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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.

your Bible and turn with me to the book of Luke, the book of Luke, salvation service. We always try to keep those two separate. Salvation everybody knows it’s free. It’s a gift. And so when you accept it, God gives you eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, we say it lasts forever. And that God will never cash you out in evolution. That is a subtle, done deal only done once in your life. I have to be done again. I’m glad of that because now you can rest assured I’m going to heaven when I die.

But there’s this thing called service. And if I don’t serve him, he just love to meet the Torah on me. And I would rather have God’s blessings than a spanking. So the Bible talks about this serving business. Now God beseeches us that He wants us to do certain things. He even wants to command us to be, you know, we’re entrusted with the gospel, and therefore we should speak, and God wants us to volunteer to be in the service. Now, when I went into the Navy, I volunteered.

They didn’t have to draft me, I volunteered. Because, see, I was living with my aunt and uncle and by Lake Erie. And well, I got sick and tired of people telling me what I couldn’t do. So I run away from home, joined the Navy. And if anybody got any sense that all knows that if you want to do your own thing, go your own way, you don’t join the military. The last thing I remember was, I do. And I did.

And that’s all she wrote. Because from there on I say, even though you volunteered, now that you’re in there, you have to do what you’re told to do. Now some Christians are hot, some Christians are cold, and some Christians are lukewarm. Bible talks about that. So when it comes to the volunteering, it’s down to what is your desire? What is your desire? He talks about in verse 27 of Luke chapter 14, and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

It’s also when it says about being a disciple of the Lord and taking up your across other scriptures that talk about if you desire, desire, or who so ever will come after me. In other words, it is your will. It is your desire to follow the Lord. God is looking for those who will volunteer to be commanded. Surrendering your will to His will, God wants us to do it because we want to. See, God did not make us serve Him.

And I have learned a long time ago, I can’t make people trust Christ and I can’t make people serve the Lord. It’s got to be a personal choice that they make. And can you, in regards to if you want to, you want to force people to trust the Lord, it won’t work because it has to be of their own will. When it comes to serving the Lord, you can’t force or make people serve the Lord. It has to be of their own will.

Because it doesn’t work because it’s supposed to be the Lord. If they do it and they don’t really want to, they’re just trying to make you happy and satisfied and get off my back and whatever, but it’s not a real thing to them. So the word of God tells us this. I want you to hold your place right here, but look over there in the book of Psalms. A hundred and tenth Psalm. A hundred and tenth Psalm. Way back there in the Old Testament.

And there’s just a couple verses there that I want you to look at. and a hundred and tenth Psalm, it’s talking about the Lord Jesus Christ and how that He humbled Himself. And even though He had all kind of power, he could have just stayed up there in heaven, but He came into the world to do the will of His Father. And He says that over, note again, I do the will of Him that sent me. My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me means his desire.

That would satisfy him. Jesus did what he did because he wanted to. And he says that the world may know that I love my father. In the words I love my father. So he did what he did. Now if everybody loved the Lord, if all of God’s children loved the Lord, you couldn’t stop them from serving. You wouldn’t have to make any child of God do anything. Why? Because they love the Lord. And if you love the Lord more than anything in the world, nothing could stop them.

Wouldn’t that be neat? Wouldn’t that be great? And the preacher wouldn’t have to try to pull and everybody would do it voluntarily, but it won’t work. Look there in Psalms 110 and verse one says, the Lord said unto my Lord, which is referring to Christ, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies by footstool. In the word you’re going to rule and reign over every body. The Lord shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion.

Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. And in verse three, look at it, thy people shall be willing. Thy people shall be willing. On the line that word, willing. It means it will be their desire to in the day of thy power. Just the thing that one day it’s coming where Christ is going to rule and reign upon the earth. And we’ll get to do it with him because we desire to. We want to. Because you see, ruling with Christ is because of your service.

And your service is because of your desire. You wanted to and you did. So it’s those who are willing to do what God wants you to do. He will not force you. He doesn’t make us. As nobody could make me do all the things that I’ve done for 52 years, but because I love the Lord, that’s done with the joy because it makes sense. But I want some, I’ll show you some other things too. So when you go back there in verse 28 where he says in Luke, for which of you intending to build a tower sit if not down first and counts the cost because there is a cost involved.

There’s a cost. Hold your place here and go all the way over to Deuteronomy in chapter 20. Deuteronomy in chapter 20. Now remember a lot of times in the New Testament you’ll find doctrine that explains the basis the foundation of what people did in the Old Testament, and it’ll make sense because there’s illustrations all through the Old Testament, and that will really help us and make a lot of sense. In the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 20, look what he says about the laws of warfare.

There’s a war on it. He says, well, when you get to the battle, this is what he says in verse when thou goest out to battle against thine enemies and seeeth horses and chariots and people more than thou be not afraid of them. See now it’s easy to say, don’t be afraid. If you go out and you see as more people and there’s more horses. Isn’t that what the ten people did that went into the land to spy out the land?

Two came back with a good report. Hey we can do it. Ten says, hey you ought to see those people. They’re like giants. Wall cities, we can’t do it. They were negative. Two were positive. The ones that were negative didn’t get to go into the land and the two that did, they went into the land. God sought to that. Isn’t there a reason? Their whole lives were different because of the belief that they had, the confidence that they had when they went into the land.

Believing or not believing. Trusting or not trusting. Does it make a difference in your life? It did make a difference in their life. So look what he says. He says, for the Lord thy God is with thee which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priests shall approach and speak unto the people. the priests, the priests, that’s the preachers. And shall say unto them, here, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies.

Let not your heart faint. Fear not. Do not tremble. Neither be ye terrified because of them. Now why is he saying that? Why would he have to say that? Probably because they were. Remember, he told Moses the same thing. He also told Joshua that in chapter 1. He not afraid. Be strong and very courageous for I. The Lord will do this. When he, Jesus said this to his disciples in the book of John in chapter 14 and verse 1, you believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father’s house or many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. But he said, be not afraid, be not afraid, fear not. But we do. You be surprised at the times in your life, you’re afraid. You’re just afraid. There’s fear. But I say that courage is fear that says it’s prayers and goes ahead. Look what he says there in this verse, verse 4, For the Lord your God is he that goeth with you to fight for you against your enemies to save you.

And everybody, yay! And the officers shall speak unto the people, saying, So you got the leaders, the spiritual leaders, and then you got the military officers. See, they’re all saying this, saying what man is there that hath built a new house and hath not dedicated it, let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicated.” So, hey, this is pretty good. Some of these things are making a lot of sense. I mean, if you just had a house and you’re going to dedicate your house, and I don’t know what all that might mean, but he says you need to go do it because if you die and battle, then somebody else will get your house.

Then he makes a statement in verse 6, At what man is he that hath planted a vineyard, and hath not yet eaten of it, let him also go and return unto his house, lest he die in the battle. And another man eat of it. You want somebody else eating the fruit of your land, so you don’t do that. Verse 7, and what man is there that hath betrothed the wife? Hey, I’m supposed to get married. have not taken her, let him go and return into his house, lest he die in the battle, and another man take her.”

Boy, isn’t the Lord concerned about your life? And about all these rules he made? That sounds pretty good. And then in verse 8, “…and the officers shall speak further unto the people, and they shall say, what man is there that is fearful and faint heart? Well, wait a minute, he just told him over there in verse 3, don’t do that. Don’t be like that. You see, yes, but. All right. Then they are not yet ready to go into battle.

In other words, you don’t force them to do something. They’re not going to do it. They’re not ready. So he says, let him go and return unto his house, get this, lest his brethren’s heart faint as well as his heart. What does that mean? Less his brethren, their heart failed like his. Because you see, everybody affects somebody, right? So if you were discouraged, you could discourage somebody else. If you’re weak and faint-hearted you might get somebody else to be the same way as you.

So if you’re afraid of saying you’d be better, just stay home because you’re gonna affect somebody else. So God wanted you to do it willingly because you want to not because it was forced upon you. Now some things won’t end live, you’ll find that you didn’t ask for and they’ll be forced upon you. But God will always, remember, give you the strength and the grace to fight whatever battles come. God does not remove all of the fear from you.

But you see, there is a spiritual battle on and God wants all of us. To willingly volunteer for his service. He doesn’t make you trust him as Savior, but he wants you to. He’s not willing that any should perish. God wants every one of us to serve him. But if you choose not to serve the Lord, God doesn’t make you. There may be consequences, but he doesn’t make you serve him. Can you tell your children what to do? And just because you told them, does that mean they do it?

Wouldn’t that be great? Sometimes they don’t obey. But wouldn’t you like for children to obey willingly? Or they obey when they see you reaching for the paddle? Ha! Let me straighten up. That’s because fear of what’s going to happen. So there’s wonderful scripture that’s mentioned down through here to help us to see that this is what’s going to happen. Now, take your Bible and turn to the book of a judge. Look in Judges. Judges in, let’s start in chapter four, chapter four of Judges.

As you know, in the book of Judges, a thing got into a cycle. You know, God would bless because they were, they’d obey. And then when God blessed them, they got nonchalant and then God had to chase them. And then because they had to be chasing servitude, then they would humble and cry out to God and then God would have to deliver them. So there’s always these judges that were sometimes sent to be deliverers, delivering the people from their bondage.

There was always chaos going on, and they just went through this vicious cycle over and over again. Well, it had got to the place where things were looking pretty bad. So Canaan wasn’t the Canaanite. They weren’t too friendly with Israel, but I want you to notice that God, believe it not one day used a woman, believe it or not, in the Bible God used a woman. He used two women in this one story. In verse one, and the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, which he had was dead when he was dead.

And the Lord sold them into the hands of J.B. and King of Canaan. Lord sold them. In other words, he would use another nation, another group of people, as a rod to chasten God’s children. Now God didn’t make them obey. He just let them suffer consequences when they did the wrong. And so when they cried out to God, then God would hear and forgive them and they’d be blessed again. But you think how many times, why can’t they learn their lesson?

Because after about 20 years, 40 years, everybody seems to repeat. They don’t, they don’t learn and they keep doing the same old things all the time. So he says here in verse 3, And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord, for He had 900 chariots of iron. And 20 years He mightily oppressed the children of Israel. So they’re in a heap of trouble. They’re oppressed. And then they begin to cry unto the Lord in verse 3. So they cried out to the Lord.

But God didn’t have a judge at the time, so he, well he didn’t, but they didn’t want to do anything. And he was merely, he was the judge, but he wasn’t a very strong man. He was weak. And he says in verse 4, And Deborah, a prophetess, says that she began to judge Israel at this time. And she dwelt under a palm tree. I’m gonna talk about having your own little palm tree in the land of promise and you just said her vine there and sipping your Eliminate and she might have been doing some of that but in verse six it says and she sent and called Barack and Says hey look we got it.

We got to do something about this So they decided to work together And she said well you need to do this it well. I don’t know about that well look He says, if you go with me, I will. Isn’t that wonderful? There’s nothing like a man with a piece of rebar down in the backside. And he says here, if you’re looking in verse 8, and Barak said unto her, If thou will go with me, then I will go. But if thou will not go with me, I will not go.

See there? Isn’t that wonderful to be united like this? And she said, I will surely go with thee, not with standing the journey that thou takeeth shall be for not for thine honor, for the Lord shall sell sassira into the hand of a woman. And devoural rose and went with Barak to Cateish. You heard of Cateish Pernilla. Well, this was only about 11 days journey from the Red Sea, but anyway they’re going there and problems. You see, the people didn’t want to go.

He didn’t want to go, but anyway, they don’t want to be under the suppression either. And so God used a woman. And God used. But it could have been more glorious for Him if He’d have just been the leader that He ought to me, but he wasn’t. So if you look there in verse 15, he says, and the Lord discomforted Sisera and all his chariots and all his hosts with the edge of the sword before Barak so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot and fled away on his feet.

So he’s running for his life, running for his life. And as he ran, he came across somebody in verse 16, but Brack pursued after the chariots and after the host. And he says of Herrocheph, of the Gentiles and all the hosts of Cicero fell upon the edge of the sword and there was not a man left. How be it? Sisera led away on his feet to the tent of J.L. The wife of Heber, the kingite. And there was peace between Jabin, the king of Hazor and the house of Eber, the kingite.

And J.L. went out to meet, now she was the wife. So J.L. is a woman, went out to meet Sisera and suddenly him turn in, my lord, turn into me. Fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent. She covered him with a mantle and he said unto her, give me I pray thee a little water to drink. For I am thirsty. She opened up a bottle of milk and gave him drink and covered him.

So all she had to do was just go to refrigerate her and she got the milk. In verse 20 again he said unto her, stand in the door of the tent and it shall be when any man have come and inquire of thee and say, is there any man here? And I shall say, no, trying to get her to what? Why? I can’t believe y’all could see that so easy. Then it says his wife took a nail of the tent, took a hammer in her hand, went softly unto him, smoke the nail into his temple and fastened it into the ground, for he was fast asleep permanently.

And weary, and he died. Well, if somebody took a big old tent nail and put it through your temple and fastened it to the ground, you probably would die. So he was killed by a woman, two women in this one story. And what did one woman do? Well, one woman was the leader, There inspired the troops. And a lot of times when God can’t find the man, God will raise up a woman. I’ve seen that happen over and over again.

We have a lot of women that go to the mission fields. And a lot of times because a man won’t go. It wouldn’t be needed for all the men. But you see, there’s a thing about this desire. Doing it because you want to do it. Sometimes you see things and you do it because I have to do this. This is right and somebody has to do it and then you do it. But as you go down through here, the next chapter talks about she writes a song.

She sings, see there in verse one, then sang Deborah and Barak. They sung a song in verse two, praise the Lord for the avenging of Israel and you ought to underline this statement. the people. And here’s that word willingly offered themselves. You see God He wants to use people. God wants to honor people, but He’s, He’s wanting people to love Him and to do it willingly. And so if you will, you ought to underline that word willingly because it showed their desire that they did so and they offered themselves.

You serve in the Lord as just that. And you’ll see a parallel with these verses like this when you read Romans in chapter 12. I beseech you, therefore, brethren by the mercies of God that you present. Presenting means a choice. It means willingly, desiring, presenting your bodies as a living sacrifice. Why you’re alive, realize that God may take your life. When you go into battle, especially back then, when they literally went into a literal battle, they knew that there was a possibility they may not come back.

That’s why it was talking about a while ago over there, and did it around me. This is what you do because there’s this problem, and maybe you just got married or whatever, and you’re still weak and afraid or something like that. You affect other people. That’s why it’s always good. everybody you can get to serve the Lord in place of leadership, they should do it willingly. Because if they do it out of drudgery and they hate it, do you think that that’s going to affect other people?

You think other people will be looking at the way they do things, the way they talk about it? Or should you serve the Lord because you want to? You do it willingly. And I believe this is what the Lord’s talking about. So this is the people are volunteering to do what needed to be done. But look down there in verse 9. In verse 9 it says, my heart is toward the governors of Israel. Now this is the leaders that offered themselves willingly among the people.

Bless ye the Lord. This was a song, but a song that talked about the leaders responded and the people responded. And this is the way I believe God wants it to be. Serving the Lord ought to be something that we voluntarily do, not because I have to do it because I want to do it. I do it willingly. I’ve told many people I said, look, you may not be ready yet. Instead of doing something, you don’t really want to just wait until you want to, till you have the desire, the willingness to do whatever it is God wants you to do.

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 at 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 tampayouthranch.org and see the cool pictures from past activities and all the fun you’ve been missing. No ride, no problem.

Call 813-334-4655 today for information on getting a ride to Tampa Youth Ranch. Thanks for joining us on Bible I. 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 in looking up.