Chapel at Cedarville

The Christian Life: Direction Over Perfection

Today in chapel, Nate Davenport took us through the story of David, revealing the powerful truth that “the Christian life is not about perfection; it’s about direction.” These words remind us that faith is not about flawless living but about continually moving toward Christ. Davenport reiterated that our identity is not built on achievements or failures — it is held securely in Him.

Davenport shared that difficulties are inevitable. Scripture reminds us that God walks with us through the valley of the shadow of death. He does not abandon us in hardship; instead, He uses the valleys to reveal His glory in our lives. In moments when life feels unfair or overwhelming, keeping Christ at the center provides the strength to endure.

Davenport also reminded us that we can take comfort in God’s providence, which is unrivaled. Over the course of our lives, God is shaping us, molding us, and changing us more into the likeness of Christ. Even when we cannot see the outcome, His hand is steady and His plan sure.

And through it all, we rest in the truth that God’s goodness is undefeated. The same Christ who calms waters can bring peace to the turbulence in our hearts. He is faithful, unchanging, and near.

When we run the race of faith, endurance matters more than speed. Setbacks, struggles, and seasons of doubt will come, but direction is key. As long as our eyes remain fixed on Jesus, He will lead us forward. As Davenport reminded, the Christian life is not about striving for perfection — it is about trusting the One who is perfect and pressing on in His grace.

In chapel this morning, the Cedarville community was blessed to hear from our own Jim Leightenheimer, retired Associate Professor of Communication at the University. Leightenheimer shared memories, advice, and testimonies of God’s faithfulness throughout his time at Cedarville University.

One piece of wisdom he shared was to “lean into relationships.” God gives us different kinds of people: those who encourage us, those who inspire us, and those who challenge us by caring enough about us to share hard truths. Leightenheimer shared stories of some of the amazing people who encouraged, inspired, and challenged him by being thoughtful, modeling excellent teaching, and using difficult truths to push him to grow.

Leightenheimer also talked about the student radio station he founded and faithfully influenced. As a student, he was blessed to work at a different radio station, but he noticed that his fellow classmates needed a place where they, too, could practice what they were learning in the classroom. So he used his senior project to do a feasibility study for starting a radio station at Cedarville. It didn’t go anywhere at the time, but he was charged with starting one when he came back to the University to teach. In spring 1990, they were able to go on the air with the student radio network WSRN. From there, it grew. Since then, Resound Radio has been a launching point for huge careers for students.

Leightenheimer talked about students he had mentored and impacted during his time as a professor, many of whom have gone on to do incredible things. He said, “God sent us the kind of people where it was easy to see how they could make an impact.” Now, they are content creators, podcasters, and professors. They work at film studios, in the journalistic field, and at the executive level. Some speak to audiences of millions. They have had a huge impact on influencing people for Christ.

Leightenheimer expressed, “I’m blessed by what God has done with people. He is so good, and I’m blessed to have just a little part in that.”

Leightenheimer also shared the things that have brought him the most joy at Cedarville. He said, “The biggest thing that brings joy is the moment when the light goes on for a student, when God delivers to them a vision for the thing that He wants to do with them.” He also said that great joy comes from seeing them succeed in church, at home, in the workplace, and in leadership positions.

“We give God the glory for all of those things,” Leightenheimer said. “He did it. We haven’t accomplished anything that He didn’t enable us to do. We don’t have anything He didn’t give us.”

The Bible teaches that pride goes before destruction and that an arrogant heart is an abomination to the Lord. We are called to submit humbly and joyfully to Christ. Exodus 7–11 demonstrates that there is a God, and His name is Yahweh. If we try to fight against Him, we will fail, and His purposes will stand.

God Fulfills His Promises

In these chapters, God delivered nine plagues to Egypt because Pharoah refused to let the Israelites go. Through these plagues, He showed that He remembers His promises and will be faithful to fulfill them. Way back in Genesis, God promised to give Abraham a land. By the time of the Exodus, this was about to come true. God also promised a nation of many people, and the Israelites were already seeing the fulfillment of this promise. From Israel was going to come the fulfillment of God’s greatest promise: a Man who would crush the head of Satan, the serpent.

God Proclaims His Name

God has a heart for the nations. His design was for Israel to be a light to the world, to draw all the peoples to Himself. He used the plagues to spread His name throughout the whole world. Exodus 7:5 says, “The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.”

These plagues not only revealed God’s identity and presence to Egypt, but also to Israel. News of God didn’t even stop there. It also went to all the nations, so that by the time the Israelites came to Jericho, the residents’ hearts had melted because of the things they had heard about Yahweh.

Amazingly, there’s still more. Since the plagues and God’s rescue of His people, even you today have heard of God’s deliverance.

God’s Purposes Will Stand

When Pharoah said he did not know God, he was not simply expressing ignorance; he was acting out of arrogance and rebellion, demonstrating his hardened heart. He viewed himself as a god and elevated himself to Yahweh’s status. Time and time again, after each plague, he consistently refused to submit to the King of Kings. To understand him, we can go to Romans 1, which talks about how people suppress the truth in unrighteousness. The Bible says that such people are without excuse, and God’s righteous wrath will fall on them.

God was on a mission, and there was no way this human ruler was going to stand in His way. He had a purpose, and it was going to be accomplished. The story of the plagues is a powerful reminder that the stiff-necked will not stand. May we not be recipients of God’s wrath because of our hard hearts or stiff necks. Let us humble ourselves under His mighty hand today, remembering the words of Psalm 147:11, “The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His steadfast love.”

God’s Glory Going Global: Genesis 4

Today in chapel, SGA Chaplain Ethan Foster led us through Genesis 4, focusing on the story of Cain and Abel. Foster reminded us of the past chapters of Genesis in this series, referring to the creation account in Genesis 2 and the fall in Genesis 3. He reminded us of the ideas that we are made in God’s image to reflect Him, yet sin disrupts that design. In Jesus, we are invited to walk in victory rather than defeat.

Foster then explained how understanding the author’s intent is a good interpretive tool. He encouraged us not to obsess over the details of Cain and Abel’s sacrifices in Genesis 4 since the author’s intent was for readers to see themselves within the story of sin’s progression in Genesis’ accounts. In Eve’s choice, we see a warning, her contemplation, and then sin. With Cain, the pattern shifts: God issues a warning, but Cain ignores it and acts without thinking it through. By the time of Lamech, sin has proliferated, and Lamech engages in unrepentant, boastful sin. Foster then warned, “When people live away from the presence of the Lord, they no longer receive the warning of God.”

Our response to the stories of Genesis, he said, must be to heed God’s warnings as gifts. When we fail, confession and repentance will open the way back to God. He emphasized the importance of godly sorrow — the kind that acknowledges where we’ve ignored God’s voice and turns us back toward Him.

Foster then lifted up Abel’s example, pointing to Hebrews 11:4. Abel’s faithful sacrifice continues to speak across generations, showing us that true worship is costly. As Christians, we are called to be living sacrifices, willing to give all for the sake of God’s mission.

In closing, Foster challenged us: if God’s glory is to go global, it will be through believers who, like Abel, live and even die in faithful sacrifice. So, he says, “Let’s live a life of sacrifice so that one day, though we are dead, we will still speak as a sacrifice pointing to Christ.”

In 1 Kings 17, God sent Elijah into the wilderness to hide by the brook after delivering an unfavorable message to King Ahab. There, He taught Elijah a very important lesson that applies to us, as well: God will provide for you.

Rest in God’s Promises

God sent Elijah out with only one thing: a promise. “I have commanded ravens to feed you there.” Each day, that’s exactly what God did. The ravens never failed to come to Elijah with beaks full of the faithfulness of God.

God may not always care for you in the same way He’s caring for somebody else, or in the same way He’s always cared for you. But God’s children can trust that He will always keep His promises to provide for them.

Remember God’s Past Faithfulness

Taking Elijah out to the brook was one of the first things God did in Elijah’s ministry. From the very beginning, He wanted to instill in His prophet that he could trust God. Elijah would need this. He went on from there into many challenges, often standing alone against evil. During these times, he could think back to his days with the ravens. Every time he saw a bird, he could think, “God will provide what I need.”

Find a creative way to record and remember what God has done in your life. In the darkest times, you can then come back to the things you recorded that you forgot about and remember His faithfulness to you.

Be Ready for God’s Peculiar Provision

Ravens were unclean birds. This is the last way Elijah would have expected God to care for him. Satan wants you to doubt that God will help you when He doesn't show up in a way that makes sense to you. God’s ways are above our ways, and His thoughts are above our thoughts. We can trust Him.

Rejoice in God’s Present Provision

When we find ourselves waiting on God to supply a need we think we have, we can be tempted to grumble. It’s okay to be sorrowful and grieve over things you would like to happen in your life, but be careful. Don’t overlook the tables of provision that He has set before you right now because you are too focused on what He isn’t doing.

God will only ever give you what is good for you. If you don’t have something right now, it’s because He doesn’t think you need it. He is good and wise, and He knows better than you do.

God’s Ultimate Provision

All of God’s gifts are intended to lead us to a hill called Calvary, where we see God’s ultimate provision for our greatest need. Jesus provided the life of righteousness that we did not have, took the death that we deserved, was buried in the grave that we were destined for, and rose from the dead to offer eternal life to all who will turn and believe. When God gave us Jesus, He gave us everything!

Transformed by Mercy: Pursuing Christ’s Likeness

Today in chapel, Pastor Garrett Kell from Del Ray Baptist Church taught from Romans 12, reminding us that the Christian life is not about striving to earn God’s approval but about pursuing Christ’s likeness because of the mercy we’ve already received.

Be Motivated by Mercy

Kell’s first point is anchored in Romans 12:1. Kell states that this is the starting point of sanctification: “Believers obey from love, not for it.” The motivation for our obedience is not guilt or fear but gratitude.

Kell also urged us to regularly check our motives. “Why do you do things?” he asked. If our actions flow from duty or obligation alone, we miss the heart of worship. But when mercy shapes our motives, our obedience brings joy and glorifies God.

Be Surrendered as Worship

Paul exhorts us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice in the second half of verse 1. According to Kell, this means that “every day we are worshiping God as a living sacrifice.” Worship is not confined to church services or songs — it is the daily surrender of our bodies, words, decisions, and desires to the Lord. Following Christ’s own example of self-giving, we are called to live sacrificially, offering our entire lives as worship.

Be Conformed to Christ

In the verse 2, Paul warns believers to be renewed by Christ rather than conforming to the world. Kell observed, “The world makes sin look normal and righteousness strange.” That’s why believers must resist the pull of conformity and instead pursue transformation through God’s living Word.

In this way, Kell encouraged us to “read God’s Word as life and lock arms with others to discern what is from the Lord.” The process of renewing our minds requires both Scripture and community. As he reminded us, “God’s will for you is to be made like Jesus.” This transformation is not instantaneous but an ongoing work of the Holy Spirit. “Nothing is meaningless, everything is meaningful, every moment God is working in,” Kell said.

Most of us have hearts that drift toward legalism. Legalism comes from a positive desire to take the Lord’s rules seriously. However, problems arise when we make up our own rules, take pride in keeping them, and apply our personal standard to everybody else.

When we do this, we are not finding joy in Jesus anymore; we are trying to perform in an attempt to please the Lord. God’s rules cease to become guardrails that keep us where we’re supposed to be — instead, they turn into goalposts that cause us to believe we are scoring points with Jesus.

In Mark 2:13–3:6, Jesus encourages us to forsake legalism and follow Jesus in joyful freedom.

Follow the Friend of Sinners

In vv. 13–17, Jesus called a tax collector to come follow Him and then ate a meal at his house. In that day and culture, tax collectors were despised. The legalistic scribes wondered why Jesus chose this man, so different and so hated. But Jesus explained that He came to help those who need help. Let’s be willing to go where people are — where people need help — in order to share the Gospel with them.

Feast Joyfully with the Bridegroom

In vv. 18–22, the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast. The Pharisees had added to the Bible’s rules about fasting, communicating that anyone who was truly spiritual would fast twice a week. In Matthew 23:5, Jesus explained that their motivation for making all these rules was to be noticed by people. Do you do your good deeds to be seen by others?

Find Freedom in the Lord of the Sabbath

The Pharisees also made up many specific rules that God had not commanded concerning the Sabbath. In vv. 23–28, Jesus explained to them that the Sabbath was made for our good because we need to rest. He wanted the Pharisees to understand that people were more important than their principles.

Face Foes with Fearless, Compassionate Faith

In vv. 1–6, the Pharisees lacked compassion and became upset because Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath. Jesus looked at them with anger and grief because they cared more about their rules and principles than they did about people created in His image.

Application

In our own hearts, sometimes we identify more with the Pharisees and scribes than we do with Jesus and His disciples. We puff ourselves up with a self-righteous heart that puts others down, rather than just loving Jesus and finding joy in Him.

Jesus wants us to celebrate the freedom we have in Him, without going into sinfulness — keeping in mind that His rules are good guardrails that help us flourish. The problems are the rules that we make in our own hearts. Let’s cultivate a culture of friendship toward everyone, joy and freedom in Christ, and compassion for others. Through Christ, we are free from the legalistic rules we create!

In Exodus 6, God uses a genealogy to help us identify who Moses and Aaron were and tell us that their story was a real historical event. God cares enough about what is happening in Exodus 5–6 to emphasize that these things really did take place.

An Unsurprising Response

When Moses first returned to Egypt, the Israelites responded exactly how he wanted them to: with revival. But when he confronted Pharoah with God’s message, the ruler proclaimed that he did not know Yahweh and would not obey Him. This should not have confused Moses; it was an unsurprising response. Nevertheless, Moses began to doubt.

An Unexpected Response

When Pharoah began to make things harder for the Israelites, the same people who had just been worshiping the Lord in revival turned against Moses. This was truly an unexpected response! They were the very people Moses had been sent to rescue from slavery and bring to the Promised Land, and yet they called Yahweh’s judgment upon him.

An Unexplainable Response

Moses responded to all of this with discouragement and a lack of confidence. This is an unexplainable response when we consider where he had just come from. This is a man who had been in the presence of the living God, who had heard the very voice of Yahweh — yet he asked why God had done evil to His people and why He had even sent him.

The Problem

Interestingly, the most truthful response came from an archenemy of God. Pharoah diagnosed the real problem through his words, “I do not know Yahweh.” This is a very significant statement to make, and it was a problem that applied not only to Pharoah but also to the Israelites and even Moses.

The Solution

God stepped up to fix this problem by offering His identity in the beginning of chapter 6. His solution to the political power that sought to crush the Israelites was, “I am Yahweh.” His solution for His overburdened people who longed for peace was, “I am Yahweh.” And His solution for Moses, His impatient servant who had forgotten who he was and who he was representing, was, “I am Yahweh.”

Our Solution

The identity of God is the solution to the problems we face. Our world wants political authority and control, and God offers His identity to that world. We want the comfort, health, and wealth that the Israelites wanted, and we share Moses’s internal struggle when we want things in our timing and in our way. To us, God offers His identity.

Christ came to offer us something far greater than freedom from slavery. He understood that a lack of chains is not real freedom if you have no understanding of Yahweh. You can have everything that is good in the world but if you do not have Yahweh, you have nothing. And you could be absolutely impoverished and crippled with sickness, but if you know Yahweh, you have everything. Do you know Him today?

The Mountain of Grace: Looking Back, Living Now, Waiting in Hope

During chapel today, Senior Class Chaplain Landon Heft opened Titus 2:11–14 and invited us to see the “mountain of grace” that Paul describes in this passage. At its peak, the grace of God stands tall — giving us perspective on our past salvation, present training, and future hope. Heft focused this passage on the big idea that grace has appeared, which changes everything.

Grace in the Past: Our Salvation

At the base of this mountain is the grace that has already come. Paul reminds us in Titus that the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people. Looking back at the cross, we see a past secured by the finished work of our Savior.

Grace in the Present: Our Training

Grace does not leave us at the foot of the mountain. Right now, it is actively training us. Paul writes that grace teaches us to renounce ungodliness and live a holy life. Heft further reiterated that grace equips us to say no to sin and yes to the habits that draw us closer to Christ. Heft encouraged us to cling to the habits of grace, such as prayer and Scripture memory, to dwell on Christ.

Grace in the Future: Our Hope

Finally, grace empowers us to wait with eager expectation. Heft asks the question: Who are we waiting for? We are waiting for our Redeemer, who has died so that we can put sin to death, our Purifier who is making us holy, and our Possessor, who has chosen us as His treasured possession. With such hope, Heft reminded us, how content should we be to wait?

Declare This Grace

Paul closes his letter saying, “declare these things” (Titus 2:15). If we have truly seen the mountain of grace, we cannot keep silent. The past has secured us, the present is shaping us, and the future fills us with hope. What great grace we have received — let us live it, share it, and rejoice in it.

The Bible is the foundation for everything we believe. When dealing with important matters like defining sin, we must keep it close at hand. The Bible alone meets the needs of sinful men, and those who reject its message are rejecting Christ.

The Created Order

We can begin by looking at the creation story in Genesis 1. In vv. 26–28, the created order is outlined. It talks about being created as men and women in the image of God.

We can notice four things about this passage. First, it is an ordinance (an authoritative order or a law). Second, it is relational, noble, and beautiful! Third, it establishes a firm gender binary. A binary is an entity with two proportions that make up a whole. Humanity is one entity with two parts: male and female. Fourth, the creation ordinance reveals the rules and jobs that God gave to all men and women on earth.

Indwelling Sin

Another passage we can look at is Romans 1. This one helps us make sense of how we came to love the things that God hates. Everybody born in Adam has indwelling sin, and this passage describes three exchanges that we make because of this indwelling sin. First, we dethrone God and put ourselves on the throne instead. Second, we exchange the truth for lies. Third, we take God’s design for sexuality and exchange it for sinful sexuality. Repenting and believing is our only lifeline.

Some false teachers say that our temptations are not sin. They believe there is no sin until we choose to act on our temptations. One problem with this line of thinking is the tenth commandment, which forbids coveting. Coveting is a heart problem. The sinfulness is not in the action of actually taking something that is not yours, but in simply desiring what is not yours.

We experience sinful desires because sin is now inside of us. Since Jesus was not born in Adam, He did not have indwelling sin. Therefore, He only experienced external temptations, which are morally neutral. Since our sins are internal, they are not morally neutral. They are evil, and they must be killed.

Killing Our Sin

The way we kill our indwelling sin is to starve it out. We do this by feeding on the Word of God. Pray that God would take your sinful affections and change them to desire things that He loves! The Gospel has the power to liberate and free you.

Praise be to God that conversion gives us the power to fight the flesh! Through repentance, let us grow in freedom from the bondage of sin.