Antioch Community Church - Sermon Audio

Unity is not new—Jesus died for it when He died on the cross. We, as the Church, are tasked with stewarding what Jesus established. This isn’t the job of Church leadership—this is your responsibility and ours, together.

Just like an undercurrent in the ocean, culture is slowing eroding the message of the Gospel. But Jesus gave His followers a tool to combat the pull of culture – the Lord’s Prayer. In it, He clarifies who He is, calls us to forgiveness, challenges us to trust His for our provision and gives us a model of how to pray. In the midst of everything happening in the world, we are called to be those to pray.

Perspective is everything. The American mindset puts us at the center of our own story. But the Kingdom narrative says that our lives are part of God’s greater story. When King Jesus is rightly enthroned in our lives and we're living with the people of God for the Kingdom of God, we find victory. Wherever the King is ruling and reigning, that's where the Kingdom is.

The Book of Revelation is full of much we may not understand, but it does repeatedly emphasize the worthiness of Jesus. To provide context for what it says about Him, we must go back to the Old Testament to truly understand Jesus like He's seen in Revelation as the Lamb who was slain.

Pain and problems are unavoidable. So it seems the next best thing is to get through them as quickly as possible. But that is not the model Jesus set for us. He demonstrated what it meant to live a lifestyle of prayer, not praying His way out of problems but praying His way through.

Who is Jesus? That is the most important question. If Jesus was who He claimed to be, then we can't just say He was a good man. If Jesus is in fact the Son of God, that changes everything and means we are living for Him and only Him.

Jesus allowed Himself and His plans to be constantly interrupted. As a result, people were healed and resurrected, not just externally but from the inside out. What does a divine interruption look like for you?

If Jesus weren't relevant we probably wouldn't still be talking about Him. But He is, and we are. The problem: it's easy to know what Jesus said but harder to BELIEVE it. Do you believe the Gospel?Grace is a free gift none of us deserves. It's always available, but we have to accept it. We have to believe Him.

Is it ever too late? God says it’s not, but if we believe the lie that it is, we can’t see God’s grace and won’t live out His purpose for ourselves or our community. What if we believed it wasn’t too late?

Prayer and praise help us to come out differently on the other side of challenge and give us power instead of panic. Continuing our New Normal series, Jimmy Seibert shares how Paul and Silas experienced this reality as they were imprisoned in Acts 16. We see the power of prayer and praise throughout scripture, but when we actively choose it as a lifestyle, it sets us up to see God move on our behalf.

What if every change we face could be an opportunity to respond to God? Instead of rejection, what if change allows for course correction? Vincent Carpenter continued our New Normal series, sharing from his own personal experience of the real struggle with change but also the incredible ways change can set us up, transform us and position us to see God move.

For Chris & Rebekah, the book of Acts turned from something they read into the reality of their life. While living overseas and experiencing persecution and prison, they faced hard questions: How do you press into God in the midst of suffering and not draw away? What if pain and suffering are unique opportunities to know and trust Jesus? What would it look like to live with this mentality?

The early church faced, and thrived in, unbelievable change all through the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Even as we are facing changes in this new normal, we have the opportunity to respond as they did and ask: how is God leading us in the midst of our change? Through Acts 10, U.S. Director Drew Steadman dove into the history and context of what we find there, reminding us that it really is all about following the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Paul is perhaps one of the most widely known apostles in the New Testament, but he didn't start off following Jesus. Our Impact Waco Director, Jason Ramos, shared the story of Saul's transformation to Paul. Everything changed when Paul heard God's voice and responded, and Jason has a similar story. After years of drug addiction, violence, and incarceration, he heard God's voice. And he didn't just hear, he responded.

One of our new Elders and Global Director of Unbound, Susan Peters, challenged us to live boldly in our New Normal. Can we respond as Stephen did in Acts 6 & 7, able to stand in adversity by standing on the Word of God? Are we moved by this world or are we moved by God alone? May we prioritize faithfulness and pray for boldness--not just for the sake of being bold but for the sake of the Gospel.

Lead Pastor Carl Gulley carried on our New Normal series, highlighting the new normal the followers of Jesus faced in the book of Acts. Similar to the early Church, we are facing new normals and new challenges. How can we show Jesus to the world around us? May the same thing said of Peter and John in Acts 4 be said of us, that people would recognize us as those who have been with Jesus.

Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert honored dads and continued our New Normal series. Just as the early Church had an opportunity to create a new culture of reaching out and sharing the grace of Jesus, we are entering a new normal and have the same opportunity. When we believe and pray for healing, it releases grace and creates an environment for God to work.

Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert continued our series, New Normal, diving into the book of Acts. The first two chapters call us to remember Jesus' suffering, remember the miracles and remember His teachings, just as the early Church did. From this place, there is promise, preparation and power released upon all peoples. Each part is necessary, and we are in a season of preparation. God is inviting us into the next level, if we partner with Him as we prepare our hearts in response to the promise to see His power come.

Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert jump-started our new series, New Normal, by looking at the parable of the Good Samaritan. If we are going to join in finding healing for our nation in regards to race, we have to first walk in humility - defensiveness does not get us to righteousness. As believers, we must educate ourselves on the history of race, choose to relate to others who are different from us and advocate for those who have been unjustly marginalized. Join us as we read through the books of Acts together this summer: https://antiochwaco.com/summer-reading-plan

Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert wrapped up our Better Together series, sharing the importance of cultivating the right soil in our lives. Even if we plant seeds, if we don't have good soil nothing will grow. How can we cultivate this? By intentionally living around the Word and will of God, being spirit-filled grateful people and mutually submitting to one another and finding God's grace sufficient.