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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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

The night when Greg spoke, there was probably, I’d say, I’d say we owe over 500 or more than trust in Christ’s Savior that night. And then when he had him dedicate their lives to the Lord, it’s just incredible. But he did do something that I didn’t know he was going to do it, but he did it. He wanted everyone in there to realize the importance of praying that you can get so caught up in these teenagers, so caught up with the big stars and rock stars and this person and that one and chasing all these things and there’s nothing like knowing the Lord and you need to learn how to talk to him.

He says, and that’s what prayer, talking to God. So he asked everybody to pray. And so all over the place, everybody just got out of their chairs and knelt on their knees on that concrete floor. And so one of the highlights to me was for me, my 12-year-old grandson and my son, who’s 42, all being kneeling side by side on a concrete floor talking to God. Now it wouldn’t be precious. That is so precious. And you didn’t have to make them.

I just slid out of my chair and boom, boom. They just follow. So the thing is you can’t make people spiritual. Well, if I could, I would figure out some kind of a concoction to make it work. But one of the greatest things is they can see you being a good example. And so it worked out good. We enjoyed it. Saturday afternoon we got ready to leave. Well, they’d talked a little bit about Daniel. And I had talked about it that Sunday morning right before I left, about Daniel and Joseph.

You know, they’re talking about Daniel too. So we got to the restaurant, gonna get something to eat before we started back down to Georgia. And we’re in Chattanooga at this time. And this waiter comes up there and he has long hair and kind of built kind of strong, you know, like Tyler. And anyway, he walked up there and he says, my name is Daniel and I’ll be your server. I said, are you the Daniel that was in the lion’s den?

And he smiled and he says, no. I don’t even know if he knew about Daniel in the lion’s den. So anyway, he waited on us. We got our food. We ate. And he got ready to pay. And he came back to the table. I said, can I ask you a question? He said, sure. I said, do you know where you’re going to go in your diet? Well, it didn’t take long. He trusted the Lord. Know what was neat for my grandson to see his grandpa talking to somebody about the Lord.

You see, I want him to see his grandpa praying. I want him to see his grandpa talking to people about the Lord. You see, most people are concerned about leaving their kids well off. Well, I don’t want them to go through what I went through. I do. I do. Let them learn to stand on their own two feet. Let them learn how to walk with the Lord. them learn how to work and to work hard and not give them everything they want on the silver platter.

But the greatest thing you can never give your kids is a good example. Just love the Lord and serve the Lord and stay at it all your life. The worst thing your kids need is a mom and dad who fight all the time. Didn’t that us, James? Some kids they never see harmony. The home should be almost like heaven on earth, where a man and a woman love each other and do right. I’ve talked to kids that want to get married and I said, well tell me this.

Have you ever seen a marriage like you want? No. No. I’ve ever heard about your parents. No. And most people don’t want a marriage like the family they just came from. They said they want something different and better. Of course they always wanted, but they don’t know how to put the right ingredients in it. And sometimes it takes years of people working together and learning how to iron out some of your differences. and realizing that you all have problems and so forth, but it’s so important.

On the way back, we stopped and got a place to spend the night in. The next morning, I’m sitting there reading my paper and drinking a cup of coffee and got a little bit to eat there. And Betty comes and got all her stuff and she’s eating. And I’m reading the paper. Betty looks around and she saw this cleaning lady. a cleaning lady over there against the corner and she says, Yankee, there’s nobody over there whether you could go witness to her.

Okay, so I finished up and I go walking over there. By the time I got there, she didn’t already moved over to the desk and was talking to the lady behind the counter. Well, the lady behind the counter, I’d already led her to the Lord. So I looked at her And I says, come here, just a minute. I said, come here. And so she walked over to me, and she was very shy, very shy. And she had a broom in her hand.

It might have been a mop. I can’t remember. She had something in her hand. And she’s a cleaning lady. And she’s cleaned up a mess that everybody makes in there, you know, in the little cotton or breakfast set up. And I says, ma’am, can I ask you a question? I says, you don’t know me, do you? She says, no. I says, I don’t know you either. I said, so we don’t know each other, do we? She’s my, no. I says, but my name is Janky.

And she told me I don’t remember what it was. And anyway, I asked her, I says, can I ask you a question? She said, yeah, I said, if you were to die right now, do you know for sure you go to heaven? She says, no. So I says, now I use this a lot. Isn’t it true that you have heard all your life that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for all the sins of the world? And she says, I don’t know.

I says, think about this. If he paid for all the sins of the world, why should you or me or anybody go to hell and pay for our sins if he paid for it? And she looked up at me and she goes, oh, I thought I ain’t never had anybody do that before. She looked like, I never heard this before. Oh. So I went ahead and explained to Gospel and I asked her, I said, will you trust Christ as your Savior?

And so she trusted the Lord. And I thought it was for me. And every time I was thinking about that, I’m driving down and I was, oh, because I’m rehearsing again in my mind. And I told the story down there to the people that the Bible said downtown. And oh, I can still see her doing this. And nobody’s ever done it before. It’s like a light bulb goes on. Oh, so anyway, she trusts the Lord, and so it was a good experience.

It really was. I got to thinking, you know, pretty soon, it’s going to be church time. I got to go to church somewhere. Now I’m not dressed to go to church, but they don’t know who I am. They don’t know I’m a preacher. They don’t know anything, so it doesn’t matter. So anyway, I told Biddie, I says, honey, it’s 15 till 11. Most churches, Baptist churches will start at 11 o’clock. So we’ve got 15 minutes to find us a church.

So the very next exit, I got off. Well, there was no gas stations, there’s no stores. There’s nothing, just the next exit, onto a road. There’s a couple scattered houses. We went down to one road and I didn’t know where they go that way or go this way. So I turned to the right. We drove about a mile and there’s a couple of houses scattered and I said, Betty, there’s no town. And I thought, if I don’t find something soon, it’s going to be too late.

So I’ve got to find something soon. I said, I might as well turn around. She says, all right. So I got rid of the turn around and she says, now she’s got the legalized. She got like radar. She looked way down the road about a half a mile and she says, there’s a sign down there. A road turned and went down a way and there was a sign. Right in the corner. I could barely see the sign. I said, all right, so we’ll go down here.

I went down there and it says, Lake View. Lake something Baptist Church. We turned to the left and we went down about a half a mile or more and Loved me hold on the right hand side upon the little hill was a little white Baptist Church. So we decided to drop in. So, you know, we didn’t look that best. So, but it was it wasn’t bad. So I went in and Betty and we’d gone in there and so I asked myself And I said, no, where’s the restroom?

So I went back here and I want to clean up a little bit. My hair was messed up. And so I came back out and it didn’t take that long before they already knew I was a preacher, where I come from, what I was doing, and where I was going. But he was already sowing the seeds. And the preacher came up to me and I thought he’s going to be 85 years old. Because he was walking slow and he just looked old.

So sorry for the guy I thought, maybe he won’t even make it through the service. Just in case I’ll be ready. But he walked down the aisle and he was very nice. He was very friendly. And so he talked to me and says, I heard your preacher and blah, blah, blah, blah. So we talked just a little bit. And his wife came over and talked to us for a little while and very nice, very friendly. And it was some older folks and it wasn’t a big church, it was a small church.

And so the choir got up there to sing. And there wasn’t that many in the choir. He says, everybody’s sick today. He says, we’ve got something going through the town. And I thought, what town? He says, half the choir wasn’t supposed to be there. Half the people weren’t supposed to be there because everybody was sick. And so the choir got up there and they sang. And this man started singing. But I couldn’t see him. I was looking at some of the guys in the choir.

They were, oh, it’s on a CD. It’s on a CD and all they’re doing it, just playing it. And they’re just singing it. And finally the lady, she was up there directing it and not trying to look around. And there’s the guy holding the microphone. He was singing it. And buddy, did he sing good, didn’t he? Beautiful voice, beautiful voice. And then the choir came in behind him and it was just awesome. And so I was totally amazed that so few could sound so good.

good. And so they sung a couple songs and then, but they started right off with a meet and greet. They didn’t call it that. And so everybody was shaking hands and so on. And you know, when I’m like that there, I get in a mood, you know, and so I walked up this part, I’m just shaking everybody’s hand, just no going around. And I walked up this one lady and I said, Hi, are you a new visitor here? No, I’m a member.

Oh, I’m the visitor. And she started laughing. So anyway, I had a little fun here and there. And the preacher got up for the preach and he said, now let me tell you, this is an important sermon today. But he hinged it upon a statement that an old-time Baptist preacher, and that could tell by the way he said it, he was talking about a black Baptist preacher. And he says, there’s some people that there’s no change in their life.

And he says, if you’ve got to have genuine faith, and so they had asked this preacher about genuine faith. And he says, if you is what you was, you ain’t. And he repeated it several times. If you is what you was, you ain’t. does that mean? If there’s no change in your life, you ain’t. So that was the pretty much the title of his sermon. There’s got to be a change. And I thought, oh my stars. And so I got ready to hit Betty and she says, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, no, no.

You know this This is a Baptist church, Southern Baptist church. And he says something about the perseverance of the saints. And I looked at the verse and she said, I know, I know, I know, I know. So I couldn’t even complain to her because she already knew what I’m doing. So I said to her and I listened and I thought, and I watched the people. And I thought, if they only had a good dose of the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, how wonderful they would be.

And they don’t know, they said there, and they listened like, you know, tell me more, tell me more. And they don’t know that what they’re hearing is not the absolute truth. And it just, it hurts, it rips at you. So anyway, he got through preaching and, you know, when he gets close to 12 o’clock, they stop. They start at 11, 12 o’clock gets over. So when he got through, he had everybody stand to sing a song and he walked down the aisle.

And he walked down the aisle and I’m standing right where Greg is right now. And he walked right up to me and he says, what is your name? That’s his Yankee, the Yankee Arnold. Ralph, Yankee Arnold. Ralph Arnold. I did all of that. So sometime I don’t know exactly what I should say, you know. I’m Yankee. But anyway, he said, do you mind closing and benediction? I said, sure. So he walks back down to the front. I think he stood down there.

And he says, we have with us a pastor and he’s passing through and he’s going to close in a word of prayer for us. And his name is Yankee Armel. I don’t know if he couldn’t remember Ralph or he could remember Yankee, but evidently that’s what it was. And so when everybody bowed their head to pray, I said, Lord, thank you so much for the free gift of everlasting life. you so much for sending your Son to down the cross to pay for all the sins of all the world, and that only by faith in what Christ did on the cross for us, we can know we have the free gift of everlasting life.

And I pray, you know, I quoted 1 John 5, 13, Ephesians 2, 8, 9, you’d be surprised what you can do in a prayer. So anyway, I finally said, Amen. And anyway, weeks with some more hands and on my way out I had to wait on Betty Betty’s back here passing out tracks. I don’t know how many she gave up but everybody in there she was just a sow on the seeds and telling the web page right here and take this test here and you ever get down to Tampa coming by and see us and so forth.

So anyway we’re a good team we worked together pretty good but God is so good to us. We’re in the book of Romans. Yes, we’re using the realm and road. But go all the way back here and I want to just show you this as I kind of wrap it up. We got all the way to chapter 12 and about us as his children growing in the Lord and accomplishing something. So they’re in Romans in chapter 12, you’ll notice what he says in verse 3, For I say through the grace given unto me to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

See, God allows you to have the faith according to the belief you have in His Word. See, whenever you dedicate your life to the Lord and you decide to serve Lord as he says up in verse 2, be not conformed to this world but be a transformed by the renewing of your mind by the Word of God. This is something you do and your faith that you have will be in direct ratio to the caliber of the faith you have in God’s Word.

So when you renew your mind by the Word of God, you’ll have faith to trust what you read. And more you do the good your faith can be and then the more things you can attempt for the Lord. So he goes down through here and he talks about in verse 6 having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given unto us and then he tells all the way down here in verse 10 be kindly affectioned one toward another and so forth.

Then verse 11 not slawful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord. All this is about serving the Lord. Now you don’t serve the Lord till after you’ve been justified. So the first part of the book, you’ve been justified. Then you have to renew your mind. Then you have to do what you’re supposed to do because of the faith that you have in what God’s Word says. And that’s why in chapter 1 He says, your faith is heard throughout the world.

Your faith is heard throughout the world. Did you know that because of the radio and the internet, you know that the faith of this church has been heard throughout the world? It really is. A small church But we’ve got a big vision, a big platform that God’s given to us. And then He talks about every one of us as God’s children committed in ourselves to serve Him. Now look there in chapter 16. Chapter 16, and I covered this one.

I went through the whole book of Romans, but you’ll notice there in the verse one, I commend unto you, Phoebe, our sister, which is a servant of the church. And then in verse two, that you receive her in the Lord as become of saints. And then in verse three, greet Priscilla and Aquila, helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks. Under whom, not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

So they had a church in their house and he talks about going through here and honoring this one and honoring that and not forgetting this one, not forgetting that one. And he goes through and he names an awful lot of people, but these people that he names are individuals that not only trust the Christ of Savior, not only did they renew their mind, not only did they have faith to believe, but they were helpers. They were helpers in the gospel.

And they did all these wonderful things. And as you go through there, all the way down, he’s talking about the churches in verse 16, the churches of Christ salute you. Then he says, Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which caused divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrines which you have learned and avoid them. So there’s things to do, there’s things to avoid. So if you want to stay strong in the Lord, there’s things you’re supposed to know things you’re supposed to do.

The brethren that you’re supposed to love, the working together for the cause of Christ. And at the same time there’s things you should not do. You should be able to discern teaching that is wrong, teaching that is false, and stay away from it. And he says, those that do these things, he says, they will win you by fair speeches. They use nice big, pretty words. And in the last part of verse 18 where he says, and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple.

Now I want you to see a couple things here. In verse 19 says for your, and here’s this word, obedience. Your obedience is come abroad unto all men. So that’s why in chapter 1 he talks about your faith is heard. Your faith is heard because of your obedience. If you’re not obedient to the Lord there’s no faith to talk about. When you don’t faithfully do what God wants you to there’s nothing to talk about. But he says, I am glad therefore on your behat.

Now look at the next words of but yet. But yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, simple concerning evil. Now look at verse 20 where he says, and the God of peace shall bruise satins, Satan under your feet shortly. In other words, obedience will bring victory sooner or later. You just keep serving God. You keep walking with God and you’ll be surprised how things can work out. I was talking to somebody this week and I’ve used this illustration before, but I says, your life is all messed up, isn’t it?

Yes. In other words, it’s kind of like pushing a rope. You ever try to push a rope? What happens if you you try to push a rope. This gets all messed up. I said, but if you just got one end of that rope and started to walk in, in a straight line, what happens to that rope? Straighten down. I says, that’s the way your life is, unless you walk with God. If you will walk with the Lord, God will straighten out all those things, but if you don’t walk with the Lord, you’ve got to try to figure out how to straighten out all those things and you’ll never get him straightened out.

I’ve had people say, well, When I get my life straightened out, then I’m gonna serve God. I get my life straightened out, then I’m gonna start going to church. When I get my life, you can’t straighten it out. That’s the point. Only God can. And if you start walking with the Lord and obeying God and doing what God wants you to do, then God will take care of all those other things. And God says, he will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly.

You put God first and you walk with God, And you’ll find out that God will take care of all these other things. That doesn’t relieve us of our responsibility. We’re to do all the right that we possibly can, but you can leave problems with the Lord. And God will work out those things, learn to trust them. And so as you go down through here, now look down in verse 26. But now is made manifest. And by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations, and then here’s these words, obedience of faith.

When Christ says, going to all the world and priests to gospel to every person, every nation, do you think it’s because God wants every person in every nation to trust the Lord and serve If they would, it would change the nations. Why do we have such a big problem with all the nations of the world today? Because they don’t have faith in the Lord. They’re not His children, and God’s children sometimes won’t go so people don’t hear so they can’t make godly decisions so they make worldly decisions.

But it sounds good for the moment, and they get worse and worse and worse, and the world has become a gigantic mess. But one day Christ will return to the earth and He will roll with a rod of iron and He’s going to straighten out everything. Everything is going to be cool. He’s going to be here Himself. Until then, you and I keep walking with the Lord and God will bless you because of doing that. So look up here.

This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. all have sin on us. Now God said He loves us. He hates our sin but He loves us. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven and we have to be perfect and nobody’s perfect. None of us are righteous. We are not justified. So when we talk about Christ coming into the world, we’re talking about the just died for the unjust that He might bring us unjust to God.

So God says that we committed the sin we have to pay for it and we cannot save ourselves. God said, it’s not by our works. This hand represents Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from us. So Jesus Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. And God said that if we would believe that he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account, we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did.

And the very moment you believe that, he puts this payment to your account, you get to go to heaven on what Christ did. You don’t earn it, don’t work for it. It’s the best news in all the world. Let’s pray show him. With every head bow and every eye closed and no one looking around. If you’re here tonight or if you’re watching by internet and you’ve never trusted Christ, why not right now in the quietness of this moment to say, Lord, I don’t understand at all, but I believe Christ died, paid for my sins.

And I’m going to trust him right now as my Savior. And friend, if you would do that, God said he would save you. He would give you eternal life as a gift. Would you believe it? I pray that you will. And if you’re making that decision, I’d like to know it. Like to have prayer for you in closing. Is it in with us? Yes, that made sense to me, and I’ll trust Christ as my Savior. If you’ve already trusted Christ as your Savior, remember your God’s child.

walk with the Lord, walk with the Lord. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one for being here and we pray your will to be done in the lives of those that hear the message that’s on the internet and we pray that they would make wise decisions. Maybe someday we’ll be able to see them and talk to them. We thank you for the influence that you’ve given to us in so many parts of the world.

In Christ and we pray. Hello, this is Peter Amato from Bibleline. We hope you’ve enjoyed the message from Dr. Arnold and pray that Bibleline is helping you to grow in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thanks for your donations and support of Bibleline, we’d like to send Dr. Arnold’s complete teaching on the book of Revelation. Compiled on one disc are 27 lessons in MP3 format of all 22 chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ that was given to the Apostle John.

Dr. Arnold provides clear insight and understanding to this often misunderstood book and for a donation in any amount we’d like to send this gift to you today. You may contact us by calling 1-800-576-3771 or by mail to 4811 George Road Tampa, Florida 33634. And don’t forget to include your mailing address as well. Once again, thank you for supporting Bibleline and may God richly bless you. 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. We’re leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.