Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, We are continuing our sermon series on the Fruit of the Spirit from Galatians 5:22-23.

We looking at the 4th Fruit of Patience....Gal 5:22 tells us that

The Fruit of the Spirit is love, Joy, peace.... Patience.

Some of us in this room will remember life before the internet, DSL and Wifi.

How many of us remember connecting your modem to the internet in order to just get mail… We were just amazed by the fact that we could send and receive mail electronically...

Today when our wifi goes out at our house… it feels like we have had a power cut… If you ever want to call a family meeting today… just switch off the wifi… Someone will find you..

How Patient are you? to be honest I struggle with patience..

The other night Mark and I are in the drive through line at Taco Bell--- and we had two cars in front of us ... probably a 5 minute wait...

I found myself getting impatient… And I actually said to Mark.. they should come up with a way to make Drive through lines faster...

Not only do I want fast food… I want fast food faster....

Now these are 1st World problems...- there are many people around the world that would be grateful to be be in line waiting for food..

The problem is that we have a consumer mindset: “I want it now!

I want it fast!

And if I don’t get it from you, I will go to someone else who will serve me faster..

We live in a culture of convenience… that does not put much value on patience…in fact we are almost a culture of impatience… (Keller) If you go back you see that ancient cultures valued patience… Impatience was seen as shallow and lacking in thought… it was reckless and could result… in lost opportunities…open to dangers.for

example in Proverbs it tells us...

Self-control is pictured as a wall that provided a hedge of protection… when the wall is down you have no defensives… and are open to the enemies attacks..

In the NT Patience is an essential virtue as a follower of Christ.. --- It is one of the attributes of God… the Bible tells us in several place that God is slow to anger...

New England preacher Phillips Brooks -

famous preacher from the last century... was known for his poise under pressure, but close friends knew he struggled with impatience.

One day a friend, seeing him pacing, asked, “What’s the trouble, Dr. Brooks?”

The great preacher replied: “The trouble is that I’m in a hurry, but God isn’t!”

God being patient is actually a really good thing for us...

In Exodus 34:6-7 there is this beautiful self disclosure of God… Where God passes before Moses on the Mountain..

It was written after Moses returns to Mt. Sinai a second time to receive the ten commandments..

The first time Moses went to receive the law Israel after month or more Israel had become impatient with Moses…

In Moses absence Israel had created an image of a golden calf to worship… When Moses comes down from the Mountain he finds Israel in a drunken celebration…

Moses anger flares up and he smashes the law… Moses then makes the effort to repair the relationship between himself God and Israel— He starts meeting with God in the tent of meeting outside of the Israelite camp…

Moses longs to see God’s Glory… the main reason is that he doesn’t want to go forward with Israel… without God’s presence.

God instructs Moses to cut new tablets and return to the mountain… and is here in the cleft of Mountain.

where God reveals to Moses his name and his character..

This is amazing to me Instead of destroying Israel..for turning to idols...

God proclaims his Name his nature to Moses — he uses the title Lord or JHWH his covenant name twice… This is no accident but rather for emphasis… basically God declares himself… “The One Who Always is,” Really is”

There is something comforting in the Name of God… the eternal God… God ties his name to his nature… they are inseparable..

God is always is and really is-- full of merciful and gracious… God is alway is and really is patient— slow to anger - steadfast love and faithful… God is also a God of justice when it comes to dealing with sins that get past on from generation to the next…

God is Patient in His nature… So when it comes to Galatians to the Fruit of the Spirit.. it makes sense that when we abide in Christ..… His divine Nature is going to fuel our lives… Christ works in and through our lives.. It’s his nature that shines through..

When we express love --- it’s not our love… but His love… it is His joy… His peace… His patience…

The key to living in this fast pace culture… Is allow His Patience to Fuel our lives…

Patience is more than being stuck in a waiting room… Patience carries this idea of steadfastness… standing in… having determination when facing difficulties..

T/s There are four things that Patience is going Fuel in our lives.. the first...

1. Patience is going Fuel our Hope.

Hope is an important part of life… It has said that a “Man can live about forty days without food, about three days without water, about eight minutes without air...but only for one second without hope...

Hope is oxygen for the Soul...

Studies have proven that people who have hope (who are optimistic about the future) tend to enjoy better physical and psychological health..

Not only do they enjoy better quality of life but they seem to recover much faster..

Some examples are those who had spinal cord injuries who had high levels of hope were less depressed than those who had less hope..

One of the reasons for higher success rates are those how were hopeful used problem-focused coping… Which is aimed at addressing the source of the stress --- rather than focusing on the problem… Those with hope… sought out social support and emphasized the positive aspects of the situation.. those who were more pessimists.. used denial, became more stressed… and became disinterested in the goal they were pursuing...

Hope is not dependent on your circumstances it is dependent on your focus.

We are going to be looking at the book of James this morning.. James was the biological brother of Jesus and the leader of the church in Jerusalem.

His letter is written to Jewish Christians who are scattered by the dispersion...

They are living in a society that has been characterized as being angry…people who divided between the very Rich and poor… people were polarized…by money power and ideology....

James is encouraging the Christians to be authentic in

very difficult times ....

He urges to develop Patience, perseverance, stamina… James starts our with taking on trials with an attitude of Joy..

James tells us to Count it ALL Joy when our lives meet difficult situation… The word Count is the same word for Reckon - Which is an accounting term --- used when Reconciling your books…(to put to ones Credit)

In other words James is telling us to... Take all your Trials....

All Your Difficulties… and move them to the Credit Side…of the ledger.... Take them from the expense column and put them as an Income ---as a Benefit…

....We have gone through our fair share of trials and test in our lives.. .

and we all know that going through trials sucks… it’s tough — it’s uncomfortable… it stressful....your maybe fearful..

James says let Patience Fuel your Hope..

James is inviting us to change our perspective of the trials that come our way… to take 10 steps backwards… and look a the big perspective..

For years and years, I have played this message in my head that I am not a runner… I hate running… Several months I started running… started five minutes.. 10 minutes… 20 minutes.. going up… the more running the easier its becoming… Now im a the point that I am actually enjoying running… my perspective has been change...

James says have joy in the face of your trial because the testing of your Faith produces - Steadfast Endurance — When you exercise developing patience and joy in your circumstances… it increases.. our joy…

There is great lesson here

Patience is the vehicle (or the means) that that is going to equip us for life…

The word “complete” in verse 4 means “whole, well, physical or spiritual well-being.

This word is often used of people Jesus healed..

The phrase “lacking nothing” in verse 4 means “not deficient with regard to spiritual strength.”

With each trial endured, we’re that much stronger to endure the next one..

In other words the afflictions and difficulties of life are actually the pathway to our sanctification, (Sanctification just means become more like Christ)l… Tests are the progressive road to becoming perfect and complete, lacking in nothing...

The word “testing” is same word for testing was used to describe the refining process of metals like gold.

They would melt the metal into liquid form so that impurities would rise to the top and be skimmed off.

The precious metal was then much more valuable.

That’s the purpose of our testing too!

God removes impurities from our lives as our faith is tested.

A faith that has been tested is a faith that can be trusted.

- Craig Groeschel

T/s There are four things that Patience is going Fuel in our lives..

1. Patience is going Fuel our Hope.

2. Patience is going to Fuel our Faith.

When you look at Faith in the Bible there is always a timeline… God makes promises… and then there is this period of waiting and trusting… and then fulfillment…Every promise has a Delay.. Just read through Hebrews 11 and see all the delays.. … Abraham and his call into Caanan land…first had to live in tents in the land...

Abraham and Sarah’s promise to be parents…God promised that they would have descendants as numerous as the stars… and grains of sand on the sea shore… When Sarah finally conceived she was past the child bearing age… Some even died in faith… not receiving the things promised..but seeing them from afar...

Faith is never just one step… Often we get stuck in the delays…we get frustrated and angry...

We need to remember that God is more concerned with the Journey of faith.... God does his best work in the delays of our lives...

We often think of Faith as being instantaneous… In the Gospels we we see Jesus healing people instantaneously when they had faith... What we often fail to see is the struggle…

In Mark 5 there is this story of the woman with the issue of blood that reaches out and touches Jesus garment - and immediately Jesus feels this virtue power going out of him…He immediately asks who touched me?

When the woman comes forward Jesus tells the women --- Jesus commends the women by saying your faith has made you well.

On the surface you might think well that women had faith in the moment… I think it’s a bit deeper than that… because..

What we forget is that this same woman had struggled for 12 years with this problem.. she had suffered under many physicians… and spent all the money she had on trying to get healed… but instead of getting better she got worse… This tells me that this woman was persistent faith… some of us may have quit.. but when Jesus came by… she gave it one more shot.... she reached out again… This kind of faith is tied to endurance...

his is what James teaches these Christians that are scattered through out the Roman empire… they are going be facing h trials… Hold onto your faith with Patience endurance..

Be Patient, is written as command as an imperative.. the word patient means to be even tempered while enduring difficult situations.. Patience not because everything is going to turn out right… Patience.. is tied to long term goals... Coming of the Lord... Parousia...

All of Human History is moving towards this end...

We have Hope…in this life… but there is ultimate hope found in the coming of Christ.

We have to remember that imminent return of Christ was front and center of first century theology… it was a core belief… this same Jesus that ascended in Acts is coming back… .

James uses the Farmers as an illustration … Look at the farmers see how they wait for the precious fruit from the land… These are not commercial farmers there subsistent farmers depending heavily on the crop to feed their family… all bets were in and if there was no harvest there was no food for their families… The lesson of the Farmer is that good things happen when we wait...

Learn from the Farmers.. the importance of Planting… If we want any sort of harvest in our lives we need to be sowing the right kind of seeds… after the-- Planting…

---Then there is the Waiting Period.

There is absolutely nothing he can do to speed up the process of rainfall and the subsequent harvest.

The first rains may refer to the first Advent Christ… the later rain referring to his coming...

Everything has its appointed time