This year the Fall Festival at Heritage Baptist Church (HBC) was bigger and better than ever. Early in the year, I was asked if I would set up the race bikes again and of course, I would. But, as the event drew closer, I was asked to speak as well.

With games for the kids, rides, food, and entertainment, the festival was a great event. The church staff had put out fliers in the surrounding neighborhood to let everyone know the event was happening. The registration table collected information on all visitors so we would know who was there. As it turned out, the fliers worked! The church recorded over 400 visitors from outside its membership. This was a phenomenal number considering the size of the community.

We had set up our canopy in the space designated. Lucky for us, it was right near the food! Not only did we eat well, the lines of people waiting patiently for home-made sausage had a long time to check out our "pit" and generate interest. We were quite busy all day. We spoke with young children to grandparents. All seemed interested in our mission. I kept busy autographing posters and talking about the blessings the Lord has heaped upon our team. The "how fast does it go?" question kept coming about every 15 minutes!

In the pit, my message was that you can use what you love to spread the love of Christ. We always do a better job of sharing anything when there is passion involved. If someone is a non-believer, how much passion are they going to have for Christ? But, they very well may have passion for some other thing that you have in common with them. Things like football, cycling, or even quilting, are things that people get passionate about. As Godís servants we need to find that common ground and use that to develop a relative relationship. With that established, the walls come down and sharing the Gospel is much easier.

We use fast motorcycles and the adrenaline rush of racing as our passion magnet. That being said, it was my turn to head up on stage. We started the bike and I rode it around the back of the church to make some noise and let everyone know something was up. Then, a careful weave through the crowd brought me to the stage where Cecilia pitted the bike. My point for the day was about Godís rules. I spoke about how we have certain rules on the track that keep racers from getting hurt.

Then I expanded into that fact that God has rules for us. And, His rules trump all others. I opened up the topic of postmodern relativism and how there are people out there who believe and promote the idea that right and wrong are relative and everyone should determine what works best for themselves. In other words, we all make up our own rules! What if each and every one of us, just up and made our own personal rules to live by? What if we all just decided to ignore God's rules and went all "Nike" on each other? "Just do it" What would happen?

The world around us is so worried about offending people, that it is starting to do just that. No one wants to tell someone they are wrong. No one wants to come out and say something is wrong these days. Our world today doesn't even have the courage to tell someone that it is wrong to kill their own baby before it's even born! In short, what our world now stands for is: stand for nothing. At this point, I had Cecilia come up and read Romans 12:2 as I pointed out our race number on the bike in front of the crowd.

Romans 12:2 "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is óhis good, pleasing and perfect will.î

The point here is that the world, our world, is headed in the wrong direction. We, believers or not, need to stand up and stand firm. Everyone should stand for something. Donít just pick something silly, make it count. The Lord Jesus stands for something doesnít he? He stands for the truth! As believers we need to stand for Him and therefore the truth as well.

Since we were on the truthÖÖ. I brought up the fact that we donít always obey Godís rules. When we don't obey God's rules it is called sin. All of us do it. The bible says so.

Romans 3:23 ěfor all have sinned and fall short of the glory of Godî

What is sin? Is it the big things like stealing and murder? Sin is ANYTHING that is displeasing to GOD! We have all displeased God, and on many occasions. But what now, what does this mean to us? The Bible tells us that too, in Romans 6:23.

Romans 6:23 ěFor the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.î

What does that mean? It means exactly what it says. We all have committed violations of Godís rules and we will be held accountable. The penalty for our actions is death, eternally. But of course, there is hope. We have some awesome news for you! God made a plan so that we can be forgiven and live with Him forever! That hope and salvation is in our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 3:16 ěFor God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

It is just that easy. We only need to acknowledge in our hearts that we are sinners, that we want and need Godís forgiveness, and that we understand that Jesus died on the cross to pay our debt to God for our sin. Romans 10:9-11 ě9That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

If you think that Godís forgiveness is not for you because you have committed too many or too dastardly evil acts, the Bible handles that for you too.

Revelation 3:20 ěHere I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

So, if you have not already done so, are you ready to invite Jesus Christ into your life and into your heart? If so, here is a short prayer that, if you truly believe what you are saying, will seal the deal with you and God.

Heavenly Father, I have sinned against you. I want forgiveness for all my sins. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for me and rose again. Father, I give you my life to do with as you wish. I want Jesus Christ to come into my life and into my heart. This I ask in Jesusí name, Amen.

At the end of my presentation, I invited anyone who wanted to talk or ask questions to come to our little set-up. I would be there to discuss whatever was on their mind.

I did end up having a lengthy conversation with a young man that worked with the company that provided the carnival rides. He has had some serious troubles in his life. I was very happy the Lord used me to talk to him and share Godís word. He was not yet ready to accept Christ but he is close. We will keep praying for him.

I really love this part of our ministry. The time and energy we expend at the track is great too. But, I am really in my element speaking to groups like this. If you have a group that would enjoy a CSBRacing Team motivational engagement, please contact me at: JCotterino@CSBRacing.com. I would love to work something out with you. With some advance notice, I can tailor my subject matter to coincide with a Bible study or lesson you are currently covering with your group.

Joe