Juicy Fruit: Patience - The Pathway to Peace - Pastor Josh Bredahl

Welcome to SC Church Podcast! We’re so glad you could join us. Today Pastor Josh Bredahl shared with us his message:

“Juicy Fruit: Patience - The Pathway to Peace"

Transcript

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Come on, isn't God good in this place? Say amen if you agree. Come on, let's just lift our hands to heaven this morning. Let's have a moment before Almighty God as we get into the word. God, we just thank you for the precious written word of God. The written word that you have preserved for us, that you've kept it intact even to our generation, that we wouldn't be lost or floundering. But God, you've given us a light to follow, God. That our path would be clear, that our path would be lit up. So, God, we ask you to amplify the word of God in our hearts today. God, that we invite the word to come into our minds and take control. That we would be transformed from the inside out. God, that as we hear your word, our faith is stirred. God, as we hear your word, we are renewed from the inside out, and that we will not leave here the same people that we were when we walked in. Whether we came from a bad place or we came from a good place, God, our trust and our faith is in the best is yet to come. God, take us from one level of glory to another. God, we ask it you'd bring us to higher levels that we'd experience closer intimacy with you. And it's through your word we experience this supernatural transformation. If that's your prayer this morning, somebody give a good amen. Amen. You may be seated. Well, I'm so pumped about bringing the word today. Pastor D-Rod, I can't even, I don't even know how to respond to what he just said. I'm like, okay, no pressure. Uh no, but honestly, are you so thankful for our pastor who brings us the word week in, week out, helping change our lives. They are so, so helpful. Well, the current series we are in is what he just said. Somebody say it with me. Juicy fruit. I had you say it with me so I didn't have to say it alone. It's all about tasting the goodness of a spirit-filled life. How many of you could use another pack of that gum? Raise your hand. Oh, come on, don't you be lying. The moment you started chewing that gum was the moment it was over because it only lasted 10 seconds. Unfortunately, I don't have any more gum for you, so you're gonna have to deal with that. These last two messages have been amazing. Pastor D-Rod kicked us off in this series, but I personally love where God has had our church these last two months because the prior series was called Seeds of Life. And I want to encourage you, if you missed that series, if you missed any of those messages, you can hop on our YouTube and podcast channels and go back and re-listen or find something that you missed because it's so worth it. But in that series, we were talking about seeds that we can plant, and now we're talking about fruit that we can harvest. You see, seeds have to be developed in order to produce a harvest. Seeds have to be developed, and when they are nurtured and fed by things like water and sunshine, they grow and produce fruit. We have to remember that the seeds that are being planted in our lives and the seeds that we are planting with our lives can't just simply be forgotten about, but we need to become a good steward of the seeds that are planted in us. You see, the truth is some of us are looking to reap a harvest that we didn't plant or labor for. Galatians chapter 6, verses 7 and 8 says this do not be deceived, for God is not mocked. That what a man sows, that will he also reap. It goes on in verse 8 to say, For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap destruction and corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. You see, sometimes the harvest we're experiencing in life is not the harvest we really wanted. This is why it's so important that we plant the right seed. You know, the truth of the matter is what we really want most in life is usually what we get. Why is that? Because what we want most is what we pursue the most. My father-in-law puts it like this the proof of desire is found in our pursuits. Galatians 5 17 says, For the desires of the flesh are opposed to the desires of the spirit, and the desires of the spirit are opposed to the flesh. What are we talking about here? We're talking about this inward conflict because it is possible to want two different things at the same time, but that doesn't mean they're gonna work together very well. The Amplified describes the flesh as godless human nature. What does that mean? We need the Spirit of God on the inside of us, we need the Spirit of God to take control of us, and when we do that, we can reap the fruit of the Spirit, which is a beautiful harvest to be a part of. Going on in the scripture, it says these two desires are antagonistic toward one another. They are continually withstanding and in conflict with each other, so that you are not truly free, but we are prevented from doing what we desire to do. Romans chapter 7, Paul talks about this conflict a little more. He says, the good thing that I want to do, that I desire to do, I end up not doing. And then the bad things that I don't want to do and don't want to be part of, I end up doing this thing. And he says this phrase where he said, Oh, wretched man that I am. But then he says, but thank God. Why? Because there is a solution. The truth is, what we desire most will be delivered. Now let's talk about Amazon for a moment. How many of you got your Amazon carts filled up with stuff right now? You're at home, yes, okay, we have a few people. I know there's more of you in here. You're out, you're on your phone at night, you're on a computer, you're filling up your cart, you got all these things you're interested in, and by the end of the night, you look at your cart total, and it's$3,198. Somebody raise their hand if you can relate. Raise your hand if you're like, yep, that's my Amazon cart right now. But you never put something in your Amazon cart that you aren't at least interested in. But then all of a sudden the total gathers up, and you're like, oh my gosh, what is all of this stuff? And you start filtering through it. You see, our interests and desires in life are very similar. Maybe we start to act on them, and all of a sudden we start to see what's in our life's cart, and we're like, this is not exactly what I want, and even I don't want to spend that much. So you start what? Cleaning out your cart. Sometimes the harvest we're experiencing is not the harvest we want. So, what do we got to do? We gotta go through the seed we've planted in our life and start filtering it out. The Bible talks about fruit, which can also be translated as evidence. Our daughter Mesa has been reading a new book and it's really been transforming her life. I'll often catch her late at night, past her bedtime, reading this book because she just so sucked into it. And one night I'm playing guitar and she comes in and she goes, Daddy, you gotta listen to this. This is amazing. And I want to share it with you this morning because I believe it's so relevant to what we're talking about. The author is Christian Bevere, and it says this our character is the expression of what resides in our hearts and what we believe in our spirits. If our characters are rooted in Christ, the outworkings are fruit or evidence of his residency. So this morning we're gonna move into the next two fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians chapter 5, and those are peace and patience. Somebody say that with me. Peace and patience. So, but I'm not gonna go in that order this morning because I believe by flipping the order around, it provides us with a unique opportunity that we're gonna learn about today. And that is the title of my sermon, which is Patience, the Pathway to Peace. Say that with me. Patience, the pathway to peace. So to kick off with patience, I'm gonna quote one of my father-in-law's most beloved phrases about patience, and that is this the problem with patience is it just takes too long. I don't know about you, but it's very true. It's hilarious, but if we're being real, we feel the exact same way. Now let's look at how the Bible defines patience, it defines it as long suffering. Now, I don't know about you, but I can take all those and come together with my own definition of patience, which is this sitting at the traffic light at the end of the West 70th exit off of 3132 heading west. If you're laughing, I know exactly, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the longest light on planet earth, and I know I've suffered long at that light. I know you have too. And every time we hit that light, especially on Sunday mornings, coming into worship rehearsal, Lacey, my wife, she says, just run it. You can be laughing, but you're like, you've had the same thought, you've wanted to do it too. Like, just run it. But if you know me, I'm a rule follower. If you know Lacey, not as much. And I'm like, no, we can't do that. It's against the rules. She's like, no one's gonna know the difference. No one's even gonna know. I'm like, no, no, no. There's a traffic cam up by the light. We are going to get a ticket. Now, for the record, I can neither confirm or deny if I have ever ran that red light, and we're just gonna leave that there. Danny Roballo, if you're in the room, please stay seated. Everything's good. Everything's good. Patience. The Bible also defines it as this forbearance and fortitude. This is according to Galatians chapter 5, and according to 2 Peter, it's defined as cheerful, hope-filled endurance. So ultimately, this is what it means to have patience. It means to wait and to suffer long. You see, patience is about mastering the art of waiting, and it's about harnessing the power of endurance. It's understanding the power and the benefits of waiting on God's timing versus my schedule. Understanding that when God chooses to give us that blessing or give us that harvest, it's better to have it on his terms than my terms. There's this concept in the Bible referred to as seed, time, and harvest. Say that with me. Seed, time, and harvest. It's first found in the book of Genesis, chapter 8, verse 22. And it says this as long as the earth remains, there will be seed, time, and harvest. Fast forward a few books we find in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, verse 1. It says, There is a season for everything under heaven. There is a time to be born, and there is a time to die. There is a time to plant seed and there is a time to harvest. You see, this is the thing. Planting seed and reaping a harvest have different seasons. Often we expect too quickly to reap a harvest from the seeds we've sown and the seeds we've planted. But the key to a good harvest is trusting the space between the time we planted the seed and the time we reap that harvest. This is the natural progression of things, and we shouldn't shortcut it. The truth is when we try to skip or shortcut this natural progression of things, we end up shortchanging ourselves and end up with something artificial. So, what I want to do is tell you a story today found in 1 Samuel chapter 13, and it's a story of King Saul. Let me provide a little bit of history and contact context. King Saul and the nation of Israel were fighting battle after battle. In this chapter, they find themselves in between battles, but the Philistines are gathered not too far away, and they're coming, and they're coming soon. So we pick up this verse here in verse 8, and it says this that Saul waited seven days according to the set time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel had not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him. So Saul said, Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings, and he offered the burnt offering, which he was forbidden to do. And just as he finished the offering, Samuel showed up, and he came and went out to meet with Samuel, and Samuel said, What have you done? Saul responded to Samuel by saying, Because I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, the Philistines were assembled at Mi'kmash, and I thought the Philistines would come down upon me to Gilgal and overtake us. So I forced myself to offer a burnt offering. You see, this is what happens when circumstance and situations put pressure on us. We feel that pressure, and we feel that pushing, and that kind of pressure leads to a lack of patience, and that lack of patience will always lead us to a path of disobedience. So all of a sudden, Saul admits I forced myself. How many of us at one time or another have felt ourselves forcing something, pushing for something outside of what we feel is healthy and balanced and normal. Why? Simply because of pressure. But let's look at the result of King Saul's decision. Samuel said to King Saul, You have done foolishly and have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which he has commanded you. For the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, but now your kingdom will not continue. The moral of the story is something I tell our SE youth and our students all the time. And SE Youth, if you know it, I want you to say it with me. That the right thing at the wrong time is the wrong thing. The right thing he was trying to do, what God had instructed them to do, but he didn't wait long enough, and it wasn't King Saul's job to perform the sacrifice. It was for the prophet, it was for the man of God. So don't get engaged into things that God's like, nope, that's not your role. All you need to do is just sit, be still, and wait. The truth of this story is that King Saul gave up long-term results that were far more important and far more valuable in order to relieve the temporary pressure of the situation and obtain short-term results. You see, pressure is always the adversary of patience. The truth is, we're either leaning into pressure or we're leaning into patience, and they both yield different results. Now let's talk about some of the advantages of being patient. This can be found in Luke chapter 21, verse 19. It says, by your patient endurance, and the amplified says, which is empowered by the Holy Spirit, you will gain your souls. You see, I love the scripture because this is huge. Sometimes when we feel out of control in our thoughts, sometimes when we feel out of control in our minds and our emotions and what's happening around us, we feel like we don't have control anymore. What this scripture is telling us is that it's through patience that we regain that control over the things we've lost in our mind and in our hearts. You see, patience is the key and patience is the answer. It reminds me of a uh a thing we did about a year ago. We were on a trip with some of our best friends, and we were on vacation, and we were out at the beach, and we designed our meals to go every other night. So we would take care of one one night, they would take care of one the other night, and this night just so happened to be our night to cook. We are so pumped. And if you know my wife Lacey, she loves to cook, she loves to bless people with cooking for them. And one of our favorite recipes is Mississippi roast. Can I ask you a whoop whoop if you know about Mississippi roast? If you don't, you're welcome. I'll give you the recipe after service. But we're making this recipe. We've made it so many times, but we didn't know if our friends had had it before or if they liked it. So we're pumped about making it. So we come inside, you sear the pork shoulder using cast iron is one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen. You throw it in a crock pot. Now, can we just give it up for crock pot recipes? I mean, come on. Come on, there should be more people shouting. If you know about if you know, you know. You throw this pork shoulder in, you put in a handful of ingredients, and you just put the lid on, you turn the temperature up, and you go away for a handful of hours. So we go back to the beach, this thing's cooking on its own. We know when we come back, it's going to be ready. So we get back in, it's about nine o'clock at night, and you can you can smell the pork roast. You can smell the Mississippi roast, and it's amazing. We take the lid off, and what should happen is you should just be able to pull that pork roast apart. So tender, so easy. And I go to pull it apart and it is not pulling apart at all. It is not tender, it's chewy. Now, some of you are like, that's disgusting, Josh. It is disgusting. I'm trying to pull it apart. We don't understand what happened. All of a sudden, it dawned on us. We normally make this recipe and it's just for our family. But now instead of making it for four people, we're making it for 10. So we doubled the recipe, but we didn't double the time. I know. Amateur hour. Amateur hour. All of a sudden, we're like, what are we gonna do? Everyone's tired, everyone's hungry, there's no other plans. We've totally ruined dinner for the night. And let me just tell you this: sometimes our faith and our patience is the same way. Sometimes our faith needs a little bit more time to marinate. Sometimes the seeds we're planting needs a little bit more time to ripen. Have you ever eaten a fruit that's not quite ripe yet? I know I have. It tastes bitter, it tastes sour. And when we live our life with a lack of patience, it can leave a bad taste in our mouth. I don't know what's wrong with my family, but they love eating green bananas. I'm not talking semi-green bananas. I'm telling you the bananas in my house right now are green as green could be. And I go, I don't understand. This does not taste right. But listen, when you wait long enough on the promises of God, when you wait long enough on the seeds you've been planting, you don't have to force the roast to be done in a faster time frame. You can't make that fruit become right. You just simply have to wait for God's perfect timing. James chapter 1 talks about this. It says, Let patience have its perfect work in you, that you'll be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. You see, sometimes our faith has become incomplete simply because we didn't allow patience to complete its path. You see, when we have to act on what's driving or pushing us, eventually it pushes us away from the fruits of the Spirit that only He can produce in our lives. Now let's move on to peace. Somebody say peace. Webster's dictionary defines peace as freedom from disturbance, freedom from disquieting and oppressive thoughts and emotions. It even illustrates a quietness and a rest. Colossians 3.15 says this, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts. That word rule, when translated from the Greek to the English language, means to umpire, to referee, and to govern. The context that these words were written was talking about the athletic games back in the day that were very popular, and that when there was a violation of rules, when there was an interruption, when there was a foul made, the umpire or the referee would stop the game to make the rules of the game right again. What this means is that the peace of God should act as umpire and referee in our hearts, our minds, and our emotions. When our emotions try to create chaos, we let peace stop it from happening because it's against God's rules for life to allow the enemy to steal our peace. Now, listen, the process of peace is not a perfect process. Everyone has hard days, difficult weeks, but it's important to understand that if we lean a little less into our humanity and a little more into his divinity, he can help us during those hard days. He can help us during those difficult times, and he does that through peace. About a year ago, I was reading a new book, it's this uh really popular book, actually. Lacey Let Me Know About it. It's called the let them theory. It's by the author is uh Mel Robbins. And in this, they're just talking about different things that are helping our minds, you know, deal with things that are difficult in life. But one of the things that she talks about is that we don't always have to let the emotions that show up in our life or the thoughts that show up in our life take control of us. We can't always control that they show up. That's the natural chemistry of things. And sometimes I think we feel bad when we get stressed out or how we feel on the inside when things don't go right. But I'm just here to tell you, you can't always control the things that show up in your life, but you can control how we react and respond to them. We don't have to act on them or let them make our decisions for us. The advice in this book says this when that spike or wave of emotions come, we can simply sit this one out. We can simply stay put, be still, let the wave of emotions pass, let it go, and then when it's all over, we can stand back up again and begin thinking clearly and making decisions according to that. This reminds me of the scripture that says, be still and know that I am God. What does that mean? There can be a storm raging around you, and you don't have to react to it. You can simply just stay put, be still, and know and understand. Put our trust in that God is in control and he has taken care of us up to this point, and he will continue to do so. We choose to act on what he's promised, not the problems we're facing. We make decisions based on peace, not the lack of it. So, what does the fruit of the spirit of peace produce in our lives? It's his calm in our chaos, it's his clarity in our confusion, it's his comfort in our calamity and our contentment in our circumstance, no matter what. This reminds me of the story that we find in Mark chapter 4 about Jesus and his disciples. They were surrounded by a crowd, as they often were, and Jesus was ready to get out of dodge. So he hops in a boat and says, Let's go over the sea and let's just take a break here. They're out in the middle of the sea and a storm hits this boat. The amplified describes the winds of this storm that they were of hurricane proportions. The waves are coming over, the ship is about to tip over. And so they run down to the bottom of the boat and they yell out, they cry out to Jesus, who is sleeping in the boat. Man, talk about heartless, right? Like, bro, we are fixing to die, and you're down here sleeping? They come down and they say, Jesus, they don't even tell him about the storm, they don't ask him for help. They simply say, Do you not care that we are about to perish? You know, when the storms of life hit, I think this is just like us. We can be like, God, I don't understand. Do you not care? Obviously, you've got to know this is happening, but do you not care? Where are you? And immediately Jesus, I love his first action because even though the disciples' approach to him wasn't exactly right, it didn't stop him from acting on their behalf. You know, sometimes we can miss it. We can come to God with our doubt and maybe our unbelief, yet Jesus is still there. He is faithful. He is like a friend who sticks closer than a brother. He never leaves us or forsakes us. And he comes up and he speaks to the storm and he says this peace be still. And it says immediately the storm ceased, the winds stopped, everything cleared up. Can I tell you, when God speaks a word into your life, it can calm the storm you're walking through better and faster than anything else, better than any self-help book, better than anything else. We just need a word from God. So he helps them in their situation, he helps them with their problem, but then he turns to the disciples and he says, This, why were you so timid and fearful and have a lack of faith? What he was addressing was their lack of faith. What that really means is a lack of trust. See, no matter what goes on in life, we have to continue to remember that we can trust him regardless of the situation. So he asked him, Why are you timid? Why are you fearful? Why do you have little faith? And all of a sudden their peace came back into play because they were reminded that Jesus was the Prince of Peace. You see, peace is obtained through surrender. Somebody say surrender. It means surrendering our own ability to take control of the situation and letting the Prince of Peace do what he does best and take charge. In John chapter 16, Jesus also gives us these words. He said, I have told you these things so that in me you may have perfect peace. In the world you will have tribulation and distress and suffering, but be courageous and confident and undaunted, because I have overcome the world. Listen, Jesus did very little to bring peace to the political climate of his time. But what he came to do is instill peace in the hearts of mankind. That is what he does best. So to wrap things up, I'm gonna give us some practical handles on how to obtain and keep peace going in our lives. Number one, peace is obtained by prayer. Philippians 4 says, Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything and in every circumstance and situation, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your specific requests known to God. So what is anxiety? What is worry? It is the opposite of peace. So the word is saying, don't be anxious, don't be worried, but have peace by praying to me, knowing that I care and I will take care of you. And there was a time a few years ago when I was dealing with a lot of things in my mind and it was trying to rob me of my sleep, which means it was stealing my peace. And I remember at the time I was sharing a lot with Lacey about all the troubles and struggles that I was walking through, and I shared with her everything that night. And sometimes we think venting will help, and sometimes it does, but then sometimes venting just feeds the angst. Sometimes venting just feeds what's already going on, and I still couldn't sleep, but didn't help. And all of a sudden I remember laying my head down on the pillow that night, not able to sleep, and God spoke to me. He said, if you would pray about your problems half as much as you talk about your problems, your problems would already be fixed. And I'm telling you, I didn't need my toes stepped on while I'm trying to go to sleep, but that's exactly what happened. Sometimes instead of talking about it, we just need to pray about it. Number two, Philippians 4, 7, peace is a protector. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will stand guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Peace is a protector. When something is trying to rob you of peace, peace, you say, Nope, I'm standing still, I'm staying right here, nothing's taking me from this place of peace. Number three, peace is obtained through our perspective. You see, peace is created by the thoughts that we choose to embrace. And Philippians chapter 4, verse 8 helps us how to deal with our thoughts. It says this for the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure and lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and if there is any excellence, listen to this. It says, think on these things. The amplified says, think on, weigh and take account of these things and fix your minds on them. You see, we can choose to meditate on whatever's trying to take our peace, or we can meditate on those things that will give us our peace back. And these are the lists. That is a long list. I'm just telling you, when I look at that, I think, okay, that's a lot of homework. There's a lot of things I can work on to keep my fixed on his peace instead of my problem. You see, so many times we are inundated with thoughts or fear or doubt in our minds. We can even battle stress and anxiety. And let me just say this real quick because this is so important. Everyone up here on this platform, we are all just as human as everyone in this sanctuary. Sometimes we think, oh man, they've got it. They've got it together. I want you to know, me personally, I've dealt with this since I was a teenager, something called seasonal depression. And I'm telling you, for years and years and years, it would plague me, and I couldn't seem to get the upper hand. And it isn't until recent years, I'd say the last five years or so, that I feel like I have gotten the upper hand. Now, it doesn't mean it doesn't come knocking on my door. It doesn't mean that each and every year I don't feel its pressure trying to work its way into my soul, but I know how to stay on top of it. Why? Because I'm standing on top of his peace. And instead of being rocked by the boat, I'm sleeping in the bottom of it because that's where my prince of peace is, and he helps me stay there. When we choose to let God be our sole reliance and let Christ alone be the chief cornerstone, we can be like the man who built his house upon the rock and not upon the sand. And when the storms of life come, we can remain in perfect peace. Lastly, and I want to invite the worship team to come up at this point. Number four is peace is obtained through contentment. Philippians chapter 4, verses 11 through 13 says this. Paul says, Not that I speak from any personal need, but I have learned to be content. You know, not being content is the opposite of peace. But he says, I've learned to be satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed and I am not uneasy, regardless of my circumstances. I know how to get along and live humbly in difficult times. And I also know how to enjoy abundance and live in prosperity, but in every and any circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing life, whether well fed or going hungry, or whether having abundance and being in need, I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. The Amplified says, I am ready for anything and equal to anything through him who infuses me with inner strength and perfect peace. You have to understand that peace is a superpower. Peace gives you inward strength that no matter what is rocking our boat at the time, we can remain anchored through the power of peace. Now, going back to our title of this message, Patience, the pathway to peace. This is where peace and patience intertwine. When we choose to let patience have its way, we give God the opportunity to act on our behalf. Instead of forcing it, instead of rushing it, we can simply wait it out because what God brings in his timing is much better than ours. I want to end with a story from one of the greatest movies ever made. There's this good-looking guy, long brown hair, wavy brown hair, blue paint on his face, striped like this. His name is Braveheart. So he and the people of Scotland were fighting English oppression in the mid-13th century. England was trying to take over. King of England wanted to be the king of Scotland. And all Scotland is filled with is farmers with pitchforks, not soldiers, not warriors. They always are outdone in numbers to the enemy that they're facing. And one battle specifically that they were facing, they were severely outnumbered. There was no way they could possibly win. Lack of people, lack of weapons, it wasn't gonna work. What they ended up doing was creating these really, really large spears. And they were in this grassland area, and they had all these spears buried in the ground, not necessarily buried, but laying there hidden by the grass, and all of a sudden, all the forces of the enemy came rushing against them, running against them. And you see Braveheart leading the charge, and he's sitting there, and the enemy is getting closer and closer and closer to the point where they're almost upon them, and he keeps saying these words. He keeps saying, Hold, and they're getting closer, and he's saying, Hold, and everyone's starting to freak out, and anyone could have bailed at any moment, and he says, Hold, and he keeps saying it, and the enemy is now right there upon him, and all of a sudden he says this word now, and they lift up their spears. The horses run right into the spears, killing the horses, dislodging the soldiers on the ground so that they could defeat them. They won a battle they never should have won. But if they didn't hold that bill that keeps knocking, saying insufficient funds, if you just hold that marriage that seems like it's on the brink of disaster, if you will just hold that doctor's report, it doesn't seem like things are getting better. If you would just hold, God will come through. God will come through at the right time, he'll come through at the perfect time, and I'm telling you, he's never gonna leave you, he's never gonna forsake you, but sometimes you gotta be willing to wait on God instead of waiting for your circumstance to change. We can either be led and driven by the circumstance we're living in, or we can be led and driven by, nope, I'm gonna wait on the Lord. I'm gonna wait on God. And some of you may feel weary right now because you feel like you've been waiting a long time. I'm telling you, if you keep waiting, I promise some of you, you're on the one yard line before the end zone. You're this close, and if you'll just wait a little bit longer, even longer than what you thought. King Saul was like, it's been seven days. I'm gonna do something about this. Even if it's been seven days, even if it's been seven years, even if it's been seven months, you can say, doesn't matter what day it is, what matters is I'm trusting God's timing no matter what. You see, winning this battle is what led to the people of Scotland's freedom and ultimately their peace. You see, patience helps settle you down. Patience helps slow you down. And once you become settled in that place of patience, now you have peace. If you're willing to wait for it. We defined peace earlier on as rest. Can I just tell you? I know some of you in this room, you haven't had rest, real rest, in a long time. Maybe you're up late at night and not able to sleep like I was. Maybe you're fighting off depression, maybe you're fighting off all these things, but I'm here to tell you, God wants to give you rest this morning. And if that's you, you're saying, I need some of that rest. I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet this morning and lift your hands to heaven. Say, God, I need that rest. God, I need that peace. I know there's more people in the room this morning. You know you need this peace, and you're saying, God, I don't know how it's gonna come, but I'm trusting you, and if that's you, I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet and lift your hands. And if that's you and you're saying, you know what? I just need to wait on God a little longer. I just need to wait on his promise just a little longer. That I'm gonna ask you to come to this altar right now. Come on, come to the front right now because I believe this is where your peace is at. I believe this is where your peace is at. This is where you're gonna find rest. Come to me, all who are weary, all those who are tired, and God promised us that he would give us rest. I'm gonna pray for you this morning. Yes, keep coming. There are people still coming. Can I tell you? There's nothing more valuable in your life than rest. There's nothing more valuable in your life than the peace of God. Why? Because it stands as guard around your mind and around your heart, saying, No, Satan, you can't get in. You're just gonna have to wait. Saying, no, Satan, you're trying to get me to buy into that thought. Nope, you're just gonna have to wait. There's nothing more valuable in your life than peace. And if you need that peace, you need that patience. If you're here this morning, lift your hands to heaven. I'm gonna pray over you. God, I ask you right now in the mighty name of Jesus, that for each and every person who needs that rest, God, that needs that peace, or even the ability to wait and to be patient, God. God, I ask that you'd increase their endurance. God, I ask that you'd increase their stamina, that they would be able to stand in the place of God and not be moved by anything else that's trying to push them out of your way. God, I ask you for the fruit of the spirit of patience and of peace to be their harvest today, God. That they would leave out of this place being like, I never realized how heavy the weights were that I was carrying. But now that we've chosen to wait on him, now that we've chosen to wait on him and him alone, he's gonna deliver to you, and you'll be able to walk in the fruits of the spirit like you never have before. Come on, let's go ahead and worship him this morning. Let's sing this. Thank you for connecting with us today. The first step to a new life in Christ is receiving the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. If you have never received Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, repeat this prayer after me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross and rose again for me. I ask that you come into my heart and be the Lord of my life. In Jesus' name I praise you. Amen. Whether you committed your life to Jesus for the first time today or you are already on your journey of faith. We will stay connected with you. Please visit church and follow Easy Church on all social media platforms.