Thursday, February 21, 2019
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It's hard to imagine a movie that got rave reviews when there were about 45 minutes during which there was just one man on the screen, and he didn't even talk that whole time! Yeah, Tom Hanks pulled it off a few years ago in his blockbuster movie, "Cast Away." It's the story of the lone survivor of a Federal Express plane crash who ends up totally alone on an island. Well alone, except for his one friend-a volleyball he names Wilson. Tom Hanks' character is on that island, marooned and alone, for four years. He's the castaway.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have "A Word With You" today about "No Castaways."
You've probably never been marooned on a desert island. But you might know pretty well how it feels. In a world of bad relationships, superficial relationships, broken relationships, a lot of people know the feeling of being, well can we say, emotionally marooned, abandoned, maybe even discarded. Because of some of what you've been through, maybe you feel like the castaway.
But your days on that island may be almost over. In fact, it could be that all your failed, all your frustrating relationships have actually been preparing you to experience the central relationship you were made for. The one relationship that is so permanent and so secure that it even redefines your need for love, and it sets you free for healthier relationships all around.
Anyone who has ever felt like an emotional castaway needs to hear the fabulous promise of Jesus Christ in our word for today from the Word of God. In John 14:18, Jesus says to all those who belong to Him, "I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you." This is the same Savior who says, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). He's the One who promised, according to the Bible, "The one that comes to me, I will certainly not cast out" (John 6:37).
That's it: unconditional love, unconditionally guaranteed by the One with more love to give than anyone in the world. And that's the kind of anchor love that your heart is so ready for, a kind of dependable love that maybe you've almost given up on, but a love that's guaranteed by the man who loved you so much that He died for you.
The Bible actually says that you and I were "created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16). Maybe you've never given yourself to Jesus until now. It's all the hurt of those other relationships that has softened your heart and made you realize how much you need the One who died to pay for all the wrong things you've ever done. We're not talking about a Christian religion here. No religion can love you, no religion can forgive you, be with you every moment of every day, or take you to heaven when you die. Only Jesus can do that.
So this is all about a relationship; a relationship that begins when you respond to this awesome love of Jesus. It begins when you welcome Him into your life, counting on Him and Him alone to remove the wall between you and God. When you do that, the relationship you were created for begins. And from now on, that promise of Jesus can be all about you, "The one that comes to Me I will certainly not cast out."
Why don't you tell Jesus now that the door on your heart is open to Him; that today you want to begin your personal love relationship with Him. You know, if that's something you're ready for, you can say to Him, "Lord Jesus, I'm sorry for running my own life. I am sorry for hijacking it from you. And now I believe that the death penalty for my sin was paid for by your death on the cross. I thank you that you love me that much, that you came back from the dead, that you're alive, and I'm yours today, Jesus, from today on." When you pray that with all your heart, your relationship with Him has begun and will be there forever.
Are you ready for that? You tell Him that right now. I think our website would be a help to you right now. It's there to support you at this crossroads moment of your life with the information you need to be sure you belong to Him. Go there - ANewStory.com. That's the website.
Look, you've lived long enough on that lonely island haven't you? It's time to meet the one person who will never, never leave you. If you do, you have just spent your last day alone.