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.

There was a time when single parenting was kind of an exception in America. Not any more - millions of families where it's just a mom or a dad now. There's been a lot of conversation and a lot of articles written...a lot of commentary about the impact of not having a dad who's really being a father to you. A little while back, one of the leading health officers in the United States said, "The greatest issue facing us is fatherlessness." Then Time Magazine commented on women who actually choose to have a fatherless family. Here's what they said: "They are bringing a child into the world with a hole at the center of his life where a father should be."

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I'd like to have A Word With You today about "The Father Hole In Our Heart."

However you feel about those comments and those quotes, we all know that life's a little tougher if you don't have a dad or somebody who isn't acting like a real dad.

Our word for today from the Word of God comes from Luke 15. This is the familiar story of the prodigal son, who got his inheritance early from his father, went to a far country, spent it all, ended up feeding the pigs and having to eat with them. Verse 17 says, "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up and went to his father."

This is the story of a searching man whose real problem was that he was away from his father. Maybe that's a picture of you right now. In the story, God is the father, and God has told us He wants us to know Him as our Heavenly Father. You say, "Well, if he's like the father I had, I'm not interested." Well, remember this. God is not like the father you had on earth. He's like the father we all wish we had, and what you're feeling down deep in your soul, that's father lonely. We have a hole - a daddy deficit - that we're waiting for a father to occupy.

How do we lose Him? How do we find Him? Look at the verbs in Luke 15. It says that the young man "set off for a distant country." The Bible says actually we've all done that. It says, "We have all sinned and fallen short of God's glorious ideal," we've wandered away like sheep. (the Bible says) We are away from God by our own choosing. The next verb says, "He squandered his wealth." See, all our years away from God are squandered years. They're wasted years until you know the relationship with a father that you were made for.

Then the next verb says, "He spent everything." You can do that so easily. We spend, in search of the missing part of us. We can't find ourselves in achievements. We can't find ourselves in relationships, or pleasure. We spend everything, and then it says, "He longed to fill his stomach." Maybe you feel an emptiness inside of you like a hunger that never goes away, a hole that's never been filled.

Then we read, "He came to his senses." Maybe that's where God is bringing you right now. It's hard to live without God. It's hell to die without Him. It says that the son went to his father. And see, there's only way you can get to the father you were made by and made for. In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me." What would happen if you came to Him today? It says, "While the boy was a long way off, his father saw him, ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." That's the welcome you would get from God today. He runs to you with His arms wide open no matter what you've done.

Why don't you run to Him and be born into His family today? Don't you want to begin this relationship? Tell Jesus, "I'm yours."

Our website is ANewStory.com. Would you check it out? That's where you can find the information that will show you how you can finally belong to Him.

See, no longer would you then have the hole in the center of your life where a father should be. No father on earth could ever fill that hole anyway. It was made for your Heavenly Father. Come to Him and you'll never be father lonely again.

Every summer we used to take a large delegation to a great youth conference in Ocean City, New Jersey. One of our veteran staff was in charge of that delegation, and it was a big responsibility at the shore. When my son was old enough to go to that conference, he commented on Greg's leadership. He said, "You know, Greg's really serious." Well my wife and I kind of laughed. We said, "Oh, you should hear some of the crazy things he's done down at Ocean City." And then my son said, "Not any more. He's in charge now." Well, my son was making a pretty valid observation. As your authority increases, so does your responsibility. Followers, I guess, can goof off, but leadership; oh, that's serious business.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Leadership Lifestyle."

Now, our word for today from the Word of God is about leaders, and you might be one whether you realize it or not. Hebrews 13:17 - "Obey your leaders and submit to their authority." Now, I've always thought "Hey, wouldn't it be great to be one of those leaders? You get to be obeyed and submitted to." Yeah, wait until you hear the rest of the verse. "...they keep watch over you as men who must give an account." Whoa.

That means that if you have anyone looking to you, you will one day have the privilege and the opportunity to explain to God what you did with those people. Man! "God, here's how I influenced those people and why they ended up as they did."

Well see, God's looking for people that He can trust with a promotion. He's looking for teachers and leaders, and musicians, and shepherds for His Kingdom. And maybe He's trusted you with some influence: a class, or a study group, a church, maybe a musical ministry, a position of authority in God's work. Well, then, be careful how you live. You can do so much good, and you can do so much harm.

In a letter that James Dobson wrote years ago he told about an incident that occurred when he went to a Christian book seller's convention and for the first time he saw all of his materials displayed and his picture all over the place. And he said, "I heard as it were almost an audible voice saying, 'Jim, look around you. I have chosen for reasons that you don't understand to make you visible and influential with My people. And in that sense, I am preparing to make the work of My Kingdom vulnerable to you. That's why I'm telling you to be careful; think before you act; hold a tighter reign on your tongue and on your thought life than ever before. When your natural impulse is to become angry or vindictive, resist the temptation as much as possible, and keep your life free of willful and deliberate sin. You will soon be in a position to hurt my people. See that it doesn't happen.'" Whew! Man!

Now, you're not a Dobson, or some spiritual star perhaps, but maybe God's lifted you to a place where others are looking at you or to you. And it's exciting, but it's a heavy responsibility, one for which you must give account the Bible says. Exercise care in what you say, what you joke about. Be careful what you watch. Stop with the negative comments, the critical comments before anybody can hear them, those displays of anger. Not for you; not now.

God has called you to some measure of leadership and the responsible lifestyle that goes with that. I think that's an awfully powerful incentive to be all you were meant to be in Christ. It's a good thing; a good reason to live up to what Jesus wants for all of His kids. But He has put trust in your hands. He's put His reputation in your hands. He has made His Kingdom vulnerable to you. You are in a position to hurt some of God's people. See that it doesn't happen.