I opened the refrigerator and there it was again - the pig! Yes, years ago someone bought it, put it in the refrigerator for a while and then it disappeared. I thought maybe he'd gone to the bacon factory, but then the pig was back. See, this pig was actually plastic, and whenever you would open the door, the plastic pig started oinking at you. It's annoying, but it does make you think about what you're about to do to yourself.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The No Regrets Alarm."

Our word for today from the Word of God - very familiar verses from Matthew 6, beginning at verse 9: "This then is how you should pray." And this is what we commonly call The Lord's Prayer of course. Remember this phrase? Of course you do. "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one." How many times have you prayed that? "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil." Or as some translations say, "the evil one." That's an important prayer. We almost don't think about those words. "Lead me not into temptation; deliver me from evil."

In other words, "Lord, help me see where the temptation is. Help me steer away from it. Keep me from anything that the Devil might be trying to get me to do." Well, how do you do that? That's through His Holy Spirit. In fact, Jesus said that the Holy Sprit, who He called the Comforter would do that. He said it in John 16:8. He promises "that the Holy Spirit - the Comforter - when He is come, He will convict the world of sin." He also said in John 14:26 He will "bring to your remembrance all the things that I have taught you." In other words, the Holy Spirit's going to bring to mind how Jesus feels about this.

The day you put your trust in Jesus as your Savior, God plants in your soul a sin alarm. Now somebody planted a gluttony alarm in our refrigerator - this noise that makes you stop and think before you reach for something. It was annoying, but the pig could keep you from doing something you would regret later; like how you'll feel when you step on the scale tomorrow.

We do need some noise inside of us when we're about to reach for something we're going to later regret. And God delivers us from evil if we will listen to the inner alarms He triggers when we are about to sin. He says something like, "That's not the truth; don't lie. That's not pure; don't watch it. That's going to hurt; don't say it. That's going too far; don't do it."

See, one alarm in us is what I call Scripture brakes. God brings to your mind a statement from the Word of God that keeps you from making a mistake if you listen. It's the brakes; step on the brakes. D. L. Moody said that "When you think sin you ought to think Scripture." That's why it's important to commit to memory verses that God can later use to warn you away from the edge. Psalm 119: "I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I will not sin against You."

Now, another sin alarm is what I call shame warnings. See, many of us don't carry a sense of shame from the sins of the past, and God erased those from His books if you've brought those sins to Jesus. But sometimes the shame feelings are there a long time after God has forgiven us. And that's actually not all bad, because God can remind you of the damage that comes from saying yes to that temptation, using the shame warnings from the past. Listen to those.

One other sin alarm that God uses when you're reaching for something that could hurt you is Spirit tremors. It's an uneasiness in your spirit that says, "This just isn't right." That's probably the stirring of the Holy Spirit. Listen to that inner warning. But respond immediately and put on the Scripture brakes, respond to the shame warnings, to the Spirit tremors before sin drowns them out and you grab a plateful of regrets.

After a while, I have to admit I got immune to that pig warning in the fridge. I finally just put it away. Don't do that with the Holy Spirit alarm system inside you. In God's words, "Do not quench the Spirit," because He knows the price tag for what you are about to grab.

I was in Georgia when a friend said to me, "Do you know which team is one of the best football teams in our state?" When I said I didn't know, he said, "The Georgia School for the Deaf." I've got to tell you that kind of caught me by surprise. I wasn't expecting a school for the deaf to be like football champions. He said, "Man, we played them when I was in high school and you always had to get up for that game. They were always the toughest."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "How Your Rough Times Can Help You Help Others."

Our word for today from the Word of God is in 2 Corinthians, the first chapter, beginning in verse 3. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of compassion, the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow into our lives, so also should the comfort of Christ overflow."

Verse 3 here talks about this beautiful side of God. He's the God of all comfort. He's the God of compassion, the healing hugs of God, who brings what only He can bring us - a supernatural comfort deep inside of us where no human being can go. I hope you've experienced that.

There's a comfort cycle here. It says that we're supposed to comfort with the comfort we got from Him. This word comforting is really the Greek word that means "called alongside of to help." It's saying God comes alongside to encourage us so that we then can do that for others. The comfort isn't just for us to get comfortable. It's to fill us up with love and support that we pass on to others.

How does this happen? Well, you go through a deep valley. Maybe you lose someone, you have a season alone, some lingering illness, maybe a financial disaster, or you're abandoned, you're betrayed, and it hurts. But God does something beautiful with that hurt. He turns it into sensitivity, into radar for people who are hurting in that same area.

Joni Eareckson Toda was paralyzed as a teenager in a dive, and it was a terrible tragedy. But the worst thing that ever happened to her has given her a worldwide ministry. She knows how disabled and wounded people feel.

My friend, Jean, was abused as a girl. She's got a wonderful ministry to abused girls. My friend, Don, was raised in a broken home. He has an incredible ability to work with kids from troubled backgrounds. When you open up your hurt and your wounds to the God of all comfort, He can use you in ways you never dreamed.

When life's trouble hits you, it can be a tool either for Satan or for God. You dwell on the pain, you dwell on the people who hurt you or on yourself, and you're going to start a downward cycle of depression. That might be where you are right now.

But if you surrender to Jesus all the pain, all those people who hurt you, all the questions, you're on your way to turning a loss into a victory like those football players at the Georgia School for the Deaf. They have special sensitivity because of their loss, because of their handicap. You can too.

It might be that you're going through so many of life's troubles, so much of life's pain without the Great Comforter, without the God of all compassion because you don't have a relationship with Him. You might have a religion, but you don't know Him personally.

I tell you that Jesus came here to walk the most painful road anyone has ever walked, to die on a brutal cross to pay for the sin that keeps us from God, so the wall could come down between you and Him this very day. And all His resources are yours to walk through the pain and the storm. Our website will show you how to get started with Him - ANewStory.com.

God can give you radar from your rough times - radar that will make you the one who can be Jesus' person for another hurting person.

If you've ever listened to the fans at a college or professional football game, you know some of them are the ultimate experts at what their team is doing wrong and what they should be doing. It's just amazing some of those fans haven't been hired as, like, head coach of the team, right? After speaking for professional football chapels and getting to know some of the players, I was less than patient with their critics all around me up in the stands. I mean, I knew some of those guys on the field. I knew they had everything on the line when they played and that they were the only heroes in the game. You know, there are no heroes in the stands. Sometimes I just wanted to stand up and say to one of those guys: by the way, I never did because they were all bigger than I am. But I wanted to say, "Hey! Why don't you get out of the stands and get in the game!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Get In the Game."

I've got to wonder if Jesus isn't trying to say something like that to many of His "fans," which by the way, He has plenty of. There are millions of believers who are willing to go to Jesus' meetings, give to Jesus' causes, and cheer for the ones that are on the field. Oh yeah, and sometimes criticize from the stands how the players are playing. But Jesus doesn't need any more fans. He needs players - players who will join Him in winning some victories; some lives for the cause that He gave His life for!

In Numbers 32, where we find our word for today from the Word of God, there is a sobering picture of the spiritual dynamics in Christ's church today. The Jews are preparing to go in and challenge the Canaanites for the Promised Land. The Jewish tribes of Reuben and Gad had been told that the land God was giving them was on the East side of the Jordan - the safe side. All the other tribes would have to go in and fight for their land on the other side of the river. The "East-siders" had this great idea, "Moses, how about we just stay here with our families and set up our little homes and farms?"

Moses' reply in Numbers 32:6 comes echoing down through the centuries as a wakeup call for complacent Christians today. He said, "Shall your countrymen go to war while you sit here?" Man, I can almost hear Jesus saying that to us today. "Should persecuted Christians and struggling missionaries take all the risks and fight all the battles to reach the lost while you sit here?" Or, in other words, "Get out of the stands and get in the game!"

Later, Moses said that if they failed to leave their comfort zone and go with their brothers into the combat zone, they should "be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23). Did you know that's where that verse comes from? Sin that will find you out is the sin of complacency and passivity when there are battles to fight for the Lord!

Today, the battle isn't for land, it's for lives - people who will spend eternity in either heaven or hell, people all around us and half a world away. Jesus' Great Commission to get out His Gospel cannot be delegated to a few spiritual daredevils we call missionaries. His Great Commission, His final orders before He left for heaven is always first person singular! Jesus intends for the cost and the risk of rescuing a dying world to be equally shared by all those who belong to Him! The Son of God sacrificed everything for it, and many have over the years, including this past year, sacrificed their lives for it. And many others have given their whole lives to this greatest cause in the universe.

So who are we to just sit passively in the stands, just cheering or even jeering? So many of our brothers and sisters have gone to war. How can we sit here and ask them to make all the sacrifices? There is a war to win for Jesus Christ! It's time to get out of your comfort zone and go where your Savior is - in the combat zone!