In this episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes dives deep into understanding how we can all achieve genuine peace in our lives. Drawing from Philippians, he unveils the divine prescription for overcoming stress and turmoil. By aligning our thoughts with truth, honesty, and justice, we can stabilize our minds and lead a life free from worry and anxiety. Explore how doctrinal teachings can transform your perspectives and relationships, even in challenging environments.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, stick around. It won’t be long. Only about 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education. all done without any type of manipulation. That means we don’t try to sell you something. We’re not gonna ask you for money. We’re not gonna try to ask you to join up, give it up, fess it up, nothing like that. But I will ask you to listen, listen up. Listen as I try to verify and identify God’s plan for your life. And if I can do that, and you agree with that, then you can orient and adjust to the plan. That’s up to you. But my job is to come here every Sunday, bring you this Flatline Radio Show, and this makes 1,060 Sundays we’ve been on the air. Excuse me for a minute, I had to take a swallow. 1,060 Sundays we’ve been broadcasting the Flatline Radio Show. I remind you of our website, rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org, and you can go there and see the latest books we have to offer for you. We’re coming out with a new book now called Understanding Your Soul, and I hope you’ll take an opportunity to order that book. It’s free like all our other products. We don’t charge for anything, and it’s always the grace of God that makes it available to you. So thank you for listening. A lot to talk about. A lot to say. Lots going on in the world today. But I want to talk to you this morning about having peace in your life. Having genuine, real, true peace in your life. You know, we come up in the holiday season and a lot of people be frustrated. A lot of people don’t have peace because of family issues. But is there a way that you can live with peace in your brain, in your head, you know, where you’re not frustrated, where you’re not angry, where you’re not jealous, whatever you want to say. Is there a way to live where you can actually have peace in your life? Paul said in Philippians 4, 7, there is a way to live with peace. He said this, and the peace of God, that’s where it comes from. It’s not something you manufacture. The peace of God which passes all comprehension will keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Now he wrote this to a church that wasn’t having much peace. There was something going on in the church at Philippi between two ladies. And it had spilled over into the congregation. We’ll talk about that shortly. What was going on was really dividing and splitting the church. And if they didn’t stop it, it would probably split the whole church altogether. And so the verses that I want to read to you are what Paul wrote in Philippians 4, 8 through 9, to that congregation to show them how to deal with the frustration they may have and how to have peace over everything. He said in Philippians 4, 8, finally, brethren, whatever things are true, that’s the first key, truth. If you can’t thank truth, you never have peace. That’s the number one key, learning to thank truth. Then he said whatsoever things are honest. We’ll see what that word is in just a minute. And whatever things are just, and by the way, this is not something you do all at one time. You can pick one of these out, and if you’re having a certain issue, you can just focus on that one. Whatever things are just, there’s another one, justice. Whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are good report. If there’s any virtue, if there’s any praise, then think about these things. These things, what he just gave them there, true, honest, just, pure, lovely, these things you have both learned, in other words, they’ve been taught these doctrines, and you received them, and you heard them and you saw them in me, so now you do them, and the God of peace shall be with you. So he wasn’t telling them something they didn’t already know. He’s already been taught this to this congregation. They’ve seen him use these same attitudes in his own life, and he’s telling them, if you’ve seen me do it, you can do it also. They’ve learned this information from Paul, and they have applied what they learned in the past as well as watching Paul’s behavior. And now it’s a different time. There’s a turmoil going on in the church. This is how the Apostle Paul’s closing words to the church at Philippi are written. He communicates how to purge your thoughts from worry and from other stress-related sins. Self-centered thinking. Listen to what I just said. Self-centered thinking. You must avoid that. And that comes from having an unrealistic self-image about who you are and what you’re really worth. Do you have an unrealistic self-image? Do you look in the mirror? The person you see, is that the real you? No. The person you see is what everybody else sees, but the real you is what you think. So the arrogant individual is always trying to straighten you out. Some person with arrogance is going to tell you how you’re supposed to live your life. And once that person assumes you don’t have all the facts, they’ll be glad to tell them to you. In fact, they go to great efforts to correct the way you’re thinking. And that’s an arrogant individual with an arrogant mindset. You cannot afford to get like that. None of this will work if you’re full of unrealistic self-image. You won’t recognize truth. You won’t understand how to be honest. You never will treat people justly. You won’t live pure. You won’t live lovely. So for the mature Christian, there’s a better way to think than what the world offers you. Instead of worrying about something or being bitter about something, you can stuff those sins back in the box. Do you hear me? Stuff those sins back in the box. How do you do that? by using the divine prescription that God has given to you in the verses that I just read to you. A divine prescription is how you think. If you use what I’m about to tell you, then you’ll find a great way to live And Paul tells you that in Philippians 4, 7. The peace of God will rule your hearts. It goes beyond understanding. And it will keep you. So here we go. Let’s look at the divine prescription. You know, it’s the time of year when you have to go to the doctor and get a shot, get some antibiotics. Well, this is the divine prescription. I call it spiritual antibiotics for living with a relaxed mental attitude or shall we say having a healthy mindset. He starts off by writing to the church. Remember, he had left now. He’s on the road. He’s going to have to send back Epaphroditus to go back and reteach some of these things so the church doesn’t split. But he says here, whatever things are true, That original Greek word for true is alethes, alethes, alethes, A-L-E-T-H-E-S. And that’s a descriptive adjective from the root word aletheia. It is the most common use of this noun. And it refers to something that’s accurate, whatever’s accurate, whatever’s truth, whatever’s correct. One thing that will destroy a local church is when inaccurate doctrine is taught. And you must understand, Satan will never tell you the truth. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, said he’s a liar from the beginning. He’s not going to tell you the truth. I mean, he told Eve, go and eat that fruit. God didn’t really mean that. You can’t trust what God said. Trust what I said. Eat the fruit. It’ll help you. He’s a liar. One thing that will destroy a local church is when an inaccurate Bible doctrine is taught. how does it get in there it is brought into the congregation by some well-meaning member a lot of times a female member as it is here if that individual can rally a following then they wind up having a church within a church so you have a pastor trying to teach the word of god And you have another individual trying to teach the Word of God on the other side of the building and getting a bunch of people around them. And then you have a church within a church, and that’s a disaster. Because there can only be one authority in a local church, and I wonder if it’s like this in your church. Does your pastor have authority to teach the Word of God, and do people listen to him, or are there other people in the congregation teaching what they want to teach? And if there’s a question that comes up, which one do you go to? Do you go to the pastor, or do you go to this other person? Because it’s the pastor teacher’s job to be the authority of the local church. And that authority is established by teaching what is true, what is accurate. That’s what this passage says. Things that are true, think about these things. Things that are honest, think about these things. There can only be one authority in a local church, and that’s the pastor. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ prayed this prayer in John 1, 17. Sanctify them through thy truth, because thy word is truth. Here, our Lord Jesus Christ is praying for his converts and for their protection from satanic forces. The great enemy of those early converts was organized religion or legalism. The scribes and the Pharisees were very legalistic. And the same is very true today. Unless you get accurate Bible instructions regarding the Christian life, you will be captured by the lie that Satan throws out, which is one of two things. It’s either going to be salvation by works. In other words, you can save yourself by being a good little boy. Or it’s going to be spirituality by works. In other words, you’re a great Christian because you don’t cuss and you don’t drink and you don’t smoke and you don’t do bad things. So spirituality by works and salvation by works is the big lie that filters into a congregation. Unless the pastor stomps that out, unless the pastor stuffs that stuff back in the box, people will be captured by this false doctrine. So according to Paul, every member must be grounded in true doctrinal concepts. Every person in that church. So the next word he used was what? Whatsoever things are true and whatsoever things are honest. The Greek word semnos comes from the verb sibo. It means to be revered, honorable. And this implies a clear thinking. It means individuals who respect God and are trustworthy. The same word is used in 1 Timothy 3.8 and 3.11 and referring to deacons and their wives in a church. The same word. Honest. Lying to other people is a sin. But lying to yourself is a character flaw. It’s a character flaw of arrogance and unrealistic self-image. So if you want to have peace in the middle of a turmoil situation, you have to what? You have to think about those things that are true. You have to be honest. Think about those things that are honest. And think about those things that are just, the Greek word dikaios, just. That’s a descriptive adjective meaning things that are fully conformed to the will of God. Think about the justice of God. God is absolutely just. Man is absolutely unjust. God has what we call plus R, and you and I have what we call minus R. He’s positive righteousness, and we’re minus righteousness. There are none that are righteous, no, not one, the Bible says. So the perfect righteousness of God rejects all of our righteousness as a filthy rag. And the justice of God judges us. So what Paul is saying here, if you want to deal with things in your life and have peace, concentrate on things that are true, concentrate on things that are honest, concentrate on things that are just. You don’t have to do it all at one time. You can do it one at a time, as I said. So it’s very clear. You have to be careful. Whatever things are just, kaios, righteous, fully conformed to the will of God. Think about the justice of God and what the justice of God rejects, the righteousness of God judges. And then he said whatever things are pure. Pure, what’s that mean? It’s the Greek word hagnos, means sacred, free of carnality, innocent, clean. Impure thoughts. Don’t let sin reign in your mortal body any longer, Romans 6.12. Mortal bodies, mortal thoughts are not pure. So you have to learn how not to let your sin nature have domination over you. And it’s in your mind. That’s where he operates. That’s where the sin nature takes charge. The sin nature will plant a seed of thought in your mind, and that thought will grow and mature into a desire, and that desire becomes an action. And that action is going to be sin. So either you’re going to sin or you’re not going to sin. Either you’re going to respond to the thought or quench the thought and put it out, stuff it back in the box. And if you want to do that, you have to learn how to think about whatever things are pure. free of carnality innocent clean that’s a wonderful mind free of lust you know there’s a lot of different lust patterns we talked about this before there’s power lust politicians demonstrate that there’s sexual lust we know about that there’s approbation lust that’s yearning for attention there’s power lust it’s not just financial lust it’s not just sex lust it’s a lot of different lust So you have to think about the things that are pure, not the lust pattern. Then he goes on to say whatever things are lovely, Whatever things are lovely. What does that mean? Prospheles is the Greek word. Prospheles. And it means whatever things are acceptable and pleasing to look at, to observe. You know, the thoughts of a person can be real ugly. But God wants you to have clean, pure, truthful, just thoughts in your brain. If you don’t want to have worry, if you don’t want to have bitterness, if you don’t want to have frustration, this is the way you have to think. And Paul is giving them the divine prescription, which is a spiritual antibody that Satan, so you can combat what Satan is trying to do, capture your thoughts. So he said if there’s any good report about these things, any virtue, any praise, then think about these things. That’s where your mind needs to concentrate. You might wonder why Paul would mandate that the church members focus their attention on the things that he’s prescribed here. Listen to Isaiah 26.3. You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee. Right there you have positive volition, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee, that’s the faith rest drill, standing on the promises of God. So if you want to have peace in your life, it has to be positive volition, and you have to concentrate on what God is giving you in the scriptures. And this is the verse. You need to read this over and over and over again this week. If you’re in a church where there’s frustration, where there’s competition, where there’s inordinate ambition, you need to read this. Whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, good report, virtuous, these are the things you think about. Perhaps Paul is advising them to ignore the conflict going on in the church between these two ladies and instead focus on correct doctrinal application. Listen to Philippians 3.2. I beseech you, Odias, and I beseech Syntyche, that they have the same mind in the Lord. Prepositional phrase, in the Lord. In other words, they need to think alike. And obviously, they are not thinking alike right now. Well, what are they thinking about? Well, one of them is thinking about false doctrine, I assure you. And they’re trying to rally others to be with them and be on their side. It’s obvious these two ladies are not on the same page doctrinally. Maybe not on the same page emotionally either. But their differences may be threatening the whole church. And this is often how churches split. And it’s how it happens. Because two women in the congregation cannot agree, and unfortunately their husbands can’t control them. Now you see, Satan is seeking to use this fractured relationship to destroy the Philippine church, and this is why it’s so important that Paul had to get Epaphroditus back down there to teach them the things they should remember. So let’s go through some principles this morning before we wrap it up. Here’s the first principle. Your approach to life and the effectiveness of your biblical standards are dependent on what you think. Your approach to life and your effectiveness of biblical standards is dependent on what you think. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is, the Bible says. Remember, listen, this is a play on words I’m about to give you now. Listen, you are what you think. You are not what you think you are. You are what you think. You are not what you think you are. In Proverbs 23, 7, the verse said, as I just quoted, for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. The interesting thing about it is that God can read your mind. He knows what you’re thinking, and you’re not going to pull the wool over God’s eyes. So your physical health, here’s the third principle. Your physical health can be affected by what you think. It’s called psychostomatics. Your physical health can be affected by what you think. It’s called psychosomatics. What is psychosomatics? Well, it means this, that you can actually wear yourself sick. Mental tension will eventually overflow into your physical body. That’s a true thing. Doctors can tell you that. So if you don’t want to get sick, then don’t think about things that are not true. Don’t think about things that are not honest. Don’t think about things that are not pure. Don’t think about things that are not virtuous. How do you stop doing that? Because when they pop up in your brain, that is your sin nature planting a seed, trying to get it to grow into a lust. If you don’t stop it, if you don’t stuff it back in the box, It’ll grow into a lust and you will fulfill that lust and you’ll break fellowship with God by sinning. So what the Apostle Paul is saying is that in point four here, the readers of his letter he’s writing back need to stabilize their thoughts. They need to stabilize their mentality. Quit thinking like they’re thinking. So here’s another point, point five. The effective Christian life requires you and I to think divine viewpoints. not human viewpoint. Human viewpoint is the emotional highs and lows that people go through, but we don’t live by our emotions. Emotions are always reactionary, but we don’t live reactionary. We live by responding. We respond to the truth. And it gives us the peace that passes all understanding. So if you want to have the kind of life God is talking about here, you have to learn how to think in divine viewpoint. And that’s the true, virtuous, just things that we’re talking about in verses eight and nine. And here’s another thing you need to understand, another principle that’s critical for you to learn. A new Christian must undergo a renovation of his thinking. When I got saved, I had to learn how to think a different way. And it didn’t happen overnight. It happened over a period of years. But Romans 12 says, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, changing the way you think, so that you can prove now what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So that’s the job of the believer is to learn how to think accurately. bible doctrine it’s called divine viewpoint and that’s part of that whatever is pure whatever is true whatever is just that’s what it is exactly what it is and that’s your secret to having peace in your life if you want to have it if if your thinking doesn’t line up with the biblical attitude of divine viewpoint then you’re going to need to rebound, confess the sin, 1 John 1, 9, and recover very quickly or else you’ll be certain to do something very dumb, very stupid. As you know, you’ve done it before, so you know what I’m talking about. So when that seed gets planted in your brain and it wants to sprout up into a lust, then you need to put it back in the box. Confess it to God, rebound, carry on. A stable mindset, next principle, is free from fear, replacing it with faith rest. In 2 Timothy 1.7, the Bible clearly says, God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. The word sound mind is sophronismos, sophronismos in the Greek, and it means self-control, a stable mindset. A sound mind is a steadfast attitude in the face of adversity. So if you want to replace the way you think with your emotions, which is not thinking but rather reacting, Then you have to learn to think divine viewpoint. How do you think divine viewpoint? Well, I just gave it to you in Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 and 9. Whatever things are pure, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely, the good report, things that are virtuous, that’s divine viewpoint. The greatest freedom in your life, the secret here I want to give you, is understanding grace orientation. Because grace orientation frees you from trying to earn your salvation by a system of good deeds. And grace orientation gives you the ability to grace out other people that you choose to grace out. It could be a person who’s an antagonist. It could be a person who has a need. But if you will use some personal love, which is a problem-solving device that we have under the 10 problem-solving devices, then you can provide grace for both of them. See, what is grace? Grace means all things that God is free to do for you, including salvation, through faith, and it’s absolutely free, a free gift So, isn’t that a wonderful thing? Apart from any human merit, any system of human works that are never merited, never earned by mankind, it’s grace. If you’re bitter, that’s a lack of grace. Because bitterness is the number one system of self-deception. It results from reaction to people, situations, circumstances. It’s a sign of you having your eyes on people rather than on the Lord. Because grace orientation simply implies that you treat others the way God treats you. For example, you do not have to learn, earn God’s love. He loves you just like you are. Because 1 John 4, 10 says, herein is the love, not that we love God, but he loved us first. And he sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. The very power that sustains grace orientation in your life is virtue love. John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. This virtue love is phenomenal. So when you use grace orientation towards someone who doesn’t deserve it, then you are in effect using virtue love. don’t have time for the other stuff because the bible says let this mind be in you that was also in christ jesus so when you can live your life not being distracted by people when you can live your life thinking the right way then you will enjoy grace orientation grace thinking all of it comes from the truth of the word of god and subsequent grace actions in your life Did you get it? I hope so. I had a lot more to cover, but I just don’t have the time. Please come back next week, same time, same place. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flood Line.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
