Message summary: The apostle Jude used a vivid metaphor in describing the critical rescue mission the church and every true believer has: the call to “snatch others from the fire and save them”, which is an ongoing description of the Great Commission.

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“But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love, as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear - hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh” (Jude 20-23).

We joined much of the country yesterday in experiencing a major snow storm. If you live here in the US you know all about it and many of you experienced it. The storm was forecast days ahead so many were prepared. We saw long lines and some empty shelves at the grocery stores.  Ester, who works at our local Weis Grocery Market, came home with sore wrists from running all the groceries through the line as a cashier.

We were concerned about losing power, due to the freezing rain and ice, since we are entirely dependent on electric for heating and water. But when we awoke this morning we still had power and were most grateful. According to our PPL electric company's power outage map for our  area only 19 customers in the entire region they serve in eastern Pennsylvania have no power (as of the time of our writing). That's pretty remarkable! But today we read that some 1,000,000 nationwide have lost power so we are praying for our line workers as they work during these freezing temperatures to restore power so others can live in comfort.

Today we honor our rescue workers, including linemen, as already mentioned, who are busy getting the power back on. Their jobs are not only hard but filled with danger. Other rescue workers are out on medical emergency calls and fires. We read about the rescue of someone who had fallen through the ice in the Susquehanna River.

Today we also consider another form of rescue work that’s taking place in rescue missions all over the world.

The apostle Jude used a vivid metaphor in describing the critical rescue mission the church and every true believer has: the call to “snatch others from the fire and save them”, which is an ongoing description of the Great Commission. We know, of course, that ultimately God does the saving, but He has called each of us to participate in the saving mission!

The challenge to receive Christ may come through an altar call to a group of people. It might come from a caring brother or sister to an individual who needs Christ. These are examples of only two of the many ways we seek to snatch unbelievers from the fire. Each of us are involved in the process, including those who faithfully pray for these lost souls to be saved. In Jude’s descriptive phrase the emphasis is on the urgency and seriousness with which we are to take up our call.

Today let us remember God’s call in our lives as followers of Christ. All around us there are people who need the Lord; people who need to be snatched from the fire and saved from eternal damnation. As we reach out to those living in sin, we must love the sinner but hate the very sin that has entrapped them.  Just as firemen suit up in their fire repellent uniforms for personal protection, we too must suit up in our spiritual armor to protect ourselves from the spiritual forces of evil as we reach out to those greatly damaged by the evil influences of Satan (Ephesians 6:11-17).

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13