Ron Hutchcraft Ministries - No Rescue Without Risk - #4437

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Jenny was a counselor with a student group we had taken to a Youth for Christ conference at the New Jersey Shore. She was walking along the Boardwalk, enjoying all the attractions, when suddenly she heard what she thought was a scream. It seemed to be coming from the ocean. But it was night and it was just too dark to see out there. So Jenny ran down the steps, across the beach, and to the water's edge. This time it was clear that the screams were coming from somewhere out there in the water. Jenny paused for a moment - there are few things more frightening than going into the ocean in pitch darkness. But Jenny's hesitation was only for a moment. She forgot about her own safety, she threw off her shoes, and she plunged in to save what turned out to be a drowning girl. Moments later, others jumped in to help too. Later, Jenny told me, "I had to do it. Someone was dying out there!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "No Rescue Without Risk."

Now, a life was saved that night - because of the courageous, selfless choice of a young woman who was in a position to make a difference. She was scared, she knew it was risky, but she was the one who could do something. And she did. Someone's dying condition became more important to her than her own comfort and safety.

But that's how it always is when there's a rescue. A drowning person; a person trapped in a burning building or the unstable rubble of an earthquake. There's no such thing as rescuing someone from a comfortable spot. There's no rescue without risk. Including the most critical rescue of all - the rescue of someone who is dying spiritually because they don't know Jesus - the only One who can rescue a person from the death penalty of their sin.

Jesus knows there's no rescue without risk. He said it in Mark 10:45 , that He came "to give His life as a ransom for many." Later He said to His followers, "As the Father has sent Me, I am sending you" (John 20:21 ). Jesus was sent to lay down His life so others could live. And now He's sending you and me on the same rescue mission He died for - to do whatever it takes to try and bring some people you know to heaven with you. Jesus left His comfortable spot - heaven, the greatest comfort zone in the universe - to rescue you and me. He's asking you to leave your comfort zone to rescue someone you care about.

Your mission is graphically portrayed in our word for today from the Word of God in Proverbs 24:11 - "Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter." Telling people about the Savior is life-or-death business! Like Jenny on the beach that dark, dangerous night, you won't take the risks unless you realize that if you don't do it, that person may very well die without hope.

The Word of God says that the people you know who are without Christ will be "punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord" (2 Thessalonians 1:9 ). Not because Jesus wants it. He died so they don't have to, but because they haven't reached for the rescuer. And they need to hear about Him from you!

It's time you do what you need to do to build a relationship with a lost person you know, that you spend some time with them. Write a letter about Jesus to them. Pray for some natural opportunities to share life's most important relationship. Win the right to be heard and take them to the cross where God poured out His love for them.

Don't wait for a professional lifeguard to do it. Like that woman on the beach, God has put you in the position to be someone's rescuer. If you know it's life-or-death, and it is, you'll know what you have to do. You cannot stand on the beach and let them die.