Pastor Matt's Podcasts

In this sermon, we examine the issues surrounding the building of the wall. As the Hebrews were being attacked outside the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah came up with plans and strategies to thwart the designs of the enemy. They all came together and were able to build and protect. The church today needs to look closely at the principles of building that Nehemiah gave us by his excellent example.

In this podcast, we examine the principles of rebuilding the walls through the the 3rd chapter of Nehemiah. In addition, we also examine the gates of Jerusalem that needed to be rebuilt, and how they relate to the church today. We need to rebuild and defend each aspect of the church.

Nehemiah didn't go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls without obtaining God's ordained authority to do so. There were several prerequisites that Nehemiah had before he went. When he was finally able to go, he was going with power and authority under God. This sermon gives us some insights into what Christians should be doing in order to rebuild His church here in America.

In this study, we are going to examine the book of Nehemiah, understand what was going on at the time, then apply it to our current situation in the church today. It has become painfully clear that many churches, ministers, and denominations have allowed the walls and the gates to lie in ruin. Pagan philosophies and theologies have been allowed into the churches and some have been preached from th...

In this podcast we study the defining elements of the Postmodern culture and what the scripture has to say about it. The second part of the podcast discusses some of the characteristics of focusing on the Kingdom of God versus being focused on the institutional church. The church focus makes us more susceptible to conforming to the world, while the kingdom focus conforms us to the image of Christ.

Many Christians have difficulty thinking in a "Both/And" manner. In this lesson we examine the 5 aspects of covenant through the "Both/And" principle rather than the damaging "Either/or" principle. We must come under the sovereignty of God in spirit and in truth. We must come under and function under the authority of the covenant with authority and liberty of conscience. We must come under God’s e...

In this sermon we examine an example of a philosophy statement. I spend a lot of time on the philosophy, answering the question "why?" and a short period of time touching on the "what?" and the "how?". This example is on the philosophy of Dance that we use for the Summer Ball.

In this sermon, we touch on the "why", the "what", and the "how" to the building of a culture within a culture. Our contemporary culture looks more and more like Babylon. We are in desperate need of pulling the kingdom tools together in order to build (or re-build) a God-honoring culture once again. It begins in the hearts of men and spreads from there....

It has been said that we live in a post-Christian society. Although we have seen our ethics and morals deteriorate through the last 100 years, I would encourage everyone to believe that we are not at the end of a Christian era, but we are at the beginning. We have had a tremendous problem with the church in general succumbing to the dominant, secular culture. Instead of being a counter culture, ma...

As the church goes, so goes the nation. This podcast explains, through the scriptures, what that exactly means.

In this Podcast we discuss some of the failures of the church and the pulpit in light of recent events. This is a reminder of who the church is and what it is to be doing. At the cross, Jesus proclaimed that "It is finished." This is definitive, progressive and final. It is finished, it is being finished and it will continually be finished the the Last Day. We are to walk in the victory of the cro...

In this Podcast, we examine the fifth aspect of covenant, that of continuity. This aspect requires a proper perspective of the previous four: sovereignty, authority, ethics and sanctions. Without the proper application of these, there can be no continuity. As an example, we do a short study of Absalom and how he was only a single generation thinker. Not only did he promote discontinuity, he did it...

The fourth aspect of the covenant, sanctions, is one of the most difficult to understand for modern Christians. This is something that has not been taught on a regular basis from the pulpit, so its application is confusing. There are positive and negative sanctions in the covenant, if we only emphasis the positive sanctions, then we do a tremendous disservice to believers when negative sanctions o...

Authority is the second aspect of the covenant. Unless and until a person accepts the sovereignty of God in their lives, then authority will always be an issue. The ultimate authority for man rests in God and His Word to us.

The third aspect of covenant is ethics. Scripture is clear that the driving force of God's ethics is love. This has been misunderstood and misapplied as it has been separated from law. But it is impossible to have ethics without law. This lesson goes through abundance of scripture in explaining the law of love, i.e., the law of Christ.

The first aspect of covenant is the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign in the life of any person, then something else will take the place of God. The remaining aspects of the covenant will be mis-aligned, they will deny God's representational authority, His ethics, His sanctions, and ultimately they will be cut off.

There are 5 aspects to the covenant, in the Old and New Testaments. This pattern is seen throughout scripture: Sovereignty, Authority, Ethics, Sanctions, and Continuity. In this lesson, we see examine these as expressed in the Lord's Prayer and the Great Commission.

Every believer is called to function in three offices, that of the prophet, priest and king. Each has their own function which cooperates with the other two. In order to be well-rounded in the kingdom, it is important to understand these offices and how they operate for the glory of God and expand His kingdom.

In this lesson, we examine the definition of the church and its application. There is a reason why we have 305 million Christians in the United States and yet the church seems to be so powerless. Rather than a social club, the church is to be those called out to govern in authority and power.

At the point of our conversion, we make a citizenship transfer from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of His marvelous light. Kingdom signifies "government", so we transfer our sovereign, authority, ethics, sanctions and our continuity from being under one government to another. What does this look like in our relationship between those who are redeemed and those who are not?

In this, the second lesson in the Ambassadors Series, we examine the concept of renewing our minds. We are to pattern our own paradigms according to the pattern of the kingdom of God.

In this new series, we are going to study the concept of being an ambassador of the kingdom of God to the world. Ambassadors live under the authority of another country, in this case, kingdom. We are to be in the world and yet not of the world. We are to think and reason through things biblically/governmentally, not thinking as the world thinks, but having the mind of Christ.

Scripture is clear, we are to submit to the Word of God. When scripture commands that we submit to any human institution (parents, church, one another, civil government) it is a given that all are also submitted under God's word.

In this podcast we examine what it means to participate in the sacrifice outside the gate. This imagery is taken from the Levitical law, but the writer of Hebrews draws upon it for application in our Christian lives. Are we dominated by dead sacrifices or are our lives a living sacrifice? Sometimes I emphasize a point in a sermon in order to gain more understanding. This is one of those occasions....

In this sermon the writer of Hebrews tells us to remember those who taught us the Word of God. Remembering shows action and it is an active recall of the proper doctrine that has been placed within us for over 2000 years that we need to remember. The reason that we have a solid Christian faith today is because of the faithfulness of the preachers and teachers who have gone before us. This keeps us...