Look back – smile and grow!
Look forward - dream and grow!
Scripture Texts: Philippians 3:8-21 – key verse 13
8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained.
Isa. 40:28-31 -
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Thesis: Today’s graduates need to grow from their past experiences and prepare to grow from their up and coming future.
Introduction:
Motto for class of 2007: I always knew looking back on my tears I would laugh but I never knew looking back on my laughter I would cry.
Memories are frozen in time they are frames in our minds of happiness – sadness – and joy. They bring pieces of learning to our lives – they help us grow and think. They etch lessons and concepts into our hearts to be drawn on again and again in the future. They help us to learn and to grow in life. They are precious moments of time that will never be forgotten or discarded.
Time goes by and it impacts our lives. Time has come and gone during your 12 years of school – It seems that Time approaches quickly and will even flash right by us before we know it. But the Lord in His Word encourages us to enjoy the ride of life with Him at our side and to make the most of our time? Each day brings with it a precious commodity called time. Every morning you wake up is a new day and the Lord has placed into your day 86,400 seconds of time which represents 1,440 minutes which also equals 24 hours in a day. So each day brings the gift of time. This time is precious and it is not to be wasted or used unwisely.
Psalm 90:12 (NLT) states, “Teach us to make the most of our time, so that we may
grow in wisdom.”
Our Time is to be used wisely because the way we use our time will determine our eternal destiny. The Bible tells me that I need to have an eternal view – and a eternal perspective in my life. I need to remember that Life is temporary and it is to be used to make an eternal difference for the Kingdom of God.
Video Clip: “Life is Temporary” - Blue Fish TV
Challenge to Graduates!
* We all need to be reminded that this life is temporary in comparison to eternity.
*We need to use our time wisely and use it so it lives on into eternity.
*We need to learn not to throw our time away but learn from our past and from our future!
I. Learn from your past graduates!
a. Learn from the lessons you have been taught through your past life.
i. Paul in our text of Philippians reflects on his past and shares with the reader what he has learned to be the most important lesson of life.
1. Paul reflects that best thing he had learned was Jesus Christ.
2. He shares how his personal relationship with Jesus had changed his whole life, even his vision for life, and it even changed his personal goals.
3. He shares how this knowledge and education from the Lord had power. But he adds that he has not learned all that there is to know about Christ. He points to the fact that there is much more to learn about Jesus and more is coming.
a. He could have said it this way, “It’s been incredible but there is more to come in this life from the Lord! There is more insight, more knowledge, more wisdom, and much more power that I don’t know about yet!”
b. So Paul is going to keep pressing on toward the goal which is in the direction of Heaven and Jesus.
i. In other words Paul says, “I am going to go after my Big Dream for God with my life.”
ii. Graduates as you have attended school for the last 12 years of your life and you have had the opportunity to grow and to develop.
1. Each moment of each day brought an opportunity to grow and to mature.
a. You have grown from the classes you have taken.
i. Your academic knowledge has increased.
b. You have grown from the teachers and from their teaching.
i. Your knowledge of others values and beliefs has expanded.
c. You have grown by the relationships you have developed over the years.
i. Your knowledge of social values has grown and developed.
d. You have grown from the friendships you have made and lost.
i. Your knowledge of personal relationships has grown and matured.
e. The bottom line is your past experiences have helped you to grow into who you are today. So remember the lessons learned and apply them to your future life
iii. I would also venture out to say that you have also grown from your spiritual experiences in this life as well.
1. You have grown from the church you have attended and participated in.
a. Your knowledge of religion has expanded.
2. You have grown from the relationships with others that you have developed through church.
a. Your faith experience has expanded and grown.
3. You have grown from the spiritual retreats you have attended.
a. Your passion for the Lord has expanded and developed.
4. You have grown from reading and studying the Bible.
a. You knowledge of God’s Word has grown.
5. You have grown from times of prayer.
a. Your communication with God has expanded and grown.
6. You have grown from all those great sermons which were delivered by your awesome pastors.
a. Your knowledge of God’s truth has expanded and developed.
7. You have grown from those quiet moments of communion with the Lord Jesus.
a. Your intimacy with the Lord has matured.
iv. All these experiences of life have helped you to grow and to mature in your life.
v. Your journey of life has already taught you many valuable lessons both spiritually, academically and even relationally. Don’t forget their lessons!
b. But graduates you have also learned and grown from your success and your failure in life.
i. Successes are a wonderful positive experience in life and you do learn from them but the reality is we usually learn more from our failures and mistakes then we do through success.
ii. John Maxwell in his book Failing Forward states, “Every person’s life is filled with errors and negative experiences. But know this: Errors become mistakes when we perceive them and respond to them incorrectly. Mistakes become failures when we continually respond to them incorrectly. People who fail forward are able to see errors or negative experiences as a regular part of life, learn from them, and then move on. They persevere in order to achieve their purpose in life” (17, 18).
iii. The truth is mistakes can be wonderful opportunities to learn and to grow in life.
iv. Show video clip from Blue Fish TV “Famous Failures”
1. Everyone will face moments of failure but the only one who will keep you from fulfilling your dream is you.
2. The truth is if you choose to never get back up from a failure and learn from your mistakes then you will never grow and mature in life.
3. Challenge:
a. Learn to use the knowledge you have learned from your personal relationships, your academic education, your spiritual education and experiences, and from success and failure.
b. Use the lessons to pursue your God given dream and destiny. Graduates decide to make you time count for eternity!
c. Graduates learn to use the knowledge you have attained for eternal purposes.
i. Yes! You heard me correctly pursue your God given dreams and pursue your eternal purpose.
1. Many don’t understand that they are on this planet for reason and God has a purpose for your life.
a. So find out what it is and pursue it with your whole heart.
ii. Rick Warren stated in his book The Purpose Driven Life in chapter one of his book – he stated, “It all starts with God!”
1. In his book he tells us that life is not about us. But it is about living a kind of life that honors God and has eternity in focus.
a. If we want to discover our God given purpose then we must start with God – because he is the ultimate Dream Giver and its fulfiller.
b. He is the one who can take a life and make an eternal difference with it.
2. Rick Warren states, “The purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment, your peace of mind, or even your happiness. It’s far greater than your family, your career, or even your wildest dreams and ambitions. If you want to know why you were placed on this planet, you must begin with God. You were born by his purpose and for his purpose” (17).
3. We need to ask the Lord to direct our lives and to give us His Big Dream for our lives.
a. Remember “Focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose” (Rick Warren, page 18).
b. We need to become what God wants us to be and do what God wants us to do so that we do not live a life that is meaningless for eternity.
c. Rick Warren states, “God is not just the starting point of your life; he is the source of it” (page 20).
T.S. – For many of you here today you have the Lord as your Savior and your guide in life. This is a great position to be in but make sure He stays in that position and allow Him to continue to lead and guide your life into the future.
II. Prepare to learn from your future graduates!
a. The key word here in this point is “prepare.” Prepare for what? For the greatest adventure of your life.
i. Isaiah expresses this thought for us in the text we read earlier. He said – “Graduates get ready to fly high for the Lord.”
1. “Get ready to soar through life under His divine wind and you will be amazed at what He will do with your life.”
b. Graduates, friends, and relatives many of us need to decide that our education of learning is not over but just progressing on to the next phase of life.
i. Quote: “When you are through learning you are through.”
ii. I want to stress to all of us here tonight that we should never quit learning!
iii. Learning keeps us growing and maturing and it helps us to become all that we can be for the Lord and His Kingdom.
1. We must choose to always be teachable through our life and through the experiences of life. We must choose to allow the Lord to teach us the valuable lessons of life and eternity.
2. We need to be like King David who said:
a. Psalms 25:4, 5: Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
i. David never quit growing because he was open to be taught by the leading of the Lord!
3. The writer of Proverbs who was David’s son Solomon said:
a. Proverbs 4:5, 6: Get wisdom, get understanding; do not forget my words or swerve from them. DO not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.”
i. He wrote a wonderful book called Ecclesiastes which researches the meaning of life and what matters most in life.
ii. His conclusion “God!” everything else is meaningless and it fades away!
iv. We all have to choose to learn from what’s coming in life and this will take commitment and humility on our part.
1. You will always be given the choice to learn or not to learn throughout your life – But I want to encourage you to choose to learn from God and from others.
2. Remember from your spiritual knowledge that God promises to go with us and be with us if we invite Him to come.
3. We can choose to learn the lessons well from the Lord and move on to a successful and rewarding life that has eternal value and purpose or choose to do things our way.
v. So our key today is to ask ourselves the question: “How teachable am I?” Marty Williams a Pastor of Family Ministries asks the question that we all must ask ourselves today, “Am I Teachable?” He has 12 thoughts to help us discover if we are teachable:
1. I am willing to listen more than talk.
2. I admit when I am mistaken.
3. I observe before acting on a situation.
4. I am able to agree to disagree.
5. I desire information more than answers.
6. I enjoy asking questions.
7. I am open to suggestions and new ideas.
8. I feel comfortable asking for advice or directions.
9. I am patient and a willing “Student.”
10. I enjoy reading for information that is practical and applicable.
11. I seek out new perspectives on the questions of life.
12. I can appreciate criticism without being deeply wounded.
c. Graduates are you going to be teachable and live your God given dream or just live your life for yourself?
i. This is your choice to make!
ii. The truth is this -- When you allow the Dream Giver to birth your divine dream and allow Him to show you your purpose for life.
1. Then you will accomplish more that you could have ever have imagined.
iii. So trust the Dream Giver and achieve the Big Dream for your life and make an eternal difference.
1. Do you want your life to count for something? Do you want to make a difference with your life? Then say “yes” to the Great Dream Giver and Fulfiller!
d. Graduates you were made for this journey – the Dream Giver has chosen you for this specific journey. He has equipped you and prepared you and He promises to also go with you. So it’s time to begin the journey and enter into the Land of Adventure.
1. It’s time to leave the land of ordinary and venture out of the city of comfort and face the land of the unknown. This journey will be filled with those Border bullies, and there will be treacherous hikes across the wasteland and you will have to face the Giants in the land of the unknown.
2. But when you cross over and make it through all the obstacles you will soon discover that the obstacles were really opportunities which eventually helped you to grow, to learn and helped you to develop. You will soon learn as others have that these moments of character development actually helped you to achieve your Big Dream from the Dream Giver.
a. Maxwell states, “We overestimate the event and underestimate the process. Every fulfilled dream occurred because of dedication to a process.”
i. We must face the journey ahead with God and commit to pressing through the process of growth and maturity.
ii. Maxwell adds, “To achieve dreams, you must embrace adversity and make failure a regular part of your life. If you’re not failing, you’re probably not really moving forward” (115).
Conclusion:
My concluding questions:
Do you want you life to count for something eternal?
Do you want to use your time wisely and not waste it?
Do you want your life to be meaningful?
Do you want to leave a legacy?
Do you want to make a difference for all of eternity?
Do you want people to know that you were here for God and you did make an eternal difference with your actions in life?
Video Clip: “I Was Here!” from Blue Fish TV
Challenge: Graduates make your mark on this world and I challenge you to make a difference for eternity!
One last quote from a famous man of God - John Wesley who said, “Oh, Lord let me not live to be useless!”
Challenge: Graduates make the same commitment today before the Lord as John Wesley did and I promise you that your life will make a difference for all eternity!
Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
