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

Alrighty, well it’s good to be here tonight. And I want you to take your Bible, turn to the book of Acts in chapter 17. Acts chapter 17. Just a couple of thoughts that I want to give you concerning a few of these verses. And then I may change it and do something else. Go to another verse. I may do a little ramble tonight, but that’s perfectly all right. In Acts chapter 17, it says there in verse 23, for as I pass by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription through the unknown God, home therefore ye ignorantly Worship Him declare I unto you.

I want to talk to you about an unknown God. God you don’t know about. One that you ignorantly worship. But it isn’t that a way to win friends and influence people. You know He just love to make somebody upset. He just told them that all of those things that they’re doing, how stupid it was. Verse 24, God hath made the world, God that made the world and all things therein, seen that He is Lord of heaven and earth. Doleth not in temples made with hands.

Neither is worshiped with men’s hands as though He needed anything, seen He giveeth to all life and breath and all things. Verse 26 is an interesting verse, and hath made of one blood, all nations of men, for to dwell on all the face of the earth.” It looks like God is the one that determines all the nations, and He determines all the men that are born within the nation. And then He says He hath determined the times before appointed.

So now you have not only determining the nations, determining the men, the times when they be born. And then he says the bounds of their habitation. So it seems like God determined who was the first man and the first woman. And then on down the line He chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. I mean just think of all the one down to the ages that got…and it appears that God’s the one that determines when we were born, the nations that we were born.

And it’s not all just a bunch of accidents, happenstance. And any of this is true, and I believe that it is, you and I have been chosen for the time in which we live. We are in the nation that God had desired for us because we believe that God created us. And so in an appointed time, we arrived. Here we are. Now we just need to know what is it that God wants us to know and to do and to be at this time in our life.

When you read the next verse where He makes this statement, that they should seek the Lord. So it is the will of God that God wants every person and every nation. That he is determined at a particular time in which to be born and to live to know the Lord. And not only to know the Lord, he makes a statement along this line, if happily they might feel after him and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

So regardless of what nation anyone has been born in, Regardless of how many people there may be, the Lord says in His Word, He’s not far from anyone. Isn’t that an else in statement? Sometimes we think, well, those people are further and further and further and further and further and further away from God. America’s close to God. Africa’s far away from God, not according to the Bible. You see, in every individual, God has placed eternity in their hearts. It means that everyone has the knowledge that he knows he is a sinner, knows he needs to be righteous, knows that he’s not, knows he’s going to be judged.

According to the book of John chapter 16, it says that’s what the Holy Spirit does, was convicting the world of sin, righteous, and judgment, convex the world. The message that we have to reach the people that want to know truth. See, God can do wonderful, marvelous things in our midst. But when you read the book of Romans in chapter 10, it says, the word is nivy, even in thy mouth. In other words, it’s not like people have to make a trip through the heavens and through the stars and the galaxies are trying to find God up there somewhere because God came here.

So we don’t have to find them there. We can find them here. And that’s why the story that we have been given to tell is the most exciting story in the world. It’s all wrapped up in that story of the gospel. So God has given us a wonderful life to live. We don’t know how long we’re going to live. But whenever you see that verse 26 and verse 27, it appears that if God determined the nations and the people and all that, it is the will of God that they find Him.

You know that’s the most important thing mentioned in that verse 27. There is an unknown God and we should find Him, this unknown God. So that means there’s a God that has revealed himself, and so Jesus Christ is the revelation of the invisible God. You know, this is Acts 17, but look in John 17. Sometimes it just seemed like certain chapters just go together. But John 17 is a chapter in which Jesus Christ is praying to his Father. That’s what we consider the real Lord’s prayer.

And there’s a statement that is made in here that can be a little puzzling because you wonder why would Jesus say such a thing? He’s talking to His Father. He’s talking to Him about His disciples. And He makes this statement in verse 1, these words speak Jesus and lift it up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify thee, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

This is he life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou have sent. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gave us me to do. As he prays the prayer, it comes across as though it’s a finished job. He’s already on the other side of the cross. But he hasn’t finished the job yet. But yet he knows he’s going to. The Father knows what the Son’s going to do.

Here he is on this side of the cross before he dies. Think in the Lord, the hour is come. It’s like a done deal and everything’s wrapped up. And I did the job and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Then he says, so glorify thou me with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And so he says in verse five, and now O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world began.

I have manifested thy name unto the men, which thou gaveth me out of the world. they were, and thou gave us then me, and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou have given thee, or given me, are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou descend me.

I pray for them. I pray not for the world that phrase. I pray not for the world. Bathered me. I pray for these. I pray not for the world. We pray for the world. We seek the lost for God’s wisdom. the right things to say, why did he say, I pray not of the world? And I guess as you read further, you can understand more, but I believe that the prayer of a righteous man availeth much. We know that his brother later on, James talks about how the fervent prayer of a righteous mana vey left much, and he used illustrations of Old Testament prophets.

I wondered why he didn’t use Jesus as one of the examples of a man who was in fervent prayer. Remember when he was in the garden, he prayed great sweat drops of blood. You couldn’t get more fervent than that. He prayed to His Father. He says, I pray not for the world. Had He prayed for the world, they might not have crucified Him. I don’t know. Maybe He depends on which side of the cross He was on. But why wouldn’t He pray for the world?

Did not He care for the the world, isn’t that the reason He came? And then He makes a statement, but for them which thou have given me, for they are thine. And all mine are thine and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. I am now no more in the world. They hadn’t died yet. He was still in the world, but He praises though He’s not in the world.

And what He was praying for concerning His disciples and the unity that they would have, the world can’t be a part of that. He can’t pray that the world will be a part of this. They must, first of all, believe on the Lord, just like everybody else. There’s things that we do, like for the Lord’s Supper. open it up to anyone who’s trust in Christ as their Savior. But is it for the world? Is it for the lost? No.

There’s some things that belong to God’s children and there’s some things that doesn’t belong. So maybe there’s a context here that helps to reveal. So as you go down through here, he talks a little bit about this old world in which we live?” And then he says there in verse 17, “…sanctify them through thy truth thy word is truth.” But see the world is not of the truth. The world doesn’t love Christ. The world doesn’t love God. The world doesn’t love His children.

He says, “…I am not of this world.” And so, in then verse 18, “…as thou have sent me into the the world even, so have I also sent them into the world?” See, you don’t send the world into the world. So concerning his prayer about why he did not pray for the world, because he’s praying to the Father for the children, his disciples, to reach the world. As you’ll see. So he says there in verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

So he’s talking about the ones that are going to be reached in the world through their word. So he does pray for the world, but he’s praying that the world will be reached by those he’s praying for. He also makes the statement there in verse 21, that they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe, that Thou have sent me. It’s the love and the unity of God’s children that God wants as the drawing mechanism that magnet, along with the power of the gospel to draw the world, to draw the world.

So he prays for the world, but it’s indirectly. You see, the key is if we can keep God’s people close to the Lord, loving the Lord like they should love the Lord, will reach the lost. But you can pray for the lost, but if God’s people have no love, not going to be done. But look what else he says. He makes a statement in verse 23, I in them and thou and me that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, as thou loves them, as thou hast loved me.

Father I will, that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou love us me before the foundations of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known me, but I have known thee. These have known that thou have sent me.” So now he says, as the Father hath sent me into the world, even so send I you. You know what I like to do at times, especially when I don’t really feel too good.

I feel the back tub up as full as I can, as hot as I can stand it. And sometimes I’ll close the curtain so that I sweat like crazy. Then I lay back in that tub and I don’t have my hearing aids in and I sing. Now some people like to sing in the shower, But I love to sing in the tub. Now if I had a tub in here, I would get in the tub. I’d pull the curtain.

But sometimes when you’re sitting in the tub and the things close, your voice sounds different. you sing with more sincerity, and you be surprised how easy it is to cry. You ever cry when you’re singing? Not because it sounds so good, but because the words have such deep meaning to them, and you’re finally getting quiet and you’re listening to what you’re singing. You know, sometimes we just sing songs songs to sing songs. And we’re not thinking about sometimes the words that we’re singing.

I heard this song for the first time about 1964, Dr. Charles Weigel. He wrote this song and he sung the song when he was 92 years old. That’s why when I sing it, I sing like the man that was 92 years old. If you know parts of it or the course, help me out. I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus, Since I’ve found in him a friend so strong and true. I would tell you how we changed my life completely.

It is something that no other friend could do. No one ever cared for me like Jesus. There’s no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the certain darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. All my life was full of sin when Jesus found me. All my heart was full of misery and war. Jesus placed his strong and loving arms around me. And he let me in the way I ought to go. No other cared for me like Jesus.

There’s no other friend so kind as he. No one else could take the sin and darkness from me. Oh, how much he cared for me. Oh, how much he cared for me. That’s enough for that, I guess. Did you know right now, I’m as weak as I can be, but I am as happy as I can be. I really am. I am so happy that the Lord is so good, and I’m so glad to be able to be here and so glad just to serve the Lord.

I’m not sure if everything I do meets muster, But sometimes I don’t really care. I just don’t care. I guess you get that away when you’re not feeling good and you’re taking medicine, huh? Sometimes you get a little bit more sentimental and I was sitting at the couch last night and beddish, she sat down beside me and she says, somebody called us afternoon. I said, oh, she says, and I just started crying. I said, why? I don’t know. I don’t know.

Sometimes you can’t explain it. You just know that you serve a wonderful God. You don’t have to see how God is going to get you through anything. You just know that He will and that His grace is sufficient. I don’t know how I got off my message. I was Somewhere at Acts 17 and John 17. So this is Yankee 17. This end represent you and me. The wallet represents all the things that we do, the trauma. The Bible says that God loves us.

Says He loves the whole world. Yes, He even loves the lost. And He prays that His children, He prays for us. it would believe that we would reach the world. What a prayer. Just knowing that is enough to motivate you. I want to do something. But God says that He loves us. Hates what we do wrong. But to pay for this sin is eternal separation from God in a literal fire burning hell. But He loves us. He wants us to go to heaven.

To go to heaven we have to be perfect. No one’s perfect. No one’s righteous. No one’s good enough. That’s why God had to send His Son into the world. This hand represents Jesus Christ’s God’s Son. Born of a virgin, took upon flesh, then made a man without any sin. He took all the sins of the world and paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead and said that if we would believe he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what he did.

That’s the best news in all the world. If I offered you my wallet and you accepted, you would have an empty wallet. But if I offered you the microphone and you accepted you would have a microphone. If Christ came in here and offered you eternal life and you accepted it, you would have the free gift of eternal life. And if it’s eternal life, it lasts forever. And if it lasts forever, and He said, I’ll never cast you out and I’ll never lose you.

friend, you can know that you have eternal life and know that you’re going to heaven whenever you die. That’s the best news in the world. Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bowed and every eye closed, if you’re here in the auditorium or watching by the internet, understand that God so loved the world. That’s you and that’s me. that it gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die on that cross, to pay for our sins, and says that whosoever anyone whosoever believe it in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Would you believe He did it for you? Would you trust Him? See, God knows who you are, knows where you are, knows what you’ve done, knows everything about you and he still loves you. He loves you with an everlasting love. But would you trust Christ as your Savior? Would you accept God’s free gift of eternal life? If you will, God said He would save you and you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. If you’re making that decision, I’m going to ask you if you’ll just slip your hand up very quickly and put it right back down.

Is anyone at all? So yes, that made sense to me, and I will trust Christ as my Savior. I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die. Anyone at all before we close. I follow, we thank you so much for this time together. Little different perhaps tonight, but it’s okay. There’s all of the things that we can learn. And I pray your blessings upon each person here. And we pray, Father, for those that are not feeling too good that you’d heal their bodies and raise them up to good, strong health.

Walk us through all of this that we need to go through. Help us to learn lessons that we need to learn. Help us always remember that these bodies are free. They don’t last forever. But follow the things that we do for Christ will last. We thank you so much in Christ’s name. Amen. Are you a new listener to Bible Life? Do you enjoy the teachings of Dr. Arnold? Well, if you’ve never contacted us before, we want to give you Dr.

Arnold’s book, The Gospel Driven Man. Every day we receive many emails from folks who have questions about repentance and salvation, about faith in works, and about how to share the gospel with friends and loved ones. This book, The Gospel Driven Man, covers all those topics, and we want all new listeners of Bibleline to receive a free copy. There’s no obligation, no donation necessary, simply call us at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Man.

The mailing address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Again, don’t forget to include your mailing address, and God bless you and thank you for listening to Bibleline. Thanks for joining us on Bibleline. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. And we will be changed.

Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day. Believing that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.