I was deeply touched by meeting a lady in the South Bronx last week. “Sherry” has six months to live. It is very difficult for her to receive the grace, love and forgiveness of God into her life because of all of the bad things she has done. Without Christ, she has no hope.

It has been the mission of our ministry for over 30 years to serve the poor and suffering, to love them with God’s unconditional love, to build relationships built on grace and trust, and to bring the hope of the Gospel with relevance into their needs. We pray that Sherry will give her life completely into Christ’s hands, but if she does not, she will receive all of the grace and unconditional love that we can give her through Christ.

There is much talk in God’s church today about wealth and prosperity even though there is no scripture that tells us that God wants us to be wealthy and prosper with material things, but there is an abundance of scripture about reaching the needs of the poor. Of all of the scriptures from the Law and the Prophets that Jesus could have read in His home synagogue in Nazareth (Luke 4:16-19), He chose the words of Isaiah 61 which begins with these words, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.” The scripture goes on to tell us that Christ did not come to bring wealth and prosperity to the poor, but something far more valuable – the favor of God.

In Matthew 24:5, Jesus said that many will come in the last days “claiming I am the Messiah. They will deceive many.” There are many preachers and teachers today bringing deception by enticing us to focus on wealth and prosperity. How interesting that they never speak about ministry to the poor. If our focus is on material gain, Satan is able to distract us from the very thing Jesus said He came for, “to proclaim good news to the poor … that the time of the Lord’s favor has come … to bring beauty from ashes, joy instead of mourning, and hope in place of despair” (Isaiah 61:1-3).

Let us not forget Christ’s mission to the poor. Let us bring the hope, grace and unconditional love of the Gospel to those who are in the greatest need. We are Jesus’ hands and feet in this world. It is now our mission to proclaim good news to the poor.