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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 BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Have you ever had somebody say or do something that just really touched your heart? Or have you watched some movie on TV and it’s a tear jerker? Some things move us and some things don’t bother us whatsoever. I’ve often wondered, did the things that Jesus say and do, does it move you? Does it cause you to think or feel a certain way and it really makes a difference in your life? Am I touched? Am I touched? by what the Lord did.

Does it move you to tears? Does it shake you up? Does it change or alter your life? You know I believe the devil wants us to stay so busy and our lives in such a turmoil that we don’t have time to stop and think about what he wants us to think about. Because if we thought about it, you know servant of the Lord makes sense. The Bible also talks about that in the, you know, people that will by departing from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of the devil, departing from the faith.

Now this is people who know the Lord, but they depart from the faith because they’re listening to seducing spirits, doctrines of the devil. But the devil doesn’t want you to stop and think about where it’s coming from, because you might wise up and correct the problem. God wants us to stop and be steel and study His word so that we can detect, discern, am I departing from the faith and not even know it? Can I be drifting? And you’re not sure.

We talk about, you know, near where my God to the end, getting close to the Lord. With you and the Lord, the Lord didn’t move. But argue as close as you ought to be. So things in life seem to pressure us closer to the Lord. But I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke. The book of Luke in chapter 22. Luke chapter 22. And if you look there in verse 42, there is a statement that he made here.

And I think it’s very, very important. In verse 42, he says, say in father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. Okay. Now that’s what he said. What do you say? Jesus says, nevertheless, not my will but thine be done. Have you resigned yourself to that fact yet? I mean, if you just went no further than that, have you resigned yourself to the fact that for your life, not my will but thine be done?

Are you willing to do just that much? If he asked me, just his will. That seemed like a simple thing to do. But did you know if I was the devil, I wouldn’t want you to think about that. I’d want you to think about your will and what you want. It’s your life. Or is it? Haven’t we been bought with a price? Therefore we belong to the Lord. So we shouldn’t have a problem with that verse, but I believe too many times, yes we do have a problem.

Look in John 5, John in chapter 5. John chapter 5 and look there in verse 30. Verse 30. In verse 30, he says, I can of my own self do nothing. Or if that was true with him, you remember, he said, without me, you can do nothing. But look what he says, I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. And my judgment is just because you’re the underlying circle, that word, because. Because I seek not my own will.

will of the Father which hath sent me. My only purpose in life, he says, is to do the will of him that sent me.” Okay. Didn’t he send us? Shouldn’t we have the same mind, same attitude? You know, he says in there, let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. In the words for us to learn to try to think the way he thinks. He was a good example, but sometimes we want to argue with God, debate with God like he could be wrong or I’m going to change God’s mind.

We’d be better off not spend our lives trying to fight with God, but when you stop and think about doing what God wants you to do and realizing that sometimes you’re not equally yoked. The Bible talked about, do not be unequally yoked. But notice what he says here in this verse. In the last part of me, he says, because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which have sent me. That’s what I’m seeking. This is what I want.

I have committed myself to this. I’m resigned to do the will of the Lord. Look there in Romans in chapter 15. Romans chapter 15. Romans 15 kind of gives us an idea about, you know, he says, for whatsoever things were written before were written for our learning. That’s in verse four. But now, if you’ll notice up there in verse one, we then that are strong, ought to bear the infirmities of the week and not to please ourselves. So the purpose in the golden life is not just to please you, it’s to please the one who sets you free, the one that died for you, to please the Lord.

He says, for all things, He says that thou art created to please Him, the book of Hebrews. We are to please the Lord. And without faith, it’s impossible to please Him. And then He says in verse 3, for even Christ, please not Himself. But as it is written, the reproaches of them, that reproaches they fell on me. Christ did not come to please himself, but to please his father. How are you doing? Can you say that? The purpose of my life is not to please me, but to please the Lord.

My will is to do the will of him, that sent me. Can you say that? Are you there yet in your Christian life? See, not everybody is at the same place. Not everybody serves the Lord to the same degree, all the time. So you have to try to take people from where they are and what they know. This is why I do not try to make people do anything because you will do what you really want to do according to your love for the Lord.

And if you don’t love the Lord, you all hate somebody trying to make you do something, but if you love the Lord, and you love the Lord as He says, growing in the knowledge of the Lord, growing in love. So you’ll grow in your commitment as you grow in the Lord. And some people haven’t grown very strong in the Lord. as you look at people in the church, not everybody loves the Lord to the same degree. Not everybody is as involved to the same point.

Everybody’s different. So what you try to do is just get people to do what they can with what they have, where they are. But if you try to get people to do something that they have no desire for, then it’s like pulling teeth and it don’t usually work too well. But you do have within you this desire, I want to please the Lord and nobody can make you get to that point in your life. That’s something that’s between you and him.

Nobody can make him. All right, I want you to take your Bible looking Luke chapter 2, the gospel of Luke and chapter 2. Luke chapter 2, look in verse 49. He said unto them, how is it that you sought me? And here’s the question for you. It’s the question he put to them, but he says, who is not that I must be about my father’s business? Or as you live your life, are you about your father’s business? Now the father’s business is you and I doing whatever we do, whatsoever thy hands find if to do, do it with all thy might.

It means that, as he says in the book of Colossians in chapter three, as you serve the Lord, you’re going to be rewarded for you serve the Lord Christ. You serve in the Lord. So you serve the Lord by Father’s been the right example. By wives submitting themselves to their husbands, children obeying their parents. See, there’s many things God’s told us to do and as you live your life, can you say, I am about my father’s business. Now, don’t underestimate the power of this verse when he was just 12 years old.

But it’s something that should be, I guess, you could say, a slogan for your whole life. I am about my father’s business. Could you say that? concerning your life. How long have you lived? Whatever it is. I am about my father’s business. This is why I live. I came to do the will of my father. My will is to do and to please my father. And I must be about my father’s business. I believe that it’s important, but some people are not touched by these things.

Oh, they trust Christ as their Savior. They have eternal life. They’re going to to heaven when they die. But it’s like He’s never touched them. They have no feelings whether the law school to heaven or hell about their own personal life or the judgments to Christ or what grieves the Father, what grieves the Holy Spirit. Look in John chapter 9, the gospel of John and chapter 9. John chapter 9, look there in Verse 4, in verse 4, you ought to underline this verse, it’s a good verse.

Yes, it talks about what Christ did and how He thought, but it tells us to have this kind of a mind. You and I are not going to live forever. So He makes the statement here, in verse 4, I must work the works of Him that sent me. I must. I must. You know, there’s a few verses all about you must be born again. You must be. Why? Because you must be. There is no other way. And after you trust Christ as your Savior, as a child of God, I must be about my father’s business.

As he says here, I must work the works of him that sent me. You see, when you lose sight of that, you sometimes, you can lose sight of who you are. What you’re here for? What are you living for? What’s the purpose of life? Are you serving the one who died for you? He sent us into all the world. And maybe sometimes you may not go into all the world, but you help somebody go into all the world. So you do it.

Why? Because you are about your father’s business. That’s why you do what you do. Trusting that the seed sown will bear fruit. I don’t have to see the fruit. But when we get to heaven, who knows how many people have trusted Christ as Savior or Christian that have been challenged to serve the Lord? Because we were about our Father’s business. We did the will of Him that sent us. We have a responsibility. You see why I would hate to lose those outreaches or hate to lose the internet or hate to lose whether it’s ranch or whether it’s the awana or anything that we have.

All of those things are important because it means that we as a church, we are here to do the will of the Father. We’re here because we want to please Him. We do what we do because we want to reach souls. We want there to be fruit. And we believe that if we do, then God will bless us. And as He says, I must work the works of Him. That sent me. Now get the rest of it. While it is day.

What does it mean by that? The last part of it says, because night cometh when no man can work, because there’s a time coming when nobody will be able to do anything. You see, everything that we can do, everything we must do, is then a short period of time. We don’t live forever. I wasted the first 18 years before I ever heard the gospel. And so then, since I trusted Christ the Savior, no man knows how long he’s going to live.

You only may get five after you trust the Lord. Maybe you get 10 years. Maybe you get 20, 30, 40, 50. Whatever it is, you have to do the work why you have the time. Because whenever you die, there is no more time. There’s more life here. No more opportunities. It’s all gone. So our opportunities are like on wheels. And whenever they come our way, they keep going. So being prepared means being able to take advantage of an opportunity when it rolls your way.

And a lot of people can’t take advantage of opportunities because they are not prepared. The reason I went to Florida Bible College is so I could prepare, so I could take advantage of more of my opportunity. See, everybody has opportunities. But some people won’t prepare themselves and they say, well, I can’t do that. Well, I can’t do that. I can’t do that. Why? Well, you didn’t prepare. Does God know what you could do if you really wanted to do?

He knows the potential of every individual and so we have a responsibility. We should do it. Matthew chapter 11 turn there. I want to see this Matthew and chapter 11 Matthew chapter 11 I’ve used these verses many many times because they’re just So, so good. But I want you to see what he says here. In verse 28, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Now I know Jesus can give rest that nobody else can give.

But do you realize also that you are a representative of the Lord in this life? You are an ambassador. You’re his ambassador. And so therefore you and I should be able to say to people, look, I got something that can give you rest. I want you to listen to what I have to say. Let me tell you about someone that’s important. So all we want to do is point people to the one that can give them rest. Look what else you said in verse 29.

Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. Take my burden. Take this responsibility and learn of me. Did you know that you do not really learn the Lord until you take the burden? Now let me tell you this. I could give an invitation at the end of a church service and beg people to come down here and get a burden. Pray that God will give you a burden for souls. You don’t have to do that. All you have to do is accept the responsibility to reach them.

And all of a sudden you’ve got a burden. He’s already commanded us to go, hasn’t he? All that we got to do is obey a command. And then you trust the Holy Spirit to lead you as you go, but you don’t pray to the Holy Spirit to lead me to go. I’ve already been commanded to go. I just depend upon the Lord to lead me as I go. And if you do that, you’d be surprised how much more fulfilling your life can be.

Look what he says. I am meek and lowly in heart. Under your breath. under your breath. Don’t say that loud. I want you to say, I am meek and lowly in heart. Can you say that? I am meek and lowly in heart. Do you know what meek means? Meek is not weak. Moses was a meek man. Doesn’t mean he was a weak man. It’s like a horse with dynamic power under control of a little rider. Have you ever seen a little child riding a big old horse?

And that horse is submissive to the rider? It’s strength under control. You and I see we are rebellious by nature, our old sinful nature. We want our own way, do our own will, please ourselves. But a meat man who is like God’s talking about humble submits all that strength that he has to rebupt and submits himself to the Lord. You’ll be a meat man, not a weak man, but you’re dependent upon the Lord. Look what he says, I am meek and lowly in heart.

And I can submit myself. Pride exalts. And then God says, if you exalt yourself, I’m going to have to humble you. But if you will humble yourself, I will exalt you. depend on which way you want to go. If you want to be used of God, then humble yourself. I heard a good say in the other day, God doesn’t use email, he uses an email. Did you get that? He uses an email, an email. But look what else he says, I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”

Now see, even you and I, even as we give advice to other people, there’s a lot of troubled hearts and nobody seems to really care enough that they’re willing to rebuke somebody if necessary or to share the truth with them to try to help people to see and understand. It would be so much easier in light, especially for me if I just shut my mouth and just got me a regular job and say nothing to nobody and just live happily ever after.

But I know life is short and I’m going to have to stand before the Lord and He’s going to say, well, I gave you a command. Why didn’t you do my will? Why didn’t you seek to please me? Why did you rebel? And over and over again, these things can haunt your mind. You don’t want to wait until you get to heaven and to find out, you know, I should have done this. I should do it now before you get there.

So important. In verse 30, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Serving the Lord. It’s just so hard to serve the Lord. Well, the Lord says my yoke is easy. My burden is light. That is if you trust the Lord. And you cast all your cares upon him, but he says if you don’t in the book of Deuteronomy He says I’ll put a yoke of iron upon your neck until it destroys you because I’ll service not the Lord Thank God with joyfulness of heart So yes, there’s a yoke of iron and there’s this other one look in Luke chapter six Luke chapter six Luke chapter 6 and look there in verse 12.

Something that is an important thing to do, though many people don’t do it, but it is important to do. In Luke chapter 6, look there in verse 12. Jesus had a big decision to make, big decision, and it says that He prayed all night. Look here in verse 12. It came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. Now I’m not saying you have to do that, but do you believe that you ought to pray?

The Bible says pray without ceasing. That means living in an attitude of prayer and attitude of constant dependency upon the Lord. Talking to the Lord about anything. In the words, learn to talk to the Lord all day long. Just talk to him. You can pray anytime, anywhere, any position. Just because you kneel doesn’t mean you hummled yourself. A lot of people kneel, but humility is a position of the mind, not the position of the body. But I assure you that if Jesus walked in that door, I would probably follow my face.

And so we do worship the Lord, but praying all the way. He prayed all night long, all night long. And then in the next verse, and when it was day, he said, I need a nap. Now he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose 12, who also he named apostles. So before your big decision, you might need to do a lot of praying. A lot of time we ask a lot of other people, but we need to spend time with the Lord.

And that’s an important, very important thing to do. Now take your Bible and turn over there to the Book of Hebrews in chapter four. Hebrews and chapter four. Hebrews chapter four. And I want you to look up there in verse 12. Verse 12. You see the Word of God and the Son of God are the same. They cannot be in contradiction to each other. What the Word of God says and how the Son of God lived and what He taught can be no difference.

One validates the other. The living Word talks about Christ and Christ talks about the Word. But no, what He says in verse 12, for the Word of God is quick. It means it’s alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. Pears Him even to the divided asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints in the marrow, and as a discerner of the thoughts and the intent of the heart. That’s why when you read and study the word of God, it is so convicting because it helps you to discern your thoughts.

You take the word of God and put it aside, you can’t discern. You’ll use the best judgments you have, but you see, making wise decisions because you made biblical decisions. Learn the word. And then he makes a statement there. in verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest referring to Jesus Christ. That is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. You see, that is your confession of the body of truth that we say we know and we love, we believe, we practice.

Verse 15, I want you to see what he says here because it’s important because it deals with this subject as we started out with, am I touched? As you read the Scriptures and you see what God said and what He did, are you moved by that? Does hearing about the lost and our responsibility? Does it touch you? Does it move you? Does it matter? Here in Hebrews, verse 15 it says, but we have not a high priest which cannot be, and here’s that word I want you to underlamp, touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

Did you know there’s somebody who is touched because he knows? He knows how we think and how we feel. He knows how we hurt. He knows when we’re misunderstood and everything that somebody says about us. And aren’t you impressed that Jesus Christ, God in the flesh came into this world? He knows what it’s like to be poor. He knows what it’s like to be rejected. He knows what it’s like to die. And everything that you and I are facing, He’s touched with the feelings of our infirmities.

Because he worked, we don’t have perfect bodies. We’re going to get sick. We’re going to die. Have you ever done it before? Have you died before? You’ve never done it before? Jesus has. So he’s already done it before. He knows how to walk us through everything. There isn’t anything that you worry about because if somebody has been touched, but you and I are supposed to have the mind of Christ. So as we have the mind of Christ, we understand that not my will, but His will be done.

I always seek to do those things that please my Father. So you see, there’s a work that needs to be done in which not that I must be about my father’s business. And I want to work the works of him that sent me while it is day, because the night comes when no man can work. Opportunities are gone. We only have a short period of time in which to live. Therefore, we want to serve the Lord while we can with what we have, where we are.

Are you touched and moved by the infirmities of other people? Do you care when they hurt? Do you pray for them? When somebody says, will you pray for me? Will you pray for them? Do you care about them? See, Jesus did. Did you know when he was here, every person that was brought to him that had an infirmity, what did he do? He healed him. Now, you say, I can’t heal him? No, but you can be moved with compassion.

You can care. There’s a time to laugh and there’s a time to weep. It’s nothing wrong in being a little emotional at time. God gave us tears, ducks, and tears are supposed to come out of those things. So is nothing wrong in once in a while showing your compassion. And rejoice with those that rejoice, hurt with those that hurt. Let’s pray, Shai’am. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. We thank you for your word. We ask the blessing to find the service to Father.

Bless each one. 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 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 the day and every day. Believe it that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.