Alright, so today, as you know, we are recognising our graduates. So we're gonna name them all again because I want you to go home and all of this week I want you to be praying for all 7 of them. Okay? So call one out. Let's see your memory. Emily... Naomi... Daniela... Chelsea... Somebody said Adam, Nolan and Lindsay.
Hey, so keep those names in your head, in your heart, and be praying for them as well as all students that are finishing up the year and the teachers. So in addition to recognising graduates this morning, we are also looking forward to this afternoon when we will be celebrating 3 young people who who have made the decision to follow Jesus, accept him as Lord and Saviour, and be baptised. I know. So both of these moments, graduation and baptism, mark a turning point. Graduation closes one season of learning and launches you into what comes next. Baptism is a declaration that an old life has been left behind and a new life in Christ has begun. In both, something is ending and something new is beginning. There's excitement, but also perhaps a bit of a feeling of uncertainty because you can't fully see what lies ahead. And that's what makes this moment so powerful. It's a step forward without having the whole journey mapped out for you. It's a moment that feels a lot like what I hope we're going to see in our movie clip? Yes, okay.
In this scene from Lord of the Rings. So if we could play the clip and turn the lights down.
[Movie Clip from Lord of the Rings]
This is it. This is what? If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been. Come on, Sam. Remember what Bilbo used to say? It's a dangerous business. Frodo, going out your door, you step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.
[end of Movie Clip]
So as we just saw, Frodo and Sam are stepping out of what is familiar and safe and into something that's unknown. Something bigger than they can yet understand. And like them, these graduates and those being baptised today are taking a step, not because they can see the whole path ahead, but because they are choosing to move forward in faith. Leaving the Shire in a moment is a moment where everything changes. Frodo knows he can't stay where he is, but he also can't yet see where he's going. And maybe the most powerful line in that scene comes from Sam. When he says, "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been." And that's what stepping into a new chapter can feel like. It's not seeing the whole road, it's simply taking that next step. And that's often what faith looks like too. So if you have a Bible and you want to open it up, or if you want to bring it up on your phone, um, I'm just reading from Colossians chapter 2 and just 2 verses, verses 6 and 7. So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
So in these verses we see that the Christian life holds both an ending and a beginning. There's an ending: you received Christ. Which is a moment of decision, it's a, a moment of surrender. And there's a beginning where we continue to live in him, which tells us life with Jesus is an ongoing journey of walking with him. And for graduates and for those being baptised, this is especially meaningful. These are moments where one chapter closes and another begins. And often this is exactly how God works. Through endings that become beginnings, through transitions that invite us to keep walking forward with him. So listen again as I read verse 6: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. So accepting Christ and being baptised is a beginning, the opening chapter, and when we open a book and we begin to read the story. The opening pages are where sometimes we decide whether we're gonna continue reading or not, and it's where everything gets set in motion. It introduces us to the world, the setting, and the main character. It gives us a glimpse of what normal looks like before anything changes.
But it doesn't stop there. It also raises questions, stirs up curiosity, and then introduces the disruption, a moment that shifts everything and launches the journey. And from that point on, the storey begins to move. The central character steps out of the ordinary and into something new, facing challenges that will shape who they become. The first chapter isn't the whole story. It's the beginning of transformation. It plants the roots of what's to come and prepares us for a journey that will ultimately lead to growth, to change and a return that looks very different from where it all began. So now let's look at verse 7. Rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. Our privilege as a church family is not just to stand on the sidelines and watch the next gen grow. It's to be part of the journey. To our next gens that are here today, I tell you, we are called to walk alongside you, to support and encourage you. We are called to model accountability and to love you the way that God loves you—fully, unreservedly, and without judgement. And that kind of love doesn't leave you where you are at this moment, at this stage of your journey.
It cares enough to challenge you, to walk with you through the refining process, so that your faith doesn't become stagnant but continues to grow. We want to love you too much to leave you as you are, and we want to walk alongside you on the path that the Lord is leading you on until such time that you may be called to somewhere new. And when this chapter closes and you step into the next, we will continue to follow your storey with gratitude, thankful that we were part of how it began. So these two short verses from Colossians have so much to teach us, and we're gonna dig a bit deeper into what they say and what we can take away from them today. So first off, as I already mentioned, endings often create a beginning. Graduation is an ending. Classes come to a close. A familiar season of life wraps up. Daily routines shift. And relationships change. What has been known and predictable gives way to something new and uncertain. Baptism is also an ending. It marks the symbolic bur— burial of the old life, the life centred on self, sin, and independence from God.
And as we go under the water, it represents that something real is being left behind. But neither of these moments is ultimately about what is ending. They're about what is beginning. And that's exactly where Colossians 2:6-7 speaks into our lives. What Paul is saying in these verses is there is a starting point. Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, that's the beginning, that's the moment of faith, the moment of surrender, the moment everything changes. But he doesn't stop there. He says, "Continue." Keep going, keep walking, keep living in him. In other words, the Christian life is not just about a moment, it's about a movement. It's not just about a decision, it's about a direction. Graduation asks, "What will you build your life on next?" Baptism asks, "Now that you belong to Christ, how will you live?" But both moments bring us to the same question: What comes next? And Scripture answers that question clearly. What comes next is a life rooted in Christ, built on him, strengthened through him, and growing in him. The ending of one chapter is simply the beginning of a life that continues to be deeper, stronger, and more fully grounded in Jesus.
Now, if endings often create beginnings, then I think we can know that God is the Lord of both endings and beginnings. Throughout Scripture, God consistently meets his people not just in the middle of their storeys but right at the turning points, the moments of transition and of uncertainty and change. The Bible itself begins with God bringing order out of chaos in Genesis. What looks like emptiness and void becomes the very place where God speaks life and creation into being. Abraham is called to leave everything familiar—his home, his land, his security—and step into a future that he cannot yet see. God doesn't give him the full map. He gives him a promise and calls him to go. Moses leads God's people faithfully, but his storey ends before he enters the Promised Land. And just when it seems like a major chapter is closed, Joshua's there, and God's work continues. The ending of one leader becomes the beginning of another. And then we come to the cross, the moment that looked like the greatest ending of all. Hope seemed lost. The storey seemed finished. But the crucifixion was not the end. It led to the resurrection. Jesus didn't start over.
He rose in victory. And through him, new life is given to all who trust in him. This is the pattern that we see again and again. What feels like an ending is often the very place where God is already at work preparing something new. And that matters for us because when we walk through transitions, it's easy to focus on what we're losing. What we're leaving behind, or what feels uncertain. But scripture reminds us that we're never stepping into the unknown alone. The same God who was faithful in the last chapter is already present in the next one. He is not just the God who meets us after the transition, he is the Lord over it. Which means that when one chapter ends, instead of asking, "What now?" A better question would be, "God, what are you beginning?" So today we know we're celebrating some milestones, and milestones are a good thing, but like all good things, we do need to be aware of the flip side. And when it comes to milestones, we have to be careful not to misunderstand what those moments are for, because milestones are powerful. But they can also be misleading.
A graduation can quietly convince us, "I've arrived. I've reached something final." A baptism can suddenly feel like, "I've completed something. I've done what I needed to do." But Scripture gently corrects that way of thinking. In these verses from Colossians, Paul says that just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him. In other words, the receiving was never meant to be the destination. It was the starting point. The moment when you first trusted Christ, that was the beginning of a life lived with him, not the completion of one. Baptism doesn't mark the end of your faith journey, it marks the visible beginning of it. And the same is true with graduation. A diploma may represent years of work and achievement, but it's not the destination. It's a doorway into what comes next. The danger is that we begin to build our lives around moments instead of movement. We celebrate the milestone, but then we slow down, we pause, we settle. We start to think we've reached something when in reality we've only just begun. Only just begun. Sorry, that song just popped into my head. But the Christian life was never meant to be defined by a series of spiritual checkpoints.
It's not about arriving at certain moments and then just coasting. It's about continuing to walk, to grow. It's about being rooted and built up in Christ over time. Otherwise, we end up with what we see with some people. They make the decision, "I accept Christ, got my golden ticket to heaven, and I'm done." And then they stop. They stop growing, they stop attending, Right? We've all seen that. But Paul's language is intentional. Rooted. Built up. Strengthened. Those are not one-time events, they're ongoing processes. The diploma isn't the destination. The baptism certificate isn't the destination. The Christian life is not built around a single moment, it is a lifelong journey walking with Jesus step by step, day by day, growing deeper into him. Now, I told you all last week that we were done with the So What series, done with the theme of planting and growing, right? Technically, I didn't lie, but we do need to talk about roots again today, particularly how roots matter more than the next step. So graduates are often asked the same kind of questions. Where you going? What are you gonna do next? What career do you want? Are you going back to school?
Yes, get asked those. Mm-hmm. And they're good questions. They matter. They shape direction. But Paul asks a deeper question, one that matters even more: What are you rooted in? Because according to what Paul told the Colossian church, the stability and growth of your life doesn't come from having the perfect plan. That's a relief. They come from being rooted and built up in Jesus. Think about a tree. A tree doesn't survive storms because of how impressive the branches look. It survives because of how deep the roots go. The strength you see above ground is directly connected to what you don't see below it. And the truth is, the future is uncertain. And it may seem particularly so in our present time. I think most of our young people would say that things are a little scary. They're constantly changing so much. Universities will change, careers will change, relationships change, plans change. And the reality is, is right now the world changes and rapidly. The path you think you're on today may look very different a few years from now. So if your identity, your security, or your sense of purpose are rooted in those things, then every time something shifts, it will feel like your whole life is shaking.
But if you're rooted in Christ, if your life is grounded in him, then even when everything around you changes, you remain steady. That's why Paul doesn't say, "Have the right plan." He says, "Be rooted in the right person." Because roots matter most when circumstances change. And here's the encouragement: You don't have to have your whole future figured out today. Most of us who graduated several years ago, maybe, we'd like— probably more than what we would like to think. Have we all got it figured out? No. Anybody got their entire life plan figured out and they know for— no. Good to know I'm not the only one. You don't need to see every step ahead. What matters most is not how clearly you can see the path, it's how deeply you are connected to Christ. Because when your roots are in him, he will sustain you, strengthen you, and grow you regardless of where the path leads you. And as we come to the end of this message, I want to reiterate— I don't know why I struggled on that word— that the best beginnings start with Christ. A graduation is a new beginning, a baptism is a new beginning, and both are exciting.
But neither of those is the most important beginning. The most important beginning is the one Paul describes in Colossians 2:6, "Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord." That is the most exciting, coolest, most important beginning because everything changes at that moment. That is the beginning where your life is no longer built on shifting circumstances, personal achievement,— or uncertain plans, but on Christ himself. It is the moment where your identity is no longer something you have to construct, but just something you receive. It is the moment where your future is no longer something you carry alone, but something you walk into with him. And here's what I hope you will take away from this message today: When Christ is your foundation, every ending, no matter how uncertain, unexpected, or even painful can become a new beginning. At the beginning of this message, we watched Frodo and Sam standing at the edge of the Shire, taking that first step into the unknown. And it felt like the end of one chapter, and it was, but it wasn't the end of their story. That journey didn't end when they left the Shire. There were more miles, more challenges, more growth, more chapters still to come.
What looked like an ending was really just the beginning of a much bigger story. And that's true for you as well. This moment—graduation, baptism, this season of change—it may feel like a major turning point, and it is. But it is not the destination. It is the beginning of a lifelong journey. Like Paul says, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him. Walk and remind yourselves that you don't need to see the whole path. Walk and encourage yourself that when things are really hard, you just need to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Walk knowing that there will be obstacles, changes, and unknowns, but there is one walking with you who never changes. Keep walking and remember that it isn't about one moment, one decision, or one milestone. It's about a lifetime with Jesus. So as this chapter ends and the next one begins, don't focus first on looking ahead to where you're going. Focus on the one that you're walking with. Because the goal was never just to start with Christ. It's to continue with him through every chapter, step by step, wherever he leads. And on behalf of your whole church family, I would like to bless each of our grads and those entering the waters of baptism today with this prayer that Paul originally wrote for the church in Ephesus.
But it is also what I think we would like to pray for you. So if you'd just like to put your hand out, if you're next to— the worship team are going to come up, so Daniela, if you'd like to come up, and if it's okay if I put my hand on your shoulder, and we will just bless them. For this reason we kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. We pray that out of his glorious riches may he strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And we pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever.
Amen.
