Month: December 2021

The Consequences Of Justice – God Requires Justice


Nahum 1:1-3, 6-8, 12-13, 15 NIV

A prophecy concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.

The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
    and vents his wrath against his enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
    and clouds are the dust of his feet.


Who can withstand his indignation?
    Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
    the rocks are shattered before him.

The Lord is good,
    a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
    but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
    he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.

12 This is what the Lord says:

“Although they have allies and are numerous,
    they will be destroyed and pass away.
Although I have afflicted you, Judah,
    I will afflict you no more.
13 Now I will break their yoke from your neck
    and tear your shackles away.”

15 Look, there on the mountains,
    the feet of one who brings good news,
    who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, Judah,
    and fulfill your vows.
No more will the wicked invade you;
    they will be completely destroyed.[c]

Beautiful Brokenness


Beautiful Brokenness

For Christmas, I bought the ladies in the family these necklaces with a beautiful colored glass charm on them. And the Japanese word “nozomi.” There’s a story behind those necklaces.

In 2011 a tsunami virtually leveled the Japanese coastal city of Ishinomaki. All that was left was fields of debris where homes and tearooms once stood.

Sue Takamoto was helping to clear away some of the debris one day when she noticed all these colorful shards of broken pottery that were everywhere. They were everywhere she stepped. It was all that remained of the tearooms and kitchens that had been swept out to sea.

Sue and her friends collected and washed those shards, because they saw in those broken pieces a way to help some broken lives. They began the Nozomi Project – Japanese for “hope.”

The tsunami had left a lot of single mothers without a job or income. The Nozomi Project enables them to create rings and necklaces and earrings from all those broken pieces. Then it’s sold online – to people like me.

Sue Takamoto said: “Many of these women lost their community and their neighbors are all gone. Their homes are washed away, and they’re living in scattered places. But God has taken broken pottery and broken women who think that life is over for them and do what He wants.

We are in the midst of seeing amazing things. In the rubble of our storm, we all have lots of broken pieces. We can leave them broken (she said), or with God’s grace and help, make them into something beautiful. Something called hope.”

I’m Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Beautiful Brokenness.”

There’s a lot of “broken” today. Broken hearts, broken dreams, broken families, broken health, broken relationships. For me, the tsunami was the sudden death of my Karen, the love of my life.

Our word for today from the Word of God is a word of hope for all of us who have some broken in our life. It’s in Isaiah 61:1-3 and it’s about Jesus: “The Lord…has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to provide for those who grieve, to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes.” Did you get that, “Beauty from ashes.” Nozomi. Hope.

A broken heart is an open heart. It’s open in places that may have never been open before. And Jesus moves into those places with His transforming love and comfort and healing. For 2,000 years, He’s been making beautiful things in people’s lives from broken pieces.

I know He’s been keeping the “beauty from ashes” promise for me. Something’s been happening to me that’s hard to describe. My heart’s more tender toward other people and toward God than it’s ever been before. It’s like a new compassion.

I value each day more than ever. I live with a re-fired sense of urgency. I’m thinking legacy more than ever, being intentional about passing on to my children and grandchildren and young leaders what God has taught me in a lifetime. And there’s just something very special going on between me and God. He seems closer, seems more real to me than ever. Beautiful things when I just had broken pieces.

My prayer for you is that you’ll bring all your broken pieces to Jesus, lay them at His feet and open your hands to receive what He wants to give you. He loved you enough to die for you. He was powerful enough to crush death and walk out of His grave. He can be trusted.

You don’t have to stay broken. Jesus stands ready to lead you into a new season where you’ll make a greater difference than ever before. He knows broken. He was broken for you and me on a cross. And the Bible says, “By His wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

You could find out more about beginning your own personal relationship with Him at our website, and I would encourage you to go there. This would be a great day for you to do it – ANewStory.com.

He’s waiting to do for you the miracle described in a little Gospel song that says, “Something beautiful, something good. All my confusion, He understood. All I had to offer Him was brokenness and strife, but He made something beautiful of my life.”

What The Magi Mean To Christmas


PARSI ZOROASTRIANS WORLDWIDE – THE HYDERABADI PAGE

For my Parsi Zoroastrian friends from India!(THIS IS SO POWERFUL IT SHOULD BLOW YOUR MIND!)

The Statue of three Persian Magi raised in Brazil in honor of the 3 revered Zoroastrian priests who visited Jesus Christ when he was born and brought the first gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.. to the new born Jesus

Some Bible Scholars say that the Magi (wise men) may have been Zoroastrian priests, and astrologers from Persia, during the reign of King Cyrus or Darius.

The Bible says they came and worshiped the baby Jesus, and gave him the gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. The Magi are mentioned in the book of Daniel.

They probably heard the prophecies about the Messiah, from Daniel, who was a Jewish prophet captive in Babylon, during the reign of the Medo -Persian empire. Daniel had earlier correctly interpreted dreams for the King, and therefore he and the God of Israel were greatly respected even in Babylon!!

The Source Of Justice – God Requires Justice


Isaiah 9:1-7 NIV

1 [a]Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

It’s a Wonderful Life – Jimmy Stewart


It’s A Wonderful Life – Jimmy Stewart

For all the fans of “It’s A Wonderful Life” and Jimmy Stewart. Just months after winning his 1941 Academy Award for best actor in “The Philadelphia Story,” Jimmy Stewart, one of the best-known actors of the day, left Hollywood and joined the US Army.

He was the first big-name movie star to enlist in World War II. An accomplished private pilot, the 33-year-old Hollywood icon became a US Army Air Force aviator, earning his 2nd Lieutenant commission in early 1942.

With his celebrity status and huge popularity with the American public, he was assigned to starring in recruiting films, attending rallies, and training younger pilots.

Stewart, however, wasn’t satisfied. He wanted to fly combat missions in Europe, not spend time in a stateside training command. By 1944, frustrated and feeling the war was passing him by, he asked his commanding officer to transfer him to a unit deploying to Europe.

His request was reluctantly granted. Stewart, now a Captain, was sent to England, where he spent the next 18 months flying B-24 Liberator bombers over Germany.

Throughout his time overseas, the US Army Air Corps’ top brass had tried to keep the popular movie star from flying over enemy territory. But Stewart would hear nothing of it.

Determined to lead by example, he bucked the system, assigning himself to every combat mission he could. By the end of the war he was one of the most respected and decorated pilots in his unit.

But his wartime service came at a high personal price. In the final months of WWII he was grounded for being “flak happy,” today called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

When he returned to the US in August 1945, Stewart was a changed man. He had lost so much weight that he looked sickly. He rarely slept, and when he did he had nightmares of planes exploding and men falling through the air screaming (in one mission alone his unit had lost 13 planes and 130 men, most of whom he knew personally).

He was depressed, couldn’t focus, and refused to talk to anyone about his war experiences. His acting career was all but over.

As one of Stewart’s biographers put it, “Every decision he made [during the war] was going to preserve life or cost lives. He took back to Hollywood all the stress that he had built up.”

In 1946 he got his break. He took the role of George Bailey, the suicidal father in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The rest is history.

Actors and crew of the set realized that in many of the disturbing scenes of George Bailey unraveling in front of his family, Stewart wasn’t acting. His PTSD was being captured on filmed for potentially millions to see.

But despite Stewart’s inner turmoil, making the movie was therapeutic for the combat veteran. He would go on to become one of the most accomplished and loved actors in American history.

When asked in 1941 why he wanted to leave his acting career to fly combat missions over Nazi Germany, he said, “This country’s conscience is bigger than all the studios in Hollywood put together, and the time will come when we’ll have to fight.”

This holiday season, as many of us watch the classic Christmas film, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” it’s also a fitting time to remember the sacrifices of Jimmy Stewart and all the men who gave up so much to serve their country during wartime.

We will always remember you! Postscript: While fighting in Europe, Stewart’s Oscar statue was proudly displayed in his father’s Pennsylvania hardware store.

Throughout his life, the beloved actor always said his father, a World War I veteran, was the person who had made the biggest impact on him. Jimmy Stewart was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985 and died in 1997 at the age of 89.

— Ned Forney, Writer, Saluting America’s Veteran


Remember Us O Lord


In the large African church, the pastor fell to his knees, praying to God. “Remember us!” As the pastor pleaded, the crowd responded, crying, “Remember us, Lord!”

Watching this moment on YouTube, I was surprised that I shed tears too. The prayer was recorded months earlier. Yet it recalled childhood times when I heard our family’s pastor make the same plea to God.

“Remember us, Lord!” Hearing that prayer as a child, I’d wrongly assumed that God sometimes forgets about us.

But God is all-knowing (Psalm 147:5; 1 John 3:20), He always sees us (Psalm 33:13–15), and He loves us beyond measure (Ephesians 3:17–19).

Even more, as we see in the Hebrew word zakar, meaning “remember,” when God “remembers” us, He acts for us. Zakar also means to act on a person’s behalf.

Thus, when God “remembered” Noah and “all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark,” He then “sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded” (Genesis 8:1).

When God “remembered” barren Rachel, He “listened to her and enabled her to conceive. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son” (30:22–23).

What a great plea of trust to ask God in prayer to remember us! He’ll decide how He answers. We can pray knowing, however, that our humble request asks God to move.

The Mercy Of Justice – God Requires Justice


2 Samuel 9:1-12 NIV

David and Mephibosheth

David asked, “Is there anyone still left of the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”

Now there was a servant of Saul’s household named Ziba. They summoned him to appear before David, and the king said to him, “Are you Ziba?”

“At your service,” he replied.

The king asked, “Is there no one still alive from the house of Saul to whom I can show God’s kindness?”

Ziba answered the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan; he is lame in both feet.”

“Where is he?” the king asked.

Ziba answered, “He is at the house of Makir son of Ammiel in Lo Debar.”

So King David had him brought from Lo Debar, from the house of Makir son of Ammiel.

When Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, came to David, he bowed down to pay him honor.

David said, “Mephibosheth!”

“At your service,” he replied.

“Don’t be afraid,” David said to him, “for I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land that belonged to your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”

Mephibosheth bowed down and said, “What is your servant, that you should notice a dead dog like me?”

Then the king summoned Ziba, Saul’s steward, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his family. 

10 You and your sons and your servants are to farm the land for him and bring in the crops, so that your master’s grandson may be provided for. And Mephibosheth, grandson of your master, will always eat at my table.” (Now Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.)

11 Then Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do whatever my lord the king commands his servant to do.” So Mephibosheth ate at David’s[a] table like one of the king’s sons.

12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mika, and all the members of Ziba’s household were servants of Mephibosheth.

Putting Love Into Practice


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Putting Love Into Practice
In his book Christians in the Marketplace, Bill Hybels says that people outside the faith often say, “Show me” before they say, “Tell me.”

I knew a young man in Germany named Wolfgang who modeled Hybels’ principle at a building site where he worked. As an enthusiastic believer, Wolfgang always read his Bible during lunch.

Though his fellow workers jeered, he didn’t stop his daily reading. He simply prayed for a way to demonstrate Christ’s love to them. When the workers went home at night, they always left their muddy boots behind.

Wolfgang began staying late after work to clean their boots. The men were puzzled at first but then realized that Wolfgang was the only one among them who would perform this humble service.

Not only did they come to respect him, but sometimes they even asked him to read the Bible to them. Only eternity will reveal the full effect of Wolfgang’s shining life.

But this we know: When his co-workers saw his good works, they started listening to his God. Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may … glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

If you long to lead the people around you to Jesus, radiate His love by doing practical deeds for God’s glory alone.— Joanie Yoder A Christian’s life is a window through which others can see Jesus

He Giveth More Grace


  1. He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
    He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
    To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
    To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.
  2. When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
    When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
    When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
    Our Father’s full giving is only begun.
  3. Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
    Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
    Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
    The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.
  4. His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
    His power no boundary known unto men;
    For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
    He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Please click on link below to Hear me sing this Song:
He Giveth More Grace

The Protection Of Justice – God Requires Justice


Deuteronomy 5:1-3 NIV

The Ten Commandments

1 Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors[a] that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.

Deuteronomy 10:12-13 NIV

Fear the Lord

12 And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

Deuteronomy 27:1-10 NIV

The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 

Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 

And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. 

Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.”

Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

My Grace Is Sufficient For You!


2 Corinthians 12:9-10 The Message

7-10 Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations.

Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty!

At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift.

It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks.

I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

His Strength Is Perfect – Song

The Fable Of Porcupines


It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm.

This way they covered and protected themselves; but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions. After a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other and they began to die, alone & frozen.

So they had to make a choice…Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.

They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the warmth and heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

The best Group is not the one that brings together perfect people, but where each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others and at the same time, admire the other person’s good qualities as well.

Better to be surrounded by ‘warm wounds’ than be frozen in solitude !