March 6, 2023
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A college student was supposed to pick me up at this small town airport, and I was going to go to his college to speak. He had my press photo in his hand; just one of those typical head shots...you know, you have to send out to newspapers sometimes. I didn't, of course, have a photo of him. So who would you expect to find who in that airport? It wasn't exactly LaGuardia or Kennedy or Newark Airport. There were only two gates.
My flight came in and I kept waiting for someone to come up and identify themselves. But pretty soon, everybody cleared out and there were only two people left. There was me and there was this college student walking back and forth looking at a photo in his hand, looking at me, looking at the photo, looking at me..
Well, I knew his name was Jeff. I had talked to him on the phone. I said, "Is that you, Jeff?" He looked at the picture again and said, "Is that you, Ron?" I said, "It sure is!" He said, "Oh, in the picture you look tall." What? I have a tall head? I guess I just got the wrong body. Well now, anyone who wants a picture in advance, they ought to recognize the man when He comes. Right?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Don't Miss the One You've Been Looking For."
Our word for today from the Word of God actually comes from Matthew 1:21. It's part of the Christmas Story, but it's good all year. And the angel is speaking to Joseph. "'She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.' All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said to the prophet; 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, (That's actually a quote from the book of Isaiah.) and they will call him Immanuel, which means God with us.'"
God says here "When My Son comes He'll be the fulfillment of a prophecy." He will, in fact, be the fulfillment of scores of prophecies. For two thousand years God had been sending ahead a picture of what His Son would look like when He came to earth. It's sort of like an inverted pyramid. It starts out very broad and comes down to a very narrowly focused picture in advance of what the Messiah will look like.
In Genesis 3:15, way back in the Garden of Eden, God says the answer to sin would be a descendent of Eve. In other words, a man would come. Then in Genesis 12:15, He says what nation He'll come from. Of all the nations on earth, it says that the Messiah's blessings will come through the Nation of Israel. Then in Genesis 49, God narrows it down a little more; gives us a little more focused photograph. He says what tribe He will come from out of the twelve tribes of Israel...look for Him to come from the tribe of Judah.
Now in Isaiah 11:1 He narrows it down to the family. He says He'll come out of the family of David. Isaiah 7, the method - a virgin birth. How could you miss it? Micah 5:2 - He says, "Now, here's the place. He'll be born in a little village called Bethlehem." Isaiah 53 describes His death. The book of Zachariah even tells the number of pieces of silver He'll be betrayed for.
They had the picture in their hands back then and they didn't recognize Him. John 1:11, "He came to His own and His own did not receive Him." You say, "How could they miss Him?" Well how can we? We don't just have prophecies, we've got history. We know He walked out of His grave under His own power.
He's identified himself to you as the one you've been looking for. Could it be you're still withholding your allegiance? Could it be you're circling Him like that fellow did at the airport with me; checking out who He is? Well, sometime you've got to do something with Jesus. John 1:12 says, "As many as received Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become the children of God."
Maybe sometime for you is today. You don't need evidence now, you need faith. Don't circle Jesus any more. Come to Him and say, "Lord, you're the one I've spent a lifetime searching for."
I would invite you to join me at our website. It's called ANewStory.com. It could be the beginning of your new story. If you'll tell Jesus, "I'm Yours," you will finally be home in a relationship you were created for.