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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 Bible line 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans 8. Romans 8. And you think I’m gonna go to Romans 828, but I’m not. I’m not. I’m not going to Romans 828. I’m going to Romans 829.

See there? A lot of difference. Cause verse 29 doesn’t say the same thing as verse 28 does. Things that are different are not the same. But verse 29, there’s an interesting word. says, for whom he did foreknow. He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the first born among many brethren, for whom he did foreknow. What does the word foreknow mean? To know beforehand, previous knowledge, to know in advance. So we are told in God’s Word that God knows in advance.

Now there’s some things that God says is going to happen without Him making it happen. There’s some things that God wants to happen because it’s to fulfill His will. People doing wrong is not the will of God, but people still do wrong. Hey everybody is supposed to do the will of God. So we have to find out, well, what is that? But I wrote down a couple of questions. And so a few things I wrote down is this. Could man have altered history if God allowed his disciples to discern or understand too much?

Is that one of the reasons? Because when you read in the Gospels, it says his disciples, They must have been the dumbest guys in the world. It’s like they couldn’t see and they couldn’t hear. And he had asked them, do you understand this? And they didn’t understand it. They didn’t get it. They couldn’t even understand the parables. And the parables was written for those who wanted to know the truth. And it seemed like, where did these knuckleheads come from?

Now, I know we don’t have anybody like that today. But it’s like they wanted to know, they asked him questions, but they couldn’t discern. I’ve often wondered, in the Old Testament, there’s many times God gave prophecies. And in the New Testament, well, when Christ was here, well, he had to fulfill those things. But if he told his disciples too much, do you think they would have tried to intervene and try to make it not happen? For example, you remember when he came to the garden and Judas and those that wanted to take him captive came also.

And there’s going to take Jesus. And Peter took his sword and cut off in here. And Jesus told him put up thy sword because the will of God has to be fulfilled. So I thought, if God hadn’t stop Peter, he would have caused bloodshed. I mean, the boy lost it. He was ready to fight to the death, but it’s not what God wanted. So, history to me could have been changed if God allowed people to do the things that they do.

I was sitting in my office and I was thinking about this. As he says in the book of Deuteronomy 29 verse 29, the secret things Belongeth unto the Lord. Secret things. Belongeth unto the Lord. But he hath revealed some things. So some things God reveals. Some things he doesn’t. Now you and I, we want to serve the Lord, right? We trust that Christ is our Savior, we have eternal life, and we want to serve the Lord. But if God revealed too much to us about what He wants to do in every area of our lives, did you know we might try to alter it, to change it, to stop it?

If you knew exactly what God was going to allow happen to you tomorrow, you may try to change that. If you knew that tomorrow you was going to die in the car, I would venture to say you wouldn’t get in the car from this moment on. Because you want to change it. You wouldn’t want that to happen. Or if you would take this plane, it was going to go down. I’m not taking that plane because you know what’s going to happen.

So God in his wisdom reveals things and God in his wisdom conceals things. If you were truly knowledgeable about what’s going to take place, it probably could worry you to death. You wouldn’t want to get out of bed the next day. But God gives you the strength and the grace that you need to bear one day at a time. He makes a statement in the book of Matthew chapter 6. Grace for today, the sufficient thereof. In other words, God gives you the grace and the strength to bear the burdens of today.

Because that’s about all you need. You’re only facing one day at a time, one day at a time. And so I also wrote down another question. I don’t know if you think about things like this, but I do. And I thought about this, can God think about what to do? Now in my mind, I know the Bible talks about that God has thoughts about me. In 139th Psalm, it talks about the great sum of his thoughts about me. God thinks about me.

But I got to think about his thoughts about me. And this is what I thought about what he thinks. And you say, I never thought about that. Well, I want you to think about that. So here’s a thought. Does God think? If he thinks, what does he think about? When you and I think, what do you mean by think? As a man think it, so is he. You think. What do you think about? What does it mean to think?

To think about today, to think about tomorrow, think about yesterday. It could be just about anywhere you want to go. You can think about going to the moon, though you never been there, know you never get there, but you can pretend. You can think. You can think about growing old. You can think about losing your health. You can think about dying. Think about how many things you can think about. But what bothered me is, what can God think about that He doesn’t already know?

You’ve got to think about your actions. Think about the results of your actions. Does God have to think like you and I think? To me, that is mind-boggling, because why would God have to think about what you’re going to do? He already knows what you’re going to do. And if he’s God, he already knows the end from the beginning. Yes or no? How can God think? That’s an interesting thing to think about. But you know that there’s things that God tells us to think about.

So he says in the book of the Philippians in chapter 4, think on these things. So there are things we’re supposed to think about. And as we think about them, it can make the difference of whether we have peace or whether we’re in turmoil. Another question that I asked my mind, so let me give you another question because I know you’re tired of thinking about that last spot. Does God have emotions? Does God have emotions? You say, well, Jesus went.

That’s emotion. God so loved the world. Well, that’s, love is an emotion. It’s how you think, how you feel about something. God hates sin. True, he hates sin. But somebody says you can’t think to opposite thoughts at the same time. I don’t know. Have you ever thought about that? Can you think of two different things at the same time?

A woman can. They can think about 10 things at one time and keep on track. Me, I’m thinking about one thing, but if I get interrupted, I can’t handle it. I think one thing at a time. But does God have emotions? And if God has emotions, can he love and hate exactly at the same time? Or are they things that God has? things that God knows and thinks and feels about, but how can God relate to the future or the past or the present?

So I came up with another question. Where is God? Now I’m not talking about the location of where God is. I’m talking about in his thinking. Does God know the past as well as he knows the future? Does Does he know the future as well as he knows the past? Does he know the present right now? And every move that every person is going to make anywhere in the world at any given moment. So where does God live in the past, the present, or the future?

Yet he says he is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. So he is the same. So where does he live? He knew the end from the beginning. Are things that are going to happen in the future, something that God in his mind already knows has happened. So where are we? Are we in the past because God already knows what’s going to happen and we haven’t done it yet? Or are we in the future because God already knew the end from the beginning and it’s just catching up to us.

You should never think like that. I do. I have a lot of curiosity, a lot of things that I wonder about God. And as you read the Bible, you’ll be surprised to find out how much God wants us to know and to understand. So sometimes your imagination can run wild. So he tells us in his word what he wants to know. And some of these things, believe it or not, are revealed in the scriptures for those that seek for them.

There’s so much that I want to know, that I want to understand. And you’ll find that when he gave the parables, even in Matthew chapter 13, he kept asking, do you understand? He that had ears to hear, led him here. And to the seven churches in the book of Revelation 2 and 3, he says, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches. It means, do you understand? You hear the Word of God, but do you understand what he’s saying?

So I wrote down a couple of things that I wanted to share with you. So turning the Bible to the the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew, and chapter one, Matthew and chapter one, do you believe that God knew in advance everything that was going to happen concerning the birth of Jesus Christ? If he’s God, he did. And yet at the same time, it’s amazing how many things God did. Did you know that unless God intervenes at times some things that He wrote about, perhaps would not have been fulfilled?

And that’s mind blowing. Looking at verse 22. Verse 22, Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. all this was done, everything that led up to it, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was written. Got another question for you. The things that the Old Testament saints talked about and prophesied about is it because God knew the end from the beginning and He’s telling you what they’re going to do.

Or do they do what he already has determined them to do? Now isn’t that something to think about? Since God already knows and then He makes the statement. All this was done that it might fulfill. What they said. So it means that there has to be the working of man and his free will, making choices and suffering consequences good or bad, and the will of God. Can God use the wisdom or lack thereof of individuals to accomplish his purpose?

That is divine. Have you ever seen your children do things and you knew what they were gonna do before they did it? Cause you know them so well. Now you didn’t make them do it, but you know that what they’re gonna do, how they’re gonna respond, how they’re gonna react. After all, you can read them pretty good. I could with my kids, but they got where they can read me pretty good too. Have you ever told your kids, you do that one more time, you’re gonna get a blistering.

And they know you don’t mean it until you say, That’s it, that’s it, that’s it. After about the 20th time, they read you too, and you train them, and they are learning you. When it comes to God and man, yes, God may know every decision you’re gonna make, but whenever God has a will, something he wants to accomplish, did you know that God can work behind the scenes that you can’t see and utilize the wisdom that you have, And the circumstances that he permits to come into your life to direct your path to fulfill his will.

God is free to do that, but he never overrides the will of the individual. Now buddy, you got to be good to do that. He knows when you’re hard-headed, he knows when you’re teachable and pliable. He knows when he can lead you, and he knows when he has to drive you. So God in his wisdom does not reveal everything to us in advance, or we might want to change the outcome. That’s why you and I are supposed to study the Word of God, know the will of God, and do His will to do whatever He wants us to do.

to try to distort or destroy the purpose of God. Now, notice what he says in that verse again, verse 22, all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet saying, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth the son they shall call his name Emmanuel which been interpreted as God with us. Now all this about Jesus coming into the world was all done by the design of God. God purposed this.

God planned this. This was a plan before God ever made the first man, because it says that Jesus Christ was crucified in the mind of God before the foundations of the world. You see, God knew Adam and Eve would sin, And he knew there was near Savior. God has permitted many things to happen because God has a plan. God has a purpose. Did you realize that God cannot and does not and will not let you know everything you want to know and tell you everything you have a question about?

Because then God would probably have to stop using you. So he does what he does, lets you know certain things, and yet at the same time God can be closing doors because of what he wants you to do. He can dry up your financial funds because he wants you to do something. He may bless you and open up many doors because of what he wants you to do and go through. He may have you get sick at times and be in a hospital because of somebody that needs to be talked to.

those little things like that that you can’t understand why why why but there is a reason why God has a reason why he allows everything did you know and I want you to see this because I do believe it’s important looking Matthew chapter 2 and verse 15 verse 15 and was there until the death of Herod that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the the prophet saying, out of Egypt, have I called my son?

In the Old Testament, he says that that’s a scripture reference. And it says it’s going to take place. Hosea 11 and verse one. So how is he going to make that happen? Did you know if you back it up just a little bit, when Jesus was born, there are some wise men. And many believe the wise men of the east were probably over therefore Daniel was and Ezekiel was in Babylon, and that some of the magi that were there And had heard in so forth and the prophecies that were given because they had some great prophets there.

And they saw a star. Now whether up there are some, you know, Chaconna glory that they could follow. But God allowed them to see a star. Now everybody didn’t see the star. Everybody from all over the world didn’t all come, but there’s a few that came. Did you know if you come straight across it might be five, six hundred miles, but you know if you go up the here and they come around it, it could be a thousand miles away.

Abraham went. But look, they had to travel all that way and they didn’t have sports cars, streamlined highway, probably came by horses and donkeys and camels, and they came all that way. precious gifts, the Lord, and His timing, the timing of everything. Working behind the scenes, not everybody got to do everything, it’s just that God allows certain things to happen because He God has a purpose. Did you know when they got to Jerusalem, their question was, where is he that is born king of the Jews?

King of the Jews. Do you know if you were king Herod, that might bother you. Did the Lord know that they were going to go to Jerusalem and ask this question? Where is he that is born king of the Jews? And then he says, check the scriptures and so they check the scriptures. And lo and behold, though there’ll be little among the thousands of you, yet out of thee shall he come forth, that he should be ruler in Israel, is going forth the bent from old everlasting.

Bethlehem, Africa, Micah chapter 5 verse 2. And here he comes. Jesus has to be born in a certain place at a certain time. They asked the questioned. The word was to Herod. Why did the Lord, he could have circumvented all of that. They didn’t have to go there. If the star could lead them all the way to Jerusalem, why couldn’t the star have led them right to where the baby was? Because God has a purpose.

And God didn’t tell them everything. Only so much. He didn’t reveal to them what was going to happen and what hair was going to do. Oh, that was concealed. They hadn’t got a clue. But they were being used by the Lord by the question they asked, where they went, the time and that they got there. Our God is God. Our God is God. Oh, I love that statement. And not only that, when you stop and think that yes, they came there and yes, by now, maybe you’re in half two years or so at past or maybe a little bit more.

I don’t know. God warned them in a dream to leave another way so they didn’t do everything government said, because the Lord intervened and says, do this. So Herod was mad. So what did he do? He ordered that they would kill all the babies two years old and under. All those babies. Here’s God that could have prevented all of that from happening. And yet at the same time God being God knew what was going to take place. And why?

That all of those little children die, but yes, there is a reason and yes, there is a purpose. And yes, things could have been different. And there’s times when God intervenes and there’s time when God allows things to happen. God will allow good things to happen to you in your mind that good. God will allow bad things to happen to you. Everything good don’t happen to you. Everything bad doesn’t happen to you. There’s something that happened to somebody else that never happens to you.

Well, if you read the Word of God, you’ll find out not everything happened to everybody all at the same time to the same degree. But behind everything, God had a reason. God had a purpose. Joseph, if God had not intervened, would not have left. If he had not left, another little child might have been killed. Even though God did not stop the wicked King Herod from doing the wickedness that he did in killing all those little youngs, yet he intervened to save one.

What made this one more precious than all the others? You have questions Most people have questions and yet he says the secret things belong a thumb to the Lord God doesn’t tell us why And there’s many things will happen to us in our life and you won’t know why And you’ll have to just move on and keep living life and so you have to why does Tom Stokes back there have to be blind. As I know of he’s the only blind man in here.

He didn’t happen to everybody. Happened to him. Some people get paralyzed and get in a wheelchair for the rest of their life and somebody else. They slip and fall and break their neck may die. Somebody else gets paralyzed. And yet in everything, there is what we call the permissive will of God. God permits many things to happen. I don’t believe God is shocked by whatever happens. Surprised. No, that’s us. Because we don’t know what the next moment may hold.

And so as you read the Scriptures and you find out, as he says here in this verse, in verse 15, and was there until the death of Herod, well, where did he go? God told him, take your son down into Egypt. Now if God hadn’t intervened, see he wouldn’t have done that. Something else would have happened and history could have been changed. But because he told him that, because God wanted him to go down to Egypt for a reason.

But he hadn’t told us that reason. Only that in the book of Jose in chapter 11 and verse 1, out of Egypt have I called my son, somebody fulfilled the scripture, but he asked to get his son down there. So how’s he going to get his son down there? Look what God did. Utilizing the decisions of man and some may be a natural phenomenon to get things done. God may be moving and directing in your life and you just don’t see it.

And then after years you can look back over and you see how God blessed me here and God did this and God opened that I mean, I don’t know, I don’t know, well, I made it through, but God, God is what God is. God is God. It is so good to know that I may not see everything and understand everything, but I do know that if this book is true and I believe it with all my heart, God is working behind the scenes.

I believe that God is working in my life, and I believe that. You should believe that you are so important to God that He’s given you personalized attention. He knows what He’s building you for. He knows what He wants you to do. And that’s the best news 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 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 broadcasts 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.