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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. He just told 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 concluding message of this teaching will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now there is a way of dealing with everything. God knows all of these things. He’s the one who designed these bodies. He knows our minds, he knows what we go through, he knows there’s the devil, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of the light. God knows all this stuff. So he gave us a book and says, this is what you do. Well, I don’t need somebody to tell me what I can’t even not do.

Yes, we do. God says in the book of Jeremiah, it is not within man that walk up to direct steps because we think we know how to handle everything until we have a problem that we can’t solve. You ever have a problem, you don’t know what to do with it. don’t have to solve it. Well, we have these things happen. Look down at the bottom that lacks the paragraph right there before number four. The person will lock it up for the short haul like trying to close a suitcase that is too full.

Now we’re getting ready to go to Israel. Have you ever put all the stuff in a suitcase and then try to close it? It won’t close. But it says, you ain’t get lean on that corner and I get on that corner and mash and she finally got it caught. Now we still got the element to go. And if you get that one down and then finally get it to snap, what are you going to be afraid of happening? Mm.

And whatever happens happens. But you don’t know if it will or if it will hold or if it’s going to explode. Now there’s people like that who hold things in and they can even give the appearance that they’re cool and calm doesn’t bother me doesn’t bother me doesn’t bother me doesn’t bother me and then all of a sudden it bothered them and they quietly build up this pressure and it’s only a while but sooner or later it’s going to explode and sometimes you’ll be the recipient of that of somebody else’s they got somebody else it can happen because we’re all guilty ofyahoo do we solve this pressure problem that builds up in our lives.

Look at the next statement here. Sometimes an innocent person becomes the recipient of uncontrolled explosions. And you get hurt because you’re just with that, what’s called when the explosion. How do you handle this explosion? Well, I’m glad you asked. Look down at number four. The Bible has a great verse for all of God’s children. You need to know it’s in here because it’s like a little relief valve. It’s a way to let some of the pressure out. And so I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of 1 John, the book of 1 John in your Bible, and notice this.

You see, once you trusted Christ as your Savior, you’re His child, you’re going to heaven when you die. but we’re not there yet. So God says, betweenAssuming now and then, I want you to walk with me. God says, I want you to spend time with me and I want to teach you some things as we go through life together. So after I trust the Lord, it’s just me and the Lord, me and the Lord. We’re walking through life together.

And my heavenly Father wants to teach me his child how to be like him. And so the more time I spend with the Lord, the more you’re gonna be like, the one, you hang around. If you hang around people that pull you down, you’re gonna be pulled down. If you hang around people that will help build you up, you’re gonna be built up. Because you see, most people are not any stronger than the friends they have. So be careful what kind of friends you have.

You want people that can lift you up, encourage you and help you in the right direction. So you and the Lord, you stay close to the Lord, He will teach you things, nobody else can teach you. Now He can use people to teach you, but it cannot eliminate, no one can walk the spiritual walk for you. Nobody else can walk with God for you. There’s no substitution here. You have to learn how to walk with the Lord. Don’t look what He says here in verse 3.

That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. Now, very seldom do you find the words in the Bible about having this relationship. You hear fellowship, fellowship. Because see, your relationship, replica wise, is based upon your birth. When you’re born to God’s family, you are His child, He is your Father. And all those who trust Christ as Savior are the children of God. So we are brothers and sisters in the Lord.

And because of that, God wants us to have fellowship. And if we have fellowship, our fellowship can’t be any closer than the fellowship you have between you and God. See if you’re not right between you and God, you won’t be right with the fellowship. So what is fellowship? Two fellows in a ship. Hopefully going in the right direction. Now get what he says here. Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ. So does God want me to have, now remember this relationship based upon birth, but fellowship is based upon your walk with the Lord.

Am I, in my Christian life, I’ve been saved on 57 years, is walking with the Lord. I’m gonna walk with him. So my walk with the Lord can be a wonderful thing, a sweet thing. But God says, now, if you say you walking with me, and you’re doing this and this and this and this, this and this and then you’re not walking with him. He says you lie and do not the truth. And if we say and we can say anything that doesn’t make it true.

So God lays it down how you can know when you are walking with the Lord. So the book of 1 John is about a Christian having fellowship with the Lord. Now look what he says here in verse 4, because if you have fellowship with the Lord and you’re walking with the Lord then it’s easier for you to have fellowship with others who are walking with the Lord. So he said to verse four, and these things, right, we unto you that you’re what?

Joy may be full. So we’re not talking about how to get to heaven, we’re talking to God’s children who are already going to heaven. It says we haven’t got there yet. So God tells us how we’re to get along before we get there. So then in verse five, this then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you and God is light and him is no darkness at all. In other words, God does not walk in the dark.

God does not walk into flesh. God is the light and if we walk in the light then me and God can have good communion between us, fellowship. And he says in verse 6, if we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth. In other words, look up here. My first birth is darkness. That means it’s away from God, it’s a low sinful nature and it’s the flesh and And it’s not right with God.

God said, I need a new birth. Don’t, when I trusted Christ from Savior, gave me a new birth, light, darkness. Now I’ve got these two births. As a child of God, I can walk in the dark, or I can walk in the light. God has fellowship with me when I walk in the light. But when I walk in the flesh, then I’ve got a problem. You see, God doesn’t restore my walk. I’m the one who walk in the flesh And I’m the one that has to correct my walk.

Now I can confess to the Lord, Lord, I’m walking in the flesh. And God said, he is faithful and just to forgiveness. And now your walk can be restored when you restore your walk. The fellowship can be restored. So it’s not that I just confess my sins and now I’m fellowship with God, no? Not until you restore the walk. You don’t restore the walk. You don’t have fellowship restored. So he makes a statement here in verse six. If we say we have fellowship with Him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth, but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship, one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, continually keeps you clean.

Now, look what He says in verse nine. This verse is something that is a special verse for God’s children on how to relieve all the pressures of life, because He guilt in your life builds up pressure, and it can become like a joke of iron until it destroys you. That’s what guilt does. But if you do what God says, no, you can take things to the Lord. Casting all your cares upon Him. And trust the Lord, it won’t walk you through.

But walk with the Lord through it. But get what He says. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and do cleansse us from all unrighteousness. This is to the Christian who’s walking in the flesh. He can correct the problem by admitting the problem and go into the Lord and accepting God’s forgiveness because God is just and faithful and he has to. He has to forgive his children because he’s already paid for their sins.

And because sins had been paid, I never have to worry about going to hell because he paid the penalty of my sin. But if you want to have this fellowship between you and the Lord, then you’ll have to correct the walk. And you can walk in the flesh or you can walk in the Spirit, but it’s your choice. And God says, if we confess our sins, then God is like a release valve that relieves that pressure. Now when people wrong you, is anybody ever going to wrong you?

Yes, they are. Now what are you going to do? I told people this is like, yes. I go fishing with my five dollar lure and I’ve done this. Throw it out there and lo and behold, it’s hung on the bottom. Now don’t that beat all. Lord, would you? And now what am I going to do? I can’t get it loose. I can sit here with this for the rest of my life, or I can cut my losses, right? And go on and give me another thing to do again.

Hopefully be a little bit smarter the next time, maybe a different lure. but you can learn from every experience that you go through, and God will bless you. So look there on there at number four. When anger is confessed, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now get this, I’ll put it in bowl for you. When we confess our sins to the Lord, we have a way to vent unhealthy pressures from our own life.

But see, if you don’t do that and come clean between you and the Lord, it’s pressure that will build up until you explode. and you don’t know when it’s going to happen, but chances are it will and it can affect you physically. It can affect you. How you think mentally, socially, every way. Next thing you know you can have all kind of diseases because see the mind has a lot to do with the body. Now look at the top of the next page.

If we are the source or cause of someone else’s anger asking forgiveness is the key to reducing their pressure to respond in an unchristian way. And it helps to remove the pressure caused by guilt in your own life. So it’s confession good for your soul. According to the Bible, it’s pretty good. And it can make you feel a whole lot better. These words, I’m sorry, or I was wrong. Those are some of the hardest words to say in a whole English language.

Because we never like to admit it was not my fault. even if it was my fault. That’s why I never try to remember anything because having a wife like I got, why should two people remember everything? Now look at the top of the next page. What do you do when you get mad or filled with anger? What do you do? You say, well, I never get mad. Line, line, line, line, line. And no, that’s the sin too. Now look at the next statement.

follow peace with all men and holies, which without no man shall see the Lord. In other words, your goal is always try to be peaceful. You always want to try to solve things, not creating, but solve. And then he says here, looking diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness, springing up, trouble you, and thereby many become defiled. You can let God use you, or you can let the devil use you. But you’re going to be used.

Either God’s going to get glory out of your life, or the devil is. Is devil working on you? He’s been working on me to make me what I shouldn’t be. But anyway, look at the next statement. Will you hit something or someone scream or hold it in so nobody knows? But you will do something. You handle pressure certain ways, And you’d be surprised how it can really affect the stability of your mind emotionally. It can rob you of your peace, your joy, your encouragement, it just drains you of energy.

Look at the statement. The very next statement, anger is a form of great energy. You can use it to correct, build, or destroy. It also dispenses energy quickly, which may leave you totally exhausted mentally and physically. Have you ever had to try to solve something and notice that it will totally, it can drain you emotionally and physically, mentally, and you can be so tired and just give out, and you ain’t nothing physically. It’s just pressure building up. And it can cause it between husband and wife with the kids, grandparents, people which you work with, people in church, it can happen at any time.

Because we’re all sinful individuals. We got no sinful nature. We cross one another. We hurt one another. We offend each other. But if you don’t learn how to deal with it, you’re gonna let things build up inside of you. And you talk about pressure. And in your mind, you might, this is the right thing that God says, confess it to the Lord, and he can relieve the pressure. And you can keep walking with the Lord because you’re doing it the way God says to do it.

Remember that. Look at the next statement. The word, remember? Wherefore my beloved brethren let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. James 119, for the wrath of man, worketh not the righteousness of God. When you get angry and you work the wrath of man, that’s not working the righteousness. That’s not how God says to do things. Look at the next statement. The good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth. We should listen twice as much as we speak.

This man told me one day, he says, I haven’t spoke to my wife in five years. I says, why? He says, well, she hasn’t stopped yet. You say, where’d that come from? I don’t know. He just comes in. Look at the next statement in bold. If you speak before you put your brain in gear, you will probably make the best speech you will ever regret. I’m going to read that again because I know some of y’all did not get the importance of that.

If you speak before you put your brain in gear, you will probably make the best speech you will ever regret. Isn’t it true that in some time in a fit of anger, you say things you wish you hadn’t said? You say, I don’t know, I’ve never done that. God bless you, Mr. Perfection. What a drunk says when he is drunk is probably what he thinks when he’s sober. Be careful, be careful. Have you ever seen somebody when they really get in a good argument, a good fight with somebody, they’ll say things to bring them back, you remember 10 years ago, you said this, And you thought she forgot all of that.

And she never forgot it. She was just storing up on the hangar’s age. She was just waitin’, she was savin’ on cause she was ready for war. She knows war’s comin’. So I have to tell people I says, no, what you gotta remember is it. Pitch your little pyramid here. And this is your goal to the Lord. And when you start out on the bottom, you know, you just get married. Oh, I did this for her. Oh, she did this for me.

And I did this good thing for her. And she did this for me. And so we just saw this is wonderful. We just love each other. Now you start on the next row. And this is, and then she did this, and then she did this to me. Well, I’ll do that to her. And then she did this to me. Well, I’ll do that to her. And then we’re gonna try the next row. And now you’re gonna try to build on the foundation.

It’s not very solid. Because when you start getting a little bit higher and then it’s a little bit in there because you’re learning each other. You’re finding out what to do. I always told people when I get rid of the mirror So look, marriage is you find out what really irritates them and avoid it. And so they know that when they get married and they really get to, they find out what irritates them and then do it. After a while you know what it takes to, you know, keep somebody off.

And you just love watching them lose control. It’s like I couldn’t do much. Now, when you go down here and you take all these bad building blocks and you know you’re fiction to have an all-out war, you pull that one out there and you cast that hang grenade. Whoa! Got him right between the eyes and he pulled out the snow over here and he throws that one and he turned it back and forth. And you know what? That’s things that have happened but never been dealt with, never corrected, never…

Well, you saved up all that ammunition because you didn’t want peace. You were planning for war and you just want to save up all that ammunition. Yeah, I did that to you five years ago, but you remember ten years before that? There’s a price to pay. Now look at the statement here. When trouble is brewing, keep still. Slow to wrath, remember. Slow to wrath. When slander is stewing, when feelings are hurt, when you cannot control your words, action or attitude, wait until you have recovered from your source of irritation.

One of the fruits of the Spirit is long suffering. In other words, learn to suffer. Somebody wrongs you. So what? You can’t make everything right in this old world because you’re going to do something wrong. You’re not going to be able to because the people move on. I probably offended people when I was a teenager. I ain’t seen them since, but I ain’t looking for them either. The next statement, it means to be long fused. Give yourself time to reflect honestly before God, To be sure it feels means to explode quickly.

For the wrath of man work, if not the righteousness of God, the righteousness of God is the practical godliness that develops in your life. So I just wrote this down here, moving from a double-minded man to a righteous man. And so all the troubles of life and the pressure that builds up, God can use all those things to push you to him so that you’ll learn to get close to the Lord. So that you can learn how to forgive, how to deal with things, how to confess to the Lord, call things what they are.

And God says, walk in the light as he is in the light. And he says, happy is the man who does this. But if you don’t do it the way God says do it and you let things build, then you’re not gonna have the peace of the love, the joy that you’re supposed to have. I’ve often told the college kids this, you’ve gotta serve the Lord. like you have never been hurt. Because if you don’t, you’ll never be able to serve the Lord.

Why? Because things and people and even God at times are going to hurt you. Because God will allow things to happen to you and it seemed like He’s made no way of escape. But He says in His word, God is faithful and will not allow you to be tempted. Above that you’re able, but we’ll make a way of escape. You may be able to bear it. You see, we fail because we choose to fail. It’s a choice of ours.

Or you can learn to trust the Lord and say, Lord, I don’t understand. I don’t have it on the inside. I’m just gonna trust you. You work it out Lord. Now if you can work it out, work it out. You can’t delete it. You know, Bobo says in the book of 1 Corinthians and chapter six, he says, you defraud one another. He says, so be it. Allow yourself to be fraud. A lot of people do you wrong because they are.

What are you gonna do? Go through mad all the time? You can be mad at everybody. Then there ain’t a statement down here. James 1, God has a purpose in the trials and the testings. So you learn how to learn. You’re learning how to learn. And you need patience. That’s what it teaches. Tribulation, worketh, patience. And James chapter 1 also, swift to hear. Swipped to hear means patience. Listen to what God’s Word has to say. Listen, slow down. He’s swift to hear, but slow to speak, slow to wrath, slow, slow down.

The next one, slow to speak because James chapter 3 talks about the tongue. James chapter 4, slow to wrath because there’s even people who prayed, but they were warned and fighting within each other. He says, no, no, no, no, no. Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and He will exalt you in due time. And then James chapter five, he talks about the power of patience and refers to, don’t you remember a guy named Job? Look what happened to Job and the patience of Job.

And he says, look what happened to him in the long run. In the long run, God blessed him and gave it all back to him. So in your life there’s time when you’re going to lose a lot of things and it may not be none of your fault, but just trust the Lord and He can give everything back to you and more. But don’t jump the gun. Don’t take matters into your own hand. Look to the Lord and trust Him.

You got to trouble with your husband or your wife, your kids, whatever. Talk to the Lord and just try to do all the right you know to do. And trust the Lord to walk you through whatever it may be. These things are so important. Now I want to mention something else to you. I want you to look up here because I want you to learn the most important thing in all the world. You’re not going to live long enough to solve all the problems of mankind.

Name is going to happen. But God has solved one of the biggest problems man has and that’s where does he go when he dies. And I’m so thankful that my father-in-law explained this to me fifty, seven and a half years ago. Look up here, this hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin. We’ve all got sin on us. God loves us. Now he hates our sin, but he loves us. And for us to pay for sin, the way to sin is death, is eternal separation from God.

It means to be separated from God forever. And there’s nothing you can do about it except believe in what Christ did about it. Let me show you. To go to heaven, we’ve got to be perfect and we’re not. So God says you cannot save yourself. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord God in the flesh came into this world because God loves us. So he sent his son who never committed a sin so he didn’t have to die.

We have a problem. And people are going to church trying to give money, all they think, trying to relieve the pressure of all this guilt they have, hoping they’ll be good enough to go to heaven one day. And God says, it won’t help. There’s only one way. So Jesus Christ who had no sin didn’t have to die, but because he loved us, he took all of our sins paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead.

And God says, when you believe He did that for you, He puts this payment to your account and you get to go to heaven on what He did. You don’t earn it, you don’t work for it, you don’t buy it. It’s the gift of God. You’d be surprised how much pressure that took off of me the day that I heard this message. I literally stood there in the living room and I bawled like a baby. I didn’t go to church.

I was in a living room. My mom and dad, I never saw them in the church. I never saw them with a Bible in our home and I never heard them ever pray. We didn’t do anything like that. But my father-in-law did and he told me this good news. I stood there and I bald. I deep sobbed. I didn’t know you were supposed to or not do I just rest what happened to me. But all those tears did not save me.

I had to believe he did it for me. So when I believe that he did this for me, he put that payment to my account, and I know I have eternal life. I’m going to heaven why because of what Christ did. It’s not because of what I’ve done. I am a sinner. I deserve to go to hell. But God loved me. He loved me so much he sent his son to pay for my sins. Why am I going to heaven?

Because I don’t have any sins to pay for. Because somebody paid it for me. How many did he pay for? He paid for all of them. I don’t have one sin to pay for. He paid for all of my sins. That’s how I know I’m going to have it when I die. And that’s the best news I ever heard in my life. Let’s pray, shall we? With his bow and eyes closed and no one looking around. If you’re here this morning and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you trust him right now?

Just talk to the Lord and say, Lord, I don’t understand at all, but I believe that when Christ died, he died on that cross and paid for my sins. And friend, God said, if you’ll believe he did it for you, he would save you, give you eternal life, and you can know that you’re going to heaven when you die. If you’re watching by internet, the only thing you have to do, well, it’s the only thing you can do. Would you trust Jesus Christ to take you to heaven?

He paid for your sins so that you could go, but you have to accept it. Would you believe it? And if you trust Him right now, He saves you right now, gives you eternal life right now. In the auditorium, if you have never trust the Lord, I’m not going to embarrass Him, not going to have You forward, not going to do anything to you. I just want to ask right where You’re sitting, and if what I said made sense to you.

And if it made sense to you, and you say, yes, I want to make sure I’m going to heaven. I’m going to ask you if you’ll just slip your hand up very quickly and put it right back down and say, pray for me, I will trust Christ as my Savior this morning. Anyone at all, is there anyone at all? So yes, that made sense to me. I wanna be certain of going to heaven. Anyone at all. You that have already trusted Christ as Savior, yes, God bless you.

You that have trusted Christ as your Savior, do you have anything between you and the Lord that needs to be dealt with? Talk to the Lord about it. Because this is so important. Because you see, if you take communion And things are not right between you and the Lord. The Bible says because they were not right. They did not examine themselves. And they did not confess what they should have and determine the serve of the Lord. And understand what it was about.

He says, some were sick, some were weak, and some were dead. And that’s because they took of the Lord’s Supper and they should not have done so. It’s a serious thing. You make sure things are right between you and the Lord. And then you are able to partake of the Lord’s Supper because you know you’re right between you and Him. I pray so. Father, we ask your blessings upon all that you’ve done for us. We pray, Lord, for each person here and for the one indicating that they would trust your Savior.

And Father, for those that are watching by the Internet, we pray, Lord, that what we’ve said. But also be a blessing. Thank you for this time together. Christ and we pray. Are you a new listener to Bibleline? 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.