In this enlightening episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes discusses ways to access the infinite resources of God necessary to navigate life’s challenges. Emphasizing the importance of a spiritual rebirth and understanding God’s omnipotence, this episode teaches listeners how to embrace the divine power of faith to conquer stress, overcome adversity, and tap into the spiritual gifts offered through a relationship with Jesus Christ.
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.
SPEAKER 02 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and I’d like to thank you for tuning in. This may be the first time you’ve heard us on your show, on your station. We’ve expanded the FLOT line, F-L-O-T, across to right now 82 stations across the country, including the Philippines. And it’s my great honor to teach this show going on 16 years now. So what a great opportunity. If you’re listening, the whole objective is to give you some biblical truths. not to inspire you, not to try to manipulate you, but to give you biblical truths and introduce you to an in-depth way of studying and learning the Word of God. And we do that without any type of manipulation, no solicitations, no asking for money, no asking you to join anything, just simply 30 minutes of education, motivation, and inspiration. That’s my job. Verify God’s plan. Identify it for you. And hopefully, if I can do that, you will orient and adjust to the plan. That plan starts with the best news you could have ever hear in your entire life, and that is the news that Jesus Christ, the anointed Son of God, redeemed me and you out of the slave market of sin. He went to the cross and paid our debt to God, and we are now free of the penalty of death and free of the power of sin by receiving Christ as our Savior. When we do that, We, in effect, accept the offering made on our behalf by him. It’s a free gift, compliments of God. Listen to the verse now. For by grace are we saved through faith. It’s not of ourselves. It’s a gift of God and not of works, lest any man should boast. In Titus 3, 5 through 7, not by works of righteousness, which we’ve done, but according to his mercy, his mercy, his goodwill. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ, our Lord, so that being justified by his grace, no other way, by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. you can have an eternal relationship with god today through jesus christ god’s anointed son came lived his life perfect lamb of god without spot and without blemish that took away the son of the world went to the cross unfairly died for us paid the penalty of sin walked out of the grave three days later to the amazement of everyone that was there and resurrected and went to be with the father and he will return i promise you that It took some amazing power to do all of that. The power to resurrect someone from the dead. I mean, people would pay big bucks to have that kind of power, don’t you imagine? And there’s a fight for power today, political power, military power, social power. What about the power to raise someone from the dead? Wow. If you had that kind of power, you can be a wealthy person. The Bible talks about how you can tap into God’s power. Yes, you can. You can tap into the same power that resurrected Christ from the dead. In Philippians 3.10, that I may know him, the apostle Paul wrote, and know the power of his resurrection. The power of his resurrection. We get a word from that English word called dynamite, but it’s the Greek word dunamis, dunamis, D-U-N-A-M-I-S. The Greek word means strength or might or power. Obviously, it took some sort of extraordinary power to resurrect Christ from the dead. You know, some people say he didn’t really die. He just passed out on the cross and they buried him and he woke up and rolled the rock out of the mouth of the cave and went back on it. No, come on. It takes more faith to believe that than it does to believe that he actually did resurrect from the dead as he prophesied that he would do. So it took extraordinary power to raise the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. That power is known as the omnipotence of God. God is all powerful. A lot of people know God, but they don’t really know, understand the God they know. We talk about that often on this show. Do you understand the God you know? Do you understand his omnipotence, his omnipresence, his omniscience? Do you understand that? Those three things alone are amazing biblical studies. His omnipotence means that he’s all-powerful. God has the power to do whatever he wishes to do. In Colossians 1.16, listen to this. For by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through him and for him. Guess who that’s talking about? That’s talking about the Lord Jesus Christ before he ever came to this planet, before he ever became a babe in a manger. It was the Lord Jesus Christ who was the instrument of creation. the power that he must have had to create this universe. I know everybody wants to say there are aliens flying around, rocket ships going here and there. Listen, the Lord Jesus Christ came to this planet to die for mankind, for us. This is the angelic conflict. There’s a reason why he came here. And you can get into all sorts of space exploration and wonder whether or not other people live on other planets. I’m telling you this, this is the only planet in the universe where the angelic conflict is taking place, right here, right now. And that resurrection gave us the victory over Satan and his plan. That’s why Paul the Apostle said in Philippians 4.13, listen to carefully, I can do all things through Jesus Christ who gives me the strength. There’s the power, the power to overcome adversity. That’s why we always tell you adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. You can’t stop adversity. You live in the devil’s world. You’re going to have adversity. but you never have to have stress. You never have to be afraid. You never have to worry. In the midst of this pandemic, you don’t have to worry you’re going to die. God’s in control. He has the power to watch over you, protect you. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. That means you can relax. That means you can have phenomenal faith. That means you can speak with courage. Will you want to tap into that power? Would you like to tap into that kind of power in your life? Would you like to have this amazing power that resurrected Christ from the dead? Well, you can have it. It starts with you trusting in Jesus Christ for your salvation. That’s where it starts. Listen carefully, Colossians 1.13. God has delivered us from the power of darkness. That’s a different sort of power. That’s satanic power. He’s delivered us from the power of darkness. What exactly is the power of darkness? It’s the misinformation used by the devil in order to subjugate you, to misinform you, and to hopefully prove God wrong in condemning him to the lake of fire. He doesn’t want to go to the lake of fire, and he wants to use you as a witness for his defense. God delivered us from the power of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son. When you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have phenomenal, powerful assets at your finger because you become a member of God’s royal family. The very moment you make the decision to trust Christ, The very first powerful miracle takes place in your life. It’s unbelievable. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, 17. If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things passed away, behold, all things become new. Wow, that’s what I wanted. When I was 22 years old and I heard that, I wanted to start my life over. I knew I had made a mess out of my life due to circumstances. And if someone made the analogy to me like a dirty chalkboard and the teacher goes up and takes a wet sponge and cleans it off and the dirty chalk is all gone and you have a nice, new, clean chalkboard, That’s what happens to you when you believe in Christ. You’re born again. You have a new identity. Become a member of the royal family of God. Technically, the way that it happens is when we’re born, we’re born spiritually dead because we have the imputation of Adam’s original sin. And so we are alive physically, and we have a soul, but we’re dead spiritually. And so when we believe in Christ, God the Holy Spirit comes to indwell the human spirit. and we are made alive spiritually, spiritual birth. It’s called the second birth. So this is what happens the moment we believe in Christ. That first miracle takes place. We become a new creation. Now instead of just a body and a soul, we have a body and a soul and a spirit. It doesn’t change the way we look. It doesn’t change anything else. It just changes what’s on the inside. Because if you wanna go to heaven, this body’s not gonna survive it. This body has to go back to the grave because it’s infected with sin. What will survive it is your soul and your spirit and a new body once you get there. So when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke of the new birth, He referenced this in John 3, 3. Listen carefully. Jesus answered and said unto Nicodemus, I’m telling you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. That’s a powerful statement. And it takes a very powerful thing for a person to be born again. The power is manifested in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this new birth that he’s talking about, that he told Nicodemus, except you be born again, that freaked Nicodemus out. He didn’t quite understand that. I mean, he’s like, how can I go back to my mother’s womb and be born? That’s impossible. And the Lord said, I’m surprised you being a Pharisee, you don’t understand these things. This new birth is actually your dead human spirit being made alive again. so that you now have the capacity to have a relationship with God. Capacity. John 4, 24, God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. If you don’t have a living human spirit, you can’t worship God. And if you don’t come through Jesus Christ, you can’t worship God because you have to worship him in spirit and in truth. Christ said, I am the way and I am the truth and I am the life. The only way you can understand God is to come through Christ Jesus and to be born again. and to assume the mindset of Christ. Learn his word and apply it into your life. By becoming a member of God’s royal family, the wonderful thing about it is you can have access to God’s unlimited resources. Unlimited. I mean, the Father has resources that we can tap into that are unbelievable. I don’t ever mention money on this show, and I don’t intend to talk about it here, but I can tell you this. to broadcast on 82 stations across the country and into the Philippines takes a tremendous amount of money. And you haven’t asked us, you haven’t heard us ask for a dime. You haven’t heard us ask for any money. Why? Because we believe if God’s in it, God will pay for it. We know that he owns the cattle on a thousand hill. All the Lord has to do is sell a few cattle to pay for anything we have. And so that’s our view. That’s our faith. We believe God will pay for it if he’s in it. And that’s our unlimited resources. Financially, physically, spiritually, we have these resources. Ephesians 1.17, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you, here’s one of your resources, listen, give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having wisdom and insight through the knowledge of Jesus Christ. So Paul goes on to say, then I pray that your eyes, the eyes of your heart, would be enlightened. In other words, you’d begin to see who you are, see who he is, and see what the world is. There are a lot of blind people walking around today, blind in the fog, and they don’t understand what’s going on. And through Christ, the eyes of our heart can be enlightened, so we will know, the Bible says, What is the confidence we have in his calling and what are the riches of his glory of the inheritance of his saints? Paul goes on to say, and we will know the boundlessness, greatness of his power. The greatness of his power. It’s at my fingertips. It’s at your fingertips. It’s available to you through prayer, through faith. The power towards us who believe. Do you remember Moses when he led the Jews out of the out of Egypt after they’d been in captivity for 400 plus years and they backed up against the Red Sea and the Pharaoh decided he was going to come kill them all even though he’d let them go. You remember the tremendous power that it took to part the Red Sea? God’s power demonstrated when Moses said, stand still and watch what God will do. This power is available to you in your life too. These things are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might, the Bible says. which he brought about in Christ Jesus when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule, all authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but in the age to come. This is what God did. Resurrected his only begotten son, king of kings, lord of lords, seated him as the right hand of his glory until he says, okay, go back and get him. That’s you and me. When he gives that command, the Lord Jesus Christ will return. But right now, he has set high above everything, above all rule, above all authority, above all power and dominion, even above any name that is named. Those resources, this amazing power, that power that causes us to be born again, to be transformed into a different person, that power can be utilized by faith through prayer. Again, I told you what Moses said, do not be afraid. Fear neutralizes the power of God. Fear is you assuming an unassigned responsibility. If you know those 10 problem-solving devices that we speak of on this radio show, number one, the rebound technique, that’s how you deal with sin, confessing your sin. And number two, the filling of the Holy Spirit. That’s how you override your sin nature control. And number three, the faith rest drill, standing on those 7,000 promises of God. If you understand that, then you’re not going to be afraid. You don’t have to be afraid of some coronavirus. You don’t have to be afraid of some foreign enemy. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You have phenomenal power and assets at your fingertip, and it’s all available to you. Stand still, Moses said. Don’t run around like a chicken with your head cut off, excuse the analogy, but stand still. and watch what God is about to do. For that Egyptian army who you have seen today, you’ll never see them again. They were wiped out. How did he do it? Well, Luke 1.37 says, nothing is impossible with God, nothing. Nothing is impossible with God. If God can resurrect his only begotten son from the dead and seat him at his right hand in heavenly places, think what he can do for you. Nothing is impossible. In Romans 8, 31, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who in the world could be against us? Nobody. You see, let me give you some principles here. One, divine provisions are logistical grace provisions. Divine provisions are logistical grace provisions and even much more. Logistical grace is seen in Matthew 6 where God said, look, you don’t have to worry about today or tomorrow. I’ll take care of you. I feed the birds. I take care of the flowers. I mean, everything’s on a timetable. Everything’s prepared for. Why are you worried? Don’t be worrying. Worry is a tremendous mental attitude sin. Worry is a sin that will quench the Holy Spirit and grieve the Holy Spirit. What are you worried about? You’re not allowed to worry as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples had to learn that. They had to learn not to worry. He told them, you’re gonna be persecuted. He told them, I’m gonna be killed, and they’re gonna try to kill you as well. Don’t worry. My Father is in control. So what kind of adversity are you having in your life today? Is it a health problem? Is it a financial problem? Is it a political problem? Is it a social problem? Don’t worry. Just stand still. Stay filled with the Holy Spirit. Use Rebound to confess your sin of worrying. Use Rebound to get back in fellowship with God. Claim a promise from God like Isaiah 54, 17. No weapon that is formed against you will ever prosper. 7,000 promises in the Bible for you. And by the way, we have a… a promise notebook free of charge for you. It lists hundreds of promises and hundreds of principles taught in the Word of God, and it’s all yours, all free, no gimmicks, no games. Just write to us at rickhughesministries.org. You’ll see our website, rickhughesministries.org, and ask for that book, Promises. We’ll send it right out to you. It’s about like a telephone book. It’s a good-sized book. but you can read in it daily and claim those promises of God that are prepared for you. That’s the important thing. What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? So we have divine provisions, logistical grace, breathing, air, water, food, shelter, clothing. 7,000 promises. They’re not all in that book. We couldn’t afford to print that many in that book. But anyhow, there’s hundreds in there. Listen to Isaiah 40, verse 29. He gives power. Here we go again. He gives power to the faint. Power to the faint. and to him who has no might he gives him increased strength this is what god can do for you if your circumstances are so overwhelming you feel like fainting when you turn that over to him by faith filled with the holy spirit living on divine viewpoint he will give you increased strength you can look it in the face and not be intimidated this verse goes on to say even the youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, and they will run and not be weary, and they will walk and not faint. Wow, this is an amazing promise for you. The power to overcome fear, the power to have strength that other people don’t have in the face of adversity that would cause other people to crumble, You can fly over that like an eagle. You can soar through that and run and not be weary, walk and not faint. Sometimes when I’m fishing, I see eagles flying over the lake, soaring with the wind and the currents of the wind. That’s what it’s like for the believer, the mature believer who knows God’s word, the mature believer who has divine viewpoint, who’s accumulated the wisdom of God in his soul. He can soar over the circumstances of life. You can see it, you can understand it, and you will not be intimidated by it. Why? Because you have the divine power of God, the Holy Spirit, living in you, and you have the power of the Word of God. The Word of God. Hebrews 4.12, the Word of God is alive and powerful, powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of of the soul and the spirit and the joints and the marrow is a critic of thoughts and intents of the heart. The word of God is alive and powerful. The Holy Spirit lives in you, Ephesians 1.13. He sealed you until the day of redemption. And Paul says, look, you’re to be filled with the spirit in Ephesians 5.18. That happens when you confess any known sin, you’re filled with the spirit. That’s the rebound, problem-solving device number one. It lets us solve the problem of our sin-infected nature. So when we are filled with the Holy Spirit and when we have the Word of God, we can soar like eagles. We can have power to overcome the difficult circumstances in our life. We can have the strength to go through anything. You even have the ability to rescue somebody from the lake of fire. There’s nothing more powerful than this. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ said, you will receive power, power, power, when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. Paul said in Romans 1.16, I’m not ashamed of the gospel. It’s the power of God for salvation. to everyone who believes it, to the Jew first and then to the Greek. You can have that power. That power is available for you. It’s the gospel, the greatest power the world has ever known, the good news, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. His death, burial, and resurrection is available. When you share that gospel with someone, and they believe it, and they receive Christ as their Savior, you rescued them from the lake of fire, and you, in effect, birthed them a new life through Christ. That’s powerful, and that’s your ability. Have you ever done that? Have you ever even asked a person, If you died today, would you go to heaven? Have you ever said, would you like to know how? There are people that would like to know how. There are people you need to challenge. You need to say, look, just ask one person, because this power is yours. It’s the power of the gospel. When you give someone the gospel, the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, it can change that person. It can change their life. It can change their destiny. It can change their history. That’s why Paul said, I’m not ashamed of it. It’s the power of God to salvation. To everyone who believes it, to the Jew first and then to the Greek. You have the ability also to have the power to intercede in intercessory prayer for people. John 15, seven, if you abide in me, stay in fellowship, and my word abides in you, know the word of God. Then ask whatever you wish, and it’ll be done for you. In Colossians 4, 2, and 3, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving, and at the same time, pray also for us that God would open a door for the word to declare the mystery of Christ on account of which I’ve been a prisoner. That’s powerful. We have that power to intercede in prayer. I can pray for you. You can pray for me. I would love to pray for you if I knew what to pray about, but you got to let me know if you need that prayer. But it’s available. I can intercede on your behalf. You also have your very own spiritual gift. God, if you’re a Christian, God equipped you with a gift. Listen to 2 Peter 1.3. His divine power, there it is, has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence. God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. He indwells us with a spiritual gift. You have a gift, and that gift is powerful. Whatever that gift may be, it could be the gift of evangelism like me. It could be the gift of pastor, teacher, like the man you need to be seated under learning God’s word. It could be the gift of giving. It could be the gift of mercy. It could be the gift of administration. Whatever that gift is, it’s a powerful asset for you to use in God’s plan. That’s God’s power available for you. It was all designed in eternity past. Tap into the power, the dunamis, the power of God. beyond physical explanation. It all starts with the power to transform and change a life through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. What an amazing, powerful thing. When he walked out of that grave, that power became yours because guess what? You’re gonna walk out of the grave too. You’re gonna get a resurrection body. The same power that resurrected him will resurrect you. First Thessalonians chapter four talks about it. The dead in Christ will rise first. And then we which are remained shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, and so shall we evermore be with the Lord. That power is ours. We are the most powerful people on earth if we utilize our assets. Don’t forget about that. Remember that. Remember the power God has given you and tap into it today. Until next week, I’m your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 01 :
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.
