"Comfort"

February 28, 2012

“Comfort”

Blessings Folk!

In what do you find “comfort”?

Chocolate?
Silence?
“Entertainment”?
“Amusement”?
Food?
Beverage?
Resources?
Toys?

On and on we could go…

The Word tells us to comfort one another.
How?

You may not believe this… Happy

1 Thessalonians 4

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.



Comfort one another with these words.

The context is those who are “asleep” - believers who have died.
The context speaks to those who are true believers.

Such believers have hope.
The world has not hope.
Jesus is the Only Hope.

Comfort comes from understanding the return of the Lord.

The Lord will return.
Those who are dead in Christ will rise first.
Then, those still alive will meet “them” in the air.

We await.
We are comforted in all that the Lord reveals about His return - and there is much information.

There is more…

2 Corinthians 1

 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
5 For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.
6 But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer;
7 and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.


True comfort is from the Lord - the God of Comfort.
He comforts us that we may comfort others.
Comfort is abundant through Christ.

Acts 9

31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up; and going on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase.


Note the church experienced peace and were being built up when they feared the Lord and lived in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

Today, most of the “church” fears the Holy Spirit - in an incorrect manner - and is far too “comfortable” with the Lord.

Finally…

2 Thessalonians 2

 16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
17 comfort and strengthen your hearts in every good work and word.

By the grace of God our Father and the Lord Himself we have eternal comfort and hope.

Comfort yourself in this.
Trust in the Lord and His comfort.
Not in the things of the world.
Not even in the blessings of the Lord.
The Lord alone.
Live in expectation of His return...not “imminentcy” which is an unscriptural teaching of the day…

Comfort one another with this hope.

Blessings!