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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 Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Good to see you all this morning. I want to talk to you about something that I wanted to be a help to you. I want to be a blessing to you. You see, I believe very strongly that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. And that not only did He come into the world, made of a woman, took upon Himself the sins of the world and died, was buried, came back from the dead, and seated in the heavenlies. But the Bible says, Christ in you, the hope of glory, Christ in you.

So I believe that the Lord is within me. So if you trust in Christ as your Savior, the Bible says, if you do not have the Holy Spirit of God, you’re none of His. The Holy Spirit was promised by Christ to indwell everyone that believes on Jesus Christ. When you trusted Him, that’s what He promised. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Galatians, the book of Galatians, and chapter 3. Galatians chapter There is a verse that talks about the blessing of Abraham.

The blessing of Abraham was that a heathen could be justified by faith. He wouldn’t be justified by his words. That was a promise that God made to Abraham for hundred and thirty years before the law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. And the law that was given four hundred and thirty years later cannot disanalt the promise that he made. Well not only was a great promise made concerning the payment that was going to be made and that Abraham was justified by faith without works, but also the heathen would be justified by faith without works, and that Jesus Christ would come into the world in order to fulfill the promise that God made to Abraham.

What a promise. you see, Christ had to come, had to die, in order for God to fulfill His promise. But He also made another promise, and this was one that was made by Jesus Christ. You see, when Christ came, He also made a great promise. So look there in verse 14 of Galatians in chapter 3, that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles, the heathen, through Jesus Christ, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

So whenever you and I trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, then we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that was promised. I want you to hold your place right here, but look with me at a verse over there in the book of John, and chapter 14. John chapter 14 in verse 16, John 14 and verse 16. When Jesus was here with His disciples, this is what He stated. In verse 16, and I will pray or ask the Father, and He shall give you another comforter that He may abide with you forever.

Now, that means that Jesus Christ was a comforter, but that he was going to send another comforter. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to know that when you were walking around, this man Jesus was God in the flesh? It almost scared you to death, wouldn’t it? Especially when you knew he could read your mind. He knew all your thoughts. He knew your motive. He knew what you were really thinking. That would be scary. But it also must have brought certain amount of security and comfort knowing that as long as I’m in the presence of this man, nobody can do anything to me without his permission.

He’s God. He has all power given unto him. He can do anything. He’s the greatest of all time. And I’m His friend. We walk together. We talk together. We travel. And all the places that they went, they did it together with the Lord. But Jesus knew the day would come when He would leave this world. And don’t you know that that brought some sorrow and some grief to them? says, my joy, I get to you. But not just that.

That was to bring them the comfort that they knew somebody else was coming alongside. And this is where he says in verse 17, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeeth him not. Neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelt with you, and shall be in you.” Christ dwelt with them, but was not in them. He says, but when the comforter has come, he shall be with you, but he will be within you.

That’s why when you trusted Christ is your Savior, you were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is just like having Christ live in inside of you. Look what he says in verse 26, but the comforter, which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. Because he knew that his disciples at that time could not remember everything that he said.

But he says, when the Holy Spirit comes, he will quicken your mind to the place where you will remember what he said. And that’s why probably they were able to write the Scriptures because the Holy Spirit brought things to their remembrance. And even tells them what words to write, what things to include and what things not to include. But there’s something about this verse that has been a great comfort to me for 52 years. There was a time in my life when I thought that this ceiling was like brass.

My prayers went nowhere. Sometimes it felt like God was so far away from me and that nobody seems to understand all the struggles and the trials and the problems that I was going through. Or they could help me, deliver me. It’s always been a great comfort. I knew God is with me. God is able to do everything that He said He could do. And He said He’ll never leave me and He will never forsake me. So, regards of what is ahead, I know that my heavenly Father, through the Holy Spirit, who lives inside of me, will lead me and guide me.

There should be comfort in the hearts of every one of God’s people. He says, the world cannot receive them. The Holy Spirit says, they cannot See Him. But ye shall know Him, for He shall be within you. And His Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are the sons of God.” You see, I know that I’m His child because the Holy Spirit bears witness with my Spirit through the Word of God that I am a child of God.

And that when I My trusted Christ is my Savior. God gave to me the free gift of eternal life, and I became a child of God. And I depend upon the Holy Spirit to bring things to my remembrance that what I have read and what I’ve studied, he will bring to my mind when I need it. That’s why you read the Word of God and you study the Word of God. Because the author of the Word of God is the Holy Spirit, because holy men of God moved, wrote as they were guided by the Holy Spirit.

And so now you have the Holy Spirit of God, the author of the Word of God, living within you to teach you his Word. Now you can’t beat that with a stick. That’s why the Word of God is so precious to us. The Holy Spirit, though you cannot see him, will never lead you contrary to the Word of God. The Holy Spirit is holy. He’s not unholy. He’s holy. Holy, the Holy Spirit will never lead you to do anything that’s unholy or ungodly.

It will always be right. It will always be within the boundaries of the will of God. And we mean by that the Word of God. So go back there to the book of Galatians and look there also in chapter 4 of the book of Galatians in verse 6. There’s a statement that I would like for you to see. Galatians in chapter 4 and verse 6, because ye are sons, God hath sent, past tense, hath sent for the spirit of his son.

Now get the spirit of his son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. You see, now God is not just the God of creation. God is my Father. In order for Him to be your Father, you must be His child. And you can only be a child of God by accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior. That’s why He says, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your heart saying, Now you can talk to talk to the Lord and call God your Father.

He’s my Father. You see up there in verse four, and it says, and when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son. Then he sent forth the spirit of his Son. So the Holy Spirit is here and indwelling you and I, because the Son, Jesus Christ, before he passed away and died on the cross. He asked the Father to send the comforter to all of those that believe on Him, so that when you accepted Christ as your Savior, He would give to you the Holy Spirit.

That’s why in John chapter seven, it says, before that great and notable day of the Lord, He says, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried saying, if any man thirst led him coming to me and drink, And as the scripture hath set out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, this spakey of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive. But Christ had not yet been glorified. The Spirit had not yet been sent.

So when Christ died on that cross and came back again from the dead and ascended into heaven, the Bible says on the day of Pentecost, which was fifty days from the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit came on the very day He was supposed to come. Pentecost 50 days is what it means. It’s mentioned even in the book of Leviticus in chapter 23. So the Holy Spirit came on the day He was supposed to come. It was not the result of the disciples praying in one accord, begging for the Holy Spirit to come.

You and I don’t have to get on our hands and knees and beg and plead to get the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That’s heresy. The Holy Spirit came as a result of Jesus asking the Father and it was a promise that had to be fulfilled. So Jesus Christ asked the Father, the Holy Spirit came. And so Jesus Christ, when He was here in a bodily form, was limited to that body. But whenever He left, He sent His Spirit And the Holy Spirit can be with every one of us.

Isn’t it wonderful the way he did it? He sent his Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit is just as real as Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is just as real as God the Father. The Holy Spirit is God and he lives inside of you. and your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Your body is the temple of God. Therefore, wherever I go, he says, he’ll never leave me. He said he’ll never forsake me. I have the Holy Spirit of God living inside of me.

I think it’s a wonderful thing to know. Now look there in chapter three and verse five, chapter three and verse five. You see, the reason for the Holy Spirit in dwelling us is because the Holy Spirit is not a Holy Spirit. the Holy Spirit wants to minister not only to us, but through us. And that’s why he says in verse 5, He therefore that minister you the Spirit and work miracles among you do he it by the work of the law or by the hearing of faith.

Paul says, when I came to you and I did all these things, do you think I did that in the flesh? Or did I do that by the power of the Holy Spirit? I had the Holy Spirit, and I was able to minister to you. So the Holy Spirit that indwells you, he wants to minister to you, and he wants to minister through you. You see, there’s times when you just, you’re not gonna know what to do. You’re not gonna know how to face things.

But some of y’all are no doubt are facing maybe cancer. You got all kinds of problems, financial problems. Maybe you just don’t know what you’re going to do with that husband of yours. You don’t know what you’re going to do with that wife of yours. Maybe you don’t know what you’re going to do with the kids. You don’t know what to do. Some kids don’t know what I’m going to do with my parents. Or in laws or out laws.

You got job problems. You got health problems, social problems. You got spiritual problems. The Holy Spirit of God has been given to you to minister to you. He is to help you. He is somebody who comes alongside and helps you. He walks with you. He talks with you. That’s why he wants you to learn his word because the Holy Spirit speaks to you through his word. You see, this thing isn’t a game. It’s real. I have had the opportunity for 52 years to walk with the Lord.

The Lord is more real to me than you are. He’s more real to me than the clothes that I’ve got on my back. And I’m not just saying that. It’s the truth. I know Him better than I know my wife and I’ve known her for over 52 years. The Lord should be the most precious individual, a person in your life, than anything else, or anyone else. Because then you realize that I am to keep my body. That is a temple of God.

I’m to keep it holy, because the Holy Spirit lives inside of me. I have God Himself to minister to me because there’ll be time when people just can’t seem to say the right thing or sometimes they’re not always there when you need them. I have been let down a lot of times. Sometimes I’ve had some of my best friends trying to find a place not just to pat me on the back but see where they want to put the knife.

You’d be surprised. People are limited. unlimited and he wants to minister to you. Will you let him? Will you let the Holy Spirit minister to you, help you, lead you, guide you and he’ll do that by the teaching of his word so that when you sit down and you have a heavy heart and you don’t know what to do and the Holy Spirit will lead you maybe into the book of Psalms. And as you read the book of Psalms, the the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want.”

And next thing you know, you begin to have tears because you realize the Lord is going to take care of me. And ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. And though you know you’re coming close to the end of your life and yet surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever, forever. And it can give you great hope, great joy, great peace, great comfort.

But that’s the Holy Spirit and that’s what He wants to do in my life and in your life. So here in chapter 3, I want you to notice in Galatians also verse 2, where it says, this only what I learn of you, receive you the Spirit. By the works of the law or by the hearing of faith, how did you receive the Holy Spirit? By your faith, not by your works. It’s not because of something that you did, not because you got on your hands and knees and you went forward in the church and you pleaded down the power of God.

No, you didn’t. Holy Spirit indwells you as a result of the promise that Jesus Christ made to His disciples. And so when you trusted Christ as your Savior, you recede the Holy Spirit by faith. You can’t get the Holy Spirit in any other way. Fill me, Lord, fill me, Lord. Like this one, the person says, don’t do it, Lord, he leaks. Fill me, Lord, to be filled with the Holy Spirit means to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. If you are filled with love, love should control you.

If you’re filled with hatred and bitterness and wrath, then those things control you. To be filled with the Holy Spirit means the Holy Spirit controls you. Will you allow the Holy Spirit to control you? and by his controlling of your life, he will minister to you. And then when he ministers to you, you’re able to minister to others and to give to them the comfort where when you were comforted by the great comforter himself. Look in verse 3, are you so foolish?

Having begun in the spirit, Are you now made perfect by the flesh? How did you begin? You see, when you trusted Christ as your Savior, the Bible makes his statement in the book of John chapter 3. He says, you must be born again. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said it all day, you must be born again. So when you were born again, You were born by the Spirit of God.

Your new birth started with the Holy Spirit. You were born by the Holy Spirit. You are not made perfect and mature in your Christian life by walking in the flesh. The flesh could not save you. The works of the flesh could not produce a righteous man. after your saved the flesh still can’t. That’s why it’s impossible for you to live the Christian life. The Christian life has to be led and lived by Christ himself. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

Look in chapter 5 and verse 25. Here in the book of Galatians chapter 5 and verse 25 where he says, if we live in the spirit, Let us also walk in the spirit. Let the Holy Spirit of God, who is Christ in you, live his life through you. Let Christ live his own life. You don’t have to live it for him. He only wants to use your body. Don’t you think if Jesus Christ, so if you get off of his throne in heaven, could come down here and take over your body, Don’t you think he would do a lot better job than you’re doing?

Who do you think has the greatest power, the greatest wisdom, the greatest purpose that can lead and guide you, you or him? This is why, as a child of God, we don’t tell God our plans and our goals and our dreams. We want God to give us his. God, I belong to you. What do you want me to do with my life? It’s not, Lord, this is what I wanna do. Bless me, okay? And then you just wanna use God as a backup plan every once in a while when you get in a jam and things ain’t working out your way.

Then you wanna wine and pine and moan and groan to God. God, get me out of this mess. You got me in too. Instead of you realizing that God has a purpose He has a plan, Lord, whatever it is, I’m yours. They sing a song sometime in the ranch, sometimes on church on Sunday night. I’m yours, Lord, everything I am or God or not or whatever it is. But it’s fairly good, because I think about it every once in a while.

Lord, whatever I am, I’m yours, Lord, I’m yours, Lord. Can you say that, Lord, I’m yours. The Holy Spirit of God lives inside of me. My prayers don’t have to make a trip because He’s already within me. All I gotta just just talk to the Lord. Talk to Him about everything. The Bible says pray concerning everything. Never think that your problems are too big that God can’t do anything about. Or that they’re too small to bother Him with. Talk to the heavenly Father about everything.

And you’ll be glad you did. But when he makes a statement here in verse 25, if we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. This is mentioned because of something that’s mentioned there in chapter two of the book of Galatians. If you’ll look at that real quick, Galatians in chapter two, look in verse 20. Verse 20, see when Christ died for you, He died in your place. So he says here in verse 20, I am crucified with Christ.

Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveeth in me. Well, it just says the Holy Spirit lives in me. Christ lives where? In me. Christ is an out there, someplace else. Christ is in you. He’s in you. And it’s not a figment of the imagination. It’s the truth. Christ through the Holy Spirit, indwells every individual. See when He was in a body, He was limited. He could only be in one place at one time, but spiritually He can be in every individual.

I know that Christ is here this morning. I brought Him. Or I guess I could say He brought Me. Now, are some places you may go that Christ didn’t take you, you took Him. I won’t get into that at this time. And He says, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. So I should now live my life for the one who loved me.

He loved me. He lives inside of me. I belong to Him. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. It belongs to God. My body belongs to God. Therefore He owns my eyes. He owns my ears. He owns my tongue. He owns my body. He has a right to say what I should and should not do. I am under authority. Rebellion is when you want to use your life, your body to do whatever you want to do, and it doesn’t belong to you.

My life doesn’t belong to me. And if a man will lose his life for his sake, he willDonaldTrump his life. But if you live your life for your sake, you will lose your life because that’s not the purpose of your life. It wasn’t for you. It was for him. I hope that I’m getting through here in my little, mild-mannered way, but look there in the book of Galatians in chapter five again. Relations in chapter 5. And look there in verse 16.

Verse 16, this I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 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.