2019 THE FLOT LINE hosted by Rick Hughes V3 TRANSCRIPTS 2019 Volume 3 September–December rickhughesministries.org RICK HUGHES, founder and President of Rick Hughes Evangelistic Ministries, Inc., communicates clear and concise Biblical principles for hearers to choose to use in their lives. For over 50 years, Rick has presented the truth to thousands of students and spoken at hundreds of schools and churches. He authored several books and hosts a weekly radio broadcast and podcast, The FLOT Line, all available, for free, on his website, rickhughesministries.org. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Rick was raised in a modest, single- parent home. He distinguished himself through excellence in athletics being named to the High School All American football team and set state records in the shot put and discus. The University of Florida signed Rick to a full football scholarship, but his SAT scores were too low. Challenged by a coach to overcome this failure, Rick applied himself in the classroom as he had done on the field. He seized the challenge, got a second chance, entered the University of Alabama as a football player under the training of prestigious coach Paul “Bear” Bryant, and the team won a national championship that year. After just one successful year, however, Rick quit school and drifted down the my way highway. Rick emphasizes bad decisions limit future options, and God gave you two ends: one to sit on and one to think with. Success in life depends on which end you use. Heads you win—tails you lose. Many of Rick’s personal experiences help to vividly teach these principles. Rick’s turning point came when he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, by faith alone in Christ alone. This is the most important decision in your life, also. Rick’s decision opened a new path, not of football, but one personally designed for him by God. Through the ministry of Berachah Church in Houston, Texas, and its pastors, R. B. Thieme, Jr. and now R. B. Thieme III, Rick learned principles and promises of God’s Word that directed him into a life of Christian ministry. Rick’s life is proof that when you leave your own agenda behind and walk into God’s plan, you can have fulfillment and happiness beyond your imagination. “For with God, nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37). BOOKS by RICK HUGHES The FLOT Line Transcripts God’s Problem-Solving Devices Bookmark Bible Promises & Principles Life’s Toughest Years A Divine Pardon Understanding Your Soul Practicing Your Christianity Christian Problem Solving Workbook PODCAST The Flot Line podcast can be found on: Anchor, Apple, Spotify, Google, Breaker and RadioPublic RICK HUGHES EVANGELISTIC MINISTRIES rickhughesministries.org [email protected] 800-831-0718 PO Box 100 Cropwell, Alabama 35054 Rick Hughes Evangelistic Ministries, Inc. was founded for the purpose of communicating the Word of God to students and administrators in private schools and churches across the United States. This ministry is non-denominational in its thrust and is conducted freely without charge or obligation. No material is sold and no offerings are taken. THE FLOT LINE hosted by Rick Hughes Transcripts 2019 Volume 3 (September-December) I’ve been doing The FLOT Line radio show since July 2005. Every Sunday it airs on radio stations across our nation, and in autumn 2019 we made it available as a podcast. Want to know how it all began? I had done a radio ad for Bass Pro Shops. A radio producer heard it and contacted me, “Big Rick, you’ve got a great radio voice - you should take your ministry to the airwaves.” And that was the start of The FLOT Line. FLOT is an acronym for Forward Line of Troops. The FLOT Line teaches principles from the Bible and focuses on God’s ten unique problem-solving devices. If you choose to learn and apply them, they will act as a main line of resistance in your soul, a FLOT line, preventing the outside sources of adversity from becoming the inside pressure of stress in your soul. My intent is to give you information to help you identify the plan of God for your life. If you will choose to orient and adjust to God’s plan, you will have a truly amazing future. My ministry, presenting the Gospel and communicating clear principles from the Word of God, is possible only because of God’s grace. I am grateful to my heavenly Father and to my Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who have provided the means and direction for me; and thankful for the Lord’s provision of servants whose talents and resources made this book a reality. Remember, adversity is inevitable in life but stress is optional. You can prepare for adversity by knowing and using God’s problem-solving devices. Take note of Psalm 62:1-2, King David’s testimony to the power of having a FLOT line in his soul: My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. He only is my rock and my deliverance, My strength; I shall not be shaken. If you have listened to any of my broadcasts, this intro is familiar: “Welcome to The FLOT Line with your host, Rick Hughes. For the next thirty minutes you will be inspired, motivated, educated, but never manipulated.” Now you can read the content of those episodes without charge or obligation. Welcome to Transcripts of The FLOT Line. Rick Hughes RICK HUGHES EVANGELISTIC MINISTRIES P.O. Box 100 Cropwell, Alabama 35054-0100 rickhughesministries.org 800-831-0718 America, The Land of the Foolish - Part 1 Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 731 aired on August 25, 2019 Good morning and welcome to the FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes. FLOT (Forward Line of Troops) is all about learning the unique problem-solving devices taught in the Bible so you can establish a main line of resistance in your soul. By using those unique problem-solving devices, it’s possible you can stop the outside source of adversity before it ever becomes the inside source of stress. Building a FLOT line is a wonderful way to live. It relieves all the pressure in your life - no worry, no fear, no bitterness, no animosity. Actually it’s accumulating the mind of Christ - thinking like our Lord Jesus Christ thought. He had a FLOT line in His soul, although He never needed to confess any sin like we do. This is problem-solving device #1, rebound. “If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and purify us from all of our wrongdoing” (1 John 1:9). Building a FLOT line is what this show is about. God gave you two ends. One end to sit with and one end to think with. Success in your life depends on which one you use. Heads you win, tails you lose. Remember bad decisions limit future options and if you make enough bad decisions you are not going to have any options left. The worst decision anyone could make in their entire life is to reject Jesus Christ as Savior. You leave God no choice when you do that because you rejected the love of God. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). When you reject the gift God gives you, His Son, you leave the justice of God no choice but to judge you and that will occur at the Great White Throne of judgment - you don't want to be there. The Bible says, “He that believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, and he that believes not, the wrath of God abides on him already” (John 3:36). You know, living in the devil's world, living in the presence of this great country of ours, there’s a lot of stuff going on. There is, as a pastor friend of mine says, a spiritual climate change happening. We are going to talk about that for the next few shows. By the way, you can access a podcast of these shows on Spotify. You can also go to our website, rickhughesministries.org, and access the radio shows and listen to them or you can contact us through the website and we will send you MP3s of the shows. Let's talk about the spiritual climate change in the United States of America. The frantic search for happiness that we see today in this country, leaves a cluttered trail of destruction and despair. I read the other day that on the average, there are one hundred twenty-three suicides committed every day. Why do people do this? I’ll tell you one of the reasons, because everything appears empty. ‘What’s the use of going on,’ they may think. Many young people, teenagers, are used up at an early age and they wind up ending it all because they see no future, no hope. They spend money they don't have, to buy things they don't need, to impress people they don't even like. They do all of this to deaden the pain of an empty life. I think hopelessness is a national disease. There are so many people that are hopeless today. These are two words I want you to key in on - loneliness and hopelessness. In an article in the National Post: !1 “Headlines suggests we've become consumed by loneliness. A new generation of Eleanor Rigbys half a century after the Beatles lament for the lonely: Why are 30somethings lonely? What you need to know about the Loneliness Epidemic.