“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 Death^1,2,3

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

The Message of Hope and the Light for Today’s World Full of Darkness: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

The Message of Hope and the Light for Today’s World Full of Darkness: “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

MESSAGE SUMMARY: In this Christmas Message video from the Chairman of Gafcon and the Archbishop of North America, Foley Beach, he reminds us how, in the midst of this most unusual year, we still celebrate Christmas because God has chosen to dwell among us. We can be confident God walks with us and will walk with us as we recall the fulfillment of his prophecy. We can be assured God is acquainted with the sorrows and routines of our lives because we know His Son, Jesus Christ, was obedient to the cross and rose again. And we can be comforted by the Holy Spirit whom we can call on, even in the darkest and strangest of times.

We hope you find encouragement through this video as you go into your Christmas celebrations, however different they may be this year. May you know the true gift and joy found in Christ and in turn, join us in proclaiming him faithfully in your family, your neighborhood and throughout all the nations. 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Message By Archbishop Foley Beach:

“I bring you Christmas greetings from Atlanta, Georgia!

As someone who grew up on the streets of Atlanta for part of my childhood, I thought it would be good for you to see what’s happening here now.

I know that so many of us have had a crazy year with the Covid pandemic. Many of us have lost friends and family members. Some of us have been sick with the virus ourselves. Many of us have lost our jobs. Many of us have lost our homes and places to live. A lot of people are suffering.

Businesses have had to close down. There’s social unrest. People are having difficulty. And here in the midst of this you can see that people have tried to express it in so many different ways. It’s an unusual time, but in the midst of this we celebrate Christmas.

We’re taken back to Bethlehem where God entered the world through His Son, Jesus Christ, where He brought hope to a world that was suffering in sin and suffering in loneliness and suffering in isolation. This incredible message that we have to proclaim, I want to proclaim to you again, that God loves you so much, He loves me so much, that He sent His Son into the world.

As the apostle John said in John 1:14, ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory of the only begotten Son of the Father.’

‘The Word became flesh.’ J.B. Phillips translates that, ‘and the Word pitched His tent among us.’ The Message translates that, ‘the Word became flesh and blood and moved into our neighborhood.’ In other words, God came to be with us! And not only did He live with us in the person of Jesus Christ and to His death and resurrection opened for us the way to have an eternal relationship with Him through the forgiveness of our sins, but also through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

For those who come to Him in faith, for those who believe in Him, He gives this incredible gift, the gift of the Holy Spirit – which means God literally tabernacles with us. He dwells in us. He pitches His tent in our life. We are never alone.

Now, some of you are feeling lonely. Some of you are feeling isolated. But because of what God has done for you, you are not alone. He’s with you, and He cares for you, and He will help you.

Sometimes all we can do is call on His name: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. When we do that, His presence becomes real to us.

So, during this Christmas time, whatever it is you might be facing, remember that God wants you to have hope. He wants you to have life. He wants you to have His forgiveness. And, above all, He wants you to have Love.

So, as you celebrate Christmas in your own way, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing and by the power of the Holy Spirit give you hope.’ (Romans 15:13).”

For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven,

was incarnate from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary,

and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;

he suffered death and was buried.

 On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;

he ascended into heaven

and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

 He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,

and his kingdom will have no end.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Procrastination. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Self-Control. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV):  John 1:1-18; Luke 2:1-21.

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

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

“In the Beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God . . . In him was life, in the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”

“In the Beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God . . . In him was life, in the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness and the darkness has not overcome it”

MESSAGE SUMMARY: As we head into the Christmas season with many churches still meeting online, we want to bring Global Christians and the Gafcon Anglican families together again to celebrate the Word made flesh. We hope and pray that you know the unity of the Spirit as you watch members of Gafcon, from around the World, reading John chapter 1, just as at Pentecost in the First Christian Church. Also, the closing video is from a gathering Anglicans at the Temple Wall in Jerusalem; and it illustrates the global impact of Christianity around the World, today, as the “Light of the World’ grows brighter this Christmas in spite of all our fears and uncertainties brought to us by the “darkness”  because “In him was life, in the life was the light of men. The light shines in darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5).

During the current season of Advent, we have been thinking and praying for our brothers and sisters who are suffering for their faith. John 1 shows that Jesus is our example in suffering: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him (John1:11). Our faith and our suffering are not in vain, because: “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” (John 13:14). Our hope is secure.

We continue to wait for His second coming and we rejoice in the promise of salvation that His first coming brought. We join with fellow believers around the world to proclaim Christ faithfully to a world in desperate need of His grace and truth, especially as we celebrate the Incarnate birth of Jesus this Christmas: Joy to the World, the Lord is come!! Merry Christmas!

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, Because of who I am in Jesus Christ, I will not be driven by Past Failures. Rather, I will abide in the Lord’s Grace. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): John 1:1-19.

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

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB

God Served Us, through Grace, with the Birth of Jesus; How Do You Serve Others?

MESSAGE SUMMARY: When we show up at our church on Sunday, what is our purpose – is it to serve or to be served? Too many of us go to church seeking what the church can do for us. Our church should provide us a place to worship Jesus in Spirit and in the truth of His Word. Also, our church should provide a chance to serve others -- To serve is Christ. We will never be more like Jesus than when we are serving others. We are all serving someone, but who are we serving; are we serving ourselves or others? In Mark 10:43b-45, Jesus explains that His followers must have mind focused on service and being a servant to others: “But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”. The longer that we stay focused on ourselves and not God or others, the longer we will remain stuck in a miserable spiritual condition. To serve is Christ.

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, because of I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Compulsions. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit’s fruit of Patience. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f).

THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “Christmas: In a World Full of Uncertainties, Leading to Fear, the Light Has Come Into the World", at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “Today, the World Needs to be Renewed With an Outpouring of the Holy Spirit - a Global Spiritual Awakening”: www.AWFTL.org/watch.

DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?