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1. • APR 12, 2023

   No Place to Land With Your Pain — #9459

   No Place to Land With Your Pain — #9459

   I’ve lost count of how many times I have landed in an airplane. But who would care? For the most part — routine landings — except for the ones that were unusually soft or unusually hard. In fact I experienced one of those hard landings a while back. We hit the runway, well, let’s say with authority. Now, my neighbor in the seat next to me commented very matter-of-factly, «Navy pilot.» When I asked him what he meant by that, he said, «Well, I’ve observed this over the years. The guys who are former Air Force pilots glide in because they’re used to landing on big runways at big airports. But the former Navy pilots, they land hard. They’re used to landing on a small speck — the ship in the middle of the ocean.» And that started me thinking, «Man, if all I had to land on was this little speck in a big ocean called a carrier, I’d land hard too.» That’s the smart thing to do when there’s only one spot to land on. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «No Place to Land With Your Pain.» Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 1, and I’m going to be reading verses 8 and 9. As I read, would you see if any of these phrases might sound familiar in your life? Here’s what Paul says, «We do not want you to be uninformed about the hardships we suffered in the Province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.» Any of those phrases sound like anything you’ve been going through, like hardships, under great pressure, beyond your ability to endure? He said, «In our hearts, man, we felt like we were dying this death sentence.» A dark time! In a sense, Paul’s saying he has no place to land with his pain but one place, and that’s why God allowed all the pain so his options would be limited to one. With only one place to land, Paul landed hard in the arms of God and he traded in self-reliance for God-reliance. This talented, competent, successful, driven, well-educated man had to reach the end of himself to find out what God’s power was like. And when he had only God to turn to, he said, «Man, that’s when I learned who I was supposed to rely on.» He traded in human strength for heaven’s strength. You can learn a lot from studying the people who got a miracle in Jesus’ day. The Bible says in Mark 1, «A man with leprosy came to Him and begged Him on his knees, ‘If you are willing, you can make me clean.'» And Mark 5, one of the synagogue rulers came. «Seeing Jesus, he fell at His feet and pleaded earnestly with Him.» Now, this guy was a «big shot»; he was an official. And yet you see him pleading earnestly and falling at Jesus’ feet. And it says of the woman then who came to Jesus with a hemorrhaging problem that she’d had for 12 years, «When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd, because she thought, ‘If I just touch His clothes I would be healed.'» You could just see her desperately pushing through the crowd. See, people who got a miracle landed hard at Jesus’ feet; totally powerless, grabbing Him as if He was their only hope. And their desperate faith released the power of God to change their situation. This is faith that doesn’t just pray, «Dear God…» No, it prays «Oh, Lord.» And it lands hard. Well, maybe you’re running out of fuel and you’re running out of places to land. There’s one place left. You could land hard at the feet of Jesus Christ. You know, that’s how you even begin a relationship with God. That’s how you get your sins forgiven. That’s how you trade hell for heaven, as you realize there’s nothing you can do to contribute to you getting to heaven; that would give you a relationship with God. And so, that’s when you grab Jesus. You land hard in His arms and you say, «Jesus, you died for my sins. Rescue me.» Maybe you’ve never done that. Maybe you’d like to.

2. • APR 11, 2023

   Your Stretch of the Beach — #9458

   Your Stretch of the Beach — #9458

   Two words that will inevitably cause a lot of excitement to appear on any face in our family — Ocean City. That’s the name of this charming town on the Jersey shore where our family has got a lot of memories over the years. There was this one trip where several of us rendezvoused there for a couple of days making a few more memories. I was riding my bike along the boardwalk there, and I passed some Herculean young men jogging the boards. Their shirts had four letters on them: OCBP. That’s Ocean City Beach Patrol. Over a century ago, as Ocean City was becoming a tourist mecca, the number of drownings began to increase. So, the Beach Patrol was formed. As of the last time I was there, they had a record to be proud of. In 100 years, they had never lost anyone at a guarded beach. I remember a time some years ago when a young Amish woman drowned in the Atlantic Ocean, but that was on an unguarded beach. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «Your Stretch of the Beach.» I’ve seen those lifeguards in action. They concentrate on their stretch of the water and the people that are in it almost as if it’s a life-or-death matter. Because it is! Just like the rescue responsibility God has entrusted to you. Our word for today from the Word of God; Proverbs 24:11-12. As you listen, would you try to picture some of the people on the stretch of beach God has given you to guard. He says, «Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, ‘But we knew nothing about this,’ does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?» God’s saying here, «If you have a rescue responsibility, there is no excuse for you letting people die without your trying to do something about it.» The awful tragedy is that so many Christless lives are being lost forever because one of God’s spiritual lifeguards is leaving their beach unguarded. Your beach? It’s that circle of influence God has given you — the people you work with, live near, go to school with or recreate with. But too many of us lifeguards, we stay in the lifeguard station, enjoying the fellowship of the other lifeguards, singing our lifeguard songs, planning our lifeguard meetings while people are dying in the surf. Maybe we leave our stretch of the beach unguarded because we forget that telling people about Jesus really is life-or-death. The people around you may not look or sound like they’re dying spiritually, but listen to a few of the words God uses in the Bible to describe the lost people around you. They are called in the Bible, «Those being led away to death» (Proverbs 24:11). They’re called «lost» in Luke 19:10. In Ephesians 2:12, they are «without God, without hope.» In John 3:36, «Whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.» Second Thessalonians 1:9 says those who don’t know God «will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord.» And in Revelation 20:15, God says, «If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.» These are people you know, or ought to know. And you carry in your heart the one message that can change all this; the message of a Savior who loved them enough to die so they don’t have to. Your job isn’t to persuade them to come to Jesus, but it is to present Jesus. If you haven’t done that, then they don’t know they’re dying and they don’t know who to grab to rescue them. You may think there’s someone better to rescue the people around you, but it’s you that God put in the middle of them. This is your stretch of the beach. The people there are your responsibility. Please don’t leave your beach unguarded. Too many people are dying on unguarded beaches.

3. • APR 10, 2023

   Getting the Cover Off Your Cage — #9457

   Getting the Cover Off Your Cage — #9457

   I would call home to my wife, and I’d get a serenade. No, not from her. From our canary. We had only had him about a couple of weeks, and man, I found out he could sing up a storm! The whole time I was talking to my wife, the yellow bird symphony was going on in the background. It was hard to hear that canary sing and stay gloomy very long let me tell you. Every night we would put this cloth over Cherokee’s cage — that was his name. And all the singing stopped. The next morning I would go into the living room and there wasn’t a sound coming from under that cloth. But as soon as I took the cover off, the canary started jumping all over the cage and singing his wakeup song. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «Getting the Cover Off Your Cage.» Each day with that canary was like life began when the cover came off that cage. In a way, that’s like you and me. Your cage? That might be some painful memories, or a broken heart, or maybe a broken dream. Maybe you’re caged in by some addiction or a habit, or anger that’s eating you up inside. For some of us it’s depression or even suicidal thoughts that have held us in. There’s a cover on that cage, whatever it is. And as you listen today, it’s dark in there isn’t it? And maybe there’s nothing to sing about. Well, good news for you in our word for today from the Word of God in Psalm 40. King David said, «The Lord turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire. He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth.» King David’s imagery is a little different, but in canary terms, the cover came off his dark cage and gave him a reason to sing. The same Lord that did that for King David wants to do that for you. In fact, that’s why Jesus Christ came. He says in the Bible, «The Lord has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.» Did you notice that, «release from darkness?» Now, that little bird of ours was stuck in a dark world that he couldn’t change until someone bigger and more powerful came along to remove that cover and release him from his darkness. The Savior, Jesus, came to do that for you and me. He came to die for our darkness, our sin, to remove the death sentence you and I have on our head because of our sins. And when you tell Jesus that you’re trusting Him completely for a relationship with God, the cover finally comes off. All the guilt, all the shame, all of that stuff in the past is gone; it’s forgiven. So many people have told me right after they’ve reached out and put their trust in Christ, and they’ve said, «I feel like 100 pounds has just been lifted off my shoulders.» And the pain is suddenly lightened because God himself is picking it up for you. The dark feelings and the power that may have kept you in darkness? All of that is replaced by this unexplainable personal peace. Now, our canary? He had no choice when the cover came off his cage, but you do. Your release from darkness comes when you open your heart to Jesus Christ, and that could be today. You tired of the darkness? Well, you might be ready for Jesus to come in. And if you are, I want to encourage you to go to our website today. Because basically what it’s there for is to explain how you can begin that relationship with Jesus. Just go there. Just spend a few minutes there. It’s ANewStory.com. Got nothing for you to join. There’s no religion to be a part of here. It’s all about you reaching out and embracing the love of the man who died for you. There is light to replace your darkness. There’s a song that can replace your sin the day you let Jesus lift the cover off of your life.

4. • APR 9, 2023

   All The Good Stuff You’re Missing — #9456

   All The Good Stuff You’re Missing — #9456

   Many years ago, one of the 20th Century’s great Christian leaders, Peter Deyneka, was immigrating to America on a long Atlantic voyage with only a few coins in his pocket. When he got hungry, he reached into this little bag he’d brought with him to eat the same thing every meal — a few dry crusts of bread and some water. He was pretty hungry when his ship finally docked in New York; not to mention pretty sick of bread crusts. That’s when he realized something that he’d wished he had understood at the beginning of the voyage — three full meals a day were included in his fare. They were all included in the price of his ticket! I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «All The Good Stuff You’re Missing.» That young traveler had been living at a much lower level than he needed to live! He had no idea all the good things he’d gotten when he got his ticket. Well, when God looks at His children, sailing through life, He sees a lot of us living the same way — under-living. Not realizing how we could be living and all the good stuff we got when we opened our lives to Jesus Christ. Biblical passages like Ephesians 3, beginning with verse 12, our word for today from the Word of God, they spell out what’s included in your ticket. Paul writes: «In Him (that’s in Jesus) and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence…I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Holy Spirit in your inner being.» Okay, so there’s supernatural inner strength that comes when Jesus comes in. Let me go on. «I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power…to know this love that surpasses knowledge» — okay, so you got this indescribable love and security when you got Jesus. Then He goes on to say, «that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.» Imagine all the resources of God Himself downloadable by you — His wisdom for your questions, His power for your difficulties, His love for your lonely times, His peace for your troubled times. We don’t have to live like these stressed out, strung out, weighed down people we often are! Dry bread crusts when we’ve got all the resources of God at our disposal! Wow! Those resources are accessed through serious prayer. And we under-live because we under-pray. We over-worry, we overwork and we get overwhelmed because we under-pray. I mean really pray. One model of prayer that moves heaven to your need is found in Acts 4, where the apostles have been threatened by the same Jewish leaders who engineered the death of Jesus. The apostle’s response? They gather the believers together and they «raised their voices together in prayer to God. ‘Sovereign Lord,’ they said, ‘You made the heaven and the earth and the sea.» Then they go on to celebrate the fact that all that’s happening is under God’s sovereign power and will. Finally, after they focused only on the greatness of their God, they ask Him for boldness and supernatural power. The place where they prayed was shaken, the Holy Spirit showed up big-time, and then they told everybody about Jesus. Now, there’s the pattern for aiming all of God’s power at your situation; at your need. First, you focus on your big, big God, not your big, big problem. Then, you trust Him for the big, big things you need. But always put your praise before your please, your worship before your request. When you take a little time to celebrate the awesomeness of the God you belong to, the God you’re trusting in, you start to access all those great resources that came with your ticket. You don’t have to live the way you’ve been living! You’ve got so much to draw on since the day you let Jesus in! So, don’t wait until you reach your heavenly destination to realize how you could have been living all along!

5. • APR 6, 2023

   Lincoln’s Good Friday Wish — #9455

   Lincoln’s Good Friday Wish — #9455

   Abraham Lincoln was kind of a hero of my boyhood. No, not because I knew him personally, not because I was alive when he was alive. But I’ll tell you what, I did study a lot about him. He died on Good Friday. Yeah, he did. And until recently, I didn’t know his final wish. He actually whispered it to his wife just before the fatal shot at Ford’s Theatre, and it’s pretty moving. Abe Lincoln grew up with a God-loving mother and a religious father. But he was demanding and his dad was distant. Abe’s mom died when he was a boy. And as Lincoln grew, he went from a spiritual skeptic to actually a Bible-bashing unbeliever. But somewhere along the way, he began to realize his deep need for God. I guess losing a son and carrying the weight of a bleeding nation can do that for a man. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «Lincoln’s Good Friday Wish.» The Civil War ended five days before that fateful Good Friday. On what would be the Great Emancipator’s last day on earth, he and his wife went for a carriage ride. And, with the war over, they kind of dreamed together about the months and the years ahead. Then at the theater that night — literally as the assassin crept into the President’s box — Abraham Lincoln uttered his final wish to his wife, Mary. «We will visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior. There is no place I so much desire to see as Jerusalem.» And then he was gone. In his last moments, he was thinking about Jesus. «The Savior,» he called Him. The journey Abe Lincoln wished for is actually a journey I have made, because ultimately it’s a journey of the heart: Walking with Jesus, through the cheering multitudes of that Palm Sunday, through the jeering crowd of Good Friday, and then following the trail of blood to that place of death called Skull Hill. The crown made of thorns jammed into the forehead of the King of Kings. The merciless mockers, blaspheming the One that angels worship. The spikes pounded into the hands that shaped the universe. The «God, why have You forsaken Me?» cry of God’s one and only Son. My heart’s screaming, «Why?» The Bible answers in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 2:20. «The Son of God loved me and gave Himself for me.» Did you get that? For me — that’s what levels me. Jesus chose to go through that hell for me. And hell it was, because the Bible says, «He personally carried our sins in His own body on the cross» (1 Peter 2:24) — the pain, the guilt, the eternal separation from God for all the sinning of my life. Jesus took my hell so I could go to His heaven. Yes, my heart has been to His cross. I went there with my sin and I left forgiven. I went there dirty and I came away clean. I went there without Him in my life and I left there with the promise I’ll never be without Him again. Because I got what He died for when those two words captured my heart. «For me.» He did this for me. I embraced Him as the Savior for me, for my sin. And I flung open the door of my heart to this One who has loved me like no other. He said, «If you open the door, I will come in» (Revelation 3:20). He kept His promise. He’s done that for everyone who’s ever opened that door, and He will for you if you’ll make your way to that cross in your heart and tell Him, «For me, Jesus. For me.» If you’ve never told the man who died for you that you’re pinning all your hopes on Him, would you do that today on this Good Friday? Go to our website. It’s ANewStory.com, because I’ve laid out there for you how you can be sure you belong to Him, making this your personal «Jesus day.» So He walked out of His grave that Easter morning so He could walk into your life today.

6. • APR 5, 2023

   So Rich, So Needy — #9454

   So Rich, So Needy — #9454

   A close friend of ours was in China on family business. In the process, he had a wonderful opportunity to worship with some Chinese believers in a Sunday church service. It was a not-to-be-forgotten experience. They pointed him to something he didn’t know existed in China — a Christian bookstore. It was the only one in this large city, and it’s hard to find. It’s stuffed into this very small space on the fourth floor of a nondescript building — but it’s a Christian bookstore in China. Our friend commented in an email about the small number of Christian books that were available there in Chinese. In addition to books, they also had a small selection of Christian bookmarks and refrigerator magnets with verses or inspirational thoughts on them. And there was one fridge magnet that our friend absolutely could not, and cannot, get out of his mind. Here in the midst of this great city in this great land where Christians have paid such a price to follow Jesus was a magnet that simply said, «Pray for America.» The only comment our friend had was this: «How humbling.» I guess. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about «So Rich, So Needy.» If you’re an American Christian, you probably think of China as a place we need to pray for — and it is. But in China, apparently they think they need to pray for us, and indeed they do. Their faith is passionate there; ours is often so casual, so powerless. What for Chinese believers is a passion is for too many of us a profession, a bunch of religious activities or a religious business. We have so much, and yet in terms of spiritual power and passion, some think we seem to have so little. They have so little and yet, in many ways, they have so much. I’m glad and I’m humbled that they’re praying for us. If you’re an American Christian, I hope you’re praying for us, too. It’s hard to read the description of the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 and not see us American believers in these words: «You are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm…I am about to spit you out of My mouth,» Jesus said. «You say, ‘I am rich’…but you do not realize you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.» See, we live amid the greatest spiritual wealth in the history of the Christian church. We’ve got Christian everything. We’ve got Christian books, videos, conferences, websites, seminars, celebrities, and buildings. And yet with the largest Christian subculture in the history of the Church, we have lost our culture for Christ. And we are the «12:48 People» who live under the judgment of our Master’s words in Luke 12:48, «To whom much is given, much is required.» So, the call of 2 Chronicles 7:14, our word for today from the Word of God, must be a call to you and me. «If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.» The destiny of a nation depends on what God’s people do. Not the politicians, not the secular humanists or the abortionists. As we go, so goes our nation. And we need to be going to our knees for ourselves, repenting of our proud self-reliance, of our apathy; abandoning the faith we have in programs and depending on prayer instead; seeking to know God — to touch His face — not just to know more about God; and to admit our compromises and our sin and abandon it. From there, we have to realize the responsibility we each have as a Christian from the strongest, richest, most resourced Church in our world. For God has always judged the true righteousness of His people by their love and commitment to three groups of people: the poor, the victims, and the lost. Is that what we’re about? Is that what you’re about? Somewhere in China today, they’re praying for us. Let’s be part of the answer to their prayers!

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