Corinthians, 1:1-11
2 Corinthians 1:1-11 · Hal Molloy · Jul 4, 2004
2 Corinthians (2004-05), No. 01
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4826239176176

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Okay, open your Bibles please to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. We're going to go through verse 11 this morning, and what I'd like to do is just read through it, just so we get the flavor of what this paragraph says. So starting in verse one, I'm going to be reading from the King James, and I know that some of the words in the New American Standard are different, and we'll talk about that as we go through each verse.

It says, 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 who are in all Achaia. Grace be to 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 comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble by the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds 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 you be also of the consolation or the comfort. For we would not, brethren, have you, ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death and does deliver, in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us. You also, helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

Okay, it's going to be a lot to cover this morning, especially in terms of looking at an overview of 2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians was written approximately one year after 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians, Paul enumerated all of the problems that existed in the Corinthian church. Do you remember what some of those problems were that he enumerated in 1 Corinthians?

Man sleeping with his father's wife. There was sin in the church. Bad conduct. There were divisions. Some were saying, I'm of Paul, and others saying, I'm of Apollos. OK, so there are divisions. Food offered to idols. And the Lord's table was misused. People were getting drunk, and gluttony was happening at the Lord's table. But anyhow.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul really comes down, it appears that he's really coming down on these believers. And in 2 Corinthians, the whole attitude of 2 Corinthians is so much different than 1 Corinthians. Second Corinthians comes from the heart of Paul, and he expresses his heart in Second Corinthians. So there was a problem. Paul enumerated the problems in the church. You're a believer in Corinth at that time, and here comes this letter enumerating all of the problems in the church, what is going to be your reaction? Let me ask it this way. How is the sin nature going to react? It's going to be defensive. And so it's going to be defensive, and the sin nature is so subtle, what it will do is it will attack. it will go on the offensive and attack. And that's just exactly what happened.

And so there was a lot of, if you will, distrust with respect to Paul in the Corinthian church. And some said, hey, you know, he's in it for the money. That's all he's in this for, very much like our televangelists today, you know, the attitude Others said, who does he think he is? Right. Judging us. I mean, it's in nature.

So there was this distrust in relation to Paul and it swept throughout the church. And Paul is writing now 2 Corinthians to this group of believers where there is distrust with respect to himself. There are many commentators that say, well, in 2 Corinthians, what Paul is doing now is defending himself, is defending what he has done in 1 Corinthians.

Let me ask this question. If Paul is ministering the gospel, or any ministry, do we need to defend the ministry? Why not? The Word speaks for itself, what the Word says. I mean, that's it. We don't need to defend it. We don't need to defend God, right? So, he was just teaching God's Word.

And the life that Paul was living was what? Whose life? Christ's life. The life of Christ was being lived through Paul. And the ministry that Paul was involved in was whose ministry? It was the Lord's ministry. So, in 2 Corinthians, Paul is just explaining. Here's the life of Christ. Here's his ministry. And you can look at the entire book of 2 Corinthians that way.

So, as a theme, we've got the character of Christ's life and ministry through a servant of God to fulfill his eternal purpose. And you'll see this throughout the whole book in terms of God's eternal purpose is being fulfilled through Paul. His eternal purpose is declaring, sharing, and revealing his glory. And the interesting thing is this, you can take any book in the entire scripture and you'll see God's eternal purpose just threaded out through every book of Scripture of declaring, sharing, and revealing His glory.

So that since Paul is just, I don't know if you can see this, but what I tried to do is, can you see that? If you can't then you've failed the eye test because this is this is twenty twenty vision. No. But so we put a theme in an outline. in your binder and it looks like this except you can read it in your binder but you'll notice that every single passage is preceded by his life and his ministry in terms of the Lord's life and the Lord's ministry and that's what Paul is simply doing in 2nd Corinthians is just saying here's the life here's his life and here's his ministry.

So, he's not defending anything. He doesn't need to. Alright. Verse 1. It says, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother unto the church of God which is at Corinth. Question. How did How did one become an apostle? Appointed by God. Pardon me? He was appointed by God. Appointed by God? He knew God. I mean, he knew Christ. He physically saw Him, didn't he?

Okay. Isn't that one of the things? Okay. Let's talk about the original twelve. How did they become apostles? Christ called them. Christ called them? Okay. Now, let's take, Judas is out of the picture now, and there's one missing, and so Peter and people get together and said, you know, we need to fill that slot. How was Matthias chosen as an apostle? By drawing lots. It was men getting together and saying, hey, we need to fill this lot, and let's draw lots.

Now, how was Paul? The Lord chose Paul. Did man say, hey, you know, this guy's a pretty sharp guy, and he's apostle material. We should pull him into the group. Did he? No. So the Lord Jesus Christ personally appointed Paul as an apostle. And so, as you go through Scripture, the word apostle, one being sent, a sent one, there's a strict usage in Scripture of apostle, talking about the twelve and Paul, and then there's a broader use of the word apostle. Barnabas, for example, is referred to as an apostle. So there's a broader use of the word apostle. But when we're talking about the stricter sense of Apostle, Paul was in that group of the stricter sense of Apostle.

He was chosen by the Lord and he saw the risen Lord. When did he see the risen Lord? Okay, the Lord took him out in the desert for three years. Okay. Oh, can you imagine? One verse, right? Yeah. And 24-7 for three years with the Lord. Look at verse 3. It says, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort.

The word Father there is the word pater. What do we think of when we think of the Father? What's the first thing that comes to your mind is Father? Earthly father? Okay, earthly father. And what else? You know, when you think of father, someone who provides for us, okay. Okay. Okay. But don't you think that he's the progenitor? He's the, right? He's the ancestor. Yeah, okay.

But this word pater is used in several different ways. Someone said source, and it's used exactly that way. It's used as the source or giver or originator. And here it's of mercies, and the word mercies simply means compassion. And so he is the source, he is the originator, that's where it all comes from, of compassion. If there's any compassion, he's the source. And then it goes on to say in verse 3, he's not only the father of mercies, he's the God of all comfort.

Question, when you think of the word comfort, what do you think of? Do you think of snuggling up in a nice, cozy down comforter by the fire when it's cold outside and being comforted, or do you think of comfort as maybe having enough money to have a nice house, a few new cars, and being able to travel. Do you think of comfort in that sense? What do you think? Peacefulness? Restfulness? Okay.

The interesting thing is this. As we go through this passage, There are ten instances in this passage where this word is used in terms of comfort, either as a noun or as a verb. So what I did is, since King James translates the Greek word comfort and the same Greek word each time in these passages, But the King James translates it differently in different passages. Sometimes it translates comfort as consolation. However, the New American Standard was consistent in their translation of that word. So that's why I put up on the screen here the New American Standard verses 3 through 7. And look at it. Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.

There it is in the noun form. In verse 4, who comforts us, the verb form, in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction. Again, the verb form. With the comfort noun form, with we ourselves are comforted by God, verb form. For just as the sufferings of Christ, in verse 5, are in abundance, so also our comfort, noun form, is abundant through Christ. Just look at these passages and think about what God does in terms of His comfort in your life and in my life. in verse six, but if we are afflicted, it's for your comfort, noun form, and salvation. Or if we are comforted, verb form, it is for your comfort, noun form, which is effective in the patient enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. And our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so you are sharers of our Comfort, noun form.

What's, beside comfort, what's the other word that strikes you in this passage that keeps repeating, repeating, repeating? Compassion. Okay, so you have the two here, right? You have the sufferings, you see sufferings and or afflictions And on the other hand, it's balanced out with what? With comfort. So, we can say this, that the major theme in this passage is comfort, six times as uses it now. So the question is, what does comfort mean?

Here it is, in terms of the verb form, parakaleo. And as a verb form, if you just take a look at para, it means to the side of, And Kaleo, the other part is a compound word. Kaleo means to call. Hence it means just to counsel or to solace. To solace someone or to set someone at rest. Isn't that nice? Comfort means to set one's heart at rest. And that's what God does. He sets our heart at rest. Comfort as a noun form means then just a consolation, or a solace, or a setting of rest. Or it can mean an exhortation. And notice what it says, that God is the God of all comfort. So, here's the next question. When you're going through a trial, when you're going through suffering, when you're going through some affliction, where do you seek comfort? Where do we seek comfort? What are some of the places that we go to seek comfort?

Psychiatrist. Psychiatrist? Friends. And we go to friends? A good friend? And especially a spouse, right? Sit down with a spouse and say, Lindy, you know, let me tell you what's happening. So we go to a spouse. Now, here's the question. Can the comfort, which a good friend, a spouse, a psychiatrist, whoever, can that comfort really comfort us? truly set our hearts at rest. This word means to set our hearts at rest. Can our hearts be set at rest by the comfort that we get from the sources that we go to? Can I say as much as I love my wife and cherish her counsel that The comfort that the Lord provides is true comfort, truly setting my heart at rest. My heart cannot be set at rest by anyone else.

Job found that out. That's a good point. Job was seeking comfort. So he's the God of all comfort. Now, why do we need comfort? Well, we need comfort, as I've indicated here. We need the Lord to set our hearts at rest during the difficult circumstances in our Christian walk. And there are difficult circumstances in your life and in my life. And our hearts need to be set at rest to where the Lord comes along and we can trust Him. And we get the feeling, you know, Hal, it's okay. Because you're in my hands. It's okay. Whatever the circumstances.

Now, as we go through this, as we take a look at the difficult circumstances, what I've done is just in the verses that we're going through, verses 1-11, look at the difficult circumstances that are mentioned in verse 1-11. There's tribulation. If you have a King James, it's translated tribulation in verse 4, or affliction in the New American Standard, or trouble.

It talks about the sufferings of Christ abounding in us in verse 5. It talks about being afflicted in verse 6, that we are suffering also in verse 6. It talks about our suffering in verse 7. It talks about this trouble, affliction in verse 8. And when it talks about trouble and affliction in verse 8, here's the description of this trouble or affliction that were pressed, that were burdened excessively. beyond our strength, Paul says, we despaired even to life. And then the other suffering, there's this sentence of death in verse 9 and 10.

As a believer, these are the things that can happen to us. Our hearts need to be set at rest. And the only way our hearts can be set at rest through these kinds of trials is through the God of all comfort. He is the only one that can provide that comfort. In verse 4, it says, who comforts us in all our tribulation. Question? Yes. Can I raise a question about this? Yes.

The question is, as you go down the verses and you proceed towards verse 9 and 10, it seems that the potential magnitude of these trials, tribulations, and sufferings become greater. Is it not true that some of the trials and tribulations we have in our life are a consequence of our own selves and sin nature? Okay. I mean, God is the God of rest under all circumstances, whether we're responsible for our trials or not. So, I mean, in a sense, getting our own act together in the way of the Lord, is that responsibility we have before God, before that rest is provided?

Or can that rest be provided in a state where we choose to ignore responsibility we have as citizens of the heavenly kingdom walking on this earth. Do you understand the question? Okay, let me repeat the question. Let me try to repeat the question. Bob's question is this.

When it talks about suffering, is it talking about strictly suffering as a result of ministering to Christ, of ministering for Christ, or being a minister of Christ, or how about the sufferings that we cause ourselves? Like in the Corinthian church. Like in the Corinthian church. Because we sin, and the result is there's suffering.

And so, is it, talking about that God being the God of all comfort, in our sufferings, the sufferings that we've caused ourselves, right? What do you think? It says all comforts. Would it make a difference where the source, as long as we turn to him, I mean, he's the comfort, whether it was something we brought upon ourselves by something we did. Okay, so here's the question then. If we sin, and there's consequences of that sin, and we're reaping what we're sowing, which is a principle in scripture, does God comfort us during those times?

Some say no. Some say yes. I say rarely, because I think that's where most of our trials and tribulations come from. So Harry says that's where most of them come from. So I can say to Harry, Harry, so we can ignore our responsibility to these sufferings and just rest in the Lord? Is that the idea here?

Well that doesn't mean the consequences go away. I don't think the consequences go away, but I think the Lord can give you a peace that dependence on Him removes that anxiety, and I think that's where he wants it. It's totally dependent on him. What's our responsibility with respect, as we cause the suffering because of something we've sinned, what's our responsibility in that? Okay, so doesn't the Lord, doesn't the Holy Spirit come along and convict us every time? And we, you know, He convicts us every time. And our response to that has to be, Lord, this is not a view. And it's a confession. This is not who I am in Christ. It's a confession.

But here are all still the consequences, right? So now, in all those consequences, will He comfort us? He's the God of all comfort. Not just the ones that were caused by ministry, and excluding those that we caused ourselves, right? But he's the God of all comfort. Now, think about this. Is that grace? Wow! That is God's grace. Where sin abounds, grace doth more abound. Exactly. Where sin abounds, grace doth more abound. It overflows in Romans chapter 5 verse 20. Next question. In verse 2, Paul says, for if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same who is made sorry by me? You get this idea that he's come down hard on the church at Corinth, and the response to that is one of repentance.

So in other words, I think that there's a responsibility in response to the Holy Spirit's working in our life, is there not to appreciate God's true comfort? If we continue in our ways, we may claim that comfort unjustly. In other words, His rest is unconditional. But to enter into that, can we enter into it in a way where we claim it but don't own it.

You understand what I'm saying? That makes God's grace cheap in a sense. It's not like we have a yardstick to measure up to. The Holy Spirit convicts us, right? Here's the thing, though. If we are entering into His rest, truly entering into His rest, aren't we there? We're there.

If we continue the sinning I think that obviously because when we're sinning, we're out of fellowship with God. We're separated from God. So we don't have that rest. So eventually, as Bob said, if you keep doing what you were doing and the consequences keep coming, by not entering into the rest, you don't have the rest. You're more anxious. You're more upset. You're more stressed. You are convicted because you just don't want to be there anymore. And the only place to go is to him.

Yeah, that's where grace abounds. And the interesting thing with respect to Bob's question, and think of this guy that Harry brought up in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 who was having sexual relationships with his father's wife. that Paul in 2nd Corinthians says, you know, you guys have to forgive him, because the Lord has forgiven him, and don't put any burden on him, comfort him. So, he was paying the consequences of his sin, but here comes Paul and says, you guys need to comfort him. Come along and come alongside and comfort him.

Okay, verse 4. Who comforts us in all our tribulation. Question. So is it all tribulation or just some of the tribulations or afflictions that we get into? I mean, all is all. Panta. It's every single one. None are excluded. He comforts us in every single one.

Now, King James says tribulation. New American Standard says affliction. Next question, when you think of tribulation, when you think of affliction, what do you think of in terms of this word? Because here you are, reading scripture, and he's comforting you in all your tribulation, if you're King James, or all your affliction if you're New American Standard. So what does that mean to you? What is affliction? What is tribulation? going to work on Monday morning. Now we go back to Genesis and Genesis says you're going to work by the sweat of your brow. So work is a good thing. For me it's watching TV. Watching TV.

The word affliction Do you ever feel this way? And that's what the word means. This word, either tribulation or affliction, it's a pressure, an affliction, and it can be either mental or physical. This pressure could be a mental pressure on you where you feel that you're in this vice and it's just closing in on you. And there's this tremendous mental or physical pressure. But that's what it means. Now, let's just go through some points here with respect to what this is saying.

So here comes the pressure, here comes the affliction, and God is the guide of all comfort, who comforts us in all our afflictions. And so one thing we can say is this, that God's comfort is never, never, never absent in any affliction in any pressure, be it mental, physical, in your life or my life. It's never absent. Another way of saying it in a positive sense, God's comfort is present in every single one of our afflictions.

So we get it both ways. God's comfort, or setting our hearts at rest, is not only for our personal relief, but look passage says, who comforts us in all our tribulation. You see the little word that? It introduces a purpose clause. Here's the purpose. Purpose.

That we may be able to comfort them who are in any trouble or any affliction. Same word that is used there for trouble in King James is affliction. So it's not only for our personal relief, but for us to identify and minister to others. And here's the thing, that if we're going to come alongside someone and minister to them in their affliction, in their trouble, in their problems, I should ask this as a question. What's going to be more effective?

That we've been through it? Or we just know about it? That we've been through it. Been there, done that. Right? And we've been there and God has comforted us in that problem. It was really interesting in terms of being in the hospital here a couple of weeks back and having these stints put in. Here's this guy on the other side of the curtain. And he's going through all kinds of affliction in his life. He's not a believer. So this is talking about coming alongside of a believer, a comforting believer.

But nevertheless, he saw one's heart at rest in the Lord in all of the troubles I was going through because my artery came open and bled. They had to stop all this bleeding. But he's listening to this for two hours as they were trying to stop the bleeding and then came over and said, I've never known anyone, I've been on the other side of the curtain, and I've never known anybody who has such peace and rest in their hearts. And I said, stop right there. His name is George. George, time out. I want you to know, it's not my peace. It's not mine. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the peace that comes from Him. It's not mine. Here's one way of thinking about it.

Any affliction that you're going through, be it heart disease, be it whatever it is, that it may be God's preparation for you to minister to others. And let me say something, it's a guarantee. If we're walking by faith in Him, it's a guarantee that He's going to use that for us to minister to others. Because there are other believers out there that are hurting. and that really don't know about his comfort.

It talks about the sufferings in verse 5, For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ. Do you get the picture here? So you can have, this is what I call God's principle of abundance or aboundment. And somebody just said it before, Wayne, where sin abounds, grace does more abound. Where afflictions abound, guess what abounds much more? God's comfort. It's his principle of abundance, a wonderful principle.

It talks about the sufferings of Christ in verse 5. Question, what does it mean by the sufferings of Christ? Is it talking about those in his ministry, that when he, on his earthly ministry here on earth, that he suffered during his earthly ministry, he was going through a lot of mental suffering in the garden, and when he said, Father, if it be possible, take this cup from me, is it talking about those sufferings? Or how about his sufferings on the cross? Is it talking about those sufferings? So it says in verse 5, 4, as the sufferings of Christ abound in us. One thought that Christ said that the world has stated you as the first. Say again? One thought that Christ said to the disciples that the world has stated you as the first.

OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. OK. Okay. And so we're suffering here. And that suffering is, if I say it was our suffering, but it says it's Christ's sufferings. How could it be Christ's sufferings? I think that's the key. our identification with Christ. If one part of the body hurts, guess what? All of the body is hurting. And He's the head of the body. If we're suffering, is He suffering? He certainly is. And every suffering that we're going through, He's going through. He's the head. We're identified with Him.

And scripture talks about, and we don't have time to go through this, but if you have time to look it up, when we suffer, Christ suffers with us because of our identification with Him. And in your notes, here are all of these passages that you could look at.

Like in 2 Timothy 3.2, it says that if we're going to live a godly life, guess what's going to happen? we're going to suffer.

Do you want to live a godly life? You're going to suffer. It's a guarantee. So, are you going to change your mind when you walk out of here this morning in terms about living a godly life? Because you're going to suffer. But, what else is going to happen through that suffering? We have the comforter and God's going to provide all the comfort.

The thing is, people of the world are going to suffer too, they just don't have the comforter. Absolutely true. Margaret said, let me just repeat it, that people of the world are going to suffer, but they just don't have the comforter. The thing is this, their hearts will never ever be at rest through their suffering.

The difference is, our hearts will be at rest during the suffering. It may be the same suffering. In verse 6, it talks about being afflicted, and by the way, it's a passive voice, that the affliction, this pressure that's coming at us, is external to us. We're being afflicted. But, active voice, as a result of it, we are suffering. We are undergoing hardship, whether it's emotionally or physically, because of the external pressure or distress that is coming at us.

Notice what else it says in the passage, that our affliction is for others. And the preposition there is the preposition Hupere. It's a preposition of substitution. Or you can translate it, our affliction is on behalf of others. Or on behalf of the comfort of others.

So, God is going to allow affliction in our life on behalf of other believers. Isn't that incredible? And so that we can come along and comfort them in their affliction with the same comfort that we're comforted of God, back in verse 4. So, the reason why He allows affliction in our life. So we can identify. We can identify with other believers who are going through affliction. And then we can come along and comfort them. So when you think about it, there's a double blessing here. First to us, Here comes the affliction to us, but then there's the comfort, and then there's the blessing to others, because they're going to be comforted. So, a double blessing.

As we go down through suffering in verse 7 it talks about our suffering or hardship or pain and again we said that it can be emotionally or physically but there's a fixed certainty that we have in verse 7. Verse 7 says our hope see the word hope there and our hope of you is steadfast Hope means having a fixed certainty. And so, there's a hope. We have this fixed certainty that as we're sharers of the sufferings, and I think it's Christ's sufferings, we suffer, He suffers, we're also sharers of the comfort, and that is Christ's comfort.

Then, as you get down to verse 8, it says, Brethren, have you be ignorant of our trouble that came unto us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we even despaired of life. And verse 9, we had this sense of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead. The sufferings that you're going to go through and I go through for the gospel of Christ are not going to be near as intense, I think, as Paul's suffering.

Paul's suffering for the gospel was intense, to the point of he had the sentence of death on him. And when he preached the gospel, they were ready to kill him. Very much like when Stephen preached the gospel, what was Paul ready to do? And what did he do? He killed him, right? He stoned him. So that sentence of death that Paul put on Stephen, Paul had that very sentence of death on him for proclaiming the gospel. So, whatever extent our suffering is, that we can always rest in the fact that there's God's comfort. And our hearts can be at rest even to the point of sentence of death.

As I say, is this a good place to be in your life? This is a wonderful place to be. a wonderful place to be. And the reason why it's a wonderful place to be, because as Margaret said before, there's no way else to turn but to Him. And to just rest and trust in Him. Okay. Let me just do a summary real fast here.

And as you look at verses 1-11, you can summarize it this way, that God provides all our needs in His ministry through us. He's ministering through us. He provides every single need. We're never alone in ministering. God provides co-laborers. I don't care what ministry you have, God provides co-laborers.

And just to give you an example of that, I'm working on this lesson this week and I get a phone call. And I know Sue doesn't want me to mention her name, but she calls up and she says, do you need binders? Yeah, we need binders. What would you like to have on the binder?

And so I said, well, you know, Second Corinthians, And so, you know, you talk about co-laborers, somebody there to minister with you. He provides his mercy, his compassion, his comfort, the setting of our hearts at rest, and God will share his compassion and comfort with others through us. That's the wonderful part about it. And he's the source of all ministry. We are just vessels in this whole thing.

Right? Here's the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's his ministry. Right? Here's his life. We want it to be manifested. And we are just a branch. Right? And the life and the ministry flows through us. There's no source here. the source is there, the source is in the vine. I am the vine, you are the branches. Right? He that abides in me, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

So here's the fruit, the life, and the ministry. Here we are, the branch. I forgot to tell you, we're team teaching this class, and there's three of us. Bob Eckel, and there's Jim Poole. And we're going to be team teaching this class. Next week, Jim is going to be taking the next passage, and the week after, Bob is going to be taking the next passage. So it's going to be wonderful. There's co-laborers.

Let's close in a word of prayer. Our Father and our God, as we look at this passage, we stand in awe, we stand in thanks. And our only response, Father, is that we can thank you, we give you all of the praise and the honor and the glory for what you do in each and every one of our lives. That you allow the afflictions to come into our life but never without the comfort that goes along with it. And so Father, our prayer is that we would be mindful of this wonderful truth and that we would walk by faith so that our hearts could be at rest in each and every one of the afflictions and tribulations that you would have us to go through. And we give you thanks now in Christ's name. Amen.