On Mother’s Day it is almost a crime not to make mothers feel good.

2. On Mother’s Day it is almost a crime not to make mothers feel good. • On Father’s day it is almost a crime not to make fathers feel badly. • One only needs to listen to Christian broadcasting to realize how inadequate fathers are. The rest of us are just as inadequate.

3. The Gospel and Comedy • What is comedy? • Comedy has as a hero a poneros. A hero who should not have confidence and yet believes in spite of himself. • Paul speaks about his confidence

4. 2 Corinthians 3:4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God.

5. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • His speaking ability? • 1 Corinthians 1:17 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.

6. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • His Looks? • The earliest description of Paul (from an apocryphal work from the 3rd century): Paul was a man of short stature with a bald head and bow legs. . . . His eyebrows met in the middle, and his nose was rather large . . .

7. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • Lack of criticism? • 2 Corinthians 10:10 10 For they say, "His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible."

8. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • His success at starting churches? • The Corinthian church was plagued by sexual immorality, lawsuits, factions, and other things that we don’t know about. • The Galatian church was about to follow after another gospel.

9. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • His physical strength? • 2 Corinthians 1:8 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; • God’s servants often have health problems.

10. G. Campbell Morgan, called the “Prince of Expositors” had to keep a doctor on call to work on his neck before he went into the pulpit because he was so troubled by horrible headaches.

11. John Calvin suffered from kidney stones that were large and painful causing hemorrhages that threatened his life. There were no pain relieving drugs or sedatives.

12. Luther also suffered from kidney stones, excruciating headaches, buzzing in the ears and other physical ailments.

13. Spurgeon suffered from painful gout • He dealt all his life with severe depression. • “I am the subject of depressions of spirit so fearful that I hope none of you ever get to such extremes of wretchedness as I go.”

14. Paul himself suffered • 2 Corinthians 12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself!

15. Why Would Paul Be Confident? • 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, 6 who also made us adequateas servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

16. Paul is Confident in Comedy • Paul is the poneros. The small man who trusts God that he can really make a difference despite the foolishness of the idea. • Louise Cowan “A happy ending in comedy cannot be rooted in any human origin.” It must be rooted in grace

17. Paul Ends His Life • 2 Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8 in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

18. Good News and Bad News • Bad news: you are inadequate; as a father, mother, friend, teacher, worker, elder, etc. • God news: Christ makes us adequate. He uses the poneroi to win the world.