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Pastor Dennis St. Lawrence opens with Proverbs 20:6 — "Many will tell you they are loyal friends, but who can find one who is truly trustworthy?" — and shifts the focus from a broken world's untrustworthiness to the personal question every believer should ask: am I trustworthy?

Drawing from a secular book on trust, he presents eight qualities that build trust in every area of life.

Scripture Texts

Proverbs 20:6; Proverbs 28:13; Ecclesiastes 9:10; 1 Corinthians 13; Ephesians 4:15

Main Points or Ideas

• Character - Doing what is right when no one is looking; being dependable regardless of the cost.
• Competency - Character without skill is incomplete. A mechanic with great integrity who cannot fix the car, or a skilled mechanic who cheats customers, both fall short. Believers must pursue excellence in whatever God has called them to do — the inward man can keep growing and improving until the day of death.
• Consistency - Anybody can perform well briefly, but lasting trust is built by day-in, day-out faithfulness in character and excellence. Being a "steady Eddie" — someone others know exactly what to expect from — is a powerful testimony.
• Conviction and Commitment - Ecclesiastes 9:10 calls believers to do whatever their hand finds with all their strength. Half-heartedness does not build trust. Passion, wholehearted commitment, and a clear sense that "this is what God wants me to do, and I am all in" are visible to everyone around us.
• Compassion - 1 Corinthians 13 says that oratory, knowledge, and faith without love amount to nothing — a clanging cymbal. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Truth without genuine love fails to land.
• Communication - Ephesians 4:15 commands speaking the truth in love. Four rules of trustworthy communication: be honest, keep current, attack the problem not the person, and act rather than react. Evasion, dishonesty, or emotional reactivity erode trust quickly.
• Courage - Paul stood alone when no one else would. There will be times when doing what is right draws criticism and isolation. Trusting God more than the approval of others — while remaining open to genuine correction — and maintaining a right spirit through it is what builds lasting trust.
• Confession - Proverbs 28:13 promises mercy to those who confess and forsake sin. Failure does not destroy trust; how a person responds to failure does. Owning mistakes without blame or excuses, seeking forgiveness, and making things right are marks of a person others can trust.

Conclusion

Pastor St. Lawrence closes by pointing to God as the perfect embodiment of all eight qualities — except confession, since God never sins. Because God is trustworthy, believers can trust him. And because they trust God, they should live in such a way that others can trust them.

Dr. Jim Tillotson opens the first of a three-part dating series by grounding the topic in biblical priorities and framing marriage as the ultimate purpose of dating — while also affirming that not everyone is called to marry. He covers the foundations of friendship, God's design for marriage, and the importance of a healthy self-image before any dating relationship begins.

Scripture Texts

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Proverbs 18:22; Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 13:4; Mark 10:2-9; Psalm 139:13-14

Main Points or Ideas

• Start with friendship - Ecclesiastes 4 establishes that God did not design people to be alone — whether or not they marry, every believer needs a genuine friend. Tillotson urges students to spend the early weeks of the semester building broad friendships with people of both sexes before pairing off, warning that moving too quickly into dating narrows the field prematurely and puts unfair pressure on early interactions.
• God's design for marriage - Genesis 2 establishes that marriage was God's idea before sin entered the world. Woman was created as a suitable completer for man — not above him or below him, but alongside him. Marriage is permanent (Mark 10), and Hebrews 13:4 declares that sex within marriage is honorable and undefiled. Tillotson argues that the world inverts God's order (physical first, then emotional and spiritual), while God's design works from spiritual and emotional connection outward — and that following God's order produces the best result.
• A healthy self-image is the prerequisite for dating - Students who try to find their identity and worth through a dating relationship will put unfair expectations on the other person and set themselves up for disappointment. Four handles for building a God-honoring self-image: realize your importance to God (made in his image); value inner character over outer appearance (God looks at the heart); accept how God made you (Psalm 139 — your physical traits are not accidents); and improve what you can (hygiene, communication, dress, and social skills are all improvable).

Conclusion

Dr. Jim closes by encouraging students to carry the booklet for all three sessions, accept who they are while working on what they can improve, and build the kind of genuine friendships that form the only solid foundation for any future dating relationship. Parts two and three — covering who to date and how to date — will follow in subsequent sessions.

Dr. Doug Brown opens by acknowledging that alcohol is a controversial topic across evangelicalism, with many Baptist churches now removing abstinence clauses from their covenants. He was asked by the administration to address the topic, and he does so by working through the context of Ephesians 5:18 and its surrounding verses, arguing that the passage calls believers to a walk of wisdom — and that abstinence is the wisest choice.

Scripture Texts

Ephesians 5:15-21; Luke 15:13; 1 Peter 4:3-4

Main Points or Ideas

• Walk in wisdom (Ephesians 5:15-17) - The surrounding paragraph in Ephesians 5 calls believers to walk worthy of the gospel — in love and in light. Verse fifteen commands wise walking rather than unwise, making the most of the time because the days are evil. Verse seventeen commands understanding the will of God — not mystically discerning decisions about career or marriage, but taking the revealed Word of God and applying it in everyday situations. Wisdom is about conduct and thinking, not just intention.
• Don't get drunk (Ephesians 5:18a) - The word for debauchery in verse eighteen carries the idea of a wasted life — the same root word used in the prodigal son's "reckless living" and in 1 Peter 4:3's "flood of debauchery." Paul may have been addressing the Ephesian context of Dionysus worship, where pagan worshipers got drunk to become conduits for the spiritual realm, but the warning applies broadly: alcohol impairs judgment, opens the door to sexual immorality, and leads to devastation in families and churches. Brown notes that seventy percent of the audience raised their hand when asked if their family or a friend's family has been impacted by alcohol abuse — and that over ninety percent of sexual assaults on college campuses are linked to alcohol use. His personal conclusion, and his counsel, is that abstinence is the wisest choice.
• Be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18b) - In direct contrast to the influence of alcohol, Paul commands being filled with the Spirit — a supernatural influence that moves believers to do what they would not naturally do. As Ephesians frames the church as the new temple of God, the Holy Spirit is the Shekinah presence that dwells within each believer. The results of being Spirit-filled (vv. 19-21) are thanksgiving, mutual submission, and praise — the marks of a life transformed from the inside out, not one that must be altered from the outside in by a substance.

Conclusion

Dr. Doug closes by urging students to walk wisely, redeeming the time because the days are evil. Alcohol may not be categorically forbidden in Scripture, but drunkenness is — and the risk of crossing that line, combined with the devastation he has witnessed over a lifetime of pastoral ministry, leads him to commend total abstinence as the wisest path for believers in ministry.

Bob Roberts continues his walk through John's Gospel by surveying the seven signs before focusing on the sixth — the healing of the man born blind — and arguing that the greatest miracle in the chapter is not the physical healing but the moment the blind man said "Lord, I believe" and worshiped. That miracle of regeneration, he argues, is still going on today.

Scripture Text

John 9:1-38

Main Points or Ideas

• Heaven flexes in weakness - When the disciples ask who sinned to cause this man's blindness, Jesus reorients their whole framework: neither this man nor his parents, but that the works of God should be displayed in him. Roberts argues that heaven consistently chooses to demonstrate its power and quality not through strength but through redeemed tragedy — Bobby McCoy, a quadriplegic pastor who says he would not trade his wheelchair; Phan Thi Kim, the Vietnam War napalm girl who came to Christ through her scars; Fanny Crosby, who wrote eight thousand hymns and said she would not trade her blindness because it kept her from distraction and set her face toward Christ. Real Christianity, Roberts argues, is not natural — it is supernatural.
• Mercy over man-made fences - Jesus makes the mud on the Sabbath, deliberately breaking three man-made derivative rules (not God's rules). The Pharisees' verdict: this man is not of God. Jesus's verdict: you reject God's commandment to keep your own tradition. Roberts sees this as a recurring pattern in the Gospels — Jesus always prioritizing mercy over religious fencing, grace over judgment, the cosmic conquest of love over checklist religion.
• The greater miracle: the blind man's faith - The physical healing is remarkable, but Roberts identifies the climax of the chapter as verse 38: "Lord, I believe. And he worshiped him." That is the miracle that is still happening. Jesus quickens dead hearts and turns rebel enemies into worshiping sons and daughters. Roberts closes by applying this directly to a group of about a thousand teenagers coming to campus for Faith Fest the next day, urging students to pray that God would do that same miracle — creating more worshipers through the gospel.
• Suffering as participation in Christ - Roberts draws on Colossians 1:24 and his own stage-four cancer diagnosis to address the theology of suffering. Christ left no unfinished atonement, but he left an unfinished allotment of affliction for his body. Every generation takes its portion. Roberts testifies that when he finally accepted the invitation to board the "stage four train," he found Christ present in it every moment — and that he would not trade the suffering for anything, because it has brought him to know Jesus better.

Conclusion

Bob Roberts closes with John 9:38 as the summary of the whole message: a man who had been blind from birth, sent through mud and water, came back seeing — and then bowed and believed. The miracle of salvation, the creation of new worshipers, is the greatest sign in the Gospel of John, and it is still happening. May God, in his mercy, do it again.

Matt Galvan opens by situating the church of Ephesus historically — a forty-five-year-old, well-established congregation with sound doctrine, active service, endurance under pressure, and zero tolerance for false teaching. He then asks: what could Jesus possibly rebuke a church like that for? The answer to that question drives the entire message.

Scripture Text

Revelation 2:1-7; Philippians 3:10

Main Points or Ideas

• Christ's characteristic - Jesus introduces himself to the Ephesian church as the one who holds the seven stars and walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks — that is, he is actively present among his churches and sees everything. He comes not as a detached observer but as one who walks through and inspects, missing nothing.
• Christ's compliment - Jesus commends the church at Ephesus for four things: hard work and labor, patient endurance under pressure, intolerance of blatant sin, and sound doctrinal discernment in rejecting false apostles. Galvan applies this to the student body — serving God, not quitting when things get hard, pursuing right doctrine — and affirms that Jesus sees and commends it.
• Christ's rebuke - With one word — "nevertheless" — everything changes. Jesus says, "I have this against you: you have left your first love." First love is honeymoon love: fervent, personal, uninhibited, and openly displayed. Using the marriage analogy, Galvan argues that the Ephesians had let life — not sinful things, but busy, good things — crowd out "us time" with Jesus. They were theologically straight but had lost the personal intimacy that makes doctrine living. Jesus says: I miss when you used to pray about everything, read the Word desperate to hear from me, and needed me for every situation. That intimacy had been replaced by routine.
• Christ's command - Jesus gives three imperatives: remember, repent, and repeat the first works. Remember how devoted you once were. Repent — not with excuses but with genuine sorrow and willingness to change. Repeat the practices of early love: personal Bible reading, prayer, desperate dependence on God. The warning is sobering: the church at Ephesus eventually disintegrated — not for lack of programs, but because they never returned to us time.

Conclusion

Matt Galvan closes with three diagnostic questions: What three things most quickly distract you from time with God? What does Jesus want to do with you during that time? And what entertainments or pleasures never get skipped on days when devotions do? Jesus's appeal to Ephesus is the same appeal to every student: come back to us time — before it's too late.

Bob Roberts opens with three pieces of classic artwork depicting Moses at the burning bush before turning to Exodus 3 and a focused meditation on God's personal covenant name — Yahweh — and what it reveals about who God is and how he relates to us. His goal is to send students into the weekend as worshipers who know their God more deeply.

Scripture Texts

Exodus 3:1-14; John 8:56-58; John 20:26-28; Philippians 2:9-11; Acts 4:12

Main Points or Ideas

• God's name invites us to know him - When Moses asks God for his name, God reveals the Tetragrammaton — YHWH — translated in English Bibles as LORD in all caps. The name derives from the Hebrew verb "to be," meaning I AM THAT I AM. It is a state-of-being verb with no expiration date, communicating that God exists eternally, self-sufficiently, and without need. This name was so sacred that Jewish scribes would not write or speak it, substituting Adonai or Hashem instead. Roberts argues that the name itself is an open door to exploration — a standing invitation to ask, What are you, God? — and that the pursuit of that question is enough to captivate a human heart for eternity.
• God's name tells us he is everything — to the max - Whatever God is, he is that always and completely. He is loving, faithful, all-knowing, merciful, all-powerful, immutable, and righteous — not some of the time or partially, but to the max, twenty-four hours a day, with no expiration date. Humans share some of these qualities in partial, inconsistent measure; God possesses all of them infinitely. Roberts illustrates this through the audience: students call out attributes, and he repeats each one — faithful to the max, merciful to the max — to drive the point home.
• God's name points ahead to Jesus - The pictographic roots of the Hebrew letters in YHWH (yod-hey-vav-hey) correspond to hand, behold, nail, and behold — an evocative foreshadowing of Christ crucified, though Roberts is careful to note this is not on the same level as direct Scripture. More exegetically, when the Septuagint translators rendered I AM THAT I AM into Greek, they used ego eimi. John uses the exact same words in seven I AM statements of Jesus, and most explicitly in John 8:58 — "Before Abraham was, I am" — a direct claim to the divine name that the crowd immediately understood as blasphemy. The name Jesus (Yeshua) itself means Yahweh saves — a state-of-being God whose action verb is salvation. At the name of Jesus every knee will bow, and there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.

Conclusion

Bob Roberts calls students to go into the weekend as secret worshipers — letting the truth of God's name take root in their hearts, pointing all faith and hope like a laser beam at the resurrected Christ, and letting that intimacy with God be seen on their faces and heard in their words throughout the week.

Bob Roberts opens his second visit to campus by introducing a Scripture memory challenge — recite a full chapter of the Sermon on the Mount before Christmas in exchange for a silver dollar from his collection — and then uses the coin to transition into Matthew 5 and his own salvation testimony. The common thread throughout is the first Beatitude: blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Scripture Text

Matthew 5:3, 20-22, 43-44; Matthew 22:19-21

Main Points or Ideas

• The Sermon on the Mount goes straight for the heart - Roberts walks through three of Jesus's six antitheses in Matthew 5 to show that the law's standard was always about the heart, not mere external compliance. Anger at a brother puts a person in danger of judgment — just as murder does. Lust is adultery of the heart. And the command to love enemies is so impossible that it proves the point: keeping Christ's standard is humanly unachievable. Each antithesis is a scalpel that cuts away at self-righteousness and exposes the need for grace.
• Blessed are the poor in spirit - The beating heart of the Sermon is its first verse — blessed are those who are spiritually bankrupt, having nothing to offer and needing everything. Roberts argues that every other part of the sermon is designed to drive people back to this verse. The person who sees their failure against Jesus's standard and comes to him with empty hands is precisely the kind of person who receives the kingdom of heaven.
• Roberts's testimony - Roberts grew up attending church after his parents were saved when he was five, but made a non-converting childhood decision and later collected two more false assurances: a prayer at camp and a star that twinkled. Through Christian high school, college, and a summer internship, he learned to coat his spiritual uncertainty with performance, service, and busyness. At age twenty-one, while leading a camper named Michael to Christ, the Holy Spirit convicted him that he didn't have what he was giving away. After fighting conviction for nearly a day, he told a friend the truth — "I don't think I'm a Christian" — and on June 30, 1995, cried out to God in utter humility and was saved. He returned thirty-one years later to the exact spot. His final challenge to students: the object of your faith is everything — is your trust in a prayer, a memory, a twinkling star, or in the risen Lamb of God?

Conclusion

Bob Roberts closes by urging any student who identifies with his story to stop fighting and simply come to Christ having nothing and needing everything. That is where Christianity begins — blessed are the poor in spirit.

Dr. Ernie Schmidt anchors his message in Romans 8:28 — "all things work together for good to those who love God" — and then illustrates that promise through a series of biblical narratives: Israel in the wilderness, Job, the man born blind, Lazarus, and Paul and Silas in Philippi. His aim is to show students that God's trials always serve a purpose, and that purpose is always good.

Scripture Texts

Romans 8:25-28; Deuteronomy 8:2-3; Job 1-2; John 9:1-3; John 11:1-6; Acts 16:19-31

Main Points or Ideas

• Trials teach us to know God's Word - Deuteronomy 8 records Moses reminding Israel that God led them through forty years of wilderness, allowing hunger and providing manna — unknown food, deliberately given — so they would learn that man does not live by bread alone but by every word from God's mouth. God makes his people hungry in order to create a hunger for himself and his Word. When trials come, the first place to run is Scripture.
• Trials teach us to know God personally - Job was the most godly man on earth when Satan challenged his motives before God: "Does Job serve God for nothing?" God permitted Satan to strip Job of his possessions and children, then his health. Job did not know the heavenly drama behind his suffering, but he worshiped through it — "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." When Job's friends falsely accused him and he began to look at himself rather than God, God responded with sixty questions from the whirlwind that restored his vision. The goal of Job's suffering was a deeper, firsthand knowledge of God — and God restored him twofold.
• Trials show God to the world - Jesus's disciples assumed the man born blind was being punished for sin. Jesus corrected them: "Neither this man nor his parents sinned — but that the works of God should be revealed in him." Lazarus was allowed to die so the Son of God could be glorified through resurrection. Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned in Philippi — not because they did anything wrong — but at midnight they prayed and sang hymns, the prisoners listened, an earthquake opened every door, and the jailer came to faith along with his entire household. God permits suffering so that he can display himself through those who trust him.

Conclusion

Not everything that happens to believers is good — but all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Schmidt urges students to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in the middle of difficult seasons, trust that God always has their best interest in view, and remember that the God who worked through Job, through Paul and Silas, and through the blind man is working in their lives right now.

Dr. Dennis Wilkening opens by talking about his Harley Pan America that he brought into chapel. He uses motorcycle safety statistics as the entry point for a message on dating.

He argues that the same way most motorcycle accidents result from ignoring basic riding principles — speed, no helmet, no endorsement — most dating disasters result from ignoring what Scripture plainly says. He presents three riding principles that map directly to biblical wisdom about relationships.

Scripture TextsHebrews 12:1-2; Matthew 13:17; Psalm 84:11; Proverbs 4:23; Jeremiah 17:9

Main Points or Ideas

• You go where your eyes go - In motorcycling, target fixation means the bike automatically steers toward whatever the rider's eyes fix on — including hazards. The same is true spiritually. Hebrews 12:2 calls believers to keep their eyes on Jesus; when Peter took his eyes off Christ and fixed them on the wind and waves, he sank. Wilkening urges students not to arrive at Bible college with their primary goal being to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. If your eyes are fixed on a person rather than on Christ, your dating life will end up a mangled wreck. Instead of concentrating on finding the right one, become the right one — cultivate a dynamic relationship with the Lord so that if God brings the right person, you are who you need to be for them.
• Don't trust your feelings - Countersteering is a motorcycle paradox: to turn left, you momentarily push the right handlebar, which leans the bike into the corner. It feels wrong, but it's the only way to navigate the corner safely. Spiritually, Matthew 13:17 reveals the same principle — feelings are the caboose, not the engine. Thoughts come first, then actions, then feelings. Students who spend all their time thinking and texting about someone will inevitably develop deep feelings for that person, and by the time others can see the relationship is a bad idea, the feelings are so engaged that wise counsel bounces off. Commit to following the Word of God before feelings get engaged, because once they do, it will be very hard to make a wise decision.
• Slow down - In motorcycling, "slow is smooth and smooth is fast" — slowing down in a corner gives maximum traction and a clean exit, setting up the straightaway. Rushing a corner costs traction and causes crashes. Wilkening commends students for a slower start to the year — building friendships rather than immediately pairing off. Psalm 84:11 promises that no good thing will God withhold from those who walk uprightly; if a relationship is God's will, he is not going to let it slip away because a student waited. Friendship first: grow socially, emotionally, and spiritually in genuine, selfless friendship before pursuing romance.

Conclusion

Keep your eyes on Jesus, trust the Word over your feelings, and slow down. Dr. Wilkening reminds students that once they are in a relationship, they are no longer solo riders. What they do affects the person riding with them. Build the fundamentals now, and God can be trusted to do only good in his timing.

Dr. Marty Herron opens by connecting Dr. Seuss's final book — Oh, the Places You'll Go — to the reality that the quality of a student's life is largely shaped by the decisions they make. With a church fair coming the next day, he focuses specifically on one of the most important early decisions students will make: choosing a local church to commit to for the school year.

Scripture Text

Ephesians 4:12-16

Main Points or Ideas

• What to look for: the DNA of a healthy church - Drawing from Ephesians 4 and Paul's pastoral letters to Timothy at Ephesus, Herron argues that students should seek a church with healthy DNA — not just any church that resembles their home church, but one that is genuinely growing and functioning the way Scripture describes. He identifies three components of that DNA. The D is doctrine — sound, healthy theology that gives stability and equips believers to recognize counterfeits. The N is nature — the church's polity and traditions that shape how it functions and does business (pastor-led, deacon-managed, congregationally-supported in the Baptist framework). The A is atmosphere — the spirit of the congregation, which is sensed within minutes: lowliness, meekness, long-suffering, kindness, and love.
• Five pro tips for choosing a church - Herron offers five practical handles for church selection. First, explore the options — don't settle on the first church visited, and use the church fair as a starting point rather than a final decision. Second, seek wise counsel — talk to parents, home pastors, and godly mentors, because church selection is a spiritual decision, not merely a personal preference. Third, find a need and fill it — ask not what the church can do for you but what you can do for the church. Fourth, choose prayerfully — don't base the decision on convenience, friendship, music style, or building size. Fifth, commit and serve wholeheartedly — once a church is chosen, build relationships, be faithful, volunteer, and treat the church as the ministry laboratory it is meant to be.

Conclusion

Dr. Herron closes with the image of Captain James Cook navigating uncharted Pacific waters — always asking where he was, where he was going, and how the pieces fit together. Students are on their own navigation journey, and the church they choose will become their spiritual home, ministry laboratory, and one of the greatest influences on their lives during these college years. Choose wisely.

Dr. Jim Tillotson opens with his personal testimony of growing up in a Christian home, attending Christian school, memorizing Scripture, and yet not being saved until age nineteen at a Christian college. He argues that every year at least one student at Faith Baptist Bible College is in that same position — and this message exists to make sure no one goes through the semester uncertain about their eternal destiny.

Scripture Texts

Hebrews 9:24-28; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-15; Revelation 20:11-15; Ezekiel 18:21-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Main Points or Ideas

• This appointment will be kept - Hebrews 9:27 declares it is appointed for men to die once. Death has no cure and no respecter of persons — college students, newlyweds, and the healthy all die unexpectedly. There is no thirty-minute warning, no second chance after death, and no loophole. The person who plans to get right with God before they die is banking on an opportunity that may never come.
• A judgment will happen - Every person will stand before God in judgment, but there are two distinct judgments. Believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ, where not their sins but their works will be tested by fire — gold, silver, and precious stones endure; wood, hay, and straw do not. Unbelievers will stand before the Great White Throne, where anyone not found in the Book of Life is cast into the lake of fire. Tillotson paints a vivid picture of the horror of hell — drawn from Scripture's own descriptions — and presses the point that Jesus spoke more about hell than anyone else in the Bible, and that lost people all around us are headed there.
• The good news: substitutionary atonement - Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many (Hebrews 9:28). He took our place. When God forgives, he buries sin in the depths of the sea and removes it as far as the east is from the west — complete and total forgiveness, never to be remembered again (Ezekiel 18:21-22). For those already saved but carrying guilt, 1 Corinthians 6:11 is the word: "Such were some of you — but you are washed, sanctified, and justified." God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; his plea is simply, "Repent and live."
• Salvation is a personal choice - Getting saved requires three things: knowing you are a sinner and being sorry, believing Jesus died and rose again, and repenting — being done doing it your way. The third is where most people stall. Tillotson closes by distinguishing true saving faith from the devil's acknowledgment of the facts, and calls each student to make it personal: this cannot be your parents' God or your pastor's God. It must be yours.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim challenges believers to ask whether they are building gold, silver, and precious stones — or wood, hay, and straw — and invites anyone unsure of their salvation to talk to student life that day. He closes with the urgency of the gospel: every person in the room will influence people for eternity, and how they choose to live this semester matters far more than they know.

Dr. Jim Tillotson follows up the previous day's message on working together with a direct, pastoral address on moral purity. He opens by noting that sexual sin — pornography, premarital sex, and adultery — is the common cold of Christian colleges and churches, and that Samson, Solomon, and David all fell to it. His aim is both to warn and to offer genuine hope for those who are willing to confess and seek help.

Scripture Text

Proverbs 5:1-14; Proverbs 28:13-14; James 5:16; Matthew 5:27-28

Main Points or Ideas

• Sweet pain (Proverbs 5:1-6) - Sexual sin is alluring at first — honey on the lips, smooth as oil — but ends in bitterness, destruction, and death. The Book of Proverbs consistently calls believers to look down the road at where a path leads before taking it. Satan never lets the person being enticed think about consequences. Pornography is uniquely dangerous because it is free, invisible to others for a long time, and deeply addictive — but it destroys the ability to relate normally to a future spouse and always surfaces eventually, causing devastating pain to everyone involved.
• A terrible cost (Proverbs 5:7-14) - Four consequences await those who ignore this warning: dishonor (a ruined reputation and the disillusionment of those who trusted you, illustrated by Philip Yancey's public confession of an eight-year affair); vulnerability to cruel exploitation (blackmail and manipulation); financial ruin; and the physical and relational consequences of sexually transmitted disease. The bitter cry of verse 12 — "How I have hated instruction and my heart despised correction" — is the testimony of those who heard truth and chose to harden their hearts against it.
• The path to victory: confess and forsake - Proverbs 28:13 promises that covering sin leads to no prosperity, but confessing and forsaking it brings mercy. Victory over sexual sin is rarely achieved alone — James 5:16 calls believers to confess to one another and pray for one another so they may be healed. Tillotson urges students to put filters on their devices, to tell their parents, and to seek help from student life — assuring them that confession will not result in dismissal but in care. What you uncover, God will cover; what you hide, God will uncover, and it will be painful.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim closes by urging students not to let the beginning of the school year pass without getting right in this area. God forgives and restores — but the time to act is now, while hearts are still soft, before the hardening of verse 14 sets in and ruin becomes the only outcome.

Title

Working Together

Introduction

Dr. Jim Tillotson opens the new school year with the campus theme — "Together: At Home and At Church" — drawn from Philippians 1:27-28. He argues that living worthy of the gospel and striving together in unity are not separate commands but two sides of the same coin, and challenges both returning upperclassmen and incoming freshmen to make both a priority from day one.

Scripture Texts

Philippians 1:27-28; Philippians 2:1-4; Ephesians 4:1-3; John 13:34-35

Main Points or Ideas

• Live worthy of the gospel (v. 27a) - The Greek word for "conduct" in verse 27 is the word for being a good citizen — the kind of devoted, reputation-protecting loyalty that citizens of the Roman colony of Philippi gave to Rome. Paul calls believers to that same wholehearted devotion to Christ. Tillotson presses the point practically: spiritual hypocrisy — hiding sin while appearing faithful in chapel and class — discredits the gospel and gives unbelievers no reason to believe. Don't get good at hiding sin; get good at confessing it. He extends an open-door offer to any student struggling with pornography, alcohol, or moral impurity to seek help without fear of dismissal within the first two weeks of the semester.

• Stand fast in one spirit (v. 27b) - The image is of standing steadfastly on a hill, holding ground against everyone trying to knock you off — standing for God and against Satan, for what is right and against sin. Unity among believers is critical to God; discord is one of the things he hates most (Proverbs 6). Satan will attack the unity of a Christian college just as he does a church or a marriage, and students must decide from the beginning to defend it. Different isn't bad — it's just different. Roommate tensions, temperature disagreements, and schedule conflicts are early training grounds for the greater unity the gospel demands.

• Strive together for the gospel (v. 27c) - The word "striving together" comes from a Greek athletic compound — competing in a contest as a team. Tillotson illustrates this with five marks of a good teammate: encourage those around you; make "us" more important than "me"; recognize that every position is important; do what is best for the team; and listen to the coach. The point of all this unity is not community for its own sake — it is so the gospel can go forward. Eternity looks different when believers truly work together.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim closes by calling students to resist Satan's inevitable attacks on campus unity this year — to work things out with roommates, confess hidden sin, and strive together so the gospel can advance. If they do not learn to work together now, marriage and ministry will be much harder. The stakes are eternal.

Dr. Jim Tillotson delivers the final chapel message of the school year, framing his message around "last words" — what Moses, Joshua, David, Paul, and Peter all emphasized at the end: don't forget what God has done, and don't stop pursuing Christ. He uses 1 Corinthians 3 as the scaffold for three final challenges to the student body before they leave for summer.

Scripture Texts

1 Corinthians 3; 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 15:57-58; 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

Main Points or Ideas

• Don't settle for carnal Christianity (vv. 1-4) - Paul could not address the Corinthians as spiritual because envy, strife, and divisions marked them as carnal — still on milk rather than solid food. Dr. Jim warns that carnality corrupts morals, poisons personal relationships, produces spiritual doubt, and destroys the prayer life. Whatever a student is battling — pornography, unresolved sin, divided loyalties — this is the moment to deal with it. Waiting makes it harder. God cares more about godliness than giftedness.

• Invest in eternity (vv. 10-17) - The foundation is Christ, but what each person builds on that foundation will be tested by fire at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10). Every Christian builds with something — wood, hay, and stubble, or gold, silver, and precious stones. The materials are determined by motives, conduct, and service. Tillotson challenges students to consider what will remain when the fire comes: a life of pouring into people, pointing them to Christ, and living for God's glory produces the gold that endures.

• Stay connected to the Word (vv. 18-23) - In a culture that will pressure students from every direction, the anchor is the Word of God. Dr. Jim cites the testimony of Bob Roberts — who wept in his office describing how his devotional life has been transformed in the shadow of terminal cancer — as a picture of what it looks like to be fully tethered to Christ. The call from 1 Corinthians 15:58 applies: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because your labor in him is not in vain.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim closes by expressing his conviction that the students in the room will have a significant impact on the world — if they keep their focus where God intends. He urges them to go where the Word takes them, be mirrors not sponges, and make sure Christ remains the central part of whatever comes next.

Bob Roberts continues his walk through the Sermon on the Mount by zeroing in on Matthew 6:19-34, connecting Jesus's teaching on treasure, the single eye, and serving two masters to the command not to worry. He argues that worry is not neutral — it reveals divided allegiance — and that Jesus addresses anxiety not with guilt but with two concrete, creation-based illustrations of the Father's care.

Scripture Texts

Matthew 6:19-34; 1 Thessalonians 3:7-10

Main Points or Ideas

• Worry reveals divided allegiance - Jesus's teaching on treasure and two masters sets the stage: you cannot serve God and wealth, and worry is the visible flag of misplaced trust. Roberts defines worry from the Greek merimnao as a mind divided or torn apart — a soul preoccupied with future uncertainties in a way that reveals it is not fully under the reign of King Jesus. Just as worry strangled the word in the parable of the thorns (Matthew 13:22), it slowly suffocates the soul and cripples the ability to draw near to God.

• Consider the birds (vv. 26-27) - Jesus does not meet worry with lecture but with a theological experiment: go look at the birds. They do not sow, reap, or store, yet the Father feeds them. Using the ancient rabbinical technique of moving from light to heavy, Roberts unpacks this: if God tends to sparrows so carefully that not one falls without the Father's notice, and if the very hairs of your head are numbered, then you — who are of far greater value than birds — are held in that same detailed, personal care.

• Consider the wildflowers (vv. 28-30) - Solomon's legendary glory does not surpass the beauty God freely gives to field flowers that neither labor nor spin. If the Father adorns the grass of the field — which is here today and gone tomorrow — with beauty that outshines the wealthiest king in history, how much more will he clothe his children? Roberts connects this personally to his cancer journey: God has not always said yes to healing, but he has given grace-gifts along the way that affirm his care, and the student who wants to fight worry must learn to watch for those gifts with open eyes.

• A call to growing faith - Roberts closes by identifying the crowd as "O ye of little faith" — not a condemnation, but a corrective. Faith is real but underdeveloped, sporadic, gapped like an unfinished Tetris board. Drawing from 1 Thessalonians 3, he notes that Paul rejoiced over believers' faith while simultaneously praying night and day to perfect what was lacking in it. Roberts invites students to join the honest club of little faith, ask God for more, and keep leaning into the Father's care as the only cure for a divided, anxious soul.

Conclusion

The antidote to worry is not willpower but growing faith — faith that looks at circumstances through God rather than at God through circumstances. Roberts calls students to listen to the birds, look at the wildflowers, remember the provision they have already seen, and trust that the same Father who clothes the field and feeds the sparrow has them securely in his care.

Bob Roberts opens by sharing that he is living with stage four terminal cancer and has been living in the Sermon on the Mount for the past year and a half. He introduces three foundational axioms about the Sermon on the Mount before zeroing in on Matthew 5:13-16, arguing that the central theme of salt and light is influence — and that the most powerful influence comes not from strength but from weakness made radiant by God's grace.

Scripture Text

Matthew 5:13-16; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; John 9:5

Main Points or Ideas

• Salt: God's covenant agents of healing in a broken world - Roberts unpacks salt through three lenses. Culturally, salt was precious, life-sustaining, and the basis of the Roman soldier's pay — it represented what was valuable and necessary. Covenantally, Leviticus 2:13 linked salt with God's covenant offerings, so a Jewish audience would hear Jesus calling them to represent God's faithful covenant presence in the world. Typologically, Elisha's purification of the spring with salt (2 Kings 2) points to believers as God's agents of healing — not with physical power, but carrying the eternal gospel hope that is the only remedy for a broken world.

• Light: Christians as moving intersections of heaven and earth - Roberts traces the word "Christ" back through Christos (Greek), Messiah (Hebrew), and anointed one — the one smeared with oil, signifying where heaven meets earth. If Christians are "little Christs," they are roving intersections of heaven and earth wherever they go. Jesus said he is the light of the world while in it, and then told his disciples they are the light. The call of verse 16 — to let light shine so others glorify the Father — means being mirrors that reflect glory upward, not sponges that absorb it.

• Weakness is the vehicle for God's influence - Roberts draws on his own cancer diagnosis, terminal prognosis, and unexpected extension of life to illustrate 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. Paul's thorn was not an obstacle to ministry but the very vehicle for it — and Roberts finds the same to be true of cancer. A twenty-minute Facebook video about suffering and faith reached seventy thousand people. His podcast, Dead Man Talking, became the voice of a woman dying of brain cancer who could no longer speak. The very weapon the enemy intended for destruction became the means of God's glory. Every person in the room has weaknesses, and those weaknesses may be exactly what God wants to use.

ConclusionRoberts closes by calling students to stop trying to eradicate their weaknesses and instead consider that God may want to do his most significant work through them — not to make them famous, but to make King Jesus famous. The goal is to be a mirror, directing every gaze back to the Father in heaven.

Treg Spicer opens with the language of sports — knockouts, tapping out, and throwing in the towel — to introduce the real concern behind his message: not that students will quit this semester, but that they will throw in the towel spiritually once they leave campus for the summer and no one is watching. Drawing from 2 Corinthians 4, he presents four commitments that, if neglected, will lead to losing heart.

Scripture Text

2 Corinthians 4:1-18

Main Points or Ideas

• Continue in the Word of God (vv. 2, 16) - Paul's inward man is renewed day by day, and that renewal comes through the Word. Spicer warns that the Bible easily becomes a tool for grades rather than a source of personal nourishment. Students must make the Word a priority, keep it personal — asking when God last spoke to them through it — and remember its power. Screen time that far outpaces Bible reading reveals misaligned priorities. The Word guides, keeps from sin, and equips the servant of God for every good work.

• Carry on the Commission (vv. 3-6) - The gospel is veiled to those who are perishing, and students are heading into workplaces where most of their coworkers do not know Christ. Spicer challenges them to be intentional — sharing the gospel in conversation, serving faithfully so the light of Christ shines through their work ethic, and not being a sponge all summer but being squeezed, taking what they have learned and giving it out.

• Be Controlled by the Spirit of God (v. 7) - The treasure of the gospel is in jars of clay so that the power is clearly God's and not ours. Spicer uses Samson and the long list of fallen ministers to illustrate what happens when the Spirit is quenched rather than obeyed. Yielding to the Spirit's leading — even in small, socially costly moments — is what distinguishes a consistent walk from one that collapses under pressure.

• Consider the Eternal (vv. 16-18) - Paul calls his sufferings — beatings, shipwrecks, imprisonment — light and momentary. Spicer shares the unexpected death of his father and the weight of ministry attacks to show what this costs in real life. But fixing eyes on the eternal weight of glory rather than on temporary affliction is the only way to keep from quitting when circumstances are hardest.

Conclusion

Spicer closes by urging students not to tap out this summer — not from the Word, not from the mission, not from the Spirit's control, and not from an eternal perspective. The calling they have received is worth finishing, and the God who gave it will sustain them through it.

Dr. Doug Brown opens by asking whether anyone has the inner strength to change themselves, then argues that the honest answer is no — and that Ephesians 3:14-21 is precisely a prayer for the kind of strength only God can supply. He frames the passage as a hinge in Ephesians, connecting the theology of chapters 1-3 with the practical walk of chapters 4-6, and walks through Paul's posture, petitions, and closing praise.

Scripture Text

Ephesians 3:14-21

Main Points or Ideas

• The Posture of Paul's Prayer (vv. 14-15) - Paul bows his knees before the Father, and while he doesn't use the word "prayer," the posture communicates humility and absolute submission to absolute authority. God is named as the Father of every family in heaven and on earth — the One with sovereign authority over all. Brown encourages students to try praying on their knees, because the posture of the body shapes the attitude of the heart.

• The Petitions of Paul's Prayer (vv. 16-19) - Paul makes three requests, each a prayer for God-given strength. First, he prays for strength through the Holy Spirit in the inner being so that Christ may dwell fully in their hearts — not compartmentalized into certain rooms while other areas are closed off, but welcomed into every part of life. Second, he prays for strength to comprehend the breadth, length, height, and depth of the love of Christ — a love that is the believer's positional foundation and yet infinitely surpasses full understanding. Third, he prays that they would be filled with all the fullness of God — characterized by God himself, increasingly reflecting Christ's likeness through the Spirit's ongoing work.

• The Praise of Paul's Prayer (vv. 20-21) - Paul closes with a doxology anchored in God's limitless ability: he can do far more abundantly than anything believers could ask or imagine, according to the power already at work within them. This is the God to whom Paul's three petitions are addressed, and it makes those requests all the more confident and hopeful.

  
  

Conclusion

Dr. Doug closes by inviting students to kneel and pray for a neighbor, applying the very posture and petitions of the text. The main idea he returns to throughout is simple: God wants his people to pray for strength so that they can be changed into Christ's likeness — and the God who receives those prayers is more than able to answer them.

Dr. Dave Doran opens the third and final session in the Walton Lecture Series on difficult sin by reviewing the first two principles — make it difficult to sin (Romans 13:14) and build biblical resistance through the Word (Psalm 119:11) — before turning to the hardest reality: what to do when, despite those preparations, we still fall. He frames the session around two foundational truths and their practical applications.

Scripture Text

Galatians 5:16-25; 1 John 1:9; 1 John 2:1; 2 Corinthians 3:18

Main Points or Ideas

• Foundational truth: the Spirit is already fighting - Galatians 5:17 says the flesh and the Spirit are already at war inside every believer. The believer is not on his own — the Spirit of God dwells within and is actively opposing sin. The practical responsibility that follows is to walk in the Spirit, be led by the Spirit, keep in step with the Spirit. Doran traces the four-stage chain from James 1 — encounter, entertain, engage, experience remorse — and urges believers to respond to the Spirit's conviction as early in that chain as possible: flee the temptation when entertaining it (as Joseph did), repent midstream if already engaged, and confess immediately once remorse comes. The deeply ingrained pattern of sin may mean conviction comes late at first, but as believers listen and respond, the Spirit will intervene earlier and earlier in the chain.
• Foundational truth: the Father is ready to forgive - 1 John 1:9 grounds forgiveness not in the quality of confession but in God's own faithfulness and righteousness. The enemy's lie — that God has grown tired of forgiving the same sin again — must be rejected outright. The Father is like the prodigal's father on the porch, watching and ready to receive. The practical responsibility is to confess sin rightly — not to seek catharsis (venting how bad we feel), but to genuinely acknowledge responsibility, agree with God about the nature of the sin, and ask for both forgiveness and cleansing. Confession also humbles the believer before God, and God gives grace to the humble — meaning the very act of confessing positions the believer to receive the grace needed to change.
• A final word: seek help and have hope - Doran closes the series by urging students not to assume a deep sinful struggle will resolve itself over time. He has spent forty-three years in ministry watching people whose unaddressed sin eventually destroyed them. The call is to have the humility to ask for help from the people and resources God has provided — and to do so from a place of genuine hope, not shame. God can transform the deepest patterns of sin, not merely get believers to heaven.

Conclusion

The three principles together — make it difficult to sin, treasure the Word in the heart, and respond quickly and rightly when we fall — are not a silver bullet but a way of life. Doran closes with his own testimony: he is deeply grateful not to be the eighteen-year-old he once was, and attributes that change entirely to a merciful God. There is hope, not because of us, but because of him.

In the second message ofthe Walton Lecture Series, Dr. Dave Doran spoke on the believer’s resource for fighting sin. Dr. Doran turns to Psalm 119:11 and observes that the treasuring of God’s Word helps the believer to not sin. He warns that growing careless about the fight against sin and dismissing the need for holiness is a dangerous territory for believers to live in. It endangers them from fighting sin and prevailing.

Scripture Text

Psalm 119:11; Romans 13:14; Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Timothy 4:7-8; Ephesians 3:16

Main Points or Ideas

• The resource: God's Word - Psalm 119:11 declares that treasuring God's Word in the heart is what guards against sin. Doran argues that when believers struggling with a habitual sin look for help, they too often look away from Scripture — toward books, sermons, or secular frameworks — and that this reveals a heart problem. The Word of God that gave the new birth did not lose its power afterward. It is sufficient for the work of transformation. The first move for anyone in a genuine spiritual battle should be God's Word, not a supplement to it.
• The responsibility: treasure it in the heart - Knowing the Bible casually or hearing it constantly is not the same as treasuring it in the heart. Doran distinguishes between absorbing general biblical truth and doing the focused work of finding what God's Word says specifically about the sin being fought — including both the core sin and the contributing heart issues beneath it. Using anger as an example, he shows how Scripture addresses not only the surface pattern but also pride, lack of self-control, and an unforgiving disposition underneath it. The goal is not information but transformation of the way one thinks, feels, and chooses.
• Why this works: preparation for the fight - Treasuring the Word builds resistance in three ways before the moment of temptation arrives. First, it cultivates humility and dependence on God rather than confidence in oneself. Second, it trains the soul for godliness — just as consistent physical training builds strength used in a crisis, consistent yes to the Word builds the discipline to say no to sin. Third, it places the sword of the Spirit in hand before the battle begins. Doran points to Matthew 4: Jesus did not wave Scripture at Satan like a charm; he used specific texts to articulate why he would not yield. The Word gives believers the reason to stay true to Christ in the moment of temptation.

Conclusion

Doran closes by urging students to stop treating their Bibles as trivia atlases and read them as life itself — treasuring specific truths in the heart so that, when temptation comes, they are ready to give the reason from Scripture why they are going to trust God and follow Christ rather than yield.

In the first of three messages in the Walton Lecture Series, Dr. Dave Doran spoke during chapel about how sin enslaves and deceives the person. He shares ways believers can be equipped to fight this sin. He boldly states that the thing between the temptation and sin itself is the believer’s choice.

He frames the message as the first of three sessions on how to go to battle against difficult, habitual sins — the kind that have burrowed deep and seem impossible to uproot — and lays out the biblical-theological foundation necessary before any practical strategy will work.

Scripture Text

Romans 13:14; James 1:13-15; Hebrews 3:13; Philippians 2:13; 2 Peter 2:14

Main Points or Ideas

• Understand how sin operates - Sin comes deceptively and hardens the conscience over time. No one arrives at devastating bondage in a single day; it happens through gradual concessions that dull sensitivity to what is wrong. Sin also exploits a God-given capacity for good: the ability to form habits. Just as athletic training produces second-nature skill, repeated surrender to a temptation can make sin feel involuntary — but it never actually is. Between every temptation and every sinful act there is always a choice. The gap may feel nonexistent when a sin has become deeply grooved, but it never disappears. Calling habitual sin a disease or pathology robs believers of genuine gospel hope.
• Pursue the right goal - The goal of fighting sinful enslavement is not personal freedom or relief from misery; it is Christ-likeness. Pursuing victory over sin for selfish reasons is a dangerous loop. Romans 13:14 calls believers to put on the Lord Jesus Christ — to cultivate Christ-likeness as the active expression of being made new in him. The relationship with Christ comes first; the pursuit of holiness flows from it. Until the heart shifts from "I want relief" to "I want to love and honor Christ," the real problem has not been addressed.
• Make no provision for the flesh - The second half of Romans 13:14 is the practical command: make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts. This means cutting sin off at the cue — before temptation fully forms — rather than trying to fight it mid-battle. Every habitual sin has a pattern: predictable times, places, feelings, and circumstances that precede it. The wisdom of Scripture is to trace that trail and then build obstacles. Remove opportunities. Make it environmentally difficult to sin. And make it emotionally costly: see every sinful choice not as "sin versus no sin" but as a personal choice between the sin and loyalty to Christ. The more the battle is framed in personal love for the Savior who died for you, the more the heart will turn toward him and hate what dishonors him.

Conclusion

Doran closes by calling students to stop looking for a silver bullet in sanctification and instead pursue the long, active work of replacing grooved sinful habits with grooved habits of godliness — because the power of God is greater even than the deepest patterns of sin, and he can make us like Christ.

Clare Jewell spoke during chapel about the importance of being intentional in being examples to the world. He looks at Matthew 5:13-16 and the call of Christ for believers to be “salt and light” to the world.

Drawing from seven years of teaching a Missional Living course and twenty-two years of pastoral ministry, he builds a practical case from Matthew 5:13-16 and Matthew 4:18-22 for what it looks like to stop living randomly and start living on purpose for the gospel.

Scripture Text

Matthew 5:13-16; Matthew 4:18-22; Ephesians 1

Main Points or Ideas

• Own your identity as salt and light - Jesus's "you" in Matthew 5:13-16 is emphatic in the Greek — his followers and no one else. God has no Plan B. Salt must make contact with the food to work, which means believers must be present and involved in people's lives. Light is not hidden but visible by nature — it is the direct communication of the gospel, not just a good impression. Jewell warns against the mistake of simply living well in front of unbelievers without ever speaking the gospel clearly.
• Be intentional with your time and relationships - Jewell offers practical handles: pray for at least one unbeliever every day, spend sixty minutes a week with a lost person, and share your story or the gospel at least once a month. Surveys of hundreds of churches show the average is only 1.66 times per year — and likely an overestimate. Simple habits like taking one meal a month with an unbeliever, or studying with your door open, require no additional programs — just greater intentionality with what you are already doing.
• Move along the discipleship path — and bring others with you - Jewell presents a five-stage discipleship path: spiritually dead (unbelief) → spiritual infant (ignorant) → spiritual child (selfish/consumer) → spiritual young adult (contributor/pitcher) → spiritual parent (intentional disciple-maker). He challenges students to identify where they are on the path and take the next step, and to recognize that they could already be spiritual parents — not someday, but now. The greatest weakness in North American Christianity is the failure to make disciple-making disciples, which is precisely the primary command of Christ.

Conclusion

Clare Jewell closes by looking around the room and speaking directly to the students: you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world, and you are not here by accident. Don't settle for a random life or a consumer faith — be intentional about loving your neighbors, sharing the gospel, and investing in people so that many can enter a life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.

Steve Anderson shares that believers can be examples to others by being bold about the gospel, gentle in sharing it, and thankful for the effectiveness and power of God in it. He also implies that gentleness can be strong and careful, not soft and unwilling.

The Thessalonian church became a disciple-making church because Paul and his partners practiced faithful relational evangelism, and Anderson traces that pattern through three movements in the text.

Scripture Text

1 Thessalonians 2:1-20; 1 Thessalonians 1:6-10

Main Points or Ideas

• The prerequisites for relational evangelism (vv. 1-5) - Two prerequisites must be in place before any gospel ministry will bear fruit. First, boldness: Paul came to Thessalonica directly from being spitefully treated in Philippi, and he proclaimed the gospel anyway — in much conflict. Living like a Christian in front of unbelievers is good but utterly insufficient; the gospel must be spoken. Second, a sense of stewardship: the gospel has been entrusted to us, and we are accountable for how we deliver it. That accountability — knowing we will one day give an account — sustains boldness when the message is unwelcome.
• The practice of relational evangelism (vv. 6-12) - Paul describes his approach with two family images: a nursing mother and a loving father. Like a mother, he was gentle — not because he softened the message, but because he understood that blaming the spiritually blind for not seeing is a fool's endeavor. Like a father, he invested not just the gospel but his very life. Anderson illustrates this with a decade-long friendship with an unbeliever named Matt — an unlikely, reputation-shadowed man who eventually came to faith — as evidence that the groundwork laid in relationship determines the depth of discipleship possible later.
• The product and reward (vv. 13-20) - The product of faithful relational evangelism is strong believers who have received the Word not as the word of men but as the Word of God, and who are immediately willing to endure the same afflictions for it that Paul endured. Strong churches are built on strong disciples; strong disciples come from this kind of investment. The reward is described in verse 19: the converts themselves are Paul's hope, joy, and crown of rejoicing at the coming of Christ. Anderson closes by asking students directly — who is your crown of rejoicing? Who will stand with you in the presence of Christ as a consequence of your faithfulness with the gospel you have been entrusted with?

Conclusion

Anderson calls students to stop treating gospel ministry as a future responsibility and to begin now — building real relationships, proclaiming the gospel with boldness and gentleness, and investing their lives in people. The world is desperately in need of a generation willing to step into that calling, and the students in the room may be exactly that generation.

Dr. Richard Bargas preached on the topic of prayer from 1 Thessalonians 1. He talks about Paul’s thanksgiving prayer and how it was united, Godward, without ceasing, and inclusive and personal. Dr. Bargas shows that God can hear, answer, and show the power of His Word through prayer.

Scripture Texts1 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:9-10; 1 Thessalonians 5:17

Main Points or Ideas

• Their thanks was united - Paul does not say "I have been praying for you." He says "we give thanks." Ministry is never a solo effort, and neither is prayer for ministry. Bargas notes that the church at Antioch modeled the same thing in Acts 13 — fasting and praying corporately as Paul and Barnabas were sent out, making themselves participants in the work rather than spectators. Christians can easily gather to criticize or compare notes; Paul and his partners gathered to give thanks and pray.
• Their thanks was Godward - Paul thanks God for what God is doing. Bargas warns that ministry can easily become man-centered — crediting the pastor's preaching style, the music ministry, or the spiritual receptivity of the people. Paul's thanksgiving cuts through all of that: God elected them, God empowered the church, God gave joy through persecution, God provides the eschatological hope that keeps the church moving. Soli Deo Gloria was a Reformation motto, but Paul practiced it long before. Prayer is John Piper's "wartime walkie-talkie" — a call to the Lord of armies in the heat of battle.
• Their thanks was continual - Paul gives thanks "always." This was not a platitude — he told the Thessalonians elsewhere that he prayed for them without ceasing, and told them to do the same. Bargas challenges listeners to examine whether they actually have things to pray for at the front of their minds — because if prayer requests don't come naturally, it may reveal that private prayer isn't happening. He encourages use of prayer cards, prayer journals, and other tools to keep people and ministries consistently before God.
• Their thanks was inclusive and personal - Paul prays for "all of you," making mention of each one. The church was not perfect — Paul knew that and said so in chapter three — but that imperfection drove him to pray more, not less. Bargas challenges the tendency to pray only for people we like or find easy to be around, and calls for prayer that covers the struggling, the silent, the weak, and the overlooked — all the saints, not just the prominent ones.

ConclusionBargas closes by calling students from mere admiration of Paul's prayer life to participation in it. Prayer is not a polite intention or a secondary ministry — it is stepping onto the battlefield and joining the work of God going on across the street and across the world. Pray united, pray Godward, pray continually, and pray for all the saints.

Dr. Jim Tillotson spoke about Jesus caring for those who suffer. He shares a series of gut-wrenching stories from his years as a college president — a mother dying on a son's wedding day, a student drowning on his honeymoon, students losing their father in a coma, a student raped at a rest stop — and names the lie Satan whispers into every deep wound: God doesn't care. Using the miracle at Nain in Luke 7, he answers that lie from Scripture.

Scripture Texts

Luke 7:11-17; 1 Peter 5:6-7; Hebrews 4:14-16; Lamentations 3:22-23

Main Points or Ideas

• Jesus is full of compassion - Walking through Matthew 9, 14, Mark 1, 6, and 8, Tillotson shows that "moved with compassion" is not a one-time description of Jesus — it is a recurring pattern. Compassion is part of who God is. And because Jesus does not change (Hebrews 13:8), the same compassion he showed the widow of Nain is still his posture toward every hurting person today. Circumstances do not change God's care. 1 Peter 5:7 declares it plainly: he cares for you. The hairs of your head are numbered. He thinks about you more than the sand on the shore.
• Jesus has the power to act on his compassion - At Nain, Jesus did not simply feel for the widow — he stopped the funeral procession, touched the coffin, and commanded a dead man to rise. His compassion moved him to do something. Tillotson points out that Jesus touched the coffin despite the ceremonial uncleanness it involved, because the law required mercy above sacrifice. He acted. And while he does not always act the way we ask, he always acts with wisdom toward our well-being and his glory.
• We are called to show compassion as Christ did - God uses believers as his instruments of compassion in the world. Tillotson calls students to walk slowly through the crowd, notice the hurting people around them, and resist the temptation to be so self-absorbed that others' pain goes unseen. He closes with the story of Anna's baby shower — where a student body's spontaneous outpouring of compassion moved her broken parents to tears in his office — as a picture of what Christ-like compassion looks like in community.

Conclusion

Two takeaways: have compassion on others as Christ has had compassion on you, and go tell others about a God who cares. The world you work and live in is full of hurting people for whom you may be the only beacon of hope they encounter. Be compassionate, make a difference, and rejoice in what God has done.

The administrative leadership leads the school in a Good Friday service with Scripture reading and singing.

Dr. Rob Boyd spoke during chapel about the Holy Week and Good Friday. He walks through the Holy Week, starting at Palm Sunday and ending with Resurrection Sunday.

Scripture Texts

Romans 12:2; John 3:16; Luke 19:28-44; John 19

Main Points or Ideas

• Passion Week: the events that lead to the cross - Boyd walks through each day of Holy Week in sequence. Sunday: the triumphal entry, with crowds spreading cloaks and palm branches and shouting "Hosanna." Monday: Jesus cleanses the temple, overturning the money-changers' tables and driving out merchants. Tuesday: the fig tree has withered; Jesus debates the chief priests and Pharisees in the temple, and Judas — furious over the costly perfume poured on Jesus — slips away to make his deal with the Jewish leaders. Wednesday: a day of silence and solitude. Thursday: the upper room Passover meal, where Jesus institutes the Lord's Supper, washes the disciples' feet, and then prays in Gethsemane while the disciples sleep.
• Good Friday: the arrest, trials, and crucifixion - In the early hours of Friday, Judas arrives at the garden with the authorities and identifies Jesus with a kiss. Peter denies the Lord three times as the rooster crows. Jesus is taken to the high priest, then to Pilate, then to Herod, then back to Pilate. The crowd chooses Barabbas. Jesus is flogged, crowned with thorns, forced to carry his cross to Golgotha, and crucified between two thieves. His final words: "It is finished."
• Why it is called good - Boyd answers his own question directly: it is Good Friday because God loved sinners so much that he sent his Son to pay a debt they could not pay. The wages of sin is death — and Jesus died in their place. It is good because those who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life. It is good because the story does not end at the cross. On Sunday morning, the stone was rolled away and the angel's message was clear: He is not here. He is risen, just as he said.

Conclusion

Good Friday is good because we are forgiven, because eternal life is freely offered, and because the gospel — the good news that Christ died so that we could live — is now ours to share with a world that desperately needs to hear it.

Dr. Rob Boyd spoke during chapel about living in a broken world. He starts with describing the fable of Humpty Dumpty, then segues into the story of Daniel and how he lived in contrast to the Babylonians. Dr. Boyd explains that Daniel stood strong on God’s commands. He encourages the students to develop biblical absolutes and to live out their faith in the world.

Scripture Text

Daniel 1:1-20

Main Points or Ideas

• Daniel's world and ours - When Babylon invaded Jerusalem, young Daniel was transported into a full-scale indoctrination program — new name, new language, new literature, new food — designed to make him forget who he was and become fully Babylonian. Boyd draws a direct parallel to the pressure today's culture places on young Christians: slowly removing God from schools, textbooks, politics, and public life, and labeling those who resist as intolerant or radical. The question Daniel faced is the same every student faces: will you blend in, or stay true to your God?
• Develop biblical absolutes - Daniel's response to the king's food was not impulsive — it was the expression of a conviction already settled. He purposed in his heart. Boyd distinguishes between preferences ("ideally I'd like to live this way") and convictions ("I will do this regardless of who I'm with or where I am"). Preferences crumble under peer pressure, temptation, or loneliness; convictions hold. He challenges students to write down, with God and their Bible, the things they will always do and will never do — so those decisions are made in the calm, not in the heat of Friday night.
• Live out your faith in the world - Daniel did not withdraw from Babylon. He wore the king's clothes, attended the king's school, took the king's job, and climbed the Babylonian ladder of success — all while refusing to compromise his convictions. Boyd argues there is no tension between technical excellence and spiritual maturity. A committed Christian should be the best in the room, making the source of that excellence unmistakably visible. The goal is not to limit Christ to a church pew or a chapel service but to carry him into every gym, workplace, and classroom — letting others see what God looks like when he does your job.

Conclusion

Dr. Boyd closes with two challenges: develop biblical absolutes you will not negotiate, and live out your faith openly in the world. We are not Secret Service Christians, strong in chapel but invisible everywhere else. We have the light of Christ, and the call is to let it shine before others so they glorify the Father in heaven.

Pastor Pat Nemmers spoke during chapel about following Jesus. He views following Jesus as the primary action of discipleship. He states strongly that if one were to follow Jesus, they have to die to themselves. Pastor Nemmers says they can do this by denying themselves, carrying their crosses, and following Jesus, just as Scripture says.

Scripture Texts

John 12:24-26; Matthew 10:37-39; Matthew 16:24-26

Main Points or Ideas

• Following Jesus means dying (John 12:24-26) - Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; if it dies, it bears much fruit. Nemmers illustrates this with a story about a boy who kept a handful of acorns in the haymow while his father planted the rest along the driveway — fifty years later the driveway is lined with majestic oaks, and the hidden seeds have never produced anything. Dying to self is not a loss; it is the only path to fruitfulness. He applies this through the example of Saylorville Church, which has sent nearly four hundred of its best people to plant eight other churches — dying to being the biggest in order to bear much fruit.
• Following Jesus means loving him above all else (Matthew 10:37-39) - Jesus calls his followers to love him hyper — beyond, over — father, mother, son, and daughter. Nemmers connects this to a missionary in his church who is leaving a twenty-year fruitful field for a restricted Muslim country where he may never see a convert. The explanation is simple: he and his wife are following Jesus, wherever that leads and whatever it costs.
• Following Jesus means denying yourself (Matthew 16:24-26) - The word "deny" in this passage is in the middle voice — the responsibility rests entirely on you, no one else can do it for you. All the glory belongs to God, but all the responsibility belongs to the follower. Nemmers also warns against holding onto something "just in case" — like the inventor of the Slinky who gave his fortune to missions but brought the patent to South America with him, and only found freedom when he threw it into the ocean. What are you still holding onto?

Conclusion

Nemmers closes with the image of chasing a ninety-nine cent bag across a parking lot in forty-five mile per hour winds, and asks: what are you running after, and if you catch it, will it give you life? This Easter, the empty tomb is God's cry to a world chasing things that cannot satisfy — follow Jesus, lose your life, and find it.

Dr. Jim Tillotson opens by asking students to project where they will be a year from now if they stay on the current path in their thought life, devotional life, dating life, and work ethic. Framing the message around strategy games he loves, he argues that God's Word is the ultimate rule book for life — and that there are five winning strategies in Proverbs 4:20-27.

Scripture Texts

Proverbs 4:20-27; Ephesians 4:30-32; Philippians 4:8; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Main Points or Ideas

• Have a continual and consistent regard for the Word of God (vv. 20-22) - Giving attention to God's words and keeping them in the heart is not optional for those who want to win spiritually. Skipping daily devotions in Bible college because you attend Bible classes is a losing strategy. The Word functions like a GPS — ignore it and you can be confidently driving toward your own doom. Someone said it well: this book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book.
• Guard your heart (v. 23) - Out of the heart spring the issues of life. Students must actively protect their thought life from pornography, bitterness, and unresolved anger. Bitterness is an open wound you keep picking at rather than letting heal. Unforgiveness and anger make you like a city with no walls — every enemy passes through and takes what it wants. The antidote is bringing every thought captive and choosing to be kind, tenderhearted, and forgiving, as God in Christ has forgiven us.
• Watch your mouth (v. 24) - Put away deceitful mouths and perverse lips. Lying is a losing strategy — liars must keep telling more lies and eventually cannot keep track of them. Tillotson addresses students directly about the treachery of living with unconfessed pornography or moral failure while pursuing marriage — it is the Trojan horse. Honest living, speaking truth in love, and refusing to gossip or slander are marks of someone building on a winning foundation.
• Keep your eyes focused (v. 25) - You can hit a bullseye in money, relationships, or career, but if it's in the wrong lane, you register a zero before God — just like Olympic shooter Matt Emmons, who fired a perfect shot at the wrong target and dropped from first to eighth. Stay focused on honoring God and giving him your best. Students who leave campus without graduating often lost their focus to money, unsafe relationships, or bitterness.
• Be careful and consistent in your decisions (vv. 26-27) - Slow and steady wins the race. Weigh what you are about to do against the Word of God before you do it. Running ahead of God — like Jonah — leads to costly detours. Ponder the path of your feet and let all your ways be established.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim Tillotson closes by reminding students that their opponent Satan has thousands of years of experience, but he is not smarter than God. Following these five strategies — Word, heart, mouth, focus, and decisions — is how believers win. God wants you to have a victory, and with his help you can.

Paul Golden spoke during chapel about Israel and why Christians should support it. He lists ten reasons and explains them briefly. Golden explains that God does love Israel, that Jesus was Jewish, and that Israel has a bright future.

Scripture Texts

Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 17:1-8; Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Jeremiah 31:35-36; Psalm 122:6-9; Zechariah 2:8; 8:23

Main Points or Ideas

• We are indebted to Israel - The Jewish people gave the world both the Savior and the Scriptures. Nearly every book of the Bible was written by Jewish authors who meticulously preserved God's Word for every generation.
• The Jewish people are God's chosen people - Not chosen because of their size or merit, but purely because of God's love and his covenant oath to their fathers (Deuteronomy 7:6-8). God set them apart to point the world to the one true God.
• We have been blessed through them - Disproportionate to their size — just 0.1% of the global population — Jewish people have contributed twenty-three percent of all Nobel Prizes, co-invented major medical advances (the polio vaccine), and driven technology including cell phones and Intel chips.
• Jesus himself was Jewish - Circumcised on the eighth day, celebrating Jewish festivals, teaching in synagogues, and identifying with his Jewish brothers. He was born, died, and rose as a Jew. To truly love Jesus is to love the Jewish people.
• God blesses those who bless Israel - Genesis 12:3 is an everlasting, unilateral covenant commitment: "I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you." Golden applies this by encouraging prayer for Jerusalem (Psalm 122) and tangible support for Israel's physical and spiritual needs.
• God loves Israel - His love is unconditional and not based on performance. Jeremiah 31:35-36 declares that God will no sooner stop loving Israel than the sun, moon, and sea will cease to exist. Christians are called to love whom God loves.
• Israel is a testament to God's faithfulness - From the miraculous birth of Isaac to deliverance from Egypt, from the survival of Esther's day to the re-establishment of the modern state in 1948, Israel's ongoing existence despite relentless persecution is evidence that God keeps his promises to his people — and therefore to us.
• God gave the land to the Jewish people - Genesis 17:8 and over one hundred and thirty other passages reiterate the everlasting, God-given title to the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. The modern battle over who owns the land is ultimately a conflict with God's own covenant.
• Anti-Semitism is evil - Hostility toward Jewish people is a spiritual problem rooted in Satan's ongoing attempt to thwart God's redemptive plan. Whoever touches God's people touches the apple of his eye (Zechariah 2:8). To hate the Jewish people is to raise a fist against God.
• Israel has a bright future - Deuteronomy 30 and Zechariah 8 describe a coming day when God will regather his people, give them hearts that recognize Jesus as Messiah, and lift them to a place of honor among all nations. This future hope motivates present support.

Conclusion

Golden closes by reminding students of the bottomless debt every believer owes the Jewish people and urging them to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, support Israel's physical and spiritual needs, and stand with God's chosen people in both good times and bad.

Student Association President Amos Glover opens by answering a fake phone call to illustrate his central question: when God speaks, will you put aside everything else to listen, or ignore him to your own peril?

Using Hebrews 1:1-4, he argues that God's speech climaxes in the incarnate Son — the most spectacular, complete, and personal communication God has ever given.

Scripture Texts

Hebrews 1:1-4; John 1:1-5; John 14:26; 1 John 2:27

Main Points or Ideas

• God has spoken — and he sounds like Jesus Christ - From Moses to Malachi, God spoke in many times and many ways: through prophets, donkeys, angels, symbols, types, and the sacrificial system. But all of it was preparation — a crescendo that fell silent for three hundred years before the incarnation. When God finally spoke in his Son, he spoke once and in one way: the person of Jesus Christ. Christ is not merely the messenger; he is the very message. The love letter of the Old Testament is precious, but when the person who wrote it arrives, everything changes.

• The identity of the Son who is God's speech - Hebrews 1:3 describes Christ as the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his nature. Glover uses this to draw out the Trinitarian reality of the incarnation: because Christ is God, when we experience him we experience God himself — his love, joy, and peace are not things he merely has but things he is. God the Father speaks; God the Son is the speech. This is a mystery too great for human analogy, but the passage invites wonder and worship rather than resolution.

• What it means to listen and speak - If God has spoken, the only question left is whether we will listen. Listening requires focus — every input shapes the mind, and the enemy does not need sinful temptations to win if he can simply keep us preoccupied with meaninglessness. Glover addresses each class year directly: freshmen, use your time to know God; sophomores, learn what God sounds like; juniors, look to Christ's humanity for perseverance; seniors, make sure you know what God has said. And beyond listening, believers are called to speak Christ to others — through teaching, preaching, evangelism, and discipleship — because what they communicate is not merely an imitation of Christ but Christ himself through the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion

Amos closes with a threefold call: listen to God, comprehend God, and communicate Christ to others. In doing so, believers have communion with the Triune God and love others not with merely human love but with the divine love of their heavenly Father.

Tim Waldron spoke during chapel about prayer and how God is at work. He looks at how God was at work in the life of Hezekiah when the Assyrians invaded Judah. Waldron encourages the students to trust God, showing that God answers prayer and works accordingly so that all will come to know Him.

Scripture Texts

Isaiah 36-37; Isaiah 10:5-6

Main Points or Ideas

• The crisis: a humanly impossible situation - Sennacherib, king of Assyria, had already taken every fortified city of Judah. No king and no kingdom had stopped the Assyrians. Standing outside Jerusalem's walls, the Assyrian emissary mocked God, threatened the people, and invited them to surrender. Hezekiah had done everything a good king could do — fortified the city, prepared his armies, diverted a water supply. It was not enough. Jerusalem appeared doomed.
• God is at work — even through adversaries - Before the drama unfolds, Isaiah 10:5-6 reveals what Hezekiah could not see: Assyria was merely the rod of God's anger, an instrument in his hand. Whatever trouble or trial comes into a believer's life passes through the hands of God. He uses whoever and whatever he wants to accomplish his purposes.
• The prayer that won the battle - When the crisis was renewed and all human options were exhausted, Hezekiah spread the threatening letter before the Lord and prayed. His prayer was simple, direct, and reverent — mostly a declaration about God: Lord of hosts, God of Israel, dweller between the cherubim, the one true God over all kingdoms, creator of heaven and earth. He acknowledged the enemy's power, admitted his own helplessness, and asked God to act for his own name's sake. God's response came immediately through Isaiah: Because you have prayed. One hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers were dead by morning. Sennacherib returned home and was killed by his own sons. Jerusalem was saved without a single arrow falling inside the city.
• The call to pray - The lesson Waldron draws is as simple as the story is dramatic: God has ordained that the trusting, believing prayers of his people be the cause of great victory in spiritual battles. This does not mean God needs our prayers — it means he has chosen to use them. Whether the battle is for a family member's salvation, against persistent sin, or against bitterness and resentment, prayer must be the first and continual weapon. Prayer is not a last resort — it is the clearest and most powerful evidence that we trust God rather than ourselves.

Conclusion

Waldron closes by drawing the story back to the opening truth: God is always working in our lives to move us away from trust in self toward trust in him. Whatever God is doing in the life of this school and in each student's life right now, his purpose is the same — to pull us toward deeper dependence on him. Let prayer be the evidence of that trust, so that whatever he accomplishes may cause all peoples to know that he alone is God.

Pastor Lance Augsburger looked at the story of Solomon and his turning away from God. He warns the students that even when they are strong, sin can still creep into their lives. Pastor Lance showed how sin turns hearts away from God, choice by choice. He also gives hope that God wants their hearts, completely and wholly.

Scripture Texts

1 Kings 10-11; 1 Kings 3:3; 1 Kings 8:59-61

Main Points or Ideas

• Sin can creep in even when things are strong - Solomon's fall did not begin in a moment of weakness. It began when he was king of the world — the wealthiest, wisest ruler alive, a man who had personally led his people to love the Lord. The context of chapter 10 is a picture of peak strength. Yet it was precisely there that sin began to work its way in. The warning for students is the same: spiritual strength and a rich environment are not immunity.
• Sin turns our hearts away from God — one small choice at a time - God had explicitly commanded Israel's king not to marry foreign women, warning that they would turn his heart. Solomon, likely telling himself he was wise enough to handle it, made one compromise, then another, until he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines — and seven hundred acts of idolatry. Augsburger calls this the "Pringle Principle": once you pop, you can't stop. Sin never rushes in all at once. It works through small justifications — it's not that big a deal, I've got it under control, it's good for Israel — until the heart has drifted far from God. Watch for little justifications; they are the early warning signs.
• God wants our hearts completely - God's rebuke of Solomon in chapter 11 is not primarily about the wives or the commands — it is about the heart. Solomon had received more direct divine attention than almost any other person in history, yet he squandered it. By contrast, believers today have been brought into an even more intimate relationship with God through Christ: forgiven, declared righteous, indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and guaranteed an eternal inheritance. This greater privilege carries a greater call to guard the heart.
• Two solutions: follow David's pattern, and restore your affections - David sinned as badly as Solomon, but David repented — he brought his sin into the light, confessed it, and drew near to God again. The first solution is to follow that same path: confess, forsake, tell someone, seek accountability. The second is for those with nothing specific to confess: examine whether your affection for God is growing. Open the Scriptures not to complete an assignment but to see God, and let that sight restore your love for him.

Conclusion

Augsburger closes with the hymn "Come, Thou Fount" — "prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love" — as both a confession and a prayer. The goal is not merely to avoid Solomon's end, but to actively keep the heart bound to God in growing love.

Pastor Daniel Vance spoke about the power of Jesus in tests and temptation. He shows how Jesus humbly waits for the Father to end His temptation instead of rushing it. He encourages the students to wait on God instead of rushing the test.

Pastor Daniel also shows that Jesus does not use his “felt needs" as an excuse to doubt God, explaining that God does not rush His time to give us our felt needs. Jesus submitted to God in obedience to God’s Word, teaching that it is not too hard or complicated to obey Him.

Scripture Texts

Matthew 4:1-11; James 4:7; Deuteronomy 8:2-3

Main Points or Ideas

• Jesus humbly waits for the Father to end the testing - The Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness, and God — not Jesus — determined when it would end. When Satan pressed Jesus in the first temptation to use his power to satisfy his hunger, the deception was this: if God has given you the ability, he has given you permission. Jesus refused to act independently of the Father, and waited until God sent angels to minister to him. The application is direct: Christians ought not to live on impulse. Ability is not the same as permission. Every moment is a moment to be lived for the Master, and he is Lord over all of it.
• Jesus did not use his felt needs as an excuse to doubt God - In the second temptation, Satan quoted Psalm 91 and appealed to the question that confronts every son of God in suffering: Is God actually present with me? The deceptive lie is: a good God will supply your needs in a reasonable amount of time. When he does not seem to, felt needs become demands and demands become doubt. Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6 — a text about Israel testing God in the wilderness by asking "Is God among us or not?" — and refuses to make that demand. He trusts God's goodness even without a sign.
• Jesus submits in obedience to God's Word - In the third temptation, Satan offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world — a way around the cross. The deceptive lie is that obedience is simply too hard. Jesus responds every time with "it is written," showing that submission to God's Word is the weapon for each temptation. Israel failed the test repeatedly; Jesus passes each time. The theme of the passage is this: the Son of God has defeated Satan, and anyone united to Christ by faith may walk in that same victory — not because of spiritual experience, background, or training, but because Christ's victory is theirs.

Conclusion

Pastor Daniel closes with James 4:7 as the simple, hopeful summary: submit to God, resist the devil, and he will flee. Satan has no power over one who is in Christ. Students are sent out to fight sin tenaciously, but from a position of confidence — not in themselves, but in the decisive victory of Jesus over Satan that belongs to every believer by faith.

Dr. Jim Tillotson finished his series on the book of Titus. He observes the list of what to avoid in the life of the believer. He encourages the students to avoid foolish disputes, unnecessary genealogies, contentions, striving about the law, and to reject a factious man.

Scripture Texts

Titus 3:9-15; Romans 14:1-6; Proverbs 6:16-19

Main Points or Ideas

• Avoid what is unprofitable (vv. 9-10) - Paul lists four things to avoid: foolish disputes, genealogies, contentions, and strivings about the law. Tillotson applies each to campus life — heated dorm debates over Calvinism, worship style wars, and church splits over ladies Bible studies. The church, he notes, is not so much defeated as distracted by pursuing non-essentials. Where Scripture is clear, take a stand; where it is silent or unclear — roughly five percent of the Bible — be gracious. A divisive person who will not receive two admonitions is to be rejected: the Bible describes such a person as warped, sinning, and self-condemned. Don't start the campfire.
• Keep your plans in pencil (vv. 12-13) - Paul was uncertain which co-worker to send and was never able to carry out his plan to winter at Nicopolis — he was arrested and taken to Rome instead. Titus left a church plant he had invested his life in, simply because Paul asked. The application: God never intended believers to walk through life rigidly self-directed. Hold plans loosely, be willing to be redirected, and go where God sends.
• Maintain good works and meet urgent needs (v. 14) - The phrase "let our people learn" suggests this does not come naturally; it must be cultivated. Good deeds open hearts to the gospel. Tillotson shares how consistent relationship-building with a neighbor couple led to a Sunday-night conversation where they heard the plan of salvation for the first time in their lives. He also recounts Professor Brian Trainor taking a concrete fall protecting a woman on a tour of Masada — badly injured but meeting an urgent need. The question: who's going to care?
• You need friends and you need grace (v. 15) - Even Paul needed companionship during a long winter. Some students are so focused on academics they are investing in no one. College friendships often become lifelong ones — invest in them. And the entire book of Titus — every command to avoid disputes, submit to authority, pursue godliness, and do good works — is impossible without grace. Paul's closing word is fitting: grace be with you all.

Conclusion

Dr. Jim closes by urging students to avoid division, keep plans in pencil, pursue good deeds, build friendships, and depend on God's grace for everything the Christian life requires. The book of Titus has a simple bottom line: be the kind of person whose presence blesses every church and community you enter, not divides it.

Morris Gleiser spoke during chapel about the Israelite’s familiarity and apathy to God and His Law. He explains that Israel’s history is an example to the church today in warning believers to not follow the same patterns. He warns against growing familiar to what used to bother us spiritually, and he also gives hope, reminding students that sincere worship and cleansing of the heart can cure apathy.

Scripture Text

Isaiah 1:1-20

Main Points or Ideas

• The Disease Described: Spiritual Deafness - God opens Isaiah 1 with an urgent, emphatic command to hear — twice — because his people had stopped listening. They could attend worship, read the Word, and sit through chapel while nothing was registering or transforming. The disease of familiarity turns the Word from something transformational into something merely informational or inspirational at best. A new convert devours every sermon and song with wide-eyed hunger; the familiar believer walks out unchanged. Gleiser warns against becoming so accustomed to truth that it stops landing.
• The Disease Described: Spiritual Desensitization - Isaiah's second symptom is that God was visibly at work — bruises, sores, desolation — yet the people were not responding. They had grown comfortable with things that should have alarmed them. Just as Gleiser's college roommate's glass eye went from terrifying to familiar to ignored, believers can become desensitized to sin, conviction, and the voice of the Spirit. The rut and routine of religious life, as one old author put it, leads to spiritual rot.
• The Prescription: Sincere Worship from the Heart - God's complaint in verses 11-13 was not that Israel stopped bringing offerings — it was that they brought them without their hearts. He calls his people to put the "wow" back into worship: a genuine, awe-filled devotion to God that isn't mimicry or performance but the overflow of a heart that loves him. Gleiser points to the coming worship scene of Revelation 5 — ten thousand times ten thousand declaring the Lamb worthy — and asks, why not begin now?
• The Prescription: Serious Cleansing of the Heart - Verse 16 repeats the call to come clean four different ways for emphasis: wash, make clean, remove evil, cease from evil. The remedy for spiritual sickness is not complex — it is sincere confession and repentance. The hard part is not the act itself but the willingness to admit the need for it. Gleiser closes with the story of a teenager who read all four Gospel accounts of the crucifixion by lantern-light during a power outage and told his youth group afterward, "Lord, forgive me for taking all this for granted."

Conclusion

Gleiser urges students to stay spiritually healthy — listening to God's Word with a hungry ear, keeping worship genuine, and maintaining a clean heart through ongoing confession. Don't let familiarity drain the vibrancy from your walk with God.

Morris Gleiser spoke during chapel about the story of Peter and Jesus after Jesus’ resurrection. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Gleiser observes how Jesus communicates His patience, calls for priority over other things and people, and clarifies the believer’s purpose. He also observes Peter’s failure to show love for Jesus in his denial, yet how this failure was not final for him.

Scripture Text

John 21:1-17

Main Points or Ideas

• Jesus communicates patience - Peter had denied the Lord three times, and yet Jesus did not abandon him. He reinstated him publicly and in front of the other disciples — making clear that failure is not final. Gleiser applies this directly to students who feel disqualified by repeated failure or habitual sin. The Lord is not through with you. He hates the sin, but he keeps extending mercy and grace, just as a loving father never scorns a toddler who falls while learning to walk.
• Jesus calls for priority - When Jesus asks Peter "do you love me more than these?", the referent is deliberately left open — the fish and boat, the other disciples, or his love for them. The macro point is clear: do you love me more than anything, more than everything, more than everyone? Gleiser warns that believers are worshippers by nature, and an unguarded heart will drift toward idols — a relationship, a dream, technology, sports. The throne of the heart has room for only one king, and Jesus will not share it. The call is to examine what Jesus might point to in your life today and ask, "Do you love me more than that?"
• Jesus clarifies purpose - After every declaration of love from Peter, Jesus responds with the same commission: feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep. If you love Jesus, the proof is pouring your life into other people. Whether a student is heading into pastoral ministry, business, medicine, law, or motherhood, the call is the same — make disciples, invest in others, show your love for Christ through your love for his people.

Conclusion

Morris Gleiser closes by inviting students to stand with Peter on the shore and honestly answer the Lord's question. Whether the need is to receive forgiveness and get back up, to clear something off the throne of the heart, or to surrender to a clearer sense of calling — the Lord's question remains: do you really love me?

Dr. Marty Herron spoke during chapel about three well-known poets in history. He looks at Shakespeare and his influence, Job and his struggles with chaos and sorrow, and Fanny Crosby. Dr. Herron observes three tools God uses: crisis, criticism, and conviction. God uses all three to reveal who He is and to draw people back to Him.

Scripture Texts

James 5:7-18; Job 1-2; 19:21; 42

Main Points or Ideas

• Shakespeare: expression in chaos - Shakespeare, the most recognized bard in English history and a contemporary of the King James Bible, did not invent human emotion — he exposed it. His works on ambition (Macbeth), indecision (Hamlet), jealousy (Othello), and broken relationships repeatedly echo the book of Job, whose imagery Shakespeare referenced directly. The take-home question: how is God calling you to shape your generation with the gifts of expression he has given you? Could your voice, writing, or creativity be God's tool to speak truth into someone else's chaos?
• Job: endurance in crisis and criticism - James 5:11 holds up Job as the gold standard of patient endurance. Job faced crisis — losing his wealth, his children, and his health while sitting on a trash heap with a hurting wife — without knowing that heavenly realities far beyond his understanding were at work. He then faced criticism from friends who offered miserable comfort in place of God's presence. Through both, God moved Job from a secondhand concept of God to a deep firsthand conviction, closing the gap between what Job had heard and what he now saw. The take-home question: could your patient endurance in the middle of criticism or correction become someone else's evidence of God's faithfulness?
• Fanny J. Crosby: limitations as launching pads - Blinded at six weeks old by medical malpractice, Fanny Crosby wrote her first poem at age eight — a declaration of contentment in God — and went on to write over eight thousand hymns. By age fifteen she had memorized the first five books of the Old Testament, the Psalms, Proverbs, and the Gospels, and was saved at thirty. The take-home question: what limitation in your life might God be turning into your greatest ministry? Could the struggle you would never choose become the platform God most uses?

Conclusion

Dr. Herron closes by weaving the three bards together: Shakespeare saw chaos on life's shifting stage, Job cried from the depths of suffering, and Fanny sang hope in the darkest night — and all three point to the same God who hovered over the chaos in Genesis 1 and who still speaks in the whirlwind today. Students are invited to steward their own gifts, endure their own storms, and trust that God prevails even now.

Dr. Jim Bennett spoke about having a historical and cultural understanding of the Bible. He looks deeper at an example of eating. He observes the Last Supper of Christ and goes deeper into the historical understanding of how the Jews ate in the time of the Roman Empire and how that had an impact on the story and eventually the Lord’s Supper.

Scripture Texts

John 13:1-30; Luke 14:7-11; Matthew 20:20-28

Main Points or Ideas

• How first-century Romans (and Jews) ate formal meals - Meals were staged social spectacles. Guests reclined on couches arranged in a U-shaped formation called the triclinium — three couches of three, with the host in the position of highest honor (A1). Guests of greater honor sat closest to the host; the best food was also distributed by proximity. Reclining meant lying on the left elbow and eating with the right hand, with feet extended behind — a detail that immediately clarifies why a woman could wash Jesus's feet at a meal without awkwardness, and why Leonardo da Vinci's famous Last Supper painting is entirely historically inaccurate.
• Reading the Last Supper through the triclinium - Placing the seating clues from the Gospels against the triclinium arrangement reveals a vivid picture. Jesus, as host, sat at A1. John — described as leaning on Jesus's breast, a common first-century idiom for sitting beside someone — sat at A2. Peter was not close enough to ask Jesus directly who the betrayer was and had to signal John to ask, placing him somewhere at a distance. Most significantly, Judas must have been in the seat of honor (B1), close enough to receive the morsel and have his hand dipped with Jesus in the dish. The one about to betray him held the place of highest honor at the table.
• The theological payoff: the seat of honor - Bennett argues this seating arrangement is one of the most powerful object lessons in the Bible. Every person at that table was about to betray or abandon the Lord — yet Jesus placed his betrayer in the seat of honor. The Sons of Thunder, who had asked for the highest positions in the kingdom, watched their Lord wash the feet of every guest. The visual argument is clear: nothing you have done, are doing, or are thinking about doing can separate you from the love of Christ. Bennett invites every student to picture themselves in that seat of honor.

Conclusion

Thinking historically about the Bible cultivates humility before a God whose ways are beyond comprehension, builds confidence in a book that stands up to every scrutiny, and — as the Last Supper so richly illustrates — sharpens application in ways that reveal the deep character of God toward those he loves. Bennett closes by encouraging students to keep holding Scripture up like a prism and mining its riches.

Dr. Jim Bennett spoke during chapel about barriers to proper understanding in Scripture. He encourages his listeners to think historically because it cultivates humility, strengthens our faith, and sharpens our application. Dr. Bennett states strongly that believers can be extremely confident in Scripture, that it is true, historical, and able to transform.

Scripture Texts

Galatians 4:4; 1 John 1:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:1-6; Romans 11:33-34; Lamentations 3:22-23

Main Points or Ideas

• Thinking historically cultivates humility - Galatians 4:4 says Christ came in "the fullness of time" — the culmination of an unknowable number of related human choices and events stretching back through all of history. Only God, standing outside of time, can see the full "roaring cataract" (C.S. Lewis) of billions of moments that converge at any single point. Job and Habakkuk both pressed God with anguished questions, and both received the same answer: God's ways are too vast and complex to be comprehended by finite minds. Understanding this frees believers from the paralysis of trying to figure God out, replacing bitterness and doubt with the embrace of his promises, his presence, and his faithfulness.
• Thinking historically strengthens faith - The New Testament narrative is built not on mythical lands and legendary settings but on verifiable history: real cities, real names, real journeys. Unlike horoscopes or fortune cookies, Scripture invites scrutiny, and the evidence has consistently confirmed its reliability. If there was no historical Jesus, there is no gospel — and because there was a historical Jesus, the faith rests on solid ground.
• Thinking historically sharpens application - Words are culturally conditioned, and even in the same language meaning shifts across time and generation. Bennett gives examples of how historical and cultural context clarifies difficult passages: the ancient Roman practice of counting the first day as day one resolves the apparent discrepancy between "three days" in the tomb and a Friday crucifixion; understanding the cultural significance of head coverings in the Greco-Roman world opens up Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians in ways a surface reading cannot. Bennett pauses here and promises a Part 2 to illustrate a third, deeper example still to come.

Conclusion

Thinking historically about the Bible cultivates the humility to trust God with what we cannot understand, the confidence to stake our lives on what Scripture affirms, and the precision to apply it accurately. Bennett closes by pointing toward his second session, where he will demonstrate the practical payoff of this approach with a specific passage.

Pastor Gary Walton spoke about the effect of grace. He looks at Titus 2:11-15 and how God’s grace impacts the lives of believers. He looks at the urgency, the redemption, and the purpose of grace. He looks forward to the return of Christ, while resting in His redemption, and he encourages the college students to live purposefully in God’s grace.

Scripture Text

Titus 2:11-15

Main Points or Ideas

• Live with relentless urgency - Grace trains believers to renounce ungodliness and live self-controlled, upright lives in light of Christ's coming. Walton addresses students directly: your twenties are not a waiting room or a free trial — they are a launching pad. The time to pursue Christ, build godly habits, and get in the game is now, not after graduation or after some future milestone. Don't blow your twenties.
• Rest in radical redemption - Verse 14 declares that Christ gave himself to redeem believers from all lawlessness — not some, not just the respectable failures, but all of it. Walton uses the image of a backpack full of rocks to describe the cumulative weight of unconfessed, unredeemed sin, and argues that Jesus not only forgives but repurposes those failures as part of the believer's story for God's glory. Using the story of little Johnny and the duck — a grandmother who saw everything, forgave immediately, and waited for the child to stop letting shame make a slave of him — Walton urges students not to let the enemy keep them sidelined by guilt that Christ has already dealt with. Nothing in a believer's past or present is ever wasted.
• Run with unstoppable purpose - Redeemed people are purified for a purpose: to be zealous for good works. The Greek word for "zealous" carries the idea of passionate, wholehearted, eager devotion. Walton calls students to stop waiting for a title, a degree, or a ministry position before getting on the front line. The present of the church — not just the future — belongs to this generation, and the mission is now.

Conclusion

Pastor Walton closes by pressing the three themes together: live with urgency because the time is short, rest in redemption because nothing is wasted, and run with purpose because you were made for this moment.

Pastor Chad Hol looked at 1 Kings 22 and the story of Micaiah the prophet and the role of God. He sees that God is ruling when the majority of people are wrong, when the truth is rejected, and when the arrow flies at random. He also observes the reality of God’s sovereignty despite man’s sin.

Scripture Text

1 Kings 22:1-38

Main Points or Ideas

• God is ruling even when the majority are wrong (vs. 1-12) - Ahab assembles four hundred prophets who unanimously promise victory — and they are all wrong. Jehoshaphat shows some discernment, but not enough to resist going along. God sits on his throne and does as he pleases regardless of what kings decree or crowds affirm. The application: be careful who you seek advice from, and remember there is a throne above the battlefield of your life.

• God is ruling even when the truth is rejected (vs. 13-28) - Micaiah is warned to parrot the four hundred, but he speaks the truth anyway — and gets slapped and imprisoned for it. He could endure this not because he was confident in the outcome, but because he knew who was ruling. He feared God more than he feared Ahab. Speaking truth may be costly, but a heavenly confidence makes earthly persecution endurable.

• God is ruling even when the arrow flies at random (vs. 29-38) - Ahab disguises himself to avoid the prophesied death. A nameless soldier draws his bow at random. The arrow finds the one gap in Ahab's armor. There are no stray arrows in a sovereign universe. The same God who guided that arrow governs every diagnosis, every closed door, every unexpected loss. It may feel chaotic and unfair — but God never fails, never sleeps, and is never surprised.

• A glimpse behind the scenes: the sovereign God who invites participation (vs. 19-23) - Micaiah's vision reveals God on his throne asking, "Who will entice Ahab?" He already knows the outcome, yet he invites ideas from the heavenly court, listens to their suggestions, and acts upon one. God uses sinful agents sinlessly to accomplish his purposes — as he did with Pharaoh. The profound application: the all-knowing, all-powerful God wants to hear from us. He invites our participation in what he is already going to do. Prayer is not bending God's will — it is aligning with it.

Conclusion

We do not know God's secret will, but we do know his revealed will: he wants sinners saved, believers sanctified, disciples made, and justice done. Hol closes by calling students to pray boldly and specifically into what they already know pleases God — confident that the God who governs arrows and overrules kings is the same God who invites them to participate in his purposes.

Dr. Keith Kobelia observes eight questions about the rapture and answers them with various Scripture passages, making note of where the church and Israel are in relation to these passages. Drawing on decades of academic work — including a ThM thesis on the Day of the Lord and a PhD on 2 Thessalonians 2:3 — he explains why the rapture must be distinguished from the Second Advent and must precede Daniel's seventieth week.

Scripture Texts

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; 1 Thessalonians 5:1-9; John 14:1-3; Revelation 3:10; Revelation 5; Daniel 9:27; Ephesians 3:1-6; 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

Main Points or Ideas

• The rapture and the Second Advent are distinct events - Comparing key passages reveals at least ten contrasts: at the rapture Christ meets believers in the air; at the Second Advent he comes to the earth (Zechariah 14). The rapture removes the church; the Second Advent judges the nations. At the rapture Christ comes for his saints; at the Second Advent he comes with them. These differences are too numerous and contradictory to be describing the same event.
• The millennial kingdom requires a gap between the rapture and the Second Advent - If believers receive glorified bodies at the rapture and unbelievers are judged at the Second Advent (Matthew 25), no one remains in a natural body to populate the millennial kingdom — unless there is a gap during which people come to faith. The pretribulation rapture solves this by providing tribulation converts who enter the kingdom in natural bodies.
• First Thessalonians 4 and 5 describe two distinct events - Paul signals a shift in topic in chapter 5 and notes the Thessalonians already knew about the Day of the Lord — whereas they were ignorant about the rapture (4:13). The pronouns and descriptions in chapter 5 show that believers will not experience the Day of the Lord, arguing for the rapture preceding it.
• The church is promised exemption from the coming wrath - Three passages promise deliverance: 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, and especially Revelation 3:10, where the church at Philadelphia is promised to be kept from "the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world." In context, this refers to the tribulation judgments.
• All tribulation judgments are the wrath of God - Revelation 5–6 shows that the Lamb opens every seal, meaning all the judgment sequences — seals, trumpets, and bowls — are divine wrath from the beginning, not just the final bowls. This rules out mid-tribulation and prewrath views that limit God's wrath to only the final period.
• Daniel's seventieth week is Jewish in character; the church is a mystery - Daniel 9's seventy-week prophecy is directed at Israel, not the church. Since Paul describes the church as a mystery not revealed in the Old Testament (Ephesians 3), the church cannot be the subject of Daniel's seventieth week. This argues that the church will be removed before that period begins.
• The rapture is imminent - John 14, 1 Corinthians 15, and 1 Thessalonians 4 describe the catching away with no preceding signs or events required. Only the pretribulation view is fully compatible with a truly imminent return, since once Daniel's seventieth week begins, other prophesied events must occur first.
• The church is absent from Revelation 4–18 - After being prominently featured in chapters 2–3, the church is not mentioned in chapters 4–18, reappearing only at the marriage supper of the Lamb (chapter 19). While an argument from silence, the contrast is striking and consistent with the church having been removed before the tribulation begins.

Conclusion

Kobelia closes with four practical reasons to study the rapture: God wants his people to have knowledge of what is coming; this knowledge produces hope; it motivates purity of life (1 John 3:2-3); and it calls believers to faithful service, knowing their labor in the Lord is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Dr. Alan Cole spoke about anxiety and how to stay anchored in Scripture. He states that worry is self-centered, not focused on God. He encourages the students to turn it over to God and to leave it there. Paul's commands to the Philippians in Philippians 4:1-7 provide a practical path to the peace of God.

Scripture Text

Philippians 4:1-7

Main Points or Ideas

• Stand Fast in the Lord (v. 1) - Paul opens by affirming his deep affection for the Philippians and commanding them to stand firm in the Lord. The commands that follow in the passage are the means by which standing fast becomes possible.
• Unite for the Lord (vv. 2-3) - Paul calls out two women, Euodia and Syntyche, by name because their conflict had become a public problem. The ability to stand fast in Christ is helped by standing together with others. Broken relationships undermine the mission, and believers must learn to be gentle rather than insisting on their own way or plowing over others.
• Grow for the Lord (vv. 4-7) - Paul commands three qualities. First, rejoice at all times — not as a forced happy feeling, but as a confidence in what God is doing, even in the midst of trials. Shifting focus from the struggle to what God is teaching produces genuine joy. Second, be gentle to all — not demanding rights or running over others, but coming alongside with a shepherd's calm rather than a prophet's fire. Third, be peaceful in all circumstances through prayer. Worry is self-centered — it turns focus inward rather than upward. The remedy is bringing everything to God through prayer (ongoing conversation), supplication (earnest, need-aware asking), and thanksgiving (deliberate gratitude for what God has already done and answered). These are then left at the throne, not picked back up.
• The Peace of God (v. 7) - The result of praying rather than worrying is the peace of God, which surpasses human understanding. Just as a guard is posted to keep something out, this peace stands watch over hearts and minds, shielding them from the fear and worry that would otherwise rush in. People may not be able to explain how a believer walks through difficulty with a quiet soul, but the answer is a great God who receives our requests and gives his peace in return.

Conclusion

The Christian life is a voyage through storms, and the soul needs an anchor. That anchor is found not in avoiding trials but in bringing them to God in prayer — standing firm, rejoicing, staying gentle, and trusting the peace of God to guard what we cannot protect ourselves.

Dan Anderson spoke in chapel about serving God. He observes the story of Zechariah, John the Baptist’s father, and his prophecy. He encourages the students to ask God what they need to do in light of what He has done. The only enduring motivation for serving God is gratitude for what God has already accomplished.

Scripture Text

Luke 1:67-75; Romans 12:1; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19

Main Points or Ideas

• God Visited Us - The Greek word for "visit" in verse 68 means to look in on someone specifically to assess their condition and come alongside to help. God did not wait for humanity to find its way back to him — the separation caused by sin was too great. Like a doctor who made house calls when patients were too sick to travel, God came to us in the person of Jesus Christ. This alone is sufficient reason to serve him.

• God Redeemed Us - Redemption means to buy back or pay a ransom to free someone from captivity. No man can ransom another (Psalm 49), but God paid the price only he could pay — not with silver or gold, which perish, but with the precious blood of Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). Our salvation was not an afterthought; it was planned before the foundation of the world. The redemption provided for Israel also extended to every nation, tribe, and tongue.

• God Saved Us to Serve Him - Verse 74 gives the purpose of deliverance: "that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days." Believers serve God without fear — because we have been made his children. We serve him in holiness and righteousness — not our own, but Christ's, imputed to us. We serve him alone, not for the approval of others. And we serve him all our days — there is no retirement from serving God.

Conclusion

Romans 12:1 calls believers to present themselves as living sacrifices, and Dan Anderson argues this is simply the "reasonable service" of anyone who has truly received what God has done. To be saved and have nothing to do with God afterward is unreasonable. The only fitting response to being visited, redeemed, and saved is a life of zealous service to him.

Carl Kerby opens with a 1988 Dennis the Menace comic strip — "Endangered Species" — as a creative entry point into three questions about dinosaurs, Noah's ark, and the reliability of radiometric dating. Using the comic as a foil, he argues that popular assumptions about these topics need to be tested against Scripture and observational evidence.

Scripture Text

2 Timothy 3:16; Genesis 1:25, 31; Genesis 6:19–20; Genesis 7:22; Job 40–41

Main Points or Ideas

• Which Animals Were on the Ark? - The comic's first panel assumes Noah saved every animal. Kerby corrects this from Genesis 6–7: only land-dwelling, air-breathing creatures were taken aboard. Sea creatures, fish, and other aquatic animals were not included. The ark's passengers were a specific category, not every species on earth.

• Evidence That Dinosaurs Were on the Ark - Kerby presents three lines of evidence that dinosaurs lived recently alongside humans. First, original soft tissue, blood vessels, collagen, and red blood cells have been found in dinosaur bones — including one Kerby personally excavated — which cannot survive millions of years by any known preservation mechanism. Second, carbon-14 has been detected in dinosaur bones and even diamonds, which should contain no C-14 whatsoever if they were millions of years old. Third, historical, artistic, and cultural evidence — including petroglyphs in Utah, a brass headstone from a 15th-century English bishop featuring long-necked creatures, and a carving at Angkor Wat resembling a stegosaurus — suggests that humans and dinosaurs coexisted.

• The Limits of Radiometric Dating - Using a candle illustration, Kerby distinguishes between observational science (repeatable, testable) and historical science (assumption-dependent). Radiometric dating requires three unprovable assumptions: the initial ratio of isotopes, that the sample has been a closed system, and that decay rates have always been constant. These assumptions cannot be verified and are not the same as direct observation.

• Dinosaurs in Scripture - The word "dinosaur" did not exist until 1841, so it would not appear in a 1611 translation. But the Hebrew word tannin — translated as dragon, leviathan, and serpent — appears over sixty times in Scripture. The behemoth of Job 40 is described as the largest land creature God ever made, with bones like tubes of bronze (a structural feature found in large sauropod dinosaurs), a tail like a cedar tree, and a capacity to drink the River Jordan. Study Bible notes suggesting hippopotamus or elephant do not fit the description.

Conclusion

Kerby closes by calling students to use whatever creative gifts God has given them — as he used a comic strip — to engage the culture with the truth of Scripture. God's patience will not last forever, and the students in the room are the generation positioned to take the Word to the world.

Carl Kerby worked through evidence of God as creator. He observes the human respiratory system and how it is designed in such a way that is not by chance, but by intelligence. He recalls Psalm 139 where David says that people are fearfully and wonderfully made by God.

Carl Kerby looks at Ephesians 2:10 where Paul states that people are the workmanship of God, created for a purpose. His observations in the respiratory system lead to his conclusion that people are designed by God for a purpose and are wonderfully and intelligently designed.

Scripture Texts

Psalm 139:14; Ephesians 2:10; Isaiah 64:8; 1 Corinthians 12:18

Main Points or Ideas

• You Are God's Masterpiece - The word "workmanship" in Ephesians 2:10 refers not just to the product but to the degree of skill with which it is made. The same process and tools can produce very different results depending on whether a novice or a master craftsman uses them. God is the master craftsman, and each person is his workmanship. When feelings of worthlessness arise, Kerby argues, they are from the enemy — Scripture counters them directly.
• The Respiratory System as Evidence for a Creator - Breathing is presented as a multi-layered marvel of design. The respiratory system functions as a sophisticated, multi-layered air filter: nose hair catches large particles; the nasal cavity heats, cools, and humidifies air before it reaches the lungs; the epiglottis routes air and food to the correct passages; and mucus throughout the trachea and lungs traps microscopic particles. Each layer is precisely suited to its function.
• The Mucociliary Escalator - The most detailed evidence Kerby presents is the system that removes mucus from the lungs. Billions of cilia — tiny hairs lining the airway — each contain complex internal machinery (dynein motors stepping along microtubule scaffolds) that produces a whip-like motion. These cilia must all move in a specific coordinated pattern called the metachronal rhythm — the only rhythm that moves mucus upward rather than back and forth. The mucus floats on a layer of water inside the lungs, and the cilia are exactly the right height to break the surface and propel the mucus up. Kerby asks his audience to consider how many precisely calibrated, interdependent variables must all be correct simultaneously — and argues that random chance is a far greater act of faith than belief in a Creator.

Conclusion

Carl Kerby closes by connecting the physical evidence back to the gospel: the same Creator who designed every detail of the human body loved his creation enough to die for it while it was still in rebellion against him. The next time anyone suggests that humans have nothing special to offer, point them back to Ephesians 2:10 — we are his workmanship, prepared for good works he planned for us before we were born.

Dr. Jerry Frye observes that creation has purpose in its design, that it is complex, and that it is filled with information. Building on Romans 1:20, he argues that God holds every person accountable to the evidence visible in creation, and that the complexity, information, and purpose found throughout nature are impossible to explain by naturalistic processes alone.

Scripture Texts

Romans 1:18-20; Job 12:7-10; Isaiah 45:18

Main Points or Ideas

• Science Changes; God's Creation Does Not - Frye opens by tracing the history of scientific understanding of light — from Newton (particle) to Young (wave) to Einstein (photon) to quantum mechanics — to make the point that science is constantly revising itself. Creation, by contrast, has been settled since Genesis 1:2. Believers should never lose an argument on the grounds that "science has proven" something; current scientific understanding is always provisional.
• Design Inference Defined - Romans 1 establishes that God's invisible attributes are clearly seen through what he has made, leaving men without excuse. Design inference is simply the ability to observe the creation and recognize the marks of intelligent design — just as no one would mistake Mount Rushmore for a natural rock formation. When you can observe purpose, complexity, and information in a system, you are observing design. God's challenge in Job 12 is to ask the beasts, the birds, and the earth — and all of them testify to his handiwork.
• The Evidence: DNA, Cells, and the Human Body - DNA is the most elegant information system in the biological world. Beyond the six billion base pairs of the genome, there are millions of epigenetic on-off switches — DNA methylation, histone modification, and non-coding RNA — that regulate gene expression based on environment, diet, and thought. A single cell grows to one hundred trillion highly differentiated cells in nine months; the order and information involved is at ten to the twenty-eighth power. No property of matter and no process in nature can account for this.
• The Evidence: Earth's Unique Design for Life - God declared that he created the earth to be inhabited, and nowhere else in the known universe can mankind live without artificial life support. Even the way water reaches the top of a four-hundred-foot redwood tree — through the precisely coordinated forces of osmosis, capillary action, and transpiration, using water molecules designed for surface tension inside fibers termites cannot eat — illustrates that these systems are calibrated to work specifically on earth, under earth's gravity.
• The Trinity in Creation - Frye closes with a reflection on Romans 1:20's claim that even the Godhead can be perceived through creation. Time, space, and matter are three distinct things that cannot exist without the other two — three in one, yet not the same. The structure of the universe itself points to the triune nature of God.

ConclusionBelievers have no reason to be ashamed of the claim that God created in six days. The evidence of purpose, information, complexity, and design is everywhere in creation — and God holds every person accountable to it. The appropriate response is not to suppress the truth but to look at creation and worship the Creator.

Dr. Jerry Frye spoke about creation science. He explores the notion that creation science is about understanding God through Scripture and nature and debunking the arguments that are in opposition to the knowledge of God.He sets the stage by contrasting the Christian view — that God created all that exists and that creation displays his glory — with the secular scientific establishment's purely naturalistic framework, which allows no place for God. He argues that what were meant to be two sides of God's revelation (nature and Scripture) have been artificially posed as opposites, and that studying creation actually leads to the same conclusions as Scripture.

Scripture Texts

Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 19:1; Romans 1:20; Psalm 139:13-14

Main Points or Ideas

• The Framework: Two Books, One Author - Historically, nature and Scripture were understood as two sides of God's revelation. Secular science has redefined nature as purely materialistic and Scripture as mere faith or story. Frye argues that both general revelation (creation) and special revelation (the gospel) point to the same God, and that believers are commanded to be prepared to give a reason for the hope they have.

• Information Cannot Come from Matter - A central argument of the message is that information — which is massless, has no material origin, and can only be created by a sapient mind — is impossible to account for in a purely naturalistic framework. Code systems require a sender, a code, and a receiver; they always arise from a mental process, not a physical one. The existence of information in the universe is strong evidence of design by an intelligent Creator.

• Day One of Creation: Light - Frye walks through Genesis 1:1-5 to show the density of what God created on day one: time, space, matter, the laws of nature, water, and light. He discusses the physics of light — its dual wave-particle nature, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the fact that it needs no medium to travel — as an example of extraordinary information built into creation from the beginning. The precise calibration of the sun, moon, and earth's atmosphere to allow a perfect solar eclipse visible only from earth is offered as one of many examples of design that randomness cannot explain.

• Mankind Made in the Image of God - Unlike animals, which are sentient, humans are sapient — capable of thinking, learning, and critically reasoning. This capacity to "think God's thoughts after him" is what makes man able to study creation and discern truth. The complexity of the human cell — one hundred trillion atoms per cell, one hundred trillion cells per person, each highly differentiated — is cited as evidence of a Creator who is, as Psalm 139 says, knitting us together.

Conclusion

Dr. Frye closes by pointing students to creation science resources and previewing a follow-up session on design inference and the true nature of light. His aim throughout is to equip believers to appreciate and articulate the evidence for God's existence and character that is visible in the created order — and to cast down the arguments that set themselves up against the knowledge of God.