May 31, 2026 • 51 mins
A program of word and music featuring an eclectic mix of Christian music and teaching by Pastor Tom Cullen and Brian Evans. Mac Wigfield starts the program with southern gospel classics.
Produced in Uxbridge, Ontario, Canada.
Christian Artists featured are:
Barry Rowland
Crist Family
Carrol Roberson
Nicol Sponberg
Bob Bennett
Sara Groves
Steve Darmody
City Allight
Robin Mark
Guy Penrod
Matt Boswell
Thank you for listening to HOPE TODAY. This is a program developed at Light & Life Programming, a registered charity. We are listener supported. If you would like to help with this ministry, donations can be made through our website at www.lightnlife.ca.
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Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_01 (00:04):
Thank you for joining us for this program of
Hope Today, a program of faithpresented through music and
teaching.
We are so glad that you arehere.
Continuing with our story ofJoseph as found in Genesis,
Pastor Tom Cullen will behelping us all find true hope.
Hope is what we are all lookingfor, but that often eludes us,
(00:28):
because, maybe, we are lookingin the wrong places.
Pastor Tom will be helping usunderstand where to find hope,
as we see in the life of Joseph.
This time, on Hope Today.
First, we look forward now toinvite Mac Wigfield to bring
encouragement in gospel music.
In these next few moments, won'tyou sit back and be blessed?
Mac (00:53):
Thank you, Brian.
Let's set the stage, shall we,for our program today on hope
with a song about just that, thesource of our hope.
Gary Roland and deliverance.
song (02:08):
He has there is nothing.
(02:57):
All the wonders he performed forhis children.
Mac (05:15):
And the obvious question, how can that be?
The Christian family will tellus his strength is perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Through Christ who gives me strength.
But sometimes I want to knowwhat he can do through me.
No great success to show.
No glory of my eyes.
(05:51):
Yet in my weakness, he is thereto let me know.
When our strength is gone.
(07:51):
His strength is perfect.
Mac (09:09):
And the key to it all is a God who hears and answers
prayer.
Here's Carol Roberson.
SPEAKER_08 (09:18):
I know I can explain.
(09:39):
When I fall down on my knees, Ifeel God's hand on me, and when
my heart I shake, God hears mypraise.
(10:01):
The troubles that no one knowsThere's a place I can go.
I can go when I need strength.
God's help is right on time,right on time, even when my
(10:24):
words are few.
He knows my thoughts are true.
Anytime or anyway.
(11:04):
Always new, even when my wordsare few.
He knows my thoughts are trueanytime or anyway.
God hears my prayer, God hearsmy.
Tom (15:45):
Of course I will.
How will I ever forget you?
(16:44):
Everyone had forgotten.
His brothers had sold him intoslavery.
And now this man everyone hadforgotten.
Hear God's promise from his wordin Isaiah chapter 49, verse 15.
(17:14):
Bob Bennett sings, Hope like astranger.
SPEAKER_06 (17:17):
Hope like a stranger came to my door.
I was afraid I was rude.
What are you coming here for?
Have you come to stay, or areyou just passing through?
I've seen your face, but I donot know you.
(17:41):
You said you know me, but I'vehad to remain hidden in the
shadows of your sorrow and pain.
For you have lived your life asa slave, so it seems.
Believing your nightmaresinstead of your dreams.
(18:10):
Like a dare, can you mask themysteries of your heart?
For the thing that you dismissedwith your cynical facade, was
the hope you'd been given fromthe very heart of God, and it
(18:32):
drove you in secret, but youheld it close at bay.
And you tried to disown me, butyou're not made to be that way.
And so I stand here longing, forno matter where you run, I will
wait like the father of theprodigal son.
(19:26):
It can never be an end.
Unless the value is a given.
The bargain's incomplete.
Then he showed me the scars onhis hands and his feet.
(19:49):
I touched his wounds as Isteadied my nerve.
He said I'd only bear the marksof the master I serve.
And he sends me here to tell youI am bound up with him.
You do well when he comes, whilestill letting me in me like a
(20:38):
stranger came to my door.
But he's risen and he stays astranger no more.
Tom (20:53):
It seemed like everyone had forgotten Joseph, but not God.
When Joseph was to look back onhis whole situation, he could
see that God was with him.
Even in prison.
He would affirm the promise thatcame years later through the
prophet Isaiah in chapter 49.
Can a mother forget the baby hadher breath and have no
(21:14):
compassion on the child she wasborn?
I will not forget you.
I haven't forgotten you on thewonderful.
(22:00):
They blended into another, andit was very easy to despair in
the midst of it.
But through it all, God keptreminding me that he was mindful
of me, that he hadn't abandonedme, and he hadn't forgotten me.
I remember one time being in thehospital for a lung biopsy.
It was a scary procedure becauseI had to tell you all the things
(22:21):
that might possibly go wrong.
Thankfully, it all went well.
And afterward, as I wasrecovering on a grenade in the
hall, I met a woman carrying abag.
I knew in an instant that it wasa Bible.
We struck up a conversation, andas a dear woman who was there to
visit her mother was like anangel to me.
(22:46):
It was God's way of telling methat he had not forgotten me.
Today God has sent me to tellyou he's not abandoned you.
Continue to place your hope inhim.
He will remain faithful.
He was for me.
(23:07):
He was for Joseph.
And he will be for you.
So Sarah Groves testifies.
He's always been faithful.
SPEAKER_12 (23:34):
Season by season I watch him amazed in all the
mystery of his perfect ways.
All I have needed his hand willprovide.
(24:17):
He did not recycle to bring mecage.
I can't remember one singleregret in serving God only and
trusting his hand for my hand.
(24:42):
His hand will sight.
(25:25):
The theme of the stories I'veheard for so long.
He has been faithful, He will beagain His loving compassion in
us now.
(25:47):
All I have His hand will wise.
SPEAKER_01 (27:13):
The year following his graduation from Yale
University in 1830, he becamevery discouraged as he battled
illness and loneliness.
One night, as he read a Germanpoem that depicted a needy
sinner kneeling before the crossof Christ, he was deeply moved.
Ray translated the poem intoEnglish, and subsequently the
(27:37):
four stanzas that eventuallybecame the text for our hymn
today.
Palmer remembers, and I quote,the words for these stanzas were
born out of my own soul, withvery little effort.
I wrote the words with tenderemotion, the message that the
work of redemption and salvationwould bear me safely above, as a
(28:00):
ransomed soul, and it broughtabundant tears of joy.
He happened upon his friend Dr.
Lowell Mason, who in the courseof their conversation asked Ray
if he knew of any good text tobe used in a publication that
Dr.
Mason was preparing.
Hesitantly, Ray copied the wordshe had written.
(28:23):
With music composed, the hymn,My Faith Looks Up to Thee, was
finished, and has been used inmost evangelical hymn books
published ever since.
Your spirit will understandthese meaningful words as Steve
Darmodi sings.
Tom (30:37):
Yet when Joseph looked back on the whole situation years
later, after he was promoted toPrime Minister of Egypt, he
would say, God meant it forgood.
It's a valuable lesson for us.
Sometimes when hope seems dim,we have to remember that we
don't see the whole picture.
(31:15):
And in one of her favouriteillustrations, she would take
out a handmade bannerembroidered with multicolored
thread, red, horrible, black,metallic gold.
She would explain that itrepresented the glorious life
away in the next world.
(31:42):
Oh, I forgot what Cory wouldexclaim.
You're seeing it from the wrongside.
Turning the cloth around, Icould hold it up again.
From heaven's side, it revealeda magnificent crown, a design
God was weaving for eternitywith the seemingly mismatched
threads of an earthly lifetime.
(32:04):
So for you and me.
Wherever we may be, whatever wemay be dealing with now, God is
at work and moving forward withhis invincible purpose.
Trust him.
SPEAKER_10 (32:29):
There is no more for heaven now to give.
song (33:03):
Oh how strange and divine I can see more than mine, but
through Christ in me The nightis dark, but I am not forsaking
(33:33):
For by my side this day he willstay I labor on in weakness and
joy For in my need his power isdisplay To discipline much and
(33:58):
meet the Oh the night thattouched that all the gold beat
But too quite touch bed I don'tthink that's bad I can't stay I
(35:15):
can't pray and not throughChrist.
Tom (35:29):
In the midst of that dark, lonely jail, Joseph was
forgotten.
But it was also a time when hewas being prepared for the work
that God had for him as PrimeMinister of Egypt.
There in the depth his skills asa manager and leader were being
honed, as Scripture tells usthat he was given responsibility
(35:49):
for all that was done in theprison.
I wonder if during a difficulttime we can gain a foothold in
hope by thinking of thosedifficult times as a helpful.
I know it's not how we usuallythink.
(36:47):
God had been preparing Joseph.
And we sure God's rules are notlike ours.
We would have sent Joseph topresident to prepare him for
leadership of a nation.
Instead, God sent him to prison.
Through the difficult times, Godis preparing us.
He's shaping our character,cutting away the rough edges,
(37:07):
making us into men and womenwhom he can use to minister for
him and with him.
So we pray along with Rob andMark, guide me, O thou great
Jehovah.
SPEAKER_09 (37:19):
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.
Tom (40:40):
In the midst of difficulties and trials, the
people of God are still able topraise Him.
Why?
For at least ten thousandreasons.
SPEAKER_04 (40:50):
Guy Penrod sings, Bless the Lord of my soul.
Worship his holy name.
(41:26):
It's a new day dawn.
It's time to sing your songagain.
Whatever may pass and whateverlies before me.
Let me be singing when eveningcomes.
(41:56):
Oh my soul, worship his holyname, sing like never before.
Oh my soul, I'll worship yourholy name, your rich in love,
(42:26):
and your soul to rain.
Your name is great, and yourheart is kind.
For all your goodness I willkeep on seeing ten thousand
(42:46):
reasons for my heart.
Bless the Lord on my soul.
Oh my soul.
song (43:10):
Oh worship.
SPEAKER_04 (43:53):
The end draws near, and my time has come.
Still, my soul will see yourpraise ten thousand years and
ten forever.
song (45:06):
I'll worship your holy name.
I'll worship you, I'll worshipyour name.
SPEAKER_04 (45:19):
I'll worship your whole time difficult to grasp it
and hold on to it.
Tom (46:02):
And he died on the cross for your sin and mine.
And while he hung there, hecried out, My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?
You see, he experienced what itwas like to be truly forgotten
by God as he bore your sin.
So that you never have toexperience that.
You will never be forgotten byGod.
(46:25):
Turn to him in faith and knowthe hope that is in Jesus Christ
your Savior and Lord.
Here's Matt Boswell with BlessedAssurance.
song (46:37):
Blessed Assurance.
SPEAKER_01 (46:46):
Oh, what a full taste of both Earth salvation,
purchase of love, born of hisdream, watch the master, to my
(47:18):
store, breast in my stay, allthe day to my store, rest of my
store, my stay, all the dayPerfect nature, perfection,
(48:00):
visions of rapture, numbers fromeyes, Angels distended Bring
from Ub Echoes of Murphy's mindstore This is my store Praising
(48:36):
Might State all the day long allthe day long perfect submersion
(49:19):
all is at rest I and my savioram happy and less watching and
wait I'm looking up Hope Certainhope Hope that brings assurance
(49:43):
That is the hope that can onlybe found in the eternal God He
brought hope to Joseph and isstill bringing hope to all of us
these many centuries later Thesame God who has not changed the
same hope You may want to hearthis program or a previous one
again or you may want to share aprogram with a friend you can do
(50:06):
all that by visitingwww.lightandlife.ca through the
website you can also send PastorTom and our team a note.
We would love to hear yourstory.
Hope today is produced atStraight Pass Studio.
We look forward to being withyou and your friends next time
for another program of Hope.
(50:28):
Until then, keep looking ahead.
Jesus is coming again.
Thank you for joining us for this program of
Hope Today, a program of faithpresented through music and
teaching.
We are so glad that you arehere.
Continuing with our story ofJoseph as found in Genesis,
Pastor Tom Cullen will behelping us all find true hope.
Hope is what we are all lookingfor, but that often eludes us,
(00:28):
because, maybe, we are lookingin the wrong places.
Pastor Tom will be helping usunderstand where to find hope,
as we see in the life of Joseph.
This time, on Hope Today.
First, we look forward now toinvite Mac Wigfield to bring
encouragement in gospel music.
In these next few moments, won'tyou sit back and be blessed?
Mac (00:53):
Thank you, Brian.
Let's set the stage, shall we,for our program today on hope
with a song about just that, thesource of our hope.
Gary Roland and deliverance.
song (02:08):
He has there is nothing.
(02:57):
All the wonders he performed forhis children.
Mac (05:15):
And the obvious question, how can that be?
The Christian family will tellus his strength is perfect.
SPEAKER_02 (05:27):
Through Christ who gives me strength.
But sometimes I want to knowwhat he can do through me.
No great success to show.
No glory of my eyes.
(05:51):
Yet in my weakness, he is thereto let me know.
When our strength is gone.
(07:51):
His strength is perfect.
Mac (09:09):
And the key to it all is a God who hears and answers
prayer.
Here's Carol Roberson.
SPEAKER_08 (09:18):
I know I can explain.
(09:39):
When I fall down on my knees, Ifeel God's hand on me, and when
my heart I shake, God hears mypraise.
(10:01):
The troubles that no one knowsThere's a place I can go.
I can go when I need strength.
God's help is right on time,right on time, even when my
(10:24):
words are few.
He knows my thoughts are true.
Anytime or anyway.
(11:04):
Always new, even when my wordsare few.
He knows my thoughts are trueanytime or anyway.
God hears my prayer, God hearsmy.
Tom (15:45):
Of course I will.
How will I ever forget you?
(16:44):
Everyone had forgotten.
His brothers had sold him intoslavery.
And now this man everyone hadforgotten.
Hear God's promise from his wordin Isaiah chapter 49, verse 15.
(17:14):
Bob Bennett sings, Hope like astranger.
SPEAKER_06 (17:17):
Hope like a stranger came to my door.
I was afraid I was rude.
What are you coming here for?
Have you come to stay, or areyou just passing through?
I've seen your face, but I donot know you.
(17:41):
You said you know me, but I'vehad to remain hidden in the
shadows of your sorrow and pain.
For you have lived your life asa slave, so it seems.
Believing your nightmaresinstead of your dreams.
(18:10):
Like a dare, can you mask themysteries of your heart?
For the thing that you dismissedwith your cynical facade, was
the hope you'd been given fromthe very heart of God, and it
(18:32):
drove you in secret, but youheld it close at bay.
And you tried to disown me, butyou're not made to be that way.
And so I stand here longing, forno matter where you run, I will
wait like the father of theprodigal son.
(19:26):
It can never be an end.
Unless the value is a given.
The bargain's incomplete.
Then he showed me the scars onhis hands and his feet.
(19:49):
I touched his wounds as Isteadied my nerve.
He said I'd only bear the marksof the master I serve.
And he sends me here to tell youI am bound up with him.
You do well when he comes, whilestill letting me in me like a
(20:38):
stranger came to my door.
But he's risen and he stays astranger no more.
Tom (20:53):
It seemed like everyone had forgotten Joseph, but not God.
When Joseph was to look back onhis whole situation, he could
see that God was with him.
Even in prison.
He would affirm the promise thatcame years later through the
prophet Isaiah in chapter 49.
Can a mother forget the baby hadher breath and have no
(21:14):
compassion on the child she wasborn?
I will not forget you.
I haven't forgotten you on thewonderful.
(22:00):
They blended into another, andit was very easy to despair in
the midst of it.
But through it all, God keptreminding me that he was mindful
of me, that he hadn't abandonedme, and he hadn't forgotten me.
I remember one time being in thehospital for a lung biopsy.
It was a scary procedure becauseI had to tell you all the things
(22:21):
that might possibly go wrong.
Thankfully, it all went well.
And afterward, as I wasrecovering on a grenade in the
hall, I met a woman carrying abag.
I knew in an instant that it wasa Bible.
We struck up a conversation, andas a dear woman who was there to
visit her mother was like anangel to me.
(22:46):
It was God's way of telling methat he had not forgotten me.
Today God has sent me to tellyou he's not abandoned you.
Continue to place your hope inhim.
He will remain faithful.
He was for me.
(23:07):
He was for Joseph.
And he will be for you.
So Sarah Groves testifies.
He's always been faithful.
SPEAKER_12 (23:34):
Season by season I watch him amazed in all the
mystery of his perfect ways.
All I have needed his hand willprovide.
(24:17):
He did not recycle to bring mecage.
I can't remember one singleregret in serving God only and
trusting his hand for my hand.
(24:42):
His hand will sight.
(25:25):
The theme of the stories I'veheard for so long.
He has been faithful, He will beagain His loving compassion in
us now.
(25:47):
All I have His hand will wise.
SPEAKER_01 (27:13):
The year following his graduation from Yale
University in 1830, he becamevery discouraged as he battled
illness and loneliness.
One night, as he read a Germanpoem that depicted a needy
sinner kneeling before the crossof Christ, he was deeply moved.
Ray translated the poem intoEnglish, and subsequently the
(27:37):
four stanzas that eventuallybecame the text for our hymn
today.
Palmer remembers, and I quote,the words for these stanzas were
born out of my own soul, withvery little effort.
I wrote the words with tenderemotion, the message that the
work of redemption and salvationwould bear me safely above, as a
(28:00):
ransomed soul, and it broughtabundant tears of joy.
He happened upon his friend Dr.
Lowell Mason, who in the courseof their conversation asked Ray
if he knew of any good text tobe used in a publication that
Dr.
Mason was preparing.
Hesitantly, Ray copied the wordshe had written.
(28:23):
With music composed, the hymn,My Faith Looks Up to Thee, was
finished, and has been used inmost evangelical hymn books
published ever since.
Your spirit will understandthese meaningful words as Steve
Darmodi sings.
Tom (30:37):
Yet when Joseph looked back on the whole situation years
later, after he was promoted toPrime Minister of Egypt, he
would say, God meant it forgood.
It's a valuable lesson for us.
Sometimes when hope seems dim,we have to remember that we
don't see the whole picture.
(31:15):
And in one of her favouriteillustrations, she would take
out a handmade bannerembroidered with multicolored
thread, red, horrible, black,metallic gold.
She would explain that itrepresented the glorious life
away in the next world.
(31:42):
Oh, I forgot what Cory wouldexclaim.
You're seeing it from the wrongside.
Turning the cloth around, Icould hold it up again.
From heaven's side, it revealeda magnificent crown, a design
God was weaving for eternitywith the seemingly mismatched
threads of an earthly lifetime.
(32:04):
So for you and me.
Wherever we may be, whatever wemay be dealing with now, God is
at work and moving forward withhis invincible purpose.
Trust him.
SPEAKER_10 (32:29):
There is no more for heaven now to give.
song (33:03):
Oh how strange and divine I can see more than mine, but
through Christ in me The nightis dark, but I am not forsaking
(33:33):
For by my side this day he willstay I labor on in weakness and
joy For in my need his power isdisplay To discipline much and
(33:58):
meet the Oh the night thattouched that all the gold beat
But too quite touch bed I don'tthink that's bad I can't stay I
(35:15):
can't pray and not throughChrist.
Tom (35:29):
In the midst of that dark, lonely jail, Joseph was
forgotten.
But it was also a time when hewas being prepared for the work
that God had for him as PrimeMinister of Egypt.
There in the depth his skills asa manager and leader were being
honed, as Scripture tells usthat he was given responsibility
(35:49):
for all that was done in theprison.
I wonder if during a difficulttime we can gain a foothold in
hope by thinking of thosedifficult times as a helpful.
I know it's not how we usuallythink.
(36:47):
God had been preparing Joseph.
And we sure God's rules are notlike ours.
We would have sent Joseph topresident to prepare him for
leadership of a nation.
Instead, God sent him to prison.
Through the difficult times, Godis preparing us.
He's shaping our character,cutting away the rough edges,
(37:07):
making us into men and womenwhom he can use to minister for
him and with him.
So we pray along with Rob andMark, guide me, O thou great
Jehovah.
SPEAKER_09 (37:19):
Guide me, O thou great Jehovah.
Tom (40:40):
In the midst of difficulties and trials, the
people of God are still able topraise Him.
Why?
For at least ten thousandreasons.
SPEAKER_04 (40:50):
Guy Penrod sings, Bless the Lord of my soul.
Worship his holy name.
(41:26):
It's a new day dawn.
It's time to sing your songagain.
Whatever may pass and whateverlies before me.
Let me be singing when eveningcomes.
(41:56):
Oh my soul, worship his holyname, sing like never before.
Oh my soul, I'll worship yourholy name, your rich in love,
(42:26):
and your soul to rain.
Your name is great, and yourheart is kind.
For all your goodness I willkeep on seeing ten thousand
(42:46):
reasons for my heart.
Bless the Lord on my soul.
Oh my soul.
song (43:10):
Oh worship.
SPEAKER_04 (43:53):
The end draws near, and my time has come.
Still, my soul will see yourpraise ten thousand years and
ten forever.
song (45:06):
I'll worship your holy name.
I'll worship you, I'll worshipyour name.
SPEAKER_04 (45:19):
I'll worship your whole time difficult to grasp it
and hold on to it.
Tom (46:02):
And he died on the cross for your sin and mine.
And while he hung there, hecried out, My God, my God, why
have you forsaken me?
You see, he experienced what itwas like to be truly forgotten
by God as he bore your sin.
So that you never have toexperience that.
You will never be forgotten byGod.
(46:25):
Turn to him in faith and knowthe hope that is in Jesus Christ
your Savior and Lord.
Here's Matt Boswell with BlessedAssurance.
song (46:37):
Blessed Assurance.
SPEAKER_01 (46:46):
Oh, what a full taste of both Earth salvation,
purchase of love, born of hisdream, watch the master, to my
(47:18):
store, breast in my stay, allthe day to my store, rest of my
store, my stay, all the dayPerfect nature, perfection,
(48:00):
visions of rapture, numbers fromeyes, Angels distended Bring
from Ub Echoes of Murphy's mindstore This is my store Praising
(48:36):
Might State all the day long allthe day long perfect submersion
(49:19):
all is at rest I and my savioram happy and less watching and
wait I'm looking up Hope Certainhope Hope that brings assurance
(49:43):
That is the hope that can onlybe found in the eternal God He
brought hope to Joseph and isstill bringing hope to all of us
these many centuries later Thesame God who has not changed the
same hope You may want to hearthis program or a previous one
again or you may want to share aprogram with a friend you can do
(50:06):
all that by visitingwww.lightandlife.ca through the
website you can also send PastorTom and our team a note.
We would love to hear yourstory.
Hope today is produced atStraight Pass Studio.
We look forward to being withyou and your friends next time
for another program of Hope.
(50:28):
Until then, keep looking ahead.
Jesus is coming again.
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