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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.

I don’t know who put this on my desk. Somebody printed something from Cleese Astra, chapter 3 and verse 1, and stuck it on my desk. Says, just think, you’re here not by chance, but by God’s choosing. His hand forms you and made you the person you are. Sometimes you’re loud and sometimes you’re quiet. He compares you to no one else. You’re one of a kind. You’re like nothing that his grace can’t give you. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill his special purpose for this generation and Ecclesiastes 3-1, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under the sun almost reminds me of whenever I play a game of golf.

It doesn’t matter where the ball goes, how long, how crooked, whatever. On some hole, on some golf course, somewhere in this universe, it was the perfect shot. I have never been on the right hole at the right time. But at that same shop was on some other hole, it would have probably been just right. Well, anyway, I want to continue a little bit about some of the things I was talking about this morning. There were just simply questions that I had in my mind.

And I didn’t get all the answers that I wanted, and I’m still not sure I’m satisfied with all the answers even today. But you know, you’ve got to have a reason why you do what you do. And I’ve always thought that whatever my reasons were for certain, Lord, might be good enough for somebody else. I tried to saturate my mind with the word of God so that I would at least know what God was saying and then look for those little clues in there that would really help me and trying to answer some of the things.

Now I don’t know if you’ve thought about some of these same questions that I asked like this morning or some of the ones that we’ll look at tonight but maybe I can stir up your mind just a little bit to try to think about some of these things that are important because I believe some of the answers to these questions is why I keep serving the Lord. You know, so many people, they start off like a lightning bolt, but they don’t maintain the walk with the Lord.

And there’s quite a few scriptures talked about maintaining. It’s one thing to start something, but can you finish? And as Paul would say over and over again, I want to finish my race, finish my course with joy. I don’t want to finish a grumpy, gripey old man, but to serve the Lord and enjoy serving the Lord. And that I do. That’s why I always tell people, look, rejoice in the Lord because it’s right. Rejoice in the Lord because God isn’t dead.

He’s alive. And as we studied this morning and then signed this school about Joseph, look at all the things that happened to him. And he didn’t plan any of it. And he could say, look what went wrong. And he went from the pit to the prison to the palace. And all those things that happened to him. And yet it says God was with him. God was with him. And later on the 105th Psalm, he says, God sent him. But Lord couldn’t you maybe give him a bus ride or a train.

But look how he brought him down in Egypt. Well, he got a camera right out of it. There’s the Ishma lights. But here in the question that I have for you, and go ahead and turn in your Bible to the book of John, the Gospel of John in chapter 15. John chapter 15. And the question is, number 13, is, since you have been saved, could you have led one more person to the Lord than you have? Just answer that yourself.

What do you think? Could you have led one more to the Lord. Whoever that person might have been or could have been, is it somebody that… Maybe you were there only hope. Nobody else would have ever talked to that person. I was set by the hours. Sometimes I’d even close the door to my office, turn off the lights. I’d sit there in the dark and I would try to picture myself in hell. And here I am in hell, knowing that I’ll never get out.

And I would wonder why didn’t somebody tell me? Or somebody did tell me why didn’t I believe it? And I’d go over these things in my mind. mind because I wanted to try to think the way they will think when they’re there. And then I always try to project myself into the future as though I was standing at the judgments of the Christ and is going to reward you for what you’ve done. And as Paul says, ye are my crown of rejoicing you that I’ve led to the Lord, you are my reward.

When I get there and I see you and I think, is there going to be some people that are not going to see, but they could have been there if I’d have only, if I’d have only. And I remember hearing a Sunday school teacher, a man by the name of Don Jackson, he spoke a Sunday school class one time called the Iphara-only club. You You know, those people that, well, if I’d have only done this, if I’d have only, if I’d have only, and I don’t want to be a member of that club.

I want to go ahead and just do it. But you’ve got to learn how to think. And even though you don’t have all the answers, I knew there were certain basic things that God put in his word. And I guess it boils down to this. If I didn’t understand any of it, I didn’t understand predestination, for knowledge, nothing that I was. I would still want to win people to Christ and tell them about the Lord, just because I enjoyed telling people about the Lord.

And I know that there’s people that have listened, understood, and they trust Christ as their Savior, if I had no answers to anything else. But there are questions that I had. So I’m going to do it until I learn the answers. Well, when I get all the answers then, I’ll, no, no, no. So number one, could I have led maybe one more to the Lord? What I want you to do is look there in John 15 for this reason.

He says in John 15 and verse 2, every branch in me that beareth not fruit he’d take it away. Well, you know, if God’s the one that determines if I have any fruit or not, why blame the branch? Why take it away? Wait a minute, is it the branch’s fault? I mean, mostly with them just read it. I can’t just read it. I gotta try to figure out what if, what if this, this, this, this? Every branch in me that bears not fruit.

And every branch that beareth fruit, well, what determines whether the branch bears fruit or doesn’t bear fruit? Is it God? Is it the Holy Spirit’s fault? Is it the branch? And then he makes the statement, every branch in me, every branch that abideth in me, if you’ll see that down in verse five, he that abideth in me. So I guess if I am his child and I abide in him, and there should be something that comes from my life.

But you’ll notice what he talks about, that it may bring forth more fruit in the last part of verse two. And then he goes down to verse five and he says, I am the vine, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit if a man abide not in me. So that means that you can be a child of God and abide in him, and you be a child of God and not abide in him.

We also read that in the book of 1 John chapter 2, verse 28, my little children abiding him that when he shall appear, we may have come to not be ashamed before him and is coming. So abiding in him and not abiding in him makes a difference of whether you have fruit or no fruit. And then it makes a difference whether you have more fruit or much fruit. What determines that? Is it divine or is it the branch abiding?

Is it something that we can control? I don’t have all the answers, but I believe that some people can have a lot of fruit and some people not have as much fruit and some people have a whole bunch of fruit and at the same time to realize, is it talking about the people that you could win to the Lord? Is this fruit here talking about reproducing? Or is it talking about the fruit of the spirit? I don’t think it’s talking about the fruit of the spirit.

This is the fruit of the Christian. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is one thing. The fruit of the Christian is something else. And so I believe that there’s something more to this. So is it true that those who go to hell would never have been saved anyway? Well, if they wouldn’t have been saved anyway, then it’s no guilt on my part. If, and I wrote this question down, this is an additional question. Is it true that those who go to hell would never have been saved anyway?

I don’t answer it out. I want you just to think about it for a second. Is it true that those who go to hell will never have been saved anyway? Because everyone who could be saved and would be saved will be saved in our end heaven. Is that true? Or do we really make a difference? Did you know what you believe about some things makes a difference? Or you can feel guilty or not guilty? I’ve had people say, stop trying to put a guilt trip on people.

Stop making the Christians feel so guilty because they don’t do what you want them to do. The Lord will take care of that. Okay, I want to think the Lord feels guilty. What’s that? It’s using you to do it. Yes. So maybe I have a little guilt when I don’t do everything God wants me to do. and when I don’t witness like I should. But anyway, number 14, if I lead 50 people to the Lord, would they have been saved anyway?

And then chapter and verse. If you lead somebody, well, they’d have been saved anyway. Really? How do you know that they would have been saved anyway? If that person that talked to you, hadn’t had talked to you, or you’d have been saved anyway, well, if it didn’t, you wouldn’t have been saved at that moment. How do you know that down the road somebody would have talked to you? How do you know? You don’t. What chapter and verse would you use to prove that?

You don’t have any. I’ve been through it a couple times and I’m always looking for clues here and here because I’m trying to understand the mind of God. Why God does what he does? Where does this responsibility lie? And that’s why I said this morning, there’s God the Father, he had a responsibility and he sent his son. The son had a responsibility and he came and died for us. The Holy Spirit has a responsibility. And then we know that God has given us the message and told us to go preach the gospel to every person.

So then that means a person has a responsibility. And that there’s a certain amount of light that God gives to every person and they follow light. Will it lead to light? Will it lead to more truth? And that God can providentially bring things together, A man who wants to hear and a man who wants to tell, and God can have their paths crossed. I’ve had some of the strangest things happen. I mean, really strange. I’ll pre-tune on that, some of the strangest things that happen to me.

But my whole life has been strange kind of, turning your Bible to the Book of Acts. I’ll just look at this. Acts 20. Acts 20, Paul had led some people to Christ, their inefficences. Now he’s telling them, look, you’re probably not going to see my face anymore and I want to meet with the elders and so the elders came together. He kind of rehearsed a few things to them. And it says in verse 26, something I want you to see.

Verse 26 says, Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. I’ve wondered for a long time just what does he mean and how did he get free? How did he get free from the blood of all men? What did it mean? He was responsible for the blood or the life of all men. I could go back to the book of Ezekiel in chapter 3 where he says I say unto the watchmen and so on and oh you know if you give him not warning and I could make a case for that and maybe it’s a connection but often wonder when he says I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

All of it? Those are both statements that I can’t make. When he says there in that verse 26, I want you to know I am pure from the blood of all men. Does that mean that nobody can point their finger at Paul and says, you didn’t tell me, you didn’t even try. Or does it mean that Paul witnessed everybody? I don’t know to what extent how one man can say this, but he said it. But maybe I don’t understand exactly what he meant.

So do we have any other theologians in here that want to shed a little light on this verse? You’ve got the freedom to do so. We have a microphone up here and just to give a quick thought, anybody at all. It’s an important question. I can’t say I have the total answer. I wished I did. But I do believe that there’s something here in this verse that’s very important. Now I want you to also see something in verse 29.

Look in verse 29. He says, for I know this that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. after my departing, something’s going to happen. Does that mean that the apostle Paul, as long as he was there, made a difference? And without Paul, something’s going to change. Do you believe that you make a difference in what people do and don’t do? Do you believe in your own mind you matter? You know one of the most hopeless things in the world and what causes such great depression is when you devalue yourself.

I have no value. I’m not worth anything. Nobody needs me, nobody wants me. For me? I’m gonna go out in the garden and eat worms. And you just feel like your pet rock just died. And no hope whatsoever. You’d be surprised how depressed you could be. But if you looked at you the way God looks at you And think about what Paul said. He says, I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, but more needful for you that I stay here, somebody needed him.

Do you believe people need you? Nobody needs me. Do you believe God needs you? And you are important, you should believe that because you are. See yourself the way God sees you. And so does it make a difference? Look what he says in verse 30. Also of your own selves shall mineralize, speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them. Watch therefore and remember that for the space of three years I cease not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Have you come close to that? night and day warned everyone, my stars. What a man. But how did he end up? Well, they chopped off his head. He was doing right and suffered the consequences. When you read some of the things that people did to Paul and none of those things, he says, move me. Neither count my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry. See what it says up there? It says right there, verse 24, but none of these things move me neither count on my life dear unto myself so that I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

That’s why I’m here. That’s why I live. that’s my motive, that’s my purpose in life. Now there’s a lot of things that Paul knew, a lot of things that he wrote, but behind all of that he was a gospel-driven man and it drove him on. Look at number 15. Do you believe that the harvest is ripe and that the labors are few? And if you did believe something like that, what verse would you use? Is there any verse in the Bible that says anything like that?

I wonder where it is. Or maybe I just made that up. Maybe I just made it up. It’s not even in the Bible. The harvest, is it right? The labors are few. Where does it say that in book of Matthew 9? Turn to Matthew 9. I want you to see it. Alright? Matthew 9. And you’ll Notice there in verse 36, look in verse 36, but when he saw the multitude he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd, then said he unto his disciples the harvest truly as plenius, but the labors are few.

Pray there for the Lord of the harvest that he will send forth labors into the harvest. Do you think that if we had more labors we could get more fruit. What do you think? If we had more labors, you think we could reap more fruit. Isn’t that the point of this? Big harvest, few labors. Pray we have more labors, but why? What reason? Get more fruit. Well, wait a minute. If you’ve already predetermined what fruit’s going to be saved anyway, it doesn’t matter if you’ve You got any labors?

But if it’s not true, then it means that God is dependent upon people, the labors to reap the harvest. Now, go all the way to the book of John, chapter 4, the Gospel of John and chapter 4. See, these are simple verses that sometimes we’ve heard a number of times. But when you put them together and you learn how to think, it can permeate your life. It makes all the rest of it so important, because I need those so I can keep doing what God wants me to do.

Otherwise, I’ll get so easily sidetracked. I’ll let the trials of life, the testings, all the persecution, all those things. Well, it doesn’t matter. You just get tired, you quit, and so on. But otherwise, you’ll be like Paul. It says that the ministry has been so important. We faint not. For this cause second Corinthians chapter four verse one for this cause we feign not means for this cause we can’t quit And he says regardless of everything that happened. He said I can’t stop.

I can’t quit cuz it is too important So here in John chapter four. I want you to look down there in verse 35 verse 35 Say not ye there are yet four months and then comeeth harvest be whole I say unto you lift up your eyes look on the fields For they’re white already to harvest Why should I unless God wants me to do something about it? But sometimes we don’t want to look and see the lost man. We see everything else.

And our own personal problems are so much more important. Did you know that regardless of what problems you as a Christian have, would you rather be a lost man or a saved man with all your problems? The lost man’s problem of going to hell is a lot worse than any Christian problem he can ever have. So he makes this statement, lift up your eyes, look on the field, they’re white already, already. It’s not like, well, one of these days the harvest will get right and then look into it.

No, the harvest is already right. Then look in verse 36 and he that reapeth, receiveth what? pays soul winners, received wages. God will pay you to win souls. You see that’s one of the best things that you can ever know is God wants to hire you and is willing to pay you. I used to tell the teenagers in ranch if I offered you a thousand dollars for every person you won the Christ. How many of you would believe that God may be leading you into full-time Christian work?

If next week you brought to me a person you led the Christ that way and I would give you a thousand dollars I would mention to say every one of you here if you really believe what I’m saying you’d find somebody doing the week and you learn how to talk to them you figure out a way don’t you think so it would change your whole life but you know just because God doesn’t pay me today here payday is coming payday someday when we get to heaven and we see all those people that we won the Christ.

Paydays come in. Do you think God is a cheap employer? Do you think he’s going to reward you richly? I mean really, that it’s going to be worth it. That God is not poor. He owns everything and he’s going to reward you. And as he says here, and he that reapeth, receiveth wages and gather fruit. It looks like I am the one that’s supposed to go and win some harvest and get some fruit, get some product and God’s gonna reward me for doing so.

And gather fruit under life eternity, the fruit we gain last forever. This is incorruptible fruit. These are people once they trust the Lord have eternal life and you don’t have to win them but one time. Once you lead a person to Christ it can never be undone. I’ve never had to win anybody to the Lord twice. Once is enough because God gives them eternal life and it lasts forever. Some people have led to the Lord and I never see again and then sometimes I’ll lead some people.

Then it’ll be 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years later I find people that I’ve led to Christ. I don’t know about many that, you know, that I don’t know about because they may trust the Lord because they were already your, you know, the TV we had for years. And I’m talking about, you can make a big impact and know nothing about it. You remember the other day I sent out a newsletter and I mentioned it’s a couple of y’all, but I think I’m missing it.

I wrote that one little thing about Curtis Hudson. It was in the sword this week, and it went, it goes all over the world, around the world. Just a simple statement that I made about Dr. Hudson, but in there I told what the Hudson believed about the gospel. And it was gospel clear. Lord does that. Lord does that. I don’t have to explain it all. I can. But anyway, number 16 here, do you believe that And if we had more labors, we could have harvest more fruit.

But what do you think? When you read that, it doesn’t look like if we had more people in the harvest, we could reap more fruit. And it does make a difference. Take your Bible, look in the book of Matthew, in chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13, look in verse 14. 14, 15, 16. But just look at what it says. Jesus talking to those religious Pharisees of his day. And of course his disciples are looking on, but he makes a statement in verse 14.

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which sayeth by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand. Seeing ye shall see and not perceive. Some people can’t see and they won’t hear, but look what he says it, for this people’s heart is whacked gross, dull, fat, heavy, and their ears are dull of hearing, their eyes, now get this, they have closed. They reject the message and their eyes they close so that they cannot see and they cannot understand.

So are there people that you can present the gospel to and they refuse to listen to the message? Is that on you or on them? It’s on them. They have a responsibility also. But look what else he says, less at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and should understand. Shouldn’t they should at any time. So it’s not fixed in concrete that well they can’t be saved because they weren’t chosen. See the doctrine of Calvinism is impossible to harmonize with the book.

When you read and see these things, I can’t fathom in my mind how could anybody believe that God has already chosen who’s going to be saved and who’s going to be lost. You can’t read the Bible and come out with that. But look what else he says. He says, but blessed are your eyes for they see. And your ears for they hear. But if you compare it, it’s because they want to see and they want to understand. And there’s some people that do not and never will.

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.

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 will 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.