PARTING WORDS Good evening. We certainly want to honor our graduates tonight on their accomplsihment: we only have one this year -(Kaitlyn Lewis) Ryhe Stephens. After the service, we'll have a slideshow and a presentation for Ryhe before we head off to the Annex for other festivities down there. We certainly appreciate all the Junior mothers (mothers of High School Juniors) taking charge of our program and making it happen tonight. Ryhe, we congratualte you. In the coming weeks you're sure to hear all sorts of advice, suggestions, dos and don'ts on what comes next in your life. This is a significant achievement, but you, as a Christian have much more work to do. So if any of you were in my situation tonight, what would you say to our graduate? What advice would you give him for his college years and beyond? In my lifetime so far, I've had to say a lot of goodbyes. While we're certianly not saying a permanent goodbye to Ryhe this evening, we are saying a figurative goodbye to this chapter in his life, and we will all in some form or fashion give him some advice that will take him to college when he heads off in that direction, sooner than he may yet realize. But as I said, I've said a lot of goodbyes. Some painful and tearful, some joyful because I know I'll see those people again, either in this world or in heaven. If you've lived any amount of time, you've had to say goodbye to someone - sometimes in a permanent way, sometimes not knowing if you'll ever see them again. I remember the morning I left for boot camp in the Marines like it was yesterday. My family and I had all gone up to Nashville and stayed the night and gotten up very early in the morning to send me off. We were sitting at Waffle House, my last good meal for 3 months, although I wasn't hungry at all. I was terrified, actually. I was 2 weeks past graduating high school, 18 years old. And I was terrified. I was terrified that I would never see them again. I was mortified that I would not get to talk to them or see them for a long time. But, eventually, I did what I signed up to do. People ask me all the time about Basic Training, "How hard was it?" they ask. To tell you the truth, it was the simplest time of my life. All I had to do was do everything I was told as quickly as possible and I was alright. I was told where to go, when to eat, when to sleep, and everything was by the numbers. But the hard part was missing my family. Not seeing them made boot camp one of the hardest things I've ever done. I'll never forget what my dad said to me right before he hugged me goodbye. His parting words have always stuck with me. He just simply said, "Hold your head up high." That was all he said. Tonight, we're going to look at an instance in the Bible from the New Testament of a man who had to say good-bye, and the parting words of wisdom he gave. That man is Paul. The man responsible for writing nearly two-thirds of the New Testament. Turn in your Bibles to Acts 20, starting in verse 17. Before we read this passage, it's important to note that Paul will never see his friends, the Ephesian Elders in this passge, ever again. That may change your perspective as we read here. > Acts 20.17-38 This passage has three very important points. 1. TAKE A STAND Take, for example, the news in the NBA this past week. Chris Broussard, an ESPN commentator, commented on his views on religion about an announcement an NBA player made was a sin. Don't make me out to be intolerant or a bigot just for what I believe, he said. ESPN apologized for Broussard's comments. Just like Broussard, if you stand up for what you believe in, if you stand up for God, then you will be disliked. You will be called names. You will be ostracized. You may even be hated for it. The world will call you a rigid, inflexible, intolerant person if you hold on to your beliefs. Making a stand involves standing out. Paul here gives many examples about how he stood up for the faith, despite the conquences of being hurt or even being put to death. He uses the phrase "I did not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God to you." He gives some parting advice to the Ephesian elders here as if to say, "You've seen what I did. You've seen that I didn't back down. Even when the going was tough, I didn't back down from sharing the Gospel." Even in verse 24, Paul basically says "I don't hold even my own life as valuable when it comes to serving Jesus, to testifying His Gospel." A famous football coach used to say "The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards." Paul took this saying to heart. He lived it. The question is, not just for Ryhe or anyone else going off to college, but to all of us - will we deny our Lord when the times get tough? Will we make the right choice to stick with God when the road is rough? 2. STAY ALERT College is a great time in life. I won't say it's the best time - because to me, the best part of my life is the one I'm living right now. But I enjoyed college. I was a little older and had seen a few things after I went to college, so I figured I had a leg up on everyone. At a Christian college, I didn't think that I would question my faith or what I believed in. I thought I would only get stronger. But I didn't realize then that God did not work on my schedule. There were lots of things that made me question my faith, even at Freed-Hardeman. I never got into anything bad, but I saw bad stuff happen to people. I saw Christians doing things that I didn't ever think I'd see Christians do. And to make matters worse, I took a class where the professor liked to play Devil's Advocate and argue philosphical and biblical points. I wrestled with some of those issues. I lost sleep over some of those discussions. It was only hard work, hard study, and faith that got me through. College will be what you make of it. It can be a great learning experience for your Christianity, or it can drag you far away from God. Just don't let it surpise you when temptations come your way. There's a lot of things in college, even at a Christian school, to find and get into. Just like growing up here in Lewisburg, you have to find the right group of people to be with, or they will take you farther away from God. Paul talked about this in our passage in verse 29. He called the temptations or the people trying to lead them away from the faith as "fierce wolves". If you can imagine the imagery here Paul is trying to convey: a small pack of fieirce wolves can do a lot of damage to a flock of sheep. Sheep are helpless animals who aren't very smart. Wolves are quick and merciless. The temptations will hit hard when you realize that mom and dad aren't around, looking over your shoulder. The temptations will hit hard when can stay in bed on Sunday morning after a long night instead of going to worship. The temptations will hit hard when you have to choose whether or not to go to that sketchy party or get involved with that group of people. You will be forced to make some hard choices, and it is your job as a Christian to be alert. Paul encourages and admonishes this in verse 31. We must always be on the lookout and watchful for things that try to take us away from God's presence, no matter what form those temptations take. 3. DON'T FORGET WHO YOU ARE Kyle has been alluding to lots of different ideas in his sermons in the past few weeks about us all being ministers of the Gospel. That we are all messengers of Christ. That we hold treasures in jars of clay (2 Cor. 4), in that God put the precious and all-important message of Christ in us - something valuable in something vulnerable. As you venture off to college - and this would be wise for anyone to heed as well - remember that you have the greatest job on the planet earth. You get to lead souls to Heaven! You get to tell people about the Gospel of Christ, and the saving power it has. That is the power you have been given! Paul did not view his ministry as a burden - he could have, seeing all he'd been through - but he saw it rather as a blessing. He saw that it was his job to make sure that everyone he came into contact with would know about Jesus. Our job is the same. And your job when you walk onto campus. And it will be your job when you get a degree, when you get married, when you have kids, and when you grow old. We talked in class this morning about how our job doesn't stop as Christians. We can't take breaks or vacations from Christ. As the farmer says, "The problem with milking cows is that they don't stay milked." We must always be pushing forward, always striving to serve God. It's easy for us to forget to do that. Don't forget who you serve: the God who made you and made the universe and made you for a specific pupose. Don't forget that Jesus died for you and gave his sinless self so that you could live. Don't forget that God loves you, no matter what you do or how many mistakes you make, so long as you don't turn your back on him. I'll echo the same parting words my father told me minutes before I left for basic training: "Hold your head up high." Know who you are and who you serve, the great and powerful God and His Son Jesus Christ. CONCLUSION Tonight's lesson has been intended for our graduates, but the message is for all. If you are in need of prayers, we can pray for you this evening. If you need to be baptized in the waters of baptism for the forgiveness of your sins, come forward here tonight. If you have any spiritual needs, come while we stand and sing. Rhye William Stephens Son of Gina Stephens and Rick Stephens Marshall County High School Activities: + MCHS Football 4 yrs + National Beta Club 4 yrs + Future Business Leaders of America 1 yr + Elected "Most Handsome" Senior Superlative + Renaissance Award - 4 yrs He plans to attend the University of Tennesee at Martin in the fall and major in Nursing Joey Locke Wants to come home