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 : 0:23

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and no solicitation. That’s right, we’re not trying to sell you anything. We’re not going to ask you for anything. We’d just like for you to listen. Listen as I try to verify and identify God’s unique plan for your life. If I’m able to do that and you can comprehend the plan, then you can orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like. But remember, God gave you two ends. I always tell you this. One end you sit with, the other end you think with. And success in life depends on which one of those ends you use. As they say, heads you win, tails you lose. So consider that. It’s the greatest thing in the world is for you to learn how to think God’s divine viewpoint, how to learn to think God’s plan. As the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. learning to think like he thought. Today, I want to go into something that’s pretty interesting, I think, for you. I may be able to identify a reason that you’re still here. I think I’ve been able to identify that reason for me, and I’d just like to thank you for listening. Thank you for giving me your time. We’re working on 21 years of a radio show across America, close to 100 stations this morning, listening to us all the way from Maine to Hawaii. So thank you for being with us. Now we’re going into 2025. Cannot believe that. Can you believe that?

SPEAKER 1 : 1:51

2025.

SPEAKER 02 : 1:51

Did you think you’d even be alive in 2025? Well, like me, probably not. But I’d like to challenge you in regards to the reason why we are still here. Why are we still alive? Why are you still here? Why am I still here? In other words, why has God kept us around? That’s a good question, isn’t it? Why has God kept us around? I realize that most individuals who listen to this show are members of the adult generation. By that I mean you’re probably older than 50. And if that’s true, I believe it is, at least, then what I’m about to teach you today will give meaning and purpose to your very existence. So join me and let’s take a look at some scripture verses that will open the door to what our discussion will be about. The Bible says in 1 Samuel 12, 24, only fear the Lord and serve him. There’s a key. That’s what we’re going to study today. You’re serving God. Serve him in truth with all your heart, for consider what great things he has done for you. You cannot serve God and be double-minded. I remind you of that. James 1, 8 is a verse that says that. A double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. going to serve god it’s going to take single-minded purpose in your life and that’s to learn the plan of god to live the plan of god and to glorify the lord jesus christ through your way you live so this verse says what first samuel 12 24 serve him in truth remember that jesus christ our lord said i am the way the truth and the life you cannot serve god unless you come through christ And you may be the most religious person in the world, and you may be the most church-going person in the world, but if you’ve never been born again, you are not serving God, you are serving Satan because you are promoting evil. The most evil thing in the world is organized religion, and that’s what Satan uses to dupe a lot of people and to think they’re going to heaven. If you’re going to serve God, you must serve him through the Lord Jesus Christ, John 14, 26. He said, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. And then it says, serve God with all your heart, 1 Samuel 12, 24. That’s 100% commitment. That’s you not looking back. It’s you not second-guessing what you did. And then it says, consider what great things he has done for you. Well, what exactly has he done for you? A lot of great things, I can promise you that. Okay, in John 12, 26, here’s what the Lord Jesus Christ said about serving. He said, if anyone serves me, there’s that word again, let him follow me. And where I am, comma, there my servant will be also. Period. If anyone serves me, comma, him my father will honor. So the question to be asked is what does it mean to serve God? The Hebrew word for serve is a Hebrew word called Abad. It’s pronounced A-W-B-A-D, Abad. and this verb is what we call a cow stem which means to do labor or to do work but the word that our lord jesus christ used in john 12 26 was a different word than what was used in in first samuel 12 24. the word that he used in john 12 26 is diakoneo diakoneo d-i-a-k-o-n-e-o what does diakoneo mean it means to be a servant or an attendant Remember, our Lord said if, which means that a verb is potential. It means maybe you will and obviously maybe you won’t. So this verse requires you to be willing to put his needs, his desires in front of your needs and your desires. Paul identified himself as a person that did this. He called himself a slave. In Romans 1.1, Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, calling to be an apostle and singled out for God’s good news. The word that Paul used for slave is the Greek word doulos, D-O-U-L-O-S. And that means one who gives himself up to the will of another. There’s no idea of bondage here. This is a free person, a free slave, a person who was freed but chose to remain a servant and serve the master. Having been bought by Jesus Christ, Paul now is willingly bound to his new master. His old master was organized religion, persecuting and killing Christians, but now he has a new master, the Lord Jesus Christ, and he serves him as a slave, as a free slave, a doulos. you and i also have been set free from the penalty of sin and from death and we are now free to present ourselves as slaves of christ also if you wish to do so in romans 6 18 and having been set free from sin there it is you’ve been purchased out of the slave market of sin Your penalty has been removed. Christ died in your place, paid the penalty for your sin. And it says we have been set free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness. There it is. Another word for slaves of righteousness, manufacturing the righteousness of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. in romans 6 22 but now having been set free from sin there it is again and having become slaves of god there it is doulos you have your fruit to the to holiness and to everlasting life so here’s the bottom line when you got saved you got freed from an appointment with a lake of fire No longer do you have to worry about that. You put your faith and trust in Christ. He died for you, took your place on the cross, freed you from the penalty of sin and death. So now you’re free to walk away. You’re free to go live your life, whatever you want to do. Or you can make a decision to return and serve him because of your appreciation and your love for him. I’ve seen many people walk away. Yes, they’re saved. Yes, they’re going to heaven. But no, they don’t have time to learn God’s will or God’s plan for their life. They’re too busy chasing the details of life. They’ve fallen into the trap of the cosmos diabolicus, the lure of the world, thinking that happiness is related to something they have or something they possess or something they do. It’s sad to see that. People that are freed from sin and death, thanking God, thank you for saving me, God, and I’ll see you in eternity, God. The rest of the time, leave me alone. That’s exactly what they’re doing. They are believers who want God to leave them alone for the rest of their life. This is exactly what Paul the Apostle did once he encountered the living Christ on the road to Damascus. He didn’t ask God to leave him alone. He immediately, immediately set out as a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. You want to hear how quick it was? Acts 9, 20. Immediately, there it is, immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues and that he is the Son of God. Now, this is the same guy that was killing people for saying that. And all who heard him were amazed. And they said, is this not the one who killed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and has come here for the purpose that he might bring them rested and bound up back to the chief priests? That’s exactly why Saul went there, but he got converted. Saul had an appointment with God. Saul increased all the more in strength. Acts 9, 22. He increased all the more in strength and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed Son of God, proving it beyond a shadow of a doubt. This change that came over Paul was immediate because his commitment was 100% and he now knew the truth and what a fool he had been in his earlier life. See, God called Paul through a divine intervention and bestowed upon him the gift of apostleship. Likewise, he’s bestowed a gift upon you and me and your service and my service to him will function through our spiritual gifts. So let’s get a few principles about spiritual gifts, okay? What is your spiritual gift? How can you serve God if you don’t know what that is? So number one, God the Father uses the ministry of god the holy spirit for giving spiritual gifts this is one of the things that happens the moment you get saved you’re indwelled sealed and given a spiritual gift in first corinthians 12 11 but one in the same holy spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually just as he wills. So the Holy Spirit gives you the gift, but who appoints the gift to you? Well, God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the source of spiritual gifts, and this is documented in Ephesians 4, 7. To each one of us, this grace has been given according to the measure of the spiritual gift from Christ. So our Lord Jesus Christ appoints the spiritual gift to you, and the Holy Spirit instills it in your life. Three, spiritual gifts are sovereignly given by the Holy Spirit to each believer at the point of salvation. You may not even know what your spiritual gift is, but you have it. It’s there, and it may be working, and you might not even know it. So point four, in order for your gift to be effective, it requires the filling of the Holy Spirit and plus some spiritual growth to understand how it works. You can’t use your spiritual gift if you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit because that’s where the power comes from. If you have the power, the dunamis, the power of the Holy Spirit, then your gift is functioning and working. And if you have the word of God and you understand what gift you had, then you got to figure out what to do with it. In my case, i did not realize i had the gift of evangelism i did not know it i remember praying when i first got saved and reading a verse of scripture out loud to a group of kids we were all sitting around reading i was only 22 but i said pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that i may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I’m an ambassador in bonds. I never realized what I was saying, but one of the kids looked at me and said, did you hear what you just said? I had no idea I was going to be an evangelist. I went with a friend of mine who was speaking in a church one night and they gave an invitation and no one came forward. And then the preacher said, Mr. Rick, would you like to say something before we dismiss the congregation? I got up and said something. I’d only been saved a week or two, but I don’t remember what I said. But they extended the altar call, and the altars were filled up with people. We didn’t know what to do. There were so many of them. When we left there, my friend said, something’s going on with you, buddy. You’ve got a gift. I didn’t know it. It took a while to figure it out. My partner and I, we had an organization called Teen Crusades. We had our gifts backwards. He was the evangelist. I was the Bible teacher. But that’s not the way it works. An evangelist can teach the Bible. I certainly do that for you. But my gift functions greatly in front of lost people. So in order for my gift to be effective and for your gift to be effective, it requires the filling of the Holy Spirit. Point five. The category of spiritual gift which you possess is not a sign of spiritual superiority. or inferiority, because spiritual gifts are a matter of the sovereignty and the wisdom of God the Holy Spirit. So you’re not better and you’re not worse than anyone else by virtue of what your spiritual gift might be. I can tell you there are two permanent communication gifts. One of them is called the gift of pastor-teacher and the other is the gift of evangelism, which is me. so missionary is not a spiritual gift get that in your mind that’s not a spiritual gift it’s a function of the body of christ many men that are pastors become missionaries many evangelists are missionaries but simply simply put a missionary should be an evangelist who goes and evangelizes the indigenous population, teaches them basics and look for someone that can take it over and have established a local church and teach them and move on to another place, another location, not set up shop and stay there for all of his life. So there are two permanent communication gifts. I hear sometimes people say, I’ve been called into the ministry. Really, what exactly does that mean? Do you have a communication gift? Do you have the gift of pastor teacher? I pity you if you do, because that’s a life of service and study and sacrifice. Or do you have a gift of evangelism? I pity you if you do because that’s a life of travel and service and evangelism. What is your spiritual gift? It’s not singing. I promise you that. That’s not a spiritual gift. The fact that you can sing like Dolly World singer doesn’t mean you got a spiritual gift. This means you can carry a tune. There is another gift we call the administrative gift or the gift of leadership in Romans 12.8 and 1 Corinthians 12.28. That gift must be possessed by church officers and some deacons, especially chairmen of the boards of deacons, those that have standing committees. Got to have the gift of administrative leadership. And then there’s the gift of service, the gift of helps, the gift of mercy, the gift of giving. A lot of different spiritual gifts. Which one is yours? Why did God keep you around? To use your spiritual gift so that he can glorify Lord Jesus Christ through your life and through the use of your gift. If you’re still alive, God still has a plan for you. The gift of helps, helps, H-E-L-P-S, helps, is found in 1 Corinthians 12, 28. And it is possessed by thousands of believers. this gift is very important because it’s this gift that makes the royal family tick it is the most sustaining gift in the church and it provides real stability for a local congregation and it will function automatically once you reach spiritual self-esteem begin to grow spiritually get some maturity And also the gift of showing mercy, a wonderful gift. Christian service is a gift of showing mercy, helping people. Helping people that have been mistreated. And that’s part of the gift of hospitality. And then there’s the gift of giving. Oh my goodness, what an amazing gift this is. I’ve been in the ministry well over 50 years and every nickel I’ve gotten has come from people that have given me finances, given me gifts. They had the gift of giving, not all of them, but most of them do. And it’s amazing to watch it, see it happen. Because if you don’t ask for money and you don’t beg for money, then you know the Lord’s in it when the money comes in. The gift of giving, Christian service is a function of sacrificial giving, giving to a local church, giving to missions, giving to Christian organizations, giving to the needy. I mean, you don’t have to be wealthy to have this gift. Because it makes no difference what your economic status quo is. Giving is the means of inculcating teamwork and coordination into the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the gift of giving is an amazing gift. And what’s the motivation for giving? That’s a question you have to ask. In 2 Corinthians 9, 7, each person to the degree he’s determined by means of his thinking, his right lobe, so give. In other words, you’ve made a decision to do it, so do it. Not from the distress of mind or from compulsion of emotions because God loves the well-motivated giver, the grace-oriented giver. Motivation is the major issue in your giving. It’s not the amount that’s given, God provides and enjoys the mental attitude which accompanies your giving because God loves the grace-oriented giver. I just read it to you. God loves the grace-oriented giver, 2 Corinthians 9, 7. So don’t give emotionally. Don’t give impulsively. Determine for yourself what you want to give. And don’t let anybody put you on the spot. I’ve heard some horror stories about people in churches Standing up and say, I’ll give 1,000, I’ll give 2,000. Everybody goes, yeah, praise the Lord, brother. Pat you on the back. It’s nobody’s business what you give. That’s between you and God. And that’s all. So nobody needs to be saluting you because you gave something. Whenever I get a gift, I look at it as from the Lord. It comes through people, his children, who supply our needs to support this radio station. But it’s always through the grace of God, through his children. So motivation in giving is key. God loves grace-oriented givers. And what about that? 2 Corinthians 9.8, God is able to make all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. So you’re not going to run out of finances. The Lord will supply your needs. He’ll make all grace abound to you so you’ll have sufficiency in everything you need and an abundance for every good deed you do. So God graciously provides extra finances for those who have the gift of giving and do give. How can I come to that conclusion? 2 Corinthians 9, 10. Now he who supplies seed to the sower, that’s capital, and bread for food, he will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. I’m going to read that one more time. Listen carefully. He will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. What a wonderful thing. You cannot out give God. The more you give, the more God increases your gifts. That’s just amazing to watch it and see it happen. So here’s a principle I want you to remember. Charity is from God, not socialism and not welfare. That’s from men. Charity is from God because giving is an expression of your free will without any gimmicks, without any coercion, without anybody knocking on your door saying, brother, you need to give this or brother, you need to give that. In 2 Corinthians 8.3, I testify on the basis of their ability and even beyond their ability, they gave willingly. Paul talking about his support. They gave willingly, motivated by the Holy Spirit, needs supplied by God the Father, above and beyond whatever their needs may be. So giving must express an attitude towards the Lord Jesus Christ before it can express an attitude towards the person you give it to. In other words, if you don’t love the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s the first thing that motivates you to give to someone or to give to some organization or to give to your local church. In 2 Corinthians 8, 5, and not even as we anticipated, but they gave first of themselves to the Lord And then they gave to us by the will of God. Again, Paul talking about the finances that came his way to support his ministry. So these individuals are occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ. They had personal love for God the Father and motivated them to give to Paul and his ministry. So the believer, you and I, we have many ways that we can serve God. We can use our spiritual gift, absolutely, 100%. And again, do you know what your spiritual gift is? If you don’t, you should know. You should understand that. If you need some information about that, let us know. We can get you a transcript of this message, and you can study it for yourself. But you have a spiritual gift, and that spiritual gift must function And it will function. If you’ll stay filled with the Holy Spirit, if you’ll grow in grace, your spiritual gift will function whether you even know it or not. But it’s amazing to watch it. It’s amazing to watch people with the gift of helps. It’s amazing to watch people with the gift of mercy. It’s amazing to watch people with the gift of administrative skills or the gift of giving. It’s amazing to watch it. It’s amazing to watch a man who has a gift of pastor-teacher disseminate and teach God’s word. It’s amazing to watch an evangelist as he proclaims the gospel message of the Lord Jesus Christ and the lost people actually listen to him as he speaks. It’s amazing. So, here we go. There are many ways you can serve God. You can do it in prayer, with prayers of adoration, thanking him for who and what he is. You can serve God by praying intercession prayer, praying for others, praying for your family, praying for me. That’s intercessory prayer. I ask you, please. Pray for me that I would have the strength to continue teaching the radio program, to continue having the messages you need to hear, to continue pointing the way towards the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. You can serve God by witnessing and sharing his word, winning souls for the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a wonderful thing to do. That’s a way to serve God. If you’re wondering why you’re still here, why you’re still alive what’s god’s plan for your life it’s to serve him as i told you using your spiritual gift or not you can still serve him in prayer you can still serve him in witnessing you can serve him in giving so the most wonderful fulfilling thing in your life is for you to be absolutely in the center of god’s will using your spiritual gift to serve god your spiritual gift to serve others with humility and the motivation of love when i found out i had the gift of evangelism i didn’t realize what was in store for me i had no idea not a clue that i would spend the next 50 years traveling going from school to school talking to kids speaking in over 5 000 assembly programs all across the southeastern united states Oh, what an amazing thing. I wish I knew how many of those kids got saved. I don’t know. I have no way of knowing. But I know I gave the gospel, and I know they responded, and I think about it often. As you get older, you’ll think backwards, not forward, because, you know, you think forward, you know you’re going to heaven, you know you can think about that. But you have memories, and you look back in your memories and look back at the places you’ve been, the things you’ve done, and that’s normal. So assuming you are a believer, question, Do you know God’s will for your life? Do you? Do you know that? Do you know where he wants you to be? Do you know what he wants you to do? And do you know what he wants you to think as well as what he wants you to say? You should. You should understand his geographical will. You should know where he wants you to be. God has a place where you can serve him. I know people that up and move to where there’s a local church where they can get face-to-face teaching and serve God in that local church. I know people that have followed God’s leadership so that they can do exactly what God wants them to do. And that takes a lot of faith sometimes. So do you know God’s will for your life, where he wants you to be, what he wants you to do, and what he wants you to say? I hope you do, and I hope you’re learning something. I hope you’re growing in grace. I hope these radio shows are at least encouraging you. I know I’m not giving you all the answers today, But my job is to point you to a well-qualified pastor that can do that. If you don’t know where there’s a good pastor, let me know. We’ll get you in the right direction. We’ll tell you how you can get some great information from men that teach the Word of God accurately and succinctly, and you can learn even in the confines of your own home if it’s not in your city. So thank you for listening to The Floodline. Thank you for being here. We’ll be back next Sunday, same time, same place, as God allows that. Until then, I’m your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you. Thank you for listening to The Floodline.

SPEAKER 01 : 26:32

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.