HS Graduation
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Class of 2025: Congratulations on your graduation. It is not a small thing to mark this moment…
To start this day…I want to tell you about me when I was in Junior High
Years ago
in the 1990’s
I would skateboard and rollerblade…And not just in my back yard…
We would steel candles from our moms…and wax the curbs so we could grind them…
We would jump down stairs
In those days if you wanted to skate then you had to do some light trespassing…You had to jump a few fences…
And now a days there are skateparks everywhere so you can go to any park you want and skate
But in these days…Skateboarding was a crime!
We would go skate some stairs and someone would have to be the lookout
Because it was only a matter of time before the police came and we knew it!
and someone would yell FIVE-O
and like ants we would all scatter
Everyone would go a different way back to either my friends house or my house…
We always knew to go back where we started from
But no one ever took the same way home…
The idea was that they couldn’t catch all of us…
I know…You’re thinking…This is my graduation speech…
My point with telling you all of this is that when the police eventually came and someone shouted FIVE-OHHHH and we all scattered…
We all knew the way home…We had a home base!
There was no GPS back then…No smart phones…We all just instinctively ran toward home
Why is that? How is it that we can all just run home?
No matter where I was skating…If the cops came I didn’t even have to think about it I just knew how to go home
It’s because Home is hardwired into my brain
As graduating seniors you are in the place where you are about to leave home…
But Mom and Dad have been wiring home into you for 18 years!
and the fact of the matter is that::::
Home is where your values are
Home is where your values are
I want to share with you a psalm
So when I was asked to speak today I thought I would share a little bit of my own home base…
The thing that I run to
The thing that I hope my kids run to
and the thing that I hope you run to…
See the thing is that you have a home base that is wired into you…Some of you might be able to describe what that is perfectly! Others of you won’t know how to discribe your home base until you have kids and all the sudden you are reproducing your home base into others…
So I want to read to you
So let’s read Psalm 1…
Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
What I think stands out to me in this Psalm is that King David Makes this comparison…
Between the righteous and the wicked
In fact I love the way that he The Psalmist here says Blessed are the ones who do not walk in step with the wicked….stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers…But whose delight is in the law of the lord
The reason why I love this Psalm is because it is really so simple…Everyone wants to make life complex for you and sound really smart and tell you…Well see there are layers of meaning and things are not immeduetley clear…They want to intellectually confuse you and cloak the true meaning and understanding of things
Our world constantly changes definitions to words and constantly tries to showcase its own wisdom…
But this Psalm says…There are only two ways to go in life
But this Psalm says…There are only two ways to go in life
The first value that I hope you got from your time here at Forest Schole and from your parents is to be intentional & Not Aimless
The Bible says Blessed are these ones who are not aimlessly drifting!
The ones who are intentional about their life
the ones who Put God first in their lives…And they don’t just give lip service to it but they really mean it!
Blessed are those ones!
The way of the mockers and the sinners or the wicked is the way of drifting aimlessly
It takes you away from home!
I used to think that the mockers, the wicked and the sinners was like people who smoked in the bathrooms or cussed…I used to think that it was like just those evil people out there
But the older I get the more I realize that the way of the wicked is simply the way that most people talk
As if money is the most impotrant thing in the world
As if Status and power are things to be concerned with
As if being popular on the internet is the most impotrant thing
As if I am somehow more impotrant than someone else
The way of the wicked is drifting aimlessly…But the way of the righteous is intentional about meditating on the law of the Lord….
That means the righteous person finds their values in the Lord…
We all have to make the shift that you guys are walking through and Psalm 1 reminds us that you can drift aimlessly with the wicked or you can be intentional
And what I want to tell you today is
It means to be intentional about God first
It means you find your values in what the Lord Values
Home is where your values are
The Wise Build their values on the values of the Lord and I want to take a minute to share what those values are
God First: The psalmist literally says that the truly blessed one is the one who meditates on the law of the lord…
A few weeks ago I did a funeral for a guy and when I do funerals I ask…If the person had a bible..>because I want to preach out of the Bible that the person who died used
And the family said OH YEAH he had a bible and they bring out this huge bag
and I am looking though the bible and thus guy had studied every word and made notes.
He put the word of the Lord first in his life because the Lord was first in his life
He lived by the wisdom of the Lord and not of just what everyone else was doing
Because you see this is where you’re your values will get most significantly tested…The test of everyone is doing it
When you live by the Values of Jesus then they will never fail you
When Jesus was asked what the greatest values were of God…Jesus responded with love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself
That was Jesus’ home base
What is your home base?
So the Values of Jesus are to Love God and others
Bless others more than they are able to bless you in return
A few years back I was helping out some friends around their house and they are not christians so other than telling them the gospel, I think the most significant thing I can do is preach the gospel with my life…I remember the moment when I though of this value…
I was helping these people out a little frustrated at first thinking that they could probably do what I am doing when I believe the Lord kind of said to me that I want you to be a blessing to them because it shows me off
So from that moment on my attitude changed and I started thinking of serving other
and I actually got excited to go help other people out because it was showing off this value of Jesus to love your neighbor as yourself
Guys
Your values will be tested as you leave the protection of mom and dad
One of the areas your values will be tested is in the way you treat others
The wisdom of this world says if someone hurts you then hurt them back
The wisdom of this world says if someone treats you bad then you treat them bad too
But that is not so with you!
You are blessed by Jesus to be a blessing
I love what Paul says in 2 Cor 4:8-10
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
What Paul is saying is when the world is coming down on you…When people are acting like a burden and not a blessing…Somehow the life of Jesus gets revealed in us
Guys I will be a broken record on this point Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
These are values that your parents have been forming within you ‘
This is your home base
When your life is centered in the love of the Lord and your values are built in him
He will never fail you
And what I am telling you is know your values! Because when Trouble comes…and it will
When the Police show up
when your friends yell FIVE -OHHHH
This is your home base
Love God…Seek out His word…Seek out his wisdom
And love others. treat others
Psalm 1 reminds us that the people who find their values in the lord are like trees that grow near water…They thrive…They last…They make contributions to this world….
and the wicked kind of just fall apart and blow away in the wind…..
Your parents have built for you a foundation….A home base! and when times get tough…
A relationship with Jesus will help you live these values out
It will help you find your home base…
Whern Life gets tough: You have a home base
When Life gets confusing: you have a home base
When you don’t know what to do: you have a home base
When your afraid! You have a home base
Class of 2025: Congradations on all of your achievements. You have a home base. and now its time to run
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.
The world is groaning in eager expectation for more people that love God and love others
You have a home base…Run to it
