Christmas 2019

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By Ron Hutchcraft

We really need Christmas this year. So many headlines about innocent people being killed by an angry man - in a church, a synagogue, a school, a business.

It even happened around that first Christmas. When King Herod ordered all Jewish babies killed. Because the wise men came to him looking for "the one who has been born king of the Jews" (Matthew 2:2).

Herod was king. He didn't want Jesus to dethrone him.

Neither do we. Oh, we're fine if God runs the universe. "But I'll run me, God!" The Bible says we were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16), but "we have left God's paths to follow our own" (Isaiah 53:6). Spiritual hijacking. With an eternal death penalty.

But Jesus, the King of all kings, loves you too much to lose you. He was born in that manger to die on that cross. For the very sins we've done against Him.

That's why I've surrendered the wheel of my life to the One who should have been driving all along, I'm hoping you'll do the same.

If you'd like to begin your relationship with Jesus, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. Let Him forgive you, Let Him love you.

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By Brad Hutchcraft

Recently I came across a gift I'd forgotten about. It's a gold number "76" that my mom gave me many years ago. That was the number I wore on our state championship football team, and my mom knew that was important to me.

I remember getting this gift the first time, but I was surprised by it again. Not because of the cost or even the football memories, but surprised by the love that went into the gift.

Christmas is a good time to be surprised again - by the One Who loves you most. Maybe you've heard a lot about Jesus growing up, or maybe you don't know what to think about Him. Whatever you've thought about Jesus before, this is a great time to take a new look.

In the book of John, Jesus reminds us that He is "the Light of the world," and that He has come so we can "have life." Because Jesus came into this world, died a horrible death on the cross, and walked out of His grave by His own power, you can have eternal life.

Wherever you're at with Jesus, draw close to Him and be surprised by the love you were made for. If you are ready for the love only Jesus can give you, connect with us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. With Jesus' love in your life, you can have your best Christmas yet.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

When I was a kid, the Christmas season always began the same way - we went out and got our Christmas Tree. Now with kids and grandkids the tree is still the center of our Christmas!

But then, in a way, a tree was at the center of the first Christmas. The angel told Joseph, "You are to name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21).

That "saving" us from our running our own lives would require the greatest act of love and sacrifice in history. In the Bible's words, "He carried our sins in His own body on the tree" (1 Peter 2:24). That tree was the cross where Jesus laid down His life to pay sin's death penalty that we deserve. Born in a manger to die on a cross.

My whole life changed when I said two words in my heart - "For me." He loves me. He died for me.

That tree - and what we do with what Jesus did there - is the deciding factor in where we'll spend eternity. If you want to take what Jesus died there to give you, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. Because you really do... need Him.

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By Lisa Hutchcraft Whitmer

Each year when we pull out our Christmas decorations, we have some Nativities that are missing their people. One is missing Mary - a little problem. Sometimes it's a missing wise man or shepherd, which thankfully isn't as much of a crisis! One year it hit me that what was really missing was... me.

Oh, I'm all about Christmas. And I'm sure you join with me - we each have our own list we're checking twice, crossing off the shopping, organizing, decorating, wrapping, delivering, traveling, cooking, eating, working. I can hardly say it all, and yes, we can hardly do it all.

Yet in the middle of our crazy, a baby beckons us to His cradle in a stable - and to a cross. The Bible says "He loves me and gave Himself for me." And He chose to die to get rid of the junk that keeps us from Him. All so we can have a relationship with Him.

Want to be in the manger this Christmas, and choose a relationship with Jesus? Contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

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By Doug Hutchcraft

I've got lots of warm Christmas memories. Many of us can say the same. But for too many others, the holiday season is full of anything but good memories. It's just another time to remember pain, neglect, and abuse suffered. It's a reminder of someone that's not there that should be. That can't be. A reminder that you're alone.

Did you know the Bible says God has kept track of every tear you've cried? That He wants to wipe away each one? He doesn't want the pain of your past to define you anymore! He wants this Christmas to be different for you.

God's Book says He "binds up the brokenhearted." He says when you begin your relationship with Him, you become a new creation. That the old has gone, the new is here!

God's Book also says "God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life."

If you'd like that life for yourself, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com - and make this your first Christmas with Christ in your heart.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

I gave my daughter a doll for Christmas when she was four. Fast-forward 40 years. I'm still giving my princess a doll every Christmas.

She takes that gift, opens it - and knows her Daddy loves her. What she's never done is try to pay me for it. That would be a bad idea.

Because you don't pay someone for a gift they have for you! Including the most valuable gift in the world. Heaven. Eternal life. In the Bible's words, "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23).

The problem is that most of us have been trying to earn heaven by being religious, being baptized, confirmed - being good. But the God who has eternal life says it's a gift! In fact, the Bible says the only thing we can earn is the death penalty for running our own lives.

A gift means someone else paid for it. And someone else did. Jesus, God's own Son. He took my hell when He died on the cross so I could have heaven. And all you can do is reach out and take the gift He bought with His life.

If you've never done that, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. The gift isn't yours - until you make it your own.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

It was Christmastime, and my wife was in Cardiac Intensive Care after open heart surgery. I had to do something to Christmasize her room!

I found this little ceramic manger with Mary, Joseph and the Baby. And one little word at the bottom. "Hope."

My Wife came back from that surgery. But two years ago, she was suddenly gone. I was devastated. That little manger now sits in the head of our bed all year long.

As crushing as the grief was, there was something that outweighed it. Hope. The kind the Bible talks about in this statement about Jesus: "We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure" (Hebrews 6:19).

My gal had put all her trust in Jesus' death on the cross for her sins. As I have. And in His Resurrection from the dead. Thus, proving He can guarantee heaven to all who pin their hopes on Him.

Hope of sins forgiven... the power to change... to finally know why I'm here.

If you'd like to be sure you belong to Jesus, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. Take it from me. The Anchor holds.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

Little Stephanie had only seen her soldier dad twice in two years. They each wore a key chain with half a heart on it, Her only wish was that Daddy would be home for Christmas. As she was sitting on Santa's lap at the mall, he suddenly handed her the missing piece of her heart. Daddy was home for Christmas.

A lot of people have wished for a daddy - not only at Christmas. Because either they haven't had a father, or the one they had was distant. Or abusive... angry... gone.

In a way, we all have a daddy deficit. Because we were made for a love relationship with a Heavenly Father. But the Bible says, "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). We're away from God because we've tried to be our own God, running our own lives our way.

But Jesus came, in the Bibles words, "to suffer for sins... to bring you to God" (1 Peter 3:18). His death on the cross was to tear down the wall between you and God. So you could be His child. And, yes, He could be that Father your heart has always needed.

If you'd like to begin this relationship today, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. And find your Daddy for Christmas.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

Poor Ed! He played the angel in our college's city wide Christmas program. The shepherds were huddled on stage with mass choir were singing "while shepherds watched their flocks by night." Angel Ed stepped out on a platform above them to announce Jesus birth. He got as far as "Fear not!" and fell on the shepherds below. Well no one hurt but an important message delivered.

When an angel appears in the Christmas story, they always start with those two words, "fear not." Because when Jesus comes you don't have to be afraid anymore! Of God, of the future, of ever being alone again, of facing God's judgment someday, or of what happens after you die because Jesus paid for your sin when He died on the Cross. He rose from the dead and can guarantee you Heaven.

He said "I will never leave you" and nothing will ever separate you from His love. And that's the relationship He offers if you'll receive it. If that's what you want, would you contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

With Jesus, you are forever safe.

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By Doug Hutchcraft

I remember the gift my son wanted the most last Christmas - a Star Wars Millennium Falcon Lego set. Now I made him think there was no way he was going to get it. You know, it's too expensive, too hard to find. I wanted him to think that there was no way it was going to happen.

You might be able to guess the rest. I sold a kidney and surprised him with the Falcon. The time he may have felt the least hope at Christmas, was the time he actually received the most incredible gift.

What a great way to describe what this season is all about. With all the talk about joy, many of us experience some our deepest sadness and hopelessness this time of year. God's book says we're actually born without hope for this world or for the next. It's because we're born with this thing called sin which is basically us deciding to run our lives our way instead of God's. It keeps us from a relationship with God.

The Good News is His book says that while the "cost of sin is death," the free "gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus" (Romans 6:23). If you want to receive this gift contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.