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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Alright, we’re going to talk a little bit. I’ve covered this, not long ago, about the unfaithful steward, the unfaithful steward. And sometimes these unfaithful stewards are wiser than the children of light. And so I wanted you to look there in the book of Matthew and chapter 25, chapter 25. And chapter 25, it makes the statement, where a couple of these fellows had done all right. God gave them something to do, or I should say in the parable. and they did it.

They doubled whatever they were given. They doubled it. So they did pretty good. But there was one. Look at verse 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hath not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strud. And I was afraid. I was afraid. I was afraid I might lose it so I didn’t do anything. Aren’t you proud of me?” He says, I went and hit it in the earth, lo, I still got it.

It says in verse 26, his Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant. You knew, thou knewest that I reap where I so not and gather where I had not strung. You knew that. You ought at least have done something. Well, you think everybody does something, but sometimes people don’t do anything. And so, what are we going to do about it? If you’ll notice in your notes here, I put together some things because we need to understand how important this is.

Those are little incidents that happened this week. Let me run it by you just a tad. I won’t tell you all the details. You know, this last Sunday we had chili cook off. And there was some money, good chili. Everybody had a good time. But we also had somebody that came and, well, they were looking for a free meal, and so they got them a free meal. They didn’t have any money, they still got to eat. But afterwards, James wanted to talk to me, so we had to go back to the back.

And I was confronting an individual that said, I gave him permission to ask people in the church for some money. Well, that’s not exactly the whole truth. And so we had to deal with the situation. And so the two parties, they left. Well, it wasn’t long before. Well, the next day I was going in down here to Nicky’s to get me something to eat, for me and my little darling. And when I got out of the car, lo and behold, I looked over there to my right and there they were.

Now, whether they had slept there all night, I don’t know. They looked like they could have, but I’m not sure. So anyway, I was going to go on in the niggies, but they did catch my eye, and they let me know that they saw me. And I mean, I was nothing but sugar and spice. I mean, I really preached a good sermon, loved that sermon. But then he says, I’ve got a problem. I said, well, what’s the problem? And then He came unglued.

He chewed me out, chewed the church out, and later it was with them, cussed me out. I’m standing there and I’m talking about using, you think of the word and they used it. And kind of slapping the people in the church here and we were the ones that had helped him. He was given, they were given some money. But he didn’t like that. He says, I’ve never asked anybody for any money. I’ve never asked anybody. And I had about three people that told me he did.

So, anyway, I kind of, I felt sorry for them. And at the same time, I thought, it’s amazing that anybody would help you if they only saw your attitude. It was one thing when people have a sweet spirit, a nice attitude about him, but it was our fault that they’re having a hard time. He said, my wife is four months pregnant, my wife is four, I don’t know if he had time yet, He told me his wife was four months pregnant.

Now I don’t know if she was pregnant at all, I don’t know. He said, we only got eight kids. And I thought eight kids. And he didn’t look like he was the kind that was really looking for a job. Now he could have been. But I did smell alcohol on. And then I got cussed out, blessed out, and even referred to a few people in our church that helped him out and blessed him out too. So not everybody is sweet and kind in this whole world.

Even when you help somebody, you’re compassionate too. You show a little kindness to. So what I was going to do when I walked over there to them, I asked them if they wanted to get something to eat. I just dropped it and I just went inside. And I sat down there and I barely had ordered me something. And I thought, well, I need to go like gardeners, ask them again if they wanted to come in. And I’ll buy them something to eat.

So I walked back and I didn’t get too far before I heard they come. And they came inside, I hated. And he said, she’s out there crying. She’s just out there just crying. because they wanted to have something to eat. So anyway, I said, go ahead and I told the way to go ahead and let them eat something and not pay for it. So they did. And they came in, they said down and I don’t even know what they ordered.

It wasn’t important. Whatever they got. And being very finished and we realized they got carry-on boxes, they didn’t even eat their food. They didn’t say to eat. I thought, I’m gonna know how many breakfasts they’ve already had. And And evidently they weren’t hungry and they didn’t need anything to eat. So they got up and they left. And I thought some people are in bad shape. Maybe there’s reasons that we don’t know about. Some people have a hard time because they have a hard time.

And so you want to have a little compassion. So you have some compassion. But there’s something in the Bible that says some things about some of these things. And I’m saying it totally relates to it, but it’s something that has to be done. But I want you to look at some of these things, because it’s so important. There’s two words that are used, and a really closely connected one is slothal. And we covered this in the book of Matthew, and it’s the one that the Lord rebuked.

And slothal is an active, lazy, idle man. So I had to learn years and years ago if I wanted anything, I had to do what? I had to work. had to work, work, work. And so it’s just something that you have to do. But now you look down there to the word slugger. That is habitually a slothful man. See, you can be slothful on certain days in certain ways, but a slugger is, that’s his life. I mean, that’s his style.

That’s the way he is. And so you have to be careful of these things. Now, take your Bible on looking at the book of Judges, all the way back into the book of Judges, and we’ll go through these fairly quick, unless you take a long time. See, I’m not a slow speaker. I’m always having to wait on y’all. Y’all already there? All right. The book of Judges chapter 18 and verse 9, there’s a little statement here about claiming something God promised, claiming something.

You know, they’ve been through a lot and they wanted something. So he says here in verse 9, and they said, arise that we may go up against them for we have seen the land and behold, it is very good. And are ye still? Be not slothful to go and to enter to possess the land. Let’s do it. Should we set steel when there’s something that we can have? Let’s take it. Let’s do it. We can do this thing. You know what I’ve enjoyed though is over the years because I get bored quick.

That’s why I have to have a lot of things to do. So I work on this. You know, and I work on this and I get bored. I got, but I can’t stand doing nothing. I got to always do something. If I go to just to get a cup of coffee. I’ve got to take and have something to read, or I’m going to be making some notes. But I very seldom have a lot of downtime. I’m always thinking about what I’ve got to do, or how I can do something better, or maybe some class I’ve got to work for to try to get things ready for a night school.

You know what that’s like, don’t you? And so there’s a lot of work and planning. It doesn’t happen automatically. It takes a lot of work. why you have to learn and have something that makes you go, makes you work, and to do these things. The last thing you want to be is a slothful individual. Now look at the next one, looking Proverbs chapter 12. Now a lot of these will be pretty much in the same book, but we’ll go backwards and forwards.

Looking Proverbs chapter 12 and verse 24. Now this is a tremendous, tremendous verse. But look what he says. Now remember, God used Solomon to write the book of Proverbs. And in writing Proverbs, it’s the book of wisdom. And you know, you want to talk about something that’s warm to your heart and comforting and expresses your emotions and how you think and feel. Well, that’s the book of Psalms. But Proverbs is telling you how to deal with blank, how to treat people, things to do, things not to do.

So it’s a word where you get the pro and verbum meaning more than meets the eye. So you read it and there’s more than just what it says, there’s truth behind it. It means more. So you look there in verse 24, the hand of the diligent shall bear rule. It means those that do and work hard get the lead and there’s other ones that don’t get that opportunity, but he says here, the sloth-oat shall be under tribute or under tax.

So you are going to find out when the good people in America sit idly by and do not take a role in our own government, then the wicked are going to be there and their don’t act should it death. Because they don’t understand your right, your privileges and what is the best form of government. Next thing you know, we are going to pay a great price for that in order for evil to try them, all the good have to do is what?

Nothing. Don’t do anything. And the evil will take everything they got away from you. And they are filled with this. Look in verse 27 right there in the same place where he says, the slawful man roasted not that which he took in hunting, but the substance of a diligent man his precious. Now, I’ve been hunting. I’ve been hunting a lot. I’ve killed a lot of rabbits, a lot of squirrels. I’ve caught a few fish. I can’t say I caught a lot of fish.

They always still all my bait is all I do. But I’ve killed a lot of deer, a lot of deer. One elk. I’ve chased elk for 18 years. And I got me one elk. It was the shot of a lifetime. You like when they play golf and they have, you know, this is the shot of the day and they saw some really good shot. Well, this was the shot of the century. About 500 yards shot up the heel, one shot, and I put it right into that elk’s mouth.

He looked up and boom, my shot and right, didn’t amount. When I finally killed that one elk, that’s what they said I did. You know, you just pull the trigger and the outrun into it. I just get no credit. I don’t get no respect. Just no respect. But you’ve got to understand you’ve got to finish the job. When you start something you want to finish. The Bible talks about it in the book of Luke chapter 14. You count the cost, what it takes to finish.

See it’s not that you have enough faith to start. Do you have in the face to finish what to start. And so that is always a very interesting thing. But look there in chapter 15, chapter 15 and verse 19. You’ve heard me talk about it at times about the a hedge of thorns so that we glance at what you do you prick yourself. You’re always hurting yourself because if you’re not going to serve the Lord, I pray a hedge of thorns about you that your decisions will get you in trouble and get you in trouble quick so they’ll hurt you and you’ll get back to the Lord.

So that you can see the era of your ways that is not always the best. And so up here in verse 19, the way of the slothful man is as a hedge of thorns, but the way of the righteous is made plain. In other words, it’s kind of like I said before, like pushing the rope. That’s where your life gets all tangled up when you go the wrong direction. But if you go the right direction, it straighten your life out and everything will be fine.

But you get to where you stop walking with the Lord like you should, and this is something that I’ve noticed, even though I’m getting older now, I want to finish well. Don’t you want to finish well? I want to finish, but I want to finish well. I want to run my course, as he says in chapter 20 of Acts, it would joy. Do it with joy. Enjoy serving the Lord. And some people will, and some people will not. Now look in chapter 18.

Chapter 18 and verse 9. Now sometimes, you know, a person that doesn’t have a lot to do, usually get to be guilty of verse 8. The words of a tail bear are wounds and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly. People who say things just to hurt your feelings, you know, it can really hurt. You know, words do hurt. And they say, six and stone may break my bones, but word names will never hurt me. You do.

You haven’t been called very much in your lifetime then, but it does hurt when people say things against you and you know it’s not true. But look what he says in verse 9, he also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. A person who wastes a lot of his time is waste in his life because life is made up of time. And if you waste time, you waste life. So there’s people who waste their life.

In other words, as long as you’re going to live, try to get as much down as you possibly can. That’s why I I try to keep myself as busy as I possibly can. Doing something, always doing something. Don’t stop. When I get old and I can’t go, then I’ll probably slow down and stop. But I’m not there yet. I’m just here to peak. I’m just rounding off the top of that little heel. But this is a good verse. It means a slawful person has a brother.

And that’s the brother who just wastes a lot of time. That’s what he does, because he will not stay busy doing the thing that God wants them to do. Look in Proverbs chapter 19 verse 24. Now there’s three verses here that I want you to see. These three verses are very good to see. In verse 24 down to verse 26. In verse 24 it says, a slothful man hideeth his hand in his bosom and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

In other words, he’s too lazy to feed himself. A person that’s too lazy to feed himself. But look what he says here in verse 25, smite a sconer and the simple will beware. They learn about what you do from somebody else and reprove one that hath understanding and he will understand knowledge. In other words, some people are always learning and gaining and become wiser as they go through life. Then there’s other people who don’t learn and they don’t get very wise.

Now looking in verse 26, He that wasted his father and chases away his mother is a son that causes shame and bring it reproach. See that? You see that was something that was also mentioned in a previous chapter. You see there when he says in verse 9 of the previous chapter he says, he also that is slothled in his work is brother to him that is a great waster. And here he’s talking about wasting your life. He that wastes his father, in other words, generally a father spends a lot of time and money and effort into a child.

And then that child wastes his life and brings great shame to the mother. Hold your place right here. Look there in Proverbs in chapter one. Proverbs chapter one. Now Proverbs chapter one, This is from the old preacher boy Solomon. And he says, a wise man, they’re in verse five, a wise man will hear and will increase learning. And a man of understanding shall attain unto wise councils. To understand a proverb and the interpretation, the words of the wise and their dark sayings, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Now, get what he says here because it deals with the family. My son, hear the instruction of thy father, forsake not the law of thy mother. It is important to realize, in most cases, parents try to tell you the things to do that’s right. They don’t always, but they may try to the best of their ability. And so it’s a shame for a son to bring shame to his parents. And I never wanted to bring shame to my parents, even though at times I was ashamed of my parents.

But I lived long enough to realize they didn’t get to know what I know. Nobody is, I know of, ever told them about the Lord. Maybe they never had the chance of the opportunity. Because the whole time I was with my mom and dad, they never talked about God, they never talked about the Bible, they never had prayer in our home. Because that’s the way they were raised. They didn’t know. How can they teach me something they didn’t know?

So they were ignorant. Yeah, they were ignorant of what the word of God says. So when I understood, I wanted to make sure that at least I can try to tell my kid, but it took five years before I was able to leave my mama to the Lord. And so I’m thankful for that. And then I led my one stepdad to the Lord. So there’s some things that will happen to you. You just gotta get over it and not dwell on the past and remember to keep looking forward and doing what God wants us to do.

Now, if you will look there in chapter 21 again where it says in verse 25, the desire of the sloth-o-kill of him for his hand refuses to labor, his hand refuses to labor. So, it will kill you in the long run. Be somebody that is not afraid of work. The only place you find, I guess how would you say it, work and success, where success comes before work is only in the dictionary. Because in real life, if you don’t do the work, you’ll never be a success.

You’ve got to learn how to discipline yourself and make yourself go. Make yourself go. Because my dad wasn’t there to make me go. My mother didn’t make me go. It’s not my wife that makes me go, but what makes me go? You’ve got to have something that makes you go, makes you strive to do as much as you possibly can. So it’s important. Looking in Proverbs 22. Proverbs 22. And look there in verse 13 where it says, the slothful man says, hey, there’s a lion outside.

I can’t go outside because I’ll get slain by the lion. Now his lie is better than the good reasons of seven men. See, a lot of people have a reason why they can’t do certain things and it may be a legitimate but a sloth a man can outlie anybody and it will sound so good. And so that’s why you have to be careful. Now look at the next scripture and that is, let’s see here where we get now, Proverbs chapter 24, Proverbs 24 and verse 30.

And there’s two verses here that I want you to look at and one in verse 30 and the other one is verse 31. Verse 30 says, I went by the field of the slawful. Now what’s the slawful person? That’s the inactive lazy idle man. So sometimes the script don’t mean anything if you don’t know the meaning of the word. So you find out the meaning of the word and then when you go back and read that verse, did I?

It makes sense. I went by the field of the lazy, the slawful, the idle. And by the vineyard of the man, void of understanding, he just doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get it. And in verse 31 and lo, you’re on the line this part. It was all grown over with what? He had carrots and he had corn and he had potatoes and he had, no he had thorns. He had thorns. Now take your Bible and turn with me all the way over to the book of Hebrews in chapter 6, Hebrews and chapter 6.

Now Now what does God say about His little darling children? Hebrews chapter 6. Once you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, your God’s child. And as a child of God, you and I are to grow in the Lord. And so if we will grow, we’ve got to listen. You can’t obey the Word if you don’t hear the Word. So in the previous chapter, chapter 5 and verses 11 down to 14, tells us that you become dull of hearing. In other words, you don’t hear, therefore you don’t do.

And the only reason you should hear because you wanna do something, wanna do what the word of God says. So he says, some babes in the Lord, they’re not strong enough and they can’t handle them. He can’t look at in verse six now, verse six of chapter six. If they shall fall away to renew them again and to repent and see and they crucify to themselves the Son of God, a phrase and put them to an open chain. Now I believe this is all written, This is all these scriptures is to the Christian, to the believer.

But he says here in verse seven, For the earth which drank it in the rain that comeeth off upon it, and bring it forth herbs made for them by whom it is dressed, receive it. And here’s the thing, blessings from God. So he says, here’s the earth, it rains and brings forth fruit. Here’s the Christian. the Christian should drink in the world of God and bring forth fruit. And that’s why he’s talking about the blessings from God. But in verse 8, but that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected.

Not the land, but the briars. All those things are rejected whose end is to be burned. You don’t burn the land, but you burn that which is upon the land and it’s a wasted life. is nigh unto cursing, whose end is to be burned, but in verse 9, but beloved we’re persuaded better things of you. I expect better things from God’s people because I should expect it. If I teach what the Word of God says, I’m supposed to put my confidence in God’s Word that it will do the work that God sent it out to do.

And so as you hear and listen to what the Word of God says, and if there’s any correction has to be made, you’re going to do it. That’s what I believe. Now if you don’t, I get greatly disappointed. And I’ve been disappointed a lot of times in my personal life. But you have to understand why God says what He does because see, all these things are important. But it doesn’t matter if you’re young or if you’re old. These truths doesn’t break it down into age brackets.

The truth stays the same. And so that’s why we have to keep these things in mind. Look there in Proverbs 26 back to Proverbs, back to Proverbs 26. And verse 15, and here in this verse, verse 15, the slawful hided his hand in his bosom. Now this is similar to a verse we already read while I go. It grieves him to bring it again to his mouth. That means to work for a living. And then in verse 16, the slugger is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that are can render a reason.

And this is what I was talking about just a moment ago. 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. And this book is offered to you as a free gift for your donation in 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 Lake 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 4 D-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.