Thursday, May 27, 2010

Where opportunities abound....

Church Family,

I continue to marvel with a thankful heart at your expressions of encouragement to our family and to me personally with everything we’ve had going on and then so many of you expressing birthday wishes on top of it. I’m not sure there is a pastor in the country who is more blessed than I am and I thank God for you.

With Memorial Day in the books by the time you get this newsletter, I’m reminded summer is here. The kids will be out of school shortly but our church summer schedule is already in full swing. Let me share a couple of wonderful opportunities the Lord has provided. We have for several years provided in our budget for a summer intern position for us to utilize a student who wants to learn more about church ministry. After consulting with the staff and personnel committee chairman, Stephen Deason is going to work with us for 10 weeks this summer as our summer intern. These are Addison’s parents and Stephen is studying at the College at Southwestern Seminary and is called to youth ministry. He’s worked as a summer missionary with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention where he spent a week at a time ministering in different churches across Texas. He’ll be working primarily with Wally and our youth ministry but he’s also going to assist Bob Brown on some projects we have for the fall. It will be a wonderful blessing to our church and to this young couple preparing for vocational ministry.

Brother Ken is attempting to lead our grade school aged children in a summer musical called “The Sermon on the Mound”. This baseball themed musical is a great opportunity for our kids to have a ball, learn music and about the Lord. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough kids participating so far. Ken really needs at least 26 kids in order to do this. Our desire would be they’d perform this on Wednesday August 25th but this cannot happen unless parents make a commitment to support this effort. I know kids are all busy with sports and other activities, but those activities will not impact them spiritually or sow seeds the Lord will use to grow them closer to Him. It’s not to late to get involved so let me encourage you to make this a priority for your children and grand children. After the musical practice, they have an hour of sports recreation with Wally and our youth. This runs from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. each Wednesday.

While the young people are doing music and sports, we’ve adjusted our time for worship to 6:15 to 7:10 in the fellowship hall. I know I cannot teach all the Bible you need to know for the 40 minutes I have on Sunday mornings. Wednesday worship is a perfect mid-week encouragement for you spiritually to sing, pray and hear from God’s word.  I’m preaching through Genesis and it’s been well received by those who attend. I’m sad that our Sunday morning attendance average is between 350-400 yet our Wednesday worship average is 35-40, roughly 10 percent. This means 90 percent of our church family does not regularly support mid-week worship. I recognize one of our biggest challenges is the time slot because of work commitments. This is why we’ve moved it back to 6:15 p.m. to try to assist you to get here. God has called me to prepare a hot fresh meal for you from the Word of God and I will be faithful to put it on the table, but I cannot force you to come. It’s an opportunity for spiritual growth missed if you don’t come. Immediately after worship, we’ve got opportunities for more growth. We have a Bible Study class for those serving who cannot attend Bible Study on Sunday morning so your spirit gets fed too. We have a class on the fundamentals of the faith called “What Every Christian Ought to Know” and a deeper study on “What we believe here at Calvary.” Our desire in our disciple making process is that people would work through these studies because it’s important to know what you believe. Religious pluralism abounds in our society and people think it does not matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere. Well that sounds great until your believe system is tested by fire and your left without much. The Word of God must be a steady part of our diet both personally and corporately and we’re doing our best to equip you but again I cannot force you to take advantage of it.  

Finally, summer affords the opportunity to go on vacation for some much needed R & R. Go. Rest. Relax. Don’t take a vacation from the Lord, visit a church where you are if possible or have a worship service with your family. Honor the Lord on your vacation and He’ll help your rest and relaxation to be just that.  Remember your church never goes on vacation so our expenses continue while you’re out of town. Let me encourage you to make provision with your tithes and offerings as you go and return. While I’ll definitely miss you as you travel, I’m excited for you to be able to take a break and I’ll look forward to seeing you when you return. I love you and I’m excited about these opportunities that abound, from my little corner of the world to yours….

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Thursday, May 13, 2010

How can we say thanks?

Sweet church family, there simply are not enough words to express to you appropriately how grateful we Greens & Deasons are for your love and support to our family during these difficult days. It seems like such a whirlwind since I shared with you what was going on in our family on Sunday, April 25th 2010 when Addison Lynn Deason was born to our daughter Ginny and son in love Stephen. Your expressions of prayer, love, and support through cards, emails, Facebook messages, phone calls and financial gifts to help with added expenses has absolutely overwhelmed us. Saying “thanks” really doesn’t seem to be adequate but we are filled with gratitude to our Lord Jesus for each of you and we’re amazed at what God has done for us through the saints of God. God has blessed your prayers on our behalf and I can tell you He’s been answering those prayers in abundance and His abiding presence has sustained us constantly. I know this has been difficult for you all because we’ve been so far away with our family in Texas. You’ve wanted to show your love and care to us but you’ve had to do so via long distance. I have been astounded at the out pouring of love you have lavished upon us and we’re humbled by all you’ve done for us. The financial gifts have been overwhelming to help us with funeral expenses, airline tickets and the myriads of costs associated with such an event. I know the sacrifice this represents for you as you’ve done this above your normal tithes and offerings to the Lord and I can promise you that you cannot out give God as you’ve cared for us on His behalf.  I can also tell you that our family is doing amazingly well in response to your prayers and we’re profoundly thankful. We’re filled with gratitude for the time we had with Addison and for the opportunity to minister to others in the process of walking through her short little life and home-going to Heaven.

Birchman Baptist Church, under the leadership of Dr. Bob Pearle in Fort Worth where our kids and the Deasons are members hosted us for Addison’s celebration. It really was more of a celebration than a funeral. Our church friends in Houston and in many other places along with the Southwestern Seminary have all been an amazing blessing and encouragement to us as well. I sensed your prayers that day as I stood to preach and honor the Lord and His orchestrating all of this. There was a large crowd who attended that day and it was evident the Lord used the message He had given me for the occasion which I called “Honoring the God of all Comfort.” Upon my return here to Bel Air and my interaction with many of you so far, it is evident that you all are grieving along with us and our hurt, heartache and pain is yours as well. The Lord has prompted me to share the same message I preached at Addison’s funeral here at Calvary. Lord willing, I’ll share that message on Sunday May 23rd in both services. I will be honest and tell you I thought I had strength to do it only once, so I’m nervous about walking down that path again. I know however I must be obedient and I know the Lord will honor my obedience to Him even though I think it will be even harder for me and my family a second time. I do want to share of the Lord’s provision and grace granted to us with the prayer that when you face an unimaginable trial of your own, or if you’re still trying to work through some trauma in your life, God will teach you through our experience and the text of Scripture I’ll share. Let me encourage you to please come with a prayerful heart for your Pastor as I stand and deliver and a prayerful heart that God will speak to you. Let me also encourage you to invite others you know who’ve experienced some trauma or who do not know Christ as their Savior. I believe the Holy Spirit will draw people to faith that day but you must invite them to come. Feel free to tell what you know of our story as you invite them if that will help you and lets pray that God will expand His kingdom that Sunday and we’ll all be changed by it.

I love you more than I can express. Our family is grateful to God for calling us, bringing us, and planting us here at Calvary to serve our Lord Jesus with you. We pray our ministry for God’s glory here with you will have profound eternal impact and that many will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. There is truly something special, something amazing God has planned for our future together and I can’t wait to experience the movement of God that is coming here with my sweet church family. Standing in awe of Jesus, with thanksgiving and anticipation from my little corner of the world to yours…

Ralph Green

Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

www.calvarybelair.com

Subscribe to Pastor Ralph's Blog: http://pastorralphgreen.blogspot.com/  

Follow Me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RalphGreen  

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

The 500 pound elephant...

You know it's there, it sticks out like a 500 pound elephant that just wandered into the room. You know its there, everyone around you knows its there, but everyone seems to want to ignore this obvious thing that just crashed into the room! The elephant that I'm describing is what happens when someone has experienced a loss like we Greens & Deasons have experienced with the home-going of our sweet little Addison. It is the tension everyone feels when part of the family walks into the room and everyone has so many questions they are dying to ask, they are scrambling for words to say and nothing seems to be appropriate so what in the world do we do? We can pretend the 500 pound elephant doesn't exist, we can say something silly that we wish we could take back, we can ask "How are you doing?" and hope upon hope the obligatory "Fine" response comes back immediately. We can talk about the weather, we can talk about sports, anything and everything to avoid that elephant. 

Well let me help a little bit at least with me; and I think the rest of my family would echo a couple of thoughts, but they are all unique and very different so I could be wrong.

1) We've never lost a daughter, grand-daughter, great-grand daughter, or a niece before so we're working this out as we go. We honestly don't know how we'll be feeling literally from one second to the next, we may be doing great, we may be falling apart when you see us, so we'd like for you to be patient with us as we're processing our sorrow. We are sorrowing, but not as those who have no hope. Jesus wept at the tomb of His best friend Lazarus and I figure if the Son of God was crying over the death of His friend, we can cry because of Addison. It kind of comes and goes in waves and it's the most strange thing because seemingly neutral things can set off a wave of emotion. I was in Starbucks the other day and for no particular reason, I was overcome and just had to go outside to get some air. So if we fall apart next to you, don't feel badly, it probably was not you, it's just us sorting through the grief process. By the way, please don't ask "How are you doing?" unless you are willing or interested in getting an honest answer that may not be the customary "fine." We're all pretty much direct and we've all learned to be honest - so consider yourself warned. 

2) Please don't feel like you have to say anything when you see us, but let's agree together not to ignore the 500 pound elephant. So many of you have said nothing more than that you're continuing to pray for us and that you've been praying for us. Honestly, that means more to each of us than you'll ever be able to comprehend and we'll always be profoundly grateful for each of those prayers. God's grace, peace and mercy continues to flow to us through the conduit of your prayers and it is such an amazing blessing. Cliches and platitudes are of no help, but the simple prayers of the saints of God and the Word of God heals the soul.    

3) It's humbling to us when we see you are hurting with us and you are experiencing grief with us. Honestly I've been moved to tears because I see how this whole thing has been affecting many of you and no one has been praying for you. So thanks for sharing in our grief and walking alongside us. Let me encourage you to tell us how this has affected you so we can pray for you. Sharing tears with our brothers and sisters is a wonderful salve the Holy Spirit will use to bind and heal our wounds together. If you want a great Bible Study, do a search through the "one another" passages in the New Testament.

4) Ya'll need to know we're not super human, we're not super saints, we're certainly not perfect. We're just like you. My eyes leak a lot sometimes when its just me and the Lord; sometimes I'm just kind of numb from the flurry of activity and running on adrenaline that we've been on, sometimes I may appear incredibly strong. The strength you may see in me or or any of us is not us at all, but the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the grace of God at work in us. I can't explain it, but know that God's grace is indeed sufficient in our weakness. So please don't think we're some kind of abnormal super Christian. We're nothing more than sinners saved by grace and people that God has blessed tremendously.
I believe what bothers a lot of people looking on at us through this thing is the nagging question of how they would respond, or how they responded to something similar that happened to them. Maybe our walking with God through these amazing days has brought to the forefront of your heart and mind something that God wants you to consider. Do you really trust Him to this extent? Is God really faithful even in my darkest hour? How would I respond to this? Those questions are all questions you need to be talking to God about. He wants to talk with you about the issues of life, He wants to commune with you in prayer and Bible Study now so that when trouble begins a stampede in your life, you have someone much bigger than you guarding you. If you would have asked me 18 days ago if I had the faith & strength needed to survive and glorify God in this, my honest answer would have been "I don't know. I would like to think so." 
The truth is, I'm still not so sure, I'm just walking with God one step at a time. At the end of today as I'm about to lay down and collapse in bed, I can tell you God's grace was sufficient and His strength was made perfect in me today. Even though I felt out of it and numb, God sustained me this morning and through the day. See in my human daddy and grand daddy "Pops" frailty, I worry I'll have a major melt down tomorrow, or the next day, or maybe it'll come next week, but I worry about it because of my sinful, human condition. But how wonderful to me that the grace and strength I need doesn't depend on me! God has an incredible track record of faithfulness so I will rest tonight because the eternal God has already been in my tomorrow, next day, week or year. He's already working in me and orchestrating my steps that no matter what, He'll be producing the peaceable fruit of righteousness in me and He'll give me what I need at the time. But this peace that passes all of my understanding is being reaped now from years of sowing and investing in my relationship with God. The only difference between me and you may be that I recognized years ago I desperately needed the Lord each and every day and I needed His Word to flow through me, so I have to read it, study it, meditate on it and put it into practice; talking with God about how to apply it to my life. If you'll start walking with God today and never quit, I can promise you, those nagging questions you might be scared of will be answered with the grace and strength God alone provides when you walk through your own trial. The "super saints" are simply those people who choose to walk with God each day, and the reality is, the Lord is the super one, the special one, not anyone who happens to have the name Green or Deason attached to them or any other name. Jesus is the name that's above every name. I'm a Christ follower - that's it, through the good, bad and downright ugly. 

Well that may be a lot of hot air to some, but I thought I'd help us learn how to handle that 500 pound elephant: offer him a peanut (I love peanuts, a cup of coffee or a diet coke); and you'll find that elephant is not so big after all. Since the elephant was present a couple of times today, no doubt he'll be lumbering into my space tomorrow, I figured I ought to share, from my little corner of the world to yours... 

  Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

  www.calvarybelair.com

 

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph

Monday, May 10, 2010

My message from Addision's funeral

I don't know if anyone will want to take the time to read this; but I thought I'd post my message notes from the message I preached at Addison's funeral. I believe it will help those in a storm, the Lord blessed it on the day of the funeral and I share it in hopes it will help those who read it also. Keep in mind, this was written for the preacher using it at the time of delivery, so there may be incomplete sentences that were there to remind me of the idea to be shared; but for the most part it expresses what I actually said. I may figure a way out later to post the audio recording of the message. It will help to have your Bible handy to refer to the text as referenced.

  Pastor Ralph Green
Senior Pastor, Calvary Baptist Church

  www.calvarybelair.com

 

Welcome – On behalf of the Greens and the Deasons, we’ve all been overwhelmed with your expressions of love and support through this most difficult time in Addison’s home going. We’d like to thank once again all the hospital staff who cared for Ginny and Addison, the life flight crews, and particularly the staff at Cook Children’s Hospital for allowing us all to spend as much time with Addison as we could. For our many friends in all of our churches, Birchman, NEHBC & Faith Family in Houston, and Calvary Baptist in Bel Air; thanks so much for all of your prayers. There is no doubt as we’ve walked through these days that the Lord has been answering and will continue to answer your petitions for us. We’ve been strengthened and encouraged and have sensed these prayers as the blessed Holy Spirit has come alongside us and carried us through these days. On more than one occasion, I’ve commented that it is overwhelming to know so many are praying for us when so many others have it so much worse than we do, but we’re grateful for the prayers of the saints of God.

Introduction – 10 days ago, my wife was awakened to a phone call in the wee hours of Sunday morning that Ginny was in labor and Addison was on her way into this world. Knowing that I was going to be preaching in a few short hours, I turned back over to sleep and began to pray for Stephen, Ginny & Addison figuring my nurse wife would be talking Ginny through this. I was disappointed for Cheryl as we’d planned on her heading down a few days before Ginny’s due date so this meant Cheryl would miss being there for the birth of her first grandchild. I remember thinking well the Lord’s timing is perfect. In my slumber, I noticed that Cheryl was communicating with text messages back and forth to “the kids” as I call them, meaning my two daughters and sons in love. It wasn’t long before Cheryl left the room and I fell asleep. I awakened for my Sunday morning routine of praying and reviewing the message the Lord had given when Cheryl informed me that Ginny and Addison were both having a hard time. It appeared they were going to have to do a C-section on Gin to get Addison here safely. Of course we continued to pray and ask for the Lord’s favor for them. The Sunday morning dash was on and we rushed off to our church responsibilities. Somehow the Lord enabled me to preach the first service ironically (or not) on being filled with the Spirit from Eph. 5:18. Honestly, I think it was the best sermon I’ve ever preached. Sometime during my message, Cheryl got a text message from Rachel that she needed to get down to Fort Worth ASAP. Between services, I changed Cheryl’s flights and sent her dashing off to pack and get on a plane. (Thankful for a Deacon Chairman named Ernie Owens who along with Kay carried Cheryl to BWI).  I remember calling Rachel, Ginny & Stephen to pray with them. We were weeping on the phone together it was heart wrenching to me as a dad to hear my girls telling me they wished I was there to hug them and there was nothing I could about it (10 minutes before our 2nd service started). I pleaded with the Lord to care for my kids and grand daughter and went back and preached again – amazed literally as I felt like I was standing off to the side watching myself preach and listening to the Holy Spirit use me as I shared what was going on in our family and how we had to depend on the Holy Spirit to be the controlling influence in our lives – a second by second process in the rigors of life. Little did I know on that Sunday, I’d be preaching Addison’s funeral a short 10 days later. In talking with Cheryl Monday, it was apparent that I needed to get to Fort Worth sooner rather than later. In a fitful nights rest, I woke up with a start about 3 in the morning in a panic, thinking I could well be preaching Addison’s funeral at some point. As I tossed and turned, alternately praying and thinking of passages I might use as a text: Job worshipping and saying ‘the Lord gave & the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord’; Ps. 46 – God being our refuge and strength; Ps. 91 on taking refuge under the shadow of the Almighty came to mind. Romans 8:28-39 was in my thoughts and “Old faithful” – Phil. 4:6-7, 13. Numerous other Scripture passages came to mind as my weary mind chugged along through the “card catalogue” of years of studying the Scriptures.  Morning finally arrived and I settled into my morning spot to meet with the Lord for my quiet time with a cup of coffee. I had finished reading 1st Cor. the day before and was scheduled to begin 2nd Corinthians. I hadn’t read long when I realized all those passages I’d thought about through the night were not the text but were brought to mind by the Holy Spirit for my comfort and benefit. My heart melted with warmth as the Holy Spirit took this text in II Cor. 1:1-11 and applied it to me as a the sweet balm of Gilead so I share it with you today. Transition – I want us to notice 4 observations from this text whether you’re looking at this distress surrounding Addison from the inside out as family, or the outside looking in at us as friends or brothers & sisters in Christ, the Lord has something for us to see as we honor the “God of all Comfort.”

I.                   God comforts in His perfect will  – vs.1-2

II.                God’s comfort has no limits, it knows no boundaries – vs. 3-5

III.             God comforts in that our distress has a definite purpose – vs. 4a, 6-7

IV.             God comforts in His faithfulness – vs. 8-11

I.                   God comforts in His perfect will  – vs.1-2

Explanation – Paul affirmed to the Corinthian Church that he was in the position that he was in as an Apostle by the will of God. Paul didn’t choose to be an Apostle, God chose him on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 and part of God’s call upon Paul included a lifetime of difficulty and suffering. As a matter of fact, God’s call upon any who would honor the Lord Jesus Christ with their lives need to understand it is God’s will that you will experience hardship, struggle, trial and difficulty.  Jesus said to his disciples in John 16:33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” Paul also said to a young pastor named Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2:3You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Also in 1st Tim. 3:12 “Yes all who desire to live Godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.” Where did we ever get the idea that walking with God does not involve pain and difficulty? Is it because we don’t have enough faith? I’d argue quite the opposite it’s because we had faith!

As we’ve been walking through this incredible difficulty with Addison and then when we began to understand she would not be with us long, we have been comforted in knowing that this is part of God’s will. I know I’m a Pastor by the will of God, I’m in this position because God has placed me here. That means that God is going to mold me and make me to be like Jesus and the only way for me to be fully like Christ is to be a partaker with Him in His sufferings. I’ve not experienced the death of my first granddaughter as a cruel act of fate, some random act of chance, I experienced this by the sovereign hand of my loving God and Father who counts us Greens and Deasons worthy to suffer immense trial at His hand to make us more like Jesus! God chooses to do this with us because He loves us too much to leave us in our previous condition. He’s chosen by His perfect will to use us to suffer deeply in order to magnify His great name as a testimony to all who care to watch His children suffer, yet still glorify Him. We’re awed and humbled that God would find us trust worthy to endure this before so many – we marvel that He trusts us not to bring reproach upon His character and His great name. He trusts us to be a witness of His grace and mercy in the midst of it, trusts us to give thanks and praise instead of cursing. Through it all, I’m comforted in that I know this is God’s will. Jesus told His disciples in Matt. 10:29 that two sparrows were sold for fractions of pennies in the economy of the day but not one of those sparrows falls apart from the will of God and then He says we’re of more value than many sparrows! Jesus’ prayer in the Garden before He went to the cross was not my will, but your will be done and I know God the Father comforted God the Son as His death was God’s will. Notice:

II.                God’s comfort has no limits, it knows no boundaries – vs. 3-5

Explanation – Notice that in the midst of trials and tribulations, God is still to be blessed “eulogized” if you will – to be praised. Why? Because He is the Father of mercies and God of all comfort. We humans make the mistake of thinking God owes us something, that we inherently deserve blessings and not cursing. We think we deserve heaven when the reality of our sin means we deserve Hell. Ginny & Stephen have repeatedly praised God for blessing them with little Addison and Ginny has said a couple of times that some parents know if their children died today they would go to hell, but not Addison! She is a recipient of God’s mercy – he covers those little babies who are unable to accept or reject God’s offer of forgiveness with His mercy and grace – which brings us great comfort that Addison is safe with Jesus, not because Addison, Stephen or Ginny deserve it – we’re all sinners – but because of God’s mercy we can be saved. Addison will never experience evil, temptation, sin and grieving the heart of God! Like Job, we worship, eulogize or bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ saying the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”

But notice a little word in vs. 4, “all” – It does not say who comforts us in some of our tribulations, most of our tribulations, or just the ones where everyone lives happily ever after. God comforts us in the worst nightmare you could ever dream! Paul goes further to say that as our suffering abounds and multiplies in Christ; God’s comfort abounds and multiplies to meet the distress. As distress and tribulation drills to the depth of your soul, God’s comfort drills to the same depth of your sorrow and distress!

Illustrate – Got here on Wednesday and went to the hospital and was over come when I saw Addison, all connected to a ventilator, reading her Scripture and praying for her. I’ve told several people I had peace, not necessarily Addison would be “normal” whatever that means, that she would live or even if she died. I had peace knowing we all, including Addison would be alright because God is still in charge. Thursday was cry day – travelling to the airport to pick up family – weeping in the car and the Lord just holding me. A friend sending text messages telling me how encouraged he was seeing my faith in Christ, that God trusted me to suffer for His glory. Friday, we knew would be the day Addison would meet Jesus. I woke up feeling like I’d been beat with a pipe. My body was racked with pain and I could barely sit up. I laid in bed and wept for my daughter Ginny who’s wanted to be a mama since she could hold a doll – and dad can’t do a thing. I was praying in bed saying “God of all days, I need to be strong and here I am in bed and can hardly move.”  The gut wrenching anguish felt like a boulder crushing me – and the God of all comfort touches me – strengthened me in my distress. Allowed us to minister to Drs and nurses and hospital staff later that day, to hold Addison’s little hand, knowing I was going to hand her back to Jesus. Oh the comfort God supplied! Oh the depth of the love of God and His mercy to allow our family – 17 of us to hold that baby in NICU! I’m here to tell you there is no limit to the comfort God is able to provide. God’s comfort knows no boundaries and there is no trial or distress that is greater than God’s comfort. Here I’m worried sick for Ginny – when I meet her at the hospital, she’s smiling, got a bag full of clothes to put on Addison so we could take pictures. God was like “you see? I’m caring for you far more than you can!”

III.             God comforts in that our distress has a definite purpose – vs. 4a, 6-7

Explanation – For a child of God, we can rest assured that God is going to use our distress and tribulation for our good and for His glory according to Romans 8. That’s what Paul affirms here also that one of the purposes (vs. 4a) of His comfort in our distress is so that we in turn may comfort others. Repeatedly through this process I find myself helping comfort others who seem more distraught on the outside looking in. I’ve marveled that we’re living the trauma and we seem to be doing better than everyone else on the fringe. We’ve seen and experienced God’s care first hand and the comfort we’ve shared with others is out of the abundance of God’s comfort in us. BTW – it is our privilege to know how we can encourage and comfort you if you’ll ask us. Ya’ll are in mourning also since we’ve all participated with Ginny’s pregnancy for 9 months on Facebook! In vs. 6 Paul says “It is for your consolation and salvation” – We’ve been sensitive to the Lord as to who we can share with about the hope we have in Christ and His provision for our sin. Our desire is to see people come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ through our distress, that the Holy Spirit would draw you to faith b/c of what we’ve gone through. Share ABC’s. Vs.7 Our hope for you is rock solid as we know God is going to use this to draw people to Himself.

Illustration – I had opportunity to witness to the lady on the plane. I’ve watched Ginny and Stephen witness for the Lord, listened to my dad sharing the Gospel in the NICU to one of the nurses, got to pray for our family over Addison’s bed with people listening on around us. Over and over we’ve been able to testify of the Lord’s grace, his peace and strength and His desire that people would come to know him. Even thanking the nurses in the unit after Addison met Jesus. That is not normal – a great chance to share the love of Christ! Finally:

IV.             God comforts in His faithfulness – vs. 8-11

Explanation – No matter how much we’re in despair, even though sometimes the pain was so great we thought we’d rather just die – that’s what vs. 8 says: but the situation is so completely overwhelming we cannot trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead! God has a way of putting us in a spot where we can do nothing but trust in Him to rescue us! Notice vs. 10 – Past tense – “who delivered us from so great a death”(the cross), present tense – and does deliver us (present trial), and finally future tense, “that He will still deliver us.”Future storms and ultimately at the end of our lives! You see the reality folks is that our everlasting God is everlastingly faithful! God’s faithfulness, not only as a part of His character brings us great comfort. He’s been faithful to save us from spiritual death, physical death holds no control over us as we know Addison is safe with Jesus. I know I’ll see my granddaughter again. As I sat there holding her, her little hand gripping my finger – I had a vision of this sweet gal meeting me someday in Heaven – “Pops come look!” showing me around heaven. God was faithful to sustain us through every part of this, He’s continuing that faithful comfort right now in helping me preach, He’s going to continue faithfully to care for us in 6 months and a year when the rest of the world has move on. Vs.11 – We still need the help of others in prayer; with the aim being many more people would praise God for His comfort – through the gift – that’s right, the gift of suffering granted to us in Addison’s home going.

Close – Repeat reading of vs.3-4. So what about you? What is your response today going to be? How has the Holy Spirit spoken to you today? Maybe you want to give your life to Christ today?

Maybe you need to rededicate your life to Christ – maybe you’ve been embittered toward God because of some trauma you’ve been through and you need to repent of being angry at God. I’m going to pray and then Brother Cory is going to play an invitation song. I’ll be here to meet & pray with you; Brother Bob will pray with you, there are other believers here who can help you make a decision for Christ today.

Posted via email from Pastor Ralph