God is Faithful
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 1000 aired on October 20, 2024
Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes, please listen to me. Listen to the words I have to say, they are very important. It won’t
be long, just about 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education and you know we don’t use
any manipulation because we’re not trying to con you. We’re not asking you for money. We’re
not trying to sell you a product. We just want to give you some information from the Word of
God. Hopefully you can verify and identify God’s plan for your life by listening and applying
this information and you will orient and adjust to His plan in your life. I’m honored to give you
these radio shows. It’s going on 20 years now that we’ve been producing The FLOT Line radio
show across America. I’m so thrilled that you will give me a few minutes of your time. Thank
you for listening. I want to talk about the believer’s advantage but before I do, let me remind you
of our website where you can find our various books that are available free of charge such as
God’s Grace In Aging
,
Life’s Toughest Years
,
A Divine Pardon
and
Practicing Your Christianity.
All of these books we’ve written are available to you free of charge. All you have to do is request
them from the website. You can also listen to some of the messages I’ve given in churches and
our announcer Jack also reads some of the books available as audiobooks on the website.
Remember that we do podcast all of our radio show on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Podbean and
other podcast platforms. You can always listen to the show if you are a podcaster by typing in
“The FLOT Line” anywhere in the world, any day, any time. Don’t forget what The FLOT Line
stands for: forward line of troops. This is something my pastor taught years ago and he let me
use this concept, The FLOT line. It’s a military term. We’re talking about adding in your soul 10
unique problem-solving devices that act as a main line of resistance that keep the outside sources
of adversity from ever becoming the inside source of stress. Keep this in mind as you listen to
The FLOT Line. If this is your first time I hope you will get in touch with us and we’ll send you
some material that will help you understand what we talk about. There is a lot to learn. I want to
start off by talking about the advantage that we have as Christians. It’s a wonderful advantage
that God has given us. I’m going to read you a verse of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 10:13. It says,
“No temptation
[testing]
has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful
[this is your advantage]
, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but
with the temptation
[testing]
will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to
endure it.”
We find in this verse a tremendous provision by grace, God’s wonderful grace
provision,
“God is faithful.”
What an amazing statement. Principle number one, there is only
One who’s totally faithful to us and it is God. He is faithful to us because of His perfect character.
He cannot be unfaithful. God never will be unfaithful. Two, the fact that you’re alive plus
everything that you have is a matter of God’s faithfulness. He is faithful. He loves us every
moment, every day. I have to ask you this question. In what areas is God really faithful? First,
we must understand that His faithfulness is a guaranteed provision. It’s not a five-year guarantee.
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It’s not a three-year guarantee like for an automobile. This is a guarantee for life to His children.
The reason He can do this is because of the work of His anointed Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. His faithfulness does not depend on our spiritual status. God is not faithful because we
are faithful. God is faithful even when we are unfaithful. Since we are in Christ Jesus, we are His
children. We are under His care. We are sustained by His provisions. He is faithful. Listen to
Lamentations 3:21-25,
“This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The Lord’s
lovingkindnesses
indeed never cease
[faithfulness]
, for His compassions
[His personal love]
never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my portion,’ says
my soul, ‘Therefore I have hope in Him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the
person who seeks Him
[positive volition]
.”
This is somebody who wants to understand, know
and apply God’s Word in his life. When the Apostle Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 10:13, the verse we
started with, where it says God is faithful and He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what
you can bear. We need to understand the word tempted. It is actually the Greek word
peirasmos.
It’s a weird sounding word but it means to put to the test or simply to be tested. This can be seen
through adversity that we endure or even the discipline that we have to receive sometimes. God
is faithful in both areas. This word
peirasmos
is the word for examination. It’s normal for us to
be examined by God as a form of momentum testing. You may ask yourself, what is momentum
testing? It is simply the circumstances that provide us the opportunity to apply what we’ve been
learning from Scripture and each one of us must go through these tests if we hope to ever attain
spiritual maturity and glorify God to the maximum. This momentum testing can include the test
of our sin nature’s domination fueled by our own arrogance. Remember, you have a sin nature.
You were born with a sin nature. Romans 5:12 says,
“Therefore, just as through one man sin
entered into the world, and death through sin.”
You have a sin nature with different trends and
different lust patterns. It is always fueled by your arrogance, your self-justification, your self-
deception and your self-absorption. This sin nature can be part of momentum testing, how we
learn to overcome the desires of the flesh. Momentum testing can also include the lure of the
world and how we deal with this. The lure of the world is cosmic system propaganda. 1 John
2:15 tells us,
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the
eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.”
This is the
cosmic system, Satan’s domain. We all go through momentum testing if we accept Christ and
begin to grow spiritually. It includes disaster testing. This can be a personal disaster like many of
our friends have experienced in the recent weeks in the hills of the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee
or Florida. It can be people testing. We experience this in political realms. How do we handle
these circumstances? Do we let these things get us out of fellowship? Do we get depressed? Do
we get angry? Do we get upset? Do we get bitter? Do we get revenge motivated? This is not the
way we are to live. This isn’t what the FLOT line is for. The FLOT line is to intercept adversity
and stop it from becoming stress like this. Don’t think for one second that your Heavenly Father
is ignoring your situation. He’s not. He is very much aware of what you’re going through. Again,
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I think about our friends that are going through these disasters in Florida and in Tennessee, North
Carolina and Georgia. He is with them every step of the way. He watches over and provides for
each one of those that are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some churches are talking about
this even today. Many Christians have great stories about what God did to deliver them.
Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13 says He will provide a way out. Did you hear me when I read it
to you?
“No temptation has overtaken you but
such as is common to man; and God is faithful,
Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will
provide the way of escape also.”
Isn’t this amazing? If we commit personal sin, what is the way
out? How do we get out so that we’re not overrun completely, so that we’re not shut down
spiritually? The question is, will we follow His instructions given to us in Scripture? For
example, when we fail the momentum test of our sin nature and we let it take over, then our way
out is to confess the sin as per 1 John 1:9 where it clearly tells us,
“If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It’s a
simple verse but it’s a wonderful verse because it tells you how to take a bath spiritually, how to
be cleansed from sin. When you go to God and you admit your sin, you recover the filling of the
Holy Spirit and you restore your fellowship with God. Remember, you cannot and will never be
able to function in the Christian life without the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is why Paul tells
us in Ephesians 5:18,
“Be filled with the Spirit.”
If we don’t recover from our sin, if we continue
to linger in it and we don’t have enough humility to admit to God what we’ve done, then
definitely He will bring enforced humility through divine discipline. Here’s Hebrews 12:11,
“All
discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful but sorrowful; yet to those who have been
trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
It’s not fun for God to take
you to the woodshed. Divine discipline comes in stages: divine discipline #1 warning discipline,
divine discipline #2 intense discipline and divine discipline #3 dying discipline. God doesn’t play
games. When the Lord has to chasten you to get you to break out of that sin nature control, He
may warn you. It maybe tough but it’s for a reason, so it can yield the peaceful fruit of
righteousness to those who have been trained by it. When we cite our sin, God faithfully forgives
us every time regardless of how we feel. He forgives us. You may say, “I don’t feel forgiven.” I
don’t care how you feel, it’s not the issue. God says if we will confess our sin, He will be faithful
and just to forgive our sins and purify us from all wrongdoing. Whether you feel forgiven or not
is not an issue. You are forgiven. God is faithful to us again once we receive Jesus Christ as our
Savior even though we can sometimes be very unfaithful as Christians. Does the Bible specify
anything like this? Yep, it sure does. 1 Thessalonians 5:24,
“Faithful is He who calls you, and He
also will bring it to pass.”
Here’s a great verse I want you to remember. 2 Timothy 2:13,
“If we
are faithless, He
[God]
remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.”
Once you become a
member of the royal family of God, you’re not going to get kicked out. For God to kick you out,
He would have to kick His only uniquely born Son out and He’s not going to do this. Once you
are born again and brought into the family of God, you’re not going to be kicked out of the
family. Even though you may be faithless, He remains faithful. Underline this one in your Bible.
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He cannot deny Himself. He is faithful to protect us in our eternal security. He is faithful to
protect us from Satan’s intentions. Did you know this? 2 Thessalonians 3:3,
“The Lord is faithful,
and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.”
This is a divine promise for you.
Satan’s intentions may be to defeat you, to distract you and to discourage you but through the
filling of the Holy Spirit and through the residence of Scripture in your soul using the faith-rest
drill, God will be faithful to deliver you. Here’s another thought. The indwelling of the Holy
Spirit is God’s faithful provision against Satanic intentions. In other words, the Holy Spirit can
override whatever Satan would like to try to do to you. 1 John 4:4,
“You are from God, little
children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the
world.”
This is your promise. The Holy Spirit that lives inside of you is much stronger, much
greater, much smarter, much more powerful than Satan. Satan might be smarter than us because
he’s a created angel but we have the great spiritual resources provided by God’s wonderful
faithfulness. The Bible, Scripture, is one of our most powerful weapons when we’re dealing with
Satan. Hebrews 4:12,
“For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged
sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able
to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
Don’t you ever forget that it was God’s Word,
like what I just gave you, that delivered the Lord Jesus Christ when Satan tempted Him in
Matthew 4:4. Remember when Satan tried to get Him to turn the rock into the bread? He said,
“It
is written.”
Every time Satan would tempt Him, He said,
“It is written.”
He stood behind the
Word of God. This is our most powerful weapon. Through the filling of the Holy Spirit and the
dynamics of the Word of God, the faithfulness of God will provide anything we need. The
faithful provision of God can extend down even to your children and even to your grandchildren.
Did you know this? If you have children or grandchildren, you pray for them and you want them
to be able to handle things when you’re gone, to be able to survive when you’re no longer around.
Listen to this about God’s faithfulness. Deuteronomy 7:9,
“Know therefore that the Lord your
God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a
thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.”
Psalm 119:90,
“Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations.”
Wonderful! It means I can depend on
this for my children and my grandchildren. If I introduce them to the Lord Jesus Christ and can
create within them a hunger for God’s Word, He will protect them for thousands of generations.
Here’s a principle, remember this. If God was faithful to you in eternity past, and He was, then
He can only be faithful to you in time and in the future eternity as well. He is faithful, not
unfaithful. God’s faithfulness is manifested in what we call logistical grace provisions. These are
your daily needs. None of us ever need to worry about the basic necessities to sustain our life. He
will provide. Where does the Bible say this? 1 Thessalonians 5:24,
“Faithful is He who calls you,
and He also will bring it to pass.”
Those of us that have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ have
nothing to worry about, no sweat. He will provide the logistical grace necessary for us to
complete our journey. Our very existence and function in this life depends on the faithfulness of
God. His divine nature is to be faithful to us. God is faithful. He’s faithful to protect us. He’s
1000-God-is Faithful-transcript.pdf
faithful to guard us in the midst of the unseen angelic battle which is fought daily all around us.
We can rest confidently in His promise to meet our logistical needs. He promises He will meet
them. Hebrews 13:5,
“Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being
content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever
forsake you.’”
This is a testimony of God’s faithfulness to you. Isn’t this amazing? “I will never
abandon you. I will never desert you.” He is faithful. He always has been faithful and always will
be faithful. God keeps His Word. He has never made a promise that He has not kept. In Psalm
119:89-90,
“Forever, O Lord, Your Word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness continues
throughout all generations.”
He’s not going to change His mind. He keeps His Word to every
generation. There never has been a promise made by God He hasn’t kept. He is not like us. He’s
faithful. Therefore, unfaithfulness is totally incompatible with the very nature and the very
essence of God. Malachi 3:6 says,
“For I, the Lord, do not change.”
God is faithful. Now, if
you’ll allow me, I’d like to tell you how God has faithfully sustained this radio ministry for the
last 19 years. When I began this ministry I had no idea it would grow to be so large. In the first
30 years of my ministry I traveled across the nation from Texas to the East Coast speaking to
high school students. My records show that the faithfulness of God protected me and provided
for all of my financial needs without me ever charging for any visit. I conducted assemblies in
hundreds of schools and I was able to do this because my pastor taught me the principle about
God’s faithfulness years ago. The principle is, if He’s in it, He will pay for it, so I refused to ask
for offerings. I refused to sell the books we printed to the students. Was I always faithful to Him
in those first 30 years? No, absolutely not. Not even close. But I learned how to confess my
failures. I learned how to stay filled with the Holy Spirit. I was able to travel about 25 weeks
each year because of the faithfulness of God who also gave me a loving and understanding wife,
dear Lydia, who worked as a teacher and raised four wonderful children at the same time I was
traveling. Her faithfulness is a testimony to her own spiritual life and the sacrifices she made so
that I could do the things that I did. Around 2004 I began broadcasting this show called The
FLOT Line in Birmingham, Alabama. In the first few years we ran on about a dozen stations
across the South. Once again God’s faithfulness provided all the needs. It was really amazing to
watch it happen. He provided the necessary funds to purchase the airtime. I said purchase the
airtime, it’s not free, and to provide the printed material. We had to pay for this as well for all
who requested information. He provided every nickel we needed. He was faithful to do this.
Eventually God brought individuals into this ministry who had greater vision than me. Under
their direction we expanded into 100 plus cities. We purchased airtime in different cities from
Maine to California. We continued to write and print books and pay salaries. All of this was
provided by God’s logistical grace provisions meaning His faithfulness. What do I mean by this?
I’m telling you we never asked for money and we never sold anything. We just depended on
God’s faithful provisions. He is faithful. What you’ve heard today is my 1,000th Sunday to be
broadcasting this radio show. In these 1,000 Sundays God has been faithful to provide every
word I need, the voice I need and every thought I need. Everything has been designed for you in
1000-God-is Faithful-transcript.pdf
the hope that you would receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and in hope that you would
grow to be a spiritually mature individual. As I move forward I want to encourage you to find a
well-qualified pastor who can teach you the mechanics to the spiritual life. We’re going to make
some changes to this radio show in the future, in the coming months. Let me thank you in
advance for your prayers, for your support, for your encouragement and let you know that it is
always wonderful to hear from you. I never intend to be your pastor. I’m not your pastor. I’m just
a voice in the wilderness crying out. I’m looking for those of you that would like to receive Jesus
Christ as your Savior. I’m looking for those of you that are Christians that are not being fed and
are hungry for the Word. This is what I’m looking for. I used to fish a lot. I don’t do it anymore.
But when I would fish, I would go from one hole to another, to another, to another trying to find
where the fish were, to locate the fish. It is sort of like this with the radio shows. In the various
cities we are fishing for you, fishing for positive volition, fishing for those that are lost wanting
to be saved. It has been my prayer that maybe through this particular radio show you have
accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior. If you have, I’d love to know about that. If through this
show, you accepted Christ through something that we said or provided for you, please don’t
hesitate to write to us and let me know. If God has blessed you through this show or God has
encouraged you through the show or your life has been changed though this show, I would love
to know about this too. The letters of encouragement mean a lot to me I promise you because this
is why we do the show. We are not here to just give you a little bit of a devotional topic. Many
people write and say, “I listen to you on the way to church,” and this encourages me. I’m glad
you going to church. I’m not a devotional. I’m a scout. I’m a fisherman. I’m looking for positive
volition. If you are really hungry, if you really want to grow, I can tell you where to find it. I can
tell you how to do it. I can tell you what those 10 problem-solving devices are. I can direct you to
a well-qualified pastor. I can give you material that will help you until you find that individual to
be able to grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. These
thousand shows have been possible because of God’s faithfulness to raise up a phenomenal staff
like Jack, like Christie, like Brandy. There are so many people, I can’t even think of all of them
right now, and of course my wife Lydia to make sure that all this goes right. This is the
faithfulness of God, providing people that put all this together to make it happen. I’m so very
thankful, so very grateful that I’ve had the honor to do this. It is my prayer that we will continue
with 1001 just around the corner as we press on in the year 2024. Keep praying for us. Keep
listening and I encourage you to keep growing in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is faithful. He will provide your every need. He will
never abandon you. He will never forsake you. Remember the verse I read to you. Even if you
are faithless, He will remain faithful, and this is a true statement. Think about it. Until next week,
this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you so much for listening to The FLOT Line.