This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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 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.

Look at John chapter 4. John chapter 4 and verse 28. Now he’s talked to the woman at the well and she had been married a few times, living with somebody that wasn’t her husband. And so in verse 28 the woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city and said to the men, come see a man which told me all things that I ever did is not this the Christ. So how long did she wait?

Jesus was still there. How long did she take before she started talking to somebody about what Christ had done for her? She knew who he was and she believed him. She says, come and see the Christ. So it didn’t take long, long. In other words, if you have a lit candle, another candle that isn’t lit, and you want to light that candle, how long should it take before this candle starts shining? Six months right away. When it’s lit, it should start shining, right?

Heaven’s all been here when we had the candle lighting, and everybody around the room, and everybody passes on the I think it’s a beautiful thing. I love it. But it’s a media, it’s right away. Look in Acts chapter 16. Acts chapter 16 very quickly. Acts chapter 16, there’s the story of Paul and Silas. They were in jail one night. About midnight they started singing Amazing Grace. It could have been that song I wrote. Could have been that one. But anyway, things weren’t going too good.

Earthquake came. And so the jailer thought that, well, everybody’s unescaped. So he was going to take a sword and kill himself. But Paul and Silas says, do thyself no harm? We’re all here. And then in verse 29, he called for a light in springing and came trembling and fell down before Paul and Silas. and brought them out, said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? Well, how did he know that they could answer that question? He must have heard something while they were in jail or why they were there.

See, had to be sewn somewhere. And brought them out and said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And thy house, if your house, believes your house can be saved. They spake with him the word of the Lord and to all that were in the house. So it wasn’t just the jailer that heard, now it’s the whole family that heard. Why would he take him to his house?

Well, maybe they needed to hear it. And maybe he needed to wash their wounds, as he says here, and wash their stripes, and we’re baptizing and all his, immediately, right away. So how long do you have to wait before you start telling anybody about the Lord? Now, some people will wait almost all their lives, never wouldn’t see anybody. But remember this, keep sowing seeds. You never know what’s gonna grow. I told somebody at Fair to a certain one of these on pre evangelism ministry.

In other words, before you win somebody Lord somebody has to go around maybe they’ve sown some seed. Just be a seed sower. So the seeds, as he talks about Ruth in the Old Testament, handfuls on purpose, handfolds on purpose. Purposely so the the seat. And you don’t know what’s going to grow, but sow the seed and best thing to do. Look there in the Scriptures here. Let’s go back there to the 126 Psalm. The 126 Psalm. And look in verse 1, verse 1, the word when is important.

very first word. When the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream. In other words, here’s people that are in captivity dreaming for the day when they could go home, dreaming of the day when they were free. They’d asked them to sing the song and the strange land and they said, how can we sing the Lord’s song and the strange land? And then all of a sudden, Hey, you get to go home. You get to go home.

And what excitement that they were going to go? Not just one person, not just two people, but all of them could be free to go back. The land of Zion. My mother called me up one day and she says, Yengie, I don’t know what I’m going to do with Liz. Liz was my older sister. Lizie had fell off a horse, being kicked in the head by the horse almost dead. And she had a lot of things that happened to her and she just wasn’t able to think straight sometimes.

And she, she would drink. And it one time she was a very, very beautiful girl. And she knew it. But she made a lot of wrong choices in life. And now she was left for dead, been beaten so badly. Somebody got a hold of her and I was in Colorado. My mom was in Georgia. They got her to the hospital there in Athens. Mama called me on the phone and asked me if I’d come down. She said, I don’t know what we’re gonna do.

We don’t know what to do with Liz. So I I came down there and I remember going up on the sixth floor and that was the floor that they had people that had a mental issue. And I walked in there and I saw my sister. At one time she was a cheerleader. She was made red. She could do a dance. I mean she was one sharp girl that could do just about anything. Everybody wanted, all the guys wanted a day.

She was just a beautiful girl. And I looked at her and she was skin and bone, skin and boneilial.PHOTOS was all chopped up and she looked terrible. And she, when I walked into room, it’s like she didn’t even know who I was. And she was jumping from the couch to the chair acting like an animal, like a literal animal. And she tried to light a cigarette that she didn’t have and she kept striking the match, trying to light her finger, because she wanted the smoke so bad.

And I looked and it was heartbreaking. My mom was in tears. She said, I don’t know what we can do with her, her sister. I said, well mama, I really don’t know what to do. She said, will you take her to Colorado? I’d say, yeah, I guess I could. So I got Liz and she didn’t want me to talk to her, say nothing wild, fight. And I got her on the plane. And we were doing so far so good, then all of a sudden.

Here comes the stewardess. Anybody want a drink? And they had those little gifts of hard drink. And my sister, she heard it. And I told him, I said, ma’am, that was the last thing you should have ever done. I wish you had never done that. Lizzie went berserk. She had to have it, and I would not let her have it. So she drank all her life. So anyway, I finally got her calmed back down again. We got to Colorado and I checked with a facility that said they would be able to take her.

they had to put in a lockup facility. When I got Lizzie there, Lizzie didn’t know that she was going to this place. And when I took her there, and they got a hold of her. And they started walking her into her room. She looked at me and she cussed me out, calling me everything. And all I want to do is help my sister. And it was the only thing I knew to help her. And she just blasted me. I mean loud, holler and yellin, cursing me, despised me.

Anyway, they took her. And I got where I would go down every Sunday morning. And I would drive down early and I’d get ahold of my sister, and I’d bring her to church. And she’d sit there, but they gave her enough medicine to kind of keep her some dude for a while. So Lizzy was sat there and she’d listen. Now, I don’t know if Bob, you were there when I was doing this or not. I don’t remember if you don’t remember that at all.

But I brought Lizzie and I set her down and I’d take her back home, pick her up, take her back home after church every Sunday for over a year. Lizzie finally got her mind clear and one day she was over to our house after church and we finished eating and Lizzie was standing there and I looked at her and I said, Liz, I says, would you like to go home?” And she looked at me and she got tears in her eyes and started streaming down her cheek.

And it’s almost like that movie they made. E.T. go home. It was, does he go home? She started just to cry. I says, if you want to go home, I want to go home and she just called. And so I got her and took her back. she was going to stay with my mom and him. And it wasn’t long before Liz was right back where she was after all that work. Because she had a sister that really didn’t think clearly and got her right back into it again.

Well both of them had passed away now. They both are in heaven. But one day we’re going to get to go home and we’re going to realize what we’ve done with our lives and we’re going to have to give an account to the Lord for. But sometimes you wonder, can it get any better? And sometimes you’ll have a dream, and you’ll have the death of a dream. You have a vision of what you want to do with your life and things you want to accomplish.

And sometimes it seems like it’ll never be a reality. I’ve got dreams about this ministry. I’ve got dreams about the college. I got dreams about the ranch and about the camp. I want to see so much done and also see that there’s like there’s a finish line and it seems like I’m getting closer and closer to this finish line. I don’t mind it if that finish line keeps moving out. Because you dream and you want to get something done.

And when these people saw that, look in verse 2, then that word then was our mouth filled with laughter, our tongue with singing, then said they among the heathen, the Lord hath done great things for them. Half done past tense. Verse 3, the Lord hath done great things for us. We are glad. We are present tense. We are glad because of things that we’ve seen God do and over your life you’ll see God do a lot of things in your life for you in hard times don’t forget that sometimes those are things that are going to pull you through and you won’t understand all the things that you’re going through at the time but when God brings you through this trial and that trial and that trial your confidence will grow in the Lord and then he says in verse four turn again our captivity

O Lord as the streams in the south. See, where’s that mean? I thought you was going to ask that. But look in the 35th chapter of the book of Isaiah. Look in Isaiah chapter 35. It’s a good verse. I remember when my father-in-law told me about this verse and I really enjoyed reading because He talked about the rose, blossom as the rose.

He says, the land of Israel is gonna blossom like the rose. See there in verse one, the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. In verse three, strengthen ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble knees. Now when you read in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12, those verses are quoted over there. It’s because a child of God… Needs to understand that we’re running in a race and it ain’t over yet.

So instead of being down and discouraged, strengthen those feeble knees, sit straight past for your feet. And as you hear, put a smile on your face, our God isn’t dead. And sometimes it might be the death of a vision, but maybe it’s because God has another vision for you to have. Or maybe it’s not at the right time yet, but you keep living, believe in it because that that hope that’s within you is what drives and motivates you because you keep looking forward.

And verse four says, say to them that are of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not, behold your God will come with vengeance, even God will the recompense, he will come and save you. And then you look down here in verse six, then shall the lame man leap as a heart and the tongue of the dumb sing, for in the wilderness shall water break out and streams in the desert.” Now a person by the name of this is Eliot wrote a book, streams in the desert.

Anybody ever heard of that? It’s a good book, but that’s where it comes from because she had lost her husband. And so many things seem like it’s so dry. I’m, I’m parched, I’m, I’m withering away. And I need some fresh oil. I need something fresh. There’s some fresh water. So I’m calling it fresh oil. But this is what he’s talking about. So he goes back here in verse four, turn again our captivity, O Lord, as the streams in the south, because south was the negative desert.

Then he says, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. And he that goeth forth weeping, bearing precious seed shall shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Now sheaves is a bundle of wheat or oats or barley, but it’s bound together and it can even be a bundle of straw or whatever. something that’s wrapped together and you reaped it and it’s bundled in it’s you’re taking it. And so down at the bottom, those are six things here, the task.

Go with forth. Somebody has to do it. Go forth. He that goeth forth, some pom you don’t want to go. And so they never have the opportunity to do what God wants it to, because they won’t take advantage of the wheels that roll Remember this opportunity is on wheels and they will roll your direction and unless you’re prepared to take advantage of that opportunity, opportunities are going to keep on rolling by. And you’ll realize you missed a lot of opportunities because you were not prepared.

Be willing, be ready, be willing to go. Number two, the treasure. We have this treasure in and earthen vessels is called the gospel. The treasure, precious seed, the seed is the word of God. The tears, no crop grows without water. Could our people be missing the tears? Our overwhelming concern for the lost? What do we have in camp for? What do we have in camp? Why do we have ranch? All it does is just wear you out, cost money.

get tired, problems galore. Why in the world do we want to go? Even if it’s in state or out of state, the place doesn’t matter. What’s the purpose behind it? Because I believe that we have a great burning desire, a concern for the lost people. And we can’t reach more if we don’t train more. So the more people we can get, the more we can train. And the more We challenge and train, but remember, people are also all the time dropping off.

They’re always dropping by the wayside. So you’ve got to keep getting some more. Nobody stays the same. You’re always trying to build a work on the temporary dedication of God’s people. Kids will come to ranch and then they’ll stop coming. They won’t tell you why. They’ll only have to have a reason. We’re living in a sinful world. There’s other things that grabs a person’s mind. You ever think about some of those sharp teenagers that went to camp a couple years ago and they dedicated their lives to the Lord?

And you see them one by one, fallen by the wayside, don’t it break your heart? It brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. They don’t know what they’re forfeiting. They don’t know what they’re giving up. Did you know even Christians that maybe used to be on fire for the Lord had a burning desire? And then all of a sudden seemed like they just get cold, found by the wayside, not faithful anymore. You think what we could do if all of God’s children would just keep loving the Lord until it’s all over?

But they’re all finding something else to do, as though there’s something better. Like this one preacher, he had a deacon. His deacon can kind of fell by the wayside. Didn’t go to church anymore. He knew he was going to have to go see him, and so he finally went to his house to see him. And it was in the winter time, and fire was in the fireplace, and the guy was just sitting there, staring and watching the flames. The preacher was invited to sit down, so he sat down.

And he was just staring at the flames. And he was looking at the hot coals and so forth. So he took an iron pulker and he reached in there and got a hot coal and he pulled it out. And it was really red hot. And in just a few minutes, that hot red coal started turning black, gray. Preach the sous-ous-ous, I guess I’ll go. The deacon says, I get your point, I’ll see you Sunday. See, when you’re in the fire, you’ll stay hotter.

But when you start withdrawing away from the work, the activity, or the heatiest, the pressure is, you’re not going to last long. You become cold, hardened, indifferent. and you’ll never see the blessings of God and then you become bitter and critical. And then you’ve dropped all the wayside totally. So important to remember. Look at number four, the triumph shall doubtless, doubtless. Victory is a sure thing. If you serve the Lord, you will win. Maybe not in the eyes of this world, but in the eyes of God, you will always win.

I feel like I have been a winner most of my life. I have fought more battles than Mike Tyson or Cassius Clay. They’ve never fought the battles that I fought. They couldn’t fight the battles that I fought because I’ve watched their lives over the years. They lost. They lost. See, the greatest battle you can ever be in is the battle for souls. Serving the Lord, keeping your testimony of Babri-Proach, facing the devil, fighting the devil, doing what God wants, winning over the lust of the flesh and the lust of the guys and the pride of life.

Those are real battles. And most people never win over that old sinful nature. And you may lose a little round here and there, but don’t lose the whole fight. Number five, shall doubtless come rejoicing, rejoicing, and year after the trophy, bringing the sheaves with him. We’re here and we want some trophies. Now we often say that in the book of Ephesians in chapter two and verse seven, where he talks about that the trophies of his grace, that his grace, I want you to see that and we’ll close with that.

look there in the book of Ephesians and chapter two. Ephesians chapter two. Notice in verse seven that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. In our Christian school in Colorado, we used to have this great big trophy case and it was full of trophies.

My grandson, Michael, he had trophies this high. He had a room full of trophies from doing motocrossing. I mean, he was just awesome. He won trophies all over Colorado, ruined his knees, that he had trophies. When we get to heaven, we are gonna be the trophies God grace. In the words like, God says, look what my grace has done. These are trophies of my grace, that in the ages to come that will be looked upon, look what God hath done.

It’s us. See, our work here is not the things that we can build. It’s not the money that we can collect. It’s the trophies of God’s grace. And you and I have been privileged to be a part of that. So I want to have camp, spend all that money, all that work, cooking all that food, all those hours, but we might get four or five kids that will serve the Lord for the rest of their life. How much are they worth?

What kind of a price are we willing to pay? This is why a lot of people will not do what we’re doing. because it’s not worth their time. I’ve always believed that it is. And one day when it’s all over with, we’ll be in heaven. And we’re going to see trophies of God’s grace, what He did in the lives of those that were on earth who did what He’s talking about right here. For by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of where it’s lest any man should boast.

Look up here just for a moment. This is you and me and this wall of represents sin. We all have sin on us, but God says that He loves us and because He loves us, He did something for us. You see, He saw that we could not save ourselves because the wages of sin is death, so we’re already condemned. And we’re not good enough to earn our way to heaven. So the Bible says we need a Savior. And God says that he sent his son Jesus Christ as Henry ever said in Jesus Christ into the world to pay for our sins.

See our sins they separate us so he took them, paid for them on the cross and came back from the dead and God said that if we would believe he did it for us he would give us as a freak if everlasting life and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ has done for us. Let’s pray show him. If you’re here tonight or if you’re watching by internet Maybe you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, but you can, because you can do this.

All you need to know is that you’re a sinner and can’t save yourself. And that if you die, well, that trust in the Lord, you’ll be eternally separated from God in hell. But God loves you and wants you to have eternal life. So right now, will you trust Christ as your Savior? If you do, I’d like to know it. You don’t have to write us. Just right on the screen, just click on yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior.

It just lets us know that someone did. Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for all you do for us. Thank you for the time that you’ve given us. And the heavens were never to lose that dream, that vision, the care, the compassion, the concern. If all the letters go forth, even with weeping, bearing precious seed, for we know according to you where doubtless will come again, rejoicing, bring in our chiefs with us, one day will be in heaven.

We will see those that we’ve made a difference in their lives because of what you did for us. We thank you for it in Christ’s name. Amen. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the Gospel with friends and loved ones.

This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Main. 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. leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.