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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Here in Colossians, I want you to look in chapter 3. verse 17 and whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. So you give things to the Lord by Jesus Christ because of Him. Now if that doesn’t motivate you then nothing’s going to motivate you. But what I want you to notice is something very important here. In verse Verse 18, it says, wives, submit yourselves unto your own husband as it is fit in the Lord.

Verse 19, husbands, love your wives, be not bitter against them. Verse 20, children, obey your parents in all vain, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, in verse 21, provoke not your children to anger lest they be discouraged. Verse 22, servants. Verse 23, it hit all of us. So wherever you do, do it hardly, get this as to the Lord, not on the man. So when it talks about wives submitting yourself to the husband, do it as unto the Lord.

Looking verse 21, knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance and New York on the line for ye serve the Lord, Christ. When he says, children obey your parents for ye serve the Lord. serving the Lord teenagers is obedience to God. That is serving the Lord when you obey. Husbands love your wives. Loving your wife is serving the Lord. So if you don’t submit yourself to your husband as good wives ought to, you’re not serving the Lord.

And if you do not love your wives as you ought to, you’re not serving the Lord in that area of your life. Children that do not obey their parents are not serving the Lord in that area of their life. If some areas you may obey and some areas you disobey. Now I know there’s some people that teach you, he’s either Lord of all or he not Lord at all. That isn’t true. I’ve had children, I’ve got grandkids and some areas that they obey and some areas they don’t.

And you’re the same way. Some of your errors of your life you are obedient and some areas of your life you’re not you pick and choose. But look down here in that verse again in verse 24 knowing knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive knowing that of the Lord you shall receive but you should also know that if you don’t do what God says do for his honor for his glory you will not receive what God has for you.

That’s why you even talked about husband and wives be right with the Lord because if you don’t then your prayers will be hindered. Verse 3 to chapter 3. So important. I could get lost in some of these verses, but I’m going to move right along. Verse Corinthians in chapter 8, looking first Corinthians after 8, just turn to your left very quickly. Look in verse 9. He says in verse 9, but take heedless by any means. Get this liberty of yours.

Become a stumbling block to them in that are weak. See, not everybody’s strong. Not everybody’s as strong as you are. And some people, if they did the same thing that you permit yourself to do, it doesn’t bother me. Okay, but could it bother somebody else to the point that they could become weak and stumble because of it and go further than you would go? You see, there’s the cliff right there. Now, some people get exhilaration, times you have closing get to the cliff without falling over.

There’s just something about, you know, living dangerously, living on the edge. But what if somebody else is on the edge and they just go just another step too far? He says, you know, maybe not for you, but because you love somebody else. And they’re weaker in the Lord. They’re not as strong. Maybe you ought to back up from that edge for their sake because you love them. Because you want the best for them If you restrain yourself from doing that what punishment is there?

But if you go too far there is a great punishment a lot of great damage How much suffering have I gone through in my life because I missed I don’t take it and drink Where I’ve lost a lot I suffered a lot because I never drink Because I never had a cigarette in my mouth and I’ve never tasted. I have no clue what it’s like. Boy, I’ve really left that. I mean, it’s just a poor life that I’ve had because of that.

I don’t wake up in the morning coughing and hacking. I don’t have lung cancer. Now, let me tell you this. I’m not trying to break. I’m trying to help people. I’m going on 68 years, no, I’m always 68. I’m going on 69. They don’t matter. I’m up there. At this point in my life, and I want you to understand this, my heart rate averages between 50 and 60 all the time. My blood pressure is about 110, 120 over 60, 65 all the time.

I don’t have headaches. I don’t have any medical problems. I’m not diabetic. I don’t have to take any kind of medicine for anything. I don’t have high cholesterol. I’m fine. But I do have to watch myself. I believe that serving the Lord and putting Him first in my life does make a difference physically. And if I don’t watch myself, I can go downhill real quick. Now, I may die tomorrow something. I’ve got to die something. But I’m gonna thank the Lord and praise the Lord for what he has done for me.

And the things that I have restrained myself from doing, I believe would have hurt me or harmed me. I simply believe that I can do more for the Lord longer if I stay healthier. Now, is something wrong with me? I don’t think it’s wrong to think the way I’m thinking. Like Paul made a statement about women. He said, I was at all a more like me, leave them all alone. I believe that people would do better if they did love the Lord more.

And they disciplined themselves to watch themselves, guard themselves. And it’ll keep you from a lot of addictions that you don’t need. That probably it would take away a lot of medicine you don’t need. Now, some of it, I’m not a doctor. I’m just simply telling you that I know enough that it can affect you physically when you don’t do right spiritually. The guilt of permitting yourself to do whatever you want to do can take its toll upon you in time.

It can wear that body down so that body can’t go. Now, like I said, I may die tomorrow or the next week, but I am going to praise the Lord today for what he has done. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I do believe that it will make a difference in your life if you try some of the biblical principles in the Word of God and live where you can forgive other people. Live without bitterness and hatred and the grudges, the meanness and the unkindness.

You can do this. You can do this. So he says here in verse 9, but take heed lest by any means this liberty of yours become a stumbling block to them that are weak. And there’s a lot of weak people in this world. I don’t believe that I’ve hurt anybody in this life by my staying away from certain things that could maybe more harm me, but it might cause somebody else to be harmed. I want my love for them to discipline me because I care.

If you don’t care about nobody, but then you can do whatever you want to do. But there’s a price to pay. Look there in Romans 14 and verse 13, Romans 14. Romans 14. And look at verse 13. I covered some of these verses not long ago, but I want to hit it one more time. Look at verse 13, let us not therefore judge one another anymore. But judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

So God doesn’t want us to put stumbling blocks in a person’s way. Now, when we started off this morning, I was talking about whatsoever is not a faith. It is sin. Because if you give yourself permission to do something, you know it’s not the will of God, then it’s sin. Because it wasn’t a faith. You did not have the confidence that this is within the will of God. So look there in chapter 15 of Romans and verse one, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmity of the weak.

And yet get this not to please ourselves. Well, I’ve got my rights. I can do it if I want to. We’re not talking about that. We’re not talking about what pleases you. We’re talking about what pleases God. We’re talking about the effects that our lives have upon other people. And he says in verse two, let every one of us please his neighbor for, get this, is good to education. Because we want to build them up. Edify doesn’t mean edify.

It means to beautify what’s there and add to it. You want to encourage people to do what’s right to build them up, to have them spiritually strong. So important. Let’s just go to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. I realize that I’m never going to finish all of this today, but that’s okay. You still got the notes and you’ll go home and study those all week. I know you will. But first the salonians, I want you to look at this verse.

First the salonians, chapter 5, there’s a lot of little short sentences through here, a whole bunch of them. Let’s just start there in verse 16, verse 16. Rejoice evermore, verse 17. Pray without ceasing, verse 18, and everything give things. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying. Prove all things. Whole fast that which is good. Uh-oh. On the line verse 22. Abstain. Abstain. I wonder what that word means. Don’t do it.

Abstain. From get this all appearance of evil. Now when Jesus Christ was here. He went through the corn fields on the Sabbath day and ate some corn and in the minds of all the people that were around, that was a bad thing. Now it wasn’t a bad thing, but it had the appearance of evil in the minds of a bunch of hypocrites. Now Jesus didn’t change it for them. He wasn’t dead in any way. He even healed people on the Sabbath day.

So you can’t do that. So he didn’t change it because they thought it was wrong. You see, you’ve got to balance things. There’s some people that are just nitpicky, I don’t care what you do. They’ll find fault with you. There’s always somebody to try to find fault in the lives of everybody else. And they go around through life, kind of blow out everybody else’s little life. They think their life change brighter if yours isn’t working at all. Your life’s no brighter, just because you blew out lights on somebody else.

always says abstain from all appearance of evil. In other words, if it doesn’t look good, if it costs somebody to think something that’s not right, because they’re weak in the Lord, learn to think, have good judgment, learn discernment. Is this something that’s going to bring honor and glory to the Lord? Is this something I need to do? So you weigh these things in your own mind. I’m not talking about you weighing things in everybody else’s life, We’re not to be judges in everybody else’s life.

Every one of you in here, if you trust the Christ to save you, you have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of you. And he’s probably enough. And he is working. When you please the Father, the joy of the Holy Spirit, we’ll keep you joy. When you don’t please the Father and you quench the Spirit, you quench the joy, the peace, the love, the happiness, Everything that you want is quenched. And you wanna why I’m, why I’m not happy.

Maybe you need to do some, an inventory of just some kind of, what am I doing? How am I living? What am I decisions? What am I making? Who am I living for? What’s the purpose of why I do what I do? And maybe you’re permitting yourself to do things that God doesn’t want you to do. But there’s no clear verse. This is thou shalt not do this. I don’t need a verse. All I need is biblical principles to help me to think, to be responsible, to look further, the look deeper.

I would think if God had a list of mile long, if He left out any one thing, well that means I can do that. I can do that because He didn’t say that one, so I can get to do that. Hebrews chapter 12, you look at it real quick, you just got to look at this verse, this is good. Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12 and look in verse 1. He’s talking about us walking by faith, living by faith from chapter 10.

All the way through chapter 11 examples of those in the Hall of Faith chapter Living by faith and so now he’s boiling it down to you and me Wherefore brethren he says seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses those Old Testament saints in chapter 11 let us lay aside every weight and The sin which is so easily be set us and let us run with patient the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despised the shame, sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

He says, you’re running a race. You got some weights. You can run with weights if you want to, but chances are you’re not gonna win. You’ll get tired of that pretty fast. So most people who run races, they just strip down to as low as they can in just tennis shoes, not Claude Hobbers, not a bunch of weights hanging onto both arms. They don’t want any excess weight. Now Christians, God says, just lay aside every weight that would hinder you.

That’s because you’re running the race. Now if you’re not interested in running the race, if you’re not interested in serving God, if you’re not interested in pleasing Him, do whatever you want. Do whatever you want, it won’t matter. Who cares? God is just gonna beat the tar out of you. That’s all, but that’s okay. Because you can’t live as you please and get away with it. There’s a price to pay. The one that I think is very important is Romans chapter 13.

Look at this real quick. Romans chapter 13. Romans chapter 13. Remember one day I took my coat off and I hung it up here and there and it fell to the floor? That’s because I didn’t have anything there to hang it on. I was trying to hang it on air. Now I can lay it up here, But I can’t hang it here, because there’s no provision for it. This is a provision. The floor, it can hold it. That’s why when I walk in the house, I take it off, and I throw it here, and I throw it there, and I throw it there.

And my wife comes behind me, yank, you want you to hang it up. I want you to hang it up. That’s why we married each woman. Well, I’ve had to learn a few things. You know, a woman can make you pay for not picking up your stuff and doing right and so forth. And so I thought, you know, it took me 50 years to get that woman away. She is and she’s thinking it took me 50 years to get yanking the way I want him.

Probably have worked on each other. What Romans in chapter 13, look what he says in verse 14. He says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, make not provision for the place to fulfill the lustro. Don’t make it possible to get in trouble. Don’t go to places that you can get in trouble. Try to watch yourself. Never trouble trouble until trouble troubles you, but some people just look for trouble. And then they always whine and because everything’s falling apart in my life.

What kind of choices are you making? Check and see how you’re thinking. And you’ll find out that you maybe you’re making provision to get in trouble. You’re giving yourself the opportunity. Maybe you’re around the opposite sex more than you should be. Or maybe you say things you shouldn’t say to them. Maybe you tell dirty jokes. Maybe you watch film. You say, well, that doesn’t say in the Bible about something not watch porn. Are you making a possibility for the lust of the flesh?

Think there’s biblical principles that we use in the Word of God to help to make decisions so that you can do right. Another one is, will it grieve the Holy Spirit. Will it grieve Him? Remember, when you trust in Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit of God indwells you. And when the Holy Spirit indwells you, you don’t want to grieve Him. You don’t want to grieve Him. By doing things you’re not supposed to do or quench the Spirit by not doing what He wants you to do.

There’s two words, grieve, quench. And as a the child of God, you can do both, you can not obey him, not do the things he wants to do. So you quench. And when you quench the Holy Spirit, you mean you’re keeping yourself from the love, the joy, the peace, and all the fruits of the Spirit. When you do serve the Lord, then you can have all of that. So as you go through life, are you happy or are you miserable?

If you’re miserable, good. You ought to be. If you’re joyful in the Lord and you’re excited about the things are good, you’re supposed to be. You see, it’s a result of your choices. It’s where you are mentally. Are you trusting the Lord? Trust you in the Lord forever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Come from Isaiah chapter 26 and verse three and four. And verse three says, now we’ll keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon the trust you.

in the Lord Jehovah for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Good stuff. That’s why we study these things. Look in 1 John chapter 2 at verse 28. First John chapter 2 and verse 28. How many believe the Lord’s coming back soon? Let me see you hand. You believe the Lord’s coming? Some of you are not sure. Some of you don’t even believe He’s coming. Some of you don’t have a right hand.

How many believe Christ is coming back? Let me see you hand. All right. That’s better. That’s so much better. When I love when people cooperate, you see there was a little spirit of rebellion in you. I’m Josh and you know. First John chapter 2, looking verse 28, little children abide in him. That means why you’re here living in, living the Lord. Let the Lord live in you. And he says that when he shall appear, we may have confidence and not be ashamed.

So in your notes there will eventually cause you shame. Whatever you give your permission to do, it doesn’t matter how society looks at things, it’s going to bolt onto how does God see it? The Bible talks about proving those things that are acceptable on the God. What does he accept? What does he accept? What does he not accept? And will you be ashamed before him? If he came right now, other things in your life that you happen taking care of, you’d be ashamed to get to the judgments of the Christ.

And what if, what if, we find out everybody will know what you have done, even though it’s been forgiven. But what if everybody knows what you’ve done? If he’s going to reward us for what we’ve done, we’re going to suffer the loss of what we didn’t do. I don’t know what all is going to happen to the judgments of the Christ. I like your pictures just going to be one big, joyful event, but it may not be. I may be wrong.

I know we’re going to be there. I know he’s keeping the books. I don’t want to be ashamed before the Lord has just come in. Look at the last statement I have down here. The questions, ask yourself this. Did I really pray about it? Do I really want God’s will? Do I really believe this decision to be right. Don’t go through life, have heartily. Don’t just nonchalantly just do whatever you want to do. Think, think through, be patient, talk to the Lord.

Learn to wait upon the Lord. Let God open. Let God provide. See what God has. Let God open doors and close doors. Don’t get a sled, let me tell you something. My wife and I had been married for 50 years. The other day we went out to the motorhome and we opened it up to see what was in the back end of it because I had put some stuff in there and I can’t remember what I’d put in here.

And we know we’re moving so we got to see what’s in the back of the motorhome. Well the thing would keep going down on those little things that were supposed to hold it up, it wouldn’t hold it up. So my dear darling wife, she went over to the corner of the garage and she got just big ole sledgehammer and she stuck it right down here and she put it up there and it braced the door and I’m in there looking and so forth and she had gotten down doing something looking at something and I was through and so I looked it up to let it down and the handle came down and there’s my wife and it hit her right across the top of the head so yes I have hit my wife and they hit with a sledge hammer and you want to know how come she’s so obedient

I felt so bad she did too. She had a headache for a couple days and it was just this week. I do not recommend hitting your wife with a sledgehammer but now if God can’t get your attention do you know he just liable to have to hit you over the head with a two before I don’t work, then they’ll sledgehammer. But God loves you, and He’s not going to let you alone. You are already feeling the response of God in your life, whether you know it or you don’t know it.

The Lord is working, and He’s either blessing or He’s withholding. You’re in His hands. He loves you too much to let you go. So He’s gonna… Bless you real good and give you joy and peace and happiness because you know you’re doing right. But when your conscience has that guilty feeling because you know you’re not doing like you’re supposed to be doing, it robs you of all that you want. And you’re, well, I just don’t know why I’m not happy.

It’s not happy. Well, happiness sometimes comes from happiness. Joy comes from the Lord. Happiness sometimes is because of what’s happening. And if things are not happening right, then you’re not happy. not happy. But by the joy that was the Lord is a totally different thing. Look up here. Now most of you in here, I know you’ve already trusted Christ to say, you know you have eternal life. You’re going to heaven when you die. But if you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted the Lord, maybe you’ve heard of the thousand times, but listen very closely, letting this hand represent you and me and the wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. Now God loves us. I hate our sin, but He loves us. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. And God wants us to go to heaven. To go to heaven, we have to be perfect, because righteous is God and none of us are perfect. None of us are good enough. We have never done anything good enough to go to heaven. We have all done things good enough to go to hell.

Because we’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned. God says you can’t save yourself. That’s why you need to save here. The sins that you committed and not committed, we’d have to pay for them. This hand represent Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us hates our sin because it separates us from the so Christ took the sin paid for them. The cross came back from the dead and said if we believe he did it for us, it put this payment to our account.

We get to go to heaven on what he did. It’s what he did. So I’m asking you, will you trust Jesus Christ to take you to heaven whenever you die. Well, you believe he died and paid for all of your sins. If you believe he did it for you, he said he would save you from hell, give you eternal life, and you get to go to heaven on what he did for you. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around.

If you hear this morning and you’ve never trusted the Lord, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I know I don’t deserve to go to heaven. I’ll never be good enough. But I believe Jesus Christ died on that cross and paid for my sins. And this morning, right now, I am going to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior, as my only hope of going to heaven. Pray in God said, if you would trust Him, He would save you.

Will you trust Him? If you’re making that decision, I’d like to have prayer for you. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting. So yes, that made sense to me in preacher. I’d like you to pray for me in closing. We’ll just look at it very quickly, but right back down. And we’re at all. I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. You know, we’re going to just slip it up real quick, just so I can see it.

I just look around just a little bit. Sometimes I don’t always see too good. Our Father, we do thank you so much for each person here. And all I pray that these things, these biblical principles, will help each person to learn how to discern things in their life, what they should and should not do because of how much you mean to them. Help us not to be judges in everybody else’s eyes or in their life. Let the Father just do what we do because we care about each other.

Help us not to be stumbling lots. We just commit this service to you, this message to the people. In Christ name we pray, amen. 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 Bible line 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 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. 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. And just keep looking up.