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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. See God wants you to ask for things and then if you don’t get the first thing you last says I wonder why not Is there anything in my life? That could cause God not to hear or to answer my prayer So you see it causes you to examine yourself you see you turn on the flashlight and Turn it on whatever it is that you want the Lord this this is what I want and Then you turn the flashlight over and shine it on your soul Now, what can I do that God would expect me to do to get me to whatever it is I want?

Or do I just expect God, would you go get that for me? And God says, I gave you two legs, eyes, hands, a brain. That’s something you can do. So God can enable you to have the strength and the grace that you need to get whatever it is you want. Sometimes people are just plain lazy. They want everything given to them on the silver platter and it doesn’t work that way, not with the Lord. And look at the last part of this verse, where it has that the Father, that the Father, may be glorified.

So the reason that we can ask and receive is because God wants the Father, glorified because God wants you to give Him praise the honor and the glory that’s do him. And sometimes God knows that you’re not going to give him the praise, the honor and the glory, because your motivation right or your heart isn’t right. And therefore, it seems like God either doesn’t hear my prayers, because God is also, he knows all these other things that he answered for you and you never thanked them for.

And so the Lord knows the future and there’s lessons that God has for us to learn. Do you really thank the Lord for what you already have? Remember the other day I was talking to you about what if we only had tomorrow what we told the Lord we were thankful for today? We may not have much tomorrow because most people just take what they have for granted. Do you ever thank the Lord for your health? You know, I thank the Lord.

He knows. I thank the Lord. I say, Lord, thank you for our health. Thank you for our health. Because you know how quickly you can lose your health. It don’t take much. We are very fragile individuals. It don’t take much for us to get hurt or to get sick, to lose things in this life. And so there’s a lot of lessons for it. Look at the next verse. If ye shall ask anything in my name, that means it would be for him, for his honor, for his glory.

To do what God wants you to do, he says, I will do it. Now he’s talking to his disciples, yes we know, but we can learn a lot of principles from these things that he says to them. Look at the next verse. John 15 and verse 7, he says, if ye abide in me, But you see that word if, that means that this is conditional. It’s conditional upon you abiding in Him. And my words abide in you, not only that you know what the word of God says, and that you know the will of God is that you do the will of God.

To abide in Him means to serve Him. Does it mean to, I’m saved? That’s because I’m saved. No, those who abide in him, you learn the Word of God and you live there. And you are obedient to do whatever God wants you to do with your life. He says, if you do, and my words abide in you, you see, you can’t isolate this verse from the other verses because you see the Word of God can’t contradict itself. And so there are conditions that God puts up on certain things.

I am saved and I’m going to heaven if I believe on Christ, so I did that, so I get this. When he says, you can have this if you do this. Well, a lot of people don’t believe and they don’t do everything God says. See, these are the conditions upon which you can ask God and God becomes obligated to keep His Word. So he says, if you abide in me and my Word to abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.

So it’s not just a blanket, say, but anybody that just do whatever you want to do. No, you got to live a holy life. A godly life. This is to those who are maturing in the Lord. This is to those who want to walk with God and they want the best that God has for them. And so a lot of times, say God will allow things to come in your life because He wants you to mature and to grow.

And as you get older and wiser, you become more careful about what you pray for. Lord, give me a million dollars. Lords of why? You know, I don’t even ask the Lord for a million dollars anymore. People won’t go that far. I ask for 10 million. No. I want that Pete Cadillac. My wife did it today. She says, what kind of a car is that? I said, let me get a little bit closer. I said, I asked the Jaguars.

That’s pretty. driving on another road on another day. She said, you can have cars out over there. I said, that’s a jaguar. She said, both of the perting, ain’t they? She has a rich taste. You ever seen people who have a rich taste? So now she got me looking at the Jaguar. And it’s gonna have to be about 40 years old, you know, ball tires. I said, honey, you’re riding around in a Mercedes now, even though it’s 16 years old, you got 215,000 miles on it, so what?

It still runs. You know, a guy can get in the car and just run it until it don’t run no more. But I says, I know a guy that has a Jaguar, Gary Steffen. Somewhere along the line, he got him one of those Jaguars. He doesn’t, labor mention it, thought he doesn’t want you to know how rich he is. I don’t even know if I ever wrote in it yet, Gary. I did. First time we met, I wrote in that thing.

I think I did, yeah. Nice call. But anyway, now that see the Lord knows my wife’s prayer and desire, he just love what he used, Gary, to answer her prayer. I’m just, I’m just Josh and no. Number one, she likes to car. She has and I like the car I got and I like the car she has and that’s all she’s going to get. But anyway, as we’re moving right along. In John 1624, it says, is hitherto have you asked nothing in my name.

Ask and ye shall receive that your joy may be full.” In other words, it’s for your joy. Did you know that God says He has freely given us all things to enjoy that this life, the life, the world, is designed for us to really enjoy. God wants to enjoy life. And sometimes we don’t stop long enough to enjoy the world. I’ll have to admit in the beginning years of my ministry, I hated to take off a day to do anything.

Because I just, I loved doing what I was doing. I enjoyed that. And I believe probably to the expense of, I could have spent more time with my wife and my kids, but I don’t know why they couldn’t have enjoyed what I was doing. You know, sitting in the office, working on the computer, getting all these things done. But there’s another life to live, and sometimes we neglect. And I think sometimes, I wish I could just go back and read live some of those things and I might be able to make wiser decisions.

But when you’re going through it the first time, you say, you don’t see a lot of those things. Not until you get 30, 40 years on down the road and then you say, no, I could have done better. That wasn’t the best decision I ever made. And so there’s things that we need to enjoy as you go because you see, I know some people that couldn’t wait until they got 62 years old so they can retire. And when they finally got 62 and retired, they died.

They died. Betty’s dad had just gone to the doctor and got a clean bill of health. He was in great shape. He was 59. 60, he died of a heart attack. Just like that. And Dr. Curtis Hudson, he finally got The V60 in told me you got six months to live. I think it was 62, so passed away. So maybe you need to always have something that you’re doing, always something that you’re working toward, a goal, a purpose, you know.

Even if you’re retired, there’s still gotta be something that you reach for. But anyway, look there in Acts, chapter 4 and verse 31 in your notes here. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together. And they were all filled or controlled by the Holy Spirit. And they spake the Word of God with boldness. Now, there is a possibility that when they spake the Word of God with boldness, that could have been their prayer.

That could have been the fulfillment of their prayer because the scriptures talked about that, I may preach the Word of God and teach the Word of God and speak the Word of God with boldness. So it’s a prayer, but then the fulfillment of it. So do you pray that you’ll make wise decisions? Well, then that means you study the Word of God so that you’ll have the knowledge, the discernment, to make wiser decisions. You pray the Lord’s will for your life?

Well, what do you do? Is that something that’s a one-time deal, or do you go to church and you study the Bible and you start witnessing, you start reading, pray, and you’re doing all the things right because you want the will of God for your life. But it’s not a prayer that you did one time, you always pray in that prayer. You’re always doing that. And if you keep on doing that, and actually you know, God answered my prayer.

I lived for the Lord. I had the will of God for my life. You see, there’s a lot of decisions that you have to make to see that that decision is fulfilled. But is that the will of God? Yes. So can you have the will of God for your life? Yeah. So you pray for the things that you know God wants you to do. Does God want you to study His Word? Lord, help me to study Your Word. And then you never open the Bible.

Have you ever heard people say, always, Lord, we want you to lead God in direct. And then they never pay any intention to what the Bible says, but I’m trusting the Lord to lead God and direct. And they never depend upon the Lord for anything. But they’re nice little cliches. You ever see announcers when they interview all these football players and basketball players? And none of them have any original thoughts. They’re nothing but cliches. Well, we’ve got to have a strong defense.

Well, we’ve got to really do this. Everything is always the same thing that everybody says nobody has in the original thoughts It’s like they can’t think for themselves always little please shaves You listen to an announcer when the guy’s got a parent. He’s gonna putt well. He’s got a little work to do you heard that a thousand times And there’s nothing like nothing new Nobody thinks and reason for themselves Look at the next verse Ephesians chapter 6 and verse 18 says praying always with all prayer and supplication in this spirit and watching there unto, with all perseverance and supplication for all the same, praying every once in a while, praying what?

Always. You should always live in an attitude of prayer. You know, you can sit here while I’m talking and be praying to the Lord, can’t you? Probably some of you have. Lord help them. You probably say, Lord help them to quit on time. And God just might honor and answer your prayer. But because you’ve been bad, he’ll have him tell me, go ahead, go 10 minutes longer. Just joking. But you could have been praying when you came in the car this morning, while you’re driving.

And eyes wide open, you talk to the Lord. It’s when you close your eyes while you’re driving that really bothers me. But everybody needs to pray and learn to pray all the time. And you’re always dependent upon the Lord. Walk in independence upon the Lord and walk always in a commental attitude of prayer so that you’re always God conscious all the time. That’s what he means when he says in the book of Proverbs in chapter three, five and six, you know, lean not on to thine own understanding in all thy ways, they acknowledge him.

It means a thank God. Be thinking God all the time in all of your ways and God will bless you because of it. Look at the next verse. It says, pray without ceasing. It That means always praying. Never stop, always do that. The next verse in Matthew six says, and when, now I highlighted the word when, because it’s an assumption that you’re going to do this when you pray. So you’re supposed to pray. Thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are.

They love to pray, stand it in the Senate God, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be, and here’s the word, seen of men. See the men that’s why they do it now doesn’t the Bible say also in Matthew chapter 5 that let your light so shine before men that they may see your they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. So how do you separate the two? Do you want it to be seen of men?

And when you let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works? Well, how do you separate the two? Well, one, because you want them to glorify your Father, which is in heaven. And the other one is whenever you want to do it to be seen of men. That’s your purpose. And they’re totally different. So take for example a man like Kim Tebow anybody ever heard of him All right now if he’s doing that to simply be seen of men so that people can heap all that praise upon him is one thing But it’s because he loves the Lord and he wants to give the Lord the honor the praise and the glory Then that’s totally a different thing and so many people are maybe encouraged to praise the Lord publicly because of what he’s doing, but there would be others who call them a

hypocrite. Who knows the truth? God does. And so I would leave it with the Lord. So see this is to the individual. So I have no problem with Tim Tebow praying. Isn’t there somebody else in the Bible that, let me see what was his name, I I think it was Daniel. They even passed the law that you couldn’t pray to anybody. And if you did, you’d be thrown to the lions. So what did Daniel do? Well, I don’t wanna offend anybody.

He went ahead and prayed anyway. He prayed anyway. And he knew they saw him. They could see and pray. And so what happened to Daniel? He got thrown to the lions. And so that’s what happens to a lot of people who take a stand for the Lord. They get thrown to the lions. And so they’re seeking to devour you are to shut you up. The only thing about that with Daniel is just get him in trouble, getting to stop.

And there’s people there trying to just get people in trouble. Why don’t you just leave the guy alone? Let him do whatever he wants to know more about it. Why make it even an issue? Where’d he go? I’ve seen others do a lot of things that I don’t think is very appropriate. But anyway, they were moving around alone. Number six, the first six. When thou prayest enter into thy closet and when thou has shut thy door pray to the Father which is in secret and thy Father which seeeth in secret shall reward the openly So some people take it seriously say actually they clean out a closet and they go into the closet door.

I Don’t think you’re talking about a little closet But I do believe that you ought to have a place where you can get a loan between you and the Lord And if you do it only in public Lord talk some time you have people and they can get into public and they pray oh on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Well, that means they don’t pray much in private, because they can shorten that down a lot if they had more time spent in prayer.

And when I’m out at a restaurant, I’m going to pray, and we’re going to thank the Lord for the food. To me, that’s not a time to pray for all the missionaries. I’m going to thank the Lord for the food in Jesus’ name, amen. I like my food hop. And I don’t want to put on a big spiritual air, so everybody think, oh, oh, oh, oh, why would I do that? So they will think I’m so whole. God condemns that in His Word.

And so He even talks about those that fast. See there in Matthew chapter 6. And verse 16 says, Moreover, when ye fast be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, they disfigure their faces that they may appear on the men too fast. Verily, I sent to you, they have their reward. They’re doing it to be seen of men. It’s not real. It’s not genuine. They’re going through the motions during the act. But you’ll notice that the last place in the Bible that it talks about, you know, actually the disciples fasting is in the book of Luke chapter 18 and verse 12.

And that was the last time all in the rest of the Bible, you don’t find we’re told that this is what we have to do. Now, it can be a good reason for fasting. And if you will, just take your Bible look there in Luke chapter 5. Luke chapter 5, Matthew, Mark, Luke, but Luke chapter 5. Looking verse 33. . . . . . . . Verse 33, and they said unto him, why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers?

And likewise, the disciples of the Pharisees, but thine, eat and drink. So the Pharisees had disciples and the Pharisees also prayed and fasted. Remember where it says in Luke where the Pharisee, Lord, I fast and I give tithes of all that I have. And, well, I’m glad I’m not like that guy. Well, that’s the last time we find out about fasting in the Scriptures. And it wasn’t in a good way. It was with a bad guy doing the bad thing.

But it was doing a good thing, I should say, but even lost people can pray in fast because this disciples did. But he says, the disciples of John, they pray and they fast, but the disciples that are with Jesus, they don’t. They eat and drink. So we know that fasting deals with eating and drinking. And you’ll notice also that Jesus made a statement to them in verse 34 that deals with the subject of you don’t have me with you.

He says, my disciples are with me. They don’t need to pray in fact because I’m here. I’m with them. Now, he wasn’t with John Baptist over there in his disciples, so they prayed and they passed it. It’s a little bit different. Now when the Lord left, he says, I’m going to heaven, but when I leave, I’m going to But since somebody else is just like me, and that’s the Holy Spirit, so you and I have the Holy Spirit living within us.

But most of the prayers that we’re told to pray, found in the book of John’s 5th of 14, 15, 16, is with the knowledge that we’re going to have the Holy Spirit and still we pray, but there’s no word there that says we have to fast. You see, the Holy Spirit is the Lord and He is with us. I don’t have to fast to get the Holy Spirit. You see, one of the things that even when I was going to Bible college, I would never eat before a test in the morning.

I never ate before an exam. But simple reasons is, you know, when you eat, you get food and so forth. It gets into your bloodstream and goes to your brain and slows your thinking process down. It can make you slow and sluggish. And that’s why after you eat a big meal, you want to just sit down and go to sleep. Well the best thing to do is before an exam is not to eat. I want my mind clear. And so there were times when it would be very valuable to pass a little bit.

Don’t eat. It’s another way of an individual saying to the Lord that what you are is more important and more precious to me than my necessary food. It’s a way of saying, I desire spiritual things over the physical thing of the food, because if a man can control his desire for food, you have a good start on controlling all the other desires of the flesh. You have a lot of desires of a flesh if you didn’t know that. And a lot of people cannot control those desires.

Food is one way of being able to do that. And simply saying to Lord Lord, I desire a closer walk with you, I want my mind to be clear. And so there can be health benefits to it. And a lot of people fast today, but it doesn’t mean it makes you more spiritual. Because you can hold off on the drink and the food and still be an ungodly individual. But you want a person who knows the Lord and loves the Lord and walks with the Lord and prays always.

You know, he doesn’t say in the New Testament for us, fast always, but it does say pray always. Always to be seeking the Lord. Now, but if you want to fast and hold off food on a certain day, you don’t eat, whatever, that’s a personal thing. But it doesn’t have to be broadcast to everybody else about the great sacrifice you make. And you don’t have to walk around with your Bible here. I’m so holy. And then you look down and you know, I mean, you didn’t fast this week.

I did three times. And if you do it to be seen as men, God have mercy on you. Look up here. This isn’t represent you and me and me have sin upon us. God says that He loves us. He hates our sin. And for you and I, to pay for sin, is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us and wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God.

Because heaven is perfect. God is perfect. God is perfect and we have to be perfect to go into heaven. But we can’t because of sin. God will not allow us into heaven. So how can God get rid of the sin? Remember the sin is not just the sin that I commit. It’s the sin nature that’s within me. I could take this away and I still can’t get in. Because you see the sin nature is still inside of me. I committed this because I am a sinner.

So God has to give me a new birth. Not change me, not change me, not sending me to church and do all our good deeds. God has to give me a new birth. So this hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world, he has no sin, no sin nature. So he has no sin. But Christ, because he loves us and hates our sin, it says that he hates it because it separates us from him.

So what Christ did for us, he took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if we would believe it, he would give us his righteousness. And if God gave me his righteousness, then I would be as righteous as God. Can I go to heaven if I’m as righteous as God? Well, yes. That’s a righteousness that God gives to me by faith in what he did for me. And God says, once you trust him, he’ll never cast you out and never lose you.

Miss Newson, all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed and no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, right now, why don’t I just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I don’t understand it all, but I know that I’ve done things wrong. I believe that Christ died, paid for my sins, and I’m going to trust Him this morning. There’s my only hope of going to heaven.

Friend, I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to embarrass you. But nervy who you’re sitting, if what a Sid made sense. Would you say, yes, Lord, I will trust Christ as my Savior right Now, and friend by doing that, God will give you eternal life as a free gift. And he’ll never cast you out, never lose you. And you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. Would you believe it? Would you trust him?

If you will, we’ll just skip you in a very quick and say, pray for me. I’ll trust Christ as my Savior this morning, and I’d like for you to pray for me. Is there anyone at all before we close? If you’ve already trusted Christ as your Savior, do you see the responsibility? All of us as God’s children are responsible to preach the gospel. One way or another, find a way, find a way. Because one day we’ll all stand before the Lord and give an account of ourselves.

I won’t be judging you. You won’t be judging me. We all have our own heavenly Father and we’ll stand before Him. And you don’t want to be ashamed before Him that is coming. Our Father, we ask your blessings upon each one here as Father of protection because we’re living in a sinful world. And the devil would love us to do everything in the world, but talk to people about their soul. And help us to have the confidence and the boldness that we need and use this for your honor and glory.

In Christ’s 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 were 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 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