Tony Wheeler dot Net

The past few weeks/month(s) have been very interesting in regard to personal/spiritual/relational/ministerial growth. As of late I have been feeling very stressed out, worn out and just plain tired. There are a lot of factors that I could attribute all of these feelings to, but honestly I think it all boils down to my spiritual temperature.

The human body functions best when its temperature is around 98.6 degrees. Deviation from that by a few degrees results in illness. For what it is worth, I think that our spiritual side also has a temperature at which it functions best. Spiritual temperature, however, functions even better when it passes that setpoint into the “fever” stage. When we allow that temperature to drop below its setpoint, we become ill. I have found myself allowing that temp to drop and thus became ill. I did not go into a light frost or even a cool front. My spiritual temperature probably dropped about 2 degrees from my set point, but let me tell you that it felt like 100 degrees.

In learning the “unforced rhythms of Grace” my temp shot up. I was feeling beat down because I had allowed my devotional life to lag, becoming a few days behind in my daily Bible reading and prayer, plus a few days(okay more like 6) days behind in a book that I am going through with my A.P. I came to a point where I didn’t want to do anything else because those things that are positively essential to maintaining and even increasing my spiritual temperature were lacking. I finally took time to catch up on all the things that I had been slacking in and as usual God had some words for me.

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus gives the following exhortation:

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me??watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

Get away with me and you’ll recover your life….Learn the unforced rhythms of grace….

Those words were a huge catalyst that made my temperature rise…..The unforced rhythm of grace paints a beautiful picture to me, one that I cannot even explain, but can only see in my mind. I urge you this week, this day to encounter, as for the first time, the unforced rhythm of the grace of Jesus Christ.

I’ve got a fever and the only perscription is more cowbell!! (I was really thinking about making this all relate to a cowbell somehow, but alas I failed in that quest….but I still wanted to put that quote in there because it is so stinkin funny!)

Ran across some thoughts on Mark Driscoll’s blog that coincided with my last past…..

“Nearly 2,000 years ago a poor, homeless, single man in his early thirties was executed by crucifixion like many other common criminals. He never wrote a book, never traveled more than 200 miles from his home, never held a political office, never married or had children, and never ran a company. His name is Jesus Christ and history is divided into the periods before and after his life. Time magazine named him “Man of the Millennium,” and more songs have been sung to, books written about, and artwork painted of him than anyone who has ever lived. Moreover, a few billion people alive today worship Him as their only God and deeply love Him unlike anyone who has ever lived.

Why?

Because Jesus has done what no one else could do: take away their sin by dying on a cross as a substitute in their place. It is the cross of Jesus that is the symbol of the Christian faith and the crux of human history. In explaining Jesus?? death for sin on the cross, theologians use the word atonement. The word literally means “at-one-ment” and explains how Jesus as God and man can alone reconcile sinners to a holy God.”

I am reading/going through a book with my accountability partner called, “The Burning Heart Contract”. Only about three days into it, but it is a sweet book. The author mentioned that her pastor referred to spending time in God’s Word and in prayer as “getting a download from God.” I found that to be an interesting way to think of it. I was reminded of two things: One, we should be finding ways to say old things in new ways. (not really my idea, but one that Mark Batterson says all the time) When she mentioned the download idea, my brain automatically started thinking about the difference computer metaphors and G33Kspeak that would translate into Bible. Fabulous thing the mind is.

The second idea that came to mind was something that I have thought of at random times over the past several years. In college I was required to read a book called “The Cross of Christ” by John Stott. Fabulously theological and also a bit Olde English…so sometimes a person has to read some sentences a couple of times to get it. The main idea that I took away from the book was basically this: We remember where we came from when we are kneeling at the foot of the Cross of Christ. There is one particular section where Stott is talking about three basic truths that the Cross enforces about God, Christ and ourselves. Those three truths are:

• Our sin must be extremely horrible. There is nothing that reveals this like the Cross of Christ. Our sin is what made the Cross neccessary. Stott says, “It is impossible for us to face Christ’s cross with integrity and not to feel ashamed of ourselves.”
• “God’s love must be wonderful beyond comprehension….He pursued us even to the desolate anguish of the cross, where he fore our sin, guilt, judgment and death. It takes a hard and stony heart to remain unmoved by love like that.”
• Christ’s salvation must be a free gift. This isn’t a license to sin because we can count on God’s forgiveness. “On the contrary, the same cross of Christ, which is the ground of free salvation, is also the most powerful incentive to a holy life. But this new life follows. First, we have to humble ourselves at the foot of the cross, confess that we have sinned and deserve nothing at his hand but judgment, thank him that he loved us and died for us, and receive from him a full and free forgiveness. Against this self-humbling our ingrained pride rebels. We resent the idea that we cannot earn — or even contribute to — our own salvation. So we stumble, as Paul put it, over the stumbling block of the cross.” (p83-84

The idea that the cross is the greatest motivator toward a holy life is simply stunning. If the cross is central to Christianity, which it is, then how much more should we all strive to be holy? How much more time should we spend at the foot of the cross in humility and brokenness? How much more should the gospel of the cross of Christ be on our minds and lips?

I encourage you to get your download, do some reading of God’s word today. Do some uploading as well…God wants to hear from us as much as we want to hear from him.

Blessings…

One of the blogs that I read frequently is Monday Morning Insight It is basically a church related, non denom type discussion of different things going on. To check it out click the link above (also click link for the full post of what follows)

ORLANDO (FBW) ?? As Southern Baptist churches place renewed emphasis on baptism they are re-discovering the practice of public baptism in local lakes. First Baptist Church in Orlando and Lake Talquin Baptist Church in Tallahassee are among those who recently took the ordinance out of its usual stained-glass surroundings to public arenas. More than 500 attended First Baptist, Orlando??s outdoor service at the Disney Contemporary Resort north beach May 21.

The report is crazy and very personal to me for several reasons. For one, those that know me know that I am nuts about all things Disney. While living in FL I had the chance to go to an event called “Night of Joy”. It is basically two nights where big name Christian artists come into the Magic Kingdom and rock out for Jesus. Such a sweet time. To see Kirk Franklin praising God in front of Cinderella’s Castle is just phenomenal!!! It was one of those Holy Ghost moments in my life where the hair stood up on the back of my neck and I got goose bumps. So to see something like 95 people get baptized in Bay Lake (the lake in front of the Contemporary, Wilderness Lodge and Fort Wildnerness Campground) is a huge God moment in my life. Talk about being in the middle of the marketplace. In Central Florida the only way to get closer to the middle of the marketplace would be to hold a baptism service in the center of EPCOT.

The second thing that struck me about this post was the church that is highly involved. First Baptist Church of Orlando is like Eagle Brook, a mini Willow Creek or North Point. It is a huge church doing huge things in the community/metro. They planted the church that I went to while down there…that church is at a measly 5000ish people. I gotta say, they do it big and do it right.

Anyway…check out the rest of the article. Interesting to note that the Southern Baptists are rediscovering Baptism. I never really made the connection between being Baptists and not placing an emphasis on baptism. Looks like the tides are turning. To that I say Amen!

Sometimes I don’t always recognize when a prayer has been answered. Mark Batterson wrote today about a discussion with a pastor who was having issues about being himself in the church that he serves. One thing that I have learned through reading Batterson is to know who you are and know who you aren’t. This reminded me of a prayer that was prayed over me about a year ago.

Sitting in front of the Renaissance Hotel near Downtown Disney in Lake Buena Vista, FL with one of my good friends. He was in town for a Youth Ministry conference and I had the opportunity to hang out with him and some other youth guys. Pretty sweet night overall. The end of the night was one of those moments that you don’t want to have. The opportunity to allow someone to speak into your life is a humbling experience, even if you don’t want it. This is where the phrase, “Be who you are and not who you are not” comes in to play. The last half of that sentence really resonates with me because for a long time I had the notion that I had to be something I am not to be what I am. (read that sentence twice if it doesn’t make sense!) The weekend of Buzz marked nearly one year to the day that I sat in my Jeep in front of a hotel in Orlando and faced a cold, hard look at my life. It was a moment that a brother spoke into my life, kicked me in the shorts and encouraged me to pursue ministry. (He was someone who I had been a mentor/older brother/minister to for many years…an interesting paradigm shift when the ministeree becomes the minister.) The overall theme of the prayer was that I didn’t feel like I was conventional enough to be involved in ministry. He prayed that God would show me an unconventional ministry that would allow me to be me. That prayer began to take shape in my life almost a year to the day.

I pray a lot, but to be truthful I don’t remember some of the prayers that I pray. Obviously there are some urgent prayers that I remember, but there are some that just go into the recesses of my mind. They are called up days, months and years later (ask Batterson if you want to know why) and the lightbulb goes on and you remember the prayer that seemed like eons ago.

Thanks to Chris (my friend in this story) and mostly to God for allowing me to remember that day.