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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.

I want to encourage you this morning. I want to help you. You are fighting the battle of your life. But what I want you to do is keep in mind you are not going to quit serving the Lord. Now you don’t have to serve the Lord to go to heaven because going to heaven is free. You know that. But now that you have eternal life and you are God’s child, if you want to serve him and honor him and be blessed here and rewarded there, you’re going to have to fight.

Don’t stop serving God. Never stop being faithful. Don’t you stop serving God because say God has it wronged you. Now it’s one thing if God wrongs you, you can blame God. But see you can’t find fault with God. You can find fault with people. And if you use people as an excuse not to be faithful or experiences in life circumstances is a reason not to be faithful. You really are a weak Christian because God hasn’t failed you. He never fails you.

And you’re looking at the wrong thing when you allow other people to so disappoint and so discourage you that you stop serving God. Here in the book of Acts in chapter 20, I want you to look in verse 22, verse 22. Verse 22 says, and now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall be followed me there. I want you to understand this. In serving the Lord, there’s going to be a lot of things.

You’re not going to know what’s going to happen to you. You don’t know what’s coming tomorrow or the next day. You don’t know about your finances down the road and you don’t know about your health down the road and you don’t know about people down the road and you don’t know all the circumstances down the road. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to know it. All you need to know is that this day, this moment, my God is sufficient of me.

That’s all you need to know. Look at else, verse 23, say that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. One thing you do know that is coming down the road is problems. Look what he says in verse 24, but none of these things move me. Neither count I my life dear unto myself so that I might end. I want you to underline this in your Bible. Finish my course with joy. Not just finish your course, but with joy.

You’re here for a reason. If God was interested only in just how it affects you, it could just take you one out of here. But He left you here because there’s something He wants you to do and influence in the lives of other people that I want to show you in just a moment. the last part of the verse 24, so that I might finish my course with joy. That’s awesome. Second Timothy in chapter 4. I want you to look at verse 7.

This is what he said at the end of his life. At the end of his life is that I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. True? Anybody said? Pasta. I have finished my course. See at the beginning I’m going to. At the end of it, I did it. I did it. I finished my course. I have kept the faith. I kept the faith. But doing the midst of all of this, something was trying their best to get them to quit.

I was sitting at a restaurant one day, rang me a good old hot cup of coffee, and I sat down with a pen. I started to write, and so I wrote this part three or four years ago. I don’t think I’d ever read it to you, but I’m going to read it to you right now, okay? Call sin and the sinner. Sin and the sinner. Sin should be magnified but not glorified. Sin should be simplified but not deified. Sin should be clarified but not justified.

Sin has a song to sing, to lull to sleep before the sting. To destroy your soul is Satan’s reason. He offers pleasure for a season. Blinded minds and wounded hearts are caused by Satan’s fiery darts. Sin from the heart corrupts the mind defiles the man and steals his time. For the heart of man is a deceitful thing. It destroys a man while declaring him king. For the wages of sin or death in hell, the rights to his soul he cannot sell, the flames of hell he did not flee.

Will he blame God himself or me? You and I are here to make a difference to the man that’s lost in sin that’s blinded on his way to hell. You and I are here for very important work. You need to always understand that and believe that. You may have got the talking part done. I want to serve the Lord. All right. There’s the old devil. He says, no, you’re not. No, you’re not. You say, I’m going to be faithful.

And the devil says, no, you’re not. No, you’re not. And the devil says, I’ll prove it to you. I’m going to make it so hard on you. I’m going to fight you at every turn. I’m going to get you so disappointed and so discouraged and so filled with despair. You’re quick. You don’t think it’s not worth it. And he has got one goal and that is to destroy your faith in God. Have you ever heard of a verse that says, for we know that all things work together for good to those who love the Lord to those who are called according to his purpose.

How is Satan doing on you? Are you down and discouraged? Is Satan doing a pretty good job on you so far? Are you about ready to quit? Or maybe you dedicated your life to the Lord years ago and you stopped serving God. You no longer do what you used to do with the same desire, the same fervor that you used to. And you know that God wanted to do something special particular. You refused. You said no. Or because of what people did.

You just got so disappointed. You just quit. And now you come to church only as a token just to keep God off your back. Only because you know well I should. But down deep inside you know you’re messing up. You blew it. I want you to see this because it’s so important. Look in verse 1. Therefore, the Apostle Paul says, seeing we have this ministry. As we have received mercy, we faint not. We faint not means we don’t quit.

Do you think you’re the only one that has hard times? I’ve had hard times. I’m always having hard times. You say, what’s your hard time? I’m trying to get Christians to serve the Lord. That’s the hardest thing in the world I’ve ever done in my life. I don’t worry about money. I don’t worry about health. I don’t worry about a lot of things. But my biggest job is trying to motivate Christians to do right. be faithful. If I could just get people to be faithful, that’s what I work toward more than anything else in the world.

Do you think my job is difficult? Because I can’t make you be faithful. I can only try to figure out things to say using different scriptures to try to use that hoping that the Holy Spirit will take that and ring your bell outside of that I have absolutely no power. I can’t make anybody do anything and tell me that that ain’t a job. That’s why so many preachers quit the ministry because after a while they said it ain’t worth it because people don’t respond.

They just don’t respond. They’re in their own world and they don’t take it seriously. I want you to see this. Look there in verse 8. Verse 8. The Apostle Paul says, we are troubled on every side. Do you ever feel that way? That it’s coming in from every direction. I don’t care. It seems like everything hits all the same time from every direction. It’s every side. Just hold your place right here, but turn there into the book of 2 Corinthians chapter one, look in chapter one and look in verse eight.

This verse eight is also awesome. This is what the Apostle Paul says. He says, for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia. In other words, did they have trouble? Did they have trouble? They had trouble. You got trouble? I got trouble. All God’s shilling got troubles. We all got woes. We can all have our own pity parties, can’t we? You remember why I told you I don’t have pity parties anymore?

Nobody would come. So I’ll stop having them. Look what he says here. He says, for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. This is great apostle Paul. This is the head honcho. And he says, I was ready to quit. Despaired life. No more sometimes you get to work. I wish I was ready to quit. dead.

Have you ever said, man, I hope the rapture happens soon so he can get me out of this mess. You wouldn’t say something like that, would you? That wouldn’t be your reason for wanting the Lord to come to get you out of here. It’s because you love him and you want to see him, right? It’s not because of the hard times you’ve got. Well, in verse 9, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves. Look at verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death and death deliver in home we trust that he will yet deliver.

In other words, he delivered us and he doth deliver and he will deliver. That’s why we can’t quit. We can’t quit serving God because if we quit, what is going to be the results? What are the consequences? And there are some. So he says we are troubled on every side yet not distressed. See what does that mean? Well, kind of like you’ve ever done either wrestling, college-style wrestling. Well, they can get you pressed but not get you pinned. Got you down but can’t pin you.

And you’ve got to get both those elbows on those shoulder blades down. Can’t pin you. You can be in a struggle and the devil can get you down, but you fight, you struggle. Look at the next part of verse 8. We are perplexed but not in despair. We are perplexed but not in despair. It’s kind of like a person believing that if a fullback has the ball and he’s to run into the line and he’s to run toward a certain hole and he’s to run in that direction before the whole is made.

He’s to run with all the power, all the force that he has, believing that when he gets there, those linemen are going to make a hole for him. That’s faith. Because if he weighs till there’s a hole there, it’s going to be too late. It’ll be too late. He has to run believing and trusting that the Lord is going to make away. You see, if you wait till God saws all of your problems before you serve them, how How long will you have to wait?

Forever. So when should you serve the Lord? I’ve had people tell me, well, you know, when I get these, my bill is caught up and I get my self-squared away. My preacher, I’ll be back in church. They don’t get it. In the words, when I get my problem solved, I’ll come back to church. Do they get it? They don’t understand it. When will they get all their problems solved? Never. You’re always going from one to the other. You’re solving problems, you’re in the midst of problems, and when you get out of this problem, you got another one waiting for you.

When do you solve them all? Is any man here who can stand up and say, I don’t have any problems? I have nothing. I have no pressure, nothing whatsoever of any kind. That person’s dead. It’s kind of like doing his football game. The guy threw the ball in defense, hit him, and broke his leg, and ran it with a stretcher and carried the man off. Coach says, tell him to give that ball to Bryson. Went out there in there, handed off to another guy.

He ran into the line, and they slaughtered him, broke his arms, had taken him off. Coach says, give the ball to Bryson. Next play. He threw another pass, tied in, got creamed. Coach says, I said, give the ball to Bryson. He said, but Coach, Bryson don’t want the ball. Okay. Want the ball. That’s Bryson sitting right down here. There’s some people that say, well, hey, I didn’t watch too many people getting beat up. The devil’s really working on him.

I don’t want the ball. I don’t want the ball. Yeah, you’ve got to get in the game. It’s a lot more fun. Yeah, you get beat up. But there’s a lot of Christians, see, they sit in the stands and they’re that Monday morning quarterback that tried to tell how they should have done things. That’s so easy. What the coach should have done. And what the quarterback should have done. Boy, if I’d have been in there, yes, but that’s just the problem.

You weren’t. You were up here where it was nice and safe and you didn’t do anything. So shut up. And there’s Christians who are always wanting to point their finger at the people who are doing the work and criticizing, finding fault, with the ones that are doing the job. And if it wasn’t for those, there wouldn’t be anybody. A lot of people sit on the sidelines and all they do is criticize. They find fault with everything and everybody, but you can’t depend on them.

Do you know you can’t build a work without faithfulness? Faithfulness is the most important thing you can ever have. I like to be an example of what does it mean to be faithful. I try to always be there. Always try to be the same way. Faithful to the book. I want you to be able to, you can depend on me. When I say something, I try to do what I say. I try to live according to what I teach.

I try to prove what faithfulness is. Does that mean if I do this, and that’s my goal, that I should be exempt from problems. So even in the midst of problems that I’ve had, still try to seek to be faithful. Never stop, you don’t quit. Always stay at it. Look at the next statement. In verse nine, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, not destroyed. In other words, you can be knocked down while you’re not knocked out. And some of God’s people see it, all of these are termed that deals with the Olympics.

Because this is Corinth, this is in Greece, this is what the Apostle Paul knew that people would understand. And a lot of that terminology is used in the Word of God. And talking about running the race and the course and the crown and all that stuff, all that stuff that they taught because of the Olympics, that’s where it came from. Now look down there in verse 13. We have in the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believe, therefore have I spoken.

I want you to look at this verse. Look there in 116th Psalm. Turn in your Old Testament to the 100 and 16th Psalm. And you’ll find out that he’s quoting an Old Testament scripture. And looking verse 9, remember while ago I mentioned to you that we are living in the land of the living. This is where we are. We were born into the land of the living. We’re here for a short period the time and we’re going to be leading.

So what’s the purpose of my living while I’m here? If it’s just for yourself, you missed it. The one that created you put you here has a purpose for your life. And makes a statement in verse 9, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Then in verse 2, I want you to see this, going back with just a tad, but in verse 2, Because he hath inclined his ear in the me, therefore will I call upon the Lord as long as I what?

So as long as I am alive in the land of the living, I want to walk with the Lord, but not without a fight. The devil is going to do anything he can to get you to quit. And he does that by disappointing you, discouraging you. People will let you down. They’ll fail you. Somebody will say just the wrong thing and that’s all you need to key off on to use that as justification for you You being mad or angry and upset and all the stuff that can go on in your life.

Now look at verse 10. Verse 10 is the verse that the Apostle Paul is using in the new time. He says, having this ministry, in other words, this is what God wants me to do in the land of the living. I have a course that’s set before me. Therefore, I can’t quit. Why can’t you quit? Because, because I’ve got a reason why I can’t quit. And I’ll show you that in just a second. He said, I believed, therefore have I spoken.

I was greatly, what’s that word? Afflicted. You’re going to have afflictions. Things are not always going to go your way. People are going to misunderstand. Then he says here in verse 12, what shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits? What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? And then in verse 14, I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people, in the presence of all his people.

I want you to know that when you finally die, look at verse 15, because in the land of the living, one day you’re gonna die. Well, look what he says in verse 15, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his what? Now see, you look at that and think that’s a terrible thing. That’s what’s gonna die. I know we’re gonna miss him, but that’s not the worst thing in the world. The worst thing in the world is to live and not serve God.

There’s nothing wrong in dying. That’s going to happen to all of us. It’s not something we should fear. I would be afraid to live and not serve God. That would be not the fear. But serve the Lord. Look forward to death. Look forward to the day you’re going to heaven. Look what He says. In verse 16, oh Lord truly I am thy servant. I am thy servant. That’s what I am. And because I’m a servant of the Lord, in verse 17, I will offer.

A servant of God should offer God something. But like the apostle Paul, he made the statement. He says, neither count I my life dear unto myself, that I might finish my course with joy. Because you see, if life becomes more important to you, then you don’t look forward to the next life. This is the only one you are in love with. This is the one you think about. So while you’re here, you think it all revolves around you, what you want, what you wanna be.

And you’ve lost your vision. You’ve lost your goal. And therefore you’re in for great disappointment. And the greatest is gonna be when you finally stand before the Lord and you realize you lived your whole life for you. You didn’t live it for him. If you live your life for him, he says, if a man’s not willing to lose his life for my sake, he loses his life. The way you gain your life is to live it for the Lord.

Cole, when you get to heaven, God says, look what I got for you. Look what I got for you now. See, it was worth it. It was worth it. And the last part of verse 18 said, I will pay my vows on the Lord now in the, and you are on the line, is present of all his people. Serving God is serving God in the presence of God’s people. You see, before each other, this is where we prove our faithfulness to God, concerning our time, our talents, and our treasures.

Now go back there to the book of 2nd Corinthians in chapter four. When he makes the statement in verse 14, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise us up also by Jesus and shall present us with you. For all things are for your sakes. In other words, the reason I’m serving the Lord is for your sake. You know why I want to serve the Lord? For your sake. I want to encourage you to serve the Lord.

I want to teach you the Word of God. I want to be an example of the believer for you. That is what serving Lord is about. Servant Lord is not all about just you and what you want. It’s about the influence you can have upon other people. In other words, why should you go to church for that person sitting beside you? For that person that’s sitting in front of you, for their sake. You want to be faithful for them.

Why should you give? Because you want to teach others to give. You want to be faithful because you want to teach others to be faithful. Because for their sake, Paul says for me to live his Christ and to die is gain. He says, I am in a twix between to a desire to depart and be with the Lord, which is far better, but is more needful that I stay here in the flesh, in the body for you. That’s what Paul says.

In other words, why do you want to live a Godly life? Because other people need you too. They need you to do it. There’s people who watch you. You’re influencing people. So you need to be faithful. And God will bless you for doing so. Let me give you this in closing. Look there in verse 16. For which cause we faint, in other words, we don’t quit. You’ll see when a person faints, they usually pass out, right? They fainted. If a person who’s fainted and passed out, you can’t depend on them for anything, can you?

What do you depend upon a person who’s fainted for? Nothing. And there’s a lot of Christians, see, they’ll come to church, but I can’t depend on them for anything. I can’t count on them. I don’t know if they’re going to be here or not be here. I can’t depend on them to get involved. I can’t depend on some people or anything. Then there’s other people I can depend on them. And because of that, we can build a work. We build it on the backs of the faithfulness of those you can depend on.

But there’s some people, don’t count on me. Don’t count on me. What can you do that? Well, don’t count on me. What they’re saying is they can’t be counted on. And most people are not faithful. They’re not dependable. Are you faithful? Are you dependable? I want you to be for your sake.” He says, for which cause we think not we don’t quit, but though our outward man perish. But the end word man spiritually you can become stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger.

We have to live. We have to live. Remember the time of the time of God’s given to us. He says for affliction, which is but for a moment, this moment is the length of your life. The length of your moment. You know the Bible describes your life as a vapor? It appeared for a little while, gone. They per smoke. Gone tomorrow. For our light affliction, which is a good word for us. Another word that you have to live. This little light affliction that you have to go through.

The Lord has promised to give you the strength and grace to bear what is in the world. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world and he can sustain you and his grace is sufficient for you And he says it works for us a far more exceeding and eternal eternal way to glory. So you’re comparing a moment with eternity and This little bit of problems that you have to go through this light affliction is working for you.

These are opportunities to buy eternal weights of glory. Can you see the difference? Why should you quit serving God? Look what you’re going to get. If you do, just finish the course. Finish the course. Some of you’ve been faithful for 10, 15, 20, 30 years. Don’t stop now. Don’t get weak now. Don’t lose vision. Now, stay at it. Since I’ve been here, I’ve buried a lot of our members. I don’t want to live forever. I just want to live long enough to bury all the rest of you and then I’m ready to go.”

Looking verse 18, while we look not at the things which are seen but the things which are not seen for the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal. And we are working for eternal things and the Course has been set before us. Let us run the race and pressing toward the mark that is set before us and let us finish the course. agree? This is you and me. This is sin. The Bible says we all have sin on us.

He loves us, but he says we’ve all committed sin. And the pay for that sin is eternal separation from God in a place called hell. Now God loves us. Once it’s to go to heaven, to go to heaven, we have to be perfect, as righteous as God. Are you perfect? Are you righteous? No. We’re all sinners. We cannot earn eternal life. By our good works will never be good enough to go to heaven. This hand represents Jesus Christ, God in the flesh came into the world because He loves us.

Hates our sin because our sins He separates us from the Lord. So what Christ did, He took our sin, paid from on the cross, came back from the dead. God said, if you and I, if we’ll believe He did it for us, that Christ paid for our sins, He would give us eternal life. And we would go to heaven on what He did for us. He says, anybody who believes this, they can know they have eternal life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son a gun that you may know that you have eternal life.

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.