Thursday, April 28, 2016
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There's no greater gift our daughter and son-in-law have ever given my wife and me than the little guy that was our first grandchild and the ones that have come since. From the night he was born, our hearts were all wrapped around that precious new life and they still are even though he's grown up. We would jump at the chance to babysit, and believe me; our rates were well below the market. But eventually, we took him home, and it was our turn to relax. That's the cycle of life. I had my chance to be the father of a child when my children were born. A grandchild is grand, but he's really not your child.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Scary Truth About Grandchildren."
Now, I love being a grandfather. God doesn't. Well, He loves being a Father, but the Bible reveals the startling, unsettling truth that God has no grandchildren. Lots of children, but no grandchildren.
There really is no more critical, life-or-death issue in our lives than whether or not we belong to God. Not whether we believe in Him; whether we belong to Him; whether or not we have a personal relationship with Him. So much in this life and everything after this life depends on whether we are in God's family.
Our word for today from the Word of God can really help us determine if we are or we're not. It's found in John 1:12. God says, speaking of Jesus, "To all who received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God." Now, notice we're not automatically born a child of God. We're all His creation, but we're not all His children. There's got to be a spiritual birth for that to take place. And apparently a lot of people who know a lot about Jesus, who have been around Jesus a lot, who are in a religion about Jesus can miss Jesus. These verses tell us that Jesus "came to that which was His own, but His own did not recognize Him."
God makes it clear that you don't belong to Him unless you have personally been born into a relationship with Him as His child. He has no second-generation people in His family. You won't go to heaven because your mom or dad belongs to Jesus, or because your son or daughter does or your husband or wife. You're not God's child just because you've been around God's children your whole life, even if you've been acting like one of God's children.
My daughter is my daughter by one simple fact: there was a day she was born into my family. Without that birth, there's no relationship. Without a personal spiritual rebirth, there is no relationship between you and God, no forgiveness, no heaven. And God tells us exactly how and when you can be spiritually born. His children are those who it says, "received Him (Jesus)...those who believed." That means the day you reach out to Jesus in total trust and say, "Lord, You are my only hope of having my sins forgiven, of belonging to God, because You are the only One who died to pay for my sins, to pay the awful death penalty; to take my hell to go to Your heaven."
You may be surrounded by Christianity, but missing Christ. Well, today could be your day to change that. It could be your spiritual birthday forever. If you want to begin this incredible relationship with Jesus Christ that must have a definite beginning, let Him know that. Tell Him that right now, "Jesus, knowing about You is not enough for me. Having a religion about You is not enough. I know that it will never be enough to get me into heaven or You would have never died on that cross. But, Jesus, I see now how personal that was and that I must embrace You. I must grab You like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard. Jesus, You are my only hope. And beginning today, I'm yours."
I want you to go to our website because I've tried to put there in the simplest of terms the information you need to be sure you have anchored your life and your eternity to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com.
All these years beneath all the Christian words and Christian activities and maybe masks you've known in your heart that someone was missing, and it's been Jesus all along. But that's about to end if you'll give yourself to Him. Then when God opens His family album on Judgment Day – the one with no grandchildren – there you'll be: a child of God, born this very day.