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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. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

So whenever you’re suffering, just chalk it up. That’s fine. God sees God’s gonna take care of it. I win you lose Your mind you know that who keeps the books? He keeps the books just let him keep the books He won’t forget anything it would be a sin for God to Forget your work and labor for the Lord Look what he says in the next verse verse 21 for even here unto word you called Because Christ also and here’s that word again suffered suffered for us.

Leave in us an example that you should follow his steps. In the word maybe God is concerned about you suffering for him. You say, boy I didn’t know he was going to be this much, but it comes in different ways. You see it would be different if you and I could choose which way to suffer and when to suffer. Then we’d be ready for it, but we don’t get to choose. We don’t get to choose the trial and the testing.

God does all that for us. There’s a course laid out. We’ve got to run our race. So as we’re running our race, God puts little obstacles or allows them to be put in our way and they cause us a lot of heartache. And you know all those things cause the person who wants to serve the Lord, get a little bit closer to the Lord. So God uses things to crowd you to Christ, to crowd you to Christ. I got a book this thick.

I got from Dr. Lee Robertson years ago called Crowded to Christ. I read that book and I cried. I’d read some more and I’d cry. I read that book and I’d cry. I cried almost the way I always do the book because I was living the book. What I was going through in my life, I was living that book. And everything seems to be pointing, this is me. This is me. And but it did it really helped me to understand some of the trials that you go through in life.

And so he says, following, looking verse 23 where he said, who when he was reviled, reviled not again, when he suffered, when he suffered. So all of this is, wouldn’t it be easier for God just to remove all the things that causes us to suffer? Now that would be a blessing. That would be an answer to prayer. But then he might as well just go ahead and take your own home. So that’s not why he left you here. He wants you to demonstrate to the world you love him more than anything that could ever happen whether good or bad it wouldn’t change you.

You are the way you are because this is your character. Good things happen, praise the Lord, bad things happen, praise the Lord and it doesn’t matter. Remember in the book of Job the Lord giveth and the Lord take it the way. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Should we bless the Lord only when He gives and curse Him when He takes things away? When He’s easy for us, we praise the Lord. God sure is good. Did you know when your worst day, your darkest day, God is still just as good.

His character is, he don’t change. God doesn’t become evil one day and good the next day. He is a perfect God that makes no mistakes. We’re supposed to believe all of that. But he says here in verse 23, there’s a word here committed. I want you to look at the first 23 again. Who when he was revolved? Revolved not again. When he suffered, he threatened none. But committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Can you commit yourself to him that judgeth Righteously.

No one God saw this. God saw what people said and what people did. God knows how I hurt and what caused it. And I’m committed to him knowing he will judge righteously and I don’t have to worry about it. It keeps you from taking matters into your own hand and saying or doing something that you wish you hadn’t done 20 years later. It’s pretty good information really does. Now look there in chapter three. First Peter chapter three. and look down there in verse seven, verse seven where he says, so likewise the husbands dwell with them, talking about your wives, dwell with them according to knowledge.

Now that’s gonna be difficult, I know. I was talking to the college kids the other day and I might even mention it yesterday or Sunday. That just because you don’t understand something doesn’t mean that it doesn’t exist. And they don’t understand God, so God must not exist. So I said, that would be like, since I don’t understand my wife, therefore she doesn’t exist. No, she does exist and she is for real, and you may never understand her all the days of your life.

That’s okay, that just comes with the territory. You should have known that when you married him, unless you got married young and didn’t have any sense. And so a lot of people get married when they’re young, and you got a bit of sense. Don’t even know what love is. All you know is I like you, you like me, let’s get married, there you go. And could cost you as much as $5, you know. If you’re the right kind of a man, the wife will be willing to buy you, you know, pay $5 for you.

My wife got me 50% off. Good deal. But anyway, you look up there in this verse, seven where he makes this statement. According to knowledge given honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, eternal life, that in your underliveness, your prayer to be not hindered. And so your prayers can be hindered if things are not right at home. And you want to do right. You don’t want your prayers to be hindered.

But also to look at this verse. Look up here in verse 14. Verse 14 where he says, But, and if you suffer, but if you suffer, in that word, it means, and you will. The same as you read over there in the book of James when it says, when you fall in the divers temptations, you know, and you will. And if you suffer for righteousness sake, you’re doing right and you’re paying a price. You try to discipline the lawyer you should.

Trying to be a good dad or a good mom and kids and all that kind of stuff it goes on and not everything is gonna work out like you think Lot of things down here is gonna be a lot of loose ends It’s kind of like this Little boy was sitting on a porch and he were looking up at grandma and she’s sitting in rocking chair And she’s doing something broidering, you know So he’s looking from his end all he says those broken pieces of strings But she’s up there just to work an on a pattern And I said, what are you doing?

So I’m making a picture. Sure don’t look like it to me. Well, what does it look like to you? It looks like nothing. Nothing, there ain’t no picture there at all, there’s nothing. So when she got through, she let him see it. See, he was looking from his perspective and she was looking from her perspective. For you and me, we see things from this perspective. And all we see is a lot of broken ends, no continuity, nothing going together, no pattern.

We don’t see a design. And it just seems like it’s so haphazard. And yet one of these days God’s going to bring us to Heaven and kind of show you what he’s been doing. And you’ll find that God has been working in your life in a marvelous way that you’re nothing about. and you won’t understand it until you get there. So can we be patient? Can we wait long enough to see what God has been doing? The longer you live, you start seeing some of these things coming together.

And you can see how God did this and why did that and why did that? And there’d be a lot of things that you don’t understand, but he says secret things, but longath unto the Lord. So if you look at it, it makes sense. But up there in verse 14, But if you suffer for righteousness, say, happy argue. See those three words? It’s okay to suffer when you’re doing right. And it’s okay to be happy when people do your own.

And there’s a lot of people will say, are hurting, cutting detrimental things to you. And people will fail you. Not everybody’s faithful. It would be great if everybody was just faithful. Everybody’s on the same page. And nobody hurting your body, but we don’t. We fail each other. I’ll fail you. I’m a preacher, but I’m a man. I got faults. I think I found one of them about two years ago. It was a small one. No. But everybody, the best govus has faults.

Now, you may not have known that. I had to tell on you. But it says, happy are ye and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. In other words, there are terrorists in the world. There’s people who cause us fear, terrorists, little terrorists. And did you know that Christians can be little terrorists? They can hurt you. They can scare you. Don’t you hurt for those you love and you’re afraid they’re they’re going to make some decisions that might put scars on them for the rest of their life and you can’t stand it.

You cringe because you don’t want them to do that and you’re looking way down the road and all they think about is right now. Give me, give me, give me. I want to do whatever I want to do. It’s my life and all that stuff. I know. And you suffer for it. But you can still be happy if you’re doing what’s right. Look at the next one I I want you to see. Look in verse 17, for it is better, for it is better if the will of God be so that you suffer for well doing than for evo doing.

It is God’s will that you suffer for doing right. Those that live God shall suffer persecution. You’re going to be persecuted in one way or the other. And it might be the devil that will persecute you. Why do you think in the midst of all of these things like this, he brings up all this guy named Satan, say his name? No devil. Look over there very quickly in chapter 5. Here you are studying about this life and all the problems and the burdens and the sorrow, the heaviness, the suffering, all these things.

And then he says over there in verse 7, casting all your care upon him, for he care for you. Cast all your cares upon him, for he care for you. And then look what he says, be sober, be vigilant because your adversary, the devil, you have an adversary. You have someone that wants to keep you from being happy. Someone keeps you from serving God. From being what God wants you to be. There’s somebody in this world that you can’t see working behind the scenes through circumstances and people to do everything possible to get you to stop, to get mad and quit on God.

He ain’t going to win, is he? He ain’t going to let the devil win are you? Are you? You’re not going to ever win. I just want to give them a big old black eye so that when my life is over us, I would hate to think that I lived here for all these years and the devil don’t even know who I am. Now, there is some scripture that talks about such a thing And the devil is real. And he says, as a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour, does the devil know when you are stressed out?

Does he know when you’re discouraged? Does he know when you’re down? Does he know exactly the right time to jump on you? I think he’s smarter than we think. He’s been doing this for a few thousand years, you know. And then he makes his statement in verse 9, home, home, resist, steadfast in the faith. Steadfast in the faith means you don’t stop, you don’t quit, you don’t give in. You just keep believing God and keep getting up. And you have the lust of the flesh.

And so the devil tries to lure you through the lust of the flesh. And buddy, we get the old flesh. When you read the book of Proverbs and talks about so many times, about a lazy person and about sleeping too much. And I was told that your dreams are more likely to be fulfilled if you don’t oversleep.

Your dreams are more likely to be fulfilled if you don’t oversleep. I think that’s a pretty good statement. Alright, go back over here to this other verse. I want you to see there in verse 18 of chapter 3. Verse 18 says, for Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. Did he suffer? Yes, he did. He’s suffered for us. Now God wants us to suffer for Him that we might bring people to God. And so it’s the things that we have to go through, the price we have to pay, the dedication, whether it’s the finances, the given of our time, our praying, all that we do for the sake of reaching others for the Lord.

There’s a price to pay. And some people will pay that price and they’ll pay it gladly. But do you understand that you can’t outgive God? God will make it very well worth your while. God is not going to let you go unrewarded. He will make it worth your while. That is so interesting to know. Also look down here at verse 1 of chapter 4. In chapter 4 and verse 1 he says, for as much Then is Christ have suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves.

Be ready, likewise, with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. Christ ceased and suffered for us. You and I have a deadline. We just don’t know where it is. And one of these day just going to all be over. Until then we’ve got an old sinful nature that’s gone. The devil’s going to use to try to get us sidetracked and to get us away from God. And the Lord talks about us realizing this one little thing right here.

He suffered for us in the flesh. We are in the flesh. We are in this world. And if they treat him the way they did, should we expect to be treated better that we should get through scot-free, nothing happened to us. We are privileged to live in America where we don’t have to suffer. But there’s a lot of things that we suffer because of what we’re trying to get done in the ministry. You have no idea all the time that’s spent trying to figure out how to take care of everything, how just to pay people, how to keep books.

I would rather just giving you Phasian’s 289 and John 3 16 and the wallet and turn me loose. But there’s all this other stuff you have to figure out. I mean we spent several months just on the insurance trying to figure out what we’re doing with that. And the Lord knew we needed help and He sent Jan along. But think of all the pressure we had and we just needed a little help. A And then a little help, he’s got a lot of help.

And then now we’re working on something else, then we work on something else. And we think, is camp going to be automatic that it does it all by itself? All we got to do is just show up. Is that right Peter? Just show up. There’s nothing we have to do. It just does it all by itself. And Peter’s been working day and night, working on the little booklet that we have to get done. And you get tired. you get weary and going through things like this.

So anytime we get close to done, we just send it to Jan and said, Jan, make it right. Because she’s a whiz on reading and correcting things. And so we’re just finding out that some people have different talents, you know. And so everybody’s got something. And we just thank the Lord for it. And you can help relieve some money else is burdens. This is what he’s talking about. Bear ye one another’s burdens. And so we cast it on the Lord and the Lord was working through Jan, so we just do the Lord Jan.

Now look at another verse. Look in verse 13, look in verse 13 of chapter 4, but rejoice, but rejoice. Why should I rejoice? And as much as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings, that when his glory shall be revealed, it’s not yet. Be patient, it’s not here yet. Payday’s coming, payday’s coming. And when it does, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. You’re going to be glad, exceeding joy. So all the hurt, the suffering that we go through now, like we’ve got several people in our church right now that’s hurting.

And didn’t know that’s not a piece of cake. It’s something they hurt. And they got to go through this. And it may be them today, but it might be somebody else a little bit later down the road. So we don’t know, but we do know that as God says right here, the day is going to come when His glory is revealed. We will be exceeding glad that we had the opportunity to suffer in this old body. See if God gave us glorified bodies right now, we wouldn’t suffer.

We weren’t about anything. We’d be like Superman, you know, all around here. But we don’t have these glorified bodies. We have these real young, teenage bodies that grew old on us. Now we’ve got to put up with this old body that we’ve got. But he says up there, in another verse, I want you to see this. See that in verse 12, B11, think it not strange, strange concerning the fiery trial, which is the triune. And some of it is a fiery trial.

And it doesn’t all happen at one time or the same thing to everybody. God knows exactly what each one of us need. Look also down here in verse 15, something he says not to do. He says, but none of you suffer as a murderer or as a thief or as an evil dwarf or as a busy body and other men’s matters. Boy, putting busy body in there with murderers. You know, there’s a lot of people, I guess, just playing old busy bodies.

I’ve never been calling one of those. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen one before. Well, I guess I have. I won’t mention her name. No. No, I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have said that. That’s the price to pay. There’s the price to always. Looking at verse 16, verse 16 says, yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf because there’s a day coming when God is going to reward you for what you’ve done and it will be worth it all.

It’ll be worth it all. Look in verse, wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God. So is it the will of God that some of his people suffer? That’s what he says. Can you do right and suffer for it? Yes. Yes. So I know it’s going to be this bad. Most people don’t have the problems they had until after they get saved and dedicate their life to the Lord. And then it seemed like it all breaks loose.

Because before you knew the Lord, the devil leave you alone. Before you dedicate your life to the Lord, it’s different. But when you make up your mind, I’m going to serve the Lord. I want to give God credit and give God glory for my life. You’d be surprised how it says all can just snowball on you. But all of this is important. But look in verse one of chapter five, the elders which are among you, I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the.

He was there when he saw Christ suffer. He saw him. And he says, and also a part taker of the glory. He saw him when he was transfigured and he saw him in his power and his glory. And he talked about that day is coming. He came, he suffered, and now he’s gone. But one day you’re going to see Christ in the kingdom. One day we’re all going to have glorified bodies. We’re all going to be perfect. Everything’s going to be wonderful.

We just got a little bit longer to wait. So let’s just be patient. Be patient while God works on us and in us and through us. Because what he’s after is our good. All things, all things that you may have to suffer, all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. To those who are called according to his purpose, it will be worked at all. It really will. one more verse that I want to show you before I get to the Gospel and that’s done in verse 10.

You see there in verse 10, but the God of all grace who had called us into his eternal glory. See we’re not in eternal glory. Yeah, that’s coming. Now we’re here in this old world. We’re in this old body and we’re going to hurt. We’re going to suffer. But after that you have suffered after the you have suffered a while and we don’t know how long this while is, make you perfy, mature, established, settles you. See, after you go through some things and you’ve learned how to walk with the Lord and you trust the Lord, your faith gets stronger in the Lord and then the next thing comes along.

Remember, there’s always got to be something else coming along down the road that challenges your faith that make your faith grow. So it’s got to be a bigger problem. A little bit harder, more difficult. It doesn’t get easier as we get older, but we should have a greater understanding of grace in God’s power and just to walk with Him and trust Him. And God bless us for it. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. And this wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. Now God says He loves us. He hates what we do wrong, but He loves us. And God says for us to go to heaven, we have to be perfect. It’s right. Jesus is God. None of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. And to pay for this sin is death in hell. And God says you can’t save yourself. You can’t deliver yourself by any amount of good works.

This sin represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from the Lord. So Christ took the sin paid for it on the cross came back from the dead and said that if we would believe that He did it for us, He would put this payment to our account. Christ paid for all my sins. They’re all paid. I don’t have any sins to pay for.

The blood of Christ given His life paid for all my sins. I accept it. I’m good to go. I go to heaven on what Christ did for me. That is the gift of God. Not a works list any man should boast. He said, these things have already written unto you that believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life. Let’s pray, shall we? With heads bowed nice and closed and no one looking around.

Would you right now, whether you’re here in the auditorium or you that are watching by internet, I pray that you would understand that God so loved the world That’s you. That he gave his only begotten son. That’s Jesus Christ. Now whosoever, you, me, anybody in the whole world, whosoever would believe. Believe it in him. That means you believe that he was the Lord, that he died on that cross, and that he came back from the dead. And it will give you eternal life if you believe it and you’ll trust him.

And if you trust him right now, he saves you right now and gives you the free gift. I pray that you will. Our Father, we thank You so much for all that You’ve done for us. Thank You for the privilege to come together and share these thoughts. Because Father day by day, week by week, month by month, it’s amazing how we can very easily forget all Your wonderful words and promises. But Father, we know we’re looking beyond this life.

We’re looking to that eternal glory that day when we will be with You. Because we have trusted you as our Savior and we have an inheritance that is undefiled. Uninheritance that can’t fade away. That is reserved in heaven for us. And we thank you for it in Christ and we pray. Amen. We hope you have enjoyed this lesson today from Dr. Arnold in Pray that Bibleline is a blessing in your life. We are so grateful to our listeners and supporters who help us accomplish so many great things for the Lord.

this month to every person making a financial donation in any amount, we’re going to send to you the DVD teaching series on how to witness to Roman Catholics. Many Catholics love the Lord so much, but sadly they are lost. Although the Roman Catholic Church uses words like grace and mercy, they rely upon works as the cause of salvation. So many wonderful people are being deceived by the world’s largest religion, and this This DVD series could help you win them to the truth.

Again, we’re so grateful to those of you who support this ministry. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634, and don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. God bless you and thank you for supporting Bibleline. 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 4811 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.