2008-11-19T15:37:27-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com http://www.gospel.com/feeds/topics/commitment http://hutchcraft.com/Life-Issues/Commitment/The-Life-Changing-Moment 2008-11-19T15:37:27-05:00 Sometimes you can't tell the difference between the real Christians and the ones who look like them. Literally, you can have sitting in church next to each other one person who knows Christ and is going to heaven, and another who doesn't and is headed for an eternity without Christ. They sing the same songs, know the same words, do all the same things. The difference is a life-changing moment. http://hutchcraft.com/Life-Issues/Commitment/One-Solid-Beginning 2008-11-19T15:36:33-05:00 Hopefully, after someone makes a life commitment to their spouse and they are asked if they are married, they wouldn't answer, "Well, I hope so; I think I'm married. We probably got married to each other somewhere along the way!" You'd probably say, "If you don't know you made a commitment, you didn't!" You'd be right! It's the same way when it comes to a relationship with Jesus Christ. http://hutchcraft.com/Life-Issues/Commitment/So-Near-Yet-So-Far 2008-11-19T15:35:49-05:00 Here's what Jesus said in some of the most unsettling words He ever spoke, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from Me" (Matthew 7:21-23). http://ied.gospelcom.net/engel-scale.php 2008-11-09T09:47:30-05:00 The basis of the Engel Scale is the assigning of a numerical value for the degree of spiritual understanding that a person, or group, has reached. This chapter from 'Tell it Often, Tell it Well', explains the Scale in detail. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Most-Important-Relationship/The-Rewards-of-Not-Moving-5673 2008-10-15T16:56:47-05:00 I'll tell you, as millions of others would, that the best of married love and friendship and intimacy isn't in the passionate days of courtship - the honeymoon - it comes from the long years of weathering storms together, facing problems, praying through situations, learning each other's languages of love. One day the sun rises on a deep trust, a belonging, a sense of safety that you can only know by staying with the same partner. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Personal-Power/Just-Wearing-the-Shirt-5660 2008-10-09T14:36:10-05:00 You see if it's only a Christian uniform, it won't make it past the throne of God on Judgment Day. You need to be sure. You need to make sure that Jesus Christ rules in your heart. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Personal-Power/Stuck-On-the-Welcome-Mat-5656 2008-10-06T11:49:08-05:00 Jesus Christ will only change and improve that which is consciously turned over to Him. He didn't come into your life until you opened the door, right? He won't come into the parts of your life until you open the door. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Viruses-in-Your-Computer-4452 2008-08-29T01:37:13-05:00 There are wrong desires that literally start a war in your soul. And whatever feeds those destructive desires is a virus in your mind and heart that you cannot afford - no matter how exciting; no matter how interesting it appears to be. That's why God says the strategy for keeping your soul from being poisoned is simple - abstain. Stay away from sinful desires and the influences that feed them. In fact, as 2 Timothy 2:22, says, run away from them! http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Personal-Power/The-Only-Way-to-Build-a-Home-4440 2008-08-28T16:50:26-05:00 The way that Indian man built his home decades ago is still the only way to build a home - one building block at a time. And those building blocks are called days. Not years, not months, not weeks - days. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Personal-Power/Dog-Walking-4536 2008-08-28T16:11:35-05:00 Caleb wouldn't let anything lose his Master's lead - not years in the wilderness, not hardship, not giants, not waiting a long time for what God had promised, not being nearly the only one standing up for what was right. He just said, "I'll follow my Lord. I'll follow my Lord, no matter where this takes me." You've just got to find out where Jesus is going and go with Him there.