May 9, 2026 • 27 mins
The greatest battle isn’t political—it’s for the soul. Rick Hughes explains how wrong thinking, arrogance, and worldly influence fracture the soul. God’s Word—not politics or culture—brings true healing, peace, and stability. Strengthening the soul begins with you.
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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, stay
(00:29):
with me. It won't be long, just 30
minutes, but it's a lot of motivation, inspiration,
education, and no manipulation, no con games, no collecting
money, no selling you anything. Not trying to get you to join it
up, fess it up, give it up. We just would like for you to
listen. Listen up as I try to verify and
(00:50):
identify God's plan for your life.
If I'm able to do that and you would like to Orient and just to
the plan, you have the free will, the freedom to do that.
It's my prayer that you will. The flight line's been coming to
you now for 21 years and it's been amazing time and God's
given me the privilege to do this.
But I'd like to tell you we got a book that we've revised.
(01:11):
It's one of our older books called Understanding Your Soul.
And we're going to redo that book and we're coming out with
it in a new format. It should be available by
Thanksgiving, so if you'd like to get a copy of it, let us know
through the website rick@rickhughesministries.org.
rick@rickhughesministries.org. If you call us, you can always
(01:35):
do that. But if you do leave a voicemail,
I insist that you just speak slowly and distinctly so we can
understand what your address is and what you're saying.
So many voicemails I get. We can't understand people
because it's way too fast. So slow it down very distinctly
and give us your name and address and we'll get that book
(01:56):
to you if you want it because we're going to talk about your
soul today. That's really basically what the
message is about dealing with the soul.
We all know about that in First Thessalonians 523.
Here's our verse We want to key on and the very God of peace
sanctify you holy I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and
(02:20):
body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Did you get that spirit, soul
and body be preserved in this particular passage give you some
background why Paul said what hedid.
He's just given a series of commands to the royal family
there at the church in Thessalonica beginning on 1st
(02:44):
Thessalonians 511 where he said comfort one another and then he
said edify each other. And then in verse 12, he states
that they should recognize thosewho labor among them and
recognize them with personal love of the work they do.
Those are the people that are teaching the word of God, the
pastor, teachers. In verse 14, we find 4 different
(03:06):
exhortations that are significant in any local
congregation. Here's what they are.
He said first warn those who arecausing trouble.
Then he said encourage the fainthearted.
Then he said support the weak. Then he said be patient towards
all men. I really need to take this, this
(03:26):
verse apart for you. And we're going to do that at a
later time, I promise you. In verses 15 through 22, we find
some more series of mandates. See that nobody render evil for
evil and any man but everyone followed that which is good,
both among yourselves and to allmen.
And then he said, rejoice ever more than he said, pray without
(03:47):
ceasing. Then he said in everything give
thanks. I mean, I can't believe I need
to just go over this whole thingwhere you didn't explain what
each one of these words are. First Thessalonians 519 quench
not the Spirit of God. Verse 20 despise not
prophesying. Verse 21 prove, prove all
things. Hold fast that which is good.
(04:09):
And 22 abstain from all appearances of evil.
That's First Thessalonians chapter 5, beginning of verse
11, going through verse 22. And that's what I want to come
back to in the next show or two and break that down for you and
hopefully you'll enjoy that. But as we get near the end of
this letter, we find Paul's prayer for those which I read to
(04:33):
you earlier. And he said, I pray that the
very God of peace sanctify you holy and your spirit, soul and
body. Paul's prayer, he's recognizing
that there are three parts that every believer has.
He brought it up. Listen again, I pray God, your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the
(04:57):
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.The word spirit is the word
pneuma, and that's what you haveif you're a Christian.
You have a living human spirit indwelled by God the Holy Spirit
without being saved. You have a dead spirit.
You're spiritually dead, and it's impossible to have
fellowship with God unless you're born again.
(05:20):
I'll show you that in just a minute.
And these people have a living human spirit and dwelled by God
the Holy Spirit. They are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he said the word and
your soul, suke. Suke is the Greek word for it.
Suke, your soul. And then he said your body, your
(05:41):
body is the Greek word soma. So as a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you have three parts.
The the fancy word is your trichotomous.
Trichotomous. That means you have 3 distinct
parts. The unbeliever is not
trichotomous, he's dichotomous. He only has two parts.
(06:03):
He has a body, he has a soul, but he does not have a living
human spirit. So the the the non Christian is
minus the human spirit and thus that's why he cannot will not
ever have fellowship with God. Listen to John 424 God is a
spirit and they that worship himmust worship him in spirit and
(06:25):
in truth. So how they only worship God if
they don't have a living human spirit?
They can't do it. God is a spirit and those that
worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In Matthew 1028 we find a verse that said fear not them which
can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul that
(06:45):
Sukay, but rather fill him whichis able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. You know whenever an airliner
declares an emergency to the tower, the air traffic
controller will always ask questions about how much fuel
they have on board. And interesting enough he will
say this. He will say how many souls on
(07:06):
board, how many souls on board? Air traffic controller asked for
souls on board in an emergency to quickly get the total number
of living people on an aircraft in case there needs to be a
rescue or recovery efforts. And that includes passengers,
crew, even infants. The maritime tradition provides
(07:27):
a vital, concise piece of information for responders
without needing a separate countof passengers, crew, and others.
In other words, there were 3 pilots and two this and one
that. No, just how many?
Totally. It also carries a very sobering,
respectful tone for a potentially very grave
situation. So if this thing crashes, and if
(07:50):
if it goes into the ground, how many souls on board?
It's clear now that God made youa living soul.
You might want to pinch yourselfto find out if you're still
alive, but God made you a livingsoul.
It's also clear that God createdyou a living body.
The Bible teaches that God, by his own design, created your
(08:12):
body from the dust of the earth,and He gave you life by
breathing the breath of life into you and making you a living
soul. God's creation of your body is a
deliberate and good act, and it's meant to reflect His image
so that you can serve Him as a unique individual.
In Genesis 27 we find this verified.
(08:34):
And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a
living soul. There it is.
God created your soul, living soul.
And you might have heard me say in past references, the soul
will never die. The body will die, but the soul
(08:57):
will never die. While it's evident there are
many different body types, what is also true is that everybody
houses a living soul. In fact, the real you is
invisible since the soul is not observable to mankind.
Only God can see your soul. So it appears that we all have
(09:17):
the same soul format. Though we have mentality which
God created give us the ability to think, logic, reason,
comprehend. He gave us free will which is
called volition. We can choose.
We also possess A conscience anda self consciousness.
This is why the scriptures tell us that the real person is
(09:39):
identified not by what he looks like, but by what he thinks.
Proverbs 23 seven For as he thinketh in his heart, so he is.
Did you know one of Satan's objectives is to capture your
thoughts and Proverbs 423 keep your heart with all diligence,
(09:59):
for out of it are the issues of life.
One of the main objectives of a new Christian is to change the
way he thinks and this involves a total renovation of the
mentality of the soul. Forget not this, don't forget
the soul has mentality, the soulhas volition, the soul has a
(10:21):
conscience and a self consciousness.
So what does the Bible say? We have to change the way we
think after we get saved in Romans 12/2.
And three, don't be conformed tothis world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, sothat you may prove what is good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say through the grace given unto me to every man
(10:42):
that's among you, not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has
dealt to everyone a man, everyone that man, the measure
of faith. This particular passage I just
read to you tells us that a spiritually wise soul does not
think like the world thinks. It's a call for you to stay out
(11:04):
of cosmic indoctrination and rather to renovate your thoughts
in order that we can understand and obey God's will for our
lives. The enemy that we face most
often is our very own arrogance.You know, such as thinking that
we know what's best for our lives.
I've seen that many, many times,even my children.
I know what's best for my life, not what the Bible says, Daddy,
(11:27):
I know what's best. And when you when you do that
and justify in your own lustful desires, you're in trouble.
So the enemy most often is your own arrogance, thinking that you
know more than what God knows. Even though God may tell you
don't do a certain thing, you doit anyhow because you justify
(11:48):
why it's OK. I want you to understand how
important it is that you be careful what you feed into your
soul's mentality. I just had some lunch.
I had a little lasagna, leftoverlasagna my wife had and I
enjoyed it. But you have to be careful what
(12:09):
you put in your stomach. Yes, but you got to really
careful what it put in your soul's mentality.
Notice a secret to having peace in your soul and you might not
realize this, but it's related to what you think in Isaiah 26
Three you will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is the
mentality of the soul whose mindis stayed on you, the because he
(12:33):
trusts in you, that faith rests.There's a secret to having peace
in your life. Faith rests keeping your mind on
the Word of God. The mentality of the soul must
be programmed to overcome the sin nature's appeal.
The natural behavior of the sin nature is to allow the mentality
(12:53):
of your soul to justify you being disobedient not only to
man's laws, but to God's laws. But whenever an individual
accepts Christ as their Savior, interestingly enough, their past
history does not automatically disappear.
Those old thoughts, those old desires that that you did before
you got saved, they must be contained by learning to think
(13:17):
differently. Isaiah 4318 Remember not the
former things, neither consider the things of old.
So we can always ask the Holy Spirit to make us aware of any
sin that's going unnoticed in our life.
It's possible that you got involved in something you don't
even realize is sin. Sometimes in Psalm 139 verse 23.
(13:40):
Search me O God, and know my heart, try me and know my
thoughts and that means look into my soul, see what I'm
thinking and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in
the way everlasting. The Bible refers to the
mentality of the soul as your heart as well as your mind.
(14:00):
There's a couple of different words here.
It's in the heart of man that sin takes root.
It's in your heart that sin takes root.
Mark 721 from for from without Out of the heart.
Out of the heart of men precedesevil thoughts, adultery,
fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness,
(14:23):
deceit, lasciviousness and evil eye, blasphemy, pride and
foolishness. It all comes out of the heart.
The other word that for that word heart is the Greek word
kardia. KARDIA.
That's the English word heart. In medicines we use the word
cardiac or cardiology. That's in the word heart.
(14:45):
So actually the scriptures identify the mentality of our
soul with two different type words.
One word is the word noose NOUS,the other's the word heart,
KARDIA. The noose refers to the
intellect that initiates our thoughts and our attitudes in
Romans 723. But I see another law in my
(15:09):
members warring against the lawsof my mind, bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
In other words, I've got a sin nature, and so my sin nature is
trying to take control of what Ithink is what he's saying.
It's clear from Philippians 25. We're to think in our minds
(15:29):
exactly the same way that Jesus Christ thought in his mind that
sent Philippians 25. Let this same type thinking
that, let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus.
So the victory over sin in your life is not in the body, but
rather in the mind. Comprehending what's taking
(15:51):
place in your life requires you understanding what you're
dealing with. It's easy to be misled if you
don't have some discernment, which is another way of saying
spiritual insight. That's what the Bible calls
wisdom. Unbelievers, those who have not
believed in Christ, are at a disadvantage in the cosmic
(16:11):
conflict. Since their minds are empty,
they have no basis to make a correct decision.
In Ephesians 417, this I say therefore, in testifying the
Lord, that you do not walk, that's live, don't live like
Gentiles, live in the vanity of their mind.
That word vanity in the originallanguage is pronounced Mataotes
(16:34):
and it actually means an emptiness.
Emptiness. So it referring to a soul void.
Get that word soul void. A soul void is actually a vacuum
where the outside pressure is greater than the inside
pressure. My daughter one time came home
and showed me a science experiment where she took a
(16:55):
boiled egg that she had peeled and took a match and dropped it
down a Coke bottle and put the boiled egg over the lip, over
the mouth of the Coke. When the match burned up all of
the oxygen in the bottle, it waslike an invisible finger pushed
that egg down through that bottleneck of that Coke that
popped in the bottle. That's the outside pressure
(17:16):
being greater than the inside pressure.
So this is what you have to remember.
A soul void is a vacuum in your soul because there's no soul
resistance and the individual has no chance to overcome
whatever the cosmic system throws at him.
Then we get into soul slavery, and that's a result of ignoring
(17:38):
God's advantages and and sellingyourself into the cosmic system
where you become a victim of your own choices, not a victim
of your circumstances. Hosea, 87, says They have sown
to the wind and they will reap the whirlwind.
When God created us, He gave us a soul, and I'm not talking
(18:01):
about the rhythm and the Blues and the dance and you know, all
that sort of stuff. He gave you a soul, which means
you have the ability to think and comprehend.
Again, He gave you volition, which means He lets you make
your decisions. Your, you are the choice maker.
Do you know what your choices are?
That's a legitimate question I want to ask you today.
(18:22):
Do you know what your choices are?
I can tell you your first choiceto receive Christ as your
Savior. It's the most important decision
you'll ever make. What thank you of Christ?
Is he or is he not the Son of God?
Did he or did he not go to the cross and pay for your sins?
Will you or will you not believeit and receive Him as your
(18:45):
Savior? You got to remember that.
That's the first and most important thing.
OK? When God created you, He gave
you that soul, the ability to comprehend, ability to choose.
The second great decision in your soul is your choice to
(19:07):
learn what God has provided for you because you're living behind
enemy lines in the devil's world.
So you need to understand your position in Christ and
understand your enemies. And that's critical if you hope
to glorify God both in time and eternity.
You know, we know, we know. We got three enemies, the world,
the flesh, and the devil, and ifyou're going to win this war,
(19:30):
you got to be able to overcome what they throw at you.
So listen to what Paul wrote in First Corinthians 110I beseech
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all speak the same thing and that there be no division among
you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same
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mind, in the same judgment. Did you get that?
What he's telling them is you'refractured in your soul in your
congregation. Your congregation has a soul
fracture. You're not all speaking the same
thing. There's divisions, some of you
on this side of the park and some of you on the other side of
the park. But the Bible says a Christian
(20:14):
needs to be perfectly joined together in the same mind we
have. We need to have the same thought
content. What is that?
It's the mind of Christ. This simply means that unless
they're all on the same page mentally.
There would be no hope of keeping that church bound
together. And by the way, this is one way
Satan can destroy a local congregation by getting people
(20:36):
into conflicting viewpoints. This is also exactly how Satan
fractures a nation such as the United States of America, And I
think we can see that in our current history.
We definitely have a fractured nation.
We don't all speak the same thing, and there are certainly
divisions among us since we don't all think the same things.
(21:00):
The number one national problem in our country is a fractured
soul. What used to be considered evil
is now considered good, and whatused to be thought of as good is
now considered evil. Social issues are now more
prominent than spiritual issues.Did you hear that Social issues
are now more prominent than spiritual issues?
(21:24):
The Word of God is ignored in many different households and
sometimes even in churches, and different thinking leads to
different agendas. Even more disturbing is that
many pastors today are now performers using antics that are
just absolutely disgusting. You are the only one who can
(21:44):
reverse the trend in this nation.
You are the only one that patch up the crack in our soul in the
nation, not by electing a certain individual, that's not
the answer, but by by electing to take your very own spiritual
life to the highest level possible.
Then and only then will you be able to consider that you are
(22:07):
part of the invisible pivot thatGod's going to use to deliver
this nation from what's coming. Then what's coming is a battle
for the soul of America and it'sjust starting.
I promise you it's just starting.
Praise God for those in leadership who understand what
I'm talking about, Hosea says. Who is wise now?
(22:31):
Hosea 14, nine. Who is wise?
And he shall understand it. And who shall understand these
things? Prudent is he that knows them.
For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk
in them, but the transgressor shall fall therein.
(22:52):
Are you one of the wise people that God's speaking about?
There? That's my thought for you today.
Do you have enough doctrine in your soul to determine what is
right and what is wrong? Have you been lured into some
sort of emotional Christianity where you believe that if you
just go to church and and get the joy, joy, joy down in your
(23:14):
heart that you're having a worshipping experience?
Unless you're learning and implying God's word in your
life, you're going to have a stunted soul, a studded soul.
Your soul's never going to grow up because your soul was
designed by God to have information.
That's what your conscience is about, where you store your
(23:37):
norms and standards. You're supposed to have norms
and standards starting with yourparents where they teach you
don't do this and don't do that.Brush your teeth, comb your
hair, take a bath. Don't act like that.
Don't say that your parents are giving you norms and standards.
If you don't get that, then you grow up.
Just a uncontrollable soul, a person that has no norms and
(24:00):
standards, a person that do whatever they want to do and
think they get away with it. That's what's happening in
America today. We have a fractured, fractured
congregation of people in this nation whose soul has no norms
and standards because it's been eaten up by scar tissue.
Scar tissue means their hearts are hard.
(24:22):
There are people in this countrythat'll kill you and not think
twice about it, laugh about it, drive by in the car, shoot a
bunch of bullets out of the car,spray gunfire everywhere and
kill. It didn't make any difference
who they kill. That's a bad soul.
We have to get that changed. Only one way to do it.
Not elect a certain politician, not send in the military.
(24:46):
There's got to be a soul revival.
There's got to be a soul awakening.
There's got to be a changing of the soul for America.
That has to happen with you, starts with you.
As goes your spiritual life, so goes the future of this country.
So how's your soul today? Do you have a bitter soul?
(25:08):
Do you have embattled soul? Do you have a wounded soul or
are you growing in the grace andthe knowledge of you, Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ? Do you have a strong soul?
Do you have doctrine in your soul?
Do you have the feeling of the Holy Spirit?
Do you understand that? And do you understand the call
(25:31):
of the gospel and how to share it with other individuals?
That's the point we're going to need.
That's what you must do. You must be that individual who
God uses to heal the fractured soul of America, and you must be
prepared to do whatever it takes.
(25:52):
Don't be dumb, don't be stupid, but be faithful.
Be faithful and the Lord will guide you.
He will direct your path. He will show you what He wants
you to do and how He wants you to do it.
But remember this, God uses prepared people.
He doesn't use idiots and if youthink you can make it up, you
(26:12):
can't make up God's plan. If you don't know it, He's not
going to use you. He doesn't need you confusing
the issue. He doesn't need you telling
somebody. In order to get saved, you got
to quit smoking. In order to get saved you got to
repent of all your sins. That's crazy.
You can't do that, it's impossible.
Besides that, the word repent means to change your mind, not
feel sorry about what you've done.
(26:33):
You can tell God you're not going to sin again, but you will
because you have it genetically formed sin nature.
So you got to understand what the Bible teaches and then teach
it correctly. Give it correctly and let your
friends know. Let your neighbors know that God
loves them. He has a wonderful plan for
their life and that plan starts with them believing in the Lord
(26:55):
Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that will
savage this nation. That's the only thing that will
put together this fractured nation is the word of God.
So I hope you're listening. I pray you're paying attention
and I pray you'll come back nextweek same time, same time.
Till then, this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you for
(27:16):
listening to The Flood Lion. Thank you for listening to The
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, stay
(00:29):
with me. It won't be long, just 30
minutes, but it's a lot of motivation, inspiration,
education, and no manipulation, no con games, no collecting
money, no selling you anything. Not trying to get you to join it
up, fess it up, give it up. We just would like for you to
listen. Listen up as I try to verify and
(00:50):
identify God's plan for your life.
If I'm able to do that and you would like to Orient and just to
the plan, you have the free will, the freedom to do that.
It's my prayer that you will. The flight line's been coming to
you now for 21 years and it's been amazing time and God's
given me the privilege to do this.
But I'd like to tell you we got a book that we've revised.
(01:11):
It's one of our older books called Understanding Your Soul.
And we're going to redo that book and we're coming out with
it in a new format. It should be available by
Thanksgiving, so if you'd like to get a copy of it, let us know
through the website rick@rickhughesministries.org.
rick@rickhughesministries.org. If you call us, you can always
(01:35):
do that. But if you do leave a voicemail,
I insist that you just speak slowly and distinctly so we can
understand what your address is and what you're saying.
So many voicemails I get. We can't understand people
because it's way too fast. So slow it down very distinctly
and give us your name and address and we'll get that book
(01:56):
to you if you want it because we're going to talk about your
soul today. That's really basically what the
message is about dealing with the soul.
We all know about that in First Thessalonians 523.
Here's our verse We want to key on and the very God of peace
sanctify you holy I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and
(02:20):
body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Did you get that spirit, soul
and body be preserved in this particular passage give you some
background why Paul said what hedid.
He's just given a series of commands to the royal family
there at the church in Thessalonica beginning on 1st
(02:44):
Thessalonians 511 where he said comfort one another and then he
said edify each other. And then in verse 12, he states
that they should recognize thosewho labor among them and
recognize them with personal love of the work they do.
Those are the people that are teaching the word of God, the
pastor, teachers. In verse 14, we find 4 different
(03:06):
exhortations that are significant in any local
congregation. Here's what they are.
He said first warn those who arecausing trouble.
Then he said encourage the fainthearted.
Then he said support the weak. Then he said be patient towards
all men. I really need to take this, this
(03:26):
verse apart for you. And we're going to do that at a
later time, I promise you. In verses 15 through 22, we find
some more series of mandates. See that nobody render evil for
evil and any man but everyone followed that which is good,
both among yourselves and to allmen.
And then he said, rejoice ever more than he said, pray without
(03:47):
ceasing. Then he said in everything give
thanks. I mean, I can't believe I need
to just go over this whole thingwhere you didn't explain what
each one of these words are. First Thessalonians 519 quench
not the Spirit of God. Verse 20 despise not
prophesying. Verse 21 prove, prove all
things. Hold fast that which is good.
(04:09):
And 22 abstain from all appearances of evil.
That's First Thessalonians chapter 5, beginning of verse
11, going through verse 22. And that's what I want to come
back to in the next show or two and break that down for you and
hopefully you'll enjoy that. But as we get near the end of
this letter, we find Paul's prayer for those which I read to
(04:33):
you earlier. And he said, I pray that the
very God of peace sanctify you holy and your spirit, soul and
body. Paul's prayer, he's recognizing
that there are three parts that every believer has.
He brought it up. Listen again, I pray God, your
whole spirit and soul and body be preserved, blameless unto the
(04:57):
coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.The word spirit is the word
pneuma, and that's what you haveif you're a Christian.
You have a living human spirit indwelled by God the Holy Spirit
without being saved. You have a dead spirit.
You're spiritually dead, and it's impossible to have
fellowship with God unless you're born again.
(05:20):
I'll show you that in just a minute.
And these people have a living human spirit and dwelled by God
the Holy Spirit. They are believers in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then he said the word and
your soul, suke. Suke is the Greek word for it.
Suke, your soul. And then he said your body, your
(05:41):
body is the Greek word soma. So as a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you have three parts.
The the fancy word is your trichotomous.
Trichotomous. That means you have 3 distinct
parts. The unbeliever is not
trichotomous, he's dichotomous. He only has two parts.
(06:03):
He has a body, he has a soul, but he does not have a living
human spirit. So the the the non Christian is
minus the human spirit and thus that's why he cannot will not
ever have fellowship with God. Listen to John 424 God is a
spirit and they that worship himmust worship him in spirit and
(06:25):
in truth. So how they only worship God if
they don't have a living human spirit?
They can't do it. God is a spirit and those that
worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
In Matthew 1028 we find a verse that said fear not them which
can kill the body but are not able to kill the soul that
(06:45):
Sukay, but rather fill him whichis able to destroy both soul and
body in hell. You know whenever an airliner
declares an emergency to the tower, the air traffic
controller will always ask questions about how much fuel
they have on board. And interesting enough he will
say this. He will say how many souls on
(07:06):
board, how many souls on board? Air traffic controller asked for
souls on board in an emergency to quickly get the total number
of living people on an aircraft in case there needs to be a
rescue or recovery efforts. And that includes passengers,
crew, even infants. The maritime tradition provides
(07:27):
a vital, concise piece of information for responders
without needing a separate countof passengers, crew, and others.
In other words, there were 3 pilots and two this and one
that. No, just how many?
Totally. It also carries a very sobering,
respectful tone for a potentially very grave
situation. So if this thing crashes, and if
(07:50):
if it goes into the ground, how many souls on board?
It's clear now that God made youa living soul.
You might want to pinch yourselfto find out if you're still
alive, but God made you a livingsoul.
It's also clear that God createdyou a living body.
The Bible teaches that God, by his own design, created your
(08:12):
body from the dust of the earth,and He gave you life by
breathing the breath of life into you and making you a living
soul. God's creation of your body is a
deliberate and good act, and it's meant to reflect His image
so that you can serve Him as a unique individual.
In Genesis 27 we find this verified.
(08:34):
And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a
living soul. There it is.
God created your soul, living soul.
And you might have heard me say in past references, the soul
will never die. The body will die, but the soul
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will never die. While it's evident there are
many different body types, what is also true is that everybody
houses a living soul. In fact, the real you is
invisible since the soul is not observable to mankind.
Only God can see your soul. So it appears that we all have
(09:17):
the same soul format. Though we have mentality which
God created give us the ability to think, logic, reason,
comprehend. He gave us free will which is
called volition. We can choose.
We also possess A conscience anda self consciousness.
This is why the scriptures tell us that the real person is
(09:39):
identified not by what he looks like, but by what he thinks.
Proverbs 23 seven For as he thinketh in his heart, so he is.
Did you know one of Satan's objectives is to capture your
thoughts and Proverbs 423 keep your heart with all diligence,
(09:59):
for out of it are the issues of life.
One of the main objectives of a new Christian is to change the
way he thinks and this involves a total renovation of the
mentality of the soul. Forget not this, don't forget
the soul has mentality, the soulhas volition, the soul has a
(10:21):
conscience and a self consciousness.
So what does the Bible say? We have to change the way we
think after we get saved in Romans 12/2.
And three, don't be conformed tothis world, but be transformed
by the renewing of your mind, sothat you may prove what is good
and acceptable and perfect will of God.
For I say through the grace given unto me to every man
(10:42):
that's among you, not to think of himself more highly than he
ought to think, but to think soberly, according as God has
dealt to everyone a man, everyone that man, the measure
of faith. This particular passage I just
read to you tells us that a spiritually wise soul does not
think like the world thinks. It's a call for you to stay out
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of cosmic indoctrination and rather to renovate your thoughts
in order that we can understand and obey God's will for our
lives. The enemy that we face most
often is our very own arrogance.You know, such as thinking that
we know what's best for our lives.
I've seen that many, many times,even my children.
I know what's best for my life, not what the Bible says, Daddy,
(11:27):
I know what's best. And when you when you do that
and justify in your own lustful desires, you're in trouble.
So the enemy most often is your own arrogance, thinking that you
know more than what God knows. Even though God may tell you
don't do a certain thing, you doit anyhow because you justify
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why it's OK. I want you to understand how
important it is that you be careful what you feed into your
soul's mentality. I just had some lunch.
I had a little lasagna, leftoverlasagna my wife had and I
enjoyed it. But you have to be careful what
(12:09):
you put in your stomach. Yes, but you got to really
careful what it put in your soul's mentality.
Notice a secret to having peace in your soul and you might not
realize this, but it's related to what you think in Isaiah 26
Three you will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is the
mentality of the soul whose mindis stayed on you, the because he
(12:33):
trusts in you, that faith rests.There's a secret to having peace
in your life. Faith rests keeping your mind on
the Word of God. The mentality of the soul must
be programmed to overcome the sin nature's appeal.
The natural behavior of the sin nature is to allow the mentality
(12:53):
of your soul to justify you being disobedient not only to
man's laws, but to God's laws. But whenever an individual
accepts Christ as their Savior, interestingly enough, their past
history does not automatically disappear.
Those old thoughts, those old desires that that you did before
you got saved, they must be contained by learning to think
(13:17):
differently. Isaiah 4318 Remember not the
former things, neither consider the things of old.
So we can always ask the Holy Spirit to make us aware of any
sin that's going unnoticed in our life.
It's possible that you got involved in something you don't
even realize is sin. Sometimes in Psalm 139 verse 23.
(13:40):
Search me O God, and know my heart, try me and know my
thoughts and that means look into my soul, see what I'm
thinking and see if there's any wicked way in me and lead me in
the way everlasting. The Bible refers to the
mentality of the soul as your heart as well as your mind.
(14:00):
There's a couple of different words here.
It's in the heart of man that sin takes root.
It's in your heart that sin takes root.
Mark 721 from for from without Out of the heart.
Out of the heart of men precedesevil thoughts, adultery,
fornication, murder, theft, covetousness, wickedness,
(14:23):
deceit, lasciviousness and evil eye, blasphemy, pride and
foolishness. It all comes out of the heart.
The other word that for that word heart is the Greek word
kardia. KARDIA.
That's the English word heart. In medicines we use the word
cardiac or cardiology. That's in the word heart.
(14:45):
So actually the scriptures identify the mentality of our
soul with two different type words.
One word is the word noose NOUS,the other's the word heart,
KARDIA. The noose refers to the
intellect that initiates our thoughts and our attitudes in
Romans 723. But I see another law in my
(15:09):
members warring against the lawsof my mind, bringing me into
captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.
In other words, I've got a sin nature, and so my sin nature is
trying to take control of what Ithink is what he's saying.
It's clear from Philippians 25. We're to think in our minds
(15:29):
exactly the same way that Jesus Christ thought in his mind that
sent Philippians 25. Let this same type thinking
that, let this mind be in you, that was also in Christ Jesus.
So the victory over sin in your life is not in the body, but
rather in the mind. Comprehending what's taking
(15:51):
place in your life requires you understanding what you're
dealing with. It's easy to be misled if you
don't have some discernment, which is another way of saying
spiritual insight. That's what the Bible calls
wisdom. Unbelievers, those who have not
believed in Christ, are at a disadvantage in the cosmic
(16:11):
conflict. Since their minds are empty,
they have no basis to make a correct decision.
In Ephesians 417, this I say therefore, in testifying the
Lord, that you do not walk, that's live, don't live like
Gentiles, live in the vanity of their mind.
That word vanity in the originallanguage is pronounced Mataotes
(16:34):
and it actually means an emptiness.
Emptiness. So it referring to a soul void.
Get that word soul void. A soul void is actually a vacuum
where the outside pressure is greater than the inside
pressure. My daughter one time came home
and showed me a science experiment where she took a
(16:55):
boiled egg that she had peeled and took a match and dropped it
down a Coke bottle and put the boiled egg over the lip, over
the mouth of the Coke. When the match burned up all of
the oxygen in the bottle, it waslike an invisible finger pushed
that egg down through that bottleneck of that Coke that
popped in the bottle. That's the outside pressure
(17:16):
being greater than the inside pressure.
So this is what you have to remember.
A soul void is a vacuum in your soul because there's no soul
resistance and the individual has no chance to overcome
whatever the cosmic system throws at him.
Then we get into soul slavery, and that's a result of ignoring
(17:38):
God's advantages and and sellingyourself into the cosmic system
where you become a victim of your own choices, not a victim
of your circumstances. Hosea, 87, says They have sown
to the wind and they will reap the whirlwind.
When God created us, He gave us a soul, and I'm not talking
(18:01):
about the rhythm and the Blues and the dance and you know, all
that sort of stuff. He gave you a soul, which means
you have the ability to think and comprehend.
Again, He gave you volition, which means He lets you make
your decisions. Your, you are the choice maker.
Do you know what your choices are?
That's a legitimate question I want to ask you today.
(18:22):
Do you know what your choices are?
I can tell you your first choiceto receive Christ as your
Savior. It's the most important decision
you'll ever make. What thank you of Christ?
Is he or is he not the Son of God?
Did he or did he not go to the cross and pay for your sins?
Will you or will you not believeit and receive Him as your
(18:45):
Savior? You got to remember that.
That's the first and most important thing.
OK? When God created you, He gave
you that soul, the ability to comprehend, ability to choose.
The second great decision in your soul is your choice to
(19:07):
learn what God has provided for you because you're living behind
enemy lines in the devil's world.
So you need to understand your position in Christ and
understand your enemies. And that's critical if you hope
to glorify God both in time and eternity.
You know, we know, we know. We got three enemies, the world,
the flesh, and the devil, and ifyou're going to win this war,
(19:30):
you got to be able to overcome what they throw at you.
So listen to what Paul wrote in First Corinthians 110I beseech
you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you
all speak the same thing and that there be no division among
you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same
(19:52):
mind, in the same judgment. Did you get that?
What he's telling them is you'refractured in your soul in your
congregation. Your congregation has a soul
fracture. You're not all speaking the same
thing. There's divisions, some of you
on this side of the park and some of you on the other side of
the park. But the Bible says a Christian
(20:14):
needs to be perfectly joined together in the same mind we
have. We need to have the same thought
content. What is that?
It's the mind of Christ. This simply means that unless
they're all on the same page mentally.
There would be no hope of keeping that church bound
together. And by the way, this is one way
Satan can destroy a local congregation by getting people
(20:36):
into conflicting viewpoints. This is also exactly how Satan
fractures a nation such as the United States of America, And I
think we can see that in our current history.
We definitely have a fractured nation.
We don't all speak the same thing, and there are certainly
divisions among us since we don't all think the same things.
(21:00):
The number one national problem in our country is a fractured
soul. What used to be considered evil
is now considered good, and whatused to be thought of as good is
now considered evil. Social issues are now more
prominent than spiritual issues.Did you hear that Social issues
are now more prominent than spiritual issues?
(21:24):
The Word of God is ignored in many different households and
sometimes even in churches, and different thinking leads to
different agendas. Even more disturbing is that
many pastors today are now performers using antics that are
just absolutely disgusting. You are the only one who can
(21:44):
reverse the trend in this nation.
You are the only one that patch up the crack in our soul in the
nation, not by electing a certain individual, that's not
the answer, but by by electing to take your very own spiritual
life to the highest level possible.
Then and only then will you be able to consider that you are
(22:07):
part of the invisible pivot thatGod's going to use to deliver
this nation from what's coming. Then what's coming is a battle
for the soul of America and it'sjust starting.
I promise you it's just starting.
Praise God for those in leadership who understand what
I'm talking about, Hosea says. Who is wise now?
(22:31):
Hosea 14, nine. Who is wise?
And he shall understand it. And who shall understand these
things? Prudent is he that knows them.
For the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk
in them, but the transgressor shall fall therein.
(22:52):
Are you one of the wise people that God's speaking about?
There? That's my thought for you today.
Do you have enough doctrine in your soul to determine what is
right and what is wrong? Have you been lured into some
sort of emotional Christianity where you believe that if you
just go to church and and get the joy, joy, joy down in your
(23:14):
heart that you're having a worshipping experience?
Unless you're learning and implying God's word in your
life, you're going to have a stunted soul, a studded soul.
Your soul's never going to grow up because your soul was
designed by God to have information.
That's what your conscience is about, where you store your
(23:37):
norms and standards. You're supposed to have norms
and standards starting with yourparents where they teach you
don't do this and don't do that.Brush your teeth, comb your
hair, take a bath. Don't act like that.
Don't say that your parents are giving you norms and standards.
If you don't get that, then you grow up.
Just a uncontrollable soul, a person that has no norms and
(24:00):
standards, a person that do whatever they want to do and
think they get away with it. That's what's happening in
America today. We have a fractured, fractured
congregation of people in this nation whose soul has no norms
and standards because it's been eaten up by scar tissue.
Scar tissue means their hearts are hard.
(24:22):
There are people in this countrythat'll kill you and not think
twice about it, laugh about it, drive by in the car, shoot a
bunch of bullets out of the car,spray gunfire everywhere and
kill. It didn't make any difference
who they kill. That's a bad soul.
We have to get that changed. Only one way to do it.
Not elect a certain politician, not send in the military.
(24:46):
There's got to be a soul revival.
There's got to be a soul awakening.
There's got to be a changing of the soul for America.
That has to happen with you, starts with you.
As goes your spiritual life, so goes the future of this country.
So how's your soul today? Do you have a bitter soul?
(25:08):
Do you have embattled soul? Do you have a wounded soul or
are you growing in the grace andthe knowledge of you, Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ? Do you have a strong soul?
Do you have doctrine in your soul?
Do you have the feeling of the Holy Spirit?
Do you understand that? And do you understand the call
(25:31):
of the gospel and how to share it with other individuals?
That's the point we're going to need.
That's what you must do. You must be that individual who
God uses to heal the fractured soul of America, and you must be
prepared to do whatever it takes.
(25:52):
Don't be dumb, don't be stupid, but be faithful.
Be faithful and the Lord will guide you.
He will direct your path. He will show you what He wants
you to do and how He wants you to do it.
But remember this, God uses prepared people.
He doesn't use idiots and if youthink you can make it up, you
(26:12):
can't make up God's plan. If you don't know it, He's not
going to use you. He doesn't need you confusing
the issue. He doesn't need you telling
somebody. In order to get saved, you got
to quit smoking. In order to get saved you got to
repent of all your sins. That's crazy.
You can't do that, it's impossible.
Besides that, the word repent means to change your mind, not
feel sorry about what you've done.
(26:33):
You can tell God you're not going to sin again, but you will
because you have it genetically formed sin nature.
So you got to understand what the Bible teaches and then teach
it correctly. Give it correctly and let your
friends know. Let your neighbors know that God
loves them. He has a wonderful plan for
their life and that plan starts with them believing in the Lord
(26:55):
Jesus Christ. That's the only thing that will
savage this nation. That's the only thing that will
put together this fractured nation is the word of God.
So I hope you're listening. I pray you're paying attention
and I pray you'll come back nextweek same time, same time.
Till then, this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you for
(27:16):
listening to The Flood Lion. Thank you for listening to The
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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