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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. one of us in our own mind have a different perspective of what we consider a mountain top experience. Because yours may be different from mine and what you expect and what you go through and what actually happens and how you perceive it to be. Some things that bother you may not bother somebody else because everybody’s different.

A man by the name of Jonathan Edwards They say that his audience got chills as he delivered his famous sermon that he preached sinners in the hands of an angry God. And he went up and down the land preaching that one sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God. Now I read this sermon all the way through, I didn’t think it was that clear. But back then that was one of the best sermons I guess it was going around and caused a lot of people, God saved because of it.

It’s a lot of people listen to him. But not everybody is this guy that can go out there in the fields and just preach. Some people just preach only from the church. Some of them didn’t have churches, they were outlawed, and so they just preached from this city to that city out there in the field or some mill that they came upon or logging camp. George Whitfield said it might be tough watching him because he was cross-eyed. But they said that when he spoke, you could hear him up to five miles away.

Think to have a voice without amplification because they didn’t have these things in those days. Could get out on mountainside and preach in such a way with such force that people could hear him five miles away. Man, I could do that and you’d be lucky you can hear me cross the street. But they, but not everybody’s the same way. Charles Spurgeon was called the Prince of Preachers in London’s metropolitan tabernacle. It was the first mega church. They have mega churches that mega church in the world with 5000 seats and standing room another thousand.

They said when he was 19 years old, up to 15, 20,000 people would come out to hear this 19-year-old kid preach when he was 19. He didn’t have all the stuff that we have today. He didn’t use all the, you know, he didn’t run a bus ministry. He didn’t have the printing, he didn’t have all the things that we had. He was a 19-year-old kid and just preached. And beside all of that, he smoked a Greek old black cigar.

Today, that would be, you know, you don’t do that. But he did. And he was called the Prince of Preachers. And there’s people today, all over the world that still read and preach his sermons. He has a whole collection of the treasury of David where he went through the Psalms. They still put his sermons in all kind of periodicals all over the world. And yet that was a long time ago. But he was a different kind of a man, not everybody’s the same.

And yet every man has times when they consider that they’re on the mountain peak, but yet every man has valleys that he has to go through. There are times in your life when you just don’t understand and you’re ready to throw up your hands and quit. So you need to, in your darkest moment, live like you’re on the mountain peak. And the only thing you’ll have to pull you through is your knowledge of God. He promised. Caleb remembered 45 years ago God promised.

And he was expecting God to keep his word. And God did. God delights when we have come to the place in our Christian life where faith is born in despair. When you don’t see how you’re going to make it happen, but you believe that he will and you trust the Lord for it. A man by the name of Robert Moffatt made this statement. Well, I should say this. He spoke one day at a place called the University of Glasgow and spoke one day to a nearly empty house.

room and there was only one student that showed up and said on the front row. Charles Spurgeon, thousands and this man, one person showed up and said on the front row. After he preached his sermon that day, he felt like the biggest failure of all time. I am only good for one person, but I am not very much at all. But you know out of those thousands that went to Spurgeon’s church, most people don’t know any of them that came from that ministry.

They know Spurgeon. This one young boy that was sitting on the front row, or Robert Moffatt preached, became a missionary and went to Africa and his name was David Levinson. You ever heard of him? Almost all Christians in every Bible college knows of David Levinson. And he was at one kid that sat there on the front row while this man poured out his heart for one person. How important do you see yourself? Are you two important for one little kid in Sunday school?

or one little kid in Awana and all I had was one kid. Did you know that a block building is put together by one block and in one block and in one block and in one block? One person here, one person there, one person here? You know what? Yesterday or maybe it was Monday. I got a phone call. I got several of them. And one day within a couple hours of each other. And John John that went to camp.

Remember John John? He called me up. He says, Yankee. He said, I had to preach on Sunday at Northside. The church I came up. He says, Freddy Cole had to speak in some other places because of camps and asked if I would speak. So I got to speak. He says, when I came home, I sat down and I had to call you. He says, I got to thinking about the first time I ever saw you. When I came into the church at Northside and I saw you do that little wallet illustration, he said, that changed my life.

My life has not been the same since then. He says, I just want to let you know, I appreciate so much what you did. If you’re coming there, it was only for me. It was worth it. That one person. Other than several, but at least one person. But you see, how long ago was that? Almost 20 years ago. And I thanked him and told about ours later, I got another phone call. This one was from a guy named Angel.

You ever heard of Angel? Angel calls me up. And he was just all excited. He said, because they got this new dormitory they have, they’ve got to get some shuttle buses, because they got to, it’s five miles away, and they got to take the students back and forth. He says, and so they gave me a job driving a shuttle bus. And then they gave me a dorm, so I’d have a place to live over there to place. And so, how the Lord has met my needs.

He says, God has been so good to me. He said, I never knew that they would give me a job. And I didn’t know for sure that ever give me a place to live. And his wife teaches there in the school. He says, I got to thinking, and I had to call you. He says, whenever I came to Northside and saw you do the Wall of the illustration, he says, it changed my whole life. He said, it changed my life when I saw and listened to you.

And I thought, that’s wonderful. And he was all excited. He said, now let me tell you this. He says, me and another guy had to go and pick up one of these buses. And so when we went, he said, I always carried tracks with me. So I’m just passing out tracks everywhere. And I talked to a couple of people and they trusted the Lord. And the guy that was with me, who was a student, was very impressed because. You know, he was a soul-winner.

He says, you know, if it hadn’t been for Calvary, he says, I wouldn’t be like I am right now. He says, I am just so thankful. Anyway, we talked a little bit, and then he hung up. And I thought, you know, if one person gets challenged and motivated to serve the Lord, isn’t that wonderful and that interesting? But you never know at some day whenever you’re down and discouraged, somebody might be watching you. And it might be what they see you go through might be that which causes them to get on a mountain peak and reflect back.

You see, this is the Lord’s work. And we are to be wherever God wants us to be. And to minister to whoever God gives us to minister to. and never worry about being great in big shot. Everybody puts their feet on the floor the same way. No big eyes and little views. I’m not a big shot in your little shot. We’re all the same. If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have a ministry. God is a wonderful individual. But you ever heard of a guy named Jesus?

Never heard of him? You know, he was the carpenter that became a preacher. And of course, he was the epitome. I mean, you couldn’t think of a better preacher who knew how to use outlined better than anybody who knew how to exegete the scriptures. I mean, he was it. And of course, Jesus, well, he must have had it easier than anybody. But let me just read a couple things to you. The religious authorities of his day were forever trying to sabotage his work.

He had problems. He constantly had to deal with people with problems. His disciples often questioned his judgment. But all of his disciples followed him because it says, this is a hard saying. Who can understand this? And the Bible says, and many of them walked away. Many of them. Because you’re too hard. If there’s anyone who understood the human nature, it was Jesus Christ. He knew how to use all the stories, all the illustrations. There wasn’t ever born into this world a better teacher or a better preacher.

I bet when he spoke everything was the truth. And yet his family doubted his loyalties. His hometown was offended by him. Satan took his best shot at him, put him to death. But he came back from the dead. Now, whenever you say, I want to serve the Lord, you’re going to have to keep two things mainly in view. One is how do you keep a focus? When it seems like everything is against you, When you want to be on the mountain, but things keep trying to pull you down in the valley.

When it always seems like somebody’s trying to put you down, always saying hurtful things, trying to ruin your life or your testimony or your character. Wouldn’t it be neat if everybody encouraged one another, built up one another, praised one another? Yeah, but they don’t. And they don’t do it that way. So you have several things that you need to think of. I want you to take your Bible and look there in this verse. This is in the book of John chapter 4.

John chapter 4, the Gospel of John and chapter 4. One of the main things that I have to do, you have to do. Because it doesn’t really matter who the person is, the word of God is the same. The Bible tells us in John chapter 4 that there was a need for him to go through Sumeriam. And the reason was is because there was going to be a woman at the well. This woman had been married five times and was living with a man that wasn’t her husband.

Jesus already knew that. But he also wanted to give her the gospel. And he asked for her to give him a drink of water. And she says, how is it that thou been a Jew? Ask of drink of me, which I’m a woman of Samaria. And he said unto her, he says, if thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith unto thee give me to drink, thou would have asked of him and he would have given the living water.

She says, give me some. What of it I didn’t come to drink, that I didn’t look for. Where are you going to get a bucket at? Words as well. He says, the words that I speak unto you, they are life. The words that I tell you, they are everlasting, refreshing springs of living water. Anyway, by the time he got through, she trusted the Lord. She believed on him that he was the Messiah. So she ran into the city and told all the men.

She didn’t tell the women, she just told the men. And it says that in verse 25, the woman said unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said unto her, I that speak unto the M. He. And upon this came his disciples in marvel that he talked with the woman, yet no man said what sickest thou are, why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot, went her way into the city and safe to the men.

Come see a man, which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ. Then they went out of the city and came unto him. In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him send Master eat. He said unto them I have meat to eat that you know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another hath any man brought him ought to eat. Jesus said unto them my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work.”

That verse tells us that that which satisfies Him is to do the will of Him that sent me. And everything in life, if you do not have a priority, the main focus has to always be kept clearly in view. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me. So if you want to have something that can help you, stay on a mountain peak. Always stay satisfied doing the will of God. Never seek satisfaction anywhere else, doing anything else.

The will of God should be more important and more precious to you, that you’ll be able to say, even though in the eyes of others, I’m in the pits of the valley. I live like I’m on the mountain peak because my focus is the same, whether it’s there or whether I’m here, my focus is the same to do the will of him. That sent me. Now there’s times in our life when it seems like things will let up and the problems are not as bad, but don’t get too heady or high-minded as though you have done some great thing.

Our heavenly Father knows how much pressure to put upon us and when to lighten the load, but to believe that. Look there also in John chapter 17. John chapter 17, John 17 is the scripture that tells us about the Lord’s prayer. John 17 is a wonderful story about Jesus talking to his father about us, but he also talked about his disciples. So if you look there in verse eight he says, for I have given unto them the words which thou gave us may.

As a preacher I want to give to you the words he gave to me. So I know what my focus is to do the will of my father, so I don’t lose that. So that stays straight between me and the Lord. And then for people, I want to deliver the words that was delivered to me. me. When I went to Bible college as the Word of God was given to me, I want to give the Word of God. I want to teach the Word of God.

I will forget when I was 22 for the wife and two children, leaving for Tennessee Temple. When I got to Tennessee Temple, it was on a Wednesday night. And on that Wednesday night… I was by myself, I had left betting the kids with her parents died in Georgia because I didn’t have a place to stay. I didn’t have any money. I don’t think I had more than $15 when I left Athens. But you can get a lot further on gas than you did in Canada.

And I walked into that place and when I saw Dr. Lee Robertson for the first time, I mean, it was a big church. And even on a Wednesday night, it was full. This was in 1964, and it was beginning to grow and take off. He had Tennessee Temple schools. He had a Christian school. He ran bus routes. That ministry was the epitome of all independent, fundamental, Bible-even missionary minded Baptist churches. one of the copy, Dr. Lee Robertson, because they could see God’s blessings upon that man in that place.

It was an awesome thing. As I sat there and listened to him, he reminded me of a man that I never met. He reminded me of Moses over the flock of Israel. The guy had a fantastic voice. He could sing and he was thinking about being a singer before before he became a preacher. But he gave it up and became a preacher, but he still would sing. And he had an uncanny way of just everybody liking them. He was a man’s man.

He was totally different from most people you see. When he walked into the building, you naturally just followed him. There was something about the guy that was just unreal. He built a huge, tremendous work. When I left in order to go down to Florida Bible College, they continued to grow. I went to Florida Bible College in Dr. A. Ray Stanford, who had a church no bigger than this right here. And up there, they had this great big college, buildings, music centers, gymnasiums, they had libraries, they had it all.

And they were running buses all over Chattanooga, and just to see how much work was being done. People were impressed. I was really challenged when I was there. But you know, God blesses a man, not a name, not Highland Park Baptist Church or Tennessee Temple School. That wasn’t blessed. blessed the work because of a man and God blesses a man, I would like to believe that I am a godly man, that I am a good man, that I am a worthy man.

Not talking about being a proud man or a cocky man or filled with arrogance, I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about if I humble myself to the Lord and I keep my eyes focused on what He wants me to do with my life. as He has done for forty-something years, can I believe that He will do it yet in the future? You see, as I dreamed even back then, it’s been almost forty-five years. That’s why certain numbers ring a bell in my mind.

That if Caleb can say, I feel as good today as I did forty-five years ago, And I still believe and I want that mountain. I can say I almost feel as good almost, but I still want that mountain. I want everything God has for me, whatever it might be. So I want y’all to always pray that the guys that we have on our board will see the Lord’s will, that we stay focused in order to give the word as it has been given unto us.

Will you do that? Because if you don’t do that and you don’t pray for us, we’re no better than any other man. We are strong because confidence is in the Lord and in the power of his might. But because we’re people, we can get down and we can get discouraged at times and you need to have always somebody. Like with Moses, remember they had to hold up his arms. Somebody has to always be praying that God will help and God will bless and strengthen.

We need that. We’re trying to put together something to build something that will be wonderful for the Lord’s work. We’re not trying to build no monument to no man, no empire, just simply something that God can use. And regardless of how great at one time Tennessee Temple was, today it’s only a shell. Regardless of how great FBC was at one time, it’s gone. We’re all just passing through. We’re all just passing through. And in this life we’re touching people’s lives and we’re influencing others’ lives.

I just want to influence as many people as I can while I can. And I want you to pray for us that we will do the right thing and stay focused on the Lord. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God says that He loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from the Lord in a place called Hell.

But He loves us and wants us to go to Heaven. And to go to Heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God. And nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s righteous. righteous. We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. So God says that we have to pay for our sins and that payment is death and hell. So he says your good works won’t pay for it. That’s why no amount of good works will ever pay for our sins. This hand represents Jesus Christ, he’s the Lord, God in the flesh.

He comes into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because our sins separate us from him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So he took all all the sin of all the world on paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. And God said, if we would believe He did it for us, He would put this payment to our account. We get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did.

That’s the best news in the world. Let’s pray, shall we? We head by nice clothes and no one looking around. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, a friend I urge you to do that. Just believe that when Christ died, He died for you. And if you’re watching by internet, I can’t see you. I may never meet you this side of eternity. But if you will trust Jesus Christ as your Savior, God said He would save you and give you the free gift of everlasting life.

You don’t earn it, you don’t work for it. Christ died for you. It means He paid for your sins. It means you don’t have to pay for them. All the things you’ve ever done or ever will do, you won’t have to pay for it. He paid for it. And did it because he loves you, would you believe it? If you trust him right now, he’ll save you right now and give you eternal life and you get to go to heaven whenever you die.

Our Father, thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. Thank you for the opportunity we have to come together and study a word. We pray to Lord to help us to put together just the right things with the right men for the right reasons that we may honor and glorify you. You’re worthy of it all. We know that we’re temporary. Anything we build is temporary. But Father, the results that we have in people’s lives can be forever.

We ask now your blessings upon this person 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 were 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 six 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 Bibleign, 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.