Join Rick Hughes for an enlightening journey as The Flatline delves into a world where motivation meets education, all underscored by the absence of manipulation. This episode explores spiritual self-esteem, highlighting how crucial it is to master the cognitive aspects of spiritual growth. Cultivating self-confidence through understanding, Rick emphasizes the divine protocol plan that guides believers toward a mature spiritual life. Learn how the right perception and application of God’s word empower you in every aspect of life, unshackled by the need for crutches like counseling or advice.
Welcome to the Flatline with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next 30 minutes, you’ll be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated. Now, your host, Rick Hughes.
SPEAKER 01 :
Good morning and welcome to The Flatline. I’m your host, Rick Hughes. For the next few minutes, please stick with me. It’ll only be about 30 minutes of motivation, some inspiration, a whole lot of education, and very, very little manipulation. Absolutely no manipulation. We’re not gonna con you. We’re not gonna try to hustle you out of any money. We’re not gonna try to get you to join up, fess it up, give it up. But we will ask you to listen up as I try to verify and identify God’s plan for your life And if it’s possible, if I can do that, if the Holy Spirit would use what I have to say today, then it’s my prayer that you would orient and adjust to that plan. I’m so very thankful to be able to bring you these messages every Sunday morning, compliments of the grace of God. This is 985 Sundays that we have been on the air with the Flatline Radio Show. You may not realize how much that represents, but that is really the grace of God that we could do that. A couple of weeks ago, I taught on being born again. Many of you responded to that. I thank you for your response. I’m thrilled about your response, especially those of you that prayed with me and asked God to save you. And I want to encourage all of you who called or wrote confessing that you asked God to save you as a result of hearing that message. I want to encourage you. I want to encourage you to get into a good local church where you can learn God’s Word. I’m thrilled you made that decision. And be sure you let me know if you didn’t let me know. Be sure to write me or contact me or call me and say, Rick, I prayed with you. What do I do next? If you did so, I can send you my book, Crash Course in Christianity, and it will help you understand what God expects out of you. And if you go to a church and you have a pastor, be sure and tell your pastor what you did. Also, I want to thank those of you who have written and expressed your appreciation for the things you’ve been learning on this show. So many of you have told me that your whole life has changed as a result of listening to The Flatline. Your encouragement and your prayers are very much appreciated, I promise you. And I remind you that we have some fantastic books available for your edification from our website. Our book, God’s Grace in Aging, has been requested by hundreds of older believers who have been encouraged by the scriptures in that particular book. And our book on promises and principles is also frequently requested. So if you have a DVD player, we can also provide video messages that I was able to deliver to the congregation at Baraka Church in Houston, Texas. All you have to do is go to our website and order whatever you need, all freely provided by the grace of God. The wonderful thing about true freedom in the ministry is that we always relate to grace provisions. Not having to sell material, not having to request money is a wonderful way to operate as a faith-based ministry. And I’m reminded of daily this concept that if God’s in it, God will pay for it. That’s why we don’t need to worry about our finances. Many people ask about that. My job is to simply communicate God’s word to you. The rest is up to our Lord Jesus Christ and what he motivates any individual to do. If this radio show has encouraged you and enlightened you, then perhaps you’re beginning to take your spiritual life seriously. I hope so. By that I mean you’re beginning to stay filled with the Holy Spirit by using Rebound as soon as you recognize your personal sins, be they mental attitude sins or sins of the tongue or even something you do like an overt sin. And maybe you have begun a daily routine of studying God’s Word under a well-qualified pastor. I mention these two things, studying and being filled with the Holy Spirit, because these are important. I assure you, you will never ever be able to reach spiritual maturity and give maximum glorification to God unless you put these two things into practice in your life. Spiritual self-esteem. Listen to that word, spiritual self-esteem. That’s the first step in becoming self-confident, and that’s a believer with cognition. What does that mean? Cognition is the mental action or the process of acquiring knowledge and understanding of through thought and experience. And this simply means you’re beginning to function spiritually using the 10 problem-solving devices which are steps to understanding actually what the protocol plan of God is. So many people don’t understand it. So many people don’t have a clue of what the spiritual life is or how the spiritual life operates. They don’t understand what the filling of the Spirit is or what it means to grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. They’re wonderful, great Christian people. They go to church, they’re faithful, but they have never learned the mechanics. Spiritual self-esteem is the first step in you becoming self-confident, having that type of cognition. My own pastor said these words years ago. Listen as I quote him. Your spiritual life was never designed to depend upon counseling, advice from other individuals, or any other way to use someone else as a crutch. As a member of the royal family of God, your perception, your metabolization, and your application of God’s word determines your own ability to deal with every stress, every problem, every adversity, and every area of prosperity in life, and to handle these things without having to lean on anyone except leaning on the word of God in your soul. Now, as you reach spiritual self-esteem, you will begin to develop genuine humility. And that’s actually the door to teachability. No one can be taught if they don’t have humility. And if you have some teachability, you will avoid inordinate ambition, that’s excessive ambition. And you will avoid competition with other believers. And the word of God in your soul, we call that doctrine in your soul, that will give you insight and discernment coupled up with common sense and good judgment. You’ll also begin to make accurate application of the scriptures. to the circumstances you find yourself encountering in your life. Part of these circumstances that you will encounter will be with what I’m about to call users and abusers. That’s really what this message is about, users and abusers. These are the individuals who will try to take advantage of your generosity, try to take advantage of your hospitality, as well as those individuals who in fact may actually sadly say cause you harm. And this is to be expected as part of people testing in your life because people can discourage you and even distract you from continuing the newfound momentum you now find yourself having. So I want to caution you to please avoid bitter people. Please avoid bitter people because you cannot have a rational relationship with a bitter person. That bitterness they have will infect your thinking and it will cause you to become disillusioned. You know what bitter people want, don’t you? They want to sell pity from you. They are users who need you to fuel their emotion as they seek to draw you into a web much like a spider in the moth. Satan will use these bitter individuals to recruit you into the cosmic system. I call them cosmic evangelists because they seek to draw others into the crusader arrogance campaign, be it political or whatever it may be. The cosmic recruiter wants you to align with his thinking. He wants to exploit your vulnerability, especially your frustrations and your disillusionment with government authorities. But God did not leave us here so we could clean up the devil’s world. Don’t forget that. We’re not here to clean up the devil’s world. Our job is to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ and to provide the gospel to those who might be interested. Our Lord said in John 12, 32, “‘And if I am lifted up from the earth,’ I will draw all people to myself. So it’s critical that you stay single-minded in your spiritual life. I’m going to say that again. It’s critical that you stay single-minded in your spiritual life because spiritual maturity is your goal. And there’s only one way to get there. It’s called the Protocol Plan of God. Stay filled with the Holy Spirit, take in God’s Word every day, use the faithless drill daily when you need to, and above all, use impersonal love when necessary. Remember, the objective that we have is occupation with Christ. Our book entitled Christian Problem Solving explains all of this in detail. If you’re interested, you can order one from our website. Users, look out for the users that will try to use you. And then we have the abusers. Who are the abusers? Well, those are the individuals who will try to hustle you out of your resources. Unfortunately, you’ll find these individuals in local churches, and they in fact may be true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, but they themselves have lust for money. The Apostle Paul gave a good example of how the ministers of the gospel is supposed to conduct his financial affairs. Would you like to hear it? 2 Thessalonians 3, six through nine. But we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that’s a command, it’s not a request, that you withdraw, pull away from, get away from every brother who walks disorderly and not according to the traditions which he received from us. What kind of traditions? Well, he’s fixing to tell them, listen. For you yourselves know how you ought to follow us, for we were not disorderly among you, nor did we eat anyone’s bread free of charge, but we worked with labor and toil night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we don’t have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us. So here is what Paul is saying. Note this, that Paul had full-time employment as a tent maker. Why? So he would not have to put a financial burden on those to whom he preached. 1 Corinthians 9, 17, for if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if it’s against my will, I have been entrusted with a stewardship. What is my reward then? that when I preach the gospel, that’s the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I may present the gospel of Christ without charge. You hear that? Without charge, that I may not abuse my authority in the gospel. Without charge. Many years ago, I was involved in a church revival when I first got into the ministry, and they were seeking to win the loss in the community for Christ, and the local pastors told me, said, Brother Rick, we’re gonna take a love offering for you to cover your expenses. And I refused to do that, reasoning that why would you ask lost people to come hear me give the gospel and then put a plate in front of them asking to donate money? The pastor was offended that I refused the gesture, But I learned from my very own pastor, don’t mention money, don’t request money when you teach the word of God and give the gospel. In 2 Corinthians 11, 7, Paul says again, did I commit sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted because I preached the gospel to you free of charge, free of charge, without charge? Listen, our world is crazy today. If you ever get on social media, you’ll see Christians selling books, selling magazines, selling memberships, trying to raise money, paying for going. You actually have to pay to go to a conference to hear some celebrity talk about how he loves Jesus. I’ve seen singers sell their music at revivals. I’ve seen preachers sell their books in the foyer of the church, and they all believed it was okay to do that. It is not okay to sell merchandise at church. In Acts 18, one through four, after these things, Paul departed from Athens, and he went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born of Pontius, who had recently come from Italy with his wife, Priscilla, because Emperor Claudius had commanded all the Jews to get out of Rome. And he came to them. And so because he was the same trade, this is Paul, he stayed with them and he worked. For by occupation they were all three tent makers. And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. I assure you, Paul wasn’t trying to raise money. He wasn’t passing an offering plate. He wasn’t selling his latest sermon. He wasn’t selling his latest book. He wasn’t selling his latest CD. We have gone crazy today taking the name of Jesus Christ and trying to turn it into a money-making organization. They are abusers. They will abuse you. As you grow older, you may even possibly encounter Christian scams, artists, Christian scam artists, wow. Those are the sort of people that prey on elderly seeking to gain their trust. And eventually what they want is your finances. If you feel like someone’s abusing you, by all means, tell somebody immediately. There is a problem solving device that you can use in order to deal with this sort of stuff. in order to avoid the impulse for you to get even or for you to be bitter about the circumstances. Our Lord warned the disciples that people they had associated with in the synagogue would turn on them and even try to kill them. Did you hear that? These guys, the disciples, were warned by the Lord that people in the synagogue that you attended the synagogue with, since you don’t believe like they believe anymore, since you now don’t believe in following the law to get to heaven and you believe that Jesus is the anointed Son of God, the Christ, the Savior, they will turn on you and even try to kill you. In John 16, 2, these are the words of our Lord. They will put you out of the synagogue. Yea, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think he’s offering God service. Is that not pitiful or what? I mean, how do you love someone that wants to kill you? How do you love someone who takes advantage of you Is it even possible for you to love the abuser who abused you? In 1 John 4, 18 through 21, John wrote, there’s no fear in love, because perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment, that’s inward torment in the soul, worry, anxiety, that sort of stuff. But the one who fears has not been made perfect in love. He’s not mature. If we love him, we love him because he first loved us. And if someone says, I love God, and then he hates his brother, he’s lying. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he’s not seen? And this is the commandment we have from him, that he who loves God must also love his brother. This sounds like an impossible scenario. How can I love a thief? How can I love a crook? How can I love an abuser? That’s the wonderful thing about virtue love. When you understand virtue love, impersonal love, you understand that virtue love begins with personal love for God. That’s where it starts. That’s your motivation at life. If you love me, you will obey me, the Bible says, and then we have here what we’re supposed to do. We have to love our brother also. So how do I do that? I love that individual that abused me based on my virtue, not his. Based on my integrity, not his. Impersonal love is you loving an individual that doesn’t deserve your love. That doesn’t mean you have to go up and hug their neck and kiss them. It doesn’t mean that at all. But it means you don’t vibrate when you get around them. It means you’re not bitter, you’re not angry, you’re not hostile. It means you forgive them just as God forgave you for your sin and my sin. He forgives me as well. And so it is wonderful thing to use problem solving device, impersonal love for all mankind. We call that problem solving device number eight in our problem solving package that God provided for us in eternity past. Impersonal love is part of this problem-solving package, and we understand that this love can only come from one place. It’s not manufactured inside of you. It’s not phony. It’s not artificial. It can only come from one place. And where is that? Galatians 5.22, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, and faithfulness. So we understand there is no fear here. in the believer who uses this. Here’s what it said again. Listen, 1 John 4, 18. There is no fear in love. What does that mean? There is no fear in the believer’s life who uses this problem-solving device. There’s no fear in love because what? Perfect love, that’s virtue love, cast out fear, cast out anger, bitterness, anxiety. Because what? Fear involves torment. It’ll torment your mind. But he who fears, he who’s tormented, he who has this anxiety and fear has not grown to perfection in love. We love him because he first loved us. There’s no fear in love. So the believer who uses this amazing virtue dependent device has no fear and something else too. There’s no hate in love. Did you hear that? If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he’s lying. There’s no fear in virtue love, and there’s no hate in virtue love. In Luke 6, 27 through 28, but I say to you who hear, love your enemies. Those are the abusers. Do good to those who hate you, the abusers. Bless those who curse you, the abusers, and pray for those who spitefully use you. That seems like an impossible task. That seems like something that I can’t possibly do. How can I love a person that’s my enemy? How can I love a person who hates me because I’m a Christian? He hates me because I’m of a political persuasion. He hates me because of what I believe in my nation and my country. And how am I supposed to bless the person who spits at me and curses me and calls me names because I don’t believe what he believes? This happens every day. Pray for those who spitefully use you. Wow, what a mandate. Love your enemies. Impersonal love is a wonderful problem-solving device in the problem-solving package that God has given to us. This mandate is a divine charge. That’s right, a divine charge. For those of us who have been abused, for those of us who have been taken advantage of, and I might remind you, if you’ve been sexually abused or physically abused, immediately let someone know. You don’t have to live like that. You know, Satan has a strategy to defeat our efforts to glorify God. He definitely knows who we are. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our sin nature trend. He knows our sin nature patterns. But remember this, we don’t have to let him control us. Because the Bible says in 1 John 4, 4, he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. What’s that referring to? Well, you have been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. You have been filled with the Holy Spirit. And even the Lord Jesus Christ indwells you. We know that Christ in me, the hope of glory, Paul said. So, we don’t have to worry about our enemy. He’s already defeated. We just have to understand our assets and our abilities. and the advantages that God has given to us, our assets, our abilities, and our advantages. Because, you know, part of the human response to abuse is to get into self-pity. You know, to feel sorry for yourself. You know, to have a little pity party. Never forget this. The Supreme Court of Heaven is in session 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and nobody is going to get away with anything So you never need to try to get even. You never need to try to seek revenge. You can let the Lord handle the details. And I say what I want to put it like this. I recommend that if you are angry, if you are bitter towards an individual, that you confess your sin and get back in fellowship so you can access the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 12, 19 says, beloved, do not try to avenge yourself, but rather give place to wrath, for it is written, vengeance is mine and I will repay, says the Lord. He’s capable of handling these sort of details. He’s capable of handling these abusers. He can deal with them, not you. But there’s no doubt in your life you will face users and you will face abusers. In my life, I’ve been through some users. In the fishing world, where I used to compete quite a bit in bass fishing tournaments, I had a lot of users, users that wanted me to tell them, Brother Rick, where can I catch some fish today? Brother Rick, what lure should I be using today? I even got a recent phone call from someone, said, Brother Rick, I got a tournament up on this particular lake. What do you think I ought to do? Haven’t heard from them in a couple of years, but there’s money involved. They could win some money. And so they’re going to call Brother Rick and say, tell me what to do, Brother Rick. That’s a user. People use you all the time. And if you don’t mind being used, in some cases, I didn’t mind being used because I liked individuals. But users will forget you. They don’t remember you. Once you’re out of the way, they move on to you, someone else. It’s part of life. And you can’t be bitter and you can’t be angry and you can’t be disappointed in those individuals. You just move on down the road. Because I can assure you someone will never use you as your Heavenly Father. He loves you. He’s provided a problem-solving package for you. He’s given you all sorts of divine assets and abilities and resources. And if you will use them, you can live the most wonderful life there is in spite of the users and in spite of the abusers. What a great way to live. What a wonderful thing it is. to have this power in your life. Have you been born again? Have you trusted the Lord Jesus Christ to save you? If not, I want to recommend one more thing today before we end this show. Do you know for sure today that you’re going to heaven? Are you confident of that? Because if you’re not, I want to ask you to pray with me. It’s a simple prayer, but it’s a prayer of salvation. It’s you praying to God and asking God to save you. If you’re driving down the road or if you’re sitting at home in a chair, you can pray out loud after I pray or you can pray silently. But pray this particular prayer if you want to be saved. Heavenly Father, I believe Jesus Christ died for me and I want to accept him as my Savior. Thank you for hearing my prayer. Thank you for giving me eternal life. That seems like a simple prayer, doesn’t it? Did it work? Absolutely. Did you feel anything? Probably not, no. I mean, you probably didn’t hear any harps or see any flashes of light, but God said it. This is the record God has given to us, eternal life, and this life is in his Son, and he who has a son has life, and he who has not the Son of God has not life. You prayed. You asked God to save you. He’s not a liar. He did exactly what he said he would do. Your next move is to learn what happened. Your next move is to learn that he will never forsake you. He will never turn his back on you. And your next move is to grow in the grace and knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You have a wonderful life in front of you. Wonderful privilege in front of you. I hope you’re willing to take advantage of it. I hope you’re willing to make that opportunity. You prayed either today or a couple of weeks ago and you asked God to save you. Now let’s do something about it. Now let’s grow. Now let’s begin to represent Jesus Christ. Let’s be the person God designed you to be. That’s the exciting thing about the Christian life. What a wonderful privilege it is for me to bring you this information. I hope it’s made sense. I hope it’s been clearly explained to you. It’s my prayer you’ll come back same time next week, same channel, same station. Until then, this is your host, Rick Hughes, saying thank you for being with me and listening to The Floodline.
SPEAKER 02 :
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.
