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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 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.

Turn in your Bible to the book of Psalms. I want to talk to you a little bit about the unseen hand of God. You and I are supposed to believe that God is leading us with His hand. He upholds us with His hand. He guides us with His hand. And so we can’t see God, so we’re to be led by an unseen hand. And it’s kind of like are you holding on to the hand of God or is God holding on to your But look there in Psalms 139 in verse 5, it makes the statement, bow has to be set me behind and before and laid by hand upon me.

And then you’ll notice down there in verse 16, vine-eye. Now I can’t see the hand of God and I can’t see the eye of God. But I’m supposed to believe that the Lord is always looking at me And the Lord is always holding my hand. He says He upholdeth them with His right hand. If this is true and I can’t see it, it’s still true because God’s word says so. You’ll notice in verse 17 how precious also are by thoughts.

So we’re talking about the thoughts God thinking about me, God looking upon me and hand upon me. Thy eyes did see me my substance, did see my substance yet being imperfect. that means not complete when I was being formed in my mother’s womb. And in my book, I think you ought to underline those two little words. If God says that He has a book, and in this book, everything about you is recorded. So God has a DNA code of you in His book.

And He makes this statement, In thy book all my members were written which in a continuance were fashioned when as yet there was none of them Before there was any of my bones or my flesh or seen your tissue formed in my mother’s home God already had a book on me already had wrote a book now if this is true, and I believe that it is When did he write this book when it happened or God forever writing books on somebody?

when he would get writer’s cramp. Or could it have been planned before the foundations of the world? I think it’s interesting to study it. I always enjoy looking at things from a different perspective and I try to see things from a divine perspective from God. If God says this, then I try to put myself American. Now what else did he say? What else can I think about this? That I believe there’s a lot more to it. Look in Psalms 119 and look their in verse 89.

The Bible tells us that thy word is forever O Lord settled in heaven. Wherever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven. Now are we talking about thy word up until that verse is settled in heaven? Or could it also include the verse after that verse? Or could it include the verse before? Well I would think so. Thy word. Are we talking about just the book of Psalms up to the book of Psalms? Could we go past the book of Psalms?

Is it possible that when he says, my word is forever settled in heaven? That he’s talking about the whole word of God. If he’s talking about the whole complete word of God that’s settled and it’s in heaven, there’s God having a copy of the Bible, the word of God, in heaven and if it’s true when to be right it. And if it is true, and it was already written because he says, my word is settled. He talked about his word has been preserved.

Is it possible that God could have a copy of his word in heaven before he ever made the word? If that’s true, that leads me to another question, and then another question, and then another question, and I just get full of questions. Because I wonder about a lot of things. I’m always trying to figure out, well, if God does all of this, knows all of this, Well, it’s not Isaiah written in advance, and Isaiah 53 when he talks about the Messiah, how he’s going to be born, talks about how he’s going to die for the sins of the world, and he’s going to be buried in a rich man’s tomb and all these things.

Isaiah just loaded, but it tells you in advance about what’s going to happen with Christ. It was written just at that time, or is it the fulfillment of Scripture that already existed with the Lord? think about the Solomon’s temple. It was made after the pattern of one that already existed in heaven. Hebrews chapter 9. That God says there’s a tabernacle in heaven and the one that was built upon the earth was simply a model of it. You see, God has wrote a book and God has a book and he said all of your members are written in the book.

Well, is that book finished or is a continuation? Is he still writing or is the book on you and the book on me already been completed. Does God know the end from the beginning? Yes, He does. Does that mean that I really don’t have any choices in life that God has made me nothing more than a robot? And I’m just going through a little game down here? No, it’s not a game. But because of the foreknowledge of God, God knows the end from the beginning.

Predestination is what God does. God can determine certain things based upon His foreknowledge, but His $4 is based upon your knowledge and based upon the decision that you make. So God can’t predetermined in advance what’s going to happen based upon your decisions because God knows the end from the beginning without making you or I do anything. How do you make all that happen? I haven’t got the famous clue and I don’t have to really worry about it. But I want you to know that there is His Word that is forever settled and if the Word has been forever settled in heaven.

God has a copy of this before man ever wrote it. Man is simply writing down the word of God, but God already has a copy. He has the original. God sees things as though it already has been and can have it already recorded. God knows the end from the beginning. The Bible talks about prophecy. Prophecy is nothing more than history told about in advance, pre-written history. In other words, the future is written in advance. This is how and why we believe that the Word of God is true.

God wrote it in His Word as though it’s already happened and it ain’t happened yet. Does God intervene on man’s behalf? Yes He does. Wasn’t Joseph going to put away Mary because she was found to be with child? Yeah. And he would have. So in order to change the course of history, God intervenes because God has an ultimate purpose. But God didn’t make Joseph do it. He explained things to Joseph and Joseph did it. Does God know your mind and my mind?

Yes, he does. He knows why we think what we think. And God can work upon us. He uses people sometimes, circumstances sometimes, to get us to where he wants us to be. never fully understand it. Not without a little finite minds. We cannot understand the infinite. God is all knowledge. He has all wisdom, all power. I want you to take your Bible in Jeremiah chapter one. The book of Jeremiah chapter one. Jeremiah chapter one tells us a very interesting thing.

Look there in verse four. The first verse says, then the word of the Lord came unto me saying, before I formed the in the belly, I knew you. All right, now let me dwell on that thought just for a second. Think about that for a minute. Before I formed you in the belly of the mother’s womb, he said, I knew you. Before you were born, God knew you. Well, if he knew you before you were born. Do you think he knows you now?

If he knew all of that which conformed of that body of yours in your mother’s womb and God designed you specifically and that there’s not a you’re not a copy of somebody you are an original. You’re an original, specially designed by God. There’s not another one quite like you. You’re special. We often hear that, but it’s the truth. So God knew you before you were born. If God knew you before you were born, did God know what you were going to be called?

How you were going to look? All your problems that you were going to face in life before you faced them? Did God know that? Does God know what physical ailments you’re going to have in life? Does he know how to do it? How much money you’re going to have in life knows all these things in advance on every individual and that there’s a book written. Well, if there’s a book on you, when was the book written? Is God writing it now or has God already wrote it based upon his foreknowledge?

Interesting stuff. Good thing to think about. Book what he says here in verse 5. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee and before thou came his forth out of the womb. sanctified, He set the apart and I ordained the a prophet unto the nations. That was before he was born and God knew that he was going to be a man before the body. So God knows it all. But I believe when He says, and I sanctified, I set the apart.

This is what I want you to do. Does Jeremiah have a choice then? Yes, Jeremiah still had a choice, but God knew his choice. See, I do not believe in a fatalistic predestination. Whatever will be will be. I believe whatever will be based upon the wisdom of God will be based upon the knowledge and the decisions, the choices of man. So you could say whatever will be will be, but it’s got to be explained. Not blindly followed, that it’s all fatalistic.

We have no really no choice. Yet we do have choices. But God designs everything in advance. God has designed this world and put this world in motion and then allowed you and I to be born at the time in which we were born. We could have been born a thousand years ago or maybe a 500 years in the future, but God allowed us to be born now at this time. I don’t believe you’re here by accident, nor am I.

It’s all part of a master plan. One that God could have changed, could have intervened, could have stopped, but he didn’t. See you and I, we look at it this way. We’re living it now. We’re making our choices now. But God, knowing the end from the beginning, already completed the book. The book on you has already been closed. The prophecy is concerning Christ, they were closed before he was born. Because God told prophecies about where he’d be born, and how he would die before he was ever born.

The book was closed. You see, God has a lot of things that he has not yet revealed to us. But it’s an awesome thing to live and to know that we have such a wonderful God that is so in charge that we don’t have to worry. There’s some things you and I cannot change. We can’t change God. God will do what God’s going to do, but it’s based many times upon the decision that you and I make. And God knows that in advance.

When was God going to answer my prayer? Does God know what I’m going to pray for before I pray? If Bible says he does, he knows what you have need of before you ever ask. And that God doesn’t get hamstrung, he doesn’t get caught off guard. You know, a shock, a crisis. There’s no crisis with God. And with every individual, God knows the end results before any of us were ever born. Now can you trust a God like that that has the power to alter the chain to do whatever he wants to do?

And God knowing in advance how you’re going to decide things can bless or chasing. God doesn’t force us. He tries to win us. He seeks to bend our will but not to break our spirits. You and I are supposed to believe that there is a guiding hand on our lives. You are supposed to believe that God is intricately involved in your life and you should be able to look over your life and see the hand of God. Look what God has done for me.

As I look over my life I can see the hand of God so clearly. I mean when I consider where I was born, how I was raised and to see what God has done in my life for me personally. It’s an awesome thing, and I stand amazed. Here in the book of Acts in chapter 2, look there in verse 22. This is after the resurrection of Christ, this after the ascension of Christ. And Peter is preaching all the day of Pentecost, he says ye men of Israel.

Here are these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him. in the midst of you and ye yourselves also know.” You know this. Him, referring to Christ, being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. God said, being delivered by the determinant counsel. Lord God and His own counseling between the Father of the Son, the the Holy Spirit determined in advance that God was going to turn his son over to these wicked people and let those wicked people do to him whatever they wanted to do.

But God knew exactly in advance what they were going to do. And God permitted this. This is why we say that Jesus Christ was slain from the foundations of the world. He means from the very beginning God had already had a plan of salvation. It wasn’t thought of all of a sudden during the garden. And God said, oh my God, now what am I going to do? Now she doesn’t stand. That means the kid. I got to think of something else.

I got, how can I get out of this mess? No. God already knew the answer before there was a problem or God wouldn’t be God. Him being delivered by the Determinate Council and for knowledge of God. And I went ahead of time, what people were going to do, he allowed it to happen and determined to let them slay his son. Now God determined something and God had foreknowledge about something and yet the people that did it were held responsible because it was their choice.

He says, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. He says, you did that. You did it. Did God know they were going to do it? Yes, he knew it. And God allowed them to do so. Because it fit into God’s plan. You see, we’re not down here playing some little game. We are making decisions that affect eternity. Your reward that you get in heaven is going to be a result of what you did for the Lord while you’re here.

Does God already know what you’re going to get? Yes, but what you’re going to get is going to be a result of what you do. You and I are living now, but in the mind of God, it’s all over. The final book is written. The book of Revelation is closed. And we are seated in the heavenlies in Christ. You see, God already sees us there in the eyes of God because God says, you’re in Christ and Christ is there and you’re in Him.

So you’re there too. You were buried with Him and you rose with Him and you ascended with Him and you’re seated in the heavenlies in Him. Now see, there’s a divine perspective and there’s a human perspective. Understand it all, you never will. But that’s how secure you and I are. We’re supposed to believe that predestination is the security of every believer. It means that God has predetermined the destiny of every believer. that’s heaven. God has also predetermined the destiny of every lost person, but it’s their choice.

But God determined the destination. So you and I have been predetermined by God to stand before Him in heaven, spotless, blameless, holy, pure, before God by grace alone. Now that God already know that, yes, God sees us that way. See, we are so secure. There is no chance of us ever losing that because it’s done by the determinant counsel and the foreknowledge of God. And because all of that is true, why we’re here going through certain things in life God in his book already has done everything you’re going to face.

God knows in advance every problem you’re going to have and he knows how you’re going to handle it and he knows whether or not you’re going to trust him or you’re going to worry. Some things you’re not going to determine the outcome, but it is the will of God that we learn how to trust the one that controls everything. And otherwise you can worry yourself sick over things that you don’t have to worry over. And you don’t have to try to make things happen that’s within the power of God.

God will take care of things. It’s so difficult for us as individuals to truly trust the living God. Look in 1 Peter chapter 1. And look there in verse 17. Verse 17. Let’s start in verse 16 because it’s so important to say, like a command. Whereas it’s be holy for I am holy. It means that that’s a choice that you can make. It reveals the will of God for you and for me. it’s an option. Be holy is what God wants you to be because God is holy.

That’s what He wants you and I. He says in verse 17, and if you call on the Father who without respect of persons, judge at the court of the every man’s work, think about what He just said. That means if this is true and God is your Father and God is not a respecter of persons, and God doesn’t love anybody more than He loves you. True, God does not love anybody more than He loves you. But He also makes this statement.

He says, who without respect a person, judge it according to every man’s work. So is every man going to have his works judged? Bible, Heavenly Father. Yes, this is not for salvation. Now this is for your service. So that means your service is your choice. You can choose to serve or not to serve. You can be obedient or disobedient. You can go through life, a whiner and complainer all your life. Or you can live by joy and happiness and peace because you’re not trust the Lord.

I get this. He says in the last part of our seven, past the time, and many of us, this is exactly what we’re doing. Put it just past in the time. I’m not what I was a teenager. The boys used to stand on the corner and watch all the girls go by. Remember that fellas? Just stand around and watch the girls go by. What did the girls do? Go by. Why? So the boys get to see the girls go by.

How many times somebody would say, what are you doing? Oh, not just passing the time. Just killing time, killing time. And majority of time, that’s exactly what we’re doing the time. We’re killing it. We’re not investing it. We’re not using it in a proper boat. We’re just killing time. But we are passing the time because time passes away. What is time? It’s that stuff that life is made out of. Life is made up of time. And when you kill time, you kill life.

So if you want to save your life, you have to save time. That’s why he says in the book of Ephesians, redeem the times for the days are evil. Redeem the time. He’d buy up opportunities. Use your time while your upon this earth, use it wisely. You’ve got to go through it. So just go through it. You don’t know how much time you’re going to have. So it’s not so important to how much, how long you live, it’s what did you do with the time that you did have?

Time is your life, you got life. Get what it says in verse 18. When he makes a statement of past the time of your soul journey here in fear, over fear that you will lose the will of God for your life. Fear that you’ll kill time without investing time. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from your vain conversation behavior, received by tradition from your father, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, what was manifest in these last times for you.

In other words, there was a time in time past before the world began, before the foundations of the world, before the creation of the heavens and the earth, of God had a plan, and God had already determined what he was gonna have his son do. And his son was willing to do it. And the Holy Spirit had a job. He was gonna convict the people of sin, righteousness and judgment. So they’d be called, they leave not on him. And if they need to be righteous, then they’re going to be judged.

So God says, that’s Holy Spirit. That’ll be my job. And Christ was gonna take and come, and he was going to die and pay for the sins of the world. And every person that did believe on that was born of God the Father. And God the Father says, I’ll take all those who believe on this and I’ll give them to the Son. And the Holy Spirit’s allowing to all every person that becomes a child by faith in Christ, and I’ll live in them and work through them and do great things for them, and so to bring on glory to the Lord.

A man could not have sat down and wrote this awesome plan. I mean, who could have ever wrote such a book who was four a day before the foundation of the world? And you and I have become part of it. Did you know as much and as real as it was for God to send his son into this world to die for the sins of the world? You are just as important in this game as Christ, because without you and God is not a respecter person, he wouldn’t have to come.

So all of this is as important about you as it is about Christ, because God so loved the work that He gave His only begotten Son. You are greatly loved by this invisible God that has this unseen hand and unseen eye, and He’s catering to you. And He watches over you like a hawk. You are like the apple of his eye. You are special to God. Now shouldn’t that make you feel better? Shouldn’t that make you a little bit more positive in life?

Because it’s not to be so down and discouraged all the time. To know that God has designed so much just for us because he loves us. I wonder what’s written in your book. What’s written in mine? I used to quote a poem when I used to talk to teenagers at camp. And I wanted kids to dedicate their lives to the Lord, not try my best to figure out every way I could, and they gave them a thing about eternal values.

I said, when I stand at the Judge of the Sea of Christ, and he shows his plan for me, the plan of my life had he had his way, and I see how I checked him here, and I checked him there, and I would not give my will. Well, there would be grief in my Savior’s eyes, grief though he loves me still. It would have me rich and I stand there poor, stripped of all but his grace while memory runs like a haunted dream down the paths I cannot retrace.

Lord of the years that have left me, I give them into my hand to take me and break me, to mold me and make me into the pattern that Nai has planned. You and I are supposed to dedicate ourselves to the Lord and determine the circle of all our hearts all the days of our lives. But we’re not to think that God doesn’t think about us or see us or have His hand upon us. There’s a heavenly Father that loves us and chastens us.

And I know that and I believe that. Stairs me to death. But I want to encourage you that know the Lord to believe that the will of God is for you and I to serve. And we are making decisions that do do affect eternity. And there’s a book on every one of us. That’s awesome. You stop and think about it. Let’s pray, shall we? Our Father, we do thank you so much for your words you’ve given us. We’re thankful for the free gift of eternal life.

Thus simply by faith alone, we can know that we’re going to heaven because we believe Jesus died and paid for our sins. And Father, for us this side of eternity, to realize that everything about us you already know the books are written. 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 Bible 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.