In this episode, Rick Hughes shares the transformative insights of the Holy Spirit’s role in a believer’s life. Unpack the critical differences between the indwelling and filling of the Holy Spirit, and understand how this empowers the distinctive Christian walk. Discover the significance of spiritual gifts distributed at salvation and embrace the impactful fruits of the Spirit that guide our daily conduct. Let these divine tools guide your path in faith, growth, and spiritual maturity.
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 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. It won’t be long, just 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and of course we have no manipulation. We’re not trying to con you. We’re not going to ask you for money. We’re not going to solicit membership. We’re not going to try to sell you something. This show is simply about verifying and identifying the plan of God for your life, and hopefully you will orient and adjust to that plan. That’s our desire. So the FLOT line has been airing now going on 16, 17 years across America. If you’re just listening, FLOT stands for the Forward Line of Troops. That’s a military analogy. We’re saying that there are some unique problem-solving devices found in the Bible And if you will learn them and use them, they will act like a forward line of troops or a main line of resistance in your soul to stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever transform into the inside source of stress. That’s why you hear me say every time, adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. There is a way to live. It is a unique way to live. It’s called the Christian life. It’s the most wonderful life in the world, and I hope that you’ll understand it and grow in grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have all the things we make available to you to learn with, all the various books we’ve written, all the various podcasts that we produce. You can see all of this on our website, which is simply rickhughesministries.org. rickhughesministries.org. So come check out our podcast on Apple iPod or Spotify or Anchor, or come to the website and order some of the recent materials we publish, like the latest one is Crash Course in Basic Christianity. Okay? Enough of that. It’s all there for you. So what I want to talk about today is a Christian life. Absolutely the most unique life the world has ever known. Christian life is the most unique life the world has ever known. But in reality, here’s what I’m trying to tell you. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are living two lives at the same time. Two lives at the same time. Your physical life, yes. And then, assuming you’ve received Christ as your Savior, your spiritual life. Both of those lives are going on within your body right now. And both lives require fuel to function. Both your spiritual life and your physical life can be interrupted. One can be interrupted by sin, the other can be interrupted by sickness. So let me concentrate on the spiritual life to begin with. This new life in Christ begins the minute you receive Jesus Christ as your Savior. It’s not earned and it’s not given as an award for good behavior, but it actually begins today. the moment you put your faith and trust in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he then, and I’m adding then, he is a new creature, new creation. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things have become new. That’s your new life in Christ. That’s when you’re born again spiritually, brought into the family of God. This simply means you were dead spiritually before because of your identification with Adam. Listen to 1 Corinthians 15, 22. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. It’s possible that even though you were alive physically, you were dead spiritually. And when you believed in Christ and received him as your Savior, you were made alive spiritually, so now you’re alive physically and spiritually. So salvation means you’re delivered from judgment. It means that you will not be judged in eternity for your sins since Christ was judged in your place. 2 Corinthians 5.21, for he, that’s God, made him, that’s Christ, who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God by means of him. So only the perfect person of Jesus Christ could satisfy the perfect righteousness of God. And because of his sacrifice, his personal sacrifice, we have the opportunity to be redeemed out of the slave market of sin and given freedom from the law of sin and death. Romans 8, 1 verifies that. There is therefore now no longer any condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. You’re free from that the moment you put your faith in the finished work of Christ. To live this amazing new life, we’ve been given a personal coach, a mentor, a tutor, a guide to assist us in learning how to use our new life in Christ Jesus, along with our new assets. And this is seen in John 14, 25 through 26. Here’s what it says. Jesus told the disciples, these things I’ve spoken to you while being present with you. But the helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. In John 14, 16, and I will pray the Father, and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. That is the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him, for he dwells within you and will be in you. And that’s the truth. That’s for us to understand and remember. So keep this in mind. He lives in you, the Holy Spirit lives in you. Now, you might wonder when that actually happened. When did that take place? When did the Holy Spirit come to live in you? In Ephesians 1.13, in him, that’s Christ, you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also, Christ, having believed, you were sealed, sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of God’s glory. So the minute you believed in Christ, the minute you received him as your savior, God the Holy Spirit came to indwell you and seal you. That means that no one can ever take you out of the Father’s hand. So the indwelling of that Holy Spirit provides several things simultaneously for us. The first is the filling of the Holy Spirit. It helps us to come back to control of the sin nature. You have a sin nature, I have a sin nature. Galatians 5, 17 says it. For the flesh fights against the spirit and the spirit fights against the flesh and these are contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that you wish you could. So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit provides a residency for Christ also. Number one, not only does he give you the ability to overcome the desires of the flesh, but once he lives in you, he provides a residency for Christ. And the purpose of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is to provide a temple in the body of every church age believer for the indwelling of Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament, who now dwells in you, in the indwelling of God the Father in you. Did you realize that, that your body is a temple of God, that Christ lives in you, God the Father lives in you, God the Holy Spirit is in you? Listen to 1 Corinthians 3.16. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? Your body is a temple and that’s where the Holy Spirit resides from making a place for the Lord Jesus Christ. So let’s go into this one now a little bit. We understand when we got the Holy Spirit, we understand what he helps us do, we understand that he is a temple for the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. Now we have to understand the indwelling versus the filling. It’s important for us to distinguish between these two. because the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is permanent, and the filling of the Holy Spirit is temporary, depending on the use of rebound, problem solving device number one. When we sin, we lose the filling of the Holy Spirit by quenching the spirit and grieving the spirit, but we do not lose the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. While the indwelling of the Holy Spirit emphasizes the body, The filling of the Holy Spirit emphasizes your soul. Therefore, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is always stated as the body of the believer. Your body is the sacred building of the church age, and this indwelling makes it impossible for any demon possession to occur. 1 Corinthians 3.16, again, don’t you know you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? So your body is the indwelling. and in your soul is the filling. Now what about the baptism of the Holy Spirit? A lot of people talk about that. At the moment we believed in Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit took each one of us and entered us into union with the person of Jesus Christ. Baptism means we are identified with Christ. As a result of being in union with Christ, we share what Christ has. We are in union with him, we share his identity. We share his eternal life in 1 John 5, 11, and 12. We share his righteousness. We share his destiny. We share the election that what he was elected to do, we are elected to do. And Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, has a third royal title, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. We share in this royalty as his royal family. We are a member of the royal family. We now are a new species, royal family, church age believer. Once you’re put into union with Christ, which is, we call that positional truth, then you’re never gonna get out. There’s no sin, no human good, no evil you’re gonna perform that’s gonna kick you out or disqualify from you being in union with Christ. The baptism of the Spirit is the basis for this new spiritual species and the basis for you being the member of the royal family of God. This is a unifying factor in the body of Christ. We all, you and me together, we all have equal privilege and we all have equal opportunity to execute God’s plan. Now, the Holy Spirit is in you. He came in you the minute you believed in Christ. He sealed you, no one’s gonna take you out of God’s hand. He set up the temple for God and Jesus Christ in your life and he distributes spiritual gifts The Holy Spirit is involved in all the subsequent distribution of spiritual gift. Listen to 1 Corinthians 12, 11, but one had the same spirit, but one in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he will. But one in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he will. My gift is a gift of evangelism. I’m not a qualified pastor. I mean, I could pastor a church. Sure, I could, but that’s not my spiritual gift. My spiritual gift is evangelism. What is your spiritual gift? That’s what you have to understand and learn. Some people have the gift of giving. Matter of fact, that’s how we survive on the radio shows. These things cost money. People contribute and help us pay our bills through their gift of giving. Some people have the gift of leadership, administration. Some people have the gift of helps, the gift of mercy. Various spiritual gifts. And learning what your spiritual gift is, is a key to learning where God plans for you to work in his program. So at the moment you believed in Jesus Christ, you were given that spiritual gift. It took me a couple of years to figure it out, but I learned that I had the gift of evangelism. So the distribution of spiritual gifts at the moment of salvation is the manifestation of the Holy Spirit putting the team action into the body of Christ. At a local church, you have all the gifts functioning together and it represents the body of Christ. The local church is supposed to be the body of Christ. And when people see you, they see Christ. This is the basis for the administration and the service of the royal family of God in the local church. And it’s the expression of the modus operandi of the church age believer. both as a royal priest, which you are, and as a royal ambassador, which you are. You have privacy of the priesthood. That’s what I talked about a couple of weeks ago on mind your own business. And as a royal ambassador, you’ve been sent to the devil’s world to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. Now the Bible talks about something called the fruit of the Spirit. Here I want to spend a little bit of time with you and show you something very unique. In Galatians 5, 22 and 23, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. The word fruit is the word Karpos in the Greek, K-A-R-P-O-S. And Karpos simply means that which is produced. In the Vines Expository New Testament Dictionary, it means the visible expression of the power working inwardly and fruit being the evidence of the power producing it. Now, some people will tell you if there’s no fruit, you’re not really saved, and that’s not true. If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are saved. You might not produce fruit if you get out of fellowship. You might not produce fruit if you don’t grow spiritually. But you are declared in the Bible to grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and you are designed to produce fruit, not only evidence of your salvation, but also to have this inherent attitude that I’m about to talk to you about, the fruit of the Spirit. Karpos, the Greek word, karpos. So, each one of these incredible manifestations that I just gave you, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, each one of these incredible manifestations of the Holy Spirit is controlling the Christian’s thinking. And that comes by means of biblical wisdom in your soul. These things don’t just automatically show up in your life. It’s impossible. They must be learned. They are a way of thinking and it has to be learned. These attributes don’t just happen when you rebound and you’re filled with the Spirit and all of a sudden now you have love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness. That’s not the way it works. Each one of these is something that the Lord Jesus Christ possessed. And when the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, the Bible is telling us we have to learn to live like he lived. We have to learn to think like he thought. That’s why it’s all recorded in the New Testament for us. And that’s what this is. This is the mind of Christ working in you. So these fruits are exactly the same manifestation of the thinking of the Lord during his time on earth. And we are told to duplicate that mindset. Philippians 2, 5, as I read to you earlier, let this mind or attitude be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. And the first one was fruit of the spirit was love, love. Okay, love. All right, what does that mean, love? Well, there’s several words for love in the Bible. Agathos, philos, eros, a lot of different words for love. A lot of times it depends on which love we’re talking about, but here it is. Love is a problem-solving device. It’s in our 10 problem-solving devices known as personal love for God, problem-solving device number six, and impersonal love for others, problem-solving device number seven. critical you understand that problem-solving device number seven and number eight actually number seven personal love for God number eight and personal love for all mankind excuse me so let’s go over this just for a second love what did Jesus say about love in John 14 31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father And I do exactly as the Father commanded me. Get up and let’s go from here. So that the world may know that I love the Father. Do you love God? That’s the first question I have to ask you. Do you love God? And I know you’re going to say, well, yes, I love God. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. But remember, the Bible says, if you love me, 1 John 5, 3, you will obey me and my mandates are not grievous. What did Jesus say? I love the Father and I am going to do exactly what he commanded me to do. What about you? If you love the Father, do you do what he commands you to do? I’m not talking about not smoking, not drinking, not cussing, not dancing. I’m talking about growing in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, getting out of spiritual infancy, becoming a spiritually mature believer, getting under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor, growing in grace. You’re commanded to do that so that you don’t remain a baby Christian all your life. Like Hebrews 5 says, there’s a lot of things I’d like to tell you, but I can’t. You’re just babies. This is important for you to understand that. Jesus Christ had personal love for God the Father, and he had impersonal love for all mankind, John 15, 9. Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. So there are the two loves in the life of Christ. I love the Father and I obey him and I love you and remain, I want you to remain in my love. He demonstrated his love for us when he went to the cross and paid for our sin. So the fruit of the Spirit being love is an attitude that Christ demonstrated to us and showed us and we learn it and apply it into our life. It doesn’t happen automatically. Fruit of the Spirit is love. When you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, you rebound automatically. You’re going to love everybody? No. If you don’t understand this, you’ll miss it completely. This is an attribute that must be discovered and learned and applied into your life. The Bible goes on to say the fruit of the Spirit is joy, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, joy. What about joy? In John 15, 11, these things I spoke to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full. Once again, this is the Holy Spirit using the scripture that you’ve learned to replicate the thinking of Christ. He wants us to think exactly like he thought. And he told them these things so that they could have this joy. Well, these things refers to John 13 all the way to John 15, 11, all the various things he told them in those two chapters. So what about it? Do you have that joy in you? That doesn’t mean you’re happy, happy, happy. That’s some guy sold a book, happy, happy, happy. The Christian life is the ability to have contentment and peace in the middle of adverse circumstances. So the next fruit of the Spirit is peace. John 16, 33 shows us how the Lord Jesus Christ had that peace. He said, these things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but take courage, I overcame the world. So the same peace that he had is to be replicated in you if you learn it, if you understand how to have that peace. It’s called the faith rest drill. If you stand on the promises of God, you have nothing to worry about. If you turn it over to the Supreme Court of Heaven, you have nothing to be upset about. You can have a life of peace, no agitation, no anger, no bitterness. These things I spoke to you, John 16, 33, so that in me you may have peace. Well, if I rebound and confess my sin, I’m automatically gonna have peace? Nope. Not until you learn how to do it. It’s a learned attribute. You have to learn how to use the faithless drill in all circumstances, and that’s where the peace comes from. Another one is the fruit of the Spirit. It’s called patience in the Bible. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience in Galatians 5.22. Well, patience is used several ways in the Bible. Patience with people, patience with circumstances, even the patience of God, which is called long-suffering. So in 2 Peter 3.15, listen carefully. And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation. That’s his patience. He was very patient with you. And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you. How to have patience with people. How to have patience with circumstances. And the patience of God. Now listen, I’ll show you what the patience of God is in 2 Peter 3, 9. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people count slowness, but is patient towards you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. God patiently waits on you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Another fruit of the Spirit is called kindness in the Bible. Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated that attitude in Luke 6, 27, when he said, but I say to you who hear me, love your enemies and do good to those that hate you. That’s in the Beatitudes. That is a learned attribute. You don’t just do that automatically. You have to learn how to have grace orientation with other people, learning how to grace people out just like God graced you out. If God, you got saved by grace, you live by grace, you die by grace, they’re suppressing grace in heaven. But if you can’t grace other people out, if you’re hostile and angry and bitter, malign people, you’re not kind, you’re angry and bitter towards them, then you haven’t learned how to live the Christian life according to grace orientation. Another fruit of the Spirit, the Bible says in Galatians 5.22, is goodness. The Greek word agathosune, agathosune. And that means being kind to other people. A-G-A-T-H-O-S-U-N-E, sune. Agathosune, being kind to other people is the word goodness. So in Ephesians 4.32, the Bible says, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ forgave you. And then the fruit of the Spirit is faithfulness. 2 Thessalonians 3.3, the Lord is faithful. There it is, Jesus Christ demonstrated faithfulness. He will establish you and guard you against the evil one. The same faithfulness he demonstrated, you are to demonstrate. It’s called the fruit of the spirit. If you learn these things, and that’s the impersonal love that you use towards other people. The fruit of the Spirit, the Bible says, is gentleness, praotes, praotes. This doesn’t mean that you’re macho, but it means you have humility or you’re oriented to grace. You’re not arrogant. You’re gentle. In 1 Peter 2, 23, while being abusively insulted, he did not insult in return. While suffering, he did not threaten, but he kept entrusting himself to the one who judges righteously. That’s the patience of Christ, the gentleness of Christ. He was very gentle with those who criticized him, insulted him, abused him, and he didn’t do anything back to them. And then we come to the fruit of the Spirit is self-control. And this is the strength to control your emotions and deny the power of the flesh. Ekratatia, ekratatia, the Greek word, E-G-K-R-A-T-E-I-A, ekratatia. So what does that mean? 1 Peter 5, now for this very reason, Apply all diligence, and this is self-control, in your faith. Supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness. That’s the lifestyle of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what the fruit of the Spirit is. It’s you learning to live like Christ lived. All of these traits are learned attitudes that you must acquire. So here’s a final warning in 1 Corinthians 3, 16. Don’t you know you’re the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person. For the temple of God is holy and that is what you are. You are the temple of God. Do not abuse the temple. Romans 8, 13, for if you are living and according with the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Holy Spirit you’re putting to death the deeds of the body, you are going to live. Wonderful promise and a wonderful warning for all of us. There’s a lot to say about this. I crammed it into a short 27-minute session. I hope you learned it. I hope you’re listening. If you want more information, get in touch with me immediately as quickly as you can. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flotline.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
