82 Sermon Illustrations on Danger

Many years ago there was a huge oil refinery fire. Flames shot hundreds of feet into the air. The sky was thick with grimy black smoke. The heat was intense - so intense that firefighters had to park their trucks a block away and wait for the heat to die down before they could begin to fight the fire. However, it was about to rage out of control.

Then, all of a sudden, from several blocks away came a fire truck racing down the street. With its brakes screeching, it hit the curb in front of the fire. The firefighters jumped out and began to battle the blaze. All the firefighters who were parked a block away saw this, and they jumped into their trucks, drove down the block and began to fight the fire, too. As a result of that cooperative effort, they were just barely able to bring the fire under control.

The people who saw this teamwork thought, "My goodness, the man who drove that lead fire truck - what an act of bravery!" They decided to give him a special award to recognize him for his bravery in leading the charge.

At the ceremony the mayor said, "Captain, we want to honor you for a fantastic act of bravery. You prevented the loss of property, perhaps even the loss of life. If there is one special thing you could have - just about anything - what would it be?"

Without hesitation, the captain replied, "Your Honor, a new set of brakes would be dandy!"

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Copyright 1996 by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Maida Rogerson, Martin Rutte & Tim Clauss

#620

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Battered by torrents of worrisome reports about the hazards in foods and the environment, Americans are engulfed in an epidemic - not of cancer but of fear. However, many scientists say obsessive reliance on bottled water and organic products is foolish. Instead, Americans should devote more concern to three things that cause the vast majority of premature deaths: alcohol, tobacco and over-consumption of saturated fats.

"Driving a car is pretty risky compared with, say, drinking apple juice with a trace of Alar in it," says Prof. Richard Wilson of Harvard University and an expert in comparing risks. The average American is thousands of times more likely to die in a car wreck than of cancer from pesticides. But in interviews with 25 shoppers buying organic produce at a local supermarket, nearly half said they had not worn their seat belts on the way to the store.

"People have an inappropriate sense of what is dangerous," says former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop. The truth is, Americans have never been healthier. Average life expectancy has risen steadily for decades, and most cancer death rates have remained stable or actually dropped.

The mighty Niagara River plummets some 180 feet at the American and

Horseshoe Falls. Before the falls, there are violent, turbulent rapids.

Farther upstream, however, where the river's current flows more gently, boats

are able to navigate. Just before the Welland River empties into the Niagara,

a pedestrian walkway spans the river. Posted on this bridge's pylons is a

warning sign for all boaters: DO YOU HAVE AN ANCHOR? followed by, DO YOU

KNOW HOW TO USE IT?

Faith, like the capacity to anchor a boat, is something we need to develop and

use BEFORE we face a cataclysm.

#2172

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Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood.

They parked their truck at one end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house an older woman was looking out her kitchen window watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley and back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them.

They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figure I'd better run too!"

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Chances are, you'll never have to worry. 'Course, you never know:

Your risk of being attacked by a shark: one in 100,000,000. Your risk of getting struck by lightning: one in 1,900,000. Your risk of dying in a bathtub this year, or the lifetime chance of contracting flesh-eating disease: one in 1,000,000.

The chances of a woman giving birth to quintuplets: one in 1,000,000; quadruplets, one in 100,000; triplets, one in 10,000; or twins, one in 100. The odds of getting HIV from a blood transfusion: one in 400,000. The annual risk of being killed by a falling object: one in 342,100. Chances of dying because of someone's dog: one in 700,000. The odds of being killed by another person: two in 100,000.

The risk of death in a bicycle accident: one in 88,000. The number of Americans seriously injured by their clothing each year: 100,000. The annual number hurt by their toilets: 40,000. The risk of dying from smoking by age 35: one in 600. Chances a cat will die after falling six stories: 10%. Chances a person will die after falling six stories: 90%.

The risk a person will die, period: 100%.

Life is risky and unpredictable, which explains why TV psychics are so busy, and why so many people use God as a safety net, an emergency kit or a personal bodyguard. The operative word here is "use". We use Him, but He yearns for us to choose Him, without expecting protection against disease, discomfort and disappointment.

Look at the things we pray for. Our lists are dominated by concerns over health and happiness. That's not to say there's anything wrong with asking for what we want and need, especially when we intercede for the need of others. But sometimes the bigger blessings are found in the fires of pain, suffering and uncertainty. When we make our obedience conditional on the Lord giving us exactly what we want, it amounts to little more than spiritual prostitution. God will have none of it. Instead, He calls us to absolute and unreserved surrender. Surrender to His love and infinite wisdom -- even when we don't understand what He's doing, or why.

Just as we must be willing to risk everything for love in our human relationships, so it is with our love for Christ. Life in the Spirit is fraught with danger, unpredictability, change and constant challenge. Bare your heart in service to His children and chances are you'll get hurt. You'll certainly get tired and discouraged. But when life is precarious, He'll carry us. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). His purpose, not ours. And what is that purpose? To "be changed into the likeness of His Son" (Romans 8:29).

God didn't spare His Son from suffering. He may not spare us. But we, too, will rise victorious, beating both the grave and the odds.

______________________

Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, Brantford, Ontario, Canada. Publish at will.

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"The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' - One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger - but recognize the opportunity."

-- Richard M. Nixon

A company of tourists were benighted while strolling among the

Bernese Alps. After having groped in the dark for an hour or more,

they resolved to spend the night at a certain spot where they felt

they were treading on soft mossy soil, although the darkness prevented

them from seeing where they were. As they were young and knew little

of the cares of this life, they entertained each other with songs and

merry talk till at length the one after the other stretched himself

out on the grass and fell asleep.

When a few hours later the sun rose and the morning breeze awoke

them, they discovered with horror that they were lying only a few

steps from a vast precipice, and that they had been jesting and

singing and sleeping on the very brink of what might have been their

grave. --Denton

At Kenesaw, during the battle, those who approached a certain tree

were almost sure to get shot. Eight men had fallen at that place. A

sign was put up: "Beware!" A man in a braggadocio spirit said, "I am

not afraid to stand there. There is no reason why a man should be shot

there, any more than anywhere else." He stepped up to the tree, and

instantly fell, fatally wounded. --Talmage

An Irish wayfarer, greatly fatigued from the effects of a long journey, had taken up his quarters in the West Port of Edinburgh in 1823, the evening before it was destroyed by fire. He was roused during the night by the police in order to get him out before the flames should render it impossible. At first, he could by no means be convinced of the necessity of rising: "He had paid his twopence for his bed, and it would certainly be hard if he could not get his sleep out." The poor fellow was at length rescued against his will.

-- Dictionary Of Illustrations

Heathen poets describe their gods as brooding over the perilous edge of battle, and snatching away their favorite hero when death threatens him, wrapped in a mantle of invisibility. -- John Guthrie

Too many, however, fancy themselves to be invisible and invulnerable to real danger. While God does especially protect His children, yet His solemn warning is: "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." -- D. V. M.

"You see that buoy, sir, moored in the bay?" said the captain of

the steamship in which I visited the Orkneys. "Yes," I replied, after

carefully picking out in the twilight the well-known danger signal.

"Well, there is a reef of rocks which, starting from the shore, runs

to a point within ten yards of that buoy. The worst thing about it is,

that there is no indication of the existence of the reef. Even at low

water, it is covered, and woe to the ship that should strike upon that

dangerous reef. In the dark nights, that buoy is an object of deep

interest to me. Anxiously, do I look out for it, and we proceed with

care until it is found." --Henry Varley

Likewise, there are times when a Christian should be very sure that

he sees the buoy of Divine guidance before proceeding. Satan has

planted many hidden reefs of potential destruction beneath the surface

of an apparently safe path. He risks eternal shipwreck who does not

constantly bear this in mind, and thus "move with fear" toward the

heavenly shore, seeking carefully to see the Divine warnings of these

dangers. --D. V. M.

Scott Jordan is not averse to risk. He has flown a small plane, tried bungee jumping and skied on glaciers. He once drove his sports car on a public highway at 152 miles an hour, and he is lax about fastening his seat belt on short trips. He only sometimes wears his helmet when cycling.

But terrorism and severe acute respiratory syndrome have him worried. Mr. Jordan, chief executive of a small Chicago apparel company, is likely to cancel his business trip to South Korea next month. “If I go ... and some crazy person decides to bomb the Hyatt, I'm dead,” he says.

Mr. Jordan may not be reading his risk rationally. Even in 2001, when more than 3,000 people died in a terrorist attack on the U.S., he was 12 times as likely to lose his life on a highway as at the hands of a hostile fanatic. But who can blame him?

Today, thanks to research labs, tort law and media hype, danger seems to lurk in every corner of life, from children's toys to McDonald's coffee, anthrax to secondhand smoke, West Nile virus to SARS. Faced with a barrage of warnings -- including the color-coded caveats of the new Homeland Security department -- it's not surprising that in contemporary America, the safest society in recorded history, many people feel as though they have never been more at risk.

“Everyone's nerves are on edge,” says Andrew Karam, radiation-safety officer at the University of Rochester, where he ensures that the use of radiation in medicine and research complies with federal regulations. “No matter where we turn, we're reading about something killing us prematurely.”

Armed with scientific and technological breakthroughs, Americans have dramatically reduced their risk in virtually every area of life, resulting in life spans 60% longer in 2000 than in 1900. Many deadly infectious diseases were tamed, food and water were purified, drugs and surgery helped forestall heart attacks, and thousands of safety devices -- window guards, smoke detectors, circuit breakers, air bags -- protected against everyday mishaps. Even the risk of financial disaster was reduced by insurance, pensions and Social Security.

The very safety of modern life in the U.S. may amplify our sense of loss. To die prematurely today may mean losing 40 years of life instead of 10. And while humans have learned to control much of their environment, there are periodically new, unpredictable and catastrophic threats against which they feel helpless, at least initially, such as AIDS, SARS and anthrax.

The past century also saw the flow of information about risk grow from a trickle to a tidal wave. Government officials, scientists, marketers and the media learned to use risk as a way to get people's attention. “It's much easier to scare than unscare,” says Paul Slovic, professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. “We trust people who tell us we're in danger more than people who tell us we're not in danger.”

Many corporations now do formal risk assessments of their vulnerability both to financial disturbances and to physical attacks on their offices or employees. Risks are also presented in a variety of ways -- lifetime risk, annual risk, potential years of life lost, risk per 100,000 people, risk per million people -- which makes it difficult to compare them. And scientists, Mr. Karam says, “aren't very good at talking to people about risk. They won't say something is safe, they'll say it's low-risk.”

Since it began its color alerts in March 2002, the Homeland Security department has never designated the U.S. to be at less than a “significant” risk for terrorist attacks -- level yellow. (The two lower levels, green and blue, haven't been used, and even the safest level -- green -- warns that the risk is “low,” not zero.)

A half-million soldiers have been ordered to get a vaccine for smallpox, a disease that hasn't been seen in nearly 25 years. At airports, security guards direct tens of thousands of people to remove their shoes to reduce the almost-zero risk of shoe bombs. Scientists say it's risky for older women to use hormone-replacement therapy -- but it used to be risky not to. Every month, the Consumer Product Safety Commission issues recalls of commonplace items such as travel mugs, baby rattles, sweatshirts, garden chairs and Halloween “vampire capes and witch brooms.”

Marketers and the media have capitalized on people's desire for risk-free living by appealing to their vulnerability. “If you're alive, you're at risk,” proclaim the ads of Destiny Group, a Newport Beach, Calif., company that insures against lawsuits. Women are “at risk for breast cancer just because they're women,” declare the developers of a cancer-risk-assessment model. The Scottsdale, Ariz., company TriVita Way International Inc. sells its calcium supplements by cautioning in ads, “Chances are, you're at risk.”

As more warnings have been dispatched by more Cassandras, however, some people have started to lose their faith in the traditional authorities -- political leaders, scientists and journalists. “As consumers, we have to respond in some way to an unstable and complex stream of scientific claims and counterclaims,” wrote Anthony Giddens, director of the London School of Economics, in his book “The Consequences of Modernity.” “We live on the edge of a technological frontier which no one completely understands and that generates a diversity of possible futures.”

That sense of confusion persuaded Martha Reeves, a 38-year-old nurse at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn., not to get the smallpox vaccination she was offered last fall. “I don't want to be part of a group that they find out it doesn't work on,” Ms. Reeves says. Program organizers “didn't have a lot of answers for things,” she adds. “As with anything, you don't know how your body is going to react. And if you have an adverse reaction, then you're out of work.”

The very process of scientific discovery, with conflicting studies recommending different paths, can leave laymen in a muddle. Leslie Rasmussen, a 53-year-old Pasadena, Calif., attorney, had been confidently taking hormone replacements until last summer, when a federal study showed that estrogen and progestin can raise the risk for breast cancer, heart attacks, strokes and blood clots.

“The fact was, here was something I thought was OK, and suddenly there's a risk to it,” says Ms. Rasmussen. “Either the medical community doesn't have a clear handle on these issues when they release these studies, or the media don't present it clearly. Between the two, you aren't sure what you're being told and why.”

Fear is an evolutionary survival technique -- early humans who worried about other carnivores were more likely to be on guard against them. “We are hard-wired in our brains to fear first, think second,” says David Ropeik, director of risk communication at the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis.

And some people even find taking risks addictive, which is why there are people who will climb vertical rock faces, jump off bridges with only a rubber cord between them and the water or try to jump a motorcycle over Idaho's Snake River Canyon.

But most people try to reduce the fear in their lives. Unfortunately, once a person has learned to fear something, he or she may always associate the experience with fear. That means that over a lifetime, fears tend to accumulate rather than supplant one another. Furthermore, humans can fear events they have only read or heard about, which is why people worry about calamities they have never endured.

“In our current environment, our fear system is almost too powerful because it's trying to protect against threats that don't really exist,” says Karim Nader, professor of neuroscience in the psychology department at McGill University in Montreal. “We're not running into predators at every corner.”

Tell that to Matthew Felling, media director of the Statistical Assessment Group, a Washington-based nonprofit organization that studies the way the media use numbers. “I worry all the time,” he says. “When I get on the subway, I know I'm at risk. I've gotten out of a subway car because I didn't like the way someone looked.” Based on historical data, riding the subway is much safer than driving to work. But “fear has become a commodity that's packaged to us,” Mr. Felling says. “You know, 'What you don't know about your envelope-licking can kill you.’ “

Before humans became so good at controlling their environment, they were more resigned to the exigencies of fate -- only prayer could protect them against natural disaster or plague. But as people became more adept at securing food and shelter, they became more interested in the future and how to extend it. When they learned to calculate, they could compute, based on historical data, what events might threaten their lives.

H.G. Wells once wrote, “Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write.” Even Mr. Wells couldn't have predicted how many statistics people face in their everyday lives now -- and how poorly trained they are to interpret them. “I teach a short course on radiation safety in Las Vegas,” says Mr. Karam at the University of Rochester, “and I wonder how I can talk about probability to people who come there confident they're going to win.”

In early April, Farid Tahbaz, marketing manager for a rubber and vinyl manufacturer in Buena Park, Calif., canceled a business trip to China because of SARS. “At first I wasn't really that scared,” he says. “I didn't think I was going to catch it, and I figured if I did, I'd just get sick for 10 days.” As the trip approached, however, and many people urged him not to go, Mr. Tahbaz began trying to find information on SARS in newspapers and on the Internet. While there are still no dependable statistics on the disease, “I took into account everything I'd read, and decided there was about a 5% chance that I would contract it,” Mr. Tahbaz says. “And then there was a 5% chance that if I got it, I might die from it. When I thought about the numbers, it wasn't worth it.”

Perhaps the most terrifying aspect of risk now is that humans are actually manufacturing it -- with nuclear power plants, the ozone hole, toxic waste, global warming, nuclear weapons, even terrorism. Most of these systems are so huge, complex and relatively new, that the possible consequences of them are wholly unknown. “We don't know how big or small our risk is,” says Baruch Fischhoff, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University specializing in the study of how decisions are made. “It's possible that the world is in transition, and there are poorly understood factors that raise questions about the validity of historical statistics.”

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Copyright © 2003 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #21120]

Error is always more dangerous when it comes from a casual and unsuspecting source than when it shows up hand-delivered by the Devil himself.

Every winter we hear the stories, we see the pictures of avalanches. Because we have done a lot of work in Alaska, I took special note of an avalanche that happened last winter at Alaska's Turnagain Pass. The mountain slopes had danger written all over them that day - eight feet of new snow had fallen on this older, packed-down snow, a warm sun had been beating down all day, and there were avalanche warnings. But that didn't stop some snowmobilers from powering up this 2,000 foot high mountain to see who could go the highest. There was even a more sobering warning of the danger they were in. Twenty minutes before the major avalanche there was a smaller one in a nearby gully. But some of the snowmobilers just kept going.

When the big avalanche hit, a mile-wide wall of snow roared down that mountain. An onlooker's videotape shows massive slabs of snow breaking loose and sliding down the mountain in a roiling, powdery cloud with at least four snowmobilers - mere specks - being swallowed up. At least four people died that day. And none of them had to.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about “Living Very Dangerously.”

You say to yourself, “If only they had listened to the warnings.” That must be what God says every time someone goes into eternity unprepared. The Bible makes it clear that He wants us to go to heaven when we die, to experience His awesome love forever. But the Bible also makes it clear that many won't make it to heaven, not because they weren't good enough, but, in God's own words, “because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” (John 3:18) Because they've heard God's warnings about sin and its death penalty in hell, but - like those stubborn snowmobilers in Alaska - they've ignored the warnings.

Our word for today from the Word of God is from Hebrews 2:3, and it really bottom-lines what's at stake here. God says, “How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation.” Salvation. That's rescue. That's what I got the day someone came to rescue me from drowning in Lake Michigan. It's what a person receives when a firefighter brings them out of a burning building. It's salvation. Rescue from dying. God says that's what Jesus dying on that cross is all about. He's paying the price for all the sinning you and I have ever done so He can come and rescue us forever. But like me in that lake or that person in the burning building, if we resist the rescuer, we'll die.

God warns us here about ignoring His salvation. I think that's how most people end up in hell instead of heaven. Not because they out-and-out reject Jesus; they just ignore Jesus and all God's warnings about our need of Him. Maybe that's where you are. You're just too busy to think about eternity right now or you're having too much fun. You think you're religious and you'll make it on your own goodness, or you think you know Jesus because you know a lot about Jesus. But for one reason or another, you are ignoring the Savior. You're ignoring God's warnings.

And this is one more warning from God. It may be that for someone reading today this will be their last warning. But God is saying, “Don't keep going this way! You are headed for an eternity without hope, without love, without Me.” This is just too important to ignore any longer. You are risking the eternal judgment of Almighty God.

Please listen to Jesus' knocking on your heart-door. Please listen to the warning of God. Tell Jesus you're trusting Him today to do what only He can do - to rescue you from your sin and its eternal penalty. The avalanche of God will sweep away all those who ignore His warning - who ignore His Son. Please, don't gamble your eternity one more day.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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The great danger facing all of us... is not that we shall make an absolute failure of life, nor that we shall fall into outright viciousness, nor that we shall be terribly unhappy, nor that we shall feel [that] life has no meaning at all -- not these things. The danger is that we may fail to perceive life's greatest meaning, fall short of its highest good, miss its deepest and most abiding happiness, be unable to tender the most needed service, be unconscious of life ablaze with the light of the Presence of God -- and be content to have it so -- that is the danger: that some day we may wake up and find that always we have been busy with husks and trappings of life and have really missed life itself. For life without God, to one who has known the richness and joy of life with Him, is unthinkable, impossible. That is what one prays one's friends may be spared -- satisfaction with a life that falls short of the best, that has in it no tingle or thrill that comes from a friendship with the Father.

... Phillips Brooks, Sermons

It was one the causes Princess Diana was most passionate about. A little-known organization that addresses this issue won the Nobel Peace Prize. It's not an issue we think much about, but it's one that costs countless lives every year - land mines. They are the deadly leftovers of old battles, and many innocent people are injured or killed by them. A land mine is, of course, not where you can see it coming. It's buried. You're just walking along and suddenly the ground beneath you explodes, maiming or destroying an innocent person.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Spiritual Land Mines."

Sudden and unexpected destruction - it happens spiritually, too. Spiritual land mines are under the surface as well, but when they go off, they do an awful lot of damage. They come in the form of three unholy loves. Whenever a follower of Christ blows up, or a ministry or ministry leader blows up, it's usually because one of these three loves erupted.

1 John 2:15-17, our word for today from the Word of God, exposes the unholy love that destroys what God is trying to build. "Do not love the world or anything in the world." God is talking here particularly about the world's values, the world's system, the world's way of doing things. "If anyone loves the world, the love of our Father is not in him. For everything in the world - the cravings of the sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."

Let's try to bring "the cravings of the sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and the boasting" right down to where we live. The three unholy loves that are land mines in any life or ministry - the love of money ... the love of the opposite sex ... and the love of power. Think about the spiritual falls you've known about - most, if not all, of them are traceable to one or more of these unholy loves.

Usually, if your sin is because of your love for money, you'll leave a trail and you'll eventually be caught. Usually, if your sin is one of the love of the opposite sex, it will ultimately be exposed and punished. But perhaps the most insidious spiritual land mine of all is the love of power. That one's hard to prove, hard to confront - but a prideful, power-loving spiritual leader can often maim and scar and even destroy people for a lifetime without ever being stopped.

Many of us bring our pre-Christian baggage with us into our Christian life. If we don't repent of it, we usually try to baptize it and make it something spiritual. Consequently, for example, there are many people who were control freaks before they knew Christ and they carry that addiction to control right into their Christian experience - and even their leadership. Except now we can dress it up as being a strong leader or having strong convictions. But underneath it is still the life-destroying, unholy love of power and control. It's the cancer that afflicted Diotrephes in 3 John - "Diotrephes loves to be first." (3 John 9) There are still plenty of him around.

These three land mines hide beneath the surface for a while - but eventually they go off and they scar families, they split churches, they discredit ministries, and they hurt the name of Christ. Would you join me in searching your heart to see what land mine is there ... and would you repentantly surrender it to Jesus today - before it does any more damage.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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An alarm may be annoying but, face it, most alarms are your friend. The alarm clock in the morning - without which you'd lose your job. The smoke detector. The fire alarm. Now most of us don’t carry an alarm with us, but for some people, it’s a very positive idea. Recently, my wife was in a nursing home on an errand of mercy when suddenly this loud alarm went off. Immediately, a nurse came running to a door where she intercepted one of their elderly residents who was headed for that door. The manager explained that some of their residents are afflicted with serious memory loss or disorientation, so much so, that they have left the building and wandered off, not knowing where they were - including right into the middle of the road! So the woman who triggered the alarm has been fitted with a special bracelet - one that triggers an alarm whenever she is on the edge of a possible danger zone. Apparently, she does remember what the alarm is for. When it went off, she instinctively stopped where she was. That alarm could literally save her life.

Well, I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about “The Danger Zone Alarm.”

When you're moving into danger you don't realize, it's good to have an alarm that alerts you. And it’s good to pay attention to that alarm. Your Lord has built that kind of alarm into you - in the person of the Holy Spirit who lives inside of you as a follower of Christ. Jesus said the Spirit would “convict the world of guilt in regard to sin.” (John 16:8) One important ministry the Holy Spirit has to you is warning you when you're wandering into the danger zone spiritually. A danger you may not know is there, but a danger that could do you a lot of harm.

That’s why God's warning is in our word for today from the Word of God. It's so important - 1 Thessalonians 5:19. Four words: “Quench not the Spirit.” After that, it goes on to say, “Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil.” When the Holy Spirit is talking to you inside, don’t ignore Him. Don't put out the fire He sets inside you. Don't blow right past His warning that you’ve crossed the line.

The Holy Spirit is active in your heart, your mind, and your conscience all day long, representing how God feels about what you're saying, what you're watching, what you're listening to, what you're doing with His temple (your body), what you're thinking about, fantasizing about, the motives behind what you're doing. And when you're starting to wander out of bounds, He puts a check in your spirit - a restraint, or even a twinge of guilt. The alarm goes off - God’s quiet inner alarm that says, “You're out of bounds. You can't see it, but you have just entered the danger zone.”

See, the Holy Spirit knows exactly where the choices you’re making are going to ultimately end up. Like a disoriented older person, where you want to go looks very desirable and perfectly harmless. But God knows this will take you into deadly heavy traffic - and by the time you realize it, you may not be able to get out. No sin remains isolated. The first compromise may be hard, but it seldom stays just one compromise. The next one is always a little easier, until one day you have done what you never thought you'd do, you've become what you never thought you'd become.

It may be that God’s alarm has been going off in you recently, warning you not to keep telling or living that lie. Or making you feel shame or guilt or uneasiness over something you watch or listen to or laugh at. Maybe warning you against leaving your family when it looks so tempting to bail out. Or the Spirit-alarm may be trying to move you away from that wrong relationship, that dangerous flirtation, or that growing anger or bitterness.

God's warning is clear - don't quench the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. Listen to God's alarm going off in you. You don't know the trouble this is taking you into. He does! Back away from this door. It takes you where you do not want to end up. You are entering the danger zone.

________________

Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. “Practical Answers to Real Life Issues”

#19450

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Maybe you've seen those old world maps that were created when a lot of the world was still unexplored. When they reached the edge of what had been explored, they drew a line and they showed dragons and monsters beyond it - which didn't exactly encourage exploration. The story is told of a first century Roman commander who had to lead his troops beyond the line on the map and into, uh, "dragon territory." He sent a courier back to Rome with a straightforward message - "We have just marched off the map! Please send new orders!"

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Marching Off The Map."

Man, that sure describes how a lot of us are feeling since things changed so dramatically on September 11, 2001. We have marched off the map! Things are up for grabs with the economy - with many people's jobs - and with our own personal sense of safety and security ... anthrax in the mail ... a long war ... prospects of bioterrorism and cyberterrorism. USA Today talked about DEFCON 1, the military's phrase for their highest state of alert - and they said suddenly all of us are living at DEFCON 1.

We need some certainty - we need some leadership. We want to hear from our national leaders, from our military leaders, from our financial leader, but none of them can give us the sense of peace and security we're needing in this "new world" that is off the map. What we're looking for can ultimately only be found in the leader - the One who created us. The issues of our day and the questions of our heart are just too big to be answered by anyone other than God Himself.

In times like these, I'm glad Jesus described His relationship with those who belong to Him as one of a shepherd. Because with no clear direction these days, we're feeling a little like sheep. Well, here's what Jesus offered to people like us in times like these - it's in our word for today from the Word of God in John 10, beginning in verse 3. "He calls His own sheep by name and leads them out - He goes on ahead of them, and His sheep follow Him." Later, Jesus said, "My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand."

There is someone who knows the way to go when there is no map - and He's the Lord of this universe! And Jesus leads those who belong to Him, giving them daily direction and provision, no matter what's in the headlines. And He never loses anyone that's His - because, in the words of John 10, He "laid down His life for the sheep." Jesus died for everything wrong you've ever done so you could belong to Him forever. He's not about to lose you!

The Bible tells us that Jesus weeps for those who are, as He says, "sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9:37) That may be you today. But it doesn't have to be you for one more day. He's reaching out to you right now. He's ready to be your Shepherd in confusing times, your Anchor in stormy times.

Your relationship with Him begins when you tell Him you're done trying to be your own shepherd, running your own life - that you're putting your total trust in Him to forgive your sins, direct your life, and get you to heaven. You can tell Him you want to begin that relationship right now. And I'd like to send you the booklet "Yours For Life" that I wrote about this relationship, if you'll just let me know you want it.

We've marched off the map. But Jesus knows exactly where we are - and what the future holds. And He can take you there safely - if you'll just grab His hand.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

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I was out of the country, and my wife was visiting her father, along with our daughter and son-in-law. Karen convinced her dad to hike with them back into the woods to the spring where they used to go to get water when she was a little girl. Eventually, they came upon a scene that was really printed on Karen's memory like a photograph - that spring gushing from the rocks, just beneath a cave above it. Well, they spent a few minutes exploring, and then headed back. That night, our son-in-law showed the video he had shot of their little expedition. As the picture panned past the darkened cave, he stopped the video and rewound it to get a closer look. And there, gleaming in the darkness, were the two eyes of a big cat - as in panther or cougar. They had not seen that cat - they had been exploring right beneath that cat - and they had never known the danger they were in.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "The Cats That Never Pounced."

I wonder how many of those you and I have had in our lives - the things that could have hurt or destroyed us that we never knew about. The cats that never pounced. In an increasingly dangerous world, isn't it great to know that you are under that kind of protection?

Paul wrote about that security in 2 Timothy 4:17-18. He said, "I was delivered from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom." Now there is one powerful antidote to fear! The Lord is going to rescue me from every threat, except one - the one that's designed to take me home, right on time. That's right on time according to the life plan He made for me before there was a me.

Now, that doesn't mean we don't take precautions, the ones that God directs us to. Paul often continued to preach boldly, even when he knew there were forces who wanted to kill him in the city. But other times, he left town quickly or sneaked out of the city in a basket. When Nehemiah and his workers were threatened, he said, "We prayed to our God and we posted a guard day and night." (Nehemiah 4:9) Our faith is not in our guard, it's in our God. But sometimes God chooses to protect us through some practical steps He asks us to take.

But ultimately we are safe because Almighty God is watching over us. In just six verses in Psalm 121, it says "The Lord watches over you" five times! It concludes by saying, "The Lord will keep you from all harm - He will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."

So, when is the last time you praised the Lord for all those cats that never pounced? For all those times you've been delivered from danger and never knew it! Wait 'til we get to heaven and watch the video. I think we're going to be amazed at what could have happened that didn't!

When our kids were little, we used to put them to sleep every night singing a little chorus: "Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hand. Sheltered o'er, sheltered o'er, with His love forevermore. No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me, for He keeps both day and night. Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hand." If you're in the hollow of His hand, you're really safe. If you've never put your life in Jesus' hands, do it today.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. 'Practical Answers to Real Life Issues'

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Why are you scared of nuclear power, but not of a peanut butter sandwich? Simply put you're off your nut, some gurus of “risk assessment” might say.

Anyone with half a brain would be scared silly of a peanut butter sandwich. But you're not. And if I continue to pummel you with statistics that say you're more likely to die from the natural carcinogens in peanut butter than from living next to a nuclear power plant, you'll eventually knock me down and stuff jelly up my nose.

When the captains of the nuclear industry originally offered the peanut butter equation, it didn't make them very popular with environmentalists and others who think we rely too heavily on half-tamed technologies and chemicals. The environmentalists, in fact, wanted to knock the captains of the nuclear industry down and stuff jelly up their noses.

But the peanut butter equation illustrates a point: When scientists bang on their calculators, they come up with a list of things that kill lots of people, but don't scare us much. Likewise they can produce a list of things that don't kill many people, but of which we live in dread. Consider these disparities, for instance:

• Scientists rate nuclear power as fairly safe; lay people are horrified

by it.

• Scientists think X-rays are moderately dangerous; lay people aren't so

worried.

• Scientists rate swimming as rather hazardous; lay people consider it

rather harmless.

What can explain this chasm between what we're scared of and what we should be scared of? Well, if “risk assessment” takes the objective view of a hazard, then its sister science, “risk perception,” examines the subjective side. And it has revealed a method in our madness.

Risk perception seems to attract scientists with a frisky approach to research. One experiment, for example, involved dipping a dead, sterilized cockroach into a glass of juice, then noting the percentage of people who wouldn't drink. In another trial researchers observed that people refused to put on a sweater worn by someone who committed a moral offense, or by someone with an amputated foot!

Using these and more orthodox approaches, risk-perception researchers have identified some general rules that cause us to greet danger with a yelp or a yawn. As stated by Carnegie Mellon researcher Baruch Fischhoff, “We probably do have our priorities screwed up, but there's usually some reasonable reason for it.”

• Natural risks are less scary. Perhaps this explains why we loathe nuclear power but ignore the radioactive threat of natural radon gas.

• Risks imposed on us seem worse. We can decide if we want to risk swimming, but when a hazardous waste incinerator sprouts next door we feel powerless and panicky.

• Risks with an obvious benefit are less daunting. One reason we give appreciative ratings to X-rays and surgery is that we focus on the payoff.

• Risks associated with complex technologies and catastrophes are greater. This is partly because the media dwell on catastrophes. If each day's headline read, “One in 50 of You Will Die in a Car Crash” (and this is an amazing, true fact), we'd think twice about risking our necks in those death traps every time we need a donut.

In light of how we estimate risk, our fears don't seem quite so silly. They reflect our notions of fairness and our desire for control over our lives. They reflect emotional truths, and for $95 any psychologist will tell you nothing on the planet is less silly than an emotion.

And that explains the big smile on my face every time I tempt fate by eating a peanut butter sandwich in the car on the way to the pool.

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Hannah Holmes, copyright © 1997 Discovery Communications, Inc.

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It would be hard to imagine a time that Maher hasn't smiled. Though short in stature, the Madian-born Iraqi lights up a room, whether it's at the hospital where he helps translate for Iraqi patients, or in his church which has now held services for 10 weeks in a row.

There was a low point in his life. It came as he was being interrogated in Saddam Hussein's military intelligence prison - the most feared prison in all of Iraq. As he heard stories of other prisoners there who had been severely tortured by the same men who were questioning him, he wondered whether he would ever see home again.

Maher Abdul Mageed was born into the Madian culture, a sect that can be traced back to the original followers of John the Baptist. Though 90 percent of John the Baptist's followers turned to Jesus Christ after their leader's death, some did not, choosing instead to worship John, a religion that has been passed down for generations.

Maher accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior in 1994 after first hearing the Gospel from his brother who had left Iraq for another country. Within a year, Maher felt called by God into ministry, though there was no schooling in evangelism he could obtain in Iraq. Under Saddam's dictatorship, it was extremely difficult to preach the Gospel in Iraq; it could quickly gain someone a three-year trip to prison if caught.

A father and a husband, Maher decided to start a media ministry. By collecting audio tapes, books, CDs and videos, he reasoned it was the easiest way to preach the Gospel without being accused of specifically proselytizing for his faith. Using double-deck cassette players, he would stay up until midnight each night taping various Christian programs. His wife would then help copy the tapes while she cooked. He was eager to share his tapes and CDs with fellow members of the church he attended, the sole Arabic evangelical church in the area where he lived.

Word began to spread throughout the church and surrounding neighborhoods about Maher's ministry, a development that concerned the local church council's several members who also belonged to the Baath Party.

“They asked me to stop my media ministry and said it was becoming a problem,” Maher recounted. “I asked them, why? They were fearful that Saddam would close the church.”

Over the next few months, Maher tried his best to meet the council's requests, without giving in to shutting down his ministry altogether. Still, the moment came when he was asked to do just that.

The leader of the church council confronted him on everything he had been doing - from passing out tapes to printing and distributing a flyer with the plan of salvation on it.

“I told him, 'I'm not doing anything wrong,'“ Maher said. “He told me, 'You don't like to obey my orders.’ I just said, 'I don't like to not obey my Jesus.'“

That was on Friday. The following evening, Maher was sitting in his living room chair, watching TV and eating peanuts in his pajamas and robe when someone knocked at the door.

Two men, security agents for Saddam Hussein, quickly informed him that he must not open his mouth nor make any sudden movements. A man who had frequently borrowed tapes from Maher's ministry stood there as well. He quickly pointed to Maher and nodded to the men, leaving as quickly as he came.

Maher thought quickly and made up an excuse which got him permission to run upstairs where his wife was. He quickly told her what was happening and instructed her to hide the mountain of audio cassettes and videotapes they had brought home from the church.

In all, 10 evangelical pastors were arrested that day. Maher spent five days in a 4-by-4-meter room with five Muslims who had been accused of political crimes. When he was brought in for interrogation, a cold chill ran through his body as he was told what the charges were.

“They had been listening to the CDs I passed out,” Maher said. “One of the recordings talked about a leader's integrity, and the fact that the best leaders in the world are Christians. To them, that meant I was opposing Saddam being the leader of the world. That was the lowest moment for me because I knew they had torture devices. I started praying.”

Five days later, Maher was released unharmed, though many of the other pastors were imprisoned until Hussein released the prisoners right before the war began.

Fast forward to the present. Since the initial bombing has ended, Maher and his family have enjoyed a new freedom to worship and share their faith with others. They have started a church which is housed in a local Anglican church building, with 90 percent of those who attend are brand-new believers.

“Jesus filled us with more purpose,” said Eman, Maher's wife. “He filled us with a great ambition to tell the people about grace and God's Good News.”

More than 10,000 Iraqis already have been touched by Maher's media ministry since it began. He believes the future will only get better. “Thirty-five years of dictatorship, we are tired. Enough's enough.”

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A few years ago I worked for a company that sent me out on the road to some of their remote sites to do maintenance work. These sites were, for the most part, open fields approximately 100 to 160 acres in size. On these sites were huge piles of metallic ores such as manganese, beryllium, chromium, ferro chrome, and many others. Occasionally, these fields would have to be mowed and the buildings would need repairs, so I would go out and do the repairs, and if the weeds and grass hadn't gotten too much out of control, I would use a tractor with a brush hog type mower and cut it back down. Sometimes though, I'd have to call contractors to come into the fields to mow the waist-high grass and weeds with their heavier equipment.

This one particular site was in an isolated area of central Pennsylvania that was prone to heavy rainstorms with an extraordinary amount of lightning, possibly attracted to the area by all the ore piles. It was surrounded by a 10-foot high cyclone fence for security, with gates to allow access to a road that went through the center of the property.

That day was another very hot, mid-August day, and I could see Kevin (the contractor), on the far side of the road, traveling back and forth across the field, baking in the hot sun. Around one thirty in the afternoon, I noticed some very heavy rain clouds coming over the nearby hills, and knew that another storm was coming. I waited awhile to make sure that we actually were going to get rained out, before calling Kevin in from the open area, hoping to let him get as much mowing done as possible. When the sky started to darken and the wind picked up, I hopped into my pick-up truck and went out to the field to call him back to the building.

As I stood by the edge of the field, waving to Kevin, signaling him to get back to the shop building, the first few heavy raindrops began falling. Then, as the first burst of lightning lit up the sky, and the first crash of thunder shook the air, Kevin sailed passed me on his tractor like an eighteen wheeler on Interstate 80.

After locking the gate on that side of the road, I got back into my pick-up and pulled inside the second gate. The latch was broken on this gate and I had to wrap a short length of chain around the gatepost and then through the edge of the gate. By then the lightning was closer and the rain was just starting to get a little heavier. I shoved the thick chain around the post and threaded it through the diamond shaped openings in the fence on the gate, and held both ends in my one hand.

Next I took the open lock off the fence, where it had been hanging, with my other hand. Just when I was about to put the lock on the chain, a gnat flew into my open right eye. That stung. It stung so much that I instantly dropped the lock and the chain and put my hands to my eye, taking one step back at the same time. Not a second later, lightning struck that fence somewhere close by and I saw the whole fence in front of me light up and glow bright blue. That beautiful but lethal shade of light blue from high-voltage radiation nearly filled in all those little diamond shaped openings in the fence.

I stood there awe struck as I realized what had just happened. I was standing, wet, in rain, holding onto a chain, that was threaded through a metal fence, that was just about to be struck by lightning, when an insignificant insect, an annoying pest, a bug, flew into my eye and saved my life. I was completely unharmed, not even a tingle.

Now, I've always believed that we each have a guardian angel, but I don't know, for sure, how they do their work. At night when I lie down to go to sleep, I thank those guardian angels for the work that they do. Who knows how many times they saved my life and I don't even know about it.

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Life's Adventures, http://www.worldstart.com/lifesadventures.htm

I have chosen to worry about various things. My worries have often been of the future. Will my children be happy and healthy during their lives? Can my husband and I afford to send four kids to college? Will they even go to college? Will they get married? Who will they marry? Will my family be protected and safe? What will the end of my life be like? Who will die first, me or my husband? Of course, for the most part, I have no control over any of this and it does absolutely no good to worry about it. I don't dwell on these things, but I confess that they do cross my mind occasionally.

There is a church at the end of my street. Every week there is a new quote or phrase on the sign out front. This week's sign read, "Security is not the absence of danger, but the presence of God." The "security" this quote refers to is peace. And anytime I begin to worry, panic, or dwell on the unknown, I am not experiencing security or peace. I am not experiencing the presence of God.

As a Christian, I have a power within that can conquer anything threatening to disturb my peace: fear, danger, worry, conflict, stress, or the circumstances of life. That power is the Holy Spirit whose very presence brings peace - when I choose to give Him control. Peace is one of the rewards of a personal relationship with God. What is true peace and how does it affect our lives?

Peace is not about our circumstances or the challenges that we face on a daily basis. Peace is all about knowing we have a right relationship with God and that He is in control. It is placing complete confidence in Him. Like the sign said, "It is the presence of God."

To enjoy and experience peace, we have to choose peace over worry. Do you realize that you will never have a real need that God is not able to meet? The more I understand this truth, the more I am able to let go of worry in the unknowns of my life. God does not want me spending time in a state of unrest when He has graciously given me the gift of peace..His peace. I have to trust Him.

Author, Elizabeth George, puts it this way: We make the sacrifice of trust and experience God's peace.

*when we choose not to panic.but rest in God's presence,

*when we release our terror.and trust in God's wisdom and ways,

*when we reject our nervousness.and remember that God is in control,

*and when we ignore our dread.and instead accept God's dealings.

I have a dear friend whose daughter spent the first five years of her life fighting cancer. Her family has spent countless hours and days in a New York hospital, away from home, doing all they could to find a cure for their sweet child. This little girl has been through radiation, chemotherapy, tests, tubes, needles, and all kinds of medical treatments. In fact, this was all a part of her normal life for a long time. Most families would've fallen apart. Most people would've been worried and afraid, paralyzed with the thought of losing their child. Not so with this family. I watched my friend over the years and what I saw was the presence of peace. She was not a mother living in fear, panic, or frustration, but a woman of God living in peace with the hand she was dealt. You see, she knew that God was in control and that He had a purpose and a plan in all the suffering and pain they were going through. She did not know what the outcome would be or why her little girl was so sick, but she knew God loved them and would never leave them. By trusting God, she allowed the Holy Spirit to fill her with His peace.

If you find yourself unable to experience this kind of peace, pray and pray often. Read God's promises in Scripture. Whether you are going through painful trials or find yourself so busy that you don't how you are going to do it all, go to God and ask Him to fill you up with His peace. It is available and waiting for you.

My prayer for today:

Jesus, you are called the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). Please fill me with the peace that surpasses all understanding. Thank you for taking care of me and supplying all of my needs. Amen.

Application Steps:

Begin your day with prayer. Read God's Word, filling your heart and mind with the love, joy, and peace only He offers. Whenever you feel the peace slipping away, go back to Him immediately. Ask Him to give you peace for the moment. Acknowledge that God is in control and He will take care of you and your loved ones.

Reflection points:

Do I really understand that I will never have a real need God is not able to meet?

Will I choose to live in peace?

Have I been spending time with God daily?

Power Verses:

Psalm 139:7 Philippians 4:19

John 16:33

Isaiah 26:3 Philippians 4:6-7,

The hardships of missionary service can be discouraging, but worshiping God in a spiritually dark place is a privilege beyond compare, Iraq shooting survivor Carrie McDonall told 58 new missionaries in Tyler, Texas. McDonnall, the lone survivor of a March 15, 2004, shooting that claimed the lives of her husband, David, and three other Southern Baptist workers, spoke during an International Mission Board appointment service at Green Acres Baptist Church.

“As I was preparing for tonight, I thought about what I could say to encourage you,” McDonnall said to her new co-workers. “One thing I knew was that I wanted to share a Scripture with you, a Scripture that David clung to and referred back to on those days when he needed encouragement.”

She quoted Psalm 108:3-5: “I will praise you, O Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth” (NIV).

“One night, this verse sunk in as we worshiped on a rooftop in a village where there had not been a believer for centuries,” McDonnall recalled. “Many of you are going to find yourselves in places like that, where there are no believers or possibly never have been.

“Consider it a privilege that you may worship the one true living God in a place where there is only darkness.”

DON'T BE SURPRISED

McDonnall warned the new missionaries not to be surprised when everything goes wrong and life gets hard.

“There are times when you will need to focus on the Lord's faithfulness,” she said. “He is the one who is called 'Faithful and True.'

“In those times when nothing seems to go right and all you can cling to is the call you have obeyed, remember this: God is faithful. That is His name. He will do what He put you there for.

“He will be exalted among the nations. The earth will be filled with His glory. Your work is not in vain, nor does it go unnoticed.

“In this world, you will have tribulation, but take courage. Jesus has overcome the world. Not will overcome. He has overcome this world.”

COMPELLED BY LOVE

Overseas service can be extremely difficult, and many people don't understand why missionaries go, said Gordon Fort, the board's new vice president for overseas operations.

The truth, he said, is that the love of Christ compels missionaries to go -- and compels them to stay when things get difficult.

“People will ask you why you are doing what you are doing,” Fort said. “The reason is that, deep in your heart, you are compelled by the love of Christ. There is something inside of us that says if we don't go, those who have not heard will spend eternity separated from God.

“One of the things that keeps us on the mission field is that when God calls, we cannot help but obey,” Fort said. “We lay our lives on the line, in obedience to the call of God.

“Never forget to walk in that obedience every day you are on the field. It's an unending quest. You might have a victory today, but the victories of today will not guarantee tomorrow's battles. You have to fight them each day. Obey your master.”

'LIVE A SACRIFICED LIFE'

Every Christian -- even new missionaries -- know they aren't spiritual giants, Fort said. The only hope anyone has of being used by God is to “live a sacrificed life.”

“You know you're not a spiritual giant. In fact, some of you are wondering, 'How did I make it through this process?'” Fort said. “You know you are human beings like everyone else in this room.

“But if you will remember to live a crucified life every day, you will experience the power of God flowing through you. That is what will make the difference wherever you go.

“Do you want God to do something great with your life?” Fort asked. “Do you want God to use you for sake of His Kingdom?

“Then just spiritually see yourself climb up on an altar, there to be consumed by the fire of God's Holy Spirit until He burns you to ashes. Then let Him take what is left and let Him mold you with His hands into an instrument He can use.”

He was having a great day on the slopes, and lots of new snow was there, an already deep base; it was just the kind of day an experienced skier would hope for. But then this one skier decided he wanted more. He skied onto another part of the mountain - a section that was clearly marked with this large skull-and-crossbones sign with a warning about going any farther written in bold print: “You may die. You decide.” Sadly, that skier decided to ski where he never should have gone. Then came the massive avalanche that drove him headlong into a tree and buried him in a snowy grave.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “The Avalanche Zone.”

A man deliberately chose to go out-of-bounds into the forbidden zone. He ignored the warnings, and, tragically, he paid for it with his life. Sadly, there's a tragedy like that being repeated every day by many, many people. They're out-of-bounds, and they're in the avalanche zone - and when it comes, there's no escape.

That's actually a picture of the spiritual condition of someone who's listening right now. In a way, it's a picture of all of us. Because the Bible says that every one of us has decided to live our life outside of God's boundaries - even the most religious of us. God insists on truth, for example, and countless times we've settled for much less than telling the truth. God says we can have no other gods before Him, and we've pre-empted Him as the center of our life and pretty much put ourselves in the center of our universe.

The boundaries of God forbid destructive anger, lingering bitterness, hatred, hurting other people. We're out-of-bounds with our pride, our sexual desire, our sexual involvement directed to anyone other than our husband or wife, our prejudice, our judgmental spirit. Your sins and my sins may be different - and you may think mine are more sinful than yours - but the Bible gives God's sobering bottom line: “There is no one righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

And our sin has placed us squarely in the path of the avalanche of the judgment of Almighty God. Our instinctive fear of death is well-founded because we have to meet a holy God on the other side. James 1:15, our word for today from the Word of God, makes very clear the danger we're in: “After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.” The ultimate outcome of our sin will inevitably be death - the death of our self-respect, of relationships, of people's trust, of a reputation - but worst of all, our eternal separation from our God in a place Jesus called hell.

But the dying for your sin has already been done by Jesus Christ. In the words of the Bible, Jesus came “to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Hebrews 9:26). That cross was for you. But read the warning sign: “Whoever does not believe (in Him) stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son” (John 3:18). If you keep skiing past that warning, you will, as the Bible says, “die in your sin” (John 8:21) and face the awful avalanche of a penalty Jesus already paid.

That's what makes it so urgent that you turn around and reach for heaven's Rescuer, Jesus - your only hope of heaven. Don't just breeze by His cross again without doing something, without giving yourself to the One who gave Himself for you. Right where you are, you can tell Him, “Jesus, I'm Yours. I have no hope but You.”

Like the sign on the ski slope that fatal day, God's warning says, “You choose.” It's not a religious choice. It's literally a choice between life and death, and heaven and hell. I pray that you will choose life.

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Copyright © Ron Hutchcraft Ministries, Inc., PO Box 400, Harrison, AR 72602. Used by permission. Written by Ron Hutchcraft. "Practical Answers to Real Life Issues"

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