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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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Turn in your Bible to the Book of Ephesians in chapter 4. Now when you study the Bible, remember we’re studying the mind of God. God took his mind, put it in the words. So then we studied the word of God, we’re studying the mind of God. We learn how God thinks. What he loves, what he hates, how he feels, his justice, his holiness, his righteousness, his law, his mercy, his goodness, his kindness, all the things that we call the attributes of God.

God is an amazing God. I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, without loneliness and meekness, with long suffering, for bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Now there’s something about God’s people all yielding to the Lord with the same humility of mine should come up with the same unity of peace. Because God, and we talk about the peace of God, it’s brought by the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

So if the Holy Spirit controls me and controls you and controls you and controls you, then we should all have the comfort of the Lord, the peace of of God. And then he makes his statement here in verse four, but there’s one body, one spirit, even as you’re called in one hope of your calling, one Lord, one fate, one baptism, one God and father of all, who is above all through all in you all. So that the God that created the heavens and the earth.

What He lives inside of me, He lives inside of you. He is above all, and He is through all, and He is in all, so that if God is God, and He controls us, and we yield to His control, why can’t Christians get along? Well, you and I know, because we have an old sinful nature and we rebel. We rebel against God, the teaching of the Bible. We have our own way. We want to do our own will. So we rebel.

And because we are able to buy our great spiritual discernment, able to detect all the dirt in other people’s lives. And we use that as an opportunity to either exalt ourselves as, boy, I’m glad I’m not like that. Or we compare ourselves among others, the Bible says is not wise. And we lift ourselves up as though we’re something better. And the Bible says about esteeming one another better than yourselves and always seeking that which is best for somebody else.

We change the word from edify to edify. Though in these first six verses, it’s all talking about one, one, one, one, all the same. So whatever God is, He’s the same to me as He is to you. There’s only one church, one body, and we’re all part of that oneness. But then He says there in verse seven, it doesn’t say and on to every one of us is given, it says but which is in contrast. In contrast to the oneandise there are many That have something different.

See, even though we’re all different, what God has done for me, he did for you. He saved me, he saved you. He indwells me, he indwells you. One Bible, one Holy Spirit. So there is the similarity that everything’s the same. But under every one of us is given grace according to they can get this word now. Measure of the gift of Christ. This is different. What God did for us all is one thing. But now, why we live in the world.

in this life, there is a certain measure that God has given to us, talk about the gift of Christ, the ministry of the Lord. The ministry we have may be different. Not everybody is the pastor, not everybody is the deacon, not everybody’s just the person sitting in the pew. But everybody has a different position and then he talks about those things in verse 11 and he gave some apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, those are all different. But even though they’re all different, they have a different ministry to work together something to produce unity so that every one of us learn from each other.

Not one person has it all. Sometimes you hear, you know, the pastor, he is just too dominating. He is just too dictatorial. He’s just too mean. He’s too headstrong. He’s just too ornery. You can’t tell him anything. And you’ll have a preacher like that. And then lo and behold, you can go to another church and, well, the preacher is just so sweet and so kind and so nice and so gentle and so peaceful and so warm and so cuddly and so blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

And you’ll find out sometime that preacher won’t take a strand. He won’t rebuke. He’s not hard enough. He’s not a strong leader. I don’t care where you go. Nobody will be totally satisfied with whatever you have, whoever you get. Whatever church you go to, there is the little honeymoon period and then you find reality. Everybody’s got falls and flaws just like you. There’s no difference. But the Holy Spirit that entwails us as a work to do. And so even though God has done the same for all of us, and He in dwells all of us, same power within all of us, yet He’s given to each one of us different ministries.

And you’re to learn how to use the gift that God has given to you to benefit the body. So by the time you get through with all of this learning that you’re supposed to have, look there in verse 12, for the perfecting, maturing completion of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we get this all coming to the unity of the faces. One thing that we want peace, we want unity.

How are you going to get it? God sends you different types of people to do different types of work with different abilities and sometimes you’ll learn a little bit from this person and a little bit from this person, a little bit from this person, but you don’t learn at all from one person because God uses different people in different ways. God wants to use your talent and your ability because God doesn’t want you to be the somebody else. If God wanted me to be Mark Cameron, God should have made me Mark Cameron, but he didn’t make me Mark Cameron.

He made me Yankee Arnold. I just want to be the best Yankee Arnold I can be. I like Curtis I’d admire Dr. Curtis Hudson. I looked up to Dr. Curtis Hudson. To me, he was a great soul winner. I loved what he did. I loved the way he did it. But you know, if God wanted me to be Dr. Hudson, God should have made me Dr. Hudson. God didn’t make me Dr. Hudson. I’m not gonna try to be no Dr.

Hudson. I just wanna be Yankee, but the best one that I can be. You don’t wanna be anybody else. You’re not jealous of anybody else. And the reason is because you’re satisfied with yourself, with what God has done for you and what God wants to do through you and in you because that’s where the unity of the Spirit comes from. You’re not going to be blessed because you’re so envious of somebody else and trying to be like somebody else, but get all of that.

God made you, you, he wants you to be you. He don’t want you to be somebody else. And yet all of us working together can produce the same results so that we learn to be satisfied with what God has for us, not become envious of somebody else. Now get what he says. Till we all come in the unity of the face and of the knowledge of the Son of God onto a perfect man. In other words, the body of Christ being shaped and molded into a perfect individual growing to the image of Christ and it says this.

The last part of verse 13, unto the measure of the statue of the oldest of Christ. Now look up here. God gave him a little and her a little, you a little, and you a little, and you a little, and you a little, and you a little, and you a little. All these gifts. But all working together with a little measure here and a little measure there. A little water from here and a little water from here and a little water.

What a nice thing. I’ve got a full glass of water. And that’s what God wants to do in the local church. He says here in verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine, by the slight of men and cunning and craftiness whereby they lie in way to the same, but speak in the truth and love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head. Now the purpose of the body is to grow up into the head.

So the body is not to work separate from the head because here upon the earth is the body and the head is in heaven in Christ. So you read the book of Ephesians and talk about the church on the earth, but when you read the book of Colossians, it talks about the head which is in heaven. And yet we are united because we are joined together by the Holy Spirit. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Acts 20, Acts 20.

Now keep it in mind, all believers, all believers are disciples, all believers are children, believers are sheep, all believers are stones, and all believers are members, and all believers form the bride of Christ. And yet there’s something about every one of these. It’s very, very unique. Now in the book of Acts in chapter 20, look there in verse 7, and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread. Decipals is a learner, a follower.

So you can be a follower of Christ and not be saved. And you can be a saved person and not be a follower, a learner. Judas was a disciple of Christ, but he wasn’t saved. But a person who knows the Lord and loves the Lord should be a disciple. What is a disciple? A disciple is someone just like I went to Bible college. When I went to Bible college, I was a disciple along with all the other students. We were disciples.

We were being discipled. We were taught discipline, the Christian disciplines of the book. What to believe, how to live. That’s what it all brought down to. The rule of faith, believe, and practice do. So, Bible teaches us how to think, not to live. So, at school, we were disciples, and we were being discipled by the men that were there. Wouldn’t it be interesting if we could just stay in school all our life? Just stay in school all our life?

Now there’s some people who go to college and then they graduate and then they go to seminary and then they graduate and they go to another seminary and graduate and just getting they just tack on their degrees after degrees. Now you can forever sharpen an axe never cut on a tree. You can forever learn and never teach. But what was the reason of those teachers decipallying us to teach us to teach? We were learning how to serve the Lord.

We were learning how to study the Bible. Four or five hours every day, for four years straight, we studied the Bible. What did we do? We were learning how to study so that you can study for the rest of your life. It didn’t give you everything you knew. No place can. But you can’t be somebody’s little disciple forever. Because God is in the habit of moving things around. Because there’s things that God wants done. This is His vineyard. We’re only shepherds.

So there’s a time as a child of God, as a disciple, you’re to learn. But as you learn, there’s things God wants you to do with what you learn. just to be a disciple that you take in all your life, but the other part of it is to be able to give the way God wants us to. Look in John chapter 11 verse 49, and one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest of that same year, said unto them, ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not, and this fake heat not of himself, but being high preached that year, prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation.

Now, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the man. This is before Christ ever died on the cross. We don’t know if Caiaphas was a believer or not. All we know is that they did know that the Messiah would have to die. This speak, he not of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation and get verse 52. Not only that nation, but that also he should gather together in one. You’re going to underline that.

in one, the children of God that were scattered abroad. And here, of course, he’s talking about the nation of Israel and the Jews that have been scattered throughout the earth and about them all coming together as one because it’s talked about that in the book of Ezekiel 37 and 38, talking about how that there’s going to be one day, they’re going to be one shepherd, one shepherd, and how that God’s going to take Judah and Israel and make one nation once again, a school of disciples.

There has to be a master, a teacher, somebody that teaches those disciples. When you talk here about the children, and we’re talking about the children in one family, you have to talk about not only a family, but if there’s a family, and we’re all in the same family, We all have the same Father. There’s one Father. Not two, there’s only one Heavenly Father. And you are heavenly children. And you came from the Father. When we talk about the word born again.

This Father was to say to Robert over here, Robert, you gotta be born again. Well, if Robert was born again, just like he’s already been born into the world the first time, well, the second birth wouldn’t be any better than his first one. If he was born again, just like he was the first time, well, then he could have a hundred births and he ain’t gonna be one bit better. Why? Sinful nature, sinful nature, sinful nature. He ain’t a bit better.

So the key is not just be born again. The word they’re in John is born from above. But whenever you’re born again, it means be born from above. The first time in the world you were born this way with a sinful nature. You don’t want that again. You wanna be born from above and be born from above, that’s a totally different birth. You see, it’s a different source. It’s a different father. And so now we have here in the book of Ephesians in chapter three, makes the statement in verse 15, “‘Of whom the whole family and heaven and earth is named.'”

This is one family. Look what he says here in verse 14, “‘For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family.'” See, we are a family and we are a family. We’re all in the same family. And if we’re in the same family, we got the same father. Now, same father is God. So shouldn’t a family honor their father? Doesn’t it say in the Bible somewhere about honor thy father?

Honor thy father? Of course, in the world honor thy father and thy mother. My goal now as a child of God is to honor my father. And I should do that. You should do that. But what if all of God’s children honor their father And we listen to our Father, was shouldn’t we get along? Shouldn’t there be peace among the brethren? Isn’t it a shame when God’s people don’t love each other? Don’t pray for one another, don’t encourage one another?

Become stumbling blocks for others? Always check and see whatever you do. What if every Christian did what you do? Or what kind of a family would you have if all the Christians live like you live? And yet this is what God expects us to do. Every believer is to be an example to everyone else that follows. You are important in what you say and what you do. Look in John chapter 10 verse 16. Other sheep I have, which are not of this full.

Them also I must bring, and they shout here my voice, and there shall be, you’re on the line as one fold, one shepherd. See, God uses different ways in which to teach us as a teacher with the disciples and as a father with a family. And also here as a shepherd with the sheep. There are simple ways in which things we do understand. We can get a grasp of the spiritual meaning of how God does it with us. and therefore there is a good shepherd.

He’s also called the great shepherd and in the book of the Hebrews He’s called the chief shepherd. He is the shepherd. And the sheep are to hear his voice and the sheep are to follow that shepherd. Sometimes even in your Christian life, if you don’t fully learn to trust the Lord and walk with the Lord, I don’t give what you have. And don’t give where you go. There can always be that emptiness there. Well, there’s a satisfaction and a joy that comes because you did what God wants you to do.

The Bible tells us that there is one foundation One foundation that is laid which is Jesus Christ But on this foundation there’s living stones and you and I are living stones upon the foundation And if you’ll notice there in verse 6 of 1 Peter chapter 2 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture Behold I lay in Zion a cheek corner stone the word stone there is singular that’s the foundation. Look in verse 5, he also has lively stones or living stones.

The word stones is plural, that’s many. So there’s one foundation, there’s many stones and God is taking these living stones and putting them up on this foundation and he’s building a spiritual house for the habitation of God. And when He said, he went to show him the holy city coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And he says, and he showed me the bride, the lamb’s wife. As though the holy city was the bride, because we’re called the stones and there’s the disciples in the various stones.

And there’s a certain foundation that he has there and it’s like the sea of glass, transparent gold. And you had all these people that form the body. And in the book of Ephesians in chapter 2, it talks about how the believers themselves form an habitation for God to dwell in. And yet you know the Bible tells us that the holy city coming down from God out of heaven was 1500 miles high, 1500 miles wide, and 1500 miles long. That’s over half the size of the United States.

And I believe that the holy city will hover above the earth. that says the nations upon the earth will walk in the light of the Holy City. But God has given to us a glorious gospel by which every person who trusts the Lord is gloriously saved. And then He tells us, this is what I want you to do. It’s like the shepherd who leads the sheep. And like the head of the family looks after his family. And here you talk about a foundation, a cheap cornerstone, and living stones that are placed upon this thing, and it says that this is where we are.

Look there in verse 6 again. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, behold I lay in Zion, achieved cornerstone, elect precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded or confused or ashamed, as it says in several other places, especially Romans 10, verse 11, unto you therefore which believe he is precious, but unto them which be disobedient or don’t believe, the stone which the builders disallowed or rejected the same as made the head of the corner.

The nation of Israel was looking to build a kingdom, but the king was the stone who showed up and they rejected him. So the kingdom was postponed so that same stone that was rejected by the builders Israel became the head stone or for the believers themselves called the church. That’s where we are. So it became a rock of offense, even to those which stumble at the word being disobedient or unbelieving. The other one I wanted to mention to you is found in the book of Corinthians in chapter 12 where he talks about, he says, there is one body.

And though the members be many, there’s only one body. And yet in this one body, God says everybody is not the eye because if everybody was an then where would the hearing be? But if everybody was an ear then where would the seeing be? But in a body of believers a church they’re supposed to be individuals that can do the work of the ministry and so we need this person can do this a person can do this a person can do that a person can do that a person can do that and God has given to the church that which the church needs but sometimes people don’t want to do what they’re supposed to do so they don’t function right the body doesn’t grow right it’s not fed right it doesn’t grow it doesn’t get done the things that needs to be done but it’s not because it can’t it’s because it won’t

The last one I want to mention to you the Bible says that in the future We are going to get married again. We will be the bride of Christ That means from Pentecost to the Rapture all believers Forma the body of Christ and we’re to become one just like a man a a woman and then when they have a child, two became one flesh. This child came from two people and these two people, God looks upon them as one person, one person, one head.

If you saw a person walking down the street with two heads, you would think there goes a what? A freak. I mean, the family doesn’t need two heads. It’s not 50-50. Where is this? 50-50. Many people spend their whole married life trying to figure this out. There’s only one head. And God says, the man is the head of the home. Why good enough? It’s a shame when a lot of men are not the head as they ought to be.

They’re not good strong leaders. And that’s a shame because he will not fulfill his responsibility to be the leader that he ought to be. But he should be. One day this bride of Christ is gonna go to the Judgement seat of Christ. And the Bible says we will, according to Revelation 19, dressed in the righteous acts of the saints. What you do down here, God is gonna reward you and you’re gonna be dressed and the rewards of the righteous deeds that you’ve done for the Lord.

And we will all be going to the married supper of the Lamb. And then the Bible says, Christ is gonna come to the earth and we’re gonna be with him forever. Cause when the raptor take place, we shall be with him forever. So wherever he goes, we go. We’re the bride. And the bride is to be married to Christ. There is to be one bride, one husband, one bridegroom. And when Christ is married to the bride that came from all these individuals down here, remember all of us who trust the Lord, we were born from above from the Father.

Everybody who becomes part of the bride, there’s no fault nor flaw in any of us. We are perfect because only a perfect Savior can marry a perfect bride. So what is the gold of the Father? According to the Jewish custom, the gold of the Father was to find a bride for his son. So the Father had a son born into this world. Now the Father is calling out from among the world a body of believers and they will become the bride to marry his son.

And that’s why the son says in John chapter 7, all that the Father giveth to me. True? I’m not making this up. This is Bible. Father giveth to me. shall Come to me and he met come up to me. I will know wise Now here in this life if you find out that the bride was not pure she was not a virgin Then you are free to put her aside to cast her out To all know the wedding But there won’t be none of this here because he will be made perfect and just like the Lord So all that comes to him.

I will and know wise every cast out So it means more than just looking at this I have eternal life. I’ll never lose him this goes for all eternity There’s always deeper things found in the Word of God. That’s just awesome. Eternity will show the epitome of unity. Because can you see that in eternity, there’s the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and then the Bible talks about Israel, the Church, and the Gentiles. Those only three. And there’ll be perfect unity, perfect peace, perfect harmony for all eternity.

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. 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. Kata can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.