Comfort

Openning Remarks

Good morning

Good afternoon

Good evening

I’m David, one of the elders at Missio Dei Humboldt Park. It is my hope that this video finds you physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy and hopeful in the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus.

Before I give a brief word. I wanted to share some important information with you.

Following the lead of the Illinois government, we will not hold in-person services this Sunday (22rd) or next (29th). Likely, this will extend for some time. Yet, we strongly desire to worship with you all on Sundays in a live setting! To that end, we will be experimenting with a live video service this Sunday at the usual time, 10am. This will be done via the Zoom video conferencing platform. You can find logins to zoom on our social media platforms. If you have any questions about how to get on zoom let me know.

We believe that the church is formed to be helpful in seasons of uncertainty and upheaval. These are the moments when the church steps up in courage embodying good news.

A driving question for us is,

How we can help?

If you are in need financially, physically or spiritually during this time (or know someone else who is), please do not hesitate to reach out to each other or to one of the elders. We have many other leaders in our congregation, that are working together to address any and all concerns!

A major way to help is in exercising wisdom by social distancing ourselves from others. In this time, this is an act of love. Yet, we must be careful to understand that social distancing is not the same as self-isolation. Be intentional with reaching out to people in the community.

To that end, we are offering.

Daily devotionals posted on social media

Prayer calls throughout the week via zoom.

For those specifically in financial need:

We have a fund Missio Dei-wide called the Barnabas Fund that is used to help people within our congregations financially in times of need. We have resources to help with food, rent and medicine, for example. You can contact our Humboldt Park representative, Jaclyn Latourelle, you can find her information on our website in the updates section or by connecting with me directly.

How can you help?

We would like to invite you into two specific ways you can help our community in this time.

Barnabas Fund:

If you are financially stable in this time, we encourage you to give to the Barnabas Fund as a way to help your brothers and sisters. In anticipation of growing needs, we would like to increase this fund as much as possible. You can do so by going miss.io/give or the giving page in our app & website and entering an amount and choosing under the "Designation" dropdown menu, "Barnabas Fund".

Donate Blood:

The Red Cross is in dire need of blood donations right now to prepare for this crisis. This is one way, if you are healthy, that you can provide tangible help to the community, acting out your love for God by way of loving others, according to what we have been reading in 1st John. Visit this link to find a blood drive near you: https://www.redcrossblood.org/give.html/find-drive.

Prayer

We are not people of fear:

Keep us, good Lord, under the shadow of your mercy in this time of uncertainty and distress. Sustain and support the anxious and fearful, and lift up all who are brought low; that we may rejoice in your comfort knowing that nothing can separate us from your love in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

we are people of courage.

We are not people who protect our own safety:

we are people who protect our neighbors' safety.

We are not people of greed:

we are people of generosity.

We are your people God,

giving and loving,

wherever we are,

whatever it costs

For as long as it takes

wherever you call us.

Amen.

Introduction

The church is not a place, its a people.

It is not simply a place we go, but by God’s Grace, what we are becoming.

This is a season of becoming, likely the most unique time of our collective lives.

People ask, what is happening, God where is your hand in all of this and what is in store for us.

It is a time of inconvenience and confusion.

Like most, Ive found myself scrambling trying to figure out life today let alone tomorrow.

Plans are made and quickly changed.

Bans on gatherings of 1000, then 250, then 50 in one week

And now the administration and CDC recommend gatherings to not exceed 10 people for the next 8 weeks.

That information didn’t seem real to me, until it became personal.

There I was picking up my daughters from the last day of school on Monday.

People huddling together to sign waivers for their kids chrome book’s when the fateful moment came and I had to cough.

It was dry… zero symptoms, save the lone cough and

Freaked people out.

That was an insightful moment to this

Fearful/Frustrated/Frazzled time.

There is a general sense of concern for the

Physical , emotional, and spiritual health of others.

The levees of our certainties have become broken and we can quickly become overwhelmed.

Being overwhelmed is not uncommon but, it is uncomfortable.

A word on comfort

Today, I’m going to break from our series in 1st John and share a word from 2 Corinthians on comfort.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. - (NIV)

Praise

Paul usually starts a letter with a greeting followed gratitude or thankfulness for the audience.

Paul usually starts a letter with a greeting followed gratitude or thankfulness for the audience.

But, he doesn’t do that here.

Paul begins with praise. He is testifying

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

Paul is expressing heartfelt worship to God

Why?

For his deliverance from deadly peril in Asia,

We think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it. - (NLT)

Corinthians responded to his words with repentance.

Laboring for the health of this community.

More generally, in the midst of suffering God ministered to Paul.When thing were hard. God was there.

Paul serves as a witness to God’s presence in difficult times.

Find people in your life that have walked through hard things and come out testifying to the love of God.

The presence and praise worthy nature of God.

Tested and True

Tested and True

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort

God of compassion and the source of all comfort.

compassion - a deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering.

Christianity has long championed the cultivation of compassion as one of its core moral imperatives.

Jesus Christ himself is and remains the most radical manifestation of God’s compassion.

Matthew

English Standard Version Chapter 9

The Harvest Is Plentiful, the Laborers Few

35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

“Jesus reaches out to the suffering world from the silent center where he stands in full attentiveness to his Father.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

compassion - a deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering.

What is the compassion Jesus like?

This is said of Christ Jesus several times in the New Testament.

The original word is a very remarkable one. It is not found in classic Greek.

The original word is a very remarkable one. It is not found in classic Greek.

It is not found in the Septuagint.

An attitude or emotion that is altruistic in nature and therefore leads to selfless acts of beneficence on behalf of another.

It is not found in the Septuagint.

The fact is, it was a word coined by the evangelists themselves.

The fact is, it was a word coined by the evangelists themselves. They did not find one in the whole Greek language that suited their purpose, and therefore they had to make one. It is expressive of the deepest emotion; a striving of the bowels—a yearning of the innermost nature with pity. It isn't sufficient to simply to feel, but to move to action.In scriptural usage compassion is always both a feeling and the appropriate action based on that feeling.In the NT, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, exactly reflected the Father’s compassion in his dealings with a fallen humanity. Feeling, deep feeling, backed with the means to redeem.

They did not find one in the whole Greek language that suited their purpose, and therefore they had to make one.

It is expressive of the deepest emotion; a striving of the bowels—a yearning of the innermost nature with pity.

It isn't sufficient to simply to feel, but to move to action.

In scriptural usage compassion is always both a feeling and the appropriate action based on that feeling.

In the NT, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, exactly reflected the Father’s compassion in his dealings with a fallen humanity.

The Father is attentive, because He is the God of compassion.

Feeling, deep feeling, backed with the means to redeem.

An attitude or emotion that is altruistic in nature and therefore leads to selfless acts of beneficence on behalf of another.

The Father is attentive, because He is the God of compassion.

The God of Compassion and the source of comfort.

This compassion is an emotion that is altruistic in nature and therefore leads to selfless acts of beneficence on behalf of another.

The God of Compassion and the source of comfort.

The exercise of comfort appears as a charisma, a concrete manifestation of the grace of God, a divine intervention.

The exercise of comfort appears as a charisma, a concrete manifestation of the grace of God, a divine intervention.

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles,

The comfort of God leads to compassion towards others.

God’s compassion stirs up comfort,

OUR

Paul and Corinthians share in one anothers affliction and comfort

God’s comfort stirs up compassion,

How do we stir up compassion for others

3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. - (NIV)

The essence of comfort is that it is reciprocal: someone extends the comfort, and someone else receives it.

Worship

This only happens when you come under the compassion & comfort of God.

“God wants to bring joy not pain, peace not war, healing not suffering. Therefore, instead of declaring anything and everything to be the will of God, we must be willing to ask ourselves where in the midst of our pains and sufferings we can discern the loving presence of God.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Prayer

Insights from the Father.

Praying for others cannot be seen as an extraordinary exercise , but is the very beat of the compassionate heart. 

Prayer fosters intimacy

Prayer cultivates compassion

Prayer motivates comfort for others.

Solidarity

“Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of the compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen

Comfort

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” ( NIV). The essence of comfort is that it is reciprocal: someone extends the comfort, and someone else receives it.1

Let us pray

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace: where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy.

1 Leland Ryken, Jim Wilhoit, et al., Dictionary of Biblical Imagery (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 161.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

May the Lord Bless You & Keep You & Cause His Face to Shine Upon You.

Amen