Morgan Teruel: Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here and we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Hi, guys. And welcome to old rules for new life. Man, this is an amazing series where we're looking at the old commandments in a new way. And so each and every week, I'm giving you a rule to follow, and this week's rule is very, very simple. This is the shortest command of all the commands, just 2 words.
But my rule is 3, and here's the rule. Life is precious. Let me say it again. Life is precious. And so we're gonna walk through this, and let me just say this.
You know, this is the shortest command, but probably the most controversial command as we go through. So some of the things I'm gonna say today sound political. They're not meant to be political. So let's take down the political rhetoric and the political tone, and let's just say, hey, God thinks people matter, and they should matter to me, and people are precious, to him, and they should be precious to me. So Exodus 20 verse 13, you shall not murder.
So sorry if I ruined some of your weekend plans. You can't kill people. Okay? You can't kill people. So just take a chill pill, relax, get off Facebook, and listen to what I'm gonna say.
Okay? Now I'm gonna give it to you in Hebrew, because the Hebrew word is somewhat controversial. So there are 7 Hebrew words for kill, and this is one of the words. So, you can't read it, but it says lo, taratzak. And so lo is don't.
Don't or or do not. It's it's no. Lo is no. And teratzak is really to murder. And so, so many people get caught up with this.
They say, well, it says, thou shalt not kill. Well, really, the intent is murder. Premeditated, thinking about it, lying in wait, killing someone, and that's why I chose the ESV because it rightly renders the command, you shall not murder. Okay? So there are exceptions.
We're gonna get into that in a little bit, and some of you are like, yes. I am praying for your violent soul. Okay? So number 1, as we move into this very, very short command, Number 1, all life is precious to God. K?
And I should say all human life. K? And I don't mean that the animals don't matter and your dog doesn't matter, but you matter. You matter more than your precious puppy. Amen?
Amen. Love your dog, just not as much as you. Okay? And people always ask me, is my dog going to heaven? I'm like, are you going to heaven?
That's my commission. So let's start here. Your life is precious. Your life. And some of you, you you fail to see that, because it's so interesting.
We're in this political argument over whose lives matter. Listen to me. Your life matters. And and before you're worried about everyone else, I want you to just embrace that. The reason the 6th command is thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not murder, is because your life is precious to God.
Your life is a gift to you from God. Now, I don't know what your parents said. I don't know what your friends say. I don't know what social media has said. Man, this week, I just did a little tour de France of what people say about Matt Brown on the Internet.
Woah. Okay? Never saw the word precious. Precious never came up. Man, I heard, you know, woke joke, fascist, you know, Trumpster.
I mean, I heard atheist. I heard all kinds of things. Out of homeschool, mom. Jesus warned me about you. I was like, woah.
Maybe just focus on teaching teaching your kids to read, amen, before you hurl insults at me. Psalms 13917. Listen to this. This is God speaking. How precious are your thoughts about me, oh God?
So whatever negative voices you have about yourself today, that's not God. Whatever criticism, whatever shame you're dealing with, that's not God. You see, God loves you. And think about that. We we say this all the time at Sandals, but many of you, you feel like you're worth less.
God thought you were worth Christ. And you need to wrestle with that. So your life is precious. And so let me say this. If you're battling depression, if you have suicidal thoughts, I want you to know that God cares about you, and he does not want you to harm yourself.
And as a church, that's not to be judgmental to people who battle mental illness or battle to depression. It's just to say you matter. You matter. You are more than just your dark thoughts. There's more to you than you can see, and we love you.
And as a church, let us come around you and just say as a church, you matter. You're wrestling. You're struggling. You're battling, but you matter. You're precious to God, and you're precious to us.
Now like I said, a lot of the things I'm gonna say are are controversial and are political. So don't try to amen, because here's why. You you might say amen right at the moment that somebody next to you is battling the very thoughts that I'm talking about. And so we don't want them to feel excluded. We want them to feel included today in this message.
Why? Because all lives are precious to God, even the lives of those who disagree with us. Okay? So we need to do that. Next, this is this is hugely controversial, especially here in California.
But listen to me. The unborn are precious to God. They're precious to God. Psalms 13 9 13. Listen, it's you, that's God, who, God made all the delicate inner parts in my body, and knit me together where in my mother's womb.
Here's what God says about fetuses. It is his process. It is his work, and they matter to him. And so as Christians, we need to not just say that in condemnation towards our culture, but we need to say it in love. And let me say this as a church.
You know who else is precious to God? The mom who finds herself not wanting to be pregnant. So we need to care about her. We need to love her. We need to not be condemning in the way that we speak to her, but let her know there's a whole church community here that would rally around you and love you and help you.
I mean, either you can raise that kid or you can't. Man, there are so many families in this church that I know that would love to raise your child. That are praying right now for a baby. That are praying right now for some miraculous way to have a family, and God could use your unwanted pregnancy to bring about their answer to prayer. And so just know that.
Know that. K? There are accidental parents, but listen to me. There's no such thing as an accidental child. Every child is created by God and is precious in the eyes of God, and should be precious in our eyes.
We should care about people. And especially as a church, if you see a single mom, don't judge her. Celebrate her. She made the right choice. She made the right choice.
And listen to me, church. We have to own this, that some of the young ladies in our church would rather face God's wrath than yours. Isn't that sad? They can trust in God's grace, but they're not sure about you. So we just need to come alongside and say, hey, look, we've all made mistakes, but that baby's not a mistake.
That baby is precious in the eyes of God, and we're gonna come alongside you, and we're gonna help you. We're not gonna lie to you. This is gonna be tough, but together, we can do this, and we can have a plan for that kid. And so I just I just want you to know, this is something that's that's very, very passionate for me, because my mom found herself when she was pregnant with me being uncertain of what she would do, and she wrestled with that. And ultimately, I'm thankful, I hope you are, that she chose life, And that's why my name is Matthew.
It means gift of God. And every child is a gift of God. And it may be a gift that you feel like as a young mom that you're not ready for, but with God, you can do all things in Christ who strengthens you. Okay? So if you thought that was political, here we go.
We're going in the deep end without floaties. You ready? People of every ethnicity are precious to God. K? Now listen to me.
Some of you guys, we make this so political. Man, this should not be political. This should be theological. Some of you are so political, God help if someone says black lives matter. Man, you can't even let them finish the sentence, and you're like, all lives all lives matter.
All lives matter. Look. Yeah. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But it's okay to say black lives matter.
Look, it's okay to affirm that, but to not affirm the movement, the political movement, black lives matter. It's okay. Black people matter to God. Yes. Amen.
Praise God. You don't have to lose your mind. Okay? Some are like, too late, pastor. You lost me.
And let me just let me just say this. Why did it take a secular movement to say that? Why didn't the church say it? Why why why didn't we come up with that? You know, we've missed out on a lot of good slogans.
Amen? Like love. Whoops. I didn't see that one coming. Shoot.
I mean why why do people who oppose God come up with the best slogans? Because we fail to study God's word and then try to figure out a way to communicate that to our culture. Yeah, we're about love. Of course we're about love. And of course we're about people.
Of course we love black people. Of course they matter to God. Yes. Amen. Take a chill pill.
Maybe a Xanax. I don't know what you need. But it's okay to affirm what God obviously feels. And we need to say that. You matter.
You matter. And sometimes the person that's speaking up in such a way, like a person who's black, who says black lives matter, all they're looking for you to do is to affirm that. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. And then to say, man, I'm so sorry if our culture, our world, or our church, or I have made you feel that that's not true.
And we embrace that and we love you and we care for you. K? We don't have to be crazy. It doesn't have to be political. The 6th command says all lives matter, and that includes whatever description you put in there.
Genesis 127. So God created human beings in his own image. What color were they?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: It doesn't say. It doesn't say. Some of you are like, well, I don't know. It doesn't say.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: In the image of God, he created them. Male and female, he created them. K? Genesis chapter 2 says he he made them out of mud. I've never seen white mud.
Yeah. Didn't say he went to Bora Bora and got some sand. Right? So dirt is usually of the darker hue. Amen?
That's all I'm saying. Don't lose your mind. Some of you are, like, finding another church. It's okay. Look.
He made us all in his image. So think about that. No matter what your ethnicity says, ultimately, 23andme doesn't go back far enough. Because your story begins not with your DNA, but it begins with God. And he says, you matter.
You matter. And we could just affirm that and just say I care for you. Even, listen to me, church, if we don't agree. Do you know why Jesus Christ was murdered? Because some people in his own ethnic group did not agree.
And so every religious movement struggles with this. Every religious movement has violated the 6th command. Why do we worship a risen Jesus? Because Jews, God bless them, violated the 6th command. Christians have done the same.
We've done the same. Right? You don't agree with the 6th commandment? I'm gonna kill you. Right?
That was a joke. Somebody like, oh, that felt a that felt a little tense. Yeah, exactly. I mean, what did the Spanish Inquisition have to do with Christianity? Nothing.
But people still died. The church has had horrific moments because in the name of freeing people from their sin, we've committed sins and violated the very core truths of our faith. So Judaism has to go had to go through this process. Christianity has had to go through this process. Listen to me.
Islam needs to go through this process. And I'm not saying if you are Muslim, you haven't. I'm just saying, as a religion, they need to go through this and rediscover the value of human life. And here's the thing. Some of you say, well, that's why I'm not religious.
Oh, scientists. And let me say this. Science is now a religion, and that's why we say it's okay to take the life of an unborn child without even blinking, because that's your religion. Science needs to come back and say, okay, we need to value human life. We need to care for people.
Just because maybe we have the right politically to do something, should we do this? I think that might be a helpful question to science and medicine nowadays. Right? We need to go back and say, Okay, you matter. I care for you.
And we need to just say universally, people matter to God. Okay? Number 2. Don't take someone's life unless you're protecting life. Because I know some of you are like, well, when can I kill people, pastor?
I I wanna know. I got my control carry permit, and I'm ready, pastor. Okay? I can't go through all of this, but I know some of you are gonna fire me with your questions. So fire your questions.
Just don't fire at me. Amen? And we're gonna handle this in the debrief, and I'm gonna handle all of your questions because there are some times, biblically, where you have the right to take life, and one of those universally is to protect life, to protect life. If your life is in danger, k, you don't have to allow your family to be harmed because you're a Christian. You have a responsibility to stand up and to protect, and that's okay.
But I don't have time and a message to answer all your questions and to get into all the nuance nuances of this. We we need to deal with this very carefully and very thoroughly, and so I'll do that on a debrief. So let's talk about, really, the real issue and the real violation of the 6th commandment. Some of you are not killing your life, but you are destroying it. Number 3, don't waste your life.
One of the things God's gonna hold you accountable for on judgment day is what what did you do? What did you do with the one and only life I gave you? Think about that. Think about the immense possibilities of your life. One of my favorite things is when when Mary holds the baby Jesus in her arms and people speak over that new child.
And it says she pondered these things in her heart. You know what that means? She's wondering what could be. Man, that's what every child is. Unlimited potential.
What could be? Some of you are not even close to what you could be, and that's not to judge you. That's just to open your eyes up to the possibilities of what you could become if you surrendered your life to God. You need to know your potential that is found in God. Don't waste your life.
This is one of the reason that so many young people don't come to church anymore. We've not answered their question, how does God make their life better? We know what we believe, but listen to me. We don't know why our neighbor needs to believe it. You see, as Christians, we focus on what we believe, but we need to be able to articulate why you need to believe these things.
We have a generation of young people that are lost, depressed, saddened, taking their lives, harming their selves, and they know what we believe. They believe, you know, we believe that they believe that we believe they're judged, but they don't know why they need God, and we need to answer that. James 414. How do you know what your life will be tomorrow? You know why most of you are wasting your life?
Because you're stressing out about what will never come. I mean, think of all the time you've lost, all the anxiety, all the worry, all the stress, and it never happened. And not only that, but you're gonna die 5, 10, 15 years earlier because you just stressed yourself out. You know? I mean, some of you are gonna stand before Jesus.
Well, I guess it was my time. He's like, no. You had a little more time on the clock. But you stressed yourself out so bad, your body needed a break. So think about that.
Your life is like the morning fog. It's here for a little while, then it's gone. So what does that mean? It doesn't mean be flippant with it. It be means be intentional with it.
Think about this. Life is short. Don't waste it on things that don't matter. Like, I wonder if I I went around with you just 1 by 1, and I said, how many of you have worried about things that just didn't matter, That's just ridiculous. How much time do you waste looking at social media on things that don't matter?
Man, you just scroll and scroll and scroll and never once look at the scroll that can change your life. It's the Bible, and here's what it says. You matter so much to me. You matter so much to me. Ephesians 5:16, so be careful how you live.
Some of you are not even you don't you're not careful at all. You're thoughtless. Don't live like the Bible says, like fools. But make, but like those who are wise, make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Some are like, well, the days are evil, Pastor.
Okay, I need you to get smarter. I need you to get smarter. I need you to figure out how to live a life that's worthy of the gift that God gave you, because at the end of the day, that's what makes you rich. What makes you rich is the time you have. You know what Bill Gates can't buy?
You know what Jeff Bezos can't buy? More time. Time is the gift we have And listen to me, time is the gift we will be held accountable for. I know so many of you are parents of young kids, and Tammy and I sometimes on TikTok, we just watch parents, of little ones, and and little ones are tough. There's a reason God makes them cute, because if they weren't, you probably would violate the 6th command.
Amen? You know, we're just gonna start over. You know, making them as fun and, you know, 9 months in the oven and we'll have another one and try again. But I was watching I was watching this dad and his daughter, little cute cutie thing, 2, 3 years old, just melting down. I need to sleep.
I need to sleep. He's like, are you tired? She's like, yes. She's like he's like, do you wanna take a nap? She's like, right here.
He's like, I could go to sleep. She's like,
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: okay, daddy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Here's the thing. Listen to me, parents. If you have little children, the days are long, but the years are short. Couple years ago, both my daughters got married, and, we were trying to find pants. Remember COVID?
So my son, it's a 29 inch waist. We're trying to find suit pants for 29 inch waist. I don't think those exist anywhere on earth. So we were at we were at a store, you know, I don't know, the the 27th store. I I had just given up.
I didn't go in. I just sent Tammy in there. Amen? That's what the Lord would do. Send out a, you know, a scout.
And so it's the day before the wedding, and out comes this dad with a little 3 year old blonde haired girl, stringy blonde hair, just like my daughter who was getting married that day had. And she and he walked by and she was on her shoulders, and she went like this. She pulled her hair aside like this and she looked at me and she went And I lost it. Lost it. Listen to me parents, the days are long, but the years are short.
And when I put both my girls hands into their husband's hands, those hands look so tiny to me. And listen to me, dads. That moment of entrusting them with someone you know doesn't know what to do. And you know because you were that guy. Will you?
Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah. Totally. All the time.
Absolutely. Amen. I'm a spiritual leader now. Okay. The days are long.
The years are short, So take advantage of that time. Couples, when you're fighting, just remember, man, you only have so much time to love each other. One of these days, you're gonna have to say goodbye. And you know what I in funeral after funeral after funeral, nobody says, I wish we would have fought more. You know?
I've never heard a wife from the grave scream, underwear on the floor. Never. All those things. All those things. I remember when we buried my grandfather, I stood with my grandmother over his casket, and she looked at me and she said, I'm so sorry.
And I said, For what, grandma? And she said, I was so critical of him while he was alive, and I miss him terribly now that he's dead. And she said this, I wish I could say I was sorry. That's pretty real. You know what she's sorry for?
All the time and all the moments she killed. Because you don't get those back. All right, now most of you were not planning on murdering somebody, right? Hopefully, we're good. And if you were, please just raise your hand and just say, Security, security.
We will help you out. Amen? Most of us don't kill people physically, but we do emotionally and we do spiritually. And you know how we do that? We do it with our words.
Number 4, don't destroy someone's life. How? With my words. Listen to what Proverbs 18/21 says. It says, The tongue has the power of life and of death.
Man, if I went around this room, and I just asked you, tell me all the times your mom or your dad said they love you when you were little. Tell me the amount of times they said, I'm proud of you. And then I said, tell me the time they hurt your feelings, or they said, you're no good, you're a piece of whatever, and every single one of you would remember what? The negative moments. Because those things stick in our minds.
Right? When I was a kid, we used to say sticks and stones will never hurt me. Right? They do and so do words. So do words.
Be careful what you say. We live in a culture that is so flippant with our words, so harsh. In a desire to be heard, we destroy. Proverbs 15:28, the heart of the godly, I don't know if that's you. I hope it's you.
The heart of the godly thinks carefully before speaking. How many of you guys have ever spoken too soon? Yeah. Yeah. If your hand is not up, it needs to be up.
We've all spoken too soon. The Bible says this. He who speaks much, sins much. Yeah, pray for me. Amen.
Pray for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: The mouth of the wicked overflows with what? Evil words. Evil words. What is the the television program on Hulu full of when you watch it? What is your Netflix favorite shows full of when you watch it?
Some of you, you heal you hear evil words so much, you don't even hear them anymore. And literally what's being spoken is just filth. It's just filth. We wonder why so many of our young people today act in violence towards themselves and towards each other. Look at the video games they play.
Look at the shows they watch. There's no value for human life. There's no value. We have a culture that does not value life, and it starts with the unborn, and it goes all the way up to our seniors. We don't value them anymore.
Life is precious. James 411. Don't speak evil against each other. Man, here's the thing I've learned. I have spoke the harshest words to those I claim to love the most.
How is that possible? Some of us, man, we got divorced because we destroyed each other. We don't have a relationship with our kids because we destroyed each other. And you may not have done it physically, but you did it linguistically, and you did it with your words. Matthew 1236 through 37, Jesus says this, but I tell you that men will have to give an account.
I want you to, in your notes, to underline have to give an account. For what? On the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. Wow. I mean, just just think about you on judgment day and your Facebook account.
The Lord's like, did you, on February 14th, say, love is dead? Your spouse should die. Did you say that? You know? Yeah.
It says right here with a black rose. Right? Did did you say that? I got to my my account got hacked, lord. Wasn't me.
Listen. He says, for by your words, you will be acquitted, and by your words, you will be condemned. You see, some of you don't realize this. Before Adolf Hitler ever killed a Jew, he spoke evil against them. We cannot kill people we do not speak evil against.
Germans are not any worse as a people than you are or I am. They just had a leader that they allowed to speak hatred and anger repeatedly to a group that was prospering. So anger, listen to this, is hot and momentary. Anybody ever lost it in anger? Yeah.
No. Just me. In the studio, it's just me. Everyone else is like, well, let me let me see. Yeah.
Man, I'm a passionate person. I can get fiery. Amen? You know, my nickname for my wife is firecracker. Right?
We both just. So anger is hot and momentary. You get hot, you get angry. You you say something stupid. You have a moment of rote rage.
You cut somebody off. You flip somebody off. Right? You're like, Oh, that's my grandma. Sorry, grandma.
You know? Anger is hot and momentary, and a lot of us, we think about that, and we talk about that. Here's a part of our words and our life that we never talk about. It's contempt. So anger is hot and momentary.
Contempt is cold and continuous. You see, anger affects what we say, and contempt affects what we withhold. Some of you are not killing your loved ones with what you say. You're killing them with what you don't say. So here's my memory verse this year.
Psalms 1914. Some days are good. Some days not so good. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer. Psalms 1914.
Let the words of my mouth, listen to this, and the meditation of my heart You see, your mouth and your heart have an interesting relationship. The only things that come out of your mouth are the things that are in your heart. And we need to learn to deal with that. So listen to me. Anger begins the sin in your heart to kill people with your words.
And if you don't deal with it, it will move to contempt. Listen to me if you're married. I have hope for couples who are angry at each other. If there's contempt, that's really hard to fix because contempt is disdain. I no longer like anything about you.
And that's what happens. That's how war happens. Right? In anger, you can kill a person. With contempt, you can kill a people.
Be careful. Don't destroy someone with my actions. This is the golden rule. We don't teach this anymore. Some of our young people have never heard this.
Think I I I want you to hear that. For some of you, you've never heard the golden rule. Do you know why? We don't treat it as gold anymore. How should we treat one another?
How should we relate to each other? Matthew 713. Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. Listen to what Jesus says. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.
You know why you don't kill people? Do you wanna be killed? No, thanks. I mean, I I don't want to be killed. I don't want to be murdered, so I shouldn't do that.
This is how broken our society is. Some of our murderers are celebrities to a select few of extraordinarily broken people in our culture. We need to repent and and pull back. But here's the thing. Most of you are never gonna be a murderer.
Amen? Praise God. Some are like, yeah. Well, I'm praying about it. You know how we kill people?
You know how we destroy people? You know how we harm? It's not with what we say. It's not with what we do. It's with what we don't do.
We destroy human life with inaction. James 4 17 says this. Remember, it is a sin to know what you ought to do, and then to not do it. We need to learn. Not just to say, you know what, it's not me.
It's not up to me. We need to intervene and to say around the coffee bar, hey guys, we don't need to speak about a co worker like this. And we don't gossip in the church, right? We pray for people. Yeah.
Let's pray for Susie. She sinned again. I know. It's that's what Susie does. You know, we pray.
She's healed. She jumps right back in the pit with Satan. You know, it's just what Susie does. Let's pray for Susie and her adulteress, multiple affairs, you know, her addictions. She's a sinner.
She needs our prayer. You know what Susie needs? She needs to be defended in your group. Susie's a child of God. Yeah, she may have sinned, but Susie's a child of God.
And when we talk about her and when we pray for her, we need to treat her as a child of God. You see some of us will never murder someone, but we will kill them with gossip. And we will cut them down and cut them low. And we need to remember, every human life has value, including yours. And that's why Jesus wants you to watch every word you say.
Because listen to me, there's power in your words. You see one of the ways that satan lies to us is he says you're not powerful, you are and your words prove it. And let me just say this to so many of you today, so many of you today will never destroy another person but you will destroy yourself with your words. Remember Genesis chapter 3. Adam and Eve sinned and are naked and they hid.
And when God calls them, Adam comes out and says, we were naked and so we hid. And God says, who told you you were naked? Self criticism is not of Christ. Beating yourself up is not of God. Man, if there's something that needs to change in your life, take it to the cross and it's forgiven.
And move on and be the child of God that God has called you to be. And let's as a church be known that we don't just stand for life that agrees with our political agenda, but we stand for all life. The people that we love, the people we can't stand, I know, you know, like you're, yeah, I know you have them. I do too. You know, right?
The people that we disagree with, the people that we oppose, their lives matter to God. Let me tell you something, when we value all life, all life is lifted, including our owns. Let's pray to God and just, and just ask for forgiveness, that we've not valued life the way we need to. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, in, in the powerful, mighty name of Jesus, we just pray, Lord, that we would be overwhelmed with a spiritual conviction today, that all life matters.
God, that starts with us, and I just wanna speak against the enemy right now that is just criticizing, slaughtering, and destroying individuals that are listening to this right now. God, make him go away. Every single person is of value. Every single one of is loved, every single one of us was died for on the cross, and we matter. God, let us begin regardless of our political, persuasion, our theological understanding, God, regardless of what someone has done or not done, God, we need to say they matter to you.
So heavenly father, please let us leave here today, people that live this old rule for the new life that you've called us to live, and that is all life is precious. And let us never apologize for that, but let us proclaim it. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Hi.
I'm pastor Matt Brown. Thank you so much for watching this content. The reason that we produce this content is to help you build an authentic relationship with God, with yourself, and ultimately with others. People just like you who are furthering, their relationship with God. If you would like to transition from someone who just watches this content to partner with us so that we could produce that content, I would really like to invite you to go to donate.sc.
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