Bibleline Radio Show – 2009-01-26

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So cherish the old again, God. Till my truth is at best my leader. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Hank Lindstrom, a ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Florida, declaring God’s love through radio and television, providing real answers to an ever-searching world to reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep Bibleline on the air in your community. Dial toll-free, 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here’s a rebroadcast of Dr. Hank Lindstrom, host of Bibleline. Hi, this is Tom Perry for Bibleline Ministries.

We’d like to thank you, the listener, for your prayers and support. I’d like to encourage our listeners to visit our website, BibleLineMinistries.org. Once again, that’s BibleLineMinistries.org. Our Bibleline Radio program will be continuing 24 hours a day, seven days a week on our website. Please continue to support Bibleline. Your prayerful and financial support is greatly needed at this time so that we can continue Dr. Lindstrom’s work in spreading the gospel across the world. If you’d like to partner with us at Bibleline, please contact us at 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. Once again, we would like to thank you, the listener, for your prayers and support for Bibleline Ministries. God bless you. Well, good morning and welcome to Bibleline. I’m great to be with you today. Thanks for tuning into the broadcast. We appreciate you and look forward to being with you each and every day here on Bible Line. And we thank you for tuning in today. We’re coming to you live from Tampa, Florida, from our studios right here at the Calvary Community Church where I’m the pastor.

We look forward to being with you each and every day Monday through Friday as we come out of our studios here and go up to the satellite and down to the radio stations and out to to the internet and welcome to Bibleline today. We’re going to be getting into our Bible, so get your Bible out and dust it off in an exhibit if you have a zipper on your Bible. Also get your pen and pencil and jot down some things, and if you have any questions, you’re welcome to call us here at 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. We would love to hear from you. We have some questions that are off-air, so if you want to leave a question off-air, We’ll try to answer that as quickly as we can get to it, but also you can call and get up on the line and go on air with us with your question live here on the radio today. By the way, we’re excited about this brand new year. Hopefully this will be a great year for all of us.

We need to pray for our country. We need to pray for our troops. We need to pray for our world that we’re living in today. And certainly the world more than anything needs to know Jesus Christ as Savior because we know the devils in the business of blinding the minds of those which do not believe. He doesn’t want the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to his image of God to shine unto them. So this is a world that’s becoming darker by the moment.

Christians need to step it up and be the light that God wants us to be in this dark world that we live in. You know the gospel is the light. It says in 2 Corinthians 4, 4, that Satan, who is the God of this world, have blinded the minds of those which believe not, less the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. Satan definitely is at work today and we need to be alert to that and this is a day when we need to be on guard.

You know the Bible tells us that the ministry of the preacher is twofold. We are not only to preach the Word of God, but we are also to warn believers because it’s twofold. It’s not only building and reaching out to the lost as we see back there in the Old Testament when they came back to Jerusalem and built the wall, but they also had to defend and they had to fight and they had to keep a sword on their side.

Part of the ministry is to also warn and be alert that the enemy is out there trying to destroy and trying to kill and prevent us from accomplishing what we ought to do. And I want to read a verse here where it says in Colossians chapter 1 in verse 27 it tells us that Christ is in you. The hope of glory. You know, if you’re a believer, Christ does indwell in you and he is the hope or the expectation of glory that each of us have his believers.

But in verse 28 of Colossians chapter 1, it says, whom we preach, as Paul here tells that he preached Christ in the gospel of Christ. And then it says, warning every man and teaching every man. So the ministry is really twofold. Partly it’s warning every man. And then it says, teaching every man. I’ll read that again. It’s Colossians chapter 1 verse 28 warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man mature perfect as the King James word in Christ Jesus.

So you see here the phrase every man three times in this verse and we preach Christ warning every teaching every man that we may present every man perfect or mature in Christ Jesus. And so Paul goes on to say we’re on to I also labor striving to accomplish this task. So our job is twofold to warn and to teach and as a believer we need to be alert that the devil is very very real. And a lot of Christians are really not even aware that there’s a battle going on that there is a warfare over the souls of those that are lost and therefore they are kind of asleep at the sweet switch when the Bible tells us that we need to wake up and realize that there is a battle and that this is a spiritual battle that every believer is to be engaged

in as we are on the winning side. We are soldiers in God’s army and we ought to be engaging the enemy as we live for Christ every day and present the gospel to a world that needs to know Christ. This world you can tell is obviously headed further away from God in Christ as the Bible has been removed from the schools. Look at the victories that the devil has had ever since that decision made by the Supreme Court with Madeline Muriel Hare back in 1963.

We have seen the world just departing at least in the Western Hemisphere away from the principles of the Bible that we used to embrace here as a country. And we need to be careful that we don’t miss the fact that Satan also works right in amongst us. You know, the Bible tells us that Satan has his ministers. There are many in pulpits that do not know the Lord, that have chosen the ministry as a profession and are not called by the Lord into ministry and are actually false prophets and actually give out a false message.

It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse 13, for such are false apostles. The seekful workers transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. So you’ll note here, it tells us very clearly that there are those that are false apostles that actually will transform themselves into the apostles of Christ and give every appearance that they are a minister of Jesus Christ. How can you tell who they are? How can you separate out those that are true from those that are false?

The answer, of course, is to test out what they say against the Scripture because the false preacher will look just like the genuine preacher. They’ll look like a Christian, talk like a Christian, walk like a Christian, carry a Bible like a Christian, sing the same hymns that Christians sing, and they are apostate, and they are false apostles, deceitful workers. Verse 14 says, and no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Wow. So Satan really would love to have you believe that he is an ugly grotesque creature, one that is wearing a red suit with a tail with a barb on it, a pitchfork in his hand, and he’s the one that’s king of hell and turns up the flames and torches the people there and so on and so on.

None of that is true. Satan does not look like the way I just described him. I think you’ve been looking at too many of those potted meek cans in the grocery store or reading the cartoons where Satan is characterized as being an ugly creature. Someone who’s hiding in some dark corner, ready to leap out and say, Boo, and scare you. And that is of course not the case. He’s an angel of light, and he appears to be bringing truth.

And a lot of times you’ll hear ministers that appear to be so-called angels of light themselves, but are in truth giving a false message. And so it says here in verse 15 of 2 Corinthians 11, Therefore, it is no great thing if Satan’s ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness. So in other words, Satan’s ministers look good. They are apparent on the outside just to look as good as possible can be. You know, Jesus said in Matthew 23 about the religious leaders of his time that on the outside they appeared righteous.

But yet on the inside they were raving wolves and full of dead men’s bones. They were not born again. They simply put on a good facade. They simply put on a good face, but they were not really saved at all. Let me read the verse where Jesus tells the religious leaders of his life. leaders of his time in Matthew 23 in verse 25, he says, Whoa, or judgment unto you, scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you clean the outside of the cup, and of the platter, but with him they are full of extortion and excess.

He says in verse 27, Whoa, and he scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you are like unto The whiteed sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones and of all uncleanness. And it says, though, even so you also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within your full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Isn’t that amazing? The Bible tells us they put on a good outward appearance. And you know the Bible tells us that men look on the outward appearance, but God looketh on the heart.

For you to be saved from being misled or misdirected, you need to recognize that Satan’s ministers are ministers who will preach righteousness, but what they preach is man’s righteousness for salvation, not the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what is required for salvation, which is unattainable by us. Our works could never bring about God’s righteousness. We need the righteousness that God imputes or credits to the account of the believer based upon the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ at the cross of Calvary.

It says here in verse 15 that Satan’s ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works. What does that mean? Well in Ephesians 2-9 it says salvation is not of works and dozens of other verses tell a salvation is not of works. So if a person is to be saved, they have to trust Christ as the only means of their salvation. And then they’re saved by grace through faith in Christ. This salvation that the Bible is talking about is not of yourself.

It is the gift of God. It is not of works, lest any man should boast. But you see, if a person doesn’t trust Christ, then they’re going to stand before God on the basis of their works. And if you do that, my friend, you’ll go to hell. So these false teachers are going to be judged according to their works. What does that mean? In other words, they don’t have Christ. And if they stand before God in their works, what is going to happen?

The verdict will be, sorry, you can’t get into heaven. You see that in Matthew 7, 22. There’s a whole group of people lined up at the Great White Throne Judgment in Matthew 7, 22. And they say, Lord, Lord, look at what we’ve done. Why we preached in your name, we’ve healed in your name, we’ve done many wonderful works in your name. And notice they’re standing before God and they’re going to be judged according to their works and Christ says unto them, I never knew you, I never knew you, I never knew you, not I once knew you and I lost you.

That’s impossible. I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. The point is that they are counting on their works to get them to heaven. They don’t say Jesus didn’t we trust that you died and shed your blood at the cross of Calvary and by your death and shed blood That you have purchased our salvation and we’ve trusted that you were crucified for our sins and buried and rose again from the dead No, they didn’t say that they said works works works works works they were ministers of righteousness Whose ends shall be according to their works and they said look at all the works We’ve done why we preached in your name and healed in your name and done wonderful works in your name in Christ I said, I’m sorry, I never do.

So if a person is judged according to their works, the verdict will be you don’t get in, you don’t go to heaven. You’re not allowed into heaven because your salvation cannot be obtained by works. And so a person who is judged according to their works will go to hell. I’m glad I’m going to be judged on the basis of what Christ did for me at the cross. And because Jesus accomplished my salvation by the work that he did at the cross, and I’m going to be judged based on what he did for me.

Because I’ve trusted Jesus as my Savior, as my only hope of heaven, my friend I’m saved and going to heaven. False preachers always teach, here’s what you need to do. Close your eyes when you’re listening to a message. You may not know much about the Bible or much about theology, but just ask yourself, am I being asked by the preacher I’m listening to? Am I being asked by the tract that I’m reading? Am I being asked by the person who’s witnessing to me to do something or not do something in my future that will determine whether I make heaven or not?

Then that’s a false message because the focus is on you and what you’re going to do or not going to do as the means of your salvation. You see, the true message will always point you back to the cross where Jesus said it’s finished and it points you back to what Christ has already accomplished, not to what you’re going to do in your future. If you’re pointed to something that you’re going to do or not going to do in your future, that’s works.

And by the way, that makes you the Savior, not Christ. The true planet of salvation always takes the lost nine sinner and says, Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it as white as snow. Isn’t that wonderful? I’m saved not because of what I’m going to do or not going to do in my future. I’m saved because of what Christ did for me at the cross 2000 years ago.

How about you? Have you trusted Christ as your only means of heaven? If you haven’t, my friend, you’re not saved. If you haven’t, you’re not going. If you haven’t, you’re not gonna make heaven. You’re gonna be among those that Christ said, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Anybody who’s judged according to their works will not be saved in Satan’s ministers. Preach man’s righteousness, and you’re gonna be saved according to your works. And that crowd will be standing there at the great white throne judgment, bragging about the things that they’ve done, Christ will say I never knew you.

Matthew 7, 22 and 23, I never knew you. Depart from me. Yee that work iniquity. I’m Dr. Englunds from Mrs. Beibeline. It’s great to be with you today. Again, thank you for tuning into Beibeline. And we’re going to go to the phone lines. We’ve got all fair questions. And we invite you to give us a call. We’re going to Frank and Sarasota, who’s been so patient. And Frank, welcome to Beibeline. You’re on the air. Thank you, Dr. Hanks, for taking my phone calls.

And great comments. I caught the spirit of the show about the false preachers and teachers. Excellent. Quick question because I think my cell phone is going to go out. Can you comment on Ephesians 2a? Is Paul referring to faith as a gift from God? I know salvation is a gift from God, but can we ever say that the faith, the very trusting of Christ is a gift? And I’m going to hang up and listen. All right. because those that are Calvinists try to say that God already has chosen who will be saved and who will not be saved before the foundations of the world.

And the ones that he chooses to save, he gives faith as the gift. And so he, in other words, you’re saved not because of faith. You’re saved because you’ve been chosen and that faith is given to the one he’s chosen and it’s the gift of God. That’s not true. The phrase is, and that none of yourselves in Ephesians 2 8, the phrase that it is the gift of God in Ephesians 2-8. The phrase not of works of the study man should boast in verse 9 in Ephesians 2 are all neuter in the Greek.

And in the Greek every noun, adverb, verb, every word in the sentence has a gender ending, either neuter or feminine or masculine, and they all have to match up. And these phrases are all neuter, therefore you have to have a neuter subject, and guess what? Faith cannot be the subject, which would mean faith would be the gift of God. Faith in the Greek is feminine. Isn’t that interesting? So the phrase, and that none of yourselves is the gift of God, is not referring back to faith.

Faith is not the gift of God. No. It really is salvation, which is the neuter subject there. Salvation through faith is not of yourself. Salvation through faith is the gift of God. Salvation through faith is not of works lest any man should boast. So no faith is not the gift of God. Everybody has the capacity to trust Christ. For God’s soul of the world that he gave is only to be gotten some done. Who’s so ever what? Believe it, obviously the option that anyone, everyone, no one excluded can indeed place their faith in Christ and be saved is there.

Whosoever believe it in him should not perish. It doesn’t say as the Calvinists would teach that only certain ones can believe because they have to be given faith and their only faith is only given to those that are already chosen before the foundations of the world. That is nonsense. It is not true. Every believer is a believer because they’ve made the personal choice to accept Christ and it was not chosen for them before the foundations of the earth. And the invitation is given to everybody that potentially everyone on the planet can be saved.

2 Peter 3.9 says God is not willing to hit any. Any. Any should perish, not many, but any should perish, but that all, ALL, ALL, ALL, ALL, ALL, ALL, ALL, should come to repentance or change of mind and trust the Lord to be saved. Thank you, Frank, and I hope that answers the question, and certainly the Calvinists are wrong, and they try to make a case by really misusing the Scripture, not presenting a correct and accurate presentation. We have a number of offer questions.

We have Brad and Oldsmar, Florida calling in. He leaves this offer question. He says, explain the difference between the baptism of the Spirit and the filling of the Spirit. Well, the baptism of the Spirit is the placing of the believer into the body of Christ. And every believer has that baptism. It’s in 1 Corinthians 12, 13 where we have a clear definitive verse where it says that We are all baptized, all of us that are believers, are baptized into one body by the spirit of God.

When you trust Christ as Savior, you’re placed into the body of Christ. The result is verse 27. It says, now you are the body of Christ and members in particular. The feeling of the Spirit is another ballgame and really shouldn’t be contrasted with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but with the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You’re in dwelt with the Holy Spirit at the moment of belief also as well as being baptized by the Holy Spirit the place you get the believer into the body of Christ, but also the Holy Spirit comes into your body when you trust Christ that’s the indwelling and We’re in dwelt with the Holy Spirit and we don’t get part of the Holy Spirit We get all the Holy Spirit We don’t get three quarters or five six or seven eights of the Holy Spirit We get 100% of the

Holy Spirit at the moment we believe But the feeling has to do with how much of the Holy Spirit has control over our lives. And so this is basically something that is dependent on our yieldedness. Ephesians 5 18 is the best verse I think I’ve found in the Bible that gives us the real concept of what the filling is all about. It says in Ephesians 5 18, be not drunk with wine, wearing his excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

So in other words what happens when you drink too much alcohol? Obviously you come under the influence of that alcohol. We talked about DUIs and driving under influence of the drug or alcohol that you’ve consumed. The Bible says, don’t be drunk. But it says be filled or be controlled or be under the influence of the Holy Spirit. And so to the degree that you yield your life to obey the Lord, to that degree you are filled by the Spirit.

But you’re in dwelt with 100% of the Holy Spirit from the very moment you believe. Ephesians 1, 13 also tells us we’re sealed with the Holy Spirit. We also learn in John chapter 3 that we’re regenerated by the Spirit. So there are four operations of the Holy Spirit that every believer has. They all occur at the instant of belief. You’re regenerated John chapter 3. You’re born again. You’re in 12th, 1 Corinthians 6, 19 says what? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you.

If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit in you for Sprint in 619. You are baptized with the Holy Spirit, which is the placing of you into the body of Christ for Sprint in 1213. And you are also sealed, which means you are stuck once you get saved. You cannot get out of your salvation because God has put the Holy Spirit in you, which is the seal that says it cannot be broken. And it seals you, the Holy Spirit seals you until the day you’re actually in heaven, safe on heaven, sure.

Ephesians 1, 13 and 14. Thank you for that question, Brad, in Oldsmar, Florida, and I hope that explains it. But the difference, really, the contrast should be between the indwelling and the filling, not the baptism and the filling, because the indwelling is where we get 100% of the Holy Spirit involving us and the filling has to do with how much control he has over our life as we yield our lives to him. We have Mike in St. Petersburg and he leaves the question from Luke 22 and I’m turning there right now.

Luke 22 and the question is what is verses 31 and 32 talking about and I’m almost there. Luke 21, 31 and 32 it says that the Lord said Simon, Simon, the whole Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee. That thy faith failed not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. Well, Mike, I believe this is telling us that Peter wasn’t converted until after the resurrection of Jesus again from the dead.

Now he was saved. So that’s why the word converted is not a good word to use with salvation because convert means to change. And we don’t change anything to be saved. We trust in the finished work of Christ at Calvary. When you trust Christ, He had become saved. And apparently Peter didn’t fully surrender his life, didn’t fully commit to Christ until after the resurrection, and at that point he was converted. You might note here that Christ goes on to say that Peter tonight, you’re going to deny me three times.

And of course Peter didn’t even believe that would take place, but he certainly did, and he was cowardly, and he went and hid with all the rest of the disciples because they were fearful of their lives. And after the resurrection, Peter becomes this bold dynamic leader that stands before the very leadership of Israel and tells them that they had by their wicked hands taken and crucified Christ and told them that they needed to trust Christ or they just weren’t going to make heaven.

They made a serious mistake. They needed to change their mind, repent, which is what repent means, and trust Jesus as their Savior. And so, Mike, I hope that helps Mike in St. Petersburg. Thank you for the question, but apparently, I know in my own case, I was saved at 18. I was converted when I was 19. So when people ask me the question, Hank, when were you converted, I usually say, about a year after I got saved. That usually causes their faces to kind of have the strange look on them and their mouths drop open.

But that’s the truth. The conversion is the Christian life experience that occurs after one becomes saved and we’re when we simply trust Jesus as our Savior. We’ve got to go to break. We’ll be right back. Don’t change that now. And I’ll be right back for the second half of Bible Eye. Don’t go away. Bible Eye will be back in a moment. To pledge your support for Bible Eye, give us a call at 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Well, I’m Dr. Anker, and thanks for being with me.

This is Thursday. The week is more than half over and we’re so glad that you’ve tuned in today I hope you enjoy Bibleline and I hope that you listen as often as you can and I hope you tell your friends and help us grow our audience And I hope that you’ll consider praying for us If nothing else if you would pray for us We would ever be in your debt because we believe God certainly hears and answers prayers But also we would ask if you would prayerfully consider being a supporter of Bibleline and we need your financial help as well.

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I hope you’ll call at 800-100-1875-6771. We’re about to do the second half of Bibleline. I hope you’ll join me. If you can’t get it on your station go to the internet BibleLineMinistries.org and you’ll be able to get it 24.5. Here we go, we’re going to go to the other stations and return for Bible in two. Would you like to help Bibleline continue in your area? You can. Just pick up your phone and dial 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. Now here again is Dr.

Hank Lindstrom. Alright, we’re back from the break and this is my blind and it’s great to meet with you. We’re coming to you live from Tampa, Florida from our studios right here at the Telvary Community Church where I’m the pastor. We always invite folks to come by and visit our resource center, open every day till about 4.30. We also invite you to come by and join us for a worship service on a Wednesday or Sunday. On Sunday mornings we worship at 10.30 with a Sunday school and adult Bible study at 9.15.

I have a class, you can join my class this Sunday if you’d like. If you come on the third Sunday, well that’s a wise choice. We have a dinner, a lunch right after the worship service. So just be my guest, bring your Bible, bring your appetite, bring your family, bring the neighborhood. You’re deputized to bring anybody and everybody and bring them on in at 1030 and then right after the service. Stay for our wonderful lunch dinner, some of the best home food in all the world.

I hope that you’ll do that. We’d love to have you be a part of the worship service here some Sunday. We also webcast that service and we found out that last Sunday one of those watching was a family in Sweden. It truly is the world wide web and not amazing. And you can go back and catch past sermons if you will simply go to the camera on the home page and click on that and go to the archives. get it by the line ministries dot o-r-g.

Wow pray for Bible. We have different things happen. I’m sure that are not too unusual, but it seems like we get more than our share. The devil doesn’t like this message to go out. And we were just struck with the Trojan horse virus in our computer. So nothing goes easy. So we’ve got obstacles to overcome all the time. It’s not affecting our broadcast right now, but it will affect a lot of other things here. So pray for Bibleline that the devil couldn’t sneak in through the internet or through other means to give us a hard time on our computers or on our equipment that we go on air with, our telephone lines, and boy, Satan is the prince of the power of the air, and certainly he manages to wiggle in and give us a fit sometimes.

So keep us in your prayers and keep listening to Bible and certainly prayers real. We definitely ask that you would pray for us on a regular basis. If you’d like to help us financially, Bible and is supported by our listeners. We couldn’t do it without you. We really couldn’t. It’s a very real partnership. We believe that we need to band together to work together. We are certainly getting a lot for the dollar because we don’t pay any salaries. I don’t get a salary.

All the money is going to equipment and radio time and getting the message out. We don’t waste any. We just try to make every penny count. If you give anything to the Bible and you can count on the fact that it’s going to get the gospel out, the reward you’ll get, I believe, based on the amount that you invest, will be great. The Bible says, we’re to be wise investors. By the way, did you know you could be a negative investor?

If you give to a ministry where the gospel is false, you’re going to lose reward. Rather than gain reward, you might as well not give anything. You’d be better off. That’s right. I’m telling you the truth. 2 John 11 says, if you give God speed or blessing to a ministry where the Word of God is given out incorrectly, you’re going to have a negative. You will lose reward. It says in 2 John 8, lose not those rewards which you have worked for.

You might come out negatively. Be a smart investor. Give where the gospel is given, where the Word of God is honored and preached and results are happening as God blesses his Word. Again, I’m Dr. Hank Lindstrom. This is my blind thanks for tuning in today. Keep us on your prayer list. And if you can send a gift, even if you just gave a dollar for every program you listened to, if every listener did that, we’d have more than enough, I’m sure, to be able to reach out to the world that we live in today.

Well, we have Annette in Tampa, Florida. Annette, you’ve been very patient. Welcome to Bibleline. You’re on the air. Thank you. Pastor Hank, I just have a question about John chapter 2, verse 23 through 25, and I apologize for paraphrasing, but it’s basically it says that many people believed in his name, CDM Jesus, obviously, after seeing miracles that he did not commit himself to them, and then it goes on to say something about knowing in their heart. I was wondering if you could comment on those passages and I’ll hang up and listen to you on air.

All right. Thank you Annette and we’ll give a look right now. It says here in John 2 and verse 23, now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast day, many believed in his name when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them because he knew all men and needed not that any should testify of man, for he knew what was in man. So obviously he recognized that we’re not to put our confidence or trust in men, so he never, never, ever did.

You know, the middle verse of the Bible is an interesting verse of all the verses that it would happen to fall out to be, And I’m sure it has to be quite in a sense coincidental because the chapter divisions and the middle verse I think is not something that’s inspired. But yet it is kind of fascinating that the very middle verse of the Bible is Psalm 118 verse 8 and it says, it’s better to put your trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.

Obviously, as Christ begins his ministry, he didn’t rely on his audience. He didn’t rely on the men that came online to believe on him. He obviously was taking his direction as the God-man from God. And his confidence was in God, just like it tells us in Psalm 118, verse 8. And whenever we place our trust in men, then we get sidetracked. And you know many preachers also are actually preaching what the audience wants them to preach rather than what God wants them to preach, and that is scary.

That’s why it tells us that in the last days that there would be a departure from sound doctrine because people would have itching ears and they would demand the preacher to preach what tickles their ear and makes them happy. Isn’t that amazing? And you know, in the Old Testament, it told that the same thing happened with the prophets, and they would tell the prophets, don’t tell us right things, tell us things that we want to hear. And obviously, God was very upset with the prophets that cave did into that kind of pressure.

But every preacher, I think, has that kind of pressure, where people will tell them what they want to hear, what they want them to preach. And sometimes they’re pretty locked into the program that they’re in where they don’t have much liberty to teach the Word of God. And that’s a shame. We need preachers who will teach God’s Word fearlessly telling it exactly as it is from His Word. So I hope that answers your question and that thank you so much for calling in.

We have Northia from Hopewell, Virginia. She just called in to make it own nation. She says, keep it going. She’s really happy with the show. Well, isn’t that wonderful? Hopefill, Virginia, I’ll have to get my map out. But thank you for Northia for sending in a donation to Bible. We need more of people just like you. We could do so much more. I just can’t believe what we’ve been able to do with, it’s like the loaves and the fishes.

We don’t have that much to work with. But we’ve been able to get out there in an amazing way to preach the gospel to the world, to the internet and reach a lot of folks through the way any places that we’re on. And it’s like the multiplication of the loaves and fishes. I don’t know of another ministry that can operate on the small budget that we’re on. And that’s just because we’ve put it all into the Lord’s hands and what a blessing it’s vg been to see how God has applied.

Thank you for that note there about your gift to Bibleline today. We have David in Richmond, Virginia and David, you’re welcome to the Bibleline program you’re on the air. Yes, good morning. I’ll turn to my radio down. Please. Okay. I called yesterday with a concern about. The, I didn’t talk to you, concerned about some of the problems we have in the Richmond area and it seemed to be only with your program. And the same thing that I talked to you before about yesterday we had a repeat of the first 30 minutes but that was played twice.

And I was just curious to know, do you have any problems with other stations throughout the country that you own that, uh, there’s not broadcast straight? No, we don’t and so I don’t know what’s going on there and You know the I’m as I’ve said on the program and I don’t I don’t know a whole lot about it but we have the devil fighting this particular program and and I all I can recommend is for you folks enrichment to call that station and We’re trying to do our best from down here to tell and that’s not acceptable, but apparently Something’s not right if they play the first half and then repeat it know put the full hour program that we’re paying not to be on the air there so thank you for letting us know and if you can call the station let them know that

this is not acceptable and what you know what I track on the station and they always make a comment that they can’t get off the satellite or something like that so I asked to speak to the manager and leave a message for him but he never calls back. But it’s only doing power line. Isn’t that something? Well, I know that we have an enemy and that is Satan. Thank you, David, for your concern and thank you for your prayers and be persistent and keep calling the station and tell them, hey, come on.

If you can get the first half, certainly, why can’t you get the second half? That doesn’t add up, does it? I think if they knew that there was other Christian stations in the area, they might tighten up and not want to leave, have this problem to leave there. Well, if we have to find another station, we don’t have to do that. But thank you for your concern, David. And God bless you. We, you know, there’s always something going on and we just trust that God will guide us and direct us and that we can get the maximum effectiveness that we can out of every dollar that God gives us.

And I don’t know what’s happening there in Richmond, but we pray that it gets resolved right away. We have Dr. Anonymous from, he travels all around apparently, this is an anonymous, it doesn’t stay in one spot at one time, but our radar shows that he’s in Tampa today, and he says, if there’s a God, I don’t understand what this is all about, let’s talk to him in person. What do you have to say today, Dr. Anonymous? How you doing Dr.

Ann? I’m doing fine. Hey, I’ve been Mr. Yes morning. You did a real good job this morning. You’re standing firm on the word and I’ll tell you I’ve got no false good back. That’s all scripture. Well, dynamite, thank you for that compliment. That’s wonderful to hear Dr. Anonymous say something flattering about Bibleline. Alright, we have a number of offer courses. We’ll try to take a few of those you can call us here if you want to get up on the air.

1-800-576-3771. 1-800-576-3771. Alright, we have a question from Stephen in Charlotte, North Carolina. And, uh, Stephen, you must be listening on the internet, uh, because I don’t believe we’re broadcasting in North Carolina. But Charlotte is, of course, a beautiful place, and we are everywhere on the internet, which is exciting. Uh, Exodus 20, something. I don’t know what that is. Jacob wrestled with God. How is that possible? Well, it didn’t take place in the Exodus 20. That’s for sure. Jacob had died by that time.

Jacob is the grandson of Abraham, and in Exodus 20 we are living in a time of Moses, which is hundreds of years later. So I think there is some confusion on this question, but how is it possible that Jacob the Jacob wrestle with God, Jesus appeared in the Old Testament who is God in human flesh. And so God made many, many… When ever you see the phrase angel of the Lord in the Old Testament, it is in every case an appearance of Christ, God in the flesh, prior to his ever taking on flesh in Bethlehem.

We know that Jesus, for example, visited Abraham in Genesis 18, and along with him were two angels, but they appeared to Abraham as three men. He didn’t realize when he first encountered them, that he was actually seeing God in a human body, Jesus, and that the two with him were angels that would then later go over and destroy Sodom in Gomorrah. And yet he did. But that’s a wonderful chapter to read. And you’ll notice there that Abraham prepares a meal, and then the Lord tells him some very fascinating things, including that Sarah would have a child, and that the Messiah would come of that line, and also about how he would destroy Sodom and Gomorrah.

and that was a pre-incarnate appearance. And so Jacob actually wrestled, I believe, with Christ. And I believe that night he gets saved. And from that moment on, God changes his name from Jacob to Israel, which means child of God. He became born again on that night. And he wrestled with the Lord. And it didn’t take place to take place in the book of Genesis. We have Nyla in Lakeland, Florida. Nyla, welcome to Bibleline you’re on the air. Good morning, pastor.

I’m just listening to what you said there in the beginning to the general who’s talking about the predators. I recently run into something that was kind of a struggle for me. And if you had any time maybe after you’re off the air, I’d like to talk to you for maybe in minutes or so. Sure, we can do that, Nyla. And I’d like to order your book. So if you’ll take me to transfer me to the other girl. We’ll do it.

I didn’t think Nala was Nala, and we need to get Nala picked up over here. And we’re going to go down to Keith in Richmond, Virginia. Keith, you’re on the air. All right. Dr. Lewis, can I have a question for you? What do you think of the minute? I like Charles Stanley. What else do you want to know? Charles Stanley does one of the better jobs of all those that are out there and presenting a true gospel in the Word of God.

Okay, I like Charles Stanley. And so thank you very much for that call. We appreciate you calling in today. You know, the Word of God is so important that Christians get into it on a regular basis. The average Christian can’t quote a single Bible verse. That is a tragedy. We’re told to hide God’s word in our heart or mind, and the only way you can really do that, I believe, is by memorizing Scripture. And so if you haven’t been doing that, let me encourage you to memorize the word of God.

The Bible says, if you want to be victorious as a Christian, it says you need to hide his word in your heart. It says in Psalms that we’re to meditate upon it day and night. The only way you can meditate day and night is I think to memorize because then it can even come up. The Lord can bring up the Scriptures even during your sleep. And wow, that’s wonderful. And Proverbs talks about sleep that is sweet, that comes by knowing God’s Word and focusing on it.

And we hope that you’ll give us a call here. The phone number is 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771. We have a couple of wonderful books in our resource center that I’d like to recommend. I like John Wahlberg and he’s now with the Lord, but he’s got a book called The Final Drama. We have here for an offer of twenty dollars a gift of Bible and it has fourteen keys to understanding the prophetic scriptures. This is a wonderful book and you’ll really, really get a comprehension of how the Bible unfolds.

And the first chapter is called… The first key interpreting correctly. This is where people really go wrong. And I love this first chapter, interpreting correctly. Do you know how to approach the Bible and to rightly divide the word of God? A lot of folks don’t. And that’s where we get so much confusion. Because one of the first things you have to realize is that this book doesn’t contradict itself. And so if you have a difficult verse, you always interpret it in the light of a clear verse.

And if you go the other way around, you’ll have nothing but confusion. And all the cults and all those that get their doctrines wrong generally take an obscure or difficult verse and get some kind of meaning and then they force that meaning on everybody even though it contradicts clear simple passages of scripture. The Bible doesn’t contradict. It has to be in harmony. And so if God is indeed the author of the Bible, then you’re going to find that to be true.

And Dr. Walford does an excellent job on this one. He was a past president of the The of the Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas Texas and he wrote a number of books. We have another one he has written. Big thick thing for a gift of $20 also called every prophecy of the Bible. That’s quite a bold title. Every prophecy of the Bible. I haven’t counted them all to see if you got them all in there. But wow, it’s a great one for $20.

Every prophecy Bible. It’s a good inch pick or more and has probably 800 pages. You’ll want to get that one also for your library. There are some really, really good books out by Dr. John Walford and we have a number of them in our Resource Center. Another favorite author of mine is Ryrie, Charles Ryrie and we have several of his books. One is called Balancing the Christian life. If you’re a new believer, this is an excellent book to get balance in your Christian life.

So many Christians are unbalanced and they need to kind of balance out in their Christian life to be able to function effectively. And he has a great book. It’s got some wonderful chapters about the gifts and about other important truths about your Christian life, the basic things to get you going and to keep you on track and to get you balanced as a brand new believer. We have his book on the Holy Spirit, we have his book on the book of Acts, we have probably half a dozen books by Charles Ryrie.

Those are all excellent ones to put in your library. We have an excellent book on prayer. The best book, I guess my favorite, it is called Prayer Asking Receiving by John. our rice, John went to heaven. But he wrote this marvelous book, which is probably the best and straight to the point book on prayer and how to pray that I’ve ever seen. We have that for a gift of $8 to my mind. It’s a pretty hefty book on prayer, but really we’ll open your eyes to truth about prayer that perhaps you never knew about.

I would recommend that highly. We have the book called Strike the Original Match by Chexwendall, which is a great one on marriage. And it’s a great one on divorce and remarriage and the problems that they bring and what the Bible says is the fairest treatment that I’ve seen on those issues called Strike the Original Match. Of course, we have the Schofield Bible and we We recommend the old over the new and we have soft cover, hard cover, leather, large print and just about all different kinds.

But we recommend, if you go to the bookstore they’re going to sell you the new Scofield. You want to get the old Scofield reference bible. That is going to be the one you’ll want to get. We also have some wonderful tracks, tracks that really work. We have the Emma going to heaven track, one I just wrote called Emma going to heaven with contemporary terms in there that are not the gospel that it really does, even if you use it with somebody who saved, they’ll usually bite on this thing and it helps get them clarified and more on target with the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

We also have the free ticket tracks. We have the CD, how permanent is your salvation, which has been such a tool in leading people at the Christ. Definitely you’ll want to get that. Let’s go to Otto in OTTO in Tampa, Florida. Welcome to Bibleline Your On The Air. How do you know about that? My goodness, I think that that is not the guy that we’re looking for. How about this one? Good morning. You’re on Bibleline. I don’t see anybody there.

On that line, that was Floyd and Floyd isn’t there. Welcome to Bibleline, and we’re so glad that you’re tuning in every day, and we hope that you’ll enjoy. Go to the website, click on the TV set, and on the left of the page that comes up, it’ll say click here for Bible and television, on the right it’ll say click here for Bible and radio, and you’ll be able to get them all. If you haven’t trusted Christ, would you do it right now?

Just tell the Lord Lord, a hum of sinner. I don’t understand a whole lot, but I do trust Jesus right now as my only hope of heaven, I trust Christ alone in his shed blood as the means by which I can be saved. In the moment you trust Christ, God saves you. Then the second choice that confronts the believer is not a being a disciple to serve the Lord, not in order to be saved because you are saved. We’re saved to serve in every believer or to serve, but not to be saved at all.

you get discernment as you get into the Bible on a regular basis to be able to detect a false teacher and false teaching. There’s so much of it today. In any case, we’ve got to run. Keep looking up. Jesus is coming. Join me again tomorrow if you can. We’ll be back in the morning. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida. Now more than ever, your regular monthly donations to Bibleline make it possible for this ministry to continue in your area.

Please contact us today and lend your prayerful and financial support. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida. 33634. Or visit Bibleline online at BibleLineMinistries.org. Be sure to tune in to another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed Bibleline today. This is Dr. Englund’s room and we’ve had a good time being with you here today. And I hope that you’ll listen every day to my mind. We just enjoy bringing the program to you.

And of course, we have to thank you because without you, we couldn’t bring the program to you because we are supported by our listeners. And so we say we’re glad to bring the program to you, but you really are the ones that bring the program to yourselves because as you give, we’re able to pay the bills and be on the year. Would you consider giving a gift to Bible on? Would you consider putting us on your regular giving and to help support Bible on in a regular way?

Your gifts are greatly needed and greatly appreciated and we want to thank you in advance for giving the Bible on. God bless you and thank you, thank you, thank you as we appreciate what you do as If you partner with us to accomplish the getting out of the gospel to a world that needs to hear it, we’re living in the last days. Jesus is coming. Time is running out. This is the time for Christians to step up to the plate and do all that they can do while we still have time to do it.

And if Bibleline is a blessing to you, would you consider being a partner with us and keep this program going and help us to reach out to a world that needs to know about Jesus so much. And if you haven’t trusted Christ that you would stop and pause and just say, Lord I’m a sinner. I don’t understand much but I believe Jesus died for me. It was buried, rose again from the head. I trust him right now as my Savior and you know the Lord will save you.

the moment you trust Jesus as your Savior. It’s the most important decision you’ll ever make in your life and I hope you will make that decision today. I wouldn’t put it off another minute. You never know when your life might expire. In any case, we’ve got to run, keep looking up. Jesus is coming, join us again tomorrow if you can and have a wonderful day and we’ll look forward to being You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a presentation of Bibleline Ministries of Tampa, Florida.

Your donation to Bibleline makes it possible for this ministry to continue in your area. Bibleline’s address is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida. 336-334-33634 or visit Bibleline online at BiblelineMinistries.com. Be sure to tune in for another edition of Bibleline from Calvary Community Church of Tampa, Florida.