2012 Year of Fear?

You are here

2012 Year of Fear?

Login or Create an Account

With a UCG.org account you will be able to save items to read and study later!

Sign In | Sign Up

×
Downloads
MP3 Audio (761.84 KB)

Downloads

2012 Year of Fear?

MP3 Audio (761.84 KB)
×

Polls show that not only heights and commitment are common phobias but fear is topping the list. If 2012 is the year of fear, what can you do to begin to deal with fear?

Transcript

 

[Steve Myers] Someone sent me an article about the biggest fears of 2011. Of course, here we are with a new calendar year and some of those things would be the normal things you'd think of. The fear of death was right at the very top of the list. One of the things that always is interesting is the fear of public speaking. Getting out in front of people and talking is a great fear of many. And the list goes on to probably some things that are pretty predictable.  People are afraid of snakes. I don't really like snakes myself, but I know many people hate them. The fear of heights or flying. Those kinds of things are the things that seem to top the list for 2011. But one of the things that was surprising to me was one that made the top ten was the fear of the new year. So here we are in a new calendar year and people are afraid of what's to come. And so I thought that was a pretty interesting aspect of this survey that they did.

[Darris McNeely] Yeah, what you're talking about Steve reminds me of a speech given by one of England's kings a few years ago called the Gate of the Year. I read that years ago and I've written about it a number of times. And essentially it starts out by talking about, I said to the man at the Gate of the Year, what lies ahead? And what is out there in the future, in the dark? And it comes down to the fact that within this particular speech that the king said put your hand in God's hand. It is in Him that we have safety, we have confidence, and courage. And we don't need to fear. So whether it's the beginning of a calendar year, whether it's at the point of any type of struggle or trial in our life, we are always going to have fears. But if our faith, confidence and trust is in God, then we don't have really anything to ultimately fear and we can get through that challenge.

[Steve Myers] That's exactly what Christ talked about, Matthew 6:25, Christ Himself said, "Therefore I say, don't worry about your life." So here's Christ saying don't be overly concerned. I mean it's a big problem in our society today, that we're anxious people. We have anxiety attacks, and we have to deal with these kinds of issues. But Christ said don't be overly anxious. He said, well why not, He said, "Look at the birds of the air. They don't sow, they don't reap. Yet, your Heavenly Father feeds them." In other words, God's going to take care of us. Don't worry about those kinds of things. He tells us so clearly in verse 34, "Don't worry about tomorrow" (Matthew 6:34). Don't worry about this new year. This calendar year, has many things in store for us, but He says don't worry. He says, "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Now, how can we do that? How can we not worry about the new year? How can we not worry about the fear of what's to come? How can we not worry about death? How can we not worry about any of those things on that list? Well, Matthew 6:33, Christ gives the key. He says, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." In other words, we can overcome worry. We can overcome anxiety when we place our trust in God. That will help us with our fears.

[Darris McNeely] That's BT Daily. Join us next time.