
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Jonathan Haidt’s ‘The Amazing Generation’ shares stories, insights and tips designed to help young readers make their own choices about technology and social media.
Read the full review.
If you've enjoyed listening to Plugged In Reviews, please give us your feedback.
Melanie Shankle shares how childhood trauma and a “mean girl” mom affected her life, marriage, and motherhood, bringing a message of hope and healing in Jesus Christ.
Receive the book Here Be Dragons plus a free audio download of "Healing as a Parent from Childhood Trauma" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.
Get More Episode Resources
If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.
We would love to pray for you! Please send us your requests here.
--------
Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible. Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org.
Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.
It was one of those 3-H summer days: hazy, hot, and humid. It's not advisable to sweat on those days, because there's really no place for it to go. You keep running into your own sweat. And you know how it is on those days; you kind of feel "ugh"...you feel like doing nothing. Well, it was one of those days, and a brief storm went through. It was the leading edge of a cold front the weather man said, and the temperature dropped almost 25 degrees in a four-hour period of time. That heavy, muggy, hazy air suddenly cleared out; people started moving around again. I'll tell you, the view all of a sudden was crystal clear. The atmosphere was refreshing finally. Did you know a person can actually have that effect?
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "An 'Others' Person in a 'Me' World."
There was, in that upper room where Jesus held The Last Supper, a very tense atmosphere that night. There was an argument brewing in the corners of the room as to who was going to be the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. Several people were fighting over the job of Assistant Messiah, I guess, and it was a climate of real selfishness. "Me first." "King of the hill." And then a refreshing front moved through the room and changed everything.
Our word for today from the Word of God is in John 13, and I'll begin at verse 4. "Jesus got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing and wrapped a towel around His waist. And after that He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet; drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him." Later on in the chapter it says, "When He had finished washing their feet, He put on His clothes and returned to His place."
"Do you understand what I've done for you?" He asked them. You call me teacher and Lord, and rightly for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. No servant is greater than his master. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." Man, the atmosphere changed that night because of one thing Jesus did. He did the job no one else wanted to do; the lowly, smelly, dirty job that usually a slave did - washing feet.
Jesus did the job no one else wanted to do, and in so doing, He displayed the power of one person who decides he will be the servant in his little corner of the world. "I will be the servant in my family, I will be the servant in my business, I will be the servant in my church, in my circle of friends. You say, "Well, not me. I don't want to do it." Well, what about Him, the Lord Jesus, the Son of God. He did it. Think about the tasks that everyone avoids where you are.
Well, what if, in the name of Jesus, you just quietly started to do one of those? Notice, Jesus didn't say anything at first. He just unselfishly moved out and started doing it. When you do that, it defuses an atmosphere that's heavy with conflict and self-centeredness. It puts your faith into the kind of action that even your worst critic can appreciate, including a non-Christian family. They may not understand your beliefs, but they understand someone who will pitch in on what no one wants to do.
See, that makes you the Jesus-person in your situation. Just try it. Don't announce it; do it joyfully, do it consistently, and pretty soon you're going to win the special influence that only a servant has. See, you're a help and you're not a threat to people, so they'll listen to you. Now you said at one point in your life you would follow Jesus, right? And He's a foot washer.
Do the jobs no one else wants to do, and let God use you to clear out the oppressive heat of selfishness. What a refreshing change in the atmosphere you could bring to the place where you live
Think about the thief on the cross who repented! We know little about him, but we know this: He made some bad mistakes in his life. But is he spending eternity reaping the fruit of all the bad choices he made? No, just the opposite. He is enjoying the fruit of the one good choice he made.
You may look back over your life and say, “If only. . .if only I could make up for those bad choices.” You can! One good choice for eternity offsets a thousand bad ones on earth.
How could two thieves see the same Jesus and one choose to mock him and the other choose to pray to him? When one prayed, Jesus loved him enough to save him. When the other mocked, Jesus loved him enough to let him. He allowed him the choice. And He does the same for you.
Read more He Chose the Nails: What God Did to Win Your Heart
For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.
In an interesting new twist, one of the largest Planned Parenthood affiliates in the country has begun offering Botox injections and other cosmetic treatments to help offset financial shortfalls. Of course, at the same time, it continues performing abortions that end kill innocent babies.
Personally, I would love to see Planned Parenthood adjust their business model and stick to the cosmetic treatments. Stop killing innocent babies and turn over a new leaf, let Botox be what they are known for!
Unfortunately, this is not about cosmetics. It is about revenue. When abortion providers must branch into cosmetic procedures to stay afloat, it shows just how badly they are struggling for money. Some locations have already attempted to bring in money through providing gender transition hormones as well.
Planned Parenthood will continue to do whatever it takes to abort more babies.
From the publisher's feed