1. God’s Comfort in Difficult Times Isaiah 40

2. Isaiah 39:6-7 6 Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. 7 And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon." Difficult Times

3. Loss of the City of God

4. Imagine goin to Indonesia as maids

5. Those in Exile For those who have wandered Crisis Far away from God Chained to our circumstances Our up bringing Lost all hope in life

6. Comfort from prayer “God, give me the tongue to equal this opportunity.”

7. Avenues of Comfort

8. Comfort from a friend –its going to be alright

9. Ophrah’s Big Give Comfort of Dreams

10. Comfort of Drugs

11. God’s Comfort in Difficult Times 1-2 Comfort of His forgiveness 3-11 Comfort of His coming salvation 12-26 Comfort of realising who He is 27-31 Responding to that comfort Real Comfort is Rooted in Him

12. Comfort of His Forgiveness Isaiah 40:1-2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her 1.that her warfare is ended, 2.that her iniquity is pardoned, 3.that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

13. The reason for the carnage Hypocrisy-empty worship Trusting man instead of God Worship idols Unrighteousness -Injustice

14. Comfort of forgiveness Exile teaches us that God is serious about sin Based on repentance If not restored there is no peace

15. Purpose of Discipline Hebrews 12:6 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. Hebrews 12:11 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

16. 1 Timothy 5:19-20 19 Do not admit a charge against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 20 As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear.

17. Dealing with the root= Sin Gloss over Do not determine Right or wrong Do not confront No accountability Unity over righteousness, unity over truth

18. China Milk

19. When people are right with God, they are apt to be hard on themselves and easy on other people. But when they are not right with God, they are easy on themselves and hard on others John Newton

20. The comfort of His forgiveness becomes real when we realise the seriousness of our sin

21. Comfort of His Coming Salvation

22. Isaiah 40:3 3 A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

23. Isaiah 40:4 4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

24. Isaiah 40:5 5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

25. Isaiah 40:6-8 6 A voice says, "Cry!" And I said, "What shall I cry?" All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.

26. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.

27. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

28. Isaiah 40:9-11 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

29. Power 10 Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.

30. Tenderness. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young

31. John 10:11 11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

32. John 10:27-28 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.

33. Fully Realised in Second Coming

34. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord

35. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

36. Consolation based on persons merit

37. Comfort based on change of circumstances

38. Comfort from Who He is Vv 13-26

39. Isaiah 40:12 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

41. Isaiah 40:12 and marked off the heavens with a span

42. Isaiah 40:12 enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?

43. Isaiah 40:13-14 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel? 14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding?

44. Isaiah 40:15 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.

45. Isaiah 40:16 6 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

46. …nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

47. Isaiah 40:17 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

48. Isaiah 40:18-20 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. 20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move.

49. Isaiah 40:21 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

50. Isaiah 40:22 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;

51. Isaiah 40:23 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

52. Isaiah 40:24 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

53. Isaiah 40:24 when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

54. Isaiah 40:25 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.

55. Isaiah 40:26 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power not one is missing.

56. Every now and again cracks appear

57. Seamy underbelly of our world Crimes touches us Illness

58. Sometimes a tsunami Alan Greespan worshipped now reviled Uncharted waters

59. Our circumstance Our rulers Our chains Our problems Isaiah 40:25 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. God is challenging us to compare Him Comparing brings comfort

60. Job 40:9 9 Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

61. Job 41:1-2 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? 2 Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

62. Job 42:5-6 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." His questions cease and he is satisfied—drwan comfort

63. Practical Applications Responding to God’s Comfort

64. 1. Don’t let your circumstances get ahead of you Isaiah 40:27 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"?

67. Isaiah 40:27 …."My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God"? We must not live and acrt as if we have no God or that He does not care? Son kept braces from parents Daughter kept rape from father It is a sin to live like that

68. 2. Realise He knows exactly what you are going through Isaiah 40:28 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable.

69. Bruce Almighty

70. Worried God gets Fed up with us Isaiah 40:28 … He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. We get fed up with people Same person crying again and again Eg of student weak and HP…weak in SU and years later on Student leadr JR9 smoking..TCC

71. 3. Expect Divine Power from God Isaiah 40:29-30 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; Dvine power is not kept within Himself

72. Batak people

73. Ludwig Nommensen, "Stay, your law is better than ours. Ours tells us what we ought to do. Your God says, ’Come, I will walk with you and give you strength to do the good thing.’" "But my Master gives the power to keep His laws."

74. The difference was expectation 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.

75. 4. We have to wait Isaiah 40:31 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

76. RESULT OF WAITING Isaiah 40:31 31 but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

77. they shall mount up with wings like eagles

78. Exodus 19:4 4 You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. Swiftness Strength Metaphor for God The Exodus

79. The Second Exodus-Eagle men? God’s eagle wings will allow us to rise above our circumstances …….they shall mount up with wings like eagles

80. Entirety of Lives-they shall prevail ….they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint

81. Waiting Forgoing our plans waiting for His promises to be fulfilled

83. Make your own waves More convenient No need to wait In control -reliable

84. Thomas Friedman Hold on to all your cash Assume the Fetal Position Brace your selves WAITING IS NOT DOING NOTHING

85. Waiting on God Confident expectation-Trust Complete dependance Allow Him to decide We do not run ahead of Him We do not shrink back in fear Take a long time If you are burnt out then you have used your own strenght Pray constantly

86. Abraham and Sarah Waiting on God Miraculous Long long time Does not mean you do not question Home made solutions

87. Waiting on God Transforms us to be in a position to receive God’s power and promises Teaches us to trust Character is proven Abraham n Sarah Paul -- Romans 5:4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope The process of waiting makes us Eagles!!

88. Hezekiah Waited for God in his illness And seige of God but in good times he forgot to wait on Him..forged ahead and boasted

89. God’s Comfort in Difficult Times 1-2 Comfort of His forgiveness 3-11 Comfort of His coming salvation 12-26 Comfort of realising who He is 27-31 Responding to that comfort Real Comfort is Rooted in Him