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Bibleline, Bibleline, hear God’s word on Bibleline, hear God’s truth on the 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 Bible on 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 this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Have you ever wondered in your mind? I wonder what it is that God wants me to do with my life, is what you’re doing, something that God truly approves. Or is there a possibility, is there something God wants you to do that’s different than what you’re doing? Are you open to it? Would you even talk to the Lord and pray to the Lord? I remember a guy that was running around in a motorhome and he was having a good time, had the pressures of a ministry and all that.

And this important man, this Godly man, well, he died, he passed away. And so they were looking for a preacher and he would come and fill in for him and they kept asking him and he kept telling them, no, no, no. Nine months he told him no. He wasn’t coming. But in somebody messed up, they said, well, would you pray about it. I was fine until then. It was right about in there and some lady stopped me after the service was over with, standing right in there.

And she says, well, how do you know God doesn’t want you to? Listen, sometimes we see down the road and we’re glad we made decisions that we make. The next statement, when he landed in 1848, there were no Christians here. When he left 1872, there were no heathen. This was said of John Giddy, missionary to the new hybrids in mid-1800s. I have a friend I should say had, but I still have him because he’s still my friend. He’s just in heaven.

I’m here now. Dr. Curtis Hudson, this is what he said about people that made statements that motivated him. You see, we have to be challenged and motivated to do the things that we’re supposed to do. All I’m trying to do is help you to think because one day along with me, we’re going to have to stand before God and he’s going to reward us for what we did and every man has a stewardship. He’s to be a good steward of whatever God’s given to him.

Jesus Christ, there was never such a compassionate winner of men. He saw people as sheep having no shepherd and had compassion on them. He wept over Jerusalem. He sought the fallen woman to forgive her and the public and to make him an example of the grace of God. God only had one son and he was a missionary for God, only one. When Jesus was here, what was he about? Was it about what his father wanted him to do? Well, you and I, what are we supposed to be about.

What is really the substance of our life? Life does not consist of the abundance of the things that a man possesses. See, there’s something more. There’s something else to life. Number two, the Apostle Paul. He’s so long for the salvation of his countrymen that he said, I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ for my brother and my kinsmen according to the flesh, a stoning, a shipwreck, a Philippian jail, at midnight could not quench Paul’s tears for lost men.

There’s a reason. You see, they had a burden for souls. When they had a burden for soul, then they try to find out, what is my burden of a ministry? I got to have a ministry to help me reach those people. So I need to be involved in a ministry. But if you don’t have a burden for souls, you don’t want a ministry. You don’t need a ministry. The ministries are to reach people. Well, I don’t want to reach people.

Then you don’t to ministry them. Therefore I don’t have to be involved because I’m not for the purpose or the goal of it. If I have that settled in my mind and I’ll have a burden for souls, if I realized does God have a burden for souls? A burden for souls is the closest thing to the heart of God. And if he has a burden for souls, what does he want me to do? He wants me to accept that burden to reach people.

Therefore, that gives purpose to my life. And that’s why we may have the internet. It is to win souls. We do the thing on the YouTube, we want to win souls. I preached a sermon last Sunday on repentance. And we’ve had several people that trust the Christ to save it since it’s been put upon the YouTube. from listening to that one sermon. Is it worth it? Ranch is about winning souls. Friday night’s soul is about winning souls. You see, we don’t do things just to have good fellowship, and fellowship is good, but there’s got to be something behind it.

That’s what’s so important. Look at number three. It is said of D’Wadale Moody that he had over one million souls in a 40-year period in public and in private, in sermon and in songs, in lip and in life, Moody sought to have people trust the Lord, save souls, who determined that daily he would personally witness to at least one individual about his soul, and he did. John R. Rice, who started the sword of the Lord. There were sermons that I’ve seen by John R.

Rice that I totally disagree with. But before I ever went to Florida Bible College, I had a burden for souls. I didn’t want people to go to hell. But I wasn’t clear. I did the best I could. I still love the Lord. And I wanted people to go to heaven, even though I was unclear. So I know there’s a lot of preachers out there that may be unclear, but they still have a passion for so they don’t want them to go to hell.

But their message isn’t clear. But they’re doing what they’re doing because they really believe that what they’re telling them is the truth. I would rather people give a muddy message than no message at all in hopes that somebody will understand, apart at least what they’re saying and trust Christ is their Savior. I was led to the Lord on a message that was not definitely as clear as what I like to give, but I’m glad my father-in-law took the time and explained it to me.

Get this. Should someone who is not as clear on the gospel have a greater concern for lost souls than those who have a clear gospel message? Here what he said, in a Christmas letter dictated a few days before his death, he bared his soul-winner’s heart. I steal from my armchair preaching great revivals. I still envisioned hundred sickness except in Christ. I still feel hot tears for the lost. I want no Christmas without a burden for lost souls, a message for sinners, a heart to bring in the law.

May food be tasteless, music a discord. Christmas, if I forget the dying millions, if this fire in my bones does not steal flame, not till I die or not until Jesus comes, will I ever be eased from this burden, these tears, this toil to save souls. Ray Stanford, Dr. Lindstrom, and a multitude of others are those who have given their lives because they didn’t want people to go to hell. Aren’t you thankful for a man like Ray Stanford who influenced thousands and thousands of people that went across this country?

Hank Lindstrom was one of them, and he came to a place called Tampa, Florida and started the Tampa Youth Ranch. And hundreds went to Bible college because of Hank Lindstrom. And he started this church. And the whole purpose of the church, the whole purpose of the radio ministry and Bibleline, was because Hank didn’t want people to go to hell. He made a lot of other things go, but he was always pursuit of souls. True? He was a soul winner.

What burned inside of him? That’s what makes the ministry so important. And when the ministry is important, then you’ll understand why and what it takes to get that ministry done. Look at the last part I have done. down here, A.B. Simpson. In 1890, he said, a thousand souls a day are passing one by one away, and crowdless guilt and gloom without one ray of hope or light, with future dark as endless night, they’re passing to their doom. Now, those are some thoughts to think about.

I got some other thoughts that I had garnered, and I’d like to take a few minutes and kind of read them to you because this is the third point there about so winning, involved in ministry, giving or hearing messages on financial giving. So to ease your pain, and I want you to know I feel your pain, giving cause a lot of people pain. Talking about money, oh that causes a lot of pain. So the deacons and the elders have been authorized to lock the doors and you cannot leave for the next few minutes.

So what I talk to you, Let me just explain a little bit to you so that it helps you and easy your conscience just a little bit. See how helpful I am? I’m trying to be a blessing to you. Have you ever read in the Bible where it makes a statement in Acts chapter 20 verse 58, it is more blessed to give than to? I wonder who said that. Jesus said that. It is more blessed to give than to receive.

You see, well, I’ll just take giving. That’ll be good enough for me. Get this. The amount of Christ teaching on the subject of wealth and the stewardship of property is very large. Matthew contains 109 references to the subject. Mark 57, Luke 94, and John 88, times it refers to Jesus. times it refers to the subject, the stewardship of property, what you have. Now he says in the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter 4, what is it that you have that you did not receive?

And if you did receive it, why do you act like you created it? That’s what he says this. Jesus spoke about five times as often on earthly possessions as on any other subject. And the only quotation from Jesus outside the the Gospels speaks of possessions. Few congregations, if any, will object to the pastor preached and often on the subject of the bread. You probably wouldn’t care how many times let’s teach on prayer today. We’re gonna talk about loving one another.

We’re gonna talk about being kind. But today we’re gonna talk about money. And then you grab your wallet. That’s all that, and if he preaches, at least mentions it once a year. That’s all he talks about. Do I know you or what? But woe to that pastor who is always preaching money. Yet Jesus taught five times as much about the stewardship of property as about prayer. Yeah, we know it’s prayer important. Then he should talk five times more about prayer than he did about your possessions and what you have.

It reveals things about you. Because you see, the things of this world are hard to get, hard to keep and great sorrow when you lose them. That’s why you work so hard to get something, you don’t want to give it up easily. And the Lord’s, oh Lord. And the Lord has to buy it out of your hand. And so the Lord reaches in there and he’s okay, you can have this nickel.

Now, when one truly gives himself to the Lord, all other giving becomes easy. Think what I just said. If the Lord bought and paid for me and I’m willing to give myself to the Lord, then everything that I have is not going to be a problem in giving to the Lord. Because you know that God can take away everything that you have. Do you know that? Do you believe that? Remember the little illustration? I pray to the Lord and he give it.

Blessed be the name of the Lord and then the Lord. Take it the way. What’d you do that for? And if he takes what blessed be the name of the Lord. The Lord give it and the Lord take it the way. Blessed be the name of the Lord. But see, we don’t see it quite that away. Now let me give you a little statement. A preacher wrote to some parishioners asking financial aid for the church. One man turned him down with a kirt note.

So far as I can see, this Christian business is one continuous give, give, give. The pastor meditated on that. And then he wrote the man back. Says, thank you for giving the best definition of the Christian life I have ever heard. The true benefit or discipleship of Christ is neither a miser nor a spin-thrift but a steward. You really lies everything that you have in your body, everything that belongs to the Lord. Whatever wealthy have it should all it all belongs to the Lord.

The Lord just let you keep some of it, but it all belongs to him, but he’ll let you keep a little bit of it. But you should understand it belongs to the Lord. True? I mean, have I lied to you so far this morning? Don’t you dare say I did. Another person said this way, I have held many things in my hands and lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands that I still possess, Can you out give God?

If whatever you give and do for the Lord, does the Lord know that? Is the Lord going to reward you in heaven because you’ve laid up treasure in heaven that you cannot lose? How can you lose? It says you don’t have it here, but you invested it into something that will profit you for all eternity. See, going to heaven is free. But what you have when you get to heaven is because of what you did for Him. Ray Stanford often said this, giving is the true barometer of love.

The more you love, the more you want to give. The less you love, the more you don’t want to give. That’s what he says, and after 50 something years I kind of believe that that’s true. But it’s not the amount that you give. I’ll explain that in a minute. A man put it this way. He says, go break to the needy, sweet charities bread. Forgiving is living, the angel said. And must I be giving again and again? My peevish and pitiless answer ran.

Oh no said the angel piercing me through. Just give till the Master stops giving to you. Has he stopped giving to you? If he has, then you can stop giving. But give as long as you can receive, and God will bless you. I used to talk and dance this way. Lord bless me, and the Lord give me some, and then I would share. Lord bless, and he’d give me, and I’d share. Lord bless, and he’d give me, and yeah.

Lord, Lord, Lord. Lord, and then lose what you have. And you wonder what happened. You see, as long as you were a channel, and you kept being blessed, and you kept blessing. But when you stop, you drop, you lose. We give thee but thine own. Whatever the gift may be, all that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee. So freely you have received freely give. In Proverbs 11, 25 it uses the word liberal, but it means generous.

It says, the liberal man or the generous man will be prospers and he who waters will himself be watered. God is going to refresh and bless those who see that life is about me being a blessing to other people. Stenji people don’t last long. They may live long, but their joy, their purpose of life is gone. It’s not what you do with a million if riches should air be your lot, but what you’re doing at the present with a dollar and a quarter that you’ve God.

Not that we gain, but what we give. Measures the worth of the life that we live. We make a living by what we get, that we make a life by what we give. Your life is to be important. And this is why souls, if you have a burden for souls and accept their responsibility, that’s how you know you you should be involved in a ministry that helps reach that and help you to fulfill that responsibility. And whenever you have a ministry and you know, ministries, God’s people have to support.

So you don’t mind supporting the ministries that are reaching the souls. So there’s a reason for the giving. I don’t want people just to give. I want you to do it because you have accepted a biblical responsibility that of reaching people for the gospel. Therefore there’s ministries that has to be supported. Therefore I freely, generously I give not because well I have to but because I want to. You see there’s three kinds of giving. There’s grudge giving. Duty giving and thanksgiving.

Grudge giving says I hate to. Duty giving He says, I ought to. Thank-given says, I want to. Do you understand the difference? I notice I try to get people to do something they don’t want to do. If you don’t want to win souls, then don’t. When I made up my mind, I was going to go to Bible College. My father-in-law called me up on the phone. He told me later, he says, Yankee, I did everything I could to stop you from going to Florida Bible College.

He says, because if I could stop you, You didn’t need to go. Because if I could stop you, you didn’t need to go. He wanted me to go. We wanted me to learn. But if you will stop and not go because of something that I say, you weren’t ready to go. Are you guys ready to go to college? Have you made up your mind that you can keep from going, then keep from going? If you can keep from going, then don’t go.

But if there is a fire in your bones and you don’t want to just live your life and get up every morning and then you go to work and you come home and you go to bed and you get up and you go to work and come home and go to bed and that’s your life. Have you ever thought, you know, there’s gotta be something more because something will be missing. If it’s not the will of God, something’s missing.

And there’s no such thing as the joy of the Lord is the fulfillment of the will of God in your life. It makes you what you can’t wait for the next day. I can’t hardly wait for tomorrow and then the next day. You know what I get to do tomorrow? I get to teach personal evangelism class to some people who want to learn. There is no greater joy than that. Because see, they may come out of here one of these days and be some of the greatest soul winners the world’s ever seen.

The first comes from constraint, the second from a sense of obligation, the third from a full heart. Nothing much is conveyed in grudge-giving since the gift without the giver is bare. Something more happens in duty-given, but there is no song in it. Thanksgiving is the open gate into the rewards. God is going to reward you when you get to heaven because of what you did for Him, and the motive is so important. He says, all this labor, tingling sounds, what I love.

Do you love the Lord? It all comes back to that. See, if you love Him, He says, love others. Preach the Gospel. If you love Him. Now, if you don’t love Him, you’re not going to do it. You’ll play it, it becomes a dudge to you. Going to the church is a burden. Often, when you come by, you try to see how much you can take out instead of putting in. Because it all depends on where you are spiritually.

If you’re right with the Lord and you know that whatever you give is used for God’s honor and for God’s glory, you don’t mind doing that. But if you’re not right with the Lord, you become stingy, you become… It’s the grudge and you’re not going to be a happy camper. The Bible calls not being a cheerful giver. Am I making this up or is this in the Bible? This is Bible. Let me give this to you. The greatest of all mistakes is to give nothing because you think you can only give a little.

I’ve had people call me up on the radio broadcast and says, preacher, I love to help you, but I don’t have anything. And so they sent me $5. And I thought, you know, if a hundred people did that, that’s a lot of money. Every little bit helps. And I love the lady she called me up and she says, I just got to do something. She said, I had just come into a settlement and I have some money that I want to give.

And as I read it, I thought it sounded like she has just won the lottery. And I couldn’t wait to get down a little bit, Lord, to see just how much she was talking. And she says that here’s $30. And I thought, God bless that lady. What she got, and she says, I’m giving you a tenth of it, she didn’t get much. but what she gave she gave. Do you realize it’s not the amount that you give, it’s how much did you keep?

Give as you have grace been given. Give to spread his precious word not as must or obligation give because you love the Lord. Isn’t that a good statement? I got about two more I want to read to you. Now man put it this way. He’s that a well-known writer on Christian stewardship says, giving is not just a way of raising money. It’s God’s way of raising men. That’s awesome. Because it reveals a lot about who you are and what you love.

And so think about somebody’s saying and the one I want to finish with is written by Charles Rirey. He’s about 95 years old now. And I heard him last year, two years ago, at the Grace Conference, but he wrote this and it was in a Sunday school world church bulletin. He says, the late Dr. Peter Marshall once selected for use in a church service to familiar him of consecration, take my life and let it be. Anybody ever heard that song?

So they were going to sing this song. He requested the congregation to give particular thought to the words, because in this song is these words, take my silver and my gold, not a might what I withhold. Exacting the practical sense of the words, not a might what I withhold. He asked that all who could not sing this line with literal sincerity refrained from singing it at all. So they’re singing the song, but when they got to this part, if you didn’t really mean what it says, don’t sing at all.

The effect was a dramatic commentary on the glib, thoughtless manner in which all too often we sing our hymns. Hundreds of voices with organ accompaniment, saying vigorously up to the designated point, then suddenly there was only the sound of the organ music, not a single voice ventured to so challenging heights. Next week, we’re going to sing that song. Just joking. I won’t be here next Sunday. I want you to be sold on so many. I want you to be sold on ministry, and I want you to be sold on giving.

Give as though God God is always watching. Have you ever asked the Lord, Lord, what do you want me to do? He’s well I’m too old. Ask the Lord what He wants you to do. Age has nothing to do with it. You’d be surprised how many of you in here probably could be going to Bible college and preparing to serve the Lord. You can learn how to make a living, but you can make a living and not have life.

This book teaches you how to live. Other teach you how to make a living. This teaches you how to live, what it’s all about. If you have a question, you ought to talk to Bob Gilbert, or talk to Peter Amato about the night school. You have an opportunity, wouldn’t it be a shame not to take advantage of it, to let it pass? Because maybe there’s something else you’re chasing. Can you think of anything better than doing what God wants you to do with life?

I’m not God. I’m not going to be examining your life. But I want you to think about it. Because if I had not have done so, and Hank Linson would not have done so, we are no greater than anybody else. We have no greater responsibility than anybody else. It’s just that we went ahead and did it. Are we glad? Yes, we’re glad, because we almost threw it away. Hank was becoming an electrical engineer, and he probably could have made a lot of money, but it became a preacher.

Had to sacrifice something. I want you to look up here. This hand represents you and me, and this wall of represents sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. But for us to pay for sin is eternal separation from God in hell. But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven, and to go to heaven we have to be perfect, as righteous as God. And none of us are perfect.

We’ve all sinned and come short of God’s perfection because of sin, see we can’t get in. And God says you cannot save yourself. You’re already condemned. There’s nothing you can do to remove yourself condemnation. This end represents Jesus Christ. He is the Lord God in the flesh. He came into this world. Why? Because He loves us. He hates our sin but He loves us. So what did He do to prove that He loved us? What if He said, well I love you but He didn’t do anything about it?

Love made Him do something. So He took all of our sins and paid for it. This showed us how much He loved us. We’d have to pay Him back. He paid for our sins and we’d even ask Him to. There’s no guarantee that we would even believe it. But it made it possible for everybody to have eternal life. And so God says He paid for our sins and came back from the dead. And if we would believe He did it for us, He would put that payment to our account and we’d go to heaven on what Christ did for us.

If you’ve never trusted Christ, How are you, trust me? 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 Mail. 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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.