Podcast
Real Truth Matters Podcast
Hosted by Michael Durham · EN
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.
38episodes
Episodes
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THE HINDRANCES OF THE FLESH Part 1
Mar 1700:22:07Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn this searching and deeply personal message from Galatians 5, Michael Durham exposes one of the greatest threats to the Christian life—not open rebellion, but subtle self-reliance. What if the very things you believe make you spiritually strong—your prayer life, your ministry, your discipline, your responsibility—are actually disguises the flesh uses to keep you in control? With clarity and pastoral honesty, this episode confronts the quiet drift from Spirit-dependence to performance-driven religion and asks Paul’s piercing question: “You ran well. Who hindered you?”If you’ve ever felt stuck, anxious, divided between faith and fear, or unsure why your obedience lacks freedom, this message will speak directly to you. Michael reveals how the flesh camouflages unbelief as maturity, anxiety as responsibility, and relief as peace—while calling us back to simple, childlike trust in Christ alone. This is more than theology; it’s a wake-up call to return to grace, to true liberty, and to the Spirit-controlled life where Christ—not self—is on the throne.
Transcribe →INTRODUCTION TO WALKING IN THE SPIRIT Part 2
Mar 1000:23:52Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailWhy does the Christian life feel like a war within? In this episode, Michael Durham explains why the flesh isn’t destroyed at salvation—it’s dethroned—and why that ongoing struggle is evidence of the Spirit’s presence, not your failure. With clarity and urgency, he exposes the trap of trying to defeat the flesh through self-effort, rules, or rededication, and calls us back to the only true power source: our union with Christ.If you’re tired of defeat, confused about sanctification, or swinging between legalism and “cheap grace,” this message will re-center you. The Christian life isn’t imitation—it’s participation. Not striving harder, but trusting deeper. Discover what it means to stand fast in true liberty and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Transcribe →INTRODUCTION TO WALKING IN THE SPIRIT Part 1
Mar 300:22:58Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailCan your desire to be holy actually work against you? In this gripping introduction to Walking in the Spirit, Michael Durham exposes a sobering truth from Galatians 5: even sincere Christians can slip into spiritual bondage when self-effort replaces trust in Christ. Drawing from Paul’s sharp warning to the Galatians, this episode explores the inner conflict every believer faces—the flesh’s relentless drive for control, even through religious devotion—and why spiritual progress always begins with liberty, not law.This message cuts beneath surface-level behavior and confronts the deeper issue: a subtle unbelief and independence from God that fuels anxiety, insecurity, and stalled growth. With clarity and pastoral weight, Michael calls listeners to a fresh discovery of Jesus Christ—the heart of true sanctification, revival, and freedom. If you’ve ever wondered why progress feels slow, prayer feels heavy, or faith feels strained, this episode will challenge and awaken you. Don’t miss the start of this powerful two-part teaching.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED Part 2
Feb 2400:25:13Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn this concluding episode of What Is the Gospel?, Michael Durham presses us to look unflinchingly at the cross—not merely as a symbol of love, but as the public display of God’s perfect righteousness. Drawing from Romans 3 and the imagery of the Day of Atonement, this message unfolds the weighty truth of propitiation: Christ’s blood does not merely cover sin; it makes God approachable. Here, justice is not set aside but fully satisfied, as the Father sets forth the Son as both Priest and sacrifice, proving that no sin—past, present, or future—has been ignored.This episode is a call to move beyond familiarity with gospel language into the reality of saving faith. What does it truly mean to be justified? What kind of faith actually unites us to Christ? With pastoral urgency and evangelistic clarity, Durham exposes false assurances and invites listeners into desperate dependence on Christ alone—a faith that produces love, joy, obedience, and continual return to the cross. If you want to understand why the gospel is not just good news but astonishing news, this is an episode you need to hear.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED Part 1
Feb 1700:22:06Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailThe 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.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: WHY GOD MUST JUDGE SIN Part 2
Feb 1000:22:04Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn 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.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: WHY GOD MUST JUDGE SIN Part 1
Feb 300:21:19Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn 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.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: THE FIRST WORD OF THE GOSPEL IS GOD Part 2
Jan 2700:20:04Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn 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.
Transcribe →WHAT IS THE GOSPEL: THE FIRST WORD OF THE GOSPEL IS GOD Part 1
Jan 2000:22:40Tap to summarizeSend us Fan MailIn 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.
Transcribe →THE COMPANIONSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT Part 2
Oct 2100:20:30Tap to summarizeSend a textAs 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.
Transcribe →