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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 Bibleignmenistries.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.

I preached a sermon years ago and I entitled it, do you know who I am? Well not too many people were impressed so I’ve changed it just a tad. Do you know who he is? I hope you know who he is because believe it or not all of life is about you learning who he is. It’s like God says, do you know who I am? Now you may not believe this, but it’s true. God works in your life. The good and the bad.

And the good is God saying that, do you know who I am? And the bad is, do you know who I am? You see, God being good leads a man to believe in God. And the bad things that happens in life is so that it can lead you to believe in God. God is all about you getting to know Him, to know who He is. Now, when you read some of the scriptures, you’d be surprised how many times it says that you may know the Lord, that you may know that I am God, that you may know that I am the Lord of Israel.

And This happened because God has a cause. Some people wonder, who is God and what did He make this for? Well, believe it or not, God wants you to know Him more than your desire to know Him. But He doesn’t reveal Himself in the way that you think. He’s chosen how He’s going to reveal Himself, and really that’s what resurrection Sunday is going to be all about. How God revealed Himself to man. because He wants you to know Him, and to know Him is to have eternal life.

Now I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again, heaven is not for everybody. Heaven is not for everybody. Heaven is only for God’s children, but you can become a child of God by faith alone in what Christ had on the cross for you. So you can have this free gift of eternal life. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Exodus, that’s in the Old Testament, Exodus in chapter 9, Exodus in chapter 9. I want to just share a few verses with you so that you can understand there is a cause behind everything.

God created the heavens and the earth. There is a reason. God created man. There is a reason. There is sin in the world and there is a reason. And there’s good things that happen to you and there is a reason and there’s bad things that happen to you and there is a reason. God has a plan. God has a purpose. God has a cause. And He makes a statement here in the book of Exodus in chapter 9. You know he’d already done loads and loads of what you’re good I know until O’Fayro let my people go.

And he already told him says he ain’t going to do it. He said Jesus didn’t talk like it. Well he could have. I don’t know. He’s not going to let you go. So look there in Exodus chapter nine verse 16. He says, and in very deed for this cause, have I raised the up, for to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all of the earth. Now believe it or not, in that verse says an awful lot of good stuff.

Let’s us know that God has a reason why He does what He does. And He’s going to show Pharaoh and to the world… Hey, do you know who I am? See, a lot of people have false gods. Egypt had false gods. There’s people all around the world have false gods. There’s people a day they’re killing people in the name of their God. But I believe it’s a false God. I don’t believe there is a God called Allah that tells his people this is what you do and behead everybody that’s not a Muslim.

I believe that is a dangerous teaching. It is not a God, it is wicked, and therefore it’s a false God. God wants people to know the true God, the real God. And so there’s reasons why He does what He does. Because man is always looking for a reason to believe. Why should I believe? Well, Pharaoh was having a hard time believing Moses said, because he thought his God was God. But he found out later, well, and I saw this in the movie called the Ten Commandments.

When Joel Brenner said, that’s before I read the book, I saw the movie. Joel Brenner says, his God is God. Anybody remember him saying that? His God is God. That’s what all about. Who is God? Where is God? What is God like? Describe Him for us. And so this is why He says here in this verse, in very deep, for this cause have I raised the up for to show in the My power. God wants to show off. God says His eyes are like radar screens coming on the earth looking for people that He can make strong on His behalf.

And the reason is so that you can know God. God wants to be manifested. The apostle Paul says that I may manifest Christ in my body, whether by life or by death, whether I live or whether I die, Christ may be magnified. Christ may be glorified. You see it’s all about God getting glory. God wants to love and God wants to be loved and God wants people to honor Him and to glorify Him. It’s really a lot about Him.

And so He made us, created us so that we would know Him and honor Him and praise Him for all that He hath done. Now you may not be too impressed with all that He hath done, especially if you’re living a life and everything seems to be going sour and you feel like you’ve been baptized in lemon juice or something. Nothing’s working, you’re miserable, and you don’t have any money, you don’t have a place to live, you don’t have this, you don’t have that.

A lot of things, but God, believe it or not, uses all of those things because He’s trying to get you to Him. So there’s the pressures of life. The goodness of God is to bring you to Him, and the chasing of God, And the wrath of God is to bring you to Him. He wants to use it because you see all we like, sheep have gone astray. We want to go our own way. We’re rebellious. We don’t want somebody telling us what I can and cannot do.

We are naturally rebellious. You ever seen a cat get scared? All of a sudden it’s a… Hair. There’s people like that. You say something that crosses them just a little bit. I mean it can happen that quick. You’d be surprised how God said, I want you to know me. You said, well, okay, what is he going to do? So I want you to take your Bible, look at Exodus chapter 5. Exodus chapter 5. understand why God is doing what he does, it kind of helps you a little bit to flow with things.

You’ll understand it a little bit better. God, believe it or not, wants to use you to make him known. So there’s people who watch you and when you say, I know the Lord. Let me ask you a question. How many of you in this room can say, I know the Lord. Let me see your hand. All right. God wants to use you to make Him known. True? Because people can’t see God, but they can see you. They can’t hear God, but they can hear you.

And so God wants to speak to others through you, who He wants to use you to make Him known. So God wants to use you to magnify Him so people can see Him. How are you doing when they see you? Do you always demonstrate the personification of the Son of God? When they see you, they see Jesus, right? Oh, y’all are slow this morning. Or you are scared to death to answer the question. Because you know God knows the truth.

But God wants to use us. Now look what He says here in the book of Exodus in chapter 5. And notice in verse 2. Pharaoh said, who is the Lord? That I should obey his voice to let his Lord go. Who God? Who’s the Lord? Your Jehovah. Who is he? That is the question. That is the main question. And he says, I know not the Lord. Neither will I let his road go. Now, he’s dated. I do not know the Lord.

For 18 years of my life, I knew that there was a God, but I didn’t know God. Then when I was 18 years old, a man sat down with the Bible in a little living room in Athens, Georgia, and I trust that Christ is my Savior. Because the only way that I can know the Lord is through His Son. If you don’t go through the Son, you can’t get to the Lord. Christ says, no man cometh unto the Father except through Mary.

The Catholic Church through Christ and Him alone. So that’s the only way. Now, while you’re right here in the book of exes, and I mean, there’s a lot of these places, but I picked out a few choice ones that I wanted to share with you. So look there in chapter 6 and verse 7, looking for 7. And I will take you to me. I will take you to me for a people. And I will be to you a God.

And you shall know that I am the Lord. Do you know who I am? He sent Moses down there to tell the people this is who I am. Well, he said, well, well, when they ask who are you, what’s your name. What do I tell him? He says, I am that I am. That’s who I am. All that helps a lot. He still had about four more excuses of why you ought to get somebody else. God wants us to know Him so bad that He works in your life.

Did you know that some of us have probably trusted Christ because somebody hounded us, begged us to go to church, got us under the sound of the gospel, and you heard it. And sometimes you probably thought, I wish you just leave me alone. Stop pestering me. And somewhere somebody gave you a tract. Sometimes you were listening on the radio and you heard a message. You heard this preacher. You went to someplace. You saw it on TV. You came to a church and maybe you went to a lot of churches and you just couldn’t find what you were looking for.

And the Lord’s like saying, no, no, that’s not it. That’s not it. That’s not it. That’s not it. You come here to Calvary and say, Ha! The Lord says, that’s the one. And what he said? He probably said that. And you kind of felt like this. I can learn some things from the Bible. And maybe you came to know Christ as your Savior in this ministry. Maybe some other ministry. But remember, it was God who was pursuing you. It was not because you were pursuing God.

It was God that placed that desire in you. But some people squash that desire, don’t yield, don’t follow, but anyone who will seek truth will find truth. And God gives you light and more light and more light because God said He lighteth every man that cometh into the world. Every man can have some light, some desire for truth, the one to know God. God made us like that. So that’s why it is so important. So here in the book of Exodus in chapter 6 and at verse 7, where he says, I will take you to me for a people.

And when you get all the way over to the book of Revelation, toward the end, and I, John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And it says in the tabernacle of God was with me, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.” Hey, same thing he’s talking about right here. God wants us. Now here he’s talking to the nation of Israel, but do you know the Bible says, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me because you see, there was God who took Israel to be his wife and they had a child born.

So they produced this child. So through the children of Israel known down the line, a man and a woman, Joseph and Mary got legally married, but she had a child before he married her. So he was not the father of this child. And this child was from the Father. And so, this is that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called the Son of the Highest. So, God and the wife had a child. And this child was Jesus.

And so, it is only normal for the Father to find a bride for his Son. So for the last 2000 years, God has taken all believing Jews, believing Gentiles and forming one body and making a bride for his son. And that’s why when you and I trust Christ to save it, we’re born of God the Father. But the Father is going to give us to the Son. And that’s why Jesus is all that the Father give to me, shall come to me, him that come unto me, I’ll know wise past.

God will accept this bride because he says that is what marriage was about. So in the book of Matthew chapter 19 when it says, and for this cause a man shall leave father and mother and cleave unto his wife and they too shall be one. There’s a cause because it has a meaning to it as a purpose to it. You see, the woman accepts the man. The man accepts the woman to come. One, never to be separated. So when an individual trusts Christ as Savior, it’s Christ and I will accept you and you’re saying I will accept Christ.

And you’re joined together for all eternity, never to be severed. So once you become a child of God, you are his child for how long? For ever. And it can never be severed. So one day we’ll be with the Lord in heaven. And where he says, I will be there God and they shall be my people, it’s going to be. But we will be the bride of Christ. But there’s so much that God has put into his word. So he says here in verse 7, and I will be to you at God.

And you shall know that I am the Lord your God, which brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptian. The birds under the Egyptian was to teach the people, hey, do you know who I am? God allowed the problem so that He could be the solution to the problem and people would get to know God. See God is working in your life and that’s why He will let you be so frustrated, so down and discouraged, so in despair at the end of your rope you can’t take any more.

the last straw and finally faith is born in despair. You may say, Lord, if you don’t do something, you don’t get me out of this, I’m done for it. God is looking for faith. You to believe Him and some people would never come to God if it wasn’t that they can’t handle it anymore. So God is working in everybody’s life. You just maybe can’t see it because you don’t recognize it. You don’t know how he works. And the goodness of God, if you was to stop and think how good God has been to you, God allowed you to be born in such a day with such parents in such a place for a purpose.

God created you special because he wants you, but there’s things he wants to use in your life to bring you to him. He’s searching for you. It’s the shepherd who is looking for the lost sheep. But see the Lord is seeking through us because He wants people to know the Lord. Look in chapter 7 and verse 5. Chapter 7 verse 5 says, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord because they didn’t know He was God. They thought their gods was God and they had a lot of different kinds of gods.

But God wants them to know I am God. You see If this was true back then, do you believe this is true today? God wants people to come to him, the true and living God. So all the nations of the earth, all the troubles and problems that we have, I don’t care what it is, it’s all about God wants people to come to the end of themselves. And he will allow people to kill each other and all these things.

But some people will come to the Lord and they’ll seek God, the true God, the real God. And this is a day for us to shine and it doesn’t matter how dark the world gets. This is where we shine as the lights in the world as God intended. So in chapter 7 verse 5 he says, that I am the Lord when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them, you will know God did that.

I am the Lord. Do you know who I am? God wants all of us to know it. Look there in verse 17 of the same chapter. Thus, sayeth the Lord. In this thou shalt know that I am the Lord. Behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river. and they shall be turned to blood. And all the things that He does, you keep that one thing in mind, that they may know I am the Lord.

So God works in our lives. He’s working in your life because He wants to use you in certain people’s lives that they may know the Lord. That we may know the Lord. Look in Exodus in chapter 9. Exodus chapter 9 and look in verse 29. Not just that the people belong to God but to understand that the earth belongs to God. So you see there in verse 29 of chapter 29, chapter 9 verse 29. And Moses said unto him, as soon as I am gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hand unto the Lord, and the thunder shall cease.

Neither shall there be any more hail. And get this, you ought to underline it, that thou mayest know how that the earth is the Lord’s. The earth and everything in it belongs to God. So if God owns this earth and He created this earth, is He free to give it to whoever He will? I mean, if God owns it, I mean He is. If He made all the animals and everything else, can God take a portion of it and give it to somebody He wants to?

You know where I’m going, don’t you? Have you ever heard of a place called Israel? You see, that land over there belongs to Israel. God gave it to Israel. But people have parted the land, which they’re not supposed to do. But they’ve done so. God is going to judge this world. You know that all these people who want to do Israel in isn’t amazing how that seemed like they turn against each other and they’re doing each other in. You realize how many are being killed over in the Middle East.

Andogene is none of it has to happen. And it doesn’t matter what you call their brand of extremism. I’ve said this before. These are just tentacles of the one octopus. And you can fight this little group, then you fight this little group, and you fight this little group, and then another one grows over here. And then another one grows over here. Another one grows over here. You can’t win What’s wrong with us? We need to understand who we’re fighting.

Those are not the extremists. But those are not streamers. Those are the other ones. It’s the other ones. who don’t fulfill what they come in. Those are the bad Muslims. You see, they got it backwards. Is he going to get worse and worse and worse? I would rather everybody is know the Lord. We need everybody justabase Christ is Savior and live¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ in peace. But they can be no peace because proletarian they reject the Prince of peace. So this isjoy important.

So you see there in verse they have to be a little bit of a little bit levied.Wikipedia, they have to be a little bit of aExternal. They have to be##. They have to be a how that the Lord or the earth is the Lord’s. Now look here in Exodus chapter 10. Exodus chapter 10, look in verse 2, and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son and of thy son’s son what things I have wrought in Egypt and my signs which I have done among them that ye may know how that I am the Lord.

So you know why you You believe God is God. Jehovah, He is God. The God of Israel is God. Because nobody has ever done anything for any nation like God. God did for Israel. And how God has preserved those people all these years when the world has turned against them. Now it’s going to be bad coming in the future. But God will always preserve Himself a remnant. He’s talking about teach your sons that they may teach their sons on how to know God.

You remind them, because God doesn’t do the same things all the time. Sometimes these are one-time events. They only had to leave Egypt one time. And the flood was one time. And as you go down through time, Christ was born once, never to happen again. He died on the cross once, never to happen again. The rapture will happen once, never to happen again. This tribulation period coming upon the year for seven years will only happen one time in all of human history.

And it’ll be the worst period of time that the world has ever known. There’s never been a time like it before or a time after it’s nothing like it. And then there’s going to be the thousand year reign upon the earth. It’s coming and it’s going to happen just like God says it’s going to take place. So they’re in Exodus chapter 14, looking next to this chapter 14. And you’ll notice they’re in verse four. And notice there’s something God wants.

And if you see what God wants, then you mean understand what He wants from you, what He meant want from me. You see there in verse 4, and I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and He shall follow after them, and I will be honored upon Pharaoh, and upon all his hosts that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord, and they did so. He delivered the children of Israel, splitting the Red Sea. They go across. They decided to follow.

And the water came in and drowned in them in two feet of water. They said that was the Red Sea. They could have really walked across. Yeah, and all the horses and all the people and everything was buried under the water in two feet. I believe that the water was jailed upon both sides and it came in on them. He said, how do you know that? I saw the movie Ten Commandments with Charleston Heston when he walked across that thing.

That movie made an impact on my life. It caused me to believe the Bible. But whenever you see and understand some of the things that the Bible talks about, God says, I want honor. This is why in your life, you and I are supposed to praise the Lord for his honor. is goodness. Praise the Lord always. Be thankful always. And we’re not. Not to do so is not honoring to God. The reason we’re supposed to love each other because that honors God.

The reason a man and a woman, suppose a stay together, is that honors God. But sin, because of people not to honor God or each other and they lose respect for each other and then they lose love for each other and everything falls apart. Remember, we do what we do because it honors God. Remember when God looked over the banners of heaven and says, this is my beloved son in who I am well pleased. Cleasing God honors God. Are you a new listener to Bibleline?

Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The gospel-driven man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel-Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel Driven Man.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address. And God bless you and thank you for listening to 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. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.