Walking With Jesus

When You Know You’re Not Staying

*Knowing the Lord’s return is near, we must be about our Father’s business. These timely words from Ron Hutchcraft were just too powerful not to share with you. Please take them to heart. Blessings, Ed 😊

One of the great chapters in the history of the modern church has been the Billy Graham crusades, reaching millions of people around the world. Now carried on through his son and grandson. We were preparing for one in our area, and it was amazing to watch the Billy Graham Crusade Team move in to help us organize what was an unprecedented effort. One of our first jobs was a pretty practical one. The setup team needed housing for the year. A lot of people had ideas of what kind of places the team members should live in, but the Crusade Team, they had experience. They knew what it took to come in for a year.

For one thing, they moved every year, if you can imagine that. We’re talking committed people here. I heard the Crusade Director explaining to a realtor just what they were looking for. He said something like this, “We need a one-year lease. We won’t be here long.” Okay. “We need the most reasonable price; we can’t spend a lot. We need a place that will require minimal yard work and maintenance. We’ll be so busy we won’t have much time.” Well, you know what? I think they’ve got it right.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “When You Know You’re Not Staying.”

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Peter 2:11. Listen to how you and I are spoken of as believers. “Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and strangers in the world to abstain from sinful desires which war against your soul.” The King James Version uses “pilgrims in this world.” Well, whatever word you use, the point is clear; we’re just passing through. We’re like those Billy Graham Team members. We’re not staying in the area too long.

Jesus told His disciples to keep it simple. He said, for example, in Luke 9:2-4, “He sent them out to preach the Kingdom of God, and He told them, ‘Take nothing for the journey, no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic. Whatever house where you stay, remain there until you leave that town.'” In other words, “Travel light. Don’t get bogged down with earth stuff. You’re not staying here for too long.“

Many of us sure act like this is our final destination. We’re building quite a kingdom of house, a kingdom of car, we’ve got our recreational equipment, we’ve got our nest egg all built up for the future. Hey, we’re just pilgrims! And pilgrims keep it simple. They travel light. I like what those Billy Graham staff people said before that crusade, “We won’t be here for long. We can’t really spend a lot on this stuff. We won’t have much time to spend on maintaining a base.”

That’s how we all ought to be living. The tragedy of many North American Christians is that we are so encumbered. We can’t go very far for the Lord or give very much for the Lord, or get too involved in the Lord’s work. We are owned by what we own. These are times when I think God is calling us to think about our lifestyle in terms of what really matters forever. If it isn’t going to matter there, how much should it matter here? To simplify our lifestyle; to stop this growing buildup of earth stuff and debt obligations. He wants us to be less attached to earth and more attached to heaven.

Jesus is still looking for some modern day apostolic type people who aren’t burdened down with a lot of baggage. Think about it. Pray about it. Does your Lord want you to simplify your life in some ways? Does He want you to lighten up on the baggage a little bit? Does He want you to start to untangle your life some?

You see, you live very differently when you know you’re not staying.

Is the Gospel Absurd?

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By His death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.” (Hebrews 10:19-20 NLT)

Under the Old Jewish Covenant only those specifically designated to enter the Holy of Holies were allowed. Otherwise, to enter meant certain death. The rules were strict and the stakes were high and to believe or do anything contrary had very high consequences. On some levels people in our world today still view God in that antiquated way, believing He is vengeful, “out to get us”, just waiting for us to step out of line so He can squish us like a bug, if He exists at all.

For someone to come along today and share that “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” is like saying, “Even though today you are living in poverty, if you truly believe, you’ll be a billionaire.” In some ways it’s easier for people to believe they can become wealthy financially, than free and whole spiritually. For far too many, the fantasy of a loving God is just too absurd to wrap their minds around, but why? Why is it so hard to believe that there is a God who loves us and has good plans for us?

Could it be too many have yet to meet and get to know someone who is a new creation in Christ Jesus? Are we so self-absorbed as children of God that very few non-believers have access to us? Have we become so invested in our Christian friends we have no time or energy to invest in the lost? Yes, of course, it takes intentionality and effort, but in essence that’s the very purpose of our new life in the first place.

Why has the Lord regenerated our hearts and given us newness of life except to share it? I’m reminded of the Samarian woman at the well, who after her encounter with Jesus, the Bible said: “The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, ‘Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did!…So the people came streaming from the village to see Him.”

Why aren’t people “streaming” to Jesus because of our testimony? It can only be because of one of two reasons: we have no testimony and/or we’re not sharing it with any lost people. Why not? Isn’t that our commission? Shouldn’t we be sharing our love for Jesus with anyone and everyone we can? Isn’t He coming soon? Isn’t His love worth sharing?

Brennan Manning wrote: “The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation.” We’re not saved to be museum exhibits, we’re saved to declare the new life we’ve been given that would have been impossible except for the love of God given visibility and meaning through the loving sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the embodiment of everything we want to become as we share His life and love with others.

Jesus spoke with those whose lives were “unspeakable”, loved the unlovable, touched the untouchable, and saved the unsavable! Those are the kinds of people who are OUR MISSION! Those to whom the Gospel seems absurd and unbelievable. They may wear nice clothes (or not), smell nice (or not) speak well (or not), know the lingo (or not) and are just pleasant to be around (or not), but if they haven’t had their sins forgiven and their lives transformed by the grace of the Lord Jesus, they’re lost and very much in need of a Savior…a Savior we know and can freely share with them if we will!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Freedom and Duty

“So the commander went over and asked Paul, ‘Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?’ ‘Yes, I certainly am,’ Paul replied. ‘I am, too,’ the commander muttered, ‘and it cost me plenty!’ Paul answered, ‘But I am a citizen by birth!’” (Acts 22:27-28 NLT)

Citizenship is a key ingredient in the issue of freedom. Some Nations’ leaders in our world today want to drastically restrict the freedoms of their citizens for fear their independent thinking will give rise to rebellion or resistance. That is no place more notable than in the New Testament when Christianity became such a driving force in the Roman world.

The context of the above verses illustrates a point of conflict between Roman rule and the freedom Paul enjoyed as a citizen of Heaven. Yes, he was also a Roman citizen, but what got him in trouble wasn’t his allegiance to Rome, but His allegiance to King Jesus. It will get us in trouble today, but not necessarily for the reasons you might expect.

Freedom implies duty, responsibility to live and abide by the governing principles of the authority to whom we yield our allegiance. That’s never more true than when we become a child or God, yielding our eternal allegiance to our King, the Lord Jesus. To believe we can mumble a few words of “prayer” and believe our “duty” to God is complete is to jump in a raft on the shoreline of the ocean and believe our trip across that ocean is complete.

Salvation begins at confession and belief, but it certainly doesn’t end there. Our allegiance to King Jesus is tested every day in the challenges we face in determining to whose “lordship” we’ll bow. Satan, while powerless to force our allegiance, will continue to tempt and interrupt our heart and mind as he seeks to distract us from the duty to which the Lord calls us. And what “duty” is that? Holiness! Christlikeness!

The writer of the Hebrew letter reminds us that “Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.” (Hebrews 12:14 NLT) The writer is using language that implies effort, as though we’re being pursued by those with intent to harm us. Our work to allow the Spirit to perfect His holiness in us demands attentiveness and intentional effort.

Holiness isn’t the sum total of all our individual efforts, it’s the opening of our mind, heart, and body to the unhindered authority of the Holy Spirit to use us in any way He sees fit: to speak to us and through us in times and places of His choosing, to offer help to those in need, to give of our resources, or to serve in whatever way the Spirit directs us to give of ourselves, even unto death.

John Foster Dulles reminds us: “Freedom & duty always go hand in hand and if the free do not accept the duty of social responsibility, they will not long remain free.” That’s never more true than in our walk with Jesus. When we content ourselves with our “personal salvation”, neglecting to share our faith with others, we’re not only limiting our own freedom, we’re restricting the Spirit’s freedom to use us as He wishes.

As Jesus’ followers, we’re not our own, we are bought at a very high cost, the priceless blood of our Savior, so, to pretend we have no debt of gratitude to the Lord for the freedom He purchased on our behalf is to smugly pretend we earned our own salvation, thus, illustrate very vividly our lostness and uselessness to God’s Kingdom. Our duty is first and foremost to Jesus, then to the Spirit who rules our life. Our freedom in Christ is reflected in and through our dependence upon and submission to the Spirit.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Is Redemptive AI Possible?

By: John Stonestreet

*This informative and helpful article, which comes from the Colson Center, as always, is encouraging and gives us tools to deal with how to manage our understanding and use of AI. Blessings, Ed 😊

A longtime friend, who has had great success incorporating artificial intelligence into an already successful business, likened the recent Colson Center Great Lakes Symposium on artificial intelligence to an old man yelling, “Get off my lawn.”

He’s not wrong, at least when it comes to a lot of ways AI gets talked about.

Our speakers (me included!) spent the majority of the time warning against the dangers inherent to this incredible technology. And there are dangers, specifically how easily the technology can be weaponized for deception, exploitation, and control, as well as the potential for replacing humans in relationships, work, and creativity.

Their warnings should be heard and heeded. Probably the most important advice of the evening was that we should each of us closely evaluate how we are using AI, especially what habits we are forming as we do.

At the same time, to only say what’s wrong with AI is to only tell part of the story, both of the world and of the complicated relationship that humans have always had with technology.

The Bible offers a story of the world that can be summarized in four chapters: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. All four are required to properly understand any aspect of human activity, including business art, medicine, or technology.

Technology is possible because of how God made humans and the world. Our sin has corrupted creation and our technologies, which carry the potential for good and evil, or both. Our fallenness can also blind us to the ways our technologies shape us, especially how we think about God and other people. Christ’s work is redemptive, not only to individual souls but for all of creation. And so, we look forward to His return, when creation is restored. Our task in the meantime is to join the work of restoration wherever and however we can.

If we talk only about the fallen uses of AI, we miss an opportunity to celebrate where God is using it for His glory. Praxis, a network of Christian entrepreneurs that trains leaders and inspires innovation, describes three ways that any venture or technology can be used. The exploitative way is a “take-what-it-can-get,” zero-sum, “I win, you lose” posture. In contrast, the ethical way does things right, follows the rules, and aims for a fair deal. But there’s a third way, according to Praxis Partner Andy Crouch. The redemptive way is fundamentally other-centered and echoes the pattern of Jesus laying down His life to save the world. Like Him, our work should be driven by an “I sacrifice, we win” mindset.

Because our technologically driven culture is bent toward efficiency and productivity, we rarely hear stories of this third way. So, here are three that could be described as redemptive uses of AI.

The Rare Genomics Institute, founded and led by Dr. Jimmy Lin, uses genomic technology powered by AI-assisted analysis to help patients with rare, undiagnosed diseases finally get answers, often after years of searching. With AI, Rare Genomics helps and heals those whom the market has no incentive to care about.

Every Tribe Every Nation, an alliance of Bible translators, recently reported that because of AI assistance, Bible translation timelines are being reduced by as much as 25 years. New translation efforts are being launched at a pace of every seventeen hours. Today, only a few hundred of the world’s heart languages remain untouched by any translation effort, and that number is shrinking fast.

After completing the Colson Fellows Program, Jake Carlson launched The Apologist Project, a conversational AI solution built on biblical worldview and trained on the world’s best Christian apologetics content. It is empowering ministries in the U.S. and across the world to extend their digital reach to skeptics through evangelism and discipleship.

In addition to these examples are many others, including medical institutions and businesses that benefit from the data crunching AI provides.

Of course, the dangers also remain, not least of which include the corrupted visions of humanity driving those who champion these technologies. Right now, visions of AI run from those who want to help humans, to those who want to heal humans, to those who want to enhance humans, to those who want to replace humans.

To put it mildly, we need discernment if we are to tell the difference between these radically different visions, choosing those uses within the first two visions while rejecting uses within the latter two. Christians who are grounded in the essential truths of a Christian worldview will have much to offer in the days ahead. In practice, that will mean not confusing AI with image bearers and not reducing image bearers to only their “intelligence.”

It has always been true that technologies can be used to deceive and to exploit or to heal, help, and proclaim truth. The most important difference is not the technology itself, but who is using it and why. Christians aren’t just called to diagnose brokenness. We are called to find where God is at work and to join Him there.

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All We Need!

“You see, we don’t go around preaching about ourselves. We preach that Jesus Christ is Lord, and we ourselves are your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let there be light in the darkness,’ has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6 NLT)

Every Sunday at the close of his message our Pastor asks us a question: “What is your next step?” He’s a young man, but the Lord has filled him with wisdom beyond his years. Every one of us, whether we began our journey with the Lord in this moment or 100+ years ago, has a next step. It’s obviously going to be different depending on several variables, but not until the Lord calls us home will we complete our last step of obedience. So, the logical question becomes – What’s my next step?

Obedience need not be cumbersome or hard; it simply needs to be consistent and Spirit led. Paul gives us clues as to our next step in the verses above when he quotes the words of Jesus: “Let there be light in the darkness.” As believers our lives should be filled with light, thus demanding we allow the light of Scripture to illuminate and inform every dimension of our life.

If we’re going to be people of light, we must allow the light of the Holy Spirit to exam our heart. The Psalmist invites us to allow the Lord to search us in Psalm 139:23-24 when he writes: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”

How does the Lord test us? He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. He allowed Job to go through a long bout with suffering, and He allowed Jonah to be swallowed by a whale. Fortunately for us, He typically will test us through temptation. As a rule, each of us have areas of weakness that Satan uses to continually hound us, but the Lord promises in 1 Corinthians 10:13: “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.”

The words of Scripture empowered and enabled by the Spirit WILL provide everything we need to stand strong and walk faithfully before the Lord. The Lord caught my attention today with a verse I’ve literally read hundreds of times, but it jumped out as I considered this topic of all we need to take the next step in our walk with Him. It’s in Luke 24:45 and says: “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Do you remember when Jesus said these words? After His resurrection!

The Lord’s resurrection ignited and released a power through the Spirit that is unparalleled and Satan cannot match. When we read the Words of God with an open mind and heart, He will equip us with everything we need to be everything He’s called us to be. Satan would have us crawling around whimpering and complaining because we’re simply weak spiritual worms with no strength and no stamina to stand up to Him, but that’s a lie from hell.

Here’s the truth – we have the same authority that Jesus had when He told Satan in Luke 4:8 to “Get behind Me!” What that meant then and what it means to us now is that Satan is powerless in the face of our Almighty and Holy Savior – the same Savior who has purchased our salvation and delivered us from the authority of the evil one. You and I have everything we need in Jesus! We can take whatever next step He instructs us to take in His power and authority because He’s paved the way through His defeat of our enemy Satan and his emissaries.

Let me close with the powerful words of the Psalmist ringing in your spirit: “Open my eyes to see the wonderful truths in Your instructions.” (Psalm 119:18) Instructions that have freed us to walk with the Lord Jesus in absolute power and authority over our enemy!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Loving God with Our Mind

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2 NLT)

The only way to get our body under control is by allowing the Lord to harness our thoughts and redirect the intentions of our mind. Right behavior follows right thinking, not the other way around. If we can’t get our thinking right, we’ll never act right in the sight of God and others. Faking it can only get us so far, then the real us begins to seep through. But how can we get our mind harnessed to think God’s thoughts?

Therein lies the problem – WE can’t! Only by yielding our life and allegiance to Jesus, being filled and empowered by His Spirit, can we ever hope to allow the Spirit to give us what we need to not only think correctly, but live and act correctly. Every addiction with which we wrestle is at its core a spiritual issue. To try to escape the tentacles of pornography or immorality in whatever form, alcohol, drugs, misuse of money, lying, gossiping or whatever other sin pattern we’re seeking to escape, without the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, we’ll sink as quickly as Peter on the water.

We’re too prone to trust our feelings, not our informed and Spirit-directed mind. When we DO the right thing, we’ll FEEL the right way about it. Right actions follow right thinking and right thinking only comes by the empowerment of the Spirit of God. You may be familiar with the “Train” illustration. There are three cars in the train – the engine is FACT, pulling the second car FAITH, then the caboose, FEELINGS.

Facts are gathered in our mind through study, memorizing, and meditating upon God’s Word, listening to godly teaching, followed by growing faith developed through the establishment of godly disciplines, fellowship with Spirit-filled brothers and sisters, consistent worship, and devotion to the habit of prayer. The proper emotional response to all of that will be channeled by the Spirit and governed by His authority.

The Spirit leads us, not through our emotions, but through our mind. We can get all worked up emotionally, but until and unless we allow the Holy Spirit to harness that emotion and channel it in healthy ways, it can result in nothing more than an emotional frenzy that doesn’t honor the Lord or anyone else. Never in His life did Jesus lose touch with the Spirit’s control of His body, mind, and spirit, and neither should we.

E. Stanley Jones guides us when he writes: “The Bible redirects my will, cleanses my emotions, enlightens my mind, and quickens my total being.” Everything the Lord desires to teach us will come from His Word. Nothing of eternal value will be derived from anything that isn’t rooted in the Truth of Scripture. To deviate from God’s Word is to lose our way, whether that comes in the form of false teaching, emotional misunderstandings, neglect, or blatant disregard to the Spirit’s leading through yielding to sin.

Feeding our mind on the words of Scripture fueled by intentional meditation upon them and meaningful, God-honoring, faith-filled prayer are the only avenues of proper nourishment of our mind, which, under the anointing of the Spirit, must be the governing agent of our walk with Jesus.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Measuring Faithfulness

“If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities. And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven? And if you are not faithful with other people’s things, why should you be trusted with things of your own?” (Luke 16:10-12 NLT)

Have you ever stayed in an Airbnb, a rented cabin, motor home, or even someone else’s tent? How did you treat them? As someone else’s? Or as your own? Having never made a lot of money, especially as a Pastor, I was often given the privilege of using other peoples’ things. An elderly couple in our church offered my new bride and I an opportunity to spend a few days in their condo on the beach; our Pastor let us use his car to pull his RV to the beach when our kids were small; and a widow who wasn’t even part of our church loaned us her pop-up camper several times because we couldn’t afford one of our own. There were other ways people blessed us, but I mention those because it validates a point.

Each time we were blessed with the use of someone else’s property or possession we treated it as our own. We tried to leave it better than when we got it. Am I bragging? No, I’m simply sharing a principle my parents taught me when I was young. I didn’t realize it then, but I know now it was the Biblical principle of Stewardship.

You see, in reality, nothing we possess as a child of God, including our body, belongs to us. The Bible uses the term “steward” to help us understand that we are owned by the Lord Jesus and everything He entrusts to us, whether purchased or borrowed, is not our own and must be treated as though it’s a gift given directly from Him – because it IS! A steward is a manager, not an owner!

Think of the implications in the care of our own body and soul. We treat our body as though it belongs to us, eating, drinking, ingesting things that over time turn it into a physical nightmare, then cry out to God as though it’s His fault. Or we say a prayer then continue to live like the devil and wonder why the Lord seems so far away. The stewardship of our possessions is such a small piece of the total stewardship to which the Lord calls us. On many levels our faithfulness as a steward of God is what defines us as a believer, as a follower of the Lord Jesus. The Lord measures our faithfulness, not so much by what is ours, but by what is His – EVERYTHING!

As often he does, my friend Ray Majoran addresses this idea in his beautiful prayer. Let me close with his words as he prays…

Please forgive us for treating what You have entrusted to us as though it were entirely our own. We confess that money, possessions, comfort, and the approval of others can quietly compete for our devotion. Expose the small compromises that reveal divided hearts, and keep us from measuring faithfulness by what other people can see. Thank You for Jesus, who, though He was rich, became poor for our sake so that through His poverty we might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Holy Spirit, please help us to be faithful with both little and much. May each of us use our time, abilities, and possessions in ways that demonstrate our allegiance to You rather than money (Luke 16:10-13). Teach us to store up treasures in heaven and to set our hearts on what cannot be taken away (Matthew 6:19-21). When the leaves have fallen and our earthly stewardship is complete, may our lives bear witness that Christ was our treasure and Your eternal Kingdom was our home.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Missing Person

By: Ron Hutchcraft

*This very personal and challenging message from Ron Hutchcraft was just too good not to share. The Lord has clearly anointed Ron’s ministry and it’s clear he’s listening. Enjoy! Blessings, Ed 😊

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.

The Ugliest Thing in the World

“So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone. But many people recognized them and saw them leaving, and people from many towns ran ahead along the shore and got there ahead of them. Jesus saw the huge crowd as He stepped from the boat, and He had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So He began teaching them many things.” (Mark 6:32-34 NLT)

Have you ever been picked on, bullied, or castigated by people whose opinion of you didn’t really matter? Yes, of course, you would have preferred they liked you or at least ignored you, but, in some settings, it’s almost expected. But it’s not nearly as bad as having someone you really liked, admired, or even counted as a friend tear you down, or worse, treat you as though you didn’t exist.

The verses at the top of the page reflect a time shortly after the twelve returned from a ministry tour. Jesus had commissioned them to go out, taking nothing with them, sharing the Good News that people should repent and turn to the Lord. The Bible tells us in Mark 6:12-13 that they cast out demons and healed many sick people. As you might imagine they were excited to be reconnecting with the Lord and couldn’t wait to share all the Lord had done in and through them.

Yet, as excited as they were to finally be alone with the Savior, the Lord had to prioritize the hungry crowds, to whom He likened “sheep without a shepherd.” Put yourself in the Apostles sandals for a second. You’re tired yet filled with excitement you’d never imagined. The power of God has flowed in and through you in ways you’d never experienced, and you are bursting at the seams to tell the Lord, yet, at least in your mind, He was setting you aside for all these strangers who were craving His attention. Yes, of course, He was showing compassion to THEM, but what about US – ME?

Ever felt that way? Left out by the Lord? After a “Mountain Top” experience with Him, it’s like He’s forgotten all about you. What’s up with that? Sometimes compassion is a hard lesson to learn because we too often believe it’s just for us. The above scenario led to the feeding of the five thousand men, plus their wives and children, an unprecedented experience in the lives of the disciples and for the people whose lives were changed because of it.

In some ways it’s like the Lord was saying: “Yes, what you were allowed to experience is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. What I have in mind for you is far greater than you have the capacity now to imagine, but you must put lost people first, not your feelings or your longing for the flow of God’s power in and through you. Lost, spiritually hungry people are the context of the Spirit’s overflowing and your compassion for others must far outweigh your desire for personal recognition.”

Francis Schaeffer wrote: “Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” What that means to me is we can get everything right: our doctrine, our stance on Biblical inerrancy, abortion, and many other things, yet feel no compassion for those whose lives are being consumed by lust, greed, impurities, sexual sin, including but not limited to homosexuality, and all the rest. We can so focus on our goodness because of what Jesus has done for us that the overshadowing “badness” of lost people turns us away, rather than draws us to them with broken hearts bent on being Jesus to them!

Compassion is a broken heart for the lostness of those who don’t yet know Jesus, whose hearts haven’t been changed, renewed, and made alive by His powerful presence at work in and through their lives. My sense is, Jesus was teaching His disciples what He longs to teach each of us, that no matter how tired, weak, sickly or desperate we are to be left alone, to rest, relax, to just be with Jesus, if an opportunity arises for us to be Him to someone who desperately needs Him, we’d better get over ourselves and serve them as though they were Jesus Himself. To do otherwise is among the ugliest things in the world to the Lord.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Accomplishing the Impossible!

“So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. ‘How long has this been happening?’ Jesus asked the boy’s father. He replied, ‘Since he was a little boy. The spirit often throws him into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.’ ‘What do you mean, “If I can?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”’” (Mark 9:20-23 NLT)

What “impossible” situation have you found yourself in? What is it that you believe you most need? A healing? Money? Shelter? A job? A break? Freedom from your oppression? Whatever it is, as long as your focus is on “that”, whatever “that” is, you’ll never find your answer. Impossibilities only become possibilities when they’re committed into the capable hands of the Savior.

The boy’s father in the story from Mark 9 (above) had come to his end. Surely, he thought, the disciples of the great Jesus could heal his son, but to no avail. They were powerless, but why? Were they not counting on the holy Name of Jesus to empower them? Probably, but for whatever reason, it wasn’t enough. This demon needed to be confronted by the powerful presence of the Son of God Himself.

“Mindful of Us” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

That’s what we need in our “impossible” circumstances, but how? Steven Furtick gives us a clue when he writes: “Accomplishing the impossible is all about seeing the invisible.” Yes, of course, Jesus, at least for now, is “invisible” to the human eye, but certainly not to the eye of our heart. Just as the human ear can’t hear His voice, the untrained, undisciplined, and unexpectant eye cannot see the presence and power of the invisible Savior. So, what do we do? How do we learn? How can we allow the Spirit to train us to understand that He is mindful of us and will allow us by His grace to become more and more mindful of Him?

Prayer is the only way! And by that I’m not implying the reciting of words, I’m seeking to convey an attitude of our heart that doesn’t doubt but has allowed the Lord’s Spirit to so shape our heart and mind that we’re always filled with expectation as to what the Lord is going to do in and though our lives. He has no limits and by His grace, neither do we. Yes, of course, we have many physical, emotional, financial, and other human limits, but not in the Spirit. As the eagle soars to heights other birds can’t attain, the Spirit allows our spirits to soar in ways humanly unimaginable except for those whose trust is in Jesus.

“Oh, but that’s for the ‘Super Christians’!” I hate to break it to you, but there is no such thing. There are only Christians and non-Christians, those who believe and those who don’t, nothing in between. Those who trust in what they see and those who learn to trust the One who is invisible. Let’s close today with this beautiful prayer from Ray Majoran entitled Mindful of Us. Let Ray’s thoughtful words help us to open our heart to our invisible Father.

Majestic Lord, Your glory fills the earth, and the heavens display the work of Your hands. You established the moon and stars in their appointed places, and even as the moon passes into shadow, it remains under Your sovereign rule (Psalm 8:1, 3). When we consider the vastness of what You have made, we are humbled by the brevity and smallness of our lives. Yet You are mindful of us and care for us, though we have done nothing to deserve Your attention (Psalm 8:4). Thank You for creating us in Your image and giving our lives dignity and purpose before You (Genesis 1:27).

Father, please forgive us for searching for significance in our accomplishments, possessions, and the approval of others. Help us to turn from the pride that exaggerates our importance and from the unbelief that tells us our lives are unnoticed or without meaning. Teach us to live as people who are continually mindful of You.

When we look upon the heavens, lift our thoughts beyond creation to the One who made it. Help us to be humble beneath Your majesty, and faithful in the responsibilities You have entrusted to us. May our lives proclaim that Jesus is crowned with glory and honor, and may everything we do direct attention to Your excellent name throughout all the earth (Psalm 8:9).

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊