Tonight at our student ministry meeting, we talked about fear. We discussed some of the things we are afraid of and why we are fearful. We also talked about there being good things to be fearful of and how we deal with fear. With Halloween approaching, I’ve been thinking about the things that scare me. Horror movies are one of my greatest fears. As I read through some spooky, gross Bible stories, it hit me that any of these could be turned into a modern day horror film. So, our 6th – 12th grade students got their chances to be the stars of these scripts as we acted them out tonight! We broke into groups and each group chose a story from Scripture to act out or summarize for the rest of the group. The spooky stories we looked at were:
* Elijah flames to Heaven / Mass murder of boys by bear from 2 Kings 2:11-17; 23-24
* The Madman and the Pigs from Mark 5:1-20
* Jael drives the tent peg through the enemy soldiers head from Judges 4:4-22
* Samuel's ghost / Witch of Endor from 1 Samuel 28: 3-25
* The Writing of a Disembodied Hand from Daniel 5:1-31
* Dry bones come to life / Ezekiel from Ezekiel 37:1-14
Over the past week, we’ve had several stations around Zion where members and friends could stop and write on a pumpkin the things of which they are afraid. The Bible has lots to say about fear! Like Psalm 34:4:
“I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears”
And 1 Peter 5:6-7:
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you”
If anyone had something to fear, it was Paul -
The apostle Paul found his strength in God, He reminds us that, “I …have …been in prison …frequently, been flogged …severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. …I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. …Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn? If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. …I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. …[God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 11:23-12:10).
The point, as I explained to our students, is we must CHOOSE FAITH OVER FEAR!! When we do that, when God is a priority in our lives, the easier it becomes to lift our fears to God. God then smashes our fears … but out of the smashed pumpkin comes something beautiful. From the seeds come a new, fresh, clean, beautiful pumpkin (with no fears written on it). To illustrate this point we stood above the ground on the breezeway of the Zion FLC and smashed our pumpkins that had fears written all over them. Even the 4th and 5th graders joined in the action. It was a
spook-tacular night … sorry, I don’t know where I get these things! Happy Halloween!
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