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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calvaryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Another question. If you were God, would you hire yourself? If you were God, would you hire you to work for Him? Are you worth getting paid for by the Lord? Did you know that whenever you serve the Lord, God is paying you? God’s gonna pay you? It’s just not payday yet. But we’re supposed to labor now, believe in payday’s coming later. And that God is going to reward us, and it will be worth it all. Do you believe that?

I believe that. I believe payday’s coming, and I can wait. Payday’s not here. That’s right, when you do good things for the Lord down here, don’t expect everything to be wonderful, and everybody love and appreciate it. They may do it, they may not. It doesn’t matter because you know God hired you and God is going to pay you. I guess he could fire you too, huh? Time to come on home boy. Next statement, the Lord’s approval is worth all the sarcasm of your friends.

The Lord’s approval is worth all the sarcasm of your friends. And doesn’t matter who your friends are, or people to work with, even sometimes people at home, people at church. You can’t convince everybody of everything that you do or why you should do it. But you should be convinced that if God wants you to do certain things and you do that, then if it’s acceptable to God that ought to be pleasing to you. The next statement is, give eternal issues proper priority.

In the book of Matthew in chapter 6 and verse 33 it says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you. So it’s a get your priorities straight. put the Lord first in everything. Always be reasoning in your mind. What does God want me to do? What is God’s will for my life? Because you can live your life, and everybody does, but they don’t all live it for him.

So you can live your life and totally waste your life. Only in the dictionary does success come before work. alphabetically success starts with a S. Work starts with a W. So only in the dictionary does success come before work. But in reality you have to do the work in order to be successful. Let me have you take your Bible and turn to the the book of 2 Corinthians, the book of 2 Corinthians, chapter 12, sent to be spent. See, you and I, when we trusted Christ as our Savior, He gave us eternal life and wants us to love Him and to serve Him.

He wants to love others through us. But He makes a statement in verse 14 of chapter 12, 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Look in verse 14, Behold, the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be burdensome to you. For I seek not yours, what you have, but you. So you are more important than the things that you have or accumulate. God loves you. That doesn’t mean God loves your house, and God loves your car, and God loves your kitty cat, I don’t know how he feels about kitty cats, I should take that back.

But I know God loves you, and you’re supposed to believe that God loves you. And God has allowed us to have and enjoy many things in life, but don’t think those things are more important than the one that gave them to us. The Lord is more important to you than anything you presentlySIGN or enjoy>>>>>>>> because you can lose all of those things. Because everything that you see is temporal. It’s all temporal. He said, what does that mean? It don’t last forever.

So he says, I seek not yours, but you, for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but the parents for the children. That’s the only verse in the Bible that I’m not sure I agree________________________. Now that I’m getting older and I’ve got a couple kids, I, you know, they ought to take care of Papa when he gets old, you know, the grandkids. So I think that what we’re supposed to do, to train them to take care of us when we get old.

But it says, but the parents for the children. So you and I are supposed to be given them something worth living for. It’s not always the things, it’s the character. It’s them learning how to trust the Lord. Walk with the Lord, lean upon the Lord. We should be leaving spiritual values with our children. Look in verse 15, he said, and I will vary gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.

You ought to underline that. That’s a beautiful statement. I almost feel sorry for Paul when he writes this. He had gone to this place. He led these people to the Lord. And then somebody else comes along and turns them against Paul and he has to defend his apostleship and they just turned against Paul and they said things against him and he says all that I have gone through. He mentioned that in chapter 11. All of that that I’ve gone through.

The cares of this world, the cares of the churches, he says I have spent my life for you and the more I love you the less I’m loved the more I do for you the less you understand and respect. Now if that happened to the Apostle Paul is there a possibility you might do something for somebody and they do not do not do not appreciate you or what you believe or stand for and all the love that you try to show.

I’ve had people that I’ve led to Christ and they were just almost worshiped me. Greatest guy in the world. And then after a while, totally turn and hate you and tell you, I hate you. I said, what did I do to you? I don’t know. I just hate you. I’m against you. You would think you ought to have a good reason, but you can’t explain it. You’re just going to have to go through it. Keep serving the Lord in your way.

Because this happened to him. It will happen to you. And you’re going to do things for people and you’re going to give them your life. You’re going to give them your choice time. And they won’t care. And there will be no respect. Sometimes we see that without sometimes our children, maybe even the grandkids. They could be somebody where you work. They could be at home. And all of a sudden it just seemed like things can change and you don’t know what’s happening.

The devil can work behind the scenes. You can’t see him, but he works on people’s minds. He can cause people to believe things, to imagine things. Remember this, the devil cannot make you sin. He can only tempt you to sin. So don’t blame everything on the devil. You just happen to have something within you that he can tempt you with. There’s a little song that, yeah, not too temptation, for yielding is sin. But a lot of people, you sense it when you yield to it.

You’re going to be tempted. Another statement that I want to give to you. Don’t reject in the dark what God gave you into light. And that’s Matthew 516, I’ve already mentioned that to you. Don’t get too busy polishing your armor and not sharpening your sword. It’s not a matter of just seeing the beautiful foliage on the tree. Look how beautiful that tree is. Look at the way those branches are. Look at the beautiful leaves on the tree. Yeah, but is there any fruit on the tree?

Well, there’s no fruit, but look at the leaves. I think there’s a story in the Bible about that. The Lord is looking for fruit. And so sometimes you’re so busy polishing your armor, or you make sure you’re in church all the time and you read your Bible and do all these good things, and you just shine and shine and shine and shine. But no fruit. You’ve never learned how to use the sword of the Spirit. What is the sword of the Spirit?

I wonder what that is. The sword of the Spirit, according to Hebrews 4 and verse 12, is the word of God. The word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividedness of the soul and spirit and of the body. And so you have a tool that you’re supposed to use and it’s the sword, but many people don’t. They’re dull of hearing. They’re sword is dull. can’t cut as they should. When the Bible says, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman, that word is chopped up.

You’re talking about making one clean sweet, though we can a clean cut and rightly divide the Word of God. And a lot of people, they don’t have that sharp edge. You see, that’s what causes you to be able to make wiser decisions for down the road. Study the Word of God and God will bless you because of it. Another statement that I’ve used for years, and then I had to kind of look at it with a little question mark.

Souls are unreached because they’re unloved. Now, if I don’t reach them is because I don’t love them. Are there still lost people in this world because they’re unloved? Because if we really loved them, we would reach them. But I know the responsibility doesn’t fall upon just one person, but the Church of the Lord has a responsibility. But if I don’t reach them, does that mean they’re unloved? No, I believe the Lord still loves and loves all of them. But we’re supposed to look at it this way, that concerning what Christ did on the cross for us, for the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judged that if one died for for all than all were dead, and that they which live should not henceforth from now on live unto themselves, but unto him who died for them and rose again.

So we’re supposed to let the love that God has for that lost person motivate us to reach the lost person, because they’re not unloved, because God still loves them. It’s just that we don’t love the Lord enough to reach the unreached. Anyways, just something to think about. When you can’t sleep at night, don’t count the sheep, talk to the shepherd. You ever heard that one before? That’s a good one. Don’t talk to the sheep, talk to the shepherd. Don’t count the sheep.

I’ll never forget how many times I have been knocked out. You know they give me some anesthetics. I’m laying there and there with this bright light, you know, on lip-fixing, do some surgery on me or whatever. And we’re gonna give this year stuff to you and you won’t feel too much in just a little bit. And it won’t be long this. Okay, count from 100 backwards. 199, 98, 97, 96. 1997, 1996.

I mean, I have never got down to 90 yet. I’m always gone. And I remember one time they were going to do a heart castener or something. They were going to run up to him and check my heart and my lungs and all that stuff. So they called in all the family and they thought this was going to be a bad surgery. So they didn’t know if I was going to have to have open heart surgery or what. So all the kids were there and a few grandkids were there.

And I’m laying there on this table and this guy says, now there’s a little monitor right there. All you got to do is just watch what we do with you on that little monitor right there. Okay. So they started, I guess. Next thing I know that Mr. Arnold, Mr. Arnold, we’re through, through when you’re going to start. They were already through. I’m waiting for them from the start. And they said, well, we ran all that stuff up through you.

There’s nothing wrong with your arteries. They’re squeaky clean. And I thought, I told them that, but they didn’t believe me. But they had given me a stress test and thought I was fixing the croak. And I hate to go through all that, nothing wrong, but I’m glad that was nothing wrong. But sometimes you just have to ride through some of these things and you never know. You just keep talking to the Lord. Just talk to the Lord about everything.

And I don’t know if God broke the machine and healed the machine, or if He healed me, and I never will say, I don’t know. I have no clue. But anyway, they told me, He says, you have the heart of a 20-year-old athlete in superb condition. I said, well, thank you. They told my father-in-law the same thing right before he died. He went to the hospital, he got a heart checkup, and they gave him a clean bill of health, and he’s in great shape.

Perhaps I had a heart attack and we went to see him in Georgia and he says, well, on your way back to Georgia. I mean to Colorado, he says, if you see this bucket come down out of the sky, he says, turn around and come on back. You’ll know I kicked the bucket. And he had a sense of humor. And he was in the hospital and everybody loved this guy. My father-in-law, the lady-in-law, he was one unique individual. I came back to do his funeral.

And I’ll never forget this nurse. She took her head around the door at the house. She says, are you an evangelist? I said, yeah, I tell people how to have eternal life. You’re on a shout of a doubt by simply accepting the payment. Jesus Christ made them to cross for him. Oh, I said, do you know where you’re going to go? And he dies. He said, now I said, well, come on in. Let me talk to you. So she came in and said, I led it to the Lord.

We had about eight nurses trust the Lord at the funeral. That was so neat. So God sometimes He takes one in order to get the gospel to somebody else. God’s behind the scene working. He knows what He’s doing. Just trust Him. Another little statement I have now is your future is determined by your obedience to God today. Have you ever heard that when we say that before? Another statement. If God isn’t as close as He used to be, who moved?

If God is not as close as He used to be. So I just wanted to get close to the Lord again. God had moved. He’s right where you left Him. Remember this, the Bible talks about abide in Him. It means just get as close to the Lord as you can. In the book of 1 John chapter 2 verse 28, it says, My little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, you may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.

You’ll read the same thing in the Gospel of John in chapter 15 about his children, abide in him. He says, without him you can do nothing. So the closer you get to the Lord, the more strength and grace you’ll have, the more you can do for the Lord. And you will not burn out. The only reason you burn out is because you got too far away from the fire. He’s the fire. And if you’ll stay close to the fire, you’ll stay warm.

If you get real close, you might even get on fire for the Lord. You’ll get hot.” Another statement, don’t be afraid to get out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. But always understand that there’s always someone who might want to cut off the limb. So when you get out there on that limb, but that’s where the fruit’s at. In other words, some people are afraid to get away from the trunk of the tree where it’s safe. And to get out I sat there on that limb and try to reach some fruit because there’s always a risk involved.

There’s possibilities you could fall and get hurt. And nobody wants to get hurt. So sometimes we just let that fruit go. I had a friend of mine. Well, I would say he’s a close friend, but I met him back in 1964 in the summer. He was a chaperone on a bus taking some kids from up in Chattanooga to camp with Dr. Stanford at Mokoritone. His name was Barney Holland, and he was going down as a chaperone just like myself.

But he was a little bit older than I was. And so we had a good trip down, good trip back. And then he was going down for another trip and on his way back, he saw all those old orange trees out there. So all those oranges out there on the tree. So they stop the bust, he gets out, crosses, oh, it’s on the expressway, and he gets over a fence and goes out there and he gets them orange. He wanted to get him some oranges to take back.

He just didn’t want to pay for them. He just wanted to get some. And a bee stung them on the neck and his neck swelled up in 15 minutes he was dead. I do believe that it’s good to have fruit, but it’s good to get your own fruit. Get it the right way. Do the right thing. Realizing that you have within you that which every man needs. You see, the world will try to lure you and tempt you to do that which is wrong.

Did you know that every man in this world, there is a certain desire. They don’t all have it at the same time. The desire to live forever. And you have it. And so what you’re trying to do is find the right people at the right time that are receptive. And you lure them, just like the devil lures them to do wrong, you lure them to accept Christ as their Savior. And you give them the bait and say, look, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.

The hosts who ever believe within him should not perish, but have everlasting life. A verse I often use every time I pull out my track, I’ll show them on the front how that little fell on theirs. That’s when I was 17 and had hair. They usually laugh a little bit, a little chuckle, doesn’t hurt anything. Now, let me show you something on the inside. Look at this verse. It says, these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.

What’s the purpose of reading? Now, it’s bait. You can know you have eternal life. You can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you’re dying. And so I use that. You’re luring people. But we’ve got something everybody needs to know. And so, just remember that. Next statement. Don’t give God orders. Just report for duty. Just report for duty. Look in Luke chapter 17. Look over there, it’s his first. Now book of Luke chapter 17. But you do need to understand that you and I are not to give God orders.

He is the commander in chief. He’s the boss. He tells us what to do. And all we’re supposed to do is say, yes, sir. Look what he says in verse seven. But which of you having a servant plowing or feeding cattle will say unto him by and by and when he has come from the field, go and sit down and eat. And will not rather say unto him, make ready, wherewith I may sub and gird thy sub and serve me till I have eaten and drunk them, and afterwards thou shalt eat and drunk.

Women, a servant’s been out there plowing and feeding cattle. All day he comes in the house and he’s supposed to serve and work and feed you and make sure you’ve got something to eat and to drink before he does. I like these kind of servants. You say, who’s they talking about? It’s not much a wife. No, not really. verse nine, verse nine. Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I should think not.

But in verse 10, so likewise ye, when ye shall have done, and you ought to underline this or draw a circle around the word all, when you have done all those things, which are commanded you, say we are unprofitable servants. We have done that which was our duty to do.” Now you and I insert in the Lord the thing that goes beyond the call of duty is the love that we have for the Lord. To go beyond that which God requires of us and do more, to sacrifice.

You see, you have not sacrificed unto the Lord when you have simply given that which God requires. Sacrifice is when you go beyond that. Most people never go beyond. I believe a lot of people think that serving the Lord is just like tipping the Lord a quarter, you know, and hope it just leaves me alone. You know, this is a token of my appreciation. Thanks God. Now I’m free to do whatever I want to do with the rest of my life.

I don’t think it’s going to work that way. But verse 10 is a good verse to keep in mind. Just say, Lord, I’m just a unprofitable servant. I really don’t deserve anything. I’ve only done that which was my duty to do. You see in the book of Romans in chapter 12, Brother and I beseech you that you present your bodies the living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service. That’s just something that we ought to do.

Don’t you think that all of God’s people ought to serve the Lord? If we never get another blessing, We don’t get anything. We don’t get one reward. We still ought to do it. I’m just an unprofitable servant, and you want God to do what He feels free to do to us whenever we get to heaven and what He chooses to give. I believe God is such a good God. He’s gonna blow our minds. When you get there and you see what God is going to give you, it’s gonna blow your mind.

Let me give you another statement. A man does not fail or fall in service, unless he is unfaithful. Get that. A man does not fail in service, unless he is unfaithful. Turn in your Bible and look in the book of 1 Corinthians 4. 1 Corinthians 4-2. So there in verse 2, Moreover, it is required, required in stewards that a man be found rich. Popular. Just faithful. All God wants you to do is what you can do. God doesn’t want you to do what you can’t do.

So the preacher has no right to require of you anything. God doesn’t require of you. I don’t have any authority to try to get you to do something. God doesn’t want you to do. True? All I want you to do is recip what you believe God wants you to do. So all I try to do is teach you to book and=> and motivate you with what the word of God says and hopefully you’ll respond. So RandomRedditor, you know the good statement, let me give it to you.

You made the responsibilities, but you cannot dodge the consequences. So as you go through life, you can ever play dodge ball. Somebody trying to hit you with the ball and you try to dodge out of the way. an. However, my uncle came to pick us up out of Georgia. My mom and all was six kids. They came down from Pennsylvania to Georgia to get us out of Georgia because of my dad was drunk. He was trying to kill my mom and beat her and all that kind of stuff.

So anyway, they were going to get us out there. But he had a new car he just bought. This was in 1949. And he had a nice 1949 Dodge. And I used to play Dodgeball. And I thought, man, to get a car that you played Dodge Car in. And you’re driving down the road and you’re trying to dodge cars. I mean, I was only seven years old. But I thought that’s what it was for. And I didn’t understand. But you can as you go through life.

dodge your responsibilities. Try to figure out ways to get out of doing what God wants you to do. You can dodge the responsibility. You don’t have to reach the Bible. I dodged that. I don’t have to witness anybody. Boy, I dodged that. And you can dodge all you want. But understand, you cannot dodge the consequences of your decisions. You and I are gonna have to give an account to the Lord for what we have done. And that might not be perdied.

Because God’s the one that knows what you could have done with your life. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3777. 1-800-576-3771. If you wish to hear today’s program again or would like to download a free MP3 of today’s or any previous Bibleline program, go to BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the spinning globe at the upper right corner of our homepage.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by going to our church website, calvary of Tampa dot org. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound. We will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.