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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 a 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. If you could think about it, what’s the worst disasters ever happened to you in your life? Everybody usually has something that happens. I remember a little lady that came out here. Anyway, I went to see her daughter that was in the hospital, little Gervana. Mama was sitting right back there, raise your hand.

That’s her. And she trusted Christ’s Savior in the hospital room. But now she’s in heaven with the Lord. She had leukemia. That’s a tragic thing. No doubt sometimes when something like that happens, you’re devastated. I remember when Zoe was sitting back, he was always raised her hand. She’d heard me on the radio. She came out and she, uh, trusty crisis or Savior, sat in my office. She said, I got to get my husband and my kids out. They came out and he was sitting in the bar for where they are right now.

And the husband trusts the Lord, the three amigos, they trust the Lord. They went to camp, they came back from camp, and their dad passed away. I would imagine they were devastated. I know they were. You see, it can happen to you as an individual. There’s all kinds of things that just kind of like, it’s a tragic event. And it leaves us sometimes like we don’t know what we’re going to do. It’s devastating to us. But\- a couple of things that I wanted to mention to you.

Because you know of some of these events, but let me just kind of refresh your memory. Do you remember something that was very tragic? To me it would have been devastating. But see, in a person’s mind, they don’t always see it as bad as what somebody else says. It’s not going to be that bad. The Lord had told Adam and Eve, you know, don’t eat this fruit. They could do so much. Just don’t do this one thing. What do you think they did?

No, they did that one thing. And they did not think probably at the time. It’s not going to be that bad of a deal, because they had never seen death. They didn’t know what it was like. All they had was God’s Word. Next thing you know, they’re kicked out of the Garden of Eden. Because of a sinful nature, one son murders the other one. All the death and disease that’s happened, all because of that one. I bet you they didn’t know it was going to be that bad.

what a disaster to the whole human race. Pretty bad, huh? Now you can see that because we’re on this side of it and we can see how terrible that was. You know, there was a time in the book of Exodus chapter 14 where it talks about, you know, they’re coming out of Egypt and here’s Moses with all these people and they had come up to a dead end. Pharaoh says, what? Now, what have I done? Let’s go get back our slaves.

So with over 600 chariots and his soldiers, they come afoularim. They were trapped. What does the Lord do? Hendum causes an east wind and the wind blows all night and it parts the waters. People say it was only six inches deep. Oh yeah, you tell me how. All those people died in six inches of water. That’s a big miracle. But the waters parted and the gods people went across. And so here’s Pharaoh and he’s got all of his army, 600 chariots, and they charge in after them.

I’ll bet you he didn’t think it was going to be this bad. But he was headed for a big disaster because he challenged God. He challenged God. When youNewsletter God, I got an, you’re going to lose. You’re not going to win. And all of a sudden the water started coming in on them. And it says that the things sunk, like it was metic, the water was pretty deep. Covered them all. . Can you imagine covering all of them and the horses and the chariots and all that there?

And six inches of water? No. But what a disaster to lose so many livesiterranean it didn’t have to happen, but he didn’t think it was going to be that bad. You know as time goes on down through, you’ve ever heard of the thing called the flood? You’ve heard of the flood? Think for a moment. They were told because no one was a preacher of righteousness. He no doubt warned them of what was coming. But it ain’t going to be that bad.

It’s not going to be that bad. You know, you buy both uppers. You know, they don’t know what they’re talking about. But it was that bad, wasn’t it? The only ones that were saved was eight people. Now you just stop and think. In America, we’re a little over 200 years old. Look how many people we have in just 200 years. Look at all the buildings, everything we’ve got. Did you know Noah lived 350 something years afterwards and you’re talking about some of these people that would live in six, seven, 800 years.

How many people do you think would be upon the earth? Living as long as they did. Been as healthy as they were. Having as many kids as they probably did. That would have been a bunch. And it didn’t have to be that way. But because, see, they sinned against God. And he says, they were determined to do anything they could imagine. No limit, no restraints, do whatever you wanted. Live any way you please. But, see, there was a God in heaven that was preparing judgment.

God says, you’re not gonna live like you please and get away with it. But the Bible also says in the book of Ecclesiastes because judgment against a sin is not executed. Speedy, the heart of man, is, hey, we’re getting away with it. Didn’t I think that would happen? And then it began to rain. And then it was all over. God in heaven. Is He in charge of the weather? The water from the fountains of the deep and the The windows of heaven were open and everything was under water.

God warned and God said what was going to happen and it happened just like God told him. But most people say they don’t believe it’s going to be that bad. So time moves on. You know as you stop and think about it, what’s one of the most difficult things to understand. Now we all understand that people do things wrong to one another. Everybody upends somebody. But you know there was a time when there was an individual that was born into this world.

He didn’t even have a sinful nature. So without a sinful nature, he couldn’t wrong anybody. He couldn’t sin. It was Jesus Christ. Who lived a perfect life wrong nobody. He was truth. And look what the world did to the most truthful, honest, perfect person in the world. They crucified him. He was buried. And he came back again from the dead. That’s a tragic thing of what mankind did to an innocent person. Of course, God is able to take the wickedness of man and perform his will.

And God used what man did as a payment for the sins of the world so that you and I could have as a free gift ever lasting life and get to go to heaven. So God can take and bring beauty out of ashes. He can take something that’s a total chaos, a tragic thing and make something beautiful out of it. If you know God and you really trust the Lord, then you know that whatever disaster happens in your personal life, you’ll believe that God is able to bring something good out of that.

Because you believe that all things work together for good to those who know the Lord and love the Lord that are called according to His purpose. If you can believe what God said. But it seems like everything God says comes to pass. And so they do. In our time, we have 911, where we say about 3,000 people were killed and people say, what a tragic thing. What a tragic thing. The innocent tragic thing. And the two buildings, the towers that came down, it was a disaster.

And people went running in there trying to save others. And then other things happened. Instant lives. Now, if God is God, did He know before that happened? That was going to happen? Of course. God knows everything. There are some things God lets happen. There’s something God prevents from happening. There’s some things just like when we talk about praying. Yes, no way to lie. We don’t have all the answers. We cannot totally discern all the ways of God. There are some things that God has revealed to us in His Word, and we try to understand as best we possibly can.

But think about this, 3,000 at one time. Did you know there’s more than that that are murdered every day in America by abortion? That’s tragic. And you don’t hear hardly many people say anything about it, because see, after a while, we become numb to it. The shock has gone away. It’s been gone on for so long. But there’s a God in heaven that hasn’t forgotten. Anasim blood has been shed. And therefore, there’s a price to pay for that nation.

God has to judge. You think about this. Abraham had a nephew named Lot. He didn’t want to get into squabble with about who goes where. He said, you just picked out and now take the other. He saw the will of water planes down toward Solomon Gomorrah. And that’s where he went. It wasn’t long before he was a ruler to gate and became like a judge. But his testimony was shot. Nobody would listen to him. He lost his wife, he lost his kids.

God brought down judgment upon them and told them to get out of there. So the God in heaven, in the minds of most people, all they know is there either was just fire that accidentally showed up or there was an atom bomb that hit or something exploded, but whatever happened. God said he did it, but most people don’t think, well, it was just a natural disaster. Some people say, well, that’s an act of God because nature cannot explain some things.

Why did that happen? And yet look how much goes on in the world. Do you realize that in America alone, just people that have gone through such loss? And it seemed like it doesn’t have any place in America that’s safe. Have you ever wondered if there’s any safe place in the world? Where could you go? Where are you going to run and hide? If I could find that sweet little paradise island that nobody knows about, I might go there.

Off the button, I’d just dip myself a cabin on the backside of some mountain there and a last gun just live off the land. I say, I know too much. I can’t do something like that because I know the book. I gotta preach until the day I die. I ain’t dead yet. Might be tomorrow, but today I’m still alive. So there’s some things that you can’t do because it restrains you.

But he destroyed two cities, Sodom and Camarrah because of their sin. And if God judged them, is God gonna judge America? I just got an email from yesterday that there is gonna be a move upon preachers who say anything against the homosexuals because it is a hate crime. You’re causing people to hate the homosexual. I preach against sin any sin. because God does. I just try to tell people this is what God’s word says and I don’t care who does it, it’s still wrong.

So do I take a stand or I, well I don’t want to offend them because they’ll do this to me or I don’t offend them they’ll throw me in jail. I don’t want to do that. After a while I won’t be able to say anything about anything. All truth is offensive. That’s why when Christ came it didn’t matter what he said. He had to be wrong because he went contrary to what people believed. You see, when Jesus was here, the Pharisees had their religion.

It was wrong. Jesus told him it was wrong. He says, you are a hypocrite. Did you know every person in America that goes to church trying to earn their way to heaven? And they think they’re going because how good they are are hypocrites? Did you know that? They’re claiming something is them true. You’re not going to heaven because you’re good. You’re not going to heaven because you lived right. You’re not going to heaven because you went to church and you gave money.

That’s not why anybody gets to heaven. I’ve had people call me a hypocrite. I ain’t going to your church. All you got over there is hypocrites. Well, we got room for one more. You know when they had Katrina, do you know that they were warned in advance, but most people didn’t hate it? Buses after buses after buses underwater that could have taken people out of there, but they didn’t think it was going to be that bad, but it was that bad.

It was. And people didn’t think this last hurricane was going to be that bad, but it was bad. But I remember hearing them tellin’ how big this storm is going to be, and it’s going to be the worst up before it ever hit. I heard it all on the news. But now that nobody got gasoline, I have food. And yet you’ve heard me say, you’re not doing anything going to happen at any given time. We don’t know. But I do believe we’re, we’re, and we’re doing it.

We’re not in need of, we’re on guitar, we’re going to be in. And it’s hard to say that. Oh God. We’re going to be in. We’re going to be in a second. I’m going to be in you. Let me mention this to you. From this day forward, I just want you to know, when I… of the greatest disasters of all time is right ahead of us. It’s called the Great Tribulation Period, the Great Tribulation. It’s where God is going to judge the whole world.

And did you know that there’s a time coming when He says He’s going to take this world and He’s going to burn it up? The whole world is going to be on fire. He said He destroyed the first time by water. He says, now it’s been reserved for the next judgment of fire. So all be burn up. Now that’s a devastation. But that’s a big one. But I’m not sure that’s the worst devastation of all time. I do believe that there’s something else even worse, and that is there’s a great white throne judgment where there’s going to be people who have never trusted Christ as their Savior.

They’re going to stand at this great white throne judgment. And the Bible says there’s no place for them. You see, they couldn’t go to heaven. They can’t stay on the earth. And so he sends them to a place that was prepared for the devil and his angels. The Bible says in whosoever was not found written in the Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, thank for a moment. All the people who think hell is not going to be that bad.

Oh, it might be bad, but I think it’ll be that bad. I don’t have to try to escape it because it might not even be real. Might not be true. And I did all this year restraining myself or whatever it is just so I wouldn’t go. Kind of like the person that died. Went to heaven, found out that they could play golf all day long. Had good health, never rained, and every time you hit the ball, it went perfectly.

He talked to his friend and had already been up there. He says, you mean I don’t have to pay any cart fees? No, everything’s free. And I can play as many times as I want in times you want. You eat all you want, eat all you want. Never gets sick. He says you and your brand flakes. I could have been here ten years ago It’s such a wonderful thing to know where I’m going, but it seemed like nobody wants to go there anytime soon So we do everything you can to stay here But understand it’s a great tragedy for a man to think he’s going to heaven and To think of the devastation of the soul what he finds out he’s going to hell and, hell.

And Jesus said, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom, not everyone. He said, many shall say, have we not cast out devils, preached in thy name, done many wonderful works, we deserve. He says, I never knew you. You see, good works won’t get a man to heaven. But think of the devastation to that soul when he finds out He ain’t going to heaven. And to wake up, as the Bible says in the book of Luke chapter 16, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, bent in torment, and see if Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried out to Father Abraham sinned, Lazarus he may come and dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

That’s not going to think it’s going to be that bad. It’s not going to be that bad. Hell is going to be worse than anything you and I could ever imagine. If it’s bad enough when he wrote it, it’s going to be worse when you get there. It has to be so bad that Jesus Christ was willing to come into this world and down the cross to pay for our sins so that we wouldn’t go there. It must be bad.

And it must be real. It must be true. If that’s a tragic thing, then it is. Did you realize that God says that when we get to heaven, He’s going to work with us? wipe away all tears from our eyes. I wonder why he’s wiping tears away from our eyes. What are we crying about? Where we always wanted to go? We’re in paradise. Everything is wonderful. What’s the problem? Maybe when we see what we could have done, and we didn’t do.

You know those little things that happens in your life right now, that you don’t think it’s not that bad. Go in the church every once in a while. Yeah, take it or leave it. Supporting God’s work, take it or leave it. Not serious about anything. You know, it’s just something that good people do, but you don’t take it seriously. You don’t really dedicate your life to the Lord because you just don’t take it seriously. It’s not gonna be that bad if you don’t.

I mean, it’s not gonna cost me anything. Or why should I? I mean, everybody’s supposed to be right and do good things, but it’s my life I have a right to live it any way I want. So whatever God’s going to do to me, it ain’t going to be that bad. When I get to heaven and I see all those rewards that everybody else is getting and I didn’t get my rewards, you’re going to be devastated because of what you could have had.

You see, you won’t give a count for your sins. They paid for it to cross. But you see, you’re going to be rewarded for what you did do. Suffered loss of what you didn’t do. And what a reality that’s going to be. We’re going to a real reality show. What you’re living right now is very important. All of your decisions are important. And one day, even as a Christian, you’re going to be devastated when you find out there’s people that were in your family and you never talked to about the Lord.

You just took it for granted. And you’ll find out maybe it was your mom, your brother, your sister, your aunt, or your uncle, and they don’t get to go to heaven because nobody ever witnessed to them. You just took it for granted As long as you got your little pinkies inside the pearly gates let the rest of the world go to hell and you’ll find out one day It was worse than you thought But did you know that when we get to heaven?

It is not possible for us to fathom The awesomeness of heaven and what it will be like It’s going to be better than anything we’ve ever thought. Better than anything we thought. Hell is going to be worse than anything we could have ever imagined. What is the greatest disaster of all times? It’s for a person in my mind to reject Jesus Christ and spend eternity, eternity in a literal fire burning hell. with no hope of ever getting out. You and I can’t think of how bad it’s going to be.

All we have is God’s Word on it. It was worth it for Christ to die to keep us from going there. That’s why it’s so very, very important. Look up here very quickly. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. Now we all have sin on us because we have sin in us. We have an old sinful nature. We’ve all done things wrong. And so the Bible says for us, to go to heaven you’d have to be perfect, but we’re not because we’re sinners, and we have to pay for it.

The wages of the sin is death. Everybody is condemned. Nobody’s perfect. To go to heaven you have to be as perfect as righteous as God, and none of us are. We’ve all done things wrong. So the Bible says that we cannot save ourselves. This is why Jesus Christ came. Jesus Christ is the Lord, God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because it separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die.

He took all of ours, the sins of the whole world, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead and said that if we would believe He did it for us, He would put this payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what He did. So will you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior? Will you believe that when He died, He died for you? If you reject Him and you reject the payment He made, you probably don’t think it’s going to be that bad.

It’ll be worse. Maybe you don’t care whether you go to heaven or not. Heaven is going to be better than anything you could ever imagine because God says so. He also says, I have not seen ear, have not heard, And neither has entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. You haven’t got a clue, but it’ll be worth it all. That’s why I’m so glad that I trusted Christ as my Savior.

I’m not trusting the church to get me to heaven. I’m not trusting my good works to get me to heaven. I’m trusting Christ in Him alone in my only hope of going to heaven. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bow and every eye closed, no one looking around. If you’ve never trusted Christ, would you do it right now? And if you will, God said he would save you and give you the free gift of everlasting life. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you.

But if you’re watching by internet or in the auditorium today, if you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. And I believe that you died on that cross and paid for my sins. And I’m going to trust you and you alone is my only hope of going to heaven. And the friend God said, if you trust him, he would save you and you go to heaven or what he did.

Would you do that? Would you just slip your hand up very quickly if what I’ve said made sense to you and you say, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior and I want you to pray for me. It was all. It was all. Our Father, we thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us. We’re thankful for the free gift of eternal life. We ask the blessings upon each one here. 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 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 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.