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All right, well, here we are. It's Sunday. Senior Sunday. It's great to see you all today. Thank you, Grayson, for that scripture reading. He is one of my favorites. Thank you for Joey and Braden for helping with our lesson today. Today is Senior Sunday, and we have a packed house. There are so many people here. It's awesome to see y'all celebrating our seniors. If you don't know me, my name is Chase Johnson. I'm the youth minister here. And uh it's been a pleasure to get to teach your students for the last four months. Um, most of all, I am super grateful for this class of seniors. From the first time I started talking to this church back when I was interviewing in an early conversation with Noah Bowman, he told me that this group had an incredible senior class. And they were extremely hyped up. Y'all were set on a pedestal for me, and you lived up to the hype. Y'all have been amazing. It's been great to get to know you. I love to I love to see how they have led, they have mentored, and they've kept this group stable the last year and the last several months with me transitioning in. They've led by example, shown up with packed schedules, and intentionally included and encouraged their younger brothers. So as I was getting ready for this Sunday, I found myself in the book of Hebrews. I actually ended up in the verse that we had just finished reading. Um, in this letter, we discover a congregation in need of encouragement. They're facing persecution from outside sources for their faith, and they're starting to fall away from that calling that they all shared. Their lives were filled with a lot of fear and uncertainty about their immediate future, and they didn't know what life was going to bring them. The author ends this letter with some words of encouragement and advice to those Christians living in a time full of change. Change is a big part of life. It's all around us. In music, Sam Cook tells us a change is gonna come. Bob Dylan makes the statement the times they are changing, and Michael Jackson says to make a change with the man in the mirror. It's a favorite subject of media. Trends change. If you're a football fan like me, head coaches change, presidents change, laws change, and beliefs can change. You change your oil, you change your hair color, you change schools, jobs, and you can change your attitude. Change is a huge part of the human experience. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in the world who has not gone through any type of change. So this begs the question for us as Christians. How do we respond to an ever-changing world? And this is where I'd like to talk a bit today. So those he starts this section in 13, at the very end of Hebrews, with this very short verse. It's very important for the rest of it. Let brotherly love continue. This is the lens by which everything that he says after this is filtered. They're already showing love at this congregation, it is to continue to do so. And these are things that we can do following that command, to let brotherly love continue. He goes on to mention four things. And summed up, they are showing hospitality, showing compassion to those around you, honoring marriage, and being content with what God provides. For the sake of our sermon today, I'm going to focus on the topics of hospitality, compassion, and God's provision. I believe the study on the sanctity of marriage is an incredibly important subject, but in our short time frame we have today, I don't think I'll be able to give it its due diligence. But the author is telling the Congregation of Hebrews that these things should be done no matter the uncertainty of your life, no matter what you're going through, no matter what persecution or changes you're facing, these things ring true. He starts by saying, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. This congregation that the Hebrew writer is writing to has every reason to be weary of strangers. They're facing persecution from all fronts, and they don't know if the stranger at their door is a friend or someone who might imprison them. Yet hospitality was a cultural expectation of all households outside of Christianity. You're expected to house people and to provide for your guests when they came to your door. The author is reinforcing this cultural belief of hospitality to strangers and extending it as Christ also extended it. Showing kindness and hospitality to strangers was a huge part of the ministry of Jesus. He was known as the man who ate with tax collectors and sinners, as we read in Mark 2, Matthew 9, and Luke 5. He was kind and welcoming to all, especially the ones people left out. He touched the sick and he healed Gentiles. Both would have been big no-nos in Jewish culture. If this was the way Jesus showed love to others, then we are to do likewise. We live in a world today that we are told to be very cautious of strangers. Stranger danger is a very big subject, especially for kids. When I was growing up at my house, if the doorbell rang and we didn't weren't expecting company or a package, we would do everything we can to find out who is on the other side of the door without ever actually opening the door. Because you never know if it could be Mike Myers on the other side of the door or your neighbor from down the road. This type of caution can cause us to miss opportunities to show brotherly love to our neighbors because we're scared of interacting with people we don't know. How can we possibly help someone when we're talking to them through a ring camera? In a way, we're saying to those strangers, yes, I want to help, but I do not want to get too close. This is not a call to just let your guard down and just to be completely, you know, footloose and fancy-free with helping everybody. Jesus knows that this world is a dangerous world and that there are dangers that we can face. In Matthew 10, Jesus instructs his disciples to be innocent as doves and shrewd as serpents. He says this to them as he sends them out to surrounding towns where they'll be meeting with people they do not know who may have all sorts of different intentions toward them. He tells them to be loving and caring, yet not easily manipulated or not to be easily manipulated or abused. It's a fine line to walk, but I fear we may have opted closer to being shrewd serpents than innocent doves these days. Don't forget the last part of verse two. He says, For thereby some have entertained angels unawares. You never know who you are helping. Hospitality extends beyond being just a good host. Engage with those in need and help them no matter what state your house is in or your life is in. No matter how rich or poor we are, called to show kindness and hospitality when we can. Never make the mistake of saying I am in no position to help anybody. There is always something we can offer. God has blessed us with many different ways to love others outside of monetary gifts and services. You can always listen, talk with, and pray with someone. Hospitality also extends beyond the border of your house. Remember, Jesus was always on the move. He never had a house. He said famously, the Son of Man has no place to lay his head. Seniors, some of you are about to go into a really crammed dorm room that has not a lot of space for yourself, let alone any possible guests or hospitality. When I was at Harding, when seniors would be visiting to potentially go there, they would ask us to house them in the dorms, and our dorms are pretty small. But in those opportunities, we'd set up a sleep mattress on the one little piece of floor that we had for them, and we would let them hang out with us and give them all that we had. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from them as they learned a lot from me as well. But in those moments of hospitality, even when I had no space, you always find ways to help them. But find ways to show hospitality that exists outside outside of the confines of where you sleep. It doesn't just take place in a house. Hospitality doesn't just have to do with being a good host. It means being kind to people. Bring drinks to people who have worked outside all day. Hold the door for someone a little bit past that generally accepted distance where you're supposed to hold the door. Make it a little awkward, but it's kind. These are just small examples of hospitality outside of the house, offering aid and services to others no matter the context or setting. Jesus showed hospitality to everyone everywhere he went. The next command given to Christians in the next verse is a two-parter. He says to remember those who are in prison and those who are mistreated. At this time in history, the church, it was very common for Christians to be imprisoned. We have lots of stories of Peter, Paul, and John all being in prison and writing letters while there. Furthermore, these prisons were far different from our prisons now. Prisons today have beds and TV and they're offered meals every day. A prison was not a punishment back then, but more of a dark, grimy dungeon where you're waiting for your trial to become to be punished. It's kind of more like you're waiting at the DMV, but your hands are chained to the wall and there's no vending machine or food for you to have. These places were scary, and people died waiting for their trial to come. A brother or sister of Christ in jail needed life-sustaining things such as food and water because the guards and the jailer would not provide it for them. The author is reminding the congregation not to neglect them, to care for them as if they were the ones in prison themselves. Likewise, he tells them to remember those who are mistreated. He reminds us to show mercy and compassion on those who our society treats poorly. In both examples of prisoners and mistreated, the author says, Remember those who are in prison as though you are in prison with them, and those who are mistreated since you also are in the body, since you also suffer. We are being challenged here to remember and show brotherly love to these individuals as if we were the ones in their shoes. Sympathize with them. Do not put yourself above them, but go down to where they are and treat them as a brother and sister. This goes back to the golden rule of Matthew 7, which Devin touched on just a couple weeks ago. Treat others the way you want to be treated. The challenge is greater than just helping them as treated when you come across them. The verse says to remember. Remember does not mean you just remember them when you see them, but you remember them in all circumstances. It's easier to remember them when someone in need is right in front of you. Because it's right there. It's a trigger. It's hard to remember them when they're not immediately there. You can start by showing compassion to those in your everyday life, to your family, to your friends, to your classmates and co-workers. Because if we can't show compassion to the people that we love and care for, how are we going to be able to show that same compassion to complete strangers that we do not know? Moving on from there, find ways to show compassion in your community. Find ways to serve those who are mistreated. Food kitchens, donation drives. Central here in the city of Athens have lots of opportunities for outreach. Our dollar club supports things like The Haven, Mission Athens, and Full Tummy. These are great opportunities for us to help those who are maybe less fortunate than we are. Plug in with one of those ministries and find them. Even if you're not from here, wherever you're from or wherever you go, find ways to serve your community. Be the one who goes out of their way to help another in need because you know you would want someone to do the same for you. Even when it is inconvenient, do not miss the opportunity to love someone. For Christ says that we all bear God's image. The author of Hebrews includes one last piece of advice for this section for Christians in all circumstances. Verse 5 says, Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. Money is a big deal, especially when it costs $60 to fill your gas tank now, and you drive a Ford Fiesta. As a kid, I was obsessed with money. He kept a five-gallon jar full to the top with coins of pocket change that he had accumulated, and he would dump it in there. When I was about four years old, he decided that he would show his grandkids and he brought us in there. My eyes saw it, and it was like big hard eyes. I was like, oh my goodness, here's a bunch of change. So a few hours later, my grandfather spots me walking out of the room, and I'm I'm little, but I'm wearing pants, and the coins are like pulling my pants down because I folded them up to the brim because I wanted coins for what I don't know. But he loved to tell that story. Unfortunately, my obsession with money is um it's different now, but it still exists. It doesn't look exactly like just hogging uh all the coins. It looks more like um paying various bills and settling debts. My relationship with money has gone from a funny childhood quirk to an unhealthy and miscalculated love for bills and coins. The writer of Hebrews says, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have. The sentence is easy enough, don't be greedy, be content. But that phrase is easy when you have abundance. It can be awfully hard to be content with what you have when what you have is nothing. We see two sides of this having abundance and provision and having none. Both can be in danger of losing sight of the one who truly provides. Theologian George H. Guthrie says in regard to this verse, Freedom from the love of money can elude rich and poor alike. The poor struggle against the clinging, grasping demands of daily existence, an empty stomach, a lack of transportation or social advancement, and dire surroundings can cry out against God's promise of provisions as mockery. The rich, by contrast, experience the drowning out of God's promises by their supersupply of material things. He says, Provision, who needs provision? Such questions are but a short step away from who needs God. The love of money can be abused as the sole solver of one's problems and the only needed promise of our own security. Both are putting their faith in a false hope. The last half of that same verse, and including the next one, sets our hearts straight by saying, For he has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say, The Lord is my helper, I will not fear. What can man do to me? God will provide no matter your circumstances. There is no amount of money, job, or investment that can offer more for you than our God can. The same God that turned five loaves and two fish into twelve leftover basketfuls is the same God who will provide for you today. The Hebrew writer says in verse six that we can confidently say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. With faith like that, we have our provision and security when in poverty and in abundance. So we're given these three commands. Show hospitality by opening your arms to strangers, show compassion by remembering and serving those in need of help around us, and by relying on God's provision, by taking our mind off of money and relying on what God gives us. And there's this final section that I want to talk about, and it's Hebrews 13, 7, and 8. And it says, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. The writer is saying in your moments when you're in need of a reminder of God's faithfulness, remember your leaders, your teachers, your parents, your grandparents, your mentors, coaches, and your ministers. Those who have helped you understand God's word and shown you what a life of loving God looks like. Those who have shown you how to let love flow continuously. And he says to imitate their faith. Let them be examples to you on how to live, especially in moments when you can't remember or you are uncertain. God knows that there will be times in our life when we're down and times where we're up. He wants us all to always remember to rely on him. He has blessed us with spiritual mentors during life. These mentors can be a foothold as we climb over our doubts and our fears. The writer says, Do not worry about money, do not worry about what man can do to you. Remember your leaders and the way God provided for them in their lives. Be like them and imitate their faithfulness so that you can witness God's blessing for you. And it all culminates in verse 8, where this statement rings true in all stages of life. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Put simply, God never changes. When everything else in our life changes, God does not. Change is a part of life. It's difficult, it's scary, and it's complex, but it's the reality of the world in which we live in. It's easy when we're confronted with these changes to try and grasp to something solid so we don't sink. When the floor around us is quicksand, we want a branch to hold onto to keep us from sinking deeper. That's as common for us in nature to reach out for those things. Our hobbies, our jobs, our politics, and our friends can all become things we try to grasp to when we have uncertainty. While these may put a temporary bandage over the wound, it will not stop the bleeding. Because if you want to reach for something solid, you reach for the rock that cannot be moved. When all around you, your life as you know it is being transformed, hold grab to the one thing in this world that will never be transformed and never change. And he will see you through. So, to our graduating seniors, I challenge you with this. You're going to experience a lot of changes in the coming years. You'll be faced with new opinions, new beliefs, and people who all may offer an answer to all of life's questions. My challenge to you is to cling to the rock, to practice these important parts of our Christian faith in your daily lives. The virtues of these verses are not an exhaustive list of how to be a good Christian, but it's a good starting point, especially as you grow and further your faith. Remember the leaders around you, and I know many of you have. These leaders that sit behind you and all around us in this room. Let the wisdom they've poured into you help you as you continue to grow. Let the truth that God has spoken through them be in your hearts always. Y'all know all about it. This past year has had a lot of it. And I commend you for how you've endured the storm. It's truly remarkable. I pray that you continue to live your life with the same dedication and resilience you've shown as you face all of life's changes and uncertainties. Today we have prepared a video for you with pictures to show you just how far you have come in your life, with a message from the parents in each. We'll be playing that now.