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Now the title of my sermon this morning comes there from verse 36 where the Bible reads for he had compassion of my bonds He had compassion of my bonds that took joyfully the spoiling of your goods knowing yourselves that you have and having a better and an enduring substance Cast not away therefore your confidence Which hath great recompense of reward for you have need of patience that after you have done the will of God You might receive the promise verse 36 where the Bible says for you have need of patience That is the title of the sermon this morning That's which is the necessity of patience see the bottom the Bible is very clear that there is there that patience is something that we? Absolutely must have in our lives. This is just one example. There's many many verses in the New Testament That speak they use the word Patience over and over again, and it's a very important thing that an attribute that we have must have in our lives We're going to if we're going to make it through our Christian life with success See the the point of the sermon this morning is that we understand the importance of patience we understand what? Patience is and we also understand how important it is to be patient now one of the one of the reasons we need to understand the importance of this is that God commands us to be patient in The New Testament, and it's essential that we that we have patience if we're going to endure to the end through our Christian life because the Christian life is a life of Trials and afflictions and persecutions if we're going to live a truly though as the Bible says all day that will live in Godly Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution It's not it's not a maybe or if if we're going to live by the word of God if we're going to have biblical standards if We're going to take a biblical stand in this world, and we're going to be vocal about what we believe the Bible guarantees the fact that we are going to suffer persecution in this world And that's why it's so important that we have patience and understand what patience is and I believe that's why God Commands us to have patience because he knows that's something that we need to have in our lives if we're going to serve him for the long haul now Every nobody nobody here would obviously ever say that they want to shipwreck their faith No one would ever raise their hand say yeah, that's something I want to do Everybody It who gets into the into serving God or living for God or gets in the church They they want to make it for the long haul there are people that that I have to everybody starts out with that intention But I've seen a lot of people fall out You know and not just because of sin or being cast out or anything like that But people just we have this natural tendency where we just want to fall away from the faith, and if we're not careful That's what happens to us We can always we can be tempted with that there can be seasons of doubt in our life Where we doubt the things of God and if the if the situation is just right you know and we're one of those down moments You know the devil the accuser the adversary could come against us, and we can find ourselves You know not living for God one day because we weren't able to endure the afflictions and the trials and temptations that come into our lives Because we didn't have the patience that is necessary see nobody's going to volunteer to shipwreck their faith Nobody wants to do that and if that's the case with us if we want to make it for the long haul Then we have to be willing to practice the discipline of patience That's something that has to be a part of our life Now that word patient just patience what it means to be patient or be have patience What does that even mean today because I think you know it's a very deep subject and like I said there's many many verses When I went through the Bible just looked up all the words that used Patience or some variant of that word. I mean I had nine pages of notes It's all all all verses so it's something that this Bible talks about quite a bit So it's a deep subject, but it's a word that's not very commonly is it. I don't think is understood today I think when people say you need to be patient what they're thinking of is they have to be They have to be willing to wait That's a lot of people think and that is part part of what patient means it means to be willing to wait But it's far more than that it is especially in the scripture the Bible talks about patient being something that you do while you're enduring You know you endure Afflictions and trials that is patient, so we're going to see that and through the scripture here But patient is the quality of being patient as the bearing of provocation annoyance misfortune or pain without complaint Loss of temper irritation or the like so it's able to take you know something that annoys you or bothers you or causes you pain It's able to bear that it's able to bear the provocation That's the definition of it know a good example sit still a good example of that would be you know Some place where I really struggle with patients isn't traffic Yeah, I think that we all at some point probably that you know I started this job last December before I was working You know in a single location. I drove my own car to work You know I stayed on the campus there, but now I've since I started this new job several months ago I'm on the road every day. I mean I'm in a service truck every day I drive for hours every day I don't even want to think about how much driving I do But I remember when I got into I knew because I've done that kind of work before I knew when I got in that van That I was going to have to work on my patients And I knew that I was going to have because people out there the way they drive don't get me started Okay, don't even get me started. It's terrible right we all know we've all been in it. We've been happy especially in Phoenix You know it's just the worst so anyway, but the thing is when I? Even going into it knowing that that was going to be the case. I still struggled with it. I still find found myself you know Wanting to cut people off or you know are you gonna? Let me in all these things are experiencing that that lack of patience that lack of being able to bear the annoyance the misfortune The pain of driving you know without complaint now since then you know if you talk to my boss about I said You know what you just have to he said you just got to go in mindset knowing That's the way it's going to be on the road and once you once you understand that you know Did you kind of get over it, but there was that season there where I had to like? Reacculate to the fact that you know I'm gonna have to be patient with all these other people and their cell phones and everything else They do in the car Now the point I'm trying to make here is that you know we need to have peace That's a practical application of patients in our life But there's also a spiritual application Which is far more important far more important than being able to put up with somebody in traffic Is being able to put up with the trials and temptations that come into our life? so those are those are that's a major reason as why we need to be patient or have patience because there's One because of the the afflictions that we're going to endure in this life that the trials the persecutions that are come our way But even more than that you know that aside You know we need to learn to be patient people simply because of the fact That it is a command of God and if you would turn to 1st thessalonians chapter 5 you see being patient is a command of God it's not optional It's not something we can choose choose to do it's something that God commands us to do and as we just discussed you know for a very important reason that we beginning to see why we need to Have patience in this world Now first thessalonians chapter 5 verse 4 the Bible says now We exhort you brethren warn them that are unruly comfort the feeble-minded support the weak Be patient toward all men so we see right there that that's a command in Scripture be patient toward all men At 1st Timothy chapter 3 turn over there if you would 1st Timothy chapter 3 we're going to look at several scriptures real quick Just kind of perk us up. I know it's early in the morning. You know probably got our coffee down quite yet So we'll just crack our knuckles and turn through some scriptures real quick But 1st Timothy chapter 3 the Bible says a bishop thing must be Okay, there's a list of things that a bishop a man of God a person who desires the office of a bishop now This is a checklist this is something that a person's got to get down these are things that it's not Should be or kind of could be or at least we should see some semblance of these attributes in your life No, it says you must be Blameless the husband of one wife Vigilant sober of good behavior given hospitality after teach not given to wine not no striker not greedy a filthy lucre But patient not a brawler not a cup not coverage, so it's right there You know it says we got to be patient You know if we want to be a pastors or preachers one day if we're going to be a servants of the Lord we have To be patient It's interesting that it uses that right there in that context of not a brawler not coverages And if we're in the other the last verse of first Thessalonians 5 is to be patient toward all men even those that would provoke us you know even some people that would want to provoke us to the point of Physical altercation Bibles is that we must be patient if we're going to be a man of God first in the chapter 6 Just a few pages over The Bible says, but thou will man of God clean these things and follow after so here's another list of things That that Paul is exhorting Timothy to follow after righteousness godliness faith love patience meekness So again, you know we see that patience is a command of God these are just three verses go over to 2nd Timothy chapter 2 2nd Timothy 2 Verse 22 the Bible reads we also youthful lusts But follow righteousness faith charity peace with them that call the Lord out of a pure heart But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender stripes and a servant of the Lord Must again must not strive, but be gentle unto all men apt to teach Patient so again God is commanding this to be patient. I'll read for you Titus chapter 2 But I speak thou the things but speak thou the things which become sound doctrine that the aged men Be sober brave temperate sound and faith In charity and patience so the Bible again is commanding these men even men that are not even pastors It says the great the aged men the grave the temp to be grave and temperate to be patient So it's not just a command for the for the for the pastor the preacher It's a command for all of God's children You know the reason why God commands the pastor to be all these things why why God puts these qualifications on the man of God So that he can be an example to the flock so that others can look to and say hey I should emulate that man. I should be as he is I should follow him as he follows Christ And that's why I support for the for the the pastor be patient because God wants even the flock to be patient as well And the point of all reading all these verses and the first point we're making here is that is Understanding that patience is a command in Scripture patient being patient is not optional and that you know it sounds pretty You know ABC kind of one two three Real simple doctrine But the thing is people need to understand this because people make a lot of excuses as to why they're not patient You know they'll say things like well. I'm just bored up. You know. I'm Irish right you know well I'm Irish you know, but I don't get to just lean on that you know we're all the children of God though God you know that's that's your that's that's your you know heavenly line you gotta can't have these like These this hereditary excuse of like well. It's just it's passed down my mom was impatient my dad was impatient and therefore I am impatient. That's not an excuse with God There's no clause in the word of God where it says you know be patient unless of course you know You hail from such-and-such place, or you came up with such a background Then we understand that you get to be you know an obnoxious jerk No, the Bible is very clear that being patient is not optional the personality traits are not an excuse to disobey God's Word whether it be patience or any other thing you know anger Slothfulness whatever whatever it might be people would say well. That's just the way I am that's not excuse You see that's why because patience is a discipline and like any other discipline. It's something that is learned It's not inherited or passed down. It's something that can be taught to you by your parents It's something that you can learn from other people But it's not something that that it's still something that you have to discipline and put into your own life It's not something that you're just gonna. It's going to come to you naturally by osmosis You know I'm just gonna lay your head down on your pillow one day and wake up a patient person You're gonna have to go through certain things, and that's we're about to look at that here in a minute But that's why we have these trials and temptations come our life to give us patience now What are why is that so important? You know what are some practical examples of the need for patience? Well patience in the workplace is something that is really important. We need to have patience when we're at work You know I don't know what all lines of work everybody's in but in my line of work sometimes It can get it can get kind of frustrating because I deal with very sometimes very meticulous tiny little parts You know and I'm thinking a particular example from this last week. You know where I took down these two 400-pound glass doors It's I'm there for seven hours trying to get these doors to work again You know my wife calls me towards the end of the day hey the power just went out There's a storm blowing in and you know we got the doors back on everything's going great But you know this this tiny little screw decides to strip out and just totally you know and then it's like they gotta run on people you know Patience in the workplace is something that we need because if you know and no matter what line of work You're in you're gonna experience. You know they don't call it. They call it work for a reason because it's work, right? They don't call it. I'm gonna go to fun today. You know hey you come into fun You know if it was fun, and we'd all be doing it We'd probably be paying them to let us do it right So that's why we need to have patience at work because work is something that is often very difficult You have patience at work because if we lose our patience at work You know we can lose our focus so we can lose our concentration It's something we can become you know get that tunnel vision sometimes You know when you get to find yourself You know working on something sometimes the best thing to do I tell Sometimes we had a guy at work. That was really struggling with a really simple task You know and it wasn't that he couldn't do it It's just that he'd gotten so frustrated and so flustered and just so riled up by it That he'd lost his focus, and I showed up I said he's I have some good I said you just need to walk away for a few minutes You need to just go you know go drink some water cool down And come back and look at it with a fresh set of eyes, and you'll probably figure it out really quick And I know that's been true my own life. There's been times at work where I just that's so frustrated Especially with the heat right now. You know my wife were talking about when it gets hot It's really you know it's really easy to get annoyed when you're sitting in the back of a work van And it's a sauna and you got all this work to do and your boss is calling you done yet Well, how are you doing? Where's the guy you know it's really easy to lose your patience And but that the problem with that is that we will lose our focus And then we end up costing money because a loss of patience could result you know could be costly It could be costly in terms of time and money if somebody gets impatient with something something very expensive to get broken You could even lose your job Why because you lost your patience not just because you broke something very expensive or cost the company a great deal of money But that all stems from the fact that we just lost something as simple as we just lost our patience Another place that you know patience is very practical is in the home You know we need to practice patience with those that are in our own house when you practice patience with our spouses You know because it's not marriage is not just this continual honeymoon You know it has an ups and downs You know and there's times where we need to exercise great patience one towards another another place would be with our children You know children you know that people wonder why we have children well It's because God wanted to teach us patience know that because children will try your patience They really will because they it can become very easy I think of mothers who homeschool you know my own life And and the and the frustrations of trying to teach a child to do something that we take for granted because we already know it You know reading how hard is it to read well? How hard is it to learn to read more importantly how hard is to teach somebody else to read? Yeah, it's a very difficult thing We're kind of coming into a season in our own life where you know we're starting to homeschool our children Karen's getting a little older And she's starting you know it's getting real now you know homeschooling is actually taking up some serious work and effort and it's going to take a lot of patience to be Successful at it because children need to learn all these things and it's a difficult thing to do you know and Oftentimes we can if we have too high of the expectations for our children not saying that we should set the bar low But if we're looking for something our children are struggling in an area we can become impatient We can end up you know doing what the Bible calls you know provoking them to wrath You know we could end up frustrating them all because of the fact that we lost our patience Another area that we need patience is patience with other church members You know not just the people our co-workers or people out you know even on the freeway You know people just in the grocery line But even people in our own church and stuff in our own you know the makeup our spiritual Life people that are part of our our spiritual family or we need to have patience with younger Christians We need to have patience with worldly Christians We have patience with carnal Christians people who are coming into the church with sin and baggage in their lives You know they don't have they don't have it all together Maybe you know maybe it'd be really easy to become condescending and say hey man Why you know look at me? You know look how put together I am I got it all together And try to you know it become front easily become frustrated with those people like why aren't they getting it? Why aren't they you know? Why aren't they starting to take these these steps in the Christian life you know but people? We need to exercise patience towards with people and love them You know and I consider my it's real easy for me because I just think back to where I was when I first started out You know and how long it's and how patient people in my life were with me and allowed me to come up And I love what pastor Anderson's about says about you know he gave that example a few nights ago about The person that's heading in the right direction. You know as long as the person's point in the right direction You know we should we should get behind that person and help them as much as we can and be very patient towards that person There could be a lot of forgiveness a lot of grace a lot of mercy towards that person if they're headed in the right direction So that's just kind of the first point there. What are the practical applications of? Patients why do we need patients to see it in our own lives? What day-to-day things? Require patients of us and You know patience is a godly trait that we must exhibit it's a command of Scripture That's the first point that we looked at and now we've seen some of the reasons Why God commands us to be patient why it's a it's a command of God that we have Patience or long-suffering in our lives and a part of who we are because we need it for all these these practical applications Now the Bible says in a you go ahead and turn to Ephesians chapter 4 I'll read for me from an Exodus chapter 34 You see God is very patient. That's another reason why we should be patient with others because God is Bible says in Exodus 34 and the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and claimed the name of the Lord and the Lord passed by Before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious long-suffering in abundance and goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin That by no means will clearly guilty visiting iniquity of fathers upon the children and upon the children's children under the third and fourth Generation so we see that God That's one of his attributes of the very uh the things that we benefit most from from God is the fact that he's long Suffering it says that he's merciful that he's gracious and these long suffering and not only that no It's really easy to be merciful and gracious and long suffering towards the people that we like or the people that we know that We value highly in our life people that are very important to us But God says that he's merciful and gracious and long-suffering keeping mercy for thousands You know God that God's Bible says God saw God is long-suffering to us were not willing that any should perish But that all should come to repentance So we see that God is an example of being long-suffering Being patient, but not just patient to those that we that he that he you know has a special soft spot for But for everybody he's that way towards towards many people of course There's always that end of long-suffering with God there is that there is a line in the sand But I I would say it's probably even it's it's farther along it. You know it's um It's out there more than than for our than our own selves We're probably a lot shorter with people than God is is what I'm trying to say Now long-suffering is simply you know another way of saying patience since it's having or showing patience in spite of troubles Especially those caused by other people that's the definition of long-suffering is is putting up with other people's You know problems that they bring to you, but somebody someone's causing us grief We're patient with them you see God has been very patient with us and therefore because God has been patient with us He expects us to do the same and it'd be very patient with others And we see an example of that Ephesians chapter 4 verse 25 You read along with me there the Bible says Wherefore put away putting away lying speak every man truth with this neighbor for we are members one of another Be angry and said not let not the Sun go down upon your wrath neither give place to the devil Let him that stole steal no more But rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good, but he may give to him that needeth Let no corrupt community communication proceed out of your mouth But that which is good to the use of edifying then it may minister grace unto the hearers and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God Whereby he are sealed in the day of redemption But all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice and be He kind one to another tender-hearted Forgiving one another even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you so we see that here that God has very very kind to us God has been very tender-hearted to us. God has been very forgiving of us and has forgiven us He's been very patient, and then we should do that likewise with other people Now if you would turn to Romans chapter 12 Where the Bible again and we'll see another example this in Romans chapter 12 verse 10 the Bible reads be kindly affectionate one toward 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 Continuing instant in prayer now notice there It says patient in tribulation and that kind of it's kind of the capstone to all these other attitudes and actions It says you know we're to be kindly affectionate with brotherly love not slothful serving Lord Rejoicing in hope all these attributes all these actions, and then it kind of caps it off or rounds it out with being patient So we see that being patient. You know that's kind of necessary. It's kind of the capstone on all these other other other Attitudes and these actions of being affectionate of having brotherly love and not being slothful it ends with us being patient Now patience is needed at all times notice that also in this verse where it says being patient in Tribulation this saving trip being patient before tribulation or after tribulation it says being trip patient in tribulation That's what being patient counts the most is when you're going through that trial And trials do not give us a pass to be impatient with others That's the point I thought I think the scriptures trying to make here by saying being patient in tribulation You know that's that should be that it would make no sense to say be patient You know when everything's going great. Is that really that hard to do, but know the command is to be patient in tribulation We should be able to be kindly affectionate have that brotherly love be not slothful serve the Lord and rejoice in hope In because we are patient in tribulation That's why we need it That's why it counts to be patient because when we're going that affliction we should be able to still You know have all these these godly attributes in our life even the midst of trial See tribulation will come as we said this morning I'm in an introduction that that is a guaranteed if you would turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 I'll read to you from John 16 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 Bible reads in John 16 behold the hour cometh ye is now come that ye shall be scattered every man to his own and shall Leave me alone and yet I am not alone because the Father is with me these things have I spoken unto you that in me he might have peace In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world so Jesus is saying here He's even warning his disciples. He's saying it's a guarantee in the world you shall have tribulation now You might have now you could have there's a possibility You shall have it 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 verse 3 Blessed be God that even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort Who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them Which are in any trouble by wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God so again? We see that you know we are going to be comforted in our tribulation that tribulation that is something that is bound to come Turn to Acts chapter 14 1st Thessalonians chapter 3 Where acts 14 I'll read from 1st Thessalonians you turn to Acts 14 Wherefore when he could no longer forbear we thought it good to be left at anthems alone and sent to Mothius our brother and minister of God and a fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ to establish you to comfort you concerning your faith That no man should be moved by these afflictions for yourselves know that we were appointed thereunto For verily when we were with you We told you before that we should suffer tribulation even as it came to pass and you know So the Apostle Paul here is reminding these guys that you know we told you you're gonna go through tribulation And you know that's the case that you would suffer it and it came to pass as we said You're there in Acts 14 the Bible says in verse 19 And there came fither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuade the people and having stoned Paul drew them out of the city Supposing he had been dead how be it as disciples should run about him He rose up and came into the city the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derby And when they had preached the gospel to that city And it taught many they returned to Lystra and Iconium and Antioch Confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith And that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God So what was it that he exhorted these people in these regions? It was that they must through much tribulation enter the king of God he was warning them And it wasn't that you know Paul's a guy who was very familiar with tribulation I mean we read beginning of that passage there that he was stoned and they think to the point where they thought he was dead I mean That's some tribulation right there the Bible says that he was able to pick himself up dust himself off and continue to going on working for God and serving God confirming the souls of Others and what was it that he exhorted those other ones that we must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of God So he was speaking from a place of experience You know that's why Paul I believe was able to continue on even despite having been stoned is that he understood that these things were bound to happen he understood the cost and the price of serving Jesus Christ and Therefore was able to remain patient and was able to exhort others you see Paul did not exceed to avoid Tribulation he didn't see to avoid it And that's the problem that we have in this country today in a pulpit across America So we got a lot of pastors and preachers They're avoiding tribulation by not preaching the whole counsel of God they don't want to say the controversial things They don't want to end up on the evening news They don't even want to upset the people that are there in the pew They're too afraid to even watch somebody walk out the door to get up sometimes and say the things that need to be said They're more worried about the money coming in they don't want to experience the tribulation of having to you know Maybe go out and work another job and be a pastor Maybe they've done that for a season I know the difficulty of it They get a little comfortable after they go full-time in their ministry And then they don't want to they don't want to preach the things of God because they're afraid that they might have to go back Out of the world to work again. Not that being a pastor if you're doing it right is an extremely hard work You know it's a very difficult task. It's very draining. You know I Can only speak to it from from you know a place of just you know kind of I don't know that for For a fact you know from everything I've seen them our pastor go through and other men of God that I know and everything that they said I'm expecting that it's a Very difficult and hard task not going you know I don't want to go into it. You know someday God willing thinking that it's just going to be some easy thing to do But that there's going to be tribulation and we've seen that with with with churches in our movement You know we think of pastor Roger Jimenez the man has suffered persecution was he drug out in stone to death like Paul was no But he still suffered persecution in this world there was I mean there's a lot of other pastors who would not have Couldn't endure what he endured there were need people there in that church that couldn't endure what they endured and even here in faithful workers people can endure you know the Persecution that comes from family for being associated with the church like this From a church that does what what you know preaches the word of God that tells it like it is That takes a strong stand against sin and that a little bit of persecution comes at people over something like that And they fall away because they don't have patience Understand what it means to be patient see patient is not just waiting something out It's how you act while you wait see Paul did not seek to avoid tribulation, but he embraced it You know he you know kind of like our pastor. We've heard him say you know leap for joy He quotes the scripture right you know when all men speak evil of you You know you rejoice you know for great as a reward in heaven That's something that Paul glory did he glory in his tribulations the Bible says Romans chapter 5 if you would turn to Romans chapter 5 you see Paul was a man who was familiar with tribulation He embraced it. He gloried it and therefore. That's why he was able to go so far as being stoned nearly to death Yeah, I believe even to death perhaps I'm not completely sure about that, but he actually died, but he was able to More who you know either way you know taking a rock to the noggin ain't exactly you know my idea of a good time He was still able to continue on he was still able to go and exhort others to do as he is done Romans chapter 5 verse 1 therefore being justified by faith We have paid we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by whom also we have access by faith in his praise Where we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and not only so but we glory in tribulations also Knowing that tribulation work in patience 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 See Paul embraced and understood the benefits of tribulation. He says we glory in tribulations He embraced it and then he even says that he you know he gloried in it because Paul understood that there's benefits to tribulation That's what this verse is show this passage is showing us here that there's there are there are certain benefits that we get in our Spiritual lives when tribulation comes our way for what's the end result here? notice there It says in verse 5 it says Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us That's the that's what that's the end result of tribulation the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts And it's kind of it's kind of a it's kind of a it's a strange verse You got to really kind of dwell on it and think of it because like it's saying it's saying it's shed abroad In our hearts by the Holy Ghost, so it's kind of like this It's what does that mean to be shed abroad, but in our hearts? Well, I believe it's saying that you know the love that is in our hearts that we have of God is shed abroad Through the Holy Ghost and I believe it what it's referring to here or a way we can look at this is is that? We Shed the love of God abroad that is in us. You know if they're preaching the gospel through being the testimony for Christ That's how it's shed abroad the love that is in our hearts is shed abroad through the Holy Ghost That's what happens when we go when we go through these tribulations when tribulation work of patience patience experience and experience Hope and hope maketh not ashamed. That's the hope we share the hope of the Jesus of the Salvation we share the hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto him And that is that makes us not ashamed you see the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts It's the preaching the truth of God's Word the shedding abroad of the love of the God that it's in our hearts And it's certain it's certain to bring tribulation when we when tribulation comes our way You know because of because of we're out there taking that stand Preaching the Word of God standing up for the Word of God shedding the love of God abroad you know persecution is bound to come, but also you know it'll it'll be a It'll be a blessing to us you see patience is needed to know this hope in order to know the hope Of as it says there and hope that maketh not ashamed Patience is needed to know that hope Bible says verse 3 Tribulation worketh patience you see tribulation is what works our patience It's something you never heard that term you know to get worked over by something You know you have to get someone's kind of working on you, or you're working on something else That's what tribulation does to our patience it tests it out and tries it you know it puts it through the fire It's you know it gets kind of saying let's see what your patience is made of let's see what you got kind of a thing Tribulation works our patience, and we gain experience when we come through those trials We gain that experience of having gone through that storm or that season our life that difficulty that trial We gain experience and then because we have that experience We can then have hope when the next tribulation comes our way when that next trial comes our way We can recall that last one we went through and now we have hope and that Hope makes it will be able because we have that hope we're then able to go through that next tribulation You know we have hope from the past experience We go through the next one because we know what's coming we have the patience It's been worked and now we're not ashamed because it's a shameful thing when you fall out because of tribulation You know it's a shame to ourselves it's a shame for God others would be ashamed or disappointed in us So we see this pattern here how tribulation works our experience our patience we gain experience we come through the trial We have hope and we're able to move through the next one and not be ashamed Which leads me to my second point that tribulation teaches us patience That's the point of tribulation as it says their patience worketh or tribulation worketh our patience You know is that tribulation teaches us patience during the James chapter 1 James chapter 1 My brethren count it all joy James 1 verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations Knowing this so he's saying count it joy when you fall into diverse temptations Don't get all down on the mouth. Don't get all slumped shoulder. Don't let your chin drop. Don't sigh drag your feet. Oh here we go again I guess I'll have to make it through this one again. You know here we go That could be an attitude that we have yeah, we're gonna stick it out. You know we're gonna make it through it But we're not gonna have a very good attitude about it My brother count it all joy. He says you know perk up. You should be glad you know when persecution It's kind of exciting you know at least at least the ones we're experiencing here. I mean protesters People showing up. I mean you know we always want visitors, right? But you know it's kind of one of the most exciting times You know that I was when we had those protesters I think it was exciting to go out to very and walk through that pickup And I'm sure it was like I mean I was blowing in and out of town You know I showed up went to a service marked out I'm sure it was a very exciting for the people that didn't do or that for three months or whatever it was those people being there constantly You know I would not desire that to happen But you know it was kind of exciting when we think about it And it is something and here's the thing if we're getting if people are showing up and protesting It's because you're doing something right You know people are getting angry at the Word of God well that means you must be standing up and preaching the Word of God And you're not back back. You're not going to be ashamed. You're not shying down from tribulation You're standing up. You're taking a stand. That's a reason to rejoice then when we have a pastor or we know a man of God who's gonna stand up and take a strong stand the Word of God and not back down and not apologize and not pull punches from the pulpit Then that's something to rejoice over because that's something that a lot of people have and and it's something that we need more of James chapter 1 verse 2 my brethren count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience But let patience have her perfect work that ye may be perfect and entire wanting nothing You see trials work our patience, and they make us complete That's what it means to be perfect in Scripture You know perfect just means whole or complete not lacking anything They may be perfect entire wanting nothing right so we see that trial works our patience And it's what makes us complete these trials that could we go through that's what makes us whole and the reason why God lets us Go through these trials is so that we might be used of God you know that that's the thing It's as God's letting us go through these things so that Patience can have her perfect work that it can make us complete and whole so that God can use us even more Turn over James chapter 5 verse 7 James chapter 5 verse 7 just a few pages over Another command to be patient verse 7 be patient therefore brethren are the coming of the Lord Behold the husband and waited for the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it I tell you have to receive the early and latter rain because be he also patient Establish your hearts for the coming the Lord draweth nigh grudge not one against another brother unless you be condemned Behold the judge standeth before the door take my brethren the prophets who have spoken the name of the Lord and for an example of suffering of affliction of suffering affliction and of Patience behold we count them happy which endured you have heard of the patience of Job and Seen that the end of the Lord the Lord is very pitiful and of turf tender mercy Now the point I want to show us out of the scripture here is that patience is not just an idle waiting a lot of People think that patience just means waiting. There's just something you're not doing anything You're just waiting for something to end but this passage here shows us that patience is not that it is not just an idle waiting It is functioning as we should while waiting. It's enduring It's still being able to do what we should do while we're going through that tribulation while we're going through that affliction You see difficult conditions do not affect our attitude But when we don't allow difficult conditions and circumstances to affect our attitude and our service for God That's patience. That's a patient person the person who yeah might be able to stick it out through a tribute tribulation But you got to kind of drag them along with you. You know they became kind of dead weight You got to throw them over your shoulder You know and get them through you know to get them back to the to the other to the you know into friendly territory They're they're not they're not help. You know we want the guy That's going to be able to get in the yoke get alongside you and be an encouragement and be able to To not allow the tribulation to affect their attitude That's what patience is you see everybody everybody waits all those people in traffic that I see every day everybody else It's on the surface roads with me at the red light You know it's it's you know 515 and you know dinner's cooking. I want to get home and working a long day. You know sir Come on. Start pumping the brake come on turn green turn green. You know you get frustrated with a guy ahead of you, but Everybody's going through that you know everybody goes ahead and waits that it's how you act while you're waiting at that red light It's how you act while you're going through that persecution You see Patience is something that you know It's not allowing Difficult conditions to affect your attitude now. I know I've kind of been on an alliteration kick Okay, and I purposely went out of the way to not alliterate the sermon But I'm going to make one alliteration here. Okay patience keeps us productive in persecutions That may be a helpful way to remember is that patience. What is patience? It's being productive in persecutions That's what it means to be to be patient. It means that even in persecution. You're still productive. You're still beneficial You're still a blessing you still help Notice here in James 5 verse 7 notice who it is that is waiting who it is that is waiting for the coming of the Lord Who is enduring? Says a verse 5 to 5 7 the husband men waited for the precious fruit of the earth and had long for patience for it What is an husband man? He's a guy. He's somebody who's doing work, right? He's a he's the farmer. He's the one who's sewing He's the one who's working day every day, and it's the husband in here you see It's the man who is working hard that waits the longest It's the man that is working hard that waits the longest for the hardest We who are laboring for God and we're waiting for the return of Christ or waiting for that that that that harvest of the world We're the ones that I have to you know Exercise the most patience when we see all the things that are going on in the world and we read about all these horrific stories We see all the just all the sin and iniquity that's about it, and it is in this world. You know I don't have the time There's certain things I'm thinking about even right now that I would just love to go off on Least freaks that we're seeing everywhere and just all the abomination the filth that's just being promoted and And just lauded and praised in our society today Those of us that are living righteously and godly in Christ Jesus that are waiting for God to come and to judge the earth Righteously, we're the ones that have to exercise the most patience because we're the ones that understand You know how bad the world is and how great it's going to be and we understand how great that harvest is going to be But we understand the work and the effort that it takes to get through this To endure and remain productive in this life as we endure all this See it's the man that works hardest that is working hard that waits for the harvest You know soul winner that is working the field He's the one that's got a long one day that longs the most to be with all his those that have got saved in heaven I mean, I think it's gonna be a great day Paul said that the Thessalonians are not even ye my crown of rejoicing before the Lord So Paul even understood there's gonna you know that crown of rejoicing what a thing it will be to be in heaven one day And then see all the people that you led to led to the Lord. I mean, that's a great that's a great thing That's a great harvest. Well, you see lazy and idle people are often impatient Lazy I and idle impatient people are often impatient Isn't that the truth when you see sometimes these YouTube videos of people that you know are these fast food lines? Just just just losing their cool just coming uncorked man They just their wild Twitter, but a Swiss watch and it's just like BAM They just come unhinged because you know, it's taking two minutes longer to get their whopper or whatever, you know And those are typically, you know But a lot of times those the people were the most impatient are some of the laziest people They don't have anything invested. They wanted everything now now now now now they don't have to put any effort in anything You see hard-working. Why is it? Why is that? What what makes the difference there? why is the hard-working person the person who's putting an effort that's more patience because The aspect of being a hard-working person is being consistent of knowing that you're gonna have to put in day in and day out Day in and day out day in and day out and you have to let time Pass you're going to be very patient Those are the type of people that are in it for the long haul they're in it for the good They're in for the bad and the ugly Bible says turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6. We'll hurry up there if Bible says in 1st Thessalonians chapter 2 We give thanks to God always for you all making mention of you in our prayers remembering without ceasing your work of faith Your labor of love and patience of hope in the Lord Jesus Christ the sight of God So it's the work the labor and the patience we see here use 2nd Corinthians 6 we then as workers As workers together with them beseech you that you also receive not the grace of God in vain for he saith I've heard the in the time of accepted in the day of salvation if I suckered thee to hold now is the accepted time But hold now is the day of salvation Give no offense to anything that the ministry be not blame But in all things approving yourselves as the ministers those are people that work and of God inpatient much patience in afflictions in necessities in distress and distresses and Stripes and imprisonment and Talmuds and labors and watchings and fastings see afflictions trials and tribulations Those are the things that are going to show our true colors. It's really easy to be the fairweather Christian But when the storm comes that's where we're going to see what people are really made of and it's the workers It's the ministers of God that are approved here when when are they approved in much patience? Why why is it patience that approves them because of afflictions because of necessities because of distresses because of stripes and prisoners Talmuds? Labors watchings fastings you see temptations trials afflictions these things will rob us of our joy and of our Great rejoicing if we don't have patience turn to Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter 8 Luke chapter 8 verse 11 the Bible says now parable is this the seed of the word of God Those by the way said are they when they hear that come with the devil taketh away the word out of their hearts lest they Should he believe and be saved they are the rocker they which when they have when they have here Received the word with joy, and these have no root for which for a while believe at a time of temptation fall away And that was full among thorns are they which when they have heard go forth and are choked with the cares of riches and pleasures Of this life and bring no fruit to perfection But on the good, but they are that on the good ground are they which an honest and good heart having heard the word of God Keep it and bring forth fruit with patience you see without patience There is no fruit you will not endure you will not keep the word of God And you will not have fruit and you will be ashamed it is coming. That's why it's important that we have patience We'll skip ahead here I'll just conclude by saying you know how we see the importance of patience. We see that It's you know number one. It's something that God commands us to have it's not optional. There's no excuse to not be a patient person and The reason why God commands it is because of the fact we see how important it is to have patience That patience is something that we need if we're going to remain productive in those persecutions if we're going to come through the trials and tribulations And have hope for the next one and not be ashamed. We're going to have to develop patience in our life. It's important So the question is how do we develop patience? There is no methodical formula I can't tell you X Y & Z to develop patience. We can't just give you a prescription and say you know what here Develop some patience because patience is a spiritual attribute is a spiritual attribute excuse me And therefore spiritual accomplishments require faith so patience is something that you have to acquire by faith Bible says if you would we'll turn to just one last place heat into 2nd Peter chapter 1 2nd Peter chapter 1 how do we develop patience? whereby in verse 4 whereby are given the succeeding great and precious promises that by these you might might be I'm sorry verse 5 and beside this giving all diligence add to your faith virtue and a virtue knowledge and to knowledge Temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godliness and to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness charity. You see the foundation is Patience here, that's what the foundation is Diligence is necessary Okay If we're going to develop patience in our lives it says giving all diligence in verse 5 The worker is the one who will endure because he wants to accomplish something You know you're going to be likely more patience if you have some skin in the game if there's something you're trying to accomplish You're more likely if you're diligent if you're putting forth effort and into something you're going to be patient when difficulty comes against you And notice first of all that you know faith is one of the first attributes that are listed there says add to your faith Virtue add to your faith, so faith. You know that's the base You got to be saved and that kind of goes without saying but virtue is next add to your faith virtue Why do you want to be patient? What's the virtue in it in order to endure affliction is that why you want to be patient is it to obey the command of God? That's why we should want to be patient, and it says add to your virtue knowledge Because there there are some things that we must understand about patience There's something you have to know about patience that it doesn't come easy You know that it's something and also you need to understand not only does it not come easy But that it's also invaluable having patience you can't put a price on it So that's the knowledge add to your faith virtue to your virtue knowledge to your knowledge Temperance now to be patient you have to be in control of yourself That's what it means to be temperate your patience will be tested Are you going to be in control of yourself you need to get the yourself under control now? Make sure you're just you know Just a loose cannon, otherwise you're not going to your patients attention It won't come through your patience will be tested by tribulation That's the only way you'll know whether or not your patient person You know if you pray for patience God may be patient be careful what you ask for Because God just might put you through a trial. He just might put you through some fire. We should desire patience We should ask that we should not shy away from persecution or tribulation We should desire patience because it's patience that will make us profitable and will keep us in the fight. Let's pray