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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn your Bible to the book of Second Timothy and Chapter 4. Second Timothy, Chapter 4. We’re in a war. We’re in a war. And I want to try to show you a few things that relate to not just the the battles that we face as a nation, but the battles that we face as a Christian. I’m a citizen of two countries. When I trusted Christ as my savior, I did not cease to be one of American. I’m just added on another one.

So I believe in fighting two battles. But I wanted to read this to you because you and I are supposed to believe that it is worthwhile, that we do have a strong military to secure the freedoms that we enjoy. But this was written called, Freedom is Not Free. I watched the flag pass by one day. It fluttered in the breeze. A young marine saluted it, then he stood at ease. I looked at him in uniform, so young, so calm, so proud.

It stand out in any crowd. I thought how many men like him had fallen through the years. How many died on foreign soil. How many mothers tears. How many pilots planes shot down? How many died at sea? How many foxholes were soldiers’ graves? No freedom isn’t free. I heard the sound of taps one night. When everything was still, and I listened to the bugler play and felt a sudden chill. I wonder just how many times that taps had meant amen when a flag had draped a coffin of a brother or a friend.

I thought of all the children, of all the mothers in the wise, of fathers, sons, and husbands with interrupted lives. I thought about a graveyard at the bottom of the sea of unmarked graves in Arlington. No freedom isn’t free. It’s not free in a nation because it’s a price to pay. Someone has to fight because there’s somebody who wants to attack. We need to understand that there are those that do not like this country, do not like what we stand for, do not like the freedoms that we enjoy and are dead set on destroying our country.

So yes, we need a strong military to defend our freedoms, our life, our liberty and our pursuit of happiness. So I am taking some of these thoughts and I’ll sit down one day and I thought, you know, you can’t really tell much about the ability of a warrior unless you can describe what kind of battle is he going to fight? What’s his competition like? I mean, who would be really impressed for the CO6 team to go in there and get a whole grandma that’s making biscuits with a napkin on and are able to subdue her?

Would that be a great challenge? Will we all be impressed? I mean, poor grandma. But you’ve got to have an enemy that’s equal to the task in order to see how great you might really be. A boxer. It’s got to have somebody that can give them a good challenge. A football team, they play all these teams in order to come up with two of them so they can really have a match and play in a Super Bowl. the golfers they work all the way down and try to get down to that little narrow number on Sunday and see who’s going to win and you want to know how strong is the field?

How good are the players that’s in the thing? Well when it comes to serving the Lord you and I need to understand what is the ultimate warrior? Who is the ultimate warrior? Well, I sat down one day and I started making me some notes and I kind of wrote it down and then I came out with the notes that you have in front of you. Because it says there in verse 7, I have fought a good fight. Finish my course.

I have kept the faith. It’s only a good fight if you had a good enemy and a strong course to run and something to challenge your faith. Because without those things, what did you do? What did you really accomplish? You see, some people want to make a six foot splash in a six inch mud puddle. You’ve got to have something that really challenges your faith to be an ultimate warrior. And so I I put down on my notes, the ultimate warrior needs the ultimate weapon, needs an ultimate weapon.

Do you realize the weapon that God has given to us? I mean, if he’s going to give us the ultimate weapon, there must be a need for it. And without this ultimate weapon, we can’t win without it. So it must be important. The sword, which is the Word of God. The sword, the Word of God. Do you realize how powerful this sword is? This is stronger than your tanks. This is stronger than a bazooka. This is stronger than hand grenades.

This thing is more powerful than the atom bomb. This thing can really wipe out an enemy. And when the Word comes back at the end of the Tribulation period, God bless you. See, there’s an enemy who’s already working. But look at number two, the strength which is the Holy Spirit. God has given to us the Word and the Holy Spirit. And we have these two great weapons in our hands to help lead us. not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord.

So we’ve got a weapon that we can use the sword, which is sharper than any two-edged sword. The word of God is able to pierce even to divide in the sun or soul and spirit and join in the marrow of the body, even able to understand the thoughts and the intents of the heart. You see, God must have given us this weapon, the ultimate weapon, because we’re going to fight the ultimate enemy because you’ve got to have something that will really challenge you.

Look at number two, the ultimate warrior needs the ultimate mission. In other words, you’ve got to have something that really challenges you on everything that really requires everything that you have, all of your talent, all of your ability, that you can do, everything you can muster up, you’ve got to have something there. That’s why people heard about this little episode when the seal 16 goes in there and they take out Osama bin Laden and they try to let us know how difficult this mission really was because if there was a piece of cake and we could just walk in and get him, you know, kindergarten could have done it.

It has to be a problem, a big problem in order for there to be a great victory. I’ve often wondered, I don’t have time to do everything in life. I’d like to climb the highest mountain, swim the widest ocean, and honey, if it don’t rain the night, I’ll be over to see you. And we think about the greatest things you could accomplish. But what about some little simple thing sometimes in your life that you can even get victory over that?

But God’s talking about something that’s really big. I mean something really big. Something’s going down. And I want to be part of it. I want to be part of the greatest thing that this world has ever known. I want to be that ultimate warrior that fights that ultimate battle with the ultimate weapon on an ultimate mission. I mean the greatest mission of all time. Nothing better than this mission that I’m on. And what I like about this is I came across this when I was about 20 years over age.

When I was about 20 years old, I’ve been saved for two years. And I saw and I understood there is a war out there, but what I did not want is I did not want the enemy to hook me. I didn’t want him to get my life. I want to fight. And I began to formulate some of these things. Look there on number two. The mission which is to preach the gospel to every creature in the world and in every generation, Matthew 28, this is the greatest mission in all the world.

This is the greatest cause that our man can ever give his life for, to live for something, something bigger than yourself, something greater than you. It came from God, the highest authority in the world. Nobody can undercut God’s authority. Number two is the message, which is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the dynamite, the power of God, it’s dynamite. You have something that is so explosive. You see, nobody cares about all those messages out there and all those churches and all those religions that says you have to be good to go to heaven or turn from your sins, or you’ve got to make Christ the Lord mass that nobody bothers them.

Nobody’s not to argue with those that believe that you’re saved by grace and grace alone. There’s that causes conflict because everybody in their natural mind knows that you have to be good to go to heaven and you’re bad, you’ve got to go to hell. So everybody understands that. But God says it’s by grace. You don’t earn it. You don’t work for it. contrary to the human mind. God designed this message. It’s the greatest message to utilize there is no greater message in all the world of how that God so loved an individual.

You, me, he loved the world that he sent his only begotten Son into the world to die for you and for me. There is nothing greater than that, knowing that, and that He died to pay for all of our sins and by believing in Him, believing what He did, He would give us as a free gift everlasting life and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did for us. Now that is good news. That’s a powerful message.

I have watched over the years and I have seen that message really melt some mighty big strong rebellious, egotistical, individuals and break them down. I’ve seen that message change people’s lives, heal homes. I’ve never seen anything like the message that we have, the gospel of grace and what it can do. You and I have been privileged blessed by God to live in this world to fight the ultimate battle of all time. Nothing better than this one. I would hate to think that I lived.

Maybe I never got to be the greatest golfer in the world. Maybe I’ll never get to climb that highest mountain or swim that wide open sea out there. Maybe I’ll never be the great baseball player or some great rest for or maybe I’ll never be president of the United States maybe but I can fight in the ultimate battle I have the greatest weapon of all time and you know what what I like about this is nobody can stop me except me nobody can stop me you can’t stop me I believe that God has something for me.

But see, you’re supposed to believe that too. Somebody made the statement to me not long ago. Are you in or are you out? Who said that? Are you in or are you out? Isn’t that on your thing that you just made up? Are you in or are you out? Look at number three. You see, the ultimate warrior needs the ultimate enemy. You’ve got to have somebody. That’s the strongest because you got to put him down. An enemy that’s trying to destroy you, there is no bigger, no greater enemy than the devil himself.

Now he’s bigger than me, more powerful than me. But I’ve got weapons that he can’t defeat. You see, he can’t win as long as I have my weapons and I use my weapon and I stay alert. But a lot of people won’t stay alert. They won’t use the weapon because they don’t trust the Holy Spirit. So they fight Him in the flesh. They don’t trust the Word. So they trust their mind, their own intelligence, their own philosophy. What they think about everything, instead of fighting God’s battle, God’s way.

Look what I have here. The devil which is the prince of the power of the year is invisible to the naked eyes. How would you like to fight the enemy and you can’t see him? He can see you but you can’t see him. But if there’s a battle, I’d love to see what Cass’s clake could have done and the ring will have an enemy like George Foreman, but he couldn’t see him. Wouldn’t that be fun? Well, you and I have an enemy that we cannot see.

He’s very strong, he’s the most powerful there is. And he’s got all kinds of little helpers. Have you ever seen a bad guy come up against the good guy? But he always has to have all of his cohorts with him. In case I can’t outdraw you, my six buddies are going to mow you down. I used to wonder if I could have lived in the wild west days. Fastest gun alive. Fastest gun alive. You know, when you think you’re the fastest gun alive, who would you look for?

Somebody who thinks they’re the fastest gun alive. So I’d go after Al Marshall or somebody. So when it comes to serving the Lord, God’s giving you all this ultimate stuff because there’s an ultimate enemy. I mean, there’s no greater enemy. There is none greater. So how are you doing in your battle, in your war, in your height? Here’s what he uses. He’ll use the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Now we talk about the lust of the flesh.

There’s desires of the flesh. He may use sex, he may use drugs. All these things, the body desires. And so many of God’s people can’t fight the ultimate battle because you see they already have lost the battle with habits in their life, with the lust of the flesh, the desires of the flesh. And see, there’s desires that you have like the pride of life. And there’s things that you want, praise, honor and glory. So you seek that instead of the will of God.

And the devil will dangle out in front of you all these things. These little trinkets and people would chase them. You see, the devil, he offered Christ the kingdoms of the world and showed it to him in a moment of time. And Jesus says, no, no. What has he tempted you with? You see, you can’t fight that ultimate battle. win if you lose all these little skirmishes with the lust of the flesh and you’ve got an old sinful nature.

And the devil is going to lure you like he lures everybody up. These three things is all the told he needs to get you. It’s all the tools he needs, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. It’s all that he needs. That’s how he got Adam and Eve. That’s exactly what he offered to Christ. And then the Bible says in 1 John, this is what he’s offering to you. Because I want to be somebody in this world so you’ll give up what God wants you to have.

and the lust of the flesh, and you’ll let your sex drives destroy you. And you’ll have habits in your life that God can’t use you because of your sinful habit, and he ought to put you on a shelf and not use you. You’ll always wonder, I wonder what I could have done if I’d have just done what God wanted me to do. Well, God may not use me, well, he can’t use you because you won’t use the weapons that he offered you.

You see, you don’t have to fail. You don’t have to lose. You lose because of the choice that you make. So look at number four, the ultimate warrior needs the ultimate battle plan. There has to be a plan, and you plan your work, and you work your plan, and you work your plan, as long as your plan’ll work. When your plan don’t work, you change your plan!

Got that? You plan your work, and your work your plan, and your work your plan, and your plan don’t work. You change your plan. But the plan that he gave 2000 years ago still works. Still works. The gospel is still just as powerful. The Holy Spirit hasn’t changed. The message hasn’t changed. You and I, if we’ll do things God’s way, you’ll be surprised we can have God’s blessings and God’s victories and God’s results because God has a plan. Look at number one, fight by any means according to the will of God.

It’s not just do whatever you want to do. Fight according to the rules. And first Corinthians in chapter nine, it talks about, I fight not as one that beateth the air. In other words, I don’t do shadow boxing. You know, pretending these there, I’m just swinging at nothing. Paul said, I’m in a real fight. He said, they work because they want to try to get this corruptible crown. He says, I’m after an incorruptible crown, a crown of victory that I never lose, glory that will never fade away.

Down here, there’s all kinds of little things you can get in your accomplices, and they give you a little trophy, and so I’ve given out trophies. I’ve even had to buy some first, the only way RandomRedditor get them. And so you’re going to these trophies. Well, I’ve got some trophies for you when you get to heaven, because you fought some battles down here and you won. This is what God wants for us. Look at number two, if now is the time to be saved, then now would be the time to witness.

Yes or no? A man can’t be saved without hearing the gospel. So if now is the time to be saved, then now is the time to witness. If now is the time to witness, now is the time to fight. Well, I’ll fight tomorrow. You realize you have to fight every day of your life. Well, today there are no lust of the flesh and there are no lust of the eyes. There’s no pride of life. So I won’t have to worry about it for this week.

It’s gonna come next week. Or do I have to fight it every day, every moment of my life. For over 50 years I’ve been fighting this battle Because you see, Christ made the statement, or it says in the book of vlogulations in chapter five, verse one, stand fast, therefore in the liberty where with Christ has made us free. Freedom isn’t free. In the Christian realm, you have to stand. In Ephesians chapter six, you have to fight. It’s either fight or lose.

fight or give up. It’s either fight or you’ve lost everything in the Christian life. The Christian life is a warfare. It’s a battle. There is a plan, but God has given to you and I everything we need to win. Number five, the ultimate warrior needs the ultimate mental toughness. Now I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of 2 Corinthians in chapter 4. 2 Corinthians and chapter 4.

And look there in verse one, in verse one, he says, and it’s on page 12, 32, and therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy. And here’s three little words, we faint, not because of the ministry. We don’t faint. It means we don’t quit. In the bottle, you may get tired and you may get weary. And you don’t want to do it. But there’s no let up. There’s no vacations from it. We faint none. So why would we do all of this?

We’ll look there in verse 15 Verse 15 for all things and you ought to underline for your sake. It’s for somebody else Paul says I do all of this for your sake for your sake Another place you’ll find is for the gospel’s sake. It’s for Jesus’s sake. And sometimes, yes, for your own sake. But there’s a reason why. And when you understand the reason, the cause behind it, that motivating factor that you need in your life that causes you to keep going when it doesn’t seem like there’s victory.

There’s many battles that I have had to fight, And it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth fighting. And sometime it seemed like I’m not going to win. A friend of mine was driving down the road as a preacher. And he saw two kids fighting on the side of the road. So he pulled alongside and he parked his car and he watched these two boys fighting. One was a big kid, one was a little kid. And the big kid was just beating the tar out of this little kid.

But the little kid was scrappy, and he’d get back up and they’d go at it again. And finally the big kid just knocked him down again and the little kid get back up. So the preacher got out of the car and walked over there and started chewing out this big kid. He said, you lead that little kid along. You can see he’s small and you’re big and that’s not right. And the little kid says, oh, mister, please mister, don’t stop this fight.

I’m just getting my second win. I’m just getting my second win. He didn’t want it to stop. He wanted to fight. It might mean some other people I know. You got to have some fire in the gut. You got to have something that says, I don’t care how big the bottle is. He and God, we can tackle anything. You and God are a majority. You and God, He says, without me you can do nothing but with me you can do all things.

Why? Because Christ can do all things. And there’s where your victory is. Now look there in verse 8. He says, we’re troubled on every side, but we didn’t quit. We are perplexed, but we didn’t quit. Verse 9 persecuted, but we didn’t quit. Cast down, but we didn’t quit. You see, as you go down through here, and every one of these isfooention for the reason he wants you to understand, we didn’t quit. Because we didn’t faint. We didn’t stop. Just because he gets bad.

Just because he gets hard. Just because there’sHOURS troubles. Don’t be called me, get perplexed sometime. Sometimes he gets confused. Just keep on fighting. Just keep doing right. Don’t never stop. 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 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 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. 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.