Hope Alliance Bethlehem

In Jesus, we have a high priest who has finished our atonement, but continues his advocacy for us. He can sympathize with our earthly struggles and is ready to offer grace and mercy to those who seek it. Therefore, we can have confidence and persistence in the midst of life's struggles.

Often times are thoughts are consumed with our current circumstances. This usually leads to a life of grumbling. Jesus offers us a better way. If we exercise our faith by moving our thoughts from our circumstances to who he is and what he has done, grumbling is replaced with genuine rest.

God’s story in Jesus is the story that frames all other stories. When we make our story more important than Jesus’ story, or we make ourselves the hero of the story instead of Jesus, we will not experience the love that Jesus has for us as our brother and we will not experience the grace and mercy God wants to give us from His throne of grace.

In this first talk in the book of Hebrews we look at the author's warnings against drifting away from our belief in "Jesus Only". In comparing our journey of faith to the journey of the Israelites, we find a common trend: that drifting from belief is a human tendency. So we must take action to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and his Gospel lest we drift away.

In the final message in our Shapshots of Hope series we look at why we love Community at Hope Alliance. In summary, we love community because community shows God's kingdom to the world, it shows God's care for us, and it grows us. But Jesus shows us in John 13 that community is truly a blessing to us when we learn to serve like he did.

At Hope Alliance we are sent people; sent to do what Jesus did. Based on passages in John 7, John 20, and Luke 4, we look at what Jesus did and how we are to join him in being living waters to the world around us.

Children have a critical role to play in the church now. And just like Jesus, we should never keep the disconnected from the church, but rather see them as a crucial part of God's kingdom. It is our communal responsibility to impart the gospel to them and to be inspired by their speech, conduct, love, faith and purity.

Too much in our world is artificial! And this reality starts with ourselves. The gospel calls us to be genuine people who love God and others genuinely. As genuine people, we are honest about who we are, failures and all! And we aim to love God an others in a real and honest way, without masks.

At Hope, we have defined our identity by the statement "Simply Jesus." For us Jesus if first and everything else is second. Its that simple! The story of the transfiguration is a compelling glimpse into why this identity is so important to us and to what it means to be a Christian. (**Our apologies for the poor audio quality**)

The resurrection of Jesus gives us the freedom to rest. Not just from our external work, but more importantly from our internal desire to find approval in our work and life. Finding space for sabbath in life is a chance to be redefined as new creation and a means to escape the constant urgency, stress and pressure the world places on our shoulders.

Because of the resurrection, Christ-followers are free to be happy. We look at how we find that happiness in confession, in being conformed to Christ's image, and in our commission as agents of new creation with Jesus. Text: Romans 8, Philippians, 1 John 1

In the parable of the Lost Son(s) we see a picture of our own rebellion and self-righteousness, revealing our guilt and how far from the Father we truly are. We also see the Father offer freedom from guilt to his sons by compassionately moving towards both of them and offering relationship. In our own lives today we are able to be free from guilt (and learn how to forgive) because of the cross and...

Because of the resurrection, we are new creations. One of the most powerful realities of this truth is that we are now free from performance. We are no longer confined to the system of this world which says we are only valuable based upon our production and performance. Instead, Jesus calls us to come to him like little children who are valued and loved by our Creator because of who we are.

The resurrection of Jesus is not just a miracle. It is God's announcement that he is making all things new. Therefore, if anyone is connected to Jesus, he is a new creation. This means that we are free from our past and it no longer defines us. Easter draws us into a whole new way of life.

As the book of Joshua concludes, the Israelites are called to be courageously obedient. More specifically they are called to be very careful what they cling to. Clinging to things of this world leads to traps and snares, but clinging to Jesus leads us into the abundant life he promises. Here are the questions provided on the response card at the end of the teaching:(1) I am prone to cling to these...

In Joshua 22 we see God's devotion to His children, despite their mistakes. God's devotion to His children through the Gospel leads us to have devotion to Him in worship and devotion to one another in community.

The Levites were the one tribe who did not receive a section of land. They had a special inheritance - God himself. And from this inheritance came a strategic mission to represent God to the people. Today the church shares in this special inheritance and strategic mission.

**Please excuse the audio quality**In Joshua 12-19 we see God's faithfulness to give the land to the tribes but their unwillingness to occupy it. However, Caleb and Joshua continue to be faithful and take their inheritance. Through Jesus and the Gospel we, too, can take our inheritance for our own defeat of sin and the expansion of the kingdom to the world around us.

In Joshua 9-11 we see the grace that God gives the Gibeonites as compared to the judgment He brings to those who rebel against Him. We also see Joshua keep his oath to the Gibeonites and live out his name: God saves. Today, Jesus keeps his oath to save his followers both now and for eternity, and still regularly acts miraculously on their behalf.

The second conquest of Ai goes far better than the first. Why? It is characterized by obedience and trusting God as opposed to self-effort and self-preservation. In this we see that the path from defeat to victory is about finding again a posture of worshipping God.

In Joshua chapter 7 we see Joshua and Achan both make the mistake of not having a posture of submitting to God which costs the people around them greatly. We ALL struggle to submit to the Father, but through the Gospel we see that Jesus has overcome temptation and a strange heritage to submit his own life to the Father on our behalf. Now we, too, can have a posture of submitting to the Father.

At the core of the famous story of Jericho is the idea of posture. God's posture toward mankind and man's posture toward God. At Jericho, we see an impartial God who desires a relationship with all people. We also see the difference between people who close themselves off from God and those who open themselves up to him.

God had acted and the river was parted. The Israelites crossed and prepared for their conquest of land. But once again the story takes a strange twist. Instead of marching on Jericho the Israelites are circumcised. And in this act of obedience and posture of weakness, they submit themselves to a different path to victory. So too we are called to a different path to "victory" in our lives...

A look at chapters 3 & 4 of Joshua highlighting the Gospel message seen throughout, the presence and faithfulness of God, and our need to remember it.

In this fascinating story of a failed spy mission into the promised land, we see extraordinary faith in a completely unexpected place. Rahab, a Canaanite prostitute show two Israelite spies what genuine faith really looks like. And we meet the true hero of the story of Joshua, God himself. Our God is gracious and slow to anger. He's full of mercy, redeeming and rescuing failed humanity like u...