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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.

We’ve been talking about the great men and women of the Bible. And lastly, we talked about Saul, and he was God’s choice, but he agreed God because he failed to do the thing that he should do. And he rebelled against the Lord, didn’t keep his word, and so the Lord had to tell him, look, come on, get somebody else to do the jobs that you’re not doing so good. And so that made him, that made him, you know, repentant at first.

And so, but there’s a lot of things that happen in this old boy’s life. And so we want to take our Bible and turn to the book of Samuel, first Samuel. And let’s just go there to chapter 16. We finished last week in our son’s school lesson in chapter 15 of first Samuel talking about the little incident with Samuel and how that Samuel took a gag, the Amalekite, and cut him up. So that’s how you deal with doing what God says, do God had told him to do it?

He did it. And then the Bible says this in verse 35. And Samuel chapter 35, last verse, verse 35 of chapter 15. And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless, Samuel mourned for Saul and the Lord repented that he had made Saul king over Israel. It means it grieved him. Not because Saul couldn’t have done the job, but it grieves God when people don’t do what God wants him to do. Now you and I know that when we trust Christ as our Savior, the Holy Spirit indwells us that very moment.

And so when the Holy Spirit indwells you, the Bible says grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. So that means can God’s children grieve God. Yeah, we call him grief, just like our children can call us grief, and our husband can cause us grief, wives can cause us grief. Everybody can get grieved by a lot of things, even the preacher can cause you a little grief at times probably. And not often, but maybe once in a while. But we’re sometimes easily grieved, but we expect so much more from each other.

And And God expected Saul to do what he was supposed to do, but Saul disobeyed. You said, didn’t God know that? Yes, but God still gives us opportunities. Doesn’t God give us opportunities to live and serve him? What if he took us home every time he got upset with us? Wouldn’t mean nobody left. Everybody be gone. So God is very patient with us. Now Saul was a problem, and God was very patient with him, but he was a very valueless individual.

and he sinned against God. So God says, I’m going to replace you with somebody else. Now look at what he says in verse 1 of chapter 16. And the Lord said unto Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul see? And I have rejected him from going to heaven so that he’s lost now. He didn’t say that. He rejected from being king. He was chosen to be a king. Now Now he’s been rejected from being the king. When it comes to salvation, see salvation, God has chosen to save everyone who will believe.

Many people say, well he only chose to save this one or that one. He chose to save whosoever would believe. And when it comes to service, God has chosen all of his children and ordained them that they should walk in truth and that they should walk in good works. So it’s the will of God that all of us do what God wants us to do. So remember this, the day you trusted Christ is your Savior, you were placed by the Holy Spirit of God.

Into the body of Christ. As though when Christ was on the cross, He died for me. He was in my place. When He was buried, and when He came back from the dead. So, when I trusted Christ as my Savior, see that was put to my account. So I was baptized, placed into the body of Christ. That’s not something you do or I do. That’s something that happens by Jesus Christ’s. He will baptize. He places you into Christ into that body.

So, we received the Holy Spirit the very moment. the Lord. And so our being baptized is a picture of that death barrel resurrection. Now even the Bible says that Jesus Christ was baptized at the beginning of his ministry. So why was he baptized? He didn’t sinned and a lot of people never figured that out. But that was a picture of his ministry. He came into the world to be crucified, to die on the cross, to pay for our sins, and to be buried and come back from the dead.

So he was baptized as a picture of what he was going to do. So when you and I get baptized, it’s a picture of our death, our barrel, and our resurrection. So that doesn’t save anybody. Otherwise, we’d have to baptize everybody. But salvation is the gift of God. But now, when it comes to David, he had been chosen by God after Saul. So God can choose to use people in a lot of different ways. Comes to salvation going to heaven, God doesn’t pick and choose like that.

That’s just for service, this is for what He wanted. I want you to be the king. The disciples was chosen to be disciples, the follower, a learner. It doesn’t mean they were chosen to go to heaven, chosen to be saved over somebody else. Salvation is always the same for everybody. offers his salvation to everyone the same. And all we have to do is believe that when he died, he died for me. He paid for my sins. Well, if he paid for my sins, then I shouldn’t have any sins to pay for.

He paid for my sins. All he’s doing is forgiving me because the payments paid. So when you believe he did it for you, you are accepting God’s forgiveness. I am forgiven of all my sins. I get to go to heaven. That is the gift of God. That is a wonderful, wonderful news. Now it says in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 3 where God says God have not chosen the wise of the world, the noble and so forth that he have chosen the weak and the foolish and so forth.

But that’s not for salvation. That’s what God does for service that no flesh and glory in his presence. So God says all of us have sin And so he died for all of us and gives us all eternal life equally. When it comes to service, it’s because God wants to use you specifically for something and he may give it to you and then take it away. And so Saul was to be the king. Well, if God gave that to him and then because of his rebellion to the Lord, God can remove him from being king.

And the shame of it all is he removed him and also he’s saddened by them dying in the battle with the Philistines. But anyway, you have here in chapter 16, he says in verse 1, he says, see, and I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Phil thine horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his son, so I’m taught he’s provided a king. Now of course, David doesn’t know anything about it.

So you see God can choose to use people for his honor and glory and God knew hey, there’s a there’s a little boy out there he’s the eight son of Jesse and God says I I chose him to be the next king see Samuel’s job was to anoint him king Then after that it would be their sons that would ring So he says here in verse 2, Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul here, he’ll kill me. And the Lord says, take an heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord and call Jesse to the sacrifice.

So Jesse’s supposed to come and bring his sons. Well, there he is. Well, there are all of his sons and he looks at the Eliaab in verse 6, and it shall come to pass when they were come, he looked on Eley Abbot and he said, surely the Lord’s unknown is before him and the Lord says not so fast, not so fast. But the Lord said in the Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his statue.

Because I have refused. For the Lord see if not as man see it. Look at the on the outward appearance. For the man look at the on the outward appearance. Lord look at the on the heart. So God looks a little bit deeper. He was a little bit deeper. That loved him. And he had this man who was the countenance and the man that had the height. I want somebody who loves me. Somebody’s totally different. Now isn’t it okay if God does a little pick and in choosing who represents him and how they serve?

Well that’shari the same way it is after your trust Christ to save him. If your testimony is good, God can choose to use you in a lot of ways. If your testimony is not right, God may just put you on the shelf, not use you at all, let you just live your life. And, uh, might even take you home before your time. So I found out it’s better to be an obedient child of God so that God can use you.

Or you could be rebellious. But one thing that I can say that Lord allowed me to learn a valuable lesson as I was growing up, and that is my daddy used to whoop the Torah on me all the time. I just never really like whoopons. So that helped me to make a wise decision about serving the Lord. I don’t want God whooping me. Do you? Then that’s why you serve the Lord. Why? INeigh sizeofzinski, whooped. Now, it’s better to serve the Lord because you love him.

Now, I didn’t respect my dad. When my dad said, move, I moved. And I didn’t want to sit as close as I did that I had to within arms reach. Because that could be deadly. One day we’re sitting there at the table. My dad’s sitting there and he had a friend of his, Emmanuel Freeman. I’ll never forget his name. And my sister, Ned, sitting right beside I mean, she looked at me and she laughed and she said, you can’t get a look at him.

I said, what? She said, you know, she said, he looks like a monkey down there. I laughed. My dad said, what’s your laughing about? Nothing. Then she held me in guns. She said, can’t you look at him? He says, he’s ugly in here. I said, look, I laughed. All of them still have kids. No, I laughed. Then my dad, he says, what are you laughing about? Now, he said, at this time, I know I got answered. How do I tell my dad?

I’m not skilled in the art of lying yet. How do I tell my dad why I’m laughing? I gotta tell my dad what just happened. And so I looked at my dad and I said, he looked like a monkey. My dad came back with his hand, took me clean off of that bench, up against the wall. Then he took me out and killed me. And guess what happened to my sister? Nothing, nothing ever happened to her. I was so gullible back in those days.

just put it in my sister told me I didn’t know she was setting me up but she did she did all the time she was as devilish as could be later on I led her to the Lord now she’s in heaven I’m glad for that I guess anyway God has a way of choosing and he can raise you up and he can put you down if you humble yourself to the Lord he can raise you up you exalt yourself he can put you down God has a away of dealing with this.

So anyway, he goes to all of these kids, and he says down here in verse 11, and Samuel said unto Jesse, are here all thy children? He said, they remain at the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. Samuel said unto Jesse, send in fetch him. See, fetch him? That’s a Georgia term. So that’s a southern Georgia. Fetch him, and we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in. Now, Now he was ready and with all a beautiful countenance.

Must’ve been a good looking kid. Goodly do look to him. And the Lord said, a rise anoint him for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of all, anointed him in the midst of his brethren and the spirit of the Lord came upon him, David, from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rema. Now in the Old Testament, the Holy Spirit would come on a person and then lay on a person, lay. That’s why in 51st Psalm after David sent against Bashi He says, for restoring the meat and the joy of my salvation, the Lord says, remove not thy Holy Spirit from me, because the Holy Spirit could come upon them, they’d do a job and so forth.

Now Jesus said in the New Testament, my spirit in chapter 14 of John, when he comes, he will be with you and shall be in you forever. And he’ll never leave you and never forsake you. So it’s a totally different, and the whole testament, New Testament. Now notice what he says here. In verse 14, Saul began to have these fits. He was very discouraged, very depressed. He was not a happy man. Well, it’s because he wasn’t doing what God says to him.

He was rebellious to the Lord. When you’re rebellious, you don’t remain that peace and joy and happiness. You just don’t have it. It’s manufactured, but it’s you’re happy if the happenings are good. But if everything doesn’t happen to you that’s good, then you’re sad and discouraged and depressed and so forth. So you don’t have joy. He says, I give you joy that the world can’t give. It means that we’re good. And also what’s going on out there, you can have the joy of the Lord always.

That’s why Paul says even while he was in prison, rejoice in the Lord always. Rejoice. Because of the joy you have, you know who I am, I’m God’s child. Do you know where I’m going, I die? I’m going to heaven. This is temporary. Everything in this life is temporary and you can endure anything for a short period of time. Can’t you? This isn’t when he gets too long. Anyway. He says, he needed somebody. He says, find somebody that can soothe me, some good soothing music.

Well lo and behold, there was this young boy that knew how to play the harmonica, looking for a sick teen. Now our Lord now commended thy servant, which are before the, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on an harmonica. I added that in there. Now why do you think I said that? I have no idea. So everybody, you hear them sing those songs when you get to heaven, I’m going to have me a harp and a crown, a harmonica and a crown.

So you’ve got to, you know, you want to have music and never, you’ve got to play, learn how to play the harmonica. You know when I learned how to play the harmonica, I was 17 years old. I had just run away from aunt and uncle and I said, I’m sick and tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do so I joined the Navy. And that’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever done. So I was 17 years old and I had just turned 17 and I had to get my mom to sign for me.

She did sign for me. And I was a Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and I bought me a little harmonica, about a dollar harmonica, marine band. And I was laying on the bunk in the train on my way to Great Lakes Boot Camp, And I learned how to play You Are My Sunshine. It was the only song that I knew. I was like, yo, do, do, do, do. And I learned how to play that. And so ever since then, I can play the harmonica.

And so now I’ve got all kinds of harmonica. It’s all kinds of keys. I’d use the chromatic. And I’d use the big ones and other small ones and all that. But the thing I like about the harmonica, you don’t hardly have to think. If you can breathe, you can play harmonica. Oh, God, you just know good. Do I go up this way or down this way? Do I blow out or I draw in? So it’s a simple thing. Anybody can learn how to play a monie.

But David played the harp. It was not a harmonica, much as I try to put that in there, but it’s not in there. But now notice what he says in verse 17. And Saul said unto his servant, provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehem, and that he is cunning in playing and a mighty, valiant man and a man of war and prude in matters and the comely person and the Lord is with him.

And look at all these nice things said about him. Did you know that there’s a possibility that while David was out there on that hill side watching those sheep and playing his heart that God was preparing him? He said, I have provided myself a king. In other words, he didn’t get to be king for years. He was anointed years in advance. And then it was way later that he actually became the king. But God had already promised, you’re going to be the king.

You see sometimes what God wants you to do might be years down the road and he’s preparing you now that you can’t even sit. David didn’t know he was going to be the king. God hadn’t told him until Samuel comes along and anoints him to be the king. And yet he’s still living his life and he’s still not a king. He’s just playing the music in the King’s Hall. So you think sometimes, well maybe, maybe, you know God’s just gonna do it like that.

And He’s preparing you and it’s taking time. So be patient with the Lord. And you’d be surprised God may have something great for you down the road, but you may forego all of those wonderful things because you become impatient and stop being faithful. And when you stop being faithful, God will have to put you on the shelf. And you decide I’m going to serve the Lord, then God will take you. Now you’ve got to start and prepare some more.

And that’s why he says in the book of of segmentivity chapter. Prepared under every good word, fit for the master’s use. That means fit to be used. Prepared so that God can use you. God doesn’t just give you all everything you need. He’s taking you through processes of where you are, who you work with, who your husband is, who your wife is, what your kids are like, in laws, outlaws. God uses everything and building you to challenge and to motivate you.

And everybody is your master in something. Therefore you should study every individual because they know something. you don’t know and probably can do something you can’t do and you can learn from everybody. The shame is when you put down people and thinking, I’m so intelligent and I’m so smart, I don’t need anybody telling me anything. Okay, you’re going to lose. Learn from everybody because everybody got something that they know that can teach you something. You just got to have some discernment in what you learn and how you use it.

It’s just like this. People say, well, Why you ought to have an open mind? I was happy. Yeah, you ought to have an open mind. Well, I have open windows in the house, too, but I like to put screens on to keep the bugs out. So you need to have a screen on your mind from the Word of God to keep off the bugs. So you filter everything through the scriptures. So anyway, he comes along and he does all these wonderful things.

And one day, the Philistines are going to fight against the children of Israel. You’ve heard of the story of Samson and Delilah? Yeah, you heard that. And you’ve heard about David and, what’s that big guy’s name? Goliath? David and Goliath. Well, this is the story in chapter 17. So look in chapter 17. And you have the story of David and Goliath. Now David was not there feeding sheep, mine in his own business. His other brothers, the oldest three, had already gone to the battle.

And you’ll see that up there in verse 14, see verse 14 of chapter 17. David was the youngest and the three elders followed Saul. So they were already there and the Bible says that this Goliath and talk about him been about six cubics high and so forth. Well if a cubic is about 18 inches, well this man had to be close to nine foot tall. That’s pretty tall. I’m six foot not Bigfoot, six foot, three more feet. Big, man.

He must have been a man of war. I mean, he had to, I mean, when you read some of the stuff, just of the things that he told around, he’d be like a tank. I mean, he was well prepared to take on anybody. So he gets up there and he brags and he boasts and he challenges the men of Israel. Hey, there was on one side of the mountain and they were on the other side. He says, send me a man to fight with me.

And if he wins, we’ll be your servants. But if he wins, we’ll be your servants and you’ll be our servant if we win. But there was nobody in Israel that would take up on the challenge. Well, things weren’t moving long too well. So there’s this problem. So look down here in chapter 17 and look verse 8, and he stood and he cried unto the armies of Israel, said unto them, why are you come out to set your battle and array?

Am not I of Alistin? And ye servants to Saul, choose you a man for you and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants? But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us. So the results are, well, you’re gonna win or lose. And so here’s his loud mouth up there and he’s challenging Israel. And so in verse 10, and the Philistine says, I defy the armies of Israel this day.

Give me a man that we may fight together. And so everybody, they heard this. And all of them jumped up and says, I can do it, I can do it. Is that right? Well, nobody wanted to say it. I’m not going. I’m not going. Well, why don’t you go, Keaton? I’m not going. I’ll send my wife. So he says, I regret I’ve only got one wife to give my country. But no, they didn’t want to go. And so David in verse 15 went and returned from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.

And the Philistines drew near morning and evening and presented himself 40 days. I mean this went on for a month over a month and nobody would take him on. Well, Jesse says, you better go take some food back to your brothers. And so he got some food together and it’s gonna take it back up there and see what was going on. So he got some food in verse 17 and in his in verse 18 carry these 10 cheeses unto the captain of the thousand so forth.

So he gave him some food to take up there. And they were all up there and in verse 20 and David rose up early in the morning left the sheep with a keeper and took and went as Jesse had come back. handed him, and he came to the trench as the host was going forth to the fight and shouted for the battle. And Israel and the Philistines had put the battle in a ray army against army. And David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage, ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren.

And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gav, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according to the same words, oh, David heard him. This changes everything. David heard him. You know, it’s kind of like, you know, reading the Bible and everybody hears it, but somebody really hears it. I’ve often said one of these days, somebody, some little kid is going to come along and they’re going to read this Bible and trust Christ as their Savior.

And they’re going to see that God has challenged them to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature and somebody is going to be so dedicated to the Lord that God’s going to raise them up and would have been neat there. They say there’s seven continents. Wouldn’t be needed if you could shake all seven continents for the Lord. And God is looking for a man. My father in law used to tell me this is Yankee.

The world has never seen what God can do through one man totally yielded to him. You know, I was listening, I’m not listening, this morning when I got up, I always checked my email because I get about 200 a day. So I checked my email in three people during the night, trusted Christ’s Savior, in different parts of the world. And so I checked them when I got over here to check their IP to see where they came from. And they listened to three different sermons, it was four of them, and They listened for a different sermon.

One was in Lithuania. The other day one was in north of Poland and went on the other side of like Germany some place over there. Another one was in California. Another one was off of a little island of Africa. A little bit of island. How you google earth to find out exactly where it is. little island out there in the middle of the ocean, you know, hundreds of miles from the shoreline of Africa, a little island, somebody trust the Christ of their Savior.

I thought, here we are while I’m sleeping. We’re reaching people around the world, literally. This is awesome. It’s awesome. And who would have ever believed that? And I still get amazed I just love it. And what they’re doing is making it possible with all the video and then the sound and putting it all together and Jesse and the working and putting the stuff up there. I don’t do anything. All I do is just talk. They do all the work.

But one sows and waters and God gives the increase. Nobody saves the soul except the Lord. We just got to get the message to him. Hello friends, thank you for listening to Bibleline, and thank you to those who write in and tell us how Bibleline is making such a big impact in your lives. It’s such an encouragement when we receive your letters and emails. Can I ask, how is your prayer life? Does it need some help? Most Christians think of prayer as a secondary or last resort.

Do you realize that Jesus spent hours upon hours in prayer to His Heavenly Father, and And yet we so often fail to practice prayer as a priority in our lives. Well during this month for a gift in any amount we’re going to send you Dr. Arnold’s Four Sermon Series on the Power of Prayer. Perhaps prayer is a shortcoming in your life and this teaching is surely able to help. 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. Cut 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.