Antioch Community Church - Sermon Audio

God is moving powerfully across our nation, sparking revival at various colleges and universities and making national headlines. But He's at work here among us, too! God is sweeping through our local students at Baylor, calling people to unity, repentance and evangelism. Let's join in! Let's surrender ourselves to God and intercede for this movement to continue, in our country and around the world, as we seek His face!

This week, we welcome our friend and brother Francis Chan to remind us of the necessity for UNITY in today's divorce culture. We are raised as children in homes and in a society where splitting up is more customary than unity, and we see this dramatically at work in the Church. In John 17, we see Jesus pray, "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us SO THAT the world may believe that you have sent me." Lord, we covenant to walk in unity with our brothers and sisters, so that the world may believe in Jesus our Savior!

This week, we continued to look at Jesus' prayer in John 17, highlighting the glory of God. We see the significance of God's glory all throughout Scripture, from Genesis 1 when humanity was separated from God's glory through our sin, then throughout the Bible in the story of God's plan to reconcile us to His glory through the sacrifice of Jesus. God's glory has to be central in our life; when we are filled with glory, we become partners of His glory, and the world around us is saved!

In John 17, we read a prayer from Jesus to the Father asking for unity among God's followers. When God is fully glorified in every person's life, our lives operate wholly as God intended, and God's people are unified. We want to be a people who walk in union with God, communion with the saints and partnership with His mission!

Years ago, Trip Nine began to be called by God to utilize his expertise in web development and cybersecurity to share the gospel and build the Kingdom of God. Since then, he's begun building systems that can share the good news of Jesus with people in the farthest parts of the earth through digital media, and he's sharing these systems with us so that we can share Jesus' love with our city, nation and nations of the earth. Join us as we continue to live a lifestyle of prayer and incorporate this amazing technology to pray and contend for the farthest reaches of the earth!

Mark 6:45-56 tells the story of Jesus' disciples straining at the oars of their boat in a storm. Scripture says that He saw them from land and decided to go out to them (walking on water). The scariest sentence in the story is this: "He intended to pass by them." But when they raised their heads from their own futile efforts, saw Him and cried out to Him, "immediately He spoke with them and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.' Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished." May we never miss Jesus walking by because our eyes are down, focused on our own affairs. May we instead look to Him and cry out to Him; He will always come get in our boat and take care of us!

For 2023, we're sensing that God is calling us to renewed Unity of the Spirit. To be unified with the Spirit of God, and then with each other, it's imperative that we "drop our oars"—relinquishing our efforts and accomplishments that are made through our own strength and good works. Instead, we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 33:21 says, "But there [in the city of the Lord,] the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass." Let us throw down our oars and our efforts of man-made achievements, and instead experience the abundantly powerful current of the Lord directing us to places we could never reach in our own strength!

This week, Mick Murray took us through the ministry of Elijah in 1 Kings 17–19 in a study about listening to God, and then we took some time to do just that—asking God what we need to let go from 2022 and what He has prepared for us in 2023.

There's no better way to start a new year than by worshiping God and re-surrendering to Him. Join us as we praise Him and consecrate the year 2023 to Him!

This Christmas, we pray that you experience the Good News, Great Joy and Peace on Earth that only Jesus can give. We love you! Merry Christmas!

Throughout this series, we've discussed the fact that we're unbelievably loved by God, and we've faced the reality that it can be hard to experience this truth in certain seasons. Luke 1 shows us that Mary may have experienced this very same thing. In a culture that valued young women very little, Mary had to be told multiple times by an angel of God, and again by her cousin, that she was blessed and highly favored before she was able to admit to herself that she was noticed and blessed by God. We don't have to convince ourselves of the truth of God's love, and we also don't have to give up on this truth if we don't see it. God, reveal Your love to us so that we can partner with You in believing it and bringing Your Kingdom to earth!

Walter Brueggeman, an Old Testament scholar, describes 3 stages common to all humans that we see in the Psalms—Orientation, when all is going well; Disorientation, when things seem to be falling apart; and Reorientation, when God is bringing new life out of what has died. In seasons of Disorientation, it can be hard to experience the presence and love of God. How can we move out of this stage to seasons of new and fresh life? We can make sure we're not walking in sin, we can make sure we're not numbing ourselves to God and we can remain honest with God, but mostly, we need to remember Jesus' command to come to Him like little children. We can't make God move at our desired speed; we need to trust, like little children, that He's doing something in us that is better than we can imagine.

As we read the story of the birth of Jesus in the book of Matthew, we see the author referring to Jesus as "the Child" many times. What we may not understand as 21st century readers is the social status of children in the 1st century—children and slaves were at the bottom of the social ladder. Yet when Herod heard from the wisemen about the child they were going to visit, he was frightened. And later in Jesus' life, He said that we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven. We must recognize that, when we are helpless and have nothing to contribute, like tiny children, God loves us extravagantly.

The Bible promises us that we can enter God's gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. It's that easy! Gratitude is our 'all-access-pass' to dwell in God's presence at every moment. Being thankful for those around us shows the kindness of God to the people in our lives, and living a lifestyle of gratitude gives us victory over anxiety in our everyday problems. Thank You, Lord, that we have so much to be grateful for!

We want to be a Psalm 27:4 people committed to a Psalm 24:7 prayer movement unto a Matthew 24:14 outcome—Lord, consume us to love You with all our heart, soul, mind and strength! Let your Kingdom come and Your will be done in every area of our personal lives, families, city, nation and nations of the earth. Fill us with power to proclaim Your Kingdom wherever we go, so that as the world shakes around us, we're not shaken, and we can welcome the world to the feet of Jesus, the family of God and the purpose of God, that we might be a rescuing people for the glory of God.

Jesus said in Matthew 18:20, "Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” What does it mean to gather, or even just to live, in Jesus' name? It means to live in His likeness, as He would live, and to love the ones with whom we gather as He loves them. It's significant that this statement comes in the same passage as Jesus' instruction on godly conflict and His command to forgive our offenders seventy-seven times. To pray effectively, so that Jesus is present in our prayers, we must treat our brothers with the love of Jesus.

When the enemy would try to sideline us through deception, discouragement, doubt or disbelief, God calls us to be a House of Prayer that prays with authority. We can accomplish this through walking in humility, living in intimacy with God through simple obedience, and living a lifestyle of repentance. Lord, make us a people who pray with authority!

For any prayer needs we might have, we must first begin by remembering the Person of God—who He is and who He's promised to be to us. Then we can center our hearts rightly by I—glorifying Him for being everything to us. Third, we can locate a Scripture that shows the Promise of God in our area of need. As we pray the Scripture(s), we remain open to the Process of God molding our desires to match His own in this area. And finally, we Persevere in seeking His will over time. Lord, make us a people who seek Your desires above all else!

The New Testament is peppered with guidance on how we should pray, both in the words of Jesus in the Gospels and in the Epistles. There are three things that are required for effective prayer: First, that we DO pray. Second, that we have faith. Third, that we believe. Lord, make us a people who always come to You in prayer!

Sometimes, God calls us to pray for something that requires persevering prayer. This can feel very difficult. The truth, though, is that God uses this persevering, persistent prayer to reward us with what is good and most advantageous. Prayer is not simply transactional; it is a vehicle through which we grow in relationship with God. God values persistent prayer and calls us to walk in it. He equips us to persevere, and through persistent prayer, He bears fruit in us and accomplishes His will in our lives.