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Bibleline by line, here got to earth on Bibleline, here got truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio. Next, regular prayers and monthly prayers could be possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us. free at 1753 7771. 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.

There comes a time when you just want to have a piece of money. Even Christians can get disturbed about a lot of things. True, worried. Now we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord. So we know that so we never worry. We don’t have anything to worry about, right? So Christians don’t have to get over excited and down deep, really depressed. But somehow or other, it still seems to happen. So I wanna just give you a couple of thoughts that might help you a little bit.

Go to the book of Philippians, the book of Philippians. You know that the apostle Paul was in jail. This is what we call one of the prison epistles, and it’s amazing how the man that’s got everything going against him, it seems like, is the one that’s trying to encourage everybody else. And he talks about rejoice always, and talks a lot about the joy of the Lord. He mentioned in Philippians in chapter two, In verse two, he says, fulfill ye my joy, joy.

And then you look there in chapter four, where he says in verse four, rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say rejoice. That’s a song. Rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Y’all know that one? Y’all have heard of it? Well, I’m not gonna sing it. Now that I know that you’ve heard of it. But hearing the book of Philippians and chapter four years ago, well, I’d say it was in 1964. I heard Dr. Lee Robertson at Tennessee Temple preach about the way you think and how to be positive in your mind.

And he turned to the book of Philippians in chapter three and he talked about the power of the, at that time the power of the mind. And you talk about how you pose a guard your mind because of the power of the mind. Of course, you’re supposed to watch how you feed your mind and what you feed it upon, but there’s great power if you can think the right way. And so if you think negative, you’re gonna be negative and you’re not gonna have any strength to do what you should do because you talk your way out of it.

And excuse yourself. We have moments of discouragement and depression, and so we can just talk ourselves out of really enjoying the blessings of God and the victories of God because we, well, we just get down so many times. But he does talk about that. And he says, when you’re defeated, you have to guard your mind. And when you’re successful, you have to guard your mind. people’s biggest defeats comes right after they’ve had a great successful experience with the Lord.

In other words, God did something good. And right after that it’s all open. Now what? And so he goes and so they’re very easily discouraged. We had a great missionary conference. Oh man, I was on cloud nine. Well the day after it was all over with. Now what? I won’t see these kids for another So I have to get my mind, okay now what else is coming up and I got to work on this, now I’m going to work on that, I got to work on that.

You got to keep your mind focused on things that are important. But he spoke on the power of the mind and he spoke on the power of the Holy Spirit, which is in the book of Acts in chapter 1 verse 8, and he spoke on the power of a great purpose, power of a great purpose. A man having A reason to live. Something that drives you. You’ve got to have an ultimate purpose in your life. And it’s got to be something that overrides all the other decisions that you have in life.

So I remember him preaching to sermon and it was a great sermon and I really enjoyed it and I liked it. And so when he talks about the power of a great purpose of understanding the will of God for your life. So hold your place right here in Philippians and just quickly look over there in the book of Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4. The Bible talks about the thoughts and the intent of the heart. So you’ll notice in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 12.

And this is what it says about the Word of God. For by the Word of God, he says is quick. I mean, it’s alive, powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joint and the moral, and is a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. It’s that last phrase, a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. In other words, being able to discern what you think and why you think it.

So the word of God is to help us to learn how to think. If everybody could think right, you can live right. Most people’s problems is because they do not learn how to think. Sin produces guilt. guilt is like a weight and it can come down upon your shoulders and destroy you. And it’s all an inside job. It’s not going to really be things that are outside and what people say and do that destroys you. It’s what you think inside.

It’s your response to whatever people say and do. Learn how to think. So you go back there to Philippians in chapter four and there’s a few things that are mentioned here. And I want you to see this in chapter 4 verse 8 and 9 because it talks about the quality of life is determined by the quality of thoughts. See in verse 8 finally brethren what sort of things are true, what sort of things are honest, what sort of things are just, what sort of things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good report, if there be any virtue, meaning things that helps to build your character.

And if there be any praise, what’s the next word? What’s the next word? Think on these things. And the reason is because he says in verse 7, and the peace of God which passes all human understanding, shall keep or guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now we believe that America ought to have a strong military to protect us from an enemy. Well God’s talking about how you guard your mind because there is an enemy but you can’t see him but he works on your mind.

And so you have an enemy that wants to destroy and he uses anything impossible by all means. So you and I are supposed to learn how to guard our thoughts so that we can have the peace that man can’t give. So it’s got to be something that’s above the wisdom of man. So God gives us His word and so you’ve got the wisdom of God. And it’s different and you need to discern that. Can you discern your thoughts whether they are of good quality or bad quality because how you think is going to determine how you live.

So it’s a decision that every one of us has to make and nobody can make it for us. The second thing I want you to see is is there in the book of Philippians in chapter 3 and verse 10 because the goal in life is result of proper thinking. So this is where you find out there’s several things that you know you want, that you desire. There is the power and the purpose. And the prize, because you’ve got to have, do you want to win?

No, well that’s the prize, you want to win. But before you can win, you’ve got to have a purpose, a drive to win. And even though you personally have the drive and the desire to win, you’ve got to have the power to do so. So this is why Paul says here in verse 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection. Now you may trust the Christ of Savior, you have eternal life, you’re going to heaven when you die.

That’s a done deal. That’s settled. But that’s not all there is to it. To live the Christian life takes the power of God to do so. Well, the power that you need to do is the Word of God in order to think. So if you can think right, you can live right. One day I was playing golf with my brother-in-law. And I hit the golf ball and I was on the green. I was fixing the putt. And that thing went like this, like a snake.

And he looked at me and he says, if you hit it right, it’ll go in the hole. I want to go over there and flag it, Jaws. Because the odds were, I’m not going to make this. Because it went like this, and nothing like this. And I’m supposed to be able to read all of that and put that little white ball in that little hole. So now I get ready to hit. If I hit it right, it’ll go in the hole.

That’s deep, isn’t that deep? It’s like going shopping. Be careful what you put in the bag because when you get home, that’s what you take out. G-I-G-O, garbage in, garbage out. So anyway, did I make the putt? I’ll never tell. I wouldn’t want to be seen as being boastful and bragging. All right, so I missed it. So there. But if you hit it right, it will go right. If you think right, you can live right. So the Word of God is given to us to help us to learn as Christians how to think.

Now, there’s all kinds of things that seems to go wrong. You’ll find out when he’s talking about the Christian life, suffering, tribulations, depression. You name everything you can go wrong and the Bible is full of all the things that goes against us. And in spite of all of that, God said that’s not an excuse for you to be down and discouraged and think of quitting and all that. No. Learn how to think. the power of his resurrection. The power that raised up Christ from the dead is one of the greatest powers any of us could ever experience.

Because a man’s dead, he has no power. You can’t raise yourself from the dead, but the Holy Spirit raised him up. And the Holy Spirit that raised him up lives inside of me and wants to give me victory in my Christian life over things that sometimes I can’t control. I can’t control a lot of things. So learn how to control the things. You can control and trust the Lord for the things. You can’t control. I was always told, don’t embarrass God by thinking that your problems are too big for Him to do anything about it.

Now wouldn’t that be a shame? My problems are too big that God can’t do anything about it. Or to think, well my problems are too small to bother Him with. You know, God’s got a lot of things to do, and he don’t need to be bothered with all my little things. But doesn’t the Bible say, pray concerning all things? And all thy ways acknowledge Him, cast all your care upon Him? I mean, does the Bible say that or not?

Well, you’d be surprised how the devil will talk you out of trusting the Lord. But there’s power in it if you do. It kind of relieves the pressure. can take away your guilt. God can forgive and you can have a victorious Christian life and enjoy life. Otherwise you go through life and it’s always you’re just dwelling upon the problems. Nothing but problems. But there’s a lot of problems, but the size of your problems could depend upon what’s the size of your God.

They saw the children of Anek and the children in the wilderness, in the land and came back, hey, they were just like grasshoppers in their sight. Yeah, but you realize what they look like in God’s sight? What does those problems look like in God’s eyes? What does your problems look like in God’s eyes? Well, he makes a statement in verse 14, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the High Calling of God in Christ Jesus. So I’ve got something, I’ve got power, and I’ve got purpose.

You see the purpose there, you look there in verse 13 where he says, brethren, I have not myself to have a name. I have not counted myself to a vapor hymn. In other words, I have not yet obtained everything that I want. But this one thing I do forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Now, this is something for you and I to always remember. You can’t go back and change the past.

But you can make a difference about the future and reach forth for those things that God says to reach for. But the problem is is most people cannot discern What to reach for? What are you looking for? What do you want to do? What do you really want to be? And whenever you can figure that out and find out all I want for my life is the will of God. Now, how do I do that? Well, I’ve got to know his word.

Then I’ve got to be able to discern the things that happens in my life and how do I apply the knowledge from the Word of God? And that’s where wisdom comes in. You’re not wise just because you know the Bible. You’re not wise because you can memorize scripture. It’s when you have the ability to take scripture and apply it to decisions in life. It’s the application of the Word of God. The application in your life of what you live for.

You may know that it’s wrong to love money and love it anyway. You can hate sin but do it anyway. Just because you know something doesn’t mean you’re going to do what you should do. So that’s just why the Word of God is so important. The other thing is this, you should always plan for success. Plan on success, plan on winning. Where’s he say in the Bible that Paul did this that he might gain? He did this that he might gain.

He did this that he might gain. Why? Because he wanted to win. Hold your place right here and look there in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter nine. 1 Corinthians and chapter 9. You’ll notice that the apostle Paul says this over and over again. Doesn’t say you have to do it, but if you want to win, you will. You see what he says here in verse 19? 1 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 19. For though I be free from all men, yet have I made myself servant, I made myself servant unto all.

Why? That I might gain the more. In other words, Paul came to serve as many people as he could cause he wanted to win as many people as he could. So he has a reason for why he does what he does. And so he said that I did it that I might gain. I want more. He says, we’re all in a race and if we’re gonna be in a race, but you ought to run to win. But if you’re gonna win, you’ll have to discipline yourself.

If you strive for the master, you have to learn what are the rules. You don’t want God to put you on a shelf, you want God to be able to use you. So look what else he says in verse 20. “‘On to the Jews, I became as a Jew, “‘that I might gain the Jews, “‘to them that are under the law as under the law, “‘that I might gain them that are under the law, “‘to them that are without law as without law, be not without law to God, under the law of Christ, that I might gain them that are without law.

All the way down through here. And then you’ll notice, he says, by all means, see that on that verse 22, to the week became my his week, that I might gain the week. I have made all things to all men that I might by all means, by all means, by all means, save some. So Paul had a reason. And then he said, this I do for the, what, Gospels, sake, there’s a purpose, something that drove him. And he says, I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high column of God.

In other words, did you believe that God has a higher purpose for you to live for than just for the things of this world? Because everything in this world, you’re going to die. And everything in this world, you’re going to leave. But he talks about laying up treasure in heaven. I wanted my whole life to be spent around getting people to heaven. because that’s the only thing that’s going to last forever is the souls that have trusted the Lord in heaven.

Now they’re in heaven. And so I think it’s a wonderful thing. God explains that. But He says, I have this one burning desire. How many people can I reach? And I’ll do all things. And so He’s the one that’s encouraging the people and He’s the one that’s in jail. Doesn’t that make sense? Remember when him and Paul inside of the Bible talks about Paul and Silas was in jail and it says at midnight, what were they doing? Well, they were sitting over in the corner weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth because of how sorry they were that they decided to serve the Lord because everything was going wrong.

Nobody loved them. No, it says they were singing amazing grace. I imagine that’s what they were singing. And they were singing. 12 o’clock at night in jail. The Bible says they were in stocks. That means they had iron drawn them. And they’re the ones that’s talking about the joy of the Lord. See, something’s missing. Something’s wrong with all of this. And the eyes of the natural man. People cannot fathom this because it’s over their head. Look what he says here in Philippians again.

In Philippians in chapter Look where he says, in regard to who he was and what he had in his position, he makes a statement about how great he was. See there in verse 4 when he says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man think of that, he hath where he might trust in the flesh. I’m more. He said, do you know who I am? Do you know what I was? Let me tell you about it.

Let me tell you how great I was, circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness which in the law blameless. Hey, I hadn’t made man. I mean I’m somebody. People looked up to me and he went everywhere, persecuting all those Christians and he thought he was doing God a favor. But notice what he says in verse 7, but what things were gained to me in this life, all the respect that he had looked up to.

And when Stephen was stoned, they laid down their coat at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul, which is later on Paul. So yeah, he was somebody. But he says, all those things you would count as something He said, I count that all but lost. That means nothing. So he says here in verse 7, those I counted loss for Christ. In other words, I would rather have Christ than all of that. I’d rather have Christ than all of that.

And then not only that, hold your place right here and turn all the way over there to Hebrews chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 11. You see, now is the time that you have to make that decision. Once you’re dead, it’s too late. Maybe if you wait too long, you’ll be too old and it won’t matter. You say, whenever I get my one foot in the grave and another one on the banana peel, then I’ll dedicate the rest of my life to the Lord.

Oh, isn’t that wonderful? When you probably get, say, too old and I can’t do anything else, but while I’m young, I got to enjoy life. But here in Hebrews in chapter 11, look what he says in verse 25, this is talking about Moses, Moses in the Old Testament. Did he have a choice to make? Everybody has a choice to make. Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

Now he could have had anything he wanted. He was next in line to be Pharaoh. And look what he could have had. Look who everybody would have looked up him. Man, I like it. But he says here in verse 26, esteem the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He didn’t say, esteem the riches of Christ, greater. He says, the reproach, the worst thing that can happen to me as a believer is better than the the best thing that can happen to me if I had all the wealth in the world.”

So he says, “…a steam of the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasure indigent, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.” He knew that when he gets to heaven, God’s going to reward him. He wins. So he gave up something here that was temporary for something that he’ll have in heaven, which will be for eternity. Do you think he made a bad choice? He’s going to die anyway. Well, he did die. Now did he make the right decision?

He gave the Lord all these years. So you have to learn how to think. But the motivation in his life was Christ. This is what Paul is talking about. So go back to the book of Philippians, back to Philippians. And you’ll notice what he says also here in verse 8 of chapter 3. Look in verse 8. Chapter 3. He says, Yate doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.

In other words, to know the Lord, to know the Word of God was more important to Paul than anything else that could ever happen to his life. And why he says this, he says, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but done that I may win Christ. In other words, my knowledge of Christ and to be used of the Lord means more to me than anything else in the world. And I have lost.

He says, I’ve suffered the loss of everything. He lost his friends. He lost his prestige. He lost a lot. And yet one of the greatest Christians worlds ever known. So did he must have made a bad decision. No, but look what happened to him. The life itself, nobody would want to live a life like that. All the things that happened to him, you wouldn’t want that to happen to you. And so if you ever get a chance, or you read the second Corinthians in chapter 11, and you read all the things that happened to the Apostle Paul and see whether or not, how much do I love the Lord?

Do I love the Lord? Is that much? what it takes to get you to walk away from serving God, from not being faithful. That’s why it’s so important. Look there in Philippians 1 and you’ll notice there in chapter 1 and verse 12, as a child of God. Not only plan for success but you’ve got to look for some open doors and God will open doors for you and He will close doors for you. In other words, if you, God, in the beginning of your Christian life, you may find yourself in a little closet.

You say, well, what are I doing this little closet? There’s hardly no light. Only got one door. It’s only a six by six, not very big, not much to do, but be faithful in that one little place that God may put you in. And if you’ll be faithful in that little closet in time because of your patience, God may open the door and you can walk through that door and you may find yourself in a big old living room.

And in that living room, you’ve got a lot more things to do, more things you can enjoy. And then God may They opened up and put you in a big auditorium someplace. You never know what God has, but be willing to, if you want to be successful, walk through the available doors that you can. I don’t believe a Christian should have to get a crowbar and a sledgehammer and bust doors down trying to make a way so they can do something for God.

God can open up doors. You just be faithful. You never have to do wrong to do right. You don’t have to do wrong to do right. Do right. If you have to do wrong, then it’s not right. Don’t do it. Trust the Lord and be patient and wait upon the Lord. And God will richly bless you. 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. Bye. 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. Enough.