Teenage Survey

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.

Book Promotion and the Teen Bible Reading Survey

Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. Mike Abendroth here. We have been happy with the book sales, Sexual Fidelity, No Compromise. If you wanna get Kindle, you can go to the Amazon site, or if you want a $3 deduction, the promo code is 1517, 1517.

That's when Luther nailed the 95 Thesis to the door at the church there in Wittenberg, and you can get $3 off. You need to go to nocompromiseradio .com, that website, and you'll see, if you scroll down a little bit to the right, you can get the info to get the book.

If you wanna buy them in bulk, you can just email me, mikeatnocompromiseradio .com. Well, I found something about teens and reading the Bible. This is, I wasn't gonna do any more shows on about Christianity today, but I just pulled this out for that same magazine that I was talking about last time.

How Teens Read the Bible. Nearly all practicing Protestant teens and adults in the United States own a Bible, and nearly, or in three quarters, read scripture weekly or more. Interesting. According to a recent survey by the American Bible Society and Barna Group, here's how the two age groups line up in other areas based on their responses to the following statements.

I like gleanings. I like stats. I like surveys, but it's interesting why I like them. It's probably in a schadenfreude kind of way. The Bible's main message is the story of who God is and his desire to have a relationship, bold, with the people he created.

75 of teens say that, while only 48 of adults. The Bible's main message is the story of God, who God is, and his desire to have a relationship with the people he created. What do you think? What would you say?

Would you say anything about Jesus, suffering servant, sacrificial lamb, great high priest? I don't care if you're using Old Testament typological things or prefiguring types. I don't care about those.

We were designed to have relationship. Now, it is true that there's relationship that we have. That's true. But is it his desire to have a relationship with the people he created, or is it about his glory?

The triune God, loving one member of the Trinity, loving the other members and vice versa, and consumed with one another, friendship with one another, love toward one another, intimate relationship with one another, and then how do we figure in?

That's the theme of the Bible. I want a relationship with you. Who's God? He wants a relationship with me. At least half the adults had some clue. The Bible's main message is that God is love. 18 teens, 40 adults.

And in Isaiah 6, he falls to the ground, does Isaiah, and the seraphim are swirling around. Some cover their face. Some cover their feet. Two, they flew. Two of the wings, they flew. And they said, with antiphonal refrain, all you need is love.

Wah, wah, wah, wah. It's so stupid. I'm very thankful for the love of God. When I think about how bad the world is, God's love is so much greater for God loved the world in this way. That talks about great love.

He demonstrates his love toward us while we were yet sinners. It's a continual demonstration. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. To be loved. It's awesome. I get it. I like it. I love it. I love to be in love.

I love to be loved. I'm loving it. The main message, but see, don't these two go together, relationship and love? I'm gonna have relationship, number three. The Bible teaches that the truth will set you free.

I used to get this Roman Catholic newspaper every week sent to the, or every couple of weeks to the church here. Church building, no compromises. Hub, that is Bethlehem Bible Church. And they use this as their tagline.

You know, no compromises from Galatians and always biblical, always pro. I could have always in that order. And you know, you need a Bible verse or some. Where is this verse? I know where it is. I just can't get my fingers to do the walking.

Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. They answered him, we are the offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone.

How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them. Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever.

So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham, yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I seek what I have been, I'm sorry. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father.

Abraham's our father. And the passage goes on. The Bible does teach the truth will set you free. And what will it set you free from? Is this a Martin Luther King Jr. deal? No, this will set you free from slavery to sin.

Gleanings, page 14, christianitytoday .com, March, 2016. How teens read the Bible. Number four, quattro, high anxiety, high fear. The Bible contains everything a person needs to know to live a meaningful life.

88%. Teens, 85 adults. Got everything you need to live a meaningful life. Gotta have purpose-driven life. A lot of Bible in the purpose-driven life. A lot of message in the purpose-driven life. There's a 25 million of those floating around.

Did you know that? Sold more than, not the Bible, although that would have been tragedy. Sold more than Pilgrim's Progress. I know. Meaningful life, I need a meaningful life. Do you know back in the old days, people were too busy to be bored and to contemplate their navel.

Do I have meaning in this life? What do you mean do I have meaning in this life? The cows need milking. The fields need tending. I have to prepare the meal for my family morning, noon, and night. I've got to plant, hoe, water, shoot.

I know, that's not slang, that's not Christian slang. Slang there, that's, I've got to shoot things, kill them, to eat them. I don't have time to contemplate. Is my life meaningful or not? Number one, two, three, four, five.

The Bible has too little influence in US society today. 78 of teens said that. Too little influence. So I guess 22 think it's just about right. Or it has no influence. Who knows how they phrase these questions.

Next, politics would be more civil if politicians read the Bible regularly. 93 of teens said that they would be. 81 of adults. Maybe the teens the survey would reveal are optimistic, hopeful, the adults know better.

And then busyness is the number one reason for not reading the Bible. 71 of teens and 42 of adults. I'm too busy. And as we've tried to say on the show before, no Devo's, no breakfast. No, I didn't say that.

That's what another group up here says. I just try to get up in the morning. And there are some exceptions to this, but I try to get up, have a cup of coffee, start with a coffee, go sit down, read the Bible.

Check the news, see what's going on, read the Bible. Then that's how my day starts. All right, what else do we have here? Interesting, how teens read the Bible. I have three teens. I have one who's in her 20s now and I have three teens.

I should ask him these things. That'd make good radio. I've had Luke on the radio before. I'm still trying to get, she's not a teen. She's my wife. I'm trying to get Kim on. I said I'd get her on. And she didn't really want to too much.

One of Kim's pet peeves in life, women preachers and teachers. When they're not doing what they're supposed to do, she don't go for that. To quote Hall and Oates, no can do. I can't go for that. On average, I sit and read the Bible for, what would a teen say?

22 .8 minutes. That's pretty good. On average, teens read the Bible 22 minutes a day. These are Bible reading teens, by the way. 35 minutes for adults. I don't know who's interviewed, but that strikes me as high.

That's high. I'm not talking about how many no-compromise radio ministry shows you listen to in a day. But just sit and read the Bible. 35 minutes for adults. Well, I commend you. Good job. Teens, 22 minutes.

I commend you. Good job. All right, how about this one? I wish I read the Bible more. That's M-O-R-E, by the way, for you Southern Baptists. 96 of teens said, I wish I read it more. The other 4%, maybe they read it too much.

Maybe they don't. Time's elastic to them. Time is a human flourishing device, unit of measure. How many percent of the adults said they wish they read the Bible more? I don't know of one Christian who doesn't say, I wish I read the Bible more.

I've never met anybody. But 84 of adults said they wish they read the Bible more. The other 16 are on the links. Oh, okay, this is, you can tell. You can tell this is an age deal here. I would rather read the Bible in print than on a device.

67 of teens want to do the godly thing with the real deal. And 78 of the adults would rather read it in print than on a device. I kind of go back and forth. I have a great Bible from evangelicalbible .com that we'll talk about, or I have talked about, because it's such a great Bible.

But once in a while, I read the, sometimes I just, even when I want to just, if I'm doing dishes or something, helping Kim with some housework, and I'm alone thinking, how could I serve her today? I'll just do something around the house.

I turn on the Bible and just listen to it. It happens to be on my Bible app, so there you have it. There's something to be said for a real Bible, though. It's my age, I think. No Compromise Radio, Mike Cabendroth, Gleaning's How Teens Read the Bible.

I would rather read the Bible on a smartphone or tablet. 26 say yes, 13 of teens, 13 of adults say yes. When I'm in the hospital, and I need to read the Bible to people, because if I go there, I'll read the Bible, I'll say, let me just get out the Bible.

I'm not checking my email, but I'm gonna scroll down and read from the Bible. I prefer the New International version, 40 teens, 20 adults. Would that be NIV -84, or would that be 2011, the jacked up version, when you take the TNIV and jack it in there, jack it up in there?

I prefer the King James version, 20 of teens. I mean, who, what teen prefers the King James? Seriously. Are they looking over their shoulder at their mom and dad at the Bible Baptist temple, church?

41 of adults. I still think that's high, too. I don't know, who are these people? The Bible is available in all the world's languages. 68 of the people say yes, of teens, and 68 of adults say yes.

CT says, hint, it's not. Well, it's in a lot, and I know there are indigenous tribes and dialects and things like that. In the news, how teens read the Bible. If you're listening, I know we have some teens listening today who do read the Bible.

I commend you for reading the Bible. Get a plan, tell them. This is a true story. Tell them, Pastor Mike at No Compromise Radio says, if I read the entire Bible, if I was his kid, I would get $100 because when his children finished reading the Bible, all the Bible, doesn't matter how long it takes, you get 100 bucks.

100 smackaroos, 100, you get a $100 bill. That's what you get in my house. I have four children, and I'm not gonna tell you who's cashed in and who has not. Sound like Steve Cooley there for a second.

A Sermon Letter About Quitting the Ministry

100 bucks. If you're reading the Bible, excellent. Keep reading your Bible, and read it over and over and over and over. Sounds good? Sounds good. You can write me, Mike at NoCompromiseRadio .com. This is seemingly a different subject because it is a real letter related in a sermon by John MacArthur, Jr.

Talking about pastors now. So the first 14 minutes we did Bible reading. I don't know what else to say about Bible reading. I would commend it. I don't know why I have a cough today. Don't have a cough.

I could do other things, but I've got this temptation to quit the ministry. You know what? I'm gonna belay that order, I think. How do you fill 15 minutes? 500 things your minister tried to tell you. I have this booklet.

500 things your minister tried to tell you. Hmm, what if I just open it up randomly? What would happen? Would this be a good show? Resignation and faith behold God in the smallest hair that falls. And the happiest life is that of him who has bound together all the affairs of life, great and small, and entrusted them to God.

James W. Alexander. Hmm, okay, let's try another one. Random for 200. It is possible to love your friends, your competitors, and even your enemies. It is hard, bitterly hard, that there is a long distance between hard and impossible.

Herbert Welch. So far we're O for two. Neither of those your minister, Mike Ebendroth, tried to tell you. Neither of those. Christian evangelism is not a call to occupy the rocking chair of grace for the rest of one's natural or unnatural life.

It is a challenge to take to the road in the discipleship of him who will be forever on the road until the last man and the last area of life are redeemed. Ooh, who made this? This is dumb. Let's find out who published it.

It was written and compiled by Jeanne Price, 1993, and it is Star Song Publishing Group, a division of Jubilee Communications, Nash, Vegas. Rather than offend God, let us offend foolish and stupid men who exalt themselves and boast with their pretensions to fine speech.

Clement of Rome. Now that one, I go for that. Let's open it up again randomly. So far I'm doing this randomly. I'm keeping my word. Don't read anonymous mail. Oh no, sorry, that's a different one. Made that one up.

The church of Jesus Christ belongs to no class or race. I believe that. There's a human race. John Newton. How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer's ears. Okay. Ralph Sockman. He said some things that ministers try to tell you.

A house is made to be lived in and not to be lived for. And some. God hath promised pardon to him that repenteth, but he hath not promised repentance to him that sinneth. Really? You know, I guess let's read the first one and the last one, because this section on No Compromise Radio is pretty much bombed.

If everyone with whom I share the gospel gave their heart to Christ except for even one member of my family, then I would consider my life to be an abject failure. James Matthews. Is it James Spader? That is so bad.

This is how the book starts. Why is this on my no-code desk? I'm getting rid of it. The steady discipline of intimate friends with Jesus results in men becoming like him. Fatherhood of God, brotherhood of men.

Harry Emerson Fosdick. This is awful. George Buttrick. He was a liberal. I think he used to stand there at preaching classes and drink scotch. Better to fail here than not to try, for failure may bring us to a deep understanding.

Deeper understanding. This is just B-A-double-D bad. What's the last thing it says here, James Matthews? There's no greater privilege in the world than serving Christ and his kingdom. Okay, I agree with that, but I'm still throwing it away.

What's this sound? What's the sound of this? The sound of men working on the chain gang? Nope, ripping this book with alacrity, with pleasure. Some books you turn, some books you burn. All right, anything else?

Anything else in here? Before I rip this last page out? Cheap binding, too. All right, back to what I was gonna do, which I knew was better. Dear Jim, here's how you quit the ministry, according to a man named William.

Yikes. I'm through. Yesterday I handed in my resignation to take effect at once, and this morning I began work for the land company. I will not return to the pastorate. I think I can see into your heart as you read these words, and behold, not a little disappointment, if not disgust.

I don't blame you at all. I'm somewhat disgusted with myself. Do you recall the days in seminary when we talked of the future and painted pictures of what we were to do for the kingdom of God? We saw the boundless need for unselfish Christian service and longed to be out among men, doing our part towards the world's redemption.

I'll never forget that last talk on the night before graduation. You were to go to the missions field and I went to the church, and we had brave dreams of usefulness. You've realized yours. As I look back over these years, I can see some lives that I've helped and some things which I've been permitted to do and some of them worthwhile.

But sitting here tonight, I am more than half convinced that God probably never intended me to be a minister. If he did, I am not big enough and brave enough to pay the price. And even if it leads you to write me down as a coward, I'm going to tell you why I quit.

In these years, I have not found but a few earnest, unselfish, consecrated Christians. And I don't believe that I'm especially morbid or unfair in my estimate. So as far as I know my own heart, I'm not even bitter.

But through all the years, a conviction has been growing within me that the average church member cares precious little about the kingdom of God and its advancement or the welfare of his fellow man. He's a Christian in order that he may save his soul from hell and for no other reason.

He does as little as he can, lives and as indifferently as he dares. If he thought he could gain heaven without ever lifting his finger, excuse me, for others, he would jump at the chance. Never have I known more than a small minority of any church which I have served to be really interested in and unselfishly devoted to God's work.

It took my whole time to pull and push and urge and persuade the reluctant members of my church to undertake a little something for their fellow man. They took a covenant to be faithful in attendance on the services of the church and not one out of 10 ever thought of attending a prayer time.

A large percentage seldom attended church in the morning and a pitifully small number in the evening. It didn't seem to mean anything to them that they had dedicated themselves to the service of Jesus Christ.

I'm tired. I'm tired of being the only one in the church from whom real sacrifice is expected. I'm tired of straining and tugging to get Christian people to live like Christians. I'm tired of planning work for my people and then being compelled to do it myself or see it left undone.

I'm tired of dodging my creditors when I wouldn't needed to have done that if I had what was due me. I'm tired of the vision of a penniless old age. I'm not leaving Christ. I love him and I'll still try to serve him.

Judge me leniently, old friend. I can't, certainly can't bear to lose your friendship. Yours, William. While I could pick through the wrong thinking that this man has and point him to places like Colossians 4 .17 and say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord that you may fulfill it.

While I could talk about faithfulness, here's what I would say. If you're a Bethlehem Bible Church, you may not do this. Or you can pick Pastor Harry or Pastor Steve or somebody. But there is a sense that there's probably some culpability on the church's side.

And so to your other churches, Bethlehem Bible Church is not addressed here. But to other churches, other members of churches, make sure you encourage your pastor. When he preaches, show up. When he's faithful, tell him thanks for the message.

Serve, minister, come alongside of. Don't expect anything extra out of the pastor. He's just a regular sinner, just like William. Do I think he was ever called in the ministry? I think if you're gonna leave, you probably weren't.

And so I'm sad for William. I'm sad for his friend Jim. Sad for the church there. But good thing the Lord Jesus builds the church, and he uses sinful people to do it. If you're a pastor, quit complaining.

Preach to the people. It's a great calling. If you're people in the pews, encourage one another, serve one another. And if your pastor has half a clue that when he preaches Christ Jesus, you try to encourage him back.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

Station Sign-Off and Legal Disclaimer

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 six. 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.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.