Christmas 2023

By Ron Hutchcraft

When Charlie Brown wants to know what Christmas is all about, Linus quotes the Biblical account of the first Christmas. With maybe the five best words in the Christmas story! The angel tells the shepherds, "I bring you good news..."

Have you listened to the news lately? Pretty dark, scary stuff. And maybe this Christmas you're dealing with your own personal bad news - the diagnosis, the trouble at home, the broken relationship, the broken heart. We need that "good news" this Christmas.

Here's what the angel said the good news is: "A Savior has been born to you; He is the Messiah, the Lord" (Luke 2:11). So why is Jesus such good news?

First, He's the Savior - He loves you so much He died for your sins. Second, He's the Messiah, who can heal what's broken and make things right. And, He's "the Lord" - totally in control of everything that seems out of control.

He stands ready to be your personal Savior beginning today. I hope you'll contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. This is life-saving news.

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By Ron Hutchcraft

They promised it on the box when I bought those toys to give our kids - "Easy to assemble." Bah, humbug! There I am, sitting there in a pile of pieces - muttering three words. "Easy to assemble."

Sometimes life feels like that. Trying to figure out how all these pieces fit together. Mark Twain said the two most important days in a person's life are the day they're born and the day they find out why. Some of us are still waiting for that "find out why" day. There's one Person who can answer that. The Manufacturer. The Bible gives us the "why" when it says, "All things were created by Him and for Him" (Colossians 1:16).

We were created for a relationship with God! But we've lived for ourselves instead! Life's a mess because we're away from the One we were made by and made for.

But that's why Jesus came! The Bible says, "He died for sinners to bring you safely home to God" (1 Peter 3:18). Life works when you begin a relationship with the One who gave you your life.

Which could be today for you. If you want that, contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

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By Doug Hutchcraft

My college-age daughter actually has the coolest Christmas name: Noelle! She spends the majority of the year at college a few states away from us: and as her dad who misses her, that's NOT cool. Every year at Christmas I can't WAIT for her to come home!

Did you know that YOU have a Father, a Heavenly Father, that also longs for you to be with Him? And chances are that emptiness you may be feeling inside is actually your heart longing to be with Him.

The problem is we've decided to run our lives our own way instead of our Creator's way, what He calls sin, and that the Bible says God actually "hides His face" from us because a holy God cannot stand sin. But wait... there's more! The Heavenly Father's Son, Jesus, died on a cross to make us right with God... the Bible says Jesus, the righteous without sin, died for you, the unrighteous with sin, to bring you to God!

Find out more by calling 888-NEED-HIM or by visiting ChatAboutJesus.com - and finally come home for Christmas!

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By Ron Hutchcraft

Silent night. That wouldn't describe the gift- giving craziness at our house on Christmas Eve. Try loud! I remember the year our youngest grandchild was pretty overwhelmed. Grandma saw him wandering around, looking bewildered. She took him to a quiet corner, got him focused on one new toy, and he was fine. She was his one safe place in the chaos.

For me and for millions of others, that one safe place is Jesus. And He'd like to be that for you. The Bible says, "Nothing can ever separate us from His love" (Romans 8:39). That is ultimate security in a world that's increasingly dark and lonely and even dangerous.

His love for us brought Him here and all the way to that cross where He died to pay for our sin. Then He walked out of His grave so He could walk into your life this Christmas. And you're safe because His love is unloseable, His power is unlimited, and He's bigger than your greatest fear.

And you can belong to Him today. Would you contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com. He is your one safe place.

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By Lisa Hutchcraft Whitmer

This Christmas, peace is hard to find.

Whether tragic news headlines, an endless-to do list, challenging relationships, a medical diagnosis, or never enough money - where is the peace?

Yet God's Word says to "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..." Wait - I have a choice with this? "Let the peace?"

In the middle of all the crazy and uncertainty swirling around, I can actually CHOOSE to LET peace be in my heart, day, and life.

I can choose to turn from running my own life, to the God who made me and loves me - and have the unending storm in my soul cease, and hide "in the shadow of His wings."

I can have the "peace that surpasses all understanding" from Jesus, the Prince of Peace.

If you'd like to know more about this lasting peace, call 1-888-NEED-HIM or visit ChatAboutJesus.com.

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My son and I were having a blast riding in a go-kart together...until we started going downhill. Let's just say that my build had us picking up speed pretty fast. So fast that we caught air. That wasn't in the brochure.

Fortunately, there was a speed governor to slow us down before that next curve! Sometimes we need one of those around Christmas - something to slow things down. Everyone is bustling about with shopping, travel, family plans...the list goes on.

When everything is spinning around us, it can make it hard to remember what this season is all about. Christmas is about Jesus coming to earth in the form of a baby. On a rescue mission. He came to die on a cross for each and every one of us. He took our punishment, but He didn't stay in the grave. He defeated death and gave us our chance at eternal life!

This Christmas, take time to slow down and look at who Jesus really is. A relationship with Him has made all the difference for me, and it can do the same for you. If you'd like to know more, connect with us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com

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By Ron Hutchcraft

"Mary had a little lamb; its fleece was white as snow." You probably never thought of it as a Christmas song. But it sure could be. "Mary had a little lamb, and Jesus was His name."

The Bible says, "John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, ‘Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world'" (John 1:29).

Why? The Bible tells us that for centuries God's people sacrificed spotless lambs as a symbolic payment of the death penalty for human sin. Until God's Lamb came. That baby in the manger. That Savior on the cross. We've hijacked our lives from our Creator but He loved us so much that He sent His Son to pay sin's eternal death penalty. The Lamb of God. Carrying away the sin of the world.

My sin. Your sin. The day you pin all your hopes on Jesus, you can have every sin of your life erased from God's book - and be guaranteed eternity in heaven. And today, that could begin for you. Contact us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

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By Lisa Hutchcraft Whitmer

Those pretty wrapped presents under the tree - waiting to be opened! What excitement! Until the paper is ripped off, there's no way to know what's inside.

Some gifts are hoped for... some funny... some nostalgic...

But what if we opened our gift, and found muddy, beat-up old shoes... or messy, used cleaning rags... or dishes with dried-on food... or broken, beyond repair jewelry.

That's no gift at all. It's junk. Broken. Dirty.

Yet the "giver of every good gift" - God - never gives junk. He offers a relationship with Himself through His Son, Jesus - who came at Christmas, to die for you and me on a cross one day.

He gives us all the things our hearts long for - Life. Hope. Peace. Joy. Comfort.

Want to unwrap this best gift ever? Call 1-888-NEED HIM, or visit ChatAboutJesus.com.

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By Doug Hutchcraft

There's a scene in the classic Charlie Brown Christmas special that isn't super Christmas-y...but that describes what so many feel during the holiday season.

Charlie tells Lucy "I'm not happy. I don't feel the way I'm supposed to feel." Lucy's prescription? "Charlie Brown, you need purpose!"

Believe it or not, she may be on to something. God's Book says we are born with something in our heart called sin...and that it separates us from the One that made us...the One that God's Book also says we were created to have a relationship with. When we don't, our life's greatest purpose - to know and love God - is unfulfilled.

That's the bad news. The good news is God's Book also says "Christ died once for all...to bring you to God." When you accept the gift of Jesus dying in your place for running your life your way, instead of His, what God calls sin, you are forgiven and free to be who God made you to be.

To learn more about God's purpose for your life, connect with us at 888-NEED-HIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

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By Brad Hutchcraft

We have a really cool wood map of the world. The problem? Countries keep falling down. Just the other day the world was falling apart. Again.

That's really no surprise, is it? It seems that every day we are reminded things are falling apart. But it's not just the world. It's in our work, in our homes, in us personally.

At this time of year, some of those things can be magnified, even in the glow of the Christmas lights around us. That is the very type of world Jesus was born into. The names and places may have changed, but the brokenness around us hasn't.

The fact that Jesus DID come is reason for joy. He came to fix what was broken in each and every one of us. The Bible says we all have sinned - or run our lives our way - but it also says that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Because Jesus died on the cross for our sins, we can be forgiven! We just need to make the choice to start a relationship with Him. He's waiting to hear from you. And so are we. Contact us at 888-NEEDHIM or ChatAboutJesus.com.

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