Steve came to our church two weeks ago tomorrow night looking for help. Steve is new to the streets having left a neighboring town in search for a job here. He came while i was struggling with board members (a story I told last week) so our Treasurer encouraged him to come and talk with me the next morning. Steve came in and had a cup of coffee where he shared the same struggles as others before -- no address, no help. He had filled out a job application that morning but couldn't leave a contact address or phone number and was just going to keep calling in. i told him to feel free to use our church's address and phone number and my name as a contact for the applications. Then he could call in during the morning or evenings and find out whether or not there were any messages. And he did that. We helped him as much as we could to get a nights sleep somewhere and get cleaned up so he could keep job hunting. The job hunting continues, and he continues to check in.
In the last week, we've had our coldest weather of the year (lows in the teens to 20's and highs only in the 30s). At first he asked for a blanket, and we gave him one, but also offered our home (we haven't done that before) but have been confident in our growing relationship with him. So he's stayed for a few nights with us and shared a few meals. We've gotten to know him a little better and learned that he's been having some physical problems in the last year. With no stable employment or insurance, he's not been able to find out a lot of what's going wrong with him. With no permanent address, the free clinic won't help him. He's been coming to church, reading a little Gospel of John i gave him, participating in prayer meetings, and having conversations with me in my office. Yesterday, during our first worship service, he lets out this strange yawn from the back of the sanctuary after I begin the message. i was a little surprised because Steve had been nothing but respectful during our times together, but since i'm a little used to weird things in our services, i just kept going on. Until a few people moved toward him, and Keli comes up to me and says, "Steve's having a seizure". i pray, the congregation starts praying out loud, and then as they continue to pray, i'm back there on the floor with him and a few others trying to help him as he comes to. Medics and Rescue teams arrive as he's beginning to come to and are able to get enough information from us to take him to the hospital. (After church, we picked up Steve to come home with us where he slept all day, woke up and went to prayer meeting, and then came home and slept hard all night--this morning, he's out looking for a job to help pay for his prescriptions--we'll help with what he doesn't come up with)
The message yesterday, in a nutshell, was supposed to be from Mark 4:35- where Jesus calms the storm and says to his disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Don't you have any faith?" We had a unison Scripture reading with selah and spontaneous testimonies during the worship service from Psalm 46. After Steve was carried away and we had sung a spirit-inspired song, i re-read that Psalm and asked for new comments and feeling in light of what we had just witnessed with Steve. One of our young men shared some thoughts and that "fear was an illusion" that we had to overcome to arrive at a place of peace. i corrected the young man that fear was not an illusion, but very real -- we were all still shaking a little bit from the fear we had just experienced. i talked some more and linked it briefly to the message originally planned (I guess God thought my illustrations were a little weak) -- the disciples experienced a very real fear (drowning) and the disciples expressed faith in going to Jesus to help them in the storm. But their fear of drowning was greater and restricting their faith -- what Jesus did in calming the storm terrified them, or caused them to fear a greater fear, that is the fear of the Lord. When infused by the power of the Holy Spirit, the fear of the Lord releases and reinforces faith -- it was a fear of the Lord that enabled the church to grow in number and boldly share the Good News as Acts 9:31 records, "Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord."
Fear is natural, fear of the Lord is supernatural. Fear of the Lord desires not to be caught in His presence empty-hearted or empty-handed--this works with our faith to release the believer and the church to forcefully advance His Kingdom. Remember Paul's words to Timothy were, "we have not received a spirit that makes a slave again to fear, but a spirit of power, of love, and of self-discipline" (2 Tim 1:7). The disciples in Mark 4:41received this new perspective when they considered, "Who is this?" Likewise, the writer of Hebrews encourages the church in the midst of persecution with these words, "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." (12:2-3)
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