Friday, November 2, 2007
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When I'm on the road - which is a lot of the time - I really need my cell phone. For all the dropped calls and dead spots and interruptions, a cell phone really can be a tool to keep vital communication going. So every night I go into a motel, I faithfully take my cell phone and the power cord to recharge it from an AC outlet. Most days that little guy gets a workout and, just like the guy who uses him, he's pretty exhausted by the end of the day. Wouldn't be interesting if people had bars registering how much power they have left like a cell phone does? Not long ago, I got up and I turned on my phone, anticipating another day of needing it a lot. And it was virtually dead. OK, what's the deal? A power outage in the night? Nope. An owner who's a "dufus." Oh, I had the cord plugged into my phone, but I forgot to plug it into the wall!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Reason it's Not Working."
There was a simple reason my phone wasn't working - it wasn't attached to the source of power it needed. There's a simple reason life isn't working for so many people - they're not attached to the source of power they need. They're missing the God we were created to belong to - the God we're created to depend on. It could explain why, even though your life may be pretty full, it's not really fulfilling. It could explain why the dark side of you, the side of you that keeps hurting people you care about, keeps winning. It could explain why God seems strangely far instead of near. You're not plugged into where the power comes from. It comes from Him!
If anybody should have been plugged into Jesus, you'd think His disciple, Thomas, would have been. After all, Thomas had heard all of Jesus' teachings, he'd walked with Him every day, he'd seen His miracles, and He'd seen His love in action. Here's a man who knew just about all you could know about Jesus, who lived with Jesus. But something very revealing and very powerful happened to Thomas one day, and it wasn't until after Jesus had died on the cross and then risen from the dead. The Bible says he wasn't there when Jesus appeared personally to the disciples after His resurrection.
The disciples excitedly told Thomas, "We have seen the Lord!" And Thomas said, "I don't believe it." The story picks up in John 20:27-28, our word for today from the Word of God. Jesus has appeared to His team a second time, only this time Thomas is in the room. "Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. Stop doubting and believe.' Thomas said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'" Key word here - "my." For the first time, Thomas made the Lord his Lord. He'd been around Jesus for a long time, but apparently he'd missed ever making Jesus His personal Savior. And things weren't working - because, even though he knew all about the source of power, he had never plugged into that source for himself.
There are a lot of Thomases today. Maybe you're one of them. You're a great church person, a good person - but it's not enough to satisfy your soul or really change your life. It's just not powerful enough. Thomas had it all - except Jesus. Maybe that's you. You have Christianity, you have Christian belief, you do Christian things - but somehow there's never been that "My Lord and my God moment." And Jesus loves you too much to let you miss Him. That's why He's come to you today to show you that you're missing Him.
But you don't have to miss Him one more day. Like Thomas, look at the scars that show how much He loves you - He died for you. Look at this Savior who has conquered death so He could give you heaven. And join Thomas at His feet - giving yourself to Him. That's what's been missing. Talk to Him. Tell Him you want to belong to Him. "Jesus, I know you're the Savior, but I want to make You my Savior from my sin. What You did on that cross was for me. So, I'm ready to turn from my sin and pin all my hopes on You. I don't want to just believe in You. I want to belong to You."
I wrote my little booklet, Yours For Life, for a time like this, for someone who really wants to be sure they belong to Jesus. And I want to send it to you if you want it. You can ask for it, no strings attached, by just going to our website at yoursforlife.net or by calling this toll-free number - 877-741-1200.
Knowing about Jesus and knowing Jesus - it's all the difference in the world. It's all the difference in where you'll spend eternity.