Sermon Tone Analysis

Fear

You have Heard of the Great Pretender, well now let me introduce the Great Intruder.

Katrina, school shootings, and accidents, as well as those who seemingly lead everyday secure lives.

I hear about fear, and the security we seem to experience can disappear in the blink of an eye.

For many, the illusion of security that was lived with for so long has dissolved.

Millions of Americans—as well as people in other countries—who never before experienced fear and panic now do.

Over the past decade, we have become more safety conscious.

Many people used to let their kids run around the neighborhood, but now worries about stranger danger have made us more cautious.

Many parents bring their children to school instead of sending them on the school bus; airports and places of business have increased security; and Coast Guard and Navy boats patrol our harbors and coasts.

The media pours frightening stories into our homes twenty-four hours a day, further eroding our feeling of safety.

Just watch the news each night.

It will intensify your fear!

We’re the richest nation on earth.

We’ve always found security in our savings, stocks, mutual funds, retirement, and so on.

Until recently.

Lately, major corporations have failed, pension plans have been drained, and the stock market has been erratic—these situations too feed our fear on a daily basis.

Each day I talk with people whose lives are filled with fear.

Some of them have recently developed fears; others have lived in a prison of fear since childhood.

The good news is that the prison doors of fear are unlocked!

Remember, no matter how long you have been imprisoned behind its bars, you can find freedom from the grip of fear and walk away from it.

It’s an intruder.

It’s also an interference with everyday life.

It can come and go at will and take the edge off of life.

You’ve heard of a joy robber—well, this is it.

At times there’s a good reason for its presence, and then there are times when having it around doesn’t make sense.

What is this?

Fear.

It has the power to either immobilize or motivate, but in either case, it can cast a cloud over what may have been a positive experience.1 We all experience fear to one degree or another.

It can range from the smallest fear of not looking good enough to the concern of not getting home safely from school each day.

Some of us talk about our fear, while others just live with its presence and remain silent about it.

While it’s true that many feel secure today, that feeling could be a sense of false security.

I have met with many in schools and companies who seem so secure but inwardly live with fear.

I have sat with survivors of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, school shootings, and accidents, as well as those who seemingly lead everyday secure lives.

I hear about fear, and the security we seem to experience can disappear in the blink of an eye.

For many, the illusion of security that was lived with for so long has dissolved.

Millions of Americans—as well as people in other countries—who never before experienced fear and panic now do.

Over the past decade, we have become more safety conscious.

Many people used to let their kids run around the neighborhood, but now worries about stranger danger have made us more cautious.

Many parents bring their children to school instead of sending them on the school bus; airports and places of business have increased security; and Coast Guard and Navy boats patrol our harbors and coasts.

The media pours frightening stories into our homes twenty-four hours a day, further eroding our feeling of safety.

Just watch the news each night.

It will intensify your fear!

We’re the richest nation on earth.

We’ve always found security in our savings, stocks, mutual funds, retirement, and so on.

Until recently.

Lately, major corporations have failed, pension plans have been drained, and the stock market has been erratic—these situations too feed our fear on a daily basis.

Each day I talk with people whose lives are filled with fear.

Some of them have recently developed fears; others have lived in a prison of fear since childhood.

The good news is that the prison doors of fear are unlocked!

Remember, no matter how long you have been imprisoned behind its bars, you can find freedom from the grip of fear and walk away from it.

been erratic—these situations too feed our fear on a daily basis.

Each day I talk with people whose lives are filled with fear.

Some of them have recently developed fears; others have lived in a prison of fear since childhood.

The good news is that the prison doors of fear are unlocked!

Remember, no matter how long you have been imprisoned behind its bars, you can find freedom from the grip of fear and walk away from it.

WHAT IS FEAR?

Wright, H. Norman.

Overcoming Fear And Worry (p.

8).

Aspire Press.

Kindle Edition.

Our English word fear comes from the Old English faer, meaning “sudden calamity or danger.”

Fear has come to mean the emotional response to real or imagined danger.

The Hebrew word for fear can also be translated dread, meaning a heavy, oppressive sensation of fear.

A word we often interchange with fear is anxiety, which comes from the Latin anxius.

To be anxious is to be troubled in mind about some uncertain event.

A variation of anxius means “to press tightly or to strangle.”

Anxiety is often a suffocating experience.

Fear and anxiety are actually quite similar.

A true fear has an identifiable object of danger, either real (a burglar in your house) or imagined (a shadow that looks like a burglar).

When we’re anxious, we have the same feeling of fear, but we don’t know why.

We show our fear in different ways.

Some people experience a sensation internally and show nothing on the outside.

Others sweat, and their heart pounds.

Some people become unglued, start screaming, and run away.

Others freeze and cannot move.

Habakkuk the prophet experienced some of the common effects of fear:

— ,

Also, the skin can appear pale, hair stand on end, and blood pressure rise.

There may be increased blood flowing through the muscles, causing greater tension; dryness and tightness of the throat and mouth; an increased need to urinate and defecate; butterflies flying in your stomach; a paralyzing weakness in the arms and legs; difficulty in breathing or a tightness in the chest.

Scripture gives the same description of the results of fear and worry:

,

RATIONAL AND IRRATIONAL FEARS

Fear of Life

All of us are afraid sometimes.

That’s normal.

But some of us are fearful most of the time.

That’s not normal.

We weren’t designed to be driven by fear, yet some of us are.

We weren’t created to dread life, yet many of us do.

Occasionally, people tell me that they are afraid of death.

That’s not unusual, but even more people I talk to are afraid of life in one way or another.

Living life to its full potential is a threat to them.

They’re emotionally paralyzed and refuse to participate in many of life’s normal experiences.

They hide and insulate themselves and throw away their opportunity to live life.

When counseling them, I often say, “It seems you’re immobilized by fear,” and they agree!

There’s a difference between being afraid and being immobilized by fear.

We may be afraid at times, but we’re not to live our lives in fear.

Paul wrote:

—

Isn’t it strange for us to choose to imprison ourselves in fear, especially when Christ came to set us free?

The fear of life is actually more debilitating than the fear of death.

Fear disables.

Fear shortens life.