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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 1-800-800-800-800. 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.

If there’s anything you need to understand, that’s what I’m going to talk about tonight. You and… You and I are facing every day of our lives one problem after another. You’re either in the midst of a problem, coming out of a problem, or just about ready to go into one. Which is it? You say everything’s fine. Heh heh heh. Sure. But that’s what life is designed for. You present the problems so that you’ll go to the Lord to find the solution.

And everybody wants to go to the Lord, and everyone wants to learn, so you ought to crave all the various problems that you have in life. And if you don’t have any problems, man, I feel sorry for you. You just not learning anything. You must be having a totally miserable life, not to grow in the faith. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke. And chapter 18, the book of Luke, chapter 18.

In chapter 18 of the book of Luke, he’s made this statement. In verse 7, And shall not God avenge his only leg. Now, those who have trusted Christ’s Savior, God has chosen them to have certain opportunities because they’re his children. And so God wants to bless them, and so there’s opportunities that God gives to us in life, and some things happen without your choice. You know, you didn’t choose it. We call them accidents. But I’m not sure there’s accidents in the Christian’s life.

Because there’s a God in heaven, nothing catches him by surprise. He doesn’t say, oh, I didn’t know about that one. Oh, I don’t know. What am I going to… So God is having a nervous breakdown. Can you picture God having a nervous breakdown? He don’t know what he’s going to do. And you’ve got so many problems. He can’t handle them all. Well, he says in verse eight, I tell you, he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, you ought to underline this.

Shall he find faith on the earth? Now, everyone has faith. It means the ability to trust. Everybody trusts something or someone. You can trust the peer to hold you up, you trust the car to get you here, you trust the lights to work, and somebody else to stop. All kinds of things. So trust is being demonstrated all the time in every way. But what he’s talking about is, will he find people trusting him? When he comes, will he find people trusting him, depending upon him?

So your life is designed in such a way that God wants to test your faith. So turn in your Bible to the book of 1 Peter and chapter 1. 1 Peter and chapter 1. Where is your faith? What are you trusting in? What is your hope? What is the anchor of your soul that makes you solid as a rock? Well, sometimes I wish I was solid like a rock. I still get shook up sometimes, and I get problems and doubts and confusion, and then I believe it happens in just about everybody’s life.

But here in 1 Peter, I want you to look there in chapter 1, and it says, in verse 4, two, an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fate of not away reserved in heaven for you. See, once you trusted Christ as your Savior, you became his child, So God has a place for you in heaven. It’s undefiled and it fades if not away. It’s reserved for you. You have a reservation made. He’s not going to reserve you under a place if you’re not going to show up.

You will show up, but you’re not there yet. So look at the next verse where it says, who are kept by the power of God? See, you didn’t have the power to save yourself. You don’t have the power to keep yourself safe. Did you realize that the testing of life revealed how little power you really have? Because see, if you and I could control everything, wouldn’t it be neat, maybe? Or God wants it to where you let him control your life.

So that you can allow him to bring him to your life or move out of your life, whatever it is. God has a reason and you can trust him. You can believe him. So he makes a statement in verse six. We’re in you greatly rejoice. You ought to be happy and thrilled with that that yes, you have a place reserved for you in heaven. You’re kept by the power of God. The devil can’t get your soul. You can’t never go to hell.

And the place that you’re going to, it paid up not away, and it’s just a wonderful thing to know. And then he says in verse six, we’re in you greatly rejoice, though now for a season if need be. You are in heaviness through manifold temptations, lot of testings, lot of trials, lot of problems. You rejoice in that you’re going to heaven, but you know you’re not there. You’re living down here in the nasty here now and not in the pie in the sky.

And so while you’re looking at the things that you’re having to go through, manifold, just many problems, not one, and they don’t usually come one at a time. Sometimes they come heaped all together and they weigh you down and they’re sorrow and it’s heavy. Look what he says, heaviness through manifold temptation. So does God know that? Yeah, You God knows that. Does he see you? Yeah, he sees you. Does he know what’s coming tomorrow? He knows every bit of it.

Is he worried? Is your daddy worried? No, he’s not worried. He already knows what’s going to happen. All you got to do is just trust him and walk with him. And it’ll be so much easier. But now, like this one person told me one time, he says, don’t tell me worry and doesn’t pay 90% of what I worry about never happens. So he believed that his worrying is paying off. Well, I don’t think so. Verse 7, that the trial of your faith.

Where is your faith? You see, the trial is to reveal where is your faith. What are you trusting in? What’s your problem? Are you trusting in you? Are you trusting in others? Are you trusting in something that can fail you and disappoint you? Remember, God never fails. God does not disappoint. He said, I’ll never leave you and never forsake you. But if you put your comes and trust in something else, God may remove anything else you trust in so that you fall.

Because God doesn’t want there to be anything between you and him. So don’t put things between you and God. You just want to use the pressures of life and there’s many. Let them push you closer to the Lord, but do not allow the pressures of life to become like a wedge and push you away from the Lord. Verse 7, that the trial of your faith being much more precious, get that much more precious than of gold that perishes. In other words, this thing, you had a lot of money.

Well, all of these money, if I had money, money I can buy my way out of anything if I just had money. You have a word if God took your life with all that money. You know rich people died just like poor people. So all your money is not going to bring you happiness. You say I’d like to try it just once in a while. You know just as if there’s anything I wish God would let me be tempted with is just more money than I can handle.

But it may not be that way. You know you just might not be able to be trusted with a million dollars. Maybe if you had a million dollars, it would lead you away from God. Now, which would you rather have? The Lord or the million dollars? Careful. Said, preacher, if I had a million dollars, I’d give you 900,000. Lord, give them a million. Somebody said, I want a million dollars from a lottery. Preacher, if I give 10% to the church, he says, would it be tainted?

I said, it’s pain enough. Well, anyway, as we look at my here in verse seven, be in much more precious than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, get to might be found unto praise. In other words, God says, I will allow you to go through trials because praise for going through the trial is worth more than gold and silver. In other words, for God, when you get to heaven, for God to praise you, for God to honor you, to God to give you glory when you get to heaven is going to be worth more than silver and gold.

So if you had a choice… What would you rather have problems? I have craved problems all my life. They go from one crisis to another crisis to another because I knew that all the problems challenges my faith. But if I accept the challenge, the problems, the trials, the temptations, my confidence in the Lord will grow stronger because I’ve lived 52 years and I’ve seen God keep bringing me through all the trials and tribulations. Should I stop trusting Him now?

So while I met my quota, God, get off my back. Let me have a few short years of just peace and quiet. I’ve really thought about that. But it doesn’t seem like that’s the way it’s going to happen. But the Lord has never failed me, He will not fail you. And if you understand the purpose of trials and tribulations, you won’t mind them. It’s when you can’t solve the problem, when it’s bigger than what you are. And God will want you to see that you might be trusting the wrong thing.

And I want to tell you a little story that I think will help you on that. But in this verse, might be found in the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. yet. It ain’t no re yet. But one day it will be worth it all. So just be looking to the Lord and trusting the Lord and trusting Him to walk you through whatever. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Hebrews. Just turn to the left a couple pages and the book of Hebrews in chapter 6.

Hebrews chapter 6 and look there in verse 13. Hebrews chapter 6 verse 13. This is a very important portion of Scripture in the Word of God. This is where you ought to be so strong in. One reason is because there is nobody greater than God. So if you have the one that’s the greatest of all time, and then the greatest one of all time told you something and he cannot lie. Two immutable things that cannot be changed. Nobody greater than him and he cannot lie.

that ought to give a man confidence in peace. Can I trust the one that there’s nobody greater and he can’t lie? He gave his word. He can’t lie. So you see there in verse 13, when God made promise to Abraham because he could get this square by no greater, he’s square by himself. There’s nobody greater. And then he says in verse 14, saying, surely blessing, I will bless thee, multiplying I will multiply thee. In other words, it’s what I am going to do.

And he said it to Abraham. In verse 15, and so after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men very swear by the greater. And an O for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. In other words, you hear somebody say, I swear on my dead mother’s grave. What did it mean by that? Well, if this is holy and sacred to me, I’m giving you my word. I swear by the heavens. But you see, they always swear by the thing they think is the greatest thing to convince you of something.

And there’s nobody greater than God. So you don’t have to worry about somebody overriding God taking away what God promised. But lean verse 16, where he says, for men very swear by the greater. And an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. We’re in God willing more abundantly to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.

Why? Because the one there is none greater, He cannot lie, I ought to have confidence. God gave His Word. He can’t lie. So my hope should be in what He said. I should believe it. So God will allow all the problems of life, to see whether or not do you believe that? Where is your faith? Is it in the one that is the greatest of all that made a promise, He cannot lie? That’s why the Bible talks about the divine promises.

Promises made by the divine. God cannot fail. God cannot lie. Now can you believe that? This is where faith comes from. Faith is the ability to trust. Faith commit by hearing and hearing by the word of God. As Abraham staggered not at the promises of God through unbelief but was strong in faith. believe in what God said. Now look what he says in verse 18, that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation or be greatly encouraged.

What are you facing? What’s your problem? God wants to bring you to the point where you are encouraged by what he said, not by the things of life. That is like a mirage. It’s like that’s not the real life. You see, that walk between me and God, that’s what’s real. That’s real. Everything else I’m not to believe in. Trust in. But that which… I can see by the eye of faith. Get what else he says here. In the last part of verse 18, it says, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul.

My confidence is in his word and is both sure and steadfast, and which entered into that, that which is within the veil. Verse 20, whether the forerunner is for us entered Jesus. See, Jesus is already ascended beyond the veil. My hope is in Him and it cannot fail because see, it’s immutable, unchanging. God, the greatest, can’t be changed. His word, He cannot lie, That can’t be changed. So God is looking for those who can put their trust in Him.

Can you believe Him? That is going to be revealed by the things that happens in your life and whether or not you can keep walking with the Lord with a smile on your face and say, everything’s in God’s hands and I trust Him and I don’t know how He’s going to do it. I just believe that He will. That’s when you become a strong Christian. So how you doing? Everybody got a big smile on their face and happy about the things of the Lord.

You say, you don’t know what I’m going through. I don’t care what you’re going through. It doesn’t matter. I just want God to bless you with problem after problem after problem so it’ll keep you humble and close to the Lord. You know you get too big for your britches. You’d be surprised what will happen to you. God has to keep us humble. And he knows how to do it. He’s been doing it for a while. Now take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Luke.

The book of Luke. Turn to the book of Luke in chapter eight. Luke and chapter eight. There’s a song and it’s in this book. My anchor holes. It’s not in your book, but it’s in a book that I had, that I brought down here. Let me see. In view of what I’m saying, listen to the words of this song. This is the song, though the angry surges roll. On my campus, driven soul, I am peaceful for I know, while the although winds may blow.

I’ve an anchor safe and sure, that can ever bore indoor. And it holds my anchor holds, Though your wildest then no gale, On my bark so small and frail, By his grace I shall not fail, For my anchor holds, My anchor holds, That’s the one that goes into the veil and your anchor holds. But you don’t know if it’ll hold until you have something that pulls you in the opposite direction. And your hope is in what God says and you can trust the Lord.

So are you gonna have storms in life? Yeah, you’re gonna have some storms in life. And you ought to be thrilled to death that you get that opportunity to demonstrate your faith in God. A lot of people run from these trials and tribulations. In fear and in trembling, but you ought to welcome like you’re just getting a pot of gold sent to you. Because when you get to heaven, God’s going to reward you richly because of your faithfulness in the time of testing.

Now here in the book of Luke, look there in the book of Luke chapter 8 and look in verse 22. 8 verse 22, Jesus stills the waves, must have been a storm. Look at verse 22, now He came to pass on a certain day that He went into a ship with the disciples. He said unto them, Let us go over onto the other side of the lake, and they launch forth. And as they sailed, he fell asleep, and there came down a storm of wind upon the lake, and they were filled with water and were in jeopardy.

They said to him and woke him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then he arose and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they seized, and there was a calm. And he said unto them, You ought to underline this statement in your Bible. Where is your faith? Where’s your faith? Now, remember, they must have some, but maybe they have it in the wrong place. You see, there’s a few things mentioned here. One is the sailors. One is the ship.

One is the sea. One is the storm. And one is the savior. So you’ve got these five things in this verse. The sailors, that was them. They were the sailors. Were they trusting in their ability? And that’s why they were worried because they knew they didn’t have what it takes to deliver themselves from the storm. So evidently, maybe they were trusting in themselves. If they trust in themselves, what usually happens whenever you don’t see a way up? That’s produces the fear.

And a lot of people are scared to death because they can’t make something happen. They don’t have the wisdom, the talent, the ability to perform, to work those little miracles that they want. And they don’t like to be shown up because of the element of pride. Nobody wants to be humbled, and that’s why the Bible talks about Moses. Moses had made the statement, Lord, don’t let me see how wicked I am. All the people are against me, and he didn’t know what he was going to do.

He said, I’m ready to commit suicide. I’m ready to get out of here. So don’t let me see my wickedness. Nobody wants to be seen to be weak and lack of faith. Everybody likes to put forth that, I’m strong in the Lord. And God says, I’m gonna let you see whether or not, are you really strong in the Lord? Or because I haven’t tested you good enough in certain areas. That’s why the Bible talks about multiple testings, diversity of testings, all kinds to see what you’re made out of.

Yeah, that says here. And verse 22, and it came to pass on a certain day that he went into a ship with the disciples and he said unto them, let us go over unto the other side of the lake. Wait a minute, who told them that? Jesus did. Whose idea was he getting the boat? Jesus. Whose idea was he going the other side of the lake? Jesus. Then he said, let us go over to the other side of the lake.

Why would they question a doubt that ever arrived? Didn’t he just tell them we’re going to the other side? So what did he do? What did he do? He went to sleep. He went to sleep. Evidently he don’t care about us. I mean he’s the Lord. He can just do anything he wants to. He can walk on the water. But what about us? Do you believe that God can deliver you? Regardless of the problem, regardless of what you need.

And so therefore, there’s people who put their confidence in themselves, the sailors. They didn’t have what it takes to deliver them. Then you look at the next thing down here, it talks about that they went in a ship. Well, wasn’t it? You wouldn’t care about a storm if the ship was big enough. I have been on the U.S. Abraham Lincoln. It’s a huge aircraft carrier. This whole 7,000 people is a city. And I don’t care what storm came up.

I would have slept like a rock. And I watched the waves and so forth, and that thing never moved one eye out. Because the ship was big and I was trusting in the ship. And I didn’t worry about anything. Why? Because the ship was big. But what if God causes your ship to be small? And you see, when it’s small, and maybe the money is small, you ever been where you didn’t have a lot of money? Not enough money to meet the need.

And then God has failed you. and you weep and wail and nash your teeth. And if there’s a God up there, then how come he don’t do something about it? Well, maybe he is doing something about it. He’s watching you squirm. He’s watching you squirm. And wants to see whether or not, are you gonna trust him? Do you love money more? What kind of an attitude do you have? Wine and pine and moan and groan. My God is a wonderful God.

He’s an awesome God. He just don’t know how to provide for me. Well, God is going to reveal things to you and that’s what you’re afraid of. You’re afraid sometime to see how weak you are. And that you know if it wasn’t for the grace of God, you wouldn’t be standing at all. If God allowed certain tests to come your way, do you realize you may not stand? I just got word last night that some preacher up there in Hammon, Indiana, messed up with a 16-year-old girl.

It was the largest church in the world. It was the church where Dr. Jack Hiles was the pastor, his son-in-law. Maybe he got too big for his britches. He just saw a 16 year old girl. It’s cost him the ministry. Probably will put him in jail. And you know what? He’ll probably blame God. Did you know that God can allow a person to be tested? Because he knows where you really are. And when you fall, it won’t be because of that.

That’s just revealed your weakness in advance. See, God already knows whether or not where is your faith? Is your faith in you and what you can do? And when you can’t see that you have the power to do certain things, you’re scared to death, you’re fearful, you tremble. But look what else? You see, evidently the ship must not have been too big because it was tossed to him for a while. And so it says here, there’s the sea. You see, it’s okay when the sea was calm.

They weren’t worried when they were in the boat, in the water, when the water was still. This, say, I have been on the Sea of Galilee. I’ve been right there. I preached on the Sea of Galilee many times. I enjoy it. I’ve also seen it when it’s been a little on the rough side. The rough of the water, the bigger the ship I’d rather have. But you see, when the sea is calm, everything’s fine. They will not be complaining.

When things are going easy in your life, you’d be surprised how, boy, this is the best. God is good. Isn’t God good? God is just so good. Yeah, did you know when everything falls apart to life, God is still just as good? God has not changed. 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 two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast.

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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 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.