Priscilla Shirer: God's Patience

I want to talk to you for just a few moments tonight about something that can literally set you free to live the Abundant Life that you and I as Believers in Jesus Christ have been called to live because listen the enemy would have it so that you and I are so worried and concerned that that maybe God has had just about enough of us that we've messed up too many times that we've made too many mistakes that 2013 was too bad for God to be able to use us in 2014 that the enemy wants to us just enough so that we we don't understand and realize the breadth and the depth and the height and the length of God's patience towards us he knows that as long as you and I are walking on eggshells in our relationship with God nervous and Afraid and scared that if we just say one more thing or do one more thing wrong or Miss God one more time that God might have had enough of us and this might be the time he puts us on the shelf and never uses us again for his glory the enemy knows that as long as you're walking on Shake eggshells you will never get around to experiencing what John 10:10 declares is available for God's children and that's Abundant Life you can't live abundantly when you're afraid and so a revelation of the patience of God toward you can set you free when you really fully understand that his grace is sufficient for you you that it doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done or how bad last year was or the mistakes you've made or the last 10 years or the last 20 years no matter what has happened up until this point the Slate has been wiped clean my friend forgetting those things which are behind us we press on so I want to talk to you about the patience of God it's a simple little characteristic of God that often times we don't hear very much about we don't read very much about we consider it every now and then but I have not in my life heard very many uh specific teachings just directed at the patience of God and I want to talk about it because most often when we think about the power of God we think about how God's power is demonstrated so we automatically go to instances like of the Old Testament where he was powerful enough to cause the walls of Jericho to come tumbling down or he was powerful enough to cause the Red Sea to divide or in the the New Testament how he was powerful enough to raise Lazarus from the dead we think about how his power is demonstrated but I want you for just a few moments tonight on this last night of the first conference to think about the flip side of the coin of God's power because God's power is not only seen in what he does God's power is also seen in what he chooses not to do God's power is not only seen in what he releases God's power is also seen in how he restrains himself from giving us what we rightfully deserve oh it takes power for that because I want you to think about that toddler or that teenager that that man they keep asking you that same question this is the fifth sixth sth eighth n9th 10th time you've had to give them the exact same answer and I want you to think about how it's so easy for us to become impatient and frustrated with that child or that friend or that spouse or that person that just doesn't seem to get it but God doesn't grow frustrated like we grow frustrated he doesn't have a knee-jerk reaction uh born out of uh impatience that he has to to the instances that are going on in our life listen it does not matter what you do you don't have the capacity to wear God out he doesn't need a good nap before he can handle what's gone on in your life and in my life he is God everything you need God already is so I want you to think about patience because most of the time when we think about it in a human sense we think of our impatience our propensity towards impatience now I don't I don't know about you but I will tell on myself tonight I am generally speaking an impatient person can I just get one witness in the house please okay I'm so glad I'm not alone I'm an impatient person I like to come up with solutions for problems as quickly as we possibly can and get on with it already and do you know for impatient people like me most of the time the way that God trains Us in patience and grows and develops this characteristic in our life is that he puts us in scenarios where we have to wait so he allows you to marry somebody Lord have mercy help me help me help me Lord see here's the deal with me and Jerry when we have a problem that we have to solve I have in the first five minutes we ever had the problem come up with a solution for the problem it might not be a good solution but we got a solution on the table let's get let's get to it oh no not my man Jerry Shire has to think about it pray about it fast on it sleep on it ask why counsel about it help me ((applause)) Jesus so so so I got five minutes down we're ready to go M 24 48 72 hours later he may come back to me with a solution and can I just say that most of the time the solution he comes up with is the exact same solution I had in the first 5 minutes we ever had a problem y'all know I'm in trouble when I go home right I'm in so much trouble honestly most of the time when Jerry has made a decision it really is a good decision because he's thought through he's patient enough to think through all the consequences of this decision we're about to make he's patient and in this Dynamic God trains in me patience the reason why you sit next to that Co worker on your job you know the one the one that if he or she says one more thing to you you going to knock her out anybody anybody the reason why the Lord an allows Dynamics like that is because in that Dynamic you are learning patience so since patience is an attribute that has to be matured and honed in the soul of a human being we put those same Dynamics on God we think that he has to grow in his level of patience so that he might not have enough patience for what's happened in our life or where we've been or what we've done or the bad decisions we've made the bad relationships we were in that he uh might have um a level of patience that we can outdo by our actions but but we can't wear God out the essence of all that patience was ever meant to be God already is he is completely perfect in his level of patience in fact when you think of all of the the characteristics and attributes of God that make up the chain of God's character so every Link in the chain of God's character his omniscience and omnipresence and his sovereignty and his Holiness and all of the things that make up the chain of God's character when you really think about it C Central to all of those things the most important and primary of all of those characteristics really is the patience of God right there in the center because if it were not for the patience of God we wouldn't exists long enough to get to the grace and the mercy and the omniscience and the omnipresence right it's because he is patient toward us that we really get an opportunity to experience him I love it it's put so clearly in Exodus 34 it says that he is great in power and aren't we glad that he's slow to anger his grace is sufficient for you it doesn't matter what has gone on in your life up to this point he is not through with you because my friend you can't wear God out he's got your back one of the clearest places in scripture where God's patience is talked about is a real simple passage of scripture I want to draw your attention to tonight it has begun to speak to me so beautifully about how patient and extravagantly grace-filled our God is toward us and is in the New Testament in the book of First Timothy if you have your Bible if you actually still use a the Bible with paper Pages like I do or if you have your iPad your iPhone any manner of eyess just flip on over to First Timothy chapter 1 1 Timothy chapter 1 the Apostle Paul you all know this at this Bible teaching church that the Apostle Paul is speaking to a young preacher named Timothy and he is giving Timothy lessons on life and Ministry and he knows right here at the onset of all that he wants to instruct Timothy with that that a message on God's patience is going to be so important cuz Timothy's young Timothy's going to make mistakes along the way there are going to be some missteps and some mishaps just like there will be for every single one of us and he wants Timothy to know right off the bat that God's patience is there awaiting all of those mistakes all of those missteps that God's Grace will be sufficient for him and so the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy chapter 1: 16 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 for those who would believe in him for eternal life I love this verse so much cuz Paul is so plain so clear he says let's let's let me just make sure you understand the kind of patience God has it's not just a good patience it's not a great patience it's not an awesome level of patience his patience is perfect which means when you go to the furthest extremes of that which represents the patience of God even at the furthest most points you will not find one bit of uh diminishing returns one bit of imperfection there is nothing that you can find that is outside of perfection in that which is the patience of God and Paul says just in case you're unsure just in case you think you might be the exception to the rule that maybe you have worn God out because of what's gone on in your marriage or in your singleness or the financial decisions that you've made or the the the the things you've gotten caught up in that you never intended to just in case you're unsure Paul says would you please take a look at me because I'm a demonstration of the patience of God Paul says I'm the foremost he basically means you ain't done nothing I haven't done he's basically saying you haven't gone anywhere I have not already gone you've not seen anything I haven't already seen your ears they have not heard anything my ears have not already heard you have not dug a pit for yourself that is any deeper than the pit I have been in before and Paul's here to tell us tonight that if Jesus could reach down in that pit and pull him out of it Paul says I promise you he's got your life covered Paul says I'm a demonstration of how great and Grand and vast and full and lavish and extravagant and boundless the patience of God is toward you you can't wear God out Paul says for this reason I love that the verse starts this way for this reason it's like the Pastor said that stood up here just a few moments ago anytime you see the word therefore in scripture it's kind of like a therefore anytime you see therefore you've got to see what it's there and Paul writes at the beginning of verse 16 for this reason which means there are some reasons it means that there are some things he's already written there are some things he's already said that led him to the conclusion of verse 16 he didn't just come up with verse 16 out of thin air he listed some specific reasons that he wanted to make sure you and I grasp that led him to the conclusion as to why God's grace is so extravagant and perfect toward us so I figured for just a few moments tonight you and I could backtrack up just a few verses to see what these reasons were because I figure if you and I can see what these reasons were in Paul's experience before we leave tonight we'll see that Paul is not the only person that is a demonstration of the lavish patience of God actually there are a room full of illustration of how Grand God's patience is the first reason is found in verse 15 so y'all we're just going to backtrack up a few verses and go dig out these reasons verse 15 is where the first reason is found it says it is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance that Christ Jesus came into the world and here's the reason to save sinners Christ Jesus came into the world to save Sinners this is the very first reason that Paul lists the very first one the most important simal primary one that he wants to draw our attention to this is the one he says that out of all the other reasons should cause you to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that God has enough patience to handle anything and everything that might go on go on in your life he says and here's the reason he saved me Paul can't believe it he says he saved me and I'm the foremost I'm the chief of all Sinners I have done everything there is to do and he still saved me there was a price that I was going to have to pay for my own sin and and he loved me enough and cared about enough and was gracious toward me enough to pay that price on my behalf Paul can't believe it that he saved me I want you to think about what a straight up Flatout Miracle it is that you and I are saved that we have a relationship with that God made a way for us to have a relationship with him I want you to think about that for a second you know cuz he knows us and all of our foolishness but he still wanted to make a way to have a relationship with us y'all know he doesn't need us right he chose to have a relationship with us so when someone asks which seems to be a very valid question an unbeliever when they might ask and and skeptically they're concerned because they don't know how a God who is supposedly so good could only make one way for people to come into relationship with they think that's un fair with all these different cultures and personalities and people in different settings why is it that a god who's supposedly so good would only give one way for people to be in relationship with him it doesn't make sense to them and while that's actually a a a good question to ask it's not really the right question to ask the question is not why would such a good God only um allow there to be one way the question is why would such a God who is so holy give any way for us to have a relationship with him the the fact that he has given us a way should be enough to cause us to want to get down on our knees with our hands outstretched and they say thank you Lord that I get to have a relationship with you thank you Lord for this salvation Paul says if you're ever wondering if God was patient enough is patient enough for your life would you remember that he saved you y'all know there are about 7 billion plus people that are on the planet so the fact that you happen to live right now in this day and this age and in this generation in the year 2014 where there are Gatherings that are happening like this one at local churches where thousands of people come night after night after night to hear the good news of Jesus Christ preach with Clarity and authority and to worship God in spirit and in truth the fact that you and I get to live in this day and age and generation which is a height for the Church of Jesus Christ throughout history the fact that you and I get to be here it's a miracle you might surprised your parents my friend but you didn't surprise God he was not in the heavens going oops that one slipped past me he had this planned high school student University student he wanted you here now it's a miracle that he pulled it off I'm I'm telling you the fact that you're born that you were born and that you live in this day and age it's a miracle think about it 7 billion plus people on the planet your great great grandfather with 7 billion plus people on the planet happen to find the right woman that should be your great great grandmother the two of them came together and created your great-grandfather then your 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-grandmother then 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 he just happened to find the woman that should be your grandmother then the two of them came together and created uh your father and then your father 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 your father and mother came together and this is a little graphic but with all those millions of sperm the exact right one happened to connect with that egg so that you would be created my friend there's nothing chance about that that's a miracle that's a miracle that's the Divine strategy of God orchestrating our exist istance you're here on purpose and if you think it's a miracle that you were born I want you to think of how much more of a miracle it is that you were born again there has been a battle being waged in the Heavenly for in the heavenlies for your soul since before time began the enemy has been Waging War for your soul from the beginning of time I love how my father describes it it's like a cosmic chessboard where the enemy is on one side and God is on the other and both of them have their minds set on winning you and me over and all of history God has been been waging this battle to make sure that you and I could just be saved so God make the made the first move you remember in Genesis 1 ver1 he creates Adam and Eve in a perfect setting perfect environment perfect relationship with himself but the enemy not to be outdone on the other side of that Cosmic chessboard he makes a move and he slithers into the garden and he causes sin to enter the picture picture so that finally Cain kills abble and it seems like everyone will always be separated from God but our God never to be outdone he makes another move he causes Adam and Eve to come back together they give birth to a baby boy named Seth Seth gives birth to a baby boy named enosh and in Genesis 4 it says that when enosh was born everybody began to worship God again but the enemy not to be outdone he made another move he caused sin and Rebellion to enter into the hearts of mankind and proliferate across the Earth so much so so that the entire world needed to be destroyed and it really seemed like the enemy had won this time but our God never to be outdone he had another move up his sleeve and his name was Noah and he said Noah I need you to build me an ark Noah said build what he said I need you to build an ark cuz it's going to rain and Noah didn't quite understand but he said yes and he obeyed and Mankind was preserved because of one man's obedience but the enemy made another move he caused Rebellion to seep back into the hearts of mankind again and it proliferated across the Earth but our God not to be outdone he had another move up his sleeve he went to this little Pagan town called ER and he found a man named abam and he raised him up out of obscurity and he changed his name and he changed his Destiny and he changed his purpose and he created a brand new nation out of him called the nation of Israel God's people the church and he said I'm going to stamp my blessing on these people and my favor on these people my name will be a banner over them and I will protect them and provide for them but the enemy had another move up up his sleeve he caused God's people now to go down into Egypt do you remember 400 years they're in captivity under pharaoh and it seems like they will never experience Freedom again but our God never to be outdone he had another move of his slave and his name was Moses and Moses was raised as The Prince of Egypt and then at the right time God sent Moses back to pharaoh to go tell Pharaoh let my people go and after 10 miraculous plagues and 40 years in the wilderness the children of God finally came into the promised land the place that represented the power and the provision and the favor of God the land flowing with milk and honey but the enemy he wasn't done yet he made another move and he caused sin and Rebellion to enter into the hearts of God's people now God's people turn their back on the one true God and they began 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 God not to be outdone he had another move and her name was Ruth and Ruth had a lot of issues and Chaos in her life there was a lot of struggle there at the Forefront but towards the end of the book of the Ruth you find that she meets this guy named Boaz it's her kinsman redeemer and and and Ruth and her kinsman redeemer come together and they have a little baby boy 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 it yet but the Checkmate is already on the way already on the way and the Old Testament closes and y'all there are 400 years of Silence between the Old Testament and the New Testament God is on one side of the cosmic chessboard the enemy is on the other and all of history is waiting to see who is going to make the next move and then the New Testament opens and enters Jesus Christ it is the move that the enemy still to this day has never ever had a response for and listen to me he did that for you Paul brings up salvation in 1 Timothy chapter uh 1:15 he brings up salvation as a reason that you and I should believe that God is patient toward us because he wants you to understand that if the Lord could orch rate events that if he had enough patience to make sure that things were aligned over the past few Millennia then don't you think he's got the last six weeks of your life covered that there is nothing you nor I thank you Jesus could ever do in our life time that could wear God out he was patient enough to save you my friend it means he's patient enough to sustain you and so I don't have to know all of your stories you don't have to know my story that details of my story but what we can know is that no matter what our story his grace is sufficient for us but that's not the only reason Paul's got another reason remember we're backtracking through 1 Timothy chapter 1 the second reason is found in verse 13 Paul says even though I was formerly somebody say formerly even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor yet I was shown Mercy all right I love this so much because you remember when we first started this in verse 16 Paul said I'm the foremost he just said I'm the chief like the chief of all Sinners I I've just done more than you he didn't give us his sin resume he didn't list out a bunch of details as to why he's the worst he just said trust me I'm the worst but now we get to verse 13 and he gives us a few details he starts to give us a few things on his sin resume he says I'm a I was a persecutor I was a violent aggressor and I was a blasphemer so he lists three things on his sin resume I'm so glad that right there at the very beginning of all this he didn't give us the details of his sin resume because we we we might have been tempted to spend so much time looking and dissecting and analyzing Paul's sin resume that we would forget we actually don't have time to look at anybody else's sin resume cuz we got our own sin resumés we have our own stories of deliverance we never have time to be consumed with somebody else's resume we've got our own can somebody say Amen but now Paul gives us a few details just three of them in verse in a chapter or chapter 1 verse 13 few details it's like he's given us a little bit of the resume but right at the very top of Paul's sin resume he wants to put a big bold all caps subtitle for you to read he wants to make sure that before you see any of these details on the resume you don't miss the title of his resume and the title is formerly he wants you to know that this is who I was but it's not who I am anymore because the proof of God's patience toward us is not only that he saved me but also that he changed me it's that I'm not the same person that I used to be that when I look in the mirror now thank you Lord I don't see the same woman that I saw five years ago that she thinks different thoughts that she has different Ambitions that she's headed in a different direction that she has different interests and passions that she doesn't talk the same she doesn't walk the same she doesn't want the same things not because I've changed myself but because when God lives in you he does the hard work of changing you the greatest gift you will ever receive my friend is the holy spirit of God and do you know that at the moment you accepted Jesus Christ savior the holy spirit of God took up residence in you do you understand that the holy spirit is not a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he's often symbolized by those things but that's not who he is the holy spirit is the third person of the Trinity not third because he's least in value only third because he's the last to be revealed to us in the pages of scripture but all of the fullness and power and glory and authority and Grandeur of God the father is in the person of the Holy Spirit and if you're a believer in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you that means all of the fullness and the Grandeur and the authority and the power of God the father now lives on the inside of you that's good news that's good news and here's the thing one of the holy spirit's primary purposes 2 Thessalonians chapter 1:13 is that he sanctifies you somebody say sanctify sanctification is the process by which you and I are molded into the image of Christ Jesus in other words he does the hard work of helping you to be who you've always wanted to be I don't know if you have experienced this like I have but it's exhausting trying to change yourself anybody it's just a lot of hard work and not only is it exhausting it's also temporary lasting change has to take place from the inside out not the outside in and you can't do that for yourself but God does it for you now we cooperate with him by renewing our minds with the word of God by fellowshipping with other other believers like you're doing tonight by being on our knees before God by heeding the conviction of the Holy Spirit we cooperate with him but his business in you his job description he has a degree in helping you be like Jesus that's his work in you his best work is in changing God's people so Paul says the reason why you can Bank on the fact that God's patience is sufficient for you is not only that he had enough patience to save you but that he's got enough patience to to change you that your friends might not stick with you long enough for you to change some of you have been betrayed in this room because you have a spouse that left you before you could get that thing together they didn't stick with you like you thought they would while you changed you need to know that no matter whoever else has left your side there is one who will never leave you nor forsake you he will stick with you while you change my friend he's got enough patience for that and he changes you from the inside out lasting change have you ever wondered how popcorn pops somebody say yes I'm so glad you want to know so inside every kernel of corn there is a microscopic dot of water so when you take a bag of microwave popcorn and you put it inside the microwave you're not actually heating up the shell you are heating up the little microscopic dot of Pop of water that is inside the shell so as every single one of those microscopic dots of water been uh begins to heat up it creates Steam and then that steam begins to gain more and more pressure and it presses against the shell and finally there is so much pressure inside of that kernel of corn that it it pops 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 now the outside looks completely different this is exactly what God does in your life and in mine he is in there you can't see him but he's there my friend and as you heat up the work of God on the inside of you as you are in prayer as you're bathing yourself as in the word as you're around other believers in Jesus Christ you heat up his work and he begins to pressed and pressed against this shell of ours until one day you just pop right open and you're not even you you don't even look similar to the kind of person you used to be you've been changed from the inside out in fact what's so interesting about those Colonels of Corel is that before that thing pops you never knew that all of that could be housed in that little bitt sh can you imagine the potential that is just just on the inside of us longing to be released that will be released as we yield to the Holy Spirit on the inside of us he changes us he's got enough patience for that but not only that there's one final thing Paul says verse 12 this is the last reason I want to give you tonight he says I thank Jesus Christ Our Lord who is considered or I thank Jesus Christ Our Lord verse 12 who has strengthened me there it is he has strengthened me Paul says he saved me that's justification he changed me that's sanctification and now I can count on him to strengthen me that's fortification that everything you need to be who God has called you to be he has promised you he will strengthen you and equip you to handle there is nothing that is coming up in your 2014 that God has not already gone before you and paved the way there is nothing that you're going to face you and I are going to face some stuff in 2014 there is nothing we're going to face that he has not and will not equip us to handle in our lives he is your strengthener the joy of the Lord is your strength Paul says I've got a god who saved me I've got a God who changes me and I've got a God who strengthens me who gives me the fortification that I need to handle what is happening in my life he's got enough patience for that you do know my friends that everything you need God already is everything that will ever come your way your God already is you do not have to look for it outside of our God who is described to us within the pages of these scriptures the scriptures tell us from beginning to end everything that God is to it us the question is not whether or not he is those things the question is whether or not we will believe them and lean on them but all the strength you need your God has given you and the scriptures make it clear because in Genesis it says he is the Breath of Life in Exodus he is the Passover Lamb in Leviticus he is our high priest in numbers he is the fire by night in Deuteronomy he is Israel's guide in Joshua he's salvation's choice in judges he is Israel's guard in Ruth he's your kinsman redeemer in first and 2 Samuel he's your trusted prophet in Kings and Chronicles he is Sovereign in Ezra he is the true and faithful scribe in Nehemiah he is the one who rebuilds walls and rebuilds lives in Esther he is your courage in job he's the Timeless Redeemer in Psalms he is your morning song in Proverbs he is your wisdom in ecclesiastics he's a time and a season in Song of Solomon he's The Lover's Dream in Isaiah he is the Prince of Peace in Jeremiah he's the weeping prophet in Lamentations he's the cry for Israel in Ezekiel he's the call from sin in Daniel he is always the stranger that will be in your fire in Hosea he is the forever faithful in Joel he is the spirit's power in Amos he is the strong arms that will carry you in Obadiah he is the Lord our savior in Jonah he's the great missionary in Micah he is the promise of Peace in nahem he's our strength and our shield in habc and Zephaniah he brings Revival in Hagi he restores that which that was which was once lost in Malachi he is the son of righteousness that is rising with healing in his wings and that's just who he is in the Old Testament ((applause)) ((music playing)) in Matthew Mark Luke and John he's not just your God now he is your messiah in the spirit filled book of Acts he's the raining fire from heaven in Romans he's the grace of God Corinthians he's The Power of Love Galatians he is freedom from the curse of sin in Ephesians he's our glorious treasure in Philippians he's the servant's heart in Colossians he's God and he is the trinity in Thessalonians he's our calling King in Timothy Titus and philimon he's our mediator and our faithful Pastor in Hebrews he's the everlasting courage in James he is the one who will heal you when you are sick in first and second Peter he is our faithful Shepherd in John and Jude he is the lover that is coming one day for his bride and in the Revelation in the very end when it is all over say said and done he was and will always be the first the last the beginning and the end are soon coming King amen amen thank you Lord