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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 Chris, and I'm a part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matthew Stephen Brown teaching from our soundtrack series. 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:Have you ever had a really bad thought? I mean, like, a bad thought. You know what I'm saying? I mean, like, a thought where you're like, what was that? So a couple of months ago, I was in Walgreens where we all have bad thoughts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. I mean, when you're in Walgreens, you're like, why am I here? I shouldn't be here. But I was at Walgreens, and, you know, you gotta type in your phone number to get the no discount or whatever it is. And I'm sitting there, and I and I look, and I noticed something I'd never seen before.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's an ATM machine. And I'd never really thought about you know, some people go into Walgreens, and they don't have cash. And so there's an ATM machine there. But what was weird is the ATM machine was open. I mean, wide open and there was a stack of twenties like this compressed together completely open and I look, the maintenance worker is a few feet away trying to work on a computer part and I thought I should steal all that money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I want you to know, I have not stolen anything as far as I know since the 2nd grade and it was a spider and I felt bad and my mom made me go back to the mall and return it. K? So I am not a thief, but I just had this moment where I just was like, I should take that. And then I felt like I had to flee the scene because I thought that. I was like, oh my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm a criminal. I'm going to jail. What's happening to me? But we all have these thoughts that are just, like, crazy. And so I wanna talk today about how do we get rid of these unwanted thoughts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Every single person has thoughts they wish they didn't have. K? And so if you're a mom, you love your kids and they're so cute and you're like, I don't like you. Right? Or you married you married your one true love and you're like, I don't think we're gonna make it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you at some point, you believe in God, you can't ever imagine not believing in God and you might have a thought, I don't think God is real. And this is just a part of life. And so in order to get rid of unwanted thoughts, here's what I wanna challenge you to do today. I want you to accept unwanted thoughts as a normal part of life. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a normal part of life. K? You're not terrible because you had a terrible thought. You're human. Jesus taught us this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In Mark 721 through 23, Jesus said, listen to this, from within, out of a person's heart come evil thoughts. They're just lurking in there waiting. And all of a sudden, it's not just on Halloween. Okay? It can be at Walgreens.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:From within comes evil thoughts. Listen to this. Sexual immorality. In my case, theft. It's like Jesus knew one day Matt Brown will be in Walgreens, and he will think of stealing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness. Listen to this list. Deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander. And if you don't think you have any of these, pride. And if you're raising children, foolishness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Foolishness. You ever say, why did you do that? I want you to say, parents, why am I asking you why you did that? Listen to what Jesus says.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:All of these things, all these vile things come from within. Now I want you to think about all our holy warriors in our political world today where they're marching against evil everywhere else but within themselves. The problem is within, not without. Now I got good news for you. I got good news.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't want you to feel terrible today. I want you to learn to feel God. Here's the good news. No matter how bad of a thought you have, no matter how bad the thoughts are that you're struggling with, I want you to listen very carefully because many Christians get this wrong. You are not your thoughts, but you are becoming your decisions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You are not your thoughts, and a lot of Christians inappropriately and wrongly interpret when Jesus talks about thoughts. Now decisions and actions start in the mind, but a thought is not the problem. It's acting on our thoughts. K? It's a I didn't steal.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna know why I'm not in jail today? Because I didn't do it. I just thought about it and I was like, oh my gosh. That was terrible. And then I chose the right decision.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so so many of us as Christians, here's why we're not real. Because we're afraid to share some of the crazy stuff that goes on in our minds. And our minds are crazy. K? Some of you, you don't know this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You live with an insane roommate. But he doesn't own a room in your house. He owns a side of your brain in your house. And he's constantly saying crazy stuff. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Haggai says this. This is what the Lord Almighty says. Listen to these words. This is a prophet. K.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He may be a minor prophet, but this is a major point. He says, give careful thought, listen to this, to your ways. So what we don't think and beat ourselves up about is our thoughts. We think about and we criticize our direction, our action. So I wanna challenge you today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look, crazy thoughts are just they're just normal. It it's a part of life, and we don't always want to think what we're thinking about. Number 2, I want you to recognize the power of your thoughts. I want you to think about this. Your thoughts are powerful.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Proverbs 3/23 says this, be careful what you think because your thoughts run your life. They run your life and that's so important. Listen, your thoughts may not change the world but they will change your world every day. Think about that. So many people have these ideas for changing the world and they don't realize their ideas are changing their world.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So our vision at Sandals Church is to be real. And so I'm just gonna share some things that I've learned about myself. Now you may identify with some of these things and you may not. What I don't want you to leave today's sermon thinking is, wow, Matt's whack, which you may be thinking that. What I want you to start thinking about is what am I thinking about?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So here's one of the things. Guys, I know when your wife says, what are you thinking? You say Nothing. K? That is never true for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I am always thinking. I'm thinking right now. I'm thinking, what are you thinking as you're watching this message? I'm thinking. One of my favorite movies when I was a kid was the original Ghostbusters.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody see that? Do you remember how it ends for those of you who grew up in the eighties? Awesome decade, the eighties. But they were gonna face their mortal enemy and they had to think of what they were gonna fight. And so they look at each other and go, don't think of anything.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everyone clear your minds. No one think of anything. And the enemy says, your choice has been made. And Bill Murray's like, who thought of something? I didn't think of something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Did you? I'm Ray in that show, and they all look at Ray. Ray, what did you do? I'm Ray. He's like, the state poof marshmallow man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It just popped into my head. I'm Ray. I just put the stay post martial demand in your head right now. So I'm always thinking. I I have a hard time going to bed at night.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna know why? I'm thinking. I when I when I go to bed at night, I'm dreaming. I wake up sometimes more tired than when I went to bed. I have crazy dreams.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, my mind's gonna take a break when I'm dead. Amen? It's just like, let's go. Let's go. But let me just say this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you're a husband, raise your hands. K. If your mind is thinking, here's what I've learned. You wanna stay married? You wanna stay married?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Couple of guys, maybe. I don't know. I just had a bad thought. Here's what I've learned. Never share your first thought.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't care what it is. It's not good. It's not good. Never share your first thought. My wife and I, we were on a date.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We went down to the beach. I wanted to check out the surf. And as we were driving by, a woman's taken off her wetsuit, pulls it down. She's wearing a thong. I thought and said out loud, wow.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wow. I'm driving. Wow. And then I look and Tammy's like. Now my first thought was wow.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My second thought was look at the waves. My third thought was I love you so much. Don't share your first thought. And and and when you're fighting and you're arguing in your marriage, don't share your first thought. That's probably not good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Things pop into our minds and we don't think a lot about it. So ladies, you can take that advice too, but I would never tell you how to think. Amen? See, I'm getting smarter. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's something else though, ladies, and and you get this. Others can be more aware of my thoughts than I am. Like, I have a good friend. He cannot lie with his face. He cannot lie.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, I want you to try to lie. Do you like this? And he's like, like, I know what he's thinking before he says it out of his mouth, but my wife can read me that way. We were out to dinner and we were at a fancy restaurant and we were with these pastors that we had just met And we were talking about you know, they have a a church in Pennsylvania, 24 campuses. And I was like, yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We need to catch up. You know what I'm saying? And I was like, oh, really? A 15. But we were we were together, and I ordered something that I I normally really, really like.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's beet salad. I love I love beets. I love beet salad, and I know some of you like, that's gross. One day you'll get old and eat things like that too. But I ordered it, and and right when I put it in my mouth, and this is a super expensive restaurant, and I didn't wanna make a scene, but my wife because I have allergies, so sometimes she thinks I'm dying.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I put it in my mouth, and apparently, I made a face. She said, are you okay? And I lied. I was like, oh, I'm fine. It it just felt like I tasted something that an alien made.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was awful. And on the way home, she said, what was your deal with dinner tonight? I said, oh, I didn't like the sauce. It tastes like ketchup. It was horrible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Imagine beets and ketchup. It was terrible. And she goes, I knew you were lying. So I knew I should I could tell she could I could tell something was wrong. She said, you're either dying or lying.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She says, I know you. But here's the thing, men. Sometimes our wife or more wives are more in tune to what we're feeling than we are. And when they say, what's going on? And you do what I do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Nothing. I'm thinking of absolutely nothing. You know, what you're thinking is she's onto me. That's what you're thinking. She knows.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what I tell my son. I when my son's trying to lie, I'm like, just tell the truth. She knows. I've been married to her for years. The punishment is way worse if we just get it out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But he's still learning. He's a young man. He still thinks, you know, he can get away with it. But do you know this can happen to brilliant people? Jesus saw a man that was brought to him was paralyzed, and he said, your sins are forgiven.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And there's a bunch of religious people around. And they thought to themselves, he can't do that. Only God can forgive. Listen to this verse. But Jesus, knowing their thoughts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this, he said, and these are 2 super religious holy people, why do you think evil in your hearts? Now, next, not only do I think, I tend to negatively overthink. Does anybody do that? That's what I do at night. I don't sleep at night.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I negatively overthink. And I do this until I safely arrive at the worst case scenario. Okay? You know? How do we all blow up and die?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I gotta I gotta work it all the way there, and then I'll pick another issue to work through. Now I don't know if this is you, but you need to be aware of this and you need to be aware of your tendencies and know yourself. K? Our vision is to be real. I've just been real with you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What I want you to do in community group this week is I want you to start being real with people and say, hey, here's where my mind gets out of control. Here's where I overthink. Some of you, if you're young people, you're underthinking. We need you to think. We need you to put your finger in the socket.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Boop. We need the light bulb to come on. We need you to start thinking. So I don't know where you are but I want you to start think about what you're thinking. Why is that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because your thoughts run your life. A thought won't destroy your life but decisions will and your thoughts lead you to your decisions. But here's the good news, you can invite Jesus to help me and to help you change the way I think. Here's the thing that's the most broken with our world, the world thinks that whatever you think, you're stuck, you can never change. You can never change, that you're stuck with who you are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what the gospel says, that's not true. The gospel says, and this is why it's good news, the gospel says people can change. People can change. And it's amazing. The gospel doesn't change everybody, but it does change some people in a powerful radical way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I want you to know that one of the reasons I've been a scandal free large church pastor is because I had a radical change in my early twenties where Jesus changed me. He changed me. In Mark 1 14 through 15, Jesus went into Galilee. So this is his his home base for ministry. This is where he camped out and did most of his preaching and he proclaimed the good news of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said the time has come. The kingdom of God is near. He's announcing this and he says this very very small word that has a really really big meaning. He says repent and believe the good news. Now the Greek word repent here is metaneo, which is a complete changing of one's mind that results in a change of behavior.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So to be a Christian means we change. We change. We become, listen to me, intentionally, spiritually different. To be a Christian or becoming a Christian is accepting the invitation of Jesus to change the way I think. Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And to have these new thoughts change the way I live. That's what it means to repent and to believe the good news. That's what it means. And so here's the good news. You're not stuck in your thinking.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your mind doesn't have to remain the same. You can change. You don't have to be a prisoner to your thoughts. And next week, we're gonna talk about you don't have to be a prisoner to your feelings. You don't have to be stuck.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's such good news. Romans 12:2 says this, don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, which, by the way, we all do. We all copy the customs of this world. We all do. He says, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Changing the way you think. And this is powerful, and you can do this. You can do this. And I want you to know that today, No matter what you're struggling with, no no matter what's going on between your ears that you wish wasn't there, that you've never told anyone about, whatever it is with Jesus, you can change it. Whatever it is, you can change it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In 2nd Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is writing to a church that has some confused thinking, some twisted thinking. Their thoughts are almost continuously inappropriate, and they've meshed their faith in Jesus with their practice and behavior as San Franciscan Romans. K? They were wild. Paul says, no.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. No. No. We don't act like everybody else. We don't behave like everyone else.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We don't believe what everyone else believes. Listen to what he says. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God. I love this. And we take captive, listen to this, every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you right now, you're struggling with thoughts that you wish you didn't have. Here's what I would say at the end of service to say, Lord Jesus, send your strongest angels to take these thoughts away and bind them and lock them up because I don't want them anymore. I don't want them anymore. And you can do that. Listen to me if you're married.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Instead of changing partners, ask God to change your mind. Ask God to change your mind. So many people today are changing their their marriage, they're changing their career, they're changing where they live and what needs to change is not anything outside of them but what's going on inside of them. And here's what I want you to know, So many people I cannot tell you how many times I've done counseling with people and they tell me I can't stop. I can't.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They've surrendered themselves to their lowest impulses. I want you to know this that learning to control your mind will make you powerful. It will make you powerful. And once you can control your mind, you'll control your behavior. You can change.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can change. The Apostle Paul writes to a young pastor, and he says this, for God has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love. And listen to these two words, self control. Self control is mind control. It's mind control.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can tell myself. And there's probably not a person in here that struggle with their mind more than me. K? I have ADHD. Some of you are like, I knew that, pastor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know. And I have struggled with this. And I I I would get frustrated with people, I would get upset with people, but I I finally got to the point where I was like, I've gotta change. And I had a good friend of mine who who probably struggled with ADHD worse than me. And we found a therapist in town that would help people with focus therapy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They would teach us to focus, literally. I mean I was like I was on Ghostbusters and they were putting all the the the things on my head and I'm I'm watching the screen, and when I focused my guy would swim, and when I didn't he drowned. And when I would focus, my airplane would fly. And when I didn't, my airplane would crash and everybody died on board because that, you know, that helps guilt, you know. Not only are you ruining your life, Pastor Matt, you killed everyone else.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing that I learned as hard as it was and as frustrating as it was, and it was frustrating. Over time, I learned to focus. I learned to control my thoughts. I used to be this person. And and I would tell my teachers since school, I read the whole page and I can't remember anything I read.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That was me. I was that kid. I could not focus. I could not be present because I had not yet learned to focus my mind. Now here's the thing if you have ADHD.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's the secret. You are focused. It's just on everything. But what you need to be focused on, that's the problem. But I had a good friend of mine, very, very bright, very, very smart.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In our first session, he took off the the the the things on his head and he stormed out and he said, this is impossible. I can't do this. And he never came back. And I want you to know today, he's still the same. I sat in there and I suffered and I'm embarrassed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm literally 40 years old sitting next to a 13 year old, I'm like, we can do this. We can do this. You know? And the 13 year old's all jacked up on soda and candy. He's like, I know I know I know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I did. I had to humble I mean, parents were taking their kids there. Your pastor was going there every day. I'm like, okay. We could do this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna read. Right? Young. And all of a sudden, it changed. It was not easy, but it changed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was so excited when I could finally read a page and remember it. I went out and bought Lord of the Rings. It's 1100 pages, the book. I should've probably started small. I should've got, like, a comic book or something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I got Lord of the Rings, and I told my wife, I'm gonna read this. The first book I ever read from page to page was Lord of the Rings. Amen? I did it. 1100 pages.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's the thing is, I realized as a pastor when people would talk to me, I wasn't paying attention. I wasn't listening. You see, it wasn't just affecting my reading. It was affecting my ministry. And I coulda just said, well, you know what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I have ADHD, and this is how God made me, and I just or I could say, lord, I don't yet have the control over my mind that I want, and I want you to teach me to control this. And I learned to do it, and I learned to focus. K? And I still I still have to have a crutch. So, like, if you and I wanna talk, it can't be the TV.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't ever take me out to dinner to Buffalo Wild Wings because I will die. Like, that's where people with ADHD go to die. Buffalo Wild Wings. That's hell for me. I'm like, oh my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I don't even like wings. But here's the thing. You have a choice today. You have a choice. You have a choice to control your thoughts or to try to control everyone around you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what most of us choose? Everyone around us. You know? Why are my kids so crazy? Why are you so crazy about your crazy kids?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, pastor. Don't be preaching to me. Listen to me. Trying to control your thoughts will make you powerful. Trying to control others will make you miserable.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Make you miserable. Why are people so upset about the election? Because other people don't think the way they think. That's what and and and it could go either way. No matter which team loses, half our country's upset.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's good news. No matter what you think the problem is, if you invite God to change you, the relationship just improved by 50%. Now I got really bad news for those of you who are praying that God will get a hold of your loved one, God will get a hold of your kid, God will go get a hold of your spouse. Listen to me. If you ask God to change them, the relationship will remain a 100% the same.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, that I just jacked up everybody's prayer life. Right? See, what you're asking is you're asking God to subvert their free will and force them to change. What God would say to you today is why don't you invite me to change you and I will. That's what God does.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When we invite him to change me, I will. So think about that. Instead of murdering your children, maybe ask God to help you grow in patience. And the Lord will say, that's why I gave you those kids. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Already answered that. Instead of asking God to change your spouse or get you out of your marriage, and that's what a lot of people do nowadays. Because you know why we do that? It's easier to end a marriage than it is to change ourselves. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I'm not talking about abuse. I'm not talking about any of that. I'm talking about your everyday run of the mill marriage crap. K? That's what it is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what it is. And so much of marriage, listen to me, if you're single, is learning to negotiate and communicate. It's not romance. It's not. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Those are married people laughing. Romance. But how do you how do you actually function? How do you actually function? Because let me tell you what marriage is, and I'm gonna break every single heart.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a business. Yeah. Yeah. You got finances. You got buildings.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You got facilities. You have employees that don't pay but always take. Right? Like, who are these children? Oh, my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember when one of my kids was a teenager, I gave them a list to do and they're like, well, what are you gonna do, dad? I was like, you know all the things that keep you alive? That's what's on my list. Minus these 2 things I've asked you to do. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And we can feel feel free to switch. Oh my gosh. Oh, I just had a moment. Sorry. Next, listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I'm super excited about this next point. I'm gonna tell you why in a second. But I want you to trust scripture. This is why you need your Bibles. And some of you don't own a Bible, and I'm gonna ask you to get one in just a second.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I want you to trust scripture to show me how to change my thinking. See, the Holy Spirit's gonna help me, but the scripture's gonna direct me. Let me say that again. The Holy Spirit helps me, empowers me, but the scriptures direct me. So I'm super excited next year, starting in January, we're gonna study the book of Matthew all next year verse by verse.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so we're gonna we're gonna invite you to church. We're gonna open our Bibles. Some of you are like, oh, yes. We used to do that. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna open our Bibles and you're gonna read and you're gonna take notes and you're gonna grow because we need to get you in God's word. K? Some of you, you hear me read God's word, but I need you to read it and get in God's word and start making notes. And we gotta do this because so many of the people that go to our church don't know God and don't know his word, but they wonder why their lives are miserable. Because here's the thing here's the thing you need to know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember our thoughts, they run our life. Another way to translate is they direct our paths. Jesus didn't say he's a way. He said he's the way, and he wants to teach you how to live the way. And the way we do that is through scripture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are people of the word. Okay? So you see right here, Philippians 4:48, it says NLT. That's the translation I want you to buy. NLT is what we're gonna primarily be focused on so that you can follow along.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And why is that for somebody like, oh, that's not sophisticated. The NLT is written at a 4th grade level. Listen to me, Sanders Church. 80% of the young men in California that graduate high school cannot read or write. 80%.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's a reason men don't read as adults. Oftentimes, they can't. So we wanted to take a Bible translation that meets most of our people where we are so that we can communicate God's truth. So that's why we're picking that. There's gonna be people that pick on us for this translation.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're picking this translation to reach as many people as possible. K? And if you wanna go deeper, get a study Bible, and you can go mess up the Greek and Hebrew like I have many times. Philippians 4:8, a beautiful book on how to change your thinking. He says, and now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, fix your thoughts. Remember the problem is overthinking. It's overthinking on the wrong things. I want you to start overthinking on the right things. That's what it means to fix your thoughts on.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If I challenge many of you to meditate, you say, Oh, I could never do that. Yeah, you meditate all day just on what's bad, what's awful. Fix your thoughts on what is true. I've shared with you guys, I used to have a a huge huge fear of flying. I was unable to fly.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was disruptive in my life, problematic in my marriage, because I just I just freaked out. And so whenever I get freaked out on a plane, I remind myself of what is true. Let me tell you something. It's way more safe to fly than it is to drive. That that's true.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's true. The other thing I do is I watch the flight attendants. If they don't panic, I don't panic. You know what I'm saying? Because I figure, you know, if they start freaking out and punching people, I'll do the same.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? But but Tammy and I were a couple years ago, we were on a flight to Hawaii. And right when we took off, we hit a downdraft and the plane sunk and went right. And I saw the flight attendant dive for his seat, and I was like, oh my god. We're all gonna die.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then I saw him laughing. I was like, okay. We're gonna survive. We're gonna survive. We're gonna make it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That was entertaining. Lord, no more entertainment. Get us there safe. I pray for boring flights. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wanna be bored on that thing. Okay. Fix your thoughts on what is true. Next, what is honorable? So think about what you watch.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna get into this next week as we talk about re about, changing, the replay of what we watch and listen to. Is it honorable? How about this? Is it right? Is it right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, is it pure? Is it pure? Because I gotta tell you, I have impure thoughts. Remember wow? Remember that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? How about this? Is it lovely and admirable? Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Why is that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because our culture traffics in negative news. K? You're not gonna hear. Tonight at 11, no one was killed. Tonight at 11, no one drowned.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Tonight at 11, no car chases. There was no crime in Los Angeles tonight at 11. We traffic in bad information. The apostle Paul says this to Timothy. He says, think about what I'm saying, and the Lord will help you understand these things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is a verse some of you need to write down if you struggle understanding your Bible, if you struggle remembering what you read and you can't memorize scripture. Say, Lord, you said right here that you're gonna help me with this. I I'm asking you to help me with this. You wanna know what prayers God answers? The one he tells us to pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So tell him that. Say, Lord, I I I wanna understand. Now you might be like me. It might take some work. It might take some work, but it's worth it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So here's what I wanna challenge you to do today. How many of you guys have ever had a difficult relationship with a person in your life? Anyone? Raise your hands. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If your hands aren't up, you're dead or lying. Right? We all know this. People that have hurt us, lied to us, mistreated us. I mean, that's where we go to counseling.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wanna challenge you this week. Instead of thinking about all the people that wronged you, I want you to think about the people in your life that have been good to you. I want you to write down their names and maybe send them a letter. Listen to Hebrews 137. The the the the people in this book are going through some tough times, going through some difficulties.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They have people that walked away in Hebrews 6 and and and Hebrews 10. They left the faith. They abandoned them. They said we're no longer Christian. They they lost a lot of loved ones and a lot of friends in the book of Hebrews.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what the author says. He says, remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Listen to this. Think of all the good that has come from their lives. So in the book of Hebrews, they got people that are hurting their lives, people that are taking their property, kicking them out of their houses, lying to them, cheating on them, setting them up for failure and accountability to the Roman Empire.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The apostle Paul doesn't make a long list of all the people that did bad. He said, I want you to think of all the good that's come from the people who were good and taught you that. Think about that and follow the example of their faith. Man, every time there's a pastor that blows it, man, it they're all over the news and and it breaks my heart because our culture celebrates the negative. Last year, I had a book come out and I and I kid you, some of you guys don't know this, but a couple years ago, I prayed over a dead kid and he came alive right in front of my eyes in the name of Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That happened and I gotta tell you not one of your neighbors knows that story. But I'll tell you this, if I touched a kid in an inappropriate way, your whole block would know that story. How sad is that? I prayed over a kid and he came alive crickets. God forbid, I did something negative or awful to a kid, everybody would be talking about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everybody would know it. I'd be the most famous person in our town. That's our culture. And guess who's in our culture? You are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's why Paul says, remember, do not be conformed to the culture of this world. We are in a negative culture and we become negative people. Philippians 1 3. Every time I think of you, he says, I give thanks to my God. And every time I read that verse, I think of a song by John Waite, Ain't Missing You.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember that song from the eighties? Every time I think of you no. Okay. Sorry. That was a that was a thought that just jumped into my head.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But listen to what he says, every time I think of you, I thank God. So maybe you had terrible parents, who were the adults in your life that you thank God for? Think about them. Think about them. Maybe you went through a divorce and your spouse lied to you and cheated on you and hurt you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who are the people in your life that don't lie, that don't cheat, that are faithful? Think about them. Think about them. Who are the people that drive you crazy? Man, don't think about them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who are the people that bring you peace? Think about them. And let me say this, choose to believe the best in people. Amen. Choose to believe the best.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The worst conflicts I've had in our church is when people chose to believe the worst about me. Now look. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. But I'm not evil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And when I get it wrong, I apologize and I try to make it right. But the worst conflicts are when somebody heard gossip, heard slander, listen to me, and believe the worst. Believe the best in people. Believe in I got I got an history. Most people aren't evil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're clueless, but they're not evil. And then here, listen to this. I want you to think about this week the good things that God wants to do through you. Man, if I could go back and tell young Matt Brown anything, I would say stop worrying about all the hard stuff stuff and get ready for all the good stuff God wants to do. God wants to do great things through your life, but you need to turn the page and get over it and move forward.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, how on earth is God gonna bring you into the present when you live every day in the past? Philippians 313, Paul says, I focus on this one thing. He says, forgetting the past. I play this game. I don't know if anybody plays this game.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's called woulda, coulda, shoulda. Does anybody play that? That's what I do at night right before I go to bed. I play woulda, coulda, shoulda, and I lose every night. I lose every night because I obsess on what I got wrong.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, the most beautiful verse in scripture, Lamentations 3/23, the Lord's mercies are new every morning. Every morning. You know what you can do about the past? Nothing but learn from it and move forward. Move forward.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. To what lies ahead. My wife and I were on date night last week, and she says, where do you see yourself in 10 years? I was like, hopefully with you. I'm like, what's what's going on?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But, I mean, that's not a question that you just drop on somebody. You know, you could ask me, like, what do you want for dinner tonight? You know, that's 10 hours from now. But but you can't ask me 10 years. But let me ask you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Where do you see yourself in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? The Lord already sees it. Are you gonna walk in it? Are you gonna walk in it? Man, God God is so good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If I could just go back to 2020 when the world shut down and I could just say, Matt, the same God who's been with you since 1997 when you started this church is the same God that's gonna be with you through this pandemic. And you know what he was? He was. That doesn't mean it wasn't hard, but he was with me. And then here's the last point I wanna challenge you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna make you wanna make no difference. You wanna have a crappy life, get a critical spirit, and criticize people. I mean, that's how every man in our church thinks they're a better coach and a better player than the team they root for. And the truth is you are not good enough to be paid to even have an opinion. That's the truth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? You notice that ladies men wear their jerseys. Have you seen that? They're like, you know what? I could go in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I still got it. You know, I still got it. Just call me in. It's like, dude, you would be murdered in seconds. You pull a hammy going down the stairs to get on the field.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But we're we're all critical guys of our teams, of how terrible they are, awful, and they're the best. That's the best version of that sport. So a critical spirit will make you a just a terrible awful person. So here's what I want you to do. Instead of being critical of people, I want you to think this week about how to help people, listen to me, become their very best.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So you know what that means, wives? You don't give your husband a list of all the things he's got wrong. What you figure out is what motivates that guy. And ladies, if you don't know, I could tell you in a sentence. In one sentence, I could tell you what motivates him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Come on, guys. Women are complicated. Men are simple. Simple.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? It's it's just true. It's why when you go to the museum and you see the ape evolving, it turns into a man. It's that's us. So here's what I want you to do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And with your kids. I I get it. Kids are frustrated. A person at work is frustrating. Look, people are frustrating.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're never gonna change. What has to change is you. So instead of criticizing them and being critical of them, listen to what the Bible says. Let us think of ways not to criticize one another, not to be negative to one another, but ways to motivate one another. To what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Acts of love and good works. You wanna change your your marriage? Create acts of love and good works. You want better kids? Create acts of love and good works.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You want better friendships? Create acts of love and good works. And how do we do that? We motivate. We encourage.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Years ago, I read a book where it talked about how to raise kids and it says, catch him catch him getting it right. Now you may you may have to really hunt, but catch him getting it right. Catch your spouse getting it right. Oh, honey. I love it when you do that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I love it. That's amazing. Rather than talking about when they got it wrong. And let me say this. With our church, let's celebrate when we get it right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, I don't know if you know this, but we have 10,000 volunteers. You know? I mean, think about trying to motivate parents' work and sell candy on a Saturday. It's difficult to run a church, so let's be positive about our church. Let's be grateful for our church, and let's figure out how not to criticize one each other, but to motivate one another to love and good deeds.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Amen. So I want you to think right now. Who's the person that you've been trying to change that instead of God changing them, God wants to change your attitude towards them? That's what I want you to think of right now, and I'm gonna pray for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's pray. Heavenly father, we know that people are difficult because we are people. And, God, instead of us constantly praying about why you don't change the people around us, God, I I just ask right now that you would help us change the person within us. Lord, and I pray right now that our relationship with this person would become 50cent 50% better because we choose to change. We choose to grow.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We choose to become like Jesus, and we choose to repent to experience and allow you through your spirit and through your word to transform our lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can we sit here now? Yeah. Yes. I
Fredo Ramos:just wanna take a second to say thank you so much for joining us here at Sandals Church online. And listen, as you go about your week, would you just receive the invitation as pastor Matt shared with us today to be open to how Jesus can change your thinking and also his word and scripture can transform the way you think about yourself and the world around you. And listen, I would imagine at some level, this ministry here at Sandals Church has transformed your life, and you're not the only one. And so I wanna invite you to consider supporting the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church. To do so, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support.
Fredo Ramos:Grace and peace.
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 sandalschurch.com.