Chapel at Cedarville

This morning in chapel, Dr. Zach Weihrauch, Senior Pastor of Christ Community Chapel, spoke on Acts 5:1–11 and talked about the fear of missing out. God’s desire is not only that He does great things but also that nobody is left out of it.

You Can Miss Out

The local church is supposed to be the most exciting place on the planet. In the book of Acts, God was doing incredible things, and Ananias and Sapphira had front-row seats. But while they had proximity to what God was doing, they were not passionately participating in it.

You can be the same way. You can sit in church, speaking and looking like everyone else, and still have a miserable heart. Are you Ananias and Sapphira?

How You Miss Out

Ananias and Sapphira lied because they wanted credit for their generosity. We, too, can be tempted to love the praise of people more than the things of God. This is how you can live in a place where God is moving in wonderful ways and yet still miss out: by loving something else more than you love Him.

The biggest threat to you is not the sin in front of you but the subtle pull of that thing you’re tempted to love more than Him. If you want to be part of what He is doing in your generation, you must love Him most.

How You Avoid Missing Out

A quick reading of Acts 5 feels severe: Ananias and Sapphira tell a lie and drop down dead. But in the larger context of the book, this story is not about a harsh God, but a God who loves us enough to warn us.

This story is included because God desires that nobody will miss out on who He is and what He is doing. He is holy and just, and He requires your first love to be Him. Do you love Him most? Are you building everything around that love?

To avoid missing out, there are four things you can do. First, identify the love that will wreck you. Maybe it’s a good thing in and of itself, but it becomes bad when you elevate it above God. Second, confess to someone else, letting them know what is pulling you away from God and asking for accountability. Third, fill your heart with the glory of Christ. Rather than just avoiding love of the thing you want, also look at Jesus, who has loved you and given Himself up for you! It’s hard for a heart full of love for Jesus to be pulled away by the love of something else. Fourth, pray and ask God for His help with this endeavor.

When we look back on our lives, may we all be able to say that we not only saw but also experienced God’s movement in our generation. Let’s not miss out on cultivating hearts full of love for our Savior!

Our lives are filled with everyday decisions with real consequences. We sometimes overlook the small choices, thinking that only the big ones matter. This morning in chapel, Dr. Thomas White, President of Cedarville University, preached through Proverbs 9, in which two invitations are presented. He reminded us that daily decisions determine our direction. Will you choose to walk through the door of wisdom or the door of folly?

The Delight of Wisdom (Proverbs 9:1–6)

Wisdom extends the first invitation. She has put in the effort to set a table, prepare a feast, mix wine, and make her house gorgeous. She sends her young women to invite the simple and uneducated to leave their ways and come to her.

We should be thinking wisely and deeply. Rather than wasting our lives, we should be strategic and intentional. Wisdom invites us to go on a long walk toward Jesus. As we do this, we will struggle less and less with the folly of the world. Fear God, forsake folly, and find true life — this is the delight of wisdom.

However, not everybody responds well, even if our heart’s desire is to follow Christ. We have a sin nature, so we will mess up. We should make most of our decisions based on wisdom, and when we mess up, we must repent and start walking toward Jesus rather than continuing down the wrong path.

The Daily Decision (Proverbs 9:7–12)

In these verses, there is a contrast between the scoffer and the wise person. When you give genuine godly correction to someone who is pursuing Christ, they will love you for it. If they are not pursuing Christ, they may hate you for it. If we choose to respond like the wise man, we will learn how to become more like Christ.

God has no spiritual grandchildren. Your parents may be very godly people, but that doesn’t automatically transfer over to you. Verse 10 tells us that we will have knowledge of God by reading His Word. This is something you have to do yourself — nobody else can do it for you.

The Deception of Folly (Proverbs 9:13–18)

Folly also extends an invitation to you. The temptation is to take a shortcut, getting to the destination without doing the hard work it takes to get there. She targets those who are doing what’s right, trying to convince them to follow her instead and experience instant gratification.

But folly doesn’t tell you she will lead you into chains of bondage. The longer you stay in sin, the more you will have to pay. Folly knows nothing. Her invitation will end in loneliness and regret, and you will desperately want to escape.

If you have chosen folly for a long time now, there is grace at the foot of the cross. Jesus extends an invitation to forgive you when you come to Him. Don’t let the mistakes of your past determine the destination of your future.

Wisdom and folly both call out to us. Today’s choices, big and small, shape tomorrow’s character. Choose wisdom that leads to life rather than folly that leads to death.

Behold the Greater Glory! 

Today in chapel, SGA Chaplain Landon Heft taught from 2 Corinthians 3 about the New Covenant, the ways in which it is a greater glory than the Old Covenant, and how the glory of the New Covenant affects our lives. 

What are the Old and New Covenants? 

The Old Covenant is the law of Moses, written on stone tablets for God’s people. It has an emphasis of “hear and do,” instructing the hearers to obey an outside law. The New Covenant differs from the Old Covenant because it is not written on stone tablets but on the hearts of all those who follow Christ — inside rather than outside. 

The Old Covenant is not “bad” compared to The New Covenant’s “good.” Both are good, but the New Covenant is even better. 

The New Covenant is a Greater Glory 

The New Covenant is a “greater glory” than the Old Covenant for three reasons: it leads to life, it is permanent, and it is trinitarian.  

First, the New Covenant leads to life rather than death. The Old Covenant led to death because man cannot possibly fulfill all its rules. In contrast, the New Covenant leads to life, because we have hope in the glory of Christ who saves us from condemnation.  

Second, the New Covenant is a permanent promise. The Old Covenant was not permanent. All aspects of the Old Covenant pointed towards the better future fulfilled in Christ; it was never meant to last forever. The New Covenant, however, is designed for eternity. It is a promise we can always look forward to. 

Third, the New Covenant reveals a fuller picture of the glory of our God. The New Covenant is trinitarian, founded through Christ, towards the Father, in the “covenant of the Spirit.” All aspects of God’s nature are represented. 

What Do We Do With the New Covenant? 

Heft urged us to live in light of the New Covenant in three ways: 

1. Be bold because our hope is in God! Our boldness does not come from our independence, but from our dependence on God. 
2. Behold the glory of the Lord! No longer is there a veil over our hearts, we can see the glory of God through His word and character. 
3. Worship the Lord! Worship is not, as Heft said, “imitat[ing] heart change with surface level camouflage.” We are not called to just read the Bible or sing loudly, but to confidently turn our hearts to God. 

This morning in chapel, Dr. Dan Estes, Distinguished Professor of Old Testament at Cedarville University, answered questions people often ask about the book of Proverbs.

Proverbs as the Word of God

One question we may have is, “Is Proverbs just helpful advice for life from shrewd humans, or is it truly the Word of God for us?”

2 Peter 1:20–21 explains that nothing in the Bible comes merely from a person’s interpretation — it always comes from God. The author carefully crafted his words to produce vivid and memorable maxims, but all this human activity was superintended by the Holy Spirit, so those words were ultimately His. The wisdom sayings in Proverbs are part of God’s inspired Word that is profitable for building us into the godly people God wants us to become.

Proverbs for Skill in Living

Another question is, “Does Proverbs teach moralism, by which we become better people as we follow a code of good behavior and ethics purely as a human practice?”

Wisdom speaks about skilled living within the moral order in Yahweh’s world. Its ultimate goal is not to make a person smarter or more skilled but to transform his moral character, and this requires a radical transformation of the entire person.

Wisdom sages sought to produce people whose lives were shaped by the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning or the essence of wisdom. It is the overwhelming awe that causes us to tremble before the Lord and revere Him. This is the appropriate stance that we must take before the sovereign Creator of the universe.

By contrast, folly is evidenced by wicked behavior, the kinds of actions that deviate from what the Lord considers right. Proverbs does not teach moralism but wisdom that is rooted in the fear of the Lord.

Proverbs and Spiritual Formation

A third question is, “How does the wisdom taught in Proverbs in the Old Testament relate to sanctification by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament?”

There is a profound link between these two. Philippians 2:12–13 teaches that we should take the salvation we have received in Christ and work that out in every area of our lives with utter seriousness! We are actively involved in our sanctification, but it’s the Spirit of God within us that does the real hard work.

Spiritually mature people produce fruits — like the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5 — that are strongly correlated with the qualities of wisdom taught in Proverbs. Our growth in wisdom as taught in Proverbs is our human response by which we cooperate with the Spirit as He cultivates Christlikeness in our lives.

The key question of spiritual formation is, “Am I becoming?” In Proverbs, we are students in God’s school of wisdom. As such, our goal is to make the cultivation of His wisdom the priority in our lives. Let’s ask Him to teach us to learn His way, to live His way, and to love His way.

This morning’s Homecoming speaker was Dr. Thomas White, President of Cedarville University. He delivered this year’s State of the University Address, celebrating all that God has done and is doing on campus.

Alumni Awards

Dr. White recognized the recipients of this year’s Homecoming Alumni Awards. Two former athletes are being inducted into our Athletic Hall of Fame: Dr. Sarah Zeltman ’08 and Alison (Lemon) Rice ’10. The 2026 Young Alumnus of the Year Award is going to Peter Grinalds ’21, and the Distinguished Service Award goes to Jeff Reep ’79. Our Alumnus of the Year is Jim Houser ’91.

Record Enrollment

Dr. White made multiple other exciting announcements. First, we have had yet another record year of enrollment, with 7,542 students across undergraduate, graduate, and online programs. This year’s freshman class is the third largest in Cedarville history.

State of the University

Each year, Dr. White chooses a word or phrase to describe the state of the University. This year, he focused on the phrase, “eternal wisdom for an artificial age.” AI and the internet put so much information at our fingertips. We don’t need more of it — we need biblical wisdom.

Because of this, his sermon series this year is called “Built by Wisdom.” He wants students to fear God and forsake folly so they can find life.

AI Stewardship

Dr. White also discussed how Cedarville is thinking about AI as a tool we should steward. We want to form biblically faithful servant-leaders equipped to engage with AI with skill and discernment. Our goal is to have every student equipped with AI literacy by graduation, meaning that they know what it is, how it works, and where it shows up in the world.

Dr. White announced a brand-new four-course, all-online graduate certificate in Strategic AI Leadership. The goal of this certificate is to equip leaders to guide responsible, strategic adoption of AI. He also highlighted our new Bachelor of Science in innovation and entrepreneurship.

New Tennis Courts

We have recently received $200,000 from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to help build new tennis courts at Cedarville when combined with other donor funds. Dr. White recognized Dr. Delyte “Dee” Morris, who has spent decades teaching and mentoring within the allied health program and coached the University’s women’s tennis team for 42 years. The tennis complex is going to be named after her to honor her legacy of excellence and service to her sport, her student-athletes, and the University.

Cedarville Florida

Wise stewardship has positioned us not merely to endure change but to pursue new opportunities to expand our mission. Dr. White announced Cedarville’s new Florida location, with classes beginning in January 2027! Learn more about this new endeavor at cedarville.edu/florida.

The Gospel is the foundation of everything we do here at Cedarville. Just like Jesus walked with His disciples for roughly 1,000 days, we want to point students in a direction that glorifies Him during their 1000 Days on campus.

God is the giver of all good gifts. None of this has happened by our own effort — it’s all Him! Let’s praise Him for His provision.

Our Plans Are Overrated 

Today in chapel, Cedarville's 2026 Alumnus of the Year, Jim Houser '91, walked through Paul's life and letters alongside his own testimony to encourage us that even when our plans don't work out, God's plan is always in action. 

Comfort Is Overrated 

Houser spoke about how we often mistake the absence of comfort for the absence of God. Like Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:10, we must delight in pain and weakness because when we are weak, God is strong. 

God Changes Our Plans 

In Romans 1, Paul's plan was to visit the Romans, but God's plan was different. Houser pointed out that because Paul had to pivot, the book of Romans has been a guide to billions since it was written. Like Paul's plans, our plans are overrated, and God is working on a much larger scale than we could ever understand. "God doesn't have to meet our expectations to accomplish His purpose," said Houser. In fact, our plans and God's rarely perfectly align. 

Jim Houser's Testimony 

Houser can testify to his plans falling apart in favor of God's plans. When he arrived at Cedarville, he had just lost his father and his ability to play golf — both his dream and his dad. He lost faith in God, but God's plan for his life did not change. He found wonderful friends, family, and mentors through Cedarville; he still maintains his college friendships to this day. Though his difficult changes in plan, Houser learned that "Jesus doesn't always protect you from hard things; He's with you through hard things." 

Even when life is difficult, Houser encouraged us to remember that God is working out all things for the good of those who love Him. Our comfort and plans are overrated, but God's purpose for us is not overrated.

Jeff Reep, Associate Professor of Exercise Science at Cedarville University and the recipient of the 2026 Distinguished Service Award, spoke about temptation.

You have several options when you yield to temptation. You might get discouraged and tell yourself to work harder. You may give up the fight and decide to keep sinning, taking advantage of the grace God gives you. A third option is to fall at God’s feet, admitting you need Him desperately and are unable to do it on your own. God invites us to come to Him when we’re struggling with sin. He wants to hear from us and help us.

The Goal

As we walk throughout life, we set our eyes on a goal: to know God, love Him, and be conformed to His image. We want to follow Him and glorify Him by the Holy Spirit’s power. However, so many temptations get in the way.

The Temptation

Temptations only come when you have a desire for something. If you don’t want it, you won’t decide to do it.

It’s also important to remember that temptation and sin are not the same thing. Imagine a fish in the water. Temptations are the distracting hooks cast into the water around us, but sin doesn’t come until we choose to bite the hook.

Freedom From Bondage

God provides a way of escape from temptation. If you are His child, His Gospel truth has set you free! Don’t succumb to legalism or simply try harder. Focus on the fact that you have been transformed. Christ has made you new and given you a changed heart. You are not free to sin; you are free not to sin.

Make No Provisions

Each of us has weak links where we will be most likely to sin. If we think about certain things or look at certain things, giving in to temptation will be easy. Paul says in Romans 13:14 that we shouldn’t put ourselves in tempting situations.

Christ’s Prayer

In John 17, Jesus prays and asks His Father to keep us from the evil one. Realize that Jesus is praying for you here! What an encouraging truth this is!

He does not only go to God on our behalf, but He also empowers us to choose what’s right. He understands you because He has been tempted in a far greater way compared to you, and yet He never gave in.

Ultimately, we have redemption through Christ’s blood. When His children sin and cry out for forgiveness, He freely gives it. However, there are consequences for that sin. We will be scarred by choosing our own way.

We give in to sin when our eyes are not on the Lord and when our hearts do not want Him. Desiring Christ is key to victory in sin. As you fight temptation, focus on Him. Ask Him to help you know Him better and to change your desires. As a believer, you are dead to sin. Victory is possible because of Christ!

Never a Nuisance but Wondrously Wanted 

Today in chapel, Dr. Phillip Miller taught from Luke 18:1–17 about how God feels when we come to Him in prayer. We are never a nuisance or a bother to God, despite His importance. God is attentive to each one of us and will always welcome our pining, pleading, and pestering.

Pining for Justice: Luke 18:1–8 

Like the persistent widow who pleads with the judge, we are to bring our pleas for justice to God without ceasing. If even the unjust judge rewards the widow with justice just so she'll stop bothering him, how much more will the just and loving God who chose us reward us with the justice we seek? Dr. Miller tells us we mustn't grow weary in waiting but cry out day and night as we wait for the return of Christ. 

Pleading for Mercy: Luke 18:9–14 

Dr. Miller asks the student body: "Do you ever feel like you keep confessing the same sin and that God is tired of hearing it?" Through the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector, he shows us that God will never tire of our pleas for mercy. Just as the tax collector's humility justifies him before the Lord, our humble pleas justify us. God always wants to hear our honest confessions and offer us mercy. 

Pestering for Attention: Luke 18:15–17 

The children come to Jesus eager and unafraid to demand His attention. Like little children, we can disregard the "protocol" or "politeness" we learn as adults, instead having faith that God is interested in us and all our thoughts. Our relationship with God is not transactional; God does not "keep score" or demand formality from us. Instead, God desires that we bring everything to Him. We will never waste God's time; we instead receive His love. 

Do Not Fear Rejection 

As we grew up, we learned to fear rejection. Now we avoid risks in speaking with others, and as a result we see the God far above us as too important for our pining, pleading, or pestering in prayer. Dr. Miller reminds us, however, that God's "face shines when He hears your voice." He dares us not to fear rejection by the all-powerful God who loves us but instead to bring everything to God in prayer. 

Have you ever experienced a weary season of spiritual dryness? Does it feel like God is distant and your joy and vitality are a thing of the past? This morning, Philip Miller, Senior Pastor of The Moody Church, preached through Isaiah 6 and talked about how to find your way out of that numbness. He introduced a roadmap to renewal with four major turns on the path.

Turn #1: Adoration

The year King Uzziah died, everything changed. Uncertainty and unrest invaded society. As the earthly king’s throne stood empty, Isaiah saw the Lord of heaven and earth seated on His throne. This eternal King is unrivaled and unmatched!

Isaiah saw the train of God’s robe filling the entire room. This showed splendor, authority, honor, and glory! Isaiah saw that God is holy, meaning He is set apart from everything else. There is an infinite gap between Him and His creation.

Adoration means recognizing these truths and loving them. Adoration is to be overwhelmed by the presence of God and to be swept up by His beauty and majesty.

Turn #2: Confession

Upon seeing God’s glory, Isaiah was horrified at his own sinfulness. We cannot think much of ourselves when we have seen the glory of God. To behold the holiness of God is to be undone. As we see Him for who He is, we also begin to see ourselves for who we are, and the gap between us and God is devastating. We are far more sinful than we ever dared realize. Confession is admitting our deep brokenness.

Turn #3: Consolation

Isaiah realized he was forgiven and cleansed. This was foreshadowing to the ultimate atonement that Jesus brought when He died in our place. He gave His life for us so that we might be loved and accepted. We are far more loved than we ever dared hope.

Turn #4: Entrustment

When God asked for a volunteer, Isaiah didn’t hesitate to boldly offer himself. This was because God had declared him clean and atoned, and he believed it, trusting that what God said of him was the truest thing about his life.

Since you have been deeply and radically loved by God, He can ask anything He wants of you. You have been bought with a price! You are not your own, and your life belongs to the Lord.

We are invited into far more adventure than we ever dared imagine. God wants you to join Him in His work to bring the Gospel to the nations. Entrust yourself to Him, yielding your future to Him.

These four turns bring about spiritual renewal. They are interconnected and inseparable. Because we tend to want consolation most, we may try to skip out on the other three, but it never works. This is the paradox of the Gospel: When you finally let go of your life, you get it back. Entrustment is the path to the glorious future that God wants to unleash in your life. Say, like Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me!”