Despair of Life

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. It's so good to have you. This morning, I had a couple little dudes who decided to wake up and come and visit us this morning. Why don't we have some... Oh, well, hey, this is where every day you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of... coffee we get into god's word and we grow in our love for the lord together this year 2022 lord willing we'll make it all the way from the book of acts to fight lehman why don't we have some coffee we'll pray and we'll get into god's word i didn't get any coffee you want some of my coffee no no it's not decaf Okay Okay, you ready to pray? All right, let's pray father.
Thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word We pray that as we read your word this morning that you would bless us That you would watch over us that we would know and understand what you have for us in Jesus's name. Amen All right. I'm going to close that out. So you're not tempted to just look at the video of yourself the whole time All right.
We're at 2nd Corinthians 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 problem is I need to look at what verses we're at 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 where did it go there it is 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verses 1 through 11 Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother so who's writing this letter Apostle Paul and who else who's with him? Mmm. Paul is an apostle of Jesus Christ. So he's sent by Jesus Christ with a message and Timothy our brother good to the Church of God which is at a What?
Corinth. That's right. That's why this is called Second Corinthians. To the church of God, which is at Corinth. With all the saints who are in Achaia. So Achaia, it was a province of Rome. Do you want to know what province that is? What? It's where Greece is. Yeah, so it's in that area of Greece. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a very typical way that letters in the New Testament are addressed. Who is writing it? Who is it going to? And a greeting. All right, so let's keep going.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort which we ourselves are comforted by God.
For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now, if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, It is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you are partakers of the consolation.
For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened beyond measure, even above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us, in whom we trust that he will still deliver us. You also helping together in prayer for us That thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many You know what? I just realized You all can read Why did I read all that? Okay, oh I guess it's too late to take that back. Okay, that's fine. So I It starts in verse 1, or verse 3. What does verse 3 say there, Bubba?
Blessed be the God of our Father, of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Moses, the God of... That's right, so blessed be who? God the Father of... Our Lord Jesus Christ, and he's the father of what? What is it called here? The Father of... Right the father of mercies and the god of all comfort and then what does he? Tell us that does he say that things are going to be easy for us in this life No, he says he comforts us in our Tribulation right even in our troubles even our affliction even when things are going wrong. Who can we find comfort in? God that's right and then he says that For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.
Right? Did Jesus suffer? Yeah. Did Jesus have afflictions? Yeah. And so is Jesus able to comfort us? Yeah. And then he goes on and he actually talks about Now, if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings, which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation, and our hope is what our hope for you is.
Steadfast, that's right, just do Paul and Timothy. Do they think they got no hope? Their hope is steadfast. That's right. So you got to talk loud or else people on the microphone won't be able to hear you. Yeah, their hope is steadfast, right? Because they know that what? Verse seven.
And that as you are partakers of the seven, so also you will Not constellation consolation So Do you remember when grandma died when great-grandma quick died and Do you remember how you guys came to daddy and gave me a hug? Yeah, it was consoling and You were able to comfort and console. You were able to bring hope and love to the situation.
When we're in affliction, tribulation, sufferings, how does Jesus give us consolation? Do you think Jesus persecutes us? No. What do you think? How do we find hope, consolation, even when there might be despair? How do you find consolation in Jesus? That's right. That's right. This life isn't the end of the story, is it? No. But is Jesus with us even in this life? Yeah. And even if we die, is that the end of the story? Was it the end of the story for Jesus? No, right?
That's I think what verse 9 is saying. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves. So Paul and Timothy, when they were in Ephesus, in the book of Acts, when we read that, they tried to kill them. That we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, who what? Who raises the dead. Right? God raises the dead. So do we need to fear even death? Nope. Why not, Daniel? Because we'll have a new life with no sin. That's right. We'll have a new life with no sin, with resurrection bodies. That's right.
So even when things are going poorly in life, do we need to be without hope? No, it says here in verse eight that it got so bad for them when they were in asia. It says that we even despaired of life Right life was so hard for them that they they almost wished they could just be with god sometimes Is life that hard? Yeah, sometimes for some people life can just get that hard But do we should we give up hope?
No, no because god can give us consolation says here in verse 11 you also helping together in prayer for us that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift for the gift granted to us through many how do they how else do they find consolation in verse 11 how are they helping them Prayer that's right is prayer helpful or unhelpful Very helpful.
Oh, are you picking your nose there, dude? While people are watching you you don't want to do that. No Daniel is prayer helpful or unhelpful. Oh Do we what are some times in which you pray? Oh Okay, yeah, so in the morning when we eat breakfast we do family worship and in the evening at dinner We pray when we do family worship and we pray at church and do we only pray for ourselves? Yeah, we pray for Missionaries we pray for others we pray for our congregation. That's right.
We pray for lots of people because do other people need our help And can we pray that God would comfort them that God would console them? You know, I bet some people watching that this video this morning might need some prayer Maybe they're going through a hard thing in their life Do we want to pray for them this morning? I'll let you guys decide in the comments what you would underline as the best verse to summarize this. I think praying for others that they would have consolation would be the best calling for this. That people would know Christ and would be brought out of despair and be given hope. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much that there is a resurrection of the dead. that even when we grieve, we do not grieve as those without hope, for we know that the resurrection is real. Lord, we don't know who's watching this this morning, who might be even despairing of life, who things are just difficult, who by your providence, you've brought sorrow into their life or affliction. Lord, we pray that you would help them. Lord, we pray that you would give them hope. We pray that they would not be given over to despair. but that they might lift up their eyes to the hills and see where their aid comes from, that their hope would be you, the Lord, and that you would renew their strength and care for them.
Thank you for the work of your Holy Spirit. Thank you for Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. May the lord bless you today. May you walk in the joy and peace of jesus christ May you love him always and find comfort and consolation in him and we'll see you tomorrow. You guys want to say bye