In his book Your Church Is Too Safe, Mark Buchanan writes:

My favorite YouTube video is a five-minute clip from an episode of The Bob Newhart Show. Bob, as you may know, is a psychologist in the show. In the scene, a woman comes for her first visit. Bob begins by explaining how he bills—five dollars for the first five minutes, and then nothing after that. The woman is thrilled. Bob assures her the session won't go over five minutes.

He asks her to start. She explains that she fears being buried alive in a box. He asks her to say more. The fear, she tells him, extends to other things—being in tunnels, elevators, houses, cars, "anything boxy."

"So basically you're saying you're claustrophobic?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying."

This exchange takes about two minutes. Bob takes another ten seconds or so to empathize with her—how awful it must be to live with this fear.

"It's horrible," the woman says.

"All right," Bob says, "I'm going to give you two words that I think will clear up everything. Just take these two words and integrate them into your daily life, and you should be fine."

The woman is excited. She asks if she should write them down.

"Oh, you can if you like," Bob says. "But most people have no trouble remembering them."

"Okay," she says, leaning forward.

"You ready?" he asks.

"Yes," she says.

"Okay, here are the two words." Bob leans across his desk to put his face close to hers. "Stop it!"

Possible Preaching Angles: The Bible repeatedly gives us a very simple command: "Do not fear." Of course that command hinges on the fact that our Heavenly Father has promised to supply all the resources we need. That's why just as Bob did in this story, Jesus treats fear and worry as a choice. We choose what and whom we will believe.