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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 McKay and I am part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listened to this message from pastor Matt Brown teaching from our series, be real. 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:Hi, and welcome to Sandals Church, man. I am so passionate about this vision about being real with God, ourselves and others. And today we're gonna talk about being real with God. It's the most important relationship in your life. There is nothing more valuable, nothing more important, nothing more essential than your relationship with God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And almost 28 years ago now, Tammy and I, we started this church with this vision. How do we help people connect with God? How do we draw people in and help them know that they can have a real relationship with God? And that's what we've been doing for 28 years. But I want you to know that if you wanna be real with God, it starts, listen to me very carefully, with a desire to stop playing pretend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now how many of you guys like to, pretend when you're a kid? K? If you still do and you're Peter Pan and you're 44, put the video game down and listen to what I'm saying. Here's what the apostle Paul says. When I was a child, I spoke like a child.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I thought like a child. I play video wait. No. That's not what it says. I reasoned like a child.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, but when I became a man, I gave up childish ways. Okay? So in California, the place to pretend is called Hollywood. Anybody been there? K.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Tammy and I, we went to a movie premiere this week, and we have people in our church that work in the Hollywood industry. There's actors, directors, producers. And, you know, Hollywood is very, very dark, and the people in our church that work there are trying to make a difference. They're trying to make a change for the content that you watch. And so, Tammy and I, we got invited to go to a movie premiere this week for one of the producers in our church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I went to support him. Let's be honest. The vision is being real. I wanted to meet Mel Gibson. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K. Right? Freedom. Anybody? Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Any man in here's live changed in 1996. You wanna put blue paint on your face right now? Ride a horse? Become Scottish? But Mel Gibson was starring in this movie, and I wanted so badly to meet him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I got my opportunity. So Tammy and I were standing there, and it was really uncomfortable. Everybody's serving drinks. I don't drink anymore. So I was just standing there, and Mel Gibson is right next to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And we literally make eye contact, and he does this. He checks me up from head to toe, and and and he was almost excited to see me. And then we looked at each other, stared at each other, and he walked away. And I was thinking, what if he thought for a second, you know who it was, I was Kevin Bacon? Because he was so happy to see me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then he and he, no, and then he went his other way. But Tammy said, I I thought you were gonna say hi to him. And I said, I I thought I was gonna say hi too, but it was so awkward, and his eyes are so blue. Just 2 alpha males checking each other out. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I wanna be honest with you. That wasn't the oddest thing of the night. The oddest thing of the night was some of the other pastors and specifically priests that were there. And I don't wanna put down anybody who's Catholic or whatever you are, but the the outfits that some of the clergy then the priests wore were bizarre. They stood out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I and I was just watching this. Is anybody coming up to them? They wore completely white, 100% white robes. It looked like they stepped out of the Vatican into Hollywood, and they weren't actors. They were there and they were invited to be a part of this movie because a lot of the people that are supporting movies like these are are Christians and are Catholics, and they're saying, hey.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We want entertainment that reflects conservative Judeo Christian values. And so that's why they were there. But I just watched them. Nobody approached them. Nobody came up to them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They looked pristine. They looked like they belonged in a jar, not to be touched, not to be approached, perfect white. And I want you to know that's the exact opposite of the way that I wanna come across to you. I'm wearing a sweatshirt today, and it's intentionally baggy. Because here's what I want you to know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This uniform will never fit perfectly. I'm never gonna be able to slide into this role and be the perfect pastor, to be the perfect priest, to be any of that. Jesus is the perfect pastor. Jesus is the perfect priest. And anybody who's playing dress up, and I don't mean this to be offensive, is pretending and oftentimes hiding something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've been to church services that are not Catholic. They're they're my background Baptist where the pastor preaches behind what looks like a throne. And then he has his kings and queens and bishops all and it's literally like Narnia. K. That's not Sandals church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus taught in fields. He taught in homes. He taught in hospitals. He he didn't erect a castle and say, everyone come as I give you God's word. And so here's the thing is, we we we've gotta be careful because many of you, man, you you you God wasn't moving at your last church and you come here and you go, why don't you do what what what they were doing at your last church that didn't work?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's that's what you wanna know why I don't do? And it always amazes me. Listen to me. If you're a Christian from another church, we love you. You're welcome here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't spoil what God is doing here. Sandals Church exists for people who are ready to stop playing pretend. Jesus says it this way. What sorrow awaits you, teachers, of religious law and you Pharisees? What does he call them?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is Jesus' favorite cuss word, hypocrites. It means mask wearer, and we should translate this word, listen to this, actor. Actor. You know, we fall in love in our cultures with actors. Oh my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was like you were in a real war. They weren't. It wasn't real bullets. It wasn't real bombs. We live in a culture where we celebrate actors who portray war heroes, and we don't respect our actual war heroes in our country.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, you hypocrites, for you are like, listen, white washed tombs. I kid you not, from head to toe, everything these ministers were wearing was pristine white, like a woman on her wedding day. And these were guys. These were guys. And nobody approached them because how can you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, for you are like whitewashed tombs, beautiful on the outside. And by the way, their outfits were amazing, amazing. And I'm not saying this is true for them. Jesus says this was true for religious leaders in his day, but filled on the inside with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Outwardly, you look like righteous people, But inwardly, your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness. I just heard of another pastor this last week. I was in a meeting. Somebody said, hey, did you hear about so and so? And I said, no, I didn't.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What happened? Another affair, another ministry blown up, another church brokenhearted. And do you know why those guys fail? Because they forget. They believe in the uniform and they forget the true condition of their heart.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? I never for 28 years have forgotten my heart is sinful. Never for 28 years. And and I've just decided, man, if I ever get excited or aroused or whatever, I just run, man. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So, you know, if I'm talking to you and I I think you're good looking. That's all it is. You know? What did what did pastor Matt and what does the Bible say to do with lust? You flee from it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You run for you don't wait around. You don't pray about it. Lord, give me strength in the strip club. Get out, dude.
Dani Crowley:Thank you so much for joining us today. If this message has served you in any way, I wanna invite you to give today to the work that we are doing here at Sandals Church. You can do that by going to give dotsc@anytime. But for right now, let's get back into the message with pastor Matt.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And and I think that's one of the things that makes Sandals different. I know I'm a sinner. Tammy and I were at the gym today working out, and the guy next to me says, I've been reading about you, which is, you know, that's a strange way to say hello.
McKay Vandenberg:He said,
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I didn't realize you guys started the whole church. Wow. That's really impressive. And in between my reps, I looked at him. I said, it's all God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's all God. We shouldn't be here. We shouldn't be successful. It's all God. Everything I got right was God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everything we got wrong, we know who it was. It was me. Romans 2 16, and this message that I proclaim that is the day is coming when God, through Jesus Christ, listen to me, will judge everyone's secret life, everyone's secret life. My daughter works in the music industry, and she told me, she said, dad, it's dark. She said it's not all about love.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not what it's about at all. She said much of it is actually about perversion. I said, oh, yeah. I mean, think about, like, you know, what we're finding out about P. Diddy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K. That's been going on for years, and the most dangerous thing is it sounds like he was recording what other people were doing and other celebrities to keep himself safe. I want you to know God is recording what you're doing, and there is a record. You wanna know why, guys? I don't search the Internet and look at things I shouldn't be looking at because Google keeps a record.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I don't care if you tell your phone, unlearn, wipe it away. There's a record. There's a record. And there's a day coming when you have to get real. That's why I say, let's do it now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because then you have less to talk about it on judgment day. Amen? Anybody wanna get in the fast track line? I do. I do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're gonna see all the sandalights with our fast tracks. We're just like, yep, already confessed that, already confessed that. And everybody else is going, we shoulda gone to Sandals. Yeah. You should've.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. You should. Amen? Because here's the great news. Things we confess, we don't have to talk about on judgment day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We just don't. Lord, and this is what I did. So becoming real with god, listen to this, changes the way I wanna worship. I get tired of playing pretend, and it changes the way I want to worship. We gotta be really really careful at Sandals Church that the longer we become a church, we don't just get into a routine.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We don't just get in a stuck in a rut, and we don't just do things the way that we've always done them because the reason we do anything and everything we do is to connect with God. Couple years ago, I took a group from our church to Jerusalem, and I and we went to some of the oldest churches. And I was watching a priest do ceremonies, and our guide was telling us how beautiful it is that they've been doing this worship service the same way for 1400 years. And I to turned to him, I said, but how sad it is nobody's in here worshiping. The only person in the building was the priest and tourists watching the priest worship.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That breaks the Lord's heart. He wanted people to come to him and worship. He didn't want priest doing it perfectly for 1400 years while the world goes to hell. He wanted he wanted us to bring people in. On TikTok, I follow a couple of pastors.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some I like. Some I'm praying about liking. You know what I'm saying? It's okay. There are people that are praying about liking me, and there's some that don't even pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're like, I don't like him. But but this guy does question and answer at the end of every sermon. And the person was saying, why aren't we changing to reach the lost? And this is what his answer was. He said I could give a flip about what non Christians think worship should look like, and I just was like, you you could give a flip?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, Jesus gave a flip, and he went out into to the wilderness. I mean, read his stories. Go out in the highways, the byways, and the hedges, and the fields. Find the sick. Find the lame.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Find the poor. Go out and get the people who aren't religious and don't get what we're doing. Listen. And bring them here. Do whatever it takes to fill my house.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then we got a man of God, a preacher saying he doesn't care because he wants to do the exact same thing that worked in the fifties, sixties, seventies. Culture has changed, my friend. The word of God doesn't change, but how we teach it to people has to change, has to change. Oh my gosh. Anybody remember COVID?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:During COVID, I kid you not, They ran out of doctors. Did you guys know this? And so they had to go get some dinosaurs out of retirement and bring them into the hospital. And I had to get some cancer removed from the back of my ear, and I got one of those dinosaurs. Let me tell you something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We don't wanna go back to where they do used to do medicine in the good old days. You don't wanna go back. You don't wanna toughen up. You don't want that dude. You want him fishing out in the lake or in Palm Springs wherever he needs to go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He should not be caring for people. All he said was look left, so I did and he shot me. No novocaine. No rub. No warning.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No compassion. He burned a hole in my head until the cancer fell off, and he said you'll be alright. My wife said, how was the doctor? I said, I got assaulted.
McKay Vandenberg:But you
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:know what he said? That's how we used to do it. How about this is gonna hurt. You're gonna be okay. You can do it, Matthew.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But a lot of churches are just just just the old days. We just just burn that thing right off.
McKay Vandenberg:You're gonna burn, so get used to it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so Kaiser asked, how was your visit? I said, I'm never coming back. Walked out of there with a blister, man. Looked like I was growing a new friend off the side of my head. Now to his credit, the cancer did fall off.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It didn't work. Luke 189 through 14, then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence. So Jesus is speaking to his age, his culture, his people in his context. They had great confidence in their own righteousness and and scorned everyone else. He says 2 men went to the temple to pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you know most of our people? They've never been to temple. They don't know where this temple is. But in Jesus' day, one was a Pharisee and the other was a despised tax collector. You see, Pharisees were religious priests.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They were considered perfect, and tax collectors were considered traitors because they collected taxes against the Jewish people for the Romans. They were hated. They were hated. The Pharisee stood by himself and he prayed this prayer. I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, for I don't cheat, I don't sin, and I don't commit adultery, and I am certainly not like that tax collector, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But the tax collector, he stood at a distance, and he dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow saying, oh, god, be merciful to me. Listen to this. For I am a sinner. Jesus said, not Matt Brown.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus said, I tell you this, this sinner, not the pharisee, returned home justified before God. Listen to me. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted. If you call yourself a Christian or you wanna be a Christian, the way up is always down, and the way down is always up. So let me tell you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Many of you, you say, well, pastor, why do we do the Lord's supper every week? Why is this so important? And if you're watching online from home and and and you're a part of our online community, you know, you don't get these things, which is great. I appreciate because these cost us $200 a year. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. What exactly? Now not each. Not each. But these things are expensive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But because during COVID, we realized we used to pass out grapes. You don't want people hands touching all your grapes and people breaking your bread, and so we went to this. But the reason we started doing this every single week at Sandals Church is this. There's only one thing that we have in common. Some of you are rich.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you are poor. Some of you are old. Some of you are young. Some of you are black. Some of you are white.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you are gay. Some of you are straight. Some of you are married. Some of you are single. There there is a lot of diversity in this church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The only thing we have in common is we're all sinners. That's it. That's it. That's right. And we do the Lord's supper every single week to remind us that the only reason we're here, the only reason we can worship, the only reason we're here is because there was a body that was broken, and that's what the cracker is.
McKay Vandenberg:That's right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? That's what it is. And there was real blood that was shed, not my blood, but his blood So that I could be forgiven of my sins. And if we ever lose this, we lose him. And I wanted to bring us all back together because there's so much division politically.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's so much division around all kinds of things. Families are ripped apart. Marriages have been ripped apart. The last 4 years have been crazy in terms of the hostility towards people we love. The Lord's supper is the one thing we have in common, and it reminds us every week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not just about the cracker and the juice. It's about being real listening with Jesus every week. And so when you worship and you're sitting there going, it's too dark in here. I gotta watch on video. Why isn't he here live?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're completely consumed with all the details of worship. You're forgetting the reality of worship. You're here today because a man named Jesus saw you, saw your sin, saw your brokenness, saw your weakness, and loved you anyways. And he's the only perfect human being to ever walk the face of the earth, perfectly human, perfectly God. And he died for you so you could have a perfect relationship with god his father, but it has nothing to do with you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It has everything to do with him, and we've gotta remind ourselves of that because it's real easy to get hoity toity. Lord, I'm not like these people. I fast. I tithe. I serve.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. You do all those things because you've been blessed to know Jesus, and you've been inspired to give, to serve, to participate. Psalms 14518, the Lord is close to all who call on him. I saw this in a store. Sometimes when you get married, single guys, you gotta go shopping.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's horrible. But you just endure and hope that there will be blessings later. Amen? That's all that's all you do. That's all you do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But we're in the store, and I saw I saw this artwork, and it says the Lord is close
McKay Vandenberg:to all who call on him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But that's not the whole verse. The whole verse is the Lord is close to all who call upon him. Yes to all who call on him in truth. You know who's more sick about the hypocrisy in the church than anyone? It's Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not why he died. That's not why he came. That's not what he's about. Christians killed each other for a couple 100 years over how we worship, about getting it right. When my girls were little, they were in Christian school, and they were memorizing the verse, be kind one to another, and they got in a fight with each other because one was saying it incorrectly?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do you get in a fight over the verse be kind one to another? That's not how you say it. Whack. I'm like, you both are sinners even with ponytails. They were like the Spanish inquisition.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You must die because you have been kind incorrectly. That's what happens if we're not careful. The Lord is close to all who call upon him, all in truth. Becoming real with God, though, listen to me, it creates a desire to be real with other Christians. You see, you can't have a relationship with God and not others.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I know you on TikTok and on social media. There's all these, you know, Christian influencers saying, you don't need the church. They haven't read the Bible. 23 times in the Bible, it says love one another. That doesn't mean your mom, your dad, your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, or your best friend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The one anothers are always the church. Yes. Always. Every time. Mark 217, when Jesus heard this, he told them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said, healthy people don't need a doctor. Sick people do. He said, I have come to call those not who think they are righteous, but those who know they're sinners. When Tammy and I were at that movie premiere, we met somebody that went to sandals years ago, and they were talking about how sandals changed their life. And both the husband and the wife told the story that I don't remember.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And they said, we went to church and you preached from a hospital bed. You wore a medical bracelet like you'd been admitted. And you talked about the fact that's what a church is, and it changed our lives forever. How did you come up with that? And I'm like, I don't even remember doing that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I turned to Tammy. I was like, do you remember that sermon? She's like, I don't remember that sermon. And they're like, how can you not remember that? I've preached 10,000 sermons.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't remember them all. But isn't it interesting? At a hospital, it's okay to be sick. But when it's church, we all pretend we're healthy. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's okay to be sick at a hospital. It needs to be okay to be sick at a church. And I wanna talk to the men because women are just better at being real than guys. We struggle. Do you know why men die, I think, 6 years too soon or or sooner than women?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because we won't go to the doctor. We're, like, it's fine. I'll walk it off. And your leg just falls off. But I'm gonna share the most humiliating medical experience I've ever had.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is the most embarrassing thing I've ever been through in my life. I went surfing. Surfing is dangerous for a lot of reasons. 1, fish with teeth. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:2, other surfers who are not they don't have Jesus in their heart. They're not nice. 3 are surfboard. But the most important thing that people don't fear is water. And I went surfing one day, and the waves were really big, really, really too big.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I shouldn't have been out there. They were 10 to 12 feet. You know, god. It's not that big because you've been watching the Internet. Well, let me tell you something, buddy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Come out with me, and we'll see how you do. But when you look at your average big wave, each cubic meter of water weighs about a ton. If the wave is about 10 feet tall, and that's how big they were that day when I was out, and the lip, the top of the wave is about 20 feet long, that's not a huge wave. The wave itself is about 410 tons. So let me translate for you, which is equal to about 315 small cars.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what lands on your head. And I went for a wave, went for a wave, went for a wave. It was a crowded day, and I just missed it. And I got frustrated, and I was upset. And the most dangerous thing is not the wave you missed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's the one you can't see. And I turned around and I looked, and here comes a wave. And this thing hit me. About a 10 to 12 foot wave, 4 10 tons, 315 cars, automobiles, lands right on top of me. I'm sitting on the surfboard like this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One leg went this way, another leg went that way. And I don't know if you know this, but they're attached in the middle.
McKay Vandenberg:Come on.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. So ladies, think the splits with 315 cars on your shoulders. And can I be real? I felt a tear down there. And I was like, I think my day is over.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I paddled in, took my wetsuit off, went to the restroom, and there was a tear down there. And I'm like, who am I gonna tell?
McKay Vandenberg:How how
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:am I gonna explain this that I ripped my bottom? How would you explain it? And I know I gotta go to the doctor. I can't I can't walk this off. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, I'm gonna be fine. So I go to the doctor. I go to the emergency room. I walk in. And you know the little privacy thing they have at Kaiser where, you know, you, you know, stay 6 feet behind so you can't hear?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can hear. You know, the old lady in front of me, she's like, I got the diarrhea. I'm like, she's she's pooping. I'm praying I'm not gonna poop. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because I don't I don't know what's gonna happen. And I get up there and the lady behind the desk says, why why do you need to be, seen, sir? Guys, every man in here I was this close to being nothing and just walking away, you know. Like, I literally would rather die than to than tell them I got a little tear down there. And so I'm trying to say, how do you say how do you say that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I ripped my rectum. I like, what do you, like, what do you say? What do you say? It's hard to get real, isn't it? Especially when you're embarrassed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Especially when you're bare. It's the most it's the most humiliating thing I've ever done. And then the doctor comes in. How'd you do this? I'm surfing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's like, right. Right. Absolutely. They all say that. It was terrible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Absolutely terrible. But listen to me. Do you know why it was real? I wanted to heal. Come on now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's why. But some of you, you don't have a ripped rectum, but you have a ripped heart. You're broken. Your marriage is torn up. I talked to a lady this week at Moreno Valley.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She looked at me, and she said at our Moreno Valley campus, she said, this church changed my life. I said, what happened? She said, our marriage wasn't gonna make it. We weren't okay. We got in the car and we drove to the church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And she said to her husband, we need help. And she drove to Sandals Church, and she told me pastor Andrew Bogenrein was locking the door. And they came out and ran up and said, we need help. We're not okay. We're gonna get divorced.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you know what pastor Andrew did? He said, the church is always open. That's right. He opened the doors. He took them in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what she said. This church saved our marriage. No. No. No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, being real saved your marriage. Amen? If you wanna heal, you gotta get real. Stop lying to your doctor. Do you smoke?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Never. Do you exercise every day? Liar liar. Pants on fire. You know what I believe?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The 2 people we lie to the most are doctor and our pastor. Just praying for you, pastor. Okay. What have you been doing? Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:At church, it's okay to not be okay. We confess our sins to God to be forgiven. Listen to 1st John 19. Here's why you can be real with God. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:At church, it's okay to not be okay. But listen to me. It's not okay to stay that way. It's not okay. Do you know what sin is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's like cancer. You wanna walk around? Yeah. It's just a little cancer. It's okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No, you want it out. When I found out I had cancer on the top of my head, because surfing, I never thought about putting, sunscreen on the top of my head, and I had it right here. And she said, how how far down do you want me to dig? You know what I told her, the surgeon, as far as you need to dig? And she said, well, this is gonna hurt.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, then let it hurt. If you wanna heal, you gotta get real. How far down do you want them to cut if they're getting cancer out of you? But some of you, you say leave a little cancer, pastor, because I don't wanna be totally honest. Do you know what cancer and sin have in common?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They both kill, and they don't care who you are. They don't care what you've done. And let me say this. What happens if you don't get well at the hospital? Does anybody know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You die. 1 person. You die. You don't graduate to greater things. You die.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The same thing happens at church if we don't pursue spiritual health. Listen to what James says. Faith by itself, will I just believe in God, is not if it's not accompanied by action, is what? Dead. Faith, in another translation says without works, is dead.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have to be working out our salvation constantly. And if something's wrong, let's work it out. Let's work it out. The church is a hospital and a gym. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Come on. Yeah. Or we get stronger. You see, we confess our sins to to god to be forgiven. But you ever wonder why you keep confessing to god over and over and over, and it never changes?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this. We confess our sins to each other so we can heal and change. One of the most important verses in our church is James 5 16. Listen to this. Confess your sins to each other.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Not a priest, to each other. And pray for each other so that you, what, you may be healed. Can you imagine if you went to a hospital, and there's a whole wing of people that don't wanna get better? Then why are you here? That's what I'd say.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why are you here? You're take you're taking up a bed that we could use for somebody else who wants to heal. Why are you sitting in your small group week after week, and you know your marriage is dead? I was sitting in a meeting this last week with a former staff member, and he was confessing to me how bad his marriage was when he was on staff and he worked for me. And I just said, can you remind me what our vision is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, why didn't you tell me? I coulda helped you. I had no idea you were hurting. What's the first thing a doctor asks you when you when they come in the room? Why am I seeing you today?
McKay Vandenberg:I don't know
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:if you know this, but it's on the paperwork. The nurse already told them. But they're asking you to connect with you. Why are you here today? What can I do for you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The next time you're in small group, the next time you're in prayer group, just ask why are you here today? The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power, listen to me, and produces wonderful results. You want power and results in your marriage? Then get real. You want power in your in your with your roommates and at work?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then get real. You want power when you pray for healing, for your miracle? Then get real. Stop playing pretend. Jesus hates hypocrisy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, we get real, listen to me, so we can heal. Now here's the most important thing and I get this from my wife. She talks about how to receive real because listen to me. When somebody confesses to you, you're on holy ground and you don't wanna screw this up. And I know what somebody gonna do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You should be telling a pastor. No no no. They felt led to tell you. So I wanna talk about how to receive real when somebody opens up and they say I had an affair. I have an addiction.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I cheated on my spouse. Listen to me very carefully. Always be soft on the person. Never be soft on sin. How do we say it?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Love the sinner, not the sin. I love you so much. Thank you so much for sharing. I have permission to share this next story, but as a person in our church who had an adulterous affair, wrecked their family, and ultimately wrecked their life, and they came in to meet with me and another pastor. They were trembling as they walked in, and and I'll tell you why I was meeting with this person.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One day you know, people always hand me things. If you're if you're ever around me on Sunday, people hand me weird things. Sometimes it's chopsticks. Yeah. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. Thank you. But sometimes it's notes. Does anybody remember, like, the eighties nineties? Like, the notes, they're all folded up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, sometimes it's notes, and I'm just like, what's in here? Am I gonna die? Is it drugs?
McKay Vandenberg:But this
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:person handed me a note, and for whatever reason, the Holy Spirit just said read it, and I read it, and and it broke my heart. It broke my heart. And so I said, okay. I'll meet with you and another pastor, and so the pastor set it up. And this person came in just weeping.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So ashamed. So broken. And I gotta be honest with you. I would not have wanted to confess what she confessed to my pastor, but she shared. And I didn't say it was okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sin's never okay. And I said, the Bible says sin will cost a man or excuse me. Adultery will cost a man everything he has. I go, but you found out it costs women as well. She began to weep.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's her text message after we met together. Listen to this. She said, thank you so much for meeting with me today. I know how busy you are, and I appreciate you taking the times to invest in my life as well as my husband's. It was the most incredible session, and I need you both to know how freeing it was to share my story.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to these words. Thank you for your grace and mercy you showed me and for your unconditional love. I will carry on and I am grateful I still have the opportunity to make things right in me and my family's life. God bless you and thank you. Listen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I didn't tell her it was okay. I didn't tell her to follow your her heart. I said you followed your heart. How'd that work out? But she felt loved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She felt safe. She was able to be real and listen to me. She started her healing journey. The thing that's gonna keep you from your healing journey is that good confession that just says, man, here's what I've been doing. Here's what I've been thinking.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what's been happening in my life. And let me say this. You don't have to tell everyone everything. I just met with a guy. He was like, yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna tell people at work. I was like, I would not I would not share I would not share that at work because people at work may use it against you. And this is what I told this guy. I said, I love you, and I'm rooting for you. And I said, and this is our vision.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what the vision is at your work, but this could get you fired. So we don't tell everyone everything, but we have to tell someone if it's something that must be shared. This vision at Sandals Church is hard. It's raw. The vision of being real is so difficult.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I am convinced of very few things in my life. And the older I get, the less convinced I am of things. But I am convinced that God told a 25 year old young man to plant a church, and the vision was to be real. And since I've done that, God has literally changed my life and the lives of 1,000. I invite you to live out this vision.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is calling. Jesus is inviting you into this radical idea of being real with yourself, with others, and with God. And if you do this, the healing will begin, and a little more heaven will alleviate the pain from the hell on this earth. Amen? And God will do this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. And, again, why can't we confess? Why can we share? Why can we be real? Because Jesus was a better lover than I have ever been a sinner.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? This is why. This gives us radical permission to be real because Jesus died for us. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we pray in the name of Jesus that the love of God would help us to learn to become real with you, God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And in turn, as we become real with you, I pray for safe, loving followers of Jesus in this church that we can be real with. Lord, rock this place, which is just this vision of being real. Awaken us, lord, to this reality, and heal us in the name of Jesus as we confess our sins one to another. We pray this in Christ's 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 sandalschurch.com.