A Word With You

Some of our greatest ministry times have been among the wonderful Navajo people in Arizona and New Mexico. While we were there we had a chance to explore this majestic canyon known as Canyon Desha. Actually our son was there first. He and his friend, Michael, went there a year before us to do some youth outreach and later he brought his pictures out of his visit to the canyon. Here are these beautiful rock ledges and outcroppings that hover high above the canyon below. And we were enjoying these scenic photos until we got to the ones where my son and his friend Michael were acting like the college students that they were. Yes, they were perched precariously in various positions on the edge of some of those rock formations. Our minds immediately rushed to the tragedies and the deadly falls we knew of that resulted from getting too close to the edge of a cliff. Needless to say, our son was treated to an unwelcome parental treatise on what might have happened. The view is so nice from those pinnacles! No one really wants to hear about the dangers. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When Winning Is Dangerous.” Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 4 where the Devil three times is coming to Jesus and interrupting Him face to face. Beginning at verse 5, the second temptation, “The Devil led Him up to a high place and showed Him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And he said to Him, ‘I will give You all the authority and splendor for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.’ So if You worship me Jesus, it will all be Yours.’” Jesus answered, “It is written, worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.” Well, the Devil took Jesus to a high place to tempt Him. He’s still doing that. He’s trying that strategy on people like you and me. He loves to exploit high places to get you to fall. He also likes to use the low places. He tried that first with Jesus when he was really hungry for 40 days and he tried to get Jesus to meet a legitimate need, but outside of God’s boundaries. But when Satan can’t get us to compromise when we’re down, he goes after us when we’re up. Like a time when you’ve really done something well or you’ve been given recognition or a good position. A high place could be a time when your dream is finally starting to come true, or when a relationship you wanted is starting to click, or when the career or the money is starting to happen, when you’ve just had a great spiritual experience or victory. You feel as if you’re looking at kingdoms that could be yours. You’re perched on the edge. The view is great and you’re in no mood to hear about the dangers. But that’s what makes you a prime candidate to fall. One danger is that you’ll compromise to get to a place you really want to be. Just a little bending of the knee the Devil would say, a sexual compromise, an integrity compromise, a family compromise. He’s saying, “Hey, it’s almost in your grasp. If you’ll just stretch a little morally, you can be yours.” Listen, if the Devil gets you to the top, you can be sure he’s going to push you over the cliff. It’s also tempting to compromise to stay in a good spot once you’ve gotten there. You’ve waited a long time to get to this point and you don’t want to lose it. The Devil knows that, and he’ll try to use that to get you to sacrifice something that you would otherwise never sacrifice. The problem with high places is that we depend on ourselves when we’re there. In the low places we were really trusting God, but now we’re on a roll. So we tend to push Jesus to the edge. It’s easy to be full of ourselves when things are looking good. But that’s when you are on the edge of a deadly fall. Maybe God has brought you to a high place; maybe the Devil has brought you to a high place. But either way, you can bet the Devil is trying to exploit it. He is showing you what kingdom could be yours if you would just step a little closer to the edge where he can push you off.

It all started with an SOS from a counselor who was talking with a young woman after a meeting where I had spoken. Her frustrated counselor just said, “Boy, this one’s really hard.” And, sure enough, Kelly really did seem shut down. I said, “Kelly, do you want to have a relationship with Jesus?” When she said yes, I asked her why. She said, “Because part of me is missing, and I know it’s Him. But if you only knew how many times I have tried to accept Christ, and nothing happens.” Well, I was stuck – until the Lord gave me one question for Kelly, and it changed everything. It might change everything for you. I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “The One Step We Miss With God.” I asked this young woman, who really wanted to know Jesus but could never seem to get the relationship off the ground, this question: “Have you ever told the Lord you are really sorry for your sin and so sorry that you’re ready to change?” She had said yes to Jesus – but she missed an important ingredient in turning to God – saying no to sin. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Acts 3:19; a roadmap to belonging to Jesus Christ. Here is what it says, “Repent, then, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Now, when you turn to Jesus, you’re turning from the sins that He died for. That’s repentance. You can’t hold Jesus in one hand and the junk that killed Him in the other. You can’t turn to the West to watch the sunset without turning your back on the East. In the process of turning to the West, you are automatically turning your back on the East. You can’t face two directions at the same time. When you start to name the sins of your life – even of the past couple weeks – you realize what it is you need a Savior for. Then you visit the cross of Jesus to be saved; rescued from that sin. Unfortunately, repentance is the missing page in many a Gospel presentation. We skip over the cancer of sin lightly and we go right to the cure before the person has faced their disease. It could be that the reason that your commitment to Christ has really never gotten off the ground is because you never really repented of your sins when you turned to the One who died for your sins. There’s no real power in your life as a Christian until you let your heart be broken over your sin. It's the sin that broke our Savior. When Kelly heard the step that she had missed, the tears started coming. She bowed her head and said, “God, I’m sick of the junk.” That’s when the confession began. And, in her case, I believe that might have been when saving faith began. Could it be that the reality you’ve been looking for begins with really being sorry for the sin that is breaking God’s heart? It is, after all, that sin that killed His one and only son on the cross. I’m not sure a Savior can mean all that much to you until you see the seriousness of the sin that He died to save you from. You want Jesus. You believe in Jesus. Maybe repentance may be the one step you’re missing. But you can tell Jesus right now, right where you are, “When I look at that cross and I see you dying there, Jesus, I see how awful my sin was. I see what an awful thing you had to go through to have me forgiven. I'm ready to change Lord. I'm turning to you. Please, Jesus, forgive me. Please, change me." Right there, that's your new beginning. Speaking of new beginnings, our website would be a great next step for you. It's actually called ANewStory.com. If you go there, that might be the beginning of yours, it’s ANewStory.com. This is the moment Jesus waits to say to you, "Finally, welcome home."

It actually starts while men are still boys, “I’ll beat you!” It’s that innate desire in a male to compete, to conquer, to win. A girl is a conquest, a game is a conquest, a career or a business is a conquest. In Spanish, men were called conquistadors! Give them a challenge in their field or in their interest area, and they will work hard to conquer it. Now, that’s the good news. The bad news is that these conquerors, us guys, retreat when the challenge happens to be in a relationship. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Wimping Out or Winning at Home” Our word for today from the Word of God, Genesis 16, and I’ll begin reading at verse 1. Abraham and Sarah, who are called Abram and Sarai, (their names had not yet been changed) are impatient, because the baby hasn’t come the one that God promised. “Now, Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; so she said to Abram, ‘The Lord has kept me from having children.’” Isn’t it interesting how the Lord always gets blamed for things that He really didn’t do. “Go sleep with my maidservant.” Say what? Well, in their culture, it was sort of okay if you didn’t have a baby to have a surrogate mother. In this case, she picks her maidservant. “Perhaps I can build a family through her” she says. I should say it was okay in that culture. Nobody said it was okay with God. Listen to this part, “Abram agreed to what Sarai said.” Once again I go, “Say what?” “So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she was pregnant she began to despise her mistress, and Sarai said to Abram, ‘You are responsible for the wrong I am suffering.’” Wait, here we go again, WHAT? that’s curious. “I put my servant in your arms, she says, and now that she knows she is pregnant, she despises me. May the Lord judge between you and me.” Now, notice how Abram steps up to leadership. “Your servant is in your hands, Dear. Do with her whatever you think best.” Great! “Then Sarai mistreated Hagar; so she fled from her.” This is amazing! Abraham has been a conqueror! He launched out into a pagan country by faith, he’s fought for his nephew, Lot. He built a fortune, but he wimps out when it comes to family leadership. He should have said, “This is wrong hunny, I’ll handle this.” Instead, he does what a lot of men do. When it comes to conflict, when it comes to confrontation, he retreats. See, the family is the ultimate test of manhood; not the football field, not the battlefield. Abram wanted to avoid confronting the issue, to avoid conflict. And man, did he get conflict. He got war between these two women eventually. This is so typical of us men. We have the courage to conquer, but not to confront. And all the tragedy, all the war that has come from Ishmael and Isaac - could that have been avoided if he had just said, “It’s wrong. I’ll handle it”? You see him trying to avoid a problem, and He creates a much bigger problem: a bitter wife, an untamed son, God’s silence for 13 years, centuries of conflict. Listen, if you’re a man, it’s not an accident you happened to tune in today. God’s saying, “In your close relationships don’t be afraid to confront. Don’t put things off until there’s a crisis. You’re just creating a bigger crisis.” See, it takes yielding to the Lordship of Christ to change in this area. Ask God for the courage to confront, even when you’re young, even when you’re single. Deal with issues while they’re small. Face the conflict; don’t try to bury it. When a conqueror on the battlefront learns to be a confronter on the home front, now, he's really being a man.

It was home improvement time at our house, and I have a chronic sense of "uncoordinitis," so we obviously needed some help. And our friend Tim, he was the man for the job for two reasons. First, he’s good at designing and building and problem-solving. Of course, there are a lot of people who are craftsmen like that. The second reason is what really made Tim the man for the job. Sometimes we were gone when he was going to be at our house working. And since he was working in every part of the house, he needed keys to everything, and there was no place in our home he couldn’t go. That meant we needed not only someone who could do the job, yea, you got it. We needed someone we could totally trust. And we had someone like that. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Someone to Trust With the Keys to Everything.” Finding someone to trust these days; I don't know about you, but I think it's getting harder and harder. Especially when it comes to someone you can trust with you; with your deepest hurts, your darkest secrets, your fondest hopes, your greatest needs. Someone from whom you have no fear of betrayal or desertion or rejection. I think we all hunger in our soul for one person we can just totally trust and we can trust them with all the keys to every corner of our house. Ultimately, you need someone you're never going to lose, not after you’ve trusted them with your heart and soul. You know, deep in our soul there's this deep need for someone we can open up to, confide in, lean on completely, someone to give ourselves to. Actually, we were created for such a person. Your Creator. He's the only one who can fill the vacuum at the center of you, because that vacuum was made for Him. So many who have looked for a harbor relationship where they won’t be hurt, won’t be used, won’t be left alone, have found that harbor in one man—Jesus Christ. Now you read what the Bible says about the purpose of your life, that shouldn’t be a surprise. For example, in Colossians 1:16, God says, about His Son, Jesus, “All things were created by Him and for Him.” So, you were created by Jesus; and for Jesus, and you’re going to have this huge hole in your heart until you have Jesus. But He can be trusted with all the keys to your heart and your life. Why? Listen to Romans 8:32, our word for today from the Word of God, “God did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all—will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” See, the answer to whether you can trust Jesus completely is settled at the foot of that cross where He proved He loves you so much that He died to pay for every wrong thing you’ve ever done. And this man who loved you enough to die for you will never do you wrong. Beyond that, He’s proved there’s nothing He can’t do when He walked out of His grave under His own power. This is the end of your lifelong trust search. It's the greatest love there is and the greatest power there is. He’ll never leave you, never divorce you, or never die on you. He wants you with Him forever. He gave His life to make that possible. But He's not going to force His way into your life. He is waiting for you to reach out to Him in total trust, like a child trusting his daddy to protect him, like a dying person grabbing a rescuer’s hand. If you’ve never given yourself to Jesus like that, you’re still on your own. But this could be your last day without Him. If you want to finally begin your personal relationship with Him, experience this love for yourself, would you tell Him that this very moment, this very day? And let me invite you to check out our website because there’s where you're going to find a lot of great information about how to begin this relationship. You need to go to ANewStory.com. In an insecure world like ours, it’s really hard to find a hand to hold that you can be sure will never let you go. There is one—that hand has nail prints in it because of His love for you. Would you grab His hand, would you give Him all the keys? Because then, you’re finally safe.

We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and they risk their own lives to save them. And then there’s the kind of story that came from Mount Everest some years ago. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that mountain. And you know, it is a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died because of oxygen deficiency. But you know what? He sure didn’t have to die. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Tragedy of Doing Nothing.” The official cause of death was probably something like “oxygen deficiency.” But apparently there was another cause of that climber’s death—human indifference; people too busy climbing their mountain to stop and help someone who was dying. Sadly, that happens more than we know. And the ones who are dying may be people we see everyday. Without the Bible, we’d never know the real spiritual condition of the folks that we know who don’t belong to Jesus. But we have the Bible, and it describes every person without Christ in words like these: and I’ll just quote from the Bible, they are “lost,” they are “without hope and without God in this world,” Ephesians 2:12. Some folks you see often, are in God’s words, “condemned,” according to John 3:18. Or, they’re called in Proverbs 24, “those who are being led away to death.” My Bible tells me that neighbors and friends of mine who don’t know Christ will be “shut out from the presence of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9). There’s no way anyone can get into heaven with their sin unforgiven. And the only One who can forgive their sin is the One who died for those sins. So we have dying people all around us. People whose eternal destination may hinge on whether or not we stop for them to tell them what Jesus did for them on the cross. Look you could live a good life in front of them for fifty years and they’re not going to guess Jesus died for them. You have to tell them that. Where are we in this disturbing story Jesus told in Luke 10:30-34, our word for today from the Word of God? “A man…fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him…beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.” And then another religious leader came along and it says he “passed by on the other side.” Then it says, “But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds…he took him to an inn and took care of him.” What troubles me is that it’s the really religious folks who just keep walking by this man who needed them—people like me, and maybe like you. So many times I’ve met people who have come to Christ late in life, and they just regret so much that they did not know Him sooner. And I’ve heard so many say something like, “I was 52 years old…I was 45 years old before I ever heard what Jesus did for me.” And it turns out, in retrospect, that they had known several folks along the way who were believers and who never told them about their Jesus. Look around your personal world: those coworkers, the family members, your fellow students, your teammates, your fellow club members, how bout your friends, your neighbors. If you’ll let Jesus show you what He sees, you’re going to see people who are slowly dying spiritually; who are headed for an unthinkable eternity without Christ while you’re enjoying the glories of heaven. Silence is unacceptable. Silence is wrong. Don’t talk to them about religion. Or your church. Or their lifestyle. Tell them about the Man who loved them enough to die in their place. God put you in their life to be their chance at Jesus. Don’t keep walking by their need. You know Jesus. They need your Jesus. Don’t let them down. Don’t let Him down.

I think it was our older son's first official date with a girl; actually, just a couple of hours at the mall really. The next day he ran into some of the guys from school who just wanted to know one thing about his Friday night. "So how much did you get off her?" I know, it’s gross. They weren't talking about money. They were talking about conquest. Our son actually came home pretty disgusted, frankly. He said, "Man, those guys; they’re messed up!" I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Surprising Secret of a Real Man.” Actually, a lot of us men have been raised on a messed up idea of what really makes you a man. Guys of all ages seem to think that it is conquest that makes you a real man: sexual conquest, athletic conquest, financial conquest, business conquest. So many men define their worth, their success, and their masculinity by whether or not they are conquering - conquistadores! Virtually every guy has been told somewhere in his life, "Be a man!" But by whose definition? Is it your biceps that make you a man, your bank account, your bedroom exploits, being the boss? If you want to know what manhood is really all about, consult the Inventor of manhood. That would be God. If you go by His definition, you get Designer Manhood, and that is the real thing. And guess what? It is all about conquest after all, but in a very different arena than most of us were ever taught. It's exemplified in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 16:32. "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city." You say, "Hey, look at these trophies. Look at all the victories I've won. Look, I conquered this whole city!" God isn't impressed. He says, "Oh, yeah? How are you doing with your temper? Are you really patient?" Here's the surprising secret of a truly powerful man: he is conquering himself! What's it mean to be a man who is conquering himself? Well, a powerful man conquers his mouth. He eliminates the trash talk, the angry words, the critical words, the hurting words. He knows the power of his words and he controls those destructive words and specializes in encouraging words. A powerful man also conquers his passions, focusing all his desire on his wife. You know, if he's single, keeping his relationships pure and his body reserved for his life partner. A powerful man also conquers his coldness. He shows his love. He expresses his love so he doesn't leave a lonely son or a frustrated wife or daughter or a mother who just doesn’t know where she stands. Another conquest that displays real manhood is conquering your hardness; that unwillingness to ever admit you're wrong or that you're hurting. A powerful man conquers his neglect as well; his failure to spend the time with the people who love him, the time they so desperately need. And, bottom line, a truly powerful man conquers his selfishness - his tendency to want everyone to revolve around him. Many a man has found out he cannot be that kind of a man. The Apostle Paul said at one time, "The things I want to do, I don't do. And the things I ought to do, I don't." He said, "Why is it that I cannot get free of this darkness inside of me?" And then he said, "Thanks be to God, a rescue has come in Jesus Christ." I can say as a man, and I can say on behalf of many men I know, that they never could have become the man they wanted to be and everyone they loved needed them to be until they surrendered to Jesus Christ, who died for their sins. Maybe you've never done that. Well listen, I want to invite you to tell Him today, "Jesus, I'm yours." If you want to know more about that relationship, and I hope you do, would you check us out at ANewStory.com. Designer manhood is all about conquest. Conquering yourself, no man can do it alone, no matter how self-sufficient he thinks he is. A man finds the power to conquer himself when he has finally been conquered by the power and the love of Jesus Christ.

You know a lot of life’s disrupting sounds you can learn to ignore: sirens screaming, telephones ringing, TV blasting, trains rumbling by. It is almost impossible to ignore a baby crying. If there’s a baby in your house and he starts crying, what should you do? You could just go, “Oh what a nuisance!” No, You could close the door and pretend it isn’t there. You could turn up the music real loud, cover it up. Or you could yell back at him like he’s yelling at you. Obviously, if you do any of those, you are showing your inexperience. That’s not going to do anything. He’s just going to keep crying. See, behind the cry is a need, and the crying isn’t going to stop until he gets his tummy filled, or the relief that only a burp can give, or until you get him out of his mess shall we say. Of course, we don’t stop crying just because we grow up; we just find grownup ways to cry. Maybe there’s someone crying around you right now. I wonder how you’re responding. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Nuisance or Need.” Our word for today from the Word of God? It’s in Luke 18. I’m going to begin reading at verse 35. “As Jesus approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.” Now, we’re told in other gospels that his name was Bartimaeus. “When he heard the crowd going by he asked what was happening. They told him Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. He called out, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.’ Those who led the way rebuked him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted all the more, ‘Son of David have mercy on me!’ Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to Him, and he came near and Jesus asked him, ‘What do you want Me to do for you?’ ‘Oh, Lord, I want to see’ he replied. Jesus said to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.’ Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus praising God.” Love it. Now, it’s interesting the two different ways people looked at Bartimaeus in this story. When the people of Jericho saw Bartimaeus, they saw a nuisance. “Will you stop crying? Stop making so much noise! You’re an embarrassment.” When Jesus saw Bartimaeus, He saw a need. Now, in your life there are probably some obnoxious people. Can you think of one or two? Some mean people; maybe folks who demand a lot of your time and attention. Maybe there’s a complainer around you. You know, in all of our lives, there are people who are for one reason or another folks you’d just like to close the door on maybe. And you will unless you see them through the eyes of Jesus, and there you’ll see the need. Like a mother who looks past a baby’s annoying cry to find out where it hurts. People are nuisances because they have needs; needs that no one has stopped to meet. I wonder, if like Jesus, you would stop for them? Maybe they need a listener; they need someone who sees the good in them…someone who notices them; someone who affirms that they matter. Maybe they need someone to reach inside and find out what’s really making them bleed; someone who will include them in the group. See, that crying person, they’re a wounded person. And you can be part of God’s healing in that person’s life. We’re here to do what Jesus would do if He were there in person, and that means when others see a nuisance, you will see a need and you’ll do something about it.

For years, the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” were contained in his “Lord of the Rings” book trilogy and enjoyed by a relatively small number of people who loved those stories passionately. But since the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy exploded from books to blockbuster Hollywood movies, millions became enthusiastic fans. The engaging fantasy world of Tolkien’s “Middle-earth," the unique characters, the epic battles, and the spiritual themes that run through the stories; there are many layers that have blended into an experience that has magnetized millions of people. It’s a great story, but for many, this is a story that seems to say something — something important. Tolkien, the author of the “Lord of the Rings,” was a man with a deep Christian faith, and that faith helped to shape the provocative spiritual themes that many find in “Return of the King,” the finale of the trilogy. There is this ring. There is this king. And there, somewhere tied to both, are many of us. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Trying to Be King.” At the center of “The Return of the King,” is the ring; the gold ring that many want to possess, no matter what the cost. The dark secret of owning that ring and its power is that the power ultimately comes to own you. It’s called by one of its owners, “The Precious”—demonstrating its perverse value to the one who has it. You can’t let go of it, even when it begins to destroy you…as it always does. That image suggests a disturbing reality about our lives here on Real-earth. There are life-pursuits that we believe will fulfill us, answer our questions and give us the love we’re looking for, or the spiritual power that the human soul is hungry for. We want the power of whatever “ring” we feel compelled to pursue; someone who will love us, something we define as success, something that will relieve our pain, something that will make us feel significant. We all have our “Precious.” Sadly, our “Precious” ends up being less than we had hoped, but often something we can’t let go of. Two words ultimately define the essence of all our “Precious” pursuits—my way or “sin,” as the Bible calls it. Time after time, the road marked “My Way” has turned out to be a dead-end street hasn’t it? And all too often, the ring that we have selfishly fought for has ended up hurting us and hurting those we love. That’s the point at which “The Return of the King” intersects the life of a real king; the one described in the Bible as the “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16). The one in whose honor we stand when we hear the “Hallelujah Chorus.” The battles of Tolkien’s “Middle-earth” culminate with the return and the victory of a liberating king named Aragorn. The battles of Real-Earth culminate with the coming, and the victory, of the King of all kings - King Jesus. The same book of the Bible that shows Jesus as this King of kings says of Him in Revelation 1:5, our word for today from the Word of God, “He loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood.” The King died for you because you have grabbed the “ring” of a self-run life; not realizing the ring will ultimately cost you everything including heaven. But heaven’s King loves you so much He paid that price himself for you on the cross. And then His ultimate victory came three days later when He walked right out of His grave. The life-or-death choice before you is whether you will continue to grasp that life-sapping ring or release the ring so you can follow your King. The day you say, “Jesus, You died for me. I’m Yours” is the day the King of billions of galaxies moves into your life and does with it what you could never do. The rightful King of your life is coming to you today, because for Jesus, you are His “Precious.” Are you ready to have that love? Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website today because that's where you could find the information that will help you be sure you finally belong to Him. Go to ANewStory.com. Jesus is the King who has never lost a battle. And my friend, you need Him.

I remember the day we ran into some newlywed friends of ours. They just had that look, you know, hand-in-hand and grinning. The bride and my daughter started to talk excitedly about how the wedding went. When it was time to leave, I couldn’t find my daughter, until I got into the van. There she was with our friend, the bride, and there were wedding pictures spread out all over the floor of the van. The new bride was talking about the ceremony, and the dresses, and the flowers, and who was in the wedding party, and how they did the vows and what happened at the reception. Of course my daughter was drinking it all in; she was delighted to hear it all. Well, of course, it’s normal for a new bride to keep talking about the day it all began, but eventually she’d better have something else to talk about. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “New Ground - More Than Memories.” The Apostle Paul had one of the most dramatic spiritual, shall we say, weddings in history. The day he and Jesus Christ got together was unforgettable; that great experience on the Damascus Road. And he did tell people about that glorious day that his relationship with Jesus began, but he wasn’t content with just having wedding pictures to talk about. Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Philippians 3:13-14, out of what some might say was the mega-Christian life of all time. Here’s what he says, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it, but one thing I do; forgetting what is behind and straining for what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Paul says, “There’s always a new front ahead of me; I’m always pushing for something new in my relationship with Christ. There’s always new ground to be gained just like an Olympic runner.” His testimony was as current as yesterday’s victory or today’s Jesus’ challenge in his life. You can’t get it by just living in your spiritual scrapbook; all those wonderful memories you have with the Lord. I think too many Christians are still just talking about the day it all began…their wedding day so to speak. “How I got saved. Oh, the day I accepted Christ! Let me tell you how I accepted Christ as my Savior.” And that’s important, but there’s got to be more than that. Even if it was five, ten, 20, 40 years ago, some people are still talking about that spiritual wedding day like that’s all there is. It’s good to show people how to come to know Christ, but a married couple is in trouble if most of what they have to talk about is still just their wedding. The question is, “What’s going on in your relationship today? How did this commitment change your life? How is Jesus changing your life right now? What’s the Jesus’ difference?” Not what happened five years ago or ten years ago, or the day you got together with Jesus. You say, “Well, we had this time when we went away together…” No, no, no, tell me about now. A marriage has to be built on new, current, growing experiences together. So is a relationship with Jesus Christ. Our churches may be filled with people who have only had the beginning of that relationship, but there’s really not much after that in the scrapbook. And there’s not much going on today. Maybe you’ve been living too much on memories and past accomplishments, old victories, and aging miracles. Paul says, “Forget what is behind; press forward to new ground.” Let the Lord touch you in a new way today. Every day give Him a specific piece of new ground, and then you’ll have more than a wedding to talk about. You will have a fresh, exciting, life-changing relationship.

It started out like just another day driving a school bus for Ponderosa Elementary. But that night, Kevin McKay would be hailed as "the bus driver from heaven." In between, came the most deadly wildfire in California's history. On the morning of November 8, McKay had just dropped off his students when he saw the smoke. Ten minutes later, the evacuation order. Ultimately - and quickly - you know, the entire community would be consumed by flames. Most parents made it to the school to quickly pick up their child. But as the fire was, in McKay's words, "coming down in a thousand places," there were 22 children still left at the school. Since he had just unloaded, he had an empty bus. Within minutes, he had them aboard that bus with the help of two teachers, Abbie Davis and Mary Ludwig. That's when they began what became their five-hour journey through what Ludwig said "felt like Armageddon." The smoke and gridlock was so heavy they only traveled an eighth of a mile in the first hour. They continued to navigate the wall of cars ahead, and McKay could see the fire was creeping ever closer to the road. One fourth-grader said, "There were fires left and right, everywhere you looked." Abbie Davis confessed that she thought they were going to die at several points along the journey. But they didn't, because of one man's courage and determination to save lives from those relentless flames. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Saving Lives With What You Have.” I was really moved as I read his story. Yes, because of Kevin McKay's selfless heroism. But also because of that Scripture that kept playing back in my heart in the midst of that conflagration. "Save others by snatching them from the fire." That’s in Jude 23. Jesus left heaven on that rescue mission - to save us "from the fire." The fire of God's judgment for defying our Creator to, in essence, be our own "God." Running our own life. The "fire" I deserve that fell on Jesus on the cross as He (in the words of the Bible) "gave Himself for our sins to rescue us" (Galatians 1:4). But I know people who don't even know the fire is coming. Let alone, that Jesus loved them enough to take the fire for them. Most of us know folks like that. Someone needs to "snatch them from the fire." Someone needs to do what a courageous bus driver did as Paradise went up in flames. Use whatever vehicle we have to save lives! Like our influence, for example. In someone's life. Our connection, our relationship with someone who, each day, is one day closer to a judgment Jesus died to save them from. We know them, and we know Jesus. They don't know Jesus. Could our responsibility be any clearer? Is it any wonder God says in Ezekiel 3:18, "if you do not...speak out...I will hold you accountable for their blood"? When God called Moses to join Him in rescuing his people, He asked Moses a probing question, and it’s our word for today from the Word of God in Exodus 4:2, "What is that in your hand?" It was only a shepherd's rod, but God told him to "throw it down" so He could transform it into something that would set people free. And that piece of wood, super-naturalized by God, helped liberate a nation. When God asks me and each of His people, "What is that in your hand?" You got a home? A job? A computer? A Facebook page? A Bible study? Do you have a membership at the gym? A school or service club you're in? You have money in the bank? You have some respect at work or in the community? You have musical ability? A gift for writing or art? Do you have a relationship with a coworker, a neighbor, someone with a common interest? God has heard the cries of the lost hearts around you and me and He's coming to rescue them. But He's asking you to use whatever has been trusted to you to save the ones you know; whatever’s in your hand. There's one vehicle we all have. Our most powerful vehicle - our story. Your life, your background, your battles, your pain, your failures, and how Jesus has changed your life. Your story, interwoven with His Story, could change their story forever! The heroism of a man who saved lives with the vehicle he had makes me do some soul-searching. What do I have that God wants me to surrender so He can use it to change someone's eternity? I can't imagine that bus driver simply driving off in that bus to save only himself. Not when there were people he could save from an unthinkable fate. I don't want to arrive in heaven with an "empty bus."