Sunday, October 29, 2023 - Acts 8:2–40 - Sometimes we can be slow to get the message, or, more often with God, our obedience to His calling is delayed. But in His faithfulness to His promises and mission, God will get us to where we need to be for His glory! The expansion of the church to new peoples is just that kind of story that we can hold up as a mirror to ensure that our mindset and our actions are right in line with Him.
Sunday, October 22, 2023 - Acts 6:1-8:3 - What feels random or a setback in our lives is still always under God’s control and direction. He has never abandoned His perfect plans for His people or His world and won’t stop now! Looking back, then, through history we can see constant examples of this and, therefore, have our faith strengthened for whatever He calls us to today.
Sunday, October 15, 2023 - Acts 4:23-5:42 - Our faith is most often exposed (and refined) in the face of trials and hardships. Our resolve to Jesus’ mission is even more so tested when we face opposition. But the early church knew where to look when things got hard and through their prayers the Holy Spirit produced a community of love, grace, and holiness.
Acts 3:1–4:22 - Many things have power and influence over us today. Sometimes we might not even realize the hold they have on us, but the Name of Jesus is a confrontational claim and challenge to every authority and influencer of this world that there is only one way to a life full of meaning and joy. We must decide, then, where our deepest loyalties and allegiances lie.
Acts 2:1–47 - The beginning of the church signals that the end of this age has come. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, God is now bringing all of His plans to completion and has even invited His people to join in that work. In reflecting on the birth of the church on Pentecost, we should all have the same response, “What now must we do?”
Acts 1:1-26 - You often think when someone leaves that’s the end of their part in the story. But in the Bible the ascension of Jesus is just the beginning! The Book of Acts is just that – the acts of the risen and ascended Jesus by the Holy Spirit in the Church. Luke opens, therefore, these records by showing us how the story of God continues on, not just then, but still today!
1 Corinthians 11:17-34 – How can so much be packed into just one little symbol? Understanding just what Communion is enables us to see then why Jesus said He desired to share this meal with His disciples, and desired to share it with every disciple He’d ever have! The Lord’s Supper is a gift where we join together as Jesus’ followers to look afresh to Him.
Luke 15:11-32 – A man had two sons: one who was lost and desperately needing rescuing and forgiveness, and another who couldn’t show forgiveness and, thus, was truly lost. Come hear an incredible story of redemption from one of our members as we will each find ourselves amazed by the limitless love and grace of heavenly Father.
The Bible teaches us that each local church is called to proclaim the saving work of Jesus Christ in their own communities and to the ends of the world, and for over the last decade that commission has led us as Chesapeake Church to focus, in part, on bringing the full blessing of the Gospel to the people of Honduras. This Sunday will be an exciting time of testimony as we hear from our most recent teams just what God has been doing!
Ephesians 6:10-24 – God’s great big plans have a great big Enemy. But God’s victory is already sure and determined! Our part now, then, is to be fully reliant on Jesus, taking our marching orders from Him and finding the strength of victory in Him alone.
Sunday, August 13th, 2023 -
For many of us, parenting and our jobs can feel vain and monotonous. It’s the same routine every day over and over, and for what?! But the new world which Jesus has ushered in changes the meaning of daily lives, especially the home and the workplace. Here is where the reality of the Kingdom of God should be most on display to one another and to a non-believing world.
Sunday, August 6th -
Submission tends to be a word we bristle at. Yet when it comes to relationships, followers of Jesus are called to willing, mutual submission. Christ gave us the blueprint and the apostles gave us directions. Now we’re charged with applying submission in the closest relationship we have: marriage.
Sunday, July 30, 2023 -
All of Scripture makes a clear case that the people of God are a called out people. God’s people move differently, live differently, love differently, parent differently, serve differently. As a devoted follower of Jesus, and one who has been bought back and redeemed by His blood, it literally changes everything, including the way we live our life.
Sunday, July 23, 2023 - When a person joins an organization, they obligate themselves to live and act in accordance with the standards of the group. God expects conformity in the church, however it is not a forced legalistic conformity to external rules and regulations, but a willing inner conformity to holiness, love, and the will of our heavenly Father.
Sunday, July 16, 2023 - As the church, we are all united in one Body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism and one God and Father. As individuals we all have the responsibility to live in a manner worthy of our calling by being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
A prayer for the church: strength, faith, and knowledge. Sounds basic enough, but there is much more to these traits for followers of Jesus because they don't mean for us what they mean to the rest of the world. They're all initiated, held together, and fulfilled by God - a reality that goes beyond human understanding and yet the comprehension of which is imperative to the Christian life. We need the Holy Spirit in order to truly know and embody this prayer.
Sunday, June 2nd, 2023 -
God not only has a plan for the whole world but He has revealed it through the Scriptures to us. He desires for us to enjoy a relationship with Him by even being a part of that plan! Our purpose as a church, therefore, is to understand that plan and be transformed by it, that through us God would continue to redeem people from every tribe and tongue.
Sunday, June 25th, 2023 -
In a world so divided it’s easy to wonder if peace is possible on earth. But the Bible shows that real peace comes only from above. Jesus is humanity’s peace with God and, thus, peace with one another. Only He can bring us all in our diversity to true and lasting unity in the church.
Sunday, June 18, 2023 -
It’s commonplace to be told to “be true to yourself.” People seem constantly on a mission to define one’s identity. But the key isn’t looking within. Instead, when we understand the great big story that God is telling in creation, then can we see not only our place in it but who and Whose we are.
Sunday, June 11th, 2023-
Being God’s own possession should mean more man than calling ourselves Christians and going to church on Sunday. The Apostle Paul prays that through the Holy Spirit we would know God better and through that relationship have spiritual wisdom and understanding.
Sunday, June 4th, 2023 -
As the Author of all things, God has always had a perfect plan for this world and has already started to bring it to completion! Only by understanding and celebrating the larger story can we hope to understand everything that’s going on in our own smaller stories, and so observe God at work in and through our lives.
Sunday, May 28th, 2023 -
At some point we must all bridge the gap between what we can see and understand and the longing in our souls that tells us there's more than meets the eye. Scripture is filled with people who trusted a God they could not see and took actions they didn't understand. What would lead people to live like that? How can we find ourselves walking in their footsteps?
Sunday, May 21, 2023 - Human companionship is inherent to who we are. On top of that, God has also clearly designed us all to be sexual creatures. What’s the purpose of sex and romantic relationships? Is it just for fun and pleasure or to ease loneliness? Only by returning to the basics of God’s design and purpose for sex can we not only find clarity for the questions and debates of society today, but, more importantly, we can understand God’s purpose and design for our particular lives.
Sunday, May 14, 2023 -
We all have parents... for better or for worse. The Bible shows us, though, how the very concepts and calling of motherhood and fatherhood find their core in the character of God. By better understanding Who He is can we, then, better understand our calling as children in the biological family and in the family of the church.