Real Truth Matters Podcast

Michael Durham
  • 5.0 (47)
  • CHRISTIANITY
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Walking and communion with God are not automatic. How then do you experience the reality of a personal relationship with God, or read your Bible and experience God’s presence? Put simply, how do you know God? These are huge questions that need serious discussion. Every Tuesday, Michael Durham of Real Truth Matters Ministries will lead in such a conversation. This podcast tackles the experiential side of Christianity with teaching, interviews, and question and answer episodes. If you want to grow in fellowship with God in the biblical manner known by the orthodox and sound men of God of the old paths, then tune in each week to the Real Truth Matters Podcast.

  1. 5D AGO

    WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED Part 1

    Send a text The gospel does not begin with us—it begins with God. In this concluding message of the second sermon in What Is the Gospel?, we are confronted with a truth both sobering and glorious: God is righteous, God judges sin, and the gospel has only one hero—Jesus Christ. Drawing from Romans 3:20–28, this episode presses past surface-level belief and exposes the inadequacy of moral effort, religious performance, and self-made righteousness. It challenges a “gospel” that makes people religious but leaves them lost, and calls listeners to face the reality of judgment, human inability, and our desperate need for divine intervention. Yet this is not merely bad news—it is the necessary prelude to breathtaking grace. Here, the righteousness of God is revealed not as an unreachable standard, but as a gift freely given through a saving Substitute. You’ll hear why forgiveness alone is not enough, how God remains both just and the justifier, and why Christ’s cross is the divine demonstration of God’s mercy and truth meeting without compromise. If you want to understand the gospel as Scripture presents it—clear, humbling, and life-giving—this episode will stir your heart, steady your faith, and point you unflinchingly to Christ alone.

    22 min

  2. FEB 10

    WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: WHY GOD MUST JUDGE SIN Part 2

    Send a text In Episode 4 of What Is the Gospel?, we conclude the second sermon by confronting the sobering reality of God’s righteousness and judgment. Drawing from Romans 1–3, this episode explores how God’s wrath is not only future, but already being revealed as He gives people over to their own sinful desires. The moral decline of a culture is shown not merely as social decay, but as evidence of divine judgment when God withdraws His restraining hand. This message challenges shallow faith and exposes humanity’s inability to seek or please God apart from grace. We are reminded that no one is righteous, no one naturally seeks God, and salvation is possible only through sovereign divine intervention in Jesus Christ. The gospel presented here is not comforting sentiment—it is confrontational truth that calls for repentance, humility, and total dependence on God.

    22 min

  3. FEB 3

    WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: WHY GOD MUST JUDGE SIN Part 1

    Send us a text In Episode 3 of the Real Truth Matters Podcast, Michael Durham confronts one of the most unsettling yet essential questions of the gospel: How good do you have to be? Continuing his series What Is the Gospel?, this episode turns to Romans 1:18 and addresses why a righteous God must judge sin. If God Himself is the standard of righteousness, then human goodness—whether measured by moral effort, religious devotion, or obedience to the Ten Commandments—falls devastatingly short. Durham shows that God’s wrath is not an embarrassing footnote to the gospel, but a necessary expression of His righteousness. A God who is truly holy must oppose all ungodliness and unrighteousness, and Scripture makes clear that no one is exempt from this judgment. With biblical clarity and sobering illustrations, this episode challenges the popular notion of a God who merely overlooks sin in the name of love. Drawing from both Old and New Testament texts, Durham demonstrates that God’s love and God’s judgment are not contradictory, but complementary. A judge who refuses to judge evil is not loving, but corrupt. Yet woven through this hard truth is profound hope: the same righteous God who must judge sin is also rich in mercy. This episode presses listeners to abandon shallow views of sin, sentimental views of God, and false confidence in personal goodness—and instead grapple honestly with the holiness of God and the absolute necessity of grace. It is a weighty but vital step toward understanding the gospel as Scripture presents it, not as we might wish it to be.

    21 min

  4. JAN 27

    WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: THE FIRST WORD OF THE GOSPEL IS GOD Part 2

    Send us a text In Episode 2 of the Real Truth Matters Podcast, Michael Durham continues his exposition of Romans by pressing deeper into the heart of the gospel: the righteousness of God. Before Paul ever speaks of God’s love, he grounds salvation in who God is—righteous in His very nature. This episode confronts a common misunderstanding that righteousness is merely something God does, rather than the eternal standard of His being. Durham shows that sin is not simply the breaking of commandments, but a falling short of God’s glory—a failure to reflect Him as His image-bearers. With pastoral clarity and personal illustration, he exposes how deeply ingrained self-righteousness can obscure our true condition before a holy God. The message then turns to the necessity of grace and God’s absolute freedom to save. If salvation could ever be earned, God would be obligated—and grace would cease to be grace. Drawing from Romans 4, this episode underscores that justification comes not through works, religious effort, or moral improvement, but through faith in a God who freely justifies the ungodly. The result is both sobering and hope-filled: no one can meet God’s righteous standard, yet God Himself provides the righteousness we lack. This episode calls listeners to abandon all confidence in themselves and rest entirely in the mercy of a sovereign, righteous, and gracious God—because the gospel must always begin, and remain, with Him.

    20 min

  5. JAN 20

    WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: THE FIRST WORD OF THE GOSPEL IS GOD Part 1

    Send us a text In this episode of the Real Truth Matters Podcast, Michael Durham begins a foundational series in Romans 1:16–17 by asking a vital question: What is the gospel? Challenging modern assumptions, he argues that much contemporary gospel preaching has subtly shifted its emphasis away from God and toward man. While acknowledging humanity’s real need for salvation, this message calls listeners back to the apostolic gospel—one that begins not with the sinner’s predicament, but with God Himself. Drawing from Paul’s opening thesis in Romans, Durham contends that the first word of the gospel is not you or sin, but God—specifically, the righteousness of God revealed in the gospel. This episode presses listeners to reconsider where the gospel truly starts and what it is meant to produce. By rooting salvation in God’s righteous character, creative authority, and sovereign initiative, the message exposes how distorted views of God inevitably lead to distorted views of sin, grace, and salvation. Far from diminishing God’s love for sinners, this God-centered gospel leads to deeper worship, humility, and assurance, as God—not man—emerges as the hero of redemption. This is a sobering and clarifying call to recover the gospel as the apostles preached it: a gospel that magnifies God’s glory and grants sinners the righteousness they could never produce themselves.

    23 min

  6. 10/21/2025

    THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Part 2

    Send us a text As we come to the final episode of this season-long study on the person and work of the Holy Spirit, we return to one of the most beautiful promises Jesus ever made—the promise of another Helper. When He spoke those words, the disciples were facing the darkest hours of their lives. Everything familiar was about to change, yet His words carried a hope that would outlive every trial: “He will abide with you forever.” That promise was not confined to the upper room—it reaches across centuries to you and me today. From the first episode to now, our aim has been to know the Holy Spirit not as an influence or power, but as a living Person—real, present, and personal. The One who abides with us and in us, guiding, strengthening, and revealing Christ in our hearts. In this closing episode, we return to John 14:16–17 to discover one final truth about our divine Companion: that He personally interacts with us. He is not silent or distant, but active—speaking, leading, and working in ways we often fail to see.

    21 min

  7. 10/14/2025

    THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Part 1

    Send us a text The upper room was filled with uncertainty. Jesus was preparing His disciples for His departure, yet His words were filled with comfort: “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever.” Those words reached beyond that moment in time—they were spoken for every believer who would ever walk this earth. As we come to the next-to-last episode in our season on the Holy Spirit, we return to this precious promise: the companionship of God Himself. The Spirit is not a mysterious force or fleeting emotion—He is a Person, just like Jesus, sent to dwell within us, guide us, and make Christ’s presence real in our lives. Join Michael Durham as he shares how we can rediscover what it means to live in fellowship with the Helper, the Spirit of truth, who continues to walk with us.

    20 min

  8. 10/07/2025

    WHEN ASSURANCE FADES: UNDERSTANDING THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

    Send us a text Why do some believers seem to “lose” the witness of the Holy Spirit? In this episode of Real Truth Matters, Michael Durham continues his exploration of Romans 8:16, unpacking why assurance can feel strong one moment and faint the next. He exposes the enemy’s lies that accuse us of being unchanged or insincere, shows how temperament and over-introspection can disrupt assurance, and reminds listeners that the Spirit’s witness is not earned by perfection but received as a direct testimony of God’s love. If you’ve ever doubted your salvation or wondered why your sense of God’s pleasure fades, this episode will bring both clarity and hope. Durham explains how understanding justification, focusing on Christ rather than self, and responding to the Spirit’s loving conviction restores confidence and joy. Don’t settle for fleeting assurance—discover how to walk in the Spirit’s ongoing witness that you are truly a child of God.

    21 min
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About

Walking and communion with God are not automatic. How then do you experience the reality of a personal relationship with God, or read your Bible and experience God’s presence? Put simply, how do you know God? These are huge questions that need serious discussion. Every Tuesday, Michael Durham of Real Truth Matters Ministries will lead in such a conversation. This podcast tackles the experiential side of Christianity with teaching, interviews, and question and answer episodes. If you want to grow in fellowship with God in the biblical manner known by the orthodox and sound men of God of the old paths, then tune in each week to the Real Truth Matters Podcast.

Information

  • Creator
    Michael Durham
  • Years Active
    2009 - 2026
  • Episodes
    164
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Real Truth Matters Podcast
  • Show Website
    Real Truth Matters Podcast

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