Hope is not "a set of observations, a collection of insights, or steps in a process".
So often the bible and the Good news about Jesus Christ become grouped into "a system of redemption" based upon a set of insights, principals, or constructs that create what people tag as a "religion".The Good news is that Jesus Christ is not a "religion". Jesus Christ is not "a system of redemption". Jesus Christ is not "a set of principals, a step process, nor a collection of personal insights".
Jesus Christ is a Redeemer. Jesus Christ is Hope.
The Good news about Jesus Christ is that He is for everyone ... not just for "good people" or "deserving people" but for everyone.
Jesus Christ is hope for the hopeless, the redeemer for the diseased.
Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life ... the only Hope that is able to not only redeem sinners, but to grant sinners "grace" -- heir-ship into the family of God ... eternally ... Heaven.
{Psalm 51:5} - Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Sin is the ultimate disease of everyone's life. Everyone is born with it ... no one can escape it or save themselves from it. Sin rules. We all are sinners ... and not matter how hard we try, commit, or pledge to do what is right ... despite our best intentions ... we will fail and will fall into sin (doing exactly what we don't want to do).* We are unable to do what is right.
"For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
[Romans 7:19-20 ... Paul the Apostle]
"As sinners, we have a natural bent to turn away from the Creator to serve the creation. We turn away from hope in a Person to hope in systems, ideas, people, possessions, and even ourselves. Hope stares us in the face, but we do not see him. Instead we dig the mound of human ideas to extract a tiny shard of insight." No matter what we find, no matter how cosmetic or temporary the change ... the end result is the same ... disappointment, discontentment, confusion, and back to the place where we started ... still searching for "lasting heart-change".
-Paul David Tripp, Instrument in the Redeemers Hand
"When Jesus commissioned his disciples to minister in his name, this is the message he told them to proclaim. That "redemption" - not just change, but restoration ... is found in Jesus Christ. That as we face our own struggles with sin and minister to people who seem trapped by things they cannot overcome, that this message (the truth) ... would become the Good News:
"Hope is only to be found in Jesus Christ, the King of Kings ... God's Son. In him, lasting, personal heart change is possible"
Any other message encourages false hope.The world's philosophies are deceptive because it cannot deliver what it promises. It may be well researched and logically presented, but it is not centered on Christ.
Because Sin (the condition ... that results in the behavior) is what is wrong, true hope and help can only be found in a redeemer, in a person, in the hope -- In Jesus Christ Alone.
All other paths, all other methods, all other ideologies or "answers" will prove hollow.
There is no way "we" (alone) can do the "good" that God created us to do ...
The Good News is that there is a redeemer -- who not only restores your life ... but gives you life, (eternally).
You will not go to heaven by being a good person (so please don't take that gamble ... you have far too much to lose).
The way to Heaven -- eternity With God ... is through the Redeemer -- through a choice -- through The Hope -- Through Faith --- In Jesus Christ.
The Redeemer won't rescue me from hardship, suffering or loss. Jesus Christ is the Redeemer who comes to rescue me from myself.
There is Hope. There is "the answer". There is "the way". There is "a redeemer" ... his name is Jesus Christ.
Will you allow Jesus to be "the Redeemer" that brings your life "lasting heart change"??
Will you allow Jesus to grant you the gift of eternal life in Heaven ... with God??
Jesus is Hope! :)Jesus said to her, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." [ John 11:25-27]
27"Yes, Lord," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." [ John 11:25-27]
"He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. 5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. "
12 "For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. "
{Isaiah 53:3-6,12} ... written by the Prophet Isaiah hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born
We will always struggle ... we will collide with failure, short-comings, and disappointments that our sins have created for us. Beyond the love, encouragement, and support that we need ... we need rescue and Jesus is that redeemer. Jesus is hope and the love that will carry us through this life into the next; Jesus is love that will never fail.
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