Ambassador Programs

It's not midnight yet — but here at Mercy Ships, we're starting the celebration early.

AI toys marketed for kids often aren’t safe for kids.

Read the full review.

If you've enjoyed listening to Plugged In Reviews, please give us your feedback.

We would love to hear from you! Please send us your comments 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.

Receive the book How We Love plus a free audio download of "How Love Styles Can Help You Grow Closer as a Couple" for your donation of any amount! Your Gift DOUBLES to Help Deliver Hope and Joy! Save 2X the marriages and families this Christmas with your life-changing gift today!

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.

Try this. Imagine a perfect world. Whatever that means to you, imagine it. Does that mean peace? Then envision absolute tranquility. Does a perfect world imply joy? Then create your highest happiness. Will a perfect world have love? Ponder a place where love has no bounds.  Whatever heaven means to you, imagine it.

Get it firmly fixed in your mind. Delight in it. Dream about it. Long for it. And then smile as the Father reminds you from the apostle Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 2:9: “No one has ever imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” No one. No one has come close.

Think of all the songs about heaven. All the artists’ portrayals. All the lessons preached, poems written and chapters drafted. When it comes to describing heaven, we are all happy failures!

Read more When God Whispers Your Name

For more inspirational messages please visit Max Lucado.

If you consider yourself a religious person, boy, have I got good news for you! Recent research indicates that those who consider themselves religious tend to have lower blood pressure than the rest of the population, they are less likely to be obese, to have cancer, to be hospitalized, and they have a 29% greater chance to live longer! And religious people (it says) tend to have lower rates of depression, less suicide, greater sexual satisfaction in their marriage, and overall a greater sense of well-being. What do you know, Jesus was right when He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness" and "Blessed are the pure in heart" (Matthew 5:6, 8). Lots of good news if you're a religious person, and some very disturbing bad news.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Bad News About Being Religious."

That bad news comes through loud and clear and it's in our word for today from the Word of God. It's in Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus is describing some horrible surprises when some religious folks stand before God.

Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you.'" The unsettling bad news is this: some very religious people will be stopped at the gates of heaven!

These are clearly people who know a lot about Jesus...who've done a lot of things in Jesus' name...who are, no doubt, considered to be Christians by the people who know them. Except for one thing - Jesus says, "I never knew you." Somehow, in the middle of lots of Christianity, it is possible to miss Christ. It's possible to be very religious, very involved with Christian things, and to miss Jesus and to miss heaven!

How does this happen? Jesus said that what these people missed was "doing the will of my Father in heaven." Well, in John 6:40, Jesus tells us exactly what that is. "My Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life." That's what God the Father wants. That's what He demands as the only way to get into heaven. It's not doing Christian things or believing Christian beliefs or observing Christian rituals. It's putting your total trust in His Son as your only hope of having eternal life.

That's the problem with some of us church folks - we're actually counting on our Christianity, our church attendance, our spiritual track record as the thing that will make us right with God. But none of it can do that. That's why Jesus came. Your sins and mine carry a horrible, eternal death penalty in hell; one which can't be paid by any amount of human goodness, but only by Jesus' death on the cross.

It may be that for all your years of being around Jesus, of agreeing with Jesus, you've never grabbed Jesus like a drowning person would grab a lifeguard. You've never told Him you're abandoning any trust you have in your religion or your goodness and you're putting your total trust in Him to be your rescuer from your sin.

If you've never taken that step, if you're not sure you've taken that step that makes all the difference, would you do it today? "Jesus, I abandon all hope but You. I now come to you totally on the basis of your death on the cross and your resurrection. I turn from my sin to You controlling the rest of my life." I hope you move Him from your head to your heart today.

You know what? I'd love to help you make that commitment to Christ and cross that line to belonging to Him. That's actually why our website is there. It's ANewStory.com. Would you go there today?

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has announced she will sign a bill legalizing assisted suicide. This legislation would allow doctors to help patients end their lives rather than offering real care and compassion.

While proponents claim this is about “dignity,” we know it sends a dangerous message that some lives are less valuable and can be legally ended. This law abandons our most vulnerable and undermines efforts to prevent suicide.

A society that protects the unborn yet promotes assisted death is morally inconsistent. We should champion palliative care, dignity, and true mercy, not a culture that accepts killing as a solution. Let’s stand for life at every stage, from conception to natural death.