Tim Tebow

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ. Based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the apostle Paul said, but we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you. By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her King.

Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry.

Cold Medicine, ID Checks, and the Show’s Opening Banter

It is Tuesday, drum roll. Steve, hey, why don't you come in out of your office and come on in here to No Compromise Radio? What, me? Really? Well, let's What would I say on the air? Let's play a game.

Who's sicker? Oh, it's definitely you. Definitely me. Yeah. Well, maybe I could trade three of my steroids for two of your Percocets.

I'm trying to kick the Percocet. Okay.

I bought some cold tablets the other day. Some, it was Target, plain label, DayQuil. Yeah. $3 .14, and I had to show my ID. All that stuff drives me nuts.

It really drives me nuts. I think it's intrusive. I think it's nonsense. I mean, if I bring up a shopping cart full of cold drugs, then sure, note my name, tell the cops, give the FBI my address, but otherwise, just let me buy my cold medicine and go home and suffer.

Okay.

I said to the lady, I'll be glad to show you my ID, but could you tell me why again? She said, well, a lot of students, they buy these and smash them up and snort them. And I thought No. I'm 52 years old.

A, do I look like I'm a student? And B, do I look like I'm going to snort DayQuil?

You know I thought this lady doesn't have any idea what she's talking about. Yeah, no, it's the whole meth thing. But it's just craziness.

It's crazy. Let's start the show off with a Jay Gresham Machen quote, Steve. Always good.

Probably about 10 minutes worth of Jay Gresham Machen.

No, no, I think it's just a couple short sentences. All right. But you're going to love it. Okay. I know you and I know what you love. You're going to love it. I'm going to love it. I love it. I'm loving it or something.

How do you say that? I have no idea. Okay. I could read it, but I can't. The more I have This is Jay Gresham Machen. The more I have looked out upon the state of the church at the present time, the more I have contemplated recent church history, the more firmly I am convinced that error regarding predestination leads inevitably to more and more error and often constitutes the entering wedge by which the entire Christian testimony of individuals and of churches is undermined.

One sentence. I think that's absolutely true. And you know why I think it's true? Because if you talk to most people, here's what they do with predestination. They say, God gave us free will. And that is their presupposition through which they examine every piece of scripture.

And so they just go off the rails on that one point. And that's absolutely right. It's like, yeah. Remember, did you ever have one of those things where you put the ball in the end and the idea is you move it by spreading the two

And you try to get it to drop farther away from the edge to get a higher amount of score.

Yes. And it's that kind of thing because as you get further and further away from the truth about predestination, you have more and more trouble controlling anything. And it just, eventually it's going to run off the rails.

I wonder what those games are called.

I have no idea. I saw one on the other day, actually when I was in Nebraska doing, no, Indiana doing a conference. I was in the room. I was in the speaker's suite. He's at so many conferences. He can't even remember what state it is.

I was in the speaker's suite having an Evian bath. Nice. And no, they had that in, they just have things sitting around, little knickknacks. And one of those things was sitting there on the table. Really?

Yeah. It was just sitting there, but it was upside down.

See, the next conference, you ought to ask for an Evian ice bath. I don't want to be high maintenance or anything, but can I have an ice bath with Evian water, please?

Well, it was interesting driving back from the conference, which is out in the sticks in Indiana, then going to Indianapolis. We were on the highway, the interstate there, I think they're called. And it was two lane.

And there was a policeman in the left-hand lane, the fast lane. And we were in the right-hand lane. He was going less than the speed limit. And so we passed him on the right, but I think instead of going 60, which was a speed limit, we were going 61 to pass him.

And he pulled us over. Wow. That was bad. That'll teach you. And he was giving the driver the riot act. I won't say who it is. His name's Kirby, but I wouldn't mention his first name. And so Kirby had gone to the license plate directory place and they gave him the wrong license plate and it wasn't matching up to the registration.

And so finally I said to Kirby, you're going to have to play the pastor card. So he said, you know what? We're just a couple of pastors coming back from the conference. And he's like, don't play the religion card on me.

And so then he went back and he made some phone calls and he said, all right, go back to the RMV, the IMV, the fire your coach or the Colts. I don't know what he said, but don't do that ever again.

I thought he was going to play the arrest you card.

Forget you card. Well, today on No Compromised Radio Ministry, since we're talking about the Indianapolis Colts, what were they, two and 14 again, Kirby? Maybe, yeah, two and 14. That's right. And they're going to get a new quarterback, I think, Andrew Providence.

I think they're drafting him. Is that what we're going to call him now? Of course. Because there's no such thing as luck. Absolutely, Andrew Providence. Although I think my next dog, I'm going to call Lucky.

That'd be good.

Hey, Lucky. You could call your dog Providence, which would engender all sorts of questions.

I love it when I was watching R .C. Sproul and he did the whole chalkboard deal and he's talking about Providence. And so he writes pro video, video to see. You watch a video, you see pro before to see before.

And then he said, but that's not all. It's not just that God sees before. He sees before because he's ordained the before. He was classic, pro video, Providence. What's in a word, Steve? A lot. Do you use that in your word game?

What's the word game called there again on the iPad? Words with friends.

Yes. Yeah, it's interesting because what was, oh, one of my words, actually I got all seven letters on this one, forgive. That was nice. Wow. It was forgives actually. And I think I got like 75 points for that.

Would you ever do a sermon series publicly? And I hate to even say this on the radio, but I'll do it. I wouldn't say it from the pulpit. But would you ever do a series from the pulpit? You know, these seeker sensitive churches and these churches that want to get a lot of people, they have these special seven week series, three week series.

And that's kind of all they do because they don't do sequential exposition. Would you ever do a series and promote it and then say it entitled the F bomb? No. No. So when Steven Furtick did a several part series called the F bomb and it was about forgiveness, how do you think that went over?

Probably really well at his church. You should see Steve's face right now. Can you imagine?

What are we doing? But the answer to your question is no, because I think it's good to be provocative. I don't think it's good to be stupid.

Yeah, see, and you know this, you do it. I do it more than you probably. But the whole provoking and mental stimulation on thoughts and how do you teach things to people and get them to be prodded and poked so they understand the word of God, I'm all for that.

But I'm not gonna, you know, maybe I've said some four letter word love or something, but I would hate to even do that because it desecrates this, this great thing that Christ has purchased for us, forgiveness, and then we're gonna call it that?

That is bad. If you listen to Steven Furtick or Elevation Church or any of those guys that are his cronies, you ought to stop. I don't know what you're doing. Can't you find someone better to listen to?

Anyone better.

I mean, you're better off, well, obviously you're better off listening to dead men. I mean, you could be listening to, what's his name from the church of the open door? J. Vernon McGee. Yeah, I mean, anything is better than Steven Furtick.

And I'm not slamming J. Vernon McGee. I'm just saying you could learn a lot more listening to him than Steven Furtick.

Well, if you have to listen, why don't you listen to people like John MacArthur or S. Lewis Johnson or St. Clair Ferguson. Anybody. Or somebody to listen to.

Anybody. You can listen to Gary Gilley. You gotta find somebody to listen to, you know what I'm saying?

Tim Tebow’s Christian Witness and Public Conduct

Steve, let's talk the remainder of the show about the subject of Tim Tebow. Everybody wants to know about Tim Tebow. And are they emailing us? Please weigh in on Tim Tebow.

An overwhelming number of people have been emailing about Tim Tebow.

Pretty much. I mean, John Dawson, he emails me. I think he's kind of, he's a stalker is what he is out in Idaho. He usually stalks. But besides him, I don't think we get too many emails anymore. No one.

Why is that? They've tuned us out? I think we're in everybody's, maybe we've put everybody in our spam folder. It's a reverse spam.

Yeah. So Tim Tebow, let's talk about him first in terms of Christian man, do you think, based on what he said? Well.

Public professions of faith. I mean, I have to say, I am so impressed by the way he conducts himself. I mean, I really, really am. Not just in the way he treats other people, but in the way he really kind of encourages his teammates by the way he conducts himself after a loss.

I was reading after they lost the first time to the Patriots this year. And the first thing he did was he thanked Christ, his savior. And then he thanked his teammates for their efforts. And then he was willing to talk about the game.

But, and that's after a loss, you know, we're used to this whole, you know, I thank God that we won this game kind of thing. Like to bow the knee because I couldn't have hit six home runs without, you know, whatever.

But the idea that somebody would do that after a loss shows that he gets something, you know? So, and so giving, so thoughtful of other people. I like, I don't know if you saw this, but he goes before show or before games and talks to these people that he's flown in and given the whole VIP treatment.

He talks to them before the game, right? Before he goes onto the field and he goes, it gives them him perspective about football. That this is not, this is not what life is about.

Well, so far in terms of the likability factor in my mind of Tim Tebow as a person who says he believes in Christ Jesus as the only redeemer. I really like him as a person. I like the way he carries himself.

I like the way he wants to do things for people and cancer victims. And, you know, he has the kids there and he'll go and talk to them after the game. And, you know, the most important part of my day today was not this win or this loss, but I was going to talk to this young man who's going to die.

And so from what I can tell, whether it's the advertisement that folks on the family did about abortion and pro-life, you know, two years ago or whatever that was, from the way he talks, the way he carries himself, I like the way he carries himself as a Christian man.

And I would, as a pastor, tell him, continue to do that.

Right, absolutely. And you know what's funny is when he was in college, I didn't like him at all, not even a little bit because he went to Florida and SEC and all that stuff. And I just thought he was kind of a bad quarterback.

Well, it's interesting now that he's grown up a little bit and he's grown up in the eyes of the media. I think the controversial part, well, there could be two controversial parts when it comes to Christianity.

Number one, Steve, how about playing on the Sabbath? On the Sabbath, you mean Saturday? Yeah. Well, let's say I'm Orthodox Presbyterian, I'm D .G. Hart, kind of old school. And I think, okay, he just had an article in his blog about breaking the Sabbath by playing on Sunday, the Christian Sabbath Sunday.

What do you think of that?

I don't really know. I mean, what does that mean? That means that you couldn't be in any kind of profession that forced you to play on Sunday. I guess you couldn't be a cop, you couldn't be a doctor, a nurse, you couldn't, I mean, they're all

Could you be a pastor? Yeah, you can be a fireman. I mean, I would never, and this is part of my own upbringing, I mean, being a professional athlete, I guess, would be really fun. But the whole missing out on church on Sunday, I would personally miss that a lot.

That would be bothersome to me. I wouldn't enjoy that. Well, if he had a good pastor and some good chaplains, I think that would be helpful. The problem is that you get these young guys and you need to teach them and disciple them and train them, yet they're so busy, so much on the road, and even now the season, the football season, is basically all year long.

It's hard for them to learn and grow. But the Sabbath issue isn't a big deal to me. Missing out on worship on Sundays, that's a big deal, but I guess if you really wanted to force it, there's probably times that you could get up early and go to some church service.

Maybe you can't, I don't know about that. So to me, it's not a Sabbath issue. But Steve, the thing that I would probably, and I'm probably going to get attacked for saying this, I don't want to criticize Tim Tebow, but just overall, if I was going to counsel him, I would, the public displays of faith that he has, some I like, some I don't like.

For instance, after the game, when everybody gets together and kneels and they pray, both teams together, I think that's fine. You think that's good? Yeah, yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. You get together and you say, thank you, Lord, for letting us glorify you in whatever we do.

You've made us, like Eric Liddell, to run fast, so we want to run fast for your glory. I don't have a problem with that. No. But how about all the other things? Would you want to train a young man that if you win a game, you look up in the air and point, or you kneel down, Tebow, and you kneel down and pray after you score a touchdown?

See, I'm personally old-fashioned enough, or maybe D .G. Hart has influenced me enough, that those public displays of so-called faith, I just would say, don't do those. In your mind, think, thank you, Lord, but what are biblical public displays of faith?

Are they those things?

No, it's like being baptized would be a biblical public display of faith, or preaching, those kind of things. But yeah, I agree with you on that. I mean, it's not my favorite. I mean, anything that draws attention to me, it's like I was preaching last Sunday night.

Anything that draws attention to you, instead of, you should be like John the Baptist, pointing to Christ, forget about me, let's talk about Christ, let's do that.

Private Devotion, Public Witness, and What Actually Honors Christ

Well, in all the things that Tebow does in terms of displays of faith publicly, I think if they're put into the private sector, to use that term, his own private life, his own prayer closet, if he'd like to bow down in his prayer closet, that's fine.

If he'd like to say things to God, and point up to Him, and you're my great creator, and sustainer, and redeemer, and do those things, I'm all for that. That is a personal display, something that God wants us to do privately, and not externally.

I just think it shows that, you know, I just think it shows he's young, he's 24 year old, or whatever his age is, young man, and that's just kind of what you do. I like it when he says, I want to honor, and thank my Lord Jesus Christ for everything that he's done.

I don't mind that part.

Yeah, I would So am I inconsistent? No, I think it was, you know, maybe I saw this, this is a little bit different, but maybe it was Rick Holland who said this, you know, said if I was counseling him, I would really love to have him say, instead of, you know, I'd like to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, to have him say really what he's thankful for, for forgiveness of sin, and that kind of thing, that would be awesome.

But you know, getting down to these, I don't like the whole idea of athletes needing to draw attention to themselves, and so it's just a variation on the, you know, the stupid things that Chad Ochocinco used to do.

I mean, even if it's supposed to be God honoring, it isn't attractive, you know, to, it doesn't make anybody think more highly about Christ. And actually, you know, what's interesting, one of the major things I would say about Tim Tebow, you want to know how I really believe that he's a Christian?

It's how the unbelieving world attacks him. I mean, you know, there are websites dedicated to get him to lose his chastity, all kinds of things that are out to attack Tim Tebow, and I'm like, you know what?

What did Jesus say? If they hated me, they're going to hate you too. And unsafe people, a lot of them, hate Tim Tebow. And I think that really, it speaks highly of him, but I'm with you. I wish he would do a little bit less showing, and you know, just kind of keep that on the down low.

Well, if you look at a public worship service when the saints gather on Sunday, and there are expressions of faith there, and singing, and maybe you have kneelers, and so you kneel, those type of things.

Of course, I'm not against that, but on the football field, and you score a touchdown, and you kneel down, I just think there are many of these private displays of faith that he's now brought into the public arena, that if I was going to say something to him, I would say, you don't need to do it.

I would read things to him from the scripture that would talk to him about his relationship with the Lord, and when is that to be displayed. I'm not trying to say, don't call yourself a Christian, but you know, Steve, even the other day when Deion Sanders' wife said all these bad things about him, whether it's true or not, I don't know, but here's Deion Sanders, and running his mouth about all his profession of faith, and everything else, and doing all these things about, I'm a Christian, and then this other stuff happens.

I would much rather have Thiebaud just live his life, live it well. By the way, aren't you glad it's in contradistinction to all these other losers out there, and getting shot in the leg, and getting arrested?

He's living what he teaches.

Kids in five different states, or in eight different women, or whatever. Yes, yeah, I mean, as an athlete, as a role model, as a young man, his conduct, I think, off the field is exemplary, but I was thinking about the whole Thiebauding craze, and how people have come to do that.

I mean, the mayor of Pittsburgh lost the bet, and had a Thiebaud, or whatever, and I'm just like, you know what? Here's the problem I have with that on the football field, is because I think he doesn't do that after he throws an interception, where the other team runs it back for a touchdown, you know, so why is he doing that?

I mean, it makes no, it just really doesn't belong on the football field, I don't think.

Tebow, Providence, and the Example of a Christian Life

Well, we will watch before our very eyes, short of the Lord's soon return. What happens through all this? And I'm glad he has an opportunity to play football. I don't care about how good he is, or not how good he is, but wouldn't you just love to have Tim Thiebaud attend your church, so you could help him, and disciple him, and walk him through these things?

I think that would be excellent. Well, absolutely, because you just see the zeal he has for the Lord, and you just go, you know, give me a handful of Tim Thiebauds, you know, where we could kind of shape them, and mold them, and just turn them loose.

I mean, he, I think he'd be a pretty dynamic young man, as if he's not already in his own way. But I just, he is the first reason that I've actually cared about pro football for quite a while, I have to say.

I was actually rooting for him to beat the Patriots. Well, it wasn't God's will.

No, it clearly was not. You know, what if the Patriots had eight born-again Christians on their team, and Denver only had two,.

But one of them was just really famous? Yeah, see, that's the thing, too, and he's just more ostentatious about it. I've read somewhere where Aaron Rodgers, quarterback for Green Bay, who also got knocked out, you know, is a born-again Christian.

I don't know if he is or not. I shouldn't even say born-again Christian, because obviously that's redundant. But, you know, we wouldn't know that much about Aaron Rodgers' faith, because he doesn't, he just doesn't talk that much about it, and I think that's fine.

I think it's so striking, Steve, that we've got someone who wants to stay pure. You know who he reminds me of in one degree,.

To one degree, is A .C. Green, back in the Lakers,.

And I'm not afraid to tell people that I'm staying pure. I don't care what people think about me. Those are things I commend Tim Tebow for doing and for being. I think about his parents, and how God has molded him and shaped him.

I would just rather have him live a life of more private devotion than public displays of faith, and then, you know, it's like a, I don't know if he's saved or not, but like a BART star, where you think the way he carried himself for all those years in the public eye, then someone says, you know what?

He's an about-born-again Christian, and you go, you know what? Here, I use born-again Christian, too. You're making me stumble. Then you say, oh, duh, it really makes sense now by the way he's carried himself in life and on the football field.

I'd rather have it be that way. And so, Tebow, all you want in your mind, you know, if I had kids on my team, and they were Christians, and I was coaching the Crusaders,.

Is it okay to have a Christian football team called the Crusaders? I doubt it. I guess if you're Catholic. Yeah, only Holy Cross, yeah. I would say no Tebowing.

Don't point in the air. Don't bow down. At the beginning of the game, let's pray. At the end of the game, let's pray. Okay, let's all come together in the middle of the field. That's fine. But even in terms of a witness, if you're doing it to honor the Lord, great.

But if you're doing it to get the camera angles and have people talk about it, I don't think it does anything to an unbeliever to see a Tebow, or to see a group of guys kneel down and pray.

No, I'll tell you what I think probably did impress them, though, was just seeing, you know, there was this Jim Brown interview before the playoff game, where this young woman, he had flown in with her family, and, you know, her condition, 73 surgeries, all these other things, and just the way he treated her, talked to her, all those kinds of things.

That is the sort of thing that's gonna impress an unbeliever, because he's putting his money where his mouth is,.

And people always appreciate that. Well, and that's one of the reasons why we wish Tebow would get traded to the Patriots and would attend Bethlehem Bible Church, because I would imagine he's a good giver.

I'm sure he is. I mean, he seems like, you know, I mean, he is the kind of guy, I'd love to just have more for dinner, because I think he's a genuine Christian. I think he loves the Lord. I think he just kind of probably needs some tweaking theologically, but just, I mean, I'd be proud to have him as my son, let's put it that way.

Or how about son-in-law? Yeah, son-in-law, either way. See, I could still have son-in-laws. Yeah, I can't get involved. Pretty much, you're done. Yeah, I'm done. Stick a fork in me.

One and done. Well, we like Tim Tebow, but we would say, when you look at your own life, how do people know you're a Christian? Do they know you're a Christian because of public displays of worship, or for other reasons?

The livery of a Christian, the dress code for a Christian, what actually is that, and how does it apply today? And so, I think those are good questions, and I think the answer's probably found in the New Testament, don't you think?

I think it probably is. And so, we want to put on displays of public adoration, or is that reserved for the closet, or is that reserved for the worship service? Just some good questions today, but I think I'll probably root for Tim Tebow.

I always do. I mean, I found out he got hurt in the Patriots game, and I'm like, oh, that's too bad. He didn't really play very well, but, you know.

That's right. So, again, if you'd like to argue with us at all, or condemn us, or email us,.

That's steve at nocompromiseradio .com.

You can get our iTunes account, www .nocompromiseradio .com for other shows.

Thanks for listening today. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston. Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life-transforming power of God's word through verse-by-verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at six. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston. You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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