Discipline or Training (Part 3)

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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

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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.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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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

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

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My name is Mike Abendroth, and it is real time when?

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March 95th, 2020. I don't know how the world is going to respond to all this, what the future will be like in the next few years, but I'm sure some good things will happen out of it.

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We are here in the studio. You can always write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com. I think we have about 10 slots open for Israel.

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Before I thought, you know what? Israel's for sure a go its way in the future, February 24th, 2021.

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We'll see. I sure would like to go. I'm going to plan on it, but I think we need to be reminded, not as often these days, but still reminded that James 4 says, come now, you who say, tomorrow or today, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit.

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February 24th, 2021, we'll go to Israel with Omaha Bible Church and Pat Abendroth and have an extension, maybe into Rome.

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We'll spend 10 days there and then four days in Rome and we will sightsee and climb up Masada.

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Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while or a little time and then vanishes.

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Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that. If the

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Lord wills, we will go to Israel. As it is, you boast in your arrogance.

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All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows to do the right thing, that is, say the

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Lord wills and fails to do it for him, it is sin. Mike Abendroth here, No Compromise Radio.

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Today I want to talk a little bit about running a race of endurance.

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I've been in Hebrews, of course, and we're about ready to finish up Hebrews.

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I planned it out. As of today, I think I have three more messages in chapter 12 and two to four messages in chapter 13.

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With all the imperatives in chapter 13, I could make each one a whole sermon.

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I think there's like 10 that I've identified. I don't think I'll do that. I think I'll break it up a little bit. There's not 10 commandments, but there are 10 commands.

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I think they will, by June, be out of the book of Hebrews, which, as I look back, has been instrumental in the

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Lord helping me understand things like how does the New Testament interpret the old, Christ -centered preaching,

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Jesus the High Priest. It literally has changed my life. Isn't that what

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God's Word is supposed to do? Change your life. I have the privilege of studying the

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Bible for a job, but even if you don't have that privilege, what I would do if I were you, no matter what age you are, pick a book of the

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Bible that you're intrigued by, that maybe you don't know, or maybe you want to know more of, even something you're very familiar with, because even if you study a book that you're familiar with, you will realize the depths and the bounty found in Scripture as you dig in.

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Pick a book of the Bible. Say, you know what? For the next six months, I'm going to study that book, and I want to know it, and I want it to know me, as it were.

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And then, in six months later, start the next one, and we'll see, 33 years later, you'll have the

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Bible done. And if you never make it that long, like I'll never live long enough to preach through all the

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Bible, one day I'll see the Lord face -to -face, and it won't matter. That doesn't make me say, oh,

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I don't care today, but it just makes me not have to realize that I'm on a treadmill, and if I don't preach at all, then somehow

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I've dropped the ball. You are able to drop the ball as a preacher, but not because you don't live long enough to preach through certain texts.

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It was just last year that we had the

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Boston Marathon here in this time of year. Usually Patriots Day is when the

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Boston Marathon is run, and it was 2019, and a guy named Micah Herndon, 31 years old, ran the

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Boston Marathon in three hours and 38 minutes. It's usually run on a Monday. I don't know when it's run this year.

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I can't, I don't know with all the virus stuff. He started to cramp up in, oh, not even about 20 -mile

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Heartbreak Hill, but about 22 miles, and he didn't know what to do, struggling as he ran the last four miles.

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With 100 yards left to go, his military training, as the account says, kicked in, and he got on his hands and knees and crawled on the pavement to finish the race.

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He told the Associated Press, it was the longest 4 .2 miles I've ever run in my life. Last 100 yards on his hands and knees.

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It was kind of second nature, he said. They instill, the military does, an adapt and overcome attitude.

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Any situation you're in, that's what you do. Whatever adversity, whatever trouble you're in, adapt and overcome.

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I low -crawled until the right hamstring loosened up a little bit, so I was able to crawl the rest of the way.

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Pretty amazing. I was in a lot of the news stories, somehow finishing, even though you have to crawl.

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And the Christian race, I want to say this morning, as I'm here in the studio, it's a difficult race.

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It's hard. The Christian life, while wonderful, isn't always easy.

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And one of the reasons why it's not easy is because it's a long -term race. It's a long -distance race.

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And so, if you get saved at 20, you die at 60. It's a 40 -year race. If you get saved at 15 and die at 80, well, you do the math, right?

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65 -year race. If you get saved at 65 and die at 70, it's a five -year race. And so, I don't know if you've ever raced for five years.

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That is hard. It's difficult. And I think the author, especially the divine author, he knows how hard it is, and even the human author, of course, he knows, and he wants to write in a way that would encourage people to finish the race.

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And so, that's what we're talking about today, finishing the race, making sure you keep your eyes on who

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Jesus is. Sounds like every sermon of mine is about the same, but he does say, look to Jesus as you endure, right?

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Looking to Jesus, Hebrews 12, 2, the founder and perfecter of faith, consider him, right?

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Think about him a lot who endured. Jesus endured the race, and so you keep your eyes on him. And then remember what he did?

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He talked about correction. He talked about discipline in verses 5 through 11. Now, here's one thing that I want to elaborate on today that I didn't really do last time, but since I have an extra week to do it,

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I want to make that happen. When you look at Hebrews 12, 5 through 11, there's going to be a lot of talk about discipline, and I think often we would say, well, that's like divine spanking, right?

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When you think of discipline, maybe you think of a spanking, and that is a component of discipline that you'll see in the

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Bible. If you even look at the first couple verses in the section

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I just referred to in verses 5 and 6, my son did not regard lightly the discipline of the

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Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.

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So here's how we tend to think about discipline. David sins with Bathsheba. His son dies.

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That's discipline. I think if you read the book of Hebrews and say, you know what? All of a sudden, out of nowhere, he talks about disciplines.

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What did they do wrong? What are they getting discipline for?

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Of course, punishment doesn't exist anymore for the Christian because Jesus was punished in our place. Substitutionary atonement takes care of the wrath of God for Christians because you're not going to pay for your own sins and have

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Jesus pay for them both. Yet we seem to think that discipline means chastisement.

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We don't really know, right? If something goes wrong in your life, is it related to the fall?

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Is it related to cause and effect with other people? Do other people give you the problems? Is it related to your own indwelling sin?

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Is it the discipline of God? God's giving you like a divine spanking, as it were.

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I don't think we know the answer because we can't read Providence. I think it's fair if you were to say when you're going through a big trial,

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Lord, I don't know if this is chastening for any of my sins, but if it is, thank you.

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Help me learn from it. That'd be fair. Be careful before you go do that to other people, Job's friends.

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Here's the way you think about it. Discipline, the word discipline in Greek, unlocks it all. And it just means training.

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Okay, so now think about it. Put the two together. Run, run, run, run, run. When Jesus ran, you run behind him.

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And now, how does God get you to finish the race? He trains you. I've ran one marathon in my life, and I had to train for it.

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I guess I could go run 26 miles if my life depended on it, even now with a bum knee.

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It's either that or die, okay. I wouldn't run well though, and Jesus runs well.

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He wants you to follow him, the author, the trailblazer, the pioneer, and you follow him and you run well.

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Christian, run well. There are troubles in the world, run well. Remember the original recipients of this book.

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They were having their homes taken, thrown in prison. Things are difficult, and they want to revert back to the old covenant is what they want to do.

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And the Lord, the Holy Spirit, has this author preach this sermon.

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Hebrews is really a sermon, you know, run well, accept this child training.

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I want you to begin to think of the word discipline with the idea of training.

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Therefore, any trial that comes into your life, God has ordained, God has purposed to help you so you're more mature as you run the race.

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He's trying to get you to endure to the end, so he trains you as you go.

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The root word for discipline contains the word child, and it just means to instruct.

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It means to train. It means to correct. It means to educate.

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It means to inform a child so that they're trained, okay?

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Think of discipline as training, therefore you don't have to say, well, I sinned. Is it a chastening spankin' like a

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David got? Or I don't need to know if there's a cause and effect of my own sin.

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God is the one who's doing this, therefore, since he's a loving father, I don't need to know why.

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I need to know from whom. Here's another place that this word discipline is used, and now

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I hope you'll see the tie -in so you can start translating it in your mind to discipline, i .e.

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training. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for discipline,

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R -E -S -P translates it, training in righteousness. There you have it.

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Training children, disciplining children. This is educating children so that they're knowing how to act when they're older, so they can function in the world properly.

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Therefore, when you look at the book of Hebrews, persecutions, trials, difficulties, they're helping make you the recipients of the book of Hebrews into the people that God wants you to be so that you can finish the race.

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He wants you to endure. Of course, since Jesus suffered, it shouldn't surprise you that you have to suffer.

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It's just a little bit different. Jesus is a great example of suffering and a trailblazer in suffering.

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He's not suffering because of any sin in him. There is sinful world that will cause that suffering.

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The point is simple. Discipline helps. It helps train your mind, your will, your emotions, your character.

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It deals with training and educating. Plato said, education, discipline, same

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Greek word, is the constraining and directing of youth toward that right reason which the law affirms and which the experience of the best of our elders has agreed to be truly right, end quote.

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It's training. Trials are from the heavenly father. They educate you.

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They prepare you. They correct you and they mature you. I know

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God is not a mentor and a coach, but like a coach and like a mentor, he adds in certain regiments for training so that the person will run well, running well, enduring well through training.

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God uses trials, hardships, difficulties in a providential way for his glory and for your good.

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And this is not from a father who punishes out of wrath. This is a father who loves and wants you to run well.

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You say, well, how does all this work? It reminds me of Cooper's hymn, William Cooper. Looks like Cowper, but it's

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Cooper. God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.

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He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Ye fearful saints, take courage.

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The clouds ye so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.

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Discipline is the path to endurance. And so God disciplines, trains you. That's so wonderful.

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And this whole section here, say, well, God loves me and therefore he trains me.

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Don't say God doesn't love me because you're going through a trial. Did not the disciples in the boat essentially say the same thing when there's that storm that arose and the boat is being swamped by the waves and Jesus is sleeping and they wake him up saying,

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Lord, save us, we're perishing. We're going to die.

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Don't you care that we're perishing? Mark said, Mark's account says, we're in the act of perishing.

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And of course, they're not concerned about Jesus. They're concerned about themselves. You don't care. You don't love us.

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You're hard hearted, Jesus, and we're going to rebuke you.

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And I think they probably did it with loud voices, anxious voices.

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And Jesus said to them, why are you afraid? Oh, you of little faith. And he rose and rebuked the wind and the sea and that it was a great calm.

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What are you afraid of? Why are you so timid? Why are you so frightened? I mean, these are the fishermen.

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And he talks to them first before he rebukes the storm.

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And of course, you have to say to yourself, only the Messiah could do that. Only the anointed one. He is the Christ. He says, why are you afraid?

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Oh, of little faith, men of little faith, defective faith, a deficient faith.

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You need to understand who Jesus is in the middle of this. And for you to say, Christian today,

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God doesn't love me in the middle of this trial. Then you have deficient faith. You have little faith.

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Don't do that. I just understand from whom and why. He's helping discipline you, train you to run the race.

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And you don't have to be saying, well, you know what? He doesn't care for me. You don't have to fall into that trap.

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The disciples were afraid of not who God was, but they were afraid that they were going to lose their lives and that Jesus didn't care.

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Jesus rebukes the winds and the sea. And what happens? There was a great calm.

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Mark says, he said, be peace, be still. And the wind cease.

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That's amazing. Jesus isn't startled. Jesus commands the sea. And they knew something was going on when they said with Marvel, what sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?

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That is amazing. He makes the sea calm. They need to be thinking about him and who he is and what he's done and who sovereign over the wind and the waves.

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Only Yahweh. Think of Jonah. Think of Psalm 104. Think of Psalm 107.

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You're going to try to make this Jesus still in the storms of your life. I don't think so. It's a

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Christological thing. What sort of man is this? What's the point? You don't care, Jesus. No, you got to have the right view of Jesus.

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You don't love me, God. No, no. You have the right view of Jesus and he wants you to endure. He is the leader, the trailblazer and the finisher, and he wants you to endure.

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There's going to be a payoff later and it's going to be the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

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Does not Hebrews 12, 11 say that? Those have been trained by it.

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That's wonderful. If you say, why me? The answer really is because God loves you enough to help mature you.

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That's the why me question answered. Why me?

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There's a harvest of righteousness through all this. Don't get distracted as you're looking to who

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Jesus is. You need extra schooling. I was reading about the royal family.

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They don't just go to school like we go to. I went to elementary school, what you might call middle school or junior high, then high school and then college, and then you watch what the royals get in England.

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They have all these extra schools that they have to do. They have to go to military and they have different prep schools.

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There's extra training for royal children. Did you get that? Extra training for royal children.

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Did you get that? To run well, you need extra training, extra discipline.

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Let's try to move discipline away from a simple cause and effect.

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We did something wrong and God is therefore going to give us a spanking. I'm not saying that can't happen.

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I'm not saying that discipline can't be in the form of correction. I'm just saying it's hard to know if there's such a cause and effect as we read the tea leaves of Providence.

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Therefore, why don't you just go with what you do know? Here's what you do know. You're a Christian because God made you a

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Christian. You trust in the high priest who's seated at the right hand of the Father and that his

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Holy Spirit is going to train you and discipline you, not because he hates you, but because he loves you.

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Therefore, you can respond rightly. Suffering has purpose. Suffering has meaning. Difficulties, while no fun, end up helping us, not hurting us.

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You say, well, when my dad disciplined me, he was an ogre when he did it. Well, this is not God the Father.

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Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. You want to run the race well.

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You want to keep saying to yourself, how do I discipline myself? I mean, okay, let's just think about it this way.

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How do Christians die well? Well, of course, the Holy Spirit helps them and there's dying grace when you're dying.

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Not all Christians die well, but many do. How do they do that? All of a sudden, one day you just get dying grace, then you can?

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Okay. Could be. I think more so often would be God is training you to live well, to handle trials, and then once you do have to die, you're ready.

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You're equipped. You've been disciplined, trained, corrected, educated so that you might die well.

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That's what I think. Don't you? Seems to all make sense to me. Why am I even talking? You all agree with me as well.

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He, the writer, wants you to know you're in a race. Suffering has purpose.

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Why would you go back to the old covenant? That's technically what's happening in the book of Hebrews, but you could make this apply in lots of different ways.

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Maybe life was easier for you before you said you were a Christian, and maybe it was just easier to go to mass,

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Christmas and Easter, and just kind of go through the motions if you were a Roman Catholic, or maybe you were a liberal

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Lutheran and you said, well, you know what? I just need to, you know, my confirmation and baptism is enough and everything's fine and I have my life to live.

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There's lots of different ways you could kind of think about it, but knowing what you know, don't go back.

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Why would you go back when there's trouble and suffering, knowing that the trouble and suffering and persecution and difficulties and trials,

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God wonderfully, amazingly works to help you?

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Why go back? That's what he's trying to say. So, dear Christian, my name is Mike Ebenroth. This is No Compromise Radio.

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I guess I could say I am No Compromise Radio, but Tuesday Guy, Ben, Spencer, there are other folks that help,

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Jonathan, right, with the website, so I'm the voice of No Compromise Radio, right?

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I'm the voice. Maybe one day, Luke Ebenroth will be the voice. I was thankful to see

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Luke this week. He made the cross -country trek and we will have him on No Compromise Radio probably next week for a couple of interviews.

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It's good to see him, have all my family here during the lockdown. It's probably easier to be locked down when it's 45 degrees out and raining like it is today, but tomorrow

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I think it's going to be 63. We'll be outside and walking around and I don't know, do people wear masks where you are?

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Let's just make this as simple as we can or as direct as we can, as relevant as we can.

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You're in a lockdown. All the COVID -19 stuff is going on. You've got the quarantine. You've got the social distancing.

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I wonder what the Lord is teaching you. I wonder if it's because you did something bad. I wonder if he doesn't love you.

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I wonder if you ... See how that just does not make sense?

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Go back to the cross and you can figure that out. But he does love you and he has many purposes, maybe a million purposes for COVID -19.

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I don't know in different people's hearts and all that, but we do know it's a trial. God's training us so that we can endure to the end and follow the great

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Lord who is the author, the trailblazer, the pioneer of our salvation. Go ahead and write me if you'd like, ask some questions,

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Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com or info at NoCompromiseRadio .com. We just have a new

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YouTube release too, Femme Calvinism. You want to get that at YouTube, No Compromise Radio channel. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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.

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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.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.