My son bought an old Mustang when he was in high school. No, not the kind with four legs. The kind with four wheels. He actually used money he got from selling some of his valuable baseball card collection. Some years later, he wanted to sell it and put the proceeds into the work he was going to be doing with Native Americans. He put an ad in the paper about it. First day - no calls. Second day - no calls. He wasn't expecting a line at the door exactly, but he thought he'd get a little more response than that. Then he found out why. He checked the ad and found that the newspaper had goofed and published a phone number that was a wrong number. But what a difference that one little number made! When we dialed the number in the paper, there never was any answer. You gotta feel bad for some guy who's looking in the paper, sees a car he wants at a price he likes, and dials the magic number that cannot possibly reach the person who has what he's interested in.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Wrong Number for Heaven."

There's someone you want to reach; someone you need to reach. They have what you're interested in, but maybe you've got the wrong number. It doesn't matter how many times you try, you just can't get through to them.

For many people, the One they want to reach, the One they believe has what they're looking for is God himself - the One who made them. In fact, in this age of growing interest in spirituality, there are more and more people who are realizing that the answer for their soul and their life has got to be a spiritual one. What we've accomplished, what we've owned, who we've known - none of those has filled the hole in our heart. So we want to reach our Creator - the One who has the peace and the meaning we need now, and the eternal life that we'd like to have when this life is over.

But just as people may have sincerely tried to reach my son about his car, many spiritual seekers never get through because they're sincerely dialing the wrong number. But God has published His number - very clearly, in bold print - actually in Bible print. Anyone who tries to reach the Creator this way is going to get through. Remember, in the midst of a thousand theories about how to reach God, the only One who can really tell us how is God himself - and He has.

Our word for today from the Word of God is John 14:6 - "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." In a world of listings with God's name on them, there's only one that reaches Him - the one marked Jesus. Jesus doesn't say, "I will show you the way." He says, "I am the way." Whether or not we reach our Creator is all wrapped up in what we do with Jesus - not with His teachings, not the religion named after Him, but with Jesus himself.

The reason He is the way is explained in 1 Timothy 2:5-6. The Bible says, "There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all men." We can't understand what it takes to reach God until we understand what it is that keeps us from being able to reach Him. We have this wall between God and us called sin - which means we've made ourselves our own god by choosing to do it our way instead of God's way. And we've earned an eternal death penalty, which only one person even claimed to pay; only one person could pay. God's Son, Jesus, who loved you enough to do the dying for your sin on the cross. All our religious and moral efforts to reach Him are all wrong numbers and they're deadly.

You may be a very decent person, a sincere seeker, an accepted member of the Christian community, and still not reach the God who has what you need. Because you can only reach Him by putting your total trust in Jesus to rescue you from the penalty of your sins. Have you ever done that? Would you like to?

Tell Him that now. "Jesus, I'm yours." Go to our website, the information is there to help you be sure you've begun a relationship with Him. The website is ANewStory.com

He's been waiting for your call for a long time, but you've got to come the way that He's provided, the only way. Through His Son, who loved you enough to die for you. When it comes to eternity, a wrong number can cost you everything.

In high school our teenage son had a very, very busy life, which just might go with having the same last name as I do. And sometimes I would just find him kind of collapsed on the couch. So, he'd have his New York Giants mug, and his school books, and what was going to be on TV, and of course he had his phone. Now, don't think cell phone. This is like the old fashioned land line phone. Unfortunately, the phone plugged in two rooms away, which means that the cord was stretched to the max to get to his little zone with the couch, and I could tell when he had the phone there, because I kept hearing people muttering all through the house after they tripped over the cord. See, it was right where all of us had to walk to get to the living room or to the kitchen. And I'd just say, "Hey, you've got to do something about this thing that people keep tripping over!" Well, so do you and I.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How We Keep People From Jesus."

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Romans 2:24. It is a sobering indictment of first century believers. Listen to these words: "As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles (or the unbelievers, or the unreached) because of you." Now, the Jewish believers that Paul was talking to were the reached people. And he was saying, "You believers... Because of you, the unreached people are blaspheming God."

Then he talks a little bit about why, for example, in chapter 2, verse 21. He says, "You, then, who teach others; do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?" Then he says, "God's name is blasphemed because of you." In other words, "You're not living what you say you believe, and people are tripping over the contradictions in your life." It's like my son's telephone cord. People keep tripping over it - it's in the way!

You've got to ask, "What is there in my life that could be keeping someone from my Jesus?" It's a pretty horrible thought to think that someone might end up lost forever because I turned them off to Jesus by my inconsistency. You know, most people who come to Christ do it because of a Christian they know. And most people who refuse Christ do it because of a Christian they know.

I wonder if your temper is canceling out your message about a loving Savior. Or the humor that you use. Is it contradicting the purity that Jesus stands for? Maybe that sarcasm is so harsh that it's hard to reconcile with the compassion of Jesus. Maybe your gossip or your backstabbing; maybe that's tripping people up. Or the fact that you're negative most of the time, your laziness at work or school, or a complaining attitude.

See, a Christian ought to be the best employee that employer has, so they bring credit to the name of Jesus. You ought to be the hardest working student in that class whether you get the best grades or not. You're the advertisement for your Savior, and I know you'd hate to be a reason for someone to reject Christ because you never dealt with your tripper-upper.

Actually, if you were to let Jesus change that part of you; that part that's kind of out-of-control, that's inconsistent, that's confusing to an unbeliever, it might just create a curiosity in folks that like, "Wow! What happened to him? You're different." That might get them started investigating your Jesus. It might give you the best opening to share Christ you've ever had; that simple change in you. When they see what happened to you, you get to tell them, "It was Jesus." Because they never saw you be like this before. That's a powerful testimony!

My son and I had to solve that cord problem before someone got hurt. He had to do something about the thing that kept tripping people up. Will you do that in your spiritual life? I believe you can provide an uncluttered path to the Jesus who your friends so desperately need if you'll get rid of that tripper-upper.

I was writing an article last night and all of a sudden this flood of thoughts just came rushing into my brain. I never did finish that article and I ended up writing something else. You're about to hear what came flooding into my brain, because it's what's been going on in the world.

We all know, look at the news. The world is like exploding. And this is the conflict in the Middle East right now, dominates the news - and the hearts of a lot of people.

The world is once again, we've been here before, plunged into a season of unnerving peril and uncertainty. Not long ago, remember? I know you do, it was a mutated virus. This time it's drones and missiles and terror.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Dangerous Times, Destiny Times."

And the Apostle Paul's sober warning to his young protégé Timothy echoes across the centuries at times like these: "In the last days, perilous times will come" (2 Timothy 3:1).

He went on to describe why it would be so dangerous as history's fourth quarter approaches. It's not because of weapons or wars. But because of what people will become.

The description here, I'll have to say, is disturbingly familiar.

He said, "People will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving... and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good."

You know I can probably go on social media right now and find everything I just read about.

But don't you get the feeling that there's something much bigger going on here than just global politics and converging crises? Maybe you're feeling what I'm feeling...

There's something profoundly spiritual going on in our world right now. In our world, in our time! Like something climactic.

I don't have words for it. Except to say - our world is increasingly starved for a Messiah. Someone who can fix what seems hopelessly broken.

But we're increasingly disillusioned with all the messiahs we've tried, all the things and people we thought might be a messiah for us.

And waiting at the threshold of human history - and billions of fearful hearts - there stands Jesus. Returning one day to the world that the Bible says, "crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8). But this time coming as "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:16). To a world described in Biblical prophecies as remarkably like our own.

So my bottom line is simple: all that really matters is what will matter when Jesus comes! Now the truth is, a lot that won't matter then tends to matter too much to us. And a lot that will matter then kinda gets pushed to the margins.

Now, once again, I hear Paul's voice, this time giving Timothy his marching orders.

It's our word for today from the Word of God; it's in 2 Timothy 1:7-8, and chapter 4 beginning with verse 1 - "God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love and self-discipline. So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord... I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead... preach the Word of God... work at telling others the Good News."

Man I want to see what Jesus sees when He looks at the people in my world. I want to see those "Sheep without a shepherd." "Lost." "Perishing."

In Him, we have the Hope people have despaired of ever finding. We have the peace that defies the storm. We have the love that finally fills these empty hearts of ours. We have the Message that changes eternities!

Friends, we have the Gospel!

And with our eyes on the fourth quarter game clock, we need to be spreading that Good News as never before! Faster. Farther. Better.

God has assigned us here "for such a time as this." Hard times? Yes. But it's harvest time!