About
And Now For Your Moment of Truth
A note from Pastor Matt:
Life is full of choices! Every day we’re faced with life-changing decisions. Should I take the job or stay? Should I invest time here or there? Our decisions matter because decisions add up to a lifetime, produce a destiny, and equal eternal glory! So our passion at Moment of Truth is to help people make biblical decisions that will echo for an eternity to come!
James 1:22 says, “be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” Every day we are called to not only know God’s Word but to act on it. This is the basis of my ministry at Moment of Truth.
We exist to share the truth of Scripture so that the truth might set you free! Thanks for checking us out, and I would love to partner with you in equipping believers to know and live according to God’s will.
– Pastor Matt Shackelford
My Story
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:2, “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” That is the message of my life, and I am nobody, and my only news is preaching Christ-crucified.
I was born in New Iberia, Louisiana. I was a church kid in the church whenever the doors were open. If you remember the 70’s and 80’s, life happened in the church! We were active in Sunday School, Sunday Morning Church, Sunday Night Church, Wednesday Night Church, Youth Choir on Tuesdays, RA’s, Friday Church League Basketball, and was active in it all! I heard the gospel weekly. The problem was that I was being inoculated to the gospel Sunday by Sunday and becoming this “fake cultural Christian.” On the outside, I was an active part of the family of God!
The problem is that despite all that activity, I was a Pharisee. I came out of crippling legalism. I often argue that the worst sin in the bible is not adultery, pornography, drug, or drinking. The worst sin is self-righteousness. I was skilled at blending in with church culture! I had the practice of Christianity but not the faith, hope, or love that ought to mark a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
The problem with trying to keep all the rules to earn the favor of God was that it was exhausting. I could never get over the weight of my sin. On one particular summer, I felt the crushing weight of my sin. I was pretending to have a relationship with Jesus and lying to all my family and friends. I would say prayers, participate in easter, and close my eyes, but I knew I didn’t have any relationship with Jesus.
One Sunday Night, my pastor was preaching the ten commandments. Each commandment was like punch after punch after punch. I felt that I had broken the law of God. You shall not lie, you shall not steal, you shall not murder (hate), adultery (lust). — I felt the wrath of God on me! I wept into the night, knowing that if I died that day, I would spend an eternity in hell.
My father sat me down and said, “Son, you have two choices… YOU can bear your sin, or Jesus can.” He told me that Jesus was God’s son who died, was buried, and resurrected for my great sin. And he explained that through faith and repentance, I could enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ and gain the gift of everlasting life!
That night, I believed that Jesus died on the cross, in my place, as payment for my sins. I trusted that his death, burial, and resurrection meant my life and right standing before God. I accepted the gift of God that Jesus was my substitute. I left my law Keeping for the one who kept it perfectly. And the freedom I immediately felt that night is the story of grace I now share with anyone who feels the bondage of sin and death.
Moment of Truth Mission & Theology
Our Mission
Moment of Truth exists to share the truth of Scripture so that the truth might set you free!
Our Theology
Leave Empty
The Scriptures
I believe the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, are the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and the divine and final authority for Christian faith and life.
(1 Cor 2:7-14; 2 Pet 1:20-21; Gen 1:31; Ex 31:17; Mat 5:18; 24:35; John 10:35; 16:12-13; 17:17; 1 Cor 2:13; 2 Tim 3:15-17; Heb 4:12; 2 Pet 1:20-21; John 7:17; 16:12-15; 1 Cor 2:7-15; 1 John 2:20).
The Trinity
I believe there is but one true and living God, an infinite, all-knowing Spirit, perfect in all His attributes, one in essence, eternally existing in three Persons—Father, Son and Holy Spirit, each equal in being, power and glory and equally deserving of worship and obedience.
(John 10:30, Matthew 28:19; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Deut 6:4; Is 45:5-7; 1 Cor 8:4; Genesis 1-3).
The Father
I believe that God the Father, the first Person of the Trinity, orders and disposes all things according to His own purpose and grace, in creation, upholding, directing, governance, omnipotence, rule, sovereignty, salvation through His Son, and Fatherhood to his own.
(Ps 145:8-9; 1 Cor 8:6; Gen 1:1-31; Eph 3:9; Ps 103:19; Rom 11:36; Eph 4:6; Rom 8:14; 2 Cor 6:18; Eph 1:11; 1 Chron 29:11; Hab 1:13; John 8:38-47; 1 Pet 1:17; Eph 1:4-6; John 1:12; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Heb 12:5-9).
Jesus Christ
I believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
(John 10:30; 14:9; John 1:3; Col 1:15-17; Heb 1:2; Is 7:14; Mat 1:23, 25; Luke 1:26-35; Ps 2:7-9; Is 9:6; John 1:29; Phil 2:9-11; Heb 7:25-26; 1 Pet 1:18-19)
The Holy Spirit
I believe the Holy Spirit is a person, possessing all the distinctively divine attributes. He is coequal and consubstantial with the Father and the Son. He convicts the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment. He regenerates, indwells, seals, and sets apart the believer to a holy life.
(John 16:13-14; Acts 1:8; 1 Cor 12:4-11; 2 Cor 3:18; Rom 8:9; 2 Cor 3:6; Eph 1:13; John 16:7-9; Acts 1:5; 2:4; Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Eph 2:22; Mat 28:19; Acts 5:3-4; 28:25-26;1 Cor 12:4-6; 2 Cor 13:14; Jer 31:31-34 with Heb 10:15-17).
Man and Sin
I believe man was created in the image and likeness of God, but in Adam’s sin the human race fell, inherited a sin nature, and became alienated from God. I believe man is totally depraved, and himself completely unable to remedy his lost condition. The consequences of this sin affect the entire human race bringing to every person both physical and spiritual death. All human beings are born with a sinful nature and apart from Jesus Christ are eternally lost.
(Ps 14:1-3; Jer 17:9; Rom 3:9-18, 23; 5:10-12; Gen 2:16-17; 3:1-19; John 3:36; Rom 3:23; 6:23; 1 Cor 2:14; Eph 2:1-3; 1 Tim 2:13-14; 1 John 1:8; Is 43:7; Col 1:16; Rev 4:11, Gen 2:7, 15-25; James 3:9).
Salvation
I believe man’s salvation is wholly of God’s grace through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ by His death, burial and resurrection for our sins. Regeneration by the Holy Spirit and faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ are necessary for salvation and I are justified by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. I believe all the redeemed, once saved, are kept by God’s power and are secure in Christ forever and it is the privilege of believers to rejoice in the assurance of their salvation through the testimony of God’s Word.
(Rom 8:28-30; Eph 1:4-11; 2 Thes 2:13; 2 Tim 2:10; 1 Pet 1:1-2; John 3:3-7; Titus 3:5; Eph 1:4-7; Titus 3:4-7; 1 Pet 1:2).
The Church
I believe that all who place their faith in Jesus Christ are immediately placed by the Holy Spirit into one united spiritual Body, the Church, the Bride of Christ, of which Christ is the Head. The church exists to be and make Great Commandment and Great Commission disciples for the glory of God.
(Acts 15:19-31; 20:28; 1 Cor 5:4-7, 13; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Eph 3:21; 2 Tim 2:2, 15; 3:16-17; Acts 2:47; 1 John 1:3; Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42).
Last Things (Jesus' Return)
I believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the saved unto the resurrection of eternal life and the lost unto the resurrection of damnation and eternal punishment in a literal and physical hell. I believe in the personal, bodily return of our Lord Jesus Christ before the seven-year tribulation, His second coming to earth after the tribulation to establish His millennial reign on earth and the final triumph of His eternal kingdom.
(Mat 25:31; Luke 1:31-33; Acts 1:10-11; 2:29-30; Rev 20:1-7; Dan 7:17-27; Rev 20:1-7; Ez 37:21-28; Dan 7:17-22; Rev 19:11-16).