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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:I'm so glad that you're joining us today for worship at Sandals Church. I believe that today is a very, very special day in the history of our church. I feel like God wants to do something powerful for us today. I'm gonna be talking about allowing Jesus to speak to the deepest needs of my life. How many of you know somebody that's going through something, wrestling with something and they need a fresh word from God?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many of you guys know somebody? Man, this is a message to share with them. This is a message to invite them to. I believe that church and church attendance is more important today than it has ever been in human history. People are lonely, people are disconnected and people are frightened and the Lord Jesus Christ has a word for them today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Amen. At Sandals Church, we believe that God still speaks. He still speaks. He speaks through his word and through his people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna be talking today through God's word, but I wanna share with you that God speaks through people. God speaks through his word. Last week, pastor Fredo did an amazing job. Can we give him a hand? And it was incredible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My wife apparently called me on Wednesday to see how sermon prep was going. I don't remember the phone call. I was sick, but she decided that I would not be preaching. Amen. Marry a good woman.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She decided who we needed to hear from last week. She called Fredo and told him, you're up. And he had like eight hours to prep. And I thought it was the best message I have ever heard him preach. And so, let's give Fredo one more hand.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That was incredible. But I believe God doesn't just speak through his word, I believe that God speaks through people. And two weeks ago, Tammy and I were in London, and we were gathered with pastors from all over the world. And we were at a church of England, It's called Holy Trinity Brompton. And there was a pastor there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now, don't call their pastors pastors. If you grew up Catholic, you know, you call your pastor a father or you call him a priest. In England, they call him vicars, which is just that's awesome. You know? Can you imagine?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna hear from vicar Matt today. You know? Yes. Because we are all victorious in my sermon. And so vicar Hughes came out and he began to speak.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so just imagine somebody dressed out of the movie, The Matrix, that's what he looks like, because they're English and they're awesome. And he said, I feel like the Holy Spirit has given me a word for a specific church today. And I thought, oh, I wonder who he's gonna speak to. Who do you think his word for in England was? What church do you think the Holy Spirit wanted to speak to in Holy Trinity Brompton in England of The UK?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He wanted to speak to Sandals Church. This guy's never heard of our church. He's never met me. He's never heard of me, but he said, the Holy Spirit has a word for you. He said, I don't know a lot.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know anything about your church, but does one of your campuses have the word wood in it? Now, some of you don't know this, we have 14 campuses, and one of our campuses is Sandals Church Woodcrest. And he said the Holy Spirit has a word for Woodcrest. And here's what he said, the Holy Spirit wants to break out revival in your church, but the ember will start at Woodcrest. So listen to me, if you're Woodcrest, I need you to stop sinning.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I need you to listen because the rest of us are waiting for God to move and apparently, he, you know, he wants to start in Woodcrest, California. Amen? So here's what we're gonna do Woodcrest, all the other 13 campuses, we're gonna pray that you repent and get right with God today and that the Lord would fan that flame so it would bless all of us, amen? So if you're at Woodcrest today, here's what I want you to do, just want you to hold your hands out like this and I want you to receive. Every other campus from Santa Rosa to Anaheim to Hunter Park, I want all of us to pray right now, would you extend your hands?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And let's just pray together, Holy Spirit, whatever you wanna do in this church, Lord, however you wanna move, bring revival Lord, and whatever you wanna start at Sandals Church Woodcrest, would you start it today? Would you start revival in their hearts? And Lord, I know it begins with repentance. Would you bring repentance to this beautiful campus? And Lord, would you do that today?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We pray in Jesus name, amen. Now here's what Vicar Hughes did not know. For two years, Sandals Church Woodcrest has been on my heart. For two years, I've been praying. For two years, I've been calling out to God, for two years, I've been saying, God, what are we supposed to do here?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've been feeling that God wanted to do something so he sent me to London to tell me. Listen to me, God speaks today. We do not worship a dead king. He is alive, he is risen and he speaks. Amen, and he's gonna speak to you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But a lot of people are hurting. A lot of people are worried. Money's tight. Seems like World War III is gonna break out on multiple continents. People are freaking out, but I got good news for you today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you're taking notes, want you to write this down. Jesus does his best work in life's most painful moments. He does his best work. So if you're battling cancer, he does his best work in life's most painful moments. If you're on the verge of divorce, he does his best work in life's most painful moments.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you're ready to murder your children. All the single people are like, What? Have a couple, you'll be there. Listen to me, if you're struggling with parenting, Jesus does his best work in life's most painful moments. If you don't know how you're gonna pay rent today, he does his best work in life's most painful moments.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so last week, Pastor Fredo, he had the hardest passage ever, man. It was like a combination between Epstein Island and a pea ditty party, amen? Like it was like that poor guy. I mean, it's the craziest passage in the Bible. The dude's own teenage daughter is naked dancing for him and he loses his mind.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And by the way, guys, you're never more dumb than when you are looking at a half naked woman. Yeah, one amen in here. So John the Baptist loses his head. Herod feels bad about it. Jesus finds out about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He just found out his cousin lost his head for what? Serving God. Matthew fourteen thirteen, as soon as Jesus heard the news, man, how many of guys ever heard bad news? Oh, I heard Diane Keaton died pneumonia. I think that's what I had.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not fun to hear, you know what I'm saying? It's like, oh, we're both going. As soon as he heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. Like when you're grieving, when you're upset, when you're sad, when you're depressed, when you know, somebody gets assassinated for no reason whatsoever, right? It affects us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, Jesus is human, it affects him. But when you're Jesus, you don't get to be anywhere alone because you're the most famous celebrity on earth and people are following you. The paparazzi are tracking you. Look at this, but the crowds heard where he was headed and followed him on foot from many towns. So Jesus wants to grieve.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He wants to be alone, but he's Jesus. And so people follow him. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat. Like, can you imagine he just got on an airplane, he just flew to The UK, he's trying to get away and the second he steps in the airport, there's this massive crowd and thousands of people are waiting for him. And so what does he do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Rebuke them, get mad, get angry. I didn't sleep all night, I was in economy class. Look at this. As he saw the huge crowd, he stepped from the boat and he had compassion on them. And he healed their sick.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen, if you're not a Christian today, this is why you need to be. There is no religious leader in the history of the world like Jesus. Not Buddha, not Mohammed, not Confucius, no one on earth is like Jesus. Jesus is the unique son of God and he gave his life for you and he loves you. And listen to me, if you let him, he'll heal you and he'll save you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He does his best work in life's worst moments. Romans eight twenty eight is one of the most powerful verses in scripture. You've heard me say this many times, when life's not great, read Romans eight, it rhymes. It's helpful, that's how I remember things. Okay, I'm a kid with ADHD, amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, that's just how I got through seminary. When life's not great, read Romans eight. Romans eight twenty eight, And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Now let's stop there. It doesn't say that God is causing all of these horrible things to happen in your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not what the verse says. Don't get it twisted. It says that God, even though he allows all of these terrible things to happen in your life, he's not causing them to happen. He's causing them to work out for what's good. I don't know how you're suffering, I don't know what you're going through, but I want you to know that God loves you and he has an amazing plan for your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So last week I was sicker than a dog and I don't even know what that means. I don't know who came up with that saying, but however dogs get sick, that's what I was. And we were interviewing a staff member and a person had traveled here to be interviewed and Tammy and I were supposed to interview with the husband we're interviewing for pastor and the wife and they came all the way here I'm sicker than a dog. And so my wife said, you gotta get up and go interview them and so, you know, I did my best and so we went to Starbucks and I never go to Starbucks because people in Starbucks, they don't like me, so I don't go in there. You know, that's not my crowd, know, that's just they're like here, he's here, he's here, he's here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I went into Starbucks and we were walking in there to do this interview and a woman came up and she said, oh, I've always wanted to meet you. I said, Oh, that's nice. Somebody in Starbucks likes me. That's great. And she just thanked me for our church and what we've done.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then she got real. She said, lost my husband a year ago, yesterday. She started weeping. Listen to me, what do you think the chances are the day after the first anniversary of the death of her husband, that she just so happens to go to the same Starbucks that I go to and I never go in. And we walk in there and her pastor that she's never met is standing right there in front of her to pray with her on the worst weekend of this year.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus does his best work in life's worst moments. And she just wept. She just wept. Man, I don't know what you've lost. I don't know what you've suffered.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what's happened to you in life, but listen to me, we worship a king who was dead and rose and no matter what the enemy has done to you, God can redeem it. There is not one person, not one person listening who is unredeemable. One of the most powerful verses in the Bible is Genesis 5zero 20. How many of you come from some whack families? Anybody, raise your hand.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't point at them. You know, but you know, like some of you weren't raised, you escaped. Amen. You know what I'm saying? Like you escaped.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, some of you are teenagers and you're like prison, that's not that bad. We get to eat three times a day, okay. So there was a guy in the Bible and he was raised in a family like this. He had 11 brothers, His name was Joseph and they all hated him. They all hated him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so they decided they were gonna kill. They were gonna kill their little brother and lie to their dad. I don't know what happened. Animals ate him. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's San Bernardino. Anything can happen, dad. You know what I'm saying? I mean, how do we know? Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They sold him into slavery. He was raised in a foreign country. He had to learn another language. He was lied to, thrown in prison, had his life threatened. All of these things happen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And at the end of his life, his brothers have to face him and they actually need him for survival. And here's what Joseph says. Joseph says this in Genesis 5zero 20, You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good. Listen, I don't know what someone's done to you, but I know what Jesus can do for you. Number two, I want you to write this down.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus can meet my deepest needs out of his abundance. Man, these are scary times economically. These are scary times. Rent's expensive, Gas is expensive. Food's expensive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, like McDonald's is hurting. Have you guys seen that? McDonald's is like, no, no one will eat our $5 burger. You know, and I'm like, well, ask in and out. They seem they seem to be doing pretty good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? No. But but everybody's hurting. Everybody's hurting. And we had a Del Taco go out of business near where I live.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They sell tacos for 23¢. You know, and sometimes that's for 5, you know what I'm saying? People are hurting. And here's the thing, you know what happens to us as human beings when we're afraid? Do you think we're we're we're more generous or less generous?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're less generous. Now here's why I know you guys are afraid. Here's why I know you guys are concerned. Because last two months of giving not been good. And I get it, you're human beings.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm a human being. You gotta pay rent, I gotta pay rent. You gotta pay bills, I gotta pay bills. You gotta pay car insurance, I gotta pay car insurance. I get that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I sense that things are tight, I get it. I'm a human being. I'm not divorced from reality. And it's a human tendency when there's scarcity, we're less generous. Here's the thing, I don't ever want you to give out of your abundance, I want you to learn to give out of his.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In Matthew fourteen fifteen through 18, that evening, the disciples came to him and said, this is a remote place. Like, I don't know why you picked Needles California, Lord. But there's one gas station here and I'm pretty sure the dude behind the counter is on meth. He cannot feed everybody. This is a remote place.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's getting late. It's getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves. See, this is what scarcity says, every man for himself. And that's how many of you live.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's how the world lives. That's not how Jesus wants to teach you to live. But Jesus said, that isn't necessary. I want you to underline this in your Bible and never forget it. You feed them, you feed them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I hear this all the time. Why did you come to Sandals Church? Oh, I wasn't being fed at my last church, okay. Okay, so you come to Sandals Church and it's a big church. And some of you, you love the buffet, you love the smorgasbord, you know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You just eat it up and you love the free meal, that's great. Nothing is free in this life. And if you're under 30, write that down, okay? I don't care what your professor said, nothing is free. Somebody has to pay for something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says, You feed them. You feed them. You see, thousands of people gathered to be taught by Jesus. Thousands of people gathered to hear Jesus. Thousands of people gathered to be fed spiritually by Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the disciples said, send them away, let them feed themselves. Jesus said, no, no, no, no, no, no, you're my disciples, you feed them. And this is where you graduate. This is where you graduate from being a childlike Christian to a mature Christian and an adult Christian. You see children eat for free at buffets, parents pay so that the children can eat for free.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you need to learn when you come to church, part of the reason that we give is so that we can feed spiritually. People who are starving. Listen to me, where in the world are teenagers hearing they're loved by God, they're made on purpose, they are not an accident and their identity is not in their gender, but in God. Where are they hearing that? Where are teenagers being told you don't have to harm yourself anymore?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't have to cut yourself anymore. Someone was cut for you. Someone bled for you. Where are young people being told, there's nothing wrong with the way you look, it's your soul that's separated from God. They hear that in the church, the church preaches the manifold wisdom of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's our job to make sure that our neighborhoods, our cities and our towns can come and eat for free. But it's not free. But you know what you say, well pastor, you know, I mean, times are tough. I didn't get a raise this year. Man, I, you know, I don't know what's going on.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're a single income family. I'm a single mom. I get it. You're just like the disciples. Look what they said.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But we only have five loaves of bread and two fish. Okay. This is most of our church. I only got a couple of pieces of bread. It's not even real bread.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's from, you know, from a sandwich shop that will remain nameless. I'm not gonna say Subway. No, I love Subway. Little too much actually. But that's as like I only got a couple loaves of bread.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? I can't I I'm a single mom. I I can't make a difference. Man, we got three kids. They need shoes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They keep growing. They don't stop. I I can't give. I'm not a millionaire. Man, I didn't get a raise this year.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Surely Jesus, you can't be asking me to give. There's no way you would want me to do something. They said this is all we got. And what does Jesus say? Bring them here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bring them here. Listen to me, God will never ask you for what you don't have. He will never ask you for what you don't have. He's not dumb. He's simply asking you to trust him with what you do have.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that is where the rubber meets the road in terms of our faith. The Apostle Paul writes a letter to a very wealthy church. Okay, his church was in Texas. I mean, Philippians, sorry, apologize. Philippi and Dallas sound a lot alike in the Greek, I'm kidding.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what he says to the church in Texas, I mean in Philippians, he says, and this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs. And I want you to never forget these words from his glorious riches. Listen to me, if you don't ever tithe, you will never find this to be true. And many of you are robbing yourselves of this blessing. And let me be very, very clear.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God does not need your money. I want you to listen, somebody write this down. You need his. Come on, that was lame. Let me say that again.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God does not need your money, you need his. And here's the thing, God only blesses and gives to people that bless and give to him. Now, let me give you some good news. Let me give you some good news. I know I'm being a little heavy handed today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was in England, I saw all the wealthy Anglican churches, But let me give you some good news. Let me give you some great news. You guys ready for some good news? Yes. Sandals Church has 9,596 giving families.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you believe that? Can we give them a hand? Let's clap for them. Almost 10,000 families in our church make this thing go. Listen to me, some of you believe God is going to take care of us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me tell you something, God is taking care of you so that you will take care of his church. That's how God does it. That's how the miracle of Sandals Church works. Almost 9,600 families give sacrificially, regularly. Some of us are tithers, some of us go above and beyond.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And without those people, we have no church. Thank God 9,600 people listen to Jesus. And when he said you feed them, you know what they said? Okay. But you know why we don't like to talk about giving?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because it offends us. And you're all on the internet and I know you're all internet sleuths. And you're gonna find some pastor that abuses some pastor that's getting rich. There's this guy going all over the internet this week. How many of guys seen it?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He parked his Bentley on stage. Have you guys seen this? And it's gold. Yeah, that's helpful for this message. Thank you very much, sir.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now, as far as I know, this is not AI generated. It's getting harder and harder to tell what's real and what's fake. It looks real, I wish it was fake and this pastor had not done this, but he did not consult me in his message planning. How many of you guys seen it? He parks his Bentley, golden Bentley on stage.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what he says to his church, that's our Bentley. And somebody in the congregation yells out, can I drive it? And the pastor says, no, the Lord wouldn't want that. That's what he said. So here, listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what you guys do. You look at that and you say, that's why I don't give. Well, quit looking at that knucklehead and look at Jesus. Let me tell you what I drive. A 2021 Ford f one fifty.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen, I like it. My wife says I like it too much. It has 70,000 miles on it. It is not gold. Now I do feel like I have to put gold in it to make it go because of gas, but that's what I drive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I am not here to rob you, I am here to set you free. There are 9,600 people in our church who give. Let me ask you a question. Out of those 9,600 people at Sandals Church and they're not individuals, many of them are families like Tammy and I, we constitute, we're one family, we're one giving unit. So, I mean, this could be twenty, twenty five thousand people a year are giving to Sandals Church and praise God for that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So of this list of 9,600 people who give to this church, where do you think Tammy and I rank in terms of the top givers? Nobody has any ideas? Who said it? I didn't even know, I had asked. I said, where do Tammy and I rank in terms of the top givers of this church?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We are actually tenth. And you didn't know that, right? The Holy Spirit just spoke to you, amen. Okay, now I didn't know that. Now, do I say that to brag?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No, I just want you to know, I'm telling you what I believe and I don't have a Bentley, I have a Bible and I believe it. I believe it and I want you to believe it. And it makes me mad when these pastors rob and fleece people to build their own kingdom. But you listen to me, they're gonna stand before God Almighty and that Bentley ain't gonna get them out of judgment. So why do I do this?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why do I give so much? Do you think I'm the tenth richest person in our church? Okay, I'm on social media, I see what some of you drive. I see your vacations, I'm like, that's nice, that's nice. Okay, I've been in some of your houses, you know, and your closet is bigger than my house.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I know the Lord has blessed many of you, but you don't bless him. Why is that? Two weeks ago, Melody taught on one of the most important passages of scripture in the Bible, Matthew thirteen forty four, the kingdom of heaven, it's like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again. And he sold everything he owned to get enough money to what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:To buy the field. You wanna know why you don't give? You haven't found the treasure. You haven't found the treasure. The kingdom of heaven is this, you found a treasure hidden in the field.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you imagine, you know, the lotto ticket that everybody's trying to win this week? You you find it in some lot in Riverside, and they're like, we want a $100 and you know there's a billion dollar ticket in that lot. You know, like, well, I'll give you 90,000. Look, you're gonna get your whole family together right to buy the lot. You say, why not just because you know, we're all Californians, why not just steal the treasure and tell nobody?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know how your mind thinks. Well, in the ancient world, here's the thing. Whoever owned the field owned everything in the field, even if you found it. And so the treasure, listen to me, could not be yours until you purchased the field. Listen, it's okay to have nice things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Unless that's your treasure. It's okay to have a nice house, unless that's your treasure. It's okay to make good money. I hope you do. I don't wanna have to pay for you all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's okay to make a good salary unless that's your treasure. Man, I was so sick this last week. Anybody ever been so sick where you like, you have to like recalculate your life, you know what saying? You're like, well, I may be seeing the Lord soon, I gotta get right. That's how I was last Wednesday.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I wasn't worried about my 401 ks? Tammy's a beautiful woman. She'd get married again. That's on her. You know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's where I was. She's on her own Lord. No, I'm kidding. But do you know what sick people don't care about? Stuff.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That rich pastor is not getting buried in that Bentley and if he does, somebody's gonna steal it. You know it's true. I mean, he'll be in that thing for a week before that sucker's stolen and gone. You can't take it with you. And so many of you are living like fools rather than people of faith.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But here's the thing you need to know about Jesus and listen very carefully. Jesus will only bless what I have entrusted to him. That's it. And some of you here's your attitude. And I mean, maybe, you know, maybe it's not a lot of you, but some of you I can feel it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, you give that kind of money because you know, you've been blessed. Yeah, I've been blessed because I bought a field thirty years ago. And I tell my kids this all the time, buy the field, buy the field, buy the field, buy the field. I tell them all the time. When you find the treasure, invest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not investing in Bitcoin. I'm not investing in gold. I'm not investing in the stock market. I'm not invested in The United States Of America. I don't see it in the last chapter.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's no verse that says, and then the Americans said, we're not mentioned. We don't even make the book. I'm invested in a different treasure. Every nation on earth is broke. Did you know that they're all broke?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know who's not broke? Jesus. And he gives freely to those who trust him. Matthew fourteen nineteen to 21, then he told the people to sit down on the grass. The people are hungry, they're tired.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now remember, he took a boat, they walked. These are families. They got kids, they got marriages, couples are fighting just like you on the way to church, right? We save our best fights as married couples on the way to the Lord's house. You know, we gotta have something to forgive.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's go at it. You know what I'm saying? People been fighting, they're hungry, they're tired, and Jesus, he told the people to sit down on the grass and he took the five loaves and the two fish and he looked up towards heaven and I want you to underline this and never forget it. And he blessed them. He blessed them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just want you to imagine Sandals Church has about 26 to 30,000 people a weekend right now is kind of the numbers we're averaging and we don't know exactly because sometimes some of you watch online with multiple people, but those are just the individual views that I'm calculating. So who knows? The number could be 50. I don't know how many people, but I just want you to imagine that I sat us all down and I said, we're gonna have a buffet today. And I had five pieces of bread and two fish.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Every single one of you would say this, we ain't eating today. But when you have Jesus, you have Jesus. And then he broke the loaves into pieces and he gave the bread to the disciples. Isn't it interesting, he gave it to the doubters first, who distributed it to the people. Look at this, they all ate as much as they wanted.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I keep watching these shows on on the news where these people are getting kicked out of buffets. Have you seen that? It's hilarious. Only Americans, dude. We we go we go to a buffet and the owner is like, out, out, Throwing whole families out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, you have violated the all you can eat policy. Isn't that sad? It's this happened all over the place. Like, your family cannot come in here. You guys eat too much.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They all ate as much as they wanted. Amen. They didn't get kicked out of hometown buffet. Jesus just said, do another round, go another round. They all ate as much as they wanted and afterwards, the disciples picked up 12 baskets of what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Leftovers. How many disciples are there? Does anybody remember? 12. Is the lesson?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you trust me, there's always enough leftover. See, that's why you don't give. You're worried there won't be enough left over. Jesus wants you to trust him so that there's enough leftover. About 5,000 men were fed that day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sorry, ladies, they didn't count you. I count you, you matter to me. About 5,000 men were fed that day in addition to all the women, there you are ladies and the children. So we don't know. The number could have been anywhere from 20 to 40 to 50,000 people who all ate from a few pieces of bread and two fish.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what was the difference maker? Jesus. Jesus. Jesus says this in Luke six thirty eight, Give and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more and more running over and poured into your lap.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me, every time I worry about money, every time I get anxious, how are we gonna pay the bills? How are we gonna manage all these campuses? How am I gonna get my kids through college? How am I gonna do this? How am I gonna do that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I remind myself that God has not called me to be rich. Listen to me, I am rich. I am rich. I am related to someone richer than Jeff Bezos. And he hasn't gone to the moon on a rocket, he went to hell to save my soul.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus says the amount you give will determine the amount you get back. Now we can leave here today like one of three people. Look at this. We can leave here today like the hungry people. And you know what, if you have a need today, that's okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're here as a church, we wanna meet needs. But listen to me, if you only stay a hungry person and you only come to church to feed, it will always be about you. And as long as it's about you, it's never about Jesus. And if it's not about Jesus, you're robbing yourself. Then there's the next group, the disciples.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I wish we could point to these guys as be like them, but they're captain idiots. They're like, Jesus, we got a problem. These people, man, they've been following us and we've been telling them for miles to go home, get away. We don't like them. Who told you to bring your kids?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? And this is where a lot of you are. You well, I've done my part. I give. Okay, whatever.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what I wanna ask you today. Are you giving what the Lord's telling you to give or you given what you've decided to give? You see as long as you're in this position, you're gonna say it's not my problem, send them away. Send them away. This is why churches love to stay small.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We don't wanna feed our communities. We don't wanna take care of their needs. Send them away, send them somewhere else. Then there's the last person. Small boy, you say, I didn't read that in the text.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, it's not in Matthew, it's in John. See, Matthew, he tells us the disciples found some bread and they found some fish. Lord, we've manifested through our faith this great offering that we bring before thou. John, John just tells us nobody gave nothing except in John six:eight. Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother spoke up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. We got a crowd of 50,000 starving people. And you're telling me only one kid packed a lunch? No. There was just one kid that was willing to trust Jesus with all he had.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you know what Jesus said, I can work with that. So we're gonna end the service today. I know money's tight, I know, I get it. I see the same news reports you do. I gotta live in the same world you do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But my job is not to teach you to live like the world, my job is to teach you to trust Jesus. And so we're gonna end the message today with an offering. Do you know why we gather church? Because he gave everything. You see that's the exchange.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We found a treasure hidden in a field and we sold all that we had, which was what? Not a lot to buy everything. He gave everything for us. And that's what we do. We come to church and we receive, we receive, we receive, we receive worship.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We receive these amazing buildings we gather in. Some of you, you get to watch this sermon in home, in your own comfort. And all of this has been given to you. All of this is because of Jesus and now this is your moment. To decide.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Are you one of the hungry? Are you a disciple? Are you a little boy that trusts Jesus? Who are you? Let's do something great today as a church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's respond in kind to Jesus the way that he has responded to us. And I don't know what's supposed to happen, but Woodcrest, I think it needs to start there. Okay, and quit laughing every other church because it starts there, but it's gotta spread to you. It's gotta spread to you. It's gotta spread to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's just end by repenting and saying, God, even if you're a tither, even if you're a giver, are you a truster? Are you trusting? Because you know what some of yours are already tied, you can't have my fish, you can't have my loaf. Already, I gave him 10% of the bread. I gave I gave him 10%.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, Captain Generous. Bless you. Can you imagine that little boy brought up? He's like, here's 10% of my bread, Jesus. And here's 10% of the fish.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I gave you the eye. He said, here it is. Here's all of it. So let's bow our heads, let's close our eyes and let's repent. Lord, the truth is we're all afraid.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're all afraid to trust you to meet our deepest needs. Every single one in this room has worries about money. Even those of us who have a lot of money are worried about all our money. And some of us are worried that we don't have enough. Lord, let us trust you in this moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let us repent Lord of what we can see and let us rededicate our lives to what we can't see. And that's what you're gonna do with the offering we give. So Lord Jesus right now, as we prepare to take the offering, here's what I ask you to do. I ask you to bless this offering just like you did with the offering of a little boy. Lord multiply it in such a way that it meets our needs as a church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bless this offering, lead us into your presence. We pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Thank you
Christina Crowley:for joining us online today. You know, pastor Matt, he he started off the message just reminding us of a powerful truth that God speaks through his word and he speaks through his people. And just like the little boy who brought what he had, God multiplied it. He did something beautiful with it. And so we wanna invite you, if you wanna be a part of the work that God is doing in and through the people of Sandals Church, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support and you can be a part of this great work.
Christina Crowley:So thank you so much for joining us. May God bless the rest of your day.