There is a line that gets crossed when it becomes evident that God is at work. In those instances, we can either embrace the forward movement of the Kingdom of God or harden our heart against His rule and reign. The love of God confronts our idols and brings us into freedom.

We are comfortable with the love of God, but tend to recoil a bit at the judgment of God. However, true love requires real judgment. The plagues are a reminder of the futility of worshiping false gods, past and present, and of the extent to which God will go to deliver His people from oppression.

The promise of the new covenant not only provides forgiveness from sin but also the transformation of our whole person. Ezekiel prophesied that the new covenant would bring with it a new heart that replaces our former heart of stone. This means that we need to change and that progressive change will make us become like Jesus from the inside out.

The breadth of the beauty of the person and work of Jesus is beyond our ability to comprehend. Our vision is to engage the totality of Jesus while learning to engage His beauty progressively. This calls us to be with Jesus, abide in His presence, meditate on His work, and listen for His voice. As we experience all of Jesus, we will impact all the world.

As we approach the end of another challenging year, it's appropriate as the people of God for us to look back at the faithfulness of God and dream forward into the future into which He is calling us. The church is often commanded to remember His faithfulness as well as expect His goodness and grace in the future. This is a personal discipline, a corporate exercise and a way of life for the church.

Jesus came among us in the midst of both obscurity and scandal, not backing away from the most difficult aspects of our humanity. It's in His coming among us that Jesus creates a pathway for us to come to Him, inviting us all to be children of God.

From Genesis to Revelation, the desire of God is to be with His people. Consciously or subconsciously, we often perceive the desire of God to be over us or under us. When we understand that God's desire is to be with us, we are sustained through the joys and sorrows of our journey and we are able to carry His presence to the world around us

The celebration of the first Advent points us to the second. The glorious image of eternity reminds us that Jesus came to be with us and that we will be with Him forever. Until that time, we are called to reveal His presence, be recaptured by urgency, and reach the world around us

Before we can understand the full message of the Christmas season, we need to gaze at the beauty of God Himself. It is only when we understand who God is that we are able to respond to His coming with true joy.

Lost to most of us across culture and language is the powerful truth of Exodus 6: God proposes to Israel, His bride, and commits Himself to her and, by extension, to us as well. The promise of deliverance is the forerunner to the anticipation of intimacy and inheritance for the people of God.