2 Corinthians on Consolation

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Consolation Defined

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2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15, Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 34:18, Matthew 5:4, Psalm 46:1, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Ruth 1:16-18, John 11:32-35, John 14:1-4

The etymology of certain words can profoundly enrich our understanding and experience of life. Consider the word “consolation.” Its roots lie in the Latin words “con-” meaning “ “to be ” and “solus,...

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Lord, may your glorious Majesty

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John 14:16-17, Matthew 26:36-46, Psalm 32:8, 2 Corinthians 12:7-10, Acts 9:1-19, 1 Corinthians 2:2, 1 Timothy 1:17

Lord, may your glorious Majesty surround us, the blessed Trinity protect us, and the eternal Godhead preserves us. Your unlimited mercy support us; your loving kindness encompass us; your favor c...

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Almighty God—Father, Son and Holy, We Ask

Author

Richard Herman

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Scripture

Acts 2:17, Acts 4:10, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 15:13, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 11:28-30

Almighty God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit: We ask Your blessing on the people in this place. May the despairing find hope—and proud be humbled. May the doubting find faith—and the anxious be encouraged...

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The Bible a Great Comfort

Author

Andy Cook

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Scripture

2 Timothy 3:16-17, Romans 15:4, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Peter 1:19-21, Matthew 4:4, Matthew 24:35, Isaiah 41:8-10, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Psalm 46:, Genesis 37:12-36, 1 Samuel 19:, 1 Samuel 20:, 2 Corinthians 11:23-30, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Acts 21:27-36

For seven years, Terry Anderson was held as a hostage of Shiite Muslim fundamentalists. The former reporter for the Associated Press had been taken captive and held as a political prisoner, and for se...

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The Cross is Not Tragedy

Author

Os Guinness

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1 Corinthians 1:18, 2 Corinthians 13:4, Luke 24:5-6, John 16:20, Revelation 21:4

The cross of Jesus is the world’s supreme example of anguish, suffering and injustice, but it has nothing to do with tragedy as we experience it in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Shakespeare—trag...

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Spiritual Battles on the Journey of Faith

Author

Ruth Haley Barton

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Genesis 3:1–7, 1 Kings 3:5–12, Daniel 1:8–17, Matthew 4:1–11, 2 Corinthians 1:13–15, Psalm 119:105

While I am not one to see a demon behind every bush or spiritual warfare in every difficulty, the fact is that we are regularly engaged in the struggle against good and evil—whether we know it or not....

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One Dark Night: A Deeper Work of God

Author

Alan Fadling

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Scripture

Psalm 27:1, Isaiah 50:10, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Romans 8:18, James 1:2-4, Isaiah 50:10

[These thoughts come from a journal entry of about 10 years ago when I was experiencing a deep and dark night of faith] I have found insight and wisdom for my journey with Christ in the writings of J...

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Author

Miguel de Unamuno

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Romans 8:26, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Luke 22:44, Habakkuk 1:2, Jeremiah 20:7-9, Job 3:11

Those who believe that they believe in God, but without any passion in their heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation...

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Comfort from a Child

Author

Source Unknown

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Scripture

Matthew 5:4, Psalm 34:18, Galatians 6:2, Isaiah 53:3-4, John 11:35, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Romans 12:15

A little girl came home from a neighbor’s house where her little friend had died. “Why did you go?” questioned her father. “To comfort her mother,” said the child. “What could you do to comfort her?” ...

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Author

Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Scripture

Romans 5:3-5, Hebrews 11:1, Psalm 42:11, Jeremiah 29:11, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Romans 8:24-25, Isaiah 40:31

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.

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Author

Stanley Kunitz

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Scripture

Romans 5:3-4, Lamentations 3:31-32, Psalm 73:26, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Philippians 4:6-7, Matthew 11:28-30, Isaiah 61:3

How shall my heart be reconciled to its feast of losses?

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Benediction of Discontent

Author

Drew Edward Jackson

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Scripture

Matthew 5:4, Psalm 126:5, Romans 12:9, Isaiah 57:15, 2 Corinthians 7:10

May God bless you with tears of lament that mourn over the injustice of our world. May you be blessed with a holy discontent over the way the world is. May the Spirit of Jesus shake you out of com...

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Author

Andrew M. Davis

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Scripture

1 Peter 3:15, Philippians 4:6-7, Romans 15:13, James 1:2-3, 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

It is no stretch to say that the Lord may orchestrate amazingly challenging circumstances for you and your family for the primary purpose of giving your supernatural hope and Christian contentment a p...

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Author

Vaclav Havel

Keywords

Hope

Scripture

Romans 8:28, Hebrews 11:1, Jeremiah 29:11, Proverbs 3:5-6, Isaiah 55:8-9, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.

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Author

John Greenleaf Whittier

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Scripture

Genesis 37:39–50 , Lamentations 3:22–23 , Ruth 1:4, Luke 7:36–50, 2 Corinthians 4:16–18, Psalm 126:5–6

“God pity them both! and pity us all, Who vainly the dreams of youth recall; For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: ‘It might have been!’ Ah, well! for us all some...

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Author

C. S. Lewis

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, Proverbs 24:16, James 1:12, Philippians 3:13-14, Psalm 103:13-14, Hebrews 4:15-16, Matthew 25:14-30, Luke 18:1-8, Exodus 16:, Mark 5:25-34, Romans 5:3-5

God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them.

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2 Corinthians 5:20, 21

Author

Bud Thoreen

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 5:20, Isaiah 55:11

Brothers and sisters, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We know this to be true, that the word of the ...

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Author

G. K. Chesterton

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Romans 8:24-25, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Habakkuk 3:17-18, Hebrews 6:19, 1 Peter 1:3

Hope is the power of being cheerful in the presence of circumstances we know to be desperate.

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2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Author

Scott B. Bullock

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond al...

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Author

William Shakespeare

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Scripture

Job 23:10, 1 Peter 1:6-7, Genesis 50:20, Isaiah 45:3, Psalm 119:71, 2 Corinthians 4:17, Romans 8:28

Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.

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Gracious God, we are called to be a

Author

Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church

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Scripture

Psalm 51:10-12, Hebrews 4:16, Romans 5:8, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 1:7, Psalm 103:12, 1 John 1:9

Gracious God, we are called to be a joyful people, giving thanks for You and Your good gifts. There are times, however, when sin and sorrow grow, pushing joy to the side. We lose sight of Your grace, ...

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A Profound Conversion

Author

Brennan Manning

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Scripture

Psalm 51:1, James 2:13, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Exodus 34:6, Isaiah 54:10, Romans 5:8

It takes a profound conversion to accept that God is relentlessly tender and compassionate toward us just as we are—not in spite of our sins and faults (that would not be total acceptance), but with t...

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The Costly Love of the Father: Sermon Illustration Tuesday

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

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Scripture

Luke 15:11-32, Psalm 23:null, John 21:15-19, Luke 19:1-10, Genesis 45:4-7, Psalm 23:5, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19

In the old American South (and in many places in the American North) a European American who invited an African American as a guest to an expensive restaurant in a white section of town would subject ...

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Author

Charles Williams

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Scripture

Proverbs 28:13, Matthew 6:14-15, 2 Corinthians 2:10-11, Luke 17:3-4, Ephesians 4:31-32, Colossians 3:13

Many promising reconciliations have broken down because, while both parties came prepared to forgive, neither party came prepared to be forgiven.

lectionary

Second Sunday after Pentecost

Author

Bud Thoreen

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1, 2 Corinthians 4:13-18, 2 Corinthians 5:1, 2 Corinthians 4:7-12, Acts 9:1-18, Hebrews 12:2, Colossians 3:9-10

Preaching Commentary Besieged from All Angles The context of this passage is best summed up with the words recorded throughout the letter: Trouble, Distress, Suffering, Hardship, Death at work, Jar...

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Author

Tod E. Bolsinger

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Scripture

Psalm 15:1-2, Ephesians 4:15, 2 Corinthians 1:12, Colossians 3:12-14, Romans 12:9-10

Relational congruence is the ability to be fundamentally the same person with the same values in every relationship, in every circumstance and especially amidst crisis. It is the internal capacity to ...

liturgy

Responding to Pain with Love

Author

Laura B. Murray

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 5:4, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, Isaiah 61:1-3, Romans 12:15, Luke 10:33-34, James 1:27, Matthew 25:35-40

Merciful God, we turn away from the pains and cries of our world. Overwhelmed by its brokenness, we ignore the call to engage and love those who are hurting. Father, forgive us, strengthen us, and hel...

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2 Corinthians 13:11

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Scripture

2 Corinthians 13:11

Finally, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected. Be comforted. Be of the same mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. Inclusive Version Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice...

lectionary

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Author

C. Hassell Bullock

Keywords

Scripture

2 Corinthians 12:2-10, Philippians 2:null, Philippians 2:7-8, John 1:11, John 14:2-3

Preaching Commentary Inexpressible Things This chapter of Paul’s Corinthian correspondence is rich indeed, revealing so much about Paul and his relationship to the Corinthian church, a church which...

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Lord God, we rejoice in your

Author

Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, and Enuma Okoro

Keywords

Scripture

Matthew 24:42-44, Proverbs 31:8-9, 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, 1 Peter 1:3-4, James 5:7-8, Joshua 1:9, Matthew 28:20

Lord God, we rejoice in your resurrection and in your promise to return. Help us live today as people who await the fulfillment of your kingdom. We confess we often look for comfort outside of you. Be...

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