Join Rick Hughes on The Flatline as he delves into the transformative power of faith, drawing insights from the teachings of Jesus Christ. The episode challenges us to reconsider how we approach challenges and adversities, using faith as an instrument to achieve inner peace. Rick emphasizes the importance of spiritual maturity, encouraging listeners to deepen their understanding of God’s word to maintain a relaxed mental attitude despite life’s inevitable crises. This episode is a call to trust in the promises of God, and to live a life grounded in faith which ultimately leads to serenity and fulfillment.
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 Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. And for the next few minutes, would you please stay with me? This is going to be about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and no, no manipulation. no manipulation because this show is designed to remind you of biblical truths and introduce you to a new in-depth way of studying and learning god’s word and it’s all done without any solicitation no manipulation as i said just thirty minutes of teaching my job here is to verify and identify the plan of god for your life and Hopefully, hopefully you will orient and adjust to the plan. You know the plan starts out with the good news that Christ, the anointed Son of God, has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin. Thus our debt to God has been paid and we are now free of the penalty of death. and free from the power of sin. So if we receive Christ as our Savior, then we are in effect accepting the offering that He Himself made on our behalf. It’s a free gift, compliments of the grace of God. Titus 3, 5-7 says, “…not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the washing of regeneration.” and the renewing of the Holy Spirit which he shed upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Lord, that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Now this show, The Flatline, is about building a main line of resistance in your soul, learning 10 unique problem-solving devices that’ll stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become the inside sources of stress. Crisis and conflict in your life is inevitable, but I want to show you today a wonderful thing that our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, taught the disciples. It’s something that we all need to learn, we all need to remember, and we all need to understand. And that is that faith obliterates fear and replaces it with peace in your life. I’m going to say it again. Faith obliterates fear and replaces it with peace in your life. Now, when I use the word faith, faith is a noun in the Greek New Testament pronounced pistos, pistos, P-I-S-T-I-S, and the verb counterpart is believe or pistou. So faith is pistos and the verb believe, pistou. Same thing, but believing is the action of faith. And so the Bible says in Hebrews 11, six, without faith, it’s impossible to please him. For he that comes to God must believe, there’s the word, faith and believe, they’re used together. He that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. And this is the key. Do you seek God? Do you seek his word? Do you seek to know his mandates? Because the Bible says, if you love me, you’ll obey my mandates. And they are not hard. They’re not grievous, 1 John 3. 5.3 tells us those very words. Jesus Christ our Lord even told the disciples those very words. So the life of the mature believer, not the baby believer, the mature believer. And that doesn’t mean you’ve been a Christian 25 years. You can be a Christian 25 years and still be a baby believer. The maturity is based on the content of the Word of God in your soul, not based on how long you’ve been a member of a church or whether how long you’ve been in the royal family of God. It’s based on the content of the word of God in your soul. So the life of the mature believer can be and is the greatest life the world offers since it’s founded on faith. That’s right. The life of the mature believer is founded on faith and is grounded by having a relaxed mental attitude in a crisis. This relaxed mental attitude produces a peace in a world of uncertainty, in a world of conflict, and it’s an amazing way to live. So faith, grounded by relaxed mental attitude, producing peace, is the most wonderful life the world has ever known. In John 14, during the upper room discourse, before our Lord went to the cross, he sought to comfort those disciples that were with him because they were concerned that he was going to depart and leave them. He had told them he was going to go away. They didn’t understand it. They really thought there was going to be the initiation of the kingdom, and they’re going into the kingdom with him, and they would have reign and rulership in the kingdom with him. And he told them there wasn’t going to be a kingdom right now. I’m going to be killed. And listen to John 13, 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew the hour was come, That means that Judas has now gone to the religious leaders. Judas has betrayed him, and they are on their way to where the disciples are in the upper room having the last supper. So the hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them until the end. The hour had come. Here he was, about to be betrayed. Of course, they left. You remember they left and went to the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas then showed up with the religious leaders, the Sanhedrin, and also a Roman escort. But in John 14, one through four, notice again now the hour has come and he’s with them and he knows this is about to happen and he says this to them. In John 14, one through four, let not your hearts be troubled. And the reason I’m giving you this is I want to show you how this applies to your life. Let not your hearts be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions, and if it were not so, I would have told you. I’m going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself so that where I am, you may be also. So there’s a promise from the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in John 14, 18 and 19, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you yet a little while and the world will see me no more. But you see me because I live, you will live also. And then in John 14, 27, here are the words that are so powerful. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you. So let not your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. So, I mean, he’s leaving them. They’ve been with him all these years in his ministry. He’s told them he’s going to be going away, and they are troubled. They are upset. They don’t know what’s going on. And he said, do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So in John 14, we have this present passive imperative of the Greek word, do not let your hearts be troubled. And the word troubled is an interesting Greek word. It’s the Greek word, and I say this because this is how it was written in the original writings, the Greek word tarasso, T-A-R-A-S-S-O, tarasso for troubled. And this word troubled means to be agitated, to be fearful, to be dread, to dread or to take away the calmness or the peace that you should have. They were at peace as long as Christ was with them, and they could see him and talk to him, but now he was going to go away, and he was not going to be with them anymore, and they had forsaken everything to follow him, their family, their businesses, everything, and now he says he’s going to leave them, but he says, don’t be afraid, don’t be troubled. I’ll come back to you, and because I’m living, you’ll live also. So this present imperative verb, do not let your hearts be troubled. If you go into the morphology of that verb, you’ll see it’s a present passive imperative in the Greek New Testament. The reason I bring it up is the present tense is the durative present, which means there’s never a time in any believer’s life that you or I should ever be troubled. The passive voice says we receive the action of the verb, which means that circumstances or people create the crisis or the conflict that we face. the imperative mood in the greek new testament is the mood of mandate or the mood of command so this is a command from jesus christ to those disciples and it’s reflective on us as believers today that word trouble means to be agitated to be fearful to be dreading like i said and the present imperative indicates that at no time in my life at no time in your life Should any of us be concerned that we have been forsaken or abandoned by the Lord Jesus Christ? That’s what they were worried about. He was going away. Hebrews 13, 5, he said, I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. I promise you that Jesus Christ, your Savior, will never throw you under the bus. He will never abandon you. He will always keep his promises to you. You may turn your back on him, but he will simply love you from behind. So the passive voice indicates this, that the circumstances they endured will produce the action of the verb. In other words, you receive the pressure in your life from the conflict or the crisis that you face. Don’t be troubled. Don’t be worried. Don’t be afraid. And so the Bible is clear about this. At no time is the believer allowed to assume the posture of fear or anxiety while you live in the devil’s world. In John 14, 26, don’t let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. That’s the New English translation of that word, distressed or troubled. This is the second time the Lord Jesus Christ instructs his disciples in the same morphology that The present passive imperative of terrasso. So 1427, there it is. Do not be afraid. Do not struggle. Do not be afraid. Do not be distressed. He added the word, this word, do not lack in courage. Lacking in courage. John 1427 again. Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, I give it to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Don’t be lacking in courage. A present active imperative this time. Not a passive, but an active voice. What does that mean? The present tense means there never is a time in your life that you should be afraid. The active voice says you produce the subject of this, the action of this verb. And the imperative mood is the mood of command. So the Lord Jesus Christ is commanding you never to be lacking in courage or never to be afraid. Daliao is the Greek verb. Daliao is the Greek word. And it means to be afraid or lacking in courage. The opposite of distress, the opposite of fear is simply peace. Remember John 14, 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. So don’t let your hearts be troubled and don’t be afraid. The Lord Jesus Christ has given them the instructions they need to handle the outside sources of adversity by using the inside resources of the spiritual life. John 14, 27, peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Listen, this peace the Lord Jesus Christ left those disciples was not a lack of conflict. It was not the removal of a crisis, but it’s the ability to maintain a relaxed mental attitude in the crisis using the faith rest drill. And that’s problem solving device number three on the flat line of your soul. The peace that he spoke of is an internal peace, not an external peace. The cosmic system or the world or the cosmos, that’s why we call it the cosmic system, The world can offer no internal peace. The only hope the world gives you is the hope of an external peace, which means you hope that there’s no crisis today or you hope there’s no conflict today or you hope today goes okay. It’s not the peace that Lord Jesus Christ is talking about. As a matter of fact, in Isaiah 57, 21, the Bible says there is no peace, saith my God to the wicked. So the cosmic system or the world can only offer peace as an absence of conflict. But that’s limited since most of the time we live in conflict. And it’s usually from people or circumstances or self. Most of the conflicts we face are self-induced when we mismanage our health, We mismanage our finances or we mismanage relationships. But we live in a world full of conflict. And even as the disciples faced conflict and crisis, once Christ left, they could still have this inner peace that he was talking about. Either you believe the promises of God or you don’t. So Isaiah 41 10 says, fear you not for I’m with you. Don’t be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you. I will help you. I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness. Do you believe that? Because if you don’t, you have no faith. You see, belief is a system of faith. And a lack of faith in the believer’s life is a very serious flaw. The reason I say that is because Hebrews 11, 6 says, without faith, it’s impossible to please God. So biblical faith, the faith that you need, is based on the content of the word of God stored in your soul. Romans 10, 17 says faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And so when you listen to a well-qualified pastor teach you the Bible, and the Holy Spirit confirms to you that what he’s teaching is true, then your faith grows if you apply the information. See, there’s one thing, the Bible uses the word gnosis or knowledge, but knowledge is not wisdom. Knowledge is just information that you’ve ascertained. Wisdom is information you’ve ascertained, believed, and applied into your life. So there’s a difference between gnosis and sophia, the Greek word for wisdom. And if you’re going to have wisdom, that means that you’re going to have the ammunition you need to fuel your faith so that you can have a relaxed mental attitude in the middle of a crisis. It’s an amazing thing. Biblical faith is used as doctrine in your soul grows. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God. So without consistent spiritual growth, the believer’s faith will be stunted. Spiritual growth, by the way, is mandated in the scripture. You know that. 2 Timothy 2.15 tells us the first concept of spiritual growth where it says, be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a workman who does not need to be ashamed. but rightly dividing the word of truth. Diligent. That means consistent. Then 2 Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. So here’s another word. Be diligent to present yourself approved unto God, but grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What are you diligent to do? to rightly divide the word of truth. And then Matthew 11, our Lord Jesus Christ said these words, come to me all you that labor and and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn.” Here’s the third word, learn from me. Study, grow, learn. Study to present yourself approved unto God, a workman that need not to be ashamed. Grow in the grace and the knowledge. Learn from me. How do you learn from Christ? Well, you assimilate the mind of Christ. Philippians 2.5, Paul wrote, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. So when your pastor, if he’s doing the job he should do, teaches you the word of God, he is giving you the mind of Christ because 1 Corinthians 2.16 says the Bible is the mind of Christ. So as we learn it, we live as he lived. See, he lived the prototype. He was God, yes, but he was human also. He was a God-man. Undiminished deity and true humanity in one body forever. As God, he had omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence. But as man, he was limited in his scope. He had to learn the word of God just like you do as a man. As a man, he depended on the power of the Holy Spirit. As a man, he used the scriptures to sustain him. This is what you must do, the same thing. There’s no shortcut to spiritual maturity. There’s no way around it. If you’re going to be a mature believer and give maximum glorification to God, you’re going to have to learn the Word of God, develop your faith, maintain a relaxed mental attitude in a crisis, and glorify Jesus Christ through it all. So faith is essential. It’s your invisible muscle, the Bible says, Hebrews 11.1. It’s a way of living. Faith is a way of living in 2 Corinthians 5.7. We walk by faith, not by sight. So the mature believer doesn’t need to Go to the palm reader. He doesn’t need to go to the fortune teller. He walks by faith. He knows that his heavenly Father has predetermined his course. In eternity past, God the Father knew everything about you. It’s all there. So you don’t have anything to sweat. You don’t have anything to worry about. We walk by faith knowing that the will of God is being produced in our life. As we stay filled with the Spirit, as we take in His Word and grow, as we reproduce Jesus Christ in our life, He is glorified. So, it’s a way of life. Faith is used for approval from God, the Bible says in Hebrews 5, 6. That’s how we get God’s approval. by demonstrating our faith. And faith is the first approach to the spiritual life. 1 Corinthians 13, 13, now abides faith, hope, and love. And of course, love is the most powerful of all three. But it starts with faith. You don’t even become a Christian without faith. For by grace are you saved through faith. It’s a gift of God, not of works. So it starts with faith, believing the gospel, believing the good news. And then as you grow in grace, you believe the word of God, you learn, you apply it into your life. That’s how you know you believe it. You apply it, you use it. And it moves from being information ascertained called gnosis to to information believed and applied called wisdom or Sophia. So faith is related to God’s power in Romans 1.16. The gospel of God is the power of God unto salvation and faith is the victory that overcomes the world. 1 John 4, excuse me, 1 John 5, 4 and 5 says, for whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is he that overcomes the world? But he that believes that Jesus is the son of God. So believing in Jesus Christ gives you victory over the world. And who’s the God of this world? Satan. You do not have to stay under the control of Satan. You do not have to believe the lies that he tells you. You can believe in Jesus Christ, receive him as your savior, be indwelled by God the Holy Spirit, be empowered by God’s word, and have the most wonderful life ever known to man, the Christian life. And it’s all based on your faith. So the Holy Spirit’s job is to assist you with your faith. Once you become a Christian, he helps you develop your faith. Christ said, if I’m gonna go away, Don’t worry, you won’t be left alone. I will send a comforter, a mentor, and he will guide you. He will teach you the truth. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job to help you to develop your faith and also to indicate the direction of your faith or the object of your faith or how you should use it. because faith will deliver you in a time of crisis. It doesn’t make the crisis go away. It simply gives you the attitude through the crisis to have great peace and patience and glorify God. Listen to Hebrews 11, 32. And what shall I more say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and David, and Samuel, and all of the prophets, who through faith,” there it is, same thing you have to do, through faith, they subdued kingdoms, they wrought righteousness, they obtained promises, they stopped the mouth of lions. Wow, really? Yes, really. They quenched the violence of fire, they escaped the edge of the sword, and out of weakness were made strong, and they waxed valiant in fight, and they turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again, and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others had trials of cruel mockings and scourging. See, this is all early believers. And yea, moreover, they were in bonds and in prison. They were stoned, they were cut in half, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute and afflicted and tormented, of whom the world was not even worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, and these all having obtained a good report through faith.” received not the promise, God having provided some better things for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. Your faith is the most wonderful thing. You have the promise of eternal life. You have the Scriptures in front of you. You have the Word of God, the canon of the Word of God. You have the Holy Spirit indwelling you. You have a well-qualified pastor teaching you. That’s how you grow your faith. That’s how you use your faith. That’s how you have peace in the middle of a crisis. Can your faith be obliterated through prolonged periods and reversionism? Yes. What’s reversionism? You may know it as backsliding. It’s when the rate of forgetting exceeds the rate of learning. if you forget more than you’ve learned then you start going backwards and you revert in your christian life and yes your faith can be compromised and even obliterated by not pressing forward by not growing in grace by getting out of fellowship and staying out of fellowship so that’s the first question i have to ask you this morning Is there unconfessed sin in your life? Are you in fellowship with God or are you in reversionism? In reversionism means you’ve committed sin. You haven’t dealt with that sin. You haven’t admitted that sin to God. Maybe you’ve tried to cover it up. Maybe you’ve tried to hide it and it doesn’t work because the Bible tells us the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro over the whole earth. There’s nothing you can hide from him. One of the reasons your life is so miserable today is you are in a crisis and a conflict and you have no peace. And the reason is that you don’t have the Word of God. You don’t have the filling of the Holy Spirit. You’re not using the faithless drill. Those disciples, they lived some tough lives, but they had peace. The very peace that Jesus Christ exhibited in the devil’s world is the peace they had and the peace you can have through faith. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re learning. 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.
