The act of enduring mental, physical or emotional discomfort or difficulty for a prolonged period of time with patience and spiritual integrity. The endurance of insult, abuse or mistreatment without waver from the truth. Not easily provoked.

1. 2-29-20
Longsuffering
Bitter is the Cup that Leads to Salvation

2. INTRODUCTION
✤ “When the tempest rages I shall not be
moved. When my cross is heavy I shall not
be moved.” (I Shall Not be Moved)
✤ “Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the
world go free. No there’s a cross for
everyone and there’s a cross for
me” (Praise to the Father)
✤ “I’ll take now the cross of Christ and later
the tree of life. ‘Cause I’m working hard
for the Lord.” (I’m Working Hard for the
Lord)

3. INTRODUCTION
✤ Sound familiar? These are just a
few excerpts from songs we sing in
church and they embody what it
means to be longsuffering.
✤ Brothers and sisters we must
possess the fruit of the spirit,
longsuffering, as we endeavor to
walk through the strait gate
towards eternal life.
✤ Longsuffering is mentioned 17
times in the Bible and 4 times in the
apocrypha so lets define it.

4. LONGSUFFERING
DEFINED
✤ The act of enduring mental,
physical or emotional
discomfort or difficulty for a
prolonged period of time
with patience and spiritual
integrity.
✤ The endurance of insult,
abuse or mistreatment
without waver from the truth.
✤ Not easily provoked.

5. CHRIS OUR
EXAMPLE
✤ Christ is our living testament of what
it means to be longsuffering. He
walked in the flesh as we do.
✤ He experienced the same emotions as
us (anger, sorrow and fear) as evident
in these scriptures: (Matthew 21: 12-13,
St. John 11: 32-35 and Luke 22: 40-44)
✤ He was subjected to trials,
persecutions and temptations.
✤ Through it all, He endured until the
end, without sin, gaining victory for us
all.

6. OURTESTIMONY
✤ We too have a testimony, a cup that we
must drink.
✤ It starts bitter. We must pick up our cross.
✤ As you continue to grow in the Lord, your
faith is going to be tried. The devil will
stop at nothing to cause you to fail. This is
where perseverance and endurance comes
in. You have to fight every single day.
✤ There will be times that you grow weary,
and mourn for the trials you face in life
but we can never throw our hands up and
let go of the truth.

7. STRENGTHTHROUGH
WEAKNESS
✤ Now you may wonder why me? Why am I
going through this? Remember these words
from Brother Paul in (2 Corinthians 12: 7-10)…
✤ “And lest I should be exalted above measure
through the abundance of the revelations,
there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the
messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should
be exalted above measure. For this thing I
besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart
from me. And he said unto me, My grace is
sufficient for thee: for my strength is made
perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the
power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore
I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in
necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for
Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I
strong. “

8. THORN IN OUR
SIDE
✤ No one knows exactly what that thorn in
the flesh was for Paul. He was not specific
but we can still relate. Can we not?
✤ We all have thorns in our flesh, whether it
be emotional, mental or physical. Nor may
it be God’s will to remove this thorn from
you while you remain on this earth.
✤ Through our ailments we learn to call on
God and lean upon Him. If everything in
life were easy, then we would take for
granted the word of God and all that He
does for us.
✤ The higher the mountain you climb, the
stronger you become.

9. JOBWAS
LONGSUFFERING
✤ Another good example of one that was
longsuffering was Job.
✤ This was a perfect and upright man.
Satan, however, wanted to challenge God
and try to prove that Job would betray
Him if he lost everything he had.
✤ We know the story. First Satan took
away his children, servants and wealth.
But Job did not waver instead he said,
✤ “Naked came I out of my mother's womb,
and naked shall I return thither: the
LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken
away; blessed be the name of the
LORD” (Job 1: 21)

10. JOBWAS
LONGSUFFERING
✤ But there was more. Satan attacked his health.
✤ Even still, Job’s faith remained. Then said his wife
unto him,
✤ “Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God,
and die. But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one
of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we
receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not
receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips,”
(Job 2: 9-10)
✤ I find this to be amazing and something I want to
work towards spiritually.
✤ I confess, I’m not there yet. But consider all that he
went through. None of us have gone through all of
these trials at once. A portion of them perhaps.
✤ If Christ did it…..if Job did it, so can we. We can
keep going no matter what.

11. STRAIT GATE
✤ Recall the strait gate I mention
earlier. The strait gate is
pertinent to being longsuffering.
Why? Lets see what it means
✤ Characterized as strict, rigid
or exacting
✤ A state of difficulty or distress
✤ A Very narrow passageway

12. STRAIT GATE
✤ Now consider this scripture in Matthew 7:13-14,
✤ “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the
gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow
is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few
there be that find it.”
✤ When we choose God over Satan, we are
amongst a small few, a mere remnant in this
world.
✤ You see there is no wiggle room or variableness
when it comes to the laws of God. We either
obey Him as outlined in the 10 commandments
and testimonies or we don’t, hence the words
strict, rigid or exacting. Recall, “I am the Lord
thy God, I change not,” (Malachi 3: 6)

13. BROADVS NARROW
✤ For people on the broad path, they accept
all ways of life, religion and spirituality.
There moto is “Whatever makes you
happy,” or “Honor the god in you,” etc, etc.
✤ That is why it is so broad because it attracts
all kinds of people and most will choose
this path.
✤ However, with the strait path, imagine a
very narrow passage in which people have
to walk in a single file line.
✤ You have to look straight ahead, focusing
on the light of Christ. There is no room to
turn to the left or right; nor can you look
behind. You have to keep walking forward
no matter what.

14. THE STRUGGLE IS
REAL
✤ As you continue to walk, Satan will try to send
distractions your way.
✤ He will throw fiery darts at you. In fact, you
may stumble, fall or become bruised. You
know this to be true.
✤ Each of you consider your lives. We all have
personal struggles. Sometimes we are
overwhelmed and in great distress.
✤ That is indicative of walking through a strait.
It will never be easy. It’s not supposed to be.
That is why God teaches us to be longsuffering,
otherwise, we wouldn’t make it.
✤ But we cannot despair. We must hold onto our
hope and fight the good fight just as Christ did
and all the other saints who came before us.

15. LONGSUFFERING
TOWARDS OTHERS
✤ We not must also be longsuffering
with our loved ones and strangers
alike.
✤ Persecutions will come our way.
Satan uses people as vessels to attack
and hurt you and the natural
reaction is to strike back. But this is
the flesh talking.
✤ We must be spiritually minded and
as so often said, turn the other cheek.
✤ Did not the scripture say we have to
bear the infirmities of the weak.

16. LONGSUFFERING
TOWARDS OTHERS
✤ All of us have different personalities, with
various strengths and weakness.
✤ Take your children for example, you see
their exemplary characteristics but you also
see their flaws.
✤ You work hard to raise them in the truth
and direct them towards the right path.
✤ But because of sin, they may be disobedient
or act out but you still love them right?
✤ You don’t just toss them out of the house
eveytime they make a mistake. You don’t
throw your hands up and give up on them
at a whim. No, of course not.

17. LONGSUFFERING
TOWARDS OTHERS
✤ They are your babies and you love
them and you want them to be
successful.
✤ Not only your children, but your
spouses, siblings, church members etc.
✤ We can’t just give up on each other.
We must remain prayerful for each
other so that we all overcome and
show God’s goodness even if it is not
reciprocated.
✤ And always remember that you have
weaknesses too. You get on people’s
nerves. Lol

18. GOD IS
LONGSUFFERING
✤ More importantly, God is
longsuffering towards us.
✤ How many sins have we committed?
How many times have we stumbled?
✤ Yet God still sends us His Spirit. He
gives us His goodness and mercy.
He blesses us and give us everything
we need, even when we are acting
out.
✤ If the Lord destroyed us immediately
after we sin, none of us would be
here.

19. INTHE BEGINNING
✤ You see, the Father decreed from the
beginning how many saints would
be born in this earth and in which
generation they would be (lambs
book of life) (Romans 8: 29-30,
✤ No one can change that.
✤ Now when the serpent came into the
garden to beguile Adam and Eve, it
brought forth the root of sin and
death.
✤ However, the Father’s decree still
remained.

20. GOD IS
LONGSUFFERING
✤ He loves His children so much,
that He sent Christ down to die
for our sins and to give us grace,
a time period to repent and obey.
✤ Gods hates sin. And generation
after generation, the earth
becomes more and more
corrupt.
✤ It grieves the Lord and He does
render judgement upon this
world in smaller measures.

21. GOD IS
LONGSUFFERING
✤ However, He is longsuffering towards
not just His saints but the wicked as well.
✤ What did it say in the scripture Matthew
5: 45….
✤ “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and
on the good, and sendeth rain on the just
and on the unjust.”
✤ He has determined that He will not lose
one child.
✤ Therefore, He patiently waits and gives
us a chance to repent and obey. He
teaches us and warns us, giveng us the
tools to overcome.

22. IN CONCLUSION
✤ Think of this earth as a womb. We are
currently developing and growing to
prepare for our birth into glory.
✤ Each of us our called at different times
and mature at different rates.
✤ I am thankful that God has been
longsuffering towards me.
✤ We all should be. Let us all learn to be
longsuffering, standing firm on the truth
no matter what trouble we face.
✤ And let us be longsuffering towards each
other, for we are one family in Christ.
Amen