Bibles this morning to 2nd Corinthians chapter number 1. 2nd Corinthians chapter number 1. Just going to kind of move our way around. The topic of the message this morning is the God of all comfort. The God of all comfort. Continue to pray for your pastor and Deborah, for mercy, for grace, and for comfort this week. Don't forget them in your prayers. Don't forget each other. All right, 2 Corinthians 1. I don't really have an outline. We're just going to kind of look through the word and see what God has to say about comfort. So if you look at 2 Corinthians 1, verse 3. 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. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. So this morning I'd like to look at the God of all comfort. If you look at that word, this morning we had a little Bible dictionary thing going on in Sunday school, which was good. And if you look at that word comfort, like many of our words, it has its roots in old French and old Latin. And it's really a compound word. C-O-M means to bring together. It's a together thing. And then fort, you already get the idea of what a fort is, don't you? A fort is something that defends against something. And fort, it means to strengthen. to strengthen much, or to console, as you look at etymologies of words or dictionaries. But our Bible actually gave us a good definition here, too. Take a look at it again, verse number four, comforteth. Oh, verse number three at the end, comfort. Verse four, comforteth. Verse four again, comfort. Verse four again, comfort. Verse four again, comforted. Verse five, consolation. To comfort is to console. It's to bring the strength that is needed when it's needed by someone. Like your pastor and his wife need right now. They need comforting. They need strengthening right now. And so you can pray for them this week and you can hold them up in prayer. Don't feel bashful about fasting a little bit and praying for them. Serious business. When the devil can't get the man in the pulpit, he goes after those that he loves. So don't forget them. in our Christian hymn books. There's a lot of songs about comfort. I took a look at that red book we were just singing out a little while ago and I went to the back and it said comfort and it had various hymns that were related to comfort and I counted 56 of them. There's a lot of songs in your hymnal about comfort and that's not all of them. I didn't see a couple of the ones that I wrote down here. A hymn called Be Not Afraid written in 1907. And another one, I Must Tell Jesus, 1893. "'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus," written in 1907. "'What a friend we have in Jesus,' written in 1855. "'And we all know a shelter in the time of storm, "'and it is well with my soul.'" These are songs of comfort. You know, even the world kind of gets it. that there's trouble, and that people need comforting. I think back to some of the old songs that I used to listen to, not to mention them, but I just think about, like, the Rolling Stones had a song called Gimme Shelter, and it was against the storms that would rage against us. And I think about that old Beatles song, Let It Be. You know, Mother Mary comes to me in times of trouble or something like that. I don't know how it goes, but you know what I'm saying. Even the world kind of gets it, that people need comforting. There was a famous song, which I'm sure you've all heard by Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Waters or something like that. The only problem with their bridges in the world is that they lead to hell. They don't lead anywhere but to hell. So we have to keep that in mind. So I don't want to go to the world. I like to go to the Bible. I like to go to what God has to say. But we do live in a world that need comfort. That means you need comfort. I need comfort. People you know need comfort. We all need comfort. We learn from the book of Job a valuable lesson in Job chapter 5 verse 7 and I quote, Yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. And that's life. We each struggle We each have challenges. We each face sorrows. We each face sadness. This life truly is a veil of tears. I know there's joy. And I think brother you might have said this morning, joy isn't just this giddy happiness. Joy is a confidence of what's coming down the line for the Christian. That's joy. So I know there's joy. But I know we struggle. The Bible says we have infirmities. We have weaknesses. Romans chapter 8, verse number 26. We have infirmities of the flesh. A lot of us are going through those kinds of things. We have infirmities of the mind, the inner man, the soul, and the spirit. Sometimes we get bad news from a doctor and we struggle and we have these difficulties. Our faith falters just a little bit. We get scared from time to time. Sometimes we take too short of a view and we focus on the here and now and forget about what is coming, the joy that is set before us. The Lord Jesus Christ endured the cross because of the joy that was set before Him. He knew what was coming after that suffering. So even though it doesn't sound like it yet, I'd like to encourage you this morning. I would like to bring comfort to you this morning with what the Bible has to say about comfort. Comfort is a Bible word. If you look it up in whatever kind of concordance or whatever, you'll find the word comfort 66 times, the word comforted another 36 times, and then you'll find other words like console, consolation, help, things like that, words that indicate that in general, People need help, need comfort. And God's people in particular need comfort and help. I mean, who do you think is usually reading this book? It's God's people. And yet I read all sorts of things about comfort and strength and consoling and bringing help to people. So this message this morning is for the Christians. This message is for you this morning. One day you may have to comfort somebody. Maybe today you need some comforting in something, some strengthening of your spirit or maybe your physical body. You need some kind of comforting. We all go through it. We all need it. We all sorrow, struggle. We all have suffering, as our text said, as we read here in verse 5, for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, notice he says, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. And we're going to look at that consolation that is brought to us by God, by Christ, by God himself. Consider from whence cometh our help. It says right here, our consolation aboundeth by Christ. Psalmist says in Psalm 121, I'll just read it to you, verse 1 and 2, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. And that's not a question mark. It's a statement. I'll say it again. I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, the Bible says, which made heaven and earth. Our text this morning says, blessed to be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. God's message to his people this morning is, fear not. I don't know what you're going through, brothers and sisters, but God's message is, fear not. That little phrase shows up over 60 times in your Bible. Fear not. Again, written to me and you, Christians, Bible believers. Let me remind you of some of the people that God had to say, fear not to. Abram, Abraham, Abram, when he doubted about who would be the heir to his family line, in Genesis 15, 1, God says, fear not Abraham, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Abram was fearing and needed to be comforted and strengthened. Hagar, when she was told to cast out her son Ishmael, in Genesis 21, verse 17, God came to her and said, What aileth thee, Hagar? Fear not. For God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is." You know, right where you are, God hears you. He hears your voice. When you call out to Him, when you cry out to Him and ask for that help, He hears you right where He is and He says, fear not. He brings that comfort, that strength that you need. Isaac, when he strove with the herdmen of Gerar in Genesis 26, verse 24, God said, Fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed for My servant Abraham's sake. Jacob, when he was told to go down into Egypt in Genesis 46, verse 3, God had to say to him, Fear not to go down into Egypt, for I will there make of thee a great nation. The nation of Israel, when they feared before their enemies, in Deuteronomy chapter 20 verse 3, God said, fear not and do not tremble, neither be terrified because of them. And one I love all the time in the Revelation, Revelation chapter 1, the Apostle John meeting the Lord in his glory for the first time, fell on his face. And God said this, fear not, I am the first and the last. And he lifted him up. Yeah, there's comfort in God our Savior. He strengthens our heart in times of trouble. It is our heart that needs strengthening. It's our heart that needs comforting. After the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he was speaking to his 10 disciples that he had spoken to at that particular time. And in Luke chapter 24, when they thought they saw a spirit, they were terrified, it says. And Jesus comes alongside and he said, why are you troubled? And why do thoughts arise in your hearts? See, the Lord knows what happens to us. We get, when some struggle comes, when some difficulty, when something that perplexes us, often there's something that rises up in our heart and we get like this, and the Lord says, why do thoughts arise in your heart? He understands, He knows. Jesus understood then, and He understands now, that we get anxious sometimes, we get frightened sometimes. I'm not saying it's a good thing, I'm just saying it's a human thing. It happens to us. The thoughts arise in our hearts. We get anxious. And our heart needs strengthening. And He will bring that strength to our heart as we wait upon Him. I'm going to read a little scripture to you, and we're going to turn to some others, but I want to read this to you. As we wait on Him, He will strengthen us. Wait on the Lord, the psalmist says, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. These are not idle words. These are not words of fables. These are words of promise that the Lord gives to us, that He will strengthen our heart when it begins to falter. He will strengthen our heart as we hope in Him. The psalmist again says in Psalm 31, Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord. Again, not idle words, but words of promise. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is from Isaiah 41, verse 13, where he says, for I, the Lord thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, fear not, I will help thee. As a Christian, even when we draw our final breath, the Lord is there to comfort us. Does it not say in Psalm 23, yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort me the Lord brings comfort even at the hour of our death you don't have to fear that brothers and sisters when you walk that our God is a God of comfort okay so it says here and we've read it God comforts us. Our help comes from God. But how? Now that's a fair question. How? Our brother this morning was talking about a verse that he was kind of perplexed by and he said, I'm going to take a look at this thing. So I took a look at this. How? Okay, Lord, you said you're going to do it, but how are you going to do it? After all, you took off. Right? I'm not saying in a bad way. He took off. He's in heaven. He's in glory. So how are you going to do this? How is help going to come? How is comfort going to come? Where does our comfort come from when it comes from the Lord? So that's what I want to look at this morning. Turn with me to Philippians chapter number one. We were there this morning in our Sunday school. If you missed it, it was good teaching. Thank you, Brother Mark. Always good. When I come here, I always come for Sunday school. My wife thinks I come for the food, but I come for the spiritual food. And a little bit of that good stuff. That was really good stuff downstairs. Thank you for whoever did all that and for serving like you did and cleaning up. Thank you. It's a real blessing. Philippians chapter number 1 and verse number 29. So how do we get this comfort from God? For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for his sake." We actually can get the comfort from the Lord by the very struggles we go through to begin with. What do I mean? Well, let's look at another verse just over to the right a little bit, 1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5. Verse Peter chapter number 5 and verse number 10. By the very things we struggle, if given to the Lord, He actually brings comfort. Take a look at verse number, 1 Peter 5, 10. But the God of all grace, so now we learn He's the God of all comfort, He's the God of all grace. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after ye have suffered a while, here's what He does. Make you perfect, establish, strengthen, settle you. In other words, comfort you. How does He do it? By His grace. Right there. The God of all grace. He will make you perfect. Perfect is that growing and maturing process. If you give these things over to the Lord and allow His grace to wash over you, it will begin to mature you in ways you never thought possible. It says to establish. That's not to establish. Establish is to keep in one place. To keep it from moving off the mark. So the Lord, through these struggles, He will keep us from moving off the mark by His grace if we give ourselves to Him. to strengthen us, it says here. Again, to bring that courage, to bring that comfort, and to settle us, to keep the fears that creep into our hearts sometimes, to keep them away. This is where God's grace comes in. It's a spiritual matter. It's not something mystical, not something magical. It's spiritual. God's grace, where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. There are times of greater grace in our life when we need greater grace. If you're not going through something like your pastor is right now, you may not have that particular grace at that moment. But when you are, He will be there and He will perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, settle you through those very trials. It was the Apostle Paul who had to learn the lesson when thrice he went to the Lord and said, take this thing away from me. And God said, what? My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. God's strength through the trials as we go through these things. And so it is through the very trials when we need God's comfort the most and strength the most that he will increase our strength as we exercise our faith in him. David said in Psalm 56, what time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. David afraid? Yeah. David afraid. Yeah. It was Job who said, the thing which I feared the most has come upon me. Good men and women of God feared because that is the human condition. It's okay to admit that. I'm not saying that we should live in that, but it's okay to admit it before your father or before a brother or sister in the Lord. Say, something's concerning me. So, how does God bring us comfort? Turn to Romans chapter number 15. How do we get this comfort from the Lord that He's the one that promised it? Romans chapter 15, one of my favorite verses again. If I say that often, well, whatever. If I say it often, I got a lot of favorite verses. Wish I could remember where they all are, but I do have a lot of favorite verses in the Bible. Romans chapter 15, verse number four. For whatsoever things were written aforetime, We're written for our learning, that we through patience, and there it is, comfort of the scriptures might have hope. How does God comfort us? With the scriptures, with the word of God. I'm gonna read to you, you don't need to turn there, Psalm 119, verse number 49 to 52, just listen with me. Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction. For thy word hath quickened me, the proud have had me greatly in derision, yet have I not declined from thy law. I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord, and have comforted myself." How? Through the Word of God. There is great comfort in the Word of God for the Christian. God's Holy Bible will quicken you. Make you alive. Make those things which feel in you almost like you're dead. There's so much fear. There's so much struggle or trouble within you. God's Word can quicken you and bring that thing back to life. It is comfort food for the inner man. It's no accident that the Bible is likened unto honey, bread, meat, manna, these kinds of things. It is comfort food that must be taken in. You must take it in and you must spend time to really digest it. You know, digestion is a long process. It doesn't, you know, a lot of us Americans, at least me, you know, I eat my food, it's like, let's pass the first step. Let's just get it down into the stomach where I can, you know, So I ate too fast. But digestion is a process that takes a long time, and we need to do that with the Scripture. We need to spend time. And you know what? God's Word won't give you heartburn, except perhaps heartburn for the service of the Lord. It'll increase your desire for the Lord. You know, the more you spend time in this Word, the more you'll want to spend time in this Word. Just the way it is. Remember when Paul was nearing the end of his life? Turn over to, let's see, 2 Timothy, chapter number four. Rather than remembering, let's just turn there. 2 Timothy, chapter number four. Paul was nearing the end of his life, and he said this interesting thing here, verse number 13. He says, the cloak that I left at Troas with Carpus, when thou comest, bring with thee, and the books, but especially the parchments. The parchments are an obvious reference to Scripture. Paul was looking for the comfort of Scripture as he was in prison. He was looking for the comfort that he needed in the time that he was at. He was looking for it in the parchments. In the end, it's not our material possessions that will comfort us, but the Word of God which does the comforting. What is it about the Word of God that brings us comfort? I don't always know. I just know that as I spend time in the Word of God, it settles my heart. There's been many times where I've been unsettled in my heart and I just sit down and I begin to read and My focus begins to change I just you know you get reading the Word of God And it begins to minister to you in ways that I don't understand sometimes it just does I understand why to a certain extent because I have the Spirit of God living in me And he's and the Spirit of God's the author of this book and the Spirit of God harkens under this book So I understand that But I also know that it reminds us, it reminds me of some things. It reminds me that on this side of eternity, there will be suffering. There will be times when I need comforting. It deals, in other words, with proper expectations. You know, when you get saved, I'm sorry, but it isn't necessarily, as you hear some preachers say, you know, your best life now. There's still struggles that come. And so it's a setup if you just tell somebody, hey, you just believe the Word of God, get saved, and everything's going to be great. Not necessarily in this life there is suffering. The glory is to come, and in between there is that bridge of grace that takes us from the suffering to the glory. We need God's grace because of the suffering in this world. This life truly is a veil of tears, and we need to be comforted. And the Bible, as I read it, reminds me of those kinds of things, and it begins to settle me. It reminds me that all the troubles don't go away on this side of eternity. There are some things that last a lifetime. Despite what some of the preachers on TV say, you know, send in this gift or that gift and you'll get healed or put your hand on the TV and stuff like that, it's a sad thing to see because you have people on the other side of that TV with great need, great struggle, that need comforting, and they're listening to a charlatan. But there is comfort in the scripture. Paul, remember, had to be reminded that it wasn't gonna pass, Paul. Not this side of eternity. You're gonna need my grace. And so that's what God did. It reminds us also, and it brings comfort, it reminds us that we do have the promises that are in this book. You know, one of the great promises that Jesus said in John chapter 14, he says, look, I'm coming again, I'm going to get you and I'm going to bring you where I am that there you may be also with me. And it's going to be forever. And it reminds me of these things that there is eternity ahead. And as your pastor likes to say, life is short, eternity is long. For our light affliction, the Bible says, which is but for a moment, life is short, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. There is a weight to eternity and to glory. And that's what's waiting for us. Whatever life throws at you, heaven will be worth it because Jesus is going to be there. Amen. The Bible says, But as it is written, I have not seen or heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. God's gonna show us some things in His Word. If you go on and read the next verse, it says, but He reveals things to us. He tells us, He gives us a little hint about some of the things that are coming ahead for us. One of those things is found in Psalm 16. Take a look with me, Psalm 16 and verse number 11. Some of you may know that verse. Psalm 16, 11. 16, 11, did you get that one? It's a good one to remember. Psalm 16, 11. and many other places, but take a look at what God says in His Word. Psalm 1611. Thou wilt show me the path of life. In Thy presence is fullness of joy. At Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore." This word gets me, in a spiritual sense, into the presence of the Lord. And all of a sudden it begins to fill this heart of mine with joy. But there's a time coming when it won't just be in a spiritual literal sense, but a physical literal sense. When we will be with the Lord in glory, and it says what? In His presence, fullness of joy. What's it going to be like in heaven? We don't know everything, but I know it's going to be fullness of joy. I know it's going to be in His presence, and I know that there's going to be pleasures forevermore. That's what's coming. That's what the Bible does. It reminds me of those things that we have. It reminds me that there's a loving Savior who will not leave me during my trials, my tribulations, and during the time that I need comforting. The Bible says, let your conversation be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have, for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. That was the Lord's promise. When it comes to comforting us, the scripture does something else. It reminds me of another thing. It reminds me to pray. And by that prayer, I will also receive the comfort that God says He will give me. So, so far, we have, how does God comfort us? Well, actually, with the trials, as He shows up, okay, with His grace, He strengthens us through the Word of God, or comforts us through the Word of God, and He comforts us through prayer. The Bible says, and it reminds me to do this, in Luke 18.1, and he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. Many times you would find the Lord off praying somewhere, early morning, by himself, Did you ever stop and think about that? Really? I mean, that shows us that, you know, somebody was wearing a t-shirt, Brother Miguel, fully man, fully God. He was fully God, but he was fully man. As fully man, he needed to have access to his heavenly Father. And so he would go off to pray. What a great example for us. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16, take a look at that with me. Hebrews 4 verse 16. So how does God comfort me? Not just through my trials, not just from the word, but from prayer. Comfort from prayer. Look at Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16. You'll know the verse when we get there. The Bible says, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. Remember what we were reading there where we started off. It's God's grace that consoles us. It's God's grace which gets us again from the suffering to the glory. It's God's grace that's in between everywhere. And he says again, let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace. He calls it that. That we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Comfort. The hymn says, Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow? Tell it to Jesus. Tell it to Jesus. Are you anxious what shall be tomorrow? Tell it to Jesus alone. You know, there are times where you have to get alone with the Lord. It's good to pray corporately. It's good to pray with a brother or sister. It's good to do those things. But there's time like the Lord Jesus Christ where you just got to get alone. And when you get alone, even if you're in that wilderness, it says of the Lord, I think it's in Psalm 102 or 104, it says, I am like the pelican of the wilderness. the pelican in the wilderness. The pelican brings with it the provision that it needs, and it will go out miles away from the water with the fish in it, whatever that bill is, and there it is, and it's eating the fish that it brought with it. The Lord is like that pelican. Wherever you are, He can find you, and He brings with you that which you need. That's our Lord Jesus Christ. It is in prayer that we can pour out our troubled soul to Him, to the very one who died to redeem it. It is in prayer that we can be the most honest and most vulnerable. Do you know, I know this from my own experience, it's not always, I'm not saying I'm lying, but it's not always easy to be honest with another person. How you doing? Okay, pretty good. and you're suffering inside. I'm not necessarily lying. I'm not being honest though, am I? And you know what? I understand that sometimes because sometimes we just need to take it to the Lord Himself and to be alone with Him. So it's okay before Jesus to be vulnerable. It's okay before your Lord to be honest with Him. He's the one who created you. It is in prayer that we find the help that we need, as it says in Hebrews 4, verse 16, in time of trouble. Remember when Jesus was about to go to the cross? Rather than remember, let's turn. Let's turn to Matthew 26. Turn over to Matthew 26. Right at the end of Matthew 26, the Lord's getting ready to go to the cross. Matthew 26, verse number 36. When the Lord needed strengthening, comfort, verse 36 says, Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here while I go and pray yonder. What did the Lord do? He prayed. And he took with him Peter, the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. He needed comforting. Don't mistake the man, the humanity of Christ. He needed comforting. Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tear ye here and watch with me. This is the Lord. He went to pray at his hour of need. And with the comfort of his prayer, look what happened. Verse 39. And he went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, Oh, my father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." In the strength and comfort of his prayers, the Lord Jesus Christ submitted Himself through this most difficult time to the will of His Father. It's okay to cry out to your Heavenly Father. He cares for you. He understands. He went through it Himself. Look at the emotions of the Lord Jesus Christ, exceeding sorrowful, even under death. He was sorrowful and very heavy. You know Job chapter 16 verse 20, Job the patriarch said, My friends scorn me, but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. The patriarch Job, one that feared God and escheweth evil, one that God said was perfect. cried before his God. Your Heavenly Father understands those prayers. The psalmist said, Thou tellest my wanderings, put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book? What? Your tears. He understands the tears. How else does Lord fulfill this promise to bring us comfort? By the one we call the Comforter, by the Holy Spirit. Look over to John chapter 16 with me. We're gonna jump in John chapter 16, 14, 15, just bounce around just a wee bit there. Not gonna go far from it. John 16, verse number seven. See, I was kind of kidding around before when I said, hey, where's Jesus? He took off. Yeah, he took off, but look who he left us, his spirit. So when he says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, that's what he meant. I will be there with you through my spirit. He says, look, in verse seven, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. There's a message right there. Some of you preachers, there's a message for you. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, the Lord said. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you." Look at John chapter 14, verse 16. John chapter 14, just two chapters before, verse 16. Take a look at what he says about the Comforter. Again, I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever. So He will be with you forever. You know, if you're a born-again child of God, you know the Holy Spirit of God came into you and sealed you until the day of redemption of your body. You can't get out, nothing can get in. Look at John chapter 14 verse 26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. In other words, he's going to bring us back to the Word of God, which what does it do? It brings us comfort again. He is going to remind us of the promises that are in the Word of God. The Spirit of God is going to speak to your spirit and tell you all the things written in this book about God. The Lord Jesus Christ. Matter of fact, look at John chapter 15 and verse 26. You're in 14, 26, one chapter over, 15, 26. But when the comforter is come, he says, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. He will remind you, brothers and sisters, of your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will remind you of just how much he loved you to die for you. What a great Savior. And we have a Holy Spirit to remind us of what He did for us. We won't turn there, but in Romans 8, verse 26, let me read another thing that the Holy Spirit of God does to bring comfort to the believer. It says, Likewise, the Spirit, capital S, also help with our infirmities. In other words, brings comfort. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit, capital S again, itself, maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. There are times when you go on your knees and you don't even know how to pray. You've probably been there, I've been there, and it's almost like I just, like this. I want to pray, nothing's happening. I want to pray, I just mumble something. That's when the Holy Spirit of God will bring the comfort. He will take whatever you got, and he'll bring it before the Father with groanings which you cannot utter. Okay, this is not speaking in tongues stuff, you can't utter these things. He'll take it, and later on we read that the one who searches the heart, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, will bring those things to the Father. Holy Spirit praying, you bring them, the Holy Spirit takes them, brings them to Christ, and He brings them to the Father as intercessor for us. The Holy Spirit of God brings comfort because He reminds us that we are children of God. We are sons of God. We are His. We have been adopted into His family. And thereby we cry, Abba, Father. He reminds us that we belong to the one who's created us and the one who died for us. These are great things that He does. One last way I want to point out in which the Lord brings that comfort that He promised that He would do. Turn over to two places, Galatians chapter 6 and 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. We'll hit 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 first. and then Galatians chapter number six. Here's another way in which God brings that comfort which he promised he would. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11. Wherefore, comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. Look over Galatians chapter six, and I'll just comment briefly. Galatians chapter six. Back to the left just a little bit, Galatians 6, verse number 2. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. How does the Lord bring this comfort? By you. By you. You are to bring the comfort. You see it? Bear ye one another's burdens, we read. Comfort yourselves together, we read. Together, in fellowship with fellow believers. The Bible says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth the Lord. Isaiah chapter 40, verse number 1. Comfort ye. Comfort ye. He repeats it in case you didn't get it. Ye, comfort ye, comfort ye my people, sayeth the Lord. The Lord would have you to be a comfort to someone you know who's struggling. He would have you to bring that comfort. The Lord Jesus Christ, again, being our example, he brought comfort to people where he went. Jesus, our example, remember the woman who had the issue of blood for 12 years? And he spoke to her, and he said, be of good comfort. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace. He was a good example for you and I to follow. I mention that verse because I'm showing you the Lord himself brought comfort. He wants you and I to bring comfort to one another. We need comforting. The Bible says, a friend loveth at all times. Proverbs 17, 17. Good. And a brother is born for adversity. What are you born for? For adversity, to bring help, to bring strength, to bear one another's burdens, to bear the burden of your pastor and his wife if you can. If you can't, if you're in a place where you can't, that's okay. Just be honest with yourself, be honest with the Lord. It's okay. How do we, though, comfort the brethren? How do we do it? Okay, Lord, you want me to do it. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people. How do I do it? One thing I know is through compassion. You ever read about the Lord, how he was compassionate? I'm going to just read from Luke 7, verse 13. And when the Lord saw her, the woman whose son had died, he had compassion on her and said unto her, Weep not. And he came and touched the beer, and they that bear him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. You can bring compassion to another. You know, compassion, Compassion speaks of what's the right word. Doing what you can. It's an action thing. I often break the word down, I don't know if it's a correct etymology or not, but in the two words come, again, to bring, you look at it, come, and passion. What? To bring your passion for another person. To compass somebody around, to bring that to them. It's something that you have to go and do. I often say you can't say on the phone when you're speaking to your, you know, some relative in Florida or whatever and say, Send my compassion to Aunt Sally. What does that mean? You say send my love. You don't say send my compassion. Because compassion has to go. Compassion has to do. And the Lord Jesus Christ was full of compassion. Everywhere he went he was compassionate towards those that he ministered to. So how can you minister to a brother or sister? Through compassion. Going, doing what you can. What you can't do, don't worry about it. The Lord will do it, but do what you can. And here's another way in which you can do it. by the experience that you have gained. What do I mean? 2 Corinthians, who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. You know, you've gone through something that I haven't gone through. And I may go through it. You can bring comfort to me. You can bring strength to me. You may know somebody who's going through something that you've gone through already, and you can say, let me show you what the Lord did, or let me show you what's coming next. And those things bring comfort to somebody. It's amazing how it works. It just brings comfort. You can help to settle somebody's soul when you do that. It may be with scripture where you literally just bring scripture to somebody because the Bible says thy word hath quickened me Remember we read that this is my comfort in my affliction. Okay, so sometimes you're just bringing them a particular scripture Sometimes you're reminding them of something that the Bible says No, Jesus knows your struggle. He suffered too He knows he understands what you're going through. He's not going to leave you alone. He gave us your spirit and You know, you can remind them of those things. Or sometimes it's bringing an encouraging word of some sort, some other kind of encouraging word. It may just be, I love you, brother. Can I help you, sister? It may just be something like that. A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pictures of silver. What a picture the Lord gives us about the words that are fitly, properly, at the right time and the right way spoken. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Words are spiritual in nature. Words go out and they go into the spirit of a person. Speak good words to people as they suffer. You can do that, especially if you've gone through it, or especially if you can point them to the Lord, or if you can point them to something that the Bible has to say, a promise about that thing. There's so many things in this word. God did not leave anything off. Spend some time in the Bible. He didn't leave anything off. He understands the human condition. Everything we need to know for life and godliness is written in that book. You won't know it though until you spend some time in it. Listen, it's a big book. I've read it many times and it's still, I scratch my head and say, where's that verse? And I gotta get out the old concordance or something, I gotta go find it again. I understand it's a big book. You know, that's why I love when your pastor tells you, this is a King James Bible. You don't have to look anywhere else. You know, when I hear these people on the radio or something, TV, and say, you know, that you gotta know Hebrew or Greek, I mean, I just sigh in my spirit. Now think about it, if you don't know much about the Bible, or if you're even unsaved, and you got this big old fat book here that's in English, and you go, my, that's a big book. And then somebody says, forget about that, you gotta know Hebrew and Greek. You know how discouraging that is to somebody, to say you gotta know Hebrew and Greek? It doesn't do you any good anyway. So many times I hear these people give you a nugget in the Greek, and I say, well that's great, there it is in English right there. What do I need that for? Yeah. Uh-oh, I got off my topic. We're talking about comfort. We're talking about words. That's what it was. Words. Words are spirit, the Bible says. Words can bring comfort. So be a good comforter. You know, so often Job's comforting friends are, you know, made fun of. And I understand why. They got a little self-righteous along the way. But I will say this, Job's comforters, they stay, I'm going to read to you, it says, heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came, everyone from his own place. So they came to Job. It says that they, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and comfort him. Now again, they fell off the mark a little bit, but don't forget what they did. They made an appointment. They took the time that was needed to bring the comfort that they could bring. The Bible says a man that hath friends must show himself friendly, but here's the part I like, and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. So even closer than a brother, you can tell somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who can bring the comfort which you need. It's Jesus who said, come unto me, all you that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." So let me summarize a little bit as I finish up. When you're going through a difficult time, first know that you're not alone. You are not without help. There is comfort as a Christian to be had. One, through the very struggles that you're going through, because Jesus will come and he will strengthen you, establish you, and he will make you perfect through that, if you trust him through this thing. That isn't always easy, I understand. Two, He will bring comfort through His Word. It quickens our spirit with hope and assurance, and reminds us of all the precious promises that we have in Christ, and reminds us that this is not our home, and reminds us that no matter what we try to do, if the Lord carries long enough, we're all going through the veil. Is that the right thing? Yeah, through the veil. We're all going through the valley of the shadow of death. Every one of us. if the Lord tarries long enough. Number three, He brings comfort through prayer as we honestly and humbly come before God for the grace that we need at that moment. Be honest with your Savior. He knows anyway. Be honest. You can tell me you're okay even if you're not, but be honest with the Lord. He brings comfort through the very Spirit of God, the Comforter. living within us and assuring us that we are His and He is mine. Through the God's people, you know, we are to be the Lord's hands and feet during this lifetime. Right? I don't see the Holy Spirit of God walking around on His own anywhere. I know the Spirit listeth where it might, and you know not. I understand the Spirit of God's moving. I do understand that He is wooing, He's calling. Okay? But the hands and the feet, that good food down there didn't get done by the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit of God living in somebody who made that good stuff. So be God's hands and feet. So let me encourage you. Pray for strength and help. Trust and lead upon Him. I understand that it is not easy. Many of you know Pastor Al Feeblecorn, my pastor at Calvary Bible Church. His wife had a stroke a few years ago. It's been rough. It's been rough. In these verses, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Every day he puts that thing into him. Trust in the Lord. We need to put our faith and trust in the Lord. If your faith is weak, ask Him to strengthen it. The apostles did. Lord, increase our faith. Ask a brother or sister to come alongside you and to pray with you. Remember, bear ye one another's burdens. Sing a hymn. The Lord inhabits the praise of His people. Sing a good hymn. Don't sing those worldly songs like Bridge Over Troubled Waters that I mentioned earlier. Sing a good hymn to the Lord. Praise Him. He inhabits that thing. He'll grow close to you as you grow close to Him. He's there already. Keep your mind focused, as we learned in Philippians chapter 4 this morning. Keep your mind focused on the good things of the Lord. And remember, most of all, we'll finish this with the verse. Turn over to John chapter 14. John chapter 14, finish with this verse. John 14, verse number 18. It's a promise from the Lord. Again, not idle words. He says, I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more. But ye see me, Because I live, ye shall live also. What a great and precious promise that the Lord gives us to comfort our hearts. So, you know, in this comfort that we get, I want to remind you. You got unsaved family members? Don't give up on them. Pray, pray, pray, do what you can. Let the Spirit of God, I know you all have unsaved family members. We all do. Pray, let the Lord guide you in this thing. I've watched the Lord's faithfulness. I was saved, born again in 1972, March thereof. And when I got saved, you know, the Lord puts just a fire in you and you go crazy for a little while. Good crazy. And I remember praying for all my family members and praying for, you know, a godly woman and all these things I prayed for. And then, of course, I walked into the wilderness a few years later. It's called college. Okay? And the Lord, that pelican in the wilderness, He grabbed me out of that thing. He brought me back to Him, and He began to answer my prayers like I never would have believed. I found a godly wife. We've been married 41 years now, tomorrow, 41 years. I watched the Lord save my older brother. How does that happen? I watched Him save my younger brother. I watched my dad get saved at 87. I watched my younger brother Come to the Lord. My sister's reading the Bible now. I saw my uncle at 80, I don't forget what age he was, come to the Lord. He's like, whoa, you mean you were listening? Yeah, he was listening. I watched my father-in-law come to the Lord. That was a story. I think Debbie and I visited him a hundred times in two years. Now stop for a second, father-in-law 100 times, mother-in-law 100 times, that's a lot of times. The Lord is faithful. Don't forget to pray. Don't give up on your loved ones. Don't let Satan put you to sleep. Don't let that dart of complacency get you, because it will. And as Brother Mark said this morning, we're all busy, I understand that. We're all busy, I'm busy, you're busy. But don't let the busyness make you forget the busyness of the Father. Let's pray. Lord God, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. We thank you for the comfort that only you can bring, Lord Jesus. We love you. We praise you. Lord, we want to see you. We want to see you today. We'd love it if you came back today. We'd love to see you face to face today. But we know that we also have things to do here. So while our desire is to be with you, as Paul said, Lord, it's more needful that we remained. I pray for my brothers and sisters here that it's more needful for somebody in their life that they remain. because they have the gospel and the other person needs that gospel. So I pray for my brothers and sisters, Lord, give them a renewed vision for souls, souls of their loved ones and family and friends. Give them a renewed strength and a renewed vigor and a renewed desire to see the seed of the Word of God sown in the hearts of those that they love. Lord, help and strengthen. For Pastor Mike and his wife Deborah now, Lord, we tearfully and humbly come before you. Lord, I know it takes a lot to keep that man out of this pulpit. He loves to be feeding your sheep. He loves to be obedient to the call that you gave him. And Lord, so I pray, strengthen him in his spirit today. Encourage him, Lord. And Lord, be merciful to his wife, who's really going through it now. Lord, we pray for a miracle to raise her up and lift her up again. Lord, we don't know your will all the time, but you said pray, and so we're praying. Strengthen, Lord, as only you can. Bless now these fine children of yours, my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Strengthen them for the days ahead. Lord, cause a revival in each of our hearts that we might better serve you until you come to get us and we see you face to face. In the meantime, Lord, help us to abide faithful. And it's in your name we pray, Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Amen.