PDF - Real Time Faith

COPING WITH GUILT AND FEAR
Frozen by Fear
July 16, 2016
1 PREPARING
A. THE SOURCE
Isaiah 44:8 (NIV) • “Do not tremble, do not be
afraid. Did I not proclaim this and foretell it long
ago? You are my witnesses. Is there any God
besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know
not one.”
Luke 1:74 (NRSV) • “That we, being rescued
from the hands of our enemies, might serve him
without fear.”
Philippians 1:14 (NRSV) • “And most of the
brothers and sisters, having been made confident
in the Lord by my imprisonment, dare to speak
the word with greater boldness and without fear.”
1 John 4:18 (NLT) • “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid,
it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that
we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”
Romans 8:15 (NLT) • “So you have not received
a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead,
you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you
as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba,
Father.’”
by fears and despondency. My faith was so
strong that I never doubted for a moment that
God would answer my prayers, and without
a single exception the blessing and peace of
Jesus rested upon us in answer to our humble petitions, and the hearts of the despairing
ones were made joyful by light and hope”
(Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 55).
B. W
HAT’S TO BE SAID ABOUT
“COPING WITH GUILT AND
FEAR”
Fear and guilt are two of the most crippling
emotions one can experience. Casting a dark
shadow over our lives, these emotions discourage growth. When under a load of fear or guilt,
you become stagnant, incapable of moving forward in life. People need to feel a release; they
need to feel they are free from the holds fear
and guilt have on their lives. This is especially
true among earliteens, who desperately need
to grow and move forward. They are constantly
looking for a way to escape these feelings. They
need affirmation. They need to be told that God
is working all things together for good. And most
important, they need to know that, with God,
they can lead lives free of guilt and fear.
(See additional passages in student material.)
C. W
HERE WE’RE GOING WITH
“COPING WITH GUILT AND
FEAR”
“I often visited families and engaged in earnest prayer with those who were oppressed
As a result of this lesson we would like the
students to be able to:
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29
>> M
ission emphasis (find a link for
Adventist Mission for Youth and Adults
at www.realtimefaith.net)
>> Service project reports
1. U
nderstand the effects of guilt and fear
on their lives.
2. Understand the causes of these emotions.
3. Trust Jesus fully to relieve their guilt and
fear.
3 BEGINNING
D. MATERIALS NEEDED
Beginning • (Activity A) six index cards, paper
and pencils; (Activity B) phobia handout, pencils,
small rewards.
NOTE TO TEACHER: Put together your own program with options from the categories below—
Beginning, Connecting, Applying, and Closing.
Please keep in mind, however, that the students
need to have an opportunity to be interactive
(participate actively and with one another) and to
study from the Word. At some point you should
distribute or call their attention to their student
lesson for this week.
Connecting • Bibles, student lessons.
Applying • Five index cards for each student,
pens or pencils, box, trash bag.
2 BRIDGING
A. B
EGINNING ACTIVITY—AGREE
OR DISAGREE?
A. WHERE WE’VE BEEN BEFORE
Get ready • Divide students into six groups. If
you have too few students for six groups, eliminate some of the discussion questions.
Allow 10 minutes as students are arriving to:
1. Ask them which verse they chose to learn
from Wednesday’s section of their lesson.
Give them opportunity to say their verses
from memory.
2. Give them opportunity to “quote” themselves, using what they wrote in the
Monday section of their lesson. Be sure
to debrief them about any quotations that
might not reflect the Christian life accurately. However, quotations of this nature
do not occur in every lesson.
3. Review responses that they and others
made to the scenario that was posed
on Sunday. Discuss the variety of responses, ending with thoughts from last
week’s What’s to Be Said About . . . in the
teacher lesson.
If you have a very large group, have adults
available to process this section with smaller
groups of students.
Get set • Set up six different tables with an
index card at each with one of the following
discussion statements.
Table 1
You’re riding on Space Mountain at Disney
World. You find yourself screaming at the top of
your lungs in fear. This fear is stupid. You should
try your best to ignore or repress it.
Table 2
You were just caught skipping class. You
face a chance of being suspended. You’re
scared. You ought to be.
Table 3
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in
love” (1 John 4:18, NASB).
Table 4
A tornado watch has been posted. You know
the storm may come your way because others
have often come near your town. You are afraid.
This fear is childish. You should try to ignore or
repress your fear.
B. O
THER SABBATH SCHOOL
COMPONENTS
>> Song service
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July 16, 2016 - Coping With Guilt and Fear
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Lesson 3
Table 5
“The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?” (Ps. 27:1, NRSV). According
to this text, Christians should fear nothing.
Table 6
“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies, for
the hardest victory is over self.”—Aristotle.
Go • Have each group go from table to table
reading, then discussing the statement. Then
the groups vote to agree or disagree with the
statement. Have each group keep record of their
votes. After each mini-discussion the groups rotate. After the groups have visited all the tables,
total up the votes for all the statements and discuss the findings.
Debriefing • Ask: Are any of the fears discussed relevant to you? What makes something scary? What fears do we tend to bring
on ourselves? How do you respond to fear?
B. BEGINNING ACTIVITY—PHOBIAS
Get ready • Talk about fears and the different
phobias people have. Ask the class about some
of the fears they have (fear of heights, public
speaking, or whatever).
Get set • Divide the class into groups. Then
distribute copies of the phobia exercise on
page 34, and pencils. Give each group 10 minutes to match the names of the phobia with
the corresponding fear.
Go • Give the group with the most correct answers a reward.
Debriefing • Ask: What fears that were on
the list surprised you the most? Why do you
think some people are scared of the most
seemingly ridiculous things? How can you
sometimes let your fears get the best of
you? What is the antidote to fear?
C. BEGINNING ILLUSTRATION
In your own words, tell the following story:
It’s the day of the huge midterm in algebra.
Bob, 14, is sweating big time. He can never understand this stuff. No matter how hard he tries,
how much he listens, how many notes he takes,
he can’t get it. But here it is—the midterm.
Bob sits at his desk waiting for the tests to be
passed out. After what seems like hours, the
teacher comes in and casually announces she
has an emergency and the test will be taken on
an honor system basis. There will be no supervision today—she trusts them. Bob is stunned;
this is like an answer to prayer! He can simply
ask friends for the answers. No summer school
for him!
The next week Bob gets his paper back and,
of course, it’s perfect, and his teacher compliments him on the great improvement. But
something feels wrong. He keeps thinking about
what he did and how he got away with it. All
of a sudden a rush of paranoia hits him. What
if someone saw him cheating and tells on him?
What if his parents find out? All these questions,
all this fear is getting to be too much to bear.
Then guilt hits him—hard. He remembers all the
times he was told not to cheat, all the times he
swore he would never cheat. But whatever he
does now cannot change what he has already
done. And that makes him feel even worse.
Bob is now at a crossroad. He can confess
that he cheated on the test and relieve his
fears and guilt or he can keep the A+ and suffer
through his pain. What should he do?
Debriefing • Ask: What would you do in
Bob’s situation? What are some of the ways
you cope with fear and guilt? What do you
think Bob should do?
4 CONNECTING
A. CONNECTING TO THE KINGDOM
Present the following ideas in your own words:
Emotions such as guilt and fear have been
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ing an effective life as a kingdom agent? (In
the case of Kitty Genovese, fear kept the people
who could have saved her life from coming to
her rescue. Their fear to act cost Kitty her life.) Is
there a time to fear and a time not to fear?
(The man who attacked Kitty should have feared,
for his act was sin. The people who watched
through their windows should not have feared
because they could have saved a life.)
around for a long time. We can see people in the
Bible—Adam, Abraham, Jonah, and many others—struggling with these feelings. The one thing
that sets these amazing people apart is their ability to overcome the feelings of guilt and fear.
Guilt and fear plague us all; it’s a fact. What
matters is how we deal with these emotions
and how we overcome them. Our usefulness as
agents in God’s kingdom is affected by the way
we deal with guilt and fear. A big part of being
part of the kingdom is representing God in the
best way possible while winning more citizens
to the kingdom. That can be difficult to do when
you’re held back by fear. It is hard to believe in
an all-knowing, all-powerful God when so-called
Christians are too afraid to claim Him as their
own. It is hard to believe in a forgiving God
when believers of that God are wallowing in
self-pity and guilt. We are all agents in God’s
kingdom. That is a strong statement to make.
With that statement comes responsibility, responsibility to be the best Christian you can, the
best representation of Christ. First John 4:18
gives us some idea of how these ideas all fit
together.
Have student volunteers find and read texts
from the student lesson as well as those listed at
the beginning of the teacher lesson. After each
verse is read, ask the students to suggest what
advice or information it has to inform a kingdom
citizen of how they should deal with fear and guilt.
C. CONNECTING TO LIFE
Present the following ideas in your own words:
Throughout the Bible there are instances in
which fear and guilt kept people from reaching
their full potential. It started with Adam. He felt
such guilt after disobeying God’s command that
he ran and hid when God called him. Jonah’s
fear of going to Nineveh prevented him from
doing what God wanted him to do. Later, on the
ship to Tarsus he felt guilty and responsible for
the troubles in the sea. This is still true today.
Hanging on to fear and guilt is detrimental to our
growth as Christians.
Have students find and read 1 John 4:18.
Ask: How do you think the ideas of love,
fear, and guilt are related?
Refer to the list of Bible passages in the
student lesson, or list them where all can see.
Assign each text to a volunteer to read aloud.
Altogether, or in small groups, have students
present a potential experience in the life of an
earliteen in which that particular promise might
be of special significance. For example, John
16:33 might be especially meaningful to someone whose family is splitting apart.
If time permits, give your students these
passages and create a list of everything they
learn about God’s forgiveness: 1 John 1:9;
Isaiah 43:25; Psalm 103:11, 12; Hebrews
10:17; Matthew 18:21-35; 1 Corinthians 13:5;
Romans 8:1-4.
B. C
ONNECTING TO THE LESSON
ILLUSTRATION
Ask someone beforehand to read or tell the
story from Sabbath’s section of the lesson.
All but the last paragraph.
Ask: What do you think was the problem
with all those people? (Perhaps they were so
caught up in themselves and their own emotions that they were untouched by anything
else, even a murder.)
Have the last paragraph read.
Debriefing • Ask/Say: Throughout history
people have used Scripture as a comfort in
times of trouble. Ask: What makes some of
the verses we have just read special to you?
Ask: Why would living with those kinds of
emotions and attitudes get in the way of liv-
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July 16, 2016 - Coping With Guilt and Fear
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Lesson 3
Having knowledge of Bible promises along
with just knowing that God is with you at all
times can be a great help, especially when
you are dealing with feelings of guilt and
fear.
B. APPLICATION QUESTIONS
1. What are some fears that bother you?
2. How can fear keep you from being an effective witness?
3. What are some things fear can prevent
you from accomplishing?
4. When, if ever, is guilt a good thing?
5. What causes one to feel guilty?
6. What are some common ways people
cope with guilt?
5 APPLYING
A. APPLICATION ACTIVITY
Distribute five index cards and pens or pencils to each person. Ask them to write one fear
or guilt (not too personal) on each and their initials on the other side. Then bring a box or other
large container and let students take turns (or
all together) trying to flip their cards into the box
without bending or folding them.
After the allotted time take the cards out
of the box and tally them to find the winner (do
not read the fears and guilts aloud). Return the
cards to their owners.
Say: We’ve just learned that to overcome
feelings of guilt and fear we must claim the
many promises in the Bible and trust God to
fulfill them. Let’s read one additional verse:
1 Peter 5:7.
After the verse has been read, collect all the
cards in a trash bag, or shred them, offering a
prayer claiming what is promised in 1 Peter 5:7.
6 CLOSING
SUMMARY
In your own words, conclude with the following ideas:
By now you should be equipped with all the
weapons you need to fight off the occasional
attack of guilt and fear. Armed with the power of
prayer and the comfort of Scripture, you are well
on your way to being able to cope with the crazy
emotions life throws at you. And remember the
most powerful weapon of all—Jesus. When you
feel lost and alone, call on Him. Trust Him to take
away your fears and free you from your guilt.
Answers to “Phobias—What Scares You?” (page 34)
Ablutophobia, 18 (fear of washing or bathing); Anablephobia, 7 (fear of looking up); Arachibutyrophobia, 14 (fear of peanut
butter sticking to the roof of the mouth); Arithmophobia, 5 (fear of numbers); Autodysomophobia, 19 (fear of one that has a
vile odor); Cathisophobia, 8 (fear of sitting); Francophobia, 9 (fear of France or French culture); Hippopotomonstrosesquipped­
aliophobia, 12 (fear of long words); Homilophobia, 17 (fear of sermons); Hydrophobia, 20 (fear of water or of rabies);
Koinoniphobia, 2 (fear of rooms); Linonophobia, 6 (fear of string); Melophobia, 4 (fear or hatred of music); Microphobia, 10
(fear of small things); Optophobia, 11 (fear of opening one’s eyes); Phobophobia, 3 (fear of phobias); Tyrannophobia, 16 (fear
of tyrants); Venustraphobia, 1 (fear of beautiful women); Xanthophobia, 13 (fear of the color yellow or the word “yellow”);
Zeusophobia, 15 (fear of God or gods).
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FOR LESSON THREE:
THIS HANDOUT IS FOR THE BEGINNING ACTIVITY.
Phobias—What Scares You?
According to www.phobialist.com there are 530 recognized phobias in the world. See if you can
match the official name with the fear. Put the number of the fear by its official name.
Ablutophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Anablephobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Arachibutyrophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Arithmophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Autodysomophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Cathisophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Francophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia .
Homilophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Hydrophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Koinoniphobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Linonophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Melophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Microphobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Optophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Phobophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Tyrannophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Venustraphobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Xanthophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Zeusophobia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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July 16, 2016 - Coping With Guilt and Fear
1. Fear of beautiful women
2. Fear of rooms
3. Fear of phobias
4. Fear or hatred of music
5. Fear of numbers
6. Fear of string
7. Fear of looking up
8. Fear of sitting
9. Fear of France or French culture
10. Fear of small things
11. Fear of opening one’s eyes
12. Fear of long words
13. Fear of the color yellow or the word
“yellow”
14. Fear of peanut butter sticking to the
roof of your mouth
15. Fear of God or gods
16. Fear of tyrants
17. Fear of sermons
18. Fear of washing or bathing
19. Fear of one that has a vile odor
20. Fear of water or rabies
•
Lesson 3
STUDENT LESSON
COPING WITH GUILT AND FEAR
Frozen by Fear
July 16, 2016
>>KEY
TEXT: Choose one of the texts from
Wednesday’s section of the lesson. Write it here
and memorize it this week.
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Soon after the Kitty Genovese incident, social
scientists began studies that they hoped would
explain this “phenomenon.” They concluded that
lack of compassion and empathy
on the part of the onlookers was owing to feelings of anonymity and being out of touch with
other people.
Witnesses, in an attempt to justify their
inaction, said, “We were afraid,” “I was tired,”
“We didn’t want to get involved.”—Taken from
New York Times article, March 27, 1964.
FROZEN BY FEAR
Sunday
HERE’S WHAT I THINK
March 13, 1964. It was well past midnight,
a few hours before dawn. Kitty Genovese was
returning home from work. As she was about to
enter her apartment she was attacked by a man
with a knife. “He stabbed me. Please help me!
Please help me!” she screamed. Immediately
many lights in apartments around her went on.
The killer quickly left. But no one came out to
help her. A few moments later, the lights went
out. The killer returned to finish the job. As soon
as she screamed again, the lights came back on
and the killer ran. This happened three times.
On the third try, the killer finished his job and
quietly walked away.
During the 35-minute attack, 38 people
watched from the safety of their apartments. Not
one person came to her rescue. So overcome
with their own feelings of fear, they had no sense
of moral duty or sensitivity. They sat idle as a fellow human being was brutally murdered.
All these years later, it’s easy to sit here and
judge the people in those apartments. We can
sit in the safety of our homes and say someone should have done something, raced down
the steps and rescued the woman, aided her in
some way. But put yourself in the same situation.
Imagine you’re sitting at home and your peaceful
evening is interrupted by the screams of a woman
being stabbed to death. You run to the window to
see what’s happening. At the sight of the attack,
you are overcome with emotion, feelings of fear,
anger, injustice, and surprise. What do you do? Do
you help the woman? Do you let your own fear get
the best of you? Would guilt affect your actions?
What holds do guilt and fear have on your life?
Log on to www.guidemagazine.org/rtf to
post your responses. Be up-front and honest.
Say what you think.
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35
ple. People scared of everything from water to
fire to French culture. Maybe you don’t have
a huge debilitating phobia, maybe you do. But
something everyone feels at times is guilt. Guilt
has a way of casting a shadow on our lives.
Guilt and fear have plagued humanity since
the beginning. Adam and Eve hid from God in
the garden because they felt guilty for what they
had done. Abraham lied to Pharaoh because he
was afraid he would kill him and take Sarah.
There is only one way to fight these two
emotions—trust. Complete trust in Christ.
Because only He has the power to forgive and
relieve guilt. The Bible says, “For God has not
given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of
power, love, and self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7,
NLT). Use that spirit; don’t hide behind a dark
cloud of guilt and fear. Trust God and use the
power He has given you.
Monday
WHAT ARE THEY
TRYING TO SAY?
Read the quotations listed below and think
about how they connect to the topic of the
lesson. Then write your own statement that
reflects your position with regard to the
topic of the lesson.
>>“Repentance is the biblical, correct response
to guilt. The moment we committed our life to
Christ, our sins—past, present, and future—
were forgiven.”—Luis Palau, contemporary Christian evange-
list.
>>“The presence of fear does not mean you
have no faith. Fear visits everyone. But make
your fear a visitor and not a resident.”—Max Lucado,
contemporary American best-selling Christian author, pastor, and
Wednesday
GOD SAYS . . .
writer.
>>“Keep your wants, your joys, your sorrows,
>>2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV)
your cares, and your fears before God. You
cannot burden Him; you cannot weary Him. . . .
His heart of love is touched by our sorrows and
even by our utterances of them. Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too
great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He
rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing
that in any way concerns our peace is too small
for Him to notice.”—Ellen G. White, 19th-century inspired
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but
of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
>>Deuteronomy 20:3, 4 (NLT)
“Do not lose heart or panic or tremble before
them. For the Lord your God is going with you!
He will fight for you against your enemies, and
he will give you victory!”
writer and cofounder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
>>Joshua 10:25 (NIV)
“Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be
strong and courageous.”
Write your own quotation.
WHAT I SAY IS . . .
>>Psalm 27:1 (NRSV)
_________________________________________________
“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom
shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?”
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
>>Psalm 23:4 (NRSV)
“Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and
your staff—they comfort me.”
Tuesday
SO WHAT?
There are 530 recognized phobias in the
world. That translates into a lot of scared peo-
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Lesson 3
>>Psalm 56:3, 4 (NLT)
“But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in
God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere
mortals do to me?”
>>Matthew 10:31 (NCV)
“So don’t be afraid. You are worth much more
than many sparrows.”
>>John 16:33 (NIV)
“I have told you these things, so that in me you
may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
>>1 John 4:18 (NLT)
“Such love has no fear, because perfect love
expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of
punishment, and this shows that we have not
fully experienced his perfect love.”
>>(More: Isaiah 43:25; Psalm 103:11, 12;
Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 8:1-4;
1 Corinthians 13:5; Hebrews 10:17; 1 John 1:9.)
Thursday
WHAT DOES THIS
HAVE TO DO WITH ME?
Friday
HOW DOES IT WORK?
A new product called “Disposable Guilt
Bags” appeared in the marketplace. It consisted
of a set of 10 ordinary brown bags on which
were printed the following instructions: “Place
the bag securely over your mouth, take a deep
breath and blow all your guilt out, then dispose of the bag immediately.” The wonder of
this is that the Associated Press reported that
2,500 kits had been quickly sold at $2.50 per
kit. Would that we could dispose of our guilt so
easily! There is nothing on this earth powerful
enough in itself to dispose of guilt. We cannot
fix ourselves, which is what many of us try to
do. That which makes it possible to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be healed, to receive
our life back again, fresh and clean and new, is
the power of God’s grace in the cross of Jesus
Christ.
This week try the Guilt Bag idea out. But instead of using paper bags, pray earnestly, opening your heart to Jesus as to a friend. But try it
seriously for one week and see if you don’t feel
less guilt.
As a Christian you know for a fact that God
is watching over us at all times. You’ve heard
Psalm 23 read again and again. You know
forgiveness is freely given to all who ask. Yet
feelings of guilt and fear can have such a hold
on your life. You hear about a shooting on the
news, and all of a sudden you’re scared to leave
the house. You mess up once and feel guilty
for weeks. Wouldn’t it be so much simpler to
simply trust God to protect you? Wouldn’t it be
less stressful just to ask for forgiveness? Wish it
could be that simple? It is.
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