2008-08-28T16:23:50-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com http://www.gospel.com/feeds/topics/violence http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Volcano-Scars-4532 2008-08-28T16:23:50-05:00 When we're angry, we're a lot like a volcano. We erupt, we spew out our lava, and we often blow away a piece of the other person - if not ourselves. And every one of us carries around parts of us that have been mortally wounded by something someone said to us in anger. They may well have forgotten it; we can't ever forget it. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Firing-Too-Soon-4542 2008-08-28T16:01:22-05:00 We start shooting before we really understand what a person is feeling; where they're really coming from. We may listen long enough to hear their words, but how about their heart? To hear the surface issue maybe, but not long enough to hear the real issue. We make some of our most hurtful mistakes, and we say some of our most damaging words when we just react to a person's deeds instead of stepping back and looking for the need that is causing the deed. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/The-High-Price-of-a-Little-Ice-4438 2008-08-28T15:46:50-05:00 Now, it doesn't take much ice on the wings to cause an airplane to start losing altitude. It doesn't take much ice in your soul to cause you to start losing altitude - to start going down spiritually. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Everybody-s-Got-a-Story-4555 2008-08-28T14:37:17-05:00 Don't say things that will tear a person down, only things that will build that person up. Why? Because you're focusing on their needs, not just their deeds. You may hate their deeds, but God's asking you to develop His compassion to respond to the needs that drive their deeds. Whether that person is your child, your spouse, your parent, your friend, your coworker, someone at church. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/The-Smell-You-Should-Never-Get-Used-To-4335 2008-08-27T16:35:58-05:00 Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ezekiel 9:2, and it describes a kind of person God was looking for back then -- and the kind of person He is looking for right now, where you are. God is showing His prophet Ezekiel how repulsive the sin of God's ancient people is to Him and how He intends to bring judgment and clean house. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Disease-Prevention-4347 2008-08-27T16:18:28-05:00 Quick action at the first sign of infection - that's the secret of preventing major damage. Not only from an infectious disease, but from the most highly contagious virus of all - the sin virus. If we nip it in the bud, we can avoid it's spread and a whole lot of suffering. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Something-s-Wrong-4354 2008-08-27T16:12:44-05:00 Increasingly, a lot of us watch the news and think something like this, "Boy, something's wrong. Something's very wrong!" We hear about violent murders in a top-ranked high school, people doing things to other people that are unspeakable, families ripped apart, just an awful lot of garbage. It just feels like something's wrong in our world. But even closer to home - with the people we love most - sometimes it feels like something's wrong in our family, in our friends. In fact, we look at how we act ourselves all too often and think, "Something's wrong in me." http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Virus-Scan-4381 2008-08-27T15:41:07-05:00 You know your soul can pick up viruses, too? And if you don't catch them right away, they can spread throughout your system and infect everything. That's why you need to install God's virus scan. David talks about it in our word for today from the Word of God from Psalm 139:23-24. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/Putting-Clean-On-Over-Dirty-4566 2008-08-27T12:34:57-05:00 Covering up your dirty with a layer of clean isn't going to cut it. It's self-deception, living a lie, defying God, and building up judgment. Don't you think it's time to come clean - even if it hurts? It will hurt a whole lot more not to come clean. You know you're sick of that battle inside you. It's tearing you apart - the guilt, the fear of getting caught, the shame. And you know God is sick of this charade. http://hutchcraft.com/A-Word-With-You/Your-Hindrances/The-Avalanche-Zone-4741 2008-08-21T15:58:26-05:00 The Bible says that every one of us has decided to live our life outside of God's boundaries - even the most religious of us. God insists on truth, for example, and countless times we've settled for much less than telling the truth. God says we can have no other gods before Him, and we've pre-empted Him as the center of our life and pretty much put ourselves in the center of our universe.