Rescue Mission
Phil Hansen is a fire fighter and paramedic first responder in LA County. He is also a leader in his church and leads a missions ministry to Israel. Phil has been on the front lines of the Covid crisis in LA. Recently he and a fellow EMT were called to help lifeguards who were responding to a struggling swimmer. As their ambulance arrived, the medic ran to the shore and jumped into the water to meet the lifeguards who were attempting to save the drowning man. The man was on drugs and was trying to commit suicide. Lifeguards are taught that if a person is struggling, that person will often drown the lifeguard who is trying to save them. They need to back away from the struggling swimmer and then when the person calms down, they can pull him to the shore.
Rescuing a drowning person is an analogy of Christians who are trying to save the lost. When we attempt to bring a person to salvation through Christ, the first thing to remember is that we will be dragged down into the problems of the world if we get into their personal struggle. We must “keep our heads above water” by remembering Romans 12:12, “Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer…” Second, the temptation to sin is real when we’re in the struggle with someone “overtaken in a fault.” Galatians 6 says, “BRETHREN, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”
Third, we can’t do the Christian life alone. We were called to the body of Christ to minister to each other. It takes a community of believers to care for the lost. Matthew 18:20 says “when two or three are gathered in my name, I am there in their midst.”
Four things are essential to maintain our fellowship and our walk with Jesus Christ. These four are The Bible, the Holy Spirit, prayer and fellowship with believers. Prayer is like the “background music” of our lives. Prayer is “tuning our hearts to sing thy praise.” Prayer is continually aligning my heart with God’s heart, attuned to His “resonant frequency.” This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “pray without ceasing.” When we pray aloud, it’s turning the volume up to the background music in our hearts.
Keeping our proximity to Jesus is the secret to living the life that God is calling us to live. Fellowship with other Christians and meditating on the Word of God keep us in close proximity with our Lord.
True peace is only through Jesus Christ, the prince of peace. To have peace with one another we must first reconcile our hearts with Christ, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. In order to maintain fellowship and communion with one another, we need to meet each other at the foot of the cross.
Do we truly believe what we say we believe and know what we say we know regarding our relationship with the Lord? It’s easy when we observe the world around us to become discouraged and influenced by the darkness of this world. The temptation is to lose hope and to become critical and judgmental. The dynamics of our society remind us that the world is full of strife, contention, tribulation and division. There is much confusion and chaos in the world around us. However, God is still Sovereign overall. He’s still in control. According to Romans 8:28, all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
We’ve been called by God to deliver the good news of the gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. Unbelievers are not our enemies. They are our mission field. However, they don’t care that we know until they know that we care. John says that Jesus came not to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved. According to Romans 2:4, it is the goodness (not the wrath) of God that leadeth thee to repentance.
1 Peter 2:1-3 says, “WHEREFORE laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2. As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: 3. If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 4. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,”
Therefore Romans 12:17-18 says, “Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. According to 1 Thessalonians 5:15-18, “See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. 16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”
In Matthew 4 Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted of the devil. To counter the three temptations of the devil, he responded with three verses from the Word of God: Thou shalt not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve.
After his temptation in the wilderness, Jesus started his 4M (four men) group. Then Jesus went to the shore of the Sea of Galilee and saw two brothers Peter and Andrew who were casting their fishing nets. He said “follow me.” They dropped their fishing nets and followed him. Then he saw two other fishermen brothers, James and John tending their nets with their father Zebedee. Jesus said to them, “Follow me.” These two sets of brothers were Jesus’ first 4M group. He said, you’re fishing for fish, I shall make you fishers of men.
Phil’s EMT partner who jumped into the water did not hesitate to do whatever it takes to save the drowning man’s life. It didn’t matter that he was suffering from hypothermia and that the drowning man didn’t want to be saved. Likewise as Christian men our exhortation is in 1 Corinthians 15:56… Be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, inasmuch as ye know that’s your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Galatians 5 says stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Only use not liberty as an occasion to sin, but in love serve one another…
…that we may ever live to the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ,
Michael
