Rev. David Holwick F 2 Corinthians sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
February 7, 1999
2 Corinthians 1:3-11
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SERMON SUMMARY: A short communion sermon on the comfort God gives and
Christians can share. Discouragement is normal but God can
deliver us.
I. Praise to God.
A. Important to Paul - almost all his letters begin with it.
1) They fit right into worship, where they were first read.
B. Father of compassion, God of all comfort.
1) Among God's most powerful attributes.
2) If it wasn't in his nature, we would be crushed.
3) Sets off theme for this passage.
II. Even Christians can get discouraged.
A. Speculation on Paul's trouble.
1) Severe illness.
2) Criticism from Christians in Corinth.
3) Violent persecution. (thlipsis, "pressure," supports it)
a) Paul was in a surprising number of riots.
b) He felt it was the end of the line.
B. Sharing in Christ's suffering.
1) Christians are not immune to trouble.
a) (popular, but unbiblical)
2) Our suffering can be spiritual but not atoning.
a) Our suffering doesn't "save" others.
1> He is taking the heat off them.
2> He is setting an example of Christian courage.
b) We can learn from suffering. It has a purpose.
3) Whatever happened to Jesus can happen to us.
a) Bad stuff as well as good.
III. Our comforter has come.
A. "Comfort" equals "paraclete."
1) The word used for the Spirit by Jesus. John 14:16
a) (counselor)
b) "One who stands alongside and helps."
2) Not so much inner feeling of consolation but God's
outright action on our behalf.
B. If you receive it, share it.
1) We are comforted so we can comfort others.
2) There is a special ability to bring comfort when we have
been down the same road ourselves.
IV. The God who comforts us can deliver us.
A. Paul had been stripped of all confidence in his own flesh.
1) Learn to trust God. 1:9
George Mueller:
"Seek entirely to depend on God for everything.
Put yourself and your work into His hands.
When thinking of any new undertaking, ask, "Is this
agreeable to the mind of God? Is it for His glory?"
If it is not for His glory, it is not for your good, and
you must have nothing to do with it. Mind that!
"Having settled that a certain course is for the glory of
God, begin it in His name, and continue it to the end.
Undertake it in prayer and faith, and never give up!"
#551
B. God can even raise the dead.
1) Jesus' resurrection in mind.
2) Beyond this - Paul was under a death sentence, delivered.
3) Paul's trouble was like Calvary and God's rescue was like
Easter morning.
a) After the cross comes Easter.
C. Prayer is an important part of deliverance.
Art Linkletter is a familiar name to everyone of my generation.
His show, "Kid's Say the Darnedest Things" was on for years.
He almost didn't make it.
He says he began life, literally, with nothing.
He was given up as an infant by his biological mother,
an unmarried young woman from the small town of Moose Jaw in
Saskatchewan, Canada.
Later he was adopted by a poor, middle-aged couple, John and
Mary Linkletter.
His adoptive father was one of the warmest men he'd ever known,
but he had absolutely no ability as a businessman.
A part-time evangelical preacher, he also tried selling insurance,
running a small general store and making shoes, all rather
unsuccessfully.
Eventually they found ourselves living in a charity home run by
a local church in San Diego.
Then Dad Linkletter felt called by God to become a full-time
preacher, and they had even less money.
And what they did have was usually shared with whatever
neighborhood derelict happened to be looking for a meal.
At the age of 16 he hit the road as a hobo with the idea of
finding his fortune.
One of the first things he found, however, was the wrong end of
a pistol: his traveling companion and he were held up by a
couple of toughs who found them sleeping in a boxcar.
"Put your hands straight out and lie flat!" one of the men
ordered.
"If this match goes out and I hear anything more I'll shoot."
As they searched their pockets and felt around their middles,
Art wondered if money was all they wanted.
He was frightened because he had heard stories of older hobos
attacking young boys.
Just then, the match went out ... and was hastily relit.
The thieves found $1.20 on Art but missed $10.00 he had sewn
into his coat lining.
They also took two dollars from his friend, Denver Fox.
The match went out again and he could tell by their hesitation
that they were undecided about something.
As Denver and Linkletter lay there, inches apart in the darkness,
He heard the hammer of the pistol click back and a cold
chill ran down my back.
He knew they were considering killing the boys.
There was little risk for them.
The rain hammering down on the outside of the boxcar would
drown out any noise.
Frozen with terror, Linkletter thought of his father and how
he would have prayed for me had he known.
Suddenly fear left him and peace and calm returned.
He could feel one of the men push something against his arm.
"Here's your thirty cents," he said. "Breakfast money."
Art Linkletter today can look back on 45 years as a star of
two of the longest-running shows in broadcasting history.
He has been a success as a businessman, author, and lecturer.
He has even been married 58 years to the same wife.
But none of it would have happened without God's deliverance.
And he knew he would be delivered, because he knew someone
was praying for him.
#504
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#551 "Finding Your Place To Serve," Discipleship Journal, #48, November
1988, page 50.
#504 "If I Could Do It, You Can Too!" by Art Linkletter; Internet:
Chicken Soup Of The Day, August 14, 1998, from Chicken Soup for
the Soul, Copyright 1993 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen.
These and 4,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html
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