Antioch Waco

This message kicks off a series, Overwhelming Grace, and begins with the teaching from John 8:1-11, and also draws from Hebrews 4:16, John 1:14 and 16, and Luke 15:11-32. It describes grace as the overwhelming love, pleasure and favor of God toward undeserving people. Jimmy Seibert explains that this grace is activated through compassion and is ultimately found in the face of Jesus, walking through the story of the woman caught in adultery and the parable of the prodigal son to show that no sin, past or present, is beyond the reach of the grace offered at the throne of grace. It calls us to stop hiding from our need and instead run toward Jesus, where compassion, mercy and power to change are freely and continually available.

This service is grounded in Acts 13, where the church at Antioch, made up of prophets and teachers from different backgrounds, fasts and prays until the Holy Spirit sets apart Barnabas and Saul for a mission, and in Acts 14, where the church later gathers to hear the report of what God did through them. This is where we (Antioch) get our name!

Testimonies bring glory to God rather than to any person or ministry, and it strengthens faith, because hearing specific answered prayers reminds the church that God hears and responds when his people call on him. It also passes God's works from one generation to the next, so that what God has done is carried forward by the whole church family, and it stirs the church up to love and good works, turning what could be passive information into an invitation to participate.

After six months away, Pastor Jimmy Seibert and his wife Laura return to Antioch Waco to share reflections from their sabbatical. Laura opens up about entering the season exhausted in body and soul and how God led her into a wilderness season of rest, counseling and healing, teaching her to move from grit to grace. Jimmy shares three pictures of grace God gave him during the sabbatical, drawn from Ephesians 1, Hebrews 4 and Psalm 16, each pointing to the Trinity's nearness and care. This message covers themes of rest, sabbatical, trusting God, healing and the presence of the Holy Spirit and closes with a call to respond to grace individually and as a church family.

Pastor Caleb Seibert, opened by honoring the men and women who have walked with this church for decades and by reminding us of the holy momentum that has been building here for more than thirty years. Using the picture of grabbing a running start and jumping on the back of a shopping cart, he made a simple point: momentum only carries you so far before friction slows you to a stop. To keep moving forward, you need another push. In the kingdom of God that push is not striving or gritting our teeth. It is surrender, a fresh willingness to be obedient to Jesus.

In this message from Antioch Waco's Proverbs series, guest speaker Drew Steadman, pastor of Antioch Kona in Hawaii and former staff pastor at Antioch Waco, unpacks Proverbs 3:5-7 and what it means to trust in the Lord with all your heart instead of leaning on your own understanding. Drawing on his family's journey of church planting, from years of discernment to a prophetic dream that matched the exact building God had prepared, Drew shares real testimony of how God's plan unfolds when we surrender control and let him lead.