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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 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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I just want to share a few thoughts we did tonight. There’s times in your life when you feel like you just don’t qualify qualify for what you’re trying to do. Have you ever felt like you’re doing something that you didn’t feel like you were cut out for? Well, sometimes I feel like that. And I’ve had times when I just felt so inefficient. When I first went to Florida Bible College, I didn’t know much about living by faith. But more once I committed myself, I sure had to find that quick.

Because then I had committed myself and I hated to go back. I hated to quit and give up. Though I in my heart, I guess I did about every week. But for some reason or other, I just stayed there. And I didn’t know really how long I was supposed to stay in school. I didn’t know what I wanted to be when I got out of school. Someone says, you’re going to Bible school. you’re going to be a Bible? I guess so.

But I guess when you get right down to it, that’s pretty much what you are. But you’re a living Bible. You’re living the Word of God. And therefore you are letting God change you so that you can change the world. So that you can let God influence you in a the greater way so that you can influence others. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit lives within us, too quick enough, to make us alive. And God then uses us to help other people become alive.

He has imparted unto us His Word, His Spirit, and therefore we have all that we need. There’s a couple words that I want to show you tonight, but first of all, look there in 2 Corinthians in chapter 12. I want to continue my thought a little bit from this morning. How that God had used the life of the Apostle Paul. There was a time in Paul’s life when he had no idea he would be doing what he was doing.

He didn’t know until that day on the road to Damascus that he was going to see the light. And that God was going to show him what great things he must suffer for His name’s sake. I wish I could tell you that in the times in which we live, I want to show you all the blessings that you’ll have in serving God.

But they may be far in view between. There may be a lot of suffering, a lot of heartache, a lot of disappointments, a lot of despair, and you’ll think a thousand times. I wonder what I’d have been doing if I hadn’t committed myself to serve the Lord. Look at what I could have been done. I could have been a millionaire. I could have been the president of a bank or a president of, you know, some of the lawyer or the, I could have been a governor.

I could have been the president of the United States. And you cited the servant Lord. What a loser. You know, that’s what they accused the apostles of. Here comes Jesus, God that created the heavens in the earth. He comes along and he sees some ignorant fisherman and says, follow me. And they drop their nets, they quit everything, and they followed Christ. I imagine they had high expectations of something, whether they even really understood it or not, but they followed for three and a half years.

And then one was all over with, they said, I’m going back patient. And in Christ, he can give up on him. And God used him to launch a ministry that changed the world. Look how many churches there are in the world, good and bad, just from Christ from this Bible. All of those are one man, Jesus who had a ministry that lasted a little over three years. So you never know what God has forced down the road. We’re just passing through life.

I mentioned this morning several things that happened to me that I was just fortunate to me and my mind to be alive. And I assure you that’s only about a tenth of my experiences in close to death. I’ve had a bunch. As time goes on I may share a few more, but they’re all real and it’s all the truth. I don’t have to make up anything. when you think about it, you realize, I live only by the grace of God.

You ought to know that in your own life. You live only by the grace of God. Well, here in 2 Corinthians, as I mentioned to you this morning, I come close to die, but it didn’t die. But Paul did. I believe Paul actually died. When he was stoned outside the city of Listera, and they were dragged him out of the city and left him for dead. He says, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago whether in the body or out of the body, he said I couldn’t tell.

He said, but such a one was caught up into heaven and he says, and he saw things that was unspeakable. He says, whether in the body or out of the body, he said, I don’t know, but he was caught up into paradise. And he saw some things that he couldn’t tell you about. I don’t know what it is, but he traveled for a while with a man named Luke who wrote the gospel of Luke and also wrote the book of Acts.

And Luke is the one that tells the story about what Christ said about hell, Luke 16. So he had a vision of what hell was like, but if you ever wondered, I wonder what heaven is like. And so here he is caught up into the third heaven, get to see what heaven is like. If I can only catch a glimpse of it, boy, that all to really do something, then you know it’s real. It’s really real. I was there.

I saw it. And then to come back to the earth of what you could do. Well, just read the story. Louis says in verse 1, it is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I love even that part of the scripture. Because see, Bible tells us where there is no vision to the people perish. But I will come divisions. He saw some things. And I believe if a man is going to serve the Lord, he has to see what God sees.

You’ve got to see hell and you’ve got to see heaven. You’ve got to see individuals that are lost. You’ve got to see why it’s important why you do what you do or why do it at all. What if every believer would just say, let somebody else do it? Well, why me? Why should I sacrifice my life? And there was this preacher of a Baptist church. And they had a pretty good-sized missionary program in their church. And so they had a mission conference.

They had the missioners come and they spoke on different times and through Sunday, Monday Tuesday, and Wednesday. And finally on the last night, the preacher was pleading with people to dedicate their lives to go to the mission field. And all of a sudden his daughter got up. His 18-year-old daughter. And she came down to the front. and she knelt and she was just a solvent. So he went down and got beside her and says, honey, what’s wrong? She says, daddy, I’m going to the mission field.

I want to be a missionary. He says, honey, I didn’t mean you. I didn’t mean you. It’s like, I mean everybody else, but not my daughter, not my daughter. Because you see, it’s okay for somebody else’s daughter to go to whatever country and sacrifice her life and give up something here and the wonderful luxuries that we enjoy and living like a beggar, depending upon somebody back home to give you enough money to live on. Nobody wants to be shamed like that.

I want to be a self-made man. I want to do it myself. I want to earn my own way. Who wants to live by faith like that? What if you starve to death? Yeah? You give up so much. You kid sacrifice? I know because when I left Bible college, I’d drug my wife and two kids all across this country. We had no health insurance, I had no steady income, I didn’t have any income, it didn’t even trickle in. And how many times I wondered, if there’s a verse in the Bible that says, if a man does not provide for his own, he’s worse than an infidel.

And I weighed that about what I was doing and trying to live by faith, going to Indian camps, where they didn’t pay you a dime. And wondering whether or not, how am I going to take care of this and take care of that? And all the problems and pressures that you go through, when is it worth it? Is it worth it? Yes, I can say that they did without a lot of things that a lot of people had because they didn’t do what I did.

but I could not stop. I could not quit. And it’s driven me for 49 years since I left Bible college. And it’s still the same way nothing’s changed. I just know that we got to keep training other people to have a vision, to have a burden. You don’t have to come down to the front of the church and pray through and hang on and let go and cry out to God to give me a burden for souls. No. All you have to do is accept the responsibility that God’s already given to you.

And therefore, when you accept that responsibility, you’ll have a burden and it will weigh upon you. And you can’t enjoy life like you used to anymore. You can enjoy things but not like you used to because there’s always this constant pressure that keeps pushing you and won’t let go of you. And it don’t matter where you go and what you do, there’s always this thing about giving the gospel, giving the gospel, giving the gospel. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you James?

Because you don’t have to be a preacher behind a pulpit to have that same burden. All of God’s children should have it. And that’s why we give and sacrifice. But he says, I will come to visions. And whenever you have a vision, God reveals to you as well. And God reveals things to the Apostle Paul. And he makes a statement how in verse before he said how he was caught up into the paradise and heard unspeakable words which is not lawful for a man to utter.

He said, I couldn’t tell about it. And the thing is he saw it, but he couldn’t tell what he saw. And he never tells us what it was. But there’s several things that are mentioned here in verse six, he says, for though I would desire to glory. In other words, he’s talking to these Corinthian Christians who had constantly kept putting him down. So finally he had enough of it and he says, I’m going to tell you a few things and put you in your place and he did.

That’s what you find there in the previous chapter. But now he says, now, if I really, really wanted a break, I could tell you what I saw. But I’m not permitted to tell you. I desire to. I love to tell you what I saw. Whatever it is that Paul saw when he got to heaven, it was worth him coming back into this life and dying for what he believed. You know, they chopped off his head because of his faith.

He could have, when anywhere done anything, and he was a smart, educated man, but he said, I’d rather be a fool for Christ’s sake. So he says here in verse 6, For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool. For I will say the truth, but now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he said me to be, or that he hearth of me. He says, I have to watch it that I don’t exalt myself in my own mind, lest I exalt myself in my own mind, by exalt myself in my own mind.

Even if you don’t say anything to anybody else, Paul could say Look who you are. Look where you were. Look what you saw. You’re something special. Look how you could go back. You could brag. Paul says, I don’t want to be a fool. So he had to watch that he did not exalt himself in his own mind and then it makes his statement also. But now I think, or I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he sift me to be.

Unless I should be exalted above measure to the abundance of the revelation, and he doesn’t want to be exalted in the eyes of other people. If I was to tell you what I saw, you might exalt me above what I what I need to be. And he says, I’m just a man. I’m just a man. I’m just a man. And I don’t want people to think of me greater than what I really am. I’m just a man. You never make the shadow bigger than the real man because sooner or later somebody’s going to see the real man.

You don’t put people on a pedestal. They don’t belong there. There’s only one that belongs on the pedestal. That’s the Lord. You worship Him. You bow to Him. You follow Him. And He says here in verse 7, Less I should be exalted above measure, through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, less I should be exalted above measure. In other words, it was designed to keep him humble.

How would you like somebody to go around with you? And all they did was beat you up all the time. Just beat you up. To buffet me, to humble me, a thorn in my flesh, stone in my side, something that always keeps you dependent upon God. Like there’s no break, there’s no rest, there’s no let up, just constant, all your life until God takes you home. I figured that one day. I think I’ve already done live probably 10 years longer than what the apostle Paul lived.

I don’t think he lived to be as long as I could be wrong. But now look at what says here in verse 9, he said, I had prayed that God would take us away from, but God didn’t. But see, God was able to use him because he kept himself humble. He did not try to exalt himself above what he was. He said, I don’t want people to think of me more than what I am. He said, I’m a fool for Christ’s sake.

I am the off scouring of the world. I’m the garbage. I’m what nobody wants to be. I do what nobody else wants to do. I go where nobody wants to go to take the gospel where the gospel has never been preached, where this has never been heard before. But he had a vision. And you look there in verse 9. How could Paul do all of this? Well, he says there in verse 9. He said unto me, my grace is sufficient.

You You’ve got to underline that word sufficient. You know, when we talk about the gospel, grace in the gospel, I’m saved by grace means that God’s grace is sufficient. I don’t need one work. Grace is sufficient. I don’t need anything else. I’m saved because of God’s wonderful, marvelous, amazing grace. And all I had to do was let the Lord save man. Something so simple and so easy the world cannot grasp it. A simple truth. But when it comes to the Christian life, the understanding that serving the Lord is God’s grace is still sufficient, is sufficient for your life.

Because when he says it here, he’s not talking about just when he was saved, he’s talking about for his life. He’s talking about how He can be humbled and keep serving God because God’s grace is sufficient. And God can give Him the visions and the revelations. And He could keep on serving God. Nothing mattered because God’s grace is sufficient. While you’re right here, look there in chapter 3. Second Corinthians in chapter 3, he makes a statement there in verse 5.

In verse 5 of chapter 3, 2 Corinthians, he says, not that we are sufficient of ourselves. You say, I can’t serve God because I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go. God says, I know that. I’m sufficient for you. I’m what you need. I have given you my Word and you studied my Word and it’s capable of making you into a man of God. will be sufficient to do the work that I called you to do.

Did you know if you yield yourself to the Lord, God is responsible for everything else? He’s responsible. Do you think God is going to fulfill his responsibilities? Or do you think he’s going to let you down? Fail ya. God’s word is true. and give what he says here. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves. Get this, but our sufficiency is of God. Now this is not just talking about salvation here. This is talking about the Christian life.

I went to Bible college because my God was sufficient for me. All my needs were met, though I struggled and fought all the way, all the time, but he was sufficient. And when I left and went into all those camps and one if I was gonna live or die, start to death! And had no means of visible support, nothing. My God was sufficient. So I can stand here and tell you, after being saved for 53 years, my God is sufficient.

And you need to learn more than anything else in the world. It doesn’t matter what you go through. God is sufficient. He’s all I need. And he gave me life and he can take me out of this world and he can use me while I’m here. And I don’t have to make things happen, I just let things happen. I just want God to use me. And that’s what I want other people to understand, to believe, because that’s the most important thing in your whole life.

Go back to 2 Corinthians in chapter 12, where he makes a statement there in verse 9, my My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is found in your weakness.” You see, if you were strong, you wouldn’t need God, but God keeps you humble, keeps you on your knees, keeps you praying so that you have to keep depending upon Him. Isn’t God smart? Isn’t God good? Isn’t God wise? He knows all of these things in order to keep us close to Him.

And as He says here, most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. See if you can do it all, you don’t need the Lord. But if you realize without Christ I can do nothing. But with the Lord, me and God we can handle anything. He causes me to be sufficient. Remember he made this statement, his grace was not bestowed upon me in vain. Now talk about it in salvation.

He’s talking about the purpose of your life. The reason God let you live and you lived to do what God wanted you to do, your life is not in vain. Did you know you can be saved and lived for 20, 30, 40 years, but if you don’t serve God, you lived in vain. Your life was in vain. It was for nothing. because without Christ and without serving God, then why do you live? What’s the purpose of your life? God says, and we talked about this in Sunday school, life is not consist of the things or the abundance of things that a man possesses.

There’s more to life. Seek He first, the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things would be added unto us. So as you go down through here, He’d make some statements and I want you look there in verse 15. Verse 15, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for you. And the more I love you, the less I be loved. The more he loved them, the less they loved them back. You know, in reality, love is supposed to respond to love.

We love him. Why? Because he first loved us. He loved us. How did you know he loved you. Well, it was manifested. The love of God is manifested because Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. That’s how God manifested his love toward us. Then in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 5 he tells us that we should love him. He says, because of this, the motive, the motive,,- and to serve the Lord because we love him. For the love of Christ constraineth us, motivates us, because we thus judge that if one died for all than were all dead, and that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who die for them and rose again.

Yeah, I guess I could say that you go to Bible college to become a Bible, to learn the word of God so that it permeates your mind so that you become a living word. You see, that’s what he’s talking about in 2 Corinthians in chapter 3. You are epistles written by God, not on tables of stone, but upon the hearts of every individual that knows the Lord. And it says you are read by other people because of the way you live, the things that you say, what you live for, your decisions that you make reveals who you really love, that you really trust the Lord.

Well, see, this is what serving God is about and why it’s so important. And this is why he says, though, the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. You do not want that to be about you. You want because God loves you. As Paul said here, to spend and be spent for you. You see, people spend their lives trying to help other people to come to know the Lord and to serve the Lord. And their lives are spent doing that.

That’s why Christ says, if any man lose his life, for my sake and the gospel, the same shall find it. But if you lose your life for anything else, spend it on anything else other than what Christ wants, then you lost your life. And this is what Christ was talking about. This is why it’s so important to appear. I’m so glad that salvation is free. And we talk about grace is sufficient. Oh, it is. Christ came into the world and died on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world.

Because, you see, this is you and me, and this is sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Now I hate what we do wrong, but He loves us. And to pay for our sins, eternal separation from God in Hell. But the Bible says that to go to heaven, we’d have to be perfect. It writes us as God, and none of us are perfect. None of us are good enough. So the Bible says that we have sin, we have a debt, we need to pay it, we owe it.

And we cannot pay for our sins by going to church. There’s no verse in the Bible says, if you go to church, that’ll pay for your sins. If you give money, that’ll pay for your sins. You try to live a good life, well that’ll pay for your sins. No it won’t. All of it all put together on paper one. The wages of sin is death. And that means eternal separation from God in hell. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh.

Came into this world because he loves us, but he hates what we do wrong, and our sins separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. But because of his love for us, He took our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And He says, this payment has been made. We didn’t make it. He did. And He said, He would save us by grace means without me having to pay for it, without me trying to earn it, without me deserving.

I don’t have to deserve this. Why is He going to give this to me? Because He loves me. That’s what love does. So love says that He’ll do this for me because He loves me. And he says, I’m saved by his amazing grace. His grace is sufficient. That’s all I needed. When you say grace is sufficient, it means Christ is sufficient. See, a lot of people believe that Christ is necessary to go to heaven. They just don’t know that He’s enough.

He’s enough. And once you trust Christ as Savior, He gives you, He turns life as a free gift and you get to go to heaven whenever you die. you trust your Christ and you know you’re going to heaven when you die? God’s grace is still ;;;;;;;;;;;; he allowed you to live. You don’t deserve to live. No more than I do. That was grace. The opportunity that God given to us, what a privilege. And then some people abuse that privilege.

Beginning to look at the world and think what I could do and what I could be and what I can make, what I can accumulate. And that will make me happy. Now once this This truth gets a hold of you. And you catch that vision. You’ll never be happy again. Because it will follow you, burden you, as the Bible says, because thou serveth not the Lord thy God with joyfulness of heart, it will become like a yoke of iron, this place upon your name, until it lays you down and destroys you.

You’ve been listening to another great message from Pastor Arnold, and we at Bibleline thank you for tuning in. In appreciation to those who support this ministry financially, we would like to send to you the Dora Lake story. It is a true story about the splitting of a church in Minnesota after a young preacher taught a gospel message that contradicted the theology of Calvinism. And can you guess who that young preacher was? Yes, it was Pastor Arnold. In this book, Pastor Arnold thoroughly discusses the dangers of the five points of Calvinism.

This book is offered to you as a free gift for your donation and any amount. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. We are pleased to be able to give a little something back to you for your financial support. So for this month, receive the door-lakes story with your financial contribution of any amount, and thank you for helping us reach the world with the Clear Gospel. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline.

If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is Porty 811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. 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, just keep looking up.