No Fear Series

ESSENTIAL KING JESUS: NO FEAR

MARK 4:35-41

#kingjesus

USE AUDIO BIBLE: Mark Chapter 4:1-41 [5:19]

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/mclean/esv/Mark.4

STORY 1 (p)

The date was December 31, 2000. It was a Sunday. The time was about 9:30pm. The weather was very cold and the conditions of the road in rural Tennessee were mostly clear. The 24-year old man was on his way to work for the overnight shift. Life was good. He was driving his brand new blue Nissan Frontier which was one of the first vehicles he ever got to pick out… he loved it. It drove nice. It was new. The truck sat high and he felt like a big shot. Life was also good because his wife was at home pregnant with their first child… a girl. She was due in about three months.

The young man was not a good driver. He was going too fast for the conditions as most young men tend to do. The roads were clear… yes… but there were also patches of ice on the road that could not be seen in the dark. He came around one bend in the country road and hit a patch of ice. His truck slid sideways on the narrow road. Once the truck has slid to the side of the road, it did not stop. The truck tipped over onto its side.

The problem with this is that the road was raised and there was a slope down into the pasture on the side of the road he had slid. The truck tumbled over the side of the bank and rolled into the pasture. The outside of the truck was damaged on all sides. Inside the truck, the foolish young man was not wearing his seatbelt and was tossed around in his seat some as the truck rolled. He held onto the steering wheel. Pain in his left arm. Glass shattering. The radio stopped playing. The truck became still in the field.

The feeling he felt: Fear.

Fear at almost dying. Fear of what could have happened.

People from the farmhouse to which the field belonged heard the accident and came running immediately. They recognized him and knew his wife was pregnant. They also knew that his house was not far away. The good natured folks offered to take him to the hospital, but did not want him to simply call his wife. They wanted to take him home first for him to explain what happened in person to his wife so she could see he was not badly injured.

The feeling they felt: Fear.

They were afraid that if he or another person called the pregnant young wife about the accident that the shock and stress would send her into labor. They drove him home briefly and then took him to the hospital and he rang in the new year of 2001 in the ER.

FEAR [Collins, Christian Counseling, 2007, page 140, 145]

Fear is a powerful emotion. Most of the time when I personally think of fear I think of it as a negative emotion, but fear can certainly save our life at times. When we talk about fear we also use words like anxiety, stress, phobia, panic, tension, apprehension, uneasiness, worry, and dread. We know fear when we feel it. We know how it makes us feel physically.

We may or may not think about our fears all the time, but we all have our own lists of things we are afraid of or situations that bring us fear. Fear of failure, the future, rejection, intimacy, success, taking responsibility, conflict, meaninglessness in life, sickness, death, public speaking, loneliness, change, and Coca-Cola going out of business so that all we are left with is Pepsi.

Fear is serious business because it is a powerful emotion that can affect many parts of our lives. Fear can stop us. Fear can change our behavior. Fear can change how we think. Fear can change how we treat other people.

STORY 2: http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/f/fear.htm

The scene is the deepest part of Africa on a safari. Two explorers were coming out of the jungle and back into the savanna area when suddenly a ferocious lion jumped in front of them. Fear grabbed both of their hearts. Fear shot through them. "Keep calm," the first explorer whispered to his friend, “Remember what we read in that book on wild animals? If you stand perfectly still and look the lion in the eye, he will turn and run."

"Sure," replied his companion. "You've read the book, and I've read the book. But has the lion read the book?"

FEAR RESULTS [Meier & Minirth, Intro to Psychology and Counseling, 1991, page 94]

The human body goes through three distinct stages when feeling fear. The first is the alarm reaction in which the body’s defenses are mobilized by activity in the limbic and other systems through the secretion of adrenalin and noradrenaline. I think most of us non-psychologist types call this the ‘fight or flight’ feeling. Breathing is faster and muscles tighten. The second stage is one of resistance which happens if the fear or the stress continues over a long period of time. The body tries to repair any damage while defending itself. Then third, exhaustion lays in if the fear or the emergency lasts too long. The person becomes exhausted mentally and physically because of the fear.