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God's Sovereignty

Timothy and the Holy Spirit

6 I’m writing to encourage you to fan into a flame and rekindle[a] the fire of the spiritual gift God imparted to you when I laid my hands upon you.

7 For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.

8 So never be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be embarrassed over my imprisonment, but overcome every evil by the revelation of the power of God!

9 He gave us resurrection life and drew us to himself by his holy calling on our lives. And it wasn’t because of any good we have done, but by his divine pleasure and marvelous grace that confirmed our union with the anointed Jesus, even before time began!

10 This truth is now being unveiled by the revelation of the anointed Jesus, our life-giver, who has dismantled death, obliterating all its effects on our lives, and has manifested his immortal life in us by the gospel.

2nd Timothy 1:6-10   (Passion Translation)

PS.  I have reflected on this passage for the last couple of days.  Roger

Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

“What is your only comfort in life and in death?” For centuries, believers have learned the Christian faith beginning with that question. It’s the first article in the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563. Why start there? Because death is our common fate. Unless Jesus returns first, we will all die. To find comfort in life, we must know how we can face death. Hope comes only in trusting the one who died to take the curse of death and who crushed the power of death by his resurrection. “Christ has been raised from the dead” (1 Cor 15:20). That is the only statement that can transform how we live each day, how we prepare for our earthly life to end.

The hope of the resurrection spurs us to sing. That’s why a group of songwriters from Getty Music wrote the modern hymn “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death.” Like the Heidelberg Catechism that inspired it, this song is honest about death. There is no need to shrink back from mentioning death in our hymns, because we know the Living One who has conquered death forever. The Christian can sing hallelujah, because Christ assures us of our glorious future. Now and ever, we confess: “I am not my own, but belong—body and soul in life and in death—to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ.”

Christ Our Hope in Life and Death

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.

Play the Audio  (then switch to previous tab to follow the words)

Music by Keith Getty, Matt Boswell, Jordan Kauflin, Matt Merker, and Matt Papa

© 2020 Getty Music Publishing (BMI) / Messenger Hymns (BMI) / Matthew Merker Music (BMI) /
Jordan Kauflin Music (BMI) / Getty Music Hymns and Songs (ASCAP) / Love Your Enemies Publishing (ASCAP)

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