Faith

God is all-powerful. Your faith can be as tiny as a crumb and you'll still see Him do amazing things! Podcast Audio

Prayer

Talking to God is essential for a healthy Christian walk. Let's really try hard to seek God on a daily basis so that we can be in tune with Him and His plans for us. Podcast Audio

The Heart

Where is your heart? What do you value? You need to give God your heart and let His be yours. Podcast Audio

Change _ Disrespect

Disrespecting authourity = Disrespecting God Podcast Audio

The Best Gift

Christmas gifts are always great. But the best gift you could have ever and will ever receive is the Gift of Salvation! Podcast Audio

A Holiday

The world is trying to make Christmas simply, "a holiday". Be sure you don't let this happen by letting your Light shine this Christmas season! Podcast Audio

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is about more than getting stuffed 'till you can't move. CGEN shares what we're thankful for! Podcast Audio

Something Fruity: Part III

The final 3 pieces of The Fuit are: Faithfulness, Gentleness, & Self-control. Podcast Audio

Something Fruity: Part II

The next three peices of The Fruit are Patience, Kindness, and Goodness. Podcast Audio

Erl

Andrew teaches us what it means to Encourage, Respect, and Love. Podcast Audio

Something Fruity: Part I

Love, Joy, Peace---The Fruit of the Spirit is essential to living an effective Christian life. Podcast Audio

Surrender

Surrender! everything to God and watch His amazing power work through you. Podcast Audio

Something Different

What do people see in you that's different? Do they see anything at all? We as Christians should stand out because of God's Light beaming off of us! Podcast Audio

Back To The Basics 3

You do not have to travel half way around the world to find people who are hurting. All you half to do is look around. Podcast Audio

Back To The Basics 2

We need to be planted in God's house in order to grow in the Lord and to reach our full potential. Podcast Audio

Reflections

We reflect on last summer's "what to do's" and "what not to do's". Podcast Audio

Summer '07

There are 5 decisions that will either make or break or futures. Podcast Audio

Heads Up

We need to connect with God and watch out, because when we get close to God, the devil will bombard us when we're least expecting it! Podcast Audio

Don't Be Ignorant

A lot of times the devil will use little things in our lives that are always there, as devices to come up against us. Podcast Audio

Take It Out

It's time for us to thow out the trash that we've been lugging around and get serious with what God wants us to do on this earth! Podcast Audio

What Does God Want?

God want us to live for Him and to have a heart of repentance towards Him. Podcast Audio

Go

Jesus died so that we could have eternal life. Now it's up to us as Christians to see to it that others get that same opportunity. We've been commissioned by God to share Christ. Podcast Audio

The Cross

We need to daily lay our own lives down and live for God. Podcast Audio

Red Words

The New Testament is full of Christ's actual words. It's important to apply them to our lives. Here, we'll look at 5 of them. Podcast Audio

Members Only Part 2

We got to reach out beyond ourselves and talk to new people! God wants us to share Him with everyone, not just the people we're comfortable talking to. Podcast Audio

Members Only

As Christians, we need to get out of our little clicks and reach out to those around us. To many people slip by because we want to stay comfortable. The time is now for us to be bold and share Christ's love. Podcast Audio

Broken Heart

God wants us to have broken hearts. Why? Because He wants us to realize that there's nothing that we can do to earn salvation; and that it's only through His love we can receive salvation. Podcast Audio

Love

We need to surrender our lives to God because He gave His life for us. Podcast Audio

Bold

We need to be bold when we reach out to people and share Christ with them; and it's important that we don't do it in a condemning way. God will use our love for people as a tool for saving souls. Podcast Audio

Prayer

As we pray to God, we also need to listen to Him! "Wait on the Lord...and He shall strengthen your heart..." - Psalm 27:14 Audio Podcast

Hibernation

Matt gives us the symptoms of spiritual hibernation; and how we have to constantly ask God to show us His will for our lives to avoid it. Podcast Audio

Resolution

Are you going to spend this year growing closer to God, or moving further away from Him? Podcast Audio

Christmas 06

During Christmas it's especially important to STAY LIT for God! Let's let Christ's love illuminate our lives in a new way this Christmas and beyond! Podcast Audio

Consecration Part II

Matt expands on consecration from last week, challenging us to set aside a time each day for God. Podcast Audio

Consecration

Melody discusses the importance of setting aside your life for God's purpose and use. Podcast Audio

Why Give Thanks?

Matt gives us 5 reasons to be thankful. Podcast Audio

Masks Part II

It's important that you don't hide things that your dealing with. You need to bring them out with someone that you can confide in. This is how you will see healing in your life. Podcast Audio

Masks

It's time to get real with people. God knows who you are inside. Let's take off our masks and be transparent with each other so we can be productive in the Kingdom of God. Podcast Audio

Morality

Who are you modeling? Who are you looking up to? Who is your hero? Are you letting their morals influence yours? Where are you getting your sense of morality? In this day and age when we are constantly being bombarded by television, music, magazines and the internet. It is important that we look to God's Word as the basis of our own moral code. Podcast Audio

Legacy

How will you be remembered? What will people say about you? Live for Christ and you'll accomplish great things! Podcast Audio

Stay Lit

If we don't stay lit, how can the world find its way to salvation? It's up to us to lead the way! Podcast Audio

God's Word 06

The Word of God is ALIVE! It's up to us to LIVE the Word of God: 1st. Read it 2nd. Know it 3rd. Live it Podcast Audio

30 Seconds

With a simple prayer, you can have a huge impact on someone. Prayer + faith = results. Podcast Audio

Desert

There are thirsty people out there; and we to give them the living water of salvation. Podcast Audio

Let Your Light Shine

Let your light shine by loving your enemies. The best way to save people from Hell is to show 'em Christ's love. Podcast Audio

Now Is The Time

Now is the time to be on fire for God! He created us. The least we can do is serve Him with our whole hearts! Podcast Audio

Love One Another

We have to reach out beyond ourselves if we want to win others to Jesus. The Bible says that if we don't love our neighbor, we don't know God; because God is love. Podcast Audio

Who You Gonna Be?

We are heirs of God; so how are we representing the name of Jesus? Podcast Audio

Summer

There's only a few weeks left to make something of your summer! Are you going to look back on this summer with regrets, or are you going to make use of the time you have? Podcast Audio

Royalty

Cassie Fernandez talks about how we are the royalty of the Kingdom of God; but do we act like we are? When people see us and interact with us, are we representing God, or someone else? Podcast Audio

Discipline

Trevor Krantz, a former IBC graduate, pays us a visit before leaving for Mexico, where he has been called to do mission work. He talks about discipline and that there's a world out there that'll swallow us up, unless we take guard and live like God called us to. Podcast Audio

In the Studio

!ATTENTION! - It happened again. Poor audio feed this week so you may have trouble hearing the podcast. Matt talks about how we were created by God, in His own image. Podcast Audio

Where Will You Be?

Time will pass you by so fast. A year will go by and you'll look back asking yourself what you accomplished. Don't be a victim of time. God has a plan for each of us everyday. We need to begin each day with a purpose in mind so that God can use us and we can live lives of accomplishment. Podcast Audio

Bottom Line: His Love Is Greater Than Life

Melody Romo talks about the importance of walking in Christ's love on a daily basis. Podcast Audio

Self Control

Ben Gongora discusses why it's important that we exhibit self control. Without self control, we are no different than the world; for the flesh is weak. Podcast Audio

Light It Up

Bob Ace talks about the need to LIGHT IT UP! We have to surround ourselves with pure and uplifting things in order to be the lights that God wants us to be. Podcast Audio

This Is It

Micah Bell talks about how important it is to resist temptation; and how we can't keep stumbling over the same sin over and over. Podcast Audio

Decision

There are 5 decisions we should NOT make. Podcast audio

Glory

You who have Christ in you are the hope of God's glory filling the earth. Podcast Audio

6 Month Recap

Matt recaps his messages from the past six months. podcast audio

We're At War

We are at war; not just in the natural, but in the spiritual. We've been called to enlist in God's army. Podcast Audio

Everything's Backwards

I wanted to do a little talk about worship, but I thought it would be lame if we did it in the usual format of worship then me speaking. So I decided to do everything backwards for this Wednesday, with me speaking about worship then giving the folks an opportunity to practice what they just heard. But I also decided to reverse all the seats in the house so they pointed towards the back of the room. Andy while, it really drove home the idea that everything was backwards, it really made for a funky vibe, with the speakers point back at me, and people walking who were late kept walking in behind me. But whatever, it was fun. Check it out. Podcast Audio

Is the Bible just Random?

Is the Bible just a random collection of books and chapters written by a bunch of different people? Is there an underlying theme to it all? Podcast Audio

Identity Video

For all you visual oriented people out there, here is the video of last week's message. Podcast Video

Identity

Who are you? Are you your clothes? Are you your haircut? What is it that defines you? Maybe your boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe your family. What is your identity? Podcast Audio

Damage Control

02 15 06 It happens to everyone. We've all messed up. We've all blown it. We've all caused a little damage. Now what do you do? Podcast Audio

LOVE

!ATTENTION! - Poor audio feed this week so you may have trouble hearing the podcast. I talked about love this week and the difference between loving someone and being in love. I also share some of my own painful experiences from past Valentines days. Podcast Audio

Rhymes with ....

So I've been sick off and on this week and last. Nothing life threatening, just under the weather stuff, sinus junk ... bla bla bla. Monday night was one of those nights where you can't really sleep, but you keep trying, so you drift. Sometimes not really asleep, but not all there. So in one of those moments I had a dream about what I should do this Wednesday at CGEN. The short of it, I picked a bunch of BIble verses, split everyone into groups of 4, and had each group write a poem about their verse. It was fun. Check it out. Podcast Audio

Direction >

We’re all heading somewhere. We’re all on our way to our future. In this podcast I ask you the questions ”Where are you going? In what direction is your life heading? Do you even have a direction at all?” Your life is the sum of the choices YOU make and the direction YOU take. Main text: Proverbs 7 Podcast Audio

The New Thing

This week I talk about the upcoming Missions Conference and the new thing that God wants to do in all of our lives. Podcast Audio

Enhanced Homes For The Homeless Recap

This is for those who have an iPod with a color display. It will show you the pictures as I talk about them. Otherwise, it's the same as the previous podcast. ATTENTION!!! - I loose my voice right in the middle of this podcast and it is rather entertaining!! I had the privilege of going down to Reynosa Mexico last Thursday and seeing first hand what "Homes For The Homeless" is all about. This was my first time to go down and actually see it in action. While I've seen tons of pictures, you really don't get a good handle on what's going on without witnessing it live. So for Encounter tonight I decided to give a little recap of our trip, show some photos, cast some vision, and try to inspire people that we can make a difference wherever we are. If you want to follow along, you can view the slides, in order, here ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutematt/82397504/in/set-1760332/ ). Just copy and paste the link into your browser. The message part of tonight was called "1 verse. 1 thought" The verse was Matthew 5:5 from The Message Bible. The thought was that whoever we are and wherever we come from, whatever our backgrounds might be, there is always someone we can bless. There will always bee someone around who needs a fresh touch from Jesus, and you just may be the only one who can give it to them. It's our responsibility to open our eyes, and see the needy and hurting in our every day lives, and then take action and do something about it. Podcast Audio

Homes For The Homeless - Recap

ATTENTION!!! - I loose my voice right in the middle of this podcast and it is rather entertaining!! I had the privilege of going down to Reynosa Mexico last Thursday and seeing first hand what "Homes For The Homeless" is all about. This was my first time to go down and actually see it in action. While I've seen tons of pictures, you really don't get a good handle on what's going on without witnessing it live. So for Encounter tonight I decided to give a little recap of our trip, show some photos, cast some vision, and try to inspire people that we can make a difference wherever we are. If you want to follow along, you can view the slides, in order, here ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/mutematt/82397504/in/set-1760332/ ). Just copy and paste the link into your browser. The message part of tonight was called "1 verse. 1 thought" The verse was Matthew 5:5 from The Message Bible. The thought was that whoever we are and wherever we come from, whatever our backgrounds might be, there is always someone we can bless. There will always bee someone around who needs a fresh touch from Jesus, and you just may be the only one who can give it to them. It's our responsibility to open our eyes, and see the needy and hurting in our every day lives, and then take action and do something about it. Podcast Audio

New Year's Resolutions

Our last Encounter of 2005. What a year it's been. In this podcast I thought it fitting to touch on New Year's Resolutions. We all make them. But who ever keeps them? I use Daniel 1:8 to encourage everyone that you can indeed keep what you purpose in your heart, and that it's easier to make the right choice when you've already made the decision. Hope you enjoy! Podcast Audio

Jesus' Christmas Wish

Being so close to Christmas, I anticipated everyone being a bit laid back. I just wanted to have a good time tonight. Some good ol' Christmas fun. Being so close to Christmas I anticipated everyone being a bit laid back. I tried to get some folks to share some of their Christmas traditions with the group. That was interesting. Check it out :-D Main text taken from Revelation 3:15, 16 - I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I WISH you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Podcast Audio

What are you giving Jesus for Christmas this year?

This week at Encounter I asked the question "What are you giving Jesus for Christmas this year?" Jesus gave us His life for Christmas 2000 years ago, what are we giving him in return? What area of your life are you surrendering to Him this year? Just a little FYI: we had a very special guest leading worship for us, my good buddy from Beaumont, Nathan Walker. There is a little snippet of him during the altar time (and he'll probably kill me for leaving it on here). Podcast Audio

Don't have a Santa Clause relationship with Jesus

Santa Clause vs Jesus Christ. An age old battle. It’s been going on ever since Jolly Old Saint Nick dawned his red velvet suit and funny hat and started handing out presents to kids and jumping down chimneys. I think the coolest difference between these two "people" is the fact that Santa keeps a list of everything you've done wrong, but Jesus forgets your sins the moment you repent (isaiah 43:25). Jesus and Santa are clearly different. But a lot of times we treat them the same way. We send Santa a letter once a year telling him what we want. A new iPod, peace on Earth, whatever. A lot of times our relationship with Jesus is very similar. Whenever we want or need something we remember Jesus and decide it’s time to pray. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus definitely cares about what your wants and your needs, but He isn’t satisfied with that shallow of a relationship. He wants something deeper. Podcast Audio

How to be a "Stiff Necked Christian"

So I was really sick this whole past week and was hospitalized for a brief period on Sunday Night. I had a stiff neck for a good portion of my illness. So in this message I talk about how we need to be "Stiff Necked" or "Steadfast / Unmoveable" using 1 Corinthians 15:58 as my main text. I bring 10 students on stage and spring the question on them "What do you believe?" Before we can be stiff necked, we need to know what we believe. Enjoy. Podcast Audio

3 New Things, 1 Old Thing

Again we were plagued with technical difficulties and so you can barely hear the audio. I profusely apologize and vow that this will be the last time it ever happens, ever. I contemplated not even posting this because of the poor quality, but I thought I'd let you decide for yourself if you want to listen or not. This week I was very sick with a sore throat and some sort of ear infection. So not wanting to talk very much I used this week to introduce 3 New Things and cover 1 Old Thing. It went well. Check my blog for all the deets. Podcast Audio

Raising the Bar: Purity in Relationships 2

Continuing the Raising the Bar series, I talk about how it's our heart that we give away in our relationships. I ask the question "Where is God in your relationships?" As children of God, Christ should be the center of all areas of our lives ... especially relationships. I apologize for the poor sound quality, we had some technical difficulties. Podcast Audio

(UPDATED) Raising the Bar: Purity in Relationships 1

This week I continued the Raising the Bar series. I know I promised that this week we'd finish off of purity and move on to raising the bar in something else, but as I got more into preparing the message I realized that I needed two weeks to cover relationships. This podcast covers what we do in our relationships. I used our hands to represent this point. Podcast Audio

Raising the Bar: Purity in Your Thought Life

Podcast