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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 talk to you about a little issue. You’ve heard Don Trump wrote a book years ago called The Art of the Deal, and it was about always trying to figure out a way to win, persuading people to your point of view. Well, it’s got his work cut out for him. But I do like the title, The Art of the Deal. In other words, it’s about winning. I like to win. And I realize that we only get one chance in life to go through it.

No reruns, no instant replays, you get one shot at it. So this life is something that I want to win. There’s things that God talks about in his word and I found that the word win, believe it or not, was only mentioned in the Scriptures twice. One in the Old Testament and one in the New Testament, the word when, only mentioned that many times, two times. Winneth, I thought I’ll try Winneth, it’s used one time. So there’s not a lot of verses that talks about winning, but the whole Bible is about winning.

And so the Lord has left it for us to read, study, and find out those who want to win in life. Now there’s a lot of things you can strive for, but God says you can gain the whole world and lose. You can lose your whole life because you didn’t win the best thing. So the art of the deal is finding out what does God say about success, about winning? And we want to win. I do. And so it determines what you do with your life.

So I wanted to listen to somebody who wins, and so that’s the Lord. He knows all about how to win. Because he says, is the devil, there’s the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. There’s people in this world, there’s fallen angels, there’s all kind of things going on. Everything’s striving to make you a failure. to see that you ruin your life, waste your life so that you’re not a success in God’s eyes.

See, if you’re not a success in God’s eyes, you’re a failure. You didn’t win. I want to win. So I want you to take your Bible and turn to the book of Philippians in chapter 3, the book of Philippians, chapter 3. There’s a verse there that I want you to look at. Paul just explained who he was, who he thought he was. Like saying, do you know who I am? Do you know what I’ve done? Well, he says, look who I am.

He’s an amped somebody. So in verse 7 he makes a statement, circumcise the eighth day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin, the Hebrews of the Hebrews, touching the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness of the which is in the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I kind of lost for Christ. In other words, it really doesn’t matter who he was and what he had done. There’s something better.

Some people would have been satisfied just because, hey, he finally made it to the rank of being a Pharisee, or he was a Sadducee. There’s so many things and causes in life that we can spend our life doing. I’ve had people trying to get me involved in a thousand causes but I think I have already got the best cause. People are lost, people are going to hell. And I don’t want to live for any other reason. I think I’ve already found out what is the greatest cause of all.

I can get in, there’s a lot of different reasons. A lot of things that people can involve. That’s fine. But as for me, I’ve made up my mind years ago. I’ve only got one reason for me to live in. And that is that I want to try to figure out a way to try to win as many people to Christ as I possibly can. So when my life is over and all of the other things have faded away, the people that I have reached for the Lord.

can never be undone. They can never be lost. I gained. I want to get to heaven and see people that have reached that pinnacle of faith where they put their trust in the Lord and they’re in heaven because you passed this way. And so therefore there’s a lot of things you can do in life, but then finding the priority that is important. So he makes the statement in verse 7, but what things were going to be those I kind of lost for Christ and then look in verse 8.

Yay, doubtless, and I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but done that I may win Christ to have not just salvation, but to have something worth living for that God says is worth living for. So if you gain the whole world and you lose the purpose that God had for your life then you’ll have loss not gain.

It means you didn’t win. So I want to take you and have you look with me in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs chapter 11. Proverbs chapter 11 and you’ll notice there’s a verse there that’s It’s a verse worthy of being underlined and to memorize. It’s an awesome verse. But notice, now years ago, I would read these simple little verses. They didn’t seem to be so deep. I wanted some verses I could understand. I overlooked a lot of books and chapters, but I would find little things that I could understand.

And if I could understand it, market, memorize it, then maybe that’ll hold me on course for the rest of my life. See, I wanna have a simple life. I don’t want my life being complicated. I don’t want it to be a multitude of decisions. Just I made up my mind to trust Christ, and I made up my mind, I’m gonna serve the Lord. And so I make all my decisions based upon is this helping me to serve the Lord?

Or is it hurting my testimony? Is it hurting my reputation? hurting my character is it hurting or is it helping. So look what he says in verse 30. Verse 30, the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that when his souls is what? Is wise. So I just took it from that verse, he that when his souls is wise. Well I don’t want to be a fool. I want to be wise. He that when his souls is wise.

I want to be wise. So what must I do? When souls. And so it didn’t matter what price I had to pay when souls. Just do it. Honor God’s Word. So the seed and you’ll be surprised at what will grow. Put your confidence in what God’s Word says and it will work. Now take your Bible and turn to the book of Joshua, the book Joshua, and these are some of the verses that has helped channel me to where I believe I am today.

I didn’t just all thematically one day show up and I’m 75 years old and I’ve never done anything before in my life and I just happened to be the pastor of this church. There’s a progress. There’s decisions that were made. A lot of decisions that had been made. I’m thankful that I’ve lived this long. God’s been good to me and I don’t know how much longer I’ve got, but I’ve already told everybody that I wanted y’all to come to my hundredth birthday.

So reserve that so that you can try to make that. Look in verse five. Look in verse five. Chapter one. Chapter one of course. I thought y’all could read my mind. Joshua chapter one paid 259 in an old Schofield reference Bible or church Bible. Verse 5 says, there shall not any man be able to stand before the all the days of thy life. Isn’t that a good verse? Just think about what that verse says. That’s a promise. You see, God made a deal.

He made a deal with Joshua. He says, this is what I will do. This is what I want you to do. And if you will do what I say, do this is what you can have. The art of the deal. Finding out what’s the deal. What do you want me to do? What are you going to do if I do? And what are you going to do if I don’t? I want to know, Lord, is it going to be worth it?

Is serving you worth it? I only got this one life and I think about what do I want? What do I want to do? What do I want to be? Where do I want to go? Look at all the things that a man can choose to live for in this world. Look at all the different kinds of jobs there are, the things you can be. But Lord, I only want to do what you want me to do. I want to know what is the art of the deal.

and look what he says. In verse 5 the last part of it says, so I will be with thee, I will not fail thee nor forsake thee. Be strong of a good courage, for unto this people shall thou devy according inheritance to land which I swear unto their fathers to give them. Moses is off the scene and God has brought along Joshua. And now God is said as I was with Moses I will be with you. And then he tells him what I want you to, he said, be strong and very courageous.

And verse 7, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses, my servant, commanded them, turn not from it to the right hand or to the left. In other words, I don’t want to get sidetracked. I want to have blinders on. That there’s nothing else in this world that so interests me that I’m willing to give up this cause that God has. There isn’t anything in this world worth living for if it contrary to the will of God.

So you find out what does God want? And the art of the deal is understanding clearly what God wants. And then sin is that what I want to do with my life? Why should I do this? Or why should I do that? And think things through. What is the will of God for my life? And then notice what he says here in verse 8. This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou may as observed to do according to all that is written therein.

For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have, what’s those two words? Good success. You see success is being what God wants you to be. Success is doing what God wants you to do. So God wants you and I to be found fateful because if you’re faithful to do what God wants, you will be successful. I want to have a successful life. You want to have a successful life. But some people’s success is different than others.

You want to be a success in business. You want to be successful getting a wife or some kids and your money you make and where you live. Those are nice. But what about what God wants? Always be asking, what does God want me to do with my life? And then notice what he says in verse 9, have not I commanded thee, be strong, be of good courage, be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, get death, for the Lord thy God is with thee.

And that is a great comforting thought to know that a man can trust Christ as Savior and live 10, 15, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60 years and no God is with me. He said, He’d never leave me and He’d never forsake me. Is that true or not? So you know that you and the Lord make a majority and whatever the will of God is, me and God is a majority. If I long as I do, what did you know between me and God we know everything there is to be known?

Between me and God we can do anything but without the Lord you can do. nothing. But with the Lord, you’d be surprised what you can do. Trust the Lord. Obey what He has for you. Take your Bible and turn to the book of Daniel, the book of Daniel. Daniel and chapter 12. Daniel chapter 12, I want you to see this. This is simply a couple verses that really made an impact in the early formation of my life. Why did I want to do what God’s Word says?

In chapter 12, look during verse 1. In verse 1, He says, and at that time shall Michael stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation to the same time, and at that time thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. This is referring to the tribulation period that is yet ahead Calories. So God enabled Daniel to write prophecy.

Daniel did not always understand what he wrote. God told him to seal up the book until the time of the end. But there’s something that is understandable, something that is revealed here, something that does help us look there in verse 2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall await some some do everlasting life, some do shame and everlasting contempt. Now get the difference. Some everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Which one do you want?

It’s a clear. It’s right there. It’s clear. And then notice what else he says in verse 3. And they, that be wise, shall shine as the brightness of the firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for how long. I want something that’s going to last. I don’t know waste my life, but God made a deal. If I would serve him, he says that you will, if you’ll turn many to righteousness, shine as the brightness of the firmament for ever and ever and ever.

You see, I don’t have to understand everything. But I know enough. I know that I am a sinner, saved by grace. I don’t deserve that. But the reason that I trusted Christ is my Savior because God made a deal. Now you stop and think. I’ll learn a little bit more by watching what’s been going on in this last election. And understand a little bit more about the office of the executor branch of the government and the legislative and the judicial.

But they have a guy that comes out just about every day, the press secretary that comes out and tells you what the president said or what he really meant. And he answers all these questions. And all these people asking questions, and he says and represents the president of the United States. Now, there’s a lot of people that can watch what somebody says. And then they have to have their experts, their commentators tell you what they really meant to say because you weren’t able to discern what they really meant.

I think that I said that right. And so you have people who are trying to represent and hitting it from a different view, but it all depends on whether or not what he say, really what you thought he meant. And so they’re trying to explain to us and they have all these experts. You ever wonder whether those experts on all these panels come from? They’re everywhere and So far not a person has called me up and asked me my opinion as smart as I am I ought to be invited on every talk show but so far nothing Therefore I must not know anything because I’m not an expert on me, but I believe I’m an expert in the art of so winning.

That was the name of my first book that I ever wrote called the art of so winning. And that was the name of it. Now I call it the gospel-driven man book. But it was the book that I taught it for the Bible, the art of so winning. Because I think that it’s an art. It’s something learning how to win, persuade someone to put their trust in Jesus Christ. How to open up the conversation and how to bring them to a close, how to get them to sign on the dotted line, and how to do all of that, it’s an art.

Now some people say you’ve got the gift. No, it’s an art you can develop. And if you’ll understand that when it comes to salvation, there’s a lot of people who are trying to speak for God. God said in his word, by grace are you saved through faith, but we’ve got a lot of those expert commentators to try to tell us what God really meant to say. Where God says it is the gift of God, no, no, no, well, well.

He really meant to say you have to earn it. When God said it’s not of yourself, well, this is what he meant. And then they try to make a deal with the people that are listening to him. That if you want to go to heaven when you die, this is what you have to do. And what they tell you to do is that you’ve got to be good enough and earn it. And so there’s a lot of people that are making that deal.

So they go to church because they’re under the impression, if I do this, I’ll get this. But, see, that’s not the deal God made. So they’re wasting their life trying to fulfill this dream of this deal that they haven’t got. And if I give money, and if I go to church, if I live a good life, don’t beat my wife more than once a week. They think that all these good things that they’re doing, but see, they made a wrong deal with the wrong person because that’s not what God said.

So Christ came into the world, died on the cross, paid for all the sins of the world, and all that you and I have to do is believe He did it for us. He said that if you’ll believe it, this is the deal. If you’ll believe that I did that for you, I’ll put that payment to your account and give you eternal life as a free gift and you don’t have to earn it. And I can close on it today.

You want to get something you want to close today. was the best deal I’ve ever heard. It’s a deal that wouldn’t cost me anything. And all I had to do is believe on Jesus Christ and look what I would get. And all the people that are chasing a dream that can never be fulfilled, they made the wrong deal with the wrong person, the devil himself. And they’re trying to get something that God says can never happen. For by grace are you saved through that not of yourself, it is the gift of God not of works, unless any man should vote.

But we have experts, preachers all across the country trying to tell you, well, that’s not really what he meant. He meant you gotta stop being bad, and you gotta start being good. And both of those are works for salvation. It is the gift of God. And when it comes to the Christian life, there’s people who don’t understand How serious God is about this. He wants us to dedicate our life to Him and to serve Him with all our heart.

And God said, if you’ll do what I asked you to do, He said, I’m gonna do some things for you. Take your Bible, turn to second chronicles, second chronicles, and chapter 16. My father-in-law showed me this verse. I didn’t know this verse was in the Bible. I had no clue what the book was talking about. I didn’t even know what the chapter was talking about, but I saw a part of a verse and it burned into my mind. And I want you to see this verse.

Second Chronicles chapter 16 and verse nine. See, we all have a reason why we do what we do. But in verse nine, it says, for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. And my father-in-law told me, he says, the world has never seen what God can do with one man that’s totally yielded to him. And I said to your thinking, I want to be that man.

The world has never seen I want to be that man. Now, you may not think, well, you’ll never be that man. You ought to see what God had when He started with me. I mean, when you understand and realize my testimony and where I came from and what I’ve been through, my testimony today is a living miracle that this book is true. I have tried to apply the principle that are found in this book and I’ve lived long enough to see that what God says it is true.

I’ve watched people deny its truth, go against God, resist the Lord, and I’ve watched God whoop them and whoop them and whoop them. And I’ve also seen people that have put God to the test and they’ve trusted Him. And they followed Him faithfully and I’ve watched and seen the results down the road of how God is blessed. It’s, you can almost live by sight, instead of just by faith. Because you can see what God is doing. But God’s Word is not love that part of the verse.

I don’t care about the verse before, I don’t care about the verse afterwards. I don’t even care about where it’s found, but I marked it in my Bible because that meant a lot to me. The eyes of a Lord are running to and fro taught the whole are looking for Yankee. Want to know what He served me? And I said, I’ll make a God a deal. Lord, I’ll serve you. I don’t care what happens. I don’t care how bad things are.

I don’t care what you have to take out of my life. I says, don’t hold back anything. You are free to do anything in my life you want to do. Good battery, it doesn’t matter. Take everything I’ve got away from me. They sung that song last night, Jesse did, for whatever it takes from my will to break. I mean that’s an awesome song. He ought to come up here and sing it again, but that is an awesome song. God has been so good.

Now take your Bible and turn to another verse with me. Look in Psalms 37, Psalms 37, Psalms 37. And look there in verse four, verse four and verse five. When I saw those verses years ago, I thought this is awesome. I’m sitting here thinking and I forget all about, you know, what anybody else is saying And I’ll think about a phrase. You notice in verse four, delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

That seems like God wants to make a deal. Like God said, hey, I’ll make a deal. You delight in doing whatever I want, and you shall have the desires of your heart. In other words, if what you want is to serve the Lord, God’s all for that. And if you’ll take and dedicate your life to the Lord, It’s amazing how that the Lord Himself can give you desires that can be fulfilled because He’s the one who gave you the desire.

The light thyself and the Lord and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart. Well, if I saw that verse 50 years ago and at 50 years later, I should be able to look back over my life and say, did He keep His word? Did He do what He promised? So I can say 50 years later, God kept His word. I delighted to do whatever God wanted me to do, and I have lived long enough to see. I’ve gotten the desires of my heart.

God has blessed my life. And I may die tomorrow, but I have enjoyed my life with the Lord. You don’t know how long you’ve got, but I can tell you this, I believe that God’s Word is true and God means what He says. the art of the deal. When it comes to salvation, it’s totally free. Requires nothing if you accept your faith. Well you believe he did it for you. When he comes to the Christian life, God says, I want you to give me your all.

Serve me with all your heart. Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, body, soul, and strength. Not to get to heaven, but because I want whatever it is God wants I want to accomplish whatever God wants me to come. I want to do with my life what God wants. Is it worth it? He made a deal. Every child of God, he says, if you’ll serve me, him will my Father honor. God wants us to be found faithful.

And if you will, God says he’ll bless your life here. And every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. And when you get to heaven, God’s going to reward every man according to his own labor. But God doesn’t make you labor. God doesn’t make you serve him. But it’s the art of the deal really understanding the deal. I can’t see why anybody would pass up such a deal as this 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 to 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.