Priscilla Shirer - The Perfect Patience of God (12/29/2025)
Summary
Priscilla Shirer delivers a powerful message on God’s perfect patience (1 Timothy 1:16), using Paul’s life as proof that no one can out-sin God’s grace. God’s patience frees us from fear, eggshell-walking, and condemnation, enabling abundant life. Key reasons: (1) He saved us (justification)—a miracle of divine orchestration; (2) He changes us (sanctification) through the Holy Spirit; (3) He strengthens us (fortification) for life’s storms. Illustrations include toddler Kelsey’s tantrum, cosmic chessboard of history, and popcorn popping. Ends with altar call for salvation/rededication.
Opening Prayer and Greeting
Hi family, you all good? I’m excited to be at Social Dallas tonight for many reasons, but one of them is that I love the Word of God, and I’m excited to share with you a word from the Scriptures tonight. So do I pray for you before you sit down? What do y’all do with this church? I’ll just stand up the whole message!
Lord, I thank you for your Word. I thank you that it is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. Lord, I thank you that in these next few moments, we are going to hear a word straight from the mouth of God. Father, we did not come to see each other; we came to see you. So I’m asking you to open up the windows of heaven and come down here and see about us. Father, we need to hear from you, Lord. Speak to us, your sons and your daughters; we are listening. In Jesus’ mighty name, everybody agreed with me and said, «Amen, amen, amen.»
You may take your seats. It’s a privilege to be with you tonight and to have an opportunity to share God’s Word with you. As I mentioned, it is my joy to share God’s Word; it is the living, breathing Word of God. The Scriptures—you know that, right? It’s not just a book with ink on a page. I’m telling you, it’s alive! Every single time we come to the pages of Scripture, we ought to expect to feel the warm breath of God brushing across our cheeks as He speaks a present word over every single one of our lives. So I’m expecting that tonight.
Gratitude for Home Church and Leadership
I want to tell you, before I dive into this little piece of Scripture that I want to share with you, that I’m grateful to be here because, as Pastor Robert mentioned, this is my home—Dallas Fort Worth, born and raised. I’ve been here my whole life, and I’m grateful to be able to minister in the city that is my home. I’m grateful to be at this church. I’ve snuck in before and just sort of been here, been a part of church, been ministered to by your church, by your pastor and his wife.
I want to say this just before I jump in: I want you all to know that every church doesn’t have leadership that actually has integrity. Unfortunately, it’s a rarity to find churches with leaders that are the same when the lights are off as when the lights are on. You ought to be grateful that the Lord has situated you in a church with people that actually love Jesus. It’s a good thing.
It was about five years ago, and I’ve mentioned this to Pastor Roberts, that my husband drove my three sons to a conference in Austin. I didn’t go with them. They drove into Austin, and my boys know many things about me. They know I’m praying for them all the time. They don’t know the details of all that I pray all the time, but one of the things that I’m praying constantly for my sons is that the Lord would cause the trajectory of their path to intersect with key people that they don’t even know in the moment are going to shift the trajectory of their perspective, their pursuits, their ambitions, their choices. I just pray that the Lord would line stuff up so they happen to be in the presence of greatness when they don’t even know it.
About five years ago, at that conference, they ended up at a lunch table—my boys—and I heard through the grapevine, through a few people, that they were sitting right across the table from Pastor Robert Madu. Here’s what I need you to know, Pastor and Taylor: I need you to know that there are people praying prayers that you guys are the answer to. There are people right now praying prayers, and you’re the answer. There are people who have been praying for Social Dallas, and you’ve answered; there are people’s grandmamas who have been praying that some folks would end up in the house of God on this Sunday night. I want to encourage you to just stay faithful, because if you’ll stay faithful, if you’ll keep walking the course that the Lord sets out in front of you—not only in ministry but in your faithfulness to each other in marriage and in the raising of those beautiful babies that the Lord has given you—I’m telling you that you will continue to be the answer to people’s prayers that you don’t even know they pray.
So, Lord, I speak blessing over this pastor and his wife. I speak blessing over this leadership team. I speak blessing over this church. Father, I pray that the Holy Spirit would rain down in this church so that the entire city is shifted as a result of Social Dallas being in this city. Father, I’m asking you that the whole city would be transformed because of what you do in this house. Thank you for letting this house be the answer to people’s prayers. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen, amen.
Kelsey’s Tantrum Illustration
So, I have three siblings. There are four of us. Two of my siblings are here: my older sister, Crystal, and then it’s me, then Anthony—we call him Nene—and then Jonathan—we call him John John. John John’s the youngest of the bunch; he’s really the biggest of the bunch, but he’s the baby boy. John John is married to Kanika; they have five children together. Their oldest child is the same age as my youngest child—they’re both 13 now. Kelsey is her name; Kelsey is a precocious, sassy little thing. She’s a whole lot of fun to watch—so much personality, and we saw it when she was about one or two years old; we already saw that personality coming out. Jonathan was sharing with me a story of something that happened when Kelsey was about two, and he started to notice all this personality. At two years old, she went over into the kitchen to the big box in the kitchen that had the food in it—the refrigerator. She pointed at it and said, «Eat.» He picked his little baby girl up and put her at the kitchen table in the chair where she would be able to get the food she was asking for.
In her little two-year-old mind, though, she was just far removed from the big box that has the food in it. So, she begins to throw a temper tantrum. She kicks her feet, wiggles her way out of the chair, and stomps her little sassy self back over to the big box that has the food in it. She points at it and says, «Eat.» He commences to pick her up, take her back over to the chair where he wants her to be situated. He puts her there; she commences to throw an entire temper tantrum, kicks her little feet, wiggles her way out of the chair, marches herself back over to the big box with the food in it, and says, «Eat.» He picks her up, takes her back over to the chair, and puts her in the chair. She wiggles herself out of the chair, stomps herself back across the kitchen, and says, «Eat.» This went on over and over and over again. And as he’s reliving the thing, telling me the story, I can just see his frustration mounting as he told me how patient he had to try to be with this girl as he tried to get her to see and understand that he’s her father and he loves her, and he’s only trying to put her in the place that is the best place for her to be to receive what it is she’s asking him for.
So, I’m giggling and I’m laughing, thinking about little Kelsey doing this because he’s telling me the story. I mean, I am falling out laughing. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where you are laughing about something, and as you laugh, mid-giggle, the Holy Spirit stops you in your tracks and says, «Don’t laugh too long or too hard because, Priscilla, that sounds just like my relationship with you. I keep trying to put you in a place, in a relationship, in an opportunity. I keep trying to situate you in a place or a position, and in your little personality, Priscilla, you oftentimes will try to wiggle your way out of the places that I’m trying to put you in because it doesn’t feel comfortable or convenient to you. It doesn’t make sense to you.» And so oftentimes, Priscilla, just like little Kelsey, you will ignore me, turn your back on me, try to circumvent me, go the opposite direction. And, Priscilla, unlike your brother, who did a good job but whose patience began to wear thin after the fifth or sixth or seventh time, the good news about my relationship with you is that my grace is sufficient for even you. I don’t know if any of you have ever needed a second chance or a third chance. I don’t know if there’s anybody in the house other than me that has ever needed a 20th chance. His grace is sufficient for you, and you do not have—I don’t have—the capacity to wear God out. You’re not that powerful.
Somebody needs to be encouraged tonight, and I drove over from the south side of town just to encourage somebody that it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve needed a redo, how many times you’ve needed to backstep just a little bit and get the forgiveness and the grace of God. I came just to remind you that God’s got enough patience for even you, that He doesn’t need a good nap before He can handle what’s going on in your life. We don’t have the capacity to wear God out. I want to talk to you for just a few moments about the patience of God.
Why God’s Patience Matters
The reason why I want to talk to you about the patience of God is because if you don’t have a full revelation of the greatness, the vastness, the boundlessness of God’s patience, then you will tiptoe, walk on eggshells in your relationship with God. Because you’ll constantly be worried: «If I do one more thing, if I have one more misstep, if I mishear Him, if I make another mistake, this will be the time that He puts me on the shelf and He can’t use me anymore, and I can’t participate in kingdom purposes.»
The enemy wants you too afraid to experience the abundant life that He’s called you to, so he wants us constantly walking on eggshells, worried. And I came to tell you that God is not mad at you. I don’t know where you’ve been; I’ve only known where I’ve been. I know what I’ve said; I know what I’ve thought; I know my weaknesses and my frailties and my faults. It’s been a revelation that has transformed my life that God’s grace is sufficient for us; His patience—the perfect patience of God—that’s what I want to talk to you about tonight.
There are many characteristics of God that I am endeared to: like His sovereignty, His omniscience, His omnipresence, His holiness, His might. I mean, the list goes on and on. Our God has some great attributes; they’re like links that make up a chain of God’s character—all these different attributes that are links on the chain of God’s character. But really, when I think about it, the central link in all of those chains that make up the character of God is the patience of God, because if it weren’t for His patience, we wouldn’t exist long enough to experience His sovereignty, His grace, His mercy, His omnipresence, His omniscience. We would have no experience of all of that if His patience weren’t sufficient for us. And so a revelation of God’s patience really does change your life.
Human vs. Divine Patience
Now, most of the time, when we think of the patience of God or when we think of patience as a characteristic, we think of it in terms of ourselves. Patience. I am naturally an impatient person. Can I get one witness in the house? I’m an impatient person. I like things to happen immediately. Come on, let’s move forward. Let’s get it going! I’ve been married for 22 years, and whenever we have a situation, a dilemma, something that needs to be solved, I’ve got a solution in the first five minutes we ever had the problem. Let’s get on with it!
But do you know how God is? God will oftentimes situate you with people—whether in marriage or in your workplace or in your friendships—He will situate you with people that actually rub against you to help mature the part of you that needs developing. So I married a guy who wants to pray about it, think about it, fast on it, ask wise counsel regarding it—Lord have mercy! And so when Jerry comes up with a solution, most of the time it’s the same solution I had in the first five minutes that we ever had a dilemma.
Now, most of the time, that solution he has come up with is a good one, that he has thought all the way through because he’s patient enough to consider the entire context. In my relationship with my spouse, God is developing in me patience. So the reason why He might have you situated next to that co-worker—the one in the cubicle next to you—that one, that if she says one more thing to you, you’re going to knock her out? That one right there! The reason why you might have that hardship in that parent-child relationship or in that friendship, the reason why you might have that thing is because God is using that relationship to mature in you the characteristic of patience.
So, because it’s something we need to be developed in, we often times put that same dynamic on God. We think that because we need to develop our patience, that God must need to develop His too. We think we have the capacity—how arrogant of us—to think that we have the capacity to actually get on His last nerve. So God doesn’t react to us at a knee-jerk reaction of frustration because you just did that. He is slow to anger. Anybody glad about it? He is great in loving kindness, and His patience is perfect.
Key Scripture: 1 Timothy 1:16
One of the clearest places in Scripture that God’s patience is described is in First Timothy chapter 1. It’s verse 16. The Apostle Paul is writing, and you know, if you actually have an old school Bible like I do, with paper pages, feel free to turn to First Timothy chapter 1. If not, your iPhone, your iPad, any manner of i-ness will work in getting you to First Timothy. It’ll also be on the screens. Paul is writing to a young minister named Timothy, and he’s basically giving Tim instructions on how to minister well. And right here at the very top of his very first letter to Timothy, he begins to speak to him about the nature of the patience of God. He knows up front that Timothy is going to make mistakes, that there’s going to be hard times, that there’s going to be hardships, that he’s going to take one step forward and sometimes two steps back. So right here at the top of his letter, he begins to speak to Timothy. He says in verse 16, «Yet for this reason, I found mercy in order that in me, as the foremost"—he means the chief of all sinners—"in me, Jesus Christ might demonstrate"—here it is—"His perfect patience.» Y’all, what kind of patience is it? It’s His perfect patience. Perfect, which means even at that which represents its furthest extremes, there is not one bit of deficiency or imperfection; it is completely perfect through and through—the patience of God towards you and me.
And Paul—I love how he describes in this verse who he is. He says, «I’m the foremost. I’m the chief of all sinners.» Because he wants to make sure that just in case there’s anybody that thinks you are the exception to the rule—because you know what you did 10 years ago this time; you know the decision that you made; you know the people that you allowed in your sphere of influence; you know the addiction that you had; you know what God has delivered you from. And so Paul says, just in case you think you’re the one that doesn’t fit into this passage, that doesn’t qualify for a visitation of the perfect patience of God, he says, «Let me free you of that right now.» He says, «I’m the foremost, the chief of all sinners.» Paul says, «You ain’t done nothing I haven’t already done. Your hands haven’t touched anything that I haven’t already touched. Your feet haven’t gone anywhere that I haven’t already gone. Your ears haven’t heard anything; your eyes haven’t seen anything; your mouth has not said anything I have not already said. And if God’s grace and mercy is so great that He could reach down into the pit that I dug for myself, if His arm is not so short that He could not save me, then Paul says I came to tell you that He can save you too.» He says, «I’m the chief of all sinners, and I am a witness, » Paul says, «that the patience of God is perfect.»
I love when verses start the way this verse starts because when verses start like this, it tells me exactly what I need to do in my study and in my teaching. Verse 16 starts by saying «For this reason.» Anytime you see a transition phrase like that—little Bible study for a second, y’all—anytime you see a little transition phrase like that, it tells you exactly what to do. It’s kind of like seeing «therefore» in the Scripture. Anytime you see «therefore, » you’ve got to go see what it’s there for. The transition is intentional because it’s trying to draw connections, draw some intentional dots, so that you know exactly what to do. Paul says, «For this reason, I have come to the conclusion of the perfect patience of God.» That means he’s already developed a hypothesis; he’s developed some evidence that leads him to the conclusion that we have come to in verse 16. He says, «Yet for this reason… " So, I figure if just for a few minutes we could backtrack up through the text and figure out what the reasons are, then we’ll be able to figure out how he came to the conclusion of verse 16, and in doing so, I think we’ll realize that he’s not the only one that is a witness to the perfect patience of God. I think we are too.
Reason 1: God Saved Us (Justification)
So he says, «Here’s the first reason.» We’re backtracking up to verse 15. He says, «It is a trustworthy statement deserving full acceptance… " Here it is: «that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.» He says, «Here’s how you know the patience of God is perfect: He saved you, didn’t He? He saved us.» You all know He didn’t need us, right? Y’all know He didn’t have to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him. It was His grace and mercy, His desire to have a relationship with humanity. Most of us are sitting in this room not because we found God; it’s because God found us. It’s because the hound of heaven would not let us go even when we were trying to run away. He saved us. Never in a million years should we hear that phrase. And sometimes if you’ve been in church all your life, you can hear a phrase like that—that you’re saved—and it kind of rolls off your shoulders casually as if it’s no big deal. He saved you! Never in a million years should that be a casual comment that doesn’t make something on the inside of us just want to say thank you. Because Paul says that’s one of the reasons that you know His patience is perfect.
Okay, do you know that it is a miracle that you were born? Okay? I mean physically born—that you’re alive at this time, in this generation, in this skin, with this hair texture, in that gender? None of that was unintentional! That is divine strategy that God organized to make sure that you are exactly who you were intended to be at this time in history for the purposes of the kingdom. This is good news. I’m on a little rabbit trail; this is good news for anybody in the house that thinks that you might be a mistake. Just because your parents were surprised that you arrived on the scene, they may have been shocked, but God was not. Before the foundation of the world, He had you planned for this generation. You and I have been assigned for this! Y’all, we didn’t come through 2020—all the havoc of 2020. We didn’t exist at the time of 2020 by accident. We’ve been assigned for this! He planned us to rise up in the spirit and the power of God right now in this generation, in these bodies, in this skin, with this hair texture, in this gender, in my neighborhood, in my high school, on my college campus, in this church. He made you for this! It’s a miracle.
There was a guy generations ago; at the time, he didn’t know it, but he was going to be your great-great-grandfather. He just happened, with seven billion plus people on the planet, to run into the woman who would be your great-great-grandmother. They came together, and they created your great-grandfather. Then your great-grandfather, with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet, just happened to run into the woman who would be your great-grandmother. The two of them came together and created your grandfather. And then your grandfather, with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet, just happened upon the woman who was going to be your grandmother. Then the two of them came together and created your father. And then your father, with the seven billion plus people that are on the planet, at just the right time, on the right day, came together with the woman who would be your mother, and they created you. There ain’t nothing chance about that; that’s a miracle!
And if you think that it was a miracle that you were born, think about how much more of a miracle it is that you were born again. Again, there was divine strategy involved in wooing you into a relationship with your heavenly Father. I’ve heard my own daddy describe it like a cosmic chessboard, that all of time and history has been a cosmic battle that has been waging between a God who loves us desperately and wants us to be in relationship with Him and an enemy. You do know that there is an enemy vying for your allegiance and mine. So it’s like a cosmic chessboard. God is on one side of the cosmic chessboard, and the enemy is on the other side, both of them vying for our attention, our allegiance, and our commitment to them.
Pre-Genesis 1:1, God makes the first move. He speaks the world into existence and creates Adam and Eve in a perfect environment—a perfect relationship with Himself, perfect opportunity to commune with Him. But then the enemy made a move on the cosmic chessboard. He slithered into that perfect environment, and he introduced sin into the equation. All of a sudden, rebellion began to have a ripple effect until you get to the point where Cain ends up murdering Abel, and they have to be removed from the garden because sin is now introduced into the equation. And it seems like all hope is lost. But our God, never to be out, makes another move on His side of the cosmic chessboard. Somehow He causes Cain—He causes Adam and Eve to come back together again. They have a baby boy named Seth. Seth gives birth to a baby boy named Enosh, and I don’t know what it was about Enosh, but Genesis chapter 4 says that when Enosh was born, everybody began to worship God again.
Then the enemy made another move. He introduced sin and rebellion back into the equation. It proliferated across the earth so much so that the entire world now needed to be destroyed by a flood. And this time, it looked like for sure the enemy had one. But our God, never to be out, had another move up His sleeve, and His name was Noah. He said, «No, I need you to build an ark.» Noah said, «You need me to do what?» He said, «I need you to build me an ark because by your obedience, humanity will be preserved through this flood.» So humanity is preserved through Noah’s obedience as the flood destroys the entire earth.
And if the enemy decides he needs to make another move, he introduces sin and rebellion back into the equation again. It ripple effects over time until it proliferates across the earth, and it seems like this time the enemy has won. But our God has another move up His sleeve. He goes to this little pagan town called Ur, He plucks out of it a man named Abram, and He says, «Abram, I’m getting ready to change your name, and I’m going to change the GPS coordinates on your destiny. Your name is now Abraham. Look up in the skies, Abraham, because if you look up, you’re going to see so many stars. You need to know that that’s the number of people that are getting ready to be born from you. I’m going to create a brand new nation of people. They will be mine, and I will be theirs.» The enemy makes another move. He now takes God’s people and causes it so that they now go down into Egypt land—400 years, y’all, four centuries of brutal slavery! One generation after the other, under the brutal taskmasters of Pharaohs in Egypt. And they are tired, weary, worn, and calling out for a Savior. God makes a move, and His name is Moses. He raises up Moses so that at the right time, in the right way, He can send him to Pharaoh, and He says, «Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Let my people go! '»
And so Pharaoh releases the children of Israel. After 40 years wandering in the wilderness and 10 miraculous plagues that induce their release, they finally come through their wandering in the wilderness into the promised land that was always intended for them—God’s people in the place of God, with the presence of God and the promises of God. Here they are in the promised land, and it looks like the battle for our souls is over. But then the enemy makes another move. In the book of Judges, it’s all about God’s people being introduced to idolatry. Listen to me, they do not turn their backs on the one true God. They just station their worship of God alongside their worship and the idols of the culture. And the duplicity of the people of God’s allegiance is so devastating that by the time you get to the end of the book of Judges, the last line of the book of Judges says, «And everybody was doing what was right in their own eyes.» If that doesn’t sound like the world in the year 2021, I don’t know what does!
And it wasn’t because God’s people totally turned their backs; it’s just because they weren’t singularly devoted to the worship of God. This time it looks like for sure the enemy has won, but God has another plan, and her name is Ruth. Ruth’s life starts off pretty hard. She has some devastating losses and some grief; her struggle is hard. She has to relocate to a place she doesn’t feel comfortable, and she is unknown. But in that unfamiliar place, she ends up meeting, at the right time, a man named Boaz, who is her kinsman-redeemer. The two of them will come together, and they create a man named Jesse, and Jesse gives birth to Obed, and Obed gives birth to a little baby boy named David. And the enemy doesn’t even know it, but with that one move, the checkmate is already on the way!
And y’all, then the Old Testament closes, and there are 400 years of silence. God is sitting on one side of the cosmic chessboard; the enemy is sitting on the other side, and all of history is hanging in the balance. Everybody’s waiting to see who’s getting ready to make the next move. And then the Old Testament closes, and the New Testament opens, and God the Father makes a move the likes of which the enemy still, to this day, has never had a response! You got it! He puts on flesh and basically says, «You know what? I’m going to come down here and take care of this myself.» And He lives a perfect life, and He dies a substitutionary death, and then three days later He is raised. The resurrection is our receipt that He is who He said He is, and He has accomplished for us exactly what He has said that He has accomplished—He saved you!
And it wasn’t a quick job; it was over the course of years, hundreds of years, millennia that He was maneuvering circumstances throughout time and eternity to make sure that everything lined up to where you would hear the beckoning of the Holy Spirit in your heart and want to respond—have no choice but to respond and say, «Yes, I receive you as my Lord and Savior.» The only reason you or I could ever see clearly is because He Himself opened up our eyes so that we could see.
Why in the world would Paul bring up salvation in a conversation about God’s patience? Because he wants you to know that if God had enough patience to walk through the last few millennia for you, that He’s got the last six weeks of your life covered. There is nothing you could do to wear a God like that out!
Reason 2: God Changes Us (Sanctification)
So Paul says the first reason you’ve got to know that God’s patience and grace is sufficient for you is because He saved you. But he says there’s another reason—verse 13. He says, «Even though I was formerly"—somebody say formerly! Some translations say previously—"Even though I was formerly or previously a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent aggressor, yet I was shown mercy.»
Alright, y’all. Paul told us in verse 16 he was the chief of all sinners. He was like, «I’m not going to tell you all my whole sin resume; you don’t need all the details. Ain’t nobody got time for that. I’m just going to let you know my resume of sin is full.» So I don’t have to give you all the details, and I’m kind of glad that right off the bat he didn’t give us lots of details because we, you know, we Christians have a tendency to be looking at the details of other people’s sin resumes. And we’re so caught up in what they did—in dissecting it, critiquing it, and talking about it behind their back—that we forget that we actually don’t have time to be dealing with anybody else’s sin resume, because we have one of our own!
So I’m glad that upfront he didn’t blur our attention with all the details, but here in verse 13 he says, «You know what? I’m a hand you just three on my sin resume. I’m not going to let you see all of it, but I’m going to pull down the shade just enough to where you can just get just a glimpse.» He says, «I was a persecutor, I was a violent aggressor, I was a blasphemer.» So he gives us a handful, but he says, «I want you to know even as you read my sin resume that there is a title at the top of my sin resume. It is in all caps, bold font so that you don’t miss it before you read what I’ve done. And the subtitle is this: Formerly!»
He says, «This is who I was, but this is not who I am anymore.» Paul wants you to know that the proof that God is patient is not only that He saved you, but also that He’s changed you! Oh, this is great news for anybody that is in the room, and the people that told you they would stick with you while you change—they’ve long since gone. That friend told you she had your back while you went through that development that you needed in that area of weakness or struggle that you had. She told you she’d be with you till the end. That partner, that spouse, that person that was covenanted to walk with you through that thing, and now you’re sitting here alone tonight because that mother, that father, your cousin, and your mama them—they all left you because they didn’t have enough patience for what you were dealing with. Paul wants you to know that there is one who will never leave you nor forsake you even as you change.
Even when you still have work to do, even when I still have work to do, even when I see the struggle, the difficulty, and the weakness, and the frailty of my flesh, His grace is sufficient enough for us! Paul says the reason why I know it is because I am not the same person that I used to be. He keeps on changing me. He keeps on walking with me. He keeps on giving me grace. He keeps on, by the power of the Holy Spirit within me, sanctifying me. Somebody say sanctify!
Sanctification is the process by which you and I are molded into the image of Jesus Christ. Him saving you was your justification; Him changing you is your sanctification. This is when your mind starts changing. Your perspective starts changing. Your attitude starts changing. Your ambitions start changing. You never thought you’d not want that, but all of a sudden you have a distaste for it. You never thought you would ever have an ambition like this because you’ve always wanted to do this and go here, but now that thing just ain’t appealing to you anymore, and this is a new direction that you want to go. This is the process by which the Holy Spirit is molding you into the image of Jesus Christ.
And I don’t know about you, but I’m so grateful for the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit of God because I bet if I took this little microphone off, and we just started right here on row number one, and we started to go all the way back through this room and then into the overflow, we would be here well into 2022 talking about how we are not the same people that we used to be! I don’t know what your testimony is. I’m telling you that I can look back on a time in my life where I don’t even recognize that girl back there—that person who allowed those kinds of relationships and made those kinds of decisions and walked that kind of walk and talked with that kind of talk. I don’t even—it’s like an entirely different individual than when I look in the mirror today, and I’m so grateful for the sanctifying power of God! I’m not the same person that I used to be.
Anybody happy about that? Thank you, Jesus! I’m telling you He can change you! The biggest miracle that often our God does, y’all, is not in our circumstances; it’s in you! I’m telling you He can change your mind! I’m telling you, He can make you want stuff you don’t want right now. Listen, there have been times in my life, y’all, where I’ve had a messed up want to! I mean, I wanted to do what’s right, but the problem was my want to didn’t want to do what my want to was supposed to want to do! Anybody? I wished I wanted to do right, is what I’m saying!
It’s like Paul in Romans 7. He describes this tug of war. He’s like, «The desire is present within me, but there’s something about my body that keeps wanting to go in the opposite direction of what is the right thing to do.» And he is so frustrated, by the time he gets to the end of Romans 7 describing this war, that he just says, «Oh wretched man that I am! Who’s going to deliver me from this tug of war?»
Anybody know the tug of war? I’m telling you that the Holy Spirit of God can make your want to line up with what God wants your wants you to want to do!
Popcorn Illustration
Have you ever wondered how popcorn pops? Somebody say yes! I’m so glad you want to know! There’s a little dot of water, microscopic, inside each kernel of corn! So when you put the little bag of microwave popcorn inside the microwave, the heat is not heating up the kernel; it’s heating up the little drop of water that’s on the inside of the kernel. And as the water heats up, it creates steam, and the steam creates more and more pressure until finally the kernel pops open, and you see an entirely different item—not because you heated up the shell, but because you heated up what was on the inside of the shell!
Listen, y’all gotta be up here with a Baptist towel! Like, y’all don’t play with me! Listen to me, y’all! If you concentrate on the shell—on behavior modification—the best you’re going to get is something temporary! Not only will it be temporary, but you’ll be plain ol’ flat-out exhausted! But if you will concentrate on heating up the work of the Holy Spirit on the inside of you, the Holy Spirit is not a ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove. He’s often symbolized by those things, but y’all, that ain’t who He is! The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity—not third because He’s least in value, just third because He’s the last to be revealed to us in the pages of Scripture.
All of the power, all of the goodness, all of the authority of God the Father is in the person of the Holy Spirit! And Ephesians chapter 1 says that the moment you believe, you receive the greatest gift you will ever receive this side of eternity—you receive the Holy Spirit of God! Okay? That means now that the holy—His presence and power—of God lives on the inside of you! And 2 Thessalonians 1:13 says that the Holy Spirit has a PhD in sanctifying you! It’s His work in you! He’s doing it right now, He’s molding you, changing you, transforming you, redeeming you, making you a different person than you used to be until one day you look at your sin resume and realize that the subtitle is formerly!
Amen! I’m trying to tell you—He’s got enough patience for whatever that journey is that you’ve got ahead of you. The place of sin, or rebellion, or indifference, or hardness, or apathy that you have in your heart right now—the anger, the unforgiveness, the bitterness, the struggle that you’re having, and you see no way out, and you wonder if anybody’s going to hang in there with you this time—you are not too far gone that the arm of God can’t reach out and find you where you are! He will walk with you every single day while you change. Grace is sufficient for you!
Reason 3: God Strengthens Us (Fortification)
Paul says He saved you—that’s your justification. He changes you—that’s your sanctification. And then he says there’s just one more reason—verse 12: «I thank Jesus Christ our Lord, who has strengthened.» Your salvation is your justification, and your changing is your sanctification, and now He’s giving you some fortification. He says, «I’m going to make you stronger than you are right now!» I’m going to give you a resilience and a fortification that’s going to be required if you’re going to weather the storms that are coming your way.
Because listen, in this world, Jesus said in John 16:33, «You will have trouble.» You don’t have to go looking for trouble! Have you noticed? You just keep on living, and the trouble ends up coming and finding you! You’re going to need a supernatural strength for that! Now, you know some of you may still be in your teen years, or maybe even in your early 20s, and maybe you haven’t experienced any storms, so you think life will always be like it is right now! Baby, keep living, because the storms of life are inevitable! You’re going to need some strength! You’re going to need some backbone for anybody in this day and age to actually have some integrity—to actually use your social media platform and influence to be unashamed about who your Savior is!
To not lean to the left or to the right in order to be politically correct, but to decide, «I have made my decision: as for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord!» You’re going to need some backbone for that! You’re going to need some resilience for that! And Paul says He’s got enough patience to make you strong enough to be able to stand up when everybody else caves in.
So I’m speaking to everybody in this room—all the people my sons’ ages—teenagers who were in this room. Listen, you were made for this hour! God has given you the strength and the resilience that you need to stand up even if you have to stand alone! To be the sore thumb that sticks all the way out! To have resilience and fortification and to be peculiar and an alien and a stranger to this world! You’ve got enough strength for that! I’m telling you, you were made for this!
Don’t back down and don’t bend! The Holy Spirit of God is making you strong enough for this hour! Some of you are in the storm of your life right now. Culturally, collectively, we have all—globally—we have all been in a storm, y’all! We haven’t just been through one pandemic; it’s been like layered pandemics on top of pandemics! There’s that medical one, of course, but there’s been a social one; there’s been a racial one; there’s been a political one, layered pandemics on top of pandemics! You and I are going to need a supernatural strength for this!
And on top of what we’ve all been through personally, I know that some of you have been through the same kind of stuff we’ve been through—loss after loss! Yo, we have had eight losses in our family in two years—back to back! Like, where every three to four months another person in our life passed away. We’ve had medical diagnosis after medical diagnosis! We’re the storms of life; it’s like that the world just opened up over our family, and there were storms that were pelting down on us.
And the reason why I can tell you that God will give you enough strength to sustain you is because I’m a living witness that y’all, we have been through the storm! But the Holy Spirit reminds me that God is still who He said He is! I’m telling you, my faith in Him, my hope in Him has not wavered. Have I cried the tears? Have I been disappointed? Have I asked the questions? Yes! But I’ve asked the questions without questioning the character of God. He is who He said He is!
And I don’t tell you that to tell you how strong I am. I’m telling you there is a supernatural strength that He’ll make available to you! It’s a fortification; it’s a resilience! High school student, you’re going to need it! University student, you’re going to need it! JC, you’re going to need it! Mariah, you’re going to need it! Ryan, you’re going to need it! Pastor Madu, you’re going to need it! Stephanie, you’re going to need it! A resilience for what it is that God has called you to, and He gives it to you by the Holy Spirit!
Okay? He’s got enough patience for that!
Altar Call and Closing Prayer
I want to know if you are in this room and you have literally felt like, even before you came here, you kind of felt like, «You know what? I’m actually too far gone for any of this to work for me because my story is different than everybody else’s story. The history I have, the background I’ve come from, the abuse that I’ve suffered or that I have rendered, the hard place that I have come from, I just don’t know that God’s grace is sufficient for somebody like me.» I’m telling you, if that is you, and you are in this room, and you can just feel your heart burning within you—that’s how the Holy Spirit speaks to you—listen to me! If your heart is burning within you right now, and you know you need to respond and receive the patience of God for you, just come down front right now.
If that’s you, don’t think twice about it. Don’t debate with yourself. Just come on down! His grace is sufficient! His grace is sufficient! His grace is sufficient! His grace is sufficient! He’s got your back! His grace is sufficient! His grace is sufficient! He’s got you! He’s got you! Grace is sufficient!
I bet you there are some of you that maybe have never received Christ as Savior before. Then there are others of you who have accepted Christ as your Savior, but you’ve kind of taken a little detour, and you’ve worried about whether or not the arm of God is long enough to bring you back. Whichever category you fall into, I’m going to pray for you tonight, and I believe that the Holy Spirit is going to give you, before tonight is over, an awakening, a revelation of the extravagant patience of God for you that you’re going to walk out of here not in fear and insecurity anymore in your relationship with God—no tiptoeing, no eggshells anymore! Now is the time when you’re going to live the abundant life, Ryan, that God has called you to, without fear and with complete abandon, walking in faith before the Lord! That’s what’s going to happen tonight!
So if you need to place faith in Jesus Christ—if this is the first time you’ve ever even heard that whole salvation story, what God went through for you, and you want to receive Christ as Savior—the Bible says that if you confess with your mouth and you believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, He did all the heavy lifting! All you have to do is receive the gift.
So I’m just going to pray this prayer, and I want you to repeat after me if that’s the prayer you need to pray. There’s no magic in the words; this is you believing in your heart as you confess with your mouth. In fact, we can all pray this prayer together to build an atmosphere of faith for those who are praying it for the very first time.
So let’s pray: «Lord Jesus, I am a sinner in need of a Savior, and I believe that You are that Savior. So today, I place faith alone in Christ alone to remove my sins, take up residence in me in the person of the Holy Spirit right now. In Jesus’ name, Lord, I thank You for those who have come into the family of God in this moment. I thank You that the angels are rejoicing if You draw them in! I praise You, Father! And then, Lord, I thank You that the rescue mission that You’ve been on for our soul is evidence to the fact that Your grace and patience is sufficient for all of us. So I pray right now in Jesus' name that the blanket of discouragement that the enemy may be putting on anybody’s shoulders, I ask You to lift it off of their shoulders right now in Jesus' name! I pray against every scheme of the enemy to cause a distortion of Your grace and Your mercy. I ask, Father, that You would renew their minds right now. I pray, Lord, that You would pour out Your grace upon them, Your patience upon them, Father, and give them a revelation of Your love for them. Thank You, Father, that right now in Jesus' name, You are setting them free! In the mighty name of Jesus Christ!»