her husband in everything (Ephe- sians 5:24). The Lord requires this of us (1 Timothy 2:12), and so that is what we must do. The individual man in the pulpit must be masculine because the bride of Christ must be femi- nine. The appropriate feminine response of the Church is to be submissive, and you cannot be submissive while disobeying.But as we accept this responsibility as the wisdom of God, and embrace it on that basis, we should not be surprised if a number of additional incentives and reasons occur to us as well.For the Sake of Young MenWe must be masculine in our ministry for the sake of many young men entering the ministry—men who grew to manhood without an appropriate role model in their father. We are their fathers in the work now, and so we must model for them what this kind of masculinity looks like—what courage with an open book looks like.The Bible teaches that the best forms of learning are imita- tive, and if we want the next generation of preachers to grow up into a true masculinity, then there must be a masculinity out 12Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsthere that they can see in order to imitate. But before we can model it, we must learn it ourselves.For the Sake of the WomenWe must be masculine in our ministry for the sake of the women in our congregations. Because men are naturally com- petitive, they are more prone to see the differences between the sexes in terms of that competition. Women are more realistic at this point, and do not make this mistake as often.The best thing in the church for the women is for the men to be men. For a man to teach the word of God with author- ity (and not as the scribes) is not withholding anything from the women at all—it is a gift to the women. Godly women are grieved by usurping women, and annoyed by effeminate men. They are fed by men who teach the Bible with boldness. They need that sort of provision and protection, and they know that they do. We should know that also.Erasing an Old PerceptionWe must be masculine in our ministry in order to help erase the centuries-old perception of clergymen as the “third sex.” We have a word from the Lord for the nations around us, and they will not be able to hear us if all that comes from us is a dif- fident bleating. The Lord chose the sons of Zebedee as his “sons of thunder,” and as we consider the state of our nation around us, we should long for him to choose out some more.The humidity levels of our spiritual stupidity are oppressive, and our sins and iniquities have created a mugginess that feels like the atmosphere on Jupiter on a hot afternoon. What we 13Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsneed is five or six first-rate Midwestern thunderstorms to clear all of that away. Nothing is more apparent than that we need for some masculine preachers to cut loose.The Pulpit: Public Place of CourageThis relates to the last point, which is that we must be mas- culine in our ministry because the pulpit ought to be the sort of public place where it takes courage to stand. And it is this sort of statement that reveals just how sensitized to unbeliev- ing propaganda we have become. If we say that men should step into pulpits because it should take courage to do so, the retort will come back immediately that we must not believe that women can be courageous. The reply is simple—to say the pulpit is a place that requires courage of a sort peculiar to men is not to say that courage is non-existent or unnecessary every- where else. But this is just a small sampling of what a minister of the gospel must be willing to do—he must be willing to be misunderstood and misrepresented in ways just like this.Our battles over women's ordination are often misguided in emphasis. We ought to spend less time trying to keep the wom- en from becoming men in the pulpit, and more time teaching men to become men in the pulpit.Brothers, we are not sisters.

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, SUPERNATURAL DOES NOT MEAN STUPIDJohn PiperIf somebody reads the last chapter and says, “So, then, you think it doesn't matter if we sing off key, preach incompetently, and don't provide parking?” my answer is, “That's just stupid.”It matters whether you think the only alternative to tacky is “professional.” If the only way you have for urging excellence in your church is to urge “professionalism,” I suggest you need a bigger vocabulary.The baggage attached to the word “professionalism” is not helpful, if you are trying to be a supernatural people of God. And that is what we want to be: body of Christ, chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, people of God's own possession, temple of the Holy Spirit, household of God, saints, called,Way, bride of Christ, and more. It is not helpful to aim at being a “professional” bride.Where the Quest BeginsSo when I renounce the pursuit of professionalism, does that 6Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsmean I don't aspire to excellence? No. But I do start my quest for excellence with the quest for excellent forgiveness. Excel- lent mercy. Excellent patience. Excellent kindness. Excellent humility. Excellent self-control. Excellent gospel-walking (Galatians 2:14).That's what Paul had in mind when he told us to imitate the infinitely excellent God. “Be imitators of God... And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:1–2). I don't know if Jesus could sing on key, or if his tunic was wrinkle-free, but I do know his capacities for returning good for evil were beautiful beyond words. The radical quest for that excellence is where we begin.The Quest BroadensThen Paul broadens the quest: “Whatever is honorable, what- ever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). So after our hearts undergo a gospel renovation, the next room for refurbishing is our mind: Think on these excellent things. Fill your mind with excellence. Beauty. Justice. Purity. Honor.Then the next thing out of Paul's mouth is this: “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things” (Philippians 4:9). So the gospel-renovated heart and the excellence-refurbished mind both “practice these things.” It matters how things are done. At home. At church. Everywhere. We “practice” excellence. 7Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsSeasoned with MissionSo do we build magnificent buildings? Maybe. But not many. The priority put on opulence in the Old Testament palace and temple was owing to an era of “come-see-religion.” Like the Queen of Sheba who came to Israel and was breathless at Solo- mon's wealth (1 Kings 10:5).But the New Testament has none of that emphasis on opu- lence, because it is a “go-tell-religion.” The mission impulse dominates the domestic impulse. We are sojourners. We are sent.“Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics” (Luke 9:3). This saying is not normative for all mission, but it does flavor everything.So the quest for excellence is always seasoned by a mission- oriented mentality, with a bent toward simplicity. It's a bent, not an absolute. There may be a place for a cathedral here and there. But the people of God won't lean toward living in pal- aces. And the vast work of the kingdom will happen mainly in the rugged outposts.Undistracting ExcellenceBut what about the way we do things? What about music, for example? We recall the psalmist saying, “Splendor and maj- esty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary” (Psalm 96:6). “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully on the strings” (Psalm 33:3). Beautifully. Skillfully. Does that mean professionally? In all my years of pastoral ministry, I have never prayed that worship be done professionally.The category we have found most helpful is “undistract- ing excellence.” The adjective “undistracting” means that the 8Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsquality of an act must help, rather than hinder, the spiritual aims of the ministry. Lead worshipers aim by the power of God's Spirit (1 Peter 4:11) to awaken the mind's attention and the heart's affections to the truth and beauty of God and the gospel. The kind of singing and playing that helps this happen is not well described as “professional.”Seeking a MiracleBut “undistracting excellence” helps us get at the issue. It reminds us that people are distracted not only by shoddy music, but also by the flare of musical finesse. Corporate worship is not a recital. The sanctuary is no orchestra hall. The shouted“Bravissimo!” for a virtuoso performance (which may be total- ly appropriate at the concert hall) has the opposite focus from what we are seeking on Sunday morning. We are seeking the miracle of communion with God.The same applies to preaching. On the one hand, elders are to be “apt to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2). Gifted. Able. Skilled. Effec- tive. On the other hand, there is a kind of smooth, effortless oratory, and a kind of cool, clever, hip, and even studied casual- ness that can be just as distracting from the presence of God as the self-conscious awkwardness of the nervous beginner.Spiritual Does Not Mean ShoddyUndistracting excellence means that content, language, tone, gesture, and demeanor will all serve the spiritual aims of the message: the quickening of the dead and the build- ing up of faith in the saints by the power of God. There is no 9Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsprofessional raising of the dead. And no professional building of the temple of the soul.Therefore, brothers, we are (still) not professionals. Our aims are supernatural. Therefore, our means are stirred and shaped by the Spirit of God. The excellence we seek serves a spir- itual communion with God. It is undistracting. But spiritual does not mean shoddy. And supernatural does not mean stupid.

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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, THE MINISTRY IS SUPERNATURALJohn PiperIt's been ten years since the publication of the book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals. Nothing has happened in the last ten years to make me think this book is less needed. In fact, instead of going away, the pressure to “professionalize” the pastorate has morphed and strengthened.Among younger pastors, the talk is less about therapeutic and managerial professionalization, and more about commu- nication or contextualization. The language of “professionaliza- tion” is seldom used in these regards, but there is a quiet pressure felt by many pastors: Be as good as the professional media folks, especially the cool anti-heroes and the most subtle comedians.The New ProfessionalismThis is not the overstated professionalism of the three-piece suit and the power offices of the upper floors, but the understated professionalism of torn blue jeans and the savvy inner ring. 1Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsThis professionalism is not learned in pursuing an MBA, but by being in the know about the ever-changing entertainment and media world.This is the professionalization of ambience, and tone, and idiom, and timing, and banter. It is more intuitive and less taught. More style and less technique. More feel and less force.If this can be called professionalism, what does it have in common with the older version? Everything that matters. The way I tried to get at the problem ten years ago was to ask some questions. Let me expand that list. Only this time think, old and new professionalism.Is there professional praying?Professional trusting in God's promises? Professional weeping over souls?Professional musing on the depths of revelation? Professional rejoicing in the truth?Professional praising God's name?Professional treasuring the riches of Christ? Professional walking by the Spirit?Professional exercise of spiritual gifts? Professional dealing with demons?Professional pleading with backsliders? Professional perseverance in a hard marriage? Professional playing with children? Professional courage in the face of persecution? Professional patience with everyone?These are not marginal activities in the pastoral life. They are vital. 2Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsThe Heart of MinistryWhy do we choke on the word professional in these connec- tions? Because professionalization carries the connotation of an education, a set of skills, and a set of guild-defined standards which are possible without faith in Jesus or the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.Professionalism does not usually carry the connotation of being supernatural. But the heart of ministry is supernatural.Professional Crucifixion?There is a professional way to crucify. But there is no profession- al way to be crucified. There were professionals on Golgotha. They were experts in torture. But Jesus was not one of them.For Paul, the ministry was more like being crucified than crucifying. “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). “I am crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). “I die every day!” (1 Corinthians 15:31). “For the sake of Christ I am content with weaknesses” (2 Corinthians 12:10). “He was crucified in weakness... we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God” (2 Corinthians 13:4).“We are the aroma of Christ... a fragrance from death to death... a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:15–16).Pastors say, “Who is sufficient for these things!” And then they look to God. Professionals say, “Education and training and savvy are sufficient.” And then they look to experts. 3Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsLeaning on God for EffectPastors do not look to their eloquence for the supernatural fruit they long for. “My speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:4–5).Whatever gifts and eloquence a pastor may have, whatever preparations he makes, he looks away from them all to God for every spiritual effect.He knows what he is after. And he knows that no human effort and no human excellence can bring it about. He wants people to be raised from the dead (Ephesians 2:5). He wants people to be set free from lifelong bondage (2 Timothy 2:25– 26). He wants camels to pass through the eyes of needles (Mark 10:25–27). Therefore, at every turn, he seeks to “serve by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 4:11).Supernatural Goals and MeansThe goals are supernatural, and the means are supernatural. Conversions and conformity to Christ are the supernatural fruit of serving in the supernatural strength of Christ. Only Christ can do this.Ministry is discovering how to live happily in the all-accom- plishing hands of the risen Christ.This is a plea for pastors to put the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the power of Christ-exalting truth, and the purity 4Still Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsof holy living, above the pragmatic considerations of organiza- tion, and above our concerns with compelling style.And if this sounds like a prescription for careless, sloppy, distracting ministry, turn now to the next chapter, “Brothers, Supernatural Does Not Mean Stupid.”Brothers, the ministry is supernatural.

Still Not ProfessionalsTen Pleas for Today's PastorsStill 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 WilsonRead here by J.N.WheelsFind the Still Not Professionals link from Desiring God Here: https://www.desiringgod.org/books/still-not-professionalsSupport 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:PREFACEFebruary 4–6, 2013, we will gather in Minneapolis, God will- ing, for the annual Desiring God Conference for Pastors. The theme is “Brothers, We Are Still Not Professionals: Reclaim- ing the Centrality of the Supernatural in Ministry.” Just days prior to the conference is the scheduled release of John Piper's revised and expanded book Brothers, We Are Not Professionals:A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry.This short ebook is a celebration and extension of thatbook—born not only from an effort to whet the appetite for the coming conference, but in a hope to bless pastors and other Christian leaders beyond the book and conference.In October 2012, Desiring God issued invitations to a hand- ful of ministry friends—all of them seasoned pastors whom we deeply respect—to contribute to this ebook. As the chapters came in, we posted them at the Desiring God blog; now that they've all arrived, we are publishing them together in one place as a resource we hope might have a long electronic shelf life.We asked the contributors to express in these chapters their “heart of hearts” for fellow pastors—what comes to their minds first, or most profoundly, when they think about influencing iStill Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsfellow ministers. Given their unique involvements and con- texts, what one thing would they want other pastors to hear?We readily admit that the experiences and perspectives of our group are limited—the group is made up entirely of pastors in 21st-century North American contexts. However, we believe that the substance of these chapters taps into profound human themes, in both the pastor and his flock, and will be of use for Christian leaders far beyond our limited North American con- text. This is our prayer.One more thing to address in this preface: why this ebook is addressed to “brothers” and not to “sisters.” Here's how John Piper addresses that question in the preface of his Brothers book:To those who want me to write for “brothers and sisters,” I say, let everyone be fully convinced in his own mind. As for me, the biblical teaching is clear: God calls spiritual, humble, Christlike men to lead the family as husbands and to lead the church as elders (Ephesians 5:20–33; 1 Timothy 2:12–13). I believe, and I have experienced for thirty years, that godly, gifted, articulate, intelligent, ministering women flourish in such families and churches.We, too, in addressing this ebook to the “brothers,” believe that it is not at the expense of our wonderful sisters, but for the sake of their undiminished thriving. We believe that as Christian men step forward to fulfill their callings as Christlike men in the family and the local church, Christian women will flourish.David MathisExecutive Editor Desiring God iiStill Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's PastorsCONTRIBUTORSDaniel L. Akin is president of Southeastern Baptist Theologi- cal Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Akin is married to Charlotte, and they have four sons (Nathan, Jonathan, Paul, and Timothy), three daughters-in-law, and eight grandchildren.Thabiti Anyabwile is senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Grand Cayman. He is a native of Lexington, North Carolina. His wife is Kristie, and they have two daughters (Afiya and Eden) and a son (Titus).Mike Bullmore is senior pastor of CrossWay Community Church in Bristol, Wisconsin, where he has served since 1998 (when the church was launched). For 15 years, Bullmore was associate professor of homiletics (preaching) and pastoral the- ology, as well as chairman of the practical theology department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.Sam Crabtree is executive minister at Bethlehem Baptist Church (Twin Cities, Minnesota) and a board member for Desiring God. Sam and his wife Vicki have two married iiiStill Not Professionals Ten Pleas for Today's Pastorsdaughters and four grandchildren. Sam is the author of Practic- ing Affirmation (Crossway Books, 2011).Raymond C. Ortlund, Jr. is lead pastor of Immanuel Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Ray is married to Jani, and they have four children.John Piper is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chan- cellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 32 years, he was senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church. He is author of more than fifty books, including Desiring God and Don't Waste Your Life. John and his wife Noël have a teenage daughter, four married sons, and twelve grandchildren.R. C. Sproul, Jr. serves through Highlands Ministries, Ligonier Ministries, and Heritage Covenant Church. He is the widowed father of eight children, one of whom has gone on to her reward.Jeff Vanderstelt is a pastor of Soma Communities in Tacoma, Washington. He leads a missional community at the downtown expression and serves all of Soma in the areas of vision and teach- ing. He is a coach and trainer for church planters and serves on the board of the Acts 29 church-planting network. Jeff and his wife Jayne have three children (Haylee, Caleb, and Maggie).Douglas Wilson is pastor of Christ Church (Moscow, Idaho), an author, and faculty member and Senior Fellow at New Saint Andrews College. He is also the founder and editor of Cre- denda Agenda magazine, and serves on the governing boards of New Saint Andrews, Logos School, and the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. Doug's wife is Nancy, andthey have three grown children.

John simply described himself as a Voice. The voice of one crying out in the wilderness. We all have a voice.What will your voice give witness to?Go to jnwheels.com to support the Podcast.DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WEX8KS87D33M4&source=url

From the New Blog POST at jnwheels.com Video reading of the Blog:Reminders of His Great Love for ME - Does God Love Me?Often times, we question whether we are loved by God or others. And, sometimes, we cannot find it in ourselves to love others or even ourselves, and so the question's arise within ourselves from time to time, "Are we loved?" "How are we loved?" "Does God Love Me?" "Can I love myself and others?"

In this episode of the 3M podcast Jeremiah Wheelersburg introduces you to the classic work, A Guide to Bible Study by Harvey Newcomb (1803–1863). Jeremiah hangs out his garage and reads the entire 16 page work Imperfectly but enjoyably. Enjoy!DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WEX8KS87D33M4&source=url

J.N.Wheels talks with guest Jeremiah Jasso about the importance of keeping with sound doctrine in the the church for this generation and future generations. Should we be scared of Doctrine? Should we as christians embrace and teach doctrine? What is doctrine anyways? Find out on this episode of the 3M Podcast w/ J.N.WheelsDONATE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WEX8KS87D33M4&source=url

On the 3M Podcast today, Jeremiah lays out a quick and Biblical Perspective on Racism, Prejudice, Bullying & Discrimination. What does the Bible say and how should we treat one another as the people of God?DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WEX8KS87D33M4&source=url

On this episode, we talk about what it looks like to live out your faith– the good of theology. How do we apply the things that we learn?

State of the podcast. Welcome to season 2! We recap and talk about our most popular episodes and friendship.

Live with Always Special Guests Joel Wheelersburg and Ryan -Ritchey Wilson as we talk about Historical, Systematic and Practical Theology.

How we came to know Jesus and teach the Bible. Do you want to be in ministry? Are You in Ministry? How did you get there? Join us for a fun discussion!DONATE: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=WEX8KS87D33M4&source=url

You cannot and will not grow or mature in Christ if you are lacking the proper nutrition that comes to your soul only by the word of God - interpreted and given proper application by the Spirit of God. It corrects your mistakes and curbs your passions. It increases virtue. This is Paideia - instruction. And this is all for righteousness. That is, for 87J.N.Wheels - The Minister, The Ministry, & Meright living before our God. For living a life that is pleasing to Him, for Him, and for His glory. Church History Timeline (3rd Century): http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/centuries/Music:Evan Schaeffer & Ryan LittleBrought to you by: www.CraftsmanColorado.comMore at jnwheels.com

We gain from His Word! Ill say it again. We get to gain insight, wisdom, direction, encouragement and many more wonderful things for our life, and they are all delivered to us straight from the God who created the universe and the God who gave you life. That's why the word of God is profitable for our whole lives! Because God knows best

The word Bible comes from the Greek word ‘biblos' meaning ‘book.' It is The Book. In the Bible, we have the embodiment of a divine revelation. It is a written work of history centered around one man, Jesus Christ. Now, let me briefly present you with..."5 proofs that present the Bible as the very Word of God:Music By Evan Schaeffer and Ryan LittleCraftsman Home Inspections llc: CraftsmanColorado.comChurch History Timeline by: http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/centuries/

The Word made flesh has given us His Word made text, and He simply asks us to read, hear and apply His heart and promises for us found in Scripture.music by Evan Schaeffer and Ryan LittleBrought to you by Craftsman Home Inspections llc - craftsmancolorado.comwww.jnwheels.com

Jesus was not a professional, He was a leader, a shepherd, and a loving friend to those who surrounded Him.

Do what is natural to the believer - spend time with Jesus.Questions Worth Pondering: Do you spend regular fruitful time alone with Jesus and His Word? What idols tend to compete for your time and attention? Are you willing to do what is necessary to cultivate intimate time with God and His Word? Read and discuss Matthew 5:29-30

Pastors are friends NOT Celebrities. Michael Jackson used to hide himself from the public eye in order to secure a sense of awe from fans and onlookers when he finally stepped into the public. Some pastors shamefully do the same. They want people to fear and revere them. They have become self-conscience celebrities in their own esteem - trying to make themselves famous rather than simply accepting that we are all fools for Christ and need only to concern ourselves with making Jesus famous.

Today we talk about what it's like to be paid by the church as apposed to being a lay minister in the church.Questions Worth Pondering: "If you are a paid minister, did you know what to expect before you entered that role? In other words, did anyone prepare you for the life of full-time ministry? ""What advice would you give to an aspiring full-time minister? Music by Evan Schaeffer, Ryan Little and Captive Portal

Guests Ryan and Joel talk with Jeremiah about the Good the bad and the ugly of theology. Why are some christians afraid of theology?

Today we continue talking about Practicalities in Ministry.Questions Worth Pondering: ""How might Satan tempt you in the ministry? ""In what ways might your pride need to be put in check? ""What are some practical things (processes, logistics...etc.) that your church and leadership team are good at? ""In what ways can you and your ministry team improve (practically)?

Jesus is your greatest example for life and service to God. He served His heart out unto death while investing in the lives of those closest to Him. He did not lead by compulsion but invested Himself into those who yielded their lives to Him.Brought to you by Craftsman Home Inspections llc - craftsmancolorado.com Music by Evan Schaeffer, Ryan Little and Captive Portal.