Pastor Matt Prater is the Senior Pastor of New Hope Brisbane in Kelvin Grove. He is a passionate evangelist who loves to share his faith in Jesus with as many people as he can.
Matt especially loves going out onto the highways and byways and talking to anyone he meets about the hope that he has found in his relationship with Jesus Christ.
He also hosts a weekly radio show, History Makers, which is played on over 700 radio stations across Australia, including Vision. Matt has released a TV series and two books based on the amazing men and women he has interviewed over the years.
Recently, Matt shared a special 5-minute sermon with us during Sunday Morning Together, highlighting his commitment to loving God and loving others. Read Matt’s heartfelt message below:
‘I’m going to share about loving God and loving others. The greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as yourself. These are two very important things to follow in life.
I’ve been preaching a series recently called Relate, and it’s all based on this verse from Matthew 22:37. Jesus said, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And the second commandment, love your neighbour as yourself.
I really felt God wanted us to get back to the basics. The number one important thing in life is your relationship with God. The cross is vertical first, horizontal second. And that vertical beam on the cross is symbolic of our relationship from us to God.
Our relationship with God is the most important thing. Getting in a sacred place, being in the Word of God, being prayerful, being a worshipper, hearing the voice of God. That vertical relationship is the most important thing. To love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and our strength.
The second commandment is the horizontal beam on the cross. Love your neighbour. Reach out to those around you. Care for one another, and we really need to make sure we have that heart.
Recently, my wife and I were sitting at home watching Netflix, and a helicopter flew overhead, and it was a police helicopter. They were announcing there was a missing ten-year-old boy named Zayne. He’d been missing since 2:30 p.m. that day.
Nothing like that has ever happened in our little suburb in Brisbane. So we got in our local Facebook group, and we saw that a ten-year-old boy with autism had walked out of a restaurant and gone missing, and it was getting dark.
So we got in our car, my wife and I got in our car and we started driving around the streets, looking for this ten year old kid, thinking, where could he be? What could have happened to him? And thank God he was found later that night at Eagle Farm, a couple of suburbs away of all places.
We don’t know what happened, but you know what? That night it restored our faith in humanity. We saw people everywhere with flashlights in their cars, walking, looking for this ten year old kid.
And I thought, that’s what the church should be like getting out there two by two, seeking and saving the lost. That’s what Jesus told his disciples to do. Go out two by two and preach the gospel. Look for the person of peace. Find someone, share the good news.
One of the problems with the church today is that we’re too inward focussed. We’re navel gazing. We’re looking at our own structure, our own programs, our own problems, our own this and that, with gossiping, with slandering. And that’s the devil’s plan, to make us so focussed on our own business that we’re not out there doing the Father’s business.
And I believe that’s what the church should be like. We should be so busy out seeking and saving the lost, that we haven’t got time to bicker about our internal problems. We should be more focussed on being outward focussed, then being inward focussed.
I believe it all starts with a relationship with God. First a vertical relationship with God, and secondly our horizontal relationship reaching out to others. In Romans 12:9, it says love must be sincere. Hate what is evil, cling to what is good, be devoted to one another in love. Honour one another above yourselves, and never be lacking in zeal. But keep your spiritual fervour serving the Lord.
But I heard a preacher the other day share a story that his Bible college principal had shared previously. This Bible College principal was six foot two, really fit, really rich and would work out at his gym every morning.
One morning he stood in front of the mirror and saw his reflection in the mirror, but it was different. His head was on a very weak, skinny, emaciated, starving, almost dead body. And he felt the Holy Spirit say to him, that’s what you’re like spiritually. Physically, you’re all muscle. You’re working on your outer body, but you’re not working on yourself spiritually. And he felt so convicted.
Some of us can be like that spiritually. We can be looking good on the outside, but on the inside, we’re dead to God. And I want to challenge you today. Maybe you’re in a place where you need to renew your relationship with God. You need to come back to Him. You need to come alive spiritually.
In just a moment, we’re going to pray a prayer where we can recommit ourselves to God. Whether you’re far away from God or you’re on your way to being closer to God, wherever you are, we’re going to pray a prayer where you can come alive spiritually with God. It’s the most important thing in your life.
Wherever you are, join me. Heavenly father, I just pray for every person listening right now, Lord, that we can come back to you as our first love Lord, that we can come alive spiritually. Fill us with your Holy Spirit. Lord, help us have that relationship with you, where we love you with all of our heart and mind, our soul and our strength.
Lord, transform us from the inside out so that we can go out and love others, to be the hands and feet of Jesus, to seek and save that which is lost. To go out and shine a light in this dark world. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit and empower us to be all that you’ve called us to be. We come back to you with all of our heart in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.’
Listen to Matt’s message on Sunday Morning Together below:
