David Hughes - Drive Like McLaren.

♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ So I'm in the highway ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ If you're going my way ♪ ♪ I won't try before my home ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ ♪ I won't ride before my home ♪ (upbeat music) - Oh, what is up, church by the Glades. (audience cheering) And I feel a little sorry for any pastor in America who didn't enter the stage in a 765 LT McLaren this morning. (audience cheering) First question, no, it is not my car. It's not my car. And y'all do pay me, thank you, but they don't pay me enough to buy McLaren money. It's a whole different thing. What a beautiful car, isn't that amazing? It's a 2022, it's called the 765 because only 765 were made by McLaren. And you couldn't just buy one. You had to be already in the McLaren pipeline, have a relationship, even have the privilege

of spending, you're gonna Google it, over a million dollars for this car. It goes from zero to 60 in 2.7 seconds. Has also 765 metric horsepower. It is V8 twin turbo engine. This is a machine right here. McLaren, so what's going on? If you're a guest, you're highly confused. Welcome to church by the Glades right now. We're gonna wrap up a series we enjoy for several weeks called day one, day one. In fact, this was not even a scheduled session of day one. But you guys have just enjoyed this series. We have such good feedback. And so today is a special bonus session, extra session of day one. So listen, I like when we get a little extra something, it's kind of fun. The kids got an extra day and a half off school this weekend. I like when I buy a dozen bagels. They give me 13 bagels. I like when the manager comes by, it just gives me free dessert after dinner. I like a little extra something. I like five guys. We order french fries. They put all the extra french fries in the bag. I love them extra. So this is an extra, extra session of this idea. If you're a guest, today is a parable.

Parable is an illustration to demonstrate a spiritual point. We're using giant global brands as we teach on a big idea embedded in Zachariah chapter four verse 10, which says, "Do not despise the day of small beginnings." And so parables are powerful. I mentioned in earlier sessions that Jesus loved the teaching technique of a parable. He was just those extended metaphors. He talked about things that his audience would connect with. He told those stories about farmers and their fields and fishermen and their fish. Y'all get, he wasn't really talking about fish and farming. He was talking about actually deep embedded spiritual transformative principles that will change people's lives. And so parables are a great teaching technique. And so this is just a parable today. And by the way, a parable is not unique just to Jesus. He was the best at it. But a lot of great communicators will use extended metaphors. In fact, you find them throughout the Bible. In fact, I was thinking about this. Why are there not more sports metaphors in the Bible? You know, 'cause we're using a sports metaphor 'cause the metaphor today is F1 racing. Any fans of F1 in the house, F1 racing. And especially the McLaren company, man. And one of the dominant forces in F1. McLaren won both the team title

and the World Drivers' Championship last year. So they're a great brand, a great team in F1. But other authors of the Bible talk about things, but not a lot of sports. The Hebrew authors did not talk about sports as illustrations in the Bible with one exception. The Apostle Paul talked about sports a lot. In fact, Paul talked about things his crowd would recognize back in the first century. He talked about wrestling. He talked about boxing. He talked about the discipline and training. Athletes have to go through to be elite. And then over a half dozen times, he talked about racing. Always talking about a race. Now, sports car or chariots track. But Paul loved to talk about sports, which begs the biblical question. I think probably somebody came to church and said, no, I hope David answers the great thing. And that's not my main topic today But I want to chase this rabbit for a moment because I love biblical detail. Don't you? I love to dig into the word of God and Paul talks about sports. So all I was just thinking was Paul a sports fan in fact I want to say this you're about to hear at the greatest sermon you have ever heard On the topic was Paul a sports fan was probably the only time over here a sermon on this idea Well, let me give you a little background on the apostle Paul this force of nature that God used such a powerful way To write 12 or 13 books of the New Testament an amazing man of God Oh Paul Paul is different than the other apostles in several ways. What is this? He is a Jew but he was not born in Israel the other apostles Peter James and John They're all born in Israel Paul is born outside of Israel

He's Hebrew, but in a city called Tarsus Tarsus. Why I say three say the name Tarsus when he one two three Tarsus Nick you've learned about this in seminary. So this was his hometown now Bible scars You think of the town of Tarsus in the first century again not in Israel be a modern-day Turkey Think three things three things take out your phones come with Bible scars take some notes take some of those three things about Paul's hometown number one sophisticated It's an urban center. It's a big city a lot going on in Tarsus again compared to the other apostles They're all from Galilee now Galilee is what is the country? It's the countryside is rural So the other guys Peter James and John. They're from small villages small towns. They're biblical bumpkins But Paul's an urbanities from a big metropolitan area like South Florida. So Tarsus is sophisticated number two scholarship It was a seat of learning in the ancient world think like Athens or Alexander Egypt They had the equivalent of universities. So a lot of smart scientists philosophers mathematicians made Tarsus their home of Paul was highly intelligent Then number three number three sophisticated scholarship sports They were sports fans in Tarsus now the Hebrews didn't write much in the Bible about sports hardly ever mentioned outside of Paul Why I don't know but here's my theory my guess was in Israel just to just to live it was tough Israel like it has today had neighboring nations were very hostile to them and if you ever go to Israel You see the soil is very rocky very stony very difficult to grow crops there in Israel So if you're an Israel light and your herdsmen or farmer or fishermen, you're working 14-hour days Just to feed the family It's life is hard and when you're working 14-hour days, you know trying to Provide grazing land for the herds or trying to grow your crops you ain't got energy for pickleball when the day is done But the Romans and the Greeks because Tarsus has a collision between three cultures There's a Jewish population, but also has Hebrew culture. It has Roman culture and it has Greek culture all comes together It's incredible fusion the Romans and the Greeks love sports You know the Olympics started in ancient Greece and the Olympics were happening at this time in Athens, right? But Paul we're gonna study first Corinthians first Corinthians chapter nine first Corinthians chapter I say with me first Corinthians chapter 9 open up your Bibles turn on your Bibles fine If you will first quit these chapter 9 Lord verse by verse study that love verse by verse study You forgot your Bible put it up on the LEDs, but Paul When he's in Corinth. He's in Corinth for almost a year and a half. What's he doing starting churches? Paul was something called a church planter so he preached the gospel and got from place to place to build churches from scratch

He's a church planner. So he's in Corinth for a year and a half planning a church growing up a small church Feeding the congregation bringing ministry of people But why the Olympics are in Athens just outside of Corinth have I lost you Corinth is in Greece? There's another set of games called the ismian games the ismian games outside of town and they were second and popularity to sports fans in ancient world just behind the Olympics and We know that Paul was in Corinth probably 50 to 51 AD and we know these games happen every two years that the ismian games happen White Paul was doing ministry in Corinth so was Paul a sports fan don't know but I know this Chances are he was at those games How do we know that okay stay with these smart people if you're an athlete or a coach or trainer or fan because thousands of fans can From all the Empire for these games. They happen outside of town. There's no lodging. There's no Olympic Village for the athletes So where we just spend the night tense? They were set up a large tent city. Does anybody know what Paul did for a living? Yes, he's a rabbi. Yes. He's a pastor, but the way he earned his money was he was that you might know He was a tent maker. He was a tent maker So were his friends of Quilla and Priscilla also in Corinth during this time And so no way Paul would miss out on the economic opportunity Of all these people need intent so you know that Paul and his friends were making tips So was he a sports fan from growing up in Tarsis, perhaps, but he's at these games, and maybe he's like a guy who sells concessions at the stadium. After all, he used to become a sports fan by osmosis. So I don't know for certain was Paul a sports fan, I think he probably was, but this I do know. That Paul had no issue using sports as an illustration to bring people to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul again, wrestling, boxing, training, track and field over a half dozen times to help people of his culture who love sports

to connect with the gospel. Brilliant. So all this here, we're just ripping off the apostle Paul and Jesus, helping people connect with the gospel of Jesus Christ. So what's Paul a sports fan we'll find out in heaven? That's not what the sermon's about. It's about 1 Corinthians chapter nine, 1 Corinthians chapter nine, about a little verse by verse study, laying the groundwork today. Let's go, we'll begin in verse, wow, verse 22, and this verse is key to our church. I love this verse. Years ago, when I found this verse, man, God taught me, if I was ever a pastor, we'd build our church around verses like this. So Paul here is describing his methodology for sharing the good news of Jesus with the people of Corinth or anywhere. Here's what he says, ready? On the screen, I become all things to all, what does that mean? Was he fake? Was he funny? No, I said, I want to irrelevant. I want to relate to people where they are. So go ahead and back up and read the whole chapter. He says, you know, to Jews, I want to teach like a Jew 'cause I'm a Jew. To Gentiles, I grew up in a Gentile city.

I want to speak to Gentiles in a way they understand. He says, to weak people, I'll be weak. To strong people, I'll be strong. He says, I want to relate to my audience in a powerful and real way. So he's not saying I'm disingenuous. I want to be, I want to meet them where they are. I want to build on ramps from my audience to the gospel. So he says, I become all things to all men so that by, oh you sound a little tired. He's ready, a little tired. You need some caffeine today? 'Cause this is really important. I think this statement right here, don't blow by this, so vital. Paul says, here's why I do it. I become all things to all men that so, so that by all possible means, I might save some. What's he saying? Look, I'll do almost anything. I'll be provocative, I'll be unorthodox, I'll be unique, I'll use secular things to bring people to the spiritual. I will do things we'll probably criticize and misunderstood. I will do by all possible, Paul is saying, bringing people to Jesus is so critical. I will do anything short of sin to help people connect with the gospel of Jesus Christ. (audience applauding)

Look, I get it, not every church has McLarens on stage and LEDs and productions and we're a little weird, but here there's a method to the madness. This is all trying to bring people into a relationship with King Jesus. This is all trying to help people on ramps to the gospel. In language metaphors, they might relate to. It's not a new idea, it goes back to Paul and he just doubles down to the next verse, verse 23 on the screen right now. He says, I do everything. I'll do just about everything or anything to spread the good news, aka the gospel, and share in its blessing. He said, this is so critical, this one folks, if the stakes are really heaven or hell, we're gonna do anything and everything to reach people. He continues, this is such a great passage. He says verse 24, don't you realize that in a race, in a race, everyone runs, but only, how many? Louder? Hang on, only one, only one person gets the prize. I love this, loudly, so run to win. Turn your neighbor, look nice, so you need to run to win. Run to win, if life is your race. Let's not play games, let's get serious, let's run to win. And how many win, how many win? How many win, what, what? Okay, listen, I asked who are my F1 fans,

some of you guys, but who are my NASCAR fans? NASCAR is probably bigger in America. Come on, NASCAR fans be proud. NASCAR fans, got some NASCAR. All right, a little over the NASCAR fans, here's my question. Who is the greatest NASCAR driver of all time? Is it Dale, is it Dale Jr., is it Jimmy Johnson, is it great Richard Petty? Answer is no, nothing above. It is Ricky Bobby, of course, is the greatest NASCAR driver of all time. Ricky Bobby is the greatest of all time. And, you know, it's so amazing, and he's so quotable, so quotable, in fact, his most famous quote is what? If you ate first, you're... And we're like, that's not really true, it's not really true. I guess what, back. They had no silver medal, no bronze medal, no runner-up, no participation trophies. One person won the race. God wants you to be the one. God wants you to be the one. God is calling your name. He wants you to live your one life one day at a time on mission, on point for God. He wants you to run the way race to win. He continues verse 25. This passage is so good, this passage is so good. It continues verse 25. All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every... We talk about faith is not a feeling. It's not emotions. Faith is movement. Faith is taking one step that God shows you to take in your life. So what is your one step you make this day one? Is it baptism today? Is it forgiving someone that harms you today? Is it beginning to tithe today? Nobody clapping for that at all? Too late, too late. No, plenty of pause. Is it salvation? Do you know for certain,

are you a 10 out of a 10 that you know that you're saved? You can nail it down today with a prayer part. And what is your step today? So good. Am I not shadowboxing? That's a boxing training technique. I'm out of shadowboxing. He says, and finally I disciplined my body like an athlete training it to do what it should. Otherwise I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. What a great, great passage. Now that's the passage, but the parable is F1, F1, especially the McLaren team. And so to help you understand... Because again, I'm not an expert. Some of you guys are big F1 fans. Bill, I know you love F1. I love sports. But I'm learning about F1. So I understand F1. I love football. I love I know football pretty well. So F1. Yeah, there he goes. My people. Floridian's like football. So F1 is like the sport or the league. So F1 is like the NFL, then the various teams. So there's McLaren or Ferrari or Red Bull. They're like the franchises like the Miami Dolphins or the Green Bay Packers, right? Or the Patriots, whoever. Shut up. Shut up in Jesus' name. Shut up. Man, that's a biblical church. Stop with that stuff. Nonsense in the house of God. And then the drivers are kind of like a star quarterback. But you can't talk about Team McLaren without going back to its founder, Bruce McLaren. Now Bruce has been dead for decades, but what a remarkable guy. Now again, this sport's becoming very popular around the world, but especially in America now for the first time, but it's been popular in Europe for a long time. In fact, it kind of began in Europe, but Bruce was not European. He's not a Brit. He's not Italian. He's from New Zealand, tiny little nation in Australia. And Bruce wanted to be a pro athlete when he grew up, but he didn't want to be a race car driver. He wanted to play rugby. And New Zealand probably has the most famous rugby team in all the world, the national team. They're called the All Blacks. They're famous for that chant they do, that intimidating chant they do, to intimidate their place. Polynesian, it's called what? The Haka, the Haka. I get Haka in a hookah confused sometimes. One, one you smoke tobacco, this flavor or something, I don't do it, but the Haka. So he wanted to be one of those guys, but Bruce wasn't a giant guy who's a little guy. Then young people in his teens, in his teens, he got a disease where he was bedridden for months, had to stay at home, be homeschooled for a couple years. And he was so discouraged. His father loved sports too, but he loved racing motorcycles and building motorcycles. And what is that? He brought home because his son was depressed. He brought home an old race car, an old Alston, a broken down piece of junk. And he knew his son was smart and mechanical, and together they rebuilt that car in their garage. And when Bruce was 15,

he got his license, and he drove that car in his first race, and he won his first race as a teenager, he's grown-ups. And that is the very humble beginnings of everything that became McLaren Racing and McLaren Odd. It started like that in New Zealand with a very motivated, bright young man. Now again, I'm not an expert on F1. So if you're not an expert, find yourself an expert. And so through the car guy that loaned us the car, he was the first Baptist, we had a contact, and Bruce has been dead for a long time, but his daughter Amanda is so alive, and she was the brand ambassador for McLaren Racing for years, and we were able to interview her by a Zoom call. She's in New Zealand. We were here in the States, and I told her I wouldn't record it, I just want to get information about her dad, but she told her dad's story so beautifully. I asked it, can I just share one question with the church family? And she agreed. So here's the one question with Amanda McLaren, Bruce's daughter. Is there one thing about your dad? something about your dad that made him special, so successful, so impactful. Something that made my father very successful was how he valued people and their contribution. And the people that worked at Bruce McLeod Motor Racing say even today we didn't work for Bruce, we worked with Bruce. And although he did own the company, he was the leader, he was very much one of the team. That leadership style and his ability to inspire people, which is what made them all rally together, and that is something he contributed that exists in the team still, that was incredibly special. And I think the reason we still have a McLaren racing team and an automotive company today. Yeah, she was awesome on the phone. What a delightful, well spoken, what bravery, proud of her father's legacy. So here it is, ready to give a title to sermon, it'd be a lesson. You want to win the race, drive like McLaren, drive like McLaren. Let me quickly give you four ideas from this parable, but more importantly based on first Corinthians chapter nine, write these down, if you will. Idea number one, give me one, louder, give me a one. I'm gonna call something, I'm gonna call beginners pluck, beginners pluck that is not a typo, it's the word pluck, plucky. I've heard the word plucky, when I say three, shout the word plucky, one, two, three, plucky. This phrase, beginner's pluck, actually comes from the title of a book written by a remarkable young woman, Liz Bohannon. And I heard Liz speak with my wife Lisa, maybe five, six years, a great communicator, but a remarkable young woman, she did the typical thing, good family, went to college, got a degree, started her career, but her mid 20s, she discovered that women in Central Africa, bright young women who wanted to

go to college, couldn't go to college while they couldn't afford the tuition. So she buys a ticket to Uganda in her mid 20s, leaves her job, and she goes with the idea of starting some kind of company or business to help these women earn money towards tuition, to economic and power them, she starts a fashion and footwear brand, and sure enough, hundreds of young women are now going to college because this one young woman had the courage to leave it all behind and chase a dream to Africa. When she tells her story, she says, "Here's a crazy thing, I didn't have a plan when I went, I bought a one-way ticket, I was just trusting God would show me." To be plucky, to be plucky, let me give you a definition of plucky. I know it's as an old-school word, and my daughter, Victoria, is watching right now, Lisa, she has so rolled her eyes, I've used a word like plucky in church, but here's what it means, plucky means showing courage or determination when facing difficult situations or overwhelming odds. If you're plucky, you're not foolish, but you're fearless. Listen, McLaren racing should not exist. Let me show you the other successful teams in F1 right now all had great different pathways to the sport. Like Ferrari, when they had the first World Championship back in 1950, Intel Ferrari had been building cars for over 20 years, already had a great reputation in racing a big, big company compared to McLaren. Later on, one of the newcomers is Red Bull, Red Bull, what in a car company is an energy green company, but they brought in their gesquios a dollar and they bought a company, and now they're a player in the sport, but by contrast, McLaren was one guy. Bruce McLaren, years ago, loved to drive and build cars, design cars, he found some other like-minded individuals, and this small group of people found a way to make their presence known to become a dominant player in the multi-gascualient dollar F1 sports. Crazy, should never happen. I mean, Bruce was, when they started out, he was the driver and the owner and the mechanic and the engineer would drive the transport, would sweep the floors. He did everything, and when he died in a crash, there were nine people on the team, the other eight people took one day off, then they went back to work, began building the dream that Bruce had begun. It should not exist. They didn't have any corporate brand behind them, didn't have big finance behind them. They were just people who loved to build and drive race cars. It'd be like it could NFL NFL. If a local flag football team is really good, found a way to join the NFL and starts winning Super Bowls. Plucky. Plucky issue. You're not afraid. You know the odds are stacked to the issue, but you do it anyways. In fact, Bruce in 1963 was asked to describe his team and why they succeeded. He said,

we were a small group of plucky racing enthusiasts. Turn your Be unafraid, unafraid personal testimony, personal testimony. So I've been the pastor of this church, I had 20, 27 years come out, 28 years next month. Yeah, I know. Thank you. Just me job on fire, man. I appreciate that. But I was not the founding pastor. There were two pastors here before me, the church started in the mid-80s. And so I didn't start the church, I was not the church planter. Now I'm also the pastor of First Baptist Church at Lardell. But there, they've been going a hundred years. I'm a pastor number 18, I'm just like the latest chapter, no big deal. But right out of grad school, I did start a church, I started what is now First Baptist Church of Weston. It's a robust congregation, some of y'all know it, they have a school going through high school. It's a great church, have property and buildings now, amazing. But when I was there, at 26, Charlie's age, First Baptist Church didn't look anything like that. We didn't have any property, any buildings. So we gathered people using telemarketing, remember telemarketing, volunteers in the church making just random phone calls. And then we met in a movie theater, and we met in elementary school. And so I'm sure they forgot about me a long time ago, but I did not forget about them. And it was some great, I guess some people from First West are with me in the house right now way back when. And the church looks very different, but be honest, so do I. The question, where will you be, seeing where we stand for God, making the proper decisions that he would call us to decide.

I've been trying to share with the young people all this week in the fact that you have the choice. And that's what Joshua chapter 24 deals with, the choice that God would have us to make. So cringy, so cringy, that's me at 26, rise I'm starting, that's not First Baptist Church of Western, it's the sponsoring church that's Sheridan Hillston in Hollywood. And but I missed that guy. He was too dumb to be afraid. He was just too naive to know, my gosh, this is probably going to fail. And if you're a church planner, you're a little crazy, you got to be a little crazy because it is such a high risk proposition, because again, no people, no resources. I love the spirit back then, we're meeting all these locations, you know, meeting a school, meeting in the theater, we meet midweek at a McDonald's, and we would do things like we're going to start this new campaign or advertise or have an event, we're going to take all the money we have in the bank, and if it goes south, we'll get part-time jobs at this McDonald's, yeah, you know, it was only $500. We just gamble all the time, and then later on years later, your pastor had a real large church with property and buildings and payroll and mortgage, and you can be tempted just to play it safe. But how do we play it safe when the stakes are heaven or hell? I always want to be a church that gambles, I want to be a church. Listen, us stepping in and investing literally in First Baptist Church, not our church downtown, to see God resurrect that church has been incredible, but you guys being plucky, you guys being plucky, you guys being unselfish, us taking a risk, man, listen, never, never play it safe in Jesus' name, amen, amen. And by the way, just for fun, just to give the theme, First Baptist Church, yeah, we met in the theater, but we had no stage, so me and my dad built the stage, can you guess, in the family garage, family garage. There's 26-year-old David right there, rolling out like plywood stages for that first service in the garage. I wrote down number two quickly, number two, surprising fans.

The fan base has exploded for F1, F1's fan base globally is over 800 million people. There's many multiplied times more than the population in the United States of America. It's up 63% since 2018, and it was 60% of the new fans are under the age of 35. Now why have they been so successful reaching new people? I think here's the theory, the sports intriguing, they've built lots of stuff around the sport. They've built lots of things besides cars and cars and tracks to help fans aren't really true sports fans to plug in. In fact, this was suggested this extra series by a car guy, a car guy who owns a car, and dude, he looks like my brother, he's my age and stuff, I get it. But as soon as he said F1, it hit me, I have a couple of young people on our creative team that are bright young females who are not sport fans at all, but they love F1. For me, I think F1's in a great job building narrative around the actual racing. They tell story well, they push into glamour and celebrity technology, social media in a big way. Other sports sometimes push back and resist that somewhat. NASCAR, NASCAR is very popular, but NASCAR is sponsored by Bush beer and Wonder Bread. F1 is sponsored by Gucci and Rolex and Versace is the high end glamour brands. Why NFL fans, I watch "Intime" on social media, it's a Chiefs game, they show Taylor Swift. Oh, F1 presses into celebrities. Louis Hamilton's fans are famous people, they show them all the time. It's Rihanna, it's Brad Pitt, I mean all these fav- it's LeBron, it's Kim Kardashian. They help people who are not to sports fans who embrace their sports. Stay with them and go in somewhere. Just by the glaze is a great church if you love Jesus, because we love Jesus. But I want to reach people who don't love Jesus yet. And maybe your friend or neighbor, they love F1, or they love McLaren, or they just love cool cars. This is the bait y'all. This is to help you invite someone who does not yet love Jesus, but they love cars because we want them to fall in love with Jesus, amen?

Quickly, you need a crew, you need a crew, you need a crew. The pit stops, and all right, whether it's Indy or NASCAR or F1, are a thing to see. The precision, the speed, what they do. Now F1 doesn't typically refuel, it's unusual, sometimes they refuel, but they'll change all four tires in under two seconds. The pit stop in the middle is the fastest one they ever had. It was under two seconds, they changed all four tires. Now, that's remarkable why because they got this in crew that rehearses and trains and drills, and they work so well the synergy of a team. But I was thinking about this, what would F1 look like if the driver had a pit but no pit crew? He has that driver, he's just driving his heart out and all of a sudden, he pulls in the pit, steps out of the car, right, maybe has to refuel by himself, he gets the hydraulic jack, he's jacking up all four tires by himself, then he runs over and gets himself that little sophisticated, he runs back to the car, I'd actually paid money to see that, that'd be fun to watch, but it would not be fast, it would not be effective if the other guys had a crew, you're not winning anything, right? And God wants you to run to win, you need a crew. Thank you for coming to worship today, thank you for being in the House of God today, this is awesome. But you need a crew, where do you find your crew, life groups, ministry teams, you know, there's a tap tag right there in the seat in front of you, yeah, you can find your people, just tap that with your phone, it'll take you right to a landing page, you can find your people today, obey today, fast obey, slow obey is no obey, amen, amen, you need people in your life, God's plan and vision view is so big you cannot pull it off by yourself, you're talented, you're smart, you need your people, you got to find a way to find some groups, relationships, and then finally here, finally we're down fourth and finally one, two, three, and one, two, three, and I wrote down, others have carried his name, Bruce McLaren was talented and bright and plucky, fearless, but he died in his late thirties back in 1970, he was testing a new car and he crashed, passed away, again his

team, they took one day off, they went back to work, but crazy McLaren is still the name of the team, other drivers and other designers, other owners, the family that known the team anymore, they have carried his name proudly, they've carried his name almost reverently, they're honored to carry the name of McLaren, y'all we're Christians, we carry a name, we carry a name, what did Paul say, I do everything to spread the good news and share in its blessing, Paul said this is not about me, it's about the king, we share the name of the king, there's a king, he is our hero and this great king, my gosh what, he died for my sin, he arose again, he ascended to heaven, life is found in his name, all that and in his early thirties by the way, we carry the name, we don't race for our own glory, we don't race for our own prize, the eternal prize that we give to him someday, so guess what, if you're a guest I could care less if you remember my name, I don't matter, and pastors come and pastors go, someday I'll retire or get hit by a sports car, who knows, but I care very much, you hear his name, in Acts chapter 4 one of those preachers Peter said, there's no other name in heaven or earth by which men and women are saved, it's the name of Jesus, if you don't know my king today I'm gonna stop talking here in about 63 seconds, the prayer partners will present themself, you run to the front and say I want a relationship with Christ today, we're gonna carry the names, so guess what guys, that's why I'm on you all the time, church family is why I'm saying hey guess what, I need you to volunteer and inviting people to the house of God. Somebody will need to hop on your phone and invite someone today because you know they're an F1 fan. They're a sports guy. They want to see what a $1.2 million car looks like. I'll let them drive it. Not really, not really. Leveraging our networks, our influence, our relationships to bring one more person to know the name of Jesus. We carry the name.

It's not about production, it's not about creativity, it's not about parables. It's about the name of Jesus. It's Jesus and His Word all day long. Father God, thank you for who you are. Thank you for commission to be your church. That this church too, it's that crazy church. We're that risk-taking church. We're that by all possible means kind of church. We are the tip of the spear. We're a Navy Seal kind of congregation. Send us to the tough places, fathers. It's hard to reach, the hard to love as we bring them to our King. And we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.