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What does Matt Chandler have to do with Eschatology? Now, that is a good question.
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 it is, in real time, a Friday. It�s a Friday where I just broke this microphone, so when you hear a crashing sound, it�s not the stock market, or the mask mandate, or vaccinations, or anything like that.
It�s just this microphone. I don�t know how to fix it. I kind of jury-rigged it a little bit, jimmy-rigged it. I think that�s kind of against males, jimmy-rigged. Why is it not joney-rigged? I joney-rigged this.
I juley-rigged this. See how these things work? It just never seems to work out. Now, what do we have on? I almost said on tap today, but that would be root beer. I was reading something on the Christian Post, and by the way, I�m probably, I guess I�m more sane since I don�t do a lot of Twitter activity, although I scan Twitter just to see what�s going on, and my impulse is to go after, to get, to expose.
But I guess there�s enough folks in the world that do that, so I don�t need to do that, but I want to. Matt Chandler identifies two non-negotiables for pastors to lead well in an increasingly hostile culture.
The veritable Christian Post. Two non-negotiables. Okay. If you would like to lead your church, your pastor, through these difficult post-COVID times, what are the two non-negotiables? Congregation, if you�re not a pastor, and you think your pastor is going to be a good leader and lead you through these difficult times, what would be the two non-negotiables?
Any idea? Well, maybe I�ve just figured this thing out. Maybe I did. I did figure it out. I was putting it in backwards. Well, it�s going to have to work right now. I just can�t touch the microphone. Two non-negotiables.
All right. Well, I�m going to see if I can find it on this article. First, oh, there it is. Matt Chandler, �Fight for Unhurried Time with Jesus. What does that mean? �I�m fighting for unhurried time with Jesus.
Well, I guess he does explain it. By the way, if you�re listening today, that�s just sappy to me. That just� I don�t think John Knox talked that way, Zwingli, Olivianus. Chandler, it�s one thing to kind of create space for study your Bible or to write a sermon or to do deep work.
That�s what he does. Matt�s doing deep work when it comes to studying the Scriptures. So deep, only Matt knows, Matt Chandler. It's another thing, he said, to say, �I want to fight for, and I will want to find unhurried space where I can just linger with Jesus.
Do you have to let it linger? I�m lingering. �Linger on. I think that�s an R .A .M. song. All right. Well, this part, this part�s true. �Thanking, praising, asking for gratitude to be stirred up in my heart, remembering who I am in Him, remembering He called me into this so He won�t betray me.
He won�t abandon me. Well, that�s very man-centered there. Remembering who I am in Him. How about remembering Him? How about remembering His person, His character, His works, His attributes, His promises, His faithfulness, His soon return, His prayers?
That would be better. �He called me into this so He won�t betray me. He won�t abandon me. I do a lot of dumb stuff in my life, but I�ve never thought, �Lord, are you going to betray me? Are you going to abandon me?
Maybe I just work differently, but I�ve never, ever thought that way, nor do I want to. Matt goes on. �And just sit there and listen. That�s spooky-ville. This is Halloween right here, where you listen.
You linger, you listen, and you�re not doing your deep work at the moment. You�re doing your listening work. This is kooky. Of course, I would never recommend Matt Chandler or his ministry or his I don�t think a lot of policemen will either, policewomen, as many of them left.
I don�t know if they�ve all left or come back. When Matt says certain things in his race-baiting things, in my opinion. �And just sit there and listen, and that will reveal all sorts of other things that are going on in your heart that then the Spirit of God can deal with that I think will really embolden and strengthen ministers of the gospel.
So, if you�ve got two non-negotiables, �Dear Pastors, if you would like to really move forward boldly in these days of post-COVID -19, you just sit and listen and linger. That is so stupid. I don�t even know what to tell you.
I mean, I knew it was going to be before I even read it. I thought, �I�m going to start the show off with what he says, and I know it�s going to be dumb because he�s got a track record of that, in my opinion.
See, I say that in my opinion. Here�s the second one. Could it be better? Could it be worse? Then listen and linger, instead of doing the deep work? Have you ever heard a deep sermon from Matt Chandler?
Maybe when he was on the Elevate, you know, whatever that code orange deal was, out of all those sermons, at least Matt tried to teach the Bible. The second non-negotiable is, okay, ready? These are non-negotiables for pastors to lead well in an increasingly hostile culture.
Okay, drumroll. I�m not going to drumroll on my desk here today because my jury-rigged, Jimmy-rigged, Joni-rigged microphone is going to fall apart. I�m always going to fight for transparency with my inner circle.
He's got two trustworthy close friends, and he�s going to show them budgets and tax returns and all that stuff. Here�s what he said. Those guys have seen my budget, they�ve seen my tax returns, they know when my wife Lauren and I are trying to navigate something, they know when I�m frustrated or concerned or worried about a kid, they know when I feel like I�m crushing it.
What does that mean? I feel like I�m crushing it. Not that I�m being crushed, but I�m doing a great job. They know. My friends know when I feel like I�m doing a great job. And when I feel like I�m not, well, I don�t feel like I�m crushing it.
I will copy the select group of men on emails that I�m in that seem to be growing hostile so that they serve as a buffer for what the compulsion of my heart is versus how I probably need to behave as a pastor to a member.
Remember when Matt was caught on audio saying things about the person that wrote the anonymous letter and how he acted? I�m not sure if he was transparent then on purpose, but he was transparent because it was all caught on audio.
I do know this, if I lived in that area where the village church had its multi-campuses, I wouldn�t be going to a church where the pastor says the two main things, non-negotiables for pastors, is to fight for unheard space with Jesus to linger and listen and then have transparency.
I don�t see any of those in 2 Timothy� I mean, and if he said 2 Timothy 4, preach the word, 1st chapter of Colossians, verse 28, �Him we proclaim. I wouldn�t bat an eye. If he talked about, I�d like to live a holy life because God is holy, I want to be holy, and pastors need to live by example, I wouldn�t mind that.
I wouldn�t say it as the only two, but I wouldn�t mind it because I would realize they�re from Scripture. Transparency and lingering here on No Compromise Radio Ministry. Having unhurried time with Jesus.
If you want to talk about devotional life of a pastor, fine, but his devotional life, at least based on the quote here in the Christian Post, isn�t so much about who God is, but who I am in Him, and thankful that He wouldn�t betray me or abandon me.
He did say that God created us for this moment, let�s step into it with all the zeal of those who understand how the story ends. If the church believes it�s over and we�ve lost, and it�s over, what an opportunity we just squandered.
People are more lonely, desperate, secularism has been exposed as lacking, our sexual ethics is starting to show its cracks in its ideology, what an opportunity to step in and be this plausible structure.
What�s that mean? You hire the black six and not the white seven, is that what you mean, Matt? That can be different than you see it, life can be different than you know it, and here�s a group of people that embody that and believe in it and pray and worship and love one another in a way that shows you there�s something better than the life you�re in.
I mean, shouldn�t he know better? This is some kind of lifestyle evangelism. I�m going to live my life in such a way where people are like, hmm, there�s a better life than that. I�m not against adorning the gospel, I�m not against silencing critics with holy living, I�m not against that at all.
But we have to tell people about who Jesus is, and a life that�s different, and embodying it and praying it, it�s all man-centered, because that�s what that is, it�s a village man-centered deal, and I just don�t have any time for that.
It�s inevitable that pastors are going to get beat on in today�s culture. Well, Matt, here�s one more beat on, because you ought to be more biblical than this, and if I say something dumb, I hope you try to beat me up.
I don�t mean physically, although I think he�s a pretty tall man, younger than I am. You�re not going to be able to lead in such a way where you�re not misrepresented. That day is gone. You�ll be misrepresented and misunderstood, and you want to reframe that as a blessing that Jesus said it was.
So, dear Matt, if I could bless you and tell you in all honesty and sincerity that you need to rethink your non-negotiables, they need to be more Christ-centered, and you need to talk in a more Christ-centered way about the personal work of Christ Jesus, and be like Paul in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2.
Your non-negotiables need to do that. They need to start with that. We need to understand what law of gospel is and different covenants, and you need to just redo this whole thing. This whole idea of people misunderstand and they say things bad and all that, well, you know what?
If you want to be a national pastor and put your chin out, then you better get ready for it and not give me this kind of tone police stuff afterwards. What a privilege to endure hardship for the sake of the King and then boldly step into the call to radical discipleship, the call to radical surrender that he�s called us to, that now comes with a cost.
We will suffer, but through worship and prayer, fasting and confidence, we will overcome and conquer. Well, more law. On Mike Abendroth�s no-co-radio today, our no-co-radio, I, Mike Abendroth, going to talk about myself in the third person, like Bo Jackson, wouldn�t you hate that?
On Mike Abendroth�s no-compromise radio. Who does that? Who talks that way? I�m not saying Matt did that. I�m just in that mode right now. If you want to email me, mikeadnocompromiseradio .com. I get some emails.
In the old days, we used to get the hate mail quite a bit. Haven�t received too many negative emails these days. Spencer probably, if you�re caustic and you�re going to be a jerk about it, then they don�t make it through.
But if you just want to say you disagree, the latest one I received was, I can�t remember her name, a lady who even said she had some of my books. My Paul Washer critique was essentially, my perspective as I read her email was it was out of bounds and that she�d checked things with her husband and with her pastor and then sent me the email.
It was a long email and that I was supposed to go to, if Paul Washer wouldn�t take my phone calls, to drive to Virginia to talk to him. And that�s when I pretty much said, this person, while maybe their heart is in the right spot, they don�t really understand the scoop.
By the way, Paul Washer hasn�t contacted me. I don�t think he will. And if you�d like to send me one of his sermons where he�s not scolding people and actually teaching the Bible, I would watch one. I would watch one.
But I will also use clips from people that scold to remind people that we don�t scold anymore. You find some of my old sermons where I scold and you say, �Well, look at you. I�m going to say, �I don�t want to do that anymore and that was wrong.
Don�t do that. I was wrong. I was wrong. Scold the word. What you need to do is if you have a scolder pastor and you love him because we all love people that aren�t perfect, right? And that�s a good thing.
I mean that sincerely. By him, Why Johnny Can�t Preach by T. David Gordon and say, �You know, I heard this crazy guy on No Compromise Radio and he�s a homiletics professor, a preaching professor and he always makes his students read Why Johnny Can�t Preach.
And it�s a good reminder, easy to read. I think I read it in one setting the first time and it�s a good book and it�s got good sections in there about scolders and maybe he would take it to heart and not scold.
My problem when I was younger and a scolder is it was baked in the cake and I couldn�t really see it, right? If somebody would come to me and say, �You know, you�re scolding people. It�s legal tincture, a legal temper that you have there.
And what about gospel tincture and what about good news and what about encouragement and what about bruised reeds and what about wicks that need no snuffing out? What about that? I probably would have scolded you, an insured smoker�s cough.
I�ve been trying to push the limits of this whole mask mandate. Lowe�s doesn�t care, grocery stores don�t care, coffee shops don�t care, the restaurants, they care. They walk me over five feet and sit down and they say, �You�re good.
�Oh, but we should be praying for our brothers preaching the Word in Canada. You know, you think Canada is some kind of western country, yikes. Well, that�s a long intro to No Compromise Radio Ministry, but today I�d like to talk about something more than just what not to do.
And on a positive side, if you�ve got a pastor that encourages you by preaching Christ Jesus weekly from the Word of God, you should encourage that guy. Those guys are not a dime a dozen. They are very, very hard to find.
And for somebody to understand law gospel and sanctification and who�s not a Wesleyan, a functional Wesleyan, gifts to giving more law, you ought to be praising God from whom all blessings flow, including giving you a frail, fallible pastor like that.
I�ve been studying end times lately. Got my charts done. Got my graphs done. I�ve been studying end times lately, and so many people want to know when Jesus is coming. What are the signs of the coming of the Lord Jesus?
And so I began to study some date setters. And date setters, guess what they do? They set dates when Jesus is going to come back. The earliest one that I could find, and I didn�t do much digging, but I did some, was in the year 500.
And they did some dimensions on Noah�s Ark and calculated it would be the year 500. There are many people who said at the year 1 ,000 that Jesus would come back. The Millennium Apocalypse, January 1, 1 ,000, and you can imagine why people would do that, just like with all the whole, you know, 2 ,000, Y2K stuff.
1524, people looked at Pisces alignment and thought, you know, this is the sign of the Millennium. 1525, Anabaptists were saying, you know what, this is when Jesus is coming back. Mathematics came into play when mathematicians calculated that 1533 would be the return of Jesus.
A man named Archer calculated 335 years after the reign of people in Daniel and all this would be 1700. The Richard Brothers, a Richard Brothers rather, was a retired sailor and he said it would be 1793.
That was before they put him in the insane asylum, but they did. George Rapp, he was the founder of the Harmony Society, and he said it was going to be 1829 that Jesus would return. And his last words to his followers were, if I did not so fully believe that the Lord had designated me to place our society before his presence in the land of Canaan, I would consider this my last.
William Miller, Millerites, some of you may be familiar with those Millerites. Some of the Millerites went on to get the Seventh-day Adventist sect going. 1844, William Miller, Jesus would return. Charles Taze Russell, Watchtower Society, Jehovah's Witnesses, would come to be known that.
Russell Taze, Charles Taze Russell, I call him the Tazer, Charles Tazer Russell. 1874, I got some bear spray the other day. I don't think I'm ever around bears, but I figured if it'd be good for bears, it'd be good for people.
That if a bear was going to attack me, get the spray out. Where's that spray? How do you pull this, like, release valve? And then, you know, I guess if a person was trying to attack you, that'd be better.
I talked to somebody recently, and they're trained with all kinds of gun safety, and this particular person told me that, you know, you have to be careful because you just can't shoot people, right? And he said a guy pulled out a knife and asked him for his wallet, and he had his gun on him, and he said, I could have shot the kid, he was just a punk.
But I just gave him my wallet, because there was 20 bucks in there, because I don't need to shoot somebody for 20 bucks, and so I just gave him the 20 bucks. A normal person doesn't really think that way, but when you're trained, I guess you think that way.
Herbert W. Armstrong said many different times that Jesus would return. 1972, you've got to get to Petra, because three and a half years later, he's going to show up. I think he said in 1940, he said, three and a half years after the Tribulation would come, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Harold Camping wrote 1994, then he wrote 2011.
And so the question really is not when is he going to return, because we don't know. We can't study current events and then know for sure. We can have some general ideas of what Jesus said, but I think more important than when is who.
The focus on No Compromise Radio today, in the next couple days, is going to be the focus on the person of the Lord Jesus. Not looking for signs, but what do we know about who God is when it comes to the Second Coming?
The key to unlocking end times is not when, but who. Did I already say that once or twice? Okay, let's put it this way, then. God-centered thinking, triune God-centered thinking. And as you begin to think about the end times that way, I hope it filters into every other way you think.
That's a bad sentence. I want you to think in a God-centered way in all areas of your life. That's a better way, right? We just auto-correct as we go. And there's really nothing like studying the nature, the attributes, the essence of God Himself.
Spurgeon said the proper study of the Christian is the Godhead. The highest science, the loftiest speculation, the mightiest philosophy which can engage the attention of a child of God is the name, the nature, the person, the doings, and the existence of the great God which He calls His Father.
There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the deity. It is a subject so vast that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity, so deep that our pride is drowned in its infinity.
Other subjects we can comprehend and grapple with, in them we feel a kind of self-content and go on our way with a thought, Behold, I am wise. But when we come to this master science, finding that our plumb line cannot sound its depth and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with a thought, I am but of yesterday and know nothing.
No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind than thoughts of God. And that's what we need, especially if we are prone to pride and prone to self-righteousness, which I think both of those would lead or lend themselves to predicting and trying to figure out when.
We need sober thinking. To use 2 Peter 3 language, we need pure minds, sincere minds, sober minds, unadulterated by scoffers who say, where's the promise of his coming? And therefore, on this show, we're just introducing it, but the next show especially, we're going to talk a lot about thinking about the person and work of our triune God, the persons and the work of our triune God.
Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might. Let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts, boast of this. Are you ready? That he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for I delight in all these things, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah chapter 9, verse 23 and verse 24. And with Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles 20, O our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us, nor do we know what to do, but our eyes, our eyes are on you.
Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can always order Sexual Fidelity online and get a free copy of Things That Go Bump in the Church, no charge added on. So $13 .99 with shipping, both books, God bless you.
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.