Dear Brothers and Sisters,

You are invited to come to the Wednesday evening prayer meeting and pray. (8:30 PM EDT Wed., July 25, 2001)

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort." (2 Cor. 1:3-7)

The God and Father of out Lord Jesus Christ is the God and Father of all the universe and everything in it. He is our Creator and Redeemer. He created us through his Son, Jesus, and redeemed us from his righteous wrath when we were in total rebellion and defiance against him, through the suffering and death of Jesus. The God who is the judge of the universe is the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort.

Before I go on, I'd like to make a small adjustment to the translation of the passage by changing the word "comfort" to "encouragement." The word that's translated "comfort" in today's passage is more often translated "encourage" (as a verb) or "encouragement" (as a noun) in the new testament. The translators evidently thought the word "comfort" went better with "trouble" and "distress" and with "compassion" than "encouragement" does. Maybe they were following the King James tradition which translates the word as "comfort" in this passage. These days we tend to think of comfort in terms of, "There, there. Don't worry everything will be OK," instead of, "The God who made the heavens and the earth and who sacrificed his Son, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ to save us from our sin, is still reigning over all things." At any rate, "encourage" and "encouragement" are perfectly valid as translations and I think that we are very much in need of encouragement.

So God is the God of all encouragement who encourages us in all of our troubles. The apostle Paul says that God has encouraged him and Timothy (with whom he wrote this letter) in all their troubles for a reason -- not just so that they could feel good about themselves, but so that they could pass on that encouragement to others who were also in trouble. And we know that Paul, at least, had plenty of troubles. He describes some of them later in this same book -- prison, floggings, stoned and left for dead, constantly in danger, going hungry and without sleep, naked and cold besides worrying about all the churches (2 Cor. 11:22-33). Paul says that the sufferings of Christ had overflowed into his and Timothy's lives so that through Christ their encouragement would also overflow.

Their encouragement was overflowing both to themselves and to many others around them. Paul regarded the purpose of both their distress and encouragement to be that they might bring encouragement and salvation to others -- and we should absolutely do the same.

Have you ever been encouraged in a time of trouble by the word of God or by encouraging words from your brothers and sisters in Christ? I know that you have because that's the way God works. He has promised us both trouble and encouragement. Maybe you first trusted Christ for salvation because of some trouble that God brought into your life. You were encouraged and comforted by his great salvation. Regardless of what the circumstances are, God's purpose is for the encouragement he has given you to overflow to others.

Brothers and sisters, we must encourage each other. The God who made the heavens and the earth, the God who is almighty and wise, who is righteous and just, who is compassionate and gracious, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us really is reigning in heaven and Jesus is reigning at his right hand. He will reign until all of his enemies (and our enemies) are under his feet. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. God will wipe away the tears from our eyes.

Come and let's pray for each other as well as for the whole church. Come and encourage your brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. Love them.

Love in Christ,
Dean

PS: If you absolutely can't make it to the prayer meeting, send your prayer requests back to me by e-mail and we'll pray for them.