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.

If you serve the Lord, don’t you want to know what’s in it for me? Why should I do this? this. So some people don’t have to ask the question, they don’t care, they just want to do right because that’s what God wants to do, that’s good enough reason. There’s other people who know, what am I going to get? He said, I’m going to reward you. Okay, now what do you mean? Look what he says. In verse 28, and Jesus said unto them, barely I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, that means in the kingdom, when the son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, that’s when he comes back in power and great glory, This is not the rapture.

When he comes back, he says, also shall sit upon 12th-thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now isn’t that exciting? They’re gonna be the 12 tribes. You’re gonna have 12th-thrones, and you’re gonna get the rule. Now we don’t know to what extent, but God does say in the book of Revelation that we’re gonna rule, we’re gonna reign with Christ. So we’re gonna be here, but what are we gonna get to? I don’t know. I don’t know what it is, but I just believe this, whatever it is, it’s got to be worth it.

And then he says in verse 20, and everyone that have forsaken houses or brethren or sisters or fathers or mothers or wives or children or lands, for my name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and shall inherit everlasting life. Now, this is thing that he says also not only in this life but in the age of the world which is to come, which is referred to in other places. So there’s things that will happen in this world, talking about in this kingdom upon the earth, you’ll have it here.

You will actually get to have this new body. You’re going to rule. You’re going to reign with Christ. But also there’s more to it on down the road. Now when he says if you’ll leave everybody, that’s almost like in the book of Luke in chapter 14 when he says, if you will be my disciple, You must love the Lord more than mother and father and brother and sister. He says, you got to hate them. But it doesn’t really mean you got to hate them.

It’s just that your love for the Lord has got to be stronger than your love for anything else. Or your love for anything else will keep you from loving the Lord supremely. And so it’s the same thing with everything else that you have in life. I had to make up my mind. I have to love the Lord more than I loved my wife. I have to love the Lord more than I love my mother. More than I love my brother and my sisters.

I had to love the Lord more. Or I would not have done what I believe God wanted me to do. Because you’ll let the love of something, and if you could love the world, the love for the world can keep you from loving the Lord like you ought to, or sacrificing, they’re going through. So all those things are very, very important to do. When he says feed the flock of God, I think you ought to see a little bit about what the Lord meant by being a good shepherd.

So look there in Jeremiah chapter 3, the book of Jeremiah. That’s way back there in the Old Testament. Jeremiah chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. And there’s a few verses here that talks a little bit about, well God talking to his shepherds, or his pastors, and what they were supposed to do, how God wanted them to be. But the Lord says, you know, my people, they’re ruined because the prophets, the priests, and the pastors, the princes all failed to do the thing that God wanted them to do.

And so he makes our statement here in verse 15, and I will give you pastors according to mind heart which I’ll feed you with knowledge and understanding. You ought to underline this in your Bible because it lets you have a little bit of an understanding of what is the pastor’s job. The pastor is to feed to help you to understand. Given you biblical knowledge, the pastor can’t make everyone do right. I wish they could, but it won’t work. The pastor is not to be a dictator.

He can’t use force. He has no weapons. All he has is the Word of God. And if that doesn’t do it, it can’t be done. Because you cannot manipulate people. You cannot be dishonest with people. can’t be deceitful with people, you have to be honest and tell them the truth. And sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth. So then you have to go to a church and read nice things. But when you come here, I want to teach you the Bible, the good, bad and the indifferent, so that you know what God’s Word has to say.

So he goes through and he tells us all these things. And he tells here, especially in Jeremiah, that a lot of these people were backslidden, as you wouldn’t call backslidden. Some people have never gone far enough forward to backslide. So another scripture I want you to see, what you’re right there, Ezekiel 34. Look in Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. And look in verse 1. Ezekiel 34 and verse 1, he gives you a good idea of the shepherd and what he’s supposed to do, what it’s supposed to be like.

And notice in verse one, and the word of the Lord came by the me saying, son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophecy and say unto them, thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds. Woe to be the shepherds, woe be to the shepherd of Israel that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flock. That’s a good little statement. Should not the shepherds feed the flock. And so when Peter says there in the book of 1 Peter in chapter 5, he said, I’m an elder.

I’m like a shepherd. He says, and let me exhort you elder, feed the flock, 10 to the flock. That’s why we’re supposed to try to take care of all as best as we possibly can. That’s when some of y’all go to the hospital, I’ll try to be at the hospital. When you got, when you’re going to die on me, do your funeral and try to tend to you every way we know. And Sunday mornings, chances are the pastor’s here.

On Sunday night, the preacher’s here. Wednesday night, preacher’s here. Now is all the flock here though. No. So you can’t do some things with some of the flock because all the flock don’t show up when they need to be fed. Now I was one time on a road traveling speaking and this one guy he was gonna have me speak. And so he had me speaking about 12 to 13 times in just a few days. And I says, can I just give you a word?

He says, sure. I says, my mama had six kids. I says, and so at breakfast time, she cooked one meal and put it on the table. And if you’re hungry, you’d be there to eat. I says, now, what if my mama had got up and says, OK, civil, you eat at 6 o’clock in the morning? little man that you can eat at seven o’clock. K, you eat at eight o’clock. Yank you, you eat at nine o’clock. Lizzy, 10 o’clock.

And Lizzy, you eat at 12 o’clock. Now, my mama could keep herself busy all day long, couldn’t she? And feeding all these sheep, all those different times because that’s the way they want it. Or would you rather my mama say, we’re going to fix the meal at seven o’clock and if you’re hungry, you come and eat. Outside of that you starve and you’ll teach the people that let us this one we’re eating. This is what we’re going to do.

I’ve had people say, well they want to have an extra little Bible study and then another little Bible study and they want to have it on Monday night and then Tuesday night and Thursday night and then Friday night and then Friday night and all the little Bible says, I said, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Why don’t you come when we already have a Bible study? You really want the Bible to study? You really want to study the Bible?

Then we have one and you don’t come to that one. You don’t come to this one. You don’t come to that one. Wait a minute, you’re not going to run this shepherd crazy. The shepherd fixes the meal and he’s going to fix it here and I’m going to feed you here and I’m going to feed you here. Now if you want to eat, this is where it comes from so that a man is not going to last forever and you have to learn how to pace yourself.

You’re going to find out sometimes sheep will scatter and they will turn on the… Have you ever seen sheep turn on a shepherd? You haven’t seen human sheep. You have to please them all the time, keep them all happy. And that’s an impossibility. But there’s some good statements that are mentioned here. And I want you to see them. Look in verse three. He says, you eat the fat and you clog you with wool. You kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock.

The diseased have you not strengthened. Neither have you healed that which was sick. Neither have you bound up that which was broken. Neither have you brought again that which was driven away. Neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them. So when you read that last part, he says in the book of 1 Peter in chapter 5, you’re not to do this begrudgingly but willingly. You know, consider them the sheep.

You don’t try to kill them, but you’re trying to help them not being lords over them like a mean dictator because it won’t work. This is what God’s Word says you don’t do. So I try my best not to do this. Am I the perfect shepherd? Yes, no. There’s no perfect shepherd but that’s okay. There’s no perfect sheep. We all have a few little spots and blemises on our coats. And so he says there in verse 5 and they were scattered because there is no shepherd.

There’s no shepherd. And then he says, and they become meat to all the beast of the field when they were scattered. And this is why God doesn’t want this to be done. Notice he also makes a statement down here in verse 23, and I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them even my servant David. The Lord talked about a time coming when God’s going to set up his servant David. And during the kingdom, David’s going to be here.

And then he says in verse 24, and I the Lord will be their God in my servant David, he prints among them, and there gonna be a covenant of peace. And down in verse 26, the last part of verse 26, there shall be showers of blessings. Have you ever heard that song? He goes like this. One, two, three, the devils after me. Four, five, six, he’s always throwing sticks. Seven, eight, nine, he misses every time. Hallelujah, Hallelujah, amen. You like that little chorus?

Little kids can learn that, can’t you learn that little kids? Goes one, two, three, the devils after me, four, five, six, he’s always throwing sticks. Seven, eight, nine, he misses every time. Hallelujah, hallelujah, amen. Can y’all do it? Did y’all do it? Did these little kids get it? Yeah, they get it. They can get learned better than the adults can get it. But look what he says also in verse 31. He says, and ye my flock, the flock of my pasture are an underline that word are men.

And I am your God, sayeth the Lord God. So we know that we’re supposed to be good, good shepherds. And there’s a responsibility for the sheep. And so we try to teach them and lead them. And the only way to kind of keep the old devil from getting the sheep is you’ve got to educate the sheep. You’ve got to teach the sheep. So when it says feed my sheep, tend to my sheep. And they’ve got to be fed. And that’s why he keeps saying you did not feed my sheep, you didn’t feed them.

So God has given to us his word, and he says the shepherds are to feed you. Well, you can’t make the people come to be fed. But if you will come and you will be fed, I guarantee you, if you listen to what the word of God says, and you come as often as you can, you will grow stronger and you’ll be able to fight the devil and the temptations of the world. If you don’t, you won’t last. The devil will get you.

He’ll get you. He’ll ruin your life. Now, go back to the book of 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse 2. I didn’t think we’re going to finish this chapter tonight. Well, maybe some other time. look there in verse two, feed the flock of God, not fleece the flock, feed the flock, which is among you. Now get this, take in the oversight. There is a duty, there is a desire, and there should be a delight. Oversight, where of not by constraint, well I have to do this, but it should be willingly, willingly, not for filthy local but of a ready mind.

In other words, serving the Lord shouldn’t be because well I think that’d be an easy way to make money. Boy, I mean if you gotta have a job, you might as well just go ahead and become a preacher. All they do is preach on a Sunday morning one time and then they don’t do nothing the rest of the week. Boy that sounds like an easy gravy train. Try it. Go ahead. See how many people you please. And then see how long it lasts.

Now God wants us to love him. And just like he asked Peter, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me? Then do this. You should do what you do because you love him. Not to make money, not to be famous, not to rule over people. I’ve told it so many times. If I didn’t know the Bible and know what my responsibilities are, I’d be building me a cabin on the backside of some mountain up there in Alaska.

I can’t stand it whenever I turn on the TV and it has that thing in there. Something about Alaska. It’s always about a lot. Alaska. And if I turn on the radio and it comes on a big sand left Seattle in the year of 92, I’m ready to jump into my car and head to Alaska. Big nuggets and they’re finding North to Alaska. Go North the rush is on. We up North. And I would be driving my car and I want to It just starts hidden toward Alaska.

But you know, I can’t afford to do that because I know too much. And God’s Word was just burning my mind and I would feel so guilty up there having such a good time. Just fishing all the time, like up in Wisconsin or something like that. You know, if you was on a lake and you had a place, you gotta place up there, don’t you? Where’s it at? In Michigan, okay, I got the wrong state. But is there anything wrong?

But you better watch it. It doesn’t become a God to you and that you can separate yourself from all the thing God We got a responsibility listen When it’s all over When we get to heaven it will be worth it all Whatever sacrifice you made it will be worth it all God loves us that much But he makes this statement. He says do it because of already mine mentally you want to do this I I want to be a good pastor.

I want to be a good shepherd. And because of that, there’s things that I can’t do or go. That means it requires a certain amount of faithfulness, dependability. You’ve got to… I’ve tried to teach what does the word faithful mean? What does it mean to be found faithful? Moreover, it’s required in the story that a man be found faithful. I want to be faithful. You don’t know what the word means? Just watch me. I want to live in such a way that I am an example of faithfulness.

That’s what you’re supposed to do. Now here he makes a statement in verse 3, neither as being Lord’s over God’s heritage but being examples to the flock. God wants you and me to be examples, to show a person how they’re supposed to live the Christian life. Betty and I, and I hate bringing this up, but I mean it’s important, Betty and I try to be the kind of a married couple, we believe the preacher ought to be and the wife ought to be.

We try to live the way we believe. That’s what God wants. We want our marriage to be an example of what a marriage is supposed to be like. The harmony we have, the purpose that we have, the goals that we have, the way we live, all that is, listen, I’m not making this up. I mean, that’s the book. And if I’m not willing to do this, willing to do this, then I ought to get out of the ministry. True?

Otherwise, I’d become a hypocrite. And I don’t want to be a hypocrite. And so whenever we do right, well, we want to try to teach you how to do right. But that doesn’t mean we’re the perfect example. The only perfect example is the Lord. But does he say here, being examples to the flock? That’s what he says. He’s not talking about Christ, talking about us. And then he also makes this statement, be thou an example of the believer in word and in faith in purity, in spirit, in attitude, everything you’d be an example of the believer.

That is our responsibility. Then he makes this statement here because this is so important. This is kind of like what we’ve been talking about. One of these days it’s gonna all be over. And he says, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, you shall receive a crown of glory that fate of not away. Now I want you to hold your place right here and just go with me just very quickly to the 22nd Psalm. Now here I want you to remember now this is talking about the chief shepherd shall appear.

Now go all the way back here to Psalms 22 and you’ll notice that Psalms 22 talks about the good shepherd. You see in Matthew it talks about Christ coming as a king. But not as a good chaparity, talking as a king, but in the book of John chapter 10 Jesus says, I am the good shepherd. And here in chapter 22 of Psalms this whole chapter is the good shepherd because the good shepherd gives his life for the shape. So that’s what you have.

Then you have in chapter 24, you have the scripture that we’ve just read in 1 Peter chapter 5, where he talks about the chief shepherd coming in power and great glory. So that’s in chapter 24. He’s the chief shepherd. And he talks about the earth is the Lord’s and all that. Then look down here in verse 7. Lift up your heads. Oh, you gate and be lift up. You everlasting. doors and they see those words king of glory. So what we’re talking about over there in 1 Peter chapter 5 when the king of glory comes then we’re going to be rewarded and we’re going to be in the kingdom upon the earth and we’re all ruling reign with Christ.

So you may suffer now but you’re gonna reign later and it will be worth it all. Then he says in verse 8, who is this king of glory? The Lord and the Lord, L-O-R-D, all caps Jehovah strong and mighty. The Lord’s mighty in battle. And then he says in verse 9, the King of glory comes in in verse 10. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. So here you have in chapter 24, you have the chief shepherd shall appear in glory.

In Psalms 22, it’s the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep. and then in chapter 23 he is called the Great Shepherd of the Sheep and that’s found in the book of Hebrews in chapter 13 and here he talks about the Lord is my shepherd I shall not want. He made me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the steel waters. He restored my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. For thou art with me, and I rod and I staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a stable before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou knorted my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I all dwell in the house of the Lord forever, but we’re not there yet. See Psalms 22 is Mount Calvary and Psalms 25 is Mount Zion and this is where he suffered, this is where he reigns and between two mountains is the valley, Psalms 23 and yea though I walk to the valley of the shadow of death.

I will fear no evil for thou art with me. This is where we are now.” You see Psalms 22 is already coming gone. Psalms 24 is coming, but right now this is where we are. And the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Want for what if he’s your shepherd? And this is why this idea of shepherd and a flock and what God wants is so important. It’s sprinkled throughout the scriptures. It helps us to understand.

Look up here. Now this is so important. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. It’s all the bad things that we do. Everybody does things wrong. But God says that He loves us. and doesn’t matter how old you are or how young you are, God loves you. Now he don’t like what we do wrong but he loves us and for us to pay for this is eternal separation from the Lord. In a literal fire burning hell and God loves us doesn’t want us to go to heaven.

To go to heaven we have to be perfect as righteous as God but we’re not perfect. Nobody’s perfect. So how can I get to heaven? Well I’ve done these bad things. I’m guilty. I’ve got to pay for them. This end represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin, because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. So to show us how much He loved us, He took all of our sins, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

And God says that if we would believe He did it for us, He paid for everything I’ve done wrong. He would give me as a gift eternal life. I get to go to heaven on what Jesus did for me. So can old people understand this? Can young people understand this? Can little kids understand this? Of course. It’s free. If I was to offer you my wallet and you accepted, what would you have? An empty wallet. And if I offered you my Bible and you accepted, you’d have a Bible.

Well, if Jesus walked in here right now, offered you eternal life. And you accepted it, what would you have? Eternal life. If it’s eternal life, how long would it last? Forever. Well, if it lasted forever, and all my sins are paid, where will I go when I die? The heaven. So can I know I’m going to heaven before I die? Yes. How many of you in here know, be honest, shout out. If you died right now, you go to heaven.

Let me see you hand. All right. Put it down. Now, not everybody might not be able to raise your hand, but if you’re here tonight and you could not honestly raise your hand, you could. All you have to do is admit your center. But God loves you. Christ paid for your sins. And if you’ll believe that he paid for your sins, that means you don’t have any sense to pay for it. for. You get to go to heaven, oh what he did for you.

It’s the gift of God. Not a works list. Any man should boast. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head, bow, and every eye closed. No one looking around. If you’re here tonight, if you’re not positive of one to heaven, if you’re not sure, why not just talk to the Lord? Does God know who you are? Yeah, does God know where you are? Yeah. Does God know what you do? Yeah. Does the God know how you think? Would you right now say, Lord, I believeribune Jesus died for me and paid for my sins.

And I’m gonna trust Him to take me to heaven when I die. And God says, friend, if you’ll do that, He will give you eternal life. You could go to heaven. Whenever you lead this world, you can know I’m going to heaven because Christ died for me. Would you believe it? If you will, I’m gonna ask you in just a moment to raise your hand, raising your hand doesn’t save you. It just lets me know that you trusted the Lord, And I’d like to have prayer for you.

Is there anyone at all? Say yes, that made sense to me. Just slip it up real quick, put it right back down. Yes, God bless you, anyone else. There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks. If you have not trust the Lord, don’t you want to go to heaven? I did. That’s why I trust the Lord. Anyone else before we close? I’m not gonna have you forward, not gonna embarrass you, but right where you’re sitting, anyone else. If you’re watching by internet, right where you are, On the screen it says, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior.

If you’ve never done so, I pray that you’ll do it, and do it right now. Our Father, we thank you again for your blessings. Thank you for the free gift of eternal life, and help us Father to do the things that you want us to do. Help us to have some good sheep, and help us to have some good pastors, and some good elders, and good leaders in the church. People that care about others, and that help us to do it willingly, not be grudgingly.

Thank you for all you do for us, and for the one that indicated upon uplifting hand that they would trust your Savior. We know that you give them eternal life, they become your child, that you’ll never cast them out, never lose them. Thank you so much for all you’ve done here. In Christ and every pain, 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 have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Mail.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold.

Friend, one day it will happen, the trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believe it that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.