In this thought-provoking episode of The Flatline, Rick Hughes explores the crucial steps needed for spiritual maturity. Using the analogy of auditing a class without receiving credit, Rick makes a compelling case for moving beyond mere passive listening in church to applying the teachings of the Bible in everyday life. He delves into the difference between knowledge understood and knowledge applied, encouraging listeners to transition from being hearers to doers of the word.
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. 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, some education, and all without any manipulation. I thank you so very much for listening. Thank you for all of you that have called and written and said we are listening. Many people in Rhode Island all the way to California, we’ve been asking. If you’ve already done that, don’t do it again. But if you have not, let us know. Let us know where you are and that you’re listening as we come up on signing new contracts. We always like to know what areas we’re having the most impact in. So if you haven’t let us know yet, go ahead and do so by sending us an email, rick at rickhughesministries.org, rick at rickhughesministries.org, or you can call us at 800-831-0718 and just say we’re listening to you in whatever city you’re in and we’ll know. I appreciate that. I appreciate God’s faithfulness to supply our needs. We don’t sell anything, we don’t try to raise money. We believe that God’s in it, he’ll pay for it. And he always has. We just stand on faith. You don’t hear us mentioning money, and there’s a reason for that. Because if God’s in it, he will pay for it. Many of you have chosen to send contributions, and I thank you for your very grace gifts. It’s very meaningful. Now I want to talk to you about something this morning that’s very interesting. When I was in college, I had the opportunity to audit a couple of classes. to audit a class. That meant you didn’t get credit for it, but you went to the class and you were able to take notes and listen. You audited the class, but you weren’t credited for the class. And it’s amazing to me that some believers can attend church for years, but they never grow to spiritual maturity since they merely audit the message. They don’t really apply the principles. Does that make sense? I mean, if you don’t take the test and pass, you will not get credit for the class. And so if you just audit a class in college, you don’t get credit for it. And the Christian life is the same way. People begin to audit the Christian life. They audit the sermons the pastor gives, but they don’t apply it and they don’t take the test and they don’t pass it. Listen to Luke 13, 26. Then you will begin to say, we ate and drank in your presence and you taught in our streets, but he will say, I tell you, I do not know you. Where you are from, depart from me, all of you workers of iniquity. It is very possible that the Lord Jesus Christ doesn’t know you even though you may be sitting in the church this morning because all you’ve done is audit the message as implanted into your life. Principle, write it down, remember this. It’s a very important principle. Just being in the vicinity of sound Bible teaching does not ensure you will ever grow to be a mature believer. Just because your pastor’s teaching sound Bible doctrine doesn’t mean you are applying it. Maybe you’re just auditing the course. Maybe you just show up, look good, put on your Sunday go to meeting clothes, play the part, hello brother, hello sister, praise the Lord, and walk out and never apply anything. You didn’t even take notes on the sermon. Some pastors feel like they have to give you their notes because you can’t take them on your own. Principle number two, just because you heard the message, it does not mean you receive the message. The Bible talks about two different types of knowledge. In one passage, it talks about gnosis, which is the word knowledge in the Greek New Testament, G-N-O-S-I-S, gnosis. But there is another word that is beyond gnosis, and that’s the word epinosis, E-P-I-G-N-O-S-I-S. That word epinosis is a compound word. It means full. Epi means full, and gnosis means knowledge. So there’s a difference between knowledge understood, gnosis, and knowledge applied, epinosis. And what God wants you to do is to apply the information that you hear and not just audit it. Listen to James 1.22. Be a doer of the word and not merely a hearer that deceives himself. Be a doer of the word and not merely a hearer that deceives himself. Now, I want to take a look at this word doer with you just for a minute. This verse has a mandate from God through the ministry of James, the word be ye, and That’s a mandate, that’s the Greek word ginomai, G-I-N-O-M-A-I, ginomai, and it’s in the imperative mood, and it means that you must comply with the instructions given. Let it come into existence, it means. Ginomai, B-A what? Doer. Here’s where it gets interesting. What in the world is a doer? The Greek word for doer, let me bore you with this again. This is how it was written. We don’t really know what it sounded like because we never heard anybody speak the Koine Greek language, but we kind of figured it out. And it’s called poietes, poietes. P-O-I-A-Y-T-A-C-E is the way you pronounce it, poietes. You spell it P-O-I-E-T-E-S, poetes, P-O-I-E-T-E-S. What in the world is a poetes? Guess what word we get from this? Poet, P-O-E-T, poet. The believer poet. is a doer of the word. It’s someone who appreciates and perceives and expresses the true beauty of the Christian life and reflects it in their life, becoming a living epistle to the world. Paul talked about that in 2 Corinthians 3, 2, where he said, “‘You are our letter.'” written in our hearts, known and read by all men. So those believers in Corinth were the written epistles of Paul’s ministry, what he did. So here’s some principles for you. Your life as a mature Christian is a testimony to the effective ministry of God the Holy Spirit through your pastor, if you have one. If you don’t have a well-qualified pastor, get in touch with me. I’ll tell you where to get one. Maybe not in your area. Maybe you may have to get on the internet and listen online, but there are people out there teaching the Bible correctly and accurately, and they’re not big people. They’re not big crowds. They’re sometimes less than 100 people, but they are people that want to learn God’s Word and go to church not to be entertained. So your life as a mature believer is a testimony to the effective ministry of God the Holy Spirit through your pastor. Two, you are to become an expresser of God’s grace and God’s forgiveness through your actions in your life. And three, your impact as a mature believer is illustrated as bringing light into a darkened world. In Matthew 5, 16, your light must shine before people in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. I don’t know if you’ve ever traveled at night like I have, but I’ve traveled through distant roads at night and seen a light on a house, maybe across the hill and across the field. And you know there’s someone there. You know the light attracts you. And if you break down, if you have a flat tire, you’re going to walk to the light to get help. Your light, your life, your poet life must shine before people in such a way that they could see your good works and glorify God. They don’t need to see a loser believer. They don’t need to see a Christian out of fellowship. They don’t need to see a complainer, a whiner, a loser. They need to see a winner in God’s plan, someone who’s growing to spiritual maturity, someone who glorifies God to the maximum in their life. The perfect prescription for national disaster is for people to turn away from church attendance or to just simply make it a weekly social gathering. Listen, next principle. When you live under the policy of grace, it will attract interest from those who observe your demeanor. When you live under the policy of grace, it will attract interest from those who deserve your demeanor. That means you treat people in grace just like God treated you in grace. You forgive using the royal family honor code. You use virtue love, impersonal love. You don’t hold grudges. You’re kind, you’re generous, you’re gracious to people. And they will notice that. It attracts them to you like a light. But consider this analogy of you being a poet. If you consider that, then your very existence, your very life is characterized by, listen to this carefully now, is characterized by a repetitious rhythm that winds up painting a living epistle, expressing the beauty and the symmetry of God’s plan in your life. Thus, your very life becomes a living poem of God’s grace. That was a big, long sentence. I’m going to say it again. Consider this analogy of you being a poet, poietes, a doer of the word. Then your very existence is characterized by a repetitious rhythm that winds up painting a living epistle expressing the beauty and the symmetry of God’s plan. Thus, you, your life becomes a living poem of God’s grace. I can’t write poetry. I don’t know any poetry. I mean, I know a few poems, but I want to live a poet life. I want to be the person that expresses God’s grace in a living testimony. As a living epistle of grace, you will demonstrate God’s forgiveness by holding no grudges, never seeking any revenge for wrongs done to you. The Bible’s clear about that, Leviticus 19, 18. You shall not take vengeance, nor shall you bear any grudge against your children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. God does not allow you to get even. I used to have a friend carried around a little black book in his pocket. If you did him wrong, your name went in the book. And he said, I’ll get even with you someday. Your name’s in the book. God doesn’t do that. And he tells you, don’t take vengeance. You have to learn how to use impersonal love and forgive those who wrong you. Remember what the Lord said? Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they’re doing. Same thing with you. So the beauty of poetry is this. It’s the flow of words. But the beauty of your life as a doer of God’s word is the daily existence of your spiritual life that is uninterrupted by any sin or any deviation from your objective, which is to glorify God. And the people that watch you will be impressed. The people that watch you will be attracted to your spiritual beauty, which is a life with no drama, a life with no bitterness, a life with no fear, using the faithless drill and possessing what we call a relaxed mental attitude. So the real beauty of your spiritual life is its consistency, being consistent. You’re the same person every day. You’re not up today and down tomorrow. You don’t get this way by just auditing the message. There must be a correct information and a proper application by means of your positive volition and the filling of the Holy Spirit. So let’s back up just for a minute. A Christian auditor goes to church without being filled with the Spirit. He’s in the right place, but he’s in the wrong way. He hasn’t used 1 John 1, 9. He hasn’t rebounded. He hasn’t confessed his mental attitude sins. He hasn’t confessed the sins of tongue. He hasn’t confessed his anger, his bitterness. He hasn’t confessed his lies. And yet he shows up in church. He looks fine. He looks great. He has on a nice suit. She has on a nice dress and projects a nice smile. But inside, the Holy Spirit is quenched. The Holy Spirit is grieved. And he cannot give you the right application of the message because you quenched him and shut him down. You grieved him. And you may be at the right place, but you’re in the wrong way. This is what you have to remember. There must be correct information and proper application. The pastor may give you the correct information, but you can’t apply it because you are not filled with the Holy Spirit and you’re out of fellowship. And so what you wind up doing is just auditing the class. You’re just auditing it, that’s all. You’re just there to… to look good, hello, God, goodbye, God, see you next Sunday, God, it’s me, Herbie, God, oh, I put some money in the offering plate, God, smile on me this week, God, you are gotta be kidding me. Any believer who just audits the message of the pastor is going to be ineffective and unfruitful in his life. Notice the words of the apostle Peter, and especially the word if, I-F. 2 Peter 1.8, for if, if these things be in you, notice the word if, that’s a potential, subjunctive, maybe they will, maybe they won’t, if they be in you, and if they abound, then they will make you that you shall be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What exactly is he referring to, these things? What if these things be in you and abound in you? What is he referring to? Well, here they are. In verses four through seven in 2 Peter chapter one, here it is, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible for you. They’re all there for you. You can claim them. We have a book on promises and principles you can order free of charge. It helps you keep them in mind. Not all 7,000 of them, but we list them under certain circumstances. So if you don’t have that book on promises and principles, order it and get it. It’s free. So whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, so that by means of these things, what things? What I’m about to show you. You might be partakers of the divine nature, living like the Lord Jesus Christ, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through the lust of the flesh. And besides this, here we go, now pay attention. Verse five, second Peter, chapter one. And besides this, giving all diligence, means to put every effort into this, add to your faith virtue. And add to your virtue knowledge. And add to your knowledge temperance. And add to your temperance patience. And add to your patience godliness. and add to your godliness brotherly kindness, and add to brotherly kindness charity. That’s what these things refers to. So I’ll try to break it down for you, and you’re gonna be shocked here. You know, we call our show The Flatline because we deal with 10 problem-solving devices taught in the Word of God, taught to me by my pastor years ago. So let’s break it down. If you’re a believer poet, You will reflect faith. That’s the first thing. What was it? Add to your faith. Faith. What is that? It’s the faith, rest, and drill. Problem solving device number three. Standing on the promises of God. Then add to your faith virtue. What is that? Well, virtue is the greatest motivator in the Christian life. Virtue is behavior that shows high standards in your life, but virtue love, we’ll see that in a minute. It’s personal love for God and impersonal love for others. So add to your faith virtue, which is high standards, high moral standards, and add to virtue knowledge. Well, there we go. What is that? Doctrinal orientation, grace orientation, problem-solving device, number four and number five. Right there, the flat line it is. And add self-control, filling of the Holy Spirit. Problem-solving device number two, keeping your sin nature under control by means of the filling of the Holy Spirit. And add to the filling of the Holy Spirit’s patience. What’s that? It’s contentment. No frantic search for happiness in your life. That’s problem-solving device number nine, sharing the happiness of God. And add to your happiness godliness, That’s the mature spiritual life reflecting and representing Christ. That’s the problem-solving device number 10, occupation with Christ. And brotherly kindness. That’s impersonal love towards every member of the royal family of God. And love, which is virtue love, Greatest motivator you can have. If you love me, you’ll obey me. My mandates are not hard. We love him because he first loved us. Virtue love. Without virtue love, here’s the problem. If you don’t understand this, if you don’t have these in your life, if you’re not growing like this, you’re nothing but making a lot of noise. That’s all. You show up and promenade around the church and make a lot of noise, but you are ineffective and you are worthless. Without virtue love, all we really do is make a lot of useless noise. Where did I get that? 1 Corinthians 13 one. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but I have not love, virtue love, I am just useless noise. What are the results of learning and using those 10 problem-solving devices then? What’s the result of having a flat line in your soul? Well, Peter said, if they, they is the things he mentioned in verses five through seven. He said, if they be found in you and abound in you, that means over and above and beyond, you will not be barren and you will not be unproductive. How about that? By these things, you might be partakers of the divine nature. These things that I just mentioned show you how our Lord lived, what he thought, And our Lord was a living epistle to us just as we must be a living epistle to our friends and our associates. But what does that word barren and unproductive mean? Are you a barren and unproductive Christian? Well, we start off with the word if they abound in you. In the original language, this word means to increase greatly. And that just means you’re a growing believer who’s taking in the word of God daily and You’re applying the scriptures daily, and that’s proof positive that you must keep growing and advancing every day if it abounds in you. I mean, if your Bible is just a good luck charm to throw in the back window of your truck, or if it just lays on the table and you’re not in it every day, you’re not abounding in these things. If you’re not abounding in these things he talked about, you’re gonna be barren and unproductive. What does that mean? The Greek word barren is the word argos means idle or yielding no return. Here’s what you have to remember. God made an investment in you and it’s reasonable for him to expect a return on you. But if you’re barren, there’s no profit. And you’re unproductive if you don’t have these things. The Greek word akarpos. Akarpos and it means you’re not bearing fruit and you’re not yielding what you ought to yield. So obviously, you want to glorify God. I want to glorify God. I don’t want to be barren. I don’t want to be unproductive. I want these things to abound in my life. So how do I glorify God? By tithing. By having good church attendance? By not saying dirty words? I mean, how do I glorify God? John 15, eight. My father is glorified by this. There it is. You want the answer? Here it is. My father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and you prove to be my disciples. God wants you to bear fruit. He invested in you and he wants you to bear fruit. So how do I do it? Colossians 1.10. So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God. Increasing in the knowledge of God. Growing spiritually. Knowledge, epinosis, growing spiritually. Learning today, learning tomorrow. You’re never going to get to the place where you know it all. You have to increase in the Word of God on a daily basis. So he wants you to bear fruit. What kind of fruit? Well, Galatians says the fruit of the Spirit is love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control. Against things like this, there’s no law. That’s a good thing for you to evaluate your life by, isn’t it? Do you bear that kind of fruit? And Philippians 1.11, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. That’s you producing righteousness in your life. That’s you being filled with the Holy Spirit producing divine good that glorifies God. That’s found in 1 Corinthians 3 where it’s gold, silver, and precious stones and you’ll be well rewarded by producing the fruits of righteousness. Your fruit will be recognized by God according to your conduct, according to your character, and according to your converts. Yes, your conduct, your character, and your converts. Listen to Colossians 1.4. Since we’ve heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, Paul wrote, and of the love that you have for all the saints, that’s good, virtue, love, and for the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, whereof you heard before in the word of truth of the gospel, which is coming to you, and it is in all of the world, and bringeth forth much fruit as it did in you. The gospel brings forth fruit, since the day you heard it, and you know the grace of God in truth. You bear fruit by giving the gospel. I don’t know if you’ve ever led another person to Christ, but it’s the single most wonderful thing you could ever do in your life to lead someone to Christ. Ask them, if you died today, would you go to heaven? Would you like to know how to go to heaven? Are you too shy to do that? Are you too embarrassed to look someone in the eye and say, look, we’re best friends, but I got to ask you a serious question. This begins with you replicating the life of Christ. This begins with you assimilating divine viewpoint in Philippians 2, 5. And when you have this new mindset, then you will represent Jesus Christ to your friends and to your family. Listen to John 4, 28. The woman then left her water pot and went her way to the city and said to the men in the city, now this is a weird woman too. She’s been married a bunch of times. And this is what she said, come, see a man. He told me all things that I ever did. Is this not the Christ? She had the courage to go back to her city and tell people, if he is indeed the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, and he is, then he is indeed the greatest celebrity the world has ever known. Do you have the confidence to talk about him as your Lord and your Savior? I mean, if you met some football celebrity or some basketball celebrity, you’d want to tell everybody, I met LeBron James, I met Michael Jordan, I met so-and-so. Do you tell people that you’ve met Christ? People want their picture taken with celebrities. Celebrities, but are you so intimidated by Satan and so intimidated by the criticism of the world that you won’t speak about him in public? You won’t even pray in public over your meals? Are you embarrassed about doing that? And you will never be productive and you’ll never be fruitful until you grow up enough to get some courage and to represent Jesus Christ as the light of the world. to glorify him to the maximum. I hope you’re listening. I hope you’re paying attention. Some of you are growing and some of you are beginning to recognize you’re not learning these things in your church. That’s right, you’re not. You don’t hear this kind of stuff because we’ve gotten into ritual without reality and it’s sort of Christian entertainment nowadays. I hear horrible stories. Are you listening? This is your opportunity to grow. If you want more information, just get in touch with me. We’ll send it to you free of charge. I appreciate you listening, giving me a few minutes of your time. So until next week, 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.
