Hope Alliance Bethlehem

It is the way of God that leads to thriving. How do we live God's way? At the core, we have to desire God himself. When we are deeply aware of what God has done and is doing, our affection for him gr…

Jesus tells us that eternal life is the full experience of knowing God - being in an intimate, life giving relationship with him. This is the blessed life. The path toward this blessing starts with a…

Self-control implies a power exerted over yourself. Its not so much self effort as it is self-submission to the Spirit. It submits our personal desires to the Spirit of God. Self-control is exhibited…

Gentleness is not weakness or timidity. Rather it passion and volition in submission to a greater reality. Biblical gentleness, then, is passion fully submitted to God and the forward move of his kin…

Faithfulness is the restful of active trust in God. It is consistency and persistence in faith to the benefit of those around us. God shows us what faithfulness is like through his commitment to keep…

Goodness is the internal integrity of a gospel transformed person that results in the blessing of others. Hypocritical livings keeps us from being people of genuine goodness. However, when we coopera…

Biblical kindness is goodness made useful to others. It moves toward people to meet their needs. Kindness looks like acts of mercy, even to those we might consider enemies. And it sounds like using o…

Patience is a choice to take the long view. In our patience, we trust God as judge and we join him in taking a posture of redemption and restoration in our world. Waiting, humility and forgiveness ar…

Peace is not a feeling. It is a fruit. It is the offering of new creation only found through Jesus  to the broken world around us. Where the fruit of peace is growing, injustice is decreasing, harmon…

Joy, as a fruit of the Spirit, cannot be produced but can be promoted through our beliefs and the leading of the Spirit.  When we focus on God's faithfulness we find joy.  And when we focus our purpo…

Love is the singular fruit of the Spirit, but it comes in all kinds of varieties and manifestations. There is not peace, patience, kindness, or any others without love. Moreover, biblical love is sel…

Exodus closes with the building of the tabernacle. Its a wonderful picture of generosity in sacrifice and service for the kingdom of God. It is also a tremendous act of faith and expectancy. Massive …

After the massive failure of the golden calf, Moses enters into a lengthy negotiation with God about the future of Israel. Rather than father a new nation, Moses offers himself as a substitute sacrif…

The golden calf incident is a story of massive failure. More than simply making an idol, Israel was compromising the grandeur and totality of God with their local surroundings and embracing a plurali…

When it came time to actually build the tabernacle and its contents, God pointed Moses to a man named Bezalel. God had gifted him with the right talent and abilities and filled him with his Spirit. I…

If God is going to live amongst a broken people, then the role of the high priest is critical. He will represent God to man and he will represent man to God, cultivating the necessary balance. But st…

Among the first instructions God gives Moses, are those to build the tabernacle. This will be the place that God resides and from which he leads the people. This stunning revelation of God's intent t…

After giving the law, God enacts a covenant with his people. He will lead them and defeat their enemies, but they must listen and obey his voice, staying true to him.  A sacrifice is made and the blo…

The Covenant Code of Exodus is a series of laws and societal expectations that flow out of the Ten Commandments into the context of Israel forming as a nation. Through them we can see God's intent th…

To walk with Jesus is necessarily to walk in community. The Bible portrays community as a state of togetherness - regular proximity - and intentionally meeting each others needs.  The blessing of com…