The Slowly Acquired Virtue Is PATIENCE

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The Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT

Podcast Episode: The Fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT – PATIENCE #5

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS, AND SELF-CONTROL. There is no law against these things.” [Galatians 5:22-23 NLT]

We need to understand that love is the first characteristic of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. It is well placed at the head of the list, for it permeates all the rest of the attributes. Somehow, if we live a life of love, the other virtues will attend us all the days of our lives. Love is the key that unlocks the entire fruit basket of Galatians 5:22-23, as well as permeating 1 Corinthians 13.

Desire For Restoration

In Nehemiah 9:29-31 NLT says, “29 “You warned them to return to your Law, but they became proud and obstinate and disobeyed your commands. They did not follow your regulations, by which people will find life if only they obey. They stubbornly turned their backs on you and refused to listen. 30 In your love, you were patient with them for many years. You sent your Spirit, who warned them through the prophets. But still, they wouldn’t listen! So once again you allowed the peoples of the land to conquer them. 31 But in your great mercy, you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!”

After the Festival of Shelters, the people gathered to hear the Word of the Lord, confess their sins, and commit themselves to keeping the stipulations of the covenant. The prayer of Nehemiah 9:4-37 could well be used to trace Israel’s religious history. It covers the covenants with Abraham and Moses, national rebellion, God’s compassion, the period of the Judges, the Exile and the captivity, and the present state of the returned nation. Wearing “sackcloth” (Nehemiah 9:1) was a common expression of grief and sadness. God used the Holy Spirit to communicate His revelation to the prophets (Nehemiah 9:30; cf. 2 Pet. 1:21).

Nehemiah recorded the names of the civic and religious leaders who signed the covenant renewal document (Nehemiah 10). Mosaic legislation required the payment of one-fifth of an ounce of silver (Exodus 30:11-16), but Nehemiah apparently reduced it in light of economic conditions (Nehemiah 10:32). The obligations agreed upon (Nehemiah 10:29-39) may be summarized in their final words: “We promise together not to neglect the Temple of our God” (Nehemiah 10:39).

The spirit of this Nehemiah passage is echoed in 2 Peter 3:8-9: “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

To our frenzied, earth bound view, God may appear slow in keeping His second-coming promises. Yet it is not so, said Peter. God is not slow; He just works from a different timetable than we do. He is deliberate in extending the day when our Lord Jesus Christ comes again so that as many people as possible may be saved.

Patience is not a flaw in God; it is the glory of God. If God can extend His all-important, worldwide agenda by pacing Himself so as to save all, perhaps the practice of patience would do us all good. Amen!

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

In Luke 1:5-7, 13 NLT says, “5 When Herod was king of Judea, there was a Jewish priest named Zechariah. He was a member of the priestly order of Abijah, and his wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. 6 Zechariah and Elizabeth were righteous in God’s eyes, careful to obey all of the Lord’s commandments and regulations. 7 They had no children because Elizabeth was unable to conceive, and they were both very old.”
13 But the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Zechariah! God has heard your prayer. Your wife, Elizabeth, will give you a son, and you are to name him John.

As a good historian should, Luke gave his readers the historical setting. The story begins when Herod was king of Judea. This was Herod the Great, confirmed by the Roman Senate as king of the Jews but never accepted by the Jewish people as their king (although half-Jewish, Herod was not part of the royal line of David). For the Jews living in Judea, this was a time of oppression. Although they were not in slavery, they were not completely self-governing either. Herod had expanded and beautified the Jerusalem Temple, but he had placed a Roman eagle over the entrance and also had built pagan Temples. When he helped the Jews, it was for political purposes – not because he cared about them or their God. Evil and ruthless, Herod the Great later ordered a massacre of infants in a futile attempt to kill the infant Jesus, whom some were calling the new “king of the Jews” (Matthew 2:1-2). Herod the Great ruled from 37–4 B.C.

Zechariah was a priest, a minister of God who worked at the Temple managing its upkeep, teaching the people the Scriptures, and directing the worship services. At this time there were about twenty thousand priests throughout the country. Priests were divided into twenty-four separate groups of about one thousand each, according to David’s instructions (1 Chronicles 24:3-19). Zechariah was a member of the order (or division) of Abijah. Each division served in the Jerusalem Temple twice each year for one week.

Zechariah’s wife, Elizabeth, was also from the priestly line of Aaron. Elizabeth descended directly from Aaron, brother of Moses and Israel’s first high priest (Exodus 28:1). As a priest, Zechariah would have been required to marry a virgin Israelite, but not necessarily one from a priestly family. Zechariah was especially blessed to have a wife with such a background.

Zechariah and Elizabeth both were righteous in God’s eyes. This does not mean that they were sinless, but that they loved God and obeyed Him. But they had no children. To ancient readers, this would have seemed like a contradiction. Children were considered to be God’s greatest blessings. Certainly, such God-fearing and God-honoring people as Zechariah and Elizabeth should have been blessed with children. But Elizabeth was barren. Not only that, but Luke adds the detail that they were both very old, meaning that they could not expect any change in their situation. For Elizabeth, being childless in old age would be painful and lonely; but during this time, she remained faithful to God.

For those of us Born-Again Christian believers hungry to know and serve God, there may be only one truly important virtue: Patience. Oh, how we wish He would hurry His agenda. How we wish He would give us one little peek into that future that is ever so slow in coming. We wish we could pry the calendar from His hand and rip that big watch off His divine wrist. Why are there no clues for tomorrow? Why, when we are so ready to go, is God so late in keeping His appointment with us? God, give us patience, right now! Amen!

Our Gratitude of God’s Mercy

In 1 Timothy 1:12-17 NLT says, “12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do His work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve Him, 13 even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted His people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. 14 Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. 15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” – and I am the worst of them all. 16 But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of His great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in Him and receive eternal life. 17 All honor and glory to God forever and ever! He is the eternal King, the unseen one who never dies; He alone is God. Amen.”

His catalog of common sins reminded Paul of his own sin (he called himself the “worst” of sinners, 1 Timothy 1:15). But instead of allowing that memory to overwhelm him, he overflowed with gratefulness that God had considered him trustworthy and had appointed him to serve in spreading the Good News of salvation to his fellow Jews and to the Gentiles (see Acts 9:15; 11:25-26; 13:1-3). Paul was certainly thankful, for at one time he used to scoff at the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul did not exaggerate his past performance. Scripture reveals Paul as an arcyhenemy of Christians (Acts 8:1, 3; 9:1; 22:4; 26:9, 11; Galatians 1:13), that he hunted down God’s people, harming them in every way he could. Paul persecuted Christians because he sincerely believed that he was serving God by stamping out this distortion of his beloved Jewish faith. Despite all of his knowledge as a learned Pharisee (Acts 23:6), Paul remained in ignorance about our Lord Jesus Christ’s true identity and stubbornly remained in unbelief, even after seeing the unwavering faith of Stephen and the other Christians whom he persecuted and perhaps even killed. Paul had the chance to believe, but missed it. Yet God came to Paul even as he set out to capture more Christians, offering grace, mercy, and a new start.

Paul had blasphemed our Lord Jesus Christ, denied the Christian faith, and hated Christians; but God’s grace had overcome it all, filling Paul completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus. God supplied what Paul lacked, and not only supplied it, but gave it to him in exceeding abundance. In order to express the overwhelming sense of God’s kindness and grace, Paul coined a compound word, huperpleonazein, meaning “to superabound.” God’s undeserved favor toward us is always greater than any words we may use to describe it.

This true saying is a nonnegotiable truth. We are not asked to consider, but to fully accept. We are invited to submit rather than question. This is truth and everyone should believe it: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul summarized and personalized the Good News: Jesus Christ didn’t come merely to show us how to live a better life or to challenge us to be better people. He came to offer us salvation that leads to eternal life. No matter how entrenched your sin, our Lord Jesus Christ can save you. Have you accepted His offer?

Although Paul was a deeply religious Jew, zealous for his faith, he realized that in his ignorance, unbelief, and desire to destroy the Christian faith, he was indeed the worst of sinners. We think of Paul as a great hero of the faith, but Paul never saw himself that way because he remembered his life before he met Christ. Paul recognized both that he had been a sinner and that he was now saved by grace. He recognized his past, but did not wallow in it. Humility and gratitude should mark the life of every Born-Again Christian. Never forget that you, too, are a sinner saved by grace.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this zealous persecutor, not striking him with judgment (as some might expect), but offering him mercy. Looking back, Paul realized our Lord Jesus Christ’s great patience in dealing with him; and what an example of mercy Paul gave to us! Our Lord Jesus Christ offers us mercy; we, too, can come to Him, believe in Him, and receive forgiveness and eternal life. Amen!

The Song of Deborah

In 1 Timothy 6:10-12 NLT says, “1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song: 2 “Israel’s leaders took charge, and the people gladly followed. Praise the Lord!”

Deborah obeyed God’s command and called Barak: “The LORD, the God of Israel, command you: “Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun, and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him to your hands” (Judges 4:6-7) God’s words were clear – He would give the victory to Israel. But Barak was insecure and failed to trust God’s promises. He requested Deborah’s presence at the battle: “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go” (v. 8) Deborah probably didn’t want to go to battle. It would mean leaving her family and the comforts of home. Army camp probably wouldn’t be comfortable for a civilian, especially a female civilian with no battle experience. But Deborah didn’t let setbacks affect her faith in God. She remained faithful to her calling as God’s prophetess, and she set out to accompany the army into battle. Learned lesson for military personnel.

The Future Glory

In Romans 8:18-25 NLT says, “8 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later. 19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. 22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as His adopted children, including the new bodies He has promised us. 24 We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don’t need to hope for it. 25 But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.“

In Verse 17, Paul stated that believers will share in our Lord Jesus Christ’s sufferings. He completes that thought with this verse, concluding that the sufferings we now face are nothing compared to the glory He will give us later. The present suffering is temporary, while the future glory is eternal. Paul had written to the Corinthians, “For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us an immeasurably great glory that will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Suffering is part of the process of sharing in our Lord Jesus Christ’s death; it will culminate in sharing His glory.

Human beings and the rest of creation presently face suffering, and both will be glorified in the future. When Adam sinned, God sentenced all of creation (Genesis 3:17). Since then, the world has suffered decay and pollution, largely because people have forgotten or ignored their responsibilities as stewards of the earth. The created order functions in spite of its flaws. But diseases, deformities, and suffering constantly remind us that all is not right with us or with the world. All creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who His children really are. This will occur at the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ when He returns for His people. The entire universe is looking forward to the conclusion of God’s plan.

When Adam sinned, everything on earth was subjected to God’s curse; that is, to futility, change, and decay. Creation is cursed because it is unable to attain the purposes for which it was made. The perfect order in the world was marred by sin; therefore, fallen people had to live in a fallen world. Yet all creation anticipates the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay. Revelation 22 describes the future removal of the curse from the earth.
Adam and Eve were the first polluters of the environment when they sinned. Their act of rebellion affected the entire world. It has taken many centuries to realize the interrelatedness of this global village, but the Bible begins with that assumption. Having the same Creator, links us with the rest of the created order. But as much as we do personally and corporately to clean up and care for the environment, we must realize that creation will require the same kind of transformation that we require in order to be set straight again.

Paul pictures the fallen creation as groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Consider earthquakes, floods, fire, drought, famine – these are surely not what creation was meant to be, but sin and evil now rule. Just as the pains of childbirth end at the birth of the child, so the groaning and pain of the creation will end at the birth of the new earth. Creation groans and longs for its release and transformation into the new heaven and new earth. We as Born-Again Christians also groan to be released from pain and suffering, longing for our own release from the cycle of sin and decay (Romans 8:23). We long for redemption when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us. In this process, we are not alone, for the Holy Spirit groans with us, expressing our unutterable longing to God and giving us a foretaste of future glory. But until the time of our release and redemption, we must groan, wait, and hope.

When we put our faith in our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, we are saved and we can eagerly look forward to the freedom we will have at our Lord Jesus Christ’s return. We already have the presence of the Holy Spirit, who is unseen, but we must eagerly wait for our new bodies, which are also unseen. Our full redemption has not yet happened; it will happen when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. That is why it is still a hope for Born-Again Christian believers. Our salvation is both present and future. It is present because the moment we believe in Jesus Christ as Savior we are saved (Romans 3:21-26; 5:1-11; 6:1-11, 22-23); our new life (eternal life) begins. But at the same time, we have not fully received all the benefits and blessings of salvation that will be ours when our Lord Jesus Christ’s new Kingdom is completely established. While we can be confident of our salvation, we still look forward with hope and trust toward that complete change of body and personality that lies beyond this life.

Waiting for things patiently is a quality that must be developed in us (see Romans 5:3-4; James 1:3-4; 5:11; Revelation 13:10; 14:12). Patience is one of the Holy Spirit’s fruit borne in our lives. It includes fortitude, endurance, and the ability to bear up under pressure in order to attain a desired goal. Amen!

This concludes today’s message of this Series of Podcast -Patience

Now, let’s talk about “Prayer and “Salvation”.

Prayer is the key that unlocks and reveals faith. Effective prayer needs both an attitude of complete dependence and the action of asking. Prayer demonstrates complete reliance on God. Thus, there is no substitute for prayer, especially in situations that seem impossible.

So, let our hearts and minds in tune with God, in the power of God, the Holy Spirit. Let’s continuously and persistently pray for God’s perfect will be done. We as Born-Again Christians have been tried and cleansed, we have moved freely into a relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ that is more powerful than it was before our trials. We are at home in the presence and fellowship of God, for we are heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ, more like Him that we could ever have dreamed possible. So, let’s continuously and persistently pray for God’s perfect will be done. Amen!

The principle is that no one has anything of value to bring to God in order to deserve salvation, mercy, justification, or even a second glance from God. The proud will be humbled, but the humble will be honored. Acceptance before God cannot be achieved by good deeds, piety, or any amount of self-proclaimed righteousness.

Let’s never get over the effect of God’s saving transformation on people’s lives. People who were lost in sin, filled with anger and bitterness, give up their hatred and become approachable as we have studied and learned last time. That is, of course, why we minister to others. Those of us who minister are not people to whom (fruit of the Holy Spirit) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control comes naturally. We are people who have been remodeled by grace. We thankfully leave our old natures far behind as we embrace the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, the first of the list > agape love of God, and in our treatment of others. Amen!

Sunday by Sunday as we come to worship, let me encourage our brothers – and sisters-in-Christ, and I want my readers and listeners to be both strong in the faith and sensitive to others’ needs. Because all, we as Born-Again Christian believers are strong in certain areas and weak in others, we constantly need to monitor the effects of our behavior on others.

In these PATIENCE Series of Podcast, we will learn the following PURPOSES of this fruit of the HOLY SPIRIT:

1. Learned the art of waiting on God
2. Reminded us how to receive the blessings of God
3. Learned to live by God’s timetable
4. Learned to think about unhurried or painstaking virtue
5. Learned and know how to acquire this virtue slowly
6. Learn to wait from what God promises

On every Podcast, I always have three (3) questions we can answer from only these two (2) Sources: The Bible and Guidance of the Holy Spirit. The following are:

First is about our > Observation: What do these passages or Scriptures say to you?

Second is about our own > Interpretation: What do these passages or Scriptures mean to you?

Third is about how we can apply > Application: How do the meaning of these passages or Scriptures apply to you or to your situation?

If you are not sure that you are Born-Again Christian believer or you have relatives, loved ones, friends, neighbors, and people in your circle of influence, please take a look and/or guide them to one of our ministries, “An Invitation To Meet Our Lord Jesus Christ” at https://homefellowshipchurches.org/an-invitation-to-meet-our-lord-jesus-christ/

Let’s give an opportunity for the lost souls to experience on being Born-Again Christian as explained by our Lord Jesus Christ in the book of John 3:13 in the New Testament of the Bible.

It is as simple as A, B, & C > Admit, Believe, & Confess. All Born-Again Christian believers prayed this simple prayer we called “Sinner’s Prayer”

“Father God, I come to in the name of Jesus Christ. I acknowledge and admit that I am a sinner and I need a Savior. I believe and have faith in Jesus Christ who was born of Virgin Mary, died on the Cross for the penalty of my sins, and rose again that I may have the eternal life. I confess and declare Jesus Christ as my personal Savior and Lord of my life. Please comfort, guide, and help me Holy Spirit to live and grow in my spiritual life according to Your Words, purpose, and perfect will of God, in my Lord Jesus Christ name, Amen!”

If you prayed this, “Sinner’s Prayer” sincerely in your heart, you are Born-Again Christian believer. However, you are a spiritual baby who needs to grow up. (See 1 Peter 2:2)

Now, let me pray for all of you:

Father God, we come into your presence in our Lord Jesus Christ name, and in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thank you Lord Jesus Christ for Your agape love and forgiveness you have done on the Cross of Calvary, and continue to intercede for us in prayer. Thank you Holy Spirit as our Helper and Comforter. Thank you for the wisdom, knowledge, understanding, courage and strength. We cling, yield, plug-in and tune-in to you Holy Spirit to help us understand God’s Words, obey them, receive Your divine revelation, know the Truth that sets us free, and apply them in our lives, in our Lord Jesus Christ name, Amen!”

Let’s praise and worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Give all thanks to God for all answered prayers.

Please send your > Praise Reports (answered prayers) and New Prayer Requests via email to: TrinityBlessings@homefellowshipchurches.org. God bless you all and our families!

A Call to Repentance and Be Blessed

In Malachi 3:7-15 AMPC says, “7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’ 8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now by it”, says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” [Malachi 2:2.] 11 “And I will rebuke the devourer (insects and plagues) for your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine drop its fruits before the time in the field,” says the Lord of hosts. 12 “And all nations shall call you happy and blessed, for you shall be a land of delight”, says the Lord of hosts.

If the people would obey God, giving as they should, God would flood His people with blessings. There would be an overabundance of God’s blessing if He was given what He requested.

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse – See 2 Chronicles 31:11; cf. 1 Chronicles 26:20; Nehemiah 10:38; 13:5, 12. If the temple storehouses were empty, it was the people’s fault. God had already blessed them with enough to give a little back to Him.

Instead of destroying our crops (blessings), God would make them come in greater abundance than we had ever imagined possible (Amos 4:9; Haggai 2:19; Zechariah 8:12). The devourer – probably referring to locusts, though the word here is general in meaning (Baldwin). In the Near East, locust swarms are known for their ability to damage huge tracts of agricultural land (see note on Joel 1:4).

A delightsome land – All of the blessings promised to Jacob would come to pass if the people would obey God (Deuteronomy 33:29; Zechariah 8:13). Their land would be a delight to all who saw it (Daniel 8:9).

The problem in Malachi 3:7-12 was the people’s departure from God as reflected by their neglect of tithes and offerings. Two annual tithes were required according to Israelite law – one for the Levites (Leviticus 27:30; Numbers 18:21), and one to be used in worship at the annual feasts in Jerusalem (Deuteronomy 14:22). A tithe was required every three years to provide for the needs of the poor (Deuteronomy 14:28-29). There is debate as to whether this tithe for the poor was in addition to or served as a substitute for the tithe used in worship.

The New Testament pattern for tithing is proportionate giving – a person is to give “in relation to what you have earned” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Certainly a tithe should be given proportionate to one’s wealth, but not all proportionate giving is a tithe.

The anticipation of blessing for obedience to God’s command to tithe was based on the Mosaic covenant, which promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience (Malachi 3:10; cf. Deuteronomy 28:15-68). Generally, God will meet the needs of His own people (Psalm 34:9-10; Philippians 4:19), but that is not an unconditional guarantee. There certainly were and are exceptions. Yet, where God chooses not to provide physically, He gives sufficient grace to go without (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The problem in Malachi 3:14-15 was that the people were guilty of arrogant words against God. They were saying, “There is no prophet who is serving God,” and “God is not concerned about justice.” God responded by showing that He did distinguish between the wicked and the righteous. The righteous would be blessed, and the wicked would be judged.