Friday, March 03, 2006
February 19, 2006--Start Your Engines!
Note: sermon notes taken from loose outline notes of pastor. No video available.
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1; Ecclesiastes 9:11b
Today is a special day. Yep, it's Daytona time! As you all know, I am a big sports fan, and I love NASCAR! Also, the Winter Olympics have been going on, not that any of you probably watched them, judging by the ratings... But seriously, today I want to talk about the Great Race. I want to talk about what we are striving for. What we should be striving for...
We are all striving for something. 43 drivers today will strive for the first victory in a long season. Athletes strive for victory. Sometimes, athletic competition brings out the pure pursuit of greatness. Unfortunately, if we are merely after the material gain or the recognition over betterment of ourselves, then we end up like that snowboarder who had the gold medal won, only to blow it seeking personal fame and recognition by showboating on the big finish. you see, it wasn't about the competition or the achievement of excellence. It was actually about her own fame and fortune, about getting the big contracts and the big money, rather than in being her best. There is an interesting lesson to be learned from that. Let's get away from that for a minute by asking...How do we strive for that goal? 1 Cor 9:24 talks about running the race in such a way as to get the prize. For the 43 drivers today, that prize is a trophy, a few hundreds points toward a championship, and millions of dolars and fame and fortune. The snowboarder lost sight of that goal, as many athletes do. It wasn't about winning, it became about bragging and overshadowing others. We need to run a race for the prize of salvation, in what way do we do that to gain the prize?
Phillipians 3:14 talks about pressing toward the goal. How do NASCAR drivers do it at Daytona? Faith..and patience. They have faith in their abilities, faith in the pit crew, the crew chief, and faith in the team. They have patience, because they know this is a long race, 500 miles. They know, at least the good ones know, that it is not about winning every lap, but about winning the last lap. it is not about being the fastest, but the first at the end. It is about surviving the wrecks, the mishaps.
LIkewise, we dont' have to be the fastest to learn everything, we don't have to light up every lap. We may even fall back a bit. However, we need to keep our eyes on that finish line. We need to know we have the equipment and team to get us to the end in good order. If we are owned by Christ, if we are on his team, then we are given the best equipment. Our crew chief, Christ, can fix about anything. Any issue or mishap we ahve in our lives, any wreck we get into; we just need to pull in the pits and ask Christ to fix our cars, to get it out on track again. That Christ is a miracleworker. It doesn't matter how many laps we lose, he gets us back out there on the lead lap. The really great thing is, he drove before we did and knows all the pitfalls and the like. He knows about how much it hurts to lose a lap or to blow a tire, he was there. He seemingly lost the race, but he came back to win the race.
Every great driver needs a spotter. Spotters are out there, on top of the track, looking for trouble spots, telling the driver, where to go next so as to miss an accident or a pitfall. God gives us a spotter. It is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that still small voice in our ears, telling us not to go around that corner, or encouraging us to take that risk, to fill that gap. This spotter doesn't miss a call, unlike the humans do sometimes. This spotter only "fails" when we don't listen to its advice, kind of like the crew chief. We only have recurring problems when we fully don't let Him fix our problems. Only by following the team orders by the owner, God, listening and following the Crew Chief, Christ, and paying attention to what the spotter, the Holy Spirit, says, can we hope to win.
Lastly, winning Daytona is about drafting. Drafting is a process where you follow the fast car, and by going in a tight row everyone goes faster. We need to follow the fast car. Sometimes, the fast car at the middle of the race falls away, and those that drafted with him get left by the faster row. it is about consistency, when drafting is used. It is about knowing who to follow and how to stay there to get to the end of the race.
In this case, the best car to follow is that carpenter's car. That one that looks scarred at first, with holes in certain areas, but it stays at the front. It sets the pace of the field, in fact it won the race already, and is merely dragging us behind to help us win. Other cars seek to take us out of this draft, and sometimes we don't listen to the crews or the spotters and we follow them for a while. Then, it seems, that finish line and the glory gets farther away. However, Christ at times slows down enough to allow us to get back in line, to leave the temptations of the short term speed rush for the great and powerful consistency of faith, the great and wonderful gifts of following and learning from him, even better than learning drafting from Dale Earnhardt Sr. You see, we can't be seduced by the short term rush of being out front for a few laps, or going a little faster. We get caught up in the supposed fast track, fast lane, and soon we find we werent really that fast, that we were falling for tricks and gimmicks, that those who sought to "help" us by getting us to the front merely wanted to use us to get ahead on their own. Christ, though, is willing to come back to our level, to reach back for us, and to then carry us to the front, truly making us on the fast track to the success of eternity. Only Christ's line is the most consistent and best. Only Christ will lead us, at the end of the day, to the home stretch, to the glories of eternity. But, we won't lead on our own. We have to follow Him to the finish, and not get diverted by fly by night teams only focused on short term speed, on showing off, and not on showing the way to the glory of God.
Text: 1 Corinthians 9:24; 2 Timothy 4:7-8; Hebrews 12:1; Ecclesiastes 9:11b
Today is a special day. Yep, it's Daytona time! As you all know, I am a big sports fan, and I love NASCAR! Also, the Winter Olympics have been going on, not that any of you probably watched them, judging by the ratings... But seriously, today I want to talk about the Great Race. I want to talk about what we are striving for. What we should be striving for...
We are all striving for something. 43 drivers today will strive for the first victory in a long season. Athletes strive for victory. Sometimes, athletic competition brings out the pure pursuit of greatness. Unfortunately, if we are merely after the material gain or the recognition over betterment of ourselves, then we end up like that snowboarder who had the gold medal won, only to blow it seeking personal fame and recognition by showboating on the big finish. you see, it wasn't about the competition or the achievement of excellence. It was actually about her own fame and fortune, about getting the big contracts and the big money, rather than in being her best. There is an interesting lesson to be learned from that. Let's get away from that for a minute by asking...How do we strive for that goal? 1 Cor 9:24 talks about running the race in such a way as to get the prize. For the 43 drivers today, that prize is a trophy, a few hundreds points toward a championship, and millions of dolars and fame and fortune. The snowboarder lost sight of that goal, as many athletes do. It wasn't about winning, it became about bragging and overshadowing others. We need to run a race for the prize of salvation, in what way do we do that to gain the prize?
Phillipians 3:14 talks about pressing toward the goal. How do NASCAR drivers do it at Daytona? Faith..and patience. They have faith in their abilities, faith in the pit crew, the crew chief, and faith in the team. They have patience, because they know this is a long race, 500 miles. They know, at least the good ones know, that it is not about winning every lap, but about winning the last lap. it is not about being the fastest, but the first at the end. It is about surviving the wrecks, the mishaps.
LIkewise, we dont' have to be the fastest to learn everything, we don't have to light up every lap. We may even fall back a bit. However, we need to keep our eyes on that finish line. We need to know we have the equipment and team to get us to the end in good order. If we are owned by Christ, if we are on his team, then we are given the best equipment. Our crew chief, Christ, can fix about anything. Any issue or mishap we ahve in our lives, any wreck we get into; we just need to pull in the pits and ask Christ to fix our cars, to get it out on track again. That Christ is a miracleworker. It doesn't matter how many laps we lose, he gets us back out there on the lead lap. The really great thing is, he drove before we did and knows all the pitfalls and the like. He knows about how much it hurts to lose a lap or to blow a tire, he was there. He seemingly lost the race, but he came back to win the race.
Every great driver needs a spotter. Spotters are out there, on top of the track, looking for trouble spots, telling the driver, where to go next so as to miss an accident or a pitfall. God gives us a spotter. It is called the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is that still small voice in our ears, telling us not to go around that corner, or encouraging us to take that risk, to fill that gap. This spotter doesn't miss a call, unlike the humans do sometimes. This spotter only "fails" when we don't listen to its advice, kind of like the crew chief. We only have recurring problems when we fully don't let Him fix our problems. Only by following the team orders by the owner, God, listening and following the Crew Chief, Christ, and paying attention to what the spotter, the Holy Spirit, says, can we hope to win.
Lastly, winning Daytona is about drafting. Drafting is a process where you follow the fast car, and by going in a tight row everyone goes faster. We need to follow the fast car. Sometimes, the fast car at the middle of the race falls away, and those that drafted with him get left by the faster row. it is about consistency, when drafting is used. It is about knowing who to follow and how to stay there to get to the end of the race.
In this case, the best car to follow is that carpenter's car. That one that looks scarred at first, with holes in certain areas, but it stays at the front. It sets the pace of the field, in fact it won the race already, and is merely dragging us behind to help us win. Other cars seek to take us out of this draft, and sometimes we don't listen to the crews or the spotters and we follow them for a while. Then, it seems, that finish line and the glory gets farther away. However, Christ at times slows down enough to allow us to get back in line, to leave the temptations of the short term speed rush for the great and powerful consistency of faith, the great and wonderful gifts of following and learning from him, even better than learning drafting from Dale Earnhardt Sr. You see, we can't be seduced by the short term rush of being out front for a few laps, or going a little faster. We get caught up in the supposed fast track, fast lane, and soon we find we werent really that fast, that we were falling for tricks and gimmicks, that those who sought to "help" us by getting us to the front merely wanted to use us to get ahead on their own. Christ, though, is willing to come back to our level, to reach back for us, and to then carry us to the front, truly making us on the fast track to the success of eternity. Only Christ's line is the most consistent and best. Only Christ will lead us, at the end of the day, to the home stretch, to the glories of eternity. But, we won't lead on our own. We have to follow Him to the finish, and not get diverted by fly by night teams only focused on short term speed, on showing off, and not on showing the way to the glory of God.
# posted by Mark : 5:54 PM
