A Word With You

Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
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Daily A Word With You

  1. 6h ago

    Knowing the Words, Knowing the Lord - #10332

    A friend of ours is an avid hunter. In fact, so much that he's been known to skip church occasionally during duck hunting season. He's well known in the church, so the pastor notices when he's not there. With a twinkle in his eye, our friend explained recently how he's prepared to handle pastoral questions like, "Where were you on Sunday?" He said he's actually named his duck blinds where he hides to hunt those birds. One he has named "The Word." The other is named "Prayer." So when the pastor asks where he was on Sunday, he simply answers, "I was in 'The Word,'" or, "I was in 'Prayer.'" That's messed up! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Knowing the Words, Knowing the Lord." Obviously, this is a hunter who understands the value of camouflage, as in the value of hiding behind some wonderful spiritual words. While his words are meant to be more whimsical than deceptive, they illustrate a deeper and more dangerous issue that is rampant among us church folks. We know how to use all the right Christian words and have just the right Christian look. We put it on every time we walk in the church door, but often it's camouflage that's covering up some issues in our life that aren't Christian at all. Jesus put it this way in Mark 7:6, our word for today from the Word of God: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." You can say all the good, God-honoring things and still underneath have a heart that is far from Him. A life that has, beneath all that spiritual camouflage, some attitudes or actions that have no place in a child of God, someone who's been rescued at the price of the blood of God's Son. We forget that God doesn't look at the "outward appearance" but "at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). In other words, the only One who really matters is not fooled by our Christian words. Your whole relationship with Him, His blessing on your life, is all about the condition of your heart. Could it be that you've been hiding some serious un-repented sin under the camouflage of those beautiful spiritual words? You can be talking about prayer and Bible study in the morning and swimming in the cesspool of Internet pornography at night. Your Christian words can mask all kinds of hidden bitterness, lust and deception, or a compartmentalized life that's all about Jesus in the God-compartment, but all about you at work, at school, or at home. You can even try to put Christian words on things that are anything but Christian. You can call it conviction, God calls it stubbornness; you call it compassion, God calls it compromise; you call it love, God calls it immorality or adultery. Isn't it time you looked in the mirror and maybe saw the hypocrite behind the beautiful words? There's freedom, there's forgiveness and there's integrity waiting for you at the cross of Jesus Christ, where you need to bring all the sin that's been hiding behind all that spirituality. One of the greatest dangers of being in a Christian environment is that you can know the words and never know the Lord. You can have a religion that's all about Jesus and never have Jesus. Jesus said there will be people like that on Judgment Day to whom He will say, "I never knew you." Could it be you've got Christianity but you don't have Christ? You've mistaken agreeing with Jesus for being committed to Jesus, and that mistake will cost you heaven. But today Jesus brought us together so you can experience what it is to know Him for real. Make this the day you say, "Lord, all this time I've missed You. But I want You in my heart, not just in my head. I'm Yours." Listen, our website is set up as a place where you can go and actually make sure you belong to Him. Would you go there? It's ANewStory.com. It isn't the rhetoric of Jesus that matters; it's the reality of Jesus. So come to Him today as you really are. There's so much you've been missing. You can have it today.

  2. 1d ago

    Guaranteed Disclosure - #10331

    Every once in a while the monotony of driving the Interstate is broken by some interesting signs. Sometimes I'll see one and my mind will get going, and it will process what I saw and I'll think about it for several minutes. I remember one in particular. There was a big, old truck speeding down the Interstate and it had in bold letters this sign: "Guaranteed Destruction of Confidential Files and Records." Well, that got me going! There was also a phone number. I didn't write it down; I didn't actually have any need for their services. But there was a number to call if you wanted all your confidential things destroyed. I thought about who might want a service such as that. I brainstormed some intriguing reasons and some intriguing people who might want to call that number. Guaranteed destruction! Actually, there's another sign that interests us even more. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Guaranteed Disclosure." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 4, and I'll begin reading at verse 4. Paul says, "My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness, and He will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time, each will receive his praise from God." This phrase that brings to light the hidden things and exposing the motive of men's hearts in the original Greek has the thought of turning something inside out; opening all the closets, showing what no one else has seen before. In other words, God is going to expose every secret. Now, there might be some who think they've destroyed all the evidence. The fellow driving that truck, he had that sign that said, "Will destroy your confidential files and records." Did you know that no matter who destroys them on earth, God still has His copy? He knows every detail of every one of your financial dealings, every financial transaction, and every business transaction. He knows the letters you have written that you want no one else to see. He knows your motives, your websites. He's recorded every idle word, every angry word, and every dirty word. We think we got away with it because no one else knew. If God knows, you're caught, and He does. And so will everyone else one day. That's why the Apostle John says, "Walk in the light as He is in the light." It's so freeing to be able to live saying, "I've got nothing to hide." Live without sinful secrets. You don't have to worry then if the closets come open. There's nothing there to hide. Live lives that are relaxed and confident, because you've got no fear of discovery; you don't have to keep looking over your shoulder. When you're living within the limits, you don't have to keep looking in the rearview mirror to see if the law enforcement is coming over the hill. Again, some of the most liberating words in the world; look in the mirror, "Nothing to hide." Isn't that awesome? God's sign says: "Guaranteed Disclosure of Confidential Files and Records." So, live the kind of life that isn't afraid of everybody knowing, because they will.

  3. 4d ago

    The Hole in Your Heart - #10330

    Our friend had a medical procedure to repair what the doctor called "a hole in her heart." Then he told her that everyone is born with a hole in their heart. That got my attention. Really? I called a longtime friend of mine who is a highly experienced and respected heart surgeon. He told me that before we are born, there's a hole that is this passageway for blood to enter our pre-natal heart. In most people, and I'm glad I'm most people, the hole heals up within a few days after birth. But for a few, it doesn't go away, and it really needs to be repaired. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Hole in Your Heart." So everyone is born with a hole in their heart. Not just physically, but spiritually. But unlike that physical hole in your heart, the spiritual one doesn't go away unless you let the greatest physician of all fill that hole. That spiritual hole in our heart keeps letting us know that it's there through the loneliness that no relationship seems to remove. The emptiness that never goes away for very long, no matter what we do to fill up our life. The "what's it all for?" questions about life that make everything seem so ultimately meaningless. It's like there's this voice inside us that seems to be saying, "Something's missing." We keep thinking the next relationship will be what we're missing, or the next thrill, or the next accomplishment, the next spiritual experience, the next "toy," the next milestone. But every time we get to the top of the hill we think has what we've been looking for, we find there's another hill to climb. After a while, we assume that this hollowness inside, this hole in our heart is just how it is. The Bible describes King Solomon as the richest and wisest man of his time. And he had the resources to do it all. Here's his conclusion: "I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." But just accepting that hole in your heart is ultimately deadly. It needs to be treated. It needs to be healed by the only One big enough to fill that hole in your heart; the God who made you to belong to Him. The brilliant physicist Blaise Pascal concluded that "inside every man is a God-shaped vacuum." The hole in your heart is there to tell you that you really need God and that He isn't there because of something that makes it impossible for God to live there - all the sinning you and I have done; all the wrong things. Until that's forgiven and removed, the God you were made for has to remain outside. In John 4:13-14, our word for today from the Word of God, Jesus is at a well, talking with a woman who has tried to fill the hole in her heart with one relationship after another. Jesus says to her, and to you, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst ... the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Wow, those words, "Thirsty again" - that's the hole in our heart. "Never thirst" - well, that's the hole in our heart finally filled as Jesus erases every sin of your life with His amazing forgiveness. He can do that because He did all the dying for all the sinning you've ever done. It's paid for. Which means your heart can be clean today and the God of the universe can finally move in; your lifetime search over. But you have to reach out to Jesus. You've got to tell Him that you're done driving your life, and that you're trusting completely in His death for your sin. Would you tell Him today, "Jesus, you made me. You've got me. You paid for me with your life on the cross. I'm yours." He's alive. He walked out of his grave. He can walk into your life right now. You know, there's great information about how to be sure you belong to Him at our website. I want you to see it, check it out today. It's ANewStory.com. Haven't you lived long enough without the One you were made for. You don't have to live without Him one more day.

  4. 5d ago

    Desperate for An Answer - #10329

    Sometimes I wish it were in my power to get every church youth group in America to go on a missions trip. Something unusual happens when some all-American kids suddenly get plunged into another culture to do some work in Jesus' name. It does something for the people they go to help, but I think it does more for the kids who are doing the helping. I heard a local youth group report on their trip to Mexico. Basically they had all of their support stripped away from them while they were there. It was a language they weren't accustomed to, the money was different, they didn't have the comforts they were used to, they had some spiders hanging over them as they slept at night which they for the most part don't have at home. They had unfamiliar food. The customs were things they weren't used to. The result on these mission trips is pretty predictable. All of a sudden, kids who never have devotions are up early in the morning on a rock with a Bible somewhere. Kids who have always thought prayer was boring are saying, "Let's pray!" What they learn several thousand miles from home is something you may need to learn right where you are today. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Desperate for An Answer." Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Matthew 5:6. You might recognize this as being in what's called The Beatitudes, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. He says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." I think Jesus is describing spiritual health here in terms similar to what we do when we talk about physical health - appetite. How's your appetite? And He is talking about people who say, "I'm hungry for the Lord; I'm thirsty for the Lord. I need more of You, Lord. I need You!" Those kids on that missionary trip are learning a valuable lesson. With all of their usual dependencies stripped away, they find out that you know the Lord when you need the Lord. Maybe that's why third-world Christians have so much more power in their lives, and have so much more revival in their experience than we do. They don't have all of the props we do, and it seems that those who know the Lord the best are those who need Him the most. We dig deeply into the Lord when the bottom drops out. I'm sure you have. I have. And then, once things have stabilized, we tend to return to our old props. We tend to return to a casual Christianity instead of this desperately dependent but very rich faith. The fact is we desperately need the Lord every day, not just when the bottom drops out. We're as needy as the people in the third world. We shouldn't be confused because we've got internet, and movies, and concerts, and church services, and homes and all these other support structures. We just don't cling to Him because we're surrounded by so many other resources. Do we have to wait for all our resources to be stripped away before we learn how much we need our Lord? Do we have to be starving to death before we get to be hungry for more of Him? "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will be filled." See what we're missing because we haven't acknowledged how much we need Him? Even now, why don't you ask the Lord (it's kind of a strange prayer), "Lord, make me desperate for You." He'd rather do it without trauma and without tragedy. Ask Him to give you a new hour-by-hour sense of your desperate need for Him; an hour-by-hour dependency; the child on his Heavenly Father. And then live today as if God is your only hope, not just one of your many resources. When you need the Lord desperately, you get to know Him deeply.

  5. 6d ago

    No Such Thing as Mission Impossible - #10328

    "Good morning, Mr. Phelps." If you were a fan of the old school classic TV series, "Mission: Impossible," you would know those words always began a riveting adventure. Jim Phelps was the head of all the Mission Impossible Force before all the big movies, you know. He would listen to this tape, outlining this assignment that seemed, well, impossible. Key word–seemed. And even in more modern times when it's not a tape anymore, and when it's Tom Cruise who's doing Mission: Impossible, it's still sort of the same idea. You begin building a team of specialists, you concoct this elaborate, perfectly-timed plan to do what couldn't be done, and every time they get it done. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Such Thing as Mission Impossible." That's the conclusion you reached after watching that show for a while. For them, there's just no such thing as mission impossible. That's great fantasy stuff. It's a much greater reality when it comes to rescue missions undertaken by the One of whom the Bible says, "For with God, nothing shall be impossible" (Luke 1:37). That might be important for you to know right now, because there's a person in your life that seems beyond His reach. Well, wait a minute! There's no such person. The living proof of that is our word for today from the Word of God. Saul, the man leading the crusade to eradicate the early Christians. He is on the way from Jerusalem to Damascus to round up more of those hated believers. Acts 9:3 says, "As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?' 'Who are You, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting...'" After this dramatic encounter with Jesus, the Bible says, "Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus. For three days he was blind..." You probably know that this persecutor of Jesus' followers will ultimately become the greatest proclaimer of Jesus in the world; the world-changing Apostle Paul. I cannot imagine anyone in the world of the early Christians whom they would have considered a greater "mission impossible." But there's no such thing when it comes to God, including that person in your life who seems to be so hard, so far from God, so antagonistic, so impossible to get through to. In fact, maybe you've almost stopped believing, stopped seeking opportunities to point them in Jesus' direction. Maybe you've even stopped praying very much for them. Please, don't stop going to God on their behalf. Ask God, "Lord, do whatever it takes within Your will to get through to their heart." That's a powerful prayer...the "whatever it takes" prayer. He may have to knock them off their high horse, as He did Paul. He may have to bring them to a position where they're helpless, as He did with Saul. He may have to show up dramatically in front of them, but Jesus didn't die for them just to give up on them now. As you pray, this very moment, Jesus the ultimate Mission Impossible Man, is moving people, He's moving events to bring someone you love face to face with Him. You may not even be here for the answer to your prayers, but God has this promise for you in Galatians 6:9, "we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Mission Impossible? For Jesus, there's no such thing.

  6. Aug 11

    Looking Back Attack - #10327

    Most of the major milestones in college revolve around a little four-letter word. Maybe you remember; maybe you're experiencing it now. The word - exam. My wife and I ended up in some classes together while we were in college before we were married, and that meant we ended up being stressed out at exactly the same time, sharing the same questions, the same challenges. But it was after the exam that the differences we had really surfaced because we handled the exam aftermath differently. I'd come away rehearsing questions and thinking, "Well, how did I do on that one?" "What did you write for that one?" And, "Oh no, I forgot to write about that point." I thought about what I might have aced or what I might have missed; generally, I'd relive the exam. Now, my wife on the other hand; she had no desire to look back. When that exam was over, it was over and none too soon! She didn't want to go back and go over and over what was already history. I think she had the better idea. I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Looking Back Attack." Our word for today from the Word of God is from Philippians 3, and I'll begin reading at verse 12. Paul says, "I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." The imagery here is of a track runner. I happen to think that maybe Paul was a sports fan; he seemed to refer to the Olympics pretty often. And here's this runner going for the gold, and his first step to victory is to forget what's behind you. Let history be history; let the ground covered be the ground covered. You can't do a thing about it! You can't change the past. You can't do anything about the ground you already covered. In simple language, "Don't look back." Too often we're like that college "me." We rehearse again and again what is unchangeable history. I kept thinking about the exam and kept thinking about the questions; couldn't change a thing by thinking about them. And oftentimes we get to the point where we're not focusing on today, on the race that we've still got to run. It's good to learn from the past, but not good to dwell on it. Maybe you're having a looking back attack right now. Maybe it's a past hurt, and you just replay it over and over again. That replay is leading to resentment. If you don't go to the cross and find that grace to forgive that hurt, to release that hurt, you're going to stumble every time you try to run. It's time to focus on forgiving; a new beginning in that relationship. Maybe you're looking back at a past failure and you're paralyzed by it. You're replaying what you did wrong. Learn from it! Accept Christ's erasing and press on for the prize. Don't look back! Maybe you're reliving past history, but it doesn't really mean anything today. It's time to make some new victories, some new memories, gain some new ground for Jesus instead of cruising on the glories of the past. You run so much better if you keep your eyes like Paul said, "On the prize" rather than on the past. The steps that you already took just don't matter that much anymore. What matters is going for the gold today.

  7. Aug 10

    The Missing Person - #10326

    If you want to have a philosophical discussion about the subject of grandchildren, sorry - I'm busy. But if you want to talk about my grandson or my granddaughter, well I've got all the time in the world. I hope you do. See, if you want to discuss the institution of marriage, say goodnight. If you listen to this broadcast very much, you've heard a lot about the woman that I loved over the years very much. You know my Karen. You want to talk about that relationship, that would be my wife, be glad to talk to you for a long time about that. No-brainer! It's the difference between the institution and the person! I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Missing Person." You can know all about children and not have a son or daughter. You can know all about marriage and not have a husband or wife. You can know all about children, you can know all about marriage, and you can know all about church, all about Christianity and not have Christ. It's that great danger that's behind our word for today from the Word of God in 2 Corinthians 13:5. These words are actually written to church people. "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you - unless, of course, you fail the test?" God says it's important to not assume that you have Jesus just because you're in His "club," because you could even be a charter member of His "club," or maybe you're an officer or a leader in His "club." The question isn't, "Am I in Christ's group?" It's "Is Christ Jesus in me?" 1 John 5:11-12 couldn't make it more clear-cut: "He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." That's eternal life; whether or not you're going to heaven. And it comes down to one thing and one thing alone - do you "have the Son of God"? The answer depends on whether or not there has ever been a time when you, in essence, stood at Jesus' cross and said two words, "for me," whether or not there has been a time when you made a conscious commitment of you to Jesus; putting all your trust in Him to forgive your sin and to take you to heaven when you die. If you did that, you know you did. If you don't know you did, you probably didn't. Some of the most surprised people in hell are going to be people who believed all the Jesus-beliefs, went to all the Jesus-meetings, impressed all the Jesus-people, and tried to do a lot of Jesus-things. But somehow, they missed Jesus in all of it. Like a person who knows about marriage, who's been to many weddings, who thinks marriage is a great idea, but isn't married. There are a lot of church folks who have the system but they don't have the Savior. Maybe you. The reason all you've learned and done about Jesus leaves you feeling so hollow and incomplete may be because your heart is still missing Jesus. But it doesn't have to be that way for one more day. No, He's come knocking at the door of your heart one more time. The hardest part for you could be just finally admitting that after all this, Jesus is still not in your heart. But that one step will finally free you to finally know Christ for real. So if you're ready to move from the religion to the relationship, will you tell Jesus that right now? "Jesus, I don't want to just have beliefs about You. I want to belong to You. I turn from the sin You died for. And I believe You walked out of Your grave by Your own power. Beginning this day, Jesus, You've got me. I'm Yours." Today, if that's where your heart is, you're ready for this. Go to our website, it's for you. We made it for someone like you at this point. Make sure you've got this done. That website is ANewStory.com. Check it out today, please. You're so close, but you're not in. But you're about to be. And it will feel so good to finally belong to Jesus.

  8. Aug 7

    The Sign On Your Life - #10325

    I remember the last time I bought a house. It was a while ago, but I still remember that nervous feeling of stepping out on a limb that night to say to the owner, "We'll buy it." I was thinking, "Where in the world are we going to get the money for this?" And then the handshake, the signature on that document that committed most of my working life to paying for it. But the story was really told in two signs on the front yard. One was there when I came to look at the house. It said "For Sale." Then after we committed ourselves to buy it, they changed the sign. Of course it said: "Sold." I felt pretty good when I drove by there and said, "Hey, I know who that's sold to. That house is mine." And I knew that no one else was going to be able to drive up there and say, "Well, that's a nice house. I'd like this house." Nope! It was sold by right of purchase, and no one could have it but me! I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Sign On Your Life." Our word for today from the Word of God; we are in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. Listen to these words: "You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." Okay, there's a sign on your life. It doesn't say like it did on the house that I bought: "Sold." The sign on your life and mine says: Bought. You are a purchased person. You belong to the person who paid for you. Are you living that way? Are you living for the One who gave His life so you could have hope, so you could have a life, so your life could have meaning, so you could have an eternity in heaven, who paid with His life for yours? One way to tell: what are you doing with your body? That's a specific area that this passage highlights. You have no right to expose that body that He purchased, to devalue it, to degrade it, to neglect it. No, no, no, He paid for it. It cost Him His life to purchase you, including that body of yours. "Therefore," it says, "to glorify God in that body." Honor God with your body. It's almost like there's another sign on you that says: "Reserved For Jesus." You know, like a table at a restaurant, you can't have that table; it's reserved for someone else. As you're tempted to look at something or listen to something today that's dirty, remember you are a purchased person. You can't allow that garbage to pollute a mind that was bought by the blood of the Son of God. So many of our daily choices come into focus and are made a lot clearer when we remember - okay, here's a word that I'm making up - our boughtness. Our boughtness! We've been bought. It's not my money, it's not my car, it's not my house, it's not my business, it's not my body, it's not my talent. It isn't my right; I don't have the right to plan my own future. I've been purchased by the Son of God! You and I were purchased at the highest price in history. The Prince of Glory bled and died to buy you back from sin; to buy you back from being owned by this world; to buy you back from the Devil's plans for your life. Don't let anyone have what Jesus paid so much for. The sign on you says: "Bought By Jesus."

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Daily A Word With You

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  • Creator
    Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
  • Years Active
    2009 - 2026
  • Episodes
    588
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2026 Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc.
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    A Word With You

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