Rewards from being Patient and Kind to One Another

Patience and kindness are not only virtues—they are powerful forces that reflect Christ’s character and strengthen relationships. In this encouraging episode, Pastor Chris Teien shares biblical wisdom and real-life stories to show how living with patience and kindness toward others honors God, builds community, and leads to lasting rewards. Discover how even small acts of kindness and long-suffering patience can make a big difference.

Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2285086/episodes/16335678

Key Points:

1. Be patient with others because we are called to live a life worthy of our calling – Ephesians 4:1–3 encourages humility, patience, and unity among believers.
2. Be patient with God and trust His perfect timing – God often answers prayers and moves in His timing for greater purposes (Exodus 2:23–25; 2 Peter 3:9).
3. Be kind in everyday life because kindness refreshes relationships and opens hearts – Ephesians 4:32 and Proverbs 15:1 highlight the power of kind words and actions.
4. God rewards patience and kindness with stronger relationships, personal growth, and spiritual fruit – Galatians 5:22–23 shows that patience and kindness are fruit of the Spirit.

Personal Stories:
 Pastor Chris shares humorous and insightful examples from daily life, including funny reflections on impatience at green lights, family disagreements, and real-world leadership lessons from workplaces where kindness impacts performance. He also recounts inspirational stories like Joey Prusak at Dairy Queen, illustrating how small acts of kindness can lead to big influence and unexpected recognition.

Quotes:

• “It’s easier to live patiently and kindly than it is to fix the mess caused by impatience and rudeness.”
• “God doesn’t forget your patience—He multiplies it into rewards you can’t always see right away.”
• “Kindness isn’t weakness. It’s the quiet strength that builds trust, honors God, and opens doors for the gospel.”

Takeaways:

1. Heart-level reflection: Pray for God to show you where you need to be more patient and kind in your relationships.
2. Daily-life application: Choose one difficult person and intentionally treat them with extra kindness this week.
3. Spiritual step or challenge: Reflect on times when God has been patient with you and let that inspire you to be patient with others.
4. Practical next step: Write a note of encouragement or express kindness to someone who needs it today.

Scripture:

• Ephesians 4:1–3 – Live worthy of your calling with patience and humility
• Ephesians 4:32 – Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
• Proverbs 15:1 – A gentle answer turns away wrath
• Exodus 2:23–25 – God hears and responds at the right time
• 2 Peter 3:9 – God’s patience aims to bring salvation
• Galatians 5:22–23 – Fruit of the Spirit includes patience and kindness
• Romans 12:12 – Be patient in affliction, faithful in prayer
• Psalm 37:7 – Wait patiently for the Lord
• Isaiah 25:9 – Rejoice in trusting God’s salvation

Keywords:
 Patience, kindness, Christian relationships, spiritual growth, Holy Spirit fruit, forgiveness, trusting God’s timing, living out faith, Christian community, encouragement

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I hope this message helps you understand and apply God’s Word. Find sermon transcripts at Well.faith, learn more at ChrisTeien.com, or come visit us at Rockwell Church in Virginia, Minnesota. If this message encouraged you, I’d love to hear from you at wellfaith24@gmail.com.

Transcript

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Chris T 0:16

Alright, so there the kids go after kids church. We're gonna talk about being patient and kind to one another. Isn't that so fun? You just need a reminder to be patient and kind to one another. We're not very patient people. I actually thought I would just stand up here and just stare at you for a bit until you got uncomfortable, until somebody said something, but that'd be kind of a waste of your time. But it might be an interesting idea because I'm sure that somebody would step up and go, what is the problem there? Then we would focus the whole message on you, and then you would feel bad, and you might not come back next week. So there's some studies that talk about being patient and timeliness. Alright? Humans can survive for just two to three minutes without air, but with training, it's possible to hold your breath for three minutes? A little more? 11 minutes, it says. I I can't hold my breath for 11 minutes. But I guess I could work my way towards it. Maybe that I should do that. I don't know if that'd be a good goal or not. So when I look at uh 2018 goals, maybe holding my breath will be one of them. Humans can survive for just 10 minutes at 300 degrees Fahrenheit, but children can only survive for a few minutes at 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Humans can endure barely 30 minutes of exposure to 40 degree Fahrenheit water. Humans can survive up to seven days without water. Humans can survive for about 45 days without food. Well, I don't think I could go 45 days without food. I think four to five days I'd be like dying or something like that. So that's interesting, right? Who knew? But let's let's break that down a little more. Make it a little more personal when it comes to time. When Timex, the watch company asked people how long they would wait before taking action in a wide variety of situations. Researchers discovered that we'll consent to wait only 13 seconds before we honk at a car in front of us that's stopped at a green light. Thirteen seconds? That's a long time. Twenty-six seconds before we shush people who are talking in a movie theater. Twenty-six seconds before we take the seat of someone who's walked away. I don't think that's true in Minnesota. 45 seconds before we ask someone who's talking too loud on a cell phone to keep it down, unless it's really interesting. You can learn a lot about people from their cell phone conversations that for some reason they're having in public but don't realize that everybody is listening to what they say. We'll wait a maximum of 13 minutes for a table at a restaurant, 20 minutes for a blind date to show up before we leave, and 20 minutes for the last person to show up for Thanksgiving dinner before we dig in. I don't know about your timing, but timing can make a big difference. You know, for me, if I'm rude to somebody I care about a lot who happens to live in my house, who happens to wear a ring that I bought her a long time ago, um, if I'm rude to her, it takes me way more time to make things right than it is just to be nice all the time. So being nice to your wife, to your coworker, to those other people at school, to your teacher is just easier than being rude and then trying to undo your mess, untrying to get out of the mess that you have created. I'll just share one other before I read the Bible verse. After reading this, I think one thing that you should ask before you invest your life into a new doctor or medical clinic, besides, you know, like where did you get your medical training and what facilities do you have? Is do y'all get along around here? Do you feel encouraged by each other? Do the doctors and surgeons they all get along because if not, I guess it could be deadly. It says, we all know that bad manners are toxic, but new research now shows that bad manners can kill. In this study, when doctors spoke rudely to their staff, both accuracy and performance suffered. The medical teams exposed to bad behavior and nasty comments demonstrated poorer diagnostic and procedural performance than those who are not exposed to incivility. As the lead researchers commented, relatively benign forms of incivility among medical staff members, simple rudeness, have robust implications on medical team collaboration processes and thus on their performance as a team. Rudeness and a lack of kindness undermines people's ability to think clearly and make good decisions. It steals confidence and weakens motivation. If you see your doctors and nurses aren't getting along, it's time to find a new clinic because the last thing you'd want them to do is like be mad at the doctor and then not do what they're supposed to do. Did you do that for that patient? No, I'm not gonna do it for you. It's like, uh, what about the patient? It's kind of scary. But the Bible says that we should be patient and kind to one another. And the Bible is full of examples of being patient and kind to one another. God cares for us. We're gonna be in Ephesians chapter 4, and Paul is in prison. He's writing this to the Church of Ephesus, and he says in Ephesians chapter 4, verse 1, Therefore, I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. I mean, think about it. As Christians, we're God's representatives. We're supposed to be his ambassadors or his ministers of reconciliation. People are supposed to be able to look at us and see Christ in us. And if we're impatient and if we're rude, and if we're hard to get along with, and if we're always cutting people down, people are gonna go, uh, either I don't want to be a Christian, or that's a defective Christian, because that doesn't seem like a good way to treat anyone. So we're called to walk worthy, we're called to live in a way that honors God, and being patient is one of them. Always be humble and gentle, be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love, and make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. So we're called to be patient and humble. And Roman culture, being humble wasn't anything that was admired. It showed that you were a weak person or that you lack self-respect. So for you to be humble would not be seen as good until the Bible comes along and says you should be humble. So being humble and the way that you act all the time is a good thing. Now there's this false humility that's not a good thing, but being truly humble and letting God lift you up, humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He'll lift you up. Uh He knocks the prideful off of their little podium. But God loves humble people. Matter of fact, I think Moses is referred to as one of the most humble people that ever lived. So to be humble before God, you know, if someone gives you a compliment for something, you know, it's always great to say thank you and then reflect some of the glory back to God. Thank you. I'm so glad that God could use me in that way. Thank you. It's so great that God is able to connect with you through that. Um, those types of things are awesome. False humility is like, well, no, I could never do that. No, I could never, you know, where you just you just don't want to do it. So you're making excuses, uh, acting like, oh, you're just so humble when you're not, or actually acting like you're so humble when you really are fishing for people to give you compliments too. So then you look weak. But be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Weird thought is that God has called Christians to live together, serve together, and worship together in local community. And the reward for doing this is eternity and God's presence together. So hopefully, in our glorified bodies with a perfect life, we won't have issues that rub us the wrong way, but we're supposed to get along with each other, and it's tough because we have different backgrounds, different expectations. Some people talk slow, I talk fast. Actually, though, I was noticing some of the TV preachers that are on talk really fast now. So maybe it's a thing. I don't know. It's just, I like to just say so much in the time that I have. But anyway, be patient with each other, making allowance. So you think about people's different doctrinal beliefs, you think about the majors and the minors, you think about what is it that we are called together to do as Christians. I mean, we have different types of churches, uh different denominations and things, but where can we come together and agree and be unified? Because there only is one Holy Spirit. There only is one God that we serve, and we need to live peacefully with each other. Sometimes we have a short fuse. Sometimes things just set us off, things don't go our way, it's easy to get upset, and God is telling us that we should have a long fuse, that we should be patient, the same way that God is patient with us, that God wants us to be gentle, the way that he is gentle with us. So, I mean, think about how patient God has been with you or is with you. He sees everything you do, knows everything about you, yet shows you grace and love. And when you fall, he wants to help you get back up. When you mess up, he wants to help you to fix that, to get restored. He is extremely patient with you, and he wants you to be patient with other Christians. He wants you to be patient with other people. So, number one, be patient. If you have a problem with somebody, one of the best things that you can do is pray for them. You know, think about the list of the people that annoy you the most, and then start praying for them. And you might even, God might even reveal to you some of the reasons why those people are difficult or why they rub you the wrong way. Maybe something happened in their life that causes them to be that way. But we need to be patient, and we need to be patient with God. Patient with God. Well you might be praying for something, you know, God fix my finances, God fix my marriage, God fix my health, Lord help me to become this, or help me to get this education or degree, or help us to get a church building on our land. The land's almost paid for, but we don't have a building. But if we had a million dollars, we would have a perfect building out there. I mean, that's the only thing holding us back, and I'm sure that somebody has that in their checking account right now, just ready to give it to the church. I heard a pastor say that one time, and it sounded really good. So maybe he knew somebody in his congregation, and maybe, maybe you do. I just thought I'd throw it out there and see what happened. It'd be kind of cool if on the check for a million dollars had actually worked. We could have a building within six months, that'd be great. But be patient with God to work out his plans. All right, Exodus 2. Years passed and the king of Egypt died. So here's Moses. I mean, Moses is like out in the fields with his sheep, you know, not doing a whole lot. And here it says, years passed and the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery, and they cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act. God has his perfect timing. God waits for a reason. God doesn't do everything that we expect in the time frame because sometimes he wants to test our faith. Sometimes he wants to make everything uh line up the way he wants it to accomplish results we can't even see. There's been so many times where I prayed for something to happen by a certain time, and it seems like God shows up at the last minute. You just wonder, are you gonna answer this prayer? And then God shows up at the last minute, and then you have a God sighting, and you're like, wow, there was no way that was gonna happen on my own, and God showed up at last at the last minute, just in the nick of time, and provided that answer to prayer. Praise God. God is real. Let me tell all my friends and encourage them. The Lord is patiently waiting for the right time to return. I mean, we think at the world and all the difficulties around us, you know, North Korea wants to, you know, nuke everybody and all these wars and rumors of war and sickness and viruses and floods and fires and all these things. And wouldn't it be great if Jesus came today? Yes, it would be awesome if Jesus came back for us today. But those people that haven't received Jesus as their Lord and Savior would not be part of the party. They would not be invited to go with Jesus, they would be left behind. And 2 Peter 3 9 says the Lord isn't really slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent. But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. And God has this plan and he's working it out. And we're like, you know, it's like been over, it's been like two thousand years since you were here, Jesus. You know, what's a hold up? But the Bible encourages us to wait, to be faithful at sharing Christ with others, to be faithful at helping to win lost people to Christ so that they can be saved, so that they can pray something like, Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. Please come into my life and save me and make me the person you created me to be. It's not the prayer that saves them, but it's actually bowing the knee and coming to Christ, uh, acknowledging Christ that saves them. And if you've never received Christ as your Lord and Savior, we'd love to help you with that. Talk to me afterwards or contact me during the week. But the Lord is patiently waiting for the right time to return. So keep doing what you're supposed to be doing while we're waiting for him to return and know that he's coming with reward and that will be a great thing in the future, and just trust that he hasn't forgotten and he knows what's going on, and we need to be patiently waiting for his return. Be patient to respond to God's promises. Be patient to respond to God's promises. First, 2 Peter 1 5. In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God's promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone. Why? Because God loves you and He wants you to be kind to others and to be patient with others. Ecclesiastes 7 8 says, Finishing is better than starting, and patience is better than pride. James 1 4 says, Let it grow. When your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. So be patient to respond to God's promises. Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep on praying. Romans 12 12. Psalm 37 7. Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. So we trust and we're patient to respond to God's promises. Psalm 41. I waited patiently for the Lord to help me. And he turned to me and heard my cry. Isaiah 25, 9. In that day people will proclaim, This is our God. We trusted in him and he saved us. This is the Lord in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation that he brings. Take God's promises, claim them, pray them, live in them, and know that God will answer in his timing. Sometimes God says, I heard your prayer, yes, here it is. I heard your prayer, wait. Good idea, not the right time. I heard your prayer, that is not a good idea, and I'm not going to answer that prayer. You might not understand why I'll explain it to you some other time. But trust God, trust his promises, trust him to answer in his wisdom. The Bible is full of examples of people who needed to be patient. The disciples needed to wait 40 days for the Holy Spirit. Acts 1.4. When Jesus was eating with them, he commanded them do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised, as I told you before. So they waited and they waited and they waited. It's a long time to wait. Jonah couldn't wait to watch the Nineveh be destroyed. Jonah 4.8, as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah, because he's got like an arena seat. He's like got this little weed over the top of him that's providing shade, and he's waiting for the show, waiting for his arch enemies, waiting for the Nineveh. He was faithful to go through and proclaim God's judgment, but I think he was excited about it. It wasn't a warning to him. It wasn't like, oh, you guys need to repent or God's gonna judge you. Please repent. It was like, God's gonna judge you. I can't wait. You guys stink. I hate you all. God's gonna judge you. And they did. They repented and God didn't judge them. And Jonah was so mad. The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. Death is certainly better than living like this, he exclaimed. And God said to Jonah, Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died? Yes, Jonah retorted. You've been angry enough to die. Well, he was angry because he wanted to see God destroy the Ninevehites, but God in his grace didn't. It's not a good way to be. James and John couldn't wait to destroy those who rejected Jesus. Here they're trying to tell people about Jesus and Luke 9, 52 to 54. The people in the Samaritan village didn't like the fact that Jesus was headed towards Jerusalem. So they didn't warmly receive Jesus. They weren't excited about Jesus. So what do James and John do? When they saw this, they said to Jesus, Lord, should we call down fire from heaven to burn them up? That is a great way to win lost people to Christ. So don't be like that. Have God's heart. Jesus came to seek and to save those who were lost. Even when they reject you, don't hope the worst for them. Don't ask God to bring down fire or strike them with lightning. Martha couldn't wait to get dinner on the table. So you got Mary and Martha, and Martha's upset. I mean, I know she's got to get dinner on the table and stuff. Luke 10, 40. Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me. Alright, so Martha's got to prepare, they both are preparing this big dinner, and you know, there's expectations with that and hospitality, and I understand, you know, how that probably feels to want to. I mean, Jesus is here, let's make the best dinner possible. But Martha's like doing all the work, and Mary's just at the Lord's feet, listening to Jesus. Two things there. Either Martha could like pull back and say, Well, you know, we were gonna have this big dinner, but instead we're just hanging out with Jesus, and you know, here, we'll have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or something like that. It's good enough. I'm sure Jesus would understand. But maybe Martha could step it up, work a little harder, make things happen to cover for Mary so that she could hear what she needed to hear from Jesus, to be encouraged to get what she needed from the Lord. So it could have gone two ways. Either Martha either needed to step it up and cover so that Mary could get what she needed from Jesus, or Martha needed to cut it back and go sit at the feet of Jesus. But don't be so impatient that you miss out on the best things ever. Don't be so driven by your to-do list that you miss out on important life stuff or important ministry stuff. So, how does this really work? This kindness and this patience. Uh, Joel Mandy is the new CEO of SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment and former president and chief executive officer of Hershen Family Entertainment, the largest family-owned theme park corporation in the United States. And in about five minutes or so of him speaking, he's going to talk to you about some of the things that they do to make this happen in their organization. And when I watched this, I thought to myself, one, um, this is really practical on how you can use it in your workplace or your school. And two, it also points to the fact that the Right Now Media service that we have has RightNow Media Ministry and RightNow Media at work. And my friend was sick for like a week and he was bored and he didn't have anything to watch, and he's like, Well, what's there to watch? And so I sent him access to RightNow Media and he watched it for like the time that he was sick. He watched one after another after another. And when he got better, he liked it so much that he bought it for all of his employees to use that work, right now media at work. But listen to these great ideas on how to live this life that we speak of.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

So the seven words that we use to paraphrase 1 Corinthians 13 are patience, kindness, truthfulness, unselfishness, trusting, dedication, and forgiveness, which is a really tough one. The first word I'll talk about is patient. And I can tell you what patience is not in our context. It's not being patient with poor performance. As leaders, we all have to hold people accountable. Jesus held people accountable. He was tough on people at times if if they didn't do what he asked them to do. And he wasn't always nice about things. But what it does mean in our context is being patient with how we react to poor performance or how we react to people in public. And the key phrase for us in our company is to always praise in public and admonish in private. And it sounds so simple, but it's really powerful. Praising in public and monish in private. I know for myself I had experience when I was CEOs of North America. I was admonished publicly, and it's just something I never forgot. I was called I was actually called in Easter Sunday morning, sleeping in bed on my boss's screen wakes up Saturday in the morning and Easter Sunday. Even though we've had an incredible free run today. Sunday. Go right into a meeting Monday morning at 9 a.m. It's 3 a.m. in North America. Literally just kidding. Incredibly funny. I really didn't get the learning that I felt again. Experience what I never forget is how that made me feel and I score myself. I would never do that. You know, roughly three times more than they in manage. People and every time you're with them, even though they may tell you that you gotta do something better and they want the standard set higher, you still walk away feeling good about yourself, and that's that's really an important point of praise in public and admonish in private. The second word of love that we teach in our company is kind, being kind. Just like I said, in patient, I can talk about what kindness is not. It's not being nice all the time. As I said before, we we as leaders have to hold people accountable. We sometimes people don't perform and you have to talk to them about it. Sometimes people have to be let go. And there's a whole conversation on that under truthfulness when we get there. But what we do mean in kindness is being an encourager and being someone who always encourages other people to try to make them better. And uh, I have a story that was very impactful to me when I was in high school, and it happened with my mother that really taught me the value of this lesson. I was walking to a football banquet with my mother, and I was a senior in high school and had done fairly well, and so as any small high school people know you by watching you, but you don't necessarily know them. So I'm walking down the hall of football banquet, and three freshmen walk by me, and they kind of said hi to me, hi Joel, and I guess I gave them a head nod, but I kept talking to my mom and didn't really acknowledge them. And my mom whipped me around and she never got mad at me, and she pointed her finger to my chest and she said, You listen to me, young man. Every time you come into contact with somebody, you have a chance to make their day better or make their day worse. And I don't think you made their day better. And it really impacted me and it showed me how much all of us as leaders, no matter what we lead, we have impact on the people we lead every time we interact with them. And it's our job as leaders to be the encourager. If we're not the encourager, nobody else is going to be. And there's something about human nature that I'm not quite sure what it is. It's hard for humans to encourage each other or to be encouraging when that other person's out of the room. We humans tend to have a critical spirit and tend to uh maybe not be as encouraging as we should be. Anytime I speak to an audience, I always ask them how many of you watching this have had too much encouragement in your life? And almost nobody raises their hand. Nobody has too much encouragement. So as leaders, we're the ones that have to do that. Because there is enough going on out there that will make people feel down about themselves or down about the performance. It's up to us to be the ones who encourage. And Jack Hershen is the master of the handwritten note, and it's something that's been lost in our society with email and Twitter and so forth. But Jack always finds the time to write you that really encouraging note just when you need it. And the key principle that he taught me when I asked him how he always seems to know when to write one is he spends the first 20 minutes of every day writing an encouragement note to what he saw yesterday. And the key principle is starting the day that way because if you get into your day, get into your email, you never get back to it. And what it does for me when I start my days that way is it starts me with a positive mindset. I'm writing about the positive things I saw yesterday, the things I want to thank people for, because all of us leaders can get overwhelmed with all there is to do and the things that aren't going right, but it puts us as leaders into a positive mindset for the day. So I would encourage you to spend your first moments of every day with an encouraging act, whether it's a phone call, a note that you're writing to somebody, or whatever you feel the most comfortable with, that's a great act of kindness.

Chris T 26:28

And then you can go do personal notes after that. Number two, be kind. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. So if you read Ephesians 4, you'll see this great list of things on the way to live and the way not to live, and the difficult ways that you can treat people, the harsh ways you can treat people, and then the solution, God's solution, um that Paul writes about. And instead of being all these difficult ways that you'd read about in verses 31, instead of be kind to each other, tender-hearted, forgiving one another. Actually, we're going to talk about forgiving next week. But as God has forgiven you, be kind. I mean, if you think about it, if you are kind in every situation, uh life will usually go better for you. You will experience more rewards. People will trust you. Uh, when we first came to town to start this church, we were at the Bell Plane Community Fair. They don't do that anymore. But we had a table and a couple elderly ladies came over, and one of them said, Do you want to tell me why that you think this town needs another church? And we said, Well, we estimate that you know 40 to 50 percent of the people that live in this town don't go to church anywhere, and we'd like to reach them. And we heard them as we talked to them some more, but we heard them as they walked away say, Well, at least they're friendly. So that's good. And as I saw these older ladies later around the community, we had this rapport, connection, because we were kind, not defensive, um, not mean, not harsh. A kind response keeps people from blowing up. Think about it. Sometimes if you have a harsh response, and people can get really angry and do all sorts of things that aren't good. A gentle answer deflects anger, harsh words make a temperature of Proverbs 15.1. And the Bible is full of examples of people being kind. Uh, David wanted to show kindness to anyone related to his best friend Jonathan. 2 Samuel 9:1. One day, David asked, Is anyone in Saul's family still alive? Anyone to whom I can show kindness for Jonathan's sake? He really Jonathan was his best friend, and after he died, he wanted to do something to show kindness to some relative somewhere. And sometimes that happens with us too. We're kind to someone, and then somebody sees our kids coming along, or people that we know coming along, and they want to show kindness to them because we were kind, and we have that connection. The good Samaritan showed kindness to the robbery attack victim. Luke 10, 34, you know that one. But so here this guy's been robbed, he's been mogged, he's laying there, and people are passing by not doing anything too too busy, too many reasons. But the Samaritan came over, soothed his wounds with olive oil, paid for medical expenses, put him on his own donkey, took him to an inn, took care of him. The good Samaritan was kind, and that's why he's good. The jailer showed Paul and Silas kindness after being saved and baptized. I mean, if you read in Acts 16, 33, the jailer could have lost his life for what happened, but Paul and Silas helped keep all the prisoners there, keep him from escaping, and so the jailer's like, what must I do to be saved? And he and his whole family were saved and baptized, and so the jailer showed kindness acts 1633, brought him to his house, um, took care of him. Joseph chose to be kind instead of getting revenge. Joseph, his brothers come along after all that mistreatment, selling him into slavery, all these things. He could have gotten back at him, and I bet it would have felt pretty good. But as you know, Genesis 50, 20, you intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children. So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them. So Joseph's brothers were like freaking out, saying he's gonna as soon as he's gonna kill us, he's gonna destroy us, he's gonna cut us off. And Joseph's like, nope, not gonna do it. God meant it for good. I honor God with my life. And I don't know what happened to you, the things that you went through, the difficulties you went through, but vengeance is mine, says the Lord. Let God get revenge. You do good to others and honor God in the way that you live by being patient and kind. The virtuous wife in Proverbs 31, one of her attributes is when she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. I'm sure if there was a virtuous husband chapter two, he would be kind, you'd speak with kindness. And love equals being patient and kind. 1 Corinthians 13 4, love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud. If you love somebody, you're excited to see them succeed. You're excited to see them get promoted, you're excited to see them be blessed by things that you might not get. You're excited to see them get awards and things. You've got your place, they've got their place. Sometimes God chooses somebody you know to be the lead character in your life drama, and sometimes you have a supporting role, and sometimes it flip-flops. But God sees everything you do and knows why you do it. So show love by being patient and kind. Romans 12 10. Love each other with genuine affection and take delight in honoring each other. As you know, the Holy Spirit gives kindness and patience as part of the full package deal. So in Galatians 5.19, it's got this list of all the things that you shouldn't do, ways that you shouldn't live, ways that aren't kind, ways that aren't patient, when you follow the desires of your sinful nature. The results are very clear. Sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is not a life that's full of the fruit of the Spirit. That is not a life that cares about other people first. It's not a life that is patient, it's not kind. Uh a lot of those things are all about the person trying to get stuff for themselves, uh, using people, um, denying God. It's not a good way to live. Actually, it's a disappointing way to live. It might seem fun to begin with, but it leads to disappointment, sometimes addiction. Verse 22, but the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. For those who belong to Christ, Jesus have nailed the passion and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Part of the package deal. As you set yourself apart to Christ, as you live for him, as the Holy Spirit is active in your life, you will grow these fruits. These will be the results that you see the Holy Spirit producing in your life. What a great way to live. And we are told in our lives that we need to be careful in the way that we defend our faith. Because I mean it's great to win an argument. Sometimes it's wonderful to like study all the passages so that when people come to your door that you don't agree with, that you can really put them in their place. But the Bible says that we're supposed to sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence, with patience and kindness, we are supposed to do that. What a great way to live our lives. Next week we'll talk about forgiving. But let me just read this great real life story of someone who chose to be kind and was recognized by it. And I think that so many times, if we choose to do what God's Word says, and we choose to be patient and kind, that we will reap rewards. We will have better friendships, people will trust us, enemies won't be as harsh. People that disagree with us may be more likely to come alongside at another time because they know that we care for them, because they know that we are trustworthy and we're not out to get them, that we're not out to hurt them. Um now it's not good to be taken advantage by people that just want to, you know, use you, but on the other hand, it's better to be used by somebody and have God see that you're trying to be patient and kind, like when that person on the street corner says, I don't have any food, I'm starving to death, and you give them like a gift card to a grocery store or something like that, and then you find out later that they're just conning you. Well, God saw what you do, and he can still reward you for it. But hope that makes sense. But here's the story Joel Pruzek was an employee at the ice cream chain Dairy Queen. One day he was serving customers their food, and he noticed that a blind man had dropped a $20 bill on the floor. A lady standing in line quietly bent down and put the $20 into her own pocket. Young Joey Pruzek approached the lady, asking her to give the $20 bill back to the blind man. She refused quite aggressively, claiming it was her own. And then Joey did something very generous. Quietly, he opened his own wallet and handed the blind man a $20 bill of his own. The man took the money gratefully, and the Dairy Queen resumed normal business. A customer online observed the whole episode and sent an email to the Dairy Queen management informing them of Joey's act of generosity. The DQ management then posted about it on Facebook, and the event went viral. A couple of days later, Joey received a call from the billionaire Warren Buffett, a big investor in Dairy Queen. He thanked Joey for showing such integrity and asked him to come to the next Dairy Queen investors meeting. As Joey was an employee and a representative of Dairy Queen, Buffett wanted him to be there as an integral part of the fabric of the organization. Joey's act of generosity inspired thousands of people to believe that they too could do something small to impact the world for good. It was a small act with a huge impact, and so it is with God. He takes our small acts of obedience or kindness or goodness and multiplies them for his good and ours. So don't wait until you can do big things. Start small. Sometimes small seeds grow into large trees and sometimes they fail to thrive. So we need to be patient and kind with one another. Lord Jesus, we thank you so much that you've given us your word. Lord, it's much easier to say this than it is to do when we're pressured or when we're angry or when we feel that people have misused us or abused a relationship. Or Lord Jesus, help us to live out this way for your glory. Lord, help us to have wisdom to see what's going on behind the scenes in people's lives that are rude and harsh and difficult. Lord, help us to be part of the solution instead of the problem and help us to leave many people to you for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.