For The Graduates of 2026 - Grad Sunday

0:00 I want to say a big welcome and thank you to those of you who are newer with us here at Real Life Church. And we're so glad that you were here with us this morning that you are spending your morning with us. We truly have been praying for you and planning for you this week. And we really, we don't want anything from you. We're not going to ask anything from you today except for this one thing and that's simply just introduce yourself to us. We'd love to get to know you, to welcome you here at Real Life Church. And you can do that simply by grabbing that connection card that is on your seat. You can file the information there in that top section. Check first time here. And you can just hold on to that during the gathering, let you know what to do with that later. But truly, we are so glad that you are here with us this morning.

0:42 And our mission here at Real Life Church is to see people far from God discover their real life and purpose in Jesus. That's right. That's why we do what we do, man. Last week and we threw a welcome party for some newer gifts and first time guests and we had over 20 people come and get connected to that, which was so awesome. There we go. Yes, so good to see all those people and you can check it out right there. Hey, that could be you next time being connected. Just real people, real connections, real friendships, people finding their place and their home here at Real Life Church. And it's truly because of moments like that that we have eight people serving on the Dream Team for the very first time today. Let's give them a hand.

1:29 So awesome to see people get connected and find their home here at Real Life Church. And hey, today is going to be a great day in the house. Today is graduation Sunday. We truly are a church that believes we put young people on our shoulders. They're going to go further and farther and faster than we did. And we are excited for them. And you're going to hear stories of transformation, of life change, stories where they're going to help shape their calling, their courage to follow Jesus as they take their next steps. You're going to hear from the graduate themselves this morning with some testimonies. We're going to pray over them and just Commission them out as they take their next steps. And so to help us do that today, would you help me welcome our youth pastor to the stage, Logan Hardy? Oh man, you guys hear me man, give it up one more time for the band.

2:25 That was awesome worship, man. This is going to be such a good morning. I am so excited. I'm a little bit too far over, man. As you've heard, we are celebrating our real life youth graduates today. We have three of them. It is going to be a blast. And I will tell you, man, I am so proud of each and every single one of these girls, man. I have enjoyed having them in youth. I'll talk about this in a bit, but if the kids team is in here, I'm sure we've enjoyed having them come through the kids ministry and it has been such a blessing to see how they have grown in their Christ likeness and how they just are forerunners of the youth group. I'll talk about this. But they are the very best that we have to offer and today is a big moment for them. Today signifies years of pushing for exams that have been taken. Hopefully some late nights that have been studied. Obviously we're going to hear their stories. For some of them, this might not be a reality for, but most people that graduate, this includes late night studied. Maybe this is projects submitted. Man, they're all going on to further education. So this has been a grind for them to position themselves academically, to take awesome steps moving forward. But more importantly, more than the academics, more than just the perseverance, it is perseverance. But what we're really here to honor is how they have pushed through, and they have made it all the way through high school while remaining faithful to God.

3:50 If you know anything, yeah, give it up for that man. If you know anything about school, that is no small feat. It is not easy to get through school and remains faithful and steadfast in your relationship with God in such a manner that these girls have done. So today, let's honor them. I'm going to call them up. I want you guys to show genuine excitement for this mile marker and their lives. When I bring them up, I want you to cheer super loud like Sean always says that baptism is like the Chiefs just won the Super Bowl, man. Be excited for them. Show them your love. Show them that you're here to support them. I'm going to call Brett up. He's going to give him a book and a handshake. And as I, as I call him up, give them a big round of applause and give them a bunch of excitement. So starting us off, first up, we have Aubrey Cubbley. If she wants to come to the stage, yes man, Aubrey's. Aubrey's parents are Josh and Carrie Cubbley. Yeah, let's give it up for them, man. Aubrey is graduating from the Summit Christian Academy. What Aubrey is going to miss most about high school is that she is going to miss being able to hang out with her friends, mess around in softball and go on field trips. What she is going to miss the least about high school, she says, quote UN quote, I will not miss waking up early for school. Notice that she goes to Summit Christian Academy. As I say this next thing.

5:14 She will not miss listening to boring tangents about nothing she and she will not miss the people in the hallways that don't know how to walk. Her plans after high school are that she plans on attending UMKC, to major in biology with an emphasis in pre Med to hopefully either study radiology or sonography. And if she could do anything for God and not fail, she wants to attend more mission trips and do more community service. If there's anybody special that she would like to thank, she would like to thank both of her parents for helping raise her in a Christian environment and encouraging her to go to church. She would also like to thank Tori Jones and Christy Hardy for helping her grow in her walk in leadership. Give it up one more time for Aubrey. Next up, Grace Fairly, go ahead and come to the stage. Grace's parents are Scott and Katrina Fairly. She is graduating from Ray Peck High School. What Grace is going to miss most about high school is her friends.

6:25 What she's going to miss the least about high school is theme waking up early. Her plans after high school are to attend college and major in early childhood education. Her goal is to become a kindergarten teacher or a truly early childhood educator where she can help young children learn, grow, and build a strong foundation for their future. If she could do anything for God and not fail, it would be to make a difference in other people's lives. And somebody special that she would like to thank are both of her parents. Give it up one more time for Grace Fairly and our last graduate. Welcome up to the stage, Lily Hough.

7:10 Lily's parents are Janelle and Jeff Hough. She is graduating from Belton High School. What Lily is going to miss most about high school is she will miss her friends in wrestling or she will miss the least about high school. Again, quote UN quote. I will not miss homework is Lily is not going to miss homework. Her plans after high school, she plans on attending Missouri State University to get a degree in radiology. I think that's going to take some more homework so you're not done with that. And she eventually wants to become a sonographer. She could do anything for God and not fail. She would like to become a teacher or a mother. And somebody special that she would like to thank is she would like to thank again Tori Jones and Logan Hardy. Man, give it up one last time for all of our graduates. Man, this is awesome.

8:02 Like I said, these are the best that real life youth has to offer. And I feel like some honoring is in order. So if you're in here and you are a parent of these graduates, please stand up. Parents. I know there's two here. We got Scott and Katrina. Give it up for them. All the way in the back. We have Carry ON soundboard. Josh is blending in with his hat, blocking the lights. I don't see Janelle, but Janelle's somewhere. All right, Give it up for all the parents. Yeah. All right, parents. You can take a seat, mate. If you are a grandparent and you are in here, please stand up. Any grandparents in here?

8:43 Oh, we do. We'll give it up to the grandparents. Man, I don't know, make grandparents make such a large imprint on the lives. I know in my story, my great grandma had such a big, she had such a big imprint on my walk with God. So man, grandparents are amazing. If you were in here and you serve on the youth team, would you stand up? Oh, we have Tori up here in the front. That's Hannah. We have Hannah over there. We have Brett in the back. Yeah, man, thank you guys so much for serving week in and week out. You heard Tori was mentioned twice for people that made the biggest impact on these graduates. So I appreciate all of our youth team and this church long enough to that.

9:25 If you are on the kids team, would you stand up? If you are on the kids team, you had an impact on them. We got my brother Coleman back there. He sat back down. He didn't really feel it. They're all on the kids team. So give it up the graduates again. Oh man, this is awesome. I'm I'm having such a good time so far. But you guys have heard a lot from me. I'm going to give you guys the opportunity to hear from the graduates themselves. So welcome up Lily Huff to give her testimony. Hi, OK I'm just going to read off of this. I said I was born into a Christian family and we went to church weekly for several several years. After a while we felt disconnected from the church and decided to search for a new one.

10:16 I then started attending real life church within the first year of launch. For several years I was just going to church to see friends, but I didn't take it very seriously. Once I started youth group, I felt more connected to the sermons. But camp is where I really started to notice a change. I started feeling more motivated to spread the gospel and invite people to church. Though it is a constant battle, I know God is always working through me and for me, and you've had a large impact on my walk with God. Hashtag real life youth is great. Man, that's awesome. I love that God is working through me and for me. Man, Lily has been such a joy to have in youth. She's always active, whether or not this is productivity or not. She is always active at real life youth and she has been such a blessing.

11:02 So man, give it up one more time for Lily. And as you give it up, welcome Grace to give her testimony. Hello, so I'm grateful enough to have been raised in church my whole life as well. I was fully, I fully gave my life to Christ when I was around 8 at church camp a few years ago when I moved here, I was looking for a church that I could feel welcome and have that like come as you are feeling. And as soon as I came to real life, I, I felt immediate connection with the girls and the leaders. I felt like I could have people sharpen me and impact my walk in a positive way. And I could definitely say that if it wasn't for them, then I wouldn't be where I am in my walk right now. OK man, this is so awesome.

11:59 Grace has been awesome in the youth group. She is one of our most steady and consistent people. She's very consistent coming out to youth group. She's always willing to engage in the messages and she always brings her a game during live groups. Before I invite Aubrey up here to pray and lead us out of the celebration, I have a little bit of a charge for our graduates. It's going to be on the screen. But First Timothy, First Timothy 612 says to fight the good fight of the faith, take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. There are three big things that stand out to me that Paul writes for us to fight the good fight of our faith.

12:40 To me, this means that we were to anticipate resistance. Like I said, it's no small feat getting through high school, being faithful to God. But the the resistance does not stop there. It might be even more ramped up as these girls get ready to enter the adult world to go off to college. Man, you're going to have people in, it sounds like you're all going for higher education. There is going to be people that are going to ridicule your beliefs, whether it's classmates, whether it's professors, whether it's just random people you meet in your daily lives. There are going to be people that just make fun of you for what we hold to as our faith. There's going to be peers that test your restraint and as you step out and as you get ready to be a little bit more on your own, it's going to be less of a support group that is going to hold you accountable. You're going to hold yourselves accountable as you're going to have peers that are going to test what you really believe and test what your convictions are to live out a Christ like life. And man.

13:32 This is one of the most unfortunate things about getting older is you realize that your quote UN quote friends are going to be the first people that are going to drag you down. They're going to be the first people that are going to make it harder for you to follow your faith. But as Paul writes for us to fight the good fight, he gives us some advice on how to do that. He says to keep our eyes on the prize and to take hold of eternal life. We started this year going through a message series called Heaven, and learning about heaven is all the motivation we need to fight that good fight and to encounter that resistance. It is so much easier to fight for your convictions, to fight for your Christ likeness, to stand against peers that drag you down when you know the reward that is waiting for you in heaven. It's easier to fight with that prize in mind. And what I don't want you to forget is Paul writes that you made your confession in the presence of many, that when you started your faith, you started with the support of your church, you started with all these people rallying around you when you decided to start a relationship with God. And as you've grown in your faith, you've still had that support.

14:33 You've come to youth group, you've been here at church every Sunday morning, you've been going to life groups, you've been doing all the various ministries that we have, and you've had the support for your faith. But as you go out and as you guys scatter about the world, I want to give you the encouragement that that support is never going to leave. If missions take you somewhere, you always have a home in real life youth. If you find yourself in Springfield, you will always have a home in real life youth. Maybe you're just up the road at UMKC or at MCC. Wherever you are, you will always have the support of this church to rally behind you and give you everything you need to support you in your Christ like this and in your sanctification. Amen. Church. Yeah, so man, that's my push for you. Fight for your fight.

15:14 Anticipate resistance. Fight for your faith. Anticipate resistance and let the church support you. Man, this has been a blast. I appreciate you guys for being so energetic and celebrating them. And I'm going to invite Aubrey to pray us out of this celebration. Slip gang. OK, let's pray. All right, Dear Only Father, thank you so much for this amazing group of people. And thank you for everybody here just being so encouraging and working on us into the future. I pray that hopefully, wherever you take us, that we will still pursue our faith in you. And I thank you so much for all the amazing opportunities you've given us at this church. Amen. To guys, books are tickle. Yeah, give it up one last time real loud for our graduates. This has been a blast.

16:05 I've enjoyed celebrating you guys so much and that is the heart of today. It is celebration. It is happiness, it is exuberant joy because we've seen God's working hand in each and every single one of their lives. So let's celebrate that today. We're going to continue the celebration and I'm going to tell you guys about real life youth, man. I told you Aubrey, Lilly and Grace are the forerunners of our group up here, man. They have been leaders in the youth group. They are always willing whenever I'm preaching. This is such a fight. If you know students, whenever I'm preaching, they are always willing to engage with the message. If I ask somebody to read a verse, they will always be willing to read it.

16:45 If I ask a question, they'll always shout out their thoughts. If people are getting too loud, they'll either correct them or they'll correct themselves. If it's them, I never usually have to correct them. They are very much young women that have been intimately shaped by God and they are the best at the moment. I would say real life youth has to offer. They are the cream of the crop and they are setting such an example for our young students to follow in their path. They're the best we have to author offer. So what I want to do as we get ready to get into the message of this morning and as we wrap up the morning, I want to do a few things in regards to real life youth. I want to cast light and I want to cast vision on to what real life youth is and what we are doing. I want to tell you about what we value and in the morning I want to tell you about where we are going. The heartbeat of real life youth is the heartbeat of this church. What's our church's mission?

17:39 Guys, tell help me out. Tell me to see people far from God discover real life and purpose in Jesus. I mean, I don't know if you guys know that, but that is the Great Commission put into our own language. The Great Commission is found in Matthew 2819 through 20. And this is the heartbeat of what we value at real life youth. Therefore what? Go, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. The Great Commission has two very important pieces is to go out and evangelize the lost, to tell people about the hope that we've been given, but then also to bring them in and help equip them in the faith. We're to find the lost and to equip the Saints. So for us, this comes down to 4 pillars of language for what we value as a youth group.

18:34 The first of these 4 pillars is that we are welcoming. We do our very best and I think we do a very good job of not being judge mental for those that come out to the youth group, man, we view our ministry as a hospital and you don't have to be healthy to come get the treatment of the gospel, to come get the medicine of Christ. We don't judge. We don't care if you're perfect. The leaders of real life youth, of real life youth group, we are not perfect. The fellow students of the group, they are not perfect. You don't have to be perfect to show up to our ministry. We don't care how you dress. When Brett's son used to come to the youth group, he came in a full suit very often. But we also have people that show up in jeans and flip flops. We have a whole spectrum of people and they show up in different ways and we meet them where they're at.

19:18 We don't care if you have a past, there is no there is not a plane, there is no baggage limit on what you can bring to real life youth. Come with what you got. We'll show you what we have and we'll all find help together underneath the umbrella of Christ. We don't need you to show up anything other than as you are. We just want to meet your students where they are and as they are now. We get this heart from Romans 15-7. Romans 15 says and says accept one another. Then just as who accepted us? Christ, man. As you read the New Testament, as you read the writings of Paul and somebody else that I'm blinking on their name right now, there are so many things that we were called to do that is an emulation of Christ.

20:01 James man. Paul writes for us to be generous because Christ was generous to us. He writes for us to be humble because Christ was humble to us. And he also writes for us to be welcoming, because Christ was welcoming to us. I think back to the story of the woman at the well. Do you guys know that story where Jesus found the woman at the well and he confronted her about this adulterous circumstance that she was living in? But did he condemn her? No, He met her where she was at and he gave her the medicine of the gospel. And what did she do with that? She went out and she told every person that she knew. That is our heartbeat for the youth group. Man. We want to accept students as they are because that's what Christ did for us, so that when they come to the youth group and when they come to be equipped and they learn about the gospel and they foster a relationship with Jesus, they can take that out and tell their friends at school. Man, I don't know if you guys have noticed, but the church is growing and the youth group has been feeling that we have had so many new students come and join us over the last few weeks, the last couple months really.

21:06 And it is our heart to see them given a safe, a fun, and a reverent home to learn about, foster a relationship with, and find rest in Jesus so that they can take that and they can take it out to their world. So we want to be welcoming. And our second thing that we want to do is we strive to be life giving. But how many of you guys know that being a Christian is hard? Many guys know that being a Christian is hard. And we talked about this. It is a lot harder, arguably, when you're a teenager, when you're a student. Man, being a teenage Christian can sometimes feel overwhelming. Between social media, it does not take very many scrolls down TikTok and Instagram and YouTube to know that this world is not a world interested in becoming more like Christ that deforms our teenagers.

21:54 Or what about school? What about teachers? What about fellow students that have ridicule beliefs? Or what about friends? What about friends that are unequally yoked with our with our students? Not that that's a bad thing, like we want those friends to come to the ministry, but those are the kind of friends that if we're not careful, can deform our faith if we give them too much influence over us. Or maybe for some of our students, that's our own family members. Man, there's so many influences that can deform our teenagers. So we want to be life giving. We love to see our students given a stress free environment to learn about, to engage with, and to fall deeply in love with God. One way we do this is through discipleship.

22:36 We have a book that we go through in our discipleship making relationships. It is by Andy Stanley. It's called the Seven Checkpoints. It's really cool. It walks through seven key things for our students to be given a faith that can stand through the test of these afflictions. Checkpoint #1 we we talk about having an authentic faith and then we talk about establishing spiritual disciplines, giving moral boundaries in our relationships, making meaningful friendships, making wise choices, submitting to the ultimate authority of God over our given authorities on earth, and putting others first. So we meet with our students that want to go through this relationship. We meet weekly over each checkpoint there are 7 days and there are 7 scriptures attached to it.

23:18 So we get into the word, we feed into your students when they go through this because like I said, we want to be life giving. We have a couple people that have already finished. Julian and Aubrey who graduated have already finished a disciple making relationship and they enjoyed it, right guys? Did you enjoy it? Yes, man, they got Bibles for going through it. I know Julian specifically. He, I took Julian through it. He was a rock star with going through this. And right now we have still some other people that are going through it. Kate and Ashton in Brooklyn are all being LED through it by Mandy Spratt, superhero Mandy, who has such a heart for her girls and for discipleship. Luciana and Julie, man, Julie has had so many things on her plate. She finds herself being taken out of Missouri so often, but when she is here, she feeds into Luciana to the best of her ability. And then right now, me and Saban, Lily's little brother, we're going through a relationship right now. So we started to be life giving and we love to see our group students grow because of our third thing, which is that we value relationships.

24:19 We want our students to be poured into by our leaders, man, Our leaders kind of brag on our leaders for a minute. Our leaders have a radical heart for your students. Our leaders have a radical passion for going above and beyond to care for, to pour into, and to challenge your students. We have some awesome relationships forming right now at Real Life Youth as we speak. Brett, who is up here giving our girls handshakes and handing him out books. He and Brady have an awesome relationship. Man, Brady looks up to Brett so much. Brady is like me. He loves sports and particularly basketball is Brady's thing. And as much as it pains me to say it, I'm a Mizzou fan through and through. But Kansas does have the Mecca of basketball. So Brady was brought out by Brett to go to a women's basketball game all the way out in Lawrence. They took a day trip together.

25:10 Man, Brett has brought Brady, Brady out to basketball games. He took them golfing and he takes them out to dinner every once in a while. Brett is doing such an amazing job fostering that relationship with Brady. Man, how many times what I heard Brett say something? How many times do you hear Tori's name up here? Man, Tori has been super intentional with these graduating girls. They are super close knit. They have a text group together. She has, she LED Aubrey through the disciple making process. They always have a ton of fun in life groups, as you guys have heard, probably too much fun sometimes, but they always bring it back. They always bring it back to the Bible. Man. You heard about her already, but Mandy? Mandy has a heart for our girls.

25:52 Mandy feeds into and has a radical heart for discipling our younger girl. She has awesome dynamic man. Her birthday was last Wednesday. Do you know how awesome of a relationship you have to have to have a 16 year old girl buy you a birthday present and bring it to youth? That says everything about Mandy. One of her girls got her a Starbucks cup and a Starbucks gift card for her birthday last Wednesday. And that says everything about that relationship that they have fostered. And I've been having a ton of fun getting connected with Saban. Saban in his own words. I'll, I'll, I'll change up the phrasing a little bit, but Saban wants to intellectually reconcile his faith. We've talked about it with the Bible, but it extends to Christianity.

26:34 We have faith, but we don't have a blind faith and Satan does not want a blind faith. And that is the kind of faith that is going to last. I'm so grateful for that. So finally, everything that we do is for God's glory. All the students, the graduates that have come up here, that is not to credit of real life youth. That's not the credit of Logan or Tori or Mandy or any other leader. That all goes back to God that empowered their relationship. Romans 15-7 says that we are welcoming in order to bring praise to God. Man, everything that we do, our ultimate and our ultimate goal is for the glory of God. Man, we love our ministry and we serve it to the best of our ability, but we cannot win glory for ourselves. We get win glory for the Heavenly Father that has enabled us and enabled our students to know and to love Him and a real life youth.

27:31 We live this out. We love your students and we work for the glory of God because we have seen the glory of God. I'm going to tell you guys about a girl that has been coming out to real life youth for a few years now, I think. But Brooklyn, and she's up here, Brooklyn has been, I don't think you're supposed to rank wins that you've seen in a ministry, but I think Brooklyn has probably been my favorite win that we've seen in real life youth, man. Brooklyn has been in these few years that she's come out, she has been very steady. She comes in week after week. She is very level headed. She never causes any problems. She's been faithful to the group in her time. There's been times that she's shadowed the worship team. There's been times that like right now, she's meeting with Mandy, like the girls over here.

28:14 She's always engaged with messages through and through, off top and down, left to right. She is a rock star in real life youth. In January to start January, we celebrated the new year. We went out to main events. We had a ton of fun. We had a blast. We came back, we had ice cream or cupcakes or something to that effect. And we also had a message before we got ready for the ball drop. It was a quick message. I was anticipating some new students. So I had a really strong evangelistic push. And as I went through this message and as I went through this invitation, what Brooklyn told us after the fact is that as she was listening to the gospel again, she realized she could not say for certain whether or not she had a relationship with Jesus. So as we were going through the message, as we were going through the invitation, Brooklyn, the rock star that had been through real life youth for a couple years at that point, faithful week in and week out fully and finally gave her life to Christ and made a decision to follow Jesus. And that invitation, Yeah, you can give it up for that. Then on that night, during that invitation to start the year, Brooklyn started a relationship with God. And I can speak for myself, but I also imagine I'm speaking for every leader that is in here at Real Life Youth and in the kids department and any other ministry we have. That is all the fuel we will ever need to keep going and keep serving in the ministry.

29:34 But that's not for us, that's for God. It's thank you God for Brooklyn. It's thank you God for these graduating girls. It's thank you God for Julian. Thank you God for these serving leaders. It's all to God's glory. That is why real life youth exists. So we talked about where we are. We talked about what we value. But I want to tell you guys about where we're going. We are extremely proud of how God has used real life youth, but let me tell you about what I see God doing in even bigger work through our ministry. I see a youth group that has top to bottom all the students bringing the gospel into their schools. Julian is a shining example of this.

30:15 I give him connection cards and bring invitations. We call them. He goes through stacks upon stacks week in and week out. He's passing them out at his work. He's passing them out at school. He's telling everybody he can about the good news that has been given to him. I see every single one of our students being like Julian in that way. I see, I see a youth group that has tools and even more opportunities with at their fingertips to grow and knowing God deeper man. Maybe this looks like a Bible study that we start outside of the group. Maybe this looks like classes that we host. Maybe it looks like just outside of the group entirely and it's the students forming their own cohorts and going through Bible studies together. I see a youth group that is radically Invitational, evangelistic, and lives out every single day. The mission of real life youth in order for students that are far from God to discover their real life purpose in Jesus living out Matthew 28 every single day. Man, I am so glad that we have the ministry that we have. I am so proud of all the girls that are graduating and I thank you guys so much for giving me the opportunity to talk about our ministry.

31:24 If you guys all would go ahead, bow your heads and close your eyes. Man, this has been such a day. I cannot help but imagine there are some people in here that have just been inspired by the morning. Maybe you've seen all the work that God is doing through the ministries of real Life youth. Maybe you're being inspired to get plugged in with how the church is moving and this could look like a different thing. This could look like a few different ways for all of you guys. Maybe this looks like serving. Maybe you're feeling called to serve in a ministry like the youth group. Or maybe you're feeling called to serve in the kids team or in the hospitality team set up, tear down whatever it is. Maybe you're just feeling called to serve on real life at real life church may get connected to a leader after this if this is you or maybe it's generosity that needs to be changed after hearing this. How many you guys know that this story that you heard this morning, all these stories that you heard would not have happened without the faithful giving of all of you guys? Man, maybe it's prayer that you need to give. Maybe you just need to pray for our students. Maybe you need to pray for us leaders so that we disciple the students biblically and well and with passion and with reverence. Or, man, maybe you're up here and don't miss this. One of the biggest takeaways you should have tonight or this morning is that the parents of these graduates are worthy of emulation.

32:49 Maybe you see what Josh and Kerry have done, or what Janelle has done, or what Scott and Katrina have done and you feel a call to disciple your kids. Even better, maybe it's getting the Bible, reading the Bible with your kids regularly. Maybe it's making sure your kids come to church regularly, getting them plugged into youth group, getting them plugged in to the kids ministry. That whatever it is, maybe you're feeling a push to get more plugged into the church. So if any of these things spoke to you after this morning, would you raise your hand if you're feeling spoke? Maybe I need to be serving, or maybe I need to be discipleling my kids better, or maybe I just need to be praying for the youth group. And if that's you, would you raise your hand? I see your hand. I see your hand, and that's you. Pray this prayer after me. Hey, God, you're good. I pray for boldness in plugging into my church. My church is moving and taking ground for Christ, and I want to be a part of that.

33:37 I pray. I pray for wisdom and serving. I pray for wisdom and leading my kids. I pray that I will be faithful in praying on behalf of all the students. And keep your head bowed. Keep your eyes closed because maybe there's a second group in here today, and maybe you're in here today and you don't know Jesus. Maybe you're relating to one of our stories in that way, and you're just hearing the stories of how the ministry of real life has been working and how God is working and there's just a story that has touched you. Maybe, maybe one of these stories are making you want to start a relationship with God. But if that's you, can I tell you that God created this world good and unstained, but our sins and rebellion against God separate us from perfect communion with Him. And these sins, they can't be paid by good deeds. They can't be paid by anything that we do, but they have been paid by Jesus on the cross and to secure eternal life with God, to secure what we have been created for, The only thing that you need to do is confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Christ is Lord and you will be given the eternal life that starts now and lasts forever. So if you're in here and just something is stirring in you after listening to these stories, would you raise your hand?

34:47 If you're in here and you want to start a relationship with God, would you raise your hand? Man, if that's you, you're in here. Just pray this prayer after me. Thank God you are so good. I'm a Sinner in need of a Savior and I accept and I recognize that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I thank you for your Son and I will live out every single one of my days in complete dedication to you. Hey man, give it up for anybody that made that decision. Thank you guys so much for coming out to supporting our graduate. I appreciate your guys's energy in celebrating them and I appreciate you guys letting me tell you about real life youth.

35:29 Thank you guys so much. Logan is a ball of fire. Amen man, we're blessed by Logan. You met for Logan, you know, it's so interesting when you when you leave these, you know, you have honor or glory, everybody and Logan, you know, nobody says, hey, you're great and he's fantastic. Just a passionate man for God. And it's been amazing to watch the transformation, the youth group, and it's hard for people and I'll encourage you guys. The goal really is to reach the youngest duration possible when it comes to following Jesus. And I was thinking about why is that so significant? It's because we have an enemy that his goal is to reach the youngest generation possible.

36:16 And so much of A youth and teens and young people, there are so many distractions and there's so many things in the way and there's so many counterfeits and there's so much delusion and deception. It is so important to have a life giving like kids program, but also youth Group A Ben and not about you, but I'm a product of a youth ministry. I I came to Christ because there was passionate men and women that love Jesus that would give up all the things that could be doing in their 20s and 30s and 40s to show up to invest in young people, Amen. And we have an amazing team and amazing people love Jesus. And I just want to encourage you. The youth group has been growing. There's been amazing things happening, people coming to Christ.

36:57 They've been packing out all the seats in the building, apparently buy more chairs, Amen. It's a thing. It's a great problem to have. But with that, we need life giving people to serve our young people, Amen. And there there's somebody took a chance on me and I, I started thinking, where would these young people be if it wasn't for a life giving youth group or men and women that will not pour into them. And I don't know about my wife's going to share her story a little bit, but we, we both came to Christ because a friend in high school invited us to a youth group that changed our life. And it's a mission field and a right mission field, but it's, it's dangerous to that age, right? Because there's so many hooks and so many lures that Satan puts out. And it's so important to shine a light as bright as possible in the next generation because ultimately a lot of people give up their 20s to follow Satan. I was going to encourage you guys. We have an amazing group out there that serves every Wednesday.

37:47 I'm very blessed by them. I trust them. They love our teens, they love Jesus. They're doing a fantastic job. Amen. I mean, you keep pushing into the light and I think about our church. It's important that we're passionate about a harvest. They'll take bold steps to see the next generation to reach for Christ. And I was thinking about our held some 8 project we're stepping into and I started dreaming. I was out of the parking lot last night and I was like, you know, maybe do this here and do this here and blah, blah, blah. But start thinking maybe so amazing to pack this place out for young people for Jesus, Amen. Would be pretty crazy. Instead of going to a movie and just, you know, being entertained, showing up and hearing the gospel, let the light of Christ change your life to about Brooklyn coming to Christ and you don't know where God's going to go with that. Like my journey would not be here if it wasn't for other people.

38:33 I've stood on their shoulders, Amen. And that's what we get to play a part of the story. So I would encourage you guys when you give here and when you serve here, this is all fruit to your account, Amen. It takes a whole team. It takes a lot of energy, a lot of effort. It takes revenue. We're still praying for a way to camp, Amen. We don't have a bus right now. Like it just takes a lot to reach. The young people I know mentioned camp. Some of you are like, man, this is the place that God changed my life was at camp. Some of you guys talked about the next generation. You felt welcomed. I thought that was pretty cool. Logan talked about being welcoming and you mentioned being welcomed ever being out there talking to you about how you felt. So just, it's so important people show up to church that they know they're loved, Amen.

39:13 Of any place in the world that you could walk into, whatever situation you come out of, most people think the building's gonna catch on fire and burn down, Amen. I was every every week, somebody tells me it hasn't crashed yet, it hasn't come on fire. It's like it's not going to catch on fire, Amen. You might catch on fire for Jesus, but the building's gonna burn down because God's been calling you here. So man, it's exciting. I would encourage you guys, be faithful in your generosity, faithful in your giving. It's a fun season. I'm not going to say it's without a stress, Amen. But man out last night I kept waking up over and over and over again so excited what God is going to do in this next season of our church. I mean every every like every hour kept waking up start think about that building going man, what could God do in this space and how we're going to do this and just so exciting. Amen.

39:55 So encourage you guys to play part of the story. You guys know how we give here. You can give the buckets will come up. So you guys can come up right now and we'll pass buckets, but we give it online. And more than that, just be praying. How, how Lord, how can you use me to make a difference here? It's God multiplies the money, but it's really after your heart. And there's so much work to be done for the Kingdom. There's so many lost souls and there's other teams that we need to find and reach for Jesus. And so Lord, we thank you so much for what you're doing. Thanks for Logan, thanks for the team, thanks for your heart to die for us, God to love us. Pray that we can just express that we can serve others. God is behind the scenes of so many faithful ways. God, we just make your name and your noun and your glory go out to lost and dying world and praise in Jesus name. The church said Amen.

40:37 I'm gonna buy my wife dying up to the stage coming up here. Babe, leave us out here today. All right, last thing, this is your reminder 7 days in advance that next Sunday is Mother's Day. And like we love to do it real life. We're going to pull out all the stops, bouquet bars, so many things to make our ladies feel super special next week. So you're not going to want to miss it. I know we've said before, but this is one of those Sundays where maybe God's put someone on your heart that's far from him but close to you. And this might be an opportunity to say, you know what? That neighbor I've been praying for, that Co worker who's been telling me about the tough time they're going through, this is the moment to invite them out. And Sean, sure, just a little bit. But my story is that way.

41:23 One time when I was a high schooler, someone took a chance on me and invited me out to church, and I got to hear about the love and the goodness of God. And God is so good in the way that he works that we think that this big, beautiful production is what draws people in. But it's the faithfulness of a person reaching another person. And he multiplies that in such a beautiful way to see his Kingdom spread all across the world. And so it's easy to think, man, they're up on stage, they have a microphone. But he's called every single one of us to be that person to the people that are in our circle, people in your circle that Pastor Sean is never going to see. He's never going to meet, he's never going to reach. But God has called you to invite them.

42:04 And so next Sunday is going to be super special. I do hope that you'll come out and I hope you'll bring somebody to sit with you. It's going to be at 9:00 and 10:45, just like our normal times. And so we can't wait to see you then. And if you need prayer for anything today, we're going to have somebody up here who can pray for you and pray with you and connect you with a pastor if needed. And right before you go, it's very important that you know, if you haven't had breakfast yet, please go and grab a graduation cupcake. We've got them out there to celebrate our graduates, but really to celebrate with all of you. So grab a cupcake. And as you go, remember that whoever finds Jesus discovers real life and purpose.