Antioch Waco

In Ephesians 5:1–15, Pastor Mick Murray called the church to live from a secure, God-given identity before addressing the hard realities of sexual immorality, impurity and covetousness. In Christ, we are fully forgiven and invited to imitate the Father as beloved children. True biblical love, rooted in the self-giving sacrifice of Christ, stands in direct contrast to sexual immorality, which at its core is a posture of taking rather than giving. Covetousness, the restless craving for more outside of God’s design, lies beneath it all. Paul’s warnings against corrupt speech follow the same logic, that what we tolerate in our words reveals what we treasure in our hearts.

In this message from Ephesians 4:17-32, the Apostle Paul calls the church to remember their baptism not merely as a spiritual milestone, but as a living map for how to walk every day in a manner worthy of God's calling. Using this imagery of the early church's baptismal practice, he shows that believers have put off the old self and have been united with Christ in both His death and His resurrection to walk in new life. The new self, created in the image of God in true righteousness and holiness, is our new identity.

In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul marks a pivotal turn from the first three chapters of the letter, which focused on our extraordinary riches in Christ, to chapters four and five, which focus on how we are to walk in light of those riches.

Because of everything Jesus has done for us, we are invited into a new way of life: walking in a manner worthy of our calling. This walk is not a solo journey but a communal one, marked by humility, gentleness, patience and a deep commitment to unity. God has given each believer grace and gifting, and we are designed to use those gifts together so the whole body grows up into the fullness of Christ.

This is an invitation to examine how we are walking with one another and to take a fresh step toward the kind of community God has always intended. Whether you feel deeply connected or quietly disconnected, the body of Christ needs what God has placed in you, and you need what He has placed in them.

If you have ever wondered whether God truly loves you, whether He sees your pain and still cares, you are not alone. In Ephesians 3:14-21, the Apostle Paul drops to his knees and prays one of the most powerful prayers in Scripture, asking God to make His love not just a fact we believe but a reality we actually experience. This message is an invitation into that same prayer.

Paul prays for two things that every believer desperately needs. First, that we would be strengthened by the Holy Spirit in our inner being so that Christ can truly dwell, not just visit, in our hearts. Outward religious activity is not enough. God is looking for surrendered people who carry His presence, not just perform for Him. Second, Paul prays that we would be rooted and established in love and would grasp, together with all the saints, just how wide, long, high, and deep the love of Christ actually is. This love surpasses knowledge, meaning it cannot be understood by the mind alone. It must be experienced through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In Ephesians 2, Paul reminds us of the sobering reality of our condition apart from Christ. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, following the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air. Like Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, we crossed God’s boundary and deserved justice. Yet into that hopeless condition comes one of the most powerful phrases in Scripture: “But God.” Because of His great love and rich mercy, God did not leave us under wrath. Instead, He initiated a rescue plan rooted in grace. From the first shedding of blood in Genesis 3:21 to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God, we see that grace has always operated through substitution. Justice is satisfied, and mercy is extended.

Through Christ’s finished work on the cross, our debt has been paid in full. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Grace is not only forgiveness for the past but power for the future. We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, and we are created in Christ for good works.