Patience Series

INTRODUCTION

SLIDE #1

• You are in a hurry; the alarm did not go off this morning. Everything you do seems to go wrong.

• You get dressed and as you eat breakfast, you find that you spilled some food on your outfit. More time lost.

• You get in the car, it will not start, a dead battery.

• More time lost.

• Do you feel the blood pressure rising?

• Finally, you get the car started; now it is a straight shot to work.

• Now you get behind someone who is driving 45 mph on the highway and there is no passing them. The pressure rises.

• Next up, you hit EVERY stoplight on the way, more time lost.

• I know that while all this is going on around us, we are the picture of serenity behind the wheel.

• SLIDE #2

• In a news report in the 7/13/00 edition of the USA Today, in a report on motorist running red lights says the following: The report, to be released today by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that running red lights injures a quarter of a million people every year and kills at least 800 people.

• Another article from the Institute states: Every year, these accidents (running red lights) kill some 800 people and rack up an estimated $7 billion dollars in property damage, medical bills, lost productivity and insurance hikes. http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/red-light-camera.htm

• We are a society that is in a hurry fro everything. We have instant everything, we are not willing to wait the slightest amount of time.

• Have you ever lost your patience with your children? No never! When we develop the fruit of patience in our lives, we can actually get to a point where we can quit blowing up at our children and spouses. We can quit kicking the dog because we are frustrated.

• Today we are going to look at one of the fruits of the Spirit that will help us to stop doing things such as run red lights because we are in a hurry.

• Let us turn to Galatians 5:22-23 as we look at the fruit of patience this morning.

• SLIDE #3

• READ Galatians 5:22-23

• We need to remember once again that when we give our lives to Christ, we not only receive the gift of eternal life in the future, but we receive some wonderful gifts from God now! Patience is the one we will examine this morning together

• SLIDE #4

SERMON

I. IDENTIFYING THE FRUIT OF PATIENCE.

• Once again, when you go to the store to purchase a fruit, you need to know what it looks like; you need to know how to find what you are looking for.

• As you are looking for the fruit of patience, you want to know what it looks like so that you can get the real thing.

• Let us look at the definition of patience.

SLIDE #5

1. Defining patience.

• Man’s endurance when faced with the adversities of life.

• Enduring under injuries inflicted by others.

• Restraining some action or emotion.

• Patience is holding up under difficult circumstances, it is involves holding back from retaliation against someone who has harmed us.

• The version of the word used in Galatians 5:22 gives us the picture of longsuffering.

• I looked hard for a visual aid that would help us to understand what longsuffering is.

• SLIDE #6

• O.K., that was not fair.

• Longsuffering gives us the picture a person who in relation to those who annoy, oppose, or molest him, exercise patience. He refuses to yield to passion or to outbursts of anger.

• Have you ever been caught in traffic or been in line at Wal-Mart? A patient person will not let those situations cause them to blow up.

• Patience is the even temper that comes from a big heart. It is not the “grit your teeth” kind of angry endurance; it is loving tolerance in spite of people’s weakness and failure. Love is patient (1 Cor 13:4) and so must Christians be (Eph 4:2). (College Press NIV)

2. Where does patience have its roots?

• Patience is inspired by the trust in the fulfillment of God’s promises.

• SLIDE #7

• Hebrews 6:11 - 12 (GWT) 11We want each of you to prove that you’re working hard so that you will remain confident until the end. 12Then, instead of being lazy, you will imitate those who are receiving the promises through faith and patience.

• The fruit of patience is something that God exhibits toward His creation.

• God’s patience or longsuffering holds open the door to new life through Him.

• SLIDE #8

• 2 Peter 3:9 (GWT) 9The Lord isn’t slow to do what he promised, as some people think. Rather, he is patient for your sake. He doesn’t want to destroy anyone but wants all people to have an opportunity to turn to him and change the way they think and act.