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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 1-800-570- the Word on Bible Mind, everywhere, every time. Hear God’s truth on Bible Mind. Welcome to Bible Mind 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 Bible Mind to continue on the air.

You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-866. 63771. Online donations may be made through the Bibleline website at calbryoftampa.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew chapter 7. Matthew chapter 7. You notice it says they’re in verse one. Judge not that you be not judged.

In other words, don’t judge in a way that others could judge you back. What it means is clean up your own backyard before you start pointing at other people’s backyard. In other words, before you try to get a splinter out of somebody else’s eye, you got to get the two before out of your eye. So it doesn’t say you can’t judge because we are to discern. But sometimes people judge in a critical manner, trying to destroy. And so some, some kind of criticism This can be constructive criticism, and there is destructive criticism, depends on where you come in from and the purpose of why you’re trying to do what you’re doing.

But all of that takes discernment, and discernment comes from knowledge of the Word of God applied to experiences in life, and that’s what reveals whether you’re you can know the Bible and no verses in the Bible, you’re not wise unless you can apply it in the right way to the things that happens to you in life. So it says here in this verse 7, ask, ask. Go to underline that word. Because, you know, Wednesday night isCLASSIFIED prayer meeting, and so I think we ought to just maybe everyone say, well, I’d like to talk to you about no prayer.

I’m talking to the Lord. That’s what prayer is. Prayer is that you talking to Him. them. And of course, when you read the Bible, God talks to you. So there needs to be a communication. And he says in verse 7, ask, and it shall be given you. Let’s just think about that. Well, you say, wait, wait, wait, wait. I ask the Lord for a lot of things and I don’t get it. Okay, there’s probably another verse that says something that we need to look at then.

But just kind of get the gist of it right now and think it’s through. Ask, and it shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find, not and it shall be opened unto you.” Did you notice that in those three verses there’s responsibility here? You are responsible to ask. Doesn’t the Bible say that God knows what you have need of before you ask? Of course, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it. Because God knows the future. God knows everything.

But He says he wants you to ask him. And sometimes I believe God’s children fail to ask the Lord. What do you want? What do you want? Ask him for it. And God, as many people say, will always answer yes, no, wait a while. Because he may not ask you right now. But what these words mean here is ask and keep asking. Seek and keep seeking. Knock and keep knocking. It’s not talking about just doing it one time in quick.

Well I ask them I didn’t get it. I didn’t quit. It’s the persistence of it. Keep asking. If you really believe it, keep asking and you don’t quit and you don’t stop. You just keep praying. Pray without ceasing. That means don’t stop. Keep asking, keep praying. Looking verse eight, for everyone, look at that, everyone that asketh receiveth. Hmm, and he that seeketh, findeth, and to him that knocketh, it shall be open. Good, you realize how powerful those verses are right there?

Is this for real? I mean, is this true that there’s a God in heaven that created the heavens and the earth, He’s waiting for you to ask for something, seeking for something, knocking one of the Lord open up a door. Bye. I believe that one thing that are required is, and that’s the word F-A-I-T-H. The word faith means for saking all, I trust Him. Faith, for saking all, I trust Him. And God wants you in the place where you trust Him for everything.

So good what He says. In verse 9, or what man is there of you whom if his son asked bread, will he give him a stone? I mean, if you have a child and I’m hungry ma, okay honey, here’s a stone. Would you do that? No, in verse 10, or if he asked for some fish, will he give him a snake, a serpent? No, why don’t God knows that you love your children more than to do things like that to them.

But look in verse 11, if ye then be an evil, know how to give good gifts under your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him. You see the correlation here? About you and your children, and the way God is. Did you know that there’s a God in heaven that has the power to do so much and He has created us and He’s created us with desires, with needs.

And He’s waiting to hear from us because He wants to do so much. I used to think, boy, I’d love to have a rich dad, you know, a billionaire, million ain’t enough anymore, a billionaire. And then when He died, I’d get all that money. Wouldn’t that have been great? My dad had a liquor still. Never had a dime. When He died, He left me some empty jugs. I think maybe a pair of old overalls, they wouldn’t fit me. But here’s God who wants to give it to us.

And you don’t have to wait till you die to get. He’s willing to do so much for you even now. And I believe we rob ourselves of tremendous blessings. And so I want you to look there in verse 12. Now many people just call this the golden rule. You see, what does that mean? He who has the gold rules. It means do unto others and then split. Do unto others before they do unto you. No, it says do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

But do you see that word there in verse 12? The word therefore, did you know that that word therefore is because of what went before it. In other words, this verse is linked to those verses we just read. You see what it says, therefore all things, whatsoever you would that man should do to you, do you even sow to them? But this is the law and the prophet. Did you know that whenever you pray, always understand. Probably over 95% of all of our prayers has to be answered through people.

Have to be answered through people. God uses people. And whenever you pray, I’m praying for a job. Where do you think a job can come from a dog? A cat? It comes because there’s a man some place that has an opening and he wants somebody to work. And your prayers might be because of a job opening because God uses people. So God says here in this verse, therefore when you ask, knock, or seek, be leaving. I remember when I first went to Florida Bible College, I told the Lord, I says, Lord, I figured up all my bills and I got to have at least $1.75 an hour to make it.

I had to wipe two kids. My school bill and all that stuff, the rent and all. Man, there was no end to it. I had to have at least $1.75 an hour. And the Lord, He got a hold of my paper and He recalculated and re-added and so forth. He says, nope, you only need a dollar quarter. He gave me a job for a dollar and a quarter and you know what? I made it. Because he said he knew off that’s all I needed.

But I had more than that. I probably would have wasted it. So anyway, God met my need and he gave me a job making a dollar and a quarter. But you know what I did? Every day I get out of school. I’d walk down the streets and I knocked on doors, knocked on doors. And I’d talk about every business, something down the street trying to find that do you have an opening. I’m going to college and I need a job.

I need a job. I need a job. I need a job. You know, the Bible says ask and keep asking. Knock. Keep knocking. Seek. Keep seeking. You know what most people do? Sit down and well, I just committed it all to God and I’m just going to sit here and wait for that job to come roll it in. I got news for you that dot the way it works. You say, well, God didn’t give me no, it’s out there.

You just got to go find it. Remember the illustration I gave you about the bird and how that God has provided for the bird? See, God made the bird have a for the worm. Did God make the worm? God made the worm. God made the bird. But God doesn’t throw the worm in the nest. The bird has been equipped with everything that needs to find the worm. And God has equipped you and me with everything we need to find what we need.

It’s just that most people today are lazy. They’re lazy. They will not work. They will not seek until they find or not until it’s opened or ask until they receive. You don’t stop, you stay at it. And men, these verses right here kept pounding into my brain because I was sitting in a meeting one day and I heard a preacher make that statement. It means asking, keep asking, seeking, keep seeking that. And I thought, I gotta keep asking, keep logging in.

But it was nothing to keep me going. Until, lo and behold, I finally found a job at Arnold Sullivan Company. Arnold. last name. Write down the street from the church and I wound up getting the job there. And then when they got to work, that didn’t work because well anyway, as we were moving right along with the story, I had a guy that needed somebody to kill bugs. So I started spraying homes. You see, before I became a preacher, I was a killer.

I was a hired killer. And so I killed all these little bugs, these little roaches and palmetto bugs. Man, I love to open up the cabinet underneath the sink and see them scurry all over the pipe. Man, I was just like Arnold Schwarzenegger with a machine gun. I’m not killing them all. Man, I walked out of there like victorious. I enjoyed every job I ever did. Now some people, they just, man, I got to do that. Man, I loved everything.

I don’t get what it was. But anyway, this verse 12, therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you because you want God to use people to meet your needs. And the last part of that verse is God wants to use you to meet somebody else’s needs. So do unto others as you would have them doing to you. Everybody helping meet each other’s needs. But to some people who don’t care about other people’s needs, did you know that one of the reasons God may not meet your need is because you’re not helping to meet somebody else’s need?

Remember that little illustration I gave one time about a man praying? Lord, give me! And the Lord gave. And then you shared. Lord, I need! And God provided. And you shared. Lord! and God gave. Lord, Lord, Lord. Right here, right here, right here. Don’t wanna cause no fuss, but what about us? And then you lose what you have. As long as you prayed and depended upon the Lord, it’s amazing what God will do for you. So many people take that verse totally out of context, But it’s talking about in the context of prayer, of God using people and God using you.

So see, there’s other people that are praying and that’s why sometimes God will send you along at the right time to meet the right person and they got a problem. And it may not be money they need, it might need that you have an ear to listen to their heartache and to pray for them for them and to care about them and just to kind of encourage them of maybe giving an illustration or something from your life. But if you do what you can to be concerned about other people because everybody is having a rough time, you need them but they need you.

And if you don’t meet their need, God just liable not to let them meet yours. And they don’t see this and understand this and they think they can just get away with it. There are principles in the word of God that will work. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Psalm 66 in the Old Testament Psalms 66 These are just a few verses that might help encourage it just a little bit Look there in verse 18 In verse 18 if you’ll look at this verse It says, if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me alone.

Next to God can hear everything. But what he means is God will not regard your prayer. It means that God won’t answer the prayer. Oh God can hear you. But he says his ears are open until the righteous. It means that not only does he hear, but he can respond to it. So we always need to talk to our Heavenly Father. And he says in verse 20, blessed be God which hath not turned away my prayer. You see, just because you prayed doesn’t mean you’re going to get the answer that you desire.

It might be that God won’t answer it at all. It won’t be yes or no. It won’t be, I ain’t listening. And why? Because you regard iniquity in your heart. See, God knows when your heart’s right between you and Him. And if there’s something that’s keeping you from really talking to the Lord, God wants you to examine your life. See, God has you in a place of need because there’s something going in your life that’s not right. And God wants you to correct it.

And the problem is to get you to solve the problem. deal with the issue. Almost all problems are spiritual problems. You understand that? All problems are spiritual problems. So you got to keep things right between you and the Lord. Now look there in Isaiah chapter one. Just turn to you right there to the book of Isaiah in chapter one. I’ve covered this verse before but it won’t hurt to look at it one more time. Look in Isaiah chapter 1 and look in verse 15 and verse 15 where he makes the statement and when you spread forth your hands look up here you see people in the Lord I need God says you’re gonna come up empty.

When you spread forth your hands I will hide my eyes from you. When you make many prayers, many prayers I I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. In other words, there’s reasons why. So one of the things that God does to our lives, we know we need something from God, so God allows us to have this great need, a crisis that comes into our life. So we got to go to the Lord, but we got, and then God says, by the way, we have to, we need to talk.

Sometimes God has to throw a brick at you to get you to get you to slow down and stop and examine what’s going on. See, there’s more to it, more involved. And so God wants you to stop and to listen because there’s some things that He wants to talk to you about that are more important to Him than meeting that particular little need that you have. And God can let you suffer. Suffers. Do without. He says, well, why doesn’t he love me?

Oh, yeah, he loves. But you see, there’s more involved. There are things right between you and him. Is there anything between you and the Lord that you need to deal with? And, or what about between you and people? All these things are important in the Word of God. Look in Isaiah 59, Isaiah 59, since you’re right here in the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 59. And look there in verse one. And look what he says here. In verse one he says, Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

Neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear. Now He can hear and His arm isn’t too short where He, oh, I’d like to help you, but my arm is just too short. I can’t reach you. I feel for you, but I just can’t find you. That’s not God. It got us so far away. I ever prayed sometime and seemed like the ceiling is made out of brass. Prayers can’t get through. And I came across a great truth one day.

My prayers don’t have to make a trip. God lives within me. He lives within me. He knows my thoughts. Before I even ask. He knows my needs. So there’s things that God knows and He wants to get done. But now look there in verse two. Look in verse two. You don’t have verse two underlying you, you ought to underline verse two in your Bible. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. And get to your sins. Have hid his face from you that he what?

He won’t hear. It means that he’s not going to answer you. It’s like there’s a God, got all this provision up there, and you’re not gonna get any of it. like having a rich uncle and he won’t give you anything. Maybe he don’t like you. Maybe you’re rebellious. Maybe he’s carried a grudge. But God is always for our benefit. You must believe God loves you. God loves me. But God doesn’t tolerate sin, and you can’t tolerate it in your life.

So that’s why when we do that which is wrong and you realize and God gives you a little flashback, you better talk to the Lord about it. Keep your heart right, keep your heart’s pure between you and the Lord. Now take your Bible and turn to Matthew chapter 21, the book of Matthew and chapter 21. And look in verse 22. This is a very interesting portion of scripture. You see there in verse 22, and all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, look at the next word, believing you might receive.

It says you shall receive. Now, remember I told you there’s a couple verses that I haven’t got to the depths of yet. It’s hard for me to believe, but it says you got to believe it. So I got a question and doubt. I got a hunch when I get to heaven. going to be many things that I could have had and because of my lack of faith, my little faith I never got. I’m thankful for what I have received, but I keep thinking how much more I probably could have received or done if I could only believe.

That’s why it says, Lord, I believe, Lord, helped out my unbelief. And we always have these questions, these doubts. Well look what he says. Yee shall, but look at the point of it. It’s see the verse right before this where he says in verse 21, Jesus answered, said unto them, Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith, doubt not. Hmm. That’s why there’s some things that belongs to people who have faith and what God says and can really trust Him.

I wonder how much they can actually receive and how much is because of their faith in the Lord. Or how little faith I really have. But He says, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fake tree but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done.” Good, right? When he says, this mountain, he probably was talking to the, to see this mountain right here?

The Mount of Olives? Now you and I know that when Christ comes back again, his feet’s going to touch upon the Mount of Olives, it’s going to cleave in the mist. So what is it talking about? Any old mountain or this mountain right here? Walton wondered about that. I also know that when Christ comes to the earth and He sets up His kingdom upon the earth, people won’t have to worry about anything. God says, look, I’ll take care of everything.

When a man wants to slap you on one cheek, he says, go ahead, turn the other one because Christ will be here doing the kingdom. See those verses reply doing that period of time. Man wants to sue you. He said, well, let him sue you. Once you coat, give him cloak also, it won’t matter. God will be here and justice will be served. You You don’t have to worry about anything. The vengeance is his, says to Lord, God will take care of all of it.

But until then, you and I, we have all these questions and doubts. What if you could live your Christian life without questioning worrying about what God says and just believe him? How much more peace and joy it happened as you’d have? Or to knock and finally found that job you’ve been looking for? Why, because you didn’t quit. Or because you asked and you just kept on asking. and you just kept on seeking, and you finally found what you were looking for.

By the time we found it, we’re too old to enjoy it. Ha ha ha. Oh, I won’t move right along here. But look there in James chapter four. Look in James chapter four. Over there in the book of James, everybody likes James. Here in the book of James in chapter four, look there in verse three, You ask and receive not because you ask them is, that you may consume it upon your own lust. In other words, you have desires that are not godly desires and you want things for the wrong reason.

See, I do believe this, that if I commit myself to the Lord, there’s a role of a disciple that I must follow. And if I will commit myself to do those things discipline myself, I believe that my discipline will carry me to my ultimate goal. I will be able to please the Lord and I will get within the will of God for my life. And so all I got to do is just Obey and keep walking and yield into the Lord.

And if I will do that, then it’s God’s responsibility to take care of everything else. That’s why he says in Matthew chapter 6, he says, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteises and all these things. What? The things that you and I are not supposed to worry about. Do you know there’s a lot of people they worry, worry, worry about what they’re going to eat? closed where? Place to live. And God says, I’ll take care of those things.

You take care of my responsibility. Lose your life or my sake in the gospel. And God said, I’ll take care of the rest of it. But that’s where faith comes in. And as you study the Word of God and the more knowledge you have of the Word of God, the more you can trust God for in your faith grows and you’ll enjoy life better. And you’ll have the peace and the joy that you really want. And that’s what’s going to make the difference.

And then you’re able to influence other people’s lives because you’ve let the Word of God influence your life. You ever seen smoke? There’s a song usually goes, that’s smoke gets in your eyes. Anybody remember that? Smoke gets in your eyes. Well, I’ve had smoke get in my eyes and I feel like singing when I got smoke in my eyes. I get teary-eyed because I get smoke in my eyes and then I can’t see too clear. Well, see, that’s the way a lot of people are.

Sometimes Isaac, they can’t see clearly. And so God wants to clear things away. Sit your affections and so forth upon him and God said that he will bless you. He’ll take care of things. Look there in the book of Mark, the book of Mark. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the book of Mark. In chapter 11, Mark, chapter 11. The book of Mark is a picture of Jesus Christ in constant motion. Almost every verse in the book of Mark starts with the word and.

And the key word is immediately or straight way. He was a servant. He was always going. He’s a servant. And that’s what you find in the book of Mark. So he’s always going, always giving. Mark and in chapter 11, look in verse 22, chapter 11 verse 22, Jesus answering a said unto them and you had to unwind these words, have faith in God. What you’ve got to have a reason to have faith in God. You’ve got to trust Him for something.

Well, you’ve got to need something then. So God is so good to us. He lets us as children of need have the possibilities of coming to the throne of grace and asking for help so that you and I can have all that we need in the nick of time. What do you mean? 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.

Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. 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 1-800-576-3771. That’s 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 in the upper right corner of our home page.

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, calvaryoftampa.org. Thanks for joining us on Bible Live, 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