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Pastor Mike continues to talk about Matthew 6 in light of all the Corona virus panicking right now. If we are to pray in this way, what does the 'daily bread' actually mean and why is it a good thing to pray for?
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 ministry. My name is Mike Abendroth. If you�re listening on radio, you will probably hear me make some comments about Facebook people. I used to do Facebook for the closed NOCO group, for the insiders, because we have lots of Gnostics in our group that they want the special insider info.
But today, for whatever reason of the show, I just put �public� so all the public can see. Maybe they�ll want to join the group or something, who knows? If you want to write me, you can. Info at NoCompromiseRadio .com.
In the last 10 years, yes, we�ve been on 10 years daily radio, we�ve received all kinds of emails, very, very encouraging emails. Some maybe not so encouraging, but that�s okay. I really think, trying not to touch my face with my hands these days, if you put your chin out, i .e. you�re on social media and you have radio ministry or whatever this is called, what is this called?
Then if you�re going to put your chin out, you better be willing to get whacked. All these people crying about Matthew 18. How can you criticize these people because you have not gone to them individually?
Well, A, do you know if I�ve gone to them? And B, that�s not what Matthew 18 is talking about at all. Speaking of which, if you want to watch a video, you can watch some NOCO videos on YouTube. Just go to YouTube, No Compromise Radio, there�s a bunch of videos there.
The badly filmed ones are me. The goodly filmed ones are Ben Mercedes. He is really a crack video, how do you call that, videographer? Yeah, is that it, videographer? That�s right. As a matter of fact, a few of those that Ben filmed made it into that Second American Gospel.
I actually had the last word on American Gospel. They used my voice at the very end. By the way, speaking of which, I, in the old days, would talk about the Lord Jesus and I would talk about how He is fully God and fully man.
What I meant by that was, in eternity past, you have the Eternal Son, and in time, right, a virgin conception, in time, He adds humanity. We have now Jesus, the God-man, forever and always, right? But, I was convicted by R. Scott Clark and some others who would show me that instead of saying things about quantity, fully, or 100%, that we should talk about the Lord Jesus with terms of quality, that He is perfectly God, perfectly man.
He is truly God, truly man. So of course, what do I say in the American Gospel 2? Fully God, fully man. I texted Clark and said, sorry. I learned after the video was taken. Here's what I'm doing. I said this in the last show.
I walked home from the store when everybody's freaking out about, when is this now? It's March 14th, Saturday, 11, 11 a .m. Eastern Standard Time. Everybody's freaking out about the virus and food and everything else.
I walked into the garage and I said out loud, give us this day our daily bread. I thought it is so rare for Christians to pray that. What does it take for a Christian to pray daily? Give us this day, right?
That would mean daily, to this Father who's compassionate, who's caring, who's kind, who's also transcendent. He's in heaven and His name is to be hallowed and His kingdom is to be yearned for. And His will is to be desired.
Here we have this great template prayer, pray then in this way, the Lord Jesus said. Of course, He never prayed this prayer because He never sinned and never had to say, forgive us our debts or forgive us our trespasses, depending on how you want to phrase that.
And we have the Lord Jesus telling us, Lord, would you give us bread? And most people think that bread would include everything, not just bread, bread, but bread, physical, temporal, nourishment, food, clothing, shelter could include all those.
So Lord, would you just take care of us today? That's pretty amazing. I could ask you the question, when's the last time you prayed? Lord, would you provide my physical needs today? I don't know what we're thinking.
I think we either get too busy, uh, it's just amazing to me. We are forgetful people. We are frail. And the Lord Jesus actually with a command, He said, pray in this manner. You're to pray this. And so Lord, forgive us for not being dependent upon you and your goodness and your asking.
And God works through, of course, our prayers and provides. And can you imagine? You can't say to yourself, well, there's like a million so Christians out there. I don't know how many there are, by the way, but there's a million Christians.
And, uh, by the way, uh, I don't know if you can really provide Lord, cause that's a lot of requests. If they all say that at the same time, what are you going to do? But of course the Lord God, what does He do?
He says, pray, pray this way. The Lord God, Jesus and the incarnate God pray this way. And by the way, God can provide. He can not only hear everybody talking at the same time, if you go to a football stadium, remember the football stadiums when they, before they canceled everything, if there's 60 ,000 people in the stands, God knows exactly what every one of those people are thinking about.
I mean, he knows everybody's thoughts in the whole world, of course, but that's just the largest gathering. You know, I can think of maybe it's Michigan, it's 110 ,000 people in the stadium there for the Michigan, um, Wolverines.
That's a lot of people. Not only that, he can provide for every single person's needs, right? And he actually provides for unbelievers needs very often, but here particularly the children of God go to the father and they say, give us this day, our daily bread.
And God, uh, shows kindness. He shows benevolence. He shows goodness and he provides, he sustains the source of all that we receive. Of course, spiritually, but we're talking now temporally is from the Lord God.
One man said, God is not an absentee landlord. Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's and all it contains the world and those who dwell in it. That's a true statement. And this is what the Lord does. Everything you need spiritually, God has provided in Christ Jesus, right?
Ephesians chapter one, verse three and four talk about blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in the heavenly places with every spiritual blessing, right? Everything we need.
And since he's provided the greater through his son, the Lord Jesus, he will provide the lesser and the lesser is temporal. The lesser is, uh, I wanted to say spatial, but that doesn't really make sense.
It's non-spiritual. Therefore, we can pray, Lord, will you please provide? And the way the world is out there now, I mean, obviously you have to go shopping, uh, but I don't think you have to hoard and panic.
I think if you said to yourself, I'd like to have a few weeks of food around the house, that's not a bad thing, right? Because if you live in California and there's an earthquake, you need to have some supplies around.
If you're in Florida and there's a hurricane, you need to have some supplies around. If there's, um, uh, I don't know, Patriots parade in New England and everybody's going crazy. You need to have some supplies around.
Where's Tom Brady going? I have no idea. Anyway, God gives good gifts. Winslow said, divine, priceless, and precious. They are beyond all purchase. They have indeed been purchased, but the purchase price was not that of man's finding, but of God's.
Even the price of Christ's most precious blood. We come not then to God with a petition, sell us, but give us, I know I just touched my face. I just put on Perel though. We come not then to God with our petition, sell us, but give us.
Isn't that good? God, could you please sell us some of this stuff that you have? Out of your overflowing heart, Winslow goes on, from your infinite sufficiency and most free favor, give us the blessing of your providence and grace.
I come Lord with an outstretched hand, with an empty palm, stricken with hunger, famished and ready to die. I have heard that there is bread enough in my father's house to spare. Lo, I come not worthy to be called your son, asking but for the portion of a slave.
Give me this day my daily bread. That's good. That is really, really good. Everything your soul needs, the Lord has provided in the person of Christ Jesus. And everything your body needs, God will certainly give you because he's a loving father.
We didn't deserve it. We haven't earned it. Yet God, because he's good, just continues to give benevolently and graciously. I think that's good. That's a good reminder for us today. I like it when our response should be not after we, just only asking rather, but after we've asked and then God has provided that we thank him.
I mean, I am negligent in that area. Thank you for the food after I have it or have received it. 1 Chronicles 29 20. Then David said to all the assembly, now bless the Lord your God. And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king.
Compared to what we deserve, hell, chastisement, punishment, anger, to what we get, heaven, God's face shining upon us because of the work of Christ. That is amazing. It's a gift from God and we don't have to buy it.
We don't have to bargain. We don't have to barter. God delights in giving. God never grows tired when it comes to giving. If God gives enemies through common grace, food and water, what will he give you?
His children. We need to remember to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. One of the reasons why we should pray this prayer is because I think we are prideful people. Maybe it's just me. I'm a prideful person, but you're probably prideful as well.
They always tell me that I'm not supposed to drink anything on the air. I have somebody wrote in once. They said, never drink anything on the air. It's bad radio. Maybe I know why these were on sale at Costco.
Wow. Okay. Not bad. They'll do an insure pinch. One of the things we have to do is we have to remember that we are dependent people. And this should help us with trust and humility. We do not self-sustain.
I want to say self-sustain ourselves, but that sounds dumb. We are not self-sustaining, are we? We are fragile, frail, sinful people, and we need assistance. We need God to keep our hearts beating, our lungs.
We are dependent people. We're creatures. And so the Lord says, I want you to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. So God owes his being himself to no one or no thing. But for us, we're not eternal.
We're not self-existent. We don't have the attribute of aseity of ourselves. And we are not independent. We not only have fallen, but we're created beings. And so we have to be careful. J .C. Ryle said, we are here taught to acknowledge our entire dependence on God for the supply of our daily necessities.
As Israel required daily manna, so we require daily bread. That's good. We confess that we are poor, weak creatures in need and beseech our maker to take care of us. We ask for bread as the simplest of our wants.
And in that word, we include all that our bodies require. Give us this day our daily bread. Of course, it's a command. As I said last show that Jesus gave us a template and he said, pray in this manner.
So this is how I want you to pray. But he didn't say pray these exact words. I think if you want to once in a while, pray those exact words. You could, but that's not the real point, is it not? We are dependent people.
We are creatures. And by definition, prayer should help us think about dependency. And trust and weakness and frailty. And too often, I'll admit it, will you? I think to myself, I work, I buy, I pay. I have certain talents and gifts and I just get those things done.
I just give me the receipt. Gardener's Spring, they all wait for you to give them their food in due season. You give to them, they gather it up. You open your hand, they're satisfied with good. You hide your face, they are dismayed.
You take away their spirit, they expire and return to their dust. You send forth your spirit, they are created and you renew the face of the ground. A little poem, I guess, from Psalm 104. Yes, we go work.
Yes, we go buy. Yes, we get money to go to the store to buy things. But we need to be reminded that when we pray, by definition, that's dependency. And now for our physical needs, that's also dependency.
Right? One person wrote, the way a pauper will pray this prayer will differ than the way a prince will pray this prayer. But the principle is the same. God, you provide. God, don't let me forget that because the Israelites easily forgot that.
And we have to be very, very careful. Friends, in the middle of all the chaos, this prayer, give us this day our daily bread, is a good reminder that God will provide everything you need tomorrow and the next day and the next day.
If you look at the text in Matthew 6, 11 carefully, it says, give us this day. Hmm. That's amazing. Found only here and in Luke 11, 3. One writer said, outside the Bible, it is found only an ancient papyri shopping list referring to one's daily needs.
Scholarly arguments do not change the meaning of the prayer. It is the conscious dependence of a kingdom citizen upon his king for each daily need. This day. I'm not trying to say you can't store up things.
I just got done talking about that. But it's for our needs, as one writer said, not for our greeds. I wish I would have thought of that. This prayer, pray, give us this day. It's for our needs, not our greeds.
Kind of funny. Ever heard of the slogan, one day at a time? Okay. Plus every day, then you're praying. All right, Lord, will you provide for my needs today? And then after he's provided, maybe you've got a stockpile.
Lord, thank you for providing daily bread. There's future provision. What does Matthew 6 go on to say about Jesus and with Jesus talking about anxiety? There's enough trouble for today, right? We don't have to heap those things up.
Bread for the day. Everything we need for shelter, for provision, Lord, would you take care of our daily bread? Not just give us this day, our daily bread. Not just for me, but all the other Christian people, all the others at the church.
Why have an anxious care for tomorrow when today could be the last day and tomorrow we ask the same generous, providing, beneficent Father, and he'll provide for us then. Give us this day should also, I think, remind us that we should live like this could be our last day, right?
Give us tomorrow's bread today. Give us next week's bread tomorrow. By the way, we're going to be Facebook live here tomorrow, Sunday, March 15th. Beware the Ides of March, 10, 15 a .m. Live service. Although it's not going to be a full service.
If we have an altar call, you just come to the front of the screen and touch it. There'll be some tech people here. I'll be here. Probably my family will be here. I was glad to be surprised this morning when I woke up and my two daughters from Los Angeles were here.
I thought it was in a time warp. That was amazing. So they're here for spring break. Who knows how long that will last. I better go get some more food. Give us. But I wasn't planning on my daughters being here.
Remember that story about George Mueller? Oh, what is going on with my jaw here? When I was a kid, I was terrified of getting locked jaw. You get a tetanus shot and you stepped on, I don't know, you're at the farm and you step on a nail or something and they're like, you get locked jaw.
Lock jaw. That was like the worst to me. Lock jaw. That should be some kind of movie. Some science fiction movie with the bad guys. They all have locked jaw. What do you do if you have locked jaw? We're just stuck.
Like punch out a couple teeth so you can like put a straw there. But now you can't get a straw because they're illegal in California. George Mueller. Here's the story about the milk cart. You know the story.
I know, but it's a good story anyway. And I'm the professor. One morning, the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. OK, remember, he's at an orphanage.
I better write that down so I don't forget orphanage. The children were standing waiting for their morning meal when Mueller said, children, you know, we must be in time for school. Lifting his hand, he said, dear father.
Interesting father, our father, we thank thee for what thou art going to give us to eat. There's no food. There was a knock on the door. The baker stood there and said, Mr. Mueller, I couldn't sleep last night.
Somehow I felt you didn't have enough bread for breakfast and Lord want me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a .m., bake some fresh bread and I brought it. Mueller thanked the man no sooner than this had transpired.
There was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage. And he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.
And the website goes on to say, no wonder years later when Mueller was to travel the world as an evangelist, he would be heralded as, quote, the man who gets things from God, end quote. That's good. I like that.
God provides for his people. Give us this day our daily bread. And not just for me, but for others. This is a public type of prayer, a camaraderie of prayer. We're to encourage one another. We are to admonish one another.
We are to come alongside one another. And we're to pray for one another. Lord, will you provide for other people? I'm not asking just that you would provide for me. I'm asking you to provide for my friends and my brothers and my sisters in Christ Jesus.
You're a God who is good and does good. And Ephesians 6, 18 talks about praying always for the saints. And therefore, would you not just meet my needs, but would you meet the rest of the church's needs?
I think that's a good way to pray. Give us this day our daily bread. And after we pray that, might we all need a good reminder that we should have a cheerful contentment? Cheerful contentment. I didn't write that.
I just, in my notes, I see that. But those are two good words to go together. Cheerful contentment. Whatever He gives you, whatever He allows you to have, whatever He provides for you, then we can be thankful.
We can be humble. We can be satisfied. Whatever the Lord does is good. Whatever He provides is right. And therefore, if it's little, we praise Him. If it's much, we praise Him. That is what we think of when it is daily bread.
One writer said, if God spares us, if God keeps us to a spare diet, if He gives us less temporal, He has made it up in spirituals. Isn't that good? Even if you think to yourself, I don't have what everybody else has.
In Christ, you have what everybody else in Christ has. That's a good truth. And then one last thing we should talk about. Well, maybe we'll save that for next time. My name is Mike Abenroth. This is No Compromise Radio Ministry.
I have not felt well lately, and somebody sent me some Pete's Coffee in the mail. I don't even know who sent it. If you did, would you email me? Because I'm thankful for it, and I'd like to send you a thank you note.
Assuming nobody put anything in it. Maybe that's why I feel bad. I wonder if I'm getting poisoned by arsenic. It feels like it. Oh, yikes. We are going to Israel, Lord willing, assuming that the Lord doesn't return and that I'm alive.
February 24th through March 4th, 2021. We should know flights soon, cost soon, and we'll have a registration form soon. But you can send in your $300. If you'd like to reserve a spot, we've got about 12 spots open.
I think 12, 14 spots open. But if I go, which I will, and I think my wife's going to go, which she will, they're closing up pretty fast. Mike Abendroth, No Compromise Radio. You can go to the website.
If you want to order some books, you can do that, or No Compromise Radio, the YouTube site, if you'd like to watch some YouTubes. Hopefully we can get some more done soon.
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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.