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Life Tabernacle Church Podcast
Biblical preaching and passionate teaching from Life Tabernacle Church in Vinton, Virginia.
Pastor Dallas Herndon and guest ministers teach verse-by-verse through Scripture, exploring the teachings of Jesus Christ and applying them to everyday Christian life.
Topics include:
• Prayer
• Discipleship
• Faith and doubt
• Spiritual formation
• Biblical theology
• Living the Gospel
New sermons recorded live each week from Life Tabernacle Church.
And they still didn't know who he was. And he was patient with them. He was so patient with humanity that had sinned and turned their back against him. He was patient unto death. Death on a cross.
Speaker 2:Hello, friends. Welcome to the Life Tabernacle Church podcast. It's an honor to be with you today. This podcast serves as our church's weekly sermon archive. Tune in each week to hear what God is speaking in our God Be sure to follow and share with a friend.
Speaker 2:We hope you enjoy today's message. And I just get excited.
Speaker 3:So I already shouted before I came in my bathroom. So let's get to the word of God. James chapter five, we're almost done with James. It's been so good, so convicting. This is the word of the Lord.
Speaker 3:James five:seven through 11. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts because the Lord's coming is near.
Speaker 3:Brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door. Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience. See, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about.
Speaker 3:The Lord is compassionate and merciful.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Alrighty. That was only like forty seconds. That felt longer? No?
Speaker 1:Patience. Patience. Look at your neighbor and say patience. Patience. Patience.
Speaker 1:Been tricking through the book of James. And if it wasn't hard enough already, now James is telling us to be patient. Before we get going here, kids four and under, if you wanna go back with miss Emily, you're welcome to go. But if not, stay right here and we're gonna have some fun. Can I go?
Speaker 1:Precious. Yes, sir. I want everybody to know what brother Nutter just said. He said, your kids are not your kids. Kids are children and kids are baby goats.
Speaker 1:So, I stand corrected. We had a children dedication this morning, not a goat dedication. Alright, patience. Taught back into this text together this morning. James five:seven again says, Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient into the Lord's coming.
Speaker 1:Few realities that we had just gotta get out of the way as we dig into this passage. The most obvious is patience. Look at your neighbor and say, Patience. Look at your other neighbor and say, No, patience. Patience.
Speaker 1:Everywhere we go, we find ourselves being stretched in the area of patience. On Thursday night this past week, like I mentioned briefly earlier, we were cleaning some stuff out from the back of the church and Keaton and I were holding a table over our heads and I'm not very strong. And it slipped out of my hands, hit me in the eye and broke my glasses put a little cut, you know, on my eye, not a big deal. And so that means on Friday, had to go get an eye exam and get some new glasses or at least order them. And I tell you what, it was a long process.
Speaker 1:It was like two and a half hours. And there was like no one there. Like no one in front of me. And I'm sitting there like, what am I waiting on? Right?
Speaker 1:You might feel this if you go to a restaurant. There are certain restaurants that are better than others about this. Sometimes you sit at a restaurant, you're immediately served, and it's great. It's wonderful. Sometimes you sit at a restaurant, and you wait, like, ten minutes before someone even takes your drink order.
Speaker 1:And all of sudden, you can feel that, you know, in your soul. Your your patience is being tested, or you're sitting at a red light, and you're the one second in line, right? And there's a car in front of you on their phones, not paying attention, light turns green, and your patience is immediately tested. And you're yelling at them, you're Christian cursing them out, and they can't hear you, but you do it anyways, and your patience is being tested. Again, like I've already said this morning, if you're a parent, you can raise your hands.
Speaker 1:If your kids have ever tested your patience. Yes, thanks father. Love you so much. Patience. He says, Be patient.
Speaker 1:Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient. Patience is one of the nine fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. One of the main fruits of the spirit are the byproduct of the spirit working in our life as we partner with God, should be patience. We should be growing in this fruit.
Speaker 1:True patience does not sit idle, it's not passive, rather patience perseveres in acts of obedience until the thing in which they've waited for comes. Patience is the idea, in the Christian faith at least. Patience is not just sitting around on our hands, not doing anything. Oh, I'm patient. No, you're not.
Speaker 1:You're lazy. You're idle. Being patient means eagerly awaiting the day while continuing do the things that you ought to do. So that begs the question. He says, therefore, brothers and sisters connecting back to the passage we read last week.
Speaker 1:You remember when I gave everybody a $100 last week, right? Yeah. If you weren't here, then you missed out big time. Okay. Hope no, none of y'all spent that somewhere this week.
Speaker 1:He just got done telling us how the, how there's these rich Christians and these rich people who are using and abusing their wealth and abusing others with their wealth. And then right after that, James says, therefore, connecting to the idea he just expressed. He says, therefore, be patient until the Lord's coming. He says, even though people are abusing you, through their money and through their wealth and through their riches and their resources, even your brothers and sisters, you need to be patient. How difficult that word might be if you were the one on the tail end being abused.
Speaker 1:But how long are we supposed to be patient for? Until the Lord's coming. Look at that right there. Be patient until the Lord's coming. Until the Lord's coming.
Speaker 1:What does that mean? Very simply, you know the idea. It's the second coming of Christ. Christ came once to become a man. Take on human flesh, to be born in a stable in Bethlehem, to live a perfect and holy life being directed by the spirit and ultimately to lay down our lives for us on the cross.
Speaker 1:He came once to die for our sins, but He's coming again as the conquering, reigning, bloody King of the universe. And the testimony of the New Testament over and over and over is simply that He is coming, and He is coming soon. He is coming soon. Look at your neighbor and say, soon. Soon.
Speaker 1:Soon. And you might think to me, you're like, all right, Dallas, let me think about this. This book was written over the course of like three thousand two hundred years ago. James was writing about two thousand years ago. And James said, wait until the Lord's coming and that the Lord's return is near.
Speaker 1:Was he lying? It's been two thousand years since he proclaimed these words in God's word. He pinned them down. Where where is he? He's coming soon.
Speaker 1:The end times began when Jesus really arrived on the scene. The end times really got going. We got into the last days when the spirit was poured out on the church in acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost. So Joel said, in the last days, I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. My friends, I testify to you today that God is not idle in keeping his promises.
Speaker 1:No. He is patient, wishing that all would come to salvation, and he's coming soon. That is the testimony of this passage and of the scriptures. He is coming and he's coming soon. Some might say, well, he's not coming.
Speaker 1:If this is all a joke, this is all a sham. Others might say this or that. But the testimony is simply this, he is coming and he is coming soon. Jesus is coming again soon as the conquering king with all authority and all authority in the universe to make all things right. And there is no reality more pressing than this.
Speaker 1:While spiritual formation's important, partnering with the Lord to build his church is important, being good and faithful employees is important, enjoying our families and raising our kids is important, being an American citizen is important, Traveling around the world is important. All these things are important, but nothing is more important than preparing for the return of the Lord. We have been commissioned to go into all the nations proclaiming the gospel of the good news of the kingdom of God for he is coming soon. He is coming soon. It is of the hour.
Speaker 1:It is imminent. He is knocking at the door. And this is no fear mongering either. Not trying to scare you into Christian activity. I'm just proclaiming to you what I know to be true that my God and my Jesus is coming soon for me.
Speaker 1:And I can't wait to be with him. I can't wait for the day until I get to be with him and his presence and everything like sin just runs away. Darkness is gone and only light remains. Told you a few weeks ago, I've been rereading through the book of Revelation. The Revelation is my favorite book in the Bible.
Speaker 1:Because it reminds me of how the story ends. No matter what I go through, no matter what pain I feel, no matter how bad it gets in the world, I know my king is coming and he's gonna make all things right. That's true hope I can rest in. And James says that we ought to be patient until the Lord's return. Then he gives us an analogy to help us understand it.
Speaker 1:Let's look back at verse seven. He says, see how the farmer wastes for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains. As I've told you, I am not a person with a green thumb. Okay. I can't grow a plant.
Speaker 1:I'm not very good at it. And when I read this, I honestly didn't understand what it meant. Why is the farmer waiting for the autumn and the spring rain? I'm sitting there. I'm, you know, I'm pretty, I think I'm decently smart, even though tell Lewis, I'm not very smart, but I can think the thing through this, you know, like you got winter and everything's dead.
Speaker 1:Right. You know, and then you get spring and you put stuff in the ground and then it rains a little bit. And then hopefully you get a little rain over the summer, but that's when it's gonna do most of its growth. And then the harvest comes in, you know, the fall. Like, are you talking about these two different rains?
Speaker 1:And then it all made sense because I looked up some research about what it what it means. It's because these farmers Raise your hand if you're a farmer or grew up on a farm. Anybody here? Oh, wow. It's awesome.
Speaker 1:Is it easy work? Is it easy work, brother Nutter? Is it easy work, sister Patty? Do you just sit around waiting for the rain? No.
Speaker 1:There's work to do. In the autumn, you you pray and hope for the autumn rains because it's going to prepare the soil that you can go ahead and get some plants in the ground and get things germinated over the winter. And then you gotta pray and hope to God while you're doing all the things on your farm, taking care of business. The spring rains come, and they allow that plant to begin to grow. And hopefully, if you get enough rain, it would make it through the summer so that you have enough food to eat when the fall comes.
Speaker 1:There's work to do the whole time. And that's what he's trying to communicate. He's saying, look, you're being patient until the Lord returns. We're being patient. But being patient doesn't mean sitting idle.
Speaker 1:It means that we ought to be doing the things we do and let God do the rest. Or as one of my professors said in college, do your best and let God do the rest. And the idea is very simple, that we just continue to preach the gospel. We continue to follow Christ faithfully. We continue to give to him generously.
Speaker 1:We continue to operate in the power of the spirit until he returns. Until he brings down the reins of revival and awakening and revelation in our nation. Until he returns. Until he returns, we ought to be tilling the land and preparing for the day of the Lord. This reminds me, don't wanna be a farmer, I don't think.
Speaker 1:It's a lot of hard work. But in a similar way, we ought to all be farmers with this mindset. That I have to be patient, even though it is hard, even though people are abusing me, even though I am in pain, even though this life right now is not what it's supposed to be. I have to be patient until he returns. Then he says something.
Speaker 1:He says, you also must be patient again. He just reinforcing this idea again, if we didn't get it, he's telling us to strengthen our hearts because the Lord's coming is near in verse eight, that it's easy to allow your hearts to grow discouraged. You get a bad report, someone gives you that phone call, someone frustrates you, brother Steve, and you can allow your hearts not to be strengthened. And he's reminding you, Hey, be patient, Strengthen or establish your heart in God and his promises for his return is near. And in other words, just occupy just a little bit longer until he comes.
Speaker 1:And and and and just another way for you to get this point. I'm gonna take you to the movies for a moment. Y'all wanna go to the movies for a moment? This is what we're gonna do. I want you to turn your attention to the screen of a clip from a movie that's gonna help illustrate this point of occupying the territory until he Well, let me just Let me set it up.
Speaker 1:Can I set it up for you? I'm a big Lord of the Rings fan. Raise your hand. Have you seen Lord of the Rings? If you haven't, we're gonna have to have a showing here pretty soon.
Speaker 1:In the second movie, it's called the battle of two towers. There's this crazy battle, this place called Helm's Deep. And the good guys have fought all night with little forces and there's nothing left. There's like a handful of guys left And the darkness and the dark forces are just surrounding the good guys. And there is no hope, but they remember a promise.
Speaker 1:There's a guy named Gandalf. He says, you wait until the third day at dawn. If you can hold out till then, it's gonna be okay. I want you to watch what happens here. I I don't know you, I could run through a brick wall right now.
Speaker 1:That is crazy. Such a beautiful film. By the way, Lord of the Rings is all based on Christianity. And so the rider on the white horse coming at just the last hour is our Christ coming to make all things right. And the idea is that we just do what we can until he comes.
Speaker 1:Amen? Amen. But here is one of the difficult parts about that. It's people. Look at your neighbor and say, people.
Speaker 1:Look what James says here in verse nine. He says, brothers and sisters, do not complain about one another so that you will not be judged. Look, the judge stands at the door. When we find ourselves not waiting patiently, we can quickly become frustrated. Raise your hand, have you been frustrated before?
Speaker 1:Let's say you have a bad day at work. Okay. You got a diagnosis, had too much homework to do and you're frustrated about it, whatever it is. Okay. You grow frustrated, you're impatient.
Speaker 1:And what happens usually? Do you take out your frustration and anger on a stranger? Sometimes if it's that bad. But for me, when I'm frustrated, if I had a bad day, got a phone call when expecting or whatever it is, and I'm feeling anxious and frustrated and impatient, if you will, I usually take it out of my wife and my kids first. Not purposefully, but I began just expressing my frustration with them.
Speaker 1:Or there's little things that they do in the house when I'm impatient that just get on my nerves, that usually don't get on my nerves. And I find myself sometimes grumbling. Or what he says here is complaining about it. Why are the kids doing that? Why aren't the kids listening?
Speaker 1:Okay. Why isn't this or that done? And we began complaining and griping and groaning about one another, because we've grown impatient. And James knew though, and that's why he puts it in here, to not complain about one another. And so as we wait for the Lord's return, as we go through different things in life, we have to fight the tension, not turning against one another in our frustration.
Speaker 1:What testimony are we to the world When we argue, when we talk bad about one another, when we complain about one another, when we turn our frustrations toward one another, what testimony of Christ is that to the world? Jesus says, they will know you are my disciples, by the way, you love one another. Another place, love is described as this, love is patient, love is kind, love is not boast. And so James is wanting us in all of our relations, specifically our Christian relationships, as we eagerly await the return of Christ, not to grow frustrated and complain against one another. It's part of the reason why he begins to give you this illustration.
Speaker 1:Remember last week, we got all these rich folks who are persecuting us, abusing us. And he's saying, look, don't grow frustrated with them. You should be like Job. Look at verse 10 with me. Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the Lord's name as an example of suffering and patience.
Speaker 1:Verse 11, see, we count as blessed those who have endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome that the Lord brought about. The Lord is compassionate and merciful. Some of y'all probably remember the story of Job. Zakida thought he was name was Job.
Speaker 1:But the guy this book in the Bible, guy named Job, he had it worse than anybody else. He went from being, having everything that you would ever want. And then having all those things taken away. And then he gets all these friends together and they come sit around while he's trying to figure out what's going on. And if you've read the book of Job, you know that his friends kind of get on your nerves.
Speaker 1:Cause they're sitting around the fire. Like, what did you do? What sin did you commit? You brought this on yourself. What secret sin have you done for God to turn his hand against you?
Speaker 1:Cause they assume that him losing all these things was a sign of divine judgment on his life. And if he could've if he could've been like us, if he would've been like us, he would've probably just been complaining, got frustrated with his friends. Yet, he maintained a posture of patience. And he gave his frustrations to the Lord. As the Lord begins to come back in the story in the book of Job, he's expressed like, Why is this happening?
Speaker 1:And the Lord's like, I'm the Lord, my God. I do what I want. My ways are higher than your ways. It doesn't quite make sense. But he's able to maintain this even killness.
Speaker 1:He's patient with his friends even when he should be impatient with them. He's trying to be patient with God. He's being patient with God, but expressing his frustrations to God. And ultimately though, he endures to the end, and God restores to him tenfold what he had. And that's why he gives you this illustration.
Speaker 1:He reminds you that the Lord's coming. Amen? He's coming soon. Strengthen your hearts. He's gonna make all things right.
Speaker 1:But until then, we have to be patient in all things in life, but specifically in our relationships with one another. We ought to be patient with one another. Keaton, make your way up. I need to tell you a story to pull this all together. Because I find myself patient in many areas in my life, or growing at least.
Speaker 1:I say that, I'm gonna be testing my patience this week. But one of the hardest things to be patient about is about praying for a loved one who doesn't know Christ. You got someone, a brother or sister, a friend that you've been praying for, for years to come to know Christ. And it is easy to allow your hearts to become frustrated and disheartened as you're waiting patiently for God to answer that prayer. Talking about the remember relationships again, but that's one area that's very frustrating.
Speaker 1:Again, I don't think there's probably anything harder than waiting on that day. And there was one lady in church history who knew this well. She had a really crazy name. Her name was Mary Jane Featherstone. Anybody ever heard of Mary Jane Featherstone?
Speaker 1:Nickname was Polly. And she was the wife of the famous healing evangelist, Smith Wigglesworth. If you don't know who Smith Wigglesworth is, you're gonna find out real quick why he is such an interesting guy. Wigglesworth was a British evangelist who lived from 1859 to 1947 and was known as the apostle of the faith. And his life and ministry were marked by unique signs and wonders.
Speaker 1:When I mean unique, this is what I mean. Under his ministry, there was documented people raised from the dead. Resurrections, that's amazing, right? He would also pray for people and they would get healed. And he would also exorcise demons out of people.
Speaker 1:But he was really weird. This one time, Smith Wigglesworth is at a prayer meeting like this. And a lady in the row stands at, Hey, my baby won't stop crying. It just cries all the time. Something's wrong with my kid.
Speaker 1:So he takes the kid and Smith famously said he could see demons when they were affecting a person. And he could see demons on this baby. And you know what Smith did? Smith took the baby like this, dropped it, punted it into the congregation. Again, baby dedication, we're not doing that today, praise God.
Speaker 1:Okay? I'd be in jail. He kicks the baby into the pews and the baby's lying silent on the ground, dormant. They're like, you killed the baby smith, great job. They picked the baby up, baby's fine.
Speaker 1:And the baby never cried like that again. Baby was completely healed of whatever was vexing that kid. He's the apostle of faith. And his life was marked by miracles in that type of ministry. It was just wild to think of.
Speaker 1:But before he would do all that and help lead many things in England, He was a hater of God. He didn't like God, and he definitely couldn't stand his wife who loved the Lord. Polly was a part of what is known as the salvation army. Little bit different than the Salvation Army now. The Salvation Army really was a prayer movement.
Speaker 1:And they would have night vigils where they would pray to two, three, 04:00 in the morning, praying for an awakening, they're praying for the salvation of souls. And that's why they themselves, we are the salvation army. I'm in the Lord's army. Yes, sir. And Polly, one of her main prayer requests is praying that Smith would come to know Christ.
Speaker 1:Then one day, this mean plumber turned evangelist had a period of life where he hated God. And one day, Polly said, hey, I'm going to prayer meeting. He said, if you go to prayer meeting, I ain't letting you back in this house. And this was the winter, brother Glenn. It was winter.
Speaker 1:It was cold. If you do if you go, I'm not letting you in. She said, I'm going to prayer meeting. Have a great night. Love you.
Speaker 1:She goes to prayer meeting. When she gets back, the door's locked. And she stands on the porch freezing for the rest of the night, shivering, cold. And in the morning, Smith found her. And before he could say anything, Polly immediately greeted him and famously said something like this.
Speaker 1:Good morning, Smith. What would you like for breakfast? And it was that act of love and display of patience that converted the plumber turned evangelist Smith Wigglesworth to the faith. What would have happened if Polly grew impatient? What if she had just grown idle in her love?
Speaker 1:I just can't stand this guy. He's so mean to me. He's a jerk. So whatever it is. Instead, she just said, I'm going to continue to pray and be patient.
Speaker 1:And that display of patience changed history. But it was not only Polly that had that type of patience, is it? The most patient person I've ever met in my life, his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus came to his world that he created, yet they did not know him. Jesus went about working miracles, and people didn't realize who he really was.
Speaker 1:He came to the religious leaders who should have known who he was and the signs of the prophecies of Messiah, and they still didn't know who he was. And he was patient with them. He was so patient with humanity that had sinned and turned their back against him. He was patient unto death. Death on a cross.
Speaker 1:That he was willing to endure, as James tells us to do, and be patient. Knowing, you know what? I know I'm gonna have to be patient. I know I'm at to lay my life down, but if I do that, if I remain patient, it will lead to their salvation. That's why we ought to be patient for the Lord is patient.
Speaker 1:As I referenced it earlier, second Peter three nine says, the Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. Instead, he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Our God is patient, and he is returning soon. So today, I look to you brothers and sisters, and I say, strengthen your hearts. Remain patient.
Speaker 1:Continue to occupy the territory till he comes, And don't turn against one another as we wait. Let's not let's not be ununified and fighting and turning inwardly. Rather, let's unify as a body and wait patiently for him, being productive until our king comes. Would you stand with me this morning? I wanna invite sister Dreama and brother Kenny up here if you can.
Speaker 1:Dreama, if you just stand over here. If you need prayer this morning, Dreama's gonna be over here to my right. Brother Kenny and I will be over here to my left. Just wanna invite you to close your eyes for a minute. I don't know how this word came to you today, or what the Holy Spirit is speaking to you.
Speaker 1:My encouragement to you is to just be patient. If you're waiting on some good news or a job to open, be patient. If you're waiting on someone that you've been praying for to come to know Christ, be patient. If you're waiting on something to change in your life, be patient. If you're struggling through something and you're asking God, when's this gonna end?
Speaker 1:Be patient, for his return is near. Holy Spirit, help us to wait patiently on you, unified in spirit, pressing forward towards the goal as we eagerly await that day of your return. If you need prayer this morning for anything, healing in your body or situation, I wanna invite you to come up to either sister Dreamer or Kenny to come pray. If not, would you just worship with us for this next few moments?