You and I are the hope of the world whether they realize it or not.
With Jesus, the devil’s in trouble. Without Jesus, we’re in trouble.
Religion obstructs our perspective as it did during Jesus’ time on the earth. If you were to read the Combined Gospels of Love by Arthur Hawkins, you would see that Jesus constantly challenged the Pharisees and their message of elitism.
Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 23:
1 Then Jesus addressed both the crowds and his disciples and said,
2 “The religious scholars and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ throne as the authorized interpreters of the Law.
3 So listen and follow what they teach, but don’t do what they do, for they tell you one thing and do another.
4 They tie on your backs an oppressive burden of religious obligations and insist that you carry it, but will never lift a finger to help ease your load.
5 Everything they do is done for show and to be noticed by others. They want to be seen as holy, so they wear oversized prayer boxes on their arms and foreheads with Scriptures inside, and wear extra-long tassels on their outer garments.
6 They crave the seats of highest honor at banquets and in their meeting places.
7 And how they love to be admired by men with their titles of respect, aspiring to be recognized in public and have others call them ‘Reverend.’
8 “But you are to be different from that. You are not to be called ‘master,’ for you have only one Master, and you are all brothers and sisters.
9 And you are not to be addressed as ‘father,’ for you have one Father, who is in heaven.
10 Nor are you to be addressed as ‘teacher,’ for you have one Teacher, the Anointed One.
11 The greatest among you will be the one who always serves others from the heart.
12 Remember this: If you have a lofty opinion of yourself and seek to be honored, you will be humbled. But if you have a modest opinion of yourself and choose to humble yourself, you will be honored.”
To find out where people are at, listen and watch. Do they constantly exalt themselves or do they genuinely have your best interest at heart?
Jesus is the only Spiritual Teacher Who came back from the dead to prove His teaching! Jesus is the only Spiritual Teacher Who taught His lessons and then performed signs and wonders to prove His message. THIS IS THE BOTTOM LINE!!!
Jesus is confronted by a leper in Matthew chapter 8:
1 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him.
2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
3 Then Jesus put out His Hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 And Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Neither Aristotle nor Socrates could heal a leper with their philosophies. Technology couldn’t heal the leper either. Pharma isn’t able to heal though it could mask the symptoms to a degree. The Pharisees had no solution.
Paul wrote by The Holy Spirit in Ephesians chapter 2:
12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Without GOD, there is no hope. With GOD, hope abounds.
Jesus spoke in John chapter 14:
19 “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.
20 At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. 21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who Loves Me. And he who Loves Me will be Loved by My Father, and I will Love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Where Jesus is, hope abounds since He is able to change lives and give people true hope and expectation of a better life. Every other path is at best temporary in nature. It all starts with Love.