Hope Alliance Bethlehem

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...

As a leader, God told Joshua to be strong and courageous. This courage was actually rooted in his obedience to God. And in Jesus we see this courageous obedience that delivers the promises of God to his people.

In Jesus' parable of the mustard seed, he tells us that the kingdom of God starts improbably, but becomes and undeniable reality. As we consider the impact God wants to have through us, this is the vision of the kingdom that he wants us to grasp. Using this picture of multiplication, our vision for the coming year is to see God use each of us to see one for one growth!

Jesus came as a king. This is why he said that the kingdom of God has come near. And his urge to those who heard him was to repent. True repentance is not regret, but a change of mind that brings about a change in action. When we truly believe that Jesus is our king, we become people who desire to follow him and make his ways our ways.

Jesus came to as a man to heal what humanity could not. He entered deeply into our story, not to condemn us, but to rescue us and to call us to a whole new way of living.

In this talk we we continue our Advent series by looking at how "Jesus came as a light in the darkness, to those waiting, as a man and as a king." Specifically we look at the story of Zacchaeus and how he was actively waiting for Jesus and how Jesus came to seek and save the lost.

In this talk we kick off our 2016 Advent Series. We cover the first part of a four-part statement: "Jesus came to be light in the darkness, to those waiting, as a man and as a king."

The atoning work of Jesus on the cross for us covers our sins and offers us a whole new way of life. A big part of this is the availability of healing through Jesus work of atonement. Just as he took up our sin, so too he took up our pain and sickness. Jesus moves for healing according to his will and for his glory. We cannot manipulate him, nor make demands of him. However, we should pursue him w...

How do we respond to the aftermath of a crazy election cycle? We need to learn to listen. Listen to God when he reminds us he is sovereign and therefore our only hope for the salvation and security we all so long to feel. And listen to each other has people given to gentleness which seeks fairness and justice for each other.

On November 6th, our church became an accredited church with the Christian & Missionary Alliance. One this important day, we considered Jesus' caution against trading mission for comfort and were reminded that we are a family on mission.

Jesus promises abundant life to those who follow him. This life comes not on the basis of how good we are, but on the basis of his unfailing love for us. It is not a promise of an easy life, rather a promise of his constant presence with us. And when we learn to hear the voice of God, we lean more into the life he promises us.

Jesus said you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The truth is Jesus and when we know him intimately we find the freedom we so desire. Freedom from sin and freedom from religion. Freedom from the pursuit of building our own value and worth and instead finding our true value in God's love for us announced in Jesus.

At the root of hope is a desire for an identity - to be loved, to have meaning and to have a destiny. This human desire was always intended to find its fulfillment in God himself. And when we do this, we lead lives characterized by confidence in God and a willingness to take faith-filled risks.

As followers of Jesus we are sent people. We are sent not only to proclaim the gospel, but also to embody the gospel while loving our neighbors as ourselves. But how do we do this? Jesus answer is somewhat surprising. He says we cannot do this unless we have been radically loved ourselves. To simply try harder to love others is a religious dead end. However, when we are so moved by Jesus' lov...

In order for us to live the kinds of lives God has created us for, we are called to the intersection of a shared gospel and shared lives. Shared lives give credibility to and embolden our gospel commitments. We need each other in order to grow in our embrace of the gospel and a life oriented around it.