Graduation Sunday 2024
Graduation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 21 viewsNotes
Transcript
As we celebrate this morning our graduates
Maybe it id during this time of year you start to think of the advice you get
Maybe you are graduating from grade school to middle school maybe it is graduating from middle school to high school
Or it is the big one and you are graduating High School and now you are an adult with some very big adult decisions
Do I go to college or not
Maybe you have graduated from college and you are left wondering what do I do now
Let me explain something about advice to you
everyone will give you advice
They will give you some things to think on
Take everything with a grain of salt and filter it through prayer ad scripture as you make a decision
so like everyone else that will want to give you advice
I thought I could give you some as well
As I thought of all the advice you will probably be receiving and you may receive
Have Fun and Live life to the fullest
Really what does that mean
Live Laugh Love
Make the World a better Place
As Long as you are happy with it you are good
Church I will be honest that is the problem with our youth and the younger generation
IT is not all about you
It is all about God
So this morning I wanted to share with you some TRUE Advice
“Just Pray about it”
Church if we have learned anything this last week or if the life here at Maranatha Baptist Fellowship
It is to pray about it
12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.
The prophet Jeremiah understood the importance of prayer and God is telling Him to call on the People to pray to God
Church I feel like it is important and simple enough
As you look to the future pray about it
17 pray without ceasing;
If you have been in church any amount of time
then when you hear scripture about praying
This comes to mind
You are to be praying always
As you go through your day to be always praying
Always in communication with Christ
Church we pray because Jesus is our example
18 And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the people say that I am?”
Jesus is our example of praying
If you look and read through the Gospels which highlight Jesus’s life
His 3 year public ministry
He was always finding time to go off by Himself and Pray
If it was important for Jesus to pray the Son of God Himself
A part of the Triune God
The Savior of the Universe
Don’t you think we should be doing
So my advice to you this morning is
“Just Pray About It”
If you desire to grow in your relationship with Christ then you must be praying
Another piece of advice after the first one
And maybe you have guessed it
“Read your Bible”
Reading our Bible is so very important
See the Acronym for BIBLE is
Basic Instruction Before Leaving Earth
If it is our instruction manual for how to live life then we need to be reading it
If it is Gods love letter to His beloved creation then we should be reading it
Church we must be reading our Bibles if we expect to Grow in our relationship with Christ
4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ”
Jesus explains that you and I cannot live without the Word of God
That reading our Bible is not just something the Pastor tells you that you should do
Reading your Bible is not just something to do to pass the time or that “being a good Christian” should do
Reading your Bible is food for your soul
Reading your Bible is reading the instruction manual for life
Reading your Bible is to read about the Character of God to read the love letter He has written to and for you
We are only alive because of the words of God
We should read it so much
8 “This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
We should read it so much that
It comes up in topic of conversation like it is second nature
We should read it so much that we can’t help but talk about with our friends, our family, our co workers, our neighbors, and strangers
We should read it so we know what to do
We won’t know how to be obedient apart from reading Gods word
To add to
“Just Pray About It”
We add
“Read Your Bible”
The next piece of advice is probably lost on this younger generation but it has served your parents, grandparents, and their parents well
“Get involved in the Local Church”
When I went to college we had settled that I would be going to Pittsburg State University
Home of the Gorillas
One of the things my parents did was encourage me to get involved in the local church
So much that We went on a church visit
See the Local church serves a purpose
It is there to help you, hold you accountable, all you to grow in Christ, and encourage you to be obedient as you grow in Christ
25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
Start now to make it a habit to go to church
Make going to church a priority
Church goers are great at creating bad habits
Like missing reading your Bible has the potential to turn into a month without reading your Bible
Just like missing church because you are tired
Or you have this and that going on
You will always be tired, you will always have other things to do
Make it a habit to attend church
But getting involved in the local church is more than just attending
I am talking about joining the local church
That is so important because now you are invested in that Body of Christ
4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
Joining allows you to be part of the family
Joining a Body connects you with that group of people for better or worse
It allows you to serve and to serve where God has called you to serve
There are many different moving body parts that must work and move for the Body to be effective
If you don’t have a big toe your body doesn’t balance
see how we dont think much of our big toes but they are important
Every part of the body is important which is why you need to join the local church
Thus far it has been
“Just Pray About It”
“Read Your Bible”
and
“Get Involved In The Local Church”
And church when we put it all together
It looks like this
“Do the disciplines, pray, fast, read, serve, tithe, etc.”
When you pray, when you read your Bible, when you get involved in the local church
Then next piece is to then be obedient to what you have read
Which is to do the disciplines
Some of them are praying, reading your Bible, Serving, and Fasting and Tithing
Church just this last week we challeneged to excercise our fasting muscles
16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Fasting is a disciplined that often over looked because it is hard
Jesus never said this would be easy
Jesus never said that following Him would easy and a cake walk but rather it would be difficult
To grow you need to do some hard things
Another discipline I would encourage you to do is to tithe
9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;
We are called to give a 10th
That means of our energy, of our resources and so on
It is even means giving a 10th of what we earn to God
That is how the church, Gods church is able to do things
It is an act of obedience that we give
God doesn’t need our money, but understand church it is His to begin with
Will you be obedient to tithe, to practice the discipline of tithing
This morning we celebrate the graduates and we want to give them advice but
This morning church this is advice that is necessary for everyone
So as we come to a close this morning
This Advice is Truth, ask anyone here
“Just Pray About It’
“Read Your Bible”
“Get Involved In The Local Church”
“Do The Disciplines”
Maybe you are here this morning and you don’t have a personal relationship
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone
They will show your through Scripture how Jesus came to die for your sins
How you can repent from your sin and Trust Jesus this morning and be saved
Maybe you simply need to spend some time in prayer
The Altar is open
Walk with Christ, make the hard decisions, put in the work to grow in Christ, allow Christ’s standards to be your standards