Measure Out Comfort

Welcome to Sharper Sword, the publication ministry of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

White House believes that individuals can reach their potential for the Lord as they grow in Christ.

We want to hear our Lord say, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Let's join Pastor Doug Fisher as he preaches another important biblical message from the Word of God.

Look at 1 Timothy 6.

1 Timothy chapter 6, please, and also the book of Mark, chapter 4.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention Mark 4 · chapter mention

It won't be a long, long drawn-out message today.

Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

1 Timothy chapter 6.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

But I want to show you first of all the principle and his mindset.

It's three words today.

And I want to show you that mindset, and then I want to ask you to go to the book of Mark, and we'll kind of uh uh look at it a little deeper.

Look at 1 Timothy 6.

You're holding your place in Mark.

Thank you for being here today.

And again, we invite you back at 5:30 tonight.

Evening services, different message.

1 Timothy chapter 6, verse number 18.

1 Timothy 6 · chapter mention

Verse number 18, here's the Lord's mindset.

He says that they do good, that they be rich in good works.

Here's the little statement that I want to bring out today, and I believe the Lord would have for us.

1 Timothy 6, verse 18, it says, ready to distribute, willing to communicate.

1 Timothy 6:18

I want you to look at ready to distribute.

Would you mind today?

And I'm not, I know this is not first grade, but would you mind just get this in your mind and in your ears?

Would you say those three words?

Ready to distribute.

One more time, if you would.

Ready to distribute.

That means a giving out.

That means a dispersing, if you would.

Look at Mark chapter four.

Mark chapter four.

And as we study Mark chapter four, I want you to see ready to distribute.

I want you to see the context of Mark chapter four is ready to distribute, willing to disperse, willing to give out.

And we're just going to look at a few different scriptures now.

Watch carefully.

You're doing great.

Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

Notice verse 3.

Verse 3, hearken.

Hearken means listen.

Take heed.

Behold, the sower, there went out a sower to sow.

I don't want to go into the whole passage today.

I want you to see that sowing is distributing.

Sowing.

If you grew up in farmland, we used to sow seed with machines.

But in the old days, they had a sack, if you would, here, and they reached in and got the seed out and distributed it this way.

They sowed the seed.

They distributed it.

They, if you would, cast it.

And that's what we're going to see.

It was distributed.

Notice verse number 14.

Stay with me, verse 14.

The sower soweth the word.

Now, in this parable, the sower, the distribution is specifically the word of God.

So please listen, and I hope this illustration means something to you.

What it says is the sower went out to sow.

And that sower would cast the seed of the word of God.

And what he says in this parable is distribution is we're supposed to cast, we're supposed to sow the seed of the word of God.

Brethren, it says when we sow it, it won't come back void.

When we put the word of God out there, when we distribute the gospel, when we tell other people about the Lord Jesus Christ, his death, his burial, his resurrection, and his soon coming again, may I say to you, God is very pleased with that word being sown.

Where does that seed fall?

It falls on the good ground of hearts.

When it's heard with a good and honest heart and receive, it springs forth unto everlasting life.

Would you agree with that?

So the idea is sowing or casting.

Stay with me.

Look at verse 21.

Verse 21.

It's distribution.

Verse 21.

He said unto them, Is a candle brought, bought, brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed, and not to be set on a candlestick.

Here's what he's saying: a candle is lit for distributing life, a light.

The idea is a candle is lit and it distributes the light.

And we know Jesus is the light.

Come on, is that right?

The idea is you can't hide a candle.

You don't light a candle and put it under something and cover it.

The concept of lighting a candle candle is to distribute, if you would, light.

And notice if you would, verse 26.

Stay with me, verse 26.

You're doing great.

Verse 26, so is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed into the ground.

So the idea is casting is distributing.

The whole context of chapter 4 of Mark speaks about distribution.

Notice if you would, verse 30.

Stay right with me.

Last one, verse 30.

And he said, Whereunto should we liken the kingdom of God?

Or with what comparison shall we compare it?

Well, it's like a grain of mustard seed, which when it is sown, when it's sown, when it's cast, when it's distributed, when it's planted, if you would.

So Mark 4, there's illustrations about casting and distributing and if you would, uh putting something out there.

Brethren, the wonderful thing about being a Christian is our life is not lived to ourselves.

Our life is lived in a way that God is pleased to use us to distribute.

We're down here instead of Christ.

Would you agree with that?

We're in his stead.

And we're down here to distribute.

But I want to say this not just the gospel, there's other things that he wants us to distribute.

There's other things that he wants us to cast, there's other things that he wants us representing him down.

Now, when we get saved, we get the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Would you agree with that?

And then the Holy Ghost brings us specific gifts personalized for us.

Everybody that gets saved gets a gift, gets the Holy Ghost.

And then the Holy Ghost says, let me put something specifically in you that you're going to desire to do, that you're going to be good at, that you're going to be supernaturally empowered to do.

It could be governments, uh, organizing, it could be uh helps.

You just you just have mercy and and you just look for people to help.

May I say you say, well, that's I've just always been that way.

I want to tell you something.

When God makes us what he wants us to be, there's something that we do, that we do very well with his power.

It's something that he puts in us.

Um, giving is one of the gifts.

Wisdom is a gift.

Uh, teaching is a gift.

There's gifts that the Holy Ghost gives, and and and we think we're good at it.

He makes us good at it.

He gives us that gift, and then he says, now take your gift and distribute it.

Take your gift and use it.

Take your gift and put it out there.

Take what I've given you, take the opportunity, the time that I give you, and use it and distribute it.

And when we do, here's what he says: that my joy, his joy, might remain in us, and that our joy might be full.

When people find out what their gift is, when people find out what the Holy Spirit has gifted them with, and then when they distribute it, when they put it out, when they use it, they get filled with a kind of joy that's supernatural.

Alcohol does not bring that kind of joy.

Drug usage, I'm talking about marijuana and all that, does not bring that kind of joy, that kind of high.

What do you mean high?

Being filled with the Holy Ghost is likened to be drunken in the Spirit.

When we're saturated with the Holy Ghost and we do things that please Him, we can get on a joyous kind of supernatural elation, exhilaration.

And may I say to you, it doesn't last for just a night.

Man, I don't want to talk about what some of us used to be and do.

But I want to tell you something.

There's no let down in this kind of joy.

There's no hangover.

You can remember what you're doing.

It's, and you say, now you're saying drunk.

The Bible says to be filled with the Spirit is to be controlled by the Holy Ghost.

When we're controlled by the Holy Ghost, we're gifted with something, and what he wants us to do is cast it.

He wants us to distribute it.

You can do it in business, you can cast what God's gifted you with.

We can do it in our homes, in our family.

We can cast what God has given us.

We can do it within our church, we can do it in the community.

We take what he has given to us and distribute it.

Now, before we leave Mark 4, look at one more verse, stay with me.

Mark 4, notice verse 24.

Verse 24.

And he said to them, Take heed, warning.

What you're hearing now, what I'm telling you all now, what you're understanding, with that understanding, be careful, take heed.

It says, with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you.

And unto you that hear shall more be given.

So here's the principle that God says.

I want you ready to distribute.

If you teach, then find an area, find a place to teach in some way, shape, or form.

If you're a giver, find a way to give.

If you're a person that has helps, find a way to do that.

If you're a person that has the gift of government, find a way to organize.

If you're a person, if you would, who's been given wisdom and knowledge, find a way to distribute that, but don't get lifted up thinking it's from you.

Come on, is that right?

And the idea is when you do that, God will give you joy, and then when you distribute it, he'll give you more to distribute even more.

Look, if you would, stay with me, please.

You're doing great.

Uh look at uh Luke chapter 6 and watch the principle.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

I want to get to something in just a moment specific.

Luke 6, you're doing great.

Ready to distribute, casting, uh, sowing, if you would, uh, planting, giving out.

And the concept is the more we give out, the more he'll give us to give out.

And when he gives it to give out, there's joy in that.

Now Luke chapter 6 says in verse 38.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

Remember that word M-E-T-E, talks about the measure.

Luke chapter 6, verse 38 says this: give, and it shall be given unto you.

Luke 6:38

Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall men give into your business bosom, for with the same measure that you meet, withal it shall be measured to you again.

God says, Take what I've given you and use it.

Take what you have and use it.

And what I'm gonna make sure that happens is it'll be given back to you again.

You say, now, brother, I'm not getting this.

Please listen.

If God has given you wisdom, find a way to give it out.

There's all kinds of avenues that you can give out wisdom.

Uh, personal work with people.

It'll require time.

It'll require a little bit of outgoing.

But the Holy Ghost can set up ways for us to distribute what He's given us.

Uh, if you have the gift of helps.

Look, God can find a way, and you have to give yourselves to it, where you can exercise your gift of helps, and there's joy in that.

What is helps?

Doing things, helping people, uh, not expecting anything in return.

And may I say to you, it's something where the return value is joy from the Lord.

It's better than a paycheck.

Money, I gotta tell you something.

There are people in the world that have much more money than we have and are miserable.

I mean, they're miserable.

Uh, we can read the book ecclesiastics and know what it's had like to have all kinds of money and be in a mental prison.

May I say to you, one of the wonderful things about being a Christian is with what God has given you and what God has given me, we can distribute that and have the fulfillment of Christ in us, plus eternal life.

We can go through life with great joy.

We can go through life, if you would, saying, boy, you just keep, you just want to keep doing that for people.

I know.

It's kind of like God has supernaturally put that inside of me, and I want to do it.

I don't just want to do it like I want to do it like for a little while, but I have a passion to do it.

And that's what happens when you figure out what God's gifted you with.

Are you still with me today?

And the idea is you can use it in family, you can use it in home, you can use it in church, you can use it in community.

And when we measure it out, God says, Good, now let me measure more back to you.

Now that you're giving it out and not keeping it just for yourself, I can measure more back to you.

Now, I want to get to one area today, if you would.

Look at uh 2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 1.

2 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

And you say, Well, I know all this, but I want to say to you, the doing of it is what's most important.

2 Corinthians chapter number one.

And uh today, everybody can participate in what he says next.

I was speaking recently and this kind of came up in my mind and started studying it a little bit and looked up some definitions and even used it the other night.

But I want you to know with this concept, please listen, ready to distribute.

Would you say that again with me?

Say it.

Ready to distribute.

Now, let me make this statement.

If we're saved and born again, we will give an account, and I'm not saying that in a threatening way, we will give an account of what we did with our lives in being ready to distribute.

Distribute what?

What God has gifted us with.

I stop there because a lot of times Christians don't take time to figure out, well, what am I gifted with?

What has God given me?

What is He, what does He put inside of me that's a passion?

That's a that's a desire, that I just, I don't know, I just can't get away from doing it.

Let me tell you what gets in the way of distribution, self.

Please listen to me.

I'm speaking as a human to humans.

What gets in our way of distributing is self.

Okay, everybody say amen right there.

Because it's true.

When I don't feel like distributing, I know who the problem is.

It's not my wife, it's not Brother Cheney, it's not other Christians.

I can look in the mirror and say, there you are.

There's the problem right there.

I am the problem when I don't want to distribute.

Come on, is that right?

And if I stop distributing, I notice something.

The joy begins to dissipate.

Things begin to come up.

I want to say to you though, sometimes God puts us in distribution training.

Please listen.

Distribution training.

What do you mean?

He's training us, getting ready for us to distribute, but he's got to teach us and train us first.

Let me show you one area.

You're doing great.

Look at 2 Corinthians 1.

Notice, if you would, verse number 3.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all, say it, comfort, who comforteth us in our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them, distribute, which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Now, let's stop there for a moment.

The word comfort, to strengthen.

Comfort means to strengthen the mind and the spirit.

Comfort means to enliven somebody, to reinvigorate them.

Comfort means to relieve them from stress and pain and trouble and distress.

This is the definition of comfort.

If you look it up, it says to relieve someone of distress, to enliven, to reinvigorate, to strengthen.

And one of the things that we get to do with each other is encourage.

We get to comfort, we get to strengthen, and it speaks about even strengthening the inner person, the inner man, that which is between our ears.

Brethren, don't we all need some comfort once in a while?

Don't we also, all of all of us need a little strengthening once in a while?

All of us need some invigoration once in a while.

Somebody to be there for our pain.

This past week, and I won't go into too much detail.

I got a text from a pastor friend, and we'd known him for years, and he said, please pray.

My wife has had these headaches, and uh, we're going to the doctor, and they went in, and in in three hours, they found out she had a tumor in her brain.

By the next day, they were operating to take that tumor out.

I don't want to give you the details right now because it's still ongoing, but you know things can change in 24 hours.

At the start of the conversation, on the text said, When can we talk?

He didn't say what was going on, it just said when can we talk?

I said right away.

He called me on the other end of the phone, and he said, We just found out my wife has a tumor.

It looks like they want to operate quickly.

They're very concerned about where it's at, the positioning of it, and we talk for about 20 minutes.

Please listen.

I'm not a doctor.

I'm a human.

What do you say?

But it's nice to have someone to talk to.

Come on, is that right?

It's nice when you can just sit there on the phone with someone and just chat.

I texted him multiple times through the night, and it just seems like God kept waking me up to pray for him.

And when I was praying, I would text him.

And then I texted him a scripture in Job.

It's a strange scripture.

But it's in Job chapter 2, it's the last verse.

Job 2 · chapter mention

And the text just said the scripture, and the scripture says that Job's three friends just came and sat with him, and nobody said anything.

And I texted him that scripture because I wanted him to know that I was sitting with him.

Even though I wasn't saying anything.

I wanted him to know that I was sitting because it said in Job's grief that they just sat with him.

Sometimes the best thing we can do is just sit with somebody and keep our mouth shut.

Because we don't know what to say anyway.

But just the presence of somebody is comforting.

It's distributing something.

What's it distributing?

Care.

Concern.

Uh, attentiveness.

And um, and I'm thinking about it even right now because they're finding out more information and it's it's more serious than they initially thought.

And that's ongoing right now.

And please listen.

That that could be, I could tell you about that like two or three, four times over the last three or four weeks, different things going on with people.

May I say to you, sometimes the training to give comfort is that God gives us tribulation.

Please listen.

Because look what it says.

It says this, verse four, who comforted us in our tribulation.

Now, if you don't know what the word tribulation, I looked it up just to make sure.

Severe affliction.

Not just affliction, but severe affliction.

It's the kind of trouble that really affects us.

Tribulation.

It's uh it's it's uh more than just normal distress.

And normally, this kind of affliction or this kind of tribulation is trouble associated, if you look in the word, associated with persecutions.

Now, brother, I want to say something to you.

Sometimes God puts us in comfort training by allowing us to go through tribulation.

And that affliction, that severe affliction that we have gets us trained and calms us down to be able to set with somebody and go, I know what this is like.

I may not know specifically, but I've had my days.

And I need to take time with this, and this is important.

And like, slow down, Martha.

Don't be encumbered with so much serving that you don't take time to minister to somebody.

And by the way, if your name's Martha, I'm not saying that's a Bible thing.

I was offended when he said, slow down, Martha.

No, it's it's a Bible scripture.

Because we can get busy with so much that here comes by this need to distribute, and we're too busy.

Well, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm trying to figure out whether I should say it or not.

Say what?

What I'm thinking.

Because sometimes you want to say what you're thinking and sometimes you don't.

You can get so caught up in media frenzy and become so, if you would, thirsty for what's going on that we miss what's going on.

What do you mean?

We get so caught up with what's going on that we miss what's going on when it comes by us and we're supposed to distribute.

I've been following a little bit about, you know, the inauguration coming up and everything, but when that text passed by me, that all had to go by the wayside.

I had to forget about that.

Senate confirmation hearings and all that stuff, and what are they saying and all that?

I'm a little curious, but when that came up, it was like that's not important right now.

What's going on in that hospital room is important?

What's going on with that second text I got?

What's going on with that person who that that guy called me and said that his wife was telling him that he was gonna not have a wife anymore.

Not in our state, but in a distant state.

And that guy, and what am I gonna do?

And she wants to take one of the children, wants to leave me with one of the children, and what do you do with that?

All of a sudden, when you start hearing that kind of stuff, the media, what's important in the media, say, Well, that's important right now to our country.

I know, but sometimes you got to distribute on a personal level what's going on with someone's life, and that stuff has to go by the wayside.

We have to take time and take interest in people.

Come on, is that right?

Because it seems like when Jesus passed by, oftentimes he paused.

What do you mean?

He was busy, Jesus had a lot going on.

Come on, would you agree with that?

He had a lot of preaching to do, he had a lot of people to reach, he had a lot going on, and I don't even know how to describe what he had going on, but you know, when he'd walk by a little while, he'd say, Oh, let me stop.

There's somebody that needs some comfort right there.

Look, look, and and the and the apostle would say, Stay away from him, stay away from him.

He'd say, No, let him through.

Let him on through.

I mean, one day he was in a mix of a throng, a crowd of people, and a woman reached over and touched the hem of his garment, and he said, Stop.

Somebody just touched me.

And the apostle says, You're surrounded by people, everybody's rubbing up against you and touching you.

He said, No, virtue went out of me.

Somebody just touched me believing, and they needed comfort.

And when they touched me believing, I felt the healing go out of me.

Now he already knew what was going on, but he stopped the whole crowd.

And a woman came forth, somewhat trembling.

Oh, she touched him.

Something she's been dealing with for years.

When she touched him, it all got healed.

And she was comforted, and he stopped and paused and said, We're just not moving on through the crowd.

We're gonna stop right here.

I got an illustration for y'all.

Somebody just touched me.

He knew who it was, but he wanted to point her out.

She came forth trembling.

And you know what he said, woman, it's okay.

You did right.

You you you you touched me believing, and you're healed, and and he took time to comfort her.

And he did that again and again and again and again.

And brethren, what we have to do once in a while with our gifts is not get so busy that we don't distribute, especially when there's nothing coming back in return.

What do you mean?

What could she do for him?

She got healed.

I'll tell you what she could do.

Go tell everybody what he did for him.

And she distributed that testimony because she was comfort in her tribulation.

Brethren, anybody in here that's been comforted by the Lord has a testimony.

You have something you can tell somebody else that God gave you hope.

God gave you courage.

God lifted your spirits up, or God helped you to deal with the grief and the pain.

And that the grief and the pain is not gone, it's still there.

But God has helped you to overcome and embrace it and live with it, and not get mad, and not blame God, and keep your integrity, and that He's given you a way of comfort to overcome the grief, even though it's still there.

What I'm saying to you is some may be going through tribulation training right now so you can comfort somebody because I want to tell you this, and this is just a human statement.

It seems like the best comforters are those who've gone through tribulation.

The best comforters who are those who've been severely afflicted in some way, shape, or form, or at least had a period of time where something happened to them that they didn't know what to do with.

And they needed to supernaturally go back to God and say, okay, I need help.

I need help.

Because sometimes the help will not come from humans, it must come from a divine, holy God that we've not yet seen with our eye, but believe in our heart that he's there.

The invisible God takes time for us as individuals with all that he has going on.

He pauses.

And when he pauses for you, man, is it special?

What do you mean when he pauses?

I know I'm nobody, I know I'm nothing, I know you got a lot of bigger things to do today, Lord, but I don't know what to do.

And he pauses.

And he gives you something from the word, he distributes something to you.

And he says, now take that and go comfort somebody else with the comfort wherewith I comforted you.

Take that strength, receive that enliven, receive that comfort, receive that, if you would, that I've lifted your spirit back up again.

Receive that hope, receive that courage, receive that inner strength, receive that understanding, and go give it to someone else.

And when you give it to someone else, I'll give you more.

Because once I can start using you, I'm gonna use you.

And that's not abuse you, that's use you.

Brethren, don't we want to be used by God?

Why?

We want to get up there and hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant.

And sometimes we go, I don't know why this is happening.

And God says, I know you're in training.

You've got to go through severe affliction and even persecution in some way, shape, or form, because I'm gonna use you in a greater way in what you're gifted in, but I want you to distribute it, but you've got to have a heart to do it.

The other day I uh I slipped over to the hospital and it was visiting uh a member of our, it wasn't a member of our church, but it was a family of our church and and their extended family, and and I like to visit hospitals early in the morning.

Um if you walk in and you act like they know what you know what you're doing, they usually don't bother you.

And and so I go, usually seven in the morning or so is when I make hospital visits.

Uh nobody's there.

You know, the nurses are changing shifts, the doctors are kind.

Especially if I say uh I was sitting in the chair and the person was asleep, and a nursing came in and she said, Oh, hi, how you doing?

I said, Oh, fine, thank you.

And uh she said, Oh, he hasn't woke up, he had kind of a restless night.

I said, Okay, thank you.

And and she says, By the way, who are you?

And I said, Well, one of our family members of our church, this is their relative, and they've asked me to come and see and have a little prayer, and I didn't want to wake, and I knew you would come in sooner or later to poke him or take his blood pressure, and you would wake him up.

And she started laughing and said, So you're an experienced pastor.

I said, I just like to do it at this time of the day.

She said, It's okay.

Uh, I do have to poke him.

In fact, I I I have to get him up out of bed.

I said, Okay, well, that's what you do, and I'll just sit over here and be quiet.

And uh, and so uh she poked him and he woke up and he looked at me and and he said, Who are you?

And I said, uh, well, sir, uh, I'm I'm Pastor Fisher.

And he said, Oh, I mean, it's like, oh, Pastor Fisher, I've heard so much about you.

I was thinking, oh, I hope, I hope it's good, you know, like what are you doing here?

But but he said, Oh, I've heard so much about you.

And he started, he started weeping.

And he said, Thank you for coming to see me.

And he was moved and he started weeping, and the nurse started weeping, and I started weeping, and we didn't even know each other, and we all were weeping, and it got quiet.

It was the Lord.

That wasn't Pastor Fisher, the Holy Ghost showed up and he started talking, and he said, I'm so glad you came.

And and she said, We have to get you up.

He said, We'll get up in a moment.

He said, I'll get up in a moment.

I want to talk to Pastor Fisher.

And she said, All right, I'll slip out for a little while, come back.

And he started talking, and and I just sat there.

I didn't have much to say.

He just started talking.

I don't know if it was the drugs, I don't know if it was, I don't know.

He just started talking, and he was just communicating.

And it was all where she came back in about four minutes, is all.

She came back in and she said, Okay, well, look, uh, I have to be on my rounds here to get this done.

I said, No problem.

We were just chatting away a little bit.

And she said, I heard you were just sitting there listening.

He was chatting.

I said, Well, he had a lot to say, brethren, I think I went out comforted, but I went to comfort.

And sometimes when you pause and you intend to comfort somebody, you get something back in return.

And God does that.

And I actually got in my car driving away saying, I don't have it so bad.

Everything's pretty good.

I'm sure there's a lot of people doing other things today, but this is what I'm called to do.

And I was glad to be in God's presence in that in that little hospital room.

And by the way, on the way out, I gave that little nurse a track and said, You know, like you to come to my church.

Now I don't, she's, I said, it looks like you speak English, but this has an English and Spanish.

She said, No, I speak English.

I said, I'm just joking with you.

She said, Your jokes aren't very good.

I said, I know, I know.

People tell me that all the time.

But she was comfortable with me by that time.

And she said, I might visit you sometime.

I said, I hope you would.

She said, Well, since he doesn't know you and he thinks so highly of you, maybe I'll come by.

I said, Whatever the Lord would have for you, we would love to have you.

Now I want to tell you something.

Distribution brings joy in the most unexpected ways, but it requires us to pause and then distribute and see what God does.

Thank you for listening to this message by Pastor Doug Fisher of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Lemon Grove, California.

To learn more about Lighthouse Baptist Church, visit our website at www.lighthousebaptist.com or call 619-461-5561.