Fighting Fire

Ephesians 6:18-20 CSB

“Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. For this I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I might be bold enough to speak about it as I should.”

Firefighters abide by a principle called Two In – Two Out.  Anytime a firefighter enters an active structure fire, he has a partner with him. In addition, there are two additional firefighters that remain outside the structure. They are called the RIT or Rapid Intervention Team. Their job is to be ready to rescue any firefighter who goes down.

To be a rescuer, you need:

• Community – To be effectively on mission in your context for the Gospel, we need fellow believers in our life. We need backup. Christian community provides:

• Encouragement – We need fellow believers to motivate us through encouragement.

• Fellowship – We need to find friendship and celebration with those that we call brothers and sisters in Christ.

• Support – We receive help and support through other believers

• Example – We can learn Christ-like behavior from watching others and listening to them.

• Diversity – We meet people who don’t think like us and we can gain perspective and understanding.

• Accountability –  In a Christian community, individuals can hold each other accountable for their actions, behaviors, and adherence to Christian principles. This accountability helps promote personal responsibility and fosters a commitment to living according to Christian values.

Accountability is huge in the Fire Service and it needs to be a bigger topic in the Church as well.  On the fire scene, if I wander somewhere dangerous, there’s people both inside and outside that are keeping track of me and won’t hesitate to speak up to redirect me.

Ask yourself – Who in your life steps up and says “Hey man… you’re going the wrong way? And would you be receptive or defensive if they did?

I was on a church staff years ago and one of my best friends was a guy on staff with me. I really thought we were close. He gave me a car at one point! I had no idea that he was struggling in his marriage and I certainly had no idea that he committed adultery when he went on vacation alone to his hometown. It destroyed his marriage, his ministry, and his relationship with his children.  All the times that we sat at the Chinese buffet laughing and talking ministry… he never told me he was struggling.

Who are you accountable to?  Would they know if you were struggling?

PASS ALARM – Accountability is so important to firefighters that we wear something called a PASS Alarm or Personal Alert Safety System.  It’s a device that I can activate by just touching this yellow button.  Even better yet… it activates automatically if I fail to move for 30 seconds.

Some of us in the room are dying in our sin and falling to temptation because we have no accountability. We don’t sound the alarm. Nobody is coming to check on us. Our sin is secret and we care keeping it that way.

The DRD – Our turnout coat has a feature called the Drag Rescue Device. It’s a webbing harness that is passive inside the coat until a loop on the back is deployed. When a fellow firefighter grabs the loop, that harness cinches inside the coat securing the wearer. It gives the partner or RIT team an easy way to drag the downed firefighter to safety.

Some of us are dying in our sin because we have no one that we trust to drag us to safety when we are compromised.

It’s time to sound the alarm and let someone know. Invite someone into your life for accountability. Tell them what you’re struggling with. Maybe you need to be that for someone else.  Get in a loving Christian community that will be there for you when you struggle and hurt.