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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 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.

I want to get a little sidetracked here today from Hebrews. I want to kind of ramble a little bit. Because I’ve had a lot of things on my mind lately and it’s interesting watching the Lord work and doing wonderful things. And I know in life we often say you know somebody calls want to fawn. The good news or bad news? Well, it’s usually just news. And you did one determines whether it’s good or bad, but you could misunderstand the news.

That is fake news. You might believe something that ain’t true. But whether it’s good news or bad news, lot depends upon the attitude that you have. Because some things that we think that are bad could really be good. And some things we think that are good could be bad. But I want to take a look at some of these things in the Scriptures. I want you to take your Bible looking, 1 Corinthians and chapter 15, 1 Corinthians and chapter 15.

Now we talked a lot about this in the services last Sunday. But there’s a verse that I didn’t cover and quite a few verses in chapter 15 that I did not cover. But I want you to look at verse 57, verse 57. And notice there is a wonderful statement made in this verse. Sometimes we think we’re out here fighting these battles. Oh boy, we got battles to fight. And we hope that we He went all these battles. But there is a battle that has been fought and the victory has been won and input to our account.

See when Jesus came into the world He lived a perfect life. So He fought the battle against the devil. He fought the battle against temptations and all the wicked people, the sins of everybody. And still maintain His good and proper testimony. He did right under all circumstances. his victory of never having sinned and then going to the cross and dying to pay for our sins, then being buried and coming back from the dead, that was a great victory. And by us accepting Christ, we get his victory put to our account as though I actually lived that perfect life.

Like I did it, but I didn’t do a thing. It’s a victory that’s put to our account as though we did it. So we have overcome the world and that’s why you’ll find that phrase mentioned quite because what Christ did as He overcame and I believe He did it for me. Not just that He died and paid for my sins and that payments put to my account, I believe everything Christ did He put to my account as though I did all of these things and I haven’t done a thing.

That’s grace. And yet we live a sinful life, a rebellious life, and we know sin is rebellion and we have this problem. But look what he says in verse 57, verse 57, but thanks be to God which give us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Alive or dead, we have victory in Christ. That means that there has to be something that was won. There had to be a battle that was fought because how can you have a victory without some kind of a skirmish?

There’s got to be a problem. And so I believe that there’s things mentioned in Scripture that helps us to understand Jesus Christ came back from the dead. And so 1 Corinthians 15 is the resurrection chapter. So there was great victory in what he accomplished for us. Then He makes a statement, verse 58, because of this victory and because of Christ coming back from the dead, we ought to serve the Lord with all our hearts. So He says in verse 58, therefore it might be leavened brethren, be a steadfast.

Why? Because we’ve already got victory. Unmovable. Why? Because we have victory. Always abounded on the work of the Lord. Why? Because we win. We win. For as much you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Because we have victory and the greatest victory of all is, of course, a payment made for our sins and we get to go to heaven. And look how many people in the world still trying to fight the battle of the sinful nature, the temptations of all the world and the devil and knowing we know they can’t win.

Because any time you’re not except in the victory Christ one for you, you’re trying to win the victory on your own. And it’s very frustrating because you lose, you lose, you lose, you try to gain this perfection and it’s impossible. Striking out. And it says there’s only victory in Jesus Christ. So I believe it’s a good verse. Now I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Romans, the book of Romans in chapter 8. Now chapter 5 tells us how we’ve been justified by faith and then chapter 6 tells us that don’t let this sinful nature have dominion over our lives.

In other words don’t let the sin nature, that old man, rule our lives. So you see don’t be rebellious to the Lord. So chapter 7 tells you about this battle the struggle you go through. And then in chapter 8 talks about the Holy Spirit who indwells us and how we can live a victorious Christian life. Now those are easy words to say. Live that Christian life. And some people say, well I tried it and I can’t live that Christian life.

Well, if you lean on the Lord and let him live through you, it’s a lot easier than you thinking, I have got to win all my battles because of in my own strength, my own power, my own wisdom, my intellect, my skills, my talent, my abilities, you’re going to come up short. You’re going to miss the mark of really enjoying the Christian life. There’s a lot of Christians just go through Christian life and they’re just totally miserable all the time.

That means that you’re trusting in your good works to bring the victory instead of learning and how to do what God says do and let him work and move. And you’d be surprised at a different perspective will help you to understand you’ve had a lot more victories than you know. And you probably have had a lot more defeats than you know. Because everything that we do is not always victorious. With this whole sinful nature, boy, we get deceived. Now here in the book of Romans in chapter eight, I want you to look at a verse.

Many people of course always say, this is my favorite verse, and then they don’t live like it’s their favorite verse. Look what he says, in verse 28, and we know that all things work together, for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Now that’s a good statement, that’s a great verse. But understanding all this is true, it’s the Word of God, but what I want you to notice is those three little words, all things work.

All things work. That means that Jesus told a story about a man who needed some labor, so he went to the marketplace and got some labor and they worked in the morning. So our lady went back and got some more. in the afternoon he went back and there was still some standing around. That hadn’t been given a job yet. He says, why stand you here idle? Why stand you here idle? In other words, you’re not doing anything. But you see, it’s because they didn’t have a job.

Nobody would hire them. And that was the answer they gave to Jesus. So when you read this and you see that all things work. That means everything in my life, whether I consider it to be good or bad, all things can work together, but everything has to work. We’re to see that regardless of what we go through, all the pain, even suffering, and I’ll tell you it really pain me to see my wife suffer. I can’t hardly stand that.

When she got, for the last five months, she has gone through this pain because of diverticulitis. And just watching her hurt, buckled in over, and there’s nothing that I can do about it except pray. You say, okay, God leave people, shouldn’t have to go through ungodly things. But that’s not the way it is in the scripture. Christ even talks about us, He was an example of us to suffer. We had been called to suffer. I wish I could just take that one little word, suffer and just take that out of the Bible.

And just give me some good things. And Lord, let’s us know that you’d be surprised how many of these things are good for you because it really puts a little pressure upon your faith. Do you really believe God? And you really trust God? It’s not so much that God has to heal to prove, is that God wants to perfect something in our life that may have suffering as only the tool that can be used. Did you know that we’re always been tested according to the integrity of our heart?

Can we handle it? Can we expect God to give us a strength and the grace that we need to walk through whatever it might be that we have to to go through. God will allow us to hurt. But what we pray to God for is not just that we can take a key. Heal me, heal me. It may be God’s will not do. We can’t keep everybody alive. Lord, don’t let my loved ones die. Is God going to honor that prayer for how long?

Because eventually you know that’s a prayer request you’re not going to win unless the rapture takes place. But if the Lord should carry, every one of us have got to go by the way of the grave. And all of our prayers is not going to stop. It may hinder it. And that’s what we’re looking for. How long can I get out of this? How much can I, you know, present to this life and how much more can I get?

How many more years can I? And so that’s what we look at and what we go by. But I want you to see something. These words all things. Now we sometimes don’t always understand clearly all these things because we look at some things as good and some things as bad. But the words of God here is all things, right? All things work together for good to those who love the Lord. Now if you love the Lord, all things can work together for good.

But if you don’t love the Lord, you become the person that decides whether or not, is that good for me or that bad for me? And when you’re not right with the Lord, your discernment is not right. You will not see things correctly, not from a divine perspective. You’ll see it from a human perspective. But there’s a lot of things that happens in a Christian’s life that can temper us, make us a lot better than we’ve ever been before.

There’s lessons that God wants us to learn because there’s a lot of other people that need help. So God will allow some things to happen to godly people, not because of anything wrong they’ve done, but because he wants to show us how much further we need to go, how much richer our lives can be because of the pain and suffering that we go through in life. But now look at something else. When it says, all things work together for good to them who are the called according to His purpose.

It’s His purpose, not our purpose. Then when you look in verse 29, there’s a few words that are mentioned here in verse 29 and 30, but I want to just read them real quick. For a home he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, so that we’re to believe that there’s a good possibility. Yes, someday I’m going to be just like Christ. When we shall see Him, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Someday I’m going to be just like Christ. But until I get there, He wants to conform us into the image of His Son. So all things are working together to make you like Christ, so that you live your life like Christ wants you to live. And then He gives us something else. He says here that’s very good. In verse 30, more over whom he did predestinate whom than he also called and whom he called. He also justified and whom he justified.

He glorified. Now, you see that these words that are mentioned here, these things were all given to us freely. When you trusted Christ as your Savior, you were justified. Didn’t cost you anything. Also, as he says here, you’ve been justified. And one day you’re going to be glorified. You’re going to be in a perfect body with the Lord in heaven. And that’s good. Now the word sanctified here is not mentioned because generally sanctification means how you’re living your life from day to day.

That depends upon you walking with God. But all these things are so very important. So in verse 31 he says, What shall we say then to these things? All things work together for good to those who love the Lord. And it ain’t over yet, and God has a lot of good things He wants to teach us. Now take your Bible looking, first Corinthians, first Corinthians in chapter one, first Corinthians chapter one. Now we don’t always understand the ways of God, but that’s why He revealed in His word those things that He wants us to understand.

But he makes a statement here in 1 Corinthians in chapter one. Look there in verse 26, for you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, or call. Did you say none of them was called? He just said not many. But God have chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God have chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things of which are mighty.

And base things of the world, and things which are despised have God chosen, yay? And things which are not to bring to not, things that are. In other words, all these things, things, things. There’s things that God will use to allow to happen in your life. But see, he does it with different people under different circumstances, But all of us live under this pressure. God knows what each one of us need in our life. And God says, all these things can work together for good to those who love the Lord.

So if you love the Lord, you know that God is good and God is watching over me. And God is allowing certain things to happen to me because He loves me and evidently this can help me. Grow stronger in the Lord. And to make me more like Christ. In other words, you may walk around like you’re a little Jesus. but you haven’t been under pressure. You’ve got to be put under pressure. What do you do when you don’t get your own way?

How would you respond? What do you do when things go contrary to you? Do you keep a submissive spirit between you and God? Or do you get angry with God? It’s bitter at God. So he made a couple statements here and I want you to look at this. When he says you’re in verse 29 that no flesh should glory in his presence. In other words, God will humble you and I. Now it’s not so much as trying to humiliate us, but he does want to humble us.

In other words, it’s a strip away our pride because that’s one of the things that people love. They’re prideful and it’s one of the things God that he hates and pride cometh before what? A fall. So people fall because of pride. And pride is from that old sinful nature that we have. So the middle letter in pride, what is that? Oh, it’s an eye. And generally if you just keep that in mind, it might help you. Now look what he says in verse 30.

But of Him Christ, are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification and redemption. In other words, He is my redemption. He is my righteousness. He is my sanctification. He is my everything. Because I am in Him. I am victorious because I am in Christ. One day when all of this life is over with, the neo- sinful nature is gone and we’re all in heaven. Look what we got as an advantage just because we trusted Christ as Savior.

Why am I in heaven? I’m in heaven. I got a brand new body. I got a brand new mansion on Hallelujah, Abinu, and I can squish gold dust between Matos and I can eat from the tree of life and everything is wonderful. Now what did I do to deserve all of that? Not by the grace of God, because his victory was put to my account. And this has nothing to do with what I did for him. I get all of that for free.

And that’s why I said, if God has freely given to us all things, who’s going to condemn you? If God says, I’m for you. And Jesus Christ says, well, I’m for you. And the Holy Spirit says, well, I’m for you. Does it matterelve what man may say if God is for me? Now, it’s easy. preaching and hard to put sometimes into life some of the things because some things we look at in life and they’re not very good. It seems like they’re very bad and sometimes I expect this and reality came in here and I got all of this despair because I didn’t get what I wanted.

I didn’t get to do what I wanted. I can go where I wanted. I’m not what I have. I don’t have what all that I want. And so when we build that in, but if your will is whatever he says, whatever he wants, whatever he wants to do with me, then say, I don’t have that problem. I don’t have to worry about pride. I don’t have to worry about God humbling me. All I got to do is am I pleasing God?

Doesn’t matter what I want to be or to do, it’s whatever he wants. then if God says I need this, thank you Lord. And God said I’m gonna hold this back from you, thank you Lord. And so you begin to think that if God loves me so much and is freely giving me all things, what am I worried about that my heavily father can’t do something about? I just trust and accept whatever he has. And some of these things that I would say though that’s bad, that’s bad, that’s bad.

God may say, you need a little this and you need a little that. Yes Lord. But when you begin to defy God and go against God, you’re always, and I am too. We fight against our wills. My will and His will are not always the same. If my will and desire is not the same as His, what should I do? Submit to His will. Because if you don’t sin hardens the heart. Now look at this next verse. It’s an awesome verse.

He says in verse 30, but of him arguing Christ Jesus. And verse 31, that according as it is written, he that glory of let him glory in the Lord. And that’s why that’s important. Now turn to chapter three, 1 Corinthians and chapter three. Look what he says here in verse 20, verse 20, 1 Corinthians chapter 3. And again the Lord Noah the thoughts of the wise that they are vain. And the verse right before he says he’s talking about taking the wise in their own craftiness.

In other words you’d be surprised how many people are trying to outsmart God as though they can do and then win when it’s against the will of God. So he says here in verse 20, the Lord knoweth the thought of the wise. Now look what he says in verse 21, therefore let no man glory in men. Now here’s these two words, all things are yours. In other words I don’t have to lifted up with pride. Let’s say for example, God gave to Dr.

Paulson a particular gift and he gave to Len another one and he gave to him over here another one and everybody got different gifts and I got mine and man I got shortchanged. I mean I can’t do what he does and I can’t do what he does. Man I got I’m messed up. All things are yours. In the words his gift is for me and his gift is for me. My gift is for you. And my gift is for you.

You see, all of us can be given different gifts, but the reason he gave us different gifts is because different people are going to minister to us in a different way. What do you want to do? You want to hog them all? You want to be greedy? And then you don’t use and appreciate what God has for you and what God has done for you. We all have a station in life. We got different places and we live and minister and all but if everybody’s gift and everybody in the church and he says serve one another.

What according to you? So his gift was for me. My gift is for you. I’ve been told I have a gift of teaching and preaching. Well who’s it for? It’s for you, and you may have a different gift, and so you become a blessing to somebody else. But all of our gifts are for everybody. It’s just God using different people to administer it. Does that make any sense? I hope it does. That’s why he says up here in verse 21, therefore let no men glory in men for all things are yours.

In other words, when you read chapter 3, And it talks about, you know, I am a Paul, I am a Paulus, I am a Cephas. In the word they begin to pick and choose as though one is more important than the other. Every person in our ministry is important. Every person is important. Should the eye say to the nose, I don’t need you. Should the nose say to the head, I don’t need you. Okay, Well, where would you put it?

Aren’t you glad that the eye didn’t develop into seeing your pants? Every time you sit on you, go blind. What would you say to your big toe? I don’t need that big old toe. You know, it really helps you to balance yourself. Well, I got a knee. I don’t need that knee. I’m not usually going to hear a song, a python or something was eating up somebody. Oh, my, he’s up to my thigh or hitting up to my knee.

And I don’t remember what happened to the guy. I guess he got, I guess he got eight up. But now look what he says here in verse 22, whether Paul or Apollos or Sivas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours, all are for your benefit. They’re all for your benefit. I just do words and everybody will help you to understand that verse just a little bit better. But the things that’s gonna happen, I would rather my wife not have to go through surgery.

That’s according to my will, but God didn’t ask me. And… That’s according to my will. But God didn’t ask me. And she, as far as her health goes, man, she would watch everything she ate and did. I mean, she did everything as she knows to do that was right. And something went wrong. Now God didn’t know that, and so he was shocked when he found out.

Now God knows. And it’s amazing how that there’s things in your life, in my life, we don’t have to plan it. It’s just that we decided we’re committing ourselves to the Lord for Him to use us any way He wants without us being cry babies, without whining about it, and what’s God work in our life to humble us, to realize, do I really love the Lord like I say I do? The only way you can be tested is will you be found faithful to what God wants you to do, regardless of what happens.

Has nothing to do with you like it or don’t like it. It’s an attitude you have with me. My God loves me and I can accept whatever happens in my life. I just pray that God gives me the strength and the grace to accept it cheerfully as unto the Lord and believe in that whatever the outcome is in his hands. Now when you develop that kind of an attitude you can accept a lot of things a lot more readily than you can if everything goes wrong.

Nothing’s ever right in my life. That’s attitude. That’s a perspective on how you see things. Now look at the next verse. In verse two when he says, or things present or things to come all or yours or for your benefit. I like that verse, but it’s a little verse just hidden away, maybe just read over it and don’t dig a little nugget out of there. I look at every verse as though it’s a cave and I get my pick and shovel and I go digging in there.

I’m gonna try to find me a, you know, the mother load. A verse that really says a whole lot of good things for me. And so I love it that way. Are you ready to learn how to live your life as a strong Christian, lead others to Christ, or excel as 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 Register of 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.

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.