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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 come to you. 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 BibleInemistries.org homepage. 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.

Good to see you all here this morning. Take your Bible, turn with me to The book of 2 Timothy 2 Timothy and we just want to go over some verses that kind of describes you Tells you what you are See if you know who what you are then you’ll know what you’re supposed to do and all of us know and understand that we’re supposed to Explain the gospel to people. I did not know that you know I was gonna have a memorial service Until about Monday of last week of this week, I guess last week Last Monday and I did not know the people but they asked me if I would do a memorial service.

So on Friday I Was here and the guys in the office they always deliver me and One did one thing and somebody else was nice and friendly and invited the men and so they running around getting everything done But anyway, it was a, I guess you could say a profitable fishing time because we had probably 10 or 12 that indicated they would trust the Lord. And it was one little girl in a wheelchair and right at the end, you know, she just kind of, she hardly moved her arm.

They didn’t know she was going to pass away before her mom did, but she said she would trust the Lord. But we had a Jewish man here, some Catholics, but anybody can come and we’d love to share the gospel with them. That’s the thing that’s so powerful about the gospel. The second Timothy in chapter two, chapter two is a chapter we usually try to convince individuals that know the Lord to be faithful to the Lord. And what we mean by serving the Lord, there’s certain things mentioned down through here that kind of gives us some types.

And there’s seven of them down through here that if you see them, you’ll know a little bit more about what God expects from you and I on how we’re supposed to live. So look there in chapter 2 and verse 1, chapter 2 verse 1, Thou therefore my son. Now once you have trusted Christ as your Savior, yeah, you might be the spiritual son of somebody who, because somebody led you to the Lord and they’re your father and the Lord spiritually speaking.

But you are a son of God. So if you are a son of God, you’re his child. He is your father. So you automatically know that as a responsibility as the child, a year to obey your heavenly father. But look what he says, thou therefore my son. And of all the things he says to be strong in, He says, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the word grace, I guess you could say, it refers to that message that we have.

Be strong in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because you can’t be strong in grace if you’re not strong in the gospel. Because the gospel story is the epitome of grace. race. It’s how we understand the will of God. And there’s a verse I’m going to show you a little bit later in church service, but I love it now. I can hardly wait to teach church service because I love preaching. I love teaching the Bible. I really do. And I can just talk on and on and on and on and on.

But there’s just some things that kind of means more to you. And that is the gospel of grace that we have, because we know we have in our hands the most powerful message in all the world. And we see people trust Christ as their savior, and it’s a wonderful thing. But look what he says in verse two. And the things that thou hath heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.

One thing I found out is you cannot always determine who becomes your disciple. You can pick certain people to follow you, but that doesn’t mean they will follow you. So I decided I’ll just teach those who follow. And if you follow, I will teach you, and if you don’t follow, then I can’t teach you. I don’t try to beg for discipleships. I usually never even mention the word disciple or discipleship at all. though it’s been a tremendous part of my whole ministry, because it’s either winning and training.

If you’re training, you’re training disciples. So you’re training people to follow the teachings of the Lord. Now remember, you can be a disciple of Christ and not a child of God. You can study the principles in the Word of God and follow the Christian character and never trust the Lord. So you can be a disciple and many people are, but he’s not their savior. So you can be saved and not be a disciple, and you can be a disciple and not be saved.

Being saved doesn’t cost you anything. A being a disciple can cost you everything. So they’re two different things. I accepted Christ as my savior, so I became a child of God. Now, he says, the things that thou hath heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men. So as a child of God, we should learn from others who are doing what we’re supposed to be doing. So we need examples. And whether you want to admit it or not, you are an example of the Christian life.

You may not be a good example, but you are an example. And you’re supposed to live in such a way that others can follow your example. If you can’t tell other people to follow your example, why not? What’s wrong with it? Something bad with it? So as the praise is using the scriptures, Paul says, follow me as I follow Christ. And we ought to be able to tell others, follow me as I follow Christ. So you are to be an example.

And he says in verse three, Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier. So you and I know that we are soldiers. Now the question is, What kind of a soldier are you? Are you a good soldier? Do you know how to use the equipment God’s given you to fight with? Do you dress correctly? Is your mind straight? Do you know how to use the ammunition that God’s given to you? See, a lot of God’s children, God says, we’re to serve Him as a good soldier.

And so everybody should know and understand the responsibilities as a soldier. I remember when I went to boot camp for the first time, I had just turned 17. I was a little, I guess, put off, I didn’t want people telling me what to do. So I ran away from home and joined the Navy. Now I’m not saying I was the smartest or the brightest kid in all the world, but I found that very quickly that somehow I must have lost all of my constitutional rights.

They told me everything to do. They would get in my face and holler and yell and scream at me. Even my mama didn’t do that. And they told me what to do and what not to do and how to dress and How to shave and, I mean, everything. And they would come by and they’d feel if it’s in your roughness, they’re all. And all I had back then was peach fuzz, you know, a little bit. I might have had three hairs here, I don’t know.

But you learn very quickly. You don’t give orders, you just report for duty. So I reported for duty, and I had to learn how to do a lot of things that I had never done before. I remember we had to make our blankets on our beds so tight that he could flip a quarter on it and it would bounce. And if it didn’t bounce, you had to do it again. They’d look for a little wrinkle on the pillowcase, anything.

I mean, but everything had to be in, in, in, in its place. You see, whenever you’re going to serve the Lord as a good soldier, you and I have a lot of things that we’re supposed to be disciplined in. And sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. But in the service, you don’t, you don’t let down. There’s always somebody on you watching you. But anyway, you know that as a good soldier, this is what you’re to do. But then also have you ever been to a wrestling match?

I remember you should do the college style wrestling. We’d get down here on our knees and our hands and the other guy come up put his arm around you and put his arm on your hair and then he would hit the mat and you knew you had to try to get out of it and the other guys trying to pin you. That’s fun. I was pretty good at wrestling. I didn’t win all the time, but I won a couple times and until she beat me.

But just joking, just joking. Some of y’all believe everything I say. But I love wrestling. And the point is trying to depend someone, depend them, to get them down. Now you know and I know that there is a devil that likes to fight and he’s always after us and his goal is to try to pen us where we can’t move and the more you serve the Lord the more he’s going to try to pen you it means it gets you where you can’t move where you can’t well you’ve ever heard Christians say every time you ask them to do I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t I can’t and they build a wall around themselves of I can’t I can’t and they become a prisoner They’ve lost all their freedoms.

They’re not free to serve the Lord explan. They don’t have time. They don’t have the means. They don’t have what it takes. But look there in verse 4. Verse 4, no man that wort in taintless have with affairs of this light that he may please him, we have chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned except he strive lawfully and we believe at verse 5 deals more with the wrestling techniques because you see there’s rules that you have to play by and there’s rules that the devil has to play by and he is going to use every trick in the book to try to lure you and I to pin us to trap us to deceive us to cause us to become weak so that he can destroy the effectiveness of our life.

So yes, we’re supposed to be good wrestlers. So if you know that, then you know that you’re supposed to train. And I always realize this. Even when I was in Colorado and sometimes church would be way up. And then it’d be a way down. So one year we tried to have the highest attendance that we had ever had. So we had worked for about, I guess, 12, 13 weeks on a promotion. And we were competing against Florida Bible College and Mel’s Carbonyl and Bruce Porter down in the Keys and a beautiful Adams up in Atlanta, Georgia.

And so each Sunday we would check with each other to see what we did and who was in first place, second place. And so it was a strong competition. And I wanted to win. I hate losing to anybody. But we didn’t have all the college students like toward the Bible college. You know, you always start making excuses. And some, well, they’ve been gone longer than we have. So we worked anyway on our bus route. And the competition ended in October, the last Sunday in October.

That’s the time change. That’s the worst time you’d do it. But anyway, we did it. And living in Colorado, we always have the problem of snowstorms, blizzards. Well, no place else has to worry about that. But we did. But we worked hard. We really worked hard. And lo and behold, on that Sunday morning with a snowstorm that hit, we had about 10 buses that we had to run. And half the batteries were dead. The guy had to get out there early in the morning and get the buses cranked up.

And then the drivers have to show up and then the bus captains show up. And then they have to go out on their routes and you’re talking about, and they had about a foot of snow. But we run our buses anyway. And that Sunday morning we had over 900 in church that Sunday morning. And we had a lot of people trust the Lord and it’s just such a wonderful thing. And then the next Sunday will be the fastest decline in church in America.

Sometimes people really come out when you have a good competition going and this program and so forth and then they come out for all that or free food and all. And then whenever you don’t have none of that there, then you find out what you really got. Sometimes it can be so discouraged, it’s so disheartening. Sometimes I would have ranch and we’d have five, six, 700 kids in ranch. And then sometimes I’m sitting there looking and looking at the park and a lot and wondering, there’s only five cars out there.

Where’s the kids? Where’s the kids? And sometimes the buses will come in and half loaded. And it’s like things would go in a wave. And there’s times of the year when it seemed like everything’s going and then everything is down. You know, the Lord tells us to be faithful in season, out of season. When it seemed like everything’s going great or when it’s going bad. God has required of you and I to be found, what? Faithful. faithfully do what you can with what you have where you are.

And there’s some days it seems like men’s sky’s the limit. Then sometime it looks like you’re below the surface of the ground and a grave is nothing but a ditch that’s open on both sides and you just walk in slowly. So anyway we have the responsibility to look in verse 6. The husband men that labored must be first partakers of the fruit in other words. Now this is a person who does, you know, sowing and reaping. Somebody that takes care of the vines.

Somebody who has some fruit that they’re concerned about. You and I ought to understand that there’s a great responsibility that we have to sow the seed, which is the word of God. And if we We sow the seed, you and I, we should expect to reap. We should expect results. But the results are not what we’re judged by. God is going to reward us for the sowing. We’re not responsible whether or not people come in. We can’t make a person trust the Lord.

When you and I get to heaven is did you sow the seed? Did you sow the seed? You see one sows, one waters. God’s the one that gives the increase. God’s the one that saves the soul. I’ve never saved a soul. You’ve never saved a soul. The teenagers go, I don’t Friday night soul when they’ve never saved anybody. The Lord saved them, but they sowed the seed. You and I are supposed to sow the seed. So yes, there is a responsibility that God’s given to each and every one of us to be a husband to take and not only produce the fruit, but be concerned about the fruit that we have.

I should be concerned about the people in the church. He should be concerned about the teenagers and the Reform is unanimous. I want everybody responsible for somebody. The question is, who are you responsible for? Is there anybody that you you watch in guard and try to protect and help and encourage are you don’t really have anybody. Who’s the individual that’s serving the Lord today because of you? Can you find an individual who is serving the Lord because of you?

Do you think you should have anybody? How much time do you need? See, it would be wonderful, but it’s something we strive for. But the numbers is not in our control. But we are to be found faithful, and God says to go forth weeping, bearing precious seed, and you shall doubtless come again rejoicing. I believe when we talk about go forth weeping, it means all the heartache and the problems that you may have to go through to reach a person.

Because every time I witness to somebody, I’m not crying. Why would you try to describe? I’m not crying. So why are you crying? Well, that’s the only way I can do it. I got to cry. No. It’s some of the hard things and the problems you go through to be found faithful to keep doing what you’re supposed to be doing. And God says sooner or later, you’ll reap. And the fruit that you have is so enjoyable. And God says must be first partakers of the fruit.

See this in verse six. He says, the first partakers of the fruit. You see, the fruit, when you have fruit, it becomes something that you enjoy. Something you enjoy. I enjoy giving the gospel. I enjoy when I see people trust the Lord. The Bible talks about I have no greater joy than to see that my people or my children walk in truth.

First John two. I have no greater joy than no my people walk in truth. So you have a joy and it’s the people that you reach, the ones that you train, lives that have been affected because of you. This is why we win, so this is why we teach the word of God. This is why you’re to be an example on your job at home with anybody you can. You are to use and allow the Lord to use the power influence of your life in other people.

Now look what he says. He makes a statement in verse 7, consider what I say. Think about it. Think about it. And the Lord give the understanding in all things. And then he tells them there’s something I want you to remember. And then I got something I want you to endure down in verse 10. Because there’s all kinds of things that you have to go through and you may not enjoy all of these. Down in verse 12 there’s something you may have to suffer.

Well, but always understanding that he abideth faithful. He cannot and will not deny himself. You see, what if I don’t do all of this. Am I still saved? Yeah, I’m still saved. And if I even get to where I deny the Lord, the right to use me for His honor and glory. Now He can’t deny Himself. He still knows me even when I don’t want to claim Him. And that’s the foundation that we have. See there in verse 21 or verse 19, Nevertheless, the foundation of God’s standards sure having this seal.

The Lord knoweth them that are His. Does God know you? Do you know the Lord? Now, the knowledge that you have about God is supposed to do something to us in our life. Now, the next thing is that you and I are supposed to be students, students of the Word of God. word of God. You’re not going to be a good son and grow correctly without knowing the will of the Father. And you’re not going to be a very good soldier if you don’t know the rules, man.

You don’t know what you’re supposed to do or not do. You don’t know how to fight the battle. So you’ve got to study the word of God in order to know all of these things. And you have to know the Word of God to know how to wrestle against the devil and the things of this life, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. There’s all kind of things you and I have to have to fight against.

And then to be a good lineman, somebody knows how to produce the fruit, learning how to win souls, how to protect yourself so that you’re not caught caught by every wind of doctrine that comes along. So all these things are important. And as he says up here in verse 15, looking verse 15, he says, study, so that means you’re to be a student. Every one of God’s children should study, study the word of God. Now in the book of Ecclesiastes, it says that, studying is a weariness of the flesh.

If you don’t, I should say, if you have a problem going to sleep at night, read the word. You’ll get real sleepy. Because the devil doesn’t want you to study the word, so he’ll let you go to sleep. But learn the Word of God study to show thyself a workman. So you and I know that we’re supposed to be a workman. Working for the Lord. So you study what the Word of God says. And he says here in verse 15, study to show thyself approved unto God a workman that need if not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word.

rightly dividing the word of truth. And there’s some things that you and I are not supposed to do. You’ll see if you’re trying to build yourself up strong, there’s some thing that you should not do. In other words, if you want to improve your health, there’s certain foods that you ought to eat, and there’s probably some foods that you ought not eat. Now this is a dangerous territory to get into. If you really want to make people mad, talk about what you eat and don’t eat.

But anyway, you and I know that if you want to, for example, lose some weight, there’s certain things that you have to do. And like as one person, we’re pretty large and they went to the doctor and he says, if I get this little suction, he says, how much is that going to set me back? He said about three feet, but there’s a price to pay. Everybody has to determine for themselves just what you want for yourself. When it comes to spirituality, you can’t feed yourself the food from the Word of God and then feast upon the flesh.

It won’t work that way. In other words, you cannot feed upon the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life and expect to be spiritually strong. You can’t go to church on Sunday and get spiritually fed and then eat junk food from the world the rest of the week and expect to be strong. You need to feed upon the Word of God all the time, all the time. Every day you should be running scripture through your mind.

Because if you’re a child of the king, you should use the language of the court. You should know how to use the word of God, a workman, rightly dividing the word of God. You should know how to use the Bible. You can have a knowledge of the Bible, but not a working knowledge of the Bible. You can know every salvation verse and not know how to use them. You can know all kinds of verses in the Bible about serving the Lord.

But no, I don’t know how to put it together to help somebody. Because see, there’s the difference between having, it’s like having some tools, you know, the build a house. You got the tools, but you don’t know how to use them. It’s one thing to have knowledge, but not a working knowledge. The knowledge doesn’t work for you. is knowing how to take knowledge and apply it to experience. And so you’re not wise just because you know the Word of God.

You’re wise when you apply the Word of God. And rightly dividing it. So this is what God wants. But there’s other things that you have to watch that you don’t destroy what you’re trying to build. 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. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach by the 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. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible and 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 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. broadcast 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.