a bridge to comfort the afflicted - 2 corinthians 1:1-7

Oct 3 sermon title – a bridge to comfort the afflicted 2 cor 1:1-7

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
To the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:
2Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort

We are in a campaign to make more room for others at our church
Video of campaign

This month as a part of our campaign to make more room at our church for others, we are going to be talking about the concept of building a bridge.

Today I want to express to you that your church is a place where people can cross over a bridge from suffering to comfort.

That is important. We forget how important that is.
We run along with our charmed lives and we hear stories of suffering and they almost make us uncomfortable.

Then one day we wake up and suffering is on our doorstep.

Paul had a very interesting take on suffering and affliction.
We want them to leave immediately

1. He says that we can give praise to God is our troubles, because in these times we find the comfort of God

Sometimes our spiritual lives get kind of stagnant. Nothing new, same ol same ol. Suffering changes all of that. Troubles take us to our nerve – our relationship w God heats up

2. And that comfort that we receive can go out to others.

Since it is always about us, this is a little counter intuitive, but the idea is that as you go thru your troubles, you can take joy in knowing that others will be helped by you. You can comfort others because you have been there and done that.

Facing divorce, unless you have been there, it is hard to comfort that person.
Facing cancer, unless you have been there, we don’t know what it is like
My parents are both deceased. People that are grieving the loss of a parent listen a little more clearly to jeff because he has been there.

So what about this bridge.
Your church and you are a bridge to others
People that come in here with heart aches….you help them get to the other side
Parking spot , Hosp team
Seat in a pew. Hand shake
Free hug

This is very important

Global bridge
People that are not here but we become aware of………you can be a bridge
Address the hungry children from last week.

We don’t add onto our church for ourselves. We have enough. We work to make more room for others so that they can be comforted in their trouble.

The Bridge Builder
An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and gray,
To a chasm, vast, and deep, and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.

The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him;
But he turned, when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim, near,
"You are wasting strength with building here;
Your journey will end with the ending day;
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm, deep and wide-
Why build you this bridge at the evening tide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head:
"Good friend, in the path I have come," he said,
"There followeth after me today,
A youth, whose feet must pass this way.

This chasm, that has been naught to me,
To that fair-haired youth may a pitfall be.
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building this bridge for him."

Last weeks sermon on feeding the hungry
Mission directions – Wednesday, sue kibbey.

World communion sunday