By Your Patience Possess Your Souls

Well, thank you to the children's choir. Appreciate the two selections that they sang, and it's always so fun to watch. The little ones, as they get so exuberant and joyful when they sing, it's wonderful to see. I sometimes wonder if we could be more joyful and exuberant ourselves sometimes, you know, and do some of this. Brother, we're going to start today by turning over to the book of Luke. If you would just jump right in here and move over to the book of Luke. We're going to begin in Luke 21, and what we're going to do is we're going to start toward the end of the book, end of the book of Luke, by focusing in on an event that occurred near the end of Jesus Christ's ministry. So Peter, James, John, and Andrew, kind of that inner circle, so to speak, of Christ's disciples. You know, these were the four that had the opportunity to get Christ on his own every now and again and to have some of these conversations. They took an opportunity in Luke 21 to have a private follow-up conversation with their rabbi after he took the opportunity to instruct them on the importance of attitude and faith. Now, by way of context and timing, kind of as we begin to turn over here to Luke 21, this particular story takes place the final week of Christ's life. A few days prior to this event that we're going to look at, Christ entered Jerusalem on the back of a cult. There was a large multitude composed of disciples, others who were gathered in Jerusalem for the Passover. They gathered along the road into the city, singing loud praises and declaring Christ the Messiah. They sang of his mighty works, the signs that he had provided. They waved tree branches. They covered the road surface with their clothing and cut branches, and they sang their hearts out in celebration of the coming of Messiah. And the Pharisees admonished Christ to rebuke his disciples, concerned that at that point he was gaining momentum. He was beginning to become a larger thorn in their side.

Well, Christ informed them that if his disciples were silenced, the very rocks would sing out.

The Messiah was entering Jerusalem. The fulfillment of Zechariah 9-9 had happened, and Christ said, as a result, someone or something is going to praise him.

And as he ascended the road toward Jerusalem, he was overcome with emotion.

We see that he was recorded. He was overcome with emotion at its coming destruction, and Luke records that he wept. That he wept. And so it's at this concept, you know, it's kind of at this concept, the destruction of Jerusalem that we're going to ultimately explore, but there's a short little interlude before it that sets the stage for the follow-up conversation that led to their time together on the Mount of Olives in Luke 21 and verse 1. So if you would turn over to Luke 21 and verse 1, we'll go ahead and pick it up there. Luke 21 and verse 1 says, And he looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. He also saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites. So he said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all. For all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had. You know, Christ and his disciples were watching the people come and donate to the treasury, watching how the people put their money in.

Alfred Edersheim has gone through and recorded a number of things about the temple at this point in time, and he and other scholars talk about how at that point in time during Christ's ministry, the temple treasuries, the locations where these things would be done, were located on the north and the south sides of the court of women. There were 13 colonnades on either side, and they kind of went up the court of women, and each of these colonnades in front was a wooden box with a big brass funnel on top.

Now picture that for a moment. Large wooden box, big brass funnel, don't have a ton of paper money at that time. So you can imagine if you came in with a substantial offering and you poured all those coins in that brass funnel, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, clink, plump, plump, plump, as they came down into the box. I'm estimating that's what that sounded like.

I don't know. I'm just saying it's probably be like putting coins in a coin star machine. You know, it just rattles forever as those coins go through the system. But when a big donation was made, those coins would clatter down the brass funnel and dump into the box.

So everybody watching knew whether your donation was large It was about how that donation was made. The widow, Christ says, donated very little, and yet Christ held her up as an example to the disciples because her attitude was right. She out of all of her poverty put in all that she had.

That example that he puts up in front of the disciples sets the stage for now what's to follow. That sets the stage for the conversation that they're going to have. Christ and his disciples leave the temple complex. He was followed by the disciples. They leave through the golden gate of Jerusalem. And one of the disciples, at that point as they're leaving, points out the beauty of the temple complex.

Points out the beauty of the temple complex. He says, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here. Aren't they beautiful? Luke 21, verses 5 and 6 records this. Says then, as some spoke of the temple, how it was ordained with beautiful stones and note what it says next. And donations. Beautiful stones and donations.

Disciples said, look at these beautiful buildings. Look at these beautiful stones. Look at these donations. And it's almost the implication of how do you think they were paid for? How do you suppose these were paid for? By the donations of these wealthy folks that had come in and done these things. Not the offering of a widow's might. You know, it's almost the implication in the question here. Christ informs them in verse 6 that there was a time coming when these things would be no longer.

That there was a time coming that that physical building, all that beautiful stone, all those wonderful donations would be cast down and destroyed. That's why He wept when He came in, because He saw what, you know, understood what would become of the city.

His point to the disciples is the only thing that would ultimately remain was the faith in the attitude of that widow. The faith in the attitude of that widow and her two mights.

That was what was truly important. Not the huge donations, not the trumpets in the fanfare, and all the other things that had taken place that ultimately made the temple, in some ways, such a beautiful sight to see. Christ retreats to the Mount of Olives, about a mile walk from the temple complex, and He was joined by four of His disciples, Peter, James, John, and Andrew, who wanted to follow up on a conversation, or on that conversation that they had earlier, about the temple's destruction.

Luke 21, verse 8. And He said, Take heed that ye not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, I am he, and the time has drawn near. He says, Therefore do not go after them. But when ye hear of wars and commotions, and boy have we heard of wars and commotions. You know, we've seen in the 20th century war over and over.

The Middle East is at war at this moment. You know, before it was just lobbing rockets at each other for a while, just lobbing rockets at each other. But Israel reported they had eight ground troops killed in Lebanon recently, and it means ground troops are on the ground in another country. That's war. So wars and commotion. You know, we hear about wars and commotions. He says, When ye hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified. For these things must first come to pass, but the end will not come immediately.

Verse 10, He goes on and says, Then he said to them, Nation will rise against nation. And there will be great earthquakes in various places, famines, pestilences. There will be fearful sights and great signs from heaven. You know, we recognize the prophecies that are written here, recorded here in Luke 21, as well as the parallels in Matthew 24 and Mark 13.

These prophecies had a dual fulfillment, meaning that they had an immediate fulfillment in the sense of what was going to come after Christ's death on into the rest of the first century. Those that would experience that firsthand, of the four gathered, actually, of those four that were there talking with Christ, only John would live long enough to see the destruction of the temple.

James actually died first in 44 AD at the hands of Herod. So of those four, James was killed at the hands of Herod, and only John would live long enough to see the full destruction of the temple and the fulfillment of those prophecies in his time.

But Christ wasn't just talking about his time. He was talking about a time of tribulation that would come prior to his second coming. Coming time of trouble and a time of challenge for the people of God. He goes on in verse 12, but before all these things they will lay their hands on you, and they will persecute you, delivering you up to synagogues and prisons.

You will be brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony. Therefore, settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer, for I will give you a mouth and I will give you wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or to resist. He goes on in verse 16, he says, you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends. They will put some of you to death.

Christ is laying this out for these four men that are gathered here at this time, telling them what was going to come, not just in their lifetimes, but again, dual fulfillment later at the time of His second coming or before His second coming. Verse 17, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but not a hair of your head shall be lost. Now, to tribulation, you know, start to thin a little bit, that's different.

This is to tribulation, is what it's saying, not a hair of your head shall be lost. Even though you will be betrayed, even though you will be delivered up to magistrates, even though some would be put to death and would be hated for His name's sake, Jesus Christ tells His disciples and He reassures them that in the end everything is okay. In the end, everything is okay. Now, it's not going to seem okay for a while. Bad things are going to happen, but in the end, it's okay. Despite the challenges that they would face, despite the persecution and the wars and the famines, the earthquakes and the pestilences that would come, God would deliver His people, and that they could take that promise to the bank, so to speak.

It might not be in this life, but they would be delivered into the Kingdom one way or the other. And so, as a result of that, what Christ is saying is that not a hair on their head would be lost, that they would be taken care of. The conclusion that Luke is providing in verse 19—and it's the only Gospel account that records it in this way, it's the only one that uses this term—by your patience, possess your souls. By your patience, possess your souls.

That's the title of the second split today. By your patience, possess your souls. Patience is a struggle for many today, many of us. I'll include myself in that. I'm not a terribly patient person. I struggle with this. This is something I deal with myself. I'm including myself in this as much as anyone, which, quite frankly, most messages I give, I'm including myself as much as anyone. But we, as people, we're generally by nature impulsive. We tend towards selfishness. We struggle sometimes to cope with behaviors that we might see as being an inconvenience.

We don't like to be inconvenienced. And so we struggle sometimes with those things. And we might even look at it and say, but I'm a patient person! I mean, I'm a patient person. And while you probably don't regularly honk at cars in front of you at split second after the light turns green, I mean, probably not, do you pass slow walkers on the sidewalk? If you get behind somebody slow on the sidewalk, do you get in a huff and go around them? Do you repeatedly press an already lit elevator button? Hmm? It's already lit? Come on! Why's this taking so long?

How about the pedestrian walk signal at the crosswalk? Bang on that thing and then keep banging on it until it turns white? These questions and these curiosities had a group of individuals at Fifth Third Bank. I don't know how they got their name, but they did. It's a bank in Cincinnati, Fifth Third, asking similar questions because they wanted to think about why do people hate the banking experience so much? I mean, at the end of the day, why do they hate standing in a bank line forever and then having to deposit things? And maybe is there a way to make that a little bit better? And so they polled their customers to find out just how impatient people really are. So I find this kind of interesting. The results are interesting. 80% of those who responded replied, yeah, impatient. 80% self-identified as patient. But the survey showed the following. 96% of those polled will willingly consume extremely hot food or drink that burns their mouth and 63% said, I do it frequently. In other words, they're so impatient they can't wait for the food to cool off a little bit that they burn their mouths on the food or the drink. More than half of those polled, more than 50%, said they will hang up the phone after being on hold for one minute or less. One minute or less. One minute is their time. I'm done. I'm not going to do this. Hang it up. 71% of those polled admitted to driving faster than the speed limit to get to their destination faster. They said that the average number of TV episodes that they would binge watch in a sitting were seven, that they didn't want to wait for them to come out later or didn't want to wait to watch them a little at a time. It was got to sit down and do all seven at once. Nearly one-third of the respondents between the ages of 18 to 24 said they waited less than one second before passing a slow walker. So they got behind somebody. If it wasn't, if they didn't get moving in a second, man, nope, going around.

I'm done. And then last one, when waiting for a table at a restaurant, nearly a quarter of the respondents ages 18 to 24 will wait less than one minute before approaching the host again after the predetermined time has ended. So if they said it would be a minute or two, at two minutes, one minute after that, they're going asking again what's going on. We tend to consider these concepts, these things, as patients. We tend to think about it as patients. And to an extent, it is. We talk about patients as a fruit of the spirit, or we talk about patients as the kind of patients that God expects us to have in the face of adversity.

It means so much more. It means so much more than just being willing to wait at the restaurant or being willing to wait in a line at the bank. I'd like to take a little bit of time today to explore this concept and to kind of think about our patients, think about the type of patients that we're being asked to develop, that we're being asked to grow in. As we kind of think about the situations that we face, the various things that we have come up in our own lives, and as well, the things that we know that are prophesied to come.

So I'd like to dig into that a little bit today. There's two Greek words that are used in Scripture that translate to our English word patients. And so we look at the New Testament, there's two primary Greek words. One of them is G3114, macrothumea, macrothumea, and G5281, hupamone. So two different words, two different uses. And so they are two different Greek words. They ultimately have two different focuses, but they are related. They are related words. Both words are used to describe a personal response, maybe an outward attitude or an outward outlook.

They don't necessarily carry with them implicit action, so it's not meaning that you're going to necessarily follow through on that outlook, but it describes the outlook itself. Both words and concepts ultimately are provided for us as Christians and are provided an expectation or we have an expectation and a goal to work toward growing and developing in these things.

In the case of macrothumea, it's a patience that we would consider maybe more commonly as long-suffering. Okay, long-suffering. The word itself deals very specifically with our attitudes and our outlook towards someone. So it is a practice of patience with respect to persons. So macrothumea is dealing with persons, being willing to bear with the injuries from someone else, being slow to anger, being slow to wrath. So the antonym, the opposite words of this are wrath, revenge.

Those are the two things that are like antonyms, opposites of this concept of long-suffering. The ultimate goal and focus of that long-suffering being love toward others. Very much in line with what Mr. Miller spoke on here in the first split. If you turn over to 1 Corinthians 13, I want to take a look at the word in context. So 1 Corinthians 13, which we'll recognize as the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, we see this example of macrothumea in context.

1 Corinthians 13, we'll pick it up in verse 4. 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4, reads, Love suffers long and is kind. Love does not envy. Love does not parade itself. It is not puffed up. Does not behave rudely. Does not seek its own. Is not provoked. Thinks no evil. The word suffers long, that is at the beginning here of 1 Corinthians 13, verse 4, is the word macrothumea. So it's the word macrothumea, which, depending on your translation, your translation actually might say the word patience there.

It may say love is patient, love is kind, as opposed to love suffers long. But depending on your translation, it may say patient. But what it brings with it is a connotation of bearing with one another, dealing with one another, being patient with others as they work out their own issues, as they work out the challenges that they have, and showing love for that other person by being long suffering toward them.

Being long suffering or patient toward them. So that's one version of this word in Scripture. The other word is hoopamone, which is G5281, and it comes from the root word hoopomeno. Hoopameno is patience as well, but it's describing patience toward something, not someone. It's commonly translated as endure or endurance, and the word carries with it a connotation of steadfastness, or this idea of unwavering and unflagging strength in the face of adversity.

In the face of adversity. Thares, Greek lexicon, describes hoopamone as a temper, not like angry, but a temper, like an outward expression of attitude, that does not succumb under suffering. So it's an outlook on life to which suffering does not impact.

It's the ability to continue on in something despite the challenge, despite the adversity. Okay, now where macrosumia is focused on someone, and not hastily writing a wrong, which we frequently do, right? We frequently do. Hoopamone deals instead with one's response to unavoidable abuse and suffering. The ultimate focus of hoopamone, the ultimate goal, and the ultimate thing that you're looking at, is hope. And so the antonym of the word for hoopamone here, for endurance, is cowardice and despondency in Greek. The antonym, the opposite of this, is cowardice and despondency. And so a person can face adversity and trial, and they can be settled in the face of those things if, if, their hope and the faith in that hope is strong. They can face anything if their faith and their hope in that faith, or their faith rather in that hope is strong. A little further down, 1 Corinthians 13. Just a little bit further down, verses 6 and 7. 1 Corinthians 13, verses 6 and 7. We'll see this verb used. We'll see this word used here in 1 Corinthians 13, 6 and 7. It says, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. The Greek word for endures is hoopomene, which is the verb of this root. Okay? So love doesn't rejoice in iniquity. It rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and is steadfast and unflagging, patient in the face of adversity. It's this word that Christ used with his disciples in Luke 21, 19, by your patience, by your steadfast, your unflagging outlook and attitude in the face of adversity. He says that they will possess their souls. It's that word that Christ very specifically used with his disciples. He absolutely understood how challenging the destruction of Jerusalem would be to them. They were observant Jews. They had the city was the temple where the location of the temple of God.

It was going to be a very challenging situation for them to deal with. He also understood the difficulty and the persecution that the believers would face on account of their belief in him. He knew these men would be delivered up. He knew that in some cases they would be martyred. He understood that it was going to ultimately be their endurance, their steadfastness in the face of all of that, kind of keeping their focus on the hope of the resurrection, maintaining their focus on the kingdom of God that would ultimately give them the strength to endure. But both of these words are provided to us as admonitions, as Christians, to grow in. These are aspects of God's character that we have to strive to emulate. These are things that we need to be working to emulate, growing in our ability to be long suffering towards others, because it's that characteristic that God shows toward us. Let's go to 2 Peter 3. In 2 Peter 3, he describes this characteristic of long suffering.

We mentioned this Thursday. It feels like yesterday at Trumpets. It wasn't Thursday at Trumpets. We talked about how God has a different view of time. God sees time differently than we do. He experiences time differently than we do in the sense of how his perception of it is. When you take a look at what Peter writes here in 2 Peter 3 verses 8 and 9, we can kind of see this long suffering in action.

He addresses it several times, actually, in both of his epistles. He talks about God's long suffering multiple times. One of those locations, he talks about the long suffering of God towards Noah and his family. In his first epistle, he talks about how he was long suffering and that God stayed his hand until the ark was finished and then unleashed the flood. Beginning in 2 Peter 3 and verse 8, he starts talking about the concepts of God's patience toward the world, and how God, again, doesn't see time in the same way that we do.

And as such, he's not slack, he's not there toiling his thumbs or distracted with something else or doing something different. Instead, the time that he is taking is providing us the opportunity for repentance, providing the world opportunity for repentance, because he is long suffering toward us. He's staying his hand. 2 Peter 3 and verse 8 says, But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some count slackness, but is long suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Macrosumae, which is the verb form of Macrosumia here, he acts towards us with long suffering, with a slowness to anger. He doesn't hastily provide us what we deserve. He doesn't act rashly. Instead, he's patient with us.

We talked about on trumpets how our lifespan is about two hours in the time scale that God operates from. We look at a day as a thousand years. You run the math. It's about two hours of time in our entirety of our lifespan in that scale of time.

So you think about our sin and our repentance and the amount of time in between the sin and the repentance. It's a blink in God's time scale. And thankfully, God is long suffering. Thankfully, He is patient. He is merciful and doesn't immediately give us exactly what we deserve each and every time that we make mistakes. You know, it is a beautiful thing, the grace of God. But it's this long suffering that we're admonished to grow in Galatians 5. It talks about patience. It's this long suffering that we are to be growing in as we put on the character of God.

As the fruit of God's Spirit acts in our lives, ultimately we are to be long suffering toward others. Ephesians 4, verses 1-3. You can jot it in your notes. We won't turn there. But Ephesians 4, Paul admonishes the church in Ephesus to grow in this long suffering in order to walk worthy of their calling. He says, as a part of walking worthy of their calling, they should be growing in this long suffering toward others as well.

Again, Macrathumia, the ability to be long suffering toward others. In 1 Thessalonians 5, we are going to turn there. Somebody had joked about not being in Thessalonians so much. Quite a few times we've been in Thessalonians here in the last little bit. But we'll pick it up. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 14.

1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 14. We'll go ahead and see what the Apostle Paul writes here to the church in Thessalonica. But he's talking about the importance of these things as well as they interact with one another as brethren. As they interact with one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5 and verse 14. Paul writes, Now we exhort you, brethren. He says, warn those who are unruly. Comfort the faint-hearted. Uphold the weak. He says, Be patient with all. He says, See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good, both for yourselves and for all. Paul is encouraging those who received his letter to warn those who are unruly.

To comfort the faint-hearted. Uphold the weak. And yet, in the process of all of that, to be patient. To be long-suffering. To bear with them all, it says. That includes the unruly, the faint-hearted, and the weak. To be patient with them all.

And so, as we look at patience, and while this patience kind of tends to be the type of patience that we consider when we think about patience, it's not the only patience that we're admonished to work on and develop, and it's not the patience that Christ was referring to in Luke 21 and verse 19. That patience is hupamone. That is the endurance. That is that patient endurance and steadfastness. Let's turn over to Romans 5. Romans 5. In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul writes to the believers in Rome that this patience is built by tribulation. That's the unfortunate reality of endurance. It's built by struggle. It's built by adversity. It's built by challenge. And it's through suffering we grow in steadfast patience, which helps us to grow in hope and helps us to grow in character. Romans 5 and verse 3, the Apostle Paul writes, not only that, but we also glory in tribulations. We glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. It produces that steadfast endurance, produces character, produces hope. These things are a progression in our lives as we go through this process. It's a progression. But unfortunately, that patience, that type of patience, hupamone especially, can only be built by adversity.

In Revelation 2, Christ revealed to John that the churches in Ephesus and Thyatira were to be commanded or commanded, commended for their patients. They were to be commended for their patients. Those two churches had endured in a way that the other churches had not, and they had been commended for it. First Timothy 6 verse 11, the Apostle Paul said to Timothy that this patience was something that needed to be pursued. Actually needed to be chased down, similar to gentleness, similar to faith, similar to love. A couple pages over from here, Romans 5, over to Romans 15, if you would please, the Apostle Paul notes that this steadfastness, this temper which does not succumb under suffering, is a characteristic of God the Father. It is a characteristic of God. It's something that is in His nature and ultimately something that He provides us with opportunities to grow in as He gives us circumstances and adversity. You know, that's one of the challenging things about asking God to help you grow in patience. What you're going to receive is challenges and adversity because that's what helps you grow in patience. And so that's one of those challenging things. You know, we joked it this morning in Eugene, sometimes you got to be careful what you ask for and how you ask for it in that sense. Romans 15, we'll go ahead and pick it up in verse 4. Romans 15 and verse 4 says, for whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope, that through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know the Scriptures that we would consider today to be the Old Testament, that would be these Scriptures that were being referred to. Now there's a little bit of evidence that there may have been some early New Testament manuscripts circulating around, and that would have been considered Scripture as well at that time. But these things were recorded for our learning. They were recorded so that they might be able to help us to grow and to help us to have hope, that that steadfastness and that endurance of Scripture might give us hope. That is one of the most incredible things, is you go back and you look through Scripture and you see the stories in the Old Testament, you see the stories in the New Testament, and what you realize is that despite all the things that we see recorded and all the challenges that God's people went through, God did not forget His people.

He did not forget His people, and He's not going to forget us either. You know, those opportunities to grow are going to be there, and they're going to be challenging, and they're going to be tough.

But ultimately, God is a God of comfort. He's a God of patience. He encourages and He comforts us throughout the adversity that is helping us to grow in this type of endurance and patience.

This characteristic was also exemplified by our elder brother Jesus Christ during His time here on earth, and it is characteristic that each of us need to strive to emulate. Let's go ahead and turn over to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, and we'll pick up the account here in verse 1. Hebrews 12 and verse 1. You know, Hebrews 12 follows hot on the heels of Hebrews 11, faith chapter, where we see example of a number of faithful throughout the years. Their example of faith, how they persevered in that faith, in that hope to be able to confront the challenges that they faced. And then right on the heels of that comes Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12 and verse 1 says, therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. You know, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, we go back and we look at these stories of faith in Hebrews 11. We see these named individuals. We see the giants of faith. But there are so many individuals in Hebrews 11 that are unnamed, that live this way of life, that will be coming up in the first resurrection, that are in the book of life, who have done all of these things. We just don't know who they are yet. We don't know their stories fully. We don't understand the things that they went through. But he says, because you've got such a great cloud of witnesses, he says, let us too run with endurance. Let us face down whatever it is that we face. Lay aside every weight. Lay aside all the sin that so easily ensnares us and run with patience, with steadfastness, our own race, looking to the example of our elder brother, who endured, a hupamone again, who patiently endured, and steadfastly faced the cross and disregarded the shame of crucifixion.

Let me take a look at what he dealt with and what he went through.

It's the joy of what was to come that is able to temper the sting of the present.

Because you know what's coming and because you know what the promises of God are, we can handle the things that we deal with in the present, despite the difficulty that they are. That same joy which is to come, that same hope of the resurrection, that hope of the coming kingdom of God, helps us face the adversity that we deal with today. To be able to face the kind of unavoidable sufferings that are here and that are now to come. And it's the patience, that endurance, that steadfastness by which we will possess our lives. That we will go through and we will face these things. But not just upemoné. We can add macrophobia to that as well.

It's through adversity and it's through challenge that these kinds of patience are built. Unfortunately, there's no other way. God provides us with opportunities in our lives to be able to go through these tests, these trials, build patience, build steadfastness. Often these same situations enable us to consider our interactions with others. To think about the places where maybe we weren't as long suffering as we could have been. Or we weren't as patient. We weren't willing to bear with one another like we needed to. Brethren, how do we react when everything is going wrong?

How do we react in our lives when everything is going wrong? Remember, the opposite of macrophobia is wrath and revenge. The opposite of bearing with one another is wrath and revenge.

And the opposite of hoopomone of steadfast patience is despondency and cowardice.

How do we react when everything in our life seems to be going wrong? How do we react when things get tough? Like I said before, I'll be the first to admit I've fallen short on this. I don't always exhibit godly patience. I don't always exhibit godly patience. Whether it's sometimes long suffering towards others, or at times even steadfast endurance. I personally have room to grow in this. So please don't feel like I'm pointing fingers. I'm just asking the question.

You know, here in the United States, we've faced some pretty significant adversity in the past several years. You know, four or five years or so we had the COVID pandemic, we had the restrictions, we've had two contentious election cycles, the second of which thankfully is almost over.

We've had financial challenges, we've had massive runaway inflation, you know, the like that we haven't seen in many, many, many years. It's been a kind of a headline making few years. You know, I told the boys at one point in time they were living through history, you know, in many ways, because these things are going to be things that are talked about in our history books down the road. You know, they're seeing it in real time. You know, it's kind of an interesting thing. You know, a lot of this stuff I didn't have, like there was a run on toilet paper again. Everybody's buying Costco out of toilet paper again because of the the port strikes. So I didn't have that on my bingo card for 24. But you know, here we are again. People going through doing the same stuff again. But we have all these macro adversities, we have all these things that are taking place around us, but then on top of all of that we have what we'll call micro adversities. The things, and I don't mean micro in the sense of they're not important, they are important, but things that are happening to us individually. We have the health challenges, we have the health struggles, finances, other issues that we might be dealing with. How have we dealt with that adversity?

How have we dealt with those things? Have we reacted with wrath and with anger?

Have we called down vengeance on our enemies? No. Have we reacted with despondency or cowardice? What's been the fruit of our communication? Has our communication edified or has it divided?

Has it encouraged? Has it discouraged? Have we allowed God to drive the bus, so to speak?

You know, we think about our lives and think about the way that things are going, and there's times where God's taking us in a direction, we're like, God, I don't want to go that way. No, I don't want to, I'm going to go ahead and just grab the wheel and I'm going to move it a little bit. I want to go this way, and God goes, we're going this way, and we're going this way because that's the way that you're going to ultimately grow. That's the way you're going to ultimately become more like me if you yield to me and if you learn the lesson, and you go, uh-uh, I don't want to go down that road. Don't turn left. No, sir. Right. God goes, uh-uh, left. You're going anyway, whether you want to sometimes or not. How often do we reach out and grab the wheel? How often do we try to force a certain direction? Me and all of my infinite human wisdom, right, think I know better than God, right? We have to endeavor to be patient. We have to endeavor to have faithful endurance in the things that we can't control because there's a lot of things we can't control, and ultimately we have to be looking to Him for deliverance for our salvation as well.

You know, prophetically, as Jesus describes to His disciples, there's a whole lot more to come.

You know, you look at the challenges that we faced in the last decade or so, you know, even the last four or five years, they ceased only at the beginning. These are the birth—these are the pre-birth pang pangs. These are just the beginning of like, oh, I think my water broke.

You know, this isn't full-on birth pangs yet, right? So when we take a look at kind of where we are and where we're ultimately going, you know, these things don't compare to what's coming. They really don't compare to what's coming in many ways. You know, we've had in the United States many years of plenty. You know, we've had many years—God's blessings have really staved off a lot of what's been taking place around the rest of the world in the last little bit. But what we have to keep in mind and what we have to remember is that through it all, God's in charge and that ultimately He will continue to be in charge, and we're not.

Even though sometimes we might think if we yell something loud enough into the void that it'll come to pass. But what's going to happen is what God has determined, what God's will and His timing is. Let's go over to the book of James for a final thought today as we begin to close. James 5. James 5. This location in the book of James is a location where James uses both of these terms in the same general location. So it gives us a good way of looking at how He uses them. James 5 and verse 7. James 5 and verse 7 says, Therefore, be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. So what I'm going to do real quick is I'm going to insert the Greek word here. Okay, just give me a second here and bear with me. See what I did? No? Nobody got it. No. All right. It says, Therefore, be patient. That's macrophobia. Be patient. Remember, macrophobia is speaking toward one another, long suffering with others. Be patient, brethren, macrophobia, until the coming of the Lord, see how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently, macrophobia, again, for it until it receives the early and the latter rain. You also be patient, macrophobia. Establish your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand.

So James is saying, be long suffering toward one another. Expect that the precious fruits will come from those that you're interacting with. They might just be a little bit behind where you think it should be. It says, To continue in long suffering, wait patiently with one another. Establish your heart. Prepare your heart and be ready for the coming of the Lord. And then, in a similar vein, James goes on to describe the things we should not do with one another. Verse 9, Do not grumble against one another, brethren, lest you be condemned. It says, Behold, the judge is standing at the door. My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience. Again, macrophobia, dealing with other people. The prophets were long suffering toward those who persecuted them.

Can you imagine what they went through and how they went through it?

They were like farmers waiting and hoping for the fruit of repentance to bloom, for those individuals to grow, that they might also be saved. But they didn't rush the process.

They planted, they watered, and they waited. In verse 11, James shifts to a different type of patience, focusing instead on endurance. It says, Indeed, we count them blessed to endure, Hoopameno. You have heard of the perseverance, Hoopameno, of Job, and seen the end intended by the Lord, that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. We examine the end that God intended. When we think about what it is that God was looking for, that city with foundations, all those faithful in Hebrews 11, all the things that they strove for, all that they were looking towards, we recognize God is very compassionate. God is very merciful. And it's that compassion and that mercy that is going to be able to enable us to face what is coming with steadfast endurance. Brethren as Christians, we're expected to be growing in both of these kinds of patience. Throughout the New Testament, we're admonished to both long suffer toward one another, acting in love and impatience and bearing with one another. We're also admonished to be growing in our steadfastness in the face of challenge and adversity. When things are out of control, which unfortunately sometimes they are, sometimes things are just outside of the locus of our control, when things are out of control, being able to focus on God, being able to focus on His way, His expectations, ultimately in setting ourselves in the face of whatever crisis may come by focusing on Him and on His eternal promises, we're able to get through these challenges that we face. You know, when we experience the next birth pang of what Christ described to His disciples, when we go down that progression a little bit further and we see the next birth pang, whenever that takes place, I hope we can take the time to reflect on these things. And as was mentioned in Mr. Miller's sermon a couple of weeks ago, you know, the time to do the work is now. The time to grow in patience is not while the thing is happening to you in the long run. God gives us these opportunities now to be able to grow in these while there's still time, while there's still ability. But in the meantime, we need to be growing in these things because when these things do take place, in Christ's own words to His disciples, it is by that patience that we will possess our souls. All right, so I don't know how many of you guys are going to be leaving between now and atonement for the feast, but I just wanted to say for those that are, I hope you have a wonderful day of atonement. I hope you have a wonderful feast for those that are traveling.