Evangelize with Christ (Part 1)

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No Compromise Radio Thanks for tuning in to No Compromise Radio with pastor and author,

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Dr. Mike Abendroth. Today on No Compromise Radio, we'll be hearing Pastor Mike open the

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Word of God in a recent message he preached at Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, Massachusetts.

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Now let's join Pastor Mike in progress as he preaches through the Scriptures, verse by verse with no compromise.

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Have you ever been in a psych ward? Have you ever been in an insane asylum?

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I have, as a visitor. I've been in a jail too as a visitor.

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I've been in regular insane asylums and geriatric insane asylums and it's interesting as a pastor to go and visit patients, visit congregants.

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It's quite a fascinating place. I'm a little bit nervous because I think to myself, if I lose my wallet or ID, you know,

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I might be locked in for good. I notice a lot of people will come up and it's almost like the jail.

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They'll come up to me and they'll begin telling me why they don't belong there and why they shouldn't be in such a place.

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I remember taking the kids once to a geriatric psych ward and having some of the patients coming up and I'd already coached the kids, this is what you do, this is what you say and we're just ambassadors of the gospel,

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Christ Jesus. Then I thought to myself, you know, there is a homiletical insane asylum.

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Homiletical means preaching. There's an insane asylum that preachers should be relegated to.

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All preachers that do this thing should have to go to the homiletical loony institution forever.

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And that is pastors and preachers who preach themselves and not

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Christ Jesus ought to go to the insane asylum because it is utter insanity.

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It is sheer craziness to somehow stand and preach the gospel of the one who saves and want the attention to go on to you.

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If you teach Sunday school, if you evangelize, if you teach VBS, if you teach your children the

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Bible, we have been taught that the star, the savior, the king is not us.

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It doesn't take very long for us to look at ourselves and realize we are sinful, we're human, we're frail, we're created and so we aren't the stars.

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And so today we're going to look at a passage that makes sure we all remember that the star, the savior, the king, redeemer, propitiator,

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Christ Jesus is the one that every one of you, whether you're a preacher or not, has to talk about when you're evangelizing,

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AWANA, VBS, pulpit, Sunday school. You need to follow Paul's example as well.

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It's not just for preachers. And if you preach less than Christ Jesus as the star, then you need to be in a homiletical psych ward.

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Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. 1

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Corinthians 1 took us a while to get through. It's longer than most of the opening chapters in 1 Corinthians, but more than that, it establishes our foundation.

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You'll see houses being built and all of a sudden you'll say, it's taken them a long time to get the foundation up and then almost overnight, seemingly, everything else is up, the framing, the two by fours, the roof.

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And once the foundation is done, it goes up quickly. And so while that doesn't perfectly translate to our series in 1

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Corinthians, you'll see me spend less time in the following chapters, not because they're less important, but because we don't know the foundational issues that the church of Corinth was dealing with in chapter one.

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Paul has basically said in chapter one, the cross to unbelievers is a weak object.

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How can anything good come out of death? That seems not to be some kind of energizing force.

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Death. And he says, doubly strange. The ones that God saves, contrary to the church of Corinth's liking, contrary to all society's hankering for, he saves weak people.

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He saves shameful people. He saves foolish people. And now Paul says, but there's even more to this so -called foolishness.

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The cross seems foolish to those who are perishing. The people that God saves seem foolish to those who are perishing.

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And the manner of speaking, the delivery, the preaching is also foolishness to those who are perishing.

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The big picture of 1 Corinthians here early on is church division. And Paul says there's a couple things that'll split a church.

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If he was here today, he'd probably say musical styles and choice of schools, homeschool, public school, private school.

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Those, by the way, are the two things that tend to split the church more than anything else in modern evangelicalism, music and school.

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But for Corinth, it was a little bit different. For Corinth, it was, let's follow wisdom, the worldly wisdom.

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There's a good wisdom that says, I fear the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

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But the wisdom that is anti -God, that's shamefully against what

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God teaches, that wouldn't be a good wisdom to follow. And so Paul says, don't follow that because you'll end up following men and then you'll go your ways.

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Paul says the cross is opposed to wisdom. The people God chooses are opposed to wisdom.

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And Paul's fruitful ministry when he was at Corinth for 18 months, Acts chapter 18, showed

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Paul to have his theology and his methodology match up. His theology says weak cross to people, weak people that God saves.

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But the weak person that God saves is also the weak preacher that only preaches

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Christ Jesus. And Paul says, I'm not going to appeal to you with wisdom. Remember when I was with you,

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I didn't appeal to wisdom. And let's read chapter 2, verses 1 through 5.

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We won't get through it all today. As we look at this passage that promotes a preaching that glorifies

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God, not people. If I was a little bit under the weather and not guarded,

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I might say something like, I am so sick of celebrity preaching, following celebrities.

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The people aren't the stars. Jesus is the star. I don't think I'm a celebrity.

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I don't think people here probably think I'm a celebrity. But for somehow, if you're here and you do think

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I'm a celebrity, then you just need to spend a little more time with me and you'll quickly realize that I am not the

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Savior. Hey, no laughing. Why are you laughing? That was a laugh of assent. The gospel goes through us.

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He uses cracked vessels, clay pots for the gospel to go out. Paul was no

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Savior. Paul was not perfect. Paul sinned. And so God's ways are just different.

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He picks this foolish cross. He picks foolish people. And he uses a foolish method.

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You think he'd probably use some kind of DVD theater or something. Well, I'm more of a visual learner.

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I learn visually. That may be true, but the way God wants you to learn is through a book and through a preacher.

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People say, well, when do you have drama at your church? Friends, if the preaching of the Word of God is not drama,

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I have nothing else to give you. What, am I going to put on a tutu and dance up here with spiritual dance or something?

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I go to churches. I see ladies dancing through the aisles with streamers. And I think, what is that? Am I in like the

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Moose Lodge? Or what is this? That's spiritual dance. Friends, if the Bible's not enough, nothing's enough.

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This is the drama of redemption. This is the drama of God who didn't have to tell us what he thinks, revealing his mind in his word.

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And now you get to know exactly how God thinks. You couldn't come up with this out of your own mind.

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It has to be given to us by God. And we'll see that in 1 Corinthians 2, 6 and following.

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People say, why don't you need drama? Here's the main reason why. Well, okay, two reasons. One, it's not in the

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Bible. The Bible said drama, the word, we do it. Number two, we don't need it. We don't need drama.

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The Bible says when you get together as a corporate body, you sing, you preach, you pray, you baptize, you have the

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Lord's Supper, you give, and you sit back and say that the God of the universe would use a fragile vessel, a human being, to proclaim the fairest

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Lord Jesus is the wonder of all wonders. That's drama. And so when you come to 1

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Corinthians, it's just packed with drama. And if you're sitting there today and you say, yeah, but I really like drama.

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Well, then I have a suggestion for you. Go to the Wang Theater where you have really good drama, according to skits and all that stuff.

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We just get kind of the leftovers in local churches where they do basically bad drama.

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And so if you want drama, fine, but you don't need it in a church. You might want it in a church, but God says you don't need it.

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You need the drama of redemption, this great cross that humbles. 1

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Corinthians 2, verse 1, and when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

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And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.

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For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even him crucified.

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I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power.

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So that, so that there's a reason, there's a purpose. This is the result that Paul's looking for.

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So that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

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You could call this purpose -driven preaching, if you'd like. Paul doesn't want people to believe the gospel because somebody's a good talker.

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Because then you just need a better talker to come along, and they'll talk you out of that. If it's just all rational thinking, and art, and display, and philosophical kind of banter, then you're going to believe what

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I teach you until a better speaker comes along. Paul says, I want your faith, actually in verse 5, so that your faith, the faith, definite article faith,

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Christ Jesus, should not rest on the wisdom of men. Corinth, that's what you did.

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You believe people not because of what they said, but how they said it. Paul says, the object, the message, the people who are saved, the recipients, and the way

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I preach is all lined up theologically. Paul doesn't want superficial decisions because somebody's a good speaker.

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Paul was smart enough, wise enough, philosophical enough. He could have done it, but he forced himself not to.

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So our outline this morning is, let me show you four words that describe what Paul is saying in 1

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Corinthians 2, 1 to 5, that will help you understand preaching must always rest on the power of God.

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Four words that summarize this passage, that clarify what preachers must do from the pulpit, what

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Awana leaders must do, what Sunday school teachers must do, what evangelists must do, four words, from pulpit ministry to Sunday school teachers, that demonstrate

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Paul's point here. Say, well,

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I don't do any of those. Well, we have opportunities to serve, and even lay people who like preaching can learn from this.

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Number one, the first word that describes what Paul is saying is disregard, disregard.

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You must have a total and complete disregard for human methods that detract from the gospel.

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You must have a total healthy disregard for things that distract from the gospel.

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Detract from them, distract away from them. You are to ignore them. You are to neglect them.

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You will give no heed, Paul says, to these kind of human techniques and manipulations.

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After all, God's word needs no crutch. Verse one, you're not going to see this super smart person here.

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By the way, as I come to this passage, you say, well, I'm not a great debater. I don't know a lot about prophecy. I don't understand the latest in intelligent design.

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I don't know any of these things. I just know I was a sinner and Jesus was a greater savior. You're going to like this passage.

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You don't have to be the smartest and the best. You have to put away, actually, your smarts so the gospel comes forth, and look what he says, total disregard for this.

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I came to you, brethren, when I was there for those 18 months. Kindly, he says, brethren, affectionately, tenderly.

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I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom proclaiming to you the whole testimony or the testimony of God.

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Paul says, remember when I was with you for 18 months in Acts 18? That's what I did.

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You're following human people now at splitting the church. But when I was with you, I didn't do any of that.

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And I'm preaching now what I practice. You ever heard practice what you preach? This is the opposite. I preach now what

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I practiced then. Had a total disregard for that. What didn't I do?

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I didn't have some kind of excellent speech, all studied, kind of this wonderful discourse, everything's arranged so wonderfully that you just have to go, oh, okay,

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I give. Spurgeon said, preaching is often too much like a fiddler's playing.

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People come to see how it's done. And then they pass around the question, what do you think of him?

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Spurgeon said, and I'm sure he echoes Paul's sentiments. I do not care two straws what you think of me, but I do care a whole world of what you think of Christ and of yourselves and of your future state.

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Paul was smart. He was well -schooled, but he said, I'm not going to use that in my delivery. He said, my hub, my center of gravity was the cross of Jesus Christ.

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He didn't walk around with some kind of peacock -like verbal plumage to trick people into believing.

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He says, I'm going to go away from that. I'm not going to get close to it. I'm going to get far away from it.

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It's like I remember my father when we drove up to Pikes Peak in Colorado. My father did not say, well, you know,

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I just think I'll see how far I can get to the edge without going off. That'll really make mom happy. You know, that's how some people take dating.

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How far can I go without falling over the cliff of immorality? Well, what do you do? You get away from it.

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You're hugging the side of the road, almost hitting the side of the mountain because you're getting away from what's wrong and would put you in peril.

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And Paul said, I know I could probably talk people into it, but I'm getting far away from this kind of promotion, basically, of myself.

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I don't want you to submit to clever words. I'm not here to win followers. I don't want a fan club.

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I want everything to be focused on Jesus Christ, not the preacher. And if you're a great talker, then you stifle the message of Christ.

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You garble it. And so Paul says, I didn't do this and I did do that. What did he do? What I did do is

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I proclaimed to you the testimony of God. Now, that could be translated, if you see your little notes in the Bible, testimony of God, like a witness to God or mystery of God.

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And I think that's probably the right translation. The mystery of God. The mystery of God.

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Humans can't find this truth. Philosophers can't come up with this truth.

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God says, it's no longer a mystery. It was a mystery. I told you what the Bible says. I told you in the

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Bible. It's no longer a mystery. It's not mysterious like, ooh, mysterious. It's, I can't find it out of my own.

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Once hidden, now revealed. But either way, Paul says, my focus is on the word because it changes people.

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You can hear Paul even next book that he writes. We have renounced the things, 2 Corinthians, hidden because of shame.

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Not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God. I didn't do that.

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I distanced myself from any kind of fishing for admiration, being the star.

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I'm happy because I don't have to be the Princeton debate club winner to preach the gospel.

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I don't have to be some awesome public speaker. I don't have to go to Dale Carnegie. Now, Paul's not saying don't be persuasive.

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He says in 2 Corinthians, knowing the fear of the Lord, we what? Persuade men, beg, appeal.

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Everyone here will live forever. You'll die and then what? There's a good persuasion. But it's not the art of the deal.

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It's not verbal kind of craftsmanship because we don't want people to be drawn to us.

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The main attraction is Christ Jesus. This does not mean you should be lazy.

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I met a guy one time when I was working out in California and he just got saved and I said, well, what are you going to do?

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He knew I was studying to be a pastor and he said, I'm going to go speak to 5 ,000 men. I said, really?

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5 ,000 men? Just like a struggling actor. How'd you get this kind of gig? He said, well, you know,

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I got saved and I get the opportunity because I'm an actor. And I said, what are you going to talk about? Well, I'm going to let the

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Spirit of God lead me when I get up there. The Spirit of God's leading you right now through me. Study to show yourselves approved, a workman who needs not be ashamed.

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Paul's not saying just get up and whatever comes out, fine. I have to go teach the rest home ministry and I don't have time to study.

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I'll just go there and show up. Does he mean that? No, but this way that you concoct an argument that just lends itself to a greater arguer to come along.

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He says, I'm not going to do that because I want your faith to rest not in my words, my personality, my persuasiveness, but in the gospel.

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A lofty speech. It's weak speech. You can even tell our culture today they hate preaching.

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Don't you preach to me. You mean to tell me you're going to have somebody stand up and preach for 50 minutes and they don't even ask for questions?

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And Paul says you're acting like teenagers. And those teenagers used to think their parents were nice and cool and neat and fun to be around.

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But now they found some other friends and those other friends are more appealing and those other friends don't like these kind of nerdy parents.

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And so you I was your parent and I preached to you the straightforward gospel. Some other false friends come around.

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You don't really like Paul. He doesn't really teach the right way. He doesn't art and craft the deal like you like like he should.

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Let's not listen to him. Paul says I preached a simple message to you pagans and you got saved.

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You got saved pagans. He doesn't have to manipulate. I have a book in my office and it's an evangelistic book and it says that when you meet someone and you want to try to influence them, you try to get them to say yes a lot because you know if they say yes five times in a row, you kind of say yes the sixth time, you know, it's a nice day out.

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Yes, you know, you know, you're going to live forever. Yes, and before you know it you put you you put the

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Bible in their hand and it says put your other hand on the nape of his neck back of his neck and then say let us pray and then you kind of push him down a little bit to pray.

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Well when another guy comes along who's a better neck nape pusher, he's in big trouble because he's going to push him back up this way to believe something else.

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The time my mother went to healing service and wanted my dad to be healed from cancer and she said she stood up there anybody who needs healing for their loved ones come up.

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She came up and they started pushing on her forehead and she started pushing back. It was kind of this back and forth kind of thing and you know when you're the slain in the spirit guy and you keep pushing they don't fall over you just go over to the next one.

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This is not some kind of manipulation where I'm going to get you to say what I want you to say. Some bait and switch evangelism.

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High pressure. Here's how we do it. We're a little more sophisticated. We somehow we just kind of cut off the rough corners of the gospel when we evangelize.

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Some of us do that. Who wants to talk about the exclusivity of Christ in this secular relative world?

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Who wants to talk about it's all or nothing? Who wants to talk about there's no other way? Who wants to talk about pick up your cross deny yourself and follow me?

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Who wants to talk about hate mother brother sister? Who wants to say when you're sick of your life, then you come and follow me?

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We'll just cut those off. We can't do that. One man said the power that is in the gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher.

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Otherwise men would be the converter of souls. I'm so thankful that I don't have to study philosophy, psychology, history, archaeology or anything else.

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I need to study the cross and I can preach to anyone and so can you. Who's the smartest person you can think of that's not a

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Christian? Are you able to preach the gospel of them if they came to you and said I'm dying of cancer and I'm worried to go and I'm going to go to hell?

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What must I do to be saved? Well, let's see. I better go back to school and study intelligent design and irreducible minimums and memorize

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Darwin's black box. Can you tell them the truth? If you stutter and stammer and make grammatical mistakes, but you point them to the cross.

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I love that. So freeing. Study all you want, but you don't need to study to art and craft the deal.

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You need to study about the gospel. So you focus on the gospel. No gimmicks. Word number two.

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First word was disregard. The second word determination. First Corinthians chapter 2, 1 to 5.

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Four words that describe your philosophy, your methodology, your theology when it comes to preaching.

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Preaching that you listen to when I preach to you or preaching that you do in evangelism. It could be applied in many different ways.

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Determination. This is now Paul's reason for his method. Verse two. This is like saying sick him to a mad dog.

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Pastors love this. If you wake me up from a nap, I might just say this verse out.

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For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, even him crucified.

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Paul says, I'm on my way from Acts 17 to Acts 18, and I'm on my way in this missionary journey.

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And I know ahead of time that I better not rely on my own speaking abilities. I'm going to rely on the gospel.

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Whatever comes out of my mouth, it's going to be cross -centered. This word here, to be determined,

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ESV translates it decided. It means to consider, to have a deliberate act of the will.

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The opposite words would be haphazard, accidental, slapdash, random.

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Paul says, you might want law and traditions, Jews. Sorry, you get the gospel.

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Greeks, you might want philosophy and speculations and how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

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Then I give you the gospel. And he knows ahead of time, before I go there, that's what I'm going to do. By the way, this is great for us when it comes to evangelism.

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This is the way we approach evangelism. You say, well, I'm kind of doing friendship evangelism, and we'll be friends and all that.

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Fine, I'm not saying go up to your neighbors and just create enemies. But there's no evangelism without the cross, the crucified

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Messiah. Paul says, I'm going to limit my knowledge to preach the Christ. That means

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His deity. Here's how it used to translate this, and this is how the NAS does it, NASV. I determine to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

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Jesus Christ, His person, and Him crucified, His work, which would include the resurrection.

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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 6. 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, its staff, or management.