of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
"Something
Beautiful From Something Ugly"
II Corinthians 1:3-4
Not long ago, we went on a guided tour of this large cave near us.
You walk through these winding and really narrow passageways, admiring the
wonders that God has created from stalagmites, stalactites, and underground rivers.
Now we entered this one large chamber, the guide turned on the
light and directed our eyes to this high vaulted ceiling. You can probably guess
what animals we saw hanging out up there - bats, lots of bats. The
guide told us that the early explorers of this cave had found large quantities of what she
called "bat guano." If you don't know what that is,
never mind. It's gross, that's what it is. But they made lots of money selling
that stuff. I thought, "What good could bat dung possibly
be?" Surprise - they make gunpowder out of it! And even more
surprisingly, they can turn that gross stuff into makeup, they said - like
mascara and lipstick! Makes me think twice about kissing my wife.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Something Beautiful From Something Ugly."
It's amazing how people can turn something seemingly useless and ugly
into something useful and even beautiful. It's much more amazing how God does
that with our lives! In fact, He's wanting to do that for you - to make something
beautiful and useful of the ugliest things that have happened in
your life. And only He can.
One way He does that is described in our word for today from the Word
of God in 2 Corinthians 1:3-4. "The Father of compassion and the God of all
comfort . . . comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble
with the comfort we ourselves have received from God." I
don't know what kind of "troubles" you've been through - it could be anything
from sickness, to abuse, to addiction, to grief - but whatever the
trouble, I know it's made you need the Lord more than ever before. And so you
experienced His compassion, His comfort, His strength, and His support
in deeply personal ways.
Now, in a sense, God wants you to be for other hurting people what He
has been for you. That's how He takes the worst things that ever happened to
you and makes them into something beautiful. Scott was listening to my youth
broadcast one night when he was desperately lonely - desperate enough
to be considering suicide. Instead, he gave his life to Christ that night.
Later, he told me that he decided to have a ministry to people like
himself for the rest of his life - he knew how to help lonely people because he had been
lonely.
Jane was sexually abused by two different family members. When
she brought that awful garbage to Jesus, He began to give her a ministry to
abused girls and she has helped a lot of them. Her history of abuse became her strange
credentials for caring for abuse victims. My friend Don has
had a tremendous ministry to young people that others would call rejects. He's so
tender and compassionate toward them. You know why? He
says it because he remembers the hurt he experienced as an illegitimate child in a
terribly dysfunctional home. God has recycled his wounds into a
life-changing compassion.
God wants to do that for you - if you'll bring Him all that pain, all
those wounds, all those memories. He wants to take all that ugly stuff -
stuff that looks like its useless - and He wants to turn into something very beautiful - a
tender, compassionate, helping heart in you. Because of
what Christ can do with the waste of our lives, the ones who have been hurt the most turn
out to be some of the greatest healers in the world.
"Shields Up!"
you know this is a fave of mine, the Star Trek fan that I am!!!
There are few TV series that have become more a
part of the culture than the one that portrays the voyage of the Starship Enterprise -
yep, Star
Trek. The original show has spawned two or three other series and several major
movies. So, many people know about the transporter which beams your
molecules up and down to another location or the weapon the Trekkies call a phaser.
And maybe you remember the command the captain gives whenever the
Enterprise is coming under fire ... it's the directive that activates the invisible
protection around their ship - "Shields up!"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Shields Up!"
If you are trying to make any kind of difference for Jesus Christ, you
know what it is to come under enemy fire. After all, "your enemy the devil
prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour." (I Peter
5:8) And that warning is in a passage addressed to spiritual
activists. It's followed by this command - "Resist him." Shields up!
There's a time when we are particularly vulnerable to our enemy's
attack - the time when we are most likely to have our shields down. Strangely
enough, we are often most vulnerable immediately after God has done something powerful for
us or through us. Think about Elijah - when was he
suddenly so depressed he didn't even want to live anymore? Immediately after he
challenged and defeated 450 false prophets in that
fire-from-heaven showdown.
How about Moses? He's just met Jehovah on the mountain, and he's
received the laws of God from God's own mouth. And he comes down from the mountain
to his people and they're worshipping the golden calf. Or think about Jesus.
When does Satan come in and blast Him with relentless temptations -
right after Jesus' greatest spiritual moment, His baptism when Heaven came down on
Him. The disciples came down from seeing Heaven on a mountain with
Jesus, only to be confronted with the devil at the bottom of the mountain - in the form of
a demon-possessed boy.
One reason we're so vulnerable to Satan's attacks after a spiritual
victory is this: We go into the battle with our shields up, spiritually
alert, deeply dependent on God. But when the battle's over and we've won, we tend to
lower our guard. We felt our need for the Lord going in - we
forget how much we need Him coming out. So the devil is all over us after the
victory. He knows we're too close to God during the battle itself - so
he waits until the battle is over and we're spiritually relaxed.
That's when he hits you with that temptation ... that discouragement
... that depression ... that problem at home or at work ... that conflict ...
those doubts. Sound familiar? You may be in the middle of that kind of attack
right now. If it was during the big battle, you would instinctively
know it was Satan and you'd fight back with everything you've got. But because it
comes after the battle, you don't use your spiritual
weapons. You tend to fight it as "flesh and blood" instead of "the
spiritual forces of evil." (Ephesians 6:12) And you lose a battle you
should be winning.
So, I love our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 52:12 -
"The Lord will go before you, the God of Israel will be your rear guard."
God
promises not only to look out for you as you're going into the battle, but also to be your
"rear guard" after the battle. So when God has worked
mightily, when God has used you significantly, don't get spiritually careless. That's the
time to give yourself that all-important order - "Shields
up!"
"Grabbing What's Quick, Missing What's Better."
If anybody ever tells you that travel is glamorous, would you have them
talk to me, or anybody who flies a lot? The other day I had one of those
glamorous days, chasing through airports to make connections because of delayed flights.
And since you don't see many meals on airplanes these
days, you have to grab what you can. In this particular airport, I had a few extra
minutes for a meal, but, not knowing if there would be any other
options between where I was and my gate, I grabbed the first thing in sight. Which
happened to be the gourmet treat known as a hot dog. It
wasn't even that great of a hot dog. But what was especially aggravating was what I
saw after I wolfed that hot dog - within two minutes I walked by
two or three places where I could have had a real meal! But no - I couldn't wait.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Grabbing What's Quick, Missing What's Better."
My mistake that day at the airport was very simple - and very easily
avoided. I went for what I could have at the moment and I missed
something a lot better. But that's a pretty common mistake. Especially when it
comes to love. And especially when it comes to sex.
In our word for today from the Word of God, a man named Esau makes that
tragic mistake of trading what he can have now for something much better he
could have had later. The issue was something the Jews called the birthright - the
legal privileges of the firstborn son for a double
inheritance and other great benefits. Jacob, the younger brother, wants the
birthright that belongs to Esau.
In Genesis 25:29, Esau comes in from a hunting trip with a powerful
appetite. Jacob is cooking a pot of stew - which Esau asks to share. The
story picks up as "Jacob replied, 'First sell me your birthright.' 'Look, I am
about to die,' Esau said (which was probably a huge exaggeration).
What good is the birthright to me?' . . . So he swore an oath to Jacob, selling him his
birthright.'" A tragic mistake. The New Testament
comments on his choice this way: "Esau, for a single meal, sold his inheritance
. . . afterward . . . when he wanted to inherit this blessing,
he was rejected" (Hebrews 12:16-17). Too late. He took what he
could have right now and forfeited something so much more valuable - because he
couldn't wait.
And so many people have done that for love. So many people have
done that sexually. God designed sex to be one man with one woman in a committed
lifetime relationship. And when you wait for that kind of exclusive love, you
experience sex at its best - the way God designed it. But it's very
tempting to go for what looks and feels like love now - especially if you've been waiting
a while. But you're losing something that is just too
special to sacrifice.
Right now you may be facing the temptation to do something for love
that will cost you the "birthright" God has for you if you wait. And like
Esau,
once you've met your immediate need, you'll realize that you gave what you cannot get
back. Whatever the pressure, whatever the temptation, however
strong the feelings are, don't make a mistake that you'll regret for a long, long time.
God has something beautiful up ahead. Don't blow it by grabbing
what's there now and missing what is so much better. It's worth the wait.
"When You've Been Burned"
The other day in the
airport, I saw a mother and her daughter hustling to make a plane. But the little
girl's face was covered with a mask that was basically a screen - she could see through
it, but it was protecting her face. In just a glance, I could see that her face had
been badly burned. She had long sleeves and long pants on ... my guess is that she
probably had burns on other parts of her body, too. I really felt for her
- and for her mother. She appeared to be a burn victim, doing all she could to heal
and recover.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"When You've Been Burned."
It's tragic to be a burn victim - even if you've been spiritually
burned. Maybe especially if you've been spiritually burned. Physical burns
affect your outside, and they can often be treated medically. When you've been
burned spiritually, the scars are inside where they're hard to get at. Someone's
reading today who is just such a burn victim.
It can happen many ways. Often you get hurt by some people who
claim to be Christians ... or you have a bad experience with a church or a ministry.
And whether the causes are real, perceived, or a combination of both, there are way
too many people who have withdrawn to the spiritual sidelines because they feel burned.
Maybe you've been hurt or disillusioned ... and maybe you've withdrawn and isolated
yourself from Christian things ... or you've become reluctant to make any spiritual
commitments ... or you've just tried to protect yourself by hardening your heart ... or
maybe you're using the hypocrisy of others as an excuse to do wrong things. You're
one of Christianity's burn victims.
We probably don't need to talk anymore about your hurt - we need to
talk about your healing. Which God talks about in our word for today from the Word
of God. I'm hoping that these wonderful promises from Isaiah 61, beginning with
verse 1, will help you make today a turning point day - a day when you begin to move from
burn victim to burn victor.
In a passage describing the Messiah's mission, the Lord says, "He
has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted ... to comfort all who mourn and provide for
those who grieve in Zion - to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil
of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of despair." I
so want those words to be about you ... and God so wants to do those things for you - if
you'll let Him.
God's program of burn therapy and plastic surgery on your soul will
include several action steps on your part. They're challenging, but
they're the road to healing. It starts when you focus on Christ and not on
Christians. Jesus didn't burn you - and the heart of being a Christian is
Jesus' simple command - "Follow Me." Next, you need to open up to healing.
You've nursed and rehearsed your wounds long enough - now it's
time to get well. You also need to recognize your own imperfection. We've all
been hurt - but we've all been hurters, too. You and I stand as guilty of hurting
people as the people who hurt us.
That makes the next step slightly easier - release the bitterness.
The grudges inside are an emotional cancer that poison so much of your
life. Ask God to heal you of the bitterness that costs you so much of His grace.
(Hebrews 12:15) Then, forgive the hurters - as Colossians 3:13
says, "Forgive as the Lord forgave you." And then I hope you can rejoin
the family of God where you belong and become part of the answer. You know what's
hurting people in the Church - use that knowledge and experience to help model how it's
supposed to be.
Hard steps ... important steps ... steps to healing. Jesus heals
burn victims - and replaces their mourning with gladness, their ashes with
beauty, their despair with praise. Let Him work that healing miracle in you.
"Living Up To Your
Name."
Alexander the Great conquered most of the
then-known world by the age of
33. One of the reasons for that was the iron discipline that he insisted
on among his troops. That's why a young soldier was so terrified as he was
hauled into Alexander's tent to answer for charges of cowardice and
desertion in battle. The general was seated at a table, and the accused
soldier was standing before him. Alexander said, "Soldier, you've been
accused of deserting during a battle - guilty or not?" "Guilty," he
replied almost inaudibly. The general followed up then by asking, "What's
your name, soldier?" The answer came back - "My name is Alexander,
sir." It was at that point that Alexander the Great leaped to his feet,
reached across the table, grabbed the soldier by the collar and shouted,
"Either you change your life or you change your name!"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Living Up To Your Name."
I wonder if Jesus doesn't feel that way about some of us. We're
carrying
His name around - a Christian ... a Christ one. And we're reflecting on
His name by the way we're living, the way we're treating people, the way
we're doing business, and the way we're reacting. Does the life live up to
that holy name we carry?
Suddenly, we're looking at one of the Ten Commandments in a different
light than we usually do. In Exodus 20:7, our word for today from the Word
of God, He says, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for
the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who misuses His name." Now, that
commandment is usually used in the context of not using the Lord's name as
a swear word or using it lightly or irreverently. And that is sure
included in what God meant. We are supposed to always use the name of our
Lord with great respect.
But swearing or irreverence are not the only ways to "misuse the
name of
the Lord your God," or, as the King James Version says, "take the name of
the Lord your God in vain." When you claim to be a "Christ-one" and
you
live or talk in a way that is the opposite of what Christ is like - you're
discrediting the name of the One you claim to serve. There's an example of
that in Romans 2:24 where Paul says of his fellow Jews, "God's name is
blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
And we all know that the inconsistencies and hypocrisies of a believer
give unbelievers a reason not to come to Jesus. Probably the most common
reason people give for rejecting Jesus is another Christian. And probably
the most common reason people come to Christ is because of another
Christian. Before most people start believing in Christ, they believe in a
Christian they know.
You're not an island. You're being watched - especially if you
claim to
be a Christian. And someone is sizing up Jesus based on what they see in
you. They can't see Him - they can see you. What a horrible thought - you
or I might be a reason for someone we care about to miss Jesus - and to
miss heaven forever.
So look at your life in light of the holy name of Jesus that every
Christian carries. What kind of feeling are you giving your children about
Jesus, based on how you treat them? How about your coworkers? Your
employees? Your fellow students? Your friends?
In heaven, they bow down at the name of Jesus. One day every
being in
Jesus. It is to Almighty God the highest, the holiest name. And you, as
His follower, carry that name. If your life is dishonoring the name, it is
time to change your life.
"The Biggest Mistake Of
All."
Amy Biehl was 26 years old, and she
really wanted to make a
difference. Her graduate studies took her to South Africa in the turbulent
days when the repressive system of apartheid was coming down and that
nation's first all-race elections were approaching. She actually helped
develop voter registration programs to help black South Africans
participate in a system that had always shut them out. She was driving
three black coworkers back to the township where they lived when a group of
youths pelted her car with stones and forced it to stop. Dozens of young
men surrounded the car repeating the militant chant, "One settler, one
bullet!" They pulled Amy from the car, hit her with a brick, beat her, and
then stabbed her in the heart. During the attack her black friends were
yelling that she was a friend to black South Africans - all to no
avail. Amy died from her wounds.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A
Word With You today about
"The Biggest Mistake Of All."
Someone who knew Amy underscored the
tragedy of her death this
way: "She was killed by some of the very people she had come to
help." Some of those she came to help loved her - but others attacked
her. And it's an ugly thing to brutalize someone who has come to help
you. It happens to Jesus all the time. Often at the hands of people who
have no idea that's what they're doing - people who have actually come
close to Jesus, people who know a lot about Jesus.
That's the sobering scenario described in
our word for today from
the Word of God in Hebrews 10:29. These verses talk about what happens "if
we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the
truth." The Bible appears to be talking here about people who know about
Jesus but keep on running their own lives. And that person, according to
Hebrews 10:29, "has trampled the Son of God under foot ... treated as an
unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him ... and insulted
the Spirit of grace." Man, that is heavy-duty stuff. In fact, Hebrews 6:6
says that those who have tasted what Jesus offers and then go live their
own way "are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting Him to
public disgrace."
I'll tell you, if you know that Jesus has
died on the cross to pay
for your sin, if you've been "into Jesus" to some extent - and remain
unchanged, it is very serious business. And even though you're for Jesus
and agreeing with Jesus, you may be missing Jesus. The only response
worthy of the sacrifice He made for us is to fall on our knees and give
ourselves completely to the One who gave Himself completely for
us. Anything less than a life-changing personal commitment to Jesus
amounts to "trampling the Son of God under foot" and "crucifying the Son of
God all over again" - in essence, turning on the very One who came to help
you, to save you.
And that is the greatest mistake anyone
can ever make. This isn't
about Christianity or Christians - it's about Jesus. And maybe right now,
Jesus is speaking to you in your heart saying, "Don't do this. Don't come
this close to Me and miss Me. I love you, and I'm giving you this chance
to make things right with Me. Come on home." If you're ready to finally
give yourself completely to Jesus, you can tell Him that right where you
are - He's been waiting for you. And I'd like to send you the booklet,
"Yours For Life," that I wrote about getting started with Jesus. Just let
me know you want it.
Please - don't risk another day away from
Jesus.
"Deadly Magic"
When I was a kid, I used to like to put on
shows for the other
kids in the neighborhood - wait a minute, am I still doing shows for the
kids in the neighborhood? Well, anyway, I bought a couple of cheap books
on magic back then and a little kit of magic tricks. Even at my juvenile
level, I soon learned that magic wasn't really magic - it was
illusions. My beginner magic book talked about this basic magician skill
called "misdirection." The idea is that while you're doing the trick over
here you do something that will get everybody looking over there. They
said it helped to talk a lot. I knew I'd at least be good at that part.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today
about "Deadly Magic."
So one of the secrets of fooling people
is to get them looking at
something other than what's really going on. It's a tactic employed by
someone with far more sinister intentions than some magician or illusionist
- this misdirection ploy is being used to keep a lot of people from going
to heaven. Maybe you, or someone you love.
This deadly strategy is revealed,
actually, in our word for today
from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 4:4. The devil is called here "the
god of this age." And it says, "The god of this age has blinded the minds
of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ." Satan really doesn't want you, or anyone, to see who
Jesus really is and what Jesus could really do to light up your life. So
he blinds you. He keeps you from seeing Jesus - because if you ever really
give yourself to Jesus, the devil has lost you forever.
Of course, few people are going to
knowingly follow the devil or
cooperate with his plans to have them in hell forever. So Satan works his
deadly magic - of getting us to look at something other than Jesus -
anything other than Jesus.
He may be trying that blinding,
misdirecting strategy on
you. Again, he doesn't care what you focus on, as long as it isn't
Jesus. So maybe the deceiver's got you focused on Christians, instead of
Christ - the hypocrites, the professed Christians who've hurt you, the
inconsistencies of the Church. But that isn't Jesus ... and Jesus is the
issue. Or maybe the devil's got you all wrapped up in your religion, even
a religion that's very much about Jesus. He doesn't care - as long as your
depending on your religion makes you miss Jesus.
Maybe the deceiver's blinding you by
getting you focused on
personal spirituality ... or a career that's keeping you too busy for
God. Maybe he's got you looking at your pain ... your past ... your family
... a love relationship ... the fine points of theology ... a sin you can't
let go of. Satan will use anything to keep your eyes off Jesus ... to keep
you from getting to that cross where God's only Son paid the awful price
for your sin ... where you can finally face your sin, be forgiven of your
sin, and receive the guarantee of heaven forever.
But today - right now - Jesus is coming
to you where you are,
reaching out His hand, offering you His awesome love. The moment you die,
you will know that the only thing that really mattered was what you did
with Jesus. But then it will be too late to change it. Today, you can
still open your heart to Him - today you can finally turn your eyes to Jesus.
If you want to begin your personal
relationship with Jesus, would
you tell Him that right now? And I hope you'll let me know - I want to
send you the booklet, "Yours For Life," that I wrote about beginning this
relationship. Just let me know you want it.
Satan has desperately been trying to get
you to look at anything
but Jesus - so he can have you forever. But today you can finally see the
Light he's been trying to keep you from for so long. This is your Jesus Day!
"The Hypocrite
Hang-up."
Seven years of junior high band concerts. Yes, that was the
special joy Karen and I share since all three of the Hutchcraft kids were
in junior high band. Now it wasn't always a supreme musical experience,
but, hey, it's our kids, right? Now, let's imagine you have never heard of
the brilliant composer Ludwig von Beethoven before. And I say to you,
"Beethoven was a genius. His music is some of the most beautiful ever
written." You're a little skeptical because you've never heard any of him,
but I suggest a way to remedy that. See, the junior high band is having a
concert this week, and they're performing Beethoven's 9th Symphony. So you
go, and you come back to me saying, "I thought you said this Beethoven guy
was a genius! I just heard his music. It wasn't brilliant!" Now
what's
the problem here? It isn't Beethoven - it's the way that band played his
music. Just because they don't play his music well doesn't mean the man
who wrote the music wasn't a genius!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today
about "The Hypocrite Hang-up."
I've devoted my life to telling people
about the Genius who can
harmonize our lives, who wrote the music that's supposed to guide
everything we do. His name is Jesus. But many people - maybe you - can't
bring themselves to a point where they will put their trust in Jesus Christ
to be their own personal Savior. And one of the biggest
reasons? Christians. Christians who are hypocrites. Maybe some
hypocrites you know have been a major roadblock in your considering Christ.
Well, that's why I'm so glad for today's
word for today from the
Word of God, where Jesus clarifies what, and who, is the issue in this
whole Christian thing. Mark 2:14, our word for today from the Word of God
- "As Jesus walked along, He saw Levi, sitting at the tax collector's
booth. Follow Me, Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed Him."
Jesus sums up here the central decision
we all have to make by
issuing this clear, two-word invitation that He gave to many people:
"Follow Me." Jesus said, "I'm the issue. Make your decision
about
ME." He repeated that invitation so many times when He was here on
earth. And it's His invitation to you and me today. As for those
Christians who aren't a very good advertisement - well, they're like that
junior high band trying to play that Beethoven symphony. Unfortunately,
some of us don't play Jesus' music very well. But that has nothing to do
with Jesus. He is still the Genius who forgives our failures and loves us
with "never-leave-you" love, and takes us to heaven when we die.
Jesus didn't say, "Follow My
followers," or "Follow My leaders,"
or "Follow My religion." He said, "Follow ME." The only
reason not to be
a Christian is if you've got something against Jesus. And there wasn't a
trace of hypocrisy in Him.
All that will matter when you keep your
appointment with God is
what you did with Jesus, His one and only Son who died on the cross to pay
... not for His sins, but for yours. Honestly, there is no place to hide
when it comes to Jesus. Either you commit yourself to this Man who died
for you or you turn your back on Him and walk away.
It is all about Jesus. And maybe
you're ready to surrender all
the baggage that's kept you from His love. It's Jesus and you, because
it's Jesus you're trusting, not Christianity. Maybe you're ready to begin
this relationship you were created for. Tell Him that. And, if you would,
let me send you the booklet I wrote about beginning with Jesus called
"Yours For Life." We'll tell you how to get in touch with us in just a
moment.
On Judgment Day, it will be you and
Jesus. Today it's you and
Jesus. In the words of an old hymn, "What will you do with Jesus? Neutral
you cannot be. For someday your heart will be asking, 'What will He do
with me?'"
"WHEN OUR
TOWERS CAME CRASHING DOWN"
By Ron Hutchcraft
I've been on top of the World Trade Center many times. For thirty
years of my life in the New York area, those towers dominated the horizon. I
can't imagine they're gone.
But so much more than buildings collapsed that awful day when airliners
became missiles and America itself became the battlefield. Thousands of lives came
crashing down that day, too. The airline passengers, the World Trade and Pentagon
workers, the rescuers who died trying to rescue - so
many, gone in one awful, violent moment. And the countless loved ones, in some cases
not knowing what happened to those they love, in all cases
agonizing over the horrific circumstances of their death ... and the lifelong scars on
those heroic rescuers, recovery workers, and medical
personnel who will always be haunted with the memories of what they have seen.
But the carnage and shock of September 11 have touched every American.
We've been glued to our news channels, repeatedly horrified by
the endless replays and unfolding details of unthinkable scenes in places we thought
invulnerable. Like the TV commentators, we try to put our
feelings in words, but no words can really say it.
I remember vividly the first attack on the World Trade Center - we
thought that was unimaginable! The morning after I arrived at an airport in
another city, only to be greeted by a TV crew with videocam and microphone in hand.
They were seeking comments from people arriving on the first
flight from Newark that day. When they asked me my reaction to the Trade Center
bombing, I could think of only one word to describe how so many of
us were feeling after that shock - "Vulnerable."
As I'm hearing people trying to put their feelings into words today,
that's the feeling I'm hearing the most. The very symbols of our financial
and military security as Americans have themselves been attacked - one is gone, the other
heavily damaged. We watched everyday people like us, doing
things we do - passengers on a jetliner, folks at their jobs - suddenly wiped out en
masse. We see the lists of fatalities - including CEOs, Chief
Operating Officers, high-profile lawyers and entertainment executives - and we realize
that, like those who died on the Titanic, success and position
mean nothing when death strikes suddenly. We see our children trying to understand horrors
a child cannot understand - let alone us parents who are
trying to explain those horrors.
We feel vulnerable. It's as if some of our sense of personal
security and safety came crashing down with those majestic towers. The banner
headline
of our local newspaper screamed, "Forever changed" - they're probably right.
One woman said, "I'm scared" ... one man said, "It feels like
things are out of control."
If your heart is like mine and so many others I know, it's soft and
searching - and re-evaluating right now. While the events have been
horrific, the questions we're asking - or ought to be asking - could, indeed, leave us
"forever changed" - for the better. Questions like, "What
are the things that really matter and the things that really don't - and which ones have I
been living for?" ... "What have I got that will really
last - no matter what tragedy comes crashing into my life?" ... "Am I ready for
eternity, no matter how suddenly my time comes?"
We have seen how suddenly our towers can come crashing down, how
quickly
what I've built and who I've loved can all be gone. And our hearts are
hungry for something we can anchor to ... for something to sustain us when
the bad news is more than we can bear ... for something that will make us
really safe.
When our President addressed the nation on this generation's "day
of infamy," he alluded to the one Source of comfort and hope in moments like
these. He quoted from that treasured 23rd Psalm found in the best-selling book of
all times, the Bible - "Even though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me." (Psalm 23:4)
Life has many "vulnerable" moments - when you lose your job,
when you lose someone you love, when your marriage or your parents' marriage collapses,
when the medical report is unsettling. But that "valley of the shadow of
death" - that is, by far, life's most vulnerable moment. Yet the Bible
holds out to you and me a security that can keep you safe even in that valley - and no
matter what else comes crashing down in your life.
That security is a Relationship, a Person - "You are with me,
Lord." All our lives we have been hungry for one "unloseable" love.
And there really
only is one. It's the love of the One who made you ... the One who you will meet on
the other side of your last heartbeat ... the One whose love
caused Him to literally lay down His life for you.
The safety our heart longs for is found in the arms of Jesus Christ.
In God's own words, "Nothing will every separate us from the love of God that
is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:39) But in your vulnerable moments,
your moments that are more than you can handle alone - those
moments when you've gone seeking God - maybe you've realized that there is something that
is separating you from Him. The Bible confirms that all the
wrong things we've ever done have actually "separated you from your God."
(Isaiah 59:2) This "sin" - our hijacking of a life that God was supposed
to run - cuts us off from the very God whose love is our only safe place.
But that's why Jesus came. "God sent His Son as an atoning
sacrifice for our sins ... He sent His one and only Son that we might live through
Him."
(I John 4:9, 10) Now all Jesus is waiting for is for you to grab His outreached hand
like a person trapped in the wreckage would grab the hand
of a rescuer. You can do that right where you are, this very moment. Just tell
Him, "Jesus, I've lived enough days without You ... I'm sorry for
running a life that You were supposed to run ... I want to belong to You ... I want to be
changed forever."
Jesus liked to use the word "everlasting" to describe the
kind of life He wants to give you. We have been reminded so powerfully that nothing
earth
has is everlasting. That's the time your heart should be turning to the only One who
is - so you can know that you have a love you can never lose
... a security that can never be shaken ... and that you're ready for eternity, whenever
it comes. No religion can even offer that kind of
security or everlasting life, it is only found with a relationship with Jesus Christ.
You're vulnerable no more when you run to the safest place in all the
world - "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it
and they are safe." (Proverbs 18:10)
"Knowing What It Is To Be Broke."
Maybe it's because my father-in-law was a
corrections officer for a while, and I've heard his stories about the wasted lives behind
prison
bars. But whatever the reason, I've always admired the men who minister as prison
chaplains. It's tough ministry, but it's ministry where it's
desperately needed. I've got a new friend, Bill, and he works as a prison Chaplain,
and he recently told me about an incident that touched me when he
told me and it continues to touch me. Bill had been visiting this cell block, and he
went out in the exercise yard for some fresh air, he
said. There was this clean cut, young inmate who happened to be African-American,
who walked up to him, and he said, "Hey mister! Are you
broke?" Well, Bill kinda fished around in his pocket and didn't find any money
in there, and the inmate said, "Hey, it doesn't matter, your money is
no good in here anyway. Now, are you broke?" Only this time the inmate
had tears in his eyes. And then here's what he said: "Mister, don't try to
minister to people in here if you ain't broke, cause we all are." Now, that's
not just inside prison walls.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A
WORD WITH YOU today about "Knowing What It Is To Be Broke."
You don't have to go into a prison to
find people who are, in the words of that inmate, "broke." There's so much
pain today, and so much of
it is from broken things - broken family, broken health, broken heart, broken dream,
broken relationships, broken trust - you may be
"broke." Perhaps, even in spite of a life that's reasonably successful and
an outward image that looks fine. You may be one of the millions of the
walking wounded ... not sure where to put your pain ... where to put your brokenness.
Our word for today from the Word of God,
Hebrews 4:14, says this: "Since we have a great high priest who has gone through the
Heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess." Now, here Jesus is
called "high priest" and you know those were the men in the Old
Testament who represented people to God. So Jesus is now our personal representative
with God in Heaven.
Now, if that inmate, or even you, were to
walk up to this Savior and ask, "Are you broke?" He might refer you to the
next verse, verse
15. Here's what it says - "We do not have a high priest who is unable to
sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in
every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of
Grace with confidence." Now, He's walked in our shoes, He's felt
what we feel - except He never responded by doing something outside of God's will.
And we can come to Him with confidence. Why? Well, we're
coming to a Savior who has lived the feelings we are bringing to Him. He knows what
it is to be poor ... He knows what it feels like to be turned on
by your family ... to be betrayed by someone very close - He was. To be rejected -
He was. To be pressured to do the wrong thing - He was. To be
tortured ... to be lonely ... to be murdered - He was all of those. This Savior knows the
pain!
There are other people who can empathize.
There are some counselors who can help you understand the pain, but only Jesus can
carry
your pain and begin to heal a lifetime of scars. He says, "I came to bind up
the broken-hearted." But the great tragedy may be this: You're
needlessly carrying all your hurt alone because this Savior isn't your Savior because
you've never given yourself to Him. He went way beyond the
pain to the core reason for our wounds - human sin.
We're all the victims of people's sins
and we're sinners ourselves. Sin is our personal rebellion against our Creator,
saying,
"God, you run the Universe, I'll run me." Because we're away from the one
we were made by, we keep making choices that increase our pain. But Jesus
is saying to you today, "Why are you carrying that all alone? I died for you.
Won't you let me be your Savior? Let me pick up your pain. Let me
begin to apply my love to your wounds." If you've never done that, why would
you walk alone one more day? If you want to begin a personal
relationship with Him, I hope you use the link below to let me know. I'll send you
the booklet I wrote about it, called "Yours for Life." If the
question is, "Jesus, I'm 'broke.' Only someone who's 'broke' can help me,"
then you come to the mangled body on the blood-stained cross and see that
the Son of God was "broke" so you don't have to be anymore.
The
Shocking Truth About History's Ultimate Crime
Transcript #4399 | 1 Peter
2:24
Actor Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion," has broken new ground for Hollywood - and triggered a firestorm of controversy. "The Passion" tells the story of the day of Jesus' death with an attempt at Biblical accuracy that is seemingly unprecedented in movie-making history. The dialog is even spoken in the languages spoken at that time. And the portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ is said to be intensely realistic, following as closely as possible the Bible's description of what happened that day on a place called Skull Hill. The controversy revolves around the portrayal of the role of the Jewish leaders on that day in conspiring to have Jesus crucified by the Romans and their statement inviting His blood to be "upon us and our children." So, for centuries, Jews have been wrongly persecuted as "Christ-killers," allegedly guilty of "deicide." What a tragic mistake! The truth of why Jesus died so brutally on that cross is far more shocking.
"Will The Real You Please Stand Up?"
It was a TV show a long time
ago, and it's a TV show again. The
idea must still have some life in it! It's called "To Tell the Truth" -
maybe you have seen it. Three contestants all tell the panel their name -
and they all claim to be the same person. The host reads a little
background on the person, and then it's up to the panel to try to figure
out which one is the real one. The climactic moment comes when the host
says, "Will the real Joe Shlobotnik please stand up?" They all shift in
their chairs, but finally one stands up. The real one!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A Word With You today
about "Will The Real You Please Stand Up?"
For many people, the struggle to identify
which person is really
them is a deeply personal one - one that rages within us. It's very
important that you decide which of three identities is really you. In
fact, the identity you choose will determine much of how you make your life
choices and whether you feel significant or insignificant.
Identity #1 is you, the victim. Now
if you've been hurt,
betrayed, maybe abused, or abandoned, or neglected, it's possible to live
your life thinking of yourself as a victim. Which means you will spend
much of your life feeling worthless, depressed, distrusting, maybe
negative, or self-pitying. And your relationships, your decisions, your
goals will all be shaped by choosing "victim" as your identity.
OK, Identity #2 is you, the sinner.
While the victim focuses on
their pain, the sinner focuses on their failures. You are frequently
reliving the things you've done that were wrong - maybe very wrong, in some
cases. If you decide that the "you" that is going to stand up is you, the
sinner, you're also going to feel worthless much of the time ... and
ashamed ... and never good enough. You'll accept and you'll expect a
little life because you think that's all you deserve. And your shame will
cause you to feel, "What's the use?" - and that will set you up for more
and more mistakes.
But there's a third identity you can
choose. It's spelled out in
II Corinthians 5:17, our word for today from the Word of God. "If anyone
is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!" There is an amazing transformation that takes place when a person
gives themselves to Jesus Christ - from that moment on they have the right,
they have the spiritual power to live as a new person!
So if you belong to Jesus Christ, the
real you is Identity #3 -
new person in Jesus Christ! You don't have to be defined by your past
pain. You don't have to be defined by your past sin. You are now defined
by your relationship with Jesus - you are a child of God ... a servant of
Christ ... and a Make A Difference person! Because you are forgiven ...
you are clean ... you are free from the shackles of the past. You're about
your future now, not your past! Don't miss, don't forget who you really
are! It's time for the real you to stand up!
And if you've never given yourself to the
Man who died so you
could be forgiven and new ... if you're ready to begin your life-changing
relationship with Jesus, would you tell Him that right now? And I hope
you'll let me send you the booklet I wrote about this relationship, called
"Yours For Life." Just let me know you want it.
From today on, your life can be about
whose you are - defined by
your relationship with the Son of God, Jesus Christ - the Healer, the
Forgiver of the past, and the author of a whole new beginning!
"Level Ground"
When I meet people who went to elementary or high school with my
wife, they tell me she was shy. I didn't know her then, but I have found
that very hard to accept. From the time I met her at a Christian college,
she was vivacious and outgoing and confident. I've asked her about this
seeming contradiction. She says that both descriptions are accurate. In
her secondary school years, Karen lived in the country with parents who
gave her a lot of love and courtesy and spiritual wealth, but who didn't
have much what our world calls wealth. So, she lived in a home without the
conveniences many of her friends in town would consider basic. She didn't
have money to spend on clothes or makeup - so she felt a little
self-conscious in a campus world that was so much about the way you dress
and the "stuff" you have. But when she got to a Christian college,
suddenly everything changed. She told me, "For the first time, the playing
field was level."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A Word With You today
about "Level Ground."
That's exactly the way God
intended for it to be in His family, in
His church - a level playing field where all that external junk the world
judges people by just doesn't matter. It's the kind of environment in
which people can blossom and unleash all the beauty and giftedness God has
planted in them.
In Galatians 3:26 and 28, our word for
today from the Word of God,
the Lord says, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus ...
There is neither Jew nor Greek (that's racial differences), slave nor free
(that's class differences), male nor female (that's discrimination based on
gender), for you are all one in Christ Jesus." I wonder if your church
feels like that kind of place, your youth group, your Christian
group. That's how it's supposed to feel!
The culture of money and power and
fashion and social groupings is
supposed to stop at the door of the Church of Jesus Christ. I hope it does
at yours. None of that stuff matters to Jesus. The world has its "power
elite" and its "insiders and outsiders." Don't let that cancer infect
your
church. People need to come into a group of Christians and feel level
ground - a warm, sincere welcome, no matter how they look, what they have,
or what their background. Anything less is a shameful contradiction of
everything Jesus is about - grace ... unconditional love. Remember, "Man
looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." (I
Samuel 16:7)
Years ago in a large, fashionable church,
two people came down the
aisle to give their lives to Christ - one was the governor of the state,
the other a maid. The pastor said it all when he said, "The ground is
level at the cross." And maybe only at the cross. It may be that you have
spent most of your life feeling like you were on the bottom - the
outsider. Maybe even Christians have let Jesus down in how they've treated
you. But I want to invite you this very day to come to the cross where
Jesus - the Son of God - thought you were worth dying for. He knows all
about you - and He loves you. And He's waiting to welcome you into His
family - and one day into His heaven, if you'll give yourself to Him today.
"Intercepting The Weapons"
Israeli
intelligence had indicated that the ship was carrying dangerous
weapons, and Israel assumed they were to be their ultimate target. Well, a
daring mission executed with assault helicopters and naval commandos
surprised the ship's crew and led to the ship's seizure in the middle of
the Red Sea. What they found was shocking - fifty tons of missiles,
rockets, machine guns, along with other weapons and munitions. You can't
help but ask, "What if they hadn't intercepted the weapons that might have
been used against them?"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about
"Intercepting The Weapons."
Those weapons could have done terrible damage - but they won't.
They were
kept out of the hands of those who would use them to do that
damage. That's actually the best way to win any battle - just don't let
your enemy get the weapons to attack you with! It is a powerful way to
keep your enemy - your spiritual enemy, the devil, from doing serious
damage. Don't let him have his weapons.
Satan is anxious to make you afraid ... to make you discouraged or
depressed. He wants to make you a slave to lust or addiction. He wants to
make you negative, critical, defeated, deceitful. He needs weapons to get
you to do or think things that you know are wrong - that you know come
between you and God. But you can intercept some of the weapons he'd like
to use - if you'll carefully obey God's simple directive in our word for
today from the Word of God.
Proverbs 4:23 says, "Above all else (OK, God wants this to be top
priority!), guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Be
careful what you allow into your heart because everything originates
there. The picture that comes to mind is a reservoir from which the water
supply for many people comes. That is one place where you don't want any
poison getting in. Authorities put up high fences and arrange elaborate
security to make sure no one can put anything harmful in the area's water
supply. Guard the source. Be very careful about what gets into the source
- and for you, as a follower of Jesus Christ, the reservoir is your heart.
You actually give your enemy weapons to destroy you with when you allow
poison into your heart - when you watch things, listen to things, read
about things, laugh at things, flirt with things that feed the old you. TV
... music ... movies ... . books ... websites ... certain friends ...
certain conversations ... humor. Too many times - usually in unguarded,
casual moments, we allow Satan to smuggle in weapons he can use later to
get us to think or act sinfully - input that gets you thinking lustfully
about the opposite sex ... that fuels your fears ... that makes you more
negative, more cynical, more critical ... things that make you more lonely,
more depressed, more discouraged.
Maybe one reason parts of the old you are still so strong is because
you've been feeding the old you too much. What you feed will grow. Our
mission is to starve our sinful side, not feed it more! It's already got
all the fuel it needs for the rest of our life! But you help insure this
promise from Isaiah 54:17 will happen to you - "No weapons forged against
you will prevail!"
Just don't let Satan get the weapons that he wants to use against you -
images, thoughts, songs, friends that make it harder for you to win
spiritually - and more likely to lose. When you walk away from the
conversations, the shows, the songs, the people, the places that feed your
dark side, you pre-empt temptations now that would otherwise bombard you
later. And that's the easiest way to win the battle - to never let your
enemy get his weapons. "Guard your heart!"
"What's Eating Your Home."
My wife Karen was waking up to
a sound she hadn't heard before - and she couldn't identify. It sounded like
crinkling cellophane - and it was
coming from inside our bedroom walls! Now, somehow I missed this little symphony,
but Karen sure picked up on it. Since we were pretty sure no one
was actually crinkling cellophane in our walls, we looked into other possibilities.
Like carpenter ants, for example. And sure enough, that's
what it was! Those little marauders were feasting on the wood in our house ... and
they were gradually eating our home! We didn't even have to think
about what to do. "Hello, Mr. Exterminator?"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"What's Eating Your Home."
Obviously, you need to take drastic measures when something is eating
your home-including some invaders that do far more damage than some hungry,
little bugs. There may be some forces that are eating away right now, not at the
building you live in, but the family who lives in it!
You can hear some of the sounds of deterioration-the angry words that
are causing such deep wounds ... or that chilly silence ... or the
negativism. Far more comments on what people are doing wrong than what they're doing
right ... the exasperation, the frustration over not being
listened to. Don't ignore those "sounds in the walls". The longer
you do, the harder it's going to be to repair the damage. If there's growing
tension or growing distance, or growing hard feelings or frustration, then it's time for
radical action. It's time to attack what's eating your home.
Our word for today from the Word of God may be a statement that you
need to take as a charge for you and your family. It's from Hebrews 12:1. It
says this, "Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles." Now if something is slowing you down or entangling you
as a family, throw it off! Get rid of it! Or call the exterminator!
Maybe what's weakening your home is too much criticism…maybe too
little affection shown…or maybe too little listening. Or it could be hypocrisy
that's eating at your home-a big gap between the "church you" and then the you
they see at home. Maybe there's favoritism or perfectionism that's
driving everyone crazy. Or maybe your family is just feeling the effects of too
little of your time…of a schedule that often has no room for them in it?
But listen, will you, to the sounds of a home slowly being eaten away.
It's time to take strong corrective action - to "throw off
everything" that is hindering your family and the sin that is tripping them up.
And let the change begin with you. Get to your knees and confess to
your Lord the part that you've been playing in the problems at home. And ask Him to
change you from a thermometer who reflects everything that's
going on there, to a thermostat that sets a whole new temperature.
Where you've been wrong, tell your family. You won't lose their
respect - you'll gain it. God says, "Confess your sins to each other and pray
for
each other so that you may be healed." (James 5:16) There are few words more
healing than, "I was wrong." I wonder how many marriages could have
been saved if someone could have said them ... or how many children. As this verse
says, healing also comes when you begin to pray for each
other-and for family healing. And if you need outside help, don't let your pride
keep you from seeking that help.
Would you say to God, "Lord, I can hear the sounds of our home
being slowly eaten away, and I want it to stop. I dedicate myself today to
stopping it ... by stopping it in me first." Those bugs will destroy your home
only one way - through your denial or your neglect. It's time for the
exterminator - before any more damage is done.
"Your Personal Life
Support System."
When astronaut Neil Armstrong
first stepped onto the surface of the moon for his "one small step for man," he
really didn't look like himself. He
was totally wrapped up in that modern-day armor called a space suit. Well, there's a
reason. The moon is an environment hostile to humans. An
unequipped, unprotected astronaut would have died in an instant of lunar exposure.
Why? No oxygen. That big pack on his back was the margin of
survival.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today
about "Your Personal Life Support System."
Now if the Apollo astronauts had depended on their surroundings for
their lives, they would have died on the moon. Instead, they depended on the
life-support system that they carried with them!
Actually, you don't have to go to the moon to find a hostile atmosphere
to survive in. We've got that right here. Spiritually speaking, we live in
an environment where the air is often pretty polluted with temptation, with totally un-God
ways of thinking, with stress, with negativity. When that's
pretty much what your soul breathes all day long, you end up gasping for air and sometimes
going under.
What we need is something like the Apollo astronauts had - we need a
life-support system that will sustain us through the bombardment of the
day. But it needs to be something totally dependable and highly mobile - a lifepack
that you can have with you everywhere you go. And there is
one. Our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 119:11 says, "I have
hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You." David
says, "I have planted God's words in my heart to answer the sinful pressures that are
coming against me."
So what's your personal life-support system in a spiritually and
emotionally hostile environment? The words of God, committed to memory, so
you'll always have them when you need them. You can't always carry a Bible around
with you - and if you do, you wouldn't usually have time to start
looking up verses in the middle of a situation. In fact, you'd probably have to
carry a concordance, too, so you'd know where to look in the Bible!
But you can always carry Scripture that you have "hidden in your
heart." During the Vietnam War, some of the American pilots imprisoned for
years in the "Hanoi Hilton" prison tried to piece together as much of the Bible
as they could from memory. I wonder how much of a Bible you'd have
if all you had was what you've memorized? In a sense, that is all you have when
you're in the middle of a real life situation.
So, maybe it's time for you to get serious about a regular program of
committing Bible verses to memory. What you're doing is actually planting
the responses of God in your personality - so you can respond to what's happening with a
heaven-answer, not an earth-answer. How many times I have
been sustained by saying Deuteronomy 33:25 aloud - "Your strength will equal your
days" ... or Isaiah 40:31 - "Those who hope in the Lord will
renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not
grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." How many times I
have been helped by the battle cry of 2 Corinthians 10:5 - "We take captive every
thought to make it obedient to Christ." The list of the times I've
been rescued by a verse that I've made my own is endless.
D. L. Moody said, "When you're thinking sin, think
Scripture." You can't think Scripture if you don't know any Scripture.
Our minds are cluttered
with tons of earth-trivia - we need more of heaven in our heart. Load up on heaven's
oxygen - God's own words - and you'll be breathing better air
all day long from the life-support system that you carry in your heart.
"Bouncing Back When You Blow It"
I'm about 5'8". You probably know that because I sound about
that tall, right? Years ago, I was carrying 210 pounds on this little 68 inch
body. Goodyear actually offered me a job as their blimp. But thankfully, I
have weighed about 45 to 50 pounds less than that for a lot of years. Of
course, I've still got the same metabolism that inflated this body many years ago.
So, ohhh, do I know about dieting! And I also know the point
at which your diet is in the greatest danger. OK, you've really been good ... the
scale has been giving you good news the last couple of weeks ...
your diet discipline is holding ... then, somebody offers you something that you
just can't resist - let's say, a few french fries. You consume
them in one bite. So, you buy a whole order of fries for yourself. And now you
feel bad. You have blown your diet. You could just get back on
track right then! But no - you say to yourself, "I blew it! I've failed!
Oh well, what's the use? I might as well have a milk shake to
wash down those fries. Hey, anybody got the number of Pizza Heaven?"
Yeah, you messed up. So you give up - and soon return to your
former roundness.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Bouncing Back When You Blow It."
Now, it's a shame when one or two failures
make you give up on your diet. Or, more importantly, on living like Jesus wants you
to live.
Maybe it's a pattern you know all too well. Like a dieter, you've
made up your mind to change - to do things Jesus' way. You're living right, you're
doing well. But one day you mess up and fall back into something the old you would
do. And you feel ashamed. Now right here is the point - in
dieting or being a disciple - that will determine whether or not this is a brief detour or
a huge defeat. What will you do when you've blown
it? Now, you can clean up or give up. And, believe me, satan is gonna be right
there whispering, "What's the use? You tried this Christian thing,
and look at you! You're a spiritual lose. You'll never make it. This is too
hard for you. Give it up, man."
Now, Jesus said satan is capable only of telling lies - and this is no
exception. But he wants to take one defeat and turn it into many defeats
... to use this one detour to get you to turn back completely. And maybe you have.
Well, it's time for the truth. Our word for today from the Word
of God, Proverbs 24:16 - "Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises
again." Notice it doesn't say, "a righteous man never falls."
It
says that when he falls, he gets right back up and starts walking again! See, that's
God's intention for you when you've messed up.
That's why He invites us in I John 1:9 to "confess our sins"
because "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." It's not Jesus standing there, condemning you for falling.
God says, "there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus." (Romans
8:1) No, that's your enemy trying to pull you into a cycle of defeat. Live
right ... then mess up ... then feel ashamed ... then you
give up ... then you mess up a lot more ... and then you crash spiritually. That's
the cycle of defeat. But Jesus is saying, "One
failure is one failure. And the only people who never fell down are people who
aren't trying to walk. Bring that sin to My Cross. Let me clean you
up. Tomorrow's a new day!"
So when you mess up spiritually, it's either the cross or a crash.
Bring that sin straight to Jesus' cross, and you can get up and keep
going. Believe the "what's the use?" lie, and you'll crash. Because
of Jesus, no failure is final. If you've fallen, you can get up, in the
forgiveness and power of your Savior.
Take it from a veteran dieter - it's a terrible mistake to give up just
because you mess up. Today's failure doesn't have to sink you
tomorrow. You have a Savior who makes each new day a brand new beginning.
"More Baggage ... Less People"
It has always been challenging to take our "On Eagle's Wings"
team of young Native American believers to do reservation outreach. But going to
Alaska to do it has meant a really challenging challenge! With a suicide rate 20
times greater than that of the rest of the young people in America,
the young Native Alaskans are a desperate mission field. You can probably imagine
that the logistics of this kind of outreach are pretty exciting -
especially when some of the villages you're in are 400 miles from the nearest road!
The entire team has to be transported by missionary planes
and fishing boats! Since the planes are just single or twin-engine aircraft, you can
choose between taking less people with more luggage, or
more people with less luggage. Since we need every seat filled with a team member,
the sacrifice is going to be in how much baggage each of us
takes. The limit is 20 pounds per person - for five weeks! It's hard to travel
that light, but it's important. When you carry just the basic
essentials, you can move more people and go a lot farther!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about
"More Baggage ... Less People."
A team moves farther and faster with less baggage ... and so does the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why the powerful Apostle Paul, who could
have dazzled a crowd with his incredible theology, kept his message to the lost very
simple. Our word for today for the Word of God, 1 Corinthians
2:1-2 -"When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior
wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. For I
resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified."
Now ,with all the Christian truth Paul could have presented, (that he
knew there was to present), when it came to the lost, he carried an unencumbered
Gospel. Like us packing for our missionary trip to Alaska, he limited himself to the
basic essentials, and he left out anything that would
unnecessarily encumber the message he was carrying. His message: Jesus Christ and
His death on the cross for you.
Now one reason we may not see more people interested in our Jesus is
that we may have, without realizing it, added baggage to the simple Gospel
message. Baggage like rules, rituals, religion - all of which obscure the real
issue, which is a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we encumber the Gospel with lifestyle issues.
"Now, you need Jesus - and what are you doing with an earring there?" Or
we attack their wrong music ... or their wrong relationship ... or their wrong
entertainment. We're trying to clean them up before they have the Cleaner-Upper
inside them! Stick to Jesus and His cross!
It's also tempting to load down the Jesus story with the baggage of our
group's special theological emphasis. There are distinctives in every
denomination and group that makes them them - and they often concern very important areas
of Christian truth. But they're not part of the
Gospel. They are what we will teach this person after they have been to the Cross
and made Jesus their Savior. Then, those teachings may become
essentials to their relationship with Christ. But now, before they know Him, those
emphases may be extra baggage - baggage that means, like
traveling in those little planes in Alaska, will be carrying less people - to Jesus.
If a lost person stumbles over Jesus or His cross, then the
responsibility is theirs. If they stumble over baggage that we add to Jesus and His
cross, then the responsibility is ours. And the consequences can be eternal.
Aren't you glad you don't have to carry all the Christian baggage when
you try to win the heart of a lost friend or loved one? Unpack all the other
Christian things, and just deliver the essentials - the incredible news that Jesus loved
us enough to die for us, to rescue us from the death
penalty of our sin. Stick to Jesus!
"Darkness Behind You, Sunlight Ahead"
Our daughter and
son-in-law and two grandsons were driving through the Midwest a while back - and not
liking the drive very much. For most of
that day's drive, they were in the thick of a powerful storm system - drenching rain, and
more significantly, a lot of dangerous lightning ...
until they got to Springfield, Missouri. When our daughter called us, they were
heading south out of Springfield - and liking the trip a lot
more. She said, "You cannot believe how ugly it looks behind us - the sky and
the lightning back there look so angry and foreboding. But the road
ahead of us is clear and bright!"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Darkness Behind You, Sunlight Ahead."
With so much darkness behind them and a much better road ahead, believe
me, our family had no desire to turn around and head back into what they had come from.
Why would anyone do that? Including someone Jesus has delivered from
spiritual darkness and put on a much brighter road?
If you have given your heart to Jesus Christ, then you have experienced
the miracle described in our word for today from the Word of
God. Colossians 1:13 says that God "has rescued us from the dominion of
darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He
loves." Rescued. Now, imagine someone that was rescued from a burning or
collapsed building. Can you imagine them going back into the wreckage they were just
rescued from? And yet that is exactly what many of us Jesus followers do. We
head back into the darkness from which Christ has delivered us.
That day our family experienced the dark clouds behind them and the
bright road ahead is a picture of your own, what I call, "B. C. / A. D."
experience. That's your time "before Christ" and your life since the
moment you began your relationship with Him. It's not just the world's
history that's divided into B. C. and A. D. - it's the personal history of all of us who
have been rescued from our sin by Jesus Christ.
But could it be that you've been heading back to some aspect of the
"B. C." you? Back in the direction of what God calls "the dominion of
darkness"? The old lying ... the old habit ... the old crowd ... the old
selfishness or bad mouth ... the old anger or depression - somehow you've
made a U-turn on the Jesus Road and started back toward that time before you met Jesus.
Maybe you're forgetting how ugly, dark and stormy it was back there.
Or maybe you were raised in a Christian environment - you never experienced much of
Satan's enslaving darkness - and you're tempted to try a little. Sin has some very
attractive packages - but that's all it is - a
package. Once you open it, you find what's inside is a lot of guilt, a lot of shame,
a lot of bondage, a lot of loneliness. And it costs you the
greatest anchor you've got in your life - that wonderful sense of the closeness of Jesus
and the peace that only He can bring.
Paul says, Jesus "gave Himself for us to redeem us from all
wickedness" (Titus 2:13) - now, how can we drift back into the things He died to get
us out of? I can't think of a greater insult to the Man who died for you.
Because of Jesus, you were able to drive out of the storm, out of the
darkness, out of eternal danger. Don't go back there! Everything you were made
for, everything you need is on the Jesus Road ahead of you. Keep
driving toward His light - that ugly sky behind you will soon be just a shrinking shadow
in your rear view mirror.
"The Danger Zone Alarm"
An alarm may be annoying but, face it, most alarms are your friend.
The alarm clock in the morning - without which you'd lose your job. The smoke
detector. The fire alarm. Now most of us don't carry an alarm with us, but for
some people, it's a very positive idea. Recently, my wife was in a
nursing home on an errand of mercy when suddenly this loud alarm went off.
Immediately, a nurse came running to a door where she intercepted one
of their elderly residents who was headed for that door. The manager explained that
some of their residents are afflicted with serious memory
loss or disorientation, so much so, that they have left the building and wandered off, not
knowing where they were - including right into the middle
of the road! So the woman who triggered the alarm has been fitted with a special
bracelet - one that triggers an alarm whenever she is on the edge
of a possible danger zone. Apparently, she does remember what the alarm is for.
When it went off, she instinctively stopped where she was. That
alarm could literally save her life.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Danger Zone Alarm."
When you're moving into danger you don't realize, it's good to have an
alarm that alerts you. And it's good to pay attention to that alarm. Your
Lord has built that kind of alarm into you - in the person of the Holy Spirit who lives
inside of you as a follower of Christ. Jesus said the
Spirit would "convict the world of guilt in regard to sin." (John 16:8)
One important ministry the Holy Spirit has to you is warning you
when you're wandering into the danger zone spiritually. A danger you may not know is
there, but a danger that could do you a lot of harm.
That's why God's warning is in our word for today from the Word of God.
It's so important - 1 Thessalonians 5:18. Four words: "Quench not
the Spirit." After that, it goes on to say, "Hold on to the good.
Avoid every kind of evil." When the Holy Spirit is talking to you inside, don't
ignore Him. Don't put out the fire He sets inside you. Don't blow right past
His warning that you've crossed the line.
The Holy Spirit is active in your heart, your mind, and your conscience
all day long, representing how God feels about what you're saying, what
you're watching, what you're listening to, what you're doing with His temple (your body),
what you're thinking about, fantasizing about, the
motives behind what you're doing. And when you're starting to wander out of bounds,
He puts a check in your spirit - a restraint, or even a twinge
of guilt. The alarm goes off - God's quiet inner alarm that says, "You're out
of bounds. You can't see it, but you have just entered the danger zone."
See, the Holy Spirit knows exactly where the choices you're making are
going to ultimately end up. Like a disoriented older person, where you
want to go looks very desirable and perfectly harmless. But God knows this will take
you into deadly heavy traffic - and by the time you realize it,
you may not be able to get out. No sin remains isolated. The first compromise
may be hard, but it seldom stays just one compromise. The next
one is always a little easier, until one day you have done what you never thought you'd
do, you've become what you never thought you'd become.
It may be that God's alarm has been going off in you recently, warning
you not to keep telling or living that lie. Or making you feel shame or guilt
or uneasiness over something you watch or listen to or laugh at. Maybe warning you
against leaving your family when it looks so tempting to bail
out. Or the Spirit-alarm may be trying to move you away from that wrong
relationship, that dangerous flirtation, or that growing anger or bitterness.
God's warning is clear - don't quench the Holy Spirit of Almighty God.
Listen to God's alarm going off in you. You don't know the trouble
this is taking you into. He does! Back away from this door. It takes you
where you do not want to end up. You are entering the danger zone.
"Unguarded Beaches"
This one is excellent, they all are, but grab a hold of this one!
There are two words that will inevitably
cause a look of excitement to appear on any face in our family - "Ocean City."
That's the name of this
charming town on the Jersey shore where our family has made a lot of memories over the
years. Not long ago, several of us rendezvoused there
for a couple of days of time together and making a few more memories. As I was
riding my bike along the boardwalk there, I passed some Herculean young
men jogging the boards. Their shirts had four letters on them: OCBP. That's
Ocean City Beach Patrol. Actually, they recently celebrated
their centennial - no, not the young joggers, but the Beach Patrol itself. A century
ago, as Ocean City was becoming a tourist mecca, the
number of drownings began to increase. So, the Beach Patrol was formed. They
have a record to be proud of. In 100 years, they have never
lost anyone at a guarded beach. Now I do remember a time some years ago when a young
Amish woman drowned in the Atlantic Ocean, but that was on an
unguarded beach.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Unguarded Beaches."
I've seen those lifeguards in action. They concentrate on their
stretch of water and the people in it as if it's a life-or-death matter. It
is! Just like the rescue responsibility God has entrusted to you.
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 24:11-12.
As you listen, try to picture some of the people on the stretch of beach God
has given you to guard. He says, "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? Does not He who
guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person
according to what he has done?" God's saying here, "If you have a rescue
responsibility, there is no excuse for you letting people die without your
trying to do something about it."
The awful tragedy is that so many Christless lives are being lost -
eternally - because one of God's spiritual lifeguards is leaving their
beach unguarded. Your beach is that circle of influence God has given you - the
people you work with or live near or go to school with. But too many
of us lifeguards just stay in the lifeguard station, enjoying the fellowship of the other
lifeguards, singing lifeguard songs, planning
lifeguard meetings - while people are dying in the surf.
Maybe we leave our stretch of the beach unguarded because we forget
that telling people about Jesus really is life-or-death. The people around you
may not look or sound like they're dying spiritually, but listen to just a few of the
words God uses to describe them. "Those being led away to
death" (Proverbs 24:11), "lost" according to Luke 19:10. Or in
Ephesians 2:12, "without God, without hope." In John 3:36, "whoever
rejects the Son
will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." 2 Thessalonians 1:9 says
those who don't know God "will be punished with everlasting
destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord." And in Revelation
20:15, God says, "If anyone's name was not found written in the book of
life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." These are people you know - or
ought to know. And you carry in your heart the one message that can change
all this - the message of a Savior who loved them enough to die so they don't have to.
Your job isn't to persuade them to come to Jesus - it's only to present
Jesus. But if you haven't done that, then they don't know they're dying
and they don't know who to grab to rescue them.
You may think there's someone better to rescue the people around you,
but God put you in the middle of them. This is your stretch of the beach. The
people there are your responsibility. Don't leave your beach unguarded. Too
many people are dying at unguarded beaches.
"Closing The Gap." Nehemiah 4:6 and 7
The other day, while I was out of town, my wife woke up to the sound of hoofbeats in our
yard. That's actually a problem. Misty, her horse, is
supposed to be out in the pasture, inside a barbed wire fence. But this particular
day, Misty was having a grand old time running around our yard -
and, without quick action on Karen's part - soon she would have been out of our yard and
in harm's way. Fortunately, my wife managed to get Misty back
to her pasture before any harm was done. But the big question was, "How do you
prevent this horse from getting out again?" The problem was that storm
with 80 MPH winds the other night - it uprooted the tree that was anchoring one corner of
the pasture's barbed-wire fence. We were hoping that the
downed tree and the partially intact fence would be enough to keep Misty in until we could
close the gap. It wasn't. Our horse just found the gap and
ended up going where she really should not go.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Closing The Gap."
It's not just a horse that exploits a gap in the fence. It's the
lion, too - the one the Bible says is prowling around, looking for someone to
devour. (I Peter 5:8) Satan, of course. And you can be sure the destroyer is
prowling around your life, your home, your ministry right now, looking
for a gap in the fence - a way to go where he should never really be allowed to go.
So here's a quick lesson in how to drive your enemy nuts. It's in
our word for today from the Word of God in Nehemiah 4:6 and 7. It comes from
Nehemiah's fascinating account of how a small band of Jews rebuilt the walls and gates of
a devastated Jerusalem in fifty-two days, all the time
surrounded by enemies that were determined to stop them. And here's one important
step they took to cut off their enemies' attacks - a step you may
need to be taking to keep your eternal enemy out.
The Bible says, "So we rebuilt the wall until it reached half its
height, for the people worked with all their heart. But when Sanballat, Tobiah,
the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the men of Ashdod (that's a lot of guys against you!) heard
that the repairs in Jerusalem's walls had gone ahead
and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry." I guess so.
Those gaps were weak spots in the wall that they could use to go where
they should never be allowed to go.
Now, you want to send your enemy Satan away frustrated and fuming?
Close up the gaps in the wall around your life ... your marriage ... your family
... your ministry. Because right now he's doing all he can to get inside through
those gaps and destroy everything that matters. You can't neglect
the gaps any longer - there's too much at stake.
The gap through which Satan is getting in may be one of your important
relationships that you've been neglecting - and ugly stuff, you know, grows
in a garden that's neglected. Or maybe it's a strained relationship that is allowing
your enemy to sow resentment and anger. The hard feelings
you've allowed to grow inside you are a gaping hole for Satan to exploit. Or it
could be a compromise you've allowed - in your integrity
in your sexual standards, in what you watch or listen to for entertainment. Maybe
the gap is a past sin you have not dealt with ... or
lustful thoughts. Or just allowing yourself to consider quitting - on your marriage,
on a commitment, on a ministry God has called you to.
Wherever the gaps are, you can be sure your enemy has identified
where you're vulnerable, and he's planning to use those gaps to get into the core of your
life. When there's a gap in the fence, a gap in the wall, it can only put you in
harm's way - actually in hell's way. Don't wait another
day to start closing the gaps. You've got too much to lose.
"A Brand New You"
On a recent business trip, my friend Rich found a site that advertised
caverns and an Indian artifact museum. An Indian man, with his coal black
hair pulled back and a face my friend described as "well-weathered," offered to
take Rich on the museum tour - which he thought would last about
fifteen minutes. Nearly two hours later, he had received an incredible history
lesson on the Shawnee Nation. The guide said that the Shawnee
Nation is made up of many different Indian tribes which the Shawnee have
"adopted" into their nation. And several times the Shawnee man pointed out
that when his tribe allows this to happen, the adopted people or person may never speak of
his former tribe or nation again!
Several times, Rich's guide asked if he really understood that concept
- and my friend assured him that he did. Suddenly, the Shawnee man stepped
back a few feet and said, "You're a Christian, aren't you?" Rich gave him
a wholehearted "yes" - and asked how he could tell. The Indian man's
response: "Only a true Shawnee or a Christian can understand forsaking all past life
and accepting a new life." Later, as they prayed together, it
was clear that this man - who my friend described as "truly amazing" - was
both a Shawnee and a Christian.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"A Brand New You."
That Indian brother really understands what it means to become a part
of Jesus' tribe - far better than many of us who claim to be following
Jesus. What he said is almost a paraphrase of exactly what God says in our word for
today from the Word of God in II Corinthians 5, beginning in verse 15.
"Christ died for all, that those who live should no longer live
for themselves (stop and ask yourself - are you really living for yourself?),
but to live for Him who died for them and was raised again ... Therefore, if anyone is in
Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come!" And paralleling the Shawnee experience, the way we became "in
Christ" was "to be adopted as God's sons through Jesus Christ." (Ephesians
1:5) Adopted, not to have part of us in our old family - which is really the devil's
family - and part of us in God's family ... no, we're talking
here about leaving one way of life for good and taking on a brand new you! Which may
make some of the junk in your life right now a little hard
to explain.
You can't really hold Jesus with one hand and, with your other hand,
some of the junk that killed Him. After all, in God's words, "He bore our sins
in His own body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness."
(I Peter 2:24) Imagine how it must make Jesus feel to see
you still hanging onto sins that He died to get you out of! It may be
that you've missed the imperative Jesus gave us to "repent" when
we come to Him. It would be easy to miss - nobody talks about repenting much these
days. But it still matters just as much to Jesus. And your
failure to really repent may explain your constant spiritual roller coaster, your
recurring doubts about whether or not you really belong to
Jesus. In Acts 3:19, the call is to "repent and turn to God, so that your sins
may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord." Repenting of that sin isn't just saying, "I'm sorry" - it's
saying "I'm not doing that stuff any more!"
You've tried carrying your dual identity long enough - you're a
halfhearted sinner and a halfhearted Christian. It's time to turn your
back, once and for all, on that junk that's shackled you for so long. Here's what
you can tell Jesus right now - "Jesus, with Your power,
I'm dropping this junk and saying goodbye to the old me once and for all. You died
to get me out of this stuff - and beginning today, I am
Yours ... all Yours!"
"The Race To Save Lives"
It's got to be one of the most unique sporting events in the
world - it's the Iditarod, the ultimate sled dog race in the world This past
year, 68
teams lined up for the historic 1,000-mile race from Anchorage, Alaska, to Nome. Of
course, it didn't start as a sporting competition. It started in
1925 when the stakes were much higher than a cash prize - it was the lives of countless
children in Nome who had been exposed to the dread disease,
diphtheria. The only serum to fight it in Alaska was in faraway Anchorage. It
had to get to Nome in the shortest time possible. And it
was carried in an amazing, Pony Express-like relay by one dog team after another. It
took twenty drivers, some of whom braved mountain ranges,
brutal weather, a merciless gale. But on February 2 - only 127 hours after the first
team left - the last driver arrived in Nome with his tired dog
team and 300,000 units of life-saving serum.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Race To Save Lives."
Originally, that's what the Iditarod was. But what was once a
life-saving mission is today just an activity. They're still racing on the same
course
- but they're not racing to save lives anymore. Like many of us followers of
Jesus. Like many of our churches, many of our ministries.
Oh, we're racing, all right. But not to save lives. There's
a lot of activity and excitement - but it's not about rescuing people who will die
if we don't get to them. But that's what we're supposed to be about. At least
according to our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs
24:11-12. God's orders are, "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?'"
As we begin to see the unreached people around us through the eyes of
Jesus, we begin to realize that they are the ones "being led away to
death." Listen to some of the words God uses to describe the people around you
who don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ - they're "lost" (Luke
19:10) … "separated from God" (Isaiah 59:2)…"perishing" (I
Corinthians 1:18) ... "without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians
2:12) ...
and ultimately those who "will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out
from the presence of the Lord." (II Thessalonians 1:9) Not
because God wants it that way - He sent His Son to die so they don't have to. But
they don't know that yet.
But that's why God has placed you where you are - where you work, where
you go to school, where you live, where you recreate. He's put you there
to get the "life-saving serum" of the Good News about Jesus to them ... to help
some of those people around you be in Heaven with you!
So maybe you're busy in the Christian race, but you - or your ministry
- has forgotten the life-saving purpose of the race. And God is calling you
to see the "dyingness" of the people within your reach ... to see that He has
positioned you to be the one to rescue them. And it is a race -
because every day they live without Christ, they move one step closer to an eternity
without Him.
But you're there. And you have the serum. You have nothing
more important to do with the rest of your life than to deliver life to those who will die
if you don't.
"The Secret Of Staying Healthy."
Recently we had a wave of nasty infections going
through our area - and our team. Thank the Lord, I have not been one who got knocked
out for a week or more by this bug. And I am very grateful for all the people who
pray for me - that's got to be a big reason why I'm still going strong. Of course, I
try to do what I can to stay healthy. I've concluded that one of the biggest things
you can do to keep from getting sick is simply to wash your hands frequently. So I
do. Wherever I travel, I take my trusty towelettes and my liquid disinfectant.
We're picking up germs that could infect us all day long - it's a good idea to wash
your hands regularly.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Secret Of Staying Healthy."
The fact is, we live in a world where we're surrounded by plenty of
spiritual germs, as well. And the secret of spiritual health is the same as physical
health - frequent washing. Not hand-washing, but heart-washing!
Our word for today from the Word of God explains the importance of our
staying spiritually uncontaminated. And it may be a reminder to some of us
that we've become dangerously careless about staying clean. In II Corinthians 6,
beginning in verse 16, Paul reminds us that "we are the temple of the living God ...
as God has said, 'I will be their God, and they will be My people ... Therefore, come out
from them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing and I will
receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,' says
the Lord Almighty."
What an awesome position you have if you belong to Jesus Christ!
God lives in you ... you are "His people" ... you're a prince or princess, a son
or daughter of the King! So live like it! And II Corinthians 7:1 tells you how
to do that - "Since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything
that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for
God." Keep washing your heart, keep washing your mind, from anything that could
contaminate you - you're His temple, remember!
So we need to stop regularly and wash away any contaminating attitude
or conversation or thought or action we've picked up. If you tell anything
less than the truth, correct it immediately before it becomes an entrenched infection.
If you speak a harsh word, make it right immediately - don't let it fester in your
heart or their heart. If you allow a lustful thought to take over the stage in your
mind, don't dwell on it - confess it and replace it right away with thoughts about Jesus.
If you find yourself thinking proudly about something you've done, get rid of it
quickly and give all the glory to the God who gave you everything you have and everything
you are. If you're watching or listening to something that is unpleasing to God,
turn it off right away.
The alternative is spiritual infection. It's carelessness about
staying clean that can cost you your physical health and, yes, your spiritual health.
And we get careless when we forget who we are - God's temple, God's people, God's
son, God's daughter. He says, "Don't touch any unclean thing."
Remember who you are.
Life is so much more enjoyable when you're healthy. And you're
likely to stay spiritually healthy a lot more if you practice frequent heart-washing
- or, as the Bible says, "purifying yourself from everything that contaminates."
"Slowly Losing Ground"
Almost fifty years ago, my wife's
grandparents bought fifteen acres of farmland and built a little house on it. Today,
that house and that land
belong to Karen and me - well, actually to Karen - she's kind enough to let me live there
with her. Our deed still says fifteen acres. The tax bill
still says fifteen acres every year. But we only have thirteen acres. See,
over the years as tenants occupied the property, the land was
slowly encroached on - a little by the county for the road in front of our house, a little
by a neighbor. The missing acres weren't suddenly gobbled
up - they were more like nibbled away. No one was there to stop the encroachment
that came so slowly - but surely - and it took away what the
family once had.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Slowly Losing Ground."
When you lose ground gradually, it can happen without your even realizing
it - until sometimes it's too late to get back what you've
lost. Especially if the ground your losing is spiritual ground - if it's your
character . . . your integrity . . . or your rightness with God.
That process of spiritual erosion is described in our word for today
from the Word of God in Psalm 1:1-3. Notice the three positions a believer can
have when it comes to the pressures and temptations around him. "Blessed is the
man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the
way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the
Lord and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a
tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not
wither. Whatever he does prospers."
I want to be that person, don't you? "Planted" -
stable, consistent . . . "fruitful" - your life is really making a difference .
. . "he prospers" -
you're blessed in all you're doing. But in order to have that kind of life, you have
to take your stand against the insidious encroachment of sin
in your life. And I can guarantee you, right now there are pressures on you to
compromise some part of the ground you've gained since you met
Christ - or maybe you've already lost some of that ground.
Psalm 1 suggests that you first just "walk" through the
compromise zone - you're around it. But eventually you are "standing" there -
you've stopped and you're consciously or unconsciously flirting with something sinful -
just "a little," of course. But ultimately, we end up "sitting"
in that
sin - settled into doing the wrong thing, probably rationalizing and excusing it every
step of the way.
I've just painted a picture of someone who's listening right
now. Actually, God has painted that picture. You've been allowing
creeping compromise - in your business practices, in your sexual standards, in the
priority of your family, in your telling nothing but the truth, in a habit you had beaten,
or in what you watch or listen to, maybe in the priority of your personal time with Jesus.
The encroachment has all happened so gradually that you've hardly noticed
what you've lost. But day by day, you're losing more and more of what you can't
afford to lose.
Satan doesn't usually wreck a life by a sin explosion - he does it
through erosion. You're allowing things you wouldn't have allowed in your life,
say a year or two ago. You're becoming numb, desensitized to things that break the heart
of Jesus. Your radar is off…your defenses are down…the
encroachment of sin, the encroachment of Satan is slowly taking away what Jesus died to
give you.
It's time for you to, as the Bible says, "Take your stand against
the devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:11). Look at the ground you've lost -
probably through neglect and carelessness. And start fighting back - you have so
much to lose if you don't.
"Finishing Your Race"
It was the end of the day at the 1968 Mexico City
Olympics - only a few thousand spectators were in the stadium as the last of the marathon
runners
were carried off in exhaustion to the first-aid stations. More than an hour earlier
and Ethiopian runner had been the first to cross the finish line in this grueling 26-mile
event. As the remaining spectators prepared to leave, they were stopped by the sound
of sirens going off and policemen blowing whistles. There, entering the stadium came
a lone figure wearing the colors of Tanzania - his name was John Akhwari. He was the
last man to finish the marathon.
His leg was bloodied and bandaged, and he grimaced with each step.
He had severely injured his knee in a fall, but painfully, he hobbled around the
400-meter track. The spectators who were still there just got to their feet and
applauded as if the were the winner. After he crossed the finish
line in excruciating pain, he was asked why he hadn't quit when he had no chance of
winning a medal. His answer: "My country did not send me 7,000
miles away to start the race. They sent me 7,000 miles to finish it."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Finishing Your Race."
When God wanted to give us a mental picture of our life and our service
for Him, He used an Olympic image - running a race. And you've been
running the race He set out for you - but you've been hurt . . . you're running with pain
. . . you've been disappointed . . . you're bloodied and
bandaged. And you may be tempted to drop out of the race. But you haven't
reached the finish line yet.
The great Apostle Paul must have felt that way many times. But we
have this report from the finish line - it's in our word for today from the Word
of God in II Timothy 4:5-8. He starts out addressing his next generation leader,
Timothy - who's been hammered, discouraged, and considering
quitting. "Keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an
evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry."
"For I am already being poured out like a drink offering . . .
" Just imagine an Olympic runner, collapsing as he crosses the finish line,
having
given all he had to give in the race. "I have fought the good fight, I have
kept the faith, I have finished the race. Now there is in store for
me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord . . . will award to me."
The problem with too many of us is that we run hard for a while - but
we quit before the end of the race - when Jesus has called us to be that lone
runner who knows he or she was put here to finish the race, no matter how painful it is.
Maybe you're one of those exhausted runners on Team Jesus
who says, "Look, I served my time . . . I worked very hard for the cause . . . I'll
just step aside and let others do the running now." Listen - in
the service of Jesus Christ, there is no such thing as early retirement! God may
change your assignment, but He'll never leave you
without one until the day you see Him!
Maybe you've been tempted to quit an assignment God has given you - and
He's coming to you right now saying, "Finish the race." Run with
everything you've got, not halfheartedly. Remember, He gave everything He had in His
race to rescue you - and even though He was beaten and bloody,
Jesus didn't quit until He had crossed the finish line. Run the whole race - He'll
be waiting to embrace you as you cross that finish line for Him.
"Hugging The Furniture"
Our last major move, as a family, was almost 30 years ago, but I still remember my
daughter's reaction. She was just a baby then. We had
loaded everything we owned into this moving van, and then we spent three weeks on the
road. When we finally arrived at our apartment in New Jersey,
the movers were already unloading our furniture. As our living room slowly began to
take shape, Baby Lisa began going to each piece of furniture. She
would hug it, caress it lovingly, and then she'd say things like, "love couch . . .
love chair." We had no idea she was so attached to those things!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Hugging The Furniture."
It was kind of cute how Lisa was so
attached to those things - how they were obviously part of her security. Now you and
I are all grown up,
of course, but we may have become pretty attached to some of our life's furniture, too -
and it isn't cute.
Our word for today from the Word of God,
I John 2:15-17. "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If
anyone loves the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of
sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he
has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its
desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."
Now here's God's message: Don't get too
attached to the things of this world - they can pull you off course. That happened
to one of Paul's
close associates named Demas. In II Timothy 4:10, Paul says, "Demas, because he
loved this world, has deserted me." Actually, Demas had
deserted Jesus and His work for earth-stuff that he loved too much.
Our mission is to love the Lord . . . to
enjoy the gifts He entrusts to us . . . but to always be ready to relinquish them. I
wonder
if, as God is calling you to make some kind of move for Him, you're saying, "Love
house . . . love car . . . love job . . . love salary . . . love my
music . . . love my position . . . love this location . . . love this relationship."
And you're holding it too tightly. It is making you
unwilling to move, even though your Lord is telling you to make a move.
God's great stories often begin with
someone letting go of something they consider precious. Abraham, leaving his family
and his
lifetime hometown for an unknown place . . . Peter leaving the boat that was his business
. . . Matthew leaving his great job with the government .
. . Jesus leaving the glory of Heaven.
Could it be that the Lord is asking you
to do something for Him that might call for a sacrifice like that? Is He asking you
to be willing
to relinquish an earth-object that you're holding too tightly? It's become a
non-negotiable, hasn't it - a "must have."
When any earth-object or relationship
becomes a deciding or limiting factor in your obedience to God, it has become an idol.
And that
puts you in violation of the First Commandment - no other gods before Him. Maybe
you're not just unwilling to make God's move. Maybe you are
willing to compromise to hang onto this thing, to cut spiritual corners so you won't risk
losing it.
It's "values clarification"
time. Has something or someone taken the place of the Savior who died for you?
Please - choose for the One who
loves you the most. And that is definitely Jesus. When the Lord asks you to
move, to change, or to risk, don't miss where He's taking you because
you're hugging the furniture.
"The Underground Spring"
I first noticed it one day when I was
mowing the lawn - a little dent in the ground. Over a few weeks, that little dent
became a growing
sinkhole. The ground was literally collapsing! I asked a neighbor, who was an
amateur "sinkholeologist," what caused this phenomenon. He told me
it was the drought of rainfall that we had been having. He said an underground
spring had probably dried up. And that dried up the ground,
and the roots above it - and my yard - fell in.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Underground Spring."
Now, when the ground collapses, it can be
because the spring underneath has dried up. That might be happening to you.
Our word for today from the Word of God,
John 7:37 - "Jesus said in a loud voice, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me
and
drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water
will flow from within him.' By this He meant the Spirit, whom
those who believed in Him were later to receive." And they did on the Day of
Pentecost, as have all God's children since then, when they opened their hearts to Christ.
Now, Jesus said He has put this bubbling
source of life inside every believer. And as long as the Spirit-stream is running
strong, you'll
be healthy all the way through. But there are a lot of spiritual sinkholes
developing in believers' lives these days. We all know someone who's
collapsed, and it could be any of us if we neglect the underground spring.
Collapses don't really happen suddenly,
in my yard, or in my life or your life. There's a gradual slowing of the
"spiritual spring" in your
heart, a drying up. Then the drying of the ground. And then one day, suddenly
- but not really suddenly - the collapse.
The point? We have to keep fresh
water flowing into our Spirit-stream! There is no shortcut to spiritual strength.
It's the
product of consistent, day-after-day time spent with the Lord Jesus Christ. It's
that time when you come to your Lord with an open Bible…open
hands to receive what He is ready to give you and to release the sin of the last 24
hours…an open heart, to let Him plant there what He wants to
plant...an open mouth, to pour out your praise and your heart to Him…and an open mind
to let Him help you think His thoughts about your day and your relationships.
But we get busy or lazy. We try to
get by with a sprinkling from the outside. Whatever we can soak up from Christian
radio, Christian TV,
church, youth group, or Bible study group. But it's not enough to nurture the spring
inside. You are what you are because of personal, one-on-one
time with the Lord…or because of the absence of it. It's the accumulated inner
growth of days spent with Jesus that become weeks with Jesus…then
Jesus-months…and, ultimately, Jesus-years.
There's no way to rush that process or to
get a spiritual rush to make up for neglecting it. It's possible that you're drying
up inside without even knowing it. There have been just too many days without
feeding the Spirit-spring inside you. You can't have any of those days back, but you
can start building it up today. You need to be feeding that spring that supports
your soul. If you don't, well, you're destined for a collapse.
After all, it isn't the spiritual
activity that men see that holds you up - it's those daily, intimate times with Jesus that
only you can see
and He can see. But then, it's what's underground that counts.
"Something Damaging
In Your Eye"
Last fall, we were having a fun family outing at a nearby theme park -
until we found out that our grandson Jordan was in the infirmary with his
parents and with the park's emergency medical staff. The problem was that he had
somehow gotten a small metal object in his eye - which resisted all
efforts to remove it. Well, without hesitation, we quickly brought our park outing
to an end and headed for the hospital - where, thankfully, a
specialist was able to remove that object from Jordan's eye. But we had to take it
seriously - he had something potentially damaging in his eye - and
that could affect how he sees things from now on.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Something Damaging In Your Eye."
Sadly, more people than ever are allowing something damaging in their
eye - and it's affecting how they see some things that are too beautiful to
ruin. It's not a pleasant subject, but it's too big an issue to ignore - it's
pornography. You know it's out of control when a recent survey shows
that one out of five pastors is involved with pornography. These days you don't have
to go out and buy a magazine or go to a movie. You can find it
all over the Internet or rent it in a video.
Jesus hasn't changed how He feels about feeding our sexual fantasies.
In Matthew 5 beginning in verse 27, our word for today from the Word of God,
Jesus says, "You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' But I
tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has
already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to
sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose
one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."
Very strong language. Clearly, this really matters to Jesus.
It needs to really matter to us. Jesus told us, "Your eye is the lamp of
your
body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when
they are bad, your whole body also is full of darkness" (Luke
11:34). Jesus says that what we allow in through our eyes affects everything about
us. When what we allow in is distorted and unnatural
sexual images, it's going to affect far more about us than we ever dreamed.
In fact, someone's reading right now who knows how true that is - you
never thought you'd get THIS hooked . . . you never realized how it would
make it almost impossible for you to think about the opposite sex in a right and
respectful way. Pornography horribly distorts God's gift of sex
by detaching sexual desire from a relationship . . . and by causing you to view people
more as things. And it can eat away at your marriage - because
you'll be increasingly less content with your lifetime love, bringing to her the unreal
expectations that have been fueled by twisted fantasies.
If the monster of pornography has invaded your life, it's time to face
the monster - before it does any more damage. Confess it . . . burn all your
bridges to it . . . get some accountability.
Please, get on your knees and pledge with King David - "I will set
before my eyes no vile thing" (Psalm 101:3). And tap into the incredible hope
of
II Corinthians 10:5 - "We take captive every thought to make it obedient to
Christ."
Be done with the shame. Be done with the slavery. When
something damaging is entering your eye, you have to take immediate corrective action
- or it can affect how you see everything from now on. You know that the Son of God
- the Liberator - is the One who made this awesome promise for
you: "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36).
"The Secret Of Staying
Healthy"
Recently we had a wave of nasty infections going
through our area - and our team. Thank the Lord, I have not been one who got knocked
out for a week or more by this bug. And I am very grateful for all the people who
pray for me - that's got to be a big reason why I'm still going strong. Of course, I
try to do what I can to stay healthy. I've concluded that one of the biggest things
you can do to keep from getting sick is simply to wash your hands frequently. So I
do. Wherever I travel, I take my trusty towelettes and my liquid disinfectant.
We're picking up germs that could infect us all day long - it's a good idea to wash
your hands regularly.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Secret Of Staying Healthy."
The fact is, we live in a world where we're surrounded by plenty of
spiritual germs, as well. And the secret of spiritual health is the same as physical
health - frequent washing. Not hand-washing, but heart-washing!
Our word for today from the Word of God explains the importance of our
staying spiritually uncontaminated. And it may be a reminder to some of us
that we've become dangerously careless about staying clean. In II Corinthians 6,
beginning in verse 16, Paul reminds us that "we are the temple of the living God ...
as God has said, 'I will be their God, and they will be My people ... Therefore, come out
from them and be separate,' says the Lord. 'Touch no unclean thing and I will
receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,' says
the Lord Almighty."
What an awesome position you have if you belong to Jesus Christ!
God lives in you ... you are "His people" ... you're a prince or princess, a son
or daughter of the King! So live like it! And II Corinthians 7:1 tells you how
to do that - "Since we have these promises, let us purify ourselves from everything
that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for
God." Keep washing your heart, keep washing your mind, from anything that could
contaminate you - you're His temple, remember!
So we need to stop regularly and wash away any contaminating attitude
or conversation or thought or action we've picked up. If you tell anything
less than the truth, correct it immediately before it becomes an entrenched infection.
If you speak a harsh word, make it right immediately - don't let it fester in your
heart or their heart. If you allow a lustful thought to take over the stage in your
mind, don't dwell on it - confess it and replace it right away with thoughts about Jesus.
If you find yourself thinking proudly about something you've done, get rid of it
quickly and give all the glory to the God who gave you everything you have and everything
you are. If you're watching or listening to something that is unpleasing to God,
turn it off right away.
The alternative is spiritual infection. It's carelessness about
staying clean that can cost you your physical health and, yes, your spiritual health.
And we get careless when we forget who we are - God's temple, God's people, God's
son, God's daughter. He says, "Don't touch any unclean thing."
Remember who you are.
Life is so much more enjoyable when you're healthy. And you're
likely to stay spiritually healthy a lot more if you practice frequent heart-washing
- or, as the Bible says, "purifying yourself from everything that contaminates."
"Treasure In The Trash"
My Mom didn't know it - but, man, did she make a mistake! I know that now because of
my son's long-time interest in baseball card collecting
. . . actually, baseball card investing. He knows what those cards are worth -
especially the rare ones. One card can be worth many hundreds -
even thousands - of dollars. I think I had some of those valuable cards when I was a
kid with players like Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams. Cards
like that are worth big bucks today! Of course, I don't have them anymore.
Sometime when she was moving, my mother threw them away!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today
about "Treasure In The Trash."
My mother had no idea of the value of
what she was throwing away. A lot of people make that same mistake - because they
don't know how
much they're worth. When you've been put down, left out, mistreated, or abandoned -
you can battle feelings of worthlessness your whole life - no
matter how successful you may be. Maybe it's a feeling you may know all too well.
And, tragically, those of us who don't know what we're worth
have a tendency to throw ourselves away - on bad relationships, low goals and
self-destructive choices.
But this very day, the Person who created
you wants to remind you how much you're worth. In Matthew 13:44, our word for today
from the Word
of God, Jesus is telling one of His parables. He says, "The kingdom of heaven
is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it
again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field." The
parable right before this indicates that the field is this
world we live in and the man in the field is Jesus. And the buried treasure?
That's you and me.
It's very possible you've been such a
buried treasure that you don't even know you're a treasure! But Jesus thinks so!
I love one
thought George W. Bush expressed in his Inaugural Address. He said, "No
insignificant person was ever born." God would agree with that! He says
in Ephesians 2:10 that "we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works which God prepared in advance for us to do." So all those
people who have treated you like you're worthless didn't know who you really are - God's
workmanship!
And here's the ultimate proof of how much
Jesus values you. In the words of His parable, "He went out and sold all He
had" so you could
belong to Him. The reason we feel like we're worth so little is ultimately because
we're away from the One who gave us our worth. The Bible describes
us being "without God" (Ephesians 2:12) because we've taken over the running of
our own lives. Notice - the middle letter of sin is "I." All
of our sinning has put a wall between us and the God who made us for Himself.
But when Jesus died on the cross, He was
giving "all He had" to pay the price for all the wrong things you've ever done.
In your heart,
for just a moment, would you walk up that hill the Bible calls Skull Hill and stand
quietly at the foot of that cross where the Son of God is pouring
out His life for you. Look at Him dying for you! You are not worthless!
But you'll never know how valuable you are until you give
yourself to the One who died to buy you back. Which you could do right now, right
where you are. Tell Jesus you want to belong to Him, that the
rest of your life is His. If you want to begin your personal relationship with
Jesus, I want to send you the booklet I wrote about it called "Yours
For Life." Just let me know you want it.
Jesus doesn't want to lose you - that's
why He paid for you with His life. This could be the day you finally belong to the
One who loves
you like you've never been loved before.
"Something Beautiful In The Garbage"
I felt bad for our friend Peter. My wife, Karen, wanted him to raid the garbage for
her. Oh, hey, listen - I've been there many times, believe
me. But this time, as they were driving around, Karen turned to Peter and his wife
for help. They were driving past a gas station when Karen saw it
- a big, green, silk plant, upside down in a dumpster. It was too big for Karen to
fetch, and too good, she thought, to leave there. So, poor Peter,
in his suit and tie, made his way over to that dumpster, looking both directions,
desperately hoping he could be invisible for a couple
minutes. Sure enough, he pulled that thing out of the trash and put it in the back
of our station wagon. This is a very secure man! And about that
trashed plant . . . well, it now greets you as you enter the reception area at our office.
It's a classy-looking, silk ficus plant, my wife tells
me. Karen saw something in it, even though it had been thrown away . . . something
that I would have missed.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Something Beautiful In The Garbage."
Now, if Karen has taught me anything, she has taught me over and over
again that something beautiful can come out of the trash. Actually, a lot
of thing we would have never had, if we hadn't found them in the garbage.
Now, in many ways, our painful times, our suffering times, or our
hurting times feel sort of like the garbage times of our life. There's a lot you
may be going through right now that is anything but beautiful. And yet, some very
beautiful things can come out of that garbage - if you handle
your hurting times like your Savior did.
Our word for today from the Word of God, I Peter 2:21-23.
"Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in His
steps. He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in His mouth. When they
hurled their insults at Him, He did not retaliate. Instead, He
entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly." Jesus showed us how to suffer . .
. how to handle the garbage times in your life.
If He's our example of how to suffer, we need to go back to His cross
to see what that means, and to see what beautiful things can come out of the
garbage. At the cross of Jesus, we find three ways to redeem the hurting times of
our lives. First, as He was undergoing excruciating agony, He
told John to take care of His mother. The first way to redeem your hurting time is
to look out for those you love . . . even if you don't feel like
it. That's what Jesus did.
Our tendency is to become all inward and self-focused when we're going
through a difficult time, which is guaranteed to make it even more
difficult. The "Jesus way" is to look out for the needs of others, when
you're hurting so bad you just want everybody to look out for yours.
In the midst of His pain, Jesus also said, "Father, forgive
them" (Luke 23:34). That's the second way to redeem your hurting times -
forgive those
who hurt you. If Jesus could forgive the people who had nailed Him to that cross,
surely He can give you the grace to forgive the people who have hurt
you. If you don't, the bitterness inside you will do far more damage than any
suffering you're going through.
And remember, Jesus said to the man on the cross next to Him,
"Today, you will be with Me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) There's the third
way to redeem
your hurting time - work on taking someone to Heaven with you. Your suffering time
puts you in the prime position to be living proof of the
difference Jesus makes. Use your pain as your platform to tell someone about the Man
who died for them.
If you'll look out for those you love, and forgive those who hurt you,
and work on taking someone to heaven with you, you'll be in the middle of God's
"garbage miracles." I've watched my wife pull something beautiful out of a
pile of ugly stuff. Well, wait 'til you see God do that with what you're
going through right now.
"The Columbine Inside
Us "
"Another school shooting." It’s becoming so common to us
that the latest incident of campus violence sometimes doesn’t even make it as the
lead
story on the news.
Suddenly another community, often unknown to most of us, explodes into
the headlines - Santee, Williamsport, Littleton. And once again we see those
awful scenes that have become all too familiar students hurriedly evacuating the school
. . . teenagers hugging each other in shocked
disbelief . . . parents waiting tearfully to see if their child will be coming home
tonight . . . heavily armed law enforcement officials occupying
a school like an enemy fortress.
And then there are the “talking heads” all over our TV
screens pontificating about "why." In almost every instance, there has been at
the
violent center of a campus shooting an angry young man or even young woman now. These
“out-of-control” kids are actually a window through which
we can all view an ugly cancer that has emerged in this millennial generation a deep,
seething anger that boils inside of millions of
American young people.
You can hear it in the music they listen to music they feel screams
what is in their soul. You can see it in a recent national survey of 8,600 high
school students - 68% admitted that they had hit recently hit someone because they were
angry - and nearly half said they could get a gun if they
wanted to. If you’re a parent or a teacher, you can see that anger erupting
over and over, often triggered by seemingly "little things."
“Erupting” is a descriptive word for what’s happening. I
remember seeing a towering volcanic mountain when I was in Ecuador. Mt. Antisana is 19,000
feet high! I was amazed when my friend told me that scientists believe that peak used to
be 10,000 feet higher! What happened? Antisana literally blew
its top. The explosion probably didn’t last long, but the damage the explosion left
is there for good.
That’s what happens when a young “volcano” enters a high
school with a
gun, driven by the anger of rejection or family pain there is an awful explosion that
doesn’t last long but the damage left by that eruption
will scar him and many others for the rest of their lives.
Most of us don’t erupt in the kind of violence that ends up on the
front pages, leaving physical victims behind. But many of us know about the
volcano inside. As one teenager told me, “There’s a darkness inside me that
scares me.” Most of us know about “the darkness inside” us. And,
tragically, so do the people we care about.
The ones we hurt the most are the people we love the most. Our weapon
is not a gun . . . we do our damage with our angry words and reactions. As the
Bible says, “The tongue has the power of life and death” (Proverbs 18:21). The
eruptions don’t last long but, like the explosion scars on a
mountain, the damage our anger has done to people we love may last for years. Often, they
are being wounded by long-accumulating anger in us, much
of which may have little to do with them.
When I think of the darkness inside me, I can understand on a very
personal level what one of the writers of the Bible said: “What I want to
do I do not do, but what I hate I do…the evil I do not want to do this I keep on
doing” (Romans 7:15, 19). We hate the animal inside us . . . the
people we love hate the animal inside us but, like this Bible writer, we seem powerless
to tame it.
But it doesn’t have to be like it has always been. The same man
who wrote about his out-of-control dark side went on to ask the liberating question:
“Who will rescue me?” “Rescue” means I am in a situation I cannot get
myself out of and my only hope is a rescuer. When it comes to the dark side the
“sin” inside us hope is available. In the form of the Rescuer from heaven. As
the Bible writer says, “Who will rescue me . . . thanks be to God through Jesus
Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24, 25).
Jesus came here to tame the animal that the Bible calls sin. It is that
“disease of me” in all of us that insists on running our own lives, having
our own way. God describes it this way: “We all, like sheep, have gone astray; each
of us has turned to his own way” (Isaiah 53:6). This “my way”
living has left us cut off from the God who made us the One whose love and whose plans
we were made for. It isn’t about being or not being
religious. It’s about missing the Relationship we were made for.
Alienated from our Creator, we are adrift on Planet Earth, trying to
fight the monsters inside us with our own resources. And we keep losing. And
people we love keep getting hurt. But there is very good news the Rescuer came. He went
all the way to a cross to beat the animal of sin that has
poisoned our world and our lives for so long. After pointing out that we have all gone our
own way instead of God’s way, the Bible says, “The Lord
has laid on Him (that’s Jesus) the wrongdoing of us all” (Isaiah 53:6).
There would be no hope of ever being different if Jesus didn’t
love you so much. But because He does, He offered Himself as the victim of the ugliest
act of violence in human history - the crucifixion of the Son of God. He loved you enough
to take the rap for every wrong thing, every selfish
thing, every hurtful thing you’ve ever done when He died on the cross. And now He
stands ready to forgive you completely and bring His power into your
life to beat what has always beaten you.
But you have to grab the Rescuer. You have to pin all your hopes on Him
to be your personal Rescuer from your personal sin . . . to be the One who
will dismantle the wall between you and God and who will get you to heaven when you die.
Your rescue can begin right now, right where you are as you
tell Jesus, “Your death for my sin is my only hope, Lord. Beginning now, I am
Yours.”
And that’s when the miracle inside you begins a miracle that
can only be accomplished by the One who could calm a storm with His command. The same
Jesus who spoke a calming “Peace! Be still!” to a deadly storm one day will
speak His peace to the storm inside you. And the darkness inside you will
be yesterday’s news.
You can belong to God today on if you will tell Him with all your
heart: "Lord, I’ve been running my own life, but I resign as
of today. I was made
by You... I was made for you, but I’ve been living for me. I’m sorry for that
self-rule You call sin. But I believe Your Son Jesus Christ paid my
death penalty when He died on the cross. And right now I am turning from a life of
"my way" and I am putting all my trust in Jesus Christ to erase my
sin from Your book, to give me a relationship with You, and to get me to heaven. Lord,
from today on, I’m Yours."
"Missing Him"
When Lee Stroebel writes a book, he brings to it all the skills and the
disciplines he learned as a journalist. Lee was a respected reporter -
and, by the way, an atheist. Today, he is a powerful representative of Jesus Christ
and a leader in evangelism. While preparing for a recent
book, Lee interviewed a wide variety of noted people to get their perspective on Christ.
One was a man who was a gifted evangelist in the
1940s, a man whose ministry actually paralleled Billy Graham's - a man who was known by
millions and expected to have a ministry like Billy Graham has
had. But after attending a liberal seminary to get more education, he shocked the
Christian world by abandoning his faith. His media career in
Canada has given him a lot of notoriety - and he has often used that platform to express
his unbelief.
Lee went to interview this now elderly man. When he was asked
about things such as his belief in the Old Testament, he clearly expressed why he
didn't believe. Finally, Lee asked him, "What do you think about Jesus?"
He could have never expected the response he got. Suddenly, the
old man 'teared up.' And struggling to answer through those tears, he simply
replied, "I . . . miss Him."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Missing Him."
For just a moment, set aside all the creeds . . . the institutions . .
. the theological systems . . . the rituals . . . the meetings - most of
which are important spiritual resources. But for a moment, set aside all the
Christianity. And when you strip away all that, you're down to the
central meaning of it all - it's all about Jesus. It's all about either being close
to Him - or missing Him.
The twelve men Jesus picked as His inner circle missed a lot that Jesus
was trying to teach them - but they didn't miss the central issue. That's
obvious in our word for today from the Word of God. In John 6, we're at a turning
point in the ministry of Jesus. Vast multitudes are following
Jesus, no matter where He goes. Then He confronts them with the fact that this is
going to be about more than miracles and meetings - it's going to
involve the shedding of blood, the laying down of His life, and a price tag for those who
follow Him.
John 6:66 - "From this time many of His disciples turned back and
no longer followed Him. 'You do not want to leave, too, do you?' Jesus asked
the twelve. Simon Peter answered Him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the
words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy
One of God.'" See, they knew it was all about Jesus. And that He was the
only One with anything that would last, that was worth living and dying for.
That's what Jesus was saying when He repeatedly said to people,
"Follow Me." He didn't say "Follow My religion" or "Follow
My followers" or
"Follow My rules" - He said, "Follow Me." It's all about
Jesus. And if you know someone who's away from Him right now, here's how to pray for
them
- "Lord Jesus, help them realize how much they miss You." And as God gives
you opportunity, remind them of how it was when they were close to Him.
Maybe you're away from Him. Satan would love to keep your focus
on the Christians who hurt you or the hypocrites who turned you off or the sin
that's taken you away. But it's not Christians you've left or church or some
religious rules - it's Jesus you've left! Remember how it felt when
you were close to Him? Don't you miss Him?
You don't have to miss Him one more day. Like the father of the
Prodigal Son, He's waiting for you to come home to Him. There's nothing you've done
that He didn't take care of on the cross. And His love is unconditional. If
you could literally hear His voice where you are right
now, here's what you'd hear Him saying, "I miss you. Come home. . . come
home."
"The Word For EVERY Day"
We were at the dinner table the other night with
our daughter, our son-in-law, and our two-year old grandson Jordan. Those are
usually times
when we get to catch up on Jordan's latest exploits and his vocabulary explosion.
Mommy asked our grandson a question I had never heard her ask
him before - "Jordan, honey - what's the word for today?" For a minute, I
thought she was asking him about his grandfather's radio program. But it
was actually not that. It was quiet at the table and we all waited to see what was
the word for today. Jordan raised his eyebrows a little and
answered this way - "Obey." I've heard his parents ask him since then what
the word for today is on other days. The answer is always the same -
"obey."
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to
have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Word For EVERY Day."
I
can almost picture God asking you and me, "My child - what's the word for
today?" The right answer always is - say it with me now - "obey."
I've often wondered what it was about old
Simon Peter that caused Jesus to make Peter His "main man." It couldn't
have been his consistency
- he was all over the map. It sure wasn't his dependability - he denied Jesus in the
hour when Jesus needed him the most. But there was one trait
in Simon Peter that Jesus loved - and with all our imperfections and our failures, it's
what Jesus is looking for in you and me, too.
The heart of a true disciple of Jesus is
on display for us in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 5:5. Peter, the
veteran
fisherman, has been out all night fishing, and he's caught nothing. Then, in the
heat of the day, after he's already cleaned his nets, Jesus tells
Simon Peter to "put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch."
And Luke 5 says, "Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all
night and haven't caught anything.' (Translation: "Doing what You say makes
absolutely no sense to me.") 'But because You say so, I will let
down the nets for a catch.'" And he caught more fish than he'd ever seen in his
life!
If you ask Peter what the word for today
is, he's going to say what our grandson says - "Obey." Peter did a lot of
things wrong - but the
one thing that qualified him for spiritual greatness was that he did what Jesus said -
whether or not it felt good, whether or not it made sense, no
matter how it looked. So he fished when there seemed to be no reason to - just
because Jesus said to. He stepped out of the boat and walked on water
- just because Jesus said to. He went to Gentiles with the Gospel when he cringed at
the thought - just because Jesus said to.
And right now, obeying is what Jesus is
waiting for from you. There's a relationship He's telling you to mend . . . a sin
He's
telling you to forsake . . . baggage He's telling you to face . . . a mission He's telling
you to carry out for Him . . . some lost people He's
telling you to go to with His Good News. And you're real busy for Him . . . you're
making sacrifices for Him… you're reading your Bible . . . you're
praying - but you're not obeying. Not in that area of your life that you're
stubbornly running your way.
When King Saul disobeyed God's order, he
tried to placate God with sacrifices and spiritual words. God's word to him may be
God's word to you
right now: "To obey is better than sacrifice." (I Samuel 15:22) God would
rather have you just do what He says than all the stuff you're doing for Him.
"Trust and obey - for there's no
other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey."
When it comes to following Jesus, the
word for today is always "obey."
"The Mirror Difference"
Not long after I got up this morning, I
looked in the bathroom mirror…and it wasn't very pretty. My hair had exploded
during the night . . . there
were whiskers that needed shaving . . . there were several repairs that need to be made.
Maybe you have the same kind of experience when you look
in the mirror in the morning - you ask yourself, "How in the world could six hours do
so much damage?" Usually, what you see in the mirror involves
more than just information - "Oh man! Look at that skin! Look at that
hair!" No, no, no - it calls for transformation! You see what you
really
look like - and you go to work on it!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Mirror Difference."
When God talks about His Word, He uses some interesting analogies -
it's a lamp, it's a washing, it's a hammer . . . and it's a mirror! And it's
supposed to have the same effect on our lives that a mirror has on our appearance!
Here's how God describes it in James 1:22 and the verses that follow in
our word for today from the Word of God: "Do not merely listen to the
word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the
Word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face
in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks
like. But the man who looks intently into the
perfect law that gives freedom . . . not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it - he
will be blessed in what he does."
That's a great picture. One man looks in the mirror, sees the
work that needs to be done, and says, "Hmm - what do you know!" and walks away
looking the same. The other man sees what needs to be done and goes to work on it!
And so it is with each of us as we open our Bible and read
what God has to say there. We're supposed to read, not just for information, but for
transformation.
It isn't just about you reading the Bible - it's about you letting the
Bible read YOU! Until you've done that each day, you have missed the point
of reading the Bible in the first place. It's not just doing your Christian duty.
Why look in the mirror if you're not going to change
anything? Why look in the Bible if you're not going to change anything? Some
people are working on a "Read Through the Bible" program -
and that can be a great exercise. But remember, it's not about how much you read -
it's about how much you obey!
There is nothing more vital to your following Christ than getting
personal direction from Him each day through His words. You may be reading the
Bible - but are you letting the Bible read you? Before you read, ask God, the Author
of what you're about to read, to take His words and help you
apply them to something specific that you know you're going to face today. Those
verses in James talk about "not forgetting" what you
discovered. So in order to do that keep a Jesus-journal where you write two things
each day - what God said to you, in your own words . . . and
what you're going to do differently today because of what you read. Remember, He
said do what it says, otherwise you are deceiving yourselves.
That's the road to spiritual consistency, to steady growth, and to
experiencing the reality of Jesus every day. Look in God's spiritual
mirror every morning - and do something about what God shows you in that mirror. If
you do, I'll guarantee you, you are going to be looking better
all the time!
"Fighting The Cold"
” It's amazing how you can go outside on a brutally
cold winter day, and you go from shivering to sweating in a few minutes. If you just
stand around
in the cold or just move around a little bit, you're not going to stay outside for long.
It's just too frigid out there! But in a very short
time you can get to where you barely even notice the cold - just start shoveling snow, or
some other vigorous activity. Not long ago my wife was
out in the middle of a snowstorm, working on some outside chores, and she told me,
"It is amazing how you can work up a sweat on a day like this!"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Fighting The Cold."
When you're exercising, the cold really doesn't affect you much.
That's a very important equation for Christians living in times like these - because
Jesus said it was going to get really chilly among His children.
In our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is describing the
days that will precede His return. Now, I can't tell when those "last
days" are
going to be, but I can tell that the world has never looked so much like the kind of world
Jesus said He would return to than our world looks
today. As time runs shorter for Planet Earth, Jesus' prediction of how His followers
would live seems to be more and more true.
Notice: two groups of believers in these important times. Pick
your group - you are in one of them. In Matthew 24, beginning in verse 12, Jesus
says, "Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most (that's most
believers, by the way) will grow cold." Alright, there's group one - the
cold. That's the group Jesus said most believers would be in. Living in a
world where sin is permeating everything, in a world where sin becomes
everyday stuff, most Christians will just turn spiritually cold. Amazing! At
the time when Jesus needs them to be fully engaged in
the decisive spiritual battles going on around them, they go cold.
But some believers are going to be fighting the cold - with some
important spiritual exercise, and they are group two. Jesus says that at the same
time sin is exploding across the world and into people's lives, "This Gospel of the
Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to
all nations, and then the end will come." Okay, there they are - the bold!
These are the believers who have checked the stadium clock, they can
tell it's late in the game - and they're going for broke to get the Good News about Jesus
to as many people as possible.
So where are you in this picture? Are you getting colder - or
bolder? Are you pursuing your Kingdom or Jesus' Kingdom? Living in a
sin-saturated world, it's easy to grow numb - especially numb to the lostness, the
dyingness of the people around us. To care only about that
which affects your personal world - and not much about the world for whom Jesus gave His
life.
I believe Jesus is summoning many of us to join Him in an all-out
effort to rescue as many dying people as possible in the time we've got
left. He's asking you to throw yourself totally - your influence, your money, your
home, your talents, and your time - into the greatest cause in
the universe.
If you're not in the bold, you're part of the cold. But your
heart and your life will warm up fast with some exercise - fighting for the eternal
souls of people that Jesus thought were worth dying for.
"Renewing Fire"
This past summer - like so many summers before it
- the lead story on America's news was often about those fires raging in the west.
Millions of
acres were destroyed by fires that raged for weeks on end. Those fires brought a lot
of bad news. But fires like these aren't all bad news. Now,
there's no doubt they cause tremendous damage - but they also, over the long haul, produce
a lot of new life. Somehow, nature renews itself with
fire - a lot of old and dead stuff is burned away, new vegetation begins to grow, and new
life begins to spring up.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Renewing Fire."
God seems to have established
this principle in His world - the fire that destroys also renews. If you're going
through the fire right now, that
might be something very important for you to remember. If you don't, all you'll see
is the damage and you'll lose any sense of hope.
It may be that a fire has burned through your family recently . . .
maybe your church . . . your business . . . maybe your relationships . . . maybe
your health. And there is no doubt that the fire took away a lot. There's no
denying the damage and pain from the fire, but that is never the whole
story.
In I Peter 1:6-7, our word for today from the Word of God, we get a
little of our Heavenly Father's perspective on the fires of our lives. He says,
"For a little while, you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold,
which perishes even though refined by fire - may be proved genuine and may result in
praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
God describes our trials as "fire." And the fire is
only applied here to something really valuable - gold. Also, the fire isn't forever
- it's "for
a little while." And notice what the purpose of the fire is - not to destroy
the gold but to "refine" the gold…to get out the impurities…and to
increase its value.
That's a God's-eye view of the fire you're in right now. He
thinks you're worth purifying, improving, and getting ready for greater things. But
first, the fire. The fire that has taken away so much can also bring new life, if
you'll stay close to God in the fire and not wander away from Him.
What kind of new life does God bring out the flames? For one
thing, He helps us focus the rest of our life on the things that really
matter. Everything in our lives goes in one of two columns - the stuff that
matters and the stuff that doesn't. And a lot of times we get those
confused. The times of struggle and loss help us get everything in the right
columns. So many people emerge from the fire more committed to the
eternal than ever before.
The fire often forces you to sort out where your identity is really
anchored - not in your job, nor in your title, nor your performance, nor
your appearance, but in your "unloseable" relationship with Jesus Christ.
The flames often drive you to a new closeness with the people you
love . . . sometimes they cleanse your schedule from years of accumulation . . . and they
can draw you deeper into your Lord than you ever thought you
could go.
Yes, the fire destroys. But, thank God, that's not the
end of the story. The fire also renews!
"The Pain That Heals You"
It was a beautiful day for a football game, and I
was on the sidelines, as usual, helping out our high school team. Somebody came to
me and said, “I
think you need to go over to the other field your son is injured.” Our
12-year old, Doug, had been playing a pickup game of football on the
softball field. He came up to me in obvious pain, holding out an arm that was
obviously badly broken. I’ll never forget the scene or the feeling
in the emergency room that day as the doctor worked to set an arm broken in multiple
places. The process was horribly painful I watched my son
battling to endure some of the most excruciating pain he’s ever experienced. I
felt like the doctor was doing it to me! It was very, very
painful but that’s what it took to fix what was broken.
Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today
about “The Pain That Heals You.”
There was a way Doug could have avoided the pain of repairing his arm
he could have said, “That will hurt too much. I think I’ll just leave
it
broken.” Which would have led to pain his whole life, not to mention having an
important part of him that would never work. We’d never think of
leaving a broken bone broken just because the healing process was painful. But many
folks do that their whole lives with what’s broken
inside them.
Some people suffer a lifetime because they keep avoiding the pain of a healing time.
When there’s been wounds and mistakes and hurt in your past,
it’s natural to just want to bury it, to live in denial, to hope that ignoring it
will make it go away. It never does. And it may be that God
has brought us together today to encourage you to deal with what’s broken inside you
to do what you have to do however much the process hurts
to finally experience some healing.
Some of Jesus’ most quoted words are in our word for today from
the Word of God in John 8:32 and they can be applied to this whole area of missing
healing because the process will hurt too much. Jesus said, “You will know the
truth, and the truth will set you free.” Sometimes, we live as if it
says, “You will know the truth, and the truth will scare you to death.”
Or, “the truth will hurt too much.” It’s hard to face the truth
when the truth hurts. But it hurts much more not to face the truth. Just like
not getting a broken bone fixed because it will hurt.
Jesus said that dealing with the truth leads to freedom. And
then, in verse 36, He makes this powerful promise “If the Son sets you free, you
will be free indeed.” That’s what Jesus wants to do for you set you
free
from being pursued and defined by the pain of your past. It’s hard
to face the painful truth about a marriage . . . about the abuse
you’ve been through . . . about a broken relationship . . . about a family secret . .
. about your own weaknesses and failures. But the truth is the
only thing that will set you free. It’s time to find a counselor or spiritual
leader you can trust to walk through the pain with you someone
who has the ability to help you understand it, to confront it, to help you come up with a
practical plan for healing. Maybe you need to make every
effort to repair a broken relationship. Maybe there’s someone you need to
forgive. Maybe there’s someone you need to ask for forgiveness.
It will hurt to revisit, to walk through, to remember the pain but
walk through it one more time so you don’t have to carry it around with you the
rest of your life. You’ve left it broken long enough. The process of
getting it fixed may hurt but it can relieve you of a lot more pain for
the rest of your life!
"The Mess You Didn't Expect"
Our grandson Jordan, age two, is a happy little
handful. He's definitely happy - and he's definitely a handful. Like the other
day, for
instance. His Mom left the living room for just a moment to get something from the
refrigerator. It was such a short time - oh, but time enough for
Jordan to get the cap off a blue marker and go to work. When our daughter returned,
Jordan had redecorated - himself! There he stood, covered with
blue marker all over his head, his face, his arms, his hands. His Mom took him into
the bathroom to look at himself. His reaction was short and to
the point. When he realized what he had done to himself, he put his hands on his
face, shook his head, and he just kept on saying, "Oh no! Oh no!"
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have a WORD WITH YOU today about
"The Mess You Didn't Expect."
Our grandson had no idea what he was doing to himself while he was
enjoying his binge with the marker. I've done that - so have you - not
with a marker, but with some sin we've gotten into. We enjoy what we're doing at the
time, totally oblivious to the awful mess it's going to
be. Until one day we look at ourselves and say, "Oh no! Oh no!"
In our word for today from the Word of God, He exposes what Paul Harvey
calls "the rest of the story" when it comes to sin. Sin only advertises
the pleasure, not the pain that results; the glitz, but not the guilt . . .
the benefits but not the bondage. So in James 1:14-15, God gives us the
anatomy of a spiritual disaster. "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."
To summarize, first sin fascinates you - then it assassinates you.
When you're being tempted to go out of bounds - to compromise the truth, to get
sexually involved, to get even, to abandon a commitment, to watch or listen to something
dirty - whatever the temptation, in the "desire" stage, all
you can see is all the "good" things about going that way. But when the
"want to" turns into sinful actions, you are in the inevitable death-cycle
that sin leads to. Sin always kills! It kills your reputation . . . your close
relationships . . . people's trust in you. It kills your
self-respect . . . sometimes your work or ministry . . . and it destroys your closeness to
God.
So ultimately, you will end up looking at what your sin has harvested
and saying, "Oh no." But by then it's too late. The mess is made,
the damage
is done. The way to avoid the scars and the awful consequences is to believe what
God says about that spiritual detour that looks so appealing -
it will lead to death! Sin always takes you farther than you ever thought you'd go .
. . it keeps you longer than you ever thought you'd stay . . .
and it costs you far more than you ever dreamed you'd pay.
Like our grandson discovered, the fun lasts just a moment; the marks
that it leaves last much, much longer. So right now, make up your mind to slam
the door on that compromise, that giving in, that sin. It may look like fun . . . it
may look like it will meet a need . . . you're tempted to ignore your conscience, your
upbringing, your Bible. Don't do it. What looks so good will do so much
damage. You never realize what your sin is
doing to you until the marks of sin's consequences are all over everything.
"Alaska in Your Heart"
Christmas must be kind of hard in Northern Alaska
- it's basically dark the entire Christmas season!
Then again, maybe it's pretty dark for you this Christmas. It's
like Alaska in your heart. Maybe you've lost someone . . . or the future's
uncertain . . or you feel guilty over some mistake you've made . . .maybe a deep
loneliness or depression. You're handling by yourself what you
were never meant to handle alone. God wants to move in closer to you than you've
ever experienced in your life.
Here's what the Bible says happens when Jesus comes - "The
people living in darkness have seen a great light" (Matthew 4:16).
Jesus is waiting to do that for you. He died to close the sin-gap between you and God. All
the lights went out for Jesus at the cross - so you would never be alone in the dark
again.
A religion won't do it - you need a relationship with Jesus. If you
want to begin that relationship, just call us at 1-888-NEED HIM. Or, to find out
more about how to begin this relationship with Jesus Christ, check out "Yours for
Life" at http://www.gospelcom.net/rhm/yours/yours4a.htm
It's been dark long enough. It doesn't have to be dark one more day.
"Your All-Access
Pass"
Not long ago I spoke for a major youth event where they featured
several very popular contemporary Christian bands. And teenagers love to get close
to their heroes - even to find a way to get backstage or to their ready room. Let me
assure you, speakers have no such problem, it's the
bands. Anyway, the organizers had to think through security - like who would
be allowed to go into which area. But because I was the speaker, I
wore one of those coveted trophies at any stage event - the all-access pass.
Security people would glance at those door-opening words, "all
access," and they'd wave me right through. You can go anywhere and everywhere
with one of those things!
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Your All-Access Pass."
You may never have worn an all-access pass in your life - but if you
belong to Jesus Christ, you possess the most valuable all-access pass in
the universe. God has hung a pass around your neck that allows you to walk into the
Throne Room from which the universe is governed - anytime. In
fact, you have priority clearance.
The door to God and His Throne Room is called prayer. And when
Jesus tore down the wall between God and us on the cross, He opened the way for total
access to all the resources of heaven! But often our prayers sound as if we have
forgotten the awesome position we are in - we pray these lame,
predictable, earth-sized prayers that sound like we only have access to some little
spiritual closet!
Hebrews 4:16 says we can come boldly to God's throne of grace - and our
word for today from the Word of God, II Corinthians 9:8, describes the
incredible resources that gives us access to. It says, "God is able to make all
grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having
all that you need, you will abound in every good work." Talk about
comprehensive coverage! Access to all of God's grace . . . so you can have
everything you need in every situation to do what's right. Are you praying like
that? Or are you worrying, scheming, hesitating, or even disobeying
instead of using your all-access pass?
What does that give you access to? Listen to Philippians 4:19 -
"My God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ
Jesus." You have a pass to the unlimited resources of the Jesus-Fund in heaven
- which has all the resources your situation requires - financially,
emotionally and physically. How about James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks
wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all . . ." For every
phone call, every parental challenge, every decision, every response - your all-access
pass opens up the very wisdom of God Himself to guide you to the
right thing. Or Hebrews 4:16, the "come boldly" verse, that promises
"grace to help you in your time of need." All you need to make it through
your storm.
Yes, Jesus has given you an all-access pass to the resources of heaven.
But we live in such unnecessary poverty because we underutilize
what He's made available.
It's time to quit praying in the same old box, coming to God like a
beggar instead of a son or daughter. When you pray, remember who you are . . .
remember the awesome God you're with . . . and dare to trust Him for what the Bible calls
"great and mighty things you do not know" (Jeremiah 33:3).
"Lost But Proud."
It's a familiar scenario. A man is driving
his family on vacation - let's say they're going from Chicago to California. His
wife gently points out
to him that she just saw a sign saying, "Welcome to Kentucky." Kentucky is
definitely not between Chicago and California. Repeatedly, the Mrs.
suggests the Mr. stop and ask directions. Then she says that four-letter word -
"I think we're LOST." But will he stop and ask for
directions? No! Maybe it's something in the male chromosome - like most men,
he's too proud to admit he's lost. And he's probably not going to end
up where he hoped.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
"Lost But Proud."
When it comes to our eternal destination, I think most of us hope to
end up in heaven. But do you know what will keep a lot of people from ending
up where they hope to? Pride. The kind that is just too proud to admit that
you're lost . . . that you can't get there on your own.
There's a powerful picture of this in our word for today from the Word
of God in II Kings 5:1. It's the story of a Syrian general named Naaman who
discovers that he has the incurable disease of leprosy. None of his victories, none
of his fame can help him. So he accepts advice to go to
the prophet Elisha in Israel who prescribes something that is not his idea of how to get
well. "Go wash yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and
your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."
Naaman is furious. He says, "I thought he would surely come
out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot
and cure me of my leprosy." The general had brought money to pay for a cure,
but the prophet wouldn't take it. He had his own idea of how he
could get cured. But if it wasn't God's idea it wouldn't work.. Finally,
"he went down the Bible says and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times,
as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a
young man."
Naaman would go on dying until he swallowed his pride and did it God's
way. You and I go on carrying the death penalty for our sin until we
swallow our pride and come to God His way. Which is to lay aside all our attempts to
get to Him through our own goodness, through our religion,
through our spiritual connections - and to go to the cross of Jesus and let Him wash away
our sins.
And only Jesus can. He said, "No one comes to the Father
except through Me" (John 14:6). That's because there was only one way to
pay your death
penalty - somebody had to die. And Jesus did. We're drowning and we can't
possibly swim to God. Our only hope is Jesus the Rescuer - it's in
abandoning every other hope of heaven and grabbing Him like He's your only hope.
Don't let your pride make you miss heaven - being too proud to admit
you've never really given yourself to Jesus even though everyone thinks you
have . . . too proud to come to your spouse's faith . . . too proud to lay aside depending
on your religion. Let this be your Jesus-day.
If you're ready to put your total trust in Jesus to forgive you and
rescue you, tell Him that now wherever you are. And I'd like to send you the
booklet I wrote about this relationship called 'Yours For Life." Just let
me know you want it, by emailing your name and mailing address to
yoursforlife@hutchcraft.com
If you're too proud to admit you need Him, you'll never end up in
heaven. Pride can literally cost you your soul.
“Sincerely Wrong”
“They were our pilots. It was
our aircraft. The aircraft should not have been on that runway.”
That’s what an executive of Singapore Airlines told
reporters after their Los Angeles-bound jumbo jet crashed on takeoff from Taipei, Taiwan.
It snapped into three pieces and burst into
flames. Eighty-one of the 179 passengers aboard died in that crash. It was a
crash that never should have happened. The pilot somehow ended up on
a runway full of construction equipment – the resulting collision was deadly.
The pilot had warnings – preflight briefing papers, two big signs
indicating the number of the runway he mistakenly went down – but it didn’t
matter. He was on the wrong runway.
Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about
“Sincerely Wrong.”
That pilot must have thought he was going the right way. But
sincere belief didn’t change the fact that he was going the wrong way. It was
still fatal. Just like it is when it comes to the road that will get us to
God…that will get us to heaven when we die. The Bible warns us that “there
is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs
16:25). Apparently, there are people who are deeply sincere
about the spiritual road they’re on . . . they’re sure it’s the right way .
. . but that won’t change the fact that it will end in death.
God and eternity are things you don’t want to be wrong about.
There were people in Jesus’ day who thought they were doing OK spiritually,
but Jesus
didn’t think so. And they were apparently very religious people – maybe
like you. In our word for today from the Word of God in John 5:39-40,
Jesus said, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you
possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about
Me, yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.”
These are people who thought they had eternal life. They thought
they were doing great with God. They were actually Bible students! Maybe even
Bible experts. Sure felt like the right runway to be on. But Jesus pointed out
a sobering reality – you can know the words and miss the
Lord! Jesus was saying here, “It’s what you do with Me that determines
whether or not you have eternal life. And you’ve missed Me!”
It could be He wants to say that to you today. The reason
it’s all about Jesus is explained in I Timothy 2:5 – “There is one mediator
between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all men.”
You see, Jesus is the only Person who ever even claimed to have
died for our sins. He paid the “ransom” – the price it takes to get
someone back. So only the One who died for your sins can forgive your
sins. There are other religions, other teachers, other prophets – but only one
Savior.
So the key to being rescued by the only Rescuer God sent, is to grab
Him like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard. You may be sincerely
devoted to your church, your religion, or your spirituality – but sincerity in the
wrong way is still fatal. The way to life is to abandon all other hopes of getting
to God and putting all your trust in Jesus to forgive you and take you to Heaven.
Anything else, anything less, is a road to death.
It may be that God is giving you this warning today to allow you to ask
His Son into your life. If you’ve never really begun your personal
relationship with Jesus – and you want to today – tell Him right now. And
I'd love to send you a book I wrote about this, called "Yours for
Life." Just let me know you want it. The way that gets you home safe is the one that’s marked
“Belonging to Jesus.”
---------------------------------------------
Copyright 2000, Ron
Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc. Used by permission.
Written by Ron Hutchcraft. http://www.hutchcraft.com contains practical answers
to real life issues.
Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
PO Box 400
Harrison, AR 72602
Copyright (c) 2000, Ron Hutchcraft. Permission has been given to ChristianGoth.Com
to
reproduce "A Word With You" transcripts.
