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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
Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Zac, and I'm part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matt Brown teaching from our series, Big Fish. If If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you ever find yourself ending up with more questions than answers? Like, especially if you're a Yankees fan today. Right? Is it too soon? Too soon?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. But seriously, I'm not talking about sports. I'm talking about life. Like, you've really, really thought about something. You've evaluated it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You googled it. I know you did. You sought counsel, and you're still like, I got nothing. I got nothing. Let me just tell you this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Not everything in life ends with an answer. Some things in life end with big questions. We're in this series called big fish, and the book of Jonah does not end with a conclusion but a question, but a question. And so we've been in Jonah for weeks now. In Jonah chapter 1, God calls Jonah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He He says, I want you to go and preach Nineveh against their wickedness. Jonah says no, and he goes as far away from the world in that point that he possibly can. It's like God calls you to New York and you go to LA. Jonah's like, no way. And God sends a storm, then God sends a fish, and he swallows Jonah, and Jonah repents and relents.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then last week, he goes to Nineveh. He preaches. The Ninevites are receptive to god's gonna kill all of you and judge you. I mean, think about that message. And then in chapter 4, right, this is the pinnacle.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is the great moment. This is a home run. Your team won the game, and it just ends with, what? What on earth is this? And unfortunately, for a lot of Christians, this is how your life will end if you don't get the big fish.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you don't catch what god is trying to teach you, you're gonna get to the end of your life, and you're not gonna get what god is all about. So we're gonna look at Jonah chapter 4 verse 1 through 10. And so the people of Nineveh, right, they repent. It's a home run. For us as Christians, people got saved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Harvest crusade worked. Right? Billy Graham saved 1,000. Yay. And Jonah got upset.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This change of plans greatly upset Jonah. And he became very angry. You ever get upset when God changes the plan? You just realize he didn't change it. His plan was just different than your plan that was never gonna work with from the beginning.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so what did he do? He complained to the Lord about it, which is not effective, and take that from a professional complainer. It doesn't work. The Lord's like, oh, I love whining. That's not what God says.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jonah says, didn't I say before I left home, you would do this, lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish. I knew I knew that you are merciful and compassionate. Who knew that was an insult? I knew that you were merciful and a compassionate god, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, lord. Just kill me now. Listen to this. I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the lord replied, is it right for you to be angry about this? Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and he made a shelter to sit under. And as he waited to see what would happen to the city, he's still hoping for judgment. He's still hoping for a little wrath, a little hell, a little brimstone, a little fire. And the lord god arranged for a leafy plant to grow there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And soon, it spread its broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun. This eased his discomfort. And Jonah was very grateful for the plant, but god also arranged a worm. And the next morning at dawn, the worm ate through the stem of the plant so that it withered away. And as the sun grew hot, god arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jonah lives in Riverside. Amen? The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die. He said, death is certainly better than living like this, he exclaimed. Then God said to Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?' It's my favorite Bible verse.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And Jonah retorted, 'Yes, even enough to die.' You ever been like that? Then the Lord said, you feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. And it came quickly and it died quickly.' Man, we need to think about this. We need to think about this. Man, why are you so angry?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why are you so upset? You see, the book of Jonah ends with God's question to us. Why are you the way you are? You know, so many of us as believers, when I get to when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask God some questions. I think God's gonna have some questions for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But this is truly the point. At some point in your life, you're really gonna question, is God really good? And if you've never done this, you're super young or super rich. K? And I'm hoping that at some point in time, the Lord spices it up and brings bankruptcy your way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But at some point in time, things aren't gonna go as planned. And whenever things don't go your way, you will be tempted. Write it down. Get it on a tattoo. You will be tempted to question the goodness of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Is God really good? And I want you to know the answer is yes. But here's the problem with God's goodness. God's goodness to others can reveal what's bad in me. Now think about that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:His goodness to someone else can reveal what's ugly and dark and broken in me. This change of plans greatly upset Jonah and he became very angry. And so he complained to the Lord about it. He said, Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? You would do this?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's why I ran away. It wasn't because I was a sinner or because I was in rebellion. It's because I knew what you would do and I ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are merciful and a compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unveiling love. Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I knew that you would turn your back from destroying people. Just kill me now. Just kill me now. I'd rather be dead than alive. It's amazing what God's blessing to someone else can can wake up inside of you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, God's goodness of others can reveal all kinds of spirits inside you that should not be inside you. God's goodness to others can reveal a spirit of pride in me. Man, some of you are so upset because God has blessed the person that hurt you. Man, that's tough. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what I said on the debrief this last week. Some of you are far more Hindu than you are Christian. And what does that mean? You believe that what comes around goes around. You believe in a thing called karma, which is not in the Bible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so you just believe, if I just do enough good, good will find me. Now, sometimes that's true, but it's not always true. Sometimes life interrupts your plans. And it can bring out your pride. Well, why why should I tithe if I lose my job?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why should I go to church if God's not gonna bless me? Why should I pray if my marriage ends in divorce? Right? I mean, the couple down the street, they don't even believe in God. They're married.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're happy. They have their jobs. You see, this is what happens. God, why aren't you protecting me by dealing with them? That's the attitude.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, Jonah thinks the real problem is Nineveh, and he does not yet realize that the real problem and the whole point of Jonah is what's wrong with him. Next, it can bring up an unhealthy spirit of competition. I mean, we don't like watching people win. Amen? I mean, some of you parents, you're booing children who've won too many games.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You ever been in a little league game and you're like, come on. Boo, win, hiss, ah. And I'm like, hey. They're they're 11. They're 11.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I was in little league, we were playing a team that always won, and the coach came out to the mound and told me to hit the pit hit the batter. That's illegal, by the way. And the coach was a Christian, you know, a believer, strong in his faith. But it can bring out an unhealthy spirit of competition. This last week, Tammy and I went out to dinner, and we were at the hibachi grill where you don't get to pick everybody who sits with you, where they fling eggs and corn at you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's the worst idea ever. Like, let's pay money to have food thrown at us. And you would think with this mouth, I'd catch it. Never. Never.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lip, nose, face, cheek, whatever. But we sit down and we have some guests there and I'm like, Oh my gosh. An opportunity to get to know somebody in the city that I didn't know and invite them to San Jose Church. But before I got there, we talked about the World Series. And I found out that they're the only Hispanic people in the Inland Empire rooting for the Yankees.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like I'm like, what is wrong with you? And the woman said, she said, I was born in Brooklyn. I said, without thinking, the Dodgers were born in Brooklyn. Like, forgot Jesus instantaneously. And I'm like, what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, what am I thinking? I just insulted them, her team. Now come to our church. We learn how to be Christ like. Just like that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just just like that. And my friend said, wow, that was really quick. I was like, yeah, the sin is. I have to think about the good things. The sin just comes out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But you know what else it brings up in us? Comparison. Man, when God blesses somebody else with beauty, ladies, oh, hate her. Hate her. Man, it's so easy to compare.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was doing a podcast. The pastor's opening question was this. Why is Sandals Church so much bigger than mine? I was like, that wasn't on the pre show formula map, you know, here. But but here's what we wanna know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God, why are they so blessed? Why did they get married? Why am I still single? Why did I get cancer? Why did my mom die?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why did I have to go through that? And we start comparison and we we start counting the blessings of others and the challenges of us. I want you to know, man, life is not fair. And the sooner you just appreciate that, the happier happier you'll be. I was sitting down playing a game with, some of my friends' kids.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They have a daughter in 5th grade. I realized 20 minutes into the game, she's smarter than I am. Remember that show, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? And I'm realizing, no. And it's not close.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, it's not close. I'm like, Lord, this is not fair. I lead people spiritually. I should be smarter than this 5th grader. And I turned to their her parents, and I was like, she's really smart.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're like, I know. Like, they're afraid. They're like, I know. You know? And then I looked at their son.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was like, he's good looking. You know? You know? But there's one genius in the family. But you know what brings up next?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jealousy. And so many of us Christians, we we fail to recognize this in us, and so when God blesses someone else with beauty, all I think about is the ugliness in them. When God blesses someone with money, get angry and feel so unseen. It's amazing how when the goodness of God shines on It's amazing how when the goodness of God shines on someone else, it shows us our shadow. Next, and I realize this is an important week in the life of our country, it brings out an unhealthy nationalism in me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Problem is God's on Israel's side. Right? Now Jews are God's chosen people, but they're chosen for a purpose, to save the world. K. God's not picked a team so that all the other teams lose.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's picked a team so all teams win. And so many of us have forgotten that. And I wanna challenge you that this week. Look. I don't know what's gonna happen, but I want you to look at and underline this in the NLT.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When Jonah realized what he predicted did not happen, he was very angry. And this is where some of your anger is gonna be this week. It's not with America and the voters. It's gonna be with God because he didn't do what you thought he should do.
McKay Vandenberg:Hey, Sandals Church. Thank you so much for joining in today's message with pastor Matt Brown. I wanted to take a quick moment to invite you into the work that Sandals Church is doing. One way you can do that is by giving financially. If you head to give.sc, you can do so there.
McKay Vandenberg:For now, let's get back into our message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And let me just tell you something I've learned. God very rarely does what I think he should do. The Lord's like, you're not even smarter than the 5th grader. But I got good news for you. God is still good to me even when I have been bad to him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Come on. Look, you may be good when people are good to you, but god is good to people when they are bad to him. This is one of the most beautiful verses in scripture, 2nd Timothy 2 13. If we are unfaithful, think about that word, he remains faithful. Why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because of who you are. No. No. Listen. For he cannot deny, listen to this, who he is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is faithful. And if you're new to Christianity or you're exploring Christianity, let me just share with you one of the most frustrating aspects of God's goodness. Let me say that again. You never thought you heard a preacher say this. The most frustrating aspects of God's goodness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The Lord Jesus told us this. He said, this is what God does. I love this translation. He gives his best to whom? He gives the his best, the sun to to be warm and the rain to nourish to everyone regardless, listen to this, of the good and the bad.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I like this. The nice and the nasty. The Lord blesses people. The Lord takes care of people. And some of you guys are gonna be like, Jonah, why don't you zap her?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why don't you zap him? Like, if God was like that, Jonah would be dead, and so would you, and so would I. But the Lord is gracious. I love this verse. He turns to Jonah and the lord replied, is it right for you to be angry about this?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Think about that the next time you're losing your mind. One time when our kids were little, I lost my mind. Any parents ever lost their mind? K? Now When another parent does it, they need therapy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you do it, you need justice. Amen? Justice. And I remember I was going in for one of my kids, and my wife said, don't do anything. You'll regret.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I looked at her, and I said, I will regret nothing. And here's the truth, I regretted what I did in seconds after I did it. Be careful when you're angry. That's not the Lord. It's not the Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then Jonah, you gotta love Jonah, man. Like, he's not just bad, you know. I mean, he's like Michael Jackson bad. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's like he's not givin' in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Only old people get that joke, but then Jonah went out to the east side of the city. Listen to this. And he made a shelter to sit under. And that's where some of you are today. You're just sitting under your anger.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're wondering why you don't see God, feel God, or sense God because all you can see, sense, and feel is anger. He knew that God was gonna forgive him. He know that he knows that God is good. He know that God is slow and he's compassionate and he's quick to give grace, but he's waiting to see what would happen to the city. He's still hopeful for a little judgment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, that's what anger can do. Anger can motivate you to want to see the death of an entire people group. You don't think there's children in Nineveh? Single moms in Nineveh? Orphans in Nineveh?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They were there, but Jonah forgot that because he got so wrapped up in his patriotism, he got so wrapped up in his nationalism, he was blind to his racism. Nationalistic. Jonah's racist. Jonah's angry. Jonah wants to see thousands of people killed by God because of his own temper.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what does the lord god do? The same thing he does to you and the same thing he does to me. The lord god arranged for a leafy plant to grow there. In the Hebrew, listen to me, it's a vine. Think about John 15.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says, I'm the vine. In the same way God covers Jonah from the heat of his wrath, he's covered you from the heat of his wrath with Jesus in the same way. He covered Jonah's head, shading him from the sun, and it eased his discomfort. This is the funniest part of the entire book of Jonah. And Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, he was like some of you guys driving past, you know, a store that sells weed. He was like, woo hoo hoo. Super excited. Too real? Sorry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what it says in Hebrews, Sameach Gadol, exceedingly, overwhelmingly excited. I would have been that way when I got spit out of the whale. Anybody with me? I didn't die. I made it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh my gosh. Like, you wanna learn these lessons. I just heard about in the news this week. A surfer was bit for the second time by a shark. Somebody find that guy, tweet him, and say, repent, bro.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Repent. When lightning strike strikes twice, you gotta wake up. He wasn't excited when he was called by God for a special purpose. He ran from it. He wasn't excited by God when he was delivered from the great fish that swallowed him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He wasn't excited when the people of Nineveh actually listened to his message and turned. He's excited over a leafy plant. You see, we need to identify as Christians when we experience god's goodness even when we don't deserve it. This week, I wanna challenge you. I want you to think about writing down moments that god has blessed you with.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like if you're married, the next time you have a romantic moment with your spouse, write it down. Thank you, God. If you're single, maybe it's a great night out with your friends. Write it down. Man, think about this the next time you hold a brand new baby.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A brand new baby. Think about this the next time you watch a sunset or sunrise. Do you know God didn't have to create color? I have a friend who's color blind and I always walk around. Can you see that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you see that? Can you see that? He gets so mad at me. He's like, no. Well, I just wanna know if the Lord's healed him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, it could've changed. Changed, so I just keep asking. How about this one? We're in California, a a long walk along the beach. There's a lot of states that don't get that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just last week, Tammy and I were sitting on a beach, and in Southern California, you guys gotta appreciate this. We're the only ones there. I know. That that'll never happen, and it was warm in October. We're lying on the sand in our bathing suits uninterrupted, and we both fell asleep in the sun in October.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, that was just It it was like a kiss from the Lord. Bless you. Bless you. I want you to take a second and think of one of your best moments in life. Think about one of your best moments.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:See, we focus and we play replay on all the bad moments, but I want you to think about your best moment. These are not only signs that there is a God, but listen to me, these are signs of God's goodness. James 116 says this, so don't be misled. I want you to think about why he would lead with those words. So don't be misled.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's because it's easy to get confused on this topic. He says, so don't be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. Listen to these words. Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our father who created all the lights in the heavens. Whatever good has happened to you in your life, whatever it is, it is the result of not you sitting on a rock floating through space.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a result of a good God who loves you, and he's blessed you with things like color and sunsets and love and the warmth of a mom or a dad or a husband or a wife or a child. Those are pictures of the goodness of God. But let me say this. For some of you, it's really, really hard to picture that right now because you're going through something really, really tough. I want you to know that God is still good even even if he allows me to go through bad things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now we say this in the church. God is good All the time. And all the time God is good. Now they didn't even know that. I mean, one knew that because I wanted to make sure that, you know, we got this right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But why do we say that? If you're not a Christian, you're like, what just happened? Am I in a cult? No. You're in a church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why do we say god is good all the time and all the time god is good? Because we forget that every day. And we have to say that. It's our mantra. It's our meditation.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's what we repetitively say to ourselves because life is not good all the time. Life is not fair all the time. Stuff happens. And we gotta remind ourselves god is good. So God sent a plant that shaded him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's so happy. Oh my gosh. This is the best day ever. He's singing and worship hands are raised. I got a bonus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I I got a raise. I got a new job. I got a date. I got married. God is good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's all sing. What's wrong with these people? But god also arranged a worm. Man, if you're going through a tough time, it's just a worm. That worm will die, but god's love for you will not.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's right. The next morning at dawn, the worm ate to the stem of the plant so that it withered away. As the sun grew hot, God arranged for a scorching east wind to blow on Jonah. I got up this morning to preach and come here and I looked at my stocks. The lord sent a worm.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's blowing hot heat you know, hot air on it. I'm like, lord, we didn't need this example. It's like, where's my leafy plant? Anybody go, where's my I want my leafy plant. And the sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me, young people. Life is harder than you think and it's longer than you think. Like, people are saying life's so short. Listen to me, young people. Go get an 8 hour job and tell me how short life is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He'd be doing this 45 minutes later. What is going on? I just had a birthday. No. That's life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's life. Anybody remember your first 40 hour week? What is that? That's life. Life is hard and life is long.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's long. And at some point in time, god is gonna send a wind. God is gonna send a heat. God is gonna send a worm because you will not become who he made you to be if it's always shade. And Jonah says this, death is certainly better than living like this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, Jonah wants to die. Anybody think Jonah's bipolar? Like the verse before, he's never been more happy? Godol Sameach. I've never I've never been this happy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next verse. We gotta worm. Jonah's like, I'm done. I gotta die again. And then God said to Jonah, is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes, Jonah retorted. Even angry enough to die. There's some look. There's some stuff in this life that you gotta be angry about, you gotta be upset about, but most of the stuff that sets us off is just ridiculous. This last week, I was meeting with a gal and she was cutting my hair and I just asked her.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, you know, do you guys have a church? No. And and I just kept asking. I said, well, is your husband a Christian? She said, no.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He doesn't believe in God. I said, well, why? She said, because if there was a God, there wouldn't be all this bad. I said, okay. But let me just ask you this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I didn't say this to her right there, because this is a long term relationship where I'm trying to slowly lead her and her family to Christ and bring him to church, but we're in church, so I can ask you this. If God snapped his fingers right now and rid the earth of all that was bad, would you be here? No. And if you're like, Yeah. Of course.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then you're like Jonah, and you haven't got the big fish yet. Like, you got your pole. You got your line. It's in the water. You've caught nothing yet.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't understand. You have not yet gotten to the place where you have seen what is truly in your heart. Listen to me. Jonah's a man of God. Jonah's a prophet of God, but Jonah thinks he's better than everybody else, and that's because he's never met his true self.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:People are difficult. I got a cousin. He lives in Kauai. He's like, I think people are just genuinely good. I'm like, you need to get out more.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, you need to get out more. Have you seen people? Like, the Dodgers won the World Series. They gotta call out the police and the troops. That's people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, if we all got trapped on a boat, historically, statistically, you know what would happen? One of us would eat the others. That's what happens to people. You start suffering for a couple days, you run out of water, you're a whole lot more animal than you are, Angel. And why is that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Suffering and scarcity and difficulty brings out the animal in you and me and Jonah. You see, Jesus didn't just come to save me from the wickedness in the world, but from the wickedness in my heart. God did not send the worm, listen to me, to torture Jonah's body, but to reveal Jonah's heart. What's wrong with Jonah is what's wrong with the church. We preach God's word to others, but we don't let it preach to our hearts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what the prophet Jeremiah said. The people of Israel had rebelled against God. They had rejected the prophets of God. They would not listen to Jeremiah. They're about ready to be judged and sold into slavery.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And Jeremiah said these words. He did not say the problem with Israel is their politics. The problem with Israel is the leaders listen to what he said the problem was. He said the problem was the human heart. Jeremiah 17:9.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? Let's pause here. Let me give you the Hebrew word for deceitful. It's crooked.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's the word. It could be translated broken. Broken. And listen to the next word. It is desperately sick.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you wanna know what's wrong with the world? The world has a disease. It's called sin, and there's only one healer who can heal it. And it's not a politician. His name is Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, if you're really full of anxiety about what's about to happen to our country, to our nation, and to our world this next week, here's what I found. Oftentimes, what I'm projecting on God has nothing to do with God, but it has to do with what's going on inside of me. Why do you think all the news is bad? Because that's what we watch. We don't watch a car chase when they're not chasing anybody.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We watch when we wanna see a crash. Right? We want it to end in flames because you see traffic all the time. You see speeders all the time. You see people being idiots in cars all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But, boy, you get a helicopter, a cop car, and a car speeding, we're watching. We're watching. It's why Netflix is full of just garbage about killing, raping, like, molesting. It's terrible. It's That's what we wanna watch.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It reflects what's going on inside of our hearts. And that's because what we project on God, well, I don't know where God is and God's not good. God's not the problem. The problem is me. And it's a whole lot easier to say, well, there is no God because life is terrible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But no human being ever made a sword to protect themselves from God. They made a sword to protect themselves from other people. So I want you to get this. Jesus said this. No one is good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No one. Except God alone. Except God alone. Now here's my prayer for you this week, that you would just really sit in this last point. God's goodness drives every decision he makes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now this isn't in your notes. This is free. Even when I don't understand or agree with the outcome. That's right. That's right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Part of the reason that Jonah's so mad is what he predicted that was gonna happen didn't happen. He went to Nineveh and he preached, the Lord's gonna judge all of you. In 40 days, you're all gonna die, and God's gonna bring his wrath. But they went, oh, and they repented. And that's not what he wanted.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He just wanted to scare him. The Lord wanted to save him. And they repented. And they said, let's see what the Lord does. Perhaps he'll relent, and God did.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's the goodness of God. When we relent, when we repent, God pulls back his wrath and he forgives. Jonah 4,1011, then the lord said, you feel sorry about the plant? Though you did nothing to put it here, it came quickly, it died quickly? Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But Nineveh has more than a 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness. Not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city? Jonah does not end with an answer. It does not end with a conclusion.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It ends with a question. What God is saying is you think you're better than me? That's what you think? You would rather me kill all these people than have mercy on them, and Jonah fails to see where the Lord has been merciful to him. I mean, I don't know about you, but I'd feel a little blessed if I got swallowed by a fish and was in there for 3 days and got spit out and was still alive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody feel blessed? You know? I want you to remember 2 things this week. Number 1, god's heart is better than yours. God's heart is better than yours.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number 2, this is huge. God's plans are bigger than yours. I don't I don't know what God's gonna do. I don't know. And part of my anxiety is not knowing what God's gonna do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But you know what believing is? Not knowing creates anxiety. Believing creates security. Okay, Lord. I I don't know what's gonna happen, but you got this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Isaiah 55:8 through 9, my thoughts are nothing like your thoughts. That's God talking to you and me. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts. This is just a thought.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But maybe things have to get really, really bad in America so Americans turn back to God. Maybe Americans have to see what happens when they go their own way so that they can learn to repent and go God's way. Now here's the thing. Here's what's crazy. The Ninevites responded to God's sermon.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jonah didn't even respond to God's actual redirection. So what I wanna do is I wanna close today just saying, Lord, we don't know what's going to happen this week. Here's your part. You should vote. And I know it's confusing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know it's going to require a little homework. I know that in California, the propositions are written intentionally to confuse us, and that's frustrating. But listen, your vote is important. If you want God to do his part, I want you to do your part, and I want you to vote. I wanna encourage you to do that, but I also wanna encourage you to pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? There's the news this week, and then there's good news. Come on, everybody. The news? It's not as rarely good, but then there's good news, and that's Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And Jonah lost sight of the good news, and he forgot the God who created the vine, who covered him from his wrath. He forgot that. I don't want you to be like Jonah, and by the way, theologians don't know what to do with this book, especially Jewish rabbis, because how do you end with, and he didn't repent? And I think it's in the word of God for a reason because that's how a lot of people end their lives. They just don't get it, and they truly believe that their heart is better than God's, and their vision is bigger than God's.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Paul writes this letter to Timothy, who served under an immoral government known as Rome. You think America's bad? You have no idea how bad Rome was. He says this. I urge you then, first of all, that requests and prayers and intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings, listen to this, and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this. This is good and pleases God, our savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of truth. What is God's heart? Not to judge Nineveh, but to redeem it. What is God's heart for America?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Not to judge it, but to redeem it. And we need to be prayer warriors for that redemption, saying, lord, redeem that which is broken. Redeem that which is sick. But, Lord, before you start with our country, start with our hearts. So I'm gonna invite all of you to stand, and we're just gonna pray for our nation this week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna pray for our country this week. And I realize many of you have divided households where the outcome is gonna be very tense with family members. We have husbands and wives that do not agree. And here's what I my prayer for you is this week that you would not see the problem on the outside, but you would say, Lord, show me where, like Jonah, I've missed the problem on the inside. Because you know what I can't control?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What everyone else does. You know what I can control? What I do. And Jonah got overly focused on Nineveh, and he forgot his own heart. So let's extend our hands and let's pray for our country.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord Jesus, we pray for America. Lord, we pray for the security of the voting process this week, Lord, that both sides would see it as fair and accurate, God, we pray for that. So we pray for all the officials that they would do diligence in order to make sure that it is in fact above board. Lord, we pray for those that go into the voting booths to vote this week. We pray for them, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would convict them and direct them, and I know so many of the candidates are confusing and so many of the propositions here in California are confusing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, guide us where we're confused. Direct us. And, Lord, know what no matter what happens this next week, I pray that we would just say, Lord, I may not get it, but you got it. That's right. I may not understand it, but you're with us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And help us, Lord, to trust you in this process even if it doesn't go our way because we know, Lord Jesus, you are the way. We know, Lord Jesus, you are the truth, and you are the life, and that is our mission. Lord, we pray that this week, you would truly bless America, and you would do so by blessing our hearts and changing our hearts. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have the YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandals church.com.