Love Chapel Hill

GO! --- Acts 2, 8

Think about the person who rings up your groceries every single week. Think about the neighbor you know doesn't have a relationship with Jesus, the family member who actively pushes God away, or the person sitting in the cubicle right next to yours.

How many Christians do they interact with in a single day who simply walk right past them?

When Jesus commands us to GO!, the immediate reaction for most of us is an overwhelming wave of anxiety. We assume we have to be salespeople for God. We worry that we don't know enough scripture, that we aren't preachers, or that we are going to force an awkward, intrusive conversation that damages a relationship.

But the text completely flips the script and takes the pressure off: There are no "cold calls" in the Kingdom of God. Whether it is the Holy Spirit supernaturally breaking down language barriers for 3,000 people at Pentecost, or the Spirit placing Philip on a specific desert road to meet one Ethiopian man who was already sitting in his chariot reading scripture, the truth is the same: The Holy Spirit goes both with us and before us. God is everywhere and everywhen. Through His prevenient grace, He is already actively drawing people to His Son long before we ever arrive on the scene.

Our role is not to bring God to people. Our role is simply to slow down, look around, and join in on a conversation that the Holy Spirit is already having with another person. When you realize you aren't walking out there alone, the equation changes. The risk is real because faith is always spelled R-I-S-K, but when you look at the massive reward of a life being brought into communion with Jesus, the risk is entirely worth it. You are a mobile temple of the living God, and the Fire is on the move.

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

GO! --- Matthew 28

The final words of Jesus before His ascension were not “stay,” “hide,” or “wait until you feel ready.”

They were: GO.

That’s important because most followers of Jesus spend a lot of time preparing, learning, studying, and gathering—but Jesus commissions movement. The Gospel was never meant to remain inside church walls or inside our private faith. It was meant to travel through ordinary people into ordinary places.

What’s striking in Matthew 28 is that Jesus gives this commission to disciples who were still imperfect. Scripture says some worshiped, and some doubted. Yet Jesus still sent them.

That means the mission of Jesus is not reserved for the fearless, the polished, or the experts. It belongs to willing people who trust His authority more than their own ability.

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

On the Road Again --- Luke 24:36-43

It is possible to know about Jesus without truly living empowered by Him.

The disciples had walked with Jesus, heard His teaching, witnessed miracles, and even seen the resurrection—yet they still found themselves waiting, uncertain, and unable to move forward in their own strength. It wasn’t until Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and promised them the power of the Holy Spirit that everything began to change.

The goal of Scripture was never just information. God’s Word is meant to become alive within us—shaping our hearts, transforming our thinking, and leading us into a life empowered by His presence. Jesus does not simply call us to believe the story; He invites us to live inside of it.

This week, consider where your faith may have become mostly intellectual. Where might Jesus be inviting you to stop striving in your own strength and begin living through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit?

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

On the Road Again --- John 14

When we say "Peace" today, we usually mean the absence of something: the absence of noise, the absence of conflict, or the absence of stress. We treat peace like a "Do Not Disturb" sign we hang on our hearts. But when Jesus stands among His panicked disciples and says "Shalom," He isn't talking about an absence. He is talking about a presence.

In the ancient Hebrew world, Shalom was a "transactional" word; it meant to make something right, to pay a debt, or to restore what was broken to its full value. Think of it like a master craftsman repairing a shattered vase until the cracks are not just gone, but the vessel is stronger than it was before.

Jesus isn't just wishing the disciples a "calm day." He is standing there with scars on His hands. The receipts of the debt He paid and saying, "I am making it good. I am restoring what the world broke. I am making you whole." We don't have to wait for the world to stop being chaotic to experience this peace; we just have to let the Prince of Peace restore our souls in the midst of the chaos.

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

We often look for God in grand, dramatic moments, yet He is just as present in the quiet and ordinary acts of our lives. The two disciples on the road to Emmaus had just had a life-changing conversation with Jesus as He interpreted the Scriptures to them. But they still didn't recognize Him. The full revelation of His presence came not in a bolt of lightning, but in the intimate and ordinary act of sharing a meal.

As they sat down to dinner, Jesus took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them. It was in this familiar act that their eyes were opened, and they finally recognized Him. The moment they saw Him, He vanished from their sight, leaving them with hearts burning with the reality of who He was.

Their response was immediate and powerful. Their disappointment was replaced with a new purpose, and their fatigue was replaced with renewed energy. They got up and rushed back to Jerusalem to share the news that the Lord had truly risen.

This sermon is an invitation to look for Jesus not just on the grand stage of history but in the seemingly ordinary moments of our lives. He reveals Himself in the breaking of the bread, in our shared fellowship, and in the sacred spaces of our daily rhythms. We will explore how a simple act of recognition can ignite our hearts, transform our journey, and send us back into the world with a new and urgent purpose.

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

On the Road Again --- Luke 24:25-27

We all tell ourselves a story about God.

Sometimes it’s shaped by what we’ve been taught, what we’ve experienced, or what we hoped would be true. Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, we can know Scripture and still miss the full picture. We focus on the parts we understand and quietly ignore the parts that challenge us—especially when God doesn’t meet our expectations.

But Jesus doesn’t leave us in our misunderstanding. In love, He meets us on the road and gently corrects us, opening the Scriptures and revealing that His way—even suffering—is not a mistake, but part of a greater story of redemption.

What if the disconnect isn’t that God is absent—but that we’re seeing Him through the wrong lens?

This week is an invitation to shift from “I thought I knew what God was doing” to

“Jesus, help me see what You’re actually doing.”

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

On the Road Again --- John 11:17-25

We often think of God’s presence as a mountaintop experience—a clear sky, a loud voice, or a sudden burst of light. But the Road to Emmaus tells a different story. It tells us that Jesus is most present when we are most "downcast."

In Luke 24, two followers are walking seven miles in the wrong direction. They are retreating from Jerusalem, retreating from their community, and retreating from their hope. They are talking about Jesus in the past tense:

"We had hoped..."

The irony of the story is that they were grieving the absence of the very person who was matching them step-for-step.

"Disappointment doesn't drive Jesus away; it draws Him in. He doesn't wait for you to find your way back to Jerusalem before He meets you; He finds you on the road to Emmaus while you're still walking away."

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

Easter Sunday 2026

For thousands of years, death seemed to have the final word. From the garden of Eden through the long history of the prophets, every story ended the same way: they all died. Even when Ezekiel stood in a valley of dry bones and watched God breathe life into them, the "echo of death" eventually caught up to him too. It felt like an unbreakable pattern that chased all of history, leaving us with a vision of life that always felt limited and fragile.

But then Jesus stepped into the grave and did something no one else could do. He did not just escape death; He defeated it. By rising again, He broke the old cycle and invited us into an entirely new creation where death no longer has a seat at the table. He is the Resurrection and the Life, settling us in a land where we can finally breathe again alongside Him.

Consider this: If Jesus really is the "I Am" who holds the power over life and death, how does that change the way you look at your own future? When you face the "dry bones" or the "dead ends" in your life today, do you believe He has the power to open those graves and bring you into something entirely new?

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

The Man, the Myth, the Legend --- John 15:1-7

Do you ever feel stuck? Empty? Do you feel like you’re doing all of the “right” things but still feel drained or unfulfilled? What if true living is not about what we do or produce, but in remaining in a true source of life?

Jesus speaks directly into these questions in today’s passage. Sitting with His disciples in one of His final conversations with them, He uses the simple but powerful image of a vine, its branches, and a thoughtful gardener to reframe everything they thought they knew about growth, purpose, and what it means to truly live.

What if true life isn’t something that we achieve but something that we receive?

The difference between feeling drained and feeling truly alive and fruitful comes down to one word: abide.

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give

The Man, the Myth, the Legend --- John 15:5-14

Do you know anyone who has ever tried to find their way in the world? Anyone ever asked "what is true?" or "what is real?" Perhaps the bigger question - "What is Truth?" Finally, maybe you or someone you know has asked "what is the good life?" "What is eternal life?" Yeah? Me too. You're not alone. These are some big questions that most of us ask, wrestle with and even revisit even after we find a suitable answer. In today's Scripture passage, Jesus is sitting with His disciples at a table and answering Peter, John, Thomas and Philip in particular as they grapple with these questions in so many words - What is the way? What is the truth? What is the life?

Sunday: https://lovechapelhill.com/sunday 
Connect: https://lovechapelhill.com/about-us/connect-card

Give: https://lovechapelhill.com/give