2nd Corinthians chapter 7 will be reading verses 4 through 7 2nd Corinthians chapter 7 verse 4 great is my boldness of speech toward you Great is my glorying of you. I am filled with comfort. I am exceeding joyful In all our tribulation. Well, what a statement I'm exceeding joyful in all our tribulation We use our tribulation to explain why we're not doing so well, why we're miserable, why we're depressed, why we're discouraged. I'm exceeding joyful in all our tribulation. For when we were coming to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Without were fightings, within were fears. Nevertheless, God, that comforteth those that are cast down, comforted us. by the coming of Titus, and not by his coming only, but by the consolation wherewith he was comforted in you. And he told us your earnest desire, your mourning, your fervent mind toward me, so that I rejoiced the more. Dealing tonight with Don't Wait Until You're Certified, part two. Let's pray. Lord, we rejoice again in the opportunity to be here, to be with your people. to have your precious word. Lord, that each of us can have our own copy to read, to study, to memorize, to take home with us. Lord, how many people around this world would give anything to be able to have what we can so easily take for granted? Thank you for your precious word. May we live it. May we learn from it tonight. Lord, may we grow in it. May we not just be hearers, but may we be doers. Lord bless this time we ask in Jesus name. Amen. We're dealing with the fact that if you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you can be of service to him. You can be of use to him and you can be a blessing to other believers. You can be a blessing to the unsaved. You have what the unsaved need and there are times in your life where you're going to have what saved people need. They're going through difficult times and they need a shoulder to cry on. They need somebody to weep with them. They need somebody to pray for them or pray with them. They need sometimes someone to just listen. And so don't wait until you're certified. So I'm going to go get a license and certified. I know you can do a lot of things now. You can be a blessing now and we can learn from other people. We're kind of left off in the middle of Job and Job had some comforters show up and they started out well. For seven days they did well. But then one of them broke the silence and started to speak. And it kind of went downhill from there. Job 16, then Job answered and said, I've heard many such things. Miserable comforters are ye all. What a classic statement. What an understatement. He said, man, I've heard these things. You guys are miserable comforters. He's already doing poorly, but these guys are going to take him down even further. And in verse 3, shall vain words have an end? Are you guys finished? Are you gonna keep talking? What emboldened of thee that thou answerest? I also could speak as ye do I Could say these same things if your soul were in my soul stead I could heap up words against you and shake mine head at you and So evidently, we have the words that they were speaking to Job, but there was even the body language, if you will. Because I could say the same things to you, and I could shake my head at you. And so you can see these three quote-unquote comforters, these friends, and they're just looking at Job, and you know, Job, God judges sin. Job, hypocrites don't get away with it for long. whoever perished being innocent, Job. And they're just going on and on and shaking their heads sadly and looking at him and judging him and coming to complete wrong conclusions. And they kind of are encouraging each other in this, in speaking to Job. And he says, I could do the same thing to you if this circumstance were reversed. But verse 5, he says, but I would strengthen you with my mouth. I'd tear you down, I would strengthen you, I would seek to be a help, and the moving of my lips should have swathed your grief. I'd try to make your load lighter, not heavier. I'd try to be a blessing to you, I'd try to be a help to you, an encouragement to you. Miserable comforters, and they were over and over, and they kept piling on. So one of the rules of counseling is don't speak when you don't know. Don't speak when you don't know. Don't jump to conclusions. Bible says, judge not according to the appearance. How often we jump to conclusions and how often we're wrong. Now, Christians are supposed to make judgments, but we make judgments with the Word of God. The Bible says, he that is spiritual judges all things. And so it's not like we're not supposed to make judgments, but our judgments must be based upon the Word of God, not our opinion. Not how we see things, it's what the word of God says. And so don't speak when you don't know. And there's a lot of times we won't know. And so we're best not saying anything then, but don't let the fear of saying the wrong thing keep you from counseling. A fear of failure is paralyzing. And so many people go through life afraid they're gonna say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing, so they do nothing. Well, you've ensured you're gonna do the wrong thing, because God intends for us to do some things. God intends for us to interact with each other. God intends for us to be a blessing and a help to each other. So I'm just afraid I'll say the wrong thing. Then you are for sure saying the wrong thing, because God wants you to open your mouth sometimes, and God wants you to be there and bear each other's burdens. Galatians 5, 14, for all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. You're to love your neighbors yourself. You're to be a help. Galatians 6, 2, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. We're commanded. This isn't a nice idea. This isn't a suggestion. This is the command. We're to bear each other's burdens and in so doing we fulfill the law of Christ. Hebrews 13, 3, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them. Enter into their sufferings. Be a partaker of their sufferings. Put yourself in their place. Put yourself in their shoes. It's so easy to just listen to a prayer request and kind of let it go right on by. But if you were going through surgery, you'd want people praying. If you were going through a hard time, you'd want people to know and to care. So he says, remember them that are in bonds as bound with them, as if you were imprisoned with them. And them which suffer adversity as being yourselves also in the body. Romans 12, 15, rejoice with them that do rejoice. Weep with them that weep. We're called upon to do both. And there'll be some that you can rejoice with and there'll be others that you will weep with and there'll be some that you might rejoice with this month and you're gonna weep with them next month. And sometimes it's easier to weep with those that weep than to rejoice with those that rejoice. I said before, if you just found out you got laid off from your job and you come to church and the guy says, man, I just got promoted, I got a big raise. You go, oh, good for you. No, you're supposed to rejoice with them. And maybe maybe next week or next month it'll be your time to rejoice and others are to rejoice with you not be envious Not be jealous of that. So rejoice with them to do rejoice weep with them that weep Romans 15 verse 1 we that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak Not to please ourselves We're born We're hardwired to please ourselves You came into this world wanting to please yourself. I You don't wake up at two in the morning as a baby, I'm not gonna cry. Mom looked tired when she put me down. I'm just gonna lay here. No, you just scream whenever. You want service and you want it now. You want fast service. And we're born that way. We're born wanting to please ourselves. That's human nature. And so at some point we come face to face with the gospel and Christ and biblical truth, and we're not to please ourselves. And we then that are strong, and you're gonna go through sometimes in life when you're strong, strong spiritually, strong physically, strong financially, strong mentally, strong in whatever way, we then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, not to please ourselves. And by the way, just as there are times when you are strong, there's gonna come a time when you're weak. Mark it down. And don't be too proud to accept help when you're weak. You'll face when you're weak. And when you're young and energetic and everything's going well, I'm doing fine. You won't always be doing fine. You're gonna need to accept help sometimes. You're gonna need to humble yourselves. Verse 2, it says, let every one of us, every one of us. This wasn't just written to a certain group of individuals, a certain elite few. No, let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification or to be built up, to be encouraged. Ecclesiastes 4 says two are better than one. And when one falls, there's another to help him up. And how true that's supposed to be in the New Testament church. It ought to be true in life, but it's certainly to be true in the house of God, the body of Christ. That when one falls, there's going to be somebody there that's going to lift him up. You don't have to know everything. You don't. Don't let that keep you from reaching out and being a help, being a blessing. Well, I just, I never went to Bible college, and I'm kinda shy, and I'm not good with words, and you remember Moses, when God called Moses, and he was gonna use him to do a pretty major thing, deliver millions of people from bondage in a land and lead them out of the land, and what did Moses start doing? He just started raising objections. He had far more reason to raise objections than you and I do. He'd been gone for 40 years. He's going to show up on the scene now and say, God's called me to deliver you guys. Yeah, right. Where have you been? We've been going through all this bondage. You took off. And so his objections with God were, look, they're not going to listen to me. And then he said, they're not going to believe me. Even if they listen, they're not going to believe me. They're not going to follow me. And God starts knocking down his objections. And he says, I'm not good with words. I can't speak well. And why don't you send somebody else? And Moses raises like five different objections why God can't or shouldn't use him. And God says, no, I'm going to use you. And so for each of us, what he's called us to do isn't to lead millions of people out of captivity. He's just called us to be a blessing, be a help, be a witness. And yet, how quick we are with excuses. Well, I've never been trained. Well, I don't know how. Well, I'm not good at that. Well, I just, no, God says every one of us is to please our neighbor. We're to be a blessing. We're to seek to be a help and reach out. You don't have to know everything. Like we said last week, the blind man, he says, one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I can see. I don't know a lot, but I know I used to be blind, and now I can see. You know that as a Christian. Hey, you used to be spiritually blind, now you can see. You used to be in captivity, now you're free. You know some things. And maybe it's just coming alongside somebody and weeping with them, and they're saying, you know, I don't really know what you're going through firsthand. I've never gone through what you've gone through. I'm sad for what you're going through. I'm praying for you. All I know is when I went through a really tough time in my life that what got me through was spending more time with God. That's what helped me. And that's enough. That's enough. You don't need to have some great theological treatise. You don't need to give them three different doctrinal points. Just say I know in my life there was a time when, man, I was really facing some tough times. Wasn't sure what to do, but I know that it just seemed like when I spent time in prayer, God worked in my heart, and God calmed me down, and God gave me peace, and that's all I know to tell you, and I'm gonna be praying for you. And that's it. And by doing that, you can do them a world of good. A world of good. Don't stay home so I wouldn't know what to say. Well, I'd probably mess it up. No, just show up and just encourage them. James chapter four and verse eight says, draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you. And if you will encourage them to do that, it's that relationship with God that will sustain you. It's that relationship with God that will help your counselee. And you might say, well, they already know they're supposed to draw night of God. Like we said the other night, a lot of preaching is just telling you things you already know. We just need to be reminded of. We just need to hear it over and over. And so sometimes when people are going through difficult times, they're not even thinking straight. They're not even thinking logically and their mind is just so focused on the darkness and the pain and the suffering and the questions and not knowing which way to turn. And maybe just a Christian brother or sister that comes along is willing to take a few minutes and cry with them and pray with them and say, look, I'm not gonna even pretend I know what you're going through. I've not really been through that. I've been through other valleys, but not that one. But man, I know that when I was going through the valley, here's what helped me. And I'm gonna be praying for you, and here's my number, and I want you to know you can call me anytime, and I'll be there. If you don't mind, I'll maybe call you tomorrow, the next day. I don't mean to bug you, but just check in on you. Is that all right? And then leave. That's it. Encouraging them to draw an eye with God, that relationship that's going to sustain them. Colossians 2, 6 says, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. The same way you received Him by faith, now live by faith, walk in faith, rooted, verse 7, and built up in Him, and established in the faith. That's what they're going to need as you have been taught, abounding therein. with thanksgiving, even in the midst of trials, even in the midst of difficult times. Verse 10, ye are complete in him which is the head of all principality and power. Ephesians chapter three, verse 16, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. That's what the person going through a valley needs. That's what you and I need even when we're on top of the mountain. that we would be strengthened by his spirit in the inner man. The outer man's gonna get buffeted in this life. How does the outer man survive that the inner man is strengthened day by day? By spending time with God, drawing close to God. And your counselee needs to be reminded of that. Look, just draw close to God. I don't have the answers for you. I'm not sure how you're gonna get through this. But I know you'll get through it with God's help, and God says he won't forsake you. And I would just encourage, I'd beg you, just spend time with God. Be strengthened by his spirit in the inner man. Verse 17, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye be enrooted and grounded. That's established a foundation, an anchor for your soul, being rooted and grounded in love. may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ. When you're going through the challenges of life, it's easy to lose sight of that. In fact, sometimes you might question that. If God really loves me, why this? Why did he allow this to happen? Why didn't he stop this if God really loves me? So be established in that, and to know the breadth and length and depth and height. Know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, he's able to do those things. In Jeremiah 33, he says, call unto me, and I will answer thee. I will answer thee. and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. What God offered Job wasn't answers. It was himself. It was himself. And that's what he offers to us as well. We want answers, and God wants us to have him. And so your counselee, they oftentimes, most of the time, they want answers. But what they always need is God, always. And so you say, well, I don't know what I need. No, they need God. They need a close relationship with God. They need a walk with God. That's what God offers us. David Livingston, the missionary, the doctor, who spent most of his life in Africa. He died in 1873 after suffering greatly, suffered greatly in Africa, many, many ways. His wife died, a lion bit him, maimed his hand. He contracted many different fevers, dysentery. The house that he had built with his own hands burned down. Went through all kinds of deprivation, all kinds of sicknesses. And someone once made the seemingly obvious remark to Livingston that he had sacrificed much for the gospel. And to that comment, Livingston replied, sacrifice. The only sacrifice is to live outside the will of God. I didn't sacrifice. A man that had left behind family and friends, gone to what was called the dark continent. A time when travel was very, very difficult and there were hostile tribes and faced many perils. His whole ministry there, it was never smooth. His sacrifice? No, you got the wrong guy. The only people that are sacrificing are those that live outside the will of God. When someone asked him what helped him to go on despite such hardships, because he'd faced so many, he said that even on his worst days, He said, he could hear the words of Christ ringing in his ears. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. So it got me through. Knowing that Christ was with me, didn't matter what I faced. And Livingston said this. He said, without Christ, not one step. With him, everywhere. So he said, without Christ, no, not one step. I don't want to go anywhere without Christ. But with him, I'll go anywhere. Joseph Tasson writes, during the time I was expected, expecting to be crushed by the Romanian secret police interrogators, he said, God became more real to me than ever before or after in my life. It is difficult to put into words the experience I had with God at that time. It was like a rapture into a sweet and total communion with the beloved. God's test for me then became the pathway to a special knowledge of the reality of God during a time of intense persecution in Romania. You read the history of Romania and the fierce persecution of believers and just even other people in society, but believers in particular. He says God achieves great things in the world through the one who accepts his way of suffering and Self-sacrifice. In the end, however, it turns out that the greatest things are achieved in the sufferer himself. The one who sacrificially accepts to be a blessing for others discovers that in the final analysis, he is the one who has harvested the greatest blessings. And so in times of great persecution, great deprivation, what does God do? He offers himself. He offers Himself. That's what He offers us. All through the Bible, in Isaiah 43, verse 1, He says, What do we pray when we're passing through deep waters? For God to take all that away. He never promises He'll take all that away, never. The only thing you can know by faith is what He's promised. You know, oftentimes we use that word faith, and we use it cheaply, cavalierly. People say, well, I have faith that God's going to heal my aunt. No, you have expectation He's going to heal your aunt. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. Faith is based on the Word of God. And so if you have a verse that says, I'm gonna heal your aunt, okay, I'd like to see it. But then you can have faith. Otherwise you have hope or expectancy, but you don't have true biblical faith. So what do we have in going through trials that would constitute faith? Not that God is going to take the trials away. but he's gonna be with us in the trials. And when you read the testimony of the martyrs and you read the testimony of those that have suffered persecution, those that have gone through great deprivation and great trials, the testimony always is that God was so close to them in the time of trial. They were more conscious, aware of his presence, and it brought them great relief and strength. And so he says, when thou passest through the waters, Here's the promise. I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. What does that mean? 1 Corinthians 10, 13, he says, you're not gonna face any temptation, but such as is common to man. And God will not allow you, suffer you to be tempted, tested, tried, above that you're able. So you'll never have the waters going over your head. They may get up to here, which will make you pray more. but they're not gonna overflow you. So that's his promise. He says, look, I'm gonna be with you, and you're never gonna have more than you can handle. You might have what's gonna bring you to the end of yourself, that's a good place to be, but you and I are gonna get through it if you'll trust me. And so he's saying that they'll not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. I'm gonna walk with you through that. And he says in verse 3, for I am the Lord thy God. So you have a pretty good testimony from somebody with a pretty good resume. Here's my credentials, I'm gonna go with you. I am the Lord thy God. Verse 5 he says, fear not, for I am with thee. That's his assurance. He doesn't say, fear not, you won't have to go through that trial. Fear not, I'm gonna take the trial away. He says, fear not, for I am with thee. That's the promise. That's what you can put your faith in. In verse 19, behold, I will do a new thing now. It shall spring forth. Shall you not know it, I will even make a way in the wilderness. You're in a barren, desolate stretch of life and not sure which way to turn. He says, I'll guide you. And rivers in the desert, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. Psalm 23, that great psalm, he says, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. Why? For thou art with me. Not you're going to get me out of that valley. You're going to walk with me through it. I can face anything with you being with me, God. Those of you that grew up with older siblings, you have an older brother. You know what it's like when you're just a little guy and you get your older brother with you. Hey, everything's much better. And your brother's there to protect you, watch over you, watch out for you. How much better to have God? Walk through the valley of the shadow of death and go through difficult times in life and know that you're with me. In Amos chapter 5, he says, Seek ye, thus saith the Lord, seek ye me, and ye shall live. We want to seek answers. We want to seek solutions. And God says, Seek me. Seek me. Seek me, and ye shall live. Verse 6, seek the Lord and ye shall live. Verse 8, seek him that maketh the seven stars on Orion and turneth the shadow of death into the morning and maketh the day dark with night that calleth for the waters of the sea and poureth them out upon the face of the earth. The Lord is his name. He's saying seek him. That's the same God who revealed himself to Job. When God showed up for an encounter with Job, he says, hey, I made this world. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Can you tell me about it? I made this world, I made this universe, I'm God. And Amos says, seek that God. Seek that God that made the universe. There are times I tell God, Lord, you made this whole universe. You could give us the property next door. I just remind him a little, in case he's busy with other stuff. I was like, God, that wouldn't be anything. That's nothing to you. You made this universe. And Amos says, seek him that maketh the seven stars in Orion. Seek him that did all of this. Seek him. Hebrews 13, five, let your conversation, let your lifestyle, your manner of living be without covetousness and be content with such things as you have, for he has said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Don't ever envy the wicked, Proverbs tells us. No, you have God. My neighbor's got this really nice RV. You've got God. My neighbor's got this big, beautiful house. You've got God. He'd be content with such. Don't be given to covetousness and desiring other things. You have God, who says, I'll never leave thee nor forsake thee. 1 Peter 5, 7, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. You know, when you're going through difficult, dark time, sometimes in a moment of weakness, in the middle of a long, dark night, You might question, does God know? Does God care? And so when you're helping somebody else, sometimes you just need to remind them God cares. And you can cast all your care upon Him. Why? Because He cares for you. He cares for you. Matthew 28, 20, Lo, I'm with you always, even unto the end of the world. In Acts chapter 7, they're getting ready to stone Stephen because of his preaching. His preaching convicted them. They didn't like his message, so he's going to become the first martyr of that early church. And in Acts 7, verse 54, it says, When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart. And people, when they're cut to the heart, either repent or they get angry. They're convicted, you respond to conviction in one or two ways. They were cut to the heart and they gnashed on them with their teeth, they're so angry. Verse 55, but he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God and said, behold, I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. He's dying, he's getting hit with rocks as he's saying this. God didn't keep him from dying. God didn't keep him from being martyred or the rocks from hitting him, but he was there for him. And he could have a countenance, the Bible says, that looked like the countenance of an angel. He's moments away from dying, and God was there. Some of the sweetest Christians you'll ever meet are those who have gone through suffering. And some of the most bitter Christians you'll ever meet are those who have gone through suffering. Why the difference? There's only one difference. Some Christians run to God and some Christians run from Him. That's the difference. You'll find people that they're bitter. Oh, they're still maybe in church sometimes. But there's no joy, and they're countless. There's no joy in their walk. They don't read their Bible. They barely pray. And they've just got a lot of angst in their soul. Why? They didn't run to God. And then you encounter people, they've gone through, I mean, they've gone through so much, you think, man, how could one person go through all that? And they've got a sweet spirit. They ran to God. Fannie Crosby, blinded by an incompetent doctor at the age of six weeks, penned literally thousands, more than 8,000 hymns she wrote. She expressed delight that Jesus' face would be the first that she would ever see. You know, if she had focused on I'll never be able to see, she would have gone through life profoundly sad, and it would have been very easy for her to get bitter, if that had been her focus. Instead she could say with Job after skin worms destroy my body yet in my flesh. I'll see God one day I'll see God and concerning her blindness Fanny said it seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life and I Thank him for the dispensation. I thank him then she said this She said a perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow. I Would not accept it I wouldn't accept it. I verily believe it was His intention that I should live my days in physical darkness so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and incite others so to do. When you can know through the eyes of faith that God is working, you don't blame Him. You praise Him. And I've quoted the poem before that she wrote at the age of eight, eight years old. Oh, what a happy soul am I, although I cannot see. I am resolved that in this life, contented I will be. How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't. To weep and sigh because I'm blind? I cannot, and I won't. That's someone who could be in the midst of what we would consider, wow, what a curse. What a burden. She says, no, it's a blessing. And she could see with eyes of faith things that people with eyes of flesh could never see. And wrote hymns we still sing today that have blessed millions. Is it easy to trust God in the midst of suffering? Not always, but it's always possible. It's always possible. We make the choice. As we said before, you don't get to choose sometimes what circumstances you go through, but you do get to choose your response, and you will choose your response. On September 11, 2001, Lisa Beamer's husband, Todd, died in that United Airlines Flight 93. And Lisa says, I can't see all the reasons God might have allowed this when I know He could have stopped it. She said, I don't like how His plan looks from my perspective right now. But knowing that he loves me and can see the world from start to finish helps me to say, it's okay, it's okay. You lose your husband on a flight like that, you can have a thousand what ifs. But when you know there's a God in heaven that's behind it all, it's okay. I may not understand it in this life, but through faith I'm gonna say, okay God, it's okay. John Greenleaf Whittier in his poem, The Eternal Goodness, wrote of life's great sufferings. He said, Yet in the maddening maze of things and tossed by storm and flood, to one fixed trust my spirit clings. I know that God is good. And sometimes that's all you're going to have, the knowledge that God is good. You don't know the mind of God. You don't know why he's doing what he's doing, but you know that he's good. and that'll be an anchor for your soul. You hang on to that. In 2005, the Washington Post conducted a major survey of the Hurricane Katrina survivors who wound up as refugees in Houston, and those that had faith in God. They asked them about their faith in God, and remarkably, 81% of them said the ordeal had strengthened their belief, while 4% said it weakened it. 81% said they're strengthened. They lost their homes. Some of them lost loved ones. They said it strengthened their faith in God. We make a choice how we're gonna respond. 2 Corinthians, our text again, chapter 1, verse 3, blessed be God, even the Father of Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort. That's the original source. That's the foundation. Are you suffering tonight? Go to the God of all comfort. Are you struggling tonight? Go to the God of all comfort. Is your life going in directions you did not anticipate? Go to the God of all comfort. Seek His face. Spend time in His presence, the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble. You know what that means? That means you don't have to have gone through exactly what they've gone through. You don't have to. Think, well, I don't know that I can help them because I've never gone through X, Y, Z. No, once you've been comforted by God, you've gone through adversity, you faced some trials, you found God to be sufficient. Now you can comfort those which are in any trouble. Don't stay home because you say, well, I've never, I've never suffered that specific loss. No, go ahead and show up. and show up. You can comfort those that are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble, which came to us in Asia. We were pressed out of measure, above strength and so much that we despaired even of life. Paul was human. Paul wasn't some... Super saint granted some kind of special dispensation where he could just sail merrily through troubles and never feel them No, he was human And he faced struggles and and difficulties And here he says we're we're in a place where we're man. We we were pressed out of measure It's beyond what it seemed humanly possible to bear in so much that we disparity from life We thought we were gonna die We were pretty sure we were gonna lose our lives. And Paul went through this actually many times. As we mentioned, a total of four shipwrecks, a number of beatings. There was times he was left for dead. So he says there were times we were despaired of life. Verse nine, but we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises up the dead. So God brought him to the end of himself. We have a tendency to panic when we get to that place. But think of that. Is that a bad place to be? If you believe there's a sovereign God that watches over the affairs of this world, who's omniscient and omnipotent and omnipresent, He's all-powerful, and He allows you to get to that place, then thank Him for it. It brings you to a place where you realize that it's not my wisdom that's gonna get me out of this one. It's not my ingenuity. It's not my strength. It's not my resources. It's not my contacts. It's God. Paul would say, not that we are sufficient in ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. And we'll not grow in faith until we need faith. Until your faith is tested, you don't know how much faith you have. So Paul said we came to the end where we didn't think we were gonna make it. And God was bringing us to the place where we wouldn't trust in ourselves anymore. Paul talks about his credentials. He had a lot to trust in. He was a high-ranking individual. He had a stellar reputation and education. He was well-regarded. He would say, I counted all that badung. I turned my back on all of that. But still, there would have been that confidence, if you will, in his flesh that he had these credentials, he had this education, he had these experiences. And God brought him to the place where none of that mattered anymore. It's not a bad place to be. We think, God, get me out of this. I'm not comfortable here. Sometimes it's good to be uncomfortable. and realize how much we need God and come to the end where it's God or nothing. It's God that's gonna get me through or I'm not gonna make it through. I don't have the abilities. I don't have the strength anymore. I don't have the resources. It's God. In verse 10, who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver and whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. Why? His faith has grown and your faith grows as you go through a test and you see God got me this far. God can get me through the next test and God can get me through the next test. We do that in every other area of life. You go to school and you have quizzes and assignments and then pretty soon you got a midterm and a midterm is worse than a quiz. And eventually you have a final and that's worse than midterm and it just builds. You play sports, you get involved, you start to train, and the training gets more intense and more intense as you're able to bear more, and there's no pain, no gain. And yet we shy away from it in spiritual life, in our Christian life. We don't want tests. We don't want to be stretched. We don't want to be challenged. We'd like to take the easy road. The other areas of life we realize, hey, there's some challenges, there's some costs, there's some things we have to do if we're going to ever gain what it is we hope to gain. It's the same way in the Christian life. And he said, we saw God deliver us here, and so now we know that he can deliver us here as well. He also, verse 11, helping together by prayer for us. How important that is. We read the letter from Rene, and I thank you for your prayer. As much as we're uncomfortable with all of the nonsense surrounding COVID-19, imagine being by yourself in a foreign country that's pretty hostile to the gospel and not real friendly toward Christianity and facing all that. And so she means it when she says, thank you for your prayers. And Jesse and Abby down in Argentina, and Brother Paisano down in Mexico, and they're facing challenges. Thank you for your prayers. And Paul said, God showed himself strong on our behalf, and we learn that he's gonna deliver us in the future, and you were a help through all that. God uses people. Ye also help him 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. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom. Paul had been brought to the end of that, but by the grace of God. had our conversation our lifestyle in the world more abundantly to you word for we write none of the things under you than that we then what you read or acknowledge and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end as also ye have acknowledged us in part that we are your rejoicing even as ye also are ours in the day of the Lord Jesus and we rejoice And the tests and trials we've gone through, and the consolation and the comfort that we've received, and we rejoice in seeing you go through those in that you get the consolation and the comfort. You've encouraged us, we encourage you. And the strong bear the infirmities of the weak, and we seek to please one another for their good edification. That's how the church is supposed to work. That's how the body of Christ is supposed to function. Don't wait until you're certified. Don't wait until you feel qualified. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Father, thank you for your word tonight. Lord, help us to live it. It's not enough to hear it. Lord, help us to live it. Help us to get beyond our comfort zone, to look around us. Lord, we're so prone to please ourselves, it comes automatically. It's human nature. But You want us to please You and You want us to please others. Lord, help us to reach out. Help us to take a chance. Lord, help us to seek to minister to others, to enter into their sufferings, to weep with them, to pray with them, to pray for them, to minister to one another. Lord, if we're strong tonight, may we remember those that are weak, and may we live with the awareness that one day we'll be weak, and we'll need somebody that's strong to come and minister to us. Blessed now in this time of invitation, we ask in Jesus' name, amen.