Listeners are invited to discover a path to peace through a relationship with Christ, where the joy that fills a believer’s heart far surpasses any temporary or material gratification. Rick shares insightful wisdom on how the filling of the Holy Spirit and the knowledge of God’s promises not only sustain us through life’s trials but also place us firmly in the center of God’s will. Tune in to learn how true joy can be your constant companion, now and forever.
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 01 :
Good morning and welcome to the Flatline Radio Show. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next few minutes, stick around. Only about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and no solicitation. That’s right. We don’t ask for money. We’re not trying to sell you anything. We’re not trying to in any way try to solicit funds. We just want to give you information. Hopefully, that’ll help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life. And if you’re interested, then you obviously have the freedom to orient and adjust to that plan. That’s up to you. But if you’ve been listening to the Flatline, you know we’re all about those 10 unique problem-solving devices taught in the Word of God. When you learn them and use them, you form a main line of resistance, a Flatline, forward line of troops, main line of resistance in your soul. And the idea being that the Word of God can stop adversity from becoming stress. Because adversity, as we know, is inevitable, but stress, as we’ve learned, is optional. And the Christian life is not a life of stress. It’s not a life of worry. It’s not a life of fear. It’s not a life of agitation. It’s not a life of bitterness. It’s a new way of living. It’s a way of living called the mind of Christ in Philippians 2.5. And that’s called divine viewpoint. So that’s what this show is about, sharing divine viewpoint, teaching you the word of God. I’m not a pastor. I’m an evangelist. I’m not trying to solicit your membership in my church. But if you’re looking for a well-qualified pastor, I’d like to be able to point you in the right direction, at least. And let me remind you of our website, rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org. And let me warn you of one thing. There is another man on the Internet named Richard Hughes Ministries, Richard Hughes Ministries, and that is not me. That’s a man in Cordell, Georgia, and he happens to have the same name that I have. I go by Rick Hughes Ministries. He goes by Richard Hughes Ministries. So if you’re trying to reach me, don’t contact a man in Cordell, Georgia. That’s not me. We’re in Cropwell, Alabama. Our number is 800-831-0718, 800-831-0718. If you’d like to call and order our new book on aging, God’s Grace in Aging, that’s available now. Also, we have a lot of transcripts. This is printed Bible lessons that we’ve taught on the radio, and they’re all in printed form in books, and they are free. We got them in 19, 20, and 21 years, 2019, 2020, and 2021. So if you’d like to get those transcripts, they’re available to you, and you can read through one a day or something like that. It’s very good information, and hopefully we put it in book form so you could save it and use it from time to time, okay? So thank you for listening. Now let’s get on with what we want to talk about today. This is Christmas Eve day, if you’re listening. Here it is, December the 24th, about to move into the year 2024. There’s an old song that a lot of people sing Christmas. I’ve sung it, and I know you have too. It’s called Joy to the World. It’s an English Christmas carol, and it was written in 1719 by the English minister and hymn writer Isaac Watts. And its lyrics are a Christian reinterpretation of Psalm 98. This carol is usually sung to a 1848 arrangement by the American composer, Lowell Mason. But since the 20th century, Joy to the World has been the most published Christian hymn in North America. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Listen to Luke 2, 10 through 11. Then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. Now these are shepherds in the field watching their flocks over at night. You may remember the story Luke writes about it here. do not be afraid for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy great joy I want you to focus on the word joy today we want to talk about what it means to have joy he said I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people not a few not just some not just the Jews but to the Gentiles as well to all people for there is born to you this day in the city of David Bethlehem a Savior who is Christ the Lord Now, as you and I celebrate Christmas season, I would like to point out the true source of joy, J-O-Y, the joy that God has provided for every member of the human race. Because I know, and growing up it was like this for me, sometimes Christmas can be a depressing time for many who’ve lost loved ones or for some who can’t afford to provide the gifts they’d like due to their financial constraints. But whatever the reason, many people do not have much joy because at this time of the year, but the truth is the joy provided by God does not depend on circumstances or the details of our lives. The angel that appeared to the shepherds in the field watching over their flock had a direct message from God. He was announcing the birth of a Savior who is indeed Jesus Christ the Lord, the anointed Son of God. And then notice what I said in the announcement, it’s for all people. All people, great joy which will be to all people, Luke 2.10. So here it is, more than likely this particular angel was the commander of the angelic armies which is the king of arms. Notice that after this was made, the angels all formed up and set the precedence for worship and for praise. They lined up and passed in review over the battlefield of the devil’s world. Listen to it in Luke 2, 13. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace and goodwill towards men. The goodwill of God has now made it possible for every human being on this planet to have peace with God. Romans 5, 1. We’ll read it here in just a minute. So the two greatest events in the history of this age-old world, two of them, today we celebrate one of them. You and I, along with the hosts of heavens, rejoice at the birth of our Savior. This one event. The other one is the cross where he purchased our freedom. So here, the reason for our great joy and your great joy this day It’s not that you’re getting Christmas gifts, not that the family’s coming over for dinner tonight, not any of that’s going on, but that Christ has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin by means of his very own sacrificial death on the cross. He has made it possible for us to have eternal life with our Heavenly Father as well as to enjoy peace with God here and now. That’s why I said Romans 5.1 is critical. Therefore, having been justified by faith, not by works, by faith, you can’t buy it, you can’t earn it, it’s a free gift. The Bible goes on to say we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. The night I got saved and when I went to bed that night, that was the first night in a long time in my short 22 years at that time that I’d actually had peace with God. But I was at rest with God that night when I went to bed after having accepted Christ as my Savior. If you’re not at peace with God, I recommend you make the decision to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior on this significant day where we celebrate his birth. Because the Lord Jesus Christ, this joy he provided, this great joy Christ brought, here as the verse said, good tidings of great joy, this joy is both eternal and temporal. What do I mean by that? I mean we have the joy of eternal life with our Savior and with other believers. We have that joy. Did you know that? Matthew 25, 33, His Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You’ve been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many. Enter into the joy of the Lord. There it is again. When you get to heaven, what a joyful experience that will be. There’s also another joy that you and I can possess now in this time continuum. And this is found in John 15, 11. For the Lord Jesus Christ said, these things I’ve spoken to you that my joy might remain in you and that your joy might be full. is possible for you to have great joy today. In spite of your circumstances, in spite of your situation, you can have the joy the Bible speaks of because it’s a direct ministry of God the Holy Spirit to each of us as we live in this time. You don’t believe that? Listen to Romans 15, 13. Now the God of all hope fills you with all joy and peace. by means of believing in the Lord Jesus Christ so that you may abound in confidence through the power of the Holy Spirit. So God can fill you with joy today, a joy unexpeakable, a joy unexpressible, a joy you’ve never experienced before if you put your faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this joy that I’m speaking about can sustain you even in times of trouble and even in times of suffering. You don’t believe that? James 1.12. My brethren, count it all joy. There it is again. When you fall into many testings, count it joy. It’s a joyful time. There never is a time in your life when you shouldn’t be having joy. And just because this is Christmas season, you should never be sitting at home feeling sorry about yourself or any of the things that you’re experiencing. joy is only possible through the filling of the holy spirit if you’re not filled with the holy spirit by the use of rebound first john 1 9 then you cannot have this joy because galatians 5 22 says the fruit that comes from the spirit is joy love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness etc it’s all listed there and joy is listed as the means of the filling of the holy spirit How would you know if you’re filled with the Holy Spirit or not? Well, you got indwelled by the Holy Spirit when you got saved. He came to live in you and seal you, according to Ephesians 1.13. But he may not be filling you because you might have unconfessed sin in your life. You might have mental attitude sins. You may have sins of the tongue. You may have some sort of overt sin. But sin quenches and grieves the Holy Spirit, the Bible says. So until you rebound that sin, or 1 John 1.9, if we confess that sin, And he’s faithful and just to forgive us. Until you do that, you will not have the joy that I’m talking about. Because that’s a joy that only comes through the filling of the Holy Spirit. So if in fact you’re sad, if you’re unhappy right now, maybe you should confess the self-pity. And by doing that, you’ll get back in fellowship with God and have the opportunity to develop this flatline in your soul that we speak about. Listen to Proverbs 17, 22. A joyful heart, there it is again, is good medicine. But a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Did you hear that? A crushed spirit dries up the bones. If you’re sitting at home today with a crushed spirit, you’re not feeling well, I assure you. Because a lack of joy is actually unhealthy for you, the Bible says. I read it to you, a crushed spirit dries up the bones. That’s unhealthy for you. God designed you to be happy, he designed you to have joy, but only through his spirit and only in the way that it comes through him. Eternal joy through salvation in Christ our Lord and temporal joy through the filling of the Holy Spirit. So the joy that we need right now in this Christmas season only comes through the filling of the Holy Spirit and it only comes through the word of God when you have it circulating in your soul’s mentality. That’s right, the word of God has to go into your soul And it has to circulate in your stream of consciousness. And how do you get it there? The Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God, the word of the Lord. You have to learn it to understand it and use it. If you’re not hearing it taught, if you’re not applying it into your life, you’re never going to have any joy. The joy we need again during this Christmas season, as I told you earlier, only comes through by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit, and listen now, and through the word of God when it circulates in the mentality of your soul. Listen again, Philippians 2, 1 and 2. If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if there is any comfort of love, if there’s any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies fulfill you my joy, Paul said. so that we can be like-minded, having the same love, that’s personal and impersonal love, the virtue package God gave for us, being of one accord, of one mind, thinking alike. And that’s thinking in the mind of Christ. So that word joy in the Greek New Testament is a wonderful word. It’s the word Chara, C-H-A-R-A, Chara. And it’s a system of thanking scripture. And it’s accompanied with great confidence in God’s promises and God’s provisions if you learn them and think them and use them because that’s where you live your spiritual life and the mentality of your soul. That’s where it starts because the Bible says, as a man thinketh in his heart, that’s the real him. As he thinketh in his soul, so he is. So unfortunately, you can’t think what you don’t know. That’s the problem. If you don’t know it, how can you think it? And joy is simply good thinking resulting in good emotional response to that thinking. This joy I’m talking about has a response which includes animation in the soul, enthusiasm in the soul, exaltation in the soul. These are symptoms of that joy that I’m talking about. Animation, enthusiasm, and exaltation. John wrote it like this in 1 John 1, 3 through 4. That which we have seen… that’s what we have heard we now declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ and these things we write unto you now here it comes get ready buckle your chinstrap that your joy may be full are you running around on a half tank of joy that’s not working it’s designed for your joy to be complete it can be full resulting in these things that I’m talking about. Animation, enthusiasm, exaltation, all from the confidence of the scripture, the word of God, circulating in your stream of consciousness. We have what’s called problem solving device number nine in the flat line of your soul, and it’s called sharing the happiness of God. And this is the invigorating response and the excitement related to both the pleasure and exaltation of possessing both eternal life, yes, and temporal relationship with God now, right now. So sharing the happiness of God is a joy brought to completion. There never is a time when God is unhappy. And if you’re going to share the happiness of God, there never is a time when you’re to be unhappy. One of the significant things about the Christian life is this permanent joy that we have, not based on people and not based on circumstances, but based on our relationship with the Father through Christ our Savior. What a wonderful thing. For those of us that are believers and growing in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the scriptures actually become a great joy to us. That’s right. The Bible is a joy. Listen, Jeremiah 15, 16, your words were found and I did eat them and the word was unto me, the joy, the joy, the joy. I said it three times and the rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. You talk about having a great Christmas dinner. Here it is. Your word was found to me and I ate it. I consumed it. I live for it. I love it. Is that you? Do you love the word of God? Do you love to feed on the word of God? Do you love to be taught the word of God by some well-qualified pastor? Then you can have the joy I’m talking about because the joy that I’m talking about It’s demonstrated by great confidence and great assurance in God’s plan and provision so that you will never, ever have anything to fear. Never. In 2 Timothy 1.7, here’s what Paul wrote, For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Power, love, sound mind. Those are the attitudes of the mature believer. The power comes from the filling of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. The Bible says the Word of God is alive and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword. That’s your power. And of love. If we say we love God and hate our brother, the truth is not in us. How can we love God whom we’ve never seen? The Bible says if we hate our brother who we see every day. Virtue love does not possess the hatred package. Virtue love is not some sort of person who likes one race and doesn’t like the other race. It’s not prejudice. And it’s of a sound mind. Virtue love is solid thinking, sound mind, not back and forth, in and out, not steady. God wants you to have a sound mind. So the greatest joy you can possess, the greatest joy I can possess, is you and I to know confidently that you and I are fulfilling God’s plan for our life. Exactly what is the will of God. Listen, let me share something with you. Listen to the joy that our Lord possessed even on that cross. Do you think it’s possible that on the cross Jesus Christ had joy? Hebrews 12, two says, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy, there it is again, that was set before him, the joy that was set before him? What does that mean? The joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. What was the basis for this joy that our Lord possessed even in the middle of excruciating pain and embarrassment of being crucified on a cross between two thieves. How could that have brought him joy? Well, the joy that our Lord possessed on that cross was not something most people ever would experience. But I’m telling you right now, as confidently as I could ever tell you, you can have this same joy in your life if you wish. Because his joy was the victory he accomplished on the cross. He fulfilled the destiny of why he came. Isaiah 53, five through seven in the Old Testament tells us, he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace that was upon him and with his stripes, we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We’ve all turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all that’s on the cross. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. Yet he opened not his mouth. He didn’t complain. He didn’t cry. He has brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before the shears is dumb. So he opened not his mouth. Not one time did our Lord Jesus Christ complain. He had joy. He had joy. Isaiah’s prophecy was given many years before our Lord arrived in that manger in Bethlehem. He was victorious in freeing mankind from the penalty of sin and death. And that was a joyful moment for him knowing that he had completed his work and he would now return home to his father’s right hand. This is the joy you should have, knowing that you are in the center of the will of God for your life. If you are unhappy, if you’re full of self-pity, if you’re complaining about some raw deal you got in life, you have no joy. and your experience is not happy. You may be a believer. You may be a Christian. Maybe you have been saved, but you’re not living the spiritual life. Because the spiritual life guarantees you that you should never, ever, ever have to be unhappy, to be sad, to be mad, to be bitter, to be jealous. Never. That’s not the Christian life. That’s not divine viewpoint thinking. That’s not you having the mind of Christ. And that’s why the Bible says, stop thinking in terms of arrogance beyond what you should think. But think in terms of sanity as God has assigned to each one of us a standard of thinking from his word, Romans 12, 2. There it is. So the greatest joy that you and I could ever have is to know we are completely in the center of the will of God. And when the time comes for us to go home, we can leave with great confidence. That’s right, great confidence. that we have completed God’s plan for our life. In our book on aging that we’ve written, we quote Paul’s final words to young Timothy, where he said in 1 Timothy 1.12, I thank Jesus Christ my Lord who has enabled me and counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. That’s a verse that I like to quote myself. I thank God that he saved me. I thank God that he found me that day. And when I was 22 years old, I didn’t go looking for him. He found me. He led me to have a date with that girl that night. And as the end result, I wound up at the Bible study. And as the end result, I was given the gospel and got saved. And then he put me into the ministry. I never had a clue I would be in the ministry. That was the furthest thing from my mind. I never even went to church as a kid. Here I am now, 50 plus years into the ministry. And here’s what Paul said as he rounded the curve and saw the end. He realized he was about to be transferred from time to eternity. I like to say he’s about to be called to the home office. And here he said these words in 2 Timothy 4, 7. We have it in our book on God’s grace and aging. I fought a good fight, I finished my course, and I kept the faith. That’s what God expects out of you, to fight a good fight. What kind of fight are we talking about here? In Ephesians 6, the Bible says, put on the armor of God so you can stand against the strategy of the devil. You’re in a war. You’re in the middle of an angelic conflict. There’s nothing more that Satan would like to do than illustrate your failures and vindicate himself before God. He doesn’t want to go to the lake of fire. He knows he’s destined to go there, and he’s desperately trying to use you and I to prove that he’s more worthy than we are. And yet he did not accept the forgiveness God offered, and we did. We put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s why we are forgiven. And so we can say the words with Paul, I’m in a fight. Yes, the fight is between my flesh that never goes away. That’s Romans 7 where Paul said, I don’t understand myself at all because I want to do the right thing, but it’s inevitable that I keep on doing the wrong thing. Yes, you have a sin nature. And yes, sometimes you feel like a nut and sometimes you don’t. And yes, it’s a war every day to not let your flesh control you. It can be the lust of the flesh, it can be the pride of life, it can be whatever. Your flesh can come in several lust patterns, sex lust, power lust, money lust, approbation lust, ego lust, political lust, whatever. That’s it. You got to fight that fight every day and say no to the flesh. That’s your volitional decision. God gave you a volition. As a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. You have to choose what you want to do. It’s up to you. You want to be a failure? You can choose to be a failure. Or you can choose to say, I’m going to follow my Lord and I’m going to learn God’s word and I’m going to put it in my soul and I’m going to live by it. I fought a good fight, Paul said. I finished my course. In other words, he completed what God asked him to do. That time is coming for you too someday. Will you finish the course? Have you dropped out of the race? Can you consider yourself running a race, running a 100-yard race? Did you complete the course? Did you drop out at 30? Did you drop out at 50 yards? Did you drop out at 60 yards? Say, I can’t do this. That’s too much. It’s too hard. I got too many other distractions. Paul said, I finished my race. I finished the course. And then he said, I was faithful. I kept the faith. God counted on me, and I kept the faith. I never turned my back on him. That’s what Paul’s saying. I live by what he gave me, and I kept the faith. That’s our prayer for you today. Our prayer is that you will fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith. Our prayer is that you will have this joy we’ve been speaking about in this radio show on this Christmas Eve day, and that you will hear our Lord say, well done, my good and faithful servant. Can you imagine the joyful moment that will be? I mean, I can remember when I was competing in athletics and football and the coach come out on the sideline and he looked in the eye and said, good job, son, good job, you did a great job. Can you imagine the joy you will experience when your heavenly father looks you in the eyes and said, good job, well done. I depended on you, I trusted you, and you did what I asked you to do. What a joyful moment that will be for you. Remember, remember this, the Lord Jesus Christ died alone for you and for me. He gave us an objective, an opportunity. He gave us the power to live this life. There’s no reason for you not to have joy in this season. There’s no reason for you not to enjoy the wonderful assets that God has given to you. It’s all available through faith alone in Christ alone. So if you haven’t trusted Christ to be your Lord and Savior, it’s my prayer that you will make that decision and you will make it today. Simply bow your head and say, Father, I believe that Christ died for me and I’m willing to accept him as my Savior. That will be the moment of your salvation. Until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
