Experiencing Jesus -- Acts 1:3-8 Jesus made eight appearances to his followers in-between his resurrection and ascension. But how does Jesus appear to us today? Join us this week as we discuss Jesus' promise of the Holy Spirit for all believers. Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sundayConnect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-cardGive: …

Resurrected -- John 21:1-10After Jesus' resurrection, the Disciples return to what they know best - fishing - but they find themselves with nothing to show until Jesus appears to them on the shore and tells them to cast their nets to the other side. Once their net is full, Jesus invites them to share breakfast together, and invites them into this n…

Doubting Thomas -- John 20:24-29 What happens after Easter? This week, we start a new series, "Resurrection." When, like Thomas, do we doubt? And how does Jesus attend to our doubts, even today?Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sundayConnect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-cardGive: https://lovechapelhill.com/give…

Resurrection Sunday -- Mark 16Today is the day of the Lord's Favor, a time of Jubilee as Jesus has conquered the grave. Happy Easter, He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed.By Justin Simmons

Palm Sunday -- Mark 11:1-11 Ahead of Easter week, we explore what the disciples' expectations of Jesus can teach us about our own. Where and how is Jesus still defying our expectations today? Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sundayConnect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-cardGive: https://lovechapelhill.com/give…

Reimagine Discipleship --- Mark 10:17-31A rich young man comes to Jesus to ask how he might inherit "eternal life", or "life unto the ages". When Jesus responds he must give up all his wealth, the young man leaves sad. What are you giving up to seek after Jesus?By Joel Philbrook

Reimagine Discipleship --- Mark 10:13-16Jesus continues to teach the disciples about the "upside-down" nature of the kingdom of God. Not only does God accept the little children, Jesus tells them, but God's kingdom actually belongs to them. What does such a statement mean for us today? Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sundayConnect: https://lovec…

Reimagine Discipleship --- Mark 9:33-41After Jesus returns from The Transfiguration, the disciples argue over which of them is the greatest, but Jesus tells them that to become the greatest, you must become the least.By Justin Simmons

Reimagine: Discipleship --- Mark 9:1-13 The Transfiguration of Jesus was clearly an overwhelming experience. Blinding brightness, the return of the most important figures in Israel's history, an indescribable new form for Jesus. Heaven and Earth came together for a brief moment. But it represented something beautiful and lasting. Jesus would contin…

Reimagine: Discipleship --- Mark 8:31-9:1 Discipleship isn't easy. We 21st century Americans may not be experiencing the persecution Mark's audience was, but the call to endure for the sake of Christ's salvation is still as loud today as it was then. Even Jesus needed reminding that what was less than suffering and death was a temptation for an eas…

Reimagine: Discipleship --- Mark 6:7-13 We're remaining in Mark, but our Reimagine series is moving from New Beginnings to the natural next step in the Way: Discipleship. It's one thing to accept the truth of Jesus and quite another to walk so close behind him that you're covered in the dust of each of his steps. It's easy to be a Christian in name…

Reimagine: New Beginnings --- Mark 5:1-20 A demon-possessed man. A community that didn't know what to do with him. While the confrontation here may not be the same as a contemporary mental illness, the conflict and suffering would be familiar to any who have experienced it. As we close this New Beginnings series with a fiercely intimate account of …

Reimagine: New Beginnings --- Mark 4:1-20, 26-32 This early and familiar parable of Jesus offers quite the challenge. We may be tempted to find ourselves in the good soil here. But Jesus reminds us that the best harvests come from when the sower's few seeds multiply into many times what they were when they fell? Has scripture always borne that kind…

Reimagine: New Beginnings --- Mark 1:14-20,3:13-19 We continue in the book of Mark as Jesus gathers his disciples. Imagine being these men. You're told that the promises of generations were coming to pass, that the world you existed in was a distorted reflection of what it should be and salvation was coming. Would you then drop your livelihood with…

Reimagine: New Beginnings --- Mark 1:9-13 Jesus opens his ministry in a dynamic and beautiful display of power and identity. All elements of the Trinity come together to kick off three years that would change the rest of history. The baptism of Jesus also harkens back to our fall and foreshadows the redemption that is about to take place. The peopl…

Reimagine: New Beginnings --- Mark 1:1-8 Happy 2024, Love Chapel Hill! The turning of the year makes us all feel a call to start something new... to varying degrees of success. (Usually low). And this year, like so many recently it seems, we know that so much of what is needs to be renewed. When Jesus's ministry is heralded by his eccentric cousin,…

Protagonist -- Luke 2:8-12 Merry Christmas, Love Chapel Hill! It's the last Sunday of Advent and Christmas Eve to boot! As it was for the shepherds in Bethlehem, we are in a period of night. The anticipation of the Light doesn't diminish the darkness of the night before. More than four-hundred years had passed since Israel's last prophet spoke. The…

Protagonist --- Matthew 1:18-23 Imagine that you suddenly found yourself as a key figure in a story that defines a whole culture's identity. Mary and Joseph were told that they were the culmination of Israel's centuries of redemption, fall, and salvation. Very human people responding in faith to enter into the power of the narrative. Remember that …

Protagonist --- Isaiah 9:1-7 Expect the unexpected. God incarnate and the prophesied King came to the world in a feeding box and grew up as a carpenter's son. Gideon defeated the Midianites with a tiny army and a lot of noise. Jesus was what the world needed, even if he bucked expectations of what the Messiah would be. And yet the redemption he bro…

Protagonist --- Isaiah 64:1-4 The Advent season has arrived! We make a natural move from our series in Isaiah to the coming of the foretold King generations later in Bethlehem. Using the devotional written by Pastor Matt and Josh LeRoy as guide, let's turn our hearts to the moment God came down to live among us. Where the story about God's people p…

God is Speaking --- Isaiah 61 We close this series in Isaiah with the hope of restoration that Jesus himself directly quotes. It uses the imagery of the year of Jubilee, giving Israel a glimpse of what a return to their homeland would be like. With the same passage, Jesus would expand that vision to the whole world. We don't even have to wait until…

God is Speaking --- Isaiah 53 The glimmers of hope to Israel offered in these latter chapters of Isaiah truly coalesce into the person of Jesus centuries later. The sins of the past are acknowledged, but the intercession of the sacrificial lamb point the way out from bondage. Would those who have ears hear it? Perhaps. But as will most prophets, do…

God is Speaking --- Isaiah 40:1-5 He tried to tell them. Today we hop into the latter writings of Isaiah, those that emerged during the Babylonian exile, well after what Isaiah had been warning about came to pass and the Kingdoms collapsed. The Lord, though, has words of comfort and promises to the Israelites who are now a few generations removed f…

God is Speaking --- Isaiah 7, 37 It’s a tale of two kings. And a cautionary one at that. The reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah were characterized by different kinds of faith. For Ahaz, he did not put his trust in God and instead hedged his bets with several different deities in the hopes that something would stick. Hezekiah faced similar long odds that h…

God is Speaking --- Isaiah 5 Not a lot of nice things coming from Isaiah this week. He invites us to imagine a vineyard where everything was meticulously cared for and prepared. The seeds were sown. But what came from the vines were no better than what spouts up outside of the vineyard and could not be used for wine at all. This is the metaphor Isa…

God Is Speaking --- Isaiah 1 Who was Isaiah and who was he talking to? Come with us as we leave Pages 1-3 and make our way deep into the Old Testament. Past Abraham, the Exodus, and even the building of the Temple, Israel had seen generations of triumphs and tragedies. The Prophet Isaiah arrived in relative comfort and prosperity. But if the people…

Pgs. 1-3 --- Genesis 3 And just like that, we’re 14. Happy Anniversary once again, Love Chapel Hill! We’re also finishing our series on Genesis this week with the sobering reminder that the idyllic relationship between humanity, Earth, and God we saw in the first two pages doesn’t last the first generation. Whether you read the Fall literally or no…

Pgs. 1-3 --- Genesis 2 Creation again! Flawless powerhouse of the pulpit Allison Otwell, whose husband lost the ability to apologize for these summaries years ago, takes us back to what was likely a second and in many ways distinct narrative of God creating the world and humanity's place in it. If there's one thing this passage is not, it's a weapo…

Pgs 1-3 --- Genesis 1 Joel take our new series back to the beginning. And I mean the VERY beginning. We’re diving into the first chapters of Genesis. One of the richest illustrations of our relationship with God is how we tell the story of the creation of life. How those events coincide with the literal has inspired passionate debate for centuries.…

Welcome To --- Matthew 22:36-40 Welcome to Love. Our name IS our mission. The DNA of the church is bonded by love. We follow a Christ who did not come to condemn our world. He lived in it. He love its people. He raised up the downtrodden. He died for the people who cursed him. Discipleship, mission, and community naturally comes from a church with …

Welcome To --- Acts 2:42-47 It can't be done alone. From the very first days of the church, worship and service were acts of sharing. Koinonia is part of what defines a church. We gather. We support. We organize. Monasticism and private philosophy can only get you so far. When you enter our doors, you're entering an invitation to join with your fel…

Welcome To --- Matthew 25:31-46 You're invited into Mission! We continue exploring the DNA of Ekklesia, who we are as followers of Jesus, and who we are as the church family of Love Chapel Hill. Today, we're looking at how followers of Jesus are invited into the Missio Dei (the mission of God). Are you ready to be an every day, everywhere missionar…

Welcome To --- Matthew 4:18-22 No, your ears don't deceive! We're back home in the big theater in the Varsity, and our podcast will benefit from our tools in the booth once again! Welcome to Fall! And, this week, welcome to discipleship. Jesus began his ministry by telling fishermen to follow him. That's what discipleship is. It's following. Gettin…

Welcome To "Welcome to Love Chapel Hill!" Most of our teachings begin with these words. Hopefully most of your first interactions with us began with them as well. This fall, as we welcome student life back into our town we're going to focus on the idea of welcome. We are welcomed into God's kingdom without hesitation and with perfect love. So why w…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 13:1-9 Our summer series in Hebrews wraps this week! Caleb takes us home. And it ends in love. Empathy. The extra steps you take and the sacrifices you make for those around you. Walking the path of Christ means helping because you love; compassion coming from understanding what you share. Sunday: https://love…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 12: 3-17 Discipline. Ugh. This word probably brings images of punishment; narrowed eyes of disapproval as what makes you happy is taken away and what makes you miserable is doubled. But that's not what the Preacher wants to elicit. Think more of a race. Training. The changing of habits that lead to success, th…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 11:1-12:2 The Preacher reminds us about the importance of true faith and trust in the history of the people of God. Faith is power. Faith is boldness. The benefits for those who had it sharply contrast times when obedience without faith led to real trouble. But when the people had both, they had the power to s…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 5:11-6:16 We're excited to welcome Dr. Dee Stokes back with us as today's guest speaker! And she brings one of the most challenging messages in our series yet. The Preacher knew that intentional sin had become a daily part of the lives of the apostates. Even after all these years, their challenge is clear: has…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 4:14-5:10, 7:1-10:39 The New Testament is an obvious place to learn about the character of Jesus. But remember that people like Paul and the Preacher to the Hebrews often referenced the texts that we now call the Old Testament to describe the role of Jesus. This is no exception. The Preacher casts Jesus as the…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 3:7-4:13 Consider the Sabbath. It’s a discipline. It’s a Commandment. It was demonstrated by God Himself. But it’s not our strongest quality, is it. Americans have a rest problem. Our days and lives weren’t meant to be defined by business and distraction…At least not all of them. The Preacher reminds us that w…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 3:1-6 Imagine your entire culture has told the stories of the greatest prophets, rulers, and deliverers regularly for generations. Now imagine a Preacher tells that same culture that the carpenter whose ministry lasted three short years before he was executed by the state blows all of them away. As we get to k…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 2:10-18 Family. It could be biological, or it could have evolved from something communal. It's togetherness. Emotional, spiritual, and physical. That's what the Preacher evokes when talking to the harried early church. It's what our own community is called to be for ourselves and others. These are then the con…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 2:1-9 The ocean is big. It's an easy place to get lost. Currents and storms can mock the heading you choose. You can end up hopelessly directed into any direction it takes you. The early church likely felt like this as the Preacher is writing to them. Real persecution, community in-fighting, doubt, and despair…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 1:5-14 Angels probably didn’t feel the need to say “Be not afraid” just because they were slightly shinier attractive human adults. Some of their descriptions are actually downright terrifying. Less Renaissance-era Venetian nobleman and more Elden Ring boss. They were visions of power and awe. And yet, the Pre…

Love's Summer Reading List --- Hebrews 1:1-4 Get ready for our own spin on the classic summer vacation reading list you always loved between grades in school! Our new series takes us through the book of Hebrews. Here, we meet one we'll call the Pastor. Unlike a Pauline epistle, this book reads more like a sermon. And it's for a tired and dishearten…

Pentecost --- Acts 2 It's Pentecost Sunday! We celebrate when the Spirit descended on the new church like tongues of fire. Where thousands were saved in the course of a day and the words of the disciples could be understood in a multitude of languages. It's a reminder that our relationship with the Divine became personal and driving. We can be powe…

Ascension Sunday --- Acts 1 Today, we remember why we're here. Celebrating Jesus's final victory over death legitimizes the power of Christ in the world. But let's not forget what he did before we rose to Heaven. He gave us a Commission. We have a job to do. As our world shrinks, the ends of the earth may not seem that far anymore. But have you bee…

Daily Livin' --- James 5 This week we conclude our often-times blistering series on James. And don't let chapter 5's preamble about the rich make you comfortable. Whether you feel rich or not, you might begin to recognize that a typical American life looks quite a bit like what James warns about here. Are you living to the detriment or betterment o…

Daily Livin' --- James 4 Earthliness. It's not just thinking and talking like the crowd does. James makes us ask what we're actually DOING with our lives here. Where are you moving? What is your goal? Where is it pointing? Could you be called to rethink what you believed your path is and walk somewhere new? Or are you right where you need to be, bu…

Daily Livin' --- James 3 When you think of the "works" James talks about you probably picture actions. Physical instances of good work or kindness. But so much of what you do around your fellows begins with words. What you say, what you hear, what you teach, what you model... these might be the be the biggest point of impact you have on someone. Th…