What Is Spirituality? (5 Of 7)

In this sermon, we want to see that we should ADD TO OUR FAITH PATIENCE!

Illus: Patience gives us a fit in this life! A man noticed a woman in the grocery store with a very hyper three year old girl in her cart. As the mother and her child passed the cookie section, the little girl asked for cookies and her mother told her no.

The little girl went wild and pitched a fit. Her mother patiently said, “Now Missy, we just have half the aisles left to go through, don’t be upset. It won’t take long.”

In the candy aisle the man saw the little girl getting upset again. She was kicking and screaming, and the mother said, “There, there Missy don’t cry, only two more aisles to go.”

When they got to the checkout lane, the little girl was going wild and began to reach out for gum and candy, and the mother said, “No!” and she screamed louder.

The mother said, “Now, now Missy we’ll be through this checkout lane in five minutes and you can go home and take a good nap.”

The man followed them out of the store and stopped the mother to compliment her. “I couldn’t help but notice how patient you were with your little daughter Missy.” The mother sighed and said, “Oh, no my little girl’s name is Francine, I’m Missy.”

We live in a very difficult world that works on our nerves. Does it seem strange to you that the company that advertises, "You deserve a break today”, is a fast food restaurant? I guess what they mean by that is, "Come on in! Let’s see how fast you can take a break today, and then get out on the road again at break neck speed."

The Lord came up with the idea of a Sabbath day - a day to worship and rest.

• Our bodies need it

• Our minds need it

• Our spirits need it

This fast paced society is killing people. We need patience in our life in so many ways.

Illus: A life-long city man, tired of the rat race, decided he was going to give up the city life, move to the country, and raise some chickens and become a chicken farmer.

He found a nice, used chicken farm, which he bought. Turns out that his next door neighbor was also a chicken farmer.

• The neighbor came for a visit one day and said, "Chicken farming isn't easy. Tell you what. To help you get started, I'll give you 100 chickens." The new chicken farmer was thrilled. Two weeks later the new neighbor stopped by to see how things were going. The new farmer said, "Not too good. All 100 chickens died." The neighbor said, "Oh, I can't believe that. I've never had any trouble with my chickens. I'll give you 100 more."

• Another two weeks went by, and the neighbor stops in again. The new farmer says, "You're not going to believe this, but the second 100 chickens died too."

• Astounded, the neighbor asked, "What went wrong? What did you do to them?"

• Well, says the new farmer, "I'm not sure whether I'm planting the chickens too deep or not far apart enough."

We all need to retire from this “Rat Race Society” before it kills us.

HOW DO WE GET PATIENCE IN OUR LIFE? Look at Romans 15:5, it says, “Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.”

The more time we spend with God, the more patient we will become. That is because He is a GOD OF PATIENCE!

In the previous sermon, we looked at the IMPATIENCE OF ABRAHAM AND SARAH and the trouble it got them in. But also in the Old Testament we find a man that had PATIENCE LIKE THE GOD OF PATIENCE.

Let’s look at-

I. THE PATIENCE OF JOB

When we think of Patience, we think of Job. Sometimes we refer to a patient person as having “The patience of Job!”

WHY DOES JOB HAVE THE REPUTATION OF BEING A PATIENT MAN?

God blessed Job with a large family and a lot of material blessings. Now if you never had anything, you do not miss it because you never had it. Job had it. He was one of the richest men on the face of this earth at this time. But one day he woke up and lost it all! But the way he handled this situation is remarkable!

Illus: During the Great Depression, when some of the rich lost their wealth they could not handle it, they jumped out of tall buildings and some of them ended their lives by putting a gun to their heads.

But Job did not do such a thing, he handled the situation like all of us should when hard times come. He patiently waited on the Lord to work it out.