A Word With You

Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.

Daily A Word With You

  1. 2h ago

    Desperation Praying - #10380

    I don’t think Alexander Graham Bell could ever have conceived how much we would use his little invention called the telephone, or how many ways we would think up to use it! You know, some of those magic three-number prefixes that we all know so well; the 800 number, because 800 equals toll free calls, and there’s 888, and there are all kinds of them now. We’re pretty quick to make that call. Then there are the 900 numbers; the toll rich calls. You really want to be very slow to make those calls. Those 900 numbers can access everything from Santa Claus at Christmastime to party lines for lonely people, to pornography. And then there’s 911. In many places across this country 911 is the number you dial for emergencies. You dial that and you’ll get an operator who will immediately, of course, dispatch the police, or the fire or the medical help that your emergency requires. Now, 911 callers, if you’ve ever heard their recordings, they are not casual. They speak with urgency, sometimes they’re in tears, and they’re almost always desperate…and help is on the way. I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Desperation Praying.” Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 5, and I’ll begin reading in verse 24. “A large crowd followed and pressed around Jesus, and a woman was there who was subject to bleeding for twelve years. She suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in a crowd and touched His cloak, because she thought, ‘If I could just touch His clothes I will be healed.’ Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was free from her suffering.” This is the story of desperation. This is a woman with a need that no one could meet. She had been to every resource there was; she exhausted them all, and no one could meet that need but Jesus. She almost literally lunges for Jesus. It’s that kind of desperation that unleashes the power of God in your out-of-control situation. Unfortunately, so much of our praying is measured, and predictable, and theologically beautiful, but not desperate. When someone calls 911, the voice is not usually calm and the caller is not beating around the bush. “Hello, I’d like to speak to you about a little situation we have here. Let me give you a brief description of it and see if there’s anything you can do.” No, it’s, “Help!” And then there’s that urgent, often clumsy description of the need, and then help is on the way. See, the most powerful praying in the world is 911 praying; pouring out that whole bottle of emotions you’ve got, gushing to God all the hurt, and the anger, and the doubt, and the loneliness, and the fear. Not trying to be strong any more—lunging for Jesus. It says here she had spent all she had on a solution. Does that sound like you? You’re in a situation that’s totally out of your control, you’ve done everything you can, you have no more ability to affect the situation, and Jesus is your only hope. Excuse me, but that’s a great place to be! That’s when all the emergency resources of heaven start roaring to your side. God’s been waiting for you to be honest with Him, desperate with Him, bankrupt in front of Him; to release it all and then to collapse into His arms. Whatever is causing you to bleed, that’s His great concern. Just let it go! Don’t try to be strong with Him. Let it out! God responds miraculously to 911 calls from his children. And my friend, help is on the way.

  2. 1d ago

    The Miracle in the Mirror - #10379

    Fasten your seat belt, science fans. These days it seems as if there's a blockbuster discovery almost every day in the rapidly expanding world of science. But few things have amazed me more than some of the discoveries that came out of the mapping of human genes, human cells, and the stuff of human life that we call DNA. You've lived in your body so many years you probably don't think much about it. Well, think about it for a minute. Your body has, according to the research, ten trillion cells. Each of those ten trillion cells contains a strand of DNA that, if you uncoiled it, would be about six feet long. Now, here's what they're telling us. If you were to place each of those ten trillion strands in your body end to end—ready for your mind to be blown? Your DNA would span the solar system! Go take another look in the mirror. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Miracle in the Mirror." When King David wrote about his own being, it was some 3,000 years ago; long before people knew even a tiny fraction of the amazing stuff we know today about just one human being. But even then, with the little he knew, he penned these words, recorded in Psalm 139, our word for today from the Word of God, and actually amplified by these recent discoveries. Beginning in verse 13, he says to God, "You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful ... All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be." Now, imagine. God gave you your worth from birth—actually, before birth. Most of what you are today was all there in your genetic code, basically from the moment you were conceived. So, no one on earth gave you your worth, and no one on earth can take it away. God ordained the number of days of your life before you lived even one of them. You are, in essence, immortal until your work is done. Now, fast forward to the New Testament, and you read this encouraging and amazing description of who you really are: Ephesians 2:10, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." Just think, there's a plan made by God with your name on it, and you've been wired by Him to make a unique difference in your short time on this planet. He started you. He'll decide when you're done here. He's the One who knows why you're here. Question: Do you belong to this awesome God who you were made by and made for? The Bible says we've actually turned away from this majestic Creator of ours to do our own thing. It’s got a name. It's called sin. And it took God becoming one of us, from the womb to the tomb, to give us a chance to get back to Him. That's what Jesus died on the cross to do. He died for your sins so you don't have to. He was abandoned by God the Father on the cross so you don't ever have to be. And that hole in your heart that's never gone away can only be filled by the awesome God who made you; who we can only get to by giving ourselves to Jesus, the only bridge to our Creator. Maybe you've never actually put your life in the hands of the One who gave you your life and who gave His life for you. You could do that right now. Say, "Jesus, this is the end of me running my own life I was never meant to. You drive from this day on. I believe your payment for my sin on the cross is my only hope of heaven. And today, Jesus, I'm giving myself to you. I'm yours." We’ve put some information on our website for a moment just like this; a beginning with Jesus Christ. A place to go to get this settled. The website is ANewStory.com. You may have awakened this morning away from the awesome God who made you. You can go to bed tonight, knowing that you belong to Him forever.

  3. 2d ago

    Survivors To The Rescue - #10378

    Each season in the U.S. seems to bring its beauty and its unique dangers. In the spring, think tornado, for example. In the summer and fall, some of us know what the word hurricane is all about. In the mountains in winter, it’s important to be aware that that season’s snowy beauty may also bring with it the danger of deadly avalanches. Every winter, we hear about some people who lose their lives as these massive chunks of snow suddenly break loose. But every once in a while, we hear about lives being saved. I remember a few years ago, the rescuers were there not long after an avalanche, and they immediately started digging for survivors. In minutes, they pulled out one skier who was not only grateful to be saved, but in remarkably good shape for what he had been through. And the news reported that after that man was rescued, he didn’t just head for a warm place to recover. He actually joined the rescuers, working side by side with them to save other lives. And they did! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Survivors To The Rescue.” A person is saved from a deadly situation and they instinctively go back to help save someone else. That’s exactly how lives are saved eternally. The rescued are supposed to turn around and be the rescuers. When they’re not, they make it out, but they leave others to perish. It’s not supposed to be that way. If someone rescued you spiritually by telling you about Jesus Christ, then the eight words in our word for today from the Word of God are personal orders from God to you. Jude, verse 23, simply says, “Snatch others from the fire and save them.” The implication is that you got snatched from the fire, now go back and get someone else. That was instinctive for Andrew the day he met Christ. The Bible says, “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ … and he brought him to Jesus.”(John 1:41-42) And Simon, of course, became the great leader of the apostles, Simon Peter. My guess is that when you first discovered the love of Jesus for yourself, you had that Andrew instinct. You may not have done the best job of explaining Jesus at that point, but you just knew that people you cared about had to have the same chance you had. That’s how the rescue work of Jesus has gone on for 2,000 years – rescued people become rescuers of others. But as time has gone by, have you become content to just find a warm spiritual spot among other people who are already headed for heaven; you believe the beliefs and you live as if the reason you were rescued is to enjoy the fellowship of the others who’ve been rescued? No, you were rescued to rescue. Oh, we have our excuses for our silence about our Savior. “I’m afraid, I’m inadequate, I’m imperfect, I don’t know enough, I might mess it up.” Well, look at who Jesus used to bring an entire Samaritan village to Him – a woman with the worst reputation in town, a woman who had just met Jesus, but she knew enough to say, “Come see a Man” (John 4:29). “Come on, check out Jesus.” If Christ could use her to be His ambassador to her tribe, He can surely use you to be His ambassador to yours. They’ll listen to you because you walk the same trail they do – much more than they might listen to some “professional rescuer” who comes from outside their world. You’re in their world with them. Hundreds of people were rescued from the sinking Titanic by being in lifeboats. But those same people refused to turn those lifeboats around to rescue the people who were in the lifejackets in the water, even though a lot of lifeboats were half empty. And 328 people died because the people who had been rescued did nothing about the people who were dying all around them. You’re in the lifeboat “Jesus.” Please, turn your lifeboat around and help pull some others to life.

  4. 3d ago

    Lost and Not Knowing It - #10377

    The setting was a beautiful Christian conference center, nestled in this idyllic spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now Rocky Mountain fans won't be impressed, but some of the mountains around the conference center rise to five or six thousand feet. I had been speaking there, and the director began to tell me some interesting stories from their last few months at the center, like the man they had to go looking for at the top of a nearby mountain in the middle of the night. See, he'd gone too far, and he'd stayed out too long. I asked the obvious question: "Well, was he lost?" The director said: "He didn't think he was." I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lost and Not Knowing It." Being lost can be a dangerous thing. Being lost and not knowing you're lost, or not admitting it, can mean extreme danger—especially if you're spiritually lost. You're away from God, you’re racing without knowing it toward an eternity without Him and you think you're doing just fine. If you're religious, or successful, or smart, things are going pretty well, you may be in the greatest danger of all of being lost and not knowing it, and as a result, ending up lost forever. Jesus has made a lot of us people who don't seem lost give a second thought with His revealing story of these two men with very different views of their need for Him. In Luke 18, beginning with verse 9, our word for today from the Word of God, the Bible says: "To some who were confident of their own righteousness... Jesus told this parable: 'Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee (that's the most religious people of Jesus' day) and the other a tax collector (usually regarded as some of the most sinful people in Jesus' day). The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank You that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'" Jesus continues: "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.'" Wow! You and I are probably one of these two men; the person who looks around at a lot of people who are much worse off and thinks, "Well, you know what? I'm doing okay." But we're not right with God. Or we're the person who says, "I know I'm lost. I know I have no hope of being forgiven. I have no hope of going to heaven except You, Jesus." Which one is you? The difference is the difference between heaven and hell. Romans 3:10 bursts all our self-sufficient, self-righteous bubbles when it says: "There is none righteous, not even one." But if you don't think or you won't admit you're lost, you'll never reach out in desperate faith to the only One who can bring you home, and that is Jesus, the Son of God. He died for your sins because there was absolutely no other way for you to know God or get into His heaven. Pride might be the number one reason people will end up in hell instead of the heaven they were sure they were going to. But they never admitted they were lost. They never pinned all their hopes on their only hope, Jesus, the Savior. God’s not willing to just leave you lost. He sent His Son for you. He doesn't want to lose you, and He's come to where you are today to give you this chance to admit that you are what He says you are—lost, and to finally surrender your pride and bow down at Jesus' feet. This could be your day to say, "God, be merciful to me a sinner and save me, for Jesus' sake." Finally free. Finally His. If you're ready to make the Savior your Savior, would you tell Him that today, "Jesus, I'm yours." I invite you to check out our website, where there's a lot more information about how to be sure you're going to heaven. It is ANewStory.com. There are two choices. Don't admit you're lost and be lost forever. Admit you're lost and be found forever. The stakes are eternal.

  5. 4d ago

    How Hard You Try - #10376

    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.

  6. Oct 16

    The Thirst That's Never Quenched - #10375

    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.

  7. Oct 15

    Overfed Christians - #10374

    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.

  8. Oct 14

    Making Sure the Family’s There - #10373

    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.

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