Faith is the ability to believe God’s Word.
24 So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, 26 but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock. 27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” John 10:24-30 (emphasis mine)
Jesus in addressing the Jewish leaders speaks here of the vital connection, I know them, and the immediate result of this connection, that is, the ability to believe Christ and his word. If a person is part of His flock than his ears are opened and those who hear the voice of Jesus will follow him.
The faith that we call the vital connection immediately leads to faith as the ability to hear and understand spiritual things. The believer takes this ability for granted but it is such an important gift from our Father and absolutely crucial to our understanding. Paul describes this gift in his first letter to the Corinthians -
12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.
14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. 1 Corinthians 2:12-16
We should point out here, as scripture does, that faith is the work of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. This transforming work that takes place at the time of regeneration permits us to make sense of the revealed Word of God. The very things that once seemed foolish to us when we were unregenerate now not only make sense but are the only explanations the have true value to the exclusion of the things we once believed in the flesh.
The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. There seems to a veil over the eyes of the natural person and therefore intelligence and worldly wisdom give us no ability to discern spiritual matters. Believers will only be frustrated in any argument of spiritual things with an unbeliever. Believers will find that they speak a different language than the unbeliever, for our worldview has been expanded to include the supernatural and miraculous. The unbeliever will not accept the supernatural. The truths of the cross and the resurrection will be foolish babel to the unsaved -
18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 1 Corinthians 1:18-21
(Go To Part Three)
Friday, October 06, 2006
What Is Faith? Definition One - Vital Connection
What is faith?
There are certain words in the bible that seem very difficult to grasp. Just when you think you understand what the word means you read it in another passage and your previous definition doesn’t fit. Some good examples of this are the words, glory, world, walk and faith. Trying to nail down the meaning of these words seems as simple as stapling jello to plywood.
In fact, the words are not that complex but they do have several different meanings and each meaning is activated by it’s immediate context. When studying the scriptures it is of utmost importance to keep the verses and the thoughts contained in those verses in their context. The word is defined by the sentence, the sentence by the paragraph, the paragraph by the chapter and the chapter by the book. “Faith” has a certain set of definitions and once understood it is simply a matter of determining which definition you have encountered in the Bible. Faith is a very important word in establishing how we acquire truth and a misunderstanding of the word can greatly distort our worldview.
You have heard someone use the expression, “It’s a matter of faith.” This phrase is often used for example in setting our system of religious belief apart from science. The implication being that science is based in fact and religion is based in belief of the unseen. This is true in part but it is wrong to conclude that science is based in fact and it is equally wrong to propose that all facts can be seen. Science is based on unseen presuppositions as well. The so-called facts of science are interpreted through the filter of someone’s worldview. In the end both science and religion stand on a foundation of belief in the unseen.
So what is faith?
Definition one -
Faith is the vital connection between you and Jesus Christ. By vital I mean it is life itself, the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 By connection I mean a link, a channel through which new life flows. Before Adam and Eve sinned this vital connection was evident in all the dealings between God and man but sin and the fall broke this connection. Without this connection man became a wise fool. Having been made in the image of God he was still able to reason and make decisions but his perception of God and the world around him now passed as through a dark glass. Our thinking became dull and distorted.
This distortion was compounded by the fact that we tried to cover our guilt by trying to hide from a holy God. The pursuit of self-atonement guided our thinking. The apostle Paul explains this tragedy in the first chapter of Romans.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Without the vital connection between God and man, man at his very best possesses a debased mind. Apart from this connection man can only sin and therefore we are all lost and we are by nature God haters. So as God seeks out his sheep, gathers his people to worship him the first thing that must be done is to restore that very vital connection between God and man. God does this by what the bible calls atonement and this important work of the Son will be taken up in a later writing.
Here is an illustration to help you understand faith as a vital connection. Those of us who have used land phones know what it’s like to wait on the phone company to establish phone service. You can pick up your phone and listen but you will hear only silence until someone at the company throws a switch. You can push all the buttons you want and it will have no effect. The switch thrower is acting according to his pleasure and won’t throw it until he is ready. Furthermore, the switch is either on or it’s off, there is no middle condition. If the switch is off the line is dead, if the switch is on there is a link to the world. This is what I mean by a vital connection.
Faith as a vital connection is a gift from God, there is really nothing we can do to acquire it. Jesus says it this way - No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. John 6:44 We also see this kind of faith at work in Jesus healing the man with the withered hand - Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. John 12:13 It would be foolish to say the man in his own power stretched out his hand. Jesus commanded the man to stretch out his hand because Jesus supplied the healing and power to do so; a vital connection took place between Jesus and the mans’s hand and life flowed into it for the first time.
Faith as a vital connection is either on or off, it is there or it isn’t. Jesus refers to this aspect of faith when he says - For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20
It’s not the amount of faith that is important here it is whether or not faith is present. Faith is as powerful as its object. Faith does not give us power to do anything but faith as a vital connection links us to the Creator himself and nothing is impossible for God. Again Jesus reaffirms our own inability when he says - I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 Jesus makes this truth more sure by pointing out that he works through this same vital connection - So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19
(Go To Part Two)
There are certain words in the bible that seem very difficult to grasp. Just when you think you understand what the word means you read it in another passage and your previous definition doesn’t fit. Some good examples of this are the words, glory, world, walk and faith. Trying to nail down the meaning of these words seems as simple as stapling jello to plywood.
In fact, the words are not that complex but they do have several different meanings and each meaning is activated by it’s immediate context. When studying the scriptures it is of utmost importance to keep the verses and the thoughts contained in those verses in their context. The word is defined by the sentence, the sentence by the paragraph, the paragraph by the chapter and the chapter by the book. “Faith” has a certain set of definitions and once understood it is simply a matter of determining which definition you have encountered in the Bible. Faith is a very important word in establishing how we acquire truth and a misunderstanding of the word can greatly distort our worldview.
You have heard someone use the expression, “It’s a matter of faith.” This phrase is often used for example in setting our system of religious belief apart from science. The implication being that science is based in fact and religion is based in belief of the unseen. This is true in part but it is wrong to conclude that science is based in fact and it is equally wrong to propose that all facts can be seen. Science is based on unseen presuppositions as well. The so-called facts of science are interpreted through the filter of someone’s worldview. In the end both science and religion stand on a foundation of belief in the unseen.
So what is faith?
Definition one -
Faith is the vital connection between you and Jesus Christ. By vital I mean it is life itself, the abundant life that Jesus spoke of. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. John 10:10 By connection I mean a link, a channel through which new life flows. Before Adam and Eve sinned this vital connection was evident in all the dealings between God and man but sin and the fall broke this connection. Without this connection man became a wise fool. Having been made in the image of God he was still able to reason and make decisions but his perception of God and the world around him now passed as through a dark glass. Our thinking became dull and distorted.
This distortion was compounded by the fact that we tried to cover our guilt by trying to hide from a holy God. The pursuit of self-atonement guided our thinking. The apostle Paul explains this tragedy in the first chapter of Romans.
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.
Without the vital connection between God and man, man at his very best possesses a debased mind. Apart from this connection man can only sin and therefore we are all lost and we are by nature God haters. So as God seeks out his sheep, gathers his people to worship him the first thing that must be done is to restore that very vital connection between God and man. God does this by what the bible calls atonement and this important work of the Son will be taken up in a later writing.
Here is an illustration to help you understand faith as a vital connection. Those of us who have used land phones know what it’s like to wait on the phone company to establish phone service. You can pick up your phone and listen but you will hear only silence until someone at the company throws a switch. You can push all the buttons you want and it will have no effect. The switch thrower is acting according to his pleasure and won’t throw it until he is ready. Furthermore, the switch is either on or it’s off, there is no middle condition. If the switch is off the line is dead, if the switch is on there is a link to the world. This is what I mean by a vital connection.
Faith as a vital connection is a gift from God, there is really nothing we can do to acquire it. Jesus says it this way - No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. John 6:44 We also see this kind of faith at work in Jesus healing the man with the withered hand - Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, healthy like the other. John 12:13 It would be foolish to say the man in his own power stretched out his hand. Jesus commanded the man to stretch out his hand because Jesus supplied the healing and power to do so; a vital connection took place between Jesus and the mans’s hand and life flowed into it for the first time.
Faith as a vital connection is either on or off, it is there or it isn’t. Jesus refers to this aspect of faith when he says - For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20
It’s not the amount of faith that is important here it is whether or not faith is present. Faith is as powerful as its object. Faith does not give us power to do anything but faith as a vital connection links us to the Creator himself and nothing is impossible for God. Again Jesus reaffirms our own inability when he says - I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 Jesus makes this truth more sure by pointing out that he works through this same vital connection - So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19
(Go To Part Two)
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Alert! Madonna Flaunts Sin On TV. No kidding.
I got an alert from the American Family Association. God bless the AFA for their vigilance in standing in the gap and fighting for decency. Their most recent alert is titled:
I get one of these AFA alerts nearly everyday. Besides getting one from AFA directly I have several christian brothers who forward the same alerts to me. So I get a formidable collection. After a while I suffer something similar to the compassion fatigue that one gets from viewing so many pleas to help the hungry and oppressed.
Madonna is going to do something nasty of TV. Ok, but that's like saying I changed the flow of an open sewer so now it runs through my living room and guess what? IT STINKS!!! IT SMELLS AWFUL!!!
It's television. Are we really shocked? Television, for the most part is our window into the lowest common denominator that culture has to offer. Thankfully there are the Food Network and Home Decorating programs to redeem some of the air waves but for the most part, TV is apostate and not about to reform.
Are you shocked to discover Madonna is sinful and proud of it? That she's anti-christian? That NBC, ABC, CBS, Blah-Blah-Blah are businesses that show train wrecks for profit?
The problem with our society is that nothing has a CONTEXT anymore. Two weeks ago I preached on the history of redemption and demonstrated the proper context, the underlying theme for the books of the Holy Scriptures. The main stream church has taken truths from scripture and stripped them from their context. The worship service has no context, it is an end in itself, to please the seeker - to make us feel good and relieve stress that can be so damaging to our Sunday afternoon golf game.
Society has no context. Music has no context. What one FEELS to be true is true. Sin has no consequences because sin exists in a vacuum or has been defined out of existence.
So the answer is not to try to save TV by protesting, the answer is to go into all the world preaching and baptizing, preaching the Truth and establishing the lost context to a disjointed world. We live in the information age where information abounds and is accessible like no time in history, but all of this information is without context. The world is playing a hellish and hell bent game of Trivial Pursuit. {Rant Off}
NBC, Madonna Set To Mock The Crucifixion of Christ
I get one of these AFA alerts nearly everyday. Besides getting one from AFA directly I have several christian brothers who forward the same alerts to me. So I get a formidable collection. After a while I suffer something similar to the compassion fatigue that one gets from viewing so many pleas to help the hungry and oppressed.
Madonna is going to do something nasty of TV. Ok, but that's like saying I changed the flow of an open sewer so now it runs through my living room and guess what? IT STINKS!!! IT SMELLS AWFUL!!!
It's television. Are we really shocked? Television, for the most part is our window into the lowest common denominator that culture has to offer. Thankfully there are the Food Network and Home Decorating programs to redeem some of the air waves but for the most part, TV is apostate and not about to reform.
Are you shocked to discover Madonna is sinful and proud of it? That she's anti-christian? That NBC, ABC, CBS, Blah-Blah-Blah are businesses that show train wrecks for profit?
The problem with our society is that nothing has a CONTEXT anymore. Two weeks ago I preached on the history of redemption and demonstrated the proper context, the underlying theme for the books of the Holy Scriptures. The main stream church has taken truths from scripture and stripped them from their context. The worship service has no context, it is an end in itself, to please the seeker - to make us feel good and relieve stress that can be so damaging to our Sunday afternoon golf game.
Society has no context. Music has no context. What one FEELS to be true is true. Sin has no consequences because sin exists in a vacuum or has been defined out of existence.
So the answer is not to try to save TV by protesting, the answer is to go into all the world preaching and baptizing, preaching the Truth and establishing the lost context to a disjointed world. We live in the information age where information abounds and is accessible like no time in history, but all of this information is without context. The world is playing a hellish and hell bent game of Trivial Pursuit. {Rant Off}
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
The DaVinci Code and other attacks
The DaVinci Code is making daily headlines. It's certainly been a boon for the church and christian booksellers as it has created an industry of rebuttal. Madonna is blaspheming again in her new concert tour by singing from a mirrored cross wearing a designer crown of thorns. A while ago the fight was all about where we can and cannot post the Ten Commandments. Can't say Christmas, can't say Happy Easter. Many christians are always shocked when God haters, (of which we all once were) act like they hate God. So I want to just give my one time response for these types of headline grabbing controversies.
Nothing excites me more than hearing these God haters attack Christ. I love the smug criticisms and cynicisms aimed at the gospels. Why?
BECAUSE AFTER 2000 YEARS THEY CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR, OUR KING!!!!!!!
They can't leave Christ alone, they can't ignore His Kingdom, His Church, His Sovereign rule. Two thousand years and he is still a stumbling block, he still moves the passions of his creatures. If He should tarry another 1000 years the scoffers will still be pre-occupied with the force of the gospel and will attack with the desperate thrashings of a chicken in it's death throes. We watch in awe as the Father lifts his enemies into his lap of mercy where they slap at his face like spoiled children. One way or another they will all bow down and confess his Lordship. God will be glorified, Amen.
Furthermore, after 2000 years God won't leave us alone either. The miracle that I see over and over is that Christ can take the same tongue that wags and curses him and transform it into an instrument of praise. He did it to my poisoned tongue, my heart of stone, my sin-drenched nature and I will forever sing of his grace and mercy and the goodnews that Jesus Saves Sinners.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Nothing excites me more than hearing these God haters attack Christ. I love the smug criticisms and cynicisms aimed at the gospels. Why?
BECAUSE AFTER 2000 YEARS THEY CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT OUR LORD, OUR SAVIOR, OUR KING!!!!!!!
They can't leave Christ alone, they can't ignore His Kingdom, His Church, His Sovereign rule. Two thousand years and he is still a stumbling block, he still moves the passions of his creatures. If He should tarry another 1000 years the scoffers will still be pre-occupied with the force of the gospel and will attack with the desperate thrashings of a chicken in it's death throes. We watch in awe as the Father lifts his enemies into his lap of mercy where they slap at his face like spoiled children. One way or another they will all bow down and confess his Lordship. God will be glorified, Amen.
Furthermore, after 2000 years God won't leave us alone either. The miracle that I see over and over is that Christ can take the same tongue that wags and curses him and transform it into an instrument of praise. He did it to my poisoned tongue, my heart of stone, my sin-drenched nature and I will forever sing of his grace and mercy and the goodnews that Jesus Saves Sinners.
Romans 5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Comfort In Strength
On the backside of the courthouse in Claremont, NH there is a public toilet. You know it's a public toilet because of the big words above the doors that say "Public Comfort". Below those words, from left to right are the words, "Women" and "Men". We kids used to get a kick out of reading from top to bottom, "Public Women Comfort Men". That joke never got old.
You look up comfort in the dictionary and you will find that it can indeed mean a 'toilet'. A comforter can be a heavy blanket and comfort is what we experience when we slumber in our recliner with a heavy blanket on a cold day.
"Comfort", regardless of the passiveness suggeted by these items and activities however is a rich and powerful word in it's latin roots. A 'fort' is a stronghold where we take refuge. A piano 'forte' is a musical piece played loudly with strength. 'Fortitude' is courage and patient endurance. These words all share the latin root 'fortis', strength.
Did you know this? I knew the latin yet I never took the word comfort apart. 'To comfort' means to 'come with strength'. We may think of comfort as a hug or a gentle word and that is true, but if these actions aren't back up with a solidness, with strength then they lose their affectiveness.
If we desire to comfort a spouse, a child, a friend, a flock then we had better come beside them with strength. Sometimes we are tired and weak. Sometimes we have lost our endurence. Therefore, it is of the ultimate importance that we daily go to our Father in heaven in prayer, in listening and in Bible reading. Be strong in the Lord. Start here:
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
2 Corinthians
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
You look up comfort in the dictionary and you will find that it can indeed mean a 'toilet'. A comforter can be a heavy blanket and comfort is what we experience when we slumber in our recliner with a heavy blanket on a cold day.
"Comfort", regardless of the passiveness suggeted by these items and activities however is a rich and powerful word in it's latin roots. A 'fort' is a stronghold where we take refuge. A piano 'forte' is a musical piece played loudly with strength. 'Fortitude' is courage and patient endurance. These words all share the latin root 'fortis', strength.
Did you know this? I knew the latin yet I never took the word comfort apart. 'To comfort' means to 'come with strength'. We may think of comfort as a hug or a gentle word and that is true, but if these actions aren't back up with a solidness, with strength then they lose their affectiveness.
If we desire to comfort a spouse, a child, a friend, a flock then we had better come beside them with strength. Sometimes we are tired and weak. Sometimes we have lost our endurence. Therefore, it is of the ultimate importance that we daily go to our Father in heaven in prayer, in listening and in Bible reading. Be strong in the Lord. Start here:
Psalm 46
1 God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
6 The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
8 Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
2 Corinthians
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.
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