The Transfer Portal

Graduates, tonight is a night purely about transitions. You finished one chapter and you're stepping into the next. Some of you are headed to college. Some of you are headed to uh the workforce. But all of you tonight are transitioning and uh sometimes that's scary. And uh but I believe the Lord gave me a word for somebody to show you that there was also a group of people in the Bible that were all about transitions and going through a transitions. Tonight you are all walking through a doorway into something into something new. In sports world right now, athletes are very familiar with something called the transfer portal. One day you're committed to a school, playing for a certain coach, living under certain rules, and abiding by a certain system, but then they can make the choice to enter the transfer portal. And in a moment, everything changes. A new team, a new coach, new players, and a new opportunity. They leave a old system behind and step into a brand new chapter. Tonight I want to show you that long before the NCA transfer portal ever existed, God had his own transfer portal portal and it still works today. So tonight I want to preach about the transfer portal. graduates. You're in the same room that we had school orientation in. The same room we had music practices in. The same room that I caught some of you during the last few weeks not having much work. Some of you were taking naps in this room. Same room you had your chapel services in and same room you had Bible class in. But something about tonight is different. Same room, but different outcome. You're about to walk out of the doors that you've walked in, Mari, all your life. Some of you, for the past short couple years, but something is different when you walk out the doors tonight. You're walking through a transfer portal to the rest of your life. You seniors are sitting here tonight feeling exactly how the children of Israel were. And let's walk through their story because their story is your story. For 400 years, the Israelites lived in Egypt. And they lived in Egypt not on vacation but as slaves. And some of you have feel like you have been enslaved in school for the past 400 years. Like me, seventh grade was the toughest four years of my life. But here we are. The Israelites groaned in and and groaned over under heavy bondage. And the Bible says that they cried out unto God. The Bible says in Exodus 2 and 23, and it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed by reason of their bondage, and they cried, and their cry came unto the unto God by reason of the bondage. And God heard their groaning. I want to want us to pay special point to hear that God heard their cry. We know the Bible says that he sent Moses. God sent Moses with 10 plagues and every single plague was a direct attack on an on an Egyptian god. Exodus 12:12 says, "Against all the gods of Egypt, God will execute judgment. I am the Lord." And I know this is a simple Sunday school lesson, but the Nile turned to fro uh to blood. Frogs appeared. Lice, flies, livestock died, and boils and hell, locust, and darkness appeared. One by one, every false god they trusted was judged and defeated. Everything they thought they could lean on, everything they thought they could find comfort in was conquered by the one true living God. But when the plagues hit, the Egyptians didn't cry out to God. They cried out to Pharaoh. And their gods were silent. and their king was powerless. I've come to tell us graduates tonight a simple message. If you are relying on anything other than God himself, God will bring that God to their knees. God will bring everything you find comfort in or anything that you trust more than him, God will bring that thing to its knees. And as a graduate tonight, you're in in uh entering the transfer portal. It's yours to take. It's yours to make new decisions. It's yours to make new brand new life choices. You can put trust in a whole lot of things. And here in a moment, you can put a trust in a college degree. But I hope at the end of that college degree, there's a job that is waiting for you. You could put your trust in the stock market, but I've seen the stock market rise and I've seen it fall. Some of us crazy folks, we put our faith in the crypto market. I've seen that crypto market just fall. I didn't get in on the rise. But at the end of the day, we must not trust anything other than our God and the on our relationship with God. The Bible says that every word in this book is established that his promises are yes and amen. People might promise you a lot of things, but don't put your trust in their promise. Put your trust in the only one that has never failed you and the only one that has never forsaken you, and that is Jesus. Christ. The only trust that will never let you down is our faith in Jesus Christ. He has never been defeated. The Bible says he is the author and the finisher of our faith. I know sometimes we can get in this season of of graduation and moving on the transfer portal, moving on to our next steps in life. I've seen the phrase, "The only person I can trust is myself." Well, some choose to trust in their own perseverance. A new word nowadays is grit. You know, the hard work that you can put into making yourself an entrepreneur, making yourself a businessman, businesswoman. And I love all that. But the Bible says, and I trust this in 1st Samuel 15 and 22, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice. Obedience to God's holy word will take you far beyond anything you could ever sacrifice. And I'm all about I don't want to seem negative to a college degree. I hope you do it. I'm I don't want to seem negative to you that are going right right into the workforce. I want you to do it. But don't let it come above your relationship with God. I'm all about the sleepless nights where you work so hard to with your grit and to your hustle. But if you're not obeying God's word, your sacrifice is in vain. Your success will only go so far. But let somebody have a little grit and hard work, but obey the word of God. Then you talk about making a legacy. Then you talk about having something to pass down because I don't know about you, but we're just we're one bad story in the news from the stock market going down. We're one season of famine in the economy from job the jobless claim going up. But let God's eternal kingdom that has never went bankrupt. Let God's eternal kingdom that has lasted through ages OF PERSECUTION, LET GOD'S eternal kingdom that has been rising ever since the day of Pentecost. That's something that I want to be a part of. And that is to obey God's word. Then came this final plague, the death of the firstborn son, finishing off the gods of Egypt. Every plague attacked an Egyptian god. Finishing off the Egyptian gods where they worshiped their firstborn son. And I kind of like that. I kind of like that thought, you know. I think it's great. firstborn son. Some of you only only son. Some of you don't know. But that special night, God commanded Moses to tell his people very specific instructions. Each family was to take a spotless lamb to kill it. But not only kill the lamb, to apply the blood to the top of their doorframe of their home and the two side posts. Three strikes of blood would cause the death angel to pass over on that special night. And on that night, there was a great slaughter of lambs. Blood was painted on the doorpost of just about hopefully every home all over Gan. And families prepared the lamb and ate it with unleavened bread. They had the shoes on their feet. They went to bed ready to go out of Egypt. They had their staffs in their hand and they were ready to move at a moment's notice. And I just can't help but think there were some moms and dads on that night, pastor, that probably didn't have the best night of sleep. You know, thinking, "Did we put enough? Did we put enough?" Uh, it's kind of like you go to bed and your wife asks you, "Did you close the garage door?" Yes. I I promise you I closed the garage door. Are you sure? Yes. I I I'm I'm sure I closed the garage door. How about you go check? Okay, I'll go check and make sure I closed the garage door. I maybe that maybe that night was the same way. Honey, did are you sure you put enough blood on the doorpost? Are you sure you got the top post? Did we get everything right? Did we use enough blood? Will will the the death angel really pass over pass over our home? home. And I I I wonder tonight if there's some parents and grandparents here that you're while you're excited for your graduate, you're equally as nervous for their future. But I I know I I might be a little biased to the academy, but I want to thank you tonight for placing them in an atmosphere where the blood can be applied to their life. I want to thank you for putting them in an institution where WE HAVE TEACHERS THAT THE blood has been applied to their life. BECAUSE WHEN THE BLOOD'S APPLIED, everything changes. When when the blood is applied, THERE'S NOTHING THAT can remain that can remain the same. I I I want to thank you for placing your students in a place where they don't have to be perfect because they're covered by the blood. >> I I I thank you for placing them in a in an atmosphere where a teacher is covered by the blood. I I I I want to thank you for placing them in a place where there's emphasis on the blood. of Jesus Christ. Now, at midnight, the Bible says a a great cry arose across the land of Egypt. It's louder than any cry that has been cried in that land. And the Bible says Exodus in in Exodus 12 and 30. And Pharaoh rose up, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. the Israelites. A moment ago, we saw that the Israelites cried out to God, but the Egyptians cried out to Pharaoh. I would love to say graduates that that life is is going to be easy. I hope it is. Love to say tonight that you have reached the the pinnacle of of your life and it's just high glorious mountaintops from here. But there will be a moment where you cry. I know that's not super manly, all right, to say, but it matters who you cry to. >> Matters who you cry to. I want to encourage some senior tonight or maybe someone just listening. You You have a family member here. You didn't want to just upset your nephew for not showing up. God cares about your cry. >> God cares about your cry tonight. God cares about your aches and your pains in your life. God cares when you're on your worst moments. And I want to tell you that it's important who you cry to. I want to tell you, you could cry to your friend, but that friend can't do much for you. BUT WHEN YOU CRY OUT TO GOD, he'll hear your cry. He'll answer your bondage. And when you cry OUT TO GOD, GOD WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU. And he will never forsake you. Why? Because the blood is still real. And the blood is STILL POWERFUL. THE BLOOD STILL REACHES TO THE LOWEST VALLEY. HE'LL REACH YOU ON YOUR LOWEST DAYS. HE'LL REACH YOU IN THE MOUNTAINTOPS. BUT HE WANTS TO hear hear your cry. I want to tell you God is not distant that he cannot hear your cry or hear prayers. But I want to ask you who are you going to cry to? He called for Moses the Bible says and Aaron by night and said rise up and get you forth from among your people both ye and your children of Israel. Go serve the Lord as ye have said. This story going through it very quickly. I don't think that the blood was just for the Israelites. The blood is for everyone. If the Egyptians would have heard the message of applying the blood to their doorpost of their home, the death angel would have passed over. The promise is not just for the Israelites. It's for the Egyptians as well. It's for anybody who will apply the blood to their home. Exodus 12. This tells us that the blood was for everyone in that night. And I know my mind works a little bit in an unusual way. The transfer portal opened. That night for over 400 years, generations upon generations, they walked in their homes as slaves and walked out of their homes as slaves. They walked in their homes beaten down, walked out of their homes beaten down. But one night, because of the blood, the transfer portal opened. That night, they went in as slaves. But when the blood was applied, they went out as conquerors. WHEN THEY WENT IN BEAT DOWN AND OPPRESSED BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD of Jesus Christ, and I just can't help but think, I know it's a graduation, but I feel my help called the Holy Ghost here tonight. They walked in slaves, but they walked out conquerors because the blood was applied. That transfer portal open when the blood is applied. They went from bondage to being free. They went from an old life. They went from having wounds and scars and something of a pharaoh beating them over the head of how they need to live. But oh, when the blood's applied, the transfer portal is open. It's open to a new life. It's open to a new beginning. The blood on the wooden doorpost changes everything. And I know some of you are smiling because I believe you know where I'm going. But because in the New Testament of the blood on a a couple pieces of wood, the the door was open. The transfer portal was o open. And the older I get, the more time that goes by. But Ericson and I you I was thinking I wasn't even 19 years old. And then you say I started playing drums for the church when I was when I was 10 years old. Everything starts coming full circle. But the older I get, the more I recognize Jesus in every area of my life. And I've come to tell you graduates, the quicker you can look for Jesus, the quicker you're going to find him in every area, every low moment, every high moment. If you look for him, you will find him. If you look for him in the small moments of life, he's not in the wind. He's not in the earthquake, BUT HE'S IN THAT STILL small voice. I've come to tell you, if you'll look for him, you will find him. Just like the Israelites, we can look back and see that Jesus on that special night was the spotless lamb. I want to see Jesus in everything. John said, "Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world." You see, Paul says in FIRST CORINTHIANS ON THAT SPECIAL NIGHT, "FOR EVEN CHRIST our Passover is sacrificed for us." Paul tells us that Jesus is the Passover. But it's good, brother Martin, that Jesus died. I'm thankful for it. It's good that he was buried, and I'm thankful for it. I I'm glad he rose again. I'm thankful for it. But it's not effective until you apply the blood. It's one thing for the lamb to be slain, but you ask those Israelites if it's important for the blood to be applied. Because when they applied it on the doorpost, it became a transfer portal to freedom. No more generational curses when you apply the blood. WHEN YOU COME TO AN ACADEMY THAT TEACHES YOU ABOUT THE MERCY of a loving God, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS GENERATIONAL CURSES. WHY? BECAUSE I'VE COME IN CONTACT WITH THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. THE BLOOD THAT COVERS, THE BLOOD THAT REACHES, THE BLOOD THAT PULLS YOU OUT. OH, THE BLOOD IS SO POWERFUL TONIGHT. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE APOSTOLIC. YOU CAN BE ANY RELIGION THAT WORSHIPS JESUS CHRIST AND BE THANKFUL FOR THE BLOOD of Jesus Christ. Oh, that blood so powerful tonight in Acts 2 and38. It doesn't say just the remission of your sins, but it says the remission of sins. That's the sins that YOU'VE COMMITTED. THE SINS THAT'S BEEN COMMITTED TOWARDS YOU WHEN PEOPLE LIED ON YOU, WHEN PEOPLE did your own. That's how powerful the blood is. But the blood Paul says Jesus was the Passover. But then Jesus, we could see him. Jesus says about mo his own self. He says, "I am the door. By by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find good pasture." And when Jesus was crucified, that blood ran down the door. that blood when his body was pierced, the blood began to run down the door. And anybody that will enter into the cross, you find a transfer portal to a new found freedom. Oh, but it's not over yet. I can still find Jesus. Jesus is not done talking to us tonight. He says, "I'm the door." But he also says, you know, that bread that they were eating, that unleavened bread, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. But it gets better than that. It's hard to believe it gets better than that. They go out through that transfer portal coming going in as slaves and coming out as conquerors going to a land that was promised to them. But on that journey they would get thirsty. And the Bible says that there was a rock that would follow them that would give them water to drink. They I'm looking for Jesus and everything. I'm looking for Jesus in this graduation tonight. I I'm looking for G I'm looking for Jesus in this story. And the Bible says that rock that gave them water, that rock that gave them water to wash in, that rock that gave them water to drink from. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:4, and did all drink that same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was CHRIST. PAUL SAYS, YOU KNOW THAT ROCK THAT GAVE YOU NOURISHMENT WHEN you were hot and sweaty from a day's journey, that rock was Jesus Christ. AND IN THE GOOD TIMES AND IN THE BAD TIMES, ALL you need is Jesus Christ. WHEN TROUBLE COMES, ALL YOU NEED is Jesus Christ. OH, WHEN THE BLESSINGS COME, ALL YOU NEED IS JESUS CHRIST. WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO, MY FRIENDS, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LOOK FOR JESUS CHRIST. WHEN YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO, ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS LOOK for Jesus Christ. >> Class of 2026, you've walked the same school hallways, the same doors for years, just like Israel walked into the same doorways in the bondage of Egypt. I'm not talking about now you're gone from ACA, you found a new found freedom. I'm not saying anything like that. But tonight, you're walking out of the doors where the blood has been applied. You're walking out of the doors where the blood has been applied. But I hope you realize tonight there is a possibility. I don't mean to end this on a negative way, but there's a possibility of being a Judas that you get so close to the door you could kiss him. Bible says that Judas reached up and kissed Jesus Christ. Judas, you kissed the door that you could have ran to for forgiveness. You kissed the door. You were so close, but you were so far away. You missed it all. And I hope tonight that you I hope tonight we can see Jesus graduates through this door. If you need repentance, there's a door. If you need forgiveness of sins, there's a door. And the Bible says if you need healing, by his stripes we are healed. There's a door. If we have burdens tonight, and we all are carrying some type of burden, there's a a transfer portal that's open because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It says, "Come unto me all ye that labor and all ye that are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The door is open for somebody tonight because the blood has been applied. Anybody can walk through it if the blood is applied. Class of 2026, I know you've been close to it, but I think it's time you enter into that door. You enter in to a new found freedom. You you enter in for looking for Jesus in every area of your life. We're not going to have a Judas that you get so close that you you miss it all. I don't want to be so close that you've been hearing about teaching in Bible class about freedom about about uh a forgiveness but not take a part of it. I don't want to be in a Bible class that you hear about this this freedom that God will give you where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. You you've been wanting that liberty but not willing to walk in to that door. Class of 2026, I'm so proud of you. But I want to tell you, as you enter into your new life, you're exiting through a transfer portal that God has opened for each and every one of you because the blood has been applied. Would you put your hands together for the Lord tonight?