SPEAKER 01 : 0:06

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 : 0:21

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. Every Sunday morning, same time, same place, we’re right here. This is show number 895. 895 different radio shows, plotline shows presented to you in the last 15 years. And I hope we’re able to make 1,000 here pretty soon. Thank you for listening. Let me remind you that as we come up for new contracts, We would love to know if you’re listening. We’d love to hear from you, not asking for money. We’re just asking to say, yes, I listen to you in my city. And yes, I do listen on my radio station. That helps us know what we’ve got to do when we come time to sign the new contracts. And if you want to get any of the material that we offer free of charge, all you got to do is go to our website, rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org. There you find all sorts of books that we’ve written and make available free of charge and as well as all the radio transcripts from the past year’s shows from 2019, 2020, 2021. So that’s 52 radio shows a year, and it’s in printed form so you can read them. So it’s up to you if you want them. Just get in touch with us. You can always call us at 800-831-0718. But we’re not counselors. I’m not a counselor. I’m an evangelist. My job is to give you the gospel, the good news. of the Lord Jesus Christ and what He’s provided for you, and to point you in the direction of a well-qualified pastor. That’s my job, and I hope that’s what I’m able to do. So thank you for listening, and thank you for praying for me as we go through these times. I want to talk to you something about something today that’s pretty critical, pretty different, pretty unique, and that is the fact that we are a peculiar people. If Christian, if you’re a Christian, you’re really a peculiar person. Because we have a distinctive character. Christians have a different set of values. We have a different mindset, and we have a particular calling. This means that you and I don’t think like the world thinks, and we don’t act like the world acts. If you add to this our mission on earth, and you have a person much different from the unbeliever. Did you hear me? If you add to this our mission on this earth, you have a person much different from the unbeliever. So we, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have a different modus operandi, a method of operation, which is the reflection of God’s standards in our lives. It’s like having a big target on your back, I promise you. It’s like having a giant target on your back. We’re not called to blend in, nope. We’re called to stand out. And not like some self-righteous legalist looking down our nose and judging those that We disagree with, but rather to love anyone just like God loved us, but never, ever endorsing sin or depravity. This is how it all starts. If you’re going to be a peculiar person, it starts with a second birth or it starts with you and me being born again. What does that mean? Well, in John 3, 6, Jesus said, “‘That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'” So according to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to have two birthdays. My birthday is in August. I don’t know when yours is, but we like to celebrate birthdays. So people get around, get a cake, sing happy birthday, and you celebrate another year down the road. But the second birthday is a spiritual birthday, and it doesn’t always have to be known. I mean, you can know the day you accepted Christ or maybe not. I remember the day I did it, 17 August 1967. And that was the day I was born again. That’s the day I received Jesus Christ as my Savior. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15, 15, Now this I say, brethren, flesh and blood, that’s the first birth, cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and neither does corruption inherit incorruption. So if all you’ve had is birth one, a physical birthday, you know, it’s a boy, have a cigar. If that’s all you got, then you’re not going to heaven. Our distinctive character that I’m talking about comes from this unique birth. See, our bodies of flesh and blood are infected with a cancer. It’s called Adam’s original sin. In Romans 5, 12, the Bible says, therefore is by one man sent into the world and death through sin and and death is passed unto all men, for that all have sinned. Our Lord explained it to a Pharisee named Nicodemus in this manner. He said in John 3, 3, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, or truly, truly, I say unto you, except one be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. And then in John 3, 5, Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say unto you, except one be born of water, that’s the first birth, And of the spirit, that’s the second birth, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. So this gives us a principle we need to remember. No natural born person can enter heaven born of water. If that’s all you’ve got, just born of water, your mother’s water births and you showed up, you’re not going to heaven until you have the second birth. And the second birth is your dead human spirit being made alive by the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit. How does that occur? Well, it occurs by an act of faith and is provided by God’s grace. The Bible says, for by grace you’ve been saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It’s a gift of God, not of works, so that no one should glory. So this new birth, this second birth, the second birthday requires a new way of thinking, a new way of living, all of which must be learned starting with the way we think. So once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have to change the way you think. You’ve been thinking in terms of human viewpoint in the past. Now you have to think in terms of divine viewpoint. Here’s what the Bible says again, Romans 12, 1 through 3. I request you quit thinking, excuse me, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy sacrifice, and acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, and be not fashioned according to this world, in other words, don’t think like this world thinks, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, changing your mind the way you think, so that, purpose clause, you will be able to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And listen carefully to verse 3. For I say through the grace that was given to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. That’s arrogance. But so to think soberly, that’s humility, according as God has dealt to each one of us a measure of faith. The number one enemy that you face in your life is your own arrogance. Self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption all lead to self-destruction. And the person who is not a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ may try to justify why he should go to heaven. And he will get that opportunity at the great white throne of judgment. He will be allowed to stand before God as the books are opened and all the books of his works will be manifest. However, the Bible says there are none that are good, no, not one, because all of our righteousnesses are like a filthy rag in God’s eyes. So in spite of how good he was, in spite of how generous he was, in spite of how noble he was, he will die and go to the lake of fire because he did not have the second birth. So this charge that I gave you requires you change how you think. For example, you must learn how to respond to unfair circumstances and not react to unfair circumstances. Responding requires thought, and reacting means you get emotional, and then emotions take over and control your thoughts. So anytime something questionable or bad or interrupting happens in your life, you can respond by using the problem-solving devices like Faith Rest Drill, or you can react by getting out of fellowship with God, getting mad, blowing your temper, cursing everybody out, yelling and screaming, and making an idiot out of yourself. Emotions will destroy you if you don’t learn to control them. And so God’s way of thinking is that you have to have some humility. And that’s responding to authority, whether the authority is fair or not fair. We live in a day when authority is not necessarily fair. How do you handle it? Do you get mad? Do you get angry? Or do you respond using the problem solving devices? Using the faith rest drill? Using biblical orientation? What does the Bible say? Romans 13. And then having impersonal love for all mankind. So if you’re going to respond to adverse, difficult situations, This is what Philippians 2.5 says you need, the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. That’s what we label as divine viewpoint. It’s thinking with biblical wisdom, which gives understanding, insight, as well as discernment. But first, you must understand who and what we are. Then we learn what provisions God gave us to deal with in these times. So who are we, what are we, and what has God given to us if we are actually this peculiar people I’m talking about? Well, the Apostle Paul admitted this. He admitted that he had a struggle with his sinful nature. In Romans 7, 15, he says these words. For that which I do, I know not. For what I would do, that do I not. but what I hate that I do. The word do is there three times, and all three times are different words in the Greek language. That’s amazing. That little two-letter word do is three different words, kraso, paio, and katergatsamai, three different words. And what he’s saying is the things that I do, I don’t want to do them. What I want to do, I’m not doing. What I hate, that’s the things I keep doing. That’s the sin nature. And so he says in verse 16 of Romans 7, if then I do which I don’t want to do, I consider to the law, and the law is good. In other words, the law shows me that I’m wrong. So now then, it’s no longer I that do it, but sin dwelling in me. That’s the cancer in you. For I know that in me that’s in my flesh dwells no good thing. That’s why the flesh can’t go to heaven. You got to have a second birth. For to will is present. I don’t want to do good, bad, he says. To will is present with me, but how to perform that, I don’t understand. For the good that I’d like to do, I don’t do. But the evil which I don’t want to do, that’s the things that I do, verse 20. Now, if I do those things which I don’t want to do, it’s no more me that does it, but sin that dwells in me. Sin nature, volition, put them together. Put together your sin nature plus your volition equals failure. Your sin nature plus your volition equals failure. If you respond to sin and say, yes, I will do that, you’re going to break fellowship with God and you’re going to fail. So this is part of the problem with a particular race of people known as Christians. We have the potential for failure. We can fail very easily. But that’s why you have a flat line in your soul. And that’s why rebound gives you the ability to overcome the slavery to your sin nature. You don’t have to be addicted to any sin, regardless of what it might be. And there’s a lot of them I could mention. I don’t know what your particular sin is. I don’t know the sin that you keep going back to, but if you’re addicted to it, you’re not going to be able to quit sinning for the rest of your life. No one has that ability. But anyone who accepted Christ as Savior has a way to deal with the sin and deal with the times that we fail by committing personal sin. I mean, even King David in the Old Testament had to deal with his personal sin. Listen to what he wrote in Psalm 42, 42, four and five of the book of Psalm. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. The sap of my soul was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. That’s the same as 1 John 1.9 for us. He recovered fellowship with God by confessing his sin and not hiding it. When you sin, the worst thing you could do is act like you didn’t do it, to try to hide it from God, to try to cover it up. It doesn’t work that’s like you trying to go into some store and steal something, stick it under your shirt and walk out with it and you get caught. You’re not going to get away with it with God. But listen, God doesn’t hold grudges. But I will promise you this, his justice will correct you when you fail to acknowledge your sin through rebound. That correction comes by warning discipline, intense discipline, and eventually could be dying discipline. So God’s not going to let you get away with sin because the Bible says if we’re his child, he will discipline us, Hebrews 12. So our values, those things that we live by, those things that we make dear, those things we hold up in front of us, they make us very vulnerable to criticism and complaints from the lost man. What is your mindset? Paul wrote it in Philippians 121. For to me, living is Christ and dying is game. Now, with that kind of attitude, you’re going to be very vulnerable to criticism by people that don’t understand that. Because the average unbeliever fears the unknown of death, whereas you have the assurance of a bodily resurrection. You will be resurrected from the grave, you will have a resurrection body, and you will live forever in a body minus the cancer of the sin nature. No more sin nature. And you will be face-to-face with your Heavenly Father. In Philippians 4.12, Paul talks about how he lives. Listen to what he said about his lifestyle. And this is what makes people criticize us or complain about us. I know how to be abased. and I know how to have abounding luxury wealth. Everywhere and in everything, I’m instructed both to be full and even to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. So here’s two significant statements. Philippians 1.21, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. And Ephesians 4.13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. No wonder you’re vulnerable to criticism and complaint because you don’t think like the world thinks. And when they look at you in this idiotic faith lifestyle you live, believing that the Lord Jesus Christ can guide you and uphold you and strengthen you, they’re going to complain and criticize about you. You know, the unbeliever fears death. That’s true. He doesn’t understand it. But the mature believer, which I hope is you, uses all of these 10 unique problem-solving devices called a FLOT line to overcome adversity and overcome stress, things that are related to worry and insecurity. You can have victory over that. You can overcome that. How? By using grace orientation, biblical orientation, having a personal sense of destiny, having a personal love for God, sharing the happiness of God, occupation with Christ, all these doctrines that we talk about on the FLOT lines. So your message to the unbeliever seems to make you crazy. They take a look at you and say, man, that’s a religious nut. In 1 Corinthians 1.18, for the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those of us who are saved, it’s the power of God. Yeah, they think you’re foolish. I mean, they make fun of, you know, that’s your savior died on a cross, hung on a tree. How could that be God? Well, when he walked out of the grave, he proved he was God. They all thought he was dead, but he wasn’t. He walked out of the grave alive. He’s alive today, seated at the right hand of the Father, and he awaits the shouted order to return and pick you and I up. He’s coming back, and we will go back with him. So we can overcome these adversities and stress-related sins in our life by using the flatline. Again, Paul said, I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. It doesn’t make any difference. I can do anything, all things, everything through Christ who strengthens me. So again, your message to the unbeliever makes them think you’re crazy. The preaching of the cross is foolishness. There’s the word foolishness to those who perish. They may say, you’re telling me that all I’ve got to do to go to heaven is to believe in Christ. Well, what about, don’t I have to work for it? Don’t I have to be good? Don’t I have to quit sinning? Don’t I have to join the church? Don’t I have to get baptized? Don’t I have to do this or that or the other thing? No. The power of the cross has been accomplished already. Christ died for my sins and your sins already. I can’t go to God and make it any more forgiving. It’s already forgiven, already done. I can only come to Christ and through Christ. If any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away. All things become new. So what’s unique about God is you don’t have to be a genius to work for him. Aren’t you glad? You don’t have to be a genius to work for God. I can go amen to that. Listen to 1 Corinthians 1.26. For you see in your calling, brethren, how not many wise men, according to the flesh, and not many mighty, and not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. Isn’t that amazing? That way God gets the credit. God can take the simple-minded, simple person and make a biblical hero out of him. And that’s what God can do for you. God can use you. You don’t have to be a IQ genius. You don’t have to have a PhD in theology for God to use you. When I got saved, I didn’t have a college degree. I still don’t have a college degree. but I have been in the ministry for 54 years. I have spoken in thousands of high schools and done hundreds of radio shows and been in hundreds of churches. God took a big idiot like me. And when I learned his plan and got under my pastor, started studying the word of God and learned his plan, then he gave me a venue to teach that plan. And part of the venue is what you’re listening to today is called the flight line. The only reason I have a radio show is because I know what I’m talking about. I’m not trying to manipulate you, not trying to appeal to your emotions, not trying to run around in a circle with you. I’m just teaching you straight up what the Bible says. Your destiny is beyond what the unbeliever can even comprehend. He cannot even comprehend what awaits you. In 1 Corinthians 2, 9, but as it is written, the eye has not seen… nor hath the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those that love him. Wow. That’s your destiny. No one’s seen it. No one’s heard it. You’re going to see colors you never saw. You’re going to hear sounds you’ve never heard. You’re going to see the most amazing things when you get face to face with God. When you come into your eternal life, it will be something you’ve never experienced before. Not even close. You don’t realize it right now, but you’re living in a sewer. And when you get to heaven, if God said, you want to go back to earth and stay a few more years, you’re going to say, no way, I don’t want to go back to that sewer. It’s an amazing thing. So our uniqueness makes us peculiar. It’s in our position. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. Colossians 1 27 to them, God would make known what are the riches of his glory. of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Jesus Christ lives in you. He’s the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament. And your body is now the temple to the Holy Spirit and Christ lives in you. So what’s unique about us is our position. We are in Christ and Christ is in us. And then our uniqueness lies in the power we have. Ephesians 1.17, I pray that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of him with the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened so that you will know what is the confidence of his calling and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. You will know things that other people don’t know. That’s the power that comes from being a believer. the power that comes from learning God’s word. It’s called the spirit of wisdom and revelation through the knowledge of him. And the eyes of your understanding will be opened up and you will see things. Our uniqueness lies in our prayer life. Ephesians 6, 18, praying always with all prayer, all supplication in the spirit, not out of fellowship, in the spirit. watching thereto with all perseverance and supplication for every member of the family of God. Our uniqueness lies in the provisions that God has given to us. Take unto you the whole armor of God, Ephesians 6.11, so that you will be able to stand against the strategy of the devil. God has given you wonderful provisions. God has given you everything you need, the armor of God, the belt plate of righteousness, the breath to truth, the shield of faith. All of these are major Bible doctrines you must learn. You must understand. You must take advantage of what God has equipped you to do and how God has prepared you. These are provisions God gave to you. I just gave you one verse, 611, Ephesians 611. But read it, 611 through 17, and you’ll see everything he gives you. in the forms of a military metaphor that Paul used. So the unbeliever, the disadvantaged person, I call it, he or she has no insight, no discernment into the way that Satan manipulates them or satanic strategy. But I can tell you this, the number one satanic strategy in the world is organized religion. Why? Because it gives a false sense of security in regard to future events. Religion is the narcotic that deadens the mind of the non-Christian. And we understand from the Bible that Satan’s major objective is twofold, to blind the mind of the unbeliever so he won’t accept Christ. And if they do believe in Christ, to hinder their function and execution of the protocol plan of God, in other words, to distract you in every way possible from and keep you from ever making the word of God your number one priority in your life. So he does it by establishing a system of religion in which the works of mankind replace the function and the mechanics of the grace of God. So he hides the truth. 2 Corinthians 4, 3 and 4, if our gospel has been veiled, it’s hidden, or veiled to those that are going to perish. In whose case the God of this world, Satan, has blinded the thinking of those who are unbelievers. So they won’t see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who’s the image of God. That’s what he does. He puts blinders on the unbeliever. But you and I are protected in two different sources. The ministry of the Holy Spirit, John 14, 26, called the comforter. The Father sends him, Jesus said in my name, and he’ll teach you all things and bring to remembrance the things I’ve told you. We have that protection from the Holy Spirit and through the living word of God. Hebrews 4.12, the word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of the center of the soul and the spirit and to the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. As you can understand easily, a mature believer is a very unique individual. unique advantages of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and you and I are set apart, empowered, and guided into the most fantastic life God has provided, and that’s you having a flatline in your soul. If you never grow to spiritual maturity, you’ll never understand this. You’ll always be at a severe disadvantage in the devil’s world. I want you to understand you will miss out on generous blessings that God offers you if you don’t grow to spiritual maturity. And those blessings are found in eternity in Revelation 2.7, Revelation 2.10, Revelation 2.17, Revelation 2.28, Revelation 3.5, Revelation 3.12, Revelation 3.21. I didn’t read them. I don’t have time. You can take your Bible and read Revelation 2 and 3 and see the blessings God has for you in eternity. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. I poured out my heart to you. I hope it’s challenging you today. This is your host, Rick Hughes, host of The Flight Line, hoping to hear from you, and you’ll come back next week, same time, same place. Until then, God bless.

SPEAKER 01 : 27:13

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.