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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 by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage.

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. How much did this book do you think God wants us to know? How much do you think God wants us to study? Is it only those salvation verses? Or do you think that God wants us to put on the whole armor of God? To know the word of God.

Because you can be saved and know some salvation verses, but if you’re not strong in the other areas of your life, Satan will destroy you and you won’t be doing anything with your Christian life. You won’t be strong. There’s a lot of people who trusted Christ as Savior sitting on the bench Never doing a thing for the Lord for the rest of their life Because they don’t study the word of God Because they said well, I don’t need all of that.

I don’t need all of that then why did God write it? Why would he say in the book of Romans to study the Old Testament? Because he makes the statement that These things were written a fourth time for our learning that we may find out the things of God and how God works, and understand the God of peace, and the God of love, and the God of hope, and the God of joy. Because that’s why he always talks about, as it is written, and as it is written, and all of those verses are not salvation verses.

You can be strong on the clarity of the gospel, but be weak in your spiritual life, and you won’t amount to a hell of beans for God. You’re going to burn out. You won’t last because you don’t have the strength. There’s joy in the Lord and the joy of the Lord is your strength because of all these other things that you have to face. And there’s going to be a lot of trials and tribulations in life. Ephesians 2, 8, 9, they’re going to solve that problem.

You got to know other verses that will help you to be strong and nobody can do this for you. You must believe it. He will not fail the nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua and said unto him, In the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage, for thou must go with this people unto the land which the Lord has swore unto their fathers, to give them, and thou shalt cause them to inherit it.

And the Lord, he it is, that death go before thee. He will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee, fear not neither be dismayed. That sounds like pretty good encouragement top-down it. Why does he keep having to say fear not? Because we are afraid. Because it’s not the natural thing for us to just trust. Your new birth, yes, but you still got an old one to deal with. And that old nature that you have is always working against you, trying to get you to question and doubt God.

So you don’t want to fear, fear itself. Look there in Isaiah 41, Isaiah in chapter 41, Isaiah 41 and verse 10. It’s similar to what we were already looking at, but it’s important to see these verses. Look what he says in verse 10, fear, thou not, for I am with thee. You know, it seems like all the time he’s always tense. You know, don’t be afraid I’m with you. I’m your shield, I’m protect you. I will do this, I will, God says, you say, well I can’t see you God, where are you at?

It’s not a matter of you trying to figure out what God is, God knows where you are. That’s better. And you don’t have to see God, God can see you. That’s better. And just walk with him and trust him that he’ll do what he says. For I am thy God, I will strengthen thee, yea I will help thee, yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” So you have the verses in the Bible and they’re supposed to be able to sustain us as God says in his word.

Look in Psalms 55. Psalms 55, just a quick glance back there, Psalms 55. And look there in verse 22. Now this is a good verse that you should underline. It kind of reminds you of the book in Peter in chapter 5 and about the old devil that’s always after you know. And the Lord says, casting all your cares upon him, for he cares for you. See there in verse 22, cast thy burden upon the Lord. And he shall. What?

He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. He won’t permit it. If you will trust him and walk with him, you will stand. You see, as a Christian, you don’t have to fall apart. You don’t have to. The Bible tells in the book of Peter, heapons, But if you do these things, you shall never fall. You see, falling is a choice, and you don’t have to fall. You can keep serving God all the days of your life, but you’ve got to trust Him and lean on Him.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, lay not unto thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge Him. That means thank God. Acknowledge Him. And He might direct thy paths. He shall direct thy path.” He’s, well, how do I know if I’m on the wrong road? Can God direct you and get you back to wherever you want? You’re supposed to be. Trust the Lord. You see, I don’t have to worry about trying to make every perfect decision because I’m not perfect.

I have an old sinful nature and sometimes it gets in the way. But I trust the Lord to guide me in the mist because I know that He knows me. He knows my heart. He knows my motive. And I’m gonna trust Him to correct my path when I make an air in judgment. I believe He’ll straighten me out. I believe He can move and work in my life. I trust Him to do what I can’t do. And this is why the Bible talks about in the book of Romans in chapter eight where the Holy Spirit enters seeds for us.

Now, you can intercede for a lot of people. The Holy Spirit can intercede to God on our behalf. But there’s only one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. So keep that in mind. But in this verse, I love it because it says, and he shall sustain. The cast might burden upon, do you have a burden? You have a problem. Something bothering you. Cast it on the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. You say, that means he’s gonna automatically solve all of my problems.

They didn’t say that. He’s just gonna sustain you in the midst of the problem and get you through it. But now, what if that doesn’t always work better way? Well, I know. But Hebrews chapter 13. Remember that beautiful little verse over there we looked at last week? I want you to look at it one more time. Hebrews in chapter 13. In Hebrews chapter 13 where it makes a statement in verse 5, let your behavior or conversation manner of life be without covetousness.

Be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I and you, this is the part you need to underline, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And we read the verse in the book of Hebrews chapter 4 about coming boldly to the throne of grace that you may get all the help you need and the time of need. God wants us to do this. God is up in heaven and just waiting for His children to come to Him.

You be surprised what God has done to get your attention. Did you know that the hurt, the longing, the love that you have for somebody? Do you ever know what it’s really like to feel rejected and lonely? See, how do you think God feels? And there’s a God in heaven that’s doing everything he knows how. And he’s God to get us to walk with him, just to get us to talk to him. I wonder how God feels. We always think about how we’ve been, nobody knows how I feel.

Well do you know how God feels when we won’t go to him and cast our troubles upon him and Let him lead and God let him provide. And we worry ourselves all the time because we don’t know how God’s going to do it. So we’ve very easily fall out of faith and then to sight. But here in Hebrews in verse six, I want you to look in verse six. So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

Can you really say I am not afraid of what man can do unto me? Careful. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew. The book of Matthew chapter 10. I can chapter 10. I showed you this one time. Three times where Jesus had told his disciples to fear not. See there in verse 26? Fear not. See that in verse 28? Fear not. See that in verse 31? Fear not. I wonder why he has to say this over and over and over again.

You know who he’s talking to his disciples? You know what he just told him? Well, it’s over there in verse 1 of chapter 10 where he made the statement, and when he had called unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power, power over unclean spirits, power to cast them out, power to heal all men of diseases. And he says, now I’m not sending to the Gentiles, only to the house of Israel. He says, and when you go, if they won’t receive you, he says, you just kind of shake the dust off your feet judgment against them.

You ever seen a Jehovah’s Witnesses do that outside your house? And they think that that through burned to them. Where have they got it mixed up? But he says, as you do this and as you go, you see there in verse 14, whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words. When you depart out of that house or city, Shake off the dust of your feet. So it didn’t matter who you talked to or where you went. But wherever you go, whoever you talk to, if they do this, you do this.

So you and I, we trust the Lord to lead us as we go. But if you wait until the Holy Spirit tells you to go, you’ll probably wait forever. But you trust the Lord to open up opportunities as you go. You see, there’s no sense trying to steer a car when the motor’s not running, when it’s not going anywhere. When little Johnny gets up behind the wheel, I’m going to work on that.

I love sound effects. But they didn’t go nowhere, didn’t do anything. And a lot of Christians are just playing at the wheel, hitting a horn and hitting a brake, but the motor’s not running. They’re doing all the things that looks like you’re driving a car. You’re really getting somewhere. But the motor isn’t running. And there’s Christians that are not doing anything. They’re not going anywhere. Lord, I want you to leave. God, I’m direct. And they never do a thing.

If God ever did leave, God, I’d direct them. They wouldn’t have a clue. It’s like going into a grocery store and walking them to the manager. I want some groceries. Well, they got them on those aisles. You go up and down the aisle and you pick out what you want. When it comes to prayer, Lord just bless me. Be specific, tell them what you want. What do you really want? The Bible talks about open thy mouth wide and I will fill it.

Come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly to the throne of grace. Tell God what you want. If you think you really ought to have it, then you don’t let God go until you get it. And keep at it, and keep at it, and keep praying. Knock, and keep knocking, and it shall be opened. Ask, and keep asking, and it shall be given. Seek, and keep seeking, and ye shall find. Well, I asked them one time, 20 years ago, and they didn’t know, no, no, no.

Now, there’s a story in the Bible a person who went to see a judge. And the judge says, because of her persistence, antagonizing me. I finally gave in and gave joy. And Christ is the one that told the story about what you and I ought to do. You see, we quit too soon instead of talking to look. You know, there’s been times in my life when I have talked to the Lord all night long. I couldn’t sleep and I’d cry half the night because there’s things that I had to get and that I didn’t know what I was going to do.

And the Lord was real to me, but I knew that what I needed was beyond my ability to provide or perform. And I needed a miracle. I needed God to do something. There hasn’t been a lot of those, but I’ve had a few of them. You know Elijah didn’t have a miracle every day. He had seven. Elijah didn’t have one every day but he had fourteen. How many of you had lately? What have you asked God’s specifically for and God do it?

And you knew it had to be God. I want you to look at this now. He says they’re in verse 26, fear not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known. So your and I are not supposed to be afraid of what somebody says or calls us and so on. And not in verse 28, and fear not them. Look at this fear not them which kill the body. Now I have trouble with this one.

So now Lord, are you sure you got this right? Maybe it’s not worded right. Maybe in the Hebrew and the Greek it means something else But look what it says Fear not them which have the power the ability to kill you Oh wait a minute God If somebody wants to kill me Aren’t you supposed to be my shield and my protector and they can’t do that to me? Did you know that God may allow someone to kill you? Are you saying that nobody can take a gun and put it to your head and pull a trigger and take you out of this life?

Are you trying to say that you don’t believe that you could die in a car wreck because somebody else did something stupid or foolishly? You most certainly can. Do we have military young men that go over there to Iraq or Iran and Pakistan or wherever? And many of them die? They can die. But we’re not to fear those that can take your life. But look at the last part of the verse. Fear him that can kill both body and soul.

You see, the one that can send you to hell is somebody to really fear. the man who can just take my body. There has been over the years multitude of God’s people that have died for their faith because they believe what God’s word says. And when they had to declare it’s either King Jesus or King Caesar, and knowing to say that King Jesus is King would mean they would be thrown to the lions. They’d be ripped as reds. And yet they were told, I am with thee.

I will not fail thee. You see, it’s the faith that you have in the Lord. It’s not all this other stuff that’s more important. What you need is always your trust in the Lord. Like the three Hebrew children that says, okay, we want you to understand that whether our God delivers us or not. We want you to know we will not bow, and they believe that God would sustain them until death. Now they could die in the lion’s den, they could die in the fiery furnace.

It didn’t matter. It’s that can you trust the Lord to sustain you until you’re no longer here? Doesn’t matter how we die. we die? Is it that you have your trust in the Lord until you die? That’s more important. Take your Bible and turn to the one verse that I want to show you. You’ve probably never seen this chapter before, but it’s 12th, the 23rd Psalm. 23rd Psalm. And look what he says here. And the 23rd Psalm is on page 6, 0, 9.

It says, the Lord is my shepherd. The Lord my shepherd, I shall not want. Want for what if he’s your shepherd? Isn’t it the shepherd’s responsibility to take care of the sheep? He makes it me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. That’s for my refreshment. And when he makes it me to lie down in green pastures, that’s because he’s beneath me. When he says, the Lord is my shepherd? Well, it’s because it’s not a program and it’s not the church.

It’s not the pastor. He’s the shepherd. I shall not want He making me to lie down in green pastures and leadeth me beside the still waters. He restored my soul because He is with me. He leadeth me in the path of righteousness for His name’s sake. See, at no time as you read any of these verses, has the Lord forgotten who you are. Now, Lord hasn’t forgotten His role. He hasn’t forgotten His promises. And we are like sheep. All sheep have gone astray.

And He says, in verse 4, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, always under the threat of death. Living in this world, as I mentioned one time before, in chapter 22 you have Mount Calvary, or Christ was crucified. In chapter 24 you have Mount Zion. Where Christ is going to come back and rule. Those are two mountain peaks. And now we’re in the valley between the cross and the glory. And as you and I live in this period of time, yay though we walk through this valley where we’re subject to death.

It says, I will fear no evil or vow art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And those are the things that we use to protect the people. us and to meet our needs. All these things,” he said he would do for us. He says, for thou art with me, thy rod, thy staff, thy protection, thy supplies, staff of bread. There’s so many things you can get out of this. But anyway, he says in verse 5, thou prepared a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

You have food to eat that the world does not know about. You remember when Christ and his disciples in the fourth chapter of the gospel of John where they went off into town and to get something to eat and he was there talking to the woman at the well and they came back and says, are you hungry? He says, no. He says, I got me to eat that you know not of. Was there something that satisfies me more than the natural food?

And they thought somebody didn’t got him something to eat, but he was talking about another world that that they did not understand at the time. He says, the opera pairs the table before me in the presence of my enemies, not the absence of the enemies. So you and I, we serve the Lord with the lions all around us. Sometimes in this life, we picture ourselves as though we were Daniel thrown into the lion’s den. I had some occasion in my life to feel like I have been thrown into the lion’s den.

And sometimes those lions didn’t seem like it was a board meeting. You can go to board meeting sometime and it seemed like, it’s like I got sick one time and I got this year get well card from the Deacon board. And it says, five, four against. But get this. He says, dawg prepares they table before me in the presence of my enemies. dawg, anointed my head with oil, my cup running over. I wanted you to see that one little phrase up here in verse four.

I will fear no evil. I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me.” I want to know who said that. Who said that? You see, God used David to write this. Did you know there was always somebody trying to kill David? Just seemed like they just never let up. I bet whenever he was just a little kid and he found out that he had been anointed to be the king of Israel. And then here’s this guy that’s the king trying his best to kill him.

So Lord, I don’t know how you’re going to work this out or when you’re going to work this out, but it seemed like there’s no end to it. He was always running and hiding, but God was protecting him. Don’t you think there were somebody down days in that man’s life? No, that he had done nothing wrong and yet he had to run for his life. And it seemed like all those that were against him. working out, living out in the middle of a desert, running and hiding.

But no, at the same time God brought to Him all the other vagabonds that didn’t have anything to live for, all the rejects, the misfits, the all kind of gathered around poor O David. And David became a leader of an army. God used those mighty men later. Great stories. I love them. Verse 6, Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. David knew where he was going, but he also knew that he was in the valley of the shadow of death.

He knew that the enemy was always present, and there was good reason to be afraid, but it is our fear and O evil, for thou art with me. Well, that’s good enough for David. Is that good enough for us? So anyway, God is good to us. He really is. But we don’t have to live our lives in fear. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. And the wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us.

Now, he hates what we do wrong, but he loves us. And the Bible says for us to pay for that sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But he wants us to go to heaven. But you see to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God and none of us are perfect We’ve we’ve all sinned we’ve all come short of God’s perfection So God says you can’t save yourself You can’t earn it, you can’t work for it, you can’t buy it.

So, well, how can I get to heaven? Got some good news for you. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He used to learn God in the flesh. You see, God loved us so much. He sent His Son. And His Son came into this world and lived a perfect life, had no reason to die. But because God loved us, God allowed His Son to take our sins and pay for them on the cross and come back from the dead. So he died for us.

And God said it would believe he did it for us. He would put the payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Best news and all the world. So if you’re here tonight, let me encourage you. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, trust him. Do it now. Let’s pray, shall we? If you have not trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust him right now. All that means is you’re going to take him at his word that he died and paid for all of your sins.

And you’re going to accept that death payment he made as yours. And God says if you’ll believe he did it for you, then he would give to you as a free gift everlasting life. And you can know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die, not because of any good thing you’ve ever done or ever will do. It’s because he loves you that much. He offers it to you as a gift and if you trust him as your Savior, he saves you and gives you the free gift So is there anywhere that I’ll say yes, that made sense to me.

I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die in preacher I will accept Jesus Christ right now as my Savior friend if you’re doing that I Like to know I’m not gonna embarrass you not gonna have you forward But right where you’re sitting you say that made sense to me and I will trust Christ as my Savior and and preach our life to pray for me in closing. Would you just slip in it very quickly and put it right back down?

Is there anyone at all? Our Father, we thank You so much for Your word, Your given us, Lord, we’re people that have limitations. We can’t see everything. We don’t know everything. Your ways are not our ways and Your thoughts are not our thoughts. So much we don’t understand. We’re in the dark about so much. Yet You want us to walk by faith day by day, moment by moment. Trust in you where we cannot see. Walking on water where we cannot see other steps where it leaves no trace.

And Father, we just pray that you’d help each one of us to look to you and to walk with you. Believing that because you’re God, you are our shield, our protector, that you’ll never forsake us, that you’ll always be with us. Low unto of the ends of the earth. Thank you so much for your word you’ve given us. Bless each one of you here 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 are 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, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are 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 broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.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 and 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.