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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 message will be a blessing to you and your family.

What is the most important decision that a man can make in life? when you stop and think about what is the most important decision you can ever make in your life. What do you think it is? To trust the Lord. So if that’s the most important decision you can ever make in your whole life, what has to be the most important thing you ever conflic here in your life? The gospel. Because if that’s the most important decision, then you have to hear in order to make that decision.

So that’s why the Bible says go into all the world and preach the gospel to almost everybody. Every creature. I think if we go into all the world and preach the gospel to every preacher, it would help. If every preacher was clear on the gospel, we could win this world to the Lord. But we got so many of them about telling them things that God never said. And so, that is important. But what was one of the main things that I told you that was one of the most important things I gave you three and we’re going to cover the fourth one today.

But what is the most important thing about one of the things that God says, it’s not the most important, but it’s one of those four things that I’m going to give you. But I gave it to you last Sunday morning and Sunday school class. And you remember, and it is, as you get out your notes and feverishly look, See, I spoke a whole class on what that was. It is so good to see your memory working like it is.

Unrewards. Is that the first one? Because God says you will receive reward because of reward. But now the question is this. Does the Bible tell us what these rewards really are. No, we don’t really know what they are. But he does tell us, why do you think God is dangling in front of us like a carrot in front of a rabbit? Rewards. What is the reward supposed to do to me? Why does God tell me he’s going to reward me?

And if he tells us that and everybody knows that, why isn’t it working? Why doesn’t it work? Because if you knew that God says, I’m going to reward you when you get to heaven, all right, then why doesn’t it motivate everybody to serve them? Does it? Does it motivate everybody to serve them? No. All right, now the question is, Why doesn’t it motivate people to serve the Lord? Why doesn’t it work? Why does God have something that doesn’t work?

Telling us Christians to tell somebody else, look, when you serve the Lord here, God’s going to honor you and He’s going to reward you when you get to heaven. Da-da-da, that ought to work. And everybody says, yay, and we all do it. Why doesn’t it work? have their eyes on the world. Is that possible? You mean it’s possible not to love the Lord or the things that God has for you? Well don’t you go to heaven because you love the Lord?

We go to heaven because He loves us. I always understand this. When we teach salvation by grace It is because grace is a display of the manifestation of the love of God. When you add works to the gospel, you’re diminishing the love of God. When you tell a man that he can lose his salvation, you’re diminishing God’s love for the person. Because the only reason that I could lose my salvation if God didn’t really love me like He said He did.

And if He didn’t really love me like He said He did, He didn’t really pay for all of my sins. And when He said He would give me eternal life, He didn’t really mean that either. It means that if man is saved by his worst, God is a liar. Do you understand that? Because that is what people are saying. If you can lose it, so it’s not demonstrating or display him the true love of God. Only eternal security, the teaching of the gospel really teaches how much God loves me.

God loved me so much he saved me for a day. I’m so excited. Yeah, but what if I live two days? I am so excited he saved me for a whole week or a month or a year. But see the best news that you could ever have is that he saved me forever. Because that shows you how much God loved me. For how long did he save me? How many of my sins did he pay for? All of them.

All that shows the love of God. And whenever you take away from that in any way, you’re telling people God doesn’t love you that much. Only this much. You’re putting a limit upon the love of God. So therefore we need to understand that because it’ll make you a better soul winner when you care about other people’s souls. And you’ll find most of why you should do what you should do. And yes, there are people who fall in love with themselves and in love with the world.

Where does it say in the Bible, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. Is there anywhere in the Bible? What is it? First John chapter 2 verse 15, couple verses right there. Huh? You knew that didn’t you? But one of the things that will help you is to give where you mark these verses in your Bible. you will not always remember.

You will not. And if you ever heard a preacher preach a good sermon, if you stay right here long enough you’ll hear me preach a good sermon. And I want you to underline things in your Bible or take notes because you will not always remember. And yet there will be things that could help you tremendously. Now remember we had mentioned about the purpose in serving the Lord. He says, if any man will lose his life or my sake and the the Gospels.

Where does it say that it? Mark chapter 8 verse 35. Mark chapter 8, look in your Bible, you don’t have it memorized, I know that. Mark chapter 8 verse 35, where it talks about the choice that everybody makes. And this verse is written to the believer and not to the lost man. And we mentioned that in John chapter 3 verse 16 when he says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever beleive it, that whosoever there is to everybody in the world and is to be saved and it’s to the lost man, whosoever is lost, whosoever beleive it shall be saved and have everlasting life.

So that is the choice that is the most important decision you’ll ever make. After you trust Christ as your Savior, now you and I have another decision to make. And that decision is what are we going to live for? And that’s why it says, if you will lose your life for my sake and the gospels, my sake and the gospels. So it tells you a good reason on why you should live for his sake, because he loves the world.

He died for the world. So you let his love pull the world, motivate you to reach the world because of your love for him. Love would be adequate, but everybody doesn’t love the Lord. And when you don’t love the Lord, it’s very difficult to serve him, to please him. So therefore, that’s why rewards do not motivate. And yet it should. It should motivate everybody. I don’t know what the reward is going to be, but I keep knowing in the back of my mind, it must be worth it.

I don’t know what, but it must be worth it. So therefore we will do that. Now, if God says that I’m going to reward you when you get to heaven, remember there’s another issue. We often call it, what is the, um, Reasons on why I should be a soul winner. And we talk about the cry from above, the cry from below, the cry from without, and the cry from within. So the four cries. And if you can hear the Lord, and the Lord says, because I love them, look what I did.

I sent my son. So we should try to reach people because that’s what is the will of our Father. So this is what our Father wants us to do, so this is why we should do it. And if you’ll notice, even on our new college website we have on there, part of the verse in John 14, 31, Jesus says that the world may know that I love the Father even so I do. In the words, I do what I do because I want the world to know.

You see love seeks a way to express itself, but God commended or displayed His love for us and then while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. That is an expression of how much God loves us. So the question is do we love God? And if we do, how do we express it? So God has told us things in His Word that we should do so that we can express our love for Him. So there is the cry from above and there’s a cry from below.

And the cry from below, I wonder what that refers to? What was the cry from below? Anybody remember that? The cry from below is Luke chapter 16 where the man is in hell. And remember he says, the rich men also died and he lifted up his eyes, been in torment and said they were hammer far off in Lazarus in his bosom and he cried on the Father Abraham coming sin in Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger and cool my tongue just to touch of water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame so we know that there was two individuals they both died this is not a parable this is something that really happened and Jesus is telling the story and since Jesus doesn’t lie, it must be the truth.

Even names Lazarus. But also to remember that he made two requests. One of the requests, send Lazarus that he could talk to my brothers, send Lazarus. And Abraham says he cannot leave here. He can’t go. You can’t come to him. can’t go to you and he will not be sent. But remember, the person that’s in hell is all for missionaries. He’s the one that cries out, send Lazarus that he may do what? Testify unto my five brothers. So the most important thing in the eyes of a lost man was send missionaries, somebody talk to my brothers lest they come to this place.

So you have a reason that should motivate us. But let me ask you, don’t most Christians believe that there’s a hell? That’s why they trusted Christ as their Savior, save them from it. Well, if we believe there is a hell and that there will be people that will go to hell, then why doesn’t it motivate us to go into all the world and preach the gospel? Why are so many people totally numb to the idea? Is it because they don’t believe it’s important?

They don’t believe it’s real? They don’t believe what don’t they believe? See we really live our theology. What you really believe? be as dedicated as you really want to be and lack the daisical as you really want to be. You want to be disciplined, you will be. And if you don’t want to be, you won’t be. Nobody can change you. That’s a personal thing. And we’re all held accountable for the decisions that we made. So we’re always making decisions.

But when you settle it on several main issues, it helps you to make all the other decisions easier. One of the things that, like trying to get a Bible college started, is the board developing policies by which we can make little bitty decisions. So you got to have a policy. So that you’ll know what is the limitations of your areas of responsibility. There’s policies by which a man ought to have for his home, things he will do and things he won’t do.

How he makes his money, how he spends his money, how he saves his money. He needs to have a policy, my financial policy, my do’s and don’ts about my life or my family. Remember a guy made this statement? I think his name was maybe Joshua. And he said, for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. But see, that’s a basic policy. And then you make all of your little bitty decisions as it relates to me and my family, we’re going to serve the Lord.

But see, if you haven’t settled that, then you haven’t got anything to guide you with all the other little bitty decisions in life. So in your mind’s eye, when you talk about the Christian life, Now, if we didn’t know the Lord, we would probably live maybe a little bit differently. We would have no restraints. We wouldn’t care about future consequences, judgment, hand of God upon us as he chastens us. We wouldn’t believe none of that stuff. But because we believe the Bible and because we believe in God, that changes everything.

So for you and I, we have a different, I guess you could say, life to live that’s higher than human life. It’s a spiritual life. And so we won’t live like the average human individual. We had a spiritual birth. We have the Holy Spirit in development and we want to live a spiritual life. So we will look at it spiritually. What does the Bible teach? And so we use the Bible as our guide. And God’s Word develops principles that we live our life by.

And one of the things that a Christian has to keep in his mind all the time is the love of God for us and he saved us and how he demonstrated it. And then the second thing is there really is a hell. And because there really is a hell, there’s people going to go there. So we should let the teaching of hell also motivate us. You see, there’s two major motives that God uses in this word, one is love, one is fear.

The love of God should motivate and the fear. People that we know that will spend in eternity separated from God in a literal fire burning hell, place of torment for all eternity. Never get out. And so that should also motivate us. Now there’s another issue, and that is the one where you have the cry from without. The cry from without is this. It’s that lost person out there. You realize the lost man doesn’t know what we know, don’t sense what we sense or feel the way we feel.

They don’t have that living hope within them. We have something that can truly meet their need. But what is the greatest need of all mankind? Is it really that we want to just feed the world? Well if you fed the world and they die they still go to hell. If you could clothe the world and they die they still go to hell. If you could teach them how to fish and how to make a good living. And when they die they still go to hell.

believe that God wants us to allow all the problems of the world and use it as an opportunity to get them to the Lord. So therefore we have a greater motive, a reason. The greatest need of any teenager, any adult, is to know the Lord. There isn’t anything greater than that. greatest need is to know the Lord and I know Him. If your greatest need is to know the Lord and I know Him, what should I do? You see this isn’t really difficult to figure out.

If your mother was dying of cancer and you had a cure, well mama I love you, but I’m not gonna tell you about my cure I got the cancer. I don’t I don’t want to offend my mother so I’m not gonna tell her about this cure. You You know, something don’t seem right there. Love motivates us. And we don’t mind if they cause a shame. They reject us because we know that. This is what he wants me to do.

So I want to do it the way he wants me to do it so that I don’t just turn him off because of the way that I am, but I want God to use me to reach this person. And however they think and feel about me is not important. What is important is what do they think about God? What do they think about this gospel message? And you want to try to keep yourself out of it as much as possible because you see the importance of it.

So you know the greatest. need and all the people. And that is to know the Lord. Now, the last one that I mentioned to you is, and that is the one from the inside, the one from the inside. Take your Bible looking, Acts in chapter one, Acts in chapter one, Acts chapter one verse 8. Acts chapter 1, look in verse 8, where he says, but ye shall receive power. After that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

In other words, I think the word both doesn’t mean at a time. It means everything all at one time. We should try to do the Lord’s work at home and abroad to reach the whole world, to spread the gospel everywhere we can. But notice the purpose of the Holy Spirit in dwelling was they were to be witnesses, power to witness the authority to do what God wants you to do. And that motivate. So now if I know the greatest need of the world and that’s to hear the gospel, then I must believe that the greatest thing a Christian who knows the Lord knows the gospel is to tell the gospel.

So to think for a moment the greatest power in all the world, the power that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead. The Holy Spirit now indwells our bodies to help us to do the most important job in the whole world. And that’s to tell the lost man his greatest need is Christ. If that is the greatest thing he needs and And we know that message, then the greatest thing we can do is to share that message. This is why you and I can live for fame and popularity, for money, all the material things of the world, and not serve Christ.

That’s why Christ made this statement. Whosoever shall live his life For himself will lose it, but if you’ll lose your life for my sake and the gospel the same shall find it in other words This is the purpose of your life So you need to understand what is the purpose that God has for my life Then it makes all my other decisions fall in place if If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will do. But if you want to get to a certain place, you’ve got to get on the right road and go to the right place.

And also understand that in traveling through life, there’s a lot of road bumps. You’re going to make a lot of mistakes, do a lot of things wrong, think wrong, offend people because you still have an old human nature. But behind all of that, did you know that God can still use bumbling Christians, even sometimes immature Christians, sometimes even babes in Christ? But God can use you more effectively if you’ll become spiritually minded, mature. God can get honor out of your life, whether by life or by death.

God can let you live and get honor and God can take you home and get honor. I’ve had more people trust Christ’s Savior at some people’s funerals than they did all their life. So yes, God can get glory out of your life. But to realize that the greatest need of the world is the one that we have the… Honor of sharing so that people can hear the greatest thing in all the world. So if the greatest thing for them is to hear the gospel, the greatest desire that we should have, and this is what really bothered me years ago.

Because I had within me this burning desire that I wanted to reach as many people as I possibly can for the Lord. And I didn’t know how to do it. I would even go to the football stadium up there in Georgia Never watched the ball game While they were watching the ball game. I was 19 years old then or 20 and I would be out there in the parking lot passing Tracks out and putting them in all the cars.

There were thousands and thousands of cars and I was putting track I don’t even know if the tracks were clear But I did it. And my father-in-law told me, he said, Yankee, you ought to tell people how to go to heaven while I didn’t really know how. So I went around knocking on doors. I’d worked hard. Didn’t have much time. Andhest I didn’t have nobody go with me. I did it by myself. And I’m knocking on doors. And they opened the door and I said, Are you saved?

I said, What? I said, Are you saved? I don’t know. I’ll pray for you. Go to the next one. Not asked him. I said, are you saved? I don’t know what to ask. And I said, say from what? You know, I’d say stupid stuff. You know, you’ll find out. I meant, well, I was rude on some cases. Crude? Yeah? I didn’t know how to explain it right, but I wanted to, but I just didn’t have that little touch, you know.

And so I struggled, but it was a burden that I had that I couldn’t get away from. And it wasn’t until way later that I realized that was the Holy Spirit in me, because he is in me for a reason. The Holy Spirit wants me to go. But it’s easier for the Holy Spirit to lead you and to guide you when you’re moving, then when your standing still and never doing anything. There’s some people say, Lord, use me, use me.

And they never do anything. Never go anywhere. Never start doing anything with what they do know. I was attempting to do something with no knowledge whatsoever. And I remember those days. And sometimes you got to struggle through that. That’s very shallow. Our Father, we thank you so much for the blessings of eternal life, the blessings of having the Holy Spirit in dwellers, the blessings of a good church, wonderful people. We ask Father your blessings upon the service to follow and that those that listen by the internet will hear and understand.

Understand and believe in that you do love them, you died on the cross, paid for all their sins, and by faith alone they can have a free gift of everlasting life. So we commit this service to your next blessing. And Christ never come. Amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you are blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing tool free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. 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. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10.30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline 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 and just keep looking up.