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Take our Bibles once again and go back to Numbers chapter 14. This time I'll read it to you with an Aussie accent so you guys can understand it. But uh Numbers chapter 14. As you're tuning there I'm just going to read to you quickly from Galatians chapter 5 verse 22. Once again it says, but the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, and what are we up to this time? We're up to the fourth series on the fruits of the Spirit. Long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law. So we're up to the topic of long suffering. What does it mean to be long suffering? That's a long word. It's a long word. It's got a long suffering in it. What does it mean? I think the definition can be found within that that same word there. But let's just have a look at Numbers 14 once again. We read through that. Numbers 14 verse 18. You see when you look up the the phrase long suffering, the the one in the Bible who has this attribute you know given to them time and time again is our Lord God. You see our Lord is a God who is long suffering. Thank God for that. Okay because if we if we are just honest with ourselves we are deserving of death. We are deserving of eternal judgment, eternal hellfire. But it's because of the long suffering of God that we can be called the children of God. Now let's have a look at this Numbers 14 verse 18. These are words of Moses to God. All right and he says to God, he says, the Lord is long suffering. He's reminding the Lord, Lord you're long suffering. He says, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Just a reminder there that the sins we commit in our generation can have lasting effects on the generations to come. You know we need to be mindful as parents about the sins we we commit in our lives but that's not so much a topic today. Right now the topic is about the long suffering of the Lord. Now I just want you to backtrack there. Look at verse number 17 and sorry I should say the title of the sermon tonight is the Lord is long suffering. Okay those first four words there in in verse 18. The Lord is long suffering. But just backtrack to verse 17. This is of course Moses speaking to to the Lord and as you if you were paying attention to that chapter reading we once again saw the Israelites rise in rebellion again against the Lord. Rising and murmuring against the Lord. You know why have you brought us out here complaining to Moses thinking that God had brought them to the wilderness to kill them to slay them and it angered the Lord. It angered to see the rebellion of his people. Okay and the Lord just tells Moses look I'm just going to wipe them out. You know they've gone too far. It's time to wipe them out. It's time to start again. You know I'll bring forth a new nation coming through you Moses. You know I'll use you Moses and we'll establish a new nation through your loins through your generations. And it's interesting you know we see the anger of the Lord and then we see Moses and by the way Moses is a great picture of an Old Testament pastor. You know he pastored the church in the wilderness you know and we see the long suffering of Moses play out as well. And he goes and he beseeches the Lord. He goes and begs the Lord and here in verse number 17 he says you know and now I beseech thee Lord listen to me you know let the power of my Lord be great according as thou has spoken saying. So how does Moses appease the Lord? You know it's always made me have you ever wondered you know God's about to wipe out Israel. You know how could Moses have you know changed the heart of God to not destroy them after all? What does Moses do? Do you notice what he did there in verse number 17? He says Lord you said these words. You see the Lord is bound by his word. If you want to know the Lord God we've got the word of God right here in our King James Bible. You see we know that our Lord God keeps his promises. He keeps his word. He does not go back on his word. He does not go back on his promises and that's what Moses is counting on. He says Lord you know he's not saying Lord you should be long suffering. He says Lord you told me in verse 17 remember you told me you were long suffering. You know you need to be more merciful to these people. If we just drop down to verse 19 he says Moses says to the Lord pardon you know I beseech thee the iniquity of these people according to the greatness of thy mercy as thou has forgiven this people from Egypt even until now and the Lord said I have pardoned according to thy word but as truly as I live all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. Now if you're curious just um yeah what actually you can turn there. You can go to Exodus 34 now. Go to Exodus 34 verse 5. Exodus 34 verse 5. Just to show you that Moses memorized the scriptures. You know Moses memorized what God had said to Israel and he brings that word before the Lord. You know and like this is what we need to remember sometimes and if you're like me you're going to go through this when you've sinned against the Lord. When you're going through a difficult time spiritually and you're ashamed for your sins you might be you know just too ashamed to go before the Lord and seek his forgiveness. You know you might be too ashamed to go and seek you know his mercy you know but here's the thing we've got the the words of the Lord and he promises us if we go and confess our sins to him that he will do that. If we just ask for forgiveness he will cleanse us from all our unrighteousness and we can have great fellowship with the Lord. Hey we can take that promise of the word of God and bring that to the Lord. Even when we feel inadequate we know that the Lord will stand by his word we know he'll stand by his promises. Look at Exodus 34 verse 5. This is after Moses creates the stone tablets with the 10 commandments. It says and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgressions and sin and the will by no means clear the guilty visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and upon the children's children unto the third and to the fourth generation. So I just wanted to bring you there and show you these were the words of God right and Moses memorized this scripture he knew the promises of God and when God you know was you know taken up in his wrath he was going to bring you know the his curse upon Israel Moses appeals to that word. Moses appeals to long suffering of God. You see our God is a God that is long suffering. Now what I get to do guys is go to 2 Peter chapter 3. Go to 2 Peter chapter 3 and I just want to show you a few examples of how this attribute of long suffering is commonly given to our Lord God. But I'm going to read to you from Psalm 86 while you're turning there Psalm 86 verse 15 it says but thou oh Lord art a God full of compassion and gracious long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth you'll often see these same words coupled together with long suffering compassion gracious mercy okay because you must have these qualities in your life in order for you to be long suffering toward others okay but but one thing I want you to notice this is something specific about the Lord there's a reason why this is called a fruit of the spirit because the natural man has no capacity to be long suffering no capacity whatsoever it must come from the spirit of God it must come by you walking after the spirit and allowing the Holy Spirit to work in your life you guys are in 2 Peter chapter 3 look at verse 15 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 why is the long suffering of God so important you know why is it yes so he doesn't destroy us but most of all I guess the most important part for us is that we remember it's by the long suffering of God that we can even have salvation look at that in 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 15 it says and accounts that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation you see the reason you have salvation is because of his long suffering because he's he's you know he's seeing you in a position of a sinful creature someone who deliberately goes and breaks the laws of God someone who has your own pride and your own will you know disobeying the Lord and yet he puts up with it you know and and thank God for those of you that are saved you know that he was able to send someone a soul winner to you to preach the gospel you know and you believed and thank God for that long suffering otherwise you wouldn't have these opportunities that you did have to believe in the Lord God and if you guys can just drop to verse number nine drop down to verse number nine just once again it says the Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us word not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance you see in order for you to be a soul winner in order for you to have a passion for the lost community here on the Sunshine Coast you must develop long suffering as well and notice that it says but is long suffering to us word you see long suffering is something is a is an attribute of relationship with another person okay from the Lord to us but then from us to other people and I'm going to read to you very quickly from Romans 2 verse 4 it says or despise us thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and long suffering hey that's another word that's very similar forbearance you know bearing bearing uh you know our trials bearing difficulties and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance so it's such an important attribute guys the reason we're saved we can count it based on the long suffering of God now something very important for you to turn to is first timothy chapter one please first timothy chapter one verse 15 because you see it's great to acknowledge that the Lord is long suffering but he wants to develop this fruit in your life okay and it's one of the hard ones i reckon out of all the fruits of the spirit i would say long suffering is one of the toughest ones to to uh to do well at okay and we'll see why okay first tim first timothy chapter one verse 15 first timothy chapter one verse 15 you see the apostle paul is a prime example of the long suffering of God a really great example and it's it's it's uh said here in verse 15 this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world sinners of whom i am chief what does paul say about himself he says look out of all the sinners in the world i am chief i am the worst you see paul just was able to see his condition and we know what paul was like don't we we know that he was persecuting the church of God we know that he hated the name of Christ we know that he saw the follower the Christians the followers of Christ as this cult that he had to destroy that he had to trample down okay he hated christianity as it were and that's why he calls himself a chief of sinners but let's keep reading verse number 16 how be it for this cause i obtained mercy that in me first jesus christ might show forth all long suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting you see we need to be a mindful that god was long suffering with paul someone who hated the church of god someone who persecuted his believers someone who persecuted the children of god and this is why i'm very cautious we've thrown the label reprobates around okay because let's be honest i mean if we had a pool right now on the sunshine coast you know causing believers to be put in jail you know trying to destroy us trying to destroy our church it would be very tempting to say man this guy's a reprobate i mean look at him he hates the lord he hates these things but you know what he's an excellent example of someone who god was was long suffering with you know we need to remember you know not to give up on our loved ones you know you may have given them the gospel our friends our family you know people that you really care about you know and i hear stories where you say man i've been given this person the gospel time and time again in fact i'm just reminded this morning i was i was speaking to a friend of mine whose father passed away and i i said to him you know it must have been sad because you know you knew he was not saved and he goes no no i have hope you know i have all these years you know i was giving him the gospel i was i was showing him you know i was trying to get him away from the roman catholic church and time and time again he would reject it he would reject the gospel reject the gospel he goes but one day you know he was reading his bible and he said to me you know it's by faith isn't it it's just by believing and he's like yes it is and he's like well then i'm saved you know can i go to church and get baptized now you know so he had this hope and you see some people give up on their families way too early sometimes you need you know you need time to hear the gospel sometimes it take it's not just believe in the gospel but quite often it's letting go of what you used to know the deception that you used to have you know it takes time for people to let that go in order to fully understand and appreciate the gospel at hand you know we've been we've got to be careful not to just throw everybody under the reprobate bus i'm sure we would have done that to paul if he was around today all right now of course i'm not trying to excuse there definitely are people that are reprobates but we should make sure that we keep it within the scriptural parameters that we have in the bible all right now one thing you i want you to notice there it's not just that paul is an example of long suffering of salvation but that he himself is an example he says there in verse 16 for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting you see paul was not just an example of the long suffering of the lord but he was also an example of a long suffering of a believer okay it's almost like god gave him so much you know so so patient with paul and paul just appreciated it so much and then he was able to show forth that long suffering with others because we know the persecution that he faced and i won't get you guys to turn there i'll just read it very quickly second corinthians 11 23 just again when an example of the sufferings of paul second corinthians 11 23 it says but they ministers of christ i speak as a fool i am all in labors more abundant in stripes above measure in prisons more frequent in depths that deaths oft of the jews five times received i 40 stripes save one thrice was i beaten with rods once i was stoned thrice i suffered shipwreck at a night and a day i have been in the deep in journeys often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of my known countrymen in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wilderness in perils in the sea in perils among false brethren in weariness in painfulness in watchings often in hunger and thirst in fastings often in cold and nakedness beside those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily the care of all the churches so this is look you know we have this great example of paul you know who appreciates the long suffering of god and then he's able to apply that in his own life we see this was a fruit that paul developed in his life and even through all the trials and difficulties that he went through hey he suffered long didn't he and he says it's not just the sufferings of the physical body but also the care of all the churches that were put upon him and we know obviously that he was an apostle to to many of the churches in the new testament period there but i want you to now think about what does it mean if we want to be people that are long suffering we need to develop this fruit in our lives through the work of the holy ghost what does it mean what does long suffering mean and i think it's quite simple i mean it's kind of defining the word itself it means to suffer long doesn't it it means to suffer long now when you think about the word suffer in the bible in our king james bible quite often there's two definitions and it's interesting because in in the phrase long suffering both these definitions kind of make sense under under the under the under the scope of long suffering so for example to suffer you know the most common application of that that word is to to feel pain or to bear pain right when you're suffering you're feeling that pain all right but then we also have the word suffer like when christ said you know suffer the little children you know what was he saying let the children bear pain you know of course not he was saying allow the little children allow the little children to come unto me okay so we have these two definitions of the word suffer but in some way some ways the term the word long suffering both of these definitions apply both of these definitions apply you see because uh suffer means to allow and that's what it means it's to allow others to cause you to suffer you know it's allowing others to bring some pain upon you and suffering long bearing that okay not you know not uh not being someone that is you know impatient not someone that flies off your you know of your rocker you know but but forbearing long with other people this is why it's so hard because when someone does wrong to us immediately the flesh just wants revenge immediately the the flesh wants to destroy that person you know especially if you've been treated unfairly you know unrighteously or some enemy has come against you but you see we were all enemies of god at some point when we were unsaved you know and once again just a reminder you know god could have just wiped us out you know just like he was desiring to wipe out israel in the passage that we read and yet we see that with his long suffering who's able to bear bear well with it it's such an important quality to have because it's going to keep you grounded in life it's it's not going to get you to overreact and it's going to bring peace in your life it's going to bring a lot of peace in your life if you can be someone that suffers long now um another word that's commonly used for long suffering is the word patience okay so if you if you look wanting to study this out you know look up the word patience in your bible in fact a lot of the modern version i'm not supporting the modern versions but a lot of the modern versions change in the fruits of the spirit from long suffering to patience okay and uh you know they are very similar words you cannot suffer long unless you have patience you know those two things go hand in hand but you see the term long suffering is a much harder word it's a much harder word than patience and i can give you an example you know just today just today i had to take six of my kids to the dentist okay so they they got a checkup they got a clean so i'm sitting there you know one one goes and then another one going and another one i'm thinking man i've got to get home i'm going to prepare a sermon for tonight you know but was i was i suffering you know what was i was i suffering long you know was i bearing pain i mean if anyone was bearing pain it was probably my kids you know with the drills and stuff that was going into their mouth but you know no no you know but i had to be patient you know i had to be patient but hey i was in in you know in an air-conditioned you know place you know i was sitting down i had my phone i was thinking about the sermon tonight you know i i i i had patience but i didn't really need long suffering i wasn't bearing with pain you know it wasn't something that was difficult for me to just sit there and wait for six children to have their dental dental work done and so you see long suffering is more than patience it's patient it's being patient with pain it's being patient with other people that are wronging you tribulation that has come your way that's why it's so hard patience in of itself is kind of hard but what about if you have to be patient and suffer at the same time so much harder i mean i've had people say you know i'm just not a patient person if you're not a patient person you're definitely not going to be long suffering okay you're definitely not going to be able to uh bring that forth that fruit and that's why you need the holy ghost you need to ask the lord to help develop this into your life can you guys please go to ephesians chapter four ephesians chapter four you see forbearance or long suffering is necessary for us to have peace in our church to have peace with other people but especially with our church all right because we spend time together not only in the church service we fellowship with one another and i've mentioned this before we all have different backgrounds we're all at different places in our spiritual walk you know and sometimes it's tempting to look at other believers in the church and say wow look they're really failing this area of life why aren't they a bit more like me you know and that can cause problems that can cause divisions you know within the church but look at ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 paul writes i therefore the prisoner of the lord and i i love how he just does that because he's like by the way guys i'm in prison right if i can suffer along with you and with other people in the church while in prison how much more you that's kind of the idea that right i therefore the prisoner of the lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called you see we need to be counted worthy in our spiritual walk the lord desires that we would walk after our calling verse number two how do we walk he says with all loneliness and meekness meekness is another fruit of the spirit but again like i said to you guys a lot of these things overlap we've all loneliness and meekness with long suffering and now he says it another way forbearing one another in love hey you're gonna in church you have to bear with one another say why man this is this is meant to be a believer we're meant to be able to get along we have all these things in common we're like-minded in faith why would i ever have to get to a position when i have to put up with other people if you think that you've not spent time with people right if you think if you think that you know being gathered together with with other people is not gonna there's not going to be conflict and strain it's always going to happen and paul knows this but see we need to forbear one another in love we need to have long suffering look at verse number three endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace how do we make sure that this is the church of peace how do we make sure that there's peace within the brethren it says we have to endeavor endeavoring it's something we need to strive to do it doesn't come naturally okay it requires work it requires you to suffer long with others okay be patient with others you know instruct others in love so they can grow and mature give people time i mean how much time has god given you you know how much time did god give you to be saved and you say well i got saved at a young age all right well how much time has god given you to mature and to grow and to be more like christ and he's still forbearing with you okay i'm sure there's a lot of chastisement that i've i probably should have had by the lord but because of his forbearance because of his long suffering you know he's he's allowed me to work through that before he's brought down that you know that that rod of chastisement i'm sure it happens now here's the thing one thing that i've and maybe this is just me but when i think it's just me i'm reminded that we're made of the same flesh and blood so it's probably the same for all of us but one thing i've noticed about myself and i'm just being honest you know i'll tell you one of my sins is that i've realized that i'm not very i don't i don't suffer long with the people that i'm closest to you know my family my wife my kids you know more more often than not i'm more patient you know i suffer long with strangers you know with other people my work colleagues friends things like that and i'm i'm i'm probably expecting a lot of you are kind of the same and especially with kids you know you give them instruction and they don't carry through what you've asked of them exactly how you intended you know and and you know you might it might cause you to get upset with them might cause you to get angry you know but you see if you're going to be a teacher if you're going to have authority over people you have to develop the skill of long suffering okay and if you're a parent you're a teacher you're teaching children to become adults you teach them to be christian to be lovers of the lord and lovers of the word of god you know and we need to make sure that as parents we suffer long with our children you know especially kids get to a certain age and i'm sure you've experienced this where it's like they ask every question you know every little question you know why is the sky blue you know why is the tree green you know like oh man i need to ask yes answer the questions you know suffer long you know their minds are like a sponge and they're ready to learn and the lord has given you those little minds so you can influence them you know so you can instruct them in the ways of the lord hey if you're not going to teach your children someone else is okay it's going to be the world it's going to be the tv it's going to be the public school system it's going to be their non-christian friends non-christian relatives if you don't give them the answers if you don't be patient with your kids they're going to learn it from someone else okay it might as well come from you it might as well come from you okay because you're going to make sure with you who love them the most you're going to make sure that they receive the best instruction hey we need to learn to be long suffering with our family members with our wives with our husbands with our children please turn to luke 17 luke 17 luke 17 verse 3 long suffering is a necessity for forgiveness okay in order for you to be able to forgive somebody for the wrong that they've done in your life you need to be long suffering and i'm just reminded and i know we've already covered this while we're going through the book of luke but just as a reminder luke 17 verse 3 it says take heed to yourselves jesus speaking to his disciples if thy brother trespass against thee rebuke him and if we repent forgive him and if he trespass against thee seven times in a day and seven times in a day turn again to thee saying i repent thou shalt forgive him and the apostles also said sorry and the apostles said unto the lord increase our faith how can i forgive my brother seven times in a day if he wrongs me again and again and again all in the one day they were seeking for an increase in their faith you see what jesus christ even though the word's not used here what jesus christ was teaching is long suffering to the brethren long suffering to those that do you wrong and come and ask for forgiveness hey be ready to forgive others you won't be able to forgive people look you you i'm sure you've done this because i've done this when someone's wronged you they've said sorry and you've accepted the apology by word but not in your heart by word you said yep that's fine i accept it but you're still bitter you're still bitter against them for what they've done hey that's wrong that's wrong the bible says here that if they ask and they apologize forgive them and they do it again what do you do and they and they ask they repent once again you forgive them again you do it seven times in a day you do it again and again you and look we need the lord to increase our faith in order for for us to bear well with others you know the lord just asks us to suffer a little bit to put up with some pain from other people you know put up with i won't go through some examples but i'm sure you guys can think of examples in your life where you've lost patience with people you know it's not that they were wicked it's not that we're necessarily trying to hurt you or annoy you it's just that because you're lacking long suffering you know you've got an bitterness in your heart toward other people no you know what god has shown long suffering to us we should do the same to our fellow brethren can you guys please turn to romans chapter 5 romans chapter 5 verse 3 romans chapter 5 verse 3 and this is one of my favorite portions of scripture i've preached from it before but the question always is how do i gain this patience how can i be patient and we're going to see the word patience here but again like i said you can't forbear or you can't suffer long unless you have patience first okay so how do we develop patience in our life romans 5 verse 3 has the answer and you see it's not easy look what it says and not only so but we glory it's so hard but we glory in tribulations also when's the last time you've gloried in tribulation i'm sure you've gone through tribulation i mean let's just think about this like think about the the latest tribulation you've gone through the the latest trials you've gone through can you honestly say that during those tribulations i was glorying i was joyful i was rejoicing i hope you can say yes because if you can say yes then you're mature in the lord you know you've developed this fruit of the spirit into your life but i think quite often we'll say no you know no we uh we complained we were like the israelites of old we murmured we complained you know we asked the lord why is this happening you know we were downcast we were depressed instead of glorying in the tribulation that came and then let's keep reading there verse number uh sorry yeah verse number three the end of verse number three knowing that tribulation worketh patience you see sometimes the lord allows you go through tribulation just so you can learn some patience just so you can develop patience in your life okay and he said i don't want i don't want to go through tribulation well how else are you going to get patience okay let's keep reading and verse number four and patience experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed because the love of god is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy ghost which is given unto us you see you need to experience hardships in your life in order for you to learn patience you know the reason why the apostle paul had so much patience why he was long suffering through his ministry in the lord is because he suffered so much tribulation himself he gained experience you know and he rejoiced he rejoiced in the trials knowing that it was for the name of the lord knowing that he stood up for the lord knowing that he was applying you know uh laying up treasures in heaven that's what his mindset was the winning of souls are laying up treasures his mindset was eternity not just the tribulations that come in this temporal life i'm going to read to you quickly you don't need to turn the colossians 1 11 it says strengthened with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness with joyfulness okay now you might say you know what i'm someone that has gone through a lot of trials i've gone through a lot of tribulation why do i not have patience why am i not long suffering even though i've gone through trials and tribulation because you see it's not just going through trials but it's going through trials with joy it's going through trials with joy that'll work patience in your life that'll cause you to suffer long in your life to forbear with others you know you might be going through longer tribulation than you need to because instead of being joyful about it you're downcast you're murmuring you're complaining and the lord's like well i'll keep you there until you can find joy in your tribulation and we can find joy in your tribulation that's when you'll be able to long suffer that's when you'll have the patience that you need to develop so look guys when you go through trials and difficulties rejoice the lord wants you to work on patience and if you can get that patience down we saw the world then it's experience and then it's uh what was it experience hope and then the lord that makes you know he's developing you maturing you so you would not be ashamed for the cause of christ and it's helping you strengthen your spirit strengthen that inner man inside of you by developing this fruit of the spirit you know in pastors you know if you ever have a desire to be a pastor a church leader pastors need to just like we saw with moses pastors must be people with long suffering like i said you know i'm i think i'm pretty good at it i think all right but i do struggle a little bit with my family you know and i need to work on that okay you know because i guess sometimes you have a higher standard with your own family a higher standard of your own children you know than you do with others but you know i need to remember that you know my family comes first you know my family is my ministry without my family i do not have a ministry you know but hey as a pastor we need to learn or if you have a desire to be a pastor you know you need to learn long suffering uh where are you guys are you guys in romans can you just okay just go back to uh let's go yeah go to second timothy please second timothy chapter four verse two second timothy chapter four verse two this is an instruction to pastors preach the word yep got that one locked in preaching the word be instant in season out of season you know just just preach it regardless if it's in fashion or not if it's in season just do so reprove rebuke hey i love that i love to call out sin right i love to rebuke the false prophets and to rebuke you know sinful ways and and to you know teach people the commandments of god awesome then it says exhort what does it mean to exhort so we need to build up okay build up believers don't just tear them down when they're sinners but then build them up in love right says here exhort look how we've all long suffering and doctrine you see it's not just doctrine that needs to be preached a pastor is more than just someone that gets behind the pulpit and preaches doctrine he needs to be someone that can suffer long that can bear well with others that can be patient with others you know and like i said sometimes with your children you know you get frustrated because you give them direction and they might even do it but they don't do it to you know the level you're expecting to do and you know you can get frustrated but really what should happen is you should bring your children and teach them hey you have not done that right this is where you've you know this is where you where you're lacking and we've loved we've we've forbear and we've long suffered instruct them to do what's right you know and it's the same as a pastor you know the pastor is to look out for the souls of the people here you know and sometimes you know i might i might get frustrated because i see something happen right but then i need to be reminded hey no i need to be long suffering i need to teach with doctrine i need to remind people the fundamentals of the faith you know we need to go back sometimes and and and you know lock in certain doctrines lock in certain truths lock in certain characteristics that we should have as christians you know and it's an important quality for a pastor to have now there is something else i want to talk about when it comes to the long suffering i've pretty much covered and i hope you guys realize just how important it is but you see long suffering is not only for us to see the love of god but it also serves to see his wrath okay so we need to make sure that when we think about god you know yes he's a god of love we know that but he's also a god of wrath and his long suffering plays a part in this all right let's have a look at this if you guys can uh i'll get you guys to go to first peter chapter three first peter chapter three verse 20 first peter chapter three verse 20 and uh we know that the lord's going to destroy this earth you know it's coming the day's coming but we also know that in the past he also destroyed the earth remember how he did it he did it with a flood in the days of noah you guys remember that let's have a look at this first peter chapter 3 verse 20 first peter chapter 3 verse 20 it says here which sometime were disobedience when once the long sufferings of god waited in the days of noah while the ark was a was preparing wherein few that his eight souls were saved by water now notice that notice here that it's talking about the days of noah and that the lord was long suffering during these days and well how did he destroy the earth by a flood by water right he destroyed everyone that was outside of that ark you say well how long suffering was god well how long did it take noah to build that ark does anyone remember it's 120 years 120 years you know the world was already wicked god had already decided it's i've got to destroy this earth you know i've got to destroy all living things but thank god you know noah found found grace in the eyes of the lord you know noah and his family and he instructs noah you need to go and build that ark and he does but it takes him 120 years i mean can you imagine the lord seeing the wickedness of this world of the world day in day out for 120 years until noah finished off that ark we see two things there we see the love of god that he waited for noah to be finished okay we wait he waited for noah to be safe before he pulled out his wrath that's a great thing but we also see see the long suffering how every day was the wicked you know uh cause the lord to get angry you know and this is why the lord forebears with the wicked because he allows the wrath of god to be built up and on the day of his judgment the day of his wrath it comes down like a ton of bricks you know when god pulls out his wrath it's not just a little it's the entire portion it's the entire portion why because he was long suffering to begin with okay and we know also that no was a preacher of righteousness so god did instruct noah to preach to get them right with the lord he gave them time 120 years hey we talk about the sunshine coast being not receptive imagine preaching for 120 years and no one getting saved all right no one getting on the ark with you except the animals right i mean that that was an unreceptive place all right at that time no wonder god had to destroy the earth but we see how long suffering plays a part in the wrath of god i'll get you guys to turn to colossians chapter 3 colossians chapter 3 and while you're turning there i'm just going to read to you from romans 9 22 it says what if god willing to show his wrath and to make his power known and due to much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction you see the lord wants his wrath to be known he wants the power of god to be known okay and part of that is not just the expression of his love part of that is the expression of his wrath you know to show the world his holiness to show the world that he is without sin that there is no darkness in him in him at all that when people are wicked you know he he pours out his wrath but he he takes his time with his long suffering he allows the the vessels of wrath to be filled up so he can pour it down and destroy the wicked this is the truth of the god we worship you know make sure you always have the balance the love the wrath but both places you know it's built up by long suffering you know long suffering plays a part in the love of god as well as the wrath of god make sure you're on the side of the love of god make sure you're on the side where you come to repentance you acknowledge jesus as your only savior and you believe on him that you realize that it's by faith alone and without the deeds of the law and when you've done that you can rejoice in the in the long suffering of the lord but can you imagine if you you face the wrath of god and you've allowed all the sins all the weakness of your life build up and the lord's been patient the lord's given you time but as he's given you time his wrath has built up time and time and time again till he casts you into that lake of fire i mean i don't want to be there you know we don't want our loved ones to be there that's why it's so important for us to get that gospel message out you know to to our friends family and to our community so let's just wrap it up now guys um colossians chapter 3 verse 12 let's just finish on this instruction by paul he says put on therefore see you need to put it on it's not natural you need to actually make an effort to put this on put on therefore as the elect of god holy and beloved vows of mercies kindness humbleness of mind meekness long suffering now again look at this verse 13 forbearing one another that's what it means to suffer along with others to forbear one another and forgiving one another you see like i said the only way you can forgive each other is by suffering along with them okay and then it says look if any man have a quarrel against any even as christ forgave you so also do ye i love that how much should you forbear okay how much should you long suffer how much should you forgive as much as god has forgiven you as much as god has been long suffering to you okay that's how you should treat your fellow brothers in the lord so we can make sure we have peace uh in this church and look this is a great this is a great fruit of the spirit to develop in your life it's a great one okay it's going to cause you to have peace you know in your life rather than being frustrated being flustered every time someone annoys you you'll be like you know what i'm just going to suffer along with this person i'm going to exhort this person i'm going to forgive this person it's going to get you through life and have you know life more a life with much more joy you know a life with much more abundance you know as you walk in the spirit of the lord let's pray