Good evening all. My name is Gary Barnes and I am a Trinitas alum from 2011. Being here fifteen years later to celebrate the class of 2026 is a genuine honor and privilege, so thank you!
As we stand here looking at what some might call a “pile of rocks,” it is important to remember the story of Samuel. Most people know the second Ebenezer, the stone Samuel raises after God delivers Israel. The moment of gratitude. The moment of remembrance.
But before that Ebenezer, there was another one. In 1 Samuel 4, Israel camps at a place called Ebenezer before going to battle against the Philistines. And guess what, they are utterly defeated. Thousands die. And in panic, the Israelites decide to bring the Ark of the Covenant into battle, believing that if they possess the symbol of God’s presence, they will win.
And this is the tragedy: They had begun to treat God like a magic trick, like a formula, like a thing they could wield rather than worship. They wanted the power of God without dependence on God, so they carried the Ark into battle with enormous confidence — and were crushed. The Ark was captured. The army scattered.
And Israel humiliated. Why? Because God will not be reduced.
It’s easy to think that we are different, and honestly, that temptation does not disappear with age. It just becomes more sophisticated. We trust in accomplishments, in accolades, in what church we attend, in our education.
And graduates, tonight, you leave this place carrying something genuinely extraordinary. You have received an abnormally exceptional education. You have been trained to think clearly, speak carefully, and work diligently in your pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness. That is a gift you cannot even fully understand right now.
But your aptitude for pride is now at an all-time high. The knowledge you possess has a subtle way of convincing people they are self-sufficient.
And so, my warning to you tonight is simple: do not let your education become your Ark. Do not confuse being prepared with being sovereign. Do not carry your accomplishments into adulthood believing they make you untouchable. Because eventually God will humble you. I have a friend who used to say, hold everything with an open hand so God never has to rip it out of your hand.
Strangely, this place of humility is where the second Ebenezer, the one we all remember, begins.
Twenty years after Israel’s defeat, the people finally come before God with humility instead of presumption. They repent. They confess. They gather in weakness. And when the Philistines attack again, Israel realizes they cannot save themselves. This time they do not demand victory. They beg for mercy.
And it is there — in helplessness — that God thunders against the Philistines and delivers His people. Only then does Samuel raise the stone and call it Ebenezer: “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”
That is the Ebenezer we are here to celebrate tonight. Not your knowledge or your success or what college you are going to. Utter dependence on God.
This stone is not a monument to Trinitas or to you, it is a testimony that God remains faithful to people who finally realize they are not enough on their own.
Which I think points directly to the wisdom of Ecclesiastes 7:8 “Better is the end of a thing than its beginning.” You graduates are standing tonight at the end of a matter. You finished. You endured. You grew. You arrived. But you are also standing at the beginning of another matter entirely. And beginnings are dangerous because beginnings often come with momentum and confidence and recognition and possibility.
The world will tell you that this is the moment to believe in yourself more than ever before. But Ecclesiastes spends an entire book dismantling the illusion that human striving can sustain the soul. The world will offer you things that are deeply enticing, some of them will even be good things. But if you try to build your identity on them, Ecclesiastes says: “Vapor. All is vapor. A grasping at the wind.”
So tonight, as you place your Ebenezer stone, let it remind you not of your independence, but of your dependence. Because the students most prepared for adulthood are not the ones who are
most convinced of their own strength. They are the ones who understand they have no strength.
This Ebenezer Address was delivered by Alumnus Gary Barnes on May 15, 2026.