Whatever your fear is, you’re actually not really afraid of that thing.

Maybe your phobia is spiders. Or maybe you’re afraid of heights. Or public speaking. Whatever your fear may be, a psychologist named Dr. Mark Albrecht suggests you’re actually not really afraid of that thing in particular, you’re afraid of something much deeper.

Specifically, your fear finds its source in one of five categories, and when you hold these five categories up and compare them to what Jesus says about fear, suddenly the rabbi’s words redefine what it means to conquer your fears.

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? Read the entire account mentioned in the video for yourself:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+25%3A31-46&version=NIV

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I’m a husband. I’m a father through adoption and foster care. I’m also a pastor of a church. My life mission is to “do whatever it takes so as many as possible can see Jesus”. This channel is one of the ways I live that out. <br> <h3>Auto Generated Captions</h3>

– Whatever it is you’re afraid of,
you’re actually not afraid of that thing.
[funky slow music]
Hey everybody, my name is Chris Paavola,
and welcome to What Jesus Says About.
Where Jesus speaks for himself.
So you can respond for yourself.
And don’t forget to hit LIKE and SUBSCRIBE
and that little bell so
you can stay up to date
on what Jesus says about
topics important to you.
So, what are you afraid of?
Maybe you’re afraid of heights,
maybe you’re afraid of spiders,
or public speaking, or
maybe you’re like me
and you’re afraid of snakes.
Blech.
Now when you look at what
Jesus says about fear,
you actually see that you’re
not afraid of that thing.
You’re not afraid of spiders,
you’re not afraid of heights.
You’re actually afraid of something else.
And to get to these words, though,
we need a little bit more backstory
and context than we normally do.
So hang with me, because
at the end of this account,
we’re gonna get to what
Jesus says about fear
and how it connects to
your fear, specifically.
Now in this account, Jesus
arrives by boat in a village.
And everybody hears that, oh my goodness,
this famous rabbi miracle
worker is in town.
And so this huge crowd of people
rush out to go see him.
And while everyone is crowding around him,
a city leader named Jairus comes
bursting through the crowd,
falls at his feet, and begs Jesus
to come heal his dying daughter.
So Jesus hears Jairus’ request,
and he agrees to go with him.
But as the two of them are
walking towards Jairus’ house,
Jairus’ family and
friends meet him halfway.
And they bring him the terrible news:
His daughter is dead.
It’s in this moment
that Jesus turns to him
and says, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
And then Jesus keeps walking to his house.
We don’t know how long they walked,
but I’m sure for Jairus, it
felt like a very long walk.
And finally they get to the house.
And when they walk in, they see
the scene that you would expect-
There’s people crying, and wailing.
But the account goes that
Jesus walks up to her,
grabs her hand, and says, “Little girl,
“I say to you, get up!”
And immediately, this girl gets up
and starts walking around.
Now I get it, this is an incredible story.
And if you’re struggling
to believe this one,
you’re in good company.
‘Cause I’m a follower of Jesus,
and this one challenges my faith.
But in the middle of
this incredible story,
notice what Jesus says about fear-
He says, “Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
And this is finally where we
start to see the connection
between what Jesus says about fear,
and your fear specifically.
There’s a psychologist named Dr. Albrecht,
and he was studying all the phobias,
and all the fears.
And he realized that no
matter what the phobia is,
no matter what the fear is,
they all come down to one of five sources.
To put all of those fears
into layman’s terms,
they are loss, isolation,
worthlessness, pain, and death.
So, if you think your fear is spiders,
you’re not actually afraid of spiders.
You’re afraid that the
spider’s gonna kill you.
Or if you’re afraid of needles,
you’re not afraid of needles,
you’re afraid of pain.
Or if you’re afraid of public speaking,
it’s not that you’re
afraid of public speaking,
you’re afraid of rejection and isolation.
Whatever it is you’re afraid of,
you’re actually not afraid of that thing.
You’re afraid of one
of these five sources.
This is where it’s so
fascinating to consider Jesus.
Why?
Because Jesus claims he didn’t just come
to speak to these things or address them.
He came to end them.
Instead of loss, he came to give.
Instead of isolation, he came
to bring you in the community.
Instead of worthlessness,
he came to bring you value.
He came to give you healing
where you feel pain.
And he came to give you
life, even though you die.
This is why I think this
channel is so important.
When you hear what Jesus says
about loss, isolation, or worthlessness,
or pain, or death,
when you hear what Jesus
says about these things,
you experience, in a small way,
what Jairus felt, when he heard Jesus say,
“Don’t be afraid, just believe.”
So my friends, by the way,
I didn’t ask, what is your fear?
Go ahead and leave that comment below.
And also, if you’re interested
in what Jesus says about
mental or emotional health issues,
I’ve got a playlist right
here for you to check out.
Thanks so much and we’ll see you.