2008-08-28T17:33:50-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com http://www.gospel.com/feeds/topics/hell http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/Crawling-s-Not-Enough-4496 2008-08-28T17:33:50-05:00 Our son is like any father - he's happy his daughter isn't content to stay where she is. She's restless for more. He would have every reason to be very concerned if she was content to stay at a level below where she was meant to live. That may be how your Heavenly Father feels about you. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Mission/No-Meaningless-Games-4441 2008-08-28T16:49:49-05:00 It really is true. There is no such thing as a meaningless anything when you do it for someone who's dying. Which in terms of God and eternity, many of the people all around us are doing. The Bible clearly says that anyone who "does not have the Son of God does not have life" (1 John 5:12) and that they are "without God and without hope in this world" (Ephesians 2:12). That includes anyone in your personal world who has not had their sins forgiven by faith in the Christ who died for them. Co-workers. Neighbors. Fellow students. Teammates. Family members. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/Last-Call-4343 2008-08-27T16:21:26-05:00 Not bad for a four-year-old -- well, OK, so I sound like a grandfather now. But that little guy actually has this death thing figured out better than a lot of us grownup people do. We don't decide when it's over. God does. And the thing you want to have happen on the day you take your last breath is for Jesus to call you home to heaven. Unfortunately, not everyone's going home. And the alternative is too eternally awful to contemplate. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/Wearing-The-Jersey-Not-On-The-Team-4229 2008-08-25T12:50:37-05:00 Right place, right look, accepted as someone who belonged - but he wasn't really on the team. Oh, when it's a football team, no major harm done. But when it happens on God's team, it's the difference between heaven and hell. That's why Paul gave a riveting warning to the folks in one of the churches he started. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/Goodbye-Ordinary-4244 2008-08-21T15:47:05-05:00 An ordinary guy who suddenly realizes that he has some extraordinary powers available to him - and who realizes he can't settle for ordinary anymore. Man, is that a picture of any man or woman in whom Jesus Christ lives! That's the Jesus who blew the doors off His grave on Easter morning, who has conquered death, the most powerful force on earth. The force that has stopped every man - except one Man. And the day you gave yourself to Him, He moved into your life to stay - with all His resurrection power. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/The-Light-that-Weathers-All-Your-Storms-4796 2008-08-20T13:44:18-05:00 There's something in us that yearns for - that needs - one certain light that will always be there, no matter how stormy it gets, no matter how dark it gets. We need something that's unshakably secure that helps guide us through the toughest times. In fact, we are created with a need for that - a need that was designed to be met by the One who put us here in the first place. Actually, we are made for Him, and our Creator is the only light that never goes out; never goes away. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/The-Secret-that-Keeps-You-from-Singing-4856 2008-08-18T11:49:10-05:00 It's amazing the torment that can come from a dark secret. Maybe you know that firsthand. It can, in a sense, keep you from singing, from experiencing all the joy and all the freedom you were created to have. It's even more amazing the release that can come from dealing with the dark secret. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/How-We-Flock-to-Destruction-4986 2008-08-11T16:23:42-05:00 The wrong road is easy - at its beginning. But the farther you go on it, the harder it gets - until it takes you right over the cliff. The right road is hard and even lonely at first, but it's the one that leads to life. Make a destination choice - not the one that will win you the most friends right now but the one that will take you where you want to end up. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/Tired-of-Searching-Ready-to-Find-5005 2008-08-11T10:15:37-05:00 The Bible reveals that our heart is searching because we're away from the God we were made for. We were created for Him, but we've lived for ourselves, thus creating an un-crossable chasm between us and the God who made us. Un-crossable except for the cross - the cross where Jesus died to pay for our rebellion against God and make a way back to Him. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hard-Times/What-You-Can-t-See-Really-Can-Hurt-You-5039 2008-08-07T11:42:41-05:00 Satan blinds us with religion, so we think that a religion about Jesus will get us to heaven. It won't, it can't. Sometimes the devil blinds us with other Christians who have represented Jesus poorly. But Jesus is the issue, not Christians.