Easter with my peeps

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Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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

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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.

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In short, if you like smooth, watered down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

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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

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King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio, ministry. It usually doesn't take me this many takes to start off a show well.

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Now you maybe don't think this is starting off well, but compared to the last two takes, we're coming out with guns a -blazing.

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There are different advertisements that churches use to get people to come and visit them.

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Usually they're postcardish. They're a little thicker than normal paper and they might not be postcard size, maybe double that.

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And my wife brought back from Santa Cruz an invitation to an Easter service in Santa Cruz.

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I know it's not Easter time anymore, but in real time, this is Good Friday when I'm recording the show. So this is probably gonna be aired sometime in May, who knows when.

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But still, nonetheless, it's very interesting. Oh, on a side note, I don't think there's a

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Christian calendar. So besides Lent having all kinds of dopey, law, addition to Christ, unbiblical things, it's just there's no calendar.

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And the Advent calendar and the, what's the other one that they have? Lenten calendar.

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I just am not moved by those. There are 52 key days in the year of the church and it's been that way now for 2 ,000 years and it's called the

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Lord's Day and he has risen. Yes, he has risen indeed. And so while if a local church wants to celebrate

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Resurrection Sunday, I think that would be fine. Typically here at Bethlehem Bible Church, we have two

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Sundays that are specifically, oh,

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I don't know what to say, but I prepare sermons with unbelievers more in mind than I do the rest of the weeks.

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Now, if you read the book of James, you'll see with these imperatives, like 54 imperatives and 108 verses or 52, 104, something like that, you'll see that James is not so naive to think that everyone who sits in a

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Christian meeting is a Christian and so he'll call people to repentance, he'll call them to salvation in the middle of his letter written to my brothers, my brothers, my brothers, my beloved brothers.

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And so when I call people to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ on a normal Sunday, there could be such a thing,

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I realize sometimes there are people here who aren't Christians. I just don't know who the people are. So I just proclaim the truth and say this is the response to the good news, response to the good news that Jesus Christ died on behalf of sinners and was raised from the dead as a representative substitute.

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The response is repent and believe, trust, follow. So when we have a

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Christian calendar and we have everything set up with the church of order and worship and everything else,

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I think I'm more like Calvin in this regard. If I were to be exiled and then come back three and a half years later,

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I would pick up where I left off. So I happen to be in Romans chapter four, just finished that, so I'll be in Romans chapter five and that's where I would want to pick it up.

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I remember when I first got to Bethlehem Bible Church in 1997, almost, well, now that the show's recorded over 16 years ago, people would say to me, well, we didn't have the palm fronds today and we didn't have a

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Palm Sunday message. Now, in my mind, I wanted to give some no -go and say, well,

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Palm Sunday was really on a Monday, that's probably why we didn't do it. The palm frond deal, there's no sin against having a palm frond,

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I guess. I like hearts of palm in my salads. Now that I'm using my Fitness Pal app and I'm at 900 net calories per day, anything sounds good, including hearts of palm.

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So I do like hearts of palm though. They have those at Gelson's salad bars in Los Angeles.

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So is Gelson's still around? I haven't been to Gelson's for so many years. So anyway, there are things that the church likes.

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So do you have a Monday, Thursday service? Do you have a Good Friday service? You can have a service anytime you'd like.

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I like services, I like meetings, as we called them in the old days, Brethren days. I like the meetings.

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So I'm not saying no to meetings. I think the only time I would say no to a meeting, a Christian meeting where the saints extol and praise the

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Lord. I was reading in First Chronicles today, 28 and 29, David assigning people to praise the

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Lord. Isn't that neat? I want people every morning and every night to stand up and say how great God is.

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Now that is a good assignment, isn't it? How good he is, how wonderful he is, how faithful he is.

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In our day and age with all the unfaithfulness, where is faithfulness? So let's proclaim the covenant keeping

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God. So am I rambling? Yes, I am, but it's my show and hey, Steve's not around, so I've got to fill up the time,

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Jean, et cetera. So anyway, I'm talking today on No Compromise Radio about Sunday, Easter's, holidays.

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And so when I first was here, they had all these different calendar days, and we would have Mother's Day, and then we would have all kinds of Hallmark holidays,

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I don't know, Reformation Day. I guess they're fine. I mean, I particularly don't like Father's Day and Mother's Day because it's not

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Father's Day, it's not Mother's Day, it's the Lord's Day. And we can say we'd like to honor the moms, but mom comes to hear a sermon about herself on Sunday, Mother's Day, that's not going to fly too far if you'd like to be biblical.

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We should have mothers and fathers honored, certainly in our lives, but it's a public worship service.

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So anyway, filling up the church calendar with all kinds of things, I don't really go for. There are times where I say to myself,

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I don't even want to acknowledge Easter, and I don't want to acknowledge

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Christmas. Those are the two times I prepare more of an evangelistic, evangelical, isn't the right word, evangelistic message where I'm trying to,

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I'll probably leave the passage I'm in, going verse by verse, and then try to address the folks.

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Still in an expositional way, still in a way where I want to encourage the saints, but anyway, the

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Lord's Day is the church calendar. Look in the Bible. Where do you think there would be a church calendar mentioned, if there were one mentioned, in the

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New Testament? Well, probably not in the book of Revelation. No need to have a church calendar then.

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Probably not in the Gospels, because most of the Gospels are describing pre -crucifixion events.

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That is to say, Old Covenant would still be enforced, right? So when the Bible says,

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Jesus says, when you fast, you have to ask when that is, pre -cross, post -cross, post -cross, rather.

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They sell hot cross buns where you live. I think they probably sell a lot of them here in New England.

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So anyway, you would find the church calendar mentioned, if there were one mentioned in the

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Bible, most certainly, wouldn't you, in 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, pastoral epistles.

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Maybe you'd even find them in the kind of faux pastoral epistle. I don't know why I'm losing my voice today, so I better have some more peach coffee.

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You'd find them in the pastoral epistles, wouldn't you? But you don't find them there. When you read the Bible, friends, read the

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Bible like this. Oh, certainly in its grammatical, historical context, remembering the grand sweep of redemption.

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But read the Bible with this in mind. What does the Bible not say at this particular point?

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What does it not include? Why does it not say something about such and such? That will help you in your

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Bible reading. So back to the postcard thing that my wife got in Santa Cruz. This is a church advertisement, and it's to the neighbors at, and then it's got an address,

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Santa Cruz. It is from Santa Cruz Hope Four Square Church.

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A lot of churches have hope in them. I guess they're hopeful. And this church is in Capitola, California.

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So that's where it's from. And I'm bringing this up today because this is awful.

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This is gutter. This is lowbrow. It's not that I just disagree with it.

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I mean, it's fine to disagree with certain things. And I know some of you listen just because you want to disagree with me, and that's okay.

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I think I'm nicer in person. And on the front, it has a beautiful picture of a

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Santa Cruz beach kind of blurred out in the back, but you can still see some waves breaking.

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It's right down, I think, on 38th Street is where it is. And it says, Easter. I'm not gonna read the rest of it right now.

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Easter with, but I'm not gonna read the rest of that right now. Sunday, March 31st.

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Join us at 9 or 10, 30 a .m.

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On the front, it also says santacruzhope .org. So if churches would like to send out mailers, please come to a worship service.

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I think it's probably not the best stewardship. If you want to spend money, maybe electronically would be better, but I'm not against that.

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That's a fine thing to do. We're not against everything at No Compromise Radio Ministry, but we are against compromise, which leads me into this.

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On the front of the page, front center, this is not blurred out like the ocean would be blurred out or the palm trees in the back or 38th

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Beach there. That's probably Jack O 'Neill's house right there. As we have one, two, three, four, five pink peeps,

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P -E -E -P -S. You know those things that I read the other day in the newspaper, just happened to be reading through the free newspaper that showed up at my house,

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Telegram and Gazette. And it said that the peep turns 60 years old. So 60 years we've had whipped up sugar in the forms of little tiny chickens with a couple of dotted eyes there and no

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T's crossed and some beaks. And they kind of lay back and they're all stuck together. Five of them in a row.

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Peeps, I never really liked peeps, but I get peeps having peeps around. So there are five pink peeps on the front of this.

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And it says on the top that I didn't read the whole thing before, so now I'll read it. Easter with my peeps.

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That's right, so we've got peeps on the front. Come celebrate Easter, Easter with my peeps. You got the peeps on the front.

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Now it says on the back, no experience required. Now see, the front part makes me mad.

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The back part is just dopey. I probably done this on a pet peeve show or talked about it some place.

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People say all welcome, dress casual, what to expect when you're expecting.

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Oh, that's a different book. You can find a lot of those cheap what to expect when you're expecting books at library sales because you quickly realize whatever you've read gets thrown out the window when you're in that labor and delivery room, right?

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What to expect on a Sunday at Hope. All right, this is what to expect. Now, if you're gonna send out a flyer and you were thinking to yourself,

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I'd like to be influenced by Pauline doctrine, that is to say I probably, since Paul wrote so many

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New Testament epistles, oh, there are other writers, yes, but the divine triune

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God moves Paul to write exactly what he wants Paul to write.

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And do you think there'd be maybe a focus on Jesus, a focus on Christ's perfect life, a focus on Christ fulfilling

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Old Testament prophecy about healing and faithfully keeping the promises of God?

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Do you think there'd be something about the word of the cross, about being powerful to save?

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Do you think there'd be something about I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified, 1

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Corinthians chapter two? Do you think there'd be something about the first importance that Paul received and he delivered to them about Jesus dying for our sins according to the scripture, of course, then buried and raised?

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Do you think there'd be anything like that? Well, let's find out. That'd be good to find out. You know, you don't have a lot of room on a double -sized postcard, so you wanna fit in the most important things, don't you?

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Easter with my peeps. What to expect on a Sunday at Hope? People who will be nice to you and they won't treat you funny.

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Well, shouldn't that be, and they won't treat you funnily? Ted would know, where is

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Ted? Free coffee and pancakes at 10 a .m. Well, there you go. Come on, bro, broseph.

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Informal attire. Then it says in parentheses, jeans, t -shirts, make sure it says

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Hurley or something or Burton. Elements out, Billabong's out, Quicksilver's out.

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O 'Neal, that might be okay because there's Jack O 'Neal's house right there. Informal attire, jeans, t -shirts, and flip -flops are pretty common.

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Make sure they're Reefs because in the bottom you've got your bottle opener. That'd be best. Services that are about an hour long.

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See, so it won't wreck your day. Great programs for kids at both services. Right on.

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Dude, they call people dude in California a lot. They call my wife dude. Not because she's dude -ish, but because they're weird.

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Keep Santa Cruz weird. Actually, Santa Cruz is in the news quite a bit because you've got all these killings and the two police officers who were tragically killed.

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And so even New York Times writing, do you want to keep Santa Cruz weird or should you keep it safe? Live music from our band.

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It will be loud. Yeah, so if you're older, Titus Two kind of person, we don't want you.

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A pastor who is real and relatable. Now, okay, real pastors, real people.

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What's relatable mean? I'm just sitting here looking at 1 Timothy 3. And you know, it's a very important book and what would be important in a person who is going to proclaim the word?

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You know, above reproach, husband of one wife, sober -minded, self -control, respectable.

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You think about the people in pop culture today. Think about the people in the media. Think about politicians.

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I'd listen to one who was above reproach, the husband of one wife. Of course, they don't have to be perfect.

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Only Jesus was. But the perfect Jesus has so influenced their lives and they have responded and they are maturing by the grace of God through the

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Spirit's power. Sober -minded, we're the sober -minded people today. We're the people that really love their wives.

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Self -controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.

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He must manage his own household well and with all dignity, keeping his children submissive. And if someone who does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

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He must not be a recent convict. My eyes, recent convict.

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Which both would be true. And he may, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil.

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Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders so that he may not fall into disgrace, into the snare of the devil.

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And he must be relatable. Oh, that's not there. He must be relatable. And then lastly, this is the last thing.

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In big letters, it says no experience required, but what do you expect? Exaltation of Jesus Christ.

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Praise the Lord. Messages on topics that make a difference in your life.

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Yeah, like God isn't relatable. Where's Steve when

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I need him? He's through with my pee. I'll tell you something.

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Let me just give you a few words of what I think about this thing. This is a shame to the gospel. That is a shame to the gospel.

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And it's also disingenuous because let's get people in with this and then maybe talk about the

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Bible. How about what to expect on a Sunday at Hope? How about preaching about Jesus, singing about Jesus, because of Jesus able to pray to the

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Father, giving to support the work of Jesus, thanking

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Jesus, seeing a demonstration in the waters of baptism, what

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Jesus did in the life of a person, at the communion table, remembering Jesus.

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How about that? That would probably be good, but what does the world want? Okay, so let's see what this compromiser has to say for the rest of this.

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Easter with my peeps, santacruzhope .org. Free pancakes. The church for the rest of us.

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Hmm, okay. What does that mean? And by the way, it shows a, not a paddle boarder, but something like that in the water, catching a wave, looks like a dad with a wife and a son or something.

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So that's nice. Do you want it to get worse for it first? Well, let me just read this thing by compromiser,

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Danny Bennett and his family pastor. Santa Cruz Hope is a new church with chill style, real faith and no perfect people allowed.

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Yeah, including Jesus. They won't allow Jesus, the perfect person there either. All we ask is relax and be yourself.

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All we ask here at Bethlehem Bible Church is give thanks to the Lord Jesus. If you're not a believer, repent, trust.

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We'll try to apply the scriptures to your mind. That means you don't have to pretend or even dress up.

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It's okay to have questions, doubts, and fears. We're all on a, and what's one of our bad words at No Compromise Radio that's if it's not a bad word in and of itself, but take it in this context, journey.

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It's also a bad band name too, because I don't like that band. And no matter what your spiritual background or past, we want you to come as you are, because that's where God meets us and loves us as is.

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Oh, how ridiculous is this? That's where the journey begins to become who

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God intended us to be, as a community of Christ followers. At least he says the word Christ. We're committed to live by faith, to be known by love, and to be a voice of hope in our community.

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Now, here's the worst part. Easter with my peeps, Easter services at the gym at Delmar Elementary, and then now, here we have it.

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Since today is Good Friday. 3 .29, Good Friday Paddle Out. Well, I'd like to figuratively paddle the person who made this thing and who has this kind of nonsense with Danny Bennett.

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He needs a good theological paddling, but that's not what they mean here. Good Friday Paddle Out, 6 .30

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p .m. Okay, so what do you do on Good Friday? Traditional Hawaiian ocean burial to reflect on Christ's death.

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Meet with board, that's surfboard, our paddle board, and wetsuit at the stairs of 36th

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Ave and East Cliff Drive. I have no words.

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Good Friday Paddle Out. So to remember the death of Jesus, you paddle out and then you do the

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Hawaiian, most likely pagan kind of ocean burial. What are you gonna do? Light your wetsuit on fire or something?

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Take it off first, of course. And then watch the thing burn, and as it's burning, and you see how pagans bury people, because they don't, they burn them instead because they could care less about men and women made in the likeness and image of God, so they just burn the body.

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Pagans burn, Jews in the Old Testament bury. No comments right now about cremation.

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And you have a time to reflect on Christ's death. Now what would happen if there were a lot of sharks at the spot, and what are they actually going to burn?

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I guess they just, I just, maybe they burn their kayaks or something.

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I don't know. So here's the thing. If a church wants to advertise and say, this is who we are, this is what we do,

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I have zero problem with that. But when a church wants to be ashamed of the gospel, compromise, blaspheme, not represent

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Jesus properly, add in pagan celebrations, maybe you think Easter's pagan for all I know, it's just not right.

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I wouldn't even go there for the free pancakes. Advertise, I guess if you say, well, how do we market something?

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Let's put in the, bring in the P's of marketing. What's our product? Well, if Jesus is the product, then we've got to put him at the right place, and that's a

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Hawaiian burial burning out to sea. What's the right price? The price is you pay nothing, because we give you, last month

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I think they had a free surfboard contest giveaway. What's the price? And then what are the P's again in marketing?

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Product, place, price, promotion. And the promo is Easter with my peeps.

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Easter with my peeps. To God be the glory, great things he has done, whether you eat or whether you drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

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Easter with my peeps. This is infantile, this is asinine, this is ungodly, this is unbiblical, this is unnecessary, and this shows that this place needs to be shut down.

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It's a free country, and so in Santa Cruz, you want to keep it weird, it's fine. But we're talking about the

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God of glory, the Lord of glory, as 1 Corinthians talks about Jesus.

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We're talking about the transcendent God. Holy, holy, holy is the

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Lord God almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. Easter with my peeps.

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See what doesn't fit in? This is guttural, this is lowbrow, this is trailer trash, if you live in a trailer, sorry.

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This isn't full of reverence and awe. The fear of the

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Lord is a beginning of wisdom. So I think you should probably write to them, santacruzhope .org, and ask them for some free peeps.

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Ask them why you're ashamed of the gospel. Preach the word, in season, out of season, what they need to do.

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Uphold the truth about Jesus Christ is the crucified king who was raised from the dead.

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No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

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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.

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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.

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You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

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