Through the Bible - Matthew

Through the Bible
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Pastor Nate Holdridge loves Jesus and the Bible Jesus gave to the world. Since 1996, the Scripture has captivated Nate’s mind and heart, believing the entirety of the book points to the Son of God, Jesus Christ the righteous (Revelation 19:10, John 5:36).

  1. APR 16

    Matthew 7:1-6

    In this Sunday sermon from Matthew 7:1–6, Pastor Nate Holdridge continues the Upside Down Kingdom series at Calvary Monterey by confronting one of the most misused verses in all of Scripture: "Judge not." Pastor Nate shows how Jesus is not forbidding discernment but warning against a hyper-critical spirit that overlooks personal flaws while fixating on the flaws of others. Working through the memorable speck-and-log imagery, he calls us to humble self-examination as the necessary first step before we can become truly helpful to our brothers and sisters, offering practical categories—parallel sins, echoed desires, and overcorrections—for honest heart-level audits. Pastor Nate Holdridge then turns to Jesus' sobering counterbalance in Matthew 7:6, cautioning us against becoming "pearl pushers" who try to force truth on the decidedly hostile. The result is a pastoral, gospel-saturated vision of kingdom people: gracious, humble, discerning, and shaped by the One who humbled himself to extend his help to us.

    42 min

  2. MAR 26

    Matthew 6:25-34

    In this week's sermon from the Sermon on the Mount series, Pastor Nate Holdridge walks through Matthew 6:25–34—one of Jesus' most famous and most challenged teachings on anxiety. Jesus commands His followers not to worry about food, clothing, or tomorrow, and supports that command with four vivid arguments drawn from birds, wildflowers, human limitations, and pagan behavior. But rather than offering a shallow "just stop worrying" message, Jesus exposes anxiety as the emotional residue of misplaced allegiance and calls His disciples to a radical reorientation: seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and let the Father handle the rest. We try to answer honest objections to the text—including the reality of clinical anxiety, the suffering of devout believers, and the necessity of hard work—and show how each objection, when examined carefully, actually reveals a deeper layer of what Jesus is saying. This sermon is for anyone navigating the relentless anxieties of modern life.

    41 min

  3. MAR 19

    Matthew 6:19-24

    In this sermon from Matthew 6:19–24, Pastor Nate Holdridge walks through three powerful metaphors Jesus uses to expose the deepest allegiances of the human heart: treasure, eyesight, and slavery. Jesus moves beyond external behavior and religious practice to confront what we actually value, how we envision the good life, and who—or what—truly has ownership of our lives. Pastor Nate unpacks the cultural background of the "healthy eye" and "bad eye," explains why your heart follows your treasure rather than the other way around, and shows why Jesus declared divided loyalty not merely unwise but impossible. This teaching from the Sermon on the Mount is an MRI for the soul—an invitation to inspect our functional allegiances and reorient everything toward the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33).

    40 min

  4. MAR 5

    Matthew 6:7-15

    In this week's Sunday sermon from Matthew 6:7–15, Pastor Nate Holdridge walks through one of the most familiar passages in all of Scripture—the Lord's Prayer. Rather than treating it as a rote recitation, we’ll unpack it as a template for a rich, structured prayer life: compact enough to pray in a minute, expansive enough to carry a lifetime of conversation with God. Working through the two halves of the prayer, we explore what it means to begin with the Father's honor, rule, and will before turning to our own needs for provision, forgiveness, and daily leadership. If your prayer life has grown mechanical, rushed, or shallow, this message is an invitation back to the closet and back to the Father who is already waiting.

    41 min

  5. FEB 26

    Matthew 6:1-18

    In this sermon from Matthew 6:1-18, Pastor Nate Holdridge walks through Jesus' warning against performative religion — the danger of doing the right things for the wrong audience. Jesus gives three illustrations of this temptation: giving to the poor with a trumpet blast, praying on street corners for maximum visibility, and fasting with a disfigured face designed to advertise spiritual discipline. In each case, Jesus contrasts the hypocrite who has already been "paid in full" with human applause against the disciple who practices righteousness in secret before a Father who sees, knows, and rewards. Pastor Nate shows how the Fatherhood of God — mentioned ten times in this passage — is the controlling center that transforms our motivations, turning us from an audience of peers to an audience of One. This teaching includes practical guidance on biblical fasting, an honest look at why the contemporary church has been slow to teach on fasting, and a call for every believer to embrace the secret life of faith that Jesus assumes of all His followers.

    37 min

  6. FEB 22

    Matthew 5:33-48

    In this week's sermon from Calvary Monterey's ongoing series through the Gospel of Matthew, Nate Holdridge walks through the final three of Jesus' six antitheses in Matthew 5:33–48 — the passage on oaths, retaliation, and enemy love. Under the title "The Upside Down Life With Others," Nate shows how Jesus was not abolishing the Old Testament but driving his listeners past the letter of the law to its deepest intention: a community of people so anchored in God that their trustworthiness needs no oath to confirm it, their security needs no retaliation to protect it, and their love needs no worthy recipient to motivate it. The sermon unpacks what it means to be radically trustworthy, radically surprising, and radically loving — and lands on the stunning closing command of Matthew 5, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," not as a burden but as an invitation to fix our eyes on the One who fulfilled every word of it on our behalf.

    42 min

  7. FEB 15

    Matthew 5:21-32

    In this teaching from the Sermon on the Mount, Pastor Nate Holdridge explores Matthew 5:21-32, where Jesus begins to reveal the radical, internal transformation He desires for His people. By addressing the root issues of anger, lust, and marital unfaithfulness, Nate shows how Jesus moves beyond external religious checklists to claim authority over our interior lives. We see that the Kingdom of Heaven isn't just about avoiding murder or adultery; it’s about a radical devotion to reconciliation, a commitment to sexual purity, and a high esteem for the marriage covenant. Join us as we learn how Jesus’ "upside down" ethics provide a protective shield for the vulnerable and lead us toward a life of true flourishing grounded in the Gospel.

    49 min
  8. Matthew 5:17-20

    FEB 5

    Matthew 5:17-20

    In this sermon from Matthew 5:17–20, Pastor Nate Holdridge examines one of Jesus' most striking claims: that He came not to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them. Walking through each verse, we’ll consider how Jesus is the destination of the entire biblical story—the One every sacrifice, prophecy, and promise was pointing toward. We’ll think about why the Old Testament still carries divine weight for believers today, how Jesus defines true greatness as living and teaching by Scripture, and why the impossible standard of righteousness that exceeds the Pharisees is actually an invitation to receive what only Christ can produce in us. This message is part of the ongoing series through Matthew called "The Promised King and His Good Kingdom," currently in part two: "The Upside Down Kingdom Arrives."

    39 min
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About

Pastor Nate Holdridge loves Jesus and the Bible Jesus gave to the world. Since 1996, the Scripture has captivated Nate’s mind and heart, believing the entirety of the book points to the Son of God, Jesus Christ the righteous (Revelation 19:10, John 5:36).

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