SPEAKER 02 : 0:08

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.

SPEAKER 01 : 0:23

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. Remember that God gave you two ends. One of those ends is to think with. The other one is to sit on. And success in your life will depend on which one you use. Heads, you’ll win. And tails, you’ll lose. There’s a great Bible verse in 2 Peter 3.18 that says, “…grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior.” Jesus Christ. And grow is a verb. It means to learn something. So put something in your head. That’s what this show is about. Motivation, inspiration, education without any type of manipulation. That’s right. No con games here. Not asking for money. Not trying to solicit you for anything. Just give you some information. I pray you’ll listen as I verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And I certainly pray you will orient and adjust to the plan. We’ve been on the radio for many years, 13, 14 years now across the United States in select cities. And it’s always interesting to get letters and to see people that are responding to the truth. Let me remind you that I’m not your pastor. I am a window. I’m a door. I’m opening something for you to show you where you can grow. There are men who are well-qualified pastors that teach on a consistent basis more than just once a week like I do on this radio show. And my prayer is that you will take advantage of their ministry. If you don’t live in their area, you can get their DVDs or their MP3s or their printed material. But they are solid, sound, teaching individuals that know God’s Word and do a wonderful job. So that’s what your prayer should be, that God would lead you to a well-qualified pastor so you could grow spiritually. And hopefully I’ve given you a taste of what it means to grow spiritually. Today we want to look at something very interesting. You know, in your life from time to time you may have some sort of criminal activity that you’re exposed to. It’s very possible that it could happen to you. And I’m going to dedicate this message today to those who’ve been afflicted by criminal activity, affected by criminal activity. Maybe you had your money stolen. Maybe you had your automobile stolen. Maybe you had your home broken into by an intruder. You know, many times these type of crimes are caused by the very people we love and trust. And many a family even has been split apart by money-grabbing relatives at the reading of the will or if one has even read. But many Christians have been ripped off by other Christians who have a surefire way to make a profit. only to find that it was all just a scam. You see, churches are fertile fields for criminals, and it may be stealing stuff in the parking lot or even assaulting someone in the congregation. It could be an inside job like your best friend who wants you to invest in his or her product or a great deal. Here’s a principle you need to remember. Never do business at church. It’s not a place of doing business. No pastor should ever allow anyone to approach any member and try to sign them up or sell them anything at church. But it happens. People just like you, people like me, every day do business like that. And because Christians have sin natures and they have volition, and so they make a decision and they do something dumb and it costs them in the long run. Listen to what David writes about criminal activity, and we’ll go through some of this this morning. In Psalm 36, one through four, he said he had an oracle, which is a wise and insightful communication from God, within his heart, that’s his right lobe. Remember, you have a mind and a heart. The nous is where you receive the information, the Greek word nous, mind, and the cardia, the heart, is where you store the information. So what he’s saying is that he had some insight given to him by God the Father in his heart concerning the transgression of the wicked. And that means the criminal. He said, quote, there is no fear of God before his eyes, before the criminal. For he flatters himself in his own eyes. He’s egotistical. When he finds out his own iniquity and when he hates, that’s in other words, once he discovers how sharp he is and how good he is, he likes it. The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceitful. He has ceased to be wise. He ceased to do good. He devised wickedness on his bed. In other words, he lays down at night thinking of how he can steal something from the next person. He sets himself in a way that is not good. He does not abhor evil. On the contrary, he embraces evil. David goes on in Psalm 37, following Psalm 36, to give a divine direction on how to handle criminal activity when it infringes in our lives. This is why you must have the 10 problem-solving devices. These 10 problem-solving devices that we speak of every show stop the outside sources of adversity from becoming the inside sources of stress. We always say adversity is inevitable, stress is optional. As a believer in Jesus Christ, that means something to you. That means that if you learn God’s word and learn the problem-solving devices, beginning with rebound and then going to the filling of the spirit and the faith rest drill, grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal sense of destiny, personal love for God and personal love for all of mankind, sharing the happiness of God and occupation with Christ, 10 unique problem-solving devices. If you know them, can quote them and understand them, And you have a wonderful shot at a wonderful life. But apart from that, you’re going to let your emotions dictate policy and you’re never ever going to be happy or satisfied. So David starts off in Psalm 37 about how do you handle this sort of activity in your life. What do you do about it? Psalm 37.1, do not fret. Do not fret because of the evildoers. I’m going to read through this and then I’m going to come back and break it down for you. Do not fret because of the evildoers. Do not be envious towards wrongdoers. In other words, don’t be jealous of their prosperity. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the Lord and do good. Verse 3. Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord. Trust in him and he will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for him. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out the wicked schemes. Cease from anger. Forsake wrath. Do not fret. It only leads to evildoing. For evildoers, that’s the criminal, will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.” Now, with that said, let’s go back and take a look at this passage and see what this passage is trying to teach us. If I can get my notes to open up. When I do a radio show, I have to sit down for two or three hours and maybe a day or two and put this stuff together. So here we go. What does the Bible say about how we should handle this sort of activity when it happens to us? This is what David said, the oracle from God, do not fret. The Hebrew word charah, Hebrew word charah, which means to be furious or angry. Do not allow mental attitude sin such as revenge motivation to dominate your thinking. It’s very easy when someone sticks it to you like this to want to get even. I used to have a friend that carried around a little black book, and if you did him wrong, he’d put your name in it. He said, all right, your name’s going in the book, and I’m going to get even with you. Don’t fret. Don’t get angry. This is how you lose control of your life. The doctrine of anger is an interesting study. It is the number one root emotional sin the Bible talks about. And as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are never authorized to lose your temper and get angry and let your emotions take over because you will do something stupid. You probably already have. And you didn’t listen to this verse. I know I have not listened to this verse in the past. And I have made mistakes just like you. We can’t afford to have mental attitude sins. Do not fret. Do not get angry. Do not get furious. The verse goes on to say, because of evildoers. The word ra’ah, which means the one who does injury or the one who hurts or the one who is evil or wicked. The ra’ah, the schemer, the one who plans his actions deliberately. In other words, this is not an impulsive act. It’s a deliberate act. He plotted out a course. He knew what he wanted to do, and he did it. And it happened to you. Do not get angry. I remember one night I was fishing, just fishing with a friend. I was up on the Tennessee River. We were bass fishing in my bass boat and we launched the boat and parked the truck in the parking lot. My friend parked the truck and I was in the boat. And about two, three o’clock in the morning when we got tired and we were ready to come home, my friend came, we pulled up to the boat launch and I let my friend out and gave him the keys. He walked up on the hill. only to find the truck was stolen, the trailer was stolen. Someone had broken in and taken my truck and my trailer, and I was in the lake with a boat 150 miles from the house with no way to get home. My friend was visibly upset about it, wondering what we were going to do, and for some reason, I don’t know why, I was fairly calm, and I said, well, let’s just lay down and take a nap. And in the morning, we’ll call the sheriff and try to figure out what we can do. This is what the Word of God does for you. It gives you the ability to relax even when you have been wronged. You can’t let the evildoer make you mad or get angry. Do not fret. And then it goes on to say in Psalm 37, 1 and 2, Do not be envious of the evildoers. Don’t be envious of the evildoer. The Hebrew word qanah, which means to be jealous of them or envious of them. It’s the same word where a woman would be jealous of another woman who’s a rival for the man of her attention. It’s a mental attitude sin, so you can’t let yourself look at the prosperity of the wicked and say, I wish I had that. That’s the wrong way to think. Why? Because the verse goes on to say, they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb. Principle. God knows exactly what they’re doing, even though you and I are too dumb to see it sometimes, or Maybe we don’t wanna see it because we’re jealous of their prosperity. But Proverbs 15 three says, the eyes of the Lord are in every place watching the evil and the good. So the second principle, this verse promises God’s judgment is coming on them because no one gets away with anything. No one gets away with anything. The justice of God is always there 24-7, and that includes politicians. They do not get away with their wicked schemes. It may look like they’re getting away with it, and you may think they’re getting away with it, but it’s a matter of God’s timing, but the roof will cave in on them eventually. Listen to Acts 5, one through five. Here someone thought he got away with something. A man named Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold a piece of property, this is in the early church, and they kept back some of the price. In other words, they sold it for, let’s say, $100,000 and they kept 50,000 and they went to the apostle and said, hey, we want to give this 50,000 to you. This is all the money we got for the property, in other words. So they kept some for himself with his wife’s full knowledge, the Bible said. She knew the scheme. She knew what was going on. And they brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. In other words, here it is. We’re great, wonderful Christians. We sold this property and we want you to have it, Peter. We want you to use it for the church and everything. You know, this happens every day in local denominations where people act like there’s some really sacrificial giving and they’re not. And this is what was going on. But Peter said, in other words, the word of God, Peter said to him, Ananias, why did Satan fill your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the price of the land? Do you think you could fool God? See, that’s what the criminal thinks. The criminal thinks he can fool God. He fooled you, didn’t he? Then he must be able to fool God. And while it remained unsold, Peter told Ananias, did it not remain in your control? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? So why now have you conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men. You lied to God. And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down, breathed his last, and a great fear came over all who heard it. This guy dropped dead right there. Now, what caused him to drop dead? Was it the sin unto death? I don’t know. There is a sin unto death. The Bible talks about the sin unto death. It’s the third stage of divine disciplines. The first stage is warning discipline. The second stage is intense discipline. And the third stage is dying discipline. When God warns you that you’re out of line, you should confess your sin and correct it using problem-solving device number one. If you don’t, then the discipline will get intense, and that means that the Lord may have to take you out behind the woodshed to wake you up and give you an attitude adjustment. And if that doesn’t work, then the Lord also retains the possibility that he just may take you home way too soon. In Ananias’ case, whatever it was, he dropped dead because he lied to god lied to peter lied to all the people that were there made it look like he was a great wonderful donor when in fact he did donate but not what he said he was doing he was deceiving people you don’t deceive god by the way the same thing happened to his wife when she came in she told the same line she dropped dead So here’s the principle. You can get in God’s way and get burned if you try to be the judge and the jury yourself. In Matthew 7, 1 through 7, we have what’s called triple compound discipline. matthew 7 1-7 says judge not lest you be judged because with the judgment you judged it will be placed back on you again triple compound discipline is you being disciplined for the sin of judging and even if the person you’re judging did commit the sin his discipline would be taken off of him given to you And then you have self-induced misery. Triple compound discipline. So we’re not to get in God’s way. The Lord can handle it. The Lord can deal justice out in his way, in his time, because the supreme court of heaven It’s open 24 hours a day. So when you have an automobile stolen or when you have money taken from you in a scheme that’s not true and it’s a lie and a falsehood, and especially if it’s done to you by another believer, then the first thing you do is you don’t get angry. You don’t get mad. You don’t try to get even. You turn it over to the Supreme Court of Heaven, and you let the Lord judge it. And he’s perfectly capable of doing that. How do I know? Because Psalm 37.3, trust in the Lord. The Hebrew word for trust is the word bratak. And this imperative verb means don’t ask any questions. Just do it. You must have confidence in God’s judgment. You must have confidence in God’s justice. And you must be secure in your own spiritual life. I don’t care what happens, it can’t knock you off balance. If you allow a criminal activity towards you to knock you off balance, it means that you will let your emotions take control. You will get mad, you will get angry, and you will vilify the individual, and you will not wait on God to take justice. God can handle it. Let the Lord handle it. Stay out of God’s way and watch what happens. What should you do? Trust in the Lord, the Hebrew word Yahweh, which is the proper name for the one true God. And then the verse goes on to say cultivate faithfulness. Emunah, emunah in the Hebrew, cultivate emunah or fidelity or steadfastness. In other words, don’t let this knock you off balance. Cultivate steadfastness. Abiding in God’s provisions, and here’s the principle, will cause you to develop trust and appreciation for God’s care and protection. I’m going to say it one more time. Abiding in God’s provisions will cause you to develop trust and appreciation for God’s care and protection. The Lord is well aware of what happened to you. The Lord is well aware of what you’re going through. He would not throw you under the bus. He will provide for you. He will protect you. So cultivate faithfulness. That’s the faith rest drill, problem-solving device number three in the flatline of your soul, learning the faith rest drill, standing on the promises of God. And when the Bible goes on to say cultivate faithfulness, it simply means that not abiding in the land or the spiritual life is equivalent to being out of fellowship. So if you don’t abide in the spiritual life, if you don’t cultivate, abide, plant the spiritual life, well then you’re gonna be out of bounds. So verse four goes on to say delight in the Lord. Delight yourself. and that’s the Hebrew word anag, and it means to enjoy the luxury of God’s faithfulness. Enjoy the luxury of God’s faithfulness. Delight yourself in Yehovah, the eternal one, and he will give, nathan, he will add to or assign to you the desires of your heart. Mish-Allah. Mish-Allah, the Hebrew word which means your request or your petition. In this case, you petition God for justice. You request God to handle it because of the evil that was done to you, and he will take care of it in his time. You’re not authorized to get a gun and go after the criminal. You’re not authorized to try to sue the criminal. You’re authorized to trust in the Lord to handle it, and he will handle it. Verse five, commit. This is a volitional decision. You must galah, the Hebrew word. You must use your volition, positive or negative. Remember, God gives you volition as part of the format of your soul, and you can either say, yes, I will, or no, I won’t. It’s up to you. God’s a gentleman. He won’t coerce your volition. He gives you the choice. Yes, I will. No, I won’t. I’ll handle this matter myself. God, I don’t need your help. Okay, then if that’s your attitude, you’re in for a rude awakening. Delight yourself in Yehovah, and he will give you the desires of your heart. In this case, the desire for justice. Commit your way. Commit galah. It’s a volitional decision. Commit your way. your course of life or your modus operandi, the Hebrew word derik, commit your life, your way, your modus operandi to the Lord. In other words, what’s the direction of your faith? Is it in the government to recover it? No. Is it in something else? No, it’s in the Lord. So if you’ve been the victim of a scheme or you’ve lost money or you’ve been defrauded, defrauded, Don’t depend on the government to get it back. Depend on the Lord to give it back. And he will do it. He has done it. I’ve seen it done. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust. Be confident. Batak is the Hebrew word. Confidence. Have great confidence and have great security in this. He will do it. This is the confidence factor. Trust in the Lord and he will do it. Commit your way to the Lord. He will do it. Let’s move down to verse 7 in Psalm 37. Rest in the Lord. The Hebrew word damon means to be silent or to be still. Rest in the Lord. Exodus 14, 13, remember when Moses told those Jews who came out of Egypt, do not fear, stand by and watch God deliver you. This is the faith rest drill in action. And then in verse 8, cease from anger and forsake wrath. In other words, stop being angry and put your wrath away. There’s a great passage in Ephesians 4, 30 and 31 about this very thing. Put your wrath away. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another. even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. The hardest thing you will ever do is to forgive the criminal who stole from you. That’s a very hard thing to do because we have such a bitterness in our heart sometime, such implacability that it’s hard to forgive But when we trust in the Lord and we commit our way to him, when we do not fret, the verse says it again two more times, verse seven and verse eight, that’s three times, do not fret, do not fret, do not fret. Don’t worry. Don’t get all bent out of shape. The Lord will handle it. Cease from your anger and forsake your wrath. That’s the desire to get even with someone. That’s the desire to hurt that person. That’s the desire to make them feel the same pain that you felt. that is you trying to play god that is you trying to put god’s justice on them and you want to be the hammer it’s not up to you it’s up to the lord so if you can have something like this happen to you and then if you can trust in the lord and walk away from it and not let it eat you alive and be so mad and so angry because you were so stupid that you trusted someone that you should not have trusted And maybe you need to look at why did you trust this person? Did you think you were going to get some kind of great gain? Did you think this person was out there luring you with a promise of fortune maybe? Who knows? But you turn it over to the Lord. You walk away with it. You let the Lord handle it, and you move on down the road, and God will handle the justice. Your life goes on. You’re still alive. You still have opportunity to glorify Jesus Christ. Our Lord didn’t come down off the cross. He didn’t slay everybody standing there laughing and making fun of him. He took it and he said, Father, not my will, but thy will be done. Same with you. Not your will, but God’s will be done. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you so much for listening to The Flatline.

SPEAKER 02 : 27:14

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.