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Amen, so the title of the sermon this morning is the importance of patience the importance of patience And if you would look there in James chapter 5 beginning of verse 7 the Bible reads Be patient therefore brethren under the coming of the Lord Behold the husband waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it until received the early and latter rain Be also patient establish your hearts for the coming the Lord draweth nigh grudge not one against another brethren lest he be condemned Behold the judge standeth before the door take my brethren the prophets who have spoken in the name of the Lord for an example of suffering Affliction and of patience behold we count them happy which endure You have heard of the patience of Job And he have seen the end of the Lord that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy So of course patience is a word that's coming up several times. You're just in this one Passage alone, and there's a lot we can learn about patience But one of the first things we have to understand about patience is even what does that mean? a lot of people they probably have a you know a Vague idea of what it means to be patient But what we want to look at this morning is what does it mean to be patient in terms of the Bible? What is the Bible defined as patience? How are we to be patient as God's people? So patience, you know, it's more than just waiting people think you're a very patient person if you can just stand there You know and wait at the DMV or if you can, you know Wait your turn and whatever it is you're doing that you must be a very patient person But that's not necessarily true I'm sure there's a lot of people that are in situations like that that we all have to go through where we're Inconvenienced or we have to wait for something for this or that and we might appear to be very patient outwardly You know, we're very we're keeping calm. We're not seeming anxious but inwardly, you know, we're saying what's taking so long You know, how long is this gonna go on for? Why can't they just get this done already? We probably go through with that You know we go through something like that practically every day any of us that You know have to do any kind of waiting on other people, you know I finished the sermon and then this morning we're packing up the kids into the car and I'm already having to remind myself Patience, you know, it's gonna take time to get the car seats in, you know It's gonna take time to get all their belongings and make sure they're all settled and ready to go I know the clock's ticking and there's a long drive down there We got to go go go all the stuff to do but sometimes we have to exercise patience and what is patience really? Patience is, you know, it's the ability not to just to endure a frustrating or difficult circumstance But to actually have a you know The right attitude while you're going through it Noting allow it to vex you or give you a bad attitude or cause you to become impatient You know patience is something it's not just waiting. It's how you're doing it the attitude that you have while you're waiting Now if you would turn over to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 Keep something in James 5 we probably coming back but go over to 2nd Timothy chapter 2. We'll get there in a minute But you know patience is something that's very important It's very important that we as God's people not only understand what patience is but that we understand how important it is to have this proper attitude of patience the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 7 Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry for anger resteth in the bosom of fools So we could see right here from this verse that you know, what is the what is the opposite of being patient? Well, it says here it's being angry. It's being hasty in thy spirit It's being angry and it's also comes from a spirit of pride often pride proud people Are very impatient people they want what they want now because they deserve it and they shouldn't have to wait for anybody else because of Who they are so being an impatient person they you know, they they they they're going to be hasty They're going to be angry and we don't want to be those kind of people. We want to be people are very Very, you know not hasty not rash not angry people but gentle meek people as the Bible We'll see here goes on and describes the type of attitude we should have but it says here that the end of a thing is better than the beginning thereof and The thing about an impatient person is is that they rarely see the end of a thing I mean so often, you know many many many things that we start out doing in life, you know that are long term You know, we want to see the end of it But if we lose patience and waiting for that that fruition to come we're never gonna see the end of a thing You know people get so caught up and starting this and starting that but if they're not patient in their spirit They're not gonna see the end of it and the Bible says that the end of a thing is better than the beginning thereof You know, it's better to accomplish a task than to start out doing one I mean we just entered the New Year and I'm sure there's a lot of people that have a lot of you know New Year's resolutions they're gonna do this they're gonna do that, but I'm telling you it's gonna take patience It's gonna take the ability to go through hard circumstances with the right attitude in order to see those goals Accomplished for you to reach the end of the year and see the end of a thing that you started out that's going to take patience and Impatient people, you know, they're often very proud people as I mentioned and you know, they consider waiting beneath them You know, they'll say well, it's it's beneath me to have to wait on somebody else You could think about you know, the the big shot who walks into a you know, very, you know, crowded restaurant Very popular restaurant and he's like, where's my table, you know? He's immediately expects everyone to just clear clear the room and make room for him, you know, because he's impatient He doesn't feel like he should have to wait for anybody else that he shouldn't have to That's beneath him right and we should not be those type of people we should be people who are very patient and not think that it's something that's it's beneath us and Because here's the thing in order to see the end of a thing You're gonna have to be humble and understand that you're going to have to do some waiting That you're going to have to be patient and wait on others and even yourself and circumstances And I read a quote when I was writing this. I thought this is very good I think it ties in with Scripture quite well It says patience is sister to meekness, you know patience is sister to meekness They're so closely related, you know, they're you know, one complements the other they're they're hand in glove, right? Patience is sister to meekness. It takes a very meek person to be a very patient person like I said as a scripture shows us right there that the patient and spirit is better than the proud and spirit a proud person is somebody who Is not meek, right? So patience is sister to somebody who is a very meek person You'll often see people who have a you know, a real genuine humility about them They'll be able to endure, you know other people they'll be able to endure difficult and unpleasant circumstances Easier than an inpatient person who does not have that meekness. It says patience is sister to meekness and Humility is its mother, you know, where are you going to find the patience? Where how are you going to become a patient person by getting humble by realizing that the whole world doesn't revolve around you That we're not all on One another's timetable, you know, we're not on every not everybody's on our schedule, you know Not the traffic isn't gonna flow at our you know beck and call You know the red light is just as long for everybody else as it is us and to become you know It's gonna take some humility and understand that we're you know, we're nothing special in that sense. So That's what patience is, you know, it's something that comes from humility It's something that is very close to kin to somebody being a meek individual And it's the complete opposite of being a proud person Now why is patient support important? That's the title of the sermon in portion the importance of patience, you know What what is so important about it? And why is it something that we should desire to have? well, it's important for several reasons and one of probably with the primary reasons is it's not optional for those who want to succeed in the Christian life Especially, you know, if you want to succeed as a Christian and living for the Lord and staying faithful to God his word and And and and and all of that, you know, it's gonna require a great deal of patience Because here's the thing, you know when you when you're living for God, you still have the flesh, you know The the spirit is that enmity with the flesh these two are contrary to one at one to another So that you cannot do the things that you would and we have to fight that battle every day You know, we have we have an enemy in the world. The world is not a you know, pro-christian world They're not the the devil is not out there trying to make it easy for us to live a Christian life The world is not embracing, you know biblical values. They're going the complete opposite direction So there's you know, just by the nature of the of living a Christian life You're going to come into conflict with your own self your own flesh, you know Spiritual forces in the devil and even the world itself co-workers family friends, whatever it might be So it's going to take a great deal of patience in order for you to succeed to make it for the long haul To be in this thing until the end So why is patience so important this morning because it's not an option if you want to succeed You know if not succeeding isn't if succeeding is not important to you if you don't if you're not worried about whether or not you're gonna flake out in a few years or you're just gonna throw in the towel and just say well this isn't for me anymore and just Go back to the world and live a worldly life You know patience probably isn't going to be that important to you It's not going to be something that you have to work on But if you are going to make it if you are going to hang in there You're gonna have to become a patient person. You're gonna have to become meek and you're going to have to become patient so you know and one area that we think of as Christians that In particular that we want to be patient about is the coming of the Lord That's what James started talking about there in the beginning where we read it said be patient Therefore brethren unto the coming of the Lord, you know, we We long in our spirit for the Lord to come, you know We were just talking the other night me and some brethren about you know Maybe the Lord will come in our lifetime And again, I don't see anything preventing his return in this lifetime other than you know The rise of the Antichrist and we know that you know The man of sin must be revealed first and then he shall come but you know It might might not be that he does come in our lifetime It very well might be that you know might be another few generations Who knows it could be a few more hundred years, you know, we don't we don't know but we have to be patient and That's one area that people as Christians need to Understand that you know The Lord might not just show up and deliver us out of all these troubles that we're gonna have to go through So we might as well in the meantime You know dig in and understand what it's gonna take to live the Christian life all the way to the end You know Even if it means we have to go to the grave before we see the Lord we need to develop patience unto his coming So patience is important for several reasons. And one of the reasons it's important is not only because it's necessary But because patience is what's going to help you get along with other people Patience is going to help you get along with other people, you know, I don't care who it is or what circumstance it is You need to be patient in order to get along with other people And if you would if you kept something in James, I hope you kept something there James chapter 5 Look at verse 9. You'll notice this is tied in with patience so often He'll talk about patience and then he'll talk about how we should treat others They'll talk about patience and he'll talk about how we should treat brethren how we should treat the lost how what our attitude should be like towards others Because patience is so interwoven with that, you know We can't if you want to get along with other people you're gonna have to learn to be patient and put up with people And you know, they're gonna do the same for you, you know, and and that's that's where humility comes in where we realize You know, I'm just as much of a pain in neck sometimes as anybody else He says there, you know He starts out talking about patience and he says in verse well speaking of verse 8 be there be also patient Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh then he starts out in verse 9 He's not shifting gears These things are they they complement one another grudge not one against another brother unless you be condemned Behold the judges standeth before the Lord. He's saying like look the Lord is coming the judge standeth before the Before the door you need to be patient, but not only that grudge not against one another And he says Well, that's the point there, you know that we need to not grudge towards one another we should be forgiving people We should be long-suffering people. That's another word for patience We should be very merciful and pitiful just as the Lord is full of compassion ready to forgive That is a patient person that requires a great deal of humility Now we have to understand, you know, you say well that that sounds easy I mean, I it's so easy to just get along with everybody in church, right? We all believe the same thing and and everyone's just glad to be here every time they walk through the door and How could we ever need patience with brethren? He says there, you know Be patient grudge not one against one another brethren right who in the world would ever grudge against anybody else in church it happens all the time and the bigger the church gets and the more people that come in the more different types of personalities and backgrounds and stages of life that start to mix and intermingle in this church The more need there's going to be for each and every one of us to be patient with one another and not hold grudges and to let things go So but that's not to say that, you know, everyone has to be best friends with everyone I don't want to go to the other extreme some people interpret that and say well that just means everybody has to just You know lock arm and arm and and and just you know Be best buddies. No, that's not what I'm saying. All we're saying is that patience, you know, it helps us get along within a church specifically Because it allows us to remain civil with one another to not grudge to remain civil to remain kind to remain long-suffering That's what patience does for us, you know, but of course patience applies beyond just the the walls of the church It goes, you know into every area of our life every relationship that we have every circumstance we could find ourselves in How about with unbelievers, right? We're gonna be running into unbelievers all the time people who you know Don't believe in Christ people who are unsaved people who reject the Bible That and you know, they abound we ourselves were such at one time before we came to a saving knowledge of Christ The Bible says the first Thessalonians chapter 5 now we exhort you brethren Warn them that are unruly Comfort the feeble-minded support the weak and then it says this be patient toward all men They didn't say some men It didn't say, you know towards those people that you like, you know people towards people that have similar interest as you People that can benefit you be patient towards them He said no, but you need to be patient towards all men You know the the unruly the feeble-minded the weak all of them. You need to be patient towards all people He goes on and says seeing that you render not evil for evil unto any man You know, we should we should be patient people in the sense that we're not trying to just get somebody back You know, somebody does us wrong Somebody does you know says something or does something that we didn't like that we're offended and now it's just gonna become our goal in Life to make sure that we one-up them that we get them back You know, that's not the attitude that we're to have that's not the attitude that Christ had That's not the the the example that he said, you know when he reviled he reviled not again the Bible says And he says to not render evil for evil to unto any man lost saved in church at a church Whoever it is, but ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and saying within the church do this You know the supplies in the church house just as and he says and to all men Ever follow that which is good among yourselves and to all men So, you know patience is something that's not just for amongst, you know, like-minded people It's for others as well people who are do not share the same, you know worldview that we have we are to be patient with them Now he does say warn the unruly there is a time and place to To warn the wicked to say hey you're wrong here, you know, this isn't right but to do it, you know it to in Speak the truth and love as Paul did that's not to be the attitude that we have Why is it that we want to warn them, you know, so that they'll get right not just so we can say well I'm right you're wrong and you know get puffed up about it. Now if you're there in first Timothy chapter 2 Look at verse 22. He says flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness faith charity Peace with them that call on the Lord have a pure heart, you know, what's he saying there get in church, right? He's saying look follow righteousness with who with them that call on the Lord have a pure heart It's good to be with like-minded believers It's good to you know Come together in the assembly and to not forsake that and to to hear the priests the Word of God and to have the fellowship That we have in Christ he goes on and says in verse 23, but foolish unlearned questions avoid Knowing they do gender stripes and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men Again, like he was saying in first Thessalonians, you know This isn't a pick-and-choose thing who I'm going to be gentle towards who I'm going to be patient with he's saying look It's for everybody Gentle to all men apt to Pete apt to teach patient That's the attitude that we're half to have towards everybody he goes on and says in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the Acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will So that's why we need to be patient Is that just have that kind of gentle meek attitude that wants to teach and instruct in a patient loving kind manner? You know towards the lost and so that they can recover themselves out of the snare of the devil You know and if they have a nasty attitude towards us, you know, that shouldn't matter We should still want to you know, reach that person with the gospel You know patience really is what's going to allow you to go out there in the world and take it on the chin You know The world's gonna lash out and be vulgar and crude and crass and and mean and nasty at times and the Christian isn't supposed to Just retaliate in turn, you know, we should be able to take that on the chin and understand Hey, you know what? These people are lost. Let's that's as the saying goes. Let's kill them with kindness You know you get more you get more flies with honey than vinegar So that ought to be our attitude we're out in the world and I think a lot of times In churches where there's a you know, a leather lung preacher It's getting up and saying thus say it the Lord and preaching the whole counsel of God You know gets up and when he needs to rips face and calls out sin and and calls out iniquity You know, that's great here behind the pulpit You know, we need that as Christians to be reminded that the whole world lieth and wickedness, you know That we don't want to get brainwashed by this culture and adopting their philosophies that we have to let this Rule our hearts and minds let the Word of God. That's what the preachings for But that's not what we take out into the world when we go out soul-winning We go out knocking doors, you know and and trying to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ We're not we're not gonna there to like eternal Leviticus 2013 and I'm gonna show you something, you know We're there to take him to John 3 16, you know and show them that and and you know That's what's gonna allow you and it's patience. It's gonna allow you to do that because so often we know we want to retaliate in our flesh We want to straighten people out and tell them why they're wrong and why we're right because we have a more sure word of prophecy And it's not that we're right It's that this is right and that's what we're standing on But patience is what's gonna allow you to go out there and endure all of that and take it on the chin You know, I thought of some examples from this trip that we just took to Morenci trying to to you know Knock doors there. It was a very very cold place very unreceptive We had we had several teams going out for several hours. That's why we've been a lot of those numbers were were you know? Older kids that they some folks ran into at a park or something like that I got to talk to some kids at the door So but a lot of the adults there were just already so hardened, you know They were already just so disinterested and just didn't want here I mean, I didn't get a chance to give the gospel one time, you know, I have several hours going on There's knocking door after door and it wasn't very spread out very densely populated and I even remember at one point I'm walking down I'm walking down the street and this lady I mean, she's like she's like on the other side of the parking lot from here and You know, we'd already been by her house because we'd already been on that side and maybe left a little invite or something on her door So and then she must have seen the Bible and thought oh made the connection and she just instantly no Thank you, you know just gets his real like she just take a bit bite out of a lemon just starts wagging her head at me And and I was told she said no. Thank you. I am assuming that's what she said She might have said something else But just walking off in a huff, you know I put one I put one invite on somebody's door and we parked the van I put a little YouTube card, you know They can watch the byway to heaven and some movies that are for free there and we go on to the next door Then I come back to get the van like an hour later Somebody had taken the time to take that out of their door I walked down to the van and stick it in art in the in the window of our van I've never had that happen. I was like, well, you know, at least they gave it back, you know, we can use it somewhere else You know, maybe they were just trying to be polite. Well, what were they really trying to do send a message? We don't want this here. You know, we're not interested. No, thanks You know, there wasn't enough for them to just say oh, you know, whatever they had to make the point of going down there That's kind of a kind of an antagonistic type of thing to do You know what? What was my reaction when I saw that lady wagging her head at me, you know, who are you to tell me? No, you're not, you know go run chase her down and let me tell you why you should be, you know I mean quite honestly I kept it to myself. It was you know, I just laughed I thought it was humorous, you know, here's this lady just laughed She's just so triggered by the Bible, you know by it by the fact that somebody's doing this I thought it was you know, it's it's sad really is what it is It's unfortunate, but I mean it allowed me to take patience is what allowed me to just take that on the chin and say well You know, I mean was it that really that bad? Oh some old lady, you know shook her head at me such persecution But there were other things going on, you know that same that same neighborhood We're knocking on a door and these there's these little dogs just there were so many dogs there, you know And it was very resish, you know is what we call it So many dogs and we go in and these little yippy dogs, you know the type that just they just don't shut up the whole time You know and they just bark and bark and finally the neighbor the guy right next door. Just go shut those dogs up I don't thinking about my dogs man. Believe me. They're my dogs. They'd be airborne by now They're the perfect size for punting I'm kidding kind of but I would never kick a dog That's one a bit advice. My dad gave me never kick a dog because you could sprain your ankle It's an old Indian saying you wouldn't understand but anyway So this guy he's already upset because these dogs just and I can understand I'm already sympathizing with the guy I'm like, yeah, man, this would drive me nuts But unfortunately we walk out and he knows what what we're doing Because he before we even get to his gate. He's already at the door not interested slams the door He's already upset now, you know, I said well Man, what a jerk. No, I just said man this guy's you know, obviously he's upset about the dogs. It's unfortunate It's sad, you know, but I was patient with them, you know, I didn't just let me tell you why you should be interested I didn't yell back at him, you know and get into it or try to want to mix it up and We need to be paid that's why we need to be patient with people especially in this area of soul winning because What is it? We're trying to do? We're trying to you know Get them to recover themselves from the snare of the devil We want to be patient so that we can in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves See we get we think so often, you know that little lady shaking her head at me. She's not she's opposing herself That guy's not interested me. He's opposing himself He's his own worst enemy by rejecting the gospel and you don't actually go over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 2 but I remind us of the story of Samuel when Samuel was coming to the end of his life and they were Getting ready to choose another leader and they wanted a king it wasn't the end of his life, but they're getting ready to choose a king and Samuel didn't want anything to do with it and he said in 1st Samuel 8 then the elders of Israel gathered themselves together and came to Samuel and to Rhema and Sent unto him behold thou our old and thy sons walked not in thy ways Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations And if we call the Lord said you shall need to told them not to make themselves a king now here They are wanting to make a king like so they could be like everybody else and it says in verse 6 But these things displeased Samuel when they said give us a king to judge us and Samuel prayed unto the Lord the Lord said unto Samuel Harken unto the voice of the people and all that they say unto thee for they have not rejected thee but they have rejected me That I should not reign over them you know, that's why I think about so often when someone slams the door in my face or says they're not interested or tells me off or Rejects what I'm trying the gospel that we're trying to preach is it's not me. They're rejecting. It's Christ. It's the Lord It's the message of the Bible that they're rejecting whether it's out soul-winning whether it's in a church service whether it's just in conversation when the top when the when the topic at hand is biblical and you're giving scriptural truth and a person rejects it and Even if they do it in an offensive way, you have to understand something. They're not rejecting you They're rejecting the Bible, you know, and they're just they're just kind of want to take the messenger out with them as well Okay in the process You know How could we a real simple way to prove this would be go back to Morenci to that same neighborhood to that same guy that? Wasn't interested and show up with a jumbo check that said 1 million dollars with his name on it You watch how quickly that door flies open and it could be me bringing it The same guy who was making you know, getting the dogs all upset and riled up by being there Well, he was just trying to bring you know gonna come over and thump him with the Bible whatever he thought You know if I showed up tomorrow with a with a big fat check for him balloons and a camera man He'd be out in his front yard. Yeah, here I am. It's me pulling out his ID. See hits of me You know, give me the check why because it's not me that has it's not me that he's rejecting It's not me that he's and wants to see so badly it's that check it's the message that I'm bringing You know, and that's what's being rejected here when people are not interested in the gospel they're not rejecting you and this is something we especially those of us that go soul and we have to understand this because Especially when you first start out soul winning, you know This is something a lot of people a hurdle they have to overcome they get they get so personally offended By somebody slamming a door telling that interest knowing that guy Before I could even get near as the the entrance to his gate that same guy not interested, you know slam the door I was in my heart thankful. I was like, well, thanks for sparing me the walk You know now I can just get on to the next door to a guy that is and I'm serious though And when people are very quick to tell me they're not interested. I'm grateful. I don't go. Oh, well, you know, I'm not like What is it man? You know, I gotta change a clone or something. You know, I got some of my teeth. What's the matter? It must be me, you know it's I already understand it's this that they're rejecting and I'm and I'm glad that they're we're just getting it out of the way and Letting me know right up front. They're not interested You know another great example of this is that is we had another guy he was out soul-winning in Marency And he was talking to some some teenage kids, you know, 12 13 14 some boys and he was giving him the gospel You know and they were getting it and I think one of them got saved but in the process the dad he either came home I don't know, but the dad took notice and saw what was going on and The dad just comes running at him I mean just full speed like hey what's going on here because the dad was on the impression that This the guy that was preaching brother John was that he was he was either a Jehovah Witness or Mormon, you know and this guy this dad turned out to be a Christian that he actually was raised in a Baptist Church and everything But he saw that and he was like, you know He was gonna object now was he gonna object because the brother giving the gospel, you know had his hair wrong You know or because he wore glasses or you know, no he was mad But at the because he didn't know what message was being brought, you know They reject you what what was being preached to his kids? And when he found out that it was the gospel that it was a true pure word of God He was thankful and he walked away and in fact the next day Saturday morning before we went out We were gathered in a parking lot there in town eating doughnuts like all good Baptist do and and the guy was driving by And he just pulled over and he came up and just walked right up to us and just said hey thanks for coming out here and just stood and talked with us for about 45 minutes just expressed his gratitude and and He's even gonna potentially get in contact with me when we go back and I take him and some of his Other saved brethren out there and show them how to go soul winning But but why is that why did he go from be having this, you know aggressive apprehensive, you know Confrontational attitude to the next day. He's you know, hey when you coming back. Can we go with you? What was that? What changed what's when he understood what was being preached? so again, you know the point being you know, the one reason you need to be patient out there with people is because They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting the message. So be patient and understand that that's something that's gonna help us to be patient with folks You know, you're there in 2nd Corinthians chapter 2, I mean I thought about this verse several times during this trip He says in verse 14 He said now thanks be unto God which causeth us to triumph in Christ and maketh manifest the Savior of his knowledge by us in every place for we are sweet savour of We are unto God a sweet savour of Christ and them that are saved and in them that perish so either way whether whether we're a Whether it's to the saved or the them that perish we are a sweet Savior under God in Christ He said to the one we are the Savior of death unto death and the other we are a savior of life unto life You know has any doubt would we change person to person is that does the message we bring change? No, it's the same message It's how they receive it some people it's going to be a message of death that you know, you're condemned That that the Bible condemns us that the you know, the law condemns us They're going to reject Christ. That's that's you know They they they're condemned already because they have they believe not John chapter 3 You know he that believeth is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already Because he hath not believed So they become we become a savior of death unto them now the person that receives it we become a savior of life But it's the same message so we should always be patient with folks out there and understand that we're being Rejected or if things aren't going our way or if it's a hard area that we're doing what we're supposed to do It's not up to us how it's going to be received So that's one reason why patience, you know, it's so important because it's going to help us get along with others, you know within the church With the unsaved that we rub elbows with out in the world With the unsaved that we talk to when we go out and try to preach the gospel You know, that's why patience is so important But another reason why patience is so important is because it's necessary if you're going to have any real joy in this life You know, if you're going to have any real joy, you're not just going to go through life. It's just going to be this long Bitter drudgery that you're just trying to get through day to day You know, you're going to have to have patience You know patience comes before joy and and we're going to see that here in a minute Because here's the thing you got to have patience in life if you're going to have any joy, it's because life I don't care who you are is not without its trials in some shape for Shape or form it's going to come to you, you know life just by its very nature is trying it's difficult You know, we're living in a fallen world The bible says in second timothy 3 i'll read for you go over to james chapter 1 but it says in second timothy chapter 3 You go over to james chapter 1 but it says in second timothy chapter 3 yay and all that will live godly shall suffer persecution He said everybody anybody who's going to live godly in christ. Jesus Shall suffer persecution not might be not might not could there's potential. No, he said it's going to happen You know, if you're christian, it's going to happen. You're going to go through trials in this life But here's the thing paint that's why patience because becomes so important because Patience is not only going to allow you to endure that but it's going to allow you to do it joyfully That you're going to be able to rejoice in all in all your persecutions That it's actually going to be a source of joy in your life. How is that? So well, that's what the bible says If you're there in james chapter 1 look at verse 2 he says my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations Now temptations there, you know, that's not talking about necessarily the temptation, you know to do some wicked sin He's talking about when you go through a trial of your faith, you know when you go through some Temptation or a trial these words are used synonymously. So he's saying look count it joy When you're going through a difficult time count it joy. Now, is that our first reaction is that is that human nature? Is that instinct say? Oh great, you know persecution afflictions, you know No that that is that if that's contrary to our nature, but he's saying here. Look you need to count it joy That ought to be something that gets you excited that you're going to go through persecution that you're going to suffer You're going to suffer for the cause of Christ. He says this in verse 3 knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience Why should you be glad about that about going through these persecutions? This is going to make you a more patient person He said let patients have a perfect work that you may be perfect meaning complete and tire wanting nothing you know there was I had my I had a pastor back in Michigan and You know he every once in a while I would come to him and I would say man This is going not going right or I expressed some grievance about life, you know or there was some responsibility that I didn't want to have to take on or whatever it is and I You know, I'd bemoan my circumstances and he just kind of smile and nod you say well life goes on That was it. That was his counsel life goes on And whenever he'd say it man, just you just great my nerves it would just is like what do you mean? That's it That's all you know, you know, he didn't coddle me and say you poor thing, you know, it's not fair Life's not fair to you. You say well, you know life goes on You'll get over it. You'll see you know and and and and now looking back I can understand What he meant by that, you know that hey get over it, you know, just be patient You'll see life life will move on. This isn't the end of the world that you think it is You know, there's you're gonna come you're the you're gonna make the bend, you know, there's a bend around the river You're gonna make it and and there's it's gonna be smooth sailing for a while But life goes on and you know That's that's what we need to understand is that when we going through some diverse temptation Well, we're going through some trial or difficulty in our life Whatever it is is that life goes on and we should count it joy because we're gonna look back on that one day and Say wow, you know, I've become a more patient person because of that, you know I'll be perfectly honest and Frank is that I you know, you think I'm bad now I used to be a real hothead when I was younger. I used to get mad at just the dumbest things I remember one time this is something this was a key turning point in my life in my young life when I was like 21 or 22 years old I Went and I had this junky car like every other practically every other car I've ever owned And I this thing was breaking down on me and I remember I was just so frustrated I got out of the car and I just proceeded to kick the car. I'm kicking the fender I'm kicking all the one down one side back up the other just kicking this car Just letting out all my anger and my frustration what happened is I became very impatient I lost you know I wasn't counting it all joy that I was going to learn a new mechanical skill and how to make car repairs No, I was just blowing my top You know and I went off and then it dawned on me when I got done when I when I you know blew out all my steam and my leg was sore and I hurt my foot I Stepped back and the car was still broken But now it's full of dents And I realized something at that moment that didn't fix anything. It made everything worse because I became impatient You know, and I don't know what I'm going off on that for but what that has to do with the sermon But you know, I thought it was a good example of you know, we need to just learn that you know Rather than just losing our cool in life. We need to just understand we're gonna go through something and It's for our own good, you know now when there's a mechanical problem I'm not gonna say that there aren't every once in a while, you know some choice words that are used Right, but I'm it's when I'm trying to actually make the car repair, you know You're trying to get that nut out or that bolt out or whatever and now, you know, I've gone on I'm replacing sway bars and bushings and you know control arms and this and that I know did the tire front end in a car once practically, you know, and You know, but I wouldn't have gotten that if I had to become a more patient person, you know The impatient person just said well, you know, forget it just buy another car or whatever So we need to learn to be patient and Understand that when you're going through some trial some temptation when things aren't going you right in your life. They're going right for you That's an opportunity for you to become a more patient person to be a look back and say oh I've been through that You know and then when somebody else comes to you and says I'm doing that I got to go through this and I go through that and this and that you can do what my pastor did and say well Life goes on because you know that now that hey, I've been through that life does go on. You just need to be patient So That's why patient is so important because it's gonna get over it's gonna not it's gonna prevent life from robbing you of the joy that you can have that when we go through these trials and temptations that you know, we can we can We can actually rejoice in that because we know we're being made better for it go over to Romans chapter 5 Romans chapter 5. I Want to show us something here in Romans chapter 5? Romans chapter 5 and verse 3 it says this not only so but we glory in tribulations He didn't say we glory when tribulations are over He didn't say we glory when everything's calm and life's easy. That's not when Paul said we're glorying He said look we glory in tribulations in the midst of it while it's going on. That's when the glory is that's when we're Rejoicing when we're going through these difficult times Goes on and says knowing that tribulation worketh patience Say I'm going through some trial going through some difficulty life isn't easy great She glory because it's gonna make you a more patient person. It's gonna make you more understanding kind meek Humble patient that's gonna be able to instruct others also He says him and he says that knowing that tribulation worketh patience and patience experience and experience hope and Hope maketh not ashamed And hope maketh not ashamed because the love of God is spread abroad in our hearts go over to Romans chapter 12 Romans chapter 12, I'll begin in verse 9 It says let love be without dissimulation Abort that which is evil clean to that which is good be kindly affectionate one another with brotherly love and honor preferring one another Not slothful in business fervent in spirit serving the Lord rejoicing in hope patient in tribulation Again when it when are we to be patient in the tribulation? Not afters because tribulation is what's going to take to make us a patient person So that's why patience, you know is an important thing to have this morning because it's going to cut You know life is going to demand it of you if you're gonna move through this life with in without it just becoming Just this, you know drudgery the sob story that you're you're living out. You know, you're gonna have to develop patience and Patience is important because it's gonna help us get along with other people Patience is important because you know, it's it's something that's necessary to live the Christian life if you're gonna make it But you know patience is also important because it's what's going to make you fruitful in this life You know if we just go through life and all we're worried about is our circumstances and when is this gonna be over and all? We're ever focused on is how difficult things are, you know, that's gonna make us less fruitful We're not gonna we're not gonna be the fruitful Christians that we could be now If you good look over to Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter 8 Of course Luke chapter 8 is the parable of the sower Where Jesus talks about a sower that went forth to sow and he cast a seed where he would and some fell upon Stony places and some fell upon The Where was it the the byways and some of it fell upon good ground, right? That's what we're gonna look at here He said in verse verse 14 and that which fell among thorns Are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with the cares and the riches of this life and bring no fruit to perfection So that's good seed right and what's interesting about this parable is there's nothing wrong with the ground Itself the ground is capable of supporting life. I mean, that's what the thorns are growing in That's why all these these these other plants are there that are gonna choke out the word that's sown in his heart So the problem isn't the ground and it's not the scene It's the problem is that this person hasn't taken the time to get that out of there They haven't gone and weeded out their life of all the things that they need to get out That are gonna choke the word and what are those things those those vines that are growing up those thorns It's the cares and the riches and the pleasures of this life We get so caught up we get so entangled with the affairs of this life That you know, it'll choke it'll choke the word and we'll have no fruit But he on goes on verse 15 But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart having heard the word Keep it and bring forth fruit with what with patience You know, they understand like if you're gonna be fruitful in this Christian life. It's not gonna happen overnight You're not gonna just wake up tomorrow and be super Christian, you know It's gonna you know, it's line upon line here a little there a little, you know It says they that are that the Bible says that whom to whom shall he teach doctrine they that are drawn from the breast It's being weaned from the milk of the Word of God and moving on to the meat of the Word of God That's the person that's going to become fruitful. There's a person that's patient that's gonna stick in it That's gonna be there for the long haul that's going to be able to have the right attitude when they go through difficult times You know if you show me somebody who's very fruitful in their life a very knowledgeable Christian Somebody's winning a lot of souls is doing a lot of work for the Lord You show somebody some show me saw a fruitful man like that and I'll show you a very patient, man People are doing the most work that I know for the Lord that are getting the most done are also incredibly patient people with with with others So patience is important because it's going to make you fruitful in this life That's what you need. If you want to bear fruit in the Christian life, you need to have patience You need to to to run the race Because patience, you know, it's what keeps you focused on the work, you know, you're not going to get distracted by all these other things you're going to you're going to Not get distracted by the cares the riches and the pleasures of this of this world Because if you think about it, you know the impatient impatient people they do get easily distracted Because they're they're the type of person that wants to be distracted by the cares and the pleasures and the riches of this life And we're living in a culture that Panders to instant gratification. I want to be entertained now I don't want to have a moment's boredom, you know enter the smartphone enter any multitude of social media apps Where we can you know, we never we can we never even have to endure a moment of not being entertained anymore You know, we can just pull out the phone. We're entertained instantly gratified You know or or even we think about with like food, you know, there's food on every corner You know, we get the slightest twinge of hunger, you know, bam We're in the Taco Bell drive-thru and I'll say this if you're in Taco Bell down here. You're you're not, you know No way, you're right with God. You're Tucson people. Don't you be in no Taco Bell, right? All right. Anyway, this this message was not brought to you by Taco Bell but People that are impatient they're gonna get distracted very easily because they want to and there's a whole culture that's ready to just Indulge that for them So patient people they're gonna stay focused on the work, you know, they're gonna be you know I know that me, you know my wife was just telling me on the way down here about this marshmallow test with kids this book where They they did these these tests with children and they'd say look you can have one marshmallow now but if you wait to 20 minutes, you can have two and Then they they have all these analysis and everything about what kind of kid eats the one immediately It says a lot about what type of person you are, you know, like well, you know, I'm gonna eat the one now because You know, I don't I don't trust you, you know, you know Then they said that to that that kids that that didn't have a strong father figure or came from a broken home That the lady would say here's a marshmallow I'll be back in 20 minutes to give you another one if you wait and don't eat it They those kids would immediately eat it because they didn't trust that person was gonna come back to give them something else Which is heartbreaking. That's pretty sad But you know, that's the that that's the type of world that we're living in is that people are you know You know, the the patient person is gonna say I want two marshmallows, you know, and if it means I have to wait 20 minutes That's what I'm gonna do. But the impatient person says just give me that marshmallow now, you know, I don't care But they're not thinking about tomorrow. They're not worrying about down the road. They just want to be gratified right now They want the cares and the pleasures and the riches of this life. They're not worried about bringing forth fruit under perfection because That takes time that takes effort that takes energy that takes consistency To day in and day out live for the Lord read the Bible know the Bible go out Win souls, you know raise the family do everything that is involved at the Christian life takes time energy effort consistency and Impatient people have no they just don't want anything to do with that. They just want it now. They want everything right now And you know, the truth is is that anything that's worth having is worth waiting for Think about that if you want something bad enough you have to ask yourself well is it worth waiting for and if it's not worth waiting for then it's probably not worth having and anything that's worth having is Worth waiting for and there's another saying it says easy come easy go Right, why is it some people are never going to bring forth fruit with patience because everything came easy to them all the cares the Preasures and the riches of this life they come very easy But you know those things go just as easily too and then it's on to the next thing and on to the next thing So let me just conclude by you know saying this that you know patience isn't is important this morning and hopefully I'm making a case for it, you know, hopefully we're seeing that and It's proven by the fact that it's not something that's easily acquired in the scripture is it patience isn't us just waiting It's not you know, anybody can do that Anybody can go sit somewhere and just wait for something to end. That's not patience Patience is is something that's not easily acquired because patience is having the right attitude while you wait We should desire and we should pray for patience We should want that for our lives, but you need to understand something be careful what you wish for, right? That's what people say, but you know, I've Lord make me patient Lord help me to have patience Are you are you sure you want that? because the Lord will he will he'll give you every opportunity and It just might not be the way you think, you know, God's not just gonna download patience into your mind, you know It's not the matrix. You're just gonna plug in and wake up and like I'm patient, you know, I Know how to be patient now No, he's God's gonna say. All right. Well, let's put you through a trial. Let's put you through a tribulation Let's put you through some temptations Let's bring some difficult circumstances in your life and let's try your patience and then when you get done with it Then you can have joy You know the few times that somebody's openly accused me of being patient and this has happened People said you know brother Corbin you're a patient person Now they said that not me Okay So you could take it up with them if you disagree But the few times that such an accusation has been leveled against me It's been when they've observed me during stressful situations, you know such as these these soul-winning trips now, don't get me wrong I'm glad for the soul-winning trips But when you're taking large groups of people to strange towns You've never been in and they're every you know They're their room and board is your responsibility and their productivity is your responsibility You're planning out their whole day and everywhere they're going and everything that comes up is is on you right That can try your patience parents know what I'm talking about Parents who've had kids for any length of time know that you know The first the fifth or sixth time the kid asked that same question over and over again You know, the patience is tried all the time, right? But that's that's when someone's you know, the point being is that's when that's how you acquire patience is by going through difficult circumstances That's how we find out if you really are a patient person Now when everything's great and easy and smooth sailing it's when you're going through that tough turbulent time in your life you know, that's when we see what we're really made of and I know I said I'm closing but go over to one more passage go to Colossians chapter 1 Colossians chapter 1 The Bible says in 2nd Corinthians 6, I'll just read you give no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed But all things approving yourselves as the ministers of God in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tomelets and labors and watchings and fastings He's saying look you you want to approve Yourself as the minister of God in much patience and then he lists all these other things that none of them are positive None of them are pleasant afflictions necessities distresses stripes and prisms To molt's labors watchings fastings and he's saying look you're going to you're going to You're going to approve yourself as the minister of God when you go through these things Because here's the thing an unproven patience is an unknown patience You very well may be a patient person this morning, but we'll never know that until we see you go through that You'll never know that about yourself until you actually go through something like that That's when you find out how patient you really are Is when you have to go through some of these afflictions and necessities and so forth? And here's the thing about patients say well, you know, you convinced me. I want to be a come a patient person this morning I want to work on that. Well, it's not something like I said, it's just going to come naturally it's something that has to be pursued you have to determine that you're going to be a patient person and You know so often for myself That's when I realize how impatient I really am As I say I'm gonna work on being a more patient person then I begin to realize immediately how impatient I really am Like wow, I'm an impatient person. I need to work on this The Bible says in 1st Timothy 6 thou man of God flee these things follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience So you have to follow after it you have to pursue patience He said give all diligence add to your faith virtue into virtue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience It's something that's added to your faith. It's something that's pursued In your faith, it's not just you know, just something that's just gonna manifest itself in your life And if you're gonna pursue patience, it's gonna take you through tribulations. It's gonna take you through distresses because that's where it's acquired So, of course, you know pray that God would grant you patience because again, it's necessary We got to have it if we're gonna make it pray that God would grant you patience But understand how that prayer is going to be answered It's going to be by creating an opportunity to test that patience look at Colossians chapter 1 verse 9 for this cause We all for this cause we also since the day we heard of it heard it Do not cease to pray for you and desire that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will and all wisdom and spiritual Understanding that you might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God Strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long-suffering and with joyfulness So why is patience important this morning? Well, because it's a necessary attribute that allows us to benefit others Around us helps us to get along. It allows us to bear fruit in our own lives spiritually and you know It's something that's going to be required patience is going to be required for us to Make it through the trials and tribulations that come not only in life itself but at life as a Christian trying to live a Christian life and Patience is important this morning because without patience. We're never going to know true joy I mean that we're gonna if we really want to know what what what true joy is life We're going to have to develop patience because it's often when we come out on the other side of those tribulations That we experience the most joy. Let's go ahead and pray