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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. 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.

There’s one thing that everybody wants is, they want to be loved and they want to love. So the best place in all the world is to find what God means by such a thing. When God says for God so loved the world, it’s nice to know what the word love means. So we’ll look at that in just a second, but I want to just give you this in 1 Corinthians and chapter 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 13. The Lord puts quite a high priority on this little word.

It also says that God is love, talks about the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit is the first love, joy and all these things. But it gives a good definition of love there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 13. And talks about things that people can do that would be great sacrifice, but doesn’t mean that it’s love. So the Bible uses the word charity. The Old Testament loves the expressed in one word. The New Testament is expressed in three words.

And so we won’t look at that tonight, but we will explore the words and the meaning of it. So if you look in chapter 13 and verse 1 where he says, though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not charity or have not love, I am becoming a sounding brass or tingling symbols. In other words, it must be pretty important for everyone to have love. Now we all like to be loved, but sometimes we don’t like the idea of having to love somebody else the way we’re supposed to.

We want everybody to treat us right and love us, but wouldn’t it be needed if everybody just loved everybody else the same way? This is one of the reasons why God says, Do unto others before they do unto you. Is that what it says? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Somebody says, do unto others and then split. None. There is a responsibility that we have. And that is to love the way we should. Look in verse two.

Though I have the gift of prophecy, understand all mysteries and all knowledge. And though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not love, I am zero. You’re nothing. So you may find it sometimes very hard to love. And maybe we don’t really want to do it because of our old sinful nature, but God still requires it. Then He says in verse three, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, now you know that’s a good thing.

And if I give my body to be burned and have not loved, it profiteth me nothing. So it looks like whatever we do for the Lord. The motive behind it should be that we love the Lord, we love souls, we love Christ, we love the gospel, we must love something beyond ourselves. So the Lord tells us this and gives us a little bit of the description of what love really is and how it works and that love in verse eight never fails.

And then in down in verse 13, and now I’ll buy the faith, hope, and charity, or love these three. But the greatest of these is love. So the reason Christ did what He did was to demonstrate to us how much God loved us, because when God says, for God’s a love the world, well, how do I know? Well, this is what He did for you. Why did he do that? Because he’s not requiring you to even accept what he did.

You don’t even have to believe it. He did it anyway. He still died for you and paid for your sins. So… I had somebody send something and I liked it, a friend of mine, a guy I led to a Lord years ago. And when I saw that in the read I said, that’s one of the best definitions that I have ever seen on love. And I love the statements that are made here, and so I edited them a little bit and put them down.

And so 23 things that love is edited from Paul’s trips list by Pastor Arnold. And here’s a gospel-centered reminder about how to love, because you see, the motive behind our Christianity, our soul-winning, everything that we do, believe, the reason we give, the reason we sacrifice is because we love of God. And because that is true, he says that we are motivated. His love constrains us because we thus judge that if one died for all, then all were dead, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him who died for him.

So that means that you’re not supposed to live yourself, but for the one that died for us. Love should respond to love. So he says here in these three things that I thought was very, very good, but you don’t have to be romantically in love to find this list practical. Every healthy relationship requires love and sacrifice. if you’re a parent, child, sibling, neighbor, pastor, or co-worker, this is a good list. And when I read this, I thought, this is penetrating.

This gets right to the heart of the matter because sometimes we say we love but then we don’t meet the definition of love. But look at number one. Love is being willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others without impatience or anger. Be willing to have your life complicated by the needs and struggles of others.” So you just take an examination for yourself and see whether or not. Now if this is what love is, do I really love?

Number two, love is actively fighting the temptation to be critical and judgmental toward others while looking for ways to encourage and praise. Actively fighting the temptation to be critical. Isn’t it so easy to be critical? Isn’t that easy? We can be so judgmental so quickly and sometimes never weigh our words of how it’s going to hit somebody else. And when I read that, I thought, oh my stars, that hurt. Everybody, I don’t get who you are. Everybody in this room, everybody watching, everybody in our church, everybody has a little bit of a problem.

We’re critical and judgmental. We don’t always love the way that we should. So there’s things that we need to correct. Sometimes God will allow somebody to come across your path that really needs help. How do you treat them? And if they are critical and judgmental of you, how do you respond to that? I think it’s important. Look at number three. Number three, love is making a daily commitment to resist the needless moments of conflict that comes from pointing out and responding to minor offenses.

Nobody in the whole ministry is exempt from flaws in their life. Me, you, all of us. If we study each other long enough, we can find fault. You agree? Now, you may think you’re above it, but you’re not. We all have a sinful nature and every one of us at times can act like little angels, and then at times we can be like little devils. We can be so sweet one moment and so mean and ugly the next moment.

It doesn’t take very much. And you’d be surprised how short-fused we are. In other words, if somebody likes your fuse, short-fused means you don’t have patience. The Bible is all about being long suffering, because you’ve got a long fuse. Some people are short fused. You don’t know anybody like that though. Now, you always know somebody else, but it’s never yourself, right? And it’s so easy for someone who has a particular problem, not to see their problem, but it’s easy to see it in somebody else.

You can so quickly point out your sin in somebody else. And that helps you to throw it off for you and you have seen it on somebody else and so you make sure everybody knows about theirs. Because then they’re looking at that other person instead of looking at you. So we excuse ourselves and we’re not that bad. But boy, we do this. So look at number four. Love is being lovingly honest and humbly approachable in times of misunderstanding. But if somebody misunderstands you, can they approach you and you be kind and leaven toward them?

Or do you have a feeling that you hurt me and I’m going to make you pay? I’ll make you pay for what you did. So we hurt back. You cut me, I cut you back. I’ll get even with you. And sometimes that’s what we do. Look at number five, love is being more committed to unity and understanding than you are to winning, accusing or being right. In other words, another way of putting that, it’s a choice between winning a soul and winning an argument.

You want to win a soul, then you have to be careful what you say and do. You want to win an argument, you can do it mean and ugly and unkind, prove a person wrong. But is that the purpose, the goal is just to convince another person they’re wrong. This is why whenever you have a problem in your own life sometimes, you’re quickly to judge somebody else so they know that what they’re doing is definitely wrong, but like I said, it throws it off of you and puts it on to somebody else.

And the louder you do it and the stronger you do it makes them think, well, I can’t say anything to them because evidently they’re not as bad as I am. And it’s a way of putting somebody else down. And you’ve heard of the phrase, you know, looking down your long, pharacyical note at other people. Now when they say pharacyical notes, it means yourself righteous in your own eyes, but you’re condemning other people and you’re just as guilty as they are.

Now love love makes you think twice. Love makes you slow down. Love makes you short when it comes to jumping on somebody. It causes you to be patient with somebody else who are now where you once were and now you’re no longer there. Number six, love is making a daily commitment to admit your sin, weakness and failure, and to resist the temptation to offer an excuse or shift the blame. Love makes you take responsibility for your actions and for your own attitudes.

But if you don’t have love, then you are always shifting it to somebody else. I might have done this but it was your fault. Have you ever heard this like that? If I offended you, I’m sorry. Now did I or did I not offend you? Find out. Did I? If I did and I did then I should apologize but you have to be very careful and some people will find a sweet way to get around owning up to something.

When you know you’ve done somebody wrong, admit, look, I wronged you and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have done that. But it’s hard, but love can make you do it. People are always judging you. Do you really love? As a Christian, the world has a higher standard said for us than we have said for ourselves. I should tell people when we used to run ranch 40 years ago, it seemed like the kids of the world, the rebellious kids, the lost kids, had higher standards back then than the Christian kids do today.

They looked better, dressed better, acted better than the Christians in most cases lived today. That’s because there’s a time when they used to have more Christian character in their life and they wouldn’t even know the Lord. But they had been taught biblical principles of some things of decency. The worst thing kids used to get in trouble with in school was chewing gum or spit wads or paper airplanes, you know, something along that line. But today, you know, they’re carrying guns to school, kids are getting raped in bathrooms or hallways.

I mean, things have changed. And sin has abound. And so when love waxes cold, sin abounds. The reason that sin abounds is because they forgot how to love. And we don’t teach loving one another anymore. So there’s a price to pay. Look at the next statement. Number seven, love is being willing, when confronted by another, to examine your heart rather than rise into your defense or shift in the focus. If somebody has to come to you or somebody rebukes you or says something to you, do you automatically raise up a defense, a shield?

And you refuse to listen to the person because you are defending yourself because you assume they’re attacking you. You automatically, you assume they’re attacking me and I’ve got to defend myself. Or do you think God may be using that person to reveal something to me that I need to correct? And who loves to be corrected? Do you love correction? somebody to point out, hey, this needs to be improved on, or you shouldn’t say this, you shouldn’t do this, blah blah blah.

We always have those things and we don’t like those things. So sometimes we try to throw it off, but we have been wronged. And when you’re you’re wronged, you have a tendency to either fight back, defend yourself, attack. The next thing I want you to see here, look at number eight. Love is making a daily commitment to grow in love so that the love you offer to another is increasingly selfless, mature and patient. You see, if you grow in Christ and grow in grace, you have to grow in love.

Love is the expression of everything you are and what you believe. do we really love? Does the love of God, He says, has shed abroad in our hearts, the love of the Lord, is supposed to be shed abroad. So we’re the love when sometimes we don’t want to love because it’s easy to love the lovable and it’s hard to love those that are not very lovable. So God tells us love only those you like. No. He even says in the Bible, you won’t believe this.

Even love your enemies. Does the Bible say that anywhere? Even your enemies. So if you’re even to love your enemies, you’re still supposed to love your husband and your wife and your kids, aren’t you? Or your parents? I was always told, be nice to your kids, they all be the one determined in what nursing home you go to. Isn’t that scary thought?

The next thing I want to bring to your attention. Number nine, love is being unwilling to do what is wrong when you have been wronged. But looking for concrete and specific ways to overcome evil with good. Now in the Romans in chapter 12 talks about be not overcome with evil. Do not do wrong to somebody just because somebody did wrong to you. You still have a responsibility to do right. And doing right and being right doesn’t mean you can’t defend yourself.

That doesn’t say that. You don’t do them wrong. So number 10. Number 10, love is being a good student of another, looking for their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs so that in some way you can remove the burden, support them as they carry it or encourage them along the way. Now that’s an awesome statement. Love has been a good student of another, learning how to read people so that you’ll know how to express love. What do they need? And so people are always in need and God may have somebody come your way because God wants you to love them for Him, for His sake, because God loves them but He needs you to express it for Him.

Remember, He lives within us and He wants to use every Christian, use your body, but He wants you to discern where people are. And if you can discern where people are and learn to read people, And that’s what he’s talking about. Been a good student. I’ve said this before, but I didn’t originate it. And that was everybody, everybody. Know something you don’t know. Therefore you should seek to learn what it is. Do you believe that even little children can teach you something?

teenagers, those little brats. Those junior high kids can teach you something. If you think you really got it all down, when they become teenagers, they’ll teach you something. They can even show you and teach you what you don’t know, what you thought you knew. Buddy, they can teach some mighty good lessons to parents, because we think, well, and I used to have people say, and they’d look at my kids, you know. Well, when I get married and I have kids, mine are not going to live like that.

My kids won’t do that. And I just smile. And I just wait and hope God gives them five or six of them, just like them. Because those kids will show you. And you can think, man, all I got to do is just tell them what to do and they’ll do it. Until they get a little older. And then you’re going to learn some things. you don’t have all the answers, you can’t do everything, you can’t solve all the problems.

Number 11 in your notes, love is being willing to invest the time necessary to discuss, examine, and understand the relational problems you face, staying on task until the problem is removed, or you have agreed upon a strategy of purpose. Love is what causes you to invest your time to do what needs to be done. Serving the Lord is using the power of influence that you have in your life for somebody else from the cause of Christ. So everybody, and you can see certain people that have a need and you try to be there for them.

And sometimes you don’t know exactly what to say. There’s a lot of people in this whole world that are hurting in a lot of different ways. Sometimes we can get so busy we just don’t have time to do anything for anybody. Have you ever heard somebody say, my plate is full and I have no more room? Well I’ve got a full plate sometimes but sometimes we get maybe need a bigger plate. I like to put more on the plate sometimes.

If you’re going through the lines over there and think, were these sure small plates, I might have to come back for seconds. And some of those people walk out of that room, I mean from those tables, and that thing stacked high like this. And you say, why don’t they run it? Because they’re not going back for seconds. They’re going to get it all the first time. Look at the top of the next page. Number 12, love is being willing to always ask for forgiveness and always been committed to grant forgiveness when it’s requested.

If you’re wrong, somebody asks forgiveness. If somebody asked you, grant forgiveness. Number 13, love is recognizing the high value of trust in a relationship and being faithful to your promise and true to your Word. I remember years ago a man’s word was his bond and whenever you said something that was it or you shook on it. Well that worked today. But most people’s word is not their bond anymore. The Lord says, let your Yab’e’a’in your nay-nay. In other words, mean what you say.

Learn to be careful in your words what you promise. I actually have people that promise me the world because they knew that’s what I wanted to do, and so they promised they’d do it. And then they couldn’t do it. Because they really didn’t have a heart setting, but they were just, I can do that, I can do that, I can do that. I’ll do that. Okay, you can do it. Then they don’t get it done. Why? Because they want to please you so well.

And pleasing you means agreeing with you. But they don’t understand that whenever you say that, that means you’re obligating yourself to what? To keep your word and do it. So not everybody does. So what do you do? Well, you’ve got to gun and shoot them. No. You forgive them. Not everybody is going to rise to your expectation. Some people are willing, but the flesh is weak. They want to, but they don’t always fulfill. Have you ever promised something and you didn’t come through with it ever?

Well, there’s other people just like that. Try to believe this, that the majority of people want to do right and they mean no harm. And sometimes people say things they really didn’t mean to say or do something they didn’t think it through. Is that possible? Is it possible? I think it’s possible. So learn how to be true to your word. Number 14, love is speaking kindly and gently even in moments of disagreement, refusing to attack the other person’s character or assault their intelligence.

You don’t need to do that. Number 15, love is being unwilling to flatter, lie, manipulate, or deceive in any way in order to co-op the other person into giving you what you want or doing something your way. Have you ever talked somebody into doing something you wished you hadn’t have? I have tried my best to stay out of this thing called matchmaking. Have you ever heard of matchmaking? What is matchmaking? That’s somebody who I know who’s perfect for you, where you’re not the one that has to live with them.

Now, sometimes you’ll strike gold, and it’s a good, good idea. I remember we had a guy named Jim Bollinger Jr. He went to Florida Baba College, his dad went down there to Baba College. I led him both to the Lord. But he came back and he started chasing this girl we had in our college and I mean she was working in a Christian school. Her name was Anne and Mitchell. And buddy, he went after her like a Martin to a Lord.

And she ran as fast as she could run. And whenever she came to see me she says, you have got to talk to him. I said, about what? He won’t leave me alone. She said, I’m looking for a preacher and he’s not a preacher. And so I had Jim come to see me. He said, Jenkins, she won’t stop. She keeps running away. She won’t date me. You get to talk to her. So both of them come to see me and I have to talk.

So I got in and I told her, I said, what are you looking for in the house? She said, I want to marry a preacher. I want to be a preacher’s wife. I said, you You know, you can marry somebody who promises to be a preacher, and then he not do it. You can even marry a preacher, and he can quit. I says, maybe what you’re looking for is just a guy that really knows the Lord, loves the Lord, and loves you, and will treat you right.

And he’s doing the right thing now. I says, I don’t think you could find a better guy than Jim Bolinger Jr. not who I hope they make it. I have done weddings and I think, Lord forgive me. And I wonder whether or not will they ever be able to stay together. And lo and behold, they’ve got two beautiful children now and now one of them is married and got another kid and they are a tremendous individual. Do you know them?

You do. So I’m very slow and careful of trying to put people together. Now Betty’s done good at this. I mean, she is really good. She’s helped my son find just a perfect wife. I mean, she has really been a jewel. But you have to be very careful because we don’t have to live with her. 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 4081 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. Hada can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.