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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 us to be able to help you. 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.

You got a Bible, open it. Anywhere you want, it don’t matter where. Then we ought to all stand and just read whatever page you’re on. Wouldn’t that be something? I mean, it’s all the word of God and we’re just trust the Holy Spirit to tell everybody else what it was said, you know. That’d be interesting. I was told by one person, all you gotta do, you don’t have to study, don’t prepare, just open up the Bible and God will just fill your mouth with what to say.

And I thought I’m gonna try that one of these days, but I’m afraid you’re just gonna fill it with hot air. So I guess I better study once in a while and see what the book says and go from there. So in the book of Luke, it’s a good chapter, chapter 10, Luke chapter 10. We haven’t been there for a while. I want to talk to you about two individuals and then a couple illustrations, a couple of illustrations that would really help you.

At least I believe so. In the book of Luke chapter 10, look in verse 38, we know that as a child of God we’re to be a servant of the Lord. Serve, serve, serve. Busy, busy, busy. Do all that we can with all the gustal that we can for as long as we can. And yet when you read this little portion of Scripture it tells us to beware of something. See in verse 38, now it came to pass. they went, that he entered into a certain village and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

She had a sister called Mary, which also said it, Jesus feed and heard his word. But Martha was comfort about much serving, came to him and says, Lord, does thou not care that my sister have left me to serve alone. Be it her therefore that she helped me. I’m doing all the work all by myself. Poor little old me. All this work that I’m doing. Nobody’s helping me. Why, why, why, why? You ever met anybody like that? I mean, regardless of how much you do, don’t you feel cheated when somebody’s not helping you.

And serving the Lord is very, very important. It really is. But there’s two phases of the ministry that everybody needs to keep in mind. There is a time and place to serve. There’s a time and place to set at his feet and let him talk to you. There was two women here, Mary and Martha. Martha was covered about with much work, much service. And she could see that lazy sister of hers setting at Jesus’ feet, not doing anything. Jesus, you ought to slap her jaws.

I’m doing all the work. I’m going to get all the rewards. Well, she didn’t say that, but, you know, I read into a little bit here and there. In verse 41, and Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha. Thou art careful and troubled about many things. Did you know she was serving and serving and serving? But Jesus knew that she was worried and anxious and troubled about a lot of things. Sometimes people want to drown their sorrows with alcohol.

Some want Do it. With drugs, some may want to do it with service. Some people, when they get under stress, they want to go play a game of golf or do something like that. Some people just want to go to sleep, wake up and all the things are gone and it’s different now. Everybody has a different way of handling stressful situations. Some people just want to stay busy. busy busy because if you stay busy enough you don’t have time to think about how to solve all the problems.

Did you know that he says there’s a two parts to this message? The part about serving and the part about sitting. Sitting at his feet and listening to what Jesus said, there’s a time in your life where you need to stop all the busyness, the running, the talking, and do some listening. That’s why it’s important for every Christian to learn to spend some time with the Lord. Because you can get so busy and that if you don’t keep enough coming in, and all you do is keep putting out, you’re You’re going to come up empty.

You’re just going to become a shell. Nothing there. You need to spend time with the Lord so you can have the strength that you need to serve appropriately. And you can be busy in activity, but not very productive. Some people can do less and accomplish more than somebody who can just stay at it all the time. So you want to listen and learn and gain some knowledge so that it helps you mentally so that you won’t have to be so anxious and troubled about so many things.

See Jesus saw the spiritual realm that He was talking about and says in verse 42, but one thing is needful. One thing is needful. This is very important. need this. Mary have chosen that good part. Service is important, but listening to the Lord is also important. You see, because you only can do for so long based upon the little that you know. When you’re limited in knowledge, you will be limited in ministry. So to increase your ministry and the effectiveness is that you study the Word.

Spend time with the Lord and let God talk to you. And learn how to cast your cares upon Him as you find in the book of Philippians where he made the statement. Casting all your cares upon Him like he says in Peter, but also being anxious for nothing. Not worrying about anything, but learning how to make your request and your petitions known unto the Lord. So there’s some things that he mentions about how to do just that and why you need the Lord.

So look there in chapter 11 and verse 1 he says and he came to pass as he was praying in a certain place. When he sees one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray and John also taught his disciples. So they had to learn how to pray. What is pray it? Prayer is asked in and receiving. Ask in God and receiving. So is it wrong to pray? No God’s word says pray always about everything. Means learn to take everything to God.

Don’t think that your problems are too big he can’t solve or that they’re too small to concern him with. You see, if God is God, God can solve a big problem just as well as a little problem. If God can solve a problem and it takes a miracle, which is easiest for God, a little miracle or a big miracle. Because if God is going to perform the miracle, there isn’t anything impossible with God. That’s mentioned in the book of Luke chapter 19.

with God all things are possible. You and I are supposed to believe that He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or Think. So he says, Lord, teach us to pray. And so in verse two, now there’s a little different between the verse of Scripture, of course mentioned here, is over in the book of Matthew and chapter six. Over there he says, after this manner, pray. Here it’s not worded that way. Here it says, when you pray, say.

So there’s nothing wrong in saying this, but in the other portion of Scripture in the book of Matthew, it says, don’t be caught up into vain repetition. As though if you just quote this prayer, it’s going to solve your problems. There’s a meaning behind it, and then he will give you a lesson on how to pray. And he mentions several things about having a friend, interceding, having a son, having a personal. So there’s several lessons that you’re going to learn from this little portion of Scripture where he says, when you pray, say, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done.

As it is in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread.” So yes, we are to talk to our Heavenly Father. We are to stay in submission to Him. So prayer is a discipline of our dependence upon God. Daily praying to the Lord is a way of revealing your constant need of God. It reveals that you understand your dependency upon Him. God wants you to need Him, to want him to desire him. So there’s many things that happens in life that drives you to the Lord.

So there’s people who cannot always solve your problem. Answer this or that for you. So you learn to go to the Lord. I know this. I am one person in a ministry of everybody on Sunday, several hundred if they ever came all together at the same time, but I can’t individually work with everybody. So one of the things that I try to do when I can is teach you how to solve your own problems, how to counsel yourself, how to go to the great counselor so that whatever I would tell you as one-on-one, When you learn the word of God, you will go to the book.

And what God tells you in this book and what I would tell you, hopefully it would be the same thing. So you’re trying to help people learn how to counsel themselves, how to encourage yourself, how to promote yourself, how to learn how to have the peace and the joy in the habit God wants you to have. Because you don’t want your total success, your victory, your peace of mind comes because what the preacher said. The preacher’s a man. He makes mistakes.

He don’t always hear and understand. He’s not always sympathetic. He’s just sometimes a a big blob. God will never fail you. The Word will never change. As I get older, I might even lose my mind and won’t even know what I’ve said. I’ve often wondered if you lose your mind. Will you miss it? I mean, if you don’t know you lost it. It’s an interesting thought. I don’t want to know. I even take a little smart pill once in a while to hope I can stay smart.

But He makes this statement, give us this day our daily bread so that every day you learn to depend upon the Lord, or you will be like Martha. You will be busy, busy, busy, busy, busy, but you’ll run out of gas. And then the very thing that you’re doing for the Lord will weigh you down because you don’t have the strength to go. That’s why you have got to always consistently talk to the Lord and get your strength from the Lord.

And the joy of the Lord is my strength when the joy goes, the strength goes. So look what he says in verse four. In verse four, and forgive us our sins. But we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. So you know that when someone sends against you, they are indebted to you. They owe you. So God says, forgive everyone. I have actually met Christian and says, I’ll never forgive him if that’s the last thing I do. Well, doggy.

You know, they have a spiritual problem when you cannot forgive. Because that means you hurt so bad and that hurt has turned into bitterness. And when you get real bitter, it’s not the person who wronged you that you’re bitter at. You’re bitter at the person that could have stopped it. And that’s God. Because you feel like God let this happen to me. Oh, that person may have done it, but you can’t forgive him because you don’t see why God would let that happen.

So that’s why you have to be very, very careful. And look at the last part of this verse. He says, and lead us not into temptation. In other words, you want God to minimize the attempts. You know that you’re going to be tested. You know you’re going to be tempted. You know that that’s going to take place. But you also know that you do not want to be led into them by the devil. You don’t even want the Lord to allow you to be tested.

Sometimes we cringe. We’re afraid to find out how wicked we really are, or lack of faith that we really have. When we get to heaven, You and I will probably see how much of that last verse, that last phrase was fulfilled in our lives. But deliver us from evil. Did you know that when a man is born, he is born to adversity? There’s problems, chaos, troubles all the times of your life. It’s one thing when it happens naturally in this world.

But did you know that when you serve the Lord that God can deliver you from evil that’s coming down the road? You’ll be surprised how much God has already spared you from. I look at it a little bit like this. You see, I have had times in my life when it seemed like the bottom has fell out. Everything seems to go wrong. And at that moment, can you pray and say this to the Lord? Lord, thank You so much.

For all that could have happened, for all that could have gone wrong, didn’t. It could have been worse. I don’t care what you’re going through, it could have been worse, couldn’t it? So we should be thankful to the Lord for the things He didn’t let happen to us because He delivered us from some things that He knew would probably be more than we can bear. And so because of his love for us, he is allowed some things and yet not other things.

I’ve often wondered why I’ve never been in a wheelchair. I haven’t been paralyzed. At this stage of the game, I’m thankful that I’ve never had a stroke. I’m thankful that I don’t have high blood pressure. I’m thankful to the Lord. But did you know that et al. could change tomorrow? It can all change tomorrow. You need to be thankful to the Lord for what you have not suffered. Because sometimes we can become so dejected and so discouraged and so down in despair because of what we don’t have.

The thing that didn’t work out the way we wanted to. you realize that when we get to heaven, we’ll probably see what God delivered us from. That could have happened to us. And that we were spared only by the grace of God. Not because of intelligence of our own, or because even those smart decisions that we made, but only because God interrupted our lives and blocked this and blocked that and protected us. I’ve tried my best over the years not to worry so much about my reputation.

I just want to be concerned about my character and let God take care of my reputation, what people think about me. I’ve had people that loved me to death and I’ve got people that don’t know why in the world I’m alive. Well, I’m one of those. But now what I want you to see is these two things. In learning to pray, it’s not always about, you know, keeping yourself right what you need to do. but also to pray for other people.

You know the Bible talks about interceding for others praying for one another, encouraging one another, exalting one another. Look at the illustration that he uses here. And if you look there in verse five, he says, and he’s said unto them, which of you shall have a friend? A friend comes to you and he has needs. And you don’t have anything by which to meet that need, but because he has a need, his need becomes your need. And he says here, and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, friend, lend me three loaves.

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. I have nothing. I don’t have anything. So I have a friend and I have a need. And I want three loaves of bread. Now he says here that it was midnight. Going to him at midnight. Anybody know what time midnight is? It’s midnight. It’s in the middle of a night. He said, look, in those days, they had their children, sometimes that slept in the same room with them.

They had animals that were really close. Everybody’s bedded down for the night and he knocks at the door. And when he knocks at the door, he goes to the door and he says, look, Look, it’s midnight. My wife and my kids, we’re in bed. Leave us alone. What do you want? No. But you see, in verse 7, and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not. In other words, you are a problem. troubling me, you’re bothering me.”

And he says, the door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I can’t do this. Now go away, go home, see me tomorrow. But he needed some bread that’s set before his friend. Now there’s a story here to teach a person how to pray. So he says in verse 8, and I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needed.

In other words, if he keeps asking and keeps knocking, man will open the door. And he doesn’t want his children to be awake. He doesn’t want those animals to be awake. You imagine what it would be like in the middle of the night for all the animals and the kids. It’s our hollering and yelling and screaming. It’s not worth the problem. So because of that, his friend lends him all that he needs. He He doesn’t have the three loaves.

He’s happy and he does it. But notice what he says. He will rise and give him as many as he and you ought to underline this word. He needed what he needs. So what is praying? Knock and it shall be opened. Ask and he shall receive. So you see, he sought out his friend in the middle of the night. Did you know when you do most of your really heavy, serious praying, when you can’t sleep at night, when things seem to fall apart in your life, when you wonder why, and you just don’t have answers and nobody can seem like they can help you?

You go to the Lord. And so he’s given him a lesson on knock and asking, seeking. You’ve heard those three things before. This is the illustration that goes with it. You see that? I didn’t make it up. It’s right here in the book. So we look what he says. He says in first night, and I say unto you, ask and it shall be given you. Seek ye shall find. Knock. It shall be opened unto you. So in this little lesson, he’s trying to teach his disciples how to pray.

But not only how to pray, but why to pray and what to pray for. So you see in verse 10, he makes this statement for every one, You ought to on the line those two words, everyone that asks us receive us. And he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. But you notice in those other scriptures it talks about they went time and time and time again. opportunity. It means that he was shamelessness. It means at the wrist of Ben made ashamed that he would do this for his friend.

He did it anyway. Did you know one of the greatest things about humbling someone is it causing you sometimes to be ashamed, to be in need. It’s humbling experience. Because we always like to have that image that everything’s under control. I don’t need anything. I don’t need anybody. And yet, there’s times in your life where God’s going to see to it that you need somebody. You’re going to need something bad enough that you’re going to have to humble yourself and say, I need your help.

I need help. Would you help me? Would you pray for me? Now, it’s important, and it doesn’t talk much about the friend but he had a friend. He’s interceding on behalf of a friend. And one of the people, he doesn’t have anything. He couldn’t meet the friend’s need, but he went to somebody on behalf of a friend so that he could. It’s called interceding, intercessory prayer. Where sometimes people say, look, would you pray for me? Yeah, and then you never do.

Wouldn’t that be a shame? Pray for people. We put names in the bulletin, and they’re there because we want people to pray for them. Prayer works. Don’t try to figure it out, just as it does. God says to do it. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tapp of 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 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.