Matt Ayars Podcast

This episode explores why God alone merits worship. In a word, it's because he is holy.

This episode asks and answers the question, "How is the book of Psalms like the Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy)?" The answer is, both give us instructions on how to get into God's presence.

1.      Disruption . Demons  aggravate  existing situations. They push, prod, tempt, and entice people to make poor or unwise decisions. They work to make bad things worse and get people to overdo good things so that once-good things are no longer positive. 2.      Temptation . Satan tempted Eve (Gen. 3:1–7) and Jesus (Matt. 16:21–23). It seems they can put ideas in people’s minds and tempt in are...

Jesus plainly teaches in Matthew 18:21–35 that people who are forgiven yet refuse to forgive others are evil (and will themselves go unforgiven). Grace is the means through which the Kingdom comes into the world. Yes, this means the grace that God gives us that “while we were still sinners…but also the grace that we give one another that “while we were still sinners”! In this passage Paul discusse...

Intimacy with Jesus is the silver bullet to spiritual warfare. One of the primary strategies of Satan in keeping us from growing in Christ and to stunt effectiveness in ministry is to keep us  ignorant  of the power and authority we have in Jesus. Satan is  jealous  of us. He had a place of  authority prior to his fall and humans were given authority over the created, material world (Gen. 1:26 and...

A brief study on Revelation 4:1–4. While there is some debate among scholars, what seems sure is that the 24 elders represent the whole people of God in the throne room of worship. This 24 are represented as the 12 tribes of Israel with the 12 disciples—meaning OT people of God and NT people of God together as the entire people of God (much like the 144,000).

Since the problem of sin is the loss of the presence of God, justification is ultimately about the restoration of his divine presence through the Holy Spirit. Justification is the means for the reconciliation between God and man. This reconciliation between God and us is the basis of the term “atonement” (i.e., “at-one-ment”), which is at the heart of justification. Atonement describes what justif...

This is a sermon on worship. From Romans 3:21–26, we look at Paul dealing with the issue facing the churches in Rome of the Messianic Jews require gentiles to follow the traditions of Moses to be saved. e

Humility is the trademark of a Christian. This is tough for sinners. One thing that helps is the reminder that faith is a gift.

This sermon explores the notion of the wrath of God. More specifically, there is no love of God without God's wrath. The two are interlinked. Furthermore, there wrath of God pronounced in the New Testament is quite strong, especially against (1) false teachers and (2) those who fail to care for people most in need.

This episode explores Screwtape Letter 2 where Lewis teaches on sanctification, humility, and breaking bad habits.

This sermon is based on Romans 1:17. As Oswald Chambers writes, "The one marvellous secret of a holy life lies not in imitating Jesus, but in letting the perfections of Jesus manifest themselves in my mortal flesh. Sanctification is 'Christ in you.' It is His wonderful life that is imparted to me in sanctification, and imparted by faith as a sovereign gift of God’s grace. Am I willing...

There are three levels of spiritual warfare, all of which revolve around Satan’s fixation with stamping out the Messiah. He’s battling against the Messiah for two reasons: (1) God promised that the Messiah would crush Satan’s head (Gen. 3), and (2) the Messiah redeems humanity, who is the subject of his scorn and scourging.  The three levels of spiritual warfare are: (1) cosmic-level conflict, (2)...

This episode summarizes how spiritual warfare fits into the overall narrative arc of the single story of Scripture. We consider the big picture story of scripture and the place of spiritual warfare within that story including the plot, characters, and setting. We conclude by looking at how the cosmic battle between good and evil continues today in the world and in the church. 

These two verses are the thesis of Paul’s letter to the Romans, and therefore very important. Paul first says that he’s not ashamed of the gospel. It’s easy for Christians to be tempted to be ashamed of the gospel because it is so contrary and opposed to all other worldviews. Paul, unlike other so-called “apostles,” proclaimed even the hard parts of the gospel when so many thought it silly or scan...

One cannot be a true, Bible-believing Christian and deny that spiritual warfare is real. Listen in.

Distraction is a threat to our sanctification and the work of the church.

In this episode, Dr. Ayars introduces a mini series of episodes on the topic of spiritual warfare by sharing a bit about how he came to study the topic of spiritual warfare.

Weekly devotional. Seeking an experience is very different than seeing God.

This is the start of our sermon series on Paul's letter to the Romans. Romans 1:1–7 is the text for the sermon and the focus is on the gospel as not only a thing, but also—and more importantly—a Person. To be a Christian is not just to be one whose status has changed from guilty to innocent, but one who is in a dynamic, living relationship with Jesus.

This is a review of the Wellspring Church Bible Study on June 30th, 2024.

This sermon explores Paul's correspondence to the church at Ephesus in Acts 20. Paul is compelled to do the right thing, including proclaiming an unpopular message that leads to persecution, but cause it is his duty. Strangely, the church grows through the proclamation of an unpopular message. This is the case because God is the one who gives the growth and honors churches who boldly and faith...

This sermons explores Acts 18:24–28. In this text we see that while mystery (i.e., sacrament) is at the heart of the Christian faith and worldview, there is also a powerful inner logical consistence and coherence to the Christian worldview. This, in turn, means that NOT everything goes. Furthermore, we also see that the church grows by both attrition and new believer baptisms, and that part of the...

This sermon/episode explores common myths about demons.

Spiritual warfare is real. This sermon/episode explores some of the dynamics of spiritual warfare.