Last week we studied the topic of patience. As one of the
fruits of the Spirit, it is something we need to operate in to drive the enemies
out of the Promised Land (which is our hearts). We looked at the story of Abraham, since he
is credited in Hebrews 6 as a man who, through faith and patience, obtained the
promises.
Throughout Genesis, from the end of chapter 11 to chapter
21, we see the progress of a man from receiving a word from God to fully
realizing the promise of that word. We found that God reaffirmed the word to
him nine times in various different ways before it actually came to pass. At various times, He followed God’s direction
only partially and got delayed in realizing God’s promise while he continued to
develop faith and patience.
God makes a Covenant with Abraham…He uses a method Abraham
will understand. He has Abraham use a
list of animals that are never used anywhere else in scripture. Other people in
Abraham’s day would use these animals when a covenant was made, and the people
would walk a figure 8 around the halves (infinity sign) to show it would last
forever. A firepot with a torch goes
between the pieces.
When God’s promise finally came to full fruition, it was
because Abraham had truly connected in faith. Along the way he made MANY mistakes
— some of them huge (disobedience, fear, lying, adultery, laughing at God—which
results in their son being named Isaac which means laughter…). He renames Abram and Sarai along the way to
add the name of God to each of their names.
When we read Paul's words in Romans 4 we see this story of a many who,
without wavering and without considering the impossibility of God's promise,
obtained all that was promised. As we read what Paul said, we have to wonder if
he had read the same story we read. In fact, he did. He read the story
from God's point of view. In the end, God is not concerned with all the
mistakes we make along the way. He focuses on the moment where we persevered
and obtained the promise.
What does this have to do with a lesson on patience? Well,
Abraham obtained the promises through faith and patience. Certainly his own
faith and patience were instrumental. But, what I see in his story is the power
and the depth of God's patience with us. He did not move on to someone else to
fulfill His will when Abraham blew it. As long as Abraham continued to get back
up, it did not matter how many times he fell.
God is truly patient with us, just like God was with Abraham, allowing
him to sometimes make the same mistake more than once. Yet, God still fulfills His word to Abraham.
But then how does this relate to us displaying the fruit of
patience? Remember that the fruit of the Spirit is just that — of the Spirit.
YOU don't have that kind of patience with yourself, with others, or with the
Word of God. However, if you are born again, HIS patience is inside of you
waiting for you to give it permission to do its work in you.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
To listen to the entire sermon go to http://ahwatukeechurch.com/ and click on online media. To learn more about Living Word Ahwatukee, visit http://ahwatukeechurch.com/.
