Rescue Previously: Our Summer Nights teaching series is called Rescue o And it will follow the story of the greatest small boat rescue ever in the history o of the United States Coast Guard. Over the course of four lessons o We will both share the story of that courageous rescue mission o and make practical connections to our mission as a church. First of all, let me bring everybody up to speed. o Previously on Rescue It was the night of February 18, 1952. When a ferocious northeastern snowstorm o came roaring into Cape Cod. It was a much fiercer storm than expected o and the seas were more violent than anyone had anticipated. o In fact, a pair of oil tankers found themselves caught in the grip of that terrible storm and both of them o were literally broken in half by the waves. The first ship to break up o sent out a mayday and the Coast Guard mounted a rescue attempt, throwing everything they had o at this dire emergency. However, the second ship that broke in two o lost its radio equipment in the wreckage and they were unable to send out a distress call. The stern of that ship, o with thirty-three men stranded on board was discovered on accident by a plane that was flying o to the other rescue attempt. All of a sudden there were two wrecks in the storm.
o But there were no experienced boat crews left at the Coast Guard station. o Everything was fully committed to the first rescue attempt. So an inexperienced crew was thrown together o and sent them out into the teeth of that terrible storm, in a 36 foot wooden rescue boat. o Think about that for a moment. The waves from that storm were nearly twice as high o as their boat was long! A young man by the name of Bernie Webber o was put in charge of that vessel and, in the blinding snow of a freezing winter night s storm o Against all odds he and his crew answered the call. Rescue Simple, reasonable, sensible seamanship o would have determined that it was pointless to throw 4 more lives away o in what was sure to be a futile rescue effort, o but "rescue" is a word that erases common sense, abolishes reason, o wipes out calculation and leaves nothing but courage o and a refusal to quit. That courage drove them into the storm. That is where we left them last week o as we talked about our own rescue mission. Like that small boat crew, o we have been called to go out into the stormy seas of this life and rescue souls before it is too late. The Chatham Bar This evening I want to pick the story back up o as the crew prepares to board their lifeboat.
As they prepared to sail out into the storm, o a small crowd gathered to watch these brave young men launch out into this terrible storm. One grizzled old sailor, o sidled up next to the boat and offered this advice You guys better get lost before you get too far out. o It was his way of saying, in the kindest words possible, Turn back while you still can. Don t risk your lives on a mission that is doomed for failure. Regardless of the warning, o Bernie and his crew of three launched into the teeth of the storm. o However, as they approached the bar, with his crew already struggling against the freezing wetness of the winter storm, Bernie was mesmerized by the 60 foot waves o crashing into the bar. He could not believe the height of the seas. o All of a sudden, his meager little lifeboat seemed smaller than ever. Scared and nearly freezing to death, o Webber was forced to make a decision that could very well cost the lives of his crew. o Do I turn back? o Do I go ahead? o What do I do now? o Webber later said that he knew that he would not be criticized for turning back. o That old sailor s advice at the pier was good advice. o Why add to the tragedy by sending four more men to their deaths on the Chatham Bar? One thing I haven t told you about Bernie o is that his father was a pastor. In fact, his dad had been disappointed in Bernie o when he joined the Coast Guard,
because he always envisioned his son following him into the ministry. o He had often told Bernie, that the thing he wanted most of all was for his son to serve God. Bernie would later recount o how, in the moments before he sailed into the Chatham Bar, he realized that he was, indeed, serving God. o This was his calling. He would later say that he received great strength and courage in that moment o as he came to grips with the understanding that this was his duty. o He said he realized, in that moment, that he had to attempt a rescue, he had no other choice, o this is what he was meant to do. o This was part of his calling and somehow, he just knew he was born to do this. Against all odds, o as the lifeboat began to be pitched along a canyon of waves, o Bernie began to sing, at the top of his lungs, with his crew joining in: o Rock of Ages, cleft for me, o Let me hide myself in Thee. o In many ways it was a religious moment for Bernie and his crew o as they put their faith in God in the midst of the storm. When they hit the bar o the tiny wooden lifeboat cut into a mammoth sixty-foot wave. o The crew members felt as if they had just driven at high speed into a towering concrete wall. o A mountain of brutally cold water lifted the vessel, tossing it into the air
o as if it were a small toy. o All the men were temporarily airborne. Then the boat and the men came crashing back down o on the hard surface of the sea and suddenly another huge wave struck. o This time a torrent of water washed over the crew, knocking them to the deck. o The violent wave shattered the boat s windshield, sending sharp shards of glass into Bernie s face and hair o as he fell backward. o The wave had spun their boat completely around, and its bow was now facing the shore. o It was the most dangerous position for the boat and the crew. o Bernie pulled himself up off the deck and attempted to steer the boat back into the seas o before it was flipped over. o With the windshield now broken, the sea spray came through into the wheelman s shelter, o pelting Bernie s skin and picking at his open wounds. o The snow was hitting his face so hard he could barely open his eyes. o Bernie blindly pointed the boat back toward the next oncoming wave and despite the crashing seas o and the terrible beating they all endured, after a few moments of tremendous violence, they crossed the Chatham Bar. However, the crossing was costly. o The tremendous waves that shattered the windshield also tore the boat s compass, o which was their sole means of navigation, from its mounts o and washed it into the sea. Now Bernie was faced with a new dilemma. o From that moment on, he would have to navigate on instinct alone.
He would sail through this storm o by faith, not by sight. Seeking To Save The Bible tells us that o Jesus came to seek and to save the lost and you and I are called to that same mission. Have you ever asked yourself o why Jesus had to seek the lost? Stop and think about it. He was surrounded by lost souls. o Everywhere he went, everyone he met, needed his message of salvation. o It was the proverbial target rich environment. Yet, he came to seek the lost before he could save them. Last weekend I stood o in the cold emerald waters of Spring River with a fly rod in my hand. o Based on past experience I knew I had the right tackle, that imitated exactly what o these trout like to eat but it was a heavily overcast morning with intermittent rain o and the trout simply weren t cooperating. o I remarked to my Dad, I know that there are fish all around me, the secret is finding the one o that is hungry enough to bite. o That took some searching but, eventually, I found one, than another and another and another. o But I never would have found them if I hadn t first sought them. Consider Jesus at the pool of Bethesda. o He wades through a sea of broken humanity. He is completely surrounded by the hurting, the desperate
and the needy. o Everywhere he looks there is someone who needs a miracle. o But he passes them all by as he seeks out one lone man who has no one to help him o get into the water. I ve often wondered o what the difference was between that one man and the vast multitude o that surrounded him. I believe it is the same difference o that exists between the fish I eventually caught and the ones that never o showed any interest in my bait hunger. Jesus wades through the crowd o to touch one man who is desperately hungry. o He is no more needy than anyone else around him, indeed, there were probably others o that were worse off then he was. o But there was genuine hunger in his heart that would hear and respond to the word of the Lord. I believe this is why Jesus singled him out. I also believe that this explains o why Jesus had to seek the lost in order to save them. While it is true that he was o surrounded by lost souls, by desperately needy people, not all of them were hungry. o Not all of them were ready to hear and respond to the voice of the Lord. He seeks those who will hear and respond, o those who have a genuine hunger in their hearts. Deep calls out to deep and something deep in the heart
o of a truly hungry soul connects with something deep in the heart of God. That brings us around o to the point of tonight s lesson. A sea of lost humanity may surround us but if we never seek the hungry o we will never save the lost. o Perhaps this is why our outreach efforts so often fall short. In the area where we went fishing this weekend, o there is a creek that flows into the river. When the fishing is slow, o as it was this weekend, the boys will wade up that creek and catch bream on their fly rods. o The water in the creek is crystal clear and you can see the fish as you approach them, that s what makes the fishing so fun. o Along with the bream, that aggressively attack their flies, there are these larger fish o that hang out in those same deep pools but never show the least bit o of interest in the bait. o The boys have learned, after trying very hard to entice them into biting, o to just ignore them. The truth is that you could o sit there all day long and try to catch those fish o but you will never tempt them to bite because they are some kind of suckerfish, a bottom feeder. The bottom line is simple, o if you are going to catch fish then you have seek out the ones that are hungry o for the bait you are offering. It is no wonder, then,
o that Jesus told the disciples that he would make them fishers of men. o It is our calling to seek the lost, to find the hungry. The question that tonight s lesson seeks to answer o is, How do you do that? How do you seek the lost? Bernie found himself with no compass o and had to navigate by sheer instinct alone. That s how you do it. o By spiritual instinct. How do you develop that kind of instinct? It comes from prayer! Romans 10:1-2 1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Paul said, My prayer to God is for the Israelites to be saved. o What is your prayer to God? Is it for people? For your own family members? For your friends and neighbors? Paul said they believed in God o but they didn t know him. There are a lot of people like that in your life. o They believe in God but they don t really know him, or perhaps they simply don t know him o in the fullness of the way he wants to be known. How do you reach them? o How do you make a difference? It starts with your prayer life. You make it your heart s desire and prayer. In Colossians 4:3, Paul expressed this prayer request: Colossians 4:3 3 Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: Paul prayed for an open door o to speak the mystery of Christ. Have you prayed that way?
Lord, give me an opportunity to share the gospel. I remember years ago o Brother Danny Aber shared with us a prayer that he prayed daily. o He would pray, Lord, me to your harvest. o He believed there was a difference between your harvest and the Lord s harvest. o You know who you want to reach: friends, family members, loved ones, etc o But you can t discern, on your own, who among them is hungry. o The Lord, however, knows the hearts of men and women. He knows who is hungry. o That s the difference between reaching for your harvest and reaching for the Lord s harvest. Brother Aber taught us to pray specifically. o Seek an open door every day. It might start with, Lord lead me to one soul today. o Help me witness to one person today. This is how you navigate. o This is how you seek the lost. You follow divine direction and the more you do it o the more natural it becomes. Close Briefly, in closing, let me return to Bernie and his crew. o Bernie said that when they were caught in the grip of the storm and it seemed as if all was lost, in those moments when he contemplated turning back he would focus his thoughts on the men he was attempting to save. o In his mind s eye, Bernie would picture those desperate men
trapped inside that giant steel casket. o He knew that he and his crew were their only hope and that compelled him to press on. From the moment o that you make up your mind to try to reach a lost soul, o you will be confronted with every conceivable obstacle. Again and again you will be tempted o just to hold your peace, just fit in, don t rock the boat, o don t endanger a friendship, let every man choose for himself. But, in those moments o when you want to turn back, to maintain the status quo your focus needs to shift o to the souls that are caught in sin s terrible grip. o A lost world has to become the motivation that compels us to complete our mission.