Pastor Matt's Podcasts

In our study of 1 Peter, we are laying the foundations of the purpose of persecution and suffering of the church.  In this sermon, we examine more of the total falleness and the total redemption of creation, begining with the Christian.

1 Peter prepares the early church for the coming persecution.  In this sermon, we cover the rebirth of the Christian, who is then able to "see the kingdom" for how things are supposed to operate under the government of God. It is essential that the Christian know who they are in Christ, so that when persecution comes, they are able to stand knowing they are empowered by God's kingdom. 

Peter wrote to the early church warning them of the persecutions to come.  All of his warnings speak specifically to issues that we are now facing today with the rise of Communism and Islam here in the West.  But Peter didn't just think these things up on his own, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he reiterated what Jesus Himself told the disciples.  

What does the victorious church look like?  It is one that is faithful to the word. Here Paul concludes Romans with a description of the faithful, victorious church.

What does a successful church look like.  As Paul concluded Romans, he gave greeings to the brethren, the small community of faithful beleivers.  But he also gave warning about the false teachers.  A successful community of believers has love for the brethren and turns away false teachers. 

Paul used his Roman citizenship against his persecutors.  We here in America have many more rights than Paul did, it is time we utilize our rights against our persecutors. 

Paul wrote to the Romans as mature Christians.  He gave them meat, not milk.  This gives us tremendous insight into the nature of the word of God and its ability to mature Christians in its faithful preaching and hearing.  

In this sermon we study the power that the word of God has on a person's life.  Jesus uses His word, both Old and New Testaments in order to affect change in the life of the believer.  

Any given church is filled with differing opinions.  How are we to handle these opinions?  What would happen if the church decided not to disagree with things that are irrelevant?  How much further could we go in terms of expanding the Kingdom of God rather than expending our virtue fighting the brethren?

With the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, it is important to know and understand where the ideas came from, who preached these ideas, and how they have been applied.  This sermon is just a taste of the history and writings of those who were there.  

In this sermon, we look at the fulfillment of the law with love.  How do we truly love one another?  It is not complicated, it has to do with obedience to God's word once again. 

In this last of the three-part series on Romans 13 and civil government, we examine the nature of the Constitution and the character of the people.  The source of authority, the government and the people must be in alignment morally and spiritually in order for the government to function as it should.  A change in one will necessitate a change in the rest.  

The Wall of Separation has been an attempt to neuter the church for years.  But if God is the God who created the church and the State, then both the church and State are equally under God's authority still.  Both are subject to His word, His law. 

Romans 13 has been preached for the last number of years to encourage Christians to unconditionally submit to civil authority.  However, this is not the case.  This scripture describes three things regarding civil government.  First, it describes the source of civil authoirty. Second, it describes the purpose of civil authority and thirdly it describes the powers of civil authority.  If we read it in this context we can see how the United States Government was founded (mostly) in this biblical context.

In this section, Paul explains more on biblical ethics in terms of interpersonal relationships.  Christians are to live by faith and this includes dealing with those who persecute them.  No one is to return evil for evil, but we are to repay evil for good.  What does this mean?  How does this look in real life? 

In this section of scripture, Paul introduces the action of love without hypocrisy.  Without God's law defining law and its application, love has no meaning. 

After solidifying the body of Christ, as both Jew and Greek, Paul then turns his attention to the functions of the members of the body.  Far from being a program or a corporation, the body of Christ is to function as a body, edifying and encouraging itself, through the gifts of the Spirit.

After incorporating the Gentiles into the covenant, Paul then solidified the body of Christ as one.  It is one body, with many members, each gifted to different functions within the body of Christ. 

There is much talk about the church vs. Israel today.  Romans 11 gives us a great, simple understanding of the relationship between these two.  Enjoy!

In this episode, we examine what will become of the Jews, from the time of Paul to the day Jesus returns.  It is important to understand the docrine of the End Times and which would cooperate best with what scripture presents.  Enjoy!

Paul continued to evangelize the Jews, writing to them and about them specifically as he explained the gospel message.  He would refer to the Old Testament in order to explain its prophetic application in the New.  As he evangelized the Jews with the OT scripture, he also evangelized the Gentiles with the same.  Both Jew and Gentile are now one in the church.  There is no separtation of Jew and Gentile. 

In this episode, we see that Paul expresses his desire to see all of his Israel brethren saved. By quoting the Old Testament, Paul brings the references of Jesus to bear in the New Testament.  

In this sermon we examine the difference between the Gentiles gaining righteousness by faith as apposed to the Jews attempting to gain their own righteousness through works.  This is alive and well today.  If you listen to progressive Christians, you will hear all the things, defined by the world, that the Christian must do in order to be called a Christian.  

In this study, we read that God made some men vessels of wrath and others vessels of mercy.  These vessels were created by God out of the same lump of clay, so the question is, "How can God find fault in man if He created them as either vessels for destruction or vessels of honor?  Paul answers this question and more in this part of his letter to the Romans. 

In this episode we examine the conceptions and misconceptions when it come to the doctrine of election and why this should compell us to evangelize all the more.  Is God fair or is He just?  Scripture answers these questions in no uncertain terms. 

Romans Chapter 9 is referred to as the chapter on predestination.  But it is more than that.  Predestination is to be found throughout scripture in its entirety.  Here we see some very specific concepts that we can deal with today.  Although Paul left the Jews who rejected Christ but still preached to all Jews in the synagogues until they either accepted Him or rejected Him.  Election in this case is personal, not national (Israel).  This answers some questions that we all have today.

In this sermon, we read that God chose His people, and loved them.  The requirement of His people is that they obey His commands.  This is proof that they know God, and are truly saved. This has been attacked in the US today in exchange for humanistic "love".  Enjoy!

Our nation is divided, the only thing that can bring this nation together is God's word.  To become one nation under God, one law, one justice, one word, one message, we must align with God hand His word once again. 

In this sermon, we study the meaning behind God foreknowing us, predestining us, calling us, justifying us and glorifying us.  All of this has meaning to our current time in life, not to the time when we are resurrected from the dead.  God saves us, and predestines us to be conformed to the image of Christ, that is a life-long and eternal committment.  Enjoy

With the recent protest against the Immigration Customs Enforcement, it has now entered the the inside of the church.  There were protesters that went into the Cities Church in St. Paul Minnesota, interuppted and disrupted.  As Christians, what is our response to be?  The Bible is very clear in each and every situation that arises, protesting in a house of God is no exception.

In this episode, we examine the inheritance of an adopted child of God.  Ultimately we won't have wings, sitting on a cloud while playing a harp.  Our inheritance is very different than that.  This word will encourage us all to embrace our place in the kingdom and every aspect of God's work in our lives. 

In this episode, we discuss one of the benefits of being an adopted son of God, heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus.  This is the benefit of sharing in the sufferings of Christ.   Only through suffering can the Christian get the glory. 

Christians are adopted into the family of God.  There is a family shift from living under the reign of sin and death to living under the reign of grace.  The Spirit of adoption is now on the life of the believer.  There are several marks of the believer that differentiate the son and the former life of the slave.

In this study we examine the power of the Holy Spirit which is given to every Christian at conversion.  It is this power that is given which grants the Christian the ability to battle the flesh, that which is left over from our old nature, Adam.  It is this Spirit which is of adoption into the family of God.

We now come to the center of the message of Romans.  Romans 8:1 says, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who[a] do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit."In this sermon we examine the meaning and differences behind walking according to the flesh and walking according to the Spirit. 

There are three ways Christians deal with sin in their life.  One is not to acknowledge it at all, in that they don't believe the law applies any longer.  Without the law, there is no sin, no need for sanctification.  the other extreme is to believe that God justified and sactified the believer.  Therefore, they are incapable of sin.  Against both of these views, Paul explains that the battle over the sin of the old man is still within every believer.  However, the believer is not to be dominated by sin.  This is reality. Every Christian's battle. 

Paul continues to address the beleiver and unbelievers relationship to the law of God.  To the unbeliever, the law remains an indictment.  To the believer, it becomes a guide for living.  In order for America to become a nation set apart for God's purposes, Chrisitians must embrace God's law from a proper perspective.  And pastors must preach the gospel in terms of God's law-word.

In Chapter Seven, Paul makes an analogy that he didn't use before.  In marriage, when one spouse dies the other is released to re-marry.  Paul relates this to the believer's relatiohsip to sin and death.  When the believer dies he is released from all obligation to the law of sin and death.  He is then free to remarry, in this case, to Christ.  

In this sermon, we examine the implications of living under the reign of grace.  Paul said that people who live under the reign of sin are free from righteousness (justice).  This means that a sinful people, a sinful society is free from righteousness.  They live under and demand injustice.  But a people that live under grace, under righteousness have a truly just society.

At the point of salvation, we are no longer living under the reign of (government and authority) of sin and death, we are no living under the reign (government and authority) of grace.  One brings freedom and liberty under Christ, the other leads to death. 

The law had a purpose from Adam to Abraham to Moses, to Jesus.  What was that purpose and what is the purpose today?  As we go through the book of Romans, we cannot understand God's grace without understanding His law.  This sermon gives some insight into that purpose. 

It was by one man, Adam that sin entered the world.   It is by the life, death and resurrection of one Man, Jesus, that sinful man may be justified, saved, and redeemed.  We have a choice to live by one or the other.  This sermon explains this as well as its practical ramifications in everyday life.  

In this sermon, Paul discusses another benefit to justification by faith: Joy.  This joy surpasses our understanding, over all cirucumstances, from the little things to the big.  If you are needing some encouragement, this is the sermon for you.

In this study, we look at the results of being justified by faith alone.  We have peace with God, access to the Father, hope and tribulation.  From tribulation, which we are to embrace, it produces, character and hope.  knowing our justification by faith establishes us firmly in God.  Nothing will move or shake us.  

In the aftermath of the Charlie Kirk assassination, there were numerous commentaries, stories, outbursts, etc. about him and what he represented.  In this sermon, I take a look at a few biblical examples to see what constitutes a Christian Martyr's death and if Kirk was in fact a martyr.

In this sermon, we study how Abraham's faith is the same faith that all bleleivers have.  It is the faith in practice that is essential.  To beleive, to have faith, is not something that is "out there" not to be realized, it is something that is tangible, to be apprehended, and to be applied.  Enjoy.

In this sermon, we study the expansion of the blessings of the covenant, from Abraham to his descendants to the spiritual children of Abraham, the church.  We also take a brief look at the world's attempts to keep the Christian in a place of guilt in order to manipulate them.  Enjoy!

Paul made it very clear in Romans that our justification is by faith alone.  However, James Chapter 2 says that it is not just about faith, it is also about works.  Which is it?  This sermon defines the bibilical meaning behind justification by faith followed by works.  

Our understanding of salvation rarely goes beyond our teaching in Sunday School.  However, without a proper understanding of the gospel, we risk limiting our growth in the kingdom.  Enjoy.

Far too often the gospel is presented without the need for repentance.  Rather, the gospel is presented as accepting Jesus as something extra in a person's life.  The acceptance of Jesus is the acceptance of life itself.  Therefore, it is essential that the need for the gospel, the need for Jesus be presented.