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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. 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 prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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.

But remember this, one of the biggest enemies you’ll have in your Christian life is don’t be those who know you the best. Because they see you at home. They know what you really like. So that’s why that verse right before the end, a man’s foe shall be day of his own household. Because, see, if you want to serve the Lord and you’ve got people in the household that don’t, well then you’re a natural rebuke to everybody who don’t want to serve the Lord.

He says here in verse 30, He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. Now, it means that they’re not worthy to pay the price. In the Lord they can’t afford to pay it. Because serving the Lord, we know good in heaven is gift. Serving the Lord, well, that’s different. That’s gonna cost you. And some people cannot pay that price. They want the victories, but they don’t want no battles. You know, they want all those medals to wear.

Look at all my medals. but they don’t award. I often get a little curious of all these people that are over North Korea. They haven’t had a award in 70 years. And yet here’s all these generals they got. And they already got so many medals on both sides, they can hardly walk around. And I thought, well, where did they get, what battle did they fight? Well, you usually get one if you went to this country, that country, this country, that country, you get little medals and things like that.

They haven’t been out of the country. They won’t let them leave. They cut theirs, they did. won’t get them back. But it’s amazing. Now, where did they get all these metals if they haven’t fought any battles? That’s the way a lot of Christians are. They want the metals. They want the rewards, but they don’t want to do anything to earn them because rewards are earned. And to get those, you have to be able to pay the price. It’s like, you know, there’s a portion.

Well, I want that. Can you afford it? No. Then you can’t have it. And so that’s why he mentions this on here. You’re not worthy. means you can’t afford it. Sometimes the kids call me up at the time. Dad, you think I can have this and get this car and blah blah blah. You can have anything you can afford. You can have anything you can afford. And so I have never signed in a note for my kids. Now I’m not saying you don’t have to, you can’t if you want to do whatever you want to do.

You got to work and get what you can afford. because down the road, you can always count on somebody to bail you out, bail you out, and there’s not going to be nobody to bail you out. One of these days, dad is going to be gone, mom is going to be gone. Have fun, but learn how to work. Save a little bit. Do this. So anyway, so he says down here, look at the very next word, verse 38, and he that takeeth not his cross and followeth after me, not worthy of me.

In other words, you cannot afford to follow Christ because you want to serve a Lord, then it requires you to discipline yourself. And some people cannot discipline themselves. Remember, we always say there’s two forms of discipline. Self-discipline, impose discipline. Which do you prefer? Can you discipline yourself or do you have to have somebody discipline you, always having to get on your case or wake you up and challenge you motivate you or can you can you encourage yourself in the Lord or do you always have to have somebody encourage you pick me up what if he has nobody I haven’t had a pastor in over 50 60 years now till I’ve always been the preacher well who keeps me motivated the people no you gotta you gotta have some strength that you get from the Lord and keep yourself going and always motivated to keep doing what’s right.

Otherwise you can wear out. This is why I think sometimes if you don’t really love the Lord you burn out because you’re trying to do it and it’s not real. It’s mechanical. And you’re forcing yourself to do something you really don’t want to do. I got to go to church today. Well, I don’t wake up that way. Man, I’m going to church today. I can’t wait for Sunday night. Could I stay challenged up about something like that? And other people says, oh, I hope you don’t go long.

And he’s one minute over. And you’d be surprised. Everybody knows about what time I stop on Sunday morning. What time? What time did I usually stop on Sunday morning? to 12? Pretty close to it, huh? So hopefully what I get through, but you’d be surprised how many, if I was to go one minute over, heads would start turning and say, did they clock stop or something? What’s wrong with it? So how long are you in here? Well, if you’re going to, you want a calendar or you want that one man got up and walked out of my meeting and I said, where are you going?

He says, I’m going to shave. I said, why didn’t you shave before you came? He says, I did. You know, there’s always somebody like that. You I say, oh, I got a… Anyway, one time I asked this guy, I says, would you wake up at person sitting beside you? He says, you put him to sleep, you wake him up.

Some people, you just can’t win, can’t you? You know, I feel good today. Well, maybe it’s because I’m still in a jet lag and I haven’t woke up yet. This is all a dream. Well, anyway, wherever we are, you’re supposed to serve the Lord, you know that. But look at the next verse, I want you to see that. In verse 39, he that findeth his wife, I mean, he that findeth his life shall lose it. He that was funny and not even in the planet.

And he that loses. My man says, I regret that I’ve only got one wife to send to the country. I can’t really see how I got tears in my eyes. Ha ha ha. I see. He that findeth his life shall lose it. and he that lives his life from my state shall find us. I got 15 verses to get to, and I only got to the first two. Ha, ha, ha. You know, I’ll be surprised with all the warren over here.

Here we are on, now he had that sweet innocent look. Don’t he have just an innocent baby face look? Even though he’s 60 years old, he got that baby face look. And everywhere we went, he was always pulled aside. I mean, he just looked guilty about something. I didn’t know. There must be something on your record that I don’t know about. He had his Bible with him and the dog came and the dog sniffed and next thing you know, they pulled him aside because they smelled some dynamite or smoke.

I mean, there was some, and believe it or not, in the book of Romans chapter 1 verse 16, for I’m not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of that word is dynamite. And that little puppy smelled that dynamite is Bible. And so he got pulled over that. And then you got pulled over for something. I don’t know what it was, but he was always we’re waiting on him. We were waiting on, oh, dear Warren over here.

But he looked so innocent. But they must have saw something that was just… Anyway, Connie, have you recovered? You’re recovered, what about those girls? Oh, she’s gonna go up to the Grace Farm. And anyway, poor John. You have no idea that poor guy. He had three women that he was responsible for. And it was automatic that these three women, they saw every gift shop. Every gift shop, not they. There goes John, poor John. Ha, ha, ha. But I think everybody had a good time.

And it was a great experience for everybody. And I’ll do my best. I can’t tell him that. I says, now you got to stay focused. You got to stay focused. I can’t stay focused this morning. I have been like a bouncing around the wall. Somebody raised to say, you got a brain the size of a BB inside of a box car.

And that doesn’t make you feel too good. A brain the size of a BB in a box car. No, that’s pretty bad. But anyway, take your Bible, turn to Second Timothy. Second Timothy. Second Timothy in chapter four. 2 Timothy chapter 4, and start there in verse 7. 2 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 7. Now Paul has, you know, run his life and his course and he’s now getting ready to depart on Beloved for you be with the Lord in Heaven.

So he says, I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course and I have kept the faith. So he has preserved his life because whatever you do for the Lord, you never lose. And so that makes everyday precious to you because your life is made up of time. And when you waste time, you’re wasting your life. So if you will invest it for the Lord, you’re saving your life. And that’s what the Lord’s talking about. He says, I have kept the faith.

henceforth there’s laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day. Now the little thing to remember here the righteous judge if you can live your life believing that God is a righteous judge and he is going to reward you for what you did for him you know you’re gonna win and you can live with that confidence and that gives you boldness but you see when your life is a flip-flop and you’re up and you’re down and you’re, you know, some people, well, the Christian life is kind of like a person who’s so nervous they can throw it, they’re so machine while it’s running.

You know, that’s, that’s pretty nervous. And they’re afraid to take and trust the Lord with their life. So they, it’s kind of like a person who wants to get in the boat and go out on the sea of Galilee. But the only problem is they want to put one foot on the land and one foot in the boat. You’re not going to get too far from the land. Neither are you going to really be enjoying They ride in the boat because you don’t trust the boat and you want to keep one foot on the land just in case.

Now, put both feet in the boat and trust the Lord and you’ll enjoy it so much better. But some people are afraid to step out by faith and see what God’s going to do. You know, about three months ago, I was just kind of looking down the road at a few of the things that we have to get done. You know, the graduation coming up and there’s the ladies’ tea and, I mean, just one thing after the other. Then we had the ordination service, and then the trip to Israel, and we got a meeting up there in someplace, Chicago.

And then, yeah, me and Betty are gonna have our anniversary, and then, well, she’s at home right now, because she’s not feeling too good. And you think of all the things you got, you know, we got camp coming up. Next thing you know, it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be collegey end. And we think, well, where did the summer go? But all you can do is just knock them out one at a time. talk them out. So I thought, well, I know that whenever we get back, I still got two days of rest before Sunday.

Well, it didn’t work out that way. See, I have my schedule, and God has a schedule. The next thing you know, I’m doing a funeral service. So, and I got over here and I got this phone call to make, this phone call to make. You get a bunch of things you got to catch up on. If you don’t, they kind of snowball on you, then you don’t get anything done. And just not being prepared wears you out. If you’ve ever thought about all the things you have to get done, you ain’t done anything yet and it’s already worn you out.

Just thinking about what you got to get done. So anyway, here in the book of 2nd Timothy, look what he says here in the middle part of verse 8. He says, his fourth verse laid up for me a crown of righteousness with the Lord, the righteous judge shall give me at that day.” Now Paul is already stating that he knows what he has done. He knows he’s going to get rewarded. And God is the righteous judge and he shall give me.

See, that’s not a guess. Well, you’re not supposed to anticipate and nobody knows if you’re going to get anything. No. I believe God has to bless my life. God has to bless me. Why? Because he said, if I serve him, he’ll bless me. Well, all right, I serve him. So he has to bless me. It’s not that God has a choice. He’s bound by his word. If God’s already promised that he’ll bless those who serve him and he’ll honor those who serve him, then don’t you expect him to do that?

Don’t you believe that at this point in your life that you have rewards coming to you? Well, I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever done anything for the Lord. I’ll stop whining. Do it. Be faithful because it’s the right thing to do. Just because it’s the right thing. And God will take you the rest of it, but you ought to live in such a way that I know that I love the Lord. And I know that what I’m doing is what God wants to be.

Because if it’s not, then whatsoever is not a faith is sin. That means you’re supposed to be convinced in your mind that what I’m doing is what God wants me to do. And so you read the word of God. I got a sermon I got I’m working on. I haven’t got it finished yet, but it’s going to be on the the will of God, I know some things. There’s about 10, 12 things I got on there. It’s really gonna be good.

I was gonna do it, but I thought, no, I need to organize it and put it on paper so that everybody has a copy of it, so you’ll remember it. Because not everybody has a photographic memory. You can remember everything. So I’d like to give out some notes on that. But now I know to what else he says here, in verse 9, do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, because when he’s setting in, he has some, he says, I forgot my winter coat.

It’s going to get chilly. Now I’m in a, I’m in a prison. Then I want something to, you know, stay warm. And don’t forget to bring me to the parchment because, you know, where I’m at. All I got to work on is these Zuduko things. So I need to want the parchment to bring those. How many of y’all have ever played Zuduko? Come on, rest of your hands, be honest. God knows I try to do one a day because it keeps your mind clear.

It keeps it sharp because it’s mind-boggling and you want to finish it, but you got to do it right and no cheating. You don’t go to the back and see the right answers and then put it down. No, don’t you do none of that stuff. And then try to finish it. And if you can’t finish it right there, you go back to it and try to finish it later. it’ll challenge you, but work on some little puzzle that gets your mind off everything else so that you could it’s a way of relaxing your mind.

So got to have something that you do. But notice what he else he says here in verse 10, for demons have forsaken me having loved this present world. Now you’ll notice in verse 8 when he says, all those who love his appearing and demons have, let me, he has loved this present world. You’re either gonna love the Lord or you’re gonna love the world. It’s got to be one way or the other. Do you love the Lord more than the things of the world?

Because if you want to preserve your life and have it count for something, then you’ve got to have something that motivates you to do the right thing. And of course that’s going to be is do you love him more? Now look what he says in verse 11, only Luke is with me, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. When you’re trying to build a ministry, you’re always trying to find the keep people that know the Lord, love the Lord, make good shock absorbers that you can put confidence in, trust in, and they’re profitable for the ministry because they help to reach other people.

They’re the pillars in the church. Remember the sermon I did on the pillars in the killers? If you didn’t hear that sermon, you need to get that one. Anyway, look what he says in verse 13. Of the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou come us, bring with thee and the books, especially the parchment. So because Paul loved the Lord, everything went his way. Nobody was opposing him. No. You’re always going to have the messenger of Satan.

And Peter brought this out yesterday when he was talking. I don’t think I wouldn’t have was now, just recently. But the messenger of Satan, well, the messenger must be an individual who just kind of goes around and just go to you all the time. Always good. Like with a sharp stick and do it with a cattle. Well there’s people that do that. Always go to you. They just want to stick you. And you know discourage you from doing anything that’s right.

Always trying to deflate you. Always negative. You’ll have people like that in your life. It seemed like they do the devil’s work and they can so discourage Christians from being found faithful. Now look what he says. Verse 14, Alex Zandoth, the coppersmith did me much evil. The Lord reward him according to his works. This is when he should have walked around with one of those AK-47s, you know. You know over in Israel we saw a lot of these young ladies walking around with their guns.

We felt safe with these 18-19 year-old girls that are protecting us. But they walked around and they had them buddy and you don’t, I wouldn’t, I think I mean, I’d hate to be an 18, 19 year old boy and want to flirt with him. I wouldn’t even flirt with him. I wouldn’t even look at him and saw it cross-eyed him. Now it wasn’t that way whenever I was coming up. But the girls today, I don’t know. You’ve got to be careful, especially if you’re in Israel.

But when they finish school, that’s what they do. They join the military. I don’t think it’s voluntary. I think that they have to. It’s required for about two years or eight months, something like that. guys do too. So the whole nation over there is just one great big old army. They all know how to fight. They all know what they’re supposed to do. They know how to handle weapons. And so he says, the Lord will reward them accordingly. Look at verse 16.

My first answer, no man stood with me, but all men forsook me. Therefore, if they’re not going to stand, I am not either. If they’re going to quit, I’m going to quit. Have you ever heard people say like that. I’ve been in ministry for a couple years now and I’ve always have somebody with one family getting mad and they leave and then the next thing you know well they influenced somebody else and they got mad and never did anything to them.

But they took an offense and then they leave. And then somebody else, well, because they did. And you think, why? Because that’s the way people think. If you offend this one, you must have offended me. And it didn’t happen to you. And then it may not be true. And so over the years, I’ve seen a lot of that happen. But like he says in verse 17, the Lord stood with me. Not with the Lord stood with me. strengthened me that by me the preaching might be fully known and that all the Gentiles may hear that I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.

Who’s the mouth of the lion and who does he use? People, he uses people. That’s why he says, and this Alexander of the Copyright Spirit did me much evil. So if you want to serve the Lord, that means nothing’s going to happen wrong. Everything’s going to be wonderful. No, you always got somebody that wants to destroy. And so you have to be very careful. And if everybody stops, nobody loves me. He forsook me. And he’s talking about that. But you see, you’re an individual.

One of the things I like about in Israel is that when that kid becomes 13, they have a bar of misfits. That means that that kid has learned all the responsibilities, according to the law, that he’s supposed to know. So now he is responsible. He’s responsible for all of his actions. He’s considered and looked He’s an adult now, 13. levision, 18, 19, 20, they ain’t grown up yet. We got some adults, never became an adult in their thinking because they cannot handle adult responsibility.

But anyway, I wanted to show that to you, but there’s one of the verse, in verse 18, and the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work and will you and I on the line this, to preserve me into his heavenly kingdom, to whom be glory forever and ever. One thing that I like, as it says here, and a couple of the verses we’ll cover those next week, is that God is the one who has preserved me. I don’t have to preserve a certain way of life in order to make it to heaven, which is some call the perseverance of the saints.

That if you release it, you got to persevere. No, Braden, not. Look up there just a moment. I just thought of a good illustration that might work. This hand represents you and me. Now please watch what I’m doing. This is not a time to put everything away. Don’t move around and start scuffling things because that draws attention to you. And the one that’s watching you is me. And it makes me forget what I’m gonna say. And you don’t wanna do that because then I have to repeat myself and go another half hour.

This is you and me. This is sin. We all have sin on us. Everybody is a center because God says so. He says, there’s no difference. Nobody’s better than anybody else. He said, we’ve all come short of God’s perfection. Are you perfect? Are you perfect? Nobody’s perfect. That means you’ve all come short. We’re centers and the Bible says adherent Izan,kok toggle separation, and you’re notSHARE.com. You’re not going to be a little bit too late. Are you perfect? No one is perfect.

That means you’ve all come short. We’re centers and the Bible says to pay for sin is eternal If said1016 BaseType NBAA, separation. Then heaven won’t be heaven. So God says you can’t come unless you’re perfect Okay, what did I just do to the whole human race? Nobody gets to go Except me and George Washington and he might have told that lie. I don’t know But see now look this is you and me and Because of sin we can’t get in and God says you cannot earn your way to heaven Regardless of how good you try to be you’ll never be good enough because you have to be perfect.

You got a problem I got a problem. We all have a problem. And there’s only one that can solve the problem. That’s why Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. That’s why He had to come and have a virgin birth be born, have a body without a sinful nature. And He would be a perfect sacrifice to die in our place. So Jesus Christ who had no sin did not have to die. So because of his love for us, he took all the sin, not most of it, all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross.

2,000 years ago, came back from the dead. Our sins have already been paid. The only thing you and I have to do is will you believe he did it for you. If you will believe that he did this for you, God takes and putsternity to your account, you get to go to heaven. And see, just because the sins been paid doesn’t give you his righteousness. you believe his righteousness is put to your account. Our sins are put to his account, but his righteousness is not put to your account until you believe he did it for you.

When I believe that years ago, God gave me his righteousness. If he gave me his righteousness and he took my sin, that would make me as righteous as God. I’m going to heaven because of what Christ did for me. Not what I do for him. No man has ever lived good enough. To earn his way to heaven or woman to nobody. And that’s why it says for God so love the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever anybody believe it in him should not perish means you won’t go to hell but have everlasting life.

That’s the best news in all the world. So if you have trusted Christ as your Savior, do you believe that he died and paid for your sins came back from the. <@ in the dead. Version said it was a good thing for you, means you are a child of God. You’ve trusted Christ as your Savior. That means you’re going to heaven when you die. And that’s why God says this is a divine command. It’s the Lord’s table. It’s not the pastor, it’s not the church, it’s the Lord.

God wants you to take that little wafer or whatever it is and take that and remember he did this for you. He bore your sins on the cross. We do not believe in trans-estentiation where this becomes the body of Christ and that becomes the blood of it. No, it doesn’t. We don’t believe that. I believe it’s just to piece the bread and that’s some little grape juice and it’s all it is, but it’s a picture of the most wonderful thing in all the world.

We’re going to go to heaven because we believe what Christ did on the cross for us. True? Let’s pray, shall we? With every head bound, every eyes closed and no one looking around. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, friend, would you realize, you’re going to die one day and you’re going to have to stand before God. And He makes this statement, it’s appointed unto man once to die and after this, to judgment. Would you right now believe that when Christ died that He died for you, would you believe He did it for you?

God said, if you’ll believe it, He’ll give you as a free gift everlasting life. And He’ll give you His righteousness. You go to heaven on that, not on yours, you and I will never be good enough. It’s the gift. And so if you believe he did it for you, he will save you right now. And if you’re making that decision, I’d like to know and I’d like to have prayer for you. And I’m going to ask you just a moment.

I’m going to embarrass you. I’m not going to have you forward. But right where you’re sitting, so you breathe that that made sense to me and I will right now. I will trust Christ as my Savior. I believe he died for me and I want to be certain of going to heaven when I die. So right now I will trust the Lord as my Savior. And I’d like you to pray for me. Would you just slip your hand very quickly and put a right back down and say, what at all?

What at all? Just slip it up real quick. Anyone at all? Yes, God bless you. I see your hand. Yes, God bless you. Anyone else? Just slip it up real quick and put a right back down. I’m not going to embarrass you. I’m not going to come up to you. I’m not going to pin you against the wall. But it’s so important. There’s no trick to this, no gimmick. So yes, I will trust Christ as my Savior. Anyone else?

Our Father, we thank You so much for all that You’ve done for us. We’re thankful, Lord, that salvation is free, that You loved us that much. We thank You for the individual indicated by an uplift at hand that they would trust You as their Savior. By doing so, they become Your child, Your child forever. You’ll never cast a knot, never lose them. We ask Your blessings now upon the communion service for each one here, each child of God, to examine their own life, and to remember who You are and what You get for us in Christ’s name we pray.

Amen. 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 Main. 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. Leaving that the Lord is coming soon, just keep looking up.