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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 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family. Turn in your Bible. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 11. We cover a lot of different topics in Sunday school this morning, church this morning, and tonight. Just a lot of different areas, you know, a lot of different points. And between one verse and the next verse may be absolutely no continuity of thought.

But they each stand alone because there’s their truth. Their separate truth. It’s just like there’s different books in the Bible and yet there’s a thread that runs through every book and joins the entire books into one book, the Bible. The theme of the Bible is Jesus Christ, God, revealing Himself to mankind. As you study the Old Testament, John, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, all he keeps talking about that they may know that I am the Lord, that they may know that I am the Lord, know in the Lord.

You see, God has done so much to get man to know him without revealing his face. He wants you to know him by the things that he’s said, things that he’s done, things that he has revealed. He has revealed enough to us that we can make an intelligent decision. But you know there’s always somebody who wants to know the secret things of God, and he says, no man knows the secret things of God. We have to accept the truth that he’s given, not looking for some additional light that may never come.

So what God reveals in his word is sufficient for a man to believe. Though it’s important for a person to realize there’s a lot of people in this world that do not know the Lord. I had a man write me a letter this week and I tried to answer it on the radio because he had heard the radio broadcast. But it had to deal with the subject about what about those that have never heard? What about the people that have never heard how to have eternal life?

And you know, it sometimes breaks my heart even thinking about it, just thinking about the people that have never heard. And we think, it can’t be that bad. I mean, God wouldn’t, surely He wouldn’t do that. I mean, to let a man spend an eternity separated from him, men of literal, fire burning hell forever and ever. And he’d think, oh, how can he trust the Lord if he’s never heard about the Lord? And yet there’s a lot of people that never hears, because God told people to go and they won’t go.

missionaries, they go to the field, sometimes they can’t stay because the Christians don’t keep supporting them, and so they have to come home from the fields. But what about those that never hear? And sometimes you like to make an excuse and say, well, they’re going to hear it somewhere along the line. Somebody’s going to get the truth to them. Somebody will. And yet I can’t find a scripture that actually says that. I do believe that the Bible says that if a man will search for mewith all his heart, he shall find me.

But how many people really search for the Lord with all their heart? I don’t know. I did. I searched for the Lord. I wanted to know the truth. But you see, when you search for the Lord it’s because you have some element up truth, some light, and you follow that light, and it will always lead to the source of light or the source of truth. Now are some people that do not seek the Lord, don’t want the Lord. Not looking for it at all.

And then sometimes because of the gospel message itself, there’s those that will hear and understand it. Trust Christ is Savior. So I’ve won people to the Lord that at times claim to be an atheist. But sometimes they’re just looking for somebody that can give them an answer. I know that it’s hard for us to understand that there’s a great consequence to those that never hear. that never here. So I told this guy, and I emailed him back, I said, that’s one of the biggest reasons I decided to go to Bible college is because I could not get that out of my mind.

What about those that have never heard? I wanted to make a difference. I don’t know if I reach the world, not my responsibility to reach the world. I just need to reach all that I can with all that I am, wherever I can go and however God blesses and try to do what I can do. As he says in the book of Jude, having compassion, making a difference. The man that explained the gospel to me, Raymond Jackson, explained the gospel to me.

And I am now almost, well going on 71. I’ve only had one person in all those years ever witnessed to me. And it was him. And I thought, what if he’d have missed me? Nobody since then. Of all the churches that I’ve been to, all the evangelistic services I’ve been to. Everywhere I’ve been. Nobody has tried to witness to me and win me the Christ. Ain’t that amazing? I’ll say, what about that one person if he’d have missed me?

But he did present the gospel to me. I did hear it. I did understand. So see, I did not know that eternal life was the free gift of God. I always thought you had to be good to go to heaven. You had to earn your way to heaven by how good you lived. And if you didn’t live good enough, you weren’t going to make it. But I didn’t know it was free. So I decided that after I trusted Christ as my Savior, as my fallen law explained it to me, I wanted to explain it to others.

And there’s a verse in the Bible that says this in verse 1. And you’ll notice it says, be ye followers of me. You know how many words that is? It just happens to be five words. Be ye followers of me. Now this is Paul speaking, but he says, follow me as I follow Christ. Follow me as I follow Christ. Because see, we can use people as examples. I don’t want to be my father-in-law. I don’t want to be Ray Stanford.

I don’t want to be Hank Lindstrom. I’d like to be like all of them. but I want to be me. I want to be me. You shouldn’t want to be anybody else. You should want to be you. But all the you you can be for the Lord. And you should also be able to say to other people because of your love for souls, I want you to love souls like I love souls. I want you to be a soul winner like I’m a soul winner.

I want you to discipline your life like I discipline my life. Paul says, be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. You see, as you follow the Lord, shouldn’t you be able to say to somebody, follow my example? What if everyone followed your example? Would much be accomplished? What is your compassion? What is your love? What is your care and your concern? Do you make a difference in people’s lives? What kind of an influence do you have?

I believe it’s very important and that every man should examine his life to see whether or not should I say to somebody, follow my life, live like I live. That’s hard to say too, because the last thing you want to do would be lifted up with pride. And if you humble yourself before the Lord, there’s nothing wrong in trying to help disciple people. I’ve had people say, well, I only want to disciple five people or ten people. I’ve heard of people who said, I just want to discipline one person or disciple one person one a year.

If everybody just disciples just one person a year, and then next year those two people disciple of somebody else, next year you know you could win the world. But it always breaks down as we know. I believe that you ought to seek to disciple as many people as will follow you. If I only have three people follow me, I want to disciple those three people and teach them everything that I can to be all that they can be for the Lord.

I want them to have and sense and feel and know what I know. Because you see, when you disciple somebody, you’re to teach them as they are a follower or a learner and you’re trying to help them to know what they’re supposed to be like. you and I are supposed to be the example of the believer in word and deed. Now some people’s lives and their testimonies are of such that they would be ashamed if other people lived the way they lived and thought the way they thought.

So yes, it says here, be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ. So I don’t want you to think of me saying that. I want you to think of you saying that to somebody. And therefore, you ought to examine your life and see if there’s anything in your life that you need to take care of. Because if somebody else did what I’m doing, it would cause them to stumble. Or to go astray, because somebody else he is going to be following them.

And somebody else will be following them. No man is an island unto himself. We affect people. Therefore it’s very important. Ephesians chapter 4, look there in Ephesians chapter 4. The book of Ephesians and chapter 4. The book of Ephesians is an awesome book. Yet it tells us that we’re saved by grace. Saved by grace. Not of yourselves. It’s the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should boast. Well see, for salvation going to heaven, it is free.

It is a gift. It’s not something you earn or work for. But you’ll notice in Ephesians 4 and verse 30, I want you to notice there’s something here where it says, grieve not the Holy Spirit. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. How many words is that? It’s just five little words. But look what it says. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is not just a power of influence.

Now He can influence you and He can give you power, but the Holy Spirit is God. And it says for us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. Smoke can influence your eyes. But the smoke doesn’t grieve. You grieve because He is a person, He is the Lord, living within you. And He says, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. So you see, after you trust Christ as your Savior and your God’s channel and you’re going to heaven when you die, and yes, you can live like you please.

You do not have to serve Him. God loves you that much that He would give you eternal life as a free gift, never cast you out, never lose you and puts no stipulations on what you have to do to keep it. Because see, He’s the one saving me. He’s the one keeping me. And He says, there are no stipulations. There’s no contingencies. There’s nothing that I have to do to keep me and save me. No, but But now I’m free.

I’m free to serve Him by choice. That’s liberty. Freedom to choose. And God loves us that much. And He wants us to love Him because we choose to love Him. He wants us to serve Him because we choose to serve Him. He wants us to give because we choose to give. He wants us to witness because we choose to witness. You see, salvation is a choice. You can choose to accept Christ as your Savior, or you can choose to try to earn your way there.

God’s already said you can’t earn it, but so you can waste your life on something that to know of that you own. But when it comes to serving the Lord after you trusted Him, yeah, it’s a choice. And God loves us so much that He wants us to do it freely. And because of what he’s done for us,590 that we are moved, touched by his love and his compassion, that it motivates us to do the things that we should.

So as a Christian, are you doing the things that grieve the Holy Spirit? God doesn’t want us to, but we might. what he says. Whereby ye are sealed until the day you sin again. No, I didn’t say that. Until the day of redemption. Until the day this body is redeemed. Until the day that we lead the body or it’s redeemed and we’re taken to heaven and get our new body. So you see, you can never be lost. He can never cast you out.

He can never lose you. That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing. I want you to take your Bible and look in Colossians in chapter 3. The book of Colossians, just a couple of pages to your right. Colossians chapter 3, and look there in verse 13, verse 13, and you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, Having forgiven you all trespasses. You realize that’s just five little words?

Just five little words. But look at the messages in those five little words. Having forgiven you. That’s past tense. You see, when Christ died for me 2,000 years ago, all of my sins were in the future. he has in the past 2,000 years ago, forgiven me all my sins. How many of my sins did he pay for? All of them, not just the ones that I did up to the time that I trusted him. It’s like most people think that I trusted Christ as my Savior, so he forgave me of the sins I’ve done.

Now these ones that I’ve got coming up, oh, there’s a problem. No, you don’t get it. When Christ died, because see, If he didn’t pay for those in the future, he has to come back and die again to pay for the ones that he didn’t pay for the first time. So what he did is the first time he came, paid for how many of them, all of them, past, present, future. And so when I trust him as my Savior, he hath forgiven made all my sins, all of them.

I have been forgiven. So there is no sin that can condemn me to hell today or tomorrow or ever. You say, you don’t deserve that. I’ve been saying that for 52 years. I sure don’t. I deserve to go to hell. I really should, because I’ve sin against a perfect righteous holy God. I have been rebellious to God, sinful, abomination to God. But in spite of all that that I am, He loved me and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for me, to give me as a free gift everlasting life.

So when I trusted Him as my Savior, He hath forgiven me of all trespasses.” You see, trespass means to step over a boundary. When God says, don’t, I did. And so did you. We have what we call, Hamatano, missed the mark of perfection. You may strive for it, but you can’t hit the mark of perfection. So because But we’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. We all need to save you. So when Christ died, He died for the sins of the whole world.

Take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. 1 Thessalonians chapter 4. In 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, there is a verse here that says, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Dead in Christ shall rise. I want you to look there in that verse 16. For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise. The dead in Christ shall rise.”

You know, it’s just five little words, but the dead in Christ shall rise. And the teaching here is that you and I, one of these days, if the Lord should tell you, are going to die. I may conduct your funeral. I would rather conduct your funeral than you have somebody conduct my funeral. But we’re going to die. And the Bible says to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So the body is in the grave.

Christ is coming back one day and He’s going to bring us with Him. And those people that are still alive upon the earth. Are going to be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. And those bodies that are in the graves, the dead shall rise. The dead in Christ shall rise. And so they will be made incorruptible, and those that are living will put on immortality whether or not subject to death.

So yes, we have something that we can know and look forward to, that whether I go by the way of the grave or the rapture takes place, I know I’m going to be with the Lord. And what’s interesting is verse 18, look in verse 18, where it says, comfort one another with these words. Comfort one another with these words. Now look here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 3, chapter 3. And there is a portion of the scripture that I want you to notice because as you and I live, we may know the Lord’s coming, or when I die I’ll be with the Lord, but that day hasn’t come yet.

So he says in verse 3, but the Lord is faithful. It’s just five little words, but look how important those five little words are. But the Lord is faithful. What does that say to you? What does it tell you? That if this is the Word of God, if God makes promises, God will keep His Word. Has He said anywhere in His Word that if we think the way He tells us to think, we can have the peace of God, that He will keep in guard our minds.

Does it say anywhere in the Word about casting all your cares upon Him because He cares for you? Say anything like that? Or, my God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus. Will God keep His Word? Does God lie? Titus chapter 1 and verse 2 says, God can not lie. God cannot lie. If he can’t lie, he has to be faithful. If he’s not faithful, he breaks his word. And I don’t think he’ll break his word.

So you see, if he says that when we leave this world, we’re going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. You can count on it. And when he says we stand at the judgment seat of Christ, we’re going to be rewarded for what we’ve done for him and suffer the loss of what we could have had. And we don’t see what that’s going to be, but we’re supposed to believe that if God said it, it has to be true.

If God only says something one time in His Word, how many times would He have to say it for it to be the truth? Just one time. And He says that every man shall give a count of himself to God. So yes, you can trust Christ as your Savior. It’s free, no strings attached. But as a child of God, you and I are supposed to know and understand, believe that when we get to heaven, we’re gonna have to give an account to the Lord how we lived since we were saved.

And God says that he’s gonna reward us for what we’ve done and we’ll suffer the loss of what we could have had. And yet we do not see how all that’s going to play out. We know that there’s gonna be a thousand years upon this earth when the earth will be like the Garden of Eden. And we’re going to rule and reign with Christ. There are some people that teach that a believer will be excluded from the kingdom if they don’t live right.

I can’t say I can’t believe that. Because he says that we will always be with the Lord. Comfort yourselves because we will always be with him. Therefore I don’t believe that any of God’s people will be excluded. Nor do I believe that when the rapture takes place, he’s only coming for the faithful. There’s some people believe in a split rapture. Only the faithful get to go. And all those that are rebellious, they don’t get to go. No, we are the body of Christ.

He’s not coming for a leg. Next time he’s going to come for an arm, he’s coming for his body. He’s going to take us all out. Here I come. Ready or not, you ever play hide and seek? I used to love play hide and seek. I always cheat. If I had to be the one I ran, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, you say you wouldn’t do that. Yes, you wouldn’t. Anyway, I used to play with hide and seek with a little eddy.

And I says, here I come, ready or not. Where are you? I’m over here. It took a long time before I told him I said, don’t answer, but he’s always told to obey. So he always, over here. Anyway, he learned, they learned quick. But look in verse 3, about the Lord is faithful. shall establish you and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you that you both do and will do the things which we command you.

See, there’s so much that God wants us as his children to do. And he says, if I would as his child, if I would just look to him and walk with him and serve him, he said, there’s so much that he will do for me. God says he is faithful and he will do what he says, he will do. First Timothy chapter two, I want you to look at this verse. 1 Timothy 2, and look in verse 5. It doesn’t debate it, it just states it.

Doesn’t debate it, just states it. Look at these five little words where he says, for there is one God. There’s one God. There’s not two gods, there’s not three gods. There’s not five gods. You see, when people are ignorant, there’s some people and nations that say, there’s a million gods. I’ve been into India where they believe there’s a million of them. There’s only one God. One true living God. And there’s only one mediator between God and man, and it’s the man Christ Jesus.

The only way any man can get to God is through the Son, Jesus Christ, there is no other way. And that’s why Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father except through me. And you have to go through Him in order to get to the Father. And what it means is when Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for the sins of the world, you had no way of getting to God.

Because see, heaven is perfect and God is perfect and we’re not. How can a sinful man stand in the presence of a holy God? So Christ came and he died to make it possible. He took all the sins of all the world and bore them in his body on the tree and paid for all the sins so that every person can have access to God, but only through Christ. But the only way you can get in Christ and go through Christ is to accept Christ as your Savior.

So when you believe that when Christ died, He died for you. And you trust Him as your Savior, He will give you as a free gift everlasting life. And we who sometimes were far off and nigh unto the precious promises in the commonwealth of Israel are made nigh by the blood of Christ. so we can have access unto God only through Jesus Christ. Best thing in all the world. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are 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 tool 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 Line 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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon, and just keep looking up.