Christianity Today Rules

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, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth, and I�ve got to get some new headphone covers. They�re making my ears, there�s these black speckles that come off, and it makes it look like I have,

I don�t know. To be my age, you have hair growing out of your ears, on your ears, in your ears, and now

I have black speckle things too. Isn�t there a dream? Did Joseph have a dream about black speckled ears?

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com. In the old days, we used to get lots of email, lots of hate mail and encouraging mail.

Now we get no mail. I think the hate mail went away because they realized that we were too stubborn to change our views.

Maybe we got nicer. Maybe if we got meaner, we�d get more followers. I have no idea.

I do know that we could expand at the platform if we just went to more controversial stuff, but I�m not doing that.

I�m a pastor first, and that�s just the way it�s going to be. Now, I didn�t know what I was going to do today for a show, and then voila!

I just learned Beth Moore�s first name is Wanda in real life. Did you know that? I didn�t know that.

Wanda Elizabeth Moore. I just got this May 2019

Christianity Today. Sent here to Bethlehem Bible Church, Mike Abendroth, and I guess that means they want me to do a show on Christianity Today.

I did notice right away that there�s a new executive, a new president,

CT�s new president. His name, the old one used to be named, well, he�s still named, but the old one was

Harold Smith, and now it is Tim Dalrymple.

I don�t know anything about them. I did find out right away, though, there�s something called from Tyndale called the

ImmerseBible .com, and it�s for Presbyterian and United Reformed.

Oh, I�m sorry. It says Immerse the Bible Reading Experience. I said on Sunday to the church, and I�ll say it to you, if you listen to the podcast for all my sermons, then you�ve already probably heard this, but if you can get this down in your mind, it will help you for the rest of your life as you worship while you either preach or worship while you listen to someone preach, a man preach.

I just looked over at my Q &A book, written by Jimmy Swaggart.

He actually has some pretty good answers in there. I know he must have had a ghostwriter, in my opinion. If you can get this down, you�ll be set.

That is, Jesus is the subject of the sermon. The congregation is not.

Now, the congregation is involved because what the Lord Jesus does is very beneficial to us, and he helps ungodly and saves sinners and demonstrates his love, but we are not the subject of the sermon.

If the subject of the sermon is the people, you�re in big trouble. Life coach, mentoring, stress, what to do when life�s got you down, when you have black speckles from your earphones on your head, how do you work that out?

But if you can remember that, and you teach a Bible study, you teach your children the Bible, what is the subject?

The subject is the Lord Jesus, and of course, when I�m looking at the book of Hebrews, he, Jesus, is the subject of that sermon epistle that we have, an epistlatory sermon, a sermonic epistle.

So, if you can get that down, I think you�re going to be set. That will help you. If you�re at a church where the subject is you, it might feel good short term.

It might seem practical and relevant and apropos and pragmatic for some time, but it�s going to cave in.

Unless you�ve got the ImmerseBible .com, church period, small group period, book club period, school period, family period.

Now, I would have done church period, small period, group period, book period, club period, school period, family period, immerse period.

The powerful new way people are reading the Bible together. We�ve got to have the powerful new way, because the old way, where you open it up and read, that is old school.

You got to 86 that, baby. Jim Cimbala, he wrote that Fresh Wind California Pizza Kitchen Fire book, remember that?

What a tremendous benefit it has to the Tabernacle. Jim Cimbala, senior pastor. Now, here�s what it also says that I find very beneficial for us here at No Compromise Radio.

It says, �Economically priced, free leaders materials available in Spanish.�

So, Immerso Biblia. What is immerse in Spanish? I bet it�s some kind of baptism.

What do you bet? What do you bet? I�m betting that the word, let�s see. We�re going to do it right now here while we�re on live radio.

I�m going to just type in immerse in Spanish.

We�re going to get some Rosetta Stone kind of thing. Oh, submergirse.

There we go. It looks like summer jeers.

So, you submerge, but it�s submerge. You don�t submerge, you submerge.

All right. Well, I guess it wasn�t baptism. What do you think baptism is in Spanish? That�s a good question.

Let�s just do that. I think I know what this one�s going to be since it is baptism in Spanish.

What do you guess that is? Okay. Ready? I was having kind of a hard day until I just walked over here.

I was working on some other things on my computer. It�s May 2nd, I think, today in real time.

Remember May Day? We used to just get a bag of something, a box of something, something to go take to the neighbors.

May basket. Not a box or a bag. A May basket, right?

Don�t you need baskets? May basket. Yeah, that�s what we had. We had May baskets.

Baskets in Spanish is cesta. Oh, man.

So, anyway, here�s my point. Yes, it�s difficult to read your Bible, but I would encourage you to do that.

It might be hard to listen to sermons, but I�d encourage you to do that. You don�t need any new ways. The Spirit of God attends to His Word, and He doesn�t need any powerful new way of people reading the

Bible together. I don�t know if this is true or not, but my guess is you do it with kind of group think.

What does it mean to you? How does this apply to our lives? Et cetera. I mean, the big problem is going to be if you�ve got one of those, let�s say,

ESV journals. I�m not talking about journaling your thoughts, but just a

Bible journal. If you�re going to go through the book of Hebrews, I have one of the

Bible Hebrews journals, and on the left side, it�s the text, and on the right side, it�s blank. Now, if you were to look at that journal that I have, the notes that I have,

I wonder which one you would see because it�s going to be very insightful. Will I see a lot of things in there?

If you looked at mine, would you see a lot of thoughts that I had about myself and goals that I had and things that I needed to do or work on or experiences or I would relate this truth to my life?

Would you find that where I�m essentially the subject, or would you find notes about the text itself?

Oh, chapter 9, it says blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood, blood. I mean, in different spots, different verses, and that Jesus is the mediator.

What about chapter 8 in the New Covenant, and what kind of, you know, Jeremiah 31 cross -references this, and where does he quote that, and why doesn�t he quote the verse and then explain it like he does elsewhere, yet in chapter 8, he just quotes the

Old Covenant, excuse me, the New Covenant and the Old Testament. But I�m guessing the immerse thing, you really immerse yourself into it.

That�s my point. You immerse yourself into the study, and you�re part of it, kind of the where�s Waldo deal.

So, I can already tell right away, since this is trending across the country, it�s going to be bad.

It does have kingdoms, chronicles, poets, prophets, beginnings, and the one that says Messiah.

So, how would I immerse myself into the Messiah�s story? Poets and prophets, here we go.

Oh, turned the page on Christianity today. Trusted and loved. If you could have a little word association, trusted and loved,

I know it�s a phrase, okay, phrase association. What would come into your mind? Do you know the whole world over is using this, 235 countries and counting, and that�s the

NIV plus. That is the TNIV, whatever percentage it is, 27 % of the

TNIV, which is a disaster, a marketing disaster. I think they got caught up in a little fib as well, and then they pulled it, and then they jammed it back in, and now you can no longer get the

NIV 1984, which had some decent parts to it. It wasn�t my favorite, but it had some spots that were really good.

But now you can�t get that. And yet, it�s trusted and loved. How soon we forget.

There we go. It says here, Christianity Today, President and CEO, Timothy Dalrymple.

Editor -in -Chief, Mark Galley. What other names do I know here or recognize?

I�m just zipping through here. I don�t know any other name except Sesta.

Trusted, respected, called, be a chaplain in the United States Air Force. It�s got a lady there, and she�s holding the

Revised Standard Version of the Holy Bible, and she�s got something across her neck that makes her look kind of high -priest thing.

Anyway, I was telling somebody this story the other day. When I first got here in �97,

I thought I would like to serve my country, and I would be a chaplain. There is a

National Guard down the street, and so I went there and talked with them. My father served in the

Korean War. My grandfather did not serve because his foot was cut off and he was disabled.

They sewed it back on but poorly, so he had a limp and he couldn�t get through basic. His brother, though, was a decorated veteran in World War II.

He had all kinds of German helmets and swords and all those things. I would like to have those now. Uncle Al.

Al was the tough military guy. Anyway, I just thought it would be nice to serve and influence the men and women at the

National Guard. I did the interviewing, asked them if I could have access to the gun range, and they didn�t know why a chaplain would want that, and I told them.

I did not do it because I�d have to take six weeks off to go to officer training school in South Carolina.

I believe it was for the National Guard at the time. I think it still is. While I could get the time off,

I couldn�t get the time off then. I was brand new. I guess legally, I could have, but I just decided not to do that.

I�m wondering what would have happened if I would have taken that and where I would have ended up around the world in certain conflicts.

I never did it, but I appreciate the free country that allows me to do many things, including no -compromise radio.

All right. What else do we have here on this NoCo show today? Activate families in your church. That�s just what it says at the top of this ad.

I haven�t got to any of the meat of the thing yet. We just talk about this stuff. What do you mean activate families in your church?

There are some families at the church that we wish we could activate them. Now, I probably should be careful because I don�t know what people do behind the scenes, but let me just generally talk, and maybe some of you can be encouraged and some of you can have some motivation.

There are people that have been around the church a long time, but now first, let�s just talk about the new people.

If you move to a church or you go to a new church, and I don�t mean a building, but the people, and you would like to have a family environment, and you would like to have friends, and you would like to have one another, and you would like to have opportunities to serve others and to be served, depending on what particular time in life and cycle it is, then here�s what you don�t do.

You don�t show up just before the service and leave right when it ends and then never come back to anything else.

That�s the way not to do it. Now, you�re welcome to do that. It�s okay for you to do it. I greet you.

I smile. I say hello. But that�s about as far as it gets. That�s not a good way to fully immerse yourself.

You need to be activated. Now, there are exceptions

I�ve learned in life. Let�s say you�re in the military. Let�s say you have a job. Let�s say you have to get there right away.

Let�s say your boss is just letting you out for an hour and 20 minutes to go to church. Let�s say, let�s say, let�s say, let�s say you have an unbelieving spouse and you don�t want to cause a huge deal on Sunday and be there for prayer and then for Sunday school and then for Sunday morning and then go out to lunch with the other folks and then run some errands with the church people and then go to Sunday night and your spouse is like, �Hey, what�s going on ?�

I�ve always said to spouses who have an unbelieving spouse, then just tell them, you know, you love them.

You�re going to zip down to the church for church service and you�ll be home soon and if you�re the husband, you�re glad to take your wife out for lunch and if you�re the wife, you�ll be glad to make your unbelieving husband lunch or take him out or whatever you want to do, just something to be nice.

You�d hate to go to church, worship a service on Sunday and come home meaner. Because the unbelieving spouse will then think pragmatically, �Why would

I want her or why would I want him to go? They come back madder at law church.

Might as well come home nicer, right ?� And then they�ll think, �Well, you know what? They come home and they just are happy the rest of the day and they just are in a better mood.�

If that works for them, then we kind of go along with it. Get my drift? If you want to get to know people and you�re able, you don�t have any special circumstances.

You know, maybe you can�t do this because you get a ride, you�re a college student or something. But if you can, get there a little early, stay a little late, talk with people.

When it�s greeting time, don�t fold your arms and sit down and expect people to come over and talk to you. I mean, when

I hear people say, �Oh, the church is unloving.� We don�t get that rap much anymore. But you have to make an effort.

I know it�s our responsibility to love the people, et cetera. But if you just stand there during greeting time and cross your arms and wait for everybody to come over to you, after a while people, you know, the godly people will still come over, but those middle of the road ones will just go, �I might as well go over to somebody else who�s nice.�

Therefore, if you come to church and you make an effort, and if there�s a talent night, you show up.

If there�s a concert, you show up. If there�s a move, you show up to help move.

If there is a special kids activity, you show up. If there�s

Sunday school, you show up and some kind of luncheon or whatever. You just show up when you can regularly and you go out of your way to meet people.

I think that will make all the difference in the world. And ask yourself the question, �How would

I like to be treated when I walk into a new place ?� Do I want to be greeted and say, �Hello, and can

I help you ?� Do you need to know where the facilities are in the kitchen, the restroom? Or do you want to just say, �Well, you know what,

I want just people to stare at me and make me feel uncomfortable.� Therefore, you do what you want to be done to you.

And maybe the church that you go to is not very friendly, so you�re the friendly one. You�re going to change the culture of just being nice.

Anyway, I suggest that if you want to get assimilated, you just don�t show up on Sunday. Because that�s typically, and I know a lot of people, they just come on Sunday.

They want to hear preaching. They kind of want to do their thing and get home. I get it. But the ones that really get involved are the ones that are really, in my mind, the special ones.

Here this says, �Our family made cards for sick neighbors and friends to practice caring for others and learning about God�s heart for the least of these brothers and sisters of ours.

Take the Matthew 25 challenge. Bring Jesus� call in Matthew 25 to life through a week -long daily text message challenge, getting your congregation out of their comfort zones.�

I don�t really know what it is, worldvision .org. I guess you text people you don�t know. Sick neighbors and friends.

Of course, there�s nothing wrong with that. My to the ladies at church, and they�re exchanging quotes and they�re reading a book together, and what quote stood out, especially exemplifying the

Lord and His goodness. Anyway, I�m not against texting.

I might be against immersion, right? Immersion. What else is in here?

Reply. Responses to our March issue. That�s always fascinated to me when people want to respond and reply, and I think

I just turned the page. The Scholar�s Shelf, special advertising section. So, these are scholarly books that people have paid to advertise.

Colossians and Philemon, G .K. Beale. I bet you that�s actually good. Arabic Christian Theology by Andrea Stefanos.

I don�t have any idea what that is. Religion of Fear, story of how a

Pentecostal sect, the Church of God and the Union Assembly, a small splinter group of the

Holiness Church of God movement, evolved into one of the largest and wealthiest cults in America.

Wow! I�d be interested to read that. If ScholarShelf .com sends me a free copy,

I read it and then do a show on it. How about that? Hitting the

Marks. Barry York offers an experienced voice of practical application of Scripture. God has used him as a pastor, disciple, maker, church planter.

He�s not offering just theory about church. Barry gives the real deal, according to World Magazine. Hitting the

Marks. I didn�t know if that was Nine Marks. I didn�t know if that was Hitting the Marks, M -E -R -K, M -E -R -X.

I�m not really sure about all that. Okay, what are they on? Refocusing the

Great Commission. How can we redo that? How can we re -energize that? How can we get more people?

See, those are all the wrong questions. Okay, I think this is a really good part. Mike Abramoff here, No Compromise Radio. Tell your friends, remember we have that thing.

I don�t think I�ve rarely out of the 2 ,000 some shows I�ve ever asked for money. I don�t think I ever have.

You can go to No Compromise Patreon and give or nocompromiseradio .com and go to the giving thing.

I think we have 14 people helping give $199 a month. That�s what we�re up to. But if you have a rich friend, tell them.

Maybe they�ll like the show. That�s what we�re after. Faith of our mothers.

Okay, this is kind of cool because it�s a chart. When children have questions about their Heavenly Father, their first instinct is to ask their mothers.

Christian women tend to be more devout than men. All right,

I�ll just accept that. And they�re often tasked with the bulk of parenting duties. I accept that. But new findings from Barna Research detail the gap between moms and dads when it comes to many aspects of faith formation.

If anybody knows me, you know what I�m going to be doing right now. Faith formation. What am I doing right now that makes you think, �Oh,

I can tell. I already know Abendroth by now. I know what he�s going to do.� Faith in Spanish is fe,

F -E, and this is formacion de fe. Formation of faith.

All right, let�s find out. Whose faith influenced you among practicing

Christians? The mother 68%, father 46%. Fascinating.

I�m not shocked. I want it to be the other way around. I want both mother and father to influence the same.

Which parent offers spiritual guidance among practicing Christian teens?

Bringing together mother 63, father 53. Teaching the Bible, mother 66, father 50.

We�re talking about percentages. Discussing God, mother 70, father 56.

Teaching about God�s forgiveness, mother 66, father 47. Discussing the

Bible, mother 71, father 50. Teaching about religious traditions, mother 72, father 49.

Responding to faith questions, like what? Justification by faith alone? That�s a rhetorical question.

Mother 72, father 56. Teaching faith by setting an example. How do you do that?

Mother 73, father 71. So, do you see where that is? The moms do the talking, the dads do the walking.

See? See how that works? Encouraging church attendance, mother 79, father 64.

I mean, golf is on Sunday. If I had to look at this overall, it says,

Barner Research defines practicing Christians as those who, one, attend a religious service at least once a month, say their faith is important, and self -identify as Christians.

I mean, I don�t know how else they do it as this large company. I mean, that�s the problem. What�s a Christian? And whose definition are we using?

And if you�re going to talk to real Christians, born -again people, right? There�s no such thing as born -again

Christians. It�s redundant. What do you do? Hey, my show is up. This is Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio.

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.

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.