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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 Communitylaim in Tampa, Florida, clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Well take your Bible and turn to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew. We had a class this week, or I should say this semester, on leadership. And the kids had to write a paper, and they did a very, very good job. And I was impressed with what they wrote. I couldn’t believe that was what we taught, but they wrote it better than we taught it. But they listened good, and they studied hard. tonight the fear of not being a leader.

When you start learning a lot you know to whom much is given, much is required. Then you’ll get to the place where you know what to do and then you’ll get to be afraid if you don’t do it because you know that God loves you and you don’t want the Lord to change. You don’t want to let the Lord down. I just know know that of so many people upon the planet, there are so many people, or it’s like ashamed of God, ashamed of Jesus Christ, ashamed of the gospel.

And I don’t want the Lord to be ashamed of me because I’m ashamed of Him. So I just don’t want to be ashamed before Him when He comes. And so I wanted just to share a couple thoughts with you. Here in Matthew chapter 4, there were some people doing their job, making a living, doing their thing. So he says here in verse 18, page 998, there’s an old scofo reference Bible, and Jesus walking by the sea of Galilee saw to brethren.

Simon called Peter and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. He said to them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightaway or immediately left their nets and they followed him. He had other plans for them. Now they could have made a living in the world and they could have made money and they had jobs and they could have had families and kids and all that stuff. But Jesus says, follow me, follow me.

Well, they dropped their nets and they followed the Lord. So they gave up, quite a bit. Later on they wanted to know, what are we going to get? We forsook everything and followed you. What are we going to get out of this? I don’t guess there’s anything wrong with knowing the well, you know you take a job someplace. Is it wrong to say how much are you going to pay? Or you just want to work for nothing and leave it to them?

You could. But sometimes it’s nice to know, what am I going to get out of this? I think with the disciples, they spent three years, three and a half years with the Lord. So they went And to Bible school, they had one teacher, a lot of teacher they had, and their teacher was really one of the best. I don’t think there was anybody better than him to be able to sit at the feet of Jesus Christ for three and a half years.

Now take your Bible and look in John chapter 21, the Gospel of John chapter 21. the time rolled on, they had great hopes of grandeur. I mean, Jesus is going to set up the kingdom. They’re going to be able to rule with Christ and sit on the twelve thrones of the tribes. I mean, they got visions. They’re looking forward. And then all of a sudden, The one they followed, the one they believed in was dead. So it scared him half to death.

So you notice there in John chapter 21, after these things, Jesus showed himself again to the disciples at the sea of Tiberius. And on this why showed he himself. There were together Simon, Peter, and Thomas, and the thangle of Canaan, in Galilee and the sons of Zebedee and two others his disciples. Simon, Peter, sit in the of them, I go aficion. Now isn’t that what they were doing before? Before he called them. Isn’t something that you can do all these things, learn so much, walk with the Lord, know what He wanted you to do, and then because you get down on a little discouraged, I’m just going to go back to what I was doing before.

I’m going fishing. But not only did He just say that, they said unto Him, we also go with the, so they all went fishing. That night, how much did they catch? That night they caught nothing. So they had done wore themselves out, fished all night, caught nothing. Five, verse five, then Jesus said to them, children, have you any meat? They answered him, no. Remember he said, I have meat to eat that you know not of, something that satisfies that the world does not satisfy.

And it’s something about catching fish. And he was talking about people, harvest, those things that he says, I’ll pay you wages. Well, as you go through this and you look at some of these things, you wonder, what hope did they have now? What were they going to do now? So look in Matthew chapter 28. Matthew in chapter 28. It’s a simple little statement that’s made here in chapter 28, but you might just overlook this a little bit. They weren’t all of the same temperament.

We know that Peter was a very talkative individual, spontaneous, boom. You had James Gunn, sons of thunder, they probably were a little on the explosive side. Then you had Thomas who was a doubting Thomas. He was probably reserved and had to have all the facts and see everything, or he wasn’t going to believe anything. Different individuals had a different perspective. They had a different makeup. Each one was wired just a little bit different. God can use all of that.

But regardless of what their temperament was, regardless of their biblical profile, regardless of how each one was wired and how they see things, he didn’t change the message. He still taught them all the same thing. And he also tells him here in verse 19, go ye, therefore, unless you don’t want to, go you therefore, unless you really don’t want to, you don’t have to know, this will be okay if you don’t want to do it. Is that really what he says?

Do you see that in there anywhere? He spent three and a half years teaching him. Now he’s telling him what he wants him to do. Is he giving them a way out? No, it’s either you do it or you’re disobedient. Don’t cut it, no slack. Don’t make any exceptions. Well, I know some of y’all have it hard, so this doesn’t apply to you. This only applies to Peter. Maybe James and John. No, he didn’t cut anything. He didn’t slack off when he told them, this is what I want you.

All powers give it to me. Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, if you ever get a chance to get away from your boats and stop your fishing. But of course, if you want to do that, that’d be all right. No, he didn’t say that. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever. I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

In other words, he’s expecting them to go into all the world. I mean, that’s how I read that. Of course, I could have read something into that. But I don’t see as he made any exceptions. The ones that don’t go, it must be the ones that not steady and preparing to go. Somehow God wants us to do something with whatever he’s given to us. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke chapter 12, the book of Luke and chapter 12.

Luke chapter 12, and look at verse 47, now I am just pulling these verses out of the context because I like the principle by which it’s talking about, but I think there’s something that’s good here. So I know that we’re supposed to be a steward of the Lord. So we’re, we got responsibilities. And so God has given to us truths to manage for Him. So we’re a steward. And he makes a statement here in verse 47, and that servant, which knew his Lord’s will and prepared not himself.

Now we assume that when kids come to college, study, that somewhere along the line, we’re hoping as teachers that we have given them something to discern the Lord’s will so that they would know, what is it God wants me to do? So he says, and prepared not himself. Then in verse 48, but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. Now we know that God’s children will never be beaten. God doesn’t do that to his children.

there’s no anger and wrath toward God’s children. There’s displeasure and be ashamed. There’s chastening, but all of those things is always done with love. All of God’s discipline with his children is always out of love. But then he makes a statement in the last part of verse 48 that I want you to see. For unto whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required. Now in this last semester, some of the students been here for a year, some have been here for two years, some two and a half years.

Do you believe that the more they learn, the more they’re responsible for? Is it possible that’s why some people don’t wanna learn because then they, well, I don’t have to be responsible for it. I didn’t know what to do. That’s a good excuse, I didn’t know. But what if you know that you’re supposed to study so that you could know, so that you could rightly divide? So, do you could be a workman, a skilled craftsman? Is it possible that you could have known more?

When you’re limited in knowledge, you’re limited in ministry. And so, we want them to know as much as possible so they can do more for the Lord. So, he says here, for unto whomsoever much is given of him much be required, and to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask them more. So, I believe the Scriptures overall, because the Lord called his disciples and he taught them and expected something from them. I expect every student that comes to college to serve a Lord.

I expect every one of them to love the Lord with all their heart. I expect them to do all that they can for the cause of Christ. And if they don’t, I will be greatly disappointed, greatly disappointed. Because I know that that’s what God wants him to do. But is the devil real? Does he work on your mind? Try to discourage. Get your side tracked. I’m going to go back to fishing. Or do you believe God has taught you something because there’s something God wants you to do, but it only applies to a few people?

those disciples what God wanted one to do, doesn’t it appear that he wanted all of them to do it, to serve him? They may be in different places, but wherever it is, they would serve a Lord and honor the Lord. Look in chapter 12 verse 54, verse 54, down to the bottom of the page. And he sells, so to the people, when ye see a cloud rise out of the west, way you say, there come up the shower. So it is.

And when you see the South wind blow, you say, there will be heat and it come up to pass. You have a crit. You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth. But now this line right here, I want you to underline it in your Bible. How is it that you do not discern this time? You see, especially in the book of Luke when he talks about, you wish not the day of God’s visitation. God comes to the earth and you could not discern the time in which you live.

Now in the Old Testament it talks about men who understood the times and knew what they ought to do. If we can discern the times in which we live and discern what is it that God wants me to do, you only get one trip through this life. No instant replays, no reruns, just one trip through room. And so this is why we should study the Word of God. But how is it that you do not discern the time? Did he expect them to?

He expected them to discern it, to know it, but they didn’t. So they missed out on the great blessing because it says, they whist not who it was. They whist not who it was. Now, look in chapter 14, chapter 14 and verse 25. And notice what he says here because this is so important. When we talk about being a disciple, we’re talking about being disciplined. Disciple, discipline, come from the same word. It means that there’s two kinds of discipline, imposed discipline, self-discipline.

If you will not discipline yourself, then the Lord may have to impose discipline. When I went into the Navy in the boat camp, they didn’t care whether you had self-discipline or not. They weren’t going to impose discipline upon you. Now Bob over here, he went into the Marines, which is a little harder than the Navy’s. I’ll admit that. But I had two terms of duty in the boot camp. I went five months in boot camp alone because of some problems and so on.

And it ain’t funny. But they impose their will upon you and make you wish you had listened. So when it comes to the Lord, isn’t it better to discipline yourself? While you’re here, we get to watch you. When you leave, we can’t watch you. But should we expect you to live as holy as you did while you were here? And nobody has to watch you. You’re not going to become ungodly and unholy just because the teachers are not around to watch you.

If it’s the Lord you love and the Lord you serve, it won’t make any difference where you are and where you go. you know the Lord is always watching me and He’s the one I’m trying to please. So wherever you go, you don’t have to have somebody hold your hand. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. You know what’s right and you should expect yourself to do what’s right and always maintain a good testimony be called that so very, very important.

But here in verse 25 when he says, and there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said to them, if any man come to me and hate God his father and mother and wife and children and brother and sisters, yea, and even his own life also, the thing that catches me is not how much I’m posed. I love the Lord or how much I’m posed. Hate everybody else. Is it if you don’t, you can’t be my disciple?

Well, what about me just being a casual disciple? You know, what about a 50% disciple? What about a 75% disciple? It looks like he wants me to be a total disciple in every area of my life. Well, can I reserve a little bit of me for me? I mean, after all, what does he want? Blood out of a turnip? Don’t I get to do something that I want? He cannot be my disciple. In other words, if there’s some areas in your life that you are not going to commit to the Lord, that one area in your life could keep you from serving the Lord.

God wants to have the control of our life. So in verse 28, he says, count the costs. See in verse 28, for which of you intended to build, set it not down for it, count the cost. There’s a price to pay. It’s a price to pay for anybody doing anything for the Lord. It doesn’t mean just college students, it’s anybody. And so you count the cost. But campaigner the cost this way. What is going to cost me if I don’t?

What if I don’t serve the Lord? Is it going to cost me something? It’s going to cost me greatly. I was always afraid of what it was going to cost me if I didn’t do what I should do. I wasn’t so much scared of God spanking me. It was just that I would be disappointing to him. I didn’t want to disappoint the Lord. all these done for me, I want to please them. So then you look down in verse 30 where he says, this man began to build and was not able to finish, not able to finish.

You think God wantsReporting finished? Remember Paul made this statement in Acts after 20 about, I want to finish my course with, in my other word, joy, finish my course with, I want to finish the race, finish. You see, is one thing to start is another thing to finish. Many people start a race but never finish and they should. Then you look down there in verse 31 where he talks about making war and consulting whether he’d be able to accomplish the goal and be able to take the personnel that he’s going to have war with or if you’ve got a desire conditions of peace.

he says in verse 33, so likewise, who so ever he be of you that forsake if not all that he hath cannot be my disciple. In other words, you’ll never know the true joy that you could have by truly trusting the Lord. You don’t have to see how God’s going to do something. You just believe he will. And it’s a great walk with the Lord. He’ll sometime it can scare you plumb slap to death because you step out and you don’t know how it’s gonna end up.

But you know, you just trust the Lord and you don’t know how God’s gonna use you down the road. I never figured it out. I’m still doing things that I never dreamed I’d ever do. But sometimes, like I said before, serving the Lord is not always doing what you want. It’s doing what God wants. It’s not doing what you like. It’s what needs to be done. I would venture to say you probably don’t really enjoy all that studying you got to do or papers you got to write.

But in the long run you’ll learn something from it. It’s going to be a blessing to you. Because someday you might be teaching in a Bible college and you’re going to say, oh, I’m going to get you just like they got me. That’s what we said. No. But I take your Bible looking chapter 16, chapter 16 of the book of Luke. Look in verse 10, 16 and verse 10. He talks about a servant, a steward. And verse 10, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much.

Does God know what we know? God knows what I know. Then I can’t use a lack of knowledge as an excuse not to be faithful. So when God has given to us a certain amount of knowledge overdoses, God expects something from us. He expects our war with the Lord. So he says here in verse 10, he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much and he that is unjust and the least is unjust also in much.

In other words, if you can’t be faithful in little things, you won’t be faithful in big things. Well, if I had a thousand dollars or a million dollars, boy, you ought to see what I do for the Lord. Yeah, but it’s what you’re doing with what you do have, not what you don’t have. Be faithful with whatever you have, wherever you are. Be faithful to serve the Lord. Wherever you go. So some of you are going to be traveling and some of you might be blessed to stay home and not be out there on the road with those thirty million people that are driving this weekend.

Whatever. Whether you’re here or whether you’re there, you never take a vacation from your testimony. You’re always responsible to the Lord to do what’s right. And if you will, the Lord will bless you. So he says here in verse 11, if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches. Now look in verse 13, no servant can serve two masters. That’s why men’s only have one wife, just joking. Not in there.

For either he will hate the one and love the other. In the words, if you love the world and and love the Lord too, you’re going to be a divided man, an unstable man because you’ve got split loyalty. So God says, if you love me, you can’t love the world. But if you love the world, it means you don’t love me. It seems like God is a jealous God. God doesn’t want to be replaced. He wants all of our devotion.

He wants us to love Him more than anything else in the world. So you have a good verse there, but now look in chapter 17 and verse 10. All these are things about being a servant of the Lord. God expecting something from us. See in verse 10, so likewise ye. When you shall have done all those things which are commanded you say, we are unprofitable servants. We have done that, which was our duty to do. When it’s all over with, we’ve just simply done what we’re supposed to do.

When you give everything you have to the Lord and you sacrifice your time and money and all the rest of it and you studied God’s Word, you did what you’re supposed to do. And isn’t it neat though that on top of doing that, God been gracious enough to reward us when we get to heaven and bless us while we’re here. So I remember talking about some of the time when the special is the first two years of how I didn’t get much sleep.

Somebody told me today, says, I’ve only had two and a half hours of sleep lately. I thought that was so funny. I am so glad to hear that. Oh, I’m glad to hear that. I want them to suffer just like it. You know, whenever it is a moment, she got trouble with her daughter or something like that. She said, oh, I hope you have children just like you. Ten of them. And then they have grandkids and then everything’s forgiven and so on and so on.

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