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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.

Look what he says there in Timothy in chapter 2. He says, if we suffer, we shall also reign. See the link, suffer, reign. There’s a link between the two. See the word if, because you don’t have to. Nobody can make you. There’s a choice that you can decide for yourself. Nobody can make you trust the Lord. Nobody can make you serve the Lord. It’s a personal choice. But it reveals the wisdom that you have. To me, a man would have to be a fool.

If he knows Christ and won’t serve him. There goes a fool. Because the serve of the Lord is the most important thing in all the world. Now look there he says, in number three, an eternal inheritance. Galatians 4-7 says, pour for the heart no more a servant but a son, and if a son, then an heir, yada on the line, the word heir. This is who you are. You have an eternal inheritance. See, by trusting Christ as your Savior, God becomes your Father, so you inherit what your Father has.

So you’re heirs of God, but it says you’re joint heirs with Christ. You see, one is by birth, and the other one is by service. And when we are joint heirs with Christ is because we served with Christ. We suffered with Christ. So therefore we’ll reign with Christ. So joint heirs is because of service. Eirs of God, the Father. That’s because of my birth. So I’ve got a great inheritance. And when you trust in Christ as your Savior, you are saved from something to an inheritance.

It’s incorruptible and undefiled that faith if not away reserved in heaven for you. That was because you got saved. So you became a child of God. You get to go to heaven. You get to live in the holy city. But there’s so much more that we don’t fully understand. And so he says, there in Matthew, in chapter five, and verse five, blessed are the meat, for they shall inherit the earth. We’re gonna get it. In Luke 22, 28 through 30, it says, ye are they which have, and you ought to underline those three words, continued with me.

He says, ye are they which have continued with me in my temptation, and I appoint unto you, get to a kingdom. I’m gonna appoint a kingdom to you. Now, I don’t know if he’s just talking about the kingdom upon the earth, or after that, when it says the increase of his kingdom, there will be no end. How many kingdoms will there be? I don’t know. But God says, if you’ll serve me now, you’ll rule and reign with Christ. You see, this is just the dressing room to get ready for eternity.

We’re just preparing to meet God. And in verse 29, and I appointed you a kingdom as my Father hath appointed unto me. Sounds pretty good to me. Look at the next page. At the top of the pager where it talks about in chapter 8, verse 16 and 17 about the Holy Spirit, The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And the way his spirit bears witness with our spirit is through the Word of God.

The Word of God tells us we know it and we believe it and we accept it. And if children then heirs, heirs of God by birth, join heirs by service with Christ. And there’s the Word if, if so be that we suffer with Him, we shall be also glorified together. There’s something more for those that suffer for the Lord. In the words, you may give up all of your plans and dreams here, your desires and so forth for the cause of Christ.

You may give up money for the cause of Christ. You may give up time for the cause of Christ. There isn’t anything you can give to the Lord or sacrifice for the Lord that He won’t pay you how much more in the dance. You can’t compare it to it. That it will be worth it all. Look at Colossians in chapter three there in your notes. Verse 23 says, and whatsoever you are the underlying that whatsoever, whatsoever you do. Do it hardly as unto the Lord and not unto men.

When you go to work tomorrow, you look at it this way. You’re not going to work for that boss, man. You’re going to work for God tomorrow. And you do your work like you was working for God. You want to give it all you’ve got. You want to be honest. You want to be fair. You want to be just, you do all the things you’re supposed to. Don’t you ever cheat on your job, lie on your job, do things you should not do on your job.

You always do right. You always honor God. You’re to do whatever you do as unto God. When that woman is cleaning that house, you ought to clean that house as though she’s working for the Lord at God’s house. Everything that you have belongs to God and always remembered. Look down here in 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 8 and 9 says, Finally, be you all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love his brother and be pitiful, be courteous, not rendering evil for evil or railing for railing, but contrary to all of those things, blessing, knowing that ye are there unto call in your underline, that ye should inherit a blessing.

Now You don’t know when or how, but you got God’s word on it. And all of this is upon the premise that God is righteous. Remember we read that verse the other night in the book of Hebrews in chapter six. God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love. It would be a sin for God to overlook what you did or to forget about what you did. He can’t forget. It would be a sin. God is righteous.

So anyway, as you read these things, that supposed to help encourage you to be found faithful to certain, listen, nobody can solve all of your problems. They’re not meant to. You’re not meant to solve all of your problems. You’re just meant to go through your problems, to endure your problems. Letting God walk you through these learning experiences, because you don’t know how long a problem’s going to last. Some problems don’t last long, and then others will seem like you’ll never get out of it.

I used to wonder, sometimes it seemed like it was a long dark tunnel. And finally, lo and behold, I saw light at the end of the tunnel. As I got closer, it was a gorilla with a flashlight. Yeah, he went them all. But in Acts chapter 20, look there in verse 32, And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to, and here’s three little words you ought to underline, build you up.

See, it’s one thing to be saved to have eternal life, another thing to be strong, to be built up. And then He makes a statement to give you, you’re going to line those three words, build you up and to give you something. You’d be surprised how many times the scriptures talked about receiving something from God. And we’re not talking about salvation. Salvation is only the beginning of wonderful things. I did that 51 years ago. I trusted Christ as my Savior.

They gave me eternal life. Well that gets me to heaven, but there’s so much more. And I want that much more. I want to look at the next statement, treasures. and loot cell that you have. Give on, provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old. In the Old Testament it talks about putting your wages into a bag that has holes in it. Now what does that mean? You can work and you get your money and you put it into a bag and you lose it all.

Do you know there’s people today work and work and work and as time goes on they have nothing to show for it. It’s not discouraging just a tad. Have you ever tried to save something? I saved my money one time for a whole year! And then I blew it on an ice cream cone. And sometimes you just don’t have much to save. But there is a thing in the God’s Word that talks about laying up treasure in heaven where you can’t lose that.

So I told him today at the Tampa Bible study, I said, I’m on the gold standard. Yes, when somebody wants to see my portfolio, you’ll have to wait till you get to heaven. I’ve got some gold, silver, and precious stones in my portfolio. And I have invested and I can’t lose it. What I’ve laid up, I can’t lose. If you put money into stocks and bonds on here, mutual funds and allAdded, can you lose it?

You can lose everything you have down there in this world. But God says, a wise man lays up treasure and heaven away can’t lose it. And see, that treasure is from the wise decisions that you make. That’s the reason you studied the Bible so you can learn discernment so that you can be wise in the decisions that you make because your wisdom is going to pay off. Great dividends. But if you play the fool and just do whatever you want or whatever you think is right, not doing what God says is right, thou art a fool.

So look at the next one. Matthew 25, 21 says, his Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Faithful servant, well done. What do you want to hear from the Lord when you get to heaven? Your lousy bum, you never did a cotton-taken thing. You don’t You’re going to be ashamed of yourself. I want to whip you from here to eternity. I mean, I say that. Thou have been faithful over a… And here’s that one again.

A few things. God has not overloaded you with problems in this life. Though you might think, Oh, I have its problems. Have you ever thought, but when the cloud busts, it really comes down. Like there’s no end to it. It’s just more than I can handle. does not allow you to have more than you can handle. He doesn’t. That’s what he said. You want to call him, you know, a liar, I’d be careful. And he also says that with every trouble, every trial, every temptation, he makes a way of escape that you can be able to bear it.

In other words, with every problem, there’s an answer. With every prop, there’s a solution. And you’re to search until you find it. Look at the next statement. Second Peter chapter one verses 10 to 11 says, Wherefore the rather brother give diligence to make your calling and election sure. This is talked about not only your salvation but your purpose and life, your service to the Lord. And then he uses the word if, for if you do, these things you won’t fall as a Christian.

You don’t have to fall. You don’t have to mess up your life. Messing up your life is a choice. You can live God if you want to and you can mess up your life if you want to. It’s all based on decisions that you make. Look at verse 11, four, get this. This is a tremendous verse. For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you, abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This is talking to God’s children about adding to their faith.

He talks about the precious divine and dwelling of the Lord and the divine promises of God. And about adding to your faith so that you’ll be strong enough so that you don’t have to stumble and fall. And if you will serve the Lord, God says there’s something here about an abundant entrance into the everlasting kingdom. Or you’ll get there, but it’s the entrance that you have. I don’t know what all that means. He does say, I have not seen, ear have not heard, neither has entered into the heart of men to things which God has prepared for them to love them.

So there’s a lot of things I just don’t understand. But I believe it. And whatever it is, I want it, whatever it is, don’t you want it? Don’t you want everything God has for you? Or do you want to be ashamed before him and his coming? This is where it all boils down to. Look at this verse where it says here in Luke chapter 12 and verse 37, blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh and here’s three word shall find watching.

You know you prove that you’re watching for the Lord by your service for the Lord. You know it makes the statement in the book of Matthew chapter 24 that when the Lord kind of thought, well, his master’s not coming back for a while. And so he began to beat his men’s servants because he didn’t think he’s coming back for a while. You see, not looking for the Lord causes a person to be laxed, dasical in their service to the Lord.

They’re not as faithful. But if you live, believing and thinking any day now, any day now, and you don’t want to be saying something you shouldn’t be saying when the Lord comes, and you don’t want to be doing something you shouldn’t be be doing with the Lord comes and you don’t want to be living in such a way that you wouldn’t be living when the Lord comes. Then it kind of makes you watch a peace and cues in the rest of the alphabet.

Look at the next statement on the greater glory. Second Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17, four hour in those two little words, light affliction. Few things. Now that’s how God sees whatever it is you’re going through. Doesn’t He say cast all your cares upon Him? Well, if you cast all your cares upon Him, what are you worried about? What are you worried about? If you cast all your cares upon Him, are you really trusting the Lord to walk you through things?

Or are you still carrying all the weight, the burdens, and then it wears you down, and you can’t sleep at night and all the cares and… Well, isn’t it? God says, give it to Him. Well I did. I’ve asked Him a thousand times. nine hundred ninety nine times too many. What else he says and you see where it says the eternal weight of glory you’re the underlying that. Why? Because that’s the link. A light affliction eternal weight of glory.

So you see there’s things that God says and trying to paint a picture for us to get the idea because see remember that this is in the word of God because God wants more for us. more for us than we want for ourselves. Did you know that God loves you more than you understand love? He is so far superior to us. His ways are not our ways, his thoughts are not our thoughts. We are flawed. We don’t have perfect mind.

We don’t have perfect understanding. That’s why it’s a struggle for us to believe what God says without question. Look at the next verse. I just want you to see the word as in Matthew, the next verse, 13, 43, says, then shall the righteous shine forth as the Son in his kingdom. The righteous. That’s those who’ve trusted Christ as Savior, but it goes a little bit further than that. He’s talking about who hath ears to hear that in here. And when you hear what the Father says, And you do what the Father says, then you’re going to shine forth as brilliant as the Son, as the Son.

That’s why God said, you are the light of the world. Look what else He says here in Daniel, and they that be wise. You ought to underline that phrase. They that be wise. Do you want to be wise or do you want to be a fool? They that be wise get to shall shine, And there’s that word again, as, as the brightness of the firmament and get this and they that turn many to righteousness. They that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.

So there is a reason why we should keep certain the Lord in regards to how hard it gets, how much we want to quit, how discouraged we get, everything that happens to us in life challenges our faith, causes us to wonder, who am I really trusting? And so he says in that verse, they shall shine as bright as the firmament and they shall that turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever. Now the next statement greater joint.

Now you know there’s verses in the The Bible talks about having the joy of the Lord, the strength of the Lord, the patience of the Lord. This is what I was talking about before. You ever heard of the little girl? No, she’s not a girl, little girl in the morning. Joining Kintata, better name, Eric. And she’s something about the name of Joining. But she is the one that you’ve heard her on the radio. I mean, I’ve heard of her before.

A bunch of you. She’s the one that’s the quadriplegic. And she’s the one that told that story. And it’s a true story. I didn’t make it up. But it’s something to always remember. But notice it’s in first Peter chapter four verse 12 says, beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is the trigume. as those some strange thing happen unto you. But rejoice, but rejoice in as much as you are partakers of Christ’s suffering that when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy, when His glory shall be revealed.

Evidently, that’s not now, but that’s when that takes place. Then you will be exceeding glad in other words you will be glad and thankful for all the hardships you’ve had in this life and You still were faithful to the Lord Because then When that happened then you’ll be exceeding glad that’s what I work toward There’s a lot of things that happens to me in life. I do not like and I do not enjoy But I got to go through them some things.

I can’t stop. I can’t change I don’t know what’s going to happen anymore. Do you think last year at this time I was going through one of the worst periods of time in my life? Anybody remember what I had I Had the worst case of shingles. They said to the VA they’ve ever seen I Agree with every word they said I’ve never seen it before But I had it all over me all up the back of my head into my hair and you talk about it would cause pains all over me And I was taking pain pills.

I couldn’t. Oh, it was terrible, terrible, terrible. But I don’t remember one time me cursing God. I never used any profanity. But if you wrote it on a piece of paper, I might have signed my name to it. This joke in there. You’re going to suffer at times. Have you ever thought sometime it seemed like this will never end? Just hope it’ll end somewhere along the line will end. And sure enough, one of the greatest promises in the Bible is that it came to pass.

It came to pass. Look at the last statement down here. First Thessalonians chapter 2, for what is your our joy or hope or crown of rejoicing are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming. For ye are our glory and our joy, the people that we reach. In other words, Paul is saying of all the things we go through, all the sufferings that we go through, it’s to reach you. We want the best for you.

Paul even says for me to live as Christ in the dais game, but I’m in a trick between two. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, but it’s more needful for you that I stay here in the flesh. And as long as I’m in this body, I’m gonna suffer. They’re gonna beat me up and stone me and throw me in a river and do it now. But it’s worth it because you get to go to heaven because you heard the gospel through my lips.

That was paraphrase but I know that’s in there. Anyway, I hope that makes sense to you. Always trying to figure out a way to challenge you a little bit more. Let me show you something. New illustration, you never seen it before. But if you’re watching by internet and I looked the other night and there were 66 countries that had hit our website. I don’t have a clue. There’s numbers to me. But those numbers represent people and I’m hoping that a lot of people are trusting the Lord.

And we do have people taking that test. Not everybody passes it. Not everybody’s coming when they pass it. Just two weeks ago, one guy took it and he failed every bit of it. He called, he emailed me and says, I failed that test. I flunked every one of them. See you in hell. Did I read that to y’all? I thought it did. I just want to see if you remembered. This hand represents you and me. The wallet represents sin.

We all have sin on us. God loves us. God loves us. Now He hates our sin, but He loves us. And because He loves us, He wants us to go to heaven. But we’d have to be perfect to go to heaven and nobody’s perfect. Because of sin, God says we have to pay for it. The wages of sin is death. Eternal separation from God in hell. But the Lord loves us, wants us to go to heaven. But we can’t go to heaven because of sin.

God says that we have to pay for it. And that’s eternal separation from the Lord. So God says your good works won’t pay for sin. Given money won’t pay for sin. You don’t have to go to church to go to heaven. You don’t have to change your life to go to heaven. stop things to go to heaven. You don’t promise anything. Salvation is totally free. What I mean is this, this hand represents Jesus Christ. He is the Lord God in the flesh.

He came into the world because he loves us. Now he hates what we do wrong, but he loves us. But he says, our sin separates us from the Lord. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin, didn’t have to die. But because he loved us, he took all of our sins that kept us separated from him. He took the sin, paid for it on the cross and came back from the dead and said that if you and I would believe that he did it for us, he would put this payment to our account and we get to go to heaven on what Jesus Christ did.

God says that he so loved the world. That’s everybody in the whole world. That heOfficers only begotten sons, Jesus Christ. The whosoever, anybody would believe that he paid for their sins, that he would put this payment to their account and they will not perish. It means they will not go to hell. It means they will not have to pay for their sin because Jesus paid for their sins. So 51 years ago, I heard that for the first time and I believed it and I don’t have to go to hell and pay for my sins, not a one.

I don’t have to go to day tomorrow, never. He died and paid for all of my sins and I believe he did it for me and he gives me as a free gift everlasting life. I get to go to heaven on what he did. I don’t earn it. Don’t deserve it. That’s because he loves me. After we trust Christ as our Savior, God says, I want you to love me. But we don’t love the Lord to get to heaven, but we should love the Lord because we’re going there and we should serve the Lord.

But nobody can make you. How real is the Lord to you? I hope you’re very real. Let’s pray, shall we? Our follow we thank you so much for all you’ve done for us. We’re thankful for the free gift of eternal life. That no one can earn their way to heaven and never be good enough. We’re so glad we don’t have to lie to people and give them names that are impossible to do by keeping the law be good or stop being bad.

They’re all impossible. But Father, what is possible is for a person to realize that they’re a sinner. That’s possible and anybody should know that. To believe that when you died, you died for them and paid for their sins and by trusting you and you alone, you guarantee them eternal life is a free gift. We pray, Lord, that those that are listening by internet and anyone here in the audience, they’ve never trusted you save it, they will put their complete confidence and trust in you.

We know you’ll never cast them out and never lose them. As your children, Lord, we pray that we’d be found faithful serving you and that we would have the right motive because we love you. In Christ name 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.