The God of All Comfort

What a comfort to every believer that the Lord Jesus Christ prays for us on an individual level. He sees your need, and He prays for you!

In the final chapters of Daniel we are invited to a number of 'behind the scenes' tours as he describes the visions God has given him - a heavenly perspective of the events to take place on earth. And if we are honest, much of the future revealed in Chapter 8 looks rather grim. Terrifying even! And yet Daniel is shown these things so that he and his people can be prepared for what is to come and comforted in the knowledge that the Lord is the one directing each and every scene of history. However appalled or overwhelmed we might be at the state of the world today, we too can be comforted in the same knowledge - the Lord is the one directing the days of our lives and the nations of the world. We too, in Christ, can be prepared and persevere in faith and 'rise up and go about the king's business,' trusting the God of gods and Lord of kings whose kingdom endures forever.

Ray Comfort recently posted a video making accusations against the greater King James Bible believer community. Since 1611 untold millions have read, studied, memorized, lived by, and were saved and preserved by the greatest book EVER printed in English. He accused them of being ignorant of other previous English Bibles, accusing them of spreading a lie that there can be no other vernacular translations of the Bible. I take his words from the video and compare them with what the Bible actually says. Using arguments from the authority of the Word of God. Comfort never once supplied any verse of scripture in support of his accusations and beliefs. For those who would accuse me of going after him because of his fame, you don't know me. Fame means nothing to me, neither does fortune. But accusing a large community of simple people who have believed their Bibles for over 400 years of such ignorance, I could not let that go without correction. And before you decide to make any rude or offensive comments about me, first, I would watch the video, second making me out to be wrong does not make you right.

"There is a God!" This is King Nebuchadnezzar's first formal introduction to Yahweh – 'God of gods and Lord of kings' who 'reveals mysteries.' Have you met him? Do you know him? He certainly knows you. We will either be greatly comforted by this truth or completely terrified by it. Because in the end every earthly endeavour to make a name for ourselves will come to nothing and only the kingdom of God will remain. As he reveals himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ, let's not reject the stone that all other kingdom builders have rejected. For it is only through faith in him that we are welcomed and adopted into his kingdom family forever.

We come this week to what has been described as "the most obscure and difficult in the whole of the Pauline writings" (Leon Morris 1984). However, despite the many gaps and guesses in the thinking around this passage in 2 Thessalonians 2, it is in fact meant to be a word of great encouragement and hope to the church in Thessalonica, and therefore, to us. As daunting as the prospect of the revealing of 'the man of lawlessness' may be, he is brought to nothing by the appearing of Christ. Paul writes this passage, not to shake the church up but to settle it down; not to spook them into a panic but to comfort and stir their hearts in patient faith, steadfast hope and enduring love.

An introduction to a practical method of Evangelism called The Way of the Master, created and used by Ray Comfort.

After spending four months in our 'Lessons From Job' series, I wonder what we have learned. I do hope and pray we have learned something of God– his sovereignty, his justice, his love. What might we now say to a friend or loved one going through a difficult time? What comfort and counsel might we offer to those in deep anguish? I wonder what Job's three friends would tell their families when they return home after their time with Job? And especially after this final chapter in the story? They spoke wrongly of God, and yet still the Lord provides for them a path of restoration through sacrifice and intercession, just as he has for us in his Son. Even in this final 'lesson' there is much to learn.

180 DVD - for some reason the video didn't work - you can find it on U-tube. Compares Hitler's killing 6,000 Jews to our own coutry and the 60,000 + abortions - his numbers are a number of years ago.

Comfort has quickly turned into competition between Job and his three friends. They are all determined to stick to their guns which, whilst admirable, only serves to intensify their animosity for each other. In the midst of all this Job maintains his innocence and displays brief but bold glimpses of his only remaining hope. He has longed for a mediator (9:33). He now claims to have a 'witness' in heaven who will testify for him (16:19) and then declares, "I know that my Redeemer lives" (19:25). This side of the cross we may know more than Job, but only because we share the same hope and Redeemer, who has revealed himself to us in his Son, Jesus Christ. In this hope we are saved!