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Gym class can be a pretty unfair place in school. You’ve got your natural athletes, your average athletes, and your basic klutzes, like me, who are all lumped together in the same class. It’s tough to get a decent grade if the teacher compares your performances. The natural athletes, of course, are going to play better, score higher, run farther than many others who are trying just as hard. And many a good student has had his grade point dragged down. Not because of a C effort in gym, but because of a C result. I guess we could debate about what’s fair, but I for one appreciate the breed of physical education teacher that my son had, and he said this about him, “Dad, you know, he grades you not on how well you finish, but on how hard you try.” Well, you know, I know someone else who grades that way. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “How Hard You Try.” The Apostle Paul is, as we get to the end of 2 Timothy, a man about to receive his report card, and he’s about to graduate. This is the last letter he will write in his many letters of the New Testament, writing to his dear son in the faith, Timothy. Looking at his present situation, he doesn’t look very successful. He’s a prisoner in Caesar’s prison, he’s facing execution, there are no awards being given, there’s no applause, he’s very alone and he really has nothing on earth to look forward to. He is apparently a victim, not a victor. Maybe you know someone like that right now. Maybe it’s someone like you. He is looking forward, though, to God’s grades and God’s rewards. Listen to what he says in 2 Timothy 4, beginning at verse 5, “Discharge all the duties of your ministry, for I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith, and now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day.” I love this! He’s looking for the Lord’s awards. We know Paul’s result. We look back on the tremendous results of his life. But where he was in that prison, he didn’t have much to show for his efforts there. It could be you right now. This word, “having fought a good fight” is the word for wrestling in the Olympics, and from that word we get our word agonize. He has agonized; he has agonizingly fought a good fight. It means he’s fought with good technique. He doesn’t say, “I won!” He says, “I have fought well.” Winning wasn’t the issue. Paul knew the issue was what kind of a fight he gave. Paul knows that his Lord rewards the effort, not the result, and so does your Lord. That’s why His welcoming words are, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Not successful, faithful servant. Maybe you’ve have been in a dark, discouraging time. You’ve worked hard, you’ve served faithfully, you’ve witnessed sincerely, you’ve lived Christ in front of the people you love, and there just seems to be very little to show for it. The results aren’t there. And maybe you feel like you’ve failed. Maybe others even think you’ve failed. But the question is, “Did you fight the good fight? Did you discharge your duties?” Maybe not perfectly, but faithfully, wholeheartedly. Well, then, I think you can expect A’s from the only person who really matters; the One who made you; the One who paid for you with His life. You see, the awards of God are based on how hard you try.

He may have been the greatest American hero of his time; his name was Meriwether Lewis. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. The land stretched from the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific, and much of it was known well to Native Americans but largely unknown to white Americans. Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead this incredible adventure that we know today as the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following the long and winding route of the Missouri River, Lewis led his expedition all the way from the point where it ends near St. Louis to its headwaters in Montana. His longtime dream had been to find the source of that river and to drink from it. He got his dream. If only it had satisfied his thirst. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Thirst That's Never Quenched." In a letter to a friend after he reached that pinnacle, Meriwether Lewis wrote these words: "I feel all that restlessness, which I cannot help but thinking proceeds from that void in our hearts. Whence it comes I know not, but certain it is, that I have never felt less like a hero than at the present moment." Shortly thereafter, Meriwether Lewis died of what is believed to be his own suicide. He accomplished his greatest goals; he drank the sweet water of success and conquest and had the admiration of thousands. But he still had not found what fills what he called "that void in our hearts." Maybe you know that feeling. If you haven't gotten what you've been pursuing, you know, maybe a relationship, an accomplishment, a position, and you think that's why you have this incurable restlessness. If you've gotten what you thought would fill that hole in your heart and the hole is still there, guess what the next stop is? Despair. But ultimately the void is in our hearts because God isn't. In the Bible's words, we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). But we haven't lived for Him. Again, according to the Bible, 100% of us have basically done life our way, not God's way. So we're missing Him. I wish I could get into a time machine and go back and talk to Meriwether Lewis and help him understand who he was restless for. That's not possible, but God has put you and me together today, maybe because He wants to show you how the thirst in your soul can finally end by drinking from the Source; by experiencing for yourself, not a religion, but a personal love relationship with the God who put you here. He says in Isaiah 55:2, our word for today from the Word of God, "Why spend money on what is not bread and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare." Jesus, God's Son, who died to pay the penalty for you and me hijacking our life from God, made this promise: "He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty" (John 6:35). Void filled. Restlessness satisfied. With the gap between you and God bridged by Jesus, you're finally drinking from the Source. It starts the day that you "come to" Jesus, the day you, He said, "believe in" Him. And you do that by placing your total trust in this One who loved you enough to die for you and then was powerful enough to rise from the dead. Why don't you let Him begin this relationship now; let your search be over. If you do, would you tell Him that, "Jesus, beginning today, I'm yours." Check out our website, because it's loaded with information that will help you be sure you have made this connection with Jesus Christ, the One who loves you most. Our website is ANewStory.com. There’s no one else who can satisfy your thirsty soul. Beginning today, you can be, as so many of us restless seekers have discovered, you could be thirsty no more.

Now, it’s hard to lose weight; I know that very well. But the real trick in weight loss is keeping the weight off. Years ago I dropped about 55 pounds and believe me i’m not looking for it. I mean, it went away thankfully a little bit at a time. I found out that it is possible to hang around the level of where you got your weight loss to. Of course, you can’t eat grapefruit all the time, or celery, or diet bars for the rest of your life. No. That’s the way a lot of people regain what they lost. No, what you’ve got to do is to learn new ways of eating that fit your metabolism. At least that worked for me. I call it making friends with your metabolism. One challenge for me in keeping that weight off is when it's vacation or a holiday time, because, “Hey, I have a fun mentality and I don’t really want to watch what I’m eating.” So I want to eat lots of fun food. In fact, I want to eat more food during those times. And so my calorie intake jumps up during my time off. Well, I’d be back up to where i was if I didn’t make an important adjustment when I’m eating more. Suddenly I’m working more, biking more, playing ball more, fervently hoping as I’m doing that that I’m losing more calories somewhere in the process. Okay, very simple: when you eat more, you’ve got to exercise more. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Overfed Christians.” Our word for today from the Word of God is in James 1:22. It says: “Do not merely listen to the Word…” We do a lot of that, don’t we? “…and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.” Interesting! The Bible is saying it’s possible for people who listen to the Word all the time to be kidding themselves if they’re not doing what they hear. My daughter had the privilege of being on a team that went to the Soviet Union in the days of turmoil and uproar that were beginning to change that part of the world forever. They were asked to sing at a Christian Music Festival as part of a historic outreach. Right there in Lenin Stadium. Wow! Well, in the process, she met some beautiful Soviet believers who had been through so much. And one of them made a very insightful comment. It was a Soviet pastor who said to her, “You know, one burden I have is for American Christians, because I think you are over-feeded.” Well, his English may not have been perfect, but his point sure was. He swept his arms around the people in that auditorium. He said, “We are so hungry and so thirsty.” He’s right. Look, we here in the West, we’ve got seminars, and books, and recordings, and websites, and Bible studies, and concerts, and church programs. We sit and eat a lot, like me on vacation. But I can’t help where I live; I didn’t decide that. I do get over-feeded. But what about Luke 12:48, “To whom much is given, much is required.” What’s the answer to over-feeding? More exercise. James 1:22 says, “You’re kidding yourself if you’re eating it and not exercising it.” Just because you know it doesn’t mean anything. What does exercise mean? Well, number one, it means specific obediences to the Lord. For today I open God’s Word and I must be looking for a concrete response that I can measure by tonight, “Did I do it or did I not?” Was there an action step after what I read? I don’t just hear it. I do it; I write it down so I can hold myself accountable. I share it with other people so they can hold me accountable. I look for something to do today because of what I read, or shall we say what I 'ate' spiritually. Secondly, you look for a personal mission; something on your heart that has broken God’s heart, and you’ve allowed Him to break your heart with it. You’ve got to have a mission, a piece of the action, a place where you’re doing Kingdom business; where you throw money, and time, and sacrifice into it. See, obedience and mission burn up spiritual calories. God doesn’t feed you to make you heavy; He feeds you to make you active; to give you energy for doing the things that advance His Kingdom. We are "over-feeded" perhaps, but we can balance that intake by leaving the table and going out daily to run a race for Jesus Christ.

The military has a roll call – reading out the names to see if everybody’s there. Family get-together? Well, you know who you’ve got. You’ve got Mom, Dad, Grandma, Granddad, and grandchildren. You don’t usually have roll calls. Now, there was a point where we had one three-year-old grandson who took roll in his own little way. While we’re all busy in the usual chatter and bustle of everyone catching up, our grandson was obviously evaluating who’s there and who isn’t. You could tell. Before very long, he would pipe up, “Where’s Grandma?” or “Where’s Daddy?” or whoever happens to be MIA at the moment. And he wanted answers about where they were and why they weren’t there. He wanted every person in the family to be there! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Making Sure the Family’s There.” If you belong to Jesus Christ, and you know your sins are forgiven, when all of God’s family gets together in heaven, you know you’ll be there. But what about your family on earth? Will they be there and are you doing what you need to do to help them be there? It’s easier to tell almost anyone else about Jesus isn’t it, than it is to tell someone from your family? You can go to Mexico on a mission trip and tell people there about what Jesus did for them…you can say a word to someone at work or in a restaurant or in your neighborhood. You can be really involved in Christian activities that are aimed at helping people be in heaven with us and seldom if ever explain to your own family members what Christ has done for you and what Christ did on the cross for them. Probably because it’s just plain hard. The priority of Jesus for us as His ambassadors shows up in a story recorded in Mark 5, beginning at verse 18. It’s our word for today from the Word of God. The Bible says, “As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him.” Jesus had just set this man free from years of spiritual bondage. “Jesus did not let Him, but said, ‘Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.’ So the man went away and began to tell in all the Decapolis (which was his home area) how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” It would have been easier for this man to go with Jesus and run around serving Him everywhere but home. Just like some of us. And we should be spreading the Good News about Jesus, of course, to people that God brings into our life and we should be a part of His mission to reach every lost person. But it should start at home. Maybe Jesus is saying to you today, “Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you.” How do you do that? First, pray by name every day for the lost members of your family. Second, evaluate what about you might be making them think less of Jesus – maybe your temper, your selfishness, your mouth. Whatever it is, take some time to let Jesus change it. Your family needs to see a difference in you that will mean something to them. Thirdly, let them know how much they mean to you. Sometimes a letter might be the best way to do that – a letter with four main parts. Here they are: “I love you,” ”Thank you for,” ”I’m sorry for,” and “I wish we could.” In that last part, talk about how you hope your relationship can be from now on. And let them know how much you want to be in heaven with them forever. Sometimes, our family members think we’re condemning them, but you may need to say, “If being good could get anybody to heaven, you’d probably be on that list. But I found out that our only hope isn’t how good we are. It’s what Jesus did and what we do with what He did for us.” Don’t nag them. Don’t argue religion with them, please. It’s not about religion. It’s all about Jesus. It’s all about His cross. So stick to that. Pray for an open door to their heart and then for God’s courage and words to go in when He opens the door. God rescued you so the people you love could have Jesus within their reach, living in someone they know. So, please, do all God wants you to do to help everyone you love be in heaven with you forever.

I picked up a habit while going out to eat with my young children years ago. It’s a habit I really don’t need to do any more, but I got in the habit of cutting their meat for them. Now, if you’re a parent, you know that you get that old knife out before you start on your own dinner and you cut theirs into bite-size chunks. The problem is that I go out to lunch with a lot of businessmen, too, and I kind of have this reflex to cut their meat. But I’ve never found they really appreciated that. And, you know, the principle of bite-size chunks…well, that’s not a bad one. I mean, the best way to tackle a big piece is in little chunks that you can handle. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Life In Bite-Size Chunks.” A number of years ago, my wife was diagnosed as having hepatitis. At the time we thought, “Well, how long is she going to be in bed?” We knew that it might be for six weeks, the doctor said. It turned out to be nine months of Mom being out of commission; almost totally leveled. Well, as today, I had a pretty crazy, busy lifestyle and our kids had very hectic lifestyles and we're used to a very strong and competent mother holding it all together. I thought, “How in the world are we going to ever do six weeks?” Good thing I didn’t know then it was going to be nine months. I told my wife she was violating the 11th commandment. You know what that is: mothers, thou shall not get sick. But I’ll tell you how we made it? By bite-size chunks. Deuteronomy 33:25 - it’s our word for today from the Word of God, and maybe one you need right now. It became my life preserver. It says this: “Your strength will equal your days.” You could remember that one you couldn’t you? “Your strength will equal your days.” Notice it doesn’t say, “Your strength will equal your years, or your months, or your weeks” — days. A good friend of ours came up to me after my wife had been down for six weeks. And knowing how interdependent we are, she said, “Ron, how in the world have you handled six weeks with your wife sick?” I said, “Joanne, we haven’t. We haven’t handled six weeks. We’ve handled 42 days.” And that was the story. Well, right now, God may have put in front of you a big assignment; an overwhelming assignment. A long haul is ahead of you. It could be a health problem, maybe a financial shortfall, maybe it’s work that needs to be done in your family. Or you could be in an extended time of pressure and stress right now. Maybe you’ve even lost someone very close to you, and you’re looking and saying, “How am I ever going to get through this? It’s just…it’s so huge!” I’ll tell you, if you try to handle all that might happen or could happen, or even will happen, you’re going to stagger under the load. But if you wake up each morning and say, “This is the day the Lord has made; not the day the sickness has made, or the boss has made, or the financial problems have made, or the weather has made, or the bank has made. “This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.” And take it as a 24-hour bite-size chunk and you’re going to be able to handle it. Don’t try to take on the load of weeks, and months, and days. God promises that you’ll have what you need for this 24-hour piece of your life. So, He’ll give you what you need to handle it today. If you’re running ahead and worrying about the next day, and the next week, and the next month, or the next year, you’re running ahead of your supply lines. But you’ll have what you need today. He promised. Would you relax! You’re all stressed out because you’re trying to eat the whole meal all at once. Why don’t you take it in bite-size chunks?

This grandparent thing can be an expensive proposition. I mean, without grandchildren, you can walk past hundreds of cute toys and never miss a step. But when you have a grandchild, you keep seeing your grandchild's name on those toys. Which means you must buy the toy with their name on it. Right? Well, not all of them, but probably too many of them. We happened to be in a store with our little granddaughter when she was about one year old, and I happened to see this great stick horse that I thought would be entertaining for another grandchild. That would be our nearly three-year-old grandson at the time. When you squeeze the ear of the head of this horse, the William Tell Overture (otherwise known to us non-intellectuals as the "Lone Ranger Theme”) starts playing, and the horse starts whinnying and snorting, and its nose starts twitching back and forth inside its halter. Well, I walked up to the grocery cart that our one-year-old granddaughter was riding in, and I turned it on for her to see. Her reaction was interesting. She reached in the direction of that twitching steed, wanting me to bring it closer. So I did. But as I brought it near her, she pulled as far back as she could, laying her head against her mother's shoulder. So much for my field test. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Seeking But Not Finding." Our little granddaughter wanted to check out what I had, but she didn't want it to get too close. Curious, but keeping her distance. Just like a lot of us spiritual seekers do with Jesus. Oh, you may consider yourself a spiritual seeker - which, by the way, is a wise thing to be. You've seen that our soul can never be satisfied by just earth-stuff. You know it must be something spiritual that will give life real meaning, right, and give your heart real peace. There are many possibilities to sample on the spiritual buffet we have today, but one possibility that's hard to overlook is Jesus Christ. He's so compelling, so dominating, virtually every world religion has an honored place for Him. You're willing to check out Jesus. You may have even been around Jesus much of your life. Maybe you know a lot about Jesus. You like Jesus. You agree with Jesus. But maybe like our granddaughter with that toy, you've basically said to Him, "You can get this close, but no closer." Oh, you like having Him around, but when it comes to responding to His claims on your life, that's where you draw the line. Jesus met a man like that. The man demonstrated a strong interest in Jesus and a lot of insight into His teachings. Jesus described him this way in Mark 12:34, our word for today from the Word of God: "You are not far from the kingdom of God." I wonder if Jesus might be saying that to you: "You're so close to belonging to Me. You're not far, but you're not in." See, close doesn't count when it comes to knowing Jesus. Close doesn't count on the day you die. You can be close to heaven, but not in. And that's still hell. You've let Jesus be near you, but maybe you've never invited Him into your heart. You've never told Him that you're pinning all your hopes on Him and His death on the cross for your sins and His resurrection from the dead. It would be the ultimate tragedy of your life if you got so close to Jesus and missed Him. This time, don't pull back. This time, reach out for Him until He's yours. He is, in fact, reaching for you right now and He’s planting in you the desire to belong to Him. Why not give yourself to Him while the opportunity is there? You’ll never experience what Jesus can do in a life until He's in your life. If you're ready to step across the line into Jesus' arms, tell Him that right where you are. I think maybe a visit to our website might help you to just kind of be sure you have nailed this down and that He is yours for real today. That website is ANewStory.com. See, being around Jesus will never give you answers, it will never give you heaven. It's all about belonging to Jesus, and you can belong to Him this very day.

I used to be undefeated in Scrabble. I’m sure you're real excited about that. Of course I’ve never heard of an Olympic Scrabble Tournament, or I would have entered it. But you notice what I said…I used to be undefeated? Yeah. See, a long time ago my son broke my winning streak. You say, “Well, it couldn’t have been too impressive.” Yeah, my son is a smart kid. And near the end of that game that finished my future as the King of Scrabble I was getting desperate! I had a few high-scoring letters left, maybe you’ve done this. Some of those eight and ten-point scorers, you know, and some Zs and Qs. So I put down a word that is sort of a word but sort of not a word, and it was sort of debatable. So guess what we did? We debated it. I got out the dictionary, and I got absolutely no support. After arguing my case a little bit more, I finally gave in and lost. I’ll tell you, there’s no satisfaction winning on words that I probably shouldn’t use anyway in Scrabble or in everyday life. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Trash Talk - No Way to Win.” Our word for today from the Word of God is about no way to score points. Ephesians 4:29, says this, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” And it says in verse 31, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” These verses that we’ve read here are about what you do with your mouth. And it says to us that the easiest thing to do with your mouth is to tear people down. The book of Proverbs says “the tongue has the power of life or death” and you can, with what you say, either make a person feel more alive or more dead inside. You’ve had it happen to you. You know. It’s so easy though, isn’t it, to use our mouth to score points on the other person, to defend ourselves, to get out of a jam, to express our anger. But it’s no way to score points. Just think about the people who are most important to you that you spend the most time with; your family, your coworkers, your friends, people at school. You’ve learned that there are things you can say that help you get your way. Right? Every married couple knows this, that there are some things you can say to silence your partner. There’s a way to make sure you win the argument, right? But usually it’s in a way that cuts them down. There’s a sarcasm maybe that can leave the people around you quivering. There’s the attack on their weak spot; you know where they’re weak, you know how to get at them. If you attack that spot, their physical weak spot, their emotional weak spot, you know you can get your way. You can use guilt to get your way, to manipulate them into whatever you want. Oh, you win for the moment, but you leave them feeling very small. And guess what? You got smaller in the process. And like Scrabble, there are words; there are kinds of sentences you should never allow. You should never allow to come out of your mouth any words that make someone else feel smaller. The Bible says to only allow words that build people up. That’s the test. What if you listened to a recording of yourself for the last couple of days? Would you hear criticism, attacks, negativity that put the other person on the defensive, names called, put-downs given? Oh, maybe you scored some points for the moment, but you’re both smaller as a result of it. We’re told in 1 Peter 2, that Jesus did nothing wrong. It says, “Did no guile and no accusation came out of His mouth.” Would you let His lordship reach your mouth? Eliminate the cutting words, the hurting words. They’re words you should never use; they’re just no way to score points.

It's really a beautiful area of the southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre. They’re covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now! I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dreams On the Scrapheap." When I look at that auto junkyard, I see what was once somebody's dream now just another piece of junk on the scrapheap. Some of us have lives that are like that junkyard; a pile of what was once our dreams, now laying on the scrapheap. Dreams that either didn't happen or didn't turn out to be what we thought they would; a lot of disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment, and as a result, a search now for a dream that won't let us down or maybe even won’t turn into a nightmare. It's strange, in a way, that it's often at the end of our dreams that we find the reason we're living. Until then, we're pouring everything we've got into what we think will give us the love and meaning and fulfillment that we're looking for. But sooner or later, our path of dreams lets us down and it leaves us empty. That's when we might finally be ready to consider what God thinks will make our life make sense. Since He's the One who made you, He's the One who knows why you're here. It was the dream He dreamed for you even before there was a you! It's the destiny you were made for, lived out one meaningful day at a time. God actually talks about His plans for you in Jeremiah 29:11, our word for today from the Word of God. "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Those are the plans you were created for. Unfortunately, we've spent most of our life on our own dreams; a lot of which are now on the scrapheap. But now may be the time when you finally embrace what you were made for by embracing the One who made you; the One of whom the Bible says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). And that includes you and me. But we've been building our life without the Architect, and things keep collapsing on us—disappointing us. We have, in the Bible's words, "gone astray" and turned to our "own way"(Isaiah 53:6). We've all gotten way off course and you know it took the greatest act of love in cosmic history to get us back—the death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for our rebellion, for our sin, for our takeover of a life God made. The moment you reach out to this Jesus and tell Him you want to be His from now on, you start to belong to your Creator, to experience His forgiving for every wrong thing you have ever done. You start living God's great dream for your life when you give yourself to Jesus, the One who loved you so much He would die for all your sin. I would say today would be the best day of your life to say “yes” to Jesus. To tell Him, "I am yours. After what you did for me, you loved me enough to die for me, you would never do me wrong. I'm ready to live the way I was created to live. Jesus, I'm yours." Maybe you'd like a new story to begin for you today. Well, then why don't you go to our website which is called ANewStory.com. I think you'll find the information there that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on. Those wasted days, wasted years, end the moment you open your life to Jesus Christ. For you, the dream that will never disappoint could begin this very day.

It was the strangest picnic in American history I think. It was July 1861, on a hill in Northern Virginia, overlooking a stream called Bull Run. The Southern states had seceded from the Union, they’d attacked a Union fort in April, and now what the North called “the rebel army” was headed for Washington, D.C. Most people in the capitol thought the Union Army was going to mop up these Southern forces in a matter of weeks, and they wanted to see it happen as the Northern troops moved to engage the Confederates at Bull Run. They came from church in their Sunday best, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington arriving at the hill overlooking Bull Run in their carriages. They laid out their tablecloths, commenced their picnic, and started passing the fried chicken. Down below, the men in blue and the men in gray mingled their blood in the waters of Bull Run. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “No Time For Picnics.” How can people have a picnic when there’s a battle going on? That’s a question God must be asking of His own children—those who are supposed to be the soldiers in His army. It’s a scene reminiscent of the day the ancient Jews were getting ready to invade the Promised Land, and a couple of the tribes asked if they could just take their inheritance on the safe side of the Jordan River and settle in there. In Numbers 32:6, our word for today from the Word of God, Moses asks them this haunting question, “Shall you sit here while your brothers go to war?” Well that’s a great question. How can you just settle into a comfortable little spot while there are battles to fight for God that require every one of us to be in the fight? A picnic while a battle is going on. We were shocked that September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 Americans died in one day. Did you know that more than twice that many will die in America every day? On an average day in the United States, over 6,000 people go into eternity. Sadly, many—maybe most of them—will not be ready for eternity. Today in our world, over 150,000 people will go into eternity. Again, many with no relationship with Jesus and no hope of heaven. And there is a battle raging to get the Good News about Jesus to those folks in time! There’s a small army of believers who understand that the battle is the responsibility of every one of us who belongs to Jesus. But, tragically, so many of those who could help rescue the spiritually dying are sitting on a hill with other believers, enjoying the view, passing the blessings, and playing no active role in the battle for human souls. Yes, it’s true. God has to draw people to Him—spiritual rescue is totally a God-thing! But the same man who wrote the verses about us being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world is the same Apostle Paul who was driven to get the Gospel to as many people as possible…even at the cost of his own life. The battle for a lost world. You know where it begins? It begins with your own family, your own co-workers, fellow students, and friends. When it comes to telling them what you know about Jesus, silence is not golden. No, it’s deadly. They need to see Jesus in your life but they need to hear about Jesus from your lips. You can’t just enjoy the fellowship of those who are already headed for heaven while so many around you are headed for hell! God has a place for you in this battle, my friend, and the battle is the Lord’s! For you, this is no time to be passing the chicken. It’s time to be passing the ammunition! As that great missionary Amy Carmichael said, “We will have all eternity to celebrate our victories, but only a few short hours to win them.” And we are in those few short hours.

One of our team members is quite the woodsman and hiker. And one foggy Saturday morning, he volunteered to lead a group of men who wanted to go hike to this distinctive rock formation called Hawksbill Crag. He had the book on the trails in that area; a book written by the man considered the expert. My friend kept consulting the book as they went along, pretty confident that they would soon end up at Hawksbill Crag. They ended up lost in a poison ivy patch, and the fog wasn't helping much. As they tried to retrace their steps, they passed a house set back in the woods and they happened to see its owner outside. My friend called to him and asked him if he would help them get "un-lost." That man went above and beyond. He actually came to where they were, helped them make sense of the map that they had, and pointed them right to the trail that got them to their goal. Of course, it turns out he was the man who wrote the book. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You Can’t Find the Trail.” Those men finally found the trail they needed to be on from the person who knew the trail best. There's not one of us who doesn't need that same kind of direction for our life! Most of us have lived long enough to have already tried several trails that looked good to us, that we were sure would lead us to the meaning we were looking for, and to the love we were looking for, and to the inner freedom and peace we've always wanted. But so far, no trail has led us there. We're lost. In fact, some of us have found ourselves standing in poison ivy rather than looking at the beautiful view we had hoped for. But all the dead-end trails you've tried, all the fog, all the disappointments, all the brokenness, have been preparing you to meet the person who knows the trail better than anyone else. And He has our word for today from the Word of God. It's Jesus, of course, and we're reading His words in John 8:12. "Jesus said, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.'" So, Jesus is offering here a relationship with Him that opens up that awesome possibility of being led by the very person who designed us in the first place, who wrote the book of our life. So you don't have to "walk in darkness" any more. The problem is that we've all, as the Bible says, "gone astray; each of us has turned to his own way" (Isaiah 53:6). We're lost. We're wondering which way is the right way because we've consistently chosen to go our own way instead of God's way. That's what the Bible calls sin. And we were never meant to blaze our own trail. There's a trail you were made for. But following our own trail has left behind us a trail of brokenness, guilt, restlessness, scars and tears. And ultimately our trail leads right over a cliff into an eternity without God and without hope. But Jesus left His home in heaven to come where we are to actually give His life to pay for every wrong thing we have ever done. And today He is saying to you, "Will you follow Me from this point on? I'll forgive your sin, I’ll come into your life, and I’ll lead you on the trail you were created for." You'll have to resign from being your own guide; from depending on your religion to get you to heaven, and you just tell Jesus, "I'm Yours, Lord. I'm pinning all my hopes on You. You died for me. You've got me." It may be that you’re just tired of wandering, tired of feeling lost…off the right trail, and you are ready for the life you were made for. This is the day you can reach out to Jesus Christ, who will bring you into that very life that has your name on it. It begins when you say to Him, “I’m Yours.” Your new story could begin today. Our website is called ANewStory.com because it's all about helping you get that story started. I hope you go there today - ANewStory.com. Don't walk any further down a trail that ultimately goes nowhere. You don't have to be lost one more day. With Jesus out in front from now on, you will finally be able to find what you've been looking for all this time.

The church we attended in New Jersey grew a lot over the years. So much so, that it was hard to spot visitors. So, our pastor would ask first-timers to stand and introduce themselves right where they were. He'd take one section of the sanctuary at a time, and ask the visitors to stand and introduce themselves. Well, our family brought our share of visitors, and many of their faces went through three or four colors when they were asked to stand up! We brought Nancy one day. When the pastor mentioned standing up, we gave her that “How about it, Nancy?” She gave us a look back. I would interpret it as saying, “No way!” Well, you can’t blame people. I mean, most of us have a pretty great fear of being conspicuous, and hey, what if no one else stands? I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You're the Only One Standing.” Our word for today from the Word of God comes from the book of Daniel 3:1. “King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, ninety feet high and nine feet wide, and set it up on the plain of Dura.” Okay, now, a decree went out that everyone was supposed to bow down to this image. Here’s how the decree went: “As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.” It goes on to say, “Therefore, everyone fell down and worshipped it.” Well, almost everyone. Okay, get the picture. In verse 12, this complaint comes back to the king, “There are some Jews who you’ve set over the affairs of this province—Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego—who pay no attention to you, O king. They did not worship the image.” Here’s the scene, and it is incredible! This flat plain, this big statue, everyone’s on their knees, there’s no place to hide, and here are these three men standing. You talk about conspicuous! And they got heat for it…I mean literally. They got the furnace. And then verse 30 says, “Afterward the king promoted them.” What just happened here? The story has this happy ending! Actually I think the King — that is capital K, The King — promoted them. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego should still be our heroes, because they had the courage to be the only one standing. Do you? Everyone else at your school, your office, among your friends may be bowing down to the gods of pleasure, money, sex outside of marriage, and increasingly you’ll have to be the only one standing. Don’t bow down. There may be something even more difficult, though, than taking a stand among unbelievers, and that’s taking a stand among believers. See, the standards and boundaries are moving inside the church today too. Not just in our culture; the church is moving with the culture. God’s people are increasingly compromising on what they watch, and they listen to, and they talk about, and tolerate. Biblical standards on marriage, and divorce, and sexuality are drifting. Christians are tending to forget the lost, and they are retreating into a comfortable entertainment faith, “Just meet my needs.” Sometimes you even are being asked to bow down and compromise within the context of the church when the majority have followed the culture instead of Christ. But God’s truth has never been decided by a vote, and God’s truth hasn’t changed—and it won’t. As sin seduces more believers, you’ll need the courage to feel a little old fashioned, a little lonely even at church, but you’ve got to remain standing. People sometimes feel conspicuous when they’re asked to stand at our church. Well, more and more, discipleship will mean what it did in Shadrach’s day: the courage to be conspicuous; to be, even among God’s people sometimes, the only one standing - but applauded by Christ.

When you have a commercial flight to catch at a major airport, it's important to pay attention. There are so many flights, so many gates, so many people, and there's only one plane you want to board; the one that's going to your destination. Right? Well, I guess folks must have made mistakes over the years. I mean, that's got to be the reason the boarding agent or the flight attendant gets on the plane and often says something like this: "This is a destination check. You're on Flight 88 to Atlanta. If Atlanta is not your destination today, this would be a good time for you to deplane." Yeah, I guess. In other words, this buggy ain't going where you want to end up! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Surprised People in Hell." It's one of the most chilling truths in the Bible: there are people who are sure their destination is going to be heaven and they're never going to get there. Unless, you might say, they get off the wrong plane and get on the right plane. Would you listen to these sobering words from Jesus Himself in Luke 13, beginning with verse 24. It's our word for today from the Word of God. "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, 'I don't know you' ... Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with You, and You taught in our streets.' But He will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from Me...'" Jesus then concludes by describing this heartbreaking scene: "There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrust out." These are tough verses, but they're here so none of us will end up being one of the most surprised people in hell. They're here because Jesus loves us too much to let us live and die with the spiritual fantasy that we're ready for eternity when we are not. It is dangerously easy to know all the "Jesus words" and still miss Jesus; to have Him in your head, but not in your heart, to be in a religion that's all about Jesus, but miss Jesus, to have lots of Christianity but never have Christ. It's easy to mistake agreeing with Jesus for commitment to Jesus. I have a number of friends that I agree with on many things, but I'm not married to them. You know, my marriage to my wife was not because of my agreement with her, but because of my total commitment to her. It's the same with Jesus. The question is this: Has there been a time in your life when you have consciously given yourself completely to Jesus, when you've committed yourself to live for the One who died for your sins? If you know you've done that, you belong to Jesus. If you don't know you've done that, you probably haven't. And you probably need to sooner rather than later. Heaven and hell are nothing to gamble with. Please don't let your religious pride cost you heaven. Tell Jesus this very day, "Lord, I've known about you a long time, I've never really known You. But I want to, beginning right now. I'm putting my trust in You and not in my Christianity. I know I’ll never get to heaven without Your forgiveness. All my trust is in You, Jesus and what You did on the cross to erase my sins. Beginning today, Jesus, I am Yours." Wow! This could be the for real day when you really know Him for real. Get it settled. Let's get this done while you're hearing His voice in your heart. I would encourage you to go to our website - ANewStory.com. It's all about securing your relationship with Jesus Christ and you need that right now. It's time for an eternal destination check while there's still time to go the way that will get you where you want to be forever.

Having watched some of the old Superman TV shows and some of the movies, it’s got to be tough for Clark Kent. I mean, these days it’s getting harder and harder to find a phone booth to change in. That’s what he used to do! But He always manages to change his identity to Superman. That’s the important thing. You can’t be a super hero until you change your identity. When you think about it, most of our super heroes over the years don’t become heroes without that change of identity, whether it’s Clark Kent changing to Superman, or it’s Wonder Woman, or it’s Batman. Now, that’s okay for the comics, but in real life, the heroes are the ones who never change their identity. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Only One You.” Our word for today from the Word of God is found in Philippians 3. It’s about a man who had many possible identities. He would make Clark Kent look like a piker. Listen to this. The Apostle Paul writes to us about some of the identities in his life. He says beginning in verse 5, “I was circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, I am a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin…” “I’ve got a tribe I’m very proud I’m from.” He says, “a Hebrew of the Hebrews.” He says, “I’m the top of the line in that department.” “…in regard to the law, I’m a Pharisee.” Boy, there’s another identity. And then, “As for zeal, persecuting the church,” He said, “I was a very good church persecutor.” Great way to make a living, huh? He says, “As for legalistic righteousness, I was faultless.” Look at all those identities this guy’s got. Now, “But whatever was to my profit, I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” Out of all the identities Paul could have had, he said, “There’s one that I want to step into. I have settled on one identity and I have decided to give that one identity everything I’ve got. It is following Jesus Christ. That’s who I am.” Most of us are like Clark Kent. There’s the me I am at work. Now, I don’t get into a phone booth (can’t find one anyway), but I change my identity to be the me I am at church, and then there’s the me I am with my wife, and then the me I am with different groups of friends, and the me playing sports, etc. I talked with this high school football player, and he said, “Ron, it’s tough to be only one of 30 kids who stands up to the teacher when they say godless things. It’s tough to be the only guy in the locker room with a clean mouth and the only guy who is loyal to Christ.” I wanted to encourage him. I said, “Bill, you won’t always be a football player. You won’t always be a student at that school. You won’t always be friends with those kids. You won’t always be a student in that class. There’s only one thing you’ll always be. You’ll always be a follower of Christ.” I’ll tell you what I told him. “Life becomes more peaceful, less stressful, and less confusing when you pick one identity and stick with it.” See, life settles down when you make this choice, “I’m going to really be what I’ll always be.” And that’s what you’ll always be, a follower of Christ. That was Paul’s choice. He said, “All other identities are temporary.” Don’t let a temporary identity cause you to betray who you really are and who you will always be. You’re so afraid. It’s kind of like “Well I’m an employee of Company X, or I’m a student of Professor Y, or I’m a neighbor or coworker of person Z.” None of those are who you are. Whose hero do you want to be? Don’t let your Jesus identity be your secret identity anymore. You will forever be the property of Jesus Christ bought with His blood. So why don’t you really be what you’ll always be. Fantasy heroes keep changing identities, but real heroes pick one and go for it because heroes know who they are.

You can read about the Grand Canyon. You can see pictures of the Grand Canyon. But you can't begin to comprehend how grand a canyon it is until you're standing right there at the edge of it, trying to drink in how massive it really is. The moods, the colors, the vastness—it was really something impressive for our whole family the first time we went there together. You stand on the South Rim and you look at the North Rim in the distance…the far distance, realizing you can only look. It averages at least ten miles across! There's no way to get across that canyon. There’s no bridge that will take you to the other side. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Eternity Gap." You stand looking at something you'd like to experience, but there's no bridge to get you there—just a very grand canyon between you and what you're looking at. It's a feeling all of us are much too familiar with; looking at where we are, then looking at the kind of person we need to be and realizing there's a grand canyon in between. Sometimes it's getting married, or having children, or going through one of life's deep valleys that makes us see our dark side; that makes us realize the great gap between the person I am and the person I want to be, the person I need to be, the person the people around me need for me to be. We don't want to be selfish, but selfishness seems so natural and so hard to change. We don't want to be enslaved by this habit, or hurting people with our angry words, or by constantly succumbing to negativity, even depression. We see our worst come out, and it's often hurting most the people we love the most. We want to be different, but listen, it's a long way to the other side. I know what I want to be, what people who count on me need for me to be, but my dark side wins too often. This is not a new struggle. One of the writers of the Bible actually talked about it in Romans 7, where we find our word for today from the Word of God. He says, "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do." That sounds all too familiar, doesn't it? "I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.” He says, “For what I do is the evil I do not want to do...who will rescue me?" This man has stumbled on the way that we can bridge the gap between the person we are and the person we need to be—a rescuer. He’s crying out for a rescuer. He answers the question "who will rescue me?" this way: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" All our efforts to improve ourselves seem to fall short. And according to Romans 3:23 in the Bible, our best falls way short of getting to a perfect God. We have only one hope of crossing the grand canyon that we've never been able to cross, and that is literally being carried across in the arms of Jesus Christ. He can rescue you from your dark side because He died to pay the death penalty for all your sins, and then He rose from the dead to prove that He has beaten everything that has beaten us. The arms of Heaven’s Rescuer are, in fact, open to you this very day. But He won’t grab you. No, you have to grab Him. Has there ever been a moment when you’ve come to the end of yourself and placed all your hopes and all your trust in Jesus Christ and in Him alone? If not, this would be a great day for you to finally take that first step of faith and to tell Him, “Jesus, I am Yours. I'm putting all my faith in You to have my sins forgiven and to go to heaven someday, to have a relationship with my God." This could be the beginning of a new story for you. In fact, that's the name of our website - ANewStory.com. And I want to urge you to go there today, and I think you will find there some things from God's Word that will help you be sure you belong to Jesus Christ. He stands ready to do for you what you have never been able to do for yourself if you’ll just walk into His waiting arms.

He might be America’s most famous bear – Smokey! Maybe you can picture Smokey Bear right there in his blue jeans and his Park Ranger hat. They used to have commercials like that all the time. He’s probably holding a shovel or he’s looking straight at you very soberly. And he’s saying, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Actually Smokey has been a pretty effective spokesman, especially if we can think of his big line as soon as we think of him. Oh we’ll never know how many fires he’s prevented, but he’s drilled one very important idea into our heads. Take care of your fire; it could do terrible damage. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Fighting Fire When It's Small.” Have you ever noticed the words we use to describe anger? “I’m really hot about this!” “Boy, he’s really steamed!” “She just blew her top!” “I was really burned up!” There’s this strong smell of smoke here isn’t there? And fire - the Bible has a lot to say about the fire of anger and how to control it. Our word for today from the Word of God, James 1:19 for example: “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. For man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” Well, that’s interesting that it doesn’t bring about anything good, right? A rough translation or paraphrase might be, “You don’t do anything right when you’re angry.” In fact, isn’t it when you’re angry that you tend to make your biggest mistakes? Oftentimes you’ll also leave the deepest scars. You create some of the biggest regrets, and it’s when we’re angry that we most often hurt the people we love the most. That’s why the Bible says in Colossians 3:8, “You must rid yourselves of all such things as anger and rage.” This isn’t just passively saying, “Well, I can’t help it. I lose my temper.” It’s saying, “Attack this thing! Get rid of it. Take it out like the garbage.” James 1 gives us some hints as to how. We could call these fire fighters for that anger fire inside of you. First of all, it recommends a big ear. That’s the first fire fighter. It says, “Be quick to listen, and then you’ll be slow to become angry.” If you discipline yourself to listen before you speak, to ask two or three questions before you react you’ll be a lot more likely to tame your anger. Bite your tongue until you’ve heard the whole thing. A lot of “blow ups” come from misunderstanding; that’s where we get most of our exercise - jumping to conclusions. Have a big ear. If you’re quick to listen you’ll be slower to become angry. I think the second fire fighter is the "cool down time out." That’s what I call it. It says, “Be slow to speak.” Take a step away before you respond; leave the room if you have to. Step away from the person. Step away from the situation. Take the cool down time out, and come back in and act instead of reacting. And thirdly, here’s another fire fighter. I call it the “sundown clock.” The Bible talks about it in Ephesians 4:26. “Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.” See, anger never stays the same size. It always grows bigger. It will never be smaller than it is right now. So, get rid of it before you go to bed tonight. Deal with it. Get it out. Don’t stuff it inside. When you don’t act that way, well, Ephesians 4:27 kicks in, “Do not give the Devil a foothold.” Unresolved anger, when you go to bed at night, leaves Satan a wide open spot in your heart. You and I have caused enough emotional forest fires in our lives haven’t we? And too many people have gotten burned. It’s time we draw actively on the love and the power of Jesus Christ to declare war on that fire inside; to keep that fire small, to extinguish it quickly before we allow it to do any more damage.