Well, we are honored today to have Pastor Todd Abbey speaking here in chapel. Pastor Abbey graduated here from Bob Jones University in 1992. He pastored the Central Baptist Church of Greenville, Tennessee from 2002 until 2016. And in June of 2016, he became the pastor of the Fairfax Baptist Temple in Northern Virginia, which is the church that he grew up in. We have a number of young people that are here from that particular church, and we are so thankful to have him this morning. He has a passion for young people. He has a passion for evangelism and church planting. He's been on five continents and 25 different countries working with missionaries, and so I know you'll be blessed by his message. His wife, Rebecca, is here today, and they actually met their senior year, February of their senior year, and they were married that same year in October. So seniors, there's great hope for you yet, looking for the future. And so I'm going to ask my wife to stand with Rebecca and Mrs. Abbey. And so let's give Pastor Abbey and his wife a warm welcome here today. Amen, it is a joy and a privilege to be here with you this morning. This is a great honor for a young person that graduated from BJ many moons ago, and there is much that has changed. It would take me too long to tell you all the ways that the school has changed, but God is good, and all of the things that we encountered and dealt with, we could write a book uh... from our four years here in school and uh... all the great memories and successes and so forth and uh... walking through a number of different things take your bibles this morning ago with me if you would act chapter nine act chapter nine will get there in just a moment i would like to personally thank doctor pettit and his wife and their kindness to us and being able to speak uh... here at school uh... this is a privilege and i want to thank them for the Just the joy it is for me as a pastor to be able to speak to young people. God gave us the opportunity to serve in the youth pastorate for eight years, and then I became a pastor. And ever since I've been in the pastorate, God has afforded us the opportunity to interact with a number of interns. And so we love teenagers. We love college kids. and uh... it keeps us young we have two boys uh... one is seventeen and one is fourteen and uh... they've been a great blessing to us and so having uh... younger children i think we stay young and uh... we're just very very uh... honored to be able to be in the ministry and to be able to serve the lord together uh... i do i am glad that he introduced my wife she's the best thing that God gave to me here at BJ, and I'm very thankful for her, thankful for the investment that she's made on my behalf through these years, and she is far better than I deserve. Acts chapter 9, I want you to look at verse number 1. Acts chapter 9, verse number 1. And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went into the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus, and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven. And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the man which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man. But they led him by the hand and brought him unto Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink. Let's pray and ask God's blessings upon our time this morning. Father, thank you for the opportunity to stand before these young people. Thank you so much for their faculty, for the staff. We thank you for Bob Jones University. Thank you for Dr. Pettit and his wife. We thank you for the investment that they are making for eternity's sake. I thank you for all the professors and teachers and everyone that invested in my life. And I know many of them have finished up their ministry here and gone on, but I'm so grateful for what was done on my behalf and on behalf of my wife. Lord, you have been so very good to us in the ministry. And I pray for the young people today as they discern what you would have them to do with their life. I pray as we put our focus and time here on this significant question, I pray that you would cleanse me of sin and fill me with your spirit, that this time might be profitable for each one. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Sitting around the table last night, I was asking the young people about the difficult questions that you might have to ask at some point in time in life. I thought about the question that young people ask right after they get their driver's license and they say something like this, dad, can I have the car keys? You remember that first time that you went out in that vehicle all by yourself and your dad had entrusted you with the car keys. I'm mindful of that early stages of graduating from college and asking the question, did I get the job? and asking that possible employer. Or, after you've been there for a little while, you go in with fear and trepidation and you ask the question, can I have a raise? I've been here for a little while and would like a greater level of income. As I already mentioned, I have a lot of friends in law enforcement and so forth, and I'm mindful of that time in which you have a blue light following you in your vehicle. And that blue light begins to show itself in the vehicle behind you and you pull over and all the blood rushes from your head to your toes and you ask something like this, sir, are you going to give me a ticket? Almost inevitably they say, yes, I am. At some point in time, the young men here in the audience will probably ask this question, sir, can I marry your daughter? Maybe some of you have already asked that question. But then I'm mindful of the fact that after you get married, guys, at some point in time, your wife is gonna come in and she's gonna say something like this, does this outfit look good on me? Please be careful in your response. These are all kinds of tough or significant questions that are asked in life. Here in our passage there are two questions asked by a man. Now this man was a religious zealot, he had been sent by the Pharisees, by the religious councils and so forth that he might end the influence of Christianity. And here on the road to Damascus, there are two questions asked. Of course, we recognize the first one is that of a question of salvation. Who art thou, Lord? It would be a failure on my part to come into a setting like this and assume that everyone that's gathered in a Christian college automatically knows Jesus Christ as their Savior. If there be one today that does not know the Lord, my friend, would you please come to know Jesus? I know that's the primary desire of the administration. I know it's the primary desire of the faculty and staff. If you don't know the Lord, today's the day. Today's the day to come to know the Lord. But of course, that first question, that of salvation, but my focus and the moments that we have together is on that second question, and it is a tough question. It is not one of salvation, but it is one of service. And the Bible says here that Saul asks, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Now, I wonder this morning if you have ever asked God what he wants you to do with your life. Now very quickly as we walk through this, remember would you, Hebrews chapter 9 and verse number 27, the Bible says that we have one life. When I consider my life and the fact that I've been out of school for 25 years, I've been out of school longer than I was in school. And that, my friend, is hard to comprehend. But we have one life. Is my one life half over? Is it three-quarters of the way over or is it just within the coming distance that I will go into eternity and this one life will end? You have one life. Well, how will you use that one life? Will you say to Almighty God, what would thou have me to do? First of all, notice with me the possibilities, the possibilities in this question. We know that Saul pursued his goals in the name of religion on behalf of the Pharisees. But I believe it's entirely possible that there are students that have gathered here and they're getting their education and their pursuit is driven possibly by their parents. You have parents in certain respects that have certain places of employment and they want you to follow that same type of pursuit. And so you're here because of your parents. I think in Genesis of Jacob and Esau and how they were really driven by their mom and their dad and what they pursued. I think that there, it is possible that there are those that are here because of peers and, and what we see that are, that's coming from peers. Even talking last night about the nature of our societies and the societies we join. There's a lot of pressure to join this society or that society. And it's most often driven by peers. And so maybe you've chosen your course of life by the peers around you. Maybe some are driven by power. We recognize it in the scriptures, there was a man by the name of Haman. He was definitely driven by power and pursued things that he might have power unto himself. There are others that pursued things as a result of possessions. Matthew chapter number 19, the rich young ruler said to Jesus Christ that he loved his possessions more than he wanted eternal life. Well, there are many possibilities, but what is driving you this morning? Is it a drive to do exactly what God wants you to do with your life? There are many possibilities in the question, but would you notice number two with me, the priority of the question? Lord, what will Thou have me to do? I wish that I could go with each and every one of you and sit for a moment on a bench somewhere nearby and have you take a blank sheet of paper out and just write that question, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And I know for some of you it may be very difficult because what I've already mentioned is playing a part in the direction that you're taking. Saul admittedly and immediately recognized who was in the place of priority. First of all, he gave God the place of preeminence. John chapter 3 and verse number 30, John the Baptist said he must increase. In Colossians chapter 1 and verse number 18, that in all things he might have the preeminence, that he might have first place. Right now, it may be parental influence that has first place. Right now, it might be peers that have first place. Right now, it might be possessions. But in the very nature of the question, Lord, what will thou have me to do? He holds the place of preeminence, but not only that, God holds the place of purpose. Very quickly, if you would run your mind's eye back to Psalm 1, and the contrast between the two different types of people that are mentioned in Psalm 1. In Psalm 1, verses 1 through 3, we find the detailed nature of the righteous man. He's like that tree planted by the rivers of water. He has significant weight to his life. He produces fruit that blesses not only his own life, but blesses the lives of those around him. But the very next verse, verse number 4 of the Bible says, But the ungodly are not so, and they are like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Young people, if you want to have purpose in your life, then you give Almighty God the preeminence. The chaff is that stuff that is blown up into the wind and then driven away, and you look back and say to yourself, I thought I had a lot of value, but you recognize that it has all been wasted away. And so I say to you this morning in Acts chapter 9, the question is that of the priority, giving God the preeminence, living a life for Him that has great purpose. We see the possibilities, you have to make that choice. We see the priority of the question, but let me just very quickly give you the path to fulfillment. You say, okay pastor, if I were to take that blank sheet of paper and to put my name on the top and to write out that question, Lord, what will thou have me to do? And by the way, it's not too late. Say, well, I'm already into my senior year. If I were to ask God what He wants me to do from this day forward, it would really be too late. It's never too late while there's breath in your soul to give every remaining day to Almighty God. What is the path? Let me give you three simple things that I believe would direct your path and again, without going very far into the nature of this chapter and the transition that occurs in Paul's life or even going further into his missionary journeys and seeing how God directed every step. We begin to see this unfold and number one, the path is day by day. Being exactly where God would have you to be today. Well, I'm in this school. Well, this school has responsibilities for you. There are responsibilities according to the Word of God to spend time reading His Word, to spend time in communication with Him, living day by day where God would have you to live, being directed by Him day by day. Most often individuals will come to me and say, I'm just not sure where God wants me to be in ten years. Young people, can I declare to you at this point, if you will be where God wants you to be on a day-by-day basis, you will be where He wants you to be in ten years. When my wife and I finished up our education here in May of 1992, I thought everything was directed, I thought everything was before me. The week after I finished up here, I went on staff at a church in Florida as their youth pastor, and I could just see all the things unfolding before me. My wife and I, we bought our first home shortly after we got married. Everything was unfolding. And then a few months after we got married, God opened the door for us to take a different ministry and we went out of the country. And I can remember calling her father and saying, dad, I know I had plans of being a youth pastor in this church, but God is redirecting us and we're going to be going to a foreign field to fill in for a missionary. Dad, I know I've only been married to your daughter for four months, but I'm taking her out of the country. And he said, as only a pastor and a dad-in-law would say, we will be praying for you. See, I thought I had it all mapped out. But God had the opportunity to fill in the blanks. We simply wanted to be where he'd have us to be day by day. It's not only a day by day, it's a decision by decision. Every day you're confronted with choices. Will I go here? Will I have this person as a close companion? Will I maintain this friendship? Will I ask this girl out? Will I say yes to this guy that has asked me out? Decision by decision. So it's not only a day-by-day matter and the path, it's a decision-by-decision. And then number three, it's a duty-by-duty. You have responsibilities before you on a daily basis. And my friend, if you take those three things, day-by-day, decision-by-decision, duty-by-duty, and you begin to read through the Apostle Paul's life from the time of his conversion, Lord, what will thou have me to do? You find this unfolding right before your very eyes. The possibilities, it may be that you're here because of some other entity. Can I challenge you this morning to redirect yourself and to give God your life and to declare, God, what do you want me to do? Would you place him in that place of priority? He ought to have the preeminence. He does give us the path of greatest purpose. And I close this morning with this thought from a parable in Matthew chapter 20. I was born and raised in Fairfax, Virginia, and as a kid growing up in the church, I was called to preach and believed that God wanted me to preach early on in life, but I never thought that God would give me the opportunity to be back in my home church. And it is a privilege beyond anything that I can speak and even begin to explain. But growing up in a fundamental Bible-believing church, I heard many wonderful messages from some great men of the faith, and many of them have gone home to be with the Lord now. But some of them stand out to me, and one of them that stands out to me was a message preached from Matthew chapter 20 on the parable, and I'd love for you to write that passage down and go back and look at this later on. But in that parable, you have two groups, two types of people. You have several groups of people that came to the foreman and said, we want a contract. We want to know what we're going to get out of this before we sign up. And so the foreman made a contract and they went to the fields to work. But there was one final group that came in and they said, we'll go to work and we'll just trust you in the end. Young people, I wish that I could convey to you what God has done for my wife and I and our family in 25 years. Was it as we mapped? No. But it was far better to just place the blank sheet of paper in God's hand and say, God, you fill it out. We did not demand a contract. We did not demand to receive certain things. We just said, God, we'll do whatever you'd have us to do. And I can stand before you this morning with a very grateful heart. God has been far better to us than we deserve. And He's given us many wonderful opportunities to spread His name around this globe. Can I close with this verse? 1 John chapter 2 and verse 17. abideth forever. You have a choice, young people. You can believe what God says in that verse. You can put aside all those other possibilities. You can set them aside and say, I know that they want to speak in my ear, but I'm going to give God the place of preeminence because I want there to be purpose to this one life. There's no contract. I'm giving my life to God that He might fill in the blanks and take me to that place of greatest usefulness. You have a choice to believe what God said. He that doeth the will of God abideth forever. If you've not yet done this, young people, will you, as Saul said, declare today, Lord, what will thou have me to do. Let's pray. Father, thank you for this time. I know that there are many possibilities and I know that there are many voices that would seek to be in the ear of the students, but I pray that they would set those other things aside if they are contrary to what God wants them to do. Praise the Lord when the parents and the peers all line up with what God has already declared. Praise the Lord for those that will come alongside and encourage them in the ministry. I pray that they'd set aside those possibilities and listen only to Almighty God. He should have the place of priority in our lives. And may we follow that simple path of being exactly where you'd have us to be, day by day, decision by decision, duty by duty. And I pray in the end these young people would come back with a resounding testimony that declares with me, it's much better to follow the path that God has given. Bless these young people today in Jesus' name I pray, amen.