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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 1-8-7. 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’ve done a few things I thought would be helpful to you. If you have a pen and piece of paper, wouldn’t hurt to write some of these things down. Because you can’t always remember everything, but I do want you to know and realize the importance of God’s will in your life. You’ve got to see that it is important, otherwise you won’t want it. So take your Bible and turn with me to the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah, and chapter 10, Jeremiah chapter 10, and as we go, if you just mark these verses in your Bible, you might even remember that they’re there one day and go back and lo and behold you’ll see where you marked that verse in the Bible.

Jeremiah and chapter 10, you need to understand that it is not the will of God that you plan your own life. Just understand it is not the will of God for you to plan your life. And the reason is because you don’t know how to do it. You won’t know how to do it. And you only get one chance to live life. It’s kind of like this. You know there’s God’s will and there’s your will. Picture a buckboard, a wagon, and it’s got two tongues on it, one going that way and one going that way.

And you’re sitting here in this wagon and you’ve got two horses over here and you’ve got two horses over here and you’re trying to decide which way are you going to go. Well these horses represent your desires. You had the desires of the Lord come from because of your new birth to do the will of God and you had the desires of the flesh. So you’re the one that decides do you feed these two horses over here or these two horses over here?

Whichever horse you feed is going to be the strongest one and you’re going to yield to the strongest desires. So you see as you live your life you’re always having sinful desires, wicked desires, rebellious desires, but there’s also the desire to serve a Lord. And if you’ll feed that desire, it will become stronger. So you’re sometimes sitting in this but board and you seem like you’re not going anywhere. Nothing’s happening in your life. You’re not getting anything done. Well, that’s because you see, you haven’t committed to either one.

You’ve got to commit. You’ve got to make a big mind. Which way do I want to go? Well, it doesn’t matter. Art then said, still, hush, you’re not doing anything, you’re not going anywhere. It’s a lot easier for the Lord to steer a car that’s moving than one that’s set in steel. So you have these desires and they pull at you. And if you’ll look there in Jeremiah chapter 10, look in verse 23. Jeremiah 10 and verse 23. Oh Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself.

It is not in man that walk of to direct his steps. In other words, you don’t have what it takes to lead your life, to guide yourself. The Bible says we’re almost like the horse and the mule were without understanding. You have no sense. He even compares us, well I used to say we compare this to a bunch of turkeys but he says sheep and I’m not sure which is the dumbest. Sheep are turkeys. Turkeys are pretty dumb but I used to kill a lot of turkeys and they would watch me as I came at him with a knife.

They’d watch me, they’d look at me, and they just saw what I did to their buddy that was right before them, and they’re so stupid. Me, I’d be trying to get out of that thing. So verse 24, verse 24, oh Lord, correct me. You see, that’s part of the will of God. Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not in thine anger, because the last thing I want to do is make God mad. Do you want to make God mad at you?

Wouldn’t it be a shame if you were to make a shame? Wouldn’t it be a shame if God was mad at you and he could do anything you want to do to you? Oh When it comes to the Lord I would rather be able to just dig out Then hardly get going some people just never get moving God wants to leave he want to God he he wants to correct you, but he wants you to take some Initiastive some drive and get it done So the one thing is you write down is we cannot plan our own lives.

You know that number two God has a will for each of his children. God has a will for each of his children. He’s like, how do you know that? I’m glad you asked. Take your Bible and turn all the way over there to the book of Romans in chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 and the Bible makes his statement because of what God has done for us. He tells us to do something for him. Look there in verse 1, I beseech you therefore brethren.

This is every individual by the mercies of God that you present your body. Now you can’t present somebody else’s body. It is a general thing to all of God’s children, but only you can present your own body unto the Lord. Holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. It’s an individual thing. Nobody can do this for you. And if you will do what God says, do He makes a promise to you. And verse two, and be not conformed to this world, and the way you do that is by sacrificing your body, making it a living sacrifice.

While you’re in this world, living in that body, you don’t go by the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. You go by what the word of God says. So it is the will of God for every one of His children to yield to the will of God. Look what he says, be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. This is an individual thing that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

So that you know that yes, God has something He wants me to do and there is a perfect plan. It is a good thing because God is a good God. So God has something good for you. If you’ll just let Him do it. He wants to do something good with you. He wants to give you good things. He wants to bless you here. He wants to reward you when you get to heaven. God wants so much for us. And we say, no, no, no, no, no, no.

I can do it myself. I don’t need your help. I don’t need you telling me how to live. Duh. You do. And every one of us need it. I want you to take your Bible and look there in the book of John chapter five, the gospel of John in chapter 5. John chapter 5, an interesting little chapter, but there’s something there because, when Jesus was here, He set the example while on earth. John chapter 5, and look there in verse 30.

Jesus set an example of what a believer ought to do ought to do of understanding about the will of God. Look there in verse 30, I can of mine own self do nothing. You know that’s what Jesus tells us in John chapter 15, without me you can do what? Nothing. It accomplishes nothing, you’re going nowhere, you’re sitting there in the wagon and both horses are pulling and then you’re just sitting there because you can’t go nowhere. And they go and they just go and search you accomplish nothing with your life.

But look at the last part of that verse. He says, and my judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which have sent me. So this is what God wants every one of his children to do. Now nobody can make you, but it is the will of God that you do this. Also take your Bible and turn it to the book of Matthew in chapter 26. Look in Matthew and chapter 26.

Matthew chapter 26 and notice there in verse 39. Matthew 26 and verse 39. And this is what he says, and when he went a little farther and fell on his face and he prayed, saying, Oh my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou will. submission to the Lord. Yielding yourself. The Bible talks about how that Jesus had a submissive spirit to his Father. He did everything that his Father wanted him to do.

Not my own will, but thy will be done. That’s a good, good attitude to have. Now the other scripture is found there in Psalms 40, and if you look there in the 40th Psalm, the 40th Psalm has a lot of good stuff in it, But there’s especially one verse that is quoted over there in the book of Hebrews. And it’s a verse that simply talks about in the volume of the book it is written of me to do thy will, O God.

And so it is a wonderful statement. But here in the book of Psalms 40 Look where he says here in verse 7. In verse 7, then said, I lo, I come in the volume of the book, it is written of me. I delight to dotrakhe will. Oh my God. Yea thy law is within my heart. The law, we talked about this morning in Sunday school, the law, the word, the precept, the testimonies, the statutes, all those things, the titles that God given to his word found there in 119 Psalm about how that thy word has comforted me.

And whenever I was afflicted, I was drawn to the Lord. And so I was beddrought because I have been chasin’ed by the Lord. So the Lord’s talking about I desire and delight to do thy will. In other words, delight thyself in the Lord and he shall give the desires of thine heart, Psalms 37 and verse four. If you delight to do it, there were some people do it, but they do it with a grudge. They do it, but they don’t do it because they really want to.

They just do it as a responsibility, didn’t they? You can do that, but you’re not going to get the results of it that you like to have. You’re not going to get the joy out of doing it. You’re just doing it. Can you go to church with a bad attitude out of responsibility? Yeah, you can do it. And after all, you hate going. Or you can get to where you can love it, because you’re doing it for the Lord and the Lord loves you.

and he pleased with it and you delight in doing it, delight in studying the Word of God, delight to pass out a track, you like to talk to people, well that’s what you do. This is what Jesus did. I delight to do thy will, oh God. You ought to just say that in your own mind and underline that in the scriptures as oh, this is me, this is how I think. See, when you read the Word of God, you apply it.

You’d apply as much as you can. Say what can I do to apply this to my life? How can this help me? Because see, you can say, I wanna be a soul winner, but if you don’t stay strong between you and the Lord, you won’t be winning souls very long. You’ll be on the side of the road. You won’t be accomplishing anything. The best way to stay strong in the Lord in all the areas that we’re supposed to be in is to stay close to the Lord.

But nobody can do this for you. It’s a personal thing. It’s an individual thing, but yet it is the same time is an awesome thing. So therefore, this is why we do it. Also, once you’re looking in the book of Acts in chapter nine, the book of Acts in chapter 9, because Jesus was an example. And I also want you to see there in chapter 9 of the book of Acts. When Paul was on the road to Damascus and this bright light knocked him down, I saw a bright light one time.

I hit this two but ten on the floor. I saw a bright light. Got up. My nose was broke. But this wasn’t the same. This was a light brighter than the sun and he saw the Lord. Wouldn’t that have been an experience? Well he made this statement in verse 4, he asked the question, he says, saw why persecuted style me? So after a result with Paul asked him a question, who are you? Because I’m the Lord. He asked him another question, what will they have me to do.

What would you have me to do? You see, I do believe that it’s a good idea. And as soon as you trust Christ as your Savior, you say, Lord, what do you want me to do now? What do you want me to do? Not to be saved, but because you’re saved. Betty’s dead right after I trusted Lord. First thing he did is drug me to church. Every day time the doors were open, I’m supposed to be there. I didn’t know enough to argue with him.

I just thought, this is what you’re supposed to do. Here I am. And I’d go to work at this printing company and I got grease all over me and I had to wear these white uniform. And I was dirty. I had work boots on and Wednesday night come. Man, I would just make it just in time. I’d go to church just the way I was because Betty’s dad says I’m supposed to do it. I did it. I just thought that’s what everybody did.

I never knew that other people would be there. trust the Lord and didn’t do it. I just thought that’s what everybody does. Boy am I glad that I had never been raised in a church and got cold because of somebody else. If I had to watch most Christians I would have never made it in the Christian life. That his dad challenged me before I ever got to meet a lot of other Christians. And he would teach me every night before we go to bed he would read to me about the Bible and he’d talk and he’d that prayer and I mean he would just teach me the Bible.

He was a good man. I thank the Lord for him. He had such a great impact upon my life. And a lot of times I would be asking, Lord, what do you want me to do? What Lord, what do you want me to do? And Lord, sometimes, it seems like he said, shut up for a little while. Just be quiet. Just be still. Because I was, I’m here and there. And not that I didn’t have patience, it’s that I was looking for something else.

I wasn’t looking for patience. I didn’t know how to wait on the Lord. Let God do it. I figured if I want to do something, I’ll just do it. And can you imagine living with somebody and you move in five different states? Not move five times. We move five times in one state, but we move five states in a year and a half. Anybody in here break that record? I doubt it. And That wasn’t because I was bad. It’s just I was just hungry.

I was searching. It was a lot easier for God to guide. Well, I don’t know if it was easier for God to guide me. But because I wanted to do something, and I just didn’t know what it was, but you got to understand, Lord, what will you have me to do? You need to understand that there is something God wants you to do. Otherwise you’ll never search for it. You’ll never desire it, and I want you to. Take your Bible and look there in the book of, let’s see, 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians and chapter 1, since we’re so close to 1 Corinthians here.

And look there in verse 1. You might just look over this verse and then it’s mentioned in several places, but because it’s just thrown in there, it’s like it’s not that really that important. But what I want you to see is this, Paul Paul called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ, and here’s why, through the will of God. It was the will of God, that Paul knew what he did. God wanted him. He even told him a nice before he had baptized him and so forth in chapter 9 in the book of Acts.

He says, I want to use this man. I’m going to show him what great things he must suffer for my name. He didn’t say what great things he must enjoy for my name. what he must suffer for my name. Aren’t you glad God didn’t say, you know, there’s James Daniel, I’m gonna show him how much he has to suffer for me. Tim, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. He just went on another cruise. That’s not one of those that broke down again is it.

I think they didn’t have two or three of them things break down recently. You know, I was thinking about a cruise. I was thinking about a cruise. And now I just cruise around in my car. That’s it. But call that by the will of God. He did what he did, accomplished what he did, because that was the will of God. You see, in your life you need to be so long the fact that what I do is the will of God.

That’s what God wants me to do with my life. Look there in Colossians in chapter 1. We covered this when we covered a whole book of Colossians. But in Colossians in chapter 1 you’ll see that the apostle Paul not only wanted the the will of God for himself. But one of the things that he sought was the will of God for others. You see, one of the greatest things you should ever want is for God to use somebody else.

You should want God to use people. You want God to use them. Sometimes I’ll be out there and I’ll go golfing with Gary back there. I’ve been fishing for many years, almost 50 years. So when I go with a gift, I don’t always want to take and, you know, catch the fish. I like to watch him bait him and bait him. He does. The next thing you know, he’s in gave him three CDs and two heaven tracks and, you know, and then we finally get off the first tea.

No, but he’s, he don’t waste too much time, but he’ll bait him and he’ll set him up and then sometime I’ll talk to him and I’ll get him to trust the Lord. Sometimes he’ll talk to him, he’ll give him the term. But I don’t want to start to steal fish from somebody. When you go fishing, it’s always good. You might show a little bit, but don’t you get a kick out of watching Sunday. You just want to catch them all yourself.

Well, I’ll depend if I go with Seismore or Peter Amato. Yes, I want to catch them all. And I want to catch the biggest fish and I want to catch the first fish and I want to catch the most fish. What’s wrong with that? But when it comes to serving the Lord, part of your joy is seeing other serve the Lord. I was talking to Greg Stear the other day on the phone. I am just thrilled that he wants to serve a Lord.

I’m just thrilled that they want to serve a Lord. That’s what I’ve been after. I want people to do something with their life. I want you to serve a Lord. I want you to amount to something, to accomplish something. I want you to do that. So the last thing I will will ever try to do is to keep you from serving the Lord. I want you to serve the Lord. So anyway, in verse nine here he makes a statement in Colossians chapter one, in verse nine.

For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray against you. Oh, for you, who said that? You can’t even see any of the difference. And to get to desire that you might be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Why do you wanna know his will? So in verse 10, that you might walk worthy of the Lord and to all pleasing. To be able to please the Lord in every area of your life, then you need to know the Word of God.

And so you know the Word of God, then you know the will of God. Know the will of God? You know how you’re supposed to live. See how easy it is? And so therefore, Paul wanted them to know the will of God. I’m hoping and desires that whenever Louis is working with the little kids, not only to see that they know the Lord, but also to see that they grow to want to serve the Lord, that do the will of God for the life.

Whenever you take what’s the name back there, I’ll never forget what’s his name. Jesse, if Jesse’s talking to the kids in Ranch, I want him to try to instill within the do the will of God for their life. You see, you call it an addiction program or a recovery program, but whatever it is, you’re trying to get the people to do God’s will. We have camp. What are we doing that for? To get the kids to do the will of God.

Why do we have church? So we get everybody to do the will of God. And whenever he has choir practice and he’s got all these little darlings up there, he’s trying to teach them how to serve the Lord, how to use their voices as a ministry. It’s all about what is the will of God. And so that’s what we strive for. That’s what we work for. And whether it’s James with the group that has here, it’s get these guys and girls to do the will of God for their life.

And everybody has a little bit here to do. And some of them work in a wana, but the goal is to get them to do the will of God. This This is what Paul’s talking about. So you know what you’re doing. And if you don’t keep that in mind, you just look at it. It’s just a job. Just a no job. And you’re tired of that in no time. But you’ve got to look at it and think, this is an important job.

This is what God wants you to do. I’m where God wants you to do. And I want to do the best that I can and accomplish all that you can for the Lord. Take your Bible and turn to the Psalms. All the way back to Psalms. Psalms chapter one. I’m sure you’ve heard this verse before. Psalms chapter 1 and verse 1. Psalms 1 and verse 1. So the fifth thing is God knows the future. Only God knows the future.

And if you will do what God says do, it’ll be a wonderful thing to you. But look there in Psalms chapter 1, looking verse 6, for the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. That’s God looking down the road. That’s God looking down the road. Isn’t it nice? Isn’t it wonderful that somebody who wants the best for me is looking down the road? You know this guy comes on some heights and he’s on this Fox on, oh he’s saying the spin stops here and we’re looking out for you, O’Reilly.

And he says, we’re looking out for you. No, the Lord is looking out for me. And he’s looking down the road. And I can tell you this, the spin stops here. The spin stops here. This is where the truth is. This is where God can reveal the way of man and the way of God. And if we will take and do what God says, God knows the way of the righteous. He made the way for the righteous. And the wicked, he knows the end thereof.

And that’s why when you read Psalms 37, always, I cup it with Psalms 73, those two Psalms go together. And it’ll really help your attitude because when you see the prosperity of the wicked, You’re, as David says, my foot is well nice slipped until I went into the house of the Lord and I saw their end looking down the road, looking down the road. Such an important thing. Isaiah chapter 48, look at that verse. Isaiah chapter 48.

Isaiah 48 and verse 17. But notice what he said, let’s just start there verse 16, come near unto me. Here ye this, I have not spoken in secret from the beginning. From the time that it was, there am I. And now the Lord God in the spirit have sent me. So I’d like to turn into you there, doesn’t it? The Lord God, spirit me. In verse 17, thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, the holy one of Israel. I am the Lord thy God, which teaches thee to profit, which teaches the to profit you out of underlying this, called it so important, which leadeth the by the way that thou should have come.

Do you believe that God who created the heavens and the earth knows how you ought to live, knows what’s best for you, knows the future and you don’t know? And he knows what you can take. Did you know that there’s a great wisdom in God not allowing or allowing you or me to do everything we want to do? because everything that we do, every ministry that we have becomes a pressure point. Everything is pressure, pressure, pressure. And some people only have so much tolerance.

It can only take so much pressure before you explode. And God knows that if He gave you too much, you will fall totally apart. You will not be able to handle it. Do you think God is wise? Do you think he withhold any good thing from you? No. And God can always work things out for your honor and for your glory if you’ll do what God says to do. God is going to bless you and to believe that God is a good God.

So always keep that attitude between you and the Lord. Lord, I don’t have to be the best in the world but whatever I am, I want you to use me. And I can do whatever you want me to do. It doesn’t matter what it is. And God is looking for dedicated nobodies. He’s not looking for Superman. He’s not looking for just dedicated nobodies. Somebody wants to serve him. So Lord, Him, I send me. I’ll do it. And so that’s why I believe it’s so important that you see it and understand because you ever hear that song, Peace Like a River, when you understand it and you can accept what God has for you with its limitations, or maybe it’s people, or look there in verse 18.

All that thou hast hearkened to my commandment, then had thy peace been as a river. Thy peace like a river. But see, it all depends on whether or not are you being led by the Spirit of God. Do you accept the will of God? And if you do, you’d be surprised the peace and the joy that you can have. 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. every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep in looking up.