As the people of Israel enter the Promised Land, God commands them to be strong and courageous. He will be with them as they remember the Law that He had given to them. Even one of the people of Jericho remind Israel what God had done for them already. As an object of God's wrath, Jericho was completely destroyed. We need to understand God's wrath in order to better recognize His grace.

As the nation of Israel complained about the conditions as they entered the desert, they showed how they would rather be like God than with Him. They wanted to take care of themselves rather than follow God and His promises. As a result, God allowed some of the consequences of their choices. God will not always take away the repercussions of our decisions, but He will always want us to learn from our mistakes. What we do with God on a daily basis may have generational impact, so we need to be sure to allow our Father to love us and provide for us.

God worked through Israel to show His power to the world. The Israelites quickly forgot who the Lord is and what He had done for them. Pastor Doug challenges us to make a new commitment every morning to follow God. If we know His love for us, we will want to run to His presence. The Ten Commandments give us an overview to show us how be closer to God.

The story of Moses is the story of God's character in our lives. This week, Pastor Doug teaches us how God seeks to impress His sovereignty upon us and deliver us from a life without Him. From there, He continues to lead us, protect us, and provide for us even as we try to go back to living on our own terms.

Joseph often was in circumstances when he wondered what God's plan was. He was also in situations when he thought he had it figured out. Joseph's story is an example of waiting on God's plan. We may live to see why God has put us through tough times - or we may not. Either way, to be with God is to know that He is in control.

We were designed so that we could make decisions. Our choices often come down to whether we want to be like God in taking control of our lives, or be with God and let Him have control. This week, Pastor Doug discusses the choices that are given to Abraham, and how the consequences of being with God are far greater than the consequences of trying to be like God.

The Bible starts off with an overview of the main characters and their natural tendencies. God, the loving creator, seeks to spend a perfect eternity with his creation. Mankind drifts toward its own decisions outside of God, and ultimately into wickedness. The rest of the story will tell of the path to reconciliation. In the meantime, we have the choice every day to trust God's plan and provision for our lives, or if we think we can do a better job ourselves.

We can often look at the Bible as a collection of stories about God and people. As we start a new series, Pastor Doug tells us that we need to view the Bible as one cohesive story about our need for reconciliation and God's plan to provide it.

When Zechariah agrees to name his child John, he shows his willingness to follow God. His speech is then restored and he breaks into praise. Part of his praise is that God has raised up a horn of salvation. This week, Hamilton George explains that phrase. The horn is a symbol of eternal strength, and personal salvation is part of God's eternal covenant to rebuild a relationship with the world. Our response to true salvation is to continually draw closer to God in unity with the church body.

As Pastor Doug looks into the story of the wise men who journey to find Jesus, he tells us that we can never really avoid Christ. We can choose to keep Him as our focal point as the wise men did, or we can choose to set Him as an adversary, as Herod did. Although our thoughts are drawn toward Jesus during the Christmas season, we need to continue to follow Him throughout the year.