Lord Jesus we come together today in remembrance of you.  In remembrance of your body that was broken for us; in remembrance of your blood that was shed for us.  We come together to partake with you in your faith; we come to partake of your life poured out for us on the cross to conquer death and raise us to life.  Stir us up by reminding us we are members of your body.  

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of (our) faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The author of Hebrews says there’s a race set before us.  They go on to say the way you run the race set before you is through patience.  I was a runner for many years.  Now I jog sometimes!  As a runner you need certain things to run the race.  You need the right gear.  You need the proper shoes; the proper clothing; you need endurance.  Just as you need certain things to physically run a race, you also need certain things to run a spiritual race.  The author of Hebrews says we are able to run the race set before us through patience.  

It’s been said of old “Patience is a virtue”.  Hebrews 10 says we are in need of patience.  1st Timothy 6 says to follow after patience.  Usually when we think of patience we think of waiting for something.  We think of being calm and content as we wait for something.  Maybe we’re stuck in traffic; stuck in a line; stuck in a situation where someone or something is moving at the pace of a turtle or a sleauth, and our idea of patience is we must be happy; joyful; content; as we are stuck in a situation, moving like a turtle, waiting to get through it.  

The word translated patience in the scriptures is closely related to the words abide, and endure.  The Greek word for patience means to endure, or to continue in something.  So here endure doesnt just talk about enduring pain or afflictions, although it can also be applicable in situations filled with tribulation.  Endure here is to continue in something, and not turn away from it.  

You can get distracted from the race.  My dad was a runner all his life.  We were a running family.  We went to road races as a family.  My youngest sister, she’s great at a lot of things.  She’s better than I am at a lot of things.  But, when it came to running road races, it was a struggle.  She got distracted by pretty flowers and birds in the park.  Next thing you know she would just abandon the race to check them out and smell the flowers!!!  Kind of like stop and smell the roses!!!  Patience isn’t only about waiting, in this sense it’s more about enduring in something.  It’s more about continuing in something you started.  

Patience in the scriptures is a passive action.  Meaning it’s not something you work up.  It’s something that is worked in you.  Patience is the fruit of the Spirit.  As you walk in the Spirit, through the hearing of the faith.  As you continue to observe the faith revealed in the body of Jesus’ death and resurrecting.  As you continue to look into the perfect law of liberty; finding the testimony of your life, and what sort of a man you are, in the faith revealed in Jesus Christ, you are doing the word, and are blessed in that deed.  Meaning the faith that is of Jesus; the faith that came in the body of Jesus’ death and resurrection is full of power to conceive the fruit of patience in your life.

What is the race set before us?  The apostle Paul says in 2nd Timothy 4 I fought the good fight, I finished my course, I ran the race, I have kept the faith.  Keeping the faith means to observe the faith.  Paul says his eye was kept on the faith, and the faith kept him.  Paul saw the source of the lovely goodness he longed for in the face of Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, and that kept him in the way.

The race is observing the faith; having your eyes set on the faith; its to continue looking to the life giving Spirit that was raised up in Jesus, and not turn back to looking to the strength of the flesh, and the strength that’s in the world to give you life. 

It’s not that I use my willpower to diligently look into the word of truth; its not even that i look into the word of truth in an attempt to try and get patience; I’m not working the faith to see fruit manifested in my life; I’m not my own workmanship and now faith is the thing I use to create my own life in the image of lovely goodness.  It’s that I see the substance of every good thing I yearn for within the faith revealed in Jesus Christ; Hebrews says Faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen ….  Theres a substance to faith.  It has a makeup.  

What happens is you see the image of the invisible God in the faith revealed in Jesus Christ.  You see the Father’s face through the eternal Son.  You see His hand stretched forth towards you, blessing you with eternal life, making you a partaker with Him in His divine nature; making you members of His body; a body glorified, never to be able to taste weakness and death again.  You see everything you yearn for; a sinless life; a life without spots and blemishes; a life that superabounds over every tribulation and calamity in this world; a life that cant be held down by death; a life thats unceasing in its fruitfulness.  You see everything that pertains to life and godlikeness is contained within the faith revealed in Jesus Christ.  Now because the faith revealed in Jesus is the substance of what you long for; the evidence that your life is hid in him, and all things are under your feet in him, you endure. Meaning because I see faith is the gold thats been tried in the fire; able to overcome the world; and the death in the world; able to overcome death in the flesh, thats where I am all the time looking to behold myself and my life.  

That’s patience.  Patience is you see the substance of what you long for in Jesus; you see Jesus, and he’s the evidence you’re in him and he’s in you.  Patience causes you to continue/endure in the faith. It’s the fruit of the Spirit.  It’s conceived through faith giving you eyes to see the reward of Christ.  Patience is the result of having respect for the recompense of the reward.  You stand in awe of the reward you see manifested in the resurrected; glorified Jesus; and that causes you to endure; it causes you to continue in the faith that was in Jesus; that saved; glorified his mortal body with immortality.  

Heb 10:36  says …. For you have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. 

I need patience, not I need to be patient, it’s that I’m in need of patience being served to me; I need the strength to endure the contradictions in this world, all that’s found in the word of truth; the perfect law of liberty; faith of Jesus Christ, so let me remind you where the true riches are, so your gaze can be fixed there, and you can be filled with the nutrients of life.  

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
Rom 5:3  And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience;(james- testing of the faith produces patience - tribulation is the Father of patience - The Holy Spirit is)
Rom 5:4  And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
Rom 5:5  And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I see the lovely goodness in the faith; in the face of Jesus; the image of the invisible God.  I don’t just see Jesus, the eternal Son, but my eyes are popped open to see the Godhead; to see Father, Son, and Spirit, and their life and communion and workings, in the face of Jesus( jesus baptism - cross).  That draws me to the faith revealed in Jesus because I see the lovely goodness I yearn for in them and their communion and their life.  That causes me to endure in the midst of the trials and tribulations tempting me to take up my own life; tempting me to try and exalt myself to life by the multitude of the merchandise i can gather to myself.  My senses are exercised to the degree i know where the lovely goodness can be found, and also where it cannot be found, I continue looking to the faith authored in Jesus, instead of turning to the strength of the flesh. This is patience.  This patience gives you experience, and the experience gives you hope. It gives you a certainty life is working in you, and nothing can keep it from having its perfect work in you.  You saw the lovely goodness is in the faith that is of Jesus; that caused you to continuosly look there, while you walked in the world; you saw that faith producing its fruit in you, thats the experience part.  And now that gives you hope; it gives you the certainty life is working in you, and nothing can keep you from seeing God manifested in your flesh.

Prayer …..