(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen. All right. I just want to say thank you once again for everybody being here. And I'm going to hand this off to somebody. You just said it with your stuff. Thank you, sir. Strange pulpit. Not that it's strange in a bad way, just different. So anyway, okay, so and I just also want to just take the time to thank Brother Justin and his wife Emily for all their hard work and for stepping up and just taking on the challenge of leading a church. It's not an easy job. So and then, of course, brother Matt and his wife, Miss Rachel, and they've sacrificed a lot to make this thing happen. So I just want to say thank you for everything that they did to set everything up. And we're having some feedback issues. Is that what's going on? This is off, though, right? Okay. Is it? Is it okay? It's still ringing. Okay. All right. I'm tone deaf, so you can tell when I sing. But anyway, so let's look down at our bibles here. Verse number one, Hebrews Chapter 12. It says, Wherefore seeing we're all also we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking into 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. We still having some feedback stuff here. You could just switch me off and I could go to this. If it's just try to adjust it. All right. Did you put me on the mic or hold the pedestal on? Okay. All right. Sorry. That's the thing about starting a new church and all the new sound system and stuff. It just takes a while to kind of say it's still again. Let's just switch it off from that later. Can you? We good? Okay, I'll just try not to move around a lot. But anyway, so those verses are very powerful versus the title of my sermon this morning is the SFBC or Sure Foundation Baptist Church Motor Speedway. Now this city is famous for the Indianapolis 500. And that's a race that's held here every year. Of course, if you were from around here, probably from whatever distance the that's a very it's a very famous race. And it's known all throughout the world and about 325,000 people cram into that speedway there and watch people race around a track going in circles of left hand turns for it's 500 miles, right? That's why it's called the 500. But I kind of want to compare, you know, driving in a race or, or the motor speedway, and kind of just kind of compare that with how church life should be for us and the things that we could think about when we start this new church, maybe where your mindset should be. And I just thought it'd be interesting because I did a tour of the speedway when I was here last time. I want to go to the Pacers game last night, but I was too tired. But I went to the speedway me and brother Justin went on a tour. And I'd never seen it before, obviously, and they call it the brickyard because it used to be laid in brick or whatever. But it's got some pretty, it's got some pretty cool history to it and things like that. But the Bible refers a lot to athletic competitions, especially in Paul's epistles. He likes to see seems like he was a sports fan. And there goes my other distraction. Sorry about that. It's like 730 in the morning or something where I live. So anyway, so sorry for all the distractions anyway, but in Paul's epistles, he seems like he's a sports fan because he brings up races and fighting and different types of things. And I'm not an expert on racing by a long shot. I've never actually watched a full race on television ever in my life. I've watched a couple highlights here there when Jeff Gordon was like at his, in his prime, which was a long time ago, he was kind of like the Michael Jordan of racing there for a while. But I think that, you know, obviously, a lot of people don't like him. But is that true? Like people don't like Jeff Gordon? Do you even know who Jeff Gordon is? Okay. I'm dating myself here. But I don't even think he's an Indy car racer. So it's, you know, anyway, but I'm not an expert obviously, on racing. But I do think it's a cool comparison to the Christian life. And in Hebrews chapter 12 one, it puts the race of the Christian in perspective for us. You see how it says that we need to run the race with patience. So let us run with patience, the race that is set before us. So every person in this room, you know, obviously, just as a human being, our race starts when we first are born in this, in this planet. And then when we die, the race is over. But as Christians, you know, whatever age that you become a Christian, there's also another race. It's that Christian race. And you're trying to, you know, live the best Christian life that you can in this world before it, you know, because that race, that deadline, that finish line is going to be when you die also in the Lord on this earth. So, and when it says there's a great witness, there's great witnesses compassed about, I think of a circle and a racetrack is kind of just like a big circle with a bunch of turns. I mean, obviously, different tracks look different, but there's a lot of spectators watching people race around these tracks, right? And you can't really catch all the angles. And it's so big that you depend on where you sit. That's the best seat. I mean, that's kind of what I perceived when I was there. But the Bible says in, in Hebrews 12 one, it says we're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. And whether we realize this or not, there's people that are up in heaven that are watching what we're doing also. That's what it says, right? That we're compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses. There's people that came before us that are probably cheering us on and maybe you're their favorite racer. And they're like, yeah, get those people saved. Yeah. You know, I mean, I don't know, but it says they're compassed about us. That means they're encircled about us and they're watching what we do. Obviously, God is watching what we do. And that's more important than anything. But, you know, Paul's talking about this race and he's, he brings his compass about by the cloud of witnesses. People are watching what we're, what we're doing. And even people on this earth are watching what we're doing. So the race that we run is really important. And how we run that race is, is going to make or break a lot of things in our life, in the Christian life. And sometimes we're going to fail. Sometimes, you know, we're going to, you know, have a flat tire or we're going to, you know, maybe hopefully not crack, not completely crash and total the car because then it's over. Right. But our goal is to finish the race or to run the race with patience. Now in race car driving, that's not really so much a thing, you know, but there are patient moments that they have to do when they're doing their maneuvers around people. And again, I'm again, not an expert. I just saw, you know, some stupid movies about it and it's probably not realistic at all. But like Talladega Nights and that's definitely, that's definitely not one that you would judge your racing by. But anyway, so, but our life as a Christian is like kind of like an Indy car race, just a lot slower. But we go in circuits of life also, don't we? We go around in circles and it's like every year there's a new year. Every year there's new seasons that we go through and we have our seasons and we have, you know, our race is not 500 miles. Our race is however many years we're on this earth and like racing time, at times we're moving fast, but around the corners they have to slow down, don't they? So there's times in the Christian life where we, you know, we, we hit the, we pedal to the metal, put the nitrous in or whatever, and then we, we hit it. But sometimes it's good to throttle back. You know, it says to, you know, that it's to run your race with patience because if you're a sprinter or, you know, just put it in perspective of someone that's running a foot race, which is probably what Paul's talking about, or a chariot race or something. But if you, if you think about that, you, if you're running a long distance, you don't sprint the whole time. You have to pace yourself and realize what your pace is. And if you've ever trained for running before, you know that you can't just sprint the whole way and think you're going to win because you're going to gas out and then you're going to not finish the race. So, and if you don't make a pit stop in a car, your tires aren't going to get fixed, you know, whatever else that they do, you know, they run in there with the jacks and change all the tires and all that stuff. And if you don't maintenance yourself, if you don't maintenance your life as a Christian, then, you know, the car is going to be having some problems. So, um, I kind of picture really ultimately we're following the driver, the real driver of our church is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's, he's behind the wheel. And I would say, and I'm not trying to like be blasphemous for anything, but like the power of the Holy Spirit might be the car that he's driving. Okay. So Jesus had a lot of, you know, he was filled with the Holy Spirit and you know, we as Christians also are supposed to follow and emulate Jesus Christ. Right. And so we want to get in there and, and, you know, follow Christ and try to emulate his life and how he lived his life and to keep his commandments and do what he said. So if we want to run the best race, we look at the person that ran it before us, right? Look at verse number two and the text that says looking at the Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. So he authored it, he finished it. He, he's the one that did it 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. So he, he did the victors. He got the victory and, and, and, and showed the way for us to go forward. Now, again, but I can picture also, you know, cause obviously we're supposed to be like Christ. So we also are in our own spiritual race. And of course, if you're saved today, the power of the Holy spirit, you should have the power of the Holy spirit in your life too. Everybody gets the spirit of God when you get saved, that's just how it works. And he seals us onto the day of redemption, but Jesus Christ, he's not, he not only authored and finished for us, he finished the race for us, but he also set the track record. You know, there's, nobody's going to beat that record. He, he did it better than anybody else flawlessly. And if you're looking at it in terms of racing, you know, and his car had max power. His was the, it was faster than Ferrari and whoever else makes these fast cars. But again, I'm not an expert in that. So I'm not, people are like Pastor Thompson Ferrari is not the fastest car. I know the Mustang is, but just made in America, baby. No, I'm just kidding. But, uh, let's turn over to Luke chapter nine, Luke chapter nine. So when, once we start the Christian race, you know, we do have a responsibility to, you know, we want to get sin out of our life, which is, you know, while you're turning there, I'm just going to mention this real quickly that we're supposed to lay aside every weight because weight is going to hold you down. So whatever's holding you back from living the Christian life and from running that race, you got to get rid of that. You got it. And we didn't, we didn't start getting rid of the things that are going to hold us back. And that could be sin, but it could just be other things in life that are stopping you from serving the Lord with all your might and winning that race. And, but it does say in the sin, which does so easily beset us. And if you're, you're already a center, you already have problems, but you know, to lay aside some, we have to learn to lay aside sin to serve the Lord better. And that's just a fact. And so the more weight you have on when you're racing or running a race or driving in a race, you know, I'm sure that they spec all that stuff out. This is exactly how much you have to weigh when you're driving the car this year. And, you know, this is, you can't have, you know, your soda pop in the middle. I don't know what they, what they do, but I'm sure that they have all that stuff specced out. They have the weights all checked out. So we as Christians also don't want to have that weight and that sin. And so we need to get the sin out of our life as we start to run the race. And you know, the only way you're gonna do that is by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit. That's the advantage that we have. You know, unsaved people can quit smoking. Unsaved people can quit drinking. Unsaved people could stop doing certain sins, but you're never going to have the power that a Christian would have to defeat sin because of the power of the spirit. Now, are we ever going to be perfect and sinless? Not until Jesus comes back and then we'll get, you know, then we really will have the Ferrari bodies, right? You know, we'll have the bodies, you know, and actually better than that because they'll never run out of gas. I mean, we're going to be immortal. That's what the Bible teaches, right? So Luke chapter nine says in verse 59, it says, and he said unto another, follow me. But he said, Lord, suffer me to first to go and bury my father. And Jesus said unto him, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. So Jesus doesn't end to our excuses. He, you know, he's just like, well, my dad died. He's like, let the dead bury their dead. I mean, that's pretty harsh, but he's making a point here. You know, whatever's that weight is, it's besetting you because all these people kind of have legitimate, what seems like legitimate reasons to, you know, not run that, you know, to, to not fall right away. But I think that God wants us. This is, this, this passage is showing us that God wants us to start right away. And he wasn't even, you know, he was like, let the dead bear their dead, but go thou and preach the kingdom of God. And it says in another also said, Lord, I will follow thee, but let, but let me first go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. So he just wants to say goodbye to his family. I mean, is that so much to ask what's Jesus say? And Jesus said unto him, no man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God. Now it's not saying that you're not saved or if you don't follow me right away, you're not saved. It's just saying, Hey, you gotta be able to forsake all that you have to follow Christ and some, and that's a price that some people are just not willing to pay. Turn to Luke chapter 14, verse 25, because don't you think if you're a professional athlete and I'm just going to, I like to use sports as, as these, for instance, because athletes have to give up a lot of stuff in order to be the best. And I'm not saying that's what we should do. I'm just saying to be a Christian, sometimes we have to give up a lot of stuff to be the best Christians we can be. Now look at Luke chapter 14, verse 25, it says, and there were multitudes with him. And he turned and said unto them, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yay, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Now that verse probably bothers a lot of people. I don't think that he's necessarily saying that, you know, you have to hate them like you would hate like a homo or something, right? Well, I'm talking about, I think he's talking about your, your love for me should seem like hate to anybody else that would interfere with that. God's supposed to be number one in our life. The Lord Jesus Christ is supposed to be number one, and that is above father, mother, children, anything else. And so we're supposed to follow him, you know, no matter what. And it says verse 28 for which of you intending to build a tower sit not down first and count the cost, whether you have sufficient to finish it. He's making a point here. When you become a Christian, you know, you have to count the cost of being a Christian. And sometimes people aren't willing to pay that cost. And that's why a lot of people get out of church and things like that. But to come to this church, you know, you do have to count the cost because it's going to cost you some extra gas money. If you're living from out of town, it's going to cost you some extra time that you're not used to spending. If you didn't already have a great church you were going to, or if you're just not, you know, maybe you just weren't going to church at all, then, you know, you've got to count the cost of what it's going to take to be a member of this church because sometimes it's going to cost you. And, you know, sometimes we have to sacrifice in order to be the best Christians that we can be, you know, and being out of church is not really an option. We all should be attending church. Well, I'll get to that here in a minute here, but it says, lest happily after he has laid the foundation and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him. And the same thing is going to happen to you when you, you know, when you get saved and you go to all your family members and you try to get them all saved and you're just like on fire and then they watch you. They just think, oh, he's just going through that little church thing. You know, let him, he'll come back, he'll come back. And when you fail, that's exactly what they're going to do. They're going to mock you. Oh, I thought you were a church person, you know? Oh, what are you drinking that beer? I thought you said that alcohol was wicked. You know, we don't want to fall from our steadfastness folks. We have to maintain, um, our, you know, our walk with Christ, because if you don't, if you don't finish, if you don't finish the race, if you just kind of jump out of the Christian life and start living and going back to Egypt, then what's going to happen is you're going to get mocked by your family, by your friends and everybody else that you said, oh, I'm a strong Christian. I'm this, I'm that. And, and so the point is to finish it. Right. So, um, let's go to Titus chapter three, verse eight. So when I'm likening that, and again, I don't want to sound blasphemous, but in racing, there's this thing called the pit and the pit is not, you know, the pit sounds like the pit of hell, right? But the pit is where the maintenance gets done for the vehicles. So when a car comes in and they're on, you know, they're on a pit stop, you've heard of a pit stop, I'm sure they drive into that pit stop. And that's when everybody jumps out and starts maintenance in the vehicle. Right. And I would say that a church is likened unto that, that if you're not in church, then you're going to have a problem with your maintenance because this church is going to have three services a week, Sunday morning, Sunday evening. And then we're going to have a Wednesday night service. And it's, it's really important for us as Christians to get our weekly maintenance. And so if you're not in church or you're skipping church, I mean, you're, you're, you're missing important fellowship, you're missing important friendship, you're missing important edification from the preaching. And, you know, that's more important than you actually realize. So what does a pit crew do? Well, they refuel the car when it comes in, change the tires, help and driver changes if necessary. They're cross trained to do whatever they need to do as fast as possible. The boss on the site is the crew chief. So that's what I would liken to, like the pastor or the spiritual leader of the church is the crew chief. And so everybody that's in the church, when we're together, you know, we're, we're, we're in the pit, but not the pit, obviously the pit of heaven, right? But it's like the maintenance shop, right? And we have people that work within and do a lot of tasks and chores in the, and there would be the pit crew. So then you have the crew chief who kind of leads, but I'll, I'll, I'll get into that in a few minutes here, but, um, you know, we need multiple pit stops, you know, to maintenance ourselves in the Christian life. We can't just go to church once and say, Oh, I went to church once. You know, that's not going to help you, but what a race they're going around and around the track, right? So every single week you should be going around and then, you know, after a certain amount of laughs, I'm not sure how many, how much that is, but they do have to stop and take them and take a maintenance check. Right. So, and, and you're going to get that when you come to church via preaching, via encouragement, being edification of the fellow believers and worshiping and praising the Lord, because really it's all about the Lord. That's why we're here today. That, that should not be lost in this message at all, but we're here to praise the Lord and to thank him, you know, his mercy endure forever, his goodness to us. You know, we can't thank him enough. I mean, the great gift of salvation is something that we should always be thankful for. And it's an unspeakable gift that we've gotten. So we need fellowship with believers too. You think, well, that's not a big deal. I can just watch on YouTube. You know, the problem with that though, is that, and I look, I think that watching sermons on social media is good, but there's nothing like actually being here in the services and being with God's people and being encouraged to be together. But, um, I wanted to, uh, I preach this before I preach it not too long ago, but I really hold to this thought that there's four areas in our life where we have to get, um, you know, in our daily lives that we have to do, uh, to balance out. Now when your car has that sensor, it goes, you know, nowadays they have sensors. You used to have to listen, you know, when the tire was flat or whatever, but now they have sensors. And when that sensor goes off, you start freaking out, right? Because you're like, oh man, I got a nail on my tire or something. But tires are supposed to be balanced and rotated on a certain amount, you know, every certain amount of miles, I think. And they also, uh, have to be filled to a certain level. And if your tires are out of balance, that means your car's not going to drive. Right. So in a race, obviously, you know, picturing that as the Christian race, that, you know, if you're all that stuff's out of balance, then you're going to not be balanced in one of those area. If you have like less tire pressure in one tire, then all the other tires, your car's not going to drive right. So everything should be maintenance in our lives. So, and I would say, go ahead and turn to Joshua chapter one, verse eight, Joshua chapter one, verse eight, and one fatal flaw that they did when they started to put this church together, they forgot to put a clock in the back for me to look at. And so that's a mistake with pastor Thompson, but anyway, Joshua chapter one, verse number eight, the Bible says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe to do all, excuse me, to do according to all that is written therein for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous. And then thou shalt have good success. So one of the things that I think that you need to have to bet, to maintenance your, your, your spiritual life is to read your Bible daily. You can't, you can't just not read your Bible and think that you're going to be spiritual that day at all. And the Bible actually says thou shout, you know, meditate there in day and night. This is Joshua talking to the children of Israel. This is something we should be doing. We should be reading the Bible and we had a Bible challenge at our church. And we do, we've been doing that since we were very Vancouver, but it's good to read the Bible, you know, that much for a month, but obviously you might not be able to keep that pace in your daily life, but at least read some, at least read the Bible once a year and make sure that you're reading it daily because you don't want that out of balance. The next thing go ahead. Turn to Hebrew chapter 10, verse 24. You want to be successful? Read your Bible. And these aren't really in a particular order, but you want to be successful, go to church. You want to, you want to be a balanced Christian, go to church. When, whenever the doors are open, whenever you, you know, whenever you, you know, obviously some people are three hours away. I don't expect you to show up here on a Wednesday night unless maybe you're on vacation or something, but I'm talking about the people that live here that are local to this area. Hey, try to be here on Wednesday night, try to be here on Wednesday night. And the, because the more church you go to, the better off you're going to be. Look at the Hebrews 10, 24 says, and let us consider one another to provoke. So what are we supposed to be doing? What's, why are you saying this? Well, because we're supposed to consider other people. You know, Jesus died saving others. Jesus thought about others besides himself. And, you know, sometimes we think, well, it's just, it's okay to just skip church, but it says, let us consider one another to revoke unto love and to good works. So part of the purpose of coming to church and coming together and when people see your face, they're like, oh, hey, they're a church, you know, that's, that's encouraging to me. And, and you can talk about things that you're reading about in the Bible, or you can talk about soul winning or whatever, whatever you want to talk about, but we got to provoke and consider other people and to provoke them to love and good works. It says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. So are, is it a command of God to assemble together or not? Is that what the Bible says? Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is because some people have the manner and manners like a habit. So some people have a habit of forsaking church. They have a habit of forsaking the assembling and some people have that manner, but it says, but exhorting one another. And so much the more as you see the day approaching. So does it say, you go to church more as you see the day approaching or less more so we're supposed to go to church more as we see the day approaching. What day is it talking about the day of Christ, the day that Christ returns, you know, we should go to church more and not less. And what does this world need? They need more church, not less. People are so concerned about, you know, what's going to happen in the white house. Well, we need to be concerned more about what's happening in the church house. And we need to consider other people besides ourselves, because if you're not here, you know, it discourages other people. You might not think it, but after a while, they're like, well, how come so and so never comes to church anymore? And it's just like, well, you know, they just don't find it important. Something else is more important. And, you know, don't let that be your manner. I think that as this church is beginning, you know, try your best to be here at every service if you can. So the first thing you need to do to maintain your spiritual life and to make sure your race car is running right is to read your Bible daily, day and night, go to church when the doors are open. And the other thing is pray daily. The Bible says pray without ceasing. Now you're like, well, that's impossible. Pastor Thompson. Well, maybe that's not what it means in reality. Maybe it just means without quitting. Don't quit your prayer life. Don't just pray every time something's going bad in your life and you never pray when something's going good or you never thank God for the things that he does for you. And so that should be a daily thing in Psalm 55 or 17. You can turn there if you want, but if not, just listen. It says in Psalm 55 or 17 evening and morning and at noon will I pray and cry aloud and he shall hear my voice. So obviously maybe you're not here to the point where you're praying three times a day. I'm not saying pray for six hours on your knees. Like some of these bozo preachers try to claim that they do. Nobody's going to pray on their knees for six hours. That's just not possible every day. I mean come on. I don't believe you. But you know when we think that you know because I mean you don't want to be out of balance. So now the other thing is we need to go soul winning on a regular basis. And I think that at least a weekly soul winning is what we should be doing. Proverbs 11 30 says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he that when his souls is wise. So our fruit as save people is to make more trees. The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life. So we want to make and replicate what we already are. If you're already a soul winning Christian we want to make other soul winning Christians. How do you do that? Well you win souls. Says he that with his souls is wise. That means you're smart. It's a good thing to do. It's spiritual. And so if you don't do these four things then your spiritual life is going to be out of balance. I'm not saying that's the only things that we should do but I just think if you focus on those four things then your life will be more balanced your Christian life and you're not going to be you know going around like if you just say you have one flat tire and three full tires. Well you're still out of balance right. So you don't want to be so out of balance with these other things that you're lacking in another area. Overdoing prayer time. I mean I'm not saying don't pray but you could overdo it to the point where you're not doing other things that you should be doing and just like Bible reading if you're if you're reading tons of Bible but you're not actually getting out and applying it then what what it's it's it's still going to leave you out of balance. If you're not going soul winning you're going to lose your love for Christ. You know we're supposed to be doing the first works which Jesus said follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. That's the first works right. And if you're you know if you're out of balance then your car isn't going to make it for very long when you're out of balance. Now so I want to talk about the crew chief. So the crew chief is the pastor or spiritual leader you know in my little comparison here today. So the pastor or spiritual leader or the deacon or an evangelist some ordained man of God is the crew chief and he oversees the pit and the pit crew and leads and guides them coordinating the pit crew and conferring with the driver analyzes TV broadcasting via flat screen monitors in the pit box. So you know the pastor is the overseer and bishop you know the bishop you know we're supposed to be leading the church and watching over the flock and making sure that everything that the rules are enforced. And you know the really big thing that we're supposed to do is preach the word of God uncensored unencumbered we're supposed to preach the word of God no matter what it says no matter who it hair lips no matter who it upsets even if it's the people in our own church they can't you know people love they love hard preaching until it lands on their doorstep and then they get all offended and whiny and sniveling and you know you have to be prepared to get your toes stepped on every once in a while because you know you might be rah rah rah then then your sin gets picked on and look brother Justin hopefully isn't going to do this I would advise him not to do this but to pick one person to just preach against that week because usually they don't show up that's what happens but you know we shouldn't operate that way but the word of God when you preach it and when you preach the whole counsel of God then the word of God is going to you know it's going to sting you at some point you know it's going to it's going to pick on something that you're not doing right that's why the word of God is supposed to be preached the word of God is quick powerful sharper than a two edged sword piercing even to the divided asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and as a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart the Bible can read your mind the Bible can read your heart the Bible is so sharp it can cut soul and spirit and divide them asunder and so it can get into your inward parts and you know it's a it's a spiritual thing the word of God but it is like into a sword and you know a sword slices and sometimes it slices you in places that you don't like but you have to understand that church like this you're going to get preached your sins are going to get preached about at some point so and I'm entrusting brother Justin to run this pit stop run this pit crew while I'm not here obviously I'm going to be monitoring from flat screens from afar but you know I'm I'm you know I'm the pastor of the church but I also want you to respect the leadership that's in place here and no he's not a pastor no he's not an evangelist or anything like that but that's the plan that you know he is trained and gets that and that happens so I want you to turn to Hebrews chapter 13 because I want to make sure that people are treating the leadership right and you know when in Hebrews 13 it has three different instances that I really like to go to and the first one is verse number seven it says remember them which have the rule over you who have spoken unto the word of God whose faith follow considering the end of their conversation so let's talk about the pastor let's talk about the spiritual leader says remember them that have the rule over you so how should you remember them just like think about them and go I just remember you know remember them in prayer remember your prayers fit you know think good thoughts towards them you know don't you hate when people go thoughts and prayers thoughts and prayers or this my thoughts are with you it's like well thank you so much you know it's doing absolutely nothing but you're a heathen he's not listening to if you're praying anyway I'm just kidding but but it says who's you know that you have to remember them which have the rule over you and you know the pastor or the spiritual leader has the rule over the church that's you know and this is not a normal setup for most churches most churches are deacon run they have a deacon board that tells the pastor what he can do what he can't do this is a pastor led church and so that's the way it is and if you if you prefer something else then go someplace else there's plenty of churches that you can go to that don't have that model but that's the model we have and so it says to follow their faith considering the end of their conversation that's talking about their lifestyle the way they live their life skip down to verse 17 verse 17 says obey them that have the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for your souls as they that must give an account that they may do it with joy and not with grief for that is unprofitable for you so it says remember them it says obey them so if Justin's telling you what color car to buy then that's that's a red flag right you know he shouldn't have that much control your personal lives you know we're our job is to get up and preach the word of God and to rule the house of God okay and you know we can suggest things through preaching but if you do them or don't do them that's your choice you deal with it yourself and that's between you and God and you know you don't want to have that attitude where only God can judge me you know people get those stupid tattoos you know he's going to judge you for that tattoo too so well we're supposed to it says submit yourselves for they watch for your souls you know that's what an overseer does that's what a pastor does what a bishop does and that they may do it with joy and not with grief don't be a pain in the neck to the spiritual leadership here don't be a pain in the neck and that that purse that wheel that always has to get grease because you just always have a problem about something you're upset you're offended about whatever and you're just being a problem you want to be a joy to them and because you don't want them you don't want Justin to hate coming here because he has to deal with you every single week it's like oh man you know you want to be a blessing to the leadership now look at verse 24 says salute them all them excuse me that have the rule over you and all the saints they have Italy salute you so you know salute is to say hi or you know that's what we would do today shake hands with them or whatever don't avoid them because you're mad or bitter about something that they preach you should you know honor your spiritual leadership you know what I'll say this from the start treat his you know treat brother Justin's wife nicely treat his family nicely you're like well why are you saying that because usually the people that like to attack they attack the wife that's what Satan did in the Garden of Eden and I just noticed it in many different settings I've noticed that my own church when we started that people and it's usually women like to pick on the wife of the leader I don't want that happening here if I find out it's happening I'm going to you know come down here and crack some heads and I'm just kidding but I'll crack your skull you know spiritually with some preaching you know you don't want to make Justin's wife miserable to be here you want to have her feel welcome and be blessed and you're like well I've never heard of that happening trust me it happens you know I've had my wife you know walk into a room full of ladies and then the one wife says hi to everybody else oh hi how are you doing then when my wife walks in she's just like won't even talk to them like what's that all about people just get this weird thing with pastors wives or leaderships wives and I just want you to be respectful not only to brother Justin but also to his family turn to First Thessalonians chapter 512 First Thessalonians 512 says and we beseech you brethren to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you so there are people that are over you in the Lord that would be the spiritual leader and to admonish you that word admonish means to warn or reprimand someone firmly advise or urge earnestly warn of something to be avoided it's the job of the spiritual leader to get up and reprimand people even maybe just in private but to advise or urge earnestly you know it's basically like a warning it's basically like hard Bible preaching which is what our church is based upon hard preaching soul winning I mean those are the two things that people would say that the new IFB quote unquote are famous for is that they like the hard preaching but the hard preaching is something that you are going to have to just deal with and it's the job of the spiritual leader to get up and do that and like I said people love sermons where it's ripping on everybody else's you know this the sermons that are the most popular that used to be when they were able to be on YouTube or sermons ripping on fags sermons ripping on the Jews they still love those ones and look rightly so but then when it comes to their own issues they get these little hurt feelers you know so you know like the hard preaching don't be a candy you know what Baptist and timid and cowardly and sissy and thin skinned because if you're thin skinned you're not going to last very long around here verse 13 says and to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake so you might not like Justin like his face you know you might want to punch him because of his what his face looks like or whatever but you better esteem him very highly though if you don't like maybe maybe there's something you just don't like about somebody's personality or whatever but you're still supposed to respect them you're still supposed to esteem them highly white in love for their work sake the work here is going to be hard and nobody understands what being a spiritual leadership is like until you become a spiritual leader and it is not always easy it can be very difficult getting up and preaching is fun it's the best part of being a pastor or a spiritual leader but that's not all we do you know when you're taking phone calls about people's marriage falling apart and you have to you know and try to sort out all these crazy family dynamics because divorce is such a rampant thing in our culture you know it didn't used to be that way pastors are having to deal with situations now that they've probably never had to deal with you know at least in this country so and without help without helping the leader this church is going to fail without supporting the leader this church is going to fail and you don't want the pit boss to fail you want to help him because you know what this church is if you don't have a leader then then you know you're going to be in deep trouble so turn to Exodus chapter 18 Exodus chapter 18. So I want Justin to delegate some of his duties and I think it's good for you as a Christian to help with tasks around the church you know the leader can't do everything. And so you know as a working church there should be people willing to work. And in Exodus chapter 18 Moses is doing all the work he's like you know he's from for the time he gets up to the time it gets dark he's like preach you know counseling people basically and so he doesn't have time to do anything else and his father in law comes to visit him and he's watching this all go down. And look at verse 13 says it came to pass on the moral that Moses said to judge the people and the people stood by Moses from morning until evening when Moses father in law saw that he did to the people he said what is this thing that that do is to the people. Why sit is that myself alone and all the people stand by the from morning to eat under evening and excuse me under even and Moses said unto his father in law because the people come on to me to inquire of God when they have a matter they come on they come to me and and I judge between one and another. And I do make them know the statutes of God and his laws and Moses father in law said unto him the thing that thou doest is not good. So is it good for the man of God to work hard. Absolutely. But what he's doing is he's taking up all this time with this you know judging everybody's little small situations big or small and says thou wilt surely wear away both thou and this people that is with thee for that this thing is too heavy for thee thou art not able to perform it thyself alone harken now unto my voice I will give thee counsel and God shall be with thee be thou for the people to God word that thou mayest bring the causes unto God and thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws and shalt show them the way wherein they must walk and the work that they must do. So this is talking about delegation delegating duties. So Moses job was to teach them the ordinances and show them the way that they must walk and the work they must do and that's kind of what the pastor or spiritual leader is supposed to be doing also. And to you know I mean even acts they had to hire you know they had to make this position of deacons so that the pastor wasn't waiting tables basically for the the you know in the daily administration and he had to get somebody to come in and do the work. So now we're 21 says moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men such as fear God men of truth hating covetousness and place over the place such over them to be rulers over thousands and rulers over hundreds rules over fifties and rules over tens. Now we don't have millions of people in this church so you know we don't have to have that kind of thing in place. But it's just this the Bible is painting us the picture here of you know who should be put into the leadership positions of men. Well first of all able men people are able to do the work and people that actually love God and fear God and that they're men of truth. They love the truth. You know there's you know in this church I hope that you love the truth because our goal is to make sure that you know the truth. Jesus said you should know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So first 22 says and let them judge the people at all seasons and it shall be that every matter or great matter that they shall bring on to the very small matter they shall judge so shall it be easier for thyself and they shall bear the burden with these. So I'm just saying this to you as we start out. Bear the burden with the leadership help out whatever it is that you can do. Obviously we have the ushers in place you know keeping the door you know that's kind of like what the ushers did in the Old Testament. There are like doorkeepers and porters and you know providing service count you know counting the offerings or whatever. And you know we need musicians we need piano players we need you know people that can play in an orchestra. We need help cleaning the building is not going to clean itself and it's pretty small so it's not going to be that hard to clean. But you know they can't again Justin can't do it all himself. And so we need people to step up in these areas. And so any captains you know I mean the more so wanting to do the more times you put in the more people are going to need to help out with stuff like that. So and obviously people that want to be hospitable and there's going to come a point where Justin can't take everybody out to lunch the first time they're a visitor like today I can't I can't take you all to lunch today I'd love to do that but we're going to have to bring a lunch to us today. So but that's just you know to be maybe you could be somebody that takes visitors out to lunch or you know wants to help out in those types of ways or video ministry social media folding bulletins closing and opening those are all things that are are things that are a blessing to the man of God that that's going to be leading here and it's a blessing because you're sharing the burden with the leadership. So that's what Moses was recommended to do and you know what he did it was a good idea and his father in law was right that he was doing too much. Now let's I want to talk about the caution flag real quick. So in racing there's this caution flag where they I don't know if they wave do they actually wave a flag as anybody know they wave a flag like a real one. It's not just like some screen or something. OK so they wave this flag for you know and it's for dangers when you're racing it's wave for dangers for a wreck or or some kind of debris on the track. Right. And so they're cautioning people because when you're going 200 miles an hour and you hit another car or you hit some kind of debris it's going to do some damage right. So that caution flag is waived. And so I guess in go and turn to Philippians chapter 3 verse 1. And I would just say to caution you a little bit. You know Paul kind of gives this little safety talk at the beginning of Philippians chapter 3. And you know because everybody if you've worked someplace you know as a man or even if you're a woman if you've worked someplace they always say safety is the most important thing right. Don't they. Safety first but then they really don't mean it. Safety first wink wink wink. Yeah. Get out there and get the production done. You know but they'll say safety first but you know we really should think of the safety of our children the safety of our families. And you know when there's some kind of wicked person we need to be able to recognize that. So Philippians 3 1 says finally my brother and rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is for you it is safe. So why is he why is he telling us he wants them to be safe because there's danger out there. There's wolves in sheep's clothing there's people that will try to infiltrate this church and influence you to quit influence you to leave and you know you have to be aware of this because that and think about this if they're coming to you to try to start drama start problems that they think you're weak. So if so if someone does that be offended they try to turn you against the leadership here they try to turn you against me or or or against other people in the church. Just know that they came to you because they think you're weak and wolves perceive weaknesses right. And so they're talked about in the Bible as being wolves and sheep's clothing and what wolves do. They circle they pack up and they circle around waiting to find the weakest person you know the weakest animal out of the group and then they go and kill that animal and they go after the small ones and they go after the ones that are hurt. So just you know be offended like hey what do you think I'm weak or something. Just tell them say hey let's go talk to brother Justin we can talk about this problem together with him and then watch them stop doing that. And really they're going to try to do that stuff and seeker they'll try to drag you off into a corner somewhere. Just be aware of that kind of stuff because this is something that I've dealt with many times and there will be people that are bad that will come and try to infiltrate infiltrate this church it says in verse 2. Beware of dogs. So that's a good sign to avoid also when you're sowing but beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers. Beware of the concision. Beware. And so Paul saying hey this is safe for you. This is let me give you a safety talk. Beware of dogs. Now I don't think he's talking about real dogs but it could be a secondary but he's talking about queers. That's what the Bible compares dogs and vile beasts with queers. OK. And so we don't allow queers in this church. We throw them out. And you know if someone even has a man bond I'm going to be suspect of them. So. Evil workers would be just you know wicked reprobates false prophet type people would come in and then it says beware of the concision the concision is talking about like the Jew the Jew that doesn't believe in Jesus you know because we're all Jews in here spiritually right. But we're Jews on the inside. I'm talking about the Jews that are Jews on the outside that like to do this. You know and they grow those little funny curly things and wear top hats look trying to look like Abraham Lincoln or something. And you know they tie things around themselves and they try to make a spectacle of themselves. But the other thing they do is they try to Judy eyes Christianity because people go to Judeo Christian religion it's not Judeo. It's Christian religion. Christ was everything. Christ is everything. And they don't believe in Jesus. So we should be aware of them. Beware beware of dogs. Beware of evil workers beware of the concision. So you know the caution flag that I would say for you when we're starting this church to be aware of these types of people and try to recognize you know I'm not saying you know pin the tail on the false prophet I'm going to try to figure out who the false prophet is here every week. You'll know you know sometimes you won't know who they are. I mean Balaam is a perfect example of that. Like when you read about Balaam you're like is he saved or is he not. Like what's the deal. No he wasn't. The Bible says in the New Testament he was a false prophet. It says he was a he did divination. You know he was a money grubbing false prophet. And so Cain was a false prophet. And I think there's another one mentioned who's the other one I'm thinking of Cain Balaam and Cora. Yeah Cora was a false prophet. He was gain seen against Moses. He was trying to overthrow and assert the leadership of the children of Israel by saying well we're all holy to Moses and that's really all he said. I'm sure you know according to you know that's all the scripture says that he said but the Bible says he was a false prophet. You know what he got opened up the earth and dropped him into hell with all all that pertain to him. So we've got to be aware of those types of people. Now the other thing is we we need to have some zeal in the race. You know most a lot of a lot of the famous drivers are people like that have a lot of charisma. They're really zealous and passionate. You know Dale Earnhardt Jr. was a really popular racer and he's been dead for a long time. I don't I'm not even sure where he died. I know he's not an Indy car but he was NASCAR right. But people liked him because of his bombastic attitude and the way he carried himself. And I don't really know again much about racers or racecar people but you know people do flock to even even in sports world and basketball and football people like that charismatic you know competitor. And so I would liken that to us having zeal for the things of God. Now my favorite racer in the Bible is I'll tell you who it is but quite certain. Second Kings Chapter 9. But my favorite racer in the Bible is found in Second Kings Chapter 9. And you know he's got a few chapters about him here but Second Kings 9. This guy was a fast racer. He was he he just put the pedal to the metal. He was very zealous for the things of God. Second Kings 9 20 says and the watchman told saying he came even unto them and cometh not again. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshai for he driveth furiously. So furiously driving. And so he's my favorite racer in the whole Bible and because you know he's got he's got some pretty cool stuff that he does in the Bible. I mean obviously he's killing people but I mean he's killing bad people. He's killing the people that God told him to kill. He's you know he's killing you know all the house of Ahab. He kills jet heat. Well he doesn't kill Jezebel. He just says who's with me and then the eunuchs throw her out the window or whatever. And she kind of gets eaten by dogs after that. But then. But what's what's interesting though is when she gets thrown out the building it says that he trode over her. So it's like you know she hits the ground and he just doesn't even stop. He just like you know you know walk over the top of her body. So he trode over the top of he trode with a because he's in a you know he's in a chariot or something. So I don't know if he did it with his horses but it kind of seems like I just kind of picture it like he just like literally walked over a dead body to walk in that says he sat down and ate some food. He's like go bury her for she's a king's daughter or whatever. But Jehu was the the fast and furious before the movies even came out. So see there's no new thing under the sun. It says he drove furiously right. So he's kind of a man after my own heart because I like to drive furiously too. But the second Kings Chapter 10 verse 15 if I actually had a fast car I'd probably be in a lot of trouble all the time. So my right foot is not saved for sure. It is in sin constantly. But you know his driving was known by his zeal for God right. And you always catch it he's just always driving around in a chariot. So it's like that's his car. That's the car for back then. And second Kings Chapter 10 verse 15 it says. And when he was a part of thence he lied it on John Adab this the son of Ray Raycab coming to meet him and he saluted him and said unto him is that heart right. As my heart is is with my heart. And John Adab answered it is if it be give me thine hand and he gave him his hand and he took him up it took him up him in into the chariot. So so you know he's he's like just he's riding his driving furiously is driving his chariot and he sees this guy he likes he's like come on up in the chariot right. He stops he's like are you are we good. Yeah yeah bro come on let's take a ride. And then verse 16 says and he said come with me and see my zeal for the Lord. So they made him to ride in his chariot. It's funny how it says they made him to ride his church like once he got in it's like he ain't getting out now buddy. You know you ride with those people and it's like your fingers are implanted in the dash after you're done like and sometimes it's not because they're driving fast it's because they drive bad. But but he said come with me and see my zeal for the Lord you know and that's what we should be showing forth as Christians and in this church is that you know your zeal is going to be contagious to other people and other people are going to want to follow the zeal that they see in this church. So if we're zealous for soul winning we're zealous for Bible preaching we're zealous for the things of God then you know we are going to affect other people in a good way. And so you know with race car drivers their zeal as racers makes them popular. Well and I'm not saying I want you to be made popular but popular as far as someone to follow because your zeal is very evident in your life. And the next thing I want to talk about is putting your past sins and failures in the rear view mirror. Now first John chapter 1 9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Nobody in this room is without sin. You know if we say we have no sin we lie. We deceive ourselves. And so we have sin. So the best thing to do is confess your sin to God and move on because it says he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So you know and none of us deserve to go to heaven in here. Nobody deserves to go to heaven. Nobody is good enough to make it there on their own. Someone else had to do it for you. The Lord Jesus Christ and we just need to own up to what we're doing wrong and confess it and move forward and leave that in the rear view mirror. So it's just like a racer that finishes a race you know what's he looking forward to the next race. You know hopefully not looking you're not looking behind you on all the mistakes you made. You don't want to live in that guilt. You know the apostle Paul probably had a lot of guilt but you don't see it affecting his Christian life. He just you know people are like that's the guy that was killing people you know at first but then he proved himself. He proved himself to be a great man of God and he did great mighty things. But what if you just kept living with the fact that he had it was holding everybody's coats while Stephen was done with that. As a matter of fact I think that's the thing that that motivated him. God to say why you know it's hard for you to kick against the pricks. I think you feel bad about what he did. I think it affected him but he's so motivated by his zeal in the wrong way. But he left that stuff behind him and just serve God. He can't take it back. And so some of the things that we've done you know you're going to feel bad about it maybe the way you parented before or just you know sins that you've committed even as a Christian or sins he committed in your past. Look put that stuff in the rearview mirror and focus on what's before you. Look at Philippians chapter 3 verse 13 Philippians chapter 3 verse 13. Philippians 3 is just an excellent chapter in the Bible but Philippians 3 13 says Brethren I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do. Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth onto those things which are before. Paul says just forget about that stuff. Look forward to your Christian life and what you need to do now. Stop living in the past. Stop parenting out of guilt. Stop living in guilt about everything. You confess that stuff to God and you move forward. And don't be like oh I don't know if he's going to forgive me. Doesn't it doesn't say he's faithful and just to forgive your sins and to cleanse you from all righteousness so just quit living there. Just when you know. When we say we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous. And so you know just just stop quit quit living in the past because you know your your failures are going to be a reality failures a reality in life. If we never try anything we're never going to fail at anything either. So we want to set out with this church to be at maximum speed as far as as a racecar driver right. We want to get out there and not let anything hold us back including our past sins. And you know we all crash and burn sometimes you know we all fail in some way shape or form. But you know get a new race car get back in the get back in the race right. So we only have one life to live as mortals and we know we never know when the race is going to be over. We're going to be immortal when Jesus comes back but we only have one life to live here. And and so this is the time to do our maximum work to get all the trophies we can store up for us in heaven. And that's I want to just go to my last my last topic here which is the checkered flag. So the checkered flags waved I think at the beginning of a race at the end of the race. So in the Indy 500 when I was at the tour it said that they drink milk or something is like a famous thing that they do. I was like why like milk really. But it's some tradition they've done and probably helps the milk companies sell a lot of milk for NASCAR or something I don't know. But you know that's you they pop the champagne they get their their vehicle featured and the media and everybody comes over and watches what they're doing and things like that. But we want to obviously these are carnal things that people look forward to that these drivers look forward to you know and they're doing it for something that really doesn't matter. They're driving around taking lots of left turns for things that are not going to matter in eternity. But the things that we're doing the race that we're running does matter and it matters how we run it matters how we finish. So turn to First Corinthians 924. I know that I'm almost done here. But First Corinthians 924. The Bible says give you a second turn there. First Corinthians 924 says no you not that they which run in a race run all but one receive at the prize. So only one person gets the victor's trophy in a in a regular race it says then Paul says so run that you may obtain. The nice thing about Christianity is that we all win in the end. It's not like even if you fall out of the race you're still going to heaven. So even if you quit church and go back to your life of Egypt or whatever you want to do you know you're still going to heaven if you're saved. So you can't lose your salvation. That's great. But he's saying run that you may obtain. What's he talking about. Well you know we want to finish this life as a victorious Christian. We don't want to end up some place backslidden in some hotel or something doing drugs. We want to you know be at the end of it. God's pleased with us. He says well done. Now good and faithful servant enter down to the joy of my Lord look at verse 25 and every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we an incorruptible so we're trying to get rewards as say people you're like well what's the motivation for doing good works when we're already saved forever. Well the motivation for doing good works is you know obviously I never think of it as rewards. I always think of it as helping people but because we help people because we live a good Christian life that does get us rewards. So so finishing the race is important and how you finish the race Paul said in Second Timothy Chapter 2. Or excuse me second Timothy 4 6 he says for I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure is at hand he knows he's getting ready to die says I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course isn't a race called it's called a racetrack but it's a course right. I have finished my course I have kept the faith and that should be the goal of every single Christian in this room is that hey I did my best. I fought the good fight. And as you're like it's Christian it was saying a good fight because the faith the work that we have is it's a fight. It's a fight. It's a fight. We're going to always be fighting about something. And it's like he said I fought a good fight. No he's like Muhammad Ali or something you know he's floating like a butterfly stinging like a bee or whatever. You know he said I fought the good fight and he did. I mean he he did more things for the Christian faith than anybody else probably besides Christ in my opinion. But I mean that's my opinion. But one thing I do know is that he finished his course. And he was happy to say that he started off bad didn't he. But he ended up good. The opposite of the other saw the other saw in the Bible started off really good and then ended up bad. Ended up killing himself with his own sword. So the great thing about being a Christian in the Christian life unlike racing is that we don't really get the even if we don't win the race as far as like being in first place we we still win. What do I mean by that. Well you know we laugh about the everybody gets a trophy. You know all that you know everybody gets a trophy. You know everybody in Christianity everybody does get a trophy consolation prize. You know maybe you weren't the best Christian. Maybe you weren't the apostle Paul maybe you just get you know someone gets saved and they don't do anything for Christ but they're saved. They still get a trophy. So it is a biblical concept right. You still what's the trophy eternal life. That's the trophy. Everybody gets a trophy you know. So be happy about that. And you know that's just the baseline reward that everybody receives because they're saved. And I think that's pretty cool. So everything else that we do is a cherry on top of that. And so let me give you an example. And just as tithing as an example okay. Your tithe goes towards soul wanting invites. Bibles DVDs and other resources. Money that goes towards supporting missionaries which we do. Which all those things lead to other people getting saved right. So not only if you're if you're so many already and you're doing all these other things to get rewards. Even just giving unto the Lord is helping and you're getting dividends that you don't know someday. Like I don't know how God divides it all up. He's a better mathematician than even Justin is. And because he's Chinese. But I'm just kidding. But he is a good mathematician I'm not lying. But but those dividends how do we count all that. Well we can't. But you know who does keep track of it. God. God knows everything that we do and every dime that we give to the church as far as tithing goes for free will offerings. That money goes towards something that can help get someone saved. And like Brother Stuckey we support him as a missionary. I mean Pastor Stuckey called Brother Stuckey for so many years of star hard for me. But I mean over 10000 people saved in their ministry last year. So how do you how do you track those rewards. You know our church gives money to them and we don't have to be over there. We don't have to fly over there. We don't have to do all that stuff. They're there. They're doing it all. But we do get a piece of the pie by rewards by dividends. And you know you might not think that you know your money goes anywhere but it does. And it goes to feeding everybody today too. But unlike other churches we're not going to have some fundraiser to try to get you know everybody to go to camp or you know for we're not going to do a car wash where we charge people for money because we don't charge money for things. You know a church should be able to run off the finances they have. If you don't have the finances then don't do the stuff. It's kind of how it works. But last verse here is second Timothy Chapter 4 verse 8. So Paul finished his course. He kept the faith. And it says in verse 8 there says Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness which the Lord the righteous judge shall give me at that day and not to me only but unto all them also that love is appearing. So what's Paul saying he's saying it's not just me. There's other people. And it says but unto all them also that love is appearing. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ today. Are you going to be excited when he comes. Well he's going to give you a righteous crown also. And so you know we have a lot of opportunity to do great things at this church. And you know we have a mega powered high octane new I.P. church started in the Midwest now and you know it's going to count for something. I believe this church is going to do great things. My vision is that through this church we start other churches within the two of the four hour area of this church and who knows the area. I mean I don't have a map in front of me but there's St. Louis and Chicago Louisville all these different places. I mean Columbus Cincinnati I mean there's just like all these big cities like this doesn't exist in the West. It's like Portland. Nothing for long. Portland Seattle. OK that's two and a half hours away but you know most of the other cities are just not that big. But you know there's a big opportunity here to do great things and I'm really looking forward to see what this church is going to do. We've got the brick yard. We've got the pit here so to speak. We've got the track. We've got the greatest driver ever with the most powerful race car ever leading us the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. The owner is our you know the owner of everything. He's got all the money. He's got unlimited resources and he's the best. He has the best sponsors. You know he's benevolent. He's not just a dictator he's just not trying to make money. It's all his anyway. Right. So and we can you know what we can talk to our owner. You know most places most companies or most sports leagues you can't even go talk to the players you know without you know some security guy rushing off. You can't talk to the owner but you know what we can talk to our owner. We can talk to God we go right to the throne room of God and ask him for whatever we need. So what do we need. Well we need team SFBC racing team. Everyone needs to take part. We need to keep pace to win the race. And this Christian life is not a dead sprint. You know we have to slow down and take and take the turns right. And you know don't burn yourself out. Obviously I want you to do good works but don't burn yourself out. And to put pressure on ourselves to perform is not a bad thing either. You know we should be pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God through Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus. We should be pressing towards a mark. Well that's not what racing is. The apostle Paul said I press toward the mark. What's the mark winning the race getting getting to the finish line. And we need to put pressure on ourselves to stay spiritual to maintain good works to maintain the car right. And we need to observe the yellow flag caution warnings. And just don't get don't crash. And what do I mean by crash. Well don't get out. Don't let you know wicked people or any other reason get you out of the race and help the pit crew boss to be successful. Today we're starting our engines and we're at the starting line and the spiritual race is about to begin for this church. And you know our race does actually matter. It means something and it isn't some vain thing like running around in a literal circle on cars and then like it's just all that stuff is vanity. It really is. But what we do in this life echoes in eternity right. So you know green means go green means go. And that's what what they do at the starting line. The lights go down at least that's on the video games I've played before. That's how it works. But I just want to say this let's get out there and run that race. All right. Let's pray Lord we thank you so much for this great church starting here. And Lord I just want to say thank you to you Lord especially for the great blessings that we could just start a church pretty much anywhere and a bunch of people are going to show up. I want to thank you Lord for the great success it is this morning. Pray that you would just be with the soul winners and Lord bless the food that we're going to receive today. You just bless each and every single person that came here and help take them home safely when they return home. Pray you just do a great mighty work in this city and in this town and that made many great churches to be started from this church plant alone. And we thank you Lord. We love you in Jesus name we pray. Amen.