Finding Comfort in the Crucible: A Journey through 2 Corinthians

Pastor Josh
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Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.

Pastor Josh
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My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.

Pastor Josh
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I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.

Pastor Josh
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Now, come along.

Pastor Josh
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Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.

Pastor Josh
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If you have your Bibles or your phones or whatever you like to find your scriptures on, let's go ahead and open those up to Second Corinthians, chapter seven.

Pastor Josh
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And as a former teacher, and in many ways still a teacher, I know the importance of review.

Pastor Josh
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Sometimes when you go through things for a long time, there is a tendency in our human nature to forget what we've already taught on, what we've already looked at, what we've already learned.

Pastor Josh
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And then sometimes when we're trying to build upon those truths, we have a weak foundation, and we can kind of not be as strong in our application of those things that we're talking about.

Pastor Josh
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So what I would like to do here this morning, before we begin Second Corinthians, Chapter 7, I would like to go back in Second Corinthians and highlight a few of the main thoughts that we put our trust in so.

Pastor Josh
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So that we can then build upon that when we get to this chapter in Second Corinthians.

Pastor Josh
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And so so far, what we have learned is that Paul is explaining how he has been a faithful minister in the midst of difficulty.

Pastor Josh
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Second Corinthians is written from the heart of a trial.

Pastor Josh
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It's written through the heart of actually multiple trials.

Pastor Josh
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The title of the sermon this morning is the Constant Comfort in the Crucible.

Pastor Josh
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We're going to talk about what a crucible is here in a few moments.

Pastor Josh
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But the theme that we see is that there is constant comfort in the crucible.

Pastor Josh
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And so what we can see here in this case is that Paul is explaining how a minister can be faithful in the midst of difficulty.

Pastor Josh
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And so you have to remember what Paul has been dealing with so far.

Pastor Josh
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What has he been dealing with when it comes to ministering to the church at Corinth?

Pastor Josh
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Well, they've questioned a lot about Paul.

Pastor Josh
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They've questioned his motives, they've questioned his actions, they've questioned his decisions.

Pastor Josh
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And when it comes to whether or not he would visit them or not visit them.

Pastor Josh
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And so essentially what Paul is doing is he's defending himself, but really he's defending the truth.

Pastor Josh
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Because what these people have done essentially in the church at Corinth, they said this Paul we don't trust you, so we don't trust your message.

Pastor Josh
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And so Paul's heart is not, well, you need to like me.

Pastor Josh
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You need to like my message.

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You need to respect me.

Pastor Josh
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Paul's heart is all about the Gospel.

Pastor Josh
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And so Paul's like, well, I'm going to do everything that I can so that you can see the truth of who Jesus is, so that you can see the truth of what it means to know him and to rest in his love.

Pastor Josh
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And so what Paul is essentially doing here in this passage is he's saying this, open your hearts to me, but more importantly, open your hearts to the truth of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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And so what he says is this.

Pastor Josh
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You have as a Christian, a new life.

Pastor Josh
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Go back with me to Second Corinthians, chapter five.

Pastor Josh
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You should be in Second Corinthians seven.

Pastor Josh
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So you can just track back to Second Corinthians, chapter five.

Pastor Josh
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What does he tell us?

Pastor Josh
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He says that you now are an Ambassador, verse 20.

Pastor Josh
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You are an ambassador for Christ.

Pastor Josh
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He says, if you are a believer in Jesus, if you have faith in him, if you are a child of the king, you are an ambassador.

Pastor Josh
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What's an ambassador?

Pastor Josh
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An ambassador is someone who represents their king, their leader, to another place, a foreign place.

Pastor Josh
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And so essentially what Paul is saying is that you are an ambassador.

Pastor Josh
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You are a representative of God in a foreign land.

Pastor Josh
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Now, what's that foreign land?

Pastor Josh
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This earth.

Pastor Josh
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The Bible says that we should not love the world, neither the things in this world.

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Right?

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We even saw that in chapter six of Second Corinthians.

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He says, don't be unequally yoked with the world.

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He says, don't love this world.

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Love your Savior.

Pastor Josh
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Love the one who sent you.

Pastor Josh
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So he says, you're an ambassador now.

Pastor Josh
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And you now have a goal, a purpose, a mission, and that is to bring people to the reconciliation of God.

Pastor Josh
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Teach them what it means to be reconciled to God.

Pastor Josh
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Teach them what it means to know him and be a new creation.

Pastor Josh
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And so if you just go a few more verses up, verse 17, he says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, a new creation.

Pastor Josh
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Old things are passed away.

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Behold, all things are become new.

Pastor Josh
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That is your credentials to the job description.

Pastor Josh
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You have a job as an ambassador, and you would say, man, I don't know if God wants me representing him.

Pastor Josh
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I don't think I'm qualified.

Pastor Josh
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Well, if you are in Christ, you are qualified.

Pastor Josh
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That's your qualifications to the job.

Pastor Josh
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That's your job description.

Pastor Josh
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You are now a new creation.

Pastor Josh
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Old things are passed away.

Pastor Josh
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You've changed.

Pastor Josh
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That's not what you're living for anymore.

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You're living for him.

Pastor Josh
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And he even says here in Second Corinthians, chapter five, we live by faith and not by sight.

Pastor Josh
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And so he says, to be a faithful minister, to be a faithful ambassador, you have to live in Christ.

Pastor Josh
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You have to believe in who he is and what he can do for you so that you are a new creation.

Pastor Josh
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And so, Second Corinthians, chapter five, new creation.

Pastor Josh
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You're an ambassador now.

Pastor Josh
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Now, what's an ambassador's job?

Pastor Josh
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Well, we already talked about the big picture, like, represent my king.

Pastor Josh
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But what specific actions do I need to take to be an ambassador?

Pastor Josh
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Well, he says you have two jobs.

Pastor Josh
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You need to be the one who brings the message.

Pastor Josh
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So you have a message of reconciliation, you have the message of the gospel, and therefore, you are ministering that gospel.

Pastor Josh
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So you have a message that you are to minister.

Pastor Josh
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What does minister mean?

Pastor Josh
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It means to serve.

Pastor Josh
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It means to give.

Pastor Josh
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It means to present.

Pastor Josh
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And so you all are ambassadors.

Pastor Josh
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If you're a Christian this morning, if you're a believer in Jesus Christ, you are all ambassadors.

Pastor Josh
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Which means you're all ministers, you say?

Pastor Josh
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Well, ministers.

Pastor Josh
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I thought you're the only minister here today.

Pastor Josh
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You and Pastor John and Pastor Carlos.

Pastor Josh
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No, I mean, we are vocationally in the pastoral ministry, Pastor, but all of you are ministers.

Pastor Josh
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All of you are called to serve.

Pastor Josh
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And what are you called to serve?

Pastor Josh
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You're called to serve people with the message of reconciliation, the message of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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So you could have a side note to this.

Pastor Josh
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We're all messengers of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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Okay, so messengers of the gospel, that's all of us.

Pastor Josh
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So you guys are all ministers as the gospel ministry calls you to be.

Pastor Josh
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So then what happens is this.

Pastor Josh
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Second Corinthians, chapter 4.

Pastor Josh
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Paul says, this is what's going to happen when you are in that ministry.

Pastor Josh
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Lest we think that everything's going to run smoothly, lest we think that, hey, once I am a new creation, then everyone's going to like me and that everyone's gonna agree with me.

Pastor Josh
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Paul says in Second Corinthians, chapter four, verse eight, he goes, you wanna know what it's like?

Pastor Josh
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You wanna know what it's like to be faithful to the Lord?

Pastor Josh
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He says, well, we're troubled on every side.

Pastor Josh
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We're perplexed, we're persecuted, we're cast down, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.

Pastor Josh
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You would say, well, that doesn't sound very attractive.

Pastor Josh
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I don't know if I want that life Well, I left out some words there.

Pastor Josh
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He did say that they were troubled on every side.

Pastor Josh
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But what did he say?

Pastor Josh
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Yet not distressed.

Pastor Josh
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He said, we are perplexed.

Pastor Josh
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We are confused, but not in despair.

Pastor Josh
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We're persecuted, yes, but not forsaken.

Pastor Josh
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God has not forgotten about us in the midst of what we are doing for him.

Pastor Josh
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And then he says this.

Pastor Josh
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Yes, we are cast down, but we are not destroyed.

Pastor Josh
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And so what Paul says is, look, the life of a minister, a life of a faithful minister, is not going to be easy.

Pastor Josh
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But you can have the constant comfort in the test, in the crucible.

Pastor Josh
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You say, well, how can that be?

Pastor Josh
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Because you're really speaking about a paradox, right?

Pastor Josh
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You're speaking about this thing about God wants you to have comfort, but then he's going to bring you all these struggles.

Pastor Josh
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Like if I went to you and I say, hey, you know, I just want to give you some comfort, and I started just bringing difficulties to you.

Pastor Josh
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Or, I need you to do this, and I need you to do this, and I need you to go out here and do that.

Pastor Josh
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You would say, wait, wait, wait, wait.

Pastor Josh
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I thought you were wanting to bring me comfort.

Pastor Josh
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And all you're bringing me is hardship.

Pastor Josh
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All you're allowing in my life is hardship.

Pastor Josh
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Well, I want you to go a little bit deeper in this study.

Pastor Josh
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Go back to the very beginning in Second Corinthians, chapter one.

Pastor Josh
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It's interesting that this is where Paul starts.

Pastor Josh
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Now, I've kind of worked a review of the opposite.

Pastor Josh
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Usually you start at the beginning and work your way to where you are.

Pastor Josh
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I've worked from where we are back to the beginning.

Pastor Josh
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And what do we see here at the very beginning?

Pastor Josh
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Paul says something very, very interesting, something that's vital for a minister of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh
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He says this in verse number three, the third verse after his greeting.

Pastor Josh
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After Paul's greeting, he says, okay, now I'm gonna get down to business.

Pastor Josh
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This is the first thing I'm gonna bring to you.

Pastor Josh
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He says, blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies.

Pastor Josh
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And then here's this phrase.

Pastor Josh
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And I want you to think about this phrase, because this has really helped me understand the character of God.

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He says, the God of all comfort, the God of all comfort.

Pastor Josh
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Not just comforting us in the good times, not just comforting us when we're where we need to be.

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He comforts us in all the areas of our life, and then he gives a purpose to that comfort.

Pastor Josh
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He says, God's comforting you.

Pastor Josh
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And how he comforts you is through a lot of different things.

Pastor Josh
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But ultimately it's through knowing what he has done for you and knowing what our hope is at the end.

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Knowing that ultimately we have a relationship with him.

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And then he says, you get that comfort given to you.

Pastor Josh
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And then verse four, who comforted us in all our tribulation, all of our trials, all of our tests.

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Folks, I think it's important to realize that God has not forgotten about us.

Pastor Josh
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Even if we're tempted to think that, hey, in this trial, he has forgotten about me.

Pastor Josh
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No, we.

Pastor Josh
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We have to go back to the truth of the Word.

Pastor Josh
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Not our feelings, not our experiences, but the truth of the Word.

Pastor Josh
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And he says, in all our tribulation, why?

Pastor Josh
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So that we can feel good about ourselves.

Pastor Josh
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No, it's not what he says.

Pastor Josh
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This is different than what we would expect.

Pastor Josh
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We would expect.

Pastor Josh
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The comfort comes so that we can feel good.

Pastor Josh
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He says, yes, there is comfort, but why is there comfort?

Pastor Josh
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So that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble.

Pastor Josh
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It's the selfless love agape that he wants us to show.

Pastor Josh
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You get comfort so that you show comfort.

Pastor Josh
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We receive the comfort of God so that we can comfort others.

Pastor Josh
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Why so it says there, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Pastor Josh
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The only way that you can love a Christian, the only way that you can love the unsaved, the only way that you can love your family, the only way that.

Pastor Josh
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That you can be the minister that you're called to be is to rest in the comfort of God, but then to turn around and to display that comfort to others, to give them the truth of God, to give them the peace of God, to give them the gospel message of transition from darkness to light, that transformation that we can all have.

Pastor Josh
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And that is the comfort of God seen as a minister of the Gospel.

Pastor Josh
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And so what we go back to, we go back to second Corinthians, chapter seven, and we're going to see Paul basically picking up in that thought.

Pastor Josh
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Paul has this long parenthetical thought from chapter two to chapter seven, and now he's kind of picking that thought back up.

Pastor Josh
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You guys are against me.

Pastor Josh
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You need to open your hearts to the message of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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And so he's trying to show them what it means to rest in the love of Christ.

Pastor Josh
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And we're in verse two.

Pastor Josh
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We looked at verse one last week.

Pastor Josh
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Verse one was that new walk, sanctification.

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Some of you remember that sanctification, that new, that new life means that there is a new path.

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And then I'm going to grow in that path.

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But then he says, Verse 2, Receive us, receive our message.

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Love us.

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And he's talking about him and those that are around him, preaching the message.

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And then he gives the reasons why.

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He says, this is what it means to be a faithful minister.

Pastor Josh
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Says, we have wronged no man.

Pastor Josh
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We have corrupted no man.

Pastor Josh
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We have defrauded no man.

Pastor Josh
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So what is he talking about here?

Pastor Josh
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He's saying this.

Pastor Josh
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To be a faithful minister of the gospel and to display the comfort of God to other people, we must live with lives of integrity, love and commitment.

Pastor Josh
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He says, hey, we've wronged no man.

Pastor Josh
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We have corrupted no man.

Pastor Josh
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We've defrauded no man.

Pastor Josh
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We've been honest.

Pastor Josh
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We've lived with integrity so that you can see what it means to be different.

Pastor Josh
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He says, there is a distinct difference from the way that you live in Christ and the way that you live in the world.

Pastor Josh
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And he says, Corinthian church, you're used to people living in the world, and those are the people that you're listening to.

Pastor Josh
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Those are the people that you're loving.

Pastor Josh
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And he says, instead, love those that are different.

Pastor Josh
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Love those that have the righteousness of Christ in their life.

Pastor Josh
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He says, basically this.

Pastor Josh
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We have kept our testimony to you, so trust us.

Pastor Josh
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Trust us with the message of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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These other people that are preaching a false gospel, they're not honest with you.

Pastor Josh
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They're not committed to you.

Pastor Josh
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And so I'm going to tell you here this morning to be a faithful minister, which that's all of us, a faithful ambassador of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
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And for us to be able to comfort those that need that comfort, we must then live lives of integrity, love and commitment.

Pastor Josh
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Verse 3.

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He says, I speak not this to condemn you.

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Says, I'm not trying to come here to condemn you.

Pastor Josh
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You think that that's what I'm here to do?

Pastor Josh
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You think I'm here just to tell you all the wrongs that you're doing?

Pastor Josh
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He says, I'm not here to condemn you, for I have said before that ye are in our hearts.

Pastor Josh
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He says, I'm doing this cause I love you.

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I'm telling you about all these struggles in your life and the dangers of these struggles because I love you.

Pastor Josh
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And then he goes to show a little bit more about that love.

Pastor Josh
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He says that ye are in our hearts to die and to live with you.

Pastor Josh
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That shows his commitment.

Pastor Josh
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He's like, we're here to live with you and we're here to die with you.

Pastor Josh
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To.

Pastor Josh
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To.

Pastor Josh
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To be somebody who is going to comfort another.

Pastor Josh
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We have to prove that we are people of integrity, that we are people of love and that we are people of commitment.

Pastor Josh
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Why?

Pastor Josh
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Because God gives us that comfort in his integrity, in his holiness, in his love and his commitment to us.

Pastor Josh
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Folks, it is all wrapped up in this.

Pastor Josh
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To be a faithful ambassador, we must be Christ like.

Pastor Josh
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To be Christ like means to live a life of integrity above the cares of this world, above the lies of this world and to say, you know what, we're gonna live honestly before man so that we can be a testimony, not so that people will love us, so that people will love Christ.

Pastor Josh
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So it's that integrity.

Pastor Josh
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It's that love.

Pastor Josh
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It's agape, folks.

Pastor Josh
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If we can wrap our minds around anything, it's that God has called us to love him with everything and to love others with that agape love that is sacrificial.

Pastor Josh
00:15:08

Love our world, if one lie of this world is devastating to marriages and to families and to churches, is that love is an emotion.

Pastor Josh
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Love is a selfish thing, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:15:17

That is not biblical love.

Pastor Josh
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Biblical love is what can I do for this person even if they don't bring anything back to me?

Pastor Josh
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It's a choice.

Pastor Josh
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It's a commitment.

Pastor Josh
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And so therefore Paul says, I'm committed to you.

Pastor Josh
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This isn't fly by night.

Pastor Josh
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I'm not just swinging through Corinth and saying, hey Corinth, give me your love offering and let me give you a little, you know, shot in the arm and we're going to leave.

Pastor Josh
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He says, no, we're committed to you.

Pastor Josh
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We'll live with you and we will die with you.

Pastor Josh
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Folks.

Pastor Josh
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That's the truth.

Pastor Josh
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The truth is that a minister of the gospel that wants to be an extension of the love of Christ much show that same commitment that Christ had with us, right?

Pastor Josh
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Jesus said, I'm going to come and I'm going to live a perfect life.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to live amongst my followers.

Pastor Josh
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And not only am I going to live amongst them, but I'm going to sacrifice for them.

Pastor Josh
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I'm going to serve them right.

Pastor Josh
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Jesus washing the disciples feet, Jesus taking that humble form of a servant, then ultimately, in obedience to his father dying on the cross for our sins, that is the perfect act of love that Jesus displayed.

Pastor Josh
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And so therefore we are to follow that.

Pastor Josh
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Paul is saying we have to follow that.

Pastor Josh
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So what is Paul doing here?

Pastor Josh
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Paul is sharing his heart.

Pastor Josh
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He is authentic.

Pastor Josh
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I want you to see here this morning.

Pastor Josh
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If you want to minister to people around you and impart comfort and the truth of God, we must be authentically showing our love.

Pastor Josh
00:16:38

I put it this way, in my notes, authenticity affords affection.

Pastor Josh
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What does that mean?

Pastor Josh
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That means this.

Pastor Josh
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When I'm authentic with somebody, that's when we see real affection happening.

Pastor Josh
00:16:50

If I'm surface level with everything, there can't be any depth to our relationship, right?

Pastor Josh
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That's with a spouse, that's with our friends, that's with our church members, that's with the unsaved, that's with Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:17:03

If everything's on the surface level, like, if I'm not authentic with you, like, oh, yeah, I'm just gonna tell you what I think you want me to say.

Pastor Josh
00:17:09

And I'm just gonna tell you a little bit about who I am.

Pastor Josh
00:17:12

How is that ever gonna work?

Pastor Josh
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Like, what if I got married to my wife and I said, okay, I'm gonna keep a lot of secrets from you.

Pastor Josh
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I will tell you what you need to hear or what I feel like I want you to hear.

Pastor Josh
00:17:21

There's never gonna be real affection happening there.

Pastor Josh
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True, deep affection.

Pastor Josh
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And that's when it comes to those that were ministering to the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:17:28

Folks, if I had a new person come into our church here this morning and they say, hey, I wanna know about Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
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I wanna know what it means to live the Christian life.

Pastor Josh
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And I just tell them a little bit.

Pastor Josh
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And I go, oh, well, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:17:39

Be like me.

Pastor Josh
00:17:39

I'm plastic and I have no problems in my life.

Pastor Josh
00:17:41

And that one day you can be like me.

Pastor Josh
00:17:43

Folks, let me tell you, we're all messed up.

Pastor Josh
00:17:46

And we all have struggles, and we all have the flesh, and we all have issues.

Pastor Josh
00:17:49

And if there's anyone that says that they don't have that, there's a major problem with their authenticity.

Pastor Josh
00:17:54

Look, I'm not here to tell you that I'm a unrepentant sinner, but I'm gonna tell you that I'm a sinner saved by grace just like everybody else.

Pastor Josh
00:18:00

And so therefore, it's that authenticity.

Pastor Josh
00:18:02

Paul says, yeah, I have struggles, I have issues, but I'm here to live with you and die with you.

Pastor Josh
00:18:06

It's the authenticity that matters.

Pastor Josh
00:18:08

Cause that affords affection.

Pastor Josh
00:18:11

And so what we can see here is that Paul is saying, I'm tested, but I'm here.

Pastor Josh
00:18:15

And so I want to go back to that idea of a crucible, constant comfort in a crucible.

Pastor Josh
00:18:21

What is a crucible?

Pastor Josh
00:18:22

Well, literally, it's a container that is used for heating a substance to a high temperature.

Pastor Josh
00:18:29

And so it could be used in metallurgy or something like that.

Pastor Josh
00:18:32

Like, it's a test, right, to see if something is good.

Pastor Josh
00:18:36

Or see if something is valuable or trustworthy.

Pastor Josh
00:18:40

And so figuratively speaking, a crucible is a severe test or a trial, something that is testing us in the most deep form.

Pastor Josh
00:18:52

So Paul is being tested here.

Pastor Josh
00:18:55

The people that he's willing to die for, the people that he's willing to sacrifice everything for, are questioning whether or not he's a good guy.

Pastor Josh
00:19:04

And it would be very easy for Paul to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:19:07

I'm.

Pastor Josh
00:19:07

See ya.

Pastor Josh
00:19:09

Macedonia would like me.

Pastor Josh
00:19:11

Antioch would like me.

Pastor Josh
00:19:12

I'm going to forget you guys.

Pastor Josh
00:19:13

But no, he says, I'm here to live and to die with you.

Pastor Josh
00:19:17

And so I'm going to tell you here.

Pastor Josh
00:19:18

Paul confronts them out of love.

Pastor Josh
00:19:22

He didn't want to condemn them.

Pastor Josh
00:19:24

You see that there in verse three, he says, I speak not this to condemn you.

Pastor Josh
00:19:29

So part of this authentic love is going to be confrontation.

Pastor Josh
00:19:34

Paul confronted the Christians there in Corinth, but he did not want to condemn them.

Pastor Josh
00:19:40

And so what we can see here is a biblical truth, that there can be confrontation without condemnation.

Pastor Josh
00:19:48

Problem is, sometimes when we want to confront, we condemn folks.

Pastor Josh
00:19:53

It's not our job to condemn somebody.

Pastor Josh
00:19:55

That's the job of the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:19:56

And one day there will be people who are condemned for their rebellion.

Pastor Josh
00:20:00

But ultimately, for us, there is a responsibility to confront.

Pastor Josh
00:20:03

So Paul says, I'm confronting you in love, but I'm not condemning you because I'm part of this.

Pastor Josh
00:20:08

Like Paul, Paul says, I struggle too.

Pastor Josh
00:20:10

I have issues too.

Pastor Josh
00:20:11

And so Paul is sharing his heart.

Pastor Josh
00:20:12

And so as ministers of the gospel of truth, which I hope at this point you think that you're part of that.

Pastor Josh
00:20:17

As ministers of the gospel of truth, we must be honest to those who need the truth, right?

Pastor Josh
00:20:24

We have to be honest.

Pastor Josh
00:20:26

And honesty is sometimes a difficult thing to do.

Pastor Josh
00:20:29

When we were at the men's retreat here this weekend, by the way, we're gonna have some testimonies at the end of the service about how God really worked through that.

Pastor Josh
00:20:36

And the speaker was a fantastic speaker.

Pastor Josh
00:20:38

And he spoke about friendship.

Pastor Josh
00:20:40

You don't hear a lot about that.

Pastor Josh
00:20:42

Biblical friendship.

Pastor Josh
00:20:43

And part of biblical friendship is telling a person the truth sometimes.

Pastor Josh
00:20:50

Sometimes it's a difficult truth, but the truth nonetheless.

Pastor Josh
00:20:54

If I love someone, I'm gonna tell them the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:20:56

If I don't care about them, I don't care about them.

Pastor Josh
00:20:58

And I'm not going to tell them the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:21:00

And the truth is that what Paul does here is he shows his love by speaking the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:21:05

Guys, you're on the wrong path.

Pastor Josh
00:21:07

Guys, I want you to fix this Guys, this is what God would want you to do.

Pastor Josh
00:21:11

And it's done in a way of love, and it's done in a way of sacrifice.

Pastor Josh
00:21:13

And so, folks, as ministers of the gospel, we must be honest to the people, the very people that need our honesty, that need the truth.

Pastor Josh
00:21:20

Where is the truth found?

Pastor Josh
00:21:22

We all know this.

Pastor Josh
00:21:23

Come on.

Pastor Josh
00:21:23

This is.

Pastor Josh
00:21:24

If you've been in Middletown Baptist for any amount of time, you know the truth is found in the word of God.

Pastor Josh
00:21:28

It's not found in my opinions.

Pastor Josh
00:21:29

It's not found in a movement.

Pastor Josh
00:21:31

It's not found in anything else outside of the word of God.

Pastor Josh
00:21:34

Jesus has sanctified them by thy truth.

Pastor Josh
00:21:36

Thy word is truth.

Pastor Josh
00:21:37

And so we must point to people the truth of Scripture.

Pastor Josh
00:21:40

And so he is bold here.

Pastor Josh
00:21:42

He says, Verse 4.

Pastor Josh
00:21:43

See this with me.

Pastor Josh
00:21:44

So there's integrity, there's love, there's commitment, there's honesty.

Pastor Josh
00:21:52

But then we see here that there's boldness in this.

Pastor Josh
00:21:56

You cannot avoid the fact that as a minister, an ambassador of the gospel, we have to be bold in what we know about God.

Pastor Josh
00:22:04

He says, great is my boldness of speech towards you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:08

He said, I've been strong with you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:11

The Bible never tells us to be weak.

Pastor Josh
00:22:13

The Bible does tell us to be meek.

Pastor Josh
00:22:15

Meekness is not weakness.

Pastor Josh
00:22:16

Meekness is strength under control.

Pastor Josh
00:22:17

But the Bible never tells us to be weak because weakness eventually is going to get to a point where we.

Pastor Josh
00:22:22

It's a selfish thing, right?

Pastor Josh
00:22:24

Well, I just don't want to do that because that's going to make me look this way or I'm not going to do this because that's going to make me have to feel something here.

Pastor Josh
00:22:30

The Bible says here very clearly.

Pastor Josh
00:22:31

Paul says, great is my boldness of speech toward you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:36

But then he says something interesting here.

Pastor Josh
00:22:37

He says, so I've come against you really strongly.

Pastor Josh
00:22:39

He said, I've had some negative things to say about this church.

Pastor Josh
00:22:43

But he doesn't just condemn them and say, you guys are all failures.

Pastor Josh
00:22:46

He says, no.

Pastor Josh
00:22:47

What does he say?

Pastor Josh
00:22:48

He says, and great is my glorying of you.

Pastor Josh
00:22:50

Meaning he's proud of them for the things that they have done for the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:22:53

It's not all negative, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:22:56

One of the elements that we can get to in our lives and very, very much a trap within speaking the truth, is that everything becomes negative, right?

Pastor Josh
00:23:04

I just pick, pick, pick, and just everything is negative about that person.

Pastor Josh
00:23:08

What Paul says is, yes, there are some things that you need to change, but also I'm very proud of many of the things that you've been doing.

Pastor Josh
00:23:13

Now, the King James word is glorying, right?

Pastor Josh
00:23:16

There's a.

Pastor Josh
00:23:17

There's a selfish pride and there's a biblical pride, right?

Pastor Josh
00:23:20

So, for example, like, if my children do something, well, I'm happy for them.

Pastor Josh
00:23:23

I'm glorying in the fact that they did well, maybe in school or maybe in sports or whatever.

Pastor Josh
00:23:27

And it's not like I'm prideful, and I brought that about.

Pastor Josh
00:23:29

I'm just thankful to the Lord for what they're doing.

Pastor Josh
00:23:31

And that's what Paul is saying here.

Pastor Josh
00:23:32

He says, I'm thankful, I'm excited, I'm happy that you have some good things going on in your life.

Pastor Josh
00:23:38

He says, these are good things.

Pastor Josh
00:23:39

So it's a lot of times what we do is this.

Pastor Josh
00:23:42

We only condemn people, we only challenge them, but yet we don't give them what they are doing well for the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:23:50

Someone I heard recently says, you know, we need to give a compliment sandwich, right?

Pastor Josh
00:23:54

Tell someone something good about them, and then come to the point where you have to tell them the truth about something that might be difficult, but then end it with, hey, there are some really good things happening here.

Pastor Josh
00:24:03

And so Paul doesn't want to suck the life out of these people.

Pastor Josh
00:24:06

He wants to give them hope in Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:24:08

He says, there are evidences here that you are following Christ to some degree, but you need to change in some areas.

Pastor Josh
00:24:14

And so he's bold in his business, but he's bold in his boasting as well.

Pastor Josh
00:24:18

He's not ashamed of his people.

Pastor Josh
00:24:20

He's not ashamed.

Pastor Josh
00:24:21

Like, I'm so excited to call Middletown Baptist Church my church.

Pastor Josh
00:24:25

I gotta tell you, when I go to other places and I see other churches and I see good things going on there, you know what it makes me do?

Pastor Josh
00:24:30

It just makes me want to think about my church.

Pastor Josh
00:24:32

Like, I just, like, man, I can't wait to get back to Middletown Baptist Church.

Pastor Josh
00:24:35

And there's something to be said about the fact that I glory in Middletown Baptist Church.

Pastor Josh
00:24:39

We're at the men's retreat, and I see other churches and I'm like, hey, there's a pastor, and he's talking about how good his church is.

Pastor Josh
00:24:43

You know what I don't do?

Pastor Josh
00:24:44

I don't go and say, well, you know what, man?

Pastor Josh
00:24:46

I wonder if that church is different than mine.

Pastor Josh
00:24:48

Maybe.

Pastor Josh
00:24:48

Maybe the grass is greener.

Pastor Josh
00:24:49

I say, well, their church is good.

Pastor Josh
00:24:51

Great.

Pastor Josh
00:24:51

My church is even better.

Pastor Josh
00:24:52

I'm excited for that.

Pastor Josh
00:24:53

Because if your heart's not where you are, there's a big issue.

Pastor Josh
00:24:57

And so what Paul says here in this case is like, yes, there are some issues, and I've had to come down on you, but I also am bold in my glorying of you.

Pastor Josh
00:25:10

And so God works through Paul to challenge the church through confrontation, but not condemnation.

Pastor Josh
00:25:18

And so, despite the many trials that Paul faced from within and from without, he found joy and comfort in the good news of the Corinthian Church.

Pastor Josh
00:25:31

And so he says, I'm exceedingly joyful.

Pastor Josh
00:25:35

You see that in verse four.

Pastor Josh
00:25:36

He says, I'm glorying you.

Pastor Josh
00:25:37

I am filled with comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:25:40

Remember, he's saying this in the midst of physical trials.

Pastor Josh
00:25:44

Okay, we're gonna be in Second Corinthians, chapter 12 here, just in a relatively short amount of time.

Pastor Josh
00:25:51

And if you remember, Paul is going through something that's a thorn in his flesh, seeks thrice three times to have that removed.

Pastor Josh
00:25:59

That's right.

Pastor Josh
00:26:00

That's right.

Pastor Josh
00:26:00

Now that's happening in this scene of his life.

Pastor Josh
00:26:04

Paul has been persecuted.

Pastor Josh
00:26:06

He's been beaten, he's been.

Pastor Josh
00:26:07

He's been forgotten about.

Pastor Josh
00:26:09

He's been left for dead.

Pastor Josh
00:26:10

He has his own people rejecting him.

Pastor Josh
00:26:12

But yet he says here.

Pastor Josh
00:26:13

What does he say?

Pastor Josh
00:26:14

His testimony in the difficulty is this.

Pastor Josh
00:26:17

I am filled with comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:26:20

I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

Pastor Josh
00:26:25

I like how he says our like.

Pastor Josh
00:26:27

He.

Pastor Josh
00:26:27

He identifies as like.

Pastor Josh
00:26:28

It's.

Pastor Josh
00:26:28

It's our struggle, it's our problem, it's our pain.

Pastor Josh
00:26:32

He says, I'm though.

Pastor Josh
00:26:33

I'm going through this pain.

Pastor Josh
00:26:37

He has two elements that characterize his life.

Pastor Josh
00:26:39

Comfort and joy, Comfort and joy and tribulation.

Pastor Josh
00:26:44

How can he do that?

Pastor Josh
00:26:46

Second Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3.

Pastor Josh
00:26:49

God is comforting him through this, but God is using other people as well.

Pastor Josh
00:26:53

And that's the amazing thing here you see it.

Pastor Josh
00:26:55

He says verse four, for when we were come into Macedonia, Macedonia is another place.

Pastor Josh
00:27:01

So he says, when I traveled to Macedonia, which Macedonia is the place that he went to instead of Corinth, that they got upset about.

Pastor Josh
00:27:09

This is why they're mad at him.

Pastor Josh
00:27:10

He's using that.

Pastor Josh
00:27:11

And he says, when we went to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest.

Pastor Josh
00:27:13

He's like, we were struggling in Macedonia, but we were troubled on every side.

Pastor Josh
00:27:20

We see him repeating those struggles.

Pastor Josh
00:27:21

He said, we were troubled on every side.

Pastor Josh
00:27:23

So basically the thought here in the original Greek is like, I was surrounded.

Pastor Josh
00:27:27

I was surrounded by trouble.

Pastor Josh
00:27:30

I don't know about you, but there's probably been a time in your life where you felt that, not maybe physically, maybe you did have trouble all around you.

Pastor Josh
00:27:36

I can't get out of this but maybe you know what he means by the spiritual trouble around every side.

Pastor Josh
00:27:42

Every which way I turn, I see an issue and I can't get out of this.

Pastor Josh
00:27:46

And that's what Paul is describing here.

Pastor Josh
00:27:49

And maybe that's you right now.

Pastor Josh
00:27:50

Maybe you're like, I can't find a way out.

Pastor Josh
00:27:53

Paul says it's not about finding a way out.

Pastor Josh
00:27:55

That's the irony of all this.

Pastor Josh
00:27:57

I think sometimes as Christians, we think, well, trouble comes, I gotta find a way out.

Pastor Josh
00:28:01

That's not what he's saying here.

Pastor Josh
00:28:02

He says, I've got trouble on every side.

Pastor Josh
00:28:06

My flesh had no rest.

Pastor Josh
00:28:07

We were troubled on every side.

Pastor Josh
00:28:09

Without were fightings, meaning without is an old way to say on the outside, there was fightings around me, so people were fighting against me.

Pastor Josh
00:28:17

So these are talking about struggles from the outside in.

Pastor Josh
00:28:20

And we have a lot of those, right?

Pastor Josh
00:28:22

Maybe you have issues at work, maybe you have issues in the home.

Pastor Josh
00:28:25

Maybe you have issues with people that you come across in your life.

Pastor Josh
00:28:29

He says, so there was problems on the outside.

Pastor Josh
00:28:33

And then he says, within were fears.

Pastor Josh
00:28:39

So we see that he's struggling in two fronts.

Pastor Josh
00:28:42

Outside conflicts coming against him and inside conflicts that are coming out.

Pastor Josh
00:28:46

Like, internally, I am complete with fear.

Pastor Josh
00:28:51

I'm gonna tell you, one of the things that we struggle with in our life, whether we admit it or not, is the fear.

Pastor Josh
00:28:56

The fear of man, the fear of failure, the fear of rejection, the fear of isolation, the fear of whatever.

Pastor Josh
00:29:04

And sometimes what Satan does is he works in our hearts on the inside and the outside from two different fronts.

Pastor Josh
00:29:09

And he says, okay, if I can't get you to be afraid of what's coming from the outside, I'm going to get you to be afraid from what's coming on the inside.

Pastor Josh
00:29:15

And some of you might relate with that.

Pastor Josh
00:29:17

Some of you might say, I'm not afraid of any man, but I'm afraid of what's going on in here.

Pastor Josh
00:29:20

I'm afraid of what's going on in here.

Pastor Josh
00:29:23

And folks, the Bible says that there are going to be those external struggles, but there's going to be internal struggles.

Pastor Josh
00:29:27

And Paul says, I've got problems on the outside.

Pastor Josh
00:29:30

I've got problems on the inside.

Pastor Josh
00:29:33

And he says, but.

Pastor Josh
00:29:35

But I'm filled with comfort and I'm exceeding joyful in all our tribulation.

Pastor Josh
00:29:43

And so he says how God brought the comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:29:46

God brought comfort to Paul by hearing about the work of God with other people.

Pastor Josh
00:29:52

And so he finds joy.

Pastor Josh
00:29:54

And a part of that joy was the good news for the from the Corinthian Christians.

Pastor Josh
00:30:00

And so Paul is saying that God can comfort us in the midst of outward conflict and the midst of inward conflict.

Pastor Josh
00:30:08

But how does it come to us?

Pastor Josh
00:30:09

Well, it comes to us through different circumstances.

Pastor Josh
00:30:12

Verse 6.

Pastor Josh
00:30:12

Nevertheless, God, he gives the credit to God for this comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:30:17

Nevertheless, God that comforteth those that are cast down.

Pastor Josh
00:30:22

And I just want to tell you that.

Pastor Josh
00:30:23

And just a side note here, okay.

Pastor Josh
00:30:26

God can and will comfort those who are cast down.

Pastor Josh
00:30:31

That word, cast down, that phrase, cast down, it just means to be defeated.

Pastor Josh
00:30:35

It means to be downcast, in despair.

Pastor Josh
00:30:39

Some of you might have said, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:30:41

In my life, that's me.

Pastor Josh
00:30:44

I'm cast down.

Pastor Josh
00:30:45

I'm in despair.

Pastor Josh
00:30:47

In some degrees, maybe I'm even hopeless.

Pastor Josh
00:30:49

God has a heart for those.

Pastor Josh
00:30:51

If we come to him in faith, if we come to him and plead for his grace, the Bible says that he comforts those that are cast down.

Pastor Josh
00:30:59

He says, God that comforted those that are cast down comforted us by the coming of Titus.

Pastor Josh
00:31:06

So he says, this guy named Titus comes and visits me.

Pastor Josh
00:31:10

And what is he talking about here?

Pastor Josh
00:31:11

Well, this is actually Titus, one of the people that worked with Paul.

Pastor Josh
00:31:15

He comes.

Pastor Josh
00:31:16

Titus comes and tells Paul about the Corinthian Church, about what's going on in their life.

Pastor Josh
00:31:21

And he says, and not by his coming only, but by the consolation or the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you, meaning this.

Pastor Josh
00:31:29

Paul was encouraged.

Pastor Josh
00:31:30

This.

Pastor Josh
00:31:31

When you guys see this, this is going to be amazing.

Pastor Josh
00:31:33

Paul was encouraged from Titus because Titus was encouraged by the Corinthian Church.

Pastor Josh
00:31:39

So indirectly, the Corinthians who are causing Paul, you know, they're upset with him right now.

Pastor Josh
00:31:44

He said, hey, there was a time where you comforted me by comforting Titus.

Pastor Josh
00:31:46

You didn't know that you were.

Pastor Josh
00:31:47

But you were comforting Titus.

Pastor Josh
00:31:49

Titus came and comforted me.

Pastor Josh
00:31:50

And that's the fulfillment of what happened right in Second Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 3.

Pastor Josh
00:31:55

So when I receive the comfort of God and I comfort another person in that, I don't know who that means is gonna feel the comfort on the next ripple.

Pastor Josh
00:32:03

And the next ripple.

Pastor Josh
00:32:05

Folks, we don't necessarily always know what God is doing in our life, but all we do is obey him.

Pastor Josh
00:32:10

And we see it played out here in this case that Titus was encouraged by the Corinthian Church.

Pastor Josh
00:32:16

And ultimately, Titus encourages Paul in the midst of one of his darkest moments.

Pastor Josh
00:32:20

And he says so not by just Titus coming, but by the consolation of the comfort wherewith he was comforted in you.

Pastor Josh
00:32:27

When he was told, told us of your earnest Desire, mourning and your fervent mind toward me so that I rejoiced the more.

Pastor Josh
00:32:38

And so Paul hears some news about the Corinthian Church.

Pastor Josh
00:32:41

What was that news that encouraged his heart?

Pastor Josh
00:32:43

He says this that they were earnest in their desire.

Pastor Josh
00:32:47

Their desire for what?

Pastor Josh
00:32:48

Their desire for the truth of God.

Pastor Josh
00:32:50

You know, that is what is going to encourage other people.

Pastor Josh
00:32:54

The more you are on fire for God, the more that is a blessing to other people that desire what God wants for them in their life.

Pastor Josh
00:33:00

Now, if your desire for God makes someone upset, that's an issue on their heart, right?

Pastor Josh
00:33:06

Don't be afraid.

Pastor Josh
00:33:07

Don't shy away from the passion that God gives you for the call of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:33:12

Never be ashamed if someone kind of squashes your excitement for the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:33:16

There's been times in my life where I wanted to tell someone about what God is doing in my life, and they're like, oh, that's great.

Pastor Josh
00:33:20

That's wonderful.

Pastor Josh
00:33:21

I'm like, well, maybe I shouldn't be as excited for that.

Pastor Josh
00:33:23

Folks, never, never quench the move of the spirit in another person's life.

Pastor Josh
00:33:29

You might not be feeling it at that moment, but be excited for them in that moment.

Pastor Josh
00:33:32

Join in with their joy, join in with their desire.

Pastor Josh
00:33:35

And what we can see here is one of the ways that we can comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:33:38

Because a lot of times.

Pastor Josh
00:33:38

What do we think about when we think about comfort?

Pastor Josh
00:33:40

Well, me just coming alongside of you and going, hey, I want to comfort you.

Pastor Josh
00:33:45

Have a great day in the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:33:46

Okay, well, that's great.

Pastor Josh
00:33:48

But remember, actions always speak louder than words.

Pastor Josh
00:33:52

It's our actions that can comfort people.

Pastor Josh
00:33:55

And so one of the actions of the Corinthian Church was that they were passionate.

Pastor Josh
00:34:00

They had earnest desire.

Pastor Josh
00:34:02

Our passion for the Lord can encourage others who are seeking the same thing.

Pastor Josh
00:34:06

Let me tell you, some of the most encouraging moments of my life is when I see other people serving God and other people excited about His Word and Bible studies starting and people saying, hey, Pastor, I was studying this week and I was watching this video and.

Pastor Josh
00:34:18

And God really got ahold of my heart here.

Pastor Josh
00:34:20

Man, that gets me excited.

Pastor Josh
00:34:21

That encourages me.

Pastor Josh
00:34:23

Whether you know it or not, being at the men's retreat and having 300 men or whatever it was, you know, singing out to Jesus and singing praises to him and guys getting up and giving testimonies, man, that encouraged my heart.

Pastor Josh
00:34:34

And they didn't even know who I was.

Pastor Josh
00:34:36

And the truth is that the more passionate you are for Christ, others will be encouraged by that.

Pastor Josh
00:34:43

A little while back, one of my former students Colton Gideons came, and he's on deputation to be a missionary to Spain.

Pastor Josh
00:34:53

And I can't tell you how much it encouraged my heart to see a young man that I saw grow up in Christian school.

Pastor Josh
00:34:58

Now he's going out to serve the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:35:00

I mean, he didn't know this, but, man, I was like, in tears because I'm like, man, God's faithful, and the faithfulness of others encourages people.

Pastor Josh
00:35:08

So what I would say to you is this.

Pastor Josh
00:35:09

If you want to be an encourager, don't just speak encouragement.

Pastor Josh
00:35:12

That's one thing you should edify, speak things.

Pastor Josh
00:35:15

But, you know, you can say something and not mean it.

Pastor Josh
00:35:17

One of the things that you can do to encourage other people is have that passionate desire.

Pastor Josh
00:35:22

But then we see something else here.

Pastor Josh
00:35:24

He says, you're mourning now.

Pastor Josh
00:35:26

Is Paul saying, I'm happy when you're mourning.

Pastor Josh
00:35:28

Like you lost someone in your life and I'm glad that you're crying?

Pastor Josh
00:35:31

No, he's talking specifically about the mourning over sin, their conviction.

Pastor Josh
00:35:36

He says, I'm so happy to see that you're broken over your sin.

Pastor Josh
00:35:39

Now, that's kind of weird for us to think about, but that is a beautiful thing to see people broken over their sin because that's what brings revival.

Pastor Josh
00:35:47

That's what brings change.

Pastor Josh
00:35:48

And so one of the ways that we can encourage other people is by understanding the pains and the sufferings of sin in our life and mourning over that to get to a place where we can be passionate for God.

Pastor Josh
00:35:58

And so he says part of encouragement is for individuals to recognize the power of sin in their life and overcome the power of sin by the power of God.

Pastor Josh
00:36:06

And so, folks, I would encourage you to embrace that conviction in your life, get right with God.

Pastor Josh
00:36:12

Because when you get right with God, that affects other people.

Pastor Josh
00:36:15

Now, it's not riding on your shoulders.

Pastor Josh
00:36:16

Like, it's not like, well, you had to do this for other people or they'll never get close to Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:36:20

But you never know who you're going to influence.

Pastor Josh
00:36:22

You never know who you're going to comfort by that time where you walk forward and you kneel at the altar and you get that right with God.

Pastor Josh
00:36:27

Whether or not that person even knows your private sin, your change in your life in that revival will affect other people around you.

Pastor Josh
00:36:35

You know, I've dealt with things in my own life personally that I never told my children, but my children were positively affected by the change that happened in my life through the conviction of the Spirit.

Pastor Josh
00:36:45

Like, I gotta get rid of this.

Pastor Josh
00:36:46

This is stealing away My desire for my children.

Pastor Josh
00:36:49

So therefore, I gotta get rid of it.

Pastor Josh
00:36:51

This is stealing away my desire for the Lord, so I gotta get rid of that.

Pastor Josh
00:36:54

People might not ever know that decision that you make, but the change in your life will be manifested and will encourage others.

Pastor Josh
00:37:02

So I would say this.

Pastor Josh
00:37:04

The mourning over sin, the brokenness over sin, will cause people to be encouraged, just as Paul was encouraged.

Pastor Josh
00:37:10

And then we see, he says, your fervent mind toward me, your fervent thoughts.

Pastor Josh
00:37:16

He says, your fervent mind towards me, your desire, your passion, your thoughts of me.

Pastor Josh
00:37:22

And so what I would say here in this case is just thinking of others.

Pastor Josh
00:37:25

Thinking of others in the midst of our life.

Pastor Josh
00:37:28

Selflessness, Right.

Pastor Josh
00:37:32

Selflessness is such a need in our culture today.

Pastor Josh
00:37:35

Why?

Pastor Josh
00:37:35

Because the opposite side is preaching pride.

Pastor Josh
00:37:38

Pride, Satan, from the very beginning.

Pastor Josh
00:37:41

Pride.

Pastor Josh
00:37:41

It's all about you put yourself first, only help people that help you.

Pastor Josh
00:37:46

And that's the total opposite of what is an encouragement.

Pastor Josh
00:37:49

An encouragement is, I'm going to help you, even if you don't deserve it, even if you don't ask for it.

Pastor Josh
00:37:53

One of the things that I was encouraged by our speaker at the men's retreat.

Pastor Josh
00:37:57

I'm probably stealing some of the guys thunder when they're gonna give their testimonies.

Pastor Josh
00:38:00

Well, I got up here first.

Pastor Josh
00:38:02

So is this.

Pastor Josh
00:38:05

He said, you know, an acquaintance says, I'm here for you.

Pastor Josh
00:38:08

If you need me, let me know.

Pastor Josh
00:38:10

He said, a friend is, I'm already there, you know, And I was convicted by that.

Pastor Josh
00:38:16

Because a lot of times in my life, people that I love, I say, hey, I don't want to impose.

Pastor Josh
00:38:21

If you need me, just call me.

Pastor Josh
00:38:24

He says, you know, a true friend is someone that's like, hey, I'm already there.

Pastor Josh
00:38:28

I'm already putting you first.

Pastor Josh
00:38:29

I don't care what time of the day it is.

Pastor Josh
00:38:31

I don't care what kind of sacrifice this means for me, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:38:33

That's what it means to care for somebody else.

Pastor Josh
00:38:38

And so therefore, he says, hey, you're fervent in mind toward me.

Pastor Josh
00:38:42

It's that selflessness.

Pastor Josh
00:38:43

It's that humility.

Pastor Josh
00:38:45

And so as much as we wanna beat up at the church at Corinth, there are some really good elements here that Paul says that encouraged me.

Pastor Josh
00:38:52

You're not left without hope.

Pastor Josh
00:38:54

You still have God working in your midst.

Pastor Josh
00:38:57

And so that's all Paul is trying to do.

Pastor Josh
00:38:58

He's trying to convince them and speak boldly to the place of, hey, get back on path to being an ambassador for Jesus Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:39:05

Do what you've already done before.

Pastor Josh
00:39:07

And so what I would say is this.

Pastor Josh
00:39:10

Paul had a real confidence and hope because Titus brought him a good report on how things were going in Corinth.

Pastor Josh
00:39:16

Paul saw.

Pastor Josh
00:39:18

Paul witnessed the fruit of his ministry through the church at Corinth.

Pastor Josh
00:39:24

Folks, we're not always going to see the fruit, but sometimes when we do, that's the greatest comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:39:30

God confirms in our heart that we're doing the right thing.

Pastor Josh
00:39:33

And so our faithfulness to the Lord is an encouragement to others.

Pastor Josh
00:39:36

If I could summarize it any which way, I could say it this way.

Pastor Josh
00:39:40

When the greatest encouragement that you can have for another individual, the greatest comfort that you can bring to another individual is by staying faithful to the Lord.

Pastor Josh
00:39:48

Because if you're staying faithful to the Lord, you're gonna be faithful to them.

Pastor Josh
00:39:50

If you're gonna be staying faithful to the Lord, you're gonna love them properly.

Pastor Josh
00:39:53

And so what I would encourage you is this.

Pastor Josh
00:39:55

Like, you know, I think a lot of times we're looking for outward displays of, you know.

Pastor Josh
00:39:58

And that's sometimes what's manifested by the love of God.

Pastor Josh
00:40:01

But it's an inward change.

Pastor Josh
00:40:03

It's always an inward change.

Pastor Josh
00:40:04

And so how can we have constant comfort in the crucible, in the difficult life?

Pastor Josh
00:40:09

It's putting our focus off of ourself and putting it on Christ and others.

Pastor Josh
00:40:12

That's really what it is.

Pastor Josh
00:40:14

I'm never going to find comfort if I'm just sitting and focused on my test all the time.

Pastor Josh
00:40:17

Like, woe is me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:19

This is my problem.

Pastor Josh
00:40:19

I've got this issue.

Pastor Josh
00:40:20

And all I can do is think about me and think about how I can't find comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:40:24

You know what?

Pastor Josh
00:40:24

Let's.

Pastor Josh
00:40:25

And this is what's happened in my own life.

Pastor Josh
00:40:26

The more I start trying to comfort others, the more I'm able to get my eyes off of my issue and start seeing the comfort of God.

Pastor Josh
00:40:32

And I go back and I rehearse how God has been faithful to me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:35

Folks, I would encourage you to think about that, Paul.

Pastor Josh
00:40:37

That's what Paul's doing.

Pastor Josh
00:40:38

He's going back to.

Pastor Josh
00:40:39

And he says, God, you've been faithful to me here.

Pastor Josh
00:40:41

You're going to be faithful to me now.

Pastor Josh
00:40:42

You're always going to be faithful to me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:43

You're always going to comfort me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:44

That's where the comfort is found, by seeing the truth of the situation.

Pastor Josh
00:40:49

You say, well, I don't know if God's been faithful to me.

Pastor Josh
00:40:53

Have you seen my life?

Pastor Josh
00:40:55

You know, what God's taken away from me?

Pastor Josh
00:40:57

Well, maybe he hasn't taken away from you.

Pastor Josh
00:40:59

Maybe God's allowed something to be taken away from you.

Pastor Josh
00:41:01

Well, you don't know what's going on in my life.

Pastor Josh
00:41:03

You know, I went to the doctor's this week and that news was not what I thought is comforting, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:41:09

Let me tell you, when you struggle with that, this is something that I was learning at the retreat and it's been formulating in my mind recently.

Pastor Josh
00:41:17

When we are tempted to think about these circumstances as the source of our comfort, where do we need to go?

Pastor Josh
00:41:22

We need to go to what the Bible says is the foot of the cross.

Pastor Josh
00:41:25

The moment you start thinking that God has forgotten about you, go back to see what Jesus did for you.

Pastor Josh
00:41:30

He went to the cross, hanging on that cross, thinking of you.

Pastor Josh
00:41:36

And if you think about what Jesus did for you on that cross and you still think he forgot about you, and he still think he's not comforting you, you've got some major issues.

Pastor Josh
00:41:43

You're not trusting in what he did on that cross because that's everything that he needed to do to prove his love for me.

Pastor Josh
00:41:50

So instead of thinking, well, you know, I had a really bad day today, you know, my boss went off on me and you know, God doesn't love me, say, no, no, he does love me.

Pastor Josh
00:41:56

Look what he did for me.

Pastor Josh
00:41:57

He died.

Pastor Josh
00:41:57

He sent his only begotten son for that is what Paul is saying.

Pastor Josh
00:42:00

It's all about the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:42:02

And that's where he ends it.

Pastor Josh
00:42:03

He goes, you know, so that I rejoice all the more.

Pastor Josh
00:42:06

I can rejoice all the more here.

Pastor Josh
00:42:08

And then he's going to bring about in this next passage of scripture, godly sorrow that works repentance.

Pastor Josh
00:42:13

And you're never going to be able to walk with Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:42:16

You're never going to be walking with him in his truth, if you're gripping onto this world and not falling into a place of repentance and humility.

Pastor Josh
00:42:23

And so Paul is trying to get us to look back to the cross.

Pastor Josh
00:42:26

He's trying to get us to look to the truth of the gospel.

Pastor Josh
00:42:29

And that's what he's talking about when it comes to being a minister here.

Pastor Josh
00:42:32

And so this was Paul's life in the ministry.

Pastor Josh
00:42:37

If, if it was a life of great blessing, it was also a life of conflicts.

Pastor Josh
00:42:41

It was a life of fear.

Pastor Josh
00:42:42

It was a life of people coming against him.

Pastor Josh
00:42:44

But what we can say through the life of Paul is that he says here, I'm filled with joy, I'm filled with comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:42:51

We see this throughout Paul's writings.

Pastor Josh
00:42:53

Look at Philippians look at the whole book of Philippians.

Pastor Josh
00:42:55

The theme is, what joy.

Pastor Josh
00:42:58

He's in prison.

Pastor Josh
00:43:00

Contentment.

Pastor Josh
00:43:01

He has nothing, except he's got Christ, which means he's got everything.

Pastor Josh
00:43:08

And that's the same thing for you to hear today.

Pastor Josh
00:43:09

I don't know what you have in your life.

Pastor Josh
00:43:10

I would be tempted to say that most of us are not where we have zero in our life.

Pastor Josh
00:43:16

Even if you're at the bottom of what our culture says, you still most likely have a place that you can lay your head.

Pastor Josh
00:43:24

You got here today, whether you drove or not.

Pastor Josh
00:43:26

Someone took you.

Pastor Josh
00:43:26

That's transportation.

Pastor Josh
00:43:28

Most of us are going to have a meal today.

Pastor Josh
00:43:29

If you don't have a meal, come by and talk to me.

Pastor Josh
00:43:31

I'll get you a meal.

Pastor Josh
00:43:32

Okay?

Pastor Josh
00:43:34

But so many times we love more, we want more, we desire more.

Pastor Josh
00:43:37

But, folks, if we had none of that and only Christ, it's still enough.

Pastor Josh
00:43:43

It's still enough.

Pastor Josh
00:43:45

And so may we be those faithful ministers to show people that's the comfort of God.

Pastor Josh
00:43:49

The comfort of God is knowing Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:43:51

The comfort of God is having the Holy Spirit.

Pastor Josh
00:43:53

The comfort of God is knowing that there's something more to this world.

Pastor Josh
00:43:56

That's the comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:43:57

The comfort is not getting out of it.

Pastor Josh
00:43:59

Like, if, like, Pastor, we need some counseling.

Pastor Josh
00:44:01

We got an issue in our life.

Pastor Josh
00:44:03

Usually, like, well, we didn't get out of the issue.

Pastor Josh
00:44:06

So therefore, this is a failure, folks.

Pastor Josh
00:44:08

Is Paul a failure?

Pastor Josh
00:44:11

I don't think so.

Pastor Josh
00:44:13

Was.

Pastor Josh
00:44:13

Was Peter a failure?

Pastor Josh
00:44:15

No.

Pastor Josh
00:44:17

There was parts of his life that were failing, but he wasn't defined by his failures.

Pastor Josh
00:44:23

Was Jesus a failure?

Pastor Josh
00:44:25

No.

Pastor Josh
00:44:25

We know that, but yet did God remove all the pain and suffering from their life?

Pastor Josh
00:44:31

No.

Pastor Josh
00:44:33

And so the directive is not run away from the problem.

Pastor Josh
00:44:35

The directive is run to Christ in the midst of the issues in our world.

Pastor Josh
00:44:40

So I would encourage you today to think about this.

Pastor Josh
00:44:42

Yes.

Pastor Josh
00:44:42

Can God take away your struggle?

Pastor Josh
00:44:44

Yes.

Pastor Josh
00:44:45

Can God take away your trial?

Pastor Josh
00:44:46

Yes.

Pastor Josh
00:44:47

Will he?

Pastor Josh
00:44:48

I don't know.

Pastor Josh
00:44:49

But what I do know is he can bring you the comfort and walk with you through it and give you that constant comfort in the crucible.

Pastor Josh
00:44:57

You're in a big, long test.

Pastor Josh
00:44:59

So the Bible says, actually it's a life of tribulation.

Pastor Josh
00:45:04

And sometimes those tribulations can be felt more than others.

Pastor Josh
00:45:07

Sometimes that heat of that crucible is heated up a lot more than it normally is.

Pastor Josh
00:45:11

But what I will say is that there's that constant comfort that you can find in knowing Christ and resting in him.

Pastor Josh
00:45:16

And then what does he say here?

Pastor Josh
00:45:19

First Corinthians chapter 1, verse 3.

Pastor Josh
00:45:20

Comfort others.

Pastor Josh
00:45:22

As you have experienced that comfort, comfort others.

Pastor Josh
00:45:24

And as you comfort others, guess what?

Pastor Josh
00:45:26

Your mind is going to be off of your struggles, and your mind is going to be on the comfort of how God comforted you so that you can comfort others.

Pastor Josh
00:45:32

And you're rehearsing in your mind what God has done for you, and then you're just living in that cycle of comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:45:38

You know, our world today is all about comfort, right?

Pastor Josh
00:45:41

Get the most comfortable bed you can find.

Pastor Josh
00:45:43

Get the most comfortable car you can find.

Pastor Josh
00:45:48

Speaking of cars, we have a person in our church who remains nameless that has a Tesla.

Pastor Josh
00:45:55

Some of you know what a Tesla is.

Pastor Josh
00:45:57

Okay?

Pastor Josh
00:45:57

A couple weeks ago, I had the biggest test of faith in my whole life.

Pastor Josh
00:46:01

I got in this Tesla, and he says, okay, I'm gonna let you drive it, but you don't really have to drive it.

Pastor Josh
00:46:05

Just turn the key, we're gonna plug in this place, and you just sit back, take your hands off, take your feet off, and just look at the road.

Pastor Josh
00:46:13

And I was as scared as I've been in a long time, especially when I got up to an intersection.

Pastor Josh
00:46:20

It was like.

Pastor Josh
00:46:21

And I'm like, are you sure this thing's gonna stop?

Pastor Josh
00:46:23

And he's like, yeah, it's gonna stop.

Pastor Josh
00:46:25

And I'm like, wow.

Pastor Josh
00:46:26

I'm putting a lot of faith in the designer right now.

Pastor Josh
00:46:30

It was actually a spiritual lesson for me because I'm realizing, you know, that's how we are in our own life.

Pastor Josh
00:46:35

And by the way, we got there and it changed lanes, it sped up, it slowed down, it read when other people were coming.

Pastor Josh
00:46:42

And that was a weird thing.

Pastor Josh
00:46:43

But I thought about that from a spiritual sense, like, our world is looking for comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:46:49

Our world is looking for automation.

Pastor Josh
00:46:52

And I'm not saying that's a good or bad thing.

Pastor Josh
00:46:54

Different people have different opinions.

Pastor Josh
00:46:55

But in our life, that's a picture of what it means to have the comfort of God.

Pastor Josh
00:46:59

You can sit down in the presence of God, you can say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:47:03

I don't know how to get there.

Pastor Josh
00:47:05

I'm probably going to mess up.

Pastor Josh
00:47:06

But, Lord, I'm going to take my hands off the wheel, I'm going to take my foot off you give me the guidance.

Pastor Josh
00:47:10

Now.

Pastor Josh
00:47:10

This isn't like, let go and let God.

Pastor Josh
00:47:12

I don't do anything in my life, you know, I just sit in my couch and hope God makes me a missionary.

Pastor Josh
00:47:16

That's not how it works, right?

Pastor Josh
00:47:17

God stirs our heart and brings us to a place, right?

Pastor Josh
00:47:20

He stirs us To a place where we have to go preach the message of the gospel so there's action involved with it.

Pastor Josh
00:47:25

But what I will say is it's faith in God, it's trusting in him.

Pastor Josh
00:47:28

And so our world is looking for comfort in the wrong places.

Pastor Josh
00:47:30

Our world is looking for automation in the wrong places.

Pastor Josh
00:47:33

What we do is we say, yes, Lord, I'm willing to give my life over to you and give you everything.

Pastor Josh
00:47:38

I'm willing to sit in the driver's seat, but I'm allowing you to drive.

Pastor Josh
00:47:43

I'm going to trust you that you're going to do this right for me.

Pastor Josh
00:47:45

I'm going to trust you.

Pastor Josh
00:47:46

I'm going to trust you that this is the right comfort that I need in this time.

Pastor Josh
00:47:49

And so I don't think comfort is a bad thing.

Pastor Josh
00:47:51

I think God designed us to seek after comfort, but a different type of comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:47:55

What Satan does is, and the world always does this is he tries to twist what God has created as perfect and put us to a place of fleshliness, right?

Pastor Josh
00:48:05

So you see this in many areas.

Pastor Josh
00:48:07

You know, physical relationships.

Pastor Josh
00:48:08

God created those things for a good purpose, but yet the world has skewed that for evil.

Pastor Josh
00:48:14

Music, art, all of these things.

Pastor Josh
00:48:17

Entertainment, God created those things for us to enjoy.

Pastor Josh
00:48:19

But the world has twisted it.

Pastor Josh
00:48:21

Satan has twisted it.

Pastor Josh
00:48:22

Same thing with comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:48:24

God created us to desire after comfort, but not the fleshly comfort, the comfort of God in the midst of our difficulty.

Pastor Josh
00:48:30

So seek after that comfort today.

Pastor Josh
00:48:32

As Paul says, open your hearts to the comfort of God so that when you receive that comfort of God, that you can comfort others so that they can comfort others.

Pastor Josh
00:48:42

Folks, I'm going to tell you, as a church, if we put others before ourselves and ultimately put Christ at the top, we're going to have issues.

Pastor Josh
00:48:50

But Christ will be with us in the midst of the crucible.

Pastor Josh
00:48:54

So the constant comfort in the crucible is Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:48:59

That's it.

Pastor Josh
00:49:00

It's walking with him.

Pastor Josh
00:49:02

And so this morning, I encourage you to think about that and meditate upon those truths.

Pastor Josh
00:49:06

When you go through your trial, your crucible, I'm going to ask if you're able to stand with me, every head bowed, every eye closed as the music plays this morning.

Pastor Josh
00:49:12

So want to give you an opportunity to respond to that.

Pastor Josh
00:49:15

There's a couple of different areas of response.

Pastor Josh
00:49:17

You could say this.

Pastor Josh
00:49:18

I need that comfort right now.

Pastor Josh
00:49:19

Not feeling that comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:49:21

What I say is, get your eyes on Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:49:24

Get your eyes on Christ.

Pastor Josh
00:49:25

Get your eyes on others so that you can comfort others as he comforts you.

Pastor Josh
00:49:31

Man, the Corinth Church.

Pastor Josh
00:49:32

They didn't know that they were comforting Paul, but they comforted Titus and Titus comforted Paul.

Pastor Josh
00:49:36

And Paul ultimately said, hey, you got a lot of issues, but that's a blessing.

Pastor Josh
00:49:41

Are you that faithful ambassador?

Pastor Josh
00:49:42

Are you that faithful minister?

Pastor Josh
00:49:43

Are you that faithful person like Paul that had integrity, had honesty, had love, affection, that authenticity, that commitment?

Pastor Josh
00:49:54

Are you committed to the gospel message so much that you're willing to say, you know what?

Pastor Josh
00:49:57

I don't care if people accept me.

Pastor Josh
00:49:59

I don't care if people love me.

Pastor Josh
00:50:00

I want to find my comfort in God, not in those around me.

Pastor Josh
00:50:05

Maybe this morning you just need to rededicate your life to that ambassadorship.

Pastor Josh
00:50:10

Maybe you need that comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:50:12

Maybe you need to show some comfort.

Pastor Josh
00:50:15

How selfish is it to hoard all the comfort of God and never show that to other people around us?

Pastor Josh
00:50:22

What can we do?

Pastor Josh
00:50:23

What can we say?

Pastor Josh
00:50:25

What can we sacrifice for another so that the comfort of God can be spread to those around us?

Pastor Josh
00:50:30

Lord, I pray that you'd be in this time of invitation, work in hearts and lives.

Pastor Josh
00:50:34

If there's someone here today that needs to know you as Savior, I pray that today can be the day in which they can have that constant comfort in knowing you as Savior.

Pastor Josh
00:50:43

We're thankful for the cross.

Pastor Josh
00:50:44

We're thankful for your commitment to us.

Pastor Josh
00:50:47

And I pray that you work in our hearts and lives this morning.

Pastor Josh
00:50:49

In Jesus name, Amen.

Pastor Josh
00:50:50

As the music plays, do as the Lord leads here today.

Pastor Josh
00:50:52

If you need Jesus as your Savior, if you need to know what it means to trust in the cross, what it means to trust in the resurrection of Jesus, put your faith in him today.

Pastor Josh
00:51:00

We have folks up here that are willing to give you that message.

Pastor Josh
00:51:04

Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.

Pastor Josh
00:51:08

I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.

Pastor Josh
00:51:11

If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.

Pastor Josh
00:51:20

You can also email me directly at joshmasaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and follow along for future podcast and updates.

Pastor Josh
00:51:33

Thank you so much.

Pastor Josh
00:51:34

God Bless.

Pastor Josh
00:51:35

Have a wonderful day.