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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 first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

I guess when you get right down to it, the Bible says, says, honor thy father and mother. Regardless of what mom and dad was like, we’re supposed to honor them. You should live in such a way that you bring honor to your parents. And they may not know it, they may not understand a lot of things, but you still live godly because godliness honors your parents. Rebellion does not honor your parents. But honoring the Lord and serving God and putting him first that honors the parents whether they really understand and appreciate all of it or not.

You still do it. He also says children obey your parents on the Lord for this is right. Why should you obey your parents? Because it’s right. And he also says that your days may be long upon the earth. I asked Ray Stanford, he was 95 when he passed away. I said how come you have lived so long. He says, because I love my parents. He says, I’ve always honored my mom. His dad wasn’t too honorable of a guy, but he always honored his mom.

I have a few things that just want to mention to you. After a woman said to her husband, you know, I was a fool when I married you. The husband said, yes, dear, but I was in love and didn’t notice. It’s amazing that we find out so much afterwards that we maybe wish we’d have known I had a but they say that love is blind, but marriage is an eye-opener. And so one guy asked them, somebody says, what is the biggest cause of divorce?

One guy raised it, hands his marriage. But you know the Bible does say that he did find it, the woman find it a good thing. So she’s a good thing. So there’s nothing wrong with getting married. This one woman, she says, what happened when you showed your engagement reign to the women in the office. Did they admire it? She says, better than that, three of them recognized it. Another one says, you know, a married man, any married man should forget his mistakes because there’s no sense in two people remembering everything that happened and everything he did wrong.

A little boy asked his father says, Daddy, how much does it cost to get married? He says, I don’t know, I’m still paying him. You know, when me and Betty got married, it cost us $5. And you think I’m joking, but I married her for her money because she had $17. And five of that went for the wedding by the justice of the peace. I really didn’t have any money. I didn’t have a job. And she liked my black curly hair.

And then when I started losing my hair, I got worried. I never forget whenever I threw my first kiss at Betty. miss hit the wall took two weeks to get it off. Because January and I kissed them, they stayed that way. Just jump, just jump. Anyway, women’s faults are many, men are only two. Everything they say and everything they… So there you go, fellows, it’s just interesting how all that works. In our marriage, we decided never to go to bed mad.

We haven’t slept for four weeks. Well anyway, I’ll never forget the time when my wife got her knees and she says, Yankee, get out from under that bed and fight like a man. Someone approached the grieving widow at the funeral and says, I’m sorry, my dear. Tell me, what was his last words? Well, his last words precisely was, you don’t scare me with that shotgun. You couldn’t hit the side of a barn. People ask us the secret of our long marriage.

Now, being bed has been married for 58 years last week, 58 years. It’s really quite simple. Two evenings a week, we take time to go out to a restaurant. Quiet dinner, soft music. Some kind of life. slow walk home. She goes on twos, he’s not going Fridays. Anyway, marriage is a wonderful thing. So if you’re married, praise the Lord. If you’re not married, praise the Lord. Now marriage is a good thing. And I wrote down several things that I thought would be good because I really wanted to talk about my heavenly Father.

Now I have a sermon that I preached years ago called My Three Fathers, The one that, you know, that fathered me. He was my real dad. And I’ve got pictures of my real dad. And I don’t think we look at all alike. But the older I get, the more I think I’m looking, more like him. It’s amazing how we can look like somebody, act like somebody, even if we haven’t been around somebody for a long time. But the one that we’re supposed to be like, and I really want to be like my heavenly father.

Because my Heavenly Father was a perfect man. And he’s as godly as they get. My Heavenly Father, well, he’s never done anything wrong. And everything he does is always right. You can’t find any fault in him. And he’s the one I want to talk to you about. But Jesus was the Son of God. And I want you to look at those few verses that I have right there at the beginning under the word text. Because there’s a Father up in heaven.

And Jesus is his son and he made this statement. He says, and lo a voice from heaven say, and this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. God had a son in whom he is well pleased. Now I’ll have to admit, I do wish I had an earthly father that was still around that would say something like, Yankee, I’m proud of you. I love you. I think you’re doing a good job. You realize what a powerful compliment things like that can be when you wonder whether or not is, does anybody, and you know sometimes it doesn’t matter what everybody else says.

What does your wife think about you or what do your kids think about you? But what does my mom think about? What would my dad think about me? So we would love to have parents that would be proud of their children. I wondered, I wonder how proud my daddy would be of me. Now I don’t know if my dad ever trusts the Lord or not. I hope he did, I hope I see him when I get to heaven. But now notice the next verse in Matthew 17, it says, while he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadows them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him.

You see, on the amount of transfiguration, and all of a sudden there’s Moses in Elijah, And so the disciples, they’re ready to build some monuments to all three of them and God says, this is my son, listen to him. Nobody compares to this son of mine. And so you and I, when we trust Christ as our Savior, you and I become a child of God. Look at the next one, Mark chapter one verse 11, and there came a voice from heaven saying, Thou art might be love its son, in whom I am well pleased.

well pleased. God was satisfied with this one son because this son had made a statement. I do always those things that please my Father. So the Son pleased the Father and the Father. Well, He pleased the Son. And so I’ve often wondered and it’s why the title of my message is, my Heavenly Father in whom I am well pleased. Because I have a Heavenly Father that I can find no fault in. He’s never done me wrong, never done me dirty.

He’s always done the best for me. And He’s given me a wonderful life to live, wonderful wife, the children, and I just thank the Lord for all that God has done for me. So I am very pleased with God. Do you know that the reason some people don’t serve God with all their heart is because they’re not pleased with God’s will for their life. They’re not pleased with what God has for them. They’re not really satisfy what God has already done for them.

And they’re always wanting, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme instead of being thankful for what God’s already done. If He’d never did another thing for me, I’m thankful for what He’s already done. In 2 Peter 1 17 4, He received from God the Father, honor and glory when there was, came such a voice to Him from the Excellent Glory. This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. To be on the earth and they heard God speak coming from the excellent glory, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

If there’s anything that we want, we often say, I want to hear well done, thou good and faithful servant, enter thou unto the joys of the Lord. I want to hear my Heavenly Father say, this is my son in whom I’m well pleased. I want God to say that about me. I’d love to have heard it from my real dad, but this is my real dad also. He’s my Heavenly Father. Now, I want you to look there in your notes, number one.

When we are born into this world, we are the creation of God, but He’s not our Father until we’re born into his family. You’ll often hear people say, well, we’re all the children of God. No, we’re not. God word tells us that we’re not. God is not the father of everybody. He is the creator, but he is not your father until you become his child, until you’re born into his family. So look at little small letter A there. That is, they which are the children of the flesh.

these are not the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. In other words, he’s making a statement here. The children of the flesh, these are not the children of God. Well, what is the child of the flesh? That’s what I’m looking at. That is your flesh birth. Everyone born into this world, they are the creation of God. God is your Creator, but he is not your Father just because you’re born into this world.

I often hear people say, you know, our Father, which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name, but if he’s not your Father, he’s not your Father. But look at the next statement, small letter B there. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. You have to have a new birth. You see, the flesh birth is when we’re born into the world. God says, now these are not the children of God, and you need to have a new birth.

So in the book of John in chapter three, The Bible tells us that there was a rule of the Jews named Nick and Amos who was a teacher and so forth of the law and lo and behold, he came to Jesus by night and sent him Rabbi. We know that our teacher come from God, for no man can do the miracles, that thou do it, except God be with him. And Jesus says, you must be born again, or you cannot see the kingdom of God.

You must be born again, or you cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So you can’t see it, you can’t enter it unless you’re born again. So the Bible tells us you have to be born into God’s family in order to be a child of God, in order to live with your heavenly Father for all eternity. And majority of the people have never even heard this before. And so they go to church and live good lives, trying to be good enough to go to heaven.

And if you’re born into his family, it’s automatic. You see, I don’t have to be good to go to heaven. I just have to be God’s child. called all of God’s children in her eternal life. And God will never cast you out and never lose you. None of God’s children ever go to hell. It’s impossible why? Because you’re God’s child. God’s children are born to the spirit. That means you’ve been created perfect in Christ. It means you had a new birth, another one without a sinful nature.

You see, we were born the first time in the flesh with a sinful nature. That’s why we do the wrong things we do. So when you trust Christ to save you, He gives you a new birth and a new birth, God’s sin. If it can’t sin, it can’t die, it can’t die, it lives forever. That’s why when you become a child of God, you can know that you’re going to heaven because you can’t go to hell. None of God’s children go to hell.

But a lot of his creation does. We’ll look at letters C. Marvel, not that I said it enough E, and this is why I put it in both. You must be born again. You must be. Why? Because you must be. If you have never been born again, you’re not born again. If you’ve never been born again, you’re not saved. If you’re not born again, you don’t have eternal life. If you haven’t been born again, you’re not a child of God.

If you haven’t been born again, you’re not going to heaven. You must be born again. It’s a spiritual birth. You can’t see it. I didn’t make this up that this is the Bible. That’s what God says. But God knows his children. God is his spirit and he has spiritual children. Those who have trusted Christ and their Savior. All you see is my physical birth, flesh birth, But I have another one that you have never seen. It’s a spiritual birth.

Look at letter D. How does this take place? Because in John chapter one in verse 12, he says, but as many as received him. That means Christ, as many. That means not everybody has, not everybody will. But as many that do, as he says, as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons of God. Now look at the next part of this verse. In verse 13 he says, which were born not a blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but you see the next part that I got in bone, but of God.

You see it’s not you, well I want to go to heaven that won’t cut it. Desire and you go to heaven that doesn’t cut it. It won’t get you there. Well I’m trying, I’m doing the best I can’t. That will not cut not by the will of man. It’s not a flesh. You cannot produce the new birth. Only God can. hand. So when you trust Christ as your Savior, He gives you eternal life as a free gift. You are born into God’s family.

As a child of God, God becomes your heavenly Father. Look now at the next point in letter F. B. Lovett, and you got on the line this, even though I got it in the boat, now are we the sons of God. And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that whenever he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. We’re going to be like the Lord.” And you can imagine anything that you want to on that.

But love it now, are we the sons of God? I am not going to be a child of God someday. I already am a child of God, and it cannot be undone. God can’t change his mind. It cannot be altered. Now I’ve got a daughter who’s fifty-seven sitting out over there, a trainer. And I was born into God’s family a little bit before she was born because I trusted Christ as my Savior and God said I become His child.

And as a child of God I am His child for all eternity. That’s good news. Now look at number two. Number two, if we are now the sons of God, then God must now be our Father. Now look what he says, he gives a scripture to verify this. So this is just a walk through salvation, understand, and how that God, the Creator of the heavens andviron can become your Father, your Father. So number two, if we are now the sons of God, then God must now be our Father.

Let her aid. For ye are all the children of God. Don’t stop there. Well we’re all the children of God. No, not yet. Get this by faith in Christ Jesus. By you putting your faith in what Jesus Christ did for you, then you become a child of God. But if you have never done so, you’re not his child. It will not matter how much money you gave to the church. It will not matter how many prayers you prayed. It will not matter how good a life you’ve tried to live.

It won’t matter what kind of a father you’ve been or a mother you’ve been or a child you’ve been. None of that matters. If you have not been born again, you don’t go. You don’t go. And you’re not a Christian. Only when you accept Jesus Christ and Him alone as your only hope of going to heaven. You can’t help Him save you. See, a lot of people believe Jesus is necessary. They just don’t know He’s enough. He don’t need your help.

He doesn’t need my help. That’s why He says, for by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. nobody has ever lived good enough to go to heaven and never will. Because salvation is the gift of God. It’s not a works. It’s by grace, when you don’t earn it, you don’t merit it, you don’t deserve it. Look at letter B. And because ye are sons, because your sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your heart’s crying abba Father.

Because you’re a son, God is now my Father. and I can talk to Him as my Father. My Father whom I have never seen, they’ll leave it or not, is more real to me than you are. And that’s not a joke. I know my Father better than I knew my earthly Father. I know my heavenly Father better than I knew my mother. I know my heavenly Father and what He’s like. In His characteristics I know what He’s like because He never changes and I know Him better than I know my wife, better than I know my daughter, better than I know my son, or any of my grandkids.

I know God better because I’ve spent more time with Him and I’ve studied Him more than I’ve studied anything else or anybody else. God ought to be more real to you than the clothes you have on your back. Do you know you have on me Father? Sometimes we maybe have earthly fathers that maybe didn’t do all the right that we have. We got excuses and reasons why we… Well, I did this bad because, well, this is… No, no, no.

You’re an individual. Grow up. Take responsibility for yourself. You have an old sinful nature. And don’t blame things upon somebody else on the road. Just look in the mirror and says, I am doing what I am doing because that’s what I want to do and own up to it. But God can change everything. You can get a chance to get into a perfect family. Now most of the people in this room have trusted Christ as their Savior. They have the new birth.

And you say, if I trust Christ as my Savior, I’ll get in that perfect family. Well you’re only looking here at the flesh birth. judge that spirit birth by the flesh birth and the way some Christians live their life. Some people will judge God by the way people live. Don’t you sometimes judge people’s parents by the way those kids act? You say, look, you’re normal, act like a normal. You’re a devil, act like a devil, no.

Look at the next statement. Let her see, the spirit itself, bear with witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. How does the Holy Spirit bear witness with my Spirit that I’m a child of God? By the Word of God. I wrote that down there for you. So when you read and study the Bible, how do I know I’m a child of God? Well I can feel it. No. Because his Spirit bears witness with my Spirit and he bears witness with my Spirit through the Word of God.

See the Bible was written by the Holy Spirit, holy men of God, as they were moved or guided along by the Holy Spirit. So the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible. So when we study the Bible, the author of the Bible lives within us and teaches us, yes, I am a child of God. How do I know? Because the word says so and that bears witness with my spirit. I I believe the Bible is true. I am a child of God.

God is my Father. And I’m going to heaven whenever I die, and it can never be changed. I am an heir of God and join heirs with Christ. Like Jesus now becomes my elder brother because he’s the son of God and so am I and so are you. And everyone who trusts Christ to save you, we often refer to him as brother Rick or sister Lou and sister Trina and blah, blah, blah. My daughter is my sister. Now, we don’t refer to that all the time, but there’s nothing wrong with it if the person has trusted Christ as Savior.

Now I’ve had some people call me Brother Arnold. No wonder, I don’t know if you’re my brother or not. Because you see, all we can see is that flesh birth. And some people, God’s children, live in the flesh, the first birth. And some Christians can walk in their new birth. and obey the Lord and some people will not obey the Lord. And so, see, that’s a terrible way for a Christian to live. What a terrible testimony. So you’ve got to straighten that up and God addresses that.

Let me show you. Look down at number three. Number three, as children of God in this world, we are to please our heavenly Father. Now God could have just taken us all to heaven when we trusted the Lord. Of course there would be nobody left who wouldn’t see anybody. but God left us here and we are ambassadors for Christ. See, when you trusted Christ, you were born of God. Your citizenship is in heaven. God left you here. He says, we’re strangers and pilgrims.

Strange means we’re away from home and pilgrim means we’re going home. But some people are strange and some people are a pill. Now, you’re supposed to, while we’re in this world seek to please our heavenly Father. So there is a conflict of the wills. Look at number three. Where the pleas are heavenly Father, but here at letter A, Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honor and power for Thou hath created all things. He has created all things and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.

Who created you? God? Why? For His pleasure. It pleased God to create you. But God also, it pleased to send His Son to the cross to die and to pay for your sins. It pleased God to do that. And it pleases God to offer you eternal life. It pleases God to save you by faith alone otherwise you couldn’t have it because you’ll never be able to earn it. It pleases God to have you want to come into his family as his child.

Now some people, that pleases them and other people could care less. I’m so thankful for that man who explained this to me. On the earth, he was my spiritual father because he explained the gospel to me. And that was Mr. Raymond Jackson. Look down at letter B. By faith, Enoch was translated that he should not see death and was not found because God had translated him for before his translation, beam me up, Scotty. He had this testimony and you ought to underline that part that he pleased.

God. So it is possible for God’s children to please their heavenly Father. So here’s the problem. A lot of God’s children want to live and please themselves because they’re walking in the flesh. If over here this is the flesh and over here this is the spirit. This is your first birth and this is your second birth. All right? Then don’t get mad at me. It’s just an illustration. But see this is the flesh and you can choose to walk in the flesh or you can choose to walk in the Spirit.

You can choose to be disobedient or obedient. It’s your choice but there’s consequences to your decision. You can live your whole life trying to make you happy and be pleasing what you’re doing and you want everything to go your way. Well you can do that and go your own way. Remember little thing in all the light sheep have gone astray, but that’s the flesh. So the flesh has three problems, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.

And those are the same things that got Adam and Eve and that’s the same thing the devil offered Jesus when Matthew chapter four, when he was taken up into the mountains to be tempted of the devil, that’s what he does. So there’s the flesh and then it’s also there’s the Spirit. So you’ve got the flesh and the Spirit and there’s this war that goes on. But understand this, look at letter C. But without faith it is impossible to please Him.

So if the goal of your life is to please your heavenly Father, isn’t it true that parents would love for their children to please them and to love them, to obey them. All of us as parents you know what I want. I want the most rebellious kids you could ever have. You know why you said that because that’s what you got probably. You want kids to be pleased in that they can be PDT, they said that I’m the most wonderful things in the world and you want to be proud of them to be proud of you.

Well you’re Heavenly Father. What do you think he wants? You to be pleased with what he wants to, well, he pleasestrop to you. And so in the course of your life, God’s going to have a lot of things come your way, trials and problems and testings and all these things. And God wants to see, do you love him more than anything this world could offer to you? The 11 more. 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 DrivenHandler, 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 filmed at 1-800-576-3771 or write to us and request your free copy of the Gospel-Driven Mail.

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 40- 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