Party Spirits

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio Ministry. My name is Mike Ebendroth. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com

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or info at nocompromiseradio .com. The church has a new website, bbchurch .org,

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B -B -C -C -H -U -R -C -H .org. And thanks for being patient with us.

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We're still trying to figure out how to update everything and get the newest sermons there. But the new look is great.

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The layout is great. We've got a great team here at Bethlehem Bible Church. And then maybe the NOCO website will follow after that.

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Secondly, the new book, King, is out. It's about God's sovereignty.

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And the premise is essentially this. We don't really know what it's like to have a king.

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And even in England, the closest, you know, our relatives as it were overseas, constitutional monarch, not the kind of king that had the power in the old days.

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They had the authority that made the law. And if you understand God as king, because he is

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Jesus, the Lord of lords and king of kings, you'll understand the Bible better.

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So this is my attempt to kind of teach you some Near East history and learn about the

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Bible so that you might pray better, submit to him better, have the hope of the future better, and other antinomian things.

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In a culture that prefers a manageable, friendly Jesus, King is a bold call to recover the awe -inspiring truth of Christ's sovereign rule.

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You will discover why trust, surrender, and obedience to King Jesus isn't bondage, but the pathway to freedom, comfort, and gospel -fueled joy.

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Be prepared to be challenged, be prepared to be comforted, because once you grasp the sovereignty of God, everything else falls into place.

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Not bad. Self -published, nobody else wants it.

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Years ago, when I was publishing with other people, real publishers, I just kind of got tired of the book agent and changing the titles, and this is just freedom to do whatever

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I want, however I want it. It's a world that revolves around me now, isn't it? So anyway, all that to say, today's episode,

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I don't know if I've ever talked about this the way I'll talk about it today, but I want to talk about party spirits.

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You're like, wow, party, let's party, it's 4th of July. I wanna talk about, does God work outside of your theological niche?

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What's your tribe? I hate that word, but I'll just use it. Are you a Calvinist?

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Are you Reformed? Are you small R Reformed? Are you a Presbyterian?

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Are you Congregationalist? Are you Charismatic? Are you Calvary Chapel? Are you Arminian? Are you

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Soteriology 101? Are you, what are you? And is God working in your group alone or does he work elsewhere?

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So the reason why I'm talking about it is because Jesus was discussing something with his disciples.

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Jesus has been on the Mount of Transfiguration. He shows forth his glory. Those three disciples see it, get a foretaste of the future glory that Jesus has and that they will have with him.

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And they're affirmed in the fact that suffering then glory, cross then crown, Jesus is encouraging them.

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The father even on the Mount of Transfiguration encourages Jesus, this is my beloved son and whom

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I'm well pleased, my chosen one, listen to him. And then they come down from the mountain to real life and to sin and everything else.

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And Jesus cast out the demon that's in a boy that's throwing him in the water, foaming at his mouth.

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And then the disciples start arguing who's the greatest. We talked about that on this very show.

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After that discussion, listen to what Jesus says in Luke chapter nine.

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And we're gonna talk about party spirits. We're gonna talk about us for no more.

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We're gonna talk about does God work outside of your seminary, your favorite

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Bible teacher. John answered Luke 9 49, master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he does not follow with us.

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So remember what's happening. The three are up on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James, and John.

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They fall asleep when they're praying. Peter, the spokesperson, hey, we should build three tabernacles,

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Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. So there's a couple of spiritual faux pas that Peter makes. The nine disciples down at the bottom are trying to cast out demons.

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Jesus said in Luke 9 1 -2, they could cast out all demons. They don't have enough faith and they can't cast out demons.

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Now they start arguing who's the greatest. Maybe the three of the Mount of Transfiguration, maybe Peter, because he's always named first, not the nine.

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And it's just all a bunch of bumbling mess. And now there's someone else casting out demons. By the way, they actually were casting out demons, but the nine couldn't cast out.

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They were having a problem. And so, hey, he's not in our immediate circle of the 12. What do we do?

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Jesus said, do not stop him for the one who is not against you is for you.

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The one who is not against you is for you.

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They're not doing things with our group. They're not doing things the way we would do it. And just like the pride one, when they're arguing about who's the greatest, eyes off of Jesus, eyes off of the

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Father's work, eyes off of glory for the kingdom's sake, eyes onto other people, eyes onto self.

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You always go wrong. Went back to what Grandma Evie, Kim's grandmother who raised her said.

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And she said, when you're gazing on the Lord and his glory and only glancing at your problems, life is good.

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Things are right. But when you're gazing on your problems and only glancing at the

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Lord, there's all kinds of trouble. And the same thing happens here. Hey, these people are on the fringe.

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These people aren't one of the 12 direct followers. These people are casting demons out. And you know what?

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God is only working exclusively in our circles. God is only working exclusively in our circles.

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So do I think it's important to have theological convictions? Do I think the doctrines of grace are true and to be held?

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Do I think the five points of Calvinism true? Do I believe in predestination? Am I a predestinarian?

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Yes. Do I believe in the five solos of the Reformation? Yes. Do I subscribe to the

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London Baptist confession of 1689? Yes. Most days do I think like a Presbyterian, a

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Westminster confession of faith and the standards and three forms of unity in Belgium, Heidelberg, Dort.

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The answer is yes to all those things. Do I realize that maybe I'm not capital

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R reform because of the baptism issue? Yes. Is it important to strive for biblical fidelity?

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Of course. Is it important to stick up for and to teach and to stand firmly for the sovereignty of God in salvation?

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Of course. Is it good to contemplate the three covenants and the covenant of redemption and covenant of works and covenant of grace and to teach those law and gospel

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Christ -centered preaching? There's all kinds of things that I do stand for and I do critique others, but the question is not now do we critique others and do we have discernment?

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The question is, does God work outside our circles? Does God work outside your circle?

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Should you be thankful that there are Arminians who are out evangelizing, telling people about sin and the

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Savior and a call to belief? Now, I might have one up on some of you because I come from a

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Calvary Chapel background. Could I say about Calvary Chapel, and I probably have, I wish that they had church membership.

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I wish that they dug a little deeper into verse -by -verse teaching and not just do chapter -by -chapter.

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Do I wish maybe that it wasn't so pre -mill, a dispensational pre -mill, almost like every future event is looked at through the lens of scripture and there's a kind of prophecy kind of theme.

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Do I wish they didn't have a private prayer language? They don't usually do it during the worship services, but behind the scenes, speaking in tongues privately.

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Do I wish they weren't Arminian? Do I wish they believe in election? I have some of their books.

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They had a college, a Calvary Chapel college, and they got rid of all their Calvinism books. And I bought pennies on the dollar, so I was thankful for that.

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Some of these books, even here, open it up, it says Calvary Chapel College. But are they against Jesus?

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Are they for Jesus? And so I think there's some insightful words from the Lord Jesus that we need to think about, especially on no -compromise radio.

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And I've even had to change the whole tenor of it instead of saying, everybody else compromises, we don't wanna compromise.

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We surely do, but we don't want to. Two, let's talk about the one who never compromised, Jesus. Here in this passage today,

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I think it's good for us to think through, does God work through people that don't have our perfect theology?

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Does God work through people? I'm not talking about Mormons and Catholics and things that are obviously false teachers.

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Galatians, one thing. I'm talking about within Christianity, Calvary Chapel, the assemblies of God church down the street.

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Are they against Jesus? Are they my enemies? Are they your enemies?

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What does Paul say? Paul's in jail and he writes to the church of Philippi. I know you know this, but just to get us to think through.

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I want you to know brothers, what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.

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This is Philippians one. And most of the brothers having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

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I already see that God is working in my life and other people's lives and they're already more bold. Here we go.

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Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill.

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Some have bad motives and talk about Jesus, some have good motives. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel.

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The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment.

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Here's the verse, Philippians 1 .18. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or truth, whether they have good motives or bad motives,

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Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

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Yes, and I will rejoice. When Jesus is proclaimed,

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Paul is rejoicing. Now, this is a far cry from our current discussion

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Calvary chapels, they're not proclaiming the word of God and Christ out of envy and rivalry and trying to hurt other people.

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They're sincerely preaching what they think is the truth. If Paul was rejoicing about people who preach the

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Bible with bad motives, preach Jesus with bad motives, what am I to think about people who preach

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Jesus with good motives? If I'm right, if you're right about 1689 and sovereign grace and covenant of redemption, whatever you hold to, you only know that because of God's grace.

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You only know that because it's been given to you. It's been revealed to you. We're not better than they are.

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We're not superior. We're not greater, to use the passage just before that. Paul said, when people talk about Jesus, I rejoice.

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Now, there's a slogan that goes around evangelicalism. We wanna be known for what we're for, not what we're against.

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I'm sure you've heard it, maybe you've even said it. We wanna be known for what we're for, not what we're against.

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That's really kind of a cheesy phrase, a cheesy statement, because if you're for sin bearing, you're against sinful people.

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If you're for holiness, you're against sin. If you're for righteousness, you're against ungodliness. If you're for Jesus, the only way, then you're against all other ways.

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If you're for the only way you can be declared righteous is based on the work of another, you're against infused righteousness.

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If you're for something, you're against something. But I don't wanna be the guy that's always against.

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It's the polemic of everybody's wrong and I've gotta show you all those things. I'm certain over the years, 4 ,500 no compromise radio shows, there were a lot of those back in the days where that's the tenor and tone, all these people.

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So to settle in today, if Jesus says to them, you know what, don't have a party spirit, don't have sectarian spirit.

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God is only working through us. Why don't you rejoice that God is working elsewhere? By the way, you probably got saved in a ministry that wasn't reformed, that wasn't

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Calvinistic, that wasn't the five solos, that wasn't Tulip, that wasn't all the things that you believe now. Some of you did get saved underneath that ministry, praise the

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Lord. But again, for me, this is not just about me, this is just as an illustration. I get saved, my stomach is growling and there's some dead person speaking to me again.

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Maybe it's Chuck Smith telling me that I'm right. You get my point.

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We all have tendencies to just kind of grind away and to think we're right and pride.

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But I want you to know that if John Wesley preached the real gospel about sin, salvation and belief, we should be glad.

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And actually, Whitefield was. Now Whitefield might not be your favorite Calvinistic Methodist, but they both appreciated certain things.

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They fought like mad over unconditional election, but there was a camaraderie.

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I'm not talking about being on stage or a platform with a Roman Catholic. But I am saying, could

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I be on stage or on platform with a Calvary Chapel pastor? Of course, matter of fact, if I go out of town and it's

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Sunday and I'm not preaching somewhere and I can't find a Christ -centered expositional ministry, whether that's a

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Reformed Baptist, OPC, PCA, URC, anything else, I usually go to Calvary Chapel because I realize, you know what?

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They're gonna just probably teach the Bible verse by verse. There won't be systems, there won't be this, there won't be that. But at least

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I'm gonna read that chapter from the Bible.

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Hey, these other people are casting out demons. These other people are doing things and they're not our inner circle.

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How should I think of them? Look down on them? Disregard them? I mean, there's different denominations.

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And of course, this is just, to me, it's funny, but sometimes true. And the same could be said for me.

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OPC, Orthodox Presbyterian Church, you know what OPC stands for? You said, yeah, you just told me Orthodox Presbyterian Church.

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No, it stands for The Only Perfect Church. Independent Fundamental Churches Association, IFCA, you know what that stands for?

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Yeah, you just told me, Independent Fundamental Church Associations. No, no, it also stands for I Fight Christians Anywhere.

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Bethlehem Bible Church, you know what that stands for? Bethlehem Bible Church, you just told me. No, no, it stands for Best Bible Church.

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Of course, you're to have convictions and you're to teach them, but you're also to say, you know what?

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It's only by the grace of God, I know what I know. These other people will learn and mature. The Spirit of God is in them, and directing and maturing and guiding and building up and edifying.

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And I think one day they will get to that point where they'll believe the truth, because it is truth and the Spirit is driving them to know the truth, just like me.

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And you just don't get saved and become mature in your theology. No, no, you get saved and you learn and you grow.

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And so it's like dads who look at their kids and their two -year -old kids can't throw a baseball. It's like, well, of course, because you have to learn and you have to be mature and everything else.

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And so when it comes to other Christians, I think there needs to be, dare

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I say, use this word, but you'll know what I mean. There's a tolerance, there's a love, there's a patience, there's a kindness.

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Now, one of the reasons why I brought this up is because in Luke, he's saying, if you're not for me, you're against me.

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There's no neutrality when it comes to Jesus Christ. And that's for certain. People either do it for him or they're against him.

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But this whole now very public scandal that came out with G3 and its leader. And I think it's truth now.

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If it's not truth, it's alleged, but I'm pretty sure it's been verified. Sending out with an anonymous

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Twitter account, attacking other ministries that are basically in the same fold.

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We're not even talking about attacking, G3 is pretty much predestineering five points of Calvinism.

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I wouldn't call them reformed or confessional. Some of them in those circles are, but I call them broadly

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Calvinistic, predestineering five solas, five points of Calvin. That's what

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I would kind of see them as. Conference, exposition, desire for holy living, a desire to pick a theme and then have speakers come in and Christian fellowship, learning, growing, the book publishers, conferences, training on how to have pastors preach better.

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Amen, way to go. Do I think they could have been more reformed? Yes. Do I think they could have been more confessional?

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Yes. Maybe a little less celebrity stuff. It's all moot, but here's my point. The person gets, the leader gets fired, let go.

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For many reasons, including critiquing other places. Like I think if memory serves, founders.

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Founders is in the same thing, five point, probably a little more confessional, but still

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I'm like attacking others. Are they praising Jesus? Are they wanting to preach

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Jesus? Are they wanting to learn and grow? The answer is yes. And so when I think about attacking other ministries, why would we do that?

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Let's think about it. There are probably lots of reasons, but why would I attack other ministries here?

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Well, probably to make me look good, probably to prop myself up. And when people say, well, are there a lot of Bible teaching churches in the area?

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Frankly, they're not. But if I say every one of them is bad, it's only

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Bethlehem Bible Church, everybody else has it wrong. There's not one person in a pulpit around this area within 50 miles that talks about the life, death, burial, resurrection of Jesus and the call of repentance, the call of faith.

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There's not one person around here that believes in the sufficiency of scripture and that it's all God breathed. There's not one person around here that believes that Jesus will come back one day personally and bodily and visibly to judge the living and the dead.

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If you're not reformed, capital R, if you're not reformed, small r, if you're not confessional, you're trash.

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Now, I don't know if I really think that, but I have to be careful.

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You have to be careful. And if somebody that you know is at a church and that church isn't that good in your mind, but that church is talking about the

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Bible, talking about Jesus, desire for holy living and other things, we say, okay, well, you know what?

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Maybe they'll come to where we are someday. We obviously think our church is the best because that's why we're here.

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Otherwise we'd go to a different church, but we just need to be kind. We need to think, you know what? Are those people for Jesus?

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Are those people for Jesus? And if they are, I'm for them. I want them to do well.

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I don't want them to suffer. I don't want them to close shop. I want the name to be proclaimed.

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If God is using me as a sinner, as somebody that's got a long way to go,

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I think he can use other people as well. Let's say the Gideons.

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You're like, well, I wish the Gideons would do this and I wish they'd be more reformed and I wish they'd do such and such. And you know, do the

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Gideons love Jesus? Do the Gideons put their money where their mouth is and say, you know what? We're gonna try to put a free

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Bible in all the hotel rooms. You know how many stories I've heard from the Gideons and people that say, you know what?

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I'm sitting in the hotel room and I'm contemplating suicide or I'm drunk or I'm this or I'm that. And I open up the

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Bible and start reading it. God saves me. I might not give money to the

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Gideons because I'm giving my money to maybe other ministries that I think line up with me theologically better, fine.

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But I'm not against the Gideons. I'm not, you know, somebody else pops up and they always do this wrong and they do this wrong and they do the other thing wrong.

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And you know, Southern Baptist, yeah, they do this, they do that, they do the other, everything's wrong. Only my seminary is right.

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Only my denomination's right. Only my group is right. Only the 1689 people are right. It's like,

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I don't wanna be one of those people. And some of you are going, yeah, Mike, you are.

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I don't wanna be. I think by the grace of God, there's been a lot of changes over the years.

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And maybe you're listening to old reruns. I hope you say, well, can you ever rebuke people?

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Of course, rebuke false teachers. Can you ever correct people? Of course, you can say, you know what?

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Here's what's going on. But it's collegial, it's fraternal.

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If I wanna talk to a Calvary Chapel pastor about they should have church membership or something, or they should do church discipline.

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Yes, but he still wants to have Christ exalted. Sometimes we're in Santa Cruz, we'll swing by Calvary Chapel there because I know the pastor and he wants you to just teach the

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Bible verse by verse he's not my enemy, he's for Jesus. And if people are for Jesus, we should be saying, thank you,

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Lord, I rejoice. So do you have charismatic friends? Do you have

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Pentecostal friends? Do you have friends that maybe aren't in the best denomination? Do you have friends that maybe don't believe exactly what you believe?

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Are you just ornery about it? Are you patient? I mean, just think, all right,

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I'll make it just very personal. If I'm in Calvary Chapel, and I was, and by the way, it's all the

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Spirit's work, but I had such a desire to know the Bible. About 45 minutes away was church and it was, there goes some dead person talking again.

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45 minutes to get there on Sunday morning and then back. Go back on Sunday night, 45 minute drive, back.

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Wednesday night, they had services. That guy, Raul Reese was gonna get up and talk about the Bible. I wanted to be there,

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I didn't wanna miss out. I had to get home from work and I'd read the Bible, study, understand, cassettes.

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I couldn't wait to get in the car to drive around just to hear the Bible. And I'm probably a zero point

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Calvinist. I don't know what the solas are. I have no idea what the word imputation means.

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I just know Jesus died for my sins and I'm forgiven. And now I wanna learn.

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I know he's alive, he's coming back and I wanna learn. If someone like me today would talk to me 30 years ago,

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I hope that me today would go, way to go. I'm so encouraged that you're now, instead of living just this horrible lifestyle, you're living for the

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Lord now and you're attending, you wanna serve, you wanna tell others about Jesus, you're evangelizing. I am so thankful for you.

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I wanna pray for you, I wanna encourage you. I hope I today wouldn't take that me 30 years ago and go, you don't know anything, here's

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Sproul's chosen by God and here's this, here's that, here's the other. By the way, that's a good book to give to Charismatics, Calvary Chapel people.

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But my point is, I just hope I would be rejoicing with that person. When someone first gets saved and they're just excited or maybe somebody has been saved for 10 years, they just don't know any better.

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They just haven't learned. They just haven't explored out there to see. We wanna be rejoicing.

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Yes, confront false teachers. Yes, have friendly banter back and forth and strive for truth.

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But to be illiberal, to use the word, to be bigoted, to have this party spirit.

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Back to Philippians 1 .18. If Christ be preached, I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice.

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If Jesus is preached at Assembly of God Church, if Jesus is preached at First Baptist Church, if Jesus is preached at the

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Journey Church, I'm gonna rejoice. Because when my eyes go to other people,

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I take my eyes off of the Lord, there's trouble. John Calvin, Christ not only restrains them from unjust hatred, talking about the disciples, but enjoins them to cultivate friendship with those who labor in the same work.

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J .C. Ryle, we must be aware of the party spirit and religious jealousy. The question should not be, is he one of our company, but does he love the

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Lord Jesus and fight Satan? J. Gresham Machen, Christian fellowship must not be based on external forms or affiliations, but a common confession of the truth about Christ.

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Of course, I want you to study sound doctrine. That's what this whole show is about. But we're to be kind.

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Of course, I don't want you to embrace error, but we're to show charity to people that are truly saved.

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How about this in the R. Ken Hughes book? Believe as I believe, no more, no less. That I'm right and no one else confess.

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Feel as I feel, think as I think, eat what I eat and drink what I drink. Look as I look, do always as I do.

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Then and only then I'll fellowship with you. Stand convicted, stand convicted.

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The fruit of the spirit is love. Of course, love rejoices in the truth, that's true. Love, joy.

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Isn't there a peace in there somewhere? Out of all the fruit of the spirit, isn't there peace? And I think to myself, do

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I pray for other Christian ministries, real ones and other churches in the area? Do I rejoice when other

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Christian ministries are prospering? Hey, they get that and they get the other and we don't seem to be getting that, but I'm glad they're prospering.

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Do I realize that if I'm right, it's by grace anyway? Alex Haley, who wrote the book

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Roots, has a picture in his office of a turtle on top of a fence. He said, it's to remind me, if you see a turtle on a fence, you know it had some help.

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John Newton, and I end here. If you account the other person as a believer, though greatly mistaken in the subject of debate between you, you differ on some doctrines, deal gently with him.

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The Lord loves him and bears with him. Therefore you must not despise him or treat him harshly.

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The Lord bears with you likewise and expects that you should show tenderness to others from a sense of the much forgiveness you need yourself.

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It seems laudable service to defend the faith once delivered to the saints were commanded to contend earnestly. If ever such defenses were seasonable and expedient, they appear to be so in our day.

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In other words, we stand for the truth and we do it kindly. My name is

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Mike Habenroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry. Thanks for watching. Make sure you subscribe. We're on American Gospel Television, I think by now.