What About The Prize

So I have the wonderful pleasure of ministering the word to y’all this morning. Yes, and I’m yes, and I’m excited about kids con the theme to kids con is off to the races. Yes. And you know there are several scriptures in the Bible where Paul the Apostle likens a race to the lives that we live as spiritual beings. And so I thought I’m gonna tie the message today into the theme of Kids Con. Because I know you as adults, you probably won’t get a chance to be here every day. So you’re not gonna see all the fun that we’re having, but that’s okay. You’re gonna get you’re gonna get a little sample of what we’re gonna be doing this week with the kids. So if you know kids or have kids that are not registered yet, get those kids registered if you’re watching online and you have children ages three through 12. Get those kids registered to be here because we are off to the races, amen. All right, all right, all right. You can take your seats, you can take your seats. I’m gonna pray over the message and then I’ll get started. How about that?

So, Father, we first of all want to give you all the honor and the praise and the glory just to be here this morning, to be in your presence, father. We thank you for every opportunity that we get to sit and hear the voice of your spirit minister to us. We thank you, Father, that your word changes things for us. Your word fixes things for us. Your word strengthens us and causes us to win in the race of life. God, we thank you for the word that you’re gonna give us here. I thank you that the hearts of the people are made ready by the power of your spirit to receive what you have to say to them. And Father, we ask that you would anoint their ears to hear and cause the word that they hear to remain and to build them up and to encourage them. We’ll be quick to give you the honor, the praise and all the glory for it in Jesus’ name. Amen. Amen.

Hauled off to the races

Well, listen. Um, as a child, I grew up a part of my life in the state of New Mexico. The formative years of my life, from age three to twelve, I lived right here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. My dad was a racing enthusiast. Oh my God. Every Friday and Saturday night, I have five siblings. We all got piled into the car or on the back of a truck and hauled off to the races. Just right out here on South Ubank. I don’t, I don’t, oh, you remember that, huh? Oh, you must have been one of those kids on the back of that trip. Hey, we got hauled off to the races every Friday and Saturday night, and I remember as a child thinking to myself, as a child, I remember at about age seven or eight, is this a good place for kids to be? Because for the first thing, it was so loud that all the kids were holding their ears, you know, the sound of the cars, and they would rev them up really loud, and kids would be holding their ears, and all the men that were in the bleachers would be screaming and yelling at the drivers. And the language that they used when they yelled at the drivers, the children were exposed to. I wish I could say that. My father was not a participant in that part of the sport. But I felt like he might have been the leader. So, needless to say, as children who were exposed to that type of environment, when it was time for us to go outside and play, and our parents weren’t around, guess what we practiced? Racing language.

But you know, racing is a really fun sport. I’m not an enthusiast. I am not gonna sit down in front of a TV and watch cars go round and round and round and round and round in circles. That’s like watching paint dry. I’m sorry. I need some, I’m gonna need something that has a little bit more interest for me. But let me let me let me tell you something about there. There are a number of races in our country that are iconic. One of them being probably this is the number one, the Indianapolis 500. Are y’all familiar with that race? That’s probably the number one. The Daytona 500 is amongst the top five races. I think it might be number two, but I can’t verify that. You can check it out. I don’t know. But I have some fun facts about that particular race for you.

The Daytona 500

The Daytona 500. The reason that they call that race the 500 is because those drivers are required to go around 500 miles. That is a 500 mile long race. 500 miles in one day. But here’s the good thing. So when they go around 2.5 miles, that means they gotta go around successfully. 200 laps. They have to complete 200 laps. That race can last for about six hours. The distance that they drive around that track is about the distance from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Lawton, Oklahoma. In four to six hours at 200 miles per hour.

Now let me tell you something about being in the actual environment of racing. All of your senses are invited to the race. Your sense of sound, your sense of smell, you get to smell the fuel. You get to smell the burning rubber. You get to smell the smoke. And in addition to that, you get to smell all the wonderful concessions that come from the concession stand. It is amazing. And we sat on metal bleachers. So you got to feel the vibration of the engines when they revved up. When the cars would rev up the the bleachers would just shake.

The prize. The prize. What about the prize in this race? Mmm, the race. This Daytona 500 race. For the winner of that race, that person gets anywhere from 2.4 million to 3 million dollars for six hours of riding around and around, around, around and around and around and around 2.4 to 3 million dollars. Tempting, right? That’s if you make it with all the other drivers going around, around, around at 200 miles per hour for 200 laps. That race starts off with 40 drivers in it. 40 strong, talented, capable individuals. And I believe if I’m not mistaken, there has been at least one female that was a participant in that race. If you don’t have endurance, that’s not the race for you. Because in that race, you have the high potential and possibility to absolutely lose your life. Because at 200 miles per hour, 40 drivers, this close to each other, some of them actually are team racing, so one of them will get behind one that’s in front of him and push him. I’d be like, don’t, hey, don’t do that. I got this. Do not push me. Do not push me.

My little red race car

So I’m not an enthusiast, but my I have to tell you, my life has been affected by by racing because it was just something that we were exposed to as children all of our lives. So me and my five siblings, ugh, we don’t drive slow. None of us drive. None of us like to be the passenger in the other siblings’ car. We all want to be the driver that everybody else. Me in particular. Oh. I trust my fast driving. I’m not too sure about theirs.

So I got real fortunate at one point in my life. I still have this car. It’s a little red. I I call it my little red race car. I had to stop driving that car. Because I couldn’t keep from breaking the law. You see, I drive up to a stop sign, and somebody, most of the times, it was some guy who would be in uh either a Mustang or something else that was fast. And I’d be sitting at the light, and a horn would go beep, and I’d look over, and some person would be going like this to me. I was like, uh-uh. See, no, no, I ain’t the one. I ain’t the one. So I put my head down and act like I didn’t see them. Bump. I said, oh, oh, Jesse coming in. I’m having to be quiet. Just Jesse, you’re not hearing. Jesse, Jesse’s with A P D. Well, you have to bunk in now, Jesse.

And so, I mean, I was up for the challenge every time. I didn’t look like I was up for the challenge. A girl probably ain’t gonna do nothing with that car. She just got it because it’s red. Okay. I think that if you want to. Because as soon as the light turned green, I stepped on it. And that car would get from zero to 60 in two seconds. I’d be past the next red light before they catch me. Breaking the law, Jesse, I’m sorry. I just had to show them that girls can race too. Hey, don’t mess with girls. In fact, they’re hey. Girls can race too. That that that that that is one of the things that I’ve had to ask God to help me with. Because I know where that came from. That came from my upbringing. And so I stopped driving that car. Mostly because I didn’t want to go to jail. You know, sometimes you get a dick, and sometimes they take you to jail. I was like, nah, I don’t want to go to jail. I don’t I don’t need to drive that that that fast that bad.

What about the prize

But let me tell you, not only does the winner of the Daytona 500 get 2.4 to $3 million dollars, they get a trophy that is made by a guy named Harley J. Earl. Now Harley Earl was a former General Motors designer. He designed the Corvette and the Firebird won. Man, that’s some speed right there. That trophy that the winner of the Daytona 500 gets gets a trophy with the Firebird, the emblem of that firebird on it. But let me tell you what is the most coveted prize that the winner of the Daytona 500 receives. It’s a Rolex watch. Oh, a special made Rolex watch. Because at one point it was Rolex who determined the time for those races. There was not a time machine accurate enough to determine the time of the races until Rolex came into the picture. Son Rolex don’t, you know, if you you know, if you if you only have $50 to spend on a watch, don’t go to the Rolex store. Just don’t. It’s called the Rolex Daytona, and it has the word Daytona on the inside. And what happens when these drivers win, they have a special engraving on the back of that watch. Paul Newman had one specially made for him. He auctioned his watch off, and he made $7.8 million dollars for one watch because it was the Daytona Rolex. Man, what a prize, right? What a prize.

What about the prize? Can I tell you that as impressed as I am with those prizes, the one thing that I know about every last one of them, and that is this that those prizes are temporary, they are temporary, they will not last. Paul the Apostle said in First Corinthians 9 24, do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. Run in such a way as to get the prize, run to win. For the way that you live your life, you may want to rethink the way you live your life. Because there is a prize for the way we live our lives.

In Hebrews 12 1 2. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and the perfecter of our faith.

We’re all gonna run this race, but we’re gonna need something to help us in this life to get through this race. And that thing that we’re gonna need is the author and the finisher of our faith. That is Jesus Christ, our Lord and our Savior. Now let me read to you from the Passion Translation what Paul says in Philippians. This is what it says in the King James. I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling in God in Christ. I press, Paul says, for the high calling of the prize. There’s a prize at the end of this race called life. It is an eternal prize and it is a glorious prize. And as believers, it should behoove us to set our hearts and our minds on the receiving of that eternal prize.

Paul said this I admit that I have not yet acquired the absolute fullness that I’m pursuing, but I run with passion into his abundance so that I may reach the purpose that Jesus Christ has called me to fulfill and what he wants me to discover. I don’t depend on my own strength to accomplish this. However, I do have one compelling focus. I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future. Instead, I run straight for the divine invitation of reaching the heavenly goal and gaining the victory prize through the anointing of Jesus. So let all who fully are fully mature have this same passion, and if anyone is not yet gripped by these desires, God will reveal it to them. And let us all advance together to reach this victory prize, following one path with one passion.

See, there’s a prize when you serve God and you live for God, and you walk with God, and you honor God, and you glorify God.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego

Verse 12. Whom these are the Chaldeans talking to King Nebuchadnezzar after Nebuchadnezzar had built a golden statue and commanded everyone at the sound of the music to bow down and worship this image.

And these Chaldeans came to the king and said, There are certain Jews whom thou hast set over the affairs of the province of Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, these men, O king, have no regard, have not regarded thee. They serve not thy gods, nor worship the golden image which you’ve set up. Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king. Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? Do you not serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up? Now, if you be ready, that at what time you hear the sound of the cornet, the flute, the harp, the sackbut, the saltry, the dulcimer, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the image which I’ve made well. But if you worship not, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar said to them, Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hand?

Who is that God? Here’s this man who is in power over a very large range of territory, and he’s quite pompous, I might say, because he had the nerve to ask them, who is this God that shall deliver you out of my hands? As if he was the king of kings, as if he was the God of Gods.

Let’s keep on with the story. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we’re not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, if what be so, if you throw us into the burning fiery furnace, our God, whom we serve, is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand. But if not, if you decide not to throw us into the burning fiery furnace, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up. Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Therefore he spake and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.

Why would you need to make fire seven times hotter to burn? I’m sorry, I’m just curious. Because all you gotta do is strike a match to burn me, and I’m I’m I’m burnt. That’s enough. Just strike a match seven times hotter. Huh. I think he wanted to make a point, maybe. I don’t know. Anyways. They heated the furnace seven times hotter. And they commanded the most mighty men that were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo and throw them into the burning fiery furnace. These men were bound in their coats, their hosing, and their hats and their other garments. This is another question. Why you need that many clothes on? You’ve been thrown into the fire. I’m sorry. I just have questions. Who needs on a hat and a coat and hosing and what is up with all these clothes? You’re gonna throw us in the fire. Gee the loo. Why we need so many clothes on? But anyways, I guess there was a point to it.

Therefore, because the king’s commandment was urgent, the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire, slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down, bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, rose up in haste and spake and said unto his counselors, Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered and said unto the king, True, O king. He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.

Huh? Who? Who told him? Between the time he said, Who is that God? I see no record of anybody going up to him and introducing him to that God. But something happened in the heart and the mind of that man for him to say, Huh? And the fourth is like the Son of God.

Then Nebuchadnezzar came near the mouth of the burning fiery furnace and spake and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth hither. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth of the midst of the fire.

So you see, that’s a prize. Can I tell you that that is a prize? That’s a prize right there. When your life of obedience to God creates an opportunity for God to introduce himself to an unbeliever. A man who initially said, Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands? Huh? Oh, yeah, CCC, that’s a prize. Oh, I love the testimony of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo. They had to keep their eyes on the prize. They had to walk in obedience. They had to walk fearless of what would be said about them, what would be told about them, how they would be treated or not treated, how they would be looked at or not looked at, how they would be seen or not seen, how they would be treated or not treated. Somehow they kept their focus on God. And in keeping their focus on God, the prize was this the opportunity that a king had an opportunity to come to know God because of the way those men lived their lives. I like that. I like that prize.

Keep your eye on the eternal prize

And find five to ten people to pray for every day. Every day, it’s not hard, it’s not that hard. I most people drive ten minutes to work. I don’t, but you know, I find ten minutes somewhere else. You are creating in that time of prayer, you are creating an opportunity for God to be introduced to the people that you’re praying for. And if he is not being introduced to them, you’re creating an opportunity for him to divinely intervene. You’re creating an opportunity for him to divinely interrupt. You’re creating an opportunity for him to divinely disrupt. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. God just needs, hey, he just needs an opportunity. Shadrach, Meshach, and the Bed Nigo said, We’re not bound to your. No, that’s not for us. We know the God that you want to know. And in a minute, they could have, but they didn’t. It’s not recorded in the word. They could have said, in a minute, you’re gonna know him too. Because he certainly did. Ah, yeah. Yeah.

My prayer for you today is that you will keep your eye on the eternal prize. Don’t get distracted by all these worldly prizes. They’re great. You know what I’m saying? Harley, um, this Earl Harley, by the way, Rod, he was the inventor of the Corvette. He he he invented that Corvette as well. Those are some nice prizes. But they’re temporary people. And in case you haven’t noticed, the times that we are in are demanding that we live our lives in a way that God has an opportunity to introduce himself to your neighbor, to your banker, uh-huh, to your grocer, to your gas station attendant, to the person at the post office. Wherever you are, you have an opportunity to fix your mind on the eternal prize. And that’s my prayer for you today.

I want to know if there’s anybody in here that’s not born again that does not have a relationship with God. Bow your heads with me if you don’t mind. If you’re in here today and you don’t have a relationship with God, but you would like to, you would like for us to pray for you. Please raise your hand if you’re in the in the house this morning and you want a relationship with God. Anybody? I can’t see any hands, anybody. All right. We got some praying for some people to do. Let’s pray. We’ll finish and I’ll dismiss you.

Father, we thank you today for your word and the desire that you have to introduce yourself to others through us, making that a prize for us. God, I pray for every individual under the sound of my voice here this morning that they would hear the word that you have spoken. Father, that they would cherish and honor the revelation of who you are. Honor and cherish the desire of your heart to make yourself known to others through us. Father, with every opportunity that you give us, help us, help us, God, to be sensitive to the opportunities that you give us to be a part of introducing who you are to those among us. God will always be quick to give you the honor. We’ll always be quick to give you the glory. And we’ll always be quick to say thank you for all that you have done in us, to us, through us, and for us. We’ll be quick to magnify the name of Jesus that’s above every name. We’ll be quick to give honor to that name in the same way that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abendigo gave glory and honor to who you are by simply obeying what you’ve said. Help us, Father. Help us to be those who understand that we are in a race and that we are running. And help us, Father, to run this race with purpose, determination, perseverance, and discipline. Father, help us. Help our lives to bring glory and honor to you in the name of Jesus. Amen.

All right, stand on your feet. You’re dismissed. You can go out. Thank you. You can go out and enjoy this first Sunday of summer. Have fun in some water. Drink lots of it. Stay hydrated, and we’ll see you right back here on Tuesday night. Kids Con starts. Come ready. Love you guys. Have a good week.