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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.

One of the worst things I hate is sitting in a hospital. We’re waiting in a waiting room. Do you realize what that’s like? If you haven’t been there, just be patient. You will be. You’ll be in the waiting room or you’ll be in the bed. But sooner or later, it comes and it happens to us. And here you have Sandy here. She just had one of those things that makes you jump up. Yeah, that thing, it makes you jump up and down and run around and all that kind of stuff.

It’s that pacemaker. But she just had that done this week. But there’s a lot of people that’s going through, you know, a lot of things and y’all know what Betty’s gone through, but she’s, now she’s in the process of healing. And I think the Lord, He’s been so good. But you know, even if when she was in the hospital, it just wore me up. I think the Lord for some of the people who gave a gift card so that I wouldn’t have to stay home and fix Betty Mills.

How many of y’all believe I actually fixed meals? One day I rolled her all the way in there to the kitchen where the dishes were and I said, honey, I have no desire for you to get out of bed and wash these dishes so you can do it right there in this year bed here. I didn’t do that. I didn’t do that. And I don’t have her washed the dishes. I just stack them up and wait until she gets well.

I have to watch what I said. Some of y’all believe every word that I tell you. No, you don’t believe that. I hope not. do. Yeah, you do. But now notice what he says. We despair even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves. Now that we’re death. I want you to remember that because I’m going to refer back to it in a moment. Because in order to reach lost people, we have to die to reach the dead.

Now that sounds funny, I know. We have to die to reach the dead. And also, we give our life that others may receive eternal life because by the given of our life and the sacrifice that we may be at other people that trust the Lord. But Paul says here in this verse 10, who delivered us talking about the Lord from so great a death and duff deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. He also helping together by prayer for us that for the gift bestowed upon us by means of many persons, things may be given by many on our behalf.

In other words, a lot of people making it possible for Paul and them to do what they did. Now as they went, I want you to look there in 2nd Corinthians in chapter 2. 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 and look there in verse 12. Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, now there’s a lot of people who try try to make a difference. And Paul’s gospel was not the same as Peter’s gospel or the same as Jesus’s gospel.

But in the book of Romans, yes, it talks about my gospel. Paul was talking about my gospel, but where did he get his gospel? He got it from Jesus. It says, so in the book of Galatians in chapter 1, I received it of the Lord. So Paul did not have a separate gospel than what Christ had. It’s all the same gospel. He just one went to the Jews, one went to the Gentiles. And so he says here, Christ’s Gospel, and a door was opened under me of the Lord.

So he went to preach the Gospel at Troas, and a door was opened under me to preach this Gospel, and there was this opportunity. So what happened? Verse 13, I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother. Now I don’t know the impact of not having somebody like Titus there. And you read the book of Titus, it’s a tremendous little book, not many chapters, but it’s a very important book.

But Paul wanted Titus to be there, and he looked for Titus. Now, they didn’t have cell phones in those days. They couldn’t use the internet. But if they got separate, how in the world would you find somebody? They didn’t have the telephones at all. And they didn’t have Western Union. I mean, they didn’t have wire service of any kind. And if you’re going to this city and he’s going to go to that city, how do you know where somebody’s at?

If you never find them, you can miss somebody and never see them again for the rest of your life. But he says here in verse 13, I had no rest in my spirit because I found not Titus my brother. But taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia. In other words, it looks like there was an open door and it looks like he did not take advantage of this open door. It looks like he left because he could not find Titus and he went to another place.

Now I’m not saying that that’s the case but it sure looks like it. We don’t always take advantage of every opportunity. And physically, if you read the first chapter, Paul despaired even of life. Paul was having what you’d call a downtime, where it was really hard. He was struggling, despaired even life itself. And we think sometimes when these guys were super men walking around. No, they had an old flesh nature just like we do. And when you get to chapter 11 and 12, when it talks about some of the things that he went through and how he suffered and how he heard and he says in care of all the churches, he says, I don’t mean to brag, but let me just mention a few things.

He says, bear with me for a moment in my folly. Let me tell you what I’ve been going through. Let me tell you how bad it really was. Let me let you know what price I paid to reach people for the Lord. And then you’re trying to convince, I’m not an apostle and you’re somebody special. You read the book of 1 Corinthians in chapter four, and it’ll show you their attitude they had toward him. So then he says in verse 14, Now, thanks be unto God.

I love that phrase because it’s also similar to, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. You’ve heard that before. Which always causes us to triumph in Christ. Though I may not do everything that I should. God knows that in the flesh we are limited of what we can do and how much the body can take. And sometimes we don’t take advantage of all of our opportunities, but the ones that you don’t and don’t preach the gospel, you still wanna take advantage and try to win those who already know the Lord to serve the Lord.

So you’re doing it all the time. You’re thinking about it, you’re praying about it, and it’s just a constant thing in your whole life. But don’t become too critical of yourself and don’t become too critical of others. Because when you get down physically, sometimes you can get down spiritually and you have no idea what somebody else is going through. True? Somebody could be having a hard time and you have no clue what’s going on in their life. Cut people a little slack and let them alone sometimes.

Sometimes I struggle with, when do I get involved in their life and when do I just stay out of their life? Some people don’t want the preacher to know everything that’s going on sometimes people think, well, he doesn’t really care about me. So there’s a thin line of caring and caring too much. Notice what he says. In this verse 14, which always causes us to triumph in Christ and make us manifest known the saver of his knowledge by us in every place.

So So wherever Paul went, he always wanted to preach the gospel. That’s what he was always about. But he didn’t take advantage of every opportunity. Sometimes there was other things that hindered him, and that’s why he makes the statement in verse 11, lest Satan should get an advantage of us. Then he talked about we were hindered, Satan hindered us. This could be one of those places where he had been hindered, and yet if he’d have had Titus there, maybe he could have done something.

It’s just like, and I showed a couple of guys this the other day, I had up there in Georgia, I had sat down and figured out a whole thing about the youth branch ministry. And I figured out how to do it for a one year certificate. And I figured out how to do the man, the message, the manes and the method. And so I was gonna have a three months on for teaching the ranch philosophy. One month off, three months on, one month off, three months on, one month off, and it would take the whole year.

And it would be done on a Sunday night for two hours and then Tuesday, Wednesday, so from Sunday night, four days a week, and I would teach it because I didn’t have anybody else to help. There was nobody else there that I could depend on because I had come to the church and this is what I wanna get done. And I didn’t have anybody of the quality that I needed teachers. So I had a open door to do something, but I knew that this would tear me down.

I would not be able to run the pace, not at my age now. I don’t mind doing a lot, but there’s a limit. And I thought, if I only had a couple people, I could take advantage of this opportunity. I think it could be done. And that’s where John John and Tim King and all, they were there. And I had some people, but I’m only one person. And you think there’s an opportunity, but I can’t take advantage of it.

Though I wanted to, but I had to let it go. And then to find out, okay, 15 or so or 20 years later, I’m doing some of the same thing I wanna do then. Sometimes you have to wait for the right timing of things. Some things you can’t make happen. So he says here in verse 15, for we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ, and then that are saved, and in them that perish. Now, it’s a little troubling of a verse, but I just kind of look at it this way.

The Bible talks about in the Old Testament, Leviticus, talking about, you know, the sacrifices that they made. And there was some sacrifices where everything was burned up up and it was not a non-sweet smelling thing. But then it talks about certain sacrifices that were sweet smelling. In other words, something that in God’s eyes, it talked about this sweet smelling aroma that comes up, the fragrance of it. Like when you read in the book of Revelation in chapter 2 in the church, it’s meant to talk about it like it’s a flower that is crushed because it gives off a to death be willing to serve the Lord even if it cost you your life.

You’re going to be crushed, but even though you’re crushed, it sends off a sweet smell into the nostrils of the Lord. And then you find in the book of Ephesians in chapter 5, talking about our walk with the Lord, our love for the Lord, and how it gives off a sweet smell in God’s nostrils. How that God says, Oh, that looks so good. That looks so good. Have you ever had your wife in there cooking and you walk in the house and lo and behold, man, it smells so good.

You can tell what it is and you haven’t even seen it. But you know what it is, it smells good. And also my momma used to do a thing that I totally despised. She would cook sauerkraut. Have you ever smelled sauerkraut? How you can even eat it, I do not know. But if you hold your nose, you could probably go ahead and eat it. But mama would put some hot dogs in it and some big old sauces and all of a sudden, man, I just chow that stuff down.

And all of a sudden, it took a while, but I finally got to where I kind of liked that stuff. But it took a while. It wasn’t automatic. But God says our service to him, it brings its pleasure to the Lord. And that’s the sacrifice that we made. And I believe that a little bit of what he’s talking about here. So in verse 15, a sweet saver of Christ and them that are saved. So there’s people that we reach and there’s people that we’re striving to reach.

So God is pleased with the ones that we reach, but He’s also pleased with the ones that we’re striving to reach, because we haven’t reached everybody. But God is very pleased with His children when they win people to Christ and when they’re striving to win people to Christ. You may not reach everyone. So you may die to self in order to reach the dead so that they could have the free gift everlasting life. And to think of what Paul and some of these other went through the price they were willing to pay.

It’s just like going to camp. You know, there’s some of these people and some of our adults and we can’t pay them to do all the work they do. You take Scott back there. Scott’s got to get up in the morning and he’s got to load up a truck. Maybe how well he has it loaded, do you? You ain’t done yet. But he’s going to drive all the way up here to camp. And then he’s going to the whole week in the kitchen.

Last year he had the marks of the sacrifice that he made all over his arms. Was it last year? The year before? He got smart, bringing out biscuits and pans and getting all that and burning himself. He paid a price so that we could sit in there and enjoy all that good food. And I’d walk into the kitchen and here’s Betty. She’s got sweat coming down her face and her hair stringing down there, training is working like a dog in here, different ones and piers, bark and orders and all that, but they’re, and they work.

And they’d get up in the mornings. I don’t forget what time they get up in the mornings. It’s about 4.35 o’clock in the morning. Go out there and start working. Where everybody else is in bed. And then they don’t get a chance to stop for just for a couple hours in the afternoon. And then they got to start for the evening meal. And then they got to get it all cleaned up. And it’s worked from morning till night. And they give themselves and they’ll wear themselves out.

But when there’s joy in doing what you’re doing, there’s this joy of the Lord is my strength. when you know that it’s worth it and you know that also from some people they appreciate it. They don’t maybe know the total sacrifice of it but when you’re doing it for the Lord you know when you get to heaven God is going to reward you for your labor of love. Your work and labor of love. You’re doing it because you love the Lord and the sacrifices you may and then the last part of this verse here says and to the other the saver of life unto life.

So you are life-giving because I know it’s talking about souls because he just mentioned that in the verse before those who believe in those that are perishing. There’s people that are perishing but God is pleased that we’re striving to reach them. And the reason we try to train the Christians is because there’s well that’s what you use to reach lost. And if you don’t train somebody else, well, when you die, you, well, that’s it. I feel that so far, if something happens to me, I believe a lot of y’all are more prepared to give the gospel than maybe you were before I came.

I know Jesse’s come along very well. I’m very thankful to the Lord for the sacrifice that he’s made. He didn’t have to do that. He could have been working at Bank of America. Maybe he could have been the president and made millions of dollars. Mother-in-law might have liked it. But she works at her bank too. But I’m glad that he did what he did because he has taken a lot of pressure off of me because as I get older I realize I can’t go the pace that I used to go.

I can’t do everything like I want to do. I want to and I desire to but the body says I’m sorry Charlie and so you got to have somebody else you can depend on. And so Paul no doubt depended upon Titus and Titus couldn’t be there, there’s a reason, but there’s, you’re going to be hindered in the Lord’s work. And so the Lord says this, down here in chapter 3, Luke what he says in verse 5, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.

So we live every day and trust in the Lord that He is going to use us for something great to honor Him. And then you look down there in chapter four, where he says in verse one, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we don’t quit. You just don’t quit. And the reason you don’t quit is because if we quit, then the gospel is hid to those that have been blinded. And that’s mentioned in the prayer in verse three.

And then in verse four, all these verses down through here, it’s all talking about us reaching and the pay and the price that it takes to get it done. And that’s why I’ve said before, as you look in verse eight, we are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair. It means we didn’t quit. We didn’t quit persecuted, but we didn’t quit. Cast down, but we didn’t quit. And that’s why he says, everything that we do is for your sake, is for your advantage.

Verse 16, for which cause we faint not, we don’t quit. Why? Because in verse 18, we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. So God has given to us a ministry. And the ministry, there’s a price to pay. And it’s difficult at times. We get tired, we get weary, we’re getting older. And if we don’t take some time and try to train some other people that are younger than us to do the job, this church will die.

This church will die, these doors are going to close. Unless we keep reaching some younger people. That’s why I was excited about what they’re doing in a one, they got a good bunch. That’s why we just, it’s got to have the people that it needs to help get teenagers in. And so from those young married couples, and got to get some married young people, because as most of us in here, we’re getting older. just the facts of life and then what and then what.

We want there to be a lighthouse down the road for as long as possible. Now let me show you something. Most of you have never seen this before, but watch now very closely. At no time will this hand ever leave my wrists. I want you to watch, verify this is true. This is you and me. And let it the wallet represent sin. We all have sin on us. God loves us. Now, he hates our sin, but he loves us.

And the Bible says we have all sinned. You see, well, what is sin? Well, whatever it is, you did it because God says all of us have. But whatever it is, it’s rebellion to God. It’s this obedient, it’s transgressing the law. It’s not fulfilling the law. It’s not being perfect. So God has his perfect law. You want to live with Him? Just be perfect. Nobody’s perfect. So the law condemns everybody because all has sinned and the wages of sin is death.

So we all have to die. That’s why everybody born, everybody dies. You see, Christ didn’t have to die because you see, He didn’t have a sin for nature. He never did anything wrong. But we’ve all sinned, so we’re all condemned and to be eternally separated from God in a literal fire burning hell. So you don’t need a Savior to keep you from going to a place if it don’t exist. So God says He loves us, wants us to go to heaven, and to go to heaven we have to be perfect, no sin.

And nobody’s perfect, nobody qualifies. So God says, by your works you cannot improve your situation. You’re already condemned. So doing good deeds will not take away your bad deeds. This requires death. If there’s only one sin over here, all your good works of all of your life can’t take away that one sin. You still got to die. You still got to pay for it. You’re still going to go to hell. But God loves us and He says you cannot pay for your sins by good works.

You need a Savior. We can’t save ourselves. And the law puts us in this condition so that we can see that no man is righteous. The law points you to Christ. This hand represents Jesus Christ. He’s the Lord. God in the flesh came into the world. He has no sin. Doesn’t have to die. But He loves us. Hates our sin because our sin separates us from Him. So Jesus Christ, who had no sin didn’t have to die, He took all the sin of all the world, paid for it on the cross, came back from the dead.

And He says, the only thing you and I have to do, believe that He did it for us. Why did He do this? Because He didn’t want you to do this. He did it for you. He paid for your sin because He didn’t want you to pay for your sins. And the Bible says that Christ died for our sins before we were ever born. He did it 2,000 years ago. So if He paid for our sins 2,000 years ago, how many of our sins did He pay for it?

All of them before we were ever born. So that means past, present, future. He’s already paid for every He sent the Olivet commit in my whole life. And He did the same thing for you, for the whole world. And the only thing He wanted us to do when He came back from the dead is this, will you believe I did that for you? So when you believe He did it for you, you’re not gonna try to earn your way to heaven.

Why? Because you know you’re already going. See, people are trying to earn their way to heaven by their good life. It means they’re not trusting in what He did. They’re gonna trust in what they do. I know I’m going to heaven because of what he said and because of what he did. What he did was he paid for all my sins and what he said was if I’d believe it, I’d have eternal life. So when I trusted Christ as my Savior, God gave me as a free gift ever last in life.

If it’s ever lasting life, how long would it last? If it lasts forever, now my sins are paid. Where am I going when I die? Can I know I’m going to heaven before I die? Of course, I know I’m going to heaven. You know, most people, they don’t know that. They think it’s because of how they live. How you live cannot determine your destination. It’s a shame that people can’t see it. But it says many are on the road, the broad road that leads to destruction.

And the narrow few people see this because they’re still trying to earn their way by how they live and thinking, well, I know she’s not saved because, if she was saved, she wouldn’t do that. No, you don’t get it. A person can trust Christ as Savior and not obey the Lord. Now look up here. When you trust a Christ as your Savior, if you do it today, you become a child of God. And as a child of God, you got a choice.

You can be an obedient child or a disobedient child, but you’re still his child. I’ve got three children, the hard way, one wife. When those kids are born into my family, when they’re good, they’re mine, and when they’re bad, they’re Betty’s. No, they’re still ours. But they can be obedient or disobedient. God said, if I’m obedient, He’ll bless my life here. And He’ll reward me when I get to heaven. But if I’m disobedient, he’s gonna have to chase in me.

Maybe discipline me, take me home for my time. But I’m still his child. So in my Christian life, I decided I would rather have God bless my life than to whoop me. So I want to be an obedient child of God. But see, I’m not doing this to be a child of God. I’m not doing this to get to heaven. I’m doing because I’m going to heaven. I am his child. And I would rather have his blessings than his weapons.

Doesn’t that make sense? But I’m not trying to do it to get to heaven. See, if you’re doing it to try to get to heaven, you ain’t going. You’re not saved until you trust Christ and Him alone as your only hope of going to heaven. You’re saved by faith, not by your worth. One work on nullless grace. One work. You depend upon one work to get you to heaven on nullless grace, because grace is the absence of work. Look, if I offered you this year book and you accepted what would you have?

If I offered you this microphone and you accepted what would you have? Microphone. I offered you my wallet and you accepted what would you have? Empty wallet. We’re going to take up another collection in a minute. If Christ walked across here and you offered you eternal life and you accepted what would you have? Eternal life and if it’s eternal life and it lasts forever and all you’re saying to Hey, where you going? Going to heaven. Let’s pray Shavya. Every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around.

If you are here today and you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior, would you put your trust in Him? I hope because of the things that we’ve said, what we’ve shared, you understand you cannot save yourself. The preacher can’t save you, the church can’t save you. All of your good works will not help. Would you put your trust in Christ? He died for you because he loved you, paid for all of your sins so that you wouldn’t have to.

And all he wanted you to do is would you believe he did it for you? And by you believing that, he gives that payment that he made, he gives it to you. You have a payment for your sins that you go to heaven whenever you die. There’s no tricks to it, no gimmicks. Not going to pin you against the wall, but I am going to ask you in just a moment to raise your hand. Raising your hand does not save you.

I’m not going to have you forward. I’m not going to try to embarrass you. right where you’re sitting, you say, preacher, that made sense to me, and I will accept Jesus Christ as my Savior 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 gonna ask you if you’re just slipping up very quickly, put it right back down, say, preach that made sense. I will trust Christ as my Savior.

I wanna know that I’m going to heaven when I die. Is there anyone at all? Yeah, I’m at all. Just slip it up, put it right back down. If you have trusted Christ as your Savior, you have something to share with somebody else. You’ve got some good news, best news in all the world. Father, we thank You again for Your blessings. Thank You for those that are watching by internet. And pray that many will understand and put Your trust in You.

We thank You for this time together. In Christ’s name we pray, amen. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bible Line programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link.

If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. 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 and just keep looking up.