A pastor friend was telling me about two men in his church who are stricken with Alzheimer’s. One man is a retired pastor. He and his wife still attend church. Sometimes it takes this retired pastor longer than usual to say something. My friend spoke of being patient with him as they talked.
The other man is not as far along in the development of this disease. He still greets people as they come into the church. The pastor had unlocked the doors but somehow the latch at the bottom of one of the doors had locked. Not many people had arrived for church when my pastor friend went by the door where this man was posted. The man was on his knees inspecting the latch. He was pushing on it. He didn’t remember to simply lift the latch up. The pastor got on his knees beside this man and fiddled with the latch pretending he was trying to discover how it worked. Then he lifted it up and released the door. The reason he did that was to save this man from embarrassment.
I don’t doubt that my friend Steve preached a Spirit-filled, Bible-centered sermon that morning. But long before he preached that sermon, his act of love and mercy revealed that he was filled with the Holy Spirit.