Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - Battlefield Picnic - #8352

Friday, September 4, 2009

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Hope you have great weather this weekend, because it’s one of the big cookout and picnic times of the year. As noisy as your picnic might be, it’s nothing compared to what may be the strangest picnic in American history. It was 1861…the Civil War had just begun and the Confederate Army was advancing on Washington, D. C. The battle with the Union Army would be joined at a creek in Northern Virginia called Bull Run. Meanwhile, the ladies and gentlemen of Washington left church and headed for a Sunday afternoon picnic on a hill overlooking Bull Run. Incredibly, they were having their picnic as soldiers were dying on the battlefield below.

I’m Ron Hutchcraft, and the obvious question is, “How could they just have a picnic when there was a battle going on right in front of them?” The better question is, “How can we?” Those of us who belong to Jesus, that is. See He’s involved in a fierce battle for the lives and eternities of people He died for, who don’t know that yet. As He said to Moses, “I have come down to rescue them…So now go; I am sending you” (Exodus 3:8 , 10).

In Old Testament times, some of the tribes of Israel wanted to camp on their allotted land on this side of the river while all the others went into Canaan to do battle with the Canaanites. Listen to God’s blatant question, “Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here?” (Numbers 32:6 ). That’s for us. With brothers and sisters fighting for Christ, even dying for Christ around the world, how can we keep partying with our Jesus club while there’s a battle going on!

This radio program references: Exodus 3:8 , 10; Numbers 32:6