When I read the story of the Christmas shepherds, the passage raises a hundred questions. In this Sunday's message, I am going to ask all 100 of them.
The Messiah was promised throughout the Old Testament, then it took 400 years before Jesus came. Why does God do things so slowly? He dwells in eternity; time can't constrain him. Yet he's never late. Trust him even if you wait.
Jesus says if you're ashamed of him and his message now, he'll be ashamed of you when you meet him in the glory of his Father. In other words, don't worry about being embarrassed. Worry about being an embarrassment.
In the children's fable, Chicken Little ran through the yard, saying that the sky was falling when it wasn't. The story teaches us not to be prophets of doom. But what if the sky is falling? What if we must be prophets of doom?
They're commanded to walk around Jericho 6 days without saying a word. Why? If talking were allowed they'd say, "Why are we doing this?" You can talk yourself right out of everything God's trying to do in your life.
After years of defying gravity on the tightrope, Karl Wallenda became obsessed with the idea that he might fall. In 1978 before an audience of thousands, he fell to his death. Fear makes you focus on the terrible what-ifs.