A Word With You

At first I thought some apocalyptic event had hit our town. Schools were all empty, there wasn't a school bus in sight, lots of people suddenly disappeared. Not to worry. It was just Spring Break. Of course, for many of America's young people, Spring Break is code for "party like there's no tomorrow, baby." Well, after downing lots of booze and sometimes drugs, your internal censors just go off duty. So a lot of folks come back from break with little memory of some big mistakes. Partying that lasts for a night; regrets and scars that can last a lifetime. Going for "break" and coming back broken. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Timeout Tragedies." There's this lie that sets people up for expensive choices, hurtful choices. What you do when you're away, or when you're alone, or when you're anonymous doesn't count. It's not just a lie students fall for. Businessmen on trips, women home alone, guys on the Internet, girls texting, people on vacation or at a party. I'm almost sure there's someone listening right now who would do anything to erase what they did when they believed it wouldn't matter. It does, doesn't it? Because while you can turn off your internal controls, you can't turn off your conscience. It picks up every wrong thing we do - or, in God's vocabulary, every sin. As observed by the wife of a governor who was disgraced by the discovery of his long - distance affair, she said, "You can pick your sin; you can't pick your consequences." It's so true. So your conscience is always running and so is your calculator. It's adding up the consequences, because as the Bible says, "whatever a man sows, he reaps." That's an inescapable law of the universe. Worst of all, the camera's always running, too. In our word for today from the Word of God, God's camera is described this way, "A man's ways are in full view of the Lord, and He examines all his paths." You know that "Sin City" commercial that says, "What you do here stays here"? No, forget about it! If God knows, you're caught. Oh, believe me, God knows. It doesn't matter how drunk you are, how depressed you are, how devious you are, how deserving you think you are. The Bible says, "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). So, first the thrill, then the bill. The fear of discovery, the trail of cover-up deceit, the guilt, the shame, the loss of self-respect, the ugly consequences, and the judgment of Almighty God. "For," as the Bible says, "God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil" (Ecclesiastes 12:14). See, nothing good happens when we blow past God's stop signs. That's why we've got to run from the rocks that we've been drifting toward and saying "no!" to that seductive, but devilish voice that says "Forget about tomorrow; now is all that matters." Oh, tomorrow really does matter. But what about the memories? What about the shame of the mistakes that it's too late to change? Well, there's hope in a word called "forgiven." The very God whose plans for us we trash has made this stunning promise: "I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Hebrews 8:12). Like the wonderful feeling of a shower when you're disgustingly dirty, God says He'll make us clean inside; every sin erased from His book, with our eternal sin-bill paid in full because of a cross. Where Jesus, God's one and only Son, in the Bible's words, "carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24) and He absorbed the judgment I deserve: The choices that accuse us. Gone! Forgiven! That's what happens when a sinner grabs the Savior. It's nothing less than a new beginning. And that's why our website is called ANewStory.com. It's where you can find the information that will help you begin your new story with Jesus Christ. Please go there. The rebirth miracle is within your reach right now if you'll just tell Jesus, "I'm Yours from today on."

My wife and I were on a ministry trip to Phoenix, and much to my surprise she decided to have her gall bladder out there. Actually, it was much of a surprise to her, too. You don't plan these things. I remember that night she left dinner early, and I found her about an hour later in unbearable pain. Nothing was making a dent in that pain. Finally we went to the emergency room and they said, "Time for this gallbladder to come out." Okay, I would never have chosen to do this out of town, a couple of thousand miles away from home. But in the providence of God it was a great hospital, and one of the best surgeons in this field practiced at that hospital. The classic gallbladder operation used to take several weeks to recover from. You know, they just make this big, long cut. Well, this doctor said, "I hope to do it by laser." Great news! He did, and there were only three little wounds. The gallbladder was gone, and she took just a few days to recover - all because of what a laser could do. One ray of focused energy aimed at this problem and you've got what feels like a miracle. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Prayer - The Laser From Heaven." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Hebrews 4:16. What a great prayer promise this is! "Let us then approach the Throne of Grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need." Now, first in this verse you've got the macro - the Throne of Grace. You are going into the throne room to be with the One who created and manages 100 billion galaxies. Man! But then He brings all that power down to the micro. He says, "Come into that throne room with your little time of need." It's so little compared to His power. But He says, "Bring it in." And you focus all of His power on one person on earth who needs God's touch; one need, one situation, one impossibility. The specific prayer for a supernatural intervention is like laser power. It's a ray of focused energy from heaven, aimed by your prayer at one need on earth. Wow! The power of that prayer laser is described in Matthew 18:18. It says there, "Whatever you will bind on earth will be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Several great things happen when you focus the energy of God on someone or something on earth. First, God really loves it. Revelation 5:8, Our prayers are a bowl of incense in heaven. It's like incense for God to smell. Secondly, your faith grows. You're stretching your faith to trust Him for a supernatural intervention, and the larger your faith, the bigger things you'll be able to trust God for in the future. Thirdly, Satan's grip is broken when you focus God's laser on something on earth that he's holding onto. Pray for that. And if you really want to turn up the laser power, get others to pray with you, focusing their faith and God's power on that need. Matthew 18:19 says, "If two of you agree on earth on anything you ask it will be done for you by My Father in heaven." Jesus told us in Luke 18:1 we "should always pray and not give up." So while you're waiting, let God turn His laser on your life. He may want to do some laser surgery first to remove some infection in you before that answer can come. When that doctor aimed his laser at my wife's point of need, we experienced what seemed like a medical miracle. When you pray specifically, in faith believing, you focus the healing, heart-changing, mountain-moving power of God on something or someone that you care about. So expect a miracle!

Ever since I was little I've been fascinated by the American Revolution, and I always wanted to see Concord Bridge, where it sort of all began. You know, the shot heard around the world? By the time I got there, I had two little boys of my own who were not fascinated by the American Revolution. I wanted to spend a while at Concord Bridge, imagining those Colonial farmers descending and the Red Coats stepping up to the bridge in their rigid formation. Unfortunately my sons were not interested in all of that. I tried to tell them the story; yawn! Come on, this is vacation. Who cares about history, right? One last idea. I got their tricorn hats that we bought them and we got some sticks for them to use as muskets. I made them the Americans and I played Red Coat. So they came charging across one side of the Concord Bridge. I went running away from them. I eventually ended up fatally wounded. And when we were done they said, "Let's do it again, Daddy!" Of course they won every time. They became interested, but not until they had a part. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "From the Backseat to the Battle." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 20:6-7. Jesus is telling a story about a man who needs help at harvest time. He's gone out three times during the day to get more and more help. And finally, he goes out near the end of the working day, and it says this: "About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 'Because no one has hired us' they answered. He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.'" There's an urgent job to be done! Harvest time passes fast; you've got to get to it. There's only a few days to make it all happen. Big job - urgent job with not enough help. Men standing around? Why? Because they said they didn't have a job to do. So Jesus says here basically there's a job for everyone in the harvest; the harvest of human hearts. See, a lot of church folks are like my sons at Concord Bridge. You hear the facts about the battle. You hear stories of what other people have done to reach people, but you're not playing any active part. You're just watching. Actually God doesn't intend to have any of His kids just be spectators. This is a war with life-or-death stakes going on. He wants you out of the stands and into the game. Maybe your Christianity is kind of gray and boring. And it is until you get a mission, not just hear about people with a mission. You need a job to do for Jesus, and you can be sure He's got one. You're surrounded by work He needs done. There are boys who need you. There are girls who need you to reach out to them. There are senior citizens who are lonely and need to hear about Christ in their few remaining years. There are teenagers maybe you could connect with. There are homeless people. There are Christian workers who are buried in administrative detail and you could help relieve them for the work that only they can do. You are urgently needed somewhere I'll tell you. When you get a mission, when you get a piece of the action, your faith comes alive. You read the Bible with a new appetite, you pray with a new intensity, and you listen with a new openness. You can't just go to church to get filled up and meet your needs. It's a staging area for God's rescue operation on earth launched at the cross. It's a place for God's soldiers. It's a place to get ready for the battles that affect people's eternities. Christianity seems hollow, meaningless and boring without a personal mission, and you are needed. So don't just listen to secondhand facts about the battle for human souls and for eternities. Do what my boys did. Grab a musket and run to the battle in Jesus' name.

It was one of those 3-H summer days: hazy, hot, and humid. It's not advisable to sweat on those days, because there's really no place for it to go. You keep running into your own sweat. And you know how it is on those days; you kind of feel "ugh"...you feel like doing nothing. Well, it was one of those days, and a brief storm went through. It was the leading edge of a cold front the weather man said, and the temperature dropped almost 25 degrees in a four-hour period of time. That heavy, muggy, hazy air suddenly cleared out; people started moving around again. I'll tell you, the view all of a sudden was crystal clear. The atmosphere was refreshing finally. Did you know a person can actually have that effect? I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An 'Others' Person in a 'Me' World." There was, in that upper room where Jesus held The Last Supper, a very tense atmosphere that night. There was an argument brewing in the corners of the room as to who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Several people were fighting over the job of Assistant Messiah, I guess, and it was a climate of real selfishness. "Me first." "King of the hill." And then a refreshing front moved through the room and changed everything. Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 13, and I'll begin at verse 4. "Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. And after that He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet; drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him." Later on in the chapter it says, "When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place." "Do you understand what I've done for you?" He asked them. You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. No servant is greater than his master. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Man, the atmosphere changed that night because of one thing Jesus did. He did the job no one else wanted to do; the lowly, smelly, dirty job that usually a slave did - washing feet. Jesus did the job no one else wanted to do, and in so doing, He displayed the power of one person who decides he will be the servant in his little corner of the world. "I will be the servant in my family, I will be the servant in my business, I will be the servant in my church, in my circle of friends. You say, "Well, not me. I don't want to do it." Well, what about Him, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. He did it. Think about the tasks that everyone avoids where you are. Well, what if, in the name of Jesus, you just quietly started to do one of those? Notice, Jesus didn't say anything at first. He just unselfishly moved out and started doing it. When you do that, it defuses an atmosphere that's heavy with conflict and self-centeredness. It puts your faith into the kind of action that even your worst critic can appreciate, including a non-Christian family. They may not understand your beliefs, but they understand someone who will pitch in on what no one wants to do. See, that makes you the Jesus-person in your situation. Just try it. Don't announce it; do it joyfully, do it consistently, and pretty soon you're going to win the special influence that only a servant has. See, you're a help and you're not a threat to people, so they'll listen to you. Now you said at one point in your life you would follow Jesus, right? And He's a foot washer. Do the jobs no one else wants to do, and let God use you to clear out the oppressive heat of selfishness. What a refreshing change in the atmosphere you could bring to the place where you live.

There was a time when single parenting was kind of an exception in America. Not any more - millions of families where it's just a mom or a dad now. There's been a lot of conversation and a lot of articles written...a lot of commentary about the impact of not having a dad who's really being a father to you. A little while back, one of the leading health officers in the United States said, "The greatest issue facing us is fatherlessness." Then Time Magazine commented on women who actually choose to have a fatherless family. Here's what they said: "They are bringing a child into the world with a hole at the center of his life where a father should be." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "The Father Hole In Our Heart." However you feel about those comments and those quotes, we all know that life's a little tougher if you don't have a dad or somebody who isn't acting like a real dad. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15. This is the familiar story of the prodigal son, who got his inheritance early from his father, went to a far country, spent it all, ended up feeding the pigs and having to eat with them. Verse 17 says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father." This is the story of a searching man whose real problem was that he was away from his father. Maybe that's a picture of you right now. In the story, God is the father, and God has told us He wants us to know Him as our Heavenly Father. You say, "Well, if he's like the father I had, I'm not interested." Well, remember this. God is not like the father you had on earth. He's like the father we all wish we had, and what you're feeling down deep in your soul, that's father lonely. We have a hole - a daddy deficit - that we're waiting for a father to occupy. How do we lose Him? How do we find Him? Look at the verbs in Luke 15. It says that the young man "set off for a distant country." The Bible says actually we've all done that. It says, "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal," we've wandered away like sheep. (the Bible says) We are away from God by our own choosing. The next verb says, "He squandered his wealth." See, all our years away from God are squandered years. They're wasted years until you know the relationship with a father that you were made for. Then the next verb says, "He spent everything." You can do that so easily. We spend, in search of the missing part of us. We can't find ourselves in achievements. We can't find ourselves in relationships, or pleasure. We spend everything, and then it says, "He longed to fill his stomach." Maybe you feel an emptiness inside of you like a hunger that never goes away, a hole that's never been filled. Then we read, "He came to his senses." Maybe that's where God is bringing you right now. It's hard to live without God. It's hell to die without Him. It says that the son went to his father. And see, there's only way you can get to the father you were made by and made for. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." What would happen if you came to Him today? It says, "While the boy was a long way off, his father saw him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." That's the welcome you would get from God today. He runs to you with His arms wide open no matter what you've done. Why don't you run to Him and be born into His family today? Don't you want to begin this relationship? Tell Jesus, "I'm yours." Our website is ANewStory.com. Would you check it out? That's where you can find the information that will show you how you can finally belong to Him. See, no longer would you then have the hole in the center of your life where a father should be. No father on earth could ever fill that hole anyway. It was made for your Heavenly Father. Come to Him and you'll never be father lonely again.

Every summer we used to take a large delegation to a great youth conference in Ocean City, New Jersey. One of our veteran staff was in charge of that delegation, and it was a big responsibility at the shore. When my son was old enough to go to that conference, he commented on Greg's leadership. He said, "You know, Greg's really serious." Well my wife and I kind of laughed. We said, "Oh, you should hear some of the crazy things he's done down at Ocean City." And then my son said, "Not any more. He's in charge now." Well, my son was making a pretty valid observation. As your authority increases, so does your responsibility. Followers, I guess, can goof off, but leadership; oh, that's serious business. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Leadership Lifestyle." Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about leaders, and you might be one whether you realize it or not. Hebrews 13:17 - "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority." Now, I've always thought "Hey, wouldn't it be great to be one of those leaders? You get to be obeyed and submitted to." Yeah, wait until you hear the rest of the verse. "...they keep watch over you as men who must give an account." Whoa. That means that if you have anyone looking to you, you will one day have the privilege and the opportunity to explain to God what you did with those people. Man! "God, here's how I influenced those people and why they ended up as they did." Well see, God's looking for people that He can trust with a promotion. He's looking for teachers and leaders, and musicians, and shepherds for His Kingdom. And maybe He's trusted you with some influence: a class, or a study group, a church, maybe a musical ministry, a position of authority in God's work. Well, then, be careful how you live. You can do so much good, and you can do so much harm. In a letter that James Dobson wrote years ago he told about an incident that occurred when he went to a Christian book seller's convention and for the first time he saw all of his materials displayed and his picture all over the place. And he said, "I heard as it were almost an audible voice saying, 'Jim, look around you. I have chosen for reasons that you don't understand to make you visible and influential with My people. And in that sense, I am preparing to make the work of My Kingdom vulnerable to you. That's why I'm telling you to be careful; think before you act; hold a tighter reign on your tongue and on your thought life than ever before. When your natural impulse is to become angry or vindictive, resist the temptation as much as possible, and keep your life free of willful and deliberate sin. You will soon be in a position to hurt my people. See that it doesn't happen.'" Whew! Man! Now, you're not a Dobson, or some spiritual star perhaps, but maybe God's lifted you to a place where others are looking at you or to you. And it's exciting, but it's a heavy responsibility, one for which you must give account the Bible says. Exercise care in what you say, what you joke about. Be careful what you watch. Stop with the negative comments, the critical comments before anybody can hear them, those displays of anger. Not for you; not now. God has called you to some measure of leadership and the responsible lifestyle that goes with that. I think that's an awfully powerful incentive to be all you were meant to be in Christ. It's a good thing; a good reason to live up to what Jesus wants for all of His kids. But He has put trust in your hands. He's put His reputation in your hands. He has made His Kingdom vulnerable to you. You are in a position to hurt some of God's people. See that it doesn't happen.

My son bought an old Mustang when he was in high school. No, not the kind with four legs. The kind with four wheels. He actually used money he got from selling some of his valuable baseball card collection. Some years later, he wanted to sell it and put the proceeds into the work he was going to be doing with Native Americans. He put an ad in the paper about it. First day - no calls. Second day - no calls. He wasn't expecting a line at the door exactly, but he thought he'd get a little more response than that. Then he found out why. He checked the ad and found that the newspaper had goofed and published a phone number that was a wrong number. But what a difference that one little number made! When we dialed the number in the paper, there never was any answer. You gotta feel bad for some guy who's looking in the paper, sees a car he wants at a price he likes, and dials the magic number that cannot possibly reach the person who has what he's interested in. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wrong Number for Heaven." There's someone you want to reach; someone you need to reach. They have what you're interested in, but maybe you've got the wrong number. It doesn't matter how many times you try, you just can't get through to them. For many people, the One they want to reach, the One they believe has what they're looking for is God himself - the One who made them. In fact, in this age of growing interest in spirituality, there are more and more people who are realizing that the answer for their soul and their life has got to be a spiritual one. What we've accomplished, what we've owned, who we've known - none of those has filled the hole in our heart. So we want to reach our Creator - the One who has the peace and the meaning we need now, and the eternal life that we'd like to have when this life is over. But just as people may have sincerely tried to reach my son about his car, many spiritual seekers never get through because they're sincerely dialing the wrong number. But God has published His number - very clearly, in bold print - actually in Bible print. Anyone who tries to reach the Creator this way is going to get through. Remember, in the midst of a thousand theories about how to reach God, the only One who can really tell us how is God himself - and He has. Our word for today from the Word of God is John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." In a world of listings with God's name on them, there's only one that reaches Him - the one marked Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, "I will show you the way." He says, "I am the way." Whether or not we reach our Creator is all wrapped up in what we do with Jesus - not with His teachings, not the religion named after Him, but with Jesus himself. The reason He is the way is explained in 1 Timothy 2:5-6. The Bible says, "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all men." We can't understand what it takes to reach God until we understand what it is that keeps us from being able to reach Him. We have this wall between God and us called sin - which means we've made ourselves our own god by choosing to do it our way instead of God's way. And we've earned an eternal death penalty, which only one person even claimed to pay; only one person could pay. God's Son, Jesus, who loved you enough to do the dying for your sin on the cross. All our religious and moral efforts to reach Him are all wrong numbers and they're deadly. You may be a very decent person, a sincere seeker, an accepted member of the Christian community, and still not reach the God who has what you need. Because you can only reach Him by putting your total trust in Jesus to rescue you from the penalty of your sins. Have you ever done that? Would you like to? Tell Him that now. "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website, the information is there to help you be sure you've begun a relationship with Him. The website is ANewStory.com He's been waiting for your call for a long time, but you've got to come the way that He's provided, the only way. Through His Son, who loved you enough to die for you. When it comes to eternity, a wrong number can cost you everything.

I was writing an article last night and all of a sudden this flood of thoughts just came rushing into my brain. I never did finish that article and I ended up writing something else. You're about to hear what came flooding into my brain, because it's what's been going on in the world. We all know, look at the news. The world is like exploding. And this is the conflict in the Middle East right now, dominates the news - and the hearts of a lot of people. The world is once again, we've been here before, plunged into a season of unnerving peril and uncertainty. Not long ago, remember? I know you do, it was a mutated virus. This time it's drones and missiles and terror. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dangerous Times, Destiny Times." And the Apostle Paul's sober warning to his young protégé Timothy echoes across the centuries at times like these: "In the last days, perilous times will come" (2 Timothy 3:1). He went on to describe why it would be so dangerous as history's fourth quarter approaches. It's not because of weapons or wars. But because of what people will become. The description here, I'll have to say, is disturbingly familiar. He said, "People will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving... and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good." You know I can probably go on social media right now and find everything I just read about. But don't you get the feeling that there's something much bigger going on here than just global politics and converging crises? Maybe you're feeling what I'm feeling... There's something profoundly spiritual going on in our world right now. In our world, in our time! Like something climactic. I don't have words for it. Except to say - our world is increasingly starved for a Messiah. Someone who can fix what seems hopelessly broken. But we're increasingly disillusioned with all the messiahs we've tried, all the things and people we thought might be a messiah for us. And waiting at the threshold of human history - and billions of fearful hearts - there stands Jesus. Returning one day to the world that the Bible says, "crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8). But this time coming as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16). To a world described in Biblical prophecies as remarkably like our own. So my bottom line is simple: all that really matters is what will matter when Jesus comes! Now the truth is, a lot that won't matter then tends to matter too much to us. And a lot that will matter then kinda gets pushed to the margins. Now, once again, I hear Paul's voice, this time giving Timothy his marching orders. It's our word for today from the Word of God; it's in 2 Timothy 1:7-8, and chapter 4 beginning with verse 1 - "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord... I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead... preach the Word of God... work at telling others the Good News." Man I want to see what Jesus sees when He looks at the people in my world. I want to see those "Sheep without a shepherd." "Lost." "Perishing." In Him, we have the Hope people have despaired of ever finding. We have the peace that defies the storm. We have the love that finally fills these empty hearts of ours. We have the Message that changes eternities! Friends, we have the Gospel! And with our eyes on the fourth quarter game clock, we need to be spreading that Good News as never before! Faster. Farther. Better. God has assigned us here "for such a time as this." Hard times? Yes. But it's harvest time!

In high school our teenage son had a very, very busy life, which just might go with having the same last name as I do. And sometimes I would just find him kind of collapsed on the couch. So, he'd have his New York Giants mug, and his school books, and what was going to be on TV, and of course he had his phone. Now, don't think cell phone. This is like the old fashioned land line phone. Unfortunately, the phone plugged in two rooms away, which means that the cord was stretched to the max to get to his little zone with the couch, and I could tell when he had the phone there, because I kept hearing people muttering all through the house after they tripped over the cord. See, it was right where all of us had to walk to get to the living room or to the kitchen. And I'd just say, "Hey, you've got to do something about this thing that people keep tripping over!" Well, so do you and I. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How We Keep People From Jesus." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 2:24. It is a sobering indictment of first century believers. Listen to these words: "As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles (or the unbelievers, or the unreached) because of you." Now, the Jewish believers that Paul was talking to were the reached people. And he was saying, "You believers... Because of you, the unreached people are blaspheming God." Then 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 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." In other words, "You're not living what you say you believe, and people are tripping over the contradictions in your life." It's like my son's telephone cord. People keep tripping over it - it's in the way! You've got to ask, "What is there in my life that could be keeping someone from my Jesus?" It's a pretty horrible thought to think that someone might end up lost forever because I turned them off to Jesus by my inconsistency. You know, most people who come to Christ do it because of a Christian they know. And most people who refuse Christ do it because of a Christian they know. I wonder if your temper is canceling out your message about a loving Savior. Or the humor that you use. Is it contradicting the purity that Jesus stands for? Maybe that sarcasm is so harsh that it's hard to reconcile with the compassion of Jesus. Maybe your gossip or your backstabbing; maybe that's tripping people up. Or the fact that you're negative most of the time, your laziness at work or school, or a complaining attitude. See, a Christian ought to be the best employee that employer has, so they bring 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 the advertisement for your Savior, and I know you'd hate to be a reason for someone to reject Christ because you never dealt with your tripper-upper. Actually, if you were to let Jesus change that part of you; that part that's kind of out-of-control, that's inconsistent, that's confusing to an unbeliever, it might just create a curiosity in folks that like, "Wow! What happened to him? You're different." That might get them started investigating your Jesus. It might give you the best opening to share Christ you've ever had; that simple change in you. When they see what happened to you, you get to tell them, "It was Jesus." Because they never saw you be like this before. That's a powerful testimony! My son and I had to solve that cord problem before someone got hurt. He had to do something about the thing that kept tripping people up. Will you do that in your spiritual life? I believe you can provide an uncluttered path to the Jesus who your friends so desperately need if you'll get rid of that tripper-upper.

A beard really changes people - especially men. You can make a man look older, scruffier, wiser, or more suspicious. A beard does amazing things. Some wives and girlfriends can't wait for their guy to grow it. Others can't wait for him to shave it. My friend, Lou, spent much of his time clean-shaven. He also spent many of those same years as an alcoholic. They were terrible years for his wife and for his daughters. One day, Lou became so desperate he surrendered the control of his out-of-control life to Jesus Christ. From that moment on, the Savior beat that bottle that had always beaten Lou, and right about then, he started to grow a beard. He actually has had it for several years, but a couple of years ago he decided to shave it one morning. He walked out to his family, and he said, "Hey, what do you think?" His little girl started to cry. She begged her Daddy to grow his beard back. See, the old face made her think of her old Dad. She was afraid the old Dad was back. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Old You, Gone for Good." Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It's a promise from God to do something we could never do for ourselves. It's a miracle only He can do. Listen to this: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" Man, what words! "New creation" not from the outside in. No, this is from the inside out, and it's what happened to Lou and it could happen to you. You've got to come to the point where you're tired of not being the man or woman, or the husband or wife, or the mom or dad that you really want to be. You know, that person that you love really needs you to change. Okay, here's my right hand on the right side of this table. This is the man I want to be - that people need for me to be. Now, here's my left hand over here on the other side of the table - this is what I actually am. I can't seem to close this gap between these two hands. That admission in itself is the first step to having a new you. Behind our mask of having it all together is a man or woman who may be addicted to selfishness, or unfaithfulness, or to lust, or to depression, or maybe we're addicted to a temper that's out of control, a sexual appetite, a habit. We've tried reforming. It hasn't worked! That's what gets us ready for Jesus. See, you're ready as this verse says, to be "In Christ." Without Him, we're in trouble. The ultimate diagnosis of our inner darkness is called sin. We've got the wrong person running things. And the Bible says, "Sin, when it is full grown gives birth to death." Sin separates us from the people we love, from the person we want to be, from the person we need to be. Worst of all, it separates us from our Creator forever, unless we are "In Christ." How do you get in Christ? John 3:16 says, "God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not die, but will have eternal life." All that faith that you've put in yourself and your religion and in other people? You take all that and you put it all in Jesus now. You say, "Jesus, I'm yours." That's the new beginning, a new dad, a new mom, a new son, a new daughter, a new mate, a new friend. Someone much stronger will be in your driver's seat. Jesus will take your life places you never dreamed it could go and daily recreate you into someone who is becoming like Jesus Himself. Why don't you make this the day that the new you begins - your new beginning day. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." In fact, our website is there to help that new beginning, it's called ANewStory.com. Check it out today and you can find, there, what you need to know to begin this relationship with Jesus. As my friend's daughter found out, a new Dad is more than just a new face. It's a transformed heart. It's a miracle only Jesus can do. And it's a miracle that Jesus is waiting to do for you right now.

Mystery rides were part of growing up at our house. Usually it was a Sunday afternoon, and I'd pile our three kids into our car for a ride. I think we explored every corner of our area. And as we did, we discovered over the years, a lot of great things. But I've got one son who's a lot like me. He wants to know the plan before we leave. "Hey, Dad, where are we going? Where are we going to eat? What are we going to eat? What are we going to do while we're there? How long will we be there? What time are we going to get home?" He would pump me with more questions; I felt like I was being interrogated by a police sergeant. Sometimes I knew it was better not to explain where we were going. I mean we've done things that would have sounded boring if I had told about them, but they turned out to be exciting and I knew they would. Plus surprises are fun anyway. So, my kids got used to hearing two words when we were about to begin a mystery trip, "Trust me." I don't think I let them down. It was good training for journeys with their other Father. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Going Not Knowing." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the life of the Apostle Paul. He's still Saul of Tarsus here. Acts 9 - he's on his way to wipe out Christians. He missed some in Jerusalem. So he said, "I'll get them in Damascus. They all went there; I'll find them in Syria." We begin in verse 3: "As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' 'Well, who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now, get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" Now, it's interesting that Saul's training for his whole life in Christ began immediately with a mystery trip. Yeah, did you notice that? He has just opened up to Jesus, and the Lord says, "Go into the city and you will be told." "Lord, what do you want me to do there? Who am I going to meet there? How am I even going to be able to see; I'm blind right now?" The Lord says, "Go and you will be told." Well, he spent the rest of his life living like that. In Acts 20, when he was on his way to Jerusalem as the great Apostle Paul and his friends were trying to discourage him, he said, "Compelled by the Spirit, I am going not knowing." See, you have a heavenly Father who often takes His children on mystery trips. Maybe you're on one of His mystery trips right now. There's a good destination He's got in mind, but right now He's telling you just the next step. In essence, He's saying to you as He did to Saul, "Go, and you will be told as you are on the way." It may well be that you're in the middle of one of those times right now, and the tendency is to say, "Now, Lord, if you'll just give me all the information, give me all the facts, I'll start going that direction." And the Lord says, "No, you start moving in that direction I've told you to go, and you'll get more information as you go." Now, maybe you're waiting to have all your questions answered before you move, and right now there are more question marks than there are periods or exclamation points for sure. Can you almost hear your Father saying as He bundles you into His car, "Trust Me, let's start traveling together." Hey, He died for you. Is He ever going to do you wrong? God's mystery trips always lead to a destination that is selected with you in mind, for your good. So, why not settle back, enjoy the trip, and let Him drive. Trust your Father and don't be afraid of going not knowing.

This was a Fourth of July where there would be no fireworks. Just a lot of tears. It was raining when the campers went to sleep that night. But no one knew that the Guadalupe River would turn into a raging flood while they slept. The girls at Mystic Camp were awakened by that flood smashing into their cabins. Some were able to escape. Twenty-four could not. A few days ago, the President recalled that awful night. In the middle of his State of the Union address. He told the story of one of the Mystic Camp girls. Her name, Milly Cate. Eleven years old. In the midst of the surging flood, she prayed for God to save her. And a man who seemed to come out of nowhere, did. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Hope When The Water Is Rising." He was Scott Ruskan. Coast Guard rescue swimmer. You know those guys who come down from a chopper to rescue people from oceans and housetops. Now Scott had gone to college to major in accounting. But Somewhere along the way, he decided his calling was to rescue. But this was his first mission. And he was the answer to Milly Cate's prayer. We know that because the President of the United States told us told the story. He said, "As the waters threatened to sweep her away, 11-year-old Milly Cate McClymond closed her eyes and prayed to God she thought she was going to die. Those prayers were answered when Coast Guard rescuer Scott Ruskan descended from a helicopter above." You know Milly Cate was one of 164 people that he rescued that awful night. He was the only first responder around. The President introduced him and then honored him on the spot with the prestigious Legion of Merit medal for "exceptionally meritorious conduct." But his real "award," well that was the young girl next to him. Milly Cate. Who, facing almost certain death, had one hope that night. A rescuer from above. Thank God, he came. You know in a way, that's my story, too. And, no doubt, the story of many who are hearing this. I want you to hear our word for the day from the Word of God. It tells the greatest rescue story of all. Galatians 1:4: "Jesus gave His life for us... to rescue us." Now with Good Friday approaching, that's what that middle cross at a place called Skull Hill was all about. The greatest act of love in the history of mankind. As the Bible explains, "He carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). And that's because instead of living for the One who gave us our life, we have raised our fist and said, "You run the universe, God - I'll run me." And spiritual hijacking carries an unspeakable, eternal death penalty. So there I was, I stood facing the onrushing flood of the judgment of Almighty God. Nothing I could do could pay that death penalty. And here is the stunning rescue story that captured my heart forever. I did the sinning. God's Son did the dying! That's how much He loves me, and you. The Rescuer from above didn't just risk His life to save us. He gave His life. And like a camper facing death that tragic night, my only hope was a Rescuer from above. And I'm compelled to say this today. And get to you with this message, because I don't want you or anybody to miss Him. God says, "I have set before you life and death. Now choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19). I pray you will do that this day. If you have never reached out to the Rescuer to be your rescuer from your sin take care of that now. Say, "Jesus I am yours from this day forward." Check out our website would you, because there you will find what you need know to be sure you belong to Him. It's ANewStory.com. Because when Jesus comes to rescue you, you ought to grab His hand. Because Hope has come.

I had a friend who was a veteran sailor, and occasionally he would take us out on his sailboat. And I learned that when my sailing friend said it was time to go in, I'd better listen. There were times when we were out and the weather was beautiful, and I thought it was going to stay beautiful. But, man, his instincts knew better. He'd say, "I think we'd better go in." I'd say, "On a beautiful day like this? This is a ten." He'd say, "It isn't going to stay that way." You know, there has been more than one occasion where I sailed with him into port and entered the harbor just as the storm broke loose. His instincts were amazing! You might be in a storm right now, or maybe you're headed for one and it just doesn't look like it yet. I have some very critical advice before you set your course or before you sail any further. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Navigating Stormy Weather." Now, our word today from the Word of God is found in Luke 5:5, and the occasion here is where Jesus has asked Simon Peter to go out and fish again after he had fished all night and caught nothing. And Jesus said, "Look, I know it's the middle of the day. I know that it's hot. I know it doesn't look like a good time to go out, but I want you to." 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." See, the way it looked would have led Simon Peter to a fruitless conclusion...or let's say a fishless conclusion. It looked like there was no point in going back out again, but Jesus said do it. And just because He said it, Simon Peter did it. And what Jesus said, led to victory. I watched an interview that was recorded on an anniversary of the D-Day Invasion - the greatest military assault in history - June 6th, 1944. General Eisenhower told about how the decision was made to go on that date. He wanted to go on June 4th or 5th, and June 4th, 1944, was a beautiful, starlit night. The commanders of the allied troops were gathered with General Eisenhower at their Southwick House command post in England. Colonel Page was the Chief Army Meteorologist, and General Eisenhower was told by him that gale-force winds and high tides would soon be assaulting the Normandy beaches; actually by the next morning. Well, should Ike believe what he saw - this beautiful, clear starlit night? Or should he listen to the man who knew? His answer, "No go." Even though it would cost them their first choice and it would prolong the wait for 180,000 troops who were waiting on ships anxious to move. Now the next day - opposite weather. It was stormy as predicted and Colonel Page came in and said, "We're going to have improved weather the next day with moderate winds and tides. It's going to be a good day to go." Okay, should General Eisenhower go by his senses, or by the man who's the authority? Ike paused for about 30 seconds, and then he said two words that are emblazoned in history, "Let's go." The room was clear in two seconds, and the rest is history. Now, you have a decision right now to make whether to believe what your senses, and your feelings, and your environment are telling you about a moral choice, about giving up on a person, about giving in to a temptation, about giving up on a commitment like a marriage, or about running into a decision. Don't base your life on what's going to change in 20 minutes - which is your feelings. Base it on the Word of God which hasn't changed in 20 centuries. Do it His way, no matter how it feels.

Okay, try to picture it. Maybe you don't have to picture it. Maybe you've been there. It's the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, just before doors open at, let's say, Walmart. It's still dark, but a lot of people are lined up, anxiously waiting to enter. It's the day of those fabulous sales that stores like this have to encourage your early Christmas shopping. And for a short time after the doors open, there are some absolutely amazing prices on many popular items. But you have to move quickly and scoop them up. One year recently, I remember the crush of people was so great, at one store a lady was nearly trampled to death when the doors opened. And at another store, another year, a man actually was trampled to death. Once you're in the store, you know what to do. No browsing. No chatting. You're on a mission! Just look for those sales opportunities and grab them while you can! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Grabbing Opportunities to Save a Life." Aggressively seizing opportunities because time is short - that's not just a picture of a sale day shopper. That's supposed to be the picture of every follower of Jesus Christ. Not just browsing and cruising through our days, but really making them count...really making a difference with your life. If you read our word for today from the Word of God in the original language of the New Testament, you can see just that kind of urgency and intensity. It's Ephesians 5:15-16 - "Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise, but as wise" - now what follows is God's definition of what it means to "live smart." "...making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil." The original Greek conveys the idea of aggressively buying up every opportunity you have to do something about the darkness around you. Near the end of this letter that Paul wrote from a prison cell, probably chained to a Roman guard, he gives us a living example of this "make a difference" mindset in action. He says, "Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel...pray that I will declare it fearlessly, as I should." In another letter, we learn that there were believers ultimately in Caesar's household; likely some of those soldiers Paul spent so much time with. He saw his imprisonment, not so much as an ordeal, but as an opportunity to tell people there about his Jesus and to rescue them from evil. Life is full of life-saving opportunities for those with eyes to see them; for those who understand that we're supposed to be looking for them wherever we are. I know when one member of our family was in the hospital, the reason seemed clear. There was a patient who left a trail of Jesus all through that hospital. There just to get well? No. They were there positioned by God to help spiritually rescue some of the people in that hospital. If you want to make the greatest possible difference with the rest of your life, and I hope you do. If you want to help some people be in heaven with you, and I hope you do. Then each morning pray for natural opportunities to bring up your Jesus. "Lord, open a door." Then look for those opportunities to open up. Buy them up like an alert shopper. When someone shares a burden or a concern with you, don't just promise to pray for them. Ask if you can pray with them right then. Chances are they have never heard their name in a prayer all their life! I've never had anyone turn down that offer by the way. And if God opens the door, tell them after you pray that you weren't always able to talk to God like that because there used to be a wall between you and Him that Jesus took down. Look for opportunities to share your personal hope story, which is the story of the difference Jesus has made for you in certain life situations, particular needs, and certainly your eternal situation. Look for those opportunities. Pray for those opportunities. Grab those opportunities. Why? Because God is putting people in your life so they can have a chance at Jesus...and a chance at heaven. That's an opportunity you just must not miss.

I don't know if you're like me, but have you ever wondered where children learn all the psychology they seem to know? They use it pretty effectively to get their way. Oh, we adults have to take courses in child psychology. They don't take courses in adult psychology, but they do pretty well. Kids learn very early how to maneuver, and motivate, and manipulate to get what they want. They use division. You know, like divide and conquer. Kind of get Mom and Dad played against each other. They use guilt sometimes to do it; sometimes, they even use, yeah, deception. Now, I've traveled a lot in my lifetime, and my wife had to be especially alert for one particular tactic as the kids were growing up. They'd say, "Oh, we're going to do such and such." And she'd say, "Well, who said you could?" "Daddy." Of course I wasn't there, no verification possible. So maybe Mom might be fooled if you said it just right, unless I called, until I got home. Then kids learn an important life lesson, "Don't put your Father's name on something he does not approve of." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Your Father Never Said You Could." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Samuel 15. I'm going to begin reading at verse 10. Understand that King Saul has been asked to lead the Jews in the eradication of a cancer called the Amalekites, and to destroy not only their armies and their leadership, but also all of the loot that might be taken so there would be no trace left of the poison that they had become. Well, the Bible says, "Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, 'I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he's turned away from Me and has not carried out my instructions.' Samuel was troubled and he cried out to the Lord all night." Well, then we read in verse 13, "When Samuel reached him, Saul said, 'The Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord's instruction.'" He had not. "But Samuel said, 'What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of the cattle that I hear?' 'Oh, but I did obey the Lord' Saul said. 'I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder. The best was devoted to God in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God.'" Well, that just doesn't work. God isn't fooled! You notice here, though, that he tries to make something rebellious into something religious. He's talking about the Lord all the time, but he's disobeying Him. Saul is trying a child's trick to justify something wrong: putting your Father's name on what you're doing. That happens a lot. You can justify almost anything by saying, "The Lord led me." I talked to a man who divorced his wife not too long ago to marry a relative of his, of hers really. And he said, "Well, Ron, the Bible says love is of God, and I love this woman. So it must be right." Come on, it's bad enough to break God's law. Don't put God's name on it. Don't try to put a spiritual makeup job on leaving your husband or wife when God says, "I hate divorce." Don't rationalize materialism by saying, "Well, I want to make more so I can give more to the Lord's work." Don't make a decision to do what you want to do, and then dignify it by calling it "the Lord's will." Don't try to dress up undisciplined living by calling it, "following the Spirit's moving." That's taking God's name in vain. We Bible folks have this way of dressing up sin rather than dealing with it. Saul learned that it doesn't work to put spiritual names on sin and religious words on rebellion. Oh, my kids learned not to put their Father's name on something that their Father didn't approve of. God's kids need to learn that about their Father. Don't dress up a sinful choice in God-words. Your Father never said you could do what you're doing.

My plane had just landed in a Midwestern city during a record breaking cold spell and the pilot welcomed us to the city with a temperature reading that made you want to divert the fight to Florida. Well, at least I had checked the weather channel and I was able to anticipate the ice age, so I had the appropriate coat, scarf, gloves and layers. As I was waiting for my suitcase in the baggage claim area, I heard someone yell, "Grab those pineapples." Excuse me? Well sure enough there were two couples just returning from Hawaii with beautiful live flowers around their necks, and they were wearing short sleeve shirts and, of course, carrying their box of pineapples. Well, when I hit the wind outside, I was cold, but I was prepared. I can't imagine what happened to the Luau bunch! When they woke up that morning they probably just said, "Well, it's warm here. I'll just dress for where I am." They were totally unprepared for where they were going! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dressing for Your Final Destination." Now Jesus actually told about a man who was very prepared for where he was, but totally unprepared for where he was going. Maybe like you. Luke 12:16-20, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus told them this parable, "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do, I have no place to store my crops.' Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods and I will say to myself you have many good things laid up for many years, take life easy, eat, drink and be merry.' But God said to him, 'You fool, this very night your life will be demanded from you, then who will get what you have prepared for yourself!'" Here's a man who was really dressed for where he was, he had it all, he had his earth security well planned out. But he forgot about where he would be spending most of his future - in eternity. He was totally unprepared to meet God. Someday your heart's going to beat for the last time, and in that unpredictable moment eternity will begin for you. And at that point it won't matter what your title was, or your income, or your religion, or your achievements. All that's going to matter is whether or not you have a personal love relationship with God. A relationship that can, according to the Bible, only be accessed through God's Son, Jesus Christ. Why? Because no one can make it to heaven with sin. See, God was supposed to run your life and mine, but over and over we've said, "No, I'll do it, God." The Bible says, "All of us have sinned and we've fallen short of the glory of God." In this parable, "I will" three times. That man God called a fool, he just said, "I will, I will, I will." Because of that, God is out of our reach, but we're not out of His. God says this is love, and this is the Bible speaking. "Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins" in the most incredible act of love you'll ever hear about. The God we defied sacrificed His one and only Son to carry our death penalty for the sinning we did. And now your eternal destination, heaven or hell, depends totally on what you do with the man who died for your sin, Jesus Christ. You can reject Him, you can ignore Him, or you can reach out to Him and say, "Lord I'm not ready for eternity but I want to be. I'm facing the fact I've gone my way instead of yours over and over again. Right now I'm putting all my trust in You and Your death on that cross for me to remove the sin between God and me, and to open the door to eternal life for me. I want to invite you to go to our website because it's there to help you be sure you have begun a relationship with Him. It's ANewStory.com. Maybe you've been so focused on where you are now, that you've neglected your forever. Yeah you're one heartbeat away from eternity. Isn't it time you got ready for where you're going to be for a very long time?

You know it's tough the first time your child goes to camp...I mean for the parent. The kids probably have a ball; it's just tough for the parents. It all comes together when you have to sign that permission slip, and then a medical release, and then insurance forms. You start to think of all the things that could go wrong - the bad things that could happen. Now, up until now you've been there in the background to protect them and to make sure they're eating the right things, and guiding them to make the right choices. But now, even if it's only for a few days, you're turning your precious child over to someone else. That's why I like to know someone who's going to be in charge there. A lot of responsible parents do that; even with conferences we've planned. People will say "Hey, I want to find out who I'm turning this kid over to." It's tough. I want to be able to trust the person to whom I'm handing my son or daughter. But it's still hard to release them. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Turning Over Your Treasure." Our word for today from the Word of God is from 1 Samuel 1. I'm going to begin reading at verse 27. It's part of a prayer that Hannah, the mother of Samuel, prayed. We know that Samuel grew up to become a mighty judge in Israel; a mighty leader for God at a strategic time. She had wanted this child for so many years. She had been barren, and finally God miraculously sends her a child. Listen to her very poignant words, "I prayed for this child," she says, "and the Lord has granted me what I asked of Him. So, now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life will be given over to the Lord." Wow! Hannah is saying about a child that it has taken her years to have, "Lord, whatever you want to do with him; wherever you want to take him is fine with me." You know it's hard to say, "Whatever you want, Lord" just about your own life. I think it's even harder to say that about your child's life. My friend is in the ministry. And Rob and his wife have served the Lord actively and effectively for many years. And their daughter, who's in her mid twenties, came to them and said, "Mom, Dad, I feel like God has just called me out of nursing and is calling me into the ministry." Rob said, "I couldn't believe how I responded. I said, 'Well, honey, you're making such good money now as a nurse. And, you know, that's security.'" And he said, "For two weeks I tried to talk her out of it. Finally," he said, "I realized what we had prayed for all of our lives, we were now trying to talk her out of." Well, that's understandable. We've all been brainwashed with the American lie about what success is and what security is. We push our kids to perform and we often neglect their character. We want them to be societal winners sometimes, rather than spiritual warriors. The child God gave you is on loan to you. Not yours to keep; not yours to assign. Your job is to help them discover the person they are in Christ and the works God put them on earth to do. Not the works you want them to do. If you're a parent, could I encourage you to take a Hannah inventory today? Are you releasing your son or daughter for whatever? Whatever assignment your Lord has for him or her? Or do you have a plan for your child that you're trying to get God to sign off on. Don't stand in the way of God's best for that child of yours, and don't be seduced by the lies our world tells us about what's best for them. Find a quiet place, and again, turn over your treasure to the One who gave that treasure to you in the first place.

"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they'd tell me when we were out in the woods where it was totally dark and a little scary. Well, not for me. I mean for them, of course. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going as long as they had my hand. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hand That Keeps You Safe." At the other end of life's spectrum from little boys was where my wife's grandfather was. He was 94. He was unable to remember very much, including my wife - his granddaughter. She called him one day and she said, "Hi, Granddad." She, of course, told him her name, and she said, "I love you." He wasn't very happy about it. He said, "I don't know who this is." Some strange woman was calling and saying she loved him! What is this? Well, she reminded her Granddad of his only son and that she was his daughter. "I don't know you." Finally she just said, "Well, Granddad, remember this. Jesus loves you." To which he replied, "Now Him I know!" Isn't that interesting? After 94 years, not much that he could remember, but there was one person whose love and whose presence he was still aware of - Jesus. Listen, that's not a religion. That's a relationship so real that it's there for you through every conceivable stage of life. For my wife, it was real when she used to walk that dark stretch of road from her house to the school bus as a little girl. They lived way back in the woods, and that last stretch was beyond where she could see Mommy, or the neighbor, or anyone. Knowing those trees could be hiding the bears and the mountain lions that she knew were in their area, she would just start to sing, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me." This Jesus - this Savior - is literally the hand you never outgrow. The hand that is there for you as my hand was there for my boys in those dark and uncertain places. Here's our word for today from the Word of God. It's the familiar words of the 23rd Psalm. They're a description of a personal relationship with God that I hope you have, or if you don't, that you'll begin it. These are the words my own father wanted me to read to him the day he was going into that heart surgery from which he would never recover. Here are the words, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want...Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me." This deep, personal, unloseable relationship with Jesus Christ is what I pray you will begin. It's the relationship your heart has always been hungry for. This is the Savior who'll be with you through the turbulence of being a teenager, the pressures of parenting, the lonely moments of being single, the darkness of depression, the struggle of disease, or divorce, or disaster, or facing death. The hand of Jesus I think maybe is reaching out to you right now. If you look closely you'll see nail prints in that hand. They're there because of the price He paid to tear down the wall between you and God. His brutal death on the cross was to pay the death penalty for your sins and mine. Now He waits to forgive you; to be the one constant in your life and in your eternity no matter what changes. Don't you want to grab that hand of Jesus to be your own personal Savior, your lifetime friend? Tell Him today, "Jesus, I give my life to the One who gave His life for me. I've been running it. You run it from now on. Jesus, I'm Yours." Experience that love for yourself today. Go to our website because it's set up to help you begin your relationship with Jesus and to know you have. It's ANewStory.com. You know, for an elderly grandfather, for a very sick father, for a frightened little girl, for you, the same never-leave-you person is Jesus. His hand is reaching. Won't you grab it? I'll tell you, He'll never, never let go.

Ten more minutes and my wife would have never been born. The story that changed everything is hope for any of us who love someone who's making some very bad choices. My wife's grandfather, Bill, had given up on life. Trashing a profitable career for the alcohol and cocaine he could not resist. He was labeled with a prison record, he was penniless, he was hopeless and he was suicidal. And that night, as he walked South State Street in downtown Chicago, he was minutes away from Lake Michigan where he'd decided to end it all. One thing saved him. A mother who had never given up on him. There, on the street, he heard the song, the one his mother used to sing to him. It was coming from the rescue mission he had just passed. Something made him stop and go inside. And there a caring mission worker shared a Bible verse that has probably changed more lives than any other. The worker started, "For God so loved the world that He gave..." Suddenly, Bill finished it. "...His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16). Somewhere in the long-clouded corners of his memory, he could hear his mother teaching him those words. And that night - minutes away from ending his life - he found life. He never touched or wanted alcohol or drugs from that night on. And he spent the rest of his life bringing the hope he'd found to forgotten people across the country. And now three generations Bill never met are here, and they're living and spreading that same hope because of one man's choice that night. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up." The story behind the story is told in the inscription on the back of a photo of young Bill. His mother wrote, "O Will, every night when I read my Bible, I look at this picture and I ask God to keep you and somehow seal your heart with His love. You may see this after I'm gone and you'll know that I never ceased to pray for you. Mother." She did live ten years after the night God answered those prayers. Even as her son's life got darker and darker, this mother was hanging onto a powerful but easily-forgotten truth. That's one that I, too, have hung onto - even today. Because so much of my life's work has been trying to love and rescue people who just keep spiraling downward. It's a hope-preserver for all of us who grieve and who pray for broken, prodigal people. Never forget the difference between a chapter and a book. See, many a book with a happy ending has some very dark chapters. A loved one's seemingly unstoppable rush to the edge of the cliff? That's not the book. It's a chapter. If we lose that wide angle lens perspective, we're going to lose hope. But the Bible urges us in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9, "Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest..." And Jesus said that we "should always pray and not give up" (Luke 18:1). That's what Bill's mother did. She wept over many chapters. She never lost sight, though, of the ending God could write to the book of her son's life. She just kept loving, praying and believing. And the final chapters of Bill's life were more glorious and more miraculous than she could have ever dreamed. If we can remember, in the darkest hours of a loved one's heartbreaking journey, that this is a chapter, then hope can win when despair is strong. Even as I write this, there are young men and women whose life-eroding choices I grieve for. But I know there is a relentless Shepherd who came, He said, to "seek and save those who are lost" (Luke 19:10). He says, "I will search for the lost and bring back the strays" (Ezekiel 34:16). He will do whatever it takes to bring them home. Even when it meant a cross. So, as long as there's breath, there's hope. I know, because Bill's beautiful granddaughter, my wife, told me.

You may have seen an actor named Iron Eyes Cody in a lot of roles as an Indian. He used to tell an old legend about a young Indian brave, going through the rites of manhood. As he hiked solo into this beautiful valley, he decided to test himself against that rugged, snow-capped mountain that dominated the valley. When he reached the top, he felt like he was standing on the rim of the world. Then he heard this rustle at his feet. It was a snake. Before he could move, the snake spoke. He said, "I am about to die. It's too cold for me up here and there's no food. Would you put me under your shirt and take me down to the valley?" The young brave refused. He said, "I know your kind! You're a rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you'll bite me and you'll kill me." But the snake said, "No, I promise to treat you differently. If you do this for me, I will not harm you." Finally, the young man was persuaded, so he tucked the snake under his shirt and carried it down to the valley. But as soon as he laid it on the ground, the snake suddenly coiled, rattled, leaped and bit him on the leg. The young brave could only cry out, "But you promised!" As the snake slithered away, he hissed back his answer, "You knew what I was when you picked me up." I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Sin's Deadly Secret." The story is a legend. But the Indian brave's mistake has been repeated in real life over and over again. God wants you to be sure you know exactly what that snake is - and what it will do to you - before you're fatally bitten. Which takes us to our word for today from the Word of God in James 1:15 - it's an anatomy of how sin gets us to pick it up and what the inevitable outcome will be. "After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin." Looks good...looks harmless - or at least I think it's worth the risk. First, I want it, then I do it, then I pay for it. It goes on to say, "And sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." See, sin always works the same way - first it fascinates, then it assassinates. Always. The killer snake will always be a killer snake, no matter how harmless it appears or how likely it looks that you'll get away with it. Not a chance. Sin always kills. It kills your self-respect, it kills your reputation, your closeness to God. You're not going to get away with it. God says, "Be sure that your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). You might be entertaining thoughts right now that you should have never let in, flirting with something you should be fleeing, making compromises that have brought you to the edge of a spiritual disaster, getting close to someone that you should be getting away from, or you could be harboring hard feelings that you really should have let go of by now. Down in your soul, you know what it is. It's sin that killed your Savior, sin that always bites the one who handles it. And just because you can't see any consequences now, don't be fooled. Satan will be sure you're hooked and in a position where your fall will do the most damage - then you'll feel his fangs. This is God's loving warning, "Drop it now, while you can, before the inevitable deadly consequences come." My friend, this is why Jesus is called Savior. Because we need to be saved from the killer of Sin. It kills everything, it will take us one day to a Christless eternity. It will take us out of His Heaven to his Hell. We'll never make it to His Heaven. But that's why Christ died, He took the sting of the serpent, He did the dying. And today He offers you eternal life in exchange for your sin and your death penalty. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, I want to be forgiven, I need to be forgiven." He will come into your life and change what you could never change. Listen, if you want this relationship with Him, go to our website and we'll help you get started with Him. It's ANewStory.com. You can't afford to hold the snake of sin close one day longer. You know what it is when you pick it up. And you know what it will do. And Jesus has come to rescue you.