Beware of the third generation! Yeah! That's an intriguing phenomenon that often takes place in a family business. The first generation starts it with nothing but a dream. They work long hours, they sacrifice, and they keep their vision alive. Then, the second generation starts to take over the business, and well, they may improve it a little; they might expand it a little bit, but they basically tend to maintain the vision of the founding generation.

Then along comes the grandchildren, and they begin to take over. Now, they've never had to sacrifice for the cause, they didn't see their parents sacrifice much. For them, it's like just an income source, not a vehicle for a vision they want to carry out. Many management people know that if the business can survive that third generation, it may make it. But often, every time you pass the torch, the flame burns a little lower, and sometimes it burns out.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Next Generation Fire."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God comes from 2 Timothy 1. Realize that Paul is writing his last letter before he is martyred for the cause of Christ. He's concerned about the next generations of Christians, all that he bled for and all he's soon going to die for. More importantly, all that Jesus died for. The torch must be passed!

In 2 Timothy 1:14, he says to young Timothy - the next generation, "Guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you. Guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in us." Then in chapter 2, verse 2, he says, "Don't stop there." He even talks about a third generation: "and the things you've heard me say in the presence of many witnesses, you entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."

Now, Paul is saying here, "Don't drop my life's work. Don't drop the torch, man!" See, something insidious is happening, I think, as our faith in Christ passes from one generation to the next. I had a woman tell me not too long ago, "Our grandparents reordered their lives." They just understood that you organized your life differently in order to have a lot of money to give to the Lord's work. You just live that way; that becomes the center of your financial planning. As you look at the studies now you find out that the parent's generation is giving less than their parent's generation to God's work, and the grandchildren's generation is holding on to what they've got more than ever.

See, that first generation of believers may have a lot of vision; they started things in Jesus' name. They gave to the Lord's work first. And then the next generation, just like in a business, sort of maintained the vision, the programs of the founders. Then comes the third generation, and they kind of yawn and sort of take it all for granted. Meet the spiritual minimums, and the flame starts to flicker and die. Don't let that happen.

What God urgently needs right now is a new generation of spiritual pioneers who will become a new first generation with a new vision - risk takers, people who pray for miracles again, people who think up daring new ways to reach the lost. He's looking for some modern heroes who will lead the church into a new era of boldness, who will resist the seduction of material comfort and security. We need a new dream! We need young leaders to lead it!

Has the torch started to flicker just a little in your hands; a torch passed by some folks who sacrificed to make a difference? Well, commit yourself to a holy, new fire so the flame that has been fueled by the lives of those who ran before us can burn more brightly than ever in your hands.

I was speaking for an Easter Sunrise Service in the Ozarks, and I saw something that seemed strangely out of place. In front of this church, there's a ten-foot section of a brick wall with a sign in front of it that says, "Berlin Wall." I was thousands of miles from Berlin, but here was a chunk of what used to be the most famous, and maybe the most infamous wall in the world. Many of us remember how the Berlin Wall represented for decades the Cold War division of our world into Communists on one side and free on the other. The Communists built it on the border between East Berlin and free West Berlin. In spite of that wall, many people still risked everything to scale it and escape to freedom. A few made it. Many died trying.

Then came that amazing day - a day few of us could have ever imagined - when the revolution taking place against Communist rule allowed Berliners to start tearing down that wall. All night long, they went after that wall with everything from sledge hammers to their bare hands. And then there were 100,000 Berliners, celebrating in the square, and they were chanting four incredible words over and over again, "The wall is gone! The wall is gone!"

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

For many of us, there's a wall that's still standing that is costing us the most important things in life. It's a wall between us and the God who made us. In fact, you probably didn't need me to tell you there's a wall. We know there's something between us and God. What we may not know is what that wall is keeping us from; like the meaning and purpose of your life. The only person who can show you why you're here is the One who put you here, and He's on the other side of the wall. The only love that can ultimately satisfy the loneliness in your heart is God's love. If we die with that wall still there, it's there forever. The Bible calls that hell.

The Bible describes the wall this way: "Your sins have separated you from your God" (Isaiah 59:2). The bricks in the wall between me and God are all the countless times that I've chosen to do things my way instead of His way - my sins. Every wrong thing I've ever done, every lie I've ever told, every person I've ever hurt, every mean thing I've ever said, every selfish thing I've ever done, every dirty thing I've ever thought or done, and everything and everyone I've ever let be more important than God in my life. Those are my sins. I'm cut off from God because of that sin-wall. And there's no way you or I can tear it down no matter how decent, how religious, or how sincere we are.

The only One who can do that is the very God we've rebelled against, and that's what He did the day His Son, Jesus, paid for our sin on the cross. For centuries, God's people, the Jews, had worshipped in a temple or tabernacle which had at its core, the Holy of Holies - God's place. Between them and that place was a curtain through which no man could ever go, except once a year when the High Priest entered to offer a sin sacrifice on behalf of the people. Our word for today from the Word of God, Matthew 27:51, describes the astonishing thing that happened the moment Jesus died: "At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom."

The curtain separating man from God could never have been removed by man from the bottom to the top. Only God could let us into His presence. So He split the curtain from top to bottom. There's the picture of what can happen to the wall between you and God this very day. God will tear it down forever if you'll bring the sins of your life to Jesus to be forgiven; if you'll tell Him you're putting your total trust in Him and what He did on the cross for you.

If that's what you want, I want to be all the help I can at this decisive moment in your life. Go to our website. It's ANewStory.com. Right there you can be sure the wall is gone between you and Him.

This could be the day you celebrate the greatest, most liberating miracle of your life; the day you can finally say, "The wall is gone!"

I keep finding these notes and cards I wrote my wife. The love of my life since I was 19! She's been with Jesus for nine years now and I never stop missing her but these notes are great. All these things I wrote to her came from all the stages of our life. There's the predictably mushy love letters from our courtship and engagement. The little notes I left for her in the morning over the years. The things I wrote in holiday cards, for birthdays and anniversaries. Lots of different seasons, lots of different ages - before kids, with kids, after kids. Everything from fancy cards to stationery, yeah, scraps of paper too. Many shapes and sizes - but always the same unchanging message. "I love you, baby!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Constant Change and an Unchanging Constant."

I walked into this radio studio the other day, and I had a crowd. Usually it's me and our dedicated engineer. I think half our staff was jammed in here - and there was a big cake on the table where my Bible and notes were. Uh, I love doing these radio programs. But it's never been a party before!

I hadn't been keeping track, but they had. I was about to record "A Word With You" number 10,000! Hard to believe! But it's true! What you're listening to today is our 10,000th program! Sorry, the cake is all gone!

This is a testimony to the God we sing about often in that classic hymn - "Great is Thy faithfulness." When we'd get to the last verse of that song in church, I'd reach for Karen's hand or slip my arm around her waist when we got to these words: "Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow - blessings all mine with 10,000 beside. Great is Thy faithfulness."

I've recorded these programs before children came, while they grew, before grandchildren came, now that they're growing or grown, with Karen by my side, and in the years since she's been gone. Like all those love notes I've found, many seasons. But the message has never changed.

Our word for today from the Word of God - from Galatians 2:20.

About our Jesus. "He loved me, and gave Himself for me." The greatest news on the planet. The God I have sinned against again and again and again loves me so much that He sent His Son to do the dying for the sinning I've done. That you've done.

Good Friday was for me. Good Friday was for you. Not just a historical or religious event. A deeply personal event. He loves me. He gave Himself for me. Then, conquering death on Easter morning, He offered eternal life to me.

This morning, I heard a song that I haven't heard for many, many years. And it took me back to some of the first times I ever preached this Good News. With a Gospel team in college. I was just 18. And when I gave people the opportunity to publicly respond to an invitation to begin a relationship with Jesus, my friend Dave would sing this song. Hearing it again today, took me back to my first days proclaiming this invitation from Jesus that I've now preached across the country and the world.

The chorus simply says - "There's room at the cross for you. Though millions have come, there's still room for one. There's room at the Cross for you."

That was His invitation then. It's His invitation today. To you, my friend. Your sins forgiven, your heaven secured. Just tell him, "Jesus, I'm pinning all my hopes on you to have my sins forgiven. To be in heaven with you someday. Beginning today, I'm Yours." My invitation to you today is to please go to our website, because there you'll find what you need to know to be sure you belong to Jesus from this day on. Our website is ANewStory.com.

Because, today-the day Jesus is reaching out His hand to you - there's room at the Cross for you!