I've had a number of young women complain to me about a condition they find rampant in young men these days. You could call it "commitment phobia." Or as one author did, "Peter Pan syndrome - I don't want to grow up." A guy's willing to show interest, he's willing to court you, charm you, agree with you, spend money on you, and you reach this level of mutual compatibility. That's good. And then you're on the edge of commitment and he's gone. That's pretty frustrating. And if you're thinking of a name...well, let's keep moving on. I met this beautiful woman many years ago, and we spent a lot of time together. We found out that we agreed on all the important things, so we reached the place of affection for each other and agreement with each other. I say, "I love you and I agree with you on a lot of stuff." So that meant we were married, right? Uh, no. There's something missing there. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How People Miss Heaven." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 7, beginning at verse 21. I think these are some of the most unsettling words Jesus ever spoke. "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drove out demons and performed many miracles?' And then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me.'" Wow! So near and yet so far. That's a warning for religious people - church folks - people who know the verses, people who are busy in Christian things, maybe even in Christian leadership. Because these chilling words are going to be spoken to some of those people, "I never knew you. Everyone else thought you did, but I never knew you." It's like the guy who knows about a girl. He's compatible with that girl, he agrees with the girl, but he somehow never made a lifetime commitment to her. I had to say to my then future wife, "I give my life to you." There was a day I did that. I know I did it. That's the commitment that made us married, that began the life-long relationship. Actually there are five things you can do with Jesus. One is you can reject Him and say, "I don't care what He did." Another thing you can do is you can ignore Him. Some people just simply have no time for Jesus. The third thing you can do with Jesus is you can postpone Him. "Lord, I'll get around to you some day. I know that you're the answer. I still want to do some living though. I'll get to you sometime." The fourth thing is to agree with Him. Yeah, agree with Him on all His teachings. You can say, "I think it's all right. I totally agree with it. I believe it, Jesus." There's a fifth thing you can do and that is to surrender yourself and give yourself totally to Him. Those first four all end up in the same place. In a Christless eternity called hell. See, there's a big difference in rejecting Christ and agreeing with Him, of course, but they all end up with hearing the words of Jesus, "I never knew you" because agreement is not commitment. I agreed with my future wife on things, but we weren't married by that agreement. Because you agree with all of Jesus' teachings, you really like him, you believe it all. Does that make you really His? No. Not until the day you make your own personal visit to that hill where there is a cross where Jesus is paying for every wrong thing you've ever done. And in your heart you go to that cross where God's Son is paying for those sins and you will hear him saying, "Father, forgive them." He's forgiving you. And you pin all your hopes on that Jesus and you change your way for His way from that day on. Has there ever been a day like that for you? You may have never had a time when you actually gave yourself to Him. He's in your head, but He's not in your heart. Isn't it time to move Him to your heart? Don't you want to be sure you belong to Him? I'm inviting you if you've never done this to say, "Jesus, beginning this day, I am yours." I would love to help you do that. I think you'll find some help in beginning this relationship at our website. It's ANewStory.com. Today, get this settled finally, because it's only your commitment that will make you His.

I don't know who invented the credit card, but I'd like to have a very serious talk with him, because I'm not sure he helped any of us by thinking that this plastic "postponer" was going to help us. With a credit card you go to the store with $100 in cash, you get what you wanted, and you come out with $100 in your wallet. And it feels like, "Hey, that didn't cost anything." Wrong! Fantasy land! The bill will come...it always does. You postponed the payment, but you didn't cancel it. Oh, and by postponing it, that purchase is actually going to cost you more. I think that's what they call interest and I'm not interested. The time lag between what you buy and what you pay can get you into big trouble. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thinking We Got Away With It." Our word for today from the Word of God; it's in Galatians 6:7-8. Familiar words, but words that may be right where you're living right now. Listen, "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction. The one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." Now, why does this statement begin with "don't be deceived"? Well, maybe it's because it's easy to think you're getting away with your sin, because the consequences, the reaping don't come immediately. It's like a credit card. You get what you want to get, do what you want to do, and then there's a time lag. Because it doesn't happen immediately - those consequences - you say, "Hey, I got away with it." Well that's credit card follies. The passing of time until the consequences come will not lessen the price tag you pay for that sin; in fact, it will accrue interest. It will make it cost you more. The farmer doesn't see immediate results from sowing seed, whether he sows corn or poison ivy. But it will come up. Doing what's right and what's wrong have this in common. When you're doing it, you can't see where that choice is going to lead. When you have a sexual relationship before marriage, you can't see the pain and the loss that it will cause in your marriage, but it will. When you build a pattern of lying, you might get away with the lie; you can't see what that's going to do to your reputation, but it will. When you extend a loving hand to someone who's been your enemy, you can't see the healing and the blessing that might come from that, but you will. Since we can't see where choices lead until it's too late, do we live by the throw of the dice? Well, that's where the Bible comes in. It tells us where our decisions lead. When you sow to your sinful nature, it will destroy things. It's gonna happen! When you sow to things that please the Holy Spirit, you're going to reap things that will last forever. It's gonna happen! God's Word has never been wrong. Oh, some have thought that they've cheated the consequences because they didn't happen immediately. Well, neither do the credit card charges or a farmer's crops, but they always come. Save yourself a lot of heartache. Believe what God says is going to happen...good or bad. Don't deceive yourself by thinking you'll get away with your sin, or that right choices won't come back to you with interest. If you're sowing sin, God's bill is in the mail. If you're sowing right living, God's check is in the mail.

I ordered out for lunch and of course it came on a paper plate. Guess what I did with the plate when I finished lunch? I didn't wash it, no, I didn't save it for later. In fact, I've never done that with a paper plate. But we have these other plates at our house. They're in a cabinet in the dining room, my wife put them there. We save them for special occasions. And we wash those after we use them. They're the best we've got - those dishes. When we're done, we put them away very carefully. Because if you drop them, you're out of the family. Now, what's the difference? Paper plates are cheap, practically worthless. You throw them away. Now, fine china, oh no, that's expensive, too valuable to throw away. Guess which one most people feel like today. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Worth So Much More." Yeah, an awful lot of people feel like paper plates these days. I mean they've been put-down, hurt, neglected, ignored, left out, abused. And they feel worthless, they're throwing themselves away. That might be you. I mean there's a lot of ways you can throw yourself away. You can throw yourself away socially by the friends you choose. You can throw yourself away alcoholically, chemically, romantically, sexually, musically. You can even be suicidal. But when you get close to Jesus you find out God didn't make any paper plates! If you think you're not worth much, you are so wrong about who you are. And anyone who's treated you like you're not worth much, they are clueless about who you are. The One who knows what you're worth is the One who gave you your life in the first place, who gave you your worth in the first place - your Creator. And here's how He feels about you. It's in our word for today from the Word of God, Exodus 19:5. "You will be My treasured possession." God says you're treasured; you're fine china. You're too valuable to throw away. But there's more in God's appraisal of your worth. He says in Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship." Now, workmanship isn't just thrown together; it's no accident. You're a masterpiece. You're a handmade creation of God the Creator. And then He goes on to say in that verse, "You are designed for good works, which He's prepared in advance for us to do." See, you are uniquely created to make a unique difference in people's lives. But there's more! 1 Corinthians 6:20 says, "You were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." God says you're a treasure, He says you're His workmanship, and you're the one He paid a lot for. Look, you can tell how much a person values something by how much they're willing to pay for it. Well, God paid for you with the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus. And even though you and I have left His creator's plan for us, we've sinned; He wants you back so much that He sent His Son to do the dying for your sin. To pay the death penalty in your place. You're special, so don't believe the lies that your brain keeps telling you that you're a paper plate, you're worthless, you keep being tempted to throw yourself away. You are fine china, reserved for special purposes. If you feel like you're not worth much, it may be because you've never begun a relationship with the One who gave you worth in the first place. Who feels so deeply about you, who loves you so sacrificially. Listen, don't believe the lies about who you are anymore. Find out the truth of your worth. It happens when you give yourself to the man who died on a cross for you, for the sin that actually just dumps all kinds of lies on our worth. This could be the day that you say, "Lord I take this life of mine out of my hands, I put it into your hands. I'm putting my total trust in the man who died for my sin. You run it from here on." That's a new start. That's a new beginning. It's what our website is all about. I urge you to check it out as soon as you can - ANewStory.com. Start living like the treasure that your Creator says you are.

The funeral plans for Matt were in the works. The Park Service had announced that Matt was one of five people who had been killed in a plane crash on a mountainside in Montana. The funeral never happened. Suddenly, Matt's bereaved parents heard the stunning news: although he had been badly injured, their son, along with one other Forest Service worker, had just been rescued alive, miles from the crash site. Rescue workers at the scene of the crash had concluded that the charred wreckage and the scattered human remains indicated that the crash had been "un-survivable." But amazingly, Matt and his fellow worker hiked for 29 hours, often in subfreezing temperatures, until they reached a highway where a motorist picked them up. One news magazine called it, "A Miracle in the Snows of Montana" (Newsweek, October 4, 2004). I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bringing Back a Loved One." Many a parent with a child away from God has despaired of them ever coming out of the spiritual death that they've chosen. There may be wreckage, there may be damage, injuries, but it's way too soon to think it's over. If someone you love is away from the Lord and hope is sometimes hard to hang onto, God has a promise for you today in Psalm 126:5-6. It's our word for today from the Word of God and it's a good one. He says: "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." All those months and years of praying and weeping and sowing the seed of God's Word in their life will not return un-harvested. How God does it, when God does it, whether or not you may even be here to see it is totally in God's hands. But you can be sure the Shepherd is persistently, skillfully pursuing that lost sheep you love. And that He loves so much more. Remember, He's more concerned about the one who's lost than the ninety-nine who are doing okay. I can't begin to list the wanderers and rebels that my heart has ached for over the years; so many who had tasted the goodness of God but who wandered away - some of whom are still wandering. Some of whom have gloriously come home to Jesus, now living for Him with the fervor of one who loves much because they've been forgiven much. Through all these battles for people away from Jesus, I've learned a couple of simple principles that are grounded in Scripture. They've been anchors when it looked like there was no hope. First, remember the difference between a chapter and a book. These dark times in the life of that one you love are not the whole book - they're a chapter, or even a series of chapters. But many a book with sad chapters has had a happy ending. Don't judge the ending by the dark chapters in the middle of a book. Don't decide the game is lost because your team is losing at halftime. If you think it's over, you may actually contribute to their continued wandering by resorting to nagging that will only drive them farther away, by compromise and accepting what can never be acceptable before God. By slowly giving up on your prayer of faith for them, or by just withdrawing from them when your unconditional love may actually be their best hope. See, when someone you love is the least lovable, that's when they need your love the most. Remember, as long as there's breath, there's hope. It just isn't over so long as they have breath to cry out to God for rescue. So keep on fighting for them in the Throne Room of Almighty God with defiant faith - faith that defies the devil's lie that "it's over. What's the use?" Keep on loving them. Keep on gently sowing seed, as the Holy Spirit opens up natural opportunities. Keep on asking God to make their sin unsatisfying to them, and cry out to the Lord, "Do whatever it takes, Lord, within Your will, to bring them to You!" Jesus is still bringing back alive loved ones that had been spiritually given up for dead.

I had the cutest little guy join me on my hike. I was in the country exploring a trail that wound along the creek and at first I just saw this little flash of black and white fur toddling along through the grass not far from me. He was all black, except for a nice white stripe all the way down his back, a big bushy tail, a cute little almost kitten-like face. Yes, it was a skunk! Two problems: one little spray and my wife wouldn't get near me for the next week. Secondly, it was daytime and skunks are nocturnal animals. If they're out in the daytime they can have rabies. So what did I do? I did the only thing any guy with any brains would do. I walked quickly the other direction, and I did not have to bury my clothes that day. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Mistakes That Mess Up Sex." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4, written by the creator of love and sex. I mean, the Inventor knows best, right? It starts out by saying, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified." That word doesn't mean you're wearing a halo and a white robe. It literally talks about being kept special. Now, He says that it is God's will that you should "avoid sexual immorality." That means any sexual relationship outside the boundaries of your marriage to your lifetime partner. And then He says His will is that "each of you should learn to control his own body." This unique, powerful love gift is too special to ruin. So God, the Inventor, sums up His strategy for staying pure. And you might think of it as the skunk approach. See, I knew there was only one way to keep from getting the skunk's worst; don't play with him, even if he looks like a cute little kitty. And don't try to resist him. You'll lose! Avoid him, man! That's how God says we can protect the beauty of no regrets sex. Avoid immorality. That's His Word! Don't get anywhere near the opportunity or the urge to do it outside of marriage. In practical terms I think it means avoiding four mistakes that can take you farther than you ever intended to go. First, you avoid spending a lot of time alone. If you've got feelings for someone and you're with them for a very long time in a situation where you could get very physical, chances are you will. Secondly, avoid exceeding the speed limit. In other words, don't even get near the point where your body and mind are preparing themselves for sexual intercourse. Because you cannot shift the car into reverse at 70 miles an hour. Thirdly, avoid feeding your fantasies by watching things or listening to things that will just fuel your lust and make it even harder to control. And finally, avoid squandering the innocent expressions of affection. Don't give away little things like holding hands, or a simple hug or a kiss. You need to guard those and make those special too. If I hadn't known any better, that skunk seemed to almost have a sign on him that kind of said, "I'm cuddly! Come play with me." I would not have been the same after that. Don't let sex too soon or adulterous sex lure you to get so close to something or to someone that it will cost you more than you ever intended to pay and take you where you never intended to go, and steal from you what you never meant to lose, and leave scars you never imagined. By the way, you say, "Ron, yeah, great! A little late for me. I already made those mistakes. I wish I could have it back." You can't. But you can be clean and you can be forgiven. That is what Jesus died for. The very nights, the very experiences that you remember with regret and guilt and shame, He died to forgive you of those. The Bible says you are a new creation when you come to Him. If you want that experience of a brand new start, a fresh beginning, come to Jesus and tell Him you're His and you want to be His from now on. Our website is all about this relationship. Check it out - it's ANewStory.com. And if you're facing temptation, if you're feeling the pressure, don't panic! Don't fight it. Do what God, the Inventor, says, "Run from it!"

I've often awakened in the morning to a local news station. Great way to wake up. Or check your phone for news. It gets your day off to a really cheerful start. You can hear about a war or two, a little terrorism, some of last night's fatalities. Oh yeah, that will get you started! Actually it's not the news I'm actually so interested in, it's the weather I want to hear. And when you hear the weather, then you can plan your day's wardrobe and your activities, you know, that's a good planning tool. In fact, if I'm in charge of an important meeting or an event that's coming up in a few days, I want the five-day weather forecast. Okay, it's not always right, but it does help me anticipate some of the problems and some of my responses and how we ought to plan. Recently I read a long, long, long-range forecast; one that should help you and help me as we make our plans. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Last Days Forecast." Our word for today from the Word of God; it comes from Matthew 24. The disciples are asking in verse 3, "What will be the sign of your coming, Jesus, and of the end of the age?" Well, people have been curious about this for two thousand years, "What's it going to look like before the Lord comes and He writes that last chapter of human history?" Well, Jesus, in part of His answer says, "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation..." Sounds a little familiar doesn't it? "...kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains." Well, our world really seems to be fitting this description in a lot of ways: religious turbulence, merging with international turbulence, merging with turbulence in nature, all coming together at one time. When that happens, Jesus said, "I'm coming." What will the weather be in the church during those countdown days? Listen to this from verse 12: "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold. But he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come." Now, you'd think that in these terminal days with everything turbulent that Christians would become more and more excited and more and more aggressive in their witness for Christ. But there are two groups, basically, in the last day's weather forecast...the cold and the hot. And it says, "The love of most will grow cold." You know, cooling is gradual, you don't even notice it. And it might be that you've been drifting toward coldness and you haven't even realized it. Because the way the world has become so corrupt, you still look good, but really you've cooled off tremendously in your walk with the Lord. You gradually start to spend less time with Him. You watch what you wouldn't have watched before, and you listen to what you wouldn't have listened to. You go where you wouldn't have considered going only a short time ago. Sin slowly becomes more attractive; the things of God less attractive. You're not exploded; you're just eroded - a deserter. But it's a time for heroes too, because Jesus said, "There will be those who will become hotter, who take their stand, who spread the gospel of the kingdom to the ends of the world." So, you're either going to become colder or bolder; no third group. Pick your group. You're becoming one or the other right now. Most, Jesus said, become colder. You know why? Because colder doesn't require any choice; you just drift to coolness. Bolder? Now, that demands a choice, "I will take a stand. I will not compromise. I will be unembarrassed about my association with Jesus Christ." If you haven't chosen bolder, you're probably getting colder. You know, I'm thinking there's not a lot of time left on God's clock. We don't know but it's looking like the kind of world that Jesus said He would come to. This is a time for passion, for action! The cold winds of earth's last days might be blowing right now. It's time to write your own personal forecast, "Very hot for Jesus until He comes!"

It wasn't my idea to get a dog. But, I did get pretty attached to little Missy. She became a part of the family; a little shih tzu dog. Now, I never called her Missy Hutchcraft. I mean, I didn't make her a member of the family, but she was cute. Getting a dog was my youngest son's idea. He really wanted a dog and I explained we couldn't afford a dog. And he said the magic words, "She's free!" to which I responded, "Okay, there goes my last argument." And I succumbed. Now, my son kept Missy in the kitchen most of the time, and when she was being housebroken, he would put a gate on the door of the kitchen so she couldn't get into the hallway and the rest of the house. It was a big help to my wife and to me, because he was gone most of the day. We didn't have to check on her as much. Of course she didn't want to stay in the kitchen. No, she wanted out, as any dog would. Four times this dog chewed through the plastic mesh on the gate. So we'd come in and we'd find her loose in the house doing things she shouldn't do. Then we got some strong electrical tape and put it over the hole. Well, she chewed and chewed. She finally chewed the tape until she got a piece loose. We found her running across the kitchen but slightly slowed down. See, she had a piece of tape stretched from one paw to the other, effectively handcuffing... or paw-cuffing that little dog until we could do a little tape removal surgery. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Freedom Can Leave You Stuck." Our word for today from the Word of God, John 8:34, the words of Jesus, "I tell you the truth. Everyone who sins is a slave to sin." Well, that's the ironic consequences of not living God's way, like our dog when she was a puppy. See, we see the gates that God has put up as confinement. "You know, it's really hard to stay married in my situation." "It's really hard to keep sex inside the fence of marriage." "It's hard to tell the truth if you only knew my situation." So we want to get outside the gate, because it's going to cost too much to do the right thing. "It's going to be hard not to be unequally yoked. I really love this girl/I really love this guy." "I don't know if I can stay in the gate." Maybe you've looked at God's boundaries and you've decided there's something beyond the gate that you want. Missy thought she'd get free and she got stuck. So will you, or so have you. There's something enslaving about sin. Oh, that voice says, "Oh, you could have just a little. Do it just once. Just a little compromise won't hurt." But soon you're in deeper than you ever imagined you would be. You didn't realize the scars this would cause. You didn't realize the guilt, the consequences, the darkness that would start to grow inside of you. You didn't realize how you were going to lose self-respect and you lose your closeness to God and maybe even some of your reputation. You didn't realize the difficulty of trying to stop it when you started it. Where are the brakes? It was easy to find the accelerator. Jesus said, "Whoever commits sin is a slave to sin." If you haven't crossed that boundary, would you run back from the edge? Freedom is never found in sin; only bondage. Don't be conned by the Devil. You say, "Well, I've gone beyond the boundary. I have gone beyond the gate. I've disobeyed God, and I'm paying for it." Maybe you're stuck. There's such good news two verses later in John 8:36. "If the Son of God sets you free, you will be free indeed." That's what a Savior means. Jesus wants to lovingly hold you in His arms and cut loose the things that have tied you up. It may hurt, but it is worth it. There is a cross where Jesus paid for every wrong choice you've ever made, every person you've ever hurt. Bring that garbage to His cross where millions of people have been forgiven and set free. You say, "I don't belong to this Savior. I've never experienced clean inside. This is your day! I hope you'll go to our website. Right there, you'll see the path that will take you right into a personal relationship with God where you will be forgiven. That website is ANewStory.com. There's nothing good outside the gate. Remember, when you sin to break free, you don't end up free. You end up stuck!

I never had a sister, but my sons have one, which means I have a daughter. Now, our oldest son is two years younger than our daughter, who is the oldest, but it was interesting to see as I watched their relationship what I had missed growing up. Oh, there was a lot of kidding around; the kids called it "busting." They had some exciting disagreements growing up because, well, they're two very different people. There were some hugs, there was some advice, there was sometimes some conflict, but one thing was really clear in that relationship - no one had ever better do my son's sister wrong. Even though he's two years younger, he was her personal - I'm going to make up a word here - "look-out-forer." I'm looking out for her! In fact, when any guy wanted to date her, he had to pass my son's very high requirements first. Oh, he's younger, but he was his sister's protector. Now, if you're a sister, it's nice to have a brother like that. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Protecting Our Sisters." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Timothy 5, and I'm going to be reading verse 2. It's a road map for relationships between, well, men and women in general, but particularly between young men and young women. He is addressing Timothy, who is a young man, and Paul says, "Treat the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers," and then get this part, "and treat the younger women as sisters with absolute purity." Now, if you grow up in our culture today, that's not the message you're getting. Oh, no, our culture says, "Hey, if you're a young man, treat the younger woman as a conquest; as a lover." But that's not God's design. He says, "Treat the younger women as sisters." Now, what does that mean? Does that mean you tease them all the time? Does that mean you argue with them, which brothers and sisters are known to do? No. Do you know what I think it's referring to? See, the love of a brother for a sister is, after all is said and done, protective love. It's like my son and daughter, "I'm not going to let anything happen to you that could hurt you, Sis." That's how young men are supposed to view young women. Not as targets, not as conquests, not as things to use. That's why it says, "Treat them with absolute purity" so you won't hurt them. You're supposed to guard your sister. That means you look at the women around you and say, "I will not use you. I will not push you for physical involvement. I won't even think about taking your greatest gift from you - your virginity. I won't let my mind wander into scenes where I reduce you to being a thing. I will guard your reputation, sister. I will guard your purity. I will guard your character." Now, that's manhood! And you know what? Ask a lot of young women today, and they'll tell you there is a critical shortage of that kind of man. See, what happens is you begin to say, "I'm going to develop some sisters here." So, you begin to develop friendships, and not just romances. And that becomes more important than just a passionate romance. You open the door to some real legitimate closeness, and really getting to know somebody. And you do that by finally throwing your sexual agenda out the window and developing a real friendship. Now, if you're a woman, by the way you dress, the way you act, the way you talk, the way you move, be sure you're encouraging this kind of relationship. Remember this: they always told me when I was fishing that the kind of bait you offer determines the kind of catch you get. Act like you want brothers. Act like you want guys who will be friends. And men, cultivate sisters; a level of sharing and caring that the sexual conquerors will never even get close to. Treat them with dignity, with respect. Absolute purity. Treat her like family. She's your sister, man! And every sister needs a brother.

John Parker had it made. After two attempts to escape being a slave to a Southern slave owner, he had finally gotten his freedom. He chose to live in Ripley, Ohio, right on the freedom side of the Ohio River. He got a house and he got a good job as a factory worker. In fact, ultimately, he owned a foundry and he invented many processes that were used widely in that industry. He was safe, secure and successful. But night after night, John Parker risked it all. Under cover of darkness, he rowed across the river to the Kentucky side - slave territory. If he was caught, he could lose his freedom. He could lose his life. But in spite of the risks, John Parker went looking for runaway slaves. And he found them and rowed them across the river to the freedom side. It's actually believed that John Parker was responsible for at least 900 slaves going free. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Setting People Free." A liberated slave, taking great risks, because he can't leave other slaves where he once was. Now, that's a hero! That's the kind of hero Jesus is looking for right now among His followers. It's the kind of hero who, humanly speaking, is the only hope for some folks that you're close to ever having a chance at heaven. The Bible graphically describes the bondages we're all in until we're set free by Jesus by His life-saving work on the cross. In John 8:34, He said "whoever commits sin is a slave to sin." It's true. We can't stop being selfish, we can't stop being hurtful, thinking dirty, talking trash, being negative, or prideful, or angry, or self-absorbed. We're addicted to our sin. The Bible also describes us as being "without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). It also says that all our lives we have been "held in slavery to the fear of death." (Hebrews 2:15) We're nervous about dying because we know God's on the other side, and we might not be ready to meet Him. And ultimately, our family and friends and coworkers who haven't been to Jesus to have their sins forgiven, will in God's own words, "be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Thank God, someone came to you and me with the liberating news of what Jesus did on the cross, and you were set free by the Son of God! Now the question is, can you be content to just be free and forgiven yourself and let the sin-slaves all around you stay where they are? Whose responsibility is it to take the risks to rescue them? You're the liberated slave that Jesus has placed in their world. He's counting on you. They're counting on you and they don't even know it. Which brings us to our Lord's orders in our word for today from the Word of God in Jude, verse 23 - eight words that describe why you are where you are, with the people you are with all the time. "Snatch others from the fire and save them." You were rescued. Now you need to be a rescuer. If you'll evaluate the fears that keep you from "crossing the river" to bring them out, you'll notice those fears all have one thing in common. They're all about "me." They might reject me. I might mess it up. But rescue is all about them. A rescuer is still afraid of what might happen to him if he goes in for the rescue, but he's driven by a greater fear. What will happen if he doesn't go in for the rescue? What will happen to them? Someone will die without a chance to live. Jesus rescued you to be a rescuer. You are the liberated slave that He set free whose mission is to liberate others who are where you were. Jesus gave everything to snatch you from the fire. If you leave others where you were, you'll have to explain to Jesus why you did. You are their chance!

Our preschool grandson at the time? I think he overheard the weather forecast before his bedtime. It went something like this, "Chance of rain, maybe a few snow flurries." I guess that's all he needed to hear, because he began to pray fervently that night, "Jesus, please make it snow tomorrow." I know he's not the first child to pray that. Now, flurries are barely snow, but apparently the mention of them is enough for fuel for hope, and for faith...especially faith. And when he went to bed that night, his mom and dad...they prayed too. They said, "Dear Jesus, would you please answer a little boy's prayer?" Well, the next morning, this great scene: the little guy is standing in his jammies, in front of the big window in the living room, staring out at a day that was not white. It was just plain old gray. And then suddenly, there they were. The first flurries. Well actually, flakes. He started running around the living room shouting, "Thank You, Jesus! Thank You, Jesus! You made it snow!" And it kept snowing, by the way, appreciably more than the weatherman had forecast. Not only did Jesus answer a little boy's prayer, but a little boy showed us what faith looks like, asking God for what only He can do, then expecting Him to do it. Actually, standing at the window, watching for the answer to come. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Faith That Expects." Now, our word for today from the Word of God is Psalm 5:3. It's a verse we've had up in our prayer chapel. David says, "O Lord, You hear my voice...I lay my requests before You..." But wait, that's not the end of it. Here comes the faith part: "and wait in expectation." You know, I regularly "lay my request before" Him. But how often do I "go to the window," looking out for that answer; expecting Him to answer? You know, you can come to Jesus and you can talk to Him about something, but you can walk away and you're still carrying it. You haven't left it with Him. You haven't trusted it to Him. I've done that way too many times. See, faith works this way. It walks into the Throne Room of Almighty God, who we know now created and controls, like, two trillion galaxies. That's your Heavenly Father. But you walk into that Throne Room and you're all bent over. You're carrying the heavy burden that you've been carrying, but faith walks out standing tall. The burden isn't there any more. You know why? You left it at His Throne. Now, if I'm all bent over when I walk out of the Throne Room; if I'm still carrying that heavy backpack after I've prayed about it, then I talked to Him about it but I didn't trust Him with it. And that's where faith comes in. You know, Jesus made this incredible promise. He said, "If you ask anything in prayer, believe that you have received it..." Now, that's past tense. You haven't got it yet, but "believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Sure, the "snow" doesn't always come, and it doesn't always come on my schedule. But I have got a Father who loves me and Who only says no if He's working on something that's for my good and better than what I have asked for. I remember reading in Tim Keller's book on prayer where he said that "God does answer every prayer but He gives us what we would have prayed for if we knew what God knows." I wonder how many times the answer didn't come because I didn't really believe Him for it? After all, the Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him" (Hebrews 11:6). I know who I want to be. I want to be the little boy at the window.

There's that old country song "Country Roads take me home to the place I..." Well, you know. Sometimes I thought that was my wife's national anthem. She grew up in the Ozarks and boy, she had the memories. Most of them were down some country road, unpaved, rutted, rocky and dusty. With a standard rear-wheel drive vehicle, you'd begin to wonder if you'd ever get back from some of those roads, especially if the weather had been bad. On one of our drives down those country roads I noticed something. Everyone we met was driving a pickup truck with four-wheel drive. But anybody who lives where there are steep roads, rocky roads, muddy roads, or snowy roads, really should have a four-wheel drive vehicle. Because all four wheels are working to get you over something or out of something so that you can go wherever you couldn't in a rear-wheel drive vehicle. You can drive on all kinds of terrain in all kinds of weather if you've got that four-wheel drive. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Four Secrets for Being Unsinkable." Our word for today from the Word of God actually comes from my life's verse, Romans 8:37. But before we get to that, here is the context. Paul talks about these things that have gone on in his life: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword. Man, he just talked about the worst terrain life has to offer. So if you are on a rocky road or a slippery road right now, it's probably in that list somewhere. Or whatever you're going through is nothing worse than what's on that list. The response of someone who is living on spiritual four-wheel drive on those bad roads, Romans 8:37 - "In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Well, the Bible says here that we can live with four-wheel drive, conquering; more than conquering those things that sink most people. Tell me, how can you be an all-terrain, all-weather Christian, unsinkable especially with the kind of difficulties you're facing right now? Well Romans 8 describes that all-weather faith and gives us four secrets to it. Verse 28 says, "We know that in all these things God works for the good of those who love Him." First of all, you know there's a perfect plan. No matter how the road or the future looks, you embrace the plan. You trust in God believing that this road is part of something bigger than you can see. Secondly, you count on inexhaustible resources. Romans 8:32 says, "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things." The one who loved you enough to send His Son to die for you will not ever abandon you no matter how it may feel right now. Your fuel tank may run out, but His is inexhaustible. The third secret to this four-wheel drive faith; you hang on to unloseable love. Romans 8:39, "Nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Others may not be willing or able to go with you on this tough road, but you will not travel one mile alone if you've got Jesus. He will never abandon you. He is there! Last of all, this secret: you belong to an invincible Savior. Invincible. Verse 31: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" We're more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Whatever is bigger than you are, Jesus is bigger than it is. It's time you shift it into four-wheel drive for that bumpy road, that dangerous road ahead of you. There's a perfect plan, there are inexhaustible resources, there's unloseable love, and there's an invincible Savior. Do you have a personal relationship with this Jesus? Or is He a religion? Is He rituals? Is He just a belief? Have you ever reached out to Jesus and said, "Jesus, you're my only hope of being forgiven from my sin because of your death on the cross for me. My only hope of going to heaven is You. Today you can begin a relationship with Him by saying, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and check out, there, how you can get started with Him and know you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. Look, is there any road you can't handle, when with Jesus you can be more than a conqueror?

Back when my son and his friends were going into their sophomore year in high school playing football, they moved up to the junior varsity and the varsity team. And they got word that they were going to have triple sessions in August and September practices. That's exciting... triple sessions meant that you get to go, not for the regular two-hour practice of calisthenics, and running, and working hard, and running into things, and running into each other. No, you get to go for four hours. Hey, you guessed it: not even four... you get to go for six wonderful hours of that! Twelve different times before the season starts - triple sessions. And you should have heard them when they talked about it, or actually, you should have seen them. Their eyes kind of rolled back in their head, and their mouths drooped, and their shoulders sagged, and they'd go, "Triple sessions!" Well, the coach knew he had an inexperienced crop coming up, and he was the coach who got used to winning. So, he put them through some very demanding training. Of course, that's the price you pay to be a winner. They were state champs! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why the Coach is Working You So Hard." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 5 - it's about God's training program; He, of course, being the head coach. And verses 3 and 4 tell us this, starting out with a kind of curious phrase, "We also rejoice in our sufferings." Have you been doing that recently? Rejoicing? Well, that's really great that we're going through this hard time, isn't it? Well, Paul says, "We rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance character, and character hope." Well, there's that phrase, "rejoicing in our suffering." How can a football player rejoice in triple session workouts? How can he rejoice in them? Well, he knows if he thinks about it that this extra practice is making him stronger, he's getting more endurance, he's getting experience that will give him the edge when he gets in the game. He'll be a fourth-quarter player. He's ending up having "hope" as Paul says here. His hope is that he's going to win. We're going to have a winning season. We might walk off with the championship. I might have something special on the back of my jacket all year and for the rest of my high school career. See, his hope comes from the fact that he knows he's getting strong enough to win, and he won't get strong enough to win without double and triple sessions. He may hate the process; he's going to love the outcome. Now, notice in these verses how God gives us hope in the middle of our hard times. It might be hope that you need right now because there's a lot of pain and stress that you're experiencing. Maybe you've almost lost hope. Notice it says that suffering produces perseverance. Or some translations say "patience." In other words, by making it through hard times, you develop the ability to hang in there even when it hurts like that football player hurting all over. To wait for God's timing to say, "You know, I don't have to have an answer or relief right now." And that patience converts into character Paul says. Or another translation says "experience." You can look back and say, "You know, I've made it through something like this, and now I know I can do it." There's a confidence that comes from making it through something very, very hard. You can say, "I know I can do this with God's help. I know I can, because I've been here before." And the big things, the daunting things, the scary things don't look as big and daunting and scary any more. But see, people who have never handled anything tough, well, they're the ones who leave practice when it starts to hurt. They run from their problems instead of confronting them. Sometimes that's even why people think about ending their own life, because they've not handled the tough stuff, and they just want the pain to stop. Listen, stay in the ring. You're building experience and that's what gives hope in suffering. There's no way to develop this kind of strength, this kind of toughness, this kind of durability without suffering first. If the coach has scheduled a triple session for you right now, don't despair. Don't give up. Don't quit. Let suffering develop patience, let patience develop experience, let experience develop hope. Triple sessions build winners.

I had just finished up a great conference in Canada, and Michael, our Field Director, was there with me. We were walking back to our hotel to pack up and leave. I was really tired and pre-occupied when he handed me this envelope. I noticed a phone message written on it, and I distinctly remember Michael saying something when he handed it to me, but I was concentrating on that message that had been written on the envelope. I looked at who it was and I said to myself, "Oh, I already made that call." And since I was finished with the message, after I got in my room I threw the envelope away. When we got back to our office, somebody said, "Where is the check from the folks in Canada?" They were referring to the check for our ministry from the weekend. I said, "Michael has it." When they asked Michael, he said, "No, I gave it to Ron." "You did?" You guessed it. It was in the envelope I threw away. I don't think I have ever thrown away a check in my life. Well, they stopped payment and they re-issued it. But I was treated for acute embarrassment. See, I didn't know what the envelope was worth, so I just threw it away. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Throwing Yourself Away." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Leviticus 26:12-13. It's an important passage for a lot of us who don't realize how valuable we are. See, the people here, the ancient Jews, had been mistreated in Egypt, they'd been used, they'd been hurt, and they'd been belittled and enslaved. And they started to believe that's what they were worth. Does that sound familiar at all? Well, here's what God said to them, and maybe to you. "I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be My people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt so you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bonds of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high." And here's what God says about whose they are and who you are: "My people, no longer slaves, walking with your head held high." See, they were out of Egypt, but Egypt wasn't out of them. They were out of bondage, but the bondage wasn't out of them. God was telling them what royalty they really were, that it was about time they started living like the treasure they were. Maybe that's what God is trying to tell you. You've been making the same mistake about your worth that I did with that valuable envelope; you think it's trash. Maybe you've felt like a loser, a reject, a victim. So you've been throwing yourself away, and there are a lot of ways to do that. You can throw yourself away academically by not trying, not working very hard at work, by getting sexually involved, maybe throwing yourself away chemically or alcoholically. You could be trashing yourself by what you do for pleasure, by settling for bad relationships. Maybe you've even thought about suicide. It could be you just don't try because you don't think you're worth it. You're wrong. You are God's handmade creation. His people, no longer a slave; head held high. You're making a mistake that breaks the heart of your Creator. You believe you are trash because some people treated you like trash. No, you are who your Creator says you are. They don't get to tell you who you are. You were created by God. You are loved by God. You're purchased by God through the death of His Son. You belong to God if you've given yourself to Him. You are not trash! You are treasure! I looked at a valuable envelope. I thought it was trash; I threw it away. I was wrong. It was worth a lot. Maybe some people have looked at you and thought you weren't worth much, and they treated you like trash. Well, they didn't know who you are. But you need to know, whether they know or not. Don't break God's heart any more by throwing away what He thinks is worth so much He would die for you. He would die for the very wrong things you have done, for every rebellion against Him. You were worth the life of Christ, His Son. This day, why don't you step into His love by opening your heart to Him? I'd love to help you do that. And I can if you'll visit our website ANewStory.com. I think if you can say to Jesus, "I'm Yours, today." You could start to live like the treasure that He says you are.

If you've flown commercially, you know you have to go through a security checkpoint before you can get to your gate. And for those security personnel who man those metal detectors and X-ray machines, there is a four-letter word they won't tolerate. You know what it is, it's the word "bomb." I mean, you can see signs warning you not to even joke about explosives or bombs or anything. And I'm glad! The slightest hint of the possibility of a bomb has been known to literally shut down an airport for hours - I've been there when that happened. That's fine with me if they want to check that out. Nobody in an airport wants to hear the word "bomb" because of what that word represents. That's something that could destroy everything. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Word Hell Doesn't Want You to Say." You know, there's a word like that in hell. It's a word that the devil and his forces hate because it can destroy everything they have planned. Like the signs at the airport warning people not to bring up the word bomb, the devil is doing everything he can to stop you and me from bringing up this word, because it's like a bomb in hell. He's been trying to edit that word out for a very long time - including in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 4:17-18. Peter and John have been proclaiming Christ in Jerusalem, and the Sanhedrin - the same people who engineered the crucifixion of Christ - want to silence his followers. The Bible says they reached this conclusion: "'To stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.' Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." There it is: the word the devil doesn't want to hear - Jesus - because of the power of that name to destroy all his plans. So the devil tries to make that name the issue, 2,000 years ago or today. In first-century Jerusalem, the authorities didn't care if the believers talked about God or the Scriptures as long as they didn't mention the name of Jesus. Not much has changed has it? It's OK to talk about God, the Bible, family values, spirituality, your church, but don't mention the name. Satan hates that name and he does everything he can to edit out the name of Jesus. All too often we fall right into his trap. We don't want to be offensive or we don't want to turn anyone off, and a voice says, "Hey, just talk about God. That won't bother anybody." So we talk about God in our lives but we avoid the name. Christian musicians write songs that vaguely talk about "Him" but too often they avoid the name of Jesus so their music can cross over to the unbelieving world. Even Christian leaders try to avoid conflict, sometimes, by watering down the name. But I love the way the first Christians responded to the pressure to edit out Jesus, "There is no other name," they said, "under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Wow! The power is in the name of Jesus. Philippians 2:10 says, "at the name of Jesus every knee will bow!" Satan knows it and Satan hates it, so he's trying to get you and me to choke on the name. For 20 centuries our enemy has been trying to censor the name of Jesus. Don't be a part of his godless crusade. Don't be ashamed of the One who died publicly on a cross for you! The people who don't care about Him, the people who hate Him aren't afraid to say His name. Why would the people who love Him be afraid to speak His name? The devil is afraid you will mention the name; you will talk about Jesus, because that name is a spiritual bomb that can destroy everything he's planning to do. You might very well hear the name of Jesus several times today spoken irreverently from the lips of people who have no love for Him, no respect for Him. How can you, for whom He died, who loved you so much; how can you be silent about His name?

You might just remember turning your television on and there would be Gilligan's Island. Maybe, you can even hear the theme song playing in your brain. It was a big hit when it first came out. Now, here's Gilligan, who's the terminally stupid first mate of the S.S. Minnow. There's the millionaire, his wife (you're probably thinking of the song now if you can go back that far), the professor, the movie star... OK, you know, the characters are pretty well-known. The plot was very simply summed up in the theme song. These people went out on the S.S. Minnow for a three-hour tour. The storm blew them into some unknown island where they were stranded until the series finally ended years later. Some three-hour tour, huh? I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ending Up Where You Never Wanted to Go." By the way, what is the Gilligan Syndrome? Well, it's going farther than you wanted to; staying longer than you planned to. It might be happening to you right now. Jesus told us about a young man it happened to many years ago; our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 15, beginning in verse 13. It's after this man has asked his dad for the family inheritance that's coming to him. While his dad's still alive. "Not long after that," the Bible says, "the younger son got together all he had, went off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father." He was just going for a fling on the wild side, just a three-hour tour. He almost never made it back. What was supposed to bring him pleasure and happiness did for just a little while. Ultimately it left him stranded on this spiritual island all by himself. "He squandered his wealth," Jesus said. In other words, he wasted what he'd been given. Have you done that? He spent everything he had, it says. He was alone except for the pigs. The Bible says, "The way of a transgressor is hard." It always is - sooner or later. Except it's sin that carries us to a place that's hard to get back from. Here's the ugly truth about sin: it will always take you farther than you wanted to go, it will keep you longer than you planned to stay, and it will cost you more than you ever thought you'd pay. And, maybe you've seen that already. And the bill has come. If it hasn't, it will. Maybe, you're listening and you say, "That's all happened to me." Or maybe you're just starting down a sin road that looks exciting, and profitable, and desirable, and you think it will be just a three-hour tour. Sin never is. Listen to God's statement in James 1:15, "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." It will take you where you never meant to go. If you feel like you're just too far away to ever get back, you can get back the same way the Prodigal Son did, but only that way. It says he "got up and went to his father." It's time for you to run to God instead of running from Him any longer. You say, "He'll never take me." Look, that's why Jesus told this story, to let you know that God is waiting for you to come into His waiting arms. It says "His father saw him. He ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." God proved He wants you home with Him by sending His Son to die for your very rebellion against Him. For all that you've wasted with your sin, He says come home to Me. He's saying it to your heart right now as you listen to this. Do you want to get home? Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I believe some of the sin you died for was mine. I am yours as of today." I'd love to share more information with you at our website ANewStory.com. God will come running to you because of what Jesus did on the cross for you. Haven't you been gone from God long enough? It's time to come home.

It was Christmas Eve a long time ago, and we got an emergency S.O.S. phone call from a school principal that we knew in Patterson, New Jersey. She actually had promised to supply Christmas toys for some of her students who were burned out families, and I think at that time Patterson was one of the arson capitols of the country. Actually, she had come up short and it was Christmas Eve. So - this emergency call was asking if we could help. Well, I was pretty thrilled to see our kids respond. They dropped everything and started digging into their old toys for things to give, and then came the fire engine. It was my oldest son's favorite. It was this big, new, bright red Tonka fire engine. And with both hands he carried it upstairs and extended it to me to be put in the Christmas bag. And I said, "Oh, son, are you sure you want to give this? I mean, I don't want you to feel bad about this tomorrow." I think he was almost offended. He looked at me with those big, blue eyes and he said, "Dad! Isn't this what Jesus coming here is all about?" Oh, man, I melted. You see, even at his young age, my son knew that even your most precious possessions really belong to the Lord and are to be held loosely, whether they're toy trucks or the children who play with them. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hug Them Tightly, But Hold Them Loosely." Our word for today from the Word of God, it's from 1 Samuel 1. It's about a mother who could not have wanted her child more. Her name is Hannah. She has suffered many childless years, frustrated years. She gives God a desperate prayer, "Lord, give me a child." And He gives her a glorious answer in the person of a baby - Samuel. She says in verse 20, after the baby comes, "I will name him Samuel because I asked the Lord for him." Then in verse 22, it says, "Hannah did not go up to the temple. She said to her husband, 'After the boy is weaned, I will take him and present him before the Lord and he will live there at the temple always.'" She wants him to be raised for the Lord's service by the High Priest. Verse 27: "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." Man! Hannah loved her child dearly, but she held him loosely. You know, I think many of us Christian parents can say, "Whatever You want, Lord, about everything we have except maybe my son or my daughter." You see, it's one thing for our children to need us; it's something else for us to need them too much. Had Hannah needed Samuel too much, she would have restricted God's training, and God's movement, and God's plans for his life. Without realizing it, we often end up standing in the way of God's best for our kids because, well, we might lose their attention, or their closeness, or their help that we need. Or the identity that they give us. Maybe our dreams for them are different from God's dreams for them. But we continue to press our expectations, maybe even using spiritual language to do it. It's so easy to let our children become an extension of our ego, our hopes, our dreams rather than letting them simply be God's servants. Maybe you even have a child God is calling into His service and you're kind of standing in the way. We just dare not forget that our children are God's property trusted to us. We dare not hijack them from His service to be in ours. Oh, love them deeply, but don't hold them back. Hug them tightly, but hold them loosely.

It was another one of those tragic shootings that killed four students (and the shooter) at Marysville High School in Washington state. It shocked everybody. When the identity of the 15-year-old shooter was revealed, it was all the more shocking. Because he wasn't the typical loner, the bullying victim, the outsider. He was the Homecoming prince, a football player, the popular guy. But, as it turns out, there were hints of the anger and anguish in his soul. You could read about it on Facebook and Twitter. See, social media is the new confessional. That's where he spilled his romantically broken heart, his despair, his rage. Social networks have become the new place to dump the contents of your heart. All the contents of your heart, even the dark stuff. It's a catharsis, but it's not a cure. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where to go Before the Explosion." The authorities and talking heads analyzed for a long time that shooting. Teenage angst. Gun violence. Warning signs. For my account, I found myself asking what we could learn about handling life's shattering moments. Without making tragic choices. Well here's some lessons I think: First, don't stuff it. Buried pain is a ticking time bomb. A lot of us were raised to believe that our pain and brokenness should be kept inside, hidden behind this "I'm fine" mask. And all the while, this volcano is building inside. And there's grief, and there's anger, and desperation, and feeling alone - I'll tell you, if you stuff those things they just keep growing. They morph into an emotional monster. Until that emotional monster explodes, doing irreversible damage. Like the eruption at Mt. St. Helen's years ago. The explosion didn't last long. What was blown away is gone forever. And then, don't store it. Treat the wound before the infection sets in. Talk about it when the wound is fresh. Before it submerges. And don't take it to someone who's in the same swamp. You say, "but they get me." Well when we're broken, we don't just need someone who gives us sympathy. We need the objectivity of someone who's completely outside our situation. Someone who can help us see the big picture. Because pain distorts reality, convincing us that this wound will never heal. That everything's dark. But there's never been a winter without a spring. Or a sunset without a sunrise. We need someone with perspective. And another lesson is to have your "go to" person before your storm hits. When you live in "Tornado Alley," they tell you to "know where your shelter is before there's an emergency." That's a good idea emotionally, too. Decide what wise, objective person you can trust with your deepest, darkest feelings. As soon as they hit. I'm so grateful I have found my "911" person. He's the one I've been able to trust with feelings I didn't dare tell anyone. He has calmed my frantic soul when nothing else could. He's pointed me to hope when it looked like there wasn't any. He actually said, "The Lord has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted." The Bible says, "He is close to the brokenhearted and He saves those who are crushed in spirit." That's Jesus. And the more broken I've been, the closer He has seemed. And as far as having someone who understands? No one has ever been more wounded, more broken than He was. Abandoned. Attacked. Crucified. Of course, I'm not alone in finding refuge in the open arms of Jesus. So many people have found that, for a very long time, they've accepted His invitation: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and heavily burdened, and I will give you rest." This man who loved you enough to die on a cross for you, who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave and conquer the biggest monster of all - death - He stands ready to come into your life, at your invitation. If you have never had a moment when you began a personal relationship with the savior, where you've told Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Would you tell Him that today? Get to our website. We've laid out, there, the path where you can be sure you belong to Him. That website's ANewStory.com. See we're all Humpty Dumpty at times. All the King's horses and all the King's men can't put us together again. But the King can.

I don't think this is going to come as a news flash to anybody who's been around very long, but the differences between men and women aren't just biological. For example, the difference between how a man and woman tell a story or relate an incident. The man sort of skims the surface; gives you the 30,000 feet view of things, and usually he can't even remember a lot of details. I often had to ask my wife, "When did that happen? Where were we? Who were we with again?" Now, when a woman tells the same story, oh, we get the color of the drapes, the weather forecast for the day, the expressions people had on their faces. And the man's going, "Okay, so what's the point? Where's this going?" Actually, this underscores an important difference between men and women; one that I think God designed. And the sooner we understand it, the sooner we'll really appreciate each other. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Man's Forest and Woman's Trees." Now, our word for today from the Word of God goes back to the very creation of man and woman, Genesis 2:15. Notice what man's assignment was. "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Adam, run the garden! That's no small job; he's got a big challenge. God has set him up to deal with the big picture. Now notice the creation of woman only a few verses later. It says, "The man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the air, the beasts of the field." Okay, he's busy running the big operation. "But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman..." I personally am very glad He did. And it says, "He made her from the rib He had taken out of the man, and He brought her to the man." Notice, He's created Eve now; not to run the garden, but with a focused concern. In this case, her concern is to be, largely, Adam. He would care about the big picture; she would care about the details. He would see the forest (or the garden); she would see the trees. And, you know, it's still that way today and we really need each other's perspective! See, if a man doesn't have a woman's perspective, he tends to trample over people without even knowing it while he's pursuing his conquest, his big deal. And the man without a woman, he misses the journey because all he can see is the destination. He doesn't see the problems until they are a crisis; maybe too late to deal with. A woman tends to see them sooner and soon enough to solve them. But see, if a woman doesn't have a man's perspective, she could be overwhelmed with worry over the details. She could tend to overreact to a bad situation because she's so close to it. To panic, maybe even make short-sighted decisions. But, man, it's dynamite when you put the two perspectives together. A man has this objective distance, and he's able to say, "Honey, come over here and let's look at the whole forest and we'll probably make a better decision and better choices." Created by God for that big picture, and there's nothing wrong with that. But then you put that with a woman's sensitive closeness, where she says, "Honey, come over here. Did you notice that there are trees dying and falling down in the forest? You've got to come and look at the smaller picture with me, because if more of these trees die there ain't going to be no forest anymore." See, put us together; we've got the whole story. The genius of our Creator. Let's celebrate the fact that we're different. She needs to see his forest, and he needs to see her trees.

Not long ago, someone told me about a pastor who stood at the pulpit one Sunday and announced this to his people, "Folks, I have some bad news, some good news, and some bad news." He had everyone's attention. "The bad news is that the roof on this church is shot. We have to replace it. But the good news is - we have the money. The bad news is - it's in your wallets!" I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Eternity Dollars." Interesting thought, huh? The money is there for the work God wants to do. But it's still in our wallets, our bank accounts, our toys. Recently, a friend who is the head of a major missions organization said, "It's taking our missionaries three years to get their support raised. And we've tried every creative means we can to change that, but nothing has worked." The experience of their missionaries is echoed by hundreds, and maybe thousands, of missionaries. Here they are ready to get to the people God has called them to reach - and they have to wait three years because they can't get enough financial support. Is it because there's no money to send them? Probably not. The money is there, it's just tied up in our wallets. And meanwhile, on the other end, people go on dying without Christ. In our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 10:14, God asks a series of questions that are very revealing and convicting...uncomfortably revealing really. Pouring out His heart for the people who don't yet know His Son died for them, God asks, "How, then, can they call on the One they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the One of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent?" Now where does this bottom line responsibility rest for whether or not lost people hear the Good News about Jesus? With the messenger? Not according to this. It's with the sender. God takes the process of the unreached hearing the message all the way back to its source - a sender. For 2,000 years the Great Commission of Jesus has depended on two kinds of people sacrificially playing their position - the senders and the sendees. In what could be the fourth quarter of God's game on earth, there is so much work to be done in Jesus' name. And it's going to take money. Money we may have tied up in things other than what God gave it to us for. He sacrificed His Son so the lost could be rescued. Many of His workers and messengers are willing to sacrifice to tell the lost about His Son. Rescuing the spiritually dying has always meant sacrifice - and no follower of Jesus is exempt. We can't delegate the sacrifices to a few spiritual warriors - God intends for all of us to spend and be spent in the cause for which His Son was spent. Lottie Moon was a great missionary hero, who made a real great impact on 19th-Century China. She asked some hard questions. She said, "Where is the silver and the gold that should be in the Lord's treasury to send out those men and women who are asking to be sent? Alas! Some are adding more fields to their broad lands. Some are spending on selfish indulgences. So these lost souls go down to death without ever having heard the name of Jesus. In the day of judgment, at whose door will lie this sin?" By God's grace, let's release the funds God gave us to send His messengers. Let's transfer funds in our account on earth to our eternal account in heaven. The soldiers of Christ are waiting for the bullets that they need to win this battle. It's in our hands!

"Wake up, kids!" We were in this campground - 3:30 in the morning. You ask, "What were you doing to your kids?" Well, I had planned a trip up Cadillac Mountain. I had been told this was the first place you could see the sunrise on the East Coast. I wanted to see this. I thought this would be a great adventure for my wife and my kids. Well, they weren't as enthused as I was, especially when I woke them up at 3:30. Oh, but I thought ahead. I bought donuts the night before, so when they woke up I stuffed a donut in each mouth so they wouldn't wake up the campground. Then we started my well-planned adventure up Cadillac Mountain. We wound our way up to the top, and there on the eastern horizon, in that chilly early morning air, we were rewarded with an unforgettable view of the clouds! Oh, I had listened to the weather forecast. They promised me sun. I had a family insurrection on my hands. We never did see the sun that morning. I had made my plans. I went to a lot of effort. I got to the top of my mountain, and this is not what I thought I would find there. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Disappointment Mountain." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 6:32. Jesus has been talking about clothes, and food, and earthly possessions. And He continues by saying, "The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." I think Jesus is sort of talking about two mountains you can climb. One I call Earth Stuff Mountain. Then He describes what I would call Kingdom Mountain, which is "seeking first the kingdom of God." Even if you're a follower of Jesus, unless you make a conscious, courageous choice to climb Kingdom Mountain with your life, you'll probably spend your best years and your best energy on Mount Earth Stuff. I remember this seminar where I was teaching years ago about Peaceful Living in a Stressful World. A man in his 30s was there, and he was very successful in business. He told me he'd come that day to find out how to be more successful. At the end of it he walked out in tears. He told me, "All these years I've been climbing the wrong mountain. And I want the rest of my life to be in the service of the Lord." It could be you've been climbing the wrong mountain too. Maybe you love Jesus, but you're really living mostly for earth stuff, for earth security, for earth significance. You have all your plans together, like when I tried to go up Cadillac Mountain. You've worked hard; you're getting to the top. But when you get to the top you say, "Wait a minute! Why am I so empty? This isn't the view I expected." It's called Disappointment Mountain. The Bible says God planted eternity in the hearts of men. So, we're built for eternal things. Earth stuff won't do it. We need something that lasts forever. You know, Jesus stands there to challenge your daily value system. Not your official beliefs, but your real decision-making value system. Would you let Him loosen your grip on all you've accumulated? Would you let Him change what you're aiming your best efforts at so it is compatible with your hunger for something eternal in your heart? The Bible says in the words of Jesus, as He asks this disturbing question, "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?" I wonder if that could be the pursuit you're on; the path you're on. You've gained so much. You've done well. You've fulfilled some of your dreams. But, it's the wrong mountain. Even if you get to the top you will not find what you're looking for. Because you were "created by Jesus and for Jesus" the Bible says. He says it's too high a price to pay to lose your soul and your eternity to think that somehow what you've got is going to be enough, even your religion. See, He came and died on a cross to remove the sin that keeps us across the Grand Canyon from the God who made us. And He would love to bring you together with Him today so you can finally have the end of a life that has been searching but not finding. Our website is about how to begin your relationship with Him. Would you take a few minutes and check it out - it's ANewStory.com. Because I can tell you, the view at the top of Mount Kingdom is all that your soul has longed for and all that your heart has been looking for.

We had a home of our own! The ministry I was working with in the New York area that is. We rented a facility for many years, and then God provided this rambling old home that we called our headquarters and the home of our ministry finally. And, it was a great gift, but it took a lot of work to get it in shape, like most old homes do. So, a lot of friends came in to help us with painting, and wallpapering, and electrical work. And then we were in, but one big job remained. See, the outside looked kind of shabby. It very much needed a good paint job. The problem was that our staff didn't have the time, and I'm not sure they really had the ability to do it right. And we for sure didn't have the real equipment to do a big painting job. Well, along came a friend of the ministry who is a painter. Bless his heart, he had the equipment, he had the ability. He said to us, "I'll make you a deal. You get the paint, you get some helpers, you tape up all the trim around the building, and I'll do the rest." He had a deal. Couldn't pass that one up! So, he would do what we couldn't do on this basis, "You get it ready, and I'll do the job." I know someone else who works like that. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Get It Ready, He'll Do The Job." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Kings 4. Let me begin reading at verse 1, "The wife of the man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, 'Your servant, my husband, is dead. And you know that he revered the Lord. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.' Elisha replied to her, 'How can I help you? Tell me what do you have in your house?' 'Well, your servant has nothing there at all,' she said, except a little oil.' Elisha said, 'Well, go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars, and don't ask for just a few.'" I like that part. "'Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.' So she left him, shut the door, and they brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, 'Bring me another one.' But he replied, 'There's not a jar left.' And then the oil stopped flowing." I love this story! Elisha, representing the Lord, is basically saying, "You get it ready, and God will do the job." Just like my painter friend. You get all those jars in here. Now, I know that you've only got a little oil. She'd look like a fool with her neighbors. She's out on a limb. "Give me all your jars. Give me all your jars!" For that little bit of oil? But God is saying to her, "You prepare for a supernatural result. You just get it prepared; God will produce it." He does it all the way through the Bible; you just see it over and over again. He says, "I want you to walk into the waters of the Jordan River, and then they will part. You act like there's going to be a miracle, and I'll do the job." Remember the wedding feast at Cana? "Bring the water pots, fill them with water, and I'll take care of the rest. But you act like there's going to be a miracle." "Bring that lunch to Me and I'll make plenty of it." "Move the stone away from Lazarus' tomb, and if you act like there's going to be a miracle, I'll do the rest." Here's an important principle: the size of the preparation often determines the size of the miracle. See, we live in unnecessary poverty because we overestimate the problem and we underestimate God. So, pray as if something God-sized is going to happen. Plan as if something God-sized is going to happen. Budget, and dream as if something God-sized is going to happen. Live as if that obstacle will move like the waters of the Jordan River. Live as if there's going to be plenty of what we've run out of like that wedding feast at Cana. Live as if what's dead will come to life, like Lazarus coming back from his tomb. Remember, the size of the preparation may determine the size of the miracle. Now, maybe you're in a situation that's too big for you right now. Can't you just hear God saying, "You get it ready. I'll do the job."

Centuries ago, Tyre was one of the great cities of the Middle East, strategically located on the Mediterranean Sea...until it was leveled by a foreign invader. Actually, there was an ancient Biblical prophecy that Tyre would not only be leveled, which was unimaginable at the time, but that the site would be so swept of Tyre's rubble that fishermen would one day lay their nets there to dry. The city was gone, but the rubble still remained until Alexander the Great came along. By that time, Tyre had moved to an island offshore, confident that they would now be unreachable by any future invader. They underestimated Alexander. He ordered his engineers to use the rubble of the old city to build a causeway to the island, and that's what they did. And Alexander and his army marched across the bridge that was made from rubble and won what seemed to be an impossible victory. So the site of ancient Tyre was, in fact, swept clean. And in modern times, fishermen have (Well, you guessed it.) dried their nets where the city once was. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope From the Rubble." So history was made by a conqueror who made a bridge out of rubble. Many a personal history has been changed the same way; by someone who could make from the rubble of a broken life a bridge to something better. A bridge to hope, I guess you might say, when hope seemed pretty hard to find. It could be that you're living in the rubble right now of a broken marriage or a broken romance. Maybe you're trying to put together the pieces of a broken career. Or maybe it's your health that's broken, or a dream you've held onto for a long time. I know a Savior who makes our broken times into a bridge; a bridge to a victory we could have never imagined. For so many people I know, their broken time turned out to be the last stop before a place called hope. Jesus uses your broken hope to turn you to the hope that will never let you down. It's the hope God describes in Hebrews 6:19, our word for today from the Word of God. It describes the incredible security so many have found in a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. It says, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." No other hope can ultimately be an "anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Only Jesus can do that. But often it isn't until we're standing in the rubble of what we once depended on that we consider looking in Jesus' direction, and you may be at that crossroads right now. The Bible tells us that we're without hope because we're "without God" (Ephesians 2:12). And we're without God because we've repeatedly chosen to do things our way instead of God's way - even the most religious of us. Every one and every thing we try in order to fill the hole in our heart ultimately becomes just another god that failed us. And then along comes Jesus. He's God's one and only Son who went all the way to a cross to build a bridge from our brokenness to God's power and God's presence. He died to pay for the sin that's created an awful chasm between us and God; a chasm that one day will keep us out of heaven. But the bridge is there for you to cross; the cross that bridges the chasm. If you'll step across that bridge today, you'll step into the hope that is "the anchor for your soul, firm and secure." Are you ready for that? We're talking every sin forgiven and we're talking you in a permanent love relationship with the God who made you. If you say, "I want that." Then tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord, because You paid the price for my sin." We'd love to help you plug into this hope that Jesus has. Someone did that for us, and we'd love to do it for you. We can at our website, I hope that you'll go there today. It's ANewStory.com. Wouldn't it be something if this broken moment in your life became the bridge to the greatest hope you've ever known? It could happen today.

Because I travel so much, I watch the Weather Channel, or something like it, a lot. I just sat back, this one time, in amazement as I watched them track this monster low pressure system moving across the country. By the time it reached the Eastern United States, that low pressure system stretched on the Weather Channel map from the Maritime Provinces in Canada all the way to Mexico! I mean, it was massive! And everywhere it went, it left flooding rains or heavy snows or even violent weather. In Minnesota, for example, this low pressure system registered the lowest barometric pressure ever. All across the eastern half of the country, the news reported massive power outages, cancellations, delays. For millions of Americans, whatever they had planned just didn't happen. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "What God's Saying In Your Storm." One thing a night like that turbulent weather night demonstrates is this: God can change your plans anytime. And He may be bringing some weather into your life right now to do just that. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 148 beginning at verse 1. It's a Psalm that reaches across the universe to celebrate the scope of God's power and control, and to remind us of the size of the God we belong to. "Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord from the heavens, praise Him in the heights above. Praise Him, all His angels, praise Him, all His heavenly hosts. Praise Him, sun and moon, praise Him all you shining stars... Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, lightning and hail, snow and clouds..." And then this phrase that just leaped out at me, "Praise the Lord...stormy winds that do His bidding." Obviously, this refers to the physical storms that blow through our lives, but I believe it's true of all the stormy winds that hit us: medical storms, financial storms, emotional storms, all those "turbulences" that take things out of our control. They are "stormy winds that do His bidding." If you're feeling some of those stormy winds right now, remember that God is asserting His sovereignty over your life, and your plans, your priorities, and your timing. He is in charge - and sometimes we forget. But as His stormy winds move across the weather map of our lives, we can remember again that "our times are in His hands." If it's stormy right now, consider what He might be trying to say to you. As Solomon tells us, "When times are good, be happy; when times are bad, consider..." (Ecclesiastes 7:14). Is God trying to slow you down? Does He want you to reconsider? Is He trying to get you to change course? Is He trying to get your attention because you've been ignoring something He's trying to say to you or something He's trying to do in your life? Don't just stand there frustrated because His weather has messed up your plans. Don't fight what He's trying to do. Listen for God in this storm! It's hard to be a follower of Jesus when you're a rigid person. Following someone requires flexibility because you never know when your leader is going to speed up, slow down, make a turn, or change direction. Actually, flexibility is fundamental to being able to follow the dynamic leadership of Jesus Christ. And the storm is a lot more bearable when you go with His flow rather than flying stubbornly against it. The stormy wind blowing in your life right now is doing God's bidding. Make sure that you are.

Well, I watched three of our children run on this track that they call "high school senior." Oh we know about the disease. It's a creeping disease called senioritis. I've seen it for years with other teenagers, and then finally we got to watch it in our own home. It begins with the sense of "Okay, I'm a senior now! High school is my past. I don't care about high school any more even though I have another year." At best a senior just sort of slacks off until graduation. Or at worst, he or she becomes irresponsible and maybe even destructive. Senioritis? It doesn't bring out the best in anybody at any age. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Stop Before the Finish Line." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Jeremiah 29. The Jews are no longer in their homeland of Judah. They've been carried away into captivity in Babylon. Here's the situation where it would be very easy for them to have spiritual senioritis, because they know that they will one day return to their native country. They know God has them in Babylon for their disobedience. They kind of live in-between Babylon and returning to Israel. They could be saying, "Hey, who cares about Babylon? Put it on cruise control. We're not here for long. We're going home in a little while. What we do here doesn't matter." Listen to God's advice for them in Jeremiah 29:5, probably surprising advice for them. "Build houses and settle down." I can hear them going, "Here? We're just living in-between." He says, "Build houses, settle down, plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters. Find wives for your sons. Give your daughters in marriage so they, too, may have sons and daughters. Increase in number. Do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers you will prosper." Seems like God's saying, "Make something of this time, guys. Don't have senioritis and act like it doesn't matter." It's like old Caleb in the Old Testament. Eighty-five years old and he's still not going to quit. He says, "Lord, give me this mountain to conquer!" Boy, there's no senioritis there. Maybe you're at an age or a situation where you're tempted to put your life on cruise. Maybe you're waiting for the next stage, or you're just waiting for heaven. Well, don't sit there and say, "I don't care much about where I am." God is saying, "I want you to care. I want you to bloom where you're planted, my child. Make this count." A while back I met an 80-year-old woman. She said to me, "Ron, I was married to the same man for 60 years. He took great care of me." Then she went on to tell me how he had died the previous year. And she said, "It's so easy for me to be bitter, and I could be desperately lonely." But then she said, "You know, this week as I listened to you at this conference, I've decided I'm going to reach out on my own. I'm in this condominium filled with lonely people, and I'm going to go back there and I'm going to start writing notes to those people, and I'm going to bake for them, and I'm going to visit them. I'm going to share God's love with them." She said, "I'm going to start giving my life away." I said, "Well, you know what? That's what the Bible says about how you find your life by giving it away." She said, "Well, I figured my mother died at the age of 88. So I've got at least eight years to make a difference." I love that! She's going to find her life by giving it away. That is the vaccine for senioritis; for not caring. Get a mission for yourself. You're surrounded by needs. Get some people who need you. That's the best way to find your life. Wherever you are, look for a mission. Look for an assignment from God. Wake up in the morning and ask, "God, who needs me here?" Don't slow down! Don't hold back! Capture the corner that you're in for Christ. When you're living for Jesus, there's just not a day you can afford to waste.

Jerry and I were best friends in high school, and then we didn't see each other for several years. But we were able to get together again when we found out that he and his wife had moved to an apartment in New York City. He was training to become a 747 pilot for a major airline back when that was a brand new plane. Karen and I went in to have dinner at their apartment, and we realized that Jerry and Gail were making the big bucks. They had an exclusive apartment, expensive furniture and a brand new Cadillac. Jerry took us down to the high-security garage to show the Caddy to us with a lot of pride. A couple months later, they drove out to our little apartment in a New Jersey suburb. We didn't live in a fancy neighborhood, but you know, it wasn't a bad neighborhood. Jerry had to park his Cadillac where we parked our un-Cadillac - on the street. We prepared a nice dinner, but Jerry couldn't enjoy it. He couldn't enjoy the conversation we tried to have after dinner. The whole time he was a nervous wreck. Every five minutes or so he would leave the conversation, go over to the window, and check on his Cadillac! I assured him it would be OK, but no, no. He spent the whole night worrying about losing his expensive car. At first, I thought Jerry owned a Cadillac. It turned out that a Cadillac owned Jerry! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Slaves To Our 'Stuff.'" Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Timothy 6:17-18: "Command those who are rich in this present world (which, by the standards of most of the people in the world, would include almost everyone listening right now) tell them not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age." God uses a revealing word here to describe all of our earth-stuff, did you get it - "uncertain." Hello, Jerry. I can't help but think that Jerry's anxiety about losing his treasure that night was a glimpse of what happens to all of us as we get more earth-stuff. Once we get it, we have to put a lot of energy into not losing it, which leads to an interesting phenomenon; you being owned by your stuff instead of your stuff being owned by you. I know, for example, of a number of couples who had intended to answer the Lord's call to go into His work after they got on their feet financially. Unfortunately, in the process, they established a lifestyle and they made commitments that could not be sustained on a ministry income. They still aren't in God's work today. Their stuff ended up owning them. Could it be that you have gotten some possession or some position that now is pretty much consuming the heart of your energies in order to keep it? Could it be that the business you own actually owns you? Or your money? Or your house could own you? Or your investments? Somehow, without intending it or realizing it, you have become a slave to your stuff. And you have to keep running to the window to make sure it's still there, which makes it hard to really enjoy life. God doesn't say it's necessarily wrong to have earth stuff. It's wrong for it to have you. His prescription for freedom is first, don't trust in earth-stuff, that's what we read in 1 Timothy. Don't base your identity on it. Realize it's just a gift from God and that God has the right to give it or take it away. He's always provided for you. And don't pursue earth-stuff. Jesus said your Father knows what you need and He'll provide for you. You pursue His Kingdom, not yours. And don't hold onto your earth-stuff. Give it away. When you know your earth-stuff is only a gift and when you sign it all over to God and when you see it as resources God gave you to make a difference with, you can relax and stop running to the window. In God's words, you have traded "uncertain" for treasure that's "a firm foundation for the coming age." Your security isn't your earth-stuff, it's your Jesus!

It was one of the dumbest things I'd done in a long time. It was years ago. I was involved in this intense ministry on a Native American reservation. That was not the dumb thing. What was dumb was, I was missing a lot of sleep but I decided to drive. That was dumb. One day we had our longest drive; seven hours to an Apache Reservation. My wife, knowing how tired I was, said, "Would you like me to drive?" "No, of course not! Let me drive." (I'm a guy!) See, I hate to ride. I like to drive. She kept offering; I kept declining. (You probably know where this is going.) I realized I was getting real warm in the car, and the next thing I remember was my wife yelling, "Ron!" I had dozed off at the wheel. I was running off the road on a gravel shoulder in a jeep that could have easily rolled over. Man, I told you it was dumb! Well, I thank God she woke me up in time. But I made an almost fatal mistake. I held onto the wheel too long. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Letting Go Before You Crash." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 1:8-9. You might find some of these phrases applicable to your life right now: hardship, under great pressure, beyond our ability, despairing of life. Sound familiar? Well, those were the words used by the great Apostle Paul during a difficult time in his life. He found out the why as he tells us in these verses. "We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death." It's like he's saying, "I thought we were going to die." Maybe you'd like to find out why the pressure, why the pain, why the problems right now. "What's going on here, God?" Well the answer Paul found might turn out to be yours as well. He says, "But this happened (here we go) that we might not rely on ourselves but on God." In modern terms Paul might be saying, "God was trying to get my hands off the wheel." Could that be what He's trying to do with you? See, most of us want to drive our lives; we want to control everything. Oh, we believe in God. We love God. We maybe even serve God. We give to God, but we maintain the real control of certain cherished parts of our life and we won't relinquish the wheel until we're running off the road and about to crash...or maybe even after we've crashed. See, we were created to live God-dependent. We keep trying to live independent. I mean, you think about it. We don't take our next breath without Him. The Bible says, "In Him we live, and move, and have our being." But we want to make it happen. We don't want to watch God make it happen. We want our outcome. If we can depend on anything other than God we will. So our Lord lovingly turns up the heat. Maybe you're there right now. You're stubbornly holding onto the wheel. You're insisting on driving your family, or your mate, or your child, or your ministry. God is politely asking to drive and that didn't work. You won't let go. And now things are crashing. Listen to Paul, "This is happening that you might rely on God and not on yourself." When you finally let go and surrender control to Jesus, you'll receive power you could never have when you were driving; resurrection power available to those who have quit depending on their own power. The ultimate disaster is when we think somehow we can do something to get ourselves to heaven, when the Bible clearly says, "It is not of works, so no man can boast. It is by grace (undeserved love of God) when Christ died on the cross to do for us what we could never do for ourselves; to pay sin's death penalty. And today He's ready to walk into your life and do what only He can do. But first, you must surrender control. You say, "Ron, I don't know how to do this." Listen, if you're ready to turn your life over to Him, would you please go to our website and let's get it done there. It's ANewStory.com. Listen to Jesus. He's saying, "Let Me drive. Unwrap those fingers that you have so tightly wrapped around the wheel."

Few people captured the American imagination like America's first astronauts. That's why, for many of us, names like John Glenn are on a list of 20th Century heroes. John Glenn was, of course, one of the first men to ride a rocket into space. Then, as a "senior citizen" he amazed the world by doing it again. So when John Glenn gave advice to modern space shuttle astronauts, he's got credentials! I love what he is reported to have told the Columbia astronauts before what turned out to be their last flight. He said, "Hey, don't forget to look out the window!" I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing the View." Once they were in space, the Columbia astronauts - and other astronauts - expressed their appreciation for John Glenn's advice. They confessed to being so busy doing what they were doing that it was all too easy to miss the spectacular view all around them. A tendency, by the way, that isn't just limited to astronauts. Those of us who are highly task-oriented or goal-oriented (that's me), can easily get so consumed that we "forget to look out the window." We miss the beautiful things happening right in front of us and all around us. In our word for today from the Word of God, David seems to be addressing this tendency to miss or forget a lot of life's blessings. In Psalm 103, beginning with verse 1, he says, "Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives our sins and heals our diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things." When you take time to enjoy the beauty "out the window" you'll see the new beginnings the Lord has given you after you've blown it. You'll see the health that He's preserved or restored, the pits that He's rescued you from, the little and big things that He's doing right now to show you His love, and the good things you wanted that He has provided. When you fail to stop and "smell the flowers" as some have said, you start to get all stressed, brittle and overwhelmed and negative. But taking a timeout to catch your breath, regain your perspective, and appreciate all the good things around you will renew your joy, it will renew your energy, your faith, and your attitude. Maybe in your hurry to get it done or to get to your destination you've inadvertently been running over people, including people you should stop and enjoy; stop and listen to. Maybe you're missing all the blessings in your situation because all you focus on is your burdens. You need to take some timeouts to let your soul catch up with your body. Enjoy the scenery. Stop the rat race long enough to just take a leisurely walk, take time to listen to a child. They often help us see the world as we ought to see it. Stop to give a hug, look for things you can compliment in the people around you, and consciously, intentionally thank God for specific blessings of the past 24 hours, or the past 24 minutes. The Bible reminds us that God's "mercies are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:23), which means there's new God-stuff to appreciate each new day for those who are looking for evidence of God in their day. If you're tired and if you're tense and you're feeling overwhelmed, it could be you've been so absorbed in your mission that you've forgotten to look out the window. There's always something beautiful to see because of the awesome God who's always doing something new and something good.

My wife and I were out for a Sunday afternoon drive, and we saw a very strange contradiction. There was this church, and there were long stairs leading up to the entrance, and one lady, all alone, at the door. She was trying every door to get in that church and they were all locked. She was frustrated. Now, what was the contradiction? Well, the name of the church - Our Lady of Perpetual Help. My wife said, "You know, this reminds me of a scene I saw when I was in Haiti." She said, "I was right near a church and there was this very gaunt woman, maybe starving to death, and weeping at the door of this church. And she looked like she was desperate to get in and every door was locked. She literally was beating her fists bloody on the door and there was no response." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sincerely Wrong, Eternally Wrong." Our word for today from the Word of God is sobering. It's one of the most unsettling passages in the Bible. It's in Luke 13, beginning with verse 23 - listen to these words. "Someone asked Jesus, 'Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?' And He said to them, 'Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, "Sir, open the door for us." But he will answer, "I don't know you or where you come from." Then you will say, "We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets." But he will reply, "I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!" There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out." Oh man! This is the door of eternity. People are trying to get into heaven, but it says many will not be able to. Jesus will utter those sobering, chilling words, "I don't know you." They'll end up weeping. They'll end up thrown out. This is about real people locked out of heaven; people like our neighbors, our coworkers, like you and me. People who have been around Jesus a lot. They know a lot about Him, but somehow they missed the personal relationship with Him. You know, with the current demands of our lives, it's really easy to kind of neglect eternity. It's a mistake to just have Jesus in your head and not in your heart. But each of us has this non-cancellable, non-postpone-able appointment with our Creator. The Bible says, "It is appointed to man once to die and after this the judgment." And in that instant when God decides we've taken our last breath and our heart has beaten for the last time, there is only one thing that matters. It won't be our religion, won't be our titles, not our net worth, our sickness, our references, and not even our Christian activities. Only one thing will matter, "What did you do with my Son, Jesus?" Get a picture here of the greatest eternal tragedy, being locked out of heaven. God doesn't want it that way. He did all He could to remove the sin that keeps people out of heaven. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, "Why have You forsaken Me, God?" Why did God the Father turn His back on His one and only Son? Because He was carrying all the guilt and all the hell of my sin and yours. Your sin has been paid for so you don't have to. Jesus was cut off from the Father so you don't have to be. But you do have to take this eternal gift purchased by the blood of God's Son. You have to surrender that self-running of your life and tell God you're putting all your trust in Jesus. The Lord will come down and the gate of heaven will be wide open for you. Have you ever reached out to Him with desperate hope and faith and said, "Jesus, I'm Yours"? Would you today? We're not guaranteed tomorrow. This is the only day we know for sure. If I can help you with that, I'd just love to have you drop by our website. It's ANewStory.com. You have nothing more important, nothing more urgent to do than to be sure you have settled things with Jesus, because your forever depends on it. Jesus said there will be many who are like the lady at that church pounding on the door of heaven, desperately trying to get in. But it will be too late for them; too late to find Jesus. Please, would you open your heart to Him now?

One of the more special opportunities I've had over the years has been to speak for professional football chapels. I spoke a lot for the New York Giants, and when I was with them, of course, it looked like about 30 New York Giants and one New York Dwarf (that would be me). You can tell who is the speaker in the room, believe me! I did stand out in that group. And people will often say, "Well, what do you talk to them about?" Of course, I had the opportunity to simply present the Gospel. But I did try to use a lot of sport's illustrations and things that will relate to their everyday lives. There's one subject I couldn't talk to them about. Oh, now, if you speak at a baseball chapel, they don't mind so much if you're with the other team. You'll speak in one locker room for the visiting team, and then you'll come down and speak for the home team. And everybody knows you speak for both teams. Not in football! When you speak for professional teams, you've got to make sure you don't speak to the other team or you've got cooties! Yeah, you've been contaminated! So, guess what is the subject you don't mention when you're speaking. Do not under any circumstances mention the name of the other team. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "There's Something About That Name." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from several places in the book of Acts, showing us that the problem with Christianity and the power of Christianity are the same thing. Peter is preaching that great sermon at Pentecost in Acts 2:36. "Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." They walk up to a lame man in chapter 3, a man who is carried to the temple every day. And when he asks them for money, they reply, "Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you." And then they proceed to say, "I'll give you a name. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk." And he did. And then in Acts 4:12 they boldly preach, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." And then in verses 17 and 18, the Sanhedrin calls them in, asks them to stop preaching, and they say, "We have to warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this Name. So they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the Name of Jesus." Are you getting the idea here? What's the power that pushes back the darkness and changes people's lives? The power is in the Name of Jesus Christ. What's the problem people have with Christianity? Oh, you know, we can talk about God; nobody cares. About problems? About church? Fine. We talk about love or life or family values? That's okay. But it's when we talk about Jesus that people say, "Whoa! That's too far!" See, nothing has changed over 2,000 years. The power of Christianity is in the Name of Jesus; the problem people have with Christianity is the Name of Jesus. But there is no other Name, the Bible says. You know when you're having a chance to talk spiritually to someone. Maybe you can talk to them about God. But, do you ever notice how you choke when it gets to the Name of Jesus? Guess what makes you choke? The one who hates that name. The one who knows the power of that name. The Devil himself for 2,000 years has given the order, "Don't mention The Name." Sometimes you hold back and you don't talk very openly about Jesus Christ because you know that's controversial. Don't hold back! That's the power for answered prayer - Jesus' Name. It's the power that clarifies the real issue to people. Jesus is who they have to deal with. You're not deciding about my belief. You're deciding about Jesus. That's where the power is to change lives. The people who don't respect Jesus, who don't care about Jesus, use His Name all day long. They're pretty bold about it. How can we, who've experienced His love and forgiveness, be ashamed of The Name. Oh, talk much, talk boldly about Jesus, because the Devil is saying, "I don't want to hear that Name!" And we will say in reply, "There is no other Name."

So I'm sleeping all night, but something very interesting happens. There are people all over the world making news! The world's different from the time I close my eyes till the time I wake up, and I want to know what's happened during the night. I think a lot of people do. That's probably one of the first things some of us do is make sure we check in with one of the news channels, or check our phone, and maybe check what's on the Internet. I used to have a newspaper that arrived early in the morning, (in the good old days) and at that point I could just go out and get that and check out the headlines! Of course, I liked it better then and I still like it better now, even if it's on my phone, when it's good news, which isn't nearly often enough. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Waking Up to Good News." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 143:8. Listen to this: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love. For I have put my trust in You. Show me the way I should go. For to You I lift up my soul." God's inviting us here to check out the news from heaven every new morning. If you do, you will notice that the headline is always the same - God's Love Is Unfailing. God still loves you very, very much. Basically, David is saying, "That's all I need to know about this day. This day may be filled with stress, and pressure, and danger, and challenges. But all I need to know is that I'm covered again. I am covered by the unfailing love of my Heavenly Father." Why? "Well, I've put all my eggs in one basket. I have put my trust in You, Lord." See, it means hanging everything on the protection and the provision of a God whose love for me is uninterrupted and unloseable. That is security! And He will show me the way I should go for this particular day. That's the way to have a day where you have peace no matter what; joy no matter what. We've got a lot of days that aren't like that though. The problem is that I think we choose early in the day to focus on other headlines instead of God's banner headlines. Instead of focusing on God's unfailing love, we fill our heart with a headline like this: The money is failing! My strength is failing! My health is failing! My loved ones are failing! My dream is failing! The church is failing me! In fact, every earth thing, every earth person will fail you sometimes. Many mornings you will wake up to a headline about something or someone who has failed you. But God's Word offers you a headline that never changes; the unsinkable anchor to this particular turbulent day. His unfailing love is still unfailing. The Old Testament prophet promises, "Every new day He does not fail." God, again this morning, whatever's happened still loves you very, very much. You are covered by that love. You are blessed if you're one of those rare people who are always calm at the center like the eye of a hurricane. None of us knows what news will break in our life on any given day. That's why I love the security of Hebrews 6:19, that says, speaking of Jesus, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." One love that will never leave. One unmovable relationship. One unloseable security. And it all begins with a trip to the cross where Jesus spent His blood and His love to pay for the sin that separated you and me from God. How wonderful it is to wake up in the morning and go, "I know He loves me. I've opened my life to that love that began on that cross." By the way, have you done that? If there's never been a day you have, make this your day to say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Do you want to know how and make sure you have? Go to our websiteANewStory.com? Every morning, your emotions, your attitudes to the headlines from heaven. They overrule every other headline. The morning news is always this: God Loves Me Today!

OK, so there are more bills to pay than you've got money to pay them. You have to make some choices. What you probably won't do is decide not to pay the electric bill and certain other bills like that. Those bills where, if you don't pay, they can cut off your service. You get this little notice: "If you don't pay your bill right away, your service will be cut off." It's amazing how a service cutoff can help you set your priorities! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your Service Has Been Interrupted." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from some of the most preached on words in the Bible...and maybe some of the least acted on. 2 Chronicles 7:14, with the introduction of verse 13, "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among My people, if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." To be in a position to receive God's healing of what's hurting and broken, we have to humbly pray; we have to seek His face. But let's focus on that last and maybe most neglected step. A lot of people get that far. They humble themselves, they pray, and they seek His face. It's that last step where a lot of us fall short, "If My people... will turn from their wicked ways, then will I." God seems to be saying, "As long as you're hanging onto that sinful practice, that sinful attitude, or that sinful way you treat people, I can't open up heaven and bless you." In other words, your service will be interrupted until that outstanding spiritual bill is settled. Maybe you've wondered why that repeated prayer hasn't been answered, or why things have come unglued, or why you're going through the pain you're facing, or why things don't change! Maybe it's because you haven't changed! Now, there can be other reasons God hasn't seemed to answer, for sure. Maybe He's asking you to wait, or He's taking His time to enlarge your faith in Him, or He's preparing to do a larger miracle than the one you even asked for. But the first explanation we should consider is this: "Is there a sinful action, a sinful attitude, or a wrong relationship that I haven't let go of? Am I hanging onto a stubborn sin? Am I excusing what God wants me to be refusing?" God accepts only one response to sin, not rationalizing it, not excusing it, not comparing yourself to other people. He says, "Turn from it!" Do you want God's best? Then deal with the "wicked ways" that are holding back the very answers you're seeking. The Lord has so much He wants to give you, so much He's ready to fix, and so many mountains He wants to move in your life. But His holy hand may be held back by some unrepented, unforsaken sin. The difficulties you've been experiencing might be God's warning notice! If it seems like God's service in your life has been interrupted, check your account with Him and settle what's come between you.

Now, I wasn't expecting a goat to be my teacher. But something kind of special happened. A good friend of ours actually helped a new baby goat come into the world. Right after this little wobbly thing arrived; his mother ran off and abandoned him. Which, unfortunately, is a sad picture of what happens to too many human children. Well, that is when Sandy, the Great Pyrenees guard dog, came to the rescue. Our friend tried to remedy this heartbreaking situation by leaving the baby in a grassy area, near where the little guy had arrived. Nope! No deal. Then Sandy, the dog, went over to the newborn and the dog started licking off the little goat's birth residue. Here's how the barnyard drama played out: Sandy, who now was carrying the newborn's scent, gently nudged the mother, "Come on! Get over to your baby." And they ended up walking over there together, and mama goat got the point. Her mom instinct kicked in; she started licking her kid. Now, in the animal kingdom, when you give your kid a licking, that's actually a nice thing. Well, that's when my grandson weighed in. When he heard about all this, and he heard about how the guard dog had lovingly intervened, he instinctively said, "Well, that's just like Jesus!" I had two reactions. First, "He's right." Second, "Why didn't I think of that?" I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Life-Saving Nudge." Our grandson explained that he saw the baby was us, the mother was God and the dog who came to the rescue represented Jesus. Now we've got a little theological tweaking we need to do here, because it wasn't God who walked away from me. It was me who walked away from God. Or as the Bible says, "All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God's path to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6 - NLB). In a word, that's sin. Fact is, God and I were hopelessly apart. Away from our Father's love, we just wander all alone and clueless. In the Old Testament, and around the world today, Jewish people are celebrating the highest holy day of the year - the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. It goes back to Leviticus 16 where there were goats involved. "And two goats came to the place of worship and the High Priest shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering." This was kind of an advanced picture of what one-day God's Son would come and do. And that is to take the sin of my life and pay for it with His blood. Jesus came, and here's what the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God. That final Day of Atonement was that Good Friday. 1 Timothy 2:5 - "There is only one God and there is one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity - the man Christ Jesus. He gave His life to purchase freedom for everyone." One person who can bring God, who is a holy, perfect, sinless God, together with a guy like me, who has broken God's laws, run my life my way, and tried to act like I was my own god. That is Jesus; one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity. So, from a barnyard birth drama - a dog and a couple of goats - I got a good glimpse of that first Good Friday; Jesus hanging on that cruel cross. I can almost see Him with one nail-pierced hand in God's hand and the other hand reaching for me to bring us together. When He was reaching for God, He was reaching for you too. It was your sin He was paying for. And this very day He's nudging you in the direction of the God you were made by and for. There's nobody else who can get you to Him, because nobody else died to pay for the sin that separates you from your God. And this day He is ready to reconcile your restless heart to the God who made you and loves you. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I have sinned. I have broken Your laws. But You died for those sins, and You're alive. You walked out of Your grave. You are my Savior from this day on." If you want to make sure you belong to Him, check out our website - ANewStory.com. Today, you're being nudged in the direction of the God who made you, so you can experience the love that your life depends on.

King George and his army must have had a really good laugh. George Washington and his Continental Army had been whipped in battle after battle in their campaign to become independent from Britain. British troops had driven the Americans out of New York City, across the Hudson River, across New Jersey, and finally into Pennsylvania. Then came the winter of 1777, at a place outside of Philadelphia called Valley Forge. Washington's troops faced not only a physical winter there, but an emotional winter. Discouragement and defeat may have been their worst enemies. But General Washington wasn't about to let those enemies win. He fought back by immediately deploying his soldiers to fortify their camp. Then the drills began. A veteran European military officer began to drill those soldiers every day, teaching them a single set of maneuvers rather than the multiple approaches that had just created confusion in the past battles. That winter, they were learning one way of doing things while Washington worked on getting more recruits and building his army into a real fighting force. Many historians believe that the outcome of America's battle for independence was actually decided at Valley Forge more than any battle - because there was an army that came out of Valley Forge to stun the British with major victories. One army went into the winter at Valley Forge - divided, discouraged, demoralized. Another army emerged from that winter. They were unified, they were fortified, they were confident because of what they had done with their winter. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Using Your Winter To Win Your Battles." In many ways, the outcome of your battles may be decided, not on the battlefield alone, but in how you use your winter. And you may be in one of those cold, bleak times right now. You could succumb to your fears and your feelings and just surrender. Or you could pull a spiritual "Valley Forge." You could use your winter to get stronger, more together, more focused on what you need to do to win. In some ways, Jesus' disciples expected their winter to begin with His announced departure to heaven. The One who had called them to be with Him was now leaving them and entrusting to them the work He had started. In Luke 24, Jesus tells them to tell the world about Him and then, "while He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into heaven." In a way, their winter had begun, as it often does when you lose someone you love. But they knew what to do with their winter! In our word for today from the Word of God taken from Acts 1 and 2, "they all joined together constantly in prayer." Then they got their team of twelve back to full strength by replacing Judas with another disciple. And, "When the day of Pentecost came" - that's the day God sent His Holy Spirit - "they were all together in one place...and all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit." At that point, they exploded on the city of Jerusalem with the Gospel that would, one day, start spreading around the world. But they had to use their winter to get together, to get stronger, and to get closer to God. You need to handle your winter that way. Don't just sit there worrying or feeling sorry for yourself or wallowing in your emotions. Take action to get strong. Spend extra time with God right now. Strengthen your relationship with your family and your coworkers. Think through what you need to stop doing and what you need to start doing to focus on what really matters. And prayerfully plan for a future, right there in the middle of your valley, even when the future looks very uncertain. While the bombs were falling on London during World War II, Winston Churchill was in his underground bunker - not worrying about the bombs, but actually planning the invasion of Germany! Discouragement and fear and drifting from God - those are your greatest enemies, not what faces you on your battlefield. This winter is not dead time or despair time. It's get ready time. What you do with your winter will decide whether you win or lose!

I guess it started when the kids were growing up. You know, it says in the Dad's Job Description, "Must have quarters at all times!" Even now when I travel I still try to carry some quarters, even though we don't need them as often anymore. But I would always make sure that I had enough ones and even fives. You never know when you're going to need a vending machine. Not need; actually want a vending machine. I'm in a hotel, I'm working late and I want a snack or I want a cold drink. So I go through the familiar ritual: put the dollar bill in, then the quarters, hit the selection button, and something good comes out. At least it had better! I mean, it's pretty annoying if you put your money in there and nothing comes out. I probably wouldn't put any more money in that machine, would you? I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Giving That Counts - And Doesn't." I read a report about the giving of American Christians, and it was very revealing. The survey discovered that American Christians expect to get something back when they give. Oh, vending machine! For example, the survey found that they will give to their church, but they expect to get it back in things like new drapes, new hymn books, a better choir, or a better parking lot. Put something in and get something out. And don't put any money into a machine that doesn't give you anything back, right? The researchers have a name for this - "consumer giving." Or you could call it "vending machine" giving. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Mark 12:41. "Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, 'Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty put in everything - all she had to live on.'" So what kind of giving did Jesus honor? Sacrificial giving. He's far more interested in the size of the sacrifice than the size of the gift. And what kind of giving did Jesus himself model? Sacrificial giving. Aren't you glad Jesus wasn't a consumer giver? We'd all still be headed for eternal death. But He gave everything with no thought of return. So maybe consumer giving is an oxymoron. Someone might say, "Okay, so we like to give to things where we get something back or it does something for us. So what?" Well, maybe that's why it's taking missionaries two or three years to get their support raised while people keep dying on the mission field that they're ready to go to. Maybe it's why the missionary conference in a church is fighting for its life on the church calendar. Maybe it's one reason why the American missionary force in the world continues to drop. Some have said it's been at its lowest point since WWII. After all, what's in it for me to give to some missionary out there? Is it any wonder that so many ministries are struggling financially; especially those who are called to evangelism? After all, the lost are those people; they're not my people. But those people are why Jesus came. In many cases, Satan's attempt to stop Jesus' warriors has failed. He couldn't get to them. And so have his attempts to stop their attacks on Satan's kingdom. But when all else fails, stop their supplies. Attack the supply lines, because if the supply lines don't come through, the guys on the front lines can't fight. A soldier without bullets cannot wage war. Isn't it time for each of us to examine our own priorities before the Lord to whom we will answer for our stewardship? Are we giving to get? The holy work of Jesus Christ is not a vending machine. It's an eternal investment. It may not pay off now, but it will reap incalculable dividends forever.

Men and women are different. Aren't you glad you're listening today? Now, that is not exactly news worth tuning in for, but trying to understand those differences, oh we could talk about that for a long time. For example, one of those differences shows up when I can remember my wife and I were driving long distances across this country. I can sum up the difference pretty succinctly. She wanted to stop and see things; I wanted to get there! My honey would see signs for an interesting attraction or the kind of store she liked and she'd suggest we stop and check it out. Not me. Hey, we have a destination. We've got to get to it girl! Who wants to waste time along the way? Guy-think! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Make a Woman Feel Loved." It took me a little while being married before I got it figured out, but I found out what is the number one way to make most women feel loved. Listen to her - not just her words, but her heart. I made a promise at my wedding that God's voice would always be the most important in heaven and my wife's voice the most important on earth. Easy to say. Harder to do, especially with so many voices to listen to. The woman who's trusted her life to me ought to be the most important voice in my life, right? Many of us are familiar with God's challenging instructions to husbands in Ephesians 5:25, which happens to be our word for today from the Word of God. "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her." That's an incredibly high standard for us, guys. Love with the same kind of self-sacrificing love that Jesus showed for us when He laid down His life for us. Now, if that meant sacrificing our life physically to save our wife's life, I think most of us would probably do that. But the kind of sacrifice this turns out to be is the daily sacrifice of putting our needs and our agenda on hold to focus on hers. And we'll never know what she needs or wants, or why she's hurting, if we don't take time to listen. And time is probably what you have the least of. That's why taking time to listen is where Christlike love begins in a marriage. Because (and now I'm asking for it) women often take considerably longer than men to say it! Men are saying, "Amen!" Women are saying, "So what?" Now we're back to how my wife and I do a trip. I just wanted the bottom line - getting to the destination as soon as possible. That's how men like to communicate - get to the point. Wives, mine included, like most women, want to enjoy the process; explore what's between here and the destination. Women are wired by God to care about the details (and thank God they are), many of which a man would blow right by and sometimes miss something very important. When a woman is telling a story, bringing in what seems to be tangents, including a lot of detail, a man's "destination brain" is saying, "Where is this going?" A woman's heart, which believes the journey is important, not just the bottom line, wants you to love her enough to go on the journey with her - to see the things between here and the destination. Many times if a woman jumped to the bottom line like we wanted her to, we would jump to all kinds of wrong conclusions because we didn't take the time to understand how she got there. A quick word to the ladies: it shows love on your part whenever you can fast-forward to the bottom line. So, to some guy who's tuned in today, do you love her enough to make the sacrifices to listen to her with loving patience? That's love in the language of the woman you love. It's the Jesus-way of loving - sacrificing the way you'd like it to be to benefit someone you love. It's more than listening. It's opening your heart to her heart.

Our daughter was driving through town with our four-year-old grandson in the back seat. As she passed a local senior housing facility, she said, "Honey, that's where my grandfather lived until he died." At that point, our four-year-old jumped in with a respectful correction of his Mommy's choice of words. "Until Jesus called him home," he said. There was a pause - and then our grandson added - "Someday Jesus will call me home, too." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Just Beyond Your Last Heartbeat." Not bad for a four-year-old! I'm sounding like his grandfather now. But that little guy actually has this death thing figured out better than a lot of us grownup people do, because we don't decide when it's over. God does. And the thing you want to have happen on the day you take your last breath is for Jesus to call you home to heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone's going home. And the alternative is too eternally awful to contemplate. The Bible makes this clear in 1 John 5:11-12. It's our word for today from the Word of God, and it says that we're all in one of two groups, headed for one of two possible destinations. You are in one of these. It says, "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son." Notice - it doesn't say eternal life is in His religion or His rules or in living right. No, the only One who can get us to heaven is His Son. Why? Because He's the only One who died to pay for all the sin that we have; sin that makes it impossible for us to enter a holy God's heaven. The Bible then continues: "He who has the Son" - that's the Son of God, Jesus - "He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life." There it is. Either you're totally forgiven or you're still carrying your sin and its penalty. Either you're headed for heaven or you're headed for hell. And Jesus indicated there will be surprises in both places - people that humans would never expect who are going to be in heaven because they pinned all their hopes for spiritual rescue on Jesus. And people in hell who had tons of Christianity but somehow missed Jesus. They never grabbed Him as if He were their only hope. The truth is that your last call could come any time. Speaking to God in Psalm 139:16, King David says, "All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." You're not going to die until your work is done. And you can't stay one day longer than when your work is done. And God decides when that is. For a 17-year-old girl who attended a youth event I spoke at, the call actually came in a head-on collision on the way home. And because she had put her trust in Jesus that very night, when she got the call, she was called home, because "He who has the Son has life." You can't postpone God's call. And you can't be ready for it any other way than to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ, the only One who can remove the sin that will otherwise keep you out of heaven. You say, "But I'm a good person." Not good enough; not for a perfect God. That's why Jesus came. Why He died. Why He rose again. That's why He's knocking on the door of your heart, maybe this very day. He wants you in heaven with Him forever. He doesn't want to lose you! But you have to choose that - by consciously and totally giving yourself to Him. Have you ever really done that? If you're not sure you did, you probably didn't. Let this be the day you finally say, "Jesus, I'm Yours. I accept your death on the cross as being for my sin. I turn from running my own life. You are my only hope." If you want to be sure you've begun a relationship with Jesus, and you want to get this settled today, go to our website? It will help, I know it will. It's ANewStory.com. You're another day closer to the day the call will come. It just doesn't make sense to risk one more day without Jesus does it? He's calling you right now to give you to Him, so that one day, when the last call comes, He can call you home.

We'd stopped for gas next to an Interstate that takes you at 75 MPH across long miles of desert. I love the west. That's where I saw the sign: "Dead End - 3 Miles Ahead." I thought, "I wonder if anyone ever said, 'I'm not sure that's true of that old dirt road. I think I'll drive that way and check it out for myself.'" Nope, We got back on the Interstate, and of course, I had to see where that other road went. Sure enough, that bumpy road ended three miles later in the middle of nothing in the desert...right next to a road that speeds you to a lot of great destinations. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Driving Hard On a Dead-End Road." Why would anyone drive down a road that goes nowhere, especially when there's another road nearby that takes you to some wonderful places? Sadly, people are doing it all the time. Not with their vehicle, but with their life! Maybe because they missed the dead-end sign or they didn't believe it. Someone who's listening right now may be making that very mistake and not even realizing it. God has put up a sign that warns us to avoid the dead-end streets. In fact, He's written in some big, bold letters. It's posted in our word for today from the Word of God in James 1:14-15. It says: "Each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." That's pretty clear. Every sinful choice is a dead-end street. It leaves you dead at the end. Of course, temptation never announces where it's taking you; it only gives you the "goodies" that it seems to be offering. Sin says, "This may be wrong but it will give you love." You go for it, and you end up more lonely or used. Sin says, "Don't worry. This will give your life some excitement!" You go for it, and you end up hating yourself for what you've done. Sin says, "Come on, you'll feel better about yourself." You drive down the road and you end up feeling worse about yourself. Sin always kills. It always kills your self-respect, it kills people's trust in you, it kills your reputation, people you love, your future, your closeness to God. First, sin fascinates you, then it assassinates you. But the road looks so promising that you blow by God's "Dead End" sign. Jesus said, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13). What's important is not how nice the road looks but where it's going to take you, and God has made that ironclad clear! Don't waste any more time on a road that's ultimately going to leave you in the middle of nowhere, even if you can't see that now. God's Word still proves true. When we don't find what we hope to find on a road that we should never be on, we sometimes make a choice that only makes it worse. We decide we need to do more of what already hasn't worked! God says to you, as recorded in Isaiah 48, "I am the Lord your God who teaches you what is best for you...If only you had paid attention to My commands, your peace would have been like a river, your righteousness like the waves of the sea." Now that sounds like where you'd like to be, doesn't it? Then it's time to turn back from a road you never should have been on in the first place. What's ahead is only disappointment, despair and death. Within your reach is the Jesus-road - the one that leads to life! He's waiting to welcome you, forgive you and then lead you onto the road you were made to be on! I want you to know how to begin this relationship with Jesus. That's what our website is there for, let me urge you to go there this very day - ANewStory.com. Here's the choice you have in God's own words: "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

A long time ago, my wife and I were vacationing in a mid-south state, and she convinced me to explore this back road. It was just marked "Erbie." It's a town. We never did get to see it, though. For the first time that day I looked at my gas gauge (duh!) and the needle was on the big red E. Yes, that's for empty. And this sudden realization changed everything. The scenery didn't matter any more; the conversation didn't matter any more. I was desperately looking for someone who could answer one question, "Where can I get some gas?" When you're running on empty, filling up is suddenly the only thing that really matters. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When You're Running On Empty." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4. It's a story of a woman from a place called Samaria. She has been married five times. She's living with a man now, and you really can't tell that there's a search going on inside of her just from her daily routine. But she has, as you find out about her life, gone from relationship to relationship in this lifetime search for something to fill the emptiness in her heart. She needed a fill up. She was running on empty. Jesus met her at this well, and in John 4:13 He says, pointing to the well, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. The water I give him will become in him a spring of water, welling up to eternal life." Basically, He's looking at the fuel gauge on her heart that reads "empty." He refers to it as being emotionally thirsty again. Then He says, "I want to give you eternal life. Not just heaven, but an inner life that will never leave you unsatisfied; that will finally quench that spiritual and emotional thirst." In other words, Jesus says, "I want to fill the tank in your heart for the very first time." And I'll tell you, this lady decided she wanted the relationship with Christ that would do that. And in verse 28 it says, "She left her water jug" - which remember was the very reason she had come to the well - "went back to the town and said to the people, 'Come see a man who told me everything I ever did.'" And that was the day that Jesus forced this woman to face her emptiness and show her that only He could fill it. This might be that day for you. Jesus wants to show you what you've been trying to avoid. He wants you to look at the fuel gauge in your soul. And maybe it's very close to empty. Oh, sometimes you get something that will move the needle off empty a little bit; a good time, a vacation, some victory, some relationship. But then it's back down to empty again isn't it? See, often we're cruising along on empty, and we don't even realize it. Then suddenly we lose our job, our income, or someone we're really depending on, and we're looking at empty. Sometimes it takes bad news from the doctor, or a close call. Do you know why that might be happening in your life? To get you to admit that there's a hole in your heart; that you can't go it alone. Your religion is not enough. You need a Savior; a personal Savior. We're hollow inside because the God we're made by and made for isn't there. We've hijacked our lives from His control and we've created this fatal sin-gap between God and us. When you feel that un-peace, that dissatisfaction, that emptiness, that's the warning light - running on empty. It's Jesus saying, "You were made for Me." He died for you to bridge that gap between you and the God you were made to belong to. He's ready to forgive you today and fill the hole in your heart as only He can if you'll reach out to Him. And I'd love to help you do that. Got there, would you, to our website and we'll show you how to begin that relationship today! ANewStory.com is the website. He can do for you what He did for that woman at the well. He can meet you right where you are, show you where your answer is. Maybe God's been drawing your attention to that empty in your heart and only one thing really matters. Getting to the only place where you can find the peace that has eluded you your whole lifetime. In other words, it's time for you to meet Jesus.

It's really hard for me to drive by Civil War battlefields without stopping. I'm a history buff, and I like to stop at those things! Now, when I say Civil War, I might have to explain that to some of my friends, because if you grew up in the South, they say there was nothing civil about it. That's what my wife always told me. It was the War Between the States. At least that's what they taught my wife at school. One of the battlefields that I've driven by a lot is in New Market, Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley. I've been there several times on other trips but I finally had the opportunity to stop and find out what went on there. It was a time of desperate days for the confederacy. I know there's a lot of controversy that goes on these days about some of the issues of the civil war but this is more about heroism and not so much about a specific cause. It was 1864, and Ulysses S. Grant was making an all-out push to try to take the Shenandoah Valley, and then Richmond, the capitol of the confederacy. And the Union Army had failed to do that five times. One part of the army was to move down the Shenandoah Valley, which is where New Market is. Now, General Breckinridge was in charge of some confederate troops. He was a former Vice President of the United States, believe it or not. He ordered the students from Virginia Military Institute (VMI) to march for three days and help resist the Union advance. They hadn't used students before to be in the army, but they were that desperate. There were a lot of teenagers in that army. They said, "They'll hear from the institute today." You know what? They did. At a very decisive moment in the battle, these kids charged into the Union lines and drove them back. The South won the battle that day at New Market. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Young People Leading the Charge." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 2:17. A very exciting verse. God says that the greatest spirit outpouring in history will take place just before Jesus comes back. We could be getting close to it now. Here's what it says: "In the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all people." Notice next who's in the lead in this great spiritual offensive. "Your sons and daughters will prophesy and your young men will see visions. Your old men will dream dreams." You know what this sounds like to me? Young people will be helping to lead the last great Holy Spirit movement, with the older generation sharing their vision and cheering them on. Now, if you're young, it's time for you to step up to spiritual responsibility. You've been a taker long enough, drinking in all the Christian stuff. Isn't it time you became a giver? You've gone to the meetings. Now you need to get a mission, not just go to a lot of meetings. You need to be making a difference man! It's time for some young people who will commit themselves to tell about Jesus to the people who need to know Him in order to be in heaven with us. You need to get involved in some needs in your town. Don't make your life a "selfie" life. There's so many needs around. Go meet those needs in your town in Jesus' name. This isn't any time to be sitting around waiting for someone to entertain you. It's not all about going to a concert or a retreat or conference or Christian meeting. I mean, you'd be insulted if someone tried to get a babysitter for you at your age, right? You're too old to be spiritually "baby-sat." So don't wait for an adult to get young people praying. Why don't you get some praying going? Don't wait for an adult to plan an outreach. You do it. Don't wait for an adult to start a Christian club or to start a mission emphasis. You do it. If you're older than young, like I am, be sure you're doing all you can to create a climate and to create a church where young people are valued, trusted, and challenged. Over two-thirds of the people who ever come to Christ do it by the age of 18. The church has no more urgent priority mission than its' young people and the young people around your church who don't even know about Christ yet. So, if you're tuned in to the General's final strategy, you're either going to be a young person on the front lines or an older person encouraging young people to be in spiritual leadership. The most important spiritual battles in history could be shaping up right now, right before our eyes, and the outcome may very well be determined by young people leading the charge.

You can become fairly addicted to a predictable television adventure series. A lot of them have a formula. You know how it's going to go. There's a victim you like; there's a villain you don't like, and there's a predicament. And you want to see the predicament resolved, but what if the predicament isn't resolved? You see this wrong sense of values as it goes down to three minutes, two minutes, one minute. You know it's going to end very quickly and it's getting worse. The villain you don't like is winning. The victim you really do like, well, how are they going to fix it? And finally, one of the heroes appears on the scene and, suddenly, it's resolved. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It Ain't Over - God Isn't Finished." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 8, and I'll begin reading at verse 39. It's the familiar story of Jesus being asked to heal Jairus' daughter. She was very sick with a fever, and then as Jairus comes to Him, Jesus has stopped, and He's healed someone else. We pick up the story there, "While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus and said, 'Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher any more.' Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, 'Don't be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.'" Now, this is kind of like on those TV shows where they just put "Continued" and you're hanging on to see what will happen in the next episode. Well, finally He arrives at the house of Jairus. It says, "He did not let anyone go in with him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing and mourning for her. 'Stop wailing,' Jesus said, 'She is not dead but asleep.'" Then Jesus spoke to her and she returned to life. The servant had said, "Don't bother Jesus any more. Wrap it up. Go home. It's too late. The end!" Like a television adventure, it was time to give up; all was lost! But when God writes a series, it continues. That's always how it is when your life is in God's hands. It ain't over till it's over! And it ain't over because God isn't finished yet. You might be. You might have tried every human solution you can think of, but God isn't finished yet. And He doesn't need much time to change the ending. No matter how dark a chapter you're living in, no matter how final it seems to be, in Christ there is always another chapter. This might be just like the middle of the book. Don't act like it's the end of the book. Don't give up. If it weren't for the dark episodes, you would never have the opportunity to see how powerful your Savior is. He does His best work when we are powerless. See, if you look at the book of your life, there is a word that God writes over every hopeless situation - the word "continued." Jairus thought it was over, but it wasn't. "She's dead. It's over." It wasn't over. "I'm not finished yet," Jesus said, "no matter how it looks." You know, one of the strange things is that when we reach a point in our life where it is hopeless for us, we are at the edge of the greatest hope a human being can discover. When you get to the point where there is something you can't fix, and you can't change, and you can't control, that's the time you begin to look around for someone bigger and more powerful than you. And those are the times when people finally discover the Jesus who has all the power to conquer death, who walked out of His grave under His own power. But only after He died on the cross to pay for every wrong thing we've ever done, demonstrating beyond any shadow of a doubt how loved you are by Jesus. This very day He may have brought you to what seems like the end of the story to begin a whole new story. And, actually, I want to invite you to a website called ANewStory.com, because I'd like you to go there and let me explain to you how this day you can begin your personal relationship with this all-powerful, all-loving Savior named Jesus. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." He's changed the lives of so many people. If you know Jesus, don't let anybody treat you like you're over. Because when you've got Jesus, you can always say about your life, "Stay tuned for the next exciting episode."

Class reunions are always enlightening, and one thing is obvious after 20 years - people change. Yeah! I was a pretty big boy back in high school. I mean, there were a lot of pounds on this boy, but not quite as many when I went to that reunion. And, you know what? I'm glad they saw the new me. Less of me! And then there are those changes that aren't always positive that you see in people. You know that athletic hunk you knew in high school who's kind of gone to seed a little bit, or that beautiful bombshell who's... changed, shall we say. Or that great head of hair that's now just a great head. But sometimes it's a pleasant surprise to see how people have changed in positive ways. People do change, and if we're not careful we'll still be thinking of them as they were - not as they are. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Allowing People to Change." Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Acts 9:26-28. A man that they almost froze in time. Saul of Tarsus has been, as you may remember, a violent persecutor of Christians. And then dramatically, in a blaze of light, he meets Christ on the road to Damascus. Well you can imagine how the early Christians must have greeted him when he showed up, because they figured he was the "hit man" coming for them. Verse 26: "When he came to Jerusalem he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him." Well, I can understand that. "...not believing," it says, "that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the disciples. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord." Now, it looks like at the early part of this account that the Christians had Saul in a category. Saul is the enemy; Saul hates Christians. But much to their surprise, not anymore! God has changed him. You know, this incident underscores a tendency that we all have - we tend to freeze people in time. You know, we remember how they were and assume they're still that way today. We sized up this man or woman some time ago; we know what they were like. And we won't allow them the privilege of having changed. "Oh yeah, he's lazy." "Oh yeah, she's always irresponsible. She never keeps her promises." "Oh yeah, you can't trust him. He's always deceitful." "She uses people." "He's got a real problem." See, the human mind puts a person into a category and then closes the door on that category. But see, he's changing and we can't close the door. Sometimes we won't see the changes, even in our families. We tend to see the weakness in our mate, or our child, or our parent. But we can't see the changes that they're trying to make. They're growing! Sometimes we even discourage them by expecting and noticing the worst in them all the time. The things they used to do, let's say, nine out of ten things wrong in a given area. Now they're only doing five out of ten wrong. But we only see the bad five, because we froze them in time. We underestimate the life-changing power of the grace of Almighty God. He is changing His children. We have to allow for it, give them a chance to change, encourage the change, notice the change. The early Christians gave Saul a chance and I'm so glad they did. Let's expect the best of each other. Not because we trust each other. That's not it so much, but because we trust the transforming power of our Father's grace. Stay up-to-date on what God is doing in the life of that person near you, and don't leave them frozen in time.

Oh, for goodness sake, it was the polar vortex again! There I was, digging out the sweaters again, and turning up the thermostat to help the Propane Dealers Retirement Fund. And hoping the weatherman was wrong about snow and ice. But, you know, I had no right to gripe. I mean, some cities ran out of salt for their streets this past winter. My poor friends in places like Chicago, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Detroit, Boston, New York - they were "whomped" with storm after storm this past winter. And then we've got friends in places like western New York where they just get mountains and mountains of snow during the winter. If you had just moved to one of those snow-swamped places, it would have been easy to say, "It's always going to be winter. This much snow is never going to melt. It's just going to keep coming." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sick of Winter, Ready for Spring." Nope. It won't always be winter. There's hope. And hope has a name - spring. No matter how high the snowdrifts were, how endless the parade of winter storms, spring always comes. And that helps me grasp just what that precious word "hope" is all about. Hope-less means things can never change. But hope means things you've never been able to change can change because hope has a name. His name is Jesus. He's the One of whom the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 6:19, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." As a follower of Jesus, I can be - for the hope-starved people around me - living proof that He could change what I could never change. Because of Jesus, a parent can change. A husband or wife can change. A family can change. Because of Jesus, a temper can change, a life of depression, or a fear of death. Jesus changes control freaks, chronic worriers, fearful people, and people who have always been defined by their pain. There's a magnet in us that attracts people to our Jesus. It's not our beliefs, the meetings we go to, the bad things we don't do. It's our hope. The Bible says folks will want to know "the reason for the hope you have" (1 Peter 3:15). When you meet Jesus, you experience the ultimate makeover miracle: "If anyone is in Christ," the Bible says, "he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). So we have hope to give! Hope of Jesus changing our dark side, our fears, our relationships, our eternity. So the most powerful tool I have to open a heart to Jesus is my story - My Hope Story. Because what people want to know about Jesus is, "What difference does He make?" Your Hope Story tells about how your stressful times are different because of Jesus, your lonely times, your sad times, your wounded times. The difference Jesus makes when there's bad news from the doctor, when your family's in chaos, when the one you were counting on walks out the door, or when you stand by the casket of the one you love. People can argue with your beliefs. They can't argue with your Hope Story. Once you were "blind." Now you "can see." The only explanation is Jesus. I always want to be looking for natural opportunities to share some part of how my life is different because of Jesus. As you listen to a person's story, the door opens for you to tell your story. And how His story - His dying for you - has changed your story and could change theirs forever. I am, and all my spiritual brothers and sisters are, living proof that it doesn't always have to be winter. Spring comes when Jesus comes. And maybe you've never experienced that hope for yourself. Today Jesus stands ready to give you the new beginning that your heart is hungry for. I'd love to introduce you to Him and help you know how to get started with Him. Just go to our website as soon as you can today ANewStory.com. It's time for spring.

It was so dramatic that the cable news networks just kept replaying the video. A mother and her baby were trapped in a burning building. Some people saw the mother leaning out of the second story window with her baby in her arms, desperately trying to save him from both the smoke and the fire. The news video showed three people standing directly beneath that window, ready to catch the infant. It was an agonizing choice for that mother. If she held onto her baby, if she let him go; either way she risked his life. Finally, painfully, she released her baby and dropped him toward the people waiting underneath. It was breathtaking to see one man catch that little guy in his hands. It just so happens that he plays softball and he's a, guess what, a catcher. That baby was fine today, because a mother made a hard but life-saving choice. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Save Your Child." In a later interview, a tearful mother explained the decision she had made about her son. She said, "I had to let go of my baby to save him." That's a choice many parents have had to make over the years, and maybe a choice you're facing right now. The only way to save your child may be to let him go...to let her go. And that's not easy for many of us, because we're far more prone to try to control our son or daughter than to release them. It may be because we love them, but it may not be the most loving thing we can do. It's often in what we do to hang onto a child that we actually damage or destroy that child. The Bible gives us a beautiful example of releasing the child you love in our word for today from the Word of God. Hannah has shed tears for years because she cannot bear a child. Then God responds to her cries and sends her a son named Samuel; who will one day be God's man to lead His people. We can only imagine how much Hannah must have wanted to hang onto this precious son that she'd waited for so long. But listen to her prayer in 1 Samuel 1:27-28; a prayer that might change things in the life of your son or daughter. "'I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.' And she worshiped the Lord there." A mother who deeply loves her child loves him enough to release him into the hands of God. When we choose instead to try to control our son or daughter, we start using approaches that are more likely to ruin their life than to run it. We know the child we wanted, and we're gonna do whatever we can to shape him or her into that child instead of celebrating the child God gave us and nurturing who that child is; not trying to re-create him into something they're not. I was speaking at a conference where a lady came to me and afterward reminded me of when I had spoken there ten years before. She told me that I'd given an opportunity for people to come forward and surrender some part of their life they'd refused to give to Jesus. She said, "Ron, that night I surrendered my nine-year-old daughter to the Lord. She wasn't turning out the way I wanted, especially spiritually. I had tried everything to control her. That night, I just released her to the Lord. The next day she came to me and said something she'd never said, 'Mom, can we read the Bible together?'" Then that mom melted down as she said, "And today she's finishing her first year at a Christian college, training for a life in God's work." God can do with our surrender what we He could never do with our control. When we hold onto our child, we tend to create a rebel or a robot. When we release our child to the God who gave that child to us, we cooperate with the great plan for which our child was created. Almost every religion in the world has some kind of ceremony where a newborn child is given back to the Creator. We did that in a dedication service with each of our three children. But that needs to happen every day of their life; giving them back to the One who gave him or her to us. If your child is struggling, you may need to make that difficult but life-giving choice, "I have to let go of my baby to save my baby."

Our former offices were on this long hall, and each night the last one got to walk that long hall and make sure all the doors were locked and the lights were turned out. And with the amount of work the team had to get done each day, it was pretty close to "beddy-bye" time when some of them left. Of course, Daylight Saving Time meant that you could leave well into the evening and it would still be light. Maybe that's why the lights in some of our closets were accidentally left on sometimes. When it's still bright outside, it's easy to miss a light that's on. But in the winter, when it's dark, you can't miss the light! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Night Lights." The familiar and very challenging words of Jesus are our word for today from the Word of God. It's Matthew 5:14-16 where He said, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven." If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I wonder if you realize how important you are! Think about when you walk into a totally dark room. What's the most important thing in that room? Isn't it the light? Who's the most important person where you work, or you live, or go to school? Isn't it the one who's the light? Jesus said that's you. If the light isn't working - if it's dim - if it goes out, there's only darkness. You may say, "You don't know how spiritually dark it gets where I am!" And you're right. I don't know all the details. But it probably looks something like this: the talk is dirty or blasphemous or profane, sin is something to laugh at and brag about, people are routinely backstabbed and wounded verbally, honesty and integrity are hard to find - maybe even unappreciated, Christians are stereotyped as being intolerant, old-fashioned, condemning, and irrelevant. Maybe you'd like to add a few more layers of darkness to describe the place where you're trying to be like Jesus. But remember those office closets with the light left on. Where it's bright, you don't see the light much. But the darker it is, the more the light cannot be missed! The darker the darkness, the more the light shows up! Paul talked about that contrast when he said in Philippians 2:15, "Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which "you shine like stars in the universe" as you hold out the word of life." A star can barely be seen in a bright sky. But up against the stark darkness of the night, a star is something beautiful. That's supposed to be you in the universe where God's put you. So don't keep trying to hang out in places where there is already plenty of light; places where you feel safe because they're Christian places. You're needed where it's dark, where the lost people are. You can enjoy believers in heaven forever. Your job now is to get more people to go to heaven with you! We always told our kids as they left for school in the morning, "Go MAD today." And that means "make a difference!" That's what Jesus is saying to you each morning, "Go Make a Difference there." Be a living alternative in a place where truth doesn't matter, always tell the truth. In a place where dirty is cool, don't dignify the dirty. In a place where people cut each other up, you build people up! In a place where it's everybody for himself, you be the one who always puts other people first. In a place where Christianity is laughed at or misunderstood, you let them know what Jesus is like! Don't be intimidated by the darkness - you are the most important person in that dark place because you have the light of Jesus. Without you, darkness is all there is. Humbly, gently, lovingly, be the light there. You are one light that should never be turned out!

Isn't it amazing how different your second child can be from your first child? Just when you think you've got this parent thing all figured out, God sends you a totally different kid. I remember when you know, our son's family and the kids were born and when they were little. Food was just a necessary evil for our son's oldest, our granddaughter. She can take it or leave it. Since infancy, she hadn't cared much about whether or not she had food. Oh but not her brother! No! The eating machine. Only about a year old, but he was Food King for much of his little life. When he was still supposed to be only having milk, he was following every bite any of us put into our mouth as if to say, "So when do I get some of that stuff?" How did he graduate to crawling? One thing that helped was putting some food across the room. He just needed incentive. He took off on all fours like a firecracker had gone off behind him. One day, his mom was mixing up his next meal, and he was watching and complaining. As she continued to get it ready, he continued to escalate his expressions of impatience and displeasure. By the time his food was ready, we were dealing with a very loud, very insistent protest. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason For the Wait." Our grandson didn't have the words to say it, but he made his desires very clear as his food was being prepared, "I want my food, and I want it NOW!" It's a good thing his mother didn't give in. It wasn't ready yet! Believe me, it wouldn't have been good for him to get what he wanted when he wanted it. It would have been, in plain English, bleaaahhh! I can't begin to count the times that I've been the same way with God about something I wanted it, I needed it. "What's taking so long, God? I want it, and I want it NOW!" Maybe there's something you've been asking God for, trusting God for. And it's been a while, and it still hasn't come. You want it now, but there's a reason God isn't giving it to you now. It's not ready yet. And it would disappoint you if He gave it to you now. There's a word that's one of the major keys to God's best, it's a word that is spelled out in our word for today from the Word of God. Psalm 37, beginning with verse 5, tells us to: "Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will do this...Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him...Wait for the Lord and keep His way." There's the word that often stands between you and God's best - wait. Part of committing your way to the Lord, of trusting in Him, is to wait until God says it's ready; until God says you're ready. So many people are living today in the heartache of their own impatience. They couldn't wait, so they grabbed what they could have now. And it's been much less than what God was getting ready for them. Look, you've been waiting for God to come through. You want to be married. You're waiting for Him to answer your prayer about having a child, raising a child. You're waiting for that job, that heart change, that breakthrough, that answer, and it hasn't come yet. Don't panic. Don't let impatience cost you the perfect will of God. Premature babies aren't as healthy as ones that are full-term. Premature solutions aren't healthy either. Wait until it's full-term. Remember the principle of Galatians 4:4, "In the fullness of time, God will," that's when He'll bring your answer, when it's ready. So stop whimpering, stop whining, stop trying to grab it before it's ready. If you insist on having it now, you're not going to like it!

Like most Americans, I just about O.D. on the news. No matter what it's about! It could be news about elections, or some economic problem, or eruptions in the Middle East. It's all important, but it's not exactly in the "joy to the world" category. So I absolutely loved the feel-good story out of New York City that went viral across Facebook a couple of years ago. It was about the friendly policeman and the freezing homeless man. And it had "Christmas Story" written all over it. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Stopping for You This Christmas." In case you missed it, a young police officer on patrol in Times Square, came upon a homeless man, who was sitting there barefoot on the sidewalk. It was one of those "two pair of socks" night for the officer and even then his feet were freezing. He couldn't imagine a man sitting there barefoot all night. So the man in blue went inside a nearby store and bought the homeless man a $100 pair of boots with his own money. When he gave those boots to that barefoot man, well, you can only imagine the joy. It would have been one of life's invisible acts of kindness except for a tourist who was there with a cell phone camera. She was so moved with what she was watching, she snapped the picture, which was then seen by millions of people. Maybe because it was the Christmas season, that poignant scene triggered a flashback to something my personal Hero did over and over again. It's one of the many things that makes me love Him. That would be Jesus. The incident I remember took place when Jesus was entering a town, surrounded by crowds that were really anxious to see Him. The Bible says there was a blind beggar who had heard that "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Much to the aggravation of the people around Jesus, he started shouting loudly, "Jesus, have mercy on me!" A lot of annoyed people there told him in no uncertain terms to shut up. So he just shouted louder. And the blind man was a growing nuisance. He was an embarrassment. After all, they had a "celebrity" in town. Then two little words that tell me so much about Jesus, and they are our word for today from the Word of God. Just two words: Luke 18:40; "Jesus stopped." Nobody else stopped, but Jesus did. Not for the mayor. Not for the millionaires. Not for the ministers, but for the miserable. The guy everyone else walked by or walked over. That's who Jesus stops everything for. And the first thing that blind man ever saw was the face of Jesus. Because Jesus did what only He could do; He gave that man his sight. The Bible's filled with stories of people nobody would stop for except Jesus. Marginalized people like blind Bartimaeus. Obnoxious people like Zacchaeus, the hated tax collector. For 2,000 years, Jesus has been stopping for the lonely, the losers, and the lost. And letting them know that someone knows their name. Someone hears their cry. Someone sees them. Someone really loves them. And it's God's one and only Son. He sees me; He sees a world lost in sin, away from God, headed for an awful eternity. And He does what no one else could do. What no religion could ever do. He pays for my sins with His blood. In the words of the Bible, "He was wounded and bruised for our sins. He was beaten so that we might have peace; He was lashed and we were healed!" (Isaiah 53:5). You know, Jesus stopped for me when my soul was destitute, when my soul was doomed. Like the hymn says, "Once I was lost, but now I am found. I was blind, but now I see." You know, He might be passing your way today. Would you grab His hand today to begin your personal relationship with the man who loved you enough to die for you? If you want to know how; if I could possibly help you, please check out our website today ANewStory.com. He's stopping for you, He sees you, He loves you. He's moving in close. On the day we celebrate Him coming into this world, let Him come into your life.

I dropped off a Christmas poinsettia at a friend's house - she was getting home from the hospital that day. Her husband died of cancer the week before and she was laid up with back surgery. For her, I guess the words "Merry Christmas" might have sounded kind of hollow. Of course, she was not alone that Christmas. In many families each Christmas, there's someone missing around the table. My wife and I have had ten friends die in just a few weeks. There are clouds over Christmas for a lot of us, especially for the families of those who are gone. Grief and sadness, mixed with "joy to the world" and "happy holidays" - it's a bittersweet cup at best. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Clouds Over Christmas." Still, there is, as was announced that first Christmas, "good news of great joy" - even for those who are walking through "the valley of the shadow of death" (Psalm 23:4) as the Bible says. Maybe, especially for them. Not long before Jesus was born, God sent this prophecy written in our Word for today from the Word of God, Luke 1:78-79 - "The rising sun will come to us from heaven to shine on those living...in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace." Some 700 years before, the prophet Isaiah said, as He prophesied Messiah's birth, "On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned" (Isaiah 9:6; 9:1). It is for those very people in the "land of the shadow" that Jesus came that first Christmas, because we all take our turn in that shadow. When the days run out for someone we love or for us. Everyone has a last Christmas, and few of us know which one that will be. But that's why Christmas is such good news. Because Jesus came to illuminate those clouds and shine the light of heaven on the darkest corridor of all. He walked out of His grave to prove there is life beyond the funeral. Not some religious speculation; living proof. His Light has illuminated the mysterious darkness called death and shown us a heaven beyond. But it took Him carrying His cross into that darkness and absorbing all the hell for all my sin. Jesus died so all of us God-disobeyers could, as He said, "cross over from death to life" (John 5:24). Death is an abyss of total darkness if we have to face it with our sins unforgiven, because "the wages of sin (the Bible says) is death" (Romans 3:23) - forever death. That's eternal separation from a totally holy God. But here's the hallelujah part: "God sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him" (1 John 4:9). Death penalty paid. Death's power shattered. Now all death can do for those who belong to Jesus is send them home. Because of Jesus, death can't end a relationship between Jesus-followers; it can only interrupt it. There's a reunion coming! So, in the words of the immortal 23rd Psalm, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." Darkness has lost. The Light has won. So we can say, "Merry Christmas!" There's a wonderful peace - a peace like no other - in knowing that you are ready for eternity, whenever it comes and however it comes. It is a peace you can experience this Christmas season, my friend, and from now on. If you'd like to know more about belonging to Jesus, I wish you'd join me at our website and let me show you there how you can be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. You can receive, there, the greatest gift anyone could ever imagine. You know what the Bible says about it? "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23).

Christmastime is kind of like time to get things in shape, especially around the house. Most of us become very motivated when December arrives in terms of getting things cleaned up. We dust corners and clean areas that haven't been touched for like eleven months. Trouble spots in the carpet that had gone unnoticed, suddenly we notice them and we work on them. That wall in the kitchen that needed some touch-up paint, it becomes a priority. We begin decorating things! Houses are suddenly in better shape than they've been in all year, especially since last Christmas. Christmas is shape-up time for houses...and people. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Really Ready for Christmas." Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Isaiah 55:6. And it happens to be about fixing things up. Here's what it says: "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He is near." The 7th verse says, "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts, and let him turn to the Lord and He will have mercy on him and to our God, for He will freely pardon." Now, you notice here it says, "Seek the Lord while He is near." You say, "Wait a minute. This isn't about Christmas. What does this have to do with Christmas?" Well, honestly, I don't think there's any time of the year when people feel closer to the Lord or have Jesus more on their radar than the Christmas season. Remember, "while He is near." I think Christ seems close at this time of the year; almost inescapable. You can probably sense that. There's a softness - a kind of warm and cuddly feeling on the inside this time of year. We're softer than any other time. We find ourselves drifting into thoughts about Christ more often than usual. I mean, even watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special or hearing a carol at the mall; in places we wouldn't normally think about Christ. We're open to Him. That's when it's time to fix things up with Jesus. Not just around the house; I mean inside the heart house of your life. "Seek the Lord while He may be found," it says. That's really the Christmas season. "Call on Him while He is near." Well, in a very real way, that is now. This may have been for you a year of slowly drifting away from the Lord. You didn't run away; you're just not as close and warm...intimate like you used to be. Maybe it's been a year of real confusing doubts, hardships that have made you disillusioned and maybe a little hard-hearted. Or there could be a distraction that has taken His place for a while. But I'll bet you've discovered it's really no good away from Him is it? Those are the best times of your life when you're close to Him. It's Christmas time! It's time to fix things up. "Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call on Him while He's close" like He is now. And maybe this year, maybe this is when you finally think about opening up to Christ as your personal Savior. Not just a baby in a manger. Not just the One we sing about in our carols and we go to church services and go through our Christmas thing. You miss Him. You've missed having a personal relationship with Him. That's what you were made for. It's not that you haven't known about Him. You've never been against Him. You're religious. You know a lot of people who are Christians, but maybe you've never made your personal commitment to Christ. You've never said, "Jesus, what you did on that cross; what you came to do was for me. That was for all the wrong things I have done." Well, Christmas is close, and I wouldn't be surprised if you feel a tug in your heart. And that tug? That's not me. That's Jesus. This could be your first Christmas with Christ in your heart if you'll fix things up with Him. I'd love to help you begin that relationship with Him and understand from what He wrote in the Bible exactly how this relationship works. Would you go to our website? It's ANewStory.com. I think you'll find your way home there. Whatever stands between you and Jesus right now, would you let Him clean it up before Christmas? Then it will be more than a song for you. You can really say, "I'll be home for Christmas!"

Over the years, our family's had the chance to see Christmas from many different perspectives: Christmas in Manhattan, in Chicago's Loop, a mountain Christmas, a colonial Christmas. But it's a man named Nate Saint who, better than anyone else I know, may have captured Christmas from heaven's perspective. He was one of five American missionaries, called by God to the jungles of Ecuador to introduce the Gospel to one of the "lostest" people groups on earth, the primitive Auca (Waorani) Indians. Once they found the Aucas in the dense jungles, it was Nate who, as the seasoned pilot, managed to land them on a narrow beach by the Curaray River. Well, I've had the privilege of standing on that beach where Nate Saint, Jim Elliott, and three other men died at the hands of the people they had gone to reach. But years later the men who murdered them had become the leaders of the Waorani Church, and many, including me, were inspired by their example to give our lives to serve the Lord Jesus. There were countless people who went into God's work because of that example. On the eve of his last Christmas on earth, weeks before his death, Nate Saint wrote his perspective on Christmas, and I can't get it out of my mind. I hope you won't either. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Christmas Mission." As you listen to these words from one of heaven's heroes, listen knowing this is the heart of God about Christmas, maybe better than any card you'll read or sermon you'll hear. Here's what Nate Saint wrote in his journal on December 18: "As we have a high old time this Christmas, may we who know Christ hear the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christ-less night without ever having a chance. May we be moved with compassion as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance for these we have failed to bring out of the darkness. Beyond the smiling scenes of Bethlehem, may we see the crushing agony of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision of His will concerning the lost and our responsibility." Twenty-one days later, Nate Saint died attempting to rescue some of those very people. You know, His words are hard to hear in the middle of all of our Christmas activity aren't they? But they're important to hear because they reflect on why there is a Christmas. It's all about a spiritual rescue mission that cost the Son of God His life. That mission was clearly spelled out to Joseph when the angel announced the coming of Jesus to him in Matthew 1:21, our word for today from the Word of God. "You are to give Him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins." The very name Jesus means "the Lord saves" - that's "save" as in rescuers saving people from the rubble at Ground Zero, a firefighter saving people from a burning building. Sin is the burning building we're in. We're trapped with no way out except for heaven's Rescuer, Jesus Christ. He came and gave His life to rescue ours, and He went through the "crushing agony of Golgotha." But every day, we are with people who don't know that. See, following Jesus means living to join Him in His rescue mission to save them. This season, when the celebration of Christ's coming seems to be filled with days that are honestly so much about ourselves, about stuff, things that couldn't be farther from why there is a Christmas, could you call a timeout long enough to get with Jesus and pray this prayer? "Go ahead, Lord, and break my heart for the people around me who don't know you. Let me see what you see when you look at them. Help me feel some of your heart to rescue them from an unspeakable eternity." And pledge to Him to do all you can to help people you know be in heaven with you. Tell them about why He came, why He died, and what He does when we open our life to Him. Because Christmas is all about a rescue mission; to intervene for someone who is, in Nate Saint's words, hurtling "headlong into a Christ-less night without ever having a chance." You know what? You could be that chance.

It was our grandson's two-year Christmas, and he was so much fun to watch. One day during the season, his mother unpacked the family Nativity Set for her and her boy to set up, and he loved it. They put up the manger, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and the shepherds. They put out everyone except the one figure they couldn't find. They couldn't find baby Jesus. Well, our grandson was pretty concerned about this missing person, so Mommy told him Daddy would look for baby Jesus when he got home from the office. A lot of hours passed. Our grandson heard Daddy coming up the back steps. He ran to the door and greeted his father with an impassioned two-word question, "Where's Jesus?" I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Missing at the Manger." That question from the heart of a two-year-old might be the question God is asking some of us as He looks at our lives this Christmas season, "Where's Jesus?" It's possible to be like our grandson was that day. Spiritually, you have everything except Jesus. The danger of that deadly deficit is what God addresses in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 13:5. The sobering truth is that these words were, and are, written to church folks; the folks involved in a lot of Christian things - maybe like you. Here's God's challenge: "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" Apparently, you can be into Jesus, but not have Jesus in you! God says here that the deciding factor as to whether or not you belong to Him is whether or not "Christ Jesus is in you." Now He's in you only if there's been a time when you personally have flung open the door of your heart and welcomed Him in as your personal Savior from your personal sin. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. It's like getting married. You know if you've made the commitment or not. But you can miss the fact that you've missed Jesus when you've got everything else. You've got a Christian vocabulary, Christian beliefs, a Christian image, Christian fellowship, maybe a Christian environment or a Christian family. But maybe there's never been that deciding transaction with Christ; that deeply personal moment when you talk to Him and give yourself to Him with all the faith you've got. So as God looks at all you've got spiritually, is He asking, "Where's Jesus?" If you've consciously begun your relationship with Jesus Christ, He is in your life right now. He's clearly said, if you open the door, "I will come in." It is settled. But if you've never really given yourself to Jesus, I know it's hard to admit it to yourself, but it's deadly not to. And be grateful. God has given you another opportunity; He has given you this opportunity this Christmas season to take the step that will finally, really bring Jesus into your life, because some day will be your last opportunity. Would you tell Him right now you want to know Him for real; not just know about Him? Let today be the day you really begin with Him. Not just have some beliefs about Him, but you belong to HIm. It's time for you to tell Him that's what you want; to admit to Him you realize there's never been a time you've really given yourself to Him. But this is the day you open your heart, finally, to the man who died for you; who came to this earth to die to pay for your sin. He's alive because of Resurrection Day that first Easter, and He's available to you right now, my friend. He came that first Christmas, and now He's come where you are to come into your life. Are you ready to tell Him, finally, "Jesus, I'm Yours"? I would love to help you get started with Him. It would be a great joy of my life to help you do that. Would you join me at ANewStory.com? That's our website, ANewStory.com and let's get this settled. Today, in this Christmas season, please make sure that Jesus is in your heart.

Now, we've driven some pretty desolate stretches of the U.S. For a guy who used to wait 'til the last minute to get gas, those stretches were life-changing. A couple of bad experiences and you become mister "fill up at half a tank." But America's desert and wilderness stretches take a back seat to some of the wilderness of the Middle East; especially some of the desert traversed by God's ancient people as they went from Egypt to the Promised Land. Recently, a writer named decided to physically retrace some of the geography of the first five books of the Bible. Including the still-challenging Sinai wilderness where God's people wandered for forty years. He spent time with the nomadic Bedouins who make that wilderness their home. He walked the hot sands, the daunting mountains of that wilderness. And, in the process, he found himself on an unanticipated journey of spiritual discovery. And he learned something about why God led His children through the desert - and why He still does. Here's what this author said: "In the desert, there's no such thing as independence - only dependence." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Treasure In Your Desert." I think it started when we were little kids with words like these, "I can do it myself!" And we've been trying to do it ourselves ever since - even when it comes to totally trusting God. Oh, we believe in Him. We go to His meetings. We try to live by His commandments, but we want to drive. We're control freaks, especially when it comes to the things or people that really matter to us. We can make it happen. We can make it work. We can think of something. We can fix it. Then comes the desert; a season in your life when the bottom drops out. Things and people that you've depended on either aren't there or aren't enough. It's dry. The heat is intense. You're worn out physically and emotionally, and there's no road to show you the way to go. Welcome to the wilderness. But before you give up or give in, remember the desert is part of the plan. It was for God's ancient people. It was for John the Baptist. It was for Paul. It was for the Son of God, and it is for you. Here's what God says about the desert stretches; it's in Deuteronomy 8:2-4, our word for today from the Word of God. He says: "Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert...to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord." Ok, God says He leads us into the desert to humble us; to bring us to a place where the Lord is all we have. Because that's when we learn that the Lord is all we need. "In the desert, there's no such thing as independence - only dependence." When you come to your Lord in total desperation, running on empty, you open yourself up to an experience of God's power and God's grace you can't get any other way. And just in case you're not sure you can make it through this desert, listen to what your Heavenly Father will do for you there - Deuteronomy 1:31 says this: "In the desert...you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way." And like any tired little child, you'll go much further with your Father carrying you than you could ever go on your own. The desert may not be pleasant. It may stress you, it may strip you, but there's treasure you'll only find there. Because you'll find the treasure that is discovered only when God is all you've got.

It happens a lot in sports - especially when there's one of those games they like to call "The Big Game." Two rivals go at it in a game that's really important in the standings, and one team blows out the other team with this huge, lopsided victory. You can almost predict what's going to happen to the winning team in their next game, even if they play some pitiful team that loses a lot more than they win. The guys who totally dominated their rivals in the Big Game may very well lose the little game that follows. It happens a lot. You win big and then, for some reason, you lose big. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Dangerous Season of All." When you've really won big, it's easy to let down, get overconfident, or just get careless. When you've been the champion for a while, you tend to coast, and suddenly you're not the champion anymore. That doesn't just happen in sports, it happens in life. In fact, it happened many times in the Bible; like what happened to the Jewish king Uzziah, as recorded in 2 Chronicles 26, which is where we find our word for today from the Word of God. From this story, and many others like it, we can conclude that a season of success in your life may actually be the most dangerous season of all. Uzziah led his nation to new levels of economic prosperity, military dominance, and international respect. The Bible says, "As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success." Notice, God gave him success; see, success is not your achievement. It's God's gift. You don't achieve success, you receive success. Now, in 2 Chronicles 26:15 we read, "His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful. But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall." What follows is the tragic account of a king who becomes arrogant, self-willed, a man who starts doing it His way, not God's way; and ultimately a man who dies the horrible death of leprosy. Uzziah's story, unfortunately, is not unique. The truth is that very few of us are able to handle success. If you're experiencing a time of success and pretty smooth sailing right now, it's important to realize that you may be in the spiritual danger zone. When you're flying high, it's just all too easy to forget how you got there. Or, more importantly, Who (capital "W"!)... Who got you there. The ancient Jews were given a solemn warning from God when they went from the wilderness to the wealth of the Promised Land: "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord." And, sure enough, they did. So if this is a good season of your life, don't ruin it by getting careless. Have you allowed your success to inflate you? Are you thinking, "Hey, I'm really something" instead of "He's really something"? Have you moved from the desperate praying of the hard times to less-frequent, less-fervent prayers now that you're in the good times? Have you started to rely on your gifts, your cleverness, your experience, your strength, instead of what you once relied on - totally depending on God? Are you becoming more self-focused? Are you taking more things into your own hands instead of leaving them in God's hands? Those are some of the great dangers of success. Don't make God remind you who is the source of everything you've got. Because success that costs you the blessing of your Lord is simply success that you cannot afford.

So who needs an alarm clock in our neighborhood? We've got ravens! Yeah, those big black birds discovered our backyard. Now, ravens apparently are early risers, a little earlier than most people are. And they are also, shall we say, active conversationalists. Which makes them wonderful alarm clocks for those early morning hours whether you want them or not! Now I don't mind it. It's great to have all the birds singing their little spring concert in our yard. Actually, they do more than sing, they preach! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Security When You're On Empty." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 12, where we find the Gospel from the birds. The Gospel's not for the birds, no, it's from the birds. The subject of their sermon is security. And that might be an issue that you have reason to be concerned about right now. In this passage, Jesus has just told us about a man whose idea of security echoes that of almost everyone around us. He has a lot of crops to take care of, and he says in Luke 12:18, "I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to myself, �You have plenty of good things laid up for many years.'" Well, that's pretty much our world's concept of security. What have you got in your storeroom, man? What have you got to fall back on? What have you got in your IRA? What have you got for retirement? What have you got in case medical emergencies come up?" Then here comes the message from that bird passage in the Bible as Jesus talks to us beginning at verse 22, "Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens..." Well, I have no choice. They make sure I consider them every morning. Jesus said, "Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable are you than birds!" I love these simple words, "They have no storeroom, yet God feeds them." And then He says, "If He'll do that for the ravens, He'll surely do that for you." Now, we live in a world that says surplus equals security. The Gospel according to the birds is simple but eloquent. It says, "Our security is this: We have a Father who is a great provider. That's where your security is; not what you have in your storeroom." Jesus goes on to talk about how the pagans are chasing after things and after material security. But He says, "You seek His kingdom, and then sell what you have and give to the poor, and pass on the kingdom to other people." You're secure. Not because you can see where it's going to come from, but because of who your Father is. In fact, I wonder if some day Jesus isn't going to return and say to a lot of us, "What are you doing sitting on all of that? Why do you have so much in your storeroom?" See, we are Father-fed people. We don't need big reserves. We're to feed others with the gifts that He's given to us. You don't ever have to worry about having enough. In fact, one day those ravens proved that God will always find a way to meet your need. When every other source of security and supply was cut off from the prophet Elijah, the ravens brought it. God will always find a way, even if you have to keep your window open for the ravens to come in and give it to you. If the usual means of supply are cut off, God can do it without those. It's been God that's been your source all along. He'll deliver it another way. He will feed you from His storeroom. If you don't believe me, just ask the birds.

I was in a board meeting in a hotel conference room. It was in the 90s outside, but I was ready to put gloves on so I could write without shaking. The air conditioner in our conference room was set one notch past high. It was on arctic! We wandered over to the control box on the wall, and all we did was discover that the controls were locked up. Great! So, we called the desk and they had a hard time understanding us because our teeth were chattering. (I'm not exaggerating at all, no.) They finally got the message, and the maintenance man came and he turned down that ice machine. At that moment, he had the power in his hands. Summer or winter, he is the man who decides what the temperature will be. You know, that's a pretty significant position. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Leader's #1 Job." Our word for today from the Word of God turns the spotlight on one of the Bible's greatest role models for leadership - my hero, Nehemiah. He led God's people in the effort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem in just 52 days. As we join the story, Nehemiah is now governor for a poor group of people who are trying to establish life in their rebuilt city. In that difficult time, the climate was very important, and God had a man who knew how to establish just the right temperature. Our word for today from the Word of God, Nehemiah 5 beginning in verse 14. "When I was appointed to be their governor...neither I nor my brothers ate the food allotted to the governor. But the earlier governors - those preceding me - placed a heavy burden on the people and took forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine. Their assistants also lorded it over the people. But out of reverence for God, I did not act like that. Instead, I devoted myself to the work on this wall. All my men were assembled for the work; we did not acquire any land. Furthermore," Nehemiah says, "a hundred and fifty Jews and officials ate at my table, as well as those who came to us from the surrounding nations...I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people." In the intensity of this survival situation, the people desperately needed a climate of unselfishness, of sharing, of cooperation. But someone had to be the thermostat, and Nehemiah was that man. He led the way, setting a temperature of sharing, and you know what? The people followed. The greatest responsibility of any leader is probably not even in his or her job description. It's establishing a climate. Parents do it at home; Dad establishes a climate when he walks in the door at night. Teachers set a temperature in a classroom. A chairman sets a temperature in a meeting. Leaders do it in a church. Supervisors set a climate in an office or factory. In a sense, we're all leaders to the extent that we set a climate where we are. If you're in a position of influencing others, have you considered how the temperature feels where you are, what kind of climate you're establishing? Not so much with what you say, but more with the way you are. Is it tense around you or peaceful? Are people around you seeing a model of caring? Of unselfishness? Of pitching in on what needs to be done, as Governor Nehemiah did with the work on the wall? Are you setting a climate of respect for other people? If people are around you, do they become people of prayer? You're a leader. You're setting a climate, whether you realize it or not. And the interesting thing is that you end up reaping the climate you sow. So make the place where you are feel like it would if Jesus were there. He is.

It was like a dream come true. I'll tell ya', it was right after Christmas. I was in Manger Square in Bethlehem! Near the entrance to the Church of the Nativity, which is built over the cave believed to be the birthplace of the Son of God. It felt like the whole town was a celebration. There were festive lights lining the streets and caroling choirs. There was a parade. And a dazzling Christmas tree on the square. Not this Christmas. The birthplace of Christmas will be dark and deserted this Christmas. Just like so many hearts. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Light For A Dark Christmas." You know the song says, "It's the most wonderful time of the year." Well it's not for everybody. The "joy to the world" only seems to amplify the sadness if your holiday heart is lonely or broken. You've lost a loved one. A crumbling marriage. A wandering son or daughter. Maybe a life-upending diagnosis. It could be a shattered relationship. Or just a nameless darkness in your soul. Strangely, when Jesus came that first Christmas, there were no lights, there were no parades - not even a room where He could be born. Rome had found another way to get more money from the already impoverished Jewish people. And the Son of God would come into the world in the filth and stench of a stable. And soon the little family, well they'd flee as refugees, when the evil king ordered the massacre of every Jewish baby boy under two. Yes, it was pretty dark that first Christmas. And, in a way, it was dark all the way to that Good Friday 33 years later when Jesus would die alone on a Roman cross. But for every heart that feels "dark and deserted" this Christmas, there is hope in that manger. The Bible reveals what was really going on in that stable in John 1:4 and 5 - "In Him was life, the life was the Light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." You know we often hear that God is at the top of the mountain and all the religions of the world are ways to get to Him up there. But Jesus didn't come to start or to be a religion. He was something no one had ever conceived of... The God who came down from the mountain to where we are! To be one of us. To bring God close. And, ultimately, to die for us. For the very sinning we've done against Him! For ultimately, that darkness in our heart is the absence of the God we were made for. Our loneliness is cosmic loneliness. We're lonely for God. And our brokenness well, that's the damage done by a world of eight billion people who have defied His rule over their lives. But since that "O holy night" in Bethlehem, millions have found the Light that is stronger than the darkness. A light inside you, that's not dependent on a flickering world around you. It is a new beginning, and Jesus offered it in His liberating invitation. It's our word for the day from the Word of God in John 8:12. "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Imagine, every wrong thing you've ever done - forgiven. The broken pieces repaired and restored by His resurrection power. And finally, the end of lostness, the beginning of a life with eternal meaning. And one unlosable love. For as the Bible says, "nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:39). One love that will never desert you, never divorce you, never die on you. You want this relationship with Him? It can begin today when you tell Him, "Jesus I'm Yours. I believe it was my sin You died for." I hope you'll go to our website because we're set right there to help you be sure you belong to Him as of today. ANewStory.com. Somewhere today there is a heart that has just spent its last day "dark and deserted." Because today, the Light's coming in. I pray that's you.

When our son was in college I think his favorite Christmas song was "I'll be Home for Christmas." That might be every college student's favorite song. He started counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until it was time to go home. But none of our kids have ever experienced anything like what my wife called her loneliest Christmas. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Loneliest Christmas." My wife was a college student in Chicago, and things were really hard for her family back home that year. Dad was a farmer, and the drought was really wiping him out financially. There was no money for her to go home that Christmas. You can imagine how she felt as her friends one by one said goodbye and headed out for their family Christmas at home. Eventually my wife was one of only about a dozen students left on the whole campus. Those were two very long weeks for a young woman who was used to mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, and sister and friends; all celebrating Christmas together. Actually, she would tear up when she thought about it. It really hurts when it's Christmas and you're not home! In a sense, many people have never really been home for Christmas. I mean, spiritually home. Oh we all have a homing instinct; this deep-down sense that there's something missing in our soul and we won't be home until we find it. The search for that missing piece of us takes us from relationship to relationship, from experience to experience, and that search inevitably leaves us still wondering where home is - for our heart. Our word for today from the Word of God is from Colossians 1:16, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, six words that say it all. Speaking of Jesus Christ: "All things were" - and here are the six words - "created by Him and for Him." You and I were created by Jesus. We were created for Jesus. And we're going to have a hole in our heart until we have Jesus. There was an article in a news magazine that said our lifestyle had "yielded only deeper hungers and lonelier nights." Wow! Well, God's Book reveals to us a startling fact that no person on earth can ever satisfy our loneliness. It's cosmic loneliness. We're away from God, and He's the only One who has the lasting love that we were made for. We're like my wife that lonely Christmas at college. Our heart is aching for home! Can you feel it? And God didn't leave us; we left Him. In the words of the Bible, "All of us have wandered away like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way." That's maybe why the middle letter of sin is "I." We've basically said to God, "Hey, You run the universe. I'll run me, thank you." And that rebellion has cost us the one relationship that we can't live without and we dare not die without. Then comes Christmas. There's nothing we can do to erase the sin that keeps us from God, to be able to one day be with Him forever in heaven. So God sent His own Son into the world to pay the death penalty that sin requires. And God explains His motive this way, "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." You see, to believe in Him is to tell God you're pinning all your hopes on Jesus to forgive your sin and to give you eternal life. Because only the One who died for your sin can forgive it. And only the One who walked out of His grave can give you eternal life. A little boy was lost on a street corner in New York, and this policeman said, "Can you tell me your address or your phone number?" And the boy couldn't remember. Finally the little boy said, "But, sir, there's a big church next to my house, and there's a big cross on the top. And if you can get me to the cross, I can find my way home." So can you. If you can get yourself this Christmas to the cross where Jesus died for you, you can finally be home in that relationship with the One you were made by and made for. I would love to help you make that discovery and secure your relationship with Jesus and your place in heaven. Would you go to our website? That's what it's there for. It's there for a moment like this - ANewStory.com. Your new story could begin this Christmas season. Give yourself to Jesus, and you'll be home where your heart has wanted to be for so long - home for Christmas; home forever.

Our oldest son had just graduated from a wonderful Christian college. Most of his good friends were headed for careers in business or the professions - which can be great places to serve God. But his calling was to go as a missionary to an Indian reservation among a people listed by some world prayer people as one of the most unreached people groups in North America. We knew it wasn't going to be easy. In fact, his first place to sleep at night was just a little storeroom, where he slept on a table so he wouldn't be a snack for the critters on the floor. Now, he was there pretty much on his own, and he was just starting to try to break down some walls and meet some of the tribal young people there. He'd been there a couple of weeks when he called us, I guess it was some morning at sunrise his time. He had driven about eight miles to find a phone to call. It was before cell phones! It was the kind of call that a parent doesn't forget. He said, "Mom, Dad, I've got to tell you I've probably never been so lonely in my whole life. In college, I had friends whenever I wanted them, I could go out on a date whenever I wanted to, I could get some money together when I needed to. But here, I have none of those things." To be honest, our parents' hearts were aching at this point. And then we were blown away by his unexpected conclusion. He said, "But I've got to tell you this, "I've never had such peace in my life. I'm where I was born to be, doing what I was born to do!" I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where You Were Born To Be." It could be that your life has been very full, but not very fulfilling. What you're doing may be successful, but maybe not necessarily significant. It may be cheered by men, but not very important to God. Let's face it. You're restless inside. You know there's got to be something more. Maybe God is stirring your soul. Maybe He's trying to move you where you were born to be, to do what you were born to do. And it's different from what you're doing now. Don't be afraid of it. Be expectant. And be obedient - no matter how risky that obedience looks. Actually there's no such thing as a risky obedience - only a risky disobedience. In Jeremiah 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, the Lord says this to Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart." When Jeremiah expresses his sense of being inadequate to carry out his calling, God says, "You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you." On the one hand, these words applied particularly to the calling of Jeremiah to be God's prophet. But the sense of what He said is true of every child of God...including you. He formed you in the womb for special purposes as Paul says, "for good works He prepared in advance" for you to do (Ephesians 2:10). And He's calling you to be where He made you to be, doing what He made you to do. And it may be something different from what you're doing now. You won't be able to see the whole road ahead, but He's expecting you to start walking that direction right now, following the light of His Word, and His leading through your prayers, and His defining circumstances. His call is for you to "offer your body as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God." Out of that surrender, you will, according to Romans 12, "be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing and perfect will." To follow Him to your designer destiny, you may have to defy the drumbeat of the culture around you. You may be called foolish by those who can't understand heaven's plans. You will almost surely have to proceed by faith; trusting in the Lord who loves you, not in a plan that you can control or even figure out. But, by all means, follow Him where He's taking you. The alternative is a future filled with the bitter regrets of someone who knows they've missed what they were put here for. Don't settle for anything less than being where you were born to be, and doing what you were born to do.

Well they called it "Avalanche" in one paper, "Tsunami" in another. "A cultural watershed moment." "A day of reckoning." Some of the words the news used to describe the seasons of relentless accusations of sexual misconduct by powerful men. The blizzard of revelations is new. Men using power to exploit someone sexually; sadly, that's not new. From athletes to politicians, from bosses to clergy sometimes. Tiger Woods outed an abuser's rationale when he went public with his extramarital relationships years ago. I haven't forgotten what he said, "Normal rules didn't apply...I felt like I was entitled." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sex, Power, and Christmas." There's the word. Entitled. The dictionary says entitlement is "the belief that one is inherently deserving of privilege or special treatment." "Privilege?" Like assuming the right to use power to dishonor or degrade a woman? No title, no favor, no authority can ever give a man that right. From the time we guys are boys, we're raised on what I call the Male Conquest Myth. That a man proves his manhood by the sexual conquest of a woman. And it starts early. For centuries, the Bible has presented a radically different proof of manhood. It is, in fact, about conquest. It says in Proverbs 16:33, "Better to have self-control than to conquer a city." So, a man proves he's a man, not by conquering a woman - but by conquering himself. His passions. His anger. His mouth. His dark side. That's the battle one Bible author faced in our word for today from the Word of God in Romans 7. "I want to do what is right, but I can't. I want to do what is good, but I don't...there is another power that...makes me a slave to sin. Who will free me?" In his disgust with his own powerlessness to tame his dark side, he suddenly finds hope. He says, "Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ." For 2,000 years, men who couldn't change did change. When they've turned to the Man who poured out His life on a cross to break the chains of human sin, and who proved His singular power by conquering death itself. If He has the power to walk out of His grave, there's nothing that conquers me that He can't conquer. In the midst of swimming in a cesspool of sex-and-power revelations and stories, there is Christmas. The manger. The Baby. And one of a thousand reasons I love and follow this Jesus. Because the most powerful Man who ever lived used it only to help, to heal, to save. Leaving behind, not a trail of wounded, exploited people, but powerless people lifted to full humanity. Lepers. Beggars. Women. Children. People kicked out of the "church." Behind that silent night in Bethlehem was a stunning divine transaction. The Bible says, "Though He was God...He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being...He humbled Himself...and died a criminal's death on a cross" (Philippians 2:6-8). In His own words, Jesus explained that He "came not to be served, but to serve others and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). King of kings, the Bible calls Him. Lord of Lords. Prince of glory. Son of God. Birthed in a stable. Giving, never taking. Hanging on a cross to bring rebels, like me, against Him home. In the midst of the crud, there is Christmas and the hope of a new beginning. Something pure, more powerful than the darkness. His name is Jesus. You want to begin a relationship with Him? There's no better time. Go to our website to find out how that can happen for you today. ANewStory.com. For 2,000 years, "wise men" have ended their search at the feet of Jesus. We come to Him with the chains of our own personal darkness. And we leave forever free.

The funeral plans for Matt were in the works. The Park Service had announced that Matt was one of five people who had been killed in a plane crash on a mountainside in Montana. The funeral never happened. Suddenly, Matt's bereaved parents heard the stunning news: although he had been badly injured, their son, along with one other Forest Service worker, had just been rescued alive, miles from the crash site. Rescue workers at the scene of the crash had concluded that the charred wreckage and the scattered human remains indicated that the crash had been "un-survivable." But amazingly, Matt and his fellow worker hiked for 29 hours, often in subfreezing temperatures, until they reached a highway where a motorist picked them up. One news magazine called it, "A Miracle in the Snows of Montana" (Newsweek, October 4, 2004). I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bringing Back a Loved One." Many a parent with a child away from God has despaired of them ever coming out of the spiritual death that they've chosen. There may be wreckage, there may be damage, injuries, but it's way too soon to think it's over. If someone you love is away from the Lord and hope is sometimes hard to hang onto, God has a promise for you today in Psalm 126:5-6. It's our word for today from the Word of God and it's a good one. He says: "Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy. He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." All those months and years of praying and weeping and sowing the seed of God's Word in their life will not return un-harvested. How God does it, when God does it, whether or not you may even be here to see it is totally in God's hands. But you can be sure the Shepherd is persistently, skillfully pursuing that lost sheep you love and that He loves so much more. Remember, He's more concerned about the one who's lost than the 99 who are doing okay. I can't begin to list the wanderers and rebels that my heart has ached for over the years; so many who had tasted the goodness of God but who wandered away - some of whom are still wandering. Some of whom have gloriously come home to Jesus, now living for Him with the fervor of one who loves much because they've been forgiven much. Through all these battles for people away from Jesus, I've learned a couple of simple principles that are grounded in Scripture. They've been anchors when it looked like there was no hope. First, remember the difference between a chapter and a book. These dark times in the life of that one you love are not the whole book - they're a chapter, or even a series of chapters. But many a book with sad chapters has had a happy ending. Don't judge the ending by the dark chapters in the middle of a book. Don't decide the game is lost because your team is losing at halftime. If you think it's over, you may actually contribute to their continued wandering by resorting to nagging. And that's only going to drive them further away. Or by compromise and accepting what can never be acceptable before God. By slowly giving up on your prayer of faith for them, or maybe just withdrawing from them when your unconditional love may actually be their best hope. See, when someone you love is the least lovable, that's when they need your love the most. Remember, as long as there's breath, there's hope. It just isn't over so long as they have breath to cry out to God for rescue. So keep on fighting for them in the Throne Room of Almighty God with defiant faith - faith that defies the devil's lie that "it's over. What's the use?" Keep on loving them. Keep on gently sowing seed, as the Holy Spirit opens up natural opportunities. Keep on asking God to make their sin unsatisfying to them, and cry out to the Lord, "Do whatever it takes, Lord, within Your will, to bring them to You!" Jesus is still bringing back, alive, loved ones that had been spiritually given up for dead.

A dog and bubbles: ah, there's an amusing combination! I think my wife discovered this when our little Shih tzu dog was just a puppy, a new member of our family, and she was kind of still discovering her world. My wife went out and bought one of those containers of bubbles, you know the one with the little wand. Well, the puppy couldn't resist those bubbles. She'd try to pounce on the bubble as soon as it landed on the floor. And when they were in the air, she'd watch them come down, she'd wait for them. She was in attack mode. The problem is that the bubbles disappeared as soon as she could get to them. She'd open her mouth to attack it (or eat it or whatever you do with it), and suddenly it wasn't there anymore! All that was left was this bewildered dog sniffing and searching and looking up at the new bubbles coming down. She wasted an awful lot of energy looking for bubbles. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Chasing Bubbles - and Meaning." Our word for today from the Word of God; Ecclesiastes 1:14. It's from a man who chased plenty of them. King Solomon, the ancient Jewish King said this, "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Our dog would have said chasing after the bubbles. See, Solomon probably lived life with more gusto than anybody you ever knew. He was the richest man of his time. He built an incredible temple with his name on it. There were roads and buildings everywhere that he was responsible for. He had the best of entertainment. He had more women than you could possibly imagine, and he studied the greatest ideas of his time, and repeatedly he says in his book, "it was all chasing after the wind." Chasing bubbles - maybe you know that feeling. You see something or someone that looks promising as a goal and you think it would give you personal happiness or personal fulfillment. So, you pounce on it with everything you've got and poof - it's gone! It leaves you sniffing and wondering why you're still empty and you keep looking for the next bubble to come along. How long is it going to be before we realize that what we really want isn't any of life's bubbles, any of the things that earth can even offer us? Okay, Ecclesiastes 3:11 - Solomon got it figured out. He says, "God has placed eternity in our hearts." See, there's this eternal hole in our heart. It's so big that only someone as eternal as God can fill it. We've been trying to put earth stuff there and earth people to fill a God hole in our heart. We're hungry for something that's going to be there forever. Right now you might be aggressively pursuing a position or a possession or a person with everything you've got. But when you get it, you're going to discover what you always discover - it's a bubble that bursts. That's why Solomon concludes after his life-long search in Ecclesiastes 12:1, "Remember your creator, in the days of your youth." There's only one pursuit worth everything you've got - and it's a personal relationship with your Creator. Life lived for what matters to God. The Bible says this, speaking of Jesus Christ, "He is our peace." Maybe you're away from God right now and you know you are. The Bible says we all are actually, because of our sin, our self rule of our life; but Jesus came to pay for that sin on His cross. He took the death penalty for it, and when you meet Jesus at His cross, you are finally as the Bible says, "complete in Him." So how soon are you going to give up chasing the wind? Looking for love and peace in things that will disappear as soon as you get them? It's time for you to belong to Jesus, isn't it? Do you want to do that? Would you tell Him that today; "Jesus, I'm yours." Let me invite you to go to our website - ANewStory.com. Meet me there and I'll explain how you can be sure you have this relationship and your search is finally over. Remember, you're finally ready for something that's eternal, that's unloseable, that's unbreakable. You, my friend, are ready for Jesus.

You may remember when the word window just referred to that opening in a wall that kind of, you know, you covered with glass? Well, NASA changed all that. A window is still an opening, but the folks at Cape Canaveral use that word to refer to that brief period of time where everything is right for the launch: the wind is okay, the weather's okay, they've checked it at the Cape, they've checked it down range, and the atmospherics are okay for communication. The conditions have been predicted for the time of return and they look good, too. But the window will pass soon. If you're going to get this thing off the ground, go when the window's open. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Christmas Window." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 2 beginning at verse 16. This might be a dimension of Christmas that we often miss; maybe with tragic consequences. "So the shepherds hurried off and found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in a manger. And when they had seen Him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child. And all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them." Now, notice it says they had seen Him and then they spread the word. The first people to ever celebrate Christmas saw it as a time for telling. That was their first response! "Man, it's time to spread this good news!" Now, 2 Corinthians 5:20 tells you what your lifetime assignment for Jesus is, "We are Christ's ambassadors." Whatever you do for a living, or go to school for, your highest calling is that you're an ambassador for Jesus Christ. If the people in your world are ever going to hear about Him, it's going to be through you. See, He's assigned you to this particular little tribe that's around where you work, or go to school, or live, or recreate. That's your territory as a "missionary." Your environment might change. You may move, but your assignment doesn't. You are His ambassador wherever He puts you. Christmas, I think, is the best window of the year for telling about your Jesus. Hearts are softer this time of year. People are open. Christ is kind of like everywhere. You can't even go to the mall without hearing songs about Him. It's never easier to talk about Jesus than it is during the Christmas season. But the Devil? Oh, he loves to see us so consumed with Christmas busyness that he keeps us distracted when the window in lost hearts is the most open. Think about it. Who is there this Christmas, in this countdown to Christmas, that you need to communicate Christ to? They need to hear about your Jesus. This Christmas season would be the time to tell them about the One who promised peace, and brought peace to your heart. Maybe it's time to take that person out to lunch. Maybe it's time to give them a Christian recording of some kind or contemporary worship music. Share with them the songs that really mean a lot to you. Most of all, tell your Hope Story; write down your Hope Story. If you do Christmas cards, put it in the cards. Look for opportunities to tell your personal Hope Story of the difference Jesus is making in your life. Maybe you need to invite them to an event that will be a good place for lost people to go and some place "seeker friendly." They're ready to hear Christmas music, it's that time of year! Everybody wants to hear that. Invite them to your home afterwards. Don't just go to the concert. Invite them to your home to fellowship and talk about what was sung and what was said about Jesus there. My wife and I had great opportunity to make progress in communicating our Jesus to our friends by that alone. Just invite them to a concert or a Christmas event and have them over afterwards and talk about what we all felt. Jesus said that it was "harvest time." He said the harvest is plentiful. And I've asked farmers, I've asked what harvest means to them and they say, "ready." Well, I think someone around you is ready because it's Christmas. They desperately need your Lord, and they may be more ready than ever before. If you're ever going to launch an effort to take that person to heaven with you, would you do it now while the Christmas window is open?

Christians that were in Russia anytime during the 1950s to about 1990 were familiar with the voice of Nick Leonovich. For decades before the Iron Curtain came down, Nick had been faithfully broadcasting the gospel in Russian to his people. When the doors began to open, and Nick would travel through Russia and meet those Russian believers finally, a lot of them would stop him and they'd say, "Hey, I know your voice! You led me to Christ." Wow! Well, I've got to tell you, Nick wasn't always working for the Lord. That took a miracle. Nick was living as a teenager in Passaic, New Jersey, and his older brother, Alex, was pioneering Christian broadcasts in Russian for a company and ministry in Ecuador. And when he would ask Nick about his relationship with Christ, Nick kind of waved him off and said, "Hey, that's my business." It was an August day in 1945 when older brother Alex was driving to the radio station in Ecuador, and he heard the breaking news. He threw out his planned message and he spoke spontaneously from what he had just heard on the news. Nick happened to be listening on shortwave radio in New Jersey. He would never be the same. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I was to have A Word With You today about "Unconditional Surrender." The news that day? The unconditional surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces. Japan had expressed earlier interest in a surrender with specific conditions. But that day in 1945, they surrendered without condition. Alex Leonovich spoke on the subject Unconditional Surrender to Jesus Christ. Nick heard it in New Jersey, and he fell to his knees. He said, "Lord, I've been a Christian but on my terms. Now I want to surrender to You with no terms. I unconditionally surrender." Well, I'll tell you, the lid came off his life from that day on. And just as God directed a man to speak about unconditional surrender over a radio almost 70 years ago, I really believe God has wanted me to do that today, maybe for you. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 12:1-2. "I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. This is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is; His good, pleasing and perfect will." You notice here, that the appeal is made on the basis of God's mercy; after all He's done for you through the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. So, we're being asked to respond to what He did for us. Then it says, "Offer yourself as a living sacrifice." A sacrifice. Well, that means that you have no further plans of your own. But you're still going to go on living, except from now on you will live surrendered to Jesus and His plan for your life. No longer marching to the drum beat of your generation, or the culture, or your surroundings, your environment, your occupation. No, you won't be conformed to the world, because you're hearing another drummer. The result: You will be experiencing God's good, and pleasing, and perfect plan for you. The reason you're here. See, conditional surrender, which is what most of us would like to do, hands Jesus a contract for Him to sign with your conditions. Unconditional surrender gives Jesus a blank piece of paper which you've already signed, and then He fills it in. Have you ever done that? That's how you get His best. That's when He's truly your Lord. The world was changed by an unconditional surrender. And the world will always remember that day. One man's life was changed by an unconditional surrender, and he would always remember that day. Maybe that day is today for you; the day you win the battle because you unconditionally surrender to the Savior who unconditionally surrendered His life to rescue you.

If you live on the East Coast, there is one word that's pretty sure to get your attention - hurricane. Yep! I'll tell you, Hurricane Hugo was one of those mega storms that really got our attention. You could watch the news for several nights before Hugo arrived. And they would show you this cyclonic circle inching across the weather map toward, well at that point, an uncertain destination. Half a million people were evacuated from Florida to the Carolinas, not knowing where that destructive little circle on the map was going to land. Finally, it became clear that Hugo's 130-mile-an-hour winds were going to slam ashore at Charleston, South Carolina. Now, the challenge for public officials was to convince everyone that it was time to move. The mayor at the time gave a very solemn warning to the people there. He was quoted as saying, "Hugo is a killer! If you stay, you may very well die." That was true then; that's still true today. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dying From Doing Nothing." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament. Chapter 18, beginning in verse 30, he says, "Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart; a new spirit." And then God asks a very pointed question. He might be asking you this today, "Why will you die?" Then He turns it around and He says, "Repent and live." In the Bible the word repent always refers to changing your mind about your sin. Whatever you've been cuddling and tolerating in your life that's wrong, displeasing to God, you turn your back on it. You change your mind about God and you pin all your hopes on Him instead of on you. Remember that mayor of Charleston who said the hurricane was a killer? Well, God's trying to tell us here sin is not to mess with. It's a killer! With a hurricane, those who don't leave might survive. But when it comes to sin, there are no survivors. There are eternal consequences of not dealing with our sin. But sin kills us even now. It kills marriages, it damages the people you love with your temper, and ruins the beauty and purity of sex, and it destroys your reputation. See, the people who die in a hurricane don't have to do anything to be killed by it. No, they die from doing nothing; just staying where they are. And that's how it is with sin. All you have to do to have this life cheapened by sin is to do nothing. All you have to do to spend eternity in hell instead of heaven is to do nothing. Stay where you are and sin will kill you. God says, "Rid yourself of your sin. Get a new heart." And you can only do that in one place. It's the cross where Christ died for you; where He took all the fury of all God's judgment, for all your sin and mine and paid for it out of His love for us. He said, "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." He was forgiving you and me when He said that. He was giving us the possibility of a new beginning; that new heart the Bible talks about. God's been warning you. He's saying, "If you stay where you are, you'll die." In the words of the book of Hebrews, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" Don't flirt with disaster. In fact, that's why He had me talk about this. He wants you ready to meet Him. If you want to be sure you're ready for that appointment with God that you will keep on His schedule; if you want to be sure you've begun your love relationship with Him; if you want to be sure you'll never meet your sin on Judgment Day, this is your day to get started with Jesus, the One who died to pay for your sin and walked out of His grave so He could walk into your life. That's what our website's all about. It's about having this most important relationship. It's called ANewStory.com, and that's the right name to call it, because that's where your new story can begin. Would you go there? Move away from living your own way, because the storm is closer than it's ever been to your coast. It's time to flee right now to the safety of the cross of Jesus Christ.

It was a crazy Christmas at our house! Everybody in our family, three generations, is really excited about giving gifts to the others, and getting them. Well, sometimes our festivities aren't quite like "peace on earth." Such was this particular Christmas. The chatter was loud, the laughter was hearty, and the buzz was intense. Or, in the case of a two-year old grandchild at the time, it was just confusing. My wife had this finely-tuned grandma's radar, and she noticed that our little grandson seemed a little dazed by all this happy Christmas crossfire. So you know what? She just quietly slipped to the floor. (We didn't even notice.) She got down where he was and began working patiently with him on assembling a toy he had just opened. That precious scene had been going on for a few minutes I think before any of us even noticed in the chaos. But there was Grandma, quietly creating this island of sanity in a sea of craziness. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Being the Harbor In Their Hurricane." That's what Grandma was for our little guy. She provided the human harbor that protected him from the storm that was blowing all around him. There are some people in your life who need a harbor like that - someone who will be for them a safe place in the middle of a life bombardment. God has put you there to be that harbor. And He's given us a wonderful flesh-and-blood example of it in our word for today from the Word of God which begins in Acts 4:36 where a man named Joseph was renamed by the church leaders, "Joseph...whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement)." I love that. I mean, we've all been called some names we'd like to forget, but wouldn't it be great if people thought you should be called "Encouragement"? Well, let's watch Mr. Encouragement in action. Saul, the chief persecutor of the early Christians, has just been brought miraculously to Christ. But with his reputation, man, he's radioactive. No one wants to risk letting him in the door, except for Barnabas. The Bible says, "When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles"'' (Acts 9:26-27). He was the harbor when no one else was there for Saul. When Gentiles, who the Jewish believers weren't very excited about, reportedly came to Christ in Antioch, guess who was there for them? Yep, Barnabas. The Bible says, "He encouraged them all" (Acts 11:23). Saul became the Apostle Paul and he and Barnabas went out as the first Christian missionaries. But they got into a major disagreement over bringing a young man named Mark along. He'd washed out in a previous mission and Paul didn't want to take him along. But Barnabas, the guy who believed in second chances, he took Mark with him to another ministry assignment. Wouldn't you know, later in life, Paul wrote that Mark was "helpful to me in my ministry" (2 Timothy 4:11). I think that was because a guy named Barnabas kept believing in him. Will you be the Barnabas for the people around you? While the world is going crazy and the bullets are flying, will you be the one who makes each person feel like they're the only person in the world when they're with you. You can be their island of sanity in an insane world just by giving each person your total focus and your undistracted listening. Human harbor folks like Barnabas give people the "Three Life-Changing A's": your attention, your affection, and your affirmation. Those positive strokes will help them feel how special they really are. Not just to you, but to God. They know they can come to you and they'll be uncondemned, they will be unjudged, and they will be unafraid. There are few things you can do that will mean more in the midst of a storm than to pray, right then and there, with that person who's under pressure. In the midst of the crossfire and the craziness of this very cold and confusing world, you have so much to give, because you have found your harbor in the arms of Jesus Christ. Be what the people around you need so desperately. Be the one place that they will know they are safe.

One of the milestone days of any kid's life is the day they get their driver's license. It's usually cause for great excitement and celebrating. It's been about a century, I think, since I first got mine. They traded in the horse and buggy. But not long ago, I was a teenager again, celebrating getting my license. No, I hadn't lost it. The law didn't take it away. My license had expired, and the motor vehicle department had mailed my renewal form when my wife and I were on the road during a time of extended ministry. We'd been traveling to, as we always do during the summer to Native American reservations, reaching out to young Native people where they are. Once we returned home, we mailed the form in immediately, and of course the state responded with the usual governmental eye-blurring speed, many weeks later. Meanwhile I was one frustrated man. I like to drive, but I had to be a passenger for weeks. Once I got past my initial pouting, I've got to say I assumed a different identity. I mean, there were some advantages to being a passenger. I never knew this before. I got a lot of work done when someone else was driving. I even got a little sleep that I probably shouldn't have gotten when I was driving. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Shouldn't be Driving." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Chronicles 20. We hear about King Jehoshaphat, a man who's used to driving, until the day several powerful armies formed an alliance and came against him with an overwhelming force. In fact, he is praying in verse 12, "O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." There is a crisis here that Jehoshaphat's in, but there might be some issues here that you could relate to right now in your situation. Like how about this? No power to face it. Does that sound familiar? "A vast army"...You don't know what to do. Pretty bleak, except for one hope factor, "Our eyes are upon You, God." In verse 15, God says, "This is what the Lord says to you. Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours but God's." God's saying, "Move over, man. You've got no business driving right now. I'll drive." Here was a king that was used to driving. He's king, but he learned to be a passenger because of an overwhelming situation, and the result, by the way, was an overwhelming victory. Verse 29: "The fear of God came upon all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard how the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel." This isn't the first time the Lord took over an impossible battle and won it. Think about when David went against Goliath. David said, "The battle is the Lord's." The giant was bigger than David, but God was bigger than the giant. Frankly, the outcome of your battle will depend on who's driving. So, are you? See, most of us are control freaks. We insist on controlling what really matters to us. We insist on controlling who really matters to us. But spiritually, you and I were never meant to have a license to drive. That's what it means when you talk about the Lord Jesus Christ. He drives; we ride. He can't be our passenger. It seems so risky to let go of the wheel, I know. But it's a lot more risky to hang on to it. The battle is the Lord's. The very essence of our broken relationship with God is that we've been driving the life that He was meant to. In the words of Scripture, speaking of Jesus, "All things were created by Him and for Him." You and I were created by Jesus. We were created for Him. We're supposed to be revolving our lives around Him. Instead, we have taken over the wheel and hijacked our life from the One who gave it to us, who we will face in judgment one day, except for the fact that Christ came to be the cure of this sin cancer by dying on the cross. And all of the years of rebellion that have amounted to a death sentence for us. That could be forgiven for you today if you'd turn over the wheel to Jesus. I would love to help you know how to get started with that. Go to our website ANewStory.com. Your new story could start today. I had to be forced to give up driving by not having my license. But I learned one thing - a lot can get done when someone else is driving; especially when that someone else is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Over the years, there were two words that could really stir up some action at our house. They go like this, "Let's romp!" Yeah, you have to understand I was a father of two sons, and that meant that Dad is ready for some "rough housing" with one or maybe two sons. But I learned I had to be careful, because then one day they got to be my size. So I didn't say that much any more. No. That was a key to a lot of fun though, "Let's romp!" And when they were small, I'd sort of antagonize them until they took after me. Uh-huh. And they'd pursue me through the house. And much to my wife's dismay, I can hear her yelling three words, "Save the furniture!" Well, the boys would jump me, and they'd make loud noises and growl and try to keep me down. Of course I acted real scared and I acted like I was almost beat, but it was no contest. They were after me, but they couldn't really hurt me. Just like some attackers who may be chasing you right now. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Chased By The Past." Our word for today from the Word of God; we are in Exodus 14. It's a story about people who are being chased. They are the Jews who have just gotten out of Egypt. The Egyptians are not really happy that they've just lost their entire slave workforce, so this familiar story finds the Egyptians pursuing them until the Israelites have their back against the Red Sea. So the pursuers are people who used to be their masters. It's going to be important for you to remember that in just a minute. Let's read from Exodus 14, beginning with verse 23 right now. "The Egyptians pursued them, and all of Pharaoh's chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He made the wheels of the chariots come off so they had difficulty driving." (I guess you would.) "And the Egyptians said, 'Let's get away from the Israelites. The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.'" And the rest is history, as the waters of the Red Sea swallowed the Egyptian army. Now, I think we're looking, not just at a historical picture here; there's a spiritual picture. See, you and I used to be slaves, but you are, if you know Christ, no longer a slave to something that used to own you - that used to control you. But you know what? I'll bet it's still chasing you. See, our old slave masters always pursue us. The difference is that you have Christ in control of that area in your life right now. You can say to that old slave master, "Hey, you can chase me, but you can't have me." Just like when my boys were little, chasing me. Yeah, they could chase me, but they couldn't conquer me. Think of what used to be your Egypt. Was it that habit that once mastered you? Was it that depressed way of thinking, that temptation, a destructive attitude maybe? Or was it a sexual sin, or an uncontrollable temper. It could have been some selfish way of getting your own way. But that was all B.C. - before Christ - before that came under the all-powerful lordship of a risen Christ. But that old master hasn't given up has he? No, just like Pharaoh in the Old Testament, the old master's pursuing you right now, trying to bring you back to that old slavery. Well, you go to your new Master and once again you give Him that part of you that was the enslaved part. Turn Him loose to fight for you. You've lived in Egypt long enough; you don't ever have to go back to that slavery again. Oh, you'll be pursued, but in Christ you don't ever need to be a prisoner again. You'll hear the noise of the chariots, you'll feel the pressure. But turn and face your enemy and tell him, "Because of Jesus, you can chase me, but you can't have me."

Our son-in-law was visiting his grandfather in Florida, with a nice Florida view outside his bedroom window - grapefruit trees. It wasn't all a happy view though. Many of the grapefruit were actually rotting on the ground. His grandfather wasn't up to harvesting them anymore. So those grapefruit got all ready to be picked and no one came, and they dropped to the ground and died. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "You Are Their Best Chance." That's what happens when there's no one there to harvest a crop when it's ready. It will die ready. Tragically, that same thing can happen to something much, much more valuable - a human soul. But it doesn't have to happen. In Luke 10:2, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Okay, I grew up in an apartment in Chicago. What do I know about harvesting? I mean, we harvested cockroaches in our apartment. But I've asked a lot of farmers what's the first thing they think of when I say the word "harvest." Their answer is almost always the same, "ready." So Jesus was saying, "The ready is plentiful." In other words, He's got a lot of lost people ready to hear about Him. They don't know that it's Jesus they're ready for, but they will when they hear about Him...if they hear about Him. Because Jesus' problem isn't with the people who don't know Him; it's with the people who do - His spiritual harvesters. He has so many of His people He's counting on to harvest the hearts He's gotten ready for Him, but they're just sitting in the farmhouse with the rest of God's family. Meanwhile, the harvest of hearts is waiting in the field ready...until that person dies ready. This is a heartbreaking spiritual tragedy - lives lost because the Christian they know isn't telling them about Jesus. Here's what He says to do about this deadly apathy. "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field." Those words "send out" sound so gentle in English - send out. But the original Greek word is "ekballo." You know what it means? "Forcibly expel." It's, like, used to throw demons out of people, and undesirables out of the temple. Many uses of the word include at least a hint of getting pretty aggressive, even violent. Jesus said His people need to be forcibly thrown out into the harvest of ready hearts. That's what He's trying to do with you. That's why you're restless. That's why you're unfulfilled as a believer. He's rescued you to be using your everyday influence for something eternal - rescuing others from a Christless eternity. In Jesus, you've got so much that lost people around you are looking for. You've got peace in times of trouble, when Jesus is the only explanation for your peace. You've got a love you know you will never lose. You've got the power to change the dark parts of you that you could have never changed yourself. You have a purpose to live for beyond just making it through the day and an eternity you are sure of. You have all of that because you have Jesus. They have none of that because they don't have Jesus. The Savior who died for them has been working in their life to get them ready to hear about Him. And He's moving and shaking things in your life and in your soul to get you to tell about Him. You are in possibly the best position of anyone in their life to tell them. Before you talk to someone without Jesus, pray that 3-Open Prayer: "Lord, open a door to talk with them," "Lord, open their heart," and "Lord, open my mouth." You have no idea how important you are to the people you know. And they have no idea how important you are, but Jesus does. You are their best chance at Him and their best chance at heaven. It's harvest time, but it won't be for long. The ready time never is long. Don't wait 'til their heart turns hard or until it beats for the very last time. Please don't let the people you know die ready. Look in the mirror today and say these words, "I am someone's chance."

I used to work with our high school football team quite a bit, and their practices were in full swing. And I was talking with one of the soon to be freshman football players, and he said, "Ron, it seems like just yesterday we were having our first practices back in the summer." And I talked to some seniors, and then they said, "Ron, weren't we just freshmen? How did we get here so fast?" Well, another friend's daughter was getting ready to make a decision about college, and he said, "It just seemed like yesterday that she needed my hand even to go anywhere outside the yard." You know this feeling? And then I heard a pastor not long ago who was soon to turn 60, and he said, "You know, when I was 16, 60 seemed like forever; seemed like it was so far off. It was just yesterday I was 16 and saying that." I think we all know about this, huh? Billy Graham said when he was asked what the biggest surprise of his life was, he said, "The brevity of it." I guess it's somewhere early in our teenage years that we realize that time is limited. Time seems to, like, hit the accelerator and it never looks back, never slows down. Months and years fly by like months used to fall off the calendars in those old movies. The speed of sound and the speed of light have a companion called the speed of time. And when you realize the speed at which your life is racing by, you don't just watch it happen. You do something about it. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Days to Waste." It's been a theme with us this week. I think it's important, very much on my heart. It comes from our word for today from the Word of God, and it comments on the flyingness of time. It's in Psalm 90. It goes back to at least when the psalmist wrote and said in verse 10, "The length of our days is 70 years, 80 if we have the strength. They quickly pass and we fly away." But in verse 12 (a favorite of mine), he comes up with a flight plan for when time is flying. He says, "Teach us to number our days aright that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Ephesians 5:16 tells us to "make the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." It's kind of like the psalmist is saying, "That life that seemed so long is really so short." It's given to us in something called days. He said, "Our days are flying by." "Teach us to number our days." Now, life seems to come sometimes as sort of this, you know, dull routine pace. The days just sort of slip by and then the days become weeks, and weeks become months, and we don't know where they went. There's no plan; there's no thought. They're sort of this plodding cycle. But this is a call from the Scripture to have no wasted days. Smart living makes each 24 hours matter. Older people wake up one day in their life and wish they could have their days back. And you may still have a lot of years ahead. Hey, capture them now. Awaken each morning with an awareness that this 24 hours is a gift not to be wasted, never to be lived again. You say, "Well, I've got school, or work, or traffic, or errands." That's not the wise way to live. There are people who need you, opportunities to see God at work in your every day. A chance to give love. A chance to receive love. And nowhere is time more precious than investing in your family. This is a building block; this day that will either bring you closer to God and His will or farther from it. "This is the day the Lord has made." Don't just dedicate your life to Him, dedicate this 24 hours. When you fly a plane you don't just cruise wherever you feel like. You file a flight plan of where you're going. As you face time flying by, file a flight plan for that day; seize that day. Don't just let that day happen to you. Pray for it, plan for it, make it count. Well used days may fly by just as fast, but they'll land you where you want to land.

Millions of Americans are on the move right now. It's part of the annual Thanksgiving migration. They'll get to experience turkey on the table today and turkeys in those traffic jams! My friend Bev said that she's baked ten pumpkin pies. Yeah! Tons of folks will watch Macy's big balloons - and then later feel like one of those balloons after pigging out. And tomorrow, stores will be stormed with people that camped out in parking lots just so they could get that coveted Black Friday bargain. I'm thinking about the people who aren't here this Thanksgiving. Some friends who have slipped into eternity recently. Their passing reminded me of my own mortality - and, in some cases, how quickly it can all be over. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Thanksgiving Goodbyes." Doing Thanksgiving against that backdrop has made one word loom very big - cherish. My big dictionary says "cherish" means to "hold dear; treat with tenderness and affection; to keep or guard carefully; to make much of." So this Thanksgiving weekend, remembering how fragile life is and how close eternity is, I want to cherish my dear ones. I always love them, but I'm thinking more about what it means to "hold them dear," to "treat them with tenderness and affection," to "make much of them." There was one Thanksgiving that was like all the others, where my wife and I stood and prayed together over our family. By the next Thanksgiving it was just me. I have so many blessings and so many kindnesses to thank my family for, so many strong points that I need to affirm in them. And some things to apologize for. To cherish someone is to say, as God says, to "live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us" (Ephesians 5:2). Cherishing - giving me up for them. And I'm cherishing my days a little more, too, this mortality-shaped Thanksgiving. Like the Bible says to do in our Word for today from the Word of God, Psalm 90:10-12. "Our days...quickly pass, and we fly away...Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Weeks, months, and even years, just seem to fly off the calendar. Right? I'm pretty sure there are only about, like, a hundred days now between Christmases. There are just zero days to waste. Each new day is a treasure from God to be invested, not just spent. I need to sit with Him before I hear any other voices and find out His desires for this day, "the day the Lord has made" the Bible says.(Psalm 118:24) One other "cherish" for me this Thanksgiving - my destination. Heaven seems a little closer with each friend or loved one, and especially the love of my life. They are there. It's the place Jesus said He was going Home to prepare for those who belong to Him. All the earth-stuff that we cling to so tightly? It's just so trivial. Because the Bible says "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20) and we're really (it says) "aliens and strangers in the world" (1 Peter 2:11). This isn't home. It's Hotel Earth. When I've been away, I love to come home. After all is said and done, home isn't so much a place; it's those people I love who wait for you there. Knowing each day I'm one day closer to eternity, I cherish the eternal destination Jesus made possible. It cost Him His life! He made it possible by His awful death but His awesome resurrection. It's really not so much because it's such an amazing place. But because the One who loves me - Jesus - is waiting for me there. What great peace it is to know beyond any shadow of a doubt you're going to heaven when you die. You can if you know Jesus. And if you're not sure you do, would you tell Him this Thanksgiving, "I'm yours!" Go to our website. I think it will help you know how to belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. Home for this Thanksgiving? It's a relationship you were made for and the love you were made to experience. His name is Jesus. This Thanksgiving, come on home.

You can find it at a football game. You can find it in a concert. There are thousands of people drawn to a gathering, and they're talking excitedly about some star they've come to see or hear. Hands and voices are raised in praise and all eyes are on the star, or the stars. In fact, if you want to get people really agitated, use the name of their favorite musician in vain. Yeah, or say something negative about their favorite athlete. Uh-huh. I mean, people who might be relatively passive about minor issues like nuclear war, or abortion, or people starving to death are majorly aggressive about their heroes. I mean, we're excited about our favorite musician, or politician, or sports star, even our favorite spiritual celebrity...maybe too excited. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Misguided Worship." Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke 4:5-8. I think you'll find the passage familiar; it finds Jesus in the wilderness just before He launches into His public ministry. And here is this cosmic confrontation between the Son of God and the enemy of God - the devil. And the story I want to point us to goes something like this, "The devil led Jesus to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. He said to him, 'I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. So if you worship me, it will all be yours.' Jesus answered, 'It is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.'" Well, the issue in this, and it's the second temptation of Jesus. It's the issue I want us to look at for a couple of minutes today. The issue was worship. Jesus and the devil obviously both know that we're wired for worship. We're just built that way. We're instinctively worshippers. We want to lose ourselves in someone; find out all we can about that person that we lose ourselves in; identify ourselves enthusiastically with them. Talk about what we know about that person; tell about what we feel about that person. But it's God alone that we're built to wrap our lives around... to think about most of the time. That's why Jesus said when given another worship option, "Only worship God; only serve God." Sometimes I think we use up a lot of our - can I call it worship-ness - on someone human. Oh, we don't call it worship. But a lot of our thinking, our loyalty, our time, our energy, our passion, our money, our enthusiasm gets taken over by our favorite music group, or by an obsession with sports that finds us talking about our favorites most of the time, or even a politician. There was an article in a New York area newspaper that had this headline, "Sport takes its place among the religions of America." Sometimes we can actually inadvertently worship some Christian teacher or personality. We quote them more than the Bible. We've gotten unbalanced without realizing it. We've got to guard this worship thing we've got. It's easy to become such a fan of someone on earth that the King of Kings gets pushed to the side - gets our leftovers. The devil's strategy is to just get our worshiping redirected. Because he knows we're going to worship something. So let me recommend that we begin our day getting overwhelmed by Jesus Christ; focusing all of our worship-ness, our fan mail so to speak, on Him. Evaluate...maybe are you a little too excited about some earthly star? See, you're wired for worship, but save it for the only One who deserves it.

You know, flying commercial airlines isn't as much fun as it used to be. A lot of people who have to fly seem to agree with that. There are overbooked flights, and there's long lines at security, and canceled flights, and crowded flights, and equipment problems, and all kinds of frustrating delays. If you don't like something about the way the airline is performing, guess who usually gets all the grief? I've seen it happen at the airport over and over again. That poor ticket agent. See, the ticket agent usually has nothing to do with causing the problem, but you can go to almost any airport, go to some desk and find an agent being besieged by people yelling, waving their arms, and using various forms of unpleasant language. I want to say, "Hey, man, don't blame the agent! Take your complaints to someone in charge." The representative isn't the issue. You've got to deal with the person in charge. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Way to Miss Jesus." Alright, our word for today from the Word of God. It comes from Matthew 16, beginning at verse 13. "Jesus asked His disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of Man is?' They replied, 'Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; still others say Jeremiah or one of the prophets.' 'But what about you,' He asked. 'Who do you say I am?' Then Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'" Now Jesus says here the issue is "Who do you say I am? See, the issue is Me" Jesus says. Well, the issue is still Jesus. The disciples kind of give the answer in the local Gallop Poll, "35% say You are John the Baptist, 22% say You are Elijah..." Well, finally Jesus closes in and says, "Who do you say I am?" That's the real issue. A lot of people are dealing with the representative of Jesus rather than dealing with the boss. Jim is the son of some friends of ours, and they said that he has been really wandering from the Lord. He said to them the other day, "What if I had grown up in a different family? Maybe I'd be another religion. I'm not sure I believe any of this any more." And I said, "Would you tell him that Jesus would still be who He claims He is, wherever he grew up. Let him know the issue isn't his parent's beliefs. It's a Savior who's been there for 2,000 years before His parents were born, before that church existed. Jesus is the issue and He's saying, 'Who do you say I am?'" Some other friends came to us about their son, and he had said to them, "I don't know if I believe it any more." And I said, "Well don't let him get away with that. The 'It' in Christianity is a Him - it's Jesus. Don't look at Christians, don't look at the church, don't look at Christian leaders, or your background and your friends. They're just His representatives. Jesus is the issue. He said "follow Me." The only reason not to be with Jesus is something about Jesus. Listen, don't let people become the issue. Don't let religion become the issue. Go back 2,000 years before all of these things existed and there on the middle cross is the Son of God paying the price for every sin you ever committed. If you're rejecting Christianity or rebelling in some way, don't deal with smoke screens. It's God's Son, who gave His life for you, who blew the doors off death when He walked out of His grave, He is the issue. Not His representatives, not His agent. Go to the person in charge. The issue is Jesus. This day, in spite of a back you may have had turned to you for many years, He's waiting for you with open arms, to welcome you into His love, which He expressed and proven when He died on a cross for you. I want you to know Jesus. Not His religion, but Jesus. If you want to finally belong to Him, I'd love to point you in that direction. I think it could help if you'd check out our website ANewStory.com and find for yourself, this Jesus who's been transforming lives for 2,000 years, who walked out of His grave so He could walk into your life today.

Honest, we really didn't mean to be in northern Kentucky on Kentucky Derby weekend. But obviously, thousands of people did! In trying to avoid flooding as we traveled, that's exactly where we managed to be. So there we were in the middle of rampant Derby Fever. I didn't bet on anybody, and I refuse to wear one of those floppy hats. The restaurant where we had dinner made sure the TV was on so everyone could watch the world's most famous horse race. Boy, I'll tell you, it is impressive! High-stakes horsemanship, a drama-packed "run for the roses" - over in two minutes. Yep! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whatever It Takes to Win Your Race." Now, actually that race is pretty amazing to watch. Those horses, like, explode with raw power and they've got this give-it-all intensity; they're driving with everything they've got to win their race. So should I. So should you. Like the original thoroughbred Jesus-man, Paul. Yeah, he talks about it in our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Timothy 4. I'm going to begin reading in verse 6, with Paul's final words of his final letter before he made the final sacrifice for Jesus. He will soon die for his allegiance to Christ. Here's what he wrote: "I am already being poured out...I have finished the race" (2 Timothy 4:6-7). Hey, when you pour out what's in a pitcher, it's empty; there's nothing left. Paul says, "Man, I've got nothing left at the finish line. That's the way I want it to be." It's just like his Master. I've actually been thinking a lot lately about the fact that God calls our life in Him a race. Not a jog, but a race to the finish line. Are you running it with that kind of intensity, that kind of passion? See, the thing is, we don't know how much longer we have before we get to the finish line. That's why we've got to run with everything we've got. We're talking about thoroughbred intensity here, not just casual, go-to-church, business-as-usual Christianity. Even if I live to be 108, there are so few days to make the eternity difference I was put here to make. There are no days to waste, my friend, no opportunities we can afford to miss. There's no time to say "maybe later" to say that "I love you"...or to say the "thank you"...or to say the "here am I, Lord"...or maybe "let me tell you about Jesus." I think it's time to make the prayer of Moses our prayer: "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). I think that's saying, "Make every day count, man." That's what it means to live smart. He said that's wisdom. We've got to race to the finish line. Randy Alcorn said, "Thirty seconds after we die, we will know how we should have lived." Wow! It's a little late then. How about getting that figured out now instead of when it's too late? Because my finish line...well, it's not a carpet of roses. My finish line is Jesus. And, you know, His "well done" - that's the only prize that matters.

Three New York City boys broke into a zoo there, and one of them climbed into the polar bear area to swim in the moat. He was attacked by those bears. He was brutally killed. I was intrigued by an interview with the Park's Commissioner of New York City who said afterwards, "You know, bears are portrayed to children as friendly animals, even as cuddly animals. We've got Winnie the Pooh, Paddington Bear, and Smokey the Bear. But the Park's Commissioner went on to say, "Actually, they're carnivorous killers." He was right. I mean look, the image of bears is cuddly; the reality is deadly. And not just in bear country. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Sin Looks Safe." Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God which is found in James 1:15. It's a very revealing verse. "After desire has conceived" - okay, wait, I want to do this, I want to have this - "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and sin when it is full grown gives birth to death." Now it's interesting this scenario ends in the death of a relationship or the death of self-respect, or even physical death, or the death of a reputation. It all starts out only as a desire - just an enticement. Sin looks so good. It looks like so much fun. It looks like it will meet a need for me; it will benefit me in some way. Like those polar bears. Looks cuddly, but it's a killer. You see, in reality, there is nothing more beautiful than good, and nothing more ugly than evil. But our world and our imaginations tell us that the opposite is true, there is nothing more ugly than good, and nothing more beautiful than evil. So we flirt with what we should be fleeing from. Maybe you're playing right now in the bear cage of sin. And the wrong still looks cuddly and exciting, enticing. You're in a relationship you never should have gotten into. Maybe you've fallen for the pressure to try some things that are wrong, but apparently they're not hurting you now, right? Or maybe it's all in your mind, playing with sin right now, fantasizing, considering. You're doing something you never thought you would do as God's child. Or maybe you're thinking about something you still think you'll never do, but remember it's inevitable. It starts as a desire, and desire becomes sin. You think it, you do it, and then you pay for it. That compromise seems to promise love, or attention, or excitement. But remember, God's equation is never wrong; it will always lead to dying. Sin will fascinate you but it will ultimately assassinate you. A New York boy underestimated the danger of a bear, and he died as a result. Right now, you might be underestimating the danger of what seems to be a very desirable sin. And if you don't get out now while you can, it will turn on you and it will kill everything you care about. If you want to know what sin really looks like, unwrapped in all of its ugliness, in all of its dyingness, you take a look at the cross and the mangled body of the Son of God hanging on that cross, nailed there, beaten beyond recognition. And you will see Jesus crying out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" That is the price of sin. But one He never meant for you to pay. He paid it himself. That's how much he loves you. This is a day for you to be set free from the sin that can only carry a death penalty forever. "The wages of sin is death" the Bible says, "but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." I invite you today, to abandon the killer called sin at His cross, and allow Him to forgive you and set you free. If that's never happened for you, never made personal for you what He did on the cross, I'd love to help you do that. Would you go to our website? It's ANewStory.com. It doesn't matter how warm and cuddly a sin may appear, it's a killer, not to be played with but abandoned, forgiven, and set free from.

I had just finished speaking for a Christian leaders' gathering that was part of the countdown to a Franklin Graham Festival. The setup team there was in their early days of working together on this massive mobilization. The team leader thought it would be a good idea to get his team together for a few minutes after the meeting ended, and he invited me to join them. Then he handed me a cluster of helium balloons tied together. Suddenly, I felt like I'd gone from speaker to circus clown. And, you know, I've read Winnie the Pooh stories to our kids enough that I couldn't help but picture Pooh Bear being carried into the sky by a bunch of balloons like that. Well, anyway, in spite of my trivial imagination, the team leader had a holy purpose actually for having me stand there with all those balloons. He asked his team members to spread out around the room. They ended up widely separated, and he asked them to get as close to me and my balloons as they could. Within moments, those workers, who had been so scattered, were shoulder-to-shoulder in a clump around me and my balloons. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Bring People Together." That morning the team leader actually made a powerful point. He said, "You guys notice this, that the closer each of you got to Ron, the closer you got to each other?" He said, "The more we focus on Jesus and lift up His cross, the closer we will get to each other." (I love that.) We didn't have a cross in the room, and I think the balloons were a strange but available substitute for me to hold up, but the point was made. And that point reaches to where you are right now in your family, your church, your ministry, your community. The closer each person on your team gets to Jesus and what He did on the cross for us, the closer those people are going to get to each other. It's focusing on lesser things; titles, personal agendas, hard feelings, little issues, politics, comparing with another person, the things we disagree on - that's what makes any group of people distant, divided and very easy for our enemy to defeat. The 133rd Psalm says, "How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity...for there the Lord bestows His blessing." There's a helpful picture of how the right focus can bring people together in our word for today from the Word of God in Acts 2, beginning with verse 42. It actually shows us the lifestyle of the original Christians; possibly the most powerful people in history. It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Celebrating Jesus' death together in Communion, talking to Him together, learning about Him together - that's what they were doing. So it says, "So all the believers were together and had everything in common. They continued to meet together, and the Lord added to their number daily (This is extraordinary.) those who were being saved." Imagine people coming to Christ every day! When was the last time you saw that? But then, when's the last time you saw God's people setting aside their differences and coming together consistently around Jesus and His cross? If someone's depending on the same Savior for their eternity, if they've been to the same cross to be forgiven, isn't that enough to at least pray together, if nothing else? If you want, you can focus on the 90% that we agree on or you can focus on the 10% we disagree on. We can focus 90% of our energy on the 10% that makes "our group" or we can focus on our magnificent Savior and the magnet that is His cross. When we realize that He has left us here to draw a world of lost people to that cross, we realize we can rescue far more people together than we ever could apart. Remember, Jesus said, "When I am lifted up...I will draw all men to Myself" (John 12:32). Jesus and His cross - they're the magnet that pulls His people together and pulls lost people to Him. Isn't it time we made that our focus instead of whatever has kept us in separate parts of the room? Because the closer we get to Jesus, the closer we get to His cross, the closer we're going to get to each other.

Many of the world's greatest dramas are not on a stage or a screen. They're played out in that quadrennial spectacle we call the Olympics. Maybe you remember the year, many years ago now really, that Britain's representative in the 400-meter race, Derrick Redman, began to falter and went down in the back stretch with a torn right hamstring. As the medical attendants were approaching, Derrick Redman was fighting his way to his feet. Now, he's limping along in anguish. Hopping, desperately trying to finish the race. He knew he wouldn't win; he was just trying to finish. If you remember this at all, he reached that final stretch. And as he did, a large man in a tee-shirt forced his way out of the stands, ran up to Derrick and hugged him. That big man was Jim Redman, Derrick's Father. And he said to him, "Son, you don't have to do this." Gritting his teeth, with tears in his eyes, his son said, "Yes, I do." His Father said, "Then we're going to finish this together." And Derrick's head was literally buried in his Father's shoulder, but he stayed in his lane to the end. And when they crossed the finish line, the crowd who had been stunned at first, stood to their feet. They cheered, they wept, and they watched those two men finish that race together. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Father to Run With You." Our word for today from the Word of God is a simple statement from Deuteronomy 1:30. It says this: "The Lord your God carried you as a Father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." Maybe today finds you very tired, stressed out. And like that 400-meter runner in the Olympics you're staggering right now. You're having a hard time finishing your race. You started well. You've been running real hard, but you're about to go down. Maybe you've been hit by discouragement, or illness, you've got family trouble, a lack of support. Or maybe there's just obstacles. You're just hurting and there's a lot more race ahead of you. Well, God wants to give you the good news that someone has left the stands to help you, and He's coming to the track to get you the rest of the way. It is your Father. It's your Heavenly Father. First, God left the stands to come to a cross, and there He rescued us from the sin wound that would have kept us forever from reaching heaven. There's a rich promise here that when you're in the desert and you can't go on, your resources are dried up, you say, "Daddy, I can't go any farther." Then He says, "Then I will carry you." Right now, let's be honest. You're not going to make it alone. But today there is an all-powerful Father who is offering to carry you. But you've got to let Him. If you're too proud to collapse in His arms, surrender to His control, then your power is limited. You're not going to make it. But if you will totally release the control and in the words of the Bible, "humble yourself" you will have all of your Father's power. Each of us reaches days when we just don't have any more to give. Maybe you're there right now. It's those moments in the race that can take you deeper into the love and the power of Jesus than you've ever been before. Your Father is not a spectator in the stands today. His arm is around you right now where you are. And it could be you have never established your own personal relationship with God as your Father made possible by the death of His Son, Jesus, on that cross for the sin that has separated you from God for a lifetime, and will separate you forever unless that wall comes down. He's come down. He's come down to a cross; all the way down to die and to pay for you. That's how much He loves you. You don't have to do life alone any more - never again. You've spent your last day alone if this day you will invite this Jesus to be your Savior from your sin. Listen, we've set up our website to help you begin to belong to Him today. I hope you'll go there. It's ANewStory.com. I'm telling you, the voice of God is saying to you today, "You're not doing this alone. From now on we'll finish this race together."

Well, I'd been asked to speak at an adult couples thing at our church. And they did this auction sort of deal. It was sort of a "Let's Make a Deal game." I think some people call it a White Elephant Auction or something like that. It's the kind of game where you go to your garage and you get something you really want to throw away, and you wrap it up in real pretty paper and you bring it to the auction. And what happens is this: One person goes up and has to pick one of those packages, and they open it and then they have it. From that point on everyone can either take an unwrapped package and take their chances on that, or they can trade for something that's already been unwrapped that looks interesting. Well, there was really only one valuable thing there that night. It was like this beautiful hand-carved lamp stand. And I'll tell you, these were adults, but they were acting like ten-year-old kids going crazy like, "Where's that lamp stand?" Ladies had it under their skirts; men took it to the Men's Room with them. I mean, it was nuts! Everybody was going bananas except for one guy. He sat there the whole time kind of just smiling wisely. And I thought, "Hey, wake up man. Get with the program! What's the deal here?" You know who he was? He was the guy who opened the first package. Yeah, he was the only one who remembered the rules of the game, which are that the person who opens the first one, since he didn't get to make a trade, he's going to make the last trade of the game. So, this guy's sitting there while everyone else is going crazy saying to himself, "I know how this is going to end!" You know what? That could be you. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When It Looks Like It's Over." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 30:5, and today is especially for someone who's got a heavy burden on their heart. Maybe there's a major disappointment recently, or a painful loss, or a deep hurt. This is for you. Psalm 30:5, "Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning." God does not deny the pain or the tears. They're real. But compared to the joy coming, God says, they're brief. He's seen your tears. The Bible says He stores them up in a bottle; He's so involved in your grief. And He's also scheduled the morning celebration. Now, I know it feels like it's always going to be like this, but rejoicing will come in the morning. This is temporary. This, too, shall pass. Lord Wellington won for Great Britain at the famous Battle of Waterloo. He defeated Napoleon, and he passed the word up the British coast by semaphore - by flags. And finally the word got to the Tower of London, where they posted the message up on the tower. Here's what it said, "Wellington defeated..." And then - it's London - a fog settled in, and for an hour no one could see anything else. They couldn't see the rest of the message, and I mean people were so depressed. "Wellington has lost!" And then the fog cleared, and they saw the rest of the message, "Wellington defeated the enemy." You know, right now your feelings are sending you only half the news, and it feels like a defeat. It seems over, like it did for Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus died and Jesus didn't do anything about it. Little did they know He was going to do something far greater than they ever dreamed. That which seems to have won right now will be defeated unless you despair and you walk away from the God who will finish this battle victoriously. Right now it's night time and there still are tears, and you need to dig deep into His strength until the rest of the message comes clear. You can stay peaceful, you can stay poised while everybody else is going crazy, because you know that ultimately joy is coming, victory is coming. You can sit back and smile in the middle of great chaos and hurt and say, "I know how this is going to end!"

I suspect that children go to secret seminars on how to manipulate parents. They are so good at it, so early! Especially at bedtime. You notice? The object seems to be to squeeze out a few more minutes before you have to go to sleep, right? Let's see, there's water, and then there's praying. And then, "Let's pray some more." Who can argue with that one? There's a sudden interest in talking about things; they are suddenly communicators. Then, of course, the ever popular "monsters in my closet." Actually a lot of these things are based on real needs and real feelings. I mean, a lot of children really believe there's a monster in their closet, and that the monster will come out and get them as soon as there's not a mommy or daddy in the room. Well, I'm sure glad we're all grown up now and we don't have to be afraid of a monster in the dark any more...except for one. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Last Monster in the Closet." Our word for today from the Word of God is 1 Corinthians 15:54 where this audacious statement is made, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." Well, there's the last monster; the one that lurks in the dark no matter how old we are - death! A doctor friend of mine who is a follower of Jesus Christ was at his 45th class reunion talking with another doctor friend who's always been an atheist his whole life since high school. But all of a sudden he said to my doctor friend, "Can you tell me a little bit about what you believe in?" My friend was really surprised! And he said, "Well, I'd be glad to, but can I ask you why you're asking?" And this man who had been an atheist all his life just said, "Well, frankly, I'm nervous about eternity." You know, we should be, especially if we're not ready to meet God. God says that because of Jesus' death, death can be swallowed up in victory. Why? Well, see, the only thing to fear about death ultimately is meeting God. And that's because as the Bible says, "All have sinned and missed God's glorious ideal." And the sentence that follows that verdict says, "The soul that sins, it shall die." That eternal death penalty hangs over us. I think even deep down inside we know that, and it makes us nervous about eternity. But Jesus came as our substitute, to die the death penalty we deserve. And anyone who puts all his trust in Him will have their sin erased from God's Book forever. John 5:24 in the Bible says at the moment you come to Christ, you "cross over from death to life." It's wonderful to be able to look forward to eternity and not fear it; not be nervous about it. One of the world's great preachers, D. L. Moody in another generation, said, "When you see in the newspaper that Dwight Moody of Northfield, Massachusetts is dead, don't you believe it, for I will be more alive then than I've ever been before." I'll tell you, it's so great to know that the Savior who's waiting for you on the other side of your last breath is the One you will meet and that you are ready to meet Him. If you're not sure you belong to Him, then you're not ready for eternity, you can take care of that right now. You say, "Jesus, I get it. You paid for my sins. I hereby trade the death penalty I deserve for an eternal life I could never deserve. Jesus, right here right now I'm giving me to You." I've kind of laid out this path, knowing that you're ready for eternity at our website, and that's ANewStory.com. I urge you to go there today. I think it will really help at this moment. Death, that last monster in the dark, pursues us all our life, and we know it will always will. But you never need to fear that monster again if you have your hand in the hand of Jesus, because He has beaten that monster once and for all.

Oh, it was a great time to be traveling out East! I got to be there at cherry blossom time. I was where those pink beauties were popping out everywhere! I'm so glad. I mean, wherever we went there they were. One of the gals on the Weather Channel was broadcasting from Washington, DC, and she had this beautiful backdrop of these exploding cherry blossoms all around the Jefferson Memorial. And the Park Ranger there, she interviewed him, and he provided some information that surprised her and actually made me slightly smarter. He said those springtime wonders have a normal life span of about 60 years. But because the Park Service prunes them regularly, they can keep beautifying their world for up to a hundred years. I mean, these guys live a long time, these Park Service cherry blossoms. Of course, if I'm a cherry blossom tree, I'm not thinking happy thoughts as someone's chopping off my branches. I'm going, "Hey! This guy's killin' me!" No, silly tree, he's making you more fruitful for a lot longer. I can almost imagine having a conversation with God like that. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Purpose In Your Pain." Now there are those painful times when I don't especially like the cuts and the wounds: bad news, bad treatment, bad health, bad finances, bad people, bad feelings. It turns out, though, that they may not really be bad. No, Ron, He's making you more fruitful for a lot longer. Because God is the Master Horticulturist, and He prunes what He loves. Jesus said so in our word for today from the word of God, in John 15:2, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener...Every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." So, life's cuts aren't ultimately to hurt me but to make me more valuable to God and to other people than I've ever been before. It's when life gets harder that I ask those life-changing questions that I'd never ask otherwise. I find myself asking God, "Is there something I need to change, Lord?" Somehow my vision improves when I'm hurting. I see things I couldn't see when life was rosy. I need mid-course corrections that usually are revealed to me by those shock waves of struggle. I need to get my hands off the steering wheel and let God drive again. Sometimes it actually takes a close call or even a crash to show me that. And whatever I have to give to hurting people around me, I can tell you this, it grew out of the times when God used suffering to show me how to care. Maybe realizing God's loving purposes can help me get to that peaceful plateau that Paul reached when he said these words: "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12:10). Calling all cherry blossom trees and people like me. The pruning knife is your friend. The Gardener knows what He's doing. See, He knows what you can become.

When I'm in a new city, I don't usually make visiting a local cemetery one of my sightseeing priorities. But I did in a ministry trip to Halifax, Nova Scotia. I visited the cemetery where 121 passengers of the doomed Titanic are buried; many with their names still unknown. Not long after the midnight radio transmission, "Have struck iceberg," three telegraph cable repair ships were dispatched from Halifax to make the 500-mile trip to the collision site to pick up the bodies of the victims. In a way, the aftermath of the sinking of the Titanic is a tale of two ships. One was the Carpathia, the ship that rescued hundreds who had made it into lifeboats, and then took them into New York Harbor. The Carpathia carried a ship full of rescued people, but not the Mackay Bennett. No, that was the first funeral ship to arrive at the scene of the sinking. All they found was 328 people, floating in their life jackets, frozen to death. The first one they found was a little two-year-old boy, floating face up. They were devastated. By the time they sailed into Halifax Harbor with every church bell in town tolling, there were three long rows of bodies on their deck - every one a person who did not have to die. Because see, those lifeboats had been half empty. But as the people in the water cried out for help, the people in the lifeboats just kept rowing away. So one ship carried those who had been rescued, and the other ship carried those no one cared enough to rescue. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Room in Your Lifeboat." Those people in the water died, not because the Titanic sank; they survived that. But because the people who were already saved did nothing for those who were dying. Dear God, is that us - the already saved, secure in our half-empty lifeboat, doing nothing about the spiritually dying people all around us? We're enjoying the fellowship of the folks already in the lifeboat, singing our lifeboat songs, and maybe even making the lifeboat bigger or more comfortable for us. But our coworkers, our fellow-students, our neighbors who don't have a relationship with Jesus, the only one who could forgive their sin, they just go on living and dying without Him. Our word for today from the Word of God paints a portrait of stark contrast as it describes the destinations of those who were rescued and those who never were. It's in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. "When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with His powerful angels, He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and the majesty of His power." Think about it! Those are real people, condemned to pay for the sins Jesus already paid for on the cross - some because they didn't take what Jesus died to give them and others probably because no one ever told them how. The Bible goes on to describe this as the day when "He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed." Don't you want the people you know, the people who you love to be there? Then whatever has kept you from telling them about Jesus - your fears, your inadequacy, your hang-ups - can they possibly be as important as rescuing someone who's dying? In a sense, eternity will be a place where the ones someone rescued will sail to one port where there will be celebration and reunion. While those no one rescued will go to another port where there's only death and sorrow. You've got room in your lifeboat and there's still time. Why don't you spend the rest of your life pulling as many dying people into your lifeboat as you can?

The five members of the Hutchcraft family have the same last name, of course, except for our married daughter, but that's pretty much where the sameness ends. And I think it's good that we're different. When we needed an emotional lift, for example, well we've always had our oldest son there with his sense of humor. If we needed a physical lift, he was there with his very well developed physical strength. When we needed a job done or something fixed, oh, go to our youngest son. He has sort of... Well, he sort of had the helping hands and the figure-it-out mind in the family. And when it comes to greeting people or talking with people, or giving guidance, well our daughter was always there with her great people gifts. And, Mom? Well, she was always there with her common sense. Thank the Lord for my sake! And she had this great "drop everything for you" attitude. I guess every family's like that. You know, you have the same name, but you've got different styles; you make different contributions. You know what? That includes God's family. And some of the family who are the most different from you, guess what? They're the ones you need the most. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why We Need Each Other." Our word for today from the Word of God is from 1 Corinthians 12. I'll be reading from verses 12, 21, 25, and 27. Basically it tells you that you're not all there. Yeah. Listen to this: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts. And though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I don't need you.' And the hand cannot say to the feet, 'I don't need you.'" Then verse 25 says, "So there should be no division in the body, but its parts should have equal concern for each other. Now, you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it." You know what God is saying here is that basically He has made all of us incomplete. None of us has all of Him. But you put us all together and all the gifts are there. Or to put it another way, you're not all there. There is no family member in God's family that you don't need. Wow! You say, "Oh, wait a minute! What about those folks who..." You need them! "Yeah, but I know a group of people who are very different from us. They don't have as much (you know...)" You need them. See, we're not all there. We need those people who are different from us. We tend to get into our own clusters and we appreciate only Christians who see it our way, say it our way, do it our way, express it our way. But you're not all there; I'm not all there; we're incomplete! Now, if you're a feeling oriented Christian, you need the stabilizing influence of some believers who are more content oriented. But if you're real fact oriented, content oriented, guess what? You could use some of the warmth and spontaneity of the more feeling oriented Christians. Or maybe you're a free-wheeling believer, well you need some Christians who are more structured, who stress boundaries in the Christian life. You need that. But if you're real structured, you need some of those more spontaneous people. You could use their openness. See, some of God's children will teach you how to really worship, because they're really good at that; they're experienced in that. Others will stimulate your vision for a lost world. Some, by being around them, you'll learn to give; other Christians may show you how to really pray. There are others who will teach you to go reach the lost. Then there's others, well, you hang out around them and you'll learn to love unconditionally. And then there will be others who will teach you to dig into the Bible as your source of authority. I'll just say of my life I'm like a river that's been created by a lot of tributaries and I've been so enriched by the variety of the body of Christ. I've needed them all. See, if you will open up to the rest of the family, you're going to be really rich! Let different Christians challenge you, and balance you, and complete you. There is no family member in God's family that you don't need and who doesn't need you, because we're just not all there.

It wasn't the big one, but it was pretty big. It was that 6.6 earthquake that rocked Los Angeles some years ago. It was 4:31 A.M. and the ground began to tremble underneath Southern California again. And those who watched it will not forget the picture of what collapsed; those Northridge Meadows Apartments where 16 people died in those apartments. But in the midst of the Northridge tragedy, you heard the word miracle a lot. Maria Ballesteros was one who survived that apartment collapse and she was rescued. And she claimed she knew why. She said there were 50 pictures hanging on her wall and 49 of them were destroyed. But one was still there when the shaking was all over. Maria said this, "The one of the Lord was the only one left hanging." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Quake Cannot Shake." Frankly I was pretty touched when I heard about that one picture that the quake couldn't shake. It was a picture of Jesus. It made me think of two men in the Bible who had a similar experience and of how you and I can live in times when it seems like everything is shaking. Job was a wealthy man. He had a wonderful family, and he lost it all. His children all died violently, he lost everything he had materially. He later lost his health. He was living in constant pain. Even his wife turned on him. Every picture fell but one. And Job, in the book named after him, said in his agony in chapter 19, verse 25, our word for today from the Word of God, "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth." Now, Paul was that major ambassador for Christ in the early days of the Christian faith. He wrote about half of the books in the New Testament. And in his last one, 2 Timothy, Paul was in prison in Rome. He was facing execution by Nero. Every picture has been shaken off the wall of his heart except one. He talks about it in 2 Timothy 1:12. "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." He's speaking about Jesus Christ. Job and Paul - unsinkable, unshakable because of a personal Savior who cannot be shaken who lives in our heart. Working with young people, I've often handed out four 3x5 cards in a meeting, and I've asked them to put on those cards the four most important things, people or activities in their life. Then I've said, "Okay, now there's been a tragedy and you have to lose one of those four most important things. But you've got to choose which one." Like real life, sometimes something comes along and you are forced to drop a card. It's hard. Then I tell them there's another tragedy, and they've got to drop another card. It's getting tough; they're resisting now. But finally they're down to one card. They can keep one. But one is all. Even though it's just a card, they battle over it. But that one card, I ask them one question, "Is it something you can lose?" How about your last card? Is it something you can lose? In our world today you need something that's quakeproof, someone that's quakeproof, and there's only One. It's God's Son, Jesus Christ. We need Him desperately. A relationship with Him, it's the only dependable anchor there is. And the Bible says, "Our self rule of our life has cut us off from that God." But that's why Jesus came to remove the barrier by paying our death penalty for our sin on His cross. In the words of the Bible, "Nothing can ever separate us from His love." But you've got to choose Him for yourself. If you've never done that and grabbed that one hand that will never let you go, the one picture that will be there when all the others have fallen, let this be the day you do that. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website. It's all about beginning this personal relationship. The website's ANewStory.com. Once you choose Christ, then you can know there is no life quake so powerful that it will cost you Jesus. No matter how you're shaken, you can be quakeproof, because nothing can shake Him and He has got you.

Monday was not a favorite day for our local high school football players during the season. No, that was the day they watched the film of last Saturday's game. Oh, it's nice to see what you did right, of course, but see, coaches don't spend much time on that. Most of the coach's attention is focused on what you did wrong or what you could do better. And so, on Monday you may get yelled at, critiqued, pushed to improve. I happened to know our head coach pretty well, and I knew that he spent many, many hours - late hours - reviewing those films so he'd be ready by Monday. Why? Well, is it because he liked to yell at 16-year-old guys? No. See, he was looking for weaknesses that an opponent could use to hurt them, to beat them. And you know what? That's not a bad idea. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Devil and Your Weakness." Our word for today from the Word of God; we are in Luke 4, and I'll be reading verses 1-4. Basically, you should know as we enter this passage that someone has been watching your films of how you've been playing your game. And they've been sizing up what could bring you down. That opponent is identified for us in Luke 4. "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry. The devil said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written, man does not live by bread alone.'" Now, this passage really exposes for us the two areas the devil tries to exploit. First, he'll exploit an area where God has been specifically speaking to you. Yeah. He will, because well look, just before this incident, Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven saying, "You are My Son." So what does the devil say? "If you are God's Son..." Think of areas where God has been speaking to you over the last few months; things He's really affirmed to you, challenged you with, changed you with. Well, the devil's going to try to discourage you in that very area (put an "if" there. Oh, "if." Are you sure?) because He's got to get you to be too strong to be stopped. Secondly, he'll try to attack us in an area where we have a weakness. And where would Jesus be weak after forty days of not eating? Of course, He's going to be tempted to leave God's will to get some food, and the devil tries that temptation on Him. He appeals to his appetite. Now, maybe you have an appetite that keeps showing up in the films as a weak spot of yours; an appetite for attention that you'll do almost anything to get, or for acceptance, an appetite for power, or to be in control, maybe it's a sexual appetite, an appetite for money, for the spotlight, or to get even. See, the devil will go after a sin in that area, and it's all downhill from there. It's important for you to look at the films and see what your opponent is seeing. Be honest about your vulnerabilities. Imagine the devil having a map of you with red pins in that map wherever he can get you. Now, where would those red pins be for you? Now, the point here is not to focus on the enemy. He doesn't need any more credit. It's to make your weak spots the centerpiece of your growing relationship with Christ. That's where you need to be opening up completely to Him, daily bringing those areas specifically under His lordship for that day; to win for that day. Find the scriptures that deal with that weak spot of yours. That's what Jesus did. "It is written..." He said. Be ready to quote the Word of God to the enemy. Treat your weak areas with generous applications of the memorized Word of God so it's part of you. And when your weak spots drive you to depend on Jesus as you never have before, well then you can say with Paul, "When I am weak, then I am strong."

My wife was on this airplane flight, and she was sitting in the aisle seat, and a mother was sitting next to her in the middle. And this little four-year-old girl, the daughter of that mom, was at the window. The daughter had never flown before, so she wanted to be where she could see. It was one of those cloud-covered days. This little girl occasionally glanced out the window. But when they got above the clouds, oh, all of a sudden her nose was pressed to the glass; she's looking intently all over back and forth, and after a few minutes of inspecting the sky, she turned to her Mom. She said this with real concern, "Where are they? I can't see them, Mommy! Where are they?" And her Mom said, "Where are what, honey?" She said, "The angels. Mommy! Where are the angels?" The poor little girl! She thought she knew where to find these spiritual beings, but they weren't where she thought they would be. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Searching Without Finding." That poor little girl! She searched, but she was disappointed. She didn't find what she was hoping for, what she expected she'd find. She's not the only one this has happened to. A lot of people are looking for spiritual reality today. They're looking intently, and they're not finding it where they thought they would. You look out that window spiritually and you go, "Where is God? Where is this spiritual peace? Where is eternal life? Where is the love I thought I'd find here?" Jesus answers that in our word for today from the Word of God in John 6:35, where He declares, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry. And he who believes in Me will never be thirsty." Now, Jesus is addressing something that I think throbs inside of each one of us. It's a spiritual hunger and thirst. It's what the Bible calls eternity in our hearts. I think you already know that we need something spiritual to fill the hole in our heart. Maybe you would classify yourself as a spiritual seeker. You've lived long enough to know that earth stuff and earth relationships are not enough to complete us. Jesus says He's the end of that search. We're always seeking; seems like we're never finding. Maybe in a sense you've been looking out spiritual windows hoping to find some peace and some reality. You've looked in maybe this religion or that religion, maybe crystals, or horoscopes, or psychic powers, or whatever. So many windows you could look through today, but each view has ended up unsatisfying and disappointing. There are reasons why all the roads except the one to Jesus and His cross leave us hollow inside. It's because what we really need is not spiritual experiences or warm feelings or beliefs, or even a caring group. We need to get rid of the sin that blocks us from the relationship with the Creator. That's why we can't see Him. There's this sin wall. The Bible says in Isaiah 59:2, "Your sins have separated you from your God." And what we're searching for is a bridge across that separation. How do we cross this Grand Canyon between us and God? We're trying hard. We're looking in all these things, but we haven't found a way to get to Him. Romans 5:8 says, "But God proved His love for you in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." See, only one person can remove that wall. It's Jesus. Are you tired of looking out that window for spiritual reality and coming up disappointed? Where is God? Where is the love and peace? It begins at the cross where you say those two words with all your heart. As you observe Jesus' dying there, you say, "For me! This is for me." If you want to know this Jesus, finally find what has eluded you in all your searching? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." I invite you to go to our website, because it's there to give you what you need to know at this particular moment of being at the end of your search. Go to ANewStory.com. No religion is going to do it for you, or an experience, or a group. You're looking for a love relationship with the One you were made by and made for. Why don't you look His way? Because Jesus is everything your heart has ever looked for.

I was on an airplane flight and I overheard a conversation in the seats behind me. Eavesdropping? Maybe. In any case, there was this boy flying with his Dad and he was full of questions...I mean the little guy. He said, "Daddy, what are all those lights for? Daddy, why did part of the wing go down? Daddy, why is it called Lake Erie?" See, the pilot told us the name of it, but he didn't necessarily tell us why it's named that. Most of the flight Dad just patiently answered each question. It was a kind of a nice sound to hear! What I especially noticed was the reaction of the boy to the answers that his Dad gave. Some of them, he obviously understood, others he obviously didn't. His Dad said, "Now, do you understand that?" "Well, no." I liked the one about how air holds up the plane. Of course I don't understand that, so how could a little boy be expected to? But each time, no matter whether he understood the answer or not he always seemed satisfied with the answer. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Faith of a Child." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 18. I'll begin reading at verse 1, "At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, 'Who's the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?' He called a little child and had him stand among them and He said, 'I'll tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.'" Well, you know, for some strange reason, this passage came to my mind on that airplane flight when I heard a curious little boy asking his Daddy questions. He knew who to ask, he knew where to go for answers, and he believed what his Father told him. Even when he didn't understand the answer he got, he was satisfied with his Daddy's answers. How about you and me? Jesus said we need to be like a little child in order to be in His kingdom. So, are you satisfied with your Daddy's answers? I'm talking now about your Heavenly Father, of course. Jesus said our faith had to be childlike. And that means, "I will see what my Father has to say about this and I will choose to be satisfied. I may not understand my Father's answers, but I'll be satisfied just because I trust Him." Maybe you've prayed and you've said, "I'm not getting any answer to my prayer." Well, you know, actually, every prayer is answered. God says, "Call unto Me and I will answer you." And He's answering; maybe not in the way you want it; not in the time that you wanted. Could you settle back in your seat and relax in the answer that He's been giving? Maybe God's Word speaks about the situation you're in right now or the choice you have to make. And it's pretty clear what you ought to do. But it goes against what you're feeling, or it's going against what your family, or your friends, or the conventional wisdom or our culture's telling you to do. You may not like it. Would you trust what your Father says and act on His answer? See, you and I are still like that little boy, no matter how old we are. We're full of questions about "Why God?", and "God, how come...?", and "Father, when is it going to be?", and "Who?" I just hope you'll be like that boy in another way. When your Father gives an answer, be satisfied with your Daddy's answers.

The summer of '88 was a long time ago, but man, it left an indelible mark on Yellowstone National Park. Forest fires? They ravaged our national treasure. And you know, it left behind thousands of acres of charred landscape, displaced animals, dead animals. In fact, the fire almost reached that famous geyser called Old Faithful. It came really, really close to it. There's a historic inn right nearby where people have stayed for almost a hundred years, and it was rescued from the wall of flames that was closing in on it, but it was close. A lot changed dramatically at Yellowstone when the fires hit. One thing didn't. No matter how hot the fire got, no matter how close; no matter what else was destroyed, Old Faithful went off right on time every day. The fire just could not affect her performance for one very simple reason. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fireproof Fulfillment." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4. It's a familiar story of Jesus talking to the woman of Samaria who has tried so many ways and so many men to fill that aching void in her life. They both meet at the same well for a drink on a hot afternoon and Jesus says to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water." I think we were just talking about that a moment ago, but it was a geyser, right? "...a spring of water" (in this case) "welling up to eternal life." Jesus says, "I want to put in your life... In fact, I want to make you a faithful fountain and we'll be able to handle any fire, any storm, any hurt, any disappointment. Oh, you'll still be able to perform even with the fire closing in around you because of two words." Ready? He wants to put the source in you, which is different from it being something around you. Old Faithful-that geyser that continued to function no matter how hot the fire got or how close? The source is underground and the fire cannot touch that source. Now, when you have Christ living in you and you're counting on Him-not on yourself-you believe He's your source of strength, you become an Old Faithful, or maybe a young faithful. See, your source is where it can't be touched. No depression, no bankruptcy, no election, no lost job, no illness, no personal loss, no national tragedy can touch that source of your strength because it's in you where it can't be touched. Jesus spoke to a woman here who was depending on a source that she would lose; in her case, the men in her life. She'd been through a lot of guys, but always disappointed. Whenever your identity or your source of strength is something external-something you can lose-you're going to be up and down all the time. Your career can be touched by life's fires, your family can, your income, the body you've worked so hard to develop, your friendships, the person you love-you can lose those. The fire can get to them. That's why Jesus makes you an offer of something that is everlasting. He said, "This will spring up into something eternal," what I'm about to plant in you, and it will be a life that will begin now but will last through all eternity. He's talking heaven there. Wouldn't this be a good time for you to open up to this Jesus and let Him, and your relationship to Him, be who you are; be where you get your security, be where you get your strength. Then you can be steady, you can be consistent no matter how hot the flames. You say, "Well, Ron, I'm not sure I've ever begun a personal relationship with Jesus." Well, you can. Tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Our website's there to help you make sure you've gotten going with Him, how to belong to Him. Go there, please. Check out ANewStory.com. A human "Old Faithful" with Christ as your underground source. Why, you could be counted on for fireproof faithfulness.

It was another one of Daddy's great vacation adventures! I announced to the family that we were going to climb Panther Mountain that day. The idea was greeted with underwhelming enthusiasm, but off we went, hiking up the gentle uphill trail that would get us to our goal: the rock fortress I had been told was at the top. As we trudged up the trail, my wife kept pointing out nice things along the way, "Oh, look at the chipmunk! Look at that tree growing out of the rock! Oh, don't you love the sound of the wind blowing through the pines?" I would smile and politely acknowledge her little observations, all the while keeping my male mind firmly focused on the real reason for this activity-getting to the top of the mountain. You can imagine how un-thrilled I was when my wife suddenly said, "Well, the kids are getting tired, and this has been a really neat hike. Let's head back." What? Head back? We were only halfway to our goal? If we went back now, this would all have been a waste of time! I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Racing To Get There, Missing the View." I learned a lesson that day on Panther Mountain. My wife said, " Honey, this has been a great hike. We've seen a lot of neat things God made, we've had a nice time together as a family, there's no need to keep pushing." I objected, "But what about our goal? What about getting to the top?" That's when the wise woman I married pointed out something to me that I've never forgotten. She said, "Ron, it isn't just the result that matters. It's the process!" The process is as important as the result? It's not just my wife who feels that way. Now I'm learning that the process is important to God; maybe more important than the result. Many of us are like I was the day we hiked up the mountain. We're so focused on getting to our goal that we miss the good things along the way to get to our goal. But I'm beginning to think that the process is more important to God than the result. He could answer your prayers and deliver you to your destination immediately if He wanted to. But God has a process, a journey; and He wants to take us through that first and show us things that we've never seen before. But we miss those things because of our race to get there. We only care about the destination. God cares about the process and what we'll learn and what we'll become through that process. He talks about that process in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 84 beginning with verse 5. "Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. As they pass through the Valley of Baca (now, here's the process), they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools. They go from strength to strength 'til each appears before God in Zion" - okay, there's the goal. The Lord blesses those who enjoy the journey...who make a difference along the way...who look for Him in the process. Most pregnant women? They'd probably like to shorten the process and have their baby in three months or six months; those nine months, that gets pretty long. But it's the process that makes the baby what he or she is. It's the time on the potter's wheel, spinning and being shaped that makes the pottery the masterpiece it becomes. It's the same for you and me. You may be in God's waiting room right now, frustrated. Your answer hasn't come. The process is taking so long! But that's the plan! Take in the scenery, enjoy what God's doing along the way, look for "God sightings." Look for the lessons God is trying to teach you. Light up each spot along the way. Here's a great prayer: "Lord, I'm not only trusting You for the result, I'm asking You to do it in the way that will bring You the greatest glory and make me what You want me to be." Whether or not you make it to that mountaintop, enjoy the great things that God wants to show you along the way!

I know the flight attendant was trying to be polite. The kid wasn't! No. We're on this plane and everyone's eager to take off, everybody's got their seatbelt on and we're ready to go, except for this mother and her four-year-old boy who were standing in the aisle of the plane. The son wouldn't sit down. He's crying, he's yelling at his mother, and the flight attendant was making the announcement, "We'll be able to leave as soon as everyone is seated." The mother was trying. Oh yeah, but this boy went rigid. He started yelling his reason for standing up. "I want to drive!" The more she pressured him the louder he got, "I want to drive!" This is a very big plane. He's a very little boy. He really shouldn't drive. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I Want to Drive!" The boy wanted to "drive" that airplane. We wanted the pilot to "drive." The boy didn't seem to understand he wasn't capable of driving. Well, guess what? We've got the same problem. Our word for today from the Word of God - Isaiah 53:6. Here we go, "We all like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity (or the wrong doing) of us all." Life, kind of like that airplane, is too big for us to drive. We've taken over the cockpit anyway. Again in the Bible's words, "Everyone has turned to his own way." God gave us our life. He's supposed to run it. He's doing a very good job of running a hundred billion galaxies, but we shake our fist and we say, "Excuse me, God, I'll pilot my own life." He's the only One who can pilot your life properly. But see, "We want to drive!" Like the little boy, if we try to fly, we're going to crash. Maybe you're facing right now some of the wreckage of trying to run a life that God was supposed to run. Or maybe you're cruising along right now but you're headed for a crash. See, no one ultimately gets away with hijacking God's property. And that's what we all do. I once asked a Navajo shepherdess what happens to sheep when they get away from the shepherd. She answered with one word. She said, "Coyotes." See, it always ends up in disaster when we get away from the Shepherd, or from the Pilot. "We all like sheep have gone astray." That means we're away from God. And you know what? Maybe you can even feel that loneliness right now. Maybe you can sense the confusion, the lostness of being away from God. Unless you're rescued, I'll tell you, it always leads to death. The Bible puts it this way, "The wages of sin is death." But the Bible says, "God placed the penalty for all our wrong doing on Jesus Christ, His Son. God's only Son has paid the price for the sin you and I have done. Isaiah 53:5 says, "The punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." You and I did the sinning; Jesus did the dying. If you can get yourself to that cross in your heart, get to that cross where Jesus paid your death penalty for your sin and give yourself to Him, you can trade death for life. Jesus Christ sacrificed His life, shed His blood. He was dying in exchange for your life; taking your death penalty. Why would anyone reject Him? Is it pride? Is it stubbornness? Is it thinking somehow our religion will get us there, our goodness? Well, if it could, He would have never gone to that cross. This is the day to let go of that wheel and start to become who you were meant to be in the relationship you were made for. If you want to get that started today? Go to our website. I can help you there, I believe, know that you actually belong to Him from this day on. That's ANewStory.com. Can you just picture Jesus reaching out a nail-pierced hand to you? Are you going to keep saying, "I want to drive!" Or are you going to say today, "Jesus, I don't want to drive. I want to live."

I had been scheduled to speak at a winter retreat in Pennsylvania. I lived in New Jersey. It was the kind of thing where I could drive to Well, that day, winter decided it was time to do some serious wintering. We had heavy snow all day long and I knew it was going to be a very exciting drive along Interstate 80 out to Pennsylvania. Actually, it turned out to be much easier than I expected. Much of the way I managed to get behind snow plows. Yeah, they were out, and they were doing a good job, and it was a whole lot easier because I was right behind them. So, where I was driving, the plows had already been. Now, if you have a snow plow ahead of you, you're a lot less likely to end up in a ditch. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Plowing the Road for Your Journey." Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 10, and we're going to begin reading at verse 3. It's that great Good Shepherd passage. It says, "He calls His own sheep by name and He leads them out. And when He has brought out all His own, He goes on ahead of them." I love that! These verses took on a very personal meaning for my wife and me some years ago. We were getting ready to leave the city of Chicago, where we had lived for many years, and we were going to move to northern New Jersey to begin a ministry in the New York area. And I'll tell you what, we were stepping into a total unknown. We had no office, no supporters, we had nobody that we knew, no friends, no kids to work with, and no staff. Other than that, everything was ready for us. Well, in Chicago, I knew people, I knew how to get things done, I knew what number to call, I knew where the resources were, I knew where all the roads were. New Jersey, New York-a total unknown. And then, as we asked the Lord for some reassurance, guess what? He gave us John 10:4. I just read it. I like that because you know, the troopers say that on a CB before they sign off - everything's under control. They go, "10-4 good buddy." Well, this is the "10-4 good buddy" verse. It says, "When He brings out all His sheep, He goes on ahead of them." We learned that the Shepherd always goes where he is about to take his sheep. He gets there before you do. The Shepherd also makes sure that there's going to be food there, no wolves, no danger of walking off the edge. Kind of like that snow plow I was following, plowing the path in front of me, making it a lot safer. And when we got there, boy did we find that out! The apartment we needed, the friends we needed, the office we needed, the open arms that we needed. Everywhere we went we found the footsteps of our Shepherd. And so will you. He promised. Anywhere Jesus takes you; He will always get there ahead of you and get it ready. It may be that fear is holding you back right now from God's next step for you. Fear of the "might's" and the "could's" and the "what if's." Maybe you can't go any farther in Christ without taking some risks; trying some things you've never tried, or leaving some things you've never done without, going into situations that are unfamiliar to you, or reaching some people whose reactions you can't be sure of. Maybe you're in a transition time and you're about to move from one season or one stage to another. There's a wonderful answer to the fear that spreads that shadow on your future, and it's in this verse, "the Shepherd goes ahead of you." How often I've claimed that verse, the big things and the little things. I've gone into offices and found the Lord had gotten there ahead of me, into meetings, taxi cabs, doctor's offices, ministry situations. You can count on it. He promised! The Lord will never lead you anywhere that He has not first scouted and prepared for you. The snow plow clears the road ahead of you, and so does the Shepherd. And because He does, my friend, you will never end up stuck.

Now, excuse me, but I don't expect to be inspired when I eat at McDonald's. I mean, fed, but not inspired. There was a time when there was a little inspiration with my burger and fries. It was a striking poster on the wall. It showed two mountain climbers near the peak of this Alpine mountain, straining to reach the top. But it was the inscription that impressed me most. "Conquest without risk is a triumph without glory." Oh! That's pretty good. I'm Ron Hutchcraft,and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Conquest Without Risk." That doesn't just apply to reaching the top of a mountain. In fact, it pretty much describes everything worth doing in life. No risk, no meaningful conquest - a triumph without glory. Low risk - low return. High risk - high return. It's a principle that defines spiritual greatness or spiritual mediocrity. In Numbers 13, the conquest was not a mountain; it was the taking of the Promised Land that God had promised. Of course, it was currently inhabited by fierce people who, of course, didn't plan to hand it over. And whether or not they would ever experience all God had for them depended on whether or not they would trust Him enough to take some really big risks. Now whether or not you experience all God has for you may depend on that same thing. Twelve scouts had explored the land of Canaan, and they reported back on the fabulous beauty and bounty they found there. But ten of those scouts chose to focus on the risks, two on the Lord who had promised them this land. It boiled down to an exchange like this, recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Numbers 13, beginning with verse 30. "Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, 'We should go up and take possession of the land for we certainly can do it.' But the men who had gone up with him said, 'We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people there are of great size...we seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.'" You probably know the result. The people followed the lead of the ten scouts who said, "The risks are too great." And they never saw the Promised Land. They chose what was safe, and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They could have had wonderful. Instead, they lived and died in the wilderness. Many of God's children over the years have made that same tragic miscalculation at their crossroads. And they have lived that same sad result. Right now your Lord may be asking you to follow Him into something risky. To obey Him is going to mean taking a financial risk, or a geographical risk, a social risk, doing something that's way beyond your comfort zone. In fact, serious obedience usually involves risk. But the great danger is not in obeying God's "risky" leading; it's in not obeying because you won't risk it. You'll miss the top of the mountain. You'll miss the best God has for you. You'll miss the promised land. Almost always, God's will means going out of your comfort zone. If you're addicted to your comfort zone, you're almost sure to miss God's best. Maybe you're all settled in at your little base camp at the bottom of the mountain. You're safe, but you'll never see the view from the top if you stay where you've always been. You can dare to risk if you know your security is never in your situation - it's in your Savior, and He's everywhere you go. Like the old hymn says, "Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go" - even if He's leading you where it just doesn't look very safe. The conquest, the triumph, the glory of living for Christ is for those who are willing to risk.

One Sunday afternoon, my son and I were chasing a Giants football game wherever we went. When we were near the TV at home, of course, we were glued to that. And then we were in the car, and so we'd listen on the radio. And when we got to a place where one of us had to go in, only one of us went in so the other one could stay in the car and could get an update. A little fanatic! Yeah.And then the one who went in got back as soon as he could. You can see why the word fan is short for fanatic, right? We were in bad shape! But, you know, it was a decisive game and the outcome was up for grabs. When the Giants took the lead, my son said, "Dad, I'm wearing my Giants sweater to school tomorrow." I said, "Good. What if they lose?" He paused for a moment and then he very proudly said, "Either way." I respect loyalty like that, and I'm not the only one. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wearing His Colors, Win or Lose." There's a man in the Bible who didn't always wear Jesus' colors. In John 19:38, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus has been crucified. Later it says, "Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away." Now, listen, it's interesting that Joseph of Arimathea probably, well, figuratively had a jersey that said, "I belong to Jesus Christ." But he took it off when he was in settings where it could be embarrassing or where it could cost him something like in the Sanhedrin. Jesus has a lot of followers like that-maybe you. You're probably His when that's the winning idea; when that's the thing everybody's doing, is singing the songs and maybe give a testimony. You voice His values when you're in His meetings, and then you go to the office or your workplace where being identified with Jesus might give you a loser status. Or you go to school, or you're with that group of friends, and suddenly you submerge faster than a submarine. See, we're like "fit in" people; changing our allegiance as the environment changes. Well, there's good news for people like that, because people like that can change. Joseph did. Notice he came out of hiding. He took his stand for good. He said, "Jesus can be buried in my tomb." He would be forever identified with Jesus from that day on. There was no turning back. Why? Because he saw what Jesus did on the cross for him. Isn't it time for you to go public with your commitment to Christ - to let people know where you stand and who you stand with; to let them know you're not ashamed of the Man who was not ashamed of you as He hung on a cross? The fans who can truly celebrate when their team finally wins are the ones who were loyal when no one else was. Jesus will win. Every knee will bow at His name. The real winners will be those who stood by Jesus when it cost them something. So, step up to the freedom and the adventure of finally saying, "I belong to Jesus Christ no matter what it costs." And if someone should ask you, "But what if it means you lose?" You'll answer proudly, "Either way."

"Never leave a soldier behind." That's pretty powerful stuff. It's the time-tested promise of our military to its men and women. And the stated reason that our government swapped some dangerous detainees for one imprisoned - and controversial - sergeant in Afghanistan. It was some years ago, but they made that trade. But in all the emotional debate about this particular soldier, I never heard anyone say that "never left behind" is anything but the right thing. It's just too bad life isn't like the military in that case - "no one left behind." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No One Left Behind." We've got plenty of people around us who actually feel like we do leave people behind. That widow who feels like everybody withdrew once her husband died. The senior citizen, feeling like she might as well die because everyone treats her like she already has. Kids abandoned to a foster care system that often leaves them abused and angry. How many times has the immigrant, or the newcomer in the neighborhood felt abandoned? I've been the guy, in another culture, surrounded by a language and customs I didn't understand. And I'll tell you, it was just plain lonely! The crowd blows right by those that they consider "un-cool," leaving them feeling like a discarded paper plate. It's people who can't do anything for us, whose association might make us look bad. So many are feeling "left behind" by a world of people too self-absorbed to go after them; the painfully shy person, the troubled - or maybe troublesome - kid. In virtually every workplace, every school, every neighborhood, every roomful of people - there's someone who feels invisible, small, unseen, left out, left behind. It's been bothering me. I want eyes to see those people no one sees. To stop for those people no one's got time for. To gravitate to the person on the edge, in the corner. To make the "little guy" feel big for once. To show love even when it's inconvenient. Because that's what my Hero did. See, in His world - in Jesus' world - no one touched the repulsive lepers. But He did. No one treated children like they were more important than the big shots. But He did. No one treated women with dignity and respect. But Jesus did. No respectable person hung out with those reviled "sinners." But He did. See, that's my Jesus. He came after me when I was a deserter, a cosmic deserter, because I had turned my back on the very God who gave me my life. Walking away from the One who loved me like no one else; selling out to my dark side. In essence, waving at God with one hand and shaking a fist in His face with the other. The Bible says that's a choice we've all made, that all of us have "wandered away like sheep" it says that in Isaiah 53. "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." So we've left Him behind, but He refused to leave us behind. I'm so glad. Our word for today from the Word Of God, 1 Peter 3:18: "Christ died...the righteous (that's Him) for the unrighteous (that's me), that He might bring us safely home to God." That's how much He doesn't want to lose you and me. That's why He's come after you where you are now. Perhaps through what you're hearing right now, He's reaching out and the voice you're hearing now in your heart, that's not mine. It is the heart of Jesus who said, "I'm not leaving her behind. I'm not leaving him behind." And He's not leaving you behind! This is your day to reach out and grab the man who loved you enough to pay the death penalty for your sin. Nobody loves you like He does. And I'd love to help you be sure that you've made that connection and gotten this settled. That's why our website. That's why I ask you to go there - ANewStory.com. Check out ANewStory.com. I want to be like Him, and leave no one behind.

Our local high school football players survived grueling triple practice sessions one summer. Our sons were on the team, and I know. But you know what? It was then off season, and I noticed then that several of them were going for a relatively simple one-mile run. I mean, simple compared to those triple sessions. When they got back, they were totally wiped out, they were gasping for breath, they were sore, they were exhausted. My son was among them, and he summed up what he learned that day. He kind of collapsed in the car when I picked him up after the little run, and he said, "You know, Dad, it doesn't take long to get out of condition." Well, he's right - especially when it comes to your heart. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Showing Up at God's Gym." Now our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Timothy 4. I'm going to begin reading at verse 7. Paul says, "Train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." Now, this word train...where Paul says, "train yourself to be Godly." It's an interesting word. If you looked at it in the original Greek language that the New Testament was written in, it's the word gymnazo. Does that sound like any word we have today? Well, of course, gymnasium. We go to the gymnasium. That's where we get the word gymnasium from this gymnazo word. It's talking about workouts, exercise, staying fit. And I think it's appropriate that God should suggest that staying in shape spiritually is something like staying in shape physically. He's saying, "Train to be Godly. Go to the gym to be Godly. Work out; exercise to be Godly." See, as our football players discovered, it doesn't take long to get out of condition. You just can't miss many days, or you lose most of the conditioning you've gained. I know what happens when I'm off the treadmill for a few days. I get back on it and I'm like, "Oh, boy! I've got to work my way back up again." When am I going to learn you can't be spiritually strong if you only have an occasional workout? It wouldn't work physically; it doesn't work spiritually. Oh, we go to the retreat, we go to the big conference, we get the Sunday sermon from the pastor who preaches so well, we get occasional binges of Bible study where we do it and then we quit, we do it - we quit. You can't stay in condition unless you exercise consistently. Our binges usually just bring us back to the condition we were in before. We just get back to zero. We never really grow; we never really expand spiritually the distance we can run, or the weight we can lift, or the challenges we can handle. We get stuck at one level, and we fall back through neglect, then we make it up on a spiritual binge, and then we repeat the process over and over again. Why don't we try Paul's better idea? He says, "Train yourself to be Godly." Get in a regular, consistent program. And commitment is the key, whether it's physical or spiritual. You have to set a time to get into God's Word. So, when do you do that? When is your non-negotiable time to be with Jesus? You have to set the alarm, you have to set a place where you're going to do it, and then all day long you live with discipline, staying within the boundaries, creating good habits that keep you on track. You know, there's no such thing as a spiritual day off. Oh, King David took one and he paid for it the rest of his life. See, you step into spiritual adulthood the day you commit yourself to the daily discipline of life in Christ. You know, in sports and in spiritual growth it just doesn't take long to get out of condition.

My son used to sleep and drink and eat football - especially eat. You should have seen him after a game. He was a sophomore lineman, and he played with great intensity. John was one of his teammates. John was, let's say, a hard-living kid who had sampled a little bit of everything. And John knew that my son was a Jesus follower. Well, John came to him after the first week of football practice and he said, "Hey, Hutch! I thought you were a holy man!" My son said, "Well, yeah, what do you mean?" John said, "Well if you're a holy man, how come you hit so hard?" Well, right there he was speaking volumes about what our world thinks Christian manhood is all about and he was wrong. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Those Hard-Hitting Holy Men." Now, our word for today from the Word of God will come from John 2, and I'll begin reading at verse 13. It's a seldom seen view of Jesus. In fact, I've never seen a painting of Him like this. I remember what one young man from Harlem said a while back. He said, "You know, Jesus in those religious paintings, He doesn't look like He could last ten minutes in my neighborhood." Well, listen to the Jesus of John 2. "When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at the tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords and drove them all from the temple area; both sheep and cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves, He said, 'Get these out of here. How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!'" Woah! This is the hard-hitting Jesus; the Jesus we sometimes lose in those pictures of lowly Jesus meek and mild. Now, we don't have a physical description of Jesus, but we do know He was a carpenter before they invented power tools. And that took a lot of strength. We know He spent forty days in the wilderness fasting without food and He emerged strong. And we know that He physically expelled these crooks. He didn't just say, "Would you guys please leave?" Listen; when a man comes to Jesus, this is the Jesus he comes to. And He doesn't lose his manhood, he discovers it. See, I think a man is wired to give himself 110% to something he believes in-a cause he thinks is worth giving himself to. That's why he likes sports; something he can give himself totally to for a little while. Then the game's over or the season is over. Or he gives himself to his business career, to something. I mean, every cause is a letdown, it runs out. A man is still looking for that cause for which he was made. And when a man like Simon Peter, that rugged fisherman, encounters Christ, he says, "This is it. This is the cause I can give my manhood to." As a man, you're going to be incurably restless until you find the Lord that you were built to serve. When you find Him, you discover a better best and a greater intensity than you've ever experienced in your life, plus a new capacity for love, for sensitivity, for courage you never knew before. He exhibited all of those when He paid the ultimate price for you. The man Jesus died for, a man like you and a man like me, knowing our anger, knowing our lust, knowing our selfishness, and taking the price for all of that on Himself; paying the death penalty for your sin and mine. And this man, Jesus, now says, "Give your life to Me and I will make it what it was created to be." This could be the day of a new beginning for you, as you fall at the feet of Jesus, as those men that were His disciples did years ago and you say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." If you want to know more about how to begin a relationship with Him, then go to our website. It's ANewStory.com. Check it out! Listen to Jesus, the God-man, as He says to you, "Follow me." You'll find in His strength an intensity you were created to have in everything you do. And then, like your Master, you'll be one of those hard-hitting holy men.

It was four months after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center a moving postscript was added to the accounts of rescue heroism that we had already heard. Some 343 firefighters lost their lives on September 11, going in to rescue people at a time when everyone else was fleeing. But a subsequent review of the fatalities actually revealed that sixty of those who died were "off duty" when they rushed into the burning towers. Some of the firefighters who gave their lives that day had been home or working second jobs when they heard about the fires at the towers and they sped to the scene in taxis or in their own cars. A fire department spokesman said, "Those who were 'off duty' joined those who were already working in a valiant and courageous effort to save as many lives as possible." Wow! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Off Duty." That actually is the mindset of someone who's concerned about saving lives. You're not always rescuing, but you're never "off duty" when it's time for a rescue. That's a powerful picture of a follower of Jesus Christ whose life is truly available for Christ's service. You never go "off duty." Not when lives are at stake. Paul, the early church's greatest rescuer, gave that kind of instruction to an up-and-coming rescuer. His name was Timothy. We're in 2 Timothy 4:2, our word for today from the Word of God. Here's what Paul says, "Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season." See, you never know when the opportunity is going to pop up to talk about having a relationship with Jesus Christ or to reach out and let someone else see Christ in some way that you love them. You can't schedule those things. And you don't just do it when it's your "job" to do it - when you're "on duty." You never know when the call is going to come from your Lord, when He says through His Holy Spirit, "Hey, there's a life right there that needs a rescuer right now. I've opened the door. There's an opportunity here, my son, my daughter. You have a chance to speak for your Jesus. I'm sending you to that person right now." This doesn't mean you don't follow God's command to take time off or to focus on your primary ministry (your family), or to take care of your everyday responsibilities. They're part of your life's work, too. But this "never off duty" mindset means you're always open to the opportunities in your everyday life to represent Jesus. Actually, you go into your day looking for, praying for those opportunities. And you're flexible enough to drop what you're doing when the summons comes from Headquarters to touch a life with God's redeeming love...always on call, always on assignment, always like a policeman in his patrol car, ready to hear from the dispatcher. Maybe you've seen those city buses that have a sign on the front, "Out of Service." Well, let me tell you, if you understand what it means to belong to Jesus Christ, you are never "out of service." Those who have joined Jesus in the spiritual rescue mission for which He came, for which He died, just don't go "off duty," not when there are lives at stake. No matter how uncomfortable they are, no matter how weary they are, no matter how they're feeling, no matter how risky it is, that tragic day at the burning World Trade Center, people showed up to make a difference who didn't have to be there. But they were rescuers. They knew that when lives are at stake, you drop everything to do whatever you can to save a life. Well, can those whose job it is to rescue people for all eternity do anything less?

Robin Williams, many thought was one of the funniest men in America, successful in movies, TV, even Broadway. But a suicide? That was the shocking news that left the entertainment world - and the entertained world - reeling. It just seems that the joy and laughter he gave so many just somehow wasn't enough for him. Not to keep on living. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Pain Behind the Laughs." You know, his death makes me think of Jimmy, who always made me laugh. He made a lot of people laugh. He was never famous, but he was the funniest guy we knew at the time. I tried not to show how shocked I was the night I got a call from Jimmy to say goodbye. In fact, he had broken into my office. He said, "I just was going to call you - because you're the only person I want to say goodbye to." He was on his way to kill himself. Well, thank God, he stayed there until I could get there. We talked all night. And Jimmy poured out all the pain that his humor had concealed. I never knew. And seemingly, so full of life, he was thinking about dying.That's part of what has made Robin Williams' death so hard to grasp. There is this huge gap between the bright light we saw on the outside and the darkness that must have been stalking him on the inside. And there's certainly many other examples of this as well. Sadly, that haunting contradiction, it's all too familiar to a lot of folks who may never have their name in the headlines. See, we've got it all together on the outside, but we're falling apart on the inside. You see my smile - inside, I'm battling my secret pain. And it's that word secret that makes our inner darkness so dangerous. When I hide my monsters in the shadows, they stalk me constantly. Rather than facing our monsters, we opt for pain relievers. Which, rather than solving our problems, become another problem in themselves. Stuffing our pain? That's not a cure. "Outing" our pain, that's where a cure begins. When I drag those monsters into the light, they begin to lose their power over me. There is no shame in letting people into your battle. There is great danger in trying to fight it alone. I'm forever grateful that young Jimmy called me that night that he was going to die. Strangely, he found a reason to live that night; actually, the reason to live. He opened up all his pain to the One who said, "The Lord has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted." He talked about a darkness that comes to us when He spoke of it in our word for today from the Word of God, John 10:10. He said, "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it to the full." That's Jesus, of course. The Bible actually says we were "created by Him and for Him." Which means we've got this God-sized hole in our heart that no relationship, no accomplishment can fill. So, we're ever searching; we're never finding, because God has planted what the Bible calls "eternity in our hearts." I'm so thankful that I found that "forever" thing when I embraced that relationship with the God I was made by and made for. A relationship that was free for me, but it cost Jesus everything. It meant sacrificing His life, dying on a cross, to open the way for a sinful me to belong to a perfect God and to live forever. Now, with the vista of my life opened up beyond my years here to this amazing forever, I can live life here to the fullest, doing life with the One who said, "Whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life." On this very day, this Jesus stands ready to come in and turn the darkness to light inside of you. Please tell Him today, "Jesus, you died for me. I'm yours." Go to our website and there I'll show you how to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. See, because of Jesus, we know the darkness doesn't have to win, because light has come.

Sometimes I forget all the things that our uncle pays for. I mean, Uncle Sam. Well, a while back they were talking about another government shutdown. Oh, it's happened before, and it probably will happen again sometime when there's political deadlock in Washington. But I remember this time as they talked about it, they started to reveal all the things that wouldn't happen if the government shut down; all the people and the services that would feel the pain if Uncle Sam didn't get some money. For example, it looked like America's military and government workers might not get paid, and they're doing more things for us than we ever realized, and they wouldn't be seeing their paycheck on time. It looked like even our National Parks were going to be affected. Can you imagine Smokey the Bear not getting paid? I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Your Supply Line Stops." You know, beyond all the convoluted politics, I'm actually thinking about times when our personal supply (my wife and I), that when that's been shut down. Like the time the ministry we worked in...well, they couldn't pay us for a while. We were six months behind in our salary; we were two years behind in getting our expenses reimbursed. My wife worked for a Christian organization who actually had some "Chicken and Stars" soup leftover from some summer camps. Well, that kept us going for a little while, although I have to tell you, I haven't eaten any "Chicken and Stars'' since then. We reached the point where our fridge was literally empty. Well, no, wait a minute... wait, almost empty. There was this half bottle of ketchup. That's right. We racked our brains; we really couldn't think of a good ketchup recipe. (Feel free to send me...no, don't, please.) There was no food and there was no money to buy any. Now, that morning we prayed and we committed our need to our Heavenly Father again and we went off to work. We got home that night, guess what? The fridge was still empty. Well, again, almost empty. Did I mention the ketchup? Yeah. Well, suddenly, the doorbell rang. I opened the door and I met a miracle. Up the stairs came one lady after another, carrying a big bag of groceries. They didn't know anything about our need, but their women's missionary group was having a meeting and they up and decided, "You know, let's have a pantry shower for the Hutchcrafts." It might as well have been God Himself coming up the stairs with all that food. I can't begin to tell you all the times and all the ways that amazing God has shown up when the usual supply line was shut down. It's true that God often, even usually, supplies through our job and our paycheck. But there are those times when that faucet is suddenly turned off. And that's when God has said to me, "Ron, did you think it was ever your work or your boss that was providing for you? That was just one of My many delivery systems. I'm your Provider, and I never run out of resources, my son." Well, our word for today from the word of God shows us that Jesus was pretty plain about this. Matthew 6 beginning in verse 31 says, "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your Heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." If you have put your trust in Jesus, you belong to the God who Jeremiah said has "compassions that never fail. They are new every morning" (Lamentations 3:22-23). He's the faithful Father who is infinitely creative in how He meets our needs: bread from heaven, water from rocks, shoes that don't wear out in the wilderness, one lunch that feeds a multitude, food delivered by ravens...or ladies from the church. When the usual supply line suddenly shuts down, it might be a good idea to open the windows for the ravens.

If a flight attendant ever faints during a safety briefing on a flight, well, I think I could take over. Yeah, I've heard about the seat belt, and the seat and the tray being in the right position. Oh yeah! There's one thing that they mention that I've never experienced, and that's fine with me-the oxygen mask. It goes something like this, "In the event of a sudden change in cabin pressure, an oxygen mask will drop down from the compartment above your head." And then they explain this, "If you're traveling with a child, please make sure you put your mask on first, and then put it on your child." That's a good idea. Make sure you can breathe, and then take care of your child. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Greater Gift You Can Give Your Child." Our word for today from the Word of God; we're in Deuteronomy 6. I guess I'd call it flight instructions for parents. It's addressed to parents who are raising kids in a culture that is more pagan than the one they grew up in, where their kids are going to be handed what their parents had to work for. That's kind of true of the generation this was written to, and it's kind of true today. Deuteronomy 6:5, the flight instructions begin this way. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. These commandments that I give to you today are to be upon your heart. Then impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your foreheads and hands, and write them on the door frames of your houses." But verse 12 warns, "Be careful that you do not forget the Lord." Well, the Bible says here that your children are going to need a love relationship with the Lord if they're going to make it, where they love the Lord their God with everything they've got. That's an inner guidance system that you can plant in a child that will keep them from crashing when you're not with them. It's that internal spiritual strength that keeps them from collapsing when the external pressure on them is insane and intense. They need this deep, real, personal relationship with the God who made them, who is the key to their purpose for living. But you've got to breathe that spiritual oxygen before you can give it to them. That's why it says this has got to be impressed on your heart before it can be impressed on theirs. You've got to love Him first. Frankly, there's nothing like the needs of our kids' lives to expose the needs of our own lives. Right? I mean, you look in your son's or daughter's eyes, and you're face-to-face with your own inadequacies, your own needs, your pain, your failures; parts of you that you may want to deny or excuse. But when we look at our kids those things stare at us in the mirror right there in the lives of our children. And their spiritual needs? Well, they're the mirror of your own. We can't lead them where we haven't been. Maybe it's time for you to experience for yourself as a Mom or Dad this love relationship with God. First, we have to recognize why we don't have one. Because of this monster called sin, it's the self-rule of our life really. Secondly, we need to recognize how we can have that relationship. And the Bible makes that really clear. It's by visiting the cross where God's Son took the rap for our sin and made it possible for the sin wall between us and God to finally come down. And then thirdly, we need to pin all our hopes on that Savior; telling Jesus He's in charge from this day on and then beyond that commitment. We can't settle for a relationship that's just mostly rules and rituals and religion and meetings, and beliefs. They're not going to sign up for that. The only Christianity that our kids will breathe themselves is one that is lived out before them. But if you've never experienced Jesus for yourself, you can have Him change your family by changing Mom, by changing a Dad. By saying, "Jesus, I bring you all of my needs, my failures, my sins, my inadequacies and I lay them at your cross where you died for me. Beginning this day I'm Yours." Man, I'd love to help you nail down that relationship so you know you have Jesus for sure. Would you go to our website? It's ANewStory.com. Because it will be a new story for you and for your family.

Sometime when you're tired of pushing your way through the mall, just sit down somewhere and watch the children play. Yeah, playing the amateur psychologist, I've observed children relating to their parents there on three different levels. First, there are the kids who are running ahead of their parents - until they suddenly realize they are lost in a sea of legs. Now, at my height, I can relate to that feeling. Then there are also those children who are walking along, holding Mom or Dad's hand - they know the mall is not for the small, so they hang onto a tall. But my favorites are the little ones who are totally exhausted and sort of collapsed in their parents' arms. Their legs have gone on strike and their parents are carrying them. In fact, the child is often sleeping soundly with his head embedded in his parent's shoulder. You've seen them all. Sometimes, I've even said to a parent carrying a child like that - "Now that's the way to travel, isn't it?" It really is. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Your Weakest Time Can Be Your Best Time." In those little children collapsed in their parents' arms is a helpful picture of how God may want you to be traveling right now. After all, you're pretty tired aren't you? It's been a long walk, a lot of pushing and shoving - your resources are pretty depleted. Enter the Apostle Paul in our word for today from the Word of God beginning in 2 Corinthians 12:7. Paul says, "There was given me a thorn in my flesh... Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me." We don't know what Paul's thorn was, but, whatever it was, it was something that limited him, that frustrated him, that caused him pain. Paul thought what God would do was to miraculously remove it. God had a better idea. Paul continues, "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Now, Paul's first reaction to the thing that makes him weak, that's beyond his control is pretty much the same as ours - he struggles with it. But eventually, he ends up celebrating it! Why? Because he has discovered a power he could never touch when he was strong. Like that child in the mall with no strength left - he's experiencing in his Daddy's arms a strength and stride he could never experience on his own two legs. Those kids in the mall? They're a picture of how we experience God in a deeper and deeper way. First, we're running around, not caring where God is - until we realize we're lost and our Father finds us. Then, we move into walking along holding His hand, allowing the Lord to help us - I know I can't make it alone, but I'm still walking in my own strength. Then the "thorn" hits - something in my life that levels me. I can do nothing about it. It leaves me limp. It leaves me powerless. That's when I discover how strong a Heavenly Father I have. Not just one who saves me, not just one who or helps me - but my Father who carries me. Now it's all Him! And you can go farther and faster in His arms than you could ever go on your legs! So you can honestly look at your powerlessness and say, "I'm glad I can't." You see, at that point, you are about to taste God's grace and power as only powerless people can - and your struggle will become your platform for talking about a Savior who is all you need when you have nothing. Maybe you're still trying to get there on your own. Isn't it time to look up and say, "Daddy, carry me"? Because you're never stronger than when your Father is carrying you.

Some friends of ours struggled with a wide variety of health issues over several years. And a while back, a trusted friend told them about a juice taken from a rare fruit that seemed to have measurably improved their health, and the health of several people that they love. Well, our friends invested in that juice, and they liked the early results. I can just imagine what would have happened, though, if some telemarketer had called them cold and tried to sell this product to them. "Hey, I have some juice for you." Click. See, I know these people. They never would have bought it from some professional salesman. But, you know, it helped when someone like them, someone they knew and trusted, was the one who told them about it. They wanted what she believed in. They wanted what was changing her. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You're His Best Messenger." You are divinely positioned. Yeah, because someone will believe you about Jesus that would never believe anyone else. You know, most of us are like my friends that I described. We're not going to buy from Mr. Slick Salesman. We'll buy from someone who's like us. Even when it comes to the most important choice we'll ever make in our life - our relationship with the God we will stand before when we die. Many of us have found at the cross of Jesus Christ the greatest love in the universe. And in His empty grave, we found the greatest power in the universe - the power of the only man who ever walked out of His grave under His own power. But every day we're with folks who've never experienced His love or His power and who will never experience His heaven if they don't meet Him for themselves. But whose responsibility is it to tell them? Many of us would like to leave it to someone who can do it better - like my pastor or that evangelist. He's really good. He's better at this. The problem is that in our world today, those folks are perceived as professional God-salesmen, which most lost folks aren't interested in listening to. But then, God's strategy never has been to leave spiritual rescuing just to His professional lifeguards. He works through the everyday believer; His satisfied customers. Take our word for today from the Word of God, for example, in John 4:39. Jesus wants to reach the Samaritans in a nearby village, but He's Jewish and they don't like Jews. He doesn't go into that village and have rallies there. He reaches one Samaritan woman and sends her back to her village to tell about Him. The Bible says, "Many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the woman's testimony." They listened to someone like them, and so will the people around you. Over the past twenty plus summers, I've been an eyewitness to a modern miracle. I think in 400 years of missionary effort, only about 4% of Native Americans know Jesus Christ. And yet, over the years I've seen thousands of Native young people give their lives to Christ, because our On Eagles' Wings teams - they're the ones telling about Jesus and their people just like them, young Native Americans who have lived the drinking, the drugs, the gang life, the violence, the despair and the suicide. But now they have found hope in the Creator's Son, Jesus Christ, and they're going to reservation after reservation introducing people just like them to Jesus Christ. It could be one of the greatest harvests in 400 years among Native people. Why? Because the messenger is someone like them! That's why I believe there's been a breakthrough. Do you see yourself in all of this life-saving picture? Who are the people around you going to listen to about your Jesus? Someone from their tribe, their vocation, their avocation, their generation, their location, their association. And showing them in that world - their world - the Jesus-difference. Is there someone who could say it better? Maybe. Would they listen to that person? Probably not. They'll listen to you. Jesus is sending you to your people to tell them about Him. Humanly speaking, you are their best chance.

When our kids were younger, we did a lot of camping together. You say, "Well, how was it being like that with the kids?" Well, I get to say camping was intense. Intense! Well, okay, there is a pun in there somewhere. Anyway, we'd get ready for bed at night, and it was in tents, and we would just tuck each one of those three kids into their sleeping bag, get it all zipped up, tied up, and then I would go and tie the flap of the tent, zip it closed, turn out the light, crawl in, get nicely situated in my sleeping bag all secure, turn over. And then, there in the dark you would hear a little voice saying, "Daddy, I've got to go to potty." Great! So, reverse the process: unzip my sleeping bag, get unsecure, go over untie theirs, unzip their sleeping bag, untie the tent flap, etc. Oh, you know, stagger out into the night, of course guided just by our trusty little Coleman lantern. I'll tell you, it was a long, dark walk usually to that bathroom. We couldn't see our destination, but we could see enough. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "All the Light You Need." Our word for today from the Word of God is in Psalm 119:105 - pretty familiar words. "Your Word," David says to the Lord, "is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." Man, I'll tell you, that makes me think back to my campground days and going out staggering toward that bathroom with a little child in the middle of the night with only my lantern. And you know what? It gave us insight into how God leads us; how He makes His will known. You might be wondering what His will is right now; something you've got to decide. You need to know it right now. Well, He does it like my camping lantern did. We had just enough light for the next step. That's not how we want it. We want to see the whole path don't we? We want to see the destination. We want all our questions answered. We're trying to figure out the big plan, and God's trying to show us the next step. Now, why does He just give us light for that next step, for the next place we need to go on the path? Well, first, you can only take one step anyway, so He gives us what we can handle. Secondly, if God shows you everything ahead, you would probably either run to it or run from it. Either way, you'd ruin it. Now, when you get to it, after all the steps toward it, it will seem natural. It will seem just right. But, see, you're not ready for that yet. You will be, but you can't skip the steps. That's why Psalm 37 says, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord." Now, since our lives are really days, God tends to shed enough light for today's choices and today's challenges. God's will is actually the natural next step for someone who's been following Christ a day at a time. So, begin your day with His Word, which is the light for your path. And you say, "Lord, what obedient step do You want me to take today? What are Your orders for today?" Now, you'll want more information than that, especially if you've got a major choice ahead of you. But you really don't need more than that. You only need today's assignment. Put all those obediences together. After seven of those, you've got a week of following Jesus and His will a day at a time. Thirty of them, you've got a month. Three hundred sixty-five of them, you've got a year. Pretty soon you've got a life that way. God will take all those daily obediences. He will weave them together in His perfectly timed, perfectly constructed, master plan for you. You know what it is? It's called take a step, see a step. So, like a child walking with his Dad through that dark campground, you just step where the light falls next. See, light for the next step is really all the light you need.

Years ago, when I went to Niagara Falls, there was this waxed figure on a tightrope over the street in Niagara Falls. And I learned that that's a real remembrance of an incredible moment in Niagara Falls history. It goes back to the turn of the century, The Great Blondin, a great aerialist, had drawn a tightrope across the roar of Niagara Falls. And then he took his balancing pole and ran across the falls on that rope and back. I thought, "Man! This guy must be a crazy person!" Well, there were thousands of people there to see him. Then he said, "Now, how many of you believe that I can take a 150-pound man across the falls on that wire in that wheelbarrow?" Oh the crowd cheered, and they hooted and hollered, "We do! We do!" And he said, "All right, who would like to climb in the wheelbarrow?" There wasn't a big rush for the wheelbarrow. No, there was one volunteer, his manager. And he took him across and came back safely. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Cheering for Jesus - But Missing Him." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Isaiah 6:1. Isaiah says, "In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted." Then there were angels calling to one another: "'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." Then a little later he said, "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'" Now, Isaiah here is just absolutely caught up in praise and worship. "I saw the Lord high and lifted up." That's like many contemporary followers of Christ. I mean, you love praise music, you love to go to praise gatherings, you love praise concerts. I do too. You often hear, "Praise the Lord!" and that's good. God invites our praise; He desires our praise. He deserves our praise. He inhabits our praise. We need to lift Him up and praise Him. I mean, He is worthy of all the praise we give Him and more. But, see, praise doesn't end in itself. It's supposed to make a difference. As he sees how big God is, Isaiah begins to see what he's got to deal with himself. It's kind of like, "God, you are awesome, and now I see that I'm a mess." He's talking about his sin. See, after you've done all the praising the Lord's, are you saying, "Lord, I've got a mess inside me that needs to be dealt with?" We've got to deal with our sin. Biblical praise isn't just a feeling; it leads to repentance if it's the real deal. But then it leads to action, "Here am I. Send me." Well, I'm concerned that a lot of our praise never gets past the experience of praise. And you look around and you say, "I have seen the King, but I'm surrounded by people who've never seen Him." Just like in the days of that aerialist with the tightrope over Niagara Falls. A lot of people were cheering. A lot of people believed in him, until it was a matter of getting into the wheelbarrow and resting everything on him. You know, you may have heard about Jesus your whole life. You are a very religious person. You may have a ton of Christianity in your background. But Jesus is going, "Thank you for cheering for Me. Thank you for being enthusiastic about Me, but did you ever get in the wheelbarrow? Did you ever pin all your hopes on Him to carry you to heaven with Him someday?" If you've never really had that day when you put your trust in Him, all you've heard and all you've cheered Him for will not matter. For it's getting in the wheelbarrow and letting Jesus take you home. That's what brings you to heaven. If you've never done that, I'd love to help you get started with Him and get this settled once and for all. Would you go to our website right away today? That's ANewStory.com. And there you will find the man who thought you were worth so much that He went to a cross for you.

Our family had a chance to visit Colonial Williamsburg, that great restored 18th-century village there in Virginia. And as we were looking at one of the more important homes there in Colonial Williamsburg, we noticed a lot of activity in the yard next to the house. I went over and I asked some people what was going on, and they said, "It's a dig." Sure enough, there were some archeologists and college students excavating in that yard to find the remains of the old slave quarters and to discover some treasures there in the dirt that would give them some idea of the lifestyle of those slaves back in the 18th century. Now, I don't know what your image of an archeologist is, but they weren't throwing around big shovelfuls of dirt. Let me tell you that. They weren't even using a shovel. No, they were dealing with spoonfuls of dirt, in carefully marked off little sectors of the yard. And they meticulously scraped one tiny layer of dirt at a time, put it in a little sifter, sifted it out, and then they carefully numbered and logged anything they found. You know, I think they have a lot to teach us about how to investigate something valuable. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God's Truth - Your Deep Dive." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Joshua 1:8. Joshua is standing on the river bank of the Jordan River, looking at a swollen river. Beyond them are the great walls of Jericho and the Promised Land that he is to go conquer. And here is a formula for success. "Do not let this book of the law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night so you may be careful to do everything written in it." Then here's a great promise: "you will be prosperous and successful." It's a blueprint for conquering a big challenge. Maybe like you've got right now. You could be looking at one. Well, this is your blueprint for success, and it's all in how you approach God's Word. He says, "Meditate on it day and night." Now, that's an interesting word in Hebrew. It's the same word used for a cow chewing its cud. So you could almost translate this verse to say, "Here's what you do with the Bible. Chew and do." Chew it and then do it. That's how you can be successful, it says. Now, most of us approach this biblical archeology project of digging into the Bible with a shovel, not a spoon. Now, I have nothing against reading through the Bible in a year. That's good. But you grow the most when you get a spoonful of God's truth, examine the layers, sift it carefully, and then log what you found. It isn't how much you get of the Bible, but how much of you the Bible gets. We're archeologists on a daily dig for a word with you from God. Now, if you're serious about growing; if you want to succeed, slow down and dig into a few verses at a time. Read them over two or three times. Look for phrases or ideas that are repeated and try to connect them. Try to enter into the situation of the writer; maybe the reader that was receiving it. Where am I in this passage? Where am I in this story? Stay with it until you can connect something in those verses to something that's happening in your life right now. Then, like a good archeologist, log it. Write it down in a spiritual journal. So as it says in Joshua, you would be "careful to do it." Remember, chew it and do it. I've got a drawer full of the spiritual journals that I've kept over the years. Man, what a treasure it is to be able to write down each day, "What did God say to me today, and what am I going to do differently because He said it?" You don't get the treasure out of an archeological site by the shovelful. You find it in those little spoonfuls. It's the same with treasure from God's life-changing Word. Slow down, take your time, and get all the treasure you can from your daily dig into the truth of Almighty God.

I love high tide! It's when you can see and hear the ocean at its max power. It just takes over everything. I distinctly remember one powerful moment at the Jersey shore during a summer visit. It happened to be high tide and I walked out on a jetty; you know, these huge boulders. What an experience! Everything in front of me and behind me was just covered by this surging surf, but I was standing in the middle of those rocks and in the middle of that high tide. But something fascinating occurred to me. It was that the tide and the ocean and the storms had beat on that rock for centuries, but the rocks never moved. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sandcastles and Things That Last." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 John 2. I'll begin reading at verse 15 where the apostle says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world." And then in verse 17, "The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." That happens to be on the tombstone of the great evangelist D. L. Moody. And there's something about our heart that needs something that will be there forever. Actually, I think I know why. Because Ecclesiastes 3:11 in the Bible says, "God has placed eternity in the hearts of men." We need something that's going to always be there. And there isn't much that's going to last forever. Right? I'm thinking of sand castles, you know? I've seen kids build sand castles at the shore, and some of them are like these huge, elaborate civilizations. But they're gone by morning, because the tide always wins. I mean, you put a lot of effort into a sand castle; it just doesn't last long. You got any sand castles you've built in your life? Maybe you've invested a lot of time and effort in it. You thought it would last: that relationship, those investments, that position. High tide took it away. Do you have a relationship that turned out to be a sand castle? You were so sure this was the one. You were so sure this was the thing that was going to satisfy your heart, and then high tide hit and took it away. God's Word says that all earth stuff "passes away." Maybe you've been distracted by the sand castles. Maybe you've wasted a lot of energy on sand castles. See, that's a hint that we're meant to hold onto the one thing that never goes away - Jesus Christ. Hebrews 6:19 says, speaking of Jesus, "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." The rocks that are never taken away by the high tide. All of this other stuff is soon going to pass away. In fact, there's an old saying I heard a lot when I was a teenager. "Only one life, will soon be past. Only what's done for Christ will last." Maybe you've gotten so busy doing things your way, that you've neglected God's way. Maybe you've been putting a lot into your house, your recreation, your romance, your career, and those aren't bad things. But they've just kind of marginalized the one thing that really matters. They've marginalized Jesus. You know, everything you've built, eternity could prove was a sand castle, because you've missed the one thing that lasts forever - eternal life; that one anchor for a life that never goes away. And it's talked about in Romans 8:38-39. "I am convinced that neither death nor life, not angels nor demons, nor the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." What have you got that time can't take away? What have you got that will last forever? Have you got that one relationship, that one love that's unloseable? If not, I would encourage you today to say, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website and find out more about how to be sure you have begun that relationship. It's ANewStory.com. Don't settle for sand castles. Put your feet on something no tide can take away; that can stand every strong tide. Put your best efforts into what's going to be there forever.

I heard mooing from our kitchen, and it wasn't a cow in the kitchen. No, it was my wife. No, I don't mean... she wasn't mooing. No, she was doing something that caused the mooing sound. I bought my wife these charming salt and pepper shakers in honor of her farm upbringing. The pepper shaker is a pig and the salt shaker is a cow. Whenever you turn over the pepper shaker, you cause it to start this pig-snorting sound. Would you like to hear one? Nope, I will not demonstrate. The salt shaker? Well, that was a cow, and it worked in the same way. So when I hear that mooing from the kitchen, I know it's announcing that the salt is doing what salt is supposed to do-which is get out of that salt shaker! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A World That Needs You." I'm sure God would love to hear the sounds of His salt getting out of the salt shaker more often. After all, the work salt is supposed to do is not inside the salt shaker, all clustered together with the other salt. It's supposed to get out and change the flavor of something! Well, according to Jesus, "You are the salt of the earth." That's His word to His followers in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 5:13. He goes on to say that "You are the light of the world," and that light is supposed to be "put on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house." Look, you don't put all the light bulbs in one room in the house, do you? You'd have one blazing bright room and the rest of the house would be totally dark. You don't keep the salt all stored up together in the shaker. You scatter it around so it will be in contact with the things that need their flavor changed. And Christians were never meant to be all clustered together in their spiritual salt shaker, just salting each other and soaking up more blessing and more fellowship. The salt's got to be in direct contact with the meat or the vegetables that need it. So guess what? You and I have to be in meaningful contact with the people who really, really need our Jesus. We're not supposed to be hiding out, playing defense all the time, trying to keep from being contaminated by avoiding the world that Jesus left us here to change! If your social life, if your discretionary time is pretty much with Christians all the time, maybe you're missing your mission! We'll do that in heaven. We'll hang out together all that time. Right now we've got to be involved with some people who aren't going to heaven yet! It's time for you to take all that you've been storing up spiritually and start taking it to places and people where it's really needed. It's time to be intentional about building relationships with that neighbor of yours, you know, with that lost co-worker, with some of your fellow students who need your Jesus. It's time to look around your community and find some human needs that you can be involved in meeting in Jesus' name; to build some bridges into those lives. They're all around us. It's time to look around your community for a place to volunteer, maybe, so you can be in contact with some unreached people with some really deep needs. You just need a community connection of some kind, not just a church connection; something that will put the salt of your life in Jesus in contact with some of the lives that really need the flavor of Jesus; with some lives He gave His life for but they don't know it yet. Don't you think we need to be actively involved in the life of our church? Absolutely no doubt! God wants that. You need it, but not to the exclusion of connecting with the world that God so loves. You are the spiritual salt where you live. So, get out of that salt shaker!

It was time for the annual Prayer and Planning Retreat for our ministry team. And someone offered their large farmhouse to us. So we took them up on it. We drove out in the country, hauled in our suitcases, and our bags of groceries, our files, and our bags of groceries, our flip charts, our easel, and our bags of groceries. Now, one of our team was setting up our dry erase board for us; the kind you write on with a dry erase marker. This was a brand new board; we kind of just got it for this occasion, and it was ready for our great ideas to be written on it. And so, Ryan decided once that he set it up, he'd try it out. So he grabbed a marker and drew an amusing cartoon of us. While we were having a good laugh, somebody said, "You didn't use the permanent marker did you?" There was this very long, awkward silence followed by a very long groan, and then, "I'm so sorry." Poor guy! He really thought it could be erased. I don't think the word permanent ever occurred to him. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sin's Permanent Marker." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 51. It's right out of the very personal diary of King David after his adultery with someone else's wife, a woman named Bathsheba. He says, "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin." He's hurting pretty bad. "For I know my transgressions and my sin is always before me. Against You, You only have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight." In verse 7 he says, "Cleanse me and I will be clean. Wash me and I'll be whiter than snow." Can you see how desperately he wants to be clean again? Verse 12, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me." I don't know how good the thrill was with that woman, but the bill haunted David a long time after the thrill was gone. Sin's always like that. It promises to give you so much before you do it and then it takes so much from you after you do it. We know David was forgiven. He says in Psalm 32, "You forgave the guilt of my sin." But the scars remained. See, sin is a permanent marker. You have no idea the marks it will leave on your relationships with others, your sense of worth, your reputation, people's trust in you. It could be right now that you're looking at something that's out-of-bounds spiritually and it's tempting. It's looking good. It would be easy to give in to that temptation and to tell less than the truth, or to hurt that person back who hurt you. But first, get out your calculator and add up the bill. It can't be that good; not when you see how much it will cost you long after the brief benefits of that sin are gone. You say, "Ron, the marks are already there." Well, realize that the most deadly marks of all are the record of your sins in God's spiritual accounting book. And those were erased at the cross where Jesus went to the hell that you and I deserve. Acts 3:19 says, "Repent and turn to God, and your sins will be washed away." And His forgiveness, it's total. It's eternal because of the nail prints, the permanent marks in His hands and feet; the price He paid to forgive you - His unfathomable love. Forgiveness makes us clean before God. But don't forget, if you just think you will abuse that grace the scars will remain. Listen, we forgave our brother when he made those marks on that board. Our relationship was okay, but it didn't make the marks go away. Sin could be forgiven, but its consequences may be there until we see Jesus. And you just can't afford those marks. But maybe you've never had that day where you've had your sins forgiven by God once and for all, and you know what it is to feel dirty inside and you're ready to feel clean. You're ready to be forgiven. That can happen this very day. Tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, based on what you died for." Go to our website and get the rest of the story there. It's called ANewStory.com. My coworker had no idea that the result of putting those little marks on the board could not be erased-a permanent marker, just like sin. But when you do it God's way, there are no regrets and no marks that you can't erase.

You know, you and I are living in a, well, a pretty adjustable world. I mean, we have adjustable rate mortgages, and I have an adjustable wrench that changes sizes for different jobs. Good thing we have adjustable clothes, because it seems like we have adjustable bodies don't we? We have one size that fits all even . And, of course, negotiations that go on between nations, oh yeah, constantly adjusting their views, and their policies, and their public statements. And then politicians...you get it. As the situation changes, we all seem willing to change almost everything with it-sometimes including the truth. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "My Bible, My Bottom Line." Now, our word for today from the Word of God. We're in Luke 5:5. And we find out that Simon Peter, for all of his weaknesses, had one thing that gave him the heart of a disciple. There was one bottom line in his life that simply was not negotiable. And that must have been what Jesus loved about him. Maybe you remember the incident where he had just been out all night fishing, and he came in and Jesus said, "Now, I'd like you to go out again." Okay, it was already the heat of the day, and Simon Peter could think of all kinds of reasons to do something else. It's going to be inconvenient, we're going to get the nets dirty again. You don't catch fish in the day if you don't catch them at night. I'm going to look foolish to the other fishermen. "Hello! Nobody goes out in the middle of the day, Simon." It's not going to work. No, and he'd already tried and he failed. A lot of reasons; a lot of things that told him not to do what Jesus said. But listen to what he says, "Master, we've worked hard all night. We haven't caught anything" - which sounds like that's going to be the reason he won't do what Jesus said. But listen to the next sentence: "but because You say so, I will let down the nets." That's the heart of a disciple. "If you say so, Jesus, I'll do it." That's the bottom line no matter what anyone else says. Now, today there's kind of a dangerous drift from that kind of spirit-filled, scripture-anchored stability. "Thus saith the Lord." Well, that's often compromised by "thus saith society" or "thus saith the Gallup Survey" or the culture, or it's compromised by the latest best seller or what somebody said on a talk show or a website. Sometimes I think we have a tendency to follow sociology more than theology. For example, you could take the issue of divorce. In the Christian world, divorce became accepted pretty quickly. Now, society says it's okay, but has God changed His mind? He uses strong language in Malachi 3, and He doesn't say he hates divorced people, He doesn't. But He does say, "I hate divorce." He hates to see a marriage break up. See, the problem is we tend to have an adjustable truth. There are a lot of examples of that if it's out-of-step with what's culturally cool or personally convenient. God's truth has always been out-of-step with the culture. Like Peter, we must go to the Bible alone for our view, not to what makes sense to us or to say, "Well, now this is affecting someone I know, or maybe I could change my view." I always say, "When the verse gets a face, the verse is going out the window." See, the Bible clearly tells us what fulfilling womanhood is, no matter what sociology says. It tells us what manhood is; it tells us that marriage is forever. It talks about sex that is meant to be between one man and one woman within a lifetime, permanent commitment. Anything else is outside of God's boundaries. It certainly shows us that politics are not the focus of a Christian's energies. No, it's the Kingdom of God that we're supposed to seek first. It's time that we returned, I think, with humility to an open Bible and say, "God, how do You feel about this? Whatever You say, that's it! I'll do it." Now, we have to always speak with love and with humility, but always with His authority too. We, who love the Bible, are the only ones with the whole story; we've got God's truth. And those things? They're just not adjustable. They are not negotiable.

Some friends said, "How would you like to use our condominium down by the ocean in Florida?" Oh, it was a very hard decision, took about ten seconds. I'll tell you what, it was really a great place. I never thought I'd stay in a place like that. It had some very distinctive furnishings. Well, yeah, the mirrors! They were everywhere. And they were very strategically placed so you could see the ocean from almost any spot in the house. Cool! I was the first one up that first morning. I'm not familiar with this place, right? So, I'm puttering around in the kitchen for breakfast. I went over to the kitchen table. I leaned over to get something and suddenly out of the corner of my eye I saw this hand reaching for me. Scared me to death! Of course I spun around to see who was sneaking up on me. It was me. I hadn't realized that there was a mirror on the wall right next to me reflecting everything I did. Everywhere I went in this place I kept running into me. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Our Inescapable Dark Side." One of the writers of the Bible kept running into himself everywhere, and he didn't like what he saw. He wrote words that people have been able to identify with very closely for a long time. His name is Paul. He wrote much of the New Testament. So our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 7, beginning with verse 18. "I have the desire to do what is good, but I can't carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do. No, the evil I do not want to do. This I keep on doing." Oh for goodness sake, who can't relate to that, in our marriage, with our kids, with our friends? Then he says in verse 21, "I find this law at work: when I want to do good, evil is right there with me." And finally he's desperate. In verse 24 he says, "What a wretched man I am. Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Then he's got an answer. He says, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." In spite of being a very religious man, Paul kept running into this dark side of himself that was selfish and sinful. Is that unique to him? No! Like that condo we were in, we've got a lot of mirrors that show us some things that scare us. If you're married, your spouse is probably a mirror for you, showing you things that you may not like about yourself; you may not like to hear. Our children - man, are they our mirrors! They reflect our inadequacies, our weaknesses, our baggage, our mistakes, and our pain. And a crisis where things are coming apart, that's when you see the real you. Now, when our dark side is suddenly staring us in the face, we try to run from it, we try to rationalize it, blame someone else. Until one day we finally get honest and say, "You know what? There is a darkness inside of me that scares me. I can't change the ugly parts of me. If I could, I would've." And that's where Paul was here, "Who will rescue me?" And then there's the answer: God would through Jesus Christ. See, life's mirrors all seem to say the same thing, "You need a Savior." That's why the Bible says in Romans 5:8, "While we were still sinners (that means running our own lives that God was supposed to run) God proved His love for us by Christ dying for us." We have this killer disease called sin, and God's Son came to break its power, to die for your sin and to be our Rescuer. And then He showed His power over the most powerful force on earth, which is death. He conquered it on Easter morning. Couldn't you use that power in your life? There's a new beginning that comes when you get every sin and every mistake forgiven by God. This all happens when you go to the cross of Jesus in your heart and you surrender to this wonderful Savior. Have you ever started your relationship with Him? If you haven't and you want to, can I ask you to take the next step on that journey and go to our website? It's ANewStory.com. I want to help you get this going. Maybe you are even running into yourself in life's mirrors recently and you don't like what you see. Look again. Right behind you, just over your shoulder, there's someone there. That's Jesus. He's helped you run into yourself so you'll run to Him.

A few months earlier it had been "Wild Winter." And then it came into spring, what they called "Soggy Spring" that year - the sequel. Oh yeah, we might have thought that we had seen the last of those mountains of snow. Wrong again. In fact, the weather guys had predicted that all that snow would come floating in melted form down our rivers and streams. And there were the floods again! Listen, I lived a long time in a town who has one claim to fame in national newscasts - major flooding. They made it again that year. It's just a heartache that we knew all too well. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Temptation Wins." You know when it's flood season, the weather people all across the country issue their oft-repeated warning: "Turn around, don't drown." In a matter of minutes, an always-safe bridge or water crossing can suddenly become a torrent of racing flood water, and a death trap for those who think they can cross as usual. Cars, vans, trucks, and even there was even an Amish buggy a few months earlier. They can be swept away in a fatal current. So keep it coming, weather guys; tell us when we need to hear it, "Turn around, don't drown." Actually, that's advice that some folks wish that they had heeded much sooner. I mean morally and spiritually. Few people who have become addicted or adulterous ever expected to get carried away. No one thinks that today's deception, today's "little" compromise of integrity or purity will one day sweep them away in an inescapable flood. Who could guess that a click on a web page, a little flirtation, a lie to get out of a jam would lead to a torrent of expensive consequences? After national headlines exposed the unfaithfulness of her politician husband, his betrayed wife said this: "You can pick your sin. You can't pick your consequences." Boy, isn't that true! One TV meteorologist said that the reason people die crossing familiar bridges in flood times is a fatal miscalculation. He said, "They overestimate the power of their car, and they underestimate the power of the water." Let's tweak that just a little to identify what makes even spiritual giants fall farther than they ever dreamed: "They overestimate their power to resist, and they underestimate the power of sin." The inexorable progression of spiritual seduction and disaster goes like this in James 1:15, "Desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." And our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 10:12 sounds this alarm: "If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall." There's probably someone who's hearing this today, who's driving very close to the edge of the flood. Flirting with those famous last words, "I can handle it." No, you can't. Listen to these words from Genesis. Take it, if necessary, as a personal warning, "Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Genesis 4:7). Turn around. Don't drown. Please.

I met a man from St. Joseph, Missouri, and I surprised him with my trivia knowledge when I said, "Oh, Pony Express country, right?" He confirmed my recollection that his town was the beginning of the famous Pony Express. What guys those were! Man, they rode their way right into the history books. They're practically legends of the Old West. They rode endless hours through hostile territory, risked their lives to deliver the mail to the West Coast. You knew that part. What you may not know is how many guys we're talking about here in this legendary operation - just 80 riders, and only one mail delivery was ever lost. How long did the Pony Express run? Only 18 months! It only took a few people a short time to make a great impact! Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Mark You Will Leave." For most of us, our ride through this life will last, what do they say on average, 70 years or so? Some will get more, some a lot less. The question is how much of a mark will you leave in the years you have left? I think inside all of us is this deep desire to make our life count, to do something significant while we're here. Maybe you know that restlessness that says, "I want to make a much greater difference with the rest of my life than I have made up until now." Then you need to hear our word for today from the Word of God in Daniel 12:3. It's God's roadmap to making the greatest possible mark you can make with the one life you have. Here's what it says. "Those who lead many to righteousness will shine like the stars forever and ever." Wow! God says the way to have a life that matters forever is to "lead many to righteousness." And this side of Jesus' cross, we know that means leading many people to Jesus. Now what immortalized those young men of the Pony Express? They were people with a message willing to risk whatever necessary to deliver that message. And they made a huge mark in a very short time. If you belong to Jesus, you've got to see your life-assignment like God does. You are a person trusted with a message to deliver. The significance of your life depends on how faithful you are in delivering it. In 2 Corinthians 5:19, the Bible says, "God has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us." The message: "Come to Jesus and get the relationship with God you were made for." The assignment: "ambassador" - Jesus' personal representative to the people where you work, or live, or go to school, or shop, or recreate. You're there by assignment from God to help some of those people be in heaven with you. How are you doing with that? Maybe you say, "Well, I'm afraid to tell them about what Jesus did on the cross for them. I might mess it up." Listen, God doesn't need your perfect presentation to reach the heart of the person you care about. He does need for you to tell them about your Jesus. The only way you can fail in your mission is to remain silent. Maybe you're not delivering your message because you fear the risks - the risk of building a relationship with someone who's lost, or getting started, of being rejected. But the Bible says, "God has not given us a spirit of fear." Please let God show you that the greatest risk of all is that you will lose this person forever because they never got the message about Jesus. Isn't that a greater fear, what might happen to them than what could happen to you if you do tell them? Like those heroic Pony Express riders, if you'll dedicate your life to delivering your life-giving message, if you'll risk whatever it takes to get that message through, then your heart-cry for a life that counts? Oh, it's going to be answered big-time. As you lead people to Jesus, you're riding to glory - eternal glory.

I'm one of those people with a wall-to-wall schedule I'm afraid. And maybe like you, there's just like no time in there for Murphy's Law - no time for anything to go wrong. Occasionally, Mr. Murphy does visit me. Some years ago I was on an overseas assignment for a youth ministry in New Zealand. You can't get much farther from home than that. And I had booked a lot of meetings for as soon as I returned; which is typical of my crazy schedule. "Oh boy, as soon as I get back we'll have this meeting and that meeting." The problem was that while I was in New Zealand (you ready?) all the DC10s in the world were grounded. Yeah, there was some kind of a flaw or defect, and they grounded all of those planes. And I was stuck with about 4,000 other Americans in New Zealand, because what flew out of New Zealand at that time was pretty much DC10s. Oh, I was frustrated! I wanted to get out of there; I needed to get back. I had a schedule!" Well, somebody offered me a home and they said, "Look, this home is vacant right now. Why don't you go in there and take it until you can get a plane?" So, the next morning I woke up all frustrated and anxious, but I went to sleep that night very excited and very much at peace. Now, you may be stuck in a situation right now, you're frustrated by a detour from the plan like I was. Well, like me, stranded 10,000 miles away from home, you may be about to learn a wonderful secret. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Detour is the Main Road." I had been asking God for some time prior to my New Zealand stranded experience, for some time just to stop and reflect. I said, "Lord, I just need to stop and get in a room somewhere for a day or two with just You and my Bible and a legal pad." Yep, so God took me 10,000 miles to stop me so I could have what I had been asking for. I woke up that morning in New Zealand saying, "Well, I'm not going anywhere." And when I realized that, then I realized I could meet with the Lord there! And boy did I ever! In fact, I couldn't write fast enough! After I spent some extended hours with Him, my legal pad was going. I thought I was going to overheat and melt down from the ideas He was giving me. I couldn't write them down fast enough. You know, He works that way with His kids. He has for a long time. Exodus 19:1-3, our word for today from the Word of God. It says, "In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, they came to the Desert of Sinai. And they entered the Desert of Sinai and Israel camped there in the desert in front of a mountain. Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain." And verse 11 says, "On the third day the Lord will come down on Mt. Sinai in the sight of all the people." Now, Mt. Sinai wasn't on the way to the Promised Land. From where they were it was a detour; it was a southern detour. I'm sure I might have said, "Hey, wait! This isn't the way to Canaan." But God detoured them to meet them dramatically at Sinai and to give them the Ten Commandments and a historic revelation from Him. What appeared to be a detour was actually the main road. Now, God will often take you on a sudden detour from your course so you can see Him better. For a spirit-led follower of Christ, there is destiny in each detour. Something God wants to do in your life that can only be done by slowing you down, and stopping your relentless forward progress. Have you had any detours lately? Maybe your health, your finances, a dream that's on hold, a relationship that meant a lot is coming apart. Even daily detours when your schedule gets interrupted by someone or something that just drops in. Well, remember, when God directs you to a sidetrack, that's no accident. He wants to meet you there. God's sidetracks are often God's Sinais. Trust that today's unplanned diversions are really part of the plan. Remember, when God is leading His people, the detour is really the main road.

It was one of so many of these that happened more regularly than ever. And we may never know why this particular one happened. That's the usual reaction when another "senseless" shooting leaves its trail of death and heartbreak. This time, this vengeful gunman in the horrific rampage near Santa Barbara, California left this hate-filled, 141-page manifesto to explain it. As one student's self-described "day of retribution" he called it. "My Twisted World" his manifesto was called. And in part, it was a journal of growing romantic and sexual frustration. Girls went for other guys but not for him. Others were having sex while he was an unintentional virgin. Frustration morphed into loneliness, then into desperation, and then a hellish personal agenda of destroying what he thought had hurt him. In the midst of the subsequent discussions about gun control and mental illness, few were addressing his convoluted ideas about love and sex and women; they permeate our culture, our hopes, our expectations. They're lies I'm all too familiar with. From knowing so many who've bought these lies, who feel worthless, and feel rejected. Who often driven to withdrawal, bitterness, self-pity. Some lash out. Some just decide to die. They are wrong ideas that need to be exposed because they're hurting too many people. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Life-Twisting Lies About Love." Here's the first one: sex and love give you worth. That seems to be what the California mass shooter believed. Along with millions of people who've been bombarded with a Hollywood story line that holds up romantic love as the ultimate happy ending; the ultimate validation that, "Yes, you are worth something." But, as many can attest, they got used, not loved. Like the teenage girl who called for advice about whether to give in to her boyfriend's pressure to have sex. She hadn't dated much. She was a virgin. She really didn't want to lose this guy though. I told her she'd probably lose him anyway once she gave in and lose something she could never get back. But he made her feel valuable. She gave him what he wanted. He moved on. She said, "I thought I'd feel worth more if I did it. I don't. I feel more worth-less than ever." Secondly, a man proves his manhood by conquering a woman. Boy, there's another lie. The Bible says we're all "made in the image of God" (Genesis 1:27). It actually commands young men to "treat the younger women as sisters, with absolute purity" (1 Timothy 5:2). So using them for your pleasure diminishes both of you. A guy doesn't prove his manhood by conquering a woman. He proves it by being a man women are safe with, respected, protected, un-violated. He conquers himself. And then a third life-twisting idea out there is that love and sex will make you fulfilled. The most passionate love, the greatest sex still leave you with this haunting whisper in your soul, "Someone's missing." Yeah, well, Someone is. That's Someone with a capital S. A boyfriend, a girlfriend, a lover, a husband or wife; they don't fill that hole in your heart because they can't. God says He has "planted eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). And nobody on earth can fill that eternity vacuum. Which leads us to our word for today from the Word of God in Colossians 1:16 that talks about the relationship you were made for. It says, "All things were made by Him and for Him." It's talking about Jesus. He's the One who gave you your worth before you were born. He's the One who restored the worth that your sin had stolen by sending His Son, Jesus, to build a bridge to get to Him; a bridge in the shape of a cross. If you've never begun that ultimate relationship that you were made for and found the fulfillment and the love that only He can give, I invite you to go to our website and there you will find a simple explanation of how to be sure you have begun this life-changing relationship. The website is ANewStory.com. Today, the deep hunger of your restless heart can only be satisfied in one way. By the love that heart was made for.

If you're a sports spectator, it's the least exciting part of the event. If you're a player, it can really make an important difference. It's called a "time out." Now on TV, a time out is a good excuse for a commercial. Right? But some important things are sorted out during time outs. A coach can give you some perspective on what you're doing right or wrong, some suggestions on how to play better, to improve, to change the play, look at the weaknesses of the other team. You can catch your breath, you can recover, you can regroup. A time out wisely used can actually make a decisive difference in the game... in your game. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always Time for a Time Out." Time outs are part of God's game plan for you and me. I know that because of our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 31. I'll begin reading in verse 13. "Say to the Israelites, you must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between Me and you for the generations to come." God goes on to say, "For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest." And then He says, "It will be a sign between Me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. And on the seventh day He abstained from work and rested." Well it's pretty obvious from what God is saying here that regular rest is built into our creation. The problem is this: nonstop running is built into our culture. No matter what we were created for, our culture has us running all the time. God says here, "You must. I insist you build a time out into every week. Not just a big annual vacation where you try to catch up for a whole year of not resting." In every week He says, "Time out - regular rest and recovery; time with Him." Work will take over your life. It is a slave master. You don't have responsibilities; responsibilities have you a lot of times. And God's saying here, "Don't let it take over." He puts a Sabbath in every week to break the dictatorial momentum of work. The rule of work: cross out two of the things that sustain your life. One, it doesn't allow any time for worship of the Lord. And number two, it does not allow any time for the restoration of the worker. That's what Sabbaths are all about. Get together with God and get yourself together. If you've allowed responsibility to cancel out the Sabbath thing in your life, you're flat out disobeying God's plan. The Lord's model was that He abstained from work and He rested. Resting is the easy part; abstaining from work, that's the hard part. I mean, here's a mountain of responsibility in front of you. It is an act of faith to say, "I believe I'll obey God and I believe God will do more with six days than my seven because I'm honoring Him." It's similar to what you believe about tithing, that God can do more with the 90 percent than with your 100 percent if you didn't tithe. When you exercise the faith to take your time out each week, your judgment improves, your energy goes up, your creativity is greater, your confidence is greater, your personality's better to be around, and you return to your responsibilities a better you. God insists on this practical step of sanity; rest whether you have time or not because you don't have time not to. God calls you to stop the clock each week and remember who you are and whose you are. A time out wisely used can make all the difference in the outcome of your game.

Sometimes it's just fun to surprise people. But not when you're trying to check into a hotel. It didn't work out so well for me in Houston. Chuck had contacted me on behalf of an organization to fly to Houston and film a training video. He told me what hotel to go to, and I strolled in with my suitcase. I was confident I'd be greeted with a room number and a key. Instead I was greeted with, "Uh, I never heard of you." They had no record of me! Well, finally, after some frustration I tried one more thing. I gave them Chuck's name. Bingo! The reservation was not in my name; it was in the name of the one who was paying for it. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Name on Your Heaven Reservation." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 4:12 - very important words. "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." And the name referred to two verses earlier is "the name of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead." The verse starts out with the word "salvation is found in no one else." What is this salvation thing? Well, obviously it implies that someone needs rescuing. Well, you and I do, because we have messed up the greatest life-or-death choice there is. We have decided the wrong person will run our lives. According to the Bible, the One who gave you your life is supposed to run your life. But, no, each of us has defied our Creator. We've have and I have. The Bible says, "All of us have sinned and come short of God's glorious ideal." We've chosen to do what we want to do with our body, our mind, our sexuality, our future, our money, etc. God's diagnostic name for that rebellion is sin. And it's terminal. We're away from God; we're separated by a wall of sin, which you can probably feel in your soul - that separation. If we die like this, we literally get the hell of never-ending separation from God and His love. Romans 6:23 says, "The wages of sin is death." But then there's good news; the best news. "But the gift of God is eternal life." The Bible says there's only one name in which you can get that - the name of Jesus. See, you and I are going to keep our appointment with God someday. We all hope we're going to go to heaven. But if the reservation is in your name, you're not getting in. The reservation has to be in Jesus' name, because He paid for it. He paid for you to go there. There are going to be some tragic surprises on Judgment Day. Someone will walk up to God and give their name and say, "Hey, look at all the good things I've done, Lord. Here are my references; all the people who will vouch for me." That's not going to be enough to get you in. Or, "Maybe, Lord, it's in my church's name, or my husband's name, or my wife's name. They're real good Christians. My parent's name." And then will come the agony of realizing that we've been depending on a name that cannot get us into heaven. Only the name of Jesus Christ can get you in, because it took His death on the cross to do it. He's the only Savior there is. There are other religious teachers, there are religious systems. There are a lot of good works. None of which can satisfy a perfect God. Only Jesus paid the price with His life. And God says, "What will you do with Him? Salvation is in no other name." So we need to walk up to God and say, "Lord, look under Jesus. I know that He died on that cross for me. I've accepted His death for me as my only hope. I've made Him my Savior and my Lord. My reservation is in Jesus' name." If you've been depending on anything else to get you to heaven, this is your day to pin all your hopes on the only one who can take you there. That is God's Son, Jesus. Get this settled. Tomorrow is never guaranteed. I'd love to help you get this settled. Would you go to our website, it's what it's there. It's ANewStory.com. I'll tell you, if your heaven reservation is in Jesus' name, I'll tell you what you're going to hear from God, "Welcome home!"

If you've driven across America much, you might have seen a sign at one point that says "Wall Drug Store." It's in Wall, South Dakota. They advertise all over the country. I was even in Singapore years ago. I saw an arrow pointing West. It said something like "Wall Drug Store 10,000 miles." This once little drug store in an unknown town grew into a major tourist attraction. On some days I've heard they'll draw like 20,000 people! But it wasn't always that way. In 1931 a young pharmacist and his wife bought the drug store in Wall, a dusty little town on the edge of the Badlands. And for five years, they barely eked out a living. They were on the verge of giving up, and then the druggist's wife had an idea. Because of the new Mt. Rushmore attraction, lots of cars were going by but they weren't stopping. Her idea? Advertise the one thing those travelers needed after driving across that hot prairie in the 1930's - ice water. So they put out signs for free ice water and people began to stop. The rest is history. Here's what the couple said looking back over the years at the amazing things that had happened. No matter where you live; you can succeed because wherever you are, you can reach out to other people with something they need! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "Why Customers Aren't Coming." People weren't coming when all the drug store did was sell their products. But people started pouring in when that store identified a need those people had and started doing something about it! Jesus was doing that with people 2,000 years ago. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 4:6. Jesus was giving the Samaritans a chance to know Him as their Savior. And believe me, it was going to be a hard sell. He's a Jew and the Samaritans don't like Jews. They're very into their religion. As Jesus enters the area, He meets a hardened Samaritan woman at a well where they both stop for a drink. Does He come up and say, "How do you do? I'm the Messiah." It says this: "When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, 'Will you give me a drink?'" Verse 10: "Jesus answered her, 'If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water." He starts by talking about a need she has - water. That's why she's at the well. Not necessarily ice water in this case, but water. In verse 13 Jesus says, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst." Her reaction? "Sir, give me this water." Jesus ends up talking about eternal life and this woman's endless search for love in her relationships with men. Then He gently leads her to deal with the sin in those relationships. Eventually, this woman gets her whole village to come out and meet Jesus. How did it all start? By Jesus identifying a need that the woman cared about and using it to turn her attention to a Savior. Question: How can there be so many Christians and so few lost people coming to Christ or even coming to church or to Christian meetings? We're selling our product - the good news of Jesus. But they drive right on by. They don't care about sin so they don't care about what Jesus did for sin. But would they start coming if we identify the need they feel and started doing something about it? If we began helping them be a husband or a wife or a parent, offering services that would meet the needs of local teenagers. And in our personal witness, would more people listen if we took an interest in their felt needs? If we told them what a difference Jesus makes for our loneliness, our emptiness, our brokenness, the pain of our past? It's not about changing the Gospel. No, it's about changing our starting point to get to the Gospel. Jesus knew that closed hearts open when you start with a need that matters to people. When it comes to interesting people in the Savior who died for them, you really can succeed wherever you are - if you reach out to them with something they need!

Even the hard-core reporters were having a hard time talking about it. Apparently, that Ground Zero Museum where the Twin Towers once stood is one powerful experience. As you walk in, you hear the last "I love you" messages people sent from the towers or from the doomed planes. It's a heart-rending walk through this nation's darkest hour I guess, and the heroism and hope that lit up that darkness. Like the man President Obama spoke about at the dedication service. After the wingtip of a hijacked plane sliced through the 78th floor, a group of people were huddling together in the Elevator Sky Lobby, waiting for help. Then they heard the voice. "I found the stairs - follow me!" It was Welles Crowther, a 24-year-old equities trader, whose trademark was the red bandanna he had carried in his pocket since he was a boy. With a woman on his back and a red bandanna in his hand, he led the group to a stairwell. He gave one woman a fire extinguisher, told the group to stay together and go on down the stairs, and they made it out. But Welles didn't go with them. No, he went back upstairs to help others. That's when another woman, badly injured, saw this man with a red bandanna over his nose and mouth, running across the lobby. He led them to an obscure staircase and then went back for others. Then the tower came down. They found Welles Crowther's body six months later. His red bandanna is on display in the museum. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You about "Our Own Ground Zero." His father was there at the dedication, and his words actually touched a pretty deep chord in me. He said, "I don't think for a moment he was thinking about his own safety. He was thinking about the lives of all those people. Welles' last hour was his legacy." Just like my hero. His last hour was on a cross where He bled out His life to save people who otherwise would have died. I'm one of them. All of us whose sins were paid for on that day were His legacy. The Bible tells us in Revelation 1:5 that "Jesus loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood." And then in our word for today from the Word of God, in Galatians 1:4 it says, "He gave himself to rescue us." Jesus came where I was one day and He said, "Hey, I have the way out. Follow Me." Following Him saved my life and saved my soul. Me and the millions who have accepted His invitation, "Follow Me." There's one stop in the Ground Zero Museum that is reportedly one of the most moving. I know I'd be spending some time there. It's that cross. The construction worker who found those girders in the shape of a cross said, "My one goal was to find someone alive. I didn't. But I found the cross." The rubble cavern where it was found came to be known as "God's House" to those hope-starved workers at Ground Zero. It was a Ground Zero chaplain who brought the hope found there right into my hope-hungry life and yours. He said, "When the ground is shaking all around you, find your cross and your Ground Zero." I did. It's the ground that never moves. It's the Love I'll never lose. It's Jesus. Who you find when you go to the cross where He died for you and say, "Jesus, this is for me." If you never have, I invite you to find your way to the safe place, and I would love to help you do that. That's what our website is there for. Would you go there? It's ANewStory.com. It's time to say, "Jesus, I'm yours" and be welcomed into the safety of the Son of God, who died for you.

In many years of youth ministry I have learned that teenagers love to get mail, and if they get mail, whatever form it's in, they probably look at it. They don't actually get all that much sometimes. And then, oh yeah, well, we used to send out promotional pieces when, you know, there was snail mail. And there had to be a good attention-getter on it. One of my favorites that we used to send out, it took up most of the page, and it said this: If you have any complaints about our group, please explain them fully in the box provided below. The box was about the size of a dime. Yeah, we really want the complaints. Obviously, the complaint box isn't big enough. For most of us, when it comes to gripes, I'm not sure we could make a big enough box to put it in. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Grumblers Anonymous." Our word for today from the Word of God is from Exodus 15, 16 and 17. You'll be glad to know we won't be reading all of that, but you'll see a repeating pattern here. And it shows the major occupation of God's people in the wilderness and sometimes God's people today. They've not had water for a couple of days, and so it says in Exodus 15:25, "And the people grumbled against Moses." Now, they go a little further and they're a little hungry. And so it says in chapter 16, verses 2-3, "In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, 'If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted. But you've brought us out into this desert to starve us to death.'" And then in chapter 17, verse 3, "But the people were thirsty for water there and they (want to guess?) grumbled against Moses." They're like actors on cue. OK, we go through something we don't like, cue the grumbling. We always seem to have to talk about what isn't rather than what is. What we don't have rather than what we do have. About what's wrong rather than what's right. It seems as if we're never content just like those ancient children of Israel. You know, there are three mistakes grumblers make. Yeah. One, they blame men for what God is doing. Did you notice they blamed Moses and Aaron? We personalize it; we break down the relationship with those people and with God. We don't find any meaning in the situation until we go to God. Like Moses did, it says "He cried out to the Lord." You can either crab to other people, or you can cry to the Lord about it. Second mistake grumblers make is they deny the goodness of God. What you're really saying is, "God, you don't take very good care of us." Or maybe you're blaming it on some human situation, but you're really saying, "God, you haven't done a very good job." And it causes us to focus on the situation instead of on the Savior. The third mistake grumblers make is that they poison other people - people who have never even thought about the problem. We're really positive until somebody starts grumbling. The poison spreads and finally, they forget the big picture. These people had no gratitude for the waters that had been parted or the relief they found in the desert earlier. See, when you look at the big picture, it leads to gratitude. You see the whole thing God is doing. When you look at a close up of this hard moment, it leads to grumbling. Why don't you turn your grumbling to gratitude? There will always be full membership in Grumblers Anonymous. No more members needed there. So why don't you resign and join a better organization - The Builder Uppers.

Well, Spring is tornado time, and there were some Mississippi folks at the conference we were at getting some pretty scary reports from back home. There were friends in a ministry organization we know of who were deeply wounded by the death of a coworker and daughters in Arkansas. One of the daughters who survived that twister quoted the Book of Job, the biblical man who lost everything. Here's what she wrote: "The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Somehow, that girl's faith was sustaining her amid a horrific loss. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where's God in the Tornadoes?" There were some others during that outbreak who responded with tragedy's frequent heart cry. "Why, God?" We try to make sense of the shattered pieces of our life. We can't. We want answers from God. Sometimes "Why, God?" is a cry for help. But "Why, God?" might be the wrong question. I think most of the "why's" are hard to see in the middle of the pain. We're looking at the dark thread that we're living right now. Meanwhile God's working on this much larger tapestry that my thread is a part of. And the thread often cannot make sense without the big tapestry, which we won't see for a while. Maybe not until God shows it to us Himself some day. But there is a question I've resorted to in the dark valleys. A question that may have some answers - sooner rather than later. Here's the question: "How can God use this?" See, turning from God in our devastation erases any hope of the suffering having any meaning. That road takes us to dark places of bitterness and despair. Turning to God is the only road to hope when we have no answers. I saw my parents heartbroken when my baby brother died. But I saw their lives totally transformed when their grief actually drove them to the God who had been a stranger to my parents before. It was a tragedy that seemed initially to have no "why." But it was a tragedy that God used to give me a new mom and dad. See, I saw from a very early age, there was purpose in the pain. I know it's been grief and pain that have taught this spoiled only child right here the meaning of compassion. As it says in 2 Corinthians 1:4, "We comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." People who know what it is to be broken have the credentials to be healers in a hurting world. And, like my parents, our darkest hour may be when we find the Light as never before in the God who came from a perfect heaven to be broken by the people He had made. I can tell you this, He was and has been my anchor since the day my wife, the love of my life since I was nineteen, was suddenly gone. And I said later, "I will not waste this grief." And God has been the anchor through it all. In our word for today from the Word of God, in God's own words in Isaiah 53:3-5, speaking of Jesus, it says, "He was crushed...He was pierced...a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering." Paying my bill with God. That's what Jesus was doing so I wouldn't have to pay it forever; choosing to die so I could live. This is a God who's lived our grief, who carries us when we can't take another step. Who went through all of the pain, all of the hell that I deserve. All the payment of my sin, all of the guilt and shame for one simple purpose: so that I could be with Him forever and have the wall between me and God removed. Could it be the storm you're in right now has been to bring you to the place where you would grab the long-extended hand of Jesus, who's offered it for so many years? And now you grab Him and make Him your Savior from your sin and you will never face a storm alone again. If you want to get that done, would you go to our website? I think we could help you. It's ANewStory.com. When our shattered soul reaches in desperation for this God who hung on a cross for us, we find what that old song describes - grace... amazing grace.

A number of years ago I was driving for a pretty extended trip with my son. And in that relaxed moment I said, "Hey, there's something we need to talk about." He rolled his eyes, "Dad, is this 'the talk'?" Well, he must have read me pretty well. He was right. It was time for "the talk." Yeah, it was time to talk about sex. And so, feeling that he needed this information at this point in his life, I explained everything very clearly. I even used all the right words; we didn't talk about "oogie boogie wagga boogie" or something you know. We didn't use the crazy names that parents make up for body parts. No, we were very clear about everything. And he's usually pretty communicative, but he was strangely silent during this conversation. Finally when it was all over, I said, "Hey, what do you think?" He gave me his three-word reaction. He said, "Dad, that's gross!" Well, apparently he changed his mind. He later learned that it was beautiful. One of the truths in parenting is recognizing how much and how soon to tell our children all kinds of important life information. It's knowing when they need to know. Did you know you're being raised that way? I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "God of the Next Step." Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 119:105. And there we have a very revealing look at how God likes to lead us into His will. "Your word," it says, "is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." I got a new appreciation of that verse when I was camping with my kids. You know, you get all settled into the tent in the middle of the night, and then they say, "I got to go potty." And so you untie the tent, and you get out, you go out with your Coleman lantern and start down the dark path. Did you know you can't see the whole path? You can't see the bathroom. All you can see is the next step. But then, how many steps can you take at one time? One at a time, and that's enough. You don't have to see the destination; you just have to see the path ahead of you and know you're on the path. That's how God leads us. "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." That's one step at a time guidance. See, we want God to show us next month, the next year, the next five years. And He shows you all you can handle, because He's a good Father. He knows you only give what your son or daughter can handle at that time. And that is one step. On the day when the next step is a major decision, He'll tell you then. But He won't tell you early. Now why does God give it to you in daily instructions? Why doesn't He give us the bigger picture? Well, if He told us early, we'd probably make one of two mistakes. We'd either run ahead of Him to get to it because it looks so exciting, and thereby ruin it because we're not ready for it yet, or we'd run away from it like my son saying, "Oh, that's gross, Dad!" Well, he wasn't ready for the information. We'll run away from it. But you see, by God leading us a day at a time, when we get to it, it will seem like the most natural, exciting thing. But right now we're not ready for it. If you rush it, you'll ruin it. And if He told us early we would just take the plan, fold it up under our arms and walk away. I like the old hymn that says, "We cannot see what lies before, and so we cling to Him the more." Maybe you're frustrated because you want to know the future now. But maybe you're not ready for all of that yet. Can you focus on today - God's leading for this 24 hours? His macro will for your life is made up of a thousand micro wills - a day at a time. So you stay on the path that leads to God's ultimate best, the day-at-a-time path. Let God tell you His will in bite-sized chunks. Like any good Father, He won't dump the whole load on you before you're ready. He'll keep you on His need-to-know basis.

I've never really been addicted to TV game shows. But years ago, my son got me to kind of be interested in one. It's called Jeopardy. Three contestants, given several categories ranging from U.S. presidents to cat food, and the contestant picks a dollar value question. The host gives the answer to the question in that category. Then the three contestants vie to see who can get the right question, because the right answer is the question. Understand that. Some of them do very well and they win lots of money; others just kind of fold up. I said to my son, "Look at those people! They wind up in the hole with their money! How did they get on the show?" He reminded me, "Dad, it's hard to come up with right answers when you have all that pressure on you." (OK, I stand corrected.) I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Right Answers Under Pressure." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Nehemiah 2, beginning at verse 1. Now, we all know the feeling of those Jeopardy contestants. The pressure's on, the right answer is needed. Maybe you're in a conversation with your boss, or your parents, or you're dealing with one of your children on an important key issue, or you're trying to speak to a friend about the Lord. Well, Nehemiah knew that feeling. He is the king's cup bearer as a Jewish exile in Persia. He'd heard of the shape that his city - God's city, Jerusalem - was in, and he had a burden from the Lord to go and rebuild the city of Jerusalem. He knew he would need the king's help to do that. He knew he would need time off from his royal job. And he didn't quite know how he was going to bring all this up with the most powerful man in the world who was his boss - the King of Persia. He says, "I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This could be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever!" Which is a good way to start with kings. "Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruin and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?'" Drum roll please! Man, everything hinges on this answer. Nehemiah: "Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king." From this point on the king becomes his ally in this great, historic cause. Now, this is a conversation you might say that changed the course of history, as the walls and the gates of Jerusalem do end up getting rebuilt. Maybe your issue isn't quite that cosmic, but you do need God's help for some important conversation. Here is how he displays his hand in important conversations. First, there's a divine nudge. See, Nehemiah had been praying about this situation for some time. So God said, "There's a need I want to address, and I want to address it through you, Nehemiah." See, God will put this burden on your heart; this divine nudge. Secondly, there's a natural opportunity. You'll think, "How in the world am I going to get into this conversation? How am I going to bring this up? How am I going to get started?" Listen, ask God for a natural opportunity. Nehemiah actually was asked the magic question by the king, "What is it you want?" Could you serve it up any better than that? Just ask God for an open door like that and then look for the opening when it comes. Thirdly, there is an inspired answer. Nehemiah gave a tremendous answer to the king's question, and it launched a whole change of events. The key is what Nehemiah did. "I prayed to the God of heaven and then I answered." Talk to the God of heaven before you talk to the person on earth, before you answer that call, before you answer that email, that text, before you respond, get all prayed up. And even if you're scared like Nehemiah was, go ahead to the opportunity when God opens the door. We're all playing Jeopardy and we're coming up with right answers under pressure. But it's because we have a direct pipeline to the One who has all the right answers. Hey, let God come up with your answer.

You know, I've been told so many times in my life, "Go take a hike," so I finally did. Yeah, this particular summer I was at a lovely Christian conference center in California. One day when I wasn't speaking, they had a nature hike. They had a fellow called Father Nature who took us out (you didn't know there was a Father Nature I'll bet) and he showed us the four different kinds of nature zones they had on their property. There was the river bed; the desert section, and so on. It's rather amazing from a scientific standpoint. And he showed us two kinds of trees: First, there were these beautiful White Alder trees. They grow lushly by the river and they wave their leaves. And he said they can evaporate up to 400 gallons of water a day! Now, the roots of the White Alder are very shallow apparently. They get plenty of water and therefore they have shallow roots. But when the floods come, oh boy, we've got a problem. He showed us the desert zone trees, and the ones in the desert survive on 40 gallons of water a year sometimes. How come? They use everything they get, and their roots are deep. Guess which one is still standing after a violent storm? Yep, the one with the roots. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Saturated But Not Strong." Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about those roots. Not so much the roots of trees in the desert or trees by the river bed, but God's trees - that would be you and me. Colossians 2:6-7, "So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness." Now, this describes the point of entry into a relationship with Christ. It says, "just as you received Christ." Do you remember when you opened your life to Christ and how dependent you were on Him; how hungry you were to get into His Word; how boldly and frequently you prayed; how trusting you were? Well, you see, this verse is necessary to talk to us about our roots because we have a tendency to get lazy about those spiritual roots. See, in many ways, we American Christians, are the White Alder tree that I described earlier - the one that has all that nourishment that evaporates up to 400 gallons of water a day, lives by the river bed, saturated but with weak roots. See, we're saturated, too: Christian resources. We've got Christian radio, websites, books, TV, Bible studies, seminars, conferences, and we're waving and we're celebrating. But could it be we're depending on meetings and events, and feelings, and miracles, and experiences? We've got weak roots and we are vulnerable to the storm. Now, you talk to Christians in the desert places like China, and they know where their roots are: consistent, personal Bible study every day; fervent prayer; deep roots in the church; always learning... always growing. But we get lazy here in our spiritual rain forest. It takes a heavy hit to show us that what we have is broad but not very deep, and maybe then it is too late. You know, maybe it's time now for us to see that our roots need to be growing, not just our leaves. Do you know some things about the Lord that you didn't know a month ago? Have you given Him some new ground that He didn't have a month ago? Are you praying in fresh, new ways? Are you going by the book and not by your feelings? Is your relationship with God mostly vertical... not horizontal, like just when you're with His people? Well, you could be saturated but not strong. You've got to go to your roots. Then when the storm or the drought comes, you will stand tall through it all.

We had a few days off, and the phone rang in our little cabin in the woods. A family member was calling. She said, "You need to turn on the news. A plane just crashed into the World Trade Center." I watched the news for much of the next three days. I was trying to absorb a scene that I had no mental file folder for. I don't think any of us did. I felt sickened, I felt vulnerable and profoundly sad beyond words. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "September 11th and Its Haunting Question." Radio stations began calling and asking if I would do an interview the next day to talk about what had happened. How could I help thousands of listeners process this unprecedented trauma when I was still trying to sort my own thoughts and feelings? Then I just bowed my head and prayed: "God, would You please help me see what's happening today through Your eyes? What are You seeing here?" Suddenly, I wasn't just seeing collapsing towers or a terrorist attack. This was about thousands of people unexpectedly rushing into eternity at one place and one time, ready or not. Nothing can diminish the deep grief and the horror of that defining September morning. But looming above those images and memories is a deeply personal question for each of us, "Am I personally ready for eternity whenever it comes, however it comes?" That's why the Bible tells us in our word for today from the Word of God in Amos 4:12, "prepare to meet your God." See, you and I have an appointment with God that's long been scheduled in His calendar. But it's not in mine. It will come without warning, and only one thing will matter at that moment. Listen to this from the book of 1 John in the Bible, "God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:11-12 ). All that matters in a person's eternity moment is, "What did I do with Jesus?" Because it was only Jesus who did the dying that I deserve for the lifetime of the wrong things I've done against God. If a religion could have taken care of my sin or your sin, there's no way Jesus would have been butchered on a cross like that. But He loves me too much to lose me. He loves you too much to lose you. So He died for you; He died for me. One of God's greatest blessings to us is the stunning discovery that we actually can be sure - right here and now - that we will go to heaven when we die; never have to sweat that question again. Not because of how good we are, but because of how good God is. In the words of the Bible, "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23). From the moment you take that gift, it's yours and it's yours forever. Every day in America alone, it's like there are two September 11ths, at least in terms of lives lost. Six thousand Americans go into eternity each day and 150,000 in our world. One day that will be you. One day it will be me, and we don't know when that is. To be ready for eternity, to know you're going to heaven when you die, means to know that you have had every sin of your life - the sin that would keep any of us out of heaven - it has been erased from God's Book forever. Only one person can do that; the man who paid the penalty for it. That's Jesus. He did it when He died on the cross. But He's alive - resurrected - to give you life. He walked out of His grave. He's ready to walk into your life today, if you'll just open up your heart to Him. Put your life in His hands. Let me encourage you to join me at our website, and I can explain to you there exactly how to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. There's one final heartbeat, and then God, ready or not. It's life-or-death stuff to make sure you are ready for eternity.

Okay, for all too many of us the words diet and failure are synonyms. I guess that's why Weight Watchers was born and others like it. There were a lot of people who have never lost weight, or at least been able to keep it off, and suddenly the word diet became synonymous with success. What's the difference? Well, part of it is this. I guess once a week with Weight Watchers you get together with a group of people who are in this with you. If you lose, you lose in front of all of them. Yeah, and if you've gained, you've gained in front of all of them. I don't think they do that. You see, there's something about that... let's call it "with-ness" that makes it easier to get where you want to be. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Commitment Insurance." Now, our word for today from the Word of God is found in Acts 2. Listen for the key word that describes these powerful, first Christians. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. All the believers were together and had everything in common, selling their possessions and goods; they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people." Now, listen to the power they had. "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Now you probably noticed the word that was repeated three times. It's the word "together." They were growing, serving, praying together, and it was powerful. Apparently it was magnetic! I believe the early Christians had learned the power of accountability... just like that Weight Watchers plan; people who are keeping me true to my commitment, cheering for my success, and caring when I fail. Except the issues here are much larger than weight could ever be; the issue is like will I keep the commitments I have made to my Lord, about getting into His Word, about conquering that enslaving sin? I want to beat it. The commitments I've made about reaching my friends, about praying more consistently and aggressively, about getting serious regarding sexual purity. What we need is commitment insurance. And accountability is commitment insurance. It could well be that right now you need to surround yourself with some people who will help you stay on course, who care if you do, and who will pray for you, who will pull you back to your commitment if you get very far astray. There is tremendous power in an accountability group. Maybe you've tried to do it alone in a corner before and you know it hasn't worked. Well, today is a call to do it together. In the words of Ecclesiastes, "Two are better than one. If one falls down, the other can help him up. If one can be overpowered, two can prevail." Look, it's just too easy to make a commitment and then just kind of drift off quietly, but not if you've got some "with" persons. It should probably be some peers of yours who are your "with" persons. And then there should be one person who's not a peer; who's a spiritual leader. And you tell them your commitments and you say, "Help me stay true to these." Box yourself in; put yourself on the line for your commitments to Christ - the ones you really do want to keep in your heart. If you're tired of the ups and downs of spiritual inconsistency, you're hungry for a Christian lifestyle instead of just Christian binges, well take out some commitment insurance; some brothers or sisters who will help you weigh in regularly.

This is probably going to take a little imagination; maybe a lot of imagination. Let's say you go to buy a new car and you're going to pay in cash. So, let's make up a number - $30,000 in cash. Now, the dealer stamps the invoice Paid In Full. He says it will be here in two weeks. You show up all excited about getting your new car and you say, "Here I am. Remember me?" He says, "Oh yeah! Sure!" And he gives you this gift-wrapped box, shakes your hand and walks away. You go, "Whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" He says, "No, open the box, I think you're going to like it." So you open it up and here's a new steering wheel, a new carburetor, and a new hub cap. You go, "Hey, wait, Buddy! These are just spare parts! I paid the full price! I should get the full product." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "'Spare Parts' Faith." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Revelation 5. I think in many ways this is one of the most incredible chapters in the Bible. It pulls the curtain on heaven in John's vision and it reveals Christ in all His majesty as we seldom see Him in the Bible. This is not the Jesus of Bethlehem or the cross. This is Jesus as He is now; as we're going to meet Him one day. In this vision there are 24 elders who represent the church - us believers. And in the middle of their praise and their amazement they say this to Jesus Christ in Revelation 5:9-10, "And they sang a new song. You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals because You were slain and with Your blood You purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God. And they will reign on the earth." Man, in heaven they're celebrating nonstop the inconceivable price the Son of God paid for you and me, which brings us to that box of spare parts. How much of you have you given to this One who gave everything for you? This says that Jesus purchased men for God with His blood. A lot of us tend to divide our lives into compartments, and we've got a nice Jesus compartment. In that compartment we've got our Bible reading, our prayer, our church, our ministry work. And then there's all those other compartments; how we treat our family, how we treat our coworkers, here's what we do for fun, there's our music over there, here's our recreation, here's the websites we go to. And then there's the compartment for our business, our career, the sexuality of our life, our friends. Those are the things that really matter to us. When we heard the knock of Jesus on our heart, we said, "Come into my life, Lord." And maybe we gave Him a compartment. In essence, we brought Him a gift-wrapped box filled with spare parts; the things that didn't matter all that much to us. But this is Jesus. This is the King of kings. He's expecting to get what He paid so much for. Could it be Jesus is coming to you where you are right now and He's saying, "Please don't give Me the parts of your life you don't need anyway. I paid the whole price for you. I should get the whole product." He could have stopped in the garden when He wanted to, but He didn't. He could have stopped when they were torturing Him, but He didn't. He could have stopped when He was agonizing on that cross, but He went ahead and paid your death penalty instead. The old hymn writer said, "He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free. But He died alone for you and me." Remember, you are very expensive. God's one and only Son paid for you with His life. By the way, have you ever embraced this man as your only hope of a relationship with God, of having your sins forgiven, of going to heaven? If you've never done that, you know one day God's going to ask you, "What did you do with My Son who died for you?" You need to be able to say, "I gave Him me." If you never have, well I'd love to introduce you to Him and show you how that could begin. Would you go to our website today - ANewStory.com. Give Jesus what He paid for. And that's all of you. He sure deserves more than your spare parts.

As a kid, I often rode my bike up to the old theater on 79th Street for the Saturday afternoon flick. But this day was different. They handed me this strange-looking pair of glasses made of cardboard with tinted plastic lenses. Those goofy-looking glasses opened up a whole new world where the events in a movie no longer just stayed flat on the screen. They leaped off the screen and right into my face. Hello, 3-D! I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "What You Can See With Eternity Eyes." Looking through three-dimensional glasses, we saw things we could never see without them. When Jesus summons someone to follow Him and be a part of what He's doing, He wants to outfit them with a new pair of spiritual glasses. Not 3-D glasses, no - 4-D glasses. They give you the ability to see a fourth dimension in the people around you, to see what Jesus sees, to see the lostness beneath what's on the surface of the people in your world. Looking through the eyes of Jesus, you see things you could never see without them. Like the "eternalness," the lostness of your co-workers, your fellow students, your neighbors, your teammates, the folks at the club, your friends at school, family members. You're driven to action to reach them for Jesus because now you see them as they really are - precious creations of God, but headed for an awful eternity without Him. In our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 24:11-12, God describes the real condition of people around us, no matter how religious, or how together, or how nice they seem to be. He calls to you and me, "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, 'But we knew nothing about this,' does not He who weighs the heart perceive it?... Will He not repay each person according to what He has done?" Jesus came here on a mission to rescue spiritually dying people and now He's expecting you and me to join that mission, to be a rescuer for the people within your reach. But you'll just sit passively soaking up the blessings until you see the people around you as Jesus does. My friend Mike is a pastor. He was in his study the other day and his six-year-old daughter came in and she began to study the chart of end-times events that he has on his wall. The end of the chart shows one group of people going up to eternal life and another group of people going down to eternal punishment. Suddenly she blurted, "Daddy, look!" My friend said, "At what?" and he was shaken by her answer. "Daddy, can't you see all those people going to hell?" Mike said he hadn't seen all those people going to hell for a long time until his daughter helped him put on Jesus' glasses. Maybe you haven't seen them either and they're all around you. God describes the people you know who don't belong to Jesus with words like these out of the Bible: they are "being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11)... they are "separated from God" (Isaiah 59:2)... they are "lost" (Luke 19:10)... they are, the Bible says, "condemned already"... they will be "punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). This isn't just some theological concept. This is someone you know, people Jesus died for so they could be rescued from all this; people who may never know Jesus unless you introduce them to Him. He has divinely positioned you in their life to be their rescuer, to be their chance at Jesus, to be their chance at heaven. Once you see what Jesus sees, you'll rescue the dying whatever it takes and whatever it costs! And you'll look in the mirror and say, "I am someone's chance."

We met this couple at a conference we were attending. They were telling us about how just the day before, a storm had blown in across the lake while they were down at the beach. All of a sudden they noticed all these Monarch butterflies that were unable to go against that wind. They'd been blown right onto the beach and right into the sand. So, there were stranded Monarch butterflies all over the beach. Their wings became coated with the sand. They were literally grounded. The lady tried to help them, but she didn't want to hold them. So she tried to balance them on a stick. And she hoped they would hold on while she cleaned their wings, but they were too weighed down with sand and they just fell off. Well, the man of the family kind of let them come up on his fingers, and he picked them up one by one and he just used his finger to gently clean the sand off these Monarchs. You know what? One by one they were able to fly again. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How You Can Fly Again." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Psalm 51 where King David is in recovery. Not from an operation or an illness, but from a terrible moral failure; his sin of adultery. Psalm 51:1 - "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash away all my iniquities and cleanse me from my sins." Later on in verse 10 he says, "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit to sustain me. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will turn back to you." I think David must have felt like one of those butterflies on the beach - he's grounded. His security is gone. He's saying, "Give me back a steadfast spirit." His sense of God's presence seems to be gone. He says, "Don't cast me from your presence." His joy is gone. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation." He wants to reach out. He says, "I want to teach transgressors your ways." But he feels unworthy to do it. And the sand and dirt of sin have grounded him. Sin never advertises it's going to do this to you; this bill you're going to get. But the bill always comes. And you might know some of these feelings right now. Most of us do one time or another. Some people might be like that lady on the beach. You know, they'd like to help us get it back together, but they don't want to get too close. And then there's Jesus. He wants to pick you up out of the sand that you're stuck in, and if you've repented of that sin; if you've told Him you're so sorry for it and that you won't do it again, He's heard your cry and He is ready, willing and able to pick you up out of the sand. But before He could pick up your wings, He laid down His life. 1 Peter 2:24 says, "He carried our sins in His own body on the tree." That means that David had been forgiven; but he had to be restored. And that's what your Savior wants to do for you. If you surrender that part of you each day to Him, open up all the scars and the feelings to Him. And then make it right with anyone who maybe got wounded by that sin. Then you choose to believe His promise of forgiveness rather than your feelings of condemnation. What great news! Romans 8:1, "There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Listen, the sooner you open up to Him, the sooner this healing can begin. Why don't you tell Him, "Lord, I've sinned. I know I've hurt You. I don't deserve your forgiveness. I'm thankful you don't work on the business of deserve. I'm grounded because of the weight of what I've done. Clean me up and help me fly again." If you've never been to the cross in your heart to have that lifetime of sin forgiven; the place where Jesus paid for it all, tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on you." We'd love to help you do that. Go to our website today. It's ANewStory.com. He'll pick you up. He'll hold you close. He'll gently restore your beauty, your buoyancy. Sin takes its toll. It will leave scars, but with Jesus, failure is never final. You can fly again!

Now, the problem with professional football games is they keep slowing down for huddles and time outs; especially those commercials. I'll tell you when they don't slow down. It's near the end of the game where your team is behind, and with two minutes left, a team often skips the huddle, all the delays, and they just go right from one play to the next. They forget the game plan; there's two minutes left. They go for broke! Now, this is called the "hurry-up offense," and that's pretty literally named. Skip the huddle, skip all the game plan; let's win this game - do whatever it takes. You play differently when there isn't much time...or you should. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "End Times Praying End Times Loving." Which brings us to our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Peter 4, beginning with verse 7, where he talks about "the end of all things is at hand." Now, all of us are living in a world that seems to be winding down, or maybe winding up to Christ's return. It's obvious even to unbelievers that we seem to be moving to some kind of dramatic climax. It's all bubbling up into something. And if you've read the final chapters of the Bible, you know what that climax is. So, how should we be playing in light of this what might be a two-minute warning from God so to speak? Well, there are two areas that are supposed to be affected the most: How we pray, because verse 7 in 1 Peter 4, talks about being clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. OK, the first area is we ought to be praying differently - open-mindedly, ready for whatever God might say to us in these urgent times. So, don't be surprised if God says to do something outside of your box. The second area that is affected is how we treat each other. Listen to this, coming off that statement, "the end of all things is near." It says, "Above all..." (okay, that's important) "...Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins." I love that phrase. It seems to be summed up in these two words, "covering love." Urgent times - times when you see climactic events taking place. Those are times in which our relationships should be described by those two words, "covering love." Love covers all kinds of wrongs that might be done to you. What's the opposite? Is it hate? Is it indifference? Well, let's call it un-love... if I'm giving you anything less than love, it's un-love. You know what it does? It uncovers every wrong that's done to you; it keeps score. "If I don't love you, I will maintain a list of grievances I'll never forget. But these are urgent times. There's no time to dissect every misunderstanding, every harsh word, every miscommunication, every hurt feeling. In sports they say, "Shake it off" when you get hurt. That's what you do with end-times loving. You "shake it off" if you've been hurt by somebody. You choose to move on. This isn't some passive little tame love. It's active loving, active forgiving. Actually it's the word in the Greek stretched out. That's what "love each other deeply" means. It's like a fully extended runner. It's fully extended love. That's the kind of offense that is worthy of the time that's on the clock. You pray ready for anything God might say, and you love ready to forgive anything, and to give anything. I think we may have heard God's two-minute warning. It's time for God's hurry-up offense. Hey, it's time to go for broke.

He was five years old, and his mommy wasn't feeling well. So she was taking a nap. His little two-year-old sister wanted an ice cream cone, so he did what Mommy would do. Yeah. He picked up the car keys Mommy had left on the kitchen table, took his little sister out to the car, put her in the back seat, turned on the car and somehow started driving (this is a true story). Then Mr. Five-Year-Old pulled out into the main thoroughfare at the corner. Thankfully, a police officer saw the car going by apparently without a driver from what he could see. That got his attention! He pursued the mystery car and managed to get the driver to pull over. Needless to say, there was one shocked policeman when he opened the door and saw a little boy at the wheel. I'd say it's a pretty good thing he stopped him. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Meant to Drive." That little guy was never meant to drive. Just like you and me - our life I mean. The One who gave you your life, that's the one who's supposed to be driving your life. In the words of the Bible, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). There's a fundamental reason that we continue to wonder what the purpose of our life is and why it doesn't have the meaning we want it to have; a fundamental reason that no relationship, no accomplishment or experience, or even religion has filled the hole in our heart. It's the reason we continue to end up feeling lonely and lost. We insist on driving our life when God is supposed to. In our word for today from the Word of God, Isaiah 53:6, the Bible says: "We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way." The result is described a little later in a subsequent chapter: "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). Here we are, cruising down the road without the One we were made by and made for. That explains so much of our frustration, and our hurt, and even the times we've crashed - all because we are obsessed with doing the driving. You may be, by nature, a self-reliant person. And that could be good. You've had to figure out things on your own. And maybe you've done a pretty good job of it. Then God comes along and says, "If you want your life to work, if you want to have a relationship with Me, you have to let go of the wheel." You'll go to some of God's meetings, you believe God's beliefs, maybe even contribute to some of God's causes, but you're not about to let go of the wheel. In the same verses that talk about us going our own way, God goes on to say, "The Lord has laid on Him (that's God's Son, Jesus) the iniquity (or the wrong doing) of us all... the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him." Jesus actually went to a cross to absorb all the guilt of all our wrong doing so we could be forgiven, so we could be reunited with the God who made us; so we could make it into His heaven when we die. If there was something you or I could do to make it with God, there's no way He would have sent His Son to go through what He did when He died for us. It was the only way. It's your only way. But you have to let go of the wheel. You and I are dying spiritually, and Jesus is the Rescuer who's come to save us. You'll have to abandon trusting in yourself to let go and trust the Man who died and rose again for you. If you insist on hanging onto the wheel of your life, you will ultimately drive it over the cliff of an eternity away from God. And if you've got a family or people who follow you, you may even take others with you. Today, the God who made you, the God who gave His Son for you, is saying to you, "Let go of the wheel so I can take your life where I meant for it to go." The release of that wheel will result in the greatest peace you've ever experienced, because the One who was supposed to drive will finally be driving. Man, I would love for you to begin this life-changing relationship with Him. If you want that, go to our website and find there the information that will help you get this settled. It's ANewStory.com. The greatest tragedy in life would be if you go into eternity with your hands still stubbornly hanging onto the wheel. Because only Jesus can drive you where you want to end up.

Now if you've ever been a football widow, you understand how long those games seem to take. "I want my husband back. When is this thing going to be over?" Of course the commercials help it feel a lot longer, but you might ask yourself, "Well, what about all those huddles? I mean what a waste of time! Do they have to do that? There's a game to win. These guys are stopping after every play to get their heads together." Well, of course, it's not a waste of time at all. If they try to play without that regular huddle, they're going to all go off in all kinds of directions, all kinds of confusion. Oh, by the way, and so will we. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Huddle, Big Muddle." Our word for today from the Word of God is in Luke 10; we're beginning in verse 38. "As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, they came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to them. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet, listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you're worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'" Okay, here's a brief description of what we just saw here: Mary, in the huddle, and Martha in a muddle. That would be my title for this passage today. Martha made a choice that I've made many times, and maybe you have too. Usually to my frustration and chagrin, "I've got so much to do! I just don't have time to sit down and be with Jesus right now!" That's where she was. She didn't have time for the huddle. Mary's over there in the huddle. Martha says, "That's a waste of time when there's so much to do. I've got to get all this done." Well, as you probably learned, it's because you have so much to do that you must meet with Jesus. That huddle with Him? That's what, as the kids would say, "gets your head together." As you spend quiet time in that huddle before you head into that overpowering schedule, you take a few moments to see your work as it looks through Jesus' eyes. You see the people in your world that are going to be pressing on you, and you see them through His eyes then. You begin to see what He sees, and they look different. You get some perspective. Often you'll even get a fresh idea in His presence as you listen to Him. That's happened to me so many times. And suddenly, something that was a log jam mentally becomes a breakthrough in His presence. Most importantly, you remember during those moments how powerful He is. How much bigger Jesus is than the list you face - than the pressure you face. And you remember how much He loves you. In those moments you find yourself off-loading your work to Him. And the result is a wonderful peace, a poise, a confidence that makes your work much less intimidating and much more manageable. Hey, maybe you've been running plays with no huddle in-between, thinking you don't have time for the huddle. It now needs to become a non-negotiable in your schedule. See, when you don't have the huddle, it would be like a football team not having one - stressed, confusion, broken plays. So, commit yourself to a regular scheduled huddle time with your Jesus, and make it the highest priority of your personal schedule with everything else revolving around your time with Him. Because remember, no huddle - big muddle.

I've lived in the city; I've lived in the country. And when I live in the country... there are a lot more farm animals, so I learn a lot. I've actually learned a lot about donkeys. It's kind of fun to hear their braying. I mean there's no other animal that sounds quite like a donkey. Now, the ones that I knew best, the gray one and the brown one, but they both have the same marking on their back. It's one long dark line along their spine and then there's a shorter dark line across their shoulders. It actually makes a cross. One old farmer told my wife that all donkeys have that cross, and that they have it because a donkey carried Jesus to His birth and on Palm Sunday. I don't know the reason, but there's no doubt that many donkeys carry the cross on their backs. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and want to have A Word With You today about "A Donkey Lesson In Humility." I have to tell you something, I saw myself when I looked at those donkeys. No, I don't have the ears. I don't bray. But in a lot of ways, I am sort of a donkey who carries the cross of Jesus. Jesus' great ambassador, Paul, knew that the message of the cross - the one that he carried everywhere he went - was all he really had to offer. In our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:14, he simply says, "May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Oh, Paul had a list of Christian accomplishments that would dwarf anything any of us could be proud of. But he knew who he was. In his own words, "less than the least of all the Lord's people" (Ephesians 3:8). Then He said, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the worst" (1 Timothy 1:15). Several years ago I was surprised at a large Christian event by the presentation of a wonderful award. In fact, I was almost in shock as I went up to accept the award. They wanted me to say something. Believe it or not, for once in my life, I literally did not know what I would say. And this verse, King James style, was all I could think of, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Look, I'm nothing without the cross. Paul was nothing without the cross. You are nothing without the cross. This isn't a matter of putting yourself down and insulting God by saying He created someone worthless. We are "His workmanship" the Bible says (Ephesians 2:10). But without the cross, we're stranded in an orbit away from the One who gave us our worth, and the death of Jesus on that brutal cross is the only way to connect with our Creator. If you've drifted into promoting yourself these days, if you've been trying to get attention or recognition or advancement for you, how about going out of the self-promoting business? God has you here to promote Jesus and to promote His cross. God doesn't really need you or me, but when we pick up our cross to follow Jesus, He appoints us to His service. And He gives us a simple mission. In a sense, the one He's given those donkeys, "Carry My cross wherever you go!" Are you? Your mission is to take as many people as you can by the hand and lead them up Skull Hill to the foot of Jesus' cross where you show them how much this Jesus loves them. Anyone who knows you for very long should be guided by you to the cross. I just pray you won't be ashamed of the cross of Jesus. Aren't you thankful that He wasn't ashamed of you when He died for you on a cross?

I'll bet you remember these familiar words, "I think I can. I think I can. I think I can. I think I can." Sure you do. Well, I hope you do, or else you had a deprived childhood. Because most of us grew up on those words. It's that little book, The Little Engine That Could. I think Fred Flintstone must have read it to his kids. I mean it's that old. Remember, the little engine tries to make it up to the top of the mountain, with this train load of toys. It's a mountain no other train was able to navigate. And as he gets near the top, he says, "I think I can. I think I can (puff, puff, chug, chug)." Oh, I've read it so many times to my kids and my grandkids. Well, as you remember, of course, he makes it to the top of the mountain. It's a great book. It's got a great philosophy of life. It's a great confidence builder. But maybe right now you've hit a mountain that you really can't climb. Maybe you need to read that book again - or I've got an idea. How about a much better book. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Brink of 'I Think I Can't.'" Now, about that mountain that you're having a hard time getting to the top of. And I'll tell you, I know what it is to chug up mine and not be making it. Maybe you're there. There's just too much right now. Maybe it's one of those Morton salt times - they're the ones who have the commercial "when it rains it pours." It's gotten worse before it got better. It could be you're just too tired, you're too depleted. Maybe you have in front of you a responsibility or even a ministry that looks... well, just too big for you. And you are living on the brink of "I think I can't." Well, if it's any comfort to you, someone as strong as the great Apostle Paul was there. He recorded it in 2 Corinthians 1:8. He talks about pressure in his life. He says, "We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life." Paul literally, he's on the brink of "I think I can't." He talks about the responsibilities of his ministry. In chapter 2, verse 16, he says, "Who is equal to such a task?" He's just barely hanging on... maybe just like you. And then all of a sudden in chapter 3, verse 4, he talks about "such confidence is ours through Christ before God." Wait a minute! Where did this confidence come from? I thought you couldn't make it up the mountain, Paul. Well, our secret is our word for today from the Word of God from 2 Corinthians 3:5. He says this, "Our competence comes from God. Not that we are confident in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, He has made us competent." Now, there's a re-appearing Greek word here that means "adequate," "qualified for," "worthy," "large enough." It's the word that John the Baptist used when he said, "I'm not worthy... " I don't deserve to untie Jesus' sandals. Paul said, "I don't deserve to be an apostle," but now he's confident. Well, if you feel you're not adequate, you're right. If you feel like you don't deserve the position you have, right again. If you feel like you can't handle what you've got, you're right. God lets us get to those overload points so He can show us what we can't do and what He can do. The simple fact is whatever the gap between your strength and your challenge, God makes up the difference. He has made us competent. So, my friend, draw deeply on His strength. Be honest about how desperate you are. And then proceed as if God will get you to the top of the mountain. Because He will, if you are at the brink of "I think I can't." Because then, you're at the brink of God's miraculous enabling.

Raising children! You know, it's not easy to know what's best for those little lives that God entrusts to us is it? A lot of times we don't know until years later if we did too much or not enough, or just the right amount. We have choices to make about discipline, medical treatment, and education. We've got to decide where the boundaries are going to be; what happens if they go out-of-bounds. Some choices actually make the difference between life and death. It was exactly that for a couple who had Siamese twins. The girls were joined at the chest. They shared a common heart. The doctor said there was no way they both could live, but if they were separated, one would certainly die, but the other one had a chance of living. Those parents were faced with a choice for which there was no textbook. They had to decide whether they would let one die so the other child could live. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Expensive Choice." Our word for today from the Word of God - Romans 8:32. Here's what it says: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" This is the most expensive choice God the Father ever had to make. The most expensive choice ever made in the history of this planet. Someone had to die for your sins and for mine or we would. According to Romans 6:23, "The wages of sin is death." There is a death penalty for our sin, and it can only be paid one way; somebody's got to die. God loved us so much He sent His one and only Son to be your substitute and mine. But then came that heart-wrenching moment for a Father; that moment when the Son of God is on the cross. He actually carried all the guilt and all the hell of all my sin and your sin. If I were God, I think my fist would have come crashing down on that hill and said, "You can't do this to my Son!" There God is faced with that awful choice, "Who would die for your sins?" Look, I deserve to; you deserve to. Only one could live, and He chose you. That's why Jesus cried, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" God looked at His Son carrying all of my sins, all of your sins, and He turned His back on His Son so He would never have to turn His back on you. And that is what makes it so tragic and so unforgivable when you ignore that love. We try to make it to God with our pitiful good works; our religion. If that could do it, He never would have sacrificed His Son for our sins. So today, you and I stand confronted with this question, "What will you do with Jesus?" God's most expensive choice was to turn His back on His Son. Your most expensive choice will be if you turn your back on His Son. Because there goes forgiveness, there goes a relationship with God, there goes eternal life, there goes heaven. So, what will you do right now? Isn't it time you say to this God who paid this price, "Oh, God, thank You. I am so grateful You chose to have Your Son die so I can live. I am Yours." This is the price God paid so you could have a relationship with Him. Don't wait another day. Don't risk missing this relationship with God. It's time to open your heart to Him. Nobody loves you more. Are you ready to make that choice? You ready to open your heart to Jesus? I'd love to help you get this settled today, now. That's what our website's all about. Just go there - ANewStory.com. Please go there today. God made His most expensive choice at the cross when His Son died for you. You are now making your most important choice to give yourself to Him and to live.

Hey, I really like Florida. It's a great place, but I'll probably never live there. I enjoy going there, but my problem is I'm a four-seasons freak. I grew up with the four seasons. I enjoy the changes of season. I think I would miss that a lot. Of course, I grew up in the north and I probably got used to it. But, you know, it's kind of neat when the fall colors come in, and then a hundred bags of leaves that we used to take out of our yard every fall. And then when the fall changes to winter, and there's a whole new set of sports and activities and fun, and festivities. It goes a little long in some places; I could stand to cut a month or two off of that one. And then, all of a sudden you're driving along one day and you'll see this burst of yellow. When we lived in New Jersey it was the forsythia. Where we live now, you see the daffodils coming out... these beautiful flowers are exploding in color! It's spring; it feels so good to be warm again. And then you head into all the fun of summer and the relaxation and the things you can only do there. And, you know, you don't have to wear all those coats. Each season has its unique lifestyle, wardrobe, and equipment. There's sort of a cycle of putting away your boots, your coats, and your skis. And then you get out your shorts, and your lawn chairs, and your beach umbrella. Then you put them away and you get out your boots, your coats... Well, you know how all that goes. Well, God seems to be into seasons too. After all, He thought them up. Actually, it doesn't matter if you live at the North Pole or the Equator; you live in God's changing seasons, and your life? It's probably in one right now. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You about "How to Act When Your Seasons Change." God's people seem to live in three seasons. The reason I can tell that is I've been studying them in the book of Exodus, and that's where we're going to find our word for today from the Word of God. Now, as the children of Israel left Egypt and came to the Red Sea, and then after the Red Sea parted, and they went on through toward the Promised Land, it's evident in three kinds of water they found, that they lived in three seasons. And their seasons are the same as yours or mine. In fact, at any given point in your life, it's very possible you're in one of these three. That means right now you are. And each one, just like the meteorological seasons, has an appropriate way for you to live. Three waters that God's people encountered and they still do, and they represent a season and a way to live. In Exodus 14, for example, here's the first kind of water. They are up to the Red Sea. "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them." It says, "Moses answered the people 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians (and I love this) you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still.'" The first season is the season of barrier waters. Have you ever been there? There's the Red Sea ahead of you. There's nowhere to go. The chariots are coming at you; there's no exit. It's impossible. Well God's instructions during that period of time - that season - are to stay where you are and pray. God parts the waters. That's His job. You know what you do? You leave it to Him. You wait for Him to act. Then they went on. In Exodus 15 it says, "They came to Marah where they could not drink the water because it was bitter, until Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord showed him a piece of wood which he threw in the water and the water became sweet." OK, now there are the bitter waters. You've got the barrier waters, and God parts those; you leave that to Him. And then when you hit bitter waters, God sweetens the bitter water seasons in your life. Your job is to look for the sweetener. What can you throw into that situation that would sweeten it? And then finally it says, "They came to Elim and there were 12 springs and 79 palm trees." That's the bubbling waters. Maybe you're in that season now. God surprises us with bubbling waters. And you know what your job is? You soak it up; you store it up. You won't stay in any one season though. God will keep changing them. In a barrier time, you wait for Him to act supernaturally. In a bitter time, you seek the sweetener. In a bubbling time, you enjoy it. They're all designed to teach us to depend on Him. And you can be sure the seasons will change, but your Savior will not.

The real Noah stirred things up when he was here. Guess what? He did it again a few years ago. Yeah, on the big screen they did a Noah movie Noah and his ark. Yeah, the movie version; it had a big launch when it came out. And actually Captain Noah proved that he still has the ability to be controversial. Except this time, it was mostly among Bible people. There were some people objecting to all that the movie adds and subtracts from the original account. And then others expressed hope that it would interest some un-Bible people in the real Story. And, in fact, that is what happened. There was a sudden spike in Bible reading and Bible websites. That's a good thing. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Ready or Not, Here He Comes." What is interesting is that thousands of years later, Jesus was talking about Noah. And He actually was suggesting that when people are thinking about Noah, they should be looking for Jesus to come. Here's what He said in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Luke 17:26-27. "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man." So what we've got here is Jesus establishing this linkage between Noah and the time Jesus is going to come back to earth. That's worth thinking about. Jesus used the story of Noah as a picture of what the world would look like on the eve of the climactic event of all human history - His return. When He said, "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). Bottom line? The world isn't done with Jesus Christ. Jesus is our future. Actually, Jesus is your future. See, He will come to a world that, basically using the Noah example that He did, will be busy ignoring Him; too busy to have time for Him, living for their appetites, caught up in the gerbil wheel of their lives, spinning and spinning, doing whatever they feel like and oblivious to the flood of God's judgment that's coming. But at the same time, there will be an ark where they can be rescued. His name is Jesus. But see, nobody took Noah seriously. Nobody took his message seriously, so none of them were in the ark. So Jesus is going to write the final chapter of human history. It won't be some president or prime minister or powerful nation. No, it will be Jesus. By the way, Jesus will write the final chapter of your personal history. See, the Bible says, "How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?" Salvation? That's a rescue word isn't it? Well, Jesus came here to pay the price for the sin that carries an awful death penalty. I was on death row spiritually, except for the fact that Jesus came and became my substitute for my penalty for my sin when He died on the cross. Then He walked out of His grave to prove that if I would let Him walk into my life He would give me the eternal life that only He has demonstrated He has on that first Easter morning. He said one thing about His return. He said, "You must be ready" (Matthew 24:44). I wonder, are you? Are you ready to meet Him, either when He comes back or when your last breath is taken? Because the Bible says, "It is appointed to man to die once, and after this the judgment." But see, that's the judgment that Jesus took on the cross; the judgment that you can have canceled by your decision this day to pin all your hopes on Jesus. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours." Have you ever done that? I'd love to help you do it. Our website is there for that express purpose. I invite you to go to ANewStory.com right away today. Let's get this settled. See, Jesus isn't just the future of this world. He's my future. He's your future. Be ready.