If you or someone you love is graduating in this year of uncertainty this is a reminder that God is in control. This graduating class has been birthed into a time of difficulty but God is preparing you for great things for Him.

<p>If you or someone you love is graduating in this year of uncertainty this is a reminder that God is in control. This graduating class has been birthed into a time of difficulty but God is preparing you for great things for Him.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Newington Three Angels Church

Eric Walsh

Graduation 2020

All right, greetings and welcome to the graduation ceremony. I am Dr. Eric Walsh, and I have been invited by my cousin, Barbara, your superintendent, and I am happy to be with you all for this festive occasion. As as obvious, these are not normal times. And so even here at the church, I am standing behind a pl plexiglass protection to give the message. But we're gonna, we're gonna give the message anyway. This is a time of celebration. It's a time of reflection and a time for the contemplation of what God is going to do with each one of your lives as you move forward after reaching this milestone. So I want to thank the Southeastern Conference of seven Day Venice, all of the people in our education department, the conference president, and all of the leadership, and each one of the parents that have found a way to stick through it with their child and get them either through elementary school, all the way up through university. And so, praise God for all of you. I've been asked just to give a few words as a commencement speech, and I will not be long, but I do want to give some words of encouragement. I've, I've graduated many times high school, college, three graduate degrees, so I understand, you know, kind of the, the spirit of what commencement ceremony is supposed to be like. But I also know that some of the, some of the best advice you get is often in these situations because it's an opportunity as you celebrate to really be forward thinking. So, I'm gonna ask for you to turn in your Bible to one Corinthians chapter nine, and we're gonna read verses 24 through 27. I'm gonna give you four pearls of wisdom that I've learned in my academic and professional career, and then we can, then we'll go on with the ceremony before I, I get into the word of God, let us just pray. Father God, we thank you for this opportunity to study your word. Lord, I thank you for all that you do for us, Lord. And thank you Lord for your patience with us. And I thank you, Lord, that you are better to us than we are to ourselves. I thank you for the graduates, whether they're graduating from kindergarten, fifth grade, eighth grade, 12th grade, college or university. I thank you Lord that so many young people are moving up in the educational ladder, Lord, and have made these accomplishments. So Father God, as we study your word, now, I just ask that you speak through me. Let these not be my words, let them be yours. This is our prayer in Jesus's precious and holy name. Amen. So graduating class of 2020, I tell you, I I, this is probably one of the most difficult, maybe the most difficult year to graduate in recent history. This pandemic has set the world upside down. And in many ways, the world won't ever be the same. I do believe we'll go back to quote unquote normalcy, but many of you are gonna remember this. You'll tell your children and grandchildren about this if the Lord does not come first. And I want you to relish that, that you are sitting in history, not just in terms of the pandemic, but also in terms of the protests and uprising that has happened in the country. You are sitting at a very, a very, a serious time in history. And one of the ways that you must look at it, besides just kind of academically, professionally, or historically, is I want you to also look at this time prophetically. You are a generation, a class that is being birthed into new opportunities at a time when we, where, where we are in the prophetic stream is very significant. And hence the words that I'm gonna share with you. Now, in one Corinthians chapter nine, in verse 24, the Bible says, no, you not, that they, which run in a race, run all but one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain. Verse 25, Paul says, and every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we and incorruptible Paul in verse 30, in verse 26 says, I therefore so run not as un uncertainty, SoFi eye, not as one that beats the air, he says in verse 27, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection less than by any means. When I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. So if I had to name our message tonight, it would be the race is just beginning. When you graduate, sometimes you think you've finished. There are a lot of people who lay down the baton at graduation and never reach the potential that they have in Christ Jesus. Many will, will, will stop rest on their laurels and not finish the race. And that is not just academically, it's spiritually. If you've gone to Adventist schools, there are many, many young people that when they finish their time at Adventist schools, it's almost as if they feel they have been liberated from something and oftentimes run into the world. I wanna submit to you tonight that you are in a race that you can't just walk away from, at least not in wisdom. Paul speaking to the Corinthian church who understood the sports metaphor that Paul was using here at the time the Greeks had had already started the Olympics. And Paul is using much of the language of the Olympics here. Some of the events that they had, of course, was the gre, what we now call Greco Roman wrestling, boxing, and of course sprinting and, and, and running races. And so Paul is referencing some of those sports and using this analogy because at that time, a town, some young man would work their whole lives training in order to get to this Olympics. And when they did, the entire town's pride was on the line. So the town was excited that this young man would be going, and if he won, he and his family would be taking care of basically forever. So it was a big deal. Great pride would come to the town and to the athlete and to the family. So Paul understands that. And so he begins these analogies that way. And in verse 24, it says, no, you not, that they would run in a race run all but one receives the prize. So run that you may obtain. Paul says, listen, when you go to run this race, only one person in the Olympics can win the race. So that means everyone must run as hard as possible to be the one winner. Not a beautiful thing about the Christian race is we can all win, but you still have to run the race as hard as possible. And that applies to life as well. Paul says, so run that you may obtain, obtain what that crown. So the first lesson I want to give you is this one. It's from a great book, a book entitled Good to Great. And one of the lessons in the book is that good is the enemy of great. And what happens to a lot of people is they've done good. You know, if, if they can get CS and low bees and, and skirt their way through school, they've done good and they never pressed themselves to become great. Some of you, as we say, most of the times at our, at our at our graduation, some of you graduate magna cum lati, some of you graduate Summa cum Lati, some of you just graduate, thank you, Lottie. But the reality is God has not called you to be the tale. He's called you to be the head. God has called us to be excellent in what we do, to put together our best efforts in order that we might be the sharpest tool that God can use for his purposes. So good is often the enemy of great. I remember when I was at Oakwood Uni College, then now, now university, and I was pre-med and I was trying to figure out what I was gonna do. And in my late junior or early senior year from Washington dc representatives from the National Fire Department, you know, the national F Forest fire people from the US forestry came to recruit and they offered a salary and benefits. At the time that seemed like a fortune. I was tired of going to school, I was sick of classes, I was done. I, you know, I studied so hard and worked so hard in school trying and, and all the other things I was doing in school, and I did not want to go anymore to school. And here I was now at the point where I was gonna have to apply to medical school and add four more years, even more difficult years than the years I had just completed at Oakwood. When they said they would pay me the salary, they said, and I can tell you the salary at the time was $70,000 a year, which at the time was, was not a bad salary. And I said, you know, maybe I should take that salary. Maybe I should go and work in the US forestry, take the money, take federal benefits and call this one a day. That would be good. But if I'd have taken the good, the good would've been the enemy of great. And can you imagine they'd have put me in a forest in the middle of nowhere, and when the bears and all kind of animals came for me, I'd be out there by myself, would not have been a good thing. Far more beneficial to take the road less traveled, to take the rough side of the mountain and keep climbing. I want to emphasize that each of you tonight, especially those coming outta high school or ju or college, do not be afraid of continuing on the road. The beautiful thing about graduation is it's like finishing the regular season in the N B A or the N F L. If you can get into the post season, if you can get into the playoffs, even if you just get in by the skin of your teeth, you get a brand new season, a brand new start graduation is like the blood of Jesus. It washes away all of the, the, the, the weakness of your past efforts. If you weren't in the top 10% or 20% of your class here, you have an opportunity now to search and chase for greatness. Do not blow this opportunity because good is the enemy of great God has not called you to simply be okay and mediocre. We live in a mediocre society where people are just happy getting by. I challenge you for the, for the glory of Almighty God. You'll be great, great. Like Daniel was great, great. Like Isaiah, the prince of the prophets was great, great. Like Paul who wrote most of the New Testament was great, great, like Moses educated in the schools of Egypt. And then in the fields of the wilderness of the millions of the million Knights greatness came to Moses. And I wanna challenge you not to just accept anything. The second verse says, no, and every man that strives for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown. But we and incorruptible says that those that are seeking greatness are temperate in all things. I wanna say to you that the next thing, number two is you need to take your life seriously. The spirit of prophecy. One of my favorite quotes Ellen White gives is to young people. And one of the things she says is that once you have passed over the, the, the, the the time of your youth, you cannot return back to it. What right now seems like something you have an infinite amount of. You may even feel as if you are indestructible. Like, like, like, like you're invincible. Let me tell you something, all of that will fade. And one day, instead of being 17 or 18, you will be 35 or 40. What will you do at that time? Take life seriously, because Paul says he beats down his body and he, and he brings it under into submission. Why? Because Paul understands the seriousness of the time. And as an Adventist Christian, that means something for you in two ways. Number one, it means that you don't have a long time to live on this earth to accomplish what God has for you, the plans, as Jeremiah says, that he has for you. But the second thing is, you don't have a lot of time before Christ returns. Paul says, I therefore so run not as uncertainly. He takes it seriously. So fight I not as one that beat the air, take life serious. You're not shadow boxing, you're not playing around. This is not practice. This is the real thing When you graduate, especially those you leave in your parents' house or already out of the house. I take life seriously. The last two lessons are in verse 27. The first one is Paul says, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. And I want you to understand that the lesson number three is your body will conspire to kill you. Your body will conspire to kill you when you get out into the real world. Some of you young people that are now gonna go off to college or finish college, or even some of you going into high school, the world is gonna try and make you think you need things like alcohol, marijuana, even in, in the, in the realm of romance and intimacy. You're gonna think you need things. And let me tell you something, if you allow it, your body will conspire to kill you. There's many, a young man and young woman who never finished their educational course because they got caught up in a love affair. They fell in love, they got romantically involved. They got so caught up in and, and being in a relationship or, or with someone that it actually dashed their hopes and dreams. Your body will tell you, you need this person or you need this to be have fun. You need to drink and go to the clubs. Let me, let me warn you, your body will conspire to kill you. So Paul says, I beat down my body and I bring it into subjection. If you're gonna make good not be the enemy of your great, you're gonna have to learn temperance and self-control. But the last thing is this, Paul says, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. The word castaway there in the Greek is the word ak mos ak moss. And the word aoc, moss means disqualified. Paul says, I don't wanna preach to everybody else and then I'm disqualified. Some of you coming outta Adventist school, you've been in Sabbath school and pathfinders inquires. Let me tell you something, do not take that spiritual heritage that your parents gave you and squander it. Do not be a s do not be disqualified as you go into the world to do great and big things don't be disqualified. In fact, the last lesson is this one, make your first profession, your profession of faith, make Christ the center of who you are and what you do. When I was in medical school, one of the guiding light principles that kept me going when I was tired of studying, even when I was doing my doctorate in public health, what kept me going is I wanted God to be able to use me. I wanted to be the best tool he would have. I wanted to be able to reach the sick. And I can tell you story after story after story of people who have been downtrodden, depressed, anxious that I've been able to reach with the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the love of the true physician who sits on a, on a throne in heaven. And I was able to introduce them to the answer to their problem. I would never have had that opportunity if I didn't have the lonely nights studying the disappointments of not getting the grade I wanted or the challenge of rising up and doing better the next time. Your first profession must be a profession of faith's. A class of 2020, you've already shown resilience, you've already survived a pandemic economic collapse. You're in the middle of, of, of the throes of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of a, of a revolution against injustice. But lemme tell you something, it's all just beginning. And I want to challenge you that what's what God has for you is greater in front of you than whatever you leave behind. Remember, good is the enemy of great Congratulations. Class of 2020. This media was brought to you by audio verse, a website dedicated to spreading God's word through free sermon, audio, and much more. If you would like to know more about audio verse or if you would like to listen to more sermons, please visit www.audio verse.org.

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Graduation 2020

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