SPEAKER_00: Good morning, church.
SPEAKER_00: I usually like to start off a lesson with a question for the whole congregation, but today it's a little different.
SPEAKER_00: I have a question just for one person.
SPEAKER_00: Tom, have you ever been so encouraged by a song service that on your way up you think, now I gotta follow that?
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of how I feel today.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you, Chad, for leading us.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, seniors, for picking those songs, and to the whole church for singing.
SPEAKER_00: There was multiple times that I got that I got chills this morning just thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00: So thank you all.
SPEAKER_00: I also need uh to say an apology to Bill.
SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, I don't think Doug is gonna be encouraging you with word and thought today, but I am getting word that an arm wrestle is still on the table.
SPEAKER_00: See him after service.
SPEAKER_00: This kind of Sunday, uh this kind of moment in our lives, really, of transitioning from one chapter to the next, it can be scary.
SPEAKER_00: Uh yesterday I was at the Cherokee Day, and if you were there with me and you got to hear some of the seniors uh speak or recent graduates speak, you would agree with that.
SPEAKER_00: You you heard their lessons about how scary that transition can be from high school until whatever comes next.
SPEAKER_00: And I think they're doing a great job with managing that tradition with their new home there.
SPEAKER_00: But they would agree that it can be scary for our seniors that are graduating, it can be scary for their parents, for their grandparents, but also for the church as a whole.
SPEAKER_00: For all of us who have invested in these young people, we think about them.
SPEAKER_00: We worry about a lot of things.
SPEAKER_00: We worry about their careers, we worry about their relationships and their friendships, how they'll do in college and their academics, but most of all, we think about their faithfulness.
SPEAKER_00: We ask a lot of questions.
SPEAKER_00: Will they keep being faithful to the Lord?
SPEAKER_00: Will they remember what they have been taught?
SPEAKER_00: Will they remember who they are and who they are supposed to be?
SPEAKER_00: It's a lot like when you were teaching them how to ride a bike.
SPEAKER_00: You took the training wheels off for the first time and you held onto the back of the seat.
SPEAKER_00: Do you all remember that?
SPEAKER_00: You held on for a little bit and at some point, although scary, you let go.
SPEAKER_00: And that moment of letting go is terrifying.
SPEAKER_00: Because you you think, will they stay on the path?
SPEAKER_00: Will they keep pedaling?
SPEAKER_00: Will they keep moving forward?
SPEAKER_00: And if they I take that back, and when they fall down, will they get back up?
SPEAKER_00: How badly will they get hurt?
SPEAKER_00: And will they be too scared to keep on going?
SPEAKER_00: But I think those questions aren't just for our young people.
SPEAKER_00: I think that's about all of us.
SPEAKER_00: All of us, we need to keep going, to press on, to stay on the path.
SPEAKER_00: When we fall down, will we get back up?
SPEAKER_00: Or will we keep going?
SPEAKER_00: Will we be afraid or will we be faithful?
SPEAKER_00: So what keeps us faithful?
SPEAKER_00: All of us.
SPEAKER_00: What keeps all of us faithful?
SPEAKER_00: And believe it or not, I didn't come up with these questions today.
SPEAKER_00: These are questions that Christians have been asking for thousands of years.
SPEAKER_00: The Jewish Israelite people had ways of trying to train their people, their young people especially, in moving forward, of not being afraid, but of being faithful, even when someone's not there holding on to the seat.
SPEAKER_00: In the Hebrew culture, they had many ways of training themselves, and one of the ways they trained in memorizing scripture was something called acrostic poetry.
SPEAKER_00: Psalms 119 is a brilliant example of this.
SPEAKER_00: It's the longest chapter in the Bible.
SPEAKER_00: We are not going to be going through it today.
SPEAKER_00: But there are 22 sections in Psalms 119.
SPEAKER_00: Each section is a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet.
SPEAKER_00: The first one is the first letter, and the second section is the second.
SPEAKER_00: So if we were to do it today, here's your cheat sheet in case you forgot.
SPEAKER_00: If we were to do it today, the first section would be A, and all of the lines in that poem would start with the letter A.
SPEAKER_00: And the next section naturally would be B, and all of the lines in that poem would start with the letter B.
SPEAKER_00: And this is a helpful reminder.
SPEAKER_00: It helped them to remember, to train them, to teach them, and to form them so that they can continue to be who they're supposed to be and to stay on the right path.
SPEAKER_00: Before we get started today, let's bow for a word of prayer.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, we come before you today, honored to be in your presence, honored that even in moments that can be scary, we can place our trust in you.
SPEAKER_00: God, each of us today, as we are honoring our seniors, and continue to be by their side wherever life may take them next.
SPEAKER_00: And it's in your holy name that we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 12, 1 and 2 reads as this Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
SPEAKER_00: And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: This has been our theme verse in our Wednesday night youth class for the past five weeks or so.
SPEAKER_00: And I know what you're thinking right now.
SPEAKER_00: Wow, the youth group can get done with a series in five weeks.
SPEAKER_00: It takes us five months to get through Jonah.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you're looking to join the youth group, you might have aged out by now, but we would love to have you back.
SPEAKER_00: I urge you to commit this verse to memory.
SPEAKER_00: These two verses are basically one and a half verses, they answer those questions that we were just asking.
SPEAKER_00: How do we keep moving forward?
SPEAKER_00: How do we be faithful, even when someone's not there holding on to the seat?
SPEAKER_00: And when I think about this verse, in my mind's eye, there's a few pictures that come to mind.
SPEAKER_00: So this is what I see.
SPEAKER_00: I see a big stadium with a track going down the middle, or maybe one that's ovaling around the center field there.
SPEAKER_00: And I imagine a great cloud of witnesses in the stands, spectators that have come from all over just to witness and to encourage whoever might be participating.
SPEAKER_00: And then I think about what hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
SPEAKER_00: And for hinders, I think of a weighted vest.
SPEAKER_00: I think of something that would slow me down if I were to run this race.
SPEAKER_00: And I think about the sin that easily entangles that if I were to stop moving my feet, to stop progressing, that these vines would sprout up and wrap around my legs, causing me not to be able to run with momentum.
SPEAKER_00: And then I think of that last part.
SPEAKER_00: How do we shed these things?
SPEAKER_00: It's by fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: And I imagine him standing off at the finish line, and this is where my imagination fails me because I can't really comprehend.
SPEAKER_00: I know that he's not just off at the finish line, waiting on me to run the race, and then I get to meet him.
SPEAKER_00: I know that he is in the lane right beside me, or probably like a three-legged race where we're strapped at the wrist and strapped at the ankles, that he is running with me the entire time for the common goal of meeting him at the finish line, of relationship with him.
SPEAKER_00: But just like any race, it starts long before you even step on the track.
SPEAKER_00: You must do some things first.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're following along in the bulletin, there's a couple blanks that you can fill out.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the first one.
SPEAKER_00: The first thing you must do is you must choose the race you're going to run.
SPEAKER_00: You train completely different for a marathon than you would for a 100-meter dash, and that's why we choose first.
SPEAKER_00: It guides everything else that we do.
SPEAKER_00: Race, of course, being a metaphor for life, you must choose the life you would like to live.
SPEAKER_00: Which master you will serve.
SPEAKER_00: We are all slaves to something, and we get to choose if we want to be a slave to which master.
SPEAKER_00: We have a physical, a physical, and a spiritual act here that we partake in once we have chosen, and we call it baptism.
SPEAKER_00: Baptism is a public declaration of our faith.
SPEAKER_00: It is a lot of things, but it's a public declaration of the race that you have chosen to run.
SPEAKER_00: It's telling everyone which master you have chosen to serve.
SPEAKER_00: And after you have chosen the race, it's best to get to work and train for the real deal.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where our seniors are right now, where they're finishing up right now.
SPEAKER_00: They're in the training phase.
SPEAKER_00: In the training, you are surrounded by a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00: You are surrounded by coaches in the form of parents, by mentors in the form of all of you in the seats and their ministers.
SPEAKER_00: And you're surrounded by teammates, people in the arena with you.
SPEAKER_00: And that's your classmates and others in the youth group.
SPEAKER_00: Proverbs 22, 6 famously says, to train up children in the way that they should go, so that when they are old, they would not depart from it.
SPEAKER_00: So train them up in such a way that when it's time to race, they are equipped to handle anything.
SPEAKER_00: But we aren't meant to be training forever.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, we have to do the thing that we've been training for.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, you must line up on the line, get in the blocks, and you must start the race.
SPEAKER_00: And this is the sage that our seven graduates are just weeks away from beginning, anxiously awaiting to get there.
SPEAKER_00: And before we send them off, we would like to recognize them and present them with some gifts from the congregation.
SPEAKER_00: So if our seniors will start making their way up to the stage, uh when I call y'all's names, and I ask that we hold applause until the very end.
SPEAKER_00: Our 2026 seniors are Trion Ball, Krista Franks, Casey Karoga, Hannah Dean, Emery May, Will Stewartson, and Judson Coulson.
SPEAKER_00: Guys, this is the last time in YouthGrook I'm giving you a signed seating.
SPEAKER_00: Girls, you're all over here on my right, and guys, you're all over here on my left, like a proper junior high dance.
SPEAKER_00: Let's give these seniors a round of applause.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Each year we present our outgoing senior class with the Bible that they have with them now, but hopefully not just any Bible.
SPEAKER_00: Charles Spurgeon claims that a Bible that is falling apart usually belongs to someone who is not.
SPEAKER_00: Each student is granted their Bible when they attend their first Sunday morning class in the youth group.
SPEAKER_00: And so if you have a kid in the youth group right now, they have already been presented with their senior Sunday Bible.
SPEAKER_00: And teens, yes, that means the Bible you use on Sunday, whatever you write in there will be there on senior Sunday also.
SPEAKER_00: In these Bibles, notes have been taken, verses have been highlighted, doodles have been drawn, and they've even had a chance to write a note to their senior selves in the very back of it.
SPEAKER_00: Already these Bibles have been lived in, and I pray that that doesn't stop today.
SPEAKER_00: My prayer is that one day these margins are filled, that the print gets too small to read.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know why they make Bibles like that, that over the years the print gets smaller.
SPEAKER_00: The oil from your hands from turning the pages have just smeared all of your notes and maybe even a few tear stains.
SPEAKER_00: I glued a Bible in a year reading plan to the very back.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that you use it.
SPEAKER_00: And altogether, I pray that these Bibles are falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: Not because you mistreat them, but because you desire a relationship with the Creator so much and you have a love for his word.
SPEAKER_00: Your names are engraved on these Bibles, and I pray that over time that God's word will be engraved on y'all's hearts.
SPEAKER_00: So, church, this is when I need your help.
SPEAKER_00: A few of you out there have the senior gift right now, and I would like you to do a few things.
SPEAKER_00: I would like you to examine it, and after you've done that, to pass it down the road next to you, and then to pass it forward kind of in a reverse way of how we used to do communion.
SPEAKER_00: And you can do that now.
SPEAKER_00: So, seniors, as they are passing along this gift for you, I want to invite you to do something.
SPEAKER_00: I want to invite you to look out into the crowd, uh, not as a whole, uh, but look for some particular individuals that are out there.
SPEAKER_00: Seniors, I'm gonna ask you to look for some very special people.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to notice your grandparents.
SPEAKER_00: Look for your parents out there.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe uh less special people like your siblings, probably sitting out there.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, maybe you have some friends from the youth group or previous graduates who have come back to celebrate you today.
SPEAKER_00: And as you look out into the crowd, I want you to think about how many people are here today because they heard Doug wasn't preaching.
SPEAKER_00: I debated on the timing of that because I thought Jennifer could have just handed him a metal baton.
SPEAKER_00: And that can be used as a projectile.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so I stood back a little bit.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for taming yourselves.
SPEAKER_00: But really, all of these people have had an impact on your life.
SPEAKER_00: So take another look again.
SPEAKER_00: And I bet you'll notice more influence out there than you think.
SPEAKER_00: Out there, I bet you'll find a Bible class teacher that you had when you're in children's ministry.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'll notice a coach from one of your little league teams.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'll see a couple who came to watch your theater act.
SPEAKER_00: Individuals who have sponsored your many fundraisers over the years, or even bought an animal of yours from the stock show.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you'll see families that you've served, families that you have babysat for, or families that you have mowed their yard.
SPEAKER_00: And I guarantee that you will see people who have been praying for you since before you were even born.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone here has played a significant role and is responsible for passing the baton now to you.
SPEAKER_00: So as we take a closer look at this gift, we recognize that a track baton isn't good for very much if you don't pass it.
SPEAKER_00: It must be handed off before your portion of the race can begin.
SPEAKER_00: Seniors, this congregation has taken care of you.
SPEAKER_00: They have trained you up, they have comforted you, taught you, and we are confident that you're prepared for what is next.
SPEAKER_00: And now the race is yours to run.
SPEAKER_00: Seniors, I'd like you uh at this time to stand.
SPEAKER_00: You can bring your Bibles with you, and I want you to come and follow me down to this first step, and I want to invite uh parents of these seniors, the parents of these seniors to come down uh and stand in front of their graduate, seniors, on behalf of the Austin Avenue Congregation and your parents, we present you with these batons as a symbol of completed training and as an invitation to start your race.
SPEAKER_00: Carry these batons proudly and challenge yourself to help others in carrying theirs.
SPEAKER_00: Seniors, I have some good news for you.
SPEAKER_00: The good news is that you are not the anchor leg of this relay.
SPEAKER_00: You are not the last person to touch this baton.
SPEAKER_00: You're not meant to be the last person.
SPEAKER_00: You're just meant to be the next person.
SPEAKER_00: And that the Lord and this church and the people up here with you right now are fully confident in your abilities.
SPEAKER_00: And we want you to know that they will run with you every step of the way, and when the day comes to help you find how you can pass your baton off to someone else.
SPEAKER_00: At this time, I'm going to ask one of our shepherds, Stephen Haynes, uh, to come up to the mic and say a prayer over our seniors and their families.
SPEAKER_00: Seniors and parents, if y'all could switch places.
SPEAKER_00: Uh so, seniors, if you can stand in front of your parents.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_01: Heavenly Father, we are so thankful for these group uh of young people that have been such an integral part of this congregation.
SPEAKER_01: Father, they blessed us uh with their smiles, with their laughter, with their athleticism, with their theater performances, with their stock show world.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, we're just so happy uh to be with them this morning and to share in their accomplishments and their achievements.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we know uh that that this church has been a blessing on them too, and we hope that this morning and this evening as we celebrate their lives, uh they'll feel loved and they'll feel blessed and know just how much uh the love of God is in this place for all of our seniors.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we want to pray uh today, especially.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, we just ask that you'll bless Krista.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you'll bless her as she goes throughout our life, Father, that she'll remain faithful uh to your love, Father, that she'll remember the love that she had here in this church, uh, and that the love of her family, God, just bless Krista wherever she may go, wherever she may be.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, we pray uh this morning uh for Casey, and we just pray that you'll bless Casey.
SPEAKER_01: We pray blessings upon her and where she may go throughout our life.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just pray for faithfulness and that you'll help her to remember the love of her family and the love of this church.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray this morning for Hannah.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, we just uh again pray, Father, that as she goes through life, that she'll remain committed to Christ Jesus, Father, that she'll remember the great love of all the people in this congregation who have loved her, cheered her on, and supported her, that she'll remember the love of her family, God, uh, but most of all that she'll remain uh committed, uh, Father, to you, to Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray for Emory.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Father, we just pray blessings upon Emory.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray that as she goes, that uh her faith in you and her faith in Christ will grow stronger every day.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, we pray for blessings.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you'll help Emory to recall the love of this church and the love of her family, Father, and bless her and her commitment and her relationship with Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray for Judson, and we just pray, God, that you'll bless him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, that you'll uh help him as he goes throughout life to find uh churches and places that just like he found here, Father, places that will love upon him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, that his the love of his family uh will be upon his mind.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just ask that you'll bless Judson, ask him to remain faithful.
SPEAKER_01: Father, pray that Christ will dwell in him in all ways.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we pray for Will.
SPEAKER_01: Uh Father, we just pray, again, blessings upon Will, wherever he may go, wherever he may follow, God, that you'll bless him.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, that you'll help him to remember the great love of this congregation, the great love of uh your son, the great love of his family, Father, and that he'll remain committed in all that he does to Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Father, finally, we pray for trying.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, we just pray uh this morning that you'll help trying as he goes out, wherever he may go, and wherever he may be, that he remain committed to Christ Jesus, that he remain committed, uh, Father, to faithfulness in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: We ask that you help and remember the great love of this congregation, the great love of this family, Father, always led into Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Father, this morning as we pray, we pray for our families, we pray for our parents.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we know these times are both uh exceptionally exciting and also difficult.
SPEAKER_01: Father, but we know that these parents who prayed over their children, we know this congregation has prayed over this children, give us peace of mind, uh, that we know that our children are on the right path.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Father, help us to know in every phase in life, whether that be graduation or young adults or even middle-aged adults, Father, how we parent.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Father, how we can continue to bless them.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just ask that you bless these families.
SPEAKER_01: We are so deeply thankful for these families who have been committed to your work in this place.
SPEAKER_01: God, thank you for these families.
SPEAKER_01: It's your son's holy precious name we pray.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Young go be seated.
SPEAKER_00: Thank y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Young go be seated.
SPEAKER_00: And there was one last step to running the race, and that is finishing.
SPEAKER_00: So if you are in this room today hearing the words that I'm saying, breathing the air that I'm breathing, then I'm here to tell you today that your race is not finished yet.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to make the decision today to choose the race, to put Christ on in baptism, we would love to make that happen.
SPEAKER_00: Or if you just need to fix your eyes on Jesus once again, we would love to pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: And you can do that now as you come forward and as we stand and as we sink.
SPEAKER_01: Break my heart.