When someone keeps telling you to “be strong and courageous,” you might suspect you are up against something big. And the Israelites were. So how did this rag-tag bunch overcome the challenges before them?

Every parent has been there. The trip ahead is long. The travel schedule is tight. You hit the road with a full tank, confident the plan you have crafted beats anything AAA could muster. But twenty minutes down the highway you hear a small, squeaky voice from the backseat. The artillery begins to bombard you. The questions. Some you expected. Are we there yet? How much longer? Can we get something to eat? Can you imagine if the trip was 40 years long?

God wanted Him and His people to be close to each other. So He gave them Ten Commandments concerning relationships. The first four commandments focus on how we are to demonstrate our love to God. The second set of six have to do with how to show love to other people. In seeing these relationships of love it was God's desire that people would come to know Him too. God gave the Israelites guidelines so that, when they sought to live by them, other nations would see them as different and know that they were God's people. So what does it look like to be obedient to God?

There’s a wall in front of you. Behind you is a past you are running from. Beyond the wall awaits the promise of a new life. But you’re not moving because there is this “wall.” You feel trapped. No way out. This is just the sort of situation in which God does some of his finest work. This week will hear about God’s people overcoming the walls in front of them.

Joseph's life was a rollercoaster thrill ride. One minute a slave. The next in charge of an Egyptian official’s house. The next in prison. The next in charge of the prison. If your dream now realized is not all you thought it would be, look to God. He can give you another dream. A better one, not according to the world’s standard but God’s criterion.

God picks people you and I wouldn’t necessarily select to take part in his story. In fact sometimes we are shocked who plays the starring roles in his stories. Unlike the way we do business, he taps people, not merely because of their abilities, but for their availability.

Its opening scene also starts with a relentless pace that doesn’t let up. Some of you have lived your life with the idea that God is some angry cosmic kill-joy who sits in the heavens and watches you, waiting for you to make a mistake so he can zap you. Or, you feel he is distant and doesn’t care or has simply forgotten you. But from the beginning he has shown us this is not the case. He wants to be with you. He has not forgotten you.

Why did God give us the bible, and why is it so confusing to read? As a church as we begin The Story, we need to begin by setting a foundation for the incredible journey we are about to go on. Because if the promises about scripture are true, we can’t afford to be in the dark about scripture anymore.

Jesus' words to Matthew form a call to each of us today: Follow Me. Guest speaker Steve Lied discusses how these words should transform how we look at the world around us -- and our neighbor next to us.

Christmas Eve Service