In the Roman Empire, patience was not a prized virtue. But it was very important to the early Christians.

Early Christians often talked about patience. It was the first virtue they wrote a treatise about —at least three, evidently— and they called patience the "highest virtue," "the greatest of all virtues," the virtue that was "peculiarly Christian."

Patience was so important to the early church that at least one author says that it is one of the chief reasons it grew.

Join Pastor Chris for a look at three little parables of Jesus that have the strong, but perhaps not so obvious, theme of patience running through them.

Note: The work of art associated with this podcast/sermon is titled "The Evolution of a Pearl" by Heidi Heiser.