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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. For 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 Bibleline Ministries dot O-R-G 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. I’ve got a lot of things I want to share with you tonight. I don’t think the night’s long enough to say everything I want to. I’ve often wondered what it would have been like to have been, you know, with Moses, with those two to two and a half million people in the wilderness.

Can you imagine what it was like having a church that size? When you got 10 people, you got 10 problems. You got 100 people, you got 100 problems. had a couple million problems, the poor guy. And every time he turned around they were hollering and complaining about something. Wasn’t enough to eat, not enough to drink, always something going wrong. They always solved the giants and the land never saw the promises of God. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Exodus.

Look at the book of of Exodus. Let me show you a few things before I get into my message. This is a little side track, but it ain’t going to hurt nothing. We ain’t going to wear anyway. Look at there. Exodus chapter 14, chapter 14, they had come up to the Red Sea and everything was, seemed like it’s going wrong. And the Lord told them, says, just stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Watch what God does for you when they didn’t know what to do.

Pharaoh’s army’s coming up behind him. Here’s all these people. And remember a lot of this God never told Moses in advance how he was going to do it. He just had to trust God to lead him as he went. And a lot of time it seemed like the Lord forgot to take care of certain little things. You know, like water. I mean, they went three days without what? Three days? What would you do if you went 24 hours without water?

In the desert, they complained. And then God got upset with them because they complained. I guess he was trying to teach him, look, How many of them died because they died of thirst? How many actually died from thirst? We don’t know if anybody died from thirst. How many of them died from hunger? You don’t know if any of them died from hunger. Because God met their basic need. Now there’s a lot of things that God told him was going to happen.

All those that had rebelled against him, he says, you’re going to die in the world. You’re going to die. only those that believed Him, and well, they got to go into the land. But here in chapter 14, look there in verse 14, he says, the Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace. And then in the last part of verse 15 said that they go backwards. No, they go forward, right through the middle of the Red Sea.

So they went across, it says there in verse 16 on dry ground, through the mist of the sea. And so God says, this is what’s going to happen. In verse 19, and the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them. And the pillar of the cloud went from before their face and stood behind them, separating them from the Egyptians so that he couldn’t get to them. And God miraculously provided for them. Game of cloud, you know, to keep the old hot sun off of them, fire at night to give them light and warmth.

You know, God does a lot of interesting things that they didn’t know at the time. And then in verse 21, there was a strong Eastwind all that night. God did that. Looking verse 22, and the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea, found the dry ground, and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left. So there’s a wall of water. Do you realize the confidence that they had to have to step into the the Red Sea with a wall of water on one side and a wall of water on the other side?

What would you have done? You realize the faith that every one of them had to have? Not just Moses to lead, but the people to follow. They had never walked this way before. They had never experienced anything like this before. And look what they were going through. But something else here I wanted you to see. In chapter 15 it makes this statement. In verse 5, the debts, the debts have covered them. They sank into the bottom as a stone.

Now some people say there was just a little bit of ankle deep water that they were in. That don’t sound like it. He says, Thy right hand, O Lord, is to become glorious in power. Thy right hand, O Lord, have dashed in pieces the enemy and he talks about what he was going to do and how he did it. Now look in verse 8. And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together the floods stood upright as a heap and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea like jello.

So, here is two walls of water, and it’s like jello. It’s congenital, and it’s there. Do you think there’s a possibility that as they walk by they could see things in the water? What if there’s all kinds of fish that they could see? One half deep they could see and do there. When I saw the movie, the Ten Command was the wall, it was rushing up like this. You’re all over the place. But I don’t think that’s the way it was.

I don’t think the water was moving like that. I think it was like jello. And they got a cross. And you wondered, you know, here’s all these people going across there. Have you ever wondered what did they eat? They’d be hungry. You think, well, I wonder if there’s a big old fish. You can’t get away. I’m going to take this fish. Like the other side, I’ll just cook this rascal. You say, well, that didn’t happen. Yeah, probably never happened like that.

But can’t you dream a little bit and wonder a little bit? Take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Isaiah 51. Look in Isaiah chapter 51. Isaiah chapter 51, I want you to look there in verse 9, he says, awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. This is on page 759 in Old Sculka reference Bible. He’s as in the ancient days in the generation of old, although not it, that hath cut rehab and wounded the dragon, although not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, and hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransom to pass over.

The last part of verse 9, in talking about the crossing of the redeemed to to the Red Sea. He wounded the dragon. But what dragon? Well, look in Psalm 74, Psalm 74, and you’ll see something that’s a little unusual. Psalm 74, just to show you that God may have Done something Maybe a little bit strange to us Psalm 74 Look there in verse 12 in verse 12 For God is my king of old Working salvation in the mist of the earth Thou disdivide the sea by thy strength Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters Look at verse 14, Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces and gaveth Him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness.

It seems like as they crossed the Red Sea, There was something that God did to provide meat for the people going across. I just wonder, take a by of a look in the 41st chapter of the book of Job, looking Job 41. Job 41, and you’ll find that God in asking questions to Job talked about the bohemeth that is on the land, which many believe may be been an elephant or something like that. But then we talked about the sea, it talks about the Leviathan.

See there in Job and chapter 40 where it says there in verse 15, behold, now behemoth, which I made with the heat, eateth grass as an ox. But he asked them a whole bunch of questions and this is a strange thing like an elephant. but then look in verse 1 of chapter 41. This whole chapter describes something like a dragon, a fire-breathing dragon. Now I know that around the world a lot of people have this dragon, especially if you go into Chinese food, you’ll see the dragon everywhere.

True? Now verse one says, can’t stop draw out Leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou let us down? Can’t stop put a hook into his nose or be his jaw through with a thorn? And he goes on down here and says all these things about this strange thing. And look in verse 19, out of his mouth go burning lamps and sparks of fire leap out out of his nostrils, goeth smoke and out of a seething potter or cauldron.

His breath can live colds and a flame goeth out of his mouth. You’re talking about like a fire-breathing dragon in the scripture. Now it’s in my Bible now. Is that in your Bible? And he talks about the Leviathan or the the dragon, the Leviathan that was slain in the sea that provided meat for the people when they went across. Now it’s just a possibility that maybe God says, look, I got two, the two and a half million people to feed.

And it would have been something if God can provide a table in the wilderness, that God can provide miraculously for them to have food to eat. And He says that when they were crossing it, that God provided the meat for those that were going into the wilderness. From time you just wondered about all the strange things that can happen. In your personal life, there’s going to be a lot of strange things that you’ll not be able to explain. But you know, there’s shoes that clothes never wore out for 40 years.

I would like to wear the same pair of shoes for 40 years. Be cheaper, wouldn’t it? But God is God, and God did things that nobody else can do. And I believe that when it comes of the Lord, we know and you and I are never supposed to question or to doubt that God loves us. But the question comes down is, do you love God? Do you love Him? Or do you question God? Do you get bent out of shape because of the things that you go through in life?

Remember a couple weeks ago I told you that opportunities are like on wheels and they knock and then they’re gone. But temptation leans on the doorbell, never wants to leave you. And there’s always kind of problems and so forth that we have. But I want you to take your Bible and look here in the book of John chapter 5, the Gospel of John in chapter 5. Just going to look at a few scriptures just to talk to you a little bit.

The book of John chapter five, and look there in verse 42, verse 42. He says in verse 42, but I know you, I know you. Jesus is talking, I know you that you have not the love of God in you. I know that you have not the love of God in you. Now take your Bible looking first John chapter 4, first John and chapter 4. First John chapter 4. And look there in verse 8. This is what God says in his word.

Verse 8. He that loveth not, knoweth not God. That word knoweth there is a reference to the second chapter also. And as you follow it through you’ll find out it means that he that loveth not, loveth not God. For God is love. In other words, do you believe that God knows whether you love him? Now, we often say, well, if God, if you really love me, you would do this and this and this and this and this. And in our mind, we have things built up.

And if God doesn’t do it the way we think He should, we sometimes think, well, maybe God doesn’t love me like I thought He did. I guess God doesn’t really love me. If He loved me, He wouldn’t let this happen or this happen or that happened. But let’s put it around the other way. What is God looking for in your life that would prove to Him what’s He looking for? that would prove to him that you love him. How would you show God you loved him?

What would be the criteria? What would be the standard of what you would or wouldn’t do that would prove to God that you love him? Now, I believe God’s word has a few things to say about this. And so I want you to look there in the book of Psalms in chapter 10, Psalms and chapter There’s a lot of things mentioned in the book of Psalms. Just a verse here and a verse there, I like to pick out certain verses.

Sometimes I like to teach the whole Psalm. But if you look there in chapter 10 of the book of Psalms, I want you to look there in verse 4. In verse 4. I believe that your love for the Lord is revealed by what you think about. Have you ever been in a car and they have a little compass in the car? And whenever you turn and go the wrong way, it will say you’re going east or west or south or north or northeast, northwest, whatever.

And it tells you the direction you’re going. You see, whenever a Christian has made up his mind, I want to serve the Lord. There’s occasions where you may turn and get off course a little bit, but it’ll always swing back to true north. You’ll go back to the Lord. Because sometimes you may not be aware that you’re not walking straight as you ought to, but a man’s heart that loves the Lord, He’s going to always come back. You get off a little bit, you don’t think like you should, but you’re going to get your thoughts back to the Lord and think the way God wants you to think.

Now, we know that His thoughts are not ours and ours are not His, but the reason we steady the Word of God is so that we have something by which we can find true North, something that helps us to have this compass where it will work and always swing his breath. Love is what always brings you back to the Lord. Because if you love something more than the Lord, then that’s the direction you’re going to head in. You’re going to lean toward the things that you love, and if it’s the things of the work, you’re going to go that way.

But you’ll always think about the things of God and eternity. The judgment says to Christ, of pleasing God. And so those are things that will happen in your life because of the thought, but look there in verse four, the wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not in all his thoughts, but the person who loves the Lord is going to be in all of his thoughts. And even whenever you, like I said, sometimes you think about things that are not have nothing to do with God, your love will bring you back to it.

And I believe that it’s very important that you learn how to control your thought. Now look there in the 139th Psalm, 139th Psalm. Now a lot of times I use this whole Psalm in talking about, you know, God made us and his thoughts are about us continually. And when he says it in verse one, oh Lord, thou have searched me and known my heart or my thoughts. You know where I’m coming from. Down in verse 17 says, how precious also are by thoughts on the mean.

Oh God, how great is the sum of them? But wait a minute, wait a minute. We know God thinks about us, but do you think about God? And everything that you say and do and think, do you think how does this affect God? How does this affect God? Is this going to be pleasing to the Lord? You got to have something that kind of helps you to have some direction in life that always brings you back to true North, to where you can say, this is direction that I’m going and you can stay on course.

And it’s to help you. So in this verse, I looked there in verse 23 where David said, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me or test me. Know my thoughts. Know my thoughts. Because God knows the thoughts of a man. As Jesus was here in even John chapter 2, he says, he knew what was in man. In other words, he knows what people think. I’m so glad that you don’t know what I think, but I’m glad that God knows what I think and he can read your mind and so if God knows your thoughts does he know that you love him does he know you love him if all he did was read your thoughts now of course we can expand on that and what about the attitude that you have toward the Word of God the Word of God itself look there in the 119th

Psalm, just 119 Psalm, you’re right there, not far away. But in 119 Psalm, look there in verse 97, verse 97. And look at what God’s word says, see, if you do not love the word, then there’s good reason to doubt that you love the Lord. Because the word reveals the Lord and leads you the way God wants you to go. And so Christ had made the statement, if you love me, serve me. If you love me, serve me. Well, you don’t know what to do in service.

It’s not left up you to decide. You steady the word of God so that you can know. So you know that God not only wants to read your mind and knows your thoughts, but it’s do you love his word. What is it that God uses to decide whether or not do you love me. He says that any man loved me, it shall be known of him. If any man loved me, it shall be known. So look what he says in verse 9, 7, Oh, how love I thy law.

It is my meditation every once in a while. It is my meditation all the day. Now, you need to read and mark in your Bible a Joshua chapter one, where it talks about meditate in the Word of God so that you may know what to say and what to do in order that your way may be prosperous. And he talks about being strong and very courageous. Well, that’s what the Word of God will do for you. Meditate in the Word of God.

Put God’s Word into your mind. So if you do not study the Bible and you don’t meditate on God’s Word and His will and His purpose. Does God know that? Does God know whether or not you really love Him? Did you know He says, if any man loved me, He said, then, him, well, I reveal my will. God will reveal Himself to you, to those who love Him. If you do not love Him, you may know Christ’s Savior. You can quote verses in the Bible.

You can go through the actions, the motives. I mean, the things just like everybody else. But there’s something that will be between you and him. God knows whether or not you really love him. And there’s things he’s looking for in your life. There’s things that we look for from God. And sometimes we get upset with God because God doesn’t always do what we think He ought to do when we think He ought to do it. Do you think there’s any of those people that got thirsty on the first day, second day, third day.

But now we’re going to die. He brought us out here in this wilderness to die. This is why he did it so he could kill us all. We would have been better off back there in Egypt with nothing but onions, leeks and garlic. But wait a minute. Are those the same people that cried out to God and God told Moses, says Moses, my people cry out to me to be delivered. Did they forget about that? You see, people change all the time.

People are normally whiners. They’re murmurs and complainers. And you’d be surprised that things in our life that God uses to toughen us up a little bit. Remember the Sunday school lesson this morning when we talked about. Tribulation work with what? Patience and patience experience. Patience, the tribulation. That’s where you get your experiences from. That’s where you learn to mature. Because you’ll find out after a while God has got to get you into a state of despair. When you don’t have the power to do anything about it and can’t change anything, then God got you right where He wants you.

And that’s not the place we want you to be. want to be. We’ve always like to be able to have everything in control. I want to control things. And I don’t like it when I don’t have control. Did you know God will do whatever necessary to strip away our pride, though we won’t call it that? We would never admit to that. In the book of Peter, when he talks about humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time.

Ours is just to submit. His is to exalt us, to raise you up, do whatever He wants to do with you. Then sometimes God has to strip you and He’ll purge you like silver, getting all the draw off to try to make it pure. And little do you know and think that you still have some things in your life that God God has got to purify you from. There might be errors in your life that’s totally not yielded to the Lord, but you don’t know that.

There may be errors in your life that are not right with God, but you may not see that yet. So there’s things maybe you haven’t surrendered to the Lord, and God knows. So God says, I’m not through yet. Can’t use you yet the way I want to. Remember when Moses fled from the king, or Pharaoh, went on the backside of a desert for 40 years? Do you know in the book of Acts, it makes the statement that Moses thought in himself.

He supposed that God was going to use him to deliver Israel by his hand from Egypt. He knew that before he ever made his decision, not only to kill that Egyptian, but whenever they said, who made you the leader? Who put you in charge? Who made you the ruler of the judge? It’s what he wanted to do, it’s what he expected to do, and God had to take Moses who was learned and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. And he thought he was doing the right thing, but he had to go on the backside of a desert.

Because see, he had spent the first forty years of his life learning the ways of the world. And God had to put him on the backside of the desert for forty years to unlearn him and drain him of all of his pride. taught him how to be a shepherd, how to be a servant. And then God used them the last 40 years of his life in a great way. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tappa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. 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 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live 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.