Priscilla Shirer: God's Patience is Limitless

((music playing)) well hi y'all I've got a a couple of Brothers both my younger brothers one is my baby brother his name is Jonathan but we call him John John and my baby brother does what baby brothers do when they come to your house as adult they go straight to your refrigerator that's what John John does and so he was at my house not long ago he came over he went straight to the refrigerator he started foraging through it and as he foraged through my refrigerator he was reminded of something that he wanted to tell me so he's giggling kind of laughing as he remembers this story about my niece his oldest daughter who is four now her name is Kelsey she is a precocious sassy little curly-headed little girl I don't where she got any of that from and Kelsey now she's four yes but John John said listen I got to tell you something that happened when she was four I I'm sorry when she was two he said when Kelsey was two she used to come to the refrigerator when she was hungry The Big Box in the kitchen that had the food in it she would point at the big box with the food and say eat he said I would then go and grab my little 2-year-old take her over to her booster seat that was at the uh you know positioned in the chair at the kitchen table I put her in the bo booster seat she would then commence to throw a temper tantrum and cry a river of tears and get totally ticked off about the fact that now she was far removed from the big box that had the actual food in it so she would wiggle her way out of the seat stomp her way back across the kitchen floor to the big box that had the food in it point at it and say eat so he said then I would go pick her up and I would take her back over to the booster seat at the table sit her down she would throw a temper tantrum cry a r of Tears wiggle her way out of the chair walk back over to the big box with the with the the food in it and say eat so I would pick her up and I would take her back over to the booster seat sit her down in it she would throw a temper tantrum we went through this over and over and over again and she he said to me Priscilla you know I'm laughing now while I tell you this story but just so you know at the time it wasn't funny the kind of patience I had to put into training this girl to realize that that I was her daddy and that I loved her and that where I was putting her was actually the place she needed to be to receive what she was asking me for that she was throwing a temper tantrum because I in my understanding of the the best environment for her to be and that I was placing her in that environment and she was refusing it and she was fighting against me but but I knew where I was putting her was the best place for her so I'm giggling you know and I'm laughing as he's telling me this story about little K I mean I was just laughing my head off and the Holy Spirit right there in the kitchen stopped me in my tracks and said Priscilla don't laugh too long or too hard cuz honey that would be you Priscilla you're the one he spoke to my heart that I've got to be patient with because you throw a temper tantrum when I put you in a place you don't particularly prefer to be you're the one who often chooses to ignore my voice or rebel against my directions or or Priscilla just choose to go your own way you're the one who does that in Priscilla just like John John had to be patient with his girl I need you to know that that I have to be patient with you as my child I wonder if there's anybody in the room that knows exactly what I'm talking about and so right there in the kitchen I just started saying thanks thanks God for being patient with me thank you that when I have made mistakes or missteps or maybe it wasn't a mistake or a misstep I have just blatantly chosen to go my own way thank you Lord that you have been patient with me it occurs to me as we are talking about this the sense of knowing and being known how yesterday we looked at through the incredible teachers the lord gave us we looked at this concept of knowing who we are in Christ and coming into a realization of our identity in him and then today knowing um the importance of legacy and being deliberate and focused about leaving that Legacy and knowing our purpose and knowing our calling and being focused on it and consistent in our walk with Christ it occurred to me that in these huge overarching Concepts that if you're anything like me you realize how much further you have to go to be all that God has called you to be that there is a gap between where you are right now and some of the things you're beginning to sense God wanting to change or rearrange or rester in your life as you become focused on these Concepts that we're studying uh this this weekend and looking at this weekend together and I just wanted to for a few moments offer you encouragement that no matter how far removed you feel like you might be from whatever goal you've been convicted about uh even just over the past 24 hours no matter how much more you feel like you need to go home and do differently or reconfigure or reshape or reprioritize in your life and in your leadership and in your ministry and your company no matter what you feel like you need to change or how far off the Mark you are I want you to know today and be encouraged that God has enough patience to walk with you to help to grow you that your friends might not have enough patience your spouse might have not have had enough patience to wait for you to change or get better in that area your mama your daddy they may not have had enough patience for you but there is one listen to me I'm so grateful because he'll never leave us he'll never forsake us he hangs with us while we change he's in it for the long haul with you and me and I'm so grateful about it patience long suffering I've been thinking about this concept of patience excuse me because I Am Naturally an impatient person can I just get one somebody to be a witness in here I mean I just like stuff to kind of get done you know I just want it complete I'm the kind of person that when we have a problem I have come up with a solution in the very first five minutes that we ever had a problem it might not be the best solution but we got a solution to work with and when you are a naturally impulsive and patient person and you're ready to get to the bottom line the way the Lord hones patience in our life because for human beings patience is a characteristic that has to be matured and honed in us it's got to be worked on a little bit the way he worked on it in our lives is that he puts us in scenarios where we have to wait so he causes you to be married to someone help me Jesus help me Lord married to someone who takes 24 48 72 hours to make a decision so do you know when we have a problem I've come up with a solution but uhuh my man's got to think about it fast on it go in the prayer closet on it ask wise counsel about it Lord have ((applause)) mercy and then y'all know when he finally does come up with a solution it is the exact same solution that I had the first five minutes we ever had the problem honestly if I am to be honest most of the time Jerry has come up with a better solution because he's thought through all the consequences he's looked down the line he has really patiently uh taken pains with what's the best decision in the matter and so the Lord sets me in a scenario where I have to hone the skill of patience the reason why you sit next to that coworker on your job I'm talking about that one that if she says one more thing to you you're going to knock her out anybody got one of those the reason why he does that and has allowed that is because in that scenario you are honing the skill the characteristic of patience so since patience is something in our lives that we got to just plain old flat out work on somehow we've put that same Dynamic on God we feel like that since patience is so difficult for us that God must have trouble with it too and since we get irritated when that kid keeps asking us the same question nine 10 11 times after we already said no the first two times that that we feel like because we get irritable in situations like that that God must also get irritable with us somehow and that because our patience runs thin and because we can easily become irritated in scenarios like that that God must be the same with us and that when we have a question 10 times and when we're like Gideon and need confirmation of God's will that that somehow God God is is fed up with us and done with us and is irritated with us but you need to know that that patience is not a characteristic in uh in God In Our God that needs to be home or trained or matured or developed my friend you cannot wear God out he doesn't need a good nap before he can handle our lives he is God he is full complete uh comprehensive everything you need God already is and so I'm here to tell you today that no matter how far off the mark you think you could be uh in your marriage or in that Ministry or in your leadership style or how you want to shift and change things as you continue and I continue to mature and develop in in in our lives that God God's got your back he can hang with you through the process through the tra change in fact he's committed to hanging with you and so as you and I discover our purpose and our calling our identity be deliberate about leaving a legacy knowing what it is that God has for us I want to encourage you on this concept of God's patience with us as we make this journey if you've got your Bible with it if you actually still use use a Bible with paper Pages like I do or if you got your iPhone your iPad any manner of eyess would you just get to First Timothy because there's just a little teeny passage of scripture that for a few minutes I thought I would uh share with you because it is one of the clearest places in scripture where Paul talks about God's patience I fallen in love with this little passage because I needed to be encouraged in this area of knowing that God is is with me for the long haul that he is slow to anger and great Empower and Paul's talking to this young leader his name is Timothy and he wants to tell him many things um in this letter that he's writing to to this young guy who's starting out in his ministry starting out to leave the Legacy that he will leave and of all the things that Paul the Apostle wants to make sure that Timothy knows for sure by the time he gets to the end of this letter in fact one of the primary things that he wants to write about in the very first chapter is pinpointing and zeroing in on for Timothy the grand great patience of God he wants this this this guy to know Tim listen you're going to make mistakes along the way everything isn't going to run as perfectly as you would hope that it would you've got a journey ahead of you but I want you to know right here at the onset of the journey that you're on that God's patience his grace is sufficient for you 1 Timothy 1:16 says this and yet for this reason Paul says 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 his perfect patience as an example of those who would for those who would believe in him for eternal life Paul says listen the patience that God has Isn't just a good patience and it's not just a great patience it is absolutely 100% perfect which means when you get to the furthest reaches of the extremes of the long suffering nature of God even at the furthest reaches there is not one little bit of imperfection you can't wear it out you can't go over it or under it or Escape it or get around it his patience is complete it is perfect and it's got you covered his patience is perfect and Paul says just in case you're not sure look at me Paul says I'm a demonstration of how perfect it must be because I am the foremost he means the chief of all Sinners he's basically saying you ain't done nothing I haven't already done you haven't gone anywhere that that you shouldn't be going that I haven't already gone your eyes haven't seen anything that mine haven't seen your ears haven't heard anything mine haven't already heard my your hands haven't done anything you have not dug a pit for yourself that is deeper than the one I have already dug for myself and Paul says I'm telling you if he had enough patience to reach down in my pit H and pull me out of that thing I promise he's got you covered Paul says I'm a demonstration of the patience of God he says when I look in the mirror I see proof of the fact that God's patience is extravagant and Limitless and boundless and and totally for me and not against me God's patience is perfect now I love that Paul didn't give us like you know his sin resume he didn't give us the details of why he says I'm a demonstration of the patience of God he just says I am he doesn't give us all the details on his sin resume and I'm so glad that he didn't give us the details of his sin resume because if we did have the details of his resume we might be so distracted looking at the details of Paul's sin resume that we forget that we actually don't have time to be looking at anybody else's resume because we got a resume of our own anybody know what I'm talking about we we don't have time to concentrate on the details of what somebody else has been delivered from because honestly if I were to take this little microphone and just start passing it around this room we'd be in here well into 2014 going over all of our own details on our own sin resumés anybody in the house been delivered from anything anybody so I'm glad we don't get get get a chance to even get distracted by Paul's sin resume because we've got our own sin resume and honestly when we think about it Paul is not the only person that is a demonst rtion of how perfect God's patience must be because if we look in the mirror we are a demonstration of how perfect God's patience must be the very fact that you and I are in this room today convened together listen even if the person that brought you here got you here kicking and screaming like you're still sitting in the room and you don't even know how you got here you're just trying to figure out what what has happened how did this happen you need to know that even if you're shocked before the foundation of the world Jeremiah 1:5 says he had this on the schedule of your life my friend you have been divinely set up you were meant to be here and so God's patience with us drawing us wooing us calling us to himself and calling us and allowing us to be in scenarios like this one even when we didn't even purpose it or plan it this already speaks to the patience of God demonstrated in our own lives I love this verse because it starts with the word words for this reason for this reason it's kind of like when you see at the beginning of a verse the word therefore anytime you see therefore in scripture you need to see what it's there for because it is there for a reason and when you see a passage that starts with for this reason you need to kind of backtrack a little bit because that means Paul has already listed some reasons that he's trying to point your attention to so I thought for just a few moments you and I could look at what his reasons were for why he came to this conclusion in verse 16 that God's patience is so perfect and that he's a demonstration of the patience of God I want to know what the reasons are and I want to share them with you because they are simple and yet the implications of them the the encouragement we get from them is so profound and will launch us confidently into this journey that you and I are going to be on after we leave Catalyst that we won't be walking on eggshells in our relationship with God wondering if if we just do one more more wrong thing or one more misstep that it might be the straw that breaks the camels back and God might be done with us for good this will free us up to live fully and abundantly because we'll know we cannot uh wear out the patience of God so I want to see what the reasons are anybody want to see what the reasons are with me maybe so glad verse 15 is the first reason it's a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world here it is to save Sinners to save sinners Paul says in case you were wondering whether or not God has enough patience to help you in your journey to help you make the changes you need to make to uh help you to get out of a pit you've dug for yourself in case you were wondering whether or not God can handle the past year of your life or the past six weeks of your life or the past five years of your life in case you're wondering Paul says would you never forget that if he had enough patience and longsuffering to make sure that you came to be in relationship with him through his son Jesus Christ if he had enough patience for that that he's got your life covered now I've been thinking about this this idea of the Salvation that God gives us and I can't say it any more clearly than than um our speaker just said to us regie Joiner I I can't say it any better I loved it so much he said that God could have just fixed everything with a word out of his mouth right after the garden he could have just fixed it all but the fact that he took century and IIA to woo and to call and to build a relationship with his people speaks to the long-suffering nature of God I want you to consider the fact that since the beginning of time there has been a war in the heavenlies for your soul and for my soul and God has painstakingly waited and wooed that even if you and I weren't looking for him the Hound of Heaven has come looking for us he is patient toward us he desires relationship with us listen the fact that you and I are physically alive and born especially in this day and age and generation where there has never ever been a time in history for the Church of Jesus Christ where you could call together a gathering of young leaders and 15,000 of us would just show up so that we can dig into God's word and learn how to be the leaders that God has called us to be in women's ministry in particular there has never been a time in history before where you can walk into a Christian bookstore and there be so many bible study resources that are available specifically geared for women and written by women that is that has never happened in the history of the world and here you and I we get to be alive in the generation of catalyst in the generation of a time when you can go on in on on uh the radio and you can hear traditional Christian music or you can hear more contemporary Christian music or you can go to a church that's stationed on pretty much any corner you can find in certain areas of our country and hear somebody teaching the good news of Jesus Christ don't you know we're blessed to live in this day and age generation and it's not by chance my friend that you're here it's because God miraculously positioned Your Existence in this time and this age and generation it's not by chance even if you were a surprise to your mama and daddy you were not a surprise to God he did not go oops how did that one get through the cracks I mean I want you to think about it your great great grandfather with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find the woman that should be your great great grandmother the two of them came together and had your uh your great grandfather then your great-grandfather with the seven billion people that are on the planet he just happened to find the woman that should be your great-grandmother they came together and had your grandfather then your grandfather with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find the woman that should be your grandmother the two of them came together and had your daddy and then your daddy with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet he just happened to find the woman that should be your mother and then the two of them came together and this is a little graphic of all the millions of sperm the exact right one joined together with your mother mother's egg to create you there ain't nothing chance about all that my friend God constructed that he maneuvered things so that you and I would be alive in this day and age it's a miracle that you and I are here it's a miracle but if you think it's a miracle that you were born think of how much more of a miracle it is that you were born again since the beginning of time there has been a war for your soul I want you to think about how much God has gone through to be in relationship with you I want you to picture it like a a chessboard a Divine chessboard in the heavenlies the enemy is on one side God is on the other and both of them are vying for your soul God makes the first move he creates Adam and Eve and he creates them in a perfect relationship with himself in a perfect environment but the enemy he's got to move too and he slithers into the garden and he causes sin to enter into the hearts of mankind so that Cain kills Abel and murder proliferates across uh the scenario the perfect scenario that God had created and it seems like the enemy has won but our God not to be outdone he has another move and he causes Adam and Eve to come back together again Adam and Eve give birth to a baby named Seth Seth gives birth to enosh in Genesis 4 says that when enosh was born everybody they began to worship God again but the enemy not to be outdone he makes another move he causes sin to enter back into the hearts of mankind so that it proliferates across the whole world and the the whole world has to be destroyed it looks like God is won or the enemy rather has won but God not to be outdone he makes another move he finds his guy named Noah and he says Noah build an ark Noah says build a what he says build an ark cuz it's going to rain and Noah just obeyed even though it didn't make sense to him and because of that mankind was preserved but the enemy makes another move he causes Rebellion again to seep into the hearts of mankind it proliferates across the Earth and it's everywhere seeping into the hearts of mankind and across the planet but God makes another move and he goes to this little town called ER and he raises up this guy named Abram and he changes his name and changes his purpose and changes his Destiny and says I'm going to send you to a brand new place and make a brand new people out of you and the nation of Israel will be marked by my my power and my presence and my name and my favor and and so it looks like God has the upper hand as his people emerge but the enemy makes another move and he causes God's people to go down into Egypt land and for 400 years they are enslaved and it sure looks like the enemy is one this time but our God never to be outdone he makes another move and he raises up this little baby boy named Moses and Moses is raised as The Prince of Egypt and at the right time God sends Moses to go to pharaoh to say Let My People will go and after 10 miraculous plagues and 40 years in the wilderness they finally come into the promised land but the enemy not to be outdone he makes another move he causes now God's people to turn their back on Yahweh the one true God and begin to worship idols by the time you get to the end of the Book of Judges the last line in the Book of Judges says this everyone was doing what was right in their own eyes kind of sounds like America in the year 2013 doesn't it but our God not to be outdone he makes another move and he raises up this little moabit girl named Ruth Ruth has tragedy in her life but at the right time she meets this kinsman redeemer remember and the two of them come together and they had this baby named OED and OED gives birth to Jesse and Jesse gives birth to a little baby boy named David and with that one move the enemy doesn't even know that the Checkmate is already on the way he doesn't even know and by the the time the Old Testament closes there are 400 years of Silence God is on one side of the the the historic chessboard and the enemy is on the other and all of history waits to see who's going to make the next move the Old Testament closes and then the New Testament opens and God makes a move that the enemy still to this day has never had a response for enter Jesus Christ basically God said I'm tired of this back and forth I'm going come down here and take care of this myself and he did all of that for you for your soul and for my soul if you've ever questioned whether or not God has enough patience to handle what happened in the last six weeks of your life or the last year of your life or The Last 5 Years or 10 years of your life or your whole life if you're wondering whether or not God can use you after where you've been and what you've done and the decision you've made listen to me if he can handle the past few Millennia making sure y'all would be in relationship with each other I'm telling you he has got your lifetime covered got it covered amen Paul says never question the patience of God he saved you didn't he but then that's not all Paul says it's not just because he saved me but look at the uh beginning of 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 Paul gives us three things off of his resume he says okay I'm not going to give you the whole deal but I'll give you three things off my resume these are the three things that that described me before I came to relationship with Jesus Christ but before I write these three things on my resume Paul says I need to put a huge title at the top of my resume and the title is for L he says before I write any of this stuff I want you to know that these things are who I used to be they are not who I am anymore Paul says if you're wondering whether or not God has enough patience for you would you remember not only that he saved you but that he can change you salvation is your justification but changing you changing me that's our sanctification that is the process by which we are made into the image of Christ Jesus and guess what other people physically that are in our lives they might not stick with us while we change but there is one who is our sanctifier and will walk with us as we come into this knowing that that we're being called and commissioned to here at Catalyst God is with you for the Long Haul while you change my friend he sticks closer than a brother he's the one that is precious Holy Spirit in you in fact not only is his spirit with you while you change but did you know that one of the job descriptions of the holy spirit is to change you like you don't have to change yourself the Holy Spirit does the changing for you 2 Thessalonians 1:13 that he actually sanctifies you in other words it is his business to make you and I look more like Jesus that's his job description because I don't know if you've noticed or not but trying to change yourself from the outside in is hard and it's exhausting but change from the inside out like if you and I get to the end of our time together um when this conference is over and if we just say Okay Lord gosh I've written down all these things there's so much I need to do there's a legacy I want to leave uh and I need to change my life to to enhance that Lord and zero in on that and God there's a purpose and calling that I want to discover but but God I'm not going to try to change myself from the outside in I'm going to yield to your spirit whose job description it is to change me from the inside out that's the kind of change that lasts have you ever wondered how popcorn pops somebody say yes I'm so glad you want to know so inside every little kernel of corn there is a microscopic dot of water so when you take a microwave bag of popcorn and you put it inside the microwave you are not putting it inside the microwave so that it can heat up the shell of the Corn you are putting it inside the microwave because all of that heat heats up the little microscopic dot of water that is inside the kernel of corn so what happens is as the microwave heats up that that microscopic dot of water it creates More and More Steam and the steam gains more and more pressure and the pressure becomes so hard and so heavy on the inside of that kernel of corn that as it heats up it finally presses against the shell so hard that the shell has to pop so now the corn looks completely different on the outside not because you did anything to the outside but because you just heated up what was on the inside this is what happened when the spirit of God is in you and you know the spirit of God is in you if you're a believer in Jesus Christ right so as you heat up the work of God's spirit on the inside of you by yielding to the voice of the Holy Spirit and connecting with Believers like this and being in the word of God and being on your knees and developing relationship with him as you heat up the Holy Spirit on the inside of you the work his work in you presses and presses against the shell of your life until eventually you you pop and guess what you look completely different now on the outside than you ever did before not because you worked so hard on the outside but because God was working so diligently on the inside of you and his influence now is seen on the outside of you Paul says if you're wondering whether or not God has got enough patience to take you from point A to point B would you remember that he saved you and that he is changing you and if nobody else hangs with you he's got your back one of my sons um gosh he's getting ready to be 11 now but when he was five you know his first tooth was coming out and he was so excited he had become so excited about this tooth because we had told them you know okay so the tooth fair is going to come when your teeth start falling out and you get a little treasure when you put the tooth under your pillow and so he could not wait I mean he's like wiggling the thing trying to get it out and he finally gets it out on that day that one day it finally falls out he was so excited that kid has never been excited to go to bed in his whole life but that day I mean he ran for the bed dove in bed put his tooth under there he was trying to go to sleep he was trying his best to go to sleep he kept looking under the pillow to see if anything was happening he finally fell asleep and then about 3:00 a.m. in the morning my husband who is the um 250 lb 6'3 tooth fairy that I sleep next to every night he got up went upstairs he exchanged exchanged the tooth for a treasure I and Jackson got up in the morning cuz it was just chaos upstairs I heard thumping and screaming and excitement and he ran downstairs and he had his two fists clenched closed he said Mom the Tooth Fairy came and he opened up one hand and it was a package of gummy bears his favorite little snack and the other hand was ((applause)) $5 oh no he didn't ((applause)) so after Jackson bounded out of the room my husband saw the expression on my face and he said Priscilla don't worry he said do you remember last month at the time last month was Jackson's fifth birthday he said do you remember that all the family members came over and they all brought cards and they all had $5 bills in them he said you remember we took all those $5 bills and we put them in a birthday drawer he said well this morning at 3:00 a.m.

I went right inside that birthday drawer and I got one of them $5 bills and put it right underneath his pillow Dave Ramsey should be proud of us that is good Financial stewardship right there is what that is so I watched my boy get excited about treasure that was really already his can I tell you what this whole conference is about it's not about giving you more treasure my friend it's just about encouraging you to open up the drawer and pull out the treasure that is really already yes