Discover how the indwelling of the Holy Spirit empowers you to be an unstoppable spiritual influencer. Rick Hughes discusses the significance of love, obedience, and prayer in living a Christ-centered life. Tune in to learn how these profound concepts were imparted to the disciples and how they’re still relevant today in maintaining peace and joy amidst life’s greatest challenges.
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, please stay with me. It’ll be a short time of motivation, some inspiration, some education, always done with no manipulation or solicitation. That’s right, we’re not here to con anybody. We’re not trying to get money. We’re not trying to get you to join it up, fess it up, give it up, nothing like that. This show is simply to help you verify and identify the plan of God for your life, and if you’re able to do that, hopefully you will orient and adjust to the plan. We call our show the FLOT line, F-L-O-T. It’s funny, sometimes people will write me and say the flat line. FLOT, F-L-O-T, stands for the Forward Line of Troops. We’re using this as a metaphor to teach an invisible barrier in your soul called problem-solving devices. If you learn the Word of God in 10 specific areas we’re talking about on the Flatline, you have this invisible barrier in your soul that will stop the outside source of adversity from ever becoming the inside source of stress. Now we can’t stop adversity, that’s inevitable, but we can stop stress. That’s what we do to ourself. So if we learn the problem solving devices beginning with rebound, how do I solve the problem of my personal sin? Going to the filling of the Holy Spirit, how do I solve the problem of my old sin nature controlling me? Using the faith rest drill, how do I solve the problem of fear? Grace orientation, how do I solve the problem of working my way to heaven? Biblical orientation, how do I solve the problem of what the world says as compared to what God says? Personal sense of destiny, how do I solve the problem of God’s call in my life and what he expects me to do? Personal love for God, how do I solve that problem of obeying him? Because the Bible says if you love me, you will obey me. Impersonal love for others, another problem-solving device because the Bible teaches us if we say we love God and hate our brother, we are a liar. Sharing the happiness of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord, said in John 15, 11, these things I tell you so that my joy may be in you. And then occupation with Christ, coming to understand. It’s no longer I, but Christ in me. These are the 10 unique problem-solving devices. We have a bookmark with those. We can send you if you’d like to have it. We also have a book called Christian Problem Solving. We’ll be glad to send you. All of this is free. But these are the invisible barrier in your soul that make up the forward line of troops, the flat line. And as we teach the Word of God on this show, we try to make that analogy for you so you can grasp it and understand it. and apply it into your life. We started, I guess, two shows ago dealing with John 15, 11, where Jesus Christ, our Lord, said to the disciples these words. He said, these things I have spoken unto you so that my joy may remain in you and that your joy may be full. Here the Lord Jesus Christ recognized the disciples were going to face tremendous adversity once he left them. Once he was tried illegally, judged, convicted, crucified, buried, and resurrected, they would be alone and they would have to be able to face the world and face each other. So there was a lot they had to learn after that Last Supper. This was during the Last Supper. They had fed, had a great meal, had communion, and now he’s washing their feet. And we went on to explain what that was all about. We went through that passage with you, and we’re going to pick up today with some more of these things that Jesus Christ, our Lord, is talking to the disciples about. What does he mean, these things I have told you so that my joy can be in you? It’s evident that he has inner joy, which means he is in the will of the Father and knows that. And I told you before, the greatest joy in your life is to know you’re exactly where God wants you to be. Our Lord Jesus Christ knew the Father planned for him to go to the cross. He understood the sacrifice he was to make to redeem us out of the slave market of sin and reconcile us to his Father. He knew that. It doesn’t mean he was looking forward to it because he said, if it’s your will, let this cup pass away from me. And then he said, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. It was God’s will that he pay the penalty for my sin and your sin. And he did that. So as he is preparing to pay that penalty, the ultimate price for us to free us from the slave market of sin and to give us the power over sin in our life, he reminded them of these things. Another one of these things that he is talking to them about during that Last Supper was seen in John 14, 12. Remember, I’m going through John 13 and 14 up to John 15, 11. Verily, verily, John 14, 12, or truly, truly, I say to you, he that believes on me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I’m going to the Father. What is the Lord saying here? Well, one, the apostles’ outreach would be greater than the outreach of the Lord Jesus Christ. That does not mean they would do more or greater miracles than he did, but it means that they would have more of an impact across the known world. And three, Peter at one sermon, the Bible tells us in Acts 2.41, had over 3,000 converts at one message. And it wasn’t in a stadium and it wasn’t with a PA system like Dr. Billy Graham would do. So there’s no telling how many were saved and no telling how many grew in grace. Under the years of your pastor, under the years of my pastor, people that teach the word of God faithfully and traditionally in local churches everywhere have a worldwide ministry and the impact of that ministry is unbelievable. You can’t count it. It’s impossible to determine because we are a client nation and we’re sending out missionaries to the world. Yes, they go in many places and do many things and lead many people to Christ. All of this was made possible by God the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord Jesus Christ made available to every church age believer. He told them that. When I go away, I’m going to send the comforter and he’ll be with you. He’ll lead you and guide you into all truth. And so that’s in you. The Holy Spirit lives in you. Ephesians 1.13, you’re sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. And you’re told in Ephesians 5.18 to be filled with the Holy Spirit. There’s a difference between being sealed with the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit. Because when you sin or when I sin, we quench the Holy Spirit. And we grieve the Holy Spirit, and so we have to use problem-solving device number one, rebound. If we confess our sin, he’s faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all wrongdoing. All these things are made possible by the Holy Spirit. This tremendous worldwide impact of the disciples coming through the scriptures, going to various communication gifts through churches and evangelists. And now, yes, you understand what he said. You will do a lot of greater things than me. He was limited to walking around a geographical location. We’re not limited at all. We have airplanes, we have cars, we have trains, we have buses, we have the internet, we have many, many things that allow us to distribute the gospel all over the world. And to make that even more personal, your impact is as a spiritual influencer, will be amazing. You have a sphere of influence in your own personal life, and you have to have an impact. If you learn God’s problem-solving devices and use those in your life, there will be an impact on those in your periphery. Now, I can tell you the greatest thing in your life, the greatest, most wonderful thing you could ever do is to lead one person to Christ, and I wish you would make that an objective in your life. I wish you would ask God the Father to give you the opportunity to lead one person to Christ so you could see what it’s like. It’s unbelievable. In Luke 15, 7, this is what the Bible says, I say unto you that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, changes his mind. More than over 90 and nine just people which need no repentance. Repent means to change your mind. You’ve been an unbeliever. You become a believer. The greatest joy is to lead someone to Christ, to see them bow their head and pray with you and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save them. That’s an amazing thing. Have you ever done that? Have you ever even asked anyone if they died today, would they go to heaven? And have you ever said, would you like to know how? There’s nothing wrong with doing that unless you’re intimidated or afraid to ask people. And don’t use the excuse, well, I want to respect their privacy. Well, yes, we want to respect their privacy. If they say, no, I haven’t, I’m not interested, then tell them, have a good day, move on. Another one of these things is found in John 14, 13. By the way, that last one was the impact of the mature believer as a spiritual influencer in his life. Here’s another doctrine, John 14, 13. This is something else Jesus Christ taught them, and it fits under the category of these things. Here it is. Whatsoever you ask in my name… that will i do so that the father will be glorified by means of the son notice the power of prayer connected to the name of jesus christ our lord in my name we enjoy the same association with christ that he enjoyed with the father did you know that in john 17 21 that they all may be one as thou father are in me and i in thee that they may also be one in us so that the world may believe that you sent me. We’re a team. We’re all on the same team. It’s called the royal family of God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And us, we’re in the royal family. We are the bride of the Christ, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We’re the church, we’re the body of Christ. Even though Christ is no longer in the world in a physical body, you and I are the extensions of him. And we are the extensions of his ministry when we continue to do his work through our lives. Wherever you go today or yesterday or tomorrow, Jesus Christ, your Lord, will go with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. Did you know that? Anything you do, anywhere you go, the Holy Spirit lives in you, goes with you. So if you go down to the grocery store or do like I did, go fishing last night, Got in my bass boat, went out on the lake and fished for a while until the rain got me. The Holy Spirit was with me. Listen to 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20. What? Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which you have from God, and you do not even belong to yourself? For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which belong to God. There you go. Whatsoever you ask in my name, that will I do, so the Father will be glorified in the Son. One of these things is prayer. Asking, praying, using the name of Jesus Christ. Now, this does not mean that we can ask for whatever we want to ask for at that particular moment and expect to receive it simply because we say, well, ask it in the name of Jesus. That’d be kind of ridiculous for me to be fishing for bass on my lake and saying, in the name of Jesus, give me a bite. However, I have seen fishermen do it. Fishermen that are fishing in big commercial tournaments for much money like to call on Jesus to help them catch fish and win those events. Well, I have my own words to say about that. So we’re not talking about silly and things. We’re talking about souls, people that need the Lord Jesus Christ in their life. And you have the ability to pray and ask for opportunities. You have the ability to pray and ask for souls. You can name someone before the throne of God, someone you have on a list, a target list, in your sphere of influence, and you could ask the Father, please give me the opportunity to talk to them. Please soften their hearts so they would listen to me. This is the job of the Holy Spirit, to convince and convict individuals. But we can’t ask for whatever we want at that particular moment and expect to receive it just because we ask it in the name of Christ. This promise was given only to believers, by the way, not to unbelievers. A person that’s not a Christian is not going to get any prayers answered except one. Father, I admit I’m lost. Please forgive me of my sin. Cleanse me. I want to accept Christ as my Savior. That prayer will be answered, yes. The unbeliever’s prayer is in Luke 18, 13. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Remember the parable the Lord Jesus Christ taught about going into the temple to pray and the Pharisee and the poor man and the sinner. And the Pharisee was self-righteous and talked about what a great person he was. And the poor sinner just said, God, have mercy on me. And the Lord said, that’s the one going to heaven, not the other one. So we see there’s great joy in having a successful prayer life. You should have a successful prayer life as an influencer. You can even influence God in your prayers. That’s what you do. When you’re praying for your family or praying for a sick person, you’re asking God to protect them. You’re asking God to heal them. You’re asking God to provide for them. That’s you being an influencer to God for them on their behalf. It’s called intercessory prayer. And it’s a legitimate thing to do. Intercessory prayer is legitimate. And then there’s the prayer petition where you’re allowed to pray for your own personal needs. Yes. So understand this. Whatever you ask in my name, that will I do. We pray to God the Father using the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Those are the simple mechanics to prayer. So see what the Lord was teaching? He’s teaching them now the doctrine of prayer. It’s amazing to see these things that he taught them at that Last Supper. And I don’t know who was taking the notes, but I can tell you this. He said, don’t worry about it. The Holy Spirit will reveal all of this to you later. They had to be amazed. So listen to what he said in John 14, 15. Another one of these things he said in John 15, 11. John 14, 15, if you love me, obey my mandates. This is personal love for God. This is your motivational virtue. This is called reciprocal love motivation. We love him because he first loved us. The Lord Jesus Christ loved the disciples before they ever loved him, I assure you. This reciprocal love motivation comes from personal love for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you love me, obey my mandates. In other words, obey these things I’m teaching you. Don’t put them on the back burner. Don’t forget about them. Don’t walk away from them. Obey them. The present tense imperative mood verb here is showing that he expects consistent obedience. Obey me. He doesn’t expect haphazardly to them to do it. He expects them to do it all the time. The commandment refers to all he’s been teaching them during the complete time he’s had with them, including since that last supper ended. Obedience is what our Father’s looking for. You wanna know what that’s called? Obedience is called you being faithful, or faithfulness, or fidelity. Virtue love, personal love for God the Father, is the motivation for our fidelity. It’s the motivation for our obedience, our faithfulness. God’s mandates for us, especially in times of the client nation testing like we’re going through now, we have to obey God. And that means stay out of politics. That means function on the Lord Jesus Christ. Lift him up. Don’t lift up some politician. Lift up Christ. No politician is the answer to what’s going on in this nation. I don’t care who you vote for. It’s the Lord Jesus Christ. Unless God gives us revival, unless God spares us, unless our people turn back to God, we are toast. We are history. We are going down quicker than a burning airliner unless we repent of our sin and turn away from it. So you want to pray for something, pray for that. Pray for our country. God is looking for faithful prayer warriors. Obedience to God’s design, obedience to God’s plan equals you having great joy, great joy in the long run of your life. So notice the qualifying phrase in that John 14, 15 passage. If you love me, this is a third class condition, which means maybe you will love. and maybe you won’t depends on you maybe you will maybe you won’t that’s a good question to ask you today do you love the lord jesus christ do you have an appreciation for what he’s done for you do you have a close relationship with him are you occupied with christ problem solving device number 10 Do you respect what he told you to do? Are you so self-centered that you’re not Christ-centered? These are all valid questions to ask, and I hope you’re listening. Because the disciples were having a hard time listening, I promise you. But he kept cranking it out, point after point after point. Here again is another concept for them, new concept, they’d never heard it before. Listen to John 14, 16 through 17. And I will pray for you to the Father, and he will give you another one to comfort you, that’s the Holy Spirit, so that he can abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, that’s unbelievers, because it seeth him not. Neither do they know him, but you know him, for he dwells with you and shall be in you. This is the Shekinah glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, living inside of them by means of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit indwells each one of us today. Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, 1 Corinthians chapter three. He indwells us, he lives in us, he seals us, and he gives us our spiritual gifts, he empowers us, and this is what the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching. I’m going away. Don’t worry about it. I’m going to send a comforter. The paraclete is the Greek word, paraclete, which means a tutor or a mentor. And he will abide with you forever. He’s called the spirit of truth. The world can’t receive him. They don’t even know who he is. You will because he will dwell with you and be in you. What a wonderful promise. This promise is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. They had never heard this before. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the filling of the Holy Spirit are two different things, as I told you. This was a lot of information for them to process in such a short amount of time. But their future ministry and their future happiness depended on them understanding the resources that the Lord Jesus Christ was leaving them and for them to use those resources. So far, we have the rebound technique to confess their sin, the faith rest drill to trust God with all the circumstances they’re going to be facing, and the filling of the Holy Spirit. And you see, the Bible clearly says that the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, that’s personal love for God the Father, impersonal love for others, joy, sharing the happiness of Christ, kara, peace, irene, not being upset, not being in a frantic search for happiness, never being bitter, never being antagonistic, never being hostile, That’s the unique thing about the Christian life. It’s a wonderful way to live, a wonderful way free of middle attitude sins, when you never have to be bitter or vindictive. You never have to defend yourself. Let the Holy Spirit or God the Father do that. What some wonderful promises the Lord Jesus Christ was giving these guys. here at the Last Supper, cramming it into their mind so they would understand it and believe it. And keep in mind, Judas has departed. He’s gone to fetch the Pharisees so they could come and arrest him. So another new concept that he wanted them to understand is John 14, 18. Again, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. What does that mean? After his crucifixion and after the resurrection, he did indeed appear to them and to others. John 20 19 the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews Jesus came and stood in the midst of them and said unto them peace be unto you and when he had so said this he showed unto them his hands and his side And the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And Jesus said to them again, Peace be unto you. In other words, quit being afraid. As my Father has sent me, even so I’m going to send you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit. In Hebrews 13, 5, he said, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have for that he has said to them, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. John 14, 18, I will not leave you comfortless. Hebrews 13, 5, I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. You know, there’s nothing worse than seeing a dog that was discarded on the side of the road. I see it all the time. I live in a rural area and I can’t rescue every dog I see, but I see people that dump their dogs. These poor dogs don’t understand why they’ve been abandoned. And they will sit for hours and hours looking at cars go by, waiting on their owners to return. It’s so sad, so sad. Remember, our Lord will not put you out on the side of the road. Our Lord will not abandon you. He will never discard you as being worthless. This is a constant state of joy in your mind. It’s a confident expectation of his return at the exit resurrection. So relax. He will never leave you comfortless. Isn’t that a great promise? Another one of these things that he told them is John 14, 25. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, when the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things back to your remembrance, the things I said unto you. Here, the disciples were guaranteed instant recall, even though they might not have wrote all of this down at the time. This is one of our unique assets because of the filling of the Holy Spirit. It’s called recall. When you hear the Word of God, when you study the Word of God, when you review and recall the Word of God, It requires a response from your part. Now, can you recall what you’ve never heard? No. So the Bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. You have heard the word of God this morning from me. I have given you information about what these things refers to in John 15, 11. You can see the extent of the information that the Lord Jesus Christ gave the disciples, which is indicative of what he expects of them. tremendous opposition ahead, fear, unknown what’s going to happen to them. And yet he said, don’t be afraid. I won’t leave you. I won’t discard you. I won’t set you out on the side of the road. The Holy Spirit will come. He will comfort you. He’ll be with you. He’ll guide you. He’ll lead you. And it’s the same thing for you and I. We have a unique advantage. a unique advantage. John 14, 27, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, not the peace the world offers to give I unto you, my peace. So don’t let your hearts be troubled and don’t be afraid. Isn’t that a wonderful promise? That’s what he told them. He knew what they were going to face when he was crucified and buried and resurrected. He knew that they would be challenged and he knew they would be afraid. He knew they wouldn’t know what to do to begin with, but they had the comfort of knowing that he was there beside them, in them, working through them. This is what you have to focus on. Your Lord is with you. He loves you. He will not ever forsake you. He sent the Holy Spirit to guide you and lead you. Please remember that. Please recall that. Because as we face the future, this next election coming up, we’re going to need all the peace that God can give us. Who knows where America’s going? I know where I hope it goes, but I’m not sure where it’s going. If you’ll tune in next week, same time, same place, I’ll be back, Lord willing. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for listening to The Flotline.
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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.
