Thoughts For Graduates 2003

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=50 BGCOLOR="#333366" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Thoughts For Graduates 2003</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=165 BGCOLOR="#CCCC99" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="132" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="VOID" RULES="NONE" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 35 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id417.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Responding With Thanks to God"><U><B><IMG SRC="007151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <A HREF="id369.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="What Does Jesus Want From Us?"><U><B><IMG SRC="008151d0.gif" border=0 width="21" height="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="20"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="35" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="20" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="13"></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="29" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" WIDTH="27"></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> </TABLE></B></div> <div> Previous/Next Sermon</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="www.stanbaker.org"><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Biblical and Theological Studies"><U><B>Biblical and Theological Studies</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Church Ministry"><U><B>Church Ministry</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id15.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sermon Notes"><U>Sermon Notes</U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id4.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="id5.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Personal"><U><B>Personal</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> <div> <A HREF="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:stan@stanbaker.org"><U>stan@stanbaker.org</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=430 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Thoughts For Graduates 2003</B></div> <div> <B>Greene Area Churches Baccalaureate Service</B></div> <div> <B>June 22, 2003, 7:30pm</B></div> <bR> <div>      He was known as the "Worlds Strongest Man."  His name was Paul Anderson and he stood 5 foot nine and weighed 340 pounds. He was the unknown substitute for an American athlete in the first dual athletic competition against the Soviet Union. The crowd scorned and snickered at this unknown American. It got even worse when he called for a weight of 402.4 pounds, more than 20 pounds above the world record at that time. The laughing stopped and the cheering began when he lifted that weight cleanly. On one occasion while on an exhibition tour, Anderson scrunched under a table loaded with carefully prepared weights, totaling almost sixty three hundred pounds, and lifted it off the ground, a feat that has never been equaled. Do you know how I know this about Paul Anderson, The Worlds Strongest Man? I read it in his obituary. He died, at the age of 61, in 1994. No matter how strong and capable and in control you are today, keep in mind that life is short. It's worth making the most of.</div> <div>      What would it mean for you to make the most out of life? What would make for a <I>great</I> life? Many of you will attend and finish college. Some of you will be teachers, or a stay-at-home parent, or you will start a business or achieve success in the financial industry, or you will become well known in sports or music. Some of you may barely get by, doing whatever it takes to survive. Others of you will find a job you really love which also pays well, maybe even a job that makes a positive difference in people's lives. You may even aspire to achieve financial independence early in life.</div> <div>      As a graduate, many people will offer you their advice for how you can have a great life, and how you can achieve you dreams, however big or small those dreams may be. In Psalm 20:1-9 and Mark 10:35-45, God's word talks about plans and ambitions. From these Scriptures, we can learn <U>2 simple lessons</U> for making the most of your life.</div> <bR> <div> <B>I. Psalm 20:1-9 - Make the most of your life by letting God set the agenda for your life.</B></div> <div> The psalm is a prayer for a king as he goes out to battle. When God's goals become our goals, God goes out of his way to help us achieve them.</div> <div> Vs. 4, Isn't that a great prayer? And we will celebrate with you when you reach your goals (vs. 5). Let God direct your plans and bring them to fulfillment. Leave your plans in God's hands. Let God define success for your life, and let him help you achieve that success. Success is about more than wealth or fame or fun. Success is living according to God's purpose for your life. He wants us to succeed at fulfilling that purpose.</div> <div> Vs. 7, Trust in God, not merely in your abilities and gifts and resources. You are gifted young people, with great abilities, with incredible potential. But never forget that your ultimate source of strength is God himself.</div> <bR> <div> <B>II. Mark 10:35-45 - Make the most your life by serving Jesus and serving people in the name of Jesus.</B></div> <div>      James and John had great ambitions, to be at the top with Jesus in his kingdom (vs. 37). But Jesus said that to achieve greatness, you must be a servant (vs. 43-44). To be a servant is not the pathway <I>to</I> greatness, to be a servant <I>is</I> greatness.</div> <div>      Whether you work on Wall Street or at Wendy's, whether you teach or pick up trash, be a servant of Jesus and people, wherever you go. Help the poor. Do kind things for your colleagues at work. Look out for children and for the elderly, in the name of Jesus. When you are an upperclassman in college, serve the freshmen! Look everywhere for opportunities to serve.</div> <div>      Someone asked, "how can you tell if you have a servant's attitude?" The answer is, "by the way you react when you are treated like one."</div> <div>      D.L. Moody was a famous preacher in the 1800s (like Billy Graham has been in the 20th century). A large group of European pastors came to one of D. L. Moody's Northfield Bible Conferences in Massachusetts in the late 1800s. Following the European custom of the time, each guest put his shoes outside his room to be cleaned by the hall servants overnight. But of course this was America and there were no hall servants.</div> <div>      Walking the dormitory halls that night, Moody saw the shoes and determined not to embarrass his brothers. He mentioned the need to some ministerial students who were there, but met with only silence or pious excuses. Moody returned to the dorm, gathered up the shoes, and, alone in his room, the world's only famous evangelist began to clean and polish the shoes. Only the unexpected arrival of a friend in the midst of the work revealed the secret. When the foreign visitors opened their doors the next morning, their shoes were shined. They never knew by whom. Moody told no one, but his friend told a few people, and during the rest of the conference, different men volunteered to shine the shoes in secret. Perhaps the episode is a vital insight into why God used D. L. Moody as He did. He was a man with a servant's heart and that was the basis of his true greatness. (Gary Inrig, A Call to Excellence, Victor Books, a division of SP Publ., Wheaton, Ill; 1985, p. 98).</div> <bR> <div>      Why should you be concerned with God's agenda for your life? Why should you serve Jesus and serve people in his name? (Vs. 45) Jesus served all of humanity, including you and me, by dying in our place, so that we might escape the penalty of our rebellion against him and experience salvation. Jesus said, "what good is it if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul" (Matt 16:26). Let Jesus serve you - accept the gift of salvation through faith in Christ. And then pursue his agenda above your own, by serving him and serving people in his name.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> copyright, 2003, Stanley Baker</div> <div> www.stanbaker.org</div> </td> </tr></table></body>