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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 You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the Bibleignmenistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Well, take your Bible, turn it to Book of Romans. Book of Romans. Ask Thou Faith. Ask Thou Faith. That’s a good question. It was asked by some people. Ask Thou Faith. Christ made the statement, when He comes again, will He find faith up on the earth. So I guess there’s something the Lord looks for is, it’s like a GPS that can pick up all those who have faith in the Lord. God can just pick you right out of here.

right out of here when the rapture comes. But also God’s will is that every one of God’s children grow and mature in the Lord. And so learning what the word of God says is one thing, applying it is another. Learn how to walk with the Lord. Being a little on the mature side that scares all of us. We want to all be thought as I’m a mature Christian. I mean what Christian says, I’m just a child Christian, I’m just a baby Christian, I’m a carnal Christian.

We all want to be a spiritual Christian, right? Don’t you want to be mature in the Lord? Well there’s a few things to consider because along with that comes great spiritual responsibilities. So you look there in the book of Romans in chapter 14, and you look down in verse 22, past thou faith, have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that can dimeth not himself in that thing which he allow us. In other words, remember this, whatever you say, think and do, you give yourself permission to do it.

You have given yourself permission on how you think and what you think about it. You give yourself permission on what you say. You give yourself permission on the things that you do. So the things that you have given yourself permission on, do you later condemn yourself because you knew it was wrong. And whenever you condemn yourself, well then you know you’re not gonna be happy because of the guilt. To him that know if to do good and do it that not, to him it is, it is sin.

So he says here, whatsoever is not a faith. It is sin. See there in verse 23? And he that diodith is damned if he eat because he eateth not a faith but whatsoever is not a faith is sin. Does it mean that he’s condemned the hell out? No. It means he’s not happy. You’re not going to be happy in this life if you condemn yourself in those things that you allow yourself to do. But the problem is is when you learn the word of God, you’re learning more about what is right and wrong.

You’re learning discernment. What’s right and what’s wrong? Conscience can be your guide if your conscience has been taught and trained and prepared by the word of God. Otherwise, you just got a carnal conscience. You just got a mind that’s human and you think and reason according to human reasoning. But when you put the word of God into your mind, you have spiritual reasons you think differently, you have the mind of God. So in studying that, know that there’s the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God.

The wisdom of God coming from above and is peaceful, is wonderful, is joyful, and it’s all the things that you want. But the wisdom of the world doesn’t produce the product that sometimes you think you’re going to find. So in looking at these verses, you’ll find out that there’s something God wants all of us spiritual people to do, how we’re supposed to think. Now you know that in Romans and chapter 14 and verse 1, Him that is weak in the faith receive you not to doubtful discoputations, not always arguing with them because they’re weak in the Lord and they don’t know.

In other words, the key thing is learning how to persuade people and persuade them with the word of God is nothing wrong in doing that, but you’re not to try to override their will where they really don’t agree or understand and they can’t follow You that are spiritual can begin to look down upon those that are not as godly or holy as you are and They don’t walk as a saint of 50 years because some Christians are weak in the faith.

They don’t know everything thing. There was this problem between the Jews and the Gentiles. They both ate meat that was offered to idols, but now that you trust the Lord, well, there’s some understanding and a little temperance, a little understanding and forgiving. Cut people a little slack. They’ll be so hard, mean, and cold, and cruel. It’s so easy to be that away because the more you learn and the more you know knowledge, pop it up. And so you become more critical and judgmental because you know so much.

You can see so much. Now there’s nothing wrong in having good eyesight because with good eyesight, you can see things better clearly with good eyesight. But the more good you see, also the more dirt you can see. And as you look at people, you’d be surprised you can see so much good that everybody’s doing. Or you can also see all the bad that everybody’s doing. What do you focus on? So a person who’s not really spiritually strong focused upon the weak things of other believers instead of upon their strengths and what they’re doing that’s good and right.

If you brag and promote and compliment good things, and people have attention, you wanna do more of that. But if you say, you know, you never do anything right. Never. I mean my whole life, I’ve never done anything right. Doesn’t that really build up your self image, your ego? Not really. But now notice what he says here. Him that is weak. In chapter 15, we then that are strong. So there’s messages to those that are weak in the faith, and there’s some things that God says to those that are strong.

You are this evening, either pretty strong in the Lord, or maybe you’re pretty weak in the Lord. And it’s gonna make a difference on how you perceive things. Not everybody sees things, eye to eye on everything. So as he says here in these verses, there’s some things that helps us to know how we’re supposed to think about somebody else. And that’s why I want you to see there in 14. Look what he says there in verse seven, where he makes a statement for, None of us liveeth to himself and no man dieeth to himself.

We influence others. We influence. And so we gotta watch how do we influence people? Are you able to draw people to the Lord? Or you wind up chasing people from the Lord? Are you a stepping stone that helps people up? Or are you a stumbling block of a witch people fall? So every one of us are gonna have to answer to the Lord. So as you go down through here, you’re going to find out that the Lord says that He is the Lord of the living and the dead.

You notice what He says in verse 8, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, whether we die, we die unto the Lord, whether we live there for our die, we are the Lord. So whether the person is strong or weak, you are the Lord’s. Whether you were Jews or Gentiles, you are the Lord’s because Christ died, paid for your sins and you trusted Him and your Savior, still the Lord’s. So whether you live, you belong to the Lord.

And when you die, you belong to the Lord. And so he says here in verse 9, for to this in Christ both died and rose and revived or lived again that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living. That word Lord is like the word master. So after you have trusted Christ as your Savior, is it the will of God that the Lord be the master of your life? So whether you’re a weak Christian or a mature Christian.

The Lord wants to tell us both how we’re supposed to live, how we’re supposed to think. So as you read the Scriptures, you’ll find out God wants to be the Lord of my life. That means He’s my Lord. I’m His servant. I’m His child, yes, but I’m the serve my Father. So He made the statement in the same verse where He talks about that He died and rose again, and He’ll refer to this several times. One over there in Corinthians in chapter eight, where He says, for whom Christ died, for whom Christ died.

And you’ll see that also down there in verse 15 where he says, but if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walketh thou not charitably, destroy not him with thy meat. Here’s that phrase again, for whom Christ died. Now how much did Christ love that person? He loved them so much he was willing to die for them. Now if Christ was willing to die for that person. What are you willing to do for that person? Oh, he loved them that much.

Now, you may not be willing to die for them, but maybe you could abstain from offending him if you can. So sometimes, and I’ve used to have this kind of an attitude. I’ve had to work on it. It was very difficult. I don’t care what anybody thinks. Period. I don’t care what you think. I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’m gonna do whatever I want to do. Now if it means you’re gonna serve the Lord and you don’t care if they don’t want you to or whatever, I’m gonna do it anyway.

Now it can be done in a good sense. But if I don’t care what anybody thinks, well in serving the Lord and trying to influence people, you’ve got to care what people think because don’t you want to encourage them, exhort them? Or you want to persuade them to do what God wants them to do with their life? So I had to kind of work on that a little bit. And I actually believe I really care about people and what they think.

I know you don’t believe this, but I want everybody to like me. I really do. I don’t like it when people don’t like me. when they don’t like me. I don’t like them either. I like people, but I want people to like me. Everybody wants to be like, have you ever noticed on this Facebook thing, every time you make a comment, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, as though you’ve got to tell them you like what they said, you got to make a comment, I like that.

And it goes all over the place. Well, I have a hard time hitting all these like, like, like, like, like, like, so I don’t do it. My wife can do it all, she’s out But we want to be liked. You want to be liked. You won’t believe it. But he wants people to like him. Don’t you, Trent? He wants people to like him. But they don’t. No, they don’t. They do. We like Trent. We love Trent. Smile Trent. But now those who do know the Lord and love the Lord, he says, If Christ was willing to die for him, what are you willing to do for him?

Because you want the best for people. And so this is why your conscience is so important, so valuable. Now I want to go back here to Romans in chapter 14 where it makes a statement there in verse 8, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord. that little phrase. You will find it also mentioned in 2 Corinthians in chapter 5. There’s the 14 and 15. When he talks about the love of Christ constraineth the motivate us. You know the love of Christ chimes motivates us because we judge that if one died for all then all were dead, that they which live should not hence fork live unto themselves but unto him who died for them.

Onto him to die for the same thing that you find right here in this verse. So God wants you and I to know the Lord, love the Lord, serve the Lord. And in doing that, God said it’s going to make a difference in other people’s lives. But we’ll have to understand that there’s some things about your conscience. Look what he says when he talked about this word persuading. We’re talking about winning people the Lord. We persuade men, persuade. That means we can’t make a person trust Christ to save you.

You can’t make a weak Christian see. You can give him some light, but whether he sees or not, it’s going to be dependent upon how he accepts it and so forth. And you’re trying to help people to grow in the Lord. So you see down here in verse 14, I know and am persuaded. You’ve got to underline it. I’m persuaded of something. So that’s what God wants to do. Win people. And you win people by loving people and caring about people and getting people to see and to understand what is the will of God.

And so if you do that you’ll get some good results. But notice in verse 10, but why does Thou judge Thy brother? Or why does Thou set it not Thy brother? And so He’s not important. It doesn’t really matter. God says, no man lives unto himself, no man dies unto himself. We are influencing other people about the things we say and the things that we do. And so he says, we shall all stand before the Judgement seat of Christ.

You see, what he does to try to challenge motive, he doesn’t say, well, that’s a sign you’re not saved. No, he just lets you know you’re going to have to give an account of yourself to the Lord. We’re going to have to stand at the Judgement seat of Christ. To see God does not make you an eye. Do any of this? It’s not automatic. So that means that he’s got to win us. And okay, now what am I going to get out of this?

So the Lord tells you they’re going to be a rewarding stand. And I’m going to reward you for what you’ve done. In other words, it will be worth it. Like is there faith found upon you? Is there people who love the Lord enough and put their confidence in what God says that I can wait? Knowing that God’s going to give you praise, honor and glory, glory, whatever that might be, and how it’s going to be received, and what is the crown, what’s all these rewards?

I don’t know. I can use some things from the Scriptures, but it really doesn’t matter what it is. It’s just that God promised, I believe Him, and I’m going to be patient and wait for them. And because I’m going to wait, I’m going to go ahead and serve while I can. See, waiting, like people who wait on tables, doesn’t mean they’re not do anything. They’re so serving. So until then we keep serving the Lord. And so he says in verse 11, as it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God.

Whether they’re saved or lost, every man is going to have to bow to the Lord. Where is that verse found that talks about that? Just hold your place right there and just look over there in the book of Philippians real quick and once you see this, Philippians and chapter 2. Philippians chapter 2, when we talk about having this mind that was in Christ, learning how to, regardless of how much you know, how much can you yield, how much can you bow to the will of God?

And he says this, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ, who been in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of a serpent and was made in the likeness of men. So he did all this voluntarily. The father didn’t make him do it. He just says, I love the father and this is the father’s will. And so that’s why I do what I do.

So he says, he became fashion as a man, humbled himself, became obedient, even unto death. Now God wants us to have the same kind of a mind that we love our father so much we’re willing to do whatever he wants us to do. And we know it’s one thing to lead somebody to the Lord. It’s another thing to challenge God’s children to serve the Lord. Some of the people that are the hardest to love is not the lost person.

It’s the same person. Most of us deal with the saved people more than we do with the lost people. True? Now, do we care about them as much as we care about reaching the lost man. But once you’re saved, we don’t care about you anymore. We just got to keep believes in the law. After you got saved, do you believe that God loves you just as much now as He did when He, you were lost? He still loved you and He still loves you now.

So He says here in Philippians, in verse 9, where, for God has highly exalted Him, given Him a name of which is above every name, that it the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, things in heaven, things in the earth, things under the earth, that every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord to the glory of God the Father and then we usually stop right there. But look at the very next verse. It doesn’t stop where we just stop.

It starts again in verse 12. Wherefore, because this is true, and because of the way we’re supposed to be, the mind that we’re supposed to have, wherefore it might be loved, as you have always obeyed. So we’re not talking about getting saved. We’re talking about in the Christian life where the Lord is the master of our life. And this one that died on the cross and was highly exalted, the one that to whom every knee shall bow. Don’t you believe that God’s children should bow to the Lordship of Christ now?

I think so, I don’t think anything wrong with it. Now I’m not talking about Lordship Salvation. That’s a different subject altogether. We’re talking about as Christ is the Lord of our life. and we should yield to His will. We still, as a Christian here in this world, have a sinful nature and we have our own will, and so we’re the yield of our will to His will. And that’s why it says, be not conformed to this world, but be a transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That you may prove or discover where’s a good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Now why does he want you to know about the will of God? Because he wants you to do the will of God. And this is why he says in verse 12. He says, where for my beloved as you have always obeyed not is in my presence only but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, not working for salvation, working out what God has put in with fear and trembling fear and trembling of what?

That you have to do with fear and trembling of God. you or I could miss the will of God for our life. Because if he’s the Lord, then he’s the master. He should be able to tell us what he wants us to do. It ought to bring fear in your heart that I will miss the will of God for my life. If there’s anything that I wanted after I got saved was to please the Lord. And what places the Lord is not me going my own way and doing my own thing.

It’s finding out what places God and seek to please him and everything that you do. That’s why he says in verse 13, for it is God which worketh in you to make you have the attitude, humility, just like Christ had when he submitted himself and became a man. And even obedience, even unto death. So now he says, for it is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Whatever God wants to bring into your life, Whatever pleases God, are you satisfied for God to use you, how God wants to use you?

Or is God someone you think you’re supposed to manipulate and use? I’m going to use God to do what I want. No, you surrender to the Lord’s will, and God is supposed to use you to do what He wants. Different way of thinking. And then when you understand that, then do all things, look in verse 14, without murmuring and disputing, without griping and complaining. Why? Because he’s the Lord and you’re serving him. So what you got to complain about.

If people treated him wrong, don’t you think they might treat you wrong? If it’s possible for people in this world to defraud you, wrong you? Oh, so what? Now what? They’re going to suffer in this life. Everything’s not going to work out. That’s why there’s a judgment to the Christ where God will make it right for you. God won’t let you do wrong. I mean suffer the wrong without making it right. Now look what he says because of all of this, because of the mindset that Christ has, look what he said, that you may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke.

In other words, where they can’t find fault in you, that’s legitimate because of your testimony and the lives of other people. He said in the In the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, get this among home ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain. See, after you’ve trusted Christ as Savior, you can labor for the Lord.

Your labor in the Lord is never in vain, but your labor with people can be in vain. It doesn’t mean every person you witness to is going to trust the Lord. There’s a lot of things you may do and it won’t work out. And you can labor and it seems like you’re getting nowhere. And with some people you may not. But if you’re faithful to do what God wants you to do, you are in success. You see faithfulness is successfulness.

And if you’ll be faithful to the Lord, you are being successful. And so when you get to be with the Lord in heaven, he says, God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. So you go ahead and keep certain the Lord and do what God wants you to do. But this has to deal with your way of thinking. attitude that you have and whether or not you will be patient enough with those that are maybe not where you are now.

Remember that little statement? Be patient with people who are now where you once were. You had to learn. Don’t go back here to verse 13 of Romans chapter 14. Let us not therefore judge one another anymore. But judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way. In other words, God, the things that you say and do that you may have a right to do, but a weaker Christian may not understand that.

So you have to make adjustments and try not to do those things. There’s things here in America we may feel like we have the right to do and it’s not offensive, doesn’t bother anybody. But if you want to be a missionary in a foreign field, you may find out some of those things we can do here that doesn’t offend anybody in another country might be very offensive to them. Is that right? So I don’t know what it is. I haven’t been to those foreign countries and done all that, but I’m sure there’s things that would be offensive to them.

But if you go there you may have to learn a little bit about their culture. So you say I can’t do this and I can’t do that. I can’t do that. So the certain Lord told legalistic? No, I can’t do this because I don’t want to do this because it might offend. This might offend. Well, how much am I willing to go on this? Well, we mean Christ loved him so much he was willing to die for them. Remember?

That’s why I keep saying that over the kid? For whom Christ died? For whom Christ died? Look how far he went. How far are you willing to go? You have your limits. In other words, you can love people up to a point. I don’t know if Grace has a limit on it, but now look back here again. In verse 14, I know and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of itself, but to him that esteem is anything to be unclean, to him it is.

In other words, people who used to worship idols and then they had this meat that was off of the idols, well, you come along and you know that that doesn’t mean anything. that I’m in, and gorgile you want. Yeah, but to somebody else that maybe they just trust the Lord, and they don’t think that that’s right for you to eat that meat that’s offered either because that offends them because they think, well, you’re worshiping some idol. Well, you know what’s not true.

Yeah, but their weak conscience might be offended. So the Lord says, it might be better you don’t do that because you could offend and to easily offend. And this is why you have to watch it. Let me see if I can see that one verse that I wanted to mention to you. Look there in 1 Corinthians in chapter 10. 1 Corinthians in chapter 10. We know there’s things that God has told us to do, things he told us not to do.

And the thing he talks about is being able to persuade a person, talking about the way they think. So he makes a statement down here in verse 29. See that first word? conscience. Conscience, I say, not by known, but of the other. For why is my liberty judged of another man’s conscience or your standards? You can have standards that might be fine for you, but when you try to legislate those upon somebody else that doesn’t stand it, don’t say it the same way, then it can be in their mind legalistic.

That if you want to be spiritual, then you You can’t do this, this, this, and this. Now, if you are spiritual, you may not do a lot of those things, but you cannot do a lot of things, and that doesn’t make your spiritual difficult. Just because you come to church and read your Bible and you pray and do all of that doesn’t make your spiritually minded. You can do the things, but not be spiritual. In other words, not be godly, where you can give God Mount service, but not heart service, where you really don’t believe that what you’re doing, God’s concerned about the way you really are.

really love them. And do you do the things that you do because you care so much of this is so important to understand. But look what he says again here. He says, and why is my liberty judged? In verse 30, for if I by grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of for that which I give thanks? In other words, it’s not wrong and I can do it and I have the right. And as he says, all things are lawful and to me, but not all things are expedient.

You may have the right to do a lot of things because it doesn’t offend you, doesn’t offend God, but it might offend a weaker brother. So for their sake, sometimes you have to think, well, now, is this worth doing? Am I gonna become a stumbling block? And these are some personal choices that you have to make. And God says, because you love Him, because you care, hey, and I died for that person. And he doesn’t want us to go around just offending people, but trying to help them to see and understand.

Don’t miss out on all the fun. Join Pastor Jesse and Kyla Martinez on Thursday nights from 7 to 9 p.m. for Tampa Youth Ranch and Calvary Community Church. Tampa Youth Ranch is a great mix of live music, games, Bible study, food, and fun, where teens 13 to 18 get to know God and the Bible with their friends. Check it out online at tampayouth ranch.org. and see the cool pictures from past activities and all the fun you’ve been missing. No right, no problem.

Call 813-334-4655 today for information on getting a ride to Tampa Youth Ranch. Thanks for joining us on Bible Eye. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4011 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.