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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.

Well, we got an interesting subject for today. It really is. It deals with the subject we’ve already talked about for the last two Sundays. How that bitterness is the poison for the soul. And the Lord warns against bitterness. So easy to be bitter because bitterness comes because we get hurt. And people hurt us all the time. And we hurt others and they hurt us. So it’s something we have to learn to deal with. So I’ve said, you know, you have to learn how to serve the Lord as though you’ve never been hurt.

Or hurt will always keep you from being faithful to serve God. So we’re going to look at how it does affect your life and it really does affect your life. Affects a lot of the decisions that we make. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Titus chapter 2, the book of Titus and chapter 2. chapter 2, look there in verse 11, for the grace of God that bring of salvation hath appeared to all men.

In other words, God’s salvation by grace is for everybody, not for a select group called the elect. This is for all men’s, what the Bible says. Now to me all men means everybody. But the grace that God has for all men that He made a payment for the sins of the world and He offers it to everybody, it’s free. But this same grace that God did for us and offer not salvation that’s something we don’t deserve, He says, I want this same grace to teach you and I something.

So the grace of God is to teach us see what he says in verse 12 that denying ungodliness and worldly lust we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. Now the key to doing that is living by grace. In other words God is given to you and I an opportunity to do for others what he did for us. He provided salvation by grace to everybody equally. Therefore he says we’re supposed to love everyone in the world equally.

We are supposed to bestow upon them the grace that God bestowed upon us. You still want to serve the Lord? This is the interesting part. So living a soberly life, a righteous life, denying worldly lust and so forth. We don’t let that old sinful nature dictate to us how to treat other people. We’re gonna treat them the way God treated us. We’re gonna feel about them the way God feels about them. And buddy that changes everything it really does.

And while we’re doing that, he says in verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God in our Savior Jesus Christ. I was talking to somebody the other day and we were talking about, you know, should I serve the Lord until I retire or should I serve the Lord until he returns? We serve the Lord until he returns and since he hasn’t returned yet, should I keep serving the Lord? So I I should still keep doing what this verse tells me I’m supposed to do until then.

So now I know how long I’m supposed to do this. As long as I’m in this world and until Jesus comes. Now turn in your Bible to the book of 1 Peter, the book of 1 Peter, and notice there in chapter 3. When the Bible talks about suffering, And he does, he talks about suffering an awful lot, especially in chapter two, but this is a book on your faith been on trial. And it’s never as on trial as between a husband and a wife.

You see what’s on the screen up there? Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Now, why would he have to say that? We would naturally love everybody, right? I mean, it’s just when you get married, you just naturally are going to love love love. You’re never going to be mad at each other because we took a vow until death to us part, richer for poor. Well, I didn’t know we were going to get this poor. Better or worse, it really got worse.

And you said, well, I didn’t mean, yeah, I know. Now here you are. God says some wonderful things for us. And I want you to look there first Peter chapter three and look in verse one where he says, likewise you wives, be in subjection to your own husbands, not somebody else’s, just yours. You just take care of that, you’ll be doing fine. And get what else he said. That if any obey not the word, they may also without the word be won by the conversation or behavior of the wife.

In other words, you can win your mate to the Lord. that should be the goal of winning our mate to serve God, not only to know Christ as Savior, but to challenge them to serve the Lord. So there gotta be something real in your life. Notice what else he says in verse two. While they behold your chase behavior coupled with fear, now the words they have a certain amount of respect for you because you live what you say you believe.

You practice what you preach. Goes both ways. And look, many times a woman thinks that she just adorns herself beautifully. That’s all she needs to hold a husband. No, you might need that to get him, but it ain’t going to keep him. There’s nothing wrong. Somebody told me, says, you know, if the bar needs pain and pain it. Another way you can look at this is why, and this is the truth, that women are out letting the men. Have y’all noticed that?

Pain is a preservative. So you watch all these men, you’re going to start painting their faces. Don’t go there. Don’t go there. Don’t do that. But he talked about in verse three, whose adornant let it not be that outward adornant of plaid into the hair and the wearing of gold or put it in other words. That’s not supposed to be the most beautiful part of the woman. Though it do want our wives to be attractive. There’s nothing wrong with that.

But that’s not what’s going to make a good marriage just because she looks nice. But I do believe that women ought to try to take care of themselves and look very presentable and so forth. There’s nothing wrong with that. This is not a condemnation about women, even if they wear some juries. I’m like, no, it’s that you leave the other undone. Look what he said, but let it be the hidden man of the heart and that which is not corruptible.

See, your new birth is incorruptible. Let people see that new birth that you have. Let them see the new person, that one that trusted Christ’s Savior born into God’s family, let your mate see your new birth. Wouldn’t it be neat if in every home all we could see was the manifesting the Lord? You see we get into trouble when we fulfill the lust of the flesh. Then we want to manifest the anger and the hatred and the bitterness of the flesh and it destroys our home.

Look what else he says. For in verse 5, for after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adorned themselves being in subjection. In other words, being in subjection to your husband is an ornament of great price. Being in subjection to your husband and honoring your husband is a great thing. That makes you more beautiful than just because your hair’s nice, your dress is nice, your gold is nice, your makeup is nice. But I hate my husband.

You are more beautiful when you are a good wife. Be a good wife. Now there’s things the Bible talks about the men too so don’t get too excited fellows. But notice he talks about to the women who trust God because you can trust the Lord that He’s going to work through your husband. And if you don’t believe He will work through your husband, you’re going to try to work on your husband. Now there’s a difference. This one guy says.

My wife isn’t that bad of a nag, but she goes to the blacksmith shop to get her shoes. Okay? But he wants you to adorn yourself in the things of God. And so then he goes on down here, says in verse 7, likewise your husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and as being heirs together of the gift, a grace of life, that your prayers be not hindered. Did you know your prayers can be yourself in the things of God.

And so then he goes on down here, says in verse 7, likewise your husbands dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the gift of grace of life that your prayers be not hindered. Did you know your prayers can be hindered if husband and wife are not right? So is it important? It can affect your whole life of whether how God blesses you or not. Love your wife, wife, love your husband.

Do right. And then He says here in verse 8, finally be all of one mind. See it’s great when as you grow older in the Lord you begin to think the same way. I don’t even have to think anymore. Betty thanks for me. Now we think the same way. I actually think she can read my mind. It’s only got one page. Have you ever felt that you get ready to say something and then she’ll tell you what, right before you say it, she says it.

I’m just going to say that. But I’m just a tad slow, she’s faster. But he talks about brethren, love as brethren. In the words, you treat your wife or your husband as a child of God. How does God want his children be treated. Something to think about. And then he talks about being pitiful. That doesn’t mean the school around me. It means being full of pity. That you’re sensitive, you’re teachable, you’re pliable, you care, you have concern, compassion. And then he makes the statement in the last part of verse 9 that you should inherit a blessing.

And verse 10, for he that will love life. And that means to enjoy life, you wanna enjoy life and see good days. Let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips that they speak, no gawel. In other words, you wanna have a happy home and long life, that right there can destroy it. That tongue can be so sharp, it can cut. You can say little digs. you can kill somebody with a sharp tongue. And a lot of love for each other has been killed over the years because of a sharp tongue.

And that sharp tongue is what leads to this bitterness that I wanna talk to you about this morning. So we’re gonna walk over here and hopefully show you a few things. Now keep it in mind, there is, in light of what I’ve already said, these are the things that to keep in mind. As we’re moving right along. Do not poison your spouse. Remember I said last week, people who are bitter is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.

Don’t make the water bitter. In the Old Testament, Exodus 15 talks about why they go on through the wilderness. They came up on some water. But the water was bitter so they put a tree into water and it became sweet. Now in your life you’ll have a lot of bitterness but if you take the tree of life which is the Lord Jesus Christ and put him into the mix you’ll be surprised how sweet everything can be. God can change everything.

Don’t try to change your mate let God change you. That’s where you were responsible for it. If you be bitter and full of envy and strife and so forth in your heart. Glory not and lie not against the truth. Now understand, some people don’t want to know the truth. They don’t even want to hear the truth. They don’t want to believe the truth. Have you ever found sometimes you can’t even talk to some people because they don’t care? They don’t want to know and nothing you say is going to matter.

Alright, so what should you do? Get your gun. No. Learn how to deal with your own rejection. There’s somebody else who came into this world and they were rejected, they know what it’s like. They know what it’s like to have people turn against Him and even those of His own family. So it can happen. And so this is something to keep in mind. The serious problem of unforgiveness. When you are unwilling to forgive another person, remember it’s the grace of God that He forgave us when we did not deserve and God wants us to demonstrate that to others.

So one of the things that we should look for are opportunities to manifest The grace to others that God showed us. So there’s probably some people that are going to come your way, might even be in your own household, might even be in the church, that you can demonstrate how much you love God, what He means to you, what He’s done for you, the sacrifices He made, how He was treated, and you’re going to treat people the way God wants them to be treated.

And that’s when the grace of God has power in your life, but you have to understand. Many times people have a failure in their life, and it’s a grace failure. You fail the grace of God through bitterness. Follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man can see the Lord. Looking diligently less any man fail of the grace of God. In other words, if you don’t allow the grace of God to work in your life, then God doesn’t have that opportunity to be seen.

with his characteristics is the way God really is. And instead of them thinking how wonderful God is, and because you say you are a Christian, and you live like the devil, you’re gonna be given honor and glory to somebody else, and not the God. And people are gonna think less of God, not more of God. So you are to be thankful for all trials and tribulations because there’s simply opportunities for you to demonstrate the grace of God in your life.

When you fail, this is what price is to be paid. You give an opportunity to the enemy of God in your life. You see, he says, be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath. Neither give place to the devil. Don’t give the devil an opportunity to destroy you or to destroy your spouse, or to destroy your kids by using you as an opportunity to be destructive. The devil doesn’t care how he ruins your life or your testimony as long as he succeeds.

You grieve the Spirit of God who seeks to produce love in your life. See, God wants people to know about him. You are his representative. I am his representative. God doesn’t stop people from doing us mean ugly and unkind and hateful, but He wants to use that as an opportunity for us to demonstrate what Christ went through. I told my class one time in the college, wouldn’t it be a shame for me to give my wife $1,000 to go spend?

And there was no stores. That’d be the only reason I would give her $1,000 to go spend. But there’s no stores. What do I need this money for? So God allows you to have life to live. But you see, God has given you some money and he wants you to spend it. This money, the value that he gave to you is like he gave you the grace of God to live your life. Not under the law, but by grace.

It means that I can be store upon people something they don’t deserve. They don’t deserve forgiveness, but I get to do it anyway. They don’t deserve kindness, but I’m gonna be kind anyway. Whatever they need, and I can manifest that, not because I’m so good, but because God is so good to me. Therefore, I get to demonstrate that to somebody else. But the devil will work on your mind and do everything he can to poison your mind. And when he poisons your mind, you can’t think clearly.

bitterness sets in and the root of bitterness springs up and many become defiled because of that. So, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God who are by your sealed until the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malleth. It shouldn’t be in your own life. You don’t want it in your spouse’s life. That’s why you don’t say and do things to try to make them mad and upset.

That causes them to, you know, because I fear you think you should ask for that. I mean I nothing but you’re upset. The relationship explaining to me, you make up that relationship with the idea of your marriage. And let me remember that you know that you have a claim that would forgive you if you’re planning to make up the idea of your marriage. I’ve found anything to choose, but this is what the problem is about you. I have something to do to getcha.

I’ve found something to do to say Iextreme when you try to get your mate to walk in the flesh, careful. This is what people do. Now, as you’ve just illustrated, it’s about 40 years. I said, can you do this? No, I can’t. Can you do that? No, I can’t do that. Can you do this? I can’t. And you know, there’s some people that go to church all the time, but they can’t. Do any ministry? Well, I can’t. They have built a wall around themselves.

I can’t, I can’t, I can’t and become a prisoner. Within the wall, they built. Doesn’t the Bible say something along the line, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me. But they’ve never demonstrated the strength of the Lord in their life because they never attempt to do anything. They’re always afraid of being a failure. I might fail. I might fail. Well, a lot of doubt if you don’t, you did fail. Don’t that make sense? Now you know I’m being kind to you.

Don’t you? I’m being nice. I’m saying the nicest, the honey is just dripping off of my gin. The next thing is you fail to manifest the forgiveness of God. You have been undeservedly given because of Jesus Christ. You fail to manifest it when you have an unforgiving spirit. And you know you should. You know it’s right. You want to, but you have an old sinful nature that fights against you, doing the things that’s right. And you know it’s right, but you also have this, I’m not.

You remember years ago, they used to have this Gilligan’s Island and they’re always trying to get Gilligan to do something and Gilligan’s his life. You can’t make me, you can’t make me, you can’t make me, and then he does it. Any Ephesians chapter four, now look at these verses because they’re very important verses, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God. Now just think for a minute. God destroyed this whole world because he says he was grieved because of the peoples, insubordination, rebellion, their wickedness.

And so in Genesis chapter six, he said, I’ll destroy them all, but the Bible says, Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And yet you have people today that grieve God by their rebellion. The Bible, and we was talking about this in Sunday school, talking about Saul, when God made him the king. When he was little in his own eyes, then he got to big for his britches. And then the Bible says it grieved God that He had made Saul king over Israel.

So God can be grieved because the person that He wants to do certain things won’t do them. God is grieved with His children when His children do not obey Him. When you fail in your Christian life, see being successful in your Christian life, isn’t that you just go to church every Sunday and you give a little money here and there and you try to do what’s right out there and so on. But listen, it’s demonstrating the grace of God in your life.

You and I are not to live by the law, laying down the law for everybody. We’re supposed to demonstrate what we can do, which is I can live by grace. Means that I am going to be stow upon you. Love and kindness, compassion and care. All the things that God wants me to regardless of how you treat me. Over the years you’ll have it and I will have it. We’ll hurt somebody, somebody will hurt us. But if you never learn how to forgive, you will turn to bitterness.

And bitterness is the poison that eats at you until it destroys you. You’re hoping the other person dies from it, but you’re the one that’s taking the poison. Look what he says, you’re sealed until the day of redemption. That’s the day when we leave these old bodies and we’re cut up to meet the Lord in the air. So how long should we do this? How long should we serve the Lord until he comes? So we keep looking for the Lord to return.

Serve the Lord until we retire or serve the Lord until he returns. Now look what he said, let all bitterness, all of it. Why does God have to tell us this? Why does He have to tell us in the book of Colossians in chapter three, husbands be not bitter against your wife? Because it must be a very easy thing to do.

It must be an easy thing to get bitter, isn’t it? Isn’t it easy to get bitter at your husband, bitter at the kids, bitter at your parents, in laws and outlaws, all your relatives? It’s easy to get better with the boss, the parichure. It’s easy. Now, you wanna demonstrate the grace of God in your life? Learn how to forgive. Not because somebody deserved it. Well, if they asked me, I might. Well, I’ll forgive them for this and this and this, but I’ll never forgive them for what they said.

Well, you’re going to drink this poison. Who do you think you’re hurting? That person or you? It’s what it destroys you. Not loving, not caring, not having compassion. You can’t make everything right. You can’t make everybody love you. But you can still demonstrate to them what God wants you to demonstrate. When Christ was in this world, who did he wrong? wrong somebody or they wouldn’t have done to him what they did. Ain’t that right? That’s just plain good logical reasoning.

He must have been wrong somewhere. He must not have read Dale Carnegie’s book on how to win friends and influence people. Jesus made everybody mad. He was always offending people. True? Didn’t Jesus offend people? He made everybody mad at him. Almost everybody. And even his own family didn’t believe him. The Bible says over and over again his mother pondered these things in her heart. Well, Ephesians 4.32 says, be kind one to another unless it’s your wife or your husband.

It means be kind to everybody but them. Where do you think it should start at home. Your home should be like heaven on earth. Think about it. Husband and wife pose a love each other, be of the same mind, and that’s supposed to demonstrate what heaven must be like. I had somebody who came from marriage counseling. Even after I talked to them for months and months, they still want to married $\ nobody listens to the preacher. But they sat in my office and I asked them I said, now have you ever seen a marriage like what you want to have?

And I was expecting them to say, you know, my mother and dad and I said, who’s marriages have you ever seen that you would like yours to be like? I said, have you ever seen anybody’s marriage? No? So you want to have something that’s never been. You want to marry something you have never seen. I said, what’s wrong with the ones that you’ve seen? They’re always arguing and fighting and back. Of course, when they get married, we’re not going to do that.

I’ve had people to say, when I get married and I have kids, they’re not going to be like yours. How do you win? Wait. You know how I deal with my critics, I’ll live them sooner or later they’ll die. And you’re still going because see it kills bitterness and hatred. It destroys a person. The key to long life as the scripture says, learning how to love one another. Be kind one. You see happiness and joy is medicine to the bones.

You’d be surprise how much better off you will feel when you know your doing life. Well, it’s a new month and we’d like to thank those who faithfully support this program. We’re going to enroll you in part two of the course Cult 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 like, again, is all online. The classes include video instruction, lecture notes, and quizzes if you’d like to submit them.

And again, it’s all online. When you send in your gift, please include your email address and we’ll enroll you in the second part of Cult of Angelism, Cult of Angelism 2. We hope you’ve enjoyed these free classes and that they’ve been helpful to you. 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. Tada 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.