In this episode, explore the transformative power of understanding God’s viewpoint as Rick Hughes guides you through the principles of contentment, tranquility, and divine happiness. Learn how the teachings of Jesus Christ and the apostles offer a roadmap to becoming spiritually strong, developing a resilient mindset that leads to inner peace and joy. Whether you are new to Christianity or seeking deeper spiritual growth, this episode provides valuable insights for every listener.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It’ll be a time of motivation and A lot of inspiration, some education, and never any manipulation. That’s right. We don’t con people here. We’re not trying to hustle you. This show is designed to remind you of biblical truths and to introduce you to a unique way of studying and learning God’s Word. And we do it without any type of solicitations, just 30 minutes of teaching. That’s my job, help you verify and maybe identify the plan of God for your life. And if I can do that, then you have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan. The FLOT line is a main line of resistance in your soul. It’s a military metaphor. You can learn God’s Word, 10 unique problem-solving devices, and use that to stop the outside sources of adversity before they become the inside source of stress. That’s why we always say adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. And the reason is adversity is what circumstances do to you. Stress is what you do to yourself. So you don’t have to have worry. You don’t have to have fear. You don’t have to have anxiety. You don’t have to have depression. You don’t have to have guilt. these are all indicators that you are failing in your situation you don’t have to live like that the christian life is a unique life it’s a way without those things it’s the most unique life in the world and the lord jesus christ demonstrated how to live that life and our job is to teach you how you can number one become a christian how you can receive christ as your savior if you want to do that and number two, if you do in fact receive Christ as your Savior, how you can grow spiritually, how you can build that main line of resistance, that flood line in your soul. So let’s start out by reminding you that Ephesians 2, 8, and 9 says, it is by grace that you’re saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it’s a gift from God, not of works, lest any man should brag or boast about it. And Titus 3, verses 5 through 7 in the New Testament, written by the Apostle Paul, said not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord. That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. That’s a great promise from God. These things are written, 1 John 5, so that you may know that you have eternal life. You can know it. You don’t have to hope. You don’t have to try. You don’t have to wish. You have Christ, you have life, because he said, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but through me. And by believing in Jesus Christ and receiving him as your Savior, you walk into the most unique life the world has ever known. It’s called the Christian life. And that’s what this radio show is about, trying to teach how the Christian life works. how the Christian life operates. Not a system of emotion, not a system of ups and downs, but a way of thinking as the Bible teaches us in Philippians 2.5. Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. We have to learn to think divine viewpoint. And that’s why our Lord, we’re going to talk about this today, how our Lord gave some mandates about what we should think and how we should think. It’s really a wonderful thing for us. The question that was once asked by my pastor, and I’d like to ask it to you today, says, is it possible? through the power of God to come to the place in our lives where we have the most fantastic happiness, the most fantastic tranquility, and contentment, and at the same time have a personal love for God? And the answer is absolutely yes. That’s where tranquility, contentment, and happiness come from. They all come from personal love for God. And the issue is how can you love someone that you don’t know? And so if you want to have this life that I’m talking to you about, the first thing you have to do is to become acquainted with God through Jesus Christ because he said, I am the way. Through me, man enters in and finds green pasture. So when you come through Jesus Christ, you come to meet God the Father. And when you meet God the Father, then you come to understand the lifestyle that he has set apart for you called the Christian life. Paul wrote about that lifestyle in Philippians 4. In verses 11 through 13, he said, not that I speak in respect of want, For I’ve learned in whatever state I’m in to be content. That’s a key word I want to give you today. I’ve learned to be content. He said in verse 12, I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound. In everywhere and in all things I’m instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. And then in verse 13, a verse that so many people like to quote. I even see athletes put this on their helmet if they’re football players or tattoo it on their arm. It’s that verse in Philippians 4.13 that says, I can do all things through Christ, which gives me the strength. Yes, you can. You can live this phenomenal life free of worry, free of guilt, free of anxiety through Jesus Christ by assimilating his mind. That’s why Romans 12, one through three says, stop thinking of yourself in terms of arrogance, beyond what you should think, like a self-pity sort of thing. But think in terms of humility as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from his word. That’s why Christ said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. He said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. In 1 Timothy 6, six and eight, we have these words. But godliness with contentment is great profit. For we brought nothing into this world, and it’s certain that we will carry nothing out. And so thus having food and clothing, let us therefore be content. Contentment is a capacity for living. It’s a wonderful thing. If you’re content, then you don’t feel the need to need something to make you happy. People that are content have this capacity. God can fill up your cup if you’re content. But if you’re not content, regardless of what God puts into your life, you’re never going to be happy. It’s never going to fulfill any need in your life. You see, this is the secret to capacity for life is having contentment, being content with what he gives you. Number one, having a stable mental attitude leads to having stable emotions in your life. And contentment is a stability way of thinking. It’s a stable mental attitude. Contentment is nothing more than problem-solving device number nine on the flat line of your soul, which is sharing the happiness of God. Yes, sharing the happiness of God is a wonderful problem-solving device. A lot of people have temporal happiness. They put their happiness related to people and circumstances, but that’s not sharing the happiness of God. Sharing the happiness of God is what Jesus said, my joy I leave with you. In Hebrews 12, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross. despising the shame. I mean, it wasn’t fun to go to the cross, but on the cross, he was in the center of the will of God. And this is the key to it. The greatest happiness you’ll ever experience in your life is when you know you’re in the center of the will of God for your life. That’s where contentment and peace comes from. So contentment of your soul equals capacity for living. And when you’re satisfied, well, then the Lord can bless you. And those blessings, that prosperity that he may put into your life will not become a distraction to you. There are a lot of things the Lord would like to give you, but you can’t handle it yet because it would distract you. I get tickled at people that want to win the lottery because they think winning the lottery is the key to happiness. And it’s not. It’s not the key to happiness because we know that unhappy people take their unhappiness with them wherever they go. I mean, we buy things we don’t need to impress people that we don’t even like. And so what is the deal here? What is contentment? It is a lifestyle that is happy, far exceeding anything anyone ever understood or ever knew about before. It’s this happiness in your life that comes with peace and contentment. In Philippians 4, 6 and 7, the Bible says, Be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known unto God, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. The peace of God is that contentment. That’s what it is. And it passes understanding. The world doesn’t comprehend this. It’s not an advantage for them. It’s your advantage. And you have two things here. This verse says heart, H-E-A-R-T, and it says mind, M-I-N-D. If we go to the Greek New Testament, those words are your kardia, K-A-R-D-I-A. We get cardiac from that. And nous, N-O-U-S, mind, mind. And so what we have here is that when you hear God’s word, it comes into your mind and sets up. But you have to transfer it from your mind to your heart where you store it and use it. And that requires a faith transfer. So you learn it, you hear it, and you apply it. And when you do that, then the peace that comes from God, this great happiness in the middle of extreme circumstances, is beyond the understanding of anyone else. They don’t understand it. They can’t comprehend. How can you be so cool? How can you be so relaxed? How can you be so free of stress? It’s because you’re using God’s problem-solving devices. Like, for example, the faith rest drill. So why should you have this fantastic contentment in your life? What’s the reason for that? Because Philippians 419, Paul said, My God shall supply all of your needs according to his riches in Christ Jesus. This is something that God will give you. Every detail of your life has already been provided for. The real question that you have to face is will you seize the provisions that God made available to you or will you insist on doing it your way? You know that song that I did it my way. I think that’s Frank Sinatra that sang that. Well, you can do it your way. Many of you are doing it your way and your head may be getting a little banged up from beating it against the wall. It’s much easier to do it God’s way. therefore john 14 21 he who has my commandments and keeps them that’s the one that loves me and in john 14 23 if anyone loves me he will keep my word and my father will love him if you note the difference there between experiencing god’s love and being in god’s love The difference is he who does not love me does not keep my word. Listen, there’s no doubt God loves you. The Bible tells you that in John 3, 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, but there’s a different type of love here. there is an experiential love that god pours out blessing in your life as a result listen again if anyone loves me that’s personal love for god that’s motivational virtue that’s problem solving device number seven and eight so if you have personal love for god it says you will keep his word so again listen john 14 23 if anyone loves me personal love for god He will keep my word. He will be obedient. And my Father will love him. This is different than the love that comes through Jesus Christ at salvation, the love for the world, the lost world. This is a family love. This is the royal family of God. You’re in the royal family of God. There’s nothing that God the Father doesn’t want to give you and pour out into your life. but it’s based on what? Obedience. If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. That means obedience, obey the word of God. Well, how can you obey the word of God if you don’t even know it? In John 14, 24, the word which you hear is not mine, Jesus said. but it’s the fathers who sent me. So he told those disciples that he was speaking to that the things he was saying was coming directly from God the Father. God the Father revealed himself to the world through his anointed son, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. And it is our job as believers in Christ to reveal Him to the world so that they can come to know God the Father. It’s an amazing thing. Divine viewpoint was communicated by our Savior to those disciples. They had no idea they were going to write the New Testament. They had no idea they were going to be apostles. He was beginning to tell them in John 14 in the upper room discourse that a new dispensation was coming. There was not going to be a kingdom like they thought there would be. He told them that he was going to be crucified and killed and murdered. He explained that to them, and they were just not really grasping that. And so he was giving this information to them. Divine viewpoint. This is what you need to understand, and it took a while for me to grasp it. God doesn’t think like I think. I think in terms of emotion. I think in terms of sometimes of appreciation, emotional stimulation, whatever. But listen to what the Bible says. Isaiah 55, 8, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. So God doesn’t think like we think, much higher thoughts than he thinks. For example, the word grace, God thinks in terms of grace, undeserved favor. We don’t think like that. We think in terms of works, earning it, being appreciated for what we did, and that if we do good deeds and we do nice things, that God will appreciate us and let us come to heaven. That’s not how it works. God loved us in eternity past and provided for us a way to heaven through Christ our Lord. So he doesn’t think like we think. He doesn’t think in terms of revenge motivation. He doesn’t think in terms of competition with other people. He doesn’t think in terms of emotional stimulation. You have to understand that. The thing to realize is this, that we have an opportunity to think a different way, different than how the world thinks. There’s no contentment in the world. There’s no capacity for life in the world. The more they get, the more they want. The more they want, the more they get. It’s impossible. And so we have a hope the world doesn’t have. We have a peace that the world can never experience. We have a contentment that is available to us that is the door to capacity for living. The door that opens and God pours in his favor because it won’t destroy us. We can handle the prosperity. We’re content with what we have. It doesn’t make a difference if we have a lot or a little. That’s not what we’re about. When you have tranquility and when you have contentment, these are a major part of your life. And then when you have those two things, just those two things, tranquility and contentment, then people can no longer hurt you. People can no longer cause you to react or get mad. You’ll be able to see things objectively because you will have divine viewpoint. That means you will be thinking the mind of Christ and you can maintain a relaxed mental attitude through whatever circumstances you face in your life. The only way to have any spiritual contentment is to keep the Word of God. But the only way to keep the Word of God is to learn the Word of God. God the Father communicated it to the Son, and God the Son communicated it to the disciples, those apostles to be, and they recorded it for us. And now God the Holy Spirit empowers us so we can understand it and we can metabolize it in the wisdom and compartment of my soul, of our soul, your soul. Listen to what our Lord said in Matthew 11 about tranquility and contentment and capacity for life. Listen to Matthew 11, 28. Come to me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. So this is a divine invitation. Do you want to have a lifestyle free of pressure, free of anxiety? Here it is. Come to me, all you that labor and and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me. Learn, learn, there’s the key word. Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. That’s humility. And you will find rest for your souls, because my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. You know, learn of me literally translates in the Greek New Testament of the Koine Greek language, learn from me. This is the job you have to do as a believer in Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ was the mentor to the disciples. He taught them the word of God. He told them what he was saying came from God. And then he told them that when he left, he was going to send another mentor. And that would be the Holy Spirit. And he is the mentor of New Testament believers like you and me. And it’s his job to teach us God’s word under the system that God set up. What is the system? Ephesians 4, 11 through 17. And he gave some apostles… and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. By the way, that’s one word. We know that. The poimen kai didaskalos, pastor and teacher. That’s the Granville Sharp rule. It’s not two definite articles there. It’s one person. The pastor teacher, in verse 12, for the perfecting of the saints. for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come in the unity of the faith and have a knowledge of the Son of God that brings us to a mature man, a perfect man, after the measure of the statue of the fullness of Christ. In other words, And the job of the Holy Spirit is to reveal the Word of God to you through the spiritual gift of the pastor-teacher. As you comprehend that information and the Holy Spirit verifies it to be real, true, legitimate information, then you access that information into your soul and you begin to replicate the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then verse 14, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of man whose cunning craftiness they lie in wait to deceive us. And so that’s exactly what the plan is. That’s the way the plan works. But speaking the truth in love, we grow up into him. And everything, even the head, Christ Jesus, from whom the whole body is fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working and the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. And this is a metaphor of a body, and it’s saying that the body of Christ is one body, one way of thinking, one idea, one goal, and that’s to replicate the life of Christ and to glorify God as a result of all of that. That’s our objective. And that’s why we have these different spiritual gifts. So when we learn God’s Word via the insight and the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the teaching ministry of a well-qualified pastor, then we begin to build a main line of resistance in our soul, that flat line in your soul. That’s what it’s called, the forward line of troops. And then this flat line allows you to have complete happiness in your life. And when you have that happiness, that plus H, that’s problem-solving device number nine, when you have it, then you have the contentment with circumstances and people that no one else has. By the way, I have a small book called Christian Problem Solving that lists all 10 of these. And if you’d like to have it, just contact me with the internet on the website rickhughesministries.org or send me an email rick at rickhughesministries.org. We’ll send that booklet to you free of charge and never ask you for a dime and never send you anything else unless you request it. But if you don’t know all 10 of those unique problem solving devices, that’s available to you. And so the objective is for you to grow spiritually by means of the ministry of the Holy Spirit who communicates the word of Jesus Christ. That’s the words that are in the Bible that were recorded by the apostles written down for you. And when we learn the things that he said, he said they came from the Father. He told the disciples that. It’s not me speaking, it’s the Father speaking. So we’re learning the mind of Christ. We’re learning, we’re assimilating what the Father wanted the world to know. And then we become Christ-like. We replicate his life because we learn his word. And this is where the capacity for living comes from. This is where the love and obedience comes from. If you love me, you will obey me, he said, and my mandates are not grievous. So using the faith rest drill, one of those problem-solving devices, you standing behind the shield of faith, that allows you to have tranquility in your life, contentment in your soul, even during the times of the greatest pressure you will ever know. That tranquility I’m talking about will keep you calm. It’ll keep you relaxed. It can even keep you from becoming a religious crusader ruining the lives of other people as you stick their nose into their business. You see, every human has a right to their own privacy. And God didn’t send any of us to straighten other people out. The laws of establishment give us the right to exercise our freedom uncoerced. That means we’re not allowed to be criminals, no. But we’re not here to bully people either. We don’t have the right to judge other people, to malign other people. Romans 14 says, who are you, verse four, that you judge another man’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And yea, he will be held up, for God is able to make him stand. And in verse 10 of Romans 14, But why do you judge your brother when you judge you set yourself at naught against him? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. Gossiping and maligning and judging, these are all intrusions into the privacy of another believer. It’s not allowed in the plan of God. It’s not part of the plan of God. And it definitely is not you being content and you having any capacity for life. It’s you being a spiritual bully. So do you want to live a life of a spiritual bully? No. You want to grow in grace. You want to replicate the life of Christ. You want to glorify God. You want to learn his plan. You want to reciprocate his love to you back to him again. in total reverence and respect and obedience. That’s where this contentment and tranquility comes from. You can actually lay your head down at night and go to sleep and never have a worry in the world in spite of what you may face. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re thinking about this because this is the way the plan of God works and this is what God has for you. Until next week, I’m your host, Rick Hughes. Every Sunday, same time, same place, same channel. Please come back and please join me. If you’d like to write to me, always feel free to do that. Keep your money. We’re not asking for any offerings. We’re just saying if you want to communicate, give us a shout. Until then, thanks for being with us today.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
