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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 Morgan Terrell, and I'm the online campus manager here at Sandals Church. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matt teaching from our home 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 Matt Brown:When I say the word home, what do you think of? For a lot of us, it's great memories, wonderful memories, Christmases, moms, dad, time with our grandparents. But for some of us, when I say home, it in in just instantly conjures up bad memories. You see, we all, when we say the word home, we we automatically think about different things. This series is called Home and it's about God's version of home for you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so I don't know what your home experience was, but I want you to know this, God has a better home experience for you that's waiting. I was on my on the phone with my mom just asking about how many homes did we we live in. And and she was just recounting all the places, some that I remember and some that I don't. We moved 6 times in the 1st 6 years of my life. Think about that.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's a lot of movement. And one of the things I'm gonna challenge parents is how to raise kids and one of the most important things you can give to your kids is stability. Don't move them all over the place. And I realize things happen, life happens, but one of the things that you wanna do is you want to provide a place for your kids to grow up, to connect, and to call home. Now when I was 6 years old, something changed.
Pastor Matt Brown:My dad got a job at Emmanuel Baptist Church, and my parents bought a home, I kid you not, on Fiddletown Court. That's why I'm so strange. K? I was raised on Fiddletown Court. My my in laws live on Easy Street, which just makes me mad.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? It's like, what do I gotta do to live on Easy Street? But I was raised on Fiddletown Court, met some of my best friends, lifelong friends there. And I lived in Fiddletown Court from 1st grade all the way through my sophomore year in college. It was home for me.
Pastor Matt Brown:I could never imagine living somewhere else, loving a place like that. It was so, so special. I learned to ride a bike there. I learned to read and write there. I had my first date there, drove my first car there.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? Learned to skateboard. I mean, all of these wonderful, wonderful memories. But you know last year, I went back there. My parents sold that home a couple of years ago, and I went back there.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I gotta tell you, I had lots and lots of emotions and lots of feelings, but the one that was the most overwhelming was this: This isn't home. This isn't home. Now, if you would have asked me that 30 years ago, I would have told you you're crazy. But it's amazing how attached we can all become to something that is not permanent. If you're a Christian today, let me tell you why you're so anxious, why you're so worried.
Pastor Matt Brown:You've wrapped up and assumed this is your home and it's not. Number 1, this world is not my permanent home. Everywhere you are, even if you own it, you're renting because it's all the Lord's and he's taking it back one day. You're just renting. You're just passing through.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so here's the good news. If you came up with a terrible home life, if you came up, you know, with with an abusive home life, look, I I want you to know your Father in Heaven has a better life for you. He has a better home for you. And here's the thing is, if you're like, Oh, my family was perfect. Look, you're crazy.
Pastor Matt Brown:Go to counseling and unpack that. Okay? All families are weird. All families have weirdos. And if you can't think of the one in your family that's the weirdo, it's you.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's you. All families have drama. All people have issues. We're all broken. This is what make church church life so exciting.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? You just get us all together and we just rub elbows with our issues. But this world is not our home. It's not our permanent home. And oftentimes as Christians, our anxiety, we need to remember, is never focused on heaven.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's focused on here and now. What's happening? What's going on? And how am I overwhelmed? The author of Hebrews writes a letter to Christians who are terrified.
Pastor Matt Brown:They're being persecuted, they're overwhelmed, people are abandoning the faith. Things are getting so bad and the tribulation is so real, people are walking away from the faith. Some of the scariest verses in the Bible are Hebrews chapter 6 and Hebrews chapter 7. And we've been arguing about what those verses mean for 2000 years. But listen to what the author of Hebrews says in chapter 13 verse 14.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to these words. For this world is not our permanent home. You see, what was happening to Jewish believers is they were actually losing their homes. The government actually came and was taking their homes and was arresting them for their faith. And they thought they lost everything.
Pastor Matt Brown:Over the years as your pastor, unfortunately, I've had to go to people's homes who've lost everything in the fire. And it always breaks my hearts when Christians say this, pastor, we lost everything. You lost some things, but listen to me, you didn't lose everything. Only God can take everything because only God has everything. You lost some things, some valuable things, some precious things, some things that meant a lot to you, but they are not permanent.
Pastor Matt Brown:He says, listen, we are looking forward to a home yet to come, yet to come. One of the famous stories I heard over and over again as a young Baptist kid growing up in church was the story of an old lady who was buried and she wanted a fork in her hand. And if you've heard this story, everybody's like, why does grandma want a fork in her hand? Because when she was growing up, dessert always came at the end. And she would say, save your fork.
Pastor Matt Brown:Save your fork because the best has yet to come. And she wanted her grandchildren to know as they wept for her that something better was coming. Desert was coming. And so she wanted that fork in her hand. And we need to think about that when we've lost everything, when we've given up all hope.
Pastor Matt Brown:Isaiah chapter 32 verse 18 says this, my people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest. Man, I hope people in Israel today are praying over this verse, remembering this verse, Cause there's a lot of angst in Israel today. And despite what side of that issue you're on, we need to pray for them because, man, do we always love the decisions our politicians make? Are we always happy about the people that are in power for us that literally decide our fate on earth? And we need to remember that.
Pastor Matt Brown:And as Christians, as we're watching Fox News or CNN or or your little special Twitter account where you talk to your alien friends, whatever it is, we need to remember, we need to remember that the Lord has promised one day security, one day rest, and one day peace. The Apostle Peter also writing to a persecuted church. And not like you're in my persecution where they get your order wrong at Starbucks intentionally because you're a believer. Amen? But real persecution.
Pastor Matt Brown:Christians were really dying. They were really being arrested. They were being fed to lions and lit up as torches for the Romans during their games in the Colosseum. Peter says this, dear friends, I warn you as temporary residents and foreigners to keep away from your worldly desires. It's easy to get wrapped up in this world, isn't it?
Pastor Matt Brown:It's easy. Like when I go to Newport Beach and we we we rent a little tiny boat for the hour. You know what I'm talking about? And it's like you don't even care if you crash it. That's how cheap the boat is.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't like I don't like drive up and down, you know, Newport Beach going, Lord bless them bless them bless them. I'm like, Lord, you need to deal with them. You know what I'm saying? And why is that? Because I get jealous.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like what what did I do wrong? Well, for starters, I didn't pay attention in math class. But it's easy to get wrapped up in what somebody else's has where somebody else goes. This is why so many of you are miserable because you're on TikTok and Instagram looking at everybody else's vacation instead of thanking God that you had a vacation. That's right.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's easy to get caught up in this world, isn't it? Yes. Man, I don't know what it is but the Lord the Lord, as long as I live, the Lord sends crazy people my way. They just know where I am. They find me.
Pastor Matt Brown:It doesn't matter where I am. We stopped off to get gas in somewhere in the middle of Utah. I honestly don't even know where we were. We just were out of gas, so we needed to stop. And there was no, like, Chevron or Arco.
Pastor Matt Brown:It was one of those, you know, truck stops. You know what I'm talking about? And you just you just gotta, you know, hold your kids because you don't know what's gonna happen there. Kind of stops and so we pull over and of course, there's a guy next to us who wants a conversation. I just want gas.
Pastor Matt Brown:He wants a conversation. And he says this, he says, I'm coveting your Jeep. That's how he begins the conversation. I said you're coveting my jeep? He says yes.
Pastor Matt Brown:He says I'm a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I was like of course you are. Of course. Of course you are. And he's talking to me, man, and he's got his mouth looks more like a pumpkin than it does like a preacher.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I'm just like, Lord, I just wanna get gas. It's a 1,000 degrees. I don't even know what city we're in. And he starts to share the gospel with me and I'm just like, do I look lost? Out of the 2 of us, who looks less saved?
Pastor Matt Brown:And he just, you know, he's just coming in for the kill and he's getting closer and closer. And he's on a walker. Kid you not. And he's coming at me. And and I just, you know, I just start to observe his car, and he's got a flat tire.
Pastor Matt Brown:And when I say flat, there was no tire. It's just rim. And I said, hey, buddy, reverend, you don't have a tire. And he says, I know. I've been here for a couple of days.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm, like, of course you have. Waiting for me. And it just was just was so interesting to me. But you know what? Uh-uh, you know, as I asked how I could help him and what we could do to get him on his way, I just really thought about it's really easy, even as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to get a lot of things wrong.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I I think the Lord was was just showing me how much he's blessed me in my life. Amen. Because we're not stranded at a gas station waiting for a tire. I'm not on a walker in poor health. I'm not missing all my teeth.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Lord has blessed me. And so many of us were were wrapped up in all the things that we don't have. When's the last time you told the Lord, thank you for what you do have?
McKay Vandenberg:Hey, Sandals Church. Thank you so much for joining in today's message with pastor Matt Brown. I wanted to take a quick moment to invite you into the work that Sandals Church is doing. One way you can do that is by giving financially. If you head to give.sc, you can do so there.
McKay Vandenberg:For now, let's get back into our message.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so what happens when we get wrapped up in politics, in economics, in relationships? These things, listen to this, they wage war against your very soul. They wage war against your soul. So what does he say? Be careful to live properly amongst unbelieving neighbors.
Pastor Matt Brown:Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior. Now, you all get to sneak everywhere you go. You get to live 2 lives. You get to live your life at church, and then you get to live your real life. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matt Brown:I see you guys in the store, at the grocery store when you try to hide all the beer in your cart. I see it. You see me, and you do a U-turn. I still got good eyes. I saw you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen, I don't get to sneak anywhere. Everywhere I go, you are all watching me. People are watching me. I took my dog to the vet this week, I kid you not, and apparently I cut. Has anybody ever done that?
Pastor Matt Brown:You cut in line at the vet. Dog owners are very peculiar about order. You don't cut in line at the vet. And and and here's the truth. I wasn't trying to cut, but my dog is £137 of Satan.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what my dog is. And everybody's in there with their they're not even dogs. They're trinkets. I don't know what these are. I don't know I don't know who decided to give these things life, but they are not the Lord didn't make these things.
Pastor Matt Brown:They're, you know, they're like 2 pound and I don't even know they're alive until their head moves. Right? You know, you're like, and my dog will, my dog will just ho, and it's over. And you know those dogs are like $10. So I go up to the front and this guy goes, Hey, hey, sir, sir, sir, there's a line here.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I'm, you know, I'm ready to just turn into Bruce Lee, you know, and But this guy's older. He's on a walker. I don't know what the deal is with men in walkers this week, but the Lord is speaking to me. And he said, there's a line. I said, oh, I'm sorry.
Pastor Matt Brown:I just didn't want my dog to hurt any of your dogs. He said, well, I have a cat because his animal was in a box. And I was like, well, she'll kill that too. So, and he says, I'm here to put my cat down. I know.
Pastor Matt Brown:And now I just feel terrible. I I cut in line for the guy who's gotta kill his cat. And and then he says this, and my wife died last month. Oh, yeah. I just like, let's go out and drown drown some puppies.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let's just top the day off. And I said, I'm so sorry, sir. I said, can I pray for you? I'm a pastor. And I and I pray with him, and he's crying in the lobby of a veterinarian clinic.
Pastor Matt Brown:His wife died, he's gonna put his cat down. He just met a pastor who cuts in line, doesn't believe in order. And I was so glad I didn't lose my my mind for a minute because I just trying to get in and they're out there. And my dog, I have to have the choke chain, which everybody already judges me. You know, oh, that's cruel.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm like, no. I'm trying to save you. I'm not trying to I'm not trying to hurt the dog. I'm trying to prevent you from being bitten and eaten alive. And so so right after that happens, I go to pay my bill and the woman behind the counter goes, oh, I go to your church.
Pastor Matt Brown:She said, that was nice to watch. And I was like, oh, thank God. I know this is hard for you to believe, but there's a good chance that didn't go that way. You know what I'm saying? So I get watched all the time.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's it's just part it's just part of the deal. But you guys, you you you think you're not being watched. Your non believing neighbors are watching you. To you to them, you're a pastor. You're the holy roller and they watch you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And here's what he says. Look, don't get caught up in this world because it can mess you up. Make sure that you're living an honorable life towards your neighbors. So therefore, listen to this, when God judges the world, they'll honor you because they're like, yeah, you know what? We should have known better.
Pastor Matt Brown:We should have known better. And so think about this the next time you're gonna put a political sign in your lawn. I'm just making a statement. Yeah, you are, either way. When's the last time we made a statement about honoring God?
Pastor Matt Brown:Next, Jesus is preparing an eternal home for me. That's what he's doing. This week I was struck as I I was reading through the gospel of John. In John chapter 13, he begins to talk about one of his best friends is gonna betray him. Anybody ever been stabbed in the back by a good friend?
Pastor Matt Brown:Oh man. And if you haven't, it's coming so it's just, you know. But his good friend, his good friend is going to betray him and sell him out for some coin. And he tells the disciples this and they're all upset and they're not exactly sure who this is and then Jesus immediately changes the subject and washes their feet. And he says, look, in the same way that I've loved you, I want you to love others.
Pastor Matt Brown:And then he says, I'm gonna go to die and they're all unsettled and it's to be fair, it's a weird sermon. Okay? Like, you guys think my sermons are weird? Listen to Jesus. You'd have been lost.
Pastor Matt Brown:You'd had some questions. And so how does John 14 begin? Let not your hearts be troubled. What just happened? Jesus just freaked him out.
Pastor Matt Brown:He freaked him out. He's saying he's gonna die. They're gonna go to Jerusalem. They don't want him to go. 1 of them's gonna betray him.
Pastor Matt Brown:They're not sure who that is and they're really, really scared. He says, do not let your hearts be troubled. Listen, he says, believe in God. Believe also in me. You see, here's the thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:When you're freaked out and you're scared, you know what, well, you know what faith is? Faith is a shield that protects you from the enemy's arrows. And some of you have let down that shield and that's why you're so afraid. That's why you're so scared to death. Like some of you guys, you watch the Olympics and you're like, the world's going to hell.
Pastor Matt Brown:Have you read your Bible? Like, have it doesn't end well. I mean, I'm not saying the blue Smurf guy is in there, but I, you know, I'm just saying, I don't know who you think these people worship. They just got honest. All the Olympics was was honesty.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's all it was. Just for a brief moment, they're like, here we are. And some of you are like, oh. That's all it is. That's what happens when you reject God.
Pastor Matt Brown:You worship sex and everything else. And what's sad is, you know, they're mocking the book of Revelation. Those things are coming And it's not a play. It's real. He says believe in God, believe also in me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Look, when you're scared, when you're frightened, believe in Jesus. He says, in my Father's house are many rooms, many rooms. If it were not so, he said, what I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you, he says, look. I'm not kidding. You're gonna be okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:You're gonna be okay. And if I go to prepare a place for you, he says, I will come again, and I will take you to myself. I'll take you to myself. Look, if you're a Christian today, you're gonna be okay. And you don't have to worry about how this whole thing ends because guess how it ends for you?
Pastor Matt Brown:In the arms of Jesus. That's how it ends. It's gonna be okay. He says, I will come again and take you to myself so that where I am, you may be also. You see, Jesus didn't come to earth to give you a holy recipe.
Pastor Matt Brown:He came to earth to give you a relationship with him. He has always been interested in one thing and that is you. That's you. And then he says this, and you know you know the way where I'm going. Thomas, I love Thomas.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's like, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We don't know. K. Can I be honest with you? Sometimes I read the Bible.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen, I get confused. I know you're like, I'm going to another church. All those pastors that tell you they're never confused are lying. Look, they're on the front row seat. They're hearing it the first time.
Pastor Matt Brown:Thomas is like, I have some questions. And and Lord Jesus is like, yes. He's like, well, actually many questions. He says, Lord, hey, I love Thomas. We, like he throws all of them under the bus.
Pastor Matt Brown:We, all the chickens will not say this, but we do not know where you are going. You know? I mean, think about that. When our, when other pastors preach, and I know you've been listening to a lot of our communicators, what I always tell them is land the plane, land the plane, land the plane. You ever heard a sermon where you're like, did we land?
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't know. Did we land? Where are we going? Some of you didn't even know when someone's preaching. Did we take off?
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't know. What happened? There are some very untalented communicators for Jesus out there. Amen? So he's he's saying, Lord, we we we don't we don't know where we're going.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like, fantastic message, very inspirational. I didn't get it. I didn't get it. And listen to what he says. How can we know the way?
Pastor Matt Brown:And Jesus replies with one of the most famous verse, famous verses ever said. He says, I'm the way and the truth and the life. Listen to me, the location is Jesus. So many of your friends all think they're going to heaven when they die. Listen to me.
Pastor Matt Brown:There's no such thing as a destination called heaven. There's a destination called Jesus. And he's the only one that can get you there. Like, you know, when you go to funerals, everybody's in a better place, everybody go like, which way is heaven? Nobody knows.
Pastor Matt Brown:Only Jesus knows. And you're not gonna find it. Your soul is not gonna be like, you know, some pioneer that finds it and discovers it. Only Jesus knows because that's where he came from. You see, if you and I went on our journey back to Fiddletown Court, you might get lost, I never would.
Pastor Matt Brown:Do you know why? That's where I'm from. Jesus is from heaven. That's his home. That's where he came from.
Pastor Matt Brown:He says, no one comes to the father except through me, Except through me. Look. Jesus is preparing a place for you, a home for you. Think about that. Let that settle you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let that relax you. Let that give you hope. Colossians 3:1, since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven. You know what never makes me anxious? Heaven.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know what makes me anxious every day? Earth. Earth. Constantly. I mean, just a couple of weeks ago, we were a millimeter away from civil war as a country.
Pastor Matt Brown:We were that close. And by the grace of God, and I have no idea why, in Trump's twitchy head, he did that. And God has graciously given America some more time to figure this out. I don't know why. I don't know why.
Pastor Matt Brown:Our country is a mess. Our world is a mess. You know where it's not a mess? In heaven. Because they know who their leader is and that's where Christ sits.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so when you're all upset and you're all anxious, think about one day I get to live in a place where there aren't snipers, where there aren't conspiracies, where there just is peace, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. We gotta think about that. Instead of getting all riled up about the Olympics, why don't we just invite people to the peace that Jesus has for them? Because you know what the world is doing? The world the world is running even the things that used to relax.
Pastor Matt Brown:Remember when sports was sports? Do you remember that? So young people are like, I don't I don't know what you talk about. There was a time, right, where we just sport was just sport. Now everything's political, everything's conspiratorial.
Pastor Matt Brown:Everything's a mess. The world is taking everything away from us and and and that's what they do. Here's the good news, Jesus Christ wants to give you peace. So here's the trick. Here's the switch.
Pastor Matt Brown:This world is not my home. Jesus is preparing a home for me. I must prepare to live in the house that Jesus is building. So if this is not my home, are you packed for your trip? Some of you never think about this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? You see everywhere I go, I pack. Where am I going? Is it cold? Is it hot?
Pastor Matt Brown:Where is it? Is it on the equator? Is it summer? Is it winter? Is it raining?
Pastor Matt Brown:Is it dry? Where am I going? You see, whenever I take a trip, I pack for where I'm going. Some of you've never thought about this. You've never packed a day in your life for heaven.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I gotta tell you, there's some things that you got with you that aren't gonna make it. They're not welcome in heaven. Did you know that? They're not welcome. There's some things that you don't get to take.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, this is my suitcase. Oh, it's super cool. It's so camouflage. Listen, we're gonna talk about this next week when I talk about building your home. Let me tell you, when you're a dad and you have daughters, you know how you get your suitcase, you get whatever no one else likes.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what you get. K? When you have sons, they don't care anyways. They don't wanna go on the trip. Right?
Pastor Matt Brown:But my daughter ordered this and said it was too manly so she gave it to me. And now everywhere I walk in the airport, people thank me for my service. Thank you for your service. And I just You you got it. You know, I just keep walking.
Pastor Matt Brown:But when's the last time you packed for heaven? When's the last time you organized your life and you said, you know what, this attitude, this personality trait, this habit, this can't go with me. So I better get rid of this now. C. S.
Pastor Matt Brown:Lewis writes an incredible book and it's called The Great Divorce. And in CS Lewis's book, people get an opportunity to go right to the gates of heaven. And as they step on the grass, they don't like how the grass feels. The trees are too big. The fruit is too large to eat.
Pastor Matt Brown:And what they decide person after person after person is to go back to hell. And do you know why that is? Because they never lived their life preparing to live in heaven. And listen to me, it felt foreign. Do you know what felt comfortable?
Pastor Matt Brown:Hell. You see in CS Lewis's theology, he says the gates of hell are locked from the inside. Now I don't know why this is. I can't always control where I'm reading my Bible, and for whatever reason, in July, to comfort my soul, the Lord had me in Ezekiel and Revelation. Like every single day when I was doing my quiet time, I'm like, here we go.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, it was like bungee jumping every morning, like, Lord, be with me. And my wife was like, why are you reading that? I, because there are different amounts of books in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, I read 1 chapter out of each, and so just randomly in July, when the president's almost assassinated, I'm in Revelation and Ezekiel. And every morning, I'm like, dear God, save us all.
Pastor Matt Brown:But here's the thing. Revelation is a very, very scary book. It just is. But here's the beauty, it doesn't end scary. The ending is amazing.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so in Revelation 21, verses 1 through 8, John sees, listen to this, a new heaven and a new earth. He says for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. How? I don't know. And anybody who's trying to explain it to you, they don't know either.
Pastor Matt Brown:He had this vision and I want you to envision a new earth, a new heaven. And he said, I heard a shout from the throne, A shout from the throne saying, look, God's home is now among his people. You see, so many of you, as Christians, have got it wrong. You think it's all about you going to heaven. No, no, no, no.
Pastor Matt Brown:The gospel is about heaven coming to earth. It's about him coming to be with us. Listen to this, this is how Revelation ends. He will live with them. This is how the Bible ends.
Pastor Matt Brown:Not you in heaven with God. It's God coming from heaven to live with you on a new earth. And he will live with them. And they will be his people. And listen to this.
Pastor Matt Brown:And God himself will be with them. And if you're not a Christian today and you're like, you know what, religion has caused more wars than anybody else, it's not true. And if you don't believe me, do a little history of the 21st century. Communist countries are atheist. Hitler was an atheist and they killed more people in that century than all other centuries combined.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, the problem is not religion. The problem has and always will be people like you and me. So here's the thing. Why why should we hope for this? Why should we pray for this?
Pastor Matt Brown:Why should we focus on this? Because he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. He will do what I couldn't do to the old man putting his cat down who just lost his wife. I can pray for him. I cannot wipe away his tears.
Pastor Matt Brown:I cannot do it. Man, this world, this world's got stuff in it. And some of you, if you and I sat down and you told me your story, I'd be crying. Man, don't you wanna live in earth where that's no longer your story? Don't you wanna do like what I did?
Pastor Matt Brown:You go back to the home that you were raised in and it doesn't seem like home anymore, it just seems like a weird dream? That's how my house was. It wasn't home anymore. Listen to me, as much as I loved it, I don't miss it anymore. And I know that's hard for you to believe, but there will be a time when the Lord Jesus will return and you will not miss this world anymore.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? And there will be no more death. No more death. One of the things I did while I was on vacation was I FaceTimed with a family who lost their 1 year old. And every time I see a little kid dying, every time, it just it takes my breath away.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, death is never easy, but when it's kids I don't know about you, but I wanna live in a world where we don't bury 1 year olds. For those of you who've been to Israel with me, you've been and you may not even know this, but you've been with me to that place in Israel, the Druze community, the Druze community, where there were kids out playing on a playground. They're playing soccer, they were going down the slide, they're playing the sandbox, and Hezbollah launched a rocket. And they won't own it but they did, they shot it and it killed a bunch of kids, playing on a playground. I don't know about you but I I I wanna live in a world where that doesn't exist.
Pastor Matt Brown:There will be no more death, listen, and no more sorrow. No more crying, no more pain. My wife came home yesterday and I was holding my wrist. She's like, what do you do? I said, I don't even wanna tell you.
Pastor Matt Brown:You've heard me say this, young people. When you get hurt, there's an amazing story. It's amazing. You did something really stupid, You know, you were racing a car, jumping off a bike, on a skateboard. When you get old, there's no story.
Pastor Matt Brown:I said, I don't even wanna tell you. She said, Did you break your wrist? I said, Maybe. She said, What happened? I said, I sat down.
Pastor Matt Brown:I I sat down, and I put my hand down. I didn't karate chop a brick. I put my hat down and my wrist went, nope. Like I didn't even wanna go to the doctor because I don't wanna tell the doctor that. What happened?
Pastor Matt Brown:Nothing. My wrist just quit. Don't you wanna live in a world where there's no more pain? And some of you young people are like, well I don't believe that'll happen. It will.
Pastor Matt Brown:You live long enough. It will. I mean, there's gonna be a day, young people, when you can't even eat a donut anymore. Yeah, it will destroy you. All these things are gone forever.
Pastor Matt Brown:And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I am making everything new. Listen to me. Genesis 1 is just the start. Look at our world. Look at what he did in 6 days.
Pastor Matt Brown:I can't wait to see what he does in 2,000. Can you can you I mean, I can't imagine. Look, I'm making everything new. And then he said to me, write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. Wow.
Pastor Matt Brown:We live in an age where the truth is hard to figure out. And he said, it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. Listen to these words if you're not a Christian today. To all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.
Pastor Matt Brown:God has something for you today. Something for your marriage, something for your children, something for your life, something different to all who were thirsty. And all who are victorious will inherit all these blessings. And I will be their God, and they will be my children. What is God building?
Pastor Matt Brown:A home for his children. But listen to me, not everybody makes it. Not everybody's going to heaven. Not everybody's gonna be with Jesus. But the cowards, the unbelievers, the corrupt, the murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers and liars, their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is the second death. I got to go be with, our youth kids at camp before I went on vacation and it was fabulous. Let me tell you something, you wanna make a difference in this world, invest in a teenager. Invest in a teenager. I was in tears as I watched 100 of kids from our church, from all of our campuses worshiping God, praising God.
Pastor Matt Brown:I literally, I couldn't even sing, I was so moved by it. But one of the young kids came up to me. He said, Pastor, we need to talk. I was like, oh, here we go. Here we go.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, I don't believe in hell. And all I said was, well Jesus does. And he just looked at me. I was like, you don't have to debate with me, you have to debate with him. But here's the thing, hell wasn't made for you.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Book of Revelation says hell was made for Satan and the angels who rebelled against God. It was not made for you. It's not where you're supposed to go. It's not how you're supposed to end. So what do you do today?
Pastor Matt Brown:What do you do? 2nd Corinthians 5:6. So we are always confident. Even though we know that as long as we live in these bodies, we are not at home with the Lord. For we live by believing and not by seeing.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to this, yes, we are fully confident and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies. Amen, old people? Amen. The young people are like, I don't know. I don't know.
Pastor Matt Brown:For then we will be at home with the Lord. Listen to this. So whether we are here in this body or away from this body, our goal is to please him. Amen. For we all must stand before Christ to be judged.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we will receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. What do we need to do? We need to start packing. We need to get ready. And let me just say this, there are some of you today, you got some junk in here that ain't gonna make it.
Pastor Matt Brown:It ain't gonna make it. And you need to start pulling some stuff this week. Specifically, when I went over the small group questions, I wanna challenge this. What's some of the stuff that you're carrying around that you gotta let go of this week because it's not going to heaven? The Lord is like, uh-uh, That evil stuff isn't coming in here with me.
Pastor Matt Brown:He won't allow it. What is it that you need to release? And for those of you who are not Christians, here's the only way your name is written in the book of life. Here's the only way. When you repent of your sins and you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Pastor Matt Brown:And the bible says all who call upon him, all of them, Muslims, atheists, Buddhists, Christians, Catholics, Sandalites, All who call upon him will be saved. You need to do that this week. So this week, we're talking about the house the Lord is preparing for us. Next weekend, we're gonna talk about how to build your house. How to build your house.
Pastor Matt Brown:How to build the kind of house where you raise the kind of kids you want. Listen to me. The world isn't gonna stop. They're not gonna stop pressuring. They're not gonna stop pushing.
Pastor Matt Brown:They're gonna keep coming at us to the very end because here's what Revelation says. No matter how many opportunities they get to repent, they don't. They don't. And they curse God to the very end. That doesn't need to be your story.
Pastor Matt Brown:Your story can be different. Your story can change if you are ready to repent today and place your faith and trust in Jesus. And why? Because he has a home for you. He has a house for you.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's building a place for you. And why? Because he loves you. That is not the question. The question is, do you love him?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's the question. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we pray in the name of Jesus, Lord, that you would help us as Christians to live every day looking forward to the new heaven, the new earth, and our new home. A place, Lord, where there's no tears, there's no sickness, there's no death, there's no sorrow, there's no pain. Lord, the place where you rule and you reign.
Pastor Matt Brown:Lord, where we get to spend our lives and our eternity with you. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us enough to save us, to die for us, and to prepare a place for us. Let that comfort us this week. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Morgan Teruel:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a 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.