God's Relentless Comfort

[Music] I of it's no secret God already knows father your arms rest life from [Music] [Music] death St I [Music] in [Music] in glor [Music] glor I see you the well good morning welcome to Valley Bible Church we're glad you're here with us today let's stand and sing together this morning as our call to [Music] worship was an Oran lost at the fall running away but not hearing call Father you work your will I had no righteousness of my own I had no right to draw near your throne father you love me still and in love before you lay the world's found Foundation you predestined to adop me as your own you have raised me up so high but my station I'm a Child of God by grace and grace [Music] alone [Music] you left your home to seek out the L you knew the great and terrible CA but Jesus your face was [Music] set I worked my fingers to the Bone nothing I did could everone Jesus you pay my debt by your blood I have Redemption and salvation Lord you di that I you have and you Roose that I might be a new [Music] creation I am Born Again by grace and grace alone I was in darkness all of my life I never knew the day from the [Music] night I swore I knew the way I'm m a headful of rocks a Heart Made of Stone Spirit you moved in me natur your touch my sleeping Spirit was awaken on my dark heart the light Christ has shown to a kingom that cannot be shaken heav C by grace and grace alone so I'll Stand in faith by grace grace alone I will run the race by grace and grace alone I will slay my sin by grace and grace [Music] alone I will reach the End by grace and grace alone amen let's take a few minutes and greet one another warmly this morning morning Gra without good morning good morning morning how are you doing all right welcome everybody I hope you um okay now let me take that back start from the beginning good morning everybody good morning how's everybody doing today cold yeah I'm me to cold I got here earlier and I'm shaking I'm like I should have brought a jacket um I want to welcome you all here today and everybody online hello I'm glad you're joining us uh uh my name is Sergei Mont I'm a member of Val Bible I can't remember how long it's been you can ask my wife that number uh I'm a dad full time and I'm a cut designer Mac trucks that's what I do for living I do have a lot of fun of work sometimes um I want to remind you all of uh mission statement is a gospel Community making Christ known in the Valley now I memorized it but I look at my phone just to make sure I'm not goingon to mess it up I've been working on the past few weeks very proud of myself um if you are new with us in the lobby we got this goody bags um there are a couple things here there's a pen a sticker some candy some information for you and if you heard me before this may be getting all for you but for who hasn't if you like coffee I recommend you to go there and get the mug it's pretty big and you can Feit a lot of coffee in there I use mine multiple times a week in the morning um yeah if you want to get connected learn more about the church and why not um you can go to the website vbcw for.com that is right there that says connect car click there put all your information uh there a couple questions for you they we'll get back to you and it's information about small groups and you know baptism and stuff like that um now you can also download the app there the church in app you go to the website it's going to be there and you can put your information right there too if you don't want to type the website most of the shairs have a QR code just scan with your phone and we'll send you right there I got a couple of announcements for today the first one um bottle baby bottle right here from the PRC I don't know if people just yes I was you to it man how was to ask Pregnancy reserch Center I um so every year I believe we go they do this uh botle campaign where you can take one home with you or two or three if you want to and you fill her out with uh don um just put it there you know bring it back by March 17th this is a great opportunity to show off these other families you know uh some there have heard some stories and they really need it they really need that the law and it's great if it comes you know from a church like us um so there you go just just take one two three as many as you would like to put some money there bring it back about March 17th the other announcement uh parents this is for for you parents night out February 24th this coming Saturday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. bring your kid leave it here go away have fun now you have to register for that uh believe it yeah yeah yeah make sure you pick your C I'm sure you will I'm sure you will but you know this is a this is great you know opportunity to just engage with your with your spouse uh go home and rest sleep go and eat something the two of you uh oh clean the house you know it may be tiring but one the house is clean it's like a nice you cook you clean your kitchen and you see that nice kitchen clean there's a feeling that just like satisfaction like yes I got it um so there you go the other thing is uh members meeting is coming up that will be next Sunday uh February 25th um there will be a p loock and um so get your dis ready I don't know what the thises are going to be like who has to bring what but that's going to come up on the weekly email uh there's going to be some you know more updates this worship and we're going to hear some testimonies so if you are in town and you're member just coming here and uh who say hi to you all I'll be here I'll be here for sure we my with my baby if you want to be my baby she's a beautiful little girl anyways bye thanks Sergio um yeah parents uh I would just encourage you to uh take this Friday on the 23rd um and go on a date well first I guess drop your kids off here yes uh so register online that's this Friday uh sorry Sergio don't clean your house don't that's not a date come on it's not I know shots fired but let's stand and sing together uh as you may notice um it's a little bit darker in here this morning uh the curtains are drawn and will be drawn throughout lent so and and this kind of creates a tension for us of like I missed the light what happened to the light and that tension is going to sit with us and even grow with us until Easter uh yeah we worship holistically here we don't just uh sing songs and count that as worship it is with all that we are and these things even curtains drawn uh help form us into Disciples of Jesus so let's sing Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus together this morning turn your Eyes Upon Jes Jus look foring his wonderful face and the things of Earth will grow strange in the light of his glory and grace oh Soul are you wey and trouble no light in the darkness you [Music] see for a look at the savior your and life more abundance and free through death into life Everlasting we pass and we follow him there over us S no more half Dominion so more than conquerors we are so Turn Your Eyes Upon Jes Jesus look for these wonderful face and the things h will grow strange in the light of his glory and grace his word shall not fail you he promise believe him and all will be well then go to a world that is dying this perfect salvation to tell oh Turn Your Eyes Upon Jes Jesus look he's Wonder f f and the things of Earth will grow strange in the light of his glory and grace won turn W turn your won Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus W turn your won turn your won't Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus won turn your won turn your oh Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus won't turn your won't turn your won't Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus Lord Jesus we turn our eyes to you we love you and we need you and I pray that we would just be present with you here today I pray over all of the distractions that we are experiencing I pray that we would just lay those at your feet and that we would just be able to enjoy you and experience you today in your name I pray amen amen have a seat my name is Donnie Goodman I'm one of the elders here and I have the uh the joy and privilege of leading us in prayer prior to our sermon so so my it's not a job but what I'm supposed to do is help like the song said turn your eyes toward Jesus but before that um a couple weeks ago maybe three weeks ago we took a skill mapping survey during during a church service if you were here and you did that well I I want to let you know that 250 of you have done that that's amazing to me that's that's like a hey whooo come on give me something come on louder the first service was double this size but you guys were louder so so good job so so what we're trying to do with that is equip we're trying to equip the body to take what the good Lord has gifted Us in and take it out to take it out to to impact the world like like what we do here is really important and really good but we're only here for a little while we're out in the world most of the time and so uh what we're trying to do with that is is look at the skill that we have and the giftings that we have in this church and all that data is going to be compressed it's going to be analyzed and go to our leadership team and we're going to try to figure out how we can best um yeah get that out to everybody and quite frankly I don't know what the next step is but so be on the lookout okay or um in my old I used to be a cop so B okay be on the lookout and be on the lookout for that and and before we go any further a lot of you guys like a lot of y'all get the prayer email that that we that we uh that Kim so uh diligently puts out if you're not on that list you can probably get there through the connect card so I I'd encourage you to get on that and I just you a lot of you have been praying for my little granddaughter Ivy an and she was born the size of a good siiz Smallmouth smallmouth bass okay um now she's the size of a citation smallmouth bass okay so she's growing she's getting better she was born at 32 weeks you guys and as a grandfather scared me um and there was some suffering in that we're going to talk about suffering later but knowing that I had a community of saints around me that was praying that was offering my granddaughter up was tremendously comforting to me and my family so to all of yall who did that thank you thank you so uh I need to slow down a little bit I'm can you all to slow down just a little bit calm your hearts whatever whatever obstruction was in your way getting here this morning put it aside let's go to the Lord in prayer Father in heaven we thank you we thank you for being uh The Giver of Life and the sustainer of Life the new life that's in this church I thank you for little ivanne Lord and how you're sustaining her and we thank you for the new life of Isabel and the new life of anel we thank you for those new lives Lord just uh equip us to help raise these children up to uh to show the well well to show the world how good you are Lord we thank you for New Life we thank you that you sustain it we thank you that you redeem it Lord and we thank you that you resurrect it Lord so in our hearts this morning as we come before you Lord we ask that you strip the things away that keep us from hearing that keep us from being redeemed and to keep us from leading a true resurrected life in you Lord I Thank you for the blessings that you've bestowed upon uh Mickey Maguire Lord that you've provided some healing there and as she's still in the hospital Lord I Pro I ask that you just provide her her comfort that you guide those who are caring for her and that you lift up Dan and Lord as we get ready to hear from your word which is about suffering I ask that you prepare us for that that you that you uh give us ears to hear that we come to you open and ready to listen I lift up Brett and I just ask Lord that you would speak boldly through him you would give confidence in his words and that your words would come forth today Lord thank you for this time to gather in Jesus name amen amen thank you Donnie all right good morning good to see you guys out there my name is Brett Johnson I'm lead Pastor glad to have you with us so um often we start things off with a little question get our brains dislodged from coffee and donuts and get us moving here this morning so Donnie made a little little hint at what we're getting into this morning so how do you deal with suffering how do you deal with suffering because here's the thing we we're here right we're here at a Christian worship service we're here to worship uh Jesus right who who who who is our King and savior and so the reason that we follow Jesus the reason we've come to to him is because we saw at some point uh some sort of need right some sort of lack in our life some sort of uh uh reason to to need rescue need to be saved right so we we hear the call of Christ that is uh come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest and you're like yes that sounds so good I need rest I'm weary right and and and if you're like me you know you grow up in the world where you know God loves you and he has this wonderful plan for your life so you're see being you have these needs so you so you come to Christ to offload your burden to him right come to me all who are weary so we come to Jesus say look I need all the things from you Jesus right so we believe on him and then we start walking with him and it often doesn't quite go like we thought that it would right like if we're really honest you know you become a Christian because I mean one way to say it is I I want less suffering in my life so I've come to to to the god of the universe to help me with these things and then we deal with really hard multitude variety of suffering so this is what we're dealing with we're getting into second Corinthians today and this is the context where Paul has written this letter to Corinth this young whipper snapper of a church with a bunch of you know like Rowdy as as Charles said last week he said they're wilding out right they're like getting all crazy over there and so so what happens you have this influential affluent right they have they're all about money they're all about power they're all about influence they're all about sexuality right sound like any other cultures that you know oh I don't know maybe ours right so they're all about those things and then you have Paul writing to them saying things like You're Gonna suffer and they're like wait wait what so Paul has two things he's dealing with he's dealing with the Corinthians who they don't want to have to deal with suffering they part of why they got into this like a lot of us is like I want less of that in my life isn't this supposed to be easier so why do we have suffering and second thing Paul's dealing with is they're looking at Paul's life and they're like Paul you can't be a legit Apostle like your life is a train wreck or a shipwreck right like you know like we're going to get the resume later in the letter of all the garbage that Paul has dealt with so what's happening is this young arrogant Corinthian Church is looking at the life of Paul and being like Apostle I you you think things be going a little smoother for you there bud and so Paul you're going to see as we start second Corinthians this morning he does something very unusual amongst his letters he actually starts typically he says something like um you know Grace and peace to you yeah Grace and peace to you which he says a little bit of that but then he usually says I'm so thankful for you he doesn't do that in this letter he does something kind of the inverse so let's let's open our Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter one we're going to be doing the the basically the whole of the chapter we'll read most of it I'm cutting out a couple sections for for brevity sake uh we're going to start in verse one actually before I before I read this let me let me go ahead and pray for us so so right before I pray uh ex right before I do the sermon typically I will pray and the reason we do this his this is a historical practice that they would do called a prayer of Illumination where we are saying we've gathered here together not to hear speaker guy right we've gathered here together to be changed by the word of God as he applies it by his spirit so when we pause to pray we're trying to kind of put stakes in our liturgy so that we have to stop and kind of go okay oh right right oh right yeah yeah we're here to have God work on us by his word so I'm gonna pray that very thing that God will will kind of change us let me pray for us and then we'll dive into his word together Lord we we come this morning because you live you are at work you are here and you are present and you tell us that your word has power and so Lord we come to taste of that power by Your Word this morning Lord I pray that you would unclog deaf ears that you would open blind eyes that you would soften hardened hearts that you would illuminate darkened Minds by Your Word through your spirit do this we plead with you come and have your way in us we pray this in Jesus name amen all right so we're in second Corinthians starting in verse one we're going to go through verse 11 and I'm going to try not to like if you were here a couple weeks ago when I read before I was kind of like he Paul does that like back and forthy thingy so I'm hoping that my I won't you know here we go I had the hard time with the word comforted on the last one okay uh verse one 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 AIA grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort who comforts us in our afflictions 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 for as we share abundantly in Christ's suffering so through Christ we share abundantly in Comfort too if we are afflicted it is for you your comfort and salvation and if we are comforted it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer Our Hope for you is unshaken for we know that you share in our sufferings you also will share in our comfort for we do not want you to be unaware Brothers of the Affliction we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself self 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 he delivered us from such deadly Peril and he will Deliver Us on him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again you also must help us by prayer so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayer prayers of many this is the first part of the word of the Lord so so this morning we're going to be talking kind of three aspects of suffering and really the last one is the one we're going to spend our the most time on we're going to look at three aspects of suffering the first aspect we need to real uh look at is the reality right the reality the presence of suffering that we live in a world that has suffering as a part of its equation we are people who have followed after the is in Jesus right we just heard last time I preached we had Charles preach last week crushed it by the way the Hill Church row o give money to it awesome the week before that right we we did 1 Corinthians 15 and 1 Corinthians 15 this is the great passage oh death where is your Victory oh death where is your uh sting Jesus has swallowed up death in the resurrection right this is this is what we heard so we're a people who were sitting there and you know that Sunday I was amen yeah let's do it right so we believe in the Risen King Jesus who you know you know has in fact been raised from the dead and we get hype yeah right yeah come on right so we we get hype on that so we believe in the resurrected Jesus like yeah death boo right go to the Grave right death what's yeah so we get all hype about that so then we're walking with Jesus and then all of a sudden suffering you're like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa uhuh right we we want to think we want to think that we're not a Prosperity people but but when we're honest right like like yeah I felt like if I walk with God it's it's gonna kind of be easier for me and now we have our brother Paul who's saying man nah nope suffering the reality of suffering this is a part part of our reality now so there's three things about the the the uh the presence of suffering that I want make sure we get part of this is repeat you're going to hear this as we preach this book says a lot about suffering about strength and weakness these these dichotomies these paradoxes where it's like so so by so if I want to be found I have to be lost if I want to save my life I have to Lo what he who wants to save his life must I thought I thought I was supposed to save my I to get well huh right there's these paradoxes that don't seem to fit with us so we're being invited in this eternal Resurrection the life of Jesus and then we walk with him and whether it's year one year two year five some point that suffering comes and you're going what is happening so we have this reality we have to deal with the presence of suffering is a real thing and there's kind of three different kind of types of suffering this gives us some categories to think on the first type ofer suffering is suffering because of sin right that's a real thing sometimes you suffer because you did something dumb and then you're answering for the consequences of that right so you know this is the you know first service you know if I walk up to some big dude and slap him in the face and then he beats me up like oh why did that happen well you you poke the bear you know don't go hit somebody that's that I'm not that's not like kind of just random suffering that's I was being dumb and then I got I reaped what I said s right so sometimes we do something sinful stupid foolish and we get a negative consequence of that so it's it's a good and right first step that when you're suffering to just kind of do the old huh maybe maybe my toe hurts because I kicked something huh maybe I should not kick that thing and it'll go better for me right so so like there's the this is the suffering because of our sinful action so that that is a category for sin but that's clear clearly not what Paul is talking about here so again there's three categories first one is suffering because of sin second category is suffering because of the curse right we we we if you came to the Ash Wednesday service we actually say the phrase right from dust you have come and to dust you shall return that's a quote from Genesis 3 at the end of the curse where he says to Adam the ground is now cursed because of you which means we live in a world that has things like cancer in it we live in a world where you will do nothing wrong and yet you will get a terminal diagnosis why because all of the earth is been cursed and is under this curse and we are waiting that to go away that is a generic a general suffering that happens so that's a second kind suffering because of sin is the first one and then suffering because because of the curse is the second one and then Paul is alluding to kind of a specific genre although I think all of the versions of suffering that we deal with we should bring all of those to Christ to help us sort out how we deal with our pain excuse me so the third part is so we have suffering for sin suffering uh because of the curse and what Paul talks about this is suffering for faithfulness right suffering for Christ's sake he talks about that we continue in the sufferings of Christ look at verse 5 for as we suffer abundantly in Christ's sufferings like huh like what's he getting at there so so there's kind of two aspects of this last one right suffering in faithfulness basically one is we're suffering or Paul is suffering because he's actually suffering because he's a Christian Church did you hear that there's a type of suffering that we walk in that we experience exclusively because we're a Christian when we read the annals of Paul we read the stories of him in Acts he is dealing with really negative things because he's a Christian they're throwing rocks at his head because he's a Christian he's being thrown in jail which by the way first century prison we don't talk enough about the horridness of that is terrible go to the developing world and see the jails there the jails there you literally was starved death unless someone brings you food hospitals are the same way by the way but anyway right so so suffering because of faithfulness this becomes a really difficult reality you're reading the stories of Paul and and half of the stories are you know he went here and preached and a bunch of people got saved he went here and preached and a bunch of people got saved he went here he got stoned they thought to death and he passed out and then he was dead on the street they thought and then he got up and that story's Crazy by the way and then he goes back into the city what he got up and went back into the city or the other story right that that that the Charles referen last week at Philippians right he's in jail for preaching Christ and and there's that section where it says and they considered it an honor that they could face reproach because of the name we will face certain suffering because we follow Jesus this is sharing in the suffering of Christ because it's on his behalf but it's also the sufferings the ongoing sufferings of Christ what do they call the church the body of Christ we are his representation here on the earth We are continuing in his suffering it is not finished yet until the king returns and makes all things new so these are kind of different genres the presence of suffering is something we have to we have to kind of come to grips with to to think about how do we deal with these things we have the presence of suffering and then secondary we have the purpose of suffering so this book is going to give us uh numerous purposes right there he's going to tell us numerous things about why it is we suffer but this text has exclusive and specific things right here of exactly why it is that we suffer look at verse six did you catch this section in the middle I'm going to read 8 through 11 again I want you to listen to this for we do not want you to be unaware Brothers of the afflictions we experienced in Asia for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself indeed we felt we had received a sentence of death just want to pause for a second on that you have Paul and his associates who were doing the work of the gospel and they were so opposed we don't even actually know what it is they're so opposed and it's so negative and so so difficult that we we need to find encouragement in these words they despaired of life itself they thought they had been given the sentence of death this important so this is this is the Apostle Paul the guy who I just said had rocks thrown in his head he passed out they thought he was dead stood back up and went back into the same city that just threw rocks out that Apostle Paul despaired of life itself no note how there there's there's not a minimization there there's no place in the Kingdom for this kind of like oh oh you know don't talk about those negative things just think happy thoughts it'll be fine no no there's none of that this is where lament right which one of the things I feel like our church we want to try and do well we're are people who lament there are things in this world that exist there are things happening in this world that should not be that will not be forever that will be done away with and we're excited and expectant for that day to come where these things like death and pain go away but until then we lament and Paul here is lamenting Paul is saying we despaired of life itself that's meant to be an encouragement so that way when you're feeling the heaviness of the weight and you're like I I don't I don't know if I can go on this is too much amen it is too much so I want you to receive that need to be moments where we acknowledge the gravity of like this is too big it is too much for me which gets us into purposes two purposes right so pick back up here right um actually you know what I want to go back up there I jump I jumped down I meant to read the section above this but it was good that you got that okay look at verse verse four who comforts Us in all our Affliction he he comes out of the gate with this who comforts Us in all our afflictions 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 for as we share abundantly in Christ suffering so through Christ we share abundantly in Comfort too if we are Afflicted look at this phrase it is for your comfort and salvation and if we are comforted it is for your comfort which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer so did you hear that so the first purpose right so the first reality we looked at was the was the presence of suffering now we're looking at the purposes of suffering so the first one is you are comforted God comforts you so that you can Comfort others God comforts you so that you can Comfort others and there's kind of two parts of this Comfort one is a comfort thing and one's a Salvation thing huh huh like H how's that work so are we saying that our suffering earns salvation for someone else that's not what we're saying what we're saying is is there are things that are going to happen to you that you cannot handle they are more than you can handle and God by his power will comfort you and part of why he's doing that is to build you up so that you can become a dispenser of the kind of comfort that God offers you become a conduit you become this place where you've walked in that comfort and as you walk in that Comfort because listen when you're in the middle of the of the tragedy and the suffering when you're in the middle of that is very disorienting I remember I was walking through all that stuff with my wife in the hospital you know I can be a little more candid she's not here the service aneurism in her brain we're in this you know like at the hospital and it's like what is happening I'm getting reports that I had never had nightmares of how bad it could be I'm getting those kind of things said to my face about the medical diagnosis that they're finding in my wife's head and I'm going I don't know what to do with this and no one at that point comes in just goes it'll be fine our church did great no one said that to me because here's a reality it was not fine she an unruptured aneurysm in her brain that's on the verge of bursting and so I'm like I don't I don't know what to do here I'm terrified I'm Des sparing of life itself I mean utter Terror but here's the thing God did something beautiful there and God's always doing something beautiful even when that beauty looks different than the beauty we expected which little aside to that story I was talking to Shawn Johnson this week guy in our sermon Planning Group who's a missionary that we're supporting him his wife Jessica we were doing sermon prep Wednesday we get together with Hope Valley he's he's at Hope Valley Church and he had this little story he said our little sad Robin she lived three weeks and to a special condition that her heart would not keep going and she died and he said to my face he goes God only gives good gifts the end of his story didn't have some sort of miraculous healing and if his story had his beloved going to be with the Lord God only gives good gifts and Shawn and Jessica are able to hold and to see and to suffer to see the beauty of Christ and so when Shawn shows up when Brett shows up to Holly Pet's hospital room when Morgan's going through all his stuff after we walk through all our stuff there's things I can say to her that no one else can say to Holly Holly and I had this little like he isn't finished yet and she's like okay yeah you can tell me that God has comforted you within a comfort that now you can bring here again that none of that's stated but there's and I didn't ask for special per it's just it's there because God is equipping his people with Comfort because that's who he is he equips his people with comfort so that we can comfort those who see and by the Salvation part of that is and then as the world looks Upon A befuddled and and despairing of life people who are comforting one another and experiencing the comfort of God this is exactly what happened with Morgan at the the hospital you got this you got nurses upon nurses upon nurses who are looking in the waiting room going what is that what like what is that y'all have like Joy there's like singing and praying like what is that and what is that is well that's the God of all comfort in our midst and some of those people now have relationship with Jesus because they look upon these things and they go huh some of my own kids looked at our story and were like I saw what God does I want in on that for your comfort and salvation because one of the things we still say is the faithfulness of the Apostles to brutal deaths all of them to a man brutal deaths never forsaking the gospel of Christ if it was a fake right those dudes would have jumped Shi but they never did and so we listen as the world does when you endure suffering it has a proclamation of the Beauty and the salvation of God so that's purpose number one we are comforted so that others may be comforted purpose number two is in verse n and I love that Paul is you know so that those are makes it nice and easy for us right look at verse n indeed we felt we had received a sentence of death but that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead and then earlier in verse eight he says for we were utterly burdened beyond our strength again you you probably heard this before right um God can will only give you what you can handle no no God is in the business of giving you things you can't handle I never would have turned to Christ if I was crushing everything in my own power I was living my life doing everything I knew to do and it didn't work it didn't bring me the joy fulfillment life that I wanted and so I'm sitting there going like this I [Music] need I need from an eternal God who can do Eternal things God puts us in situations so that we have nowhere else to turn that's a kindness that's his grace that's his comfort so that you rely not on yourselves so that you turn and you say things like God is our hope God must do something so that we rely on who he is so we have the presence of suffering we have the purpose of suffering and this last section which is where we're going to hopefully spend some time is the promise of suffering he gives us four things he gives the church four things he gives us other things but in this passage he gives us four realities four weapons he arms us with four things to deal with suffering he arms us with four things let me go ahead and read starting in verse 20 we're going to do verse 20 through the end of verse 22 for all the promises of God find their yes in him talking about Jesus in Christ that is why that that is why through him that we have uh we utter our Amen to God for his glory and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us and who has put his seal on us and given us his his spirit in our hearts as a guarantee all right so now we've read that section we have all of our tools that are before us that he gives us to deal with suffering the first thing that he gives us is himself right do we notice how the whole passage starts back in verse three blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of All Comfort listen some of you are can hear that and just just sounds like flowery speech like oh that okay God's all this good stuff we get it may we not miss that the Creator God of the cosmos Delights to dispense of comfort for those who turn to him may we not miss that he's not a God who when we turn to him goes nope nope sorry deal with that on your own he's a God that when we turn to him Even in our Folly Even in our sin we turn him and say help he goes you've come to the right place he is the father of mercies the God of all comfort that all there means there's no limit and it abounds All Comfort comes from his hand no small thing that in his very nature he is a God who loves loves to comfort first thing he gives us and offers us is himself second thing which again there's some overlap here but you'll you'll hear this right second thing he offers is a community of comforters so so note what Paul's doing here he's saying we have been Afflicted and we've been comforted so that we can comfort those who are afflicted so the picture here is is that when we experience the comfort of God that's not something that I'm like oh this is nice I kind of keep it to myself no no we are those who experience the comfort of God and as God does that work in US He is building us up saying all right I've given you this uh this Storehouse of comfort now go give it away in community this is why the church is a beautiful thing this is why walking together as the people of God is so critical is that there are times where I need a unique comfort that only can come from the comforted those who walked in this so he equips us with the body of Christ the community of the comforters that we can gather together we can lock arms we can suffer when we do it together knowing that the dispension of God's Comfort is in my brothers and sisters and they're ready and they're going to give it and turn to me and say here you go you can't see it right now but I've walked in this God is here he's active he gives us a community of comforters listen we don't always do well at this we falter in this listen how good you are at this is kind of irrelevant because you you're going to need to practice it while you grow in it right so sometimes we come to the party and we're trying to you know we're showing up at that hospital room and we're and we're saying kind of cliche platitudinal things that we should not say and we have to repent our way forward knowing that sometimes the little minimizations give aren't the right thing to say but we still have to show up and try and figure out how to offer Comfort sometimes the very best thing if you don't know what to say or if you're afraid what you're going to say is going to be stupid because that could happen is you want to show up and just go and if you haven't been in this moment I'm inviting you please look for these where you see that person who has dealt with catastrophic loss or is in a huge difficulty and you see them and you're like oh my gosh there's I I don't even know what to say there they are oh I don't know what to say to them they got the cancer diagnosis what do you say to someone who just got the cancer diagnos I don't know we either avoid them or sometimes we just say dumb things and we actually are being hurtful oh honey it'll be fine don't say that sometimes the best thing to do is you just walk over and you go hey I heard I love you I don't know what to say I'll be praying for you there anything you need I'm here sometimes just put an arm around just weeping with him there's something beautifully powerful to look someone in the eyes and just weep with them we Rejoice with those who are rejoicing and we weep with those who are Weeping when you look someone in the face who is grieving and you just grieve with them you're saying a lot you're saying I see you and I love you and a great phrase I don't know what God is doing I don't know what's happening but I love you I'm here and that little quote by the way can also be followed up in a text message hey I love you praying for you today you need anything it's okay if you don't let's be careful about offering little Christian quips I think about all those people I love who' dealt with infertility all those people I love who' dealt with loss all the who have these little comments just thrown at them and we just want to be thoughtful but listen you're going to mess up you're going to mess up the wrong thing is going to be on your lip at some point and the and the answer to that is never not never doing that again it's just to repent Your Way Forward right this is this is our work it's not like there's like some All-Star comforters no no this is what we do and we're going to have to practice our way forward on that right right so you know when the person puts her hand on their shoulder and say that really hurt thanks for that terrible advice love you you go you know yeah just say I'm sorry and we keep let's keep rocking okay sorry trying to trying to love and correct okay Comfort uh God of comfort a community community of uh comforters and three this one's an interesting one so we these are the the the what we get as promises in suffering we get God himself the God of All Comfort we get a community of comforters and then we get the yes of Jesus we get the yes of Jesus this is an odd one this verse 20 for all the promises of God find their yes in him we get the yes of Christ what does that mean what that means for us is that when we wonder about things like Resurrection we wonder about things like um the spirit being poured out on All Flesh when we wonder about all things being made new all these things we're going to hear about in second Corinthians and you think something like that sounds great but how do we know that how do we know that that can happen and here's how we can know that that can happen because thousands of years before Jesus ever came right in the mouths of the prophets there was one spoken who would sit on the throne of David okay well that's that's got to be one guy right then we hear this other this this Prophet called Isaiah who then preaches about this suffering servant that's going to take away the iniquity of us all well that well that's got to be another guy than the David guy because those those things can't go together um so so and we're hearing this this the spirit's going to be poured out on All Flesh and and they're going to be given a new heart it's like okay that's got to be some other thing and there's all this stuff going on in the Old Testament I mean just just just hundreds and hundred hundreds of years thousands of years of all these things going on so so much so that when the church came about right before Jesus came the the popular view was yeah there's probably going to be like 20 Messiahs because not I mean nobody could do all the stuff and then Jesus Christ comes and all the promises of God are yes in Christ Jesus so when someone says whoa wait you mean to tell me Resurrection yes Jesus you you mean all things are going to be made new all things are going to be made new you mean all things like everything that's broken is going to be is going to be made right yes all the promises of God find their yes in Jesus when we see the promise when we when we are afraid to hope when we wonder about will it come it's felt so long we've we've been here 2,000 years what what's the wait are you going to come all all God's promises find their yes in Jesus he did it in Christ he will do it in Christ he conquered the grave in Jesus he will come and set things right all God's promises find their yes in Jesus because listen there's going to come days where you're like this world is so weering I can't handle any more suffering enough darkness when God are you going to are you going to do this are you gonna make all things new all promises find their yes in Jesus Christ he will accomplish his promises that is a massive weapon for us in the day of we the day of suffering to hold to go he conquers Graves he resurrects dead things he makes all things new that's the third one and fourth and again I feel like any one of these by themselves would be a magnificent thing but God in his kindness gives us an abundance of resour resources his comfort doesn't just come through one conduit but comes through many the last of our weapons and kind of tools uh for dealing with suffering is the deposit of the spirit you catch that verse 22 he just kind of slides that in there it's kind a major reality just drops it in oh and by the way you get the deposit right look at it say and he also put his seal on us and given us his spirit in our hearts as a the translation of mind says guarantee maybe a better translation is a down payment kind of couple of things going on here it's pretty cool the idea of when Jesus is in John talking about he's going to send another helper he actually uses the word paraclet parico right there's a verb form of that and a noun form of that you know what the noun form of that is comfort he's going to send another comforter huh so the spirit of God is in us working reminding pressing pulling moving speaking he is in us the person of the spirit which beautiful little portrait of the Trinity here you got God the father of mercies who sends Jesus Christ his son to send the spirit the paraclete he sends the spirit into the hearts of Believers so that way when we get when we when we put all these things together and you have the community of comforters all joined together you have the spirit of God at work pushing moving and you know these conversations and you hear these kind of things all the time well I'm sitting here and I just I just had this thought it wouldn't it wouldn't go away I need to walk over there I need to walk over there and I need to check on that person and see how they're doing yeah yeah I I don't know why I called I just I had this sneaking uh unescaping kind of suspicion that I needed to reach out to you I'm not sure why it is I came here but I I re I just felt like I had to come what what's going on here how is it that God is always kind of moving in his people that the community of the the comforters always kind of seems to be showing up well because he's given his Spirit who's alive who's a he he is working he's doing his work of comfort but not in isolation right we two or three are gathered together so the spirit's coming alive as as my brothers and sisters are saying things of God speaking things of the spirit so to speak right especially from his word and and from their lives and their there's something's happening in me okay I cannot fathom what's happening right now this is beyond my strength but God is doing something so churches we wrestle this out we have real danger we hate suffering we try and run from it we came to Christ because we thought we could we could kind of get away from some of that and so as we as we take the kind of things that we pursued things we thought would give us life and then we turned to Jesus we thought that it would go a certain way and and things have gotten hard and uncomfortable and difficult and and we waver and we wonder and we think can I continue in this way and the answer is in Christ he has our back he fills us with his spirit and he is moving us forward but this is a work of a community this is a work of a people we do it together because listen your default setting is you love to find comfort in your own Wells I got a lot of places I like to go that have nothing to do with Jesus and oddly they don't satisfy I I keep having to come back to Instagram I keep having to come back to success I keep having to come back to sexual sin I keep having to go to these things because they don't fulfill and what Jesus is saying is don't go that way pursue the comfort that only comes comes from the God of All Comfort but it doesn't make sense to my natural mind because I get an endorphin hit it's just so easy quick and suffering is a Grace that makes me put that aside and go Lord that that won't do that won't do I need more beyond my strength I I can only rely upon you God is challenging us to test him right that we would test his abundance of comfort say Lord come on but here's the thing you need to let him you need to let him decide how he wants to answer that and not go look you need to do this this this and this he's saying hey come to me come to me I am the god of all comfort turn to me but but we're gonna have to go all right Lord this doesn't look like Instagram this doesn't look like immediate gratification I I I'm programmed literally I'm programmed for the immediate thing so Lord reprogram me and we're going to need each other in this work we're going to need each other in this work so church this book second Corin we're going to we're going to be turning this over from all sorts of angles right this is the same book where Paul says um light and momentary are these afflictions oh man let me pray for us and they'll stay commun Lord Lord we we ask that you would teach us what it means what it means to to find our comfort in you Lord would you help us to forsake previous Wells that we turn to for comfort and relief of our suffering and Lord would we turn to rely upon you Lord this is not natural to us this is a super Supernatural an above natural response that we need an implanted Spirit to empower God I pray for those who at this very moment are in suffering and Lord I pray that you give them the courage even this morning to go put their hand on a trusted brother or sister and maybe they don't trust them that much maybe they don't know that much to put their hand and say I need help the suffering is too much Lord would we be a people who do that regularly and who offer the comfort that we have been given by your spirit Lord teach us we pray in Jesus name amen now time every Sunday that we come together communally to take the Lord's Supper it's a time of remembering should be a time of reflection and a time of repentance even if you're a follower of Christ if you've said yes in Jesus this meal is for you if you haven't I'm going to ask you to kind of sit this one out but come talk to us I I'd love to explain who Jesus is to you what it means to put your life and your faith in him i' I'd love to have that conversation with you um yeah suffering think about the Redemption and the resurrection that comes through suffering that we experience in this meal so if you're a follower of Christ I'm going to ask you to partake on the table we have a box for offerings you can give digitally as well we have all the elements we have gluten-free and we have the prepackaged you guys that have been here before lead the others we step to the wall and we walk up and we take the elements return to your seat and wait and I'll lead us in taking them together when the world looms like a shadow and darkness seems to win people are killing and Ste tormented in their own skin when All My Hope feels righted out will you defend the fatherless oh my God dispel my doubts and bring life from barness and how long oh Lord and how long oh Lord must how long Lord when we lose the ones we love we daily Sting from betrayal is our suffering all for not do you he even care how long oh [Music] Lord and how long oh [Music] Lord until all will be restored and how long oh and yet you sent the one you love your perfect son main destitute coronation on the cross the king is making all things [Music] new and I Am Not Invisible to you Jesus my suffering King CU you're no stranger to [Music] sorrow the man fully acquainted with GED the man fully acquainted with grief the man fully acquainted with g and how long oh Lord how long oh Lord until my eyes meet yours and how [Music] long but the people that come up here are the ones that will share in your suffering with you the Lord has put us here together in that way on for I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way also he took the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me take a drink pray with me how long oh Lord how long indeed but we thank you we give you praise we give you praise for Jesus and that through him we have promises that will carry us through that you put Community around us that you sustain us we thank you Lord for your body broken your blood shed and for your resurrection and it's in your precious name we pray oh Lord Jesus amen as we respond to God's word with uh singing together this morning I would encourage you to not just hear uh the Saints around you singing into you um but to be honest with the Lord about what you're feeling often times we have been deceived into somehow thinking we can't bring our anger to God or we can't be angry at him he can take it in fact we are uh formed when we're truly honest with with the Lord so I would encourage you as we sing Let me just pray actually Lord would you give us the faith to even believe what we're singing would you change us would you form Us by what we worship you with we pray [Music] amen [Music] Jesus here my ple wor in fear are my compy your spirit comforting Tru it's you who surrounds me so teach my heart to see all of the joy set before me [Music] illuminate the way morning will one day turn to praise that I may be the glory of the Lord that I may [Music] be the glory of the Lord that I may [Music] be glory of the [Music] Lord lion in the lamb I look upon your face and your nail SK hand you pick me up [Music] again resue me from hopess Human PL and teach my heart to see all of the joy set before me [Music] illuminate the [Music] way morning will one day Ser praise that I may [Music] be glory of the Lord that I may [Music] be glory of the Lord I may be glory of the [Music] [Music] Lord oh Lord hear me to you alone I sing this melody I'm only in fraction but Jesus you're all that matters matchless and holy my soul secure in you only oh Lord help me I believe help my unbel help my unbel [Music] that I may be whole Glory of my Lord that I may be whole Glory of my Lord that I may be whole the glory of my [Music] Lord that I may [Music] Behold The Glory of my Lord that I may Behold The Glory of my Lord that I may [Music] Behold The Glory of my Lord we're going to sing a new song together this morning uh called hidden we we did it at the men's Retreat um and may it equip us for language of how to uh really be hidden in Christ to rest in him there was one when I was young who knew my heart he knew my sorrow he [Music] held my hand and me to [Music] [Music] trust now I am hidden the safy of your love I trust your heart in your inent trust you completely I'm listening intently you'll guide me through these many [Music] sh [Music] I [Music] grow as I change may I love you more deeply I [Music] will Upon Your Grace I will reap because your gness Seas ending you are my V my reason for living your kindness leads me to repent I can't explain it this sweet Assurance i' never known this kind of friend I can't explain it this sweet assurance I've never known this kind of [Music] friend Stars sh you and I will do the same with all my heart I [Music] the sun moon and stars shout your name they give you re and I will do the same with all my heart I give you glory I want to seek you first I want to love you more I want to give you the honor you deserve so I bow before you and I am overcome by the beauty of this perfect love I want to seek you first I want to love you I want to give you the honor you deserve so I bow before you I'm overcome by the beauty of this perfect love now I am hidden the safety of your love I trust your heart in your intent I trust you completely I'm listening intently you'll guide me through these many shadows and now I am hidden safy of your love I trust your heart in your int I trust you completely I'm listening intently you'll guide me through these many shadows as we sing yet not either this morning let us be comforted that that lament will not be forever in fact it's only been given to us as a song in between it will be done away with and real lament ends in hope it has a completion but we don't just arrive there because that's the only part that feels good and so as we we sing yet not I but through Christ in me would we sing out of both the pain that we bear currently and the Victory we have in Jesus let's sing powerfully [Music] Church [Music] of deep this I hold My Hope Is Only Jesus for my life isly bound to his and oh how strange andine I can s all is mine yet not I but through Christ in [Music] the night is dark but I am not forsen for by my side the Sai he will and I lab in weakness and rejoicing for in my need his power is displayed to this I hold my shepher will defend me through the deepest valley he will lead and all the night has been one and I Shall Overcome not I but through Christ [Music] in no F I dread I know I am for the future sure the price it has been P for Jesus BL and suffered for my and he was raised to overthrow the grave to this I hold my sin has been defeated Jesus now ever is my please know the chain are released I can sing I am free yet not I but through Christ in [Music] me with every breath I long to follow Jesus for he has said that he will bring me home and day by day I know he will renew me until I stand with joy Before the Throne to this I hope my hope is only Jesus all the glory heav to when the race is complete still my lip shall repat yet not I but through Christ in me to this I hold my hope is only Jesus all the glory we ever more [Music] to when the race is complete still my lims shall repeat and not I but through Christ in me yes when the race is complete still my lips shall repeat yet not I but through Christ me oh yet not I but through Christ in me oh yet not I but through Christ in Lord Jesus I thank you for the good deposit I pray that we would be edified this morning that we would be built up in our faith and Lord I pray that you would protect us from taking this message to self-pity to wallowing Lord that is just pride and Lord I pray that by the power of the spirit you would protect us from that would you help us to approach the throne of grace rightly Lord your mercy is enough give us the words give us the presence to our brother and sister in Christ who is hurting and Lord I pray that that we would see mourning turn to praise not out of some that's the right answer but Lord we long for that would we see your goodness and your beauty and your power even this week help us Lord we pray amen amen I'll send us out with a couple things in your suffering remember the purpose and the promise remember that you have a lord Lord who loves you remember that there are people around you who will come alongside of you not through I but Christ in me will come along beside you in that and I will send us out verse seven from second Corinthians Our Hope for you is unshaken for we know that as you share in our suffering you will also share in our comfort so go this week comforting those around you you in the Name of Christ have a great [Music] week [Music] for

Channel: Valley Bible Church Radford

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Id: Cie6BJJscDs

Length: 101min 59sec (6119 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 19 2024