Mark Hull

In one paragraph

Mark Hall, one of the church's elders, shared a personal testimony on a Sunday when Pastor Ray was away on a missions trip to Guatemala. He spoke honestly about fear, both the kind that can undo you and the kind that can save you. His message traced how God used fear at three different points in his life to draw him closer. Mark opened by admitting he was terrified to stand up and speak. He said...

Read together

1. Revelation 20:12 Mark quoted it describing the dead being judged before God as the books were opened
2. Revelation 20:15 Mark cited it to show that anyone not found in the book of life was cast into the Lake of Fire
3. John 3:16 Mark mentioned it as a verse he had memorized from childhood but did not fully understand until the revival
4. John 3:18 Mark quoted it to show there is no judgment against anyone who believes in Jesus
5. Matthew 5:15-16 Mark read it about letting your light shine so others will praise your heavenly Father
6. James 2:17 Mark paraphrased it to say faith without good deeds is dead
7. Proverbs 15:33 Mark cited it linking the fear of the Lord to wisdom and humility

Talk about it

1. Mark said that growing up in church, he knew John 3:16 by memory but did not really understand what it meant until the evangelist put the whole picture together for him. Has there been a moment in your own life when something you had heard many times suddenly became real to you? What changed?
2. When Mark went forward at the altar call, he told the pastor the first thing on his mind: 'I don't want to go to hell.' He later reflected that he had been hiding behind his parents' faith his whole life. In what ways can familiarity with church life make it easy to coast on someone else's faith rather than your own?
3. Mark described a season in his twenties when his faith was his own but he was not living with his light shining very bright, and he quoted James on faith without deeds being dead. What does it look like practically when faith is alive versus when it has gone cold?
4. Mark said it was having children that woke him and his wife up to the fact that they needed to live out their faith rather than just hold it privately. What people or circumstances in your own life have pushed you toward a more visible or active faith?
5. Both the closing Scripture Mark quoted from Proverbs and the benediction passage spoke about fearing God as something good and instructive. Mark tied three moments of fear together: the mountain lion, his fear of hell at nine years old, and his fear for his children's souls. How do you understand the difference between fear that paralyzes and fear that leads you toward God?