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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 Bibleignmenistries.org footing page. 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.

Once you take your Bible and turn to the book of Isaiah, the book of Isaiah, book of Isaiah in chapters 38. Years ago, I in Colorado, I had led this man to the Lord. His name was Bill Ferguson and his daughter, Trust the Lord, to our ministry. He was a Mormon and And, but he came out, he trusted Christ as Savior. A year later, one of the young college students, Rick Long, he married Shelley. And so she was Shelley Long.

And I had, they both had gone through the college year. They got married, now they have the church out there called Grace Church. And I think he’d see about 2,500 in their church and he’s running three about three services And so he’s reaching a lot of people. He’s still clear on the gospel. But Bill Ferguson, he got cancer. He knew he was gonna die. And so he went and bought me a black cowboy suit.

He wanted me to wear a black cowboy suit for his funeral. And so he planned his funeral. I mean, he knew he was going to die. And so I told him about a guy named Hezekiah, that God granted him 15 more years. He says, no, he said, don’t pray I get well. He said, I do not want to get well. He said, I’m going to heaven, and I love the Lord. I love the Lord, and I’m serving the Lord.

And I’m doing all the right that I know to do. He said, I don’t want to go home in the dark. It means I did not want to become disobedient in the years that God may give to me. So I would just rather just go ahead and go home in the light than go home in the dark. There’s a lot of people who don’t maybe understand that, but you know, the Bible talks about it, and I mentioned it the other night that we have this flesh birth and a new birth.

New birth is children of light, and then there’s children of darkness, and that’s the flesh. You don’t wanna go home walking in the flesh. If you know the Lord and you love the Lord and you’re walking with the Lord and you’re walking in the light, walking in obedience with the Lord. When it’s all over with, you don’t want to go home because you stayed out too late and you got dark on you. You want to go home in the light.

You know, walking in obedience to the Lord. And I had a young person call me up one day after- about 35 years ago. She called me up and she says, Yankee, I am so miserable. And she was just sobbing. She’d come to ranch, trusted Christ as savior. She was alive, vibrant, great testimony. Men, she’d get kids out and people would, kid would trust the Lord and just such a tremendous individual. And then it wasn’t long before she drifted from the Lord and started walking in the flesh.

Then she was living with a man that was about three times her age. And got on drugs and just really running her life. And so she calls me up and she was just the balling. She says, why didn’t God take me home before I messed up? Why didn’t God take me home before I messed up? I remember another man that said something similar to that. His name was A. Ray Stanford. And he’d say, if I’m gonna mess up, I hope the Lord takes me home first.

But God didn’t take him home. You see, you can’t put that on God. That, Lord, if you know I’m gonna mess up, you take me home first, okay? Now God says, you just mind your peace and cues on the rest of the alphabet and you do right. God tells us to walk in the light. And so we’re the one that makes that decision. So whenever God decides to take us, you want to be walking in the light. And that’s why I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 38.

If you were in the hospital and you asked me to come and visit you in the hospital and I say, what can I pray for you about? Is that just pray that I get well? Oh, great. Why do you want to get well? Well, so I can live longer. Why do you want to live longer? You think it’s important? Why do you want God to give you another five years, 10 years? What are you going to do with it?

If it’s just a waste time, why pray for that? Just go ahead and don’t read, we should want to live longer because we want to serve the Lord. If you don’t want to serve the Lord, then I guess it really doesn’t matter. You want to walk in darkness? That’s when you begin to stumble and you can’t find your way. But look in Isaiah chapter 38, here’s the story about a man who got sick. And those days was Hezekiah sick unto death.

And Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amos came unto him and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Isn’t that good news? Will that be good news? You’re going to die. You’re not going to live. I like getting a warning like that, in advance. Then has the Kaya turned His face toward the wall and prayed unto the Lord. And says, remember now, O Lord, I be ceased thee.

how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that, which is good in thy side, and Hezekiah wept sore. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah saying, go and say to Hezekiah, thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father. I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears, behold I will add unto thy days 15 years. God said, I heard your prayer. I saw your tears. I’m gonna give you 15 more years to live.

Now you think, well, if God gave him 15 more years to live, he had just gave a beautiful testimony about how much he loved the Lord and now he was walking with the Lord and he’s done all these good things. And you think, well, okay, if God gives me much more time, just think how much more I could do for the Lord. God gave him 15 more years. But he played the full. He played the full. He had the wise guys come all away from the east and they came and he showed them everything that he had, all the treasures that they had.

And they went back and they got a little army together and they came back. You know, you ever heard of Nebuchadnezzar and from Babylon? He was better off if he would just shut up and just let God take him when he did. to get these extra years and then mess them up. You want to go home in the light. Don’t go home in the dark. But you’re the one that decides whether you walk in the light or you walk in the dark.

Take your mind when I turn to the book of Ecclesiastes. Right there before the book of Isaiah, you’ll see there’s an interesting portion of scripture there. And 11 tells us that we should cast our bread upon the waters for after many days it’ll come back to you. But who wants soggy bread? I remember I think it was Dr. Seymour that said that.

Who wants soggy bread? But it means you got to learn to cast the seed and trust the Lord to bring it back in abundance. So he mentions this down here about the sowing. He there in verse 4, he that observeth the wind shall not sow, and he that regardeth the cloud shall not reap. In other words, there are some people who will always find well it’s too hot today. Well it’s too cold now. Well it’s raining outside and the house is leaking but you know I can’t fix it while it’s raining by when it’s dry.

Well it’s not leaking now. And so they always put off whatever they can. My motto is this, never do today what you can put off till tomorrow. Did you get that? Don’t follow that advice. Get everything done that you can, get it done today. But now he says down here in verse 9, Rejoice O young man in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. Walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but know this.

God’s going to bring in the judgment. It’s amazing how we can become so foolish at times in our lives. Well, when you’re young, sometimes you make foolish decisions. But now he says in chapter 12 in verse 1, he says, remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, because you’re not going to stay young forever. You’re going to get older and then older and then older. Don’t do today what you’ll regret tomorrow. Remember that if you live, tomorrow is coming and seeing and seed that you sow now is going to come back to hunt you down the road if you sow the wrong things.

So some people sow wild oats and then they pray for a crop failure. So he says here in verse 1 of chapter 12, Nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them. In other words, living with regret that you didn’t do what you should have done. But the time is coming, we’re going to get older.” So he says, while the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain.

And the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble. In other words, one of these days you’re going to get older. And as you get older, you just love it and get to shake. So you’re going to start trembling. You’ll be easier to be afraid because you’re getting older, there’s limitations of what you can do about many situations. And the strong men shall bow themselves. In other words, you might be strong today, but when you get older, you begin to bend and you start shrinking a little bit and you’re not as strong as you used to be.

Your body is going to change on you. This whole house that we have. And the strong men shall bow themselves. And the grinders cease because they are fused. You’re going to start losing your teeth. You lose your hair. You’re going to lose your mind. I always told why you give somebody a piece of your mind when you’re in most desperate need of it. The next statement there, and those that look out of the windows are darkened or be darkened.

In the words you can’t see as clearly as you used to. Things are fuzzy now. I remember I used to have 20-20 vision. I’d go to the doctor, 20, 20 vision, oh, I knew 20, 20. I could see anything. Now I was so glad I could see so good. And I slowly started losing my eyesight little by little. And it wasn’t as clear, it wasn’t as sharp, but I didn’t know that it was happening to me because it happened so slow and gradual.

I used to play golf with my brother-in-law up there, Milton Hale, and I played with Leon Brown, and we’d go out there and we’d hit the golf ball, and I thought, man, I am starting to hit it out of sight. I really was hitting it out of sight. And I say, did you see it? Man, I didn’t hit it so far, I can’t even see it. Where did it went? Did you see where it went? They said, yes, in that sand trap.

Or it’s over there in that lake. It went into the woods. Really? Yeah, no, no. It wasn’t that I was hitting it further. It’s just my eyesight was getting bad. And I thought, man, I’m creaming it. Well, that’s the way to sometimes with people. You don’t see everything clearly like you used to. Your perspective is not always the way it should be. And in verse four, and the door shall be shut in the streets when the sound of the grind in is low and he shall, well, you know, your ears don’t work as good as they used to.

You don’t hear like you used to. And shall rise up in the voice of the birds and all the daughters of music shall be brought low. What did you say, huh? And I had to go to the place today and get my hearing aids fixed because I couldn’t hardly hear. And if it wasn’t for these hearing aids, I wouldn’t be hearing anything hardly. So I know what it’s like to grow old. I remember when I used to have great hearing and good eyesight.

Now I’m just hoping that you’re who I think you are out there. I can recognize voices though. So as you go through all these things, you’ll find out. He makes the conclusion of the matter in verse 13. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.

Just a comment, a time when we all have to answer to God for whatever we do, whatever that might be. Now take your Bible and go to the book of John chapter 12, the gospel of John in chapter 12. A lot of times we think, well, if God knows that I’m going to really mess up my life, I’m just going to trust the Lord that He’ll take me home so I don’t put those scars upon myself.

God can let you live and mess up your life really bad. It’s just the way it is. So you don’t give orders to God. He gives orders to us. He says, walk in the Spirit and you’ll not fulfill the lust of the flesh, right? Oh, that’s our choice. We’re responsible for our own actions. But I want you to look there in chapter 12 of the Gospel of John and look in verse 26. If you don’t have this verse underlined, it’s a good verse to underline.

He said, if any man, I guess you could throw a woman in there too, I’d probably refer to them too. If any man served me, let him follow me. And where I am, there shall also my servant be. If any man served me, him will my father honor. Now there’s enough reasons right there in that one verse to follow the Lord. Now this is not talking about salvation. This is talking about service. This is something that you don’t have to do because you see, remember salvation is free, but serving the Lord, been a disciple, it can cost you everything.

Look down here in verse 35, verse 35, then Jesus said unto them, yet a little while is the light with you walk while you have the light. Let’s darkness come upon you for he that walketh in darkness, knowest not whether he goeth, the The man who walks into flesh is gonna stumble and he’s gonna fall because you can’t see correctly. And the Bible says your blind cannot see a far off. You can’t judge the distance. He’s talking about having a vision to see the things of God that lies beyond this life.

All you can see is this life in here and now, and you can multiply your problems and magnify them. But when you can see past this life, these things don’t mean nothing to you because you see into eternity, you see the value of everything. And some people, their problem is too big. And just show your problem how big your God is. It’s a little different. In verse 36, while you have light, why you have light? While we have this period of time, and we have the word of God, and Jesus is the light, he says, believe in the light that you may be the children of light.

When we trusted Christ as our Savior, we became the children of light. That means we’re supposed to light the way for others to follow so they can see. Our life, we’re supposed to be like the salt of the earth, the salt of the earth. Now, go down here to another verse, I want you to see this verse in verse 42. Verse 42, he says, “‘Nevertheless, among the chief rulers, “‘also many believed on him, but because of the Pharisees, sees they did not confess Him.

So I believe there’s believers, but they did not confess Christ before others. So I’ve again didn’t leave, they must not have been saved. No. There’s people who say that you’ve got to confess Christ before men in order to be saved. No, you do not. What if you’re on an island and all you’ve got? You’ve got the Bible and you want to get saved and there’s nobody but you. I’m sorry you can’t get saved. There’s nobody to confess to. Now that’s not what he’s talking about.

But there are people who trust Christ as Savior and never confess that to anybody else. They’re what we call a secret service Christian, my badge. I’m a secret service Christian. We ought to make up little badges and everybody can put them on and take them in here. That way if they don’t witness something like that, secret service, secret service. Are you in the secret service? 007 anyway. He says, they did not confess unless they should be put out of the synagogue.

In other words, in verse 40 they love the praise of men more than the praise of God. Now, can believers love this world more than they can love the next world they’re going to? Can a person love the things of this life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of the life? Can that overtake a person and where it becomes a more meaningful to you and that’s what you seek instead of the things of God?

And it can happen and there’s people that let it happen. But sometime he can happen so subtle that you can’t see it come. But I want you to see down here in verse 46 also. Verse 46, he says, I am coming light into the world. The hosts who ever believe in me should not abide in darkness. In other words, once you trust Christ as Savior, you don’t have to abide into flesh. You can walk in the Spirit and you can learn to lift for the Lord have something more than what you had.

But some people will never have that benefit. And so there’s a choice that you and I will have between loving the things of the world. And that’s why John, who God used to write John, also writes first John, and many of those things that you’ll find over there, you’ll find him right here. And I think it’s important to know. I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Luke chapter 14. The book of Luke in chapter 14.

Now I’ve referred to these verses many many times because it’s so important. It kind of gives you a little bit of the idea of the cost that’s involved in serving the Lord. Because if we don’t realize what it’s going to take, you may not be willing to pay that price. And many people are, and they just kind of inch toward it a little by little to see whether or not is serving the Lord going to be worth it or not.

You know, I’ll try it. I’ll try it. So they will try going to church or I’ll try reading the Bible. I’ll try prayer a little bit. I’ll try and like it’s like a little experiment with them. And so if they try it and they don’t like it, then they give it up and do whatever they want to do. But I tried. I believe you have to come to the place in your Christian life where you’ve got to make a decision, commit yourself.

I don’t want to have to just try serving God. I want to serve God. I don’t want it to be like in the little experiment that I can see if I like it or not. There’s been many things in the Christian life that I have not really enjoyed. But when I read about the Apostle Paul and what the Christian life was really about and all the things he suffered for the Lord, you know maybe there’s something else out there that’s better than this.

But when you think about in the long run there’s nothing better than serving the Lord regardless of what it costs. So there’s the three things that I want to just mention to you. And that is we should worship God at any cost. Worship God at any cost. I don’t care what it cost me. I want to learn the word of God. I, the other day, was showing somebody my Bible that I had years ago and how that the pages are disintegrating.

And it really are. But I used that Bible and I marked it and men I studied it and I marked all the pages and so forth and it’s a very well-used Bible. I absorbed that book. I studied that book. I would spend hours and hours studying the Bible, reading, I mean book after book after book, just reading it. Not trying to find a sermon just to read the Bible because I had an enquiring mind and I wanted to know.

But you’re going to worship God at any cost. Look what He says here in verse 25. and there went great multitudes with him and he turned and said to them, if any man come to me and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, and ye in his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. A disciple is somebody who is disciplined in his life. He’s letting God disciple him, discipline him. Now I have very seldom ever use the word disciples.

I’m not against the word, it’s just always just get people to serve the Lord. Just go ahead and do what you’re supposed to be doing in their learning discipleship. But it’s like here, worshiping God. At any cost, it may cost you the love of your mother and father and brother and sisters and anybody. Because you love the Lord so much more than anything else, nothing is going to take the place of what God wants me to do with my life.

I’m going to serve Him if it costs me everything. And there were times when my mama told me to get out of the house if I couldn’t stop preaching to her. My father-law would get up and he’d walk out of the room. My sisters made fun of me and mocked me. That was okay because eventually I won them the Lord, every one of them, and they trust Christ as Savior. But I love the Lord more, and I love the gospel where I didn’t want anybody to go to hell.

But I love them, but my love for the Lord, God says, He loves them. He loves them more than I would ever love them. So I let the Lord love them through me. Even when I didn’t want to do some things in the Lord’s work, I wanted to study the Word because I know that that was be pleasing to the Lord. I wanted to worship God at any price and I would pray all the time. I would live in a state of prayer just all the time, like praying without ceasing.

You’re always thinking about God, I don’t get what you’re doing, where you’re going, even when you’re driving a car and I’d wake up in the middle of the night preaching. Because it’s all my mind. And I’ve learned, I quoted scriptures in my mind. I’ve prepared sermons while I’m asleep. Then I wake up and I try to remember what in the world are I doing. And I get into a piece of paper and I write it down. Now that may not be for everybody.

I’m talking about the Lord has to mean more to you than anything else in the world. You have to worship Him. Not the world and not the things in the world because He says the love of the world. If that’s what you got, then the love of the Father there’s not any. So that’s why I believe you have to worship Him at any cost. Now look up here in verse 27 and whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

I believe more Christians are trying to find their crowns instead of their cross. Finding a cross, a burden, a mission, a direction, the doing what God wants me to do. And so we want to be, and I would write this little statement down, workers at any cost. We want to worship at any cost, but we want to be workers at any cost. I don’t care what it cost us. Be able to do a work of the ministry. It’s one thing to say, man, I wish I could do something.

Yeah, you ought to do something. Everybody ought to do something. But there’s the work of the Lord. And we ought to be abounded in the work of the Lord for as much as you know, your labor is not in vain in the Lord. So you worship God at any cost. And then you work at any cost because it’s so easy to do everything else in the world and do something for the Lord. And that means a sacrifice. And I relate back a lot of times whenever we were built in the ministry, even in Colorado.

And here’s me and Betty, we go all day on Sunday. and we go all the week long and I was involved in I had about 22 to 23 hours a week that I was teaching. To think about how many hours that is, how many meetings that I had every week. I went from Sunday to Sunday. I had no days off for eight years, no day off. I was always involved in doing and going but God gave me tremendous stamina.

I don’t know why but he did and I didn’t have to have a lot of hours of sleep every night. If I can get four or five hours of sleep, I’m fine. I’m in good shape. But most of them, they’ve got to have more than that. That’s fine. But whatever you can do, but do it. And so we would be busy, all these things. Men, reserve the last Saturday of the month for the Iron Sharpen’s Iron Men’s Bible Study and Breakfast at Calvary Community Church.

Join us at 730 for a home cooked breakfast. Then, at 8 AM, the featured speaker of the month will present a one-hour classroom style men’s Bible study in a relaxed atmosphere where questions in dialogue are welcomed. The scripture tells us that Iron sharpens iron, and this men’s Bible study is open to those of all levels, whether new believers or mature Christians. The Iron sharpens iron men’s Bible study and breakfast. Don’t miss this muthily opportunity for fellowship and the study of God’s word.

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. leaving that the Lord is coming soon. Just keep looking up.