Chapel Hill Bible Church - Sermons

Three things are for certain: death, taxes, and our sins will eventually catch us. In Genesis 29, Jacob's deceptions eventually catch up to him through another deceiver, a "Jedi deceiver," his uncle Laban. In the midst of the plot line is another water-well love story, a young vs. older narrative, and a God who get his purposes accomplished in it all. We get reminded of that sovereign and good God...

I like planning. I like the predictable. Calendars are my friend. Even people who are "free spirits" and "go-with-the-flow" types want scheduled unscheduled moments. We might call this chronos time - the planned life. However, while most of life will be lived within chronos time, the most transformative moments in our life happen in crisis time - where an unpredictable, highly intrusive God breaks...

When you think deeply about why we 'twist' the truth... or shall I just say it... we lie, we deceive, and we manipulate, one is drawn to the reality of trust. What do we actually trust? Do I trust God? If so, why do I think I have to claw my way through life, to get ahead, and to ultimately achieve blessing? If I really trust the promises of God, then I could leave my future to Him. I could trust...

Last week we learned about the importance of prayer in evangelism. This Sunday we will look into the amazing story of Jesus healing a blind man in John 9. We will see (no pun intended) that there is often a progressive revelation and realization of who Jesus is. We will also consider how to share the gospel in a way that speaks into the some of the primary worldviews of our day.

Prayer is a crucial part of our efforts to share the good news of Jesus with others. Yet we often forget to pray or are unsure of what and how to pray. This Sunday, we will look at three specific prayers in the New Testament to give us some guidance as we make Jesus known.

We were created out of, into, and for community. This Sunday, we will see how community is at the heart of God and His people and what that means for CHBC to live into our mission statement to equip our church as a community to reach the Triangle and beyond with the message of Jesus.

Jesus is our Savior, amen. Jesus wants to shape us into Himself in character, amen. But, Jesus also wants to use our lives in a way that he modeled for us - radically Spirit dependent lives, with particular gifts the Spirit has given us to use for the building of the church and the advance of the Gospel. We are going to begin a brief miniseries, leading up to Made for Mission, around our 3 ministr...

If you came home one night and noticed a fire breaking out in your neighbor’s house, what would you do? You would warn them. You would call 911. You would pound on the door. You might even break down the door if necessary to save their lives. Do we believe the Bible when it says, “This is the testimony of God that he has born concerning his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have th...

God so desires a relationship with us, not a casual friendship or acquaintance nor to just provide direction in our lives. No, He desires an intimate relationship with us. It’s the kind that the world strives for between two people but can never achieve. It is the kind that no other religion offers or believes in. But it is entirely different. He already knows us intimately, down to every thought...

We're on the cusp of a new year and we'll be looking closely at Hebrews 3:1 as we seek to savor Jesus more in 2024 and thereby guard against Satan, sin, strange teachings, spiritual sluggishness, and suffering.

Merry Christmas, Bible Church! We conclude Advent and begin Christmas this Sunday - in one day as we share Christmas Eve! We have been marinating in the Gospel of John, moving from the idea of wishing the gospel story was true, to wanting the gospel story to be true, to actually believing the gospel story to be true, to the ultimate goal, worship. Our passage in John 20:11-18 and in it we see a be...

The joy of Advent is the object of our longings, namely, Jesus. There are truths about Jesus that get me fired up and hopeful, yes. I thirst for knowledge about Jesus and the world he rules, indeed. But the Scripture paints a picture of belief that is not less than a teaching moment but far more. It is a wedding scene. In Advent, I am reminded that I await a marriage - to Jesus. My belief is love...

Sometimes we want to want a thing. We see merit but realistically we're not going to expend much effort because we're just not feeling hot about it yet. But then something happens. We get to the point of actually wanting something. That is a game-changer. A lot of people want to want the Truth, but often life and other things just gets in the way. Or maybe it goes deeper. Maybe OUR glory gets in t...

For the last 3 years during Advent, we've been going through each of the Gospel accounts and now we conclude with the fourth gospel, John. And, this Sunday, we start our journey with some of the most ultimate and heavenly truths about Jesus - He is the eternal, divine, creator, and life-giver Son of God, God of God, Savior.

We'll be sojourning through Genesis 26 with Isaac, as he learns of God's faithful, gracious, glorious presence and blessing. God promises us that He will be with us, is with us, and always has been with us-- because He is faithful, by His grace, for His own glory.

The first shall be last and the last shall be first. That sentence is both startling and heartening. Jesus echoed it and yet he did not invent it in the NT. Jesus is citing a truth that had existed for millennia. In fact, it all goes back to Genesis 25 - a story of Abraham's death, twins, a stolen and impetuous trading of a birthright and yet a story of the grace of God to choose the unlikely to b...

Sarah's story is over, for now. And she must be replaced. There must be a new woman of the house but also a wife so the line of promise continues. That woman is named Rebekah. Our story unfolds the Promise, Providence, and Purpose of God to provide a wife for Isaac and in doing so just might give us some wise insights on longing for, looking for, and discerning about a future spouse. This story al...

Is God asking you to something that seems out of step with His character but you are pretty sure He in fact is the one calling you to it? Does it ever seem like something is from God's hand yet out of step with His word? Let me be blunt: Does God ever seem foolish to you? What if I told you that God is foolish - to our earthly eyes. Perhaps there is a wisdom so wise that it confounds us to the bot...

One of the hardest things to do as a Christian is to give something over that you depend upon, you are fond of, that seems to give you some semblance of vitality and yet you know it is getting in the way of the Lord. In Genesis 21, we have a story of that crisis in Abraham's life. He was called to give over a son. He will be called to do that twice in this section. But this son, Ishmael, is the so...

For one week, we pivoted to an important teaching from Romans 11 in order to help us better understand how to pray, give witness, and expect the Lord's return in light of the events in Israel of late. This is not going to be a scare sermon. This is not going to be a political sermon. This is not going to be a theological camp sermon. My aim is to cut it straight, on the Line of Scripture, toward a...

In Ephesians 4 Paul reminds the believers that the message of the Gospel of Jesus bears fruit in the life of those who have received His gift, by grace. This fruit is counter-cultural (and impossible to achieve in our own strength). It is designed by God for the enjoyment of those who surrender to walk in the higher calling which they have been called to reveal God’s plan through the work of the S...

Sometimes stories in the Bible repeat themselves. Genesis 20 is one of those. At first blush, it seems to repeat the story of Abraham lying to a powerful and dangerous king about Sarah being his 'sister' so that the king won't kill him to get Sarah. That is part of a pattern, for sure, but there is another really important layer in Genesis 20, that sets it apart from the prior story with Pharaoh....

“We become what we worship,” said Andrew Wilson as he was speaking at the Gospel Coalition this past week. He's so right. We are living in a world with decayed moral standards, idolatry thru the worship of false gods (technology, social media, etc.), and we wonder just how far we really are from Sodom and Gomorrah. Genesis 19 shows us a story of a man that returned to a land with LOTs of sins, set...

Anxiety is essential worry on an IV drip. If we can get to moments of worry, we can do a lot to deconstruct anxiety. This whole section of Genesis forces us to deal with doubt and the beauty of trusting the Word of God. Genesis 18 continues that story as it reveals something so very important about God - He is able! Nothing is too hard for God (18:14). That raw and rugged truth is a balm and a bom...

Abram is 99. Sarai is 90. But God is Almighty, El Shaddai. That changes everything. It changes Abram to Abraham. It changes Sarai to Sarah. And it changes the male body in Israel - circumcision - a gory, bloody, painful mark to something beautiful and Christward. In this passage, we hear the Word of God proclaim the mercy and power of God in something as strange as circumcision and what it means f...