Love Chapel Hill

Deuteronomy 6:4-12

Believe it or not, we here at Love Chapel Hill are about to celebrate our TENTH anniversary as a church! We feel the Lord calling us to enter into an intentional time of prayer. We'll turn to some of the most basic questions about prayer. Who is the God to whom we pray? How should we speak to God? This week, we join our Jewish brethren in praying the Shema, or God's instruction for us to Hear. But it doesn't end there. Genuine conversation with God involves hearing, listening, and acting.

On the Road --- Acts 28:16-20, 23-24, 30-31

Naturally, we're ending our summer series on Paul on the end of the book of Acts. But it wasn't really about Paul, was it? This whole summer, we've been reading about the people who shaped him and the people shaped by him. We've seen the beginnings of the Christian movement and the miracles of the Spirit. The Way of Jesus transformed into the world-changing Church as it exploded out of Antioch and into the heart of the Roman Empire. If this were a story about a man, it's an anticlimactic one. We leave Paul sitting in house arrest for a few years in Rome. This was the end of a man's story. But it was the continuation of the Story of Jesus, and we're still writing it today. Where are you in it?

On the Road

NOTE: Microphone issues cut off the first three minutes of the sermon and the audio quality is a little low.

What an awesome collection of guest speakers we have been fortunate to hear from this summer! We continue this trend today with Pastor Ryan Sims, one of our partner church planters from C4 Church in Greensboro, NC! His message is based on one of the most repeated statements throughout scripture: Do not be afraid. Be it Paul's continuing mission that would see him imprisoned and eventually killed or Jairus's tenacious faith that Jesus could perform the impossible, the Gospels are full of regular people who refused to sit around with their faith. What are you afraid to lose when you hear God's calling? Will you obey?

On the Road --- Acts 17:5-31

Today it's our pleasure to have the Pastor for Congregational Care Allison Otwell return to the stage! (who the podcast guy is clearly a huge fan of, especially when he borders on unprofessional while writing these summaries). She turns her familiar gifts of scholarship, discipleship, and humanity to Paul's journey toward the heart of the Roman Empire. In these passages we see Paul's talent for understanding the audience to whom he delivers the gospel. When he is put on trial in Athens, one of the ancient world's most important hubs of scholarship and philosophy, Paul engages Athenian theology while proclaiming the truth of Christ's divinity. He decries idolatry in a city of idols. Paul teaches us that when you love and understand the people around you, your example has the power to shake the foundations of an entire culture.

On the Road --- Acts 16:1-31

You might be noticing a theme here by now. The story of Paul isn't really the story of one man. We have been looking at the people placed in the young Saul's path that brought him into redemption and shaped the mission the man known as Paul would give the rest of his life for. Today, we look at some of the people Paul himself inspired. We see what ultimate discipleship looks like. Paul gets people to act! He moves forward, waits on the Holy Spirit, prays constantly, and finds himself breaking free from those who would silence him. It's not long after he meets Timothy, Lydia, and Silas that they carry on his mission in the same way.

On the Road --- Acts 15:1-21

The church in Antioch was having a debate...one of the most important debates that would shape the identity of the newly minted Christians forever. What did it mean to be a follower of Christ? To many, the answer was simple. It meant you were Jewish and a student of the Law, Writings, and Prophets like Jesus and his disciples. Paul disagreed. When he considered his own salvation, he understood that things had been radically changed. It was through grace, faith, and Christ alone that he, a murderer, was saved. It didn't come through his circumcision or diet. If Gentiles were welcome among the new believers, they would be welcome as Gentiles!

On the Road --- Acts 4:32-37

We continue our series on Paul today by also continuing our look at the important people in his life that made his ministry possible. Barnabas emerges as one of the key figures of the formation of the first Church in Antioch and a principal disciple during the spread of Christianity. The power Barnabas had to encourage and grow the work of others was so legendary that his real name Joseph is only mentioned once in Acts. "Barnabas" is a nickname that means "son of encouragement." Who could you identify as a Barnabas in your life? Can you say that you are that person for someone else?

On the Road --- Acts 9:10-19

We are so privileged this week to welcome Gaby Wiggington on the stage today! This is her first time speaking from the pulpit, but LCH is very familiar with her ministry to us through her leadership in the Prayer Team and the Reasonable Faith small group. Today, she continues our series on the life of Paul. Saul of Tarsus's transformation is incomplete without the commission of Ananias, a follower of the Way in Damascus. Ananias's willingness to minister and heal a notorious murderer of Christians is an inspiration to Paul that is echoed in his later letters. It also reinforces the Great Commission for all who profess to follow Jesus. How would you describe your own willingness to serve?

On the Road --- Acts 1:8, 9:1-9

This week we are blessed to have a special guest from our partners in Greensboro! Jordan Loman is co-pastor of United City Greensboro (http://www.unitedcitygso.com/), and has been a friend of Love Chapel Hill for several years now. Today she continues our series on Paul, specifically his fateful encounter with a vision of Christ on the road to Damascus. The revelation of the truth of Jesus divinity did not change the kind of man that Paul was. It turned his passion from hate to mission. The same energy that drove his persecution of the Way as Saul would keep him spreading the new movement from behind bars as Paul. Where have you gone wrong in your own mission? Where would you turn your own passions if you had truly encountered Christ like Paul did?

On the Road --- Acts 7:54-8:3

Our new series that will take us through the summer has us examining the life of Paul. More than half of the New Testament bears his name, and his letters have done almost as much to shape the growth of Christianity as the Gospels themselves. We start at the beginning of his story where he oversaw the murder of Stephen as Saul, a leading figure in the persecution of the Jesus movement. But let's not look at Saul as a different person before his conversion. Let's remember the scholarship and fervor of a brilliant young Jew whose love of Scripture carried into his new ministry after the hatred left his heart. And let's not forget our place in the story of a misguided believer.

Plus, our friend Demont returns to the stage to deliver a wonderful Fathers' Day prologue!