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. 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.

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.

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.