Walking With Jesus

Darkness to Light

“For once your were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true.” (Ephesians 5:8-9 NLT)

Notice a few things about the above verse that are easy to miss. First, before we came to know the Lord Jesus, we didn’t just walk in darkness, we “were full of darkness.” What does that mean? Imagine a large area, perhaps the size of a football field. The field is covered in sharp pieces of broken glass except for a curving strip about the width of your foot. How successful would you be trying to follow that narrow path barefoot in complete darkness? That’s life on this planet without Jesus.

We can’t escape what we are. As hard as we try to think right thoughts, make right decisions, or move in right directions, wherever we “step,” it only seems to bring pain, heartache, and negative consequences. “Yeh, but what about all the people who have lucrative careers, who can travel the world and live in luxury?” If “happiness” is your goal, having a lot of money can make it easier, but not necessarily enable you to reach your goal. Money alone doesn’t illuminate our path; in many cases it only contributes to the darkness. Money isn’t the issue, darkness is.

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Before Christ we ARE darkness, which means regardless of how much money we have, our judgment is clouded and the use of that money can be skewed in some very unhealthy ways. Is that to say that people with money never support humanitarian causes? No, of course not, what it means is their money can never get them to heaven. All the money in the world cannot buy someone the Lord’s forgiveness.

On the other hand, those of us who have yielded our lives to the Lord are not simply walking in the light, we ARE light. Jesus said to those of us who hunger for Him: “You are the light of the world – like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14) Think about the reason for light. Isn’t it to show the way? Isn’t it to light the path, to not only enable us to stay on the right path, but to help others find their way as well?

The reason the Lord allows us to turn from darkness to light isn’t about us, it’s about Him. He’s the Light of the world. He came into a world filled with darkness and brought light to those who were willing to see it and embrace it, but the world hated Him and did all within their power to snuff out His light, but they couldn’t.

Satan couldn’t persuade Him, sin couldn’t tempt Him, death and the grave couldn’t hold Him so on Easter Sunday when He burst forth from the grave, the world that lay in darkness, once again burst forth in holy light that cannot now be extinguished. That’s the light we become when we open our hearts and lives to Jesus. But we cannot be light and continue to walk in darkness; we cannot grow in the Light when we are continually seeking to hide in the darkness. Paul addresses this in 2 Corinthians.

So, the question becomes: Where are you? Are you living and spreading darkness or light; despair or hope; separation from God or being united with Him? Regardless of how much of this world’s resources we acquire, they will not satisfy long term. Only Jesus can fill the God-shaped void the Lord built into our life when He created us.

Please open your life to Him today. Haven’t you walked in the darkness long enough? Please tap on ANewStory.com. and let Ron Hutchcraft walk you through a simple path from darkness to light.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Are You All In?

“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow Me.’” (Matthew 16:24 NLT)

What’s the Lord prompting you to do, be, or say that is unusual or out of your proverbial “comfort zone?” Lead a class? Take a new job? Begin or end a relationship? Begin a relationship with Jesus? Get Baptized? Go on a Mission’s Trip? What’s YOUR next step? We all have one. Will you move to where He’s leading? Or stay where you are?

We can’t stay where we are and go where we’re called to go! A decision must be made, our will must be activated, and motion or movement must result. Too many of us want to give lip service to following Christ, but not get our feet involved, but it simply doesn’t work that way. What the spirit desires, the mind must instruct our feet to obey.

To say we’re all in but seek to limit God in the ways He can instruct us is almost like saying I want to learn to sky-dive but never leave the ground. You can watch videos about it all day long, but until you jump out of the plane, you’re never going to sky-dive. You can learn enough to teach a class, but if someone asks: “How did it feel the first time you jumped?” you’re going to be stuttering because the fact is, you’ve never left the ground.

It’s not unlike that with Jesus. We can read the Bible, even memorize all or parts of it, but until we bow before Him and relinquish ownership and rulership of our lives to Him, we’re just exercising our mind, not our heart and we don’t just follow Jesus with our mind, we must get our heart involved. Pastor Rick Warren wrote: “At an early age I told God, ‘I’m all in! I don’t care what you ask me to do or how tough it is, I’ll say yes—anytime, anywhere, anyplace.’ Since then, it has been a wild and amazing adventure doing what God has asked me to do.”

So, I’ll ask again: “What’s the Lord asking YOU to do?” It doesn’t matter what it is, if you’re sure it’s the Lord, take a blank piece of paper and write in large letters: “YES”, then sign your name at the bottom. “But what if it’s scary?” It will be. “What if I feel uncomfortable?” You will. “What if I’ve never done it before?” There’s a first time for everything. You’ll learn and you’ll improve. Just do the right thing and you’ll feel the right way about it.

I remember well one of my first sermons. I’d prayed, prepared, prayed more, prepared more, until the day finally arrived and I poured my heart out for the Lord. As I was standing at the door as people left, an elderly lady shook my hand and said, “Oh brother Hager, that was one of the best sermons I’ve ever heard, there’s just one thing, you’re going to have to learn to speak up, I hardly heard a word you said.” My sermons may not have gotten better, but they did get louder. 😊

Jesus told His early disciples, “Follow Me and I will teach you…” We learn by following, but we also learn by leading those we’ve been called to lead. Following Jesus is the delight of my life. I’ve grown to love Him and follow Him wherever He leads. Has it always been easy? Absolutely not! Has it always worked out as I’d hoped? Nope. Have I always learned something valuable and life changing! Nearly every time!

Just put your “yes” on the table, as I have, and leave the rest to the Lord. He has promised NEVER to leave us, and He always keeps His word. Regardless of where He leads or what He asks of us, we are NEVER capable, in and of ourselves. We MUST learn to lean completely on the Lord, allowing the Holy Spirit to fill, empower, and enable us to do whatever it is the Lord has asked, leaving the results to Him.

The ONLY way to effectively follow Jesus is ALL IN!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Human Brain Is Better Than Artificial Ones

By John Stonestreet and Dr. Timothy D. Padgett

*What a fitting follow-up to the message the Lord gave me for yesterday’s article. Please enjoy this wonderful message from the Colson Center. Blessings, Ed 😊

In a recent viral social media post, podcaster Aakash Gupta shared results from a 2024 study of the human brain. The study, he said, “should mass-humble every AI lab on the planet.” In it, scientists digitally mapped a cubic millimeter of the brain, equivalent to two grains of sand. The results are mindboggling.

The abstract for the paper described the speck as containing “about 57,000 cells, about 230 millimeters of blood vessels, and about 150 million synapses and comprises 1.4 petabytes.” A petabyte is a measure of memory capacity. So, as one website described,

“[A] typical DVD holds 4.7 GB of data. That means a single terabyte of storage could hold 217.8 DVD-quality movies, while a single petabyte of storage could hold 223,101 DVD-quality movies.”

Since the whole human brain is much, much larger than a cubic millimeter, that means that every person is walking around with a few hundred million DVDs worth of data. This, Gupta concluded, puts our work with AI within a larger context:

“We’re building AI systems that loosely mimic neural networks while still unable to fully read the wiring diagram of a single cubic millimeter of the thing we’re trying to imitate. … Every AI model on Earth fits in a fraction of that. The brain runs on 20 watts and fits in your skull. The data center required to merely describe one-millionth of it would span 140 acres.”

As impressive as their work is, the very best brains working in IT have a long way to go before their creations come close to what is inside an ordinary person’s head. And yet it is notable that our very best creations are mere imitations of what we find in biology. That is enough, to paraphrase Aslan, to “erect the head of the poorest beggar” and “to bow the shoulders of the greatest (AI engineer) on earth.” In fact, all should bow in amazement at what the Great Designer accomplishes every day.

Instead, such neurological discoveries often lead our brightest minds further into their hubris. The amazing storage and calculating capacities of the human mind are just another gap in our understanding, a gap traditionally filled by the religious. The more we learn, the thinking goes, the less we will need the placeholder fantasy of a Creator God, a higher order, or an ultimate meaning to life.

What is often missed, however, are the reductionistic implications of a Godless creation. In a materialist vision of the human person, the need for community is nothing more than herd-instinct. Our love for our spouse is bio-programming to reproduce. We don’t actually “love” our children; what we feel is what Richard Dawkins called the “selfish gene”.

Not only is this worldview morbid, it’s a fallacy of begging the question. As Brian Sickler noted in his book, God on the Brain:

“Before we start doing science, can we know ahead of time that no intelligent mind is behind the structures we are going to study? It seems that the only way we could know that is if we have reason to think the only things that exist are the very natural objects we are setting out to study. But how could science show us that?”

It cannot. Instead, it is like saying that once someone understands how the rotors on a drone work, there’s no need for an operator behind it. It’s to make the mistake of Eustace in Voyage of the Dawn Treader when he said that stars are made of gas. He’s then corrected, “Even in your world, my son, that is not what a star is, but only what it is made of.”

The truth is, like artificial intelligence, human intelligence is far too complex to have happened by chance. Like a series of icebergs where there’s always more under the surface, the deeper we go in our understanding of Creation, from brain mechanics to quantum theory, the bigger the gaps become.

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Immeasurable Love

“I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” (Ephesians 3:16-19 NLT)

Love is at the foundation of everything God does because love is who God is.

We’ve so cheapened the term “love” in the English language it’s difficult for us to grasp what it means when the Bible says that God loves us. Read again Paul’s beautiful prayer (above) and let’s allow the Lord to open our hearts and minds to a new understanding of what it means to be loved by the Designer, Creator, and Sustainer of all that is or ever will be.

If you’ve ever been away from the lights of the city and stared into the night sky, it’s as if the sky is ablaze with twinkling “lights,” we call stars. The closest star to earth is Proxima Centauri which is approximately 4.2465 light-years away. “Ho hum, so what!” you may be thinking. Consider this: A light year is nearly 6 trillion miles. Try to wrap your mind around that for a moment. But while your mind is spinning, consider that in the observable universe alone hosting hundreds of billions of galaxies, each contains billions of stars. And what we can “see” is only a fraction of what the Lord our God has designed and created. Yet, He calls them each by name! (Psalm 147:4)

“Boundless” “Used by permission, © Ray Majoran, GlimpseOfInfinity.com”

And people still have the audacity to believe there is no God. Give me a break! But that’s telescopic information, turn your eye to the microscope. A recent study estimates that an average adult has between 30-37 trillion cells depending on sex, age, and body size. But why does any of this matter?

Because the same God who created all of this magnificence said in Matthew 10:30: “Even the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” Why would He say that? How would He even know? Because He’s God, He knows everything, but in His very next sentence He said: “So don’t be afraid!” The God of the universes is also the Creator of you and me. He formed us in our mother’s womb, creating us with care and precision and loving every detail of our being.

You are not an accident! You may have been born out of wedlock or survived an abortion attempt, but you are wanted, cherished, made in the image of a holy God and loved without reservation. The same God who created all the things we mentioned above chose to allow the thugs of the earth to humiliate and murder Him on an old, rugged Cross. He hung there suspended between heaven and earth by spikes that ripped His flesh and brought agonizing torture to His sinless body. But why? Because of LOVE!

His immeasurable love that sacrificed Himself because He saw in each of us unlimited potential for good and for God. I love Ray Majoran’s words when he prays: “By the power of Your Spirit, root and establish us in Your love (Ephesians 3:17), so that our lives are grounded in what cannot erode or collapse. In a world that measures worth by what is visible and immediate, grant us wisdom, together with all Your people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:18). Lift our eyes to see its width that gathers the nations, its length that spans generations, its height that raises us toward holiness, and its depth that carried our sin to the cross. Teach us to know this love that surpasses knowledge (Ephesians 3:19), so that we do not merely speak of it, but live from it.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

The Danger of Being Religious

*This challenging article by Ron Hutchcraft hits very close to home for all of us who bear the holy Name of Jesus. Please allow the Holy Spirit to guide you as you read Ron’s convicting words. Blessings, Ed 😊

Years ago I heard a friend tell about a scene from his childhood that he never forgot. My friend was around on that black day in 1929 that marked the beginning of the Great Depression. One of the great traumas of America’s financial collapse, of course, was that many banks just went under almost overnight. Well, my friend literally remembered seeing a neighbor at the locked gates of his bank, and he was literally pounding his fists bloody on those gates, screaming at the top of his lungs, “Give me my money! Give me my money!” There was no money to give.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Danger of Being Religious.”

That desperate man, and millions like him, placed their security in an institution. An institution that sure seemed safe but that ultimately and suddenly failed them. A lot of church folks are making that mistake today. Did you know that? Placing their eternal security in their church; in believing its beliefs, attending its meetings, even taking church leadership. Sadly, none of that’s enough to get your sins forgiven or to get you into God’s heaven.

Sometimes religious folks argue over which church is the right church. Well, in Jeremiah’s time there was no argument. God’s people were the Jews and their temple was God’s self-declared house on earth. But even that wasn’t enough.

In our word for today from the Word of God, in Jeremiah 7, beginning with verse 10, God says, “You come and stand before Me in this house, which bears my Name, and you say ‘We are safe’…’But I have been watching,’ declares the Lord.” God goes on to point out the sin in their lives – sin that no amount of “church” can make right. He goes on to describe His pending destruction of what God calls (listen to these words) “the temple you trust in.”

Boy, that’s the danger of being religious. You tend to trust in your religiousness instead of in Christ. Christianity will never get anyone to heaven. Only Christ can get you there. Only Christ died to pay for the sin that disqualifies every one of us from going to heaven. Jesus established the Church to represent Him on earth, to do His work on earth. But church can be the most dangerous place in the world if that’s where your trust is.

Christianity is all about Jesus, but it can actually cause you to miss Jesus. It’s called false security; feeling like you’re okay with God because you speak the language, you agree with the teachings, and you’ve been around it all these years. Why, no one would even question that you have a relationship with Jesus – except Jesus. And He’s the only One who matters.

Could it be that somehow in the midst of a religion all about Jesus you’ve missed a personal relationship with Jesus even while you’ve been a good church person for a long time? Jesus described some active church folks to whom He will say on Judgment Day, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:21-23).

Somehow, they have never actually given themselves in total faith to the One who died to pay for their sins. There has to be that time when you say, “Jesus, some of those sins You died for were mine, and I have no hope of heaven except You and what You did on the cross for me. So beginning right now, Jesus, I’m yours.”

Have you taken that step? I would say that if you don’t know, you probably haven’t. If you’ve missed it, don’t go another day without moving Christ from your head to your heart… from being a belief to being your own personal Savior. Tell Him today, “Jesus, I’m yours.”

Look, let me invite you to go to our website today. It’s ANewStory.com. You can have the information there to nail down and be sure once and for all that you do belong to Him.

The church you’ve trusted in, the religion you’ve trusted in, the goodness you’ve trusted in are inadequate substitutes for the real thing – putting your total trust in Jesus. Because, my friend, it’s all about Jesus!

Another Open Letter

“For examples of patience in suffering, dear brothers and sisters, look at the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. We give great honor to those who endure under suffering.” (James 5:10-11a NLT)

This morning in prayer as I do each morning, I lifted my brothers and sisters who are living, suffering, and dying for their faith in the Lord Jesus in many places in our world, He prompted me to write to them a letter of appreciation and encouragement. Realizing that people from different countries read this blog I decided to do this “open letter” to my brothers and sisters all over the world.

Paul often gave thanks to the ones who were serving the Lord, whom he’d personally helped come to the Lord and get connected in a community of faith. Though I’m not personally responsible for my brothers and sisters in other countries coming to the Lord, I lift you to the Lord daily with thanksgiving and appreciation because of your strong faith and endurance and I pray what the Lord gives me to write blesses and helps you.

Photo by Oladimeji Ajegbile on Pexels.com

Thank you for persevering and continuing to share your faith openly often at great risk. Thank you for courageously walking with the Lord Jesus when it would be so much easier and safer to turn away and deny Him. As I’ve discovered in my own life, He’s my everything and I can’t imagine how I could ever turn my back on Him for all He’s done for me. But given the pressures many of you are facing, I pray He will enable you and me to stay strong regardless of the circumstances we might face.

In my prayers I lift your families, especially your children, asking the Lord to protect and guard them, but also to fill them with great confidence that faith in Jesus is worth whatever it costs us in this life. I ask the Lord to grow them up in Him to be prayer warriors and effective messengers to His honor.

While in another country many years ago, I visited a village in the mountains where there was a small church building. As I stood in that church, I was told the story of how it came to be. On that very spot had stood another building where believers gathered for worship, but on one occasion those violently opposed to their faith attacked them, bound the men, poured gasoline over them and burned them alive while they made their wives and children watch.

Another Pastor asked me to pray for the brave women who had sacrificed greatly to rebuild their church in honor of the Lord they served, but also in recognition of the sacrifice their husbands had made, but I could not. I could hardly breathe. I was so ashamed of the small faith I had, I didn’t feel worthy to even pretend I knew how to pray for such brave and godly men and women who had sacrificed so much for their faith in Jesus.

Now, in retrospect, I wished I’d made an effort, because even as I write these words I understand it’s not about being worthy, it’s about being faithful and I want to be faithful to consistently lift you, my brothers and sisters who are living, serving, suffering, and dying for the Lord across the world, knowing that prayer is your lifeline. Without the support of your brothers and sisters who love you and support you, you may grow discouraged, but I pray you’ll know beyond any shadow of doubt that you are loved, admired, and held in high esteem by those of us who have the privilege of being your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Please know, dear brothers and sisters, that I love you, respect you, admire and pray for you and your families every day. I can’t wait for us to take long walks in heaven so I can hear your stories and rejoice with you about our wonderful Savior who owns our hearts and lives.

Please also know that though I live in a relatively “safe” environment here in the U.S. I’m continuing to seek to reach those who don’t yet know the Lord Jesus in my spheres of influence. I’m laboring with you as you seek to win those in your spheres of influence to the Lord.

With love and deep respect,

Blessings, Ed 😊

Ruined By Praise

“The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, ‘It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!’ Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.” (Acts 12:22-23 NLT)

Everyone loves to be praised, encouraged, and made to feel like their life counts. Some, of course, like Herod of old, more than others, but each of us likes to know we’ve been noticed and appreciated. The sad truth is, some thrive on recognition, seek it and are discouraged and sometimes devastated if they don’t receive enough of it. Therein lies the issue: when is “enough” enough?

Solomon gives us insight when he wrote in Proverbs 27:2: Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth – a stranger, not your own lips.” Then in verse 21: “Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.” The word in verse 21 translated “being praised” can also be translated “by flattery.” When praise is empty or sought after it too often becomes simple flattery based on obligation or devotion, not reality.

Photo by Mike van Schoonderwalt on Pexels.com

Again, Solomon, addresses our need for honesty when he writes in Proverbs 27:6: Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” While criticism stings and can hurt our feelings, it’s the ointment of true friendship. Norman Vincent Peale addresses a real issue when he wrote: “The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

Only someone who truly loves us will be honest about what they see in us. Yes, of course, critics will rant and rave about our faults, but too often their assessment isn’t accurate simply because they don’t like us and are looking for ways to tear us down. Friends, on the other hand, are looking for ways to build us up, especially in our walk with the Lord Jesus.

Obviously, this is a delicate subject, as most of us are hypersensitive and take great pride in the things we believe we’re good at or about which we strongly feel we’re right. Unfortunately, there are areas of Scripture that are simply not clear to the untrained eye, and, even then, are open to legitimate differences in interpretation.

How much more in our observations of one another. There are things about myself I don’t like and wish I could change, but the fact is the Lord made us all different for good reason, but those differences don’t make anyone better than any other person, especially not another person of God.

Something that really bothers me is when someone criticizes or laughs at someone who has another native language when they mispronounce a word they are struggling to speak in English. Having visited in foreign cultures and struggled to learn the simplest words or phrases in their language, the Lord has given me great respect for anyone who knows and speaks English as a second language.

Similarly, when someone is a new believer and someone criticizes or demeans them because they still wrestle with a sin with which they are struggling to be free. For years I struggled with lust. I despised myself yet couldn’t find an answer until God in his mercy put someone in my life who walked with me into healing and freedom from its deadly tentacles.

“Lord, give us one person who will love us enough to be honest with us about what they see, but who will patiently endure our excuses and failures until we submit to Your Lordship and allow YOU to do in and through us what we can never in eternity do for ourselves.”

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

To My Mormon Friends (whom I love, respect, and admire)

“For Jesus is the one referred to in the Scriptures, where it says, ‘The stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.’ There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we much be saved.” (Acts 4:11-12 NLT)

Realizing those who believe in the Mormon doctrines use some of the same terms we use in the Christian Faith, the Lord has given me a story that I pray and believe will help to clarify our understanding of why it’s so difficult for a Mormon and even a Muslim to see the Truth of the Gospel.

Imagine you’re now an adult, and all your life you’ve believed your mom and dad were your biological parents. They’ve never given you any indication to the contrary and you’ve never had any reason to question whether they were anyone but who they’ve claimed to be. However, due to a recent development your kidneys have become diseased, and it has become necessary for you to seek a donor for a kidney.

The logical choice for a donor would be your parents or siblings, yet all seem reluctant to be considered. Upon further investigation you discover through DNA testing that you are not the biological child of the man you’ve called “father” your whole life. What do you do? Heartbroken you beg for an explanation, but the only thing you hear is some version of: “We thought it would be best for you not to know!”

Imagine how hard it would be for a person to wrap their head and heart around the reality that the person they’ve believed to be their father their whole life turns out to be a liar and a fraud. That’s essentially the scenario in which a Mormon finds themselves when presented with the truth of Scripture that tells them the god of Mormonism, though called by the same name, is not the God of the Bible and the Christ who died for their eternal salvation.

They have several choices: continue to believe the lie, choosing rather to believe the Truth IS the lie, believe the whole “Christ as Savior” is a fantasy and walk away from religion in any form, or, ideally, embrace the God of the Bible as their true and living Heavenly Father and embrace the Jesus of the Bible as their Savior and Lord.

But the question remains, how do you “prove” the DNA of the Mormon god is NOT the God of the Bible? Yes, of course, the teachings of the Mormon faith do not align with Scripture, but when you’re brainwashed from the beginning that lies are “truth,” it’s difficult to know what IS true. It’s like trying to wrap your mind around realizing the man your thought was your father your whole life really isn’t.

“Yeh, but he raised me my whole life. So, he kinda IS my ‘real’ father!” But the fact remains he IS NOT! And that’s the fact with which you must deal! And that’s the fact with which Mormon’s must come to terms: the god they worship and call “heavenly father” and “christ” are not the eternal God, Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the Universe of Whom are written and spoken of in the Holy Bible.

They, in fact, are the figment of an ungodly and deranged man’s mind who created them for his benefit and glory, not the glory of the God of the Bible. Please, if you know someone imprisoned in the cult of Mormonism, please prayerfully consider sharing this article with them or conveying it in your own words. The power of God’s Spirit is the only way they will ever hear the message and be liberated. So, pray, pray, pray!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊

Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up

By Ron Hutchcraft

*Knowing that many of you who read these words each day have loved ones and friends for whom you are praying, some for many years, please be encouraged by Ron’s powerful words. Blessings, Ed 😊

Ten more minutes and my wife would have never been born. The story that changed everything is hope for any of us who love someone who’s making some very bad choices. My wife’s grandfather, Bill, had given up on life. Trashing a profitable career for the alcohol and cocaine he could not resist. He was labeled with a prison record, he was penniless, he was hopeless and he was suicidal.

And that night, as he walked South State Street in downtown Chicago, he was minutes away from Lake Michigan where he’d decided to end it all. One thing saved him. A mother who had never given up on him. There, on the street, he heard the song, the one his mother used to sing to him. It was coming from the rescue mission he had just passed. Something made him stop and go inside. And there a caring mission worker shared a Bible verse that has probably changed more lives than any other. The worker started, “For God so loved the world that He gave…” Suddenly, Bill finished it. “…His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). Somewhere in the long-clouded corners of his memory, he could hear his mother teaching him those words.

And that night – minutes away from ending his life – he found life. He never touched or wanted alcohol or drugs from that night on. And he spent the rest of his life bringing the hope he’d found to forgotten people across the country. And now three generations Bill never met are here, and they’re living and spreading that same hope because of one man’s choice that night.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Why It Is Too Soon to Give Up.”

The story behind the story is told in the inscription on the back of a photo of young Bill. His mother wrote, “O Will, every night when I read my Bible, I look at this picture and I ask God to keep you and somehow seal your heart with His love. You may see this after I’m gone and you’ll know that I never ceased to pray for you. Mother.” She did live ten years after the night God answered those prayers.

Even as her son’s life got darker and darker, this mother was hanging onto a powerful but easily-forgotten truth. That’s one that I, too, have hung onto – even today. Because so much of my life’s work has been trying to love and rescue people who just keep spiraling downward. It’s a hope-preserver for all of us who grieve and who pray for broken, prodigal people.

Never forget the difference between a chapter and a book. See, many a book with a happy ending has some very dark chapters. A loved one’s seemingly unstoppable rush to the edge of the cliff? That’s not the book. It’s a chapter. If we lose that wide angle lens perspective, we’re going to lose hope. But the Bible urges us in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 6:9, “Do not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest…” And Jesus said that we “should always pray and not give up” (Luke 18:1).

That’s what Bill’s mother did. She wept over many chapters. She never lost sight, though, of the ending God could write to the book of her son’s life. She just kept loving, praying and believing. And the final chapters of Bill’s life were more glorious and more miraculous than she could have ever dreamed.

If we can remember, in the darkest hours of a loved one’s heartbreaking journey, that this is a chapter, then hope can win when despair is strong. Even as I write this, there are young men and women whose life-eroding choices I grieve for. But I know there is a relentless Shepherd who came, He said, to “seek and save those who are lost” (Luke 19:10). He says, “I will search for the lost and bring back the strays” (Ezekiel 34:16). He will do whatever it takes to bring them home. Even when it meant a cross.

So, as long as there’s breath, there’s hope. I know, because Bill’s beautiful granddaughter, my wife, told me.

Jesus Would Have Baked the Cake

…and other nonsense Jesus wouldn’t have done.

By John Stonestreet

*This article by John Stonestreet of the Colson Center is just too rich and full of helpful information not to share. Enjoy! Blessings, Ed 😊

On a Saturday morning in 2012, sitting on my porch reading an actual newspaper, I first learned of a Denver baker named Jack Phillips. A gay couple, having been “married in a different state,” asked Jack, owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, to custom design a cake for their same-sex “wedding” celebration. Jack offered them service and any cake in his store that was already made. What he could not do, he said, was use his creative talent to communicate a message that violated his conscience and said what he knew to be untrue.

To say that a lot has happened since is, to put it mildly, an understatement. He was harassed by the state of Colorado, specifically the Civil Rights Commission. He was slandered online and subjected to death threats against him and his family. He was sued, not only by the state but also by a man—who claimed to be a woman—who repeatedly asked him to bake perverted and disgusting cakes. In the end, his case, which went all the way to the Supreme Court, has been pivotal in advancing the rights of conscience, suppressing state hostility to religion, and attracting many to Christ.

But I also remember the chorus of voices, many of them Christian leaders, saying at the time, “Just bake the cake.” Or even, “Jesus would’ve baked the cake.” Jack was accused of hate, intolerance, and bigotry. But he stood courageously, even in the face of great criticism from brothers and sisters in Christ.

Thank God he did. Recently, at an event hosted by Colorado Christian University and featuring the brilliant Ayaan Hirsi Ali—one of those who was inspired by Jack’s story—I asked Jack, and Kristen Waggoner, Jack’s attorney and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom what he thinks now as he looks back on the past decade and a half.

Here’s Jack:

God tells us to live by a truth. He says we need to know the truth and that the truth will set us free. Jesus is the Truth, and we just have to know Him. And we get to know Him better and more clearly through His Word, through good teaching, and by spending time with Him. The more time you spend with Him, the better you know Him, and you don’t want to disappoint somebody you know well.

It would have been a huge disappointment to Jesus if I’d have [baked the cake] when He’s given us the power to live by what He says. And people want good news. There are tons of people who I’ve talked to who have been encouraged by this story. I think if I had made the cake . . . I don’t know because we’ve had so many things that have just happened that have been so good. Tonight is one of them.

Kristin Waggoner added more context:

In Jack’s situation, Jack modeled tolerance, and the other side did not. And so, it’s not about refusing to serve, because Jack serves everyone. Everybody. But when the government can compel you to speak messages and affirm lies that violate your conscience, then there is no limit to the government’s power. . .. So that’s really what that was about—it was “the message” that Jack was being asked to communicate.

I can tell you, having talked to hundreds of people over the last 10 years, that they have said that courage begets courage. And they’ve modeled that because they heard of Jack’s story, and it caused them to consider Christ and come to salvation. But it also caused them to be courageous in their moment.

One example that comes to mind is Sher Lori from Downtown Hope Center. She runs a homeless shelter in Alaska, and a man who identifies as a woman wanted to come into that shelter sleeping three feet away from the women in the shelter. As she’s coming down the stairs, she knows that the man is at the door wanting to come in. He had a reputation that would suggest that would not be a good thing. Even aside from the fact that he’s a man, he had violent tendencies and things like that. And what goes through her mind is, remember the baker. So, she gives that man cab money to go to the hospital to get his wounds cared for because he was in a fight earlier. But she does not let him in. She keeps that safe space for those women. So that’s what I think of; all the people who were inspired by Jack as well.

Praise God. The entire conversation, preceded by a stunning and brilliant speech by Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, is now available on YouTube. And, of course, the stories of Jack Phillips and Ayaan Hirsi-Ali are told in Truth Rising: The Study and the Truth Rising documentary. Learn more at colsoncenter.org/truth.

Interested in this topic?

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “The kind thing to do when someone tells you their pronouns is to use them. We should practice ‘pronoun hospitality.’” What would you say?

Watch here