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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.

Your future, what you have for all eternity, is determined by your obedience, but nobody can make you obedient. obedient. Nobody can make you see this and understand this, but it is so important that you rise to the occasion. You want it, you dreamed of it, now you have the opportunity, and God is looking for you. The eyes of the Lord run to and through throughout the whole earth, looking for a man that God can make strong on his behalf.

God wants to use somebody. He He wants to use you as a magnifying glass to magnify himself through that person and God will honor and bless the individual that will so yield themselves. So it’s important here. Look there in the book of Philippians in chapter 1 and verse 20. The Apostle Paul made this statement. I covered this a couple of weeks ago, but once again look at it, verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that all boldness as always.

So now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death, for to me to live is Christ and to die is gained. For me to live is Christ. To die is gained. What you gain in heaven, now getting there is free. He did that for you. But gaining something there depends upon what you do for the Lord now. And so many of God’s people are wasted so much of their life and they don’t get it.

And they do not dedicate their life to the Lord. Dedicate yourself to serving God. Seek to live as holy as Godly as you possibly can. Lay aside every weight that holds you back from doing what God wants you to do. When Christ called His disciples has followed me. They dropped their nets. They dropped everything. They left and they followed the Lord. They gave up something for something better. Anything you give up for the Lord here in this life is to get something better in the next one.

Be wise, put the Lord first and you’ll be surprised how God will bless you. Now take I’m looking 2 Corinthians 12, 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12, there’s a statement here where the Apostle Paul has undergone some terrible things in his life. Down there in verse 1, he says, it is not expedient from he doubtless to glory. He says, but I’ve come to visions and revelations of the Lord. He says, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago whether in the body or out of the body, cannot tell, but such a one was caught up into the third heaven.

He said, well, they’re in the body, out of the body. He said, I don’t know, but he’s caught up in the paradise. I saw things he can never tell anybody else about. And because of the visions and the revelations of how too big he could get for his britches and be powerful and boastful, he says, God put a thorn in my flesh to beat me and to buffet me. Now, I don’t know what all of those was, but he says Satan was a messenger Do him in the humbling, always beating him down.

You see, well what all happened? He says when I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, it was outside the city of Lissar when they stoned him to death. You wanna serve the Lord, but you want everything to be good. You don’t want no hardships. You don’t want no problems. You just want everything to be smooth. I even say, you ain’t get slowed down and smell the roses. I did in a beach on my nose. Stay busy doing what God wants you to do.

Now I want you to see this very quickly. Alright, during chapter 11… Chapter 11 of 2 Corinthians, in verse 24, five times he says received I-40 stripes, say one, five times that happened. That means a cat of nine tails with broken broken pieces of metal or a glass in them and they would strike it across your back and rip it across your back. He said I’ve had that done 39 times they did that to me. He said I had it five different times they did that to me.

That was just trying to get in the quit. Paul don’t serve God. You stopped preaching this gospel and this is what’s going to cost you. So did he quit? He didn’t quit. But it was designed to make him quit. You may lose your job. I quit serving God. God took away my job. Boy, you wouldn’t have lasted long with the apostle Paul, would you? Somebody said something hurts your feelings. I don’t like the way the preacher parts his hair.

That’s why I don’t part my hair. Nobody can say that. Nobody can say, well, I don’t like your mustache. I don’t have one. I don’t like the way you dress. My wife dress me. But look what he says in verse 25. Thrice, that means three times I was beaten with rods. He was a race car driver. Once I was stoned, that doesn’t mean drunk. He was stoned, get what else? He said, I’ve suffered shipwreck, night and day I’ve been in the deep, journeys often and water and robbers and my own countrymen, 40 people took a vow one time to kill him.proxy.

Has that happened to you yet? How are you doing? And yet he was probably one of the most godliest men we’ve ever read about. And look at the things that happened to him to keep him from doing it. This is the price that he paid to get the gospel to somebody. And we have people today, well, why can’t you go so winning? Well, my favorite TV broadcast is on the night. And you know, there’s no way a good Christian can sacrifice that.

Well, I can’t give a track to somebody. Why? Because they may, they may laugh at me. They may hand it back. Oh, the sufferings that we have to go through. Look in that mirror. Because one day God’s going to let you see yourself of the way you really are. We are going to see ourselves the way we really are. We may think we are so holy and so good and so godly and God’s going to show you. Paul, come up here a minute.

Why don’t you give him a testimony and you’re going to sit there and you listen to some of these others from the Hall of Faith chapter and what they went through for the cause of Christ. All the disciples that were killed for the cause of Christ, one of them was even crucified upside down. One was ran through with a spear, one that was cut in half in a treeACP. All kinds of things that happened to God’s people. And we can’t serve God totally because after all it might cost us something.

We serve God today if it’s convenient for us. Our dedication is based upon if it’s convenient. I’ll be in church if it’s convenient. I will give if it’s convenient. I’ll pray. I’ll do this. I’ll do that if it’s convenient. Well, when does it become? I have to. I must. Are you really dedicated to the Lord? You see, this isn’t something that I can answer for you and you answer for me. I do believe that it’s important because one day we’ll have to answer to God.

Don’t you believe that? You and I are going to have to answer to God for whatever we did. And we can give him all the excuses we want. But if God doesn’t accept them, why should we accept them? Dr. Hudson told about a person he went to witness to a man and led him to the Lord and he says, I’ll be in church next Sunday. He promised he’ll be in church next Sunday. Well, he didn’t come. Dr. Hutcher went back to see him.

He says, you promised you’d go to me in church last Sunday. He said, why didn’t you come? He says, because I got a jug of milk and refrigerator. He says, what’s that got to do with going to church? He says, nothing. He said, but if I’m going to tell you a lie, any lie will do. Some people are pretty smart to feel the same time. But as you go down through here and you see all the things, look in verse 27, you say, well, it should be easy upon me.

Verse 27, in weariness, painfulness and watching off hunger, thirst, fasting, cold, nakedness, beside those things that are without that which come upon me daily the care of all the churches. Who is weak and I’m not weak? Who gets offended and I burn not? You don’t think he gets angry, he gets hurt, he gets burned, he did, but he wouldn’t quit. All this was to make Paul quick. I’ve had people get their feelings hurt in church so easy over some little thing they thought that I said or maybe I did say it and I shouldn’t have said it and it won’t matter.

Phew, God. They really can handle some persecution in their life. Somebody said something I didn’t like it. I think where’s the men today? I’m talking about men, men of God that know what truth is and stand for what truth is. Don’t you realize there’s a devil that’s always saying, you know, it’s not that bad. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. Don’t listen to what that preacher says. Always trying to wish me your, getting to your email. He wants you to quit.

His goal is to get God’s children to quit. We’re running a race. God will give you the grace that you need to face the devil. The grace to face all your trials and your tribulations. let what your wife said so destroy you that you’re willing to destroy your marriage of or something. Something that’s just the pittance of something that’s what they can’t even remember what it was. And they will just pick at each other. Isn’t there something more important in life?

The problem you have today may not be the problem you’ll have to face next week. And if you can’t learn how to trust a Lord with this one, what you’re going to do when the next one comes and the next one comes. You can quick, quick, quick. It doesn’t get easier. Increase your faith. Get more grace from God that you may be able to bear it because God always makes a way of escape. On every trial and tribulation, there’s a way to stay strong and keep honoring God.

So he goes down to here and he says a lot of these things down in there, and it’s good to know. But what I want you to see, there’s a chapter 12 where He says in verse 9, he says, I besought God that he will take us away and God didn’t do it. So he says in verse 9, and he said unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. The weaker you are in your own talent and in your own abilities, you can be stronger in the grace of God because you have to depend upon God more.

God does not like the proud man and God has a way of a humbling a person. Humility is not the position of the body, it’s the position of the mind. It means you’re in subjection, submission to his will. You submit to what God’s word has to say. And if you’ll do that, God will honor, he will bless you. And he says, my grace is sufficient. And therefore in the last part of that verse, it says, most glad to therefore it will I glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon you.

Isn’t that what you want? I want the power of God in my life. I mean, people have heard say that. I want the power of God in my life. Well, then that means that you’re going to have to see it and it’ll be demonstrated. You want God to work through you. Then he has to have free course. It means you don’t fight him. It means you surrender to him. Whatever you will is. That’s what I’m willing to do. And when you do what God wants you to do, you’d be surprised how God is going to bless your life.

How much stronger you’re going to be. Every man will be a greater husband and greater father the more you submit to the will of God. And every woman, the more she submits to the will of God, the better wife and mother she will be. You can’t be what you’re supposed to be unless you are what you’re supposed to be between you and God. You keep this right and this will take care of itself. Just keep it right between you and him and this will take care of itself.

Put God first and He’ll take care of everything else. Look there in number three on your notes, don’t faint means don’t quit. But I want you to take your Bible, turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Second Corinthians chapter 4. Some of you’ve already tried to figure out, he’s not going to finish. That means you’ll have to come back for part 2. But in 2 Corinthians and chapter 4, look what he says there in verse 1, therefore seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not.

It means we don’t quit. We don’t stop because the ministry is so important. Your purpose that God has for you is so important, regardless of what the world says and does, and what people say and do, you ought not to stop serving God. Remember this, for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if he died for all, then all were dead, and that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto Him who died for them and rose again.

So the reason that we should serve God is because of what He did for us. Then why should I quit serving him who died for me? Because what somebody else says or does? You never stop and you don’t quit and you don’t let up. Yeah, we get older, but we’re getting closer. We’re running out of time. We don’t know how long the race is. We don’t know where the end of the line is. So you can’t say, well, I’ll run it better next year.

Wait a minute, you may not have next year. All you have is this moment. It’s easy to dedicate your life to the Lord that you don’t have and it’s hard to dedicate today that you do have, so it’s so important. So he makes this statement down through here of this great treasure that we have been given to us in the early vessels in verse seven. But I brought this out before, but I want you to see it one more time.

Look there in verse eight. The apostle Paul in stating this says, But we’re troubled. We have troubles. You have troubles. You’ve got troubles. Everybody got troubles. But it says we are troubled on every side. But he said we didn’t quit. Why? Because we have this ministry. We can’t faint. We can’t stop. Can’t pass out and just bring it in like it doesn’t exist. This is so real. This is real. He also makes the statement that we are perplexed, but we didn’t quit.

Here we get to court. You get confused at time. Sometimes you don’t know what to do. You don’t know how to handle some things. Oh, that’s a good reason to quit. Stop being faithful because I don’t understand why God does. That is not sufficient reason. There is no sufficient reason to ever stop being faithful serving God. You can’t think of one. There isn’t one. There is no justifiable reason because you have the motive, which is what Christ did for me.

That’s supposed to be the motive for why we do what we do. Why we serve the Lord and we should all keep going in that direction. Look what else he says here. You notice in verse eight where he says we are perplexed, but not in this prayer persecuted. Have you ever been persecuted? Oh, I’ve been a little bit here and a little bit there. There’s things that have happened, but I didn’t quit. He says cast down, but it didn’t quit.

You see, the reason didn’t quit because down here in verse 15, for all things were for your sake. Because if I’d have quit, you wouldn’t have heard the gospel. If I’d have quit, you wouldn’t have been taught the things of God. You wouldn’t know how to be strong in the Lord. And here they have all these problems that they’re letting keep them from being faithful. This church had 14 major problems. It wasn’t a perfect church. I got an email the other day and I read it.

I think it was Wednesday night. And it has some glowing things about liking what I stand for and what I’m doing. Somebody down in the center so druid it. And I read it and it says, you’re not a perfect preacher. Remember every day. But then it also said, I’m not a perfect member either. So I feel better. None of us are. We’re all serving God by the grace of God. It wouldn’t take much for any of us to quit.

And it’s so real and so powerful. That’s why we should encourage everyone all the time. But you’re always trying to encourage people to do the right thing. Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. Did you know, and I did this in college class the other day, I had a piece of paper and I said, what do you see there? What do you see there? Everyone said, a black dot. I said, but you realize how much white is there. Isn’t there some white on here?

Isn’t it bigger than that black dot? But see, it doesn’t matter how much good you do for anybody. It’s the nature of human individuals to find the black dot. Anybody who looks at anybody can find something wrong with somebody. No. This is a picture of my life. Pretty see. If you study anybody long enough and you want to use somebody’s little black dot, that’s why I can’t serve God because they got something wrong in their life. You know, I can’t go to the church.

I saw Peter do something wrong the other day. Jan, she hit the wrong note one day. I quit. I’m not… Somebody’s… You know, some little thing and people will let it blow up. I’m glad y’all aren’t like that. Aren’t you glad you’re not like that? Well we got a holy church, Lord bless them. But remember, the Lord has done great things for us. There is a great race being run and you’re part of it. You don’t maybe see how your little link in this chain amounts to much.

But you see, the link in the chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and you are important. And therefore, you don’t know how many people who are watching your life, your testimony, who may become very disappointed and very discouraged because you chose not to be found faithful. Well, if you don’t need it, then why should I? You don’t know why should I? Everybody influences somebody else. No man is an island unto himself. At the bottom of the page, and I want you just to look at this because I want you to see it, down at the bottom, consider Christ because that’s mentioned in Hebrews in chapter 12, consider Him who has endured the cross and despised the shame and sat down on the right hand of the Father because of the joy that was set before Him.

He finished His race. He says, it is finished. He finished the race that God had for Him. notice this, the race also involves resisting. Resist the devil and he will what? Flee from you. Resist the devil. The devil wants you to quit. He may use something that the wife said and it’s so inflamed you and makes you so mad, make you so bitter. Wait, wait, wait, wait, don’t let the devil use your wife to get you like that. You can’t maybe change her, but don’t let it destroy you.

Don’t let the little things that the husband does so inflame you. I used to tell couples when I was canceling me. Look, find out what irritates your spouse and do the opposite. Don’t do what you know is going to set them off. If you know anything, I really know her. Oh, kid, then why are you doing what you’re doing. Dumb, dumb. You don’t do it. If you know what’s going to really set them off, then wisdom makes you try to find a better way.

But if you consistently do the same nasty mean ugly things and then they react like this, well what do you expect? Them to be different? You’re not. Set the pace. Do what’s right. Can you be surprised how God will bless? The devil is always in the details, the little bitty things, because you can’t see him. And so little bitty things that just try to get at you and eat at you and not you, like cancer eating inside of you and the bitterness and the hatred.

That’s a great Christian attitude to have, isn’t it? Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Cast all your cares upon the Lord because he cares for you. The devil walks around as a roaring what? Looking that he might devou- devou- what does that mean? Gobble you up. Take all of your time. Take your resources, your finances. Take this and take that raw view of everything that’s good, decent and holy. That’s what the devil does, but he uses people to do it.

And sometimes he’ll even try to use the closest ones to you. You’ll try to use your kids. You’ll try to use your parents. You’ll try to use your neighbor. Anybody that works with you. And you’d be surprised. You have a race to run. Shine. Shine. Sin for truth. Put a smile on your face. Don’t let whatever somebody says to them so dishearten you and just rob you of everything that’s good and decent. Resist looking at the wrong things. Resist thinking about the wrong things.

These things are so important to remember. We’re running a race. And part of our running the race is trying to encourage other people to keep running the race. That’s why we don’t want to put a stumbling block in the path of somebody else. And the Bible says, you may use your liberty and it becomes a stumbling block. Somebody else was stumped. They’re in a race and you’re putting a stumbling walk in front of them. What do you do? Hope they fall.

The last thing any Christians that ever want is for another Christian to mess up the fall. You don’t want them to ruin their life, ruin their testimony. You don’t want them to put scars upon themselves. When the Christian falls into the mud, you don’t walk up and put your foot on the back of their head and push them down into the mud and hold them there. You and they can’t be told to say, can I help you up? Now if they don’t want you to, then let them lay there.

But you’ve got to try. You that are strong seek to restore the others that are weak in the spirit of meekness, considering thyself, lest I also be tempted to mess up the same way. So important. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The wall it represents sin. Now we all have sinned. pay for this sin is eternal separation from God in hell. Now God says that He loves us, but He hates what we do wrong. So you know right off the bat, God loves all of us.

God loves you, so do I. But he says, we all have sinned. And the pay for that is eternal separation from God and help, because God wants us to go to heaven and we have to be perfect, no sin. And there’s the problem. We can’t find a way. Man cannot find a way to get rid of the sin. That’s why you have all the religions of the world trying to help you to get better. Do better. And the better you try to be the worse you get.

Because now you’re hypocrite, because you think you’re better and you’re not. And God says you cannot save yourself. This hand represents Jesus Christ. The only hope in the world. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, came into this world. He had no sin, didn’t have to die. So what did He do? He took all of our sins, paid for them, came back from the dead and said that if we would believe He did it for us, He would put this payment card out.

We go to heaven on what Christ did. You didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it. It is the gift of God. So if you want to go to heaven when you die, Then the only way, only way you can get there is that you have to admit to God I’m a sinner. I can’t save myself, but I believe Christ paid for my sins and I’m going to trust Him to take me to heaven when I die. And if you will, God will give you eternal life, you get to go to heaven and you know that you have eternal life.

That’s the best news in all the world. Let’s pray show you. With head bow nice clothes and no one looking around. If you have already trusted Christ is your Savior, you’re in a race, you’re in a race. Therefore run. And if you’re going to run, you try to win. Lay aside every weight that bogs you down, things you don’t really need to do. And if you have trusted Christ is your Savior this morning, I’d like to know, and I’d like to have prayer for you.

Or if you’re watching by the internet, if you’re just click on the little button Says, yes, I trust Christ as my Savior. We’d love to know. But we had Bob and I close and no one looking around is there. And it all said, yes, that made sense to me. I do want to know I’m going to have an increase. I like you to pray for me. If you’ve already trusted Christ, you don’t need to do it again. But if you’re trusting Christ today, for the first time, would you just slip your hand up very quickly and better write back down?

Is anyone at all? Anyone at all? Our Father, we do thank you so much for your blessings. Thank you for the opportunity we have to come before you. And what I pray that each one of us will realize we need each other to try that strength and then the help and to encourage. There’s a race on them. We’re running out of time. We just pray for wisdom. And for the strength and the grace that we need to finish the race.

So bless us in Christ’s name, Amen. 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 Cult Evangelism 1 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, and as often as you’d like, it’s all online.

The classes include video instruction, lecture notes and quizzes if you’d like to submit, and again, it’s all online. When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the class, Cult Evangelism 1. 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. Caught up can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.