Reformed. Christianity. Evangelism. Modern Culture.
When I heard that Matt Chandler was going to preach at the Code Orange Revival planned by Steve Furtick I was abit sceptical. Looking at the line up of mega church peachers and word of faith gurus, he appeared to be the only conservative preacher. On one side you had T.D Jakes, Craig Groeschel, Christine Cane, James MacDonald, Israel Houghton, Jentezen Franklin, Perry Noble, Stovall Weems, Kevin Gerald and Steven Furtick.
So the stage was set for ..umm…Code Orange! However, Matt sure enough showed up. He indeed came with something up his sleeve. He came to with a no holds barred message. By the end of which it seems some one or some people were seeing RED!! Now, every one seems to be wondering why Matt chandler’s sermons have not been rebroadcast on the website. The whodunnit game is going on. Who lost the tape?
After much searching and looking I seem to have found the missing sermon. And WOW!!!! You gotta listen to this!!!
Matt Chandler’s Code Orange 2012 message –(audio)–: Click Here!
What did he preach about in summary?
[Matt Chandler] pastor of The Village Church in Highland, Texas, and one of the invited speakers at Code Orange, stood up at Elevation Church and delivered what turned out to be a barn burner of a sermon. In his distinctive delivery style (that is to say, humble, loving, direct and at times laugh-out-loud funny), Chandler took aim at the kind of preaching that has been so aptly termed “Narcissistic Eisegeis,” and at which Steven Furtick, and so many others in the seeker sensitive movement, excel.
Narcissistic Eisegesis (“Narcigesis”) = Forcing the Bible to mean something you already want it to mean by superimposing yourself into the meaning of the passage, rather than interpreting Scripture for what it means about God, and letting the Scripture simply speak for itself. Conversely, seeking to understand Scripture for what it reveals about God is known as Exegesis, and is also sometimes referred to as the “Literal” or “Grammatical-Historical” approach to interpreting Scripture. Example: The Narcissitic Eisegesis version of David and Goliath would be about you fighting your personal “giants” (i.e., problems, difficulties, setbacks, etc.). The Exegetical approach to interpreting David and Goliath would reveal, instead, an historical account of David’s faith and God supernaturally intervening in an impossible situation for his own glory.
Finally, there was an explanation for the missing tapes. Geoff Schultz, the Motion Graphic Designer for Elevation Church said on his Facebook wall that the reason why Chandler’s sermon was (super censored and) edited out of the revival’s rebroadcasts was that:
“The team decided to focus the rebroadcast on Jesus – so we reformatted the content a bit – We are trying to stay in the flow of what the Spirit is leading us to do.”
Hee hee! 😉
A Twisted Crown of Thorns ® 
I have heard warnings about the WOF movement.. I pray the Church would move away from sensationalism and just stick to the Gospel.. but that is just my opinion..
Just remember God builds his church,and he uses men and women who has sinned and still sins to produce these churches,Then we try to proclaim holy holy holy.I currently go to a harvest bible chapel church aka james macdonald affiliated.I have downloaded every sermon i can find on matt chandler.and i found my church by listening to code orange revival and james macdonald.this weekend i visited elevation church,in matthew nc.Pretty awesome.But i remember the days when i was in the word of faith trainwreck and i say that because it was just that.very manipulated ministries.people died because believing in faith for healing that simple antibodics would have taken care of.God will sift out the truths to us in whatever manner,it takes.I struggle with a issue.when part of the gospel is preached.and it is so cultish sometimes.Blessings your bro in christ phil
I loved the message and loved the warning to Elevation and the others there. This is something that tends to happen to all of us when we accomplish great things. What I hear and see happening with the Mega Churches reminds me sometimes of what happens to mega entertainers. When they start out it’s all about the music or the message, but when they become a ‘star,’ and that’s what is happening to many of these pastors, they begin to think too much of themselves. I saw it happen at Lakewood, and lately too many sermons by Furtick and others is all about their growth. I love all of them and pray for them often. Every single one of us needs reminders of what Matt said that all we do should give credit and glory to God.
I pray that this message gets out to all of these Mega Church pastors, and if it hurts them or makes them uncomfortable, that they do something about it, repent, as Matt said. They have an important roll in the advancement of the Church. I’ve heard many very good sermons by all of them. But, they too need to be humbled sometimes. I pray they heard this message with the right heart.
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Matt’s sermon was good, nothing wrong with what he said during the sermon. I don’t care for the manipulation that he threw out during the closing, where he basically said if you don’t respond to God, He will give you a sickness or some other horrible grief out of love for you.
Yup, I know that bit is abit dodgy and sounds manipulative.
Reblogged this on God Over Night… and commented:
He’ brought it, and you know it!
Reformed vs covenant — I do not credit any theology with bringing me closer to God. We need more Jesus. Let him who glories, glory in the Lord.
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“The team decided to focus the rebroadcast on Jesus – so we reformatted the content a bit – We are trying to stay in the flow of what the Spirit is leading us to do.”
Sure, blame the Holy Spirit for hiding biblical truths that expose your lies. Seems kinda blasphemous to me!
I’m sad to see MacDonald associated with this. He used to be really good. Hopefully Chandler will inspire him to get back to his roots.
Not sure what would get everyone all riled up. So a megachurch received a rather mild reminder to not take the glory from God. Matt even says his church had gone thru the same. I didn’t hear any accusations. From a believer with no ties to elevation or this site or Matt, I think this sensationalist “reporting” and in-fighting is what is turning people off. Let God determine the motive and accuracy of each message. We are only charged with loving and spreading the gospel. I think that both the way this was reported and the way the sermon was yanked is disappointing. Even Paul in Philipians 1 acknowledges that some preach out of impure motives. Paul still rejoiced because the message got out regardless. It would be nice (and righteous) for this site and elevation to do the same.
Whatsthedealio, I see you have a minimalist view of sound doctrine and biblical scholarship. But the same Paul you are attempting to quote did say, “show yourself to be a work man approved, rightly dividing the word of truth”. Scriptural ignorance is not a virtue. 😦
Further more Paul exhorts in his letter to Timothy to correct, rebuke and reprove using scripture as the standard against false teachings that rise up. he commended the Bereans for being noble in that they searched their scriptures diligently to see if the things that Paul himself was preaching were true.
I’m glad I listened to it. But this is terrible.
Jeff
It is very terrible to see the video being classified as “anti- jesus” and “against the flow of the spirit”.
This video you found of his sermon is actually from my youtube channel. Elevation “Church” just had it removed a couple of hours ago 😦 Apparently, there’s a copyright on the gospel now.
How sad 😦
One of the largest mission fields in the world is inside American churches… Preach on, Mr. Chandler.
One church down, i wonder how many to go? 😉
I listened to the message. I thought it was very good. I pray that those listening heard what Matt was saying. I would hope that James McDonald will be as bold. Will his message be posted? It boggles my mind why these two were listed with all those others.
I hope James McDonald remains orthodox and bold. We shall see what the out come of the Code Orange conference with time. I hope God is glorified at the end of it.