What is the most fearless animal you can imagine? The animal that comes to my mind is the lion, the king of beasts. Are you as fearless as a lion? The Bible says that you should be.
Proverbs 28:1 (NIV) The wicked man flees though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion.
Fear is a characteristic of wicked people, they are afraid even when there is nothing to be afraid of. The righteous person, the believer, on the other hand is as bold as a lion. Maybe you don’t feel as bold as a lion this morning. Begin to pray and ask the Lord to give you the boldness and courage of a lion. When you are tempted to fear or be worried, just say, “I am bold as a lion.”
We all need to be fearless today and will need that boldness even more in the days to come. I’m going to discuss “Overcoming the Fear of Disaster.” The top disaster story these days is the fear of economic or financial disaster. Whatever financial meltdown happened last year, the result has been a huge increase in the number of people unemployed in our country. A lot of people are afraid that the economy may get worse in the future.
Then we have the fear of pandemics, viruses or infections with the power to kill millions of people. 9/11 awakened us to the fear of terrorist attacks on our own soil and caused us to send soldiers to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Natural disasters, such as tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes cause fear in different parts of the country. I wish I could stand up here today and tell you that there aren’t going to be anymore disasters, that everything is going to just get better and better. However, I wouldn’t be preaching the Word of God is I did.
We’re going to look at what Jesus told us was going to happen in the future. One day, Jesus’ disciples asked him the question
Matthew 24:3 (NIV) … What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
Since Jesus hasn’t returned yet and world has not yet ended, Jesus’ answer applies to our time right now. We are 2000 years closer to the second coming of Jesus and the end of the age than Jesus’ disciples were. As you’ll see today, I believe the pace of events is picking up.
Listen to my December 13, 2009 message “Fear of Disaster” (message notes).