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Prayer Shawls R Us
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. I am here, beautiful downtown Burbank, with Pastor Steve Kuhler.
I�m here too, and we could be in Burbank, because I can�t see out the window anyway, and I don�t know where we are.
I know. Well, the other day, I was in Burbank, and I drove past St. Joe�s Burbank. I think it�s maybe St. Joe�s Providence Burbank or something now. And I said to my children, the first two, �You were born there.
Really? And it looked like there was a NoCo studio right down the street. Who could have known? Perfect. Perfect for us. NoCo, how long did it take us to get the trademark for that? Well, it was a legal battle.
It went up to the Supreme Court. It was illegal. Jay Sekulow. Jay�s footprint of influence has increased. Mightily. As has his tribe. Yeah, but I don�t know. I mean, is that a job you want, really? No.
Could come back and bite you. It wouldn�t be my favorite. Yeah. If you could have any job in the world, what would it be? Let me think for a minute. Would you go back to be a beat cop? A sociopastor.
Beat cop. No, I would not. I mean, first of all, I know what�s going on in the department these days. I just saw this thing. Every traffic stop they make now, they have to fill out a two-page report.
Whether they do anything, ride a ticket or not, they have to do, you know, did the person appear to be male, female, transgender, you know, da, da, da, all these questions. Did he appear to be or did she appear?
Did Z appear to be? You know, it�s, you know, I don�t know. Political correctness really gone crazy. The ACLU designed the form.
So no, I would not want that job. Yes. Think about all the different classes and, you know, seminars you have to sit through to make sure you think liberally.
Or you could just work at Starbucks, you know, and you�ll be fine.
I wonder if they get any free samples anymore. I don�t know. If I never go back to Starbucks. You�ll be fine with me. I mean, I will just because sometimes you�re just driving and what are you going to do?
You need a coffee. I went the other day.
My wife wanted something. And so I went there. And, you know, I was tired. I wasn�t thinking rightly. And I ordered a, what she wanted. And then I got myself a grande caramel macchiato iced. And I walked out and I didn�t go back because I just wanted to get at home while the sandwich was still hot.
But I didn�t want to go back. I�m sure there was absolutely no espresso in that macchiato. It was just caramel and milk.
I think that�s the way Dunkin� Donuts used to do it, pre-turbo days. What�s the latest Dunkin� Donuts coffee? They have to have something new seasonally every.
You know, the easiest thing for me to do is to avoid Dunkin� Donuts. So I do. Right. Like, I have no idea. I don�t pay any attention to Dunkin� Donuts other than when I drive by it and, you know, the traffic spilling out onto the street.
Okay.
All right. Steve, I saw some VBS resources and other things in the CBD catalog. I wasn�t going to do this for our second show, but I wanted to just run by a few of these communion church supplies with you because, you know, you order a lot of these things for the church and that�s kind of your job here.
That�s your bailiwick. And instead of doing a show and then talking about ministry together, I just thought we could just talk about ministry now on the show. And I think people would find that fascinating.
So it�ll be like a behind-the-scenes look at what we actually do. What do we normally do? Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
Sure. Well, sometimes it�s just a matter of explanation because I�m slow on the uptake and I don�t understand these things. And so I have to ask Steve, you know, he�s got this rule. Before he orders anything of any monetary amount, he has to get my signature and he has to get it okayed.
So I have questions sometimes before he processes the order.
Yeah. Yeah. But I�m cleared for anything under $25. So...
Years ago, my credit card, I think, had a max of $25 ,000 here, the church credit card. And I thought, you know what, guys? I don�t think I really need that much credit unless I�m going to, like, cash out and then flee.
That�s a whole lot of credit. I know. Well, you know, maybe when we had 12 guys at the Shepherd�s Conference or something like that. Oh, yeah. What do you think is going to happen at the Shepherd�s Conference before we get into our daily routine?
What do I think is going to happen this next year? Yeah, for the next one, yeah. On faithfulness? Yeah. Do you think all the speakers who have been asked to speak will show up, or do you think they�re going to uninvite people?
Well, I don�t know. But I guess, do I need to put my number out on the air just in case, you know, they�re.
Well, I�m just thinking about evangelicalism in general. G3 has all kinds of great speakers. I heard it�s really a great conference. And I think Platt is supposed to speak, and if you were the leader of G3, would you have David Platt come after his faux-Jesus, like faux exegesis on Amos 5 at MLK24G?
That was most unimpressive. Honestly, if I was running it, I mean, I don�t know, maybe there�s a contract, you can�t get out of it, you�ve got to pay him or whatever, but I would say, �Forget you You know, I don�t want you to come here and do that.
I have one word for you, �Forget you.
Especially if Dever told him, you know, �Don�t do that and he did it anyway. I mean, I don�t know if that�s true or not, but that�s from a particular source.
Yeah. I mean, I find all this liberalism just, it�s not like it�s even creeping into the church. It�s just forcing its way in, you know, it�s like the SWAT teams at the door kicking the door in. You know, they�re not asking, they�re just coming.
Well, I�m sure John MacArthur doesn�t listen to No Compromise Radio every day. I heard he listens on Tuesdays. So my appeal, John, to you is, after being at maybe 30 Shepherds Conferences or something like that, I liked it better in the day when you were the main speaker.
I know you�re older, 79 years old, but you were really the speaker, and so you�d speak five times and there�d be a bunch of breakout sessions, and you would say things like this, John, �These were my favorite Shepherds Conferences.
I know that some of you want a sermon today in verse-by-verse, you know, exegesis, exposition. If you want that, I�m not going to do that today. You can go get a cassette in the bookshack on me, type of thing.
Today I just want to tell you what�s on my heart. And then he would launch against psychology. He would launch against consumerism. He would launch against pragmatism. And he would launch against, in this particular case, racism and social justice warriors.
That�s what I would, that�s what I wish 2019 would be that. Mark Devereux. So, a little polemical then. John Donohue. Yes.
Mark Devereux Or very. John Donohue Very. Mark Devereux A fusillade of polemical.
John Donohue. John, all the troops are here. Remind us why we�re in ministry. Tell us what to avoid. You�re the only one out of all these folks pretty much in the universe who�s spent time for preaching, spent time in jail for preaching at a black church, and so no one, you know.
He�s like he�s untouchable. Right? So, it�s like when Votie Bauckham says a bunch of this racism stuff is bad. I mean, what are they going to say? He�s Votie Bauckham. But even more so, MacArthur, who was jailed for preaching, you know, down the street from MILK.
John Donohue. Yep. It was actually right down there, right after MLK was assassinated, saw where he was killed. Before they cleaned it up. I was just reading that here a few weeks ago.
Mark Devereux Well, the black pastors wanted to protect John after MLK Jr. was shot, and so they had to try to get him out of town quickly so there would be no uprising against white people in general.
Anyway, I wish John would do that. John, I know you�re listening. I know you listen at 1 .5 speed. I can�t stop that. But anyway, get back to your S. Lewis Johnson sermons that you listen to, but I wish it would just be you.
I wish you�d cancel all the people that are coming. It would just be you, five sessions. John Donohue And maybe the Tuesday guy. You know. Mark Devereux Yeah. Maybe. John Donohue Maybe. Okay. Let�s let Phil talk once.
Mark Devereux Nice. John Donohue I know. Okay, so back to work. We have to order things. Mark Devereux Okay. John Donohue Peabody�s so far away. It�s funny, you know, you move out here and you think, from California, Peabody Mass CBD.
But it�s not Peabody, is it? Mark Devereux Peabody. John Donohue Was it Sherman and Peabody?
Mark Devereux Sherman and Peabody Mass. John Donohue Did you ever watch that? Mark Devereux Yeah, all the time. John Donohue What was your favorite part? Mark Devereux I even saw the, you know, the, you know, I mean, well, it was all the goofy little historical things that they were throwing there, fractured fairy tales.
John Donohue Yeah, that was good. Mark Devereux Yeah. John Donohue That was smart.
Mark Devereux Yeah. John Donohue That was for adults. Mark Devereux Yeah. John Donohue Right. Okay. I didn�t say adults, but it was for adults.
Okay. Now, I know we�re� Mark Devereux. By the way, Peabody is where the CBD warehouse is. John Donohue That�s right. Mark Devereux In case you�re wondering.
John Donohue They have other things, too. There�s a Dunkin� Donuts right down the street. Mark Devereux They have an Acura, too. That�s where we bought our car. John Donohue Mm-hmm. Okay. Steve, I would think you would agree with me that we�re in the new covenant and that, you know, Hebrews 8, glorious truth, and we�re not underneath the old covenant system and slavery anymore.
We�re severed from the� John Donohue. Oh.
That is actually very good. That severing language, Hebrews chapter 10, that is�Steve, that is an excellent job. John Donohue Yes. Thanks. Mark Devereux Here�s what it says. Let�s see. All right. Well, let�s just read it.
Hebrews 10, �For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered each year, make perfect those who draw near.
Otherwise they would not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins. But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me. And he goes on to say� I�m trying to find the verse. There it is. Verse 9, �He does away with the first in order to establish the second.
That�s the verse. Mark Devereux Does away with it. John Donohue And that�s like you sneak up behind someone and slit their throat language. Mark Devereux Ooh. John Donohue Mm-hmm. That�s assassination language.
And so that�s what you just gave me. I was very proud of you. I just couldn�t find the verse. Mark Devereux Assassination. John Donohue We�re under the assassin�the first covenant�s been assassinated.
Mark Devereux Are you the assassin? John Donohue So we know the new covenant. We understand that in Christ�s perfect work. That�s why, Steve, when you wanted to order these prayer shawls with carrying bags for all the elders and deacons.
Mark Devereux Why not? John Donohue You know what? Large is $34 .99 on sale. Small $24 .99. I can�t think of too many smalls that we would need with our deacons. Mark Devereux No. Probably not. They�re pretty big guys.
Although we have a couple of guys that could maybe be scatbacks, you know, like Linton. Linton looks like he�s got some speed there. He�s a big Clemson football fan, too.
John Donohue. They actually have small, large, and H-back sizes. Okay. So here�s the problem. My problem is not the one with purple and gold, which has got the messianic roots deal. I mean, it�s actually cheaper.
That�s not my problem. My problem is it�s called. You see, this is why you should look at line items. It�s not called the prayer shawl. It�s the New Covenant prayer shawl with carrying bag. Now how does that work?
Mark Devereux. I don�t know, but we�re looking to put a little Fiddler on the Roof music into our Sunday services. So you know, sunrise, sunset, sunrise.
John Donohue. This exquisite shawl is adorned with blue and gold accents, scripture, messianic roots, symbol, and a Hebrew prayer fashioned of acrylic with tassel trim and fringes made from polyester, and now it�s in flux with Leviticus 19.
Mark Devereux If I�m not mistaken there, Pastor, doesn�t James talk about prayer shawls? John Donohue Okay. Please inform me. Mark Devereux The prayer of a righteous man. So implied, you cannot be righteously praying without a New Covenant prayer shawl.
John Donohue. I actually don�t read my Amplified Bible as much as I should. Okay, I�m busted. You know what it looks like to me? I�m sorry to say, it looks like an ISIS garment. Mark Devereux. Yikes.
John Donohue That�s what it looks like. Mark Devereux. Yeah. I mean, you could just see one of the guys wearing that and maybe, like, just his eyes and nose, you know, peeping out.
Yeah, yeah. Mark Devereux It�s scary. John Donohue Or for what ladies would have to wear underneath the rule of ISIS. Mark Devereux It�s a little scary. John Donohue You know, I was thinking about Jonah the other day, and here Jonah has to go to these Ninevites and preach, and he doesn�t want to because he knows God will save, and he doesn�t want these wicked people to get saved.
You know, these are awful people. And you go to the British Museum and see some of the Ninevite, not paintings, but like a� Mark Devereux The reliefs. John Donohue Yeah, the reliefs. That�s the word. Yeah.
I wanted to say fresco, but that wasn�t right. And you see that and all that, you know, heads at the bottom of the chariots and everything cut off. And it would be daunting, though, Steve, to think, all right, what if God said, �Mike, I want you to go to Afghanistan, to whatever that big city is, or Pakistan, and where all the ISIS people are, and I want you to preach free grace in Christ Jesus.
Would you want to go?
Mark Devereux Well, first of all, I�d have to say, is this some kind of new revelation, Lord?
Because I thought the canon was closed. John Donohue. Well, that�s true. But let�s just say it�s pre-Hebrews 1, 1 to 4. Mark Devereux. Well, and for Jonah�s case, you know, he knew God was going to save him.
That�s why he didn�t want to go. I don�t think he was afraid for his life. He was afraid that God would save such wicked people, so the one-to-one correspondence isn�t quite there.
John Donohue Yeah, I don�t know how he could be afraid for his life, since he�d already basically been saved miraculously once, right, when he was out at sea.
That should have been enough. Mark Devereux. Yeah, because for Jonah, it wasn�t, �You�re going to go there and get killed. You�re going to get killed if you don�t go. That�s essentially what happened, but God, in his mercy, kept him alive.
But that kind of reminds me of that, this kind of a prayer shawl. The other thing I was thinking about since we�re just doing a stream of consciousness is Jonah is.
John Donohue. How much are those, by the way? And here�s the key, you know, for Chuck, what line item do I charge those to?
Mark Devereux Yeah, I mean, that�s, come on, let�s just get down to basics, to brass tacks. John Donohue How many, how many, how many, whatchamacalls do we have? Deacons? Mark Devereux Deacons? John Donohue Thirteen.
Mark Devereux See, it used to be I could count them. Thirteen. We have thirteen? John Donohue Thirteen deacons. Mark Devereux Wow. John Donohue I just did the prayer chart, four elders, thirteen deacons.
That�s seventeen people for the prayer things. That means we do it every three months.
Mark Devereux. Thirteen deacons, well, that�s just wrong. We can�t have thirteen. That�s not a biblical number of completion. We need, you know, twelve or twenty-four or something.
John Donohue. I was booking a flight someplace and I was trying to find aisle thirteen and this is a little plain. They didn�t have it. Mark Devereux. No aisle thirteen?
John Donohue. Yeah. I like aisle thirteen. Mark Devereux. It just skips from twelve to fourteen?
John Donohue It skipped from like eleven to fourteen and I think they wanted to make sure the people who liked twelves weren�t superstitious either. I�m looking for the book of Jonah and I cannot find the book of Jonah.
Mark Devereux Jonah, Micah, and Nehemiah. John Donohue Jonah, Micah, and Nehemiah. Mark Devereux Well, I�m stuck here in Amos and then I got to Obadiah. Okay. John Donohue Obadiah. See, Jonah, Micah, and Nehemiah.
Mark Devereux Once you get to Obadiah, you�re okay. You know, I memorized it as OJ. John Donohue Oh. In his honor? Mark Devereux No, in the juice�s honor. John Donohue That�s OJ. Mark Devereux The actual orange juice.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Okay. So how about Jonah? He�s like, you know what, I�m going to be angry because God is going to be very kind to these people. And it says in Jonah 4 or 5, �Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there.
He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. So he goes in, he preaches, you know, repent, and now it�s time for fireworks. You know, you ever try to go see fireworks on the 4th of July and you want to get a good seat, and you know, you can see all the explosions and everything just right, and there�s not a tree in your way?
God is going to so whack these people, and Jonah�s like, �I got to see this. John Donohue It�s going to be good. Mark Devereux Uh-huh. John Donohue Front row. Mark Devereux I know. And I got to just make it really nice and get my lawn chair out there, and I�m just going to sit here until that city�s destroyed.
He�s going to overthrow this city big time. Sodom and Gomorrah? Ha, ha, ha. They got nothing on this city.
Mark Devereux Steve, if you had to figure out a line item topic for your ordering, and you wanted to order something that would contain communion cups and communion bread, what�s the general term, the overarching term, so we could figure out a line item?
You can�t say cups, and you can�t say, like, containers.
John Donohue Oh, you mean, like, the element holders? Mark Devereux Yes, yes, yeah. John Donohue I just say communion cups, right? Well, look it. You�re going to learn something. We�re going to change it.
You�re going to school me? Mark Devereux Uh-huh.
Remembranceware. Move over Tupperware. We�ve got Remembranceware. Mark Devereux. Uh-huh. There�s Remembranceware. Add dignity to your service with this lovely series of communion trays and bread plates.
Feature stainless steel construction, polished sheen, easy maintenance, and affordable prices. This is a great service. Remembranceware.
Hmm. John Donohue. Well, you know, it�s interesting because if we�re to add solemnity, you know, or what did they say there? Was it solemnity? Mark Devereux. Adding polished sheen. John Donohue. Dignity.
Add dignity. Well, I just think, you know, you say this at communion, and I think this is right, right? We are solemn about it. We do think of the Lord�s death during that time, but we forget about the joy that ought to attach itself there too, right?
Because we�re not, I mean, sometimes I think we take communion like it�s a funeral service.
Mark Devereux. Uh-huh, and Jesus already died and was raised from the dead.
John Donohue Right. Mark Devereux Yeah. John Donohue. We�re remembering his death. We�re not mourning his death, right? We�re proclaiming his death. Why? Because he died for our sins and then rose on the third day.
This is not a bad thing. This is not, you know, I certainly think it�s right in kind of an Isaiah 53 way to just sort of reflect on what he suffered for us and everything. But every single time we go to communion, it�s like you could hear a pin drop.
It�s, you know, it�s like there�s something going on.
Mark Devereux Steve, I think I preach three more weeks, three more Sundays before I go, and then you take over in your exposition of the gospel of Jesus according to John. And I thought, well, if I only get, if in two weeks I finish 5, 11 to 14, I won�t start six.
I�m going to do a whole sermon on communion. And then I think that is the first of the month, so that would lead right into it, but just think rightly. And, you know, I don�t know if it was I was taught this, you know, I just fell into this.
It�s like you�ve got to examine yourselves, you�ve got to look at yourself, you know, are you able to take it? Are you worthy? Did you live a worthy week, you know, in the last week or month or, you know, you�re still crabby towards your wife and all that?
I just don�t think I understood. Listen, we�re here to be reminded that no matter what our sins are, we Christians, we have a perfect Savior and we�re celebrating His life and His death and His burial, His resurrection, and that He finished the work.
It is a true, it�s supposed to be a celebration.
And instead, I think we too often come to it as, it�s just another law, right? Have you done this this week? If you haven�t, by the way, don�t take communion. Uh-huh. So let�s think of that.
All right. What if I haven�t been kind to my wife? To what degree does that kindness mean that I can�t take communion?
Well, nobody�s perfect, but if you meet the Andy Stanley standard, right, that�s.
Two weeks in a row, that�s a pretty good wraparound from yesterday�s show to today. Well, there was a situation in Corinth, and these people were acting in such an unloving way, and the people that were blue-collar couldn�t work different hours.
They had to work all day, and by the time they got to the banquet, you know what? The food was gone. These other people were drunk, and they were not being considerate at all. Well, I think that�s a particular deal there in 1 Corinthians 11.
But anyway, I know I�m not worthy to take. That�s why we�re celebrating the worthy one.
Well, you know, you just have to meet the standard. I know! Who�s standard? But, you know, it bleeds out into so many things. We really are what Pastor Bob likes to say, �Worksy people. We�re law-driven.
We want to know what the standard is, because we want to, in our own minds, we want to make sure we�ve gotten over the wall, right? We want to make sure we have exceeded whatever the standard is. We want to make sure that we�re safe.
And the problem is that the standard is perfection, and there�s no way we could ever reach it, not for a minute. If you think there has been a minute of your life where you perfectly loved God and loved your neighbor as yourself, I�m going to suggest to you that you�ve set your own standard and you didn�t meet the perfection that God demands.
Steve, finally, as you submit this order to CBD, make sure you give them our tax. Exempt number? Yeah, sure. I�m going to do that. And I think we�ll probably order some of the 1699 Oil of Joy set. Quote,.
�Since ancient times, those in need of healing and blessing have been anointed with oil. Equip your church elders, prayer ministry, and visitation team to perform this sacred ritual. Six one-fourth ounce vials, 100 unscented olive oil.
See, when you said 1699, I thought that referred to the year. I thought, you know, 1689 in London about this, and then the 1699 Oil.
I think Ebenezer Erskine was just a young lad at the time. I think he was about 19. Oh, this is the marrow. It�s the marrow oil. I�m reading that Scottish Federalism Erskine thing that I sent you, the Crisis Center deal.
I�m like, wow, this is unbelievable. Anyway, the Oil of Joy would help our, you know, our communion services to be more upbeat. Oh, definitely.
Definitely, yeah. Well, especially when we throw in the shawls.
I think we serve in the shawls. And by the way, I�d just like to know, this says here, �Celebration Cup, Water and Juice Communion. How much celebration can you do with juice? I mean, is that like, you know, association word game?
Celebration, juice. It depends on how old the juice is. If you catch my drift. If you catch my drift. Well, one last thing, order the large offering collectors, would you please, because those small ones ain�t hacking it.
Oh, yeah. There�s only so many checks you can put in one of those. It looks like a Halloween trick-or-treat bag.
Well, and it really embarrasses the people who just put their change in there, too, because it just rattles around. It�s got a brass bottle.
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 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.