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

Look the next statement. He knows to plan for success, knowing when to walk according to the light that he has. Look there in chapter 3 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 unto 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 his 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 will 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. Have you ever heard of a statement, you know, a man who is faithful and that which is little will be faithful in much.

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 all shot up, you won’t serve if you had 10. If you had a billion dollars, you wouldn’t do it. I’ve had people come out of the church and they’d preach pray for me. If I win the lottery, you know I’ll give to the church. I do not pray they win the lottery. I pray they stop playing the lottery.

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

Let’s see. me 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, Yankee, the Lord can lead you if he 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? At hand. 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 He’s 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 Bob. Corinthians, in chapter 9, he’s talking about running a race. You’re running. You’re 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 options. 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 just, you can distrust it because after a while, you can just trust the Lord and anything.

You don’t want to high-class but you don’t care how you’re 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. book of Philippians in chapter 1, you’ll notice there in chapter 1 verse 21, he says, for me to live is Christ and to die as gain. After you trust Christ as your whole life boils around these two things, profit and loss.

Just like in the business you’ve got to 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 me to live Christ living in me. And that’s gained. And ifvertisement 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 him? Aren’t you thankful that there’s some people who wanna make a difference? They wanna make a difference. They had compassion, the Book of Jude, making a difference. And there’s some people in other countries that’ll 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 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 been 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 have to go off the air. Do you know that there’s sometimes there’ve been missionaries from Florida, Baba College of years ago?

They dedicated the life to the Lord and people promise that they’re going to help them and support and things 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 were, well, why did they come home? Because there weren’t enough people who cared about the missionaries. They wouldn’t stand behind them and they wouldn’t support them.

They’re not going to go, but they’re not going to pay for somebody else to go to help somebody else. This is why we can have our comfort here and we can have all the things that we want out of sight, out of mind. But I want you to see missionaries because I want to say, I don’t want them out of sight. I don’t want them out of your mind. I want every time you think about something, do something you’re thinking about, I want what the missionaries are doing, how they’re doing.

I am so glad y’all took upon the responsibility, a burden, where you cared and you have given enough that we’re able to support some missionaries and then take on a few more. I’d love to see it grow and grow and grow. But that’s between us as individuals and the Lord. But see, for us to give to them, we have to learn to think like a missionary. We’ve got to take and apply all of this that we’re applying to missionaries should apply to every Christian in this room, shouldn’t it?

This is how we’re supposed to think. So because if I can’t go, I should be willing to help sin somebody. You see there in chapter 3 verse 4, if you want to brag about who you are and what you think you are. And look who I am. I told people one time I said I was sending this line at an airport and I was going to get my ticket and I was standing there and lying in this person in front of me taking forever.

Ma’am, do you know who I am? Ma’am. She says just a minute, sir. And she would do that. Ma’am, I’m a very impatient person. Ma’am, I said, do you know who I am? So she gets on the phone call security. It says get down here quickly. There’s a guy who don’t know who he is. Now you know I’m lying to you. I didn’t do that. I did go into a restaurant one day. I was driving and I wanted a hot cup of coffee So I stopped into this restaurant and I walked in there I said I want a hot cup of black American senior citizen discount fresh coffee serve with a smile and a can word what I Said I want a cup of coffee.

I’m just a cup of coffee. She told me she says from 52 cents of my cat senior And I says well how much is refills? She sold refWik the free. Okay, I’ll take a refill She’s just a young kid Okay. I should have a man. I’ll pay you for the coffee. But I’m having fun though. You’ve got to have a little fun along the way. Otherwise you grew up to be a mean old man. You don’t want to be a mean old man.

But look in verse 4 he says, though I might have also confidence in the flesh. See there? There’s your battle. Is your confidence in Christ or is your confidence in the flesh? Confidence in the Lord or the confidence in the Lord? Lord or the confidence in you. I’ve lived long enough to know I don’t put much confidence in me and more all. I’ve found out that I don’t care about my greatest plans. Some things fall flat as a fill.

And I just, some things I can’t accomplish. And so I just, now Lord, if you want to go ahead. I’m here and you want to bless, bless. If you don’t, okay. I’m gonna just ride with what the Lord does. I don’t want to try to make everything happen. I want to let it happen, but some things I find out I can’t make happen. I can’t make people love God. I can’t make people have a vision. I can’t make people become soul winners.

I just try to teach the truth and you do what you want with it. But I’ve delivered my soul. I pour that my heart. I believe I have compassion. I have concern. But I can’t make people respond in any kind of missionary. They can go and they can pour out their heart and everything that they have and everything that they do and sacrifice so much and they can’t make it happen. God may do some miracles and sometimes you don’t stay in one place long enough to see all the results of it.

And there may be one person on the mission field that’s been reached and after that mission area has gone on to heaven, lo and behold, that person begins to think about everything that was said and done and we won’t know until it’s all over with. And their works will follow them. that in mind. Look at the next statement. He knows to seek open doors. That means opportunities. A missionary’s got to always looking for opportunities. How can I accomplish God’s will for my life?

But with every open door, as it says, Corinthians 16, there are adversaries. Something that’s always trying to rip the way, the peace and the joy and the happiness, problems. Just whenever you have a victory or something good happens, something bad seems to come along and just rip it out of you. If you haven’t had that happen to you, you must not be alive. Next statement, he knows to fear not and to be at peace. It means you learn how to cast your cares upon the Lord.

Look what he says there in the book of Philippians in chapter 4. Philippians chapter and look in verse six and seven. He said, be careful for nothing. In other words, don’t worry. Don’t worry about it. Cast your cares upon the Lord. Have you ever heard that verse? Look what else he said. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And this is what you’re not supposed to do, not to be afraid by the worrying and the care, cast that upon the Lord.

And everything that you have and everything that you need, you need. Talk to the Lord about it. Talk to the Lord. Learn to live by faith that God’s going to come through, believe in it, and it gives you peace, gives you hope, gives you comfort. Otherwise you’ll become a bitter person and the very person who loved the Lord and have expectations here and reality comes in here and this lost expectation can be devastating to you and make you bitter toward God and the person who used to love them with all their heart.

It can turn against the Lord because, you see, the devil works upon the mind of man. The next statement, he knows to look after others in chapter two, but I want to look on to the next statement. He knows that regardless, look there in chapter four, in verse four, you need to underline that verse. Here’s a man that’s in prison. Here’s a man telling others how to think, not out the loose hope. And he says, and I remember in college, it didn’t matter what happened.

Oh, my tires just went flat. Praise the Lord anyway. I lost my job. Praise the Lord anyway. I thought, praise the Lord. Nothing. My tires flat. I don’t want that. Why should I praise the Lord? It’s called my tires flat. Well, you had a tire that can get flat, aren’t you thankful? What if you only had tomorrow what you were thankful to the Lord for today. Would you have very much tomorrow? I love this verse. Rejoice in the Lord every once in a while when you’re in a good mood, when everything’s going your way.

Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, do what? Yeah, but Lord you just don’t know what I’ve going through. Lord doesn’t know what I’ve been going through. And he says, praise the Lord in, praise the Lord in a way. So how’s things going in your life? Praise the Lord in a way. Praise the Lord at all times. Because see one of these days, everything here is going to be gone. This old body that aches and got a few little pains here and there.

One day you’re going to get a new one. Praise the Lord in a way that you’re able to use it for a temporary. It’s time that’s going to be moving be moving on. And one of the days we’re going to be out of this whole world. Look down to the next one. I like this one. He knows how to stay strong by righteous thinking. That’s in verse eight and nine, which we showed you just a minute ago. But I want you to look at the next one.

He should know that keep looking for the Savior, looking chapter three and looking verse 20. In verse 20, he says, for our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also, and you ought to underline these look for the Savior. In other words, in the midst of everything that we’re doing, even if we’re on the mission field, maybe you’re back on furlough, maybe you’re here to church, regardless of what you’re doing on your job. And so I have everything. Did you know the Lord could come back at any moment?

And it’s all over. And everything you wind and pined and mown and groaned about, you’re going to be so ashamed. Don’t be ashamed before the Lord that is coming. He’s coming. But you need to serve the Lord every day, believing that He’s coming back at any moment. Next statement, He must be continually keep learning the hard lessons. You see what He says down in chapter 4 and verse 10, but I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at the last, your care of me hath flourished again.

In other words, Paul served the Lord when people supported Him. And when they didn’t support Him, he He made tents and sold tents. But now he’s glad that you’re supporting me once again. Because you see Paul’s talking about people being missionaries. He’s talking to these church at Philippites. He’s talking, you are supported me. It’s supported me. And he says that, but when you didn’t I had some lessons to learn. He says in verse 11, not that I speak in respect of one, but I have learned and whatsoever state I am.

in Florida or Georgia or Tennessee or Colorado, it doesn’t matter what stage it was in. There was to be content. I know both how to abase and how to abound everywhere and in all things. I am instructed both to be full, to be hungry, both to abound in the suffer need. That’s not the part you want in the Christian life. I don’t want to suffer need. I want a Christian life. I want everything provided. I want everything. Did you know whenever you commit your life to the Lord after you trusted Christ the Savior, There may be a lot that you’ll never have.

You may give up a lot of things, but you have to believe it will be worth it, or you won’t do it. Or you’ll look back in regret when you see what others have and what you gave up or what it cost you. So Paul learned. The next thing I have done here is he learned in verse 13, I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. It’s great when people can strengthen you. They can support you and they can give you and help and all that.

But sometimes that it’s Christ is your strength. You know there’s a little song where you sing, the joy of the Lord is my strength. The joy of the Lord is my strength. When there’s no joy, there’s no strength. You know what keeps you with the strength? They keep going on and on and on. Joy. The joy that you know that J.O.Y., Jesus in you and nothing between, one day it’s all going to be over. You’re going to be with the Lord and it will be worth it all.

And so he makes the statement, I want you to see this other one here in verse 17, where it says, not because I desire a gift, but I desire a fruit that may abound to your account. Paul as a missionary. Yes, he needed and he wanted people to support what he was doing, to make it possible for him to go all over the place and preach the gospel without charge. But he said, I want fruit that will abound to your account.

You see, one of the things that we want people even in church, we want people to serve alert, we want you to witness, we want, because we want fruit to your account. people that will be saved because of your giving. Just think of how many people of trusted Christ to say because of the radio ministry we have now, or the YouTube and the missionaries that we got a part of. Did you know when these guys go out and they win people to the Lord?

Hey, that’s interesting. We get a kickback. We’re gonna be blessed because of that. I’m just telling you what the book said. And then he says up here in verse 19, the last one I want you to say, But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ. He’s, and this is not to the everyday Christian. This is talking about those that support missions.

This is the those who support missions because of what they’re doing. God says, you ought to see what I’m going to do for you. And some people will never do because they don’t believe God will and they don’t trust him. So they’ll never support missions. What a way to rob yourself of some of the greatest blessings of all. Isn’t it a blessing? Not only that we support. Missions, missionaries, isn’t it great that we’re able to bring them here to get a chance to see some of them and to meet them?

You see, I’ve known some of these guys. I’ve known Joe and Terry for years, years and years and a few more. I’ve known this guy over here. I’ve known his dad since he was on it for the Bible College. I’m talking about Matt Florida here. Peggy back here. I’ve known her since he was 10 years old, which was in 1968. Okay, so I shouldn’t have gone that far. But some of these people I’ve known, I haven’t known Mark that well, but I know he went to FBC and he was a, he’s a sourd for the faith in the gospel and where did you go?

I don’t remember. Indonesia? Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea. And some of these others, I can’t remember everybody but who. Oh, George and Linda over here. They used to work in Colorado with us. And then he, didn’t you graduate from the CBC? That was our college. I forget. Piggity did too. And that was years ago. And then you wind up working with new tribes up in Oregon. And now they’re down here in San Francisco. But see, some of these people I have known, And I’m so thankful that they dedicated their life to certain Lord.

Now, I don’t know what the future holds for them. They don’t know what a future holds for me. But God can watch over us and He can bless us. But you have to believe that you want to be a victorious missionary. Every person in this room, whether you go to foreign fields or you stay here, you are a missionary. Now what kind of a missionary are you? To what degree? Do you love them? I hope that you do. Look up here.

This is something that I just thought of. Watch my hand. No time will have ever leave my risk. Now I do want you to know that I learned this from somebody in 1964. Name was Dr. A. Ray Stanford. And I have never found in all these years a better illustration. I’m going to use it until I come up with another one. But until then, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We all have sin on us.

God loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And for us to pay for sin, the wages of sin is death. Since everybody sins, everybody’s condemned. And God says that He wants us to go to heaven, but to go to heaven, we can’t take sin to heaven. Otherwise heaven won’t stay heaven. God will not allow one sin in heaven. Adam and Eve only committed one sin and they got kicked out of the garden. So God’s serious about this thing.

God loves us. And he says, you cannot earn eternal life. You can’t work your way to heaven. All of your good deeds doesn’t pay for these sins. So how can I get rid of my sins? Since we’re all condemned because we’re all guilty and we can’t save our self-fire works. How can man get to heaven? This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh. He came into the world because he loves us. He hates our sin because our sin separates us from him.

So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die. But because he loved us, he took all the sin of all the world, paid for them to cross and came back. from the dead. And he says, the only thing we have to do to go to heaven is believe he did it for us. If I believe that he did this for me, he would put this payment to my account, I paid for all my sins. See, the reason I can’t go to hell today, the reason I can’t go to hell in the future, I don’t have any sins to pay for.

Christ died for my sins, all of them. And that’s how I know I have eternal life. That’s how I know I’m going to heaven. Why? Because I can’t go to hell. No sense to pay for it. Five were Christ died for my sins. And He did it for you too. And all you have to do, the only thing you can do is believe He did it for you. He loved you so much you would rather die than live without you.

You are loved. You are loved. Let’s pray, shall we? Every head bobbed and every eye closed. No one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you never trust it, Christ is your Savior. Or if you’re watching by the internet, why not right now? Just the best you know how. Say something simple like this. Lord, I’m a sinner. Friend, we all are. And I believe that when Christ died, I believe He died for me. And I want to trust Him right now as my Savior.

As my only hope of going to Heaven. Friend, if you will trust Him, God will save you. Give you eternal life and you can know that you’re going to Heaven whenever you die. There’s no trick to it, no gimmicks. Would you trust Him? I’m going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand doesn’t save you. Just let’s me know that what I said made sense to you. And if you’re saying, yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior and preach that that made sense to me.

Would you just slip you in a very quickly, put a rep back down, in one at all. In one at all. Yes, God bless you. I appreciate that. In one else. Just very quickly slip it up and rub it down. Not going to embarrass you. Not going to have you come forward. You don’t have anything to sign. Don’t want anything from you. With head bowed nice and close. Would some of you just think about this? Lord, do you want me on the mission field?

Do you want me to be a missionary? I mean, one that does it full time. Would you just talk to the Lord about that? Because that’s between you and the Lord. Nobody can make you do anything. Love can. Do you love a Lord enough to believe that whatever He has for you and wants you to do, you’re willing to do. I pray that you will. Father, we thank you so much for this time together. Bless each one. We thank you for the individual that indicated by an uplift at hand that they would trust your Savior.

We ask Father your blessings upon the refreshments that we have had provided for us for the food and pray your blessings upon the fellowship that we’ll enjoy. and for each person being here today, or in Christ’s name, or in Christ’s name. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr. Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones.

This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of The Gospel Driven 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. Hada can meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.