Join Rick Hughes in this insightful episode of The Flatline as he delves into the complexities of the American temperament through a Christian perspective. With a focus on providing motivation, inspiration, and education, Hughes challenges listeners to identify God’s plan in the midst of societal frustrations. Discover the significance of maintaining a peaceful demeanor amidst impatience, irrationality, and irreverence, all while exploring the foundational principles of virtue love and ambassadorship.
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 good morning and welcome to the flatline i’m your host rick hughes and for the next few minutes please stay with me
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As you well know, it’s always 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and absolutely zero, not one ounce of any manipulation because we don’t con people. We’re not soliciting money. We’re not trying to sell you anything. We’re not trying to get you to join anything. This show is about giving you something called accurate information, information from the Word of God that’ll help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life if, in fact, you’re even interested. And if I can do that, you can orient and adjust to the plan when you’re ready. Because your life is about making good decisions, and bad decisions will always limit your future options. The Flatline airs in 112 shows across America this morning, and I’m thankful for you listening today. Thank you very much for giving me a few minutes of your time. Let me remind you of a couple of things before we get started. We do have a new book at the press called Practicing Your Christianity. It teaches you how to be a superstar in God’s game plan of champions, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it. We’re redoing our book called Bible Promises and Principles, making it just a tad bit smaller, easier to tote around. We also have a reprint of our other books that we use so often. And we have our daily podcast that goes off on our podcast venues, listening on your phone, listening on your computer, whatever. From 2012 until the current show, we have over 500 podcast lessons. And transcripts are always linked with those lessons. so you can listen on any of the podcast platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Anchor. Just look for the FLOT line, F-L-O-T. Somebody wrote me the other day and said FLOT’s not in the dictionary. What in the world is a FLOT? FLOT is a military acronym for the Forward Line of Troops, F-L-O-T. What we’re teaching is using a military analogy. We’re saying that if you learn, God’s 10 problem-solving devices, they will act like a main line of resistance, like a forward line of troops. And those troops, those 10 problem-solving devices we teach on this radio show, will stop the outside sources of adversity from ever being converted into the inside source of stress. That’s why we say adversity is inevitable and stress is optional. So the Flatline is about teaching you God’s unique problem-solving devices. We comment on current events and things that are going on, showing you how you can use those problem-solving devices to solve the situation. And today we’re going to do just that. I hope you take advantage of the material we offer. We also have transcripts still available From all of our recent shows in 2020 and 2019, we have complete transcripts of every show we’ve done those years that you can read through in different books. And they’re all free. Everything we do is free. We don’t charge for anything. We’re not like those who charge for books. I don’t believe in doing that. I believe that God’s in it. God will pay for it. Just keep your mouth shut and do your job and let the Lord handle it. So we want to talk about the temperament of the average American today. the temperament of the average American today called American temperament. I’m going to give you a few words and I want you to listen carefully and see if you recognize any of these things in any of your friends or even in your own personal life. Impatient, irrational irreverent insolent inconsiderate ignorant and inconsistent impatient irrational irreverent insolent inconsiderate ignorant and inconsistent that is the american temperament today in a nutshell if there’s ever been a time when a nation’s boiling point is about to explode it’s now in june 2022 We have to be, we must be at a crossroads in history. We cannot continue to go as we’re going with two different forces fighting one another. The liberal humanistic progressive forces fighting the conservative voice of America. So let me list you a few symptoms of a civilian population that is seriously in trouble. Number one, and you’ve seen it, I’ve seen it, it’s called impatience. I don’t know if there’s ever been a society in American history as impatient as we are today. If you drive on any freeway, you will see what I’m referring to. I mean, if the speed limit is 70, they will run you over if you aren’t going 80. This is one of my pet peeves. When I travel in my travels, my friend that travels with me, Dr. Gary Watson, I call him doctor. It’s just a joke. He’s not really a doctor, but my dearest best friend, Gary goes with me everywhere I go when we travel. And if the speed limit’s 70, Gary usually run about 75, and yet people will run up behind you and get on your tail, flash their lights, blow their horn, and go by you at 95. They’re impatient. They want you out of the way. They got places to go. Gotta go, gotta go, gotta go. And I often say, why? Gotta get back. Gotta get back, as George Carlin once said. Impatient people drive on the freeways. And what about if the light turns green and you don’t zoom away right away? Somebody is going to be blowing the horn for you to move out of the way, get out of the way, move over. Patience may be a virtue, but it’s no longer a reality in American society. Many people will push you aside at the checkout line in a grocery store, scurry around you on the sidewalk, and hang up on you if they’re put on hold for any amount of time on a phone call. The demand for instant results sweeps into every corner of our lives in American history today. Instant gratification is always present. And Lord help you if you’re in their way. As a Christian, what am I instructed to do about this? Does God say anything about my impatience? How am I supposed to deal with these people that aggravate me and frustrate me to no end? What am I supposed to do? Here’s what the Bible says. 1 John 4, 7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Now wait just a minute. You mean I’m supposed to love these weird, obnoxious jerks and their impatient attitude and pushing me out of the way. I’m supposed to love these people that have personality disorders like conventional perpetual hatred. How am I going to love these people? What am I supposed to do as a Christian? What does that mean? I’m supposed to love these people. I’ll show you stick with me. Another symptom of American frustration is irrational behavior. Irrational behavior. Irrationality is thinking or talking or acting without inclusion of rationality. It’s usually some sort of emotional act that often leads to anger, irresponsible behavior, lashing out, road rage, whatever. Usually the result of some unrealistic expectation or some unrealistic self-image on the part of the person who’s irrational. Some people demand to be treated in a way they don’t deserve to be treated. Maybe you’ve watched some videos of a police officer stopping someone on the internet. A powerful political figure pulled over for some moving violation and watch him demand special treatment. Do you know who I am? Do you know who you’re talking to? I’ll have your job. You can’t give me a ticket. Crazy, isn’t it? How am I supposed to love and treat my neighbor who’s irrational? In James 2, 1 through 4 says, Here’s what the word of God says. My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with any partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings and fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothes, and you say to him, oh, here, here, you sit in the good place. And then you say to the poor man, you stand over there, you sit at my footstool. Have you not shown partiality among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? How do you handle irrational people? Using a relaxed mental attitude. What is a relaxed mental attitude? It’s the end of the flat line in your soul. When you’re able to have an RMA, it means you have a functioning flat line in your soul. You have the mind of Christ working in your life. So if you have grace orientation, treating people in grace like God treated you in grace, and you have a relaxed mental attitude, then you yourself don’t become irrational and get reacting to these things. You cannot afford to react to people who are irrational or irresponsible. You cannot afford to react to people who are impatient. You must, as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, maintain your cool. And the only way you can do it is by using God’s problem-solving devices. Grace orientation, relaxed mental attitude, understanding that the Supreme Court of Heaven can handle all our difficulties. Well, what about the irreverent people, people that are irreverent? You know, someone who doesn’t show respect for people or things that should be respected generally. You know, the clock watcher during Sunday morning service, he’s watching his watch. He’s watching his watch. He’s thinking, I got to get out of here at 12. I hope that preacher shuts up so I can get out of here. I got chicken in the pot. I got to go to Luby’s for lunch. It’s the antagonist who mocks God and disrespects his word. It’s the political hack who maligns the office of the presidency because they don’t like the president. If the president of the United States comes into your presence, you wouldn’t say, hey, Joe. You would say, Mr. President, whether you like him or not is not even the issue. You have to learn to have what? Respect. You cannot be irreverent. People who talk during the teaching of the God’s word are irreverent. The guy or the gal who wears disrespectful clothing in public and shows too much are irreverent. Are we called to straighten them out? Or does God want us to go up to them and say, hey, you’re being irreverent. That’s my wife and kids over there. You can’t dress like that and walk around here. In Proverbs 23, 9, the Bible says, do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. What does that mean? It means you’re not going to straighten them out. God didn’t send you to straighten anybody out. God, that’s not my job. It’s not your job to straighten out disgruntled, irreverent, irrational people. It’s our job to give the gospel, the good news, the wonderful news that Jesus Christ, the anointed son of God, went to the cross, paid for my and their sins, resurrected from the dead, is alive today and invites us to join him in the presence of God in eternal life forever. That’s the good news. So insolent people who display a lack of respect, You know, like where are the gentlemen today? Inconsiderate people who are rude. Ignorant people who lack knowledge or are unsophisticated people. Inconsistent people, people that don’t stay the same. You never get the same thing twice. That’s American temperament today. That’s what goes on in this country. And you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are planted right in the middle of this situation. We have to learn how to live among people like this. So does the Bible give us instructions about how to live among these people with a temperament like this? The answer is yes, and it depends first on you building the flat line in your soul and using the wonderful problem-solving devices that God’s given you, particularly in personal love. Now listen carefully. The flat line is made up of 10 unique problem-solving devices beginning with rebound, which solves the problem of sin. The Bible says if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and to purify us from all wrongdoing. And then we move to the filling of the Holy Spirit, which solves the problem of our genetically formed sin nature. And Paul tells us to walk in the spirit, not in the flesh. Paul tells us that the flesh will war against the spirit and the spirit will war against the flesh. But if you rebound and if you stay filled with the Holy Spirit as a Christian, and if you use the faith, rest, drill, problem-solving device number three, you can overcome these sort of situations in your life. If you orient to grace, God’s grace, saving grace, living grace, dying grace, surpassing grace, If you orient to the word of God, biblical orientation, having the mind of Christ, if you understand God’s personal sense of destiny for you, that’s another problem-solving device. And virtue love is the greatest of all if you have personal love for God. That’s your motivational virtue in your life. We love him because he first loved us, reciprocity. Reciprocity, that’s what that means. We love him because he first loved us. But personal love for God is what motivates us to obey him. 1 John 5, 3, if you love me, you will obey me, and my mandates are not hard. Well, what does that mean? It means that we must have impersonal love for all the weirdos that we run into. We must have impersonal love for people with these temperaments that I’m talking about. We must have impersonal love for impatient, irrational, irreverent, insolent, inconsiderate, ignorant, and inconsistent people. How do I do that? I love them based on my character, not their character. Impersonal love is functional virtue in your life. Personal love for God, motivational virtue. Impersonal love for even the weirdos, functional virtue. And you are commanded to love these people. You are commanded to love these people. As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are royal ambassadors while we stay on this earth for a while. At salvation, every one of us enters into the royal family of God. How does that happen? It’s called the baptism of the Holy Spirit when we are placed into union with Christ. At the same time that that happens, we become representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth. We become his ambassadors to this planet. The ambassador’s instructions are always in written form and we have it in the Bible. So there is no doubt what we should do. We have the policies, the problem-solving devices, the instructions, the principles, the doctrines, all these concepts are in written form in the Scripture. And that’s what we give you on this radio show. We don’t give you any human psych. We give you what the Bible says. So if you are an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ, you don’t treat any insults to yourself as personal. It’s the ambassador’s function in both spiritual self-esteem and in personal love for all mankind. We tolerate weird people. We deal with those weird people. We forgive them. We don’t react to them, and we do not hold grudges. If you hold a grudge against someone that you don’t like because they’re impatient, irrational, irreverent, insolent, you’re making a mistake. You are sinning because you’re told you have to love these people. when you’re insulted and treated unfairly, when you’re ridiculed, you have tremendous problem-solving devices in the Scripture. But you have to have the spiritual strength to use these devices and leave the matter in the Lord’s hands. So virtue love is the greatest of all problem-solving devices. Virtue love is personal motivation, personal love for God, and impersonal love for others. One is your function and one is your motivation. If you have impersonal love for others, you have personal love for God, and you can handle these situations. This is the greatest problem solving device you can have. If you’re treated unfairly or ridiculed, as I said, you must have this spiritual strength to leave it in the Lord’s hand using virtue love. Functional and motivational love. Virtue, functional and motivational love. Motivational love, you love God. Functional, you love other people. When your momentum takes you to personal love for God, your momentum, what’s that mean? Your spiritual growth. When you’re growing spiritually, when you’re taking in the word of God under a well-qualified pastor and you’re growing spiritually, you can develop personal love for God, motivational virtue, and you will have spiritual self-esteem. along with that spiritual self-esteem, will come impersonal love for all mankind. And this is a giant, giant, giant step in the Christian life. While personal love for God is the function of our royal priesthood, spiritual self-esteem, that’s the baby Christian, and impersonal love for men are the function of our ambassadorship. So if we have personal love for God, motivational virtue, and then personal love for others, functional virtue, then we are on our way to developing spiritual self-esteem, spiritual autonomy, and eventually spiritual maturity. Personal love for God is the function of our royal priesthood. impersonal love for mankind is the function of our ambassadorship i want to say it again listen personal love for god is the function of our royal priesthood and impersonal love for mankind is the function of our ambassadorship so we have two different things we are believer priests we don’t need someone to be a priest for us we can go directly to the throne of god We can present our prayers to God directly without going through a middleman. We are royal ambassadors, royal priests, and then we can show impersonal love for others. But personal anger, when you get mad, when you get frustrated, when you get angry, that destroys the function of your spiritual life. Why? Because impersonal love maintains the virtue of the subject. But sinful anger destroys the function of impersonal love. You have to love someone based on who you are, not based on who they are. I mean, isn’t that what God did for you? Come on, tell the truth. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, You were the person he loved when you were a jerk, when I was a jerk. He loved us in spite of who we were. He didn’t love us based on who we were. He loved us based on who he is, based on his essence, based on his character. So impersonal love. What a wonderful, wonderful thing God used with us. And we can use it with other people as well. But personal anger destroys that. Impersonal love is a key to it. So when sinful anger is perpetuated, it becomes motivation for a lot of different sins. So the Bible says, never let the sun set on your anger. Ephesians 4, 26, be angry and do not let your exasperation drag you down. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. Be angry, which in parentheses, don’t let your exasperation drag you down. And do not sin, be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath. The word used for anger here in this passage is the word orgizo. A normal word for anger is thumos, like thunder, thunder, explosive anger. And this word comes from the root word orge, or gizmos, or orge. This verb means this. It’s a present passive imperative in the morphology of that verb, and it simply means you are never, present tense, you are never to let circumstances drag you out of fellowship with God. The passive voice says the circumstances produce the action of the verb, and the imperative mood is the mandate from God. Do not let this happen. Why? Why? If you let anger take control, your spiritual life will be short-circuited and shut down. If you’re holding a grudge right now, if you’re mad right now, if you’re PO’d to somebody right now, you’re sinning, you’re sinning, you’re sinning, you’re out of fellowship with God. You need to go to God and confess your sin. You need to go to God and admit your anger and your frustration because you’ve been treated unfairly. Here’s a big principle, great big principle. With true love from a state of humility, you have the capacity to love people in spite of their faults. Your eyes are wide open to their failures, you know that. Your eyes are wide open to their faults, you know that. Why can I do this? Because impersonal love is a problem solver for all personal relationships, husband and wife, friends, whatever. Impersonal love accepts and tolerates people as they are, not as you want them to be. God didn’t send you to straighten people out. God didn’t send you to change people’s attitude. God didn’t send you to change their personality and make them little sweet Christians. God sent you to give them the gospel. The Holy Spirit can do the changing. If they’ll get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor, they’ll grow and they’ll learn and they’ll change. Now, you’re not going to change them. So remember that. Motivational virtue. Functional virtue. Motivational virtue, personal love for God. Functional virtue, impersonal love for mankind. These two stand or fall together. So if you have motivational love for God, You will have, you must have, you always have functional virtue for mankind or impersonal love for mankind. If you hate even one person, you do not possess the functional virtue we’re talking about. And if you do not possess the functional virtue we’re talking about, you can never possess motivational virtue or love for God. You can’t love God and hate man. It’s impossible. Where do I get something like that from the Bible? 1 John 4, 20 and 21. If someone says, I love God, and he hates his brother, he’s a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how in the world could he love God who he has never seen? And this commandment we have from God, that he who loves him must love his brother also. There are the two loves, functional virtue, motivational virtue. In Jude 1.21, keep yourselves in the love of God, that’s motivational virtue, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. So what are the principles that we’ve covered? How do we wrap this up for you today? Number one, personal hatred is sin. Don’t forget that. If there’s someone in your periphery that you hate, that you can’t stand, you are sinning and you are not using functional virtue. You’re not using impersonal love. And when you sin, you break fellowship with God. You’re out of fellowship with God. You’re walking in the darkness. You may talk like a sweet Christian. You may put a Bible under your arm and walk around like you’re some holy man of God. But if you have anger and frustration, you are sinning. That’s not the Christian life. That is your sin nature reacting to circumstances. I mean, you can detest the sin, yes, but you can love the sinner. You should detest sin. You should hate certain sins that destroy our nation, but you can love the sinner. This simply means that you and I must maintain a relaxed mental attitude in their presence and always treat whoever it is in grace. That’s undeserved treatment, just like God did you. So if you hate some politician, you’re sinning. You may detest their policy, but love the person based on your virtue, not theirs, since they don’t appear to have any virtue. But staying out of fellowship with God will cause you to go under divine discipline. And it’s obvious that America is under divine discipline as I speak because God uses certain individuals to bring about his maximum punishment for believers who have turned their backs on him. So if you’re occupied with a gift of prosperity to the point of forgetting who the giver is, you are the problem. The Lord says, I search the heart of each man and I give to each man according to his ways, Jeremiah 17, 10. You must understand that. You must come to realize God said, I’m looking for people that know me and understand me, Jeremiah 9, 24. Are you that person? I’ve given you some serious information today. I hope it’s resonated with your soul. I hope it’s made sense, and I hope you’ll contact me if you have a question. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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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.
