Life Guard On Duty Series

RIP TIDE

2. Life Guard On Duty

As we continue in our message series RIP TIDE,

this evening we are talking about

Life Guard on Duty.

Last week we heard God’s warning to us

about the Rip Tide of sin

and the pull it has in our life.

He tells us very clearly in His Word,

not to be deceived.

This week, we’re looking at the Life Guards

He has put in place to help protect us.

There is one mentioned

in the Old Testament book of Ezekiel.

Although he is called a “watchman”

instead of a life guard,

his duties were the same.

Ezekiel 33 “The word of the LORD came to me:

"Son of man, speak to your countrymen

and say to them:

’When I bring the sword against a land,

and the people of the land

choose one of their men

and make him their watchman (life guard),

and he sees the sword (riptide)

coming against the land

and blows the trumpet (whistle)

to warn the people,

then if anyone hears the trumpet (whistle)

but does not take warning

and the sword (riptide) comes and takes his life,

his blood will be on his own head.

Since he heard the sound of the trumpet (whistle)

but did not take warning,

his blood will be on his own head.

If he had taken warning,

he would have saved himself.

But if the watchman (lifeguard)

sees the sword (riptide) coming

and does not blow the trumpet (whistle)

to warn the people and the sword (riptide)

comes and takes the life of one of them,

that man will be taken away because of his sin, but I will hold the watchman (lifeguard)

accountable for his blood.’

Did you get that?

God tells us that He has put lifeguards in place

to warn us of impending danger in the water.

Have you ever had a sin sneak into your life

or had a sin in your life

that you thought was harmless?

Then did God send someone

to warn you about the sin?

Sometimes, being on the outside looking in,

you can see more clearly the adverse effects

sin has on someone’s life.

Take those warnings seriously.

God tells us here in Ezekiel

that He has put people in place to watch over us,

to warn us of impending danger.

And if one of God’s watchmen, or lifeguards

blows the whistle to warn you of danger ahead

on your current path, you better listen.

If you don’t, then whatever happens to you

is on your own hands.

If you hear the warning whistle,

change your ways,

and swim perpendicular to the pull of sin,

then you will save yourself from certain death.

Now what if you are one of the lifeguards

God put here to watch over other people?

I would like to ask Gwen Salerno

to come up here for a minute.

Does everyone here know Gwen?

She’s a great girl.

She’s one of our teens

who’s been coming to New Hope

for how long now Gwen?

She was even saved and I think baptized

right here at New Hope!

We love having her here

as part of our body of Christ.

She serves here at New Hope

by running our spot light for us on Friday nights.

And her family is very gracious

in allowing our youth group

to meet in their basement every week.

They are very hospitable folks

and they even feed us every Tuesday!

We really appreciate Gwen and her family

for all they do for us.

Anyway, if you didn’t already know,

I bet you would be surprised to find out

that Gwen is a lifeguard!

As a matter of fact, she’s a professional life guard.

Gwen, can you tell me a little bit

about your responsibilities as a life guard?

Have you ever had to rescue anyone

while you were on watch?

Now Gwen lifeguards at a public pool

so she probably hasn’t had too many dealings

with rip tides.

Have you Gwen? I didn’t think so!

But Gwen, let me ask you this:

What do you do if you see someone at the pool

who is doing something wrong,

or who’s in danger?

Do you run down your life guard stand

and whisper in their ear to stop?

Most lifeguards I’ve seen,

blow their whistle as loud as they can,

then they do full body sign language

to send the offending person

a very obvious message,

telling them what they need to change.

Now why do you think they make such a scene

to get someone’s attention when they see danger?

Let’s look at I Timothy.

1 Timothy 5:20

Those who sin are to be rebuked publicly,

so that the others may take warning.

Now that’s a pretty good reason isn’t it?

Gwen, when you blow your whistle