The Impuritan: Recent Episodes
Matthew Raley
Experience a teacher who resists ideological purity. Matthew Raley says what others won't. He expounds biblical texts that most pastors skip and probes topics that are "too complicated." You'll get a fresh point of view on the Christian faith. You'll hear honest engagement as he answers questions texted to him from the congregation while he speaks. Raley may not be a good evangelical. But he teaches good truths.
Where do your righteousness and good works come from? Are you a part of God’s system for life, or are you trying to work your own system?
Do you ever feel like you don’t really belong to God? Maybe you feel like are always just one sin away from being kicked out? How do you know if you’ve broken your relationship with God beyond repair?
Hebrews says we can outrage the Spirit of grace. Is it really possible to lose our salvation?
The ABC song is great, but what would you think if you went to college and they were still teaching it there?
How is your spiritual digestion? What are you taking in? Is it being distributed to your soul? Is it feeding love or something else?
In a situation of political turmoil and marginalization, when people are frightened for their futures and pressured by the world to conform, why would the author of Hebrews choose to drag an obscure Old Testament figure like Melchizedek into the conversation?
How can I know if I am saved when I feel like an outsider in church? How can I overcome my lack of confidence in my salvation?
Christians in our culture are under increasing pressure to abandon our confession of faith. In times like these, how can we preserve our emotional stamina?
In an operating room everyone present knows what needs to happen and how it's going to happen, but what happens if the surgeon doesn't show up?
We all depend every day on structures - from chairs, to bridges, to worldviews - that we barely think about. But what happens when the structures we depend on begin to disintegrate beneath us? Is there anything sure we can build our lives on?
In our age of competing truth claims we wonder if anyone is telling us the truth. The Bible claims that God is its source and that it carries God's authority. Why in this day and age would we open this book and trust it?
Pop culture images of heaven make it look like a place of eternal boredom. But the Bible reveals something very different - a new and vibrant kind of life.
What does a promise God made to Abraham thousands of years ago have to do with the way we pray today?
Christian freedom means more than just the ability to govern ourselves as individuals. In this week's message, Matthew Raley shows us how Christ frees us from the tyranny of isolation.
Is the American flag the symbol of freedom in Christ? What is the gospel and what freedoms does it give? There is a lot of confusion these days about what it means to be a Christian in America. In this week's message, Pastor Raley untangles the truth from the misconceptions about Christian freedom.
It seems like there is always more to do. Our work is never done. What is it like to enter God's rest, and what keeps us from entering it?
What do we do with the unrest in our hearts? What are the obstacles that keep us from entering God's rest, and how can we overcome them?
Many of us have an unrested heart. Today Pastor Matt goes beyond the band-aids of positive thinking to the source of our spiritual and emotional turmoil.
How does your faith hold up when you see hardships coming your way? Pastor Matt tells us why we sometimes need to look back to understand how to deal with the troubles we see ahead.
Like Christ, the biblical preacher is gentle, but he also issues the warnings people need to save them from the consequences of hard, unbelieving hearts.
The challenge of preaching, like the challenge of any relationship, lies in building the kind of trust that can only come from candor without insult.
Do you think of your Bible, especially the Old Testament, like your crazy uncle and ignore 90% of what it says? Understanding the Bible's focus will help you see it differently.
Too many preachers are trying to combat unbelief with salesmanship. But we can't live on oily, manipulative salesmanship and call it preaching. Biblical preaching calls for something entirely different.
Does fear have you in its grip? What will it take to break it's power in your life? Rather than trying to rise above your humanness, consider instead a human solution.
The scandal of the gospel is that the savior God sent to humanity was not an impervious super-hero, but an innocent human who suffered just like us.
Are you seeking to penetrate the spiritual world and access its remote and inaccessible god? Is Jesus one of the spirit guides who can lead you into that secret world, or is he something else altogether?
What does Mary Magdalene's reaction to meeting the resurrected Jesus tell us about the way He had treated women and others without social power during his years of ministry?
The Roman Empire allowed its people to worship whatever god they pleased, so long as it remained but one god among the pantheon. American spirituality is little different. We can believe whatever we want generally, but nothing too specific. For Christians, however, having vague beliefs has never been an option.
As we continue in our study of Hebrews, we come to the writer’s strongest argument for why Jesus is higher than the angels. David calls Jesus “Lord.” In other words, David, a king, is submitting to the true king.
How much of your personal stress is related to what is going on in our town, our state, and our nation? Who do you go to for help or comfort when you are grieved by these things?
The Roman Empire was not the greatest power in the world in its day, nor is America now. A shadow kingdom is already in place and the book of Hebrews is calling us to make a decision.
What do you think of the spirit world? What if the world of spirits is no more “good” than the world of human beings? What if it is no more righteous, truthful, faithful, or safe? What if it is full of liars, thieves, and impersonators?
How do you know who you are worshiping?
Since the first days of Christianity, there has been pressure on Christians to soften the edges of their beliefs, to censor themselves to appease the surrounding culture. Early Hebrew Christians suffered persecution from both their fellow Jews and from Rome, whose imperial religion allowed its subjects to keep their gods and their beliefs so long as they made no claims of supremacy. In this week’s message from Pastor Raley, Christ’s claim to the throne of David confronts imperial religion and puts people, then and now, in a place of decision.
In our enchanted universe, things are happening all around us, things that we can’t see, things that aren’t just physical. The belief that the world is full of spiritual energy permeates our culture. We are captivated by the enchanted world around us.
But a world fascinated with spirits and the occult is also a world of fear. How can you really know what spirits you are dealing with?
The book of Hebrews takes this issue very seriously.
If there is an American religion, it is the tolerance and validation of personal spiritual experience. “Whatever works for you” is the great American revelation. But the writer of Hebrews begins his book with this critical, and counter-cultural message: God’s highest revelation is His Son.
Our popular cultural beliefs – Buddhism, stoicism, and scientific materialism – put us in the driver’s seat. According to them, our universe is silent and unresponsive. It is up to us to make up our own truth and meaning in life. This week we ask: do any of our popular philosophies describe, as the Bible does, a person at the heart of the universe who decides to save people? Do any other beliefs or religions even promise to save anyone?
We wake up in this universe with no information about ourselves. Is anyone listening to our questions? Will anyone answer? This sermon starts a new series in the New Testament book of Hebrews.
Misunderstanding angels leads to misunderstanding the God who sent them. There is a lot to learn about God from the angelic appearances surrounding the birth of Jesus Christ.
What are angels, and why are they so prominent in the events surrounding the birth of Jesus?
As the stories of sexual harassment multiply, the scandals are affecting California's state capitol. Matthew Raley interviews Frank Erb of Capitol Commission, a pastor to legislators, lobbyists, and staff, about how these stories affect his ministry.
To change our lives, we need to change the way we think. This Veterans’ Sunday we consider how our veterans can help us change the way we think about life.
If you want to change your life, you have to change your mind. If you want to see changes take place in your life, you first have to change your idea of what personal change looks like.
Luther’s teachings on grace turned Europe upside-down. 500 years later, they will turn your life upside-down too.
Are you being transformed into the image of Christ? How do you know? Do you know what to look for?
Do limitations mean you aren’t free? That depends on your definition of freedom. Using the Apostle Paul as his example, Pastor Raley shows what freedom looks like in the context of difficult situations and relationships.
When the glory of the things we treasure begins to fade, we become disillusioned. An unfading hope, on the other hand, makes us bold. What kind of glory are you pursuing?
Flowers fade. Superstars dwindle away. Nothing good in this world seems to last. Is there anything that won’t disappoint us in the end? Is there any glory that will last?
The culture of celebrity is destroying the church. How can Christians recover deep, vital relationships with each other and say no to the spiritual junk food of Christian celebrity culture?
The days of drive-by evangelism are behind us. It’s time to invest our lives in bringing God’s grace to the people around us. Matthew Raley delivers straight talk about evangelism.
It’s time to ditch the one-size-fits all evangelism scripts. Salesmanship is simple, but Jesus is calling us to go deeper.
Americans are leaving churches in droves. We cannot afford to view these people and their motives cynically. Understanding the problem is the first step to becoming a source of healing.
What does Ben Franklin have to do with the modern trend in church youth groups toward therapeutic deism?
How can we feel secure or make any plans at all when we don’t even know what tomorrow will bring?
Considering death makes the things we do in life feel empty. Is there anything permanent that gives this life meaning?
In this series on time, we are asking ourselves how best to use the seasons God has given us.
What does your schedule have to say about your spiritual growth? Is there a place for wisdom in your daily life?
Does time feel like an oppressor that steals the joy from work you once enjoyed? God’s wisdom can set you free from the oppression of time.
What is your fortress? What gives you confidence for the decisions you make in life? Is it money, education, ability, careful planning, or, perhaps, signs from God? What role does faith play in your decision-making?
Today’s proverb promises abundance to the diligent and poverty to the hasty. What kinds of decisions do the diligent make that lead to such an abundant life?
What do I do with the wrong decisions I’ve made in the past? If my sincerity and good intentions weren’t enough to steer me correctly, how can I look to the future with any confidence or hope?
How do you make decisions when there is risk and uncertainty? Have you ever wanted a sign from God?
Decision-making is where our faith stands or falls. Our choices reveal whether we are being guided by wisdom or by folly. What is our responsibility when it comes to making decisions?
We want certainty in our decisions. We often design our spirituality to achieve it, as if God owes us guarantees. But Proverbs is designed to help us accept uncertainty. God shows us how to navigate in the fog.
What do you rely on as a means of gaining friends? Are you trusting in things and people that won’t stick around?
How do we cause our friendships to fail? Is there a way to come back from those failures?
Friends we can count on are a precious commodity. The Bible tells us how to nurture these kinds of friendships, and how to keep from poisoning them.
Godly friendships are not add-ons to our Christian life. They are essential. Shallow friendships built on shallow interests and shallow praise are killing the church. How can we develop faithful relationships?
We tend to build friendships around shared interests and aspirations, but such relationships tend to be shallow. How do we connect with people who are not like us? Is it possible to build meaningful friendships without sacrificing our personalities and interests?
What you are passionate about is what you will build your life and your friendships around. What do your friendships tell you about what is important to you?
It has never been easier to keep in touch and never harder to make friends. People are logging off of Facebook more lonely and depressed than when they logged on. What can we do about the superficiality that is creeping into our relationships?
One of the most painful realities of life is gossip. What are some wise ways to guard each other's reputations?
Authenticity does not justify verbal abuse. How can we be sincere about our emotions without destroying our relationships?
Our culture is sinking because it is not grounded on personal integrity. In a climate like this, how can we assure people that we are speaking the truth?
Our speech either blesses or it curses. It is either food or toxin to those around us. Wisdom teaches us the difference.
What we say has a lot to do with the people we trust. We can’t learn to speak wisely if we are trusting the wrong people. The wisdom of our words depends on who we are listening to.
The current election season is revealing how, for good or for ill, the impact of our words can live on for decades. This contentious time reminds us of our need for wisdom in choosing the words we listen to and the words we speak. Here we begin a new series from Proverbs on the wisdom of the tongue.
Seeing Jesus didn’t make my life easier. I don’t fit in society’s boxes. I make the people around me uncomfortable. They don’t believe in him, and I need to know where I belong now that I do.
Healed by Jesus, the blind man no longer fits into society’s boxes. He is healed, but He is excluded. Where will he find his identity? Now that we’ve seen Jesus, where will we?
Society has put me in a box and labeled me. But that identity no longer seems to fit now that I’ve seen Jesus. Is the glory of God worth the risk of stepping out of my box?
I don’t fit with the old religious code. I don’t fit with the philosophers or their sophisticated agenda. I feel like a double-outsider. Now that I’ve seen Jesus, where do I fit?
In our current series we have seen that wisdom teaches us to work. But when does it say “enough”. When is it wise to go home and rest?
We often feel as if we are working harder and gaining less. What do we do with the urge to give up and walk away? How can we overcome our lethargy and regain the ability to focus on the task at hand?
Work is hard. We have a lot to do and feel overwhelmed by the difficulty. We’re tired. What do you do when you have the job and the tools, but you don’t have the heart?
How do you see work? Is it an imposition or an opportunity? Does our work or how we go about it matter to God?
What have you learned from the Lord?
Are you still applying it in fresh situations in your life?
Wisdom is about increasing, deepening, and growing. If we are not growing, we are not wise. This means we need to learn to love growth.
Continuing our examination of wisdom, this week we look at wisdom’s DNA, the language which lies at it’s very core.
There we find the ancient idea that has become the last four-letter word left in our society: duty.
In a living organism, different cells have different roles.
The organism called Wisdom likewise builds life through the various roles we are called to fill.
In today’s message we find that we can’t begin to understand our passage’s wisdom without first understanding the roles it assumes for our lives.
Wisdom, we have seen, is not a list of facts. It is a living whole.
In this week’s message we will see that wisdom is not something we are zapped with.
Wisdom is not mindless. It is intentional.
Growth in wisdom is a process.
What is wisdom? How does it work? How does it behave?
Today we begin a new series in the book of Proverbs. Our goal is to learn to recognize wisdom when we see it. Over the next several weeks we will be looking at wisdom under a microscope.
Over the last weeks we have described the journey in search of wisdom – our maps, our guides, our companions, our safety checks, and our places of rest. Now it’s time to depart.
As we stand in the station we hear two boarding calls for two different trips. They sound almost alike. But one leads to life. The other leads to death.
How will we tell the difference between the two?