My daughter was all excited about the sign she saw at the airport. It was actually over the door at a terminal, and it simply said, "Through these doors pass the greatest employees in the world." She said, "You know, Dad, that would make me feel like I was really doing a good job if I came under that every day." It gives you something you want to live up to. I hope you're posting the right kind of sign.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "I'll Become What You Call Me."

Well, our word for today from the Word of God is from Acts 4, and I'm going to read beginning at verse 36 where a man gets a name change. "Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet." Now, notice Joseph becomes Barnabas, The Encourager.

We read about him on several occasions in the book of Acts, not the least of which is when he came with Saul of Tarsus, who had just come to Christ. Now, remember, Saul had been persecuting the church. He was like public enemy number one for the Christians. But, "When Saul came to Jerusalem, (Acts says) he tried to join the disciples, and they were all afraid of him. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles." This is the kind of thing Barnabas does throughout his ministry. He goes on to encourage new Gentile believers in Antioch, and nobody's quite sure about them. He rehabilitates Mark when Paul fires him.

The point is, the apostles called Joseph an encourager, and he just kept living up to what they called him. That's a principle of human behavior. We tend to become the name we're called. That airline seems to know that, "Through these doors pass the greatest employees in the world." If you call them that, maybe they'll live up to it.

That means you have at your disposal a powerful tool for building people, or a destructive weapon for tearing them down. For example, what names do you call your son or daughter? How many times have you said stupid, or lazy, or rebel, or problem? Well, you're programming them with ideas about themselves, and they may then go on to just prove you right.

Think about what you've called your husband or wife lately, or that person who frustrates you - that person who's so irritating, so negative. You can help change a person if you'll look for their strengths and tell them what you see. Call them that good thing. Find a name you can use to bring out their best. Maybe that person, for all of their weaknesses, all of their negativeness, maybe they're obnoxious, but are they generous? Maybe they're sensitive, they fight for their family. Maybe they're a person of conviction; they're organized. Maybe they have a great smile, or a great spirit, or a budding talent.

Would you tell them what you see? Would they make a great Christian if they turned their mind and talents toward Christ? Sometimes I've said that to people. "You know what, you would make a great follower of Jesus." Then they look surprised and I tell them their qualities that would make them a great follower of His. "With a mind like yours, with a gift like yours, oh what a follower of Christ you would be!" Tell the people around you who they could be with the strengths that they have, even if you only see a little bit of it. Because by naming it, you can nurture it.

Look at those people close to you as if they were wearing a big old sign that says, "I'll become what you call me."

Years ago when I went on my first international ministry trip, I went just about as far as you can go - 10,000 miles to Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. I was going to be away for three weeks, which was the longest I had ever left my wife and our three young children. My wife mobilized the kids to put little love notes all over and all through my luggage. We had a nice meal together on the way to the airport and then some special hugs and kisses at the airport. But I did have to go. And I'm not kidding you, it was a sad moment. My wife was trying to look like she was fine. The children were obviously not looking fine. I managed to hold myself together until I rounded the bend in the concourse, then I started wiping tears from my eyes. It was hard, but one thing made it OK. It was only temporary. We would be reunited.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Good News for Our Grief."

Life's partings are tough when someone we love slips into eternity. Death rips us up inside, and the grief is sometimes almost unbearable. But because of Jesus, it's almost unbearable. I know, because I was the one several years ago burying the woman I loved - almost unbearable. Why almost? Well, I belong to Jesus, and my honey did, so that's not the termination of our relationship. No, because of Christ, it's just an interruption. I'm so glad.

God describes this hope in our hurtingest times in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Thessalonians 4, beginning in verse 13. "We do not want you to grieve like the rest of men who have no hope. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command and the dead in Christ will rise first." That's my Dad. That's my baby brother whose death brought our family to Christ. That's my grandparents. It's more and more of my friends and the woman I loved for a lifetime.

The Bible goes on to say, "After that, we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so will we be with the Lord forever." Wow! When Jesus walked out of His grave, He conquered death for all those who would ever give their lives to Him. It doesn't mean our heart won't stop some day in this earth-suit called our body, it will die. But it means the real you, your soul, will go on forever uninterrupted in God's great Heaven.

Is it any wonder the Bible says, "Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:54-55). You may be struggling with the loss of someone you love. I think I get that. The pain is very real. Death was never meant to be part of our lives. Sin brought in death. But Jesus died to pay the death penalty for our sin, and then, on Easter morning, He beat this monster that has beaten every person who ever lived.

So now, because of Jesus, the very worst death can be for a believer is an interruption of the relationship, never a termination. Hallelujah! And if you've never put your total trust in Jesus Christ to be your Savior from your sin and its death penalty, please don't risk another day without Him.

Would you tell Him, "Jesus, your death on the cross was to pay for my sin. It is my only hope of heaven. And the fact that You walked out of your grave proves that You can give eternal life that no one else can give. I'm Yours, Jesus, beginning today." If you're at that point where you want to begin that relationship and have that assurance, this is your day to check out our website and the information there that will help you know you've got this settled. The website is ANewStory.com.

That day of my long trip...the pain, the tears were real. As they are on a much deeper level when someone we love is leaving us for eternity. But you can handle the leaving if you know what I knew that day at the airport...that this separation is only an interruption and hallelujah, the reunion is coming.

There's a stretch of nights in the fall when the moon is absolutely incredible! It's usually in October - harvest time for farmers. And when it's full moon time, you can see this huge, brilliant, yellowish moon rising in the eastern sky. It just makes you stop and almost catch your breath. I think it was in the days before electricity that farmers started calling it a "harvest moon." With so much depending on the harvest and so little time to bring it in, every hour had to count. And the days never seemed quite long enough to get it all in. So a bright full moon was more than just a beautiful view...it meant something much more important. With that extra light, God was giving them a little more time to harvest!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "A Little More Time To Harvest."

Maybe you and I are living right now in the light of a spiritual harvest moon - to bring to Jesus some of the lives around us that He died to rescue. Maybe that's why He's giving you a little more time.

There's a powerful illustration of this in our word for today from the Word of God in Luke 13:6. "Then (Jesus) told this parable: 'A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"

I wonder how many of our lives this parable might be describing? Jesus comes looking for some fruit on a believer's life, especially in the form of some people that you've introduced to Him and He finds none. Why should He leave us here any longer, just soaking up the nutrients in our spiritual soil? But the answer comes, "Give him/give her a little more time to make a difference." By virtue of the fact that you and I are still here, Jesus has decided to let us have at least a little more time to take some people to heaven with us.

I'll tell you, you feel it deeply when the time for you to bring someone home runs out - when harvest time is over. I still remember my high school friend Cathy. It's not somebody I dated; we were just good friends.

One morning, during my freshman year of college, I remember waking up to a news story that mentioned her name. I woke up fast! The night before, a gunman had walked into the Student Union at the university Cathy attended, pulled out a gun, and shot her in cold blood. Suddenly, I was out of chances to tell Cathy about how she could go to heaven. We had talked about everything except Jesus! I had slept through the harvest, and time had run out.

That's why the Bible says that when it comes to talking about Jesus, "Make the most of every opportunity" (Colossians 4:4). This spiritual harvest business; this is urgent stuff. Harvest always is. You know the opportunity isn't going to last long. You drop everything to bring it in, and if you wait, you miss it. God wants us to feel that kind of urgency about telling the people we know about the man who loved them enough to die for them. We never know when their time or our time will run out.

So, like the farmer toiling feverishly in the extended light of a harvest moon, God has given you a little more time to bring in someone that His Son died for. Please don't keep putting it off. Don't let your life be so full of un-eternal stuff that you miss the mission that matters the most.

Someone you know desperately needs the Jesus you know, and Jesus has given you a little more time to bring them home.

When my wife and I pulled up late to the Bed and Breakfast we were going to be staying at, I tried to be real quiet. Not a problem. That B & B was buzzing like a beehive. Inside there were ten women huddled around the dining room table, each one with a sewing machine right in front of her. I learned that the other guests - all women - were there that weekend for a Mystery Quilt weekend. And even though I felt like I had sort of crashed a grownup slumber party, I did ask a few questions like, "What pattern are you following?" They didn't know. See, it turns out that one of the women there, Millie, does these quilting weekends with ladies, and she has the pattern. It's a mystery quilt because each woman only has instructions for what to do with the next piece or pieces. The next day, one lady said to me, "I can't wait 'till I can see what all this is going to look like when it's all put together." Good thing she didn't leave early with her pile of pieces, huh? She would have never known what it all made.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Pieces Without The Plan."

Actually, we've just talked about a description of some of our lives: pieces without the plan - because we're away from the only One who has the plan. I guess, in a way, life is a mystery quilt. All we can see is the block we're working on right now. But every once in a while, we find ourselves asking that question that has haunted us for years, "Why am I doing all this? What does all this make?"

It could be that right now the pieces aren't making much sense at all. And you're not sure of the answer to the one question you have to answer while you're on earth, "Why am I here?" You miss that and you've missed the point of your whole life. And so far, none of the things, and none of the people you thought would make it make sense have done it. Life still seems like a pile of disconnected pieces.

I hope you'll be encouraged by our word for today from the Word of God. Jeremiah 29:11 - "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" According to the Bible, you are a unique creation of God. Just look at your fingerprints - He's made you one of a kind. And He has plans for you - great plans. Like the lady who organized that quilting weekend, God has the plan in His hand, but if you're away from the One who has the plan, there's no way to put the pieces together right.

So much of the confusion and many of the mistakes, a lot of the emptiness, the pain in your life, may have been because you've been trying to put it together without the only One who knows the plan. God is the only One who knows why you're here. The problem is that, again according to the Bible, every one of us has tried to do life our way instead of God's way. Here are God's words, "All of us have wandered away like sheep; each of us has turned to his own way." (Isaiah 53:6) Without divine intervention, you and I have hopelessly separated ourselves from the One who designed us.

But divine intervention did come on a brutal cross on a hill outside Jerusalem, where God's one and only Son died as a substitute for you and me, carrying our death penalty for our running of our own lives. Which means that where there was once an uncrossable divide, there is a bridge now and His name is Jesus.

And today, Jesus is coming to where you are, offering you the opportunity to tell Him that you want Him to be your Savior from your sin, to connect you to the God that you've been separated from, to be the One who holds the plans and purpose for your life in His hands. When you find Him, you have found the meaning of your life.

Have you ever reached out to Him to begin your relationship with Him? Why not today? Tell Him, "Jesus, beginning today, I'm yours. You died for me." Then check out what the Bible has to say about this relationship at our website - ANewStory.com.

Maybe life has been a pile of confusing, disconnected pieces long enough. You need to come home to Jesus, the One who created you, who has wonderful plans for you. If you'll open up to Him, you'll finally start to get a look at the plan that puts all the pieces together.

Don't you love it when someone gets a little smile on their face and they say, "We were just talking about you." Your mind starts racing, and you think, "What were they saying about me?" When they say that to me, I usually ask, "Oh, do I get a chance to defend myself?" You know that people talk about you when you're not around. That's true for just about everybody, and you've heard how folks talk about other people when you're there. So you have every reason to believe that they talk about you, and it might not be your best stuff. I know someone who's been talking about you, and it's definitely for your benefit.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When Jesus Prays for You."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 22. Simon Peter, as we look at this passage, is about to head into the most intense spiritual battle of his life. And Jesus, in an intimate moment, looked him in the eye and said, "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

I believe what was going on here is that Jesus is indicating that the difference in Peter is going to be that Jesus is going to be praying for him. The difference for you is that Jesus is talking to His Father about you today. You say, "That's a pretty good description of how I feel...sifted. And maybe Satan wants to sift you as wheat, but it says Jesus is praying for you.

In John 17:11 we find that He prays this way, "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name - the name you gave Me. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave Me. My prayer is not that you should take them out of the world but that you should protect them from the evil one."

You know, Hebrews 7:25 says that, "He ever lives to make intercession for us." Jesus is at His Father's right hand talking to Him about you and me. I think He's praying for your protection from all the Devil wants to do. John 17:16 - "Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth." He's talking about "sanctify" as in, "Keep them special, Father." It's like that sign you see in a restaurant that says it's "reserved." What does that mean? Nobody else can have it. It's reserved just for the use of the person who's asked for it. Well, that's what "sanctify" means. It's set apart for God; reserved for God. That's what Jesus does for you. He wants you to be kept separate, special, and unpolluted. He talks about using His Word to keep your body pure, to keep your mind pure, your imagination, and your sense of humor. Those belong to Jesus, and He's praying for that.

Then in chapter 17, verse 18, He says, "Father, as you sent Me, I have sent them into the world." Then He says, "My prayer is not for them alone, but for those who would believe in me through their message." Realize He is praying for your mission. He's praying that others will come to Christ. That means He's praying for us, who, years later, have come to Christ through their message. And He's praying for people that will be led to Christ as you and I declare His message.

Look at what happens as a result of Jesus' praying for Peter. Ultimately, in the short term, yeah he came under attack. Yes, he denied Jesus; yes, he disappointed Jesus. But ultimately, he ended up safe, and secure, and pure, and powerful, because Jesus was praying for him. He's praying for you, and that's the ending you will have.

You are not traveling this road alone. Someone's talking about you. Jesus is talking to His Father about you. Man, that's good to know. That will make all the difference.

Our son had just arrived in the southwestern United States to begin his work with Native Americans there. In fact, his supervisor in his non-profit work was a Native American. And our son was eager to show that he was coming with a servant spirit, you know. He had a tremendous opportunity to do just that. His supervisor needed his help in cleaning out a septic system. The job began with our son's hands having to work in that sewage. But the job got more and more involved and so did his body. Before he was finished, he was in that septic sewage up to his waist! Needless to say, he never felt more disgusting in his life. And then came the shower; that long, wonderful, heavenly shower! He said "Dad, I have never felt so dirty in all my life, and it never felt so good to be clean!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "So Good To Be Clean."

Getting really clean after you've felt really dirty is a great feeling; one that you might be ready for - on the inside. So many of us carry the awful burden of the mistakes we've made. We've got guilt and regrets that weigh us down, maybe for some destructive choices we've made or some compromises or some sin we wish we could go back and erase. Sometimes it can feel disgusting like all that dirt that covered our son that day. We wonder if there's any way to get really clean, to finally be free of the weight of it all, the dirt, the guilt, the shame.

When Mark Twain was asked what were the two most important words in the English language, he said. "Not guilty." But when we know we are guilty, how can we ever experience the freedom of those two glorious words?

There is wonderful, cleansing news today. Yes, it's in our word for today from the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. God is talking to people who've got a past. He mentions "the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, homosexual offenders, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers, swindlers." And He delivers the bad news that those kind of people will never make it to heaven. It sounds hopeless until God turns on His cleansing shower in the next verse.

He says, "And that is what some of you were." Did you get that? Were? You mean I can be free from the guilt and shame of the past? How? Well, He says, "But you were washed, you were sanctified (which means you were made special), you were justified (that means you were made right with God) in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

The liberating message God has for you and me is this: whatever you've done, whatever you've become doesn't ever have to matter again. Jesus Christ offers you the shower of a lifetime, to forgive every sin you've ever committed, to declare you "not guilty," to open the doors of heaven to you as a new, spiritually clean person.

The forgiveness Jesus died to give you becomes yours when you tell Jesus that you're trusting Him to be your Rescuer from your sin. And at that moment the shower of God washes you completely clean for the first time in your life - and clean forever.

Don't you want that? The past erased from God's Book? It happens when you say, "Jesus, I'm yours. You died for my sin. I'm putting all my trust in You and what You did on that cross." I pray you'll go to that cross and get forgiven today. Listen, if you go to our website you will have all the information you need from God's Word to be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

So many people have told me how they felt when they made this choice for Jesus. They've said, "It's like a huge weight was lifted off my back." That can happen to you right now, right where you are. And you can know how good it feels to finally be clean.

My friend, Brian, told me that he had spent most of the day in the bathroom. No, he wasn't sick, he didn't have the flu. He was installing marble. That's what he does for a living. And he told me that he was cutting slabs of marble to size, and his weapon for this job was a diamond saw - a saw with a diamond blade that cuts right through marble. He said, "You know, this saw is amazing. You can touch your finger to that blade and it won't cut you." And he went on to explain that a diamond blade is not the sharpest blade there is, it's just the hardest blade there is. It's so hard that it cuts through what sharp cannot.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Count-Onables."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 1 Corinthians 4, beginning at verse 2. It's a statement of what God values. You'll notice that it's pretty different from what most humans value. "Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must be found faithful." Verse 5 talks about reward time. "Therefore, judge nothing before your appointed time comes; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is seen in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God."

Now, what does God reward? Success? No. It says faithfulness. We live in a world that values charisma and the bottom line. "Hey, how well did you do? What kind of results did you get?" We live in a world that values beauty, awards, and accomplishments. God says, though, that the winning trait is none of those. To Him the winning trait is faithfulness. In His opinion that's what matters. You know, it's not unlike that diamond saw. It can cut through marble because it's tough; it's hard; it just keeps coming. Nothing can stand up to its persistent, insistent advance.

Now, maybe you feel that you're just not sharp enough to really be used by your Lord. You say, "Well, I don't have the training. I don't have the skill. I don't have the personality. I don't speak very well.

I'm not that great looking. I'm just kind of average." But if God lays the burden on you, He wants you to be His tool. He isn't asking you to be successful; He's asking you to be faithful, to just keep coming: persistent, consistent, and insistent.

Be a person who can be counted on. Be the one who stays with a responsibility even while others come and go; the one who works, whether they feel like it or not; someone who does whatever he does with all his heart; the person who keeps their commitments and keeps their word.

So often the sharp blades, the ones with the great gift and the great charisma...oh, they cut for a while, and then they lose their edge and they break and they move on. But God's diamond blades are the ones who usually get the job done; they just keep coming faithfully. And what will it be that Jesus says on reward day? "Well done, good and faithful servant."

There are few things on earth that will not eventually yield to faithfulness. So, let God use you as His diamond blade to cut through marble for Him.

Our church's youth group had just been out whitewater rafting all day. I had been invited to wrap up the day with an inspirational talk. And when I arrived at the rafting facility they were using, I was expecting to see just the youth group. As it turned out, this recreational company had 1,500 people on the river that day. They were all from all these different groups! So, I wandered around looking lost until someone from our church found me. And that night we had a wonderful get-together under the trees.

Now, I didn't know that one girl at the back was there, and she had not planned to be there at all. She was a Girl Scout who had been there for the day with her troop. And they had somehow gone off and left her all alone. And she saw this group of teenagers meeting, so she wandered over to check it out. And she stayed...and she listened...and at the end, she was one of the young people who indicated they wanted to begin a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That's cool!

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lost No More."

That was one very happy Girl Scout, even before she found a ride home. In a very real sense, she got left so she could get found...spiritually. Actually, that could be what's happening in your life right now.

You're probably not a Girl Scout, and you're not stuck out in the woods, but it could be that you have been left, or you're feeling lost. A person you were counting on bailed out or maybe even died. Or something that has been one of your life anchors isn't there any more. You've been left out or left behind or left high and dry. And you're not sure which way home is. Because so much in life is temporary, it's only a matter of time before we all experience the pain of being left or being lost.

Which makes our word for today from the Word of God especially important. It's Jesus' personal mission statement in Luke 19:10 - "The Son of Man (that's Jesus) came to seek and to save what was lost." Now He's talking about you and me. That Girl Scout at that camp that night was lost, separated from the people who could get her home.

Well, that's the picture the Bible paints of you and me. Oh, sure, on the outside we look like we've got it all together. But inside, there's a lot of loneliness, a lot of hurt, and a lot of unanswered questions. We are, in Jesus' words, "lost" because we're separated from the one Person who can get us home - who is home for our searching heart...our Creator. In God's own words, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2).

See, we have broken God's laws and we're paying the price. It's a wall between Him and us - a wall that's there forever if we die with it still there. A wall that Jesus died on a cross to remove by paying the death penalty for all the sinning we ever did. But He has a hard time getting us to realize that He's the only one who can finally fill that hole in our heart. Maybe that's why God has allowed you to be left or to be lost - so you'd finally realize no earth-love is going to be enough. I have to tell you honestly, it isn't until our earth-anchors let us down and leave us stranded, that we finally realize we were made for Jesus and we were paid for by Jesus.

And now this Savior has come looking for you. He said He would "seek and save what was lost." That tug you feel in your heart? That's Jesus Himself, knocking on the door of your heart. Your relationship with Him can begin right where you are if you'll just tell Him that you're trusting Him to be your Savior from your sin. All the disappointments have been so you could finally find the one love that will never let you down, never leave you, and never die on you.

You tell Him, "Jesus, I'm putting all my faith in what You did on the cross, paying for my sin. I believe You walked out of your grave; you're alive. Come into my life today." Tell Him that, where you are. And please go to our website, and there I've laid out very simply the things that can help you know, from God's Word, that you belong to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com.

Jesus has allowed you to be left, to be lost...so you could get found. By the One who went all the way to a cross to bring you home.