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I really enjoy this daily radio lesson, since I miss it most days, they email it to me.

Thought I would start to share.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5079 - "How to Raise Kids Who Stay in Bounds"
Proverbs 29:17

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If you watch sports very much, you've no doubt seen some great plays that ended up not counting, because they made that great play out of bounds. Oh, I've seen many arguments over whether or not they actually were out of bounds at the time; many of which have been resolved by video replay. But you don't see arguments over where the boundaries are. No, everybody knows that when they go out on the field or the court, and they know exactly what the penalties are for breaking the rules.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How to Raise Kids Who Stay in Bounds."

If you don't have clear boundaries and clear penalties, you can't have a game. If children don't have clear boundaries and clear penalties, they can't have a life! Everywhere you look these days, you see kids who are out of control, as if there's no such thing as out of bounds. Guess where they learned that? From parents who never taught or never consistently enforced boundaries.

Disciplining your child is not an option; it is a Biblical mandate for moms and dads. Our word for today from the Word of God, Proverbs 29:17, says, "Discipline your son and he will give you peace; he will bring delight to your soul." How to have a child who gives you peace and makes you happy: discipline them.

Discipline is one of the highest forms of love for your child. It's a love that cares how far they get, and it does something to bring them back when they've gone too far. Proverbs 13:24 says, "He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him." This would be a good time to make the all-important distinction between discipline and punishment. When you discipline your child, you respond thoughtfully in the way from which they will learn the most. When you punish, you're just dumping your anger on them. All they learn from that is that you're out of control.

Here's how seriously Scripture takes our responsibility to help our children learn that "what you sow, you reap." (Galatians 6:7) "Discipline your son, for in that there is hope; do not be a willing party to his death." So how do we help our kids learn to stay in bounds and live under control? Just like sports: clear boundaries, clear penalties, consistently and quickly enforced. There need to be clear, unmoving boundaries in your home, stopping them before they go too far but allowing them enough room to make some choices. And there need to be clear penalties that define exactly what will happen if they do go out of bounds.

Too many parents either decide the boundary or the penalty in the heat of a confrontation - "OK, you're grounded for a year!" - or they just keep changing the boundaries or the penalties. Can you imagine the chaos that would cause in a sporting event? It causes that kind of confusion in the life of your child. The boundaries, the penalties need to be discussed in advance; not in the middle of some tense situation. As kids get older, they should even have some input; not the deciding vote, but input into the final decision. Family sanity is based on clear boundaries and clear penalties, decided and discussed in advance, and quick and consistent enforcement. The refs don't blow the whistle when the player is running through the bleachers with the ball. They blow the whistle the second his or her foot touches the line. Take the time to enforce the boundaries early, and ultimately, you'll reap a more peaceful home.

One more thing: the refs need to agree on where the boundaries and penalties are and the calls that are made. Mom and Dad can disagree in private about disciplinary decisions, but never in front of the kids. Not if they want their children to respect their authority! If you've been lax or inconsistent in helping your children understand the boundaries and the penalties, ask them to forgive you. Let them know that, before God, you owe it to them to do a better job "reffing" the game of their life. Clarity, consistency, mutual trust and walking your talk: those are building blocks in authority that a child can respect and build a life on.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5081 - "Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean"
Hebrews 9:22

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My granddaughter and I were watching some horses one very hot day. One by one, they made their way to their little pond to take in some more water. Then this big old grey horse decided drinking wasn't enough. He didn't just get a little of the pond in him, he got into the pond and lay down in the water. He splashed around a little, stayed there for a while and finally pulled his big old body out of the water. Relating what she saw to her world, my granddaughter said, "He's taking a bath!" If that was his intention, I had bad news for that horse. He got out of that murky water with his light gray coat covered with dirt! So much for getting clean!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Washing in Water That Cannot Make You Clean."

No matter where you go in the world, no matter how primitive or advanced the culture, we humans have this sense in our soul that we have a problem with the Creator who put us here. In a sense, that's the reason most people practice whatever their religion is; to somehow do something to put us on God's good side to avoid whatever punishment we may deserve for the wrong things we've done. All of us have things we wish we hadn't done and things we know we should have done. We feel the guilt and the shame of things that we thought we'd never do; of things we've done that have hurt other people.

You might say, we know we're dirty inside and that we'd better do something to get clean before we meet the Creator who decides our forever. The Bible tells the story of a military leader named Naaman who came down with terminal leprosy: corrosive spots all over his body. He was directed to God's prophet for a cure. He wanted to buy a cure. No way. He wanted to do something noble to be cured. No way, the prophet said. He told him to wash seven times in the muddy waters of the Jordan River.

Naaman was enraged. There were nicer rivers back home that he wanted to wash in. But there was only one way to get cured and get clean - wash where God said to wash. In the Bible's words, he did "as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy." (2 Kings 5:1-16)

We're all Naaman. We want to get right with God the way we want to get right with God: through doing good, through practicing our religion, through personal spirituality. But it's all water that can't make us clean. Here's why recorded in our word for today from the Word of God in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Sin is punishable by spiritual death. That's eternal separation from a sinless God. So only a death can pay for it. That's why all the religious water in the world will leave you unforgiven and unable to enter God's heaven. A few verses later, God explains where our only hope really lies. He says Jesus died "...to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself." (Hebrews 9:26) Only Jesus, the only sinless man that ever lived, could die in our place. And He loves you so much that He did - on an awful cross.

So, we have to come to God through the only way He's provided: His Son. Jesus alone can make you clean inside and right before a holy God. Jesus alone can get you into heaven. Not Christianity, not church, but Jesus. No other "water" can make you clean, however sincere your efforts to get clean. If you could have gotten clean any other way, believe me, God would have never put His Son through that brutal crucifixion.

You have a decision to make: the ultimate life-or-death decision. Will you put your total trust in what Jesus did to pay for your sins on the cross? Or will you put your hope in something else? The outcomes of that decision are heaven or hell, and God leaves it to you to choose. If you're ready to abandon all other hopes and hold onto Jesus like a drowning person would embrace a rescuer, would you tell Him that right now, right where you are? At that moment, every wrong thing you've ever done will be forgiven by God and erased from His book. And your name will be entered in His "book of life" - the people who are going to be in heaven.

I'd love to have you visit our website, yoursforlife.net, right now and read a brief explanation or listen to how you can begin with Jesus. Or call for the Yours For Life booklet at 877-741-1200.

Sin can't be repaid. It has to be removed. And Jesus stands ready to do that for you this very day, and you will be clean.

If you're not sure you belong to Jesus, and you would like to make sure today, Ron would like to send to you a free copy of the booklet, "Yours for Life: How to Have Life's Most Important Relationship." To read it online, click here:

http://www.yoursforlife.net/

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5082 - "Whose Stuff Do You Have?"
Luke 5:3

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We were having a fabulous time sailing across Long Island Sound on a large sailboat. The sky was blue with little puffy white clouds, there was a warm, steady breeze moving us along and the kids were making memories. As for me, the sun and the water had me feeling totally relaxed. No, actually totally collapsed. Suddenly, Dave, our skipper and host, said, "We're heading into the harbor." Everything in me wanted to scream, "Whaaattt? Why? No way!" I didn't. It was his boat. It was his right to do what he wanted with it. By the way, he had heard a little static in the radio that told this veteran sailor that bad weather was on the way. Sure enough, just as we sailed into the harbor, the skies opened up with a very nasty storm.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Whose Stuff Do You Have?"

Once upon a time there was another sailor, a professional fisherman, who was ready to tie up his boat for the day. His name was Simon Peter. He had just had possibly the worst night of his fishing career; he fished all night and literally did not bring back a single fish.

The story continues in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 5, beginning with verse 3. The Bible says, "(Jesus) got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then He sat down and taught the people from the boat." OK, it's Simon's boat. But Simon lets it be Jesus' boat that day to be His floating pulpit. But then the plot thickens. Jesus tells Simon to "...put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch." Now if you haven't caught anything all night, how in the world are you going to catch anything at noon? Besides, Simon has just finished the tedious job of cleaning his nets. Why would he want to get them dirty again?

"Simon answered, 'Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.'" Again, it's Simon's boat, but Simon lets Jesus do what He wants to do with it. Why? Because of a life- changing principle of God's Word and of following Jesus, Jesus has the right to command anything we have for His purposes. On Palm Sunday, He sent two of His men into the city to find a colt that had never been ridden. His instructions were to simply tell the owner, "The Lord needs it." That colt became part of the great celebration of the Kingship of Jesus Christ because someone recognized Jesus' right to command anything we have for His purposes. Even a little boy knew that when Jesus asks for your lunch, you give it to Him. When he did, that lunch became the miracle that fed 5,000 people.

So whose house is that you live in? Whose vehicle is that you drive? If the word "Lord" means anything, it means that what you have is owned by Jesus, on loan to you. Whose talent is that you have? Whose body is that to decide what's done with it? Your Bible says your body is nothing less than the "...temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) which means you don't do anything with your body that would degrade or dishonor it. Here's a tough one: whose child is that in your home? Samuel's mother, Hannah, knew. She said of this baby she had yearned for so long, "For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord." (1 Samuel 1:28) God made our children. God gave us our children. They are His, on loan to us. Should God call a son or daughter of yours into His service, don't make the mistake of standing in their way.

The consistent pattern in Scripture is that when Jesus commands the use of something we have for His purposes, He does so much more with it than we ever could. So what is there that He's loaned to you that you've been holding onto tightly as if it were yours. That's hijacking; taking from the owner what belongs to them, to be used for what you want instead of what they want. Surrender it all to Him. He died for you. He gave His life for you. He has a right to everything you have. And you can be sure that someone who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong.

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A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5083 - "The Dream Boss"
Colossians 3:22

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Some of the nasty words in the English language are described as four-letter words. It's probably not a coincidence that "boss" is a four-letter word. You sure get a lot of complaining about the boss. Usually the boss writes a Want Ad when an employee is needed. But what if the employee got to write an ad when the boss was needed? What would you put in there: "Boss Wanted: Fair, Consistent, Caring, Listener, Interested in his employees, Impartial, Approachable." Hey, hold it! You want it? You got it!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Dream Boss."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Colossians 3, beginning at verse 22. It's addressed to slaves. Now right away we're talking about a less than ideal working environment here. Today it would be employees; although maybe you feel like the word slave still fits. "Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord." Now Paul talks here about two motivators for doing good work. He says, number one, maybe the boss is watching; and secondly, to win their favor because you want to impress them. Then in verse 23, he talks about a working lifestyle, "Whatever you do" - little, big, glory, no glory, pleasant, unpleasant - "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart." He's describing a one hundred percenter here, but here's their motive, "...as working for the Lord not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lo!
rd as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving."

Now who's your boss where you work? Well, if you know the Lord, your boss is the Lord Christ. Work for Him because He's the one who's watching all the time. He's the one to impress. He's the rewarder. This is pretty radical stuff! It means you are going to work with all your heart no matter what the environment and no matter what kind of superior you have. Your work is going to be for the approval of Jesus, looking past your human boss right over his or her shoulder and seeing Jesus there.

So that means if you're cooking french fries, you're going to say, "I'm going to be the best french fry cooker they ever had." I'm going to be the best algebra student this algebra teacher has ever seen. Whether I get the best grades or not, I'm going to work as hard as anybody they ever saw. I'm going to be the best shipping clerk, or checkout person, or vice president, or teacher they've ever seen. You'll be known as their hardest worker; one who's on time, who keeps their commitments, who doesn't cut corners, who finishes what they start, who goes the extra mile. Not for them. (No, you're not working for the company. See, that's your secret.) You're not working for your superior. You realize that Jesus cares about how you work, and this is an offering to Him.

You get your paycheck from your human boss and maybe a nice bonus occasionally. Wait till you see the reward you're going to get from your real boss. Starting now, and then ultimately forever, it is from the Lord, the Bible says, that you will receive your inheritance. That's the biggest paycheck of all - your real reward. He's the One you want to please. He's the One you want to impress. He's the One you're doing it all for, and when it's for Him, you do it with everything you've got. When you work for Jesus Christ, you work with all your heart because you've got the Dream Boss.

My thoughts......

So offten I find myself becomeing complacent at work. When there is none, when I don't "feel" like doing much, or when my earthy boss is not being fair, or even nice. I need this reminder, that it is not for the world that I work, but the kingdom of Heaven, and the Lord God, that he may be glorified.

Sometimes the only God people of the world see is the one living in us............and that goes for the workplace too. ;)

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5084 - "Night Lights"
Matthew 5:14-16

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Our offices used to be on this long hall. And the last one out each night got to walk that long hall and make sure all the doors were locked and the lights turned out. And with the amount of work this team had to get done each day, it could be pretty close to "beddy-bye" time when some of us would leave. Of course, Daylight Saving Time meant that you could leave well into the evening and it would still be light. Maybe that's why the lights in some of our closets were accidentally left on sometimes. When it's still bright outside, it's easy to miss a light that's on. But in the winter, when it's dark, you can't miss the light!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Night Lights."

The familiar and very challenging words of Jesus are our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 5:14-16, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

If you're a follower of Jesus Christ, I wonder if you realize how important you are! Think about when you walk into a totally dark room. What's the most important thing in that room? Isn't it the light? Who's the most important person where you work, or live, or go to school? Isn't it the one who's the light? Jesus said that's you. If the light isn't working, if it's dim, if it goes out, there's only darkness.

You may say, "You don't know how spiritually dark it gets where I am!" And you're right. I don't know all the details. But it probably looks something like this: the talk is dirty or blasphemous or profane, sin is something to laugh at and to brag about, people are routinely backstabbed and wounded verbally, honesty and integrity are hard to find - maybe even unappreciated - Christians are stereotyped as intolerant, old-fashioned, condemning, irrelevant. Maybe you'd like to add a few more layers of darkness to describe the place where you're trying to be like Jesus.

But remember our office closets with the light left on. Where it's bright, you don't see the light very much. But the darker it is, the more the light cannot be missed! The darker the darkness, the more the light shows up! Paul talked about that contrast when he said in Philippians 2:15, "Become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life."

A star can barely be seen in a bright sky, but up against the stark darkness of the dark night sky, a star is something beautiful. That's supposed to be you in the universe where God has put you. So, don't keep trying to hang out in places where there's already plenty of light; places where you feel safe because they're Christian places. You're needed where it's dark - where the lost people are. You can enjoy believers in heaven forever. Your job now is to get more people to be there with you!

We always told our kids as they left for school in the morning, "Go MAD today!" and that means "make a difference!" That's what Jesus is saying to you each morning, "Go Make A Difference" there. Be a living alternative in a place where truth doesn't matter. Always tell the truth. In a place where dirty is cool, don't dignify the dirty. In a place where people cut each other up, you build people up! In a place where it's everyone for himself, you be the one who always puts other people first. In a place where Christianity is laughed at or misunderstood, let them see in you what Jesus is like!

Don't be intimidated by the darkness. You're the most important person in that dark place because you have the light of Jesus. Without you, darkness is all there is. Humbly, gently, lovingly, be the light there. You are the one light that should never be turned out!

My thoughts.........

So many times we feel as if no one around us cares for anyone but themselves. It is so difficult to be the "light" Christ spoke of when others are lerking about to take advantage of us given the chance. Still we must give without expectation, serve without complaint, and love without question. Our actions, our "light" is what they see, and it will make a differance to them at some level.

BIC

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5085 - "Never Home Alone"
Romans 8:37

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I grew up as an only child. You say, "I can tell." Thank you very much. My parents took me to most of the places that they went, but I remember one time they left me home by myself. I was home alone. (We could probably make a movie about that.) Well, anyway, we lived in this third floor apartment on the south side of Chicago. It was getting very late and I was sitting near the back door waiting and they should have been home by now, and I was really worried. I can remember hearing sirens and I thought, "Oh, no!" My imagination was taking me all over the place. I was thinking all the bad things that might have happened to my parents. I was already there and then the sirens came. I was sure the sirens were for my mommy and my daddy, but they weren't. But the fear I had that night was so great, I still remember it, don't I?

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Never Home Alone."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 8, beginning with verse 37. You know this fear of abandonment is not unique to me, or even to a child. I'm thinking of a friend of ours who struggled her whole life with it. She was left by her parents a lot because they were in mission work and there were a lot of "goodbyes" and she was always vulnerable to some bad choices because she was always afraid that she'd lose what she loved and what loved her.

All right, Romans 8, beginning in verse 37, referring to the most disastrous things that could happen to you in your life, "In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord."

This is where God promises one unloseable relationship. God created us to anchor ourselves to one relationship. The problem is that every other relationship on earth is losable. I think of the night when my wife was almost dying from hepatitis, and we weren't sure she'd make it and she was saying and talking about the kinds of things people do when they think they may not make it. And I knelt by her bed and I said, "Dear God, please spare her." And I thank Him that He did spare her life. But that night I almost lost the one relationship I thought would never leave me. She said she would never choose to leave and I would never choose to leave her, but the choice was out of our hands.

You see, you need a relationship you can't lose, and you can't take Jesus away. He will not leave you - ever. He is the unloseable one. Any human love I receive is a welcome bonus, but my identity is supposed to be knowing Jesus. Do you know Him? See, life is never secure until you know you belong to Christ. That begins the day you get your sin erased by putting your faith in what Jesus did when he died on the cross for that sin and then you're in his arms to stay.

Nothing in heaven, or earth, or hell can take you away from Him. Not because you're so good at hanging on, but because He's so good at hanging onto you. You've had your sins forgiven. The only thing that will keep you out of God's heaven is gone because you've put your trust in the One who died to remove them - Jesus, His One and only Son, and who's alive because He walked out of his grave.

Earth folks will leave, but you can have a Savior who never, never will. He said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5) And you decide whether that relationship ever begins, and you decide when it begins. Let it be today. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

And I would love to help you begin that relationship if you'll just go to our website. We've put there just a simple explanation of how to get started with Jesus. The website is yoursforlife.net. Or you can call for that in booklet form. It's called Yours For Life, and the number is 877-741-1200.

The child in all of us hears the sirens. We imagine life without someone who loves us and we fear a future alone, and then Jesus steps in at your invitation and says, "I am with you always." (Matthew 28:20)

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5086 - "The List Your Name is On"
1 John 5:11-12

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I'm kind of a strange tourist. When I was in Halifax, Nova Scotia, I asked to be taken to a graveyard that overlooks the ocean. There, I walked through rows of these grave markers that have no name but the same date on them - April 15, 1912. That's the night the Titanic sank, and these are some of its unidentified victims. A few weeks ago, actually, the Titanic showed up again on the evening news. Lillian Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died at age 99. It's believed that there may be just two survivors left now, both in England. Those names and the name of every passenger are listed on a big wall at the end of what's called the Titanic Artifacts Exhibit. I got to experience that exhibit as it toured America's great museums. The list indicated whether the person was a first, second, or third class passenger, or a crewman. But no matter what their class, every one of those 2,200 people appeared on one of two lists.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The List Your Name is On."

Every person on the Titanic ended up listed one of two ways: saved ... lost. Nothing else mattered. Every person on earth, and every person listening right now, is on one of two lists in God's records: saved ... lost. As the last survivors of Titanic slip into eternity, they will be "saved" or "lost" forever. So will every one of us.

Our word for today from the Word of God makes the two lists very clear, along with what it is that makes a person either "saved" or "lost." In 1 John 5:11-12, the Bible says: "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life (saved); he who does not have the Son of God does not have life (lost)." Our eternal destination is all contingent on one thing - whether or not we have the Son of God. Not whether or not we have religion or Christianity, but whether we have Jesus.

So how do you get Jesus? God's pretty clear about that. He says, for example, in John 3:36, "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life," - that's saved - "but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him" - that's lost. God's wrath is because of what we've done with the life He gave us. In essence, we've made ourselves God by doing what we wanted to do with our life. Sure, we may have mixed in some religion to try to offset our taking over of our life, but religion in no way can pay the penalty for the hijacking of our life from the Creator of the universe. Sin is a capital crime, punishable by spiritual death; separation from God now and forever.

The Bible says that believing in God's Son, Jesus, can literally change which list we're on. When the Bible says "believe," the word is about total trust, complete reliance. And only total trust in Jesus can rescue us from our spiritual death penalty, because only Jesus could and only Jesus did die in our place. He said, "I'll take their hell, Father, so they don't ever have to go there." He did that for you. That's how much He loves you.

So what's happening right now is so much bigger than you just listening to some guy on the radio. This is a holy opportunity to remove your name forever from the list that says "lost" and onto the list that says "saved." Your name will be entered in God's Book of Life the moment you reach for Jesus in total trust as your only hope of heaven, and that could be today. With eternity in the balance, I can't think of a good reason to risk one more day on the list that says "lost."

I'll leave you with just how the Bible describes what can happen to you this very day. It says that the man or woman who opens their life to Jesus "...has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life!" (John 5:24).

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5088 - "Why Your Load Seems So Heavy"
Matthew 6:25

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Maybe it's a guy thing. Or maybe it's just a Ron thing. But I hate to waste time or waste effort. Here's what that looks like when I've just returned from the grocery store to restock our empty refrigerator and shelves. I look like a mule basically - with bags all over my body, carried on almost every appendage. I don't want to make any more trips to the car than absolutely necessary, OK? So I'm willing to try whatever calisthenics, to tolerate whatever overload will enable me to get everything in the house in one trip. This approach has been known to have its problems. Sometimes I drop a bag or two or one of them rips open; thus, making more work. And I've got this bad shoulder that may well be traceable to carrying too much too many times.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why Your Load Seems So Heavy."

There's a price to pay for carrying too much at once. You may be paying some of that price right now; the stress, the anxiety, the fatigue, the frustration of those who carry more than they're supposed to. I'm one of those. I know.

I also know how my Savior says I'm supposed to live. His instructions are very clear in our word for today from the Word of God in Matthew 6, beginning with verse 25. He says, "Do not worry about your life ... look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them ... Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? ... Why do you worry? ... Do not worry ... your Heavenly Father knows what you need ... Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

First of all, you don't have to be a Biblical scholar to pick up Jesus' message here. He basically says it four times, "Do not worry." If you looked at us stressed out, freaked out, worn out warriors, you might conclude that this is one of the most disobeyed commands Jesus ever gave. We do worry - a lot. And in so doing, we carry a heavier load than we're designed and equipped to carry. God has promised to give what we need to carry today: daily bread, strength equal to your day, mercies new each morning, a cross to bear one day at a time, the renewing of our spirit day by day. But there's no promise about carrying your tomorrow while it's still today.

John Newton, the writer of "Amazing Grace" said, "Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of a year to a great bundle of sticks - far too large to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole bundle at once. He mercifully unties the bundle and gives us one stick that we are to carry today and then another that we are to carry tomorrow, and so on. We might easily manage it, if we would take only the burden appointed for us each new day. But we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday's stick over again today and by adding tomorrow's burden to our load before we are required to bear it."

John Newton nailed it, didn't he? We add baggage from yesterday and the potential burdens of tomorrow to what we're carrying today, and we start dropping things, stumbling, even hurting ourselves. So much of what we worry about tomorrow never happens. And you won't have God's promised resources to handle tomorrow until tomorrow. So no wonder you're overwhelmed and discouraged! Dwelling on yesterday or tomorrow takes your focus off today so you don't even do today very well!

So approach your load God's way - taking your busy life one day at a time; carrying your massive load one stick at a time. And about tomorrow? Take advantage of God's awesome invitation, "Cast all your care upon Him because He cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7).

My thoughts.........boy I needed to hear this today!

God is mindful of our troubles and concerns, He knows our needs before we do. In this, I have come to the conclusion that I need not pray for my needs, I can focus on praising and thanking Him for yet again providing for all me needs. He always has. I still pray and leave my worries at His feet, and pray for the strenght to do so, but He knows my needs, concerns, and even my desires. He should, He gave them to me! I have been so blessed in my life, and that is always from the perspective of the individual, but all my needs are met, often to abundance, and I have no idea how He makes it work........He just does ;D

I love our Lord, the more I get to know Him, the more I love Him, for loveing me, for saveing me from myself, and for always being there, with an open ear to listen to me, and loveing arms to carry me when I fall, and reassuring words..........

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5092 - "The Tripper Upper"
Romans 2:24

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In high school, our teenage son lived a very, very busy life which I think might go with having this last name. And I could sometimes find him finally ending up on the couch for just kind of a collapse, you know, and he deserved it. He would set up this little comfort zone there. He'd have his New York Giants mug, and his school books, and his TV guide, in case he had time to watch. And most important, he had his phone. Unfortunately, the phone hooked up two rooms away. That means the cord was stretched to the max to get it to the couch, and I could tell when he had the phone there, because I kept hearing people muttering through the house after they tripped over the cord. It was right where everybody had to walk to get to the living room or to the kitchen. And I'd say, "Son, you've got to do something about this thing that people keep tripping over." Well, so do you!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tripper Upper."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 2:24. It's a sobering indictment of first-century Jewish believers. Listen to these words, "As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." "The Gentiles" really means the unreached people, and basically the Jews were the reached people. And He is saying, "You believers, you know, because of you, the unreached people are blaspheming God." He talks a little bit about why, for example in chapter 2, verse 21. He says, "You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?" Then He says, "God's name is blasphemed because of you. You're not living what you say you believe, and people are tripping over the contradictions." It's like my son's telephone cord. It'!
s in the way. You've got to ask, what is there in my life that may be keeping someone from Jesus and from heaven?

It's a terrible thought to think that someone might end up in hell forever because I turned them off to Jesus by my inconsistency. Maybe your temper is canceling out your message about a loving Savior. Maybe the humor that you use is contradicting the purity that you say Jesus stands for. Maybe your sarcasm is a little hard to reconcile with the compassion of Jesus. Maybe your gossip and your backstabbing is confusing people. Maybe it's the fact that you tend to be so negative. Maybe it's your laziness at school, or your complaining attitude, or your laziness at work. You know, a Christian ought to be the best employee that an employer's got, so that they give credit to the name of Jesus.

You ought to be the hardest-working student in that class whether you get the best grades or not. You're an advertisement for your Savior. I know you'd hate to be a reason for someone to reject Christ, all because you never dealt with your "tripper upper."

Actually, if you would let Jesus change that part of you; that part that is out of control, that's inconsistent, that's confusing to an unbeliever, it might just create the curiosity they need to start investigating a life-changing Christ. It might give you the best opening you've ever had to share Christ. They're going to say, "Man, what happened to you," because it will be in an area where they never saw you this way before. And that is a powerful testimony.

My son and I had to solve that cord problem before someone got hurt, and he had to do something about the thing that kept tripping people up. I hope you'll do that in your spiritual life. I believe that you can provide an uncluttered path to the Jesus who your friends so desperately need if you'll just get rid of that "tripper upper."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5091 - "The Loneliest "Lonely" of All"
Matthew 27:51

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Like many children her age, our little granddaughter has 101 tricks to delay going to bed at night: a drink of water, another story, monsters in the closet, whatever. Once she does, she's usually gone for the night. But every once in a while, her parents will be in the living room, and then suddenly hear this loud, distraught crying. Our little darling just woke up in the dark. She found herself all alone, and it's scary.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Loneliest 'Lonely' of All."

Even big people like us know that feeling. There are times in our life when we feel like we're all alone in the dark, and it's scary. Maybe you know about those times. Maybe you're in one of those dark, lonely stretches right now.

It would be cheap for me to say, "I know how you feel." I probably don't. But I know someone who does - who really does. That would be Jesus. In fact, no one on earth has ever experienced the depth of loneliness He went through. And that's one of the reasons you can trust Him in a way that you can trust no one else in your life.

Let me take you for a minute back to the darkest day in human history; the day the Son of God was nailed to a Roman cross. The Bible says He was "crushed" and "pierced" and beaten beyond recognition (Isaiah 53:5; 52:14). His back had been ripped open by merciless whippings, His head was ripped open by a crown made of thorns, and a spear was driven into His side as He hung on that cross, suspended by three nails. But as horrific as that pain must have been, that's not what made Him cry out on the cross. It was a far greater pain that ripped apart His soul. It's recorded in our word for today from the Word of God.

"About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" (Matthew 27:51) He could take the thorns, He could take the nails, He could take the spear, but He couldn't stand being cut off from God. God the Father and God the Son had never had a moment apart through all eternity until that day. In Jesus' darkest moment, He could not see His Father's face. His Father had turned away from Him. Why? The Bible says of God, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). An all-holy God cannot look at sin, and that's what was all over His Son that day. The Bible tells us that "He bore our sins in His (own) body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). Whose sins made God turn away from His one and only Son? Your sins. My sins. Jesus was all alone - more alone than any man has ever been - and it was very dark.

Look at what it took to pay for and forgive your sin. How can we think that there's anything we could ever do that would pay for our sin or get us into heaven? Only the One who died for your sin can remove your sin. That was your hell, your separation from God that He was taking on the cross. Now He's offering to you what He died for you to have. Either you reach out to Him in total trust as your only hope to be rescued spiritually or you walk away from Him.

I believe that someone who's listening right now is feeling in their soul the tug of Jesus. He shows you your sin, He shows you how He loved you enough to die for your sin, and He stirs your heart to give yourself to Him. If you've never done that, you can do it right now, wherever you are. Just tell Him, "Jesus, You're my only hope, and beginning right here and right now, I'm Yours." At that moment, God will erase very sin from His book and give you eternal life in heaven.

If that's what you want, let me invite you to visit our website as soon as you can. I've got a brief presentation there that will walk you through just how to be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or I'll be glad to send my little booklet about this called "Yours For Life" if you'll just call and ask for it. The number is 877-741-1200.

Don't walk away from this without responding to Jesus' invitation. God turned His back on His Son so He would never have to turn His back on you. The biggest mistake you could ever make would be to turn your back on Him.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5093 - "Goodbye, Sick Stuff"
John 11:38

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When I get sick, it's a rare event in our family. I feel blessed with a pretty healthy life. Once when I was hit with the flu, though, it's enough to say I was not moving except in the direction of the bathroom. I was too weak to talk or turn over for about twenty-four hours, and then I finally started to improve. When I began to feel better, I desperately wanted a shower, and that was my first physical triumph after the battle with the flu. And I very happily piled in a corner the symbol of that long, dark day I'd had - those blue, flannel pajamas I'd worn the whole time. They'd been sweated out several times, and they did not smell very nice. They probably should have been burned. Here I was, showered with fresh clean clothes on. I wouldn't have put those rotten, old pajamas back on for anything.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Goodbye, Sick Stuff."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 11:38. Here Jesus faces one of the great challenges of His ministry. His good friend, Lazarus, has died. There are weeping friends and family around the tomb, and the Bible says, "Jesus, deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 'Take away the stone.' He said." They did, although Martha objected, "By this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days." Verse 43 says, "Jesus called in a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!', and the dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, cloth around his face, and Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

Can you imagine Lazarus going back later and getting back into his old grave clothes, like me and my flu pajamas? I'm sure he would not return to the stuff that was wrapped around him while he was dead. Maybe that's what you've been doing. See, we are all Lazarus, because we've all been raised from the living death of trying to make it without Christ. According to 2 Corinthians 5:17, we are new creations in Christ. The old is gone, a new life has begun, and there are old grave clothes to leave once and for all.

Could it be that you've drifted back to some of the old you? The habit that you had beaten; what are you doing flirting with it again? That compromising relationship you had finally put behind you; why are you running around the edges of it again? That dark temper you had under Christ's control; is it rearing its head again? Maybe it's that tendency you have to use people, to manipulate people, to hurt people, or to walk over people. Maybe that side of you that insists on taking matters into your own hands instead of trusting God to do it. You were making progress, but it's reappearing again. Maybe it's that old addiction. Maybe it's what you were looking at; what you were watching, and you were starting to get some victory over that. It's coming back again. All of us have these empty, corrupt ways of living. And Christ comes and says, "Let him go!" "Let her go!" "Take off the grave clothes." We could be free of it forever because of Jesus. But if you've drifted back to !
your grace clothes, would you remember what dead felt like?

Return to the cross where you were freed in the first place, and let Jesus say it again, "Let him go! Let her go!" When you are finally getting well, there is no reason in the world to go back to the sick stuff.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5094 - "Right Answers Under Pressure"
Nehemiah 2:1-5

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I never really liked TV game shows, until my son got me interested in one. It comes on after the evening news, which is what I watch on television. Maybe you have seen it - Jeopardy. What an appropriate title for a show that comes on right after the world news. There are three contestants who are given several categories, ranging from U.S. Presidents to Cat Food. First, a contestant picks a dollar value question, and the host gives the answer to the question in that category. Then the three contestants vie to see who can give the right question first, because the right answer is usually a question (if you understand that). Some of them do very well and they win lots of money. I saw one man who won fifty thousand dollars, but others just fold. I said to my son. "Look at some of those people. They wind up in a hole with their money. How do they get on the show?" My compassionate son reminded me, "Dad, it's hard to come up with right answers when you have all that pressure !
on you."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Right Answers Under Pressure."

We all know the feeling of the Jeopardy contestants. The pressure is on, and the right answer is needed. Maybe you are in a conversation with your boss or your parents, or you're dealing with one of your children on a hard issue; you're trying to speak to a friend about the Lord, or you're in a delicate situation and the right answer is real important.

Nehemiah knew that feeling. Our word from the word of God is in Nehemiah 2:1-5. Nehemiah, the king's cupbearer, was a Jewish exile in Persia. He'd heard of the shape that his city, Jerusalem, was in and he had a burden from the Lord to go back and rebuild his city. He knew he would need the king's help. He knew he would need time off. He didn't quite know how he would bring it up with the king. "I took the wine," the Bible says, "and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before, so the king asked me, 'Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.' I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, 'May the king live forever. Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' The king said to me, 'What is it you want?" Here's the drum roll. "Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king." From this point on, the king becomes his ally in this great, historic cause. Here is a conversation that actually changed the course of history.

Maybe your issue won't be that important, but you do need God's help in that important conversation. Here's how he displays his hand in important conversations. First, there's a divine nudge. Nehemiah had been praying about this situation for some time, so God said, "There is a need I want addressed through you, Nehemiah." He'll put a burden on your heart. Second, there's a natural opportunity. You think, "How in the world am I going to get into this?" Ask God for a natural opportunity. Nehemiah was asked the magic question, "What is it you want?" Ask God for an open door, and then look for the openings. Third, there's an inspired answer. Nehemiah gave a tremendous answer to the king's question. It launched a whole change of events. After you're done, you'll say, "Who said that?" God gave you the answer. The key is what Nehemiah said, "I prayed to the God of heaven, and then I answered."

Talk to the God of heaven before you talk to that person on earth. Connect yourself to the throne room of God. Get prayed up, and even if you're scared, go ahead to the opportunity that God is opening up. We're all playing Jeopardy and coming up with right answers under pressure, but we have a direct pipeline to the One who has all the right answers. Let Him come up with your answer

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5096 - "The Futility of Running Away"
Genesis 3:8-9

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The party had been going just fine until a doctor who was there got very offended by something another guest said. He was in a rage! He stormed out and slammed the door behind him. Someone said, "At last he's gone." The host corrected him. "No, he's not gone. That's a closet."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Futility of Running Away."

There's something inside us humans that wants to avoid facing the God who made us. Maybe it's because we know that He knows everything about us. Maybe we don't want to face our darkness. We know that facing God means surrendering the wheel of our life. Whatever the reason, we walk away, or run away, or in some cases, we even storm away from God, only to find that we've only walked into a closet.

We get very good at avoiding God. You can hide behind all those religious hypocrites you've seen. Or you can hide out in those doubts and questions you keep raising to protect you from really facing your Creator's demands on your life. You can stay very busy, running so hard, sedating yourself so much, that you don't have to think about why you're here and where you're going. You can even hide out in your religion, believe it or not, faithfully, maybe fervently, going through all the spiritual motions. That way you can feel like you're spiritually OK without having to really face God Himself.

Guess who invented running from God? The first man and woman God ever created! It's like avoiding God is in our spiritual DNA! In Genesis 3:8-9, Adam and Eve realized that they have disobeyed the one command given to them by the God who had given them so much. Then, in our word for today from the Word of God, "The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as He was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, 'Where are you?' He answered, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid ... so I hid.'"

From the first fugitive from God down to someone who's listening today, here's the reality of God's love. The God you're trying to avoid pursues you wherever you go. Why? Because He loves you too much to lose you. In fact, Jesus said He's like a shepherd who cannot be content with the sheep that He has in the fold while even one is lost. He said He would "go after the lost sheep" until He finds him or her (Luke 15:1-7).

His pursuit of you and me took Him all the way to the cross where He died a brutal death. The Bible says His death was "a sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). He died in your place to pay for the sins that you would otherwise have to pay for eternally.

And now He's pursued you to wherever you are today. You can walk away or run away again, I suppose, but He'll keep pursuing you to rescue you until the day you run out of time. Some day will be your last day to get ready for God before you meet God. But for now, His arms are open, inviting you to come home to the One you were made for. When you walk away from Him, you walk away from the only possible hope of a life with meaning and an eternity in heaven. Be glad He's loved you enough to pursue you all the way to a cross.

My prayer is that this might be the day when you run to God and let the battle finally be over. Your personal love relationship with God begins when you say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." You have nothing to fear from coming to Jesus. He loved you enough to die for you. He will never do you wrong.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5095 - "Saying Goodbye to What's Been Holding Your Back"
Luke 5:15

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Our daughter might still be sucking on her binky if we hadn't negotiated a deal. She was very attached to that pacifier, long after she really didn't need it anymore. Then my wife struck that bargain - the doll that our girl really wanted in exchange for her binky. From that day on, the binky was no more. I kept it in a drawer for my tough days. Not long ago, our son and daughter-in-law had a similar crossroads moment with our granddaughter. She could not imagine life without her binky, until Mommy and Daddy announced her Bye-Bye Binky Party. On that day, she would surrender her binky and there would be a party in her honor with cake, decorations and even little presents. And suddenly, she didn't need her binky anymore!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Saying Goodbye to What's Been Holding You Back."

A child with their pacifier, Linus with his blanket - things they've depended on that they don't really need anymore. Even we grownup kids have things we depend on that are actually holding us back from what our life could be. But we hold on to it as stubbornly as a child to her binky or Linus to his blanket until someone comes along and shows us something better.

For me, for millions of people, that someone is Jesus Christ. He liberated people from what they needed so long when He was here on earth, and He's still doing it today. He wants to do it for you.

One example of how it works is recorded in Luke 5, beginning with verse 15. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus." The Bible describes some extraordinary measures they had to employ to accomplish their mission, but they did get their paralyzed friend to Jesus. The story continues: "He said to the paralyzed man, 'I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.'" Can you imagine this? That mat has supported this man his whole life. It's been used to carry him where he couldn't walk himself. Suddenly, Jesus is telling him to get up and carry what's been carrying him all these years!

It says, "Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God." I could just imagine this man shouting, "I've needed this thing my whole life, but I don't need it anymore!" That's the kind of freedom Jesus wants to bring to you; freedom from always needing a man or a woman to make you feel valued and secure. Think of how they've let you down. Freedom from being an approval junkie, from seeing yourself as a victim all the time, from trying to find your worth in your work or your performance, freedom from the bottle, the drug, the sex, the applause that you've thought you needed to complete you. They never have, they never will.

Then along comes Jesus, the Man who loves you enough to die to pay for the sin that keeps you from God; who's powerful enough to walk out of His grave. The Bible says of Jesus, "You are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10) and only in Him, because the Bible tells us you were "...created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Every other thing you've leaned on for love and significance and completeness is an unfulfilling substitute for the real thing - for Jesus.

And today, He's come to you and He's saying, "Get up. You don't need what you've used to support you for so long. I'm what you've needed all along." What a day this could be if you would make it your Jesus-day - the day you open your heart for Him to come in and forgive all the sin of your life and free you from the dependencies that have been holding you back. Just talk to Him where you are. Tell Him you're done driving your own life, that your only hope is Him and what He did on the cross for you, and that you're his from today on.

If that's what you want, I hope you'll check out our website where I've got a brief explanation of just how to begin this life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or you can call for the booklet "Yours For Life" at 877-741-1200.

This can be your declaration of independence. The day you say, "The thing I've been depending on for so long - I don't need it anymore because I have Jesus now. I'm His, I'm complete, and I'm free!"

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5097 - "Music When You Least Expect it"
Acts 16:22

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I'm an early riser in our family, so it's not uncommon for me to be in the bathroom around 6 a.m., alone and the only one awake. I go through my routine very quietly, so one morning when I was half awake, I was startled when I heard the gentle strains of a song. I had never heard this in the bathroom before. I recognized the song - "It's a Small World After All." Well, here I am in this already dazed condition, I couldn't figure out where the music was coming from. Is there a radio on? No radio. An alarm? No. Did somebody leave a music box in here? No music box. I searched high and low. Finally, I found out where it was coming from. Believe it or not, the song was coming from the roll of toilet tissue. Yes, my wife had rigged the tissue with this little device that plays a song every time you roll that thing. You say, "Oh, no." That's nothing. Downstairs in the main bathroom, it plays the "Star Spangled Banner." That music was very unexpected, but it did get my attention!
, and I have to admit it brightened up a bleary time of day.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Music When You Least Expect it."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 16:22. Paul and Silas have been preaching the Gospel, the town has been incensed over it, and the crowd is attacking them. It's not a good day. The Bible says, "The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet to the stocks. About midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them."

God sends a very violent and dramatic earthquake that lets Paul and the other prisoners loose, and it ultimately leads to the jailer and his family dramatically turning to Christ. Let's go back to the part about Paul and Silas singing at midnight. You think, "Wait, something's wrong in this picture." They can't move, because they've been flogged, imprisoned, put away, stripped, and they're singing. What's going on here?

I would expect this verse to read, "Paul and Silas were complaining at midnight, or griping or feeling sorry for themselves," but there's not something wrong in this picture. There's something right. It's like that little song in the bathroom. This is music when you least expect it, not at a time of victory or prosperity. It couldn't come from anything around them. It had to come from inside them.

There's another way this midnight concert is like my bathroom concert. It got people's attention. It says the other prisoners were listening. You bet they were! Here's someone facing the same hardships you are, except they're doing it with joy rather than with an attitude. Maybe you're going through one of life's long nights right now, and you've taken a beating. Maybe you've been stripped of things you care about, or you're in one of those prisons that doesn't have walls.

How are you handling it? Are you like all the other prisoners, or is Christ inside of you giving you the grace to sing when you otherwise would sink? See, positiveness and joy are not feelings, they're a choice. Focus on your Lord, as they were with these hymns. Fill up on Christian music. Quote the verses. Quote the promises. Then, secondly, focus on your opportunity.

Paul and Silas probably looked around and said, "Hey, we have a captive audience. There are people watching us now that will see how we respond to this." See, people watch you when you're in the midnight darkness more than any other time. The greatest impact of your life comes at the time of your greatest pain. If you let God take this moment, He will give you the unexplainable grace and joy that will lift you and everyone around you. My musical surprise came early in the morning, not late at night, but I know that no one can ignore your life if it produces music when they least expect it.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5098 - "Always in Touch With the Tower"
Galatians 5:25

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I guess the airlines know how easily we get bored, so they provide flyers with various forms of diversion and entertainment. For example, the headsets on the planes so you can listen to several styles of music; or if you want to even listen to the conversations between the pilot and the tower sometimes. And if you know your flight number, you can even follow the communication that involves your plane. And you listen to them clear your pilot for take-off and later in another tower they'll clear him for landing. But you'll hear that pilot stays in touch all the time. The tower has some very important information to give between the take-off and the landing. I mean, that's not all that matters. Right? There's more to the flight than just the beginning and the end. Frankly, I think it's good to know that if there are other planes near you, the pilot is going to find that out. Or if there's bad weather coming up, that's going to mean there is a change of plans. I'm glad my pi!
lot is going to know that. Maybe there's a problem at the airport you're going to. I'm glad the pilot doesn't turn off the tower after he takes off.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Always in Touch With the Tower."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Galatians 5:25. God says in these simple instructions, "Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." Of course, He's speaking of the Holy Spirit of God. He's talking about that wonderful internal guidance system that you got with the Holy Spirit the day you opened your life to Jesus as your Savior. He's living in your body; He's in your personality. All day long He's trying to tell you the next thing God wants you to do, or something He wants you to avoid or change. You need to decide. That's why it says, "Keep in step with the Spirit." You can't just plug in in the morning and then again at night. You never know where the Lord might want to steer you next.

There's a problem with us busy people, honestly. We check in with the tower when we take off in the morning, then we usually check in at the end of the day's flight. It's important to get in touch with the Lord at the beginning and the end of the day, but also as the day heats up. See, we tend to turn off our radio then, we take off our headset; we make a hundred little decisions on our own without consulting our Lord. We get cut off from the tower, so we end up in a lot of turbulence, we get off course, we crash into people, we make unnecessary mistakes.

Following Jesus means listening to the Spirit's directing all day long, not just at the beginning or the end. I'm a straight ahead, go forward, make a schedule, make a plan, make a list kind of person. Sometimes I have been so goal-oriented that I've turned off the tower. At that point, you just can't hear the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit of God. So, I've often missed one of the great gifts I got when I got Jesus; the perfect guidance of my Creator who makes no mistakes. So, I'm trying to become a better listener to the Holy Spirit inside of me.

I encourage you to check in regularly through the day. "Which way do you want to go now, Lord? What should come first?" Allow the Spirit to steer you into things and into people you never planned. They might look like detours to you, but if the Spirit pulls you in that direction, that's your main road. I call this "Spirit-tenaity." That's letting the Spirit direct you moment by moment, hour by hour. That means you may have to stop and call that person the Lord leads you to call for some unknown reason. You may not know why this is happening but you got the prompting. He might be leading you to write to someone, to stop for time with someone you love or who needs you, or maybe to wait when you want to plunge ahead, or to go for it when you want to wait. But practice seeking the Lord's prompting, listening to His prompting, and acting on His prompting.

If you want the safest route to the best destination, keep your headset on from take-off to landing every day and stay in touch with the tower.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5099 - "The Eeyore Complex"
Nehemiah 8:10

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Some of our fun family memories are the days when I would read stories to my kids. And I did my best to bring those old stories to life. I remember one of their favorites was Winnie the Pooh, so we had Winnie the Pooh and Piglet and Christopher Robin. Oh, and of course, Eeyore. Remember the donkey in Winnie the Pooh? He's the one who usually managed to see the dark side of everything. There always seemed to be something wrong in Eeyore's world.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Eeyore Complex."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Nehemiah 8:10. We're talking about Eeyore, and we probably all know a two-legged Eeyore. Those are the people who respond to the pressures and problems of life by throwing a party - a pity party for themselves. You know any of them? The last time I looked in the dictionary, there were 192 words that began with self, but there are few of them as damaging as self-pity.

Here's the cure: Nehemiah had been through all kinds of burdens and challenges and attacks. Here is what he says, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." This joy of the Lord has nothing to do with your environment. It does have to do with your in-vironment. See, this joy gives the ability to look for God in any situation and to ask the question, "Now, how could God use this?" I may not particularly like what's going on right now, but God has okayed it. It had to get through my Father's hands before it could get to me, so God must be able to work through this. Where is He at work here?

Focus on what's good about the situation or what could be good. Concentrate on the positive. Sometimes when I'm tired and I'm stressed, I hear some Eeyore coming out of my mouth. I start to complain, I start to see the negatives, I start to see the problems, I'm critical. You know, this could go wrong, this is looking bad, and oh, that's pretty bleak. What happens? You make a gray day darker because you drag everybody else down with you with your Eeyore complex. It's amazing how a negative person can be a cloud that blocks out the sun for everyone. Play back the tape of some of your recent conversations. What do you hear? Is it the joy of the Lord or do you hear a lot of "poor me" talk?

I remember a day when I woke up really, really depleted. I had a marathon schedule ahead of me - like a lot of days - and I decided that that day in my first conscious moment I was going to focus on Jesus' strength. Oh, I could have been thinking about my sore throat, or I could have focused on the fact that I'd only had three hours sleep, but instead of the negatives, I said, "Now today I'm just going to keep thinking about the strength of Jesus, not the weakness of Ron." Well, I found myself energized for that whole long day by focusing on the joy of the Lord. I cannot tell you how many days there have been like that since. It works! The joy of the Lord is your strength, and conversely, I'll tell you there is nothing that will de-energize you as fast as complaining, self-pity, negativity and down talk.

When you look out a dirty window, everything looks dirty. The joy of the Lord can clean that window through which you're looking at everything else in your life. Look for the Lord. Look for His goodness in your day-to-day living. Go after some God sightings in your day. He's all over the place. Talk about the good things, and if you hear the voice of old Eeyore, turn the page.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5100 - "No Such Thing as a Secret"
Romans 2:16

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A friend of mine was commenting on some recent news stories in which something very shocking, very violent and seemingly unexplainable had happened within a family. He concluded with a comment based on a classic country song he knew, "No one knows what goes on behind closed doors." Actually, that's not true.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Such Thing as a Secret."

It's a fact that there are plenty of secrets behind closed doors. No one on earth probably knows the real you like the people you live with. They see you unmasked and unedited. There's some ugly stuff behind some of our closed doors. Then there are the things we do when no one seems to be watching or hearing - our secrets. I'm reminded of those commercials advertising a certain resort city that say, "What you do here stays here."

Well, I've got some bad news for anyone who thinks their secrets are safe behind closed doors. Actually, I'll let the Bible give you the news. It's recorded in Romans 2:16, and it's our word for today from the Word of God. The Bible talks about "the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ." Guess what? Someone has been watching; someone has been listening. Someone knows everything that happens behind those closed doors. What you do there won't stay there. You'll meet it on Judgment Day - standing before the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He will, the Bible says, "bring to light what is hidden in darkness" (1 Corinthians 4:5).

Maybe you feel relieved that you haven't been caught. Wrong. If God knows, you're caught. And He does know. The Bible says, "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is ... laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." All the dark secrets of our life will be "outed" and we will face the penalty for them. The Bible makes the penalty clear: "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). That's death as in eternal separation from God and from His love.

Without a way to remove all the sins of my life from God's records, I have no hope of ever knowing God, of avoiding hell, and of living in His heaven. The Bible makes it clear that there is no religion or human goodness that can erase our sins. Amazingly, it was the very God we've rebelled against who reached out to give us a way to belong to Him. A way that cost Him the most precious thing He had - His one and only Son. In God's own words, "He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10). In other words, Jesus had all the guilt and all the hell of all our sin and shame dumped on Him when He died on the cross; including the darkest secrets of your life.

When He hung on that cross, He said, "Father, forgive them." He was thinking of you. God says, "Everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43). That could be you today if you will acknowledge your sin - even the hidden sin - and grab Jesus as the only One who can rescue you spiritually. Imagine going to bed tonight knowing you're clean, knowing you're forgiven, and knowing you're right with God and ready to meet Him.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5101 - "Deadly Deafness"
Hebrews 3:7

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Jim was spending his first night as a college student. As he began to fall asleep in his dorm room, he was suddenly awakened by a frightening sound. A train whistle blew, and the train was coming right through his room. Or at least that's how it sounded to this particular college student. It turned out that the railroad tracks were right next to his dorm. That's probably why they put lowly freshmen there. Well, Jim found it pretty challenging to slip into la-la land for the night when it sounded like a train was roaring through his room. I said, "But I'll bet you eventually got used to it, didn't you?" He told me, "Well, after a while, I didn't even notice the train anymore!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Deadly Deafness."

Amazing, isn't it? What used to seem so loud to you becomes something you eventually can ignore totally. That's good if it's the sound of the train roaring by your room at night. It's bad if it's the voice of God you don't hear anymore. And the more you've been around the Word of God, the greater the danger that you may be developing the most deadly form of deafness in the world - deafness to the God that you can't afford to miss.

Our word for today from the Word of God is a sobering warning about this deadly deafness. Hebrews 3:7 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." Every time you hear about what Jesus did for you on the cross and you do nothing about it, your heart gets a little harder. We wouldn't know that if God didn't tell us in the Bible. This hardening of your heart is gradual - almost imperceptible - but very, very real and very dangerous. Proverbs 29:1 tells us that the one who continually ignores many warnings from God "will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy."

The Bible gives us a disturbing example of this danger in the story of Pharaoh. Moses continued to deliver a message from God to Egypt's king and he continued to disregard it. The Book of Exodus tells us that "Pharaoh hardened his heart" (Exodus 8:14, 32). After all the times Pharaoh heard and rejected God's message, the Bible tells us that "the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart" (Exodus 9:12). He reached the point where he could not respond to God because of all the times he would not respond to God. Ultimately, Moses says, speaking on God's behalf, "I will never appear before you again" (Exodus 10:29).

Right now I'm talking to someone who has heard about Jesus many times. You've heard what He did on the cross was for you. You've heard it was to pay for the sins that cut you off from God. You've heard that He's alive. You've heard that He's inviting you to put your trust in Him. And you agree with Jesus. You like Jesus. But you've never given yourself to Jesus. Without knowing it, without meaning to, you've been hardening your heart. You're so familiar with Jesus that you're becoming immune to Jesus.

But if you sense any stirring in your heart toward Jesus, there's still time. You can still believe because God has come to draw you to His Son at least one more time; at least this time. When will it be too late to choose Jesus? Only God knows. What we do know is that today is your only guaranteed opportunity to make Jesus your own Savior from your own sin; to change your eternal destination from hell to heaven.

It starts when you tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. I have no other hope but You and what You did on the cross for me." I'd love to help you make sure that you belong to Him. Actually, we've set up our website to do just that. I encourage you to visit us there today. Just go to yoursforlife.net. Or, if you'd rather get my little booklet about getting started with Jesus, it's called "Yours For Life." Just call and ask for it at 877-741-1200.

Remember what God says. Today if you hear His voice, grab Him while you still can. There's so much to gain when you do grab Jesus and there's so much to lose if you don't.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5102 - "The Tragedy of Doing Nothing"
Luke 10:30-34

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We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and risk their own lives to save them. And then there's the kind of story that came from Mount Everest not long ago. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that peak that is really a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died there of oxygen deficiency. He didn't have to die.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Tragedy of Doing Nothing."

The official cause of death was probably something like "oxygen deficiency." But apparently there was another cause of that climber's death - human indifference: people too busy climbing their mountain to stop and help someone who was dying.

Sadly, that happens more than we know. And the ones who are dying may be people we see every day. Without the Bible, we'd never know the real spiritual condition of the folks we know who don't belong to Jesus. But we have the Bible, and it describes every person without Christ in words like these: they are "lost," according to Luke 19:10; they are "without hope and without God in this world" (Ephesians 2:12); some folks you see often are, in God's words, "condemned" (John 3:18) and they're called those who are "being led away to death" (Proverbs 24:11).

My Bible tells me that neighbors and friends of mine who don't know Christ will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord" forever (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). There's no way anyone can get into heaven with their sin unforgiven. And the only One who can forgive them is the only One who died for those sins. So we have dying people all around us. People whose eternal destination may hinge on whether or not we stop for them to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. Just living a good life in front of them won't explain that. We'll have to tell them.

Where are we in this disturbing story Jesus told in Luke 10:30-34, our word for today from the Word of God? "A man ... fell into the hands of robbers. They striped him ... beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side." Then another religious leader came along and he "passed by on the other side." "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds ... he took him to an inn and took care of him." What troubles me is that it's the really religious folks who just keep walking by a man who needs them - people like me, and probably like you.

So many times I've met people who have come to Christ late in life, and with great regret that they didn't know Him sooner. Often they'll say something like, "I was 52 years old, I was 45 years old before I ever heard what Jesus did for me." And it turns out, in retrospect, that they had known several folks along the way who were believers who never told them about their Jesus.

Look around your personal world: co-workers, family members, fellow students, teammates, fellow club members, your friends, your neighbors. If you'll let Jesus show you what He sees, you'll see people who are slowly dying spiritually; who are headed for an unthinkable eternity without Christ while you're enjoying the glories of heaven. Silence is unacceptable. Silence is wrong.

Don't talk to them about religion. Don't talk to them about church. Don't talk to them about their lifestyle. Tell them about the Man who loved them enough to die in their place. God put you in their life to give them a chance at Jesus. Please, don't keep walking by their need. You know Jesus. They need your Jesus. Don't let them down. Don't let Him down.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5103 - "Nothing But the Best"
Jeremiah 48:10

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There's an interesting story that's told about Queen Elizabeth at a time when she wanted to get away from all that hustle and bustle of London and Buckingham Palace. She just wanted to go for a walk, and it's kinda hard if you're the Queen of England. So, she got all dressed down, she had her chauffer take her out to the countryside, and she said, "Let me out and you can come and pick me up later." Well, as she walked for a while a shower began to come up, and the weather changed, and she came to this old, old kind of hut. She knocked on the door and an elderly woman came to the door, and the Queen, of course dressed down in disguise, said, "Listen, can I borrow an umbrella from you?" The old lady looked and she had two umbrellas by the door; one was a brand new one and the other one was her beat up-old umbrella. She gave the lady the beat-up, old umbrella and the Queen said, "I'll make sure you get your umbrella back." The next day that big ole limousine pulls up in fro!
nt of that hut, the chauffer knocks on the door and presents the umbrella to the lady and says, "The Queen asked me to return your umbrella." And the old lady was heard to say, "If I'd only known who it was, I would have given her my best."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Nothing But the Best."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Jeremiah 48:10. Listen to these sobering words, "A curse on him who is lax in doing the Lord's work." Wow! Don't be lax. Don't be lazy. Don't be careless in doing the Lord's work. That's strong words; a curse on that person. You see, sometimes we give the Lord what's easy for us to give Him even though the King deserves our best.

A lot of people unfortunately are lax doing the Lord's work. That's why a strong word like this is needed. Some of us maybe have been financially lax with the Lord's work. We've been careless with the money. Maybe there's not been full integrity in the way the funds have been taken care of. We've got to say, "Man, every dollar is God's money." I had one Christian leader tell me, "Ron, this money is blood money. It's been bought and paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus sacrificed his life for the work this money was given to. We can't be wasteful with it." Maybe some are lax with their time. A lot of time gets wasted in the service of the Lord. Let's be honest about it. We need to be doing every task as if it were a royal task because it is. It's for the King of Kings; giving it 100% however big or small it is, whether it's in or out of the spotlight, realizing that time is too precious to waste. And maybe we've been lax with the quality of our work for the Lord!
. Settling for mediocrity when the King should always be represented by excellence, don't you think?

In a very busy world, in our very busy lives, the King too often gets our leftovers. Our leftover time, our leftover energy or talent, and that's wrong. We forget this isn't work for the church or for some Christian organization, or for the people around us, or the people we report to. This is for the King! This is the King who bought me back with the life of His Son.

Someday you'll stand before this King and you'll offer Him the work you did for Him. Make it work that Jesus will be proud of and you don't have to be ashamed of - "...a workman who needs not be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15) the Bible says. Then you won't ever have to say, "If only I had known this was for the King, I would have given Him my best."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5104 - "Reservation Tested"
Luke 4:1

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Our family has had the wonderful privilege of spending some unforgettable ministry days on some Indian Reservations in the Southwest and when you're there, you do a lot of driving. The vehicle of choice there is not a car. No, you want a truck. See, the roads there are of, shall we say, uneven quality. Many places are only accessible by roads that are steep and bumpy, and it's a major challenge to the durability of any vehicle - or passenger for that matter. The radio stations in that area have advertised lots of trucks and they've used one phrase to promote the quality of their truck. This macho voice comes on and says, "It's reservation tested!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Reservation Tested."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4:1. This is the familiar story of the temptation of Jesus. It says, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan." Remember, that's where He has just been baptized. The Spirit had come down from heaven in the form of a dove and He heard the Father's voice saying, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." For Jesus, that was probably the ultimate spiritual high. Now it says, "Then he was lead by the Spirit in the desert where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and at the end of them He was hungry. And the devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written, man does not live on bread alone.'"

There are two more temptations that come right at the weak spots of Jesus and He again answers with the word of God. And after the devil finally gives up and leaves, it says in verse 14, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues and everyone praised Him." That was the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus Christ.

There's a cycle in this incident from Jesus' life that is repeated many times in yours and mine. First, there comes the Spirit touch. For Jesus, that was His baptism in the Jordan River. That's when the Lord comes in an evident, almost tangible way. Do you remember a time like that; a season of your life when the Lord was so dramatic in the way He revealed himself when He spoke to you? There's no doubt that He's there. Okay, now that's the beginning.

The end of the cycle comes with the Spirit triumph. We saw at the end of the story that Jesus' life exploded in ministry. Now the ending of that cycle for you is that Spirit touch ultimately ends in your life becoming very powerful and in affecting many other lives. Did you notice though what's in between the Spirit touch and the Spirit triumph? It's a Spirit test. That's your time to be "reservation tested." It's hot, it's bumpy, it's lonely, you're taking a beating, and you ask, "Can we skip that part?" No, Jesus didn't and neither can you and I. There is no dove there. There is no voice from heaven. The devil feels more real than God does. There's doubt and temptation and deprivation; your feelings aren't inspired anymore - just numb. Sound familiar? That's the road to power, but you have to go through the desert to get there. The Lord says of the Old Testament saints that He put them in the desert to test what was in their heart.

It's not the spiritual high that makes the work of God real in your life. It's a time when there's no feeling and no outward evidence of God at work. See, the wilderness isn't the devil's idea. It's his opportunity, but it's the Spirit's idea. It's the wilderness that proves the reality of what God said to you in the high time.

Your Lord leads you into this wilderness to wean you from depending on evidence from Him to depending only on Him. He wants you to test the power of God's Word by facing down the Prince of Darkness with only God's Word in your hand. You feel more powerful after the Spirit touch, but you really are more powerful after the Spirit test. Remember the reason God may be driving you over difficult roads. It's to make you a more powerful vehicle for Him.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5105 - "Unappreciated Beauty"
Colossians 1:16

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I keep telling my wife that I'm expecting Tarzan or George of the Jungle to come swinging through our house any time now. She's set up a corner of the house as her own personal little jungle to accommodate the new guests in our house - our orchids. My wife has found some sources for orchids that are pretty reasonable, and she's really been enjoying collecting some in recent weeks. They're very stately. They come in some beautiful shades of lavender, purple, red, yellow. (Now, please don't write to us and ask us about orchids. We're just learning about them.) I will tell you that my favorite gardener is doing her best to create the kind of conditions those delicate flowers are used to; warmth in the day, cooler temps at night, light, pure water, humidity. Orchids are tropical plants and they're often found in out-of-the-way places; which poses a fascinating scenario: millions of these spectacular flowers over many centuries, displaying this exotic beauty where no one may !
have ever seen it.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Unappreciated Beauty."

Those orchids tell us something about what the Creator of us all is like. He's extravagant in creating beauty - deep in remote jungles, deep beneath the sea - where much of that beauty is never seen. That happens with people, too. In fact, there's probably someone listening right now who is a uniquely beautiful person - even though few, if any, have ever appreciated that beauty. An orchid doesn't need an admirer to be beautiful. Beauty unappreciated is beauty still the same.

God really did do something beautiful when He created you. First, because you are created in God's own image. The Bible tells us that "God created man in his own image ... male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27). The Bible goes on to say that God knit you together in your mother's womb - that you are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:13-14). You may not have been treated like you're a divine masterpiece (you may not have even believed it yourself) but that doesn't change the fact that you are. God only does masterpieces.

Unfortunately, we've all made the mistake of trying to find our worth in other things: a relationship, a marriage, our children, our friends, our success. But there's never enough love, never enough approval. Here's why. Colossians 1:16, our word for today from the Word of God, reveals that "all things were created by Him and for Him." The "Him" is Jesus Christ. And you were created by Him. You were created for Him. The Bible also makes it clear that we haven't lived for Him. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray," it says. "Each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). Our beauty, our worth are rooted in the One who made us. And we're away from Him because of a lifetime of self-serving and sinful choices.

I'm so thankful that God loved us too much to leave it that way, though. He launched a very costly rescue mission. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to actually lay down His life in exchange for ours. To put it simply, you did the sinning, but Jesus did the dying for it so you could cross the awful sin-canyon between you and God and experience the love you were made for. And the One who gave you your worth. Suddenly, with Him in your heart, you know who you are - someone worth so much to God that He made you in His image and paid for you with His blood.

You've been looking a long time for a love and a worth that only Jesus Christ can give you. And today you can actually begin your personal relationship with Him and finally be complete. What it's going to take is your act of faith - telling Jesus, "I'm pinning all my hopes on You and what You did when You died on the cross for my sins. I want to belong to You, Jesus, from this day on."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5106 - "Why God Will Never Be a Grandfather"
John 1:12

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It was one of those unforgettable, milestone moments for our family. Our firstborn child was holding her firstborn child. What a moment! And we got to join them in the delivery room only moments after the little guy's arrival. And I knew this presented a shocking development. My wife was a grandmother! Can you believe it? Me, living with a grandmother! Yes, I was living in denial. And now that she's been a grandmother more than once, I'm finally going to have to accept the disturbing reality. I - I am a grandfather!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why God Will Never Be a Grandfather."

All through the Bible, God introduces Himself to us as our Father in heaven, but never as our grandfather. God never has been and never will be anyone's grandfather. He only has children and no grandchildren.

That may be very important information for you to consider - eternally important - because you might be one of the many people who are counting on the faith of their family to qualify them for heaven. If you've got a Christian mom or dad, that might help you know about Jesus. It won't do a thing for you when it comes to knowing Jesus personally. You can't "osmote" a relationship with Jesus from your Christian parents or your Christian husband or wife - or from all the Christians you've been with your whole life. Unless there's been a personal transaction between you and Jesus to have your sins forgiven, you've never been born into God's family, and you'll never see heaven. God has no grandchildren.

Jesus described the essential qualification for going to heaven when He said, "No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again" (John 3:3). A couple of chapters earlier, the Bible describes just how that birthing into God's family takes place. It's in John 1:12, our word for today from the Word of God. Speaking of Jesus, it says, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God."

What does it mean to "receive" Christ? It's consciously opening the door of your heart and welcoming Jesus in. Has there ever been a time when you did that for yourself? This verse also talks about "believing in His name." What's that about? When you check out "believe" in the original language of the New Testament, it's clear that it's a lot more than just agreeing with the facts about Jesus dying for your sin. It's all about total trust in Jesus as your only hope. "His name" literally means, "Jehovah rescues." That's what He died for - to pay for your sin so you don't have to. You've got to grab onto Jesus like a rescuer would desperately hold onto the one who had come to save them. Has there ever been a time when you did that with Jesus? If you don't know you have, you probably haven't. When you've grown up in a Christian home, spent a lot of time in a Christian environment, it's easy to feel like you must have picked up Jesus somewhere. Not unless there's been a time!
when you consciously put all your trust in Him for yourself. That's when your sins are erased from God's records. That's when you're born into God's family.

It may be that God is whispering to your heart today, "Take care of this now. You've known a lot about Me all these years, but you've never known Me. Don't wait another day to begin your personal relationship with Me." You could do that by telling Jesus, "Lord, I've never really pinned all my hopes on You and what You did for me on the cross, but I am today. Beginning today, Jesus, I am Yours."

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It may be that God is whispering to your heart today, "Take care of this now. You've known a lot about Me all these years, but you've never known Me. Don't wait another day to begin your personal relationship with Me." You could do that by telling Jesus, "Lord, I've never really pinned all my hopes on You and what You did for me on the cross, but I am today. Beginning today, Jesus, I am Yours."

AMEN BROTHER GARY!

I always enjoy these, but this one is exceptionally beautiful. Brother, thank you so much for sharing these with us.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Hebrews 10:19-23 NASB Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;

So often they have something in them that really touches how I am feeling

Like today

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5107 - "A Dog and a Disciple"
John 12:26

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The daughter of our friends was kind enough in her last semester of college to buy a dog. You know what that means? She's out of college now and the dog has moved in with our friends. They inherited Starbuck. It's not coffee - that's a black Labrador retriever, and our friends are learning some very interesting things about this dog. In fact, this dog is stuck like glue to them. My friend told me just the other day that everywhere he goes Starbuck goes, whether you want him to or not. And they'll go in the living room, Starbuck goes there. They'll go into the kitchen, Starbuck goes there. Starbuck doesn't much care where he goes, he just follows his master around, and my friend said sometimes you finally want to say to him, "Hey, listen leave me alone. Don't you have something to do?" He told me, then you look at those big ole eyes looking up at you and it's irresistible. When we got a dog I had the same experience. See, we understand the dog's value system now. The dog !
doesn't care where he is, he just wants to be where his master is.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Dog and a Disciple."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from John 12:26. Jesus says, "Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am My servant also will be." He's talking here about the central response of a follower of Jesus Christ. Find out where my master is going and be there. Find out where my master is going and I'm going to go there, too. Now this kind of allegiance to the Master's direction is what being a disciple is all about. It's not just about having the right beliefs and going to the right meetings. You want to be where your master is as he wants to move deeper into your life.

That's why every morning he is supposed to be your starting point. Luke 9:23 says, "Take up your cross daily and follow me." Each day as you get into His Word, you hold that book in your lap and say, "Lord, show me what new ground you want to touch today," and then you want to be where Jesus is as he's moving in the lives of those you love. You begin to look around at your mate, and what's He's trying to do in his or her life. You don't try to shape them in the way you want them to go. You follow where your Master's going and contribute to what He's trying to do.

How about your parent or your child? Nurture what Jesus seems to be doing in their life. Find out where He's going and follow it. And also as He moves in that place where you serve, follow His lead there as well. See, the key question a leader needs to be asking is, "Where does Jesus seem to be going?" When the Board meets, when the committee meets, when a leader is on his knees praying, you ask, "Lord, where are You going in this ministry?" Not, where would I like to take you in this ministry. You seek out God's agenda. You go with His flow and it becomes an exciting, dynamic process. You have to stay flexible because you never know where the Master's going to go next. But then that's how that dog follows its master isn't it; that wherever my master is, I will be there wherever that takes me.

In John 12:24 just before this, Jesus said that He would be lifted up to die for lost people. And I'll tell you that if you're going to go where Jesus is going, pretty soon you'll be in the middle of reaching lost people, because that's where Jesus is always going. I've learned a lot about being a disciple from watching our dog; from watching what happened at my friend's house. See, a dog's big issue is basic; where is my master right now? The dog made his decision where he'll be - wherever my master is, and so it is with a disciple of Jesus. Where is my Master on this issue? I don't care where it takes me. I don't care what it costs me. I just want to be where my Master is.

My thoughts.............when all around me things seem in utter chaos.......I fall down and pray to follow Christs path. Its the only path that makes any sence. "Master where are we going today?"...................Over the weekend a bit of the old redhead bubbled to the surface, and it hurt me badly. I know that it is a process of purification and there was something there she was holding on to that Jesus wanted her to reveel and let go of. Again I find that not only is she being pursued by Jesus and slowly becomeing the woman I see in her, I also feel that the Master is working in me, my maturity, faith in his path, trusting him before myself, changing the way I react to outside influance, and how I deal with the pain inflicted. He holds every one of my tears, and knows my heart,.............Where are we going today Master?

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5112 - "Radar from the Rough Times"
2 Corinthians 1:3

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I was in Georgia a few years ago when a friend said to me, "You know who one of the best football teams in our state is?" And I said, "No, who would that be?" He said, "The Georgia School for the Deaf." That caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a school for the deaf to be football champions. He said, "Man, when we played them when I was in high school, you always had to get up for that game. They were always the toughest." And I began to think, "How can they play football when you can't hear the signals being called; when they can't hear the plays being called. How would you play football?" He said, "Well, they bring their band to every game and they beat the drums and the signals are called through the drumbeat and they feel the signals through their face." Well, I couldn't do that, but they can. They've got radar I don't have because they have faced a challenge I haven't faced.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Radar from the Rough Times."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 1, beginning at verse 3, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives so also through Christ our comfort overflows." Now verse 3 here talks about this beautiful side of God. He's the God of all comfort and compassion, the healing hugs of God who brings what only He could bring, a supernatural comfort deep inside of us where no human being can go. You've probably experienced that.

But there's a comfort cycle here. It says that we are supposed to comfort with the comfort we got from Him. This word "comforting" is really the Greek word which means "called along side of to help," so it's saying God comes along side us to encourage us so that we can do that for others. So that the comfort isn't just for us to get comfortable, it's to fill us up with love and support to give to others. Now how does this happen? Okay, now you go through a deep valley, maybe you lose someone, you have a season alone, a lingering illness, a financial disaster, maybe you're abandoned or betrayed, and it hurts. But God can do something beautiful with that hurt. He turns it into sensitivity - radar for people who are hurting in that same area.

Joni Eareckson Tada was paralyzed as a teenager in her dive that day and it was a terrible tragedy. But, the worst thing that ever happened to her has given her a worldwide ministry. She knows how the disabled and the wounded feel. My friend, Jean, was abused as a girl; she's got a wonderful ministry to abused girls. My friend, Don, was raised in a broken home; he has an incredible ability to work with kids from troubled backgrounds. When you open up your hurt and your wounds to the God of all comfort, He can use it in ways you never dreamed. When life's trouble hits you, it can be a tool either for Satan or for God. You dwell on the pain, you dwell on the people who hurt you, on yourself - you're going to start a downward cycle of depression.

Maybe that's where you are right now. But if you surrender it to Jesus, all the pain, all those people who hurt you, all the questions, you're on your way to turning a loss into a victory. Like those at the Georgia School for the Deaf. They have special sensitivity because of their loss; because of their handicap. You can, too. God can give you radar from your rough times; radar that will make you the one who could be the Jesus person for some other hurting hearts.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5111 - "The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs"
Isaiah 55:6

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The recent storm that roared through our area got so intense that a tree as big around as a car came crashing down on a house in our community. It went all the way through the roof and the house. We're talking major damage here. It didn't take long for the insurance adjuster to come by and give the owner a check to get the damage repaired. She called a contractor to come for an estimate, and when he asked if she wanted him to do the work, she told him she wanted another estimate. He warned her that there was more rain in the forecast, but she was determined. She had a similar conversation with a second contractor. Then the big rain came - and, of course, poured into her house. That's when she called a third and fourth contractor; both of whom gave her much higher estimates than the first two. Finally, she called in that first contractor who gave her a new estimate as high as the others. He said, "Ma'am, you waited so long that the rain came and did a lot more damage. So !
getting things fixed is going to cost a lot more."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Cost of Putting Off the Repairs."

It's amazing how we have a tendency to do that - to put off repairs that need to be made in our marriage, with our child, with our parents, in a broken relationship, in dealing with a problem that we don't want to confront. We keep thinking about how much it's going to cost to try to fix things. And we put it off - a little bit longer.

Problem: the longer you wait to repair what's broken, the more expensive it's going to be. This is the easiest and cheapest it's ever going to be to make it right. One day it's going to get so bad it's unlivable that way. But the price of repairs may be more expensive than you ever dreamed.

In the Bible, God is constantly urging us to get things fixed now. He says about our anger, for example, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:27). Translation: fix it now. Putting it off will only make it more expensive to fix.

Jesus told the story of the son who insisted on getting his inheritance while his father was still alive. Then he went to another country and squandered it all on partying. Did he face the damage and start repairs at that point? No. Postpone the repairs. Too hard to go home and admit you're wrong. Did he give in when his friends all abandoned him? No. When the only job he could find was feeding some farmer's pigs? He still postponed the repairs. Finally, as he was reduced to eating pig slop, he said, "I will go to my father." And that's when he finally got a real relationship with his father - when he least deserved the love and forgiveness his father gave him.

We all need to come home to God that same way, because the most broken thing in our life is our relationship with God. The Bible says we're "far away" from God because our sin has cut us off from the one Person we can't afford to live without - or die without. Our word for today from the Word of God in Isaiah 55:6 warns us to "seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near." One day you won't be able to find Him. If you feel His moving in your heart today, you still can find Him - for today, that is.

Postponing the Christ who died for your sin gets more and more expensive; more and more days wasted without the love and the meaning you were made for. Until one day the days run out, and you will have to pay forever the bill for your sin that Jesus already paid for you on the cross because you put it off one time too many. Which is why I urge you - why I pray for you - that you won't postpone repairing your relationship with God one more day.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5110 - "When Only Blood Could Do it"
Hebrews 9:26

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He's a noted surgeon who wants to make a difference in the world. So once a year, he dedicates a month to going to Central America to do volunteer medical work. Not long ago, he was in an emergency medical clinic, performing urgent surgery on a young boy. The boy started losing blood faster than expected, and he clearly needed blood. The problem was that he had a rare blood type that only two percent of the population carries. And this village clinic certainly didn't have anything that rare. In that critical moment, the doctor suddenly put down his scalpel and went to another room - where he gave blood. He, too, has that rare blood. The boy got the blood he needed, the surgeon returned to finish the operation, and the boy came through just fine.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Only Blood Could Do it."

A boy's life hanging in the balance; his only hope - blood given by the only one who had what it took to save him. I understand that. Mine was once a life hanging in the balance, and my only hope was the gift of someone's blood - the only One who had the blood that could meet my need.

Some have called Him the Great Physician. Many call Him Savior. We all call Him Jesus. And my only hope of escaping the spiritual death penalty for the sins of my life was blood - His blood; the blood of the only Man who had no sin of His own to pay for - God's one and only Son. No matter what religion you are, no matter how religious or spiritual you are, His blood is your only hope, too.

All of our theories, all of our systems for getting to God and getting to heaven are, at best, guesswork. Only God can tell us what it takes to get to Him. To be forgiven of that sin that makes it impossible for Him to have a relationship with us. And God does tell us in Hebrews 9:22, "Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness." Sin carries the eternal death penalty of being separated from our God now and forever. And a death penalty cannot be paid by doing nice things. Someone has to die, and Someone did. Hebrews 9:26, our word for today from the Word of God, says of Christ: "Now He has appeared once for all ... to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself." Incredibly, Jesus said to God the Father, "Let Me die so Ron doesn't have to." You can put your name there. "Father, let Me die so (your name) doesn't have to."

If you get to the end of your life and you find out that you've missed heaven, that your eternal destination turned out to be hell, don't blame God. He gave His only Son to die so you wouldn't have to go there. If a rescuer extends his hand and you don't grab his hand, don't blame the rescuer. In this case, the Rescuer is God's Son, reaching for you. He didn't just donate blood so you could be saved. He poured out His life-blood, dying for you. It is the blood of Jesus that could cover every sin of your life. It is because of that blood shed for you that God is willing to say to you today, "You are forgiven. You are clean. You are Mine forever." You can see why what you do with Jesus is the decisive choice of your life. God will never forget what you do with His Son, because He gave His Son for you.

This is a spiritual rescue we're talking about. And your only hope is to grab the hand of Jesus, God's rescuer, with all the faith you've got. That step will trigger a cleansing miracle of God. In the Bible's words, "The blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). Every sin you've ever committed, erased from God's book forever today, if you'll tell Jesus that you are His from this day on - that His blood, shed for you, is your only hope.

At our website, I've got a brief explanation of just how to begin this life-giving relationship with Jesus. If God is stirring in your heart at all, I'd encourage you to visit us there. It's yoursforlife.net. Or, if you prefer to get my booklet about this called "Yours For Life," just call and ask for it at 877-741-1200.

There's an old hymn that says it pretty powerfully: "Just as I am, without one plea, but that Your blood was shed for me. And that You bid me come to Thee. O Lamb of God, I come."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5109 - "The Punch You're Not Ready For"
Luke 4:1-4

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Think of a name that goes with magic and you'll probably think of Houdini. Harry Houdini was the master of illusion, incredible escapes which made it almost ironic how he died. He defied all kinds of dangers in his life, like the time they tied him in a straight jacket, hung him upside down from the eaves of a tall building and he got away. And then there was the time he escaped from an air-tight tank filled with water. One of the tricks he did was he would often invite people to come up and hit him as hard as they could right in the stomach and he never winced. One day a young athlete volunteered to come up on stage and try it, and he landed his hardest punch in Houdini's stomach, except Houdini wasn't ready for the trick yet, and that blow to the stomach killed him. Now, it wasn't the most dangerous thing he ever faced. He just wasn't ready.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Punch You're Not Ready For."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4. I'll begin reading with verse 1, "Jesus full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days and at the end of them He was hungry. The devil said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.' Jesus answered, 'It is written: Man does not live on bread alone.'" No one ever said the devil plays fair. Here is Jesus' weakest spot, his hunger, and Satan goes for it. Satan's thinking one way he could get Jesus to do what he said was to hit him at the point of his hunger.

It's the same way the devil comes after you and me. Here's an interesting question to think about briefly, "If I were the devil, what weakness would I go after in me?" Would it be your ego? Your need to get the credit and the glory? Would it be your insecurity? Your feelings of inadequacy? Your need to control? Your sexual weakness? Your materialism? Or would he exploit your loneliness? Or go after your tendency to worry? See, it's important to know where your most vulnerable spots are because I'll tell you, your enemy knows. So how do you handle this? How do you get ready for the punch?

Each morning, you consciously surrender that soft spot, that weakness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Make it His area of your life. Secondly, deal with any of yesterday's failures. Bring it under 1 John 1:9, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Get rid of yesterday's failures so they don't set you up for today. And then the third thing is the thing I do when I get on an airplane; identify your exits. I always check and see where the exits are. You have to see where your exits are from that temptation and say, "How can I avoid being in a position where I can have my weakness exploited? Make sure that you candidly and completely bring it to Jesus. And fourthly, learn scripture that relates to that area of weakness so that you can do what Jesus did: answer the temptation with a bold retort from the Word of God. And don't get careless because you've won a few in that area recently.

1 Corinthians 10:12 warns us, "Let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall." Houdini didn't die because of the hit. He died because he wasn't ready. Don't let Satan knock you out with his punch just because you're not ready. When you make that area of weakness that has been the devil's playground into Jesus' holy ground, then you are ready for any hit.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5108 - "Flexible Fighters"
Matthew 9:12

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So why did the Colonists win the American Revolution? Well, it shouldn't be a surprise if you saw how the Red Coats fought. They fought battles in the old fashion European way - line up in straight rows, the front row shoots, then the next row rotates in while the others reload. Now, the Colonists on the other hand, didn't believe in lines. They just came in from everywhere. Saw those red uniforms all lined up in a rigid row and said, "Oh, nice targets!" Now, the Colonists looked like they were disorganized, but their new way of fighting won a battle.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Flexible Fighters."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 9:12. The religious leaders are criticizing Jesus' approach to reaching the lost. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law that belong to their Sect complained to the disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus answered, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I've not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Later He says no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine has to be poured into new wineskins. See, Jesus broke out of the religious mold to reach people that no one was touching. It was new wineskins.

I understand that in those days the bottles in Palestine were really animal skins and the wine would ferment and give off this gas, and if the bottle was new and it had elasticity in the skin, well, then it gave with the pressure. If it were an old wineskin, the skin was dry and hard and of course it burst. Sometimes you have to replace an old idea with a new idea if you want God to do a new thing, if you want to reach people no one else is reaching. It's like those Revolutionary War soldiers. You know the Red Coats were rigid and they lost. The ones that were flexible won the battle.

Maybe God is trying to do a new thing in your life or in your church, or in your ministry. Could it be that you're unwilling to go with his flow? There are some things that never change and must never change: the product, the Gospel, the message, the doctrine of Jesus Christ; that never changes. The package - it constantly changes - never the message - always the method will change.

The world of lost people and the world of the church have never been so far apart. There's a new unbeliever out there, America's first post-Christians. They're biblically illiterate. They don't ever plan to go to a religious meeting to hear a religious speaker talk on a religious subject. It takes new things to reach them or else we'll just leave them lost. We've got to, for example, maybe leave the church building and have our outreaches on neutral ground. We have to learn to express Christ without all of our religious language. Maybe we're going to have to use some new music because it's the language of the native we're trying to reach.

All missionaries know that you do it in the language of the person you're trying to reach. It may have to be with some new ideas. Maybe we need to learn to wrap this Gospel that's so unfamiliar to people in a familiar need. So we talk about marriage, or parenting, or handling stress, maybe about sex or singleness, and then move from these into the story of Jesus and show the difference a Savior can make.

In Jesus' day the religious people totally missed what God was doing because they couldn't accept the new approach. The British soldiers of Revolutionary times lost because they were rigid. Now, we're in a battle for our town, our neighbors, the ever-living, never-dying souls of men and women. If God says, "I'm doing a new thing," let's not lose the battle by insisting on the same old formations.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5115 - "The Surprising End of a Long Search"
John 6:35

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When you go to a church pot luck dinner, you never know what kind of luck you're going to have in your pot. Friends of ours were at one of those dinners with their granddaughter recently. Someone there had baked what they called a Jesus cake. That, of course, raised the obvious question, "What is a Jesus cake?" They were told that someone had actually baked a very small plastic baby toy into the cake, and they called it Baby Jesus. If anyone found the baby in their piece of cake, they would win a prize. Well, our friends' granddaughter became obsessed with finding the baby - to the point of downing five pieces of cake. She was desperately trying to find baby Jesus, and she did. And when she found the baby, the little girl said, "Finding Baby Jesus changes everything."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Surprising End of a Long Search."

When my friends told me about their granddaughter's discovery, my first thought was, "Cute story." But then I realized that what happened to that little girl was also a picture of what's happened in the lives of so many people I've met - a long search for the prize. Then the end of the search that changes everything - finding Jesus.

Our lives are so much more than just the sum of all our daily activities. Those aren't enough to satisfy the thirst in our soul. We're seekers. Beginning in our teenage years, we're searching for what goes in the hole that's deep in our heart. We want significance. One of the best-selling books in recent years is entitled "The Purpose-Driven Life." That's a good description of what we're looking for; some great purpose that will drive our life and give it significance - give it meaning. We're looking for the answer to the question, "What's the point of all this?"

We're also on a search for love. We invest pretty heavily in one relationship after another, hoping that this one will pay off in giving us the one love that we'll never lose. But that's the problem with every human love - they either desert you, disappoint you, divorce you, or die on you. So our search for that anchor love goes on. We're really looking for security, too; something we know will be there to hang onto when everything else in our life is up for grabs.

So we just keep grabbing another piece of the cake, hoping that what we're looking for is in that slice. And it isn't. Listen to what Jesus says about the end of our lifetime search in John 6:35. It's our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty." Hunger satisfied. Thirst quenched. Search over when you come to Jesus.

Why? Because the God who puts us here is what we've been looking for. We were made for a love relationship with Him. But, according to the Bible, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We were created for God, but we've lived for ourselves. And we've lost Him, and thus the hole in our heart. That restlessness - that lack of peace and fulfillment - is an echo of another world; the constant reminder that God is missing. Until, in the words of that little girl, "Jesus changes everything."

That's because His death on the cross was the payment that can cancel the sin that stands between us and our God - between you and your God. His resurrection from the dead is the proof that He can deliver the eternal life He promises. And this very day, He is, in His words, knocking on the door of your heart. In reality, you don't find Jesus. He finds you and comes to you, offering you the opportunity to grab Him like a drowning person would grab their rescuer. At the moment you do that, everything between you and God is erased forever.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5116 - "Realizing You Were Made for More"
Isaiah 55:1

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Our grandson's been on a very limited diet - just mother's milk or baby formula for his first six months. But something's been happening in the last couple of weeks. He has suddenly become fascinated with what the rest of us are eating. Fascinated, you know, as in staring at the food on our plate, the fork going down to get that food, the fork coming up to put that food in our mouth, and our mouth as it's chewing that food. Then repeat the exercise as the fork goes down for another bite. You can tell by the longing look in his eyes, he's not content with that milk or formula anymore. He wants some of that good stuff. If he could talk, I think he might be saying, "Hey! I've been made for more than what I've been getting!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Realizing You Were Made for More."

Our grandson's growing dissatisfaction with his liquid diet is actually setting the stage for moving to something much better. In fact, many all grown-up people have some of those same feelings, "I've been made for more than what I've experienced so far." The good news is that, in many lives, restlessness like that has immediately preceded the greatest life upgrade those people have ever experienced.

Many of us know the feeling of a life that is full but not fulfilling. For all the things we've done to get some love, there's never been enough. We're still lonely. For everything we've tried to give more meaning to our life, nothing has ever really satisfied our soul. We're still wondering what the point of it all is. For all we've thought would give us some lasting peace inside, the unrest in our soul just won't go away. Even if you seem to have everything going your way, your heart may still be saying, "I'm made for more than this."

And your heart's right. It's just that the "something more" has always been elusive. It may be within your reach today, if you reach the right direction. Who could have more love, more meaning, more peace to give than the God who gave us our life in the first place? Here's what He says in Isaiah 55, beginning with verse 1; it's our word for today from the Word of God. "Come, all you who are thirsty" - or "all you who are restless for more" - "come to the waters ... come buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare ... hear Me, that your soul may live."

God says, "Don't waste any more time or energy on things that can never satisfy your soul. I've got what you're looking for." And where can you find it? It's not in a church. It's not in a religion. It's in a person. Here's what the Bible says about God's Son, Jesus: "All things were created by Him and for Him" - that includes you - "in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians 1:16; 2:9). It goes on to say, "You are complete in Him" (Colossians 2:10, KJV). Complete, fulfilled, at peace, because you've found the One you were made by and made for.

Sadly, we haven't lived our life for the One we were made for. We've made it all about me instead of all about Him. So we're away from the One who has the "something more" that we were made for. But in the greatest act of love in human history, Jesus paid the price to give us a chance at knowing God. This same book of the Bible says that He reconciled us to God "by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:20). We can have life now and life forever because He gave up His life for us. But, thank God, He didn't stay dead. He rose from the dead; so He's alive right now and inviting you to turn to Him for what only He can give.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5117 - "Why You're So Important to the People You Know"
Luke 10:2

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Our son-in-law was visiting his grandfather in Florida, with a nice Florida view outside his bedroom window - grapefruit trees. Now, it wasn't all a happy view. Many of the grapefruit were actually rotting on the ground. His grandfather wasn't up to harvesting them anymore. So those grapefruit got all ready to be picked and no one came, and they dropped to the ground and died.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why You're So Important to the People You Know."

That's what happens when there's no one there to harvest a crop when it's ready. It will die ready. Tragically, that same thing can happen to something much, much more valuable - a human soul. But it doesn't have to happen.

In Luke 10:2, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus said, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." Now I grew up in an apartment in Chicago, so I don't know much about harvesting. We just harvested cockroaches there. But I've asked a lot of farmers what's the first thing they think of when I say the word "harvest." Their answer is almost always the same, "ready."

So Jesus was saying, "The ready is plentiful." In other words, He's got a lot of lost people ready to hear about Him. They don't know that it's Jesus they're ready for, but they will when they hear about Him - if they hear about Him. Because Jesus' problem isn't with the people who don't know Him; it's with the people who do - His spiritual harvesters. He has so many of His people who He's counting on to harvest the hearts that He's gotten ready for Him, but they're just sitting in the farmhouse with the rest of God's family. Meanwhile, the harvest of hearts is waiting in the field ready - until that person dies ready.

This is a heartbreaking spiritual tragedy; lives lost because the Christian they know isn't telling them about Jesus. Here's what He says to do about this deadly apathy. "Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest field." Those words "send out" sound so gentle in the English. But the original Greek word is "ekballo" which means to "forcibly expel." It's used of throwing demons out of people, undesirables out of the temple. Many uses of the word include at least a hint of getting really aggressive, even violent. Jesus said His people need to be forcibly thrown out into the harvest of ready hearts, and maybe that's what He's trying to do with you.

That's why you're restless and unfulfilled as a believer. He rescued you to be using your everyday influence for something eternal - rescuing others from a Christless eternity. In Jesus, you've got so much that lost people around you are looking for. Peace in times of trouble, when Jesus is the only explanation for your peace; a love you know you'll never lose; the power to change the dark parts of you that you could never have changed yourself; a purpose to live for beyond just making it through the day; and an eternity you are sure of. You have all of that because you have Jesus. They have none of that because they don't have Jesus.

The Savior who died for them has been working in their life to get them ready to hear about Him. And He's moving and shaking things in your life and in your soul to get you to tell about Him. He died for them, and they don't know it. And you are in possibly the best position of anyone to tell them. Before you talk to someone without Jesus, pray the 3-Open Prayer: "Lord, open a door to talk with them." "Lord, open their heart." And, "Lord, open my mouth."

You have no idea how important you are to the people you know. And they have no idea how important you are, but Jesus does. You are their best chance at Him; their best chance at heaven. It's harvest time, but it won't be for long.The ready time never is. Don't wait 'til their heart turns hard or beats for the very last time. Please don't let them die ready.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5118 - "Flying Too Low"
Philippians 3:12

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Every child's dream - Disney World! Our three-year-old granddaughter had counted down to her visit there for weeks. And she was absolutely giddy as she finally entered the Magic Kingdom. One ride she really wanted to try was the flying elephants. Actually, the flying Dumbos, named after that elephant with oversize ears that enabled him to be a flying elephant! Dumbo basically just goes around and around; he's a ride for the little kids - kids like me. Now when you pull the bar in your Dumbo car, it starts to go up. Not super-high, but high enough to get a nice view of a lot of things in the park. And our granddaughter began making those Dumbo circles with her uncle, he started to pull the bar to help the flying elephant fly. It was not to be. Our little princess would have none of this going higher business - too scary! And she made no secret of her desire (well, maybe "demand" is more accurate) that Dumbo was to fly at the lowest possible level - and stay there.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Flying Too Low."

There's a whole lot of people who are just like our granddaughter with her flying elephant - not flying; settling for a low level spiritually when there's so much to see higher up. And maybe, without realizing it, you have settled into a low level of all there is to experience in the living Christ. You may not realize it because so many other believers around you are flying low, too. It seems to be normal Christianity. It's not. Just because spiritual mediocrity is common, doesn't mean it's normal! And my guess is your heart is saying, "There's got to be more than this." There is. Much more.

The writer of Hebrews gave some early Christians this challenge: "Though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's Word all over again ... Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with teaching about righteousness." God's saying, "You've known Jesus much too long for you to be still living on the ABCs of the Bible. Grow up, son! Grow up, daughter! There's so much more that only spiritual grownups experience!" The challenge continues: "Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity" (Hebrews 5:12-13; 6:1).

God has made you restless for more because He wants you to go for a much bigger, much bolder, much more powerful and exciting relationship with Him. He's calling you to the kind of spirit the great Apostle Paul had after thirty years of one of the greatest Christian lives ever. It's in Philippians 3, beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God. "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me ... forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." In other words, I refuse to stay at the level I am! I'm going higher! I want to see the view!

So what does this look like? Give yourself to four "going higher" goals. One: To dig deeper into God's Word than you've ever gone before. Two: To pray bigger in God's throne room than you've ever prayed before; no more safe, predictable, scripted prayer. Three: Open wider to God's control than you've ever opened up before. Let Him drive in the areas where you've always insisted on holding the wheel. Four: Tackle something bigger in God's work than you've ever risked before; say yes to a mission for Him that will make you dig deeper into Him than you've ever been before.

So go for the awesome view that's up higher. It may be safe down low, but it's boring and powerless. In the time you've got left, however little or much that may be, don't you want to experience all of Jesus that you can? No more settling for life where it's safe. You're going higher where the view is amazing!

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5120 - "Fatal Refusal"
Hebrews 2:3

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Four boys in a house on fire - that's what happened to my friend's nephews. Thankfully, the Fire Department got the call early and they were there in minutes. It was clear there was no way they could go into that blaze to bring the boys out. But all four of them were huddled around a second floor window, which meant they could be saved. The firefighters quickly prepared to catch the boys. Then they yelled to them to jump into the waiting net below. The oldest boy jumped; he was safe. A second, then a third brother jumped to their rescue below. Their 10-year-old brother was the last one left at that upstairs window. He hesitated. The firefighters begged him to jump again and again. And every time, he refused. And sadly, it cost him his life.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Fatal Refusal."

That is a heartbreaking story. It's a tragedy when someone dies because there was no one there to rescue them. It's an even greater tragedy when someone dies because they refused the rescuer who could have saved them.

It’s a tragedy that has been repeated countless times to people that Jesus came to rescue from an eternity without Him. People who had a chance (maybe many chances) to jump into the saving arms of Jesus, but they never did. Actually, God bringing us together today is another opportunity for you to choose life. When will it be too late to do that? Only God knows.

In some ways, the more religious you are, the more times you've heard about what Jesus did on the cross for you, the greater danger you're in. Because you may not even realize that you're in a burning house. Good people, religious people tend to live in the false security that they're okay because they know a lot about Jesus. They're trying to do things Jesus likes. But that ignores what it is that keeps a person out of heaven forever - their sin. All the wrong things you've ever done in your life. They are, in God's courtroom, a capital crime, punishable by eternal death. No one with sin can possibly live in the presence of a sinless God, and sin must be paid for.

And that fire of God's judgment on our self-willed, self-run life burns closer and closer every day we live. But God loves us so much that He acted dramatically to save us from the punishment we deserve. He sent His only Son to bear that punishment in our place. When Jesus was butchered and cut off from God on that awful cross, it was all the sins of my life He was paying for, and all of yours. Your only hope of rescue is to jump into the strong and waiting arms of Jesus and pinning all your hopes on Him. When have you done that? If you don't know you did, you probably didn't. So God asks this sobering question in Hebrews 2:3, our word for today from the Word of God, "How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" That's how most people miss heaven. They don't out-and-out reject what Jesus did. They just ignore His rescue; either not caring or mistakenly thinking that they'll make it out somehow. They won't. Only Jesus can save you.

And He's calling to you today - right now in your heart. He's saying, "When I went to that cross, I did all that for you to rescue you from your sin. So now, while there's time, jump into My arms." He's never dropped, He's never lost anyone who trusted Him to save them. But you have to make your move.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5121 - "Discovering Your Global Positioning"
John 10:3

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He's not the youngest motorcycle rider in the pack, but he's got to be one of the most devoted. Take that away from him and you'd be taking away one of the great joys of his life. Problem: he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. And as that condition progresses, he can expect to begin to experience some disorientation, among other things. That's not a good thing for a fellow running around on his motorcycle. So he has installed a global positioning system on his bike which will always show him where he is and where home is. That way, if one day he's out on his bike and forgets his way home, he'll be able to find his way home no matter where he goes.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Discovering Your Global Positioning."

Being able to get home is one of the strongest drives and deepest needs in every human heart. For most people, you can only be away from home for so long before your deep longing for home kicks in. Occasionally, we'll hear about a child or even an older person with failing mental faculties who has wandered away from home and can't find their way back. We have a word for that. They're "lost."

I find it interesting that "lost" is the word that God frequently uses in the Bible to describe us humans. For example, Jesus Christ announced His personal mission on earth this way: "The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost" (Luke 19:10). Spiritually, we're away from home and we don't know how to find home. "Lost" is the name of a hit TV show that tells the stories of plane crash survivors stranded on a strange island with no way to get home. In a way, they're a picture of all of us. "Lost" could be the title of a series based on the lives of any of us.

The exciting revelation in the Bible is that we don't have to stay lost. We weren't put here to be lost; unable to find home. Home is a personal relationship with the God who created you. Having been made, in the Bible's words, "by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16), God is clearly the reason for our existence, the meaning for our life. But we've thought we could run our lives ourselves and we've ended up acting in so many ways that have separated us from God; that have left us away from home - unable to find our way back.

Maybe you know this feeling of being lost on this planet, even if life is good. No real direction, no great purpose - wandering. Jesus has great news for you in our word for today from the Word of God. He wants us to be His sheep and He wants to be our Shepherd. In John 10, beginning with verse 3, He says: "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out ... He goes on ahead of them and His sheep follow Him ... My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish." Talk about security! Belonging to the God of the universe now and forever. And talk about meaning! Being led by the One who put you here!

But it cost the Shepherd everything for you to find home. He had to leave home and come to this earth where He died on a cross to pay the penalty for all our sinning. Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd; the good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep" (John 10:11). That's how precious you are to Him. That's how much He loves you. He died so you could live this life with Him in your heart and so you could be with Him forever in heaven.

There is a plan. There's a destiny for your life; something so much bigger than just the scattered pieces of the puzzle of your life. God has the top of the box that shows you how to put the pieces together. And Jesus is the only way you can have the God of heaven be your God. And you will belong to Him from the moment you tell Him, "Lord, I'm lost because I've done my life my way instead of Your way. I want that to change. I want my sins forgiven so I can belong to You, and I'm pinning all my hopes on Jesus because He died to bring me home."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5122 - "Wrapping Jesus in Hard Words"
Colossians 4:3-4

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It's an English-speaking church. The visiting pastor was Hispanic. He spoke in Spanish, using an interpreter to help his audience understand. I've spoken through an interpreter; either you say half as much or it takes twice as long. The pastor chose the latter. It took quite a while to get through his message. To be honest, I know some minds started to wander at times. At the end of his message, the pastor surprised everybody. He spoke to them completely in English. And he made a promise - the next time he would definitely speak in English. Of course, some folks were just a little frustrated. He could have spoken in the language of the people he was talking to; he just chose to speak in his own.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Wrapping Jesus in Hard Words."

It doesn't matter how important or sincere your message is if you deliver it in words the other person can't understand. And not all language problems are linguistic. Parents of teenagers know that. What their kids are saying may be some kind of "English," but who can understand what they're saying?

More importantly, when Christians tell about Jesus in church words, how many people without Christ can understand what they're saying? That's not just a casual question. It really matters because the message of Jesus is life-or-death information - like the directions to get out of a burning building. Every missionary to another culture knows that you can't settle for the easy thing; speaking in the language you're comfortable with. You don't just transmit the Gospel, you have to translate it. It's unacceptable that people may miss Jesus because you didn't put it in words they can understand.

American church folks speak a language I call Christianese. And sometimes I'm not sure we even understand what some of our words mean! But we tell people they need to be "born again," to "accept" or "receive Christ," to "become a Christian" or be "saved." And they either have no idea what those words mean or they have the wrong idea. The same is true of important words like "sin" and "Savior" and "believe." We think we've told them about Jesus, but they have no idea what we meant.

Thus, our word for today from the Word of God. It's a great prayer request from the Apostle Paul in Colossians 4:3-4. "Pray for us ... that God may open a door for our message ... Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should" Then he also asked people to pray that "whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me" (Ephesians 6:19). The words you use matter. Proclaiming it clearly can make the difference.

So ask the Lord to help you hear yourself using Christianese and to help you find non-religious words to explain what a person needs to know to come to Christ. For example, sin can be explained as "you running your life instead of God running it" or "hijacking your life from your Creator." In our time, a "Savior" is a rescuer - someone who rescues you from a deadly situation you can't get yourself out of. That's what Jesus came to be for us. And what does it mean to "believe" in Jesus? The Bible's meaning is similar to what a dying person does when the rescuer comes; holding onto Him as if He's your only hope.

The most urgent, the most important news in the world needs to be delivered in words that a lost person can understand - non-religious words! We can do it if we choose to do it. There's someone you know whose only hope is hearing about and understanding what Jesus did on the cross for them. Please put Him where they can reach Him.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5123 - "It's Show Time!"
1 Samuel 17:34

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We had been working on our production for our college's Junior-Senior Banquet for months. It was an original musical drama, written and directed by my roommate and me, based on the book of Esther. The orchestra had rehearsed night after night, the chorus had rehearsed, the actors, the light crew, the sound crew; we had prepared as much as we could. The night before, we had the dress rehearsal. But all those months of preparation and practice came down to one evening - the night of the big performance, and it was show time!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "It's Show Time!"

All of our work, all of our experiences over all those months were to get us ready for the moment that really mattered - the real performance that would affect many people's lives. The practices with no audience watching helped us do it right when there was a large audience watching. It may be that you're in rehearsal right now. God is sending or allowing you to go through some things right now that really are your preparation for some important assignments ahead - which means what you're going through isn't random. It isn't meaningless. It has great meaning which you can't see now, but which many will see when it's "show time."

It happened to David. In our word for today from the Word of God, 1 Samuel 17, beginning with verse 34, young David is persuading the king that he can go out and defeat the enemy giant, Goliath, even though he is only a shepherd boy and all the professional soldiers have retreated. He says, "Your servant has been keeping his father's sheep. When a lion or bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The Lord who has delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine."

David had experienced God's power in battles he fought when no one was watching. What he learned there (because he did it right in practice) enabled him to win a decisive victory for the Lord when the nation was watching! I can't help but think of something Lisa Beamer said in an interview. After her husband, Todd, died trying to stop the hijackers of Flight 93 on September 11, Lisa was thrust into the national spotlight, where she winsomely represented her faith and her hope in Jesus Christ. She said, though, that it was her struggle with the death of her father years earlier that had prepared her for this larger moment, where she now impacted millions of lives.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, whose life has included some very high highs and some very low lows, said, "Through the ups and downs of success, we become better people, and as better people, God can call us to bigger jobs." That may very well be what God is doing in your life right now. He is preparing you for bigger things; for opportunities to impact many lives. That's the reason for the things you're going through right now.

But now, in practice, where there aren't many people watching, when the load is heavy, and when the temptations are many, now is the time you must be faithful. You must be opening yourself up to God's working as you never have before. Or maybe it's "show time" right now; a major crunch time when it's your time to show what a mighty God you serve. May you hear the applause of heaven!

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5129 - "Asleep at the Wheel"
Ezekiel 34:2-5

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The power was out this morning when some of our neighbors woke up. In fact, several hundred customers were without electricity. Now, it wasn't the power company's fault. It was the fault of a driver who ran his car into an electric pole. Oh, not on purpose, of course. See it was a grandfather returning from an all-night hunting expedition with his grandson. Unfortunately, his body didn't want to wait until it got home to sleep. So the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Now, he was injured, his car was damaged, and lots of folks had no power.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Asleep at the Wheel."

It's never good for the person who's driving to fall asleep at the wheel, whether it's someone driving a car, or a family, a business, an organization, or a ministry. When you're supposed to be driving and you're sleeping instead, people can get hurt, damage can be done, and lives can be disrupted.

Whether you realize it or not, you may very well be in the driver's seat. You certainly are responsible for the wheel if you have children, or employees, or people looking to you, or if you're in a position of responsibility or influence. And you can't afford to fall asleep at the wheel.

In Ezekiel 34, beginning in verse two, our word for today from the Word of God, God reveals how He feels about those who have leadership but who are neglecting the people they should be caring for. The "driver" in this case is described as a "shepherd" - those who should have been leading God's ancient people. What God says about them all too often applies to some of us who should be shepherding the lives that He's entrusted to us.

Here's what God says, "Woe to the shepherds of Israel who only take care of themselves. Should not the shepherds take care of the flock? ... You have not strengthened the weak or healed the sick or bound up the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. ... they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for the wild animals."

I think we can assume from this that God is watching how you are caring for the people that He's entrusted to you. And if you're busy, it may be that you are asleep to their needs - to their wandering. It's all too easy to be off conquering the world somewhere, totally oblivious to the tragedy of everything falling apart back at home base; to be avoiding the hard work of making it work at home. You can be so immersed in the pursuit of your agenda and your goals (maybe even noble goals) that you can entirely miss or entirely ignore what's happening to the people that you're supposed to be giving direction to. Until one day there's an explosion, a disaster, a breakdown, or it just runs into a pole. The car hits a wall, you're injured, there's damage, or the lights are going out for some people who really need you.

The book of Proverbs says that "a king must give constant attention to those who are under him for the crown is not forever" and it goes on to say "do not forget to give attention to your herds." That could be a family; that can be people you minister to. It is people over whom you have influence or leadership and it's so important that you stay alert to their needs on the way to that goal that you're headed for. It's time to wake up to the needs that you've been neglecting, to the silent or maybe not-so-silent cries of the people who need you. You've got to wake up before there's a crash.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5130 - "Looking Good, Going Nowhere"
Proverbs 14:12

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When my wife and I are driving somewhere, we don't lose any time when she drives. In fact, we've set some records, so it's all right if she drives. Once when we were on a trip and I was preparing for the meetings we were going to, she was driving down this four-lane, divided highway, and I was looking down. All of a sudden, I looked up and I saw orange plastic cones on the middle line that divides the two lanes on our side. Now, I wasn't clear which lane we were supposed to be driving in, because I hadn't been looking up. And as I looked, every vehicle but one was moving into the left lane, to the left of the cones. I said everyone but one - that was us. My wife continued in the right lane, and I said, "Honey, what are you doing? It looks like this lane is closing." She said, "Just watch." Well, we passed a line of cars on our left, with a big truck at the head of it. See, that truck had moved into the left lane, and all the other cars said, "Oh, that must be the lane to!
be in." and all the other cars followed it. The problem was that the truck that they were following was taking equipment to a big tar truck parked in the left lane, so we waved as we zipped by all those cars as they were headed for an unpleasant surprise.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Good, Going Nowhere."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Proverbs 14:12. It's short, but it's hard-hitting. "There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to death." Well, the Bible is pretty clear here. A lot of people are on a road that looks good, but it's going nowhere. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 7:13-14, when He said, "Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it; but small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

See, lots of people are wrong about the one thing you can't afford to be wrong about - God, and how to get to Him. If you're wrong about God, it's eternally fatal. Maybe you're someone who might be on a sincere road that seems very right, but that ends far away from God forever instead of with Him forever. The Bible says many are on that kind of road. It's like those cars following that truck. Almost everybody chose that lane. It seemed like the best one, but it led to an unpleasant end.

Only God can tell us how to get to Him, and He does in John 14:6. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father except through Me." In 1 John 5:11-12, it says, "There is life in God's Son, and he that has the Son has life. He that does not have the Son of God does not have life." Do you have the Son of God in your heart? This bothers a lot of people that Jesus is the only way. You say, "Well, I believe in tolerance. As long as we're sincere." Well, if you're trapped in a burning building, and a firefighter risks his life to bring you out, I don't think you say, "Hey, wait, you mean there's only one way out of here?" No, you grab that rescuer and you say, "Thank God there is a way."

Thank God there is one way. There wasn't any way until one Savior came and paid the price for our sin. Sin has a death penalty. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death," and someone has to die for my sin. No good works, no matter what faith they're from, can pay that death penalty. Romans 5:8 says, "God proved His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

If you haven't pinned all your hopes on Jesus the Rescuer, you're still on the road that leads to death. That's why everything, now and forever, depends on what you do with God's Son, Jesus. This could be that day when you make this Jesus your Rescuer from your sin. Would you tell Him, "Jesus, I'm Yours."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5131 - "Trapped Where You Don't Want to Be"
Romans 7:15

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It seemed harmless enough when I entered. I was just a kid at an amusement park in Chicago, and the ride was just a big cylinder that made you feel like you were walking into a washing machine. They called it The Rotor. I stood against the edge and I waited for it to do its thing. Then it started to do what something called The Rotor might be expected to do - rotate. As it began to spin faster and faster, the floor started to disappear in front of my feet. I was plastered against the side of the cylinder, looking down into this yawning black hole. I hated it. I wanted off. Too bad!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Trapped Where You Don't Want to Be."

It's one thing to be stuck on a ride you really don't want to be on. It's something else to be stuck in a life you really don't want to be in. And a lot of people are; sometimes, people that might surprise you.

Recently, a national magazine published a candid interview with the man they called "TV's hottest action hero." He stars in one of the most successful, most talked about shows on American television, but he seems to be on a ride he really doesn't want to be on. Too often, his feelings of being as he said "trapped" and "caged," cause him to revert to alcohol for some relief. Here's how he feels about it in his own words. "I should be able to wake up in the morning without going, 'Oh, no! Where's my boot?' Or, 'Where am I?' Or 'One of your friends didn't happen to being my car home, did they?' It's not a very clever way to live, and I don't want to live like that." This admirably successful star goes on to say: "I have a few drinks and I'm not so worried about tomorrow and I'm not thinking about yesterday. Then the next day, I go, 'Oh God, don't let me do that again.' So why do I do it again, and again, and again?"

His battle echoes the battle raging in many hearts; the feeling of being trapped in a cycle that's going nowhere and leaving us disappointed or disgusted. It's not a new struggle. Paul, one of the writers of the Bible, wrote these words in Romans 7, beginning in verse 15. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "I do not understand what I do ... I have the desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing ... Who will rescue me?"

There's a me I want to be, and then there's the me I am. In between is this darkness that I can't overcome. It's got a name. The Bible calls it sin. We're trapped in a cycle of doing things we know we shouldn't do, of treating people in ways that we later regret - especially people we love, of handling life in ways that hurt us and hurt other people.

And, as the Bible writer suggests, our only hope is spiritual rescue. We can't get ourselves out of our sin. We can't get ourselves out of the hell that is the eternal penalty for our sin. We need a rescuer. Paul goes on to answer his "who will rescue me?" question, "Thanks be to God," he says, "through Jesus Christ our Lord!"

Sin's power could only be broken by a sacrifice that was even more powerful - the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. He gave His life there to pay for my sin and to break its hold on me ... and on you. Three days later, He demonstrated His supreme power by walking out of His grave. Death could not hold Him, and now He stands ready to walk into your life with all that love and all that power. So you can be forgiven for every sin. So you can be rescued from sin's cycle of defeat and despair.

But you do have to grab the Rescuer and let Him rescue you. He's waiting to do just that this very day. It's a matter of you talking to Him and telling Him, "Jesus, I'm tired of my sin. I'm ready to turn from my sin and turn to You as my only hope. You died to rescue me. And here I am."

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5132 - "Your Line in the Sand"
Acts 4:12

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Some say it's legend. Some say it's history, but it's one of the most inspiring stories from America's past. The scene: a tiny mission near San Antonio, Texas. A small band of Texas Freedom Fighters is taking their stand against the invading Mexican Army, and they're vastly outnumbered. There's a brief window during which the men of the Alamo have a choice between leaving or staying to fight. Colonel William Travis is in command of the garrison and, according to some accounts; he gathered the defenders in the courtyard of the Alamo. With his sword, he drew a line in the sand and he called his men to a destiny choice: cross the line as your pledge to fight, or stay where you are as an announcement that you are leaving. They all crossed the line to heroism, to immortality, and to honor that has endured nearly 200 years.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Line in the Sand."

Two thousands years ago, a spiritual line was drawn in the sand and it's still there. And every person who belongs to Jesus Christ has to make their choice.

To understand that choice, let's go back those twenty centuries to the first Christians who had to make it. Their story is found in Acts 4, beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God. The scene is Jerusalem - the city where Jesus had been put to death only weeks before. Peter and John have just been proclaiming Jesus in the temple area. Now, facing a hostile crowd of powerful rulers, they make this bombshell announcement: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men, by which we must be saved."

At that point, some of the same people who had arranged for Jesus' crucifixion "called them in again," the Bible says," and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." And there's the line in the sand. Talk about whatever you want, but don't talk about Jesus! The Christians' answer? "We cannot help but speaking about what we have seen and heard." Later, the Bible says, "With great power the apostles continued to testify to resurrection of the Lord Jesus." They made their choice. They would talk about Jesus, whatever it cost.

What about you and me? We face the same choice in situation after situation. Will we talk about Jesus at a time and in a culture where it's okay to talk about anything you want except Jesus? Actress Patricia Heaton, one of the stars of the hit TV series, "Everybody Loves Raymond," has publicly professed her faith in Christ. Recently, in People Magazine, she said: "Most people have some kind of faith. However, I think Jesus is a scary subject. 'God' you can make into anything you want. But confronted with Jesus you have to say I believe that or I don't, and that's very powerful."

Yes, it is. And the devil knows it. That's why he's made you and me choke so often when we get to that name - Jesus. We'll talk about God, family values, our church, our faith, but when it comes to Jesus, we unwittingly obey the 2,000-year- old order from hell, "Do not mention Jesus." But there is no other name by which people can be rescued from an awful eternity. Of course, Satan does everything to have us chicken out on talking that name.

So the line is in the sand. Are you going to stay where it's "safe," hiding Jesus behind you? Or are you going to cross the line and join the heroes who say, "I'll tell them about Jesus, whatever it costs." The people who think nothing of Jesus aren't ashamed to freely speak His name in disrespect. What about you - someone whose life, whose eternity has been changed by Jesus? Will you talk about Him because you love Him and because they need Him? Or will you be ashamed of Jesus? On that brutal cross, Jesus was not ashamed of you.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5133 - "Bring Your Bowl and I'll Feed You"
Psalm 81:10

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   I was with some missionaries in Guadalajara, Mexico. David was there leading a team that was reaching young Latin Americans through a historic youth radio broadcast. Now David is a big guy and I had my picture taken with him; he was wearing a tie - I was wearing a sport shirt. It looked like "bring your son to work day." Guess who looks like the son?Because of the crime rate in David's area, he and his family needed a guard dog, and they had one - a big one that's a match even for his master, David. The dog is appropriately named General and he's pretty much in charge at the house. When David came home from a night of ministry, General was right there at the gate, waiting to play. Playing with this aggressive German Shepherd could cost you a finger or two if you're not careful. But, somehow, David had done a good job of mastering the dog. In fact, I heard him tell General, "Get your bowl, and I'll feed you!" General just wanted his master to give him food, but David wanted!
  him to go for it. So, this German Shepherd bolted up the walk to his big, empty plastic bowl, grabbed it in his iron jaws, and trotted up to his master with it. Sure enough, if he got his bowl, his master would fill it.

   I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Bring Your Bowl and I'll Feed You."

   God has so much more He wants to give you. So much more He wants to do for you than you've experienced yet. But He may be waiting for you to take a step in that direction first. Psalm 81:10, our word for today from the Word of God: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it." Sounds familiar! In a sense, God is saying "Bring your bowl and I'll feed you." He wants us to want it; to pursue it.

   Here's the sad reaction God often receives from His people though. The passage goes on to say, "But My people would not listen to Me; Israel would not submit to Me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices. If My people would but listen to Me, if they would follow My ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes? You would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you." God is saying, "I have so much to give you, but you're too busy going your own way to pursue it."

   But I believe there is someone listening right now whose heart condition could be described in one word - restless. You go to God's meetings, you believe God's beliefs, you work in God's work, you eat what's served to you spiritually, but your heart isn't satisfied, is it? Here's why. Deuteronomy 8:3 - "I caused you to hunger so I could feed you with manna neither you nor your fathers have tasted." God said to His ancient people, "I made you hungry, I made you want more, I made you restless, so you'd be ready for something more amazing than anything you or your parents have ever experienced."

   If you're hungry for God's "something more," He's more than ready to pour it into your life, if you'll open up to it. You'll have to say good-bye to spiritual business as usual, to mediocrity. Are you willing to say, "Lord, I want more of You than I've ever experienced, whatever it takes. I want to make more of a difference than I've ever made whatever it takes"? Then, start to pray that way. Immerse yourself in His Book with this appetite for a new touch from God. Be with others who want a personal revival. Go after the sin in your life aggressively.

   When my friend told his dog to "Get your bowl and I'll feed you," the dog dropped his toys, stopped everything else he was doing and did what he had to do to get what his master wanted to give him. Your Master is saying to you, "There's so much more for your marriage, your relationships, your ministry, your relationship with Me." It's time to drop every other trivial pursuit and go for God's banquet. Jesus said it, those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness" are the ones who will be filled.

A WORD WITH YOU
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5134 - "Beyond the Walls"
John 4:4

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   Once upon a time there was a machinist who lived with his wife, his four-year-old son, and his new baby boy in a cheap apartment on the south side of Chicago. He spent a chunk of his meager earnings on alcohol and cigarettes and gambling, and then the bottom dropped out of his life. His baby boy died suddenly at the age of only six months. He was crushed by inconsolable grief, and this machinist (John was his name) took his one surviving boy to church. Now, John didn't go in. He didn't go to church. But he did wait out in front in his car, smoking his cigarette and reading his Sunday paper. Until the day one of the men of the church looked outside and noticed that man in the car. He didn't wait for John to come in. He went outside to John's car, introduced himself, asked a few questions, and then invited him in. Well, when John said he wasn't dressed for it, the man told him it didn't matter how he was dressed. That little boy gave his heart to Jesus in that church. And !
only a few months later, his Dad started coming to the men's Bible class. John tearfully walked the aisle on Christmas Eve; accepting Christ's forgiveness for his sins. He would grow in Christ and ultimately he'd become a deacon, and then the chairman of the deacons, and then an active Christian lay leader. The little boy was me. The machinist in the car in front of the church was my dad.

   I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Beyond the Walls."

   We were the unchurched. We were the lost. But someone went outside the walls of the church to reach my father. Because he did, my father is in heaven today. There are more people than ever like my father; they will never know Christ if we wait for them to come inside the walls of the church. We'll have to go out where they are if they're going to have a chance at heaven.

   This is not a new idea. In John 4:4, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says, "Jesus had to go through Samaria." It was there that Jesus encountered the woman at the well and led her out of a life of promiscuity and emptiness into a new life in Christ. And ultimately she went back and told her village about Jesus and they all came to Him. John 4 tells us that "many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the woman's testimony."

   Now why did Jesus have to go through Samaria when Jews did everything they could to avoid going through Samaria? Because Samaria is where you go it you want to reach Samaritans! If we want to follow our Master, we'll need to go where the lost people are. Most of them don't ever plan to go to our religious meeting to listen to our religious speaker talk on a religious subject in a religious place; which is usually how we go about trying to reach them. It's no wonder they're still lost.

   If we want the lost to be at our outreaches, we need to have some of those outreaches in places they will come to - neutral places. And you've been strategically placed right in the middle of some spiritually dying people. You work with them, you live near them, you go to school with them, and you recreate with them. You are God's program for rescuing the lost people who are around you. That's why God placed you there, to save some lives. See, you're already where the spiritually dying people are!

   It's very possible that the reason my dad is in heaven today is because someone left where it was comfortable and someone went outside the walls to reach him. That's where an awful lot of lost people are, and that's where they'll have to be reached; including people you know very well. You see, going outside the walls may be the only hope for a lot of people in your town - for someone you know and for someone you love.

The events of September 11, 2001, changed a lot of things, including our definition of the word "hero." Because we saw what real heroes look like - those police and firefighters who went into those burning towers, knowing they might not come out alive. But there were people to rescue. Immediately, professional football and baseball players began to speak out, telling the world they aren't the heroes. The people who risk their lives to save others are. By that definition, the rescue swimmers of the United States Coast Guard more than qualify. We saw them in action after Hurricane Katrina submerged much of New Orleans. They were the men dangling from those helicopters, scooping desperate people off rooftops. That was easy compared to some of their rescues, like plunging from a hovering chopper into an angry sea to save a life. A recent movie told the story of these heroes and portrayed how they lived out their motto, "So others may live." The seasoned veteran who is traini!
ng a class of rookies shows them the depth of a rescuer's life-saving commitment. It's all about grabbing the hand of that person who's about to die and making this promise: "I won't let go." And they don't.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Won't Let Go."

Those four words touch a nerve in my heart and maybe yours. "I won't let go." That's what we want: someone that really will never let us go, no matter what. But our lives are littered with so many who shouldn't have let go, but they did. Maybe your parents didn't hold on like you needed them to. Friends we thought would always be there aren't anymore, a boyfriend, a girlfriend, or your family. It's seems as if no one is able to always be there to hold on when we're going down, even a great husband or wife. People change. People leave. People are human. People die.

Years ago, there was a movie with a title that stuck with me: "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter." Our hearts are hunting for an anchor person; that one person who will grab our hand and never, never let go. No matter what changes, no matter how we look or act or change, and especially when the storm is about to sink us.

Over centuries, millions of people have grabbed the one hand that will never let go, and He never has. He's the One who made the promise recorded in Hebrews 13:5-6, our word for today from the Word of God, "'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.' So we may say with confidence, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?'" That promise is from Jesus Christ - the One who loved you enough to actually die in your place to pay for the sins that have always put God out of your reach.

A lot of people may have failed to hang on. Jesus will never fail you. He says of those who come to Him, "I will never reject them" (John 6:37). If He was ever going to turn His back on you, it would have been when He was going through your hell on the cross. But He stayed there so you could live with Him forever. He will not abandon the one He paid for with His blood. When He died for you, He proved He's got the love that won't let you go. When He walked out of His grave on that first Easter morning, He proved He's got the power to hold onto you through everything life and death can throw at you.

But you have to grab the Rescuer's hand. Has there ever been a time when you reached out to Jesus and grabbed Him as your only hope of being rescued from your sin? You could have been religious your whole life and yet never grabbed His hand for yourself. He's reaching for you today. I don't know how much longer you'll have to take His hand. I only know you have the chance today.

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Many of the regulars remember me being in and out of this site.......and it has really been a while since I have been active. In the time I have been away, there were so may things going on that I did not know which way to turn. So many things that brought sorrow.

I said I did not know which way to turn........and yet I did. Through all the trials of the last few months and the trials I still have to face, I find that I always look to see if God is still there........................and He always was. I don't deserve the friend I have in Christ, but I value that friend over all others. He has been with me through every single trial in my life and many of yours that read this. I chose the avitar I use because that is how I feel. Like Christ is there to comfort me. He always is, and always will be.

He never let go, even when I tried to, He never did. He never will.

I'll never be able to repay my God for his love, but I can do everything He asks of me and tell as many as will listen, about the love of our God and what He has done.............and not done for me.

Never let go of the joy of the Lord our God.

God be with you all

Gary

Quote

Many of the regulars remember me being in and out of this site.......and it has really been a while since I have been active. In the time I have been away, there were so may things going on that I did not know which way to turn. So many things that brought sorrow.

I said I did not know which way to turn........and yet I did. Through all the trials of the last few months and the trials I still have to face, I find that I always look to see if God is still there........................and He always was. I don't deserve the friend I have in Christ, but I value that friend over all others. He has been with me through every single trial in my life and many of yours that read this. I chose the avitar I use because that is how I feel. Like Christ is there to comfort me. He always is, and always will be.

He never let go, even when I tried to, He never did. He never will.

I'll never be able to repay my God for his love, but I can do everything He asks of me and tell as many as will listen, about the love of our God and what He has done.............and not done for me.

Never let go of the joy of the Lord our God.

God be with you all

Gary

Amen Brother Gary!

You are really speaking for all Christians. This life would be unbearable without JESUS, so we have a burden for the lost and know how much harder things are for them. It's nice to know that Christians are just passing through, and our real hopes are NOT of this world. We can know that our Citizenship is in Heaven - JESUS CHRIST, our HEAVENLY FATHER, and Heavenly Hosts await our homecoming.

But for now, GOD walks with us every step of the way, and the HOLY SPIRIT is our guide and comforter. I love what the Apostle Paul said about this life and what he wanted to do: fight a good fight, run a good race, finish his course, and one day hopefully hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

In the meantime - KEEP LOOKING UP!

Love In Christ,
Tom

Matthew 18:20 NASB "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst."

Ephesians 2:19-22 NASB So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.

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Theology => Bible Study => Topic started by: Rookieupgrade1 on June 29, 2006, 11:48:26 AM