Matt was a member of Oasis Baptist Church starting in 2015. He served as a deacon from 2017-2022. He led a life group bible study on Monday nights. He also helped maintain the Oasis Baptist website.
Matt and his wife Kara have been married since 2014. They have two children—Micah and Jonah. He moved with his family in 2022 to Ohio, where he continues to pray for Oasis Baptist Church and continues to seek to serve the Lord.
Growing up in a Christian home, I was blessed with parents who loved and feared the Lord, but I was blind to God and the things of God. Even though I went through the motions of praying often and attending church every week, I was only seeking to please my parents and avoid discipline. I repeated the things my father and mother taught me without understanding or conviction of my sin against God. I knew what sin was according to the word of God, but sin laid a hold of my heart. I did not seek after God.
As a child, I focused on various passions and pleasures: wasting time entertaining myself with video games and hiding my sins as best I could from those around me. I knew the answers, but I wasn’t convicted of my sin against God. I was more concerned with how man perceived me. When I did think of the concept of God, I thought I could just stop sinning if I tried hard enough, but I found it was impossible, a constant frustration of trial and error. But the problem I see now, was that I loved my sin, and I was good at hiding it. I was living on the faith of my parents, and it was not my own.
It wasn’t until my sophomore year of high school that I began to pray earnestly and ask God for wisdom. I didn’t realize it at the time, but it was God’s grace drawing me to Himself. I began to read the Word of God and wanted to understand whether I was truly saved or if the faith I claimed to have was in vain. I had always thought because I prayed a prayer and could explain the gospel that I was saved. But I began to question and wrestle with my own hypocrisy. I wanted to know what I believed. I wanted to believe.
I heard the gospel again one Sunday at church, and it was like having heard it for the first time. There is no way to explain it except that my eyes and my heart had been changed, for I had had it explained to me over and over throughout my life by my older sister as young as 4 year old when I was afraid of what would happen if I died, and she led me in the sinner’s prayer; my father had taught me over and over that we were not saved by our works, but by faith in the finished work of Christ; and he would often ask me what I would say if I stood at the gates of heaven and God asked me why He should let me into heaven. My mother had prayed regularly with me and taught me to pray and ask the Lord to forgive me of my sins. All these things I had heard and experienced my entire life, but it did not have the affect that this gospel presentation had on me. Surely those memories God would use afterwards to illuminate the truth, but they were not required to save me; it was solely by the grace of God that I was drawn, washed, and made new; it was His goodness and lovingkindness that saved me. And in the moment I had heard my pastor speak at Hesperia Community Church in California and heard the gospel again, because of renewal and regeneration, just as the Scriptures teach in Titus, I knew Christ was the Lord and Savior, and that He was my Lord and Savior, and for the first time saw my sin and it broke my heart before God, and saw how Christ bore my sin in my place upon the cross. The cross, in all its gruesome and folly, was powerful. It was where I believed God. He called me out of darkness. He saved me. And he called me His own.
Bible References: Titus 3:3, Ephesians 2:1-3, John 8:34-36, Luke 15:11-16, Isaiah 53:5
I have come to see that it was always God’s grace that was leading and convicting me of my sins. Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit, I saw my sin and hypocrisy and began to fear God’s judgment; this godly sorrow led me to repentance. It was Him lead me to Christ, to hear what He declared and taught, and to believe in Him. By God’s grace, He opened my eyes to who Christ is; Christ is Lord and was always Lord, and He always will be Lord. It was Christ who laid down His life for His sheep, even though I deserved His wrath, not His mercy. Yet, He bore the wrath I deserved. And even more, He gave me a new heart and His Spirit that I may hear and believe. He is a merciful God.
God regularly convicted me through verses such as Matthew 7:21 and the parable of the sower, which reminded me that many would say “Lord, Lord,” and he would say “depart from me.” Through this, God taught me to hide His word in my heart that I might not sin against Him and to believe in Him. As Jesus said, if I was to be His disciple, I must deny myself, take up my cross, and follow Him. Through this, God revealed to me how short of His glory I had fallen and just how patient and rich in mercy He was. All I could do was throw myself at His mercy, and I do so to this day, for my heart is prone to wander and doubt.
God exposed my sins, my self-righteousness, and my hypocrisy. And He reminded me through His word who He is. He was faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and cleanse me of all unrighteousness. He alone has the authority to forgive sins. My faith wasn’t mine because of my parents, it was my faith because God had graciously given it to me. He granted me the knowledge of truth and made me new.
I believe in the gospel of Jesus by the grace of God. If it were up to me and my sinful inclinations, I would not have believed in the gospel. But God’s goodness and lovingkindness saved me. He changed my heart and is renewing my mind according to His word. He did so through the ministry of His word preached, which I heard over and over. I once only feared consequences, and I was not broken of my sin against God, but when He cut my heart and gave me life, He convicted me of my sin, and led me to repentance and to perceive the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, whom my faith and trust rests in.
Salvation has given me hope, purpose, and a reverent fear of God and His word. It has given me a love for God and new desires to obey Him. It has given me peace in the midst of various trials and tribulations. It has made me more aware of my sinfulness, but it has made me even more aware of the grace and mercy of God and has reminded me that I cannot continue in sin. Even when I am hurting or angry, I can be at peace and give my anxiety to God, confessing my sin, repenting, and trusting in God. If I stumble, God is still saving me, and I can find comfort in knowing that He is faithful to complete the work He began in me.
Salvation has filled my heart with thanksgiving and hope. This world and its desires are not my desires any longer. I long to do the will of God, but I realize apart from the power of the Holy Spirit, I cannot. Apart from abiding in Christ, I can do nothing. God is merciful, and I must humbly live by faith in Him who died for me and who is risen and seated on the throne. I enjoy sharing the gospel with others online, discussing doctrine, and encouraging and edifying my brethren.
Salvation did not make me sinless, but it made me sin less, in that I no longer desire to sin; it is a wrestle that conform me more into the image of my Savior because my new heart’s desire is to obey my Lord. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. Life is perseverance, confession, and abiding in Him. He has promised us that His yoke is easy and the burden light, and it is light because He is at work within those who believe and has taken the penalty of their sin.
Will you repent and believe? I pray that you will or have and that God receives all the glory. Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ!
Bible References: Colossians 2:9, John 1:14, Philippians 2:6-7, John 10:11, Revelation 5:9, John 12:32, Matthew 5:17, Mark 10:45. 2 Corinthians 5:21. 1 Peter 3:18. 2 Corinthians 5:21. Isaiah 53. Titus 3:4-8, Romans 4:4-5, Ephesians 2:8-9. 2 Corinthians 4:6, Luke 8:15. 2 Corinthians 7:10. John 8:31-32, John 15
"Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:3-5
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