od’s Gifts to You
Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 1009 aired on December 22, 2024
Good morning and welcome to The FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes, stick around for just about 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education and as we
say, no manipulation. I will give you information that will help you verify and identify the plan
of God for your life. Remember, God gave you two ends. One to sit with and one to think with.
Success will depend on which one you use. Heads you win. Tails you lose. The FLOT Line
comes to you every Sunday compliments of the grace of God. We study the 10 unique problem-
solving devices that make up the FLOT line of your soul, the forward line of troops. These 10
unique problem-solving devices were taught by my pastor many years ago to me. With his
permission we relay this information to you, so hang in there with me and learn about the FLOT
line. Learn what God has done for you in your life and what’s available for you, the assets you
have. Before we get started I want to let you know we have signed our new contracts and we
now press on into the year 2025. We will still air the show in all 50 states as well as in the
Philippines and will continue to podcast the show on various podcast platforms. You can also
hear any show on our website. In the coming months we will be looking for new areas to play the
show so that we can have a maximum impact across our nation. The FLOT Line radio show is
our gift to you, compliments of God’s amazing grace provisions. There is a special gift God has
placed under your tree today. It would be so sad if you fail to open your gift. Romans 6:23 says,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Under your tree today is a special gift from God, the gift of eternal life. Ephesians 2:8 says,
“For
by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
There it is again. The wonderful gift that God has given you is eternal life compliments of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. In the New Testament the Greek word for gift is
charisma
which is from the root word
charis
. It’s the Greek equivalent of the word grace in the
English. God’s amazing gift to all members of the human race is given freely simply because He
loves us. Isn’t this wonderful? In 2 Peter 3:9,
“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some
count slowness, but is patient toward you
[He is longsuffering toward us]
, not wishing for any to
perish but for all to come to repentance.”
He gives it freely wanting each one of us to have this
gift. The word I want to key in on is repentance. When we hear this word repentance, we tend to
think there’s something we’ve got to do before we can get the gift of eternal life, but this isn’t
what the word repentance means. The word in the Greek language of the New Testament means
to change your mind, not change the way you act. It essentially means you have been an
unbeliever as the Bible calls you and now you become a believer. Paul said it best in Acts
16:30-31,
“And after he brought them out, he said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They said,
‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you
will be saved, you and your household.’”
This is the word
repent. He had been an unbeliever and he became a believer. In this instance Paul and Silas had
been in prison for preaching the gospel. While they were praying and singing, the other prisoners
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were listening, an earthquake occurred that caused the prison doors to open and all the chains
that bound them to fall off. The Roman jailer knew what would happen to him if his prisoners
escaped so he considered suicide, taking his own life. He was totally amazed when Paul said,
“Do yourself no harm, we are all here” (Acts 16:25-28). Is it possible that you are currently
chained and imprisoned to some particular sin in your life? I want you to know that God’s
gracious gift to you this morning can break these chains and set you free. Isaiah’s message
proclaims this in Isaiah 61:1,
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has
anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to prisoners.”
Again, are you chained to a particular
sin in your life? The gospel will open the chains and free you. The forgiveness of our sins and the
promise of eternal life was motivated by one simple act. It is best expressed by our Lord in John
3:16,
“For God so loved the world
[He loved you and He loved me in spite of who we are and
what we’ve done, He loved us.]
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
It’s wonderful to know this. Maybe no one else loves
you, but I assure you that God does. You may be in a situation right now where you are
incarcerated and you think no one loves you, no one cares about you. This may be true in your
facility but I assure you God knows who you are. He knows where you are and He loves you. He
loves you dearly, so much so that He sent His uniquely born Son to die for you. In spite of the
mistakes we’ve committed, in spite of the sins we’ve committed, God loves us and has a gift for
us. This particular gift, the gift of eternal life, is greater than any gift we could ever receive from
any individual. James 1:17 says,
“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above,
coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
Under your tree this morning is the gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ your Lord and Savior.
You have a personal invitation from God to receive your gift today. John 1:12 says,
“But as
many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who
believe in His name.”
It doesn’t say to those who repent. It says to those who believe in His
name. You’ve been an unbeliever and you become a believer. Can you believe salvation is this
simple? You don’t have to repent of your sin and promise God you’re never going to sin again,
you’re going to turn away from your sin and you’re so sorry that you did it. You can say these
things but this isn’t what saves you. What saves you is the finished work of Jesus Christ on the
cross. He did it already. Do you believe He’s the anointed Son of God? Do you believe He died
for you? Are you willing to express your faith and tell God the Father this? If you’ve never
received the gift of eternal life, I ask you to let me help you open your present. How can I do
this? I can lead you in a prayer as you ask God to save you. You can pray it along with me right
now, silently or out loud, whatever you want to do. If you’ve never done this before, if you’re not
saved, have never received your gift, then pray these words with me today. “Heavenly Father, I
believe Jesus is Your anointed Son and that He died on the cross to pay for my sins. I ask You to
save me and give me eternal life. Thank you for hearing my prayer.” This is a simple prayer you
just prayed, a simple act of faith. You told God the Father that you believe Jesus Christ is His
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anointed Son and He paid for your sins. You might think it didn’t work since you didn’t feel
anything. “Nothing happened,” you say, “I didn’t feel anything.” That’s the way I was when I
accepted Christ. I didn’t feel anything. I simply prayed a prayer with a friend. I got on my knees
in a home I had never been to before. I didn’t feel anything. It doesn’t have anything to do with
feelings. It has to do with facts and faith. Listen to Romans 10:13,
“For whoever will call on the
name of the Lord will be saved.”
Did you just do this? Did you just call on God to save you?
This is exactly what the verse says. You don’t have to worry about it. You don’t have to doubt it.
The gift of eternal life was given to you compliments of the grace of God and the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. What a wonderful gift this is and no one is ever going to
take it away from you, I promise. Did you just pray, “Heavenly Father I believe Jesus is your
Son. He died on the cross to pay for my sins. I ask You to save me.” Would God lie to you about
this? When the Bible says,
“Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved,”
it means
He wouldn’t lie to you. In 1 John 5:13-15,
“These things I have written to you who believe in the
name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence
which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
[Is it
God’s will that we be saved? Absolutely.]
And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask,
we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
These verses guarantee that
God heard your prayer and heard my prayer. Many years ago when I prayed, God heard my
prayer and He just heard your prayer, regardless of what we did, regardless of how we felt,
regardless of physically what took place. You didn’t see any angels. You didn’t hear any harps but
you by faith asked God to save you and you told God you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
listen to what our Lord Jesus Christ said for you. Here’s His gift to you, listen carefully. Now
that you are His child, Hebrews 13:5,
“I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”
He’s
not going to bail out on you when you fail. I have failed so many times I can’t keep up with them
and yet He’s never forsaken me. He’s never left me. He’s never abandoned me, and the same for
you. When you asked Him to save you, when you committed to God the Father that you believe
that Jesus Christ is His anointed Son, He gave you eternal life. He gave you this gift. John
10:28-30 goes on to say,
“And I give eternal life to them
[the gift]
, and they will never perish;
and no one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater
than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”
This is your guarantee. No one is going to come and take your gift away from you. He will not
leave you. He’s not going to bail on you and no one can snatch it away from you. I read it to you,
listen again.
“I give eternal life to them and they will never perish; and no one is able to snatch
them out of My hand.”
No one is going to take it away. Not even Satan himself can take it away.
You see, by a simple act of faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ through His death,
His burial, and thank God for His resurrection, we now have been born again and start a new life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 clearly says,
“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old
things passed away; behold, new things have come.”
You have a new life today. You were born
again, born again spiritually, not physically. You’re the same person physically. You look just the
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same physically but internally you have been born again. Your soul has been born again. Your
spirit has been born again. You have a spiritual birthday. You have a body. You have a soul,
mentality, volition, emotion and consciousness. You had a dead human spirit. You were dead to
God. You were spiritually dead. When you are born again, you are made spiritually alive. You are
now alive spiritually. You are a new person. You are a spiritual being and God’s gift to you does
not stop at this. Your salvation today is not the end of the gift, but rather those gifts that He has
for you will continue daily for the rest of your life, I promise you. In Matthew 7:11,
“If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is
in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!”
This is not the end of the gifts. The gifts are
just beginning once you come into the family of God by faith alone in Christ alone. You now
have the ability to approach God’s throne in prayer and you now have the ability to request things
for yourself and even intercede for others who have needs. In 1 John 5:14,
“This is the
confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears
us.”
You did ask Him to save you and this was His will. He heard you. Now you can pray and go
right to the throne of God. You don’t have to go through a priest. You are a priest. You are a
believer-priest and you have God the Holy Spirit living inside of you. What a wonderful thing
this is. But let me caution you about something. This gift of prayer that God bestows upon you,
the ability to go straight to His throne, requires you to follow some instructions. Often gifts at
Christmas have to be put together and they come with instructions. With the gift of prayer, there
are some instructions. Psalm 66:18,
“If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear.”
This means that you cannot pray with sin in your life. If you have unconfessed sin in your life,
your prayer will not be answered. You must learn how to deal with your sin which we teach on
The FLOT Line as rebound, problem-solving device #1. When we sin, if we go to God and admit
our sin per 1 John 1:9, He is faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all wrongdoing.
You’re going to sin. I didn’t think I’d ever sin again after I became a Christian. It took about one
day, and I did, and I learned how to confess my sin. 1 John 1:9,
“If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
This is
what a Christian has to do when he fails. If you want God to answer your prayer, to pay attention
to your prayer, then you can’t go to God with sin in your life because He won’t hear it. You have
to come to God through the filling of the Holy Spirit. This is another gift He has given to you. He
has given you the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. He has given you the gift of prayer, but
it requires you to follow instructions. He has given you the gift of the indwelling of God the
Holy Spirit who now lives in you. John 14:26,
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father
will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said
to you.”
The Holy Spirit lives in you. This also requires you to follow some instructions. If you
want the Holy Spirit to work in your life, there are instructions to do this. In Ephesians 5:18,
“Be
filled with the
[Holy]
Spirit.”
This is the instruction. The Holy Spirit indwells you but He doesn’t
necessarily fill you. As a Christian you are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit but it’s possible this
morning you are not filled with the Holy Spirit. What keeps you from being filled with the Holy
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Spirit? The sins you commit quench the Holy Spirit and grieve the Holy Spirit. They have to be
confessed. You say, “I can’t keep up with every sin I’ve ever done.” I know that, neither can I.
Again, the verse says,
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,”
even the ones you don’t remember. If you’re going
to have fellowship with God through the Holy Spirit, you must be filled with the Holy Spirit. You
are indwelt by the Holy Spirit at salvation. You are sealed by the Holy Spirit at salvation, no one
can take you out of the Father’s hand. But when you sin, you quench the Spirit, you grieve the
Spirit and you have to reclaim the filling of the Spirit by dealing with this sin by confessing it to
God. It’s like you said, “Okay Holy Spirit, move out of the way. I’m going to let my sin nature
run the show for a while.” Your sin nature is always going to be there. It’s always going to be a
part of your life until you die, until you get out of this earthly body and get a new body, a
resurrection body. It won’t have a sin nature. Thank goodness for that. But now the battle is
always going to be there. Paul said it best when he said,
“For what I am doing, I do not
understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate”
(Romans 7:15). This is the sin nature. The gift of the Holy Spirit requires us to be filled with the
Holy Spirit so we can access His power. A benefit of being filled with the Holy Spirit is the gift
of prayer is operational. If you’re not filled with the Holy Spirit, you can pray until you are blue
in the face and there’s not going to be any response. There’s not going to be an answer because
you have quenched and grieved the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:26 says the Holy Spirit intercedes for
us. If He is not interceding for you, then God the Father is not hearing it. You have the gift of
prayer, what a wonderful gift. You have the gift of the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit with
instructions, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Prayer has instructions, to not do it with sin in your
life. Another wonderful gift from God that He has given to us is the canon of Scripture called the
Bible. God gave us the Bible, recorded instructions of how to navigate our way through the
devil’s world. In 2 Timothy 3:15,
“And that from childhood you have known the sacred writings
which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus.”
This was Paul writing to Timothy telling him that the holy Scripture will help him
navigate through life. This is for you too. I don’t know if you have a Bible but you need a Bible
because it is God’s gift to you. It is the recorded Word of God to you. The canon of Scripture is
yours and all your instructions are here for how to navigate your way through the devil’s world.
In Hebrews 4:12 it goes on to say,
“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 and both joints and
marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
It says,
“The Word of God
is living and active
[powerful]
.”
Matthew 24:35 says,
“My words will not pass away,”
they will
live forever. Your Bible is the Word of God to you. This is how you hear God speaking to you.
This is how you navigate yourself through the devil’s world, by reading, studying and learning
Scripture so understand this. The Bible is not a novel, it’s a textbook. I warn you to be aware of
those people who distort the Bible for their own advantage because they are out there by the
thousands. I’ve never been so nauseated in my life looking at social media and seeing people
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trying to communicate the Word of God and they don’t do it accurately. They come up with the
goofiest, craziest, weirdest stuff you’ve ever seen in your life. The Bible is not a novel. I’m glad
you read it but it’s a textbook. It’s not designed for you to teach yourself. It’s designed to be
taught to you by someone who has the gift of pastor-teacher. John said in Revelation 22:18-19,
“I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds to them,
God will add to him the plagues which are
written in this book; and if anyone takes away from
the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from
the holy city, which are written in this book.”
You better be careful, don’t distort the Word of
God. The greatest challenge I face and the greatest challenge any preacher faces is to get it
accurate and correct, not misrepresent God. It is terrible to misrepresent God. It’s why 2 Timothy
2:15 says to the communicator,
“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman
who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.”
If you can accurately
handle it, you can wrongly handle it. It’s all grace. The free gift of God is under the tree this
morning, the gift of eternal life. You don’t have to repent to get it. You have to believe to get it.
You have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. I read you the Scripture
verse,
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His uniquely born Son, that whoever believes
in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”
You won’t find the repent stuff around in those
times when the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to Nicodemus. He didn’t say, “You’ve got to
repent of all your sins Nicodemus.” You may change your mind about your sins, hopefully you
will. Once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ there is a new way to live. There’s the filling of
the Holy Spirit. You don’t have to let the sin nature contaminate, contain or condemn you any
longer. You now have a new way to live and it’s through the power of the Word of God to help
you navigate through the devil’s world. It’s through the gift of prayer that God has given to you
that you can go directly to His throne and talk to Him directly yourself. You don’t have to let
someone else talk to Him for you. You have the gift of Scripture. The Holy Spirit, Scripture and
prayer are three wonderful gifts that God has given to you. They are yours to use. Christmas is a
wonderful time of year. We all enjoy getting gifts and we enjoy giving gifts. The greatest gift of
all is the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. I’ll read Romans 6:23 to you one more time,
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Ephesians 2:8-9,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it
is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Have you opened your
present? Have you received your gift? If not, I hope you will. I led you in prayer this morning. If
you prayed with me and you asked God to save you, get in touch with me. Go to my website and
let me know. Send me a note. Write me a letter because I want to send you a book that will help
you. It’s called
A Crash Course In Christianity
. It will explain exactly what happened to you. I
thank you for listening to me this morning. I hope you will open the gift that I told you about. I
hope you will receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Until next week, this is your host
Rick Hughes saying thank you for listening to The FLOT Line
