Join Rick Hughes as he delves into the urgent spiritual concerns plaguing America today and the critical path Christians must take to reclaim God’s blessings. From the dangers of superficial spirituality and misleading prophecies to the paramount importance of fostering a genuine hunger for truth and understanding God’s mandates, this episode calls believers to a higher standard of spiritual maturity and obedience.
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, stick around. It’s about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and no manipulation. We say that every week because we want you to know that we’re not here to con you. We’re not trying to get money from you. We’re not trying to sell you anything. We’re not trying to promote anything. We just want to give you information. Information that I believe will help you verify and identify God’s plan for your life if you are interested. And if you are, you can orient and adjust to the plan. That’s up to you. But the Flatline comes every Sunday morning on this station, compliments of the grace of God. We depend on the Lord to provide our funds, and he always does that. And thank you for those of you that have even gone out of your way to send some gifts along the way. Thank you for your help. Anyhow, this Flatline Radio Show is important because this is going up around, I don’t know, 970 or something like that. We’re up a lot of shows every Sunday morning all across America. We’re in 115 cities across America. And what an honor it is for me to be able to do this. What an honor for God to give me this privilege to teach this information. Thank you for giving me a few minutes of your time. Again, I remind you of our books that we have available. The latest book, God’s Grace in Aging, is available now. It’s been a phenomenal book received by so many people and deals with, as you get older, what you can expect for God to provide for you and what God expects out of you. We also have some books called Christian Problem Solving and Practicing Your Christianity. And our book, Bible Promises and Principles, that so many people have enjoyed that as well. They’re all free. We don’t charge anything. Some lady called me this morning and said, how much do I owe you for that book? And nothing, it’s free. And I always believe if God’s in it, he will pay for it so we don’t sell it. We just stand it, put it out, and let the Lord provide the funds. And he has never failed us, and he never will fail us. Thank God for his wonderful grace. All right? So if you’re like me now, let’s talk about something that’s serious. If you’re like me, you probably had some serious concerns about the direction this country’s headed. I mean, it doesn’t take a genius to see what’s going on. It doesn’t take a genius to see the split that’s occurring. as the humanists and the progressives continue to push the boundaries of decency and the rule of law. Many of the conservative commentators you and I have heard, they’ve been warning us about the plans of the globalists who seek to remake America into some different socialist country. And they do it often by providing free gifts to the obedient in order to secure them their votes so they can remain in power. And we are currently, I believe, in an unseen war for the freedoms of our forefathers, the very freedoms they fought and died to maintain. You might not see it, but it’s unseen and it’s a war for sure. Like me, you may be over the age of military service. They wouldn’t accept us if we went down to join up, but we are called to action regardless of our age. And it’s time that we stepped up and we, yes you and I, that we took some responsibility for what has occurred in the past and what I believe will occur in the future. I mean, come on now, why do we find ourself in this mess today? What’s going on? Well, I think the answer is very simple. It’s not complicated. We do not understand the God we pretend to worship. I’m gonna say that again. We do not understand the God that we pretend to worship. And I did say pretend. Notice what our Lord said about the rituals of religion in Hebrews 10, 5 through 7, dealing with ritual without reality. He said this, Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said these words, Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. Verse 6 of Hebrews 10, 6, With burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. And then said I, here am I, It is written about me in the scroll, I have come to do your will, my God. These verses reference that the continuous sacrifices of the Old Testament did not enable man to have a righteous standing with God, but rather they were a reminder of the sin which only Jesus Christ can take away. So our Lord came to achieve what the old covenant sacrifices could not do, and that is to provide our redemption through his sacrifice on the cross. So in regards to modern Christianity in America, we seem to replace that. We’ve replaced the reality of the scriptures with the ritual of church attendance and the function that goes along with emotional worship. Thus many born-again believers never reach spiritual maturity, and that’s what we’ve been talking about. Your spiritual life, what is your spiritual life? What does God expect out of you in your spiritual life? Many believers never reach spiritual maturity You know why? Because the scriptures are not investigated. They’re not taught. They’re not explained. Listen to the book of Nehemiah. This took place once the children of God had returned to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple. And there was a great revival led by Ezra the priest who taught the scriptures to the people. And listen to what he did. Listen to how he did it. This is a pattern of what we need to get back to today. Nehemiah 8, 2, and 3. So on the first day of the seventh month, Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. Able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak until noon. That was a long sermon. From daybreak until noon as he faced the square before the water gate in the presence of men, women, and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the book of law. Now listen to verse eight carefully. So they read distinctly from the book in the law of God and they gave the sense and helped them to understand the reading. So the priest gave the sense of what they were reading and helped them understand what it meant. Satan will always oppose the teaching of scripture, always. He can’t stand it, he doesn’t like it, he doesn’t want you studying the Bible, he doesn’t want any pastor teaching the Bible. Because if you learn the Bible and believe the scriptures, it gives you the ability to discern his subterfuge. One of the ways Satan will hinder your spiritual growth is to send preachers who mislead and misinform God’s people. Well, they look nice. Yes, they do. Dressed up in their thousand dollar suits, they look nice, they sound nice, they act nice, but they deceive you in regards to what your spiritual life should be. I call them spiritual dreamers. They’re not spiritually mature Christians. They’re spiritual dreamers. So I’d like to encourage you to quit chasing your dream. I hear that all the time. If you want to do something, you dream it, you can do it. Forget that. That’s not true. Quit chasing your dreams. Quit chasing your dreams and start asking God, Father, what is your will for me? Jeremiah, the prophet, had this to say about those spiritual dreamers. You want to hear what he said? In Jeremiah 23, 21 through 23, I did not send these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and had caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil ways and from the evil of their doings. There’s a breakdown in the pulpit right there. Again, I didn’t send them. I didn’t tell them what to say. I didn’t give them the right to prophesy. And they not teaching my word. And now listen, what did they teach? Here it is. They try to make my people forget my name by their dreams, Jeremiah 23, 27, which everyone tells his neighbor as their father’s forgot my name for Baal. So the prophet who has a dream, let him tell his dream. But the one that has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. Again, Jeremiah said, God spoke through Jeremiah. I didn’t send these prophets, yet they preach. I have not spoken to them, yet they communicate. If they had just given my word, my people would not have done what they’re doing. We are losing God’s blessing on this country because of this. We’re losing God’s blessing on this country because many who claim to be pastors and communicators are not communicating the truth. Many have lost momentum in their spiritual life and many are not growing spiritually. And sadly enough, they have no desire to understand the things of God. You know why? I think it’s because they love the gifts more than the giver. I mean, who doesn’t love freedom? Who doesn’t love a new car? Who doesn’t love a new home? Who doesn’t love to be able to have a great hobby? And we forget about God. We love all the gifts, but we forgot who the giver is. There’s an Old Testament passage that clearly delineates why God would discipline a client nation like us, a nation that once served his interest. Hosea chapter four, I hear people talk about it all the time. It says this concerning the lack of interest in God’s word. Listen carefully. I think this is an indictment on America, I really do. Hosea 4.1. Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. It could say you children of America. For the Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth, there is no mercy, and there is no knowledge of God in the land. And then in verse six, Hosea went on to write, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from being priests for me. Because you forgot the laws of your God, I will forget your children. Uh-oh. Uh-oh, did you hear that? Because you forgot the laws of your God, I will forget your children. Now you have children. You have grandchildren. You’re not interested in your spiritual life. You’re not interested in the Bible. You’re not interested in what God has to say. You’re not interested in any knowledge about what’s in the Bible. You kind of made your own rules up and your own regulations and you do what you want to do and now you want to know why God is not blessing your family. Why is God letting these things happen to our nation? What’s going on? Because you are failing your spiritual life. You are not growing spiritually. You might have gotten yourself in a church where the pastor is not teaching the word of God. Oh, he entertains you. He makes it fun. You have a great worship service. You have great choir groups, great singing groups, great entertainers come visit you. But what about teaching you something? What about teaching you something? I mean, how much should a pastor teach? Well, I don’t know. What does it take? If you went to the first grade and you went for an hour and a half a week, you would never get out of the first grade. And most pastors are lucky if they teach an hour and a half a week. That’s what, 30 minutes on Sunday morning, 30 minutes on Sunday night, and 30 minutes on Wednesday night. That’s an hour and a half a week. No Christian can grow to spiritual maturity on an hour and a half a week. Oh, but most pastors will say, well, then get a daily devotional. Buy this book, buy that book, and read a little devotional every day. And I say that’s hogwash. You need to be under a well-qualified pastor listening to that pastor teach you the word of God on a consistent basis. And you say, where can I find that? It’s there. If you don’t know, let me know. I’ll put you in touch with where you can get on the internet and listen to great pastors teach you the word of God. And just like me, you can listen on a daily basis. That’s what’s happened. We love the gifts more than the giver. That’s right. What are we going to do about it? What are you going to do about it? Notice the indictment that was in Hosea for the nation is because there’s no hunger for truth. Hear the word of the Lord, you children of Israel. The Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of land. There is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge. There’s no hunger for truth in the life. No one comes to the Father but by me, Jesus said. He is the truth. Did you know that? The Lord Jesus Christ is truth. John 14, 6, Jesus said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. The very first and foremost thing missing in American society today is the clear presentation of the gospel in the public arena. The enemy, a.k.a. the devil, has succeeded in outlawing the giving of the gospel in public schools and Thus, several generations of youth have never heard the forgiveness of sin that God offers through Christ, but they’ve been evangelized through social media outreach and recruited into the alternative lifestyles, while at the same time, Christians have been demonized as nationalists who want to force morality on society. The scriptures also said there’s no mercy in the land. I read it again. No mercy in the land. There’s no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God. No mercy in the land. That’s America. The people that Hosea wrote to had received mercy from God through Christ Jesus, but they were unwilling to show mercy. Matthew 5, 7 says, blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. And that Hebrew word for mercy is the word kesed. It means to be kind. And this attitude is indicative of a mature believer, the mature believer who uses impersonal love, the mature believer who operates under grace orientation. A mature believer who doesn’t hold a grudge and doesn’t seek to get revenge. If you’ve got somebody you don’t like and you’re holding a grudge against them, you’re not showing them any mercy. You’re not showing them any forgiveness. Listen, did God forgive you? Yes. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son so that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. God loved you. God forgave you. And yet you have people you don’t like and you won’t forgive. You show no mercy. That’s because you have no knowledge of God. You don’t operate under what the word of God says to operate under. You haven’t learned the problem-solving devices. You haven’t learned how to use impersonal love. And then notice in verse six, he says, you have rejected knowledge. Since you have the laws of your God and you’ve rejected them, I will reject your children. I’ll forget your children. Hosea 4, 6. That’s a frightening thought. I mean, like me, many of you have children and grandchildren. Do you want God to protect and bless their future? Because I assure you, without God’s protection, our children and our grandchildren were going to suffer greatly. If you would like for God to guarantee his blessing on the future, it has to start with you being part of the pivot. P-I-V-O-T, pivot. That’s a core group of mature believers that preserves our freedom. This key to this protection that I’m talking about, the key to the perseverance of this nation is for you and me to grow to spiritual maturity and to allow blessing by association flow from our lives. Here’s what David said. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy, there’s the word mercy again, shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Whenever you’re in the company of a mature believer and their cup runs over, blessing runs over, then you get blessing by association. This is exactly what we have to have in this nation. We have to have you growing to spiritual maturity so your cup runneth over and our nation is blessed by association with you. All Christians have a spiritual life. But not every Christian is a mature spiritual individual. I mean, when you get saved, the Holy Spirit indwells you, he seals you. But that doesn’t mean you’re spiritually mature. It means you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit. And when you use the rebound technique to confess your sin, you are filled with the Holy Spirit, yes. But that doesn’t mean you’re a spiritually mature individual. You have a spiritual life, but you might not be spiritually mature. What does that mean? It means you haven’t grown spiritually. And your lack of obedience to the word of God is exactly why we’re facing national discipline. It’s exactly what’s going on. Because you have enjoyed the gifts but forgot the laws of the giver. Ezekiel 22, 30 said this. God said, I’m looking for a man among them that would make up a wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I shouldn’t have to destroy it, but I found no one. No one. I wonder, can God find one today in America? Can God count on you to stand in the gap? Can God count on you to be the spiritually mature individual we’re talking about so that blessings overflow from your life into the land? What exactly must you and I do to reclaim God’s blessing? What exactly must we do to ensure freedom for future generations? Well, notice this. In 2 Chronicles 7.14, the Bible clearly says, if my people, my people, Christians, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray for and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then, then I will hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and I will heal their land. It starts with humility. A humble person has to know when he’s wrong. A humble person has to admit his sin. An arrogant person will not admit sin. He’ll always justify, well, he’s right and God’s wrong. God made that sin. That’s not really sin. That’s not sin if I do that. Yes, it is. The Bible says it is. And so you compromise your belief. What God is looking for is humility in your life. And then pray and seek my face on your knees asking God, dear Father, please show me what we should do. What should I do with my life? What should I do with my family? What should I do with my nation? And turn from their wicked ways. Then, and I would add the words, only then will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their sin and heal their land. Those words, my people, if my people, refers to Christians just like you and me. And I remind you, as goes your spiritual life, so goes the future of this land, the land we call America, our home. If we hope to reclaim God’s blessing, it starts with us maintaining what I call a humility profile. That’s where the Bible says, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself and made himself of no reputation. Humility doesn’t mean you’re a weak wimp. Humility means you respect authority and you’re obedient. You’re able to take orders from God the Father. You have enough humility to know that God’s smarter than you, that God was in business before you got here, and he will be in business long after you’re gone. Humility is you turning to the scriptures and saying, Father, what should I do? you can no longer ignore God’s mandates. You can no longer justify why you’re not studying the Bible, why you’re not attending church, why you’re not growing spiritually. You can no longer continue to deceive yourself into thinking you and God are okay with each other. If you continue with this type of self-justification, that’s an arrogant sin. And if you continue with it, will deceive yourself until eventually you’ll be destroyed i guarantee it i guarantee it you will destroy your life if you don’t get some humility so i’m asking you again how goes your spiritual life are you filled with the holy spirit on a daily basis are you taking in god’s word on a daily basis are you studying under a well-qualified pastor on a daily basis Is the word of God the number one priority in your life? Is it? King Solomon said it this way in the book of Ecclesiastes. My pastor just taught a great series on Ecclesiastes. In Ecclesiastes 12, 13 through 14, here’s what Solomon said. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God and keep his mandates. For this is man’s all. And God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. Did you hear that? Fear God. That means to respect the word of God, to respect God. You think God doesn’t know what’s going on. You think God can’t see your life. I mean, you can turn the lights out and you can hide. God knows exactly what you’re thinking. He knows exactly what your motives are. He knows exactly what your incentives are. He knows exactly what you want. That’s his omniscience. You must learn to respect God. And we must learn to keep his mandates. Not the ones that other people say. I mean, some people come up with some goofy things. They’ll try to run your life for you. They’ll say, brother, if you’re going to be a good Christian now, you can’t go to a movie. If it’s not rated G, you can’t go. Brother, if you can’t be a good Christian, if you eat that chicken. Brother, you can’t be a good Christian if you do this or do that. That’s always some self-righteous person trying to tell you what to do. A well-qualified pastor will teach you word of God and you will understand what his mandates are. Like study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. Rightly dividing the word of truth. And then Solomon on to say, God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, the things you thought nobody knew about, whether good or evil. You’re not hiding anything from God. You may be the best member of the church. You may be the best tither of the church. You may be the loudest singer in the choir, but you’re not hiding your sin from God. Until you begin to grow spiritually and put priority number one in your life of becoming a spiritually mature individual, our nation will continue to go down. And this is an indictment on pastors as well that are not teaching the Bible. This is not a cruise ship. It’s a church. It’s where the royal family of God comes together. You must teach the Bible and not one week out of the year for the January Bible study. I’m talking about every week. Get into the Word of God, study the Word of God, teach the Word of God. I can tell you what’ll happen. You’re not gonna like it, but your church membership will decline, because that’s not what people want. People want a Christian community. They want to be entertained. They want to be emoted. They want to get emotionally upset and fired up and juiced up, but if you start teaching the Word of God on a consistent basis, you’ll watch your membership decline, because they won’t stand for it. I’ve seen many churches do this. Many churches had great pastors, well-qualified pastors who wanted to teach the Bible, but they were not visitors. They weren’t people people. They didn’t go calling on people all the time, and they got rid of them. That’s not what they wanted. By staying in fellowship with God through the filling of the Holy Spirit, By growing in grace through the learning and applying of God’s word, you will begin to grow spiritually until eventually you replicate the thinking of Christ and eventually guarantee God’s blessing on this client nation. That’s the only way it’ll ever happen. The Marines always say, the few, the proud, and the Marines. As a mature member of the pivot, you can glorify God to the max and you can help preserve this nation. by being one of the few, one of the proud, one of the members of the pivot of God, the core group of mature believers in this country that God blesses and we have blessing by association overflowing through your life. Can God count on you? Is his word priority number one in your life? Are you staying filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you using those rebound technique? Are you using the faith rest drill? Do you understand the flat line and what it’s all about? That’s the secret to the spiritual life. If you don’t get the spiritual life down, you will never be able to glorify God and you will not be part of the remnant that delivers this nation. God is looking for a few good, well-qualified believers who love his word and put that number one in their life. I hope it’s you. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. If you want to know more, write to me. We’ll get you the information. We’ll even tell you where you can get under the ministry of a well-qualified pastor in your area if possible. But the information is there if you want it. The question is, are you hungry for it? Do you want to grow? Are you willing to sacrifice some time to get into God’s Word? Your life will change when you become a spiritually mature believer, I promise you. You will go under testing. You will be under opposition. You’ll find all sorts of things happening because Satan will not stand idly by and let you grow. So think about this. Pray about this. Listen to what I’m telling you. Please. I enjoy giving you these radio shows and I enjoy challenging you with these radio shows and these messages. I hope you’re listening and paying attention. Okay, we’re going to be back next week, same time, same place, same station, as the Lord continues to bless us and gives us the ability to communicate the truth. So until next week, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you so very much 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.
