Antioch Waco

"Dying to self is more about change than pain." This week, Pastor Vincent Carpenter taught on God's invitation of baptism. When we hear the phrase "dying to self," the enemy wants our focus to be on pain. In reality, we gain much more from dying to ourselves than we lose. Dying to ourselves is really an invitation to greater access to the Kingdom of God — to a powerful, life-giving experience that...

This week, Senior Pastor Jimmy Seibert continued our "Battleground" series with a focus on our call as believers to witness to the world, even in the face of the enemy's attacks of spiritual warfare and deceit to try to dissuade us from sharing Jesus' love with those around us. The Church is God's "Plan A" to share His message of love, grace and rescue with the world, and it is our joy to partner...

As we continue our "Battleground" series, Zach Daniel shared with us this week about the role of the Church in fighting against the enemy's schemes. We are not meant to solely fight defensively; we are equipped with the weapons of spiritual warfare to fight offensively and win through Jesus' victory.

As we continue our "Battleground" series on spiritual warfare and how we have complete access to Jesus' victory over all the enemy's attacks, this week we considered the importance of fighting for one of the most important areas of spiritual warfare in our day: the family.

This week, we began our new sermon series, "Battleground." Scripture warns us of the tactics Satan uses to try to turn us away from God. Jesus is fully victorious over these tactics, and through studying Scripture's guidance for both offense and defense against the enemy's schemes, we can walk in the freedom and protection that God provides.

Every person on earth, no matter age, culture, religion or any other factor, has four fundamental questions for which they need answers. "Who is God? Who am I? Who are my people? What is my purpose?" By looking at Jesus' actions in the week leading up to Easter, including His death, burial and resurrection, we see that God provides us answers to each of these four questions.

When Jesus entered Jerusalem a week before His death, the Israelites very likely believed He was entering to deliver them from their Roman oppressors. Instead, the first thing He did was go to the Jewish temple and rebuke the Israelites. When we are disillusioned, disappointed or bitter about how our expectations haven't been met, let us deal with what is wrong in us instead of pointing the finger...

Throughout Church history, parallels have been drawn between Noah's Ark and the Church — both are vessels used by God to provide salvation for all who accept it. Let us be people who put our faith and belief in God, follow the blueprints He's provided us, center our lives and purpose around God's covenant with us, and forgive and honor the people around us.

This week, Vincent Carpenter discussed Ephesians 2:19-22, which tells us all about God's household. What can we learn from this passage? God's household gives you an identity. God's household provides you with responsibility (which is to make outsiders feel like insiders). And God's household calls you to unity.

The Church is a family. We are called to be disciples of Jesus and to welcome anyone and everyone into our family to follow Jesus together. When we are tempted to settle into the comfort of what is familiar, let us be intentional to welcome others into the Church's family, regardless of the perimeters of our comfort zones. We are broken people, which is why we need the Church — to seek God's heali...

We are called to be a house of prayer. This week, Jimmy Seibert led us through many places in Scripture where we see God calling His people to be a people of prayer. Through adoration, we can enter into God's presence, and prayer is the key to welcoming God's will, rule and reign into every area of our lives, just as it is in heaven.

This week, Jimmy Seibert shared from Colossians 1:18 about Jesus being the head of the Body of Christ. Regardless of whether your family of origin was healthy, hurtful or somewhere in between, you will always have a place to belong in the family of Christ. Although this family made of humans will always have dysfunctional elements, we can move toward health by believing in Jesus, receiving the Tru...

This week, Carl Gulley talked about a character in the New Testament who may seem minor, but without whom, much of the New Testament might never have been written. Like Barnabas, may we be people who truly see others and champion them to reach their full potential in Christ.

As we continue to explore the Word of the Lord we feel God highlighting for our church this year — to be a "multigenerational family on mission" — we want to study in Scripture what God's intentions are for family, uncorrupted by sin and human failure. Although today's culture is rife with broken family and church hurt, the family of God was never meant to be the source of so much pain. We need to...

This week, we were privileged to hear from YWAM's SunAwh Park. Matthew 7:24-27 talks about houses built on both strong stone foundations and on sand. As we continue to explore 2024's Word of the Lord for Antioch Waco — to be a multigenerational family on mission — we must remember that our house must be built on the strength of God and His covenant with us.

As we take the month of January to consecrate our hearts and our year to God, we continued to look at Jeremiah 31:1-6 this week. God, our Father who continually pursues each of us, promises that He will build us up again when we fail, whether our failure is the result of our actions or others'. To allow God to do this building, we need to confess any sin that might be hindering us, repent of it, f...

This week, Jimmy led us through Jeremiah 31:1-6 and the message it teaches about God's grace. It's God's grace that draws us to Him, no matter how many times we fail. It's God's grace that bears any fruit for His glory in our lives. And it's God's grace that carries us.

This week, as we're setting aside intentional time to consecrate ourselves to God heading into 2024, Mick led us through the patterns of lament that we see in Scripture. Not only does the Bible highlight God's value for lament; it provides a formula for us to follow in turning to God, crying out our complaints, appealing for Him to hear and respond and confessing our trust in Him regardless of the...

Many people approach a new year with huge, transformational New Year's resolutions. While those have a place, this week, Carl Gulley taught us a tool that is helpful for shorter stretches (1-2 months) of effective transformation: VISION, INTENTION and METHODS. Seek God for Him to reveal to you areas of VISION: What elicits unforced desire or excitement in you? Next, ask God what INTENTION you need...

Merry Christmas! This week, Jimmy Seibert led us through the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke. Through God's coming to earth as a human to save us, we see that God will stop at nothing to draw us, His children, toward Himself and to His salvation and love. This Christmas, may you and the ones close to you experience the love and hope of Jesus!

This week, as 2023 is drawing to an end and as Christmas is only a few days away, Jimmy Seibert led us through the five promises and five matching blessings in Proverbs 3:1-10. If we invite and allow God to transform us through these five disciplines, we will be anchored into the grace of Jesus through every difficulty.

Carl Gulley continued our "Emmanuel" sermon series this week with a look at 2 Corinthians 3:18. This Christmas season, we can rest in the truth that we do not have to manufacture our own transformation. We are transformed by being with God — He is the one who bears the fruit of transformation in our lives. Thank You, Lord!

This week, Carl Gulley kicked off our new Christmas series, "Emmanuel," which means, "God with us." This series focuses on the primary narrative of the Bible: not people's desire to be with God, but God's desire to be with people. As He pursues us, all we need to do is welcome Him in. Lord, let us pray unceasingly — being constantly aware of Your presence.

This week, Shawn Dunn discussed how the Sermon on the Mount ties together the gratitude of Thanksgiving and the hope of the Christmas season. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus explains how things work in His Kingdom. His Kingdom is for "the poor in spirit" — not the people who have it all together, but the excluded people on the outskirts. Thank you, Lord, that you give us the hope of Your Kingdom...

As we head into Thanksgiving this week, Jimmy Seibert dissected 1 Thessalonians 5:12-19 with us to explore how we can honor God as we gather with friends and family for this holiday.