Awake Church Podcast

Throughout every age and every generation, the unspoken internal question persists of "Who am I." The church has struggled in answering this for people and to the degree we have gotten the answer wrong, we've labored in vain, harmed others and not represented God well or lived in internal peace. Internal peace and fulfilling our purpose has everything to do with knowing who we are. Our identity as a child of God.

Toward the end of the dark ages just as the Black Plague was fading, a spark was lit through John Wycliffe who believed all should have the scriptures available. This torch was passed to Jan Hus who furthered the message and within another 100 years, a great change began toward getting back to the teachings of Jesus. But this change was slow and fraught with mixture and guns pointed at a wrong enemy. Just as the first 300 years after Jesus did the church thrive, although persecuted, the last 300 years have been a bringing back to the essential teachings of Jesus, filled with His Spirit and readying for His return at the end of the age. The modern body of Christ can learn a lot from its past as we put Jesus in the highest place and prepare for His return.

The Body of Christ is a spiritual, living organism that has been on the earth for around 2,000 years. Matt shares highlights of this journey of the Church from the revelation of Jesus to our modern day and how important it is for us to understand our spiritual history.

The Bible isn't primary a rule book, but an invitation to show us how to live in the impossible - to know God, follow Him and live "in the manner that Jesus lived." We need reminded that Christianity isn't primarily about the brain and knowledge, but about the heart, relationship with God and living as new creatures, Sons and Daughters of our Father. All of His children have a calling to live in the impossible realm, the realm of the Spirit.

Just as God grows food in a natural garden when we plant seeds, weed seeds also grow and intend to take over. Spiritually, our minds are a garden of thoughts. Some thoughts grow into fruit that is good, but many grow into weeds that crush, snuff out and take over. We are the gatekeepers of the garden of our thoughts and called to be ruthless with the weeds that want to kill, steal and destroy life.

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As we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, He will lead us with His peace through the fiery ordeals and the tensions in life, creating through us a sound that is beautiful.

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God has bestowed on us such a great love, that we are called the Children of God! This love pursued each of us, won our hearts and paid for our freedom and entrance into His eternal family. We have been awakened to the reality of this marvelous salvation that changes us forever!

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Where fathers are absent, crime and dysfunction thrive. Without the presence of the Father in a believer's life, we can be equally dysfunctional. Jesus came to not only save the world, but to reveal the Father to us so that all who follow Him would live in His love and presence.

In this second message on the life and book of Daniel, Matt shares from chapters 5 through 8, highlighting the "extraordinary" character of Daniel. How he was fully devoted to God, honored and served the godless and harsh King, sought God and was the recipient of heavenly revelation for the whole world to the end of time. This book and the life of Daniel are as relevant for today as it was then.

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50 days after Jesus died for our salvation and freedom, the risen Savior went to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit to live forever within His body. Pentecost was the day when the Spirit that the prophets, John the Baptist and Jesus said would come, came. It was the day that the church of Jesus received power. Power to be witnesses, power over sin, power to live like Jesus in the earth until He returns.

The same Spirit that hovered over the waters at creation has been sent to live inside of every follower of Jesus, giving us power to do the works of Jesus and be witnesses of Him in all of the earth. This Spirit is the great Helper sent from heaven, bringing truth, revealing Jesus and doing the impossible through us.

We have been given everything to live here on earth with God in a heavenly atmosphere in our mind, soul and body.

In this third week on the Churches of Revelation, Matt shares about the words of Jesus to the final three churches which were spread throughout modern day Turkey, and the application for the modern church today around the world. The heart and love of Jesus for His body is evident throughout as He communicates both His encouragement and His reproofs that will save their lives and give them great reward. These words are powerful, clear and helpful for us in this moment in history.

In the personal message from Jesus to the Seven churches, Jesus communicates both His encouragement and helps adjust their errors and sin. Jesus takes the unprecedented time and share these words to those He loved and His words can be applied as both encouragement and correction for His body in every age, including ours. The concerns of Jesus for these churches certainly would be His concerns for His church today, as His body is surrounded by the world's influences and immoralities. Through it all, there is great reward for staying the course, repenting for our errors and shaking off the thinking and behavior that offends Jesus.

The Revelation of Jesus and His words to the churches was given to the Apostle John at the end of his life. In this multi-part message, Matt shares the words of Jesus that He gave personally to John for the church of that age and this one. In these words are keys, encouragements and corrections that the church needed then, and needs today. There is a blessing for those who read, hear and heed these and we want to be those who do.

After 1,400 years of celebrating the blood of lambs that saved the Jews from the death angel, the Lamb of God gave His life and His blood, when received and applied, saves every person from death. Three days later, His mutilated body that was lying in a garden tomb, came back to life. The breath of the Father filled the body of Jesus and brought Him back to life again, defeating death once and for all time. Those who follow Jesus remember this resurrection Sunday, the day that we were given eternal life and life with power here on the earth.

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Steve Witt joins us to speak about what it means to be a Jesus follower. Steve Pastors Bethel Church in Cleveland and is a longtime friend of our head pastor Matt Peterson. Steve moves powerfully in the gift of prophecy and you don't want to miss what he has to say!

There may be no other supernatural action we can make that is greater than forgiveness. Forgiving people doesn't just help others, it is the pathway for us to be free ourselves. Jesus paid for our freedom, for us to be entirely free, but without forgiveness we are bound and imprisoned. Torture accompanies unforgiveness, while hoy and wholeness surround those who let go. As those full of the Spirit of God, He enables us to enter into the process of forgiveness, freeing us from the bounds of where we were wronged.

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Matt sharing about the new building opportunity for Awake

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The substance of God is love, and every believer's wholeness and fulfillment is found in living in the love of God and giving it away. Love endures through every age and is the most powerful weapon that we have. In this series, Matt begins sharing part of one of a three on the greatest of all and how we can live in love and love others.

Seeing clearly means that we need to receive the healing for our eyes that Jesus talked about, and we need to shed all other lenses. What we value most becomes the lenses we see things through. When Jesus and what He says and thinks become our highest value, we will see clearly.

There is a battle in the invisible world of thoughts and we must win it to have life. God has given us His words, His ways to think upon and the enemy has flooded the atmosphere and our feelings with thoughts of fear, doubt, accusation and worry. We get to choose what to listen to, what to think about and what to allow into our hearts.

From before humans were made, God had a plan to send His Son into the world to save the world and restore relationship with Himself. Jesus was the plan from before time and He humbled Himself as a seed to be implanted into the womb of a woman, to be born as an under-cover King and restore all that was lost back to it's original intention.

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Weariness comes from our journeys in life. Journeys through difficult terrain, difficult circumstances, daily hardship. In the midst of weariness, Jesus puts out an invitation - "Come to Me." When we do, He takes the heaviness that we have and gives us what He has - rest, refreshing, joy, peace, hope, abundant life. As believers, we need to become consummate traders - those who daily trade with Jesus and stay full of His living water.

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As believers through every generation upon the earth since the time of Christ, we are needing to navigate this age as lights in the darkness and pillars of truth. In this message, Matt begins to share about issues of our time and how we need to remain devoted to Jesus above all, while being fully alive and our minds transformed to make the right decisions that we need to make.

Every renewed follower of Jesus can hear His voice. When He speaks to us, it's important that we grow in understanding what He is saying, or interpreting what we are hearing. In this message, Matt shares some keys to interpreting and understanding what God is saying to us today.

Since the Creator of communication lives inside of His children, He is connected and can communicate to us in unlimited ways. He is speaking to each person and the adventure of life is to discover the ways that He is already talking with us so that we can listen and follow Him. In this message, Matt share over a dozen ways from the scriptures that God may be communicating to you already.

From the day we were born again, God has been speaking to you. He communicates in thousands of ways as He lives inside of you and is connected to every part of our lives. He communicates to you, for you, and for others. The adventure of life is daily asking Him to "speak, Lord. I'm listening," and then discovering the many ways that He is already talking.

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We live surrounded by the temporal, but filled with eternity. None of us know how much time that we get here on the earth, but the time we do have effects our forever. Everything counts, is remembered and will be rewarded in the age ahead. The difficulties, the hardships and suffering will not be able to even be compared with the beauty and glory of what awaits us.

Jesus is building, cleansing and growing His body to become something radiant and ready for His return. We are this body, this gathering of devoted followers of the King who is directing us in these days to reflect Him in the earth. He is in love with His bride. We are a part of something greater than we can imagine and we have a purpose greater than we realize.

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There is power in unity. Power in one-ness between us and Jesus, and unity among one another. As the Body of Christ, or the vehicle of the Kingdom in the earth, we were made for unity, connected to Him. The enemy works tirelessly to accuse and sever unity, separating us from Jesus and one another. Aware of his schemes, we must intentionally stay united in Christ and believing the best about one another - judgment free.

Throughout the centuries, Jesus has been building His body and using them to demonstrate the Kingdom of Heaven. His prayer that is still echoing is that all of His followers would be one, and when they are, His glory is seen to everyone. This is one of our goals, missions as the body of Christ. To be one and reflect heaven in each of our assemblies.