ACA Class of 2020 Commencement Service

now give that hand to the one that's truly deserving of it tonight give that hand to Jesus and give Jesus all the glory and all the honor but he alone is worthy of all the praise there's anything around here that's done right give Jesus the praise for it you may be seated tonight let me quickly say that I just want to welcome all of our guests tonight all of our distinguished guests that are here I'm very prone to want to call names and recognize people but we have so many here tonight just thank you so very very much for coming and sharing the moment with us and let's give them all a great big first Apostolic Church hand clap offering Wow with that introduction I was reminded of a story that I heard of a preacher that was preaching a man's funeral and he was just laying it on he was talking about what a fine man and all this man did and evidently got to laying it on pretty thick until the man's wife and son were on the front row and preacher got to laying it on pretty thick and finally his wife punched her son in the side said boy go up here and see if at your daddy in that casket up there and I was about getting ready to see if somebody else was going to come up but truth the matter is we have a very excellent staff here and a lot of things are said about brother carpenter but where in the world would we be without first lady's sister carpenter I'm a dream it she should can help build it I can't organize a yo-yo to come back so I mean she alone with this wonderful ACA staff they're truly men and women that believed tonight that they are God called to be a part of the staff of ACA once again would you give this tremendous staff of AC a great big hand right now tremendous staff five graduates and I got to thinking about that today five graduates five you have to have five letters to spell faith right you have five letters to spell Jesus matter of fact David took five smooth stones to kill Goliath we're celebrating 25 years that's five times five so I think there's something about five here tonight I might want to just take a turn around gifts mi5 right now all right you know commencement speeches they're interesting you have heard 24 commencement messages and what you remember most is those that were brief I hope you remember mine would you stand with me somebody said every sermon is like a good cake needs a little shortening amen someone played my small part tonight I sure love you five seniors it has been an interesting year your lives are bookend by 9/11 and by the kovat virus but I believe that all the bad things and unexpected things and disappointing things in life are all the ingredients that God mixes up and causes us to be a sweet smelling perfume one passage of Scripture Matthew 24:13 Jesus said but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved I believe it be pleasing to the Lord if we all read this together as a congregation I'll start us out but let's all read it together but he that's endure unto the end the same shall be saved seniors I want to leave you with a three word title don't ever quit don't ever quit don't ever quit Jesus I love you tonight thank you for this great occasion thank you God is we're here celebrating our children our grandchildren we're here celebrating God their accomplishments we're here tonight celebrating men and women that you have put together to make this faculty and we're here tonight O God to give glory and honor to your name because without you Jesus none of this would be possible without you Father for the next few moments I ask you to help me anoint my lips at play in Jesus name we pray amen amen you may be seated don't ever quit don't ever quit some time ago a dear friend of this church who has blessed us many times over Bishop JH Osburn he called me up on the phone one day and he said I have read an interesting book and he said I think you he said I don't know he said I every time I pick up this book brother carpenter I think about you and I would I would much like for you to read this book some of you may remember this as a matter of fact I preached a message entitled making your bed you might remember that making your bed well this book was written by Admiral Admiral William H McRaven McRaven u.s. Navy retired he gave the commencement speech at the University of Texas Austin of which he listed 10 points of becoming a Navy SEAL what he went through in that commencement address he lists 10 things that took him through the arduous task of becoming a Navy SEAL and someone took those 10 points and they had him they said you need to you need to put this in a book and he wrote a book and put these 10 points in the book and the book is entitled make your bed make your bed little things that can change your life and maybe the world little things I will tell you tonight I am struggling just a little bit I don't cry often but when I do I can't control it I can't turn it off since that k5 class graduated this morning I have had a wellspring of tears that want to gush out of me how bright our future how wise our investment is with ACA so please help me tonight I'd like to cry after this is over I can't cry dignified like some people can I shake from the top of my head to the bottom of my seven and a half sigh I get to shaking so I'm gonna have a good cry today but I would prefer to do it in the privacy of my my office there's a chapter in the book in fact it's the last chapter and I'd like to read some of the last chapter of making make your bed I recommend this book to to every everyone tonight as a matter of fact brother Eric's and I'd like to give you I'd like to give you a task complete complete from me I'd like you to find the paper book and my five of them and give each as a gift to our seniors five five of these books he says in the last chapter he said I stood at attention along with the other 150 students beginning the first day of seal training the instructor dressed in combat boots and khaki shorts and a blue and gold t-shirt walked across the large asphalt courtyard to a small brass male hanging in full view of all the attend these gentlemen he began today is the first day of seal training for the next six months you will undergo the toughest course of instruction in the United States military I glanced around and could see some looks of apprehension on the faces of my fellow students the instructor continued you will be tested like no time in your life pausing he looked around the class of the new what he calls tadpoles he said most of you will not make it through I will see to that he smiled I will do everything in my power to make you quit he emphasized the last three words I will harass you unmercifully I will embarrass you in front of your teammates I will push you beyond your limits then a slight grin crossed his face and he said and there will be a lot of pain lots of pain grabbing the bail he pulled the rope hard and a loud clanging noise echoed across the courtyard but if you don't like the pain if you don't like all the harassment then there's an easy way out he pulled the Rope again and another wave of deep metallic sound reverberated off the buildings all you have to do to quit is to ring the bell three times he let go of the rope tied to the bells clapper ring the bell and you won't have to get up early ring the bell and you won't have to do the long runs ring the bell no more cold swims or obstacle course ring the bell and you can avoid all this pain then the instructor glanced down at the asphalt and seemed to break from his prepared monologue but let me tell you something he said if you quit you will regret it for the rest of your life quitting never makes anything easier six months later there were only 33 of us standing at graduation some had taken the easy way out they had quit and my guess is the instructor was right they would regret it for the rest of their lives never quit this is a lesson that I learned in seal training it's the most important lesson never quit as a matter of fact seniors could you all say it with me never quit never quit matter of fact as a congregation could we say it together never quit it doesn't sound profound but life constantly puts you in situations where quitting seems to be much easier than continuing on where the odds are so stacked against you that giving up seems to be the rational thing to do can I get a witness in the house tonight throughout my career he says I was constantly inspired by men and women who refused to quit who refused to feel sorry for themselves but none more than a young Army Ranger I met in a hospital in Afghanistan you see in I pause for a moment to tell you you never remember those names of the ones that quit you always remember those that stuck to it though that faced adversity and never felt sorry for themselves and said if God be for us who can be against us as a matter of fact they sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan you don't remember 10 of them you know why they're not worth remembering because they quit but you remember Joshua and Caleb don't you you know why they looked at the same Giants in the same walled cities and the same obstacles and said we're not going to quit if our God be for us who can be against us he goes on and he tells about meeting a young soldier it was late one evening when I received word that one of my soldiers had stepped on a pressure plate mine and had been medevacked to a combat combat hospital near my headquarters the Ranger regimental commander Colonel Eric and I quickly made our way to the hospital and into the soldiers room the soldier lay in the hospital bed tubes extending from his mouth and chest black blast burns streaked up his arms and across his face the blanket covering his body lay flat to the bed where his legs would normally have been his life was now changed forever I had made countless visits to the combat hospital in Afghanistan as a wartime leader you try not to internalize the human suffering you know and accept that it is a part of combat soldiers get wounded soldiers die if you allow every decision you make to be predicated on the possibility of loss of life you will struggle mightily to be effective somehow through this somehow though this night seemed different the Ranger laying in front of me was so very young younger than my two sons he was 19 years old and his name was Adam Bates he had arrived in Afghanistan just a week earlier and this had been his first combat combat mission I leaned over and touched my hand to his shoulder he appeared to be sedated and unconscious I reflected for a minute said a little prayer and was starting to leave when the nurse came in to check on my soldier she smiled and looked at his vitals and asked me if I had any questions regarding his status she informed me that both of his legs had been amputated and that he had serious blast injuries and that his chance for survival was good I thanked her for taking such great care of Ranger Bates and told her I would return when he was conscious oh he's conscious she stated in fact it would be good for you to talk with him she gently shook the young Ranger who opened his eyes slightly and acknowledged my presence he can't speak right now than they're said but his mother was deaf and he knows how to sign the nurse handed me a sheet of paper with the various sign language symbols displayed on it I talked for a minute trying to find the strength to say the right thing what do you tell a young man 19 years old who has lost both his legs serving his country how do you make him feel better about his future Bates his face was swollen from the blast his eyes barely visible through the redness of the bandages stared at me momentarily he must have seen the pity in my expression raising his hand he began to sign and I want you to hear this seniors raising his hand he began to sign I looked at each symbol on the sheet of paper before me and slowly painfully he signed I will be ok I will be ok and he fell asleep as I left the hospital that evening I could not help but cry of the hundreds of men I talked with in the hospital never once did anyone complain never once they were proud of their service they were accepting of their faith and all they wanted was to get back to their unit a year later after my hospital visit in Afghanistan I was at the 75th Ranger Regiment Elaine's of command there in the stands was Ranger Bates looking sharp in his dress uniform standing tall on his new prosthetic legs I overheard him challenge a number of his fellow Rangers to a pull contest with all he had been through the multiple surgeries the painful Rehab adjusting to a new life he never quit he never quit he was laughing joking smiling and just as he promised me I will be ok seniors life is full of difficult times you all already you all already know that life is full of difficult times but someone out there always has it worse than you do remember that somebody's always got it worse than you do does it do any good to feel your days with pity sorrow for the way you've been treated bemoaning your lot in life blaming your circumstances or someone or something else then life will be long and hard if on the other hand you refuse to give up on your dreams each one of you there's five dreams on these pews tonight don't give up on your dreams stand tall face the odds make life what you want it make life what you want it not what life wants out of you remember these words as I close don't ever ring that bell don't ever ring that bell it would be the easiest thing in the world to ring that bell you're going on to college somewhere in the semester you're going to be tempted to go ring that bell don't you ring that bell you'll regret ringing that bell for the rest of your life don't ring that bail somewhere somewhere in this is a serious transition here but you are at a most vulnerable time in your walk with God you will be tempted to put your spiritual life on hold and return back to it some years later don't ring that bell don't don't ring that bell don't quit there's not an education worth getting out of church there's not a career worth having to put your walk with God don't bring that bail I'm confident than all of you I'm confident that all of you get married and with the difficulties are you can say no we'll see with the difficulties of marriage don't you ring that bell the difficulties of life because you live all your life out you live all of your life out wondering wondering what would have happened if I had stayed in school what would have happened if I had stayed in church please don't ring that bell but I don't only say this to our seniors tonight I say this to everybody in this room that's struggling we've got any struggling people here tonight I'll go ahead and raise my hands we got any people that don't have it all together I'll go ahead and raise my hands got any people that face difficulties in life I'll go ahead and raise my hands but can I tell you quitting will not make it any better for you as a matter of fact it'll make it worse if you quit just don't ring that bell it's the easiest thing in the world to ring that Bell don't ring that Bell why don't you turn and tell somebody don't ring that bell tell somebody don't don't you ring that Bell now don't dose your ring don't ring that Bell don't ring that Bell please five seniors know that life is not fair and that you will fail often but if you take some small risk step up when times are toughest face down your bullies lift up the downtrodden and never ever give don't you ring that bell dream big dream big seniors dream big dream bigger than your parents dreamed your parents have done good they have a bigger dream than your parents if some of you want to come back and help out at ACA dream bigger than your founder here dream of a large Christian school dream of a large campus here dream dream big don't allow the mold that life tries to put you in to define you for the rest of your life Brendan son dream big dream big I could never owned a business you can if you dream it I could never do this or that you can if you'll dream it if you'll only dream it Space Mountain in Disney World was being dedicated mrs. Walt Disney mrs. Disney was there Walt was not there Walt had died during the construction the man giving the speech dedicating Space Mountain he said it is a crying shame that Walt never got to see this after the dedicating of space Space Mountain mrs. Disney made her way to the speaker she said I enjoyed your speech she said but there's one thing that you were wrong about tonight wrong yes you were wrong my husband did see this he did see it and the reason that he could see it is the reason that we're enjoying it singers dream big dream dream big dreams and then as you dream big dreams roll up your sleeves and work hard there'll be long nights at the books there'll be tests that you ace and there'll be tests that you fail there will be times you'll have enough scholarship and there'll be enough there'll be times you're eating ramen noodles dream big if you'll dream big and never ring the bell you'll look back on life and you'll be able to tell someone someday don't ring the bell god bless you