Sunday School Lesson for August 3, 2014: Comfort in Times of Trouble (2 Cor. 1:3-11)

Psalm 27:5
For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

Psalm 31:7
I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in adversities;

          How many know that when trouble comes, God comes too? That’s what scripture tells us. He (God) comforts us in times of trouble. Not after trouble has come and gone. Not before trouble comes, as though to fill our cup before trouble gets there, so that we’ll have the anointing in excess for just such a time. He comforts in the midst of trouble. You can call on Him because God specializes in trouble. When trouble comes, God is near, literally, in your mouth and in your heart.

Isaiah 59:19
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.

Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.

          You see, God is Glorious and His Name is greatly to be praised. What elicits praise from the believer more than deliverance from trouble.

2 Corinthians 1:4
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.        

          However, there is a greater takeaway for the believer. God comforts us, so that we can comfort others. Beloved, if you live long enough, trouble will come. Health trouble, money trouble, family trouble, sooner or later trouble will rear its ugly head in all of our lives. What Paul reveals to us is that whatever our trouble, we can use the experience to encourage others when trouble comes their way. Paul writes that he despaired to the point of death because of the trouble that had fallen upon him. But then he goes on to tell us that being emptied of himself, upon his reliance on his own ability put him in position to be delivered by God. The beauty of Paul’s analogy is that what he communicates to us about God is that He raises from thee dead. What Paul infer in this passage then, is that God raised him, delivered him from certain death.

Acts 14:19
Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.

          I don’t imagine stoning is something you just get up and walk away from, yet that’s what Paul did. He got up, or rather was raised up by God and sent on his way to be about God’s business. Each time Paul was stoned, shipwrecked, beaten, you name it… he came away stronger. Stronger because he grew in the knowledge that God was willing and able to deliver him time after time for no good reason other than that He (God) loved him. He loved Paul and would not abandon him. He did it for Christ’s sake. You see beloved, He gave His Son, Jesus, so that He might give us access over and over again to His resurrection power.

          So then, Paul had a testimony, or rather a TEST-a-mony didn’t he? And he used that testimony to assure the believers in Corinth that God, the same God that comforted him in times of trouble would provide the same compassion, comfort and deliverance for them that He had to him. Not only that, but in recording it by letter, thereby informing us of the same truth: that God, by Jesus, delivers to the uttermost.

Hebrews 7:25
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.

Revelation 12:11
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

          Finally, what Paul wants you to know is that: when God delivered Him, he thanked God. When God delivered them, he was going to thank Him. And wanted the Corinthians to do was follow his example. Thus, the next time God delivered him, they would praise God, and so on and so forth. So that you had this never ending circle of praise and deliverance, deliverance and praise, prayer and deliverance and praise and prayer and deliverance and praise and… You get the picture. If this is the Church we allow ourselves to be molded into, then how glorious a bride will we become? How great a witness of the glory of our risen Lord, Jesus Christ? Truly, we’ll be that bride without spot or wrinkle, saved by the Blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony. We’ll love not our lives unto death…. Because we have placed our hope in God, who resurrects from the dead. Amen.

Selah.

.wb

See the video at: http://youtu.be/tZNgWVxsOYo?list=UUUg4PiFZaHV3h4tK084kxgQ

Blessings!