Rescue

Rescue Galatians 6 Easter morning, March 23rd, 2:52 AM, Coast Guard Station Kodiak, Alaska picked up the following distress call, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is the Alaska Ranger, 5, 3, 5, 3 North; 1, 6, 9, 5, 8 West..we are flooding, taking on water in our rudder room.” The call came from a position almost 800 miles west, in Alaska’s frigid Bering Sea. “Roger, good copy on position…Request to know number onboard, over.” Static filled the air as the watch waited for an answer. “Number of persons: 47.” It was an hour since the trawlers emergency alarm first sounded. The crew responded expeditiously only to see the water quickly raising in the ship’s stern compartments. They broke out a pump but quickly realized it was an exercise in futility. Captain Peter Jacobsen, a 65 year veteran captain fished these waters for 23 years, was calling his sister ship repeating Ranger’s position 120 miles west of the Aleutian Island port of Dutch Harbor. Two hundred and thirty miles to the north, the peace of a tiny Coast Guard Station on St. Paul Island was interrupted when the phone rang. Steve Bonn sprang into action, ran to the barracks, racked out his co-pilot, flight mechanic, and rescue swimmer, loaded into a SUV and headed to the hangar through three feet of snow. Soon they were fueling up a 14,500 pound HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter. Meanwhile. on the 375 foot Coast Guard cutter Munro, orders were given to shift propulsion from the diesel engines to the Pratt & Whitney FT4A engines. Within moments, the 160 crew members were jarred awake as the 18,000 horsepower engines kicked in and the Munro sped to the scene at 30 knots (35 mph). On the Alaska Ranger, the crew dawned their survival suits which looked like a child’s pj’s. The crew reported to their muster stations near their designated life rafts on the deck. Waves were beginning to crest over the stern. Suddenly the Alaska Ranger went dark, seemed to shift into reverse. The trawler took a sudden violent list to the starboard as the crew members held onto the frozen railing. Amid the chaos, the captain ordered, “Abandon Ship.” One crew member named David Hull made it to one of the rafts. As he looked out the tented shelter he could see the lights attached to his friends survival suits as they bobbed up and down in the 20 foot swells and 32 degree water. The HH-60 Jayhawk helicopter arrived on scene first and rescued 12 men, however they had no place to put them. The other vessels were too small to do a personnel transfer so they had to go 75 miles north to the Munro. By 6 AM the Munro was close enough to launch the shortrange Dolphin helicopter, the rescue operation continued in earnest. Finally, the sister ship, the Alaska Warrior arrived on scene, used its crane to lift some people from the water and gave them survivor blankets and microwaved potatoes to hold in their armpits to raise their body temperature. What actually happened to the Alaska Ranger? We can only guess because all the evidence we need to determine the cause lies under 6,000 feet of icy water on the floor of the Bering Sea. Rescue missions are never completely safe and in many cases quite dangerous. As believers, we are required to rescue, come along side and restore our brothers and sisters in Christ. katarizo), to restore, literally means to mend or repair and was sometimes used of setting broken bones or dislocated limbs. Recognition; Repentance; restoration; this sequence should be familiar. But with the exhortation to restore comes a warning, “each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted”. We can stumble in the process for we are no different than those who have fallen. We are made up of the same stuff, capable of the same sin, therefore, Paul emphasizes continual, diligent and attentive pursuit of purity as a means of protection. God does not desire us to be devastated, “Thus it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones perish.” (Matt 18:14) Our example, Christ, “for the Son of man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:65) What gives us the right to be harsh, mean, and destructive? Nothing! Restoration of the fallen is always to be done in a spirit of gentleness. Our mission is to preach the gospel, make disciples, restore the lost while walking in a manner worthy of our calling, while bearing one another’s burden and thereby fulfil the law of Christ.

1. According to the first verse, what is our responsibility? How are we to carry out our responsibility? What is the danger when we do what we are told to do and how can we avoid the problem?

2. What does it mean to “bear one another’s burdens”? How does this fulfill the law of Christ? Why does Pau tell them to “examine his own work”?

3. What did Paul tell them to do in verse 6 and why did he tell them to do it?

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4. What is the definition of deceived (deceive)? What is the result of being deceived? Explain in your own words “whatever a man sows, this he will also reap”. How did this apply to the Galatians and how does it apply to us?

5. Why did Paul say “see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand”? What does, “…simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”, mean?

6. What are three reasons for glorying only in the cross of Christ given in verses 14-18? As we look at all other religions and cults, what do they have in common and how is Christianity different?