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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Don’t you take your Bible and turn me to the book of 1 Chronicles in chapter 12. Chronicles chapter 12 in the Old Testament and I want to share with you a few things about understanding the times in which you and I live I Guess you could all cool understand that it’s could be titled ignorance is not bliss Many people think ignorance is bliss. Oh, no, it isn’t and you’ll find that out one day Because God wants us to know so much kind of like this guy, he said to his girl, he says, you know, I have half a mind to get married.

She says, that’s all it takes. You’ll find that ignorance is not bliss. First chronicles in chapter 12, I want you to look there in verse 32. Verse 32, not a lot around this that I want to cover. I just want to cover a statement that it makes. And it says in verse 32, and of the children of Issachar, which were men and you ought to underline this in your Bible that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do.

Understand in the time, knowing what Israel ought to do. You and I ought to understand the times so that you and I can do what we ought to do. And I believe that as we go through some of the scriptures, you’ll see that men have not always understood what they ought to do because they don’t understand the time in which they live. They don’t know what’s going on. So take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke chapter 4, the gospel of Luke in chapter 4.

Now some of this might make some sense, some of it may not, but here in the book of Luke, in chapter 4, I want you just to notice the unbelief here, the unbelief, how people are perceiving something that is taking place in their time. And they don’t realize who they’re seeing, who they’re facing, what’s being said. Yet they went to the synagogue every Sabbath and they listened to the Word and yet did not understand. And now right before them is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, right there.

And he reads the scriptures and he says, this day, these scriptures are fulfilled in your ears. That’s, that’s awesome. I would have loved to have been there. Of course, I have mixed emotions. I just hope that I wouldn’t be one of those that would let’s go them over the cliff and kill them. Hopefully, I’d be one of those that would be in awe. It seems like people who want to know the truth should be able to see and understand these things and get God is holding a whole of them responsible for their unbelief.

Look what he says here in verse 16, he came to Nazareth where he’d been brought up and as his custom was he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, stood up for the reed and there was delivered in him the book of the prophet Isaiah when he had opened the book he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is a fun me because he had to know me to preach the gospel to the poor and he have sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captive, and recovering of the sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”

And he closed the boat. He gave it again to the minister and sat down. The eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, Good day. This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, and they didn’t know who he was. They whisked not. The Bible used that word whisk many times in the scriptures. It means they didn’t know, they didn’t understand, they did not perceive what was taken place right dead in front of them.

And he later refers to a statement where he saysiameter has no honor in his own country. Now you might not understand this, but a lot of times when you trust Christ to save and you want to serve a Lord, sometimes those that are the closest to you don’t understand you. They won’t see it, they won’t get it. And I think it’s sometimes years, and maybe even when a person gets to heaven before they realize the person that they were married to, that wife of theirs or that husband of theirs was one great person, but they didn’t appreciate it at the time.

They didn’t realize what they had. You know, a lot of people go through life and they don’t realize what they have until they what? Until they lose it. Until they lose it. You don’t realize the opportunities. They say the opportunity knocks and is gone. Temptation will lean on the doorbell. I’ll say that again. Opportunity is like on wheels. It’ll come your way and it’s moving on. A being prepared is being able to take that opportunity when it arrives. Being prepared.

Not to do so, it’s on wheels. Maybe never to return again. There’s opportunities that you and I are going to have in life and they’re coming by and and we may never get him again. Wisdom is being able to see, to perceive, take advantage of what you have before you. I never really, and now it was those years I was in Colorado, appreciated as much the ministry that I had till I left. And then years later, I realized what we had.

But while I was there, it was just like it was a normal thing to have 15, 20, 25, and sometimes 50 people trust Christ to save you. Every Thursday night, the average of 450 teenagers, to have eight and nine hundred kids come on to rant, they couldn’t fit in here. I mean, just a handful of them, they wouldn’t fit in this room. They would pack that gymnasium over there. And I just took it for granted because everybody was working.

Everybody was doing something. And I didn’t realize what I had. Calatra had done left and then try to do it again. And it won’t happen again. You are there for a moment. And opportunities come and opportunities go. But temptation leans on the doorbell. It’s waiting for you, waiting for you, waiting for you. But the opportunities of life to serve a Lord. Juralize how short life is. And there’s things that one day you and I are going to grieve about.

Wonder why God didn’t give us a chance or an opportunity to do something wonderful to great. And God says, I had so many that I gave to you and you never took advantage of it because you didn’t perceive the times in which you lived. You didn’t see the opportunity. You didn’t seize upon the moment. You let it slip away. Look what he says. In verse 22, And all bear him witness, wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.

And they said, it’s not this Joseph’s son. We know him. He’s illegitimate. He said to them, ye were surely saying to me this proverb, physician, he of I saw, because nobody else will. Nobody else is going to believe you. He says, whatsoever we have heard, done in Capernaum, do hear also in this country. He said he couldn’t do them because of their unbelief they would not believe. They want him to be a little magician that they can snap their fingers and say, do this trick force, do this trick force.

And verse 24, now look at the statement that Christ made. Verily, I say unto you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. In other words, people where he you are that really know you sometimes don’t appreciate you. Now there’s a good possibility that wherever you are, even on your job, people don’t know what a great person you are because of what you know. You know how to have eternal life and go to heaven. You live right, you try to talk to them, you share the gospel and they don’t want nothing to do with it.

They won’t know until they get to the judgment what they had right there in front of them. They had somebody who poured out their heart, prayed for them, cared about them, witnessed and they had no desire for any of it. And you’re gonna have to go through that. And it’s gonna hurt you sometime and cut you quick, but understand that Jesus Christ went through that very same thing, those times of rejection. A prophet, half no wonder in his own country.

And then he uses a couple of illustrations that most time I believe people when they see this, they already appreciate it. Because he says, do you remember that when Elijah was back there and they had the three and a half years of drought? All these people, in all these cities, and all over Israel, he wound up going to a house of a lady who was a widow in a heathen town, a siren. Palestine. And he went there because even though there was a lot of people hurt him, but there was a woman there that gave to the man of God.

And look what he says in verse 25, but I tell you of the truth, many widows were in Israel, many, there were many widows in Israel. In the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut three years and six months. Great famine throughout all the land, but was none of them was Elijah’s end, saving the serapha a city of Sidon unto a woman that was a widow. He went to a heathen woman and not to the house of Israel, because a prophet hath no honor in his own country.

They didn’t appreciate this man. He had didn’t appreciate this man. They had 450 prophets that turned against Elijah. All these things were going on, but yet in their midst was a man of God that could perform miracles, do all kinds of things. But their unbelief caused a great man to go to a widow that was a heathen in Palestine. And yet there were many widows. Christ tells the story. You would think he probably went to a lot of them, did all the, no, he only went to one person, one time.

And she had an opportunity laid before her and she took advantage of that opportunity. She made the last thing that she had. She says, I’m just going to eat this last meal and my son and I were going to die. We’re going to starve to death. But because of what she did, her oil never run out and God blessed her. And her son died and brought him back to life. You see, so many people miss so many opportunity because they don’t appreciate what’s right in front of them, what they have.

I would venture to say, and I’m just guessing, some of y’all may have never really appreciated Hank Lindstrom like you should have until he was gone. I’m not saying you did, but he was a great man. He was a good man. He loved the gospel. He loved souls and we give his life for the sake of the gospel and probably did. But after a person’s gone you think, Man, I should have prayed for Him more. I wonder if I could have helped Him more and not realize in sometimes what you have right in your hands.

I did that with the people that I had and sometimes not appreciating people like I should have. Do you think it’s possible Christians can do stuff like this until it’s too late? I wanted my mom to love me. I wanted my mom to be proud of me. And even if not, I even wanted my dad to be proud of me. But he’d have when I was 13. He had no clue what I’ve done. But when it’d been great to have a dad say, you know, son, I’m proud of you.

Son, I love you. Don’t we want something like that from those that we think should know us the best? And sometimes we fail to realize what we have. Some of you may lose your wives. I should have treated her better. I shouldn’t have spoke so harsh and so mean and unkind. We should have never had those arguments that we had. I should have treated my kids better than I did. I failed my kids. I should have done this. I should have done that.

But after a while, it’s too late. They’re gone. When my son was brutally murdered, you have no idea how many times I thought in my mind what I could have done, what I should have done. I could have been a better father to him. I could have loved him better, but it’s gone. I’ll never get that opportunity again. That was 20 years ago last month. Do you think I thought thinking stuff like that? Opportunities that are forever gone. We’re now living at a time in history where it’s you and I.

We weren’t here a hundred years ago, and we won’t be here a hundred years from now. This is our time, this is our moment. This is where we get the opportunity to take advantage of whatever God has for us, to learn whatever God has for us to learn. Well look what else it says. When he makes the statement in verse 27, and many lepers were in Israel. Now think about the many lepers in Israel. Evidently, Jesus knew every one of them.

He knew every one of these lepers and knew exactly where they were. But who does he wind up healing? Who does he lie to heal? Is it those lepers in Israel? No. God had a lot of little Jewish girl to be taken captive in this area. And there was a man there, and Naaman had leprosy. And the little girl told about if he only knew about the man of God, the man of God. You see, that was one little episode in a life of a great general, and all of a sudden, here’s a little slave girl who takes one opportunity to be like, if he only knew about the man of God, maybe there’s just that one statement.

If he only knew about the man of God in Israel, he knew something about it. What if it hadn’t have been heard? What if it hadn’t have been relayed? What if he hadn’t have got together and went all the way into Israel just to see this man of God? And then when he got there, he thought that he would come out there and meet him and allah, allah, allah. You ought to read the whole story. And he was healed of his leprosy.

Why? Because see, a prophet hath no honor in his own country. It means that sometimes you’re going to find out you’re not going to be appreciated all the time. By the ones you know and love the best. That’s what taking a strong stand for the Lord is all about. When it costs you something, when it hurts you. And you do what’s right and sometimes people don’t see it and they don’t understand. and it kind of twist your guts inside out.

And you can’t explain it. And nothing like hurts like rejection. We don’t think they really know care. What did they want to do with Jesus? What He said all of these things. Do you think they were getting His drift? Well, all they wanted to do, well, it says they’re in verse 28. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were so impressed and filled with love and joy. And they wanted to declare him king right there on the spot.

Is that what it said? They were angry with what he said. Is what he said, was it true or was it false? He told the truth. Do you think before this ever took place? That Jesus who is God himself and he knew that those scriptures referred to him and this day shall these scriptures be fulfilled. And you’re here. Do you think he knew the outcome of their mind thinking before he did the first thing and said the first thing.

And yet he did it anyway. And sometimes I have already known how people are going to respond about things and I will do it anyway because if it’s truth, it’s truth. And if people get hurt because of truth and rebel because of it and get offended because of it, so be it. I cannot and will not try to ever change anything because I’m afraid it’s going to offend somebody. If truth offends, then let it offend. Because being offended was your choice.

Mine is to declare truth. What people do with truth is their choice. I do not purposely ever seek to try to offend anybody, but I know that truth is offensive. The most offensive person ever to come into this world was not Hitler. Not Mussolini, not Stalin. Not Osama bin Laden. Thought of Hussein, the most offensive person in this world. Ever coming to this world with Jesus Christ. He offended more people. He made everybody mad. He split everybody. And it’s still going on today.

Because he’s truth. And people don’t want truth. And so it says in verse 29, and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him unto the brow of the heel, were on they said the city was built that they might cast him down head long, but he passed through them. What do they want to do with them? They wanted to kill him. What wrong had he done? They wished not who he was. They didn’t understand the time to which they were living.

when the Scriptures were being fulfilled at their time and their moment in that one little synagogue. And they blew it. They blew it. And you think, well, how could they be so blind? And you’d be surprised how many times you and I are doing the same thing. We’re not sensing the opportunities that God gives to us and what we could accomplish for the Lord. Look there in the book of Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. Just a couple of scriptures I want to show you here that I think is very important.

Look chapter 19 and look in verse 41. This is mentioned several times in the scriptures about him looking over the city of Jerusalem. But look in verse 41 where he says, and when he was come near, he beheld the city. Talk about Jerusalem and wept over it. Is Jesus wept? He wept. But why did he weep? Why was he crying? Saying. So what we’re reading here is something that he says weeping If thou hath known You ought to just think about that if thou hath known If you only knew if you could only perceive Here it’s talked about For almost 2,000 years about my coming I Give you all these signs and I’m here He was in the world and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not.

They didn’t know who He was. Here is God in the flesh standing in front of them, talking to them, walking with them. All the miracles that He did, and they perceived not who was in their midst. Sometimes we don’t appreciate somebody until it’s too late. I don’t want it to be that you don’t appreciate your husband, your wife, your kids. I know most of you do. Make sure you show it. Make sure you show it. And you do things now instead of living in regret, wishing you to done it differently down the road.

Look what he says, if thou have known, even thou, at least in this thy day, because see you didn’t have last year it’s gone. You have now, Win. Now, God. And you may not have next year. You have now. Do you think God is concerned about our life and what’s going on and what we can do for Him and opportunities He might send our way, but we may not take advantage of it? I just want to take advantage of everything that I can think of by all means, by all means every mean.

Because the devil will do every means he can to destroy us, and I will do everything I can to build us. And he makes a statement, if thou hath known even thou at least in this sight if the things which belonged unto thy be. In other words, it’s for you. This was planned at this particular time for this to happen and for you people to be here, But see, God does not override the will of man’s ignorance. He won’t override the will of man’s rebellion and his unbelief.

If you choose not to know, not to perceive, not to understand, God does not force his light upon you. He says in verse 43, he says, for the days shall come upon thee that thine enemies shall Now, Cassie, trench about the, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. Shall Lady, even with the ground, and thy children with envy, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another, and you ought to underline the last part of that verse.

Because, because, why? Because, because thou knewest not the times of the visitation. God came to visit the time of thy visitation. Someone came to your house. He told you he was coming. He announced it. And then when he got there, you didn’t want him. You didn’t want anything to do with him. How do you think Jesus Christ felt? That’s why he said he wept over the city. He wasn’t talking about the buildings. He’s talking about the people. loved his people.

And he says, this was designed with you in mind. This is for you. And all the things that have happened for the 2000 didn’t have to take place. It was a legitimate offer. God don’t play games, and they would not believe. Look there in Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13 is interesting. Chapter deals with a lot of parables, but I want to go through this kind of quickly here, just a part of it. Matthew chapter 13. I want you to look there in verse 10.

Verse 10. And the disciples came and said to him, why speakest thou unto them? And to the disciples. parables? He answered and said unto them, because there’s a reason, because. You see, when he had a mixed audience, a mixed multitude, he was speaking parables so that those that wanted to know the truth could understand and those that didn’t want to know the truth, they wouldn’t get it. Did you realize that God’s work and be preached from the pulpit and those that want to learn can learn and those that don’t want to learn won’t learn.

You can hear the same words. Some people will grow and others will be stagnant. Do you know that God already knows who will do the will of God and who will not do the will of God? And he said, those that will do the will of God shall know of my doctrine. John 17. But here in Matthew, he makes a statement because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Why isn’t it given to them? He said, because they’re hard-hearted. They’re stiff-necked. They won’t listen. Their ears, they won’t hear. Their eyes, they refuse to see. So he says they’re in verse 13, therefore speak high to them in parable because they see not. Hearing, they hear not. Do they understand? Now notice what he says. He’s referring to an Old Testament scripture in the book of Isaiah, where it says in verse 14, And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, see and ye shall see and not perceived.

For this people’s heart is wax gross or hardened. Their ears are dull of hearing. In other words, it doesn’t matter if I hear or if I understand what you’re saying, I’m not going to do it. God knows that even if you heard the word of God in your heart you have already decided I will not do the will of God. And opportunities will come, but you won’t see them. God will speak, but you will not hear. And you’ll find yourself one day realizing I let all my great opportunities slip away.

I’ve wasted my life. I wasted my life. What do you think at the judgment seat of Christ when he talks about the haywoodness stubble. The gold, silver and precious stone, that it will try every man’s work of what sort it is. Is it gold, silver and precious stones? Or is it haywood and stubble? Do you believe that God’s people could have some haywood and stubble? It means the times of your life that burn up and wasted. And a lot of Christians are wasting their whole lives, waste in it, to no profit, no gain.

And they don’t seem to get it. They just don’t understand. They don’t perceive. It never changes their life. 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 The 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 tampayouthranch.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… 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. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.