Sermon Illustrations on Fear — page 2

Surrender

Luke 4:18

Paul Stanley: As an infantry company commander in Vietnam in 1967, I saw Viet Cong soldiers surrender many times.

As they were placed in custody, marched away, and briefly interrogated, their body language and facial expressions always caught my attention. Most hung their heads in shame, staring at the ground, unwilling to look their captors in the eye. But some stood erect, staring defiantly at those around them, resisting any attempt by our men to control them. They had surrendered physically but not mentally.

On one occasion after the enemy had withdrawn, I came upon several soldiers surrounding a wounded Viet Cong. Shot through the lower leg, he was hostile and frightened, yet helpless. He threw mud and kicked with his one good leg when anyone came near him.

When I joined the circle around the wounded enemy, one soldier asked me, “Sir what do we do? He’s losing blood fast and needs medical attention.” I looked down at the struggling Viet Cong and saw the face of a 16- or 17-year-old boy.

I unbuckled my pistol belt and hand grenades so he could not grab them. Then, speaking gently, I moved toward him. He stared fearfully at me as I knelt down but he allowed me to slide my arms under him and pick him up.

As I walked with him toward a waiting helicopter, he began to cry and hold me tight. He kept looking at me and squeezing me tighter. We climbed into the helicopter and took off.

During the ride, our young captive sat on the floor, clinging to my leg. Never having ridden in a helicopter, he looked out with panic as we gained altitude and flew over the trees. He fixed his eyes back on me, and I smiled reassuringly and put my hand on his shoulder.

After landing, I picked him up and walked toward the medical tent. As we crossed the field, I felt the tenseness leave his body and his tight grasp loosen. His eyes softened, and his head leaned against my chest. The fear and resistance were gone — he had finally surrendered.

The God to whom we surrender is not our enemy. He heals and cares for everyone he takes captive.

#2174

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The Great Enforcer

Martin Luther grew up haunted by a stained-glass window from his boyhood church, a window depicting Christ as a stern king with a raised sword. The sword appeared to Luther exactly like a rod. To Yancey’s mind also, God loomed as the great Enforcer who brought swift and terrible punishment to all who misbehaved. (Yancey’s father died of polio when he was one year old.)

They Knew the Power of the Resurrection

Mark 8:34

"Bearing the cross" means more than putting up with minor irritations.

1. We bear witness that God's love is stronger than hate and anger.

2. Cross bearing leads us into a life of servanthood and service.

3. To bear the cross is to live in God's power, not our own.

In the 1960's when Clarence Jordan was developing the interracial Koinonia community near Albany, Georgia, he and his fellow Christians were often harassed and attacked. The story is told how one night klansmen surrounded the farmhouse carrying firearms. Clarence's response was simple. "We are not afraid. We know the power of the resurrection." Clarence Jordan had learned to live by God's power and not his own.

'Hell House' Kits Selling Nationally

Job 7:13

An Arvada, Colorado, Assemblies of God church that received national media attention last Halloween for its gruesome HELL HOUSE, is selling kits to churches around the country that want to duplicate the grizzly dramatization.

Hell House was criticized for its gory depictions of an abortion, a homosexual dying of AIDS, drunken driving, teen suicide, and hell. Critics, including the Colorado Council of Churches, condemned the scare tactics used in the presentation and the literal demonization of homosexuals and abortionists.

Keenan Roberts, youth pastor and director of Abundant Life Christian Center’s Hell House, says the complaints are misdirected. “It’s Romans 6:23 in contemporary packaging. ‘The wages of sin is death,’” he says. Roberts, 30, developed an annual Hell House in Roswell, New Mexico, before moving to Denver.

Charging $5 for admission, the church made a $17,000 profit in last year’s five-night presentation. This year, it is extending the run to 16 nights. Roberts says the church grew by 25 percent after last Halloween.

The 500-member church is selling Hell House kits for $149. Buyers get a 263- page manual, a video of the Denver Hell House, and a tape or compact disc with sound effects. The manual includes everything from a script to prop advice, including, “Do your very best to buy or purchase a meat product that will resemble as much as possible pieces of a baby that are being placed in the glass bowl for all to see.”

So far, the church has sold 60 kits, which it spent $10,000 to produce.

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Is It Right?

Job 27:6

Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. --

Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe?

Consensus asks the question: Is it popular?

Conscience asks: Is it right?

#3259

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We Must Think With Courage

Luke 21:25

In 1841 Emerson said,

“A great perplexity hangs over us like a cloud. We mistrust every step we take.... It is not that men do not wish to act; they are paralyzed by fear and uncertainty.... We must think with courage.”

God, Make Me Brave For Life

Luke 12:4

Poem on courage by an unknown author:

God, make me brave for life: oh, braver than this.

Let me straighten after pain, as a tree straightens after the rain,

Shining and lovely again.

God, make me brave for life; much braver than this.

As the blown grass lifts, let me rise

From sorrow with quiet eyes,

Knowing Thy way is wise.

God, make me brave, life brings

Such blinding things.

Help me to keep my sight;

Help me to see aright

That out of dark comes light.

Something Worth Dying For

John 10:15

It’s hard to read any of the sermons the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached about death and heaven without hearing echoes of gunshots.

"The minute you conquer the fear of death, at that moment you are free," he said in 1963. "I submit to you that if a man hasn’t discovered something that he will die for, he isn’t fit to live."

Decades later, these words still inspire faith and courage, said social activist Johann Christoph Arnold, who marched with King in the Civil Rights Movement. That’s why the patriarch of the nine Bruderhof communes in the U.S., England, and Australia included this quotation in his most recent book, "Seeking Peace."

This was the book that Cassie Bernall and other teenagers at Littleton’s West Bowles Community Church were supposed to have discussed on the evening of April 20th. After that tragic day at Columbine High School, Bernall’s parents showed Arnold her copy of "Seeking Peace," with its handwritten notes for the study session that was never held.

Cassie had boldly underlined King’s thoughts on death. Did she hear echoes of gunshots?

"Why did these words speak to her at such a young age? It is such a great mystery," said Arnold. "But I do know this. She had found something she was willing to live for, and even to die for, and that made all the difference in her life."

I'm Asking God To Kill You

Amos 9:3

At an early evangelistic meeting Mordecai Ham went after the worst sinner in the area. He found him hiding in a corn field.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked the evangelist.

"Ask God to kill you."

"Why??"

"Why not? You don't believe in God, so it shouldn't bother you."

"Please don't pray that."

"All right, I'll pray for God to save you."

The man accepted Christ, and he and his whole family were baptized.

The Fear and Power of Hell

Mark 9:43

Mallory Challis’ recent [2022] analysis — “Most Americans believe in heaven or hell, but their ideas aren’t always biblical“[1] — of what people believe about the afterlife begs a question: Which works better to incentivize behavior, heaven or hell? It’s a variation of the age-old question about what works better to motivate behavior, the carrot or the stick.

In The Power of Bad, social psychologists John Tierney and Roy Baumeister address this question, exploring what they dub “the negativity effect,” suggesting that “negative events are more salient, potent, dominant in combinations, and generally efficacious than positive events.” One loss in the stock market may erase several previous gains, therefore looming larger in memory than the gains.

These authors also suggest it takes four good things to overcome one bad thing. They also point to surveys of folklore and mythology in which there are more references to malevolent gods and demons than to benevolent gods and angels. In short, they make a convincing case that bad is relentlessly stronger than good.

So what about the power of hell vs. heaven?

Putting people in pews has been a perennial problem for preachers for decades. By the early 18th century, only one in five Americans belonged to a church. Moreover, Americans drank alcohol six times a day, on average. Ministers like George Whitfield [more properly, Whitefield] noted the godlessness of that time and place.

An itinerant evangelist, Whitfield preached in the eastern United States, from Maine to Georgia. Thousands would listen to his sermons in the closest town square, including more than 30,000 who heard him in Boston. Whitfield’s listeners would shout in anguish, break down in tears, proclaim themselves born again and vow to sin no more.

Historians have called this era the First Great Awakening, and it’s important to understand the ecclesiastical backdrop of that time.

Clergy in that era were well educated (some Ivy League), and their sermons were more cerebral than emotional. Their God was distant and abstract, nothing like the God of the Old Testament who parted the Red Sea and killed Egyptian babies. These ministers didn’t scare the hell out of their crowds, nor did they scare them out of hell into heaven. Many of them didn’t even believe in hell.

George Whitfield sure did.

One of his sermons was titled, “The Eternity of Hell Tormentors.” He asked his audience to picture themselves in hell, tormented by “insulting devils” and “everlasting burnings.”

Jonathan Edwards, a contemporary circuit evangelist of that era, also believed in and preached about hell. Edwards is best known for his seminal sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Yale educated, Edwards compared his audiences to “loathsome insects,” dangling over the fires of hell.

Ezra Stiles, a Congregationalist minister who would become Yale’s president, argued that the revivalist’s strategy was to drive people, “seriously, soberly and solemnly out of their wits.” Mainline churches and their ministers were competing not so much with itinerant preachers like Whitfield and Edwards, but with their primary and favorite subject, hell.

Fast forward to the 1980s. Bishop Richard Wilke of the United Methodist Church urged his members to learn from the fire and brimstone churches:

The churches that are drawing people to them believe in sin, hell and death. If there is no sin, we do not need a Savior. If we do not need a Savior, we do not need preachers. In other words, without the threat of hell, ministers would be “out of luck, out of relevance, and out of a job.”

Perhaps parishioners have enjoyed sermons about a loving and kind deity, but the history of American Christianity suggests what packed the pews wasn’t the love or lure of heaven. It was the fear and power of hell.

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Are We Secure?

Luke 12:4

Sermon following series of terrorist attacks. Psalm 112:1-10

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Are We Secure?

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I. Torn between security and freedom.

A. Can we ever be truly safe?

B. World's way to security.

II. We live in a dangerous world.

A. Horrible people are all around us.

B. Horrible things can happen.

C. Fear is a rational attitude.

III. God's way to security.

A. Acknowledge that He is in charge. 1 Jn 4:4

B. Can we trust in Him when we can't even see Him?

C. We can know for sure. John 10:28

IV. Fear not.

A. Some Christians don't feel secure.

B. Don't let your fears limit your witness.

V. Put your confidence in God, no matter what.

#3833

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Walking Through Evil That Stinks

John 14:27

In his sermon "Valley of Death's Shadow," I felt Leith Anderson's sincerity as he preached about overcoming fear:

"I have seen men and women walk through evil that stinks," says Anderson, "and they're strong and fearless. And I've experienced it myself.

"There have been times when I've been lost, away from home, and panic struck my heart -- and yet alone I experienced the wonder of the comfort of the Shepherd.

"There have been situations in my home and family that brought me to a point of worry that I don't even have any words to begin to describe -- only to discover that the Shepherd was there and that it was okay; there was a calmness of heart.

"I've laid on my bed, and I have wept for people in the horrors of their circumstances and somehow felt responsible that I've got to do something to help -- yet knowing that their needs far exceeded any capacity or capability that was mine, and seeing and feeling the transformation of those tears to trust.

"So in my own limited way, I know what it's about to fear no evil. But if I'm going to be candid with you, let me tell you that it's often not like that, that I forget that the Shepherd is there, that I reach out and take the problems that a moment ago I thought I gave away, and I pull them back, and I hold them close, and that I struggle and grope with them. I let my imagination run wild, and I can worry myself sick about the evils that endanger me and those I love.

"What I need to do always is what we all need to do always: trust the Shepherd. Understand, that's not some power of positive thinking; that's not some manipulative self-talk; that's not some Yoga technique. It is hard reality that I will fear no evil because the Shepherd is with me.

"He's here. He's here! He keeps his promises -- he really does, in even the deepest and the darkest of valleys."

Through his presentation, Anderson's congregation knows its shepherd has tested the principles he preaches.

[see #3957 for original article on preaching with illustrations]

The Possibilities of Imperfection

Having taken steps to protect his camp, Jacob remains alone. He is preparing to face his aggrieved and hostile brother, Esau. Esau is by temperament a warrior, Jacob is not. Jacob has been a trickster more willing to deceive than to confront. Daring is not his long suit. Out of fear, Jacob always preferred the indirect strategy. Now he is trapped. He cannot return to his home without facing the frightening consequences of his earlier choices.

Early in my own life, I understood this story as being about growing up. As a teen-ager, I heard in it a distressing voice commanding me to face my fears. And I also heard in it a comforting voice, reassuring me that, if I wrestled with the forces and feelings that terrified me, I would somehow emerge victorious. This matched the rabbinic understanding that the angel with whom Jacob wrestled was actually Esau's heavenly representative, his guardian angel. I, too, could learn to face my deepest fears by struggling with the forces that embodied or symbolized them.

But I worried, could I really expect to wrestle with evil without being corrupted by it? After all, wrestling brings you into intimate contact with your opponent. Did I want to intimately face the forces of Esau? Unable to capitalize on the story's optimism, I too often chose withdrawal, deception, and, even more, self-deception. I choose to rely on the God who saved Jacob by appearing to his enemy Laban in a dream. However much I appeared to others to face up to the fears of life, inside I never really stood alone against them.

Now, as an adult, I hear a different voice in this text. This voice teaches me that although the anger of Esau comes in part from his own violent nature, it stems just as much from Jacob's own trickery, deceit, and exploitation of Esau's weaknesses. Much of what I fear has grown from the soil of my own failure to live a life of integrity. and much of what I fear is actually an "Esau within" and not an "Esau without." Like Jacob, I am Esau's brother.

In our story, Jacob wins, but he is wounded. There is no wrestling with the symbols or energy of Esau without being injured. The rabbis teach that later Jacob healed and became whole. I used to think this meant that Jacob was cured of his limp. But I now imagine another possibility: Jacob becomes whole, limp and all. The wounds we receive when we have the courage to risk direct confrontation with the real fears of life may themselves serve as sources of increasing spiritual strength. Perhaps, paradoxically, imperfection can find a place in wholeness.

Why the Psalms Scare Us

In the Psalms, the poems of Scripture, we find rage, loneliness, and fear – in other words, we find ourselves.

The wild and often contradictory poetry of the psalms is still mostly CENSORED out of Christian worship in America.

The psalms demand that we recognize that praise does not spring from a delusion that things are better than they are.

The Dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide

John 7:47

Nathan Zohner urged people to sign a petition demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical "dihydrogen monoxide," and for good reason, since:

1. It can cause excessive sweating and vomiting;

2. It is a major component in acid rain;

3. It can cause severe burns in its gaseous state;

4. It can kill you if accidentally inhaled;

5. It contributes to erosion;

6. It decreases effectiveness of automobile brakes;

7. It has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.

He asked fifty people if they supported a ban of the chemical dihydrogen monoxide. Forty-three said yes, six were undecided, and only one knew that the chemical is more commonly called "water." The freshman at Eagle Rock Junior High won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair on April 26, 1997. He was attempting to show how conditioned we have become to the alarmists practicing junk science and spreading fear of everything in our environment. The title of his prize winning project was "How Gullible Are We?" The conclusion is obvious.

Nathan was discouraged with what his little test indicated. "I was appalled that my peers were so easily misled....I don't feel comfortable with the current level of understanding."

The above is not an urban legend and was confirmed by James Glassman of the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service of October 22, 1997. Glassman says adults are just as likely to fail the test and to suggest banning the substance. "The implications of Nathan's research are so disturbing that I've decided to coin a term, 'Zohnerism,' defined as the use of a true fact to lead a scientifically and mathematically ignorant public to a false conclusion."

He Saw the Promised Land

John 14:27

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee. The day before, he had delivered his now famous “Promised Land” sermon at the Mason Temple in Memphis, the last words of which were these: “But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. And I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I do not fear any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.” And the next day a man took his earthly life.

What allows someone to live in troubled times and with the threat of persecution all around and yet live in peace? It’s the peace of God. When one is at peace with God, there is no reason to fear anyone or anything. The one thing that is most important -- eternal life -- is the one thing that no one can take away. As the young missionary Jim Elliot wrote not long before his own death, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” If you are fearing anything or anyone today, check your P.Q.- your peace quotient. Know God and know peace.

Fear rises in the mind of man as peace leaves the heart of man. If the basis of peace is God, the secret of peace is trust.

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Turning Point Daily Devotional

Alfred Krupp and Fear of Death [3 versions]

Job 17:13

Example of a morbid fear of death:

Alfred Krupp was a famous manufacturer of weapons and bombs in Germany before World War I. He made his living producing instruments of death, but he himself had a dreadful fear of dying. If anyone even brought up the topic in his presence, he never forgave them. If any of his employees talked about it, they were fired.

Once a relative who was visiting with him suddenly died. Krupp ran from the house in terror. Later, when his wife criticized him for what he did, he kicked her out and never lived with her again. When old age began to take its toll, he offered his doctor $1,000,000 if he would prolong his life ten years. All his money and fear made no difference, and Krupp died.

If Krupp had become a Baptist, or even a Pentecostal, he still would have died. Death comes to everyone.

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Version by R. David Reynolds, Kankakee (Illinois) Trinity United Methodist Church:

Alfred Krupp, German industrialist in the nineteenth century, is considered the founder of modern warfare, because he developed the cast-steel cannon and sold it worldwide. Before his death in 1909 he had armed 46 nations. Krupp had a dread fear of death. He never forgave anyone who brought up the subject in his presence. A relative of his wife died suddenly while visiting their them causing him to flee the house in terror. When his wife chastised him for it, he left her never to live with her again. He offered his doctor one million dollars if he would prolong his life ten years.”

Many people in our world today are just like Alfred Krupp, gripped by the fear of death. Every Christian can face death courageously by following in the steps of Jesus. You and I can overcome the fear of death by committing our spirits into the hands of Jesus Christ as He committed His Spirit into the hands of His Father.

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Version from Fredericksburg Collection:

Alfred Krupp of Prussia, the great cannon king, was literally a manufacturer of death. However, he had such a fear of death that he never forgave anyone who spoke to him of it. Every employee throughout his vast works was strictly forbidden to refer to the subject of death in conversation. He fled from his own home when a relative of his wife suddenly died there, and when Mrs. Krupp remonstrated, he became so enraged that lifelong separation ensued. During his last illness he offered his physician a million dollars if he would prolong his life ten years. But no amount of money could buy an extension of his life.

How different it was with Jesus Christ, because He was not only God but man at the same time. When He became man, He came down for a definite time, that by His death and resurrection death might be conquered.

#4297

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Choosing To Trust

Job 23:8

How can you hold on to faith when God seems silent?

I. Admitting our helplessness.

A. It is not easy to trust God in times of adversity.

1) Choose to be helped.

2) Realize it is sinful to wallow in self-pity.

3) Turn to the Lord.

a) Through choice, prayer, Bible.

B. Trust and pain.

1) Trusting God does not mean we do not experience pain.

2) We believe God can use pain for our ultimate good.

3) Do not let distrustful and hard thoughts control our minds.

II. Our trustworthy God.

A. The Bible has many promises of his constant care for us.

1) Heb 13:5. (five negatives)

2) We may lose sense of his help, but not the reality.

3) He is with us through deep waters and the fire. Isa 43:2

B. Cast all your cares on him. 1 Pet 5:7

1) His care is constant.

a) Not occasional or sporadic.

2) His care is total.

a) The very hairs of our head are numbered. Matt 10:30

3) His care is sovereign.

a) Nothing can touch you that he does not allow.

III. Perfecting our trust.

A. Trusting in plenty.

B. Trusting the source. Prov 18:10-11

C. Trusting through the ordinary.

Natural Gas Joke

Two gas company servicemen, a senior training supervisor and a young trainee, were out checking meters in a suburban neighborhood.

They parked their truck at one end of the alley and worked their way to the other end. At the last house an older woman was looking out her kitchen window watching the two men as they checked her gas meter.

Finishing the meter check, the senior supervisor challenged his younger coworker to a foot race down the alley and back to the truck to prove that an older guy could outrun a younger one.

As they came running up to the truck, they realized the lady from that last house was huffing and puffing right behind them.

They stopped and asked her what was wrong.

Gasping for breath, she replied, "When I see two gas men running as hard as you two were, I figure I'd better run too!"

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Three Types of Motivation

The first is type of motivation is “Fear.” This type of motivation says, “If you’re not in by 11:00 p.m. this will be the last night this month that you can go out.” Or, “If you don’t work harder you will be fired.” For some people fear motivation works, but with most people it causes resentment that leads to rebellion.

The second form of motivation is incentive or “carrot” motivation which is simple reward for accomplishment. It says, “If you clean your room I’ll give you your allowance this week.”

The third kind of motivation is internal. The old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink,” is true. But if you let him lick a salt block long enough he will get thirsty and want to take the drink. What we Christians need to do is to expose people to the salt of Jesus Christ so they will want to take a drink from the well of living water.

Killer Atms: Urban Legends and the Net

Did you know that the envelopes at ATM machines can kill you? Or that sitting down in a movie theater can cost you your life?

Preposterous, you say? Not to millions of people on the Internet -- a place where even the most absurd urban legend can gain an audience.

For the past few months, millions of Internet subscribers have received an ominous e-mail describing a Toronto woman who died after making a deposit at her bank's ATM machine. According to the e-mail message, police found cyanide in her body and traced the poison to the glue in the envelope. Someone had been putting cyanide-laced envelopes in machines across the city, the e-mail message explained, and banks were powerless to stop it.

The e-mail concluded by advising people to spit at bank envelopes instead of licking them.

The story was a hoax, of course. And so was another e-mail message describing a Dallas woman who sat on an HIV-infected needle left in a movie theater seat. Similar occurrences are being reported across the country, the message claimed, citing the Centers for Disease Control.

Both hoaxes sounded plausible enough to prompt millions of concerned Americans to forward the messages to friends and relatives all across the world. Thanks to e-mail,rumors, even absurd ones like these, now spread almost instantaneously.

How could so many people be so gullible? David Emery, an expert in so-called "urban legends," says that stories are "an expression of how many people feel: generally mistrustful; wary of their fellow human beings, particularly strangers." Many of these stories suggest that we are in dire danger when undertaking "the most ordinary of daily activities," such as going to the bank or to a movie.

Yet, Emery's explanation leaves out the role played by the Internet itself in the spread of urban legends today: the creation of ever-greater isolation.

The explosion of the World Wide Web and so-called e- commerce has created a world where you can do almost everything without leaving your home. You can buy groceries or shop for a car without stepping outside your door. You can even buy a home and apply for a mortgage on-line. In fact, just about the only thing you cannot do on-line is move.

In a culture where interaction with others is increasingly optional, is it any surprise that mistrust and suspicion are also increasing? How can we trust our neighbors if we don't even known them? No wonder so many people fall for bogus e-mail warnings that warn of hidden dangers lurking in the most innocent settings.

The Bible makes it clear that God intended us to live our lives in community, surrounded by people with whom we have real, not virtual, relationships. We all need to make sure we and our kids are not spending our whole lives on-line. We need to take regular breaks from the computer, go outside, and talk with our neighbors.

Christians need to take a stand against a fragmenting society and not be carried along unthinkingly by social trends.

It's the only way to protect ourselves -- not from killer envelopes but from the mistrust and suspicion that destroys a community.

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Fear and Faith

Job 4:14

Fear knocked at the door.

Faith answered.

No one was there.

Cited in More of...The Best of BITS & PIECES

Taking risks

People who play it too safe take the greatest risks. Did you know that? In the long haul, the intelligent risk takers develop the greatest security. It's a wise person who learns the importance of risk taking.

During World War II, psychologist E. Paul Torrance made a study of United States aces flying in the Pacific theater of operations. He reported that the most salient characteristic of the ace was his risk-taking ability. Throughout his life, he had kept testing the limits of his abilities. And the life histories of these men showed that they were highly resistant to accidents, and in combat they suffered fewer casualties than pilots who were inclined to play it safe. Dr. Torrance said, "Living itself is a risky business. If we spent half as much time learning how to take risks as we spend avoiding them, we wouldn't have nearly so much to fear in life."

Karl Wallenda

Do you remember the name Karl Wallenda? He was the patriarch of a family of high-wire walkers. Karl and his family had successfully walked high-wires all over the planet. In 1978 Karl Wallenda fell to his death walking a wire 75 feet high in San Juan, Puerto Rico. His wife later discussed that performance: "All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to it was falling. It was the first time he'd ever thought about that and it seemed to me that he put all his energies into not falling rather than walking the tightrope."

He Isn't Safe, But He's Good

Luke 12:49

We will not get very far in our relationship with God unless we understand that He is to be feared. In The Chronicles of Narnia, an allegory by C. S. Lewis, the author has two girls, Susan and Lucy, getting ready to meet Aslan the lion, who represents Christ.

Two talking animals, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, prepare the children for the encounter. “Ooh,” said Susan, “I thought he was a man. Is he quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie,” said Mrs. Beaver. “And make no mistake, if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then isn't he safe?” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Of course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the king, I tell you!”

The psalmist understood this awesome wonder when he wrote, “Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good,” and then urged God's saints to fear Him (Ps. 34:8-9). We need not cringe in terror, but we must live before Him with reverence and awe. Our holy God isn't “safe,” but He is good.

Fear of

Fear of God is fundamental to life just as fear of gravity is fundamental to one who flys an airplane. It governs everything you do! A pilot doesn't play games with gravity. If there is a contest between a pilot and gravity, gravity wins every time! Living life according to the ways of God works the same way. Flaunt them if you will, but you will lose every time!

Fear of

Several yrs. ago John Anderson took his family to the Grand Canyon. Enjoyed beauty & majesty. Experience was enhanced when they decided to ride mules down into canyon. He writes: "Given that a slip could have been a 1/4 m. straight down, that the mules were as uncooperative as mules are said to be, that it was early Spring with ice still on the trail ... let's just say we developed a serious respect for the Grand Canyon. Our, uh, respect increased when Judy's mule began to munch on a bush 3 ft. below the trail. The

mule's back, with Judy on it, pointed at a 45* angle straight toward the bottom. By then, an element of fear was entrenched." He says that feeling of terror mixed with wonder was one of the most exhilarating experiences of their lives. ("The Fear of God," The Other Side 25 [Jan./Feb. 1989]:47-48.)

Walking the Dark Hills

Isaiah 43

Bessie, one of the cows on the small farm where my wife grew up, was ready to give birth to a calf. But somehow she managed to get out of the wire fence and wander off into the woods to have her calf where she wanted to. Which meant Karen's dad - and his two girls - had to go out into the dark woods that night to try to find them. Well, dad decided they could cover more ground by dividing up. They were to fire three shots if they found Bessie. Unfortunately, they only had one lantern - and Karen didn't have it. What she remembers is how scary it was to be walking alone in those dark hills, not knowing if there was a panther, a bobcat, or a poisonous snake within striking distance in the dark. Finally, Dad fired those three victorious shots in the air - he had found Bessie and baby. But only after a walk in the dark that one young girl would never forget.

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Walking the Dark Hills."

My wife said, "That night I realized I wasn't really walking those dark hills alone - I knew Jesus was by my side every step of the way." That wasn't her last walk through life's dark hills - there have been the deaths of many people she loved, dark financial valleys, the loss of a baby, worries over children, overwhelming mountains of responsibility, serious medical emergencies. But she will tell you - she has never walked any dark stretch alone. Because of that one person who is there when no one else can be.

Maybe you're walking some of life's dark hills right now - you can't see what's out there in the dark ... it's scary ... you feel awfully alone sometimes. Then our word for today from the Word of God may be just what you need. In Isaiah 43, beginning with verse 2, God says, "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned ... for I am the Lord your God ... your Savior."

That's the kind of anchor relationship with God that will sustain you no matter what you lose - no matter what hits you. He will walk with you through even the darkest stretch of all - the final mile called death. And whatever is bigger than you are, God is bigger than it is. But it may be that your dark seasons have shown you that instead of being close to God, there's something between you and Him. That something is your sin - all the wrong things you've done because you're running your life instead of God running it.

The issue is not whether you believe in Him - it's do you belong to Him? There's only one way to do that - to put your total trust in Jesus Christ as your only hope of belonging to God. Jesus came here and walked the darkest, loneliest stretch anyone has ever walked. He carried all of your sin and mine when He died on the cross - and He literally took our punishment, our hell, so the wall between God and us could come down.

He knows all about the dark hills that surround you right now. And in your heart, He is, as the Bible says, "summoning you by name" to give everything to Him. You don't ever have to walk alone again. You may be religious, you may have lots of Christianity, but maybe you've never really given yourself to Jesus. Tell Him right now, "Jesus, I'm Yours." If you want to be sure you belong to Him, let me send you my booklet, "Yours For Life" - it's about beginning life's most important relationship.

It may be that in these dark hills you're walking right now, you will find the unloseable love of Jesus Christ.

________________

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Something in hand

Right at the end of World War 2, the Allies opened some camps for orphans. They worked hard to feed them and restore them. But in one particular camp, they experienced a problem. The children would not sleep. They'd put them to bed and tum out the lights, but the kids would not sleep even though they were physically exhausted. They couldn't. So the camp directors brought in some psychologists who recommended that every night before they tucked the children in, they put a piece of bread in the children's hands. Once they did that, immediately the kids began sleeping. Even though they had been well fed at these camps, their experience had taught them there might be no food tomorrow. But with that piece of bread in their hands, they could go to sleep assured that when they woke up there'd be something to eat.

Beggar in India with rice

A Parable of Life

Life is like another parable from another land. A blind Indian beggar sat beside a road, fingering the rice in his little bowl. Wearing only a loin cloth, he sat in poverty beside a road that stretched into nowhere both ways. The scarce travelers occasionally gave him a little rice. One day he heard the thunder of a chariot in the distance. It was the grand entourage of the maharajah. This was a moment that had never come before. Surely the great one would stop and give him baskets of rice.

Indeed, the golden chariot of the maharajah stopped before the poor beggar. The great one stepped down and the beggar fell before him. Then the sky seemed to fall in. "Give me your rice," said the great one. A fearful, hateful, scowl masked the face of the beggar. He reached into his bowl and thrust one grain of rice toward the maharajah. "Is that all? said the great one. The beggar spat on the ground, cursed, and threw him one more grain of rice. The great one turned, entered his chariot, and was gone.

The beggar--angry, empty, and crushed--fingered the remaining rice he had hoarded in his bowl. He felt something hard, different from the rice. He pulled it out. It was one grain of gold. He poured out his rice, caring nothing for it now. He found one other grain of gold. Had he trusted the great one, he could have had a grain of gold for every grain of rice. -- Joel Gregory

Fear of Living - Being Scared in A Post-Christian Age

John 14:27

Last month, Major League Baseball decided to play games scheduled in Toronto despite concerns over the outbreak of SARS in that city. Players had expressed fear over the possibility of infection during road trips to Toronto.

And Major Leaguers aren’t the only ones feeling afraid these days. According to a recent WALL STREET JOURNAL article, “Americans believe danger lurks everywhere.”

It isn’t only the nervous types. A businessman from Chicago described in the article “has flown a small plane, tried bungee jumping, skied on glaciers” and has driven his sports car 152 miles an hour on a public road. Yet he will probably cancel a business trip to the Orient out of fear of contracting SARS.

And Americans’ fears aren’t limited to SARS, as the recent hoarding of bottled water, plastic sheeting, and duct tape illustrates. Despite living in the “safest society in recorded history, many people feel as though they have never been more at risk.”

Why? There are institutions in American life that have an interest in pointing out, if not exaggerating, the risks associated with everyday life. These include researchers, trial lawyers, environmentalists, and even the government.

The media, in its quest for viewers and readers, then hypes these risks — often without any qualification or real-world context. Since most people lack the necessary skills to make sense of these so-called threats, the result is a feeling of vulnerability that is out of proportion to any actual threat. And the government declares alerts over every indication of danger for fear of being criticized that it failed to warn people.

But there’s another, more important reason for our increased anxiety that the WALL STREET JOURNAL doesn’t address: It is a loss of faith in the biblical God, in the doctrine of providence.

For nearly two millennia, belief in the biblical God helped Western man make sense of the world. People believed that someone was in charge and that He was directing the events in accordance with some good purpose.

Even when bad things happened, the world wasn’t deemed to be senseless. As Thomas Cahill wrote in THE GIFTS OF THE JEWS, it was biblical religion, with its belief in one, all-powerful God, that gave the West its understanding of history and progress. Not only that, it provided the sense of hope.

It is precisely this belief in divine providence that has been most weakened by the ascent of materialism, especially Darwinism. Although most Americans profess to believe in God, for many this God isn’t terribly energetic, let alone being in charge of events. We increasingly feel that we live in a world “where no one cares and no one is in control.”

Every report about SARS or terrorism only reinforces this feeling and heightens our fears, despite our being, statistically speaking, safer than any generation in history. And I wish I could say that Christians are exempt from these fears. We’re not, even though we ought to know better.

The only way past this urge to, in the words of Scripture, “flee though none pursue” is faith in the biblical God and the worldview that engenders — precisely the point of BreakPoint. Without this faith, the fears described by the JOURNAL will continue to affect not only our national pastime, but our national character as well.

Why Are You Crying?

John 20:15

An article in a psychology publication makes a case for the importance of human emotion. Though the discipline of psychology is certainly grounded in such an understanding, perhaps at times even at risk of elevating the position of feelings too steeply, the author's arguments are pointed. Emotions exist to warn us that there are specific underlying beliefs or behaviors that are endangering us. Yet deeming emotions like fear, doubt, or despair as negative or unwanted, we distract ourselves from heeding their warning. We use food, drugs, work, consumerism, and even “positive thinking” to banish these emotions to unutterable depths. Doing so, the author contends, is like calling our smoke alarms “negative” and proceeding to attack them with baseball bats.

From news hour to news hour, it is an image that rings powerfully true. Who can argue that we are not a people torn with inconsistency, a nation with insurmountable affluence, offering every material comfort, while prescribing more drugs for depression than any other. Warnings ring throughout families and communities, while smoke alarms are silenced and fires go uninvestigated. Of course, the other extreme is also possible. Ever investigating the fire will not put it out. Emotions must be brought to the one who can answer the call.

In the weighted words of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus took the strenuous commandments of the Old Testament Scriptures to an exhausting new level. He explained that it was not merely murder that God forbade, but anger burning toward another person. It was not just adultery that corrupted God's intention for marriage but even lust at all. He carried the sins God abhors to the emotions they are rooted in, inviting us to see the power of our emotions and our need for his perfect law. Our actions do not come merely by impulse, but by a system of values to which a life is committed. Emotions, like pain, are the alarm system of the body. They will lead us to God or further from Him.

Grieving at the tomb of Jesus after having witnessed his excruciating death, Mary was weeping as she went to prepare Jesus' body. When she found his remains missing she was horrified by the thought that someone had carried him away. One can almost visualize the desperation and exhaustion on her face. It was at this heightened point of emotion when a man approached her at the tomb and asked, “Why are you crying?” It is a redundant question at any grave sight, and Mary's grief perhaps went deeper than could even be verbalized. She was mourning the death of the only person who saw a woman beyond her shame. She mourned the death of Jesus and with it the death of hope; the new life she was given in Christ was taken also as she watched her only advocate put to death.

“Why are you crying?” the man asked. Mary didn't even try to explain: “If you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him” (John 20:15).

What are we crying for? What emotions have we silenced or given up trying to explain? “Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” David asked himself in the presence of God. Like an alarm warning the owner that there is something amiss in the building, our emotions hint at what is moving in our depths. They can point us to God or block our vision of the need that's crying to be heard. Mary's tears were so heavy she didn't recognize that the one she was crying for was standing right in front of her. She thought it was the gardener until Jesus said her name.

The depths of our souls call to the depths of God. David admitted his sorrow honestly and though he didn't understand it, he allowed it to lead him to God. “My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon-from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me” (Psalm 42:6,7).

Hearing her name spoken by Jesus as they stood beside the empty tomb, Mary's grief was answered by the only one who could reach it.

________

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #4990]

What Are You Afraid Of?

WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF?

The top fourteen fears in America in reverse order are:

14) Escalators

13) Elevators

12) Darkness

11) Driving/riding in a car

10) Dogs

9) Loneliness

8) Flying

7) Death

6) Sickness

5) Deep water

4) Financial problems

3) Insects and bugs

2) Heights

1) Public speaking

So, where did you find yourself? I don't feel so bad now that I know that my number one fear is the number 2 fear of all Americans - I'm scared to death of heights.

Most of us are afraid of something - the trick is to not be paralyzed by fear and to, by the grace of God, learn to overcome the fears that matter. Are you afraid of sharing your rfaith, going deeper into a relationship, launching out into a new career? Maybe the words of Paul are appropriate for you, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

Christianity is not some "power of positivie thinking" seminar raised to a new level. It is, however, about accessing the greatest power in the universe to help us overcome our fears for His glory.

________

Tusculum News, Nashville, TN

The Sailor and the Bees

A sailor was given liberty to go ashore when his ship docked at a large southwestern American city. He visited a park famous for its trees and tropical flowers. As he walked across an open grassy sunlit area, he noticed bees flying all around him. Suddenly, all the bees began to settle upon him. They were all over his clothes, his hands, and his face. Panic gripped him, and though he wanted to run in fear, he forced himself to stand stock still. There were hundreds, maybe thousands, of bees all over him. He hardly dared to breathe. "Look at that sailor," he heard a woman's voice say. After what seemed an eternity to the sailor, slowly the bees departed one by one until they were all gone. His uniform was soaked with perspiration, but he had not been stung once.

Sometimes it is better to stand stock still in the midst of danger than to run in panic and fear and possibly to bring about the very end one wishes to avoid. Scrip. says, "He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare."

(untitled)

You may have heard of the

woman that was so afraid of germs that when her

husband brought a brand new car home she went out and ruined the car

by washing it out with the garden hose.

(untitled)

As at every vaudeville

performance, Olga stood quietly against a wooden

background while her partner threw knives, hatchets, etc., into the

wood around her. All at once, during the act, she screamed, fell over in a

faint. The audience of course suspected the worst. But in her dressing room,

when she had revived, Olga explained: "I suddenly felt something crawling on

my leg and discovered a spider. Oh, I'm so afraid of spiders!" STAATS-ZEITUNG

& HEROLD, New York (Droke House translation).

Quote

"I fear God, and next to God I chiefly fear him who fears Him

not."

- Saadi

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 145.

Quote

"The man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he

fears."

- Michel de Montaigne

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 132.

Quote

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be

understood."

- Marie Curie

- _Instant Quotation Dictionary_, p. 132.

Conquer Doubt

John 14:27

There is significant economic evidence that the Great Depression might have been avoided but for the “panic” that swept over the country (and the world) after the 1929 stock market crash. What should have been no more than a deep recession altered our world forever because of the prevailing “thoughts of doubt and fear.”

So great were the thoughts of fear that President Roosevelt felt compelled to deliver a speech about it. By the way, FDR's speech with his now famous, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” was suggested to him by Napoleon Hill, author of the classic Think and Grow Rich.

If the thoughts of many can bring such great tragedy to our world, is it any wonder that our personal thoughts can do so much damage to our “individual world.” When we spend inordinate amounts of time fearing some thing or event in the future, many times that which we fear comes upon us. When it does, we wring our hands in despair and wonder why it had to happen to us, when in reality, we are responsible for our troubles.

Bob Proctor says that the process begins first with a thought of doubt, which causes an emotion of fear, which manifests itself physically as anxiety. Anxiety robs us of our power, our energy and our purpose. Severe anxiety can even undermine our health. And it's all brought on by a thought of doubt.

I have found three things that help me conquer doubt. First, change your mind about the doubt, and keep it changed. If you have a doubt about whether you're going to have enough money to make it to the end of the month, change your mind about it. Whenever the doubt creeps in, affirm to yourself that, “I always find a way to have enough of what I need.” I love what Emmet Fox says about this, “If you will change your mind concerning anything and absolutely keep it changed, that thing must and will change too. It is the keeping up of the change in thought that is difficult. It calls for vigilance and determination.”

The second thing that overcomes fear and doubt is action. “Do the thing you fear and fear will disappear” is more than a nice rhyming aphorism. It's some simple wisdom that always works!

And the third and most important thing to overcoming doubt and fear is Faith. Fear and Faith are directly opposite views of the future and they cannot co-exist. My Faith is in a Creator who has given me dominion over all things. Your Faith may be elsewhere, but know this: Faith and fear cannot be present at the same time.

And that's worth thinking about.

___________

Excerpted from "Day By Day with James Allen."

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #16631]

"I Won't Suppose!"

A dear friend in my home, suffering from a malignant form of

grippe, which began with a peculiar sensation in the eyes, asked me to

pray with her. As I prayed, I felt a severe pain in my left hand,

extending to my head, but I would not take my hands from her until I

had the victory. The next day, riding down town, I felt the sensation

she had described, in my eyes, and a voice, as clear to my inner

consciousness as any I ever heard in my ears, said, "Suppose you

should have the grippe; what would you do?" I replied, "I won't

suppose." "Suppose you should; how would you write the next

Illustrator?" "I won't suppose." "But just suppose." "I won't

suppose." So over and over the enemy thrust at me the dart of "Just

suppose," and over and over I held up my shield of faith, "I won't

suppose." At last I said the words with an emphasis which sent the

enemy flying. The pain ceased, and I did not have the grippe.

(untitled)

A little girl was in bed - scared of the dark. She went into her

parent's room and told her mother she was afraid. Her mother said,

"It's OK, sweetheart. There's nothing to be afraid of, God is in

there with you." The little girl went back to her bed and as she

climbed into bed she said, "God, if you're in here, don't you say a

word, you'll scare me to death."

- Charles Lowery, "Falling Isn't That Bad," {SBC Life, }Sept.

1997, p. 15

(untitled)

Fear makes you fumble. When you are afraid, you have a tendency to

not do well. The pressure is so great that it causes you to mess up.

It's like the guy who was out of money. He decided to rob the bank

because he couldn't think of any other way to get the money. He

didn't know anything about robbing banks so he practiced what he would

say over and over. He got a revolver and a sack for the money. Then

he practiced sticking the sack over the counter and pointing the gun

in someone's face saying, "Don't mess with me, this is a stick up."

When it came time for the real thing, he was really nervous but he was

confident he had it down pat. However, when he got in the bank, fear

took over and he handed the lady the revolver, pointed the sack at

her, and said, "Don't stick with me, this is a mess up."

- Charles Lowery, "Falling Isn't That Bad" {SBC Life, }Sept,

1997, p. 15

(untitled)

Fear can make you look foolish. A friend of mine got to start on

the football team his sophomore year. He received the opening

kick-off and dropped the ball, picked it up, broke through in the

open, and raced down the sidelines with nobody after him. But as he

was running, he glanced to his right and saw the shadow of somebody

chasing him. He ran faster, but the guy stayed right behind him. He

didn't want the guy to catch him so he dived into the end zone. He

looked back and there was no one behind him. The shadow he had been

running from was his own. Fear will make people run from their own

shadow and do foolish things.

- Charles Lowery, "Falling Isn't That Bad" {SBC Life, }Sept,

1997, p. 15

Tomorrow May Never Come

Luke 12:20

Kefa Sempangi (whose story is told in the book A DISTANT GRIEF) was a national pastor in Africa and barely escaped with his family from brutal oppression and terror in his home country of Uganda. They made their way to Philadelphia, where a group of Christians began caring for them. One day his wife said, “Tomorrow I am going to go and buy some clothes for the children,” and immediately she and her husband broke into tears. Because of the constant threat of death under which they had so long lived, that was the first time in many years they had dared even speak the word ‘tomorrow.’

Their terrifying experiences forced them to realize what is true of every person: there is no assurance of tomorrow. The only time we can be sure of having is what we have at the moment. To the self satisfied farmer who had grandiose plans to build bigger and better barns to store his crops, the Lord said, “You fool! This very night your soul is required of you” (Luke 12:20). He had already lived his last tomorrow.

Able to Evangelize

Paton was sent by the Scottish Presbyterian Church in 1858 to the New Hebrides in the South Pacific. For four years he worked on the island of Tanna, where his life was in constant danger. When he was forced to leave, not a single convert had been made. He then worked for two years on the island of Aniwa. It never rained during that time, and the island's chief concluded that Paton's presence had angered the gods. Paton dug a well and prayed to God for water. God heard his prayer and thereby turned away the fear and hatred he had faced thus far. But it was not until 1869 (11 years after he started) that Paton baptized the first convert. After that many became Christians. Even then danger kept lurking. Four of Paton's fellow missionaries were killed on a neighboring island.

Much later, when Paton lived in retirement in Australia, someone asked him, "Weren't you afraid all alone on those islands?" Paton answered, "Yes, I was, but I would say over and over to myself the words of Christ, 'All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therfore go and make disciples of all nations ... And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'"

Don't Let Fear Counsel You

During World War II, a military governor met with General

George Patton in Sicily. When he praised Patton highly for his

courage and bravery, the general replied, "Sir, I am not a brave

man -- the truth is, I am an utter craven coward. I have never

been within the sound of gunshot or in sight of battle in my

whole life that I wasn't so scared that I had sweat in the palms

of my hands." Years later, when Patton's autobiography was published,

it contained this significant statement by the general: "I learned

very early in my life never to take counsel of my fears."

Fear Killed the Others

According to an ancient legend, a man driving one day to

Constantinople was stopped by an old woman who asked him for a ride.

He took her up beside him and as they drove along he looked at her and

became frightened and asked "Who are you?" The old woman replied: "I

am Cholera." Thereupon, the peasant ordered the old woman to get down

and walk; but she persuaded him to take her along upon her promise

that she would not kill more than five people in Constantinople. As a

pledge of the promise she handed him a dagger, saying to him that it

was the only weapon with which she could be killed. Then she added: "I

shall meet you in two days. If I break my promise you may stab me."

In Constantinople, 120 people died of the cholera. The enraged man

who had driven her to the city, and to whom she had given the dagger

as a pledge that she would not kill more than five, went out to look

for the old woman. Meeting her, he raised his dagger to kill her, but

she stopped him saying: "I have kept my agreement. I killed only five.

Fear killed the others."

This legend is a true parable of life. Where disease kills its

thousands, fear kills its tens of thousands. The greatest miseries of

mankind comes from the dread of trouble rather than from the presence

of trouble. From the cradle to the grave, fear casts its baleful

shadow. Fear betrays man's spirit, breaks down his defense, disarms

him in the battle, unfits him for the work of life, and adds terror to

the dying bed. --McCartney

Holy Fearlessness Is Not Vain Boasting

At the siege of Khartoum, when some one suggested to General Gordon

that they stop up the windows of his headquarters with sand, he became

angry. Putting lighted candles on the table, he said: "When God was

proportioning out fear to all the peoples in the world, at last it

came to my turn and there was no fear left to give me. Go, tell all

the people in Khartoum that Gordon fears nothing, for God has created

him without fear."

To me, this sounds more like boasting than it does like a true,

God-given confidence. Serving God "without fear in holiness" does not

have in it the proud smack of egotistical bragging. --Duane V. Maxey

Prisoners of Fear

Needy miners and settlers in British Columbia, engaged in stripping abandoned Fort Alcan of lumber, electrical appliances, and plumbing, made an amazing discovery. While dismantling the jail they found that the mighty locks were attached to the heavy doors, and two-inch steel bars covered the windows, but the walls of the prison were only patented wallboard of clay and paper, painted to resemble iron. A good old heave against the walls by a man not as strong as a football tackle would have burst the wall out. Nobody ever tried it because nobody thought it possible.

Many Christians are prisoners of fears that are nothing when pushed against. Satan cannot do anything against a child of God, but he loves to put barriers of paper-mache in the path of a believer to make him think that there is no progress in the direction of the will of the Lord. When by faith we push against it we will be free.

-- Eternity magazine

182 Sermon Illustrations on Fear