Thankful for those things. Turn in your Bibles this morning to the book of 2 Corinthians chapter number 1. 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Looking at this morning, our lesson of course is on the book of 2 Corinthians and these couple of key verses here. 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 3 and 4. says this, blessed be God, even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. You get the idea of comfort coming from these couple of verses? Comfort, comfort, comfort, comfort. Why? Because we need it. We need it. I just shared with you several very serious prayer requests. And you know what those families need? Those families need comfort. Those individuals need comfort. They need the peace that passeth understanding. That'll keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And the blessing of it is what you see in that second verse. It says, "...who comforteth us in all our tribulation..." Why? "...that we may be able to comfort them." God brings us comfort in our tribulation and He does that so that we can be a comfort to other people when they're going through trials. You know, it seems like in a church family, in a body of Christ, and sometimes between bodies of Christ that have fellowship together, it seems like you'll have this individual over here that right now is going through a major trial in their life. And this individual over here, this family over here that might be going through great blessings of God in their life at the same time. But a month from now or six months from now or a year from now, those roles could be completely reversed. And so what Paul is telling them is he says, look, in your tribulation when you're going through trouble, when you're going through trials, when you're going through difficulties, maybe you're just discouraged, maybe you're distraught, it might be a very serious physical need or financial need, whatever it is, the Lord has somebody else that's been through a trial, maybe the same trial, maybe a completely different trial, but the Lord has brought them through and they're now on the other side of it. And God's design is for this person or family to be a blessing and an encouragement to this person or family in their time of need. In the same way, like I said, with churches that have fellowship together, sometimes you're gonna have one church that's going through a major struggle and another church that's just going through tremendous blessings of God. And those sister churches can be a blessing and a help and an encouragement to one another. I've found through the years, time and again, pastors or youth pastors that I've called when I was going through a difficult time or had a difficult decision to make, people that I've called upon and said, hey, I need your help or hey, I need your prayers. This week, two people like that in my life that have been that for me in my life through the last 20 years, called me this week and said, hey, I really need your prayers right now. Sometimes you have people in your mind that you just think everything's always perfect for them and everything's wonderful and they must never need prayer. But when they call you and say, look, I have a very serious need. You think about somebody like Brother Johnny Jett. that has ministered and ministered and ministered to people after people. His last prayer letter that he wrote was talking about all the death notifications that he has to make on a weekly basis when he's in the prison. Several every week where he's got to go to an inmate and let them know that somebody in their family has passed away. And he's ministering and comforting and really a big part of his ministry there at the prison is just trying to be a comfort and a help to people that are going through very difficult things. Sometimes maybe a lady just found out that she's lost permanent custody of her kids. Maybe a lady in prison gets divorce papers from her husband. Maybe finds out that a family member passed away or that her mother's got cancer. And that's a big part of the ministry that Brother Jett has there. Can I tell you, the last few weeks, you want to know who really, really has needed comfort I mentioned Wednesday night, several people have said that Brother Jett has just really, really been struggling at the hospital and different things where he'd just break down in tears, just tremendously discouraged and distraught over the whole situation. The comforter needs a comforter. That is one of the very large purposes of the body of Christ. is to be a comfort. And Paul is going to address that in the book of 2 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, if you remember, he addressed a lot of troubles in the church and things that were going wrong and different things and these problems and how to deal with this issue or that issue and you need to get some things straightened out and you need to get rid of this and do away with that and deal with this issue and that issue and very, you know, just one thing right to the next and you take care of this and take care of that. And now he starts out 2 Corinthians and says, You need to be a comfort to one another. You need to be a help to one another. The title that you see there under Second Corinthians, it says, Help for the Afflicted. Help for the Afflicted. Everybody in this room has been through something in their life where they've been afflicted. Whether it's, like I said, family, relationships, finances, health, different things where people are afflicted. and has needed that, and this is a great book of help for that. The key words here, it says comfort, the first word there, used seven times, and you see many of them right there in that passage we just read. First use, chapter one, verse three, most significant use. Of course, chapter one, verses three and four, where it kind of introduces the thought of comfort. And then you see the other word is ministry, used three times. First use, chapter four, verse one, most significant use. Excuse me, chapter five and verse 18. Let's turn over there for just a minute. Chapter five and verse number 18. It says this, and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the ministry of reconciliation. Another great word in this book is that the word reconcile or reconciliation and the fact that you and I have been given the ministry of reconciliation. You think about those two things, if those two thoughts or Commands if you will in the book of 2nd Corinthians a command to comfort and to reconcile What does that sound like to you? Does that sound like hey cut off all ties do away with them have nothing to do with them? Let them deal with their own stuff. No, it says hey, I Some people are going through hard times and they just need somebody to comfort some people have gotten away from the Lord Some people have backslidden some people have you have broken relationships and broken, you know Issues with all kinds of different things as far as relationship issues between between members of the body of Christ between family members between Christians and the Lord Jesus Christ all kinds of different different relationship problems that need reconciliation and you and I have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Unfortunately, a lot of times... Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians, don't mistake that we need to stand for what's right and do what's right and put away those that are not doing right and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness and all those different things that we're commanded to do throughout the Word of God, but he also says, Always be looking for opportunities for reconciliation. Look for opportunities to bring people back. Pray, pray, pray. Minister, minister, minister. Reach out to people. Unfortunately, a lot of Christian people that are very, that are very staunch believers in the Word of God and the Bible. They've missed this principle and they hang on to the principles of first Corinthians of do away with, you know, put them away and put them out from among you and don't let that be named among you and all those different things that, you know, they'll do that. but they miss out on, if a brother be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of meekness." That ministry of reconciliation, of bringing them back, of helping them, of reaching out to them, letting them know that they're loved and that they're cared for, even if they're making wrong decisions. I don't love... There's a lot of things. The Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself hates sin. But aren't you glad that he loves sinners? I sure am. I sure am. He hates sin. He has no tolerance for sin. He said, he lists several places in the Bible, these things that the Lord hate, these things are an abomination to him. But then he says, for God so loved the world. Every single one of those individuals. I told the folks Wednesday night, talking about inviting people to friend day. Somebody that is doing a lot of things that I wish that they weren't. And I invited him to church over and over again, dozens of times probably. And I talked to him this week. I said hey just we were talking about something completely different right before I got a phone. I said hey April 24th is friend day at our church. Would you and your family? Come and be my friends for friend day. You know what? They said we'll be there. I Said really? He said yeah, we'll be there. I said praise the Lord But you know I like I said, there may be a lot of things that I wish that they weren't doing But one of the things I wish that they were doing is being in church. I This is not a museum for saints. This is a hospital for sinners. That's what this is. That's what church is supposed to be. I have to remind myself of this all the time. We must be reaching out, one, to comfort others. but two, to reconcile, the ministry of reconciliation. The theme is in trials and pressure, Christ is the believer's comfort. In trials and pressure. Don't raise your hand, but anybody in here going through trials or pressure right now? Sure. Christ is to be our comfort. Written A.D. 58, the Apostle Paul. We see some things about him in our notes from 1 Corinthians, so we won't go over all that again. Written to believers at Corinth in Greece from Philippi. It's the 47th book of the Bible, the 8th book of the New Testament, 13 chapters, 257 verses in 2 Corinthians. the five-fold purpose of the book here that we see. First of all, to strengthen the brethren. in time of persecution, to strengthen the brethren in time of persecution. It is a great book. 2 Corinthians is a great book. When you're going through trials and testings, it's a great book to read, to be strengthened, to be encouraged, to be challenged. But then secondly, to restate Paul's apostolic authority. Paul, again, takes some time to reestablish or to restate Authority that God has given him to do the ministry that he's doing reminding them that this isn't just something Why is that so important? Why is it so important that they be reminded of Paul's authority? Why does he have to tell everybody why what you know? Why does he got to tell them again? This is why this is where I get my authority from Because He's the one that God has given to minister to them. And He is standing in that place and wants to establish with them, remind them that the things that He's writing to them, the things that He's sharing with them, the knowledge that He's imparting to them is from God. He doesn't want them to think, well, this is just Paul. This is just another man. This is just man's authority. He says, this authority is from God. The things that you have, the message that I have for you, this letter that I have for you is from the Lord. God has given me this authority to write these things. Then number three, to magnify the gospel of Christ, to magnify the gospel of Christ. The, uh, second Corinthians, we looked at it last time. Our first Corinthians 15, one through four talks about what is the gospel, the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And Paul, you'll see that throughout his entire, all of his epistles, him magnifying the gospel of Christ. Then you see number four, to challenge the Corinthians to faithful stewardship. He does address the subject of giving with them and being faithful stewards of what God has given to you. And he challenges them to be faithful in their giving to the ministry of the work of God. Then number five, to exalt the person and work of Christ, to exalt the person and work of Christ. Then divisions, you have four divisions of the book. First of all, Paul's converts in chapter one through four, Paul's conflicts in chapters five through seven, Paul's convictions, chapter eight and nine, and then Paul's consolation in chapters 12 and 13. outline now I didn't do this on purpose just so you know all my points in my morning message are they all have a Start with the letter C and had nothing to do with this here. It just happened to work out that way Okay, but the outline here Paul's is an interesting note Paul's second epistle in the church to the church at Corinth is difficult to present in outline form Partly because he rushes from one theme to another often repeating himself for the sake of emphasis He kind of it's almost like if you if you look at for instance the book of Proverbs Proverbs it almost seems like every verse is a different thought completely or every couple of verses there You know, it changes in a lot of ways and in in 2nd Corinthians you get a lot of that We're going the back and forth You see a lot of changing from subject to subject and different things. But you see the introduction in chapter 1, verses 1 and 2. He introduces the letter. And then Roman numeral 1, the ministry of suffering, chapter 1, verse 3 through verse 11. The tribulation and consolation. in 3-7, some of that we just read, verses 3 and 4 talking about tribulation and the comfort that the Lord is to us in that tribulation, the consolation that He brings. And then letter B there you have in verses 8-11 of chapter 1, Paul's own suffering. He addresses some of that. He says, let's look at that for just a minute. Chapter 1 verse number 8 says this for we would not brethren have you ignorant of our trouble which Came to us in Asia that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life Remind you just for a second a couple verses before this is where Paul says He is our comfort and that we are to be a comfort and now a couple verses later He says we were in such despair. We were in such distress that we despaired even for our lives Things got pretty rough in Asia But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God which raiseth the dead and Verse number 10, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Ye also helping together by prayer for us that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf. He says, we need your prayers, your prayers. Your prayers are what helped us and now we're asking for your prayers on our behalf to give thanks. You all prayed for God to deliver us and now that we've been delivered, pray and give thanks for that. You know, it is important. We ask, oftentimes, prayer. I mentioned several very serious prayer needs this morning, asking prayer. When God answers those prayers, and when you hear about answers to prayer and blessings, we all corporately, just like we need to beg God for help when it's bad, we need to, together, praise God for answered prayer when He does bring us through on the other side. When he does help, when he does meet the need, oftentimes we pray for something, when God answers it, we just move on to the next major need and forget to take time to thank him for what he has done, to thank him for his goodness. We ought to constantly be dwelling on the blessings and the provisions of God, the answered prayer that God gives us. Roman numeral two, the steadfastness of Paul's purpose, chapter one, verse 12, through chapter two, verse two, His original plan in verses 12 through 16, and then his stability of mind in verses 17 through 22, and the reason for his postponed visit in 23, down through chapter two, verse two, he gives some explanation. But he gives some insight into his mindset and what's going on with him with Paul himself This is steadfastness his focus and understand I mean you see throughout the epistles of Paul how he has a plan to do this or he'd tell him I plan to do this or I want to do this or this was my plan and then things changed and And you notice over and over and over again, you don't ever see Paul when plans change. You don't see him just throw up his hand and say, oh, well, I give up, forget the whole thing. No, he adjusts. He adjusts and makes the best of whatever the situation is and says, let's move on from here. This was my plan. That didn't work out. Okay. This is the new plan. Now this is my plan. That didn't go exactly the way that I had planned. This is the new plan. This was a plan. Everything went the way that it was supposed to. I was focused and God provided and God intervened and everything worked out. And now we're moving on to another plan. Always planning, always looking ahead, but always flexible in that if something changes, that's the way it is, let's move on. Let's move on, let's make another plan. I was discussing something with my dad this week over the phone and I was referring to something that had happened in the past and he said, my dad told me a long time ago When you come to a bridge, cross it, and then don't look back. Paul could, and he did, use testimony of things that had happened in the past, but he didn't dwell in the past. He says, this is what's happened, now let's move on. This is what happened to me, now let's move on. And he just constantly was looking forward. That's why you see him say things like, I press toward the mark. Why? Because he's facing forward. You know it's awful hard to press toward the mark when you're looking backwards. He focused on the goal, and he said, I'm fighting for that. And now I get knocked off the path, and now I'm over here, but I'm still fighting for that. And I'm knocked off the path over here, and I'm knocked down, but I'm still fighting for that. The goal, the focus was the same. The importance of focus, a singular focus in our hearts and minds is what will get us through the Christian life. Roman numeral three, the advice concerning the Corinthian offender, chapter two, verses three through 11. The reason for Paul's first epistle in verse number three, there in chapter two, it says this. And I wrote this same unto you lest when I came I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice Having confidence in you all that my joy is the joy of you all For out of much affliction and anguish of heart. I wrote unto you with many tears Not that you should be grieved but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you He's letting know this was my heart in writing that last letter I wrote it in tears. But if any have caused grief, he hath not grieved me, but in part, that I may not overcharge you all. He says, look, I wrote my first epistle, then verse number six, sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many, so that contrarywise ye ought rather to forgive him and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow. Hey, in 1 Corinthians, He said, let this not be named among you. Put him out. But then now in chapter 2, He says, I wrote that in tears, and I want you to know if He desires to get right, to make things right, forgive Him, comfort Him, welcome Him back, help Him, lest He be overcome with overmuch sorrow. They say about Baptists that oftentimes we're the only ones that shoot our own wounded. It's true. A lot of times, man, when somebody gets down, oftentimes, the body of Christ that's supposed to be the one that's lifting them up, that's reconciling, that's comforting, are the ones that are kicking them while they're down. He said, look, bring them back. If they have a desire to come back... I mean, you think about the prodigal son. His father was every day looking for any glimpse of a desire to return. And the moment he saw it, he received him back with open arms, killed the fatted calf, a robe on him, a ring on his finger. Now, he couldn't regain what he had lost in going out into the world, but he could regain the relationship that was there when he was repentant and humble. So important that we be looking for that in in the church today the reason for Paul's first epistle and then the necessity of forgiveness in verses 5 through down through 11 The the warning in verse 11 says this less say this what happened if we don't forgive if we don't restore Less Satan should get an advantage of us For we are not ignorant of his advices his devices rather. I What happens when we don't look for opportunities to reconcile, when we don't forgive? We give Satan the advantage. We give Satan the advantage. Romans 4, Paul's personal experience, chapter 2, verses 12 and 13, and then it's skipped, that's why I was talking about the skipping back and forth, then over to chapter 7, verses 2 through 16, talking about his personal experiences, his itinerary, letter A, then his anxiety, his meeting with Titus, his subsequent rejoicing, different things that are going on in his life, just talked about in a couple different passages. This is what's going on with me. Then Roman numeral 5 there, the ministry of reconciliation. This is a great study in and of itself. Chapter 2, verse 14, all the way down through chapter 7 and verse 1. He talks about that ministry of reconciliation. The letters under that, first of all, it is victorious. It is accredited. It is glorious. It is illuminating. It is costly, it is motivated, it is demanding, and it is divisive. The ministry of reconciliation can be divisive. Let me tell you one other way. You say, how can reconciliation be divisive? They seem like two opposite words. Well, just picture a scenario with me, if you will. Just say that Brother Bobby did something very hurtful to wrong brother Joe. Just hurt him badly. It was bad enough that brother Bobby had to leave the church for a while. And then brother Bobby comes back and says, I'm sorry, I'm repentant, and I want to be forgiven. Everybody else in the church might say, we accept that, we forgive you, you're welcome back. Brother Joe, who was the one that was hurt, that may have never recovered whatever it was that was lost by the hurt from brother Bobby, may have a hard time with everybody else saying, we forgive you. It's easy to forgive a wrong that was done to somebody else. It's a little more difficult for me to forgive when it was me. If you think about, for instance, a drunk driver drives a car and it hits somebody and kills a family member of somebody. And then that drunk driver sobers up, gets right with the Lord, says that they're sorry. Well, saying they're sorry can't bring back that family member that was lost because of their bad choice. The people that will have the hardest time forgiving will be the people that suffered the greatest loss. But therein lies the greatest reconciliation and comfort at the same time. So important. but it can be divisive. I've seen it happen in a church where somebody, a difficult situation, and somebody left the church because of the difficult situation, and years later they came back, and because they were accepted back, some other people that were hurt in the situation left the church because they could not forgive. They couldn't get past it. It can be divisive, but it's so, so important. And by the way, it's not a situation where you get to pick favorites. You don't get to say, well, I like this person better than this person, so I'm going to side with them. It's going to the Bible and seeing what is biblically right and making sure that you individually, personally, and that I personally am doing what I believe is right from the word of God to the best of my ability. Romans 6, the summons to stewardship. The Macedonian example. He gives them the example of the church there in Macedonia. The appeal to their generosity. He appeals to them to be generous. He talks about the mission of Titus in delivering that and then the challenge to liberality. He challenged them to be liberal givers and then his gratitude for Christ, the supreme gift. Hey, we can't you can't out give God he's already given you and I more than anything that we could ever give and Paul talks about the gratitude for that the vindication of Paul's ministry Roman numeral seven The accusations against him the object of his glorying the Corinthians gullibility He says hey, he reminds them in that passage. If you take a look at it, don't believe everything that you hear. I Don't believe everything that you hear. Do some research. Find out the facts. And then Paul's proven apostolic authority in chapter 11 down into chapter 12. Then lastly, Roman numeral 8, Paul's proposed journey. He said, this is a journey that I'm planning to make. It's purpose and an advance warning to them. And then you see the conclusion in chapter number 13. Some miscellaneous things. The chapter content. You see afflictions and comfort in chapter 1. Approaching the fallen, chapter 2. Approving the counselor, chapter 3. Accepting our ministry in chapter 4. The attitude toward death in chapter 5. Asking for endurance in separation, chapter 6. Admonition to cleansing in 7. Advice on giving in chapter 8. The abounding and reaping in chapter 9. Then awareness and need, chapter 10, assurance of Paul's calling. Chapter 11, the account of the revelation to Paul. Chapter 12, and lastly, the appeal to hear God. Chapter 13, the Christian's sevenfold duty. We see this borne out, and this is another great study. What is the duty? What's my duty as a Christian? What's my responsibility as a Christian? Number one, love the fallen. Number two, testify to the unsaved. Number three, live consistently. Number four, receive correction. Number five, give cheerfully. Number six, acknowledge authority. And number seven, prove ourselves. You know, that right there, just those seven points, it would make a great discipleship class for a new convert or for any of us. Just, what am I supposed to do as a Christian? Take a look at those seven things. In those passages, there's a lot of other companion passages that can go along with each of those, but a great synopsis, if you will, of the responsibility of a Christian. Let's pray this morning. Heavenly Father, I thank you for today. Thank you for the opportunity to meet here this morning. God, I pray that you would help us to take this book of 2 Corinthians, Lord, and to apply it to our lives.