Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Happy New Year!

Maybe this will be the year that our Lord returns for His bride. Come quickly Lord Jesus!

Do you have friends who are Mormon?

Have them watch this incredible video about 8 Mormons who were found! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl0c5nl6u48&feature=share

Eternal Life

"And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God's Son does not have life." 1 John 5:11

Monday, December 30, 2013

Everything's Moving

It's a good thing our oldest son could outrun his sister when they were kids, especially after one of our "earthquake drills." Oh, the earth wasn't really shaking. It started after we returned from a trip to California where we heard a lot about earthquakes. So - for no intelligent reason I can think of - I would occasionally yell randomly, "Earthquake drill!" And the ensuing script went something like this. Brother would run to his sister and hold her tightly. Father: "What are you doing, son?" Brother: "You said if there was an earthquake, we should hang onto something heavy!" This is when speed saved his young life.

Actually, that is pretty good advice when things are moving that never moved before. Hang onto something heavy.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Everything's Moving."

Lately, I've been getting that shifting landscape feeling a lot. Believers feeling comfortable watching things they would have never watched ten years ago; accepting behaviors and ideas that would have been unthinkable only a short time ago. Feeling free to wear less and show more. Letting their kids do what the culture calls cool; dissolving marriages that were, until recently, thought to be something that "no man" should "put asunder." And all this among growing questions about what marriage even is. Yes, the ground's been moving under our feet a lot lately, and it's more important than ever to "hang onto something heavy."

God's not surprised by all this. He described the tectonic shifts that would happen as human history was winding down and the return of His Son was approaching. In 2 Timothy 4:3-4 He says, "For the time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths."

There's a phenomenon at work here that I call the equal distance syndrome. There's always an equal distance between what the culture accepts and what Christians accept. And that distance can make church folks feel like they're doing pretty well morally compared to everyone else.

Problem: as the culture moves, believers move with it. So, we end up being where folks without the Manufacturer's instructions were just a few years ago. Still different, but drifting inexorably away from the unmoving standards of Almighty God. The culture moves. The polls move. Public opinion moves. God's people move. God doesn't.

In that same Bible passage that foretold the moral drift from the truth, God directs us to hang onto something heavy. So heavy, and so true that it is forever anchored in place. Our word for today from the Word of God, 2 Timothy 3:14-15, "They will be deceived, but you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true. You have been taught the Holy Scriptures from childhood. All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives."

No opinion poll, no majority vote, no societal shift can change God's mind or God's Word. His word on every moral issue is final - non-negotiable and the only way to make life work. To live as we're wired by our Creator to live, to avoid emotional and spiritual disaster, and to avoid the judgment of the God who drew the boundaries that we feel so free to question.

There's a classic story about a ship captain who realizes there's a light out there in the fog, and whatever's out there is on a collision course with his vessel. He radios that they need to adjust their course. A voice comes back telling him to adjust his. The captain again orders the man on the other end to change course, this time reminding him he's a captain. Only to be answered by a "seaman second class" demanding that the captain change course. Then came the final exchange. "I'm a battleship! Change course now." "I'm a lighthouse. Change your course."

The Lighthouse of God's Word won't be moving. It's there to show us where it's safe and to keep us from going down. Our drift from that Light leads to one destination - the rocks.

Friday, December 27, 2013

Mike at Applebees

We were supposed to go to Texas Roadhouse for my birthday. I like to go early to beat the crowds (I don't like to sit and wait at a restaurant). Even though we got there early, it was packed with about a 1/2 hour wait. So Cathy and I went to plan "B" (Applebees). It was just a few miles down the road and there was no wait. Our server was named Mike and we got to pray for him and share the Gospel. Now it's up to the Lord to do His thing.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Thick Ice

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Let me give you a little weather preference test; as if we get to vote. Why don't you rank these one, two, three from the best to the worst: rain, snow, ice. I just gave you my ranking. Rain is no problem. I grew up in the Midwest; and I lived in the Northeast and so I can handle snow. Even when you have to walk or drive, there's at least like something to dig into. But ice? Oh, man, ice storms can leave some very nice things behind. Every branch, limb, and home is glistening with this beautiful coating of ice. But it is a pain if you've got to go anywhere. Reminds me of an old song, "Freeze a Jolly Good Fellow."

Well, anyway, we had some major league ice storms this past winter, and I went out one morning and I found my car entombed with this thick, hard armor of ice. I could have just tried to chip it away. In fact I started to do that. But I would have either damaged the car or damaged its' owner. So I decided to work smart. I let the car run for a while, and I warmed it up from the inside. You know what happened. A few minutes later that ice came off pretty easily.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts chapter 16. It's kind of about ice around a heart. See, the ice around a car is hard to penetrate, but the ice around a person is even harder. Maybe you can think of a person that you're concerned for right now who's pretty hard. Maybe some person who's got an affect on your future or your security, and there's ice around them.

Well, almost everyone has at least one impossible person in their world; one person whose ice you just can't seem to get through. Let's look at God's way of getting through the ice. For example, in Acts 16:14, the missionary Paul comes upon a woman named Lydia, a prominent merchant in her town, and it says, "The Lord opened her heart to respond."

Back in the Old Testament Saul didn't want to be the first king of Israel until it says in 1 Samuel 10:9, "The Lord changed his heart." Proverbs 21:21 it says, "The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. He directs it like a water course wherever He pleases." See, God is in the heart changing business; the heart warming business.

Think about the person in your world who's hard to reach. It might be a defiant or a wandering child, or an unresponsive mate. Maybe you've got a hard-to-talk-to boss, or employee, or a coworker, or fellow student, or a person who will be making the decisions that could greatly affect your church or your ministry; maybe someone who seems as if he or she won't ever give Jesus a chance. Well, God's method of melting the ice is the same as mine for de-icing my car. Warm that person up from the inside, change their heart, soften their heart, turn their heart your direction.

Malachi 4:6 says, "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." So often we try all kinds of things to convince people, and nag them, and politic with them, and lobby them. But recently I've been learning the power of a simple but powerful prayer, "Lord, change his heart; change her heart. Warm them on the inside. Turn their heart your direction, my direction. Move them to be open to what You want."

Many of us have made getting through human ice a lot harder by under-praying in this area. Why don't you focus your praying on the hearts of key people? Ask God to remove the blinders, to give you favor, to neutralize prejudices, to create openness. We would probably have a lot less conflict and a lot more success if we'd spend more time talking to God about a person than we do talking to the person or about the person.

And remember, God is a heart warmer, a heart softener, a heart changer. Pray as if He is. It works with a frozen car or a frozen person. When they've been warmed on the inside it's a lot easier to get through that ice. And believe me, no one can thaw out a heart like God can.

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Missing at the Party

Billy was just about to celebrate his tenth birthday. It was the day of his birthday party, and Mom had made sure that all of his little friends were invited over. She came in the family van, drove up to the school and picked everybody up; went on home and all the kids stormed into the house with all their presents, and laid them on the table that had been set aside just for that. Then they went ahead and they played some great games, they played a little kick ball in the back yard, and they came in and they sat down for the goodies. The dining room was all decorated, and they sat around the table and in came the cake with ten candles on it. Sure enough!

Everybody began to sing "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Billy..." And then they noticed one very important ingredient in the party was missing. In all the excitement someone had forgotten to pick up Billy at school. The poor kid was still there and nobody noticed. He was missing at his own party! Well, there is a tremendous birthday party going on right now all across our country - a birthday party for Jesus. A lot of music, a lot of gifts, a lot of decorations, a lot of noise, but is He missing at the party?

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

Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Luke chapter 2 and verse 11. We'd better be in the Christmas Story today, right? We'll get there in just a minute. But I have to ask the question after thinking about Billy not being at his own birthday party. Are we so caught up in the celebration like those kids were at the birthday party that we are missing Christ Himself?

I mean there are some special family observances, and that's a great thing; we love ours. And it's a time for acts of reaching out, showing God's love, demonstrating His love. Even yet it's a day to do something for somebody who is really in need. It's a season to be touching people who are more open to listening to Jesus than ever before. At more than any other time of the year, they're soft toward Him.

But more importantly it's time to consider how much room we have made for Jesus ourselves. Luke 2:11, "Today in the town of David, a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord." Do you know that in the angel's announcement of this first Christmas He uses the phrase "to you" four times. "To you the Savior is born." "To you the Savior is born." Not to Mary, not to Joseph. This baby is for you, and Christmas is a time for you to decide finally what you're going to do with this Savior. Not to just go to His meetings, do all the Christian things, hang out in a religion that's all about Jesus, or to just passively believe in Him, but to commit yourself to the Savior who is for you.

Actually, there are five things you can do with this Jesus who came that Christmas. One is you can out-and-out reject Him and say, "I don't want Him. I'm not interested. I don't want you." Secondly, you can just postpone Him and say, "Jesus, I'll get around to You. I think one day I'll open my heart to You, but I've got some living I want to do first. Except the Bible says, "Man does not know what a day will bring forth. Don't boast about tomorrow." We can't count on tomorrow.

Well, you can postpone Him. Or you can ignore Him and just say, "You know what? I'm not against Him. I'm not going to reject Him. I just am kind of busy right now. Fourthly, you can agree with Him. "Yeah, I agree with everything about Jesus coming for, dying for our sins." Or you could totally give yourself to Him. Those first four reactions all end up at the same place; in a Christ-less eternity called hell. Only totally giving yourself to this Jesus takes you to heaven.

See, loving you is why Christ was born. And loving Him is why you were born; the reason you were put here. So, it's time to make room for Him this Christmas. The old hymn says, "Room for business, room for pleasure, but for Christ the crucified not a place that He can enter in the heart for which He died."

This Christmas I'd love to help you find your way home. Would you visit me; join me at ANewStory.com and make this Christmas your first Christmas with Christ in your heart.

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Verizon guy

We changed services, switching our TV, Internet, and phone. The Verizon guy (Jay) came today to do the Internet and phone. He was a really nice guy and he is very into motorcycles…hmmm…..Divine appointment? He owns two Harleys and we had a great time talking about motorcycles and riding. I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with him and gave him one of Mark Cahill's booklets entitled, "One Second After You…Die". I also gave him some delicious venison meat sticks as a snack and wished him s Merry Christmas. God is good.

Monday, December 23, 2013

A testimony from a recent MAD Grad

"During a lunch break I saw a man digging through trash cans looking for something to eat. I invited him over to my truck and shared my lunch and a gospel of John with him. I saw him again the next day and he told me after reading the gospel of John he went to the local salvation army and was given a place to stay and a job."

Openings for the Ultimate Adventure trip to Utah - July 20-28, 2014

We have 7 people for the trip to Utah next summer, and we're in need of at least 4 more. If you'd like to take the trip of a lifetime, please watch the video on the website and contact me ASAP. No experience necessary! Merry Christmas!

New and Improved Ministry website!

If you're reading this, you've already been exposed to the new and improved website. Our old one was over five years old and was in desperate need of a makeover! SKWD Associates did an incredible job with it. I pray the Lord uses the "new look" to encourage people to contact us and book us for trainings. Merry Christmas! http://www.skwdassociates.com