Dr. Ravi Zacharias - Liberty University Baccalaureate

this evening's keynote speaker is among the best known Christian speakers and authors of our time as a global spokesman for Christ dr. Ravi Zacharias has for more than 40 years traveled the world speaking in every imaginable setting to the dearest friends and the most ardent critics of the Christian faith he was born in India in 1946 he emigrated to Canada with his family 20 years later Ravi and his wife Margie who is with him here today have three children including Naomi who spoke here at convocation at Liberty last spring they have one grandchild and two more on the way Robbie pursued a career in business management before he began speaking and writing dr. Zacharias has been a visiting scholar at Cambridge University where he studied more or less philosophers and literature of the Romantic era he presently as a senior research fellow at Wickliffe Hall at Oxford University he has lectured at Harvard Princeton and many more of the world's best-known universities he has addressed riders of the peace accord in South Africa the president's cabinet and Parliament in Peru military officers at the Lenin military academy and the center for geopolitical strategy in Moscow in fact he's just returned from Moscow in the last few days at the invitation of the president of Nigeria he addressed delegates at the first annual prayer breakfast for African leaders held in Mozambique he has had the privilege of also addressing the National Prayer Breakfast in the seats of government in Canada and England and has twice spoken at the annual prayer breakfast at the United States the United Nations in New York it's an event that marks the beginning of the UN General Assembly each year dr. Zacharias is a trusted advisor to many of the most influential leaders in the world in this nation alone he frequently consults with senators congressmen governors he's addressed the florida legislature the governor's prayer breakfast in Texas the CIA in Washington DC and has served as the honorary chairman of the National Day of Prayer in 2008 as such she gave addresses to the White House the Pentagon and the Canon House dr. Zacharias has authored or edited over 20 books his three english-language radio programs air on over 2,000 outlets worldwide and his Spanish language program is heard in 17 of the 21 spanish-speaking countries in the world his television program let my people think his broadcast is broadcast internationally in several countries including the country with the world's largest Muslim population Indonesia today he continues to serve as the founder and president of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries headquartered in Atlanta Georgia with offices around the world we have been attempting to host dr. Zacharias here at Liberty for several years given his extremely busy speaking schedule all over the world we are honoured privileged and deeply grateful that he chose to be with us here at Liberty for our historic 40th commencement I would like to invite dr. Zacharias to join dr. Godwin dr. Hawkins on my right in recognition of your scholarship and your intellectual contribution to the Church of Jesus Christ and your tireless efforts to present the gospel of Jesus Christ around the world by the power vested in me by the Board of Trustees of Liberty University the doctor of sacred theology is hereby converting fired upon ravi zacharias with all the rights privileges and appurtenances their into their into pertaining sorry congratulations doctor [Applause] now it is my privilege to welcome to present to you your baccalaureate speaker dr. Ravi Zacharias [Applause] dr. Falwell distinguished members of the faculty ladies and gentlemen and honored graduates of this great University it's my privilege to be here and I'm honored to finally get to Liberty over the many years I was hoping someday that would indeed happen as an itinerant you think often years ahead and your days get committed quite quickly I do remember and dr. Falwell himself senior well before he passed away on a couple of occasions calling me and what a privilege it was to just have that conversation on the phone with him hoping that someday our paths would cross here I was making the comment in the room before we came here that the vintage that dr. Jerry Falwell represented so unique so extraordinary combining courage with compassion and conviction and taking a stand in the best possible way to make a difference in life undergirding at all with the message of Jesus Christ that vintage passing off the scene is a big challenge to us more recently with the passing of Chuck Colson I felt the same sense of loss and so did those of you who are graduates you know all it takes is one man or woman to step on the scene and change the course of history this has happened again and again and again whether it was a Wesley or a Whitfield or a Wilberforce or a deal moody you see suddenly a man or woman coming on to that center point of the arrow that God uses to transform culture I would like to talk to you today as briefly as I can within the time that I have on what a person looks like who truly is that kind of influence in society but I want to read for you a few verses from Scripture before I get into that it is a story of Daniel as he stood before Nebuchadnezzar and indeed before the the very nation of Babylon as the challenge was given to them and they were sought out to be remoulded reshaped take a notice of what happened these men were in exile and all of a sudden the highest man in the land is asking for the best of these young men to be selected strong in their countenance impressive in their personality and what was it that was going to take place they were to be reprogrammed and a new set of values planted within them they were to be taught the philosophy the literature and the language of the babylonians philosophy the way they reason literature through the back door of the imagination and the entire change of culture could begin once that language was handed to them the philosophy literature and language to help these men rethink all that there was to be challenging them within this new culture so that a new set of values would be born into them and then transferred through them to the next generation the Bible says this but Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the Royal food and wine he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way now her God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel but the official told Daniel I'm afraid of my lord the king who has assigned your food and drink why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age the king would then have my head because of you he goes on to show how Daniel reasoned with him and then in verse 17 to these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning and Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds at the end of the time set by the King to bring them in the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar the King talked with them and he found none equal to Daniel Hananiah Mishael and Azariah so they entered the King's service in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the King questioned them he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters of his whole kingdom and Daniel remained there under the first year of king cyrus percy bysshe shelley the great poet bend these words which we are almost seeing unfold even to this very day he said I met a traveller from an antique land who said two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert near them on the sand half sunk a shattered visage lies whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command del dat the sculptor well those passions read the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed which yet survive stamped on these lifeless things and on the pedestal these words appear my name is Ozymandias king of kings look on my works ye mighty and despair nothing beside remains round that colossal wreck boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away my name is Ozymandias king of kings look on my works ye mighty and despair nothing beside remains round that colossal wreck boundless and bare the lone and level sands stretch far away you can go to the Middle East today and see the broken statues of one-time demagogues whose frown and wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command tell that the sculptor well those passions read they come and go they stand with an authoritarianism a demagogue explainer given to themselves and all of a sudden rebellion comes as they are overthrown you just see them somewhere in desert terrain it's one side of the picture and there's another side of it who are the ones who can dare stand before them with the conviction of God's truth and reaching out with the love that God alone is big enough to plant in a heart like that I just returned from the former Soviet Union and Moscow came back two days ago about to leave in two days from now to China and I look at all that those nations represent in demagogues and how they have stood individuals before them who've changed history in the year 2000 Russia started to release its political prisoners in the midst of them was a man called Andres Thomas who had been incarcerated for 55 years he was a Hungarian he was talking gibberish and finally somebody said execute him he is of no use to anyone but somebody said at least bring in a psychiatrist to examine him before you choose to execute him so they went and brought a Hungarian psychiatrist he stayed with Thomas for a few days and he came out and said you know what he's not insane he's not talking gibberish he's talking an old Hungarian dialect you have nearly driven him insane you brought him in here when he was 20 he has now lived in near solitary confinement for over 50 years give him back to us we will make him well hundra's Thomas was put into a wheelchair and being taken out what do you think was the first request he made if you have not heard the story the first request he made was for a mirror he had not seen a mirror since the age of 20 he looked into the mirror for a fraction of a moment and then turned it away buried his face in his hands and sobbed uncontrollably what do you think it would be like for over half a century not to look at your own reflection in some way you start off in the robust variability of youth and now you're a wizened old man looking at all that time has extracted and exacted from you you know we take for granted a mirror we get up every morning do unnecessary ablutions put on innocent forms of disfigurement and we walk out of there to look like what we wished we did and yet when you come back from a long journey you realize you actually resemble your passport picture much more than you resemble anything else it's true is there a mirror for the soul is there a reflection that you can glean that you can gain of what God intended for you and me to look like to stand before the powers of our time and how best is a life like that friend I want to take you tonight to look at one man like that his man well his name was Daniel and he knew where to draw the lines and to those of you about to graduate on the eve of that graduation you are drawing one line today you're crossing over all the discipline of study that you poured in in all of the long hours are bringing you this reward of walking away from here with learning understanding experience and countering Mentors and a certificate to remind you what you accomplished during this time I wanted to talk to you a little bit tonight about the three lines that'll be important for you to draw as you proceed from here and you will learn from Daniel how he marched to a different drummer the lines that he drew that helped him become a world changer the first is this he drew the line of resistance by training his appetite he trained his hungers there was nothing wrong with the eating at the Kings table he could have had a banquet night after night day after day and enjoyed it after all he could have seen it as God's provision for him a few weeks ago I had a marvelous opportunity of speaking at the state prayer breakfast in Honolulu in Hawaii you know those are very hard invitations to turn down it's interesting shortly before that I was the week before I was speaking in Iowa and every time people ask me where were you going I said well heading to Iowa to speak at the prayer breakfast and they say we were praying for you following week they said where you going I said to the Hawaiian prayer breakfast they said have fun that's the kind of image people have go there and have fun but you know in the itinerant life there are these elements there are the seductions why would one want to go to Saskatoon in February when you can end up going instead to Honolulu and enjoy the scenery then if you have a resistance to winter you'd rather be in the Hawaiian temperatures rather than having to get a tired three or four layers of clothes we move towards the direction of our comfort we do but the important thing is how God reminds us never to get so comfortable that comforts that it is the comfort principle that ends up driving all that you do here is a man who trained his appetite training his longings training his hungers and the marvelous thing is this how he reminded himself again and again that he did not want to get spoiled by all that the king would afford to him and give to him instead he disciplined himself and backed away from even that which could have been all right for him to enjoy but he resisted it for a greater and a higher call I want to talk to you a little bit about training your hungers the truth of the matter is that we make small decisions in the early days of our lives that often can put some deep desires within us that are not good for long run in the long haul I remember some years ago when I got a telephone call at 11 o'clock at night my worldview changes after 9:00 p.m. I'm an early Tibet guy but I'm p.m. I don't want to discuss anything serious with anybody I'd rather do it at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning and after 9 p.m. so if anybody calls me after 9 or 9:30 I assume it's pretty urgent I recognized the voice and he said rather you awake I said not really I was awakened by this telephone he said can I talk to you I said yes he said I want you to pray for me I'm in trouble I'm in serious trouble this man was a medical doctor he functioned in the emergency room he said tonight they brought a young woman in so badly beaten so brutalized almost every major bone in her body was broken and as she was wheeled in by the paramedics they said doc she's too far gone there's nothing you can do he said I looked at her battered body and I thought this gon be it I'm gonna do my best to rescue her he said I got scrubbed called my team around me and he said the only hope I had was to give a direct heart massage I slipped the side of the ribcage put my hand into that chest cavity so that I could hold the heart in my hand and keep pumping it and pumping it to see if I could get some life back there he said just turned like blubber into my hands and he said I walked away from there and I thought what happened who did this to her what was it all about he said I was washing my hands literally with my eyes filled with tears and the nurse comes with a bag full of paraphernalia empties it onto a table and she says doc you better take a look at this it was all drug-related stuff used needles and all the junk that was in that bag he said as I was looking at that I was wiping my hands dry when I noticed he said I had nicked my finger when I put my hand into the ribcage [Music] he said have myself and I have made contact with terribly diseased blood and he said I'm a young father I want you to pray for me I said is the cut deep he said no it's about a paper-thin cut I said you're telling me that a paper-thin cut like this could put you in jeopardy for a disease that would take away all of your resistance to any other disease he said it doesn't take anything more than that doesn't take anything more than that and I thought when I hung up and woke up the next morning reflecting on it the first thought that came to my mind first thought can we put paper cuts to our soul early in life can we entertain a habit can we begin a relationship can we make a choice could it be one evening that lacerates you in such a way that puts a different kind of hunger into you and the destruction process can set in do you young men especially I want to give you this challenge there are people out there with businesses and productions and ideas whose sole purpose is to cut you in your soul and get you hooked and reprogrammed so that you will then have hungers and passions and desires that no one human being on the face of the earth can ever fulfill all they end up doing is framing your mind and creating within you a kind of imagination that is ultimately insatiable never ever satisfied in this day of mass communication with computers and so on we are living with a great deal of danger for our young people I remember talking slightly about this on one occasion in a university in a seminary setting in Midwestern Canada I just mentioned this whole scourge of the pornographic Empire and at the end when the invitation was given every aisle in that auditorium was filled with kneeling men tears running down their faces wanting to retrain their hungers my daughter had the privilege of coming here and speaking Naomi she works in the rescue of women and children from the prostitution industry she's been pleading with me to write a book with her on pornography she says dad if I could only tell you the devastation this thing reeks and I have fought it off and fought it off and fought it off because I hate to even get into the research of something like this graduates draw the line in the right places so that you can train your hungers the second thing was he drew his line of resistance by training his appetite but he drew also his line of dependence what does that dependence to go beyond the reading to go beyond the learning to seek wisdom you see Nebuchadnezzar did an extraordinary thing he had this dream again and again it was a culture in which dreams and visions mental off a lot and this repeated dream of a statue with a head and shoulder of go head and shoulders of gold the breast as it were of silver the girth made of bronze the legs made of iron and the feet of a mixture of iron and clay and a stone cut out of no man's hand smashes that statue and he wants to know what this means what it all means and so the magician's and the enchanter is very clever they came one day and said we will be able to interpret for you because you're threatening our lives otherwise just tell us the dream and we will interpret it he said not so quick boys you tell me the dream as well if you're that capable and then you interpret it you know I grew up in India where we had these bombers and astrologers always telling us our future I will never forget my mother bringing in one of these bombers to read the palms of my older brother my two sisters my younger brother five of us and he's going around looking at each one of the palm and giving them all these glorious future predictions then he holds mine in his hand and he looks at and he goes and my mother is standing there I said that's it I'm being confirmed as a loser and then he looks at me and he says Ravi Baba which is Ravi little boy and then in Hindi he says to me you're not gonna travel at all in your life you're gonna be stuck right here it was on a day where everybody wanted to go abroad all I can say to you now is I hope I meet up with him someday because the only possible career for him is weather reporting because it's the only one where you can make so many mistakes and still have millions view you in living color and you still claim to your degrees and never going to travel very much the enchanters and magicians were like that and Nebuchadnezzar says no no no you tell me what the dream is so they're all gonna have their heads lopped off Saddam Hussein avowedly stated he wanted to build his empire like that of Nebuchadnezzar was bad any patterning it after him and so Daniel comes on the scene and he gets on his knees and he says God we're in trouble I don't have the learning I don't have the knowledge I don't have the books only you are able to tell me what the dream was and God reveals it to him it's tough dream to talk to about Nebuchadnezzar he goes and looks at Nebuchadnezzar and says I want to tell you something that which I'm about to tell you has nothing to do with my learning it has nothing to do with my education it has nothing to do with my intellect it has everything to do with God's wisdom and now I will unfold to you your dream you can only learn so much from books you can only learn so much from education ultimately that which will carry you through will be the wisdom of God in the toughest situations of life [Applause] I remember a few years ago the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Kerry asked five of us men to go with him to meet with the Israeli and the Palestinian leaders to try and bring them together we don't worked hard for several days we were exhausted and that afternoon they had gone to see you sir are a fat I backed out of that I just didn't feel it was right I felt we were going to be used by him as it turned out it was right that's enough so that's on an aside the last one we met with the sheikh talal one of the four founders of a mess and he was a powerfully-built man room filled with them puffing tobacco and so on served us a great meal he'd spent 18 years in prison he'd lost some of his children's suicide bombers Archbishop Kerry led him the talk bringing him to a point and then it was getting close to leaving time he gave each one of us five men a chance to ask him one question I asked him mine I won't tell you what it was it was a very private setting but I didn't like his answer finally looked at him I said sheikh talal you and i may never meet again but I don't like your answer sir and I want to tell you something so not far from where you and I are sitting this a mountain 5,000 years ago a man by the name of very Abraham climbed up that mountain to offer his son as a sacrifice remember that he said yes I said let's not argue about which son it was let's just agreed was his son he said yes I said Abraham takes this boy up and the ax is about to come down and God stops that harem he says that's right I said what did God say and he just stared at me I said you know what God said God said stop I myself would provide he said that's right I said very close to where you and I are sitting sheikh talal 2000 years ago God kept that promise and he took his own son up that hill and this time the ax did not stop he just kept staring at me I said shake until you and I received the Sun God has provided for you in me we will be offering our own sons and daughters on the battlefields of this world for position power land and prestige [Applause] there was such an obvious silence in the room and the archbishop said I think it's time for us to go I said brother I'm blown it I was walking up towards the stairs where we were to head down and the archbishop came around me and put his arm around me and he said Ravi that was of God I said I sure hope so I said I want to tell you something sir I've never thought of that before and just happened now cedra's right we walked down and shaked the lattice coming at the back and he runs to get the archbishop into the car because he was the guest of honor and then he runs over towards me I thought that's it I'm gonna be buried in Ramallah now he comes over and turns me around and he looks at me and he said first patted me on both sides of the face he said mrs. arias you're a good man I hope I will see you again someday and he wipes the tear off opens the car door after giving me a big hug kiss on both sides of the face and say helps me in I don't know if I'll ever see him again but I do know this much that in that fraction of a moment God gave me the privilege with his wisdom to share the story of the cross line of resistance the line of depend the line of dependence on Estella graduates outside of the cross of Jesus Christ there is no hope in this world that cross and resurrection at the core of the gospel is the only hope for Humanity wherever you go ask God for wisdom on how to get that gospel in even in the toughest situations of life lastly his line of confidence his line of confidence his line of resistance his line of dependence in his line of confidence he knew that ultimately the truth would triumph and you know what ladies and gentlemen three monarchs in a row crossed over to his side of the line he never crossed over to theirs remarkable remarkable that SWAT is a reflection the soul that God intends for you and me to draw the line in the right places to be shaped for his purpose to be able to stand before the toughest adversaries and to see that the difference will ultimately count you know it is fascinating when you look at China today I was a nanjing some years ago and in 1966 Mao Zedong burned the seminary in Nanjing and he said the Christian faith would be forever gone out of the country never to return Mao Zedong is dead and gone the fastest-growing Church in the world today is in China [Applause] I want to close with two very simple illustrations it was a few years ago that I had this experience three years ago when I was invited at that time to China and the gentleman invited me will be with me in four days from now he had recently come to know Christ through some conversations we'd had and he had powerful influence he brought one of the highest members of the Politburo I shall not even give the title because it would not be right we spend three hours plus answering her questions she had represented China in a hundred and ten countries and at the end of answering her questions I said may I pray with you she said yes please we bowed our heads and we finished praying and I'll never forget her opening lines she said dr. Zacharias I am in my 70s this is the first time I have ever heard anybody praying she said the only prayer I heard before this was three hours ago when you prayed for the food before we ate as our host asked you to pray I was shocked she said you know what moved me when your prayer began by first praying for the servants in the kitchen and thanking your God for them in a classless society that was the shattering of a wall before her and what a thrill in the toughest regions of the world to see the transformation of lives it's happening again and again and again graduates you are facing a tough world you are facing a changing world you're facing a resistant world you're facing a hostile world but you know the gospel story is always used to rising up and out living its pallbearers take the message it's live it's powerful it's transforming and what I'd like to do is leave you with the words of the hymn that Charles Wesley wrote or thou who came us from above the pure celestial fire to impart Kindle a flame of sacred love on the mean altar of my heart they let it for thy glory burned with inextinguishable blazed and trembling to its source return in humble prayer and fervent praise Jesus confirm my heart's desire to work and speak and think for thee still let me guard the holy fire and still stir up thy gifts in me ready for all thy perfect will my acts of faith and love repeat till death by endless mercy seal and make my sacrifice complaint draw the line of resistance draw the line of dependence and draw the line of confidence and may God bless you as you see multiples of people crossing over from that side over to this to become followers of Jesus Christ which is the reason this institution exists and does so for the glory of God and that is the reason I'm privileged to be here and most grateful for the invitation thank you and god bless you [Applause] you

Channel: Liberty University

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Keywords: Liberty University, Liberty, commencement, graduation, class of 2013, college, university, school, student, campus, christian, Ravi Zacharias, Baccalaureate

Id: fdxVhqncmP4

Length: 36min 24sec (2184 seconds)

Published: Sun May 12 2013