Introduction:
Five Things to Say to Yourself When You Are Losing Your Patience with People: (James 5:1-11)
- Lost people act like Lost People . (Jas 5:1-6)
Matthew 6:21 - For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
- Things won't Always be as they are now. (Jas 5:7-8)
Romans 8:18 - For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
- Don't forfeit your Rewards . (Jas 5:9)
2 John 8 - Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.
- Faithful people are patient. (Jas 5:10)
- Patience is Good for me. (Jas 5:11)
Job 1:22 - In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.
Job 42:5 - I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you...
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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00:40-01:09
Father, we believe your Word does your work, and we thank you when you give us the opportunity to see your Word and your Spirit at work in the lives of people. That's all we want here, Father, for you to show up and do what you do as we present ourselves to you as your servants. We pray in Jesus' name. And all of God's people said, amen.
01:10-01:11
James chapter five, are you there?
01:14-01:21
Several years ago, this one particular morning, I was having a really rough morning.
01:24-01:26
And I thought, you know what'll make this morning all better?
01:28-01:33
I stopped at Pantera Bread and got a Cinna Crunch Bagel.
01:35-01:37
And I'm like, that is going to turn this franchise around.
01:40-01:44
Well, I went to the Pantera up here in Cranberry and the, you know, Cinnacrunch bagel.
01:44-01:50
And the guy, he put the bagel in the brown bag and, you know, he handed it to me.
01:50-01:52
And as he handed it to me, I walked away.
01:52-01:54
He was like, "Oh yeah, sorry, that's not toasted.
01:54-01:56
"Our toaster isn't working.
01:56-02:06
"So it's not toasted." And I gotta tell you, it's embarrassing to stand in front of you and say this.
02:07-02:09
I really got bent out of shape about that.
02:10-02:11
I mean, I didn't say anything to him.
02:12-02:13
I got to my car.
02:15-02:17
And did you ever have something just hit you raw?
02:18-02:21
Just like raw nerve, and it was sort of like the straw that broke the camel's back.
02:22-02:22
You know what I'm talking about?
02:23-02:24
Don't leave me up here, come on.
02:24-02:26
Okay, thank you, thank you.
02:28-02:32
But I was so angry about this stupid bagel.
02:33-02:36
I was so angry, I'm like, why didn't he say anything when I ordered it?
02:36-02:41
Why did he let me swipe the card and the money and he gives me the bank, and then tell me to I'm leaving?
02:41-02:44
I mean, like, what is he, what is he, Al-Qaeda?
02:44-02:46
Like, why would he do something like that?
02:47-02:48
Why, who are they hiring?
02:48-02:49
Do they have a hiring process?
02:50-02:52
This guy shouldn't be allowed on the streets.
02:54-02:57
A maniac like this should be locked up.
02:59-03:06
I have children and people like this roam free And I was so been out of shape about this.
03:06-03:08
And I'm like, what can I do?
03:08-03:09
What can I do?
03:09-03:20
So I did, I called like Pantera headquarters and I'm like, you're not gonna believe what one of these miserable Nazi employees of yours did.
03:22-03:26
I might not have said it in those exact words but that was the spirit behind it.
03:27-03:31
And they were just like, oh, I'm sorry about that.
03:31-03:31
We'll refund the money.
03:33-03:38
And I'm like, "But I'm still mad!" And they refunded the money.
03:41-03:45
And I'm like, "Wow, I have a problem."
03:49-03:50
(congregation laughing)
03:50-03:56
I have a big problem with being patient with people.
03:58-04:03
I was ready to take a guy to court over a bagel.
04:05-04:07
I'm not very proud of that.
04:09-04:10
But maybe you've had moments like that.
04:14-04:19
Where you're like, man, maybe I'm not as patient with people as I'd like to be.
04:21-04:23
We're gonna talk about patience today.
04:25-04:25
Woo-hoo!
04:25-04:28
I'm like preaching on patience this week.
04:29-04:30
Kid gets really sick.
04:34-04:40
God has a way of helping me see if I really believe what I'm preaching.
04:43-04:50
But you know, when we talk about patience, I learned this this week, I didn't know this, but there's different Greek words for patience.
04:50-04:55
One Greek word for patience has to deal with patience in circumstances.
04:56-05:01
And there's another Greek word for patience that has to do with patience with people.
05:02-05:07
And that's the one that we're going to talk about today, patience with people.
05:09-05:18
Hard circumstances and hard people each require patience.
05:21-05:23
But there's a different word for that in the Greek.
05:24-05:26
And I thought about that a lot this week.
05:27-05:32
Like what's the difference between being patient in circumstances and being patient with people?
05:34-05:36
I just, I kept thinking about that.
05:36-05:37
Like what's the difference?
05:37-05:38
What's the difference?
05:39-05:39
And then something hit me.
05:40-05:54
You know, when it comes to circumstances, sometimes we want to lash out, but it's kind of hard to personally attack a circumstance.
05:54-05:55
You know what I mean?
05:57-06:07
Like yesterday when Cade was having this episode, I would have loved to grab whatever personification of this thing was.
06:07-06:11
I would have loved to grab it and slap it around and throw it out the door, but I couldn't.
06:11-06:15
It was a circumstance and I was helpless to do anything about it.
06:18-06:20
But you know, people are different.
06:21-06:27
Because hard people do give us the opportunity to lash out and fight back, don't they?
06:28-06:29
You know what I mean?
06:31-06:37
I might not be able to personally attack a circumstance, but I can personally attack a person.
06:38-06:50
Whether it's angry words or belittling someone, condescending tone, telling somebody off, slandering.
06:52-06:53
getting even with someone.
06:55-06:56
I can do that to a person.
06:56-06:57
I can't do that to a circumstance.
07:01-07:07
Don't shout out any names, but are there people in your life that are testing your patience?
07:08-07:09
Don't point either.
07:11-07:14
I see some of you like that guy over there.
07:16-07:18
But maybe you've got somebody in your life that's testing your patience.
07:19-07:20
Maybe it's an unbelieving spouse.
07:22-07:24
Maybe it's a know-it-all family member.
07:26-07:29
Maybe it's a godless, domineering boss.
07:31-07:32
Maybe it's that annoying coworker.
07:35-07:36
Maybe it's an unsaved neighbor.
07:36-07:42
All these people give us opportunity to show patience.
07:44-07:44
How are you doing there?
07:48-07:55
Now, maybe like the dreaded bagel incident, you've learned that you have some room to grow, like me, in that area.
07:56-08:01
And fortunately, we have God's word to give us direction on how to grow.
08:02-08:05
So on your outline, how to be patient with people.
08:06-08:09
Five things to say to yourself when you're losing your patience with people.
08:11-08:15
Five things to say to yourself when you're losing your patience with people.
08:15-08:20
You know, when people say, when you're about to blow your top, You gotta slow it down, you gotta take a deep breath, you gotta count to 10.
08:22-08:23
I'm gonna save you half the time.
08:24-08:25
I'm gonna say count to five.
08:26-08:27
Yeah, you're welcome.
08:31-08:32
Count to five.
08:34-08:41
And when you're gonna lose patience with people, here's five things that you can say to yourself.
08:42-08:47
Number one, write this down, lost people act like lost people.
08:47-08:48
That's the first one.
08:48-08:50
Let's look at the first six verses here in James chapter five.
08:54-08:56
He says, "Come now, you rich.
08:58-09:01
"Weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
09:03-09:08
"Your riches have rotted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
09:09-09:20
"Your gold and silver have corroded, "and their corrosion will be evidence against you, "and will eat your flesh like fire." You've laid up treasure in the last days.
09:22-09:32
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you.
09:32-09:36
And the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
09:38-09:41
You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence.
09:42-09:44
You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
09:45-09:49
You have condemned and murdered the righteous person.
09:50-09:51
He does not resist you.
09:52-09:53
Stop there.
09:54-10:02
James starts off this section by rebuking people that were problem people for the people of his day.
10:03-10:05
And that's the oppressive rich.
10:05-10:10
Now look, we had a whole sermon about this back in, what was that, chapter two.
10:14-10:16
all rich people are bad.
10:16-10:18
Nobody is saying that.
10:19-10:34
But what we said back then, and I'd like to remind you, the point is this, in general, when you look at history, do we typically see poor people oppressing rich people or rich people oppressing poor people?
10:34-10:36
Which way does it generally go?
10:37-10:39
Okay, that's what he's talking about here, okay?
10:42-10:54
And remember, this was going out to Christian Jews who were scattered due to persecution and people who were saved and unsaved were going to be hearing this message.
10:56-11:00
And James here is giving a warning to the unsaved.
11:00-11:06
And I would say, if this describes you, you better listen up.
11:09-11:11
Because nothing reveals your heart.
11:13-11:17
more objectively than the way you view and spend money.
11:18-11:20
It's an objective test.
11:21-11:26
How you view and spend money tells you where your heart is.
11:28-11:29
I didn't make that up.
11:30-11:32
Jesus pointed this truth out.
11:32-11:39
Matthew 6, 21, Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, "there your heart will be also." And we wanna flip that.
11:40-11:43
We want it to say where your heart is, that's where your treasure is.
11:44-11:46
As well, oh, you know, my heart's with missions.
11:47-11:50
See all these people up here with missions, oh, my heart's with missions.
11:52-11:57
And Jesus would say in response to that, well, how much do you give to missions?
11:58-11:59
Well, I really don't.
12:00-12:06
Then your heart's not with missions because you find where your treasure is, then you'll find your heart.
12:07-12:08
Now show me your checkbook.
12:09-12:10
Like, I don't have a checkbook.
12:10-12:22
All right, smarty pants, Mr. Highfalutin, living in 2024, online banking, show me your statement online, where you spend your money, and I'll show you where your heart is.
12:22-12:25
Because Jesus said where your treasure is, that's where your heart is.
12:27-12:35
And James here is warning those who have their treasure, therefore their hearts set on worldly prosperity.
12:36-12:41
He says in verse three, You've laid up treasure in the last days.
12:44-12:48
Now the term last days, that refers to the last chunk of history before Jesus returns.
12:49-12:56
Okay, from Jesus ascension until his second coming, that period of time is called the last days.
12:56-12:58
James' audience lived in that.
12:58-13:00
We today live in the last days.
13:03-13:12
So during this chunk of history, while we're waiting for our Lord to return, How should money be used?
13:14-13:17
How should we be spending money while we wait for the return of the Lord?
13:18-13:19
Whether James' audience or you.
13:21-13:24
And as far as I can see biblically, there's really two ways we should be spending our money.
13:25-13:27
God's money, you know what I mean.
13:28-13:29
There's two ways that we should be spending money.
13:30-13:31
One is to take care of your family.
13:33-13:34
You should be providing for your family.
13:35-13:37
If you don't, God says you're worse than an unbeliever.
13:38-13:40
Sickest burn ever, all right?
13:41-13:42
Right, Taylor?
13:43-13:45
You should be taking care of your family.
13:45-13:47
And the other way you should be using your money is to support missions.
13:48-13:56
Whether it's giving to the mission that's happening in the local church, or the missions that are happening beyond the walls of the church, like we talked about here.
13:58-13:59
That's how money should be spent.
14:02-14:16
But based on the way that some people, and maybe it's you, you know, and God knows, But based on the way that some people spend their money, they act like they don't think Jesus is returning and they act like we ain't leaving the earth either.
14:18-14:21
That this is just how it's always going to be forever.
14:24-14:26
That's what James talked about in this chunk.
14:26-14:31
We could spend a sermon series on this, but James says you're storing up stuff.
14:31-14:34
You're taking advantage of people.
14:34-14:36
You're living in self-indulgence.
14:37-14:39
excuse me, you're even oppressing people in court.
14:42-14:46
You're living a life consumed by serving money to the point of harming others.
14:46-14:49
And James is giving a warning to people that do that.
14:53-15:08
But for those who are suffering at the hands of someone else, whether it's the rich people mentioned here or any reason you're suffering at the hands of someone else.
15:09-15:15
James also gives a reminder in this passage that God's gonna deal with them.
15:16-15:16
Did you see that?
15:17-15:33
He says, "Miseries are coming." He says, "The cries of the harvester have reached God's ears." He says, "You've fattened your heart in a day of slaughter." He says, you know, God's gonna deal with the people that hurt and oppress others.
15:33-15:34
God's gonna deal with them.
15:38-15:43
And before we start the condemnation, I'd like to remind you that we all deserve God's wrath.
15:45-15:49
Because we all have wicked hearts by nature, we're born with that.
15:52-16:00
But see, the glory of the gospel is that when you receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, he gives you a new heart.
16:03-16:12
But some people, like the people James is talking about here, some people that haven't received Christ still have the wicked heart.
16:14-16:27
So I'd like to remind you, you know, when it's hard to be patient with people, that people who haven't been changed by Jesus act like people who haven't been what?
16:28-16:30
by Jesus, right?
16:31-16:33
Lost people act like lost people.
16:36-16:38
That's the first thing you need to say to yourself.
16:39-16:57
If you're gonna lose patience with someone, maybe someone who doesn't know the Lord, say, "Hey, hey, hey, lost people act like lost people." All right, second thing, number two, this is one that I say to myself multiple times a day, truly, and you've heard me say this before.
16:58-17:05
You'll hear me say this, until I'm with the Lord, things won't always be as they are now.
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That's the second thing to say to yourself when you're losing your patience with people.
17:10-17:11
Things won't always be as they are now.
17:11-17:12
Look at verse seven.
17:15-17:34
He says, "Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord." See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it until it receives the early and the late rains.
17:35-17:36
Stop there.
17:37-17:42
You know, that's a great thing about all these troubles, whether it's troubled circumstances or troubled people.
17:42-17:50
Great thing about all these terrible things that we endure in life on earth is it makes us long for the return of Jesus.
17:53-17:59
And here in this section, James doesn't give us some eschatological timeline.
17:59-18:05
He doesn't give us some like breakdown of end time events, nothing specific.
18:06-18:10
James just gives us the simple, beautiful truth that Jesus is coming.
18:12-18:13
He says it twice here.
18:14-18:19
And it's a reminder for us, things won't always be as they are now.
18:20-18:23
So, we wait.
18:27-18:28
He talks about the farmer.
18:32-18:36
You know, people always talk about farming as being hard work.
18:38-18:39
Is it though?
18:42-18:43
Is it really that hard?
18:43-18:46
Because a lot of farming is waiting.
18:49-18:52
And a lot of farming is trusting God to bring the rain.
18:54-18:54
(congregation laughing)
18:57-19:02
And I do need to make it abundantly clear that that was a joke about farming not being hard work.
19:04-19:07
I don't want Jesse to wreck me after service.
19:07-19:10
Like, "What'd you say about farmers?" Like, oh boy.
19:12-19:14
Get a hospital bed beside Cade.
19:14-19:15
(congregation laughing)
19:17-19:19
Farming is incredibly hard work.
19:21-19:26
But at the same time, it's waiting and trusting.
19:27-19:29
Incredibly hard work and waiting and trusting.
19:30-19:31
Incredibly hard work and waiting and trusting.
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Does that sound like anything?
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Farming sounds a lot like our walk with Christ.
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We work hard, don't we?
19:39-19:47
We work hard, but a lot of what we're doing in the church is waiting on his return and trusting him to do what only he can do in the meantime.
19:50-19:52
So what does the farmer do while he waits?
19:53-19:55
Does he procrastinate?
19:58-20:01
Like, you know what, the rains ain't coming for a while.
20:01-20:02
I got all the time in the world.
20:02-20:04
No, no, farmers don't do that.
20:05-20:07
Do farmers complain?
20:08-20:16
Like, oh, stupid cow, stupid seed, stupid barn.
20:16-20:17
No, no.
20:18-20:19
What does the farmer do?
20:20-20:30
He stays on it every day, on it every single day.
20:31-20:32
The harvest is coming.
20:32-20:38
I got to do everything that I can now because I know that the harvest is coming.
20:42-20:48
Yet too often in the church, procrastinate and complain is what we do.
20:51-20:51
We procrastinate.
20:53-20:54
Like, yeah, I'll get to it.
20:55-20:56
I'll get to it.
20:57-21:01
You know, I know I'm supposed to be baptized in response to receiving Christ.
21:01-21:02
I'll get to that someday.
21:04-21:07
Maybe not the next baptism service or the one after that, but maybe someday.
21:07-21:08
We procrastinate.
21:08-21:09
Or serving.
21:09-21:13
Yeah, I know they need help in the kids' ministry, and someday I'm gonna get involved in that.
21:15-21:17
Call me in August or whatever.
21:18-21:21
We procrastinate like we have all the time in the world.
21:23-21:25
Or we complain, right?
21:26-21:28
We complain, we complain about people.
21:29-21:37
I'm so sick of, you know, my marriage is miserable and I hate my neighbors and my boss is a jerk.
21:40-21:43
Do you believe that our best days are ahead of us?
21:45-21:48
Well, can we not be patient with people until then?
21:53-21:54
We don't like waiting though.
21:56-21:57
We don't like waiting.
21:58-22:00
You know what Tom Petty said about waiting?
22:02-22:03
We don't like waiting.
22:05-22:12
You know, our family's planning, if the Lord wills, like that call back, we're planning a vacation.
22:13-22:15
We'd love to go to Universal Studios in Florida.
22:15-22:15
Have you ever been there?
22:17-22:18
It's a theme park.
22:18-22:19
Have you ever been to any theme park?
22:19-22:20
Kennywood, Cedar Point?
22:25-22:26
We love that.
22:27-22:32
But you know, I was thinking about that this week as we're making our plans and if the Lord wills.
22:34-22:41
When you go to these theme parks, you have 90 minutes of waiting for a 90 second ride.
22:44-22:50
And while you're standing there in line, in the little maze, right?
22:51-22:52
There's hundreds of people in line.
22:55-22:56
But you know, they're not complaining.
22:59-23:08
Everyone in the maze is willing to wait because they know that something amazing is coming after they wait, right?
23:11-23:18
And you know, I got to thinking, shouldn't we be so willing to wait because our situation's opposite?
23:19-23:25
At the theme park, you wait a long time for a little, yay!
23:29-23:37
But you see, for us as followers of Christ, we're waiting a little bit of time for eternal glory in the presence of our Lord.
23:39-23:40
Shouldn't we be so willing to wait?
23:41-24:08
And I think that's why Paul said in Romans 8, 18, not about universal, but he said, he said, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us." Verse eight in James five, he says, "You also be patient, establish your hearts." That means prop yourself up with this truth.
24:08-24:12
He says, "For the coming of the Lord is at hand." It's at hand.
24:13-24:14
The coming of the Lord is at hand.
24:14-24:16
It's right on the edge.
24:18-24:29
And if you just slow down and listen and quiet yourself, sometimes I'm convinced that you can hear Jesus going to the barn and getting the horse ready.
24:32-24:34
We are right on the edge.
24:36-24:38
Jesus might return today.
24:39-24:41
So can you be patient with people for one day?
24:43-24:46
For one day, for one day, can you be patient with people?
24:51-24:57
And if he doesn't come today, and if you do get tomorrow, can you make the same plan?
24:58-25:00
One day, one day at a time.
25:02-25:12
So when we're tempted to lose our patience with people, Hey, lost people act like lost people and things will not always be as they are now.
25:14-25:20
All right, number three, five things to say to yourself when you're losing your patience with people.
25:20-25:23
Number three, don't forfeit your rewards.
25:26-25:27
Don't forfeit your rewards.
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He says in verse nine, do not grumble against one another brothers.
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Stop there for a second, grumbling.
25:38-25:43
Grumbling not just against the person causing you problems, it's grumbling at anyone and everyone.
25:49-25:52
And some people just won't stop grumbling about people.
25:54-25:56
We know people like that.
25:57-26:02
If you stand still for longer than seven seconds, they're going to start grumbling to you about people.
26:03-26:06
And look, maybe you are that person.
26:11-26:16
And I don't mean this callously, because it's easy to grumble when you feel betrayed.
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It's easy to grumble when you feel abandoned, but it's sin.
26:30-26:56
Not only is it sinful, which is the main thing that settles the issue, but a secondary problem is you sort of turn into an Eeyore or a Debbie Downer and you're miserable to everyone, even people that are trying to help you, even people in your small group that love you and want to lift you up and pray for you and all you want to do is complain about people.
26:58-27:04
You know, my boss this and my spouse that, you're not gonna believe what this family member said to me.
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And we get into grumbling mode.
27:09-27:11
Do you need some motivation to stop grumbling?
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Look at the rest of verse nine.
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He says, "Do not grumble against one another, brothers, "so that you may not be judged.
27:20-27:29
"Behold, the judge is standing at the door." The judge is standing at the door and he hears every word you say, and you're gonna be judged.
27:30-27:32
And you're like, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on a second.
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I thought if I put my faith in Christ that I'm not going to be judged.
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You won't be judged for your sin.
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That's true.
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Jesus, when you believe in Jesus, he takes away your sin.
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You will never be judged for your sin.
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There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
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That is absolutely true.
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You will never be judged for your sin.
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That is absolutely true.
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But the Bible also says that your works will be judged and you will be rewarded based on your works.
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That's a whole nother sermon series.
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Just write down 1 Corinthians 3, 2 Corinthians 5.
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You're gonna be judged on the way you conduct yourself for rewards.
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Look at what John says, this is in 2 John, verse eight.
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He says, "Watch yourselves so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward." And James here says, "The judge who has your reward is about to come through the door, listening to every word that you say, so don't forfeit your reward by sinning." And grumbling really is probably the easiest way to sin.
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So do you want a full reward?
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Well, when you're tempted to grumble, when you're tempted to lose your patience with people or express your lack of patience with people, just stop and say to yourself, hey, you know, no, no, I'm not gonna grumble because I don't wanna lose any reward.
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Number four, four things to say to yourself when you're tempted to lose your patience with people.
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Number four, faithful people are patient.
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Look at verse 10.
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He says, "As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord." Like what does suffering and patience look like?
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He says, look at the prophets.
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Get in your Bible, read.
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How these faithful men and women from the Old Testament, he's talking about specifically here, were patient with suffering, specifically suffering with people.
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We talked about this in Hebrews 11, not too awful long ago, but they all went through it.
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but it helps us to have an example to look to.
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It helps us.
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You know, one of my favorite examples to look to, this is an Old Testament, this is a New Testament, Acts chapter 14.
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I love the passage.
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We went through Acts years ago, and I'm sure you remember this sermon.
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You're like, "Oh yeah, I remember that sermon." No, you don't.
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Thanks for trying.
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But Acts chapter 14, I love this passage.
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Paul was stoned.
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They tried to execute Paul via pelting with rocks.
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And as he laid there in a pile of his own blood and misery, his buddies were standing around looking at him.
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They thought he was dead.
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The Bible says he got up and he went right back to work.
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And he said, it is through many tribulations you must enter the kingdom of God.
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I love that passage because it's convicting to me.
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For all the times in my life that I'm like, "Oh, boo hoo, somebody said something mean to me.
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"I'm gonna quit ministry.
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"I'm gonna quit being a pastor "because somebody sent me an email that was mean." I look at Paul and I'm like, Like Jeff, stop your crying.
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Like nobody's ever tried to do that to me.
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I mean, the day's early, but nobody's tried to do that to me.
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There's so many examples.
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Oh man, there's so many examples.
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We can talk about Joseph, right?
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His brothers were gonna kill him.
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Instead, they faked his death.
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They sold him into slavery and then things really got rough.
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We can talk about Moses.
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Oh gosh, Moses, Israel was constantly complaining and undermining him.
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We can talk about Jeremiah, threatened, put in stocks, thrown into a pit.
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How about the best person ever to speak in the name of the Lord?
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Number one, no equal, Jesus Christ and his example.
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Did Jesus ever deal with problem people?
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Did Jesus ever encounter someone that gave him a hard time?
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So you see, when you're misunderstood, like Jesus gets that.
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And when you're betrayed, Jesus gets that.
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When you're abandoned, Jesus gets that.
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When you've been slandered, Jesus gets that.
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When you've been misquoted, Jesus gets that.
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If you've been physically assaulted, Jesus gets that because they nailed him to a cross.
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So I just wanna encourage you, my friends, to be in the word, be in the word, because not only will you grow your faith, because faith comes by hearing, hearing through the word of Christ, but you'll also see examples of other people who love the Lord and learned patience because of problem people.
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And maybe you'll also discover that you're not the first to have to deal with problem people.
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And maybe you'll discover that others have had to deal with things way worse than you.
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So, are you faithful?
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And I imagine everyone here is like, I wanna be.
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Well, when you're dealing with problem people, remind yourself, hey, hey, hey, faithful people are patient.
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Faithful people are patient.
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Then number five, finally, patience is good for me.
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Patience is good for me.
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Look at verse 11.
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He says, "Behold, we consider those blessed "who remain steadfast." That Greek word for consider, he says, "We consider those blessed who remain steadfast." Consider, that Greek word means common opinion, meaning, look, it's a universal truth.
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People who endure are blessed, and we all get that, right?
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We all get that.
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Everyone, everyone, literally, literally everyone gets that.
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The people that endure hardship are blessed, everyone.
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No one, no one, no one is ever like, "Man, did you see that guy?
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He endured such terrible hardship, and he never complained and he came out the other side.
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What a loser.
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Nobody says that.
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Nobody.
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Now we admire the one that overcomes, right?
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We admire the one that overcomes.
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Have you ever seen Rocky?
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They made like a billion of them.
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Have you seen any of them?
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Rocky three was the best by the way, but have you ever seen any of them?
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We love the overcomer, the guy that endures through suffering, the Karate Kid.
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Are you kidding me?
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Karate Kid Part Two is way underrated, but it's a story of somebody that overcame.
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We love that.
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Let me think of another example.
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How about literally almost every single movie that's made?
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True or false?
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Think of a movie that's made that's not about somebody overcoming the odds and enduring suffering and coming out the other side.
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So it's not a hard sell to say, you know, patience is good for me.
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Look at the next part of verse 11.
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And he says, "You have heard of the steadfastness of Job." He's like, "You've heard of Job.
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"God permitted Satan to take Job's wealth, "his family, his health, "and all Job was left with was his wife and his buddies.
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"And that weren't great, if you know the story." He was so steadfast that he became a cliche.
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I mean, we say that.
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I say that phrase all the time.
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Like, man, that guy's got the patience of Job.
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If you met her, she got the patience of Job.
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He's a cliche.
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Like, well, how did he get there?
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I mean, this is a whole nother sermon again, but how did he get there?
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How did he get so steadfast?
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Here's how Job 122 says, "In all this," in all his suffering, "Job did not sin or charge God with wrong." And literally that last phrase, charge God with wrong, literally is charge God with doing that which is empty.
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That's how Job got so steadfast.
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He said, "God does nothing empty.
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Everything that God does has a purpose.
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He believed that.
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That's why he persevered.
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He knew that God had a purpose.
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And back to James here.
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Oh, oh, speaking of, look at verse 11.
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"And you have seen the purpose of the Lord." There it is.
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"You have seen the purpose of the Lord." It's getting to the point, my friends, to say, look, God has a purpose.
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And you might not know what the purpose is, but that doesn't mean that God doesn't have a purpose.
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He does, He always has a purpose, even if we don't see it, or even if we might see it in a year or five years, or like Job, we might not ever fully understand on this side of heaven.
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But God always has a purpose.
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And anytime I share this, there's always somebody that's like, I'm so sick of hearing the Romans 8:28, God works all things for good.
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What could God possibly be doing in my circumstances?
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And my answer is, you'll see.
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You'll see.
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For Job, well, you get to the end of the book and he ended up getting twice as much as he lost, But that wasn't the biggest blessing.
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The biggest blessing came when he said this, Job 42, 5.
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Job said, "I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, "but now my eye sees you." And Job was saying, God, I understand you and I see you in hardship in a way that I never did when everything was great.
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Trials allowed Job to see God's character.
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You're like, well, what is God's character?
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I'm glad you asked.
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Last phrase in James, here it is.
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"How the Lord is compassionate and merciful." That's what Job learned.
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And through your patience, that's what you will learn.
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Compassionate and merciful.
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Another way of saying that literally is this, God feels and God cares.
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You'll never know God's power until you're weak.
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And you're never going to know that God is a Savior until you recognize that you need saved.
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And you're never going to know that God feels and God cares until you're hurting.
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So you can refuse to be patient with people and you can be bitter or you can be steadfast and experience God's compassion in a way that you wouldn't otherwise.
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So needing patience is never fun, but growing in patience is always good for me.
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Our worship team would make their way back.
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In just a couple of moments, we're going to sing, and you're going to walk out the door, and you're going to run right into someone who will require patience, because God wants to know if you were listening today.
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And if you were, and you believe what God said, and you're about to flip out over a stupid bagel, I want to encourage you to take a deep breath and say, I choose patience because lost people act like lost people.
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I choose patience because things won't always be as they are now.
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I'm going to choose patience, Jeff, Jeff, hey, hey, don't forfeit your rewards.
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I choose patience because faithful people are patient, and I'm growing to be a faithful person.
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And I choose patience because patience is good for me.
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Let's pray.
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Father in heaven, Jesus said, "If you know these things, blessed are you.
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if you do them.
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And God, you know better than anyone the struggles that I've had in being patient with people.
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And so much more over a bagel incident.
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But God, I pray for myself, and I pray for my brothers and sisters here, for people that are watching this stream, are gonna be downloading this podcast later And listening to this, I pray, Father, that by the wisdom of your word, by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we would grow to be people who are patient with people.
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We ask you, Father, manifest your grace in this area in our lives.
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In Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read James 5:1-11
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Do you struggle to be patient with people? What kinds of things do people do that require extra patience (no names!)?
How is the Christian life like being a farmer, according to Jas 5:7?
Which of these 5 reminders from James on how to be patient with people is the most helpful to you? Why?
Which person from the Bible (besides Jesus Christ) do you find most inspiring to you in your walk with Christ? Why?
How is patience ultimately a benefit for the one who has to show patience (Jas 5:11)?
Breakout
Pray for one another to be patient with people.