Priscilla Shirer: A Perfectly Patient God

((applause)) well hello to all of you I bring you greetings from uh Dallas Texas thank you so much for having us thank you so much for having us here in Chicago where it is cold uh Jerry and I are privileged to be here and it is um an honor for me very very humbling that the Lord would allow me to participate in something like this at a place that I so admire and have for so many years the legacy of Moody has been a part of my life in some form of fashion for a very very uh long time I've got this daddy um named Tony Evans and um I just for the record I taught that man everything he knows and my father has been in partnership with moody in some form or fashion for nearly three decades and so I as a teenager remember sitting by and listening and overhearing conversations happening between our friend Greg Thorton and other members of the publishing department and Broad casting arms I remember being in that home that Pastor Colin talked about where we were a part of what God was doing and because of that the influence of Moody has been a part of my life and now the life of my own children as well Moody was the first um Place Greg Thorton to be specific that put a pen in my hand and said you could write you could write something that could be a blessing to others and he encouraged and continues to encourage us and so it is an honor for myself and my husband to be here and to be able to share something that I pray will be a blessing in your life I'm just glad that you all stayed because after what Pastor Colin just preached I feel like we have had a word today can anybody say Amen to that and so thank you for being here I'm excited about what God might um share with us before we break this afternoon and how hopefully he will put a period put an exclamation point seal in your heart this pursuit of Holiness Lord Jesus thank you so much for your word thank you that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword thank you Lord that you have allowed us to come into your presence today and that we have the privilege to hear you speak to us through the scriptures Lord the best I can do the best that anyone that stands on this platform can do is speak a general word to an audience full of people with so many different backgrounds from so many different cultures facing so many different life circumstances but what the Holy Spirit can do is take that one message and divide it up thousands of different ways so that every person hears a direct personal word from God we are expecting that let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Jesus name amen amen I have uh three siblings we are four of us all together I've got an older sister her name is Crystal she is at home right now helping me with my children she homeschools her children and um we live next door to each other and so my three boys are now with her three boys she's got six of them right now Lord bless her an older sister and I have two younger brothers Anthony Jr and Jonathan Jr my youngest brother we call John John because he's the baby of the bunch and my baby brother does what baby brothers I'm sure anywhere and every where always do when he comes over to my house now as an adult he goes straight to the refrigerator or to the pantry and forges around for anything that he can find uh to eat and he was doing this recently he was at at our house he walked in he went over immediately to the refrigerator he opened up the refrigerator and began looking through it trying to find something that he could sink his teeth into and as he looked into the refrigerator he was reminded of something that he wanted to share with me and so right there in the kitchen he started to tell me a story about his oldest child who is 5 years old now her name is Kelsey she is my niece he said Priscilla I don't think I told you something about Kelsey from when she was two and I want to tell you this story he began to tell me that when Kelsey was 2 years old when she was a toddler and she was hungry she would walk over to the big box in the kitchen that had the food in it she would point at the refrigerator and say eat he said I would then go and pick pick up my sweet little precious toddler I would take her over to the booster seat that was attached to the chair at the kitchen table I would put her in the booster seat so that I could get her some food but in her little 2-year-old mind she now was just far removed from the big box that had the food in it so she would throw a temper tantrum and cry a river of tears and wiggle her way out of the chair and then March and stamp her little feet back across the kitchen floor to the big box that had the food in it point at it and say eat he said so then I would pick her up I would take her back across the kitchen put her in the booster seat she would cry a river of Tears throw a temper tantrum wiggle her way out of that chair March her little sassy self back across the kitchen point to the big box that had the food in it and say eat he said so then I would go pick her up and I would take her back across the kitchen floor sit her in the booster seat we would go through this over and over and over again and at the time he was telling me this story he was giggling a little bit but he said Priscilla let's be clear at the time this was actually happening there wasn't anything funny about it I was trying to get her to understand that where I was putting her was actually where she needed to be in order to be positioned for what it was she was requesting that she was fighting against me when all I was trying to do was set her in the right environment so that she would be prepared to receive what she was requesting in the first place and I giggled and laughed as I thought about little Kelsey I could just picture her doing this as he was telling me the story and as I laughed right there in the kitchen the Holy Spirit stopped me in my tracks and said Priscilla don't laugh too long or too hard because that would be you I'm the one that the Lord has had to be patient with when he's put me in the right places or with the right people or has sent me in a specific Direction and I have rebelled against that direction or gone against the conviction and the leading of the Holy Spirit or just tried to ignore them or circumvent them he has had to be patient with me just like John John had to be patient with this little girl who could not quite understand the very thing that I often have difficulty understanding that we have a father who actually knows best and we should just trust him and so right there in the kitchen I became grateful more than ever for the patience of God the longsuffering nature of our God toward us that that we can't wear God out that he doesn't need a good nap before he can handle what's going on in our lives that our God is longsuffering that he is slow to anger that his patience is great that his love endures forever that his Mercy is extravagant that his grace is boundless I'm happy about that today anybody happy about that today and so I became grateful for the patience of God more than ever on that day it freed me up as I suspect it might you too as I talked to you for just a few moments about the patience of God because when you understand that you actually don't have the capacity to wear God out it keeps you and I from walking on eggshells in our relationship with God stepping gingerly and carefully and cautiously because we are concerned that if we have one more mistake or one more misstep or we in some way go around the the the wise counsil of God that he might be finished with us that this might be the time that it is the straw that breaks the camels back and he puts us on the shelf and he can no longer use us because we did that or said that or went there or our past is riddled with that particular action um a revelation of the patience of God God toward us as we this week consider Holiness and pursue Holiness in our life if we will remember that God's patience is on our side that we can't wear God out on the journey the enemy would have it that you and I are so Shackled by our fear and insecurity that God might have just had enough of us he wants to so shackle us with that fear and that guilt and that sense of condemnation that we never get around to what John 10:10 says that he came to give us and that is Abundant Living you can't live abundantly when you're Shackled by fear and the patience of God knowing fully grasping and understanding and appreciating the patience of God can set you free so I want to talk to you for just a few moment moments about one of the characteristics of God that I think is possibly one of the least discussed one of the least written about his patience most of the time when we think about God we think about his his power as it is demonstrated so we consider how in the Old Testament he was powerful enough to cause the Red Sea to divide or the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down or how in the New Testament we consider how he was powerful enough to cause Lazarus to be raised from the dead but I want you to think about with me for a few moments today the flip side of God's power that God's power is not only only seen in what he releases God's power is also seen in how he restrains himself from giving us what we rightfully deserve God's power is not only seen in what he does sometimes God's power is seen in what he chooses not to do patience when we think about it in a human sense it is a characteristic an attribute of humanity that most of us struggle with I will be honest with you and tell tell you that I Am Naturally an impatient person I am prone to impatience when there is a problem that needs to be solved I I have come up with a solution to that problem in the first five minutes that we ever had a problem and I am ready to get on with the business of going ahead and figuring out how we're going to get to the end of this thing as quickly as possible now it might not be a good solution but I've got a solution on the table and I'm ready to get after it I'm an impatient person that is my tendency I think there are probably others of you who will admit to being impatient people can I get one witness in here please don't make me feel like I'm alone thank you do you know the way that God cures or helps us to mature I should say in our level of patience is that he puts us in a scenario where we have to wait so he will allow you for example to marry somebody who takes 24 48 72 hours to make a decision about anything in my marriage with my husband Jerry when we have a problem in the first five minutes I have come up with a solution m not my man he's going to think about it pray about it fast on it sleep on it ask wise counsel regarding it Lord help me help me Jesus help me most of the time when Jerry comes up with a solution it is the exact same solution I had in the first 5 minutes that we ever had a problem that's actually not true Jerry because he thinks through the consequences because he takes time to deliberate and consider what this one decision will actually mean because he has patience he makes wise decisions in that Dynamic of marriage the Lord is teaching me he is growing in me he is maturing in me patient the reason why you might work next to that person on your job that you know if they say one more thing to you you going to knock them out the reason why the Lord might allow you to be in that scenario is because in that Dynamic he is growing and maturing in you patience so because patience is a characteristic that most of us as human beings have to mature in then we assume and put that same Dynamic on God we think that because we're unsteady in our level of patience that God must be as well that since we have to mature in it God must have to mature in it as well we wouldn't say that out of our mouths but we live like that we treat him as though he has to develop to grow more in order to be able to handle where we've been and what we've done and the mistakes that might come even in the future as we pursue Holiness but our God doesn't have to grow in his level of patience he is completely perfect 100% of the time the Ence of all that patience was ever meant to be our God already is in fact when you think about it of all of the links in the chain that make up the character of our great God his omniscience and omnipresence and his sovereignty and Holiness all of the links in the chain when you think about it patience is really the most Central and most critical and most important of all of the links in the chain because if it were not for the patience of God we wouldn't exist long enough to get to the grace and the mercy and the omniscience and the omnipresence it is because our God is patient that we get to experience all that he is one scholar put it like this I love it so much it is his patience that held our sinful hands and led us to the doorstep of his mercy so that we might enter in his patience rolls out the red carpet for us to experience God fully I'm grateful for the patience of God I'm grateful that that uh Exodus chap 34 says he is slow to anger and great in power of course he has a real sense of uh justice and righteousness that he must serve the wrath of God is a very real thing but what I want you to just understand for today is that he does not have knee-jerk reactions born out of frustration like we might with a person or a toddler that is asking the same question 10 times in a row he doesn't have that same U uh threshold of impatience like we do he is God he's not applying for the job he just is the only one suited to fit the role one of the clearest places in scripture where God's patience is brought up is in the book of First Timothy so if you have your your Bible or your iPad your iPhone any manner of eyess just flip on over to First Timothy because in first Timothy in the very first chapter the Apostle Paul is speaking he is writing to a young preacher named Timothy he's going to tell Tim a lot of stuff about life and about Ministry and how to be successful in the role to which God has called him but right in the very first chapter of the very first letter he prioritizes a message about the patience of God I suspect because Paul knows that that Tim's going to make some mistakes that there are going to be some missteps along the way because there are for all of us in life and Ministry and so he wants Paul to have just like I believe the Holy Spirit wants you and I to have today a revelation of how patient and extravagant uh extravagantly loving kind our God is to US 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 16 says this and yet for this reason I found Mercy in order that in me as the foremost Jesus Christ might demonstrate here it is his perfect patience what kind of patience is it y'all his perfect patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life let's just start right here Paul paints a beautiful picture of the patience of God and he says I want you to know that that that our God's patience is not just great and it's not just good it's not just amazing he says his patience is absolutely perfect which means when you go to the furthest extreme the furthest reaches of that which represents the patience of God you cannot find one little bit of imperfection even at its most extreme his patience is completely perfect and Paul says just in case you're unsure today just in case because of where you've been or what you've done or the thoughts you've had or the missteps you've made along the way just in case you're unsure whether God has enough patience to handle you and to handle your life or to handle me and my life Paul says would you please just take a look at me because I am a demonstration of how patient Our God must be now Paul doesn't give us any details he just tells us I am the foremost he means I am the chief of all Sinners he's basically saying you ain't done nothing I have not already done you haven't gone anywhere I haven't gone your hands haven't touched anything and your eyes haven't seen anything your ears have not heard anything that mine have not he basically is saying listen I have been in a pit that is deeper than any pit you could ever dig for yourself and if our God had the mercy and the grace and the loving kindness to reach down into my pit and pull me out of that pit Paul says you ought to just be expecting the fact that the same God who did that for me is the exact same God who can do that for you his grace is sufficient his patience is capable of handling any and every situation that may exist in our lives Paul says I'm a demonstration of how perfectly patient God is I love how this verse starts uh in The New American Standard Bible that I am using uh New American Standard Version the first three words or few words are and yet for this reason I like when verses start that way because they give me sort of a compass they offer me some direction as to how I'm supposed to uh the text in which I'm supposed to set this particular verse into and yet for this reason it's kind of like when you see the word therefore in scripture anytime you see the word therefore you do need to figure out what it's there for because it is there for a reason and this verse is the same yet for this reason which means there are some reasons that Paul has already listed in this text that Drew him to the conclusion of verse 16 he didn't just come up with it out of of thin air he wrote down some specific reasons that led him to write in verse 16 that our God is extravagantly perfectly patient I figure that for just a few moments what you and I could do would be to backtrack up through the text just a few verses so that we could figure out what the reasons are I want to know what they are and it it it occurs to me that as you and I see these reasons that he points out about himself being a demonstration of the perfect patience of God that by the time we finish we will not only see that he Paul is a demonstration of how perfect God's patience is but actually every person sitting in this room and Beyond is a demonstration of how perfect God's patience is as well so let's take a journey together we're going to start in verse 15 to find out what the reasons are so just backtrack up with me just one verse verse 15 is where we find our first reason it says there it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world and here's the reason to save Sinners among whom I am the foremost of all listen to that again Paul says it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners Paul says the most incredible way that I could seek to point out to you and demonstrate to you and try to encounter capsulate how perfectly patient Our God must be is the fact that he saved me Paul can barely believe it he saved me you know when we are in situations like the one you and I get the privilege of being in today here today at um Founders week or if you're watching online or the churches you attend on Sundays or the Bible study groups that you might be a part of often times we can hear about this salvation this death on the cross of Calvary that Forged Way for us to have a relationship with God we hear it so frequently and in so many different ways and with so much different verbage that all comes down to the same principle that often times those of us who are this blessed to be in settings like this so frequently can allow a statement like that to roll off of our shoulder casually we hear it and we know that we are saved but the gravity of the situation escapes us but never in a million years should we ever hear the fact that you and I have been saved and it not cause us to want to fall to our knees and lift our hands outstretched to our God and thank him for forging a way for us to be in relationship with God listen the unbelieving often ask why would with a God who is so kind only allow there to be one way for us to have a relationship with him if he is so good and if he is so kind why would he expect that so many different people from so many different cultures so many different backgrounds could only have one way to be in relationship with him and while that might be a pretty uh good question it's actually not the right question the right question is not whether or not a kind God would allow one way the question is why would a God who is so holy allow there to be any way for people that are so Unholy to have any relationship with him at all the fact that he has allowed us the privilege to be in relationship with him that he sent his own son to Bear the weight of our sin y'all there was a price that had to be paid for my sin and for your sin and praise the lord we don't have to pay the price he paid the price for our sin there's nothing casual about that and Paul points this out he brings it up as one of the reasons why we should know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God's patience can sustain us every day of our life he basically is saying if he was patient enough to save you he's patient enough to sustain you you know there are 7 billion plus people on the planet the fact that you and I happen to live in this blessed day and age and generation where we get to be at Gatherings like this one where you can turn on your computer and stream live to Gatherings like this one where there are churches pretty much on every corner with someone who is standing a pastor who is shepherding the flock and prayerfully leading them through the scriptures and the fact that you can turn on Christian radio and hear uh speakers proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and in Dallas we've got a couple Christian radio stations so you can listen to one if you like traditional Christian music or another if you like a more contemporary style there is so much available to us the fact that you and I get the privilege to live in the year 2014 where there is so much that has been given to the body of Christ and people that are in relationship with him Do Not For a Moment think that was by chance my friend you might have surprised your mama and daddy but you did not surprise God he planned for you to be here with the S billion plus people that are on the planet your great great grandfather happened to find the woman that should be your great great grandmother the two of them came together and had your great grandfather then your great-grandfather with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find the person that should be your great-grandmother the two of them came together and created your grandfather and then your grandfather with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet happened to find the woman to be your grandmother and then the two of them came together and created your father and then your father with the 7 billion plus people that are on the planet he happened to find the woman that should be your mother and then the two of them came together and this is a little graphic but all the millions of sperm the exact right one connected with your mother's egg to create you would you not for a moment think that any of that was was by chance God has been orchestrating and strategizing to make sure that you existed in this at this point in history it's the plan of God there was nothing chance about it and if you think that it was a miracle that you were born would you think of how much more of a miracle it is then that you were born again since the beginning of time God has been strategizing for your soul since before time began man really he he has been making sure that there would be a way for you to be in relationship with him that is how much he loved you and I have never heard anyone describe this uh better than than my own dad who describes this battle for your soul as a cosmic chessboard think about it as God on one side and the enemy on the other both of them vying for you both of them wanting to Wing you over to their side and God made the very first move on this Cosmic chest board for your soul Genesis 1:1 was that move and he created the world and then he created Mankind in a perfect setting a perfect relationship with himself and then the enemy he made a move didn't he he slithered into the garden and caused sin to enter the picture so that now there is lies and and rebellion and murder and Mankind is separated in Fellowship from God and it seems like the enemy is one but our God never to be outdone he had another move he caused Adam and Eve to come back together they had a baby boy named Seth Seth gave birth to enosh and the scriptures say in Genesis 4 that when enosh was born everybody began to worship God again but then the enemy had another move on the cosmic chessboard for your soul and for mine he caus sin and Rebellion to enter back into the hearts of mankind so that it proliferated so far across the entire Earth that the entire Earth needed to be destroyed by a flood and it seemed like the enemy had won but our God never to be outdone he made another move and his name was Noah and he said Noah Build me an ark Noah said build a what build an ark because it's going to rain and Noah didn't quite get it but he he decided to obey anyway anyway and through one man's obedience mankind was preserved but the enemy not to be outdone he made another move sin and Rebellion entered back into the picture again and it proliferated across the Earth but our God never to be outdone he made another move and he went to this little Pagan town called called ER and he found this guy named Abram and he raised him up and said I'm going to change your name and I'm going to change your destiny and I'm going to send you to a BL brand new place and create my people the nation of Israel they will bear my my mark upon them they will bear my name my banner over them will be love and my favor and protection and Promises will follow them every day but the enemy he he made another move he caused now God's people to go down into Egypt 400 years as we talked about earlier they were enslaved and it seemed like for sure the enemy had won but our God never to be outdone he made another move and his name was Moses and Moses was raised as The Prince of Egypt and at the right time God told Moses to go tell Pharaoh let my people go and after 10 miraculous plagues and 40 years in the wilderness they came into the promised land the place that was marked by God's favor and presence and power with them they were finally where they were supposed to be but the enemy made another move he caused now God's people to turn their back on Yahweh the one true God and to begin to worship idols by the time you get to the end of the Book of Judges the last line of the Book of Judges says this everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes kind of sounds like America in the year 2014 doesn't it but our God had another move up his sleeve her name was Ruth and Ruth had tragedy and Chaos in her life but at the right time she met her kinsman redeemer and and the two of them came together and they had a little baby named OED and OED gave birth to Jesse and Jesse gave birth to a little baby boy named David and with that one move the enemy didn't even know it but the Checkmate was already on the way and at the end of the Old Testament there are 400 years of complete silence God is on one side of the cosmic chessboard vying for your soul and mind and the enemy is on the other side and for 400 years nobody makes a move and all of history is sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to see who's going to make the next move and then the New Testament opens and Jesus Christ enters the picture and with that one move God makes a move that the enemy still to this day has never ever had a response for amen and he did that for you and for me Paul brings it up here in 1 Timothy chapter 1 because he's basically saying to us listen if God had enough patience to orchestrate events through the last couple Millennia don't you think he can handle the last six weeks of your life that if he had enough mercy and Grace and love toward you that he made sure you and I the veil was lifted from our eyes 2 Corinthians chapter 4:4 says that the enemy is blinding the eyes of the unbelieving so that they might not see clearly the very fact that you and I are in this room Believers in Jesus Christ that our eyes are open to see him clearly it didn't just happen by chance my friend God has been orchestrating events to bring us into relationship with himself it's a miracle that we are saved Paul says if he had enough patience for that he's got your life covered but that's not the only reason he gives us there's another reason and it's in verse 13 remember we're backtracking through 1 Timothy chapter 1 verse 13 He says even though I was formerly somebody say formerly for formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet I was shown Mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief here's our our second reason that Paul gives us as to why we should know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God's patience is perfect while we can be free to not walk on eggshells in our relationship with God he says it's not only that he saved me but he said there's something else that's real specific that draws me to the patience of God to want to worship him for it remember in verse 16 Paul didn't give us details he just said I'm the chief of all Sinners he didn't give us you know like his sin resume with all of the details spelled out as to why he was the chief of all Sinners he just said said trust me I am but here we get to this verse verse 13 and he gives us three of the things on his sin resume he says a blasphemer a persecutor and a violent aggressor I'm glad that we weren't distracted by all that in the beginning that he didn't give us all of the details of his sin resume because sometimes when we see too much of someone else's uh what someone else has been delivered from we have a tendency don't we to so concentrate on their sin resume that we forget we don't actually have time to concentrate on anybody else's sin resume because we have one of our own don't we if I were to take this microphone and pass it around this entire Auditorium we'd be here well through the remainder of 2014 going over all of our own sin resumés so Paul didn't give us the detail as to not to distract us but finally here in verse 13 He just gives us three things that described it he says that was a blasphemer violent aggressor a persecutor of those who who named the name of Jesus Christ three things sin resume but at the very top of this resume he puts a a a a title in bold font all caps lettering so that you know for sure that that's the title you need to read before you read any of the details on his sin resume he says these things are who I was formerly they are not not who I am anymore proof of the patience of God is Not only that he saved me but that he changed me it's not only in my justification it's in my sanctification as you all probably know our sanctification is a progressive progress process this decision you and I have made by by planting ourselves in these seats to be holy to pursue a lifestyle that is congruent with the image of Christ Jesus uh that that Progressive sanctification that that path that we are on it is the holy spirit of God himself that sticks with us while we change this is good news because some of you have had friends that have left you your side when you felt that they were going to be the ones to hang with you while you dealt with that area in your life that really was going to take you some time to become Sanctified in that particular area of your life but they betrayed you and they couldn't hang on some of you probably have spouses who love you when because they couldn't deal with the change process the transformation process that you had to undergo in your life but no matter who else has left you or forsaken you you need to know that there is one who will never leave you nor forsake you and that is our great God that he sticks with us while we change that's how his patience is seen not only in the fact that we're saved justification but in that we are progressively being sanctified by the grace of God do you know that is actually one of the holy spirit's job descriptions uh 2 Thessalonians 1:3 it says that the Holy Spirit sanctifies us it's his job description he got a degree in sanctifying you his whole job one of the many jobs that he does in our life one of them is to conform us into the image of Christ to cause us to think differently and walk differently and talk different ly and desire different things to have different Ambitions and interests than we ever thought we would have now I don't know if you've noticed or not I certainly have but trying to change ourselves from the outside in is exhausting not only is it exhausting but it's temporary lasting change doesn't happen from the outside in it only happens from the inside out when God's Own Spirit takes up residence in a person at the moment they accept Christ as Savior uh Ephesians chapter 1 verse 13 says at the moment you believe you receive the holy spirit of God the best gift you will ever get in all of your life and that gift the Holy Spirit who is not a wind or a fire or a ghost or a dove he's often symbolized by those things but that's not who he is he is the third person of the Trinity not third because he is least in value just third because he's the last to be revealed to us in the pages of scripture but the holy spirit of God is all the fullness and all of the Grandeur and all of the greatness and all of the glory of God the father is in the person of the Holy Spirit which means if the Holy Spirit lives in you that all of the greatness and all of the Grandeur and all of the authority of God the father now takes up residence on the inside of you and on the inside of me and the Holy Spirit of God lives in you to help change you from the inside out to mold you into the image of Christ Jesus so as we listen to this message this morning about uh stewarding our families aligning ourselves underneath our great God and Ste stewarding our families as such and as you like me I'm sure felt such conviction over that alignment and making sure we are in tune with what God has for us as we consider throughout this entire week the journey that is before us the things that need to be tweaked and changed and realigned and reconsidered and refocused as we follow God with all of our hearts and all of our souls and all of our strength no matter how far you left to go in your journey how many changes that need to be made you need to know that that you serve a god who's going to stick with you while you change he's got enough patience for that he's got enough patience for that and so Paul says the reasons that I know that our God is patient is not only because he saved me but it is also because he's changing me have you ever wondered how popcorn pops somebody say yes I'm so glad that you want to know inside every Colonel of corn there is a microscopic dot of water and so when you take a a microwave bag of popcorn and you put it in the microwave the heat from the microwave is not actually heating up the shell of the popcorn that's not what you're after the heat from the microwave is heating up the little microscopic dot of water that you can't see that is inside the shell and so as that water on the inside is completely heated up it it creat Steam and and as that steam gains more and more heat it creates more pressure and then that pressure starts to put push against the shell until finally that shell pops open and now it looks completely different on the outside not because you did anything to the outside just because you heated up what was on the inside and when you heated up what was on the inside you got to see on the outside all of the potential that was in the Shell all along this is what happens with the holy spirit of God on the inside of us the Holy Spirit he is there you can't see him but he's there my friend and as you heat up the work of the holy spirit of God on the inside of you by being in the word and surrounded with Believers in Christ and following and heeding the conviction of the Holy Spirit on the inside of you you heat up his work on the inside of you and he begins to press against this shell until finally you just pop open and you are completely different than you were before this is the work of God in us molding us into the image of Christ justification and sanc ification are not the only things I want to share I think I have a couple more minutes to just share one more reason with you at least verse 12 is our last step we're going to take as we backtrack he says I thank Christ Jesus our lord who has strengthened me because he considered me faithful putting me into service putting me into service he put me into service Paul says proof of God's patience is not only that he saved me it's not only that he changes me it's that after all I've done and after every place I've been and after the thoughts I've had and after the missteps I have made that he still could use me for his glory it's not only seen in justification it's not only seen in sanctification it's seen by this location that God has planted me in that he could somehow allow me to be used for his glory I want you to know um that I can't believe that God would use me um for for his glory for his service and I want you to know that when I say that I do not only mean on a platform like this one or behind a microphone or putting pen to paper U to write a Bible study or a book I am stunned by that but when I say to you that I cannot believe God would use me for his purposes I don't mostly mean here what I think about are mostly are the smaller spheres of influence in which God has planted me honestly I think about my husband I think about that God has usted to me this guy this guy that that when his life here on Earth is over he is supposed to see Christ Jesus and and prayerfully he will hear the Lord Jesus say Well done young man and my job as his wife is to encourage and support him in that endeavor and so he gets to hear a well done I can't believe God wouldn't trust me with that then we've got these three little boys Jackson Jerry Jr and Jude we named the last one Jude because that's as close as we could get to Revelation because it is ((applause)) finished so we've got these three little boys that we are praying are reared in a way that they will become men of God Mighty Warriors for God and they will be or I will spank them but I look at these three little boys and I can't believe God would entrust me with that that he would let me partner with him in the formation of a little soul can't believe it I wonder how often it is this has happened so many times in my own life that God or the enemy rather excuse me causes us to ve devalue the significance of the location where God has planted us so we think that being seated around this dinner table with this family man this is this is not as important as if I were doing something else and we devalue the dinner table and we devalue the classroom or we devalue the corporate job that you may have you think the location where I am is not significant and as long as the enemy has got you thinking that where you are is not the location where God has specifically strategically planted you so that you could could magnify his name and could be the light in the midst of the darkness right there in that place as long as he got he's got you thinking that place is insignificant he's got you right where he wants you but if like Paul we'll see he saved me he's changing me and he's using me right here right now right where I am this place is significant in the kingdom of God and if he had enough patience to save you if he had enough patience to change you to change me to walk with us every step of the way and if he has enough patience despite everything we bring to the table to still use us for his glory in our families or on our teaching job or in the courtroom as a lawyer or as a CPA or in that organization or as a student on this campus or wherever you may be if he has enough patience to use us then we should sit back do what Psalm 4610 says just be still don't strive cease worrying be anxious for nothing don't walk on eggshells Don't Be Afraid don't be riddled with guilt and combin condemnation over what has happened in your life just live live free the patience of God rolls out the red carpet for us to March confidently into the presence of God and into the plan of God for our lives knowing that if he is for us no one nothing could ever be against us let me pray for you Lord we thank you for your patience today we are so grateful Lord that we cannot outs sin your level of grace and mercy and patience toward us for anyone that may be under the sound of my voice that has been concerned that maybe they had reached the limit even if it's just one person Lord who just needed to know today that that that that you're still with them you're still on their side Lord I pray right now that you would come to them like a flood would you just spread your compassion and your grace and your mercy upon them so tangibly so palatably Lord that they will know beyond a shadow of a doubt today that you've seen them that you've heard their cry that you've answered the Deep requests of their heart and then Lord set us all free set us all free to live abundantly thank you for your patience we are so grateful in Jesus name amen ((applause))