Welcome to Truth Talk Live. All right, let's talk. A daily program powered by the Truth Network. This is kind of a great thing, and I'll tell you why. Where pop culture, current events, and theology all come together. Speak your mind. And now, here's today's Truth Talk Live host. Well, good afternoon. What advice would you give a high school or a college graduate?
I'm Duane Carson. Ministry is Date the Word. And today on Truth Talk Live, it's my joy to be your host, and tis the season for graduations. We've got universities there. Many already have had their graduation. University of Alabama had theirs, and President Donald Trump was the graduation speaker.
Liberty University just had theirs. There are many more colleges still to have their seminaries, and high school graduations begin for some this week. And then there's, yes, kindergarten graduation. My grandson graduates this following Friday, a week from now. He'll graduate from kindergarten.
He's in Pennsylvania. I'm going to be there. It's the season for graduation, and I'm asking a question today, and I want your help. I want you to call us today at 1-866-348-7884, and let's give advice to a graduate.
I want us to think about that one sentence, that one nugget that can really stay with them. It's going to be college ministry at Liberty University, and I was thinking about it earlier today. I came to Liberty in 1984, and part of the structure at Liberty was you attended graduation as a student, not just as one that was graduating, but as a student, you went to the graduation service. So my first year being there at 84, I would then go to the graduation service of 1985, and I looked at it from that point on because of becoming the campus pastor in 1988. I would go to a graduation at Liberty for the next 30 years, year after year after year. Many times, I had the incredible privilege of hosting who the speaker was.
I got to be in the green room with Justice Clarence Thomas, and I found him to be one of the most humbling men I'd ever been around, and just to know his life story and how he got to the Supreme Court. We had Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family, speak, and as he spoke that day, I had to bring something for him. It was a trophy, and I had to have it on the stage there for him, and I didn't know what he was going to do with it. But at some point in his delivery, he picked up that trophy and made this statement, life will trash your trophies.
Life will trash your trophies, so you better know what you are playing for. He told how he had won a tennis championship, and he was so proud of it. He had this trophy, and one day he came out and saw in the trash can, his wife had thrown away this prize trophy. She's like, you've got to be kidding me.
This can't be that important to hold up space in our house. It's something you won in high school. Come on, Jim. It's time to let it go, and then it hit him. Life will trash your trophies, and so to a graduate, I would say today, as you move forward, whether it's from high school, moving from college, moving on from graduate school, just got to know you better be playing for the right trophies, because life is going to trash your trophies. At some point, someone's going to say, why is that still on your shelf?
Why are you still holding on to that thought? And for me, I came up with a statement kind of based on that, that I would say to students, don't let this be the highlight of your life. Don't let the graduation ceremony, as exciting as it is, it is a celebration. There's a completion. There should be a celebration of completion, no question, but don't let that moment be the highlight of your life.
You want to be able to take what you have learned and now put it to greater use, and there are going to be a whole lot more highlights than just you graduated from high school or you graduated from college. So I'm throwing out a few thoughts here. I want to hear from you. The number is 1-866-348-7884.
Give us a call here. Share if you were speaking at a college graduation this Saturday, what is the one thing you would want every student, every graduate to know, that nugget of wisdom? As I talked with a teacher this past week and told him about the program we were going to be doing, I said, what piece of advice would you give it? And her son had graduated from high school, had gone to, is attending now Auburn University, and she said, the truth of truth that I would give to a college, to a high school graduate, as they head, many of them into college, leaving home, going to be out on their own, find a good church, a good local church and get plugged in.
And I thought that is great advice. A high school graduate who's moving toward now college within a couple months, 90 days or so, will be on their own in many ways. And when I was head of school of Salem Baptist Christian School, we talked to our seniors, what now will be your core values?
You're going to be up there on your own. And one of those core values ought to be, I'm going to be a part of a local church getting plugged in. And she said that advice has really helped her son because as he got to Auburn, being able to make friends.
And another person told me today, they said they can't call in today, but they said this, tell them to choose their friends carefully. I like to make the statement whenever I'm on an elevator and there are people with me, I just go, you know, those buttons here on this elevator sure remind me of a great truth. Buttons are like, buttons on an elevator are like friends.
They can take you up or they can take you down. You want to make sure you have great friends and a great place then to make friends, to find new friends is at a church. So, so again, tying these two together, let's be going, our graduates need to be finding a good local church, get it plugged in and find and make then good friends.
And I'll tell you, high school, you make some good friends, but it's really in college that you get your lifelong friends. So crucial information there. Now we're going to be headed to a break, but I need you to call 866-348-7884. I want to hear from you. Our listeners want to hear from other listeners. What kind of advice can we be given to a college graduate, to a high school graduate?
You might even want to go all the way down. What advice should I be given to my grandson as he graduates next Friday from kindergarten? What do we want to be saying to them? And then I want us to think too, what if a biblical character was the commencement speaker? What might they say to us? This is Truth Talk Live 866-348-7884. Give us a call. Truth Talk Live You're listening to the Truth Network and truthnetwork.com Don't touch that dial. Welcome back to Truth Talk Live.
I'm Duane Carson and today it's my joy to be your host. By the way, we have a ministry called Date the Word and today, May 13, 5-13, several really great verses on 5-13. You can find this on the Date the Word app.
Just go to your app store and download the app right from your app store. Go to verse for any day and today 5-13. Galatians 5-13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty. Not only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. And for our topic today, what would you tell a graduate?
Well, one of the most important things to tell a graduate is to be focused on others, to serve others. And this idea that Paul gives comes from Jesus who, when he came to the earth, he didn't come to be served but to serve. And we see in one of his last tremendous acts of love toward his disciples, John 13, he got up and he washed their feet. Now, they got in an argument over who was the greatest. So the greatest one gets up and washes their feet and we've given a little statement on this through the years. It's not about titles, it's about towels. And that would be something we would tell a high school or college graduate. I used to give a towel with that statement on it.
It's not about titles, it's about towels. Galatians 5, 13, for May the 13th, today is a day to serve others. Show your love by serving others. I would also give you Matthew 5, 13, where Jesus says that you are the salt of the earth. And as we go forth, that's one of the things we're supposed to do. We're to be light and we're to be salt to the world. We're to be difference makers. If you've got a thought, a piece of advice you'd want to give a graduate, whether high school or college, I want you to call us at 866-348-7884. And we've got Mike from Dayton, Ohio. Hey, Mike, how are you today? I'm doing awesome.
I got a lot of graduation people to go to this year. I've been writing on the card Proverbs 3-5. And the reason I've been writing that down is, you know the verse, trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not only your own understanding, but all your ways.
Acknowledge him and he'll make your past straight. Oh, that's beautiful. And I've been putting that down on cards. And I've got a cousin, I've got a relative that's graduated from West Point.
Well, I've got some proud moments in my life with all these people graduating and that's what I'm writing down. That's the kind of verse I've lived by all my life. And is it easy to trust in the Lord every step of your moment, every step of your life?
No, it's not. You think you've got it under control. You think you can do it.
I know I can do it. I know what's best for me. No, what's best for you is what's best for God.
And just believe in God with your heart and your mind and pray and say, God, where are you directing me in life? Where are you taking me? What am I going to do? Who am I going to be? What am I going to be?
And how are you going to take care of me? And he will. And just pray and seek him and he'll direct you. He has in my life. I got a story from start to finish in my life from high school to 60 years old. And God's direct me all the way through my life.
And I got a story I could tell that would take this whole broadcast up. But that is what's important is just to trust in God. And hopefully someone's listening that's thinking that they can take care of themselves and they need to let God direct them. This is some of the best wisdom a person can be given.
On your story, David had that situation. Psalm 71 5. He said, from my youth, I have trusted in you. And what a testimony that what you're saying right now, where you're at 60, I'm at 64. I look back on my life of when I finally decided in my early 20s to say, OK, I'm going to seek first God and I'm going to trust him.
My story drastically changed because now I'm not trying to figure out life. I'm trying to hold on what God wants for me. I use a statement just to piggyback off of what you just said. Proverbs three, five and six. Total dependence on God brings trustworthy direction from God. If you'll totally dependent and you're right, the verse is challenging. And because of what God wants us to do, he he confronts us. He says, trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean out on your own understanding. Yeah, well, that's what I'm prone to do. So he confronts me.
Don't do that. Acknowledge me in all your ways. And then comes this beautiful promise. I will direct your steps. Every every high school student somewhere around the ninth, tenth grade needs to begin to grasp Proverbs three, five and six.
The parent needs to come alongside. OK. The words you used. Who am I? What am I going to do? Where am I going to be?
Those things need to be getting answered by God. Amen. Amen. And my my parents did that to me. You know, I mean, they instilled this into in me and I'm so thankful.
Even at 12 years old, I all my life I I carried a Bible into in the high school and I was ridiculed. And but I had great friends. I got great friends that that that respect me and all the way from high school. And I got great parents that respected me and loved me and take care of me and and and challenged me. You know, I mean, and and and and prayed with me and I couldn't be the person I am without the parents and the people that prayed for me. And and not and also me humbling myself into trusting God. It wasn't always easy all the way through my life. There's been times where I didn't deny God and said, no, I want to try to do it my way. But I learned I learned, you know, really quickly.
You go off the side of the road a little bit, then you come back and get back on that narrow path. Hey, Mike, thanks. Thanks for your call. Hey, folks, you give a call.
Eight, six, six, three, four, eight, seven, eight, eight, four. And let's give more insightful advice to college and high school graduates. You're listening to the Truth Network and Truth Network dot com. Welcome back to Truth Talk live.
I'm Dwayne Carson. Ministry is Date the Word. And you can find more information about Date the Word at our Web site.
Www dot date the word dot com. We have a verse for every date. Like today, Galatians five sixteen or Matthew five sixteen. First John five thirteen. First John five thirteen. These things I've written unto you that you may know that you have eternal life and great verses every day.
You can get a verse. You can share it with someone. You can ask someone when is their birthday and share. Go to the to the app. See the verse for that date and share with them. I do that wherever I'm traveling. And the other day had a young lady when I showed her her verses. She said, can I take a picture of this?
Because I want to show my day at the Bible verses that really fit what my life is about. Hey, today we're in the season of graduations and their universities holding commencement services and high schools holding commencement services. And what advice would you give a high school graduate?
What would you give a college graduate? Eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four. That's one eight six six three four.
Truth. We've got Greg here in Winston-Salem. Good afternoon, Greg.
Well, hello there, Dr. Carson. How are you doing, sir? Doing great.
Doing great. I have a think thought that you have some great insight to give to a college graduate or maybe a high school graduate. What do you have for us? Well, Duane, as you know, I teach a lot on the Second Coming and I've written the book on it, several books on it. And I would say to your graduates, whether they're in high school or college, live your life in light of Jesus' soon return. Seek Him every day. Build a very close walk with Him and seek and find and then fulfill His will, that is, His calling on your life. That is the reason God has placed you on this earth. And that is where you will find your true joy and ultimate fulfillment. Live in light of His coming.
Yes. Well, that's deep. I heard that every day when Billy Graham woke up, he had as one of his first thoughts, perhaps today. Perhaps today, either there's going to be the rapture that's going to take me home and I'll be taken out by the upper taker.
Or this could be the day that I will fall asleep, that's the word for death for the Christian, and I'll be taken out by the undertaker. We need to live in light of that. Life comes with an unexpected deadline. I used to say life comes with a deadline, but it comes with an unexpected deadline.
That's right. Is it Ecclesiastes 9, 10? Whatsoever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might, because there's no work in the grave. And boy, that's great insight right there. Find the will of God as early as possible and then give your very best effort to accomplishing the will of God. That was a Jerry Falwell statement.
Find the will of God as early as possible and then give every bit of your energy to fulfilling what God has for you. Amen. Amen, yes. That's a paraphrase of what I said. He said it more concisely.
Yes. Well, you know, I was thinking, Greg, if we had biblical characters, biblical people speaking at a commencement, what might they say? And I thought about the Apostle Paul. He would probably say, for me to live is Christ, to die is gain. And that's just a great summation of what life's about.
Jesus would come along and he would say, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and everything you ever wanted in life. He's going to provide for you. You don't have to worry. As Mike said earlier, trust in the Lord with all your heart. He's going to take care of you. He's going to direct your life. But many times when we get these degrees, whether it's high school, whether it's college, there seems to be a little bit of now self-sufficiency. Look what I've accomplished.
And what you've said to our listeners, it's not becoming self-sufficient. It is becoming Savior-sufficient. I'm going to now trust in the Lord more.
I'm going to seek him more. And I want to make my life count. And I can't help but go back to all the graduations I'd ever attended. 1993, when James Dobson made the statement, life will trash your trophies. I'm like, that statement just has, it's just stayed with me all my life.
I want trophies that I get when I arrive in heaven that I can then cast back at the feet of Jesus. Greg, give me just a second here. I just want to say to our listeners, give us a call. Join in this conversation.
1-866-348-7884. Love to hear your advice of what you would tell a high school or college graduate. Join in the conversation today. How do we help them with just a piece of gold, a golden nugget, a piece of wisdom? Greg is sharing some great wisdom. Greg, you've also got a book on Proverbs.
Tell us about that. Oh yes, Precious Pearls from the Proverbs. It's a book that I wrote a few years back that takes 24 selected Proverbs, very important life lessons, and explains them and applies them to the life of the reader. It's a very practical book, as you know, Proverbs is, and it would be a blessing and a help, I'm sure, to anyone wanting to build a closer walk with the Lord. And this can be gotten on Amazon? Oh yes, Amazon in print or also on Kindle.
All my books are available in both ways. Proverbs is so rich with life wisdom, and we just simply can't build a close walk with Christ without the Proverbs. That's the truth. Solomon, I like to look at Proverbs, been there, done that, I've learned lessons, so let me tell you what I experienced. I put my hand on the hot stove, it got burned, I don't want you to do that. I know the end result, and to me, one of the great principles of life that every person needs to grasp, whatsoever a man sows, that will he also reap. A lot of college students think it's time as I go to college to sow my wild oats. Those wild oats have major ramifications. You want to be so careful what you sow, because you're going to reap, and the law of sowing and reaping is, you'll reap more than you sow. So you definitely want to be careful what you're sowing. Don't want to be sowing any wild stuff out there. Right. I think I heard John Hagee say a few years back that many of us go out and sow wild oats and then pray for crop failure, which as you know doesn't happen. Nope.
Sure. You know, Dwayne, I thought about a scripture that sort of encapsulates what Farwell said and what I said here also. He said, Paul in Philippians 3, he said, Brothers, I do not count myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That is one of the best passages to go to for a graduation message.
I heard several speakers through the years go to that one, because that's what we're to be going after, and it's an athletic word, a pressing. I'm reaching, I'm striving for, I'm giving my very best. I want to do what God wants from me. I want to be a vessel in his hand for his use, for his glory to impact the world. Absolutely.
Absolutely. And you hit it on the nail, too. That word mark in the Greek is stad, and it's one of the two ends, or staid is the better pronunciation. It's one of the two ends of a roughly 200-yard racetrack that the Olympians would run.
They would run from pole to pole. And so Paul was saying, I'm keeping my eye on the staid, on that pole at the end of the race, and I want to get there. That's good.
That's good. And we know this from the Hebrew writer, that God has a race set for us to run, and he says, let us run the race that is set before us. So you find the will of God, you set your eye on that mark, and now you're going all out for it. Full energy. I'm all in, giving my all for that.
Absolutely. Well, Greg, I appreciate your phone call here. We want to hear from other callers.
866-348-7884 joined this conversation today. As we give advice to college and high school graduates, as they commence on a new journey, it's coming to an end on one side, but it's really the commencement started a new journey. And some students are graduating, Greg, from high school, and they're going right into the workforce. They are going to be right off the bat making a difference right there. Some are going to college, some are going to the military. God has all different plans for his people.
The key is trust in the Lord, as Mike said, find out what his will is, seek his face, seek what he wants, and then go and do it for him. Yes. We're going to be going to a commercial break here. Listeners, we appreciate you listening, but we want to hear from you. 866-348-7884.
Advice for a graduate. That's your topic today. I want to welcome you back to the last session of Proof Talk Live today. I'm Duane Carson. Our ministry is Date the Word. I hope you'll check it out. We have an app.
We also have a website. We look to connect today's date to God's word in a unique way that may make it more memorable to you. Today being May 13, Galatians 5.13 has been one of my big focuses today because it says, serve one another. Through your love, serve one another. As we think about what we would say to a graduating class, having done graduation services before, one of the things I always said to them was, it's not about titles. It's about towels. I'd love to hear your thoughts today.
866-348-7884. Call in and share something that you may have heard at your graduation that you think ought to be said at someone else's graduation because of the impact it had. As I've said, the statement from James Dobson, life will trash your trophies. You better know what you're playing for. Make sure you've got the right goals in life. You want to be, when you get to heaven, hearing from the Savior, well done my good and faithful servant.
There'll be trophies there that you can have obtained that then you can cast back at His feet. True and lasting trophies. I've been thinking about sharing something with us in this last segment. Graduation services have become very, very, very special to me.
There's a reason for that. As I was campus pastor at Liberty, I knew that our graduation services were going to be filled with a call to commitment, a call to serving Christ with everything possible that you gave your very best to Jesus. When I was first going into the ministry, I was able to send in a pastor named Dr. W.A.
Criswell. He was the pastor of First Baptist Dallas. He had spoken at graduation a few years before I came to Liberty. He gave an invitation.
An interesting thing happened as he had given his appeal to, we should always put Jesus first. There was at that graduation a mom and a dad, but they were not sitting together. While their student had been at Liberty over the years there, they had grown apart, separated. But at the graduation, hearing Dr. Criswell speak, they both went forward because he gave an invitation and they reunited their marriage. They came together at a graduation service. In 1989, I'm graduating with my master's degree.
Dr. W.A. Criswell was again the graduation speaker. I did not know how the graduation would go that day.
I just was thrilled that he was there. Little did I know how impactful that graduation would be because as Dr. Criswell spoke that day, he once again gave the powerful challenge to us as students to live for the Lord. Our lives were to be lived completely, wholly for the Lord, sold out.
He gave the invitation. If you're willing to say today, I'm going to live for Jesus, would you stand up? I stood up. I wanted my life to count.
Then he did something I thought maybe a little unique. He then asked the parents. He said, parents, many of your graduates now have stood to say they're going to serve the Lord with all of their heart. What about you?
Will you support them and pray for them and encourage them as they go forth to be God's champion in the world? Through some unique circumstances, my mom, being at that graduation, was standing in front of me rather than behind me. So she was up front. And so my mom stood up and now I'm looking forward and I can see my mom. She has stood up and she looks back and she sees me. And it was just a glorious moment for me as I see my mom standing and both of us committed.
We're going to serve the Lord. Well, graduation came to an end. I was able to give my mom a hug.
She had to head back to work. Folks, what I did not know on Monday, May the 8th, 1989, at that graduation service, that would be the last time I would see my mom alive. We would talk on Saturday, May the 13th, 1989. And I had to inform her that because of some things that had happened at Liberty, I wasn't going to be able to come out and see her on Mother's Day. And I'd been asked to step in, fill a role because someone else couldn't do it. And so I needed to be on duty at the campus. Well, what I didn't know when I talked to her that night was that was the last time I talked to her because on May 14th, Mother's Day, my mom would enter into glory.
And I go back. The last time I saw my mom was at a graduation. And then she, the following Sunday, would graduate to heaven. And I just share that to just remind all of us of how important it is to have good, solid relationships with our family, but more importantly, to make sure we've got the right relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I encourage all graduation speakers, make sure those who are listening are ready not just to graduate from a high school or graduate from a college, university, from a military school, but they're ready to graduate to heaven because you just never know.
And I had no idea that my mom on that May 8th, 1989, that just six days later would be having a massive heart attack that suddenly unexpectedly took her life. And she left this earth to be in the presence of the Lord. And that was one of the things I clung to was to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
So as we think about graduation, it's more than just the graduation from a school, a commencement, from finishing out a high school degree. It's being reminded that we need to be ready to meet the Lord at any time and that the people we love the most may not be with us tomorrow. Today is the day to let them know that you love them, to let them know that you appreciate them. And good advice that we've heard today, again, perhaps today, perhaps today, live as if the Lord would be taking you home tonight.
You're giving everything you got to Him, for Him, serving Him wholeheartedly. We still have time for callers. 1-866-348-7884. If you've got a thought you'd like to add, give us a call here. I was thinking about biblical characters who you might want to have speak at your graduation. And without question, I think Esther would be an awesome graduation speaker. You know, here's this young lady finds herself in a situation she never thought she'd be in. And now, as things are starting to unravel because of this evil man named Haman, she gets told that, hey, you're the one who's got to go to the king and say, this has to stop.
This can't take place. And Mordecai says to her, perhaps you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And I believe every one of us here for an appointed time, God has specific reasons for us. Sometimes it's just a one moment. You make the difference.
Sometimes it's multiple years in someone's life that you're making that difference. But God has us here for a purpose, and we need to find out what that purpose. Perhaps you've come to the kingdom for such a time as this. And Esther had to make the decision. And every one of us has to make that decision.
What am I going to do with my life? We only have one life. It soon will pass. Only what's done for Christ will last. That's another great conclusion to a commencement service. That reminder, you only got one life.
It soon will pass. Only what's done for Christ will last. Today, as we think about advice.
To a graduate. Proverbs three, five and six, trust in the Lord with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding, acknowledge him in all your ways, and he will direct your path. I'm telling you, graduates, if you're listening, listen, total dependence on God will bring trustworthy direction from him. Total dependence on the Lord brings trustworthy direction from the Lord. You trust in him. Watch him then do with you things you never could imagine.
Be a vessel in his hand for his glory. This has been Truth Talk Live. Dwayne Carson has been your host. It's been my joy. Have a wonderful day.
