SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:24

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stay with me. It won’t be long, about 30 minutes of some motivation, some inspiration, some education. And as we always say, there is no manipulation because we’re not trying to con you. We’re not going to ask you for money. We’re not going to try to sell you anything. We’re not going to solicit any membership. We just want you to listen. Listen as I try to verify and hopefully identify God’s plan for your life. If I can do that, then hopefully you will orient and adjust to the plan. That’s my desire. This is show 977 on the Flatline. That’s 52 shows a year, so you can figure out how many years we’ve been at it. Right now we’re broadcasting in about 115 cities across America, all compliments of the grace of God. What a wonderful opportunity it is to demonstrate how grace provides every need that we have without having to try to ask people for money. Always the Lord provides, and it’s wonderful to see that. I remind you of our website, rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org. There you can go to our website and see all the different books we’ve written. Our latest book, God’s Grace in Aging, has been really, really well received. So if you’re over 50, you might want to get a copy of it. It’s free, God’s Grace in Aging. Also on our website, you can listen to various books that are read to you by our announcer, Jack Steele. There’s audio books on the website, and you can listen right there on the website. And order many of the other things we have available, all for you, free of charge. So thank you for listening. Thank you for being here. This is a special day. Today is celebrated across the country as Mother’s Day. And I don’t know if you’re aware of it, but the first Mother’s Day service of worship was a celebration started by Ann Jarvis. It was held in Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. This is ironic because one of the first crusades that I did was in Grafton, West Virginia. I have been to that city. I have spoken there and been in the schools around Grafton and other places in that area. But I remember very well going to Grafton, West Virginia in the early 70s. She held that Mother’s Day celebration in 1907. And that serves as the International Mother’s Day shrine even today. Miss Anne never intended for this day to be commercialized, but to be a liturgical observance. That’s what she wanted it to be, sort of a Christian celebration. But later in the 20s, Hallmark Cards started selling Mother’s Day cards, and the emphasis began to be on profit, not on sentiment. So I want to tell you today, if your mother is still living, may I suggest one thing to you? In the famous words of the Christian comedian Dennis Swanberg, hug your mother, hug your mother. This morning in recognition of the day, I’d like to talk about mothers in the Bible. Being a mother is certainly one of the most difficult positions in life, but it’s also one of the most rewarding if, that’s if, the children learn respect for authority and become productive individuals. The Christian mother always desires mothers that her children come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and their Lord. In Psalm 127, verse 3, the Word of God says, Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord. The fruit of the womb is a reward, like arrows in the hand of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. If we go back to the first child ever born to the human parents in the Bible, we find a lady named Eve, Adam and Eve. The scriptures tell us that Eve was created to be a help for Adam. In Genesis 2, 20 through 22, verse 20 through verse 22, Adam gave names to all the cattle, to all the birds of the air, to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept, and he took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place. And then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man he made into a woman, and he brought her to the man. And we know from Scripture that Eve was deceived by Satan, who took the form of a serpent, and convinced her to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 3, 6, when the woman saw the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave it to her husband, and he ate it. This act of disobedience between these two was the first sin ever recorded in the Bible, and man has been disobeying God ever since then. But as a result of this sin, both Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden, according to Genesis 3.24. And both Adam and Eve were given divine discipline for their sin that they committed. Adam, the Bible says, was forced to provide for his own food from now on out by farming the ground. You can read about that in Genesis 3, verses 17 and 19. And Eve, now that’s a different story. eve was disciplined by pain and childbirth genesis 3 16. i read it to you to the woman god said i will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception and in pain you shall bring forth children and your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you thus eve became the mother to three boys three that we know of in the Bible, Cain, Abel, and Seth, plus many others since they both lived to be over 900 years. In Genesis 5, 5, the Bible says, so all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died. Now, you keep this in mind here on Mother’s Day. because one of Eve’s children didn’t turn out so well. I don’t know how your children have turned out. My wife and I have four, and I would not say they’re perfect. We’re not perfect parents either, but by and large, they’re not criminals, and we’re proud of them. But listen to what happened to Eve. One of her sons turned out to be a murderer in Genesis chapter four, verse eight. Listen as I quote it. Cain talked with his brother Abel, And it came to pass when they were in the field that Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. That’s a murderer. He murdered his brother. That’s the last thing any mother would like for their child to do is to murder their sibling. I want you to know that every child incarcerated for murder this morning in a prison somewhere in America has a mother. A mother probably with a broken heart. Now, let me ask you a question. Has your child broken your heart? Do you have a child locked away for a crime that they committed? Well, if so, there’s still hope. One of my close associates has a tremendous prison ministry and he reaches sons and daughters like this on a daily basis. And he, through his ministry, has seen many individuals come to Christ and turn their lives around while still behind bars. So whatever you do, keep praying for your children and ask the Lord to protect them and ask the Lord to soften their hearts so they might be receptive to the gospel and receive Christ as their savior. I have written a book just for this incarcerated individual, and it’s entitled A Divine Pardon. We’ve given away thousands of them in prisons across America, and you can order this book if you’d like to have it free of charge from our website, or you can call 800-831-0718. A Divine Pardon. But oftentimes it’s in prison where a man’s heart is softened or a woman’s heart is softened. and their arrogance runs out, and now they have to have some enforced humility, not genuine humility. If they did that, they wouldn’t have done the crime and have to give the time. But enforced humility is what that prison’s all about. So here she is, a wonderful mother with three children identified, and one of them turns out to be a murderer. How would you handle that? If you were a mother and one of your children murdered one of their siblings, how would you deal with that? How do you think Eve dealt with that? The Bible doesn’t give us a clue how she dealt with it, but I know as a Christian how you would have to deal with it. You would have a broken heart and you’d have to be able to use the impersonal love concept, one of the problem-solving devices in the Bible, and be able to forgive what one of your children like that had done. But it’s almost impossible. How do you forgive your child for murdering one of your other children? Gotta be hard, gotta be tough, gotta be impossible. But I would be willing to bet that some of you listening to me today have seen that happen in your own family. You may be the mother of an incarcerated child right now. Don’t quit praying for them. Don’t quit asking the Lord to protect them. Don’t quit asking the Lord to soften their hearts so they might be receptive to the gospel and receive Christ as their Savior. Another mother we want to take a look at on this Mother’s Day has had an incredible choice to make. and her name was Jochebed, J-O-C-H-E-B-E-D, Jochebed. You say, who was Jochebed? She’s the mother of Moses. In Exodus chapter six, verse 20, Amram, that’s her husband, took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister as wife, and she bore him Aaron and Moses, two brothers, Aaron and Moses. These are the two that went back to Egypt and brought the Jews out of exile. and the years of the life of Amram were 137 years. In order to save her child from the Pharaoh’s decree, Jochebed did an amazing thing. Exodus 2.22 says this, the Pharaoh commanded all of his people, saying, every son who is born of the Jewish Hebrew children, you shall cast him into the river and kill him, and every daughter you shall save him alive. Why would he do that? Well, he made this decree because many of the male children of Israel were becoming too many, and he feared a revolt. But in order to save the life of her child Moses, Jochebed made an amazing decision. She made a small float boat and hid him in the bulrush of the river, telling her daughter, Moses’ sister, keep an eye on him, watch over him. Here’s the amazing thing. The Pharaoh’s daughter found him. The very man who decreed that all baby Hebrew boys should be killed found him. And she discovered that he was a Hebrew child due to his circumcision. In Exodus chapter two, verses five through six, listen to the story, the Bible reports. Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river and her maidens walked along the riverside. And when she saw the ark among the reeds, that’s the small float boat that Jochebed had made, she sent her maid in the water to get it. And when she opened it, she saw a child. And behold, the baby wept. And she had compassion on him. And she said, this is one of the Hebrew children. After seeing her brother discovered by the Pharaoh’s daughter, the sister was in a panic. So she comes out and offered to find a Hebrew nurse for the child. And the daughter told Moses’ mother what had happened, and the mother came and offered to assist Pharaoh’s daughter in caring for Moses. In Exodus 2, 9 through 10, listen how the Lord handled this. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you wages. So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. And so she called his name Moses saying, I named him Moses because I drew him out of the water. So what turned out to be a terrible decision turned out to be a wonderful decision, and God spared his life. And you’ll know more about Moses later on. By the way, Jochebed’s son Moses also committed murder. In Exodus 2, 11 through 12, you can read about once Moses discovered that he was actually a Jew, not an Egyptian. He took revenge on an Egyptian that were torturing Jewish prisoners, and he murdered him. And he had to flee the country, and he left Egypt and went for 40 years to the backside of the desert. And he was 80 years old when God called him to come back and bring the children out of exile. So this is a tale of two mothers. One of those mothers gave up a child to save its life. The other mother took in a child in spite of the risks that she faced. Maybe you’re a mom who’s had to give up a child for adoption. Both my wife and I spent much of our childhood with foster parents and guardians. We understand how they can be tough, but also it can be a wonderful, great blessing. Notice how the grace of God provided in these circumstances. Because I want you to remember that God does not turn his back on children. He never does that. He does not turn his back on children. Both mothers, that’s Moses’ mother, Jochebed, and Pharaoh’s daughter, were blessed by God through Moses. In Matthew 18, 10, listen to what the scripture says. Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, For I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. You can always count on that, that God is not going to forsake his children. In Mark 7, 24 through 29, we see the Lord Jesus heal a demon-possessed little girl because of the persistent faith of her mother. I’ll read it to you, listen carefully. Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know that he was there, yet he could not keep his presence secret. And in fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. She was a Greek born in Syrian Phoenicia, and she begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. The Lord Jesus first said, first let the children eat all they want. And he told her, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs. And she called him Lord, recognizing her salvation. Lord, she replied, even the dogs under the table can eat the children’s crumbs. And then he told her, for such a reply you may go. The demon has left your daughter. If you’re a Christian mother and you have a child out of control, a child maybe into drugs or a child at criminal activities, a child that almost seems to be demon-possessed because of the weird activities they’ve gotten into and know you didn’t raise them that way, You told them it’s wrong, and they’re doing it anyhow, and they’re breaking your heart. You need to be persistent with your prayers for their healing, because God still can work miracles. In 1 John 5, 14, the Bible says, this is the confidence we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. What a wonderful promise. And then the Bible says in Matthew 21, 22, and whatever thing you ask in prayer, believing you can receive. This mother, this Syrian Phoenician mother begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter, and he did it. She was persistent. She recognized the Lord’s power. Have you been persistent in praying for your children, especially for the ones that are in trouble, especially for the ones that are going against everything you taught them, everything you said to them? and they continue down what I call the my way highway, and it looks like they’re going to destroy their life. Do you consistently pray for them? First John 5, 14, Matthew 21, 22. Those three mothers are just three insights into impossible situations that mothers like yourself faced in their lifetime. But in closing, let’s not forget one other mother. Her name was Bathsheba, and she was a wife of Uriah the Hittite. He was a pretty bad dude because he was a mercenary in David’s army. And David observed her bathing one day when Uriah was in battle, and David should have been with him, but he wasn’t. He was back at Fortress Zion. And he saw her taking a bath on a rooftop. And he went and he got her. He brought her to where he was. And whether he raped her or whether he convinced her, I don’t know, but he had sex with her. And he impregnated her unknowingly to her husband. In order to cover his sin, David had to sacrifice the life of Uriah in battle. And then he took Bathsheba to be his wife. So he devised a devious plot to have Uriah killed in battle so he wouldn’t know that he had gotten his wife pregnant. And then he took Bathsheba to be his wife. In 2 Samuel 11, 27, when her mourning was over, that’s for the loss of her husband, David sent and brought her to his house and she became his wife. and she bore him a son. Here’s the mother part. But the thing that David had done displeased God, and that child did not survive childbirth. In 2 Samuel 12, 16 through 18, David therefore pleaded with God for the child, And David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground. So the elders of his house arose and went to him to raise him up from the ground, but he would not get up, nor did he even want to eat any food. And then on the seventh day, it came to pass that the child died. That innocent child is in heaven today, as a matter of fact. And if you are a mother that has lost a child in birth or lost a child in early life, rest assured that that child is in heaven due to the grace of God. David even stated in 2 Samuel 12, 23, I shall go to him, but he shall not come back to me. This is a wonderful thing about the grace of God. Before a child ever reaches the age of accountability, if something happens and they pass away, they go straight to heaven. They do not have to pass go, they go straight to heaven. And there, they’re in the presence of the Lord. David and Bathsheba actually had another son after this baby died, and that son’s name was Solomon. He was the wisest king that ever lived in Israel and the author of several Old Testament books like Proverbs, Song of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. So never underestimate what God can do. As the old Christian hymn says, it’s no secret what God can do. I’ll quote it to you. It says, it’s no secret what God can do. What he’s done for others, he can do for you. With arms wide open, he’ll pardon you. It’s no secret what God can do. Any mistakes you might have made as a parent can always be forgiven in Christ Jesus. In any wayward child can be reached through the love of God. This day could be the first day of the rest of your life if you will make a decision to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive him as your savior. That’s a wonderful thing you can do. If you need any sort of help in guarding that, you can always contact us through our website. But this could be the first day of the rest of your life. I’d like for you to remember that. I don’t know if you have trusted Christ as your Savior. We have no idea who’s listening today. With 115 cities and major cities like Philadelphia and Houston and San Antonio and Dallas and San Diego and Tucson and Phoenix, I mean, we’re in some large cities. The potential for millions of people to hear this message. you’re listening today maybe in your car maybe at home maybe on the radio have you ever trusted christ to be your savior have you made that decision to put your faith in him because if you haven’t you’re wasting your life i know there’s not a lot of young people listening this morning they normally don’t get up early but most of you listening are older like me you’re older you may be 50 or older Do you know if you were to die today that you’d go to heaven? Do you know that for sure? Do you have that confidence for sure? Or can you even know it for sure? Well, I think you can because the Bible says these things are written so that you might know that you have eternal life. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Mother’s Day became the first day of the rest of your life? If Mother’s Day became the day that you believed in Jesus Christ and received him as your Savior, you could do it right now, right where you are, right where you sit. The Bible says, whosoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. And in a moment, the twinkling of an eye, a simple prayer of faith will bring you into the presence of God. How do I know that? Because the Bible promises that God would listen. He’s not going to turn you down. He’s not going to not hear you if you come to him and you want to get this squared away. Now’s a great time to do it. And in regards to your children, maybe you’ve made mistakes like I’ve made mistakes as parents. For a good part of my life, as my wife and I raised our children, she was coaching and I was traveling. Actually, probably 25 weeks a year, I was on the road speaking in various schools. Remember, I started speaking in the ministry in 1969. And you can count how many years ago that was. And since that time in 1969, I have traveled to hundreds of schools, spoken in thousands of assemblies, as well as hundreds of churches and other venues. And so, you know, I’ve made mistakes with my own children, not being there for them sometimes. So what do you do if you made a mistake? What if you do, if you accidentally judge the child for something they didn’t do? You can always go to your Lord and do exactly what the Bible says. If we confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That’s the number one problem-solving device for any Christian. The last thing God wants you to do is carry around a guilt complex about some mistakes you made raising your children up. So if you’re a mother that’s made a mistake, first of all, go to the Lord and admit it. Go to the Lord and tell him what you’ve done. Maybe your child watched you have an affair. Maybe your child watched you fight with your husband. Maybe your child got pushed out of the way because you had other plans. If you find yourself in that situation, go to God and confess your sin if you’re a Christian. Because the Bible is clear, this is how we get filled with the Holy Spirit. You can’t live the Christian life without the filling of the Holy Spirit. And if you’re a mother and you have children, understand this. The two most important things for you are to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to plant the word of God deep into the souls of your children so that when they grow up, they won’t abandon it and they won’t turn away from it. They will remember these things. That’s your number one priority, to plant the word of God into the soul of your child. This means you’re preparing them at God Consciousness for gospel hearing. And you need to do that through the filling of the Holy Spirit. You can’t be a mother, an effective Christian mother, without being filled with the Holy Spirit. You can’t get mad when your children disappoint you. You can’t react, you can’t yell, you can’t scream, you can’t holler. You have to learn how to love them and how to forgive them. That’s very critical for you to do that. So when you find yourself getting out of fellowship and mad at your children, confess your sin to God and he will forgive you. And then operate under what we call the faith rest drill. Problem solving device number three. How do you do that? Well, you take the promises of God, and some of them we’ve read you today about prayer, and you believe them and you claim them. God will answer your prayer. He’s not going to forsake your children. And if you, like this woman, this Phoenician woman, if you go to the Lord in prayer at his feet, asking him for that miracle, he can do it. He can do it. He can change the heart of your child. He can change the future of their life. He can forgive them for their sin if they’ll come and confess their sin to him and receive him as their savior. It’s the simplest thing in the world to do. Many children that are Christian children have gone astray. Maybe you raised your child in church. Maybe you taught your child the word of God and they’ve gone astray. They turn their back on everything you’ve told them and now they’re going down the my way highway as we said earlier. Go to the Lord and lift them up and persistently pray for them. Ask the Lord to reveal to them what they’re doing because the only way they’re ever gonna turn around is be convinced by the Holy Spirit they’re wrong. That’s your job. Pray, pray, pray. I hope you’re listening to me and I hope you’ll do that. Because without this persistent prayers of a mother and a dad, sometimes our children don’t have a chance. They don’t have an opportunity. My wife and I have raised four children. We’ve seen that in our own life. We know exactly what it takes, and it’s not easy, not easy at all. Many of our children are grown now, but we still have to keep praying for them, still have to talk to them on a daily basis, still have to remind them of the scriptures of the word of God so that they won’t turn their back on the Lord. What do you think? Are you a mother? Have you trusted Christ as your Savior? Is your mother still living? If she is, I hope you’ll hug your mother. I wish mine was still alive. My wife wishes her mother was still alive, but they’re not. They’ve gone to be with the Lord, and we know that we’re next in line ourselves. Then our children will have to learn to stand on their own two feet. So whatever you do on this Mother’s Day, if your mother’s still alive, hug your mother. Tell your mother you love her. Let her know how much you appreciate her, and she will be really, really, really appreciative that you did that. Okay? Well, I hope this has encouraged you, and I hope you’ll come back next week. Same time, same place, same channel. So until then, I’m your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.

SPEAKER 01 : 27:12

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.