Friday, October 13, 2006
New York City is a bit of a shock to any first-time visitor. It's especially jarring for someone who has spent her whole life on an Indian Reservation. Now Linda was from the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and she was part of our ministry's Native American Youth Outreach Team. We call it "On Eagles' Wings." She was able to see New York from a distance at first. There's the Empire State Building, there's the skyline, and she said she wanted to see it all up close. Ha! That may have changed now that she has seen it up close. See, she went in with us when I spoke in the city one night and the traffic and the crowds - they were all over the place and they made her feel like maybe she was on a battlefield without a helmet. She also found certain aspects of the city exciting and, you know, she might want to go back. But as our team was driving along the Hudson River, we were headed for the George Washington Bridge, and Linda must have been reflecting on her life on the reservation for a minute because she looked up into the Big Apple sky and she just said two words, "No stars."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Star Blind."
Our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Corinthians 4:4. It's a very revealing statement from God's perspective. "The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." Basically, what's this saying? There is heavenly light that God wants you to see. It's the Good News of the glory of His Son, Jesus Christ. Now what's the Good News? Jesus loves you very much. He proved it by paying the sin penalty that you deserved when He died on the cross. He demonstrated His unbeatable power when He blew the doors off His grave and rose from the dead, and He's all the love, and all the meaning, and all the peace you've been looking for all these years.
But there's a problems with God's light. It's the same problem our Navajo friend had seeing those stars in the New York sky. The earth lights blinded her to the heavenly light. When that happens to people spiritually, they can literally miss Jesus and miss God's love, and miss heaven forever. This says that the god of this world, who is the devil, has blinded our minds. We're surrounded by a lot of earth lights that blind us to the much brighter light of God. We're blinded by the lights of making money, or having fun, important relationships, busy schedules, even religious activity. And we just keep ignoring Jesus, or postponing Jesus, or forgetting Jesus. We're blinded. The devil, whose goal it is to destroy you, will use anything or anyone he can to keep you from seeing and following Jesus. His intention is to block your view of the real light until you've passed the point of no return. But today, maybe this very moment, the light is breaking through. This could be your God day. You could tell Him right now where you are, "Lord, I have run my life long enough. I'm tired of this sin wall that's been between us. I believe that your son, Jesus, died to take that wall away to pay for my sin. And beginning this moment, I'm Yours."
If you want to get this settled once and for all, I hope you'll visit our website where I think you'll find some help and some support; some information that will help you get started with Jesus. The website is yoursforlife.net. I hope you'll visit there today. Or if you'd like to get my booklet "Yours For Life" you can just call toll free and ask for it. It's 877-741-1200.
For this moment, God has taken you away from the blinding light of all that earth stuff and all those earth people so you can take one clear look at the light of Jesus Christ. Now in the words of the Bible, "Seek the Lord while He may be found."