Join host Rick Hughes for an inspiring and educational session on ‘The Flatline’ as he explores the empowering concepts of motivation without manipulation. Rick shares insights on how understanding and aligning with God’s plan can lead to a fulfilling life. Through riveting discussions and scriptural references, he encourages listeners to embrace faith and reject manipulation by external influences.
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 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I am your host, Rick Hughes, and thank you for tuning in. Hope you’ll stick around for a few minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and absolutely no manipulation. You heard me right. No manipulation. We’re not going to con you. We’re not going to solicit money. We’re not going to try to sell you anything. We will not ask you to join up, fess it up, give it up, but we will ask you to listen. Listen as I try to verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And if I can do that by using the scriptures, then hopefully, hopefully you will orient and adjust to the plan. It’s up to you because it’s your life. You got one shot at it and not me, you. And every decision that you make, you’ll be held accountable for. It’s appointed and the man wants to die. And after that, the judgment, the Bible says. So remember that bad decisions limit future options. And you’ve heard me say it, I’ll say it again. The worst decision anyone could ever make is to reject Christ as Savior. The Bible says, he that believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And he that believeth not, the wrath of God abides on him already. So think about that. Is Jesus Christ the anointed son of God as he claimed he was? And if he is, do you believe in him? He said, this is the will of the one that sent me that you believe in me whom he has sent. That’s clear. That’s what they did not believe. They did not believe in his day that he was the Messiah. They did not believe he was the anointed son of God. And in their anger and rage over his claim, they manipulated his crucifixion and had him killed. Unfortunately for them, he walked out of the grave alive. Fortunately for us, he’s alive today. Not only is he alive in the presence of the Father, but he’s coming back for you. And here’s the wonderful thing. If you are a believer, he lives in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory, Paul said. He lives in you. you are a tabernacle where the holy spirit resides and recreates christ in you isn’t that amazing wow okay well listen there’s a lot to talk about today i’ve been traveling a lot staying on the road gone quite a bit and it’s been quite a bit of challenge but It’s been a wonderful time, and I thank you for your prayers. I love hearing from you. Thank you for your wonderful letters and notes and even your support. And if you would like to keep praying for us, we ask you to do so. We broadcast in 112 cities across America. Don’t forget our books. We are in the process of printing a new book called Practicing Your Christianity, and hopefully… For two months longer, we’ll have it out, plus we have our latest book out, which is called Crash Course in Christianity. These books are full of information about what we teach and how the Word of God explains the Christian life, what is the protocol plan of God, what are the ten problem-solving devices. That’s what this show is built on, the FLOT line, F-L-O-T, deals with the 10 unique problem-solving devices my pastor taught me a long time ago. These are 10 problem-solving devices that if we learn them and use them, then we can execute and live the Christian life the way God intended for us to do that. And of course, the first one is always rebound. If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sin. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. No one can live the Christian life out of fellowship with God. No one can replicate the life of Christ out of fellowship with God. You’re kidding yourself if you think you’re doing anything for God with unconfessed sin in your life. It doesn’t work that way. So you have to deal with your sin consistently, day by day, hour by hour when it occurs. Don’t wait until you go to bed at night. If you know you’ve committed a sin this morning, go to the Father and name it. And he said if we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness, even the ones you don’t remember. This is the key to being filled with the Holy Spirit. This is how the Christian life operates, under the ministry of the filling of the Holy Spirit. Without that, you can’t live the Christian life. That’s why Paul mandated in Ephesians that we be filled with the Spirit. That’s why Paul wrote there’s a war going on between the Spirit and the flesh, and the flesh does not want to give up control of your life, but the Holy Spirit is there. If you’ll walk in the Spirit, the Bible says you won’t fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit means when you sin, name the sin to God, get back in fellowship, recover from the quenching that you did and the grieving of the Holy Spirit that you did, get back where you belong, and then you can grow, then you can advance, then you can replicate the life of Christ and represent him in your life and to others. Now, I want to give you the dying words of Paul the Apostle today. I’ve been talking about aging quite a bit lately, and I think I’m almost through with that. But there’s one more course we need to take here. We are going to take a look at Paul’s final farewell to young Timothy. Paul’s final farewell to young Timothy. Paul the Apostle, amazing. We’ll see about him today. In Paul’s final farewell to Timothy written from the Maritime Dungeon, this is what he said in 2 Timothy 4, 6 through 7. And you may be able to identify with some of this. I hope you can. This is why I’m giving it to you. He said, I’m now ready to be offered. I’m now ready to be offered. And the time of my departure is at hand. Now he knows he’s going to die. He knows he’s been set up by Nero. He knows he’s already had one mock trial and that didn’t go too good. Everybody deserted him. And he knows this is the end. And so he says, you’ve heard me tell you this in the past few weeks. He said, I fought a good fight. I finished the race and I kept the faith. That word fought, we’re gonna look at it first. I fought a good fight. This is the Greek word agonizomai, agonizomai, A-G-O-N-I-Z-O-M-A-I, agonizomai. It’s where we get the word agony from. The agonizomai campgrounds, the training grounds for the ancient Greek athletes, they trained like this for the ancient Ithmian games and the Parthenian games and the Olympic games. the place of agony where they trained. And this literally means to compete for a prize. I have fought, I’ve competed for the prize. Figuratively, it means to contend with an adversary. And he has been contending with an adversary ever since he became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. His entire earthly ministry was one tremendous test right after another, one test after another. Unbelievable what he went through. Maybe much to some degree like you. Once you believed in Christ, people tell you you’re going to have a rosy life and everything’s going to be great and fine and you’re going to be wonderful from now on and you just don’t even realize what’s happened. When you accept Christ as your Savior, you step into the arena of contention. It’s the angelic conflict. Satan has a bead on you and wants to destroy you. He’s not happy about you getting saved. If you are an individual who has accepted Christ as your Savior, do not ever forget you are in an angelic conflict. You’re in a war for your spirit. Satan wants to control you. He wants to vilify God by showing your weaknesses and your failures, and he wants to impugn the name of God by maligning you and getting out of going to the lake of fire himself. Now, before Paul’s conversion, he was very well-respected. Very well-to-do, very high-ranking Pharisee, and the Bible says he hated Christians and persecuted Christians. But then in his amazing conversion, when he got saved, everything went away. All his arrogance was gone. It completely changed everything about him, the direction in his life, everything. He writes about it in Philippians 3.8. He says these words. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord. For his sake, because of him, for this reason in other words, I suffered the loss of all things, his standing, his money, his wealth, his prestige. I’ve suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish. The Greek word skubala there is the word for defilement, what’s in the toilet. I count it as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ. The most significant spiritual thing you can do is occupation with the person of Christ. That’s problem-solving device number 10, where he says, it is no longer I but Christ in me. And that is your occupation with the Lord Jesus Christ. Problem-solving device number 10. If you don’t understand that, please write to me and let me send you the book on Christian problem-solving. We go over that in detail so you understand that. what it means to be occupied with Christ. It’s not some phony baloney you walking around saying, praise Jesus, praise Jesus, I’ll walk across the street, praise Jesus, I’ll do this. That stuff is phony. Occupation with Christ is you reflecting Jesus Christ through your life, what you think, what you say, and what you do. It starts with, as the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. You want to know some of the battles that he fought? You want to hear what he went through? Listen as he writes about it in 2 Corinthians 11, 23 through 33. This is a man who was well-respected. This is a man who had everything, and then he got saved, and listen to this. Are they ministers of Christ? I speak as a fool because I am more, in labors more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in prison more frequently, in death often. From the Jews, five times I received 40 stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I’ve been in the depth. In journeys often in perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. in weariness, and toil, and sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, fasting, and cold, and naked, and beside the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches who are weak, and am I not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation? If I must boast about something, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmities, The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who’s blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. In Damascus, the governor under Aretas, the king, was guarding the city with a damasanes, with a garrison, and was desiring to arrest me, but I was let down through a basket through a window in the wall and escaped. This list I just read to you, does not include the thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12, 7. It does not include how he was abandoned by his friends when imprisoned in 2 Timothy 1, 15. And it does not include his despair of even his life. Listen to 2 Corinthians 1, 8 through 11. For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our troubles which came upon us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. That means he had an absence of hope of even living. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in the God who raised us from the dead and who delivered us from such a great death and who will deliver us. Listen, Paul went through stuff you and I cannot even imagine all because he believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and he preached and proclaimed the resurrection of Christ that he was the Savior. this is the servant of god who authored 13 new testament epistles four of which were written while he was in prison i fought the fight there it is you just heard it listen to what he went through i fought the fight and then he said i finished the race what what does that mean and what does that mean for you have you fought the fight have you been faithful have you endured have you finished the race what does that mean Well, it’s the second statement that Paul reflects, and it shows his struggles in presenting the gospel. I finished it. I did what I was called to do. I didn’t quit. I didn’t limp out. I didn’t get wounded and lay down and cry about it. I didn’t get full of self-pity. It’s amazing how many Christians can get full of self-pity so quick. Let someone say something about them. Let something go wrong. And immediately they think God’s mad at them. God’s trying to get even with them. Or it’s just too hard. I just can’t live like this. And so they want to go back to their old lifestyle. In Acts 20, 24, Paul said, I don’t place any values in my own life. I want to finish this race that I’m running. I want to carry out my mission that I received from the Lord Jesus Christ, the mission of testifying to the good news of God’s grace, and you have that same mission. You and I have been called to do exactly the same thing. We are to go forth and represent the message of Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, and his resurrection. There is a whole world that is in the slave market of sin, There’s a whole world that needs to be rescued out of the death penalty of sin. And you have the solution if you are willing to give it. And it will cost you. It will cost you. If you are not some self-righteous religious nut, but if you proclaim the forgiveness of Christ by God’s grace, it’ll cost you. Satan will not like it. He will oppose you. He will stand against you. I can assure you of that. I’ve seen it for 50 plus years in my own life. So he said this, I’m not ashamed of the gospel, Romans 1.16, because it, it, now what is it? What does that mean, it? It means the gospel. It is the power of God. The gospel, the good news, it’s the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. You know what else he said? God didn’t send me to baptize, he said in 1 Corinthians 1.17, but to preach the gospel. Why? The gospel is the power of God that brings salvation. There you have it, Romans 1.16, as compared to 1 Corinthians 1.17. His mission was to preach to the Gentiles. Unfortunately, Paul got distracted in some ways and made some mistakes, and he can take up for himself. I’m not here to criticize him, but we see where he went the wrong way in a couple of occasions. But who doesn’t? I certainly have, and I know you have too. So he said, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. Even though it’s cost me everything, even almost cost me my life, I know that I’m doing the right thing for the right reason. And if you’re going to finish your race, let me tell you what you have to do. I don’t know what your age is, I don’t know what stage of life you’re in, but if you’re gonna finish the race like Paul, here’s what you must do. Hebrews 12, one. Therefore, since we’re surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, Let us lay aside every weight and every sin that clings so closely to us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. Well, there are some mandates. Let us lay aside. But we’re surrounded by a cloud of witnesses. Who’s watching? Who’s watching you? You are being observed by angels. You’re in the angelic arena of contention and they are watching you. Satan is watching you. Fallen angels or demons are watching you. And maybe even a few physical people are watching you. watching you surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses to see what to see what you do how will you handle it will you like the lord jesus christ pass the evidence test that he underwent in matthew 4 or will you give in to the pressure will you say it’s too hard i don’t have time to study i don’t have time to grow i i don’t mind going to church once a week but that’s too much of that other stuff i got other things to do is that is that you are you like that This verse says, let us lay aside every weight. What’s that mean? Everything that takes your time. But I got children. I have to take care of my children. I’ve got my hobbies. I’ve got this. I’ve got that. Sure, we all do. Put it aside. Make priority number one, growing in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. You think God’s not going to give you time to handle the other things? Sure he will. Lay aside everything that weighs you down and lay aside every sin, Hebrews says, which clings to you so closely. Sins of the flesh, lust of the flesh, pride of life, these things, put them aside. And let’s run with endurance. Get your breath. Stay in shape. Keep going, keep going, keep going. The race that is set before us. Many Christians don’t run with endurance, especially as they get older and things begin to hurt and it’s hard to get up and walk. It’s hard to even go to the bathroom sometimes. Do you quit? Do you feel sorry for yourself? Do you wish it would all end? It’s not going to end. God’s not through with you yet. He still has a plan for your life. Run the race. Stick with it. Lay aside all the distractions and set priorities in your life. Number one, get victory over your sinful habits that cause you to stumble, such as your mouth when you criticize and malign and gossip and slander other people. Get victory over those sinful habits that caused you to stumble and endure the pain that you’re going through right now. Embrace the sacrifice that God asked you to make and you will reap the reward, I promise you. Paul wrote to the Galatians, Galatians 5, 7, and he said, you know, you were really running so well, what hindered you from obeying the truth? What’s he talking about? Well, he had led these people to Christ and it wasn’t long after that the Judaizers came in and started saying, you got to be circumcised. You’re not really saved if you’re not circumcised. And they bought the lie. People will tell you, you’re not really saved if you’re not baptized, brother. Don’t buy the lie. Believers do get baptized, but that’s not how you get saved. You get saved by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. The issue of circumcision became a distraction in Galatia. And Paul wrote about it because now all of a sudden all the legalism begins to stick his head up. He said, I ran the race, I fought the fight, I kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4, 6. The word faith is the Greek word pistis. P-I-S-T-I-S, pistis. That which is believed is pistis. This means he didn’t abandon his beliefs in spite of the cost. And there are times when what you believe will be tested, I promise you. You might even be recruited to follow another pastor who seems to have everything going on. I mean, I’ve seen it happen to many folks that I know, and they moved on to a more appealing church where there’s more programs for the children, yes. It’s always about the children. We got to have programs for the children. You know, they have Valentine’s Day programs and Easter egg hunts and And it’s amazing how people get sucked out of where there’s a great, solid, sound Bible teaching pastor because they want something for the children. It was the same excuse that didn’t go into the promised land. They said, well, there are giants in there and they’ll kill our children. Saving faith, living faith, dying faith, saving faith, Romans 10, 17, so faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. This is where faith is developed, hearing. If you can go to a local church where there’s a pastor teaching the word of God and you can learn in privacy in the priesthood and listen and learn and apply and lag, L-A-G, learn, apply, glorify God, that’s where it starts. Your faith is developed by hearing the teaching of the word of God. and hearing by the word of God. Listen again, Romans 10, 17. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Why is that so important? Because the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and the spirit and the joint and the marrow, and is a critic of thought and incense of the heart. The word of God is alive and powerful in you. That’s the greatest power in this world, and you have it in you. So your faith is an act of your volition, but it’s also a system of your belief. It takes faith to be saved. By faith, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the doctrine that you learn is called faith. I did not abandon the doctrine. I did not abandon what I learned. When the race is nearly over, you have to ask yourself the question, have you been faithful to what you learned? Did you stick with it? In Psalm 90 verse 12, teach us to number our days so that we can apply our hearts unto wisdom. In James 4.14, whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow for what is your life, it’s just a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. You’ve seen them in the sky. You’ve seen the vapor trails of the jets as they fly at 20, 30, 40,000 feet and leave a vapor trail and one minute it’s there and the next minute it’s gone and that’s much like our lives. In Revelation 2.10, the Bible says, fear none of these things which you shall suffer, because, listen, the devil will cast some of you into prison that you may be tried, and you will have tribulation for 10 days, but be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. The crown of life. Now we see what awaits Paul. 2 Timothy 4.8, because of this, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not to me only, but also to all who love his appearing. That’s you. That’s you. The winner believer, if it’s you, is God’s trophy of grace, and as such is recognized once Christ returns to this church. Others, others, he said, but not to me only, excuse me, but to others as well. That’s referring to a select group of believers who have their eschatology straight. They understand the eschatology of God’s plan. They understand that, the dispensations that are laid out before us. In Colossians 1.15, for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. Laid up for you in heaven. Well, when’s that gonna happen? At the rapture of the church, the judgment seat of Christ, That seven years of tribulation on earth, you won’t be here. You’ll be in heaven. You’ll be gone before the judgment seat of Christ. And then you shall return with him as he sets up his second advent, the millennial kingdom, where you will rule and reign with him on this earth for 1,000 years. Unless the Lord Jesus Christ returns, this world would totally collapse since human solutions are no solutions to man’s sinful rage. It’s useless. And so Psalm 110, verse 1, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. That’s going to happen. If it didn’t, the world would cease to exist. Christ will return. He will set up his kingdom. He will rule and reign for 1,000 years and hopefully you and I with him. This is our prize to collect as a reward for our fidelity and for our maximum glorification of God. The crown of righteousness being a trophy of God’s grace. That’s what I want for you. I want you to be that trophy of God’s grace. I want you to get the crown of righteousness as you anxiously await the return of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He’s coming back, and I hate to think about those who are not prepared. Those who have not believed in him and have not received him as their savior will have no solution. They’ll have no answer because they’ll wonder, where did everybody go? If the rapture of the church takes place and the believers are called to meet the Lord in the air, they’re going to say, where did they go? What happened to them? They’re with the Lord. I pity those people who has to live through the seven years of tribulation and the rule of the antichrist and the false prophet and the beast. It’s not going to be very nice. It will not be you if you’re a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that. I hope you’ve listened. I hope you paid attention. I hope you’ve been encouraged. Until next week, I’m your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
