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Comfort in a Crisis (2 Corinthians 1:1-11)
10 Plays24 days ago
Growing in Grace Devotions and Inspirations
Hosted by Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church
1700 Milam Street
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
http://fbccolumbustx.org/
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction & Ministry Details
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace with Pastor Victor Morrison. This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas. We are praying that God will bless you as you listen to this message.
00:00:22
Speaker
If you would like additional information on worship times and ministries at FBC Columbus, you can find out more at our website, fbccolumbustx.org. And now, take your copy of God's timeless Word as Pastor Victor gives today's message.
Dealing with Grief in the Community
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome to Growing in Grace. I know we're always just encouraging you and exhorting you to grow in grace, but how about growing in comfort? you know that within the last three weeks or so, I've spoken with people who are deep within the stages of grief over the loss of a family member?
00:01:02
Speaker
Now, pastorally, i agree that it is so hard to let go of a loved one. After all, I've stood by the side of over 100 in our congregation or community who have buried a family member over the last 18 years of my ministry here in Columbus.
Lessons from 2 Corinthians
00:01:21
Speaker
On a personal level, I also acknowledge the sorrow that felt almost unbearable when we said farewell to my father back in 1998. Well, some say that 2 Corinthians was the most emotional of all the apostle Paul's letters.
00:01:41
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He was writing those who had been hurt by others, betrayed by those closest to them, forsaken by friends and misunderstood by acquaintances. Grief over death is not the only type of crisis in life, is it? you know Comfort is also needed when someone loses a job, when one's health suffers a sudden and drastic setback.
00:02:05
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when a person slips into depression, or when a loved one begins to realize the limiting effects of aging. In chapter 1, the writer even references his own near-death experience in Asia.
00:02:22
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How did he personally cope with crises that brought him stress and loss? He mentions the word comfort 10 times in the 11 verses of our text today.
00:02:36
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I think that's a record biblically. I'm not sure I can point to another passage that mentions the word comfort that many times.
The Role of Comfort in Crisis
00:02:45
Speaker
So please join me, would you, as we consider comfort in a crisis based upon the uplifting words found in 2 Corinthians 1 verses 1 through 11.
00:02:57
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You know, I'm even thinking it's important that we read God's Word, so let me read through this, and then we can get started. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, to the church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:03:22
Speaker
Amen. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
00:03:44
Speaker
For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we're afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation.
00:03:59
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And if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you
Community and Divine Comfort
00:04:05
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patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comforts.
00:04:19
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For we do not want you to be unaware, of brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself.
00:04:33
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Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, but that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.
00:04:46
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He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that we will deliver he will deliver us again.
00:04:59
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You also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. Let's look at this passage of Scripture and see what we can unpack when it comes to comfort in a crisis.
00:05:17
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You know, the first thing I noticed were these connections. They're connections for comfort. You know, the Lord uses other believers in this passage, let's say.
00:05:28
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He uses Paul and Timothy. He used members of the congregation that was there in Corinth. to comfort people when they were hurting. I think that's phenomenal. You know, many of the pronouns that are used in verses one through seven, they're they're personal pronouns. They're pronouns that refer to him, but they also refer to them and how much they meant to him when he was going through a difficult time.
00:05:55
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But anyway, just know that the Lord has placed in your life for times that you are going through a difficulty, people who will be supportive and people who will stand beside you to strengthen you and comfort you and encourage you.
00:06:11
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But there's something else we don't need to overlook, and that's the character beneath comfort. You know, as we read Scripture, the Lord will be revealed to us more and more.
00:06:22
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And what He's going to reveal to us is who He is. What kind of God is He? Well, He describes Himself here as Father and God.
00:06:33
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he He does show us who he is in this verse three. He says that he is the father of mercies and God of all comfort. You know, sometimes the crisis that someone may face is a crisis that is from the past.
00:06:52
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Isn't it nice to know that he is the father of mercies, willing to mercifully forgive us of mistakes that we have made in the past, forgive us of those bad choices.
00:07:05
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But also it says, he's the God of all comfort. I would say that's more like right now. You know, it's great that God has comforted you in the past, but I want you to know that God will comfort you right now in the present, whatever you're going through.
00:07:21
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Which leads me to the third truth or principle that I wanted us to consider from this passage. And that is the context for comfort. When or where does verse four say that God comforts us?
00:07:35
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Do you know? It says in, that God comforts us in all our affliction. I think sometimes we're wondering, where is God when I'm hurting?
00:07:48
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Well, I love it because Romans chapter eight, verses 35 to 39, it tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
00:08:01
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And he gives a whole list of things, possible challenges that someone might face in their life. And yet it's just wonderful that he's saying that doesn't separate for you from Christ.
00:08:13
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This doesn't separate you from his love. This doesn't separate you from God's comfort. So many things are listed there in Romans chapter eight. verses 35 to 39.
00:08:25
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Maybe after you listen to this message, you may want to consider checking that passage out just to see what it says. But there's a fourth principle that is mentioned here regarding comfort and how we receive comfort and why we ourselves are given comfort from God.
Sharing Comfort with Others
00:08:44
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You see, the purpose for the comfort that God sends our way is mentioned in the last half of verse four. Let me read that for you once again.
00:08:55
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it says here, who comforts us in all our affliction so that, here comes the purpose, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
00:09:15
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I love that. It's like God's going to give me comfort when I'm going through a hard time, but then he's going to say, now I want you to put that comfort into circulation.
00:09:26
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I want you to go through the rest of your life ready to comfort others who may be going through a very similar trial that you went through. I remember Dr. Adrian Rogers, who used to pastor the Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee.
00:09:43
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I remember him saying one time in a message when he and his wife, Joyce, lost a child due to sudden infant death syndrome. You know, the emotional trauma, he said, was almost unbearable until they read these words right here in verse 4.
00:10:02
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And he said, You know, over the years, Joyce and I have had an opportunity to minister to other families that have lost children.
00:10:13
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I think sometimes we forget that that angle that, hey, my trials are going to tenderize my heart so that I'll be ready to minister to others who are going through something like that.
00:10:27
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And so God will use you to support others with that same level, that same volume of comfort that he gave you. Now he's going to put that into circulation to go to someone else.
Experiencing God's Comfort in Crises
00:10:41
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I love that about the way our God works. But sometimes it is true that there are people in life that are not dependable.
00:10:52
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Sometimes even events, we we hoping this event would take place, but then something happens and it has to be postponed or canceled whatever.
00:11:03
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But you know, God's not like that. God is always faithful. God is here for us in our lives. We can count on the certainty of God's comfort during our time of loss or hurt.
00:11:17
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As a matter of fact, verse 5 speaks about the volume of the comfort. Is God going to give me just a little bit of comfort, just enough to kind of get by?
00:11:29
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Well, Let's listen to verse five and hear the word that he gives about that. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ, we share abundantly in comfort too.
00:11:46
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Yeah, that's right. Maybe this is sort of a newsflash for you if you're a new Christian, but being a Christian does not mean that you will never suffer any hard times.
00:11:57
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But here's the wonderful news. Even though you may suffer for being a Christian, God is going to be with you in that suffering, and He has an abundance, an abundance is the word used here, of comfort that He wants to share with you in that time of affliction.
00:12:17
Speaker
But there's not only the volume of comfort that is mentioned here when we're discussing the certainty of it, but also there's the verification of the comfort. I think that's referred to in verse seven when he says, our hope for you is unshaken.
00:12:35
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For we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort. Wow, it doesn't say maybe, it's like you will.
00:12:47
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You see, we have resources available to us through Christ and in Christ that we can download from the Lord straight into our hearts, no matter what we're going through. you know, isn't it sad that some people, rather than turning to God whenever they're hurting, whenever they're lonely, whenever they're depressed, whenever they're, there you know, going through an affliction of some kind, so they're looking for comfort, and where do they turn?
00:13:16
Speaker
Well, I think some turn to alcohol or to drugs. Some choose, well, I'm just going to immerse myself into more and more work. So what they wind up doing is They overwork.
00:13:27
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Some turn to sex. Others turn to sports. Some turn to, let's say, achievement. Well, I'm going to get another degree, you know, or something like that. And then others turn to amusement.
00:13:39
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And they try to just numb the pain with a news amusement or entertainment. Some turn to sleep, while others turn to food. There's so many different places where people may turn looking for the comfort But where are they certain to find comfort?
00:13:59
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Where are they going to find an abundance of comfort? Friend, I just really encourage you to go to Christ, no matter what kind of crisis you're going through.
00:14:12
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and maybe you're saying, well, if he really loved me, if God's really out there, then why is it that he's allowing me to encounter this crisis or this difficulty?
00:14:24
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Hey, you know what? There's something that you might not have considered. It's kind of basic, but I'm just gonna throw it out there just for you to consider. Don't you know that really,
00:14:35
Speaker
A crisis is the only way we're going to know that God will comfort us. It's like if life was always perfect and life was always, you know, without any kind of hardship whatsoever, would we ever really go to God and asking Him ah for His comfort?
00:14:55
Speaker
You see, I really believe that suffering and trials and these hard times, they're actually like vehicles, right? And we can get in that vehicle, and that vehicle can take us in the direction of something something destructive, or it can take us toward something that's constructive, something that's going to help us.
00:15:18
Speaker
And it it can be any kind of crisis. That's why I didn't want to limit this message to someone just losing you know a loved one. You know, ah some Bible scholars are wondering, what was Paul going through whenever he was writing these words?
00:15:36
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And here's some of the possibilities. Some have said, well, we know from 1 Corinthians 15, 32, that some Christians had to be put in the arena to fight with wild beasts in Ephesus.
00:15:49
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Could be. A second possibility is we know from 2 Corinthians 11, 24, that the apostle Paul was whipped 39 lashes, he says.
00:16:01
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So it could be a physical suffering during the whipping of 39 lashes. Maybe it was the social trauma from being caught in a riot in Ephesus that was instigated by man named Demetrius.
00:16:15
Speaker
That's in Acts 19, 23 41. twenty three to forty one Perhaps it was persecution. Somewhere in Asia, he does mention that in Acts 20, 19 and 1 Corinthians 16, 9.
00:16:28
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But even in Galatians, he says something else. What if it's all about comfort when you're sick? Galatians 4, verses 13 through 15 remind us that, hey, he had hardship in terms of sickness, but He actually uses several words that convey the seriousness of what he was going through.
00:16:49
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Did you pick up on those words as I was reading through the passage? Let me review them in case you're listening to this as you drive or as you're on a treadmill or as you're working or something like that.
00:17:02
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I saw at least six different words. For example, in verse four, affliction. Verse five, sufferings. Verse eight, he says he was burdened beyond his strength.
00:17:16
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Verse eight, he despaired of life itself. Verse nine, he said the sentence of death. And verse 10, whatever he was facing, it was a deadly peril.
The Power of Reliance on God
00:17:29
Speaker
So no regardless of the crisis, the type of crisis that you're going through, I want you to know that in order for comfort to come your way, maybe God, in His sovereignty, permitted that hardship to come so that you could know the sweetness of His comfort in the midst of that hard time.
00:17:53
Speaker
Can you hear God calling you toward comfort? I would say that's another thing that Paul mentions in verse nine. I mean, he was a seasoned disciple by the time he wrote 2 Corinthians.
00:18:06
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And he saw at the time of his suffering, a call toward comfort that he identifies for us in verse nine. Let me read that verse again. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death But that was to make us rely not on ourselves, but on God who raises the dead.
00:18:30
Speaker
You see, at first he thought he was not going to survive that hardship, but then he realized the purpose of his affliction. How did he describe the purpose in verse 9?
00:18:41
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Well, remember, he says it was so that he would make us rely not on ourselves, but rely on him. You know, speaking of relying on God, do you know there's a comfort ah conduit that God has given to us?
00:18:57
Speaker
It's open to every Christian. You know what it is? The conduit of comfort is prayer. You know, i like to think of Paul's words in verse 11 of him requesting prayer as a reminder that, you know what?
00:19:12
Speaker
That is a spiritual conduit that leads us to comfort. You see, as we pray, God sends, well, let's say comfort or maybe hope, power, conviction, blessing, guidance, whatever's causing the crisis, he'll definitely give you what you need.
00:19:31
Speaker
But the main thing, just don't shut down the pipeline of prayer. Don't stop talking to God about whatever it is that you're facing. Well, let's look at one last thing.
00:19:44
Speaker
Where does it all lead? If you're praying for a family member or you're praying for a friend or a church member or someone in your ah community, then what's the ultimate climax of the comfort?
00:19:57
Speaker
I would like to think it's something related to what Paul said in verse 11. He says, you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.
00:20:15
Speaker
I would like to think that people would go back to God and say, thank you. Thank you that you didn't make my life completely easy with no troubles, that even in my troubles, there was purpose.
00:20:28
Speaker
And the purpose was to drive me into the lives of other people so that I could let them know how caring, how real, how strong, how wise you are, that I can let them know that you're present to help them whenever they're going through a difficult time.
00:20:46
Speaker
You know, I think as God's people pray, and as we connect with him for comfort, the end result is going to be the same thing.
Invitation to Share Comfort
00:20:54
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People are going to say, thank you, Jesus, for answered prayer.
00:20:58
Speaker
Why don't we go and thank him right now as we close out our time together. Lord, I thank you so much for my friends who are listening today, I do pray your finest blessings on them.
00:21:09
Speaker
I would pray that, Lord, if they're hurting, if maybe they're depressed, maybe they still feel deep, deep sorrow or grief over the loss of a loved one, that you would comfort them and strengthen them wherever they are and whoever they are.
00:21:24
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Would you meet them at the point of their need? Let them know that truly you are the God of all comfort. You are the father of mercies and that you want to connect with them.
00:21:38
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I thank you so much for sending your son. That alone tells us that you were saying, I want to be with you whenever you're going through hard times.
00:21:49
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Father, it's no wonder one of the names you gave your son was Emmanuel, God with us. Thank you, Lord, for being there for us when we're going through hard times.
00:22:00
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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Well, thank you so much for your time that you have given to us today. I feel like that God is laying on my heart to maybe do a series on comfort or on suffering and hard times and something like that.
00:22:18
Speaker
So today, you could just think about what ah you heard today from this passage of Scripture and think, okay, that's helped me. That's exactly what I needed.
00:22:29
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But maybe you would say, you know, I'm going to invite someone else to listen to this podcast, maybe this one or perhaps the next one, because that's why I'm telling you in advance that maybe next week I'm going to try to have another message that I feel will strengthen those.
00:22:48
Speaker
I guess as a pastor, I really, my heart hurts and it aches for people who are really looking to God for comfort and they're hurting, maybe they're sorrowful, maybe they're depressed, maybe they're stressed and they're just saying, i don't know what to do. Does anybody know what to do?
00:23:07
Speaker
I feel responsible as a pastor that God would help me to help others with the comfort that I've received through Christ, I want to share that with other people.
00:23:18
Speaker
So why don't you invite others to listen to this broadcast, to listen to this podcast and see if God would speak to them as well. Invite them to listen. Maybe again, if you're listening to the radio broadcast, you could say, hey, why don't you listen in next Sunday to hear what God will say through his word.
00:23:38
Speaker
But anyway, I pray that God will bless you. Remember, you're not alone. You're not alone. God is with you wherever you are. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.
00:23:54
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.