Undergraduate Chapel: Spring 2014 [Video]

Andy Crouch explains the significance of play to the Christian life. He specifies his point, saying that the "play" he is referring to is far more like playing a violin than playing a CD. Crouch shows that only through diligent practice, discipline, and failure are people able to be creative and impact culture.

President Barry Corey considers why hypocrisy is so damaging to a Christian's spiritual life. He defines hypocrisy as "self-inflicted, degenerative, spiritual blindness." Corey looks at the gospels to see how Jesus contested hypocrisy with the pharisees. He also relays his experiences of recognizing his own hypocrisy and encourages Biola students to actualize their faith. To close, Corey ties his message to Biola's ongoing conversation with the LGBTQ community.

Dr. Todd Pickett, Dean of Spiritual Development, leads his audience in a reflection on the preceding Monday's chapel by Pastor Alistair Begg. He echoes Begg's main point, that believers can rest assured that God is in control of their lives. Pickett challenges his audience to consider how dependent they are on things beside God to bring them peace, happiness, and security. At times these will be taken away, he says, and the anxiety people experience is a good indicator of how attached they are to these external things.

Senior Vice President David Nystrom addresses the self-centered motivations that often govern Christians' lives. He points to Scripture to show that all believers are indwelt with the Holy Spirit, but often they are too busy and preoccupied to receive his instruction. Scripture prompts believers to ask anything in Jesus' name, and Nystrom sharpens this point by challenging his audience to ask God to have his way.

Pastor Alistair Begg discusses the implications of God's sovereignty. He explains that with God in control of all things prosperity cannot lead to self-assurance, uncertainty cannot lead to panic, and adversity cannot lead to self-pity. When Christians are assured that their times are in God's hands, Begg says, they have he confidence and security of knowing that God's plan works all things together for his greatest purpose.

Pastor Alistair Begg explains that people are not held in the grip of blind forces nor thrown around by chance. Rather, Christians can rejoice that they are being trained up by God's providence. He explains that God's providence and power surpass the evil of the world and work to shape believers into the image of Christ.

The Spiritual Development staff lead their audience in a reflection on the preceding Monday's chapel by Pastor Laurel Bunker. Dr. Todd Pickett echoes Bunker's call to know the gospel in one's deepest self. The staff continue by leading the audience in corporate prayer for those hurting in the world.

Pastor Khristi Adams of Azusa Pacific University encourages her audience to engage the world with the self-sacrificing love of Jesus. She admits that love and kindness are difficult because it is human inclination to respond to injustice with injustice, but Christians must exercise love in spite of this because Jesus' love was unconditional.

Dr. Peter J. Williams, Warden of Tyndale House and member of the Faculty of Divinity at Cambridge University, analyzes the gospels' continuity with other historical documents to support their validity. He demonstrates that the gospels withstand stringent tests of the personal names, geographical names, and botanical names they employ.

Pastor Tim Reilly shares his testimony and urges his audience not to settle for mere knowledge of God. He refers to various Scriptures and shows that Christians need to know God personally or they are not Christians at all. He encourages his audience with the truth that God will not abandon his children. If Christians truly want to know Jesus, Reilly says, they will; the desire itself is a gift from God.

Pastor Laurel Bunker of Bethel University issues a wake-up call to her audience and urges them to carry the gospel of Jesus into the world. Bunker says that the gospel must be good news to Christians, that they must bring a radical Jesus to a radically broken world, and that they must receive the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish God's work.

Johann Christof Arnold relates his life experience of being born to German refugees, coming to an American high school after growing up South America, and participating in the civil rights demonstrations of Martin Luther King Jr. He explains that he and his wife, during their time as counselors, became very aware of people's need for forgiveness. In response, Arnold began writing books that relay extraordinary stories of forgiveness that he believes will inspire people to do the same. To close, Hashim Garrett relays his testimony of forgiveness for a firefight that left him paralyzed when he was young.

Hashim Garrett, who was shot six times at the age of fifteen, and Charles Williams, who grew up with an alcoholic mother, share their testimonies of life-changing forgiveness. They urge their audience to forgive others and walk in the love of God because it brings immeasurable power and grace and because life without forgiveness is unsustainable.

Dr. Everett Worthington discusses forgiveness and presents what he has termed "REACH." REACH is an acrostic of five steps toward forgiveness that can be applied toward forgiving others and even forgiving oneself. Worthington explains that people cannot simply choose to forgive themselves, but must seek out forgiveness from God and others as well as heal the damage they have done to themselves.

During Biola's Easter Chapel, the King's Men and other members of Biola's Conservatory of Music lead their audience in a service of shadows. This service, President Barry Corey explains, dates back to the fourth century. The musicians powerfully portray the events of Jesus' crucifixion, and the audience is invited into quiet meditation on the sacrifice of their Savior.