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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 BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s concluding message of thisNotice teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Hold your place right here and look there in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 9. Corinthians and chapter 9. You’ll notice that the apostle Paul says this over and over again. It 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, verse 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 to more. In other words, Paul came to serve as many people as he could because 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 going to be in a race, well, you ought to run to win. But if you’re going to 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, unto 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, being 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 as weak, that I might gain the weak. I am 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 It’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. 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 ironed on them. And they’re the ones 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 three, 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 four when he says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man think that he had to wear a, 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 fairs concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness which in the Lord. 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 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. He’s using rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.

No, 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. But he says here in verse 26, Estaming the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. He didn’t say, Estimond the riches of Christ, greater. He says, the reproach, the worst thing that can happen to me as a believer is better than the best thing that can happen to me if I had all the wealth in the world.

So he says, the esteem of the reproach of Christ’s greater riches than the trays or 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 And he says also here in verse eight of chapter three, look in verse eight, chapter three. 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. 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 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 that much? What would it take to get you to walk away from serving God? from not being faithful. That’s why it’s so important. Look there in Philippians in chapter 1 and you’ll notice there in chapter 1 in 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.

He said, 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, more227 things you can enjoy. And then God may open 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 away 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. 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. But notice what he says here in verse 12 of chapter 1. But I would ye should understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen that rather unto the furtherance of the gospel.

See Paul didn’t have to make things happen. He just let it happen. He just started walking with God and God kept opening doors and closing doors and put him in prison and let him out and send him to this city and he was on board a ship then it could have sunk, but God got him to Rome, and he just trusted the Lord. God told him, says, I’m going to show you how much you’ll have to suffer for me.

Now we’d like to say, I want to see you just how much blessings God can give to me. Because I just want to be blessed. All I want is the victories. Without battles, they can’t be any victories. Without a war, they can’t be any medals. You want God to use you? Some people want to make a six foot splashed in the six-inch mud puddle. Don’t do much, but I want great victories. Well then you’ll have to have a lot of problems, big problems.

A lot of things go against you. Learn how to think. And notice what he says here. That the things that have happened in me have happened unto the furtherance of the gospel. So now in verse 13, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace And in all other places, people have heard about Paul. Paul was put in a prison, he was put into a palace, and God used him in a great way to speak to a lot of so-called important people.

Well look how he had to suffer. I believe that at this point I’ve already lived longer than the apostle Paul lived. You know how he died? Rome? They cut off his head. Now you want to be like Paul? Well, maybe not. It’s okay as long as we don’t have to suffer. Well, serving the Lord you’re going to suffer because people will say and do things and hurt you and stab you in the back. I’ve never had too much problem with the lost man.

It’s always been with the believers. It’s always been with believers. But you’ve got to go through that. And so you’ve got to learn that. But the next thing to kind of keep in your mind here is the Bible keeps saying about fear, not fear, not. Look in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 6. When he says, be careful for nothing, don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about it. Be anxious for nothing. Now, you doesn’t mean you can’t be concerned about things and you’ve got to try to seek God’s will in a lot of different areas of your life.

But he says in verse five, let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Now, you’ll notice that he talks about in chapter three and verse 14 about pressing the right hand. You’ll notice that he talked about in chapter three, in verse 14 about pressing on. And then he mentions there in verse 16 of chapter three, let us walk. And then you find here, he’s talking about in verse five, the Lord is at hand. So whether you are pressing on and running or you’re walking or standing still, learn how to trust the Lord.

And so he says, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, because you believe that God can make a difference. If God can’t make a difference, and whatever will be, will be, why pray? Why worry about it? Why do anything? Don’t worry about anything. Don’t do anything. And so there’s a passive type of Christians that never do anything for the Lord. But you’re supposed to trust the Lord and keep getting up and never stop serving the Lord keep growing in your faith If you will feed your faith Your doubts will start the death if you feed your doubts your faith will start the death So whether you’re strong in the Lord or weak in the Lord is because of your faith You have strong faith weak faith Do you keep feeding your face so it grows and your confidence is stronger than the

Lord and you can become more confident, more bold, or you become weak questions, doubts, worries. Can’t sleep at night. Worry, worry, worry. Never hear somebody call it. You’ll worry, wort. I don’t know what to wort. Wuries are not, but I’ve had a few worts at times. does press us in his word and this is why it is so important. So fear not in verse 6 and 7, where he says in verse 7, and the peace of God which passes all human understanding shall guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

In other words, your thoughts becomes like the word of God. See is like a shield and it protects you and helps you to think the right way because remember of the devil has fiery darts. Hold your place right here and just turn to you left just a couple pages to the book of Ephesians in chapter 6. Somebody you can’t see, you can’t see it, but it’s real. In verse 12, for we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, the rulers of the darkness of this world.

So that means there’s somebody that’s warring against us. It’s kind of like America and we have the religion of Islam that has declared war on America, but they don’t believe that. No, that’s not true. Well, I believe it’s true. And if you don’t really understand your enemy, you can’t prepare right. So we let them come over here and teach their stuff and you’ve heard me say, every mosque is an al-kind to sail? It is. That’s not a joke, it’s not a lie.

You’ll find out. You’re going to hear more and more about it and it’s going to happen and it’s going to get bad. But anyway, even though we know that, look in chapter 6 again where he makes the statement in verse 13, wherefore it taken you the whole armor of God that you may be able to withstand in the evil day and having done all to stand. And then he talks about up there and I want you to see this in verse 11, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

And the Bible talks about the fiery darts and so forth of the wicked one. See down in verse 16, above all, taking the shield of faith, the shield of faith. Faith is a shield. Faith is something that protects and guards your mind because you know what to believe and you don’t believe all those thoughts. And the devil has got these fiery darts of doubts, questions, negative, penetrating them into your mind. And it’s going to be what you believe that will be your shield of faith, the Christ says, where with he shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, all of them.

So God has given to you and I all we need to withstand the onslaught of the devil and all those little layman’s and all of his questions and the doubts and all those of them keep building your faith. Keep studying the Word of God and you’ll be surprised how strong you can be. Now always understand if you do read the Word of God you can fall at any time. All you got to do is be lifted up with a little pride.

And God will take you out of that great big living room, and put you back in that closet. And you can teach someday, hey, I can’t even out of the closet. Well, anyway, that’s another part. But you learn to praise the Lord anyway. Look in verse 4 of chapter 4, where he says, rejoice in the Lord once in a while. When everything’s going your way, when you don’t have any problems, Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice.

Why? Because everything that you have happens to you, as Paul says, the things that have happened in the me are for the furtherance of the gospel. The Lord may put you in a lot of different places and a lot of different people. So you look at it and think, well, there might be somebody here I got a witness to. Maybe somebody here I need to talk to about the Lord. and give them a track, explain some things to them, and you’d be surprised.

The opportunities you can have, if you can discern what’s going on. That’s why you studied the word of God. It helps you to discern. Then instead of cursing what’s going wrong, you’re looking for that opportunity. You heard about the little boy that was so positive, always so positive. This man said, I’ll fix this kid. He says, go down to the barn, and I want you to clean out all that manure. So after about 15, 20 minutes, he’d go down there and see his attitude now.

And the kid was in there just a scene in a whistling and throwing manure all over the place. He says, why are you so happy? He says, with all this manure, there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere. Some people see opportunities. Now the people don’t. A man that was a shoe salesman, they send him over to Africa. Send him to Africa because they want to sell shoes to those people over there. He goes over there and he comes back.

He says, can’t sell shoes over there. They all go barefoot. They don’t wear shoes. So they sent another guy over there. He came back and says, man, they don’t wear shoes. They all need shoes. He sold a bunch, attitude. All depending on how you see something. That’s why we often say everything in life is either a stepping stone or a stumbling block. You’re either gonna step up or you’re gonna stumble because when things go wrong, what kind of an attitude do you have?

How long is your fuse? about this long. Somebody likes it. How long does it take you to explode? Or are you patient? Can you wait on the Lord? Look, you can’t control other people’s actions and a lot of things and circumstances in life you can’t do anything about. All you can do is control you. Now, how are you going to respond? And that’s what the key is. So you learn to praise the Lord anyway. And Philippians chapter 3 verse 20 and 21 always think heaven.

In the Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5 and 6 and all thy ways acknowledge him and in he shall direct thy passage over. But think God. See there verse 20 of chapter 3 for our citizenship where we live where we’re going to be is in heaven. From And when also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

So even death, we don’t have to fear because God is able to take these bodies that raised up the spirit, that raised up Christ from the dead is the same part that lives within you and this is temporary. one day you’re going to die. But we’re looking for the day we go to heaven because when you were born from above, you were born from heaven and God says your citizenship is in heaven. It’s not on the earth. So we’re here to do a job and if we all do it, God will bless us for it.

Let me give you this one last thing. See to be spiritually minded means you want the best for other children of God. You want them to succeed. You want people to be blessed. And so if you notice in Philippians 4 and verse 17 Paul says not because I desire a gift, he says, But I desire fruit that may abound to your account.

Paul says, I want you to have fruit. Not just I have fruit, serving Lord as I want you to have fruit. So you want other Christians to be successful. And God’s going to bless you by how many people you can encourage to do right. That’s why he talks about exhorting one another, exhort one another, provoking one another under anger. No love that you just do what God wants you to do. And if you do, God will bless you, but learn how to thank you.

You ought to take the book of Philippians and read it. Maybe once a month, but read that book until those things saturates into your mind. And it will really be a great blessing to you. Look up here. This hand represents you and me. The Wall of Representatives, and we all have sin on this. God says that He loves us, He hates our sin. And for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us.

He wants us to go to heaven. We have to be perfect. None of us are perfect. We’ve all sinned. We’ve all come short of God’s perfection. And God says, you cannot earn eternal life. You cannot work your way to heaven. He says, there’s only one way to get to heaven. And most people have heard this. They just don’t understand it. Jesus Christ had no sin. He was God in the flesh. He came into this world, lived a perfect life, and voluntarily took our sins and paid for their own cross.

He came back from the dead and God says, all you have to do to go to heaven, will you believe that when Jesus died, He died for you, paid for your sins so that you wouldn’t have to pay for them. And the only thing that makes this whole thing work is if you will believe He did it for you. You’re saved by grace through faith. It doesn’t cost you anything. It’s free, but you have to believe He did it for you.

That’s faith. Taking God at His Word. And if you will believe that, He will give you as a free gift everlasting life and you get to go to heaven on what Christ did for you. And understand this. You think about the difficulties when Christ was here, and yet He finished the race that was set before Him, endured the cross. When you partake of the bread, you realize what He was willing to go through for us, and how He suffered for us, for us and how that he bore our sins in his own body on thegroupon and when he shed his blood, he gave his life.

He did this and he says, I suffered for you. And here we are beneficiaries of this. And God says, now I want you to suffer for them. Take the message to them. And God says, I will reward you. Regardless of how difficult it may be. And You may even die for your faith because of what you’re doing for the Lord. It will be worth it all because there’s a God in heaven that keeps the books. Let’s pray, shall we?

With every head bowed, and every eye closed, and no one looking around, if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you right now say, I don’t understand at all, but I believe that when Christ died, I believe He died for me. And right now I will put my trust in Him. And if you’re making that decision, I’d like to pray for you. But I’m not going to have you forward, not going to embarrass you. But right where you’re sitting, say, preacher, I will accept Christ as my Savior right now, and I’d like for you to know it, and I’d like for you to pray for me in closing.

So we’ll hear about night’s closing. Is there anyone at all? So if yes, pray for me, I will trust Christ right now as my Savior. Would you just slip your hand up very quickly? Yes, God bless you. Anyone else, God bless you, man. Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity we have to come together and to study your word, and we thank you for the apostle Paul and the testimony that he was, and what you’ve taught us through him.

And we ask now your blessings upon the service to follow in Christ’s name, Amen. 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.