2 Timothy (Part 2)

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.

Personal Updates, Listener Mail, and Show Format

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth and contra Fred Butler. We are doing new shows. I�m still trying to put out three new shows a week. I don�t know what�s going to happen when I go on sabbatical.

I have no idea. I don�t know if the momentum of the last six years is going to be stopped. I don�t know. I actually think that reruns aren�t too bad because in the old days, I was aggressive. It was total no-go stuff.

Now it�s just me, 56-year-old old man with my little Henno cup. I am drinking out of the Henno mug right now. That�s some nasty coffee. In the old days, listeners used to send me Pete�s coffee and it was always a fun game because I didn�t really know if I should drink it or not.

What if it was laced with something or something put in there? But I usually, discretion being the better part of valor, drank it anyway. Just too cheap. Several weeks ago, we all have our ups and downs in life.

When you�re having downs, you just need to slog through them. When you�re having ups, you need to just enjoy it. Of course, you watch TV or you watch commercials or listen to any kind of media, NPR or you read stuff online and books.

You got to feel good all the time. Anytime you�re having a down time in life, you got to pep yourself up and perk yourself up and percolate yourself down. It�s fascinating to me because the cycles of life, we just have ups and downs.

Some days are harder than others. Like the other day, it was rainy and cold and it just kind of affects you. I�m not saying we have any excuse to be ungodly or anything like that. I don�t mean that at all.

Life just, we have ups and downs. That�s just the way it goes. It was hard for me a few weeks ago, tired. In the old days, we do a lot of radio. I think early on, we had lots of folks who would say, �Oh, we love your show and way to go.

You kind of feed in the fires of ego, but it was encouraging. You just do it year in and year out. I have a job and I don�t want the job of the pastoral ministry that God has called me to. I know it�s a calling.

I know it�s not technically a job, but work. It does entail work. I don�t want that to suffer because of no-compromise radio. We�ve had lots of people who have come to the church over the years and I think the church has benefited.

Have I been distracted to some degree or how does that all work? I guess that�s maybe for other people to decide. The way I do it now, because I want to do the right thing, is I come in on Fridays or Saturdays and record three shows usually and they all have to do with what I�m preaching.

It�s like a review. In the old days, I would go up in the pulpit and review my sermon and that would be a good way to practice. Now, I kind of just like talk through things that are in my mind in light of the message that I�m going to preach.

I don�t preach on the sermon. If you listen to bbcchurch .org sermons and listen to NoCo, you will get different things. This is the extra special. I should do some special broadcast for an hour a week and if you pay the money, you get the extra broadcast.

That�s how people do it. That�s how people do it. I�ve said for a long time, we never ask for money but we�ve changed that. If you�re a millionaire, we�re asking, we�re begging. I actually have some costs coming up that I�m going to have to figure out how to work through but that�s a different show.

Anyway, I was having a rough time and I remember the six yawn show, six yawns in one show and I was begging for encouragement so a lot of you wrote in and I was thankful for that. I feel good today. I feel happy.

I�m feeling well, it�s white out outside. I mean it�s so snowy but life is good and I might as well enjoy it while it�s good. There are difficult days, can you imagine, for all of us, short of the Lord�s soon return.

I don�t know if you�re pre-trib or post-trib or mid-trib but I think everybody wants to be everybody wishes at the end of the day that pre-trib would be right. Even if it might not be true, we would wish it would be and it would be soon.

There are difficult days for all of us coming so we just have to make sure we trust in the Lord. Well, my friend Terry Flood from Ohio, he calls himself my favorite listener from Ohio but I think he�s just like the all-time favorite NOCO.

You�ve seen me post certain things with his couple of sons listening to him read sexual fidelity. There�s a picture that I posted and other things, Dinosaurs listening, he�s the guy that wore the NOCO shirt to the Todd Friel conference and he�s got a picture with Todd and they�ve all got NOCO shirts on with Todd.

Here�s what it says, January 2nd, �Pastor Mike, the shows have been a little inconsistent lately and I was wondering why. You kind of answered it in a recent podcast when you were wondering if you should change up the format of the show or just discontinue doing the show.

Has it run its course? I don�t think so. I don�t have the DL numbers but I would be pretty sure that there are plenty of us out there who live such a boring day job that listening to you at work is a great, enjoyable release from the mundane.

So please, underline please, don�t cancel the shows. We�re out here even though you can�t see us listening. Thanks, Terry Flood, your favorite listener from Ohio. P .S., if you do cancel before the last show, at least mention that great Calvin Glass that a listener sent in.

Well, I guess now, Terry, what I�m going to have to do is that anytime someone sends something in that�s cool, I�ll just mention it. Then it can be like a contest. There are other ministries that they need new computers.

I actually need a new iPhone. People send it in. They have wish lists and their listeners send stuff in. I�m in the wrong deal here. Somehow someone needs to�whoever can do like a revamp, a remake, a total makeover to make this ministry a business, they need to call me.

Of course, ministries are still ministries if they receive gifts from people. I�ve got a Calvin monk. I�ve got Pete�s Coffee. What�s the coolest thing I ever got? I�ve got solar popes, pope bobbleheads I get in the mail.

I was at the Teddy Roosevelt House at Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay, Long Island a few days ago with my family. Cool, cool, cool place. I mean, man, if you haven�t been there, you need to go. They had a Teddy Roosevelt bobblehead.

It was $24 though and I just thought, �Yeah, I don�t know. I don�t want to be the bobblehead guy. If it was a pope, Teddy Roosevelt, I would have done it. So if you�re listening out there and you�ve got specially like valuable Teddy Roosevelt stuff, you can send my way.

That�s No Compromise Radio. It�s at Bethlehem Bible Church, 307 Lancaster Street, West Boylston, 01523 Massachusetts. Oh, man. Oh, uh-oh, another PS. If I bring my copy of Evangelical White Lies all the way to the Shepherd�s Conference in February, will you sign it?

Yes, I�ll be there with four others from our church. And the answer is, Terry, yes, I will for a Luther glass. Uh-oh, another PS. Is this P-S-S-S? I know you can�t resist reading this on the air. There you go.

And you know, here�s the cool thing about Terry. He�s got quotes after his little email. And so it says things like David Wells, �No place for truth. The heretics of old, one suspects, would be sick with envy if they knew the easy pickings that can now be had in the church.

It�s kind of nice. �A truncated Christology does not help anymore. Men, you need to care less about what people want to hear and more about what they need to hear. Give them Christ, John MacArthur. How does that work, Terry?

There you go. Thank you for listening. In all honesty, in all seriousness, we have lots of listeners. You�re right, Terry. I don�t know who listened, who are encouraged, and I�m glad to be able to serve.

And you�ve been there from the beginning. And that was fun meeting you here at Bethlehem Bible Church as you made the pilgrimage to Mecca. You saw the studio. You�d be ashamed of how messy it is right now, though.

2 Timothy 1:3–7 and the Call to Stir Up the Gift

Back to 2 Timothy. As we were talking last time, at least I was talking last time in the middle of the snow here on a Saturday, fake yawn, Paul is writing 2 Timothy, and it�s important for everyone to know pastoral epistles because A, they�re in the Bible, B, this really manages expectations, C, it helps you pray for the leaders, right?

How can anyone do what these men do? It has to be the grace of God. And Paul gives a very Trinitarian intro. And then he says in 2 Timothy 1, 3, �I thank God, whom I serve with a clear conscience the way my forefathers did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day, longing to see you, even as I recall your tears, so that I may be filled with joy.

Paul and Timothy, when they last said goodbye, it was a time full of tears and sorrow. And Paul leaves the church at Ephesus and Acts 20, their tears. Paul recognizes that, and he says, �I want to see you, and when I think about you standing there crying as I have to go, I remember that.

I want you to be filled with joy, Timothy, that�s what I want. I�m writing this last will and testament, this solemn epistle, so that you�re going to carry on. 2 Timothy isn�t full of all kinds of, you know, here�s the kenosis and Philippians 2.

Timothy�s been trained by Paul. He�s got the right theology, and now Paul needs to goad him along. And of course there�s theology in 2 Timothy, but it�s not theology that�s taught in a proper fashion.

It�s just undergirded throughout the entire thing. �For I am mindful, verse 5, of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I�m sure that is in you as well.

For this reason I remind you to kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you, through the laying on of my hands. I want you to be active. I want you not to neglect what God has given you. General Booth, who founded the Salvation Army, had similar comments, and he said to those that he was in charge of, �The tendency of fire is to go out.

Watch the fire on the altar of your heart. There�s occasionally needed in everyone�s life, especially in elders and pastors� lives, you take the stick or you take the fire place instrument and you stoke the coals, right?

You stir it up. And it says, �For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. I want you, Timothy, to be faithful. Not just to me, although that is important, but faithful to the Lord, loyal to the Lord.

The Ruin of Ministers and the Need for Watchfulness

And of course the backdrop here in our day and age is there are many people who have seen, and of course with social media now it�s just everywhere, the ruin of pastors and how they have ruined themselves.

Don Whitney writes the article, �The Almost Inevitable Ruin of Every Minister and How to Avoid It. Just think back in the last year or so, how many ministers have ruined themselves. Side note here on No Compromise Radio, I call people out by name if I think they�re teaching something that�s dumb or wrong, and in my opinion if I think something�s wrong.

And Andy Stanley�s hedging on the virgin birth for reasons that I can only surmise but can pretty much nail, I think, at least in my mind, well then I�ll say it. You have to call out Malcolm McLaren, the manager of Bow Wow Wow and other groups that I probably shouldn�t mention.

Brian McLaren and his moratorium years ago on talking about gays and gay marriage. You know, you have to say those things. But some people I don�t call out when they are involved in sin. I call them out when they have taught earlier things about the Bible that aren�t true.

Now, I don�t know if you�re following me on that, but if someone teaches something that�s not true and I don�t like it, I might say something. But when they fall into sin, there�s a few in my mind right now that I could mention so I don�t even want to, you know, I don�t want to address those, I�m trying to avoid that.

I don�t say anything, partly because I think it�s improper, partly because if I really think these people are Christians, how do you deal with a Christian that�s caught in sin, enslaved in sin, something happened?

How would I want to be treated if I did something like that? And by the way, I�m frail and weak and sinful too. If you�re teaching something wrong, well, and I think you deserve to get whacked, and I know you�re probably saying, �Well, yeah, but that�s sin and then falling into sin and having something where you lose your ministry, I�m just, if you just think of No Compromise Radio over the last six and a half years, you�ve heard me mention many people�s names when it comes to wrong doctrine and wrong practice, but when they get caught in sin, I just think, you know what, I�m just going to avoid that, I just, it�s not my style.

Maybe it is my style, I just don�t want it to be my style. Don Whitney writes, �Almost everyone knows someone who used to be in the ministry. Almost everyone knows someone who shouldn�t be in the ministry.

And every minister knows another minister, if not several, he does not want to be like. But the sad news for ministers is, regardless of your age or your education or experience, it is almost inevitable that you will become the kind of minister you do not want to be.

So I think it�s important to address the subject of the almost inevitable ruin of every minister and how to avoid it. That�s the article�s title. Despite the fact that no one goes into the ministry to be a casualty, the ruin of almost every minister, it seems, is inevitable.

For in addition to the high percentage of those who leave the ministry, sometimes it appears that of those who do stay in the ministry, many of them have been ruined in other ways. They may get ruined by money, either by the desire for it or the lack of it.

They make far too many choices based upon getting more money or else they smolder in their attitude toward the church because they don�t get paid enough. They may get ruined by sex. I have a Southern Baptist publication in my files which says that 25 to 35 percent of ministers are involved in inappropriate sexual behavior at some level.

They may get ruined by power. They may become authoritarian. They may not even get started out that way. Perhaps they got that way because they were so faithful in one place of ministry for so long and sin came upon them gradually.

They may get ruined by pride. The greater the influence God gives them, the greater they have become in their own sight and the more they believe they deserve the influence, but pride may be the sin that both God and man hate most.

They may get ruined by cynicism. They may spend a great time around ministers like these, ministers who have been ruined by some degree of money, sex, power, pride. No wonder many get cynical. Or they may get ruined finally by success.

They become CEOs, not shepherds. They become managers, not ministers. Their model is business with emphasis on numbers, units, products, marketing, customers, rather than a family with its emphasis on love, relationships, new births, and maturity.

Or a farm with its emphasis on sheep, fruit, and growing things. The inevitable ruin of ministers. I think about those days in seminary when they would tell me, most of you won't be in ministry in 20 years, in 30 years.

And I'd think, oh, I am, I'm going to be. Paul writes to Timothy. You know what? Stoke it up. Kindle afresh the fires of love for the Lord and thankfulness for what he's done. Kindle those up in your heart.

If you remember 1 Timothy, some ministers, chapter 1, verse 6, turned aside to fruitless discussions. Chapter 119 of 1 Timothy, some suffered shipwreck in regard of their faith. Chapter 4 of 1 Timothy, ministers were filled with the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

Paul tells Timothy in an earlier letter, chapter 6, verse 4, some of these people are conceited and understand nothing, for he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions.

Did not Paul warn Timothy, some ministers suppose godliness is a means of gain? And doesn't he say, watch out for those who by worldly and empty chatter, opposing arguments that is falsely called knowledge, which some have professed and have gone astray from the faith, watch out.

If you're a pastor, you need to watch out. Elder, watch out. Leader, watch out. And if you're a congregant, you need to help your pastors. You can pray for them, come alongside of them. Encourage them.

Paul is writing to Timothy and he says, listen, in light of who Jesus is, in light of the Trinitarian God you serve, I want you to take this baton that I have to hand off to you. My head's going to be cut off shortly.

My departure is soon at hand and I want you to run. I want you to run well. Don't drop the baton. And then what I've done in the book of Second Timothy is I've divided it up into seven charges. You could do it a variety of different ways.

This is just more preaching style and how I think through it in terms of my delivery of Second Timothy. Charges for gospel fidelity, charges so that you run well. They could be prayer requests for the congregation.

So when you're listening to these and you're a pastor, this is what you must do. If you want to be a pastor, this is what you will have to do. And if you're not a pastor or don't want to be one or an elder, this is how you should, this is what you must expect.

You're like, well, pastor's not my best friend. He's not my buddy who goes bowling with me, but he does do these things. Well, then you should be thanking God. Thank God. These could be not just prayer requests, but these could be points of thanksgiving.

Does your pastor do this? Then thank you that the pastor would do it. I love being a pastor and I love the people here at Bethlehem Bible Church and her leaders. But some days you think, man, this is just hard.

I didn't sign up for it. When I met with John MacArthur in 1997, I'd been here about six months. He was up in New York, Schroon Lake. Why do I like to call it Schroon Lake? Schroon, Schroon. There's that video on YouTube.

I asked Germans to say the word squirrel. When I was growing up, inevitably, when we were at a social function, a party, kegger, we'd start talking about Twilight Zone, you know, episodes. That's kind of what we talked about.

Maybe in college we did Star Trek episodes, the original Star Trek. Trouble with triples. I didn't really think that was that good. That wasn't one of my favorite one. My favorite all time Star Trek is original series, Mirror, Mirror, see, because that's kind of got the depravity in there.

That's what I like. The alt Spock, hashtag alt Spock. That's what I need. You know what I need? This ministry needs a Spock bobblehead, please. The number to call is BR549, 867 -5309. See what pop culture does to a radio host.

See why I want to cancel the show? See, the ratings are down, giving's down. You say, I got to pack it up. In the old days, we were happy for one listener. Now, I need a thousand Terry's, right? If we had a thousand Terry's with a thousand Calvin mugs, what would that, glasses?

What would that do? How would that work out? Seven charges found in 2 Timothy 1 .8 and following. So, he gives kind of the introduction and then he gives the charges. We're going to go look at those in the next couple episodes of No Compromise Radio.

Books, Hell, and Closing Announcements

If you're interested in getting some books, there happened to be, let's see, there's six different books that you can get. I'm working on two now. Colossians, S .O .S. Johnson. Really haven't worked on it very much lately.

I have some issues going on that need my attention. And I have started, at least I have the outline. I have the data outline chapters for a book on hell and specifically talking about what did Jesus do on the cross and how does that relate to that doctrine.

And I don't think there's anything that would make me more thankful than knowing that I don't have to go to hell and anything that makes me more evangelistic knowing that other people are going unless they're saved than the doctrine of hell.

If you'd like to write me, info at nocompromiseradio .com. If you'd like to send an email and double dog dare me to read it like Terry Flood did, I will probably read it. I have a special machine here.

I think it costs like 10 grand and I put the letters from the NoCo listeners in there and it takes the envelope out, off rather, takes the letter from inside, discards that too and then if there's a check in there, then I get that.

Remember those old Robert Tilton exposés about all the prayer letters all thrown away after they've extracted the money? Crazy. Mike Abendroth, nocompromiseradio .com. Thank you for listening. Tell your friends to listen as well.

See you next time.

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 10 .15 and in the evening at 6. 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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.