So you get together, so I'll stay and be able to. We'll read and we'll pray and we'll ask God for his help. That's Romans chapter 15, and look at verse number four and verse number five. The Bible says, Romans chapter 15, verse four, for whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be what? Like minded. One toward another according to Christ Jesus. Now I'm sure you Bible students caught two words that stuck out. And you got it, that word patience in verse four, the word patience in verse number five. And so I want to talk tonight on our favorite topic, favorite subject of any Christian, is the importance of patience. Father, I want to thank you for all your many wonderful blessings. And I do ask God that tonight, as we dive into the word of God, I pray God to speak to our hearts and reveal to us great truths that will help us in our journey as we follow Jesus. I do ask God to stir us on the inside. I pray God our minds will be focused on what you're saying to us as you speak. And with that, God, we'll thank you. I pray for that heart that might be hurting tonight, that mind that might be overwhelmed by some pressure or some problem. I pray God should bring peace in the midst of a storm. And with that, Father, we'll thank you. And I do also pray God there'll be one amongst us, the one that's watching via the internet, let's not say we're born again. I pray God they receive Jesus as their Savior tonight. And with that, God, we'll thank you. Well, that's it for now. I'd like to thank you all for being here as well. Of course, your son that we pray. Not a weak Jesus, but a mighty Jesus. Amen. Amen. Let me sing it. Of the importance of patience. Every person that's a child of God, most every person, or a big percentage, they have more patience, Brother Greg. It's like, ooh. Not the patience thing, amen. Now give me Patience is a good word. It's a biblical word. It is a word and an action that needs to take place in every child of God. The Bible tells us in verse 4, he says, and what sort of things were written or for time, that means previously, were written for our learning, for our instruction. That we through patience and comfort of the scriptures, the Bible says, might have hope. Now what does that word patience mean? In this particular verse, that word patience means endurance. In other words, brothers and sisters, as we serve God, we need patience, we need endurance. Because if you ain't got endurance, you ain't gonna make it. If you ain't got endurance, you're gonna fall out before you even get to the finish line. And the Bible tells us that we can get that patience from the scriptures. That we might have hope. Watch this verse 5. Now the God of patience, that's where it comes from, and consolation Grant you to be what? Like-minded. Now that's a good word. Like-minded means just like it says. Like-minded, amen? Like-minded, though, watch this. One toward another. What are you talking about, Christian? The Bible's teaching us that not only is God the God of patience, but He also wants us to be like-minded just like Him and have patience one toward another. It's amazing how patient God is with us in all the mess that you and I do. And we make some messes, y'all. I mean, we can act like we don't, but we make some messes. But isn't it amazing how in spite of all the mess that you and I make, God has patience with us, God has long suffering with us, God is merciful to us, God is gracious to us, God has patience. He's the God of patience. He says, you know what, just like I'm patient, I want you to be like-minded to one another. Not to him, but him. He's someone to each other. We need to practice patience for one another. And we all need to give each other patience. We all need to give each other some endurance. Because you know what? We want the same thing. You know, what's that little song, God's Still Workin' On Me? You know, I mean, when we messin' up, we want everybody to sing that song with us. Sing that song with me. God's Still Workin' On Me. All right, well guess what? When they're going through some stuff, sing that same song. God's Still Workin' On You. Okay, I mean, hey, because you know what? We all need patience. We need it. And the Bible tells us that God will give us this patience. He will give us this endurance. And what's awesome is this. When you and I are patient with God, the blessings that come from it will blow our minds. Now I want you to look real quickly, and the situation happened because some folks had some patience. Go with me. Oh, by the way, the word impatient, know what it means? Impatient means not accepting delay, restless in expectation. Now let me read that again. It means not accepting delay. I don't want no delay. But not only not accepting it, but restless. And you know what it means to be restless? I mean, like they're tossing and turning. I mean, it's just, I can't get no rest, I can't get no, but the Bible teaches us that God wants us not to be restless. God wants us not to be not accepting of delay, but instead enduring in spite of the delay. Now let's look at a real life example of a group of guys, go to Acts chapter 16, who because of their impatience, Not only were they blessed and rewarded, but somebody else was blessed and rewarded as well. Let's go to Acts chapter 16 and look at verse number 12. The Bible says in verse number 12, the Bible says, and from Fence, that's Acts 16 verse 12, and from Fence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in that city, abiding certain days. Now what's happened here? When we back up, you find out that you have Paul and his companions, and they're trying to get to a particular place of service. Go back with me and look at verse number nine. The Bible says, verse number seven, verse six. Look at what the Bible says. Now when they had gone throughout Phrygia and and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia, after they would come to Messiah, they are saved or attempted to go into Bithynia. But the Spirit suffered them not, wouldn't allow them. And they, passing by Messiah, came down to Troas, and the Bible says, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man of Macedonia, praying, and praying, and saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavored to go into Macedonia, assuringly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. And the Bible said they made their way to Philippi. But notice something. They intended to go one place. Holosa, don't go. All right, let's go over here. Holosa, stop. But each time they were trying to go somewhere and when the Holy Ghost said don't go here or don't go there, they did not go. But they still were attempting to do something for God. And then they got the word and the vision. Go down to Macedonia. So guess what? They go down to Macedonia and look what the Bible says here. The Bible says in verse number 12, and we were in that city abiding. Key word guys. Abiding certain days that were abiding means to remain to tarry So here they were they make it here out to Macedonia I hear they are and they are remaining there to stay there. They've been abiding there not one day But the Bible says for how many days? certain days certain days So more than one day and went by and they were tearing Yeah, they were remaining They were continuing. I'm thinking about Josh right now. Go over to my left. And Josh, this is third year? Third year, they're at the college there down in Tennessee. And when he first went there, they gave y'all pretty much just like a Bible course, basically, is what I'm assuming. And why are they doing that? Because they want them to figure out what they want to do later. So these courses will apply to anything that they're going to go to. But you know what? Some people, when they go to college, say, oh, I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that. And God ain't told them nothing. And then all of a sudden, they realize again what God wants them to do. Man, I'm trying to figure out what does God want me to do. Well, guess what? God ain't going to be quick enough, so I'm going to have to choose something. Wait a minute. Just grateful to the Lord. Be steadfast. Continue on what you know. A lot of times, people ask me, well, preacher, I don't know what He wants me to do. I say this to them. I say, what do you know? Whatever you already know to do, do that. Don't try to do, I mean, and sometimes I know I just get down. Now sometimes we get a lot of pressure on us to make a decision about something, a pressure to do one thing or another, but you wait, I'm talking about truth now, you're waiting for the Lord, and the Lord ain't saying anything, but don't just say, well, I got the pressure, I gotta make a move. You know, now, no harm, no harm here. Brother Steve Wade, he sells cars, okay? But the good thing about Steve, And Steve has not put pressure on any person to buy a car. Steve let them know what's happening. He said he told me anyway. But Steve let them know what's happening. But Steve let them know what's happening. And he's not trying to pressure anybody. He's not trying to force anybody. But sometimes, some people, man, it's like, oh, this is the one for you. And it's only $50,000. But we can work this thing out. And take it home. Take it home. You know, you're like, I don't want to take it home. I want to go, this is what I want over here. But sometimes we'll give in to that pressure. Then afterwards, you're like, oh my goodness, what did I just do? But here you have some men of God, this wonderful will of God. What they do know is this. They're supposed to be a Macedonian. And guess where they were? In Macedonia. And they were there for certain days. So first thing we see is their patience. Number one, we see their patience. The Bible says they went there because God told them to go there in verses 9 and 10, and they were patiently waiting several days. Several days they were waiting. They were patient. Let me give you a verse from that. Look at Romans 8 and look at verse number 25. Romans 8 and look at verse number 25. The Bible says this in Romans 8, verse number 25. The Bible says, But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it? That's a tongue twister. But if we hope for that, we see not. There's something that we can't see right now. But we're hoping for it. He says right here, then do we with what? Patience. Patience. Wait for it. That word wait for here means to expect it. So in other words, for example, We got our HHR, and we're trying to get that thing running, because we had one baby for the longest. And so we finally got things running. And so now I need some new tires. And I said, well, we'll find me some tires. I mean, it shouldn't be that bad. But unfortunately, for the HHR, you know this, for 2006, they're not making those tires like they used to make them. So I'm like, I'm calling everybody. I'm like, what is this? So you know what I got to do? I have to go on Amazon. I go on Amazon, and they had some there. I went ahead and bought those tires, and then Amazon said they'd be out here today, and they didn't come. Nope, they ain't come. I paid them, and I'm gonna patiently wait for my tires to be at my house tomorrow. It ain't nothing less, though. But you know what I'm doing, though? UPS sent something out and said it'll be here on tomorrow. So listen, I am patiently waiting for I'm patiently expecting those tigers to come. Now let's say that there's a delay. Guess what? I'm still expecting those tigers to arrive. And I'm going to do it with patience, okay? But now if all of a sudden I don't hear any news from them, I'm not going to give them a phone and get vocalistic. You know, I'm saying, hey, somebody probably fell asleep. Rode by our house, didn't realize it, but tires ain't here. But I'm gonna be patiently waiting for it, I'm expecting it to come. And brothers and sisters, that's what we ought to do. Listen, we know God's gonna send it, we might not know when he's gonna send it, but let's wait for him. And as we wait, with patience, endurance, not with fidgeting, not sitting there going. Who's that? That's somebody else across the street. No, that's the Amazon truck. Yeah, my son was always saying, Amazon, Amazon truck, Amazon truck, Amazon. It ain't for you, it's for the neighbor across the street. Listen, but you know what? But you can be waiting, but sometimes we can get so filled with being anxious, so to speak, that we'll make moves we should not make. But you see these men of God, they were patient. They were waiting. Now watch this. The second thing we see is this. The second thing we see, oh man, is their customary prayer meeting. Their customary prayer meeting. The Bible says back in Acts chapter 16, drop down to verse number 13. Now, we know they're waiting, okay, they remain there certain days, and the Bible says on the Sabbath, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer was wont to be made. That word want here, W-O-N-T, it means supposed to hold by custom. There was a custom where they met here by the river and people prayed. Or maybe they just prayed. But nonetheless, they were there praying as was custom. Most of what they weren't doing, they were like, well, God ain't told what to do next. So they weren't down there pouting. They were down there praying. Some of the other Christians, they just be pouting all the time. What's there to pout about? Because God ain't done it yet. I mean, they did this to me and the Lord said, finish this mind set of the Lord and the Lord didn't repay them yet. I think I'm going to go over there and repay them. No! Okay? Number one, let's not try to get evil with one another, but on top of that, let's pray, talk to God, and let's not be pouting. But here they were, and as they were accustomed to do, they were there praying. That was their custom. Let me ask us this. Is that our custom to pray? about everything? Is it our custom to pray even when things aren't going the way that we want them to go? Or perhaps they're not going as quickly as we would like them to go? I don't forget when we lived down in Jordan, I've told you this before, but I don't forget, I knew God had something else for me to do. It wasn't to continue to work at Brockville making the missiles for the Hellfire, making the Hellfire missiles, for the Apache helicopter. I knew that God had something else. God spoke that into my heart. But you know that several years went by before we actually left Georgia? And I would talk to my coworkers dentists, and I would say, you know, God's got some, you know, he's got some plans for me, something else he wants me to do. I know that. They'd say, man, you've been saying that for years. Well, I mean, he told me he had nothing to spare. And guess what, when that time came, now I had already left that job, I got laid off, but even if I hadn't gotten laid off, I wouldn't be sitting there going, I told you so, I told you so, I told you so. No, I wouldn't do that, amen, none of us, none of us, but I was patiently waiting. But here's the funny part of this. When the assignment time came, I wasn't too enthusiastic about it, folks. When he started to dish out the assignment, I'm like, whoa, whoa. The Lord started talking about going to Chicago, back to Chicago, back. I said, Lord, it's cold up there. My body has gotten acclimated, amen, to the southern weather of Georgia. I'm enjoying the humidity and the 80 degree weather. I'm enjoying not having to wear a coat practically at all, even in the wintertime. Lord, I'm enjoying this. The Lord said, I got your assignment. Here's your assignment. In a lot of times, we're the same way. But that's not the assignment I was expecting. Get my name right. Baby got me mixed up with another Corbin Chappelle. He's like, you're on tour, y'all. You and your daddy, you're the one. Listen, we have a God that has an assignment for us, but when that time comes, let's be excited about it. So the first thing we see is their patience. The second thing we see is their customary prayer meeting. Let's continue to pray. And then the third thing we see, and this is what we're gonna focus on primarily, the third thing we see is this. We see their patience pays off. Their patience pays off. Our patience will pay off. I'm thinking about a young lady right now. I remember she was wanting a husband really bad. I mean, she was, man, she was, man, man, she would pray or she would pray, man. And then we wept with her, we prayed with her, we wept with her. I mean, and her teen years came and went, her 20s came and went. Then she got into her 30s, and of course she was discouraged because she was wanting to be married and all this stuff. And it's like, maybe she's not, I don't know. But you know what the Lord did? He sent her her husband. Sent her her husband. And man, they've been married now for I don't know how many years it's been now. Two children, loving the Lord and going forward. But you know what? There were some tough times. But her patience paid off. Once we had paid off, she didn't jump the gun. It wasn't because the first person said, you're pretty. Let's get married. She didn't do that, she didn't drop the gun. And sometimes if we're not careful, we'll be so impatient that we'll miss out on what God has in store for us. But here these men were, they were patient, and the Bible shows us that patience paid off. Look at what the Bible says in verse number 13. And on the Sabbath we went out into the city by the riverside, where prayer was wont to be made. Now what do you know? And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither. We see the women or the people that they met. The Bible says here there was a woman there, but notice something else. The Bible says in verse number 14, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, which worshiped God, heard us. The Bible shows us, number one, there was a woman that was there and she heard them. Now her name, Lydia, sometimes names have importance. Her name means to travail. Her name means painfully difficult. Her name means pain, anguish, or suffering, or results from mental or physical hardship. So I don't know if she was having a hard time or not, but her name, that's the description of the game for her. And you know what? Maybe you're here tonight, and you're in pain, spiritually. Maybe you're here tonight, and you're in pain, emotionally. Maybe you're here tonight and there's a lot of things happening inwardly that's causing you frustration or anxiety or whatever the case might be. But you know who the Bible says here? She was there, but something happened. Number one, the Bible shows us that she heard. She could hear. She paid attention to what they were saying. Now she was there worshiping, even though at that point she didn't know God or Christ as her Savior, but she was there worshiping. But while she was worshiping, she heard them. And the second thing we see is this. Not only does she hear them, the Bible says, her heart was opened. The Bible says, whose heart? The Lord opened. And that means to open thoroughly. And by the way, brothers and sisters, None of us can open another person's heart. I know we would love to, but we can't. We don't have that power, we don't have that ability. But what we do is we give them the word of God, and we pray they hear the word of God, and then when God opens up their heart, we pray they'll receive Christ and not reject Him. But some folks have had their hearts opened, but instead of receiving Christ, they shut the door. And the last thing that you and I want to do is shut the door. Now you say, wait a minute, Preacher. I'm already saved, born again, and redeemed. I got you. Let me ask you, are you open to what God has in store for you? Are you hearing what he has for you? Or are you going to shut the door and say, Lord, that's not what I'm open to. And brothers and sisters, the greatest thing that you and I could want would be what God wants for our life. And the Bible says she heard them. She heard them preaching the word of God apparently, because you're going to see what happens next. But then the Bible says her heart was open. And then the Bible shows us something else that took place. What was that preacher? Her heart was open. And the next thing we know that she heeded, she heeded their words. How do you know that? The Bible says this. And whose heart was open and she attended unto the things which were spoken of. That word attended means to adhere. It means to apply oneself. She heard what they said, her heart was open, and she heeded what they said. By her actions, the Bible says here, that word right here, in this particular verse, it says this. It says that she adhered, she attended, she opened up herself. You know what it means to adhere? claim to do, to follow. She followed what they said. Well, what did they say? Well, apparently, it had something to do with salvation, because the next thing we see is this. She hurriedly got baptized. That's what the Bible says. The Bible says she attended until things were spoken to Paul and when she was baptized. Now, you done read the scriptures. You know that baptism comes after what? Salvation. Salvation. So apparently they have been preaching to her the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. She attended to what they said. She adhered to it. She followed it. And then the Bible says immediately she heard me. She was baptized. How do you know that? There's no time going by. And then the Bible says she adhered to the Sermon on the Palm, verse 15 says, and when she was baptized. Do you know the first command that we have after we're saved? is to be baptized. And unfortunately, sometimes we don't do that. Now, I'm not talking about because you didn't know. I'm talking about because you did know. But the first thing was baptism. And that word baptized, look it up now, it means to submerge. It means to be fully wet. As a preacher, don't say it, don't say it. In other words, there wasn't no sprinkling thing going on. Nobody's spitting on me either. I mean, they went under that time. Submerged. You know, when we went to the pool, there was the Isaiah, Uriah, to help them learn how to swim. One thing that Chris, I think she set me up, but she was talking about how warm the water was last time and all this kind of stuff. Man, I got in that water, I'm like, whoa! That water was cold. But I'm not inexperienced, though. I know what to do next. Just go under there. When I went all the way under there, my body started to get adjusted to the weather of the water. Amen. But nonetheless, brothers and sisters, we are to be baptized after we receive Christ as our Savior. And that's what I'm excited about. As far as I know, the first baptism we're going to have here together with 29th Avenue Baptist Church is going to be on September 20th. Because a young lady got saved over in my office, over there in Black Oak. Now she got saved there and she would get baptized here on September 20th on that morning. And now she's actually your brother Greg's niece. Now I want to say great niece, because you're a great guy. But don't mess that up. But his niece is going to get baptized on that day. But you know what she's doing? She is following the Lord and believes in baptism. This lady heard, she heeded, she heard to get baptized. Watch this, y'all, please. The Bible says next. You know where I'm going. She was baptized and her household. That word household there, brothers and sisters, means her family. What are you saying, preacher? Apparently her family also heard the word of God. Her family also received the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior and they were baptized. Well, how do you know that? Paul ain't baptizing people who ain't saved. That's just a one plus one equals what? You know what happens a lot of times when you and I heed the words of God, it will affect our whole household. The whole family gets affected. I mean, you've heard the testimonies. Here was one person where they got saved. Because they got saved, their mom and dad got saved, their brother and sister got saved, one of their uncles got saved, and then three of those that got saved were called to preach. Now two of them are passing the church somewhere, and he's like, wow, how did it all start? Because one person. One person heeded the word they heard. Let me ask us the question tonight. Will we be that one person that heeds those words? That God is speaking to us? Because whether we like it or not, some of the decisions that we make, it affects others. It does. When I look at Ms. Bobbie back here, a lot of times people see Ms. Bobbie and they say, oh, I bet she got a grandkid in her. Those aren't Ms. Bobbie's grandkids. Those are Ms. Bobbie's great-grandkids. Her great-grandkids. And because she's bringing them to the house of the Lord, I think all of them got saved. Because she's been bringing them to the house of the Lord. And guess what? As time goes by, how old are you, Carlos? How? 10? What? Wait, what happened? He's 10 already? Oh my soul. My goodness, I was about to say 15 years from now he'll be 20. But 10 years from now he'll be 20, amen? He'll be 20 years old. He'll be a young man. Who knows what God has in store for him. But it's because his great-grandmother brought him to the house of the Lord. But you know what? It probably didn't start with Miss Bobby. Miss Bobby probably had one of her brothers, maybe her mom or somebody, took her to the house. It starts with somebody. And maybe we can be that somebody that it starts with, that affects a whole bunch of people. Oh man, it's amazing, it's mind-blowing. But a lot of times, I'm going somewhere because of my impatience. We don't wait on them. What's the policy, you know what? We ain't waiting around here, nothing's happening. Let's go on to the next city. But see, the Holy Ghost said, right here, this is the place. And then the Bible showed us, we ain't done yet. The Bible says here, we see she heard, her heart was open, she heeded their words, she hurriedly was baptized, her household was saved, and the last thing we see in these verses is this, her home opened up. The Bible says that when she was baptized in her household, she was assaulting us saying, if you have judged me to be faithful, to the Lord, not you, but to the Lord. Come into my house and abide there. And the Bible says, and she constrained them. She put them in a headlock. No, she compelled them. Amen. She really wanted them to stay. My home is open to you. And that's one of the great things about The vast majority of those that belong to this precious family of God, your homes are open. It's like, come on in to my house, you know? I mean, it's not like you gotta walk down, you gotta shot guard at the front door, and you step, boom, get back, don't come up in here, amen? It's like, come on in, come on in. You know what happens when we get saved, we follow the Lord? It's amazing how you're not holding on to something. Everybody's going, come on in, come on in today. I'm thinking about my good friend, he's going to heaven. He's going to heaven for several years now, our brother Jimmy Williams. And so Jimmy Williams came up here. I don't know if you ever met Jimmy or not, but this was years ago. But Jimmy Williams, he went over to several houses he went to. And he would go to that house and I had to take his shoes off. And most of the time, I had to take my shoes off. You know what Jimmy said? These folks up here, these are the nicest people. They want you to take your shoes off, just make yourself comfortable. He wasn't thinking about the snow or something like that. They make you feel at home. Make you feel at home. So next time you have to take your shoes off in somebody's house, just think about it like this. They want me to feel at home. They don't care if my feet smell or not. They want me to feel at home. But you know what? It's amazing, though, when God touches our hearts, how we open up our homes up, how we open up our families up, how we want people. I don't think my brother Mike, our mothers, and brother Mike had that pool already and everything, and it made him, I don't know how many, I'm coming back, I'm coming back. He didn't talk to me, I don't know how many times. Man, come on by, come on, anytime you want to, just come on by. We used to just pop up one day, boy. But he said, come on by, enjoy the pool and stuff. But guess what? He needs it. How do you know? I think about how the church has been over there. Listen, but he got that. And he didn't say, you know what? It's in-ground, right? Yeah, he just said, I got me an in-ground pool. Everybody come in this pool, me and my family. The rest of y'all, I'm sorry, nope. Look, I got this here. I want to enjoy people. I want people to come by. I think about the Whalies. I remember when we helped y'all move from the other house y'all were at. And I don't forget, they was excited. I think they all was excited. Oh, I got to mess with Steve. But anyhow, nobody's like, man, come on. We got, man, we, you know, as long as you're in a white pool, it's okay. But, I mean, we playing pool, nobody was gambling, calm down. You know, but, man, we playing pool, we playing, all kinds of stuff down there. People just in the house, we just having a great time eating, you know, and just enjoying life. But you know what? That's when the heart gets open. It affects your home, and you open up your home. It's not like you're trying to push people away. You're trying to embrace people. Maybe you and I need to be that somebody that's patient. Patience is important. So we see here, brothers and sisters, their patience, we see their customary prayer meeting, and the third thing we see is their patience paid off. This woman was saved, her life was changed. Okay, I got two questions, three questions, we're done. First question is this, are we impatient with our current circumstances? Are we impatient? with our current circumstances. The second thing is this, are we tired of waiting? Are we tired of waiting? The third question and last question is this, are we impatient, right now, with others? Are we impatient with others? My last was a statement. Let's ask God for his help. I said, don't say I preach, I gotta say it, it's the truth. and patience. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your many wonderful blessings. I thank you Lord for your beloved son Jesus who died upon the cross and rose again.