It’s that time of year where children and some adults are cleaning up their Christmas list with items of perceived needs and wants, but it can be easy to forgot our greatest need has already been given to us. The Christmas story is the reminder that God sent His Son into the world to accomplish the greatest need of His people, the removal our sin from His people so that we can draw near to God with the full assurance of the forgiveness of sin. In Leviticus 16, this description of the Day of Atonement gives us a glorious picture, a glorious type, and a glorious foreshadowing of what was to come with Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection.

When the people of Israel built and worshipped a golden calf, they demonstrated a link between us that is far closer than any of us would like to admit: being different isn’t something that comes easy for Christians. Though God has made us holy and called us to be holy, living and acting differently than the non-believing culture is hard. Exodus 32 teaches us that God cares so much about our holiness that He will come down from heaven Himself to rescue those He loves.

The people of Israel have at last arrived at Mt. Sinai, the mountain where God met Moses in a flaming bush. It is here that they will receive the Law from God. The giving of the 10 Commandments is one of the most well-known passages in all of Scripture. While it is tempting to think of the 10 Commandments as an everlasting set of boring rules, what if we came to learn that they are a verbal description of God’s own character? When we study them, we study God Himself.

Whether you choose to live a moderate or a generous life, you cannot avoid sacrifice. Mark 14:1-11 begins and ends with an insider, Judas, and his plot to betray Jesus. Between these verses is a contrasting story of a woman, an outsider. We are presented with these two people taking two different paths, with each leading to different kind of sacrifice. Jesus forces our hand and says, “Choose.”

As believers, we ought to consider what we should be doing until Jesus returns. To answer that question, Jesus tells a parable of a master and three servants. The master gave great gifts to each servant. The ones who used their gifts to advance the master’s kingdom were rewarded. The man who did not use his gift but buried it, revealing that he did not know his master, was punished. This parable teaches us many things, the foremost of which is that believers must use their gifts to serve the Lord. Generous living involves every aspect: money, time, and talent.

It’s easy to serve God in ways that are not costly. What happens when God requires something that is hard? The people of Jerusalem in Malachi’s day learn that partial obedience is no obedience. In fact, God calls it robbery. How can we be free of greed? We are freed when we treasure something else more than money: our Savior.

Greed has a particular way of blinding you because it prevents you from asking the key question: “How do I, who is the treasure of Christ, reflect his sacrifice in how I give generously?” Jesus speaks about money more than any other social issue because he knows something that we must know: money can either serve us, or we will be enslaved to it. There is no other option. How can we be rid of the anxiety caused by giving it away? Every need you have is met by the King.

One month has passed since the people have left Egypt. After witnessing the Egyptian army drowning in the Red Sea, they are now in the wilderness. There’s only one problem in the wilderness: Where will they get food? In light of all that God has provided, Israel complains and wishes they were back in Egypt. What God does in Exodus 16 by providing bread from heaven begins the story of God’s provision of bread for his people that will not only nourish them physically during their journey in the wilderness, but ultimately will point to the person of Jesus Christ who will feed us with the bread of his body and word.

Throughout the Bible, God uses seemingly insignificant people in desperate situations to get glory for Himself; Exodus 14 is no exception. The Israelites find themselves in a situation where they have nowhere to turn but to God Himself. As we see, God shows up in a powerful way, not only providing a way out for His people and but also crushing His enemies in the process. To what end does God do this? That His people might be worship Him and be a blessing to the nations.

Over and over God has called Pharaoh to release the people of Israel. From an earthly perspective, it has not worked. The plagues have accomplished nothing but a hardening of Pharoah’s heart, and the people are still slaves; it seems as though Moses and the Lord have failed. To make matters worse, God tells the people of Israel that He will deliver them by the blood of a lamb. How will God deliver the people of Israel with a wooly pet? Exodus 12 forms the very central theme of the story that God is writing, and at the very center of the chapter is a lamb.