Dive deep into the spiritual realm as Rick Hughes dissects the concept of human nature’s two contrasting elements: the spiritual and the physical. He shares personal anecdotes and scriptural wisdom on how to rebound and maintain a spiritual life despite inherent sin nature. Reflecting on the past, managing present stresses, and focusing on future spiritual growth are key themes as Rick transforms biblical teachings into practical life applications.
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 Flotline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next few minutes, please stick around and listen. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, education, all designed to give you some information. Information that will help you orient and adjust to the plan of God. And if you can do that, you have freedom and privacy to do that, you can have the most wonderful life ever. We call our show The Flatline. We deal with wonderful problem-solving devices that God’s given us from the Bible, from the Word of God. We’re not here to recruit you to anything. We’re not going to ask you to join up. We’re not going to ask you to give us anything. We just would like for you to listen as I try to explain what the Bible has to say for you in your life. We begin our new year, 2019, and this makes us, I guess, something like 13 years of producing this radio show for you. Thank you for those that listen. Thank you for sharing. Your encouraging remarks when you write to me, you can always feel free to do so. Simply go to our website, rickhughesministries.org. I’ve been made aware that there’s another ministry very close to ours called Richard Hughes Ministries. That’s not me. RickHughesMinistries.org is us. That’s where you find us in Alabama. And so if you’d like to write, feel free to drop us a note. We always love to hear from you. And if you’d like to have that bookmarker for the problem-solving devices, let us know. We’ll send it out for you. You can put it in your Bible and put it in any book you might be reading. Everything is free here. Nothing ever costs anything. And we don’t solicit funds, as we said. But if you’d like to have that, let us know. Or the book on Christian problem solving that we’ve written that helps identify all 10 problem solving devices, starting with rebound, and then the filling of the Holy Spirit, and then the faith rest drill, and then grace orientation. Moving from that into biblical orientation, then you beginning to have a personal sense of destiny. you coming to understand the personal love of God for you and you developing that personal love for God and then impersonal love you develop for others eventually leading you to sharing the happiness of God and occupation with Christ 10 forward problem-solving devices your forward line of troops there they are when they’re in your soul when they’re staged up and ready to be used then the outside forces of adversity will not have any impact on you. And remember, adversity is inevitable. Stress is optional. Adversity is what circumstances will do to you. But stress usually is what you do to yourself. And we’ve been talking about soul renovation, changing our souls before we change the way we act. We have to change the way we think. and we’ve identified that the soul has mentality and volition. The soul has a conscience and self-consciousness, and we’ve identified that from the Word of God, from the Bible, and so until you learn and apply the Word of God, you will continue to do the same old things. 2019, are you going to continue to be the same person that you were? If, in fact, you’re not happy with the way you live, then it’s time to There’s a wonderful opportunity. We’ve talked about that in the last couple of weeks. That means to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust him to be your savior and begin your life all over again. It’s true, you can. The Bible says if any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. And how do we do that? For by grace are we saved through faith. It’s an act of your faith. That not of yourselves, Ephesians 2, 8 through 9, the Apostle Paul wrote, it’s a gift from God, not of any works, lest we would brag about it or boast about it. And so you can have a new life in Christ. You can reboot your old life and begin a new life. And then once you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I mean, I made that decision many, many years ago, and maybe you did too. It was the most wonderful decision that I ever made in my life. At the time, I didn’t know it. I didn’t realize the significance of what I’d done when I made a decision to accept Christ as my Savior. I had no idea that height would impact my entire life. I just knew I didn’t want to go to hell, and I knew I wanted to be saved, and I knew I was sick of being me. Not that I was disappointed, but there had to be more. There had to be more. And I found there is much more in Christ Jesus. So I rebooted. I began my life again when I was 22. And from that time, I have to do a lot of reconnaissance every day. It’s important that we do that. Reconnaissance is essential for any Christian because we cannot allow sin to get into our life. If we have a spiritual birth, we must have a spiritual life. I mean, come on, you know a physical birth demands a physical life, and a spiritual birth demands a spiritual life. And so the key to that spiritual life is you doing reconnaissance every day. And then once you identify a failure, once you identify a sin, to rebound that sin. And that’s our number one problem-solving device, rebound. Where the Bible says in 1 John 1, verse 9, along with many other verses, but this one in particular says, If we confess our sin, then he, God, is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and purify us from all of our wrongdoing. That’s a modified, expanded translation, but that’s exactly what it means. There is a possibility that you will sin. Why? Because we still have a sin nature. Yes, we accepted Christ as our Savior. Yes, we do have eternal life. But that does not mean that we will never sin again while we’re on this planet because we have Adam’s original sin imputed to us. And there we have a sin nature. Man is born into sin. Paul put it this way in Romans 7, 15. He said, I don’t understand the things that I do. And the things that I want to do, I never do. But the things I hate, I keep on doing. And I said, well, that sounds exactly like me. Things I don’t want to do, I do. The things I want to do, I don’t do. And that’s because we are two different people sometimes. We have a spiritual life and we have a physical life. And the battle has always been, who’s going to control the real you? Are you going to let your sin-infused human nature control you? Or will you allow God the Holy Spirit to control you? This is the battle taught in the Bible. The flesh wars against the spirit. The spirit wars against the flesh. These are contrary one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you would. So who will you let control your life? If you have a spiritual life, if you rebooted, then you have to take reconnaissance and rebound when you find out that you’ve sinned because your sin and my sin, sometimes we don’t even recognize it. Sometimes we don’t analyze it or admit what we’ve done. We just do it, especially in the sins of the tongue and talking about people, maligning people, being critical of people. It’s so easy to do. It’s so easy to say, well, yeah, you know, I knew that guy when he was a good guy, but you know what he’s done lately? And then off we go gossiping, slandering, maligning. America lives off this stuff. It’s the juice of life for people. They love to hear sports talk shows. They love to hear insight and dirt on people and maligning people and gossiping about people and complaining about people. You can’t afford to live like that. You have to recognize when your sin nature is trying to take over in your soul. By doing reconnaissance, you’ll look back, you’ll inspect your life and say, dang, I shouldn’t have said that. Dadgummit, I shouldn’t have been that way. Even driving, it’s easy to let your sin nature take over. And when you get frustrated and angry and with people that don’t exactly appreciate you on the interstates. And the more crowded our interstates get, especially in our bigger cities, some of you, I feel for you in Portland and Houston and Dallas and places like this. We don’t have that much traffic where I live in Cropwell, Alabama. But we’re not too far from Atlanta. And I’m going to tell you right now, if I don’t have to go to Atlanta, I don’t go to Atlanta. Just because of that. And so, you know, living can be a test every day. And it’s easy to sin. Sometimes our mental attitude sins, even the most unrecognizable, because we get arrogant and we’re blind to that arrogance in our lives. Blind arrogance. And I mentioned last week how when we get blindly arrogant, sometimes we get involved into impetuous actions, things that we don’t need to do, things that cause us to waste time. You know, social media is the open door for impetuous people, people that would act before they think, because the whole world is a critic. And basically, the world doesn’t mind telling you what an idiot you are on social media. But our critic is not the world. Our critic, my critic, and you have to realize, by the way, before I go any further, when you’re broadcasting on 25 radio stations or you’re speaking across the country in various venues, you’re going to have critics. You’re going to have people that don’t agree with you, people that see it differently and disagree. For some reason or another, since they see it differently, they take it upon themselves to try to straighten you out. And it’s always hilarious to me, people that don’t have the moral courage to invest in a radio show and to do something like this, but they want to straighten you out. And I’ve always figured it’s best to let God do the straightening. And I know that when I’m an idiot, the Lord can straighten me out just fine without me Another idiot trying to tell me what an idiot I am. The world is full of idiots, and I admit I’m an idiot a lot of times. So the world is a critic, but the Word of God is the real critic. It’s alive, and it’s powerful, and it’s sharper than a two-edged sword. It’s a critic of thought and intents of the heart. That’s what the Word of God can do. It can cut right to the quick of our life. So in the stage when we get blindly arrogant, we don’t see ourselves as we think we are, as we really are. I mean, we rather tell somebody else what we think we are. In other words, let me say it again this way. When we get blindly arrogant, we don’t see ourselves as we really are. We see ourselves as we think we are. We’re looking into the mirror of arrogance, self-justification, self-deception, self-absorption, and that empowers us to act irrationally in our life. So if we don’t do some personal reconnaissance, then we can’t handle our personal responsibilities for the spiritual life because we have been mandated to grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We have been mandated to study to show ourselves approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, but rightly dividing the word of truth. We have been mandated, as the Lord said, come unto me all you that labor heavy laden, and I’ll give you rest. So those mandates are there. And without personal reconnaissance, we can’t fulfill those mandates. So we have to take reconnaissance day by day, moment by moment, and then rebound when we see our life in retrospect and we see our failures but if you start to reminisce you notice all the r’s i’m using here if you start to reminisce about what you assume was your misfortune you get into an area you don’t really need to go into here’s a principle bible doctrine is for the misfortunate We all have problems. If you have a social disadvantage of having no impact in your life, If you want to dump your guilt and shame in the garbage pile of the cosmic system, what’s the world out there? I mean, come on. We cannot allow these things to dwell in our mind and reflect on our failures in retrospect. Maybe abuse that we suffered at the hands of someone, and we reflect back on our past misfortunes, our past failures. we’re just not supposed to do that. Listen to what Paul put it this way. I want to try to make this clear to you. Paul said in Philippians 3.13, it’s a touchy subject here, by the way, because a lot of people feel empowered to, in retrospect, reminisce about the bad things that happened to them and maybe even write them down, thinking that it will help other people if they read about their particular problems things that happened that maybe it’ll inspire someone else you know that’s a lot going on today with that so it had bad things happen to me let me write it down tell everybody about it and maybe it’ll help you if you hear about what happened to me wrong wrong no when you start looking back at the misfortunes if you start reflecting and reminiscing on that Paul said in Philippians 3.13, brethren, I don’t regard myself as having laid hold of it yet. That’s the completely mature spiritual life. But this one thing that I do, and I love what he’s about to say here, I bet you know it, forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. And then in verse 14, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. The key word there is forgetting. That’s the key word. Forgetting what lies behind. And that’s hard to do sometimes. Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead. That’s the spiritual life, you reaching spiritual maturity in your life. And so he said, I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Here’s some principles. If I can break it down like this. Number one, there’s no room in the believer’s life For personal sentimentalism. What is that? It’s the practice of being sentimental. Our feeling more than we ought and thus leading us towards basing our decisions based on emotions and feelings. Our actions, our reactions based on emotions and feelings. rather than the 10 problem-solving devices, because that’s what we have to base our decisions on. The Irish poet W.B. Yeats wrote this, rhetoric is fooling others. Sentimentality is fooling yourself. Do you hear me? Rhetoric is fooling others. That’s talking. Sentimentality is fooling yourself. Now, listen, I’m not a counselor. I’m not a psychiatrist or a psychiatrist. I’m just not. That’s not me. So don’t misunderstand me, but the Word of God has given me the ability to avoid looking back and to press forward to the prize that lies ahead. A psychologist or a psychiatrist may want to have you stretch out and tell them about the bad things that happen in your life, and some people get a lot of relief by doing that. But I’ve found there’s more relief in using the problem-solving devices. If I need to reflect or you need to reflect on anything, there’s that R word again. It’s the life of the Lord Jesus Christ so we can get the divine perspective on our own situation by looking at his. So we don’t allow our memories to dwell on our past situations. Why? Well, since they offer nothing to stimulate our spiritual advance. But if we focus in retrospect on our past situations, it can cause us to stumble and to be impetuous because we get emotional. We just don’t compartmentalize things that need to be put aside. And in the spiritual life, dump it. There are things that you need to dump. And where do you dump it? At the Supreme Court of Heaven. It’s open 24 hours a day. And you take it to the Heavenly Father and you dump it at His feet and you move on. You don’t retrospect, look back. You don’t go back to these things that happened years ago and reflect on those things. And because there’s just no room for for that sentimentality in our life. We don’t allow our memories to dwell on our past failures, our past situations, since they don’t cause us to, they don’t stimulate our spiritual advance. So here’s a principle. Don’t let yourself be controlled by history. And nothing’s going to cause it to go away. That’s understandable. But here’s something we need to remember. Nobody cares about my past failures. unjust treatment or the past victories I had since we all have our own battles to fight and for me to assume that people need to know about the failures and the flaws and the misfortunate treatment that I had that’s just taking time that I don’t need to focus on I need to not look back Paul said, don’t look back. Keep pressing forward. And you say, but it’s best if I look back and remember these things and write them down and reflect on them and tell other people about them so it’ll help them. No, it is not. Reflecting through emotions is me trying to purge myself or me trying to make sense of the bad memories or at worst, at worst, seeking attention by disclosing private events, thinking that by doing so, I’ll be helping somebody else. There’s only one thing that helps other people, not my misfortunes. The only thing that helps other people is not my personal tragedies. The only thing that helps other people is the word of God. So that leads us to the principle of what’s in the past stays in the past. You know, there’s that old saying about Vegas, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. I have a different saying, what happens in the fishing tackle store stays in the fishing tackle store. Mama doesn’t need to know about that new lure I bought last week. But all joking aside, What’s in the past stays in the past. Since going back and reflecting in retrospect on what happened to me can cause an emotional state and lead me to do something irrational that’s not necessary. Let me remind us all of a simple biblical principle that we have to live by. When we’re tempted to look back at our failures, if we’re tempted to look back at the abuses that we suffered at the hand of others, Let me remind you, how do I handle abuse received in my early years? How do I handle those abuses received in my early life? Well, Paul said it this way again in Philippians 4, be anxious for nothing. Don’t have any anxiety, but in everything, everything, By prayer and supplication along with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and then the peace of God. Did you hear that? Be anxious for nothing. Let the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension. In other words, the world won’t understand it. I mean, the world’s not going to think this way. You have a different way of thinking. You have divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint, divine viewpoint. The world won’t get where you’re getting your peace from. But the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, Paul said, will guard your hearts and your minds. That’s the two things you have upstairs, your right lobe and your left lobe. Your mind is where you assimilate information. Your heart is where you act on the information. In the Bible, it refers to the noose as the mind and the cardia as the heart. They’re two different places. You stage information in your mind. You go to church. You hear your pastor teach it, and you comprehend it. And then by faith, you put it into your heart where you can use it. You reflect on it, and you act on it. So Paul said, again, be anxious for nothing. Don’t have anxiety. 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 comprehension, they won’t understand it, will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus. That’s where the power comes in, in Christ Jesus. The world doesn’t have this power. They do not have the ability to live without reflecting back. They can’t do that. And you can because you look forward. You keep your eyes on the prize. Paul said, forget what’s behind. Keep pressing. Finally, brethren, in verse 8 of Philippians 4, whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are right, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there’s anything worthy of praise, then think about these things. That’s the process. That’s divine viewpoint thinking producing a stable, relaxed mental attitude along with the contentment in your life and the capacity to handle life, love, and happiness. Amazing. So be anxious for nothing is a present active imperative of the Greek word merimnao. Merimnao. M-E-R-I-M-N-A-O. The Greek word merimnao. Do not be troubled by anything. And this is not a request. It is a spiritual mandate. Present active imperative verb. That’s the one advantage of the Christian life. You know that? you can put this one in the bank. When you grow in the grace and the knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you are free from worry. If the supreme court of heaven is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, then we can take it to the Father and dump it at his feet, and we can move on down the royal road. Not the my way highway. That’s not the road. The royal road, moving down that highway. Our Lord made it very, very clear in Matthew 8, 25. He addressed these things. He said, therefore, I say to you, don’t be anxious about your life, Matthew 6, 25, I said eight, but it’s six. Don’t be anxious about your life, what you’re gonna eat, what you’re gonna drink. Don’t be anxious about your body and what you’re gonna put on it and what you’re gonna wear. He said, is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? And then he made an illustration. Matthew 6, 26, look at the birds. They don’t sow, they don’t reap, they don’t gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more important than them? Which of you, by being anxious, can add even one cubit to your statue? Cubit, I said, what’s a cubit? Well, that’s an ancient measurement of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the longest finger. The Bible tells us that Noah’s Ark was 300 cubits in length, or about 500 feet. So, which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to a statue? In verse 28, Matthew 6, And why are you anxious for clothes? Look at the lilies in the field. They grow, they toil not, and they don’t spin. And yet Jesus Christ our Lord said, I’m telling you that even Solomon in all of his glory was not arrayed like any of these. So if God clothes the grass in the field, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you? Oh, ye of little faith. Therefore, don’t be anxious, saying, what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? Well, what are we going to wear? Listen, these are the things the Gentiles seek after, said the Lord, but your heavenly Father knows you need these things. Verse 33, Matthew 6, but you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and these things will be added to you Be therefore not anxious about tomorrow and not anxious about tomorrow for the things of tomorrow will, for tomorrow will be anxious for the things of itself, sufficient unto the day of its own evil. So this is a mandate from our Lord for you and I to use our spiritual life assets, remembering this, that adversity is inevitable, but stress is optional. Remember that. Don’t forget that. Put that in your bank mind, your mind account, bank account, and think about it. Remember it and live by it. It’s the most phenomenal way to live in the world. Okay, until next week, I’ll be back, same time, same place. But until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flatline.
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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.
