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Fear Factor Have you ever feared driving over a high bridge? If so, you’re not alone. In fact, some people are so afraid of bridges that they will drive hours out of their way to avoid them. Others try to cross but have a panic attack in the middle of a bridge and can’t go on. They block traffic.

Because of this the operators of some of the longest and highest spans in America now offer a driving service. On request, one of the bridge attendants will get behind the wheel and drive the car over the bridge.

In 1991 Michigan’s Timid Motorist Program assisted 830 drivers across the Mackinac Bridge, which is five miles long and rises two hundred feet above the water.

At Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which is over four miles long and rises two hundred feet above the water, authorities took the wheel and helped one thousand fearful motorists.

Bridges aren’t the only things causing fear in people’s hearts.

In any terrifying situation the way to get over the paralysis of fear is to do like these motorists—turn the wheel over to someone else. Turn the situation over to God and then trust Him.

All of us sometimes experience fear in our lives at one time or another.

In fact there are some people who are dominated by it. David knew something about this because he wrote in Psalm 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.”

Even Christ followers will sometimes experience fear in their lives. We are all human and have to deal with the kinds of things that humans struggle with.

Sometimes it may be sin.
Sometimes it may be worry.
Sometimes it may sorrow.
Sometimes it may be depression or anxiety.

It is not God’s will that fear would dominate our lives.

Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear.” NIV

Psalm 27:1 “Light, space, zest – that’s God! So, with Him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing.” The Message

1. Some fears we may experience.

Are you afraid?

Do you find yourself paralyzed by something that you cannot control?Is there something that is controlling you and producing fear in your life?

Fear can come in many packages.

Things we sometimes fear:

A. Fear of failure:

People who are conscientious or ambitious in the right sense, or who have achieved any success at all in their lives can sometimes experience the temptation to fear failure.

B. Fear of responsibility.

We may be ambitious and want to do something but we fear the responsibility of doing something different. Phil. 4:13 “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

C. Fear of danger and harm.

Some people are afraid of thunderstorms or traveling by airplane or ship. People will go to great lengths to secure their homes. Heavy barred screen doors. Security cameras. Alarm systems. Some people arm themselves. Old saying from the cowboy days: “God created all men but Sam Colt made them equal.”

D. Fear of something from our personal history being found out by others.

Some people have something in their past that causes them to be fearful. Let me assure you. When you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior the past is forgotten. You are a new person before God. Will others remember? You and I both know there are people who never want to forget bad things. What is important is what God remembers.

E. Fear of the future.

Some of us may fear the future because of the economy or what we hear may or may not be there in the form of Social Security someday. Some of us fear the immediate future when we are unsure about our jobs and how we will support our families or ourselves.

F. Fear of death.

The only people that should fear death are those who have not accepted the salvation that Jesus Christ offers all of us. There is a life beyond this earth and we have been given the words of eternal life. Not eternal life down here in this present world but eternal life with Christ forever. Psalm 23 reminds that, “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me.”

2. Fear and how it effects us. Fear puts us in bondage and its effects are always destructive.

Fear can affect many areas of our lives. Let’s look at a few of them this morning.

A. Fear can undermine one’s health.

In spite of what they say, ninety percent of the chronic patients who see today's physicians have one common symptom. Their trouble did not start with coughing or chest pain or hyperacidity. In ninety percent of the cases, the first symptom was fear. This is the opinion of a well-known American internist as expressed in a roundtable discussion on psychosomatic medicine. This is also the consensus of a growing body of specialists. Fear of losing a job, of old age, of being exposed-sooner or later such fear manifests itself as "a clinical symptom." Sometimes the fear is nothing more than a superficial anxiety; sometimes it is so deep-rooted that the patient denies its existence and makes the round of doctor to doctor, taking injections, hormones, tranquilizers, and tonics in an endless search for relief.

If we allow fear to grip us we become tense and loose the balance that is so important to ones emotional responses. There is a somewhat obscure example of this in Job 4:14-15, “Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair on my body stood up.” Job had a physical response to fear.

B. Fear can paralyze your will.

You may be in the process of making a life changing decision. You can’t seem to move forward. You’re frustrated. You feel helpless and almost hopeless. When you are gripped by fear you will loose you will-power to move forward. Some of you need to move forward. You need to take the challenge of life that is right before you and move from where you are in your life.

I have been greatly challenged since Christmas because I have been reading my way through the book by David McCullough on the life of John Adams. John Adams was one of the founders of this country. He was one of the leaders of the rebellion. It was only raw courage and lack of fear that allowed those men to dream and put into action the plans that were drafted to build a nation. It was his sense of mission that drove him to spend ten years overseas right after the revolution of 1776. He endured frightening trips by ship across the ocean to accomplish the work that needed to be done to birth a nation.

C. Fear can rob you of sleep.

This doesn’t sound very impressive but it is reality. There must be a way that we can lay aside our fears long enough to engage in the sleep and rest that is critical to our health.

I spent a lot of sleepless nights as a young child. Maybe it was because we had two revivals a year and there was a lot of preaching on the second coming of Christ. The words to some of those songs still echo in my head from the 70’s. “Two men walking up a hill. One is gone and one’s left standing still. I wish we’d all been ready. There’s no time to change your mind. The Son has come and you’ve been left behind.”

I remember the time I found a can of spray paint in the alley behind the parsonage and without thinking spray painted my name on the telephone poll. I sat up for long hours that evening in fear that telephone company men and the police would show up at the door in a few days and arrest the only Wes that I knew in the whole town. It kind of hard to hide your sin when you don’t have a popular name and you sign you work! I awoke my parents and confessed my sin and they helped calm my fears. It robbed me of sleep.

What’s keeping you up at night? What are you fearing?

D. Fear can cloud your mind and thinking ability.

E. Fear can keep you from spiritual victory.

When fear controls your life you loose some things that are vital to enjoying God in your life.

When we are afraid:
                we loose joy,
                we loose peace,
                we loose power,
                we loose poise.

We loose control and loose sight of the fact that God is in control.

3. How can we equip ourselves to handle fear?

A. Come to believe that it is not God’s will for you to be fearful.

Does God want you to be afraid of anything? If you are a Christ follower you have no reason to fear. If you really have faith in God you have nothing to be afraid of. I know we are human and we love to lean on our human weakness. How about leaning on God’s strength for a little while?

There is a story recorded in Mark 4:35-41, The disciples are in a boat that Jesus put them in. He is asleep in the boat. When a terrifying storm surrounds them and begins to toss them around they are shaken and begin to question God’s care of them. “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Isn’t that always the easiest question to jump to? Jesus picked these guys for disciples for a reason because they are just like you and I. When Jesus finally stands up He commands the storm and sea to be calm and then he ask them this question: “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”

B. Be sure you really want to be free from fear.

I don’t want to sound harsh but I’m afraid there are some people who enjoy and do not want to loose their fears. They are the people who enjoy “bad health” for example. They have learned to use their fears as a form of escape from the responsibilities of life.

There is a fascinating question ask by Jesus in John 5:6. He is approaching a man who has been sick for 38 years. The Bible says that, “When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to Him, “Do you want to be made well?” You have to ask yourself that question.

C. Make an honest admission of your fears.

Don’t attempt to hide them; drag them our and recognize them for what they are. They are fears that need to be dealt with. Write them down. Look at them and if it will help you tell someone else about them.

D. Ask God definitely to take away your fears and then trust Him to do it.

Psalm 34:4 “I sought the Lord, and He heard me; He delivered me from all my fears.” (NKJV)

We should follow the Psalmist example. Take your fears to God and leave them there.

Have you really done that with your fears? Have you consistently been before God day after day and told Him your about your fear?

E. Cultivate a consciousness God’s presence in your life.

Fear cannot live in the realized, enjoyed presence of Christ. In Isaiah 43:5 we read these words, “Fear not, for I am with you;”

There is another story about Jesus and the disciples and a boat recorded in Math. 14:22-33. This time He sends them in the boat without His physical presence. This time it is wind and high waves. There is no record of a storm but Jesus comes to them walking on the water. They don’t even recognize Him until He speaks. Have you ever been around someone who practices the presence of Jesus. They almost make us uncomfortable because it just seems like they see Jesus in everything. It is impossible to be fearful when the Lord is with us.

Use personal examples.

F. Dwell deeply in the Word of God.

I feel like I say it every week. If you are going to be a Christ follower you cannot do it without this book. The Bible is our guide to life. It is our roadmap. It is our On Star, our Map Quest, our GPS.

Heb. 13:5-6, “For He Himself has said, I will not leave you nor forsake you. So we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not fear what man can do to me.”

Col. 3:16, “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. . .”

G. Lay your fears aside and worship God.

The moment you begin to praise God fear will begin to decrease its place in your life. God is wanting, willing and waiting to deliver you from your fears.

Isaiah 12:2-5, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; for YAH the Lord, is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation. Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And in that day you will say: Praise the Lord, call upon His name: declare His deeds among the peoples, Make mention that His name is exalted. Sing to the Lord, For He has done excellent things; This is known in all the earth.”

Yesterday many of us watched as over and over the trail of smoke left from a disintegrating space shuttle went across our television screens. We all thought how tragic it was and how devastating it was that these seven people lost their lives just sixteen minutes from home. It was terrible. It was tragic. What struck me was the leaders from NASA and our government who while mourning the loss with tearful voices, also expressed their great resolve to not be fearful about the future of space exploration. William McCool’s mother faced the cameras last evening and with cool resolve encouraged children to keep on dreaming about going to space. “We want the space mission to go on," Audrey McCool said outside her Las Vegas home. Saying she was "obviously very distressed," she was preparing to head Sunday to Houston to join McCool's father in Houston.

I don’t know what you are fearful of but the word for today is keep going. Don’t give up. Don’t be afraid.

Don’t let fear be a factor in your life. Psalm 27:1 “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear. NIV

II Tim. 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Psalm 35:4, “Say to those who are fearful—hearted, Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”

2003/02/02