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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

We ended this morning by stating what faith is not. It’s just not having desire. You’re trying to desire something, that’s not believing that God was going to do anything. And it’s not just goodness, you know, because you’ve been so good, it’s all going to work out. No, it’s still the thing about talking to the Lord and understanding that.

And then at the top of the page for the night, your notes, it is not faith in faith. Well, I’ve got a lot of faith in my faith. Oh, well, that’s good. And you know something’s going to happen I got faith in my faith. So you think because your faith is great, that’s going to happen. Not necessarily. You can have faith in faith, faith in yourself, that you have enough trust in the Lord. But it has to be according to truth.

Do you understand what God really says, and understand in the will of the Lord? Now we’re going to look at something that’s, Nobody’s perfect when he comes to pray Him. You don’t have all of it all figured out because different people pray differently. And the thing is be honest and sincere between you and God. There’s times when I have prayed and talked to God and I have just blessed God out. That’s not really the best way to do things.

I realized now that I could have made Him mad, but He knew I was stupid and didn’t know what I was doing. We had mercy and I really appreciate the mercy of the Lord. And I’ve told God a few things that he better not do and things like that. You just don’t do that. But I was young and a little foolish. The key thing is that you do pray. And just because nothing is wrong today doesn’t mean it won’t be tomorrow.

pray and be thankful for the things you have today. But here, number three, it is not faith in faith. It is not according to the confidence you have in your faith. It’s faith is a cheap commodity. See, everybody has faith. It’s what is the object of your faith? A little faith in the Lord can get you miraculous things. Got you a new birth, didn’t it? Got your name written down in the Lamb’s Book of Life, didn’t it? So it’s amazing how that a little faith can do so much.

But faith coming by hearing and hearing by the Word of God, if you want your faith to grow, get more of it. Getting more faith is like getting more money. Some people are always concerned. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough money. No, you don’t have enough faith. Get some more. Go to the bank, God’s thrown a grace and get some more. Learn more about the Word of God and your faith will grow and see, you’ll have a lot of money in your bank.

It’s not so much do you have the faith to get started to do something. Do you have the faith to continue doing that? Do you have enough faith to finish what you started? I started years ago, but God’s Word has given me more confidence and I believe it. And so it maintains so that as the Bible says, Bob, you’re rich in faith. Rich in faith. Don’t you think you ought to be rich in faith? So, but rich in faith is rich in the person that you’re placing it in, someone that can do something about something.

So, the next little thing to be powerless in prayer is to be powerless. As you go through in the Christian life, wouldn’t it be a terrible thing to think that you have absolutely no power to do anything and there’s nobody else to help you either, to be at a total loss, totally helpless. Now Christ says, without me you can do nothing but we have Him and we can pray and you can pray about everything. Like I said, this one, don’t try to figure it all out.

Just know that there’s a great big God up there and He loves you and He wants the best for you. First of all, believe that because that is true. And believe that He is able to make all things work together for your benefit. Believe that. And you’d be surprised how much greater confidence and peace enjoy that you’ll have. Not because sometimes it eliminates all the problems, but it gives you the strength to go through the problems. And you know that when it’s all over with and you get to heaven, you’re going to be so glad you did.

I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of James in chapter 4. The book of James in chapter 4. James chapter 4, Now, you know, we mentioned this earlier, but there’s a verse here that says you have not because you ask not. You see there in verse two? Because you asked not the last part of that verse, because you asked not. And then he says in verse three, you ask and receive not because you ask a miss that you may consume it upon your lust.

So that means that there’s a God is not going to answer your prayers just so you can consume things upon your lust. That’s not what it’s about. You see there is God sending you into this world. If you trust in Him, you are born from above. Now you’re here. So God wants you to talk to Him about what you need to get done, what He wants done with you in this life. It’s not about making you rich and just keeping you healthy and just, you know, just for you.

No, he wants you to do his work. And so he’s willing to do everything needs to be done for his work. So you can pray wisely and intelligently concerning his will, but you have to keep it in the context. And so fulfilling the lust of the flesh is not within the will of God. So you can pray that way all day long and forget about it. Now look down here, what he says in verse 10. Verse 10, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up.

Now if you want God to lift you up, then you must do the other part. Humble yourself. Submit yourself to Him, and He will exalt you. Look what He says up in verse 7, submit yourselves, therefore to God. Resist the devil. That’s what you’re supposed to do. See if you do what you’re supposed to do, it means that God is able to do what He promised He will do. Then you can pray for the result. Remember the reason that it says about Elijah, the great man of faith, the man of light passion like we are, and he was able to pray and it didn’t rain for three and a half years?

Yep, he got already told him to pray that way. So he already knew the will of God and God told him to pray. And God’s the one that told him, pray is going to reign. Well, God already told him it was going to reign, but he believed it. And that he prayed and God gives him the credit, Elijah prayed, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. That’s why you and I don’t understand how much could have been done had we just talked to the Lord about things.

So don’t try to figure it all out, just do it. Spend time talking to God and you’ll figure a lot of it out. You don’t really have to teach a little kid too much about how to talk to mommy and daddy, when they learn how to talk, they talk. And then they talk about everything. And give me, give me, give me, give me. They do that until they’re about 21. And then on in the life sometimes. But look what he says in verse 11.

Speak not evil one of another brethren, he that speaketh evil of his brother and judges his brother speaketh evil of the law and judges the law, because God’s law says don’t do that. Well if you do that which the law condemns you have just put yourself above the law and become the judge of the law and God says there’s only one law giver and guess who it is? Him. God doesn’t want you and me making laws. God says, I made the law.

I gave my word. You go about what my commandments are. We don’t make the commandments. God makes them. He just wants us to submit to them. Not to be the judge of them whether God, well, God’s right on this and so I’ll do that. And I agree with God on this, but I don’t agree with God on this. No. I know Christians who pick and choose about what they will and will not obey. They don’t do everything that God says do.

There’s a few things they obey and there’s a few things they do. obey. So that’s why he says in verse 12, there is one law giver who is able to save and to destroy. And that’s the Lord. Who art thou that judges another? You don’t make the law. You don’t make the law. When he says there’s one law giver, well it’s not me, not you. So that’s why he says, look, I’ve given you my word, believe my word, submit to it.

Don’t argue and fight with God. Just submit to whatever he says. When you read the Word of God and you see something that you ought to be doing, what’d you just do it? Don’t try to debate it back and forth with God. Just do it. And you say, well, what if I submit that I didn’t really even have to? Well, did you lose something?

Is it going to be that bad? Just do what God says to do. Now, this is what I want you to see also. Look in verse 13, go to now, ye that say, today or tomorrow we shall go into such a city and continue there a year by and sell and get gained. See there? There’s nothing wrong and been in a businessman, but there might be something they left out. They just simply said, what we’re going to do, we are going to do this.

Verse 14, whereas you know not what shall be on the moral. Just because you say we’re gonna do this and we’re gonna get gained, well you may and you may not. Why? Because you’re trusting in what you can do, but it may not be just what you can do. There There might be other issues involved. There might be a God that can change a lot of things. And when you depend upon people, people don’t always respond the way that you want.

So he says in verse 14, he says, for what is your life? What is your life? You see, if God doesn’t give you life to live, you don’t do anything. But what you ought to say is, if God gives me life, I will do thus and thus. See what he says here? It is even evapor that appear for a little time and then vanishes away. For that you ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that.

If the Lord will, we will do this or that. We shall live. The Lord may not let you live till tomorrow, so you don’t know. You see, some things about what you are going to do depends upon what God allows to take place. You see, it’s wrong if you place the blame for unanswered prayer on God. become the judge over God. And that you have to be careful of because you’re not in control of life. The God’s the ones in control.

So sometimes even when you pray and you plan, it all depends upon a lot of circumstances. Whatever it is, I just simply want to honor God in whatever the decisions that I make. God’s given us a lot of freedom within the boundary of the will of God. Now in that boundary, have fun. But there’s things that God says to do and not to do. And you’re free to choose, make a lot of decisions, and God will bless. And so he says here in verse 16, but now you rejoice in your boasting.

In other words, bragging about who you are and what you can do and how it’s all in your hands and God wants us to realize it’s not all in our hands. You can’t make a lot of things happen. You don’t even know if you’re going to draw the next breath. You might be in heaven tomorrow and might be there tonight. So he says, all such rejoicing is evil. It’s wrong because it shows a sign of trusting in yourself. Prayer is really showing humility and dependence upon God.

And that’s why he says in verse 17, Therefore do him that know up to do good and do it that not to him it is sin. It is a sin not to humble yourself, not to submit yourself, not to pray and depend upon God. It is a sin to boast and brag about how wonderful and great you are and that you can control the future. You cannot. There are consequences to our decisions. Look at the top of the page here where have faith is a cheap commodity.

Everyone has it. Eighties have faith. They have the faith that there’s no God. That’s what they believe. So they believe something. And you never saw George Washington, but you believe he lived. Sick. You go to a doctor that you don’t know. You get a prescription you can’t read. And a pharmacist you’ve never seen. Medicine you don’t understand. And you go home and you take it. Right? That’s faith. And they say that more people die in hospitals than any other place in the world.

Oh boy. How do you feel? Now, you’ve got a couple things here I wanted to show you, but first of all, once you take your Bible look in the book of Luke, the book of Luke, Luke chapter 22, Luke chapter 22, look there in verse 39, verse 39. Sometimes when we don’t really know what to do or how to pray, we often say, you know, if it be the Lord’s will, if it’s God’s will. Because sometimes we sincerely want God’s will but we don’t know what it is and so sometimes we can just say if If it’s the Lord’s will praise the Lord But sometimes God gets blamed for something that he didn’t do Sometimes people say you know, you know a way that we could all get out of our Responsibility for so when it’s Lord.

I’m praying this prayer and honest and seer desire Lord I’m asking you Save the world Jesus name amen If it be thy will so I don’t have to do anything because see I just prayed and asked God to save the world So if it doesn’t get saved It’s not my fault See I asked God and I prayed and I asked God to save the world I asked God to save my uncle Joe and my aunt Susie So therefore if they don’t get saved, it’s not my fault.

I pray. Now do you think God will honor my prayer? I Prayed it honestly sincerely. So that means they’re all going to get saved, right? This is something to keep in mind because you’re talking about just because I prayed My prayer is not according to his will See, even God desires for the whole world to be saved. He’s not willing to, he should perish. So that means nobody’s going to perish. No, remember the flashlight? You turn the flashlight back over and say, no, Lord, help me to reach as many as I possibly can.

That would be okay to pray. But trying to use prayer to walk away from your responsibilities isn’t right. Lord, I pray You’re straight not my husband. And then you are a mean, cantankerous, old bitty, and you gripe and grumble and nag, and all day long and all night long. God, do a work on my husband. And then you’re as mean as can be. Is that a sincere prayer? Do you know that God might use you to help win your husband if you do right?

So are you really praying for God to work in that person’s life when God may want to use you to do that work? And sometimes people don’t get it how it works. God helped my kids to see the importance of serving you. Honey, give me another course. Do you believe that parents ought to live the way they want their children to live or just talk about it? That you do as I say, not as I do. Well that really works doesn’t it?

No. Look what he says here in Luke chapter 22 and verse 39. And he came out and went as he was want to the Mount of Olives and his disciples also followed him and when he was at the place he said unto them, pray that you enter not into temptation. Now you will be tempted, but pray that you will not enter into the temptation. Everyone is tempted. Even Christ was tempted. But you pray that you do not enter into the temptation.

So would that be a good thing to pray? And then if you pray not to enter into a temptation, the best thing for you and I to do is try to stay as far away from the temptation as we possibly I can’t. When he says, make not provision for the flesh, it means so that you don’t get tempted to do the wrong. So you have to be careful. That’s what he says in verse 41. And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast and kneeled on and prayed, saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.

You see that word, if? If. If thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will. be done. So, does this mean that Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross? He didn’t want to die to pay for our sins. And he’s saying, Lord, if you were willing, would you please change this? Do something else? If you be willing to remove this cup from me, does it mean Jesus doesn’t want to go and die and pay for our sins?

Over and over again, he says the hour is not yet come. The hour not yet come. Then he says, the hour is come when the Son of Man shall be lifted up. And he absolutely showed no fear whatsoever. And then all of a sudden it looks like, well, when he got down there close to it, Jesus chickened out. But he knew he has to go through this, but he didn’t really want to do it, but he did it. And then he prays to the Father, says, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me.

Now why? I believe there’s another answer. I’m not saying I’m right, but it just didn’t set good with me. So I began to look. Thought, well, he couldn’t be referred to something else. So take your Bible, look in Matthew in chapter 26. Look in Matthew 26. And look in verse 36. In verse 36 it says, then comeeth Jesus with them into a place called Gethsemane and saith unto the disciples, sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. So he said, I’m going to pray.

There’s times in your life when you just want to have some private prayer. There’s other times when you want to pray with the group. But however it is that you pray, make sure that you’re talking to the Lord and that it’s real and you’re submissive to him. But then notes what he says in verse 30, and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and began to be sorrowful, very heavy. Then saith he unto them, my soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto what?

Now this is in the garden. He hadn’t got to the cross yet. This was in the garden. The Bible says he had great sweat drops of blood, which I’ve read from Dr.’s report. This is right before death. You can die with great sweat drops of blood. And so he says here, even unto death, teary ye here and watch with me. And he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed to And oh Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.

So it was, I believe, in the garden, where the devil done his greatest work upon Jesus Christ. Now when you go there to the book of Hebrews, look what he says, look in the book of Hebrews chapter 5. Hebrews and chapter 5. There’s just one little verse there, but I think it might shed a little light. I’m not saying this is really where it belonged, but I believe it might be. So that when Jesus prayed, He had no desire to have a premature death in the garden.

He knew I came and this he says, Lord, if thou be willing, I’ll do this. But I believe his goal was get to the cross. But let me show you this. In verse 7 he says of chapter 5, who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplication would strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from what? And was heard in that he feared.

And I believe that this was in the garden and is a possibility that he was praying that not to have a premature death. Because remember, I believe it was Satan’s goal to try to kill him, and maybe even before he got to the cross. I don’t know. I know it’s just a little yank-yology, but when he prayed, take this cup from me, it’s almost like it destroyed the purpose of becoming. He came for that reason. He came to die.

He knew all of this. But as a man, the pressures, all the toll, all the bombardments of evil spirits upon him, how weak he was, and he asked for some to even pray, what would have been the value of these disciples praying for him? How would you have prayed for him? What would you have said to God on the behalf of Jesus Christ? If you were there and you were one of those three and he asked you to pray, how would you have prayed for the Son of God?

I had to confess something to Dr. A. Ray Stanford one year. You see, back in 1975, after he had sinned and rebelled against God and he had to leave the college, I told him a few years later, I says, Ray, I owe you an apology. I never prayed for you. I took you for granted because of look who you are. You’re the president of Florida Bible College and I just took it for granted. You’d never fall. And lo and behold, he did.

And I look back on it and I thought, what difference would it make? Now, remember hearing Hillary Clinton saying, what difference does it make? Oh, just there’s four people dead now, months of stuff. But I thought, what difference would it have made if a bunch of people had prayed for Ray and Florida Bible College would still be standing today? The biggest, most powerful Bible college in the world, reach in the world for Christ, what could have been the difference?

If you had been in the garden that night, and Jesus says, pray, my soul is heavy, what would you have prayed for the Son of God? What did it have made a difference? I don’t know. But as it did in the book, didn’t it say that? And so it says here in the last part of verse 7, and was able to save him from death. Well, if he saved him from death, he didn’t save him from the death of the cross.

So it can’t be talking about the cross, can it? Doesn’t it look like it could be that he’s talking about a premature death in the garden? And he says that he feared that he didn’t want a premature death. I don’t know. It just sure looks like it when I look at the scripture. 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. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.