Encourage Others

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.

The Lord's Day, Church Attendance, and Hebrews 10:25

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. Today�s show four, show far, have you ever been in a church where they took the show far out and blew it? Did you stay? Okay, true confession.

One time I was preaching through Joshua, and I got to Joshua, I don�t know, where is it? Six? I don�t know. Where do they march around seven times? It�s got to be Joshua 6, isn�t it, or somewhere? I know Joshua 5, there�s the captain of the Lord�s army.

Joshua 2 has some interesting things, but we�re thinking Rahab-ish. Anyway, I�m thinking Joshua 6, but somehow my mind isn�t working at the moment. Anyway, I had been to Israel, and I picked up a shofar, and then I blew the trumpet on the Sunday night service, but I�m not a Messianic Jew.

I think the only places they blow the shofar is a Messianic Jewish congregation, probably on a Saturday. How does that work out? If you were in Israel, and you were going to plant a church, would you plant a church and have worship services on Sunday, the Lord�s Day?

Well, people have to work. Well, that�s kind of what happened in the New Testament timeframe. That�s why in 1 Corinthians they had the rich people, and they�d sit around and eat all day on Sunday, and the poor people had to work, and they didn�t have the service and communion until later, and by then the rich people already ate too much and drank too much.

People say, well, the day of worship for the Jews and Christians is Saturday in Israel. Most congregations worship on a Saturday. Now maybe I would just get thrown out. Maybe I�m just, who knows, old-fashioned, but I don�t know if I was a pastor.

I think maybe it would be Sunday night. That�s when our services are, Sunday night. Nobody came. Nobody came. Well, on No Compromise Radio today, snow has stopped, by the way. This is shofar in the last two hours.

1, 2, 3, 4, I took a break, stretched my legs, and back here I�m just trying to power out four shows every week. We�re talking about not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, Hebrews 10, 25.

We�re in the middle of this discourse, and we�ve seen Jesus, a high priest, and since it�s all true, he says, �Believe. And if you do believe, keep believing, or the language he uses for �believe� is to enter and to draw near.

The language he uses to keep believing is found in verse 23, �Let us hold fast the confession. And then he says, you know, I want you to take time to think about how to stir one another up to love and good deeds.

And now we�re talking about don�t forsake the assembly. The monastic, Amish, solo, off-grid Christianity is not from the New Testament. It�s made up in your own mind for many reasons, including here�s some.

Church people are weird. Church people are offensive. Church people offend. Church people sin. Church people are hypocrites. Church people don�t have their act together. Church people are often immature.

Church people�the list goes on and on and on and on and on. But if Jesus loves those people�see where we�re going? Jesus loves the church. He loved the church when she was sinful, right? When people were still sinful, he loved them.

So he loves them now when they�ve got the righteousness of Christ, when they have the Spirit of God divine in them, when the new creation is in Christ Jesus, they�re regenerated, they�re adopted as sons, and they�re far from perfect practically.

Positionally, they are. They couldn�t be any more righteous positionally. And now we need to, especially in this case where there�s persecution, how do we stir people up to love? They�re so concerned about self, especially protecting self and feeding self and watching over self and kids.

What about loving other people? And so he�s talking about, well, on Sunday you get together because you�ll have bad days and you�ll be around other Christians who are having a good day and vice versa.

Love is a communal thing. It�s a community. My daughter, when we used to go to Grace Community Church, she was little and she would say, �Are we going to Grace to-moon-ity dad has to watch the Stooges.

Mom had to watch I Love Lucy. That�s why men and women are different, like people hitting each other and stuff. My kids would say the Three Stoogents. Ted Nugent's. I saw Ted Nugent on Monterey, Nebraska's State of Shock Tour, I think is what it's called.

Come a long way, baby. Virginia Slims. The word for forsake here in the text, it's a compound word with some intense atib to it. It means to leave behind. It means to abandon. It means to sever, separate.

The word we use in the military is A-W-O-L. Absent without leave. In the UK and Australia, it's A-W-L. Absent without leave. I don't know why we put the O in there. Maybe it's AWOL versus all. Gotta scratch all.

Absent without leave. In the military, you need a valid pass. You've got to have proper liberty or proper leave. If you don't and if you have an unauthorized absence, a UA, you can be listed as a deserter after 30 days.

You don't want to leave your unit. You don't want to leave your unit, especially if you want to avoid hazardous duty, according to this list. You don't want to leave your unit in a bad way. So, hey, what's this little note here?

I've got a note to myself. Note to self, right? The rider, I almost called him Paul. The rider wants you to think about other people. Therefore, if you're not around other people, how can you do this?

How can you do these things if you're not around other people? This is the Lord's day. And Jesus has completed all the work. Now the work that we do for other people, it's not meritorious in terms of saving us.

We're not going to be judged for those works. Do we have enough works to go to hell, to heaven, or do we have to go to hell? We might get rewarded for those works. 2 Corinthians 2, verse 10. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10.

I get that, but it's the Lord's day. You get together. You celebrate together and remind people that Jesus rose from the dead that day. And that Jesus is Lord, right, over the Sabbath. And that he's kept the whole law.

And that you look at that and you say, well, I don't care. I'm not going to go. I'm not going to get anything out of it anyway. I don't like the music. I don't like the pastor's tie. I had somebody say that to me once at the door.

I don't like your tie. I don't like your husband's tie either. They're not around. How can you show love for other people if you don't attend worship? You know me by now, No Compromise Radio. You know I'm not a fundamentalist.

You know I'm not a legalist. But I will say I know people. And it's sports. Sports Sunday. I don't mean go home and watch the Patriots. I mean you don't attend. I mean, dear friends, you work all night on Saturday night.

I still think you should be with the saints as they get together. They say, well, I don't want to go on Sunday morning. I go on Sunday night. I mean, okay. We can talk about all that. But you can't stimulate one another to love and good deeds if you are forsaking the assembly.

You've got to attend. Some probably weren't. Why was the writer writing this? Maybe because of persecution. Maybe they were on the run. Maybe they didn't want to be identified. Maybe they thought they'd be outed in the congregation by the congregation or some plant or some spy or something like that.

No, no. Even the church manual later in the first century, the didache said, quote, but be frequently gathered together seeking the things which are profitable for your souls. You bear the responsibility of taking care of other people in the body.

Don't forsake the assembly. It's where we get the word soon and then we get synagogue. Coming together as an assembly, the synagogue meetings, and then we probably use this just gathering together when the church gets together and assembles.

I even think that when you're on vacation, the way our family does it is we say, you know what? We're going to go worship corporately. It's the Lord's Day. I wanted my family to say, you know what? The question is not do we go to church?

The question is where we go to church. If we're someplace on vacation, we're visiting someplace, Sunday we're going to go worship with other saints. Once I think I was in the Czech Republic and it was, I don't know, ten people in the worship service.

Six were my family. Maybe a little bit more. There's another couple and then Lance and Sandy and their kids. That was about it. We were together and we sang some songs and I preached some. Furthermore, dads especially, when it comes to worship services on Sunday, you ought to be excited to go.

You ought to be excited in front of your kids and to set example for them. Maybe you go do something fun afterwards. I remember on Sunday nights we'd always go to the service at Grace Church and then on the way home we'd go get an ice cream.

It was like a 29 cent fake ice cream at McDonald's. Well, it was advertised as real, but who knows what was in there. If you're bored, if you're like, oh yeah, I gotta go to church. Bad example for your kids.

You need to go to church because you'll sharpen one another. Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. You have to do that in the context of being together, assembled together. I found a deal where it said there are good excuses for not attending church.

They used the set up where if you apply these excuses to eating, how does this look? I don't eat anymore because I was forced to eat as a child. People who eat all the time are hypocrites. There are so many different kinds of food I can't decide what to eat.

I used to eat, but I got bored and stopped. I only eat on special occasions like Christmas and Easter. None of my friends will eat with me. I'll start eating when I'm older. I really don't have time to eat.

I don't believe that eating does anybody any good. It's just a crutch. Restaurants and grocery stores are only after your money. You have to admit that's pretty good. Not because I said it, but because I didn't.

I just read it. Third A. There are three great theologians in church history. In the general church, the Catholic Church, Small C. Anselm, Augustine, and Aquinas. There are three great A's here that recognize the supremacy of Jesus the High Priest.

Agitate, that is stimulate or stir up one another. Attend, don't forsake. And number three, to keep the A's. A. Applaud. Applaud. Hebrews 10 .25. Not forsaking our own assembly together, as is the habit of some.

But here comes the A. Applaud. Encourage. Encouraging one another. And all the more as you see the day drawing near. Encourage one another. Struggles are real. Temptations are hard. Doubt. So you are around other Christians and then you encourage.

It's the same word where we get the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, coming alongside. Somebody to come alongside and to help them and encourage them. And to tell them that you love them. Tell them that the High Priest of all the universe, Jesus, loves them.

And keep holding fast. Hold fast. You need to encourage to hold fast. This word parakaleo, where we get the word Holy Spirit, the one that comes alongside. Used to be used even in ancient Greece, ancient Greek rather, to describe a military regiment.

And they're just downhearted. They've lost heart. And the general would go and talk to the ranks to get them fired up again. Enliven them, as the account goes. And this is the present tense. We just keep encouraging people.

I could ask you, when's the last time you encouraged someone? I often would write down a little post-it on my desk at the church office. Encourage. You know, I notice that. I notice you're behind the scenes.

And I know a lot of people don't know what you do with the chairs and with the nursery and behind the scenes. But I notice. Thank you for that. I notice you're always there in the kitchen helping. I notice that.

I know you're coming to church with a message just ready to teach Sunday school class if you need it. I notice you get here early just looking around for things to do. I notice that. Thank you. Good job.

And then when people are down and they're discouraged, we're here motivating them. There's no other hope. God is faithful. Everybody has good days and bad days. My day is good today. I'm going to encourage you on your bad day.

And you need to help and encourage others. This is not just for pastors, is it not? Or is it? Encouraging one another? How do you do that? Spurgeon said, it's not the work of the minister alone to exhort, but the brothers and the sisters too should exhort one another and seek to stir up each other in the faith and fear of God.

Chapter 3 talked about this encouragement. Don't harden your heart. Don't go back to Moses. The day is drawing near. I think I'll just pick two people here at the church you want to know about encouragement.

You go to Eileen Strong, ladies, and you watch her encourage. I mean, I think that's her middle name, Eileen Encouragement Strong. I don't think anybody at the entire church has encouraged me and my family more than Eileen Strong.

What a dear lady. And she comes alongside and encourage. When I think of other people like Fred Thiebaud, he's older now, can't do the things that he used to do, but he would encourage. And he encouraged mainly by behind-the-scenes faithful work when no one was looking and he wasn't looking for an attaboy.

Well, maybe he was, but it seemed like to me he wasn't. That's what you could do. Maybe there's those kind of people at the church you attend if you're not here at Bethlehem Bible Church. You go find those encouragers, those people that you just say, you know, these are the people.

They know how to encourage. I mean, everybody's good at some things and not good at other things, and some just excel in encouragement. And, by the way, you don't have to do it forever. Why? Because the day's coming.

The day is dawning. What's the text say? And all the more as you see the day drawing near. We have an approaching day. What's that day? The day when Jesus returns. Jesus comes back. Jesus is coming again.

That day, that last day, that eschatological day, that day of days, that day of reckoning, that day of judgment, the day of the Lord. You can't encourage people in heaven. They don't need it. Right? They're not walking by faith.

They're walking by sight. Now, some people will argue a little bit when it comes to the day, and they would say something about the day is 70 AD. I guess it could be that. I mean, it probably has something to do with it, the destruction of Jerusalem.

But I think the better possibility is the day where Jesus returns. And when you think about Jesus' return, there's an eschatological eschatology. That is to say, sorry, there's an ethical eschatology.

Eschatological eschatology means the same thing. Last thing, last thing. And now little children abide in him so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from him in shame at his coming.

Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him purifies himself just as he is pure.

That is to say, when you know Jesus is coming back, that's a motivator. That's a motivator. The day is coming. And of course, I don't think he means this day is coming, but you're going to be dead one day.

That day is coming too. So, dear Christian, Jesus is coming back. What are we going to do? Encourage one another. Applaud people. Way to go. Keep going. Keep believing. Or you should believe. We don't know when Jesus is going to come back.

We're watching. We're waiting. We're serving. And of course, you watched Jesus when he was on earth. He was the ultimate example of that. Jesus said, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.

You watch Jesus thinking of others, falling asleep in the boat, going without food for 40 days as he's tempted. He is the one who's serving. Jesus is the one who doesn't look out for his own personal interest, Philippians 2, but also for the interests of others.

He's the one that took on the bond, the form of a bond servant being made in the likeness of men, humbling himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. He's the one, Matthew 20, the son of man who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many.

If Jesus was in front of you, you would serve him, I hope. Would you not, dear Christian? Well, he's not here, but his body is, and that is the body of Christ, the church. And therefore, you can serve the body.

Matthew 20, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me, our Lord Jesus said, through the words of the king in that parable.

What a great opportunity we have. No wonder Romans 12, 1 says, I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, by Hebrews chapter 1 to 10, you could say, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

We've got work to do, and other people need us. When it comes to this section here in Hebrews 10, 19 through 25, what do you do that Jesus is a high priest? You trust in him. You believe in him. You enter and draw near.

Well, after you've done that, what do you do? You keep believing. You keep holding fast the confession of hope. And then what do you do for other people? Well, since there's a horizontal aspect to this, since Jesus isn't around, you love and serve others.

That's amazing. That's amazing that we have this here in the text. That's the right response. That's the right response when we realize Jesus was crucified for us, that he died for us, that he lived for us, that he was raised for us, and is exalted to show his preeminency.

Israel Trip, Mailing List, and Closing Announcements

Well, my name is Mike Ebendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. Just a couple minutes to go. We will have our trip to Israel, Lord willing, 2021. That is, not next February, but the February after that.

No Compromise Radio, along with Bethlehem Bible Church and Omaha Bible Church, will head for the last 10 days of February 2021 to Israel. We'll hit a lot of the sites, have some fun, hopefully have an extension to Rome.

And it's simple. Even if you live in the country and you don't live in Boston, I think we usually go to Newark and meet there. So you would be on your own. Well, I'd actually have the travel agent help you.

But you fly there, so there might be a little added cost, but just figure around $3 ,000, something like that, per person. So get your passports now. And you can email me, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

Say, I'd be interested. Could you put me on the mailing list? That'd be a good place to start. Depending on how many people we have depends on what the price is. But it's usually, if you say $3 ,000, $3 ,500, something like that, hopefully it's closer to the $3 ,000 range.

But I won't know until March or something next year. So put me on the mailing list, Mike. Mike at nocompromiseradio .com to go to Israel. You don't have to go to Rome after, but it sure is fun. It'll probably be a little more expensive to do that because it's a cosmopolitan city and the hotels are more.

But it's almost like being in Israel because there's so many interesting theological things and biblical things, too, with Titus' arch, speaking of 70 AD. And so, mailing list, mike at nocompromiseradio .com.

And if you've got a bunch of people, maybe you have a bunch of church people go. I think we have 48 slots, and so it will be first come, first serve. Pat gets 24 slots. I get 24. And then if we have extras and the other person doesn't, then we will stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembly.

And maybe we'll have a little service there on Sunday. We won't go on the Saturday service, or who knows, maybe we will. Anyway, my name is Mike Cabendroth, No Compromise Radio. If you have any questions, you can write me.

And if you're cool about it, even if you disagree, email me. If you're going to be kind of jerky, I won't respond. I like beef jerky, but that's about the only kind. Good to have you. Tell your friends about No Compromise Radio.

Tell them about the great Lord Jesus that you've been learning about in the book of Hebrews, the risen, exalted, soon-to-be-returning High Priest.

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 10 .15 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.