Fruit Of The Spirit # 4

The Apostle Paul tells us that when we’re filled with the Holy Spirit, we’ll evidence the fruit of the Spirit in our lives by exhibiting, "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance:."

In this message, we want to look at the 4th fruit of the Spirit, which is LONGSUFFERING, or PATIENCE. Today we do not see a lot of patience in our society.

Illus: Does it strike you as strange that the company that advertises, "You deserve a break today" is a fast food restaurant? I guess what they are saying is "Come on in! Let’s see how fast you can take a break today, and then get out on the road again."

Illus: When I think about IMPATIENT Americans, I think of a very lonely guy who decided life would be more fun if he had a pet. So he went to the pet store and told the owner that he wanted to buy an unusual pet. After some discussion, he decided on a centipede, which came in a little white box that was it’s house. He took the centipede home, found a good location for the box, and then decided he would start off by taking his new pet to a restaurant to have dinner. So he asked the centipede in the box, "Would you like to go to Wendy’s with me to have dinner?" But there was no answer from his new pet. This bothered him a bit, but he waited a few minutes and then asked him again, "How about going to Wendy’s with me?" But again, there was no answer from his new friend and pet. So he waited a few minutes more, thinking about the situation. He decided to ask him one more time; this time putting his face up against the centipede’s house and shouting, "Hey, in there! Would you like to go to Wendy’s with me to have dinner?"

A little voice came out of the box from the centipede: "I heard you the first time! I’m putting on my shoes!!"

Patience is not something we see a lot of these days. For example, to drive on the highways in America you have to be trained to drive two ways:

• The way the highway department requires

• The way the general public requires

There is a big difference between what the HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT REQUIRES and what the GENERAL PUBLIC REQUIRES.

Illus: I saw a handbill the other day that shows what the GENERAL PUBLIC requires to drive in America.

• While driving in the large cities, there is no such thing as a dangerous high-speed, they all drive like that.

• If you actually stop at a yellow light, you will be rear ended, cussed out and possibly shot.

• When you are the first one on the starting line, count to five when the light turns green before going to avoid crashing with all the drivers running the red light in cross-traffic.

• If someone actually has their turn signal on, ignore it, it is probably a factory defect.

• Car horns are actually "Road Rage" indicators.

• All old ladies with blue hair in Mercedes have the right of way. PERIOD!

• If asking directions, you must have knowledge of Spanish or Mandarin Chinese.

• The highway speed is posted 55 but anything less is considered downright sissy.

• If you go to watch local football teams play, pay the $5.00 to park INSIDE the football stadium parking lot. Parking elsewhere could cost up to $2500 for damages, towing fees, parking tickets, etc. If some guy with a flag tries to get you to park in his 'yard', run over him.

With these simple rules in mind, you are now ready to really drive on the highways in America. Please try and keep up.

We live in a very impatient age. Do you realize how many things have been invented because of impatience?

• 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 one of the reasons behind these marvelous inventions is LAZINESS and IMPATIENCE. Most of us are wired for action, and we get frustrated with how slow things move sometimes. As we take a look at our life, we will find that many of our sins are linked to impatience.