Fruits of the Spirit - Patience

 1st of 7, of the fruits of the spirit

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Welcome everyone. Listen to the Bread of Life with JJ. The message today we're going to be discussing is called the Fruits of the Spirit. The Lord led me today to prepare that for you with his bread from his life on this day. Because this definitely is a day that he has made. So let us rejoice and be glad in it. So we're going to take his bread, his water from the living well, and the fruit that has been cultivated that he produces that he has made. And we're going to discuss one of those fruits today. One that I know that I need to continually work on. One I dread praying for. And you know what that is? Yes. Patience. Because it seemed to me every time I ask about patience, my goodness, I get tested with some patience. But that's okay. Because he's going to fill us and fill me. So I will not thirst or hunger anymore, because we will eat of his bread and drink from his well and be filled with cultivated with the fruit that he provides that's going to help us grow for his glory. So remember, it's all about faith, faith in God. Faith that comes by hearing and hearing the word of God and also reading the true word of God. Because the just shall live by faith. So before we get started, that's bow our heads and pray and give God reverence and glory for his day and this word. So, Heavenly Father, I just thank you for those listening. Continue to fill them, fill them with your presence, fill them with your word in truth. And I pray that you do that for me. And pray that I represent you well in truth, and that the words that I speak come from you. And for those to hear, for them to grow, to be more like you, your son, in Jesus' name, your son's name. I pray these things. Amen. And as I said before, with growth, right? Growth takes time. Just like this patience thing, right? It cannot be rushed. Transformation takes time. And that's important to God. How he's forming us. And also how we treat people under pressure. Very important that we have to surrender that. And we will. In due time. But this one we're going to talk about. The spiritual fruit of patience. Yeah. So as our confidence in God grows, so does our capacity to wait for his answers and accept his will. Which we'll be reading today is Galatians 5, but this word I'll read to you. It says, the fruit of the Spirit, that includes patience. But that doesn't mean the Holy Spirit will force it into the believer's life. Instead, he acts as our ever-dependable teacher and the one who enables our growth. Spiritual fruit matures over time as we obey the Lord and surrender to his will. Patience, though, patience, that involves waiting for God's timing, whether in regard to things we desire or challenges us, whatever challenge is caused by other people. Well, either way, it's an outgrowth of depending faith and deepening faith. The Holy Spirit urges believers to take note of the Lord's handiwork on the journey through life. Our confidence in Him is nurtured by answered prayer, the rich blessings that arise unexpectedly from difficult circumstances, and every trace of good that God brings from a bad situation. As our trust in His goodness and sovereignty grows, we are willing to wait for God's solution and outcomes. In fact, recognizing God's sovereignty is key to developing patience. Hear that again. Recognizing God's sovereignty is key to developing patience. A significant part of surrendering to his control is waiting upon him to do what his will or he wills. Yeah. Patience doesn't come naturally. But the Holy Spirit strengthens a resolve to endure without complaint. That's what he hoped for. Because after all, God is slow only from a human standpoint. From a divine and internal perspective, he's always working at the perfect speed. He's working at the perfect speed to develop patience and growth. And a good, it doesn't come easy. We can celebrate the good that it will bring from our struggles, but it rarely comes easy. But let me ask you this: do you ever wish that you were more patient? Well, most of us would say yes. But how do you acquire a calm, gentle heart? And what can we do to help strengthen this attribute over time? Well, these steps here I want to think about. And these thinking process I want to think about and talk about. Working out, training, right? We might do that. That should be a way of life. So should this be in our lives. Toward that end, believers should recognize difficulty as an opportunity to develop their patience. The human instinct is to cry out to God in bewilderment when tribulation comes. We blame, we resist, we complain, but what we should do instead is say, Thank you, Father God. It's time to grow in patience. Thank you, thank you, praise you. Like praise them through the storms. That's the most important thing you can do is praise them through the storms of life. And especially those storms where it has to develop or deal with patience. Because remember, I told you, as I said before in my previous podcast, um, our Father in heaven, Yahweh, God, is more concerned about our character than our comforts in life. He wants to develop what his son Yeshua Jesus had inside of him, which were the fruits of the Spirit, which he lived out in our lives, or in the lives than the gospel, right? But he does even today, the Holy Spirit, and each believer. That's something to consider. Well, in the book of James, it tells us also to consider trials that we go through as trials of joy. That's James 1. But we often fail at this, don't we? Humanly speaking, praising the Lord for tribulation feels unnatural. It feels unnatural. It truly does. I have praised the Lord, though, when I was in my homeless struggles of life. And I remember that scripture saying from the one I'm reading from right now, which was from Dr. Charles Stanley within Touch Ministries, man. And it was uh touching to me because I remember listening to his sermon. And man, like he said to praise him, praise the Lord through the storms, through the trials, because that is a testing of your faith, but it's also building endurance, it's also growing you, it's also changing that area, right? That mindset and that atmosphere, knowing that God will hold on and keep his promises for you. And it will come to pass in his time, but be patient. So, however, doing so, as I've said before, praising the Lord through tribulation, begins to make sense to believers when they cling to God's promise that good comes from hardship. Romans 8 28. We are not waiting on the Lord in vain. We can praise him for the solution he will bring, the lives he will change, or the spiritual fruit he will develop in us, which is highly important to him. Accepting hardship as a means of growth is a radical concept. But God's followers have cause to rejoice. Yes, they do. Tribulation increases our patience so that we can stand firm on his promises and await his good timing. Timing. That is what it's all about. And having your mindset, your thought process, we are gonna be talking about the books I told you earlier. You're gonna be with Galatians 5 and 6. We're gonna talk about the fruits of the Spirit. And again, they're nine fruits love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Patience, though, we're gonna be talking about because I need it, and I need you all, those that are listening, to continue to pray for me. Continue to pray for me. Because we all struggle in this life. So reading is Matthew, though. We're gonna talk about this as well. Chapter 6, verse 20 and 21. And we're also gonna be talking about Galatians, Galatians 5 and 6. But in Matthew, it said, you know, store up your treasures in heaven. Where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where the thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, your heart will be also. So what does it mean to you in this life, this question I've asked you, as we learn about patience. But through that, what does it mean to serve God? What does it mean to serve God through that? Well, many of us have a distorted idea of service, to the point that we overlook opportunities in front of us. For example, we might think joining the mission field or preaching a sermon is the only way to have a real impact. Those things are important. But the truth is serving the Lord usually involves what's happening in our life on a daily basis. Don't underestimate what God is doing in your seemingly ordinary day, whether that involves volunteering your community, loving a neighbor or new neighbor, caring for someone in need, offering a listening ear or compassionate ear. You may not think that it's important work, but they most certainly are. What you say to people, how you treat others, and the way you handle adversity are like stored up treasures. God uses those things to reveal himself to the world when you live righteously, love those around you, and demonstrate kindness, compassion, and gentleness. You're bearing witness for him. Bearing witness for him. How is God serving his purpose through you? Well, before starting your day, say this. Lord, I choose your way. Accomplish your will in me, whatever it takes. I know when you do, things will happen differently in your life that you never expected, and God will bless you, definitely beyond all measure. When you decide to say, Lord, use me. I'm yours. Because I need to live differently. I want to be different, not like this world, not like the cold things in this world, like 2 Timothy 3 says. I need to live according to what your word says, and that's what we're going to talk about in Galatians. And that's one book of many. Actually, one letter is a letter, but we call it books because there's 66 books in the Bible. But that's a letter that Paul wrote to the church of Galatia. Galatia 5 explains that the fruit of the spirit, of which the fruit we will be discussing, is patience. Patience. And understand this, before we get to that, I want you to take heed and take heart to this. 9 in chapter 6 of Galatians, it says that and explains Paul wants us to remember not to lose heart for doing good. He said, in due time we will reap. We'll reap a harvest if we do not grow weary. We will reap a harvest that the Lord provided and is for us if we do not grow weary. Remember that. And that tells me patience, that's vital. And the process of us not growing weary. The definition of patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay. Trouble. Suffering without getting angry or upset. Ooh. Listen, let me say that again. Let me let me read that again to you. That that man, I know that I fail at that. I know I definitely fail. I definitely fail. But Lord, you're with me. Lord, you're with me. It's the capacity, again, to accept or to tolerate delay. Delay in life, whatever that is. Having the capacity to accept trouble, having the capacity to accept suffering without getting angry or upset. It's tolerance and forbearance.

unknown 14:54

Man.

SPEAKER_00 14:54

And I pray for that too. That's so important to have, because that fruit, it grows. When you think of just patience as a fruit of the spirit, you're just thinking, oh, just one fruit. But what does that entail? And where does that come from biblically? This is what we're talking about. How vital it is. How vital it is to have the capacity to accept or tolerate delaying trouble or suffering without getting upset and angry. It's not going my way. Tolerance and forbearance towards it. So we got to revisit what Paul's letter said to Galatians, because I know I said this before and talked about it. We have to revisit it again because this is, I know sometimes this could be the root of things that cause us troubles in our daily walk in life. So Paul's letter to Galatia was written to a number of churches in the region of Galatia where Paul had traveled on his missionary journey. And you can definitely read the stories in the book of Acts. But he wrote the most important letter from a place of deep passion and frustration. So here's the backstory. So Christianity began as a Jewish messianic movement in Jerusalem, but its message was for all humanity. And so it quickly spread beyond Israel by Paul's time as a missionary. And there were many non-Jews as were Jewish people in the Jesus movement. And this sparked a huge debate that we know from the book of Acts, chapter 15. Well, historically, the covenant people of God were focused in one ethnic group, Israel. And they were set apart by the practices and commands in the Torah, like circumcision of males and eating kosher, observing the Sabbath, and there were many Jewish Christians who believed that. And some of these Jewish Christians ended up coming to Galatia churches. They were undermining Paul and demanding circumcision of all male non-Jewish Christians. And so many of them, and where Paul found out, he had a broken heart about it, truly was angry. And the later result is this that he first challenges the Galatians and the summary of the gospel message about the crucified Messiah. Then he argues that this gospel is what creates the new multi-ethnic family, the new multi-ethnic family, hear me, people, of Jesus and Abraham. And then he shows how this gospel is what truly transforms people by the presence of the power of the Holy Spirit. He opens by expressing his bewilderment that the Galatians have embraced a different gospel. It's the one promoted by these Christians who badmouth Paul and demand circumcision. So Paul first defends the authenticity of his message and authority as the apostle. He was commissioned by the risen Jesus himself to go to the non-Jewish world. Remember the story from the book of Acts. Paul said it was only later that he went to Jerusalem to consult the other apostles like Peter and James. And when he told them he wasn't requiring the non-Jewish Christians to be circumcised or e-kosher, they were in full support. But the tension ran deeper. Peter had come to Antioch to visit, to see all these non-Jewish Christians he was eating with and mingling with them. When some of the Jewish oppositions grew, they grew, they showed up in Antioch, people and Peter and all of them, they caved in under extreme pressure. He stopped eating with the uncircumcised Christians and he was avoiding them at all cost. And so Paul confronted and accused Peter of hypocrisy. Not staying true to the gospel. For Paul demanding these non-Christians to become circumcised and Torah observant, it's wrongheaded for all kinds of reasons. Because, first of all, because it's a betrayal of the gospel, so in his words, people are not justified by the works of the Torah, but rather by the faith of Jesus, the Messiah. And we have faith in the Messiah, Jesus, to be justified or literally be literally be declared righteous. So that's an old, rich, Old Testament term from Paul. It was when God declares that someone is in the right relationship with him, they're forgiven. They're placed in a new place that God has provided in his family, and they're being transformed by God's grace. And as Paul's conviction that no one can be justified by observing the commands of the Torah, but only by the faith of Jesus. This is a dense phrase, and it can only refer to Jesus' own faithfulness and living and dying in our behalf. Or it could refer to our own trust and devotion to Jesus. Either way, the point is clear. People are justified only through trusting in what God did for them through Jesus, not by what they do for themselves. At the heart of Paul's gospel is the claim that when people trust in the Messiah, Jesus, what's true of him becomes true of them. His life, death, and resurrection become theirs. Or in his words, I've been crucified with Messiah, and it's not I who come back to life. It's the Messiah living in me, in the life I now live. I live by the faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And so the reason anyone can say that they are a right and that they have the right with God or belong to Jesus' covenant family, it's not because they obeyed the laws of the Torah. It's only because of what Jesus did for them that they can never do for themselves. Now, this is profound understanding of what Jesus accomplished. It has huge implications for who can now be included in God's covenant family and for what it means to live as a member of that family. So Paul turns to the story about Abraham in Genesis, how he was justified or declared righteous before God by simply having faith, by trusting in God's promise that one day all nations would find God's blessings through him and his offspring. God's purpose was always to have one large multi-ethnic family of people who relate to him on the basis of faith, not on the laws of the Torah. But that raised an important question: why did God give the laws of the Torah to Israel then? Well, here Paul offers a very brief and dense explanation. He that later filled out the letter to the Romans, he observed that the laws of the Torah were given to the Israels at Mount Sinai long after God promised to Abraham. And if you read the Torah carefully, he says, you'll see that God always intended the laws to be a temporary measure. He says that laws have Both a negative and a positive role. Negatively, the laws act like a magnifying glass on Israel's sin. They expose how Israel shared in the sinful human condition, consistently rebelling against God's law. And so the law, which is good, ended up pronouncing Israel's guilty as all humanity with them. So, in his words, the laws imprisoned everyone under the power of sin. But the laws also had a positive role. They acted like a strict school teacher that kept Israel in line in the coming of the promised offspring of Abraham, the Messiah, Jesus. And once Jesus came, he fulfilled the purpose of the laws on Israel's behalf. Jesus was a faithful Israelite who truly loved God and neighbor. And as a king of Israel, he died to take the curse in consequence of Israel's failure to into himself and bring redemption. So he took the curse, the consequences of Israel's failure into himself that brought redemption. And so now through Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, God's blessings can come to all people regardless of their ethnicity, social status, or gender. For Paul, requiring Torah observance from non-Jewish Christians makes no sense. It's acting as if Jesus didn't fulfill God's promise or deal with our sins. It neglects the new freedom gained for us through Jesus and the gift of the Spirit. And it limits God's promise and blessings to one ethnic family. But Paul's opponents might argue that the laws of the Torah, they're a proven guide to living according to God's will. How will non-Jewish Christians learn this? So Paul responds in chapter 5 and 6 by describing how Jesus is transforming presence through the Spirit is the key. But the laws, good as they are, they did not give Israel the power to obey them. So in contrast, the good news is that Jesus did fulfill the law on our behalf. And now he lives in us and through the Spirit, making his people into new humans who fulfill the law by loving others. So Paul goes on to contrast it. This old and new humanity, the habits of the old humanity are obvious. These are the behaviors that dehumanize people, they destroy relationships and whole communities. And while the laws of the Torah prohibit these behaviors, Jesus actually put them to death on the cross. So when a person trusts in Jesus and lives dependence on the Spirit, his life becomes theirs and produces what Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit. This is Jesus' way of life that he wants to produce in his family so that they become people of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But this fruit isn't automatic. Paul says it requires cultivation. Just like real fruit, where it is, where it is we live by the Spirit, we have to keep in step with the Spirit. This requires intentionality. We have to learn how to prune off our old habits and cultivate new ones. And as we do so, we find ourselves carried along by the Spirit as Jesus reshapes our minds and hearts, making us into people who love God and others. And in this way, Jesus' people fulfill what Paul calls the Torah of the Messiah. In the end, Paul concludes this requirement for Christians to become Torah observant or to be circumcised. It's an adventure in missing the point. What really matters is God's new creation, this new multi-ethnic family of the Messiah, people full of faith in Jesus who are learning to love God and others in the power of the Spirit, His Spirit. And that's what that letter of Galatia is pretty much all about. But to recap that about this wonderful letter, think about this. Understand that there is only one gospel, only one message, only one message that is good, that is true, only one proclamation that can properly be called good news. Any part of this gospel views would be loose, the very thing that makes it good news. Remember the Church of Galatia, because there's so many churches just like this, they were led away from their original belief that they were blessed by God through faith in Jesus, not works of the law. And we know this because in Paul's letter to the Galatia, we hear that another gospel was being taught by a sect of Jewish nations that taught that blessing was based on obedience to the law of Moses. Yet Jesus was a promised Christ, the Old Testament predicted. But believing in his death and resurrection wasn't made someone a Christian. You see, something else was needed, something extra, something addition. Something addition. To truly be blessed, you must obey all the law requirements and restrictions. The mark of a man who truly keeps God's commands is a mark of circumcision. This mark is a sign, it became the battle line for division. Those who preached this false gospel came to the Gentiles and tried to force it on them, this additional condition. So Paul he sends a letter to the church in order to show them. And to show them how Jesus actually fulfilled the command of circumcision. But Paul's letter doesn't start with Moses and commands. He starts with the promise God made to Abraham. This promise was not based on circumcision, but on faith in what he heard for sin. He had brought and bought, brought to death. Life had been cursed. But God promised that one of Abraham's seeds would bless his people and free the Gentiles from that curse. Abraham was blessed before he was circumcised because he took God at his word. That which is why Paul says that the only way to be free from the curse and sin deserves is to have faith in the promised seed God had conferred. Abraham was given the sign of circumcision, not to earn the promise that he had already been freely given, but as a way for the promise to be visibly confirmed. Circumcision was a way for every Jewish man to physically observe from their offspring, but God promised Son would only one day emerge. So about 430 years later, when the law of Moses occurred, it did not set aside or deter the promise God made with Abraham. At first, the promise was still based on faith, not its works. And that's because the law could never save, it only brought a curse. No matter how hard they tried, the sin within their heart would never let them perfectly observe the law of the command that they did do in each and every verse. For this was a law no one was able to keep. But because their sin problem ran too deep, no one would be blessed by following the law. Because in sin all are immersed. So instead, everyone who tried to be blessed by the law would only be cursed. The curse would last until the final seed came, until Abraham's promise was fulfilled, and the one circumcision. That one circumcision was pointed, that was given a name, a name for Jesus. That was a promised seed of whom Abraham heard and believed. He would bless Jews and Gentiles from the curse of death. He would set them free. He would rescue us from the curse of the law by dying under the curse of the law. Even though we broke his holy decrees, for the law itself says, curse is anyone who hangs on a tree. His death has provided the promised life that is freely given to everyone who believes. And with this new blessing comes a new sign that all who put their faith in Christ freely receive. And the sign is the Holy Spirit. He is our new circumcision. He is a sign of the redeemed. He performs not on an outward operation but an inward surgery. For those who have faith in Jesus, the Holy Spirit is our guarantee. That there is no curse for those who believe that Christ has taken our death and given us his blessing. There is no extra cost, nothing needed to add to or do. We are saved by faith alone and not by what we do. This is the only gospel, the only message that is good as it is true, the only proclamation that can be properly called and be called the good news. It is the good news. For those listening, understand what that letter meant, how the fruit began and how it started, and what Jesus meant by that. This breakdown of the Church of Galatia, the breakdown of the letter and what it needed to represent and show people is showing, like, hey, listen, it's about the Holy Spirit, man. It's not about these laws that you guys try to enforce because no one is perfect. You can be outwardly perfect, look and do these laws, but insideward, inside your inwardly, inside your heart, inside your mind, it's cold, it's callous, it's wicked, it's dark, you have bad thoughts. We we we cannot become hypocrites and think that we do not. That is why we need a savior. That is why what I read you and what we were talking about just now is about Jesus Christ and what he is towards the Christian life and how we need to portray that with the fruits that he has provided. That shows people in this world how different we are and how we need to be with one another. The Bible does say that we need to love the Lord that God with all our heart, with all our heart, mind, and soul. To love the Lord God with all your heart, mind, and soul. To love your neighbor as yourself. That is the fulfillment of the law. Also in Galatians, in Galatians 6.9, it says, Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. We will reap. Best believe by doing that. In Matthew 5 16, it says, Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. In Matthew 6, 20 through 21, but you can read it whole Matthew 6, all the way to 33. It's beautiful with Matthew, what he had to say in that chapter, but says right here, store up yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where neither thieves do not break in or steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will also be. These are the the things of life, and even talking about patience. Patience to deal with the annoyance, not get angry or troubled when things don't go my way. Forbearance. That is so important. That saves so many fights and arguments, interrogatory remarks, and things that go against others in life or thinking, right? My mind, like we need to really be busy in this life, and I see that in other people's lives. They have plenty of time to produce ungodly things on social media. Because I won't even go into it because of those that are listening, I know you you already know. I could just hit and scroll and just see it all, right? And I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I pray for those that have the time of the day to do all that, edit and do all those things, but not for you for God. Right? Or you don't have the patience, which I've seen lack of patience on social media, um, certain podcasts or certain clips. Hey, man, you know, they have no patience, and fights begin and break out. Unnecessary violence that takes place, it does not need to. That is not producing or harboring the fruits of the spirit. We need to be better people in this life. And my compass that guides me to that direction is Jesus Christ. No other has been able to do that. And no other will. Because what we go through is something way deeper in a spiritual format, so to speak, if you think about it, because we are spirits going through human experience. A lot of things of choices are being made, free will. But who do you say God is? And how are you going to live this life and walk this out? You really got to come to that conclusion, like the end of the road in your life, and you got to really think, what I am not promised my next breath. What am I doing that's gonna be pleasing to God? I may not be perfect, so Lord, help me change my mind. I may have harboring resentments and anger in my heart. Lord, clean my heart. The first step is acknowledging these things, taking the time in the step, and even getting on your knees and saying, hey, I know there's a God, and I am showing homage and humble humility by getting on my knees and saying, I repent. I'm sorry, I need help. Please help me. He will never fail you. He is so good. He loves you. And that's what he wants for everybody. Yeah, he does not like evil because that gives him a scent that is disgusting and putrid. What he wants, the fragrance of free will, of love, peace, the joys of fruit. How have you smelt fruit before? That's so fresh and sweet, and how savory and how wonderful, delightful it is, right? Anything. Even flowers, certain trees, fragrance. Oh my, that is that's how the Lord sees righteousness. That's the fragrance that he breathes in, that he just is elated and wants to marinate in and bless. When it comes to the other things of sin and darkness, no. That's like being stuck in a gas station bathroom that's never been clean in like three months. I don't think so. Think about that. God is good. God loves you. Please be with me. If anyone listening has not given their life to the Lord, to the Lord Jesus, please say with me in this prayer, Lord Jesus, I need you. Please come into my life. I recognize that I am a sinner and I need your help. Cleanse me of all unrighteousness. Make me whole. I pray to follow your will. In all my days in Jesus' name, in your name. Your name, I ask these things to be. Thank you for dying for me. Amen. And so those listening, I'm glad whoever is listening prayed that. Important is to have that relationship, intentionality with the Lord. Open the Bible and read. Pray and ask him to show you where to go. And if not, hey, a good robot for me, how to live a Christian life. Let's skip all the way forward to Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and the other books that are of with the Thessalonians and Timothy and Hebrews, James. There's so many 1 John, 2 John, Peter, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, there are books that we need to uh marinate on. That's going to give us help, instruction, and growth. That's what the Bible's for. If you need any prayer, anyone to reach out to and talk, any questions you may have. Hey, if you want to dial in sometime, call in and we can discuss some things that you feel about Christianity. That'd be great. Reach out. The bread of life with JJ at gmail.com. The bread of life with jj at gmail.com. And be more than happy to like respond back to you. Walk you through some things, pray for you, give you some pointers in whatever direction. Because again, my way is not the way, it's a way. And it's what God put in my heart for you. So until we eat again together and take up on this bread, I want to say thank you. God bless you. Jesus loves you. And remember, He's for you. God bless.