May 19, 2026 • 27 mins
Know you have eternal life through faith in Christ Jesus.
Jesus told Nicodemus that being “born again” is the only way to see the kingdom of God—but what does that really mean? In this episode, Rick Hughes explains the most important decision you will ever make and how faith alone in Christ gives you a new identity, eternal life, and absolute assurance.
Key Takeaways:
• What it truly means to be born again spiritually
• Why your decision about Jesus Christ determines your eternal future
• How faith alone—not works—secures eternal life
• The difference between divine viewpoint and human viewpoint
• Why bad decisions limit future options
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Episode Transcript
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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):
stick around. It'll only be about 30 minutes
of motivation, some inspiration,a whole lot of education, and as
we always say, no manipulation because we don't con people.
We're not soliciting money, we're not trying to sell you
anything. We just want to give you
something, give you information.Information that will help you
verify and identify the plan of God for your life.
(00:50):
If you are interested, remember God gave you 2 ends, one to sit
with and one to think with. Success in your life is going to
depend on which one of those youuse.
Heads you win, tails you lose. If you're hearing the flat line
for the first time, you can go to our website,
rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org.
(01:14):
There you'll find who we are andwhat we do.
We are been going this radio show now for over 20 years and
we may be new in your area sincewe've been getting a lot of new
contacts lately, a lot of new stations lately.
So we're very grateful if you'rehearing us for the first time
this morning. Appreciate your prayers and your
encouragement. So I am the host of the Flight
Line Plot Line broadcast FLOT, and please understand it's not a
(01:40):
political show. Politics is the last thing I'm
here to talk about. Don't need another politician
making comments about that. This particular radio show
you're hearing right now is designed to give you accurate
information, not useless human speculation.
The information I'm talking about is God's plan for your
life. Isaiah 2911 puts it pretty
(02:03):
plain. He says here for I know the
plans that I have for you, declares the Lord plans for
prosperity and not for disaster,to give you a future and a hope.
And that's something that you can claim.
That's God's plan for your life,to bless you and to give you a
wonderful life. I don't know how things are
going in your life right now, but is it possible that things
(02:25):
are not very good socially, financially, spiritually?
Are all of these things spiraling down and dragging you
down with them? Is your life a mess?
It's a fair question. Is your life a mess?
I know, I know, it's none of my business, But wait a minute, it
just might. Maybe I can be the answer to
(02:46):
your prayers. See, my team and I, we are in
what I call the rescue business.We are sole rescuers.
We're in the rescue business. Not that we can come to your
home and bail you out financially, and nor can we come
and give you physical support asyou wade through the disaster
some of your decisions might have caused.
But we can give you something much more valuable than gold.
(03:10):
I again, I repeat, we can give you something much more valuable
than gold. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119,
verse 72. The law of your mouth is better
to me than thousands of gold andsilver pieces.
As a matter of fact, we have invested thousands of our own
dollars in hoping to find you. That's why you're hearing me
(03:32):
speak this morning. It's not an accident, but rather
a divine appointment. It all depends on you what you
do with the information I'm about to give you.
Proverbs 15 says a wise person will hear and increase in
learning and the person of understanding will acquire wise
counsel. The one thing I can give you
(03:54):
this morning is knowledge. But unfortunately, as Proverbs
122 says, fools hate knowledge. The knowledge I'm talking about
on this radio show called The Flightline is divine viewpoint.
On the other hand, there's a lotof human viewpoint, two
different types of knowledge, divine viewpoint, human
(04:14):
viewpoint, and all of this floats around.
Most of it is the human viewpoint stuff is related to
people and circumstances saying that that'll make you happy.
If you date the right person, marry the right person, make the
right money, do the right things, you'll be happy.
And that's not true. Unhappy people take their
unhappiness with them wherever they go.
(04:35):
So let's talk about those decisions, the decisions you
have to make every every day we make hundreds of decisions.
My wife asked me today, what time are we going to the studio?
And I said, well, I made a decision.
We're going to leave at this time and go down and record the
radio show. Every day we make hundreds of
decisions. And most of those decisions, as
(04:57):
you know, are related to our habits and our responsibilities.
And we decide to maintain our cleanliness.
We decide to maintain our health.
We decide to do our chores. But here's a simple statement
for you to remember. Bad decisions limit future
options. I'm going to say it again.
Let it go into your brain. Don't forget it.
(05:19):
Bad decisions limit future options.
The motivation for our decisionsthat we make can be mental,
hopefully, or emotional. The scriptures say this in
Proverbs 23. Seven.
As a man thinks in his heart, sois he.
So the truth is that you are a product of your decisions and
(05:41):
the real you is what you think, not what other people are
seeing. Did you hear that?
Proverbs 23 seven. As he thinks in his heart, so is
he. That's why I said the real you
is what you think. Here is the single greatest
decision you could ever make. Allow me to give you this
information. Matthew 2242 What?
(06:02):
Thank ye of Christ, whose son isHe?
Those are the words that Jesus asked the questions of the
Pharisees while they were quizzing Him about the laws of
Moses. Those questions they were asking
him were designed to trap him, but He was aware of their
intent. Matthew 2218 But Jesus, knowing
their evil intent, said, You hypocrites, why are you trying
(06:24):
to trap me? Those Pharisees who were
grilling him, the religious leaders of the day, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes, they, they were the
religious rulers. They had no interest in
discovering his true identity. But there was 1 Pharisee who was
curious enough to come to Jesus in secret and quiz him about
(06:45):
things that Jesus was doing and saying.
That individual's name was Nicodemus and we find him in
John 31 through three. Now there was a Pharisee, a man
named Nicodemus who was a memberof the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know you are a
teacher who's come from God, forno one could perform the signs
(07:07):
you were doing if God were not with him.
Jesus replied, truly, truly, I sell you this.
No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they're born again.
That was a shock to hear that born again.
He, he didn't quite figure out what that meant.
That's what the Lord Jesus Christ is about to describe to
(07:28):
him. What does it mean to be born
again? That's what I'd like to describe
to you this morning. What does it mean to be born
again? All right, try to get one sheet
of paper apart from the other sheet of paper here.
This statement about being born again stunned on Nicodemus
because he equated it with physical birth.
(07:49):
He's he got to thinking about going back into my mother's womb
and being born again. The truth was that Nicodemus had
a decision to make, and it was going to be the most important
decision in his whole life. In John 316 through 18, the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke these words to him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
(08:13):
that whosoever believes in him, notice that believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him.
So verse 18, whoever believes inhim is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they
(08:37):
have not believed in the name ofthe Son, one of the name of
God's one and only Son. So there's no middle ground
here. That's the bottom line, no
middle ground. Either you believe or you don't
believe. Either he would believe and
receive eternal life, or he would not believe and receive
condemnation. Well, I'm happy to tell you that
(08:59):
Nicodemus did believe in Christ,and I can prove that to you
because after the crucifixion ofthe Lord Jesus Christ, when
Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea came to Caesar to ask
for the deceased body to be given to them in John 1938
through 40, later Joseph of Arimathea as Pilate for the body
(09:22):
of Jesus. Joseph was a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly he did it secretly because he feared the Jewish
leaders. With Pilate's permission, he
came and took the body away and he was accompanied by Nicodemus.
There's our man right there he is.
He was accompanied by Nicodemus,the man who earlier had visited
Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of
(09:45):
myrrh and alloy, about 70 lbs ofit, and taking Jesus's body, the
two of them wrapped it with spices and strips of linen, and
this was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.
So just like Nicodemus, I encourage you to decide for
yourself who is Jesus Christ? Was he indeed the Son of God or
(10:09):
was He not? Your decision concerning his
true identity is critical. So consider this What actually
happened to the body after he was buried?
Because we know it disappeared. Some people say it was stolen by
his disciples, and some say he resurrected.
What do you believe? Because the scriptures do say
(10:31):
that he was resurrected, that hewas seen by many, many people
after the body disappeared out of the tomb.
So here's a simple question. Why did he have to die?
What was the reason for that? Why did He have to die?
And the answer comes out of His mouth.
In Matthew 1722, when they gather together in Galilee, He
(10:55):
said this to them. The Son of Man's going to be
delivered into the hands of men.And in Matthew 1723 they will
kill him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.
And the disciples were filled with grief.
His death, His burial, and His resurrection was God's plan all
(11:18):
along. Jesus told Nicodemus that in
John 316 God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten
Son there. It's the plan.
So since you and I are not able to redeem ourselves, in fact we
can't do it no matter how hard we try, because the Bible says
there are none that are righteous.
No, not even 1. So it was the Lord Jesus Christ
(11:40):
who redeemed us. Galatians 613 tells us that
quote, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree. When you place your faith in
what Christ did for you, that's a simple decision.
(12:01):
And you can experience this new birth that Jesus told Nicodemus
about. With this new birth comes a new
identity. You can be a new person.
It happened to me when I was 22 years old.
I walked in the house one night with a date with a girl, Walked
out of that house, the same person on the outside but
different on the inside. In 2nd Corinthians 517, the
(12:24):
Bible clearly says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
All old things have passed away and behold, all things have now
become new. That's what happens when you
receive Christ as your Savior. You're born again, spiritually
speaking. Not physical, but spiritual.
(12:44):
This new creation is called a spiritual life, which you did
not possess prior to being born again.
See, when you were born, you hada body, you had a soul, you had
a spirit, but you were identified with Adam's original
sin. So you were placed under
condemnation. Adam's original sin was imputed
to you and you died spiritually,and you needed to be born again
(13:07):
spiritually. So when you accept Christ as
your Savior, you're given a new status.
The moment she believed in his true identity and that being the
Son of God who takes away the sin of the world in John 129.
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him.
And here's what John said. Behold the Lamb of God who takes
(13:30):
away the sin of the world. Our sins were paid for by means
of His death, burial and resurrection.
No person can equal God's righteousness, but according to
scripture, when you believe in him and receive him as your
Savior, you are given equal righteousness with God.
(13:51):
Now you understand God is perfect and you are made perfect
in God's eyes. 2nd Corinthians 521 Listen carefully for he
that's God made him, that's Christ, the one who knew no sin
to be sin for us, so that or in order that we might become the
righteousness of God by means ofhim.
(14:15):
That's why you can have a relationship with God because of
what Christ did. His righteousness was given to
you. So on the cross it was a swap
out deal. He took your sin, He offers you
His righteousness, and when you receive Him as your Savior, that
righteousness is imputed to you so that you are now able to have
(14:36):
fellowship with God. I told you earlier that my team
and I are in the rescue business, soul rescue business.
The information I've given you this morning will rescue you
from the doom awaiting Satan andthe fallen angels who followed
him in his rebellion in heaven. That's identified in Revelation
20 as the lake of fire. We need to thank God for loving
(14:59):
us so much that He would allow His only begotten Son to be our
Redeemer. We don't have to go to the lake
of fire, thank God. So I'd like to ask you one
simple question this morning. If you die today, would you go
to heaven? If you die today, would you go
(15:20):
to heaven? Don't say I'm trying or I sure
hope I could go because the Bible says you can know it for
sure. For a fact, in first John 510
through 13, here's how you know you're going to heaven.
He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.
(15:41):
And he who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he
has not believed the testimony that God gave of his Son.
And this is the testimony that God has given to us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has life, andhe who does not have the Son of
(16:01):
God does not have life. These things I've written to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God.
Here it comes. Listen so that you may know.
KNOW that you may know that you have eternal life and that you
may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
(16:22):
By placing your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on
that cross, you are given eternal life and you don't have
to worry about it any longer. I received an e-mail this
morning from a listener that thanked me for teaching him that
so that he's now confident that if he dies, he's going to
heaven. You know, none of us have a
(16:42):
guarantee we even be here tomorrow.
We read the news every day aboutplanes going down, cars
crashing, people shot and blown up in wars.
Nobody knows what day they're going to die.
Only God knows that. He knows the time and the manner
and place of our departure. Of course, we would all hope we
can just go to bed one night andwake up in heaven.
But it's not always the way it happens.
(17:04):
But it is possible that if it does happen unexpectedly, you
can have confidence that you aregoing to heaven.
So I ask you to please make a decision today why there is
still time, because it's never ever too late.
Where you are currently right now.
(17:24):
You could do this. You can bow your head listening
to me on the radio and don't, ifyou're driving, don't bow your
head. Pay attention to the road.
But you could, you could bow your head in your home or in
your office, and you could pray a prayer, a simple prayer.
You say, Heavenly Father, I'll help you with the words.
Listen to them. Repeat them after me.
(17:44):
Heavenly Father, I know I'm a Sinner.
I believe Christ died for me. I'm willing to receive him as my
Savior. Thank you for saving me today.
There are people that argue thatand they're people said all you
can't get saved by praying a simple prayer like that.
(18:07):
However, the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.If you prayed that prayer and
this is the first time you've ever done anything like that,
this is the day you were born again.
This is your new spiritual birthday.
Write the date down. Write down this day in May.
This is May the 3rd, 2026. This is your new spiritual
(18:32):
birthday. The next thing we will teach you
on this radio show is how to take advantage of all the
wonderful resources, all the wonderful assets you have as a
child of God, since you're now amember of the royal family of
God and as such member you have new privileges and new power.
(18:53):
For example, the Bible is your owner's manual.
It is your most powerful and prized possession.
Do you have a Bible? If you don't, I suggest you get
one quickly and start reading inthe book of John.
It's a great place to read. But listen to what Hebrews 14,
Hebrews 412 tells us. Listen carefully Hebrews 412 for
(19:16):
the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any 2
edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit
and joints and marrows, a criticof thought and intense of the
heart. So the word of God is found in
the Bible. We know it as divine viewpoint,
the mind of Christ. So when you get a Bible and read
(19:39):
the Bible and learn the Bible and claim the promises in the
Bible, you have your most powerful and prized possessions.
Paul said I've given you this treasure and treasure is the
word thesaurus. It's a word treasure.
The word treasure in your soul and the mentality of your soul
is what the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to do.
(20:00):
Now that you are a new spiritualspecies because of your
accepting Christ as your Savior,you have to learn how to think.
And you're told to do that in many different verses, for
example in Philippians 2, five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you, which
(20:22):
was also in Christ Jesus. So that's saying you need to
learn to think like he thought. We call that divine viewpoint,
not human viewpoint, divine viewpoint.
Let this viewpoint, this mind bein you that was also in Christ
Jesus. And it goes on to say who
humbled himself and made himselfnot equal.
Humility is the key to this mindset.
(20:44):
Arrogance won't work in the Christian life because it's
always used justifying why you're right and everybody else
is wrong. So you have to learn to get over
that arrogance and operate undera concept of humility, which is
orientation to authority in Romans 12/2 and three, the Bible
says do not be conformed to thisworld, but be transformed by the
(21:06):
renewing of your mind. There it is again to change the
way you think. Think in terms of humility, not
arrogance, so that in order thatyou can prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The writer of this verse went onto say, For I say through the
grace and given to me that everyone who is among you should
(21:28):
not think of himself more highlythan he ought to think.
That's arrogance. But to think soberly, there's a
humility. As God has dealt to each one of
us a measure of faith, So as youbecome a Christian, you put your
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you become a new racial species.
Remember the royal family of God.
(21:49):
And then you have to learn to think in a different way,
thinking divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint.
These verses tell us that the Christian must renovate his
thinking. You and I are living souls, and
our souls have mentality. And every decision that we make
starts with a thought, and that thought becomes an attitude and
that attitude becomes an action.So if you stick with me through
(22:13):
this radio show, you will see that God wants you to have clear
and lucid understanding of who He is and what He's provided for
you, His child, as you're livingin the devil's world.
Our heavenly Father made it clear through the teachings of
Jeremiah, this thing, Jeremiah 924.
See if you can pick it up here. What does He want you to do?
(22:35):
But let him who glories glory inthis, that He understands me and
knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness and
judgment and righteousness in the earth.
I want to tell you there's a difference between knowing God
and understanding God. I talk to many people that know
Him, but not many that understand Him.
(22:56):
You yourself may indeed know God, but do you understand the
God you know? If you stay with me every Sunday
morning I'll hear in the Flightline radio show.
I will show you just exactly what the Scriptures teach
concerning the spiritual life and how to live it victoriously.
Remember the words you want to hear, the judgment seat of
(23:16):
Christ are these words. Well done, my good and faithful
servant. Hopefully we got one thing
squared away today and hopefullynow you understand and you know
for certain that you have eternal life.
Next comes how to live while I'mstill here in this mortal body
(23:36):
on planet earth behind enemy lines.
I say it, becoming a Christian doesn't mean all your troubles
will go away. That's not what it means.
It just means that you will now have a divine resources
available to you if you learn how to use them.
I see many Christians do a lot of weird things and they call it
normal. As a matter of fact, some of the
(23:57):
most abnormal people in the world are confused Christians
who have never taken the time tounderstand how the Christian
life operates. Yes, they know God, but they
don't understand God. They make their own rules up.
They come up with words like surrender your life to Christ,
brother, dedicate yourself to God, brother, rededicate
(24:18):
yourself to God, brother. Have you ever done that?
Did you go down and rededicate your life or surrender your life
or dedicate your life and you wound up a week later the same
person? These are all gimmicks to
stimulate your emotion. You will never hear me asking
you to do anything like that. So if you're interested in
(24:39):
learning, wanting to learn what God expects out of you, I hope
you'll come back next week, sametime, same place.
At that time I will introduce toyou the protocol plan of God.
I'll give you a little hint. Think about this before you hear
me. Next week, if I ask you what do
I have to do to be a good Christian, well, how will you
(25:02):
answer it? Maybe write it on a piece of
paper and you can read it to me next week.
If I said tell me how to be a good Christian, what would you
tell me? You're going to be surprised
when I tell you next week the answer to that.
Because this is where most people get it wrong right off
the bat. When I accepted Christ as my
Savior, that's what I wanted to know.
(25:23):
What do I need to do to be a good Christian?
It took me almost two years to find out what it took because I
got running around in circles with all kind of weird stuff.
So what does it take to be a good Christian if you, if I just
accepted Christ in your church and the pastor said take him
over to the side and talk to him, and I ask you, what must I
(25:44):
do to be a good Christian? What would you tell me?
You need to think about that because that's what we're going
to discuss. That's what we're going to show
you. Verify it and identify it with
Scripture so that you will understand it without a doubt.
What you must do to be the kind of Christian God wants you to
be. I'm very grateful for the time
(26:04):
you're giving me this morning. Thank you for listening to me.
Thank you for being a part of our show.
You can always get in touch withus through Rick
hughesministries.org. On our website, you see all the
many books we offer. We just come out with a new book
on God's family. You're enduring legacy.
We've got a new book out called Understanding Your Soul.
(26:25):
These are all free. You can see them on our website.
You can order them free of charge, and you can always call
us with your request at 800-831-0718, 800-831-0718.
If you call and get an answeringmachine, be sure you speak
slowly, distinctly, so we can call you back.
(26:47):
I understand your name and number.
OK, Well, thank you for giving me a few minutes this morning.
I pray that this show encouragedyou and I pray this is the day
that your life changed forever. I pray this is the day you
accepted Christ as your Savior. So until next week, this is your
host, Rick Hughes saying thank you for being with me here on
the Floodline. Thank you for listening to The
(27:11):
Flood Lion with your host, Rick 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):
stick around. It'll only be about 30 minutes
of motivation, some inspiration,a whole lot of education, and as
we always say, no manipulation because we don't con people.
We're not soliciting money, we're not trying to sell you
anything. We just want to give you
something, give you information.Information that will help you
verify and identify the plan of God for your life.
(00:50):
If you are interested, remember God gave you 2 ends, one to sit
with and one to think with. Success in your life is going to
depend on which one of those youuse.
Heads you win, tails you lose. If you're hearing the flat line
for the first time, you can go to our website,
rickhughesministries.org, rickhughesministries.org.
(01:14):
There you'll find who we are andwhat we do.
We are been going this radio show now for over 20 years and
we may be new in your area sincewe've been getting a lot of new
contacts lately, a lot of new stations lately.
So we're very grateful if you'rehearing us for the first time
this morning. Appreciate your prayers and your
encouragement. So I am the host of the Flight
Line Plot Line broadcast FLOT, and please understand it's not a
(01:40):
political show. Politics is the last thing I'm
here to talk about. Don't need another politician
making comments about that. This particular radio show
you're hearing right now is designed to give you accurate
information, not useless human speculation.
The information I'm talking about is God's plan for your
life. Isaiah 2911 puts it pretty
(02:03):
plain. He says here for I know the
plans that I have for you, declares the Lord plans for
prosperity and not for disaster,to give you a future and a hope.
And that's something that you can claim.
That's God's plan for your life,to bless you and to give you a
wonderful life. I don't know how things are
going in your life right now, but is it possible that things
(02:25):
are not very good socially, financially, spiritually?
Are all of these things spiraling down and dragging you
down with them? Is your life a mess?
It's a fair question. Is your life a mess?
I know, I know, it's none of my business, But wait a minute, it
just might. Maybe I can be the answer to
(02:46):
your prayers. See, my team and I, we are in
what I call the rescue business.We are sole rescuers.
We're in the rescue business. Not that we can come to your
home and bail you out financially, and nor can we come
and give you physical support asyou wade through the disaster
some of your decisions might have caused.
But we can give you something much more valuable than gold.
(03:10):
I again, I repeat, we can give you something much more valuable
than gold. The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119,
verse 72. The law of your mouth is better
to me than thousands of gold andsilver pieces.
As a matter of fact, we have invested thousands of our own
dollars in hoping to find you. That's why you're hearing me
(03:32):
speak this morning. It's not an accident, but rather
a divine appointment. It all depends on you what you
do with the information I'm about to give you.
Proverbs 15 says a wise person will hear and increase in
learning and the person of understanding will acquire wise
counsel. The one thing I can give you
(03:54):
this morning is knowledge. But unfortunately, as Proverbs
122 says, fools hate knowledge. The knowledge I'm talking about
on this radio show called The Flightline is divine viewpoint.
On the other hand, there's a lotof human viewpoint, two
different types of knowledge, divine viewpoint, human
(04:14):
viewpoint, and all of this floats around.
Most of it is the human viewpoint stuff is related to
people and circumstances saying that that'll make you happy.
If you date the right person, marry the right person, make the
right money, do the right things, you'll be happy.
And that's not true. Unhappy people take their
unhappiness with them wherever they go.
(04:35):
So let's talk about those decisions, the decisions you
have to make every every day we make hundreds of decisions.
My wife asked me today, what time are we going to the studio?
And I said, well, I made a decision.
We're going to leave at this time and go down and record the
radio show. Every day we make hundreds of
decisions. And most of those decisions, as
(04:57):
you know, are related to our habits and our responsibilities.
And we decide to maintain our cleanliness.
We decide to maintain our health.
We decide to do our chores. But here's a simple statement
for you to remember. Bad decisions limit future
options. I'm going to say it again.
Let it go into your brain. Don't forget it.
(05:19):
Bad decisions limit future options.
The motivation for our decisionsthat we make can be mental,
hopefully, or emotional. The scriptures say this in
Proverbs 23. Seven.
As a man thinks in his heart, sois he.
So the truth is that you are a product of your decisions and
(05:41):
the real you is what you think, not what other people are
seeing. Did you hear that?
Proverbs 23 seven. As he thinks in his heart, so is
he. That's why I said the real you
is what you think. Here is the single greatest
decision you could ever make. Allow me to give you this
information. Matthew 2242 What?
(06:02):
Thank ye of Christ, whose son isHe?
Those are the words that Jesus asked the questions of the
Pharisees while they were quizzing Him about the laws of
Moses. Those questions they were asking
him were designed to trap him, but He was aware of their
intent. Matthew 2218 But Jesus, knowing
their evil intent, said, You hypocrites, why are you trying
(06:24):
to trap me? Those Pharisees who were
grilling him, the religious leaders of the day, the
Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes, they, they were the
religious rulers. They had no interest in
discovering his true identity. But there was 1 Pharisee who was
curious enough to come to Jesus in secret and quiz him about
(06:45):
things that Jesus was doing and saying.
That individual's name was Nicodemus and we find him in
John 31 through three. Now there was a Pharisee, a man
named Nicodemus who was a memberof the Jewish ruling council.
He came to Jesus at night and said, Rabbi, we know you are a
teacher who's come from God, forno one could perform the signs
(07:07):
you were doing if God were not with him.
Jesus replied, truly, truly, I sell you this.
No one can see the Kingdom of God unless they're born again.
That was a shock to hear that born again.
He, he didn't quite figure out what that meant.
That's what the Lord Jesus Christ is about to describe to
(07:28):
him. What does it mean to be born
again? That's what I'd like to describe
to you this morning. What does it mean to be born
again? All right, try to get one sheet
of paper apart from the other sheet of paper here.
This statement about being born again stunned on Nicodemus
because he equated it with physical birth.
(07:49):
He's he got to thinking about going back into my mother's womb
and being born again. The truth was that Nicodemus had
a decision to make, and it was going to be the most important
decision in his whole life. In John 316 through 18, the Lord
Jesus Christ spoke these words to him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
(08:13):
that whosoever believes in him, notice that believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but to save the world through him.
So verse 18, whoever believes inhim is not condemned, but
whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they
(08:37):
have not believed in the name ofthe Son, one of the name of
God's one and only Son. So there's no middle ground
here. That's the bottom line, no
middle ground. Either you believe or you don't
believe. Either he would believe and
receive eternal life, or he would not believe and receive
condemnation. Well, I'm happy to tell you that
(08:59):
Nicodemus did believe in Christ,and I can prove that to you
because after the crucifixion ofthe Lord Jesus Christ, when
Nicodemus, along with Joseph of Arimathea came to Caesar to ask
for the deceased body to be given to them in John 1938
through 40, later Joseph of Arimathea as Pilate for the body
(09:22):
of Jesus. Joseph was a disciple of Jesus,
but secretly he did it secretly because he feared the Jewish
leaders. With Pilate's permission, he
came and took the body away and he was accompanied by Nicodemus.
There's our man right there he is.
He was accompanied by Nicodemus,the man who earlier had visited
Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of
(09:45):
myrrh and alloy, about 70 lbs ofit, and taking Jesus's body, the
two of them wrapped it with spices and strips of linen, and
this was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.
So just like Nicodemus, I encourage you to decide for
yourself who is Jesus Christ? Was he indeed the Son of God or
(10:09):
was He not? Your decision concerning his
true identity is critical. So consider this What actually
happened to the body after he was buried?
Because we know it disappeared. Some people say it was stolen by
his disciples, and some say he resurrected.
What do you believe? Because the scriptures do say
(10:31):
that he was resurrected, that hewas seen by many, many people
after the body disappeared out of the tomb.
So here's a simple question. Why did he have to die?
What was the reason for that? Why did He have to die?
And the answer comes out of His mouth.
In Matthew 1722, when they gather together in Galilee, He
(10:55):
said this to them. The Son of Man's going to be
delivered into the hands of men.And in Matthew 1723 they will
kill him, and on the third day He will be raised to life.
And the disciples were filled with grief.
His death, His burial, and His resurrection was God's plan all
(11:18):
along. Jesus told Nicodemus that in
John 316 God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten
Son there. It's the plan.
So since you and I are not able to redeem ourselves, in fact we
can't do it no matter how hard we try, because the Bible says
there are none that are righteous.
No, not even 1. So it was the Lord Jesus Christ
(11:40):
who redeemed us. Galatians 613 tells us that
quote, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law,
having become a curse for us. For it is written, cursed is
everyone who hangs on a tree. When you place your faith in
what Christ did for you, that's a simple decision.
(12:01):
And you can experience this new birth that Jesus told Nicodemus
about. With this new birth comes a new
identity. You can be a new person.
It happened to me when I was 22 years old.
I walked in the house one night with a date with a girl, Walked
out of that house, the same person on the outside but
different on the inside. In 2nd Corinthians 517, the
(12:24):
Bible clearly says if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
All old things have passed away and behold, all things have now
become new. That's what happens when you
receive Christ as your Savior. You're born again, spiritually
speaking. Not physical, but spiritual.
(12:44):
This new creation is called a spiritual life, which you did
not possess prior to being born again.
See, when you were born, you hada body, you had a soul, you had
a spirit, but you were identified with Adam's original
sin. So you were placed under
condemnation. Adam's original sin was imputed
to you and you died spiritually,and you needed to be born again
(13:07):
spiritually. So when you accept Christ as
your Savior, you're given a new status.
The moment she believed in his true identity and that being the
Son of God who takes away the sin of the world in John 129.
The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him.
And here's what John said. Behold the Lamb of God who takes
(13:30):
away the sin of the world. Our sins were paid for by means
of His death, burial and resurrection.
No person can equal God's righteousness, but according to
scripture, when you believe in him and receive him as your
Savior, you are given equal righteousness with God.
(13:51):
Now you understand God is perfect and you are made perfect
in God's eyes. 2nd Corinthians 521 Listen carefully for he
that's God made him, that's Christ, the one who knew no sin
to be sin for us, so that or in order that we might become the
righteousness of God by means ofhim.
(14:15):
That's why you can have a relationship with God because of
what Christ did. His righteousness was given to
you. So on the cross it was a swap
out deal. He took your sin, He offers you
His righteousness, and when you receive Him as your Savior, that
righteousness is imputed to you so that you are now able to have
(14:36):
fellowship with God. I told you earlier that my team
and I are in the rescue business, soul rescue business.
The information I've given you this morning will rescue you
from the doom awaiting Satan andthe fallen angels who followed
him in his rebellion in heaven. That's identified in Revelation
20 as the lake of fire. We need to thank God for loving
(14:59):
us so much that He would allow His only begotten Son to be our
Redeemer. We don't have to go to the lake
of fire, thank God. So I'd like to ask you one
simple question this morning. If you die today, would you go
to heaven? If you die today, would you go
(15:20):
to heaven? Don't say I'm trying or I sure
hope I could go because the Bible says you can know it for
sure. For a fact, in first John 510
through 13, here's how you know you're going to heaven.
He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself.
(15:41):
And he who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he
has not believed the testimony that God gave of his Son.
And this is the testimony that God has given to us eternal
life. And this life is in His Son.
He who has the Son has life, andhe who does not have the Son of
(16:01):
God does not have life. These things I've written to you
who believe in the name of the Son of God.
Here it comes. Listen so that you may know.
KNOW that you may know that you have eternal life and that you
may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
(16:22):
By placing your faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on
that cross, you are given eternal life and you don't have
to worry about it any longer. I received an e-mail this
morning from a listener that thanked me for teaching him that
so that he's now confident that if he dies, he's going to
heaven. You know, none of us have a
(16:42):
guarantee we even be here tomorrow.
We read the news every day aboutplanes going down, cars
crashing, people shot and blown up in wars.
Nobody knows what day they're going to die.
Only God knows that. He knows the time and the manner
and place of our departure. Of course, we would all hope we
can just go to bed one night andwake up in heaven.
But it's not always the way it happens.
(17:04):
But it is possible that if it does happen unexpectedly, you
can have confidence that you aregoing to heaven.
So I ask you to please make a decision today why there is
still time, because it's never ever too late.
Where you are currently right now.
(17:24):
You could do this. You can bow your head listening
to me on the radio and don't, ifyou're driving, don't bow your
head. Pay attention to the road.
But you could, you could bow your head in your home or in
your office, and you could pray a prayer, a simple prayer.
You say, Heavenly Father, I'll help you with the words.
Listen to them. Repeat them after me.
(17:44):
Heavenly Father, I know I'm a Sinner.
I believe Christ died for me. I'm willing to receive him as my
Savior. Thank you for saving me today.
There are people that argue thatand they're people said all you
can't get saved by praying a simple prayer like that.
(18:07):
However, the Bible says whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.If you prayed that prayer and
this is the first time you've ever done anything like that,
this is the day you were born again.
This is your new spiritual birthday.
Write the date down. Write down this day in May.
This is May the 3rd, 2026. This is your new spiritual
(18:32):
birthday. The next thing we will teach you
on this radio show is how to take advantage of all the
wonderful resources, all the wonderful assets you have as a
child of God, since you're now amember of the royal family of
God and as such member you have new privileges and new power.
(18:53):
For example, the Bible is your owner's manual.
It is your most powerful and prized possession.
Do you have a Bible? If you don't, I suggest you get
one quickly and start reading inthe book of John.
It's a great place to read. But listen to what Hebrews 14,
Hebrews 412 tells us. Listen carefully Hebrews 412 for
(19:16):
the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any 2
edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit
and joints and marrows, a criticof thought and intense of the
heart. So the word of God is found in
the Bible. We know it as divine viewpoint,
the mind of Christ. So when you get a Bible and read
(19:39):
the Bible and learn the Bible and claim the promises in the
Bible, you have your most powerful and prized possessions.
Paul said I've given you this treasure and treasure is the
word thesaurus. It's a word treasure.
The word treasure in your soul and the mentality of your soul
is what the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to do.
(20:00):
Now that you are a new spiritualspecies because of your
accepting Christ as your Savior,you have to learn how to think.
And you're told to do that in many different verses, for
example in Philippians 2, five. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you, which
(20:22):
was also in Christ Jesus. So that's saying you need to
learn to think like he thought. We call that divine viewpoint,
not human viewpoint, divine viewpoint.
Let this viewpoint, this mind bein you that was also in Christ
Jesus. And it goes on to say who
humbled himself and made himselfnot equal.
Humility is the key to this mindset.
(20:44):
Arrogance won't work in the Christian life because it's
always used justifying why you're right and everybody else
is wrong. So you have to learn to get over
that arrogance and operate undera concept of humility, which is
orientation to authority in Romans 12/2 and three, the Bible
says do not be conformed to thisworld, but be transformed by the
(21:06):
renewing of your mind. There it is again to change the
way you think. Think in terms of humility, not
arrogance, so that in order thatyou can prove what is that good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The writer of this verse went onto say, For I say through the
grace and given to me that everyone who is among you should
(21:28):
not think of himself more highlythan he ought to think.
That's arrogance. But to think soberly, there's a
humility. As God has dealt to each one of
us a measure of faith, So as youbecome a Christian, you put your
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you become a new racial species.
Remember the royal family of God.
(21:49):
And then you have to learn to think in a different way,
thinking divine viewpoint, not human viewpoint.
These verses tell us that the Christian must renovate his
thinking. You and I are living souls, and
our souls have mentality. And every decision that we make
starts with a thought, and that thought becomes an attitude and
that attitude becomes an action.So if you stick with me through
(22:13):
this radio show, you will see that God wants you to have clear
and lucid understanding of who He is and what He's provided for
you, His child, as you're livingin the devil's world.
Our heavenly Father made it clear through the teachings of
Jeremiah, this thing, Jeremiah 924.
See if you can pick it up here. What does He want you to do?
(22:35):
But let him who glories glory inthis, that He understands me and
knows me, that I am the Lord, exercising loving kindness and
judgment and righteousness in the earth.
I want to tell you there's a difference between knowing God
and understanding God. I talk to many people that know
Him, but not many that understand Him.
(22:56):
You yourself may indeed know God, but do you understand the
God you know? If you stay with me every Sunday
morning I'll hear in the Flightline radio show.
I will show you just exactly what the Scriptures teach
concerning the spiritual life and how to live it victoriously.
Remember the words you want to hear, the judgment seat of
(23:16):
Christ are these words. Well done, my good and faithful
servant. Hopefully we got one thing
squared away today and hopefullynow you understand and you know
for certain that you have eternal life.
Next comes how to live while I'mstill here in this mortal body
(23:36):
on planet earth behind enemy lines.
I say it, becoming a Christian doesn't mean all your troubles
will go away. That's not what it means.
It just means that you will now have a divine resources
available to you if you learn how to use them.
I see many Christians do a lot of weird things and they call it
normal. As a matter of fact, some of the
(23:57):
most abnormal people in the world are confused Christians
who have never taken the time tounderstand how the Christian
life operates. Yes, they know God, but they
don't understand God. They make their own rules up.
They come up with words like surrender your life to Christ,
brother, dedicate yourself to God, brother, rededicate
(24:18):
yourself to God, brother. Have you ever done that?
Did you go down and rededicate your life or surrender your life
or dedicate your life and you wound up a week later the same
person? These are all gimmicks to
stimulate your emotion. You will never hear me asking
you to do anything like that. So if you're interested in
(24:39):
learning, wanting to learn what God expects out of you, I hope
you'll come back next week, sametime, same place.
At that time I will introduce toyou the protocol plan of God.
I'll give you a little hint. Think about this before you hear
me. Next week, if I ask you what do
I have to do to be a good Christian, well, how will you
(25:02):
answer it? Maybe write it on a piece of
paper and you can read it to me next week.
If I said tell me how to be a good Christian, what would you
tell me? You're going to be surprised
when I tell you next week the answer to that.
Because this is where most people get it wrong right off
the bat. When I accepted Christ as my
Savior, that's what I wanted to know.
(25:23):
What do I need to do to be a good Christian?
It took me almost two years to find out what it took because I
got running around in circles with all kind of weird stuff.
So what does it take to be a good Christian if you, if I just
accepted Christ in your church and the pastor said take him
over to the side and talk to him, and I ask you, what must I
(25:44):
do to be a good Christian? What would you tell me?
You need to think about that because that's what we're going
to discuss. That's what we're going to show
you. Verify it and identify it with
Scripture so that you will understand it without a doubt.
What you must do to be the kind of Christian God wants you to
be. I'm very grateful for the time
(26:04):
you're giving me this morning. Thank you for listening to me.
Thank you for being a part of our show.
You can always get in touch withus through Rick
hughesministries.org. On our website, you see all the
many books we offer. We just come out with a new book
on God's family. You're enduring legacy.
We've got a new book out called Understanding Your Soul.
(26:25):
These are all free. You can see them on our website.
You can order them free of charge, and you can always call
us with your request at 800-831-0718, 800-831-0718.
If you call and get an answeringmachine, be sure you speak
slowly, distinctly, so we can call you back.
(26:47):
I understand your name and number.
OK, Well, thank you for giving me a few minutes this morning.
I pray that this show encouragedyou and I pray this is the day
that your life changed forever. I pray this is the day you
accepted Christ as your Savior. So until next week, this is your
host, Rick Hughes saying thank you for being with me here on
the Floodline. Thank you for listening to The
(27:11):
Flood Lion with your host, Rick 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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