Stranded on the highest mountain on earth. Or buried beneath the rubble of a shattered hotel.

After the earthquake that rocked that mountain kingdom of Nepal, thousands of people lost their lives. Many more found their world, their homes, actually their lives wiped away.

There were some who survived the quake, but they faced the prospect of dying in the aftermath. Like those climbers on Mt. Everest, trapped on the mountain by massive avalanches. Or that 27-year-old man, lying amidst the stench of dead bodies, trapped for 82 hours under mountains of concrete.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Earthquake Hope."

One six-letter word. That was the difference between life and death for the men on the mountain and the man in the rubble.

Rescue. That's the "hope" word that we keep hearing in the heartbreaking news from great disasters all over the world.

In this one, 18 climbers died when part of Everest collapsed on their base camp. There were 140 surviving climbers, but when they tried to go down through the escape route, it was impossibly blocked by fallen rocks. And as time passed, their food was running out; their water was running out.

And then the choppers came. One after another they landed somehow on that mountain, saved those climbers, taking out two at a time.

Then there was young Rishi. He was running out of hope, he was running out of life. Beneath that collapsed hotel. Then, after ten hours of digging through concrete, the rescuers broke through. Rishi is alive...the climbers were alive...because the rescuers came.

Hope in Nepal depended on - as it is in so many disasters - a rescuer from above.

And that's where the news intersects my life and yours. Because hope for me depended on a rescuer from above. At the spiritual crossroads of my life.

I was trapped in a place where I would have died. Except my Rescuer came. His name is Jesus. The One called "Savior" by millions of people around the world. That's Savior as in Rescuer.

In fact, the Bible says in our word for today from the Word of God in Galatians 1:3, "Jesus gave His life for our sins...in order to rescue us." Not to start a religion. Not to be an example or a teacher. But to rescue us. So, it isn't about a religion, called Christianity, it's about a rescuer named Jesus. He came to rescue us at the cost of His life.

Because I - and a world of folks like me - was facing spiritual death for dethroning God in my life. Letting Him run the universe while I ran me. His Book makes the outcome of those sinful choices, unmistakable. It says, "The soul that sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:3). Here, a life without meaning. Hereafter, an eternity without hope.

But, thank God, the Rescuer came! From above. To a cross. To die for my sin and yours so we don't have to. Amazingly, in the words of Galatians 2:20 in the Bible, "He loved me and gave Himself for me." First person singular. The death of Christ on the cross for my sins.

Then He blasted out of His grave three days later. To reach into my rubble. To reach into your rubble. To save us from certain spiritual death.

If you're ready to make The Rescuer your personal Rescuer from your sin, if you want to begin this life-saving, eternity-changing relationship with Jesus, I invite you to tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm yours." And go to our website where you can get this confirmed and be sure you belong to Him. That website is ANewStory.com.

There was a day that Jesus reached for me. This may be the day He is reaching for you. Would you grab His nail-scarred hand, my friend? You will be safe. Forever.