Antioch Community Church - Sermon Audio

"When we try to step into supernatural calling, into these destinies that move our hearts, but we have not established the Lordship issue, quitting is inevitable. Because the minute we encounter a supernatural problem with our natural resources, we render our selves inert. We cannot move forward. You will either be one who serves the Lord Jesus and walks with Him and follows in HIs plans, or you will not. And the things that make us fruitful, the things that move us forward—perseverance , the ability to remain—those things are settled when He is the Lord. Because if He is the Lord, I go wherever He goes and I stay as long as He stays, so the issue of perseverance is settled for me. And I believe that's what God is doing in the Church today. He is looking for those who say, 'I am decided—You are the Lord. And I will remain, because You are the Lord.'"

The Lord's Prayer provides a comprehensive model for how to abide with Jesus in God's presence throughout each day. Following the prayer line by line, we can begin the day worshiping God, seeking His will and trusting Him to be our Provider in every situation. We can walk into the day already confident that we are forgiven and that we have plenty of forgiveness to extend to others. We can know that our day is covered—that when distractions and temptations arise, God will lead us away from them and toward Him. For God's is the kingdom, power and glory forever and ever. Amen!

1 John 5:14 & 15 say, "This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him." How do we know what His will is? The key is the Word of God. We know that everything God says in Scripture is true, so we can pray the Bible over every situation with complete confidence.

When Jesus' apostles asked him how they should pray, He taught them The Lord's Prayer. This week, we looked at just the first line: "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name." It is because of the work of Jesus on the cross and the sacrifice of His blood that we can access Father God. Not only can we draw near to God, but He knows us intimately and crafted each of us with great intentionality. Because of this salvation and grace, we can, like David, say, "One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord and to meditate in His temple."

Throughout the Old Testament, we see Israel following countless rituals and laws to make a welcome space for the presence of God. When Jesus died on our behalf, the veil standing between us and God was literally torn, and now God Himself inhabits each of His followers. We have access to Him all the time, and we are commanded to talk with Him and pray to Him unceasingly. Lord, let us be a people who pray at all times!

At Antioch, we want our relationship with Jesus to affect and infect every area of our lives, which is why we seek to embrace each of these circles continually. We want to have a deep devotional life in Jesus, seek to be and to make disciples, stay connected in community, serve and participate in our corporate gatherings and live on mission where God has planted each of us. As opposed to focusing on one circle, we hope to grow in our holistic approach to walking with Jesus by committing to embrace all 5 Circles. Why? Because we want more of Jesus, we want to be anchored in Jesus and we want Jesus to be glorified by, in and through us and His Church.

We want to be a people with a passion for Jesus and His purposes in the earth, and we want to be a people that makes disciples who ENCOUNTER God, DISCIPLE others and live on MISSION. If we study the meaning of discipleship in Jesus' time, we see that a disciple was someone who dedicated years to learning the ways of his master by being with the Rabbi, learning the Rabbi's teachings and doing what the Rabbi did, then going and making more disciples. Likewise, we want to be disciples—apprentices—of Jesus, doing the same in our time.

Antioch is committed to being a people with "A Passion for Jesus and His Purposes in the Earth." The truth is that we are empowered to love God and be passionate for His purposes because He first loved us. This is how we know His love is true: He sees us, yet still pursues us; He forgives us FULLY; and He will never leave or forsake us. Thank you, Lord, for Your miraculous love—may we live our lives lit up by a passion for You and Your purposes!

Jehovah Jireh, translated literally, means "The Lord will see." The meaning of this in today's English is "the Lord will see to it," or "the Lord will provide." We first see this phrase in Genesis 22, when God miraculously provided a sacrifice for Abraham and Isaac on Mount Moriah. A thousand years later, God had mercy on the people of Israel when David offered a sacrifice in the same location. After another millennium, Jesus was crucified only a few hundred feet from the same place, and on Mount Moriah itself, where God's temple was built, the veil separating us from God's Holy of Holies was torn, reconciling us forever with God by the sacrificial love of Jesus. Praise God that we can fully trust our sovereign Provider—Jehovah Jireh.

Throughout Scripture, we see God compare Himself to a shepherd about 100 times and refer to His followers as sheep about 400 times. Sheep are notoriously defenseless, stubborn and foolish. Shepherds, however, are loyal and sacrificial and are known for using two tools: a rod to prompt sheep toward food and safety, and a staff to pull sheep back from harm when they don't respond to the rod. We are accustomed to spending time with other sheep, who disappoint, abandon and hurt us. But Jesus is not like us. He is the Chief Shepherd, and He heals the damage that other sheep have done and returns us to the fold. He is a Rescuer who knows us fully and loves us completely. May we be good sheep to our Shepherd, allowing Him to lead us and trusting His goodness—He is good, and He does good.

In Exodus 3, we read the story of Moses and the burning bush. God called Moses to be Israel’s deliverer, but Moses was hesitant because of insecurity. When we’re tempted to give up because we’re insecure about our past, let us remember that God is the God of the past, present and future. He is I AM, and He redeems the past, is present today and covers our future, because He’s already there.

When the Israelites cried out to the Lord to be saved from their Midianite oppressors, God called Gideon to lead Israel to victory over Midian. God revealed himself to Gideon in a powerful and miraculous way. What did Gideon name the place where he had encountered God? Not “The Lord Is Power” or “The Lord Conquers,” but “The Lord Is Peace.” Like Gideon, may we surrender the outcome of every part of our lives to God and submit to Him as our Peace.

Exodus 17 tells a story of a battle between the Israelites and their long-time foes, the Amalekites. God promised the Israelites victory over the Amalekites, and He did so in a way that illustrates how He remains victorious in our lives today. Like Moses, when we are faced by modern-day Amalekites—sins that we find hard to overcome—let us find rest on the rock that is Jesus, and let us lean into our community to uphold the authority of God over the enemy.

Mark 10 tells the story of a blind man—Bartimaeus—who hears that Jesus is near and repeatedly cries, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Like Bartimaeus, when we are blinded by our limitations, our sin and the world we live in, may we hear our Savior, whose voice we know, and may we respond to his invitation to show us mercy.

Many of us know the gospel but miss the foundational truth of why Jesus had to die or if his death really did anything. Jesus' death didn't only forgive us of our sins; it completely set us free by putting our old self to death and replacing it with a new self. We are no longer slaves to sin or death regardless of our thoughts, temptations or emotions, and we are made holy and righteous through Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.

The Nature of God as Father doesn't only apply to earthly Fathers, but to all of us. We often have a distorted view of who God is because of sin, whether sin we've committed or sins committed against us. And, our insecurities from these things are directly tied to our misunderstandings of who God is and His character. God the Father is loving, forgiving and near. Amidst pain and brokenness, if we can quiet ourselves long enough, we can move from accusation against our Father and into greater intimacy with Him.

Pastor Carl Gulley is back! Carl shared with us this week about some of the powerful revelations he received from God while on sabbatical—not just helpful lessons, but a re-hardwiring of the spirit in the areas of rest, identity and the goodness of God (if you need breakthrough in any of these areas, make sure to give this a listen!). As Carl re-joins our staff, our leadership team has sought God on the areas in which Carl can provide the greatest support. Carl will continue in his capacity as an Elder and member of our Strategy Team, and he will also take on the initiative of fostering reconnection among our church members as we re-learn how to gather in community after the isolation of the last few years. Carl will also continue teaching, discipling and mentoring, and will additionally spend time investing in many of our US pastors and international workers.We are so thankful that Carl has diligently spent the last year seeking God and health in all aspects, and we are so happy he’s back in our regular life

The name YAHWEH represents God's name, "I AM." This name was so sacred in Judaism that throughout history, the nation of Israel would not speak it aloud for fear of taking the Lord's name in vain. Jewish scribes eventually combined its spoken replacement—"Adonai," or Lord—with Yahweh. Our current version of that combination is Jehovah, and its meaning is "He Is." This summer, we're going to spend time learning many of the wonderful things He Is.

1 Corinthians 16:8 and 9 speak of a wide door, opened by God, but which many adversaries are trying to shut. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” This summer, let’s respond to Jesus’ knocking and resist the adversaries that would try to close God’s open doors in our lives.

It's Baptism Bash Sunday—what a moving time of celebrating God's transforming grace in the lives of so many of our family members! The parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 portrays an apt description of each of our lives. When we sin and go our own way, our Father is beckoning us back with open arms. He is unimaginably better than we could ever guess. Thank You, Jesus, that You are always thrilled to welcome us into Your embrace!