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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.

You know when I learned how to pay the harmonica, I was 17 years old. I had just run away from 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. So 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 landing 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, I’m Joe, 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 used 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 harmonica. 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 he is cunning in playing and a mighty valiant man and a man of war and prune in matters and a 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 thatCVE David was out there on that hillside 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 gonna 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 see it. David didn’t know he was gonna be the king.

God hadn’t told him until Sang will come the long anoints him to be the king and yet he’s still living his life and he’s still not a king. Now he’s just playing the music in the king’s hall. So you think sometimes well maybe, maybe you know God’s is going to 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 say, I’m going to serve the Lord, and God will take you. Now you’ve got to start and prepare some more. And that’s why he says in the book of Segment Timothy chapter, prepared under every good word, fit for the masters. He means fit to be used, prepared so that God can use you. God doesn’t just give you all of your needs. 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, the 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 think, I’m so intelligent and I’m so smart, I don’t need anybody telling me anything. Okay, you’re gonna lose. Learn from everybody because everybody got something that they know they can teach you something.

You just gotta have some discernment and what you learn and how you use it. It’s just like this. People say, well, you ought to have an open mind. I’m 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 then one day the Philistines going to fight against, you know, the children of Israel and 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 out 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 being 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 big foot, 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 Ryan, 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 in verse 8 and he stood and he cried unto the armies of Israel. Sit unto them, why are you come out to set your battle and array?

Am not I of Augustine 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 going to win or lose. And so here’s his loud mouth up there and he’s challenging Israel. So in verse 10, the Philistine says, I defy the armies of Israel this day.

Give me a man that we may fight together. So everybody, they heard this. All of them jumped up and said, 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 going to take it back up there and see what was going on. So he got some food in verse 17 and he kids in verse 18 carry these 10 cheeses onto 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 the keeper and went as Jesse had commanded 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 Geth, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according to the same words. Uh 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 be neat to them. They say there’s seven continents. Wouldn’t it be needed if you could shake all seven continents for the Lord? And God is looking for a man. My father and lawyer used to tell me, this is Yankee.

The world has never seen what God can do through one man totally yielded him. You know, I was listening, I’m not listening, this morning when I got up, I always check my email because I get about 200 a day. I checked my email in three people during the night, Trust the Christ of 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, there was four of them, and they listened for four different sermons.

And one was in Lithuania. The other day one was in north of Poland and one on the other side of like Germany some place over there and another one was in California and another one was off a little island of Africa. A little bit of island, how you Google Earth to find out exactly where it is. Some little island out there in the middle of the ocean, you know hundreds of miles from the shoreline of Africa. 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 at it. I just love it. And what they’re doing is making it possible with all the video and the sound and putting it all together and Jesse and working and putting 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. But anyway, David comes along, he hears all of this. And so he says in verse 24, And all the men of Israel, when they saw all the man fled from him and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up. And it shall be that the man who killed him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter.

She must look like homemade sin. Nobody’s taking them up on it. Now I’m just joking, I don’t really know. And make his father’s house free in Israel, probably means tax free. You won’t have to pay taxes. Wouldn’t that be nice? And how many people did they have taken them up on it? Not one person. You’d say somebody will at least try it. Nobody tried. Well, David been a little runt, but he must have been strong enough that he felt like he could do the job.

And he says, I’ve already had some great experiences. God’s already used me to kill a lion and a bear. And he says, I can make men’s meat out of this man. But anyway, in verse 26, he’s got to get something straight between him and his brothers. You know, sometimes your brothers can always be jealous and envious. And says, son, why don’t you go back and take care of the sheep? This is a man’s war. Well, verse 26, and David spake to the men that stood by him saying, what shall be done to the man that kill of this Philistine and take it the way the reproach from Israel.

For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? It wasn’t just the armies of Israel, he saw it, you’re defying God. And the people answered him after this manner, saying, so shall it be done to the man that killed him. And Eliab, his elder brother, heard when he spoke unto the men and and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David. And he says, why came a stout down hither? And with whom has thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?

I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. For thou art come down that thou might have seen the battle. Was that the truth? No, his daddy sent him. And he will come in honor to bring them some food. See, David’s innocent. He hadn’t done anything wrong, but sometimes can you get in trouble just doing right? Somebody misunderstand and questioning your motives. I know why. No, you didn’t know why. And his accusation was wrong. And so that’s why sometimes you have to be careful of jumping to the conclusion.

Like, I know the real reason. Well, maybe you do. Maybe you don’t. So anyway, David says, no, what have I done? So he makes his statement there in verse 29. And David says, what have I done now? You ever feel like that? What did I do this time? Is there not a cause? is not a cause. This man defies the armies of the living God. Is there not a cause to take this man down? Who’s going to dead? And so in verse 30, and he turned from him toward another and spake after the same manner.

And the people answered him again after the former manner. In other words, he kept getting the same response back. Did you see how big he is? You know it’s kind of like the children of Israel when they send in the 12 spies into the land. Ten of them came back and it says, the giants. There’s giants of children of Aynac that are there. We’re like grasshoppers in their sight. And Joshua and Caleb says, hey, God promised it to us.

We can do this. Did you know 40 years later, Caleb, being about 85 years old, the children of Aynac was up in the North Park and he says, I want that mountain. And that’s where the giants were. 85 years old, he hadn’t lost his desire. He says, that’s the one I want, and I’m gonna take him out. And he did. That’s okay, 85. Had a vision. I think I’m only 73. These guys serve the Lord when he’s way up there.

Don’t quit, don’t give up. You’d be surprised at what God can do. God can give you wisdom to serve the Lord at any age. Whether the young or whether you’re old. Like I told somebody the last week, somebody asking about, you know, when are you going to retire? I said, should I work till I retire? Or should I work till he returns? Maybe I should work until return because if I work till he returned, I did retire. I’ll retire when he returns.

But anyway, something may happen to my health and I have to retire next week. Maybe this afternoon. You never know when you’re going to have something happen to you. You could have a stroke and put you down like that or develop cancer and you can… I was with Dr. Curtis Hudson. We were speaking down in South Texas, sort conference. And he looked like a picture of health. I mean, he was one sharp man and he was looked as healthy, he had a nice tan and he was he was eight years older than what I was and I looked up to this guy and clear on the gospel he was great.

And I And I thought, God is going to probably give him a long time to live. And it wasn’t six months before he found out that he was down to cancer. And the doctor gave him six months to live. He got two more years out of it, and it was about 61, 62, he passed away. And I thought, the last time I heard him speak, he’d then shriveled down to probably 100 pounds. And I mean, and the guy got up there and he preached at the South Life Baptist Fellowship.

And I mean, there were several thousand people that were there. And it was an awesome meeting. And he got up there and he preached a sermon. They had to walk them up there and help them. And they stood there and they didn’t know if he was going to be able to finish his sermon or not. But he preached a sermon on things that are different are not the same. And he preached a great sermon. And then at the end of it, he sang.

And everybody was joining in all over the other church, and people were just crying. And right after that, he was dead. But man did he go out in a blaze of glory. But he loved the Lord, he’d serve the Lord. He told me one day, he says, I never thought this would happen to me. He says, my dad died of bone cancer. My brother died of bone cancer. He says, but they didn’t have the lifestyle. They didn’t know the Lord like I did.

And they didn’t serve the Lord like I did. I just didn’t think it would happen to me. His wife kept telling them, honey, you need to get checked. But he just thought, you don’t need to. He felt healthy. He looked good until you’re dead. You don’t have a clue how long you’re gonna live. But why you do live, live. A lot of people have already died and they’re walking around, maybe in good help, but they’re dead. Spiritually they’re dead because they know the Lord, but they’re not accomplishing anything with their life.

Just playing game, just piddling. So this is all important. But now look what he says down here. David told him, says, I can take this man. So Saul says, I’ll give you my armor. So he gave him his armor. David put it on, and he says, I have not proved this. I haven’t tried it. It doesn’t fit. So he just decided that ain’t gonna work. Well look down here in verse 37, and David said, Lord of the Lord have delivered me out of the paw of the lion.

And out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go and the Lord be with thee. So all these men that wouldn’t do it, these great warriors, wouldn’t take them on. Would you like to go up against a nine foot man, nine foot tall man that seasoned veteran? But see, David just saw him as a problem, but he looked beyond the problem through the God that can solve that problem.

Just like when those children went into the land of Israel and they came back with that bad report, well, some people saw only the problem. Joshua and Caleb, they saw the promise. Didn’t God promise them to land? Yeah, they just couldn’t see how they were going to solve the problem with those giants. And as you go through life, you’d be surprised at all the problems you’re going to have, and they will seem like giants in your life. Problems in your life and giants in your life is not the problem.

It’s how big is your God? is your God big enough to walk you through that problem? Is God big enough in your life that you can trust Him regardless of what comes? Or you become totally afraid of what’s coming down the road because you don’t see how God is going to do it. What’s the difference here? It’s no difference. You wanna be a David? Well, then you’re gonna have to have David’s God. And you’re gonna have to trust the Lord.

And you know, he had confidence that he could take down Goliath because he had already had several successful past experiences. You see those little things that you have to do, if you can win this battle and win this battle and win this battle and win this battle, they become your confidence builder. God did this for me and God did this for me. So whenever you have that next problem, well, that’s why the Lord says in the book Hebrews in chapter 10 verse 35, cast not away therefore your confidence.

You’ve already seen what God can do and how God can use you. Don’t cast that away because you see that’s why you’re going to do the next thing and the next thing. And so God keeps giving you even bigger problems because you see you’re getting stronger in your faith and your faith is not challenged unless there’s something great to overcome. So God says, he’s going to reward you when you get to heaven, but the rewards are according to the work and the work is according to the confidence that you have in the Lord.

So never cast away your confidence. And realize God has been good to me and God has blessed me, so I’m going to trust the Lord. And you may not know how God’s going to do everything, but just walk with him, trust him. And so when I hear people having a rough time, you say, just trust the Lord to walk you through it. He’ll walk you through it because if you’ll walk with the Lord, well the Lord’s got to be there too and he’ll walk you through it.

Just believe him and trust him. So anyway verse 40 and he took his staff in his hand and chose him five smooth stones. You see he had four brothers, five smooth stones out of the brook and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in the script. And his sling was in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David in demand that bear the shield went before him.

And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disstained him, for he was but a youth, and ruddy and a lot of fair countenance. And the Philistine said unto David, Am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. So here’s the man cursing David. What has David done wrong? Nothing. But the man knows I’m been challenged. He’s trying to make me look bad. So he says in verse 44, And the Philistine said to David, come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the foul of the year, to the beast of the field.

Then said David to the Philistine, thou cometh to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield. Get this, you ought to underline this. But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Host, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou have defied. So he’s letting him know you have defied the God of Israel. And I’m coming you in his name. You know, he put God on the spot. God, I’m doing this in your honor for your glory, and if you don’t give me a victory, you realize how that makes you look.

Have you ever given God the opportunity to look good? You see, serving the Lord is your way of making God look good. And that’s really what it’s about in life. We’re to magnify the Lord so people can see God and know more about what He’s like. So it’s an amazing thing. So anyway, he says here in verse 46, this day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand, and I will smite thee and take thy head from thee. So you thought that was only the Muslims that did that.

David did that way back here, cut off his head. This boy cut off this giant’s head with his own sword. And he says in verse 47, and all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveeth not with sword and spirit, but for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you enough our hands, and he came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew night to meet David. David hastened, ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.

Ran. Does it look like a scared little boy? Scared little rabbit? He’s running to meet this guy. And David put his hand in his bag, took thence a stone and slang it and smoked the Philistine in the forehead that the stone sunk into his forehead and he fell down his face to the earth. Now here’s just slinging around and around. We’ve two kids at the San Francisco and the slinging went around and around and then that little stone goes flying through the air and the Holy Spirit of God guides that stone and puts it right between his eyes in his forehead and the giant came tumbling down.

Anyway, who won? David won. You want the victories without the battle. You want to wear the metals, but you don’t want to fight. You’ve got to get in the arena. You want God to use you and to bless you, get in the battle. Don’t just sit around and watch everybody else. Get in the battle. You know, the more you get in the battle, you haven’t got time to cut and criticize and belittle somebody else because you’ve got your hands.

You know, your hands on the oar, it’s hard to rock the boat. If you’re not rowing and you rock the boat and there’s always somebody who wants to rock the boat. Well lo and behold, I hope that I don’t rock the boat too much today. Time’s up. Let’s pray shall we? Father, we ask your blessings upon the study of your word and for each one of us to have the confidence that we should have. So bless us, increase our faith, and thank you for all that you bring us through, and all that you bring us to.

Bless our service today in Christ’s name. 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? 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 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 caught up to meet the Lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the Lord is coming soon just keep looking up