May 18, 2026 • 27 mins
God supplies every believer’s true needs through grace, doctrine, and faith-rest. This episode explains how God faithfully supplies every legitimate need in the believer’s life. Drawing from Philippians 4:19 and many supporting Scriptures, it clarifies the difference between needs and wants, the priority of growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, and the importance of prayer under the filling of the Holy Spirit. You’ll also learn the danger of inaccurate faith and false teaching, why God’s Word—not emotion or legalism—is the only reliable source of truth, and how the faith-rest drill stabilizes the soul. Discover how God already knows your needs before you ask, why His compassion is renewed every morning, and how trusting His perfect plan brings strength, clarity, and peace.
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(00:08):
Welcome to the Flat Line with your host Rick Hughes.
For the next 30 minutes you'll be inspired, motivated, educated
but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
Good morning and welcome to the Flat Line.
I'm your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please
(00:29):
stay with me. It'll be 30 minutes of
motivation, some inspiration, some education, and always done
without manipulation because we're not trying to con you,
we're not trying to solicit money, we're not trying to sell
you anything. We just want to give you some
information, hopefully information that'll help you
verify and identify God's plan for your life.
(00:49):
And if you can do that, then youalways have the freedom and the
privacy to Orient and adjust to that plan.
That's really up to you, but it's your life and as I always
say, you got one shot at it. So I hope you listen and listen.
Well, before we get started today, let me talk about one
thing in particular. We have a new book coming out
called Understanding Your Soul. It's at the press being printed
(01:11):
now. Hopefully if you order one,
you'll get it before Christmas and it's free.
All of our material is free, butthis is a redo of an older book
that we had and we were also working on another book called
The Family sometime after the first of the year.
We had to be available as well. But we appreciate your prayers.
We appreciate your encouragement.
(01:31):
We appreciate those of you that let me know you're listening.
As I told you, we're new. New radio contracts are coming
up, so we wanted you to let us know if you're listening.
You can always go to our website,
rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org or you
can call us 800-831-0718. Just let us know you're
(01:53):
listening. So we know where who to sign new
contracts with. We currently broadcast in over
120 stations. Each one has a cost in the
contract we have to sign before the beginning of the year.
So we like to know who's listening and who's not
listening so we can save money if nobody's turning in.
That makes sense. I think so.
(02:13):
OK, thank you. Thank you very much.
Again, on our website, rickhughesministries.org, you
can see the many books you make available there.
You can also listen to older Flightline radio shows there.
And we do podcast our radio showon various podcast channels like
Apple and Spotify and Pod Bean, things like that.
(02:36):
So if you understand how the podcast, you can listen 24 hours
a day, seven days a week anywhere in the world to the
Flightline radio show. All right, now listen.
I have no doubt that many of youthat could be listening to my
voice this very morning, just like myself, we have real and we
have legitimate needs. In your case, it may be a
(02:58):
financial need or it could be a physical need.
I don't know what it is, but I would like to encourage you to
listen as I try to teach you howto have all of your needs
supplied. In Philippians chapter 4, verse
19, Paul the apostle wrote this.But my God shall supply all your
(03:19):
needs according to his riches inglory by Christ Jesus.
There's a divine promise to the believer.
My God will supply, shall supplyall of your needs according to
his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
There may be a difference now between what you need and what
you want. That's the big difference.
(03:42):
So this verse that I just read to you emphasizes your greatest
need. What do you think your greatest
need is? The number one need in your life
In Philippians 3, seven through 8, the Bible says, but what
things were gained to me? That's Paul.
Those are the things I counted lost for Jesus Christ.
(04:02):
And yeah, doubtless I count everything in my life but loss,
except for the Excellency of theknowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to
count them but dung that I may win Christ.
So his number one need is to know Jesus Christ and how to
(04:24):
please his Lord and Savior JesusChrist.
Everything else just dung. Well, there's a there's a
there's a lot of stuff there that he did.
It's clear that our number one need is to please our Lord Jesus
Christ, and in this particular case, as Paul wrote in
Philippians 3, seven through 8, he's stating that all of his
(04:45):
accomplishments that he did before becoming a believer were
considered excrement. Now you may wonder who exactly
was Paul or as his name was, Saul, Saul of Tarsus.
He was a prominent Pharisee of the highest order, and he is
very deeply devoted to the laws of Moses.
(05:07):
We know that he was a Roman citizen with all privileges of
Rome. We know he was a respected
scholar. We know that he studied under
the famous Rabbi Gamael, and we also know that he was a member
of the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish High Court.
We know that that Saul of Tarsus, or Paul was a zealous
prosecutor, persecutor of the early Christian Church.
(05:30):
All of these things that I'm telling you gave him prestige
and prominence in the Jewish community.
However, now he considered all of that worthless.
Here's a principle I want you toremember and never forget.
Principle. An encounter with Jesus Christ
will change your outlook on yourlife.
An encounter with Jesus Christ will change your outlook on your
(05:52):
life. That's exactly what happened to
Paul. So your and my number one need
is to glorify our Lord by all ofour words and our deeds.
Then we have our daily needs andthen one of them is our
spiritual need to glorify our Lord with all of our what we say
and what we do. Then we have our daily physical
(06:16):
needs. Philippians 46 Be careful for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Do you hear that? Let your supplications be known
to God. Tell him what your needs are.
(06:36):
So here's your second principle I want to give you today.
It's completely fine to ask God the Father to meet your
legitimate needs. However, let me remind you one
thing, that in order for your prayers to be heard, they must
be offered under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Must be offered under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(06:57):
If you have unconfessed sin in your life, God's not going to
hear your prayer. I know that because the Bible
says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me. It might surprise you to
discover that God already knows your needs even before you ask
Him to supply the request that you have.
(07:18):
And you don't have to ask repeatedly.
I mean, I think about that often.
Should I go to God every day andask Him for the same thing?
I think He's omniscient, omnipotent, and a present, so a
once or twice is enough. But listen to what he said in
Matthew 631 through 33 about already knowing what my needs
are before I even ask. I'll read the verse to you,
(07:40):
Matthew 631 through 33. Take no thought saying, what
shall we eat or what shall we drink or whether shall we be
clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. But your heavenly Father knows
that you have need of these things.
He already knows it. So seek you first the Kingdom of
(08:00):
God and his righteousness, and then these things, all of these
things will be added to you. So this passage is telling you
that you must have your priorities in order.
And the very first priority you and I have is to follow the will
of God. And if you're not a Christian,
then the first priority for you is to believe in the Lord Jesus
(08:22):
Christ and receive Him as your Savior before you start asking
God to help you win the lottery.Priority number one is to grow
in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. That's priority number one, to
grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Why?
(08:43):
So you can reflect Him to everyone that you encounter.
This is verified by Second Peter318 But grow in the grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now andforever.
And that's not a request, that'sa mandate.
Peter is telling you grow in thegrace and the knowledge of our
(09:06):
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not to grow is a sin.
If you're a believer and you're not growing, it means you're not
filled with the Spirit and you're not taking in the Word of
God under a good pastor and you're not growing, which means
you don't have insight, understanding, wisdom, and
discernment. If you want to have that, you
got to grow. And God wants you to grow,
(09:26):
doesn't want you to remain a baby Christian all your life.
So this is what this passage is about.
Priority number one for you and I is to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and SaviorJesus Christ.
Why? So we can reflect Him to
everyone we encounter. Listen to this verse found in
Psalm 3410. The Young Lions do lack and
(09:48):
suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any
good thing. How about that The lions of
Africa are constantly searching for food.
Sometimes they score a kill and have a feast, and other times
the prey evades their fangs. By contrast, if you seek to
fulfill God's plan for your life, you will never lack what
(10:12):
you need. I say that one more time.
If you seek to fulfill God's plan for your life, you will
never lack what you need. Not necessarily what you want,
but what you need. When you start asking God to
meet your needs, remember this verse first.
John 514. This is the confidence we have
(10:35):
in him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears
us. The key is to have your prayer
answered according to His will. Throughout the 50 plus years of
my ministry, I've had many wonderful Christian friends.
Tell me Rick, if you need anything, just let me know.
(10:57):
They mean well, but my thoughts were always if I need anything,
I'll tell God and He can then tell you.
But I'm not going to tell you what my needs are in 1968.
That's a long time ago. I went on staff with a national
evangelistic organization and they informed me that I needed
to go to my Christian friends and ask them to give me money to
(11:18):
raise my support and contribute to me on a monthly basis.
This was not the last bit of badcounseling I received, but much
of it thanks to God. God directed me eventually to a
great pastor and it was there I learned the correct way to
operate a grace oriented ministry.
And that is never ask for money,never sell books or any other
(11:40):
material. Why?
Because if God's in it, He will pay for it.
You don't have to try to hustle up the money.
So that's the principle we operate under today, even today.
So if you're hearing this show right now in your city, it's
because someone, as a result of our asking God to meet our
needs, God motivated some believer somewhere to
(12:02):
contribute. So we continue to purchase
airtime in your radio market. So without faith, your prayers
will be hindered. Did you know that without faith
your prayers will be hindered inMatthew 2122 in all things, in
all things, everything, whateveryou ask in prayer, believing.
(12:24):
Here's the word faith right here.
Bestuo believing you shall receive Matthew 2122 and all
things, whichever you ask in prayer and believing you shall
receive. That keyword is the Greek verb
pistuo PISTEUO. That verb comes from the noun
(12:45):
pistus. PISTIS.
The verb literally means to be convinced of something.
It is the word used to describe the anchor of our faith,
believing. For example, in First
Thessalonians 414. This verse literally says if we
believe. If we believe there's Bestuo,
(13:08):
and in fact you do, if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, and we also believe that when he returns to establish his
Kingdom on earth, He will bring with him those who passed away
earlier. If we believe Pastuo is critical
for you, this area of faith is exactly where Satan tries to
(13:31):
deceive people or he tries to trick people into believing the
wrong thing. Did you know you can believe the
wrong thing, you can believe theright thing, and you can believe
the wrong thing. There is such a thing as
inaccurate faith. I'm going to say that again so
you get it. There is such a thing as
inaccurate faith. What does that mean?
(13:54):
It means you believed the wrong thing or you accepted as truth
the wrong thing. You know Satan deceived Eve in
the garden by getting her to puther faith in what he said rather
than what God said. Did you realize that He gathered
to put her faith in what He saidrather than what God said?
(14:15):
Let's look at it. Here's Genesis 217.
Here's what God said. But of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, you shall not eatof it.
For in that day that thou eatestthereof you will die, surely
die. That's a warning.
It wasn't physical death, it wasspiritual death.
(14:36):
We know that because they didn'tdrop over dead when they ate the
fruit. They were cast out of the
garden. But it was spiritual death,
broken fellowship with God. So God said of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, You shall not eat of it, for in the
day that you do, you will die. That's what God said, and here's
what Satan said. The serpent said to the woman,
(14:57):
You will not die for God knows that on the day you eat from it,
your eyes will be opened and youwill become like a God knowing
good and evil. Now Eve had a choice.
She had to put her trust in whatone of those two people said.
Either she trusts what God said to be accurate in truth, put her
(15:19):
faith there or put her faith what the serpent said.
It's it's hindsight and and we actually know who the liar was,
don't we? We know who told the truth, it
was God. But unfortunately, like Eve,
many, many believers have chosento believe the wrong person and
as a result, they have inaccurate faith, faith in the
(15:42):
wrong person. In modern Christianity, like
today, social media given a platform for many liars,
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, manyliars are on these platforms
trying to deceive you. They claim they're telling you
the truth. Many preachers will tell you
(16:02):
that the reason you don't have enough is because you don't give
enough, brother. You don't have enough because
you don't give enough, brother. That's a lie.
That's a big lie. Some will tell you the reason
you're not healed of an infirmity is that you don't
demonstrate enough faith. That's a lie.
You might be shocked to learn that much of your suffering
could actually be divine discipline and that if you would
(16:25):
rebound your sin and recover, the suffering would be
eliminated in your life. Because we know from Hebrews
chapter 12, those that I love, Ichasten and scourge with a whip
sometime. And sometimes the suffering
you're going through, you may think it's unfair, but it's
nothing more than God trying to break your arrogance and get
(16:46):
your attention before you destroy yourself.
So much of the suffering you're going through that you're asking
God to heal you from would be healed if you would confess your
sin and recover. The question to be answered is
this. How do we determine who's
actually lying and how do we determine who's telling the
(17:08):
truth? The answer for us is found in
the scriptures in first John chapter 4 verse one.
Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God because many false prophets have
gone out into the world. How do you test the spirits?
(17:32):
How do you find out if the speaker is from God?
I can suggest 2 questions. Here's one question you ask if
someone's speaking and teaching you the Bible and you could ask
them one simple question, What must I do to be saved?
If they tell you you got to repent and be baptized, they're
lying to you. And Jesus never said that.
(17:53):
He said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, thatwhoever believed in him shall
not perish for that everlasting life.
He didn't tell them they had to repent.
How can you repent me? You can go back and do it again
and again and again. It's not about feeling sorry for
what you've done in the past because you're going to have an
(18:14):
old son nature and do it in the future.
Test the spirits. Ask your pastor this question.
What must I do to be a good Christian?
What must I do to be a good Christian?
If they don't tell you, you mustbe filled with the Holy Spirit,
they don't know what they're talking about because you cannot
live the Christian life without the feeling of the Holy Spirit.
So if I say what must I do to bea good Christian?
(18:36):
And he tells me, well, brother, you got a tithe, you got to sing
in the choir, you got to go visit people in the, you know,
all this sort of stuff. That's all fine.
That's all good stuff. But that's not what it means to
be a good Christian. To be a good Christian means
you're filled with the Holy Spirit, be filled with the
Spirit of Ephesians 518, and you're growing in the grace and
knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
(18:58):
False teachers put on an emotional production trying to
what? Trick you into putting your
faith in what they're telling you?
False teachers will put on an emotional production designed to
seduce you. Trick you.
Listen, just because it seems good does not mean it's actually
good. Don't you understand?
(19:19):
The reason that it's easy to trick people with false doctrine
is because it actually feels good to them.
The Bible teaches us something rather amazing about Satan's
trickery. This may surprise you in 2nd
Corinthians 1113 through 15. For such men are false apostles,
(19:40):
deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of
Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan,
even Satan himself, disguises himself as an Angel of light.
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise
themselves as servants of righteousness.
(20:02):
Who then will be according to their deeds?
This is a pastor. This is an evangelist.
This is a YouTube preacher. That is a legalist is telling
you some kind of legalistic typeof life to live?
If you're a Christian, you know Satan is good at this.
What is grace? Grace says, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and you you'll be saved.
(20:23):
That passage in in Ephesians Forby grace are you saved through
faith. It's a gift of God and not of
works, lest any man should what manufacture his own
righteousness or brag about it. But what's what does?
What does the legalist say? For by grace are you saved
through faith? And here comes the Adam to it
(20:43):
and giving up something and doing something and, and and no
it's no and to it. For by grace are you saved
through faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
is what the Bible teaches. Not giving up on moon pies and
quit drinking Coca Cola's and lay layoff the peanuts.
That doesn't save you, I warn you.
(21:05):
Listen, be careful, the Satan has a disguise and you will be
surprised. He looks good, He sounds good,
He looks like a righteous person, but he he looks like an
Angel of light. But it's actually the devil
trying to trick you. Trying to trick you to do what?
Put your faith in the wrong thing.
(21:27):
I warn you, let's let's talk about where you better put your
faith. I warn you, don't attempt to
teach yourself what the Bible issaying.
Stay out of that stuff. You say, Well, I read the Bible
every year. That's great.
I'm glad I read the Bible through five times.
Good and wonderful. I'm sure God will use that and
help you remember some of those promises.
But the Bible is a textbook designed by God to be taught to
(21:49):
you. And that's the reason God gave
certain male individuals the gift of pastor teacher, and
that's to protect you from the canine clergy in Ephesians 414.
The Bible says as a result, why do we get under a pastor?
As a result, we are no longer tobe children, tossed to and fro
(22:11):
by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of people, by craftiness and deceitful
scheming. This is exactly what Satan does.
You need to be under the ministry of a well qualified
pastor. You need to be listening to
somebody that knows what he's talking about, who knows the
original languages and can breakit down and teach it to you.
(22:34):
Not somebody that puts on a goodshow.
Not somebody that's dynamic and emotional.
That's all fine, but that's not how you grow.
You grow by being fed the Word of God into your soul and
metabolizing what you hear, putting it to use in your life.
The Psalmist himself taught a wonderful doctrine about the
faithfulness of God and how God will supply all of your
(22:58):
logistical needs. For mature believers, listen to
Psalm 3725. I was young and now I'm old, yet
I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children
begging bread. That's one thing I can guarantee
you. God's very, very, very patient.
(23:21):
He will not abandon you even when you fail.
Even when I fail, He does not abandon us.
In Second Peter 39, the Bible says the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He's
long-suffering towards us, not willing that anyone should
perish, but that all should cometo repentance.
(23:45):
So there's never going to be a time in your life when the Lord
doesn't love you and wants you to what?
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to change your mind
about who he is in Hebrews 13, five, let your conversation be
without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have. For he has said, I will never
leave you, I will never forsake you.
(24:06):
So if you have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Savior, there's still time to doit.
God's love will follow you your entire life since He does not
wish for you to perish in the lake of fire.
It's never too late to change your mind about who Christ is
and what He's done for you if you are a believer.
(24:27):
If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, God has not
forgotten who you are or what you need, and He has promised
that He would never leave you and He would never turn His back
on you. So in closing, let's try to
remember the Scripture Lamentations 3, verse 22 and 23.
It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed because His
(24:51):
compassions fail not. They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness. You hear that?
Great is His faithfulness, His mercy, and His compassions will
never fail you. They renew every morning.
Did you get up this morning? Did you take a breath?
That's the grace of God. Did you look outside?
You're still alive. That's the grace of God.
(25:13):
He will meet all of your needs and He wants you to grow and the
grace and knowledge of you, Lordand Savior Jesus Christ, He
wants you to reflect Jesus Christ in your life and what you
say and what you do and how you live.
So whatever your needs are, whatever your needs may be this
morning, you can use a faith Rest drill Problem Solving
(25:35):
device #3 on the flat line of your soul.
And it will calm you down. And you can maintain a relaxed
metal attitude through in spite of whatever adversity you're
facing And occupation with Christ Problem Solving device
#10 will give you the opportunity for the greatest
happiness you'll ever experiencein your entire life.
(25:57):
That's what the flat line is about, teaching you the
mechanics to the Christian life.That's what we're doing this
morning, going through mechanics, how you can depend on
God to meet every need that you have and what God expects out of
you. I hope you're listening.
I hope you're paying attention, and I sure hope you'll come back
with us. Next week, same time, same
place. If you'd like to continue
(26:19):
broadcasting in your city, drop us a note.
Let us know you're listening. We appreciate that.
So until next week, same time, same place, as is your host,
Rick Hughes. And remember, you can always go
to our website, rickhughesministries.org,
rickhughesministries.org, or youcan call us on the 800 line,
(26:40):
800-831-0718. If you do call on that line,
speak very slowly, very distinctly, so we can understand
your name and phone number and who you are.
OK All right, until next week. This is your host, Rick Hughes,
saying thank you for listening to the flight line.
Thank you for listening to The Flood Lion with your host, Rick
(27:02):
Hughes. If you'd like to contact Rick,
please write to him at PO Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama 35O54 or
online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
Welcome to the Flat Line with your host Rick Hughes.
For the next 30 minutes you'll be inspired, motivated, educated
but never manipulated. Now your host, Rick Hughes.
Good morning and welcome to the Flat Line.
I'm your host, Rick Hughes, and for the next few minutes, please
(00:29):
stay with me. It'll be 30 minutes of
motivation, some inspiration, some education, and always done
without manipulation because we're not trying to con you,
we're not trying to solicit money, we're not trying to sell
you anything. We just want to give you some
information, hopefully information that'll help you
verify and identify God's plan for your life.
(00:49):
And if you can do that, then youalways have the freedom and the
privacy to Orient and adjust to that plan.
That's really up to you, but it's your life and as I always
say, you got one shot at it. So I hope you listen and listen.
Well, before we get started today, let me talk about one
thing in particular. We have a new book coming out
called Understanding Your Soul. It's at the press being printed
(01:11):
now. Hopefully if you order one,
you'll get it before Christmas and it's free.
All of our material is free, butthis is a redo of an older book
that we had and we were also working on another book called
The Family sometime after the first of the year.
We had to be available as well. But we appreciate your prayers.
We appreciate your encouragement.
(01:31):
We appreciate those of you that let me know you're listening.
As I told you, we're new. New radio contracts are coming
up, so we wanted you to let us know if you're listening.
You can always go to our website,
rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org or you
can call us 800-831-0718. Just let us know you're
(01:53):
listening. So we know where who to sign new
contracts with. We currently broadcast in over
120 stations. Each one has a cost in the
contract we have to sign before the beginning of the year.
So we like to know who's listening and who's not
listening so we can save money if nobody's turning in.
That makes sense. I think so.
(02:13):
OK, thank you. Thank you very much.
Again, on our website, rickhughesministries.org, you
can see the many books you make available there.
You can also listen to older Flightline radio shows there.
And we do podcast our radio showon various podcast channels like
Apple and Spotify and Pod Bean, things like that.
(02:36):
So if you understand how the podcast, you can listen 24 hours
a day, seven days a week anywhere in the world to the
Flightline radio show. All right, now listen.
I have no doubt that many of youthat could be listening to my
voice this very morning, just like myself, we have real and we
have legitimate needs. In your case, it may be a
(02:58):
financial need or it could be a physical need.
I don't know what it is, but I would like to encourage you to
listen as I try to teach you howto have all of your needs
supplied. In Philippians chapter 4, verse
19, Paul the apostle wrote this.But my God shall supply all your
(03:19):
needs according to his riches inglory by Christ Jesus.
There's a divine promise to the believer.
My God will supply, shall supplyall of your needs according to
his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
There may be a difference now between what you need and what
you want. That's the big difference.
(03:42):
So this verse that I just read to you emphasizes your greatest
need. What do you think your greatest
need is? The number one need in your life
In Philippians 3, seven through 8, the Bible says, but what
things were gained to me? That's Paul.
Those are the things I counted lost for Jesus Christ.
(04:02):
And yeah, doubtless I count everything in my life but loss,
except for the Excellency of theknowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to
count them but dung that I may win Christ.
So his number one need is to know Jesus Christ and how to
(04:24):
please his Lord and Savior JesusChrist.
Everything else just dung. Well, there's a there's a
there's a lot of stuff there that he did.
It's clear that our number one need is to please our Lord Jesus
Christ, and in this particular case, as Paul wrote in
Philippians 3, seven through 8, he's stating that all of his
(04:45):
accomplishments that he did before becoming a believer were
considered excrement. Now you may wonder who exactly
was Paul or as his name was, Saul, Saul of Tarsus.
He was a prominent Pharisee of the highest order, and he is
very deeply devoted to the laws of Moses.
(05:07):
We know that he was a Roman citizen with all privileges of
Rome. We know he was a respected
scholar. We know that he studied under
the famous Rabbi Gamael, and we also know that he was a member
of the Sanhedrin, which is the Jewish High Court.
We know that that Saul of Tarsus, or Paul was a zealous
prosecutor, persecutor of the early Christian Church.
(05:30):
All of these things that I'm telling you gave him prestige
and prominence in the Jewish community.
However, now he considered all of that worthless.
Here's a principle I want you toremember and never forget.
Principle. An encounter with Jesus Christ
will change your outlook on yourlife.
An encounter with Jesus Christ will change your outlook on your
(05:52):
life. That's exactly what happened to
Paul. So your and my number one need
is to glorify our Lord by all ofour words and our deeds.
Then we have our daily needs andthen one of them is our
spiritual need to glorify our Lord with all of our what we say
and what we do. Then we have our daily physical
(06:16):
needs. Philippians 46 Be careful for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with
Thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.
Do you hear that? Let your supplications be known
to God. Tell him what your needs are.
(06:36):
So here's your second principle I want to give you today.
It's completely fine to ask God the Father to meet your
legitimate needs. However, let me remind you one
thing, that in order for your prayers to be heard, they must
be offered under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Must be offered under the filling of the Holy Spirit.
(06:57):
If you have unconfessed sin in your life, God's not going to
hear your prayer. I know that because the Bible
says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me. It might surprise you to
discover that God already knows your needs even before you ask
Him to supply the request that you have.
(07:18):
And you don't have to ask repeatedly.
I mean, I think about that often.
Should I go to God every day andask Him for the same thing?
I think He's omniscient, omnipotent, and a present, so a
once or twice is enough. But listen to what he said in
Matthew 631 through 33 about already knowing what my needs
are before I even ask. I'll read the verse to you,
(07:40):
Matthew 631 through 33. Take no thought saying, what
shall we eat or what shall we drink or whether shall we be
clothed? For after all these things do
the Gentiles seek. But your heavenly Father knows
that you have need of these things.
He already knows it. So seek you first the Kingdom of
(08:00):
God and his righteousness, and then these things, all of these
things will be added to you. So this passage is telling you
that you must have your priorities in order.
And the very first priority you and I have is to follow the will
of God. And if you're not a Christian,
then the first priority for you is to believe in the Lord Jesus
(08:22):
Christ and receive Him as your Savior before you start asking
God to help you win the lottery.Priority number one is to grow
in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. That's priority number one, to
grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Why?
(08:43):
So you can reflect Him to everyone that you encounter.
This is verified by Second Peter318 But grow in the grace and in
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
To Him be the glory both now andforever.
And that's not a request, that'sa mandate.
Peter is telling you grow in thegrace and the knowledge of our
(09:06):
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Not to grow is a sin.
If you're a believer and you're not growing, it means you're not
filled with the Spirit and you're not taking in the Word of
God under a good pastor and you're not growing, which means
you don't have insight, understanding, wisdom, and
discernment. If you want to have that, you
got to grow. And God wants you to grow,
(09:26):
doesn't want you to remain a baby Christian all your life.
So this is what this passage is about.
Priority number one for you and I is to grow in the grace and
knowledge of our Lord and SaviorJesus Christ.
Why? So we can reflect Him to
everyone we encounter. Listen to this verse found in
Psalm 3410. The Young Lions do lack and
(09:48):
suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any
good thing. How about that The lions of
Africa are constantly searching for food.
Sometimes they score a kill and have a feast, and other times
the prey evades their fangs. By contrast, if you seek to
fulfill God's plan for your life, you will never lack what
(10:12):
you need. I say that one more time.
If you seek to fulfill God's plan for your life, you will
never lack what you need. Not necessarily what you want,
but what you need. When you start asking God to
meet your needs, remember this verse first.
John 514. This is the confidence we have
(10:35):
in him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears
us. The key is to have your prayer
answered according to His will. Throughout the 50 plus years of
my ministry, I've had many wonderful Christian friends.
Tell me Rick, if you need anything, just let me know.
(10:57):
They mean well, but my thoughts were always if I need anything,
I'll tell God and He can then tell you.
But I'm not going to tell you what my needs are in 1968.
That's a long time ago. I went on staff with a national
evangelistic organization and they informed me that I needed
to go to my Christian friends and ask them to give me money to
(11:18):
raise my support and contribute to me on a monthly basis.
This was not the last bit of badcounseling I received, but much
of it thanks to God. God directed me eventually to a
great pastor and it was there I learned the correct way to
operate a grace oriented ministry.
And that is never ask for money,never sell books or any other
(11:40):
material. Why?
Because if God's in it, He will pay for it.
You don't have to try to hustle up the money.
So that's the principle we operate under today, even today.
So if you're hearing this show right now in your city, it's
because someone, as a result of our asking God to meet our
needs, God motivated some believer somewhere to
(12:02):
contribute. So we continue to purchase
airtime in your radio market. So without faith, your prayers
will be hindered. Did you know that without faith
your prayers will be hindered inMatthew 2122 in all things, in
all things, everything, whateveryou ask in prayer, believing.
(12:24):
Here's the word faith right here.
Bestuo believing you shall receive Matthew 2122 and all
things, whichever you ask in prayer and believing you shall
receive. That keyword is the Greek verb
pistuo PISTEUO. That verb comes from the noun
(12:45):
pistus. PISTIS.
The verb literally means to be convinced of something.
It is the word used to describe the anchor of our faith,
believing. For example, in First
Thessalonians 414. This verse literally says if we
believe. If we believe there's Bestuo,
(13:08):
and in fact you do, if we believe that Jesus died and rose
again, and we also believe that when he returns to establish his
Kingdom on earth, He will bring with him those who passed away
earlier. If we believe Pastuo is critical
for you, this area of faith is exactly where Satan tries to
(13:31):
deceive people or he tries to trick people into believing the
wrong thing. Did you know you can believe the
wrong thing, you can believe theright thing, and you can believe
the wrong thing. There is such a thing as
inaccurate faith. I'm going to say that again so
you get it. There is such a thing as
inaccurate faith. What does that mean?
(13:54):
It means you believed the wrong thing or you accepted as truth
the wrong thing. You know Satan deceived Eve in
the garden by getting her to puther faith in what he said rather
than what God said. Did you realize that He gathered
to put her faith in what He saidrather than what God said?
(14:15):
Let's look at it. Here's Genesis 217.
Here's what God said. But of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil, you shall not eatof it.
For in that day that thou eatestthereof you will die, surely
die. That's a warning.
It wasn't physical death, it wasspiritual death.
(14:36):
We know that because they didn'tdrop over dead when they ate the
fruit. They were cast out of the
garden. But it was spiritual death,
broken fellowship with God. So God said of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil, You shall not eat of it, for in the
day that you do, you will die. That's what God said, and here's
what Satan said. The serpent said to the woman,
(14:57):
You will not die for God knows that on the day you eat from it,
your eyes will be opened and youwill become like a God knowing
good and evil. Now Eve had a choice.
She had to put her trust in whatone of those two people said.
Either she trusts what God said to be accurate in truth, put her
(15:19):
faith there or put her faith what the serpent said.
It's it's hindsight and and we actually know who the liar was,
don't we? We know who told the truth, it
was God. But unfortunately, like Eve,
many, many believers have chosento believe the wrong person and
as a result, they have inaccurate faith, faith in the
(15:42):
wrong person. In modern Christianity, like
today, social media given a platform for many liars,
YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, manyliars are on these platforms
trying to deceive you. They claim they're telling you
the truth. Many preachers will tell you
(16:02):
that the reason you don't have enough is because you don't give
enough, brother. You don't have enough because
you don't give enough, brother. That's a lie.
That's a big lie. Some will tell you the reason
you're not healed of an infirmity is that you don't
demonstrate enough faith. That's a lie.
You might be shocked to learn that much of your suffering
could actually be divine discipline and that if you would
(16:25):
rebound your sin and recover, the suffering would be
eliminated in your life. Because we know from Hebrews
chapter 12, those that I love, Ichasten and scourge with a whip
sometime. And sometimes the suffering
you're going through, you may think it's unfair, but it's
nothing more than God trying to break your arrogance and get
(16:46):
your attention before you destroy yourself.
So much of the suffering you're going through that you're asking
God to heal you from would be healed if you would confess your
sin and recover. The question to be answered is
this. How do we determine who's
actually lying and how do we determine who's telling the
(17:08):
truth? The answer for us is found in
the scriptures in first John chapter 4 verse one.
Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits to
see whether they are from God because many false prophets have
gone out into the world. How do you test the spirits?
(17:32):
How do you find out if the speaker is from God?
I can suggest 2 questions. Here's one question you ask if
someone's speaking and teaching you the Bible and you could ask
them one simple question, What must I do to be saved?
If they tell you you got to repent and be baptized, they're
lying to you. And Jesus never said that.
(17:53):
He said believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, thatwhoever believed in him shall
not perish for that everlasting life.
He didn't tell them they had to repent.
How can you repent me? You can go back and do it again
and again and again. It's not about feeling sorry for
what you've done in the past because you're going to have an
(18:14):
old son nature and do it in the future.
Test the spirits. Ask your pastor this question.
What must I do to be a good Christian?
What must I do to be a good Christian?
If they don't tell you, you mustbe filled with the Holy Spirit,
they don't know what they're talking about because you cannot
live the Christian life without the feeling of the Holy Spirit.
So if I say what must I do to bea good Christian?
(18:36):
And he tells me, well, brother, you got a tithe, you got to sing
in the choir, you got to go visit people in the, you know,
all this sort of stuff. That's all fine.
That's all good stuff. But that's not what it means to
be a good Christian. To be a good Christian means
you're filled with the Holy Spirit, be filled with the
Spirit of Ephesians 518, and you're growing in the grace and
knowledge of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
(18:58):
False teachers put on an emotional production trying to
what? Trick you into putting your
faith in what they're telling you?
False teachers will put on an emotional production designed to
seduce you. Trick you.
Listen, just because it seems good does not mean it's actually
good. Don't you understand?
(19:19):
The reason that it's easy to trick people with false doctrine
is because it actually feels good to them.
The Bible teaches us something rather amazing about Satan's
trickery. This may surprise you in 2nd
Corinthians 1113 through 15. For such men are false apostles,
(19:40):
deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of
Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan,
even Satan himself, disguises himself as an Angel of light.
Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise
themselves as servants of righteousness.
(20:02):
Who then will be according to their deeds?
This is a pastor. This is an evangelist.
This is a YouTube preacher. That is a legalist is telling
you some kind of legalistic typeof life to live?
If you're a Christian, you know Satan is good at this.
What is grace? Grace says, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ and you you'll be saved.
(20:23):
That passage in in Ephesians Forby grace are you saved through
faith. It's a gift of God and not of
works, lest any man should what manufacture his own
righteousness or brag about it. But what's what does?
What does the legalist say? For by grace are you saved
through faith? And here comes the Adam to it
(20:43):
and giving up something and doing something and, and and no
it's no and to it. For by grace are you saved
through faith. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
is what the Bible teaches. Not giving up on moon pies and
quit drinking Coca Cola's and lay layoff the peanuts.
That doesn't save you, I warn you.
(21:05):
Listen, be careful, the Satan has a disguise and you will be
surprised. He looks good, He sounds good,
He looks like a righteous person, but he he looks like an
Angel of light. But it's actually the devil
trying to trick you. Trying to trick you to do what?
Put your faith in the wrong thing.
(21:27):
I warn you, let's let's talk about where you better put your
faith. I warn you, don't attempt to
teach yourself what the Bible issaying.
Stay out of that stuff. You say, Well, I read the Bible
every year. That's great.
I'm glad I read the Bible through five times.
Good and wonderful. I'm sure God will use that and
help you remember some of those promises.
But the Bible is a textbook designed by God to be taught to
(21:49):
you. And that's the reason God gave
certain male individuals the gift of pastor teacher, and
that's to protect you from the canine clergy in Ephesians 414.
The Bible says as a result, why do we get under a pastor?
As a result, we are no longer tobe children, tossed to and fro
(22:11):
by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by
the trickery of people, by craftiness and deceitful
scheming. This is exactly what Satan does.
You need to be under the ministry of a well qualified
pastor. You need to be listening to
somebody that knows what he's talking about, who knows the
original languages and can breakit down and teach it to you.
(22:34):
Not somebody that puts on a goodshow.
Not somebody that's dynamic and emotional.
That's all fine, but that's not how you grow.
You grow by being fed the Word of God into your soul and
metabolizing what you hear, putting it to use in your life.
The Psalmist himself taught a wonderful doctrine about the
faithfulness of God and how God will supply all of your
(22:58):
logistical needs. For mature believers, listen to
Psalm 3725. I was young and now I'm old, yet
I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children
begging bread. That's one thing I can guarantee
you. God's very, very, very patient.
(23:21):
He will not abandon you even when you fail.
Even when I fail, He does not abandon us.
In Second Peter 39, the Bible says the Lord is not slack
concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but He's
long-suffering towards us, not willing that anyone should
perish, but that all should cometo repentance.
(23:45):
So there's never going to be a time in your life when the Lord
doesn't love you and wants you to what?
To believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to change your mind
about who he is in Hebrews 13, five, let your conversation be
without covetousness and be content with such things as you
have. For he has said, I will never
leave you, I will never forsake you.
(24:06):
So if you have never accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your
Savior, there's still time to doit.
God's love will follow you your entire life since He does not
wish for you to perish in the lake of fire.
It's never too late to change your mind about who Christ is
and what He's done for you if you are a believer.
(24:27):
If you have accepted Christ as your Savior, God has not
forgotten who you are or what you need, and He has promised
that He would never leave you and He would never turn His back
on you. So in closing, let's try to
remember the Scripture Lamentations 3, verse 22 and 23.
It is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed because His
(24:51):
compassions fail not. They are new every morning.
Great is thy faithfulness. You hear that?
Great is His faithfulness, His mercy, and His compassions will
never fail you. They renew every morning.
Did you get up this morning? Did you take a breath?
That's the grace of God. Did you look outside?
You're still alive. That's the grace of God.
(25:13):
He will meet all of your needs and He wants you to grow and the
grace and knowledge of you, Lordand Savior Jesus Christ, He
wants you to reflect Jesus Christ in your life and what you
say and what you do and how you live.
So whatever your needs are, whatever your needs may be this
morning, you can use a faith Rest drill Problem Solving
(25:35):
device #3 on the flat line of your soul.
And it will calm you down. And you can maintain a relaxed
metal attitude through in spite of whatever adversity you're
facing And occupation with Christ Problem Solving device
#10 will give you the opportunity for the greatest
happiness you'll ever experiencein your entire life.
(25:57):
That's what the flat line is about, teaching you the
mechanics to the Christian life.That's what we're doing this
morning, going through mechanics, how you can depend on
God to meet every need that you have and what God expects out of
you. I hope you're listening.
I hope you're paying attention, and I sure hope you'll come back
with us. Next week, same time, same
place. If you'd like to continue
(26:19):
broadcasting in your city, drop us a note.
Let us know you're listening. We appreciate that.
So until next week, same time, same place, as is your host,
Rick Hughes. And remember, you can always go
to our website, rickhughesministries.org,
rickhughesministries.org, or youcan call us on the 800 line,
(26:40):
800-831-0718. If you do call on that line,
speak very slowly, very distinctly, so we can understand
your name and phone number and who you are.
OK All right, until next week. This is your host, Rick Hughes,
saying thank you for listening to the flight line.
Thank you for listening to The Flood Lion with your host, Rick
(27:02):
Hughes. If you'd like to contact Rick,
please write to him at PO Box 100, Cropwell, Alabama 35O54 or
online at www.rickhughesministries.org.
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