THE DIRTY WORD: PATIENCE! PATIENCE MAY CARRY ALOT OF WAIT!
By Wade M. Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
TEXT: Luke 21:19 (KJV) In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luke 21:19 (NIV) By standing firm you will gain life.
Luke 21:19 (MSG) Staying with it—that's what is required. Stay with it to the end.
You won't be sorry; you'll be saved.
I. HAVE WE WAITED WITH A PLAN.
PEOPLE NEVER PLAN TO FAIL... THEY FAIL TO PLAN... AND THUS THEY ARE
DOOMED TO FAIL.
Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch
to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2: And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it.
3: For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not
lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.
4: Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by
his faith.
Habakkuk 3:17 -- 18 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall
be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18: Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
II. WE LIVE AND FUNCTION IN A MICROWAVE/COMPUTER AGE!!! ???
A. We live in a microwave society.
Seems the only people I know with a lot of patients
are doctors.
We have fast planes and fast cars, good roads, and plenty of gas, yet we are always late?
We can get our oil changed in less than 15 minutes
B. Remember, the coal or wood cook stove, to build the fire in the cook stove took 20 minutes,
then to cook the food was much longer? We raised our own food in
the garden and canned it for the winter?
C. We have instant coffee, but is it as good as perked? We have instant mashed potatoes,
but are they as good as the peeled and cooked kind?
We have minute rice, instant pudding, lean pockets from freezer to the table in 60 seconds.
Yet, we depend on fast food restaurants and eating out.
D. Anyone remember the wringer washers and rinsing the clothes in a big tub of water.
We have hot water, automatic washing machines, clothes dryers, dish washers, vacuum
sweepers that clean the air, but yet it does not seem like we have time to get anything
done?
E. We wait in the doctor’s office. Our hospitals have so many waiting rooms, that the rooms are
specialized. There is an emergency room waiting area, with security and cameras.
There is surgery waiting areas, out patient waiting areas. There are waiting
rooms where we wait for babies to be born, CCU waiting areas, and many more.
F. We have fast acting pain pills and medicine.
You wait in line at Walmart, Kmart, and Sears. Seems like I can get in the shortest
line, and the other lines move much quicker.
There is a waiting room where you buy your car? When you pull into the garage, they
often suggest you go home or back to work because it is going to take
time to work on your car.
III. WE GO TO CHURCH AND DEMAND A SERMONETTE SO WE CAN GO INTO THE
KITCHENETTE TO SMOKE A CIGARETTE?
We want fast action professional song services, a quick testimony, and a five minute sermon
with a funny illustration to make us laugh, a one minute prayer that includes all, so we can
beat the other church to the local pig outs, or smorgasbord, so we can eat real quick and
get home to watch the ball games and take a nap.
IV. BE INSTANT DOES NOT MEAN IN HASTE!
A. BE INSTANT in season and out of season...
2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.
B. Haste in every case and business brings waste and pain. Haste still pays haste!
You are only here for a short visit. Don’t hurry. Don’t worry.
Make sure to smell the flowers along the way.
Dealing with reality humanity and hurting lives is not instant! We must learn to wait.
V. GOD ANSWERS EVERY PRAYER!
A. God answers every prayer --- one of three ways:
1.Yes.
2. No.
3.WAIT.
We must not just pray for tasks that equal your powers. Pray for power to equal your tasks.
B. Eyes tend to believe themselves. Ears tend to believe others.
We must wait and trust God!
Patience with others is LOVE. Patience with self is HOPE. Patience with God is FAITH!
Paitience carries a lot of wait!
VI. THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK HAS TWO GREAT THEMES.
A. Habakkuk was a prophet of God.
Habakkak is the 35 book of the Old Testment. It has 3 chapters; 56 verses; 1,476 words;
12 questions; 1 command; no promises. (Dake)
Habakkuk loved God and wanted to see God’s holiness vindicated.
B. THE TWO THEMES OF HABAKKUK ARE:
1. WAITIING ---
2. FAITH --- CAN THESE TWO THEMES BE SEPERATED?
The key verse is:
Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him:
but the just shall live by his faith.
C. Habakkuk was broken and hurt and very much disturbed by what he saw going on
among God’s people.
He saw how mean people could be, he saw great violence, cruel people with little fear
of God and respect for each other.
He saw bitterness, conflict, and strife all around him.
Contention, arguing, quarreling, disputing, and opposition were fighting within and without.
D. Habukkuk in his great concern wanted to know from God why is all this going on?
Habukkuk wanted answers, but God seemed to be far away.
E. Habukkuk starts his writing by complaining and expressing his grief and pain and discontent
for what was happening around him, in the church and in the world. Seems there was
haste and bitterness and self-centeredness rampant.
VII. CHAPTER TWO STARTS WITH A DIFFERENT ATTITUDE!
1. GOD’S PEOPLE MUST LEARN TO WAIT ON GOD FOR HIS ANSWERS!
2. GOD KNOWS WHAT HE IS DOING, AND AS GOD’S CHILDREN WAIT THEY MUST
LEARN TO WAIT IN FAITH!
WAITING BECOMES THE SUPREME TEST OF EVERY BELIEVER’S FAITH.
VIII. THERE ARE SEVERAL DANGERS IN WAITING UPON GOD!
WAITING CAN BREED:
1. DOUBT.
2. FEAR.
3. WORRY.
God’s People must learn joy in waiting and develop a spirit of expectation of a
release of God’s word and God’s work in our daily life’s. As we learn to discipline
our hearts and emotions faith learns to THRIVE AS IT WAITS!
IX. WAITING AND FAITH IS MORE THAN DOCTRINE, IT MUST BECOME A WAY OF LIFE!
WE MUST STAY FAITHFUL AS WE WAIT UPON THE LORD!
We need to grow a humble trust and steadfast obedience to the man of God and the
word of God!
X. GOD’S PEOPLE SEEM TO GROW TIRED OF WAITING ON HIM AND HIS PROMISES!
Study the men and women of God. See how we can they were to murmur, complain,
find fault, and want to disobey God’s plan for their life.
1. Naaman did not want to go dip 7 times in that dirty river?
2. Jonah did not want to go where God wanted him to go?
3. Moses tired of the people murmuring, and murmured himself.
4. Elijah had fits of depression?
5. Peter could not admit how weak he really was?
6. James and John wanted to burn the town down when
they were rejected?
CONCLUSION:
WE ARE WAITING FOR ANOTHER BOOK OR ANOTHER TAPE SERIES OF ANOTHER?
Can we see the opportunities before us?
What we call adversity God calls opportunity!
Opportunity is very often fleeting and difficult.
There is no guarantee that opportunity will knock more than once.
Often advancement and progress ride on the wings of
simple waiting.
WE ASK THE WRONG QUESTIONS? WHERE IS THE GOD OF ELIJAH?
THIS IS THE WRONG QUESTION? WHERE ARE THE ELIJAH’S OF GOD?
While we are waiting on God we must not allow our spirits to be troubled and
discouraged!
Smooth sailing is no test of faith. Even dead fish can swim down stream.
WAIT FOR THE PROMISE:
Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not
depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have
heard of me.
Job 14:14 If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait,
till my change come.
Psalms 37:7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him; fret not thyself because of
him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.
Isa. 40:31 But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up
with wings as eagles; they shall run and not grow weary; they shall walk and not faint.
AS EVERY DAY SLIPS SILENTLY INTO THE GRAVEYARD OF HISTORY ---
We must look where we have been? We must look where are we going?
Time will try our soul? faith? love? family? faithfulness?
For if the cross is in view, --- If heaven is in view, ---
WE CAN WAIT ON EACH OTHER! WE CAN WAIT ON GOD!
SO WHETHER YOU GET THE ANSWER YOU PRAYED FOR,
OR THE ANSWER THAT YOU DREADED ---
GO WILL PULL US THROUGH, IF WE CAN STAND THE PULL?
Worry is the dark room, where negatives are developed!
We consider problems, difficulties, hard times as test.
God considers them celebrations of patience and waiting.
Great test make great testimonies.
God rekindle the spirit of learning and teach us to wait with great excitement and a
holy expectation!
I heard a lesson about this man that lived in New York. He loved EAGLES. He studied THEM.
Every chance he had to read and watch TV about eagles he did. He saved money and
took a vacation to Colorado. He purchase a tent and stayed in the woods and studied
the eagles in nature.
He watch an eagle soaring and dive to the earth. Through the binocular he saw the
eagle picked up something and started climbing higher and higher. All of a sudden the eagle
plummeted to earth. The young man hiked a long ways to see what had happened?
He kicked the eagles dead body over to find a WEASIL HAD ATTACHED TO THE EAGLE.
AS THE EAGLE CLIMBED HIGHER AND HIGHER THE WEASIL ATE THE EAGLES HEART?
The man thought: ALL YOU HAD TO DO IS LET GO OF THE WEASIL, YOU DID NOT HAVE
TO DIE...
LET GO MY FRIEND, LET GO OF THE WEASIL --- IT WILL KILL YOU.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com.
