Billy Graham Liberty University Commencement Speech

[Applause] after that introduction about chancellor jerry falwell a hard to know how to begin I was in Philadelphia one time and I was coming down on an elevator and a man got on board about the 4th floor and he said I hear Billy Graham is on here and a man pointed in my direction and said yeah there he is and he looked me up and down for about two seconds and he said my what an anticlimax and after all the gracious and kind and wonderful words that have been spoken I'm a tremendous anticlimax and I don't reach anywhere near the hem of the garment of the men who have been called today of the man even who introduced me today and I'm very honored and privileged to be here for the first time at Liberty University I've flown over it I've seen it I've driven by it and I have a grandson here two other my thing and maybe more on the way we seem to keep having and it's just I cannot tell you the emotion that my wife and I feel as we are here and we sense the presence of God in this place and that's the primary thing because we are servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and I've never heard of service from Thomas Road or from here or anywhere that didn't glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and so it's a privilege for me to be here and stand in this place and I would like to say to Chancellor Jerry Falwell and president Gilman and chairman of the board dr. vines and the Board of Trustees to the class of 97 to the faculty to the administration to the parents and the friends that are here when I got up this morning and saw the rain I never dreamed we'd be out here today only God could have brought us here because I think if they had asked my opinion I would have said let's go inside but my thoughts were overruled by the Lord and here you are twice or maybe three times as many as you could have gotten inside once I was in England we've had the election in England that is called such a big stir around the world in the last few days and I suppose that the most left-wing college in the whole world has been the School of Economics at the University of London in London and I was invited there to address the students at that school and the place was packed and they were laughing and cheering and making fun of me and one of them burst out on the stage while I spoke scratching himself like an ape and I determined that that was a salute to his ancestors and I told him that he did remind me of my ancestors and they all roared with laughter and then I added of course my ancestors came from Britain and from that point on they listened a little more attentively so for me being at a Christian University is like a refreshing spiritual ouais in the world's academic wasteland of secularism and skepticism many years ago I was about to give a commencement address at Wheaton College and I turned to the president as we were standing in line gowns and ready to go and I said to dr. Edmond I said how long do you think I'll to speak and he said well if you take 12 minutes that'll be two minutes too long and I never forgot that and I never forgot when I graduated from school the speaker went on and on and on and must have taken at least 12 minutes and my wife and I were graduating in the same class and what a wonderful day that was and it's a wonderful day here today I'm aware today that many of you are concerned about the future finding God's will for your life you've been here and I'm assuming that most of you know Christ as your Lord and Savior but some of you are concerned about getting a job and getting on with life and what you're going to do to support yourself and maybe the girlfriend that you have in hope to marry so I want to share some thoughts with you about economics today especially on the subject of investments unless things have changed since I was a student you haven't managed to save much money during your college years but you do possess something of great value greater than money a non-renewable resource that is moving inevitably toward total depletion and there's nothing you can do about it and that resource is time in a few minutes you'll be scattering in different places you graduates and you'll have a diploma perhaps in your hand and you have a life of uncertain length ahead of you for some of you it'll be a life that will be long for others it will be surprisingly short and if you reach my age you will wonder where the time has a student of the university asked me some time ago what is the greatest surprise in your life and I said the greatest surprise in life to me is the brevity of life so let me urge you to consider three things as you decide how to invest your life first time is our investment capital your only choice is to use it or to lose it even invest it or let it dribble like sand through your fingers Jesus told the story and loop the 19th chapter of a nobleman who before going on a journey commanding his stewards put this money to work till I come back invested the Lord expects us to use what he's given us for then money time or talents in profitable ways and he promises his personal audit of our lives when he returns can you imagine getting your life audited all of your thoughts all of your dreams all of your work everything audited by the angels of heaven the second thing time is an equal opportunity employer each human being has exactly the same number of hours and minutes in every day fourteen hundred and forty minutes it adds up to one hundred and sixty eight hours per week in Psalm 90 the tenth chapter the Bible indicates that our allotted time on earth may be 70 years or possibly an extension to 80 or maybe a few more even the psalmist therefore goes on to say teach us to number our days are right that we may gain a heart of wisdom let's think about that a moment the number and a lifetime our first 15 years a childhood and adolescence we spend a total of 20 years sleeping in our final years physical limitations may curtail our activities so we have only 30 best years left and part of that time must be spent eating meals building family and social relationships working at our jobs and sleeping and figuring out our income tax and rich people cannot buy more hours than the rest of us it allows for that each day has 80 as 86,400 seconds to invest that's how much you have every day and it allows for no balances no overdrafts if you fail to use each day's deposits your loss cannot be recovered you cannot afford time and use it on another day Paul tells the Ephesians to redeem the time because the days are evil and if ever we lived in evil days we live in a noun and if ever there's a time to redeem every minute every second it's now redeem is a word from the business world it means to by redeeming the time means making most of every opportunity depth is a better measurement of life than length our natural tendency is to count the days God tells us to make every day count will this be that kind of a commencement for you time is the capital we've been given by God to invest wisely thirdly so the question is where do we invest it God calls us to invest our time capital our very lives primarily in people not in projects of possessions God invested his only begotten Son in us sinners not because we were prospects to give him a good payoff but because his heart is overflowing with love for us and when the Lord Jesus Christ was dying on that cross he was dying because he loved us so much that he took our sins and he became sin for us people in our world are suffering desperately from the consequences of ignoring God in his love we read the stories in the papers this week about Zion and all the suffering and all the killing that's going on that's just one part of the world it seems like the whole world is beginning to explode sometimes this is open and glaring like the hatred and civil wars that are going on all over the world also we see people throwing rocks and stones in the Holy Land in Jerusalem even in Bethlehem and in many other troubled places around the world but sometimes our errors and terrors are more subtly subtle equally frightening but in a different way physical beauty or brawn for example may conceal a bit wilded mind or a battered spirit even as a college campus like this as you graduate today I can hear even some of you saying I wish I knew the Lord's will for my life I've prayed about it I've struggled with it I've done all I can I still don't know all of us occasionally grapple with discovering the guidance of God in specific matters that concern us I struggled with that problem every day at your age I knew I didn't want to be an undertaker and I didn't want to be a preacher and the first of those never opened up for me the second put me in a real wrestling match with the Holy Spirit and one midnight 59 years ago on the 18th green of a golf course that surrounded our little Bible School in I got on my knees weeping before God and I said Oh God I'll go where you want me to go and I'll be what you want me to be not knowing that that what that would mean or where it will lead and apart from our career God's will first and fulness for all of us is that you love him with all your heart your soul your mind your strength then God's will for you is that you live a holy life we are to behave like Jesus he's our example he lived and died for others jesus told His disciples lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven he said invest in heaven what are those treasures or investments they're people who need to know God people are the stocks in which we're to invest our time time is the capital God has given us to invest we constantly hear people talk about the year 2000 but the bright millennium that has been presented to us by some politicians does not seem to exist in the minds and hearts of millions for many there's hopelessness and discouragement and uncertainty and fear as they look into the future from my own experience may I say to you young people today facing your careers and the understand uncertainties of life but the best of all investments that you can make is to help people come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior amen we call that evangelism and at this commencement this beginning of a new phase of your life you can make that commitment to love God with and your neighbors right here and now do it today you may not have tomorrow your generation will bear the brunt of the futures uncertainties not one of us at any age has a clue as to how long we will live that's why the Bible says now is the accepted time behold now is the day of salvation you can't count your days but with Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord you can make your days count you can invest whatever time is yours for a high-yield return in the lives of people whom you introduced to Jesus Christ you've attended this great University one of the great new universities in this country and in the world and you have learned here what it means to put God first in your life you've had examples set for you you've had mentors that you shouldn't trade anything in the world for what a privilege to be in a place like this right now you can decide to invest the rest of your life in such a way that someday you will hear God say to you well done good and faithful servant come and share your masters happiness I'm asking you today not to graduate but to commence a new life following the will of God every step of the way god bless you thank [Applause]

Channel: Liberty University

Views: 38,172

Rating: 4.872941 out of 5

Keywords: Liberty University, LibertyU, Liberty, Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Commencement Speaker, Commencement Speech, Graduation Speech

Id: yJI91swwQ1s

Length: 17min 0sec (1020 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 21 2018