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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Give Bible and turn with me to the book of Matthew, the book of Matthew. And chapter 18, Matthew chapter 18, there’s a few verses here that I want to run by you because we’re always trying to find ways to make the word of God clear simple. And simplicity isn’t always simple because there’s always our own thoughts that enter into something and sometimes we don’t explain it as good as we ought to. And sometimes we use stories and illustrations that makes it even cloudier and sometimes just let it speak and say what it does.

But of course this is what we call the Sermon on the Mount, a part of it, or child text anyway. We know that Jesus is talking a lot about the kingdom of heaven when the king comes, it sets up his kingdom upon the earth. But there’s a statement here in verse 1, at the same time, came the disciples unto Jesus saying, who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? First of all, do you see anything wrong with the question?

What does it tell you? Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? each one would probably think, I am, I am, I am, I’m better than you. I ought to have the greatest reward. I ought to be top dog and I, I, I, I. But we know that as you read down through here and he talks about getting the little children and having the faith of a child and how that God’s talking about, you know, if a man has a hundred sheep and one goes astray He leaves a 90 and 90 and goes after that one.

Now I’ve often wondered, you know, if you’ve got 99, you go and look with that other one, well what’s going to happen to the 99? It runs off too. You got somebody else guarding those? Unless those 99 that he had were safe inside of a gate or secure, but I believe there’s more to it. I believe that it shows that a good shepherd wants all of his sheep. He wants all of them. And so sometimes we hear the Calvinists and I was listening to the radio a little bit today.

And John MacArthur was on and he was talking about, we can’t fully understand all about the sovereignty of God and the free will of man and why God would choose to save some and not others. But if God did choose some to go to heaven, He did choose others to go to hell. Anybody said Betty, He did choose people to go to hell. He said, well why? And the only reason we can give is because it brings glory to God.

It brings glory to God. And I thought, If I could get my hands on his neck, I like to just squeeze it real nice and gentle. If we are to redeem the time, you know there’s a verse in the Bible that says, redeem the time, be wise redeeming the time. Well, if you’re gonna redeem the time, doesn’t seem like it’s a waste of time for God to let us spend all of our time witnessing the people that he never chose.

If he really wants me to redeem my time, then why don’t he tell me who they are And I can go straight to them. The ones he’s chose. Doesn’t that make sense? I mean, if God chose, you know, her over there and not the rest of you, then I don’t need to worry about y’all. All I do is go over here and talk to her. Because that’s the one God chose. But I’m opposed to redeeming my time. I’m not redeeming the time wasted in my time.

Anyway, that’s just a little Yankee-ology thrown in there. But I want you to see this. Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? Jesus called a little child unto him, said, them in the midst of them. Says, Verily I send you except you be converted and become his little children. You shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Now earlier in chapter 5 we made the statement that unless your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, you shall know wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

So we believe that the beginning of the kingdom is going to be made up of believers. And later on there will be born, but the faith of a little child, child-like faith, we become like children. And he says, you want to be great, well then you’re going to have to be humble. See there in verse 4? Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this child the same as greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Now I’ve often wondered just know what does he mean by that and especially another scripture that talks a little bit about you know this greatness idea but just take your Bible look in Matthew chapter 11 Matthew in chapter 11 Matthew chapter 11 you’ll notice there in verse 1 where we have a little story here about John the Baptist.

Verse one, and he came to pass when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples. He departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ he sent two of his disciples and said unto him, art thou he that should come, or do we look for another? There’s always a question about why did he ask this question? Is it because he had doubts or to confirm that yes, this is the land that taken the way this way of the world, this is the one that is supposed to set up the kingdom?

Or did John actually believe that he is going to set up the kingdom and what am I doing in prison? So did he have questions or doubts or did he have doubts about Jesus sitting up the kingdom at this time or was it just simply that he wanted those that were with Him to be convinced just because I’m in prison, that doesn’t mean that Jesus isn’t who He claimed to be and He’s going to do what He claimed to do so go and talk to Him.

But anyway, however you come down on that, we’ll not make any difference to me. And verse 4, Jesus and she said unto them, go and show John again those things which you do here and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the death here. The dead are raised up and you ought to unwind this part of it. And the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me.

Now, that whosoever shall not be offended in me is important because in chapter 18 it talks about this being offended an awful lot of times. So to be offended is to, like in a sense, reject the gospel And so to receive him is to believe the gospel. And that’s also worded. And verse seven, and as they departed, Jesus began to say into the multitude concerning John, what weak you are into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

I mean, is he saying that he did not have questions and doubts and it wasn’t for him? And at the same time when he mentions Daniel, go and show John again, is that to stabilize John? Is that because he was? Because of the wind, I wrote a little poem one time about Dr. Curtis Hudson. And the point of the whole thing was, he was a flame in the wind. And I referred to these scriptures here. But I say to Reed, shaken with the wind, but what went you out for to see?

A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that were soft clothes and are in King’s houses. But what went you out to see? A prophet, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written, Behold, I sent my messenger before my face, which I’ll prepare thy way before thee. Mentioned in the book of Malachi. He says, “‘Verily I say unto you, among them that are born of women, there have not risen a greater than John the Baptist, notwithstanding he that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.'”

So in this world, regardless of how great a man may be, a saved man in the kingdom is greater. So whether or not you’re talking about the first birth, second birth. The greatest man in the flesh is not as good as the least man in the kingdom. man of the Spirit. But anyway, he goes on down through here and he talks about those that are great. Now go back here to Matthew in chapter 18. Matthew 18, when he makes the statement there in verse 3, I send you, except you be converted to become as little children, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Now hold your place right here, but look in Mark chapter 9, Mark in chapter 9. A lot of similarities, but just a little bit different, just a little different. And you’ll notice in verse 33, Mark chapter 9 verse 33, and he came to Capernaum and been in the house, he asked him, what was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? Now Jesus already knew because it says that he knew what they were thinking, but it still asked the question.

But they held their peace. For by the way, they had disputed among themselves on who should be the greatest. He sat down and called the twelve and said unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last, and servant of all. Now you’ll find a phrase mentioned several times, the first I’ll be last and last shall be first. If you want to be first there, you need to be last here.” He said, what does that mean?

You serve now. You humble yourself now and you serve not to be served to minister but not to be ministered to. In other words, you’re here to reach as many as a servant and you serve as many people as you possibly can. So you’ll be last now, because you’re gonna put others first. But when you get to heaven, God’s gonna put you first. I mean, that’s what he’s talking about. Now, go back there to the book of Matthew chapter 18, because here we are, we’re gonna take a whole week and go up into Georgia camp, and we’re gonna serve because we know that that’s what God wants us to do.

And so we have got to realize that there’s a few things to look at and I wrote down a couple little items. Don’t offend God by rejecting Christ because that’s one of the most offensive things anybody can ever do is because he went to the cross, he died, paid for your sins, came back from the dead and offers you eternal life, and then for you to reject it. That’s offensive. And so there’s a price to pay for people who offend.

So the Bible talks about you and I who have the gospel, we’re supposed to take the gospel to somebody, and if we don’t do it, then we offend God. We’re offending God by not caring enough about that precious message to get it to somebody else. And then those people who don’t receive us or rejecting the one that they were supposed to, because some people won’t know, they won’t hear. And this whole thing is tied about, God’s not willing that any should perish, not even one person.

I have a picture that I’m gonna show you on Sunday night. And it’ll break your heart. I mean, literally it’ll break your heart. I wish I had it tonight, I use it, but I gotta pace things. But I notice, I want you to take a Bible to look at Numbers chapter 6. Numbers chapter 6. Hold your place where you are. Numbers chapter 6. I usually have times, I’ve read this, even funerals. And I’ve read it at weddings, especially when I have joined two people together in Holy Deadlot, wedlot.

And so I will say this is something that’s really good for you and how you should treat one another. But if you read these verses, look at it not only as you know about the Lord, but you. Doing this for someone else. See you in verse 23. Speak unto Aaron and unto his son, sayin. On this wise, ye shall bless the children of Israel. Sayin’ unto them. Now you and I, we want to be a blessing. We want to be a blessing to those kids, those teenagers that are coming to camp.

And we also want to have a ministry with the college kids that are coming to the council. We want to have a ministry to all the workers, to the staff, all those people. They’re just as important as those kids. kids, even though they’re doing some of the serving, but they also need encouragement in the blessings of serving the Lord. Now get what he says here. The Lord blessed thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. They shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them. Now you and I, because we know this, when we say the Lord bless thee, well people that don’t know the Lord, needs to know the Lord. And we talk about bless thee, you know God blesses obedience. So we want to teach them not only how to go to heaven, but we want to teach them how to serve the Lord, how to please the Lord.

Because I want God to bless them. I want God to bless my children. I want God to bless my grandkids. because I want that, I got us how to do whatever I can to get them to be blessed by the Lord. But anyway, he makes a statement, the Lord make his face shine upon thee. That’s what we’re supposed to do to the children because we’re doing it in his stead. We’re doing it for the Lord. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee.

You’d be surprised that the attitude that parents have, by the way they serve the Lord and whether they’re always down and complaining and whining and moaning and groaning, the impact that takes upon the children. So if you learn this, then you look at it as though this is how I’m supposed to treat God’s children because he says, as you have received them, he says, like you did me. You’re receiving me. is there words treat the children whom God loves so much as though they were the Lord.

How would you treat them then? If the other person that we work with all the time, see I have to look at Peter over here as though he’s the Lord. I’ll look at Jesse, he’s the Lord. I’ll look at y’all, y’all of the Lord. Now how would I treat you differently than I would treat the Lord. If I look at you, you are God’s child and you’re special and precious in God’s eyes. So I need to know and keep in my mind how should I treat you?

Because the way I treat you is the way I’m treating Christ. And that’s why He even says in 1 Corinthians. He said even when you sin against another, He says you sin so against Christ in chapter 6, our first Corinthians. Go back there to the book of Matthew. Back to Matthew. And while we’re right there in Matthew, look in chapter 20, it’s only a couple of pages over. Matthew chapter 20 and look in verse 20. Matthew chapter 20 and verse 20, where he says in verse 20, then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children, whether her sons worship in him and desire a certain thing of him.

He said under what Wilta, she said unto him, grant that these my two sons may sit, one on the right hand and the other one on the left in thy kingdom. Now this is what really started the whole thing rolling, was mama. Mama getting into the picture. Because mama said, these are my two boys. You know, they’re special. You know, they’re better than all those other boys. But Jesus answered and says, you know not what you asked. Because she wanted one to sit on one hand and one sit on the other hand.

Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of? And do we baptize with the baptism that I am baptized? And they said, we are able. And what did they do when Christ was crucified? Nothing more they do was run and hide. And he said to them, you shall drink indeed of my cup and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with. In other words, you’re going to get it. But to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

And when the 10 heard it, uh-oh, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. So here you got 10 against two. Now how did it start? Mama. But Jesus called them unto him and says, ye know that the princes of the Gentile exercised dominion over them and that they which are great exercise authority upon them. See some people want positions of power just so they can be Somebody great. It’s better to do the work without theHundreds and have the title and not do the work.

And so if you want to be great according to the world, you have to be a servant. It’s not trying to find how many people cannot get to worship me. No, how many people can you serve? So you want to reach as many people, serve as many people. That’s why some of God’s people that don’t want to get involved in the ministry, they’re robbing themselves. They’re robbing themselves. Because God wants you to humble yourself and serve, meet the needs of other people, to be a blessing to other people.

And some people just want to bless me, bless me, make me happy, make me happy. Happy, happy being. The whole world revolves around me and they don’t get it. And because they don’t get involved and don’t serve, it’s costing them. Because it’s going to cost and positions later on. It causes them blessings and rewards when they get to heaven. And to be able to be used now, the peace, the love, the joy that has because you fulfill in the will of God for your life.

Man, I don’t say high and the world you can miss on this. This is great stuff. Look in verse 26, but it shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you. Let him be your what? Your minister. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So you see, serving the Lord is humbling yourself and being last.

In other words, trying to help others succeed. Your whole job, my biggest job is I want Peter of motto to succeed. I want Jesse to succeed. I want this guy sitting down here wanting to succeed. I want every person to succeed. I want the women to succeed. I want the kids to come direct. I want them to succeed. Because that’s what our job is is try to help them be successful in their Christian life. It’s not using people to get to the top, it’s not walking on people’s back, it’s not misusing people, it’s humbling yourself, try to figure out how can I help those people serve God in a greater way.

So that means you’ve got to watch your own personal testimony. You have to watch how you talk to people, how you treat people, otherwise you can just treat them like dirt because in your mind it don’t matter because you’re over them and I’m superior. Now that’s not the way to think. Now people can accuse you of it. I’ve been accused of everything under the Son of the hand. But now notice when he says here in verse 5, and who so shall receive one such little one in my name receiveth me.

So we’re supposed to take the gospel to every little child and whenever they receive the message that you have brought, it’s like you brought them to the Lord and he says, you’re getting people to receive the Lord. That’s what this whole thing is about. It’s all about so and it always has been. Now notice what he says and he gets into something about being thrown into the sea and things like that that offends you and everybody gets offended by something but whoa when you offend two things and that is those that are saved and those that are lost.

You don’t want to offend either one because it’s so easy to offend people. Now to be great, you serve them. Let me just jump down to the verse 10 where it says, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones. Now whether or not it’s talking about real little bitty children or people who have become as little children in their faith in a trusted Christ of Savior and in God’s eyes they’re little ones. So regardless of which way you want to go you’ll find out that there is a point of which we’re supposed to when people and trained people.

You see, it is a sin not to reach children or to train them. So we become offensive when we don’t try to reach them and then we are offensive because we don’t try to train them. So it’s like one thing to when people to Christ. It’s one thing to give them to trust the Lord. It’s nothing. There’s so much they don’t know and if we don’t tell them who’s going to tell them that’s the purpose of camp. So we can get them separated, get em isolated, and plant as much seeds as we can, and we allow them to learn as much scriptures they possibly can.

Because after the whole thing is over with, all the sports activities, all the notes and the jokes and the quotes, all that’s gone, it’s the word of God that’s the power. So you want to plant seeds in their mind, and it may not grow right now, may grow later. What was interesting, I had this man and woman up there in Grace Conference. They walked up to me and says, can we take a picture with you? I says, can I ask who you are?

He says, well, we were driving through Michigan, late at night. It was dark, trees on both sides, lonely road. And we turned on the radio, and we heard you on the radio. And it brought such comfort to them. such peace to listen to my sermon. I’m not on in Michigan unless somebody else is putting me on in Michigan. I was at Colorado and I was out there with Jack and not Jack, but Erleen and some of the kids. And one of them told me, he says, I was going through this one state and he says, I heard you on the radio.

It was another state and I’m not on in that. All I know is I’m on in Florida and I’m on in Colorado. there’s people in other states that are listening to our radio broadcast. I don’t know how all I know is that they’re doing it. So I just say praise the Lord. And the God that’s out there in Colorado, he was so thrilled that when he went up there and he heard those people talk about they’re listening to the radio broadcast because he’s the one that’s funding it and he said, man, it is worth it.

Boy, it is worth it. Man, he was still to death. And I couldn’t believe he has a ministry or a little job, a thing he created and he was working. Then he would go out, he’s 67 years old, and he works mowing lawns and taking care of lawn does yard work so that he can make money so he can keep us on the radio. That’s what that guy’s doing. If he didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be on in Colorado.

And there’s an awful lot of people that would not be here in the gospel because we wouldn’t be able to support it. So am I thankful? Yes. Somebody is going to be richly blessed when they get to heaven because of some sacrifice that they made in order to get the gospel done. Look what he says down here in verse 10 again. He says, take heed that you despise not one of these little ones. Whether they’re saved or need to be saved.

offend because doesn’t somewhere in the Bible it says Paul made the statement I am a debtor both to the Jews and to the Gentiles the Greeks and the barbarians in other words he owes them something if I’m a debtor means I’m in debt I owe somebody something so he owes the gospel because that’s why he says in verse 16 I’m not ashamed of the gospel and that’s what he owes he wants to pay his debt It’s offensive to the person that we owe and we don’t pay it.

So God allows us to be able to go through the world and plant seeds and try to win as many as we possibly can. So it’s offensive. Now, he says in verse 11, for the son of man is to come to save and that which was lost. How thank you if a man have a hundred sheep, one of them be gone astray, does he not lead the 99 and go into the mountains and seek it, that which has gone astray.

Now, the part that I like about this, and I don’t think the Calvinists really get it, well, they think God just chose a few out of many. I believe God was concerned, not with the 99, but the whole 100. He wanted every last one of them. Are you ready to learn how to live your life as a strong Christian, lead others to Christ, Excel is a church worker or ministry leader, then look no further, then Florida Bible College of Tampa.

With traditional and online classes taught by instructors with years of experience, Florida Bible College of Tampa can help you grow in your Christian life. Whether taking individual classes or working toward a one-year degree, Florida Bible College of Tampa is here for you. To learn more, visit online at floridabiblecollege.us or call the Red Minister Bob Gilbert at 850227 5325. That’s 850227 5325.

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. Thecision trumpet will sound and we will be changed. Cut up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believe in that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.