Patience | Barry & Donna Webb

[0:00] Well, y'all, we're excited. We're excited. We've been studying together and... That takes some patience. And it really did, because we kind of like, I was like, one night I was like, I'm going to bed. Forget it.

[0:16] But anyway, we have enjoyed studying together. We don't normally do that. No, but we hope y'all get something out of it tonight.

[0:26] We won't be up here long, but we'll give you something, okay? All right. Okay, the fruit that we have is patience. Or you can call it long-suffering.

[0:38] Some people like to call it long-suffering. Some people like to call it patience. I call it patience because I don't have any. And I picked this on purpose. I told Brother Lamar, I said, give me patience because I need help in that area.

[0:52] Yes. And I'm sure some of y'all need help in that area with patience as well. But let me give you a quick definition of patience, a couple of different definitions. One is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay.

[1:11] Suffering without getting angry or upset. So you can go, patience. Being impatient can cause you to get angry. I know it does me.

[1:23] Especially when people on my bumper and I'm getting ready to turn in on my street that I live on. So I slow down on purpose. And they better not hit me.

[1:37] Because my back already hurts a little bit. All right, Barry. But I slow down on purpose to send a message to them. Look, you on my bumper, back up a little bit, you know? If you're in a hurry, you should have left a little earlier.

[1:49] Yeah. But we're going to get into some things about patience. And I hope it helps me tonight. And I hope it helps you. Yes. One of the things that we do know that patience is just not having a good attitude.

[2:05] Patience is not like, patience is one of the fruits of the spirit. It is the spirit. It's not just having a good attitude like, oh, today I'm going to love.

[2:16] Today I'm going to have joy. Today I'm going to be patient. No. It's the work of the Holy Spirit that's in us. That has to perfect that in us.

[2:27] So that we can grow in patience, in love, in joy. It's the spirit. Amen. So Sunday night we did the Rowdy Bunch.

[2:39] And one of the things that Barry had asked us to do was write down our favorite scripture. And I always refer back to this scripture all the time.

[2:53] And it's Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. And in Proverbs 3, 5, it says, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thy own understanding.

[3:07] And every time I read that, I look at that word trust. And that word trust to me means God is saying, if you're saying trust me, you mean what he's saying to me, what I get out of that is, wait.

[3:24] God is saying, wait for me. Wait for me. Have patience. Yes. He's saying, wait for me. And so that requires me to have patience when God say, wait.

[3:36] Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding because I know I do this. And my husband has to tell me a lot of times, Donna, don't overthink it.

[3:49] Because I'll go way out there. And he'll say, babe, I have to reel you back in. Come on back in now because I will overthink it. I got four fishing rods sitting up in the corner.

[4:02] And I can hook all four of them up to her and still can't reel her back in sometimes. Yeah. Sometimes I get way out there. But that word trust me to me is to wait.

[4:13] God is saying, wait. And that word wait requires me to have patience. God is saying, wait. I got this. I got you. I always have to go back to that scripture because in verse 6 it says, in all thy ways.

[4:27] That means in all things. I got to learn to trust him. And, you know, for me, it's hard in that wait. That's in the waiting. That's when I go crazy.

[4:39] I can't, you know, I just, you know, some things, the things that bother Barry is sitting in traffic. They don't get his food right at the restaurant. I can deal with all of those things.

[4:51] It does not bother me. I think my wait in the waiting is waiting on a test result. I can't deal with that.

[5:02] I just like, Barry, I need help with that. I really need help. But just learning how to wait on God and just let him perfect that in me. Just, God, you're going to have to do this.

[5:15] Can't do nothing on our own. Let me tell you all what she said before we got here tonight. I'm not going to do much talking. So I'm sitting here waiting for her to get done, okay?

[5:27] I'm trying to have patience. I'm sorry, Barry. I'm sorry. Because I got more wrote down than she does. Well, let me just get mine out of the way. Okay.

[5:39] Well, the reason I was saying earlier about the Holy Spirit perfecting this in us, because it's a battle. And the battle is, it's found in Galatians.

[5:50] And it says, for the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. So there's a war going on. That's why I said it's not just having the right attitude to do it, because I might have a lot of patience today.

[6:07] But the next day, I might not have none at all. And it's a battle going on. It's a war going on inside of us that we need the Holy Spirit to work in us to perfect this in us.

[6:21] So just think about this for a minute. You're going through something. And I don't want to say it's a life situation, but let's just say some type of situation you're going through.

[6:34] And you're waiting on God to move. Well, he don't want you to just sit there and not do anything. Because in James chapter 1, it says, in verse 3, it says, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

[6:53] Okay? But let patience have her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So while you're waiting and trying to develop the fruit of patience, while you're waiting, you need to be doing something like in the word.

[7:13] Yes. Praying. And if you have to fast, fast. I don't know what that is. Come on. Because I love to eat. I fast sometimes, but mostly in the mornings.

[7:27] But you have to give the Holy Spirit something to grab hope to with you. In other words, you have to activate your faith. Yes.

[7:37] You have to put it into action, okay? And so it's hard to suffer without complaining. But being impatient can cause stress.

[7:48] Oh, yeah. Or you can get stressed out about something. Waiting. Waiting for someone to do something that they're supposed to do causes more stress than waiting for God to do something that he promised he'd do.

[8:02] Yes. So if you wait, if you take the attitude and say, hey, I'm going to wait and I'm going to pray, I'm going to fast, I'm going to worship. Oh, I mean, worship is powerful.

[8:15] Oh, man, that's why I don't like being late for church on Sunday. I got to get in worship. When I'm not working the front doors, I like to get in here and worship with the worship team. Worship is powerful.

[8:26] So I would advise some of you to do that at home because worship just takes you into the throne room, takes you into the presence of God.

[8:39] But that's a whole other subject. But that's part of your waiting, okay? Okay. Think about some of the things that you do not have patience for. I bet everybody in here can come up with something that you don't have patience for.

[8:54] Like my wife said earlier, standing in long lines at restaurants. And when you get up to the check-in booth, they write your name down. They give you this little buzzer.

[9:06] They'll beep you when it's time to go in. You're looking in the restaurant, there's 30, 40 tables empty in there. There's 30, 40 families waiting in line to get in here to eat.

[9:22] And I really think that I get irritated because he's irritated over something like that. I really get irritated. And I'll say, Barry, but we got all day. But we got all evening.

[9:33] And then when we get in and sit down and order our food, I'm the last one at the table to get his food. Yeah, that's true. And I know God ain't doing that. That's just a sorry restaurant.

[9:47] Everybody at the table is halfway done eating, and here comes my food. And then it ain't right. It's not right. The steak is tough.

[10:00] I'm just saying that's some of the things that just drive me nuts, you know? I know, and it drives me nuts because he's nuts. But anyway, it's Philippians 4 and 6 and 7.

[10:12] It says, be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and let your requests be made known unto God. Well, you can translate that into be impatient for nothing.

[10:26] Yeah. Be anxious for nothing. The Lord is saying, be anxious and make your requests known unto him. But it's some things that he wants us to do. Pray. Humble ourselves.

[10:38] Come before him. Pray. And be thankful in advance. And say, Lord, thank you. And believe that prayer. And we will see it done. Because the next verse after that says, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus.

[10:59] I thought you weren't going to talk that much. Listen, I'm on a roll. But the thing about it is, that is so important to me.

[11:13] Because if the enemy can get your mind going, if he can really get your mind going, sometimes if I'm upset or worried about something and I'm laying down, especially late at night, sometimes I wake Barry up and sometimes I don't.

[11:30] But if the enemy can just get your mind, I have to talk to myself. Okay, Donna, that's a lie from the enemy. Satan, you lying, you lie. That's a lie from hell.

[11:40] And I rebuke that in Jesus' name. And, you know, you have to encourage yourself. Talk to yourself and bring yourself back to yourself and say, uh-uh, I'm not believing the lie of the enemy.

[11:53] That's a lie. It's been so many nights like my son, he would be out late. And I'd be so worried. And I said, Lord, I just plead the blood of Jesus over him.

[12:03] He is safe. And he's going to come home. And he's not, no accidents given, none taken. I plead the blood of Jesus over him. And I'll stand on it. And I'll go to sleep.

[12:15] Because you know what? The enemy, if he can get your mind, then he got you. He does. Like I said earlier, you got to give the Holy Spirit something to work with.

[12:26] If you want God and the Holy Spirit to do everything for you, it's probably going to take a little bit longer for you to get it done. Okay? But if you give him something to act on, then, like she says, I plead the blood of Jesus over my son.

[12:40] And he won't be in no accident, you know, and no harm or danger will come to him. Hebrews 10, chapter 10, verse 35 and 36 says, cast not away, therefore, your confidence.

[12:55] And while you're waiting and trying to develop the fruit of patience, have confidence in God. And knowing that he's coming.

[13:06] And have it in yourself, too. Mm-hmm. Because you are more than a conqueror. Mm-hmm. Yes. You're above and not beneath. Mm-hmm. You're the head and not the tail.

[13:17] Mm-hmm. You're blessed coming in and going out. Yes. Yes. You're everything that God says you are. Yes. Amen? We have to talk to ourselves. Bring ourselves back in.

[13:28] Okay, baby. You interrupted me. Okay. Sorry. Cast not away your confidence, which has great recompense of reward. For you have need of patience.

[13:41] Yes. You need patience. Mm-hmm. That's what Paul says in Hebrews. You need patience. Mm-hmm. That after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

[13:53] Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, what is the promise? The end result of what you're going through. What you're waiting for. Yes. Yes. If you're doing what you're supposed to do while you're waiting, okay?

[14:05] Yes. The promise is coming. Yes, it is. Yes. And I'll prophesy that to you right now in Jesus' name. Amen. The promise is coming. Yes. And it goes back to Philippians 7.

[14:16] It says, And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your heart and your mind through Christ Jesus. And again, I say, it's important that your mind stay in tune with the things of God.

[14:30] Because the enemy wants to steal your mind. I have to say that again. Because I'm talking from experience. I have to so many times. I lay in my bed and I'm just like, Lord, just take over my mind.

[14:41] I have the mind of Christ. Because the enemy will come at your weakest moment. I don't know about your weakest moment. But my weakest moment is either late at night or early, early, early in the morning before I can get up good.

[14:55] The enemy will start playing with my mind. Start bringing all kinds of, you know, negative thoughts. This is going to happen. That is going to happen. This is going to be. And I said, no, that's a lie. I will not listen to the lies of the enemy.

[15:08] I think she got something different from what I got. Okay, go ahead, babe. Go ahead. Okay. In the book of Acts, chapter 2.

[15:21] When Pentecost was coming. Jesus told them to go wait. And if I remember right, I think they started out with like 500. Yes. And there were like 120.

[15:33] Yes. 120 had patience. Mm-hmm. Woo. Woo. Yes. And we know what happened to the 120. Yes. There came a sound from heaven like a mighty rushing wind.

[15:49] Amen. They received the promise. And the Holy Ghost filled the whole room. Yes. Praise God. They had patience to wait on the promise. Mm-hmm.

[15:59] And they received the promise. Amen. Amen. So God has wanted us to cultivate that fruit. He wants that fruit to grow in us.

[16:11] Mm-hmm. Patience is one of the fruit that's right up there at the top with the rest of them.

[16:24] Mm-hmm. Because the Bible says love is patient. Yes. Man. If you're a loving person, you're a patient person. Yes.

[16:34] In other words, you can't have one without the other one. That's true. That's true. Yes. Amen. Yeah. Okay. Jump in there, babe.

[16:45] Well, can I give a short testimony? Go right in. Okay. I want to just give this short testimony. How long is it? It's short. And it concerns us. Okay.

[16:57] Okay. I wanted to give this short testimony because I want to give God glory in what he has done in our lives. And I know a lot of you probably don't know, but I think it was in a few years back, me and Barry went through a very difficult time in our finances.

[17:18] And I was getting these letters almost every other day, week. We had gotten behind. My job had went out. Barry's job was slow.

[17:29] We got behind in our mortgage. And we was getting all these letters from our mortgage company. They kept adding late charges, adding fees, adding late charges, adding fees.

[17:40] And so I would call them and try to just talk to them. Every time I would call them, they would put me on hold. They'd send me to this person. They'd send me to that person. They wouldn't try to work with me no kind of way.

[17:54] And then after so long, we got so far behind that we couldn't catch up. And so one day I remember going to the mailbox, and I went and got a letter out.

[18:07] And it was a letter, a foreclosure letter. And I went back in the house, and I told Barry. I said, Barry. And I was so distraught because I saw it, and I knew what it was.

[18:21] And I went in the house, and I was just praying the whole way, walking to the house. And I went in the house, and I told Barry, I said, we got this letter. Well, first the Holy Spirit spoke to me, and he said, I was going to just pray over the letter.

[18:36] And he said, go get your husband. And I went and got Barry. I said, Barry, the Holy Spirit said for us to pray over this letter. And he said, okay, let's do it.

[18:47] Well, we got a room in our house where we pray. We just got a room. And worship. And worship. So we took the letter, and what we did, we laid it down in the floor.

[19:00] In the middle of the floor. In the middle of the floor. Let me tell it, baby. I'm just helping you out. Okay. And we laid it down in the middle of the floor. And when we laid it down in the middle of the floor, we started praying.

[19:13] My son was little at the time. And we laid it down, and we grabbed hands. We marched around that mortgage. Wait a minute, not yet. We grabbed hands first. Tell her that if you're going to tell her.

[19:23] We grabbed hands first, and we started praying. Me and Barry started praying over that. We just started praying and believing God. Believing God. Because this was urgent. They was only giving us, like, so many days to come up with this.

[19:37] You know, we could have just said, you know. But we didn't. We got that letter, and we laid it in the floor. And we stood there firm. And we prayed over that letter. And we marched around that mortgage.

[19:47] We did. After we prayed, we felt really confident. We started marching around that letter like it was Jericho. We just started marching. That was our Jericho.

[19:58] We started marching. And when we started marching around it, we marched until we felt a release. And we left it there. And every day I would pick my son up from school, and he'd come home.

[20:10] He'd say, Mom and Dad, y'all not going to pick that mail up? I said, boy, leave it. Leave it. Leave that alone. Leave it alone. And we stood firm, and we believed God. Well, I had been calling my mortgage people, calling them and calling them.

[20:23] They would never, never, never work with us. I know it had to be about a month later, I'd get another letter through the mail. Well, this time, this letter, they done dropped our interest rate all the way down to a 2%.

[20:38] And then they took, what's it, $5,000 off of our mortgage. And then every time we made a payment, they took $1,000 off the mortgage.

[20:52] Yes. That don't happen. Yes. Yes. God did, you know, just having. Having patience. Having patience. Waiting on God. Waiting on God.

[21:02] And I'll tell you, he will come through every time. Like I said, you got to give the Holy Spirit something to work with. Yes. Okay? Yes. You got to give him something. And so I felt led to tell that because I want to give him glory for what he has done.

[21:17] And I'm just, I'm not ashamed to tell it because just waiting on God, it's hard. Sometimes it's really hard in that wait, but just learn how to wait. Because if you wait, it's a promise and a reward behind the wait.

[21:32] Okay. And I'm done. You're done. You're done. You sure? Yeah. For now? Yeah. Okay. Patience is the ability to wait.

[21:45] Impatience is the inability to wait. Either you're patient or you're impatient. I'm trying to work on mine.

[21:59] But Proverbs 16, remember I said earlier, being impatient causes anger. Proverbs 16 and 32 says, he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty.

[22:14] I'm like, okay, Lord. I'm like, okay, Lord. And Lord said, he that has patience is better than the mighty. Yes. You know, all these verses that I'm giving you.

[22:24] You know, all these verses that I'm giving you, you can inject patience in there because that's what they're referring back to. Being patient shows kindness. Being patient shows kindness.

[22:35] It encourages others to do the same. You learn how to live a peaceful life and not a stressful one.

[22:46] Well, I love to live a peaceful life away from being impatient. Listen, we was on the way to church one morning and we was behind this couple. And I'm like, because I hate being late for church.

[22:58] I can't stand being late. I'm not late for work. I am not being late for church. Okay. And we get when we finally get to work, we can pass them there like 80, 90 years old.

[23:11] I done said every substitute curse word in my mind. Yes. Yeah, there's some substitute curse words out there. Dang it and doggone it and all that.

[23:26] Dagnabbit. Daggummit. Daddy chewing gum. You know, you get like that. And then you look real stupid after you get past them.

[23:39] I'm like, shouldn't have did that. But I don't ride people's bumper. I don't do that. And I wish everybody easily would get the same message.

[23:50] Because I'm about to go ballistic sometime on the highway. I actually believe I do have a little bit of road rage. Come on, babe. You know, I'm just telling the truth.

[24:02] Come on, let's go. Family. Family. I don't want to say immediate family.

[24:14] But extended family is hard to have patience with. I hope my family ain't watching us. Come on. We have, we should have family reunions every year until COVID hit.

[24:28] I think we was up to like 40-something family reunions. We hadn't had any since COVID. But now they have Cousin Day. So much liquor and dope.

[24:42] Like, man, you want a beer? You want a beer? You want to smoke one? Like, dude, that stuff almost killed me. You know? But I still have to love them.

[24:53] Yeah. And have patience with them. Yes. Because they need Jesus just like I got him. We all do. So, family, it's hard. The Bible says a prophet is not without honor except in his own land.

[25:08] Your own land could very well be your family. That's right. Your extended family. So, I want to talk, my wife, she's rushing me, y'all. Yeah.

[25:18] I want to talk about three people that I know that exemplifies patience before we stop. And I didn't get to half myself because Donna took up all the time tonight. But it's all good.

[25:31] One of the most patient people I know, and she may not realize that, is my wife. Because she's always reeling me.

[25:42] She say I reel her back in, but she's the one always reeling me back in. That is so sweet. Because she don't never agree with me on anything. And that's a good thing.

[25:53] Another patient person that I know goes to this church. His name is Kirby Smith.

[26:09] Now, when I got to know Kirby, Kirby puts you in the mind of a person that's always at ease.

[26:25] A person that's always relaxed. Don't get bent out of shape about anything. And at the same time, he'll challenge you to come up higher.

[26:39] And that's what a patient person does. It changes the atmosphere. Another patient...

[26:49] Why do I keep saying patient? I guess because they are patient. Another patient person I know is Brother Lamar Wright, Elder Lamar. For Lamar to be a friend to me, I'm pretty sure he's had to have a lot of patience.

[27:11] Because I'm a tough case. I'm a tough nut to crack. Lamar has been my friend since we've been at this church. He and his wife grabbed me and my wife.

[27:24] Took us under their wing. And we've been friends ever since. But one thing about Lamar's friendship, it has no motive. He's patient with the church.

[27:40] He's patient with his business. With his customers. I know that's tough, being patient with customers. In the work that he does.

[27:52] But Lamar's motive is just to be your friend. And I appreciate that. And he better not start crying on me back there. Another person I want to talk about is my boss man.

[28:09] He's from the Amish community up in Ohio. Great builder. Could build anything. He could build you a house. And it'd take an L5 tornado to tear it down.

[28:19] That's how strong builders they are. He takes his time with his customers. He makes sure that they are 100% happy before we pack up and leave the job.

[28:34] He'll even call them when we're done and say, is there anything else that we need to do that we forgot? Most builders are like, get that check and go on. And they don't care what's left.

[28:45] It's got to be done. But my wife is rushing me because I don't know why. I missed something, babe.

[29:00] No idea? Huh? But anyway, y'all pray for us. Yeah. I'm serious. I struggle with patience.

[29:13] I really do. I'm not the most patient person in the world. And that's the reason why I chose this topic because I struggle with it. I say, Lamar, give me patience.

[29:23] But we're going to do better. He's going to do better. Oh, I'm definitely going to do better after getting up here in front of y'all. You're going to get some good reports from now on. Just know that God is working on all of us.

[29:36] Yes. He's not done with us. That's right. He has great things in store for us. You hear me? For each and every one of you as individuals, as a corporate body, he has great things in store for Set Free Church, for Pastor Donna.

[29:52] Yes. In the Set Free Church family? Yes. And we need to extend patience to people as God has extended patience to us.

[30:04] Okay? God is long-suffering. And we need to be like that when it comes to other people. Okay? God bless you. Thank y'all. Thank you all. Add恕 of the cultura.IP child.