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From football to governments, collisions are inevitable, Grand Canyon University President Brian Mueller said Monday during the first Chapel of the 2025 spring semester at Global Credit Union Arena.
But, “Jesus came into the world and brought heaven to earth in a way that He wanted that collision to create change,” Mueller said.
"… He’s going to come back someday and make it all right. But until He does, He expects the church to take a leadership role in making the world a better place."
Mueller continued, “Why do we know that? Because He gave us a blueprint, He gave us the Sermon on the Mount." The sermon is a way to say there’s a new leader, a new set of requirements, and “This is how I want it to be under My regime.”
That blueprint is what GCU has followed in answering the questions Mueller said he asks himself all the time: “Why did God give us all this at Grand Canyon University? Are we doing the right things with it? Are we doing the things God wants us to do with it?”
Mueller began his Chapel talk telling the university community how he would connect the Sermon on the Mount with Acts 16, both of which inform us “what we should be doing here at GCU.”
Then he spoke about collisions and how they can impede progress.
Mueller relayed how we see Christmas as the peaceful Nativity scene with baby Jesus, yet Jesus’ arrival into the world brought a huge collision.
He noted Matthew 5:43-48, in which Jesus tells His followers to love everyone and not just those in their social and religious groups. But he pointed to what he thinks is an important part of the passage that isn’t discussed enough, Matthew 5:47.
It says, “And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?”
The phrase “your own people” refers to the previous regime and suggests you are not thinking of others.
“It goes on in every continent, every country across the globe,” Mueller said of collision. “The purpose of Jesus coming to earth and delivering the Sermon on the Mount was to say there’s going to be a collision, a collision of My Kingdom versus the kingdoms that men have set up.”
Mueller related that historians refer to the clashes of 1776 and 1917 as significant.
In 1776, the founders embarked on a democratic republic that took away power from the English kings, gave power to the people in the United States, and provided tremendous prosperity.
The Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 stemmed from the theory that it's better to have government run by one party. That resulted in communism and socialism in Russia.
Those two developments created two superpowers and a “big struggle” over those two ideas, he conveyed.
There have been more extreme takeovers, such as Nazi Germany’s mass murders of six million Jews and the Rwandan genocide, because of the belief “they weren’t our people,” Mueller said.
This is when Mueller ties the Sermon on the Mount to Acts 16:16-34, which illustrates how collision, and how our actions, can create change. For Mueller, it is “one of the most remarkable stories in the entire Bible.”
The Apostle Paul, a Jewish Pharisee, was leading the persecution of the Christians and was enroute to Damascus when he collides with Jesus, who tells him, “It’s My way, and you will be the lead evangelist for My way.”
Paul and Silas visit a place of prayer when they meet a female slave informed by a spirit who can predict the future. The slave earned money for her masters by fortune-telling.
The slave follows an annoyed Paul, who compels the spirit to leave. Her owners, upset at the loss in revenue, cite Paul and Silas as Jews who endorse customs unlawful for the locals to practice.
Paul and Silas are thrown into prison and beaten by the Romans before they pray and sing hymns to God while assigned to a jailer.
Suddenly, an earthquake erupts, loosening the chains and opening the prison doors. The jailer, afraid that he would be severely punished for allowing the prisoners to escape, draws his sword and is ready to kill himself.
But Paul tells the jailer to stop, that he and the other prisoners remain in jail and have passed up a chance to escape.
The jailer proceeds to wash their wounds, baptize them and bring them to his house to eat.
“It was the action and willingness to place (Paul’s) own life in danger to save the jailer that completely transformed this jailer’s thinking about the world,” Mueller said. “An example of a collision of God’s world and the kingdom of man."
But in this story from Acts, Paul was not just thinking about his own people.
“This jailer is a Roman. He is a European. He’s in charge. He has power and here’s this Jewish Christian who is upsetting the town, who’s been thrown in jail and yet was willing to give his own life, potentially for his (the jailer). Different peoples …”
Mueller said God wanted different races and ethnicities; it was His vision for humanity, even though there may be times we clash because of those differences. But, ultimately, “God created the world so we could all get along and we could have a perfect relationship with Him and with each other."
Mueller believes GCU has made a difference in this community, particularly in the last 16 years, where 42 different languages were spoken in a five-square-mile area.
“The world has come to us,” Mueller said. “It’s here.”
Mueller said he heard at a meeting last week that 70 different languages are now spoken within that same space.
“They come from Africa, the Middle East, South America and Central America,” Mueller said. “They continue to come, and they’re coming here.”
The low cost of housing helps, but Mueller believes “God has given us the power to have incredible impact.”
That’s evident in the community, where progress has been made along 27th Avenue between Northern Avenue and Indian School Road, previously known for prostitution, drugs and violence.
GCU’s Five-Point Plan involved bringing jobs, safety, homes, tutoring and scholarships to the community. CityServe has played a huge role in making an impact to the disadvantaged populations, and more agencies are reaching out to help or seek help.
“We are gaining huge momentum,” Mueller said. “… God is moving in a very, very powerful way that the outside world says, 'That Christian community over there on 27th Avenue and Camelback will help.’”
“It’s important to know God loves His world. It’s fallen, but He still loves His world. He wants us to be actively involved in breaking these barriers.”
The progress will be recognized at the Renewal at 27th Ave. Celebration, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Feb. 11.
About 80 organizations have collaborated in the project.
“We are determined to make this a safe neighborhood for every single person who lives in this neighborhood, and we’re making progress,” Mueller said. “This gives us a huge opportunity for evangelism.”
The event also is scheduled to include the opening of a new city of Phoenix police substation. Fourth and fifth graders will sing the national anthem and "God Bless America."
“We want to give people a vision for what God can do to something that was in a fallen state,” said Mueller, adding that the event is a “celebration of what this entire community can become.
“If this can be done here, it can be done anywhere.”
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Next Chapel speaker: Dr. Tim Griffin, university pastor, 11 a.m. Jan. 13, Global Credit Union Arena.
GCU News Senior Writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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