Bibleline Radio Show – 2014-01-14 – Colossians Pt.3 – The Making Of A Great Church Pt.2
Transcription:
This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.
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. But knowing the Lord and knowing God’s Word makes you do some of the things that otherwise you wouldn’t do. You really don’t know how shy I really am. Don’t you feel sorry for me? Just a little bit. Oh well. So where it goes? Go back to the book of Colossians in chapter 1 verse 9.
For this cause we also sense the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will. You see, that’s why we try to teach all the counsel of God, but don’t try to leave out anything. By going through book after book, after book, after book, eventually we’ll cover everything God said. And if you stick around long enough, we’ll even get through the Old Testament and some of those other books, because after a while, you know, we’re going to run out of books in the New Testament.
I’ve been to a lot of them already. Now we’re going to start in some of the Old Testament books. I’ve already heard a couple of them. But it’s important that we go through the Word of God to know the whole counsel of God because you see, I have to believe this. I believe that the Holy Spirit that lives inside of you knows what you need. I may say certain things, but the Holy Spirit says you need a little bit of this and you need a little bit of this and you need a little bit of this.
So that’s why at times, though it’s not always perfectly designed by the preacher, he goes on a rabbit trail. I’ve never heard of preachers going on rabbit trails. Well, that’s because sometimes he thinks to this, I said that. Well, he don’t know it, but there was a person sitting there that probably needed that on that rabbit trail. And then somebody else, wouldn’t it be great if everybody just lived on the main highway? But everybody don’t. Everybody lives on that little roads, and somebody lives down in that little road down to there, and then down there’s a little dog leg left on there, and that little dirt road down to there, and there’s no path over here.
But everybody don’t live on the same road. Everybody’s got different stages in their life that they’re going through on a spiritual level. And some people can understand this, some people can’t understand that. And everybody gets a little bit of different stuff. And sometimes you say, well, I didn’t get anything out of that. And there’ll be days that you’ll think, well, man, I didn’t get anything. And there’ll be other times that, boy, that really, I really enjoyed that message. And sometimes it’s because you’ve never heard that before, but 90% of the other people, they didn’t heard it before.
Sometimes we figure out, well, He’s feeding me if He’s telling me something new. When you go to eat and we ate today, was everything that we ate today totally something that we never ate before? Or was it perhaps the same thing we’ve always had? We’ve had them all before. You know one of the best meals that I like back there? Anybody got a clue? The beans and wannies. We get all this good food. The man just give me some of the beanie wannies.
I’ll eat them. And somebody said, well, I can’t say, well, you know, they didn’t feed me today. The only reason I wasn’t a God fed today is I didn’t sit down and eat. But the food was there. The Word of God is different for different people. To one person, it’s meat. To another one, that’s just milk. But we base it upon what we already know. Or what we need. Well, I didn’t need that. I didn’t need that. And anyone that preached to hit you right between the eyes, I didn’t need that either.
But what I want you to see, there’s a few things down through here that talks about in verse four. He says, since we heard of, and here’s those two words, your faith, your faith. And then there’s Dunne in verse eight talking about your love. Now, isn’t it good that people hear about your faith? You trust in Christ as your Savior, you’re going to heaven when you die. Isn’t that a wonderful thing for people to know and to share with others?
But if people talked about your love, do you love the Lord? Do you love your husband? Do you love your wife? Do you really love your kid? Do you love the preacher. Do you love the church? Do you love one another? But he says they had a testimony that not only about their faith in Christ concerning the gospel but also about their love for one another. Let me just show you another verse. Look what he says there in chapter four, and you’ll notice there’s another word here about verse six.
It says in verse six, let your speech be always with great seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer every man, how you ought to answer every man. And we’re talking about how that, you know, what you know and your speech is to be seasoned, your speech. See that verse 6? Let your speech. So we’re talking about, you know, your faith that you have, we’re talking about the love that you have, and that is what affects your speech that you have.
Seasons with salt, we talked a little bit about that this morning, but Now go back here to Colossians in chapter one and verse nine. The last part of verse nine says that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. See not just knowing what God wants you to do but understand spiritually how you’re going to fulfill the will of God. Now you may read from the word of God, these general things and there’s general principles that are laid down here about what God wants you to know.
And it says in verse 10 that you might walk worthy. So what you know and how you walk should be compatible. So what we believe and how we live should be in agreement. But you see, whenever you read verses like this, you will not see in these verses. In verse 10, that angel, I want you to go to Chicago, and I want you to go to Day Spring Bible College. See, that’s not in there. Yankee, I want you to marry Betty on June the 8th, 1960.
Well, that would have made it easy. Wouldn’t it? just made it so much easier. But you don’t find the details, but we find the principles. And you take those principles and God has given you the freedom of choice within His will. See there’s boundaries that God has. So within the will of God, just think there could be two billion women on this planet. Find one. Just one. Find one. That means the standards of what the Word of God says.
And trust the Lord to lead and to guide and all these things. And you can trust the Lord to bring you to the right person, all that. But after you get married, don’t blame God for the one you married. God, I did what you wanted me to do. I married that woman. Boy, that was a mistake. Thanks. God did not hold a gun to anybody’s head and made you marry that man. God didn’t force you to have those 15 children.
There’s jobs that you have. There’s things that you do for your life. There’s homes that you have. There’s close as you are. Don’t blame everything. God gave you the right to choose, the freedom to choose. So don’t go through life being feeling guilty because I were the suit instead of the other one. I don’t get up in the mornings and stand before my suits and my shoes. God, which one do you want me to wear? I don’t want to wear a suit you don’t want me to wear.
Lord, help me to find the right tie. I only want to wear the kind of tie you want me to have. That is, what are you doing at Purple Tie? God chose it for me. So we get bitter at God because of, look what God did to me. You see, there’s the will of God and it’s revealed about the righteousness of God, how He wants you to live righteously. But God didn’t make you sit down at the tables in there the day that we had.
And look at all those choices. Now, wouldn’t it be a terrible thing for everybody to be standing there? Lord, what kind of meat do you want me to eat? 15 people standing there. Just get out of my way. I’ll take anything. I’ll take the beanie wannies. If there’s any left, Lord, look at all this dessert. How many do you want me to have? Thank you Lord. God is good. Oh, is God good. You can make some decisions for yourself.
But there’s general principles that are found in God. There’s some things that you won’t find in the Bible. You won’t find them in there. Thou shalt not drink cores. Is that in the Bible? It ain’t in the Bible. Thou shalt not go to movies. Is that in the Bible? It’s not in the Bible. There’s a lot of things not in the Bible. Wouldn’t it have been something, wrote it in here. Thou shalt not attend movies. Everybody’s trying to figure, what is that?
Do you know what one is that? What is a movie? I guess that’s when you’re moving. What’s the movie? Nobody knows what could move. 2,000 years! Nobody knew what one was. But right there, even Rebecca, I guess it comes the closest when the Bible says that Isaac saw Rebecca and she lit off a camel. Well, it says that. She lit off a camel. But who in the world wants to kiss your husband and smell a camel? And we’re getting serious here.
You see, years ago, you know, one of the things that helped hold the families together is that they didn’t have all these things they could have gone to. I mean, here’s a guy, a farmer. He’s out there and he farms all day and he’s plowing behind this mule and all you see is the backside of this mule all day long. Well when you go home and you see your wife, anybody will look good. I don’t know what she looks like.
She’s going to look good. How did we get off into this? I have no idea. Verse 10, verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in almost every good word every once in a while. Placing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. You see, as long as you live, God wants you to keep increasing in your knowledge in the wisdom of God. Hold your place right here and look there in the book of Ephesians.
In chapter four and verse one, and you’ll notice a little similarity here, but it’s good to see. In verse one he says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Now the word prisoner comes from a Greek word, it’s do-loss in the Greek, and it means to be a love slave or a bond slave, a prisoner, a bond slave, a love slave of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation or the calling wherewith your call. In other words, God has called every one of us to a ministry, be found faithful.
Be found faithful. And then it kind of shows you a little bit about the attitude that you’re supposed to have in the following verses. And it says in verse two, with all lowliness and meatness, with long suffering, for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. You see, there’s some wonderful things that God has in his word, and he’s talking about to his children, Now that we know the Lord, God wants us to be filled with the knowledge of His will so that we can do the things that God wants us to do.
Why are you right here? Look in Ephesians chapter 5. In the book of Ephesians and chapter 5, I want you to see there in verse 15. Verse 15. See then that you walk circumspectly because we’re talking about not only what you No, but what you do and how you live. It reveals how wise you are. So he says in verse 15, see then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
Wherefore be you not unwise, butvg understanding what the will of the Lord is. Isn’t that a powerful verse? Isn’t it a wonderful verse? God says, if you don’t understand the will of God, you are a fool. Because you’re not wise. You either wise or a fool. It’s a fool that doesn’t know the will of God. Because if you don’t know the will of God, what God wants, then you’re fooling. You’re going to do what you want. That’s why we’re always seeking the will of God.
And I tried to explain some time to people. I said, no, when Christ died on the cross, before He died, He made out this will. He made out a will. But the will is no good as long as the testator is alive. So He has to die in order for His will to be of any value to anybody. So he made out the will and whosoever will may come. Can Christ Christ save your heavy turn of life? And God also put some things in His will written to all of His children.
Now if you had a rich uncle, had millions and he died. And somebody says, hey, this Sunday we’re going to take and read the will. Oh, I’m not interested. You’re right. You’d be there. Because you’d want to know, what did he leave me in the will? God made out a will. And so as we studied the Word of God, we’re studying the will that He left us. You see, we have somebody that’s very, very rich. And the Bible says that Jesus Christ is the heir of all things.
And I am related to it. to him. And whatever he has, he’s willing to share it with me. Now, do you think I want to read the will? So I want to study the Word of God and know the will, the will of God, all of it. And there’s some things that are conditional based upon what I do, and there’s some things that are not. Some, they just get it for me. And so I’m going to have a brand new body someday.
I don’t have to do anything. I don’t have to earn nothing. He gave me the indwelling Holy Spirit, gave me His Word, gave me a purpose for life, and one day I’m going to be in heaven with Him for all eternity. But He also says, no, this is conditional. If you do this, I will do this. And if you do this, I will do this. And I mentioned the other day that if I was in this room and on the other side of that wall, I was told somebody’s over there.
I said, I wish I had a tennis shoe. Phew, here come the tennis shoe. I said, well, I wish I had a tie. Phew, here come the tie. I wish I had a 7-up. Here come the 7-up. After a while, you’ll begin to think there’s somebody on the other side of that wall. When you have lived long enough and you have prayed long enough and seen the results of your prayer. You know there’s somebody that’s listening to me on the other side of that wall.
I can’t see God, but I’ve had him answer so many of my prayers that I think I’ll just keep on doing it. I wonder what else he’s got for me in his will. he wants to give to me if I’ll just ask him. You know, I have watched God do things for me that just blows my mind because, see, you really don’t know me that well from the way that I was. I was just a little old George boy wearing overalls, squashing mud between my toes, but daddy been a bootleg and all the things that have happened in my life, I would have never dreamed.
I would have ever seen all the wonderful things God’s done for me. But when that day came and I trusted Christ as my Savior when I was 18 years old, I just began to wonder what was in God’s will for me. And so I began to study the Bible and I find there’s so many wonderful things in this book. There’s some things that you have to trust the Holy Spirit to lead and to guide you. open up doors and close doors that you won’t find in the Bible.
But there’s no verse in the Bible that says, I want all of you all to go to Calvary Community Church. Where did you find that? But there are certain principles by which you try to make good decisions. I want to go where they teach the Bible. Try to teach it honestly. Something that really helps me. I want to grow stronger in the Lord. and I believe this can fulfill God’s will for me. Don’t you want God’s will for your life?
Well then you need to know the Word of God. So you have to decide, does the pastor, does he teach the Word of God? If I brought lost people to this church, does he make the gospel clear where they they could understand it and trust the Lord. Does the pastor try to find a way to open up a door of opportunity for me to serve so that I can do something with what God’s given to me? You see, that’s what the Word of God’s about.
That’s what makes it so much fun. But look at this one verse. In verse 11, he says, strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. That means God wants to give you all the strength from His might to do the job He wants you to do. So God said, I want you to know the will of God so that you can do the will of God in my power. Why would God want me to do something for Him and then not give me the strength and the grace to do it, and then hold me in a carnival.
God gives us everything we need. All you need is in Christ. In verse 11 one more time, the last part of it, under all patience, means having patience in all things, long suffering with joyfulness, suffering long with joy. It doesn’t mean that you’re always happy because things that happen make you happy. And so you’re happy because you had a happy hour. Joy has nothing to do with what’s happening. It’s who you’re walking with. It’s who you’re talking to. It’s the satisfaction you have between you and the Lord that you’re doing what God want you to do, you’re satisfied with the will of God.
And that produces the peace that he’s talking about over there in verse 2, by grace and peace. But it’s got to be at the absence of the heir of humanistic philosophy. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The Bible says that we have all sin, let this represent sin. We have sin on us. We’ve all done things wrong and God says to pay for that sin is eternal separation from the Lord in hell. Now God loves us, wants us to go to heaven, but none of us are perfect, none of us are righteous, none of us are good enough to go to heaven.
So how can we get to heaven? Because of sin, we can’t get in. So God says, there’s only one way. You have to die and pay for your sins. And even if you could die and pay for your sins, you can’t come back from the dead because you have no power. It still would not give you the righteousness of the Lord. So you see, Jesus Christ, who was the Lord, God in the flesh, He came into the world. He had no sin.
He was perfect. He was the righteousness of God. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus cries who had no sin didn’t have to die, but He took hours. All of them paid for them on the cross, came back from the dead and said, if you and I, 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 Jesus Christ did for us.
It’s the gift of God. It’s not a word. For God so loved the world that you and me, that he gave his only begotten son, Jesus Christ. Now whosoever anybody, believe it in him, you believe he did it for you. you, He takes the sin, pays for it, gives you as a free gift, everlasting life. You see, He did this 2,000 years ago. All we have to do is believe it. You see, if you believe, He paid for all of your sins, you’re not going to try to earn your way to heaven or buy your way to heaven because you know you’re already going to heaven.
See, a lot of people think they have to live a good life and go to church and give money to go to heaven. That means they don’t really believe Christ paid the way they believe they’ve got to earn the way. Salvation is free. It is the gift of God. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye resurgent, no one looking around. Or if you’re watching by internet tonight, I do want you to know and I want you to believe with all your heart that God who sees you, he loves you.
He loves you so much. He sent his son to die on that cross of pay for your sins and will you trust him? Just in your own mind, just between you and the Lord, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died that He paid for my sins and I’m going to trust Him right now as my Savior. And friend, God said, if you will, He would save you and never cast you out, never lose you. You get to go to heaven or what He did for you.
If you’re in the auditorium and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, I’d like to know if what I said made sense to you. So I’m going to ask you if you’re in just a moment, if you’ll raise your hand, raise and your hand doesn’t save you, it just lets me know that what I said made sense. And we’re not all before we close. So yes, that made sense to me and I’ll trust Christ. God bless you, sir. Thank you.
That’s just a sign of good judgment. It’s the best news in all the world. No tricks to it. God loves every individual. And if you trust the Lord right now, God saves you right now, gives you eternal life right now. Now when you get up to leave, you can say, I know that I’m going to heaven because tonight I trusted Christ as my Savior. The only reason you or me or anybody goes to heaven because Christ paid for our sins, that means I don’t have to pay for them.
Our Father, we thank You so much for this time together. Bless the one end, they’re catered by an uplift at hand that they would trust Your Savior. By doing so, Lord, we know according to Your Word, You saved every person that honestly, sincerely trust you, depend upon you, believe in you, died for them. We ask your blesses upon this church, help us to be a strong church, because we want every individual to be filled with the knowledge of your will.
So they may walk worthy and all pleasing. In Christ 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 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.
