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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I want to talk to you a little bit about solving spiritual problems by spiritual means. You don’t solve spiritual problems by physical means and physical problems by spiritual means. You’ve got to have spiritual things. So I want you to take your Bible and turn there to the book of 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians, chapter 2 and verse 13, chapter 2 verse 13. You and I that know the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit in dwelliness. The carnal Christian has the Holy Spirit, and the spiritual Christian has the Holy Spirit.

But some will yield to the Lord and some will not yield to the Lord. There is the problem. So there’s many problems that we have in life. Sometimes we don’t know exactly how to approach them. We’re trying to figure out how to solve this and solve that. But as you study the Word of God, the Bible is the answers that we look for. So by studying and getting a good knowledge of the Bible, you’re able to solve many more problems.

So as we go through life, we’re just problem solvers. A lost man has a problem. What’s his problem? He don’t know where he’s going when he dies. We’re supposed to be able to help him solve that problem. Now we can’t make him solve that problem, but we can sure help him if he wants to be helped. If he wants to know, we can tell him. And then there’s those who know the Lord, God’s children, and they have problems in life.

So the more thing God puts you through, well, the more abilities, skills, experience, and all that, you have to help more people. So if you want God to expand your ministry, then God’s got to have to expand your suffering because people usually have a problem because they’re suffering some kind of problem. It could be a health problem, it could be a physical problem, it could be a marriage problem, it could be a kid problem, it could be help, you name it, but they’re problems that causes them that hurt.

And so they’re always looking for somebody. So the more things that God can put you through, the more equipped you are with that knowledge to help more people. And you do want to help more people. Don’t you want to help more people? And tribulation work is what? So you want more what? Really? You say, well, I don’t want to help that many people, but God does allow us the opportunity to serve him. And so we are supposed to take the spiritual things of God and try to help a person, regardless of what their problem may be, of getting them to the Lord as much as possible and help them to be able to spiritually face whatever they got to face.

So that means you can’t help them if you can’t help yourself. So the Bible says in a book of Jude, building up yourselves in your most holy faith. So you don’t have to worry too much about other things as much as you’d need to think about. I just need to build myself strong in the Lord, and therefore reproduce whatever I am. So whatever God has done for you and taught you, then that’s what you teach and help with other people.

So this is what I believe these scriptures are talking about, but look at verse 13, which things also we speak? Not in the words which means wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual means. Now, these Corinthian Christians had problems, all kinds of problems. But Paul never tries to convince them, well, you must not really be saved. He didn’t cause them to question their salvation, and he didn’t question their salvation, but And he gave them proper doctrine.

To help them solve their problems. So he would list their problem and then you’ll notice that he says, don’t you know? And then he would help them to see how to deal with that problem. So as you and I, as we go through life, we cancel people. You know, people always want our opinion and vice-or-bice something. And I get them all the time. I get them every day. I get a bunch. And either somebody on the phone. Yesterday I bet you better get me the phone.

I don’t know, five, six, seven times. or just people that have called from different places. I mean, a lot of them are out of state because they hear the message they’re on the issue too, but they somehow they run me down and they’ve, anyway, Ben, it says, just a minute, he’s here. And it just means he’s here. I’ll say, thank you, hon. Thank you, hon. And so I’ll talk to them. And it’s amazing, a lot of times you know you can help people and they got a question and you got to give them the Bible verse or explain something to them.

and sometimes people, they know the Lord, but they got questions about their security. They just don’t have that confidence. And so you can give them a verse. And sometimes one verse, man, that’s what I was looking for. So you’re helping people. And then there’s other people who have family problems or financial problems and just all kinds of things they got to deal with. So how do you help them? What you want to take and deal with them spiritually? Try to help them find out where are they spiritually in their life?

And some people, they can’t carry much and so they break down easy. And so you gotta find out how can I fix them? How can I help them? And so you listen a little bit, and I think I got the answer, but you need to listen a little bit more and find out, well, no, that wasn’t. I’m glad I didn’t say anything. Because I have a tendency to, you know, listen to about three or four words and I got the answer.

After about a half an army of tongues, well, that wasn’t my problem. Oh, so then you gotta start over again. So God gave you two ears and one mouth so that you’ll listen twice as much you talked. It’s not a good thing to remember. So take your Bible and turn all the way back there to the book because we’ll come back here, but I want you to look there in the book of Psalms. In the book of Psalms, if you want to see something that will help you tremendously, God wants you to be like a tree planted by the waters.

That’s so that you can get all the water you need, the nourishment you need, so you can always stay strong and you get too far away, then you’re going to dry up. You become brittle. You break easy. But notice what he says here in verse 1, Psalms in chapter 1. He says, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly. So you want a person to learn to walk in the counsel of the godly. Now people should look you and be able to say, you know, now there goes a godly man.

I need to seek his wisdom, seek his counseling. And then you go and you ask that person, don’t always seek counseling from somebody who will tell you what you want to hear, who will always take your sight, or somebody who’s afraid of hurting your feelings so they won’t say anything. You’ve got to have a friend or a counselor that doesn’t mind rebuking you if necessary. Whenever the Lord says, faint not when thou art rebuked of him sometime and most time God uses people to rebuke people.

Have you ever noticed that? There’s somebody that will say you did something wrong. Now there’s some people they walk around with their magnifying glasses. All that that’s all they do is waiting for you to mess up. It’s kind of like watching, you know, these people that are watching for Trump to slip and say one word just so they can hit line news the next day. It won’t matter if he does 99.9% things right, but if they can catch him in one little slip.

Well, there’s people also that do the same thing to us. They’re looking for perfection, and we’re not perfect. But they’ll feel better if they’ll point out yours. But don’t you point out theirs. You can always point out somebody else’s. So be very careful in this. Look what he says, nor standeth in the way of sinners nor siteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in his law, does he meditate day and night?

In other words, always thinking God. When he says, you know, lean not upon thine own understanding and all thy ways acknowledge him. He’s a think God. Think about what God says. So if you don’t lean unto your own understanding, then you’re supposed to lean upon God’s. How does God think and feel about certain things? So you always want to tell people this is how God thinks. This is the word of God says. You know, the Bible says, and that has more authority to it than well, in my opinion, since I’m so holy.

No, let me show you what the Bible says. That’s why I try another to tell a person that they’re saved. I’ll say, if you’ll trust Christ as your Savior, God says you’re saved if you believe it. Because I don’t know if they really believe it or not. Now look what he says. In verse 3, and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that bring forth his fruit in his season. His leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he’d do it shall prosper.

Now you’ll find that same phrase mentioned in the book of Joshua, chapter 1. when he’s talking to Joshua about meditating in his word day and night. So he won’t turn to the right or to the left. And as God has promised that he will prosper and weather so ever, whatever he does. Well, that’s not a promise. This isn’t that that also helps us. So this is why we do what we do. But he says the ungodly are not so you and I are not supposed to live like the ungodly.

You and I are different. For example, if you really want to, you know, I guess you could say a thing on fire, and I used to think about this years and years ago, and that is you don’t start a good fire. Don’t start it in the attic. Now you can start it there, but fire burns up. Now you can go down, but it’s gonna burn. Put it in the basement. If you start a fire in the basement, chances are it’ll just burn up everything, right?

When the Lord says, when they came to find out, come from Jesus, whether or not, are you the Messiah or not? He says, you go back and you tell them the poor have the gospel preached unto them. There are some people that are not as receptive as others. And a lot of times, you can reach more poor folks, then you’re hardly going to reach rich folks. Rich folks think they’ve got it made, they don’t need to, they’ve got money to pay for all their need, they don’t need God, they don’t need church.

And if they’re getting problems, they got credit cards, they got a good job, they got money in the bank, they got a good home, so they can buy their way. But that little poor person, he wants all to help, he can get. I’ve always found that I could get more when I run a bus route, I could get more poor kids than I could get rich kids. Now there were rich homes and then they had apartments. And then those apartments were usually poorer folks.

And I could knock on the door and there’d be a woman and there were about four or five kids. And I think, man, I can get all four of these kids. And man, I’d want to get those four kids because if I got those kids, I get some more kids to get all the ones that are easier to get. Don’t always go after the Harvard, get whatever you can get. and I could get more of these little kids, poor kids faster.

And then after a while, it was easier to get other kids because I already had some kids, and kids draw kids. And when those kids come, they don’t know whether or not they’re rich or they’re poor. All they know is there’s a lot of kids and there’s something happening. And so we would run 10 to 12 buses, but we would try to get as many of the poor kids as we possibly can get. And then we go out to all the other.

In our vada alone, we knocked on every home in our vada, just about every Saturday. They would spend six, seven, eight hours knocking on doors all Saturday long, just so they could have some kids to ride their bus on that Sunday morning. But it was a lot of work. When Christ says, going to the highways and the hedges. And then he says, don’t just bid them come, compel them to come. So it’s not just asking, it’s compelling them. It’s even bringing them.

It’s doing whatever we can to do it. And so I think it’s a good thing to remember. But anyway, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter three. 1 Corinthians and chapter three. Now we know that the believers in Corinth had serving problems. They were proud and puffed up about their knowledge and the gifts that they had. But within their group and their church, there was envy and backbiting and bickering and jealousy and envy.

And the Lord says, you are carnal. You’re carnal. He didn’t say you were lost, though, but you’re carnal. minded. You’re not walking as a spiritual or pure person. He says, I can’t talk to you. It’s under spiritual because you can’t understand. I can’t give you meat. I got to give you milk. Now notice what he says here in verse 8. Now he that planet and he that water throw one. So he gets down to in this verse, I kind of put it down in my little notes.

It’s a personal responsibility. Regardless of what the church does as a whole or the direction is going. Right or wrong, you need to understand I have a personal responsibility. What is going to challenge and motivate me to correct what errors there may be in my life? So he says, your every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. In other words, your future is being determined by your obedience to God today. So the things that you do right now, the errors in your life that you don’t want to do, you don’t want to do that.

want to correct. Cardinal living, being materialistic, is a price to pay down the road and trying to get people to think. So he tries to solve their problems they have by proper doctrine. And so you don’t teach them and try to scare them half the death with things that are not true. Well, that’s a sign you’re not really saved. And there’s a lot of preachers that do that. But that’s not what Paul did. So he says, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor.

See, some people, they boast because of what they know. Knowledge, pepheta. But you’re not going to be rewarded for what you know. You’re going to be rewarded for what you did. You’re going to be rewarded, look at you, every man shall receive his own reward according to how much he nose. Is that what it says? According to his labor and no labor, no rewards. And so it’s what you’re going to be doing and they were not doing. And if you’re going to do it, and that’s why later on in chapter 9, he said, if you’re going to run, qualify.

Be fit for the master’s use and God will bless. Now you’ll notice how also here in verse 12 and down to verse 15, we have where you can see that your future is determined by your obedience to God today. These rewards that you want, there’s going to be a judgment. You are going to be as a child of God, your works are going to be judged, not the person but the work, what you did. And therefore you’re going to be rewarded for what you’ve done.

You’re suffering the loss of what you could have done didn’t do. And so some of God’s children are going to waste their life, but it’s not over. There’s a judgment, a rewarding stand. And so he’s told in verse 20, now, if any man build this foundation, upon this foundation goes silver precious stones, would he stubble? But the word now let’s you know we’re talking about his state, not a standing. The standing in this is not really that big of an issue.

They are God’s children. He’s writing to the saints at Corinth. So believe in that they are believers and going from there. And so he says, now, if any men build upon this foundation, then in verse 13, every man’s work shall be made manifest. Meaning what’s gold, silver, and precious stones? And what’s haywood and stubble? I don’t believe there’s sins here, but these are the things that most people would think, this is what I’m doing for the Lord. And though you may have thought in your mind, I’m doing all this for the Lord.

But really, you did it for your own good. If you ever get a chance, you studied the book of Matthew chapter six. If you do these things to be seen of men, then you already got your reward. Even in 1 Corinthians and 13, we talked about if you gave your body to be burned And you can speak with the tongue of the men and the angels and you have not what? It’s profit of how much? Nothing. That’s why there’s going to be a judgment.

And then he says in chapter four of 1 Corinthians, he says, and judge nothing before the time because that’s what he’s going to do. So no sense judging one another, you better be examining yourself because every man is going to have to stay before the Lord and give a count of himself. And that’s why he says, and then shall every man have praise, honor, and glory. If you deserve praise, honor, and glory. It’s not automatic. This is because of what you did for him.

And so the Lord knows that and he’s going to judge accordingly. So look there at the next verse. Look at verse 17. Verse 17, he’s letting him know, and this is a warning. This is a warning. He warns him in verse 17, if any man defile the temple of God. Now what’s the temple of God? That’s your body. And so you live in a body but you can defile that body. And one way you defile the body is by fulfilling the lust of the flesh.

And everybody has the lust of the flesh. And you can ruin your body and you can abuse that body. And you can use that body to fulfill the wrong things, the desires that are not what God wants. We’re to use our body as a means, as a tool to accomplish what God wants. This is why Paul says, less after I have run, and if the man’s gonna run, strive for the master’s lust. I’d be disapproved or set aside, rejected, and I don’t get to claim that which I want and what I ran for.

In other words, if you’re going to run the race, run the win. If you’re going to serve the Lord, the last thing you want to do is be half-hearted in it. Give it all you got, why you can. Do you know how much time you have right now left to run your race? boy, next year I’m really going to run hard next year. I mean, January the 1st, that’s going to be my New Year’s resolution. So between now and then, say, because I’m dedicating that year to the Lord.

But between now and then, it’s mine. I’m going to do whatever I want to do. After all, it is my life. After all, I am going to serve the Lord for the rest of my life. But this last six months, I mean, not at all. You think it works like that. And do you know for sure that you have another day left? You don’t know where the finish line is. Run and erase when you don’t know where the finish line is.

But now, he says in verse 17, if any man defiled the temple of God, him shall God destroy it. For the temple of God is holy. Your body has been set apart. It belongs to the Lord. So when And he gets in here later and he talks about some of the sins that some of the people have committed. He’s letting them know he’s correcting their problem by a spiritual solution. Teach proper doctrine. Because the only way we can help any Christian is with proper doctrine.

Because otherwise, what have we got to use? Take for example the people on Sunday mornings. What power do I have over them? I mean, for real. I can’t make them do anything, can I? I can’t make nobody live right? I ain’t making anybody give. I can’t make anybody serve. I’m the boss of what? Will everybody do exactly what I say do? No, it won’t work out of way. The only thing I can do is teach doctrine. It’s got to be the doctrines that are taught in the Word of God that people want to listen to.

And when they leave, that knowledge follows them everywhere they go. And if God can’t govern them and watch over them because of the Word of God, then there’s no hope. I can’t do that. How would I leave church this Sunday? And I’m gonna walk with a hundred of them and I’m gonna watch everything they say and do and correct them when they go wrong? Would that be easy? And I’m one person. Which one of you want me to go with you?

What? Well, thanks. That’ll really make me feel good tonight. When you get to the place where you understand where to teach people, this is what 1 Corinthians is written for. Correct the problem. But Paul lets him know there is a problem. What is that problem? How to solve that problem. And this is where you read this book and you’ll find out there’s a lot of ways in how to counsel individuals because it’s right here in the Word of God.

Now look there in chapter 4 and look in verse 2. Moreover it is required in stewards that are men be found popular, famous, rich, faithful. Now evidently the people in Corinth were not faithful. They were not faithful. that they were proud and puffed up, but they weren’t faithful. So Paul lets them know that it’s required that every child of God be found faithful. So he’s telling them something that’s true so they can do whatever they can. Paul can’t make them do anything, but he’s going to teach them the truth.

And that’s what he does throughout this book. Now look at verse 14. Verse 14 he says, I write not these things to shame you, though I think he should have, but I want you to look the next part. But as my, and you ought to underline these two words, but as my beloved sons, what’s he saying here? My beloved sons. What does that tell you? Anything?

He led them to the Lord. He was not questioning their salvation. His question here, faithfulness, their love for the Lord. And because he says, so each day I love the Lord, and that’s why later on in chapter 8 when he says in 1 Corinthians, he says, the Lord know of them that love him. Just take a hold your place right here and just look quickly over there at this verse. And notice what he says in verse 2, and if any man think that he knoweth anything he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know, but if any man loved God, the same is known of him.

if a man loves God. But you see, you don’t have to love God to get saved, and you don’t have to love God to go to heaven. But you do have to love God to be faithful. You do have to love God to get rewarded. You do have to love God for God to bless your life the way he wants and reward you when you get to heaven. Yes, you and I should love God. So he has to work on this principle of, all right, I’ve got to teach them the proper doctrine that goes with a particular problem.

So anytime I counsel with people, I’m always trying to find out. Now they’re telling me this is the problem and that’s the surface problem. But I had to look, where does that root go? Oh, that root goes way over here. Here’s the root problem. This is the surface problem. And they’ll think this is where it is. And I’ll say, well, let’s just start over here. Do you know for certain that if you die the day you go to heaven when I realized they don’t even know the Lord?

Or if they do know the Lord, they’re not serving the Lord. Maybe they’re not in good Bible believing, teaching church. They may not be studying the Bible. They not be given the way God wants them to give. And all the problems are having to say surface problem because of a root problem. You gotta find out what’s the root problem. And so you study the person in order to try to help them. This is why, you know, this is so important.

Look in verse 18, where it says in verse 18, now some are puffed up, and though I would not come to you, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will, and will know not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power for the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. What will ye shall I come unto you with a rod or in love and in the spirit of meekness? In other words, he’s telling them this, I’m coming to see you.

I’m coming to see you. He’s warning them. He wants to face them and he will face them. I bow to I bow, nose to nose, cheek to cheek. He’s going to confront them. He says up here in verse 15, for though you have 10,000 instructors in Christ, yet have you not many fathers, for in Christ, Jesus have I begotten you through the gospel. You see, they were questioned whether or not, who does Paul think he is? Who does he think he has to tell us what we can and cannot do and how we’re supposed to live?

He thinks he’s the only one that’s spiritual. Did you know that same problem happened back there in the Old Testament with Moses and his brother and his sister and a few other little head hunchos the next thing you know, a whole bunch of people got killed. Who do you think you are? I mean, we got just as much authority and powers you got, and you’ll always have that. But just keep it in mind. People can be puffed up with knowledge.

This is why just because you know, well, I’ve been to the Bible 100 times, I’ve had so many people tell me that. I said, have you ever heard of John 3 16? What’s that? They’ve been to the Bible 100 times, But there’s a lot they don’t know. These Corinthians lifted up with pride. They had all this gift, and that gift, and so forth like that. And he says, no, you’re not. No, you’re not. No, you’re not. Over and over again.

Don’t you know this? If you know this, why don’t you abandon? And if you don’t know this, then you’re not as wise as you think you are. And so he confronts them over and over again. Are you ready to learn how to live your life as a strong Christian, lead others to Christ, Excel is a church worker or ministry leader, then look no further, then Florida Bible College of Tampa. With traditional and online classes taught by instructors with years of experience, Florida Bible College of Tampa can help you grow in your Christian life.

Whether taking individual classes or working toward a one-year degree, Florida Bible College of Tampa is here for you. To learn more, visit online at floridabiblecollege.us or call the Registrar Bob Gilbert at 850227 5325, that’s 8502275325. 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. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.