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

Take your Bible and turn to the books of Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 13. One of the things that you need to remember is once you have trusted Christ as your Savior, move on to maturity. Move on. You don’t want to stay a child? You want to move on. So he says here in verse 12, looking verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. see God has given certain individuals with certain abilities to minister to others so that they can move on to help you.

So each one of us are supposed to learn not only how to discipline ourselves but how to help other people discipline themselves. And he makes a statement in verse 13, till we all come in the unity of the faith. See, till we all come, that means you’re going somewhere and you haven’t arrived yet. And the unity of the faith where everybody believes the same thing, everybody cares, everybody loves, everybody’s the way that God wants us to be, the unity of the faith, the unity of the Spirit.

And that’s why up there in chapter 4 and 5 and 6, He talks about one body, one spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith. It’s all about the unity. And the body, the body of Christ, is to be one body. And the one body can accomplish more if the body works together. And if we all think the same way, so it’s talking about the unity. And And that’s why you see there in verse three of chapter four where he says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all of God’s children loved each other and was on the same page and you’ll find this in several places, the sake of the gospel for the sake of the gospel. So we’re here for the sake of the lost man, for the sake of Christ, for His sake because He died for the world and therefore we have a responsibility. So God wants this for us. He wants us to move on. Now look what He says in verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children.

So that means that God wants you to move on, move on from where you are. Don’t be satisfied with the status quo. Always be willing to to listen and to learn and to look at your life and see what might need to be cut off off of your life. When it was up there at Northside Baptist Church, they have a lot of knotted pine in there, don’t they? A lot of knotted pine. And that knotted pine really looks pretty.

Well knotted pine is really pretty because those knotted pines, those are scars from where they cut off limbs. And whenever you, as a child of God, when you begin cutting off those things out of your life that you don’t need, that hinders your walk with God, or if you’re running in the race. They might become scars, but those scars become beautiful scars because I sacrifice this for the Lord, I sacrifice that for the Lord, I sacrifice this for the Lord.

You know, some Christians live their Christian lives, they never sacrifice anything. They don’t give up anything for the Lord. I told the Lord a long time ago, I don’t give what I have to give up. It doesn’t matter to me. I want your will for my life. I’m willing to do anything, go anywhere, be whatever. It doesn’t matter. Whatever I have to stop, I’m willing to stop. Whatever changes are required, I’m willing to change. And I believe that as you go through life, those things that you did find out that, oh, no, I really didn’t have to have that.

I really didn’t need to do this. And you begin to cut those things out of your life and you add in some other things that God says to do it. It’s kind of like when the Lord says, put off the old man. It might leave a few scars, but that knotted pine sure looks pretty. And you are enhancing. That’s what the word edify means. Edify means to beautify what’s there and add to it. So we’ve cut off out of our lives those things that we don’t need anymore, that hinders our testimony and we’ve added on some things that will enhance.

So that’s what we’re trying to do with each other. And sometimes somebody else might say, you know, you’re doing a great job, but there’s this one area in your life that you might need to consider. You might need to look at this. And if you have the right kind of an attitude, don’t be grudge people the opportunity to be used of God to help you to see something that’s wrong in your life. And so be that away. way God wants you to be.

Look what He says down here in verse 14 again, that you henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and cared about by every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love may grow up. That means you’re going somewhere. It means don’t be satisfied. Keep growing. Keep growing all your Christian life. I can say I had been growing for 53 years. Now physically speaking, I stopped long time ago.

I was six foot when I was in the Navy. And I think on one of my papers that says I was five foot eleven, and they’d check me at the hospital not long ago at the VA and I was six foot. I said, I mean, I’m still growing. You mean I’m taller now than I was. I was always told when you get older, you start shrinking. You know, the next thing and you know the six foot guys are about three feet tall.

And I really don’t want to get less than what I am, but I didn’t know I was going to grow. But I think maybe I was just a little bit on my toes or something or maybe I got weight before I was on the scale without my shoes on. I don’t know. But anyway, God wants us to continue to grow, to move on. Look in 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 13, and look there in verse 11, and verse 11, let us move on, let us go on.

Let us keep walking with the Lord. You started. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, you did run well. You did run well. But who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? that found. Chapter five. So that’s a good verse and he’s talking to the people there in Galatia. He said, you did run well. What stopped you from running? What hindered you? Who had to be which to? Something serious must have happened. And so I’ve seen a lot of people over the years and even some that I went to Bible school with, we couldn’t wait to get out of Bible college.

We We almost didn’t wait. I’m glad we did. We said, the rest of you guys can stay in college. We’re going to go out and turn the world upside down, because we just knew that the Lord was going to come back so soon that I didn notort want to be set in class studying when I could have been out there winning the world. And lo and behold, I’m glad I stuck around a little bit longer. There was a few more things I needed to learn.

And since 1968, the Lord still hasn’t come. And I might think he’s gonna come back this year. I don’t know, maybe he will, but he may not come back for 100 years. And what he’d be ashamed for people to have said, I didn’t do anything because I was expecting him to come back the next day. So I just got my bags and I got them all packed and I got on the house top and I was waiting. Now that you’re 95 years old, you can get off the roof.

So there are some people just never, never get it. Now look what he says in verse 11, when I was a child, when I was a child, I speak as a child, I understood as a child. And even now that you were born into God’s family. You see, if you’re going to be a child of the king, you’ve got to learn the language of the court. And you are now a child of the king. Learn the word of God so that you talk like you are a child of God.

You know God’s word. You can quote some scripture. And you have a reason why you do what you do. And so he makes a statement here in verse 11, I thought as a child, but when I became a man, that means you have moved on. You’re not a child anymore. How long has it been since you trusted Christ as your Savior? How are you doing in your Christian life? Are you walking with the Lord? Are you running the race that was set before you?

How are you doing? Do you ever examine your life? They say an unexamined life is not worth living. You should always be examining yourself. And the best way to examine yourself is by a beautiful mirror. A mirror that will absolutely tell you the truth. Have you ever gone in front of these places where they have these mirrors and they make you look funny? And you’re staying in front of this one makes you look like you’re short and fat. Then you go in front of another one and you’re tall and skinny.

And you can get just the right one. It can make you look just like you really want to look. And that’s the mirror you buy and take home. But it’s going to give you a false sense of security. That’s why you’ve got to have something that’s a perfect mirror. Does anybody know where you might be able to find a perfect mirror? Your Word of God, the perfect law of liberty. There’s a man who looks into the glass, the mirror, and he sees what he sees there.

So what do you do? You go your way and forget what you saw. No, you start correcting. But then you look in the mirror and you see that you’ve got to brush your teeth and you’ve got to comb your hair and you know, wash your face and get the cobwebs out of your hair and you know, and turtleneck sweaters off your teeth and you know, but you don’t take the mirror off the wall and wash your face with it.

The mirror just shows you what the problem is. And we have the washing of the water by the word. So you use the word of God to keep yourself clean, to see what you should do, to examine your life because God wants you to go from childhood to adulthood and it’s so important. Now look there in the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews in chapter 10. Hebrews in chapter 10, and there are several things that are mentioned here that are very, very good because it deals with this thing of confidence.

I was telling the kids in college class and the kind of an attitude to have, to show love and to be bold, to be patient, and so on. And as you look here in the book of Hebrews in chapter 10, look up there in verse 22, verse 22, where it says, let us draw near, and if you’re going to draw near, that means you’re not going to stay where you are. You’ve got to move. You’ve got to go toward.

So you want to draw closer to the Lord in liquidy says where they true heart in full assurance, full assurance of faith. Now is there anywhere in the Bible that talks about without doubting, doubting not, not the doubt. Full assurance, do you see the importance of having confidence, total confidence, full assurance in the Lord? And there is a verse in the Bible talks a little bit about doubting. Just hold your place right here and look in the book of James in chapter 1.

James in chapter 1. And you’ll notice where he says here in verse two, my brethren count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations, different testings, knowing this that the trying of your faith work at patience, but let patience have a perfect word that you may be perfect or complete an entire wanting or lacking nothing. And if any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that give it to all men liberally and upgrade if not, and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. No doubting. Full assurance. Believe in what God says that it is true. So as you’re growing in the Lord, your faith in the Lord is growing when you have more assurance to what God says it is true. And you’re trusting him and you can walk with him. You don’t have to see how God’s going to do anything. You just believe that he will. You may not see you guys may not say, huh, no words, God’s gonna use me.

Don’t worry about it. You just be faithful and God will take you the rest and he’ll put you wherever he wants. You just be faithful to shine for the Lord. All right, go back there to Hebrews. In verse 22 when he makes this statement. your full assurance of faith, nothing doubting.” And he makes his statement here. He says in verse 23, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. Full assurance in the other verse without wavering in this verse.

Now when you’re learning how to walk with the Lord, you’re wavering. When a little child is just beginning to walk, he wavers. He’s on this side and then on this side and then he’s down that side and they fall here and they fall there and they haven’t got good balance yet. Learning to walk with God is learning how to get good balance. It’s like some Some people say, well, what’s more important? Soul winning or Bible study? Soul winning or the Christian life?

None of it’s in competition with each other. No more than, is it more important to eat or to breathe or to drink water? Which is the most important? Well, if you eliminate them, you’re going to die. You’ve got to have a balance in your life. So that means that while you want to serve the Lord, If your only gold on is so winning, but you don’t do anything to strengthen you as a Christian by learning the other things in the Word of God, then you will die on the vine.

You’re not going to be strong enough because there’s temptations coming, there’s trials coming, and you’re not going to be strong in the Lord and you’re going to fall. So that’s why a lot of good soul winners go down because they’re not balanced. And then if you only sit around and just study the Bible and then, Joe, you know all the Hebrew and you know all the Greek, but you’d never do anything. You can forever sharpen an axe and never cut down a tree.

And a lot of people, that’s all they do. All their life is just sharpen an axe. Well, one of these days I’m going to cut down a tree. you go ahead and start with what you got. Cut something down, but some people are forever learning and never come to the knowledge of the truth, and they waste their whole lives. So this is why he’s saying these things here. Look what else he says here in verse 24. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

You see, good works is not just one phase. It’s all the areas of the Christian life. And as he says, that you maintain good works because these are good and profitable. Doing right is good and it’s profitable. Not only for you, but for other people also. Titus chapter 3. So it’s good to maintain good works. It’s one thing to start. It’s another thing to maintain. And a lot of people start off serving Lord and oh how much they love God and the dedicated the lives of the Lord and then they just kind of fade.

Don’t fade. Stay strong, stay balanced. And I have to mention this, whether it’s this ministry or the one we had in Colorado, it was always based upon soul winning ministries, teaching ministries, soul winning, teaching. So you want them to win the lost, but if that’s all you do, you’ve got to train the saved. So you have to have some Sunday school in O’wanna and some of these other things where you train people But then you got to have soul winning ministries that Win people so if that’s true in a ministry, it’s got to be true in your personal life So that you stay balanced you get a little bit of the You know soul winning and you get some of the feeding on the Word of God That’s why if you just sit down and read the Word of God and feed upon the word you just get big in fact and

And you’ll just be fattened for the kill. The wolves are coming. But if all you do is just sow wind and you don’t feed yourself, you’re going to starve to death. And so that’s why if you want to last, if you want to finish your course, finish the race, the ministry that God’s given to you, It’s not just the matter of starting and meaning well. You’ll find this word in the Bible mentioned over and over again. Continue, continue, continue.

Keep at it. And so it’s important. And then when it makes a statement here in verse 25, not forsaken the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day of Prose. And so we believe that the Lord is coming and the Lord is going to come soon. Now Hebrews in chapter 12 Hebrews chapter 12 just turned right over there. These are some very familiar verses.

But what I want you to get from this is the perseverance in the race. Not that you’re trying to prove you’re saved, but because we are saved, there’s a lot of things that we ought to do. And in verse 1, he says, therefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Now we believe these witnesses that he’s talking about is chapter 11. All of these Old Testament saints that he brings up as those who have heard the word, believed did and walked by faith.

And you and I are supposed to do likewise. So they had a race to run. They ran their race. We have a race to run. We run our race. But he says, you can run better, faster, longer if you don’t crowd your life or get so entangled with the affairs of this life that you cannot please him. It’s called you to be a soldier. So what he says, are comforted by what’s so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight.

That means the things that does not help you to run your race. When I say there’s some things that I don’t do, there’s places that I don’t go. One of the reasons is because of this, a lay aside every weight. Does it mean that it’s necessarily that wrong? It’s just that I can’t run the race as well as I like. It might slow me down, keep me from doing what I know that I should do, and therefore because of my race, I must make decisions.

You can’t live by my decisions. I’ve told people when they come to college, whether it’s here or in Colorado, you can’t come to college on my faith. You have to come on your faith. How much do you believe that God wants you to do this? It’s one thing, as he says in the book of Luke in chapter 14, that whenever you sit down, consider how much it’s going to be to finish this tower less when you get halfway. He said, we haven’t gotten enough money to finish.

And so then you have to credit. Or you see that there’s an enemy coming and he’s got 20,000 people. You’ve only got 10. You may want to try to negotiate and say, maybe we need to have peace. But you see, it’s not that you don’t have enough faith to begin. Do you have enough faith to finish? I never began anything because I had enough money. I do something because I have enough faith to begin it. Then does my faith stay strong enough to keep doing what I believe God wants me to do?

Well, this is what you have to face. You’ve got to have. full assurance, my confidence in the Lord, that whatever it is I’m willing to accept.” Now, here in this verse he made this statement, let us lay aside every weight, not most of them, every weight. You’re the one that has to say, what holds me back? I don’t want to tell you every area of your life of things to decide upon because you got to decide for yourself how fast do you want to run.

How dedicated do you want to be? How much do you want to be used? How many rewards do you want to get when you get to heaven? How much do you want to please God? See nobody can answer that question but you. And I may tell you that I don’t do this because it will hurt my testimony. And if it hurts my testimony I believe it probably would hurt yours. But you can’t live according to my faith you’ve got to live according to what is yours?

What do you really believe is the best thing? I get this. He says, the sin and the sin, which to so easily be set us. And as you read the book of Hebrews, you’ll find out the besetting sin. It seems to be the sin of unbelief. What is the greatest sin of a lost man? The sin of unbelief. So whenever you present the gospel, you’re trying trying to get him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the Bible tells us in Hebrews and it goes through about believing God, trusting him for more, moving on to some bigger things and some greater things.

Now looking in the Bible to the book of Galatians and chapter five, Galatians and chapter five. Galatians in chapter 5, and you’ll notice there’s a couple of good little spots here where it says, in verse 7. See there in verse 7 I mentioned that just a minute ago. But look what he says, ye did run well. You did. But then in chapter 1 in verse 6 he says, I marvel that you’re so soon removed from him that calls into the grace of Christ into another gospel.

There is no other gospel He’s into an angel from heaven preaching to you any other gospel and that which I have preached under you let him be a curse I Marvel I’m astonished. I’m amazed They could happen so fast Did you know you can be on cloud nine today and down below sea level tomorrow? Just that quick and And it doesn’t take much because the devil is going to work on the little brain up here. Try to get you to question and doubt.

But you know that you have the Holy Spirit of God living within you. Let him lead you. Let him guide you. Let him comfort you. But he will not do it outside of the pages of this book. Now here in Galatians in chapter 5 and verse 7, you did run well who did hinder ye that you should not obey the truth. Do you see, running well is a result of obeying truth. So when you don’t obey truth, means you obey and a lie.

You’re having questions and doubts. You’re not having full assurance of truth. Believe the truth. Believe what God’s Word says and let it control your life. Be willing to follow truth regardless of where it may lead, regardless of what the consequences may be, just follow truth, run and run well. And he makes a statement up here in verse 11. He says, if I was to preach circumcision, then I wouldn’t be persecuted like I am because I would be preaching works for salvation, just like everybody else.

But because I don’t do that, I am persecuted because you see teaching works for salvation, nobody persecutes people for that. People persecute you because you teach by grace. Well that works. And that’s why he says up there in verse 11, and I brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet serve for persecution? Then is the offense of the cross season because the cross teaches by grace. But if I was a teacher persecution, that’s my words. So if I was to do that, then the offense of the cross is over.

The reason that I’m suffering what I do is because I preach salvation by grace. You’ve been listening to another great lesson from Pastor Arnold, and we hope that you’re growing in the knowledge of the Lord through this ministry. To help you continue your growth and maturing, we are going to give those who make a financial donation in any amount, the DVD teaching series, How to Witness to a Jewish Person. You know most Christians think Jews really know the Old Testament but in reality most know very little.

Though most are familiar with some terms of the Bible, very few know any details about how Abraham, their patriarch was saved. Most have never read Isaiah 53 and have no idea it’s all about Jesus. So for this month only, for a donation in any amount, we’ll send you this DVD teaching series on how to witness to the Jew. 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 again 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.