Walking With Jesus

Spielberg Wants to “Mess With” Your Faith

By: John Stonestreet and Timothy D. Padgett

*This Colson article is interesting and informative, but also helpful in showing us how we can more carefully view our Christian heritage, especially the power and authority of the Faith we believe and share. Blessings, Ed 😊

Award winning film director Steven Spielberg said recently that his new film will likely “mess with” a lot of people’s theology. “Disclosure Day” is about what would happen if there were a sudden mass revelation about the existence of extraterrestrial life. According to Spielberg, it will force people, especially Christians, to rethink Who God is.

As he told CBS Sunday Morning,

What does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have? … Is God our God only on this planet or is God a God for every system where there’s civilization, intelligent life, and even developing life?

It’s not unusual for celebrity artists to weigh in on things outside of their expertise, but this talented filmmaker is out of his depth. Even if there were a real life disclosure day, it would not alter anything about Christians’ fundamental beliefs. The God portrayed in the Bible created and oversees the entire universe. As the Psalmist said, “The Lord established his throne in the heavens, and his kingdom rules over all.” That could easily include other worlds and other life forms.

But of course, there is no evidence of that anyway. This is a film. Spielberg must think that Christianity is barely hanging on from falling into the dustbin of history.

If so, he’s certainly not the first. Expectations of Christian extinction go back to the beginning. According to the Gospel of John, the High Priest Caiaphas thought that killing Jesus would erase His influence. When He failed to stay dead, the Jerusalem authorities thought that bribes and rumors would keep them quiet.

The Romans spent centuries trying to stamp out Christianity, from Nero who infamously burned believers in his gardens to Marcus Aurelius who believed he could mock them out of their faith. By the 200s, the Church had grown so much that Emperor Decius decreed an empire-wide assault on Christians. By the beginning of the fourth century, Diocletian instigated the Great Persecution. In the end, persecution set the stage for toleration. Eventually, under Theodosius I, the Roman Empire was Christianized.

Later, when the Western Empire fell to Germanic tribes, the Church did not fall with it. Instead, Christianity not only endured but the pagans were converted. Islam tried to take down the Church a few centuries later. After subjugating Christianity in the Middle East, Muslim raiders seemed poised to conquer Western Europe. They were stopped in the middle of what is France. Almost 1,000 years later, armies of the Turkish Sultan advanced to Vienna, twice, before being pushed back. The smart money would have been that Christianity would fall, but it did not.

During the Enlightenment, confidence that the Church would fall was at an all-time high. In the 1700s, the influential French thinker Voltaire claimed that he was “living in the twilight of Christianity.” In 1822, Thomas Jefferson added that, “I trust there is not a young man now living in the U.S. who will not die a Unitarian.” Voltaire’s home later housed a Bible society, and Jefferson’s generation was followed by religious awakenings and an explosion of missionaries sent around the world.

In the twentieth century, the Communists predicted the end of what Marx called the “opiate of the masses.” Everywhere they went, revolutionary groups assaulted religion, especially Christianity. In Russia, China, Cuba, and elsewhere, the first targets of the Communists were churches, pastors, priests, and other religious groups. Often the persecution worsened out of frustration that the Faith simply would not die. In the end, Christianity stood over Communism’s grave, after contributing to its demise.

Whether from internal failings or external threats, Christians can be discouraged. But, to borrow a quip from Mark Twain, predictions of the church’s demise are greatly exaggerated. If emperors and empires and armies haven’t stamped it out, Steven Spielberg doesn’t have a chance.

Offensive!

“The Lord has given me a strong warning not to think like everyone else does. He said, ‘Don’t call everything a conspiracy, like they do, and don’t live in dread of what frightens them. Make the Lord of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life. He is the One you should fear. He is the One who should make you tremble. He will keep you safe. But to Israel and Judah He will be a stone that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem He will be a trap and a snare. Many will stumble and fall, never to rise again. They will be snared and captured.” (Isaiah 8:11-15 NLT)

The above words from the Prophet Isaiah would have been highly offensive to his fellow Jews, as he exposed their shallowness and lack of understanding of the ways of the God they supposedly loved and served. Isaiah was warning them of impending destruction because of their disobedience and disregard for the Lord’s instructions.

Many today detest the Old Testament for its violence, destruction, and seeming lack of consideration for the sanctity of life, but the battles the Lord described in the Old Testament are “pictures” of spiritual truths that became evidenced in and through the ministry of Jesus. The “battles” we face with temptation and Satanic attack are just as real and when you factor in the billions of people in the world who are falling victim to Satan’s attacks, the wars in the Old Testament pale in comparison.

Many want to dismiss the authority of Scripture and treat it, at best, as an historical account, but Robertson McQuilkin describes it this way: “We call this book—and only this book—the Word of God. That is why it has supreme authority for our lives.” To dismiss the Bible is to dismiss life as it was always meant to be lived, not only here, on this planet, but in heaven when this planet is no more.

It seems in the days in which we now live too many believers in Jesus tread very lightly around the issue with which the world wrestles. The real question behind many questions today is: “Who’s in charge?” “Why isn’t someone doing something about __________?” David Platt had it right when he said: “The most offensive claim in Christianity is that God is the Creator, Owner, and Judge of every person on the planet.”

Why is that so offensive? Largely because people assume if God is in charge, why did He allow the the world to become such a mess? When in reality, God is the only one trying to fix things. SIN is the reason the world is in such a mess, which was man’s choice, and Jesus is the only answer God has given the world to make things right again. But we’re so in love with our sin, we can’t allow the Lord to change us individually, thus, the issues we have collectively.

Here’s the truth. To the extent we yield our life and allegiance to Jesus, the mess in our lives will find a cure. The offensiveness of the Gospel of hope and help in Jesus is that people don’t really want an answer to their sin, they want a pass to continue to wallow in it. That’s why hell is so offensive to so many, they don’t want to face the consequences of their own disregard of the truths of Scripture.

People love the thought of heaven and want to believe everyone will go there, but sin separates us from God here on earth and will continue to separate us from Him for all eternity unless and until we allow the holiness of God’s only perfect Son to take our place on the Cross and we recognize as we see Him there – that was FOR ME! Jesus died on that Cross FOR ME!

When the offensiveness of our sin grows strong enough to drive us to the foot of that old rugged Cross, that will be the day our sins will be forgiven and we’ll finally celebrate the privilege of becoming a child of God who can look forward to one day being in the heaven Jesus died to allow us to go. If you don’t know Him, please tap on anewstory.com and find out how you can have your sins forgiven and begin a new life in the Savior, the Lord Jesus.

Blessings, Ed 😊

You Be You

*Please let these challenging words of Ron Hutchcraft bless and encourage you as they did me. Blessings, Ed 😊

My next door neighbor in our dorm in college always wanted to preach like Billy Graham. I mean he really wanted to preach like Billy Graham. He would record Billy Graham on his radio program, and then he would listen to the tapes over and over again. He would copy everything, including even the inflections of Billy’s voice. And then he would watch Billy Graham. He studied his gestures; he’d try to get them down and gesture just when Billy Graham would. He’d hold his Bible like Billy Graham. Now you are going to think he was really a fanatic, but this really is true. He told me he even counted the words per minute that Billy Graham averaged and tried to get the same pace. Wow! That’s a crazy way to approach ministry, huh? Well, it’s more common than you might think.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “You Be You.”

Our word for today from the Word of God – one of the most challenging, exciting statements in all of the New Testament – is in Ephesians 2:10. This is about you now. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Wow! God has created you as a unique, one-of-a-kind servant, uniquely prepared, uniquely wired by Him for a very unique set of plans which He prepared in advance for you to carry out.

The problem comes when we start to compare ourselves with other people. You really can’t compare yourself because you are a category all by yourself. You might never count the words per minute in somebody’s sermon to copy them, but maybe you are looking at someone else God is using and you’re saying, “You know, I can’t talk like that. I don’t know what they know. I’m sort of shy; I’m not that outgoing. You know, I don’t have the training they have. I could never serve God like that; I’m not like that person.” You’re right! You’re not like them. Hurray! You weren’t meant to be. You were created for works only you can do.

I think we should look for models and learn from their values and their thinking and their ways of working, but not to become clones. The Mona Lisa is an original, it’s priceless, but you can buy a postcard of the Mona Lisa for like 50 cents at the museum, because copies are cheap. Originals are priceless. Don’t devalue yourself by copying someone else; trying to be like someone else. There’s so much in social media that makes us want to do that. Don’t do it! That’s an awful, unnatural bondage if you’re still trying to be like someone else.

You see, everything you need – to do what God put you here to do – you have. And all those things that you don’t have? Guess what? You don’t need. You’ve got the right hair, you’ve got the right height, you’ve got the right body, you’ve got the right voice, you’ve got the right intelligence, you’ve got the right talents, and you’ve got the right limitations – even your background. See, God is using your background to make you into that unique servant of His. He’s weaving a tapestry, and putting into that tapestry the people and experiences that will make you the man or woman you were designed by Him to be.

So be yourself! Relax! Be the person that God made for a unique role that you are destined to fulfill. You compare with somebody else? You’ll never get off the ground. You try to copy someone else, and you will never be the person you were created to be.

I think you can say as you look at your life and the plans that God has for it, “God, you know what You’re doing.” He sure does. Thank Him for making you the only you there is, and don’t try to be a Christian clone. You are an original. So, you be you.

Awe!

“Let the whole world fear the Lord, and let everyone stand in awe of Him. For when He spoke, the world began! It appeared at His command. (Psalm 33:8-9 NLT)

When the Lord speaks, important things happen! When the Lord speaks, it just makes sense that we should listen! As impressive as Creation is, the Creator is even more impressive. Without the Creator there would be no creation. Without the Lord Jesus, who IS the Creator, we would have no life. And without His sacrifice there would be no eternal life in heaven for us.

“Whoa! Genesis 1:1 says: “In the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth.” Yes, it does, but in John 1:1 the Bible clarifies the passage in Genesis when John writes: “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through Him, and nothing was created except through Him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His life brought life to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.” Jesus IS God! Why is that fact so vital for us to understand?

In some people’s minds it’s almost like Jesus is a second thought or on some subpar level under God. “What’s the big deal about Jesus?” is the thought on some people’s mind. “Isn’t He just another religious teacher like Muhammed or Buddha?” He certainly was a great teacher, but what makes Him great is He was God in human flesh. There has never been, nor will there ever be another Jesus. He alone was qualified to die in our place for our sin.

In the Bible He’s described as “one of a kind” through the Greek term monogenēs (μονογενής), which literally means “the only one of its kind.” Why is it so important that we have a proper understanding of who Jesus is? Because unless and until we do, we’ll never even begin to grasp the privilege we have to know Him as Lord and Savior.

Until we’re awestruck at the mention of His holy name we’ll be tempted to be casual about our life in Him and our love for Him. But when the thought of Him brings tears of joy to our eyes and an attitude of gratitude, respect, and awe we’ll begin to understand that nothing, absolutely nothing is beyond His ability to accomplish for the sake of righteousness and the furtherance of His eternal purposes.

Why is that important? Because it should make a difference in how we pray if we keep His absolute authority in clear view, but it should also help us in the way we live. It should strengthen our faith so that it leads to unquestionable obedience and worship, equipping us to be vessels of love, kindness, gentleness, and the other fruit of the Spirit, but more importantly, enabling us to be vessels through whom His life will freely flow into those around us who have no clue who He is or why He died.

Ray Majoran puts it this way in his powerful prayer: “Forgive us for the times we grow impressed with what we can build, control, measure, or explain, while our hearts fail to recognize Your sovereign reign. Open our eyes to see Your eternal power in what You have made (Romans 1:20) and deepen our reverence to Your glory. May we be people who declare Your mighty acts, passing on the testimony of Your greatness from one generation to the next (Psalm 145:4-6). By the power of Your Word and Spirit, strengthen our faith so that awe leads us to obedience and worship. May each and every one of us confess with our lips and show with our lives that You have done great things, and You are worthy of our trust.”

Awe for the Lord Jesus grows out of love for and life in Him, so, if you don’t know Him, please tap anewstory.com and find out how you can have a life you never dreamed possible, a life filled with awe and expectation.

Blessings, Ed 😊

An Infinite God

“He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds. He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!” (Psalm 147:3-5 NLT)

Most of us struggle to wrap our minds around the enormity of our God’s capacity to care, to understand, and to help. He is unlimited in His resource of strength, knowledge, and ability. For example, by multiplying the number of stars per galaxy by the number of galaxies, scientists estimate the total number of stars in the universe to be roughly 10²² to 10²⁴, or up to one septillion stars, yet, the Lord calls them each one by name. And we’re concerned He’s going to lose track of the measly 8 billion people on our little planet.

It’s easy to believe, especially if we don’t know the Lord, that He’s too busy caring about everyone else’s issues to know what’s going on with each of us, but that’s not the case at all. In fact, He even knows the number of hairs on our head, which of course, is easier with some of us than others. But more importantly, He knows the deep thoughts that we struggle to understand and the emotions that entangle us and bring endless tears.

As my personal issues intensify and I find tears harder to hold back, it drives me to my Father’s heart as I know He captures my tears and understands my deep longings. Life is hard and it can get harder as we age, but I’m comforted to know the Lord is with me and for me. A. W. Tozer addressed this when he wrote: “An infinite God can give all of Himself to each of His children. He does not distribute Himself that each may have a part, but to each one He gives all of Himself as fully as if there were no others.”

That reinforces the idea the Bible conveys that the Lord loves each of us as if we were the only child He had to love. But here’s the mind-blowing part of that idea – even if someone has never heard of Him, or even if you don’t know Him as Lord and Savior, He knows every detail of your life and still loves you with His whole heart, enough that He allowed His only Son to die for you. You have the Lord’s full attention when you speak with Him. Are you taking advantage of that great privilege? Often throughout my day, even as I’m struggling to type these words, I’m communicating with the Lord my deep need of Him and my desire to please and honor Him with every fiber of my being.

But need alone isn’t sufficient to touch the heart of God. Yes, of course, He hears when we call out to Him, but like any loving parent, my sense is He loves it when we come to Him, not only because we have needs, but when we come simply to be with Him and to love Him for who He is. He’s not human and He doesn’t need anything, but it’s helpful to us to love Him for more than what we perceive we can get out of Him.

He can’t be manipulated or tricked into doing something for us that is out of His character to do. He responds to us with complete understanding of not only what we’re asking, but why. That’s why He knows perfectly who belongs to Him and who does not. Which raises the logical question: Do YOU belong to Him? Have you given Him your life by faith?

The Prophet Isaiah reminds us: “What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the Lord, who do their evil deeds in the dark! ‘The Lord can’t see us,’ they say. ‘He doesn’t know what’s going on!’ How foolish can you be? He is the Potter, and He is certainly greater than you, the clay!” The greatest human intellect is like that of a gnat compared to the Lord. For someone to believe they can outsmart the Lord or think they know better or more than Him is to magnify their ignorance and increase their need of pity. As the Psalmist confirms: “For You are great and perform wonderful deeds. You alone are God!”

If you don’t know Him, please tap on anewstory.com and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a helpful explanation as to why you need Him and how to accept His invitation to a new life you may never have imagined existed.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Trust and Healing

*Please allow these powerful words of Sylvia Gunter to encourage and warm your heart. Sylvia’s tender heart for the Lord is such a blessing. Let these words from the Lord speak and help you. Blessings, Ed 😊

Father God has spoken a promise over your life that cannot be broken: “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). Your Father has not abandoned you. He is not distant or disinterested in your story. His perfect love drives away fear and gently quiets the anxious places in your heart (1 John 4:18).

So come and rest in His love. Let your heart receive from your heavenly Father the blessing your soul has longed for, the affirmation, protection, and tenderness that perhaps your earthly father could not fully give.

Be blessed with fresh encounters with the Father heart of God. May He meet you personally and intimately, revealing the depth of His affection for you. Be blessed to receive His perfect healing, the kind of healing that reaches the deepest places of your soul and restores what has been wounded.

Your Father delights to bring healing, recovery, and restoration where trust has been broken. His work is not rushed or mechanical; it is careful and personal. He restores your heart according to the beautiful design He dreamed for you before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).

As you drink deeply of your Father’s love, He renews innocence within you. He gently restores childlike faith—the simple trust that knows it is safe in a Father’s embrace (Matthew 18:3). In His presence, your heart learns again what it means to rest, to believe, and to belong.

A Prayer of Response

Father God,

Today I choose to trust You. I choose to believe that Your heart toward me is kind, good, loving, approachable, and welcoming. I choose to align my will with Your will. I bind my mind to the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). I bind my emotions to the Holy Spirit, inviting His healing and His alignment within me.

Thank You for inviting me to know You as Father, not merely as my Master, my Judge, or my King, though You are all these and more. You are my Abba, my Papa.

“How majestic is Your name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1). I stand in awe of who You are, yet I am overwhelmed that the God of the universe welcomes me close as His child.

Thank You that You created me to be loved by You and to love You in return. Thank You that Your heart delights in me—that You enjoy having me near You.

The greatest blessing in my life is nearness to You. Thank You for drawing me close so that I may experience joy, peace, and fullness of life in Your presence (Psalm 16:11).

Thank You for holding me in Your everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Today, I accept Your invitation to come closer to rest deeply in the safety of Your Father’s heart.

Amen.

Struggles

“This is why we work hard and continue to struggle, for our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.” (1 Timothy 4:10 NLT)

A few points of clarification before we continue. First, Paul’s struggle wasn’t to gain hope or to meet the demands of God to secure his own hope, but because his hope was already “in the living God.” Salvation in Christ is by faith alone. Works are an expression of our existing and secured salvation, not an effort to earn or maintain it.

Secondly, Paul mentions that “our hope is in the living God, who is the Savior of all people and particularly of all believers.” Paul’s deliberate effort here is to amplify the fact the God of Creation is present and made manifest in and through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. Jesus IS God in human flesh, and is the Savior of the world, of all people. What does that mean? Does that mean that all people are or will be saved? No, that’s why he added, “particularly of all believers.”

Only those who believe, who have put their faith and trust in the living Savior are born again of the Spirit and filled with His empowering presence. The blood of Christ is adequate to save “all people,” but all people haven’t and won’t repent, believe and confess their need of the Lord Jesus; thus, while He’s the only Savior of all people, clearly implying there is no other, all people won’t be saved.

The purpose of our struggles as a Jesus follower isn’t to cripple, delay, or stop us in our progress as a believer, but to better equip us in our efforts to allow the Spirit to enable us to stand strong for Him. In much the same way as those who exercise, workout, run or in other ways seek to stay in shape, struggles give us the resistance we need to build our spiritual muscles.

Max Lucado says it this way: “Don’t see your struggle as an interruption to life but as preparation for life.” If the faith we claim isn’t ever exercised, might we have reason to doubt it exists? Our faith is living, active, and growing or it’s dying or nonexistent. As Jesus followers we don’t have the luxury of sitting around waiting for something to happen, we must be proactive at submitting ourselves to the Spirit’s leading as He enlists us into the service of our Master, the Lord Jesus.

Recently I read a story of a young woman who was on an upper level of one of the Twin Towers on 9-11. When the plane hit she quickly made the decision to leave the building and found safety before her building collapsed. What she said afterwards arrested my spirit: “I only wish I’d urged my friend to come with me!” We can’t let our struggles block the path to someone’s salvation. Hell is real, much worse than death in a collapsing building, as horrible as that is, and we must not risk forgetting to warn everyone we possibly can to yield their life to Jesus while there’s still time, to come with us to Jesus!

Struggles aren’t caused by our love for Jesus, they’re just part of what it means to be human, but they’re sometimes intensified because we hate the devil. He’s going to do all within his limited power to assault us and keep our focus off reaching lost people for Jesus. Not sure if you’ve noticed, but our most vulnerable time to be attacked by the enemy is shortly after a spiritual breakthrough or victory. Our struggles sometimes intensify during or following an effort to be most available and useful to our Master.

He’s our hope and our goal is to share that hope with as many people as possible in the very short time we have on this earth. Struggles are designed by the Lord to make us better, not make us bitter. Stand strong for Jesus regardless of your struggles and let the devil know where he’s going and that you’re doing your part in keeping as many as possible out of his ugly reach.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

5 Truths to Transform Your Present and Your Future

By: Rick Warren

*This helpful article by Rick Warren is a companion article to Ron Hutchcraft’s article in yesterday’s post. Please use them to aid and equip you to share the truth and urgency of the Gospel message with those who are perishing in your spheres of influence. Blessings, Ed 😊

“Things that are seen don’t last forever, but things that are not seen are eternal. This is why we keep our minds on the things that cannot be seen.” (2 Corinthians 4:18 CEV)

Everything you see around you is temporary. It’s what you can’t see that will last forever.

And those eternal, spiritual realities are what truly matter.

The truth is, spiritual realities are just as real as physical realities. And you need to be sure to focus on the spiritual ones—because they are part of reality. Here are five spiritual realities you need to understand:

God made you to love you. Jeremiah 31:3 says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (NIV). God created you to love you, and he wants you to learn to love him back. This is the most important reality of life.

You were made to last forever. The Bible says, “He has . . . set eternity in the human heart (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV). The evangelist Billy Graham talked about death this way: “Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it. I shall be more alive than I am now. I will just have changed my address. I will have gone into the presence of God.” He is in the presence of God now.

God has prepared two eternal places. Both heaven and hell are real, literal places. They’re not just “states of being.”

You get to choose where you’ll spend eternity. You won’t accidentally find yourself in heaven or hell one day. You’ll be where you are because of a choice you made. If you choose to make Jesus the boss of your life, you’ll spend eternity with him in heaven. If you choose to reject him, you’ll spend forever in hell. There are no other options.

You get no second chance to make your choice. Your choice has a time limit. You have your entire life to make the decision about where you’ll spend eternity, but you can’t change your mind after death.

What you do with these five truths will affect your eternal destiny and transform how you live on this side of eternity.

Life on earth is always uncertain, so if you haven’t already made the choice for Jesus, go ahead and do it today. If you’re ready to commit your life to Jesus, then pray this prayer:

“Dear Jesus, you have promised that if I believe in you, everything I’ve ever done wrong will be forgiven, I will learn the purpose of my life, and you will accept me into your eternal home in heaven one day.

“I confess my sin, and I believe that you are God, my Savior. I receive you into my life as my Lord. Today, I’m turning over every part of my life to your management. You have the right to call the shots in my life.

“Jesus, I want to relax in your love. Thank you that I don’t have to earn it, deserve it, or work for it. I want to use the rest of my life to serve you instead of serving myself. I humbly commit my life to you, and I ask you to save me and accept me into your family. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.”

If you just prayed to accept Jesus, please email me at Rick@PastorRick.com and let me know about it. I’d like to send you some free materials to help you start your journey with Jesus.

Talk It Over

Why is it important to keep your mind focused on the things that cannot be seen?
What unseen spiritual realities has God helped you to be particularly aware of?
Why do you think God gives you your whole life to make a decision about Jesus, but he doesn’t give you a second chance to decide after death?

Ignoring, Postponing, and Dying

*Please let these powerful words of Ron Hutchcraft speak to and challenge you as they did me. Each of us has those in our spheres of influence who need this vital message. Blessings, Ed 😊

Our plane was racing down the runway, preparing to take off from Nashville. I was so exhausted, I was already drifting off into la-la land. Then came those jolts as the front wheels left the ground. The team member who was with me said, “Have you ever felt anything like that?” I said, “No.” And I dozed off. I wouldn’t sleep for long; the flight attendant suddenly announced that we had blown a rear tire on takeoff, and we were heading back to Nashville. For the next 45 minutes or so, we were circling the area, burning up as much fuel as possible for what could well be a crash landing. I called my wife from the plane. I asked her to get people praying. My team member joined me in committing this whole situation to the Lord. The flight attendants went into emergency mode to begin to prepare us for the landing. They demonstrated how to brace for the landing. They had us pull out our emergency instruction card from the pocket in front of us; something they had asked us to do before we took off; something hardly anyone did. But as the attendant began her briefing she prefaced it with a simple exhortation, “This time I want you to really listen.” We really did!

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Ignoring, Postponing, and Dying.”

I’m very thankful to God for the way He answered prayer and brought our crippled aircraft in safely for a welcome from an armada of emergency vehicles and personnel. I was impressed with how the crew had prepared us. I was impressed with the way we all listened. And why did they have our total attention the second time when they reviewed those exits and evacuations? It’s obvious, because we were in a critical situation now; because the information could be life-or-death.

Our word for today from the Word of God, Hebrews 2:3. “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?” God has been trying to communicate life-or-death information to some of us for a long time. That word “salvation,” that’s not just a religious word. That’s serious stuff. Salvation is how to get out of a plane that might be on fire; how to get out of a burning building. But like those passengers on that flight, we don’t pay much attention to salvation information until we’re suddenly in a critical situation…until we finally realize that what we do with this could be the difference between life and death.

God is used to people, as it says here, “ignoring such a great salvation.” Maybe He’s been trying to get your attention with the most critical information you will ever hear – that we’re under an eternal death penalty for running our lives our way instead of God’s way. And that His one and only Son, Jesus, absorbed all your sin and all the hell of it when He died on the cross, and that your only hope with God is putting your total trust in Jesus, like a person in a burning building would pin all their hopes on the rescuer who came to save them.

You’ve heard that news before, and maybe you’ve even accepted it with your head. Maybe it’s been that God has even shaken things up recently. He’s asking for your attention before it is eternally too late. He says, “This time I want you to really listen.”

This requires an action step of making Jesus your personal Savior. If you haven’t done that – if you’ve been putting that off – consider this God’s emergency call to make your peace with Him.

I believe there’s someone reading this right now who’s saying, “I don’t think I should risk one more day without the Savior.” Are you ready to begin this life saving relationship, to open your heart to Him? Tell Him that right now. I want to help you in every way we can, that’s why our website is there – ANewStory.com. It will help you find your way home to Jesus.

God simply says, “How will you escape if you ignore such a great salvation?” Especially after what it cost. It cost God’s one and only Son His life! Please, don’t ignore this any longer. Your life – your eternity depends on it.

Another Look at Hebrews 6:4-6 (Part 2)

“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened – those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come – and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing Him to the cross once again and holding Him up to public shame.” (Hebrews 6:4-6 NLT)

In yesterday’s post we sought to shed light on this passage by explaining it isn’t referring to someone who commits their life to the Lord, but one who has learned what salvation means; they’ve been “enlightened”, but have chosen to walk away. If any part of our salvation is dependent upon us, we have no security and will always wonder if we’re truly saved. By God’s grace I know with certainty that when I close my eyes in death, I will open them in the presence of my Savior. How do I know that? Because Jesus promised it was true.

Is that because I’m such a spiritual person? No, it’s because Jesus is perfect and took upon Himself my guilt and shame and gave me His Holy Spirt as a seal, as an ever-present confidence that what He says is finished, is truly finished. “Does that mean I just set back and relax; live anyway I want and wait to die?” Only if you want to end up in hell. No one who loves Jesus is ever going to do that.

There’s still another consideration. Where does free will factor into the equation. If I come to Christ by my will, can I not choose to walk away exercising that same free will? That has always been confusing to me, but the Lord explained it to me this way. When I came to Christ I traded my life for His, my heart, mind, soul, will and body became His by faith.

When we’re saved and filled with God’s Spirit, there is a very real sense in which we no longer have or desire a will of our own. Often I will say to the Lord, “Whatever You want, that’s what I want. I don’t want a will of my own, I only want your will to be my will.” Yes, of course that may take time to realize, but salvation involves surrender and someone not willing to surrender isn’t yet ready to be saved.

There is no spiritual growth without the ministry of the Holy Spirit and there is no Holy Spirit without genuine confession, repentance, and subsequent work of the Spirit in and through us. It may be just me, but early on in my walk with the Lord, it upset me to think I was working like mad to keep my salvation while others just got to coast. NEWS FLASH! The work was done on Calvary! The only work we do is to give expression to the salvation we already have, bought and paid for by Jesus our only Savior.

When Jesus died, He said from the Cross: “It is finished!” It’s the Greek word “Tetelestai” which means “The debt is paid in full!” Our good works aren’t payment for our sin; they are expressions of our obedience that reflect we ARE saved. Lost people aren’t seeking to glorify and honor Jesus, only saved people are. “Yeh, but what about all those who are just faking it?”

“Are you one of them?” Otherwise, what concern is that of yours? Don’t you think the Lord knows who are His? We need to stop worrying about who’s in and who isn’t and focus on being the best example of Jesus we can possibly be. “But what if someone I know who professes to know Jesus is living in open sin?” Lovingly direct them to the Cross, speak frankly of their need to repent and help them confess their need to the Lord and move forward in their faith, then walk with them closely. Ask them to be accountable to you and tell them you will be accountable to them.

Am I assuming everyone who is living in open sin is lost? Not necessarily. A new believer will sometimes struggle with some nagging sin for years. I did, but over time the Lord delivered me. What if I’d died before the Lord delivered me? I’d still have gone to heaven because my debt was paid in full on the Cross and my salvation isn’t dependent upon me but upon Jesus. That may sound like a contradiction, but honestly, the Lord alone knows our heart and it’s His decision to make. But if our heart is to do God’s will and we keep failing, yes, of course, we need to get help figuring out how to get it right, but that doesn’t mean God will abandon us. Sanctification, like salvation, is a process on many levels.

It’s like birth, it takes the baby time to learn how to crawl, walk, run, eat, and a thousand other things that just take time to learn, some of which we never master. I can train to be a mile runner for a lifetime and never run a four-minute mile, but that doesn’t lessen the fact that I’m a quality, dedicated runner.

However, if I’m a slacker, just doing the least I can do to get by, that’s another story. The price we pay when we’re walking in disobedience to the Lord is intimacy with Him. The closer we walk with Jesus the more we’ll grow to hate our sin, the more we’ll want to be rid of anything that separates us from Him or prevents us from sharing His love with others with authenticity. We’ll strive to grow in His likeness.

If you love your sin more than you love Jesus, you likely haven’t committed your life to Him. But here’s the truth. Until Jesus comes, we will do battle with the enemy of our soul – our sinful nature, our bent to sin, but, ideally, the longer we serve the Lord and spend quality and consistent time with Him, the less appeal our sin has and its grip loosens.

Our security must always and only be in Jesus’ ability to keep His promises and to never lie, not our own. The Holy Spirit is our strength, not our will or ability to perform.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊