"We provide a Deacon Minute each Lord’s Day to encourage you from God’s Word to serve the body AND to keep you informed of service opportunities in the body.
We serve a Sovereign Master, who controls all things, and it is this fact that provides the comfort necessary when sorrowful circumstances occur. As most of you know, six weeks ago today, we buried my father-in-law. My wife lost her father and my children lost their Paw-Paw. A couple of weeks ago Alison & Micah lost their first child & the VanDerwerker’s grieved the loss of their first grand-child. As many of you have read, the 2012 Budget for Shepherd’s Fellowship is drastically different from last year’s budget, and yesterday I was informed of the death of my friend and former co-worker, Ed Carmichael.
So how does a Christian handle difficult and sorrowful circumstances? How does a Christian respond when there is multiple announcements of what appears to be “bad news”? The only hope rests in the Sovereignty of God, for it is there that the Christian finds comfort. I will never convince anyone that it is going to be OK. Comfort and the strength to persevere, come only from God and His written Revelation.
Listen to the following verses, and join me in the comfort that comes from God’s Word.
Psalm 9:9 The LORD also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;Psalm 18:2 The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.Psalm 23 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Psalm 27:4-5 One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the LORD And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock.
Psalm 34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.Matthew 6:25-34 For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
