In this episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes offers a potent reminder of the spiritual battles each believer must face and the necessity of being fully equipped with the Word of God. Using historic and scriptural references, Hughes underscores the importance of being proactive in one’s faith, fully prepared for the challenges posed by the modern world and spiritual adversaries. Listeners are encouraged to take up daily spiritual disciplines, never allowing themselves to become lukewarm, but rather igniting a passion for lifting up the colors of Christ in every aspect of life while extolling the virtues of humility, obedience,
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, please stick around. Those of you that are used to the intro, you know what I’m about to say. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education. Always done without any manipulation because we’re not trying to con anybody into giving any money. We’re not trying to sell you something. We’re not trying to ask you to join up, fess it up, give it up. But we are going to ask you to listen up. Listen as I try to verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if I’m able to do that, then… You have the freedom and the privacy to orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like to do so. This is show 938, 938 Sundays we’ve been on the air across America. And we’re still in the process of signing new radio contracts for the year 2024. So let me ask you to do me a favor. If you are listening in your city, I would love to know about it. We currently broadcast in over 100 cities without selling any type of commercials. which means we depend solely on the grace of God to provide our financial needs. So we really don’t want to waste money if we’re playing in cities where no one’s listening. So if you are listening, please let us know, and we won’t waste our money in places where no one’s tuning in. Okay, that’s a fair question, and please, you can always contact us at 800-831-0718. or you can write to us at Post Office Box 100 in the city of Cropwell, Alabama. Thank you for considering those questions for me and I appreciate your response. Now, let’s get into what I want to talk about today. Today’s lesson, I want to use a military analogy that I trust will motivate you to follow the colors to the high ground of spiritual maturity. Follow the colors to the high ground of spiritual maturity. What do I mean by follow the colors? During the war between the states, which was 1861 to roughly 1865, many soldiers, both Confederate and Union soldiers, were wounded and killed carrying the company colors, the company flag, into battle. Those who carried the color into battle put themselves in incredible danger because the company colors allowed soldiers to see where their unit was located on the battlefield. And in the confusion of combat and the haze of the battle, it was essential that the company or the regiment know where their lines were located so they did not fall behind or even advance too far without protection and support. Many of these color bearers did not even carry weapons, which left them unable to defend themselves. And if the color bearer was shot or mortally wounded, another member of the unit would normally pick up the colors in order to avoid the disgrace of losing their colors. The color served as a symbol of the ideals and values the men were fighting to uphold, such as family, duty, and honor. And that flag, those colors served to rally the men and increase their morale. When they saw it, it encouraged them to fight on when the otherwise might not have done so. Those men that carried the colors were made up of an elite unit called a color guard unit, led by a color sergeant, and it consisted of up to a dozen soldiers. And great courage was necessary to carry that flag into combat, combat battles, because everybody knew that the enemy would be aiming for him, the guy carrying the colors, so they could kill him and cause confusion and chaos in the ranks. As the flag was typically the front of the unit, it was the color bearer that was very exposed. And the man who carried those colors drew lead like a magnet. There was a man named John Strikeleather of the 4th North Carolina Regiment. He said this about the nature of the men chosen to bear the colors. And I quote what he said. He said, I doubt if there was ever a nobler hero in the war, north or south. At the Battle of Seven Pines, Strikeleather volunteered to carry the colors. This is the same battle in which all 25 officers of his regiment were lost. And South Carolina’s Palmetto sharpshooters lost 10 of 11 members of the color guard. At one point, the flag passed through four hands without ever touching the ground as each one of the color bearers was shot. Private Berry of the 4th Texas Regiment was captured at Antietam and he said something like this as he described it. And this is a different battle, of course, in Antietam, but he said, I saw coming up the road from the battlefield some colors. Our captured major that I was with asked the Yankee who had the colors where he got them. He said, I got them in a cornfield, and I knew those colors. And I told him they belonged to the 1st Texas Regiment. And he said there were 13 dead men laying on the ground around it when he found it. I asked him to hand it to me for a moment, which he did, and I took it in my hands. I kissed it, handed it back to him with tears blinding my eyes, end quote. I tell you this information to encourage you to pick up the colors of Christ. and lead the way for your friends and your family. I’m not asking you to make some non-binding emotional decision about your commitment to the cause of Christ. That’s not what I’m asking you to do. I’m asking you to obey the Bible, where the Bible says these words. You ready? Romans 12, 11. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. As a personal representative of the Lord Jesus Christ, if you are in fact a believer, this is a challenge you should be aware of. When the Apostle Paul wrote never lacking in zeal, the Greek New Testament uses a word called akneros, akneros, O-K-N-E-R-O-S, akneros, for lacking. And it means not being sluggish or not being reluctant. And then if we come to the word zeal, it’s the word spude, spude, S-P-O-U-D-E. And that’s a diligence to accomplish something. Don’t be lacking in diligence to accomplish something. Your spiritual responsibilities are to carry the colors for our Lord Jesus Christ so that there will rally around you others who see that and be inspired by what you hold so dear in your life. The colors for the believer, you and I, consist of the sacred scriptures. And if we learn and apply the scriptures into our lives, we are essentially following the colors to the high ground of spiritual maturity. I remind you that it is the job of a well-qualified pastor to lift the colors high by teaching the word of God and encourage you to follow them. So then he went on to say, never lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor serving the Lord. Keeping your spiritual fervor. The Greek word zeo means to boil with heat or to be on fire. Keeping your spiritual fervor, your pneuma, your spirit, P-N-E-U-M-A, spiritual, as keeping your determination to finish what God started and not sit the war out on the sideline as a battlefield casualty. I pray that’s not you. I pray you’re not the believer who stepped aside, got out of the conflict, sat down and felt sorry for yourself and you’re not willing to stand up front and carry the colors. This type of sluggish attitude is indicative of believers who fail to advance in the plan of God. Many believers, maybe even you, fall back when the battle gets too intense. I mean, come on, did you really think Satan would ignore you? In fact, if you actually determined to start representing Christ to your generation, do you think he would ignore you? I have a friend that made a life-changing decision to do that, to make sure that he took in the Word of God daily, to not let his business affairs interfere with church so that he could be there and learn as the Word of God was taught by his pastor. And when he made that decision, all heck broke loose in his life, and everything that could possibly happen happened to him, trying to discourage him. So you can’t let that happen to you. Satan will not ignore you if you in fact determine to pick up those colors and follow the colors to the high ground. Our Lord addressed the type of believer, this sluggish attitude, this believer that was not willing to follow the colors, when he said these words in Revelation 3, 14 through 16. He said, I am aware of your spiritual life. You are not cold. You are not hot, but instead you are just lukewarm, and I’m about to vomit you out of my mouth. What does that mean? Well, he was speaking there to the church, and he said this. You’re not hot. You’re not cold. You’re not on fire. You’re not cold, but you’re just lukewarm, and I’m going to spew you out of my mouth, meaning What? Meaning your spiritual life is distasteful or soured or sickening. For months you’ve listened to me encourage you to grow. grow spiritually under a well-qualified pastor. And there’s hardly a week that goes by that someone doesn’t write to me and say, where can I find him? Where can I find a well-qualified pastor in my city? And sometimes you can’t. Sometimes you have to do what I do, and that’s use the internet and use streaming video or order DVDs or MP3s. But there are men that are teaching the word of God line by line, word by word, and they are available to you and they don’t charge. They’re not Hollywood performers. They’re just solid, sound, systematic Bible teachers. And you can sit at home if you can’t find a place locally where you can go and learn the Word of God sitting there at your kitchen table or your desk with your Bible open, your notebook in your hand, and studying under a pastor teacher. Yes, you can do that. But some have made no attempt to start doing that very thing. They’re saved. They’re wonderful, patriotic Americans. No one doubts that. But their spiritual life is lagging. So how could God possibly depend on you to pick up the colors and lead the way if you’re still sitting on the sideline? Each of us, that’s Christians, we’re in a war. The Bible tells us that. Paul laid it out in Ephesians 6, 11 through 18, where he said these words. It’s lengthy, but let me read it to you. He said, put on the full armor of God so you can take your stand against the enemy’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and against the authorities and against the powers of the dark world. and against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly realms. Because of this, put on the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand when the evil day comes. And after you have done everything, you’ll keep standing. So stand firm then with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet with the readiness of the gospel of peace, In addition to all of this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the heaven of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. So you see in this lengthy passage I read to you in Ephesians 6, 11 through 18, you see in these verses that Paul penned the battle that we all face as believers. And that’s the battle that we have to go through. That’s why you have to carry the colors. The problem-solving devices are presented in the belt of truth. Notice this, notice this. Notice that we talk about capacity righteousness. We talk about the faith rest drill. We talk about the shield of faith. All these things in this problem-solving devices that we read from. Those 10 unique problem-solving devices that we taught you on the radio show, they are listed in this passage with standing firm the belt of truth. That’s the problem-solving devices. That’s knowing the Word of God. The breastplate of righteousness is you manufacturing those things that glorify God in your life. The faith rest and drill is the shield that protects you when things go wrong and when things happen bad so that you don’t get discouraged. You stand behind the promises of God and claim them. You know, in Ezekiel, 22.30, God said these words. I am looking for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it. But I could find no one. This passage in Ezekiel 22 addresses the problem that Israel faced. They were failing their spiritual heritage. They were committing apostasy. And what is that? Ezekiel 22.8, listen carefully. Here it is, quote, you have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. The nation was also involved in idolatry and immorality. Listen to 22.11. One has committed abomination with his neighbor’s wife and another has brutally defiled his daughter-in-law and another his sister’s father’s daughter. That’s idolatry and immorality. They had turned their backs on God. Verse 12, 22.12, Ezekiel, you have forgotten me, declares the Lord. Does this accusation sound familiar to you? Does it happen to sound like the very things we’ve done right here in good old USA? I mean, we beg God to deliver us from the wars. We beg God to protect us. And then we get preoccupied with the gifts and forget who the giver is. And slowly but surely, we sink into apostasy and morality and criminality. So the question to be asked this morning is how can you pick up those colors and lift them up for everybody to see? How can you do that? Our Lord Jesus Christ himself said these words. Listen carefully. In John 3, 14 and 15, he said to Nicodemus, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so the Son of Man must be lifted up so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Our Lord spoke those words to Nicodemus, the Pharisee, who came seeking information under the cover of darkness because he was afraid he could be criticized for seeking out Jesus. And these words, of course, refer to his death on the cross and proof that our Lord knew his destiny was to die a substitutionary death on that cross in order to redeem man from the law of sin and death. The challenge to you, the challenge to me is this. Will we seize the colors and lift up Christ in spite of the dangers that it may bring into our life? Are we willing to do that? That’s the question that we have to be asked. So exactly how do you go about lifting up the colors? How do you do that? Does this imply that you should go out on street corners and start preaching about who he is? I believe you and I are called to represent the Lord Jesus Christ by replicating his thinking first and foremost. Where in Philippians 2, 5, the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. His mindset was total humility and his actions were total obedience to the Father’s will. No doubt about it. So, in fact, you and I are called to learn from him. In Matthew 11, 29, take my yoke and learn of me, Jesus said. My yoke is easy. He said it’s easy, it’s not hard. This requires some humility. You have to learn to replicate his thinking. And so if you’re going to learn from him, it’s in the scriptures, it’s recorded, it’s in the Bible. As you study the Bible, as you read the Bible, as your pastor breaks open the word of God, he’s lifting up the colors for you to focus on. And then as you leave church, you lift up Christ, picking up the colors in your life. Here’s something you must remember. The Christian color bearer lifting up the Lord Jesus Christ must be filled with the Holy Spirit. And you can’t do this in the energy of the flesh. And you do that by using rebound when necessary. You remember rebound, problem-solving device number one on the flat line of your soul. Rebound is quoting 1 John 1, 9, where it says, if we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive our sin, to purify us from all wrongdoing. This is how you are filled with the Spirit. When you’re born, you are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, filled with the Holy Spirit, but when you sin, you quench the Holy Spirit and grieve the Holy Spirit. That comes after you’re born again. You’re indwelt and filled, and then you sin. You did not lose the indwelling, but you lost the filling. It’s possible right now you are not filled with the Holy Spirit because you have sin in your life you haven’t confessed. If we confess, if is a third-class condition, means maybe you will, maybe you won’t. If we confess our sins, he is, he is, always is, never a doubt, he is faithful and just to forgive us. and purify us from all wrongdoing. I think it’s time you to get this straight. You should deal with your middle attitude sins. You should deal with the sins of your flesh. You should deal with the sins of your words and your mouth and your tongue. You should deal with these sins because you are not ever going to glorify Jesus Christ walking around carnal under control of your sin nature. If you want to be a color bearer for our Lord Jesus Christ, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5.18 tells you that. Be filled with the Spirit. It’s not a request. It’s a mandate. The color bearer must also understand that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone. How are you going to tell somebody how to be saved if you don’t understand it? It’s not by giving up bubble gum. It’s not by quitting drinking Coca-Cola’s. It’s not by no longer saying dirty words. It’s by faith alone in Christ alone. Listen to what Paul said in Romans 1.16. This is the most powerful thing I know in the world. He said in Romans 1.16, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation. to everyone who believes it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The gospel is the most powerful thing in the world. It can change a person’s life. It can change their destiny for sure from hell to heaven. It can make them a new creature born again. If any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things are passed away and all things become new. If you’re going to lift up the colors, you have to know these things and be able to tell these people, fall in line, follow me. And if you’re going to lift up the colors, you must be willing to follow orders. You’ve got to follow orders. In 1 John 5, 3, this is the love of God that we keep his mandates and they are not hard. This demonstrates your love for God that you keep his mandates and his mandates are not hard. That’s a wonderful passage to remember. That’s called virtue love. It’s your motivational virtue in your life to be obedient is your personal love for God. But how can you love a God you don’t really know, you don’t really understand? And that’s why in Jeremiah, God said, you’ve heard me say this to you, that he’s looking for people that not only know him, but understand him. Are you willing to follow orders? Are you willing to study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth? Because that’s a mandate from God. And if you’re going to follow the colors, if you’re going to raise the colors, if you’re going to stand out front and pick up the colors high, you must understand what it’s going to cost you. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, told his disciples these words, John 16, 2 and 3. They will put you out of the synagogue. Yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think they’re doing God a favor. And these things they will do to you because they did not know the Father, nor did they know me. And the disciples did face this very thing, martyred them, all of them martyred with the exception of John, isolated on the Isle of Patmos, spent out his life there. So there’s a cost. If you’re gonna stand up front and lift up the colors, you’re gonna draw lead, as the soldier said in the war. They’re gonna shoot at you, and Satan’s gonna fire at you, fiery missiles. Will you be able to stand? Do you understand enough scripture to use a shield of faith to deflect those missiles? The 160th Special Operation Aviation Regiment, called SOAR, S-O-A-R, Special Operation Aviation Regiment, is located at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. They’re called the Night Stalkers, and they have a motto. The motto are the words of Isaiah the prophet. Here are those words, Isaiah 6, 8 through 9. Also I heard the voice of the Lord saying, Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And then I said, Here am I, send me. And he said, Go and tell this people and keep on hearing, but do not understand. They keep on seeing, but they don’t perceive. God uses risk takers. To raise the colors, you’re going to have to take a risk. To stand out front, you’re going to have to take a risk. And just like the Special Operation Aviation Regiment, here am I, send me. Are you willing to tell God that? Here am I. Use me. Because God uses prepared people. He has to use prepared people. That’s important for you to understand that. He uses prepared people. And so, are you prepared? Are you prepared? If you’re willing to prepare, he’ll call on you. I mean, isn’t it about time you decided to start an intense course of God’s word so you can meet those qualifications? In 2 Timothy 2.15, the Bible says, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. In closing, I remind you, the color bearer must be willing to stand the ground. He must not be afraid to risk it all, and he may have a life marked by sorrow, but it will be defined by joy. Listen to what happened to the Lord, Hebrews 12.2, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross and suffered the shame. The person who carries those colors must not put a premium on security. Is there anything in your life that’s worth risking it all for? Those disciples risk everything to tell the world the good news. What about you? The one who lifts up Christ in the angelic conflict is going to have a lifestyle defined by trust. This is a wonderful principle for you. If you can trust a father with your life, can you trust him with the small things in your life? I mean, some of you get up every morning and say, this is the day the Lord has made and I’ll rejoice and have a super abundance of happiness in it because of his unfailing love and mercy every day. So you get up and you know every day that you take a breath. God gave you that day. You know that. As I heard one friend say tonight, I’m still vertical, not horizontal. You know God gave you this day. So the question is, can you trust him with your life? And why can you not trust him in the small details of your life? Why do you insist on handling those details? At some time in your life, you don’t know when, but you’re going to be called on to step up and be counted. Sooner or later, God’s going to call your number and say front and center. When’s that going to happen for you? When are you going to step up and carry the colors? I want to leave you with a small poem written by Nathalia Crane in 1926. And this poem is quoted in the book, Follow the Colors, written by R.B. Thiem, Jr., pastor in Baraka Church in Houston, Texas. Here’s the poem. You don’t choose the battlefield. God does that for you. But you can plant the colors where the colors never flew. That’s my challenge to you. Are you willing to carry the colors of the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you willing to step out front of your family, your friends, and lift him up? Are you willing to follow the colors that your pastor preaches on and he teaches the word of God? That’s his job as well, to lift up the scriptures for you so you can follow the colors to the high ground in your spiritual life. Make no mistake about it, there’s not one prayer that’s gonna change everything. It’s you being solid and sound in spiritual growth. God said, I’m looking for someone among them to build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on the behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, Ezekiel 22, 30. But I couldn’t find anybody. Can he count on you? Can our Lord count on you to carry the colors Kenny, I pray that’s true. Thank you for listening. I pray you’ll come back next week, same time, same place. Until then, 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.
