What Are You Afraid Of?
Week 1
Introduction
Dr. Mike McNeff
RockRidge Church
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Alektorophobia . . .
Alektorophobia: Fear of chickens
Metrophobia. . .
Metrophobia: Fear of poetry or rhyming verse
Ephebophobia. . .
Ephebophobia: Fear of youths
Ergasiophobia. . .
Ergasiophobia: Fear of work
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Optophobia. . .
Optophobia: Fear of opening one’s eyes
Neophobia. . .
Neophobia: Fear of the new (people,
situations, food)
Anthophobia. . .
Anthophobia: Fear of flowers
Pteronophobia. . .
Pteronophobia: Fear of being tickled.
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Estiophobia. . .
Estiophobia: Fear of clothing
Phronemophobia. . .
Phronemophobia: Fear of thinking.
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Terrorist Attacks
Spiders
Death/being killed
Not succeeding in life/failure
Heights
Crime/violence
Being alone
The future
Nuclear war
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Speaking in front of a group
Heights
Insects and bugs
Financial Problems
Deep water
Sickness
Death
Flying
Loneliness
Dogs
Aviophobia: Fear of flying - Jennifer Aniston,
John Madden, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg
 Xenophobia: Fear of strangers – Barbara
Streisand
 Mysophobia: Fear of contamination, infection,
and diseases – Michael Jackson
 Woody Allen: Fear of insects, sunshine, dogs,
deer, bright colors, children, heights, small
rooms, crowds, and cancer.(Jeremiah, David (2013-10-01). What Are
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You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your Fears with Faith . Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.)
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George Washington: Fear of being buried alive.
Richard Nixon: Fear of hospitals
Napoleon Bonaparte: Fear of cats
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Worry
Anxiety
Dread
Unease
Unsettledness
Distress
Apprehensiveness
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Might
“I’m afraid of what might happen.”
Fear is future oriented
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“The illusive monster of fear lurks in the
shadows, waiting to claw my soul to shreds. As
one prone to melancholia, I see its ugly face
often: when I’m struggling with the emotional
stress of a difficult relationship, when I’m afraid
failure is just around the corner, when success
seems too hard to handle, and on days when
free-floating anxiety is getting the best of me.”
- Don Wyrtzen
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[ 1]Jeremiah, David (2013-10-01). What Are You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your
Fears with Faith . Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Free-floating anxiety. . .
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Paralysis
Immobilization
Withdrawal
Passivity
Depression
Psychosomatic disorders or maladies with no
apparent physical cause
When I ask, “What are you afraid of?” I’m
asking, “What is it that immobilizes you? What
is stealing your joy and destroying your hope?
What is robbing you of sleep, night after night?
What keeps you from living by faith and being a
risk taker? What keeps you from giving your life
wholly to a loving God who wants nothing but
the best for you?”
Jeremiah, David (2013-10-01). What Are You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your
Fears with Faith . Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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Fear is a thief. It erodes our faith, plunders our
hope, steals our freedom, and takes away our joy
of living the abundant life in Christ. Phobias are
like the coils of a snake — the more we give in to
them, the tighter they squeeze. Tired of fighting,
we succumb to the temptation and surrender to
our fears. But what seemed like an easy way out
is, in reality, a prison of unbelief — a fortress of
fear that holds us captive. – Neil Anderson quoted by [ 3]Jeremiah,
David (2013-10-01). What Are You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your Fears with Faith . Tyndale House
Publishers. Kindle Edition
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“Fear and worry reveal us. They reveal the things
that we love and value.” Welch, Edward T. (2007-11-01). Running
Scared: Fear, Worry & the God of Rest (p. 14). New Growth Press. Kindle Edition.
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Discuss possibilities
“I suggest to you that in joy there is always a feeling of
power and strength. . . .: there is never anything flabby
or superficial about it. Joy is one of the strongest powers
in the world. Someone who is in a state of joy is, in a
sense, afraid of nothing. When you are truly joyful, you
are wound up by some mighty dynamic power; you feel
strong, you are lifted up above yourself, you are ready
to meet every enemy from every direction and quarter;
you smile in the face of them all; you say, ‘I defy them,
they can never rob me of it.’ – Martin Lloyd Jones
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For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the
gift of God, which is in you through the laying on
of my hands, 7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear
but of power and love and self-control. (ESV)
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Jesus came to “proclaim liberty to the captives,”
and I believe that includes those held captive by
fear (Luke 4: 18). He also says that truth is the
key to freedom (John 8: 32). And here is the
truth: God is good (Psalm 119: 68), God is love
(1 John 4: 8, 16), and God has a future filled with
hope for His children (Jeremiah 29: 11; Romans 8:
28-29). God is a refuge and a fortress, a shield
and a defender for those who trust in Him (Psalm
91: 2-4). Jeremiah, David (2013-10-01). What Are You Afraid Of?: Facing Down Your Fears
with Faith . Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.
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“Do not be afraid.”
Gen. 15:1
Gen. 21:7
Gen. 26:24
Gen. 46:3
Ex. 14:13
Find some more on your own.
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You shall not be afraid of the terror by
night,
Nor of the arrow that flies by day, Nor
of the pestilence that walks in darkness, Nor of
the destruction that lays waste at
noonday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand; But it shall
not come near you.
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Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God;
believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are
many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told
you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I
go and prepare a place for you, I will come again
and will take you to myself, that where I am you
may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I
am going.” 5 jThomas said to him, “Lord, we do
not know where you are going. How can we
know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am lthe
way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through me.
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Because of the surpassing greatness of the
revelations, for this reason, to keep me from
exalting myself, there was given me a thorn
in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment
me—to keep me from exalting myself!
8Concerning this I implored the Lord three
times that it might leave me. 9And He has
said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for
power is perfected in weakness.”
Future Grace
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It doesn’t say that I will be spared suffocation. What it
says is that, if I am called to death by asphyxiation, I
will have grace when that time comes. What does that
mean? I don’t know. I can’t imagine such grace. I can’t
imagine anything that would make drowning
tolerable. And that is exactly what we should expect:
At this moment I don’t have grace to drown because I
am not drowning! of course I will worry if I try to
envision a drowning scenario. I will project the grace I
have received for today onto tomorrow, not
comprehending that I will receive grace as needed
tomorrow.Welch, Edward T. (2007-11-01). Running Scared: Fear, Worry &
the God of Rest (p. 144). New Growth Press. Kindle Edition.
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Fear of losing your salvation
Natural disasters
Disease
Financial failure or collapse
Failure
Being alone
Rejection
Danger
Dying