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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'm a part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matt, teaching from our series, the gospel of Matthew. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. Now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hey, welcome to Sandals Church. I'm so glad you're here. I just wanna start off by can we just give a shout out for last Easter weekend? Man, wasn't that amazing? Man, I gotta I gotta tell you guys, I'm always blown away at what God does.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's still a part of the church planter in me that's worried nobody's showing up every week. And last weekend, man, we we we we broke our 2019 Easter numbers and that's just incredible. We were way over 20,000, almost 22,000 people in church in California. Can I get an amen? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, that's a Tuesday in church in Texas, but you know what I'm saying? But but here's the thing that was so unique about Easter, four hundred and ninety people gave their lives to Christ. Can you believe that? I'm so excited. So I just wanna say thank you to all the countless volunteers.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, we had people that volunteered multiple days, multiple services. People dedicated their entire weekend to making Easter happen at Sandals Church. So let's give one more hand for all of our volunteers. Thank you so much. I cannot I cannot thank you enough because your work, your serving helped change lives last weekend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I wanna share one particular story. I met with a mom on Saturday nights at the Hunter Park campus, and I was standing in the lobby. And I really want you to hear this. I met her and her family and she said, do you have a classroom for special needs kids? And I said, is your kid special needs?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And she said, yeah, he's nonverbal. I said, of course, we have one. It's called our real friends classroom And just tears instantly. And here's the thing is there were tears of joy. And she said, can I see the class?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I said, I don't know, but I'll find out. And her husband said, I think we found a home. And so I wanna say thank you to everybody that works with kids and a very, very unique thank you to the people in our church that pour their love and energy into kids with special needs. I got to see your love firsthand in the eyes of a mom. And so from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I love you. Let's give him a hand. Come on. Sorry. That was was incredible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now, we're turning our attention today to Matthew chapter six. And so here's what's interesting. We we started a series. Last week in the series, we talked about five twenty. It's a giving campaign.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's the thing I want you to know. I had no idea when we did five twenty that we would be in Matthew chapter six today. I didn't know. And so why is that important? Because Jesus begins to really, really challenge us on the area of giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen, I I was sharing this with the studio audience. It's like God knew where we were gonna be. Yeah. And so the sooner you figure that out that God knows where you are and he's speaking to where you are, the better you're gonna be. And so we're gonna take a look at some difficult issues because they relate to money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I wanna share my heart, kinda share my journey, and then I wanna cheer you along at the end on your journey. Wherever you are, wherever you're headed, that you would listen to God and say, okay, Lord, I'm gonna start trusting you in the area of my finances. And so today, I wanna talk about developing a heart for the poor. Now here's the problem. Many of us think we're poor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the reason for that is you haven't traveled. You have not seen what poor is. We have so many mission trips that go around the world. I wanna encourage you at some point in time in your life, step up, take a trip, and I want you to see poverty. I want you to see suffering.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It will give you perspective, parents, will give your kids perspectives. I remember when we were in Cambodia with my son when he was 10 years old and he watched a young boy his age wearing women's clothing dumpster dive to get lunch and my son just wept. Right? Because he had cried, you know, that we're having baloney again. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But he got to see poverty and it changed him. It it affected him in a good way. In a good way. And so Jesus is gonna teach us today how to make sure that we don't let our own wealth destroy our view of what poverty really is. So let's open our Bibles.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I got our brand new Bible here today. Super excited. Been waiting for this thing to arrive. My old Bible, it is done its time. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So like if I open pages would hit the floor. Pages that I need. Amen? I need those pages in there. So let's open our bibles to Matthew six verses one through four.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just four verses today. But these are powerful verses. Listen to what Jesus says. I mean, we'd let's just start with watch out. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When Jesus says that, watch out. We need to pay attention. Watch out. He says, don't do your good deeds publicly to be admired by others for you will lose the reward from your father in heaven. Look at this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, when you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do, blowing trumpets in the synagogues and the streets to call attention to their acts of charity. He says this, I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. But when you give to someone in need, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Listen to this. Give your gifts in private and your father who sees everything will reward you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let me just unpack this for you. Jesus wants to change my attitude about giving. We all have an attitude about giving. K. Most of us have a better attitude about getting.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't amen that. But I want you as as I read this scripture, how many times did you hear the word reward? Now I know that's a setup because I just read it out loud. But do you know the answer is as many times as you heard the word give. Jesus is trying to change our attitude.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So he says give three times, he says reward three times. And what he wants us to know is listen, there's a reward towards giving. There's a benefit towards giving. Listen to Jesus. This is in another gospel, the gospel of Luke chapter six verse 38.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Give and you what? You might receive? Will. What does it say? It says you will receive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So there's a benefit to giving. This is a consistent theme of Jesus. Give and you will receive. Listen this. Your gift will return to you, listen to this, in full.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is something some of you are brand new on your Christian journey. As Americans, we live to get. We live to attain. As Christians, we attain so that we can give. See, it's a completely different thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is trying to turn upside down your view about money and things. So he says this, give and you'll receive. Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more and more. Not like the current bag of Dorito chips. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Same size bag. What? Less chips. Less chips. The other day, I got a bag of chips.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's three of them in there. Pressed down, shaken together to make room for more and more running over and poured into your lap. Right? I mean, way Chipotle used to be. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember the good old days when the burrito, like you would carry it out? Listen to what he says. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Listen to me.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:At Sandals Church, we believe that giving is a critical part of following Jesus. And so if this message or any of our content has helped you in your journey of following him, would you support our work by going to sandalschurch.com/support and making a contribution there. Grace and peace.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If God's in heaven and he has all the resources, who's he gonna share those resources with? Those who are stingy or those who bless his ministry? Just ask yourself that question. Why on earth would God give you more if you're not faithful with what you have? And so here's our prayer every day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, give me more. And the answer the question is God has is why? So that you can spend more on yourself? So that you can waste more money on things that don't matter? Why would God give you more?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's the truth. God is going to give you as much money as you can handle. That's what he's gonna give you. And some of are like, I must not be able to handle very much. And there are several angels in heaven that just said, amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. So let's talk about the psychological benefits of giving. So Jesus says, listen, I wanna change your attitude on giving. And here's the thing is, so many of us are afraid to talk about giving. So let me just kinda share my journey to become your pastor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I was in college for four years. I was studying pre law. I was gonna go to law school. I was in the military. I was a military policeman.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So my path was gonna be police work so that I could go into legal work and then go into political work. That was my journey. That's what I was gonna do, and then Greg Laurie diverted those plans by sharing the gospel with me. K? It's all his fault.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But Jesus came into my life and I was like, okay. And there's nothing wrong with law, there's nothing wrong with politics, there's nothing wrong with police work. Those are all great things and I praise God for everybody who does that in the church. It was interesting last week at church, I kid you not at Easter, I met a guy who wanted to be a pastor and God called him into police work. He shared that with me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Was like, that's bizarre. I was in police work and God called me into ministry. And then we talked about how it's kind of the same. The criminals are running around, know, we're arresting you. So I wish I had handcuffs so that'd be awesome.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just one time with a church member I wanna say there's two ways we can do this. There's the hard way and there's the easy way. Please for the love of Jesus choose the hard way. So but here's the thing is, I graduated college, went into seminary, and some of you guys don't know what seminary is. It's basically graduate work for people who want to go into ministry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing that was depressing, it was 98 units more than college. Like more. That right there is why we don't have enough pastors. Amen? So it's 98 postgraduate units.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was four more years of education. Out of those four years of education, how many classes do you think I had on money, finances, spending, or budgeting? How many do you think I had? I see it in the back. Zero.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Goose egg. I was completely unprepared as your minister, as your pastor to teach you about money, on how to spend money, how to give money. I had no idea on this, and let me tell you why that's a problem. Jesus in the gospels, if you take out Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and you string all the verses together, listen to me, he talks about money more than any other subject. Interesting for a guy who had none and know nothing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you took all the verses and numbered them every sixth verse in the gospels is about money. What is he trying to teach us? That's the biggest hindrance for many of us in surrendering to him. It's a huge problem. So I wanna change your mind.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So two weeks ago, I was preaching in LA, a good friend of mine, Freedom Church, they're having to raise money. They gotta raise $20,000,000 to buy a building in LA, which I actually think is a discount, man. In l I mean, this is Los Angeles in in the heart of the city, very, very difficult. You think the Inland Empire is difficult to build? The city of LA is even more challenging.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? Just ask all those homeowners who are trying to get permits to rebuild what burned down. It is difficult. But do you know why he asked me to come preach? I I kid you not.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to hear this. And this is not to put him down. This is just to tell you how most pastors feel about this. He didn't wanna talk about money. So he invited his friend Matt Brown to come in and let it rip.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And let me tell you something. I was a lot like him, but I've had to learn. None of you are sitting in a building today. None of you are watching this message today if I didn't learn how to talk about money. Because there is no ministry without margin.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It does not happen. K Sandals Church is not a fairy tale where we just all get what we want. God has invited us to participate with him in his kingdom by giving. And this is a challenging thing. And here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me say this. This is offensive but it's true. There are some churches and some pastors who are all about money, very few of them. Very few of them. The problem is usually not the pastor or the church, the problem is usually the parishioner who's scared to death I'm going to talk about the real God you worship.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? All of us worship a God. Hopefully, his name is Jesus, but your God might be green as green as the slides behind me. So let me talk to you about the benefits of giving. Let me change your attitude on giving and I've I've experienced these things but this is not these are not my thoughts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are psychological realities. This is what psychologists say are the benefits of giving. Look at this, these are the benefits of giving. It enhances mental health. Some of you are crazy, you need to give, amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like you need to write a check right now. Listen to this, do you know that when they ask people and they've done this study over and over again, do they feel better when they spend money or give money every single time? People feel better when they give, not when they spend. There's a level of anxiety that happens after you've been scrolling on Instagram and now we can shop on Instagram. Who pulled that over our heads?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, I'm just looking at what you did on the weekend ordering stuff. And now our computers are listening. You know, Tammy and I will say something and it shows up on both of our phones. That's scary. But we don't feel better when we spend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We actually feel anxiety when we spend. We buy a bigger house. We buy a newer car. We buy more clothes than what we need. I mean, some of your closets are ready to explode.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We actually feel better when we give. There's a release that occurs. There's a dopamine release similar to what we get when we do drugs. We feel good. I'm not encouraging drugs.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know last weekend was 04:20. Listen to me. Okay. But listen to this. Next, the benefits of giving, it cultivates a sense of purpose.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look around our world. People have no purpose. Listen to me, especially if you're single and you're not married and you don't have kids. You have to cultivate a sense of purpose. You have to figure this out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And we have a whole generation of people that are saying, who am I? Giving shows you who you are. What do you spend your money on? And if it comes back, if the data says self, there's a problem. Now there's a problem whether you're a Christian or not, but if you're a Christian, that's a huge problem because you're called to die to self.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But even if you're not a Christian, you are not big enough to be the God of your life. Giving cultivates a sense of purpose. James says this, James one twenty seven, pure and genuine religion. Look, there's fake religion, there's real religion. There's fake Christians and there's real Christians.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You decide what kind of person you wanna be. James says this, pure and genuine religion. In the sight of God, not you and me, in the sight of God, the father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing, listen to this, to let the world corrupt you. Every single day when you wake up and you start scrolling your phone, the world is trying to corrupt you. It's trying to turn your gaze to all kinds of things that are not godly.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Giving refocuses you. It refocuses you. One of the things that I've learned is I've learned to love to give. I love to give. I've learned listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm 50 almost four years old. Things don't make me that happy. I love to give. I love to see my money change lives and save souls. I love to see it participate in that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, listen to this. It promotes gratitude and thankfulness. Can you write that down parents? Listen to me. You can give your kids too much.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Did you know that? You can ruin your kids. You see, here's the thing. When we worship our children, they don't become like God. They become like the devil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can give your kids too much. You can never give God too much because he's not spoiled by your generosity. And you know why? Because he already has it all. You know when my kids were little, they used to come up to me, dad, I would like some money for Christmas.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, sure. What what's up? I would like to give you a gift. My son be like, I'm gonna get you something special, dad. Something really nice.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I would give them money so that they would go buy me a gift. Listen to me, every dollar you have that you give to God, he gave it to you so you could give it back to him. And you feel so generous. I am so generous they should give me a statue. Everything you have, your intelligence, your work ethic, your abilities.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Does anybody remember standing in line? I wanna be smart. You know, somebody like, I got in the wrong line. You know, there wasn't a line God decided. God gave you what you have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? Look at this next one. This is huge. The benefits of giving it reinforces my personal values. You wanna know what's important in your life?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at what you spend money on. Now I I really believe this. K? If I was single today and I'm not, but if I was single and I was getting serious with someone, I mean serious, you know, not like on the first date, do you tithe? How much do you give to the church?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not don't scare them off ladies. You know, let me see your checking account. You know, don't make him download Rocket Money on the first, you know, first date. But here's the thing, if I was getting serious with a person listening to me, would want to see their giving. Because giving does not guarantee faith, but it certainly increases the chances that there is faith.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I cannot tell you how many people show up. You know? And listen to me ladies, the church and Christian Mingle aren't much different. Do they still have Christian Mingle? I don't know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not single. I'm not on the internet. I'm learning all the times about terrible things you guys are doing. I'm getting that old. My kids have to show me on my phone how I can sin.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? That's it's like saying, I'm I'm the old guy. I don't know how that happened. But Christian mingle, right, just because they're on there doesn't mean they're Christian, but it doesn't mean they wanna mingle. Same thing as at church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just because they're sitting next to you in church doesn't mean God's like, that's the one. That could have been their first week in church. K? But I would ask, hey, show me how you spend your money. Because ladies, if it's all a car, it's all vacations, if it's six gym memberships, and there's zero for God, what does that tell you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is not a priority. And guys, same thing. Same thing. Yeah. But she's so pretty.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know. But that's what I'm saying. If I was single, that's one of the things that I would look at. And by the way, money is one of the major issues that married couples have. So if you can get on board when you're single, it's gonna be it's gonna make being married easier.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, this is huge for me, is it deepens my faith. It deepens my faith. There have been so many times, I think Tammy and I have been through three giving programs at this church. When we've had to sacrifice greatly, we've dug deep, we've given over and above our tithes. Sometimes we doubled our tithes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One time we tripled our tithe for a couple of years so that we could build the buildings that you're sitting in now and listening to the sermon, you know, at. And I tell you what, it was scary. I didn't know how we're gonna do it. Lord, I don't I don't know how we're gonna pay all these bills, but here's the thing is, Jesus calls me to trust him. Not just to love him, to trust him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's deepened my faith. And that's why I'm not afraid to talk about it because I think a lot of pastors are limiting the faith of their congregations. Next, listen to this. It helps me practice surrender. Whose resources are my resources?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If they're mine, I have a problem. Listen to me, but there's a benefit. If they're God's and I'm tight on money, guess who has the problem? Lord, I don't know if you're aware of this but you're a little tight down here and I need you to solve this problem. Man, I I gotta tell you, that was life changing for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? The church doesn't have a giving issue. God has a giving issue. I don't have a money problem. God has a money problem because when it's all his, it's his problem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I bring it to him and I say, God, what do you want me to do about this and what are you willing to do about this? And here's the thing, as long as my money's been God's, he's always showed up. He's always showed up. Now he's never early. I just gotta tell you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wish he was early. You know? There are some angels in heaven that could learn some stuff from Amazon. That's all I'm saying. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what they're doing up there, but they need to look at Amazon because it could come a little quicker. But he's never late. He's never late. Okay? Next, Jesus wants to change my reason for giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why do I give? Listen to what Jesus says in our in our sermon today, in our scripture. When you give to someone in need, don't do as the hypocrites do. So let let's pause here. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So it's not just the action, but it's the intent. Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this? Don't do as the hypocrites do. Blowing trumpets.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? You ever heard somebody say this, don't blow your own horn? It comes from this verse. And a lot of Christians, that's what we are. I did something special today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We don't blow a horn, but we post it on Instagram. Just want everybody to know today how godly I am again. My favorite is when they post their quiet times just them and God and all their followers. Don't blow your trumpet in the synagogues and the streets to call attention to their acts of charity. Now they didn't have social media then.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But if they did Jesus would have talked about it. You don't have to tell everybody everything you do. Matter of fact, I would encourage you to tell people less. He says, I tell you the truth, here's the reason. They have received all the reward they will ever get.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember this passage isn't just on giving, it's on reward. So I wanna challenge you. Look at this. Give to meet the need, not to get the attention. That's what Jesus is saying.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Give to meet the need, not to get the attention. So here's the problem. Somebody say, well pastor Matt, we're doing five twenty. Like there's there's campaigns, I've seen it on social media. What on earth are we doing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why are we talking about this? Because we can't raise things we don't talk about. I can't just walk out here and go. Got it? Got it?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, we have to know what we're doing. And by the way, I think it's okay to let our communities know that we're not just about money, we're about making a difference. I think that's good stuff. Okay? So let me tell you why why are we doing this five twenty campaign?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's why. Godly giving is about humility not secrecy. Not secrecy. By the way, I think secrecy is usually not a good thing. I've had to clarify this with my kids.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'll say this is private. It's not a secret. K? By the way, some of you could write that down in your social media post. This is private.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't share that. I didn't need to know that. Thank you very much. You know? I mean, we overshare, don't we?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My favorite post I've ever seen is as a person that said, hey, in 1983, I skinned my knee, but there wasn't social media, so I'm telling you now. Thank you. I mean, we gotta be careful. It's not about secrecy, it's about humility. And by the way, in your small groups this week, in your community groups, it's important to talk about your philosophy of giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's why. And I don't I don't mean this in any kind of a judgmental way. Most of us in this church don't give. Most of us haven't even started our journey give our our our giving our journey of giving. There we go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so one of the things for those of you who are giving, it's not bragging, it's helping people know, hey, we we struggle too. I mean, I I don't know if a family in our church that has a room full of cash and they're like, we don't know where to spend this. K? Every listen to me. Everybody is walking in a level of faith.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everybody. We're all struggling with this. Okay? I don't know for those of you that tithe, I don't know a family that couldn't be a little more relaxed in terms of their margin if they quit tithing. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So if you if you if you quit giving 10% to the Lord, I I don't know. But here's the thing. Why do we do this? Because it deepens our faith. It increases our trust.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so we need to talk about this and say, look, this is scary. These things are because I think a lot of people think that Jesus only calls us to things that are easy. If it's easy, it's not trust. If it's not trust, it's not faith. And I hear Christians all the time, I'm looking for the open door.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sometimes there are doors that need to be knocked down. They need to be knocked down. And that's why you need community and the holy spirit and your faith journey to figure out when you look for the open door and when you gotta knock one down. K? So why do we give?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, why why do we do this? Look at this. We give because it pleases God. It pleases God. You know what I loved when my kids were little?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Even though I gave them the money, I loved watching them watch me open their gift. They were so proud. You know? I I I truly love that. It's one of the most special moments at Christmas time when my kids were as excited about the gift they got me as the gifts they received.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I said, parents? I said, oh, I'm making a difference. I'm making a difference. And I'm watching my kids. Do you like that, dad?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you like that? I got it. I shopped for it. I don't know why I can make that face, but but, you know, they're just they they they can't control their excitement. I got dad a gift.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what offering is. That's what tithing is. You come into church, and you got pops a gift. Now he knows he gave you the money to buy the gift, but you're still excited. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, he's not shocked. You're like, I got a raise. He's like, I know. I had to move some things to get you that one. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We we give because it pleases God. So in Jesus' day and age, what did they do? They blew their their they blew their trumpets. They made a big deal because what they wanted was the attention from others. And listen to me, that's addicting.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what social media is. Oh, I got six likes. Oh, I got 60. Oh, I got 6,000. Or if you're Justin Bieber, you get 6,000,000 and you're still miserable.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, that that path goes nowhere good. Seeking attention is insatiable. Giving gifts to God is satisfying. Listen to what Jesus says in Matthew six four. Give your gifts in private.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I want if you got your bibles open, I want you to underline that. That's what it means to give to the need and not for attention. K? Give your gifts in private. Now it doesn't mean, you know, you you hire a truck from Loomis, which would be nice because that means it's a big gift.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, but you you just you give your gifts in private. Listen to this. And your father, your dad, who's in heaven, who sees everything. Listen to this. What does he do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He rewards you. See, this is what it's about. This is what giving's about. I love God so much. I love my dad in heaven so much.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why do you why do you love your dad in heaven? Because he sent his one and only son to die for me on the cross. Even though I was a sinner and guilty of absolutely everything that Jesus had to die for, he still did that for me. That's the kind of pops I have. He died for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I love him, and I want to love him the way that he loves me. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians four eighteen. Now, I know you don't have your Bibles open here, so I'm just gonna bring you up to speed on this text. At the moment, I have all that I need. So the Apostle Paul is writing a letter to the church at Philippi, and he's most likely in jail.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now if you were in prison, will you be like, I have all I need? No. What would you say? Get me out of here, Lord. The apostle Paul is like, I he's I've got all I need.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at this. And what? More. And more. He said, am generously supplied with the gifts you sent me with epaphroditis.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you're looking for a name for a boy, I would not pick that name. Sounds like an infection. Amen. What'd you get? Epaphroditis.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna have to meet him one day in heaven. It's gonna be rough. Listen to this. So think about this. What is he talking about?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He received an offering because he's incarcerated for the gospel, not because he robbed the seven eleven. He's incarcerated because he's preaching the gospel. He's been told to stop. He hasn't stopped. He's in jail now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And eventually, he's gonna lose his life. Most likely his head for his faith. And he says this. Listen to what he says about the offering a church took to support his ministry. He says, they, all of the offerings combined, are a sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable, do you see it, and pleasing to God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So why do you give to please the Lord? What amount should you give? What you feel like pleases the Lord. That's that's what you do. It's not about legalism.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not about the law. It's about a relationship. It's your motive for giving. We don't me. And many of you are tithers and that's great.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But can you imagine if I just tithe to Tammy? I was like, know what? I already wrote the check this week babe. I gave you 10%. She's like, well we need an offering.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm like, for what? She's like, for food. I'm like, well you're gonna have to find that in the tithe. Listen, she's my wife, she's my partner and I love her and so we share all things. Now I know everybody has their own way of doing finances, Tammy and I, we are one.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have one account. There's not hers and there's not mine, there's ours. Listen to me. When you invited Jesus Christ into your heart, you became one with him. And that's where it needs to come.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not guilt. The the the and by the way, we don't do fundraisers here. You can do them. I would encourage you parents, have your kids do a fundraiser. Sell lemonade.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What for? $5.20? You could tell your neighbors. We're raising money to help buy kids or not buy kids, but help keep kids from being bought into slavery in Africa. Think that's a great thing to do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Have them sell some of their toys that they don't play with and you step on. Think about that. Boom. Boom. You know, this toy is for Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? And there needs to be an element of sacrifice. I mean, don't make them, you know, but most of your kids have too much stuff anyways. Have them be a part of this. They are sweet smelling sacrifice that is acceptable and pleasing to God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this. And this is what giving teaches you. And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches. Now I want you to see the word needs not wants. Because some of you are mad at God because he didn't give you what you wanted, but he always gives you what you need.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We worship Jesus not a genie. Can I get an amen? Amen. You don't rub the lamp and ask God for what you want. He is the Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He is our savior. He died for us. He gives us what we need. And by the way, you know what I believe misery is? Misery is when we get what we want.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's something special. There's there's something unique and special about a life that constantly needs God to show up. And there's something terrible about a life that's like, you know what? I got enough. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Matter of fact, Jesus called that guy a fool. He told a story. I got enough money. I got so much wealth. I'm gonna build a bunch of barns.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna fill it with a bunch of stuff, and I'm gonna retire. And here's what God Jesus said. He said, you fool. Your life is required of you this very night. Listen to this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said, and the God who the same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches. Listen, I am not rich. I am not rich, but my father is. He's loaded. He's loaded.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. Man, listen to me. If God had one son and he gave him to you and he's got tons of wealth, what do you think he might give to you? Philippians two thirteen. For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you are not there yet. And at the end of service, we're gonna ask God, God, me the desire and the power. You know what that is? The means to do what you want me to do. God has not called me to be a millionaire, but he may have called some of you to be.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, I personally would like the Lord to send us a billionaire. Anybody else? I mean, Why not? The inland empire could use one. LA and Orange County, they already have them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We want one out here in the desert where Jesus lives. Alright. Last point. Jesus wants to help me on my giving journey. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So if you're sitting in church at one of our campuses, these are in the seats in front of you. And this is just something that you can take home. It's literally the giving journey and we're all starting somewhere. K. Some of us have been doing this for years.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My wife and I, when we first got married, you know, that's twenty nine years ago. We decided we were gonna be tithers. That's where our generosity was gonna start. Listen to me. That was not our ceiling.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That was our beginning. K? That was our beginning. And he can walk you through how you can take the next steps in terms of your generous journey. So 05/20, this is just a step for us as a church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now do you think the church has bills? I hope you think the church has bills. Do you think the church has a pile of cash where we're like, we don't know what to do with all this money? We don't. Listen, I went to a conference where I was convicted by the Holy Spirit, and I felt like Jesus spoke through my wife that said, we as a church are supposed to do this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're supposed to do this. And I believe every single one of us I I I think our kids can give $5.20 to this. I think everybody in this church can give $5.20 over and above. And here's the question, well, can I take my money out of my tithe and give it to this? Yes, you can.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's your money. But that's not what I'm asking you to do. I'm not asking you to rob Peter to pay Paul. I'm asking you to grow in generosity. That's what I'm asking you to do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what I've learned about generosity. It's a muscle. The more we exercise it, the bigger it gets. And the less we exercise it, the smaller it gets. And some of us unfortunately are giving muscle has atrophied because like James says, we've allowed the world to corrupt us and we've become all about ourselves.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Second Corinthians nine seven and eight, you must each decide in your heart how much to give. And by the way, this passage is not about tithing. This passage is about an offering for the church in Jerusalem that was starving. K? This isn't this isn't weekly giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is literally the apostle Paul asking and saying, hey Corinth, you're a wealthy church. You're a rich church. The church in Jerusalem is starving. The church in Jerusalem is facing a famine. Would you guys pray about giving to them?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says this, and don't give reluctantly in response to pressure. God help us if we ever become like a timeshare presentation. Right? Don't you deserve a vacation? For God, everybody's laughing and I shouldn't have gone to that either.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:For God loves a person who gives cheerfully. Do you know what that word is in the Greek? It's hilario, where we get the word hilarious. Right? So instead of watching Netflix stand up comedy, you need to get to the point where you love giving, where you laugh about giving, where there's nothing that makes you more excited, more happy than giving to God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what we're supposed to do. And we're not supposed to go, oh, he's asking for money again. We're supposed to say, hey, God, what do you want me to do? Because everything I have is yours, and I'm ready to give. And Lord, you tell me, and it's yours because it's already yours.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. And listen to this. And God will generously provide do you see that word? All you need. Do do you hear a theme here?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others. Here has been my prayer for thirty years. God, let me make enough money that I have enough to share. Some of you are like, you know what? My finances are a mess.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I get it. I've been there. I wanna encourage you. Take our free online course called Thrive. It's free.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like you you don't have to pay for a thing. K. We just wanna help you. We we we just wanna bless you. You don't need to give to take it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You just take it. It's for free. And next, I want you to develop a strategy that aligns with your faith. So here's all I want you to do. Here's what I believe, and does my giving match it?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then what I want you to do is I want you to take what you believe, and I wanna take how you spend your money, and I want them to agree. That's it. And then here's the last thing. I'm gonna ask God to bless your giving. How many of you guys want God to bless your giving?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody? Raise your hands. Okay. Thank you. I hope every campus is raising their hands.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Every campus. We need to raise our hands because here's the thing, I can only give what I have. K. I don't want you to go out and rob a bank this week. That's not what Jesus is asking you to do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is asking you to be wise with your money, smart with your money, invest with your money so that you can give more of your money to his mission. And I wanna encourage God to bless you. So it's a tough message, but I think it's a good message. I don't know what we're gonna raise for 05/20, but I'm hoping listen to me. Here's my prayer.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Whatever the number is, I hope it pleases the Lord. I hope the Lord looks at Sandals and says, I love my kids there. My kids at Sandals, I know they're in the IE, right on campus, Orange County, bless you, Azusa, LA, the sweet people. But he looks at us and he says, you know what, I know they work hard, but they also gave. They also gave.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I love my kids at Sandals Church. That's how how I hope he feels. K? And he loves you. And Fresno, he loves you too and Santa Rosa.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't think I forgot. He loves all of us. And I think here's what I'm praying for. I'm praying for something big. I'm praying that our church is gonna do something big.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what it is, but I know what I'm gonna give and I want you to pray about what you're gonna give. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, in the name of Jesus, bless our giving. God bless our earning so that we can give. God I pray for raises, promotions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, I pray for inheritance. God, I I I pray for a landfall of money in this church. God, that you would bless them financially, Lord, so that they could in turn bless you. And Lord, we could raise this money for $5.20, and we could change the lives of people who are starving. Lord bless us as a church and help us to give the next couple weeks over and above our regular giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, 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.