SPEAKER: Justin McKitterick (Grace Community Church)
Walking By the Spirit Series: Patience
Message: Are We There Yet?
• We aren’t impatient with our circumstances, we are impatient with God
o We say, “God, I don’t like this pain, I don’t like this feeling”
• Are you patient or impatient…
o When you don’t get our own way?
o When others make mistakes?
o When others are slow to understand?
o When others don’t respect you the way you want?
o When others rebuke you?
o When others won’t leave you alone?
o When others won’t change when you want them to change?
• Impatience: When you are unwilling to wait
• Patience: capable of waiting
• Biblical definition of patience: ideas of endurance, forbearance, Godly tolerance, gentleness, considerateness, selflessness, graciousness
• Patience is a MASSIVE issue to God
• Patience isn’t about circumstances, that is just the byproduct
o Patience or impatience directly relates to our relationship with God
THE SINFUL ROOTS IN MANIFESTATIONS OF IMPATIENCE
• Impatience is not a loner, it has many friends that also beat you up
o Friends: anger, irritability, laziness, doubt, procrastination, stress, thanklessness, deficiency in understanding of God
o They feed and provoke each other
o The name of this gang: sin
• Blood was shed on the cross for impatience
• When you are impatient with others, you are saying: You are inconveniencing my universe
• When you shake up a can of soda, it’ll get fizzy. But if you wait, the fizz calms down.
o Just like a can of soda, we’re so prone to blowing up, or letting impatience brew up in our hearts until we explode
o We need to settle this before the Lord, we can’t let a circumstance bring us to sin
• Proverbs 29:11 A fool always loses his temper
• God promises Abraham a son and blessings to him and his family.
o Abraham got old and he and Sarah began to doubt out of patience
o As a result he had a son, Ishmael, with Hagar out of his impatience. Ishmael’s lineage has been a thorn to Israel to this day.
• At the root of impatience, we are like children throwing temper tantrums in our hearts because God doesn’t give us our way
• We are impatient because there is a lack of trust and belief in God
GODLY RESPONSE AND MOTIVATION OF PATIENCE
• What motivates and stimulates us to be patient?
• In Exodus 4:36 we know God is patient
• 1 Timothy 1:12-14 \\ I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
• Romans 2:4 \\ do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
• God is immensely patient with us
• We should not take it for granted
• Natural manifestation is to be patient with others because God is patient with us
• God is trustworthy
• We abuse the phrase, you just need to trust God, but we understand very little of what that means
• Psalms talks about waiting on God, because He has a plan, even in the midst of the struggles of relationships, finances
o Psalm 33:20
o Psalm 37:7
o Psalm 41
o Psalm 25:3
o Psalm 62:1
o Psalm 62:5
o Psalm 30:18
• We all have destinations in our lives we want to reach; sometimes we want to just cross the street without looking both ways. But God is trying to protect us
o When He says wait, we need to wait and trust. Because He knows what he’s doing
• In light of the reality that God is patient and trustworthy, what is our reaction?
• In Proverbs 3:5 & 6 we get the idea that we must trust in the Lord with all our hearts, in traffic jams and class, with our roommates, in trials and in joys.
• We should not try to speed up things on our own. Don’t get anxious, because we don’t have everything figured out. God has much bigger plans than you or I EVER will
• Would God say you are impatient?
APPLICATION:
• Fill your minds with Scripture to combat impatience
• God is not making mistakes, He works in spite of our sin
• Challenge: sit down with your roommate, ask them “Am I impatient? What parts of me are?”
• Think of God’s patience towards you
• When you are getting impatient, think about being thankful instead of being a problem
• Think and pray before you respond. Is it worth acting like this
• Confess your patience and enjoy grace
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
• What are the areas of impatience that you struggle with?
• What is one area, you need to repent in, and grow and honor Christ?
