“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we have received.”

Showing comfort to others sounds easy, right? It is hard enough to identify the physical, psychological or spiritual needs of another but to comfort them … well that is far from easy! Too often we respond to the needs of others by feeling “pity” for them while we pass them by on the other side of their road! Our indifference is not born out of unfamiliarity, for most of us have personally experienced plenty of suffering in our lives, but out of selfishness, ignorance or lack of courage we simply feel incapable of seeing our walking a mile in a sufferers shoes as being an honor and not a heavy burden! While advice is somewhat easy to give without sacrificial, loving action it becomes like pity poured into wounds of affliction! We as Christ’s ambassadors are called and have been prepared to love one another not just in words but also in deeds. When a man/woman of God have endured the assaults of this world, the flesh, devil, sicknesses and numerous financial and social tribulations and yet joyfully cry out “blessed be the name of the Lord,” such a person has been refined and dare I suggest prepared to be a messenger of comfort for others. The following sermon is going to explore 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 in hopes that with the comfort we have received from God we might offer it to others so that they too might praise God in all of life’s circumstances!