Is There Profit In Patience?

WESTSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH

PASTOR: TERRY VAUGHAN

SERMON TITLE: IS THERE PROFIT IN PATIENCE?

“For God so loved the world , that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” John 3:16-18

TEXT VERSE: Ecclesiastes 7:8 “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in heart.”

Better is the end of a thing than the beginning. I have found that to be true. When you’re starting out on a journey, often times you wonder what is going to become of you. Trying to look into the future; knowing we can’t, we just have to go on in faith. Thank God Jesus knows not only where we’re starting but where we are going to end up. I’m glad that he’s in charge and I’m not. If we were in charge we’d mess up a lot of things. The end of a thing is always better than the beginning. I think about eternal life in the life of a Christian. This is not an easy way that we’re living in this life down here. It’s like we’re out of place. Thank God Christ came into the world to save sinners. Peter said we’re Pilgrims and strangers passing through this land. I’m glad this is not my final resting place. I’m glad we’ve got a better place to go one day after awhile. Thank God the end of this thing is going to be a whole lot better than the beginning was. I want to preach to you tonight on: Is there profit in patience?

You’ve heard people who have said they have prayed for patience and they say they had the worst week of their life. You don’t have to pray for patience. If you’re a child of God you possess patience in the Lord Jesus Christ already. But you do have to know how to utilize patience. How to wait upon the Lord. How to have long suffering. Often times we as Christians seem to get in a hurry. We try to work things out for God instead of letting God work things out for us. I have news for you tonight, if we’ll just have patience and wait upon the Lord, there’s profit in patience tonight. In James 5:11 it says “Behold, we count them happy which endure . Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.” You read on Job 1 where he went through a lot of suffering. But you read on Job 42 that Job had more in the end than in the beginning. He might have lost everything he had in this world but I have good news for you tonight; he gained everything that God in store for him. A lot of things in this life are pleasurable. They aren’t profitable. A lot of things we go through are hard. They are trying and things get rough. trying to be a good Christian gets rough. along the way but thank God aren’t you glad Jesus said, “I’ll go with you.” He said he’d never leave us nor forsake us. Now let me share these things with you.

Number one: If you have patience in the Lord you’ll find that it brings forth power. A lot of people don’t believe that. If you’ll just trust in the Lord and have patience in him you’ll end up gaining some power. Some strength in the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me show you how it works. God is the giver of our strength. Through the power of his blessedness of his son and we receive it with the holy spirit. But Paul said when I’m weak, then am I strong. The power of God does not come because of what we do. The power of God comes by what we can’t do. I want you to know tonight that we as children of God can do nothing but God can do all things. I’m glad he’s there for us. So having patience in the Lord brings forth power. Isaiah 40:31 says this “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up as wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” There’s nothing that will strengthen a Christian anymore than having patience that God is going to give you strength to make it in this life. That’s what we need tonight. We need some strength. We need some power. I thought about that King in the old Testament as he laid his head upon a stone. He took a stone and the Bible said he made himself a pillar. Rested his head on that stone. His was weak in his journey and God sent an angel and said take this food and this drink and be strong and the Bible said he got up and went forty more days on his journey. He changed the pillow into a pillar and began to stand on the solid rock and that solid rock is Christ. He received power. If we try to receive power on our own, we’ll never do it.