We cordially invite you to worship with us!
OUR ROOTS
An Enduring Beacon
The Antioch Church of Christ in Milton is one of the oldest congregations in Rutherford County, with its history deeply intertwined with the restoration movement in Middle Tennessee. As a prominent Christian church, it serves as a vital faith community and place of worship for many.
Historical Foundations
Organized in 1833 by Barton W. Stone, the Antioch Church of Christ stands as a historic cornerstone of Rutherford County's faith community. This Christian church continues to worship in its original 1854 building, which was constructed on land generously donated by Jacob Wright. After modernizations in 1954 and 1966, this cherished Place of Worship remains beautifully preserved today.
Antebellum Survival
Antebellum Survival
By 1860, Antioch was one of just four Church of Christ congregations in Rutherford County. While the Civil War devastated many local sanctuaries, Antioch’s 1854 meetinghouse survived completely intact. Today, this active congregation still worships inside this rare, pre-war landmark.
The Romans Road Guide
The Context Behind the Letter: Why Paul Wrote Romans
Understanding why the Apostle Paul wrote this letter makes its theological roadmap even clearer. Written around 57 AD, the Epistle to the Romans was addressed to a church experiencing intense cultural and religious friction.
- A Divided Church: Roman Emperor Claudius had previously expelled all Jewish residents from Rome. When they returned years later, they found a church run entirely by Gentile (non-Jewish) believers. This created deep divisions over traditions, customs, and laws.
- A Level Playing Field: Paul wrote Romans to prove that everyone stands on equal ground before God. In the opening chapters, he systematically argues that neither religious heritage nor worldly philosophy makes anyone superior. All have sinned, and all require the exact same Savior.
- Legal Clarity for a Roman Audience: Because Rome was the center of the world's most sophisticated legal system, Paul purposely used courtroom and financial terminology—such as justification (acquittal), wages (payment), and redemption (buying back freedom)—to explain spiritual truths in a language Roman citizens perfectly understood.
Because this letter so logically and beautifully dismantles human pride while offering a clear remedy for our brokenness, its core chapters provide the ultimate step-by-step guide to reaching salvation.
The Romans Road to Salvation: A Comprehensive Study Guide
This guide traces the theological journey of the Gospel through Paul’s letter to the Romans. Follow these scripture passages to discover the biblical path to peace with God.
🛑 Part 1: The Human Problem (The Reality of Sin)Before we can appreciate good news, we must understand our spiritual condition. Paul establishes that no human is inherently innocent.
- Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
- Romans 3:10: "As it is written: 'There is no one righteous, not even one.'"
- Romans 5:12: "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned."
- Romans 1:20: Explains that God’s creation leaves humanity "without excuse" for ignoring Him.
Summary: This first step establishes that sin is a universal human condition, leaving everyone spiritually broken and separated from a holy God, regardless of their background.
🛑 Part 2: The Divine Penalty (The Consequence of Sin)Sin is not a minor mistake; it carries a legal weight under God’s holy justice.
- Romans 6:23a: "For the wages of sin is death..."
- Romans 2:5: Warns against a hardened heart that is "storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath."
- Romans 7:24: Captures human helplessness: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?"
Summary: Because God is perfectly just, He cannot overlook wrongdoing. The ultimate earning or penalty for human sin is spiritual death and eternal separation from Him.
🛑 Part 3: God’s Loving Provision (The Solution)We cannot earn our way out of our spiritual debt. God proactively intervened while we were completely helpless.
- Romans 5:8: "But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
- Romans 6:23b: "...but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 5:6: "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."
- Romans 4:25: "He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification."
Summary: Rather than leaving humanity to pay its own debt, God demonstrated His love by sending Jesus Christ to die in our place and rise again, offering eternal life as a completely free gift.
🛑 Part 4: The Personal Response (Faith and Surrender)Belief requires a personal choice to trust in Jesus’ sacrifice and publicly declare His authority over your life.
- Romans 10:9: "If you declare with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
- Romans 10:10: "For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved."
- Romans 10:13: "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
- Romans 4:5: "However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness."
- Romans 10:17: "Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
Summary: Salvation is received not by human effort or good works, but by personally trusting in Christ's resurrection, surrendering your heart to Him, and openly confessing Him as Lord.
🛑 Part 5: The Immediate & Eternal Results (Our New Reality)Once we respond in faith, our legal standing before God changes completely, offering permanent safety and a transformed life.
- Romans 5:1: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
- Romans 8:1: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus."
- Romans 8:38-39: "For I am convinced that neither death nor life... nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
- Romans 12:1-2: Directs us to live a changed life: "...offer your bodies as a living sacrifice... be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Summary: True faith brings immediate peace with God, permanent freedom from condemnation, absolute security in His love, and a daily, lifelong transformation of mind and character.
The Antioch Weekly
September 6, 2026 | Volume 18, Issue 35
► WELCOME VISITORS
The Lord's Day Priority
We are absolutely thrilled that you chose to worship with us this morning! In a culture where Sunday is often treated as just the final hours of a frantic weekend, we intentionally look at today differently. For us, this first day of the week is the grand opening—a day set apart to honor our risen Lord, study His unchanging Word, and reset our spiritual compasses before the world tries to steer us off course. You are our honored guest today. We want to welcome you warmly into our space, and we would love for you to stick around for just a few minutes after our final prayer so we can personally shake your hand and get to know you better!
· Sunday Worship: 10:00 AM
· Children's Bible Class: 11:00 AM
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📬 Operation: 1,539 and Done — The Post Office Can Rest Now!
Church, give yourselves a massive pat on the back (and maybe apply some lotion to those dry thumbs)—we have officially crossed the finish line! Thanks to your heroic effort in tackling those final 80 homes, our current mailing program is officially complete. Together, we have successfully stalked—err, contacted—1,539 homes by mail! The local postmaster has officially stopped sweating when they see an Antioch member walk through the door.
We will soon be moving forward with a brand-new community outreach program. Before we commit to our next great adventure, we welcome your suggestions. If you have an idea that doesn’t involve licking envelopes or wrestling with stubborn tape dispensers, please pass it along over the next couple of weeks!
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◆ WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL
💥 The Weekly Family Reunion
When we gather on the first day of the week, we aren't walking into an entertainment venue, nor are we just checking off a religious duty. We are taking our seats at a family table. When Jesus left His disciples, He didn't leave behind a monument of cold stone or a statue to look at; He left us a simple, weekly memorial meal to keep our connection to Him alive and burning.
A Sunday assembly without the Lord’s Supper is like a family reunion where everyone shows up, but no one serves the food. It misses the very core anchor of why the early church came together. As we look ahead to next week, we will examine the precise New Testament pattern for this feast—focusing on when we eat, what we eat, and how we prepare our hearts. Let's make sure we don't bring distracted minds to the table, but instead come ready to look back in remembrance, look inward in self-examination, and look forward to His return.
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🧠 WEEKLY SCRIPTURE MEMORY (KJV)
· Adult Verse — Acts 20:7: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them..."
· Bible Class Verse — Luke 22:19: "...this do in remembrance of me."
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📖 WEEKLY BIBLE READING PLAN
· Monday — Exodus 12:1–14 (The Passover Shadow: The original feast using unleavened bread)
· Tuesday — Matthew 26:26–29 (The New Feast Instituted: Jesus authorizes the bread and fruit of the vine)
· Wednesday — Luke 24:30–35 (Recognized at the Table: Emmaus disciples recognize Jesus as He breaks bread)
· Thursday — Acts 20:5–12 (The Sunday Pattern: The specific apostolic timeline for breaking bread)
· Friday — 1 Corinthians 10:16–22 (The Communion of the Body: Sharing together in the blood and body of Christ)
· Saturday — 1 Corinthians 11:23–34 (Examining the Heart: The serious nature of how we partake)
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🗓️ NEXT SUNDAY AT ANTIOCH
Join us next Lord's Day as we transition from the day we gather to the primary reason we assemble, exploring the beautiful, solemn pattern of the memorial meal left for the church.
· Sermon Title: The Lord's Supper (The Feast of the First Day)
· Main Text: Matthew 26:26-29, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
· Big Idea: The early church gathered on Sunday primarily to meet their Savior at His table. Next week, we will study the authorized timeline, elements, and heart posture required to keep this weekly family meal alive, focused, and pleasing to God.
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🏫 Expanding Our Horizons: New Adult Bible Class!
Mark your calendars for a brand-new Sunday morning educational opportunity! We are excited to announce that a brand-new Adult Bible Class will officially launch on the first Sunday in October! To keep things simple for families, this new class will run simultaneously with the children's Bible classes starting at 11:00 AM, and it will last for a focused, high-impact 30 minutes.
The specific subject matter and curriculum are being decided right now. Because this is a team effort, your input is incredibly valuable to us. If you have any study topic ideas, questions, or specific suggestions, please make them known as soon as possible so we can build a deeply edifying study environment together!
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◆ THE ANTIOCH FAMILY TABLE
Encouragement Shared by Our Members
Overflowing Grace
Each morning brings a fresh display
Of blessings guiding every day;
From quiet peace within the soul
To love that heals and makes us whole.
We thank You, Lord, for gifts unseen,
For everywhere Your hand has been,
For grace that flows in endless store,
And promises forevermore.
(Submitted by a member of the Antioch family)
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■ PETITIONS FOR THE FAMILY
· Comfort and Endurance for Our Members: Please keep those in our church family who are dealing with chronic health issues, recovering from medical procedures, or confined to their homes in your constant prayers. Ask God to grant them peace and physical relief, and let us remain mindful of anonymous ways we can serve them this week.
· Protection for Our Service Members: Let us lift up our brave service men and women who are currently deployed in harm's way. Pray for their safety, their emotional strength, and their safe return home to their families.
· Hearts Seeking the Lost: Pray fervently for those in our community and families who are currently in a lost condition outside of Christ. Ask God to open their hearts to the truth of the gospel and give us the boldness, wisdom, and opportunities to share His love with them.
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✍️ PREACHER'S NOTE
The False Alarm
Yesterday afternoon started out with a perfect culinary plan. I was outside cooking hamburgers on the flat top grill, fully intending to keep the heat low and slow to ensure everything stayed juicy. I had the timing completely down. Then, out of nowhere, Mother Nature decided to play a classic psychological prank. The sky turned an ominous shade of gray, the wind started whipping around the patio, and the clouds gave every distinct impression that my flat top—and everything on it—was about to float away in a massive downpour.
Fearing an immediate disaster, I abandoned the slow-cook strategy, cranked the burners up to high, and started flipping those burgers at supersonic speed. I braced for impact... but the rain never actually came. The storm was a complete false alarm. I stood there, spatula in hand, looking up at a sky that had completely fooled me into ruining my relaxed cooking schedule for absolutely no reason.
It is incredibly easy to let the "false alarms" of our busy culture do the exact same thing to our spiritual focus. The world constantly throws urgent, high-stress distractions our way, screaming that we need to drop everything and react. If we aren't careful, we let that chaotic, frantic energy leak into our walk with God. We start rushing through our worship, trying to squeeze our time with Him into the margins of a schedule distorted by daily anxieties.
Next week—as we open our Bibles to our new sermon topic, The Lord's Supper (The Feast of the First Day)—we will look at an appointment that gives us a true anchor away from the world's false alarms. When the early disciples gathered on Sunday to break bread, they stepped away from the chaos to sit at a protected family table. Let’s drop the frantic, reactionary mindsets of the week, and come next Lord's Day ready to give our Savior the calm focus, reverence, and priority His memorial feast truly deserves.
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📰 Shaping The Antioch Weekly Together!
· Go Digital: View our digital bulletin and listen to sermons online at antiochchurchofchrist.com.
· Privacy Note: To protect our members, personal names are omitted from our news sections as this bulletin is published online.
✉ CONTACT & INFORMATION
· Joe Rice: 615-904-5446
· Website: antiochchurchofchrist.com
