|
Psalm 91:1-6English Standard VersionMy Refuge and My Fortress91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say[a] to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. 5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 2 Samuel 22:3-4 English Standard Version3 my[a] God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence. 4 I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. I want to give everyone a preview of my upcoming message in October as we’ll be doing some heavy lifting as we’ll take on the shortest verse in the bible! Make sure to have your bibles ready as we’ll be in Genesis, Luke, 2 Peter. Keep moving forward!
But let us get to today’s message, Safety Leader/Jesus Ambassador. It’s amazing what God puts on your heart for you to share. One day I was directed to dig deeper into our Go Card and what it means. God message is put out to us in many ways! At my work we believed in Safety First every day. I was an instructor for our Safety Leadership Seminar classes. I even got an award for this! It was for being a Safety Ambassador and a definition of an ambassador: an authorized representative or messenger. The class was not meant to be taught by our Safety Personnel but by other people in the workforce. The only thing that was required was to have a passion to make sure everyone went home to their family every night. This class was required by all our employees and contractors before they could perform work at one of our jobsites. We stressed to everyone to be a “Safety Leader” Merriam-Webster defines a Leader as: A person who has authority or influence. One important thing is we have to keep ourselves safe to be able to help others. Before we started any work, we would have a safety meeting at the location we were working and perform a JSA (Job Safety Analysis). We would use a GO Card– Used to help ask questions for the safety meeting. What are we here to do today? Do we have a procedure for doing this? What tools do we need to do this job today? What hazards do we have and how can we mitigate or eliminate them? What PPE do we need? I wonder how that would work for us here today for our worship. One thing that we stressed is that everyone needs to be involved. The first question I have for our Worship Safety Meeting is: What are we here to do? Worship God? Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 2) Do we have the tools here today to do this job? Bible? Hymnals? How about your bible it is interesting to open your bible and look back on the highlighted verses you had. My first Bible was on 8/29/ 1965. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Romans 15:4 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Joshua 1:8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 3)Have we been trained to use these tools? Deuteronomy 6:6-7 ESV And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 4) What hazard do we have today? Romans 16:17 ESV I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. 5) Can we mitigate or eliminate them. Prayer Colossians 4:2 ESV Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving Mark 11:24 ESV Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Psalm 145:18: The Lord is near to all who call him 6)What PPE’s (Personal Protective Equipment) will we need today? Ephesians 6:10-18 ESV Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ... How do we feel about our JSA? How about in our day-to-day lives what would be on your JSA? We’ll touch on that later. We need to talk about Unsafe conditions vs unsafe acts, what are they? Unsafe conditions never cause us harm it is our unsafe acts that do us in. It is like when we have winter conditions with snow, blowing snow, terrible visibility where you can’t see in front of your vehicle, but you go ahead and drive into this. (Unsafe Act) What are our unsafe conditions and unsafe Acts? How about the evil things in our world? Drugs & Alcohol, PORN, (The US is the largest consumers of Porn with child porn a leader)! These are unsafe conditions out there but when we commit the sin of being involved with these that is our unsafe act! We ultimately want a proactive approach of getting out in front of hazards and preventing them from happening. We need to recognize then correct and prevent. We know the only way to do this! What are the traits or characteristics of a Safety Leader? Leader is: A person who has authority or influence. Caring - feeling or showing care for, concern about, or attentiveness to other people's needs; compassionate; thoughtful? Available? What are the traits of a Christian Safety Leader? All of the previous traits but Born Again with Jesus Christ as your safety leader! Our Safety is important. As evident from scripture. Proverbs 29:25 ESV The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. Proverbs 18:10 ESV The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe. Ephesians 6:11 ESV Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Psalm 4:8 ESV In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety. One thing we need to touch on before we close is Safety Leader vs Safety Follower! A Safety Follower just does enough to get by, never making that commitment. What does this bring to mind? Is this how we are with our commitment to Jesus Christ, I’ll come to church on Easter and Christmas? Doing just enough to get by? Ultimately, we need to turn to Jesus Christ the ultimate Safety Leader it’s a no brainer. Jesus died on the cross for us “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. How hard is it to do this? As I had mentioned in my last message, I grew up watching the Billy Graham Crusade on TV. It was amazing what he was able to accomplish with his crusades. It is estimated that 215 million people attended his crusade around the world. At the end of his message, he would call people to come forward to commit themselves to Jesus Christ. It is estimated that 2.2 million people gave their life to Jesus Christ and were born again. In the movie Nefarious the inmate facing death row is possessed by a demon and is facing execution. He must interview with a psychologist (Atheist) to determine if he is sane or insane. If he determines he is sane he will be executed, and this is what the demon wants for the fate of the person he is possessing. He is telling the doctor about his master and hell and in his conversation, he relates how the carpenter and that cross changed everything. Oh, how right he was! As I talked about earlier, the last thing you want is for someone to become lost and not make it home and how that would be the worst thing to happen. Imagine how Jesus feels when we turn away from him and go the way of committing those unsafe acts and denying him? Looking again Jesus is the ultimate Safety Leader and by asking him into your life you become a Jesus Ambassador (an authorized representative or messenger)/ Safety Leader, leading other people to a life with Jesus. All the awards pale to what the rewards are for living a live with Jesus and you being his ambassador! Now the new title of our message is Jesus Ambassador/ Safety Leader Now what would be on your daily Jesus Safety Analysis? Are you ready to make the commitment, Jesus has his arms open wide! There is no magical prayer you must pray—it is more about the condition of your heart. Some important components can be remembered with ABC: Admit that you are a sinner in need of a Savior, Believe that Jesus died for you and rose again, and Commit to live the rest of your life for Him. Heavenly Father, forgive me of all my sins. Make me brand new. I believe Jesus died for me and rose again so I could live for you. Fill me with your Spirit so I can know you, serve you, and follow you the rest of my life. My life is not my own—today I give it to you. Thank you for new life! In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
0 Comments
|
|