SPEAKER 01 : 0:08

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 02 : 0:23

Good morning and welcome to the Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please stick around. As Jack said in the intro, 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration, education, and no manipulation because we don’t hustle money. We’re not trying to raise support. We’re not going to ask you to buy anything. We’re not going to solicit funds. We just want you to listen. Listen as I try to verify and identify the plan of God for your life if you are a Christian. If you’re not a Christian, there’s only one plan, and that’s for you to consider the claims of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, because he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man can come to the Father but by means of me. It’s recorded in the Bible that he who knew no sin was made sin for us so that we could be made the righteousness of God through him. I hope you’ll think about that because that is the most significantly important decision you’ll ever make in your life, As in the Bible, where the question was asked, what think ye of Christ? What do you think of Christ? Do you believe he is the anointed Son of God, and have you accepted what he did on your behalf? That’s why you can pray. And you can simply tell the Father you are believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you would like to receive him as your Savior. Don’t expect to feel anything. Don’t expect music. Don’t expect angels to dance out in front of you. That’s not going to happen, but it’s an act of faith. God said it. You believe it. These things are written so that we might know that we have eternal life. 1 John 5 says that. He that has the Son has life. So we have a lot of things to offer you on the flotline. One of the things I’d like to encourage you about is our transcriptions. We’ve been able to transcribe all 52 radio shows per year, all the way back from 218, 219, 220, 221. We have these transcripts. Each lesson is printed out in one book. So each book has 52 lessons in it, except one of them is two books. But if you’d like to get it and read it one each day, it’s a 30-minute read each day. That’s about what it takes to run a show. I think you’ll enjoy going back over these messages. So our Flatline transcripts are available, and they’re free. We have some upgraded books that we’ve redone on practicing your Christianity and the Bible and the Christian life, you know, as we wrote a book on, I’m trying to think what we just called that book, Practicing Your Christianity, and the Consistent Christian Living book that we’ve written on learning all about how to live the Christian life. And then we have our book on Life’s Toughest Years, and that’s a great book about dealing with young people and how young people have to go through such a tough time in their life. And we have a lot of bookmarks that you can Stick in your Bible to remind you of some of the biblical principles that we have. That’s all available on our website. You can go to rickhughesministries.org and see it, rickhughesministries.org. Not Richard Hughes. I have to say that all the time because there is an evangelist or a pastor in Georgia named Richard Hughes, and he has a website called richardhughes.org. That’s not me. We are rickhughesministries.org. So if you do go on the website and you search for us, make sure you get the right one. I’m sure he gets annoyed at all the letters and all the calls that he gets, and it’s not for him. Okay, here we go. You ready? We want to talk about the secret to contentment this morning. The secret to contentment. You know, for many years, you’ve been hearing me tell you about building that flatline in your soul. The Flotline, Forward Line of Troops. That’s what this show is called, a Flotline. And it identifies the 10 unique problem-solving devices taught in the Word of God. And we talk about the Flotline is built on the accumulation of God’s Word that you learn and you store in the mentality of your soul. The biblical term for that information learned and stored is called wisdom in the Bible. So when you acquire biblical wisdom, you build a main line of resistance in your mentality. That’s a flat line. And that main line of resistance stops adversity, whatever it might be, from turning into some sort of stress-related sin like worry or fear or bitterness or self-pity. So a flat line in your soul’s mentality is the true path to inner happiness and contentment. I’m going to say that one more time. A flat line in your soul’s mentality is the true path to inner happiness and contentment. In other words, those 10 problem-solving devices, when you learn them and use them, that is the path to inner happiness and contentment. In Philippians 4.6, Paul wrote this, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. This mandate by the Apostle Paul was written to believers in Philippi when he was under house arrest in Rome awaiting the trial before Caesar. You can read about that in Acts 28.30. But the Greek word for anxious is the Greek word merimnao, merimnao, M-E-R-I-M-N-A-O, merimnao. And it means not to be distracted by worry or don’t be troubled, which is obviously a sign of stress-related fears. That verb is written in the imperative mood, do not be anxious. That imperative mood means this is an apostle directive or an apostle command. So make a note of this, to worry or to be intimidated by circumstances is definitely a failure to use the problem-solving devices of faith rest. And this inevitably leads to mental attitude sins. When you do not use faith rest, you will get into mental attitude sins when adversity hits your life. Stress-related sins of worry, anxiety, rob you of your inner happiness, and take away your relaxed mental attitude. Thus, you can see why it’s so important to you to have a flat line in your soul. It’s critical that you have that flat line in your soul. Be anxious for nothing, Philippians 4, 6 went on to say, and that pretty well covers all the bases, doesn’t it? The mature believer is not to be sidetracked by finances, He’s not to be sidetracked by his health situation. He’s not to be sidetracked by politics. Be anxious for nothing. Everything is covered right there. But on the contrary, Paul tells us we can take all these matters we have before the Supreme Court of Heaven, and we can expect just treatment for our grievances. He says this, be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication. Cross UK, prayer, supplication is deesis, deesis by prayer and supplication. This means this, to go to God alone and no one else. You can use your priesthood. You are a believer priest, and you can go directly to God’s throne of grace with prayers, a petition, and with urgency. But I remind you only if you are filled with the Holy Spirit. If you have unconfessed sin in your life, your prayer will not be answered, I assure you. So Romans 8, 26 verifies that and says, Likewise, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we know not what we should pray as we ought to, but the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. How can he intercede for you if he’s quenched and grieved in your life because you have unconfessed sin? It’s not going to happen. It’s not possible. So be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication and with thanksgiving, Paul said. And this implies God makes no mistakes. So we thank him for everything we experience, the good and the bad, the fair and the unfair. You can even thank him for allowing certain politicians to be installed because according to Romans 13, he’s in charge of those things as well. So thanksgiving is appreciation for God’s charge of that as well. So thanksgiving is appreciation of God’s loving care and God’s provisions. Notice, notice, notice this. Let your requests be made known to God, not to Jesus, not to the Holy Spirit, but to God. And I’m going to tell you, if you’re praying to Jesus, you might be doing the right thing, but you’re doing it in the wrong way. Jesus said, we pray like this, our Father which art in heaven. You’re not supposed to pray to Jesus, and you’re not supposed to pray to the Holy Spirit. You pray to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ, his anointed Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. And so when you follow this mandate in Philippians 4, 6, the result is given in the next verse. It’s amazing. Philippians 4.7. You do these things Paul just told you in Philippians 4.6 and 4.7, and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. The peace, Irenae, the Greek word Irenae, And that means to have tranquility and to be free of rage. Peace. Peace with God. Peace with, you know, let me back up a minute. When I accepted Christ as my Savior, that night I went to bed, it was the first time in many years I had peace with God. I actually slept like a baby after having accepted Christ because I wasn’t worried about all the stupid things I’d done in the past. Because I was shown a verse that says, if any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creation. All things are passed away and all things become new. And I knew that night I had a new life in Christ. And I was starting all over again in spite of the mistakes I’d made in the past. So peace with God is found in Romans 5.1. Therefore, having been justified by faith, that’s your salvation, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s how you have peace with God, without going to the Lord Jesus Christ, without receiving him as your savior. There is no peace with God. He that believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. And he that believeth not, the wrath of God abides on him already, John 3. So then there is the peace that God provides to you. And that’s found in Galatians 5, 22 and 23. And this is part of your flatline. In Galatians 5, 22 and 23, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such things as thee, there’s no law. These assets, of course, this is obviously, this is how the Lord Jesus Christ lived. These assets that I described to you in Galatians 5, 22 and 23 are exactly what the flatline provides for you. The fruit of the Spirit is love, the filling of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit. That’s the first place it starts. There can be no love, joy, peace, long-suffering, patience, not until you’re filled with the Holy Spirit. So the fruit of the Spirit is love. That’s virtue love. That’s problem-solving device six and seven, virtue love assets. Personal love for God and personal love for others. And joy, what is that? That’s sharing the happiness of God. Personal plus H, problem-solving device number nine, sharing the happiness of God. And peace, what is that? Well, that’s problem-solving device number five, the doctrinal orientation. And then what about kindness? That’s impersonal love again, back to that. Goodness, that’s a great moral quality that every believer should ascribe to. Faithfulness, biblical orientation to learn and apply the word of God to your life, being faithful. That’s what God requires of you, faithfulness. And gentleness and self-control, these are results of filling of the Holy Spirit where you can control your temper and control your sin nature’s activity. So if you do these things, Philippians 4, 7 says this, then it will suppress all comprehension. The word for comprehension is the word noose, and that’s the Greek word for your mind. Surpasses is the word hyperecho. It means to be above or to be superior to or to rise above. Logically, this piece that God is talking about is beyond any human comprehension. This peace that God is talking about, that Paul wrote about there in that verse, is beyond human comprehension. Philippians 4.7, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. That’s the end of 4.7, coming behind 4.6. And so the flatline in your soul will insulate you from peace-stealing circumstances in your life. Peace is beyond human comprehension. This is not something the human mind can understand. I mean, how can the normal person have peace when facing death? How can the believing soldier have peace on the battlefield? How can the Christian have peace when they’re waiting upon a doctor’s conclusion that maybe they do and maybe they don’t have a chance to live? It only comes through the confidence of the Word of God in your soul that God makes no mistake. The flood line in your soul can insulate you from those peace-stealing circumstances. Because eternal security is our greatest peace. And that’s the one that Satan will try to steal from you, try to get you away from. So you’ll be trying your best to earn God’s forgiveness. So when this verse says it will surpass all comprehension and it will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Guard, phreoreo. Phreoreo is the Greek word guard. Guard. That means to protect or keep you safe. Keep me safe from what? This is a reminder that we are in an angelic conflict and that Satan attacks our thoughts as a way to overwhelm us, to defeat us from becoming mature believers and bringing any maximum glorification to God. The world will offer human viewpoint thinking inspired by satanic evil. We don’t live like that. We operate under divine viewpoint. and that is living the mind of Christ implanted in the mentality of our soul called the flatline. All of these things on the flatline is what our Lord Jesus Christ taught us, except for rebound. He never had to confess his own sin, and he did not have to be occupied with himself. But he had to be filled with the Spirit. He had to use faith to rest. He used grace orientation, doctrinal orientation, personal sense of destiny, personal love for God, and personal love for others, and sharing the happiness. Yes, he said, I’m teaching these things so that my joy might be in you, John 15, 11. So implanted in the mentality of our soul, we can overcome the satanic evil that tries to infiltrate our thinking. And the peace of God, what does that say again? Go back to it. Will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Heart is the word cardia, cardia. This is the storage area of the soul. It’s your stream of consciousness where we pull up pertinent Bible promises when we need them. But you cannot pull up what you don’t have. So assuming you’re not sitting under a well-qualified pastor and you’re not being taught the word of God consistently, when you hit a controversial situation in your life that causes a conflict, you don’t know what to do. So the first thing you’re going to do is call the preacher, what should I do? Or you’re going to call a Christian friend, what should I do? And that’s fine, but can I tell you this? You can’t glorify God to the max living off what somebody else tells you what to do. You got to have enough spiritual maturity in your life to be able to handle any situation you face using the faith risk drill, using your own problem solving devices. And that’s what glorifies God to the max. So the peace of God will garrison your heart and your mind. Mind, noema from the root word noose. Now these are two different words, a heart and a mind, the noose and the cardia. The noose is the area of comprehension as opposed to the area of application, the cardia. It’s the thinking that Satan seeds to you, plants to you to affect your daily life. He seeds it. It’s all lies, and he’s the king of liars. We know that according to the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 8, 44, his platform of lies originated in organized religion and covers the complete spectrum of politics and all divine institutions. And if you want to be protected from buying into the lie, if you want your mind to be clear and your heart to be able to operate, then you have to understand what this verse is telling you. You must follow the mandate that he gave you. What’s the mandate? Don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And then the peace of God, which surpasses comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Guard your hearts and mind, keep you safe. That’s amazing. Now, don’t forget this. Satan wants to vindicate himself from God’s eternal judgment. And to do that, he wants to use you as a witness for his defense. If he can get you to fail, if he can get you to turn on God as he tried to get Job to do, then he can free himself from the judgment that God placed on him. So you can’t be a weapon for Satan. You can’t let him use you. You cannot impugn the name of God by failing to live up to what God gives you. So he wants to vindicate himself from God’s eternal judgment and will use you as a witness for his defense if he can. This divine insight I’m talking about And this divine protection that I’m talking about is only available, and I’m going to quote the verse, in Christ Jesus. In Christ Jesus. Well, guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. What does that mean? As a child of God, you are a member of the royal family of God. And thus, you participate in royal provisions, which is your flatline. That’s your greatest advantage in the devil’s world. Paul himself showed us what divine viewpoint thinking can do for us, and he used his own self as an example. So let me show you what he said in Philippians 4, 12 through 13. Here’s the secret to contentment, having that flat line in your soul. He said in Philippians 4, 12, I know how to get along with little. I also know how to live in prosperity and In any and every circumstance, I’ve learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. And here’s the kicker. I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. So there’s no conflict for Paul. His contentment is not taken away from him. It’s not robbed from him. He’s not worried. He’s not upset. He’s not jealous. He’s not angry. He’s not bitter. Because he said, I know how to get along with very little. And I also know how to live in a lot of prosperity. It doesn’t make any difference what circumstances I am. I’ve learned the secret to being filled and the secret to going hungry. I’ve learned the secret of having abundance and the secret of suffering needs. And what is that secret? I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength. That’s the secret. This is where Paul testifies that his mental state is great. His happiness does not depend on people. His happiness does not depend on circumstances. His ability to make that statement is based on problem-solving device number 10, occupation with Christ. That’s your flat line. Occupation with Christ, problem-solving device number 10. With Christ living in him, which is what you and I would know as the mystery doctrine of the church. Colossians 1.27 says, To whom God willed to make known what is the wealth of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles. And what is the mystery? Christ in you, the hope of glory. As members of God’s royal family, we not only have the mind of Christ and the scriptures written down and preserved for us, but we also have the indwelling of Jesus Christ. That means the Shekinah glory of the Old Testament tabernacle now has come to live in you. That’s right. The Old Testament had a tabernacle in Shekinah glory and dwelled the Holy of Holies. And now you are the Holy of Holies. 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17. Listen carefully. 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy that person for the temple of God is holy and it is what you are. So there’s divine protection provided for you. You are made up of three parts. What is it? A body, a soul, and a living human spirit. That’s you. In 1 Thessalonians 5, 23, now may the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your spirit, your soul, and your body. The word for spirit is pneuma, and that’s the spirit that comes from new life, from salvation, when you’re made alive by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. You’re born spiritually dead, thus you have to be born again, spiritually alive, made spiritually alive. Ephesians 1.13 says we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that’s eternal in essence. And this is how we become, have fellowship with God. God is a spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth, John 4.24. You cannot have a relationship with God if you have a dead human spirit. You must be born again and have a live human spirit. Therefore, the Bible says, if any man’s in Christ, he’s a new creation. Old things are passed away. All things become new. Your spiritual birth, that’s salvation. And your soul, your psuche, the Greek word psuche, that’s your mentality, your volition, your conscience. And that’s eternal in essence as well. The spirit is eternal in essence. The soul is eternal in essence. Psalm 71, 23, my lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you and my soul which you have redeemed. And now the body, the soma, S-O-M-A, it is temporal, used in time only. Romans 8, 10 through 11, if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead indwells you, He who, what? Raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you. There’s a promise of a resurrection body. You will get a resurrection body. What a wonderful promise. I would like to close out with David’s Psalm 139, 13 and 14. Since he seemed to understand this marvelous creation we call our human bodies, In Psalm 139, 113, for you created my innermost parts. You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to you because I’m awesomely and wonderfully made, wonderful of your works, and my soul knows it very well. There is not another person like you in the whole wide world. How do I know that? I mean, you say, there’s somebody over in Germany that looks like me. There’s somebody in South America that looks like me. There’s somebody in Alaska that looks like me. Well, they may look like you, but they don’t have your DNA. Your DNA is unique and never replicated. That’s how God keeps up with you, your DNA. You’re God’s work of love and redemption through Christ Jesus, our Lord. He loved you. and he redeemed you out of the slave market of sin. If you can recognize that fact and serve him and develop a flatline in your soul, you have the opportunity to glorify God to the max. That’s why I come on here and give these radio shows, hoping to inspire you to do that, hoping to inspire you to build a flatline in your soul and become the person that God designed you to be. hoping that if you have not accepted Christ as your Savior, you would at least consider the advantages that you have by being born again. He who is in Christ Jesus, born again, not under the wrath of God anymore. It’s a new life in Christ. You can start all over today. By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and acknowledging that in prayer, you can start all over today a new life in Christ Jesus. My, I hope you’re listening. I hope this is encouraging you because you have learned the secret to contentment. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. He lives in you. He indwells you. He empowers you. And you have every asset that he has. He taught you these things. I hope you learned them. And if I can encourage you in any way, don’t hesitate to contact us, rickhughesministries.org. Thank you for listening to The Flatline.

SPEAKER 01 : 27:17

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.