Graduate Send-Off

Intro

Pastor Keenan

Next Gen Pastor

Graduated from O’fallon 8 years ago

If you haven’t been here before i’m sure you’ve seen me at leisure world or basketball games and track meets and I’m glad to see you all here tonight.

In about two weeks you are all about to have one of the highlight moments of your life

And i’m not just talking about graduation. Graduation is just a marker for the beginning of the next season of your life.

Most of you might know David from the Bible, he killed Goliath and was king of Israel

He had a moment that was a big marker for the next season in his life just like all of you and at the same age as you

Before Goliath, before he was king, when he was just a shepherd at your age.

So let’s look at the Bible and get into the story of David before everything

So if you have your Bibles turn to 1 Sam. 16:6-13 X3

1 Samuel 16:6–11 CSB

6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Certainly the Lord’s anointed one is here before him.” 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see what is visible, but the Lord sees the heart.” 8 Jesse called Abinadab and presented him to Samuel. “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either,” Samuel said. 9 Then Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” 10 After Jesse presented seven of his sons to him, Samuel told Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t chosen any of these.” 11 Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” he answered, “but right now he’s tending the sheep.” Samuel told Jesse, “Send for him. We won’t sit down to eat until he gets here.”

Let’s Pray

Explanation

To set some context, the old king of Israel was doing some bad stuff that would get him kicked out of being the king

Samuel, a prophet is told to go to Bethlehem to find and select the King that God wanted.

When Samuel got there everyone was scared because a lot of the times prophets came to say when somewhere was going to be judged for their actions

So we have Samuel here in Bethlehem looking to pick out who God is calling to be king next.

Samuel is told in verse seven how God would choose the king. because King Saul was tall and handsome and strong and seemed like he would have been the most fit and qualified just by looking at him but look what God says to Samuel after he thinks that the oldest son of Jesses family is shown to him.

“Do not look at his apprearance or his stature because I have rejected him. Humans do not see what the Lord sees, for humans see wha is visible but the Lord sees the heart.”

Then after God tells Samuel this, he tells jesse no I haven’t picked him and as Jesse shows him all of his sons he just keeps saying no this isn’t the one that God has picked

after he shows him all of his sons, Samuel asks him he’s confused because he knows that the next king is one of Samuels sons so he’s like hey do you have any more sons?

Here’s one of the two main takeaways I want you to have,

God looks at the inside not the outside

Illustration

When I was in high school I didn’t really know who I was and was anxious all the time

I was a fat kid growing up and I have red hair so I looked different than everyone growing up who was popular so I had really bad self esteem issues and was insecure

because of that I always thought that the people who looked better and was better at sports would be used and would end up doing things that would be more impressive than me.

I was socially anxious and couldn’t talk to new people, or girls, which just made me feel worse about myself.

And I believed this lie because like Samuel did I was looking at what we normally look like to measure worth and ability

I carried this with me into college and I was so worried about what everyone else looked like and did that I stopped caring about what I was supposed to do.

Until I took my relationship with God serious and He started to show me the worth and show me the things that He was going to call me to do that I never would have thought I could do.

As I kept getting in the Bible and hearing what are the things that God looks at, I started to stop caring about what other people and what I thought my worth was in.

I started to care more about what God thought about me and the things in me and the things he would grow in me that were more important than the things I was caught up worrying about

Application

Some of you in here right now are like me, you don’t feel like you are good at things that people look at when they want to determine someone’s worth. That you’re like me that you don’t think you look like someone that people want to know and listen to. And maybe someone has told you these things before.

But maybe you’re someone who you feel like you have the accomplishments, you have the good looks, and you have the social skills and confidence that other people look at and think wow this girl or guy is cool

For either side of this, something that you both have in common is that neither the person with all the “right things” or the person with nothing to brag about are looking at what God is looking at when it comes to worth and ability of being used by God.

Everyone in here whether you are going to school, into the military, into the workforce, taking a gap year (aka living in your parents basement) are about to start adulthood.

All of you are trying to find your worth and what are the things about you that matter and will get you where you think you need to be.

But remember, and know as we are lookin at verse 7, God cares about what’s on the inside not the outside.

God Annoints David

As we know that God see’s David’s heart and doesn’t care about what he looks like, We will now shift our focus on verses 12-13

Let’s Read Verses 12-13 together

1 Samuel 16:12–13 CSB

12 So Jesse sent for him. He had beautiful eyes and a healthy, handsome appearance. Then the Lord said, “Anoint him, for he is the one.” 13 So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully on David from that day forward. Then Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

Explanation

In verse 12 we see Jesse going and getting David to come back to where they’re all at and Samuel still thinking about appearances, writes about what he looks like but

Explanation

Starting with verse 12 we see that Samuel has started to talk about how handsome David is.

I think it’s funny because God has just told him that it’s what is on the inside not the outside that He looks at and Samuels still talking about appearances. 

After Samuel sees him, God tell him that David is the king that God has chosen

Then in verse 13 David it says David is anointed 

To be anointed was a ritual that would show that whatever the anointing oil was put on that the thing or the person was set apart for God and his purpose. 

So when David had anointed David with the oil he was signifying to David, his family that he was set apart for Gods purpose as King

Then from that point on the Holy Spirit came upon David

In Old Testament times before Jesus the Holy Spirit didn’t come to live with them but would come upon them

Today if you’re saved by believing and trusting in Jesus as your Lord and savior God comes to live inside you dwelling with you as the Holy Spirit

Even though down the road David would make bad choices like sleeping with Bathsheba and taking other wives he had put his faith and trust in God and would still be used for God’s purpose

What we can learn here from Scripture is God sets people apart for his purpose

Illustration

In honor of Star Wars day today there’s someone else we can look at who had a purpose

If you’ve seen Star Wars you know who anakin skywalker is

He turned into darth Vader but before that he was the chosen one.

He was set apart from all the other Jedi for a purpose to end the sith

Obviously we know that he ended up making some bad choices with marrying padme and it started to lead him to make bad decisions and would eventually become darth Vader. 

But even though he turned to the dark side temporarily later in his life he would sacrifice himself to kill the evil sith emporer and end the sith fulfilling his purpose. 

Application

You may not be given the purpose to be a king or to be the chosen one and put an end to a cult of evil space wizards but what you all desire whether you realize it or not is a purpose

And as you are going into this season of adulthood youre already trying to find your purpose

If you’re saved then you are given a purpose from God.

You are set apart for God’s purpose which is better than any of our own self seeking purpose because God is good and if He’s good then his purposes are good. 

And dont get me wrong the work and purpose that God has is not easy but it is fulfilling

If you’re saved and you’re graduating, are you ready to live out God’s purpose for you when you go off into college, the military, a job, technical school?

If you don’t know what God’s purpose is for you I would encourage you to looked at Matthew 28 at the great commission and start there 

For those who aren’t saved here, who aren’t a Christian, right now you aren’t set apart and have a purpose from God. 

And I’m not saying this to make you feel bad or holier than thou because even though I’m saved I still am not good and still sin

But the good thing is that tonight you can be set apart and you can have a purpose that is from God.

Because despite anything that you’ve done in your past the Bible says that God desires for all people to be saved

And if you want to be saved and have a purpose from God I want to share how to be saved tonight 

Five fingers

Outro

Prayer of salvation

Response