November 6, 2023
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It wasn't the big one, but it was pretty big. It was that 6.6 earthquake that rocked Los Angeles some years ago. It was 4:31 A.M. and the ground began to tremble underneath Southern California again. And those who watched it will not forget the picture of what collapsed; those Northridge Meadows Apartments where 16 people died in those apartments. But in the midst of the Northridge tragedy, you heard the word miracle a lot. Maria Ballesteros was one who survived that apartment collapse and she was rescued. And she claimed she knew why. She said there were 50 pictures hanging on her wall and 49 of them were destroyed. But one was still there when the shaking was all over. Maria said this, "The one of the Lord was the only one left hanging."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "What Your Quake Cannot Shake."
Frankly I was pretty touched when I heard about that one picture that the quake couldn't shake. It was a picture of Jesus. It made me think of two men in the Bible who had a similar experience and of how you and I can live in times when it seems like everything is shaking. Job was a wealthy man. He had a wonderful family, and he lost it all. His children all died violently, he lost everything he had materially. He later lost his health. He was living in constant pain. Even his wife turned on him. Every picture fell but one.
And Job, in the book named after him, said in his agony in chapter 19, verse 25, our word for today from the Word of God, "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end He will stand upon the earth." Now, Paul was that major ambassador for Christ in the early days of the Christian faith. He wrote about half of the books in the New Testament. And in his last one, 2 Timothy, Paul was in prison in Rome. He was facing execution by Nero. Every picture has been shaken off the wall of his heart except one. He talks about it in 2 Timothy 1:12. "I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day." He's speaking about Jesus Christ. Job and Paul - unsinkable, unshakable because of a personal Savior who cannot be shaken who lives in our heart.
Working with young people, I've often handed out four 3x5 cards in a meeting, and I've asked them to put on those cards the four most important things, people or activities in their life. Then I've said, "Okay, now there's been a tragedy and you have to lose one of those four most important things. But you've got to choose which one." Like real life, sometimes something comes along and you are forced to drop a card. It's hard.
Then I tell them there's another tragedy, and they've got to drop another card. It's getting tough; they're resisting now. But finally they're down to one card. They can keep one. But one is all. Even though it's just a card, they battle over it. But that one card, I ask them one question, "Is it something you can lose?" How about your last card? Is it something you can lose?
In our world today you need something that's quakeproof, someone that's quakeproof, and there's only One. It's God's Son, Jesus Christ. We need Him desperately. A relationship with Him, it's the only dependable anchor there is.
And the Bible says, "Our self rule of our life has cut us off from that God." But that's why Jesus came to remove the barrier by paying our death penalty for our sin on His cross. In the words of the Bible, "Nothing can ever separate us from His love." But you've got to choose Him for yourself.
If you've never done that and grabbed that one hand that will never let you go, the one picture that will be there when all the others have fallen, let this be the day you do that. Tell Him, "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website. It's all about beginning this personal relationship. The website's ANewStory.com.
Once you choose Christ, then you can know there is no life quake so powerful that it will cost you Jesus. No matter how you're shaken, you can be quakeproof, because nothing can shake Him and He has got you.