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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.

What in the world are we going to talk about today? You’re turning the Bible real quick to the book of Romans 8 to one of your favorite verses in the Bible, Romans 8 verse what? 28th, see there you knew that, see you knew that. And I want to talk to you a little bit about accidents. We call them accidents, but did you know that accidents could be God working? Accidents could be God working. I used to not like. I couldn’t figure it out.

Because I considered myself to be fairly intelligent. You would too. I knew that. But this was years ago. Eddie, my son, was about 13 years old. And so I had got this great big beautiful set. It was a chess set. Now, checkers is okay, but chess is required thinking. So I wanted to see how I could do it with my son. He was 13. I said, Daddy, we’re going to play game of chess. He said, oh, Dad, I want to watch.

There was something on TV he wanted to watch. I said, just come here and play, because I needed to warm up. No. Been a while. So I said, you go first. So he just moved and then went back in there to watch TV. So now me, I don’t make a move like that. I gotta study this thing carefully. I gotta figure out every option, if I do this, what can he do? And if he does that, what will I do?

So I gotta figure this out, and this takes time. So 20 minutes later, Eddie, it’s your move. Here you come running in here, and he’s running back in there. Cause I’m thinking, he’s not thinking at all. He don’t even care. I know I’m not gonna let a 13 year old get beat me. So I’m another 20 minutes. I found him, Eddie, it’s your turn. Do you know in about six moves he had been checkmate? I couldn’t move. And he just looked at me and just smiled.

Let’s just look. Do you know when you have a problem and you think you’ve got it under control? And then it’s always like, you’re in checkmate, you can’t move. Well, I’ve understood this. You can’t put God in checkmate. If God is in control of your life and he is making the moves, he will not allow you to get in checkmate. He said he will always make a way of escape that you may be able to bear it. You may not see it at the time.

You may not even understand it at the time. But we’re supposed to believe, look at verse 28, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God. to them who are the called according to his purpose. God has a purpose. God has a reason for allowing things to happen. God has a reason to reason for stating that all things work together for good to those who love him according to his purpose. The problem was I didn’t always know his purpose and I was hoping that he understood mine.

Sometimes we were not on the same page because I had expectations and I think God must have some other expectations. And sometimes I didn’t always zig when I should have zagged and so it just always didn’t work out. And so at times I guess I would have conflict. I didn’t understand everything. I do want you to know this, regardless of your move. God can always protect His King, His ultimate purpose in your life. Did you know that if you make up your mind to serve a Lord, God knows how to work things behind the scenes that you can’t see, that you can’t control?

And it doesn’t really matter because I believe there’s some things that we need to keep in mind because with you and I as a person at a point in time, at a different situations that we go through in life. There’s always these things, the place, the time, the person, and the event. Something happens. So as you go through life, if you understand that God makes no mistakes, and that you have placed your hands into His hands, and you are trusting the Lord to lead you and to guide you, then I don’t believe there’s all these accidents that happens in our life.

they may look like it at time. But take your Bible and turn to the book of Exodus in chapter 2. The book of Exodus chapter 2. And I’ll show you something, but it looks like it was just an accident. It was just an accident. There’s no plan to this. People are just living their lives. Things are just going on, but look there in chapter 2. And I want you to look there in verse 1. There went a man of the house of Levi to do wife a daughter of Levi.

And the woman conceived and bare as son, and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hit him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an art of bull rushes and dubbed it with slime and with pitch, put the child therein, and she laid it into flags by the river’s brink. And his sister stood afar off to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river.

And her maidens walked along by the riverside. And when she saw the ark among the flags she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it she saw the child and behold, the Lord pinched the baby, the baby web. And she had compassion on him, who wouldn’t on a little baby cry in? What woman could turn away had compassion and said, this is one of the Hebrews children. And the little girl that was there, who was Moses’s sister, she says, can I go get somebody to take care of the little baby for you?

She says, well go. she goes and gets the baby’s mother. All this is just a coincidence. She just happened to have walked by at this time. Just taking a bath ain’t it something? Here is the Pharaoh’s daughter and she has to take a bath in the river? I’m just a little low yank and I can take a shower in my house. You and I don’t have a clue how fortunate we are. Can you believe back then if they wanted to go somewhere they had to jump on a donkey or a camel?

How would you like to do that? We jump in our car. We’ll get out of the road. Air condition? They didn’t have air condition camels, just the opposite. I could go further than that but I’m not going to. But understand that there seems like It’s just a story, but there is a plan behind the scenes. I believe that there was a God in heaven guiding, guiding, fulfilling his plan. This was a special child. God had something in mind. And God used the woman, God used the little girl.

She just happened to say what she did. You see, God is wiser than us. And in your own life that you’re supposed to believe that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. If you love the Lord, it don’t matter what the circumstances is and it will not matter what people say and do. We are supposed to believe that it is going to work out for God’s honor and for God’s glory. You may not see how.

We don’t have to see how. We just know that one day when we get to heaven, God’s going to reward you for your faith on us to Him. But understand this, going to heaven is a gift. It’s free. Just like God may have intervened in different people’s lives. And does thing that they didn’t think about or it was just an accident? Some of you may be here this morning, though you didn’t really plan it. Just an accident. Regarza, who asked you the purpose behind anything?

Here you are. Did you know that God, being God and God knew from the foundations of the world because he has foreknowledge? He knew where you were going to be at this time. of the day and it’s no accident. You’re not here by accident. I believe in the providence of God that God works behind the scenes and He may want you because of how much He cares about you, how much He loves you. He may have worked in your life and a lot of ways that you didn’t know just to get you here this morning because God wants to tell you something.

Now, if that happened, God forbid that I didn’t tell you what you need to hear. But let’s just pretend for a moment. Let’s pretend you came this morning and you have not got a clue where you’re going to go when you die. You don’t have a clue. You don’t know how to get to heaven. God says when you don’t know, then you’re lost. Meet your lost. How do you get to heaven? Hello, you’re lost. I know how to get there.

So I believe that there’s a good possibility God may want me to tell you. So I’m going to tell you. I was talking to a man just yesterday and I told him, I said, sir, isn’t it true that you’ve heard all your life, that Jesus Christ died on the cross and paid for all the sins of the world? And he said, yeah. I said, isn’t it also true if you stop and think about it, that if he did die and pay for all of our sins that we shouldn’t have to pay for them if he paid for them.

So why would a man go to hell to pay for sin if Jesus paid for all of his sins? He says, I don’t know. He said, I never thought about that. I said, think about it for a minute. I said, the only reason is because you refuse to accept what he did for you. If you will believe that he did that for you, that means that you don’t You don’t have to pay for your sins. You see, all those bad things I’ve ever done in my life, all those bad things that I may do in my life, when Christ died, He saw into the future and He took all of my sins, all of your sins, and put them all on Christ, and He paid for them all.

So all I have to do to go to heaven is believe He did that for me. So you may believe He did it for the world, but it won’t get you to heaven. He must believe He did it for you. And if you’ll believe He did it for you, He said He would give you as a free gift ever lasting life and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did. That’s the best news in the world. That is good news.

Because there’s no tricks to it. There’s no gimmies to it. You see, you don’t have to join this church to go to heaven. You don’t have to give money to go to heaven. That’s why whenever the Auburn plate comes by, you don’t have to put anything in. You can take some out if you want to. of the heat in anyway. Just joking. But you don’t have to do anything to earn your way to heaven because salvation has already been paid for.

All you have to do is believe He did it for you. And God said He would save you and give eternal life. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of Genesis in chapter 37. Genesis in chapter 37. There’s a young man that you’ve heard about. His name was Joseph. He had some brothers. His brothers didn’t like him too well because, well, he was kind of favored from his father. And so Jacob had these twelve sons.

Then little Joseph, he didn’t ask for trouble. He didn’t start anything. He just told him about a couple of dreams that he had. You know who gave him those dreams? God. Did God know that he would tell those dreams? Yeah. And he told the dreams and everybody loved him. No. They despised him. They despised him. They hated him. They even made him a special coat of many colors and… He didn’t get no sympathy there. Jealousy, envy. You see, God knew all this that was going to happen.

One day he went to see his brothers and… It’s a ha. Let’s get rid of him. Go ahead and pay it once. But what I want you to see there is in verse 15. In verse 15, he says, and a certain man found him and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him saying, what’s sickest thou? He said, I pray my brethren. I seek my brethren. Tell me I pray thee, where they feed their floss. See, he didn’t know where he was.

He didn’t know how to find his brothers. He was out there searching. God let him at the right time to the right place, because God had a plan. God had a purpose. It’s not an accident. You know what they did? They took him and they put him in a pit. And they were going to put blood on a coke, and they took it to their daddy and says, he’s been killed by a wild beast. Did God know all that was going to happen?

Did God let it happen? God let it happen. shameful story of what his wicked brothers had done to him. But you see, there was a caravan coming through, some Ishmaelites on their way down into Egypt. Well, they were passing by and they said, hey, why don’t we sell him to them? And the Bible says, and I want you to see this in verse 25, and they sat down to eat bread. They lifted up their eyes, looked and behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and bombs and Mer going to carry it down to Egypt.

Just a coincidence. No? There’s a God in heaven that knew they were passing by. It was an accident. It was no accident. You see, God may use a a lot of them, but you see, you don’t see God working behind the scenes. All you see is a story. But there is a story been weaved together here by an omnipotent God who in his providence can work his will. I think it’s awesome. But look what he says in verse 26, and Judah said unto his brother, what prophet is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

Come, let us sail him to the the ishba like and let not our hands be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh and his brethren were content. Isn’t that wonderful? They must have done the will of God and they were so pleased and so happy with themselves. They didn’t have to kill the brother and nobody would tell their daddy. Don’t you know the grief that daddy went through, the sorrow that And he went through and grieve, he did grieve.

He grieved for many years. And God never told him. Did God know what happened? Yeah, God knew what I… God doesn’t tell you everything. God will let you grieve. God will let you hurt. God will even let your imagination run wild with you. You can believe all kinds of things that you hear. Sometimes you don’t know what is the truth, but no, in time, God always seems to work His way in it. Your sin will find you out, and also truth will find you out.

You just do right in the midst of regardless of what goes on, you just keep trusting the Lord and keep on trucking. Just look to the Lord. And you don’t have to figure out how God’s going to do things. You just know they will. Because, you see, God is always testing everybody on everything. There’s not a person in this room that’s not being tested, even now. Even now. Good time, bad time, it don’t matter. You’re always. Your faith is on trial.

Your faith has always been tried. I want you to take your time and look at this. Look in Psalms 105. Psalms 105. Yet you’re reading here something that could have been over a thousand years later. God reveals something. He sure didn’t help the people back then at the time, but did you know that the Bible says that God caused the famine? And God had a plan being worked. Look what he says here in the book of Psalms 105. 2, verse 16, Moreover, He called for a famine upon the land.

He break the whole staff of bread. He did that. He’d also had Pharaoh have a dream. And the dream that he had, seven fat cows, seven skinny cows. Take the fat cows of those fat ears and store up all of your produce and put it into barns. And then whenever those seven skinny years comes, he says, you’ll have food. God, he had to get Joseph done into Egypt, he had to put in jail, all the things that happened to him.

And then he has the dream and Joseph was able to interpret the dream at the right time. And a guy, oh I remember there’s somebody in jail that can tell you what dreams are. to coincidence? He just happened to hear, just happened to remember at the right time, and it was Joseph that was able to interpret the dream. And next thing you know, he’s put second to Pharaoh. God did that. God did that. And look what he says here.

In verse 17, He sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a servant. Look at what he says. God sent Joseph down there to Egypt. But look how he sent him. He had his brothers who hated him because it revealed their own sinful nature. God can use the wickedness and the sinfulness of individuals against you to accomplish something good that God has in mind. Your problem is that you don’t believe God. And that’s why when something goes wrong, you get mean and mad and bitter at God.

You wanted Him to use you. You wanted Him to bless you. Let Him. But let Him do it His way. Not your way, not my way. See, God has a plan and He’s working things in your life. Little coincidence here, and another one over there, but God knows what He’s doing and He brings things together. One of these days we’re going to get into heaven and we’re going to see just what God did in our life and the lives that we touched, people whose lives that were changed, influenced because God allowed you to pass through their life, or somebody said just the right thing at just the right moment that changed the course of your own life.

Now we’re supposed to believe all of this. This is when it’s easy preaching and hard living. But look what he says there in verse 7 and again, he sent a man in verse 18, whose feet they hurt with fetters, he was laid in irons. Wait a minute, did you know God knew all of that? God knew that that young man hadn’t done a thing wrong. That man did not deserve all those bad things that happened to him. And he was put in prison that no fault of his own because he refused to sleep with that woman.

And he grabbed his coat and he ran. Because he knew who he was. He knew he was God’s child. And he still would do right. It didn’t matter what happened. He was going to do right. He didn’t know how it was going to work out. He didn’t have to know how it was going to work out. You don’t have to know how it’s going to work out. All you’re supposed to do is keep trusting him. Keep looking to him.

He will not fail. He will not forsake. But God is working in your life. All these things that seem like accident, coincidence, not kind of, no, they’re not. Sometimes God is trying to get your attention. once in a while he may use a two before over your head, because everybody is hard-headed and stiff-necked. Not everybody stays teachable and pliable. Yay, Lord, whatever your will is, I will do. Most of us say, what do you do this to me for?

I don’t like that. And you got a griping, and never when you complain to people, it’s only because you can’t see God. and you’ll unleash on somebody, and somebody will be the blame for all of your bitters and your anger. It’s not people that’s your problem. You are your problem. Because your confidence is not in the work, you don’t believe the Bible. Or you say you believe the Bible. You can even read the Bible and have your devotions in the morning.

But as soon as something goes wrong, you’re up in arms. Now, who would have, she says, looking verse 19, until the time. You ought to underline in your bow until the time. That his word came, the word the Lord tried him, the word of the Lord, until the time. See, God has a timetable. He allowed you to be born at a certain time in this world. It was not your choice. And it is God that can work things in your life.

Bring people into your life. and all these wonderful things. There’s a lot of stories that we can get into, but let me just mention this one to you. I’ll turn it to you in your Bible to the book of Luke chapter 4, the Gospel of Luke and chapter 4. And there’s a little story here that I think is important.

See in verse 23, Luke chapter 4 and verse 23, and he said unto them, you will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, heal thyself. What soever we have heard done in Capernaum do also here in thy country? And he said in them barely I see unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country because he did miracles there but they didn’t believe him. They wanted him to jump on their little string. He was only looking for one thing somebody to believe him.

And he says in one place, he did not many miracles there because of their unbelief. Did you know that God may do more for you and use you in a greater way if you’d only believe? But chances are those accidents and those problems and those stumbling, you stumble over. And God wasn’t able to use you like he wanted to because you didn’t believe that God loves you, that God was working in your life. And so you question God, you doubt Him.

But look what he says in verse 25, he said, but I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years in six months, when great famine was throughout all the land for women. All God had to do is say, rain and it would rain. He just went and brought it. He had already done totally, like he said, look, when you get ready, he says, and you pray, and there’s going to be some rain.

And buddy, was there a rain? And what’s a flood? Even he had to live by the brook and the birds would come and the raven, they would bring some food for him, and he’d get some water from the brook and then the brook, right? God had something else he wanted to do, another place for him to be. See, God can dry up things in your life and He can overload you with so many blessings. You can’t believe it. You don’t say, I don’t know what.

How good I’ve been to deserve all of this. And you might be just as faithful and just as loyal to the Lord. And it seemed like everything dries up. Like Job says, naked I came out of the womb and naked shall I return. And while you’re here, God may give you something. Praise the Lord. And God may take it away. Praise the Lord. The Lord giveth the Lord taketh the way. Bless it be the name of the Lord and he maintained his integrity.

Maintain your integrity. Keep your faith strong in the Lord. Keep walking with the Lord. Don’t start questioning doubt of him now. Have you heard about Bibleline Institute, the online Bible College of Bibleline Ministries? There are 11 different Bible college courses to choose from, and for this month we’d like to give you a free enrollment to the class personal evangelism taught by Dr. Arnold. For your gift to Bibleline ministries in any amount, you’ll have full use of the 10-hour course which you can access whenever you like as often as you’d like it’s online.

The classes include video instruction, lecture notes, quizzes, and if you’d like to send quiz, you can submit it. Again, it’s all online. When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the class personal evangelism. Our mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your email address or contact information. 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. Cada can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believe in that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.