Antioch Waco

In the 26 verses of John 17, Jesus speaks about "giving" 17 times. The importance of relinquishing what we hold is clear. But because of the goodness of God, in His Kingdom, surrender means giving up something lesser to gain something greater. Everybody has a place of authority or control. God is calling us to release these areas of authority so that He can give us something greater in return. After all, it's because of Jesus' surrender that we are redeemed. Lord, help us to surrender!

This week, Mick Murray taught again on John 17, where we see Jesus' prayer that we, His disciples, would walk in unity. Mick took us through the Scriptural evidence for what biblical unity is and what it is not. In the end, biblical unity is the greatest revelation of God in the earth today, that others might know Him, and conversely, our disunity is the greatest way to obscure the glory of God in our earth today. How do we unify? Repentance. God, we repent for our selfishness and divisiveness! Unify us once again!

This week, we looked again at Jesus' prayer for His followers in John 17. When we look at the world as God intended versus the world impacted by our sin, we see a huge disparity between God's perfect creation and our marred reality. It is through Jesus that we are sanctified to become more like God's original design, and it is through the Church that the world sees God's glory and goodness. Lord, we surrender—sanctify us!

Tending our lives in the areas we influence requires selflessness, intentionality and sacrifice but it brings about fruitfulness and beauty to ultimately glorify the Father. The original mandate from God to Adam and Eve is also a mandate to us. In the garden of our lives, we are called to tend to each space intentionally so that the Glory of God may be reflected unto the world through these spaces.

God is moving powerfully across our nation, sparking revival at various colleges and universities and making national headlines. But He's at work here among us, too! God is sweeping through our local students at Baylor, calling people to unity, repentance and evangelism. Let's join in! Let's surrender ourselves to God and intercede for this movement to continue, in our country and around the world, as we seek His face!

This week, we welcome our friend and brother Francis Chan to remind us of the necessity for UNITY in today's divorce culture. We are raised as children in homes and in a society where splitting up is more customary than unity, and we see this dramatically at work in the Church. In John 17, we see Jesus pray, "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us SO THAT the world may believe that you have sent me." Lord, we covenant to walk in unity with our brothers and sisters, so that the world may believe in Jesus our Savior!

This week, we continued to look at Jesus' prayer in John 17, highlighting the glory of God. We see the significance of God's glory all throughout Scripture, from Genesis 1 when humanity was separated from God's glory through our sin, then throughout the Bible in the story of God's plan to reconcile us to His glory through the sacrifice of Jesus. God's glory has to be central in our life; when we are filled with glory, we become partners of His glory, and the world around us is saved!

In John 17, we read a prayer from Jesus to the Father asking for unity among God's followers. When God is fully glorified in every person's life, our lives operate wholly as God intended, and God's people are unified. We want to be a people who walk in union with God, communion with the saints and partnership with His mission!

Years ago, Trip Nine began to be called by God to utilize his expertise in web development and cybersecurity to share the gospel and build the Kingdom of God. Since then, he's begun building systems that can share the good news of Jesus with people in the farthest parts of the earth through digital media, and he's sharing these systems with us so that we can share Jesus' love with our city, nation and nations of the earth. Join us as we continue to live a lifestyle of prayer and incorporate this amazing technology to pray and contend for the farthest reaches of the earth!

Mark 6:45-56 tells the story of Jesus' disciples straining at the oars of their boat in a storm. Scripture says that He saw them from land and decided to go out to them (walking on water). The scariest sentence in the story is this: "He intended to pass by them." But when they raised their heads from their own futile efforts, saw Him and cried out to Him, "immediately He spoke with them and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.' Then He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished." May we never miss Jesus walking by because our eyes are down, focused on our own affairs. May we instead look to Him and cry out to Him; He will always come get in our boat and take care of us!

For 2023, we're sensing that God is calling us to renewed Unity of the Spirit. To be unified with the Spirit of God, and then with each other, it's imperative that we "drop our oars"—relinquishing our efforts and accomplishments that are made through our own strength and good works. Instead, we must rely on the power of the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 33:21 says, "But there [in the city of the Lord,] the Lord in majesty will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams, where no galley with oars can go, nor majestic ship can pass." Let us throw down our oars and our efforts of man-made achievements, and instead experience the abundantly powerful current of the Lord directing us to places we could never reach in our own strength!

This week, Mick Murray took us through the ministry of Elijah in 1 Kings 17–19 in a study about listening to God, and then we took some time to do just that—asking God what we need to let go from 2022 and what He has prepared for us in 2023.

There's no better way to start a new year than by worshiping God and re-surrendering to Him. Join us as we praise Him and consecrate the year 2023 to Him!

This Christmas, we pray that you experience the Good News, Great Joy and Peace on Earth that only Jesus can give. We love you! Merry Christmas!

Throughout this series, we've discussed the fact that we're unbelievably loved by God, and we've faced the reality that it can be hard to experience this truth in certain seasons. Luke 1 shows us that Mary may have experienced this very same thing. In a culture that valued young women very little, Mary had to be told multiple times by an angel of God, and again by her cousin, that she was blessed and highly favored before she was able to admit to herself that she was noticed and blessed by God. We don't have to convince ourselves of the truth of God's love, and we also don't have to give up on this truth if we don't see it. God, reveal Your love to us so that we can partner with You in believing it and bringing Your Kingdom to earth!