BBD 03.10.15 Rescuing Whales (Classic)

#1 · March 10, 2015, 10:17 am

Quote from Forum Archives on March 10, 2015, 10:17 am
Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional
there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

Classic
from 2007

03.10.15

Rescuing
Whales

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making
a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garment defiled by the flesh. - Jude 1:20-23 NKJV.

Many of you watched as I did when three Japanese
fishermen attempted to rescue a 30-foot long whale that had been trapped in a
bay near the island of Shikoku southwest of Tokyo. The whale turned on them
hitting their boat. As a result, a fifty-eight year old man drowned. Two of the
fishermen were saved.

What a frightening experience it must have been! The fishermen were trying to do the right thing and save
a creature’s life, but instead one man lost his life. The fishermen must have
known how dangerous something like that could become, but they tried to save
the whale anyway.

Attempting to rescue someone spiritually can be difficult
and even dangerous. Jude gives us this indication that some are easy to reach “on some have compassion making a distinction.” Many that I have led to the Lord have been exactly like
that. They were ready to know the Lord; they were just waiting for someone to
tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ. What joy to lead someone like that to
the Lord! However, Jude indicates that there is another type of lost person who
will not be so easy to lead to the Lord.

Jude speaks of the difficulty and the danger in
attempting to reach some lost people. Jude writes, “…but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the
garment defiled by the flesh.” This sounds
like it might be as hard as rescuing a stranded whale that does not want to be
rescued. “…save with fear.” What is there to fear of a lost person? Jude’s
little letter was written primarily to warn of deceivers, false teachers who
were trying to lead believers away from the true Christ. At the beginning of
his letter Jude warns in verse 4, “For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The danger in trying to lead these deceivers, false
teachers to the truth was that you might yourself become deceived by them. So,
a rescue of these people had to be done with caution and even “fear.”

In addition, to the dangers that Jude speaks of directly
there are other dangers in attempting to lead some to the Lord. Trying to reach
someone involved in sexual sins could result in your becoming bogged down in
those sins as well. Trying to reach someone involved in substance abuse could
result in your becoming addicted too. Trying to reach someone involved in
financial illegalities might tempt you to try it yourself.

The Bible does give us some direction about how to
proceed in dealing with these situations. In Galatians 6:1 the apostle Paul writes, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you
also be tempted.” Although Paul is focusing on believers who
have turned away his advice is also good for reaching out to those who have
never believed. You must consider “yourself lest
you also be tempted.”

Does this mean that we should not try to reach some
people because it is too dangerous? It means that we should take
precautions. It means that like the Japanese fisherman we should not try to
rescue a whale by ourselves. We should include other believers in our plan of
rescue and seek their advice and wisdom. Jude just prior to speaking of
rescuing some with fear, gives perhaps the most important advice, which is to keep
yourself very close to the Lord as he says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

www.theburningbush.net

www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites
received visits from 184 countries in 2015 including from 27 cities in Iran.
Celebrating 16 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than
14,000 subscribers across the world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn
profile with endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please pray for Justin Lewis who is battling cancer. He is a young
Christian man with a wife and two children. Unless God intervenes there is
little hope for him. Please also pray for Shane Hall who has cancer and for all
those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta, is also in need of
prayer, she has stage four renal cell carcinoma and will have surgery February
27 to remove the tumor and a kidney. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

--

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org

Posted by: theburningbushdevotional <theburningbushdevotional@...>

If for
some reason you do not receive your email version of the devotional please
check the Burning Bush website at http://www.theburningbush.net for the “Devotional of the Day” and read the devotional
there.

The Burning
Bush Devotional

Classic
from 2007

03.10.15

Rescuing
Whales

But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making
a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating
even the garment defiled by the flesh. - Jude 1:20-23 NKJV.

Many of you watched as I did when three Japanese
fishermen attempted to rescue a 30-foot long whale that had been trapped in a
bay near the island of Shikoku southwest of Tokyo. The whale turned on them
hitting their boat. As a result, a fifty-eight year old man drowned. Two of the
fishermen were saved.

What a frightening experience it must have been! The fishermen were trying to do the right thing and save
a creature’s life, but instead one man lost his life. The fishermen must have
known how dangerous something like that could become, but they tried to save
the whale anyway.

Attempting to rescue someone spiritually can be difficult
and even dangerous. Jude gives us this indication that some are easy to reach “on some have compassion making a distinction.” Many that I have led to the Lord have been exactly like
that. They were ready to know the Lord; they were just waiting for someone to
tell them the Good News of Jesus Christ. What joy to lead someone like that to
the Lord! However, Jude indicates that there is another type of lost person who
will not be so easy to lead to the Lord.

Jude speaks of the difficulty and the danger in
attempting to reach some lost people. Jude writes, “…but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the
garment defiled by the flesh.” This sounds
like it might be as hard as rescuing a stranded whale that does not want to be
rescued. “…save with fear.” What is there to fear of a lost person? Jude’s
little letter was written primarily to warn of deceivers, false teachers who
were trying to lead believers away from the true Christ. At the beginning of
his letter Jude warns in verse 4, “For
certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this
condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny
the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The danger in trying to lead these deceivers, false
teachers to the truth was that you might yourself become deceived by them. So,
a rescue of these people had to be done with caution and even “fear.”

In addition, to the dangers that Jude speaks of directly
there are other dangers in attempting to lead some to the Lord. Trying to reach
someone involved in sexual sins could result in your becoming bogged down in
those sins as well. Trying to reach someone involved in substance abuse could
result in your becoming addicted too. Trying to reach someone involved in
financial illegalities might tempt you to try it yourself.

The Bible does give us some direction about how to
proceed in dealing with these situations. In Galatians 6:1 the apostle Paul writes, “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you
also be tempted.” Although Paul is focusing on believers who
have turned away his advice is also good for reaching out to those who have
never believed. You must consider “yourself lest
you also be tempted.”

Does this mean that we should not try to reach some
people because it is too dangerous? It means that we should take
precautions. It means that like the Japanese fisherman we should not try to
rescue a whale by ourselves. We should include other believers in our plan of
rescue and seek their advice and wisdom. Jude just prior to speaking of
rescuing some with fear, gives perhaps the most important advice, which is to keep
yourself very close to the Lord as he says, “But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying
in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.”

Copyright © 2007-2015. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
these first devotionals was primarily through the Burning Bush Newsletter sent
to prison facilities throughout the United States and Canada.

Visit the
Burning Bush websites:

http://www.theburningbush.net

http://www.theburningbush.org

The Burning Bush websites
received visits from 184 countries in 2015 including from 27 cities in Iran.
Celebrating 16 years online since January 31, 1998. Since June 8, 1998 the
Burning Bush Devotional has been spreading the truth of God's Word to more than
14,000 subscribers across the world.

You can leave comments/feedback
about the devotionals at http://www.theburningbush.net.

There is a translation tool on
theburningbush.net website in the top right hand corner of all of the pages.

Ed Wrather has retired from
pastoring full-time and has more time to pursue other ministry opportunities.
You can make contact at edwrather@yahoo.com or theburningbushdevotional@gmail.com View LinkedIn
profile with endorsements at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=92988105

Prayer Requests: Please pray for
an end to the racial hatred in the USA and that it will be replaced with peace
and love. Please pray for Justin Lewis who is battling cancer. He is a young
Christian man with a wife and two children. Unless God intervenes there is
little hope for him. Please also pray for Shane Hall who has cancer and for all
those afflicted with this terrible disease. My sister, Reta, is also in need of
prayer, she has stage four renal cell carcinoma and will have surgery February
27 to remove the tumor and a kidney. Many prayer needs are posted at the
Burning Bush website on the Prayer Request page. You can also post your prayer
requests there (Of course, I am always in need of prayer - please pray for
me.).

If you enjoy the devotional
please recommend it to your friends. They may subscribe by sending a blank
email to burningbushdevo-join@welovegod.org

There is a complete devotional
archive at the old Burning Bush website. Here is the URL: http://www.theburningbush.org/DevotionalArchive.html.

Devotion vs Devotional: We do our
devotions, we read devotionals.

You can unsubscribe to the
burningbushdevo devotional group by sending a blank email to
burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.

You may subscribe to the html
text group (Because of time constraints the devotional is only being sent now
in html format) by sending a blank email to burningbushhtml-join@welovegod.org
and you may unsubscribe by sending a blank email to
burningbushhtml-leave@welovegod.org and then respond to the confirmation email.
If the link does not work, copy and paste the link.

To unsubscribe, send ANY message to: burningbushdevo-leave@welovegod.org