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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.

Have you ever heard of the thing called the Bill of Rights? You may have heard of the Bill of Rights. Let me see here. Okay, sorry. A couple of y’all have. I’m not very good. But this is just kind of what it mentioned. And this was written in 1791. And it says this, the conventions of a number of the states, states, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers that further, declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added.

In other words, limiting what Congress can do to the states or to the people. They saw that if government is not restrained, government will run everything and take away all of our rights and freedom because they’ll keep growing and growing and growing and get bigger and bigger and bigger until that place. All the states become subservient to the federal government. And that’s not what the purpose of this government was set up for. You see, whatever they did not give to them, the power remained to the states and to the people to do what we want to do.

They were our servants and not our kings. I think they forget this just a tad. And this is one of them. Let me just mention this to you. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Congress cannot make a law touching religion. They can’t make one for or against it. Can’t do it. It doesn’t matter what they think is the best and what they like and don’t like. They can’t tell the Catholic Church what to do, whether abortion or not abortion or contraceptives.

Can you believe that anybody’s even talking about stuff like that? People used to be ashamed. You didn’t talk about stuff like that. Why? Because it was nobody’s business. And I just mentioned this to you. No extra charge for this. I do not believe that any individual should pay for the sins of another. If you want a sin, okay, but most sins are considered crimes. A man committed a sin, he committed a murder, he killed somebody. There’ll be a law against that.

Well, there are. But you don’t pass a law taking money from me so to cover your sin. Because there’s somebody who wants to abort a child or to keep from getting pregnant. Why in the world would you want somebody else you gotta pay for it? Stupid. Now, as I’m moving right along, I remember now I’m a man of grace. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. And then he goes on to say this, Article 2, a well regulated militia be necessary, necessary to the security of a free state.

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Congress is not to make laws concerning gun control. They don’t have no authority. The states have the right to have a militia where the people in the individual states should have a gun in order to secure their rights. and who is going to be the biggest enemy? Who did the founding fathers deem to be the biggest problem to the free states and to the individuals in America?

Their own government. This is not talking about external government, federal government will take care of that. But inside of our own country, we are not to let our federal government get so big that they can control us. How are we doing? How are we doing? Somebody forgot something. Now listen to me well. I believe that our federal government ought to fear the people in America. But today the people fear our government. Ain’t that the truth? We’re scared to death to violate one of our regulations.

They’re going to come and get us. They’re going to take everything we own. That ought not to be. We should dwell safely. Without government destroying our rights and our freedom. And when you make this statement, a well-regulated militia being necessary for the security. If you see what is going on somewhere along the line, somebody’s going to have to draw a red line. Say, that’s enough. It should have already been drawn. It should never have gotten this far. We are guaranteed by the Constitution that we have the right for a Republican form of government.

A Republican form of government. I’m not talking about Republican party. I’m talking about a Republican form of government. We are not to go toward socialism. We’re not become a communist state. That is not what our Constitution, and if we see it going in that direction, it is the right and the duty for every American citizen to rise up in arms against those who would take away our freedoms. And what do we do? Zero. Anyway, somewhere along the line, a line has to be drawn.

Somewhere, somebody’s gonna have to come on the scene and say, look, when or lose the election, that’s not the direction this country is supposed to go. Because if not, the day will come. You will not have the job you have, and you will not make what you make, and you will not keep what you keep, and you will not have the family you have, and you will not have the church that you have, you will have the government that you have.

you have. Your freedoms will be lost and it will be lost because we would not fight for our freedoms. This freedom that we have right now is because somebody fought and died to give it to us. And we shame and dishonor everyone of those veterans that fought for this country when we refuse to stand up for our country and do what needs to be done for our country. That was point number two. Number three, anybody ever heard of a place called the Alamo?

The Alamo? You know what John Wayne? David Crockett? And he drew the line in the sand and says, all those that are on this side, you come over here and the rest of you can go home. But if you cross that line, you know you’re going to die. Oh, I love that movie. I’ve watched it three times and John Wayne died all three times. I thought after about 34th time, he’d figure out a way to keep from dying. You ever heard this?

Benjamin, not, he got up there and he had just picture of a bomb and he drew a line. He drew a line and says, if I ran goes at this far, we know. That’s a red line. We can’t let him cross that line. Our administration says nothing to worry about. Everything’s under control. Question Number one, has he ever told why before?

What if he’s wrong on his prescription for solving the problem? What does little Israel do? Israel can’t afford to be wrong. We can afford to be wrong. They can’t afford to be wrong. Would you like to base your existence as a nation upon somebody else’s, I don’t see a problem, not really, I don’t think there’s no word. It’s just a little obit country over there, you know, I ran. And so he says, we have to draw a line. He even wanted our president administration to draw a line.

Tell us, where’s the line? Where is that point when you say no more? You don’t go no further. Well, we’re just going to guarantee that they’re not going to produce the bomb. OK. At what point? Where do you draw this line? You don’t think it’s important? I believe that it’s very, very important. Let me ask you another question. Point number four. Oh, you didn’t know this is a seven-point outline. We’re on number four. Say we’re moving right along. Number four, when things are really going bad financially with you.

You know, when you get all these problems and a lot of times when you have financial problems, you go through a financial advisor. Even when I was in Colorado and I had a church there, we had one here and I had to teach some concerning, you know, the college kids, I’d always start out and I’d try to teach them how to do a budget. How to do a budget. A lot of families today live on them, according to a budget.

Well, a church, we have a budget. Most churches have a budget. Most homes have a budget. means that if you make this much and you spend too much, you’re going to have a deficit. You’re going to have a problem. You’re going to owe more than you pay. So you’ve got to make a problem, a situation. So you look at how much comes in, how much goes out, how much is left. Isn’t that a simple thing? But when you make a budget and you really want it to work, you You just put a red line upon yourself.

You’re saying, I make this much, I can only spend this much, I can only spend this much. Because you know if you spend more than what you make, you’re in what? You’re in trouble. You’re in trouble. And a lot of homes are in trouble today. Because you see, they have more going out than they have coming in. Now when it comes to our government, the Senate has a responsibility to come over the budget and their budget is a limitation.

It means that we can’t do more than this. We can’t spend more than this. But when you don’t want to worry about that because you want it unlimited, then you don’t come up with a budget because a budget limits you. you what you can’t do. You can’t go past this. It’s a line in the sand. You can’t go past that. And so for almost four years there hasn’t been a budget. Why? Because it puts the line in the sand.

It tells you you can’t go over that. And see, if I don’t have this line, then I can just spend, spend, spend, spend, spend. It won’t matter. And there’s people trying to run our country this way. It’s good or bad. It’s bad. It’s not good. It’s because people don’t want to make a line. Let me just mention this to you. Number six, I think, Jesus Christ. Did you know that Jesus Christ put a line in the sand. And what He said was, you’re saved by grace, not by works.

If you want to go to heaven, you have to get on this side of the line. You see, here’s grace and there’s works. That’s where you are. But if you want to go to heaven, there’s the line. You have to accept it by grace. And if you don’t accept it by grace, you don’t get to go. The Lord has made a line. You see, when Jesus Christ came into the world, the Bible says that He made a payment for the sins of the world, and that He shed His blood for all the people of the world.

He made a line in the sand says, only those that believe I did it for them can have eternal life. Only them can know they’re going to heaven when they die. There’s a verse in the Bible that talks about in the book of Acts in chapter 4 and verse 12. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be safe. There is no other name that’s a line in the sand. It means that you either accept it God’s way or you don’t get to go.

There’s a line drawn. It’s not like anybody can believe anything they want, just as long as you’re sincere. It doesn’t matter what religion you belong to. It doesn’t matter what church you go to. It doesn’t matter. Yes, it does, because he made a line in the sand and he says, it’s only by grace, it’s not by works. And if you try to get there by your works, you can’t go. You see, there’s a line, a division, a separation. It’s for a reason.

Now I want you to take your Bible and look there with me to the book of Romans in chapter 13. Romans in chapter 13. . . . . . . . . . . . . . We’re almost 13 and look there in verse 14. Verse 14. Notice what he says, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Don’t make provision for the flesh. You mean I shouldn’t provide to eat?

I mean, I got a body. I got to wear clothes. I’m not supposed to make provision for that. I got to rest, so I got to have a house. I got to have a bed. I got to have food to eat. I mean, how can you do that? The last part of the verse tells you what he’s talking about to fulfill the lust of the flesh. You see, we have an old sinful nature, an old sinful nature. God put a line in the sand and he says, I don’t want you to fulfill the lust of the flesh.

And the best way to keep from fulfilling the lust of the flesh is not to make provision for the lust of the flesh. In order to get into trouble. Now let me just mention this. I’m just saying this because I’m trying to help you. I have no desire to try to hurt anybody. I always understand that. My motive is I care about people. I care about the fams. I care about our country. I don’t think many people are saying what needs to be said.

If you get offended, it’s not because I want to. I never want to offend anybody. I wish everybody was on the same page, knew the same thing, be of the same mind, same judgment, but it’s just not that way. But when it comes to your life, do you understand that there has got to be in your life a line drawn by which some things you will do and some things you will not do. There’s got to be something in your life that determines how you’re going to live or how you’re not going to live.

Whether it’s an individual or whether it’s your family. I decided this for myself as an individual before I ever trusted the Lord. So I can’t say this is because my biblical convictions. Understanding where I came from. My father was a boatlager. His name was Shine. moonshine. That’s how you got his nickname. My dad lived way back in the flatwoods of Georgia, by rail, Lexington, Georgia. A lot of my relatives had liquor steels. And coming out of the depression, they didn’t have many choices on how to make a living.

So they made moonshine and they sold it. They made some quarters. They got him for that though. I could say my dad made big money. It it was just a little bit too big. So there’s a lot of things that he did, but when he got drunk, he always went to that little white Methodist church called Bethesda, Bethesda Methodist Church, and he’d go and they’d let him sing in the choir. I never saw my dad sing in the choir, but all the stories of my relatives, he would sing in the choir.

He would be drunk as a cougar, singing in the choir. But the drunker he got, the better he would sing. You ever seen a drunk sing? They don’t have nothing to hold him back. No fear. Let her rip. And it said that my dad could sing like you wouldn’t believe. And he drunk as could be. And everybody, when he came to church, they’d want him just to sing in the choir. And so he did. But I never I never saw my dad in a church.

I never saw my mother in a church. I never saw my, I guess you could say, a Bible in our home. I never saw prayer in our home. Years later, yeah, my mom started coming out to church, but up until that point, no, never saw them. So I was not raised in a religious sense. I didn’t have any Bible training.

But you see, I wanted to know truth. I just didn’t know it. I didn’t know anybody knew for sure. But everybody has to have a red line in their life about what you will and when I do them. When I watch time and time again, my dad come home after about a two-week drunk. And I saw him beat my mom to within inches of her life.

I remember as a little child, I stand and I cry. I cry and then I’d run to the other room because my dad would just beat my mom knocking her from one wall to the next wall. I’d hear my mom crying out and screaming and all that. I stood beside my mom one day when she had a shotgun in her hand. She opened up the door and she shot at my dad and I was hanging on to her leg.

And I heard my daddy hollering and running down the road. But it was nothing but hell-raising. It’s all I ever saw. I lived in constant fear. And I saw what alcohol did to my dad. When my dad wasn’t drinking, he was a nice man. But he would just turn and be such an ugly man, cared about nothing. And I determined I’m never going to take a drop. I have never had in my life, even to this day, I’m 70 years old, I’ve never had a drop of strong drink in my mouth.

because I drew a line years ago. I’ll never be a drunk if I never taste a drop. I’ll never have to worry about it. I’ve never had to worry about that. I’m a preacher. I don’t try to tell people how to live their lives. You can do whatever you want to do. You’ll answer to God just like I’ll answer to God. But you see, there’s some people that I know and I love deeply. You see, I love my mom, but my mom had trouble drinking and smoking.

That’s all she ever knew. Nobody ever taught them and trained them. But she finally stopped her drinking. And she finally stopped her smoking once she got on that little oxygen machine and she had emphysema and she couldn’t breathe. And I watched her carry that thing around and I watched her in the house and she couldn’t hardly breathe and get her breath. I buried my mom. My oldest sister, she drank and smoked most of her life. I led her to the Lord.

But my sister, Lizzie, one day she says, Yankee, I quit drinking. I said, when? She says, now. I didn’t believe her, but she did. But she never stopped smoking. She wound it with the same tank like my mom had. I buried her. I had a sister Annette. She was one year older than me. I loved Annette. She always got me in trouble, but I still loved her. She lied about me and deceived about me when we were little kids.

Nobody got me off spanking. But Annette died of cancer and smoking. My brother-in-law, he always chewed a back up. It wasn’t long before he got cancer and took off hold of his skin and he died. Over and over again, so many of my relatives, I must have buried fifteen, twenty of my relatives and almost all of them died because of cancer from smoking, the drinking. See, I just decided years ago, I’m going to draw a red line. I’m not going to do that for the simple reason.

I don’t want to ring my body. I don’t want to ring my health. Nobody can tell somebody else how to live their life. We might say, look, there’s a problem. There’s a problem that’s going to do this. But almost everyone, well, that’s not really why I’m coughing like this. And I would see my sister and give me a cigarette. And then we’d be on the oxygen machine. People would do whatever they want. But there’s a price to pay. When it comes to your family, aren’t there lines that you have drawn and says, I’m not going to do this?

Because I love my family. I have a wife and I have three children, ones in heaven and two are down here. But my kids have never heard me say a swear word. They’ve never heard me say a cuss word. Never have. I’ve never taken my kids to a place where they shouldn’t go. I don’t take them to bars and drinks. I’ve never taken my kids to dances and things like that. I don’t want some man putting his arm around my wife.

I don’t put my arms around another woman and then dance to music. You say, well, I don’t see anything wrong. I don’t care what you see. I’m telling you what I see. Don’t make provision for the flesh. You draw some lines in your life and you’d be surprised you’ll live a happier life. A happier family life. You don’t think it matters? It does, but everything matters.

Yeah, you may have to restrict yourself from things. And see, I can’t determine how anybody else lives. I’m an individual. I owe God for everything that I have and all that I am. And I wanna please the Lord. But in my life, I’ve had to make some decisions. I had to draw a line in the sand. And so I’m not gonna do that. I don’t want my kids learning that from me. They may learn it, but they’re not going to learn it from me.

And yet I know sometimes it comes across as your egotistical, sarcastic, mean, obnoxious, dictator. You know what? I know. And I apologize for my rudeness. It’s fun time that sounds like a smart mouth. I don’t know a better way to say things. I’m doing the best I can with what I do know, what I do understand. I would rather tell you and you hate me for, but it might help you in the same time. Draw lines. Say, I’m not going to do this because this will hurt my testimony.

But when it comes to salvation, you and I know God drew a line in the sand. And it’s that red, thin line of crimson red, all the way from the first until the last man. And it all deals with the blood of Christ. He drew a line in the sand and says, look, only because of the blood, my death for you is how you and I can get to heaven. Look up here. This hand represents you and me, and this wall represents sin.

God says we all have sin on us. He loves us, but He hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God. So we’re all guilty. But God says, I love you. And He says, to go to heaven, you have to be perfect as righteous as God. But none of us are perfect. None of us are righteous. We have all sinned and come short of God’s perfection. God says, you can’t save yourself. He drew a line in the sand and says, not by works.

You cannot save yourself. You can’t even help. He says, there’s only one way. This hand represents Christ. God in the flesh came into the world. He had no sin, didn’t have to die. He took hours and he paid for it on the cross. Came back from the dead and said, if we’ll believe he did it for us, he would give us as a free gift of a lasting life. And we get to go to heaven on what Christ did, not because of what we’ve done.

Let’s pray, shall we? You ever had bound every eye closed and no one looking around? If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you just talk to the Lord and say something simple like this? Lord, I’m a sinner. I believe Christ died and paid for my sins and I will trust him. It’s my only hope of going to heaven. Friend, God loves you so much. Would you trust him? Would you believe it? If you will trust Christ as your Savior right now, God said He would give you eternal life as a gift and you could go to heaven whenever you die.

Isn’t that wonderful? There’s no trick to that. So I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that your trusting Christ is your Savior this morning. And I’d like to have prayer for you. Is there any more than all? So yes, pray for me. I will trust Christ as my Savior. I’d like you to pray for me. I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to have you come forward or anything like that or stand up.

Inward, all before we close. So that made sense to me. And I want to know I’m going to heaven. Inward, at all. If you’ve trusted Christ as your Savior, remember this. Draw a line in the sand. Let there be things that you will not do. Places you will not go. Things you will not say. because you love the Lord, and you want the best for yourself, for your family, for your church, for your country. Our Father, we thank You so much for all You’ve done for us.

We’re thankful so much for the free gift of eternal life. We thank You for it. Blessed one for being here, Christ and we pray. Amen. Hello, this is Peter Amato from Bibleline, and I’m excited to tell you of our free book offer for the month of January. this month for a gift in any amount we’re going to send to you the mysteries of the New Testament. Have you ever wondered what the mystery of the gospel was or the mystery of the blindness of Israel?

How about the mystery of Babylon? Well, we’re featuring a book written by Dr. Dan Arbeghast that explains all these mysteries found in the New Testament, and we’d like to send a copy to you for a donation in any amount. mailing address is 4811 George Road Tampa, Florida, 33634, or you can call toll free at 1-800-576-3771. We hope you enjoy the teaching of Dr. Arnold and thank you for your continued support and prayers. Once again, contact us today for this wonderful book on the mysteries of the New Testament.

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.