PATIENCE – Champions by the Fruit of the Spirit

Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 1:11, Exodus 32

Patience vs. Impatience 

Bible story: The golden calf Exodus 32 

Theme Verse: Colossians 1:11 

Today’s Bible story is about the Israelites and their lack of patience. It was only three months prior (Ex 19:1) that they were saved from the plagues, saved from slavery in Egypt, and received God’s protection by pillars of both fire and cloud. God saved them again in the crossing of the red sea, giving them miracles of water in the desert, and bread and meat falling from heaven every day to feed them! (Ex 16:1) God called Moses to the mountain where he was for a long time (40 days, Ex 24:18). The people asked Aaron to make them a god. Aaron had them gather their gold and formed a calf, and they worshiped it with a festival, eating, and dancing. God saw their sin and told Moses to hurry down the mountain. Both God and Moses became angry and punished the people for their disobedience and impatience. 

God speaks to us like He did with His people back then. He gives us promises and direction for our lives. He may call you into missions, or give you a passion for something you will be able to do in the future. He may ask you to be a teacher, a pastor, or a doctor. Sometimes, God calls or assigns us years before it happens. This is when we need patience. We know God has called us, even though others cannot see it. It is hard to be overlooked and treated as though we have nothing to offer. Perhaps you feel that God said He was going to heal you, and you are still sick. God is not limited by time like us. God has always existed, and will continue existing for eternity. We have mortal bodies right now and feel the clock ticking. For the Israelites, the month that Moses was on the mountain was long and they grew impatient. 

Instead of waiting for the God who had just saved them multiple times, they made another god. We can also be tempted to fulfill God’s promises by organizing things ourselves, trying to make it happen on our own. That is not God’s blessing. The blessing from God comes when we are patient and trust Him to do His work in His timing. How did the Israelites actually forget all those amazing miracles that God had recently performed? We know exactly how they forgot because we also forget what God has done in our lives as well! 

Patience is an important fruit of the Spirit. With it, we can become powerful men and women of God. However, without patience, we will be like babies, tossed around from one month to the next. Patience will help you no longer be like a baby! 

Questions: 

1. How does God speak to us? What was the last thing He said to you? 

2. What things can we do so we don’t forget the miracles of God as quickly as the Israelites did in today’s story? 

3. What does eternity mean? How is it possible that we will live forever? 

Life Application: 

Write in the dirt something God has done for you in the past, then mark that spot with a rock. Do one at church, each student making their own special spot, and do another at home during the week. After you have marked your spot with a rock, share with someone else what God did.

Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-23, Psalms 119:50, Job 1

Patience vs. Sorrow

Bible story: Job suffers with patience Job 1-2 

Theme Verse: Psalm 119:50 

Today we are focusing on patience as it contrasts to sorrow. People all over the world suffer from discrimination, natural disasters, persecution, sickness, and death. No one on this planet can hide from inevitable suffering. Money, power, or fame cannot protect us from suffering. 

For Christians, the challenge is how we will respond to it. Will we allow sorrow from our pain to grab ahold of us and pull us down? Or can we develop patience through the pain and become living examples to the world? 

In the book of James (James 5:10-11), God mentions patience in the face of suffering, highlighting the life of Job as a good example. The Word says that all those who have persevered through suffering are considered blessed. The Bible account of Job is very interesting as it opens up our eyes to a full supernatural world including angels, God in heaven, and the devil who roams the earth. God brags to the devil about a wonderful man named Job. The devil says that Job behaves well because God has blessed him, and challenges God that if He were to take away all the blessings, then Job would curse God. Therefore, God gives the devil permission to attack Job, and all in one day he kills all his livestock, servants, and family! Job did not curse God, and so the devil got permission to attack Job’s health as well. The devil was sure that if Job were also personally suffering, surely then he would curse God for his troubles. Job was there, on the ground covered in very painful sores, having lost all his wealth and his whole family, but he refused to curse God and blame Him for his troubles. His wife pressured him and his friends came by and blamed him. They told Job that he must have sinned in order to have all this pain and death around him. However, Job remained true to God, and continued in patience instead of letting the sorrow pull him down. 

We can see from this Bible account that God wants us to honor Him in good times and bad times. We cannot only be joyful Christians when things are going well. Job said to his wife, “Should we accept good from God, and not trouble?” 

Pain and death are natural. Sorrow from it is also natural and human. However, patience as we are going through a very difficult time is supernatural. It requires God working in us, and a complete trust in God. Everyone goes through hard times. However, if you can allow patience to grow in you instead of sorrow and complaints, you will develop into a mature Christian. 

Questions: 

1. Why does God allow us to suffer? 

2. Why did our loved one have to die? 

3. How could suffering possibly be a blessing? 

Life Application: 

Write a thank you to God over something where you suffered. Try to say as Job did, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised.” Share with others your testimony if you can.

Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-23, Ecclesiastes 7:8, Daniel 4

Patience vs. Pride 

Bible story: King Nebuchadnezzar Daniel 4 

Theme Verse: Ecclesiastes 7:8 

Today we are learning about pride and how it can take us down. In fact, pride can totally destroy us if we let it! The truth is that we should always recognize that God is the one who has helped us achieve whatever we have, and He should receive all the credit. The more we boast in our own achievements, the more trouble we can get into. 

Today’s Bible story is about king Nebuchadnezzar who stood on his roof, gazing out at his wonderful kingdom. He thought to himself, “What a fabulous city I have made by my own might,” basically saying, “I am so great!” God had warned this king a year earlier in a dream to be careful with pride, or God himself would humble him. However, there he was standing on his rooftop, full of pride for all that he had accomplished. So God humbled him. The words were still on the king’s lips when a voice came from heaven taking his authority away. He was driven away from the palace and lost his mind. He wandered in fields outside the city like cattle while his hair and nails grew. This famous king became like a wild animal living alone outside. 

Pride is an ugly sin, and God has no patience for it. God can humble men, taking away their fabulous jobs or causing them to lose money. God is all-sovereign, and He cares about us. When we become prideful, it is in our best interest that God humbles us. On the other hand, we can make life easier by humbling ourselves before He has to do it. Pride is an enemy against the fruit of the spirit. 

This month we are learning about patience. It can be very difficult to wait. Sometimes we have to wait on God to fulfill a dream He promised, or we have to wait on others to do what they promised. Either way, pride can get in the way of our patience. The higher we think of ourselves, the less we want to wait on others. A king should not have to wait for anyone! So the more we think we are like kings, the less we want to wait. The Bible says that this king lived like an animal for seven “times,” which may have meant seven years! After that time, king Nebuchadnezzar looked up to heaven and acknowledged that God was the real king of the earth, and he praised God and glorified Him. His sanity returned to him, and he was restored as king. 

Do you want to be humbled by God or to humble yourself? You choose. 

Questions: 

1. Do you think the king actually went crazy and ate grass? 

2. How could the king have humbled himself so that God did not have to? 

3. How do people act like kings in your community? What does it look like? 

Life Application: 

Do some activities to humble yourself. You could give someone your place in line, avoid watching a TV show where the characters are full of pride, give up your spot on stage or in front of others, or allow others to be correct.

Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-23, 1 Samuel 25, Ephesians 4:26

Patience vs. Anger 

Bible story: David, Nabal and Abigail 1 Samuel 25 

Theme Verse: Ephesians 4:26 

This week we are learning about anger as it opposes patience. Anger is an interesting emotion, because it can blind us. It can take over our whole being, making us think of nothing else. We can be angry while we are sinning against others or ourselves. The hardest anger to control is when we have been wronged. When we know that we are correct, that is when it is most difficult to control our anger. 

This is what happened in today’s Bible story. David was angry because he had been wronged. David was traveling with 600 men in his company. He sent some men ahead to ask Nabal for a favor, feeding his men as they traveled through the area. Since David had been doing Nabal favors for a long time, saving him time and money, it was within David’s rights to ask kindly for a favor in return. However, Nabal said meanly, NO! Therefore, David became angry, and decided to take revenge. David was on his way with 400 men to kill Nabal, when Abigail (Nabal’s wife) was informed of the danger, and she quickly set about to save the day. She packed up a wonderful meal for all 600 men, and traveled to meet David. She bowed low, apologized for Nabal’s behavior, and gave the food to him. It would seem that Abigail saved Nabal’s life. The Bible shares this story showing that David was within his rights to be angry. 

However, when Abigail stopped David from avenging himself, the story changes, and Abigail is seen more as protecting David than Nabal. David would have been within his rights to avenge himself, but it would not have been good. He would have been correct, but not blessed. Although it would seem that Abigail saved Nabal, in reality she saved David from his own anger. Wisdom in this situation is to be patient instead of angry. In the end, God punishes Nabal for his wrongs against David. 

When we are facing the decision between anger and patience, we can ask ourselves the same question. Do we want to be correct and right, but not blessed? Or would we rather choose the best way that leads to more blessing? 

Questions: 

1. What is wrong with getting angry when we are wronged? 

2. Have you ever been treated wrong when you were in the right? Explain. 

3. Will God always avenge me? 

Life Application: 

Purchase a few small items to give away as gifts. Whenever you become angry, give an item to the person you are angry with. Try to stomp out your anger by giving small gifts to people, and watch your patience grow.

Scriptures: Galatians 5:22-23, Exodus 16:1-18, James 5:8-9

Patience vs. Entitlement 

Bible story: The manna and quail Exodus 16:1-18 

Theme Verse: James 5:8-9 

Students, this week our match fight is patience against entitlement. Entitlement means when a person believes that he or she deserves certain privileges, and usually they are arrogant about it. This is seen in wealthier countries where people expect they should have everything they want or need. Entitlement is also found in poorer countries, where people feel they have a right to beg because they should be given the same as others. Neither one of these attitudes is good. God expects us to be patient and trust Him with our lives. 

In today’s Bible story, the people of Israel found themselves in a place of need and started to beg and plead to God. The Bible says they grumbled against God and complained saying they wished they had stayed in Egypt instead of following God into the desert. They shouted that they preferred to have died in Egypt. But then the unexpected happened! God took care of them miraculously, sending manna and quail down from the sky! Every morning there was bread to eat, a thin flake called manna. In addition, every evening there was meat to eat, birds called quail that God sent their way. 

However, even when God did these miracles, they continued to grumble. In Numbers 11:6, the people grumbled, “But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!” God was angry at the Israelites for their grumbling and complaining. 

They had a sense of entitlement where they felt they could demand food from God. In reality, none of us is owed anything from anyone. We cannot demand things from God, our governments, our parents, our churches, or foreigners. We should have patience instead of a sense of entitlement. 

Questions: 

1. What things do you expect to receive from your government? 

2. What do people often say when they are grumbling and complaining about what they do not have? 

3. Have you ever been tempted to demand something from God? Discuss what demanding things from God looks like. 

Life Application: 

This week you are owed nothing from anyone. Every time you want to ask for something, stop yourself. Each time you successfully stop yourself from asking for food, favors, time, or help, you win against this sin.