This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.

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.

What I’m going to cover, I believe, is very important. It’s how to be a victorious missionary. I consider myself a missionary. And Tom Kecuzza was a missionary. Everyone who’s ever gone out and built a ministry, established something as a missionary. I was told you’re either a missionary or a mess, but every one of us as a child of God have been left here in this world and we’re on a mission. We have a message. I’ve been doing some studying in the book of Philippians, and so I thought I would put some of these notes together and share them if I had a chance to do so.

The apostle Paul was a great missionary. He was sent out by the church, and the Bible tells us that he even spent time in jail. And he helped lay the foundation of missions, letting us know what a missionary goes through. You just studied the life of Paul and find out, do you really want to serve the Lord? When you see what happened to him as he served the Lord, it’s not anything that most people would desire, unless you believe that that’s what God wanted you to do, and you actually can look beyond this life and to the next and realize the value of it.

You see, I wrote how to be a victorious missionary, a victorious missionary. How to have victory? Not just in your Christian life, but as a missionary. Someone who goes beyond just the average believer. They want more. They want to accomplish more. They’re willing to sacrifice everything. And so I wrote a few things down that I thought would be appropriate. So if you have your Bible in turn to the book of Philippians, you’ll be able to follow along very well with the notes that I have here.

See, it’s what you know about the one you know. You say, I know the Lord. It’s what you know about the Lord. Not that you know him as your Savior, you have eternal life, you’re going to heaven when you die. That’s great. But do you really know more about Him. You see, your life will be in direct ratio to the caliber of your thoughts. And so, what you know about who you know is so important. And so, I wanted to share with you what a missionary knows.

Majority of all missionaries know this. And so, I wanted to be an encouragement to them, but I also wanted to be an encouragement for you that might be thinking about, I want to be be a missionary. I want to do more than what I’ve ever done in my life. And so here we have in Philippians in chapter 3 and verse 10 a statement that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being made conformable unto His death and that I may know more, somebody who wants more.

So I said, He knows when to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. When do you think a person should walk in the power of the Holy Spirit? Tomorrow. It’s always tomorrow, right? I’m gonna serve the Lord tomorrow. I’m gonna dedicate my life to the Lord tomorrow. Do you have any guarantee of tomorrow? That’s why it’s so easy to do that. The day is the only day you have. It may be the only day you’ll ever have. So I do believe that you know when and you know it’s now.

If not us who and if not now, when? So he knows when to walk into power of the Holy Spirit, now, now. I try to tell the kids in college, I say, you know, you’re Christian life and you’re mission that you’re gonna be on and do and accomplish and all that. It doesn’t start when you get there. It starts right here and right now. What you’re going to accomplish with your life depends on how well you study right now, the verses you learn, the discipline you have in your life.

the problems that you have and can you trust the Lord to guide you through them all? Do you believe that God can walk with you through everything? It starts now. Don’t start later. Your future will be just like your past unless you make a change. And so if you want things to be different down the road, you better make things different now. Now is so important. Look at the next statement. This is in founding Philippians 3.12 of. Whereas not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect, but I follow after, but I follow after.

You see, a person who’s a missionary knows that he has to follow the controls of the Holy Spirit, he knows he has to yield. I follow means I had to give up my way, my will, in order to do his will, his way. So every missionary knows that he can’t do whatever he wants, anytime he wants, the way that he wants, it’s got to be all about what does the Lord want? Where does he want me to go? What does he want me to do?

What does he want me to be? And if you’ll think about these things, and yet all of these things that we’re talking about this morning, let’s find right here in the book of Philippians. You know where he was at when he was writing all of this? He’s in jail. He’s in prison. Here’s a man that’s in prison telling you how to live. Would you want to listen to a man tell you how to make a million dollars that broke.

And yet we’re listening to a person that’s in jail telling us how to live. Why? If you live the way I do, you get to go where I went. Wait a minute. But you see, he has to look beyond the prison because he knows that’s only temporary and that there’s a God in heaven and he’s going to follow the Lord regardless of where it leads. And you studied truth and be willing to obey truth regardless of where it may lead you, regardless of what the consequences may be.

Look in Philippians chapter 4 and verse 7. Philippians chapter 4 verse 7, he knows to guard the power of the mind when you sense success or defeat. Success can kill you. Defeat can build you. You see, you look at things in life as though every problem can either be a stepping stone or a stumbling block, depending upon your attitude toward it. For the peace of God which passes all understanding, all human understanding, shall keep that word, keep means to guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

You see, you’re not going to accomplish very much. You’re not going to have much of a vision unless you learn how to guard your mind because there’s a tax upon the mind to discourage, to defeat, to bring it down, get you to quit, lose heart. The next statement I have here, he knows the power of a great purpose. I even like the sounds of that, the power of a great purpose. many people have no purpose in life. They’ve trusted Christ as saviors and all they want to do is just live a good life and just, you know, no sufferings, no problems.

Just make sure they got everything taken live comfortably. And there’s no sacrifice. There’s no giving up of anything. But I want you to look there in Philippians chapter 3 verse 13 and 14 where he says, Brother and I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do, Does that sound like there must be the power of a purpose? Something that says, this is what I must do. I got to do this. Almost all missionaries know that there has to be a vision that they have.

There’s something they wanna do. There’s a place that they wanna go. There’s something they wanna accomplish. And they have the word of God and they’ve had to study and prepare and some learn languages. I’m still working on English. Lord knows that I could have never been a missionary outside of the United States. I haven’t figured out a lot of things yet. When I went to Florida Bible College, they gave everybody there a test to see who had to take English.

Can you believe they would do a thing like that? This was after about the first or second year that I was there. I had the lowest grade in the college and I had to take English. So do I know English? I know English backwards and forwards. I can say it right. Sometimes write it right. Sometimes read it right. But I still don’t know if it’s right. Here in this verse is a very important verse. This one thing I do for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth, reaching forth.

So a lot of people, they don’t reach toward anything. They don’t accomplish anything. They live their whole lives and they’re going to have a life of regret, wondering what I could have done, what I could have been. Because in this life nothing really matters except what God wanted you to do with your life. I threw this little verse in here. This one that I’m sure you know about the Word of God been sharp, powerful, quick, alive, piercing, even through the divide in the sundure of body, soul, and spirit.

And God knows the thoughts and the The intense of the heart. He knows why you do what you do. You see, a missionary needs to understand why does he want to do this? Because of his the wrong reason he can’t last. They won’t last. Because I can tell you, there’s not much fame and glory in it. And not much praise. Because out of sight, out of mind. And we think about what we do and we don’t think about what they’re doing.

That’s why I wanted the missionaries to come. I want you to see they’re a real live individual. I used to think missionaries must be somebody from outer space. You know, they look different. There is something strange about them. You’ll find out that they’re people just like you. They’re people that heard the word of God just like you. They’re people that, when they had to decide to go to Bible college and to do something with their life, sacrifice. They gave up something.

And yet many of them have the intellect that they could have been, you know, very rich and successful in this life, but they gave a lot of that up. And then when they come back from the field, most of them, their missionary support is dropped. And sometimes they don’t have a place they can call their own, because they have to deal with. They won’t have money for for this insurance that so much that they sacrifice, they gave that up and many can barely make it.

And that’s why believers who know and understand are supposed to stand behind them and make that sacrifice for them. Look at the next statement. He knows that the quality of his missionary life is determined by the quality of his thoughts. Look in verse eight and verse nine, they’re in chapter four. Philippians chapter four verse eight and nine. This verse tells you how to think. If you want to raise the caliber of your life, raise the caliber of your thoughts, of your thinking, all success and defeats, starts and ends right up there.

In that little brain of yours. And if you don’t think right, you can’t live right. Notice what he says, finally brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, But you’re going to think about things are lovely. Whatever things are good report. If there be any virtue and if there be any praise, you are on the line these four little words. Think on these things. If you get down discouraged, it’s your fault.

If you’re encouraged, it’s because of how you think. And many people have never learned how to think. Think upon what God said. A person that knows the Lord and loves the Lord must look upon that which is invisible. While the world looks upon that which is visible. If you only look at the visible things of life, it can totally destroy you and make you envious and jealous of what others have and you compare. And they that compare themselves among themselves are not, are not wise.

So if you’re excited and happy about the things of the Lord, it’s a result of how you’re thinking. If somebody just sent you a check for say a million dollars, oh you’d be so excited, or somebody just sent you a telegram that your mother just passed away and you’d be so sad. So whether you’re excited or whether you’re sad depends upon the news that determines you think. This is why you need to learn to think the way God wants you to think.

And so he says this in verse 9, those things, those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me. Here’s one of the biggest words in the Bible. Do. And the God of Peace will be with you. A lot of people, believe it or not, want to see how much they can gather in the process of doing that. Remember this. Things in the world are hard to get, hard to keep, and great sorrow when you lose them.

But if you lay up treasure in heaven, you can never lose it. This is why he says, lay up treasure in heaven where it doesn’t rust. You can’t lose it. it. What you do for the Lord can never be lost. Never be lost. He also makes a statement in the book of Matthew chapter 10 that if you give someone even a cup of cold water in his name, he says, you shall no wise lose your reward. Never lose the reward.

And that’s the same phrase that’s used in the book of John chapter 6 when it says, when you trusted Christ to save it, he will know wise cast you out. Never cast you out. Never lose a reward. Rewards once they’re earned are laid up in heaven and you can’t lose those but you can sure lose what you could have had. And many people are going to be totally surprised to find out what they could have had if they had only.

Most people are going to be a member of the if-a-out-a-only club. You ever heard of that club? If-a-out-a-only? If-a-out-a-only. You don’t want to live a life of regret. serve the Lord now with all your heart. Why you can, with whatever you have, where you are and what God bless you. Look at the next statement, he knows that his decision to become a missionary was the result of proper biblical thinking. Because see there’s certain things that some people want. They want the power of God upon their life.

They want to know that God is using them to influence the lives of other people. Don’t you want God to use you to make a difference in the destiny of individuals? Don’t you want there to be people in heaven because they heard the gospel through your lips? I do. I want people to be in heaven that when I get there and say, Yankee, there hadn’t been for that sacrifice or that dedication of that heaven track or whatever it was, you influence me.

You see, the power of God in your life is the influence that you have in other people’s lives for the Lord. And some people don’t have any influence in people’s lives, because they live in such a way that nobody listens to them, nobody believes them. They have no character, they don’t have the virtue that all the things that they need to affect people’s lives for all eternity. Don’t you want there to be people in heaven that even though they trusted Christ the Savior knew they had eternal life, but it was you that came along and you said just the right word at the right time and you encouraged them and you prayed for somebody.

somebody and their lives are totally different because you passed their way. You came in contact somewhere along the line. We won’t know until we get to heaven to see the results of the people that somewhere we touched throughout our lives. And you won’t have to record it. You don’t have to remember there’s somebody else keeping the books. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love in Hebrews chapter 6. God is not unrighteous to forget what you did for him.

And if there’s anything you ever did for him, and if you did it for him, then don’t worry about it. Nothing’s lost. He remembers it all. And if you did it for people, then hopefully you’ve already got your praise, honor, and glory. And it was short lived. But if you did it for the Lord, his praise, honor, and glory will last for all eternity. There’s no end to it. And that time is coming. Look at the next statement. He seeks the power of God.

Therefore, He presses on. He seeks the purpose of God. Therefore, He presses on. He seeks the prize of God. Therefore, He presses on. Some people, remember, you always gotta keep staying at it, staying at it. When you get tired and weary and worn, you wanna stop. Just keep pressing on. Don’t ever stop. Don’t ever quit. Just stay at it. I don’t care how old you get. How tired you get or the pain you may have to go through. Just keep serving God.

You can serve Him anytime, anywhere, any place. And remember this, even if you have messed up your life, the perfect will of God lies as close as the next decision you make. That was good, I need to repeat that. What did I say? I said. I said. The perfect will of God lies as close is the next decision you make. Because you can make the next decision the will of God. You can do the right thing. So keep that in mind.

He knows to plan for success. I don’t think anybody who knows the Lord loves the Lord, wants to be a missionary. I am planning a life of defeat. I just want to be a failure all my life. We want to succeed. We want to be able to reach our destination. We want to be able to plant those seeds. We want to see some results from those planted seeds. And we want to see people growing in the Lord. And we know that we can’t make anything happen.

We can let it happen. We can let God use it, but we must know and understand without Him I can do nothing. And accomplish zero. But with the Lord you can do anything He wants you to do. Did you know that me and God can do anything? You know between me and Him, we know everything years to know. Between me and God, we’re the most powerful there is in the world. Of course I need Him a lot more than He needs me, but put your confidence in the Lord.

Look at the next statement. He knows to plan for success, knowing when to walk according to light that he has. Look there in chapter three verse 16. Let’s just start in verse 15. Let us therefore as many as be perfectly mature, be thus minded. And if in anything he be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this under you. You see, when you know the Lord and you walk in according to light, walk in according to the truth you have, God will give you some more.

And then he makes a statement. In verse 16, nevertheless, where until we have already attained, let us walk by the same road, walk according to the light you have now. Go ahead and serve the Lord with what you do know. And if you all do that, God will give you some more light and some more light and some more truth. Why should God give you additional light when you won’t walk according to the truth you already have? That’s why he says in the book of Hebrews in chapter, he says, and we will go on to maturity if God permits.

God will not permit you to grow in the Lord when there’s truth that you know and you will not obey it. If you won’t obey truth that you already have and you can come to church for 20-30 years and never grow because you will not obey what you already know. Let us walk according to the light that you have at this moment. If you ever heard of a statement you know a a man who is faithful in that which is little will be faithful and much.

You see, if you don’t serve the Lord with what you do have, you won’t serve the Lord if He gave you everything. Well, if I had a million dollars, I’ll shut up. You won’t serve if He had pen. If you had a billion dollars, you wouldn’t do it. I’ve had people come out of the church and they say, pray for me. If I win the lottery, you know, I’ll give to the church. I do not pray they win lottery.

I pray they stop playing the lottery. But if you wouldn’t want to give him money, go ahead. That’s all right. Look at the next little statement I want you to see there. Knowing when to stand still when you must wait on Lord. Do you know there’s times when you have to just stop and you don’t know what to do? You’ve been Lord, I don’t know what to do. How do you think Moses felt when he got 2 million people standing on the banks of the river?

Let’s see. and all of them people coming after him. And God said, stand still. Well, I like to be more than that. Nobody wants to wait on the Lord. But his dad told me one time, he says, yank it, the Lord can lead you if you could ever get in front. Because I was always impatient. I’d always want to do it. And if God wasn’t going to do it and God’s up, I’m going to do it without him. I’m glad you’re not like that.

But there’s a lot of truth. Stand still. Look in chapter 4 and verse 5 where he says, let your moderation be known unto all men, the Lord is at hand. So you see whether you walk or whether you press on and run or at hand stands still, God has a reason. And sometimes you have to stand still, the Lord is where? He’s right there now. As I serve the Lord all these years, I don’t have to wait for God to make that trip from heaven all the way down here to be with me.

Sometimes I feel like He doesn’t let me alone. He doesn’t know what I’m going through. Lord, if you only knew, the Lord is always with me. He said, I’ll never leave you and I’ll never forsake you. You see, a missionary has to know how to think because see, the devil is always working on his mind, always trying to discourage to depress. And so the Lord is always there. Look at the next statement, knowing when to run to press on, that’s in three verse 14, where he says, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Now in the book of Corinthians in chapter nine, he’s talking about running a race. You’re running, get pressing on. And so we’re all in a race. And if you’re going to be in a race, you might as well run. And if you’re going to run, you ought to try to win. And if you want to win, then you ought to play by the rules because at the end of the race, you want to be able to receive those rewards.

Serve the Lord God’s way on his time the way he wants. And God’s the one that knows about all the obstacles that comes in our life. Did you know God may have a higher purpose than what we even know about? And he doesn’t owe us an explanation. He doesn’t have to tell us why. You’ve got to let God work His way in your life. And don’t try to figure it all out. You SHALL just trust Him. Because after a while, you can just trust the Lord and anything.

You don’t know how God’s going to do it. You just put your faith in your confidence in the Lord and just keep getting up. Look at the next statement. These two things are very important. In the book of Philippians in chapter one, you’ll notice there in chapter one verse 21, He says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. After you trust Christ as your Savior, your whole life boils around these two things, profit and loss.

Just like in the business, you gotta have profit and loss. What is it? And when you serve the Lord and your land of treasure and heaven, for me to live is Christ means Christ is living in me, for me to live, Christ living in me. And that’s gain. And if I was to die, which he says is far better to be with Christ than to be here. But it’s more needful for you than I stay here. Is it more needful for people that are here, for you to stay here?

I mean, can God use you? And God left you here because you’re valuable to him here. But wouldn’t it be a shame God have to take you because you’re not accomplishing with your life what God intended. Aren’t you thankful that there’s some people who want to make a difference? They want to make a difference. They had compassion, the Book of Jude, making a difference. And there’s some people in other countries that will never darken the doors of this church.

They’ll never hear the gospel unless somebody is willing to give up something in order to reach them. Now don’t you think God’s going to reach the blessed them. I think so. So there’s something to gain. But he also says, you’re talking about gaining and your Christian life, the longer you live, your confidence in Christ should grow stronger and stronger and stronger. And have more peace than you ever had in your life because God, you know, he’ll never fail you and he’ll never let you down.

People will come and go, there’s been times when I’ve been on the radio up in Georgia. I’ve in the radio out in Colorado and people stopped supporting it and I had to go off. There were people that supported me when I was on television for eight years. I had a live television program every week was on radio and television and then people stopped giving. Well I don’t borrow money and I’m not going into debt and I’d have to go off the air.

Do you know that there’s some time there have been missionaries from Florida Bible College of years ago? They dedicated the life to the Lord and people promise that they’re going to help them and support and think like that. And next thing you know, they go to the fields and then their support dries up. They have to come home because some places won’t let them work and they come home. And you’re going, well, why did they come home? Because there weren’t enough people who cared about the missionaries.

This is your invitation to join us for our third Sunday dinner held in the Florida Bible College of Tampa building on the Calvary Community Church Campus. Your dinner is a family-style, covered dish dinner, and a great way to showcase your favorite dish and pick up new recipes. Each month you have the opportunity to invite your family and friends to join us for our Sunday morning service at 1030, and then stay for our third Sunday dinner immediately following noon. Third Sundays at Calvary Community Church, where you’ll be fed spiritually and physically.

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.