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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 the Bible. 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.

Even in your Bible to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter 11, the song we sung just a moment ago is take the name of Jesus with you. That is a good song, and wherever we go, we should realize who we are and who we represent. But have you ever taken a picture and you say, take another one just in case, take another one just in case and you wind up taking four or five pictures of the same thing just in case.

Just in case what? Something, the one don’t take, something happened. Somebody blinked. And have you ever noticed if you take just one or two, there’s always somebody who got their mouth or the eyes or clothes or the… And it ruins the whole thing. And you just like to slap their jaws. Some people just can’t stand there and take a picture. They have to always, you know, they gotta do something. Some stupid. I’m glad you’re not like that. But there’s always somebody who seems like it wants to ruin the picture.

Well, here you and I are, and we, believe it or not, we’re drawing a picture, we’re designing a picture. You see, God got a frame and the picture is based upon our yieldiness to the Lord. And there’s always somebody that’s trying to mar the picture, ruin the picture. And you’d be surprised what God is making out of you because of what he wants people to see. There’s lessons for us to learn. Like a person says, Lord, give me patience.

And the Lord says, I will not. The Lord says, I’ll give you tribulation. Because tribulation does what? Work with patience. Patience is something that is a result or earned. And a lot of people want things for free. It won’t happen that way. But anyway, here in the book of Matthew, I wanted to show you a scripture. And look there in verse 29, verse 29, where he makes the statement, “‘Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.'” Take is like a command.

This is something you are commanded to do. Do this. Do it. It’s a choice. It’s a choice. It’s a decision that you and I have to make. And all of life is making choices, deciding what we will and what we will not do. You chose whether to get up or to stay in bed. You chose whether to go to work or stay home. chose what to eat or not to eat. You always make choices. When it comes to spiritual things, you also have to make these decisions.

Now, I want you to see there in Matthew in chapter 9, Luke, what he says in verse 25, he says, at that time, Jesus answered and said, I thank the O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou has hid these things from the wise and the prudent, and hath revealed them unto babes. There are things that God will reveal to babes that he will not reveal to the so-called prudent and the wise. You know the ones that think they know everything and then God takes some little dedicated nobody and will reveal things to them.

And so that’s why he says, learn of me because he wants to reveal things to you. So if you will listen to what God says, he will teach you some things. You will learn from Him. But God knows your heart. Look what he says there in verse 26, Even so father for so it’s seamen good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my father, and no man knoweth the son but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father say the son and he whom to whomsoever the son will, and you ought to underline that phrase, phrase, will reveal him.

You see, one of the greatest desires we have is to know God. Well, God says, you can’t know the Father, except through the Son, and it’s the Son that will reveal the Father. And He says, come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. Learn of Him, and taking up a yoke gives us the idea. We’re talking about discipleship. We’re talking about following the Lord, learning the things that God has for us.

So take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah. And you’ll notice in Isaiah chapter 28, Isaiah chapter 28, there’s a portion of the scripture talked about here that I believe is very important for us to look at because I believe that what we just read there in the book of Matthew, Some of that I believe comes from right here. In verse seven he says, but they also have aired through wine and through strong drink or out of the way.

Now you can drink if you want to. And there’s always people talking about, I don’t see anything wrong with drinking and there’s nothing wrong with taking a social drink. And the more they drink, the more sociable they get. I determined years ago, I will never be a drunk if I never take the first drink. I’m not interested in seeing how much I can hold, how much I can handle. I don’t want anybody going down the wrong path because they saw me taking liberty.

Well, I can do it if I want. Yeah, I mean, maybe you can, but is it wise? Is it wise? But anyway, he says here, in verse seven, the priest and the prophets have aired through strong drink. They have swallowed up of wine. They are out of the way through strong drink. They air in vision. They stumble in judgment. So that’s what it really does. I was raised around that and I was scared to death to ever take the first drink.

And even up to the time I was 18, when I trusted Christ in my Savior, I had never touched it. I was always afraid. I might like it. What if I like it and then I can’t stop? So I figured I’ll never run that risk. Now other people can do whatever they want to do. I just believe that was the best thing for me. So he makes a statement here in verse 8, and all tables are full of vomit and filthiness so that there is no place clean.

You see, this is also the same thing that happens when you get drunk on the world. when you’re filled with the wisdom of the world. You don’t see, you can’t avoid the pitfalls, you stumble and like a drunk man that stumbles, can’t see good, environments all over the place. That is what the wisdom of the world looks like in God’s eyes. Now, if you know Christ as your Savior, you could be drunk on the wisdom of the world. What does God want His children to do?

Study the Word. It’s the Word of God that helps a man to stand, to walk straight, to do right, to make better decisions. And that you don’t have to worry about the hangovers, and you don’t have to worry about what you said or didn’t say, or what you did and didn’t do, about can you remember or can’t remember. I’ve watched them take a telephone pole, stagger up to a telephone pole and say, I love you. I love a telephone pole.

And I used to have this one that would call me up sometime. I love you all. As always, I love you. Drunkness couldn’t be. I don’t even know if they knew who I was. But that’s the way God sees people who don’t take Him seriously. His ways, His Word, look what He says. Whom shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand what doctrine? Then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, precept must be upon precept.

Precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line. Here a little, there a little. like a child that learns how to be fed. You don’t feed him everything all at one time. You’ve got to give him a little bit. And then you let him grow. Give him a little bit more and let him grow. A little bit more and teach him how to walk. But God says, my people, my priests, my prophets. And whether or not they were really drunk, probably.

But he says, that’s the way you are when you’re filled with the wisdom of the world. of the world. You’re not smart and you’re not making the wise decisions, you’re just like a drunk man that can’t see. Now would you want to be like that? Do you want God in heaven looking down at you and think you’re just like a drunk? No different. Or you know Christ is your savior going to heaven, But you can’t think, you can’t reason.

But what else he says? In verse 11, and would stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people? Now we read that verse over in the book of Corinthians. To whom he said in verse 12, this is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest. Remember over there in Hebrews chapter 11, just a moment ago, it was talking about how that the wise, the prudent, can’t see, don’t understand. But God is going to reveal these things on the babes.

Then He says, coming to me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest. You see, there is rest for the children of God that learn the Word of God and learn to trust the Lord. You might think, I’ve never had such problems in my life until I made up my mind to serve a Lord. Then it seemed like everything goes wrong. Well, that’s only because you decided to get into the battle. Nobody needs to shoot at you and fight with you, and the devil can leave you alone, because you’re not in the battle.

It’s when you decide, I want to do something, and I want God to use me. Then, but it does it break loose. But God says, I’ll never leave you, and I’ll never forsake you. And you rest in the Lord. You trust His word. So he makes a statement here in verse 12, two words I love. This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest. And this is the refreshing, yet, yet they would not hear. But the word of the Lord was upon them, precept upon precept, precept upon precept, lined upon line, lined upon line, Here a little there a little and If you don’t do it the way God says to do it you cannot stand You’re going to be stumbling you’re going to fall and he said talking about falling backwards and so forth and vomiting You don’t want that for your life

Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke chapter 9 the book of Luke chapter 9. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Luke chapter 9, one of the things that you, well, it will help you, especially, look up here just a second. You have Matthew and Mark, Luke, and John. And so as people read the Gospels, they always Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. And so they’re trying to understand this book, and then they try to understand this book, and then this book, and then this book.

Instead of looking at the book’s layout, one, two, three, four, stack the books on top of each other. You got Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. Because there’s a lot of times when you read the book of Matthew, it seems like God’s saying you’ve got to keep the law to be saved. And then all of a sudden you get to the book of John, which looks like God’s heaven track, and He’s saying John 3 16. John 3 16 is Old Testament.

John 3 16, if you start over here and you know you always line up where they were crucified. He was crucified, crucified, crucified. He came back from the dead. You know this all happened at the same time. And then look, it goes back. So when he was telling them this in Matthew, he was also telling them this in John when he says, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. So this wasn’t said at a different time. It was said at the same time.

It’s just that the Holy Spirit takes out of the messages that He preached, things that applied to Jesus as the King. And then in the book of Mark, as the servant. And then in the book of Luke, as the man, and then in the gospel of John, as the Son of God. And these things are written that you you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and by leaving in Him, you may have life to His name.

But John, the Baptist, when He came on the scene, preached, repent. But He also told him to believe on Christ. And then when He says in the Gospel of John, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came to bear witness of the light that all men through Him might believe. See, it’s the same. It lines up this way. Don’t line it up this way. You go nuts, but you line it up this way, and you see that a lot of things line up.

And so you want to know when this happens, okay, this is, it lines up. And you’ll understand it just a little bit better. But here in the book of Luke, I want you to look there in verse 20. 4. Luke chapter 9 verse 24, where it says, And whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake the same shall save it. Now in these few little verses, there’s some wonderful things that are mentioned here, where he makes the statement take, take, look there in verse 23, and He said unto them all, if any man, but He said it to all, but any man, see it’s a choice.

God does not make anybody trust Him. He just He says, Whosoever believeth, anybody, he that believeth hath everlasting life. But he gave his son for the world, but he that believeth should not perish but have everlasting life. All but it’s an individual choice when he says here, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself because there’s things you want to do with your life. There’s things you want to be. There’s places you want to go. You want to accomplish.

You got dreams. God says, get all that up and do what I want. You will never find such freedom and joy and happiness as you will surrendering your will to his. Time will pass and there will be an inner peace and an inner joy. Arrest that you’re doing what God wants because now see you put the ball back in his court. He’s responsible to do what he promised you he would. When you rebel against the Lord and go your own way.

God is now free. Go whoop the daylights out of you. Take you home before your time. But if you serve the Lord, God has certain things He has to do. I understood this years ago and I knew God has to bless me. You don’t have a choice? He has to bless me. He promised. I’ve got His word on it. Now all the blessings that comes to me, sometimes are disguised. They’re disguised through trials, tribulations, heartache, you name it. Sometimes it even comes disguised as work, sickness, loss.

But you’ll find out when you get to heaven, those were blessings of God. Down here we look at it totally wrong, and then we set in judgment on God. But if you’ll understand this, great teaching right here, look at it, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow him. That is a personal choice, a decision that you have to make. Nobody can make it for you. But when you make up your mind, I want the will of God for my life, and you might as well know that the Lord is going to interrupt your schedule.

Easy each day, if your main goal is right and you want to do what God says that you should do. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of Ephesians in chapter 6. Ephesians in chapter 6, and this is a scripture that we’ve looked at many, many times, but there’s a verse here that says something that I want you to look at one more time. And you’ll notice here in Ephesians in chapter 6, look there in verse 12, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore, and here’s that word again. Take. Down in verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith. Verse 17, and take. See, that’s something you can do, and that’s something you must do. God will do for you and for me what we cannot do. But God does expect us to do what we can do.

When Peter was in the jail and the Church meeting was praying. Did you know the angel of the Lord opened the gate and made this change to fall off? But God told them, says, put on your sandals. He could do that. He could walk out of there. That’s something he can do. So you see, you work like it all depends on you. You pray like it all depends on God. So between praying and working, depending on the Lord and doing what God says to do, you’d be surprised what God is going to do in your life.

That is so important. Look in Mark chapter 14. All the way back to the book of Mark chapter 14. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Mark chapter 14. this coming Sunday, you will have communion service. Remember there is a communion service that Jesus had right before He was taken and crucified. And so in Mark chapter 14 verse 22, it makes a statement, and as they did eat, Jesus took bread and blessed and break it and gave to them and says, take, take.

This is something that they can do. This is talking about your communion with the Lord. Isn’t it wonderful that God wants us to fellowship with Him? Did you know He wants you to fellowship with Him more than your desire to fellowship with Him? God wants you to know Him greater than the desire you have to want to know Him. Have you ever been so concerned about somebody else? There isn’t anybody that you’ve ever been concerned about greater than what God is concerned about.

There isn’t anyone you have ever loved more than what God loves them. You can’t want the best for your children or your grandkids greater than what God wants. It’s difficult to understand all this, I know. Look what he says there in verse 22, Take, eat, this is my body. And he took the cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they, you ought to underline the word all. They all drank it. They all did.

But there was a problem here. They all drink it. You would think, do they really understand what they were doing when he says, This is my body. This is my blood. I don’t think they had a clue and understanding. Because the Bible says they didn’t understand half what was going on. But they say they did. They even wanted to rule. When on the right, when on the left, he says, are you, are you willing to be baptized with the baptism that I’m going to be baptized with?

Sure. He said, right. You will. But they didn’t understand what they were saying. But here in verse 24, and he said unto them, this is my God. blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many. Verily, I say unto you, I will drink no more of the fruit of the vine, until that day that I drink it new in the kingdom of God. This was going to be his last one. Until the kingdom is set up. That’s what he said.

And so in verse 26, and when they had sung a hymn, I would like to believe Jesus also sung. It says, and when they sung a hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives. So I guess all of them went out. They all sang. They sung a hymn. And in verse 24, and Jesus said unto them, Yotas underline these two, all ye, all ye shall be offended. In the words, how would you like to go to Bible college for three years and the president of the college says, everybody’s going to fail your exam?

Hey, we’ve studied. We’ve been with you. We’ve been taking notes. We memorize all the verses. Now we can’t, we can’t wait to take our final exam. He says, you’re all going to be offended. You’re all going to fail your final exam. But did he give up on him? No. You know why Jesus didn’t give up on him, he didn’t have anybody to replace him. There is no other way. God uses imperfect people. God uses us to accomplish His will.

See, you got hope. God can use you. But look what He says here in verse 27, and Jesus said to them, all ye shall be offended because of this night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered. But after that I am risen, I will go before you in the Galilee. But Peter said unto him, although all shall be offended, yet will not I. Boy, isn’t it wonderful to have at least one who really meant what he said.

All the rest of my first, but not me, not me. Have If you ever thought pretty highly of yourself, make promises and pledges, and then you have to eat your words. Don’t it taste terrible? You ever ate crow, but they were offended. They were offended. 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. Two of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast.

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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.