Yeah. So, so so so so You. You. you Well we welcome you in our Saviour's holy and blessed name to our Bible study again and we trust that the Lord will encourage your heart and bless your soul as you meet with us around the Word of God. I trust that you have your Bible ready because that's where we're going to very soon to hear from the Lord and we trust that the word will be a fitly word, a suitable word even or your need, whatever that spiritual need would be, even this evening. And so, before we read the scriptures, let's go to the Lord in a word of prayer, and let's unite together, and let me encourage you to pray that God will minister to your soul tonight around God's precious word. So let's seek the Lord together, please, in a word of prayer. Our loving Father, again we meet around the common, mercy seat we come dear father by faith into thy holy presence we rejoice oh god for thy goodness toward us that finds us safely again around thy word for another bible study and prayer meeting and lord though we be separated from one another yet we praise thee that we're never separated from thee the promise of god is as sure as when it was first written by the inspired pain man, when God said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. We thank you for the words of Christ, though I am with thee always, even on to the end of the world. We rejoice, O God, in one who is forever near his children, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother, and though father and mother would even forsake us, Yet we praise thee that the Lord will take us up. Lord, we rejoice that we are taken up in thine arms tonight. We're held by thee, kept by the power of God, until the day of final, O God, revelation and salvation, when we shall leave this world behind. And the one that we have known by faith, O God, our eyes shall behold, and our faith shall give way to sight. We come, dear God, needing thy help and thy presence. Very much, dear God. We cry, O God, that thou wilt minister to the souls of those who watch us in by the virtual broadcast tonight. Lord, we cry, Lord, that thou wilt minister to their need, whate'er it be. And grant, dear Father, a word fitly spoken. Let it be a word that is as a nail in a sure place. Grant, dear Father, hearts to be encouraged and strengthened and comforted, dear God, in these days of great uncertainty and fear that still abounds in our nation. We pray, O God, for the humbling of our hearts and the humbling of our lives under the mighty hand of God. Lord, grant, dear Father, our hearts to be lifted up to Thee as we seek Thy face even in prayer tonight and around Thy precious Word. We pray for all those who are in need within our congregation. Meet them at the point of need. Grant, dear Father, the lifting up of their hearts even unto Thee, we pray. And may, dear Father, even in Thy good will, that Thou will raise them to that measure of health and strength again. We look to Thee, dear God, be with us. May we know Thy blessing, fill our homes with Thy presence, Grant, dear Father, the anointing of thy spirit for this preacher, Lord who, dear Father, the as that where circumstances be different than they would normally be on a Wednesday night, yet we praise thee that we can know thy presence in a very particular way. Lord, therefore, grant the anointing of thy spirit. We pray for the Holy Ghost, dear God, that he will be the great teacher and the great one who will bring us to Christ. And may, dear Father, we get glimpses and views of our great God even this evening. and so minister to our souls we pray bless everyone who watches in and those who will watch in at a later date we pray lord that even the word will come with freshness to their soul answer these are petitions but we offer prayer in and through the savior's holy and precious name amen and amen well again we welcome you in our savior's name wherever you're watching in around the world thank you for joining with us and we are praying that the Lord will bless his word to your heart this evening. If you do have a copy of God's word let me invite you to take it and turn this evening to 2nd Corinthians and the chapter number 1. So we're turning to 2nd Corinthians and the chapter number 1 and we'll begin our reading at the opening verse of the chapter. 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 and the verse number 1. Let's hear God's word. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia. Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and 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 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 ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation. We'll end our reading at the end of the verse seven. A brief reading tonight, but let's keep the word of God open here in 2 Corinthians and the chapter number one. Let's just very briefly again seek the Lord's help for this evening. Father in heaven, Lord, just bless us now as we meet around thy word. Lord, come, assist me, dear God. Help me to proclaim thy precious word. And may, dear Father, every heart be blessed and encouraged Even tonight, we offer prayer in the name of Christ our Savior. Amen and amen. Have you ever found yourself trying to comfort someone in their time of need and you've come away thinking that your efforts have failed? Sadly, that has happened to me on countless occasions as a minister of the gospel. Maybe death has come to a family circle and I've spoken with the family members to offer some words of consolation and it seems to me that my words are hollow and shallow. or maybe it's sickness that comes into a life and you maybe make your way to a hospital bed or ward to try and console the person, but again you come away and you wonder, have you done more damage than good? Such is the feeble efforts of comfort that we as human beings bring to others. However, I don't want to speak of human comfort tonight, but instead I want to speak to you about divine comfort. I want us to think this evening about God's ministry of comfort to his children, a ministry that is very much to the fore in these words that we find in 1 Corinthians and the chapter number 1. Really it is the verse number 4 that I want us to focus on this evening. I want us to hone in on them because we read there in verse 4 of 2 Corinthians chapter 1, Who comforteth us in all our tribulation. We may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. As we think about God's ministry of comfort towards his people and towards his saint, there are four things that I want us to think upon this evening. I want you to firstly think with me about the source of comfort. The source of comfort. Now the sinner tries to source their comfort from a variety of places. Some sinners try to find comfort in some kind of relationship. Whether that relationship is with another human being, maybe it's a relationship with some sporting team or even some kind of animal, even a dog or a cat or some kind of pet. People try to find comfort in such things. And then there are others and they try and they attempt to find comfort in maybe some substance. Some try to find comfort in alcohol. Others in drugs. And others still in food. Some seek for comfort in the possessions that they can accrue to themselves. Their homes. Their cars. Their motorbike. Their money. Maybe their jewellery or their fashion. And yet when all of these earthly sources of... comfort are placed in the balances they are always found to be wanting. We would have to say to them as Job said concerning his human comforters there in Job chapter 16 verse 2. Miserable comforters are ye all. Miserable comforters are ye all. The problem for the sinner is that they're looking for comfort in the wrong places. But the worldling is not the only one who seeks comfort in the wrong places. At times we as Christians look for our comfort in the wrong places too. Sadly at times we're no better than the sinner. We think that this position or that person or the other pleasure, this pleasure will bring comfort to our lives. But sadly they are found to be no comfort to us at all. And God brings us and allows us to come to that realization so that we might throw ourselves upon our God because he is the primary source of comfort for his child and for the Christian. Look at how he's described in verse three, this who of the verse number four. Look at how he's described in the verse number three. There he's described as the father of mercies and the God of all comfort. The God of all comfort. Paul traced all his comforts, all comforts that he ever knew in his life, back to its primary and to their primary source, to the God of all comfort. Yes, God's servant, I'm sure no doubt, was comforted by others, other believers, other Christians. I'm sure he experienced the comfort of such individuals. But the apostle knew that it was God who had supplied that comfort and that then he had employed secondary means to get that comfort to him via the believers. via Christian friends and those who he labored among. But Paul recognized that the comfort that they were able to give to him really was sourced in the God of all comfort. It was from him that such comfort came to the life of the Apostle Paul. I want you to dwell upon a truth tonight, child of God. I want you to dwell upon the truth that it is in the heart of your God to bring you comfort. Now don't miss what I've just said. Let me repeat it. That it is in the heart of your God to bring you comfort. I want you to listen to these various texts of scripture that speak to us about this primary source of comfort, the believer's comfort, God himself. Speaking of his God, the psalmist in Psalm 71 verse 21, he said these words, Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. Thou shalt increase my greatness and comfort me on every side. David made this request to God in Psalm 86 in the verse 17. Show me a token for good that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed because thy Lord has hope in me and comforted me. Thy Lord has hope in me or helped me and comforted me. In Isaiah 43 verse 13 we read, The heavens were to be joyful. The earth was to break forth into singing. Yes. and the mountains as well. Why? For the Lord hath comforted his people. These scriptures serve to remind us that any comfort that we come to experience on our earthly pilgrimage primarily comes to us from our God, the God of all comfort, the God of all comfort. And so to that, Brother, that sister in Christ who is watching, who is listening to this message, in great need of comfort tonight, I want to remind you that your God is abundantly able and willing and ready to impart comfort and consolation to you, His child. Now you may ask the question, where will such comfort ever arise? You look this way and that way, forwards, backwards, and you're wondering where will comfort ever arise in my circumstances, in my time of trouble, in this day of crisis within my Christian life. Where is comfort ever going to arise? But let me assure you, let me assure you that God is never at a loss as to where that comfort can come to us from. William McCulloch was the minister of Cambuslang during those extraordinary events of revival that swept through his parish in the 18th century. And William McCulloch, he made this telling remark. He said this, God can create comfort to us out of nothing or out of what is most unlikely to yield it. He said, He can bring meat out of the eater, sweet out of the bitter, joy out of sorrow, life out of death, and what is more, He can make our greatest crosses our greatest comforts. He can make our greatest crosses our greatest comforts. Out of nothing, Comfort can be sent to us from the God of all comfort. Octavius Winslow wrote, God wants you, speaking after the manner of men, to make use of him as the God of comfort. Why has he revealed himself as such, if not that you should repair to him immediately and without hesitation in every tribulation? God wants you to go to Him and derive from Him and obtain from Him the comfort that you need for the tribulation that you're going through. And so, child of God, go to the God of all comfort and solicit from Him the comfort that He is willing and ready to impart to you His redeemed one, His child. The source of comfort is the God of all comfort. In the second place, I want you to think with me about the nature of the comfort. The nature of the comfort. God is said to be the one who comforteth us in all our tribulation. That's what our text says in the verse number four. But what is his comfort like? What is it like? What's the very nature of it? What's the characteristics of this comfort that God brings to his child in the time of tribulation? Well, I want you to note in the first instance that God's comfort is timely. It's timely. God's comfort is a timely comfort. God dispenses his comfort in a most timely manner. Note our text. When does this comfort come to us? When the tribulation is over? Before the tribulation begins? No, our text says that he comforteth us, and then notice that two-lettered word, in. In our tribulation. It is whilst we are going through the tribulation, it's whilst we are passing through the trouble, it's whilst we're in the time of crisis that God imparts His comfort. Isn't that a wonderful thought? I tell you, that's a thrilling thought. To know that in our time of tribulation, God comes, yes, in a timely manner, to dispense to us his comfort. Now we may feel that he could be sooner in sending his comfort, but he does send it when we need it the most, and when his intended purposes have been fully accomplished. It's timely. Now my mind is taken once again to that home in Bethany, For an example of God's timely comfort where two sisters are mourning the death of their brother, the sister's names, Mary and Martha, the brother's name, Lazarus. Lazarus was sick and a message had been sent to the Savior for him to come and to heal him. However, between the message being sent and the eventual arrival of the Savior to comfort Mary and Martha, Four days had elapsed and Lazarus was dead. You know, I'm sure Mary and Martha thought to themselves that the Saviour's comfort was a little late in its arrival. However, they were going to witness a greater miracle than the mere raising of Lazarus from a sickbed. Because these women were going to witness the raising of their brother from the dead and out of the grave. And it was that that was going to bring the greatest comfort to these dear women. You know, maybe tonight you're waiting for God to impart comfort to you. Maybe you're waiting, you're in the day of trouble, you're in a time of tribulation, and you're waiting for God. waiting for His comfort to arrive? Well, if you are, hold on. His comfort will be dispensed to you at the exact moment divine wisdom purposes it to be imparted. Not a moment sooner, and certainly not a moment later. Listen to these words from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ, found in John 14, verse 18. He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. And what will he bring as he comes to us? He'll bring us his comfort. That's what he'll bring. Oh, may God help us not to grow impatient while we wait on God bringing to our lives the comfort that we desperately need. And so the nature of it, it's timely. In the second instance, God's comfort is tender. It's tender. Speaking in Isaiah 63 verse 13, Jehovah said these words, As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. You know here God likens his comfort to mimic, to mirror the comfort of a mother. And surely one of the characteristics of a mother's comfort is that it is tender. You just watch a mother comforting her weeping child. Just stand back and view a mother as she comforts a fearful youngster. Just stand and watch as a mother will take her sick baby into her arms and with tenderness will comfort that little one. I say that everything that a mother does, she does it with the tender touch. Oh, the father, he's much harsher. He's more brash in his dealings with his children, but not the mother. No, it's a mother's touch. It's the tender touch, the tender touch of a mother's caressing hand, comforting the little one, the infant, the child, the youngster. You know, here in Isaiah chapter 63, verse 13, the God of heaven condescends to liken himself in this verse to be like a comforting mother, one who comforts his people. And surely that comfort is administered with infinite tenderness, with all the tender, delicate and refined feeling of a mother. God comforts the afflicted one, the one who's going through the tribulation, the one who's in the midst of trouble, the one who's in the day of crisis. the one who's full of fears and anxiety, God comes along and he comes with a tender comfort. So beloved, put then from your mind the thought that your God is harsh, rough, ruthless in his dealings with you. He is a God who tenderly comforts, his distressed, his discouraged, his depressed, his disheartened child. He comes with a tender comfort. That's the nature of his comfort. In the third instance, God's comfort is tailored. It's tailored. As you're well aware, our trials and troubles are varied. What one Christian experiences is different than what another Christian may experience in their lives. And it is because of the very nature of life's difficulties that the comfort that God imparts is then tailored to the specific trial that we are called to go through. It's as if it's most suitable God having seen the trial, God having known in his infinite wisdom and by his purposes, knowing the trial and the tribulation that an individual would go through, it's as if, and this is what happens, Literally, he provides a comfort that is the perfect fit. Think of it, the perfect fit for our trouble and for our tribulation. Oh, child of God, you should be encouraged by this. Your heart should be melted in love and praise. Your soul should go out to God in thanksgiving that there is comfort that is perfectly suited for my time of trouble. my tribulation. Therefore God's comfort, as I've said, this comfort that is tailored for the specific trial that we're called to go through, God's comfort for the Christian who's experiencing loneliness is going to be different than the comfort that he conveys to maybe a sorrowing or a sick believer not going to be the same going to be different because it's suited it fits perfectly it's tailored for the need for the trouble for the tribulation one christian writer wrote wide is the family of the afflicted but he has a healing balm for all the weak the tempted the sick the sorrowing, the bereaved, the dying. Ah, there's comfort for all of these saints, and it's specifically for them. Meet it, suit it, tailor me it, just for that particular one. So whatever then the valley you're treading presently, whatever the trouble you're passing through, child of God, God has comfort that is specifically tailored for your need. F.B. Meyer wrote, God holds a pair of scales. This on the right, called as, is for thine affliction. This on the left, called so, is for thy comforts. And the beam is always balanced. Whatever our afflictions, there is comfort. Enough comfort for our afflictions. What Mayer was trying to convey is that there is comfort that is equivalent, that correlates to our afflictions. The hymn writer Annie Johnson Flint wrote, he giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater. He sendeth more strength when the labors increase. To added affliction, he addeth his mercy. To multiplied trials, his multiplied peace. But better than a hymn are the words of God that we find in the word of God. Deuteronomy chapter 33 verse 25 we find these words of promise, As thy days, so shall thy strength be. You see God here promises to impart strength that is proportionate to our days. and the burden of those days, and the labours of those days, and the troubles of those days, he promises to impart strength. As thy days, so shall thy strength be. And what he does with his strength, he does with his comfort. God's comfort is always proportionate to our need. But let me move on to the third consideration as we think about God's comforting ministry, namely the means of comfort, the means of comfort. Now God is the primary source of the Christian's comfort, a fact that we have already established, I trust, in this message. But he employs multiple channels by which that comfort reaches us. multiple channels by which that comfort reaches us. Let me give you just some of them. The first channel through which God deploys his comfort to us is the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God. In the Savior's Upper Room Discourse, the Lord Jesus Christ in John 14 verses 16 to 18 said the following to his disciples, He said, and I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him, for he dwelleth in you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless, but I will come to you. The Son of God promised that another comforter in the person of God, the Holy Spirit was coming to bring comfort to his disciples. And what a ministry of comfort the Holy Spirit exercises in the believer's life, ever bringing us to Christ, ever bringing us to the very source of our comfort. I wonder, are you availing yourself of the comfort that comes to you from God through the Comforter? God the Holy Spirit. You know, in our darkness, the Holy Spirit, he comforts us by enlightening our minds. In our days of low ebb with regard to our spiritual life, he comes and he comforts us by quickening us. When we do not know what to do and what direction to turn, The Holy Spirit comes and comforts us by guiding us. When we have fallen, when we desire even to know victory over besetting sin, the Spirit of God comes and comforts us by sanctifying us. Yes, and whenever we're full of doubt, the great Comforter, the Spirit of God, He comes and comforts us by assuring us. that we are Christ. Oh, the great ministry of comfort that comes to us via the Spirit of God. That's the first channel through which God deploys his comfort to us. The second channel through which God deploys his comfort to us is the Scriptures of God. The Scriptures of God. Let me read to you Romans chapter 15 in the verse 4. For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. God has put in, put his blessed word into our hands. so that we, through patience and the comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. You know, as I read the Word of God, as I take the Word of God, I find comfort therein. I find comfort in the people that I meet in the Scriptures, because I see in them a reflection of my life. Their failures are my failures. Their disappointments are my disappointments. Their troubles, they're just like my troubles. Their fears, they're just like my fears. And as I read of them, I see that many, many pass through the same troubles that I pass through. And yet I see that through all of it, God upholds them. God sustains them. God helps them. God assists them. And so as I read of the people within the scriptures, I find comfort because if God does that for them, and if God did that for them, then he'll do it for me. For I'm as much his child as they are and they were. I'm as much redeemed by blood as they were. I'm as much loved as their love. And so I find comfort in the people I meet in the scriptures. I find comfort in the promises that I find in the scriptures because they encourage me. Yes, they strengthen me. Yes, they comfort me in the trying circumstances that I often find myself in. the promises of the scriptures. Aye, and something else, I find comfort in the peace that I read of within the scriptures. Yes, peace with God. And the peace of God that is my possession because Christ has made peace through the blood of his cross. Oh, I read of peace. Peace I give unto you. My peace give I unto you, not as the world give I unto you. Oh, there's a peace, a peace that passeth all understanding, a peace that can be mine. As I reach out and as by faith I appropriate all that God has purchased for me through his cross, I stand in to the blessings purchased for me at the place called Calvary and thereby I find comfort. in all of these things. If you need comfort tonight, then look no further than the great resource of God's Word. Whatever your burdens, whatever your troubles, you'll find comfort in God's Word that will see to the lightening of the burdens and to the relieving of the troubles. So then let me encourage you to search the Scriptures and extract comfort from its pages, just like a bee extracts nectar from the flowers of a well-maintained garden. Go to every book like a bee and extract the nectar of God's promises from every flower within the book of God, within the pages of Holy Scripture, and I'll tell you it'll sweeten it'll sweeten the road, it'll lighten the burden, it'll bring comfort to that heart and soul of yours. There's a third channel through which God deploys his comfort to us, and that is through the servants and the saints of God. Yes, through the Spirit of God, through the Scriptures of God, and through the saints and the servants of God. Ministers and fellow Christians can be channels through which God's comfort can flow to us. I'm sure you have experienced maybe sitting in a church service, you've maybe been broken hearted, you've maybe been fraught with worry, you've maybe been seeking guidance for the next step to take and the passage that has been read or the word that has been preached has just been the very word that you need it or maybe some Christian friend has spoken to you, text you, called you on the telephone, written to you and a verse of scripture that they have maybe quoted in that conversation or a word of counsel that they have given has been the very thing that has brought you comfort. Have you ever experienced that? I trust you have. You see God uses people to comfort others. Examples of that very thing abound in scripture. 2 Corinthians chapter 7 verse 6. Nevertheless God that comforteth those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus. Did you note? That Paul and those who labored with him were comforted by the coming of a man. By the coming of Titus, Paul was comforted. Ephesians chapter 6, 21 and 22, But that ye also may know my affairs, and how I do, Tictitus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, shall make known to you all things whom I have sent unto you for the same purpose, that ye might know our affairs, and that he might comfort your hearts. Here's one of God's servants being sent by Paul. to the city of Ephesus. And what was his role in that city? What was he going to do? He was going to let them know how Paul was faring, but he was also going to comfort their hearts. 1 Thessalonians 2 verse 11, As ye know how we exhort it, and comfort it, and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children. Paul writing to the saints in Thessalonica, he says how we comfort it, every one of you. Here Paul is found to be comforting the saints of God. 1 Thessalonians 3 verse 1 and 2. Wherefore when we could no longer forbear, we thought it good to be left at Athens alone, and sent Timotheus our brother and minister of God and our fellow labourer in the gospel of Christ to establish and to comfort you concerning the faith. Here we have Timothy comforting the saints of God. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 11, wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another. Paul is here encouraging the saints within this body, this local assembly, to comfort yourselves together. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 14, now they exhort you brethren, warn them that are unruly, Comfort the feeble-minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men, pause exhorting the brethren. I believe it is the spiritual leadership. What were they to do? They were to comfort the feeble-minded. God uses people, saints, the servants of God, to comfort others. So let me ask you then this question, brother, sister. Who did you comfort this week? Who did you comfort this week? You know, there is a ministry of comfort that can be lacking at times among the people of God. Even among ministers and lay preachers. The latter. I speak of ministers and lay preachers. Sometimes they want to batter God's people. Other times they want to hammer the saints. Others want to lecture the children of God. And yet, God would have us to comfort the saints. Now don't get me wrong. Sin must be preached against. Heresy must be exposed. Wrong practices must be called out among the saints of God. But the Christian needs comforting as well. I need comforting. You need comforting. You know the prophet Isaiah was happy to denounce the sins of the people in the early chapters of his prophecy. Woe this and woe that. You can read it in the early chapters of Isaiah, Isaiah's prophecy. Woe to this, woe to that person. And then an event happened in Isaiah's personal life when he was confronted with his own sin. And what did he say? He said on that occasion, woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips. From that moment onwards, his ministry changed to a more comforting ministry than a condemning ministry. This kind of ministry was something that God encouraged himself and encouraged Isaiah to exercise in Isaiah chapter 40 verse 1, comfort ye. Comfort ye my people saith your God. Comfort them. In one of J.R. Miller's messages he referred to an unnamed distinguished clergyman who on reviewing his ministry at the close of his ministry remarked that if he were to begin it over again, he would preach it more, he would preach more confidently. He would preach more confidently. In the family of God, with so many believers, with so many different problems, there's always a place for the administering of comfort. The problem is, that there's so few of us who really understand the art of giving comfort. We don't know how to do it. May God then help us to cultivate and nurture a comforting ministry among us. There is a concluding thought, my time is away, as we think about God's comforting ministry. And that is the reason, the purpose behind the comfort. The first reason is obvious. God exercises such a ministry so that He might comfort us personally. We are told that he comforted us in our tribulation, in all our tribulation. We are going to have tribulation in this world. Lord Jesus Christ said it. In the world you shall have tribulation. Paul said that it would be through much tribulation that we would enter into the kingdom of God. but cast alongside that tribulation is God's comfort that he administers personally to us. Think of this. Think of it now. We would never know the comfort of God in the measure that we do if it were not for tribulation. Do you ever think of that? We would never know the comfort of God to the extent that we do if it wasn't for the tribulation. And so we are to look at our tribulation in that very light. It is our tribulation that causes us to experience the maximum comfort that God can impart to his child. Maybe the next time You and I pass through turbulent times, troublesome times. Maybe we'll look at our troubles and our tribulations in this light. It will be now that I will experience God's maximum comfort. The second reason behind the comfort God imparts to us is that then we might administer that comfort to others. Note the words of our text again. He comforteth us in our tribulation that, here's the reason, this is the purpose, this is the goal, this is the aim, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. I am comforted of God so that I, in turn, might comfort others. That really feeds into what we were thinking about in the Lord's day, the matter of fellowship. Because there's no doubt that comforting others, it will strengthen the bonds of love and fellowship within the body of Christ. And that can be no bad thing. Comforting others binds us together. What do we read? That when one part of the body suffers, we all suffer. When one weeps, we all weep. I want you to see then that your tribulation and the comfort that you are receiving from God during your time of tribulation is opening up for you a ministry in the future. A ministry of comforting others who will pass through the same trouble as you have passed through. The comforted one is to become the comforting one. The comforted one is to become the comforting one. So then, let us look beyond our tribulations and have a heart for those who are going through times of trouble, and let us administer to them the same comfort that God has administered to us. It is my prayer that this message tonight has been a comfort to you. I trust you've been comforted through the Word, through the Scriptures, It's one of the channels, and through God's servant, for that's what I am, called of God to preach the word. Through this word, I trust that comfort has been channeled into that very soul, that heart, that circumstance of yours where, whatever it would be, I do not know what you're going through, and yet God knows. And God has comfort for you. It's timely. It's tender. It's tailored just for you. Well, I trust that if the word has been a comfort to you, that you'll pass it on. Pass it on to others. Share the video whenever it is uploaded. Or retell the truths that I've conveyed to you. Tell it to others. Spread the word. God spoke to my heart. God comforted my soul with a message from God last night or tonight and I'm just conveying it to you. Pass it on. May God be pleased to bless his word and may God continually comfort our hearts as we go through this world of trouble and trial. May the Lord be pleased to bless his word. Before we log off, we thank you for joining us again and staying with the broadcast. We trust that the word of God has been a blessing to your soul. You'll maybe make us aware of that. We do need encouragement and we want you to encourage us. If the word has been a blessing to your soul, trust it has. And we give the glory to God for that. We remind you of some matters for prayer. Remember the Lord's Day services at 12 noon and at 6 p.m. Remember those who have been recently bereaved within the congregational family. Remember in your prayers your brother Mr. Ivan Booth. Our brother has severe leg pain and I was speaking to him tonight and he continues to have that. So pray for brother Ivan that the Lord will touch his body again and pray for his daughter Heather because she is bad as well with her leg and with her knee and so please pray for Heather Booth-Burns as well. Pray for Patsy Boyd as he begins his cancer treatment this Monday coming and so pray for Patsy as he begins the cancer treatment. Remember in your prayers our doctors, nurses our porters, the medical staff, all the carers, delivery men, shop workers, teachers, and everyone else that is really keeping our country going in these days. And pray for divine intervention, brethren and sisters. The Lord will be pleased. And pray for those who rule over us. They have difficult decisions to make. And the heart of the king is in the Lord's hand. May God be pleased to turn it whithersoever he willeth and so and where he pleaseth. May God be pleased then to take full control of even these circumstances that we're desperately facing in our province and within our nation. If you do have any prayer requests please make us aware of them Let me encourage you to pray for a gentleman by the name of Robert, we've been asked to pray for, pray for him that God's hand will be upon him and touch him and pray for the ministry of the word that we'll see signs following the preaching of God's word. Now let's go to the throne of grace and let me encourage you when the light drops out, let me encourage you then to join with us at the throne of grace and pray for God's blessing and God's intervention in our homes and within our families. So let's seek the Lord together in prayer. Loving Father, we do thank thee for the comfort of thy word tonight. We have been brought face to face with the God of all comfort and the Father of all mercies, the one who comforteth us in all our tribulation. Not one, O God, has he ever found to be lacking. with regard to the comfort that he doth give. And we pray therefore that thou wilt come to all the varied needs of those who watch in, and grant, Lord, that much-needed comfort that they require. Lord, may thy blessing be upon those who continue to mourn the loss of loved ones. We think of those who are unwell within the church family. May thy hand be upon such, we pray. Raise them up to a good measure of health and strength, we ask of thee. We pray for men and women to be converted in these days. May there be a great turning on to Jesus Christ. And may, dear Father, we see God working in a manner that is beyond our expectations, doing exceeding abundantly, above all we can ask or think. Help us as we seek thee in prayer. We offer these petitions. in Jesus' precious name, Amen. May the Lord bless until we meet again around the Word of God on the Lord's Day, 12 noon and 6 pm. May the Lord bless you and your family circle.