So…
What are you afraid of? Spiders? Mice? Presbyterians? Just asking!
And what would you do, if you could do it, unafraid?
Going in a slightly different direction, what is it that is holding you back from being God’s complete person, giving your whole life to follow Jesus?
One of the things that astounds me about Jesus is his seeming lack of fear.
In this story, he was not afraid of the leper, though everyone else thought the leper was contagious.
He was not afraid of the soldier, even though everyone else thought soldiers were the enemy.
He was not afraid of Peter’s mother-in-law, even though she was sick, feverish, and a woman.
He was not afraid of the religious authorities, priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, or the Sanhedrin. Or for that matter, the Romans.
He was not even afraid of demons.
So, if Jesus can heal a leper, and a soldier’s servant, an ill woman, and a person with a demon, unafraid, what about you?
Not only is it possible that you could be healed if that’s what you need, but you could also become one of God’s healing people!
As we will see in the week’s after Pentecost, God’s people in the church did all kinds of healing ministry: physical healing of wounds and sores and even of death; but also healing of emotional wounds, and spiritual injuries, and even economic nightmares, like the ones plaguing the widows and orphans of Jerusalem.
The apostles grabbed a few really faithful believers and told them to get to work making sure hungry people were fed. Unafraid they went at it, because they knew God’s power was at work in them!
Far too many of us live life scared.
We don’t have to…
The power and presence of the Holy Spirit is available to us!
I was talking to Mallory Hunter on Thursday. Mallory is Wes Hunter’s granddaughter. She came to Otisville to honor her grandfather and to be with the family. She put the picture boards together with Jesse I think and then delivered them to the church Thursday night.
She has moved from tiny little Otisville to LA to pursue a career as a dancer, singer, and model, and so far has done really well. She has her own music video. She has appeared in a music video with Cardi B, and with DJ Kaleed (I’d say look them up, but make sure you consult a 20 or 30 something before you do, and have an AED handy!)
And she said there are a bunch more coming.
But it’s what she said about that move to the craziness of LA that reminded me of what the Women’s Conference told our women a few week’s ago.
Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do scared!
It all seems too big, too risky. But if you don’t, aren’t you being less than what God made you to be. To be a blessing, whether feeding the hungry or making people want to sing and dance?
We God’s people have been called…
To love boldly, to live boldly, to care boldly, to give boldly, and to grow boldly, no matter the circumstances.
Because it is what Jesus would do! And it is what we do together!
We are called to Make a difference, in Jesus Name! And so we shall. Amen.
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