I've been trying to talk to you this week on comfort. I've been trying to show you how God comforts us. I've been trying to show you how you can find this comfort through the Word of God and through the various teachings of the Scriptures. Tonight I want to turn away from your comfort and talk to you a little bit about how you now in turn can be a comforter to others. I told you at the beginning, I have no ambition, whatever, to make you comfortable. I don't want to see people comfortable. I want you to be comforted for the scriptural reason, so that you will be able to comfort other people. Isaiah chapter forty, verse one, comfort ye my people, says your God. Speak ye comfortably, literally speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem. and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. Second Corinthians the first chapter. Second Corinthians chapter one. After the introduction we read at verse three, Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforted us in all our tribulations, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. Now notice the chain reaction here. You can't do anything in this field until you have first been comforted of God yourself. And having been comforted of God yourself, you have the privilege of comforting others of God's people, with the same comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounded by Christ. I want you to notice that it is in direct ratio to your sufferings that you are comforted and therefore are able to comfort others. Now you remember that next time you're having a rough time with it, will you? God has a reason for putting you through the ringer. God has a reason for giving you difficulties. And please don't think that you've displeased God. when trouble comes into your life. Please don't say to yourself, now what have I done that God would do this to me? It's true that sometimes God does chasing us. He does correct us through difficulties and trials. But this is only one of many reasons. I found at least seven. I was satisfied and quit then. There may be more. You go ahead and look up and see how many you can find. I found at least seven different reasons why God's people suffer. One of these is correction for what we do that's not right. That isn't why Paul suffered. He suffered as a preventive measure so that he wouldn't be puffed up over the multitude of revelations given to him. That was sort of like ballast in his boat. He was carrying a lot of sail, and he needed a lot of ballast. And some people need a lot of suffering. I need a lot of it. It may be that you need a lot of it. You need suffering in proportion to the amount that God is going to use you to be a help to other people. Well, that's what this verse says. As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ. And whether we be afflicted, It is for your consolation and salvation. Now, here's one of the reasons for Christian suffering, so that they can be a help to other Christians. Somebody asked an old brother if he would like to be a really out-and-out and useful Christian. He said, I reckon I would, but I sure dread the process. That's what's the matter with too many Christians. They'd like to be useful Christians if they didn't have to go through the process. Ask a boy what he'd like to be, and he said, a return missionary. That's what most of us are ambitious to be. We want to look back on an accomplishment, but we don't want to go through what it takes to be a return missionary. We want to be a comfort to our fellow human beings. It's a great satisfaction, but we don't want to go through the ringer to get there. And yet our scripture plainly tells us that this is the only way that you can do it. Whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. Several have told me this week that they have enjoyed studying about comfort. And they have been glad to find out how well comforted we are, how much God has done to give us comfort. Well, now don't miss the real reason. This is the reason for it. If we be comforted, it is for someone else's consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation. Comfort ye, my people. Why? And how? I'd like to answer those two questions tonight, if I may. Why and how? Why should I comfort other people? Well, first of all, because God told us to. That's the best reason I know for anything. When I asked to be baptized as a young fellow, I knew I was going to have to face some pretty stern questioning. The group of Christians where I was pretty fussy about who they baptized. I knew they were going to ask me a lot of questions, and I thought about it ahead of time. And I decided I was going to take refuge behind one answer, and it wasn't going to get rooted out from Baghdad at all. And every time they asked me why I want to be baptized, I said, because God asked me to. They never got me away from that. And they baptized me, too. It wasn't anybody that could answer that one. That's the best reason I know for doing anything, because God says to. I remember talking to a bunch of boys at the home one time. When I got to explaining this particular thing, I said to him, oh, there are any questions I made about what I was instructing him in. And one boy said, yes, I've got a question, about a twelve-year-old fella. He said, I want to know why we have to do what we're told. He never had before he came there. I want to know why we have to do what we're told. He asked me and I told him. I said, the reason you have to do what you're told is so that you'll stay healthy. Because if you don't do what you're told, you're going to have me to whip. When I tell a boy to do something, it has to be that way. I try to explain why. I try to tell you each time I give you some instruction and tell you what to do, I try to explain why I'm doing that. I'll be glad to discuss any order that I give. I'll be glad to tell you why we're doing it. But when I say frog, you better jump and ask how high on the way up. I believe in obedience, and God believes in obedience. That's the way the Bible teaches. God believes in obedience. That's what's the matter with our kids today. They're not happy. They don't know where the fences are. Nobody has ever insisted that they do what they're told. Dr. Spock is going to have a lot to answer for. He put out a book. What he said physically about the children is probably all right. He's a doctor. He ought to know. What he said psychologically about them is a bunch of malarkey. It's pure pond water. And that's why we've got the kind of kids that we have today. Our generation has been raised on Dr. Spock. And Dr. Spock said you want to be awfully careful that you don't frustrate the little ears. Never force them to do anything. Utter nonsense. Anybody in the world is happier when he knows where the fences are. And you must get used to this, brother and sister. The main reason why we do what God tells us to do is because he tells us to do it. We're his children. We're responsible to do it. The Lord's mother gave advice to the servants in the second chapter of John. And I would like to see a text made out of this so that we could buy them in the book tables and hang them on our walls. She says, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. I know that sounds hard to some people. I know there's some here that find something inside of them rebelling against this. You see, what do you want to tell us that for? That makes me uncomfortable. That's exactly why I told it. I want you to see that you have a heart. that does not want to do what God tells you to do. That nature of yours has never been changed at all. You're an outlaw at heart, so am I. We have a very rebellious nature. God's given us a job to do. God said, go to all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I don't argue about it, do it. God has said, comfort my people. You say, what good will it do? That isn't any good business. Do it. Will they appreciate it if I do do it? Probably not, but do it. That's the main reason that I know. God commands us to comfort his people. I remember reading in the book of Thessalonians to you the other night, the fourth chapter, where he says, wherefore... comfort one another with these words. Now you've got the words. You know the words. You know what comforted you. You know what scripture has been a help to you. You know what teaching from the Bible has really comforted your soul. You know that what you learned about the forgiveness of your sins cleared you in the sight of God and you were comfortable in God's presence for the first time in your life. You know about that. you ought to pass that comfort on to non-Christians all around you. They'll argue with you if that's really what they want. And if you can convince them that your heart is satisfied with this kind of comfort, they'll listen. You ought to do it because God says to do it. First Corinthians the fifth chapter mentions a couple of times in that chapter. Let's look at it before we leave this subject. I feel compelled to labor this point because I think that it's most necessary the day in which we live. First Thessalonians, fifth chapter. Verse eleven. Wherefore comfort yourselves together and edify one another, even as also you do. You do it? Keep it up. If you've never done it, get started. Comfort one another. Verse fourteen. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. This is a military term. It means out of debt. Out of rank. Warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble-minded. We don't like that very well. This is an old English word. We would use the word faint-hearted, perhaps now. Better express this. Although the truth of the matter is, most of us are little people-minded. We've all got problems. Mental problems. Well, it's physical problems. You never met a perfect specimen physically. Why would you expect to meet one mentally? We've all got a problem. But really, he's talking about faint-heartedness. He says, warn the unruly, comfort the faint-hearted, support the weak, Be patient toward all means. Now some people have to be warm, and other people need to be comforted, and other people need to be supported. This word support means carry. There are some people that will have to be carried. I was in an office the other day and I saw a sign on the wall and it said, are you part of the problem or are you helping to solve it? Most of us are part of the problem. Most of us have to be supportive. That leaves quite a job for some people who are able to do a little supporting of other people. We ought to learn how to do this. Learn how to comfort God's people because God asked us to do it. Now, the second reason I'd like to suggest is we ought to do it because it is God-like. You want to be like your father, don't you? Boys like to be like their fathers. Girls like to be like their mothers. Christians ought to want to be like God. Wouldn't you like to be like your father? Matthew chapter five, verse forty five tells us that you may be the sons of your father, which is in heaven. Then he tells us what we can do so that we'll be like our father. To be the sons of our father simply means not to be his children, we're already his children, but that we might act like it. Sons are grown up babies. We as Christians ought to be growing up to become a little more like our Heavenly Father. Our God is called in these passages that we read from Second Corinthians chapter one, he's called the God of all comforts. This is his character. This is his way. This is the way God acts. He is a comforting God. He's also a judging God, of course. He's a chastising God, of course, but he is a comforting God. This is like him. You want to be like him? You'll have to learn to comfort him. Now, too many Christians heal that this is a special gift that's reserved for certain professional Christians. In many churches about this, you will find that there is a clergy and laity division. And that most of the people feel that when they have shelled out a little money, they've done their duty, and all the other things ought to be done by the minister. Now, you've learned better than that. But this thing carries over into all of our thinking, so that you may be taking the attitude, this is the job for somebody who has some special gift. I don't have the gift of comforting. I don't know how to comfort. I've never done any comforting, so I'm not responsible to do any. I don't believe this was a special gift at all. I believe this was something that every Christian has told him that if you're going to be like your father, you're going to have to learn how to comfort other people. The Holy Spirit is called a comforter. The Lord Jesus himself is called an advocate, which is just another translation of the same word, translated comforter. The Lord is called our high priest in the book of Hebrews over and over again, and we're told that he is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. We get a great deal of comfort from knowing that the Lord Jesus really cares. Brother and sister, this is what God is asking you to do. He's asking you to care. He's asking you to be concerned about the needs of the people around you. I feel that many Christians today are... are absolutely callous. They don't seem to have any concern whatever for the feelings of Christians around them. They ride roughshod over other people just because they want their own way. And they live in their own little, what was it Brother Cole called it, their antiseptic little world. They live inside of their little cellophane bag, and they're not touched by what's going on around them. There are many Christians like this. You may be one of them. I don't know. But it's wrong if we are this way. Every life is capable of touching lives all about him or her for the purpose of comforting and helping. And yet we're so utterly selfish that we just think about our own comfort. I hope this prods you a little bit. I hope it gets to you a little bit. It isn't just young people. When we're young, we are naturally selfish. If you take a two-year-old, if you want to see an example of absolute self-centeredness, watch any two- or three-year-old baby. He lives in his own little sphere, and if things don't go exactly the way he wants them to, he yells to high heaven. No matter where he is, Or what's going on? He just takes the world apart because the world is bothering him. He is totally self-centered at the age of two or three years. And he's kind of cute. He gets tiresome after a while, but he is kind of cute. But if he's still doing that ten years from now, twenty years from now, thirty years from now, forty years from now, it's long ceased to be cute. I spend a lot of my time dealing with emotionally undeveloped people, people who are not concerned about what they're doing to their children. That's why they drop them off at our home. Totally callous about the suffering that they cause. I've done a lot of marriage counseling. I sat across the desk from my husband and wife. And they're just busy doing this. He does so and so. She says so and so. Here they sit. Totally selfish. Totally unconcerned about what they're doing to each other. Only worrying about what he's doing to me. Or she's doing to me. This is the way people live in the world. And the sad part of it is that many Christians are living the same way. And if you'll examine yourself, I'm sure, brother and sister, that you'll find a great deal of selfishness. And really, selfishness is the basis of all sin, isn't it? Why do people steal? Because they want something. Why do people kill? Because somebody gets in the road. Do you know that ninety percent of the murders in the United States are within the family? Let's think of that for a little bit. Ninety percent of the murders in the United States are within a family. Somebody killing a member of his own family. That's ourselves. Our blessed Lord Jesus pleased not himself. Always considered the needs of those about it. When the Apostle Paul was having difficulty... He was not distressed about himself. He was distressed because the Christians were liable to be stumbled by seeing his suffering. And then he writes to the Philippians, and he tells them about this young man who was there with him. And he said, when he heard that you heard that he'd been sick, he was very upset. Now, you'd be upset if somebody didn't hear it, maybe. Most of us would. Did they ask about me at meeting tonight? No, I don't believe they did. True. How? Just think about me. That's enough. I don't want to make it too uncomfortable. I might get to come back. If you want to be like your Heavenly Father, if you want to be like him, if you want to be like the Lord Jesus Christ, you must learn to un- selfishly care about the people around you now the third reason why you ought to comfort others is that it is so desperately needed in the sixty ninth psalm prophetically the voice of the lord jesus says i looked for comforters and found none isn't it too bad that many Christians are having to say the same thing today. I looked for comforters and found none. I was in a certain city. I won't tell you where. Somebody told me about an old lady who lived alone. They said she has been practically bed fast for ten years. She hasn't been able to attend the meeting in the last ten years. I'm sure that she would appreciate a visit. When I drove out to her house, told her who I was, I was having meetings there, and she burst into tears. She said, do you know you've been the first Christian to visit in my home in over five years? And there were at least two hundred people in fellowship in the assembly in that town. You're the first Christian to come in my home in five years. Now, let's suppose that she was slightly of a forky-pine nature, not the kind you can warm up to too much. Let's suppose that she was boresome to talk to. And let's suppose that she was not too spiritual, and therefore when you go to see her, you have to listen to a lot of yak that is worthless. But supposing that all these things are true, wasn't that poor old soul entitled to... more than one comforter in five years? This world is in desperate need of comforters, and there may be people right around you, while you're heartily self-centered and thinking of yourself, these people are suffering for lack of comfort. Remember the eighty-fourth Psalm says, Who passing through the valley of Beka, make it a well? I don't look on the map for the Valley of Baker because it isn't there. The Valley of Baker means simply the Valley of Mulberry Trees or a figurative term for the Valley of Weeping. The Valley of Weeping is here, all right. Some of you are going through it now. All of you have had a little taste of it. You've gone through a corner of it. Some of you may have been in it for years. Jay and Darby. was dancing at a beautiful lake. And there, by the shore of that beautiful lake in Switzerland, he wrote his hymn, This world is a wilderness wise. The loneliest I ever was in my life was in downtown New York. I was all alone. There happened to be ten million people around me, but I was all alone. Loneliness has nothing to do with sickness, has nothing to do with age, it has nothing to do with circumstances, it has nothing to do with finances, it has nothing to do with health. Loneliness is something which comes on the human being periodically, and when that comes, you need comfort. How many around you may be suffering that at the present time? If you were concerned, you could help those people who need comfort so badly. Now, one of the reasons why comfort is needed so sorely in our world is that so few people seem to know how to do it. You remember the three friends that came to visit Job and sat on the ground for seven days without saying anything? What a mercy they didn't keep on doing that. That's the only time they ever comforted Job at all, when they sat there beside him. and kept their mouths shut. The minute they began to talk, they spoiled the whole thing. And in the sixteenth chapter of Job, he says, So the miserable comforters you are. And there are very few who are able to comfort. Some people go to see a person in the hospital and they say, I knew a man had the same thing that you have, but he died. Now that isn't much comfort. You must learn how to comfort people. You must learn what needs to be said and what needs to be left unsaid. I said that the friends of Job would have been better off if they'd never said anything. Can you comfort that way? Oh, yes, you can. A man went to see another brother who had been away from the meeting for many years. Several had tried to win him back. And every visit had ended in his being more bitter toward them than he was before, because he felt that they were there to get after. Finally, this brother prayed about it for a good while. And his friend said, you better stay away. You just make it worse. You know how he is. Well, he said, I have to go. And he went to see this man. And the man led him in. It was winter time. And he showed him to a chair. And they sat down in front of the hearth, in front of the fireplace. and he didn't say a word. And the man whom he came to visit began to kind of stir restlessly and wonder, well, why doesn't he get started with his harangue? Why doesn't he go ahead and give me the works? But this man said nothing. After they sat there for quite some time, the man got up and took the tongs and he took a coal from the fire and he sent it over by itself. And then he hung up the tongs and he sat down and they both watched that cold get darker and darker until it seemed almost dead. And then he got up and took the tongs and picked that cold up and put it back with the rest of the blazing fire on the heart. And it began to glow and warm up again. And then he looked over at his friend and saw the tears coming down his cheeks and he said, I know, I know. And next Sunday I'm going to be back there. You don't have to talk. If you really want the comfort. If you really care about people, you'll find some way to do it. That's a very unusual way to do it. But it works. You'll find some way to help people. If you really care. I remember many years ago reading a hypothetical story. written in poetry form. I can't quote it for you, but it was a story of an auction sale. The devils were getting together, according to this poem, to have an auction sale. And one of the chief devils, who was an expert at tormenting the Christians, decided that he had more tools on hand than he needed, so he's going to sell some of them to the younger devils. This is a horrible thing. This is not scriptural. Don't go home and say, I told you this happened. But at first illustrate my point. And he put up his tools for sale. And he had one little tool that he put back in the corner. And they all said, isn't that for sale? No, that's not for sale. I'd like to sell this, and they had these different things. And they told what they were, you know, the devil used this, and he used that, and he used... Well, what about that? No, it's not for sale. Finally, they said, you just got to sell that to us. There's some reason why you're keeping that. He said, if I sold that, I'd be out of business. That's the best tool I've got for spoiling Christians. Well, what is it? It's called discouragement. You know, don't you? The devil can't get you any other way. He can get you by discouragement. And because this is happening all around you, Christians need the help that you can give. Now God has prepared you to do this. He's taken you through some troubles in your life. You can't help everybody, but you can help somebody. Since my wife and I have had the sadness of a son turning away from God and away from everything, it's good and right and decent. The Lord has brought us into contact with literally scores of parents who are going through this same thing. I can talk to parents who have been through this. I know how they're tormented. I know how the devil makes them think you failed. You did this or you failed to do that. I know how they feel like giving up doing anything for the Lord. I know how that they've They're just afraid to try to do anything for fear that people despise them for their own, the failure of their own family. I know what it is because I've been through it. But a while back, I went to a friend of mine who had just lost his wife. And I said to him, I would like to sympathize with you and your loss. I meant that's what I'm trying to do. What I said I would like to sympathize with you and you're lost. He said, I know you had gone, but you can't because you haven't been through it. And I had to admit he was right. I could imagine what it's like, but I couldn't really help him, his difficulty. Some of you here today could. Some of you here today tonight could help a bereaved Christian. I knew a man who fell into sin. He had been in the work of the Lord. He broke down morally. And God brought him back after ten years. He was restored. He became a very useful man. You know, one of the most useful things that he did for God after his restoration, every time he heard of a man who went down morally, he went to see. Because he understood. He didn't go to tell him, I don't blame you for what you did. He didn't tell him, oh, he went to tell him, I know how you feel. I've been through it. This was what God did to help me. This was the scripture the Lord used to help me. Maybe this one. You've been prepared in some way to be a comfort of other Christians. Are you doing it? George Madison... who wrote that lovely hymn, O love, that will not let me go, wrote it out of the anguish of his own heart. George Matheson lost his eyesight. He was engaged to be married to a lovely Christian girl. And when he lost his eyesight, he went to see her, and he said... The doctor says that I'll never recover my eyesight. And I can't ask you to share the life with a blind man. She said, No, I couldn't, I'm sure. Goodbye. And he sat down and wrote, Oh, love that will not let me go. That comforted God's people all over the world. Joseph Scriven said, was crossing one of the great lakes in a boat with his wife and three little children. The boat was caught in a storm and cast eyes, and his wife and three children were drowned in spite of he and others tried to do to save their lives. And out of that anguish he sat down and wrote, What a friend we have in Jesus. all our sins and grief to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. That's how God makes comforters. And you've been through something. You haven't been through as much as those men, perhaps, or perhaps more. But you've been through something. Out of that should come ability to help others in their sorrow, or bereavement or financial trouble or their wanderings or whatever it is. But now let me say just a few words in closing about the how of this. How shall I come to? How do I get started? How do I go about it? Anything that I tell you I hope has handles on it. I want you to be able to do something about it when you go home from here tomorrow. How do you get started? Well, first of all, we have been noticing every day that God comforts us through the Word. Therefore, become familiar with the Word of God. Did you ever notice somebody trying to give someone a Scripture and you felt what a clumsy attempt. He's got the wrong verse. Why didn't he give him this verse? Well, that's because he didn't know this verse. He only knew that verse. And if the more scriptures you know, the more acquainted you are with the Word of God, the more the Spirit of God can lead you to... to the right Scripture, the one that is really suitable for this particular case. All comfort has to be on the basis of the Word of God. It's no comfort at all to give somebody a philosophical pill. I went to a funeral up in Nebraska one time in the community where I was preaching, and the man who was conducting the funeral conducted in Latin. I never was any great shakes as a Latin scholar, but I had studied it enough that I thought I should be able to follow him, and I couldn't get the job done. Nothing seemed to make sense. I listened to his liturgy, and nothing came out right. And after he was all through with this, then I found out what was the matter. He walked over to the poor woman who had lost the baby, and he says to her, well, bug up, He was stuttering a Latin. That's why I didn't get it. All he had to say to that poor soul, all he could say to that poor woman who had lost her child was buck up, Sally. Isn't that awful? And all of the lovely verses there are in the Word of God that could have been given to that poor mother who had lost a child, all he could say was buck up. What would you say? What did you say? Maybe you better get some verses ready, because that opportunity may come to you before the week is out. But I think we need to do something besides quote verses. You can spout verses without really touching anybody's heart. You remember what he says in the twelfth chapter of Romans and the fifteenth verse. He says, Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Did you ever sit down beside a weeping person, just to let them know that you care? That's a great comfort. I have in my own experience some things that I hesitate to share with others are almost too sacred to talk about. But as I look back over my life and think of the times that people have come to me in my difficulty and have just sat down beside me, I remember one time when I was so distressed and a big man bigger than myself reached over and put his arm around my shoulder and just pulled me over against it and whispered in my ear, I love you, John. A big man don't say things like that to each other ordinarily. If he come up to me some other time and said that, I'd just get away from him. What's the matter with you? You know, what's the matter with this character? But under the circumstances, that man knew that I needed the assurance that somebody really cared. You ask God to give you that wisdom. To weep with them that weep. But now let me suggest that you do something besides share your tears with people. It may be that there's something else that you could share with them. Our brother Mr. Cole read to us from the third chapter of First John that we ought to lay down our lives for our brethren. I was teaching that to a group of young men. That's the whole book. We went through First John verse by verse. When we came to this, they sat and discussed this philosophically. Well, that's right. Yes, I think that's right. If the opportunity arises, I think we should be willing to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians. Yes, I think we could under the right circumstances. And I thought we were not getting any place with that kind of discussion. I said, well, read the next verse. And the next verse says that if you see a brother have need, And you don't share with him this world's good. How dwelleth the love of God in you? I said, it's all right to talk about how you'd be willing to lay down your life for somebody, but how about that two bucks you got in your pocket? Well, that's another thing, isn't it? Oh, I would be willing to die for God's people. That's fine. Would you be willing to buy a few groceries for them? Would you be willing to help them in some way with something that you have? Most of us have got far more than we need. One lady told me she spent the first twenty-five years of her married life collecting things, and now she expects she'd spend most of the second twenty-five giving away. We get loaded down with stuff, and somebody may need what you have. I mean, in a temporal way, in a physical way. You've got to care enough about others that you're willing to give more than just your tears. You have to be willing to give yourself. With some Christians, it's much easier to write a check than it is to give of themselves. Maybe it's your time that they need. Would you be willing to share this? Would you be willing to give your time in order to be a help to them, to be a comfort to them? Well, I mustn't go on with this much longer. Just let me say that the Lord said, I comfort you as a mother comforts her children. And then in the New Testament, he says about certain brothers, who are a comfort unto us. Mothers and brothers, and you could include sisters. Mothers have a way of comforting. Brothers have a way of comforting. The Lord says, this is the way I want to comfort you. Therefore, this is the way that we ought to comfort one another. Think what a mother would do to comfort a child. She would say the right things to them. She would draw them to herself. It presents something else to take their mind off their difficulties. And sometimes we need to do this. Sometimes you'll find that a Christian is suffering because he is concentrating on his trouble. He can't see anything else. It could be that you could talk to that Christian about the coming of the Lord and get his mind totally off of his trouble for the time being. It could be that that Christian needs to see that there are other things more important. and there are other people suffering more acutely. How do you comfort as a brother? Oh, there are so many wonderful texts of Scripture about this. I was just going through the epistles this week, sort of refreshing my mind on these, and I was amazed at how many I found. Take a concordance and go through here and read what he says about how we can be a help to each other. Paul says, I was comforted by Titus' coming to me. And then he says, Titus was comforted by the way you received him. Well, there you've got a chain reaction of things. Titus got comfort because these pistons were kind to him. Then he came and told Paul about it, and this comforted Paul's heart, the old man in prison. See, you don't lose anything by passing this on to others. This is a chain reaction kind of thing. The same thing is true about discomfort. I can tell you something. It will make you very unhappy. So you've got to get rid of it. So you go tell somebody else and then he's unhappy. The first thing you know we've got a chain reaction of this kind of misery that we pass on. Now let's don't do this, brothers and sisters. Let's be positive about these things. Let's be a help to each other and draw each other nearer to the Lord and give each other comfort. Many years ago in Kansas City, there was a dear old man who was a real shepherd of God's people. The one thing that he lacked was a good voice. He was not a preacher. He had a high, squeaky voice that you'd never forget if you heard it. I couldn't imitate it very well, but this was what happened at the conference. Two or three men had gotten up in the afternoon and had labored without really producing much. The conference was a washout. Nobody felt that they had really been fed. And at five minutes to quitting time, the last man gave it up and sat down. And they looked at the clock, you know, and never do to quit early. You can always quit late, but it never do to quit early. And they wondered, what do we do at the last five or ten minutes? And this little old man got up and went to the platform, and then everybody really groaned. Because when we got to listen to him preach now, on top of what we've already had, it's not going to be very helpful. But this was his sermon. I'll give you the whole thing. He said, Brothers and sisters, when you go to visit God's people, don't carry a club. They've got troubles enough. Take with you a little of the bomb of Gilead. He sat down. Everybody who was at that conference still remembers... She's still alive. That which was the highlight of the Kansas City Conference that year. Did you remember that? When you go to visit God's people, go carry a club. Take a little of the bomb of Gilead. They need your company.