Graduation Sunday // Pastor Matthew Good // June 1st, 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Come on, graduates.
Come on, man.
Graduating school is not easy.
I said it, sister, I said it.
I said it Right there.
I see you Middle school, highschool or college.
It's not easy, but a lot ofthese students and their lives,

(00:23):
all of them, their lives areevidence of God's faithfulness
and evidence of his goodness,and it's an honor to be before
you this morning.
And for those of you guys thatdon't know, my name is Pastor
Matthew.
I get the wonderful honor andthe privilege of being the youth
pastor of this church, and I'veseen so many students grow and
lives changed and lives healedand transformed, and so I'm

(00:43):
looking forward to getting intothe word of God.
Here at Free Church, we take theproclamation of God's word very
seriously, and so what I'mgoing to do is ask you politely
to remove all distractions andput your phones on silent and
make sure your coffee cups don'tspill on the carpet so we don't
have to clean that later ontoday.

(01:04):
I wish you knew how much Iwasn't joking, and, uh, really
not even joking, um, and I justwant you guys to put out your
hands.
I'm going to pray and we'regoing to go right into god's
word, and if you have yourphysical bible.
Please get it ready, remove alldistractions.
We love to worship and we lovethe word of god.
So, everyone, put your handsout in front of you like this Be

(01:25):
ready to receive something andwe're going to go straight into
God's word.
Father, right now, in themighty name of Jesus, we thank
you for your word, father.
We thank you because your wordhas the power to transform lives
.
We thank you, god, because yourword has the power to change
our minds.
We thank you, god, that oneword, that one scripture, one
phrase from the holy word of Godcan change our entire month.

(01:46):
We thank you, god, because yourword is true.
We thank you, lord, that youare the same yesterday, today
and forevermore.
So, father, right now, wesubmit our agenda, we lay down
this service before you, god,and say God, have your way
through the proclamation of yourword.
Father, I pray that you wouldsearch me.
I pray that you would search me.
I pray that you would look uponme, god, and anything that is
in me and on me that is not ofyou, father, I pray that you

(02:08):
would remove it.
God, let every word that I say,let every word that I teach and
proclaim, be something thatJesus Christ would say himself
Father, I bind all demonicdistractions in this room.
In the name of Jesus, I praythat our minds and our hearts
would be tethered and fixated onnothing but your face, your
presence and your word.
Father, we love you, holySpirit, would you rest on this

(02:31):
word, strengthen me, oh God, Icannot do this without you, a
weak vessel, without your power.
Father, use me for your gloryand change lives, and I pray
that we would all walk out ofthis room changed, transformed
and different.
We love you, father, we loveyou, jesus, we love you, holy
Spirit, and it's in yourprecious, holy, matchless and

(02:51):
mighty name that we pray.
And everybody said amen.
Come on, someone, make somenoise for the Lord, jesus Christ
.
My family.
I looked up this word graduate,my family, I looked up this word
graduate and we just celebratedover 17 students that have

(03:12):
graduated, that are moving onfrom one level to the next.
And when we look at thedefinition of the word graduate,
it means to pass on from onestage of experience or one stage
of proficiency, or it means togo from one level to the next
and it means to go higher.
But there's a verse that I'mreminded of in the scriptures in
Romans, chapter 12, where Paulis begging the Romans to not be

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conformed to the patterns ofthis world.
And if we are not careful, wewill follow the patterns of this
world where we live in, a worldthat tells us to go higher and
a world that tells us to getmore power, more finances, more
money, more esteem.
But if you are in this roomunder the sound of my voice and
you call Jesus Christ your Lordand Savior, you are a citizen of

(03:58):
the kingdom of heaven, you area citizen of the kingdom of God,
and the kingdom of God is avery upside-down, backwards,
countercultural way of living,whereas the word in the word, it
says that we are citizens ofthe kingdom of God and the world
will tell us to go higher, butthe kingdom of God tells us to
go lower.
We graduate and we look to havestatus and we look to have

(04:22):
money and all these things thatwatch this, that are futile and
fading, and the kingdom of Godtells us to go lower and watch
this.
Matthew 6, 33,.
Seek first the kingdom of Godand all these things will be
added unto you.
I wonder if the reason why allthese things are not being added
unto your life is because youare seeking everything else but
the kingdom of God, that weserve a God of priority, and

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many times in the Western church, in the American church, we
don't like to think that we haveidols in our lives.
But idols are not just metalstatues.
Idols are mental.
Idols are what you think aboutmore than God.
Idols are relationships thatyou have over.
Your relationship with God, andGod is over and begging and
wanting Watch this, the devotionof your hearts.
And so graduating means to gohigher.

(05:13):
But I felt compelled to telleveryone under the sound of my
voice today, that if you aregoing to be a citizen of the
kingdom of God, you are calledto go lower In the kingdom of
God.
The Bible says that the firstshall be last and the last shall
be first in the Word of God.
The Bible says that the richand this world will be poor in
the kingdom of heaven and thepoor in this world will be rich

(05:35):
in the eyes of God.
That we serve a backwards,upside-down way of living.
This is the kingdom of God andif we are going to live
according to the systems of thisworld, we will find ourselves
broken and empty and yearningfor things that were.
Never was this designed tosatisfy our soul, and so there

(05:55):
are certain things that weshould not graduate from In the
Bible.
In James, chapter four, verse 7,james, who is the half-brother
of Jesus, he writes to anaudience of scattered and
persecuted Christians.
In James 4, verse 7, it sayssubmit yourself to God.
And then it says to resist thedevil and that he will flee.

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And sometimes the Achilles heelof the charismatic and the
evangelical church is that weare so focused on resisting the
devil that we are not focused onour submission to the Holy
Spirit.
What we must understand in thisroom, church, is that the enemy
is only a respecter of sons anddaughters who are watch this
submitted unto God.

(06:37):
That your resistance againstSatan and your resistance
against demonic principalitiesand your resistance against the
things of this world, that yougo through all trials, all
tribulations, the ups and downsof this fading and futile world,
your resistance against theenemy is only as great as your

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submission to God.
And that should challenge us inthis room, because we are
charismatic believers all acrossthis room and we love the word
commission, we love the greatcommission in Matthew 8, 2019,
where Jesus says there go forthand make disciples of what All
nations, baptizing them in thename of the Father and the Son

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and the Holy Spirit.
But before there can be acommission the word co it means
the word cooperate, co-missionbefore we focus on doing things
with the Lord, we must be underhis authority.
And that's hard for theAmerican church because we love
Jesus as Savior, we love Jesusthat shows grace, we love Jesus

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that is kind, we love the fluffyJesus, we love Jesus that shows
mercy and and gives us chanceafter chance.
But when it comes to theLordship of Jesus Christ, it is
difficult because many people inthe Western Church have a
problem.
Watch this word authority.
We don't like being told whatto do.
We love the idea of JesusChrist says Savior, but is he

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your master?
Is he your Lord?
Are you submitted to hisauthority?
The Bible says in first Peter,chapter 5, verse 8, that the
enemy prowls around like a lion,seeking to whom, to whom ever
he may devour, and the peoplethat he devours the sons and
daughters are.
Watch those who are notsubmitted to God if who are not

(08:27):
submitted to God.
If you are not submitted to God, you are not under the shadows
of his wings, you are not underhis protection and God wants us
to be submitted to him.
And in order for you to besubmitted, submission means
under the mission, under theauthority of God.
You cannot submit if you arenot willing to go low.
And so we need to come back toa church that is willing to find

(08:48):
themselves at the foot of thecross.
And one of the ways that we stay, the way that we stay low, the
way that we stay submitted, iswatch this through the fear of
the Lord, the fear of the Lord,jesus Christ.
When we talk about that wordfear, it means the awe, it means
the reverence, it means to beamazed by God, it means to not

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take God commonly.
In Proverbs, chapter 9, verse10, the word of God says watch
this.
It is the fear of the Lord thatis the beginning of wisdom.
That true wisdom doesn't startwith more books.
It doesn't start with ChatGBT.
It doesn't start with Google.
It doesn't start with Instagram, it doesn't start with TikTok.
It starts with getting low andfearing the Lord, having a

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reverence for His presence, areverence for His word, a
reverence for the gathering, areverence for tithing, a
reverence for offering, areverence for laying your life
down so that he may be glorifiedin and through you.
It is the fear of the Lord thatmakes us wise, and there's a
difference between havinginformation and revelation.

(09:59):
We are living in a social mediaera.
We have computers and screens,and teenagers and even people
from older generations areaddicted to their phones.
And we have information, wehave knowledge, but we have no
revelation of who God is in ourlives, and so we have a
generation that is starving fortruth, starving to have a

(10:22):
revelation of God.
Who have you called me to be?
And we go everywhere andanywhere except the holy
revelation of God.
Who have you called me to be?
And we go everywhere andanywhere except the holy word of
God, when the scriptures havethe answer on who God has made
you to be.
The scriptures have the answeronto your purpose, your
assignments.
The scriptures have the answerto who he has designed you to be
.
For this purpose and for thistime.

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It is the fear of the Lord thatis the beginning of wisdom, and
my fear is that if we don't getback to reverence and if we
don't get back to fearing theLord, we will start treating him
like a genie, we'll starttreating the Holy Spirit as
common where we only come to himwhen we're in trouble.
We treat God like a 911.
When we only come to God, weneed a blessing, we need a favor

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and we forget that God is arelational being and he wants to
be intimate with you day in andday out.
One of the ways that revivalwill hit the Western church hear
me if you remember nothing elseabout this sermon today one of
the ways that revival will notjust hit this church, but the
American church, is whenreverence comes back to our

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pulpits and reverence comes backto our worship songs and
reverence comes back to oursermons and reverence comes back
to our gatherings and reverencecomes back to the word of God,
where we stop compromising thetruth.
To please watch this, to pleasepeople.
When you fear the Lord, you arenot concerned with pleasing
people.
When you fear the Lord, you'renot concerned with what family

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members think.
When you fear the Lord, you'renot concerned with the opinions
and the comments on social media.
Why?
Because we have an audience ofone.
The fear of the Lord is thebeginning of wisdom.
It's the fear of God.
If you want wisdom, the Biblesays to get wisdom and get
understanding, you have to havea reverence and stop treating

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god as common.
I've got news for somebody inthis room that god is not just
your genie, that god is notsomeone in a bottle, that you
rub a lamp three times and hecomes out and grants you three
wishes.
No, god is the creator of theuniverse.
If you need a reminder, let meremind you.
No, no, let me remind you needa reminder?
Let me remind you.
No, no, no.
Let me remind you who our Godis.
Let me remind you who JesusChrist is.
Let me remind you who the HolySpirit is.
He is El Shaddai.

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He is Jehovah Rapha.
He is Jehovah Nissi.
He is wonderful counselor.
He is my Prince of Peace.
He is Jehovah Shama.
He is Jehovah Rapha.
He is El Roy.
He is everything that I've everneeded, and more.

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We need to get back to a pointchurch where we start to get
bothered by the lack ofreverence that we see around the
world today for the Lord JesusChrist.
There is lack of reverence thatGod has wanted to bring back to
his church.
There is reverence that God iswanting to bring back to watch
this biblical community.
We're not just gathering forthe sake of looking cute on
Instagram and taking photos andposting hashtags and going viral
.
God is looking for.

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Watch this a holy bride setapart, spotless and without
blemish.
Proverbs says in 1, verse 7,proverbs, chapter 1, verse 7,
that it is the fear of the Lordthat is the beginning of what.
Watch this knowledge.
And the Bible says that mypeople are destroyed for lack of
knowledge.
It is the fear of the Lord thatgives us wisdom, gives us

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knowledge.
I think about a verse in Psalm25, verse 14, where the Bible
says that friendship with theLord is reserved for those who
fear him.
And that's a convictingscripture to understand when you
realize, church, that God'slove is unconditional, but God
is not friends with everyone.

(14:02):
There are many people in ourchurches today, many people that
sing on platforms, many peoplethat have online churches from
their living room with twopeople watching on Facebook Live
, that think they have afriendship with the Lord but
they don't fear him.
There's no honor, there's noreverence in the secret place To
be a friend of God.
You must watch this.

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Fear him, you must honor him.
You must have a reverence.
The Lord must be serious to you.
God, you must watch this.
Fear him, you must honor him.
You must have a reverence.
The Lord must be serious to you.
His word must be serious, thegathering must be serious to you
To know that God's friendshipis.
Watch this, it is conditional.
His love is unconditional.
God loves you, but friendshipwith the Lord is not for
everyone and my fear is that wehave a lot of people that are

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walking and watch this worddeception, thinking that they're
friends with God but far fromhim because the lack of
reverence in their hearts.
We must understand that God isan intimate being and God is
very intimate in his characterand he wants to know you, but he

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wants your heart above anything.
So I felt compelled to not justtell the graduates, I felt
compelled to tell the wholecongregation this morning that
in a world, in a Western culturesystem that tells you to go
higher to get more status andget more money, build that 401k,

(15:25):
get that Roth IRA, to do moreand get more popularity, no,
I've come to remind you thatGod's way of being great in his
kingdom, according to his holyword, is to stay and remain low
through the fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord, becauseseasons will change, people will

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change, circumstances willhappen.
When we look at the word fear.
Let me just teach this for amoment.
The Greek word for fear again.
Let me just teach this for amoment.
The Greek word for fear again,it is awe and it is reverence.
The Greek word for fear iscalled phobia or phobos.
It's where we get the wordphobia.
Some people have a phobia ofpublic speaking, some people
have a phobia of roller coasters, some people have a phobia of

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death, some people have a phobiaof spiders, some people have a
phobia of rats and mice andfrogs, or whatever your phobia
is.
Everyone has a fear ofsomething and I wonder what it
would look like if we had thephobias of the Lord.
The Greek word for phobias isawe, reverence, and it means to
be afraid to offend God.
I wonder what our lives wouldlook like if we started

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analyzing our actions, not justin public but in private, and
asking ourselves God, is whatI'm about to do?
Does this offend you Lord?
Is what I'm about to post?
Does this offend you Lord?
The way I'm treating my wife,does this offend you Lord?
Offend you Lord?

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The way I'm talking to myhusband, the way I'm not
honoring his leadership, does itoffend you Lord?
What if we grew in conviction?
Everything we did, everythingwe said, public and private your
social media, even how youhandle your finances, god, it's

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how I'm stewarding my finances.
God.
Does it offend you, lord?
And what if we had a holy fearof offending the God that we're
living for, offending the Godthat we serve?
We have a phobias of fear.
Lord, I want to live a life ofnot perfection, because we're
all going to make mistakes.
Our goal is not to be sinless,but to sin less.
But as we sin less, as we sinless, our conviction grows.

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There are certain things I usedto do four years ago that I
don't do anymore.
Why?
Because I have a conviction.
God, this offends you when I dothis.
It offends the Lord when yougossip.
It offends the Lord when yougossip.
It offends the Lord when youdishonor your spouse, husbands
and wives.
It offends the Lord when youwatch this dishonor your

(18:11):
children.
It offends the Lord when youtake for granted the gatherings
that we have here every singleSunday morning, while there are
churches all around the world,in the Middle East right now,
that are gathered in caves andhave to tear pages out the
scriptures to memorize them.
And here, no persecution, nochallenge.
Our greatest challenge here inChicago is a December winter,
and I wonder if we offend Godwith our pride, our arrogance,

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thinking that he's entitled togive us something.
I don't want to live a life thatoffends God.
What would it look like?
By growing in the fear of theLord, watch this.
We ask the Holy Spirit to giveus watch this a conviction about
sin, that when you grow in thefear of the Lord, nobody talks

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about this.
It's not just about loving whatGod loves, it is hating what
God hates.
There's a lot of people inchurches, on platforms I'm
telling you what I know a lot ofpeople that sing about God.
A lot of people that sing cuteworship songs.
A lot of people that preachcute sermons that have no

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conviction in their heart aboutsin.
One of the ways that you knowyou're growing in the Lord is
when sin starts to bother youwhen you gossip, and you get a
conviction about that.
When you talk to your childrena certain way, and you get a
conviction about that.
When you talk to your wife acertain way, and you get a
conviction about that.
When you're dishonest at yourjob, and you get a conviction

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about that.
When you lie to your spouse,and you get a conviction about
that when you curse someone outthrough road rage, and you get
convicted about that when yougive someone the finger and it
was out of character in yourflesh, but you get a conviction
about that.
Conviction is a good thing,conviction is a beautiful thing.
Conviction is a sign that watchthis the Holy Spirit is dealing

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with you.
We are in dangerous territorywhen we can sin in private and
it no longer bothers us.
We have to begin to love whatthe Lord loves.
He loves his people, he loveshis bride.
But make no mistake about itGod hates sin.
He hates sin.

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And when you grow in the fearof the Lord, when you are
submitted to the Holy Spirit,you get a perspective on what he
loves.
You get a perspective on whathe hates.
And when you hate sin, you dealwith it in the secret place.
You're honest with the Lord andsay Lord, I've got some pride
in my heart, I've got some lustin my heart.
I've got some arrogance in myheart.
I've got some fear.

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I've got some control issues inmy heart.
I've got some things that Ineed to lay down at the altar.
So, god, the life that I livedoes not offend you, in public
and in private.
It's the fear of the Lord.
The Hebrew word for fear iscalled Yira, and again, all
reverence, but it also watch.
This includes the fear of thepunishment of God, because God

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would not be a good father if hedid not watch this discipline
his children.
I don't know about you, but Igrew up in a biracial household.
I have a mom who's old schoolHispanic like old, old school
Hispanic.
You know what I'm saying.
And so for all my Hispanic moms, there's this word that when
mom uses it, you know it's goingdown the chancla.
All right, you know what I'mtalking about.
My mom would use that chanclaand it didn't matter whose shoe

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it was.
She would take my shoe off meand beat me with this.
Sometimes she would grab anyshoe from in front of the door.
She would grab a spatula,anything she could grab her
hands on, but mostly for me, formy mom, it was the chancla, and
I would find myself trying toduck like a boxer and trying to

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move and, and, and then I got afather who's black.
I mean blackity, black, black.
You know what I'm saying.
So so I, I literally got thebest of both worlds.
I got a mom that could do it inSpanish, a, a dad with a thick
New York accent.
He had these thick his largehands and man would just smack
me upside the head and you knowI used to get this.
This is a cuss word in today'sgeneration.
Watch this.
I used to get spanked.

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I used to get spanked.
Listen, I'm going to just keepit so real.
Listen, I'm just being honest.
Up here I can look at a kid ina grocery store and say you have
never been spanked in yourentire life.
I've never seen nothing likethis before.

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It makes me so nervous.
You got little Connor cussingout his mom in aisle five of
Jewel Osco.
You got little Jesus goingcrazy.
You got little Jaquavius goingcrazy.
All moms and pops just goingdown.
And, man, I grew up in an oldschool.
Old school parents and nowadaysparents are like well, let's
talk about it and what are yourfeelings?

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And let's just do this and justtalk about it and it's just.
I don't understand.
I don't understand.
My mom and dad would give meone look.
Sometimes my mom and dad wouldtake me to the bathroom of
wherever we were at and go totown on me.
But watch this.
It was the discipline that myearthly parents gave me that

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made me happy.
Watch this, an honor and areverence for their parenthood.
I'm not saying I was the mostperfect kid, but when I look

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back on it right now, my mom iswatching me.
Right now I would not take backa moment of discipline because
watch, this Discipline builds,watch this word character.
I've had people tell me man,pastor Matthew, you're so
respectful and man, you're sowell-spoken, like whoa, like
what is going on?
I'm like because I got whooped,got whooped and that's

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convicting man.
We have a lot of parents and I'mjust, I'm calling the truth out
in love but we have a lot ofparents that are more concerned
with being their kids' friendsand not disciplining them.
Parents, hear me in this room,be offended.
If you want, send me an email,I do not care.
Discipline your children,discipline your children.
I've never seen anything likeit today.

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I hear students call theirparents by their first name.
I'm like you get to do that.
People are like well, pm, whatdo you call your parents?
Mom, dad.
See students on the phonecalling their parents.
I'm like, oh my gosh, likeSarah.
I'm like who's Sarah Mom?
I'm like that's your mom, hi,Sarah.

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Like who's Sarah mom.
I'm like that's your mom, hi,sarah, I'll never be on a first
name basis.
My mom and dad watch thisbecause I have honor for them
and even though I'm older, Istill address them with respect.
The Bible says to honor yourparents.
The Bible says in Ephesians 6to entreat to honor your father
and your mother, which is thefirst commandment, with a
promise that it may be well withyou that you may live long on

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the earth to know that when youdishonor your parents, you are
shortening your lifespan here onearth.
So if we have fear for ourearthly parents, how much more
fear should we have for ourheavenly father, for the Lord

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Jesus Christ, who made theheavens and the earth, the stars
and the galaxy, the one whocalls us by name, the one who
died for us on the cross andknows every single mistake and
every single trespass that we'reever gonna do and still chooses
to watch this willingly love us.
I'm closing the message rightnow, but when I think of a man,

(26:16):
when I think of a scripture andverses that resemble what it
looks like to achieve everythingbut to realize that this life
is useless without the fear ofthe Lord, I think of a man who
goes by the name of Solomon, ifyou don't know who Solomon is.
Solomon was the son of KingDavid.
Solomon had achieved everythingin this lifetime he had money,
he had status, a thousand wives,and that's complicated.

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He built the temple.
Solomon did all these things,all these things, and yet he
realized one thing that you canaccomplish so much but life
without the fear of the Lord inthis futile world is meaningless
or, as the scriptures would usethe word, vanity.
So turn your Bibles with me aswe close to a passage in the

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book of Ecclesiastes.
The book of Ecclesiastes meansecclesia, so this is Solomon
addressing a gathering,reminding these people that life
is futile, that life is vain,that if you do not have the fear
of the Lord in your heart, ifyou are not submitted under the
Holy Spirit, if you don't have areverence for the Lord Jesus

(27:20):
Christ, then everything in thisworld, you will be tossed back
and forth by the seasons, by thestatus, by the change people
coming, people going.
So Ecclesiastes, chapter three,verses one through 11, read
with me in the status, by thechange people coming, people
going.
So Ecclesiastes, chapter three,verses one through 11, read
with me in the scriptures.
Open up your Bible.
It says for everything there isa season and a time for every
matter under heaven Stop.

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What I love about this verseright away is that we are
reminded that God is theorchestrator of every season in
our lives.
That just because you may nothave planned for a season, just
because it took you by surprisethat God is sovereign to work
all things out for the good ofthose who love him and are
called, watch this according tohis purpose, not yours.
His plan's not yours.

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His kingdom, not yours.
His agenda, not yours.
So when you submit your agendato him, he is the author, the
orchestrator for every season,every time, every matter under
heaven.
And Solomon almost writes apoetic style within these verses
and he says there is a time tobe born and a time to die.

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There's a time to plant.
There's a time to plant seedsin the ground and there's a time
to pluck up what is planted.
There's a time to plant seedsin the ground and there's a time
to pluck up what is planted.
There's a time to kill andthere's a time to heal.
There's a time to break downand a time to build up.
What things in our lives needto be broken down?
What things in our lives needto be built up.
There's a time to weep andthere's a time to laugh.

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For anyone who has been in aseason where there's been
countless amounts of tears atnight that no one sees, that no
one might understand, can I tellyou that god says in his holy
word there's a time and a seasonjust for weeping.
I just want to stop right therebecause sometimes we don't give
ourselves a chance to watchthis.
Just weep before the lord andbe sad, and not always have to
put a christ jargon sticker andbe like God is good.
No, god is good, but I'm sadright now.
Leave me alone, let me be sad,let me weep.

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The shortest verse in all ofscripture is watch this Jesus
wept to show us that this lifewe live by faith.
But it doesn't mean that wenegate our emotions.
There's a time to weep, there'sa time to laugh.
If this has been a joyfulseason, man, laugh.
Enjoy the goodness of God,enjoy his blessings, enjoy his

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favor, enjoy the promotion,enjoy the new child, enjoy the
raise, enjoy the opportunity.
There's a season and a time forweeping and laughing, a time to
mourn and a time to dance, atime to cast away stones and a
time to gather stones together,a time to embrace people and a
time to refrain from embracingpeople.

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Sometimes you have to usediscernment in your
relationships.
Not everyone gets emotionalaccess to your hearts.
There is a time to embrace,there's a time to love and

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there's also a time to watchthis youth discernment and to
know that people carry thingswhen they come into your life,
and so sometimes you have torefrain from what's just
embracing everyone.
There's a time and a place toembrace and to refrain, a time
to seek, a time to lose.
And, man, I wish I could gothrough all of these for the
sake of time.
But a time to keep, a time tocast away, a time to tear, a

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time to sew.
Back then, when you weregrieving, you would tear your
garments because your garmentswere very important back in
ancient Eastern culture.
Back then we didn't haveclosets full of clothes and
summer outfits and winteroutfits and 30 pairs of shoes.
You had one or two robes andwhen you were grieving, when you
were mourning the loss of afriend, a loved one, no matter
what it was, you would tear yourgarments as a sign of grieving.

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The Bible says there is a timeto tear the garments, there's a
time to mourn, there's a time togrieve, there's a time to keep
silence and a time to speak.
For those of you guys where youfeel like this is a season for
silence, stay silent and knowthat the Lord will fight your
battles on your behalf.
He will fight for you and hesays there's a time to speak for

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those of you guys who have beensilenced, for every lie of the
enemy that has made you thinkyour voice is not important,
that has tried to keep you shut.
For anyone in this room who hasfelt led to watch this share
their testimony and the enemyhas convinced you to stay silent
and you know that you'reentering into a season where
it's time for you to speak.
I want you to open up yourmouth and declare the good

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things that God has done for you, in you and through you.
We are not ashamed of the gospelof Jesus Christ, of all the
things that we post on socialmedia.
We're so willing to offendpeople with our political
beliefs.
Why don't you offend someonewith your thoughts and your
perspectives on the kingdom ofGod?
All this nonsense, all thisnonsense and posting about

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candidates that don't even knowyour name, and here you have a
God that loves you died for, youbled on a cross and you're
silent about all the rightthings.
There's a testimony from yourlife that if people heard they
would say wow, god must be real,god must be healing, god must
be restoring, god must be doingmarvelous things throughout the

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world.
Why?
Because we have overcome by theblood of the lamb and the word
of our testimony.
I'm almost done right here.
A time to love and a time tohate.
Again, the fear of the Lordwill cause you to love what God
loves and to hate what God hates.
For all of my brothers andsisters in this room, ask the
Lord to give you watch this ahatred for sin.

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You cannot live in holiness andflirt around with sin, whatever
sin is in your life.
There is grace and mercyawaiting For watch this those
who repent and set their heartbefore God and say God, this is
in my heart, I repent.
Repenting means to turn fromyour own ways and turn to him,

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because I've got news for youyour own ways are not working
anyway.
There is life, there is grace,there is mercy for those who are
willing to repent.
Ask the Lord to give you ahatred for sin.
It's called righteousindignation.
There's a time for war, a timefor peace.

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Verse nine we're done right here.
What gain has the worker fromhis toil?
I have seen the business thatGod has given to the children of
man to be busy with all thesetasks going to work, all these
roles, responsibilities being aparent, being a youth leader,
being a worship leader, a pastor, an entrepreneur, a businessman
, a businesswoman.
I've seen all the work that menand women have.

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I've seen the busyness that Godhas given to the children to be
busy with Verse 11,.
He has made everything beautifulin its time.
That every season is beautifulin the eyes of God, whether you
see it that way or not.
That God can use any and everyseason in your life to glorify
himself through you.
Do not negate the season thatyou are in, and these students

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right here, and maybe even someof you guys in this room, are
about to head into a new season.
Head into college, become a newparent, get a new job, get a
new promotion, move to a newstate, move to a new city.
God has made everythingbeautiful in its time.
So instead of complaining,instead of whining, instead of
blaming other people, instead ofbeing irrational about God why

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do you have me here.
Fix your eyes on the Lord JesusChrist and realize that if he
is the author and the finisherof my faith, then this season
must be beautiful, because I amsubmitted under his authority.
He has made everythingbeautiful in its time.
He has put eternity into man'shearts, yet so that he cannot

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find out what God has done fromthe beginning to the end.
And man, no matter what seasonyou find yourself in,
transitioning, graduating man,we're not trying to go higher,
we're trying to go lower, andthe lower you go, the more you
submit yourself to God.
Lower you go, the more yousubmit yourself to God.
He gives you watch this adesire for eternity, to know

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that life goes beyond what wecan see with our physical eyes.
I've got news for somebody inthis room.
Whether you want to hear it ornot, this world is not our home,
that we are citizens of heaven.
And my fear, especially for usAmerican Christians.
We were so spoiled and we havematerials and we have money, we
have cars, we have status andbeautiful buildings.

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We forget that we are passingthrough here, we're not staying
here.
The Bible says that this lifeis but a vapor and God has put
eternity into every man's heart.
So this longing for what isbeyond what we can see, and also
the mystery that God is notgoing to reveal everything at

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one time, is completely ordainedby him.
I want everyone to stand ontheir feet as we close and we're
gonna go back into anotherworship song in just a couple of
moments and I wanna end onreading this verse Ecclesiastes,
chapter 12, verse 13 and 14.
It says the end of the matter.
This is Solomon writing Again.
You must understand the contextthat Solomon is an accomplished

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man and some of you guys inthis room might feel just like
Solomon.
Pastor Matthew, pastor Chuck,pastor Roshanna, I've
accomplished everything.
I have the money, I have thecars, I've had kids, I've done
it all and something feels likeit's missing.
Solomon says the end of thematter.
All has been heard, all hasbeen done, but the call of every

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son and daughter, the reasonfor your existence is to fear
the Lord.
Fear the Lord and keep hiscommandments.
The Bible says in first John,chapter five, verse two, again,
that to love the Lord is to keephis commandments and his
commandments are not burdensome,that actually living under the

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commandments of God is light.
Why?
Because the Bible says that hisyoke is easy, his burden is
light.
I wonder how many of us in thisroom are experiencing the
heaviness because we are livingapart from the commandments of
God that are found right here inhis word.
I wonder if it's your owndisobedience that is bringing

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your own burdens upon your ownshoulders.
Maybe it's not a demonic attack, maybe it's your lack of
discipline.
Maybe the enemy's not afteryour life.
Maybe you need to submityourself to God's holy word.
Well, pastor Matthew, I don'twant to do that.
Pastor Matthew, this makes meuncomfortable.
God is more concerned aboutyour holiness and setting you

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apart and setting you apart.
Fear the Lord, stay low, staysubmitted to God.
We're gonna end this service onsinging a song of gratitude and
we're gonna pray for all of ourgraduates.
And would you just begin tolift up your hands and church?