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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.