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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. When all hope is gone, you see, faith is born in despair. When you have no visible means of making something happen, how strong is your faith in God? How well do you see? What is your vision? And you and I know that that little boy, well, he did live, didn’t he?

Did he ever get married? Did he ever have any kids? Go over there in the middle of the nation, look how many there are now. God promised. God promised. Because God can see things you and I can’t see. Now we’re right here in chapter 22. But notice that whenever Abraham was going to take Isaac upon the mountain and was going to offer him as a sacrifice. Now the lad, he could see, Abraham, well, he could see. And Abraham told the other guys that came along, he says, look, y’all wait right here, we’re gonna go up there on top of this mountain and make an offering and we will come back.

You see, Abraham saw differently than the sun. The sun says, dad, I see the altar, I see the wood, but there’s something missing here. Where’s the sacrifice? Where’s the often? Where’s the lamb? Abraham could look down the road. He believed that if he was to slay his own son, the Bible tells in the book of Hebrews in chapter 11 that he believed God would raise his son from the dead. But notice Abraham did not know at that point. Behind him was a ram caught in the thicket.

And he got the ram and offered him as a sacrifice. You see, some people don’t always see what everybody else sees. Everybody’s on a different level of understanding, spiritual understanding. What did God see? The Bible says, God says, now I know, now I know. He was ready to offer a peace on. God saw something, God saw his faith. God is looking for a man. You see, a man, in most cases, especially in times of desperation, is looking for God.

Why do you think sometimes God will allow you to have such moments of despair? Because he wants you to see something you haven’t seen before. So he brings you to that point where you have to look to the Lord. You’re looking for God. Well, blessed be God. He’s looking for you. Isn’t it wonderful when two people meet and come together? And God tells you, look, I’ve got something for you. God was able to provide upon a mountaintop when nobody saw how God was going to do it.

Only Abraham believed God would. He did not know how God would. So you and I as we go through, there’s all these stories in the Old Testament and they’re perfect for Sunday school, but I wonder if there’s anything in these things that an adult can learn from as we go through life. That maybe there’s some things that God wants us to see, and there’s things that God’s looking for. Do you know God is looking for the element of faith in an individual?

Can you believe what God says? And God did provide Himself a lamb down the road. Look in Genesis chapter 28. Genesis chapter 28, chapter 28. But chapter 27 and verse 41, there’s something I want you to see there. Look there in chapter 27 and verse 41. Esau hated Jacob. Isn’t that clear? That clear? Boy, that’s clear. Why did he hate Jacob? Poor little Jacob hadn’t done anything wrong, Eddie. He was just a thief and a conniver, but he saw, asked for it, he was willing to sell his birthright for a mess of pottage.

But it was just lentil bean soup, but he was willing to give it all up. But he was angry because, in verse 41, of the blessing wherewith his father blessed him and he saw said in his heart the days of mourning for my father or at hand. Then, while I slay my brother Jacob, so he had in his heart not just to hate. I’m going to kill this kid. I’m going to kill him. So mama who was part of the problem says son let the curse be upon me you get out of here and he left.

Look in Genesis chapter 28 and look in verse 10 Jacob went out from Bathsheba went into Heron and he lighted upon a certain place carried there all night because the sun was set and he took of the stones of that place and put them for his pillows and lay down in that place to sleep. Now could you sleep real comfortable? Well they stoned for a pillow. Now me, I don’t went to the holiday inn, you know, where they leave the light on and maybe it’s motel six.

But here he is. I mean, this is a famous man. I mean, this is when God’s tops and God lets him sleep out there in the open, on the ground with a stone for a pillow. Did you know Jacob was afraid. He was afraid. His brother was going to kill him. Did you know after he was gone for all those years, he was scared to death to come back home? Petrified. Because he could see the hatred. He knew what had been taking place.

Everything wasn’t smooth. Things were going wrong. And now he’s going to, oh, I guess go find him a wife from the laban. But it says that he had a dream. You ever have dreams? He had a dream. So it says in verse 12, and he dreamed and behold a ladder set up on the earth. The top of it, reach to the heavens and behold the angel of God, ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham, my Father, and the God of Isaac, the land whereon thou liest to thee, will I give that and to thy seedActionCode)), Did you know that God had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, gave all of them the same statement?

What God is going to do? They didn’t ask for it, they didn’t deserve it. It’s just that this is what God, who created the heavens and the earth, has a right to doijuana. God can do whatever He chooses to do. But as God looks down, remember, God is looking for a man. And God don’t have perfect people He can use. So yes, God uses a bunch of dedicated nobodies. And sometimes things go bad. Jacob was not the epitome of an example of the believer.

name even meant Sir Planner. Trying to steal what belongs to others. You don’t see what he did with laymen. Well, he really took him to the cleaners. You ought to make money or cattle. And so he says here in verse 15, and behold, I am with thee. The Lord’s telling him this and will keep thee in all places where thy go is and will bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee till I have done that which I have spoken to thee up.

You ought to underline that. phrase. God will not leave you forsake you until he has finished using you for whatever he intended you to be, whatever he wants you to do. You and I are supposed to believe that. But you see, God looked down and he saw a man whooped, discouraged, afraid, wondering what is the future out there? Remember, somebody is threatening to kill him. Where’s his hope? What guarantee do I have? And then all of a sudden, as God looks down, see God has long range vision.

And when it seemed like to a man, there’s nothing to live for, no way possible, can’t get me out of this. It’s too deep. It’s too bad. It’s too wicked. And all of a sudden, two of the greatest verses in the Bible, it says, are two words, but God. But God. Did God know where Jacob was? Did he know that he had a stone for a pillow? Did he know how his brother felt about him? See, God knows all the things of out every one of us.

And it doesn’t matter how bad it seems to be. How severe, how hopeless. There isn’t anything you’re going to face, your heavenly Father doesn’t see. But He will bring us to the point almost of no return, when it’s humanly impossible for you to solve or you to fix. And you just have to give up. All right, Lord, I’m in your hands. I know what it says. The Lord says, thanks. That’s right where I’ve been trying to get you. God wants to strip away all of our pride.

And God will do whatever necessary to humble us. To the place where we realize we can’t do some things. Some things you just can’t do. Some things you can’t make happen. And look in verse 16. Verse 16 is a verse you ought to underline in your Bible because it makes a very pointed statement in verse 16 Jacob awaked out of his sleep and he said and you ought to underline this surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not you see there’s times in your life when you’ll think God is not there I am all alone I don’t here where I go or what goes on in my life.

I know God is here. God is here. And I am in the presence of the Lord. But sometimes I forget. He said, I knew it not. God was here. Do you think that you have to solve everything on your own? Isn’t that a helpless feeling? To think that you are limited by your own abilities, your talents, your wisdom, that ought to make every man a little squinch. To think I have got to deliver myself. Have we forgotten that there is a God who is looking for a man that will look for God?

Let me say that again. God is looking for a man that is looking for God because that’s where faith is born when it’s totally impossible for you to perform. And you have to see God deliver. And I believe that God will. Take your Bible, look in the book of Exodus. I just love this over here in You all know the story about Moses. Moses. What a wonderful man. Look there in verse 1 of chapter 3. Exodus chapter 3 and verse 1.

Now Moses kept the flock of Jephrah, his father-in-law, the priest of median, and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, came to the mountain of God, even to horam. Now, Moses didn’t know that that was the mountain of God. Moses didn’t know that that belonged to him, to God. You see, he just out for a stroll. He just watching sheep on the backside of a desert. He just living his life, minding his own business. He’s not bothering anybody.

He didn’t ask for anything. He didn’t want anything. He was content, setting on the sideline. You see, 40 years before he committed himself. And he thought that the children of Israel would all rally around him, and he actually believed, 40 years before, that God was going to use him to deliver the children of Israel. That’s what he thought. Bible says so, but it didn’t work that way. The people of Israel turned against him. Pharaoh was after him, so he had to flee for his life.

That’s why he went on the backside of a desert for 40 years. You see, it wasn’t that his dream was wrong. His timing was wrong. God wasn’t ready yet. See, God was waiting for the iniquity of the Amorites in the land of Canaan to be full. He says in the book of Genesis in chapter 15, where God says, after 400 years, he’s going to come out and this is what he’s going to do. And God had a plan. See, God was looking for a man, but Moses wanted to do it.

Because see, why not Moses? Look who he is. Look where he’s at. Look what he knows. He was next in line to be the Pharaoh. He had all his power. He had all the wisdom of the Egyptians. He’s qualified. But see, God didn’t want Moses to get the honor, the glory, the credit. God had to strip Moses of all of that until Moses was just content to feed sheep. Now that God has him where he wants him, now God can use him.

In our life, there’s time when God is going to strip you of everything till there’s nothing left. And so he says here in verse two, and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed. See, Moses saw Bush. God saw a man. But the man saw a bush that was burning, and God got his attention.

And God told him, take off your shoes. Why? Because you’re standing on holy ground. Why was it holy ground? Because God was there. Did you know that when you trusted Christ as your savior, The Holy Spirit indwells you, and your body is holy because God is there. Did you realize that wherever you go, it’s holy ground because He is present with you. And you need to always remember you and I are walking in the presence of God every day of our lives.

Because he said, I’ll never leave you and I will never forsake you. See a very inverse four? He said, and when the Lord saw that He turned aside to see, God called unto Him out of the mist of the bush. Did you know God was looking for Moses? And God had worked things around to get them at the right spot at the right time. Sometimes we would like to manipulate God. If I could just get God where I want Him.

If I could just use the power of God for my purpose or my dream to help me to be what I want to be. And you’ll find in every case, it’s always what God wanted. Every case, it’s what God wanted to be done. It’s not about you, it’s not about me. What is God up to? Can you believe that God has a dream? God has a vision. God wants to do something. And you and I are somebody that God is looking for to show His power and His great glory.

What God can accomplish. To little trophies of grace, which is what you and I are. Now get what he says here. In verse five, and he said, draw not, now I hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet. For the place whereon thou standeth is holy ground. Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was, and you ought to lond the line to th- He was afraid to look upon God.

See, every one of us always need to keep a high, holy, reverential respect for God. We ought to have a certain fear of God. You see, there’s people today that are not afraid of God because they’re not afraid of sin. You show your respect for God and your fear of God by your relationship to sin. If you love God, you have to hate sin. And when you mock sin, because we think I can sin and get away with it, it’s mocking God.

So he says here in verse 7, I want you to notice what God saw. What does God see? In verse 7, and the Lord said, I have surely and you’re underlined this word, seen the affliction. I’ve seen something. God sees differently than we did. See, does God see your affliction? See, that’s why you study the Old Testament. As it says in chapter 15 of the book of Romans, that the Old Testament Scriptures, the Scriptures were written for our admonition, for our learning, So that we can learn from what they’ve gone through.

And he says, I have seen the affliction of my people, which are indigent, and have heard, you ought to unline the word heard, heard their cry, by reason of their past master. In other words, I know what’s going on. I know why they’re crying. I know why they’re hurting. I know that they’re slaves. But time is ready. Why did God let all this happen? Because he God has a timetable. He had already told Abraham in chapter 15 of Genesis that they’ll be in this furnace for 400 years.

But God says, I’m going to bring them out. Time is ready. I need my man. I need a man. He says in the last part of that, for I know their sorrows. their sorrows. Do you think it’s possible that God in heaven can hear the voice of a lad in a desert, that God can hear the voice of the affliction of his people and see the sorrow and not yours? If God knows when the bird falls to the ground, knows how many hairs If you’ve got on your head, do you think there’s anything you can face that God in heaven doesn’t know about?

God allowed all these things to happen. Every case God allows it. And as you read the rest of the scriptures you’ll find out God has a plan. God has a purpose because God is looking for a man to bestow his power upon, to do something. He has to bring man to the end of himself so that a man can’t take credit for it. When it’s all over with, all you can do is say, look what the Lord hath done.

Look how strong God is. Look what God brought me through. And you can’t stand and boast and brag in yourself of how brilliant you are because God will take you to the end of your intelligence. So he says, in verse 8, and I am come down to deliver them out of the hands of the Egyptians and to bring them into that land and to a good land that I promised to them. In verse 10, come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh.

And Moses said, what? I ain’t going. He gave God five reasons why he’s not the man for the job. Boy had he been whooped. He had been so put down and so hurt. And after 40 years, I guess he probably figured that God can’t use me. I’m no good. I’m just a reject. Oh, by the way, did God ever use Moses? Slap my mouth. He did, didn’t he? Did you know that he missed probably a good blessing because he didn’t want to talk?

He got his brother Aaron to do this talking for him, and God was really upset with Moses because of that. You know, Moses had a… I hate to say this. He had an attitude problem. Moses was a bitter, bitter man, a bitter man. bitter, bitter. Thought most of his ministry. He was bitter. Bitter at God, bitter at people. Maybe he wished he was just left alone on the backside of a desert. But God had need of him. You and I may not know it and think so, but God has need of us.

Can you see God working in your life? Can you see him? It’s a sad day when you can’t see or believe that God is working in your life. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro, looking for a man, looking for a man. You and I have a difficult time, sometimes believing the Word of God, when we focus upon the things of the earth that are so close to us, that you know, that’s right here. We can’t see a far off.

We see only that which is real close. Now let me leave you with these words. Look there in 2 Peter in chapter 1, 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, 2 Peter 1, there’s an interesting little statement here. Is she there in verse 4, whereby or give it unto us exceeding great and precious promises? That by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, have an escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Beside all of this, given all diligence, add to your faith, virtue into virtue, knowledge, the knowledge temperance and the temperance patience and the patience, godliness, and the godliness, brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness, charity or love.

In verse 8, if, see that word, if you’re to underlam. If these things be in you and about, this is talking to the believer, not talking to the lost man, to the believer, add to your faith. These things, and if these things be in you and about, you shall need to be barren or unproofful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But you see, if you don’t add to your faith, there’s a knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and it talks about growing in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice what he says here in verse nine, but he that lack of these things is what? Blind and get the last part, cannot see a far off. This is to the believer. It’s talking about the divine promises. You see, when you and I trusted Christ as our savior, we became God’s children, and there’s promises God made to his children, that you and I are supposed to believe that down the road, it will be worked at all. One day we’re gonna be in heaven with the Lord.

And to understand that there is not anything happening in your life God does not know about. And God allows a lot of things to happen that we cannot see the wisdom of it, The reason for it, and we just got to go through it and trust the Lord, but believing God sees something I don’t see. But what He sees is better than what I see. And therefore I know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord, to those who call according to what?

His purpose, to His purpose. 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 Line 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.