“Christ Our Hope In Life and Death” by Keith & Kristyn Getty, Matt Papa: Jesus Is “Hope” for a Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today

“Christ Our Hope In Life and Death” by Keith & Kristyn Getty, Matt Papa: Jesus Is “Hope” for a Wave of Loneliness and Uncertainty Sweeping Our World Today

MESSAGE SUMMARY: In Covid-19, we are isolated, both physically and emotionally. The human interaction, which we crave in our worship, business, school, and families is limited or nonexistent. This interaction has given way to fear and a wave of loneliness, uncertainty, and darkness that are sweeping across our world today. Online communications have been helpful, but they are not a replacement for interaction and “hope”. For “hope" we must turn to Jesus whose birthday we celebrate again this Christmas.

As the Apostle John tells us in John 1:4-5: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”. In Luke 2:11, the Angels further solidify Jesus as a source of our “hope”, by telling us of God’s promise and Grace: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”. But God did not stop with providing “Christ Our Hope In Life and Death”; Jesus promised the Holy Spirit as a 24/7 “helper” and a “counselor”, in John 16:13,15:26, to all Followers of Jesus: “When the {Holy}Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come . . . But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the {Holy} Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.”.

With God’s great gift of the Holy Spirit, you are never alone, and we have a never-ending source of “hope” – if you just call out to Him, “Jesus”, in your darkness and loneliness and you have “hope” because “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”. In the great song of “hope”, Christ Our Hope In Life and Death performed by Keith & Kristyn Getty and Matt Papa and included in this Devotional, we are brought to the great “hope” for us as Followers of Jesus. The lyrics below, of this included song, provide a reinforcement that Christ is here to walk with you through all your loneliness and uncertainties:

Christ Our Hope In Life and Death1,2,3

What is our hope in life and death?

Christ alone, Christ alone.

What is our only confidence?

That our souls to him belong.

Who holds our days within his hand?

What comes, apart from his command?

And what will keep us to the end?

The love of Christ, in which we stand.

O sing hallelujah!

Our hope springs eternal;

O sing hallelujah!

Now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death.

What truth can calm the troubled soul?

God is good, God is good.

Where is his grace and goodness known?

In our great Redeemer’s blood.

Who holds our faith when fears arise?

Who stands above the stormy trial?

Who sends the waves that bring us nigh

Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?

Unto the grave, what shall we sing?

“Christ, he lives; Christ, he lives!”

And what reward will heaven bring?

Everlasting life with him.

There we will rise to meet the Lord,

Then sin and death will be destroyed,

And we will feast in endless joy,

When Christ is ours forevermore.

________________________

1. Words and Music by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Papa, c2020 Getty Music Publishers (BMI)/Messenger Hymns (BMI) /Jordan Kauflin Music (BMI)/ Matthew Merker Music (BMI)/Getty Music Hymns and Songs (ASCAP)/Love Your Enemies Publishing (ASCAP)/adm. at MusicServices.org.
2. By permission to Gafcon’s Everyday Global Anglicans by Getty Music Publishers (BMI).
3. By permission from Gafcon’s Everyday Global Anglicans to A Word From The Lord, Inc.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because I am in Jesus Christ, I will entrust to Him my future. I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.  (From 2 Timothy 1:12).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): John 1:1-18; Luke 2:1-21; John 16:13; John 15;26.

THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “In this Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Focus Is More on the First Coming of Jesus: “and shall call his name Immanuel {God with Us}”", at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch