Prosperity, Hope And The Future?

Prosperity, Hope, the Future?

Thesis: God promises us that if we call on him, come to him and pray. Then He will listen to us, prosper us, gives us a eternal hope and a wonderful glorious future.

Introduction:

Commencement is always a time filled with relief and joy as you have conquered another milestone in you life. It is not just exciting for you the graduates but for your families, friends, teachers, and others who have encouraged you toward this cherished day. I know that all around you are individuals who are very proud of your achievements and I want to join them in congratulating you on this step into the future.

Yes, graduation is a completion of your high school years and ending but it is also a step into the future. This step as your parents and teachers are well aware of is a step into a different dimension of this world. The society you live in and will become more involved in is far more complicated than the one I knew when I was your age. There’s war, there is terrorism, there is economic instability, job insecurity, immoral pressures pressing against you on all sides, and there are false belief systems which desire to lead you away from Jesus Christ and His word. There is a redefining of what is right and wrong. There is an upside-down view of what’s moral and immoral, acceptable and unacceptable.

That’s the way it is in our society today in the year 2004. But I want to impress into your well learned minds that you need to fear not. I want to compel you to grab a hold of this thought “You can make a difference for God in this world!”

Bill Bright the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ stated at a graduation ceremony:

“There are three things first love God with all your heart, soul and mind. Be sure you understand who the God is you’re loving…and then trust God. One college student came to me and said, ‘I want to become a believer but I have great plans for my life and I’m afraid if I become a Christian, God will change my plans.’ And I said, ‘I hope so.’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ And I said, ‘Can you imagine this great Creator who flung a hundred billion or more galaxies into space, who holds it all together with a word of His command having an inferior plan for your life to yours? I’d be scared to death to go back under the old control of Bill Bright.”

Many of you here today are asking questions about your upcoming prosperity status, your future hope and dreams and your future in general. It could be career wise, college wise, education wise, and most important spiritual wise. I believe many of you are asking these questions to yourself to others and hopefully more important to the Lord.

With all these questions seeking to be answered in your life and your future I would like to highlight some of these questions and may be some you have not considered:

How are you picturing your future prosperity?

How are you picturing your future hopes and dreams?

How are you picturing your future in general?

How are you today looking down the path of your life at these three dimensions?

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens of God and His Word?

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens of what our current society says?

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens of what Hollywood says it should be?

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens that life is all about me?

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens that “I can do it on my own with no help?”

Are you looking at the path ahead through the lens of “I don’t care?”

Are you looking at the path ahead of you through the lens of “I want to be a success?”

Are you looking at the path ahead through the lens “I want to make a difference in this world?”

Are you looking at the path ahead at all?

The truth is to be a success, to have true prosperity in life, to have a hope of a glorious future. You must understand that the source of life abundant life lies in your willingness to incorporate the Lord into your life right now.

If you want to find real purpose, real prosperity, real hope and an eternal future you must begin now with the Lord as your guide for the future.

Colossians 1:16 - The Message states, “For everything absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible…everything got started in Him and finds its purpose in Him…”