Apostolic Christian Academy Class of 2024 Graduation

come on can we give that hand to the Lord tonight for only he is worth worthy come on while you're at it would you lift your voice and give God some worship from your mouth tonight God we thank you today God you've been so good to us God I don't know why you've looked down at a group of people in marille Tennessee God and you've blessed us with some wonderful graduates tonight but most importantly God your spirit has been felt tonight and we do everything in your name in Jesus name I greet you in The Wonderful Name of Jesus Christ tonight you may be seated it is a tremendous this honor to stand before you this evening and to preach the commencement address for our graduates and uh it's an honor to stand before you 17 graduates and uh some special men and special women I give you 17 graduates honor tonight can we I know we've done it once and we're going to do it again but can we give these 17 World Changers a big round of applause I honor you all I honor you all and I love you very dearly um you all mean the world to FL and I and you hold a special place in our hearts and we know that the sky is the limit of what God wants to do in your life and ACA is honored and privileged to be a part of a small part in the big picture of what God wants to do in your lives it's an honor to be a part of that the Bible says that you can know you can know something or you can judge something based on on its fruit uh that you would judge a tree based on the fruit that it produces and um tonight I can judge each and every one of these 17 graduates families I can judge you all and say that you have done very well because these 17 kids these 17 adults men and women that sit before me tonight come from good families and I want to thank you all for putting your trust in Apostolic Christian Academy and in a partnership together something that because the school is only as strong as the voices and the home and in the partnership together these 17 men and women are going to change the world if you believe that would you clap your hands in this place tonight amen tonight I was looking through the the program that was absolutely beautifully designed and and we begin to see that our graduates uh our graduates here in a moment are are going to walk across the stage and and some of them are graduating suum Kum L and Magna Kum L Kum L and I heard Senator uh Tim Scott uh say the other day uh while people are graduating Magna Kum L I'm just glad I graduated thank the Lord a and uh I don't know is there anybody here tonight that you're just thankful you grad graduated thank the Lord he if it wasn't for the grace and the mercy of God you wouldn't have graduated and I know all that honor given to me a second ago for that master's degree but sister you know eron said sister Flander you had the good grades and the whole time I was just doing the work and you know if it's due at 11:59 that means due at 1159 and uh um and uh I all I the the the thing that kept going in my mind was hey sees get degrees sees get degrees sees get degrees as I turn it in this will be the last graduation I ever preach in my life but that's what I that's uh that's all right that's all right brother B said I'm open brother whenever all right you just let me you let me know and I I give honor to all the Pastors in the house of course to give honor to our our our pastoral staff tonight I I love them very dearly and thank God for their Vision my life was changed um my life was changed because of apostolic Christian Academy um I received the the Holy Ghost um at a chapel service at Apostolic Christian Academy and I remember it so vividly uh not because the experience in the altar it was it was very memorable but afterwards at lunch everybody gave me the the dessert uh like the whole table handed me their cookies uh and allowed me to eat this wonderful dessert because I received the gift of the Holy Ghost that was two memoral things that happened that day and also also um and a matter of fact next year and this just tells how old I'm getting but um I I felt like the Lord was calling me to to pray with people and um at the school it gave me an opportunity to pray and I don't say I say this very humbly but the power of absar Christian Academy it gave me the opportunity to pray for someone and them to receive the holy ghost that was the first person I ever prayed through the Holy Ghost was Eli abar at a chapel service and uh so is a very cool Apostolic Christian Academy means a lot to me and uh amen now his parents have helped him stay full of the Holy Ghost but and uh so I honor Apostolic Christian Academy tonight this group so special um Zoe you you Friday you paid us the biggest compliment uh where you at Zoe where we at right there Zoe you pay us the biggest compliment that you could ever give this school you said Friday at rush hour Chapel service that don't take rush for granted and that's one of your favorite memories and then you didn't even tell me that I've been pronouncing your name your last name wrong the entire time you've been here I've been just say Zoe Betty and I didn't know was batty and I want to that's how nice of a young lady you are and I give honor to Zoe batty tonight but you gave gave um this school such a a tremendous honor uh by your your uh comments Friday and as I was thinking this past week of what I would say to these World Changers using the Theology and psychology and all the other allies I received along with my Master's Degree Dr Seuss helped me with a title tonight I want to talk to you about oh the Places You'll Go Oh The Places you you'll go and I want to read from the good book tonight everybody want to hear from the good book all right this is the dsv it says you have brains in your head this is the Dr Seuss version brains in your head you have feet in your shoes you can steer yourself any direction you choose you're on your own and you know what you know and you are the one who will decide where to go another thing out of the dsv tonight says you're off to great places today is your day your mountain is waiting so get on your way and here for the next few moments this is real really this encapsulates the the gist of the commencement address tonight here's what it says and when you're alone there's a very good chance you'll meet things that scare you right out of your pants there are some down the RO Road between hither and Yan that can scare you so much that you won't want to go on we love to talk about in these moments the places that we'll go the high mountaintops that we're going to go but there are some valleys that you'll go through and some of you all being very close to flan and I I know some valleys that you all have been through and to look at you 17 remarkable young men and young women I want to say that you've been through those valleys by the grace of God and God has kept you and it looks like God has has never forsook you tonight and I want to preach about just for a few moments the places that you'll go Exodus 2:1 says and there went a man of the house of Levi and took a wife a daughter of Levi and the woman conceived and bear a son and when she saw him that he was a goodly child she hid him three months and when she could no longer hide him she took from him for him an ark of Bor brushes and dabbed it with slime and with pitch and put the child therein and she laid it in the flags by the river's Brink old amram and shabed amran and jocked parents of Moses had a child in the midst of perilous times they did their absolute best for a short while to hide him from the rule that all Israelite male children must be killed but as the baby would begin to grow and become older they were no longer able to hide the boy and jabed the mother made a decision to place him in an ark and put him in the Nile River and simply trust God jocked with one decision did did you ever consider how that decision would affect your child Moses or simply fo put for the title tonight jocked with that one decision did you ever consider the places that Moses your son would go with that one decision of placing him in a place of protection did you ever consider the places that he would go while culture and and you'll notice tonight a theme is a lot about culture this evening while culture was forcing you to kill the child you chose to put him in a place that you would trust God to protect him and did you consider the places that he would go I'm going to spend a lot of time this evening talking about Moses and our graduates but first to do this graduation service honor and respect I first have to preach to amran and jobed the graduates parents and family because you chose to place your child in a place of protection you chose to enroll them in a place that would keep them from the vultures of culture you place them in a safety Arc and while jocked was forced to throw them in the Nile River was forced to throw him in the D River like other children were thrown into jocked had a place of protection in that Ark that would keep Moses from drowning in the Nile River amran and jocked because you placed your child here at ACA God has truly ordered their steps you placed them here and trusted what God would do with them and through them and I want to preach to you tonight and thank you so much and the Lord spoke to me earlier and said tell amran and jocked that their Wildest Dreams what their child could be don't even compare to the places that your Moses will go the sky is the limit why because you put them in a place of protection that keeps them from the voices of culture and protects them from the vultures that want to slay them after Pharaoh's daughter threw him out of the water his sister miam asked Pharaoh's daughter if she wanted to to get her a Hebrew nurse and to take care of him so maram went and got jocked and brought her to Pharaoh's daughter and Moses's mother got to nurse him and even got paid for it and tonight my mom proba probably deserved to be paid for phasing me and to look at some of you boys your mama probably deserves to be paid for raising some of you matter of fact and I'll do this since I'm G to talk about you Malachi the amount of times your mama has been to this school during the middle of the day you deserve a pay raise lady all right you deserve a pay raise jocked you deserve a pay raise all right but I tell you jocked what you did that young boy that has worked so hard to receive a scholarship Apostolic Christian Academy could not be more proud of Malachi lick lier and and many other graduates and how does this happen it happens with a jocked that has a place of protection a Joad that just doesn't throw their baby out as a a waste and why did I have a child in the midst of perilous times but there was an arc called Apostolic Christian Academy that would be there that would be there protection and I'm sorry Malachi for pointing you out there's a lot of others but I promise to be under 25 minutes to the graduates but in the most formative years of the life of Moses something powerful took place there is Extreme importance placed on the early years of a child listen to the impact of just a few years has on a child if she got to take care of Moses until the Bible describes he was weaned this this is a two or threee period where the child no longer needs his mother to sustain him and have and create an environment for him to survive so these two or three years dictated who Moses was in what Moses would become Hebrews 11:24 now just think of this two or three years is all that jobed had by faith Moses when he was come to years refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter just a few years here at ACA has ingrained in you graduates that even though you have to live in Pharaoh's house that does not mean you have to belong to Pharaoh's house that's just a few years that's the power of a few years here at ACA you realize that you are in a world but you do not belong to the world just a few years here and I hope to God in the environment that jocked has created the environment of a safe space a a teaching spot even though maybe a few years or maybe you've been here throughout your entire life you've realized that you are not defined by culture you're not defined what culture labels you as just a few years here at ACA because of these few years here at the Academy I want to tell you you can't even imagine the place places that you'll go here's another reason why a few years in a child's life matters two or three years of teaching from old sister jocked he learned everything that a normal Israelite boy or girl would learn as a child he learned a love and a respect for God in the things of God now I want to tell you at this school if I can brag on the staff and the the team teachers here at ACA we have the best teachers and I am super biased so you can just throw that out the window we have the best teachers we have the best elementary teachers Middle School teachers El uh High School teachers we have the best Math teachers the best English teachers the best Spanish teachers but that's not our core subject here at the Academy our core subject is teaching our children a love and a respect for the things of God and God himself in a day that truth is being attacked the most important subject and I'm sorry to be so Frank but math will not get us into heaven and English will not get us into heaven because we know who the presidents are does not get us into heaven but Apostolic Christian Academy sister Joan has created a place where children can walk in and know that they're L Joad has created an environment to carry us along the way and to tell us who we are to the eyes of God two or three years chab bed would teach that baby and I'm sure it wasn't as put together as our classrooms are at the Academy but in two or three years it's all jobed had but acts 7:22 flips the story on us and says and Moses was learned and all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty and words and in deeds and these Egyptians believed and taught that humans would evolve from worms that would be left on the bank in the O the annual overflow of the Nile River and these Egyptians believed and taught that the son God raw and also called Adam created his son Shu and daughter tefnut interesting names and they in harmony worked together to create order in the universe and one of the kids even created Earth but because of a few years with old sister jabed Moses had a fear of God in him and Moses Pastor has been accredited to writing the creation story and it when it was time for Moses to go put the pen to the paper and write his version of what God told him about the creation story even though he only spent two or three years with jocked and he spent 37 years in Pharaoh's house he had the best professors he had the best teachers he had the best uh uh textbooks that Egypt had to offer he was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians because of those few years with jocked and the fear of God she instilled in him he didn't write about all those false those false myths that Egypt taught about creation he

wrote Genesis 1 And1 in the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth and the Earth was without form and darkness was upon the face of the deep and the spirit of God moved upon the waters and the Lord said in verse n let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place and let the dry land appear and it was so and God called the dry land Earth and the Gathering Together of the waters called the Seas and God said Saul that it was good Moses what about that thing you learned in science class about those worms being left over in the Nile River what do you what do you think about what you learned in the Egyptian science class this is what he thought he didn't think about that he thought about the two or three years he was with his mama jocked and he said so God created man in his own image and in the image of God created he him male and female created he him and I want to tell you tonight graduates the few years here at the Academy that jocked has created has changed your life forever I want to tell you about sister jaed HMS and I want to tell you the difference that sister jocked rickets has made I want to tell you the difference that jocked Henson has made oh what about let's talk about jackob bed Hurst how about we or what you like jocked Hurst what about old oh amram Sullivan how about him pretty good guy he's pretty good guy because it's those two three years of pouring in and we've been privileged to know a lot of you lion I like Noah what you said that you were in your mom's belly when when at the Academy when she was one of my teachers some of my favorite memories at at the Academy were in your mom's classroom and some of you we've known a few years and some of you we've known all your lives but in these few years here at ACA sister jock Abed and brother am Am ram has put things in you that the world cannot sway you from the truth that professor at your University will try to deter you but oh sister jocked HS and sister jocked rickets has put something in you that the world can't take away the world didn't give it to you oh sister jocked gave it to you the world can't take the truth that it was poured in in a few years here and I want to tell you because of the few years that we had you in our grasp that the world is going to be changed the importance of just a few years in the rting environment changes someone's life Exodus 2:11 says and it came to pass in those days when Moses was grown that he went out to his Brethren looked on their burdens and he spied an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew one of his Brethren and he looked this way he looked that way and when he saw there was no man he slew the Egyptian and hid him in the sand Moses the Bible says look this way he looked that way and then he made a decision to kill the Egyptian that was smiing the Hebrew notice he looked this way looked that way but he never looked that way and so I want to tell you tonight graduates you can look this way and ask friends and peers of decisions that you're going to make you can look this way and ask culture about decisions that you want to make but their opinions don't matter if you can never cons if you never consider this way and ask God what do you want in my life even though it may be good it was God's will for him to deliver uh deliver the Israelites out of the Egyptian bondage it was God's will he did good but not in that manner not in that fashion he looked that way he looked that way but hope to God tonight in a few years at ACA you have learned that the only thing that matters in your life life is his will and his say in your life I want to preach to you tonight the Places You'll Go and the decisions that you'll make it's okay to look that way consult with that way but you got to look that way first Moses without God couldn't keep one Egyptian buried let alone bury the entire Egyptian Army but when he finally looked this way he would see the entire Egyptian Army drowned in the Red Sea without God me you and I me myself and I feeling Dr Seuss The Spirit of him coming over me without God we can do nothing but with God you can't even imagine the places that you'll go you can't imagine what God wants to do to you and through you after this Moses would run for his life to escape Egypt and how do you think now about the Places You'll Go when you're running for your life but here in the wilderness he comes to a land called Midian and there he finds a wife and he goes to the foot of the Mount of Si where God would call him to go deliver his people and there God would ask him an important question about the places he would go he asked him a question and the Lord said unto him what is that in thine hand and he said arise God spoke to Moses and said what's in your hand Moses said it's a rod it's a stick Moses just saw something something that would simply help him get from one place to another Moses just saw it as a stick that he's picked up along the way but God saw an opportunity to use something that Moses possessed Moses saw a rod right but God saw the potential of a red sea splitting Moses saw a a walking stick but God saw a rock a a rock being struck and given water for the children of Israel to drink from Moses saw a rod but God saw Moses lifting up that rod and the amalekites being defeated as long as Moses would lift that rod in his hands Moses saw something invalu able but God saw something that Moses possessed that he could use the stick in

the beginning of Exodus 4 belonged to Moses he just said God it's a stick you created him in creation don't you remember but a few verses later in verse number 20 says that Moses returned to the land of Egypt and Moses took the rod of God in his hand it was his stick in the beginning but then it was inval valuable or it didn't have much value and then at the end of the chapter towards the end of the chapter the end of that verse says that Moses took the rod of God in his hands and graduates tonight the places that you'll go you all possess something that God would like to use right now you may see it as something that don't hold value you might actually and Addie I'm sorry for your crutches being on the side here but you might seem it as a crutch all right you might just see it as something that you have to use in order to walk daily it's something that you have to rely on and it might be something that's annoying to you but God is asking you tonight even though you see it as not valuable God looks at it as an opportunity for a miracle God isn't asking you 17 graduates for something impressive God isn't asking you for something that you don't already possess and God is willing God is asking for something that you have right now and you are willing to give to him and we can consider tonight what if Moses would have withheld something that he didn't see value in a nation would have stayed slaves more Israelites more Hebrews would have been killed and Moses could never been used by God so in the places that you'll go what's in your hand that God can use along your journey I know all of you have certain skill sets certain talents and certain abilities probably one of the most powerful moments in in a in a a Kids Quest service that I've experienced we we like to talk about the speakers you know I want to be a great preacher for God and I and all those things are well and good of course that was that was my I felt like my calling but one of the most powerful moments in a kids quest service was when I needed something to be Illustrated for a certain series we were doing and I just said I said God I got I've got good preachers up here I've got good speakers I got people who can sing and play drums and all these things that helps us go along with service but I need something kids I need somebody to be able to draw for me it was like a light bulb turned on this young lady's mind that she thought I can't get up there and sing I can't get up there and play piano I can't I'm not a drummer or guitarist but I've got something my ability to create things and it was like a light bulb turned on that moment what was it God was saying what do you have that young girl was saying I got a rod I got something I just like to do I'm just my free time be creative but I've got a rod God and you watch God do something great in that young girl's life so don't don't underestimate the things that that that you see is not valuable in your life sure all the places that God took Moses were frightening and re ired trust all the way in the beginning we're being drawn out which gives us his meaning Moses the name meaning to his name Moses to escaping Egypt then marrying in Midian to hearing God's voice out M Mount Si it was all for a purpose The Valleys that you've been through 17 graduates and the mountaintops that you've been through it's all for a purpose the places that you'll go is all for a purpose and here's the purpose you can't take someone to a place that you've never been before Moses it was his will for for their allout War to be taken place when he looked that way and this way and killed the Egyptian buried him in the sand didn't do a good job burying him it was his will for the his him to start a Exodus out of Egypt but there were some places that God had to take him to and take him through if he would have never been drawn out of the waters he could have never draw drew the people out of Egypt Moses had to be drawn out so he can draw the people out why did he have to go through all those places Moses had to escape Egypt so he could show Israel how to escape Egypt Moses entered into a covenant marriage in Midian so he could lead a people to Midian to show them how to enter in a covenant relationship ship with the almighty God and how to serve him and please him because Moses went to Mount Si he was able to lead God's people to Mount Si to get the law to live by so I want to tell someone tonight the purpose of the places that you have been and the per purpose of the places that you will go is so you can take your family to the same valleys that you went through as a Teenage child and a as a teenager the places that you'll go in in in the future you you you conquer battles right now so you can take people through those same battles in the future God wants to take you to a place of prayer so one day I know you don't want to think about this but you'll blink and you'll have a child and you cry all the time not the child you me all right it's like God gave me a girl and inserted needles right here and I cry every time it's so so weird it's a girl dad thing okay no you don't want to think about it but a few days hopefully God has his way in your life not a few days Lord help me few years you'll get married and if you never find a place of prayer you're not going to be able to take that mate to that same place of prayer you're never going to take that that child to that and I know you're like man this is a graduation service you're talking about having a child yes I am CU you'll blink and it'll be there but the places that you'll go if you conquer it right now it's a lonely place it's not a celebrated place it wasn't a good place to to to run for your life out of Egypt but it was because he ran out of Egypt he was able to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt and so I want to tell you great these 17 seniors tonight the places that you have been in your life and the places that you will go you're able to in the future say come on I've been there and I've made it through that's the places that you'll go the last thing I want to tell you about Moses's life as you can divide his life into three 40e periods the first 40 years he was in Pharaoh's house thinking he was a somebody the second 40 years he was in the wilderness realizing he was a nobody and the third 40 years he was leading God's people because God showed him what he could do with a nobody he went from being a somebody to being a nobody then realizing as long as I have God on my side as long as I put him first in every area of my life God can show me what he will do with someone who completely depends on him and I want to tell you tonight in closing that you can imagine you cannot imagine the Places You'll Go when you allow God to lead you in every area of your life I love you 17 graduates tonight I'm proud of you and I cannot wait to see the places that you'll go God bless you tonight amen