Be Patient...your Pay Day Is Coming!!!

ARE YOU READY?

1: First question, “I said, Do it?. The answer? It’s probably the word “Now”.

2. “I want it?” What is the first word that came to your mind? It’s probably was the word “Now.” Not next week, not next month, not next year, not tomorrow, but now!”

3. In a common prayer we might say, “Dear God, give me patience and give it to me…What is your answer. “Now!”

We live in a NOW world!

• We no longer have to get in front of our car and take a crank and turn it to get it started.

• We no longer have to go to a hand pump and pump the handle to get water.

• We no longer have to light a match to light the oven to cook our meals.

• We no longer have to build a fire in the fireplace to get heat to stay warm.

• We no longer have to wait on a party line on the telephone to get to talk with some on the telephone.

• We no longer have to get out of our easy chair and walk across a room to change the television channel. We now have remote controls!

Man has invented all kinds of things, and two of the reasons behind these marvelous inventions is:

1) LAZINESS

2) IMPATIENCE.

But no where in the scriptures can you find a place where Jesus was in a hurry or impatient. NOWHERE!

But we can find in the scripture where the Lord teaches us to be patient:

• Lamentations 3:25 The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.

• Psalms 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

• Psalms 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

God never intended for His people to live their life in this fast pace world like many are doing.

But we are all in a hiurry…aren’t we !!!

Illus: Sometime when we are traveling my wife tells me to slow down I want to enjoy the scenery!!!

Illus: The great New England preacher Phillips Brooks was noted for his patience. At times, however, even he suffered moments of frustration and irritability.

• One day a friend saw him feverishly pacing the floor like a caged lion and he said, "What's the trouble, Mr. brooks?”

• "The trouble is that I'm in a hurry, but God isn't!"

Haven't we felt the same way many times in this NOW WORLD!

Impatience has messed up a lot of Lives. It would amaze you to know:

• How many marriages have been destroyed because of impatience.

• How many churches have been destroyed because of impatience.

• How many careers have been destroyed because of impatience.

• How many are in prison because of impatience.

Patience is one of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5, they are:

• Love

• Joy

• Peace

• Longsuffering

• Kindness

• Goodness

• Faithfulness

• Gentleness

• Self-control

We can destroy our Christian testimony simply by being impatient.

Illus: The story is told of a Pastor who had a very bad Sunday morning.

• His alarm didn't go off so he started out late.

• He got to the car and he had a flat tire.

• He got the tire changed and realized his teen daughter who had borrowed it last night had used up almost all the gas, so he had to stop on his way to get gas.

• At the gas station he realized he left his wallet at home, so he went back and got it.

• Then he went back to get gas. Now he is going to be really late.

• Finally he got on the expressway and was driving above the speed limit to make up for loss time. In the process he was in such a hurry he did not noticed he passed a state trooper who turned on the lights and proceeded to pull him over.

• Jumping out of his car, the agitated preacher said, "Well, go ahead and give me a ticket. Everything else has gone wrong today."

• The policeman walked up and said quietly, "Sir, I used to have days like that too, before I became a Christian." – Ouch!

Look at James 5:7-11 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.