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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, 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. On 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.

So here in Luke, and it says in chapter 12 and verse 8, it makes a statement. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the son of man also confess before the angels of God. But he that denyeth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God. Now we’ve covered this before from the book of Matthew in chapter 10, and it’s not talking about salvation. It’s talking about service. It’s talking about God rewarding us, not talking about salvation, which is a gift.

This is talking about God’s people giving and living the proper testimony. Therefore, he says, let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. So when we say this little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine. What we’re talking about is the way I live, my good works, is going to shine so that I can let them know that I’m glorifying my Father, which is in heaven.

So if you don’t tell them why you’re doing it, then you heat all the glory and the praise upon yourself. But whenever you give that honor to the Lord, this is why I do what I do. Then you’re telling them why I’m doing it. But we’re not supposed to be afraid or hide or run and so forth because of our testimony. Some people, I don’t think they want anybody to see what they do and how they act because they’re ashamed of their testimony.

So every one of us have a responsibility and we’re to know that. So God’s Word simply saying we’re to confess it before others, but when you talk about confessing, it’s not a one-time deal that you went down to the front in a church and you let everybody know that you trust the Christ of Savior. Now, that’s good, but that’s not the end of it. If God took you on home, that would be great. Well, I don’t mean great. I’m talking about it.

He still wants you to live every life and you confess Christ. So tomorrow you know that your whole day is supposed to be lived for the Lord, so it should be a testimony for the Lord. And so that means in your attitude, the way you talk to people, how you drive, everything, every area of your life. So how are we doing? Don’t answer. But it’s what God wants us to do. Let’s see there in chapter 12 verse 8 and also in 9 and in verse 10.

All these verses deal with this one thing. But there in verse 12 when he talks about the Holy Spirit will teach you what you should say and things that you’re supposed to know, your things you’re supposed to do, if we would only do what God says to do. Now, turning in your Bible to 1 Peter chapter 3, 1 Peter and chapter 3, generally we would talk about marriage with a man and a woman being married and how that the woman is supposed to be, the man is supposed to be.

So it starts off, we’re talking about Likewise, you wives, you wives. Be subjection to your own husbands that if in you obey not the word they may also without the word be won by the conversation or the behavior of the wife. In other words, a woman would be able to win her unbelieving husband by the way she lives. Now you can’t win him without the gospel, we know that, but we’re talking about being able to convince to persuade somebody to trust the Lord because of your Christ-like qualities in your life.

Wouldn’t that be wonderful? So he says here to the woman in verse two, while they behold your chase behavior, conversation, coupled with fear that means your respect for your husband, who’s adorning, let it not be that outward, adorning a plaid into hair and of wearing a gold or putting on a apparel. It’s not saying you can’t put on these things, otherwise it would also be saying you can’t put on a peril. We’d have a problem there. But he’s talking about that’s not what makes a woman beautiful.

Now I know that they want to be as pretty as they can be and men like the woman to be as pretty as she can be. But there’s more to the woman than just what you see. Because it says that meat and quiet spirit. This is again, looking verse 4. But let it be the hidden man of the heart. Updated)].riminal Downtown and that which is not corruptible. Even the ornament of a meek and a quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Now we know this is talking about the woman, but do you believe that it’s possible that sometimes in giving your testimony before others, there might be a time when you need to be quiet. Let me repeat that. There might be a time when you demonstrate Your love for the Lord, your patience, your compassion, your everything by knowing when not to say a word. Have you ever talked to your wife or your husband and sometimes you wish you hadn’t said anything?

You would have been better off if you hadn’t said a word. And to have just, I wonder if it’s possible for a man to have a meek and a quiet spirit? Or is it only possible for the woman? Is it possible for a man to have a soft voice, to be kind, compassionate, you know, like myself? Or I believe that there’s more here and that it means that. nect. And that’s why he goes on down through here and tells us how we’re supposed to treat that woman that is a weaker vessel.

and probably the reason she is the weaker vessel, I think it’s really the man that’s the weaker vessel because of his weakness for the weaker vessel. Did that make any sense at all? Anyway, we’ll move right along. And you’ll notice in verse 7, I want you to see that, likewise your husband dwelled with them according to knowledge. Now, there was a mouthful, according to knowledge. So far, men have not been able to figure them out. But according to the knowledge you do have, try to dwell peaceably with your wife, treat them right, love them, have compassion, all those things.

But now notice what else he says here. Giving honor unto the wife as being the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the grace of life. In other words, you look at your wife or you look at your husband and say, you know, we We both have eternal life. We’re both children of God. We’re both going to heaven and we’re going to be with each other for all eternity. Well, if we’re going to be together for all eternity in heaven, not as man and wife, but we’re both going to be there, then we ought to at least learn how to love each other while we’re here and to treat each other the way God would want us to.

And when you understand that, okay, my wife is God’s child. And sometimes, preachers especially like it when they say, you know, don’t say anything against the Lord’s anointed. And of course, the Lord’s anointed is them. Well, wait a minute. If my wife has trusted Christ as her Savior, she has also been anointed by the Holy Spirit. If the man has trusted Christ as Savior, he has been anointed by the Holy Spirit. That’s in the book of 1 John. So if we have this anointing of the Holy Spirit, then I should treat her as though she is an anointed one.

Special chosen by God. And to treat her with respect and she is supposed to do it also to the guy. And you love each other and you treat each other right. And so he says here, in the last part of verse 7, and you ought to unalent that your prayers be not hindered. Can the prayers be hindered if the man and the woman are not right? They can be hindered. Now other places talk about where Paul says, I want to come to you, but I was hindered.

See, Satan can hinder us from doing things that we would like to do. So he may slow you down. Just don’t let him stop you. Satan can put blocks in our way. All kinds of things that can happen. It’s not going to be a run our race without obstacles. It’s an obstacle course. There’s something that we are always having put in our way. And sometimes they slow us down. Sometimes God wants to slow us down. Sometimes we get too fast.

But God knows what he’s doing. And so as you go through here and you see this, now looking verse 15. to find the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with maintenance and fear. Means with submission and with respect. Why do you think the way you think? Why do you live the way you live? And because of that, you’re going to suffer for the Lord.

See there in the next verse verse 17 where it says, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evil doing. Have you ever done right and suffer for it? God says it’s better for you to suffer because you did right than you to suffer because you did wrong. Did you know that you can do what’s right and somebody else can do you wrong? But you did right. When Christ came, he wronged no man.

but did anybody wrong Him? Yeah? So that happens. So take your Bible and look there in the book of Psalms 66, the 66 Psalm. Way back there in the Old Testament, Psalm 66, Psalm 66 and Look in verse 16. And verse 16 says, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what He hath done for my soul. Now, it’s not just that one time deal where you got saved and you can give your testimony about how I got saved.

Did you know there’s other areas in your life that God allows to happen so that He can do things for you and give you the strength and the grace you need to bear certain burdens and the tree relations that comes so that you can tell somebody, hey, let me tell you what I was going through. Let me share with you the problem that I had, and let me tell you what God did for me. Has God done anything for you?

Well, if he hasn’t done anything for you, you should want something to happen so that he can. That’s what makes you rich. You see, you just don’t understand how I’ve had those problems all my life. That makes you richer than somebody who didn’t have them. Problems is God’s way of teaching you something, of giving you wisdom, because that’s what caused it to be a problem, the lack of wisdom. And he says, count it all joy when you fall in the divers temptation, and when you lack wisdom, that you’ll go to the Lord and you’ll ask the Lord and he He will not chide you or mock you or make fun of you, but He will give to you.

But don’t let that man ask amiss, for he’s like a double-minded man and he shall receive nothing and God’s not going to be able to use him. So God is teaching you many, many things. Now I want you to also see there in Psalm 63 and verse 6. Psalm 63 and verse 6. interesting little verse there, where it says, when I remember the upon my bed and meditate on the in the night watches, because thou hath been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings, will I rejoice, and the shadow of thy wings, will I rejoice.

Now you know you’ve heard in the 23rd Psalm, yea, though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death. Or let’s just pretend. You’re right here on the highway. And you’re just walking along, minding your own business. And here comes a truck. The sun is shining and you see the truck coming down. And there’s suns over there and there’s a shadow. And if you don’t move in time, that shadow is going to hit you. Would you be afraid that the shadow was going to run over you?

If you had a choice, would you choose the shadow or the truck? I know this is a hard question, it’s a really difficult question. You don’t have to fear the shadow. You see, it’s the truck that is the second death. Because you see, the shadow doesn’t have to cause us to be afraid. Yay, though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death. I will what? Fear. No, evil. You don’t have to fear the shadow. You see, the Bible tells us that you’re all going to die.

But for us, it’s just like passing through a shadow. For those who don’t know the Lord is slight being hit by a mat truck because of what happens to them. But for you and I, it’s like this. So when He talks about us being under the shadow of His wing, it means if I’m in the shadow of his wing, I must be real, real close to the Lord, right? Then that means if I got his shadow under his wing, then I must be very close to his protection, his guidance.

I don’t have to worry and I don’t have to fear. And I believe this is what the Lord is talking about. Oh, look there in verse 18 of chapter 66 where he says, If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Blessed in verse 20, be God which hath not turned away my prayer. Remember when we read over there while I go in Peter when he says in chapter three, that your prayers be not hindered.

You see, when you don’t have a clean heart, when you’re not right between you and God, your prayer becomes like an abomination to God, and God will not answer or bless your request. Unless it’s a prayer to get right with God, which is what God wants all of us to do. Now take a Bible looking Psalms 1, the first Psalm, the first Psalm, Psalms chapter 1, and just Notice what God has for us in this verse. SeeISTORY of Psalms 1 It’s talking about the man that is separated.

And it’s also talking about the man that is saturated. Andibraries iversal scientic So you look at it and you see in verse one, blessed is the man that walk if not in the counsel of the ungodly. So if you just reverse that, you know that then you would be wise if you walk in the counsel of the godly. And always see godly counseling because you know that that’s what God wants for you to do. But there is a separation between the godly and the ungodly.

means like God, ungodly means you’re not like God. So blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor seteth in the seat of the scornful. But look in verse two, his delight is in the the Lord and in his law does he meditate every once in a while, day and night. When you read the book of Joshua in chapter 1, it tells Joshua pretty much the same thing that thou might meditate in my word, that thou may have observed to do all that I have commanded you and to be strong and of good courage.

And how many times did I have to tell them that be strong and of good courage? Be strong and of good courage. And if you will do this, now shall have good success. See success is not in the eyes of the world. Success is in the will of God. When you have faithfully done what God wants you to do, then you are successful. And it doesn’t matter that in this life if you made millions of dollars, but if you missed the will of God, you were a failure.

It doesn’t matter if you become the president of the bank. If you had been the one that invented the internet instead of Al Gore. Or if you had done the Microsoft instead of the Gates guy. And all those billions would have been yours. But if you didn’t do what God wanted you to do with your life, you were a failure. You are a success when you are obedient to God. Because when When you get to heaven, God’s not impressed with our cars, our money, our houses, our clothes.

God’s not impre- we came into this world naked as a J bird and we’re gonna leave naked as a J bird. And the only thing we’re gonna have is those things that we’ve laid up in advance that we did for him. You ever heard that statement? Only one life will soon be passed. Only what’s done for Christ will last. It is so true. It is so true. But now notice the other thing here Where he says in verse two, but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in his law that he meditate day and night, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bring the forth its fruit in his season.

His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he’d be. Pross, just like you’d read over there in the book of Joshua in chapter 1. But you see, it’s because the man of God, if you want to talk about a prosperity Christian, there’s the key for prosperity. And it’s about the things you do, the things that you don’t do, your testimony carries great weight. It’s powerful. You can make your life as powerful as you desire. It means the influence you’re able to have in other people’s lives.

Some people have no influence on anybody’s life because, see, God’s Word has had no influence on theirs. The more you want God to use you to change other people’s lives, the more you have to allow God’s Word to change you. If it doesn’t change you and transform your life, you are powerless. Unless you know the Word and how to use the Word, you are powerless. You may be saved, you’ll have eternal life, you’ll go to heaven and you die, but you have no influence in anybody else’s life.

And that’s what it’s about. So God wants us to be saturated with the word of God. That’s why it says in God’s word, we are to delight ourselves and to devote ourselves. And when we do, then we are situated by the waters. And he says, you’ll be like a tree that’s planted, so that regardless of what’s going on in the world, you can always be strong. And even though you get older and the body gets older, the outward man perishes, yet the inward man can be strong and grow stronger and stronger.

You see, we don’t have to become a weaker Christian as we get older. You can still be a strong Christian as the body gets older and you keep increasing strength because of what you see, what you know, what you understand. And there’s such great things in God’s Word about all these things. Look up here. I just thought of this. Is it why do I keep doing this? It’s because I’m separated unto the gospel. I have been saturated from the Word of God to remain strong on these things.

And I am situated by the river of life. Here’s the river. Here’s the water. I’m like a tree planted by the water. Here’s the water, the water of God’s Word. And you can stay strong all the day long. Just stay close to the Lord. Look at that. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on this. He loves us. He hates our sin, but He loves us. And the Bible says for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from the Lord.

But God loves us. And He wants us to go to heaven. And to go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God a none of us are. So we need to be justified just as righteous as God and we’re not. But you see I committed all these sins. And whenever I believe that when Jesus Christ took all my sins and paid for them on the cross and came back from the dead, when I believe that, I am forgiven of all of my sins.

You see, I know that I am justified because the Word of God says so, if I believe it, and I do. And my sins are all forgiven and I believe it. And that one day, yes, I’ll actually be able to stand in the very presence of God face to face. But that’s all because of what Christ has done for us. It’s the best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? The heads bow nice and close and no one looking around.

If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, or if you’re watching by the Internet, why not write down the quadrants of this moment? just talk to the Lord. You see, for in salvation, it’s free. It’s a gift. All that you have to do to go to heaven is believe that when Christ died, He died for you. He paid for your sins. And if you’ll believe He did it for you, that payment He made 2,000 years ago was put to your account.

And you get to go to heaven or what He did. Not of works, lest any man should boast. It is the gift of God. So with His bow nice clothes, if you’ve never trusted Christ, you say, yes, that makes sense to me. I will trust Christ. Christ is my Savior and preach our life. You don’t pray for me. Friend, would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a right back down? I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting.

You don’t want it all. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child, but God wants his children to grow, to grow in grace, to learn how to love God. Stay close to the Word of God. and realize that your life, your whole life, is just your way of saying, thank you to the Lord for what He’s done for you. Are you living like your life is a great big old, thank you to God? Are there areas in your life you need to work on?

Has God revealed anything to you tonight? You say, yes, I need to work on this. This is an area of my life that’s not right. talk to the Lord about things, walk with them, pray always. Father, we thank you so much for this time together for us being able to come and talk to you and read your word, share a little bit. But Father, we do pray that you’re willing to be done in our life as a church. And Father, we do have a heavy burden upon us because we accepted a responsibility, and a responsibility to try to train as many adults little kids and teenagers as we can.

And Father, there’s people that will look to us and trust in us and believe in us. And Father, we have given testimony that we believe you, we trust you. And Father, we want to uphold our testimony as we should. And Father, we pray that what we say and what we do you would honor you as a Christian in every area. We will confess Christ all the way we handle things, even our successes and sometimes even as our failures, through our trials and our tribulations that we behave ourselves as we become of the Christian.

Thank you so much for what you’ve done for us. Blessings in Christ and we pray. 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 Bible line 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.