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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi guys. Welcome to Sandals Church, man. This is our last week in old rules for new life. Who's enjoyed this series? Anybody?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes. If you're new at Sandals Church, this is the thing that breaks my heart for our culture. So many of us have have thrown out God's word and we have paid the consequences. And these old rules, these 10 commandments have blessed so many lives. I have had people come up to me everywhere saying, man, I never knew the 10 commandments were so rich.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look, all of God's word is so rich. And so we're gonna be wrapping up today with the last commandment. And and I don't want you to think that God, like, phases out here. He's gonna come at you once again with something that you so desperately need to know because every one of these commandments can change your life. Every one of these commandments can direct your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So what I wanna talk about today is this crisis of happiness. Has anybody noticed that people are not happy? Look, elderly people are not happy. I mean, literally one of the struggles for retirement people is they're not happy. It's an epidemic of unhappiness in our senior citizens.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:People that are working in are not happy, young people are not happy, our kids are not happy. So I wanna talk today about why the last commandment has to do with happiness. So I just wanna ask you this question. How many of you guys have ever struggled with happiness? Raise your hands.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. So what I wanna talk about today is if your hands aren't up, you need to go back to the message on lying and really, really focus in there. We've all been unhappy at sometimes. So I wanna talk to you today about how to be happy with what you have. You see, the key to happiness is focusing on what you have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The antithesis or the opposite of happiness is focusing on what you don't have. So let me just kind of set you up here. Okay. This is a setup. Be ready.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But how many of you ever have wished you had more time? Raise your hands. Okay. If your hand's not up, you're not honest. How about this?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody want more space? Yes. Yes. If you're married, like, from my spouse. We need a little space.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Or from your kids. Amen, moms? A little space. We need a backyard, maybe a field, maybe the wilderness. Just go play.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Go play. Now this one, you're not gonna be wanna wanna be honest on, but our vision at Sandals Church is to be real. Okay? You're gonna wanna lie. Don't.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many of you have ever wished you had more money? Maybe a little more. Just a tad. A tad more. You're like, nope, pastor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Too rich. I wanna talk to you about tithing. Okay? If you're just drowning in money. Okay, you're Scrooge McDuck.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's meet together, and we're gonna talk about how you can share that gold. Amen? Stop swimming in it and give it. So here's the rule. Each and every week, we've looked at a commandment and we establish a rule.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so here's the rule for the last command. Rule number 10, the desire for more is a dangerous game. That's the rule. Now, somebody said, well, is wanting more always wrong? No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But the desire for more is a dangerous game. And some of you lose at it every time. It's ruining your life, it's wrecking your life, and that's what the last commandment is all about, the desire for more, the desire for what you don't have. And so here's what God's word says in Exodus 2017. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, some of you did that on the way to church today, amen? You're like, why don't we have a lawn? Why don't we have grass? Why don't we have a 2 story? You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's a little strange. Or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or his Porsche or his Harley. Right? Amen? Or his boat.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You too want a boat that you never use. Amen? Or anything, listen to this, that is your neighbor's. Why are you so unhappy? Why are you so miserable?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why are people so sad? Number 1, comparison is the thief of joy. It is. It is. When I was a kid, we didn't have Instagram.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I didn't know we were poor because everyone around us was poor. We didn't know. Right? We had 3 channels. Walk to school, uphill both ways in the snow with no shoes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Three channels. We all watch the same show shows. We all had the same life. And now constantly on Instagram, on social media, on TikTok, we're watching worldwide people who have more than us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're just sitting there, oh, I'm never gonna go to this exotic hot spring. You have no idea how terrible it was to get there, how awful it was, how the parents spanked their kids 10 times on the way to the hot spring. They're like, why do we have to be here? Why do we have to be so exotic? I kid you not.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My my kids' number one complaint when they were little, why do we always have to travel? Right? Why can't we be like the neighbors and go nowhere? Comparison is the thief of joy. You look at someone else's wife.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She's beautiful. You look at someone else's husband. Oh, he's so caring and so loving. He's so wise. He's so much like Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why am I thinking about adultery with Jesus? Right? That's scary. That's what you're doing. Oh, their house, their car, their boat.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so many of us miss out on the beauty of what God's given us because we're looking at the blessing that God's given to someone else. Comparison is the thief of joy. It will rob you of the beauty of what you have, and here's why. Somebody's always better looking, younger, fitter, further ahead. Always.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if you ever get to be number 1 for a second, it's for a second. And then you're gonna slide back. So let's talk today about how to enjoy the life that you have with what you have. Because what someone else has is gonna ruin what you have. So number 2, recognize the potential dangers of more.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. We've all asked for more. So let's talk about a bigger house. Right? Jesus says, in my Father's house, there are many rooms.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? God's got people to clean. Some of you ladies, that big house that you want is gonna break your back. Okay, Tammy and I, our whole life, we've always lived in homes that we've owned, our entire life. Don't get mad at me, young people, but our first house when we bought in Riverside, $75,000 I know, hate me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just throw it at me, throw it at me. $75,000. That's what we paid for a 3 bedroom 2 bath house. I know. Hate me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bring it. I can take it. And from there, we just kept moving up, buying bigger, better, pool, spa, you name it. We just kept going, kept going, kept going. And then eventually, it got so big.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what I realized. I said, Tammy, I feel like our house is a part time job that I don't get paid for. And here's the thing. That big house will ruin you. Some of you guys, listen to me, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't need a bigger lawn to mow on Saturday. You need more time with your kids on Saturday. So stop fantasizing about the riding lawnmower and start fantasizing and wondering about maybe you need to sell your house. So this last year, Tammy and I sold our house. Good time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. The Lord was good. We sold our house. We moved into a rental that's half the size of our last house, and it's wonderful. It's wonderful.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's great. Now we've had to change some things. You know, my closet's in another bedroom. That's how it is, single guys. Like, you don't matter, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I got to go to I got to go to the other room to get my clothes. But you know what? It's wonderful. It's wonderful. You see, bigger isn't always better.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It isn't always better. And some of you guys, you're just like, oh my gosh. And let me tell you this, just because somebody's in a big house doesn't mean that they have lots of happiness. One of the best gifts you can have as a family is you have to work with each other and connect with each other. I mean, when you live in a small house, you have to make up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can't fight forever because you can't avoid each other, right? Like, you know, a big house, you just go your side, my side. But a small house, you gotta work it out. Next one, more money, right? I just we just need more money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If we just had more money, we could, and you got this long list that gives you an excuse as to why you're not happy. You know what more money is? It's more to manage. It's more stress. It's more stress.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I first started Sandals Church, man, I don't care if banks are failing. You know why? Sandals got no money. They can fail all day long. That's fine with me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now, literally, with our board, we had a meeting. Where are we gonna put some of our money? Because sandals has done well. We we got we got a little savings. Now we're worried about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, when you're poor, you're like, who cares what happens to the dollar? I'm good. You know? Listen to what Ecclesiastes says. He who loves money will not be satisfied with money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now you gotta make money. You gotta make money, you just can't love it. You can't love it. You see, he who loves wealth with his income also has vanity. It's a sin.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's gross. It will destroy you. It will ruin you. Listen to me very carefully what I'm about to say. Spiritual ghettos are full of wealthy people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, when we think ghetto, we think physical poverty. When God thinks ghetto, he thinks wealth. It's why after the rich man walked away, listen to me, from eternal life, Jesus said it is impossible for the rich to inherit the kingdom of God. The fanciest neighborhoods in America are spiritual ghettos. They are missing out on the goodness of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what's so sad. You have God and you want that ghetto. You wanna move into that ghetto, where your kids aren't happy. I mean, some of the wealthiest people I know are the most unhappy. Struggling, wrestling, trying to figure out how to be happy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you, here's your prayer to God. Let me be miserable like them. Now this one's not as sensitive. The dangerous game of more. We want more time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just want more time. I want more time. The Bible doesn't teach us to want more time. It teaches us to make use of the time we have. Psalms 9012, teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're not gonna live forever. I don't know if you know this, but you have an appointment with death. I don't wanna be a downer, but it's on your calendar. You just don't know when it is. And some of us, man, I just wish I had more time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wish I had more time. You know what more time usually means? The opportunity to be stupid. You know the fastest growing couples age group of divorce? Retired couples.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Too much time. I don't like you. I don't like you. Right? Too much time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The fastest growing area of divorces are retirees. You see, most of us never get in trouble when we have to do what we have to do. We get into trouble when there's nothing to do. Anybody with little kids? The most dangerous thing in your house is when it's too quiet.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What is happening? Someone could be dying. You better get up and check. Right? You need to hear a scream from time to time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? It's too quiet. What's going on? They're painting your bedroom. Something's happening.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number 3. Listen. Instead of focusing on focusing on everybody else, become the best version of yourself. If I could go back in time and and talk back to young Matt Brown, here's what I I would beg him. Matt, don't aspire to be someone else, but learn to be inspired by someone else to become your best self.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because listen to me. As hard as you try to become someone else, you will always fail because you're not them. And here's the good news. God hasn't called you to be them. And so here's what we do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We compare ourselves to someone else. I mean, you know why most of you don't exercise, you don't eat right? Because you're like, what's the point? You just criticize your body. You're brutal to your body.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What if you stopped criticizing your body and you just started taking care of it? I mean, everybody in here, everybody watching, is there is there something about your body that you don't like? Raise your hands. Okay. I don't like my ears.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They belong in a much bigger skull. Amen? They do. I don't like my legs. Whenever I sit down next to people, they always think I'm, like, sitting on a box.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The doctors say from here up, I'm 6 3, and from here down, I'm 5 7. Just think Fred Flintstone and little Barney Rubble eggs. Right? So I, you know, I I'm critical of myself. I mean, I wanna meet you if you just wake up in the morning, you're just like, I love me some meat.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But what if instead of criticizing your body, you just started taking care of it? Well, I'm too old, pastor. Well, you need to take care of it, but it's it's more urgent. You you need to start taking care of it. The Lord gave you your body, and obviously he didn't want us all look the same.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He created uniqueness. So quit judging yourself compared to someone else and just be the best version of yourself. Be as fit and as healthy as you can be. Then ladies, you can go to the gym and not be like, hate her. Hate her.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hate her. She needs the Lord. Right? Next, instead of wishing you had somebody else's skills, develop the skills you have. Man, I could work on singing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? Wouldn't it be awesome if I was on the worship team, Sam's worship team? I would take you guys to the throne. Right? I can't sing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't sing. It's not my gift. I mean, it's not even my skill. It's not even a mild talent. But some of you are so mad at God because he didn't give you someone else's skill.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's the tragedy. You are not you're not you're not enhancing your skill. Be the best version of you. And so many of you parents, you're raising kids, they're so mad they're not someone else. They're not called to be someone else.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let them become their best version of themselves. Like, when I was when I was in school, my parents never recognized my talent for talking. No teacher ever said one day, your little chatty Cathy is gonna change the world. Who knew? Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who knew? This is not detention. This is determination. But learn to manage your kids' skills. And that's the thing is we're trying to, you know, we're trying to make our kids like everybody else.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, stop competing with everybody else. Can I just tell you this? This life is not a competition. When you get when you stand before God, he's not gonna compare you to everyone else. He's gonna compare you to what he called you to be.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you are gonna be very, very disappointed because you ran a race against everyone else and you failed to run the race against yourself. So let me just challenge you. Do your best and let God handle the rest. Because if you try to handle it, you're gonna go crazy. You're gonna go crazy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're gonna feel discouraged. And let me just tell you what I've learned. God only holds us accountable for our effort. He does not hold us accountable for our outcome. That's it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do your best and let God handle the rest. Do you know why? You you you can't determine things. You can't change people. You cannot make the world different.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can only be your best. That's that's all you can do, instead of focusing on what your neighbor's doing, what your neighbor has, his servant, his oxes. Right? Do you see this? This is how God's wrapping up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's like, I love you. I wanna bless you. Stop focusing on everyone else. Focus on the ox you have, the wife you have, the kids you have, the life you have. Because the only thing that happens when you focus on someone else's life is your life feels insignificant and you become miserable.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alright, number 4. Invest in the relationships you have. Everybody's on social media and everybody feels alone. We are more digitally connected than we've ever been, but we're more relationally separated than we've ever been as a culture. People are alone.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alone. Like most of you, if your neighbors went missing and the cops came and said, have you seen them? You'd be like, who? You know. You couldn't identify your neighbors.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are not connected. We're all alone, and we're watching everybody else's lives. You know what television is? You're watching fake people's lives, and you're all into it like it's real. Oh my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you believe so and so that's not real? Yeah. This getting paid to cry? Yes. Talk to me about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Tell me about this. Meanwhile, you're lonely, you're miserable, and you feel like God doesn't care about you. Maybe God would just say to you, maybe get off the television and get in a community group. Maybe instead of just going to church, maybe talk to somebody at church. So if you're single, look, become a friend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Become a friend. You don't have to be married to love God, but you do have to be friendly to love him. And let me say this about relationships. Every relationship is hard and every person will hurt you, so find somebody that's worth suffering for. People are not easy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know some of you are like, okay. I'm not yep. That was offensive. Yes. Every relationship is hard and every person will hurt you on some level, so find somebody that's worth being hurt for.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:People are not easy. So if you're single, focus on friendships. But if you constantly go to weddings, you're like, I don't know what my problem is, you're gonna be miserable. You're gonna be miserable. God in heaven sees you at the wedding, goes, here she goes again.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's just, you know. And you're just miserable. You know, always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I remember one time at Sandals, a woman came up to me in the lobby. She said, why won't men at this church step up and marry me?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, well, let's start with your attitude. She goes to another church. If you're married, spend at least as much time thanking God for your spouse as you do criticizing them. Like, when you're dating, I I mean, I dating people. I mean, I love you with the love of the Lord, but I can't stand you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Oh, my gosh. This is so perfect. Call me in a month. Isn't it amazing when you date?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, my gosh. We have everything in common. We, like, air. The movies. Exotic vacations not working.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're just we're just made for each other. And then you get married and all you see is the differences. All you see is what they do wrong. And guess what happens. When you focus on what your spouse gets wrong, that's gonna change your your heart towards them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You need to learn to say, okay, God, What do I love about my spouse? What do they do right? And how can I appreciate them for that? Like, does anybody in here need to be more verbal about criticism? You know, the Lord's really convicting me today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I need to tell my spouse where they're wrong all the time, every day. Or do you need to catch your spouse, you know, do something right? Doing something right. Because if we're not careful, all that's gonna come out is what's wrong. And that's our culture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Our culture is the eternal critic. And you've heard me say this, a critical spirit is not the Holy Spirit. The critical spirit is not the Holy Spirit. So just make a list and say what are the things that I love about my spouse.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I'm not saying you have to treat them like they're perfect, but but make a list and say thank you for doing these things. Thank you. Next, if you have kids, love and lead the kids. Love and lead who your kids are, not who you wish they were. Always love the kids, the parents in our church, my son's gonna be a professional athlete.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I look at him for 5 minutes. I'm like, no. My wife and I were at a hotel and this guy was walking by. And I said, that's a professional athlete. My wife's like, how do you know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do you know? I said, honey, he looks like a Greek God. That's what a professional athlete looks like. But she didn't believe me. She didn't trust me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So we googled him, and he was a professional athlete. Played tight end for the Arizona Cardinals. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I told my wife, that is what a man can look like. This is what you get to enjoy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. So, I mean, he was so glorious. I I had a tear in my eye as he went by. But look, manage your kids. And let me say this, your kids are not a mini you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're they're not you. If I could go back and re parent, I I I would go back and that's why I know some people are against the Enneagram. That's why I wish I would have learned the Enneagram much earlier because my kids are so radically different from me in terms of what motivates them and drives them. And here's the mistake I made as a parent. I tried to raise them the way I would want to be raised and I failed to see how God would have me raise someone that was very different from me Because we're different.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Try to notice your kids. Be a noticer. What makes them unique? What makes them special? And don't tell me everything.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There are some things that make your kid unique and special, and find a way to develop that and encourage that. Because, you know, you know, my wife has so many skills and and and one of it is drives me crazy. She rearranges our furniture all the time. Does any other husbands have that? You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I always ask her, I said, why didn't you go into architecture or design? You know what she told me? She said it was never encouraged. Clearly gifted at design. Clearly gifted at spatial awareness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I have none. Amen. Put the couch right here. Wherever I get to drop it, right? Amen, guys?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wherever we don't ever have to move it again, that's where it should go. But my wife, man, knows how to make things beautiful. And I enjoy it, but I don't know how to do that. You know, I barely understand where the underwear goes. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alright. This is important. This is important. Learn how to enjoy today. If you struggle with anxiety, do you know you know what your problem is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're not present. You're worried about the future and you don't know it. You are not a mind reader. You are not a psychic. You don't know what's coming.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you battle anxiety, learn to be present. Learn to be right here. Psalms 1 1824, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it and be glad in it. Let me translate it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It is what it is. It is what it is. When you woke up this morning, accept the challenge. Today saw you, and it's coming for you. It's coming for you every day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? It's not just the sun that comes up. It's the challenges. Amen? It's the challenges.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In my forties, I did a thing called Ironman races. I don't know if you've heard of these. They're for very, very silly people that have nothing better to do than hurt themselves. But an Ironman race is a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike, and a marathon to top it off at the end because we're silly in one day. So it's an all day race.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what I learned. You can train for the race, but you can only accept the day. Let me say that again. You can train for the race, you can only accept the day. You know what I can't control?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How hot it is. I can't control how cold it is. I can't control. I did an Ironman in Hawaii. You're like, oh, great.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was horrible. It's where the devil lives in Hawaii. And if you wanna understand what that is, go ride your bike in your laundry room with the dryer open blowing on you for 6 hours. That's what it felt like. The wind was so fierce in Hawaii, I saw people get blown over.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sometimes the waves are so high, I can't even see where the cones are. I've actually swam in the wrong direction. That's fun. Some lifeguard, this way, this way, this way. I've run a marathon in Mexico and got heat stroke on mile 17.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't control the day. I can control my training. That's why you should read your Bible and pray every day. I cannot control the day. And here's what broke most athletes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was the day. They were trained up. They were ready and fired up, but the day broke them. Man, if you got toddlers, little kids, they're pumped up every day. They don't need a Red Bull.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's already inside them. And your 2 year old is ready. Moms, are you ready? Are you ready? Because they are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if you have multiple multiple, they've been conspiring since 5 AM. Where are the knives? Where are the plugs? Where's mom's makeup? How can we smear it on her new bedroom floor?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pastor Alfredo showed me he got that new fake grass. Anybody seen that? You get the fake grass, you never have to mow it? His daughter spray painted it for him. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:With black. She was cleaning it up for daddy. That's what little kids do. They're gonna help your life. Are you ready?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You got a teenager? Oh, man. They're ready for the day. Are you ready? Are you ready?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Raising teenagers is like bungee jumping without a rope. I don't know if you're gonna make it. You better be ready. Then you get adult children. Every time my phone rings, I have a little heart attack.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who's in a car accident? Who what what happened? What disaster is going on? You know? I mean, sometimes I feel like the president of the United States, we're at war with someone.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just don't know who. You know? Can you guys hear the laughing? Can I just encourage you? Laugh at what goes wrong.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So many man, so many vacations. I remember 1. We we got into RVing. No vacation ever goes right. And we put the septic tank into the depository at the campground, and it was full.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Nobody knew it was full. These are California state employees. They had not checked the level of the septic tank, and so it blew. Yeah. Just think old faithful.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Blew. Well, I'm right here. Yeah. And I was showered in the feces of every Californian. So if I ever die of a weird weird illness, that was the day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That was the day. And now I just laugh at it. I just laugh at it. Yeah. Praise God for the small things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A hyperdemic needle didn't, like, land in my arm, you know? And you just you laugh. Anybody ever watch, you know, YouTube or Instagram and you just watch people make mistakes? Like, I laugh. Why can't you laugh at yourself?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I follow this one page on Instagram. It's called dumb ways to die. Yeah. Anybody watch that? And I'm just like, but when it's me, Just learn to laugh, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. Your kids are little terrorists. They might be the future leader of North Korea. Yes. Just laugh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Laugh. You're bigger than them. You have more nukes. Amen? Sometimes sometimes the fights you're having as a married couple are just stupid.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just instead of fighting, just start laughing. I mean, be careful. But laugh. Stuff goes wrong. And if I would have been such a better parent if I learned to laugh at my mistakes instead of losing my mind over them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Learn to laugh. Next, learn from your mistakes. Don't do it again. Don't do it again. Stop stop being a victim.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what a victim allows you? To never learn. Because when you're a victim, you're not responsible. Learn. One of my favorite fights with my wife, this is the best one.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just, in the middle of it, I just yelled out loud, I don't know what I'm doing. Did anybody go to the school of husbandry? 12 years in in in school, college, seminary, nobody took me to school of husbandry. I don't know what I'm doing. And here's what I wanna yell, and you don't either.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are both clueless. Think about it as parents. You've never led this far before. I don't care what age your kids are. You don't know what you're doing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They don't know what they're doing. Just just say that. Look, I don't I don't know what I'm doing. I'm so sorry. Next, be the first to apologize.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How come no Christian school are the apologizers? Why were the warriors, lancers? How about how about the apologizers? I'm sorry. We should be good at it because if you've never apologized to God, you're not a Christian.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Salvation begins with I'm sorry. I've blown this. You see, there's a reason we need a savior because we're sorry and we realize we've sinned. So learn to say you're sorry. It's okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You've heard me say this. I carry a bag of sorries everywhere I go. It's a big bag. I make lots of mistakes. Last point.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Could you just thank God for what he's given you? Do you know why you covet? Because you're not grateful. This this is the verse for those of you who are not satisfied with your life. This is the Apostle Paul.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Philippians 4:18. I want you to memorize this this week, especially if you're discouraged, you're overwhelmed, or angry. Listen to these words. At the moment, I have all I need and more. What what would happen if in your marriage you said, at the moment, I have all I need and more?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was meeting with a group of young church planters in Los Angeles and and these guys have really been through it. Six pastors that most of them started during COVID. Whoops. And one of the young men asked me this question. His his his church is right next to where the Lakers play.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's crypto.com now. I can't remember the name of it. Yeah. It used to be a Staples Center. Now it's it's crypto.com or you lost all your money dot com.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what it's called. Yeah. But here's what he said. He said he said, when do you have enough resources to do what God's called you to do? I start laughing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because he looks at Sandals Church and he says, you have 14 campuses. You have a multimillion dollar budget. You you just have, you know, we're Scrooge McDuck. We got a pile of gold in the back. And I turned to our pastor that's over all our campuses and I said, how many of our facilities need physical improvements today?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Not want, need. He said, 6. I have 6 campuses that have more physical needs than we have money for. I said, and here's the thing. You know what enough robs you of?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Faith. You wanna kill a church? Give them a $100,000,000 and pay off all their debts. You'll kill it. You need faith.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I need faith. So just thank God for what you have. You know what you have today? Enough. You actually have more because it's all you can handle based upon the faith that you have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me say this. Things don't increase happiness. Gratitude does. Gratitude does. 1 Timothy 6:8.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. Look. I'm old enough. I'm old enough to remember when hunger was a real problem on earth. Now the world's problem is obesity.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That that has shifted in my lifetime. The problem's obesity. You see, more doesn't solve problems. Oftentimes, it causes problems. You see, contentment, listen to me, is the opposite of covetedness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do I stop coveting? How do I stop wanting more and more and more? I'm content with what I have. That that's how I do it. Philippians 411, Paul says this, not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to these words. For I have learned how to be content. What do you need to be to be happier? You must learn to be content. And so much of the unhappiness amongst young people today is their demand for more rather than contentment for what they have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have no idea what we have. If you're a young person a 100 years ago, you could have died from a splinter, from a horrible infection. You have no idea the blessings that you have. And yet what happens when you want more? Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You are never satisfied. Parents, teach your children to be content. Our kids are from the oldest to the youngest, 6 years apart. I used to do cereal in the mornings. You know what my little one would always do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at the bowl of the oldest. Like, she's 6 years older than you. She weighs twice as much. I'm not gonna put the same in your bowl. And he's, mom would put the same.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, well, mommy's not here. Some of you are mad just like my little son was because God's blessed someone else with more. Listen to me. They're just simply able to handle it, and you're not yet. So instead of saying, God, why don't I have more?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why not say this? God, where do I need to grow so you can bless me with more? You wanna know where God needs to grow all of us? In contentment. And let me say this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If your parents didn't teach you that, listen, you have to parent yourself. Nothing can satisfy you except God. Nothing. Proverbs 1923, the fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it, listen to me, rests satisfying. Now fear in Hebrew is a is a tough word to translate.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what it does, it doesn't mean fear in the way we interpret, like, being afraid of. What it means is a right understanding. So it should be translated awesome, but that just we're all thinking of a surfer. Awesome, bruh. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not the right word either. What it what it is is a right understanding of God leads to satisfaction in your life. And some of you, here's why you're miserable. You don't have a fear of God. You have a fear of missing out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so every single day, you're scrolling on what you've missed out on instead of scrolling through God's scroll and realizing what He's given you. Because God has given you an incredible gift that's called life. And so here's what I want you to do if you're married today. I want you to thank your spouse for them. And don't put an asterisk.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wanna thank you, but I wanna thank you. If you're single, I want you to call a friend today. I want you to say thank you. If you have kids, I want you to thank them for something they do right. And you may have to wait a while.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've been waiting. Thank you. Thank you. But thank them for the smallest act of of of graciousness or whatever. Thank you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Mommy loves that. Daddy loves that. Thank you. Because here's the thing, the reason we're miserable is we focus on what we don't have. The way you find happiness is focusing on what God has given you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. Who cares what your neighbor has? You're not your neighbor. You're you and God wants to bless you. And the way out of this misery, sadness and depression that our country is facing is contentment with what God has given.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That is the beauty. That's the beauty. The Lord has blessed you with today. That's why we call it the present. Make the most of it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Make the most of it because you are not guaranteed tomorrow. Make the most of it. Let me pray God's spirit of peace and contentment over you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for these wonderful truths, these ten commandments, these ten sayings that bless our life, these old rules for the new life that we want.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, I pray that your Holy Spirit would fall on every one of us. Convict us, Lord, of where of where we have been ungrateful, and convince us, Holy Spirit, to be satisfied with what we have. Lord, thank you for how you've blessed us. Thank you for the relationships and friendships we have, and thank you for the day that you have given us. This is the day that you have made.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, help us to rejoice and be glad in it. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi. Thank you so much for watching.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If this material is helping you to further your authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, I wanna encourage you to move from being someone who watches content to someone who participates and helps give towards this content. I want you to know that no amount is too small. Jesus Christ himself makes the biggest deal out of the smallest gift, and so whether that's $1 or $5 or $10, every dollar helps us in our mission to reaching the world with this vision of authenticity. So if God is prompting you, if the Holy Spirit is moving you towards generosity of the Sandals Church, I wanna encourage you to go to donate.sc. And here's all we ask, give whatever god asks you to give, and we will just pray over that and ask god to bless that so that we can reach more people like you with this life changing message.