Hope Alliance Nazareth

Sometimes the idyllic nature of the Christmas story, distracts us from seeing what is actually happening.  A king is arriving to inaugurate his kingdom and that is a threat to many.  When we see Jesus for who he really is, we are left with two choices: either we kill him or we crown him.  Herod shows us what those gripping to power are inclined to do, but the magi show us the right way to receive...

Peace is not a place or a circumstance...it's a person.  Jesus brings us peace when we worship him, unite under him, and intentionally center our lives on him.  

Scripture tells us over 200 times that God cares for the poor and marginalized.  Because his throne is founded upon justice and righteousness, he does justice and calls his people to do the same through living out Christ's kingdom on earth.

In the classic "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" we celebrate that Jesus brings grace...that through Jesus, "God and sinners reconciled" is true for us this Christmas.

On this journey of life in the wilderness, we can pray and ask God for forgiveness which He willingly grants through Jesus.  And we can pray for Him to guide our hearts to have power over the sin that so easily entangles.

When Jesus tells us to pray for daily bread today, he is calling us to form our souls in daily dependance.  We pray for his daily provision on this journey through the wilderness until we reach the promised land of new creation, while also experiencing the deeper life of the living bread of Jesus himself.

When we pray "Your kingdom come" we are pledging allegiance to, and invoking, God's kingdom instead of our own.  In pray we are living in relationship with God, relinquishing our own kingdom, and living for the realization of God's kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

As God's children through Jesus, we don't have to perform rituals to pray "right" or to get God's attention.  Instead, we can count on our relationship with the Father, we can be honest in our prayers, and we can make requests of the God of the universe.  

Jesus calls his followers to pray.  But prayer can be done in a religious way that produces external spirituality, or in a Gospel way rooted in humility and grace.  The religious pray-er does so to earn the praise of others; the Gospel pray-er does so to be with God.

In a very famous parable of Jesus in Luke 15 of "the lost son" (or "the prodigal"), we see the results of two sons that both are trying to prove themselves and turn away from their loving Father.  But as that fails, one son returns to the Father and the other rejects the Father.  Both receive prodigal grace and don't need to prove themselves to him.

God is GOOD, therefore I don't have to look elsewhere for satisfaction.   In John 4, we find that God is good and he offers himself as a deep well of satisfaction.  And in our lives, satisfaction is not about what you have, but who you have.

When we understand how our glorious God sees our sin and shame from the cross, we will no longer fear others.  

Most people live trying to control circumstances and people around them for their own sense of security, significance, and approval.  And it leads to an unnecessary around of stress, impatience, and manipulation.  But the Gospel says that God is powerfully in control of all things...and that's good news!

At Hope Alliance Nazareth we are a "Gospel-centered family".  But what IS the Gospel?  The Gospel is the true declaration that Jesus is the victorious, rightful and eternal king that has brought peace to the world through his incarnation, death, and resurrection.  In short: Jesus is Lord.

In this next phase of Hope Alliance and our desire to take all of Jesus to all of the Valley, we know that will take all of us blessing our spheres of influence.  The people of God have been called to be a blessing to the nations by loving our neighbors!

To grow more and mature disciples takes all of us inviting.  In the book of John we see that personal encounters with the person of Jesus should lead to personal invitations to Come and See!

Serving shapes us into Christ-likeness and strengthens us against the enemy of our souls.  And when we serve one another in the church, we are able to fulfill our calling of maturing as the body of Christ for the good of one another and the community.

Church is not a product to consume.  It's a people that commit.  As we move into what's "Next" for Hope Alliance, it will take all of us committing to Simply Jesus and to one another as fully engaged followers to live our the calling God has given us as a church family.

At Hope we are committed to making disciples to the glory of God.  To be intentional about this, we embrace a simply Jesus identity and a multi-congregational structure that desires to see the gospel within reach of every single person in the Lehigh Valley (and beyond). 

At Hope Alliance we want to grow for God's glory.  But HOW do we grow?  According to Jesus in Matthew 28, we grow by making MORE and MATURE disciples who bear the name of God and look like Jesus...all for the glory of God!

In this next season at Hope Alliance we want to focus on why and how we can grow Hope Alliance...for the glory of God!

On July 11 we celebrated a baby dedication and several baptisms.  In this talk we look into why we baptize people.   In short, it is an act of obedience, announcing and aligning our lives with the story of God's gracious rescue through Jesus!

After all the people of God have been through in the wilderness, God makes it clear that He will be faithful to finish what He started...to fulfill the promises He made to His people to provide for them and be with them.

In Numbers 32, some folks decided to settle for "good enough".  But doing so is never God's enough.  Moses knows this and challenges these folks that settling for good enough is a lack of faith that ignores direct commands of God and jeopardizes the faith of the community.

In Numbers 31 God brings judgement on the Midianites for their opposition to His kingdom advancement.  In His providence He has mercy on Israel but condemns Midian.   When we really analyze God's judgement, we find that we can either die to self because of His love or die in our sin because of our guilt.