Yeah, what I'm doing is handing out a pill bottle. I'll explain that in a minute. You think you know what that's all about, Ms. Merida? Congratulations to each one of you. Now this requires, I went and got these pill bottles and it turned out to be a little different construction than I thought it was. All right, that's not extra, they're just bigger. There you go. I didn't overlook you, Tanner. You already know how to get in touch with me. All right, well, welcome to everybody for our baccalaureate service and services taking place this morning, celebrating a milestone in life. So let's start out our slides here, Brother Jonathan, if you're doing that. Yes, milestone. Graduating is a milestone in life. It's one of those markers in the course of our life. And we say, man, I have come from somewhere. I have done something. And so this is a big deal. How many here have graduated from high school? Look at that. Almost everybody. How many from college? Yeah, we got a good representation of college grads too. How many from vocational schools? All right, very good. How many from the Education Center of Life? Yeah, there's a lot to be learned just there, isn't there? Well, congratulations on your success because you have reached a major milestone in your life. And I hope and pray that you'll continue to succeed in your lives and reach more milestones right up until the time the Lord returns. That's what we're looking forward to. Now, talk about a milestone. Can you think one of a milestone bigger than that and reaching to the end when the Lord returns? Well, let me ask you this question. What is the next milestone that you're anticipating? What are you thinking about for goals in your life? Where will you be in five years? What will you be doing? You know, a lot of us just sort of let life happen, but we have a purpose and a calling from God to do a job, and that is we're here as God's people to make disciples. We're disciple makers is what we are. That's what we're supposed to be. But in the course of that, fulfilling that mission, will you be married in five years? Will you have a job that you enjoy doing? Will you be happy in five years? Is there any reason to think that you won't be? But there's still that question mark, isn't it? Next slide. I want to share with you the path to guaranteed success and happiness. This is the path that will guarantee success regardless of your circumstances, regardless of what you end up doing in five years. It doesn't matter what you end up doing. There is a guaranteed success and no doubt you already know the answer. But do you know what Colossians chapter 3 verse 2 says? It says, set your affection on things above, not on things on earth. As graduates experiencing success, you may be feeling like, hey, more success is coming. It's already guaranteed. I've made it this far, and I've done well. But the reason Colossians 3, 2 exhorts you to set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, is due to the outcome guaranteed by the things on earth. Oh yeah, there's guaranteed outcomes. Now notice I didn't say guaranteed successes, but there are guaranteed outcomes, predictable outcomes on earth. Let's go to the next slide. So what is a guarantee anyway? Well, it's a promise that your desired outcome is going to come to pass. We like guarantees, don't we? And why is that? Well, they give us peace of mind. I'm going to buy this thing or acquire this service. And I like to have a warranty or a guarantee. It gives me peace of mind. Guarantees reassure us that something will happen. And if there is failure, it's going to be made right. Of course, we realize that guarantees can only be fulfilled to the extent that someone is able to fulfill those guarantees. How many of you guys have made guarantees? Oh, you haven't made it? Boy, you're being wise, aren't you, Kinsley? Never made a guarantee. Here's the problem with guarantees. Let's move on to the next slide. The problem with guarantees is that ultimately we, have no control over our circumstances. COVID was brought up, for example. Another epidemic like COVID-19 might sweep through our community and kill us, paralyze us, or at least prevent our goals. My mother-in-law, she had dreams of going to nursing school. World War II broke out. She was sent to a camp, and her dreams for the future were changed drastically. And that's the problem with guarantees in this world. We don't know what's coming down the pike. And for this reason, I have given each one of you a pill bottle, aspirin for the headaches that are yet to come, guaranteed to happen in this life. Now, you might say, I've never seen colored aspirin like this before. Now, these are special anxiety pills. Because in this world, the things on Earth are guaranteed to bring headaches. You're going to have headaches. A terroristic attack may alter your plans. Who knows what's going to happen? We saw 9-11 happen before you were born. Think about Israel, though, today on October 7, who were mercilessly slaughtered, raped, beheaded, burned alive, kidnapped, and tortured. They were living their lives in their communities, in their homes, thinking about, what am I going to do for the next five years? Children were thinking about school the next day. Oh, I've got homework to do. I've got a test to prepare for. And all of a sudden, Without warning, sudden destruction hit and disrupted their lives, ended their lives, or scarred their lives. And how many Palestinian civilians were living a normal life just eight months ago, but then their government, named Hamas, made a decision that changed their lives forever and wiped away so many dreams? Instead of happiness, many are suffering in the world for months. years, decades after tragedies strike. And here's the point. Our dreams in this world are not guaranteed. Rather, the only guarantee in this world is that you will experience disappointment, pain, and sorrow. Boy, that doesn't sound too promising for the future. Misery is guaranteed because we live in a world of sin and Satan. The sins of pride, greed, vanity, arrogance, sexual immorality, lying, cheating, stealing, and defrauding each other guarantee hurt and misery even for those who enjoy some success in achieving their dreams. No one will escape death. Death is for everyone. So headache, disappointment, resentment, regret, and death are the only things guaranteed in this world. No one escapes these things. It's not a question of if, but how much suffering and pain you will have to endure until you die. Now that, boy, what a downer on that, huh? Fortunately, there is one who can guarantee absolute success. One who has promised deliverance from sin, from sorrow, from pain, from death. And one who can deliver on that promise, and we know him as Jesus Christ. Unlike everyone else who makes promises, other prophets who say, I know the path to success, and other gods who say they guarantee success, Jesus demonstrated that he could overcome suffering and death and guarantee success. His resurrection proves he can back up his promises. It's not just words with him. He proved it. He did it. And for this reason, he's the only one you can trust. He's the only one you should listen to for advice. And that's why today I'm gonna share with you from his book, his word, his advice. Deuteronomy chapter 31, verse six. And let's move on to the next slide. There's our relief. Deuteronomy 31 verse 6 encourages us to be strong and courageous. Next slide. It says, do not be afraid or terrified because of them. For the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. And here's the question I want to address and have you ask yourself right now. Is God with you? Is God with you? This is the question you need to ask yourself. The answer will determine what success you will have. If you're with God, he is with you. And if you're not with God, he is not with you. Next slide. Here's how to be with God and to receive his guarantee. A guarantee of success. There's two things we'll talk about. Number one, repent and believe in Jesus Christ. In Luke chapter 13, verse 3, Jesus said, except you repent, you shall all likewise perish. That's a guarantee. To avoid perishing in eternal condemnation, what you need to do is change your mind, change how you think about things from your thoughts and from what you think is right to what God thinks is right, what he says is right. When you believe in Jesus Christ, that means to believe His way is the right way. That's what repentance is. I believe God's way. I believe what God says. There's only one way to be with God, and that's to believe in him. Not believing his way, not believing in him means that you have rejected him, you're offending him, and why would he want to be with someone who wants to reject him? So to be with God, you need to repent and say, I'm wrong, you're right, God. Are you fully persuaded in your mind that God's will for your life is the very best thing that could ever happen? Are you fully persuaded in your mind that Christ's way is the only way you want to live your life? That's repentance. Well, my way doesn't work. I'm not going down this road. I'm gonna choose Christ. If you're standing on the fence, or uncertain about giving your life over to Christ, and you're not convinced, then you're not fully persuaded. You're not believing God's way is really the right way for you. And this means you don't believe in Christ. You don't want His way. You're rejecting Him. Mark 9, verse 24 tells the story of a father who cried out and said with tears, Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief. You know that experience, that mixed feeling? I believe and yet, I don't know. I don't want to go that far. I don't want to be too religious. I don't want to believe too much. I don't want to go God's way too far. If you're struggling with doubt about committing yourself to believing in Christ. Then pray this prayer prayed by this father. Lord, I believe help my unbelief. That's the kind of prayers God wants to answer. Guaranteed, you have his word on it. God wants you to believe in Him. The question is, do you want to believe in Him? Do you believe that He is the way to success in your life? If you're not saved, it's because you have rejected Him and don't believe. And that's guaranteed condemnation. But Repenting is guaranteed deliverance from condemnation. So what we need to do is choose to believe in Christ, to be with him so that he is with us. Now, here's the second thing. Believing in Christ guarantees you will be with God forever. Once He changes you, once you believe in Him and He changes you, it's a permanent, guaranteed success. You will enter into the gates of heaven. Guaranteed. But I want to show you how to experience God's success and presence while living in this world of sin and Satan. This is the second part of achieving success. First of all, you got to get saved. The second part, you need to follow him. You need to obey him so that you can experience his presence. There's a lot of saved people in the world who do not experience God's presence. John chapter 14, verses 21 and 23. Jesus says this, He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me. And he that loveth me shall be loved to my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." Oh, that manifestation is the experience of God's presence. That's success. In verse 23, Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words. And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. In other words, if you say you love God, and you are with God, and you believe in God, It's going to follow that you are following Him with your life. You are obeying Him. Why? Because you believe, you really believe that's the right thing to do. Nothing's better than doing things God's way. Now you're obeying Him. Experiencing God's loving presence is the most wonderful experience you'll ever have. What Jesus says in this verse is his guarantee that you will experience his presence. Let me pose this question. Are you experiencing God's presence? Now, I'm not asking you to raise your hand. But are you experiencing God's presence? If not, you're failing. in your spirituality, you're failing. There's no success there. If you want success in your walk with Christ, you want to experience his presence. So those who know this experience of walking with Christ, and let's pose the question, next slide, please. Those who know this experience, read these verses, these words of Jesus. about keeping his commandments and doing what he tells us to do. They read that and here's what they think. Lord, what must I do to experience you? Tell me and I'll do it. I want to do it. Tell me so I can obey you, so I can do what's right and what's best for me. I'm eager to do this, Lord. And those who don't know this experience because they are in unbelief, They say, oh no, what is God asking of me now? Oh, what a pain, what inconvenience. I don't want that. Oh, what if, oh shudder, shudder, shudder. What if he asked me to do something I don't want to do? You see, those are the two types of people. Those who succeed are looking for God's way and eager. Lord, tell me what to do so I can do it. And others, let me run out of here in case God tells me what to do. I don't want to hear it. I won't be responsible. I won't be accountable. I don't want to know what God wants me to do, because then I'll feel guilty and accountable to do it. Too late. You're already exposed. For some, the words of Jesus are refreshing instructions on how to live for Him. Oh, now I've taken the mystery of life out of the equation. I know how to live and succeed. And for others, His words are dreadful inconveniences that conflict with their own personal desires. So what is your experience? Are you on the path of success with your affection on things above? Or are you on the path of failure with your affection on things on earth? I want to invite each one of you as grads. I want to invite each one of you to join us in our ministry on the road to success. with people who love God, who are eager to find out what God wants us to do, what his instructions are, and then do it. And in your pill bottle, there's information showing you how to contact our campus ministry in particular there at the college. And this summer, we're going to be conducting the Summer Training and Missions Program as we have done in times past. Summer Training and Missions Program about discipleship, we'll have discipleship seminars. We've got students who are already training and prepared to be a part of passing that information of discipleship on to you. We'll be traveling to a missions conference down Dallas, Texas. Sunday evenings, we meet for discipleship training. And Wednesday evenings, we meet for prayer and world vision training. Friday evenings, we meet for fellowship, food, fun, and games, and team training and team building. And if you're interested in going further and finding someone, hey, they're doing something. They're on the path to success. And I left you with some contact information, both our URL to our website and my phone number. You can text me and just send me your name and email and say, hey, sign me up as a disciple for Christ. That's what I want to do too. Next slide, please. The pills in the bottle are not actually aspirin pills. They are bittersweet reminders of life on earth. The bitter sour taste reminds you of the path that you'll choose if your affection is on the things of this earth. The sweetness that you'll experience will be due to the choice and remind you of the choice of how things can be if you choose the things from above. So I leave you with this assurance of God's guarantee for success from Romans 8, verse 3. And it's posed as a question here in this verse. What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? That's why you won't be on God's side. Romans 8, 34 through 39, answer this question. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen, and who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Success in Christ is guaranteed when you believe in Him and live for Him. So graduates, if you want to experience guaranteed success, join us. And together we'll follow Jesus on that path to success. Amen. Brother Gary, would you lead us in a word of prayer, please? My gracious father, we thank you that you have made provisions for these young men and women in their lives to this point. For life itself is a gift. And father, your gift is upon us. We pray that you would use it to your core. We pray that you would be examples one to another. of faith in Christ, and Lord, that you would lift him up according to your will. Father, again, we thank you for this time that you've spent together with these young ones. We pray, Father, that we may be able to be examples in each one of our lives. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Well, we have eight graduates represented here. We have others, too, and Brother Eric Whitaker is not here this morning, but he graduated from Liberty University online education. Jordan, you feeling happy about graduating? Yep, pretty good, huh? All right, that's a great thing. And for Jordan, received a baccalaureate. Wow, that's an accomplishment. And a grad. and graduating with an Associate of Applied Science in Construction and Technology. And if you noticed, I don't know if you noticed, I did. That's not a typical mortar board sitting on her head. So she's going out into a world where there's all kinds of hammers and nails and who knows what else falling on people's heads. She doesn't have a hard head. She needs a helmet to protect her. That's great. Applied Science and Construction Technology and a Technical Certificate in Integrated Design. Wow. That's great. And you know, we have others here. Arkansas State University, Zoe Bush graduated and Michaela Sugg from Greenland High School. Emily and Sarah Orsburn from Shiloh Christian School. And then from Fayetteville Christian School, Alexandra Clarity. That sounds like happiness and success. Yeah, someone else is cheering for that. Dwindo. Yeah. Riley Hudson. Tanner Prince. And Kinsley Robinson. Congratulations to all of you. You've done very well. And like I mentioned, you have reached a major milestone in your life. And I pray that you will choose the path to success. God will bless. Amen. Be with him. But it's great to have everyone with us this morning to celebrate the baccalaureate services that we have for all of our graduates. And we want to honor the Lord in everything, right? 1 Corinthians chapter 10, 31 reminds us, whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, whatever you're doing, do all to the glory of God. And you'll never go wrong. Let's all stand. Proverbs, in Proverbs, Solomon talked about how a man that increases knowledge increases strength. Education is a very important part of that. We learn how to think better. Education in this country began with a primer. And the primer was A through Z, and coded with Bible verses to memorize with instruction. And that's how children started out their education, which reminds us the whole point of education is to be able to read, learn, think about, and understand God's word, that we might truly be on the path of success. Finding God. So let's thank him right now in prayer. We're gonna take a break right now. We end our first portion of services, go into our second portion of services when you hear the music. In the meantime, enjoy congratulating our graduates here and let them know how proud you are of them and encourage them to continue in a path of success and following the Lord. And enjoy the fellowship with one another. When you hear the music, come on back in. We'll start our second portion of services. All right. Brother Jeff Clarity, would you lead us in a word of prayer, please? And then we'll have our break. much of this opportunity. It's great for the graduates, that you're actually around them. As they pursue life, more and more, they'll fall in love with you, love everything, and so that they're glad to be guided by you and know that you're their answer. Those of you who watch people around them, in artificial neurology. They fall most poorly into the search district. We thank you for the opportunity to be here and to learn a little more about your fellowship with the Reverend. The Reverend was here this morning, and he now, in discomfort and jubilation, visited the Reverend's house. The Reverend and the parents of the Reverend have been here in public, and have just given us wisdom and guidance. We love you. We trust that you trust us. There it is.