In this episode, Rick Hughes continues his exploration of spiritual maturity and growth. Drawing lessons from the life of Apostle Paul, Hughes emphasizes the need to move beyond failures and pursue a relationship with God that leads to fulfillment and purpose. As he walks you through the critical directive, permissive, and overruling aspects of God’s will, Hughes offers listeners a roadmap to understanding the broader spiritual journey.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
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Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, I would like to ask you to stay with me. It’ll be a short time, just about 27, 28 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education. And we’re going to do this with no manipulation, no solicitation, no asking you for anything, just giving you some accurate information, information that’s designed to help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life. If you can understand it, evaluate what I say, listen to it, and apply it in your life, then you will be on your way to enjoying one of the greatest assets you’ve ever known, and that’s the Christian life, the wonderful, powerful, invisible life that God gives all of us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Remember the Flotline, the program you’re listening to. We’re here to remind you of biblical truths and hopefully to introduce you to an in-depth way of studying and learning the Word of God. As I said, no manipulation, just verifying God’s plan. And it all starts with the good news that Jesus Christ, the anointed Son of God, has redeemed us out of the slave market of sin. Our debt to God’s been paid. We are now free of the penalty of death and free of the power of sin. So if you would receive Christ as your savior, you in effect are accepting the offering that he made on your behalf, the free gift from God, compliments of God, As the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9, for by grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves is a gift of God and not of works, lest any man should brag about it. God loves you and has provided a wonderful gift for you, the gift of eternal life through Christ Jesus. You can’t earn it, you can’t buy it, you can’t pay for it. The Bible says in Titus 3, 5, not by works of righteousness which we’ve done, but according to his mercy 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, that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. That’s all compliments of grace of God. So remember, as we go through our lesson today, we are in the middle of a series called Life’s Toughest Choices. And this should be the last lesson in this. This is a series that I taught recently in a school, talking to students. Life’s Toughest Choices. And I want to remind you, as I reminded them, that God gave each of us two ends. One end is to sit with and the other end is to think with. And success in our life depends on which end we use. It’s heads we win and tails we lose. And so if you want to have that wonderful life, you’ve got to learn to think. And concluding with life’s toughest years, the big search. What do I do when I leave the house? Where do I go? What do I do? Now I’m 18, now I’m graduating, I’m off to college, or now I’m out of college. What is my life all about? Figuring it all out, the big search, and let me give you some principles. Here’s the first principle. Every problem in life has a solution stated in the Word of God. Nothing catches God off guard. So point two, therefore, there is no such thing as a problem in life that does not have a solution in the Word of God. And point three, there are two areas of failure in your personal life and mine that can cause us to miss God’s best plan for us. And they are, one, unbelief, when we reject the Word of God in unbelief. The second area of failure is indifference. When we have apathy to the word, we don’t pay attention to it. So rejection and apathy are the two enemies of anyone. The unbeliever who rejects the good news, the gospel of his salvation, leaves the justice of God no choice but to condemn him to the lake of fire. He didn’t create the lake of fire for the unbeliever. He created it for the devil and the fallen angels that will be there with him. But when you reject the free gift of eternal life, you force the justice of God to send you there as well. And if you are a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, but you’re indifferent to God’s word, you’re too busy, you’re too strung out, too many distractions, and you have no intention of learning anything out of the Bible that might help you, then you are indifferent and you’re going to go down the my way highway with your life until eventually you hit a dead end. So point four, if you’re ever going to discover God’s plan for your life, you must learn not to emphasize people over God. People relationships are wonderful and fine, but they’re not the key to happiness. Your relationship with God is your key to happiness and is the key to you finding your personal sense of destiny. Don’t ever fall for the line that people or circumstances can provide happiness for you. It doesn’t. In the Bible, the apostle Paul, whose name was Saul, Saul of Tarsus, He got a wake-up call. Maybe you need a wake-up call this morning. In Acts 9, 1 and 2, then Saul, who became Paul, wrote the book of Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and on and on. Saul, or Paul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He killed them. Yeah, he went after them with vengeance. He went to the high priest and he asked for letters from him to the synagogue in Damascus so that if he found anyone there who was of the way, men or women, that he might arrest them and bring them back to Jerusalem for trial. This is Saul, the antagonist, going after Christians called the way. and arresting them, men and women, bringing them back to Jerusalem to the synagogue to be tried and to be put to death. You know, here’s the concept. Saul was a terror to the early church, arresting and killing those who claimed to be Christians. So Acts 9 tells us in verse 3, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. And then he fell to the ground and he heard a voice say to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? In Acts 9, 5, and Saul said, who are you, sir? And the voice said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. And so, verse six, he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what would you have me to do? You know the old Hank Williams song, I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness, no more shame, I saw the light. Saul saw the light. He recognized immediately that this was God. And he responded positively by saying, Lord, what do you want me to do? Now, this was not some spaceship hovering over him, shining a light on him. Hollywood has a way of making up all this goofy stuff so that you’ll buy into it. This is the grace of God calling Saul out of a life of sin and death. And Saul eventually said, as he wrote the book of Philippians 3, verses 13 and 14, I do not count myself as apprehended. In other words, I’m not a complete person yet. But one thing I do, I forget those things that are behind me and I reach forward to those things that are before me. I am pressing towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. This is what you must do. If you’re ever going to learn your destiny, if you’re ever going to go through that door called a personal sense of destiny and discover God’s plan for your life, You must forget your failures. You know, when we rebound our sin, when we go to God and admit our sin, 1 John 1, 9, that’s how we’re filled with the Spirit. But one of the things that Satan’s good at is throwing it back up at us and making us think, well, maybe I need to confess it again because I’ve only confessed this sin 25 times. Maybe I should do it again. That’s not what the Bible says. If we confess our sin, 1 John 1, 9, he is faithful and he is just to forgive us so you don’t have to keep on keep on keep on you forget your failures don’t focus on the past look at the solution not the problem and press forward towards the goal what is your goal to be a mature believer to represent the life of Christ, to represent Christ through your community, in your church, in your home, to let people that know you see Christ in you, and for you to become a mature believer so you can be the light of the world. so you can be the salt that preserves the nation. That’s what Paul said. I’m not there, but I’m not looking back. I’m looking ahead, looking forward, and I’m pressing. That’s his own positive volition. I am pursuing the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Now, Paul writes to us about having a relaxed mental attitude. It’s critical if you’re ever going to discover God’s plan that you have this. It says, be anxious for nothing in Philippians 4.2. But in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and then the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. Look at two words there, heart and mind. Remember this, when you hear information from the Bible, it comes to your mind. It’s called gnosis, G-N-O-S-I-S, in the Greek New Testament. That’s knowledge. But knowledge of the Word of God is not the same thing as application of the Word of God. What God wants you to do is to hear it and apply it into your life. In the book of Jeremiah, he said, if you want to brag about something, brag about this, that you know me and understand me. You understand me. And this verse says, understanding will guard your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus. What do you need to understand? Well, what the devil’s directive is, how he will try to snooker you, how he will try to misdirect you, how he will try to get you to go down the my way highway and pursue your own dreams and your own desires. And never walk through the personal sense of destiny door. So don’t be anxious. By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Just go to the Lord. Let him know. And he will give you a peace. And guard your heart. Your wisdom department in your soul. Through Christ Jesus your Lord. Now, every one of us has a personal sense of destiny. Every Christian has a sense of destiny. The very fact that we believed in Christ at the beginning of that destiny means we’re going to heaven. as well as in eternity and in time, we have a destiny. So the more we learn, the more we understand the plan of God, the more we develop this sense of destiny, where we now know why God saved us. We now know why we’re here. We now know what our spiritual gift is. We now know what God wants us to do. This is not an easy thing to determine. I went through it in my life, and my friends have gone through it. I knew I had a spiritual gift. I knew eventually that I had the gift of evangelism. It was a gift given to me by God. I didn’t earn it. I didn’t deserve it, but it’s a gift that he gave to me to be able to talk and people listen because I never talked to anybody in my life before I got saved. But he’s given you a gift. You may have the gift of evangelism. You may have the gift of pastor-teacher. You may have the gift of giving. You may have the gift of helps. You may have the gift of mercy. You may have the gift of administration. Whatever your gift is, when you learn and understand the plan of God, you will develop a sense of destiny about how to use that gift to its fullest. Only will it become full when you reach spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is your goal. That’s what God wants for you, to grow up out of the baby stage, not be a breathos, a baby, and not to be a student, but to be an adult believer, an adult believer having gone through spiritual self-esteem, going through spiritual autonomy, and reaching spiritual adulthood. That’s where God wants you to be. Your destiny in Christ is so great that it will outweigh any problem you face, any disaster you may go through, any heartaches that you may have. Anything that comes your way, your destiny will override that. God has a plan for your life, and you will never be happy. You will never be fulfilled. You will never understand why you’re here until you discover that plan. And there’s only one way to discover it. You’ve got to grow up spiritually. You know, there are three occasions when everybody has to grow up. I mean, when we’re born, we have to grow up as human beings. And that means we eventually take responsibility for our decisions, both the bad ones and the good ones. You know, if a kid gets in trouble, somebody’s got to call their parents. And I told the students where I taught this at their school, if you get in trouble, the principal is going to call your mom and daddy. But not in the future. In the future, if you get in trouble, you’re going to have to take responsibility for it yourself. So you have to grow up when you’re born as a human. And secondly, when you’re born again, you must grow up as a Christian by learning and applying God’s Word into your life. And thirdly, when you get married, you must grow up in the marriage. So you understand your role as a husband. You understand your role as a wife. You understand your role as a mother and a father. You have to grow up. Now, growing up as a Christian includes understanding the will of God for your life. And there are three things you have to understand. The directive will of God. the permissive will of God, and the overruling will of God. The directive will of God is for you to be in fellowship with Him every day. He tells you, for example, be filled with the Spirit, Ephesians 5.18. That’s the direct will of God. And you can’t be in fellowship with God if you’re not filled with the Spirit. And we know sin quenches the Spirit and grieves the Spirit, and we know we have to confess that sin. We know the direct will of God is for us to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We know that. We’ve seen that verse. We’ve seen study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. This is the directive will of God. You in fellowship and you growing and you reflecting Jesus Christ. But then on top of the directive will of God and the permissive will of God, there’s the overruling will of God. And this is God’s wall of fire. Whether you are in fellowship with him or whether you’re out of fellowship with him, God can put a wall of fire around you to protect you and deliver you from yourself or from the sources of the enemy. He keeps you alive. He keeps you here. If you are breathing this morning, listening to me talk, you are taking every breath compliments of the grace of God. He’s making that possible for you. He’s kept you here. And maybe it’s to hear this message or other messages that we give. Our objective is to take you to spiritual maturity, to point you to a real, good, qualified pastor where you can study daily and grow and learn God’s word and reflect Christ in your life. That’s my objective. not to con you out of any money or get you to join anything, but to get you to grow up so you can become part of the invisible impact in history, so that you can have a historical impact as a believer. That’s your job, to deliver this nation from what’s coming as a member of the pivot, the core group of key, strong, mature believers, that God will deliver the nation because of your life, because of your testimony. That’s what we’re looking for. And I pray that you would be part of that pivot. Now, in the will of God, you have to check out three things. Now, first of all, we have to decide what’s the geographical will of God. Where does God want me to be? This is critical. Where does God want me to be? Does he want me to stay in Houston? Does he want me to stay in San Antonio? Does he want me to stay in Jackson, Mississippi? Does he want me to stay in Grass Valley, California? Does he want me to stay in Tucson, Arizona? Where does God want me to be? The geographical will of God is important. This is what I believe. I believe God wants you to be where you can grow spiritually, where you can have a qualified pastor. Sometimes people have to relocate and I know many people that upped and moved so they could be in a church where there was a great pastor teaching the Word of God. Much more in the past than recently, but I know people that actually moved to get face-to-face teaching. That’s a great thing. Sometimes it’s not possible. But it is possible for you to take in the word of God every day. It is possible for you to listen to the teaching of the word of God every day. So where does God want me to be? There’s a geographical will of God for your life. There’s a city he wants you in. There’s a place he wants you in. There’s a slot he wants you to fill. And discovering that is awesome. So the geographical will of God, where does he want me to be? The viewpoint will of God, what does God want me to think? He wants you to think divine viewpoint. The Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus. That’s divine viewpoint. The viewpoint will of God is what does he want me to think? He wants me to think the word of God, Bible doctrine. He wants me to learn it and apply it into my life so I can reflect Christ. And then there’s the operational will of God, the geographical will of God, the viewpoint will of God, the operational will of God. What does he want me to do? Does he have a destiny for me? Yes. Is there a plan for me? Yes. Is there a slot where I fit in, something he wants me to do? Yes. He may have given you a talent, but that’s not your spiritual gift. Your spiritual gift can be best used in a local church where the spiritual gifts come together and represent the body of Christ to the community. That’s critical you remember that. So in the doctrine of knowing the will of God, For your life, there are specific things and general things. The specific thing is, what does God want me to do today? And, you know, some people get goofy with that. God willing, I’ll take the garbage out this morning. Well, obviously, he wants you to take the garbage out. But every day is a gift from God. This is the day the Lord has made. I’ll rejoice and have a superabundance of happiness in it because of his unfailing love and mercy every day. So every day that you are alive, God has a destiny for that day. And the long-term will of God means what does he want me to do with the rest of my life for my life? Am I to be a missionary? Am I to be a pastor? Am I to be a wife? Am I to be a husband? Am I to be a whatever? He has a plan. When you learn God’s word and the word of God unfolds before you like a book and you begin to see yourself in it, it blows you away. I was praying with a group of people after I got saved. I was a young Christian, maybe two, three weeks old in Christ. And the verses that they gave me to read shocked me. And we were reading Bible verses around a circle. And this was my verse. Pray for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel by which I’m an ambassador in bonds. When I read that, people just looked at me and people said, do you know what you just read? And it took a while to figure it out, but I was commissioned an evangelist. I have a destiny in Christ. That destiny was to learn God’s word and to replicate the life of Christ and share that word with you. And the reason that I’m on this radio today talking to you is fulfilling the long-term will of God for my life. I never thought about having a radio show. I never wanted to have a radio show. That was not in my goal, but it happened about 12 years ago. Out of nowhere, it happened. And here now, 12 years later, we’re still broadcasting on the radio compliments of the grace of God. And hopefully you’re learning. It’s going to happen to you as well. You know, when the Lord called his disciples in Mark 116, they were all blown away. He was walking by the Sea of Galilee and saw Simon and Andrew, his brother. That’s Peter. And they were casting nets into the sea and they were fishermen. And Jesus said, if you’ll follow me, I will make you become fishers of men. And they immediately left their nets and followed him. They didn’t dilly-dally around. Their destiny became apparent quite quickly when they met Christ. Your destiny is to grow in grace. Your destiny is to show yourself approved unto God, 2 Timothy 2.15, 2 Peter 3.18. Your destiny is to take the yoke of Christ and learn his plan for you, Matthew 11.28. He said, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. It’s a plan God has for your life. You must learn it. When you learn it, when you sit under the ministry of a really good, qualified pastor, and he teaches you the Word of God, then you will see what God’s plan for your life is. How does it happen? Study, grow, learn. Study 2 Timothy 2.15. Again, I’m going to say it one more time. Study to show thyself approved unto God. This is not a 10-minute devotion in the morning. That’s fine. I’m glad you do it. This is not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about an hour a day under your pastor listening to a DVD, listening to an MP3, or face-to-face in your local church as he teaches the Word of God. And no one can grow listening 30 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes in the evening, 30 minutes on Wednesday. 30 minutes Sunday morning, 30 minutes Sunday night, 30 minutes Wednesday. That’s an hour and a half a week of Bible instruction. Excuse me. You’re not gonna grow with that. It’s gonna take a little bit more. And I just suggest that you find someone that can teach you. If you don’t know someone, let me know. I’ll tell you where I get mine because I study every day. My pastor teaches daily, consistently. And we are in a study of the life of Christ now that’s up to 1,160 hours just in the life of Christ alone. So there’s a lot of studying for you. As you study and grow and apply and learn and see the door open and begin to understand, it’s an amazing thing. Studying causes growth. What am I growing in? Two things. I’m growing in grace and growing in the knowledge of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’m learning to utilize the grace of God, to explore the grace of God, to enjoy the grace of God. And I’m learning everything possible about Jesus Christ, my Savior. Therefore, when he said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me in Matthew 11, 29, that’s our job. Learn from him. Learn from his life, from his example, from his testimony. And how do we do that? Somebody teaches it to us. We don’t pick the Bible up and read it for ourselves. I mean, you can do that, but that’s not how you’re going to learn it. The plan is for you to sit under a well-qualified pastor and let him teach you. He’s the shepherd. We’re the sheep. We grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, by consistently taking in God’s word. I hope this is making sense because there is a path for you. There’s a life for you. There’s a destiny for you. And it all starts with you understanding as it unfolds through the Bible and becomes alive to you. I hope you’re listening and I hope you’re paying attention. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and next week we’ll be back same time, same place. Until then, thank you for listening.
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Thank you for listening to The Floodline with your host, Rick Hughes. If you’d like to contact Rick, please write to him at P.O. Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama, 35054, or online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
