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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
Hi, guys.
Welcome to Sandals church.
We are in this series called healthy.
I want you to think about your family, your friends, people that you work with.
When you bring up the word healthy, what's the last thing people think?
Automatically, we immediately run to, oh, I should have joined the gym membership.
I got to get a peloton.
I got to do this.
We run immediately to physical health.
And then last week, we talked about emotional health, and we all realize we're a total
wreck, right?
We left church like, oh, man, I need Jesus.
Yeah, that's the point.
But oftentimes, the thing that determines the most health is the last thing we ever think
of, and that's our souls.
And so one of the things we need to face as Americans, and I realize some of our listeners
watch from other countries, and so I don't know what life is like in your country, but in
America, our souls are shriveling, they're parched, and we continue to run further and
further from God, and we get more and more emotionally unhealthy, more and more physically
unhealthy, and more and more spiritually unhealthy.
Thank you so much for joining our service today.
I want to take a quick second to invite you to give to the work that God is doing in and
through Sandals church to do so you can go to give SC.
And with that, let's get back into our message with Pastor Matt.
And so this year in America is an election.
Yay.
And so, you know, there's more division, more anger, more frustration, and really more
unhealthy.
And so what I want to do is I want to go way back.
I don't want to talk about America.
I want to talk about Israel over 2000 years ago, and they were in a very similar situation
to us.
It was a political year.
They didn't have candidates.
They had kings, but they were just as bad as our leaders.
And there was just this thinking, we really, really need to rely on either Egypt or
Assyria.
Who are we going to go with?
Who's going to help us?
Who's going to save us?
And the prophet Jeremiah says, you guys are focused on the wrong thing.
You're focused on all these physical things, and you're neglecting the spiritual truth of
your relationship with God.
And so in Jeremiah 17 five through eight, I want to start here.
This is what the Lord says.
I just want to park there.
It's not what I say.
These aren't my opinions.
These aren't my thoughts.
This is from the prophet Jeremiah.
And I don't know where you are or who you are, but this is straight from God to your heart.
This is what the Lord says.
Now, this is going to be rough, because a lot of us have a picture of God and of life that
is not biblical.
It says, cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans who rely on human strength and
turn their hearts away from the Lord.
They are like stunted shrubs in the desert.
Come on, SoCal, we can relate.
Listen to this.
With no hope for the future, we got a lot of people running around.
Oh, it's going to be okay.
Well, that depends who you're walking with.
They live in a barren wilderness.
Listen to this language.
In an uninhabited, salty land, it's pretty bleak.
And that's what happens when you trust in the election, when you trust in a candidate, when
you trust in a party or a process.
Man, if you forget God, there's just no hope for you.
You're a stunted shrub.
You will never reach your potential.
Matter of fact, it says you're cursed.
But here's the good news, and we can change this today.
We can change 2024, not for everyone, but for you.
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and
confidence.
Listen to this.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long, long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.
What a contrast.
What a stark contrast between two types of people, one that pursues God and one that
pursues their own strengths.
And so if you're going to be healthy in 2024, man, you can go to the gym and still be
parched.
You can work out every day and still be starving.
God wants you, listen to this.
To be physically healthy.
He wants you to be emotionally healthy, and he wants you to be spiritually healthy.
That's why Jesus said that the most important commandment is to love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
And here's the thing, barbells won't help you forever.
You need to learn to work out your soul and your spirit.
So what does it look like to pursue spiritual health?
Some of us have no idea.
Right?
We have no idea.
My wife and I, we started working out for the first time together this year.
And pray for us.
We almost got divorced twice.
Because it's easy to be married, it's hard to actually do things together.
And so I've been in the gym not my whole life, but for about the last 15 years, I've been a
regular person at the gym, working out, exercising, and I've forgotten what it's like to
start.
I've forgotten what it's like and how intimidating that is.
And so I bring my wife to my gym, and all the women are dressed like they're headed for a
Victoria secret photo shoot.
This is exercise outfits, babe.
She's like, yeah, I see why you want to come to the gym.
But here's the thing is, she's having to learn all kinds of new things, all kinds of new
movements that feel weird.
I mean, some gym equipment is just embarrassing.
Like, if you were just doing these things out on the street, right?
People be like, what's wrong with that person?
But in the gym, it's totally normal.
Here's the thing is, my wife instantly was acutely aware of her lack of physical strength.
There were just some things where the gym didn't have weights that were light enough, and I
just never thought about that.
So here's number one.
If you're going to pursue spiritual health, number one, this is huge.
A person that's pursuing spiritual health is aware of the weakness of their flesh.
The most self righteous people are the least spiritual people.
Super confident.
I'm a great person.
I'm awesome.
I'm incredible, right?
That person is not a spiritually healthy person.
There's a deep awareness of the weakness of my flesh.
Over the years as your pastor, I've not had an affair.
I've not been on the news.
I've not committed crimes.
And that's not because I'm super awesome.
It's just because I'm aware that.
But by the grace of God, there go I.
And I've seen so many of my friends blow it, blow up their ministry, blow up their
marriage, blow up their life.
And here's the thing.
It's because I learned not to trust me.
When my kids were dating, my wife and I, we would watch them like a hawk and like, dad, I
just feel like you don't trust me.
I said, it's not that I don't trust you.
It's just I don't trust your flesh, and you don't know its power.
You don't know how in an instant, it can just throw away your life.
In Matthew 26 41, Jesus says these words.
Listen to this.
To the Navy seals of Christianity, not to you, not to me.
These are the Navy seals.
These are the hand picked disciples of Jesus.
And say, well, he had no, no, Judas is not present.
He says, keep watch and pray so that you will not give into temptation, for the spirit is
willing, but the body is weak.
I mean, some of you, you love Jesus.
Unless you missed your snickers bar.
Amen.
And then you're like, oh, what happened?
The flesh is powerful.
It's a powerful, powerful thing.
In Jeremiah, this is what the Lord says.
Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans.
That idea there is flesh.
Come on.
Who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.
In 2024, you have a decision to make.
Am I going to pursue God or am I going to pursue me?
Come on, man.
I'm on TikTok almost every day, and I see all these people.
This is the year of me.
This is about me.
And I'm like, oh, my gosh, you are headed for disaster.
Absolute disaster.
You see, the flesh pursues comfort and desire.
Comfort and desire.
I mean, part of the reason so many of us are unhealthy is we've made enough money, we can
be comfortable.
Come on.
Now.
One of the guys that I watch and I listen to when it comes to physical health, he says this
comfort is the invitation of age.
Like when you're a kid.
What did you say?
I'm going to eat.
When I grow up.
I'm going to eat whatever I want to.
And guess what?
You do that right.
That little five year old is still driving the bus.
And so you constantly are pursuing comfort.
You're constantly pursuing desire.
That is not the spiritual life.
The spirit invites challenge and correction.
Challenge and correction.
If you are on a spiritual path, you are inviting people to challenge you and to correct
you.
It's a very, very different life.
You see, the evidence of the Holy Spirit in my life is self control.
That's Galatians 522.
If you can't control yourself, then you are not living a spiritual life.
The spirit and the flesh are almost always at odds.
Almost always.
The apostle Paul says this.
I discipline my body like an athlete training it to do what it should.
And that's what you got to do.
That's the spiritual life.
I don't trust my heart.
I don't trust my flesh.
I'm trusting God.
I'm following God.
That's what it means to be on a spiritual journey.
2024 is going to be a journey.
One way or another, you just choose your path.
You're going to follow you, you're going to go with you, or are you going to go with God?
A person who wants to be spiritually healthy, number two, trusts that God always comes
through.
Always.
Look, I don't know what you're facing, I don't know what you're going through.
But here's the thing.
If you're trusting God, he's going to come through.
Because whatever God promises, he delivers.
Jeremiah 17 seven.
But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and
confidence.
I learned this long ago.
Where God guides, he provides.
I'm going to say it again.
Where God guides, he provides.
In 2023, we ended the year with a giving campaign, and I got together with our church
leadership, and we came up with a number that I thought was a real stretch.
But I thought if we just trusted God, I thought we could do it.
But it was a stretch.
It was a challenge.
Okay?
And I know things are expensive.
Groceries have gone up.
Everything's gone up.
My automobile insurance went up 30% last year.
30%.
I wanted to set fire to all our cars and send my insurance company the bill.
You know what I'm saying?
Because that's my flesh.
That's me.
But here's the thing.
It was a huge stress for us, a huge, huge stretch for us as a church.
And here's the thing.
Some of you, you are facing financial challenges.
You are facing struggles.
But let me just ask you, are you following God or are you following you?
We're going to talk about that in a second.
And so we wanted to raise an extra $2 million in one month.
So I don't know what your stress is at work, but that was mine.
Okay?
And I know some of you, you have businesses, but look, you get to charge people.
I ask people to pray about it.
Can you imagine?
You got a business, and they're like, how much is, like, you just pray, pray about it.
Because I'd be like the Lord said, free.
And so here's the thing.
It looked like we weren't going to make it.
It looked like we weren't going to make it.
It was going to be really, really close, but it just didn't look like we're going to make
it.
And I shot two videos before Christmas, one congratulating you guys.
Hey, we made our goal.
Can you believe it?
God is so good.
God is so great.
And I shot another video.
Hey, guys, we almost made it.
Thank you so much.
Kind of a wah, wah, wah.
But.
But it came all the way down to the end, and we were $34,000 short of our goal.
34,000.
And DZ, our executive pastor, was texting me.
He's like, man, we're so close.
We're so close.
And I just really wrestled with that.
Okay.
I mean, almost isn't exciting, right?
Honey, I almost bought you a gift.
It just doesn't feel like it should.
And I was super bummed because as a leader, as your spiritual leader, I want to make sure
that I'm hearing from God.
Like, I don't want to be leading you guys in a place where I'm wrong, because that means
we're all wrong and we're all headed in the wrong direction.
And so I was just like, okay, it's kind of exciting.
We almost raised $2 million.
Yay.
But here's the thing.
On New Year's Day, our team went and looked back and checked our online giving, and there
was one final gift.
One final gift from one person in our church.
We were $34,000 short of our goals.
Anybody want to guess how much the one gift was for?
I'm not kidding.
It was for $34,000.
Amen.
So I don't know who gave that, but thank you for listening to Jesus.
Here's the thing.
Where God guides, he provides.
I mean, don't you think God was just showing off a little bit?
Jesus was like, holy spirit.
Watch pastor Matt.
Just watch him.
The exact number we needed was the exact amount that came in.
Where God guides, he provides.
Philippians 419.
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches
which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Listen, God is rarely early, but he's never late.
He is never late.
And here's the thing.
Where God guides, he provides.
But I want you to hear me.
Where I go alone, I am on my own.
And that's what Jeremiah is talking about.
You guys are all caught up in alliances.
Should we align ourselves with this king or that?
No.
No, you should align yourself with the king of kings and the Lord of lords, because the
only reason you're even in a nation is because of him.
And you've forgotten that.
You've forgotten that.
And so here's the thing.
In 2024, I want you to understand, God does not promise that it will be easy, but he
promises that if you invite him to be there with you and in you, he will be there.
But if you go it alone.
Listen to me.
God calls, but he does not coerce.
He's not going to force you to go the right way.
The scariest thing in life is you get to choose.
As a parent of adult children, that's the scariest thing.
When they were little, I could make them.
I could make them.
You know, I know some of.
You are afraid of a four year old.
I was not.
I was not.
I remember one time we were headed to Disneyland.
My four year old son, I had him sitting on the curb outside in the street.
Some of you church members are driving by.
Ooh, Pastor Matt's mad.
Yes, I was.
Remember one time my oldest daughter told me, dad, you won't stop the car.
You want to know what I did?
I stopped the car.
We had a moment together.
But here's the thing.
Here's the thing.
If you invite God, if you invite him, he will be with you.
And if you listen to him and you follow him where God guides, he provides.
And some of you are missing out on this.
You're missing out on this journey.
I was getting my hair cut.
The lady came up to me, she said, are you Pastor Matt?
She's like, oh, yeah.
She said, oh, my gosh, I love the debrief.
I love sandals church.
She said, I wrote my first tithe check.
I was like, praise the Lord.
What campus do you go to?
She says, oh, I don't go to sandals.
I was like, well, you win some, you lose some.
You know what I'm saying?
Tell your pastor to send me a commission.
But I'm glad that our church is not just blessing our church, but we're blessing other
churches and other congregations.
Right.
It's either about his kingdom or my kingdom.
And my kingdom's a mess.
That's right.
But I was just so glad.
And some of you, you missed out on the opportunity to trust God with your finances.
Well, I don't know, Matt.
I don't know how he's going to do it, man.
I don't know how he does it either.
But I know this.
A $34,000 check came in on the last day, the exact amount.
And we trusted him.
And where God guided, guess what?
He provided.
He provided.
And so I want you to look at your marriage this year.
Are we with God?
I want you to look at your kids this year, are we with God?
I want you to look at your finances this year, are we with God?
And if not, let's course correct.
Let's course correct.
Let's change it.
That's what I heard.
A person who wants to be spiritually healthy, listen to me, makes time with God a priority.
And let's just be honest.
Covid has changed us.
The average person that calls Sandals church home comes once every four weeks to every six
weeks.
Those are our committed people.
Those are our committed people, man.
Always like it when people see me and they're like, oh, man, you cut your hair.
You had long hair.
I was like, yeah, that was ten years ago.
Where have you been?
Where have you been?
They're like, listen to this.
So there's two types of people.
One that's cursed, one that's blessed, the blessed person.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank.
Where are you planted?
Where are you planted?
With roots that reach deep into the water.
Listen, I learned this a long time ago.
I will never become what I occasionally do.
I just won't.
And you won't either.
I will never become what I occasionally do.
And some of you say, well, that's easy, Pastor Matt, because you're so disciplined.
No, I wasn't disciplined.
I was a mess.
And I realized I hated being a mess, and so I disciplined my life.
So here's what I want to challenge you to do in this next year.
I want to challenge you.
We're starting a new series next week, 40 days of prayer.
I want to challenge you this year.
Pray at least one time a day.
Yeah.
Is that too much?
I don't know who you are.
I don't know what it is that you're doing, but if you can't stop and pray once a day,
there's something wrong with your life once a day.
I just want to challenge you.
Talk to God once a day.
We're going to set up a text message thread to remind you, because, look, I get busy, I
make mistakes, but I want to challenge you to just pray once a day.
And we're going to give you a prayer to help you, because I realize it's intimidating and
prayer is scary, and we're going to help you through that.
But we got a series called 40 days of prayer.
40 is a special number if you've read through the bible.
God does amazing things in a period of 40 days.
And I just want you to think about, I want you to imagine your life today, and if it needs
to be different, I want you to imagine what it could look like in 40 days if you just
started talking to God once a day.
And for some of you, maybe it's just, hey, I was talking to a guy at my gym, and he said,
are you Pastor Matt?
And I said, yeah.
He said, I've never met you.
He said, I just got out of prison, but I've been listening to you.
And you said anyone could talk to God.
And so I took you up on that.
He said, I got a stack of letters in my home.
He said, I wrote God a letter every day.
He said, and the first couple letters just said, God, I don't know what to say.
He said, but I kept writing, and now I talk to him every day.
He said, thank you for encouraging me, Pastor Matt.
Listen, if some guy in prison can talk to God, why can't you just think about that?
But some of you, right, we got two plants here.
We got two shrubs here, one that's dying, one that's parched, one that's shrinking, and we
got another one that's blossoming.
I bought these two right after I preached to you guys, and I'm not kidding you, I walked
out of church on Sunday and I bought these two plants at exactly the same time.
Watered this one.
I tried talking to it, but that just feels weird.
You know what I'm saying?
People are like, you're so beautiful.
It just felt weird to me.
And I wasn't like, I hate you.
I wasn't doing that.
Why can't you be more like her?
I wasn't doing that right.
All I did was water this one and not water this one.
That's four days.
Four days.
And some of you say, pastor Matt, that's me.
Okay.
But I got good news.
It's not dead yet.
Do you know what would save this plant today?
Water.
Let me ask you, who's watering your soul?
Because there's only one person who can, and his name is Jesus.
Now, this is four days.
I wonder what this plant would look like 40 days from now without water.
I think, you know, there would be nothing left for us to do to it.
But what?
Throw it away?
Now, imagine this plant with 40 days of water.
It's going to be ready for a new pot.
Come on.
Because it's going to continue to grow 2024.
Your life is going to look like one or two things, and the choice is, are you going to
water your soul?
That's the choice.
Next.
This is huge.
This is huge.
But I'm going to challenge you to attend church once a week.
I want you to pray once a day.
I want you to attend church once a week.
Now, listen, some of you guys, that means a major overhaul of your calendar and your
schedule.
I get it.
We got Saturday night services.
We got Sunday morning services.
We got Sunday night services.
We got campuses all over the place.
Okay?
Some of you are like, oh, sandals church.
I didn't even know there was one there.
Yep, there's one there.
Maybe that's God's sign.
Pull over, get in there and pray.
But listen, all of us need God's word every week.
All of us need spiritual direction.
All of us need a coach.
My wife and I, we've been working out together, and she says this a couple of times a week.
The gym again.
She says, I feel like we just went to the gym.
I'm like, we did just go to the gym, and this is what physically fit people do.
And so some of you are like, church again.
I feel like I just went to church.
Look, this is what spiritually fit people do.
And I ask guys at the gym all the time.
They're all super yoked, super jacked.
I don't know why I think this is going to help me.
And I'm like, hey, you exercise your body ever, every day, but you never even on one day,
exercise your soul.
Come on, come on.
And they're like, well, me and God are good.
I'm like, I don't think so.
And I don't think your soul thinks so.
Your soul is starving.
It's parched, it's dry, it's stuck.
Paul says this in first Thessalonians.
He says, dear brothers and sisters, honor those who are in the Lord's work.
See, and that's not for you to give me props.
We just live in a culture that's forgotten how to honor.
I'm a big Chicago Bulls fan.
1990s, they were able to win six championships.
And do you know that they were honoring some of those players, the GM and the coach that
gave Chicago six championships.
And by the way, they haven't won since.
But they have a very unpopular character.
His name is Jerry Krause, but he's dead.
So they brought his wife.
And do you know the fans in Chicago booed her?
She's 80 years old.
She started crying.
You can watch it on the Internet.
Not now.
Watch me, but you can watch it.
And I just thought, listen to me.
We've forgotten how to honor in our society.
Even I've forgotten.
I got a new assistant.
She's from Texas.
She calls me pastor Matt all the time, and it just feels wrong.
I'm like, who's pastor Matt?
Oh, it's me.
But here's the thing is, our society has forgotten how to honor, and we've forgotten how to
honor our spiritual leaders.
So he says, honor them?
Why?
Because they work hard among you.
Listen to this.
To give you spiritual guidance.
To give you spiritual guidance.
Some of the rift between my wife and I at the gym is when I'm telling her what to do,
because she doesn't know how to do it.
Sometimes she's facing the wrong way on the machine.
I'm like, that's embarrassing.
You're with me.
You're with me.
Let me show you how to do it.
And she's like, I don't need direction.
I'm like, yes, you do.
And that's how some of us, when we come to church, well, I know God's word.
Do you people quote me stuff all the time that's not in the Bible.
I'm like, that was Mark Twain, not Jesus.
I know they seem similar.
Okay, so pray once a day, come to church once a week, rearrange your schedule, and here's
why.
Do you know why we come to church once a week?
It's to practice for our future.
It's to say, look, my life doesn't have to suck every day.
One day a week, I'm going to remind myself that this all ends and it gets better next.
This is huge.
Talk about the message with at least one other person.
Now, we call it small group, community group in our church.
But here's the thing.
We don't grow if we don't talk about it.
We don't grow, we don't change if we don't talk about it.
Matter of fact, you're going to forget 90% of what I've said ten minutes after I've said
it.
Some of you won't even be able to find the Bible verses we're talking about.
We've been in Jeremiah 17 the whole time.
Listen to this.
This is key.
They are like trees, plural.
It's not a tree by itself, right?
I'm just doing my quiet time with the Lord, sucking up all this wonderful water.
No, they are trees.
Because you want to know what happens when it gets hot outside, when it gets windy outside?
We need each other's roots to hold us, to connect us, to remind us we need each other.
My wife got super irritated at me when I was training her, and here's what she said.
She said, I just got to say something.
She said, I want to know why you don't do what you're telling me to do.
And at first, I was like, you know what, Mrs.
I'm Pastor Matt and you.
But listen to me.
She had a point.
You know what she's saying?
You're not practicing what you're preaching.
And here's why.
I've been going to the gym for a long time, and you know what?
I've developed some bad habits.
And so I'm telling her how to have proper form.
And then when I do it, I'm like.
And I'm squirming all over the place.
You know what she said to me?
She said, maybe that's why your back hurts, because you're not doing it the way you're
teaching me to do it.
And so here's the thing.
Why do you need small group Captain Christian?
Maybe you know the right things, but you're not living them.
And you're telling everyone else, proper form, but you have forgotten proper form for your
own life.
They are like trees.
Talk about this with someone else.
And if you don't know anyone else, ask somebody to listen to the message and say, could we
talk about this?
Because I feel like God's speaking to me.
And you know why you feel that way?
Because he is.
They are like trees.
Listen to me.
Someone who is seriously interested in spiritual growth will realize they need authentic
spiritual community.
What's the first thing Jesus did?
He created a spiritual community.
If he thought he needed one, what does he think you need now?
Here's the next point.
If you weren't convicted yet, prepare yourself.
Find one way.
One way to serve at church.
What if I just went to the gym?
I just showed up.
I just walked around, said hi to some people, had some coffee, watched people use the
machine.
Wow, that looks heavy.
Listened to an instructor give a talk.
You should work out.
Amen.
And then I left.
I just show up to the gym.
I watch people work out, I watch them exercise, but I never do anything.
That is far too many people at Santa's church.
And you wonder why you're not growing because you're not exercising your soul.
How is it that you worship a servant but you don't serve?
How does that work?
You cannot connect with the servant Jesus if you were unwilling to serve alongside him.
Listen, couples, families, serve together.
Serve together.
Do that together.
Work in the parking lot.
Team be greeters.
Work with kids.
Man.
If you're bored in your life, work the front desk.
Man.
If you watch Jerry Springer work the front desk, you can see all the excitement.
You need a little pep in your life.
Answer our phones.
It's a lot of fun.
Listen, just find one way to serve and don't put it on us.
Where should I serve?
No, stop.
Don't put that on me.
You figure out a place to serve next.
A person who wants to be spiritually healthy embraces life's challenges.
Life doesn't go as planned.
It just doesn't.
And I was preaching this message.
The fire alarms went off and we had to stop this whole thing.
I had to stand here for like ten minutes just looking swole.
Does life ever go as it plans.
Listen to me.
You want to know why your marriage stinks?
Because you had unhealthy plans.
You had unhealthy expectations.
You've been watching too many hallmark movies.
That's not how life is.
Life never goes as it plans.
Embrace it.
Embrace it.
Because the plant is not nurtured by its environment, but by its roots and the water that
it's sucking up.
Both of these were in the same place, experiencing the same things, but there's a different
result because one had water and one didn't.
Come on.
Now.
Wow.
Some of you guys, men, you've already given up on your New Year's resolution.
Like, okay, 2025.
That's my year.
Listen to me.
Life happens.
It happens.
It's not easy.
When my daughter was in high school, she's on the mountain bike team.
I told all my kids, look, you don't have to play the sport I choose, but you have to play a
sport, or I will choose.
And so my daughter didn't choose.
So we picked mountain biking.
And it was hard.
It was difficult.
And she told me, tears in her eyes one day she said, dad, mountain biking is hard.
That's how a teenage girl communicates.
And you know what?
I said?
Life is hard.
Suck it up.
You're going to race.
Because it is.
Tammy and I, we celebrated New Year's together.
Okay?
When you're old, you celebrate at 09:00 right?
That's what you.
You just.
We're with New York.
We're on New York Times.
So we celebrate at 09:00 we come home relaxing.
Everything's chill.
We get in a jacuzzi.
I'm hopeful, right?
A man can hope.
He can hope.
I hear my dog bark.
I smell a distinct odor in the air.
1158.
My dog got juiced right in the face.
And like a genius, I brought her inside.
And for those of you who've smelled the skunk from a distance, it's bad.
Listen to me up close.
It smells like spiritual warfare.
It feels like the devil farted in your face.
That's what it feels like.
My wife, my own wife.
Our plans are ruined.
She's like, I can't even stay here.
She's like, I cannot be in this house.
It smelled awful.
Awful.
That's how my New Year's began.
I'm like, great lord, you don't love me at all.
You don't care for me at all.
You know what?
Embrace it.
Jeremiah 17 eight.
They are like trees planted along a riverbank with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried about long months of drought or a skunk
fart.
Their leaves.
Listen to me.
Their leaves stay green, but they never stop producing fruit.
Look, when I'm emotionally wiped out, it might not be my emotions.
When I'm physically exhausted, it might not be my body.
I could be spiritually dry.
You see life's challenges.
Listen to me.
They help me go deeper with God.
I follow this guy online.
His name's Jocko Willink.
This dude's the toughest dude in heaven.
If you're looking for me, I'm going to look like him.
Is that Pastor Matt or Jocko?
It's both.
But he has this talk that he gives.
No matter what goes wrong, no matter what comes at you, no matter what happens, no matter
how bad it is or how TikTok you are, you respond with one word, good.
You got fired, good.
You got an argument with your spouse, good.
You have tension, good.
You didn't get the sale.
Good.
Why is that?
Because it's going to make you better.
So bring it.
And here's what he says.
As long as you're breathing, you're still alive.
So say, good.
Say, good.
And when that skunk sprayed my dog, I did not say good.
I said, what's going on?
What's going on?
I went to bed with my wife that night.
She's gagging, gagging in our bed, six pillows over her face.
It's like, lord, you did this.
I didn't create the skunk.
Wasn't my idea.
Listen, Romans 828, and we know that God causes everything to work together.
Listen to it for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for
them.
Look, I don't know what life will bring this year.
I don't know what's going to come at you, but I know it's going to come at you.
And you don't get to choose your surroundings.
You don't always get to choose your health.
You don't always get to choose your emotions, but you do have a choice to water your soul.
And here's what God is saying.
Come to me.
Trust me.
Follow me.
I know your marriage is hard.
I know finances are rough.
I know your kids are crazy.
God's like, that's why I just had one.
That's not actually true if you're new to church, I just made that up.
But here's the thing.
You ever wonder why Jesus was just so chill sitting on the boat?
Disciples are like, don't you even care?
We're going to die.
And he's sleeping because this is Jesus.
Come on.
And these were the disciples.
This is your year.
This is the year where you plant.
This is the year where you go deep.
Maybe this is the year where you actually pray.
This is the year you actually go to your spiritual gym.
It's called a church.
Come on.
This is a year where you get in community and you say, you know what?
People are hard.
Good christians aren't always holy good.
And you get in a group and you start talking about the sermon and you say, you know what?
I'm going to grow.
I'm going to plant.
I'm going to be with Jesus this year.
I just want you to imagine January 1 of 2025.
Who will you be?
This or a year of this?
The choice is yours.
God's water is free, and he's always there for you.
The choice is yours.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, we pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, that we would pursue spiritual health.
Lord, gyms are for our bodies and the church is for our soul.
And some of us have not exercised in the way that we should.
Lord, I know it's going to be difficult.
It's going to feel, Lord, awkward at first, but we're going to start praying.
We're going to make church a habit this year, and we're going to start talking to somebody
about these messages that we hear.
And Lord, we're going to start serving.
We're going to start listening to the messages and applying them in our lives.
And.
And, God, we look forward to how you're going to bless us, to how our leaves will stay
green in 2024.
That no matter what comes at us, because you are with us, God, we are going to be okay.
Better than okay.
We're going to thrive in Jesus name.
We pray it in his name.
Amen.