Grad Sunday Message | Pastor Johnny White | Venture Church

Hey, everybody, this is Pastor Brandon. I want to thank

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the service.

Stile style. Get out of you. If we haven't met yet,

My name is Johnny. Why.

I have the honor of privilegiy being the youth pastor

here and overseeing our internship. Before I open up, I

want to give honor where honor is due by showing

love to our lead pastors, Pastors Brandon and Pastor die Bils.

Can we show them some love? Come on great for

you guys. Thank you for leading us so well. You

guys are awesome. I have the honor and privilege of

closing out the first half of our Chasing Purpose series,

and I need to be honest. I've had this circle,

this date circled forever because Ecclesiastes is my favorite book

in the entire Bible.

I've walked our youth industry through it. I've done it all.

And the reason why I think it's so important, why

I love it so much. It is like a humility

pill from God, like whenever I get a big head,

it's like it's a needle that pops it.

It is one of those things.

If you've never read the read the Book of Ecclesiasty

Classes it's your first time with us, I want to

encourage you to check it out because it is one

of the things that simply it's this, it's nihilistic without

it being nihilism. If you ever heard of nihilism, it's

like essentially this admission that there is no absolute meaning

or purpose to life. And why I say it's nihilistic

but not nihilism, is because it goes through the entire

book saying this, that everything is meaningless.

But it points to one thing.

And I'm grateful that it points and illuminates that if

it's outside of God, it's temporary, it's fleeting, but God

brings sustaining, everlasting love, hope, and fulfillment.

Is anybody grateful for that? This morning?

Come on, and so as we begin to unpack this,

I want to make sure we're all on the same

page of where we're starting. At the quick review, you'll

see a lot of words in the Book of Ecclesiastes vanity, meaningless, futility.

All of these translate to this word called hevel, so

one say hevy occurs over thirty eight times, means vapor

and is in reference to life as it being temporary

and naturally in enigma, it's paradoxical in nature. And something

that you also notice is the phrase under the sun.

Someone say, under the sun, just making sure you guys

are with me, And that's mentioned over thirty times. And

I mentioned our time here on earth. As we close

out Ecclesiastes in this portion of our sermon series, I

really want to have a conversation on mortality. I think

to have a full awareness and observation of life, you

have to have the end in mind. Ecclesiastes twelve to

one says, so remember your creator in the days of

your youth, before the days of adversity come and the

year's approach when you will say I have no delight

in them. Earlier last week, Pastor Brandon hit on chapters nine, ten, eleven,

and twelve of Ecclesiastes just really revolves a lot around death,

the end of time. How time is limited in everything,

and I believe we have to have the end and

frame to have a full observation of what we're talking about,

where we're at, where we're going. And as I hit

on chapter six, seven and eight, we're talking about applying

wisdom in the life that is full of vanity, a

life that is full of no meaning.

What does that actually look like? And I think it's important.

Age and death have a way of bringing what's actually

important to the surface. I want to teach you guys

to concept this morning called momento moury. Soon say memento, soon,

say Maury.

Cool. Concept.

You didn't know you were learning Latin this morning, but

I'm filling you in. This phrase means remember you must die,

Practiced by Stoics, Christian monks a lot in the Middle Ages.

It's a whole genre of ourt. I want to show

you what momento moury art looks like. Usually it revolves

around living things or the reminder of something dies. So

usually it's a flower or of fruits. It's a skull,

It's an hour glass, essentially communicating the same thing. No

matter who you are, no matter what you got, no

matter what you possess, no matter what you earn, what

you strive for, we all die. How encouraging for grad

Sunday oh, man, love it. But this is meant to

be a reality check. We don't live forever, We don't

know what tomorrow holds. We don't know what's happening in

the near future and beyond. But these mementos, with these

reminders are meant to be how are we living today?

If this was my last day on earth? How do

I want to spend it? How I don't live?

Am I living with intentionality? This would be a reminder

for champions after battle when they came back victorious, where

they could feel over the moon. Hey, that was great,

but remember tomorrow's not promised and the victory of the

next battle is not promised today.

Ecclesiastes is like that.

It's hard truths that we are meant to embrace and reflect.

When you read the book of Ecclesiastes, you're you're supposed

to reflect over your own life. It's not outwardly. It's like, man,

how am I living my life? And what it is is?

It refines and it points to what's important, what's critical?

What are we actually looking at? It's hard conversation.

Ecclesiastes twelve eleven says, then the sayings of the wise

are like cattle prods. The NLT adds painful but helpful.

Wise words like from Solomon and Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and

beyond can bring moral and intellectual stability into our life.

I alould equate it to a good friend who punches

you in the face, because more often than not, you

probably needed it. We've all had those moments of like, hey,

you're only saying that probably because I needed it. And

that's what the Book of Ecclesiastes is meant to be

a reflection of how are you living your life right now?

What is the most important for you right now? So

over the next couple of moments, I want to submit

to you some key nuggets of wisdom and living in

a life full of vanity. And the first thing that

I want to tell you is that more will not

satisfy you. More will not satisfy you. Chapter six opens

up about the person who works their entire life for wealth.

But there's a tragedy that sometimes occurs where people don't

get to actually experience it that actually people that will

never meet or never know will actually benefit from our

toya and work. And this is such an idea that

it occurs every day. People get brought into I'll make

time for them later. I'll make time for my spouse later.

I'll make time for my kids later, I'll make time

for my family later. I need to put my head

down in work. I need to strive for all these

different things. And as I'm reading and reflecting on this,

what just screams out to me is like that is

such a mentality of entitlement that like we get that time,

Like who's to say we actually get that time for

the person who slaves away and is gone and absent

from the house and everything beyond that, Hey, I'll pay

it back to them later. I beg the question, what

if later never comes? Who is to know the day

of their death? Who's to know when things stop? And

when we look at it like that, it puts everything

in perspective. Ecclesiastes six to seven says all of a

person labors is for his stomach, yet the appetite is

never satisfied. That word appetite is in the fesh, which

means soul. So if I read it again, all of

a person labor is for his stomach, yet the soul

is never satisfied.

I want you to hear this. The bread of flesh

is not food for the soul.

What it craves, what it naturally we are innately sinful,

and what we will naturally be into are the things

that Solomon highlights as it's not really worth it at

the end. It's not all that it's cracked up to be.

He continues on, asking what advantage each person has? What

advantage then, does the wise person have over the full?

What advantage is there for the person who knows how

to conduct himself before others? It's the same question. It's

the statement of morality. The wise and the fool both

sh had the same faith. The rich and the poor

both share the same faith. Everyone's susceptible to disease. Everyone

is susceptible to tragedy. Everyone is susceptible to the events

of life. Who can predict them? He continues in this

final line, saying, better what the I see than wondering desire.

This two is futile in a pursuit of wind a

new thing.

I can get it. I understand.

I'm a sing a youth pastor, don't got no kids,

nothing like that. I am not rich, not in the

top ten percent. I mean, who thinks the youth pastor

is rich. Let's be honest. Come on, but hey, y'all

have a little too hard of that one. Let's calm down,

all right, everybody settled down a little bit. But it's

a key to of course, it's keta acknowledged. This comes

from Solomon, who's lived all and be all. But I,

as I was thinking about it, there's someone who is

like a modern example of this, and his name is

Will Smith.

Anybody know who Will Smith is? Okay?

If you don't know who Will Smith is, you're living

under a rock. It's Fresh prince Men in black, bad

Boys for life. The fourth one. Everybody say your favorite

Will Smith project on the count three one two three.

That's it's mine too. Yes, whatever you said, the answer

is yes. Pursuit of happiness will make you cry. And

if you don't cry, I'm praying for you because someone's wrong.

Okay.

Anyways, Will Smith was on an interview on a podcast

with La Craye. He's a Christian rapper and he was speaking.

He says a lot of people can resonate with rock Bottom,

but I've had the luxury to speak of what I

like to call mountain Top, where pretty much he communicates

I've touched the bottom of the material world. There is

nothing out there that I can't buy. There's nobody I

can't meet. There's no experience or destination I haven't seen.

So lu Craye asked them, So you've done all these things,

how did you feel?

What is the sense?

He says, It didn't matter. There was nothing else, There

was nothing there. It was meaningless. I'm coming the perspective of, like,

you know, it's kind of easy to not be materialistic

when you've never had materials. But when you like A

I lost, Oh no, I lost nothing and nothing is

nothing else. But people who have everything, when they can

speak from this place of somewhere, I'll never see.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

It is all vanity, it is all meaningless, It is

all futile. Wealth and knowledge are good, but they should

not dictate our value on ourselves. I think that the

statement of what talks about take hold of what you

actually see, not just what your heart desires. God is

not anti ambition, God is not anti wealth, God is

not anti experiences. God is not anti you enjoying life.

But if the pursuit of what you do not have

overtakes your ability to be content with where you're at.

That robs you of the fulfillment God is trying to

supply and extend to you and I. We are inherently

built for longing for more, seeing what is on someone

else's plate, seeing what another paycheck may look like, see

what another life may look like. The grass is always

greener on the other side, and God trying to raise

it up. The grass is greener where you stand because

I've ordained it to be. So these are hard conversations

to look and reflect with where we're at, and it

can be easy to be like, here's what I.

Lack, Here's what I'm missing.

But God is trying to bring under this point of

what you have is everything you need. What you have

is everything you need. So I want to ask the question,

what has God.

Placed before you?

What is God place before you that could be honestly like, celebrated,

honestly gratitude shown to it. The preacher knew, Solomon knew

that in the world of such uncertainty, absence of meaning,

that what one can actually see is always going to be,

and what merely and what one merely desires, we never

know if we'll attain that dream, but it happens along

on the journey, and that's what I want to really

commit communicate today that the journey is something that we

need to spend our time on, that it's not a

fast track.

We're not trying to.

End it as soon as possible, but to enjoy life

as we experience it. So more cannot satisfy you. Secondly,

difficulty can shape you. Difficulty can shape you. Ecclesiastes seven

to one through four says a good name and name

is synonymous with reputation, is better than fine perfume, and

the day of one's death is better than the day

of one's birth. It is better to go to a

house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting,

since that is the end of all mankind, and the

living should take it to heart. Grief is better than laughter,

for when a face is sad, a heart may be glad.

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

Solomon is aware of the tendency that we can have

to avoid or not talk about the inevitable.

There's an end.

Sometimes we shy away, sometimes we don't acknowledge it, but

that it is actually better to face it head on,

to process everything that would actually happen. Second part of

that verse that says the day of one's death is

better than the day of one's birth.

I thought about that for a second. Here's the thing.

Births are amazing babies.

We love babies, the potential, what they'll be, who they are,

their first steps, their personality showing who they'll become, their achievements,

their first sport, everything and beyond. But it's all potential,

it's all hypothetical. We don't know what lays ahead of them.

In death.

It is the observation of what a person's life has equated.

Who they are, who they affected, who they connected with,

who they invested into, what they worked for, what they

labored for, their life as a whole. And he even

talks about like grief is a human experience that even

when the heart is sad, or even while we may

be sad in the house some morning, the heart may

be glad. You know, Grief is a price for caring.

Greece is a price for love. That there are people

we've met and come across that have impacted our lives,

that have been an example in our lives that have

been a light in our lives, that have just made

us a better person. And it's in the house of

sorrow and the reflection of a person's life we actually

hold on to. Man, I'm not the same because I've

interacted with this person. Not the same because of who

this person was for me. There's a story that I

heard that I thought sums this up so well. There's

a comedian by the name Dave Chappelle. He has this.

He was on this podcast and he was talking about

one of the things that changed his life for forever,

and he recount he recalled when he was nineteen years old,

he had the honor and privilege of opening up for

a comedian named Richard Pryor. If you don't know who

Richard Pryor is, he is highly regarded in the space

of comedy. If you're an order or a communicator, he's

highly respected for the skill and what he does. All

that to say, it is a big deal that a

ninth teen year old is opening for Richard Pryor, like

this is like this speaks to the testament of what

the natural ability that Dave had and everything.

And he recalls wanting to honor Richard.

And one of the goats in comedy and by doing

just a safe set, nothing controversial, nothing cancelable.

He got into that later.

But anyways, so he does a safe set and he

goes through the show and he has he meets with Richard.

He notices Richard Pryor is visibly sick. If you guys

don't know, mister Pryor was diagnosed with MS, passed away

cardiac arrest. And he sees him and he's just like, man,

this is this is hard to watch, hard to see.

He steps back, he finishes his set to watch greatness.

Richard Pryor takes the stage and he goes for about

thirty minutes and it's just it's just not hidden. Richard

stops and Dave says, it's something I didn't even know

that you could do. He stops in the crowd and

he just gets silent.

He looks out.

He says, guys, I'm grateful that you're here tonight. Thank

you guys for spending money just to see me. I

gotta be honest. If you can't tell, if you if

you don't know, I'm sick. I'm really sick, and I

really want to do this for you guys. But I

but I can't. I just I just don't got it

in me tonight. A whole room falls silent, just like this.

Somebody in the back top balcony, just like over here,

just like that person on their phone.

I'm just kidding.

There's nobody on the phone. There's nobody on the phone.

Everybody calmed down. People just like, dang, you never come

back here again. That's okay. Person in the back of

the room stands up on his feet says, I love

we love you, Richard, we love you, and the entire

place explodes. People are cheering, clapping, standing up on their feet.

People are crying.

Dave's never seen anything like this in his life, and

he's like, why, what is happening? And he cocks to him,

this is probably the last time they're going to see

Richard Pryor alive. And what they're clapping and celebrating is

not what he's presented to them, not the.

Product of what he is, but what he stood for,

what he.

Represented that they're acknowledging, man, we're probably not going to

see you again, so we want to give you your

flowers now. And that changed something to day if he

said my goal at the time when I was nineteen,

was to be as famous as I could be, and

I realized that didn't matter. I wanted what Richard experienced

that night. I wanted to be loved. It's something to

be known, but it's another thing to be loved. And

I can't think of how many other lessons are reflected

in the people that we love, who they are. What's

communicated that as we travel through the House of Sorrow

says that the wise person thinks about death, but the

full lives in ignorance. There are things that we can

take away. There are things that we can learn from

those who leave, who grieve, and also in age. I

don't think it's just from the byproduct of spectating and

watching passing, but also as we are aware of the

futility of life, we don't move like we used to.

Things are getting a little bit difficult than how they

used to be, and then what is meaningless essentially begins

to be refined away, and we begin to ask the

question what actually matters? How do I want to spend

the remainder of my days? What a person's life represents

and seas into our lives around them is precious, and

what is full acknowledgment of someone's life without the end

in mind. The heart of the wise is always in

the place of processing what's happening in front of them.

Ecclesiastes seven point fourteen says in the day of prosperity,

be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider God

has made the one as well as the other, so

that no one can discover anything that will come after him. Church,

I need you to know God is equally present and

sovereign in good times and difficult times.

He's with us, He's for us.

He stands in the gap, and the one who brings

fulfillment in the gap is God himself. The goal of

Christian life in maturity and information is not a fulfillment

that comes off outcomes.

I love how Scripture names it. Plain. You will have.

Hard times, there will be hardship. There will be joyful times,

and we should honor and celebrate those. But when hard

times come, in despair all my fulfillment is not content

in surroundings.

It's not marked in that.

But I know that there's a God who loves me

and a God who cares for me, and I'm submitted

under a presence that God sees me. It is a

powerful prayer in the finite nature of time to ask

the question, what can I do with where I'm at?

What can I learn from the season I'm in. It's

a powerful prayer to ask God, can you help me

see what this is? God redeems and transforms every situation.

God has the opportunity and the ability to bring purpose to

the troubles and triumphs that we walk through. And Solomon

sees what you and I see on every given day basis.

Ecclesiastes seven p.

Fifteen says, in my futile life, I have seen everything.

Someone righteous perishes in spite of his righteousness, and someone

wicked lives long in spite of his evil. Don't be

excessively righteous, and don't be overly wise. Why should you

destroy yourself? Don't be excessively wicked, and don't be foolish?

Why should you die before your time? It is good

that you grasp the one and do not let the

others slip from your hand, for the one who fears

God will end up with both of them.

And this is one of the things we got to like.

You can't just like read it with a grain of salt,

like you always want to make sure you get the

full context of what's happening, because you could read something

of don't be too righteous, and it's like the Bible's

telling me not to be righteous. Further than that, don't

be too wicked, so I can be a little wicked.

That's not the takeaway from me this well, Pastor said, No,

it's not what I said.

Don't hear what I'm not saying.

Okay, this is a message against being so zealous and

trying to be perfect that you are just too hard

on yourself. I can't tell you amount of people that

I have walked with counseled pastored that it is not

God's grace reaching them, it is them not being able

to receive God's grace.

And here's the thing.

Can I tell you this is like a tangent that's

rooted in pride, because what would separate your sin from

everyone else's sin that Jesus paid for? Like these are

hard conversations that Ecclesiastes brings to the surface, but it

says that you cannot be perfect, so you need.

To allow yourself grace.

Likewise, you shouldn't be rampant in wickedness. Who are we

shouldn't live recklessly, we shouldn't live in ignorance. But also

he speaks to the reality that you and I have witnessed.

We've seen people who have done it the right way.

They are caring, they are integrists, they are generous, they

are faithful, yet they are giving the roughest deck of cards.

And we have witnessed people who.

Are operating out of greed and envy and all these

different things get everything they want and more. I mean,

I don't know about you, guys. Have you seen that

I've witnessed that. I've seen people who deserve the world

and more get absolutely crushed. I've also witnessed the people

who deserve not the world and more get the world

and more. What I appreciate about Solomon is he makes

what the paradox of life plain. This is a fallen world,

that fallen things happen. The inadequacies of a fallen world

is sin prevails since around. But I'm here to tell

you God brings order to what actually matters. God brings

victory to what actually matters. And this is important because

as we continue to just acknowledge the fact that life

isn't fair, favor isn't fair, we have to trust God

when life feels unfair. We have to trust God when

life feels unfair.

ECCLESIASIDS.

Eighty seven says, Yet no one knows what will happen,

because who can tell him what will happen. No one

has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there

is no authority over the day of death. No one

is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those

who practice it to escape. Solomon continues on with that

same thought that we just talked about, where he's witnessed

the wicked be honored, celebrated, and succeed. But it is

our inability to understand all that God is doing. In

our inability to understand what God is doing, that should

not be a hindrance to the happiness that you and

I experience.

What do I mean?

We will see injustice, We will see people done wrong,

and if we harbor purely on them getting theirs like

we want to see vengeance happen to them. We preoccupy

ourselves to enjoy what God has actually given us. Some

of us get so captivated on waiting to see the

pride fall. I can't wait for the day that you

get yours I can't wait for the day that God

finally catches up to you and Gosh saying you worry

about your own life? Maybe that was two pointed? Is

that okay, y'all still love me? Okay, okay, cool cool.

If we are so preoccupied in a place of malice

vendetta's bitterness, we will miss out on everything that God

has for us. Ecclesiastes eight fifteen says, so I commend enjoyment,

because there is nothing better for a person under the

sun than to eat, drink and enjoy himself, for this

will accompany him and his labors during the days of

his life that God gives him under the sun. This

is not a message about going getting drunk and living recklessly.

This is about a joy and what God offers every individual.

Whether it's a small glimpse or glimmer, it's something You

working a full, long week and you get to watch

your show Friday seven pm Central Time.

That's a joint. You look forward to it.

You having people over at your house after a long

week and y'all just get to kick it and play games.

That's enjoyment.

You just being able to listen to your song on

the highway and you hit every single green light.

It's the small things. But if you're so caught up

on man.

What I don't have, or I can't believe they got

the promotion and not me, we're robbing ourselves of the

fulfillment God is trying to bring into our lives. These

are things that we have to consider, These things that

we have to meditate on. Can I tell you it's

a blessing to go home to a family that loves you.

It's a blessing to go home to a spouse that

cares about you. It's a blessing to have people, pastors,

leaders in your life who speak value into your life,

who speak wisdom into your life that you don't want

to hear.

It's a blessing.

I got this call from this book, from Make Your

Home and Illuminous Dark. It says the faithful do not

despair but cling to God in the midst of the unknown.

The God of the unknown deserves our trust and they

can leave it to him to sort it out while

we seek to learn what it means to fear God

and keep his commandments. Church, I want to say, you

don't need to fully understand your future to faithfully walk

with God. Into it, you won't know what's gonna happen.

And I think that's what that's why I got it.

Like when I was reading this and thinking about just

the whole direction of where we're actually going, it was

this purpose is in the midst, not at the end.

Purpose is in the midst, not at the end. Purpose

is in the midst of what you lack and don't have.

Purpose is in the midst of loss in a difficult time.

Purpose is in the midst of when life feels unfair.

What will your life look like? I can't tell you. Graduates,

let me be honest, will you use your degree after

you study so hard? I honestly don't know. Does anybody

here like got a degree and they work in something

completely different than what they got their degree in. Put

your hand up, put your hand up high.

Let's be real.

Okay, you might change your major three or four times.

You didn't get into the school that you desire. Can

I tell you God's not caught off guard by these things.

I'm thinking about the intentionality of God in our lives,

that the intersect on which you operate is not by chance.

We can't believe in chance, like I think about the

school I went to at the time I went to

it the semester I enrolled into it. The jobs that

I got cultivated my life, Like it's crazy to think about.

For some of you guys know my story. If I

wasn't scrolling TikTok at the right time, I would have

never discovered Venture Church and I'd still be in Texas

State right now. And we still think like, but I

got rejected from the Dream School, So it's not all

gonna work out.

Who said that.

It's just there's too much weight that we're putting on

ourselves and purpose in the midst is not looking for

the finish line, for the victory, for just walking across

us the stage. This is a life that we are

called to enjoy. In keys, you can come up. Ecclesiastes

eight to sixteen says, when I applaud my mind to

know wisdom and to observe the activity that is done

on earth, I observed all the work of God and

concluded that a person is unable to discover the work

that is done under the sun. Even though a person

labors hard to explore it, he cannot find it. Even

a wise person claims to know it. He is unable

to discover it. Solomon's conclusion is this, in your work,

in the toiling, in your seeking endeavors, and in your

skill and experience of wisdom, they will not unravel the

mystery of life. They are actually the means to enjoy

the mystery of life. The goal of life is not

to figure out the meaning of life. It is to

enjoy the life that God has set in front of us.

Joy in the midst of work, Joy in the midst

of learning, joy in the midst of seeking, that.

He would have us.

Ecclesiastes twelve twelve says this, but beyond these, my son,

be warned, there is no end to the making of

many books, and much study wearies the body. When all

has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this,

Fear God, keep his commands, because this is for all humanity.

For God will bring every act to judgment, including every

hidden thing, whether good or evil. Solomon ceases all complexity

by saying, you want to attain the meaning of life,

you want to attain fulfillment. Fear God and trust his commands.

They weren't given by accident. They weren't like, Oh, that

just sounds nice. God has given us the keys to

finding fulfillment and purpose into our life. Francis Chan does

this illustration where he talks about like this rope and

a bunch of people have probably done it, but it's

like this colored piece of the rope and you see

they're like a wax handle, and it's like, this is

your life here on earth. And then the rope goes

off stage and it's like and this is the rest

of eternity. And the goal is to have you thinking

about man, like, what decision do I want to make?

Like am I making decisions for eternity or not? I

want to change that illustration a little bit. This portion,

the colored portion your life here on earth matters, like

it is a gift that it is still a part

of the rope. And God created the rope so eternity

and our presence under the sun. He has something for

us in it. He has something for us here to experience.

Life is not linear. We can't be occupied comparing our

timeline with someone else's. But fulfillment is where youre are

and where God has you. Our journey is not done

on this side of heaven. But I'm telling you Church,

we need to enjoy this lap because it's not forever.

I want about you, guys, close your eyes, and about

your heads. Maybe you're in this space and honestly you

were like me. You've been stuck in this routine cycle

of nothing actually matters, like you actually have no hope.

It's felt empty, it's felt meaningless, it's felt like there's

just no actual purpose.

I want to point you to someone who gives purpose.

I want to highlight someone who dreamed, loved and formed

you before you even knew you could actually be in

relationship with him. He thought about you, He thought about

your life, he thought about your circumstance. And if you're

in this space and you don't know Jesus but you

want to, he's the one who redeems. He's the one

who transforms. If you're in this space and that's you,

I'm not even to count the three. I just want

you to stick your hand up. It's just you and

me in this room. Whether it's for the first time

or recommitment, whether it's one sum or none.

Come on, I see that hand. Thank you, Jesus. I

see that hand.

Here's what I want to do. Church, we just repeat

after me. They're Jesus, I thank you for your heart.

God I accept you as my Lord and savior, Transform me,

fulfill me in your name.

We pray. Amen.

Amen, there's one more thing I want to do, one

more thing. You struggle to find purpose and enjoy in

the midst. You're already saved, You already know all these

different things. But man, it's it's been hard to navigate

a life of vanity because what God has highlighted as meaningless,

you're saying, it's holding a lot more weight than nothing.

It's holding a lot more weight than vapor. Believe in.

God wants to break that off of you this morning.

And is that you right now? And this applies to you,

and this is for you. Would you just set your

hand up. We're not gonna have you guys buy your heads.

But man, this is this is for people that God's

in the midst. I just want to Here's when I asked,

if you see somebody raising your hand next to you,

would you just put your hand on their shoulder, keep

your hand up.

It's okay. The church can pray for each other.

That's okay. We got some people on the back. You

can stand around, move around. Yeah, it's right there. You

guys have the same authority as me. I promise you,

Dear Jesus, I think thank you for these individuals. I

thank you for the people who are looking for joy

in the midst God, you see them.

You're not caught off guard.

And Lord, I pray that our eyes would be open

to purpose, our eyes would be open to the love

and fulfillment that only you can bring. God, we let

go of what we made an idol. We let go

of what has overtaken our worship. And God, we give

it to you. And it's in your name, we pray.

And somebody say, Amen, Amen, Amen for the David. Thank

you so much. Man, Hey, thank you. Yeah, you guys

are awesome.

For my graduates and this is special.

I know I'm going over, but it's also the ten

am service and most of our graduates are here. If

you're a senior, I want you to stand up on

your feet like you're graduating. That you're a graduating, so

you're just stand up on your feet.

Come on, shout out. We love them, we love them.

It's amazing. It's amazing.

Hey, man, proud of you guys, Caleb out of Braden, Alexander, Kylie,

then Gabriel's up there. Man, I'm proud of you guys,

Cameron in the back, I see you. What the future holes.

Nobody knows, but I know that God has you, and

God's seen it. God's for you, and I want you

to know that you have a church that's praying for

you alongside your families. Church, I want you to stretch

your hands out towards these people really quick. God, I

pray for every single one of these seniors as they

go out into the next season of their life. Jesus,

that you would put a shrubber of protection over them,

you'd put your wisdom over them. God, that you would

put godly community around them. God, that as they would

walk out, that they would feel your presence has not

escaped them or left them, but you see them and

are for them.

God.

Every door you close and every door you're open, we

know it's for a reason and a purpose. And so God,

we give it to you and your name. We pray

and someone say Amen, and man, man, can we.

Have a handcuff for our fil our graduates more time?

Okay, we got one more thing that we got to do.

I'm so sorry, but also I'm not because we do

something special on grad Sunday and we give away two

scholarships every year, and so I want to give away

these two scholarships. And as loud as you guys were

that was cool, I want you guys to be even

louder for these people. Every year we give two scholarships away.

The first one is the Randall Gray Scholarship. But I

also want to shout out Kingdom Builders in this because

through Kingdom Builders, were able to send off some of

our students well into their next assignment, into their next

task of what they have going on. Part of Kingdom

Builders is supporting future leaders, and that's what the Youth

Ministry is. If you're not familiar with the Random Gray Scholarship,

the Random Gray Scholarship came from man who was at

a hospital sick and he was calling around just for

a visitation. One of our passes on staff was able

to swing by. This was a long time ago and

just to pray with the man in his final days.

After his passing, months went by and we got a package.

In the mail.

And in a time where the church was in a

financial struggle, it was a huge blessing that this man

had actually signed over a part of his estate and

really built out everything that venture was doing through the

providence of God. And this is something that as we

continue to honor and give out these scholarships, we want

to honor Randall Gray. And so this first scholarship that

we're going to give away, it's something that represents selflessness.

It's something that represents generosity. And for our Randall Gray

Award recipient of twenty twenty six, would you guys help me?

Welcome up Alexander Marletto. Come on, get up here, Alexander.

We're proud of you.

You're amazing.

Come sit with me. You can just see what I

see every day. Come on, we love you, brother, We're

grateful for you. There's your family here. Whe's your family at?

Where's where's mom?

Dad?

There's mom and dad. Come on, amazing. Your sister's there too.

It's amazing.

Okay, I want you just join me up herecause i'mnall

the second person.

You just hang tight. Look good smile. Waves of people.

Alexander's going to the University Hawaii starting in the fall.

What's you're excited about? She went Awai. That's right, Come on, alumni,

let's go. Okay.

The next, uh, the next scholarship that we're gonna give

away is the Alex Hopkins Scholarship. I want to make

sure I give justice to this. This scholarship is meaningful

as it's a reminder of Alex Hopkins. If you don't

know who Alex Hopkins or the Hopkins family, we are

joined by Amanda Ann and Brian Hopkins somewhere in the back.

Come on there they are the Hawkins family. Amazing.

This scholarship was created as a legacy to celebrate Alex's life.

Alex was the kind of person who made an impact

a servant's heart, and he was deeply committed to youth ministry.

He led in a way that made people feel seen,

valued and cared for, and he was a leader in

every sense of the meeting. Each year, the scholarship is

awarded to a graduating senior who reflects the same qualities,

someone who serves faithfully, leads by example, and has made

a lasting impact at Venture Youth. It's with great opportunity,

great pleasure that we celebrate this person. This is someone

who's felt their impact for years on end that he's

leaving Venture Youth way better than how we found it.

And that person for the Alex Hopkins Memorial Scholarship is

no one else besides Brayden Buell.

Get up here, man, I'm already over. Let's go Venture Church.

These are your twenty twenty six Scholarship Award winners, Fellowship

and all. We're proud of you, We're cheering you on,

and we love you. For everybody else, you guys are

officially dismissed. We have a celebration out front, free Ruber

floats for everybody. If you're interesting in going back to school,

swing by that table, start something, finish something.

God bless you all. Get out of here.

Thank you for watching today's service. I hope it was

beneficial to you. Please like subscribe, let us know what

you thought. Look forward to seeing you next week.