We met Dan and Rita and their dog when we took our Native American team to a reservation in South Dakota. They live in this dusty little village, doing their best to make a difference for the people there. They've got this little dog named Gal. Now most dogs are pretty aggressive in meeting strangers - they come right up to you, even on you. But not Gal. No, she retreats when she sees people. She cowers actually; she trembles. Dan and Rita explained why. Their dog had been severely abused by several previous owners before they got her. So she has a hard time trusting even people who want to treat her right, but she's missing a lot of loving that way.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "Where Trust Is Born."

Wounded, then afraid to trust, and missing a lot of love. That's not just the life story of a dog. It's a life story of millions of people. It might be your story. You've been betrayed by people you should have been able to trust - abused, abandoned, deeply hurt. And it's hard for you to trust anyone. You've just been hurt too often.

It's even hard for you to trust someone who wants to treat you right. Maybe even the Person who wants to give you the deepest love a human being can ever experience, and that would be God. You're not even sure how you feel about Him. There have been tragedies you don't understand, there've been questions you can't find answers for.

And even though all those children sing that little song, "Jesus loves me, this I know," you can't sing their song because you haven't really trusted Him with everything you've got. You've never really experienced this "I will never leave you" love. In fact, that's the promise Jesus made to those who belong to Him. He said literally, "I will never leave you or forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5).

If you struggle to trust even the God who has the love and the healing you need, I ask you to consider our word for today from the Word of God. It's from Romans 8:31-32. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Someone might be asking, "Is God for us?" Here's the answer: "He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?"

God says, "If you want to know if you can trust Me, come to My Son's cross." Because the only way for you and me to belong to God is to have the death penalty for our sin paid. God gave up His Son to pay it. God really doesn't want to lose you. He really does love you. Just look at His Son, hanging on that bloody cross, pouring out His life in exchange for yours.

Stand at the foot of the cross and try to get these words out, "I don't know if I can trust You." It's pretty hard to say those words there, because you've finally found the one person you can totally trust. Because the Savior who loves you enough to die for you will never betray your trust. He will never do you wrong! Who else can you count on to love you like that for now, forever?

Trust is born at the cross of Jesus when you let the walls around your wounded heart finally come down, and when you say, "Jesus, I need a Savior. I need to be forgiven. I need Your love. Jesus, I'm Yours."

If you've never done that, let today be the day you let His love flood into your hurting heart. I want to invite you to go to our website, because it's there for someone who is ready to begin their relationship with Jesus. I hope you'll go there today - ANewStory.com.

There's more love waiting for you than you ever imagined you could have. The arms of Jesus are wide open, extending to you hands that have nail scars in them - proof of how much He loves you. Now, it's your move.

Professional football wasn't the same for me once I began to have the opportunity to speak at NFL chapels. All of the NFL teams have chapel services before their games. And so, a few hours before game time, I had the opportunity to meet in a hotel conference room with a number of the players; sometimes from our local team, sometimes from a visiting team. And the players were so intense! I mean, it was a lot more than a game to them. By the time that day was over, their career could have been in jeopardy, their income was on the line, sometimes what shape their body was in was on the line.

Then, because they often gave me two tickets, I would go to the stadium. And there I saw those wonderful, courteous New York fans. There they were out in the parking lot with their little grills having a party and passing their six packs. Then they'd go into the stadium and here is this guy; he's kind of the stereotypical football fan. He's got, you know, a lot of six packs that he's been carrying around in his stomach apparently for a number of years stuffed into some New York Giants or Jets shirt. He's got a Budweiser hat on. He's passing more down his way, and he's yelling and screaming. He knows all the players by their first name of course. Well, at least it sounds like it. And he knows how to play every play; he's very quick to criticize.

Of course, because I know how intense it is for the guys on the field because I've been with them, I just want to stand up and say, "Hey, Buddy, why don't you just be quiet for a little while? Why don't you get out of the stands and get in the game? Let's see how you do." Look behind you right now. Maybe there's someone telling you that.

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

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Ephesians 4, and I'm going to begin reading at verse 11. "It was God who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers." Now why do we have all this here? Well, we're about to find out the reason why we have all these sermons you've heard in your life, and all the Sunday School lessons you've ever heard, all these guys talking at you from radio. Why all of this? Why is that all happening?

Here's why: It says to prepare God's people for works of service. See, that's why you've gotten all this input you've been getting spiritually all these years. It isn't so you can just be smart about God. It's to get you ready to do something... "for works of service." So many of us are willing to go to the meetings, put some money in the offering, and maybe do some low-risk jobs. But we're like that fan in the stands. We like watching, maybe criticizing. We don't mind kind of being on the fringes and sometimes even telling those players on the field how to play better.

Well, see, Jesus has enough fans. He doesn't need any more fans. He needs players, and it could very well be that He's had you tune in today so you could hear these words, coming from Him, not from me, "Get out of the stands and get in the game."

Someone has wisely said, "In the first reformation the people of God were given the Word of God. Now a second reformation is needed where the people of God will be given the work of God." See, God has work for you to do; not just to go to Bible Studies and attend meetings and sing the songs and support ministries. It's time for you to play! There's someone only you can share Christ with. You're closer to that lost person than any other believer.

There's a group that maybe He wants to burden your heart for. There's someone who needs your time, your attention, your experience. In American Christianity we like to assign all of it to a few spiritual athletes. We call them pastors, missionaries, youth leaders. How about they take all the risks for us? But Jesus says we are all to be out on a limb, taking risks to serve Him.

Why don't you be one of the heroes on the field? There are no heroes in the stands. Dare to say, "Lord, what would You have me to do?" You've spent enough time watching. Now get out of the stands and get in the game.

One football team owner called it "the single most impressive symbol of being a champion in all of sports." Yep, he was talking about the National Football League's Super Bowl ring. The rings on Super Bowl champions are worth many thousands of dollars each one! Can you imagine losing something that valuable, that irreplaceable? Former Oakland Raiders champion, Gene Upshaw, can remember that. Yeah, he can imagine it. To keep his Super Bowl ring safe at home, he put it inside a bank that looked like a Pepsi can. Problem: he forgot to tell his housekeepers. You know where this is going? Yep, they mistook the bank for an empty pop can and tossed it out, ring and all.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft, and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Treasure In Your Mirror."

That was a costly mistake - trashing treasure because of the container it was in. Well, that's a mistake many people are making. Except the treasure is themselves. And maybe we needed to talk about this today because maybe you're throwing away a treasure called you.

Now you may not feel very valuable right now. Maybe you're not feeling very good about how you look, or what you weigh, or the fact that you're still single. You're not sure how much you're really worth. But you're making the same mistake those housekeepers made when they threw away that ring - judging the worth of what's inside by the container you come in.

It could be that you feel pretty worthless because you've been passed over, put down, rejected, maybe abandoned, or maybe abused. And the tragedy is that you may have been throwing yourself away because you don't know how valuable you are. There are a lot of ways to throw yourself away. You can throw yourself away sexually, socially by the people you hang out with, chemically, alcoholically, just by giving up or withdrawing, maybe even thinking suicide.

But you have worth that you'll never see just by looking in a mirror or basing it on how other hurting people are treating you. If you want to get an evaluation of your worth, you've got to go to the One who created you. He's the one who knows your value. In our word for today from the Word of God in the Bible, in 2 Corinthians 6:16, your Creator says, "We are the temple of the living God. As God has said...'I will be their God, and they will be My people...I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,' says the Lord Almighty."

Did you hear what the God of the universe says about those who belong to Him? They're His temple that He lives in, His people that He walks with, sons and daughters of the King! If you don't feel like you are priceless treasure, maybe it's because you are without the One who gave you your value in the first place; the Creator who made you as His one-of-a-kind creation. You're missing the love you were made for. And that's because, well, we've chosen over and over again to turn our back on God and do things our way.

But the Bible says God values you so much that He thought you were worth having His Son die for you! Good Friday was for you. Picture Jesus hanging on that cross. That was to pay for your sin so you could belong to Him. You'll never know how much you're really worth until you are in His loving arms.

Jesus won't make you give yourself to Him. It's your choice to finally end those self-directed, wasted years and to stand at His cross and say, "Jesus, the 'me' years are over. You love me. You died for me. I'm yours."

Why don't you make this the day that you become a member of His family. And say, "Jesus, I'm yours from this day on." There's a website I want to direct you to, it's ours. If you go there you'll find what you need to know from the Bible to be sure you belong to Jesus. It's ANewStory.com. Go there please.

Maybe you've believed that you really don't matter much, and maybe you've thrown yourself away for long enough. You mattered enough to Jesus that He poured out His life for you. Isn't it time you belong to the One who loves you most?