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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. Just 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.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis, chapter 24, Genesis chapter 24. So you see there in chapter 24 verse one, Abraham was old, well, stricken in age, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. Abraham said unto his elder servant of his house that ruled over all that he had. He said, I’ve got something I want you to do in verse four, but thou shalt go unto my country, and to my kindred, and take a wife of my son, Isaac.

Don’t you think that’s the way we ought to do it today? Well, okay, so that’s not gonna hunt today. Okay. You don’t want somebody picking who you’re gonna marry. All righty. Now that you are married, don’t you wish they had him? No, that’s just the words that they don’t. So he says, I want you to go. And that in verse 27, he says, and he said, blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham who hath not left destitute, my master of his for his mercy.

And in his truth, I being in the way the Lord led me. I being in the way. In other words, when you’re already doing what God wants you to do, God can lead and guide you. And this is what God did for him. You see, when you talk about how he had to probably go across 500 miles of desert, it probably was maybe a little uneventful, not exciting time in his life, but he got to where he was going.

And when he got there, there was a moment in time, well, what about Rebecca? What about that little girl that says, yes, I will go? She knows she could have been sitting there, you know, I’m 20 years old. I’m all a Donald, mate. I mean, who am I going to marry? My juggly slobs around here. They don’t know my God. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Wine and pan and moaning groan. But this was a girl that knew the Lord.

She loved the Lord. She prepared herself. She was ready. And she believed that this was of God. And she hadn’t even seen the guy, like some girls. He’s a man. I knew this one girl that became an archeologist. Just so she would do anything to dig up a man. Now some of y’all didn’t even get that. Don’t you feel bad when others get something, you didn’t get it?

But here she is. And she probably, you know, my life has been so dull and so boring around here. You know, dad and family, boring. And then lo and behold, here comes a guy that’s looking for a bride for a guy, 500 miles away. But that might have been one of her finest moments. And she said yes, and she was ready to go. You know, there’s a lot of things that God does for us. If we would only stop and think, that maybe God is working in your life and you don’t even know it.

And he’s checking to see, are you faithful in little things? That when you don’t get your way, you still love him, you’re still faithful. When your wife doesn’t know that perfect little wife you thought she was when you got married, but you still love the Lord and you still do right anyway. Or that husband, or the kids. You see, and you’re battling through all kinds of things. You got health problems, you got financial problems, you got every kind of problem in the sun, social problems, the family problem, all kind of things going on.

And just think, oh, there is a bright spot. You know, you’ve got to pay taxes coming up pretty soon. I know you’re looking forward to that. But you see, God is watching every one of us, and there’s a time. And it seems like you may go through a long period of time and it’s like a drought. And God says, I’m trying to get you prepared, giving you time to get ready, because I got something good for you. And many of God’s people were forfeited because they won’t be prepared to take advantage of the opportunity when it comes.

I don’t know what it is. I don’t even care what it is. For me or for you, I just believe the book. And there’s a lot of things. Think about this. Noah had minded his own business and everybody else getting corrupt, but he wanted to go ahead and do what God wanted him to do. And when the Lord says, everybody’s doing whatever they imagined himself to do, to do. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

God told him, said, I want you to build a boat. Big boat. So he built an ark. How long he worked on that ark? I don’t know. Something maybe 120 years. But whatever it was, he took him a while to put it together. Look how long he lived. But when we say the word Noah, we always say of Noah and the ark. That one thing, his defining moment, the thing that he stands out for, for what he’s well known.

You ever heard of a man by the name of Moses? I think Moses also had a defining moment, a finest hour. He had several of them. He was on the backside of the desert, 40 years. Boy, this dream that I had sure got messed up. I thought forty years before that whenever I was going to lead the children of Israel out, they all would have got behind me and I could have done it. And instead, they didn’t want him.

So he went on the back side of the desert for forty years, dream gone, death of a vision. can’t use me and he had all the questions and doubts and took care of sheep. But I believe God was preparing him till he got empty of himself. And Lord behold one day he saw a burning bush, a burning bush. What a defining moment. His whole life changed. Everything changed. God said I want to send you back to Egypt. But look how many years passed and you have no idea how many years may pass in your life and then God will give you a defining moment.

What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour. You have no idea what you have already forfeited because you didn’t prepare to take advantage of something God had for you because maybe you weren’t faithful in little things because it didn’t matter. Nobody knows anyway, who cares? I’m waiting for the big things to come along for me. I’m so important. Faithful in little things. Do them well and you’ll be surprised what God may do for you.

You know, there’s a little boy named David. You ever heard of David and Goliath just kind of goes with it, don’t it? That might have been a defining moment because, you see, he was prepared and he could do the job and he knew he could because he’d already done it twice with a bear and a lion. And here was a time and look, God had all these people see him, God raised him up, but he’d already been faithful. He was a good son, an obedient son.

God had something for him. And that moment has been written down in the Word of God for all these thousands of years, and everybody gets to read about David and what he did. David, the little boy that slew the giant, cut off his head with his own sword. But what have he had to do with it? He was faithful in little things, and God used to be faithful in big things. And that is what God wants us to do.

Remember this, when we talk about the flesh, the flesh, your own will, your own way, always lead just… Because of pride of what, no, we want. And maybe God has something different than what we want. Is God able to shape your life the way he wants? To shape your will, to guide your spirit, not break it, but guide it. The Lord wants to lead us, to guide us. Who knows? There may be another defining moment in the ministry of Calvary Community Church.

You know, because sometimes you don’t see something great until Atraits over with. So you don’t have it anymore. There’s been times in my life when I consider, you know, that was a great moment. I wish I had known that then. When I used to run a youth ministry and I could play the guitar, We’d have about 20, 25 playing guitars and watchtubs and coconuts and anything that would make a noise. And all these teenagers sitting on the floor, and I had them up close and they were all over the place and I’d give the invitation and we’d have an average between 15 to 25 trussles on every Thursday night for years.

I just thought that was just something regular. But you know, in my life, that was a defining moment, one of my finest hours. And I didn’t even know it at the time. There’s times when you’re doing something that’s wonderful and great, but at the moment, you may not see it. Years later, you’ll see, you know, if it hadn’t been for this thing, I wouldn’t be where I am today. That one decision, I didn’t know it was going to do this, but look what God has done.

You ought to find spots in your life, or you can say, this is when God changed something in my life. God did this, and God did all work with this. I had no clue that when I come down here that we’d be starting the Bible college. It may be the biggest bomb that’s ever exploded, but a few years from now, it may be the seed of an awesome thing. And it could have been when we came together There’s a bunch of men, and we talked about this, and we took it to the congregation, and they voted 100%.

It may be the planting of a wonderful thing that could have been this ministry’s finest hour. A moment that defines us and given us some because we’ve been so faithful to the gospel, to presenting the gospel, that God says, now it’s time to teach others how to do what we do. And to have something that we have on our website, if you go there and see it, and it’s He’s got in honor of Dr. Hank Lindstrom. See, Hank meant a lot to me.

I know he might have been a little bit to y’all, but I knew him before y’all did. I knew him before. And he was faithful then, and he was faithful all those years. But see, what’s been planted isn’t over yet. Now the Lord may come back. I don’t know how it’s all going to work. I can’t see down there. All I know is I’m going to trust the Lord to lead me as I go. So all I can do.

I don’t know where the money’s coming from. I don’t know where all the teachers are coming from. I don’t even have any students yet. How does that make you feel? Would you like to get out on that limb? That’s where the fruit is. But it’s better to attempt and fail than to attempt nothing. Because who knows it may be our finest hours of church, because we’re working together to start something for God’s honor and for God’s glory, to teach and to train other people how to do what we know.

Not everybody knows what you know. You were taught and trained by one of the best, Dr. Hank Lindstrom. I’m just glad I can follow in the shadows. This week, I had an opportunity to go down to Miami. Years ago when I was in Miami as a student Florida Bible College. I had an opportunity to give devotion for some of the high school football teams. I didn’t know football. I didn’t understand football. I had no clue how many played on a team.

I had no idea. I didn’t know what a quarterback was. I thought it was a refund. I didn’t know about a full back and a half back. I thought if you don’t have your whole back, you ought not be playing. So I didn’t understand the game. And that’s the truth. I’m 23, 24 years old. I have no clue about the game of football because I never got to go. Then I had to play it. And next thing you know, I’m giving devotion for the high school football teams.

Mimey High in 1965 was number one football team in the nation. And their quarterback and their fullback, Richard Hordmel, Lachlan Swaker, would come into my youth group. They came to my youth group. And I teach them, I taught them. They come over to my house and I teach them about the rack. I was faithful in those little, bitty things. What I knew, I just taught them. I didn’t care what their positions were, what they did, they just said they played football.

Well, I didn’t know they were winning all their games. But they were winning them. They always come back and say, yank, we want again. We want again. Next you know they were playing for the state title and they come over here to plant city and they play for the state title and they won. So when they were playing against Miami, New Orleans, in the Orange Bowl, over 60,000 people were at the Orange Bowl and I was given devotions for both teams.

Because Richard Hormel and Alex and Shragler, they were on the Miami side but then they graduated And the next year I wanted to give a devotion to them. And then they had Miami, New Orleans. And that was Jackie Holmes and Deeter Mathis. And that was something almost 50 years later, I still remember their names. Still remember them. And I gave devotion for both teams. And they both wanted me to sit on their side, in the stands. They thought whatever side I said on was the one that’s going to win.

That’s the truth. And I couldn’t care less about football. But they begged me to go, so I win. I said on one side, one half. And I said, on the other side, the other half. And Miami won. And they came to our youth meeting, and we had all these teenagers that trusted the Lord. It was awesome. It was written up in Miami, Harold, and all that. The guy was Howard Taft. And he would write all these articles in there.

And I got the next year, they wanted to give devotion to other football teams. And so I was given it for about 10 different schools. And they would put all the players in the gym, and they’d let me talk to them. I never said anything that, hey, I’ll give you a win. What are you doing? You got 10 of them. Now which one’s going to win? I didn’t get into that. I just tell them how to have eternal life.

And all I was interested in is where you’re going to go and you die. But God opened doors. You know, years later, when I realized I can’t even get into the schools anymore, things of change, you can’t even get in this. get in this school. I remember that was one of my finest hours. As a young kid that had no clue what he was doing at the time, that was a fine moment in my life because I realized it may never happen again.

Often when we get to kids in the context for the college because you know you don’t have youth ranches anymore like we started, or at one time there was over 100 youth ranches like Hank had here, over 100 of them in the South Florida area and kids We were coming out of these ranches from all over the United States going to things because we just had ranches. Well, we don’t have ranches. But one thing that we have today, we didn’t have then, and that’s Christian schools.

These Christian schools. And so when I talked to one guy and I said, can I speak in your school to present our college in a camp? I said, sure. Come on down. And so I worked it out where I got to speak in his school. And when I got down there, he told me, he says, I just realized I have you down to speak He said, you can’t speak on Friday because if you do, the seniors won’t even be there because they get out at 11 o’clock and they do their own thing.

I thought, why am I coming? If I can’t talk to the kids, that’s what I’m going for. And then I find out at the last minute that he said, I forgot that they won’t be there. So I’m scheduled a little time when they’re not going to be there. And then in the way the Lord led, I said, Lord, something’s wrong. I figured they got to be something to work out on this thing. I went to another school and they said, at a Wednesday night and the preacher told me, he said, you’re supposed to speak tomorrow?

Yes, sir. And it’s a certain time, yes, sir. And he says, well, we don’t have a room for you. We have his vision, evangelist, and I forgot by him speaking. He can be speaking in chapel. I thought, I’m going down here, in the way the Lord led. Have you ever had doubts that maybe the leading? Why I would never fall into that trap. The Lord has a way. The Lord has a reason. The Lord has a purpose. I just don’t know what it is.

He said, we have a room. You can have the cafeteria. I said, I’ll take them anywhere. So they said, well, I have a cafeteria. So the time had changed. The time I got there, the guy went long. like it, most evangelists, they talk on and on and on and on. And He was taking all my time. He was supposed to have gotten through, kept talking. Mm. So I went into the cafeteria, and I got ready for my meeting. It was going to be in about 10 minutes.

And here coming in all the little, do be the kids into the cafeteria. I said, how long are they going to be in here? All they’ll be in here. There’ll be a lot more yet coming. I said, my God, I wind up speaking to these kids while everybody’s in here eating. Have you ever been in the cafeteria? And you know everybody’s as quiet as a mouse. I said, okay, that’s fine. Whatever the Lord has, do what I can with what I have, where I am.

So then all the teenagers came in and they put them in a spot and so I got in front of a wall and we couldn’t show any of our slides. None of the projectors, we worked so hard getting everything done, we can’t use any of it. So all I could do was talk and then they said, I got 30 minutes. After a while, he told Betty, he says, I’m telling him he got some more time if he wants it.

So she came back and she told him, he says, you got some more time if you want it. I said, I want it. So I wound up with about 45, 50 minutes and I had a good time and I just preached the gospel, the two natures. I preached and off a lot of Bible. And then I told them about the college, and I told them about the camp, and I said, all of our stuff is on the back table, and so some after we got there, they took some of the stuff and they’re there.

But it worked out great. They all had to face me. The little kids were back in the back, and out of the little kids, stretching that one of these days, they’re gonna be so many angels gonna turn this country upside down, and he says, I was sitting in that cafeteria, and I was about a little kid back in the back row. Eat my lunch, and I heard this picture. But you always be leaving. I can’t say it was my finest hour or the finest moment, but it was a moment.

And I did what I believed God wanted me to do. When I went to the other place, because he says I can’t have it at that time, it worked out better because he gave me twice as much time at a different time. And so I got a chance to speak to all of the kids there. And they were very interested in the college and the camp. And a lot of them took flyers and so forth. But then I had Miami Christian school, which was on a Friday.

And so he told me, he says, we can’t give you a side room so that you can show your stuff, because all we have is the gymnasium. And the gymnasium has these skylights in it, and it’s as bright as it can be in here. So I can’t use it. So he says, I got about 150 at the upper grades that we’ll bring them in. So they brought them in, put them in front of me. He says, a lot of these are Catholic kids.

They come in at the end of the first semester. He said, in a lot of them. They never heard anything. So I knew what I was gonna do. So I preached, gave the gospel, and when I gave the gospel, I would say between 30 and 40 or so indicated they would trust Christ as Savior. It was, I was in hog heaven. And I thought for a moment, this is my finest hour. I went through this and this and this and this and this, and I’ll be honest with you, the drive down there in back was pretty much uneventful.

I was like that servant who had to go 500 miles across the desert. But you see, I have to be faithful every mile in order to get to the next mile, to get to the next mile, to get to the next mile, to get to the destination. You may have to wash dishes and wash clothes and go to work and do this job and that job and all the jobs you don’t like. But there’s moments that God’s going to use you and bless you in a special way.

You are supposed to believe that. Me? I believe it. I didn’t have a clue how God was going to work out, but everything worked out good by the time it was over. And I had good meetings, got everything done, but it was total chaos right before that. And I had to just be faithful, don’t have to figure out how it’s going to work. Being in the way the Lord led. And so I get what God wants, not whatever I can design.

I like things disciplined and in order, like the Bible says, do a thing decently and in order. I love to know everything is going to happen. Wouldn’t you? Well, maybe not. But you like to have some kind of discipline so that you can expect. And then sometimes it seems like everything is chaos. What do you like in that moment of chaos and total frustration and in despair? And it seems like nothing will work. How are you? That’s when you’ve got to have a good wife to say, Yankee, everything’s fine.

Everything’s fine. God will work it out. This is what God wants, that’s fine. Thanks, son. Thanks, son. Thanks, son. Thanks, son. But that’s what I got. And so, and I got some good news for you. The old jokes still work. When I told them how I got my name, Yankee. They still laughed. When I told him, I said, this kid was sitting right here, and I was in the cafeteria, and all these kids were in there. And I told him, I said, when I was born, I said, my daddy said I had long, straight black hair, all of them, my body.

I had sideburns, and hair going down my back. He said, I was so ugly. He said, I look like a little monkey. He said, I was the ugliest kid ever seen in my life. I said, he never saw this kid. They all loved it. Except him. No, eventually he laughed too. But I loved to. to use humor with teenagers and buddy, I had some good ones. And they just started coming back to me. You know, it all comes back to you once in a while.

And so there’s things that’ll happen can be your finest moment. I also live believing that there’s another fine hour coming. And because I believe there’s another fine hour coming, I want to keep preparing myself. I want to keep a sharp edge. I want to keep going, keep believing and keep trusting. You see, you can’t see down the road. You don’t have any clue what God is going to do in your life. And there’s a time when it looked like there’s dry spells.

Nothing interesting, not exciting, but it’s something that God wants to accomplish. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. But He hates our sin. And the Bible says to pay for sin is eternal separation from him in hell. But God loves us, he wants us to go to heaven and to go to heaven. We have to be perfect as righteous as God. None of us are perfect.

None of us are righteous. We’ve all done things wrong. We cannot save ourselves. So your good works won’t get you to heaven. This end represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. Came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from him. So Jesus Christ took all the sin, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead. And he said that if we would believe he did it for us, he would give us as a free gift everlasting life.

And we get to go to heaven on what Christ did for us. That’s the best news in all the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With his bow nice and close, no one looking around. Would you just simply right now just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this, Lord, I know I’m a sinner. But I believe Jesus Christ died on that cross because he loved me. He died for me, paid for my sins. And friend, if you’ll believe he did it for you, he will save you and give eternal life.

And if you’re making that decision to trust Christ as your Savior, saying, yes, I believe it. I like to know and I like to have prayer for you. I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you. But right where you’re sitting. So preach that that made sense to me and I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. And I’d like you to pray for them. We just slip you hand it very quickly and put it right back down.

Is anyone at all? Yeah, what at all? I want each one of you to be praying that you will be prepared, prepared to take that finest hour when it comes your way. God has something special for you, and yes, He’s preparing you. Be faithful in little things, and He will entrust into your care bigger things. Our Father, we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We’re thankful for the free gift of eternal life, and we’re thankful for the opportunity you’ve given to us to serve you as a church, to have the Florida Bible College right here, to train others, to serve you in Christ’s never-prey evening.

I, as Pastor Yankee, hear, and I’m so grateful that you’re listening today to Bibleline. You are the reason we’re broadcasting on this radio station to preach and teach the word of God with clarity and effectiveness, and believe me, God has used this very powerful ministry to reach many people over the years. But I don’t often have the chance to say thank you and so I want to do that today. Thank you for listening. Thank you for your prayers and thank you for your financial support.

We could not be on the air on this station without your financial gifts. As a matter of fact, the overall response, especially our financial support, has been down this month. And so, if you’re able, would you please consider helping us today? We could use your support now more than ever. information is coming up in just a minute, but please consider supporting Bibleline today. And again, thank you. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tepa, Florida with Dr.

Ralph Arnold. 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. 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.