Coweta Youth Podcast: Recent Episodes
ca_yth
Following Jesus is not about being a good person or a good Christian. It's not about obeying a list of “dos” and “don’t's.” It’s not about trying but about dying! It's not about trying hard, but it's about dying to your old self, saying no to your plan and will and desires and flesh, and living in the resurrection power of Jesus.
There are no shortcuts to living a truly meaningful, joyful, and purposeful life in the Kingdom of God besides dying to your old self.
How?
We die to old selves and live in the resurrection power of Jesus not by trying but by abiding. Abiding is a word Jesus used in John 15 for living in Him. It's about being with Jesus. Setting your mind on him.
Colossians 3:1-2 says, “So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”
We are becoming whatever we put in front of our eyes or in our ears. We are very formative people. If we spend all our time watching TV, looking at Instagram or Tik Tok, or hanging out with the wrong group of friends, that is who we are becoming. And if we are not being formed into the image of Jesus, then we are deforming from his image. It’s not about trying but about dying. It’s not about trying but about abiding.
Ephesians 5:14-21 CSB
Therefore it is said:
Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.
Eph 5:15 Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk—not as unwise people but as wise— 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. 18 And don’t get drunk with wine, which leads to reckless living, but be filled by the Spirit: 19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music with your heart to the Lord, 20 giving thanks always for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
Ephesians 5:1-14 CSB
What does God expect from us?
How do we live worthy of our calling?
How do we walk in the newness of life?
Ephesians Week 12
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
25 Therefore, putting away lying, speak the truth, each one to his neighbor, because we are members of one another. 26 Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and don’t give the devil an opportunity. 28 Let the thief no longer steal. Instead, he is to do honest work with his own hands, so that he has something to share with anyone in need. 29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear. 30 And don’t grieve God’s Holy Spirit. You were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.
Eph 5:1 Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children, 2 and walk in love, as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.
Week 10 of "Chosen"
Ephesians 4:7-16
Jesus took the captives captive
We must speak the truth in love
We all have a part to play God's Kingdom
Week 9 of our series "Chosen"
Ephesians 4:1-6 CSB
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
Week 8 of "Chosen"
Ephesians 3:14-21
“For this reason I kneel before the Father 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named. 16 I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love, 18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the length and width, height and depth of God’s love, 19 and to know Christ’s love that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us— 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
What do you do once you've been truly changed?
Week 7 of our series "Chosen", which is going through the letter of Ephesians.
Ephesians 3:6-13 CSB
6 The Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and partners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. 7 I was made a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by the working of his power.
8 This grace was given to me—the least of all the saints—to proclaim to the Gentiles the incalculable riches of Christ, 9 and to shed light for all about the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things. 10 This is so that God’s multi-faceted wisdom may now be made known through the church to the rulers and authorities in the heavens. 11 This is according to his eternal purpose accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. 12 In him we have boldness and confident access through faith in him. 13 So, then, I ask you not to be discouraged over my afflictions on your behalf, for they are your glory.
Peace is so much more than a lack of conflict, it is a deep sense of wholeness and completion.
Week 6 of our series through Ephesians, "Chosen"
Eph. 2:11 So, then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called “the uncircumcised” by those called “the circumcised,” which is done in the flesh by human hands. 12 At that time you were without Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he is our peace, who made both groups one and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In his flesh, 15 he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace. 16 He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. 17 He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. 21 In him the whole building, being put together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you are also being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
What to do when you don't know what to do
1 ADMIT YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
2 REMEMBER WHO YOU’RE GIVING YOUR BATTLE TO
3 REMEMBER WORSHIP IS A WEAPON
Week 4 of our series "Chosen"
Why is the resurrection of Jesus important?
Who is in control?
What is the emission God has for us?
Week three of our series "chosen." Ephesians 1:15-19
What is your hope? How do you find it?
Week 2 of our series going through the book of Ephesians. This week we dove into verse 1:7-14.
What is your purpose?
Where can you find your purpose?
What does forgiveness mean for you?
This message is the first week of our series "chosen," which will go through the book of Ephesians verse by verse.
In this message, we dive into verses 1-6 of chapter 1 and discover why Paul wrote and how it applies to us today. In Christ, you are chosen. You are chosen to be him, to be holy, and to be blameless. God chose this before the foundation of the world.
Psalms 46:10 ESV
- “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
Jeremiah 1:5 CSB
- I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah 29:11 CSB
- For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the LORD’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.
Ephesians 1:4-5 CSB
- For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him. 5 He predestined us to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Ephesians 2:10 CSB
- For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
James 4:10 CSB
- “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.”
Week 2 of "I Give Up"
James 1:22 CSB
- “But be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”
James 1:22 MSG
- "Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear!”
Galatians 2:20 CSB
- “I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Week 1 of "I Give Up"
James 4:8
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
Does God care about me? Can I trust God?
Mark 4:35-41 CSB “35 On that day, when evening had come, he told them, “Let’s cross over to the other side of the sea.” 36 So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him. 37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat so that the boat was already being swamped. 38 He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher! Don’t you care that we’re going to die?” 39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 Then he said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they were terrified and asked one another, “Who then is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him!”
Psalms 139:13-18 CSB “I will praise you because I have been remarkably and wondrously made. Your works are wondrous, and I know this very well. For it was you who created my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. My bones were not hidden from you when I was made in secret, when I was formed in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me when I was formless; all my days were written in your book and planned before a single one of them began. God, how precious your thoughts are to me; how vast their sum is! If I counted them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; when I wake up, I am still with you.”
Matthew 10:28-31 CSB “Don’t fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Aren’t two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”
Numbers 23:19 CSB “God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?”
Genesis 3:14-15 CSB 'So the Lord God said to the serpent: Because you have done this, you are cursed more than any livestock and more than any wild animal. You will move on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Romans 5:8 CSB “But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
2Tim. 1:8-9 CSB “So don’t be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God. 9 He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “when Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Week 5 of our WWJD series.
This is the most important question you will ever have to answer.
Week 4 of our WWJD series.
Who are you?
No really, who are YOU?
What is your purpose? What is your meaning?
Shame attacks our identity, God secures our identity.
FREEDOM IS HERE
Living in Shame is a lie that the enemy attacks us with.
He will say you can never be forgiven, you will never be loved, and you will never be accepted.
God promises when we confess and repent of our sins, we WILL be forgiven and find freedom.
Hebrews 8:12 CSB
“For I will forgive their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.”
Romans 8:1-2 CSB
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
John 8:34-36 CSB
“Jesus responded, “Truly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35 A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.”
"The Things We Hide" wk 1.
Shame leads us to hide in the dark alone and afraid, away from God. But God is calling us to live in the light.
He not only makes that possible, but does the work for us.
Where do you feel most known?
Where do you feel most connected?
When do you feel the most “you”?
How can your life change? How can your life be different? What would happen to your family or friends if you truly changed?
“Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” - Ephesians 5:14
Jesus tells us to Go.
Jesus says we have what it takes.
We have all we need BECAUSE Jesus promises to always be with us, even to the end of the age!
The question is not "if" or even "when" but "what." What will Jesus find when he comes back? Will He find us ready and prepared? Will He find us fulfilling the mission He gave us? or not? And what will happen if not?
Luke 12:35-54
1 Thessalonians 5:2
Revelation 16:15
1 Peter 3:10
John 14:1-2
Matthew 24
2 Timothy 3:1-5
Revelation 20:11-21:8
It is what is sounds like! We started a series on Hebrews 12 and enduring the faith and then I answered questions you asked anonymously while preaching!
What to do (and not do) when depression hits.
Pastor Matt shares moments in his life where he faced depression and how he responded to it.
Have you ever felt anxiety? Has it ever gripped or controlled your life? This what God's solution to anxiety in your is.
0:00 Intro
1:40 What Anxiety looks like
3:37 What gives Pastor Matt Anxiety // Loss of Identity
7:59 What does the Bible say about Anxiety?
10:31 What is God's solution to Anxiety?
12:20 Jeremiah 29:12-14
12:55 Colossians 3:1-2
13:33 1 Peter 5:7
14:25 Philippians 4:4-7
17:23 How to get more God in our life: Prayer
19:00 How prayer changes and rewires your brain: Neuroplasticity
23:49 How to get more God in our life: the Bible
No Perfect People Are Allowed!
We all struggle. Have you ever felt lonely before? What causes loneliness in us? What does God want to do with our loneliness?
- Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT
- “4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”
Because Jesus defeated death, we can also experience the same ressurection!
Jesus hows us how to sidestep spiritual death and have immortality.
2 Timothy 1:10, "10 And now he has made all of this plain to us by the appearing of Christ Jesus, our Savior. He broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News."
Do you feel like God could never love you? Like you are unworthy or unlovable? Do you think you've done too many bad things? Those are wasted excuses!
Do tempataions seem too hard to fight? Here are some practical steps on how to endure temptation from Jesus Himself!
What battle have you been fighting that you cannot shake? What is the battle that you cannot win?
Is it lustful temptations? Is it anger or rage? Is it anxiety? Is it depression? Is it comparison? Is it loneliness?
God is saying to us to LET HIM FIGHT FOR US
We have a part to play in the victory
But that part is to focus our mind and thoughts on God, to WORSHIP GOD!
To acknowledge his sovereignty, his rule, his power over the universe!
Worship is a your weapon!
Worship is more than just music, its way deeper than that! Worship is surrendering our whole life to God as a living sacrifice!
Romans 12:1-2 NLT
“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. 2 Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
Week 2 of our series "CLEAN," this week were talking about physcial purity 👀😬😎. God wants us to be FREE, CLEAN, but more than that God wants us to be ALIVE!
Because of JESUS you can be made CLEAN!
Mental Purity is the most essential purity. Your mental purity will dictate your physical and spiritual purity.
What you think about affects what you say and do!
Best Friends wk 2 Message
Our mission at CAY is Simple!
-
belong
-
discover hope
-
grow in God
-
make a difference
Do you believe in miracles? The Christmas story is one long string of miracles happening right after one another. The most unbelievable part of the Christmas story is that God uses ordinary people like you and me to be apart of these miracles!
Have you ever been lost as a kid?
How about as an adult?
If we're honest, we've all probably been spiritual lost before.
Christmas is about finding lost things.
We are eager, but where do we look for hope?
Join The Movement and Mobilize the Movement.
John 1:1-18 ESV
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
John 1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
John 1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, the gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
God wants to be found by you!
Jer. 29:10-14 NLT This is what the LORD says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the LORD. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Week 1 of Youth Prayer Movement
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT,
- “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
8.26.20
2 Corinthians 5:11-21 NLT
"11 Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. 12 Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us,a so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. 13 If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. 14 Either way, Christ’s love controls us.a Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.b 15 He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
2Cor. 5:16 So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2Cor. 5:18 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ."
Part 2 of our series Bigger! Last week we talked about how Big God is, but even though he is big he still knows you and even though he knows you he still loves you! This week we are talking about Life. Life that is bigger than you are.
God is Big!
So big that he created everything in the universe! Yet, he knows everything about you. AND he still loves you!
Audio from Youth Service 8.05.2020
- Jesus’s grace is always bigger than our mistakes!
- Romans 6:23 NLT, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Have you ever felt like there were only two sides to an argument and neither side seemed like a good choice? In todays political climate, the culture will tell you there are only two sides. Either side you choose, it feels like you're in a fight you can't win. God is calling us to Do Something. God is calling us to choose "The Third Option." God is calling us to Choose Him.
Fear is a real emotion. Faith is a tough response. In todays world, it seems easier and easier to live in fear and harder and harder to walk by faith. This is not uncommon for Christians. After Jesus was arrested and killed, his earliest followers locked themselves behind locked doors because of their fear. Dive in with Pastor Matt to see what they did with that fear!
Recorded on April 8th, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oklahoma.
Fear is a real emotion. Faith is a tough response. In todays world, it seems easier and easier to live in fear and harder and harder to walk by faith. This is not uncommon for Christians. After Jesus was arrested and killed, his earliest followers locked themselves behind locked doors because of their fear. Dive in with Pastor Matt to see what they did with that fear!
Recorded on April 1, 2020 during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oklahoma.
Fear is a real emotion. Faith is a tough response. In todays world, it seems easier and easier to live in fear and harder and harder to walk by faith. This is not uncommon for Christians. After Jesus was arrested and killed, his earliest followers locked themselves behind locked doors because of their fear. Dive in with Pastor Matt to see what they did with that fear!
Sermon recorded on March 24th, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma.
Fear is a real emotion. Faith is a tough response. In todays world, it seems easier and easier to live in fear and harder and harder to walk by faith. This is not uncommon for Christians. After Jesus was arrested and killed, his earliest followers locked themselves behind locked doors because of their fear. Dive in with Pastor Matt to see what they did with that fear!
Recorded on March 18th, 2020 in the first week of the COVID-19 Pandemic/Quarantine/Shutdown
Have you ever felt like that has to be more to life? Like nothing ever seems to satisfy? Like nothing make you feel alive? Because of Jesus you can finally be alive!
Podcast audio taken from April 20th, in the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oklahoma.
One of Jesus’s closest disciples, one of his best friends, did not believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. In life and faith, it is okay to have doubts. Jesus will not rebuke you for doubting. The problem occurs when we allow those doubts to take root and cause unbelief. God knows you and your heart, he knows your doubts and still loves you anyways! Ask Jesus to show you how real he actually is.
The audio for this podcast is taken from the video uploaded on YouTube on April 12th, the day after easter, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Oklahoma.
Worry. Anxiety. Fear. These emotions seem to fill our hearts and mind more today than every before! If only there was a solution... The Bible actually has a lot to say about anxiety and it’s solution, PEACE! Dive into Philippians 4:4-7 with Pastor Matt as he breaks down this well known bible verse.
The audio for this podcast is taken from the "Bible Time" video uploaded on Youtube on April 17th, during the middle of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Oklahoma.
This podcast audio is taken from the Worship Wednesday video from April 22nd, right in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic in Oklahoma.
Why was I created? What am I supposed to do with my life? These questions give us the most anxiety! Discover what the Bible has to say about PURPOSE with Pastor Matt!
10 Minute Theology Ep. 6 "Who Is Jesus" Pt 2!
Can Jesus relate to our pain and suffering? Can Jesus relate to the way we feel? Can Jesus relate to how we battle temptation? Dive in with Pastor Matt!
Scripture: John 1:1-5; 14 CSB
10 Minute Theology Ep. 5: Who is Jesus? Jesus is the Creator and the Sustainer of everything. He is also our recoiler, brining us to God as Holy and Blameless.
Trying to understand who Jesus will affect your life in every way possible in the best way possible!
Scripture: Colossians 1:13-23 CSB
10 Minute Theology Ep 3. Joined with Special Guest: Cody Joiner!
Can we trust the Bible? Is it a magic book or what is it? How can ancient book change my life? Why should we read the Bible? How should we read the Bible? Join in the conversation with Matt and Cody and find out!
What is heaven? Is it just angels playing harps on clouds? Is it paradise? Do we have to do more good things than bad things to get to go to heaven? What does Jesus have to do with heaven? What does it mean to be saved and how can I be saved?
10 Minute Theology Ep. 2
Join Pastor Matt discuss if and why sex before marriage is bad and how far is too far.