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.

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.