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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. and 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

I found out over the years, serving the Lord is not doing the things I like. It’s faithfully doing the things I don’t like. Because there’s more things that I don’t like to do than there is that I do like to do. There’s time when I just like to do nothing. You’ve been there? Just like to do nothing. But there’s always something to do. And there’s time when you need to take and get away and rest and come apart before you come apart.

But there’s also to be the area of the discipline that you and I are supposed to hang out. And we’re not the setting judge, but upon somebody else, you got a full-time job just taking care of you. Watch your own life. How close to the Lord are you? Are you growing closer to the Lord? And so he makes that statement there in verse 17.

Endure, but for a time afterwards when afflictions or persecution arises for the word sake, immediately they are offended. You ever see people who get so easily offended? Something goes wrong and they’re so easily offended and getting mad at it. That’s like quick. I quit. You hurt me, I’m going to get even with you. You know, I’m going to get even attitude. Now, I know there’s nobody like that here, but we know people like that, don’t we? But like he says, you see that word endure.

doesn’t say enjoy. There’s a lot of things you may not enjoy in the Christian life, but we are to endure it. Take your Bible looking 2nd Timothy in chapter 2, 2nd Timothy and chapter 2. Look at these verses because they’re very, very important. Chapter 2 and look in verse 3, in verse 3, where he’s Paul writing to young Timothy, young men in the Lord told him says in verse one, be strong in the grace of Christ, which I believe is referring toward the Gospel.

Then he talks about the things that you have learned verse two, the things that thou have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. Just one bone, bone, bone, bone. Well, that’s, you know, one in another and another in another one. Then he says there in verse 3, Thou therefore enjoy hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Did I read it right? It says endure. Endure it.

You say things are not going to endure it. Things don’t go your way. So what? Who said it had to go your way? Who says it has to go my way? I’m supposed to be faithful. It doesn’t matter which way things are going Doesn’t matter who believe doesn’t believe agree disagree Every one of us as a child of God are Required to be disciplined where we will be faithful to the Lord regardless what’s going on and endure. I wonder how long we’re supposed to endure.

Well, God says endure this hardness. Now look down in verse 10. See down in verse 10, therefore Paul doesn’t ask somebody to do something he’s not willing to do. Therefore, I endure all things for the elect’s sake, that they may also obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. God used the Apostle Paul to reach a lot of other people. And there’s those who have trusted Christ that they’re Savior, and Paul wants these people to learn something, to grow in the Lord to have something, but it’s going to be down the road.

You see, our eternal weight of glory isn’t in this life, it’s in the one to come. But that’s not just salvation, that’s talking about what we’re going to get because of our enduring this hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You see, right after this, he’s talking about studying to show thyself approved unto God. So it’s written to the believer. And that’s why he made the statement down here in verse 12. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.”

In other words, the things that you do for the Lord’s sake, for the gospel’s sake, Christ’s sake, yeah. You’re gonna suffer for doing some of those things because of what you have to go through to get the people. There’s a price we pay to win people to the Lord. There’s a price that we have to pay. And so we are willing to pay that price every time we turn around. They just invited me to come back there to the gym so we could see that nice big old mat they got down for a one.

I saw the math cost $3,000. There’s a price to pay. It was not free, but so that we didn’t get more kids so they can have more fun and maybe Who knows? Everything has a value to it. The impact that you’re going to make in kids lives. There’s an expense to run in the bus every week to pick up kids. Whether it’s for a one or for the ranch, We do it, but it costs insurance. Everything we have, everything we do, it just costs us.

But there’s a price to pay. But the suffering that we go through is because you only get one life to live and you’re taking your life to make some money and then you’re taking that money for the cause of Christ. So it’s costing you and you’re going to do without things that other people maybe wouldn’t do without. But there’s a price to pay. And then He says here, if we deny Him, He also will deny us. He’s not talking about denying you salvation.

He can’t deny you salvation, but He can deny you the rewards. And so if you study the Word of God, as He says in verse 15, you will be a workman that need not to be ashamed, like being a soldier that doesn’t have to be ashamed. Or to be in, as He talks about here in verse five, of man’s strife or masteries, yet he’s not crownless, said be a strive of love. You don’t want to be ashamed. You run the race, run the finish to race.

It’s one thing to start, but I found out some people never started to race. They never started running. They trust Christ to save you, but they never get involved during the greatest thing of all in that serve in the Lord. Look why we’re right here, look in chapter four. In chapter four, look there in verse three. Now, he’s already then talked to him about, you know, like a charge. I’ve used these scriptures when we had ordination services. And so you’re trying to give new believers that are going to, that are graduated and want to go into the ministry.

And so we tell him, this is the scripture that we usually read. This is what was done whenever I received my ordination. I charged thee before in verse one, before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead of his appearing and his kingdom, Preach the Word. Be instant. End season, out of season. Always be ready. Reprove. Rebuke. Exort. All these nice things that we’re supposed to do. You see, if we’re supposed to do all of that, somebody’s gonna be on the receiving end, aren’t they?

You ever like to be on the receiving end of a, you know, the preacher’s preaching away and, and I don’t like that. I don’t like that. It’s okay. It was good for somebody. Probably wasn’t you though. Then he says in verse 3, before the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. Not everybody stays charged up all the time. How many of y’all got cell phones? They make a cell phone in here? Just not everybody. What happens after a while when you don’t charge them?

They won’t work. Christians are pretty much the same way. Going to the world of God keeps you charged up going to church, keeps you charged up. Praying and reading and doing all the things going to keep you charged up. Otherwise your battery is going to get low and you just ain’t going to have the energy to run. And then you just can’t see, well, you don’t understand well. You just ain’t got any energy to go and you’re just down and out and poor, poor you.

Pity, pity, party. Well, wait a minute. You’ve got to stay charged up. Like David, he challenged himself in the Lord, motivated himself, encouraged himself. That’s what you have to do. Also look there in verse 5, same chapter but verse 5. But watch thou in how many things? Doesn’t seem like there’s much leeway here, does it? A sound doctrine. So if it is, God doesn’t want us to listen to unsound doctrine, but to learn the truth, keep teaching the truth, believe in the truth.

But watch down all things and look at the next one. Indoor affliction. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we got it. Why don’t you just Lord, take away the affliction? Wouldn’t that be easier? But he doesn’t. He doesn’t take it away. He allow you to be afflicted. But he expects you to still be faithful. Just because it doesn’t go your way, you don’t get everything that you want. hin sometimes that you cannot write the prescription. Lord, this is what I need this, in this, in this, in this, in that you know, you’re going to the pharmacy, this, I need all of the, well, the Lord says come to me and ask, but you may not be able to change some of the circumstances that happens to you in your life, but you may want to take two pills and see them in the morning and give you the strength and the grace to bear it.

He may never remove it. Sometimes what our prayers is, God remove the problem. God says, no, I’ll give you the strength to go through the problem. So the Christian life is not the subtraction of problems, but the addition of grace to bear the problem. So understanding that can help you, but look again in that verse. But watch, style and all things endure affliction, do the work of an evangelist. Make foolproof of thy ministry. Now as you read these scriptures in a lot of them, it’s like there’s no cushion in the sense of no compromise, no room, no wiggle room.

I mean, walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. But can I have just a little bit of the flesh? Does it mean just a little bit of the lust of the flesh? I mean, what if I do a lot for the Lord? But you know, the weekends, the only time I’ve got for myself and you want me to do what? Go to church. I’ve worked five days. I’m tired. I’m weary. I’m worn.

And then you want me go to church. It’s like his preacher. He decided he’s just going to call in sick. He thought, I’m going to play me a game of golf. He went and played golfing. Jesus says, Lord, did you see him? Do you see what he’s doing? He said, yeah. What you going to do on? He says, what? The preacher hit that ball. Three hundred yards wide. He says, what? Yeah, who can he tell? Who can he tell?

Sometimes you think we can just get away from our responsibilities. You know, I don’t care what we do in here we always have the responsibility to do right. Don’t we? Should I be faithful only when my wife’s around? Or all the time? All the time? No, my wife, she’ll find out. I can’t even go to a restaurant around here and order something I’m not supposed to get. I said, Don, I said, you know, Betty’s not here. And I thought, I’m gonna get some of those.

I love pancakes. I love pancakes. So I got some eggs and I ordered some pancakes. She said, you can’t have those. I mean, the waitress just told me, she said, you can’t have those. I said, what? She said, you know your wife won’t let you have those? Right toast. Ain’t that right, hon? Cause when we go back in there and she’s living in it, they tell her. You know what he tried to do? Be sure your sin will find you out.

I can’t go anywhere. That was someplace in some other state down the flown in and I was walking through the airport and I thought, look at all these funny people. If you’re standing there, watch all the strength and you never saw anybody and you don’t know one. Never seen them before. All of you and nobody said, hey, yank. I was in St. Louis Airport one time and a guy, a preacher, earned his pomber. I’m walking down the corridor and lo and behold, I’m thinking, I don’t know a soul.

And somebody says, dangit, just when you think nobody is watching, nobody knows me. God’s going to have somebody sitting around and knows you and you’re going to think you’re going to get away with something. There’s no, Lord, can’t you be a little flexible? So I think God requires a man to be found faithful. And it seemed to be pretty strict on that. You read Luke chapter 14, it seemed to be pretty strict. And all the things that God wants to do, though He loves us, and yet you’re the one to decide just how much discipline do I want.

So we use the word of God to discipline ourselves. We’re that soldier getting dressed in front of a full-length mirror. And we’re supposed to look into that mirror and whatever we see, we’re supposed to get corrected. Now I think that’s probably the idea of it. I preached a sermon years ago called, Your Flesh Is Showing. There’s a statement about a king and he was totally naked but everybody convinced him he had clothes on the bike as him. He found some little kid.

Mom, he’s naked. And you’re very embarrassed because of it. When you walk in the flesh as a Christian, your flesh is showing. Somebody’s going to see you in the flesh. And it may not be perdy because our flesh is at all sinful nature that we have. And if we walk in the Spirit, you won’t fulfill the loss of, no, you still have them, but you don’t have to fulfill them. And somebody is always watching to see how much flesh do you have in your Christian life?

Well, I just got a little bit, but you ought to see Bob Gilbert over. He got a lot. Now that Dan, I can’t go for it. He got a lot. But see, it’s not so much that we try to judge where everybody else is, but we have a full-time job just taking care of ourselves. I want to give you a couple of little verses. you find a look in the book of Hebrews, the book of Hebrews in chapter 12.

Now you’ve seen this verse on the number of occasions, but notice that it’s tied in with something that’s very important because see if we don’t discipline ourselves, well I thought it was a choice whether I could or I don’t have to. I’m saved, I don’t have to serve God. No, but there’s consequences. Consequences if I don’t, and there’s consequences if I do. If I do, God’s going to bless me and if I don’t, God’s going to have to chastise you.

You’re his child. So he makes a statement here. And I think you need to take a little peek at this verse. But see what he says in verse two, looking under Jesus, the author and finish of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. Now he didn’t enjoy the cross, but he did endure the cross. Now look down in verse 7, if ye endure chasing, now chasing sometimes there’s two words, one is scourging, which is a very strong form of correction, the discipline of God.

There is chasing where it’s simply a disciplined form. You we chase our children, we discipline the children, we teach them, guide them and so forth. And so God says, don’t despise my correction, don’t despise my advice, my counseling, don’t despise my word as though you can live without it. So God says don’t despise it, but if you will endure the discipline, you see, whenever you’re not used to doing certain things, it’s kind of hard to get in a habit.

When I first walked into that boot camp, I’ll never forget that they made us take our shoes and we had to shine our shoes. Everybody would sit around about the bounce and so we went against the ball and we had our black shoe polish and we had our shoes. They got to where everybody was trying to outdo everybody else. We had to get our spit shine. Now, a spit shine is literally you spit on the boat. You take it, you rub it, spit on it, rub it some more and try to get it to shine and you work that thing and you want them to almost see yourself in it.

Now most time you just dust the toe, but the toe, that’s when you put on those navy whites And I don’t know, maybe Blue’s, you look down at those little mirror looking at you. And when they came by, they want to see light flying, flashing from those shoes. But that was so difficult when I first started doing that. I wasn’t in a habit of washing my clothes. And we’d have to go into the washroom and scrub with a brush and they’d give everybody whisk.

I don’t know what they gave you. We only had them. You had to scrub. They were habits that I was not accustomed to and they had a whole bunch more. One, telling me when they get up. Remember now, the only reason I wound up joining Navy is because I was sick and tired of people telling me what to do. Mama didn’t say I was the brightest. She did call me son though. But you have to learn but once you got in the habit.

Then it becomes easier. Once you get in the habit of doing right, doing right becomes easier. This is when you’re not faithfully doing it. It’s so difficult. So he tells us what we’re supposed to do. In verse 7, if you endured chasing, God deals with you as good sons. What son is he whom the Father chases in? In other words, deal more with God raising his children, teaching us and correcting us. Now there is also the form of the scourge.

And he talks about, when you rebel against God’s Israel, then you have to really lay it on to you. Now look in James chapter five, James in chapter five, James chapter five and look in verse 11. Verse 11 says, Behold, we count them and you ought to underline this in your Bible. Happy which endure. The end result of your discipline. The end result of accepting God’s chaste in in your life is disciplined and correct and all that. The end result is you want to be happy in the Christian life.

Even Jesus said in chapter 13, he said, happy are ye if ye do them. You do what I tell you, happy are ye. See that’s a result of it. I just said people, happiness is not a destination, it’s a way of travel. learn how to enjoy serving God. There’s a lot of things that will happen and you don’t like but you have to endure them. You can do this because what God requires of us is the same for all of kids’ children.

And God doesn’t require us to do the thing we can’t do, is that we don’t want to. But if you can learn how to want to, and do it because you really want to, you’d be surprised how much more joyful it is doing the things when you have a want to attitude. I want to please the Lord. I want to do what God wants me to do. Look in 1 Peter chapter 2. You’re right here in 1 Peter. Look in 1 Peter chapter 2.

And look in verse 19, verse 19, interesting verse. He says, for this is thanks worthy If a man, for conscience toward God, endures grief. Now you would think, well, why don’t God just remove that which causes me grief? No. You lose a loved one, you’re going to have grief. Your teenagers have problems and are rebated. You’re going to have grief. Your grandkids don’t do everything right. You’re going to have grief. People fail you. There’s a lot of grief. Your husband is not faithful.

a lot of grief. Life isn’t, there’s a lot of grief. There’s a lot of grief to go around. Everybody in this room has had grief at one time or another. Got a nose for you. More is on the way. More is on the way. And you cannot escape it. But in spite of it, does God steal in spite of all those things and the flections expect you and I to endure of the grief and doer the hardness. I mean if those soldiers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, if they can take that as a responsibility and do what they do, why can’t we?

Those people that they’re doing it for gave them re, I guess you could say, liberty. But we had somebody go to the cross also give us liberty who died for us. And we get an opportunity to show him how much we live and by what we do for him. And then he said, I want to reward you when you get to heaven. We win. We win. We win. Best news in the world. Look up here. If you’re watching by internet, I won’t say this.

I’m always getting emails. I get more emails than I can answer. I’m always shifting them off on to somebody else. I think I’ve given you a couple this week, ain’t I? I didn’t give you none this week? I know I’ve given you a couple, I think. More than a couple. More than a couple, yeah. Because there’s just a lot of people. But if you want to, you just keep writing. We have some good men here. If I can’t get to all of them, we got some good men that can help out.

That’s just been honest. Sometimes I get to me up. I get over 200 a day. That’s more than I can handle. But we want to help people. So this is you and me. The wall of represent sin. We all have sin upon us. And God says that He loves us. He hates our sin. He does love us. He does hate what we do wrong. But there is a difference there. And He says for us to pay for the sin is eternal separation from God in Hell.

But God loves us, wants us to go to heaven. But to go to heaven we have to be perfect. No sin. No sin. We got to be as perfect as righteous as God, but because we have sin we can’t go. We’re not good enough to go to heaven We have to be perfect and God says you cannot earn eternal life. You can’t work for it It is totally by grace nothing that you have to do you don’t have to be a follower of Christ You don’t have to be a learner.

You don’t have to discipline your life stop anything joining all you have to do is be on the receiving end of the most wonderful gift in the world. See this hand represents Jesus Christ, He is the Lord God in the flesh, came into the world because He loves us, hates our sin because it separates us from Him. So Christ took the sin, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead. So that if you and I would believe He did it for us, He’d put the payment to our account and we’d get to go to heaven.

That’s how I know I’m going to heaven. He paid for my sins. How many? All of my sins. If He paid for all of my sins, there’s now no condemnation. I can never be condemned.” See the law cannot condemn a dead man. His death became mine. I died. The law can’t touch me. That’s why he says, there is no condemnation to those that are in Christ shall not come into condemnation, never be condemned in the future. So he gives us his free gift everlasting life.

Came back from the bid, said all he wants you to do is believe that he did it for you. Let’s pray with heads down, eyes closed, no one looking around. If you’re here tonight and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, going to heaven is so simple, it’s really free. All you gotta do is believe that He did it for you. And if you’re watching by internet, right where you are, you don’t have to walk an aisle, and nobody here has to walk an aisle.

You don’t have to raise your hand, and they don’t have to do it either. Because whatever you do to be saved, everybody should be able to do the same thing regardless of where they are. you need to do is believe. Believe that when he died, he died for you and trust him as your Savior and God will give you his up-read gift everlasting life. I pray that you’ll do that. And if you will, right there on the screen, it says, yes, I’ll trust Christ as my Savior.

We’d love to hear from you. But if you’re hearing the auditorium, if what I said made sense to you, you say, preach that made sense, I will trust Christ as my Savior tonight. If you’ve never done it before, would you do it now? If you already have, you never have to do it again. And what did all before we close. Our Father, we do thank you for your blessings. Thank you so much for loving us, for giving us a free gift.

But Father, help us also to understand the depths of discipleship, to understand just what it really means, the price that we pay, not ticket to heaven, but because we want to be a follower, we want to be a learner, we want to be disciplined, we want to be used because we love you, we to Blessings Upon His One Here in Christ and We Pray. 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. book The Gospel Driven Man covers all those topics and we want all new listeners of Bible line 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 Man.

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. 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.