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Many are familiar with the 10 Commandments and the Exodus story in the Bible. What is often overlooked and misunderstood about these things is that they’re not just about rules and escaping - they’re about rhythms and a new way of living.
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
Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi, guys. And welcome to Sandals Church. Man, I'm so glad that you are here today. We are starting a new series, and I have been so excited about this series for months. Man, New Year's is always an opportunity to change your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I don't know where you are, what you've done. I don't know what 2022 brought for you, but 2023 can be a new year. It can be a new change. Maybe you need a new start in a relationship. Maybe you need a new start to your career or finances.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you just need a new start with mental health. Man, this series is going to be an opportunity for you to change. We're gonna be in the book of Exodus for 10 weeks. Think about that word. How many of you'd like to exit your life?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wanna exit. Right? I got a couple kids. I need an exit strategy. I need an exit plan.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's what the book of Exodus is all about. How to get you out of the mess you've made into the paradise that God has waiting for you. And so if you're new to Sandals Church, each and every week, you have the entire outline. You can download it on your phone. If it's too small and you're getting old like me, you can print it out and bring it to church so that you can have it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And just go through these notes. But I wanna encourage you this week. Read chapters 1 through 3. I'm gonna rush us through the first three chapters of the book of Exodus, but I don't want you to rush. I want you to slow down.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to learn. And I want you to see how God begins to work in the life of a guy named Moses, to get him from where he is, to where he's called. And ultimately, this is not so that you know Moses' story, but so that you can discover your story. Because God is always moving in the lives of people who are stuck somewhere to where they're called to be. And if you have any questions, any questions at all, if you scroll down in your app, you can go right down to the debrief, and you can ask me your question.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Try to keep them in Exodus 1:3. Don't go all the way to like chapter 30. I'm not there yet. So slowly roll this out and give me your questions. And I always love it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And people are like, well, what about revelation? We're in Exodus. We're in Exodus. Okay? So ask me questions from there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And, you know, I might ask, you know, answer a revelation question. But please, Exodus, Exodus, right? So I wanna talk today about this question. So many of you are believers and you're Christians, and you believe in God. I remember one time I was going to the cleaners.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just got my shirt today back from the cleaners. And that's an interesting relationship. Right? Because it's very contractual. You know, you just show up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They measure you. Because I have a funky body, really long torso, short legs. So everything has to be custom fit to me. And this Korean lady, she just looked at me. She goes, she goes, why do you go to church?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, and only the way that Koreans can. Very direct Koreans. Love them. She says, Why do you go to church? And then before I could even answer, she goes, How do you know there's a God?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was like, Woah. Can I just get my shirt hemmed? Right? But we all, at some time, are gonna have a family member or a friend that's like, I don't get church. I don't get God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why do you do what you do? And so I wanna talk today about why everyone, you, your friends, your family member, man, your fellow atheist, I wanna talk about why they still need God. Man, I was listening to an atheist comedian. And he said, Man, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God at all, at all.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said, I think you guys are ridiculous for believing in God. And then he goes on to say, I sure hope there's not a God. And then he said, man, I pray every day. There's no God. He said, I'm believing there's no God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because I know if I show up, and there he is with the beard and everything, he's like, I know, I know, to the heat. But you know, we're all wrestling with this idea of God. And that's what the story of Exodus is all about. Is there a God? And if there is, what's his name?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who is he? And what does he want from you and me? And that's what the book of Exodus is all about. So I want you to know why you still need God today. You need God if you're single.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You need God if you're married, young, old. You need God if you're educated. You need God if you're learning to read. You need God still, number 1, because God knows your name. I want you to just write that down.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God knows your name today. He knows your name. He knows your story. He knows your life. Jesus said, he knows how many hairs are on your head or are not on your head.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? I'm looking at some bald people in the audience in here today. He knows your ball. He knows. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen, you may not know his name, but he knows yours. And here's the thing. I'm gonna blow your mind today. Exodus is not the name of the book Exodus. It's not the name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Exodus 1:1. These are the names of the son of Israel. These are the names of the son of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household. You know, Exodus is not the name of the 2nd book in the Bible. We get this name because it comes to us from Greek, from Latin to English, Exodus, means exit in English.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But in Hebrew, the second book of the Bible is Shemot. The first book is Bereshit, the second book is Shemot. And Shemot means names. Names. Exodus is a book about the names of the people God called out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Exodus is about the fact God knows your name. God sees your story. God sees where you are. He sees you. He cares for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He loves you, and he's calling you out by name. And that's how Exodus begins. These are the names. These are the people. These are the stories.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are the people who struggled, who wrestled, who were enslaved, who God delivered to something else. You see, it's not just God's story that matters. It's his story in the midst of your story. He's delivering you. These are the names of Israel.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Exodus is an incredible, incredible book of names. We learn how Moses gets his name. It's the naming of Moses, the most famous lawgiver in history. His name sounds like in Hebrew, to draw out. And that's what we're gonna find out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But it's not just Moses' name that we learn in the book of Exodus. It's God's name. It's God's name. Moses says, who shall I say sent me? And God says, I am sent you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I am, sent you. And many of us today as Christians, we fight over God's name. Do you know that the Jews won't even say God's name? Do you know what Jews call God? Hashem, the name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You hear it, Shemot? When they refer to God, they just say the name. And as Christians, we hear this in the name above all names. We hear that. But here's the thing is, so many of us, we, we feel like we don't have a name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're struggling. You're striving, trying to make enough money, trying to get enough influence, right? I mean, that's why we're all on social media just to share our most intimate details with everyone who loves us. My wife and I on the way to church today, she was following this guy who took a break from social media and is announcing that he's back. Oh, thank God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because what could we do without you? But we're so caught up in who knows our name. Last year in 2022, Tammy and I were invited to a conference in Los Angeles, and there was a bunch of who's who's, you know, a bunch of super cool people, wannabe influencers. I mean, let's be honest, B level influencers. But, you know, B is higher than us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're like N level influencers because we have no influence. But we were introduced to this celebrity. She came up. She looked at me. She looked at Tammy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She goes, oh, I'm so sorry. I've never heard of you. And Tammy are like, those words just came out of your mouth. And she goes, what? I'm sorry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I never have. I am not praying for you. Amen? Right? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not praying for you. When you stand before the Lord, it's like, look, you know, he knows your name, and it's not in the book. That's my sin. That's my sin. Pray for me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But look, celebrities in LA may not know your name. I might not know your name. God knows your name. And that's the only person that matters. Some of you have missed this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what Jesus says to a world that people had forgotten. Jews weren't super important 2000 years ago. They were a no man's land in a no man tribe. If you were the governor of Judea, you did something terribly wrong to get that job. This is what Jesus said to them in John 10:3.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus said, the gatekeeper opens the gate for them, and the sheep recognize his voice and come to him. Listen to this. He calls his own sheep by name, and he leads them out. At some point in time in life, you're gonna hear God call your name. At some point in time, maybe it's through my sermon, God's gonna borrow my voice to speak to your soul.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And he's gonna call you out. He's gonna say, What are you doing? I've not called you to be here. I've not called you to do this. I've called you to something else.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's why you need God. Because on your own, you will make a mess of your life. Number 2, I still need God because God sees my struggle. Anybody struggling, amen? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, the 20s have been rough. Amen? Amen. My son turned 20 this week. I said, Hold on, buddy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The 20s are rough. Like when you're a kid, you're like, When I'm 20, I'll do whatever I want. Not. You know, people who did that are in prison. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Genesis 16:13. Thereafter, Hagar. This is a nobody lady, not even important enough to be her husband's first choice. Her name is Hagar. She used another name to refer to the Lord.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what she said. She referred to the Lord, listen to this, an unwanted wife, a single mom named God. And she named him Elroy. It's one of his names that he kept for himself. And you know what it means?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The God who sees me. You see, when her husband rejected her, when she was gonna raise a kid on her own, when her son was not the chosen one, God said, I still see you and I will provide for you. And she said, he is God. He is El. God is El Roy, the God that sees me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God sees you, not just the important people, not just the significant people, not just the celebrities, not just the superstars, not just the uber rich, uber wealthy, uber talented, God sees us all. And Exodus reminds us that God sees us. In Exodus 3:7, then the Lord told him, God speaking to Moses, I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Listen to these words.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes, God says, I am aware of their suffering. Whatever you're going through, whatever you've gone through, God sees you. Man, I think one of the hardest things is when people miss you. And I don't mean like they missed you. Like, oh, I mean they missed you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They don't see your talent. They don't see your story. They don't see your significance. So many of you are shouting out, would somebody notice me? And God said, I do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I do. I see you. He knows everything about you. He knows more about you than you know about yourself. Some of you are like, well, what's God doing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm glad you asked. Number 3, I still need God because God is constantly working to protect me. So many of you today, you're like, Well, I don't understand if God is good, why he allowed me to go through this. I'm just wondering why you don't wonder about all the things that God didn't make you go through. How many times has God blocked for you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many times has God tackled for you? How many times has God defeated the Satan himself for you? You see, we all focus on when we had to go through something tough. You have no idea what God has allowed you to avoid. God loves you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's never stopped fighting for you. He's never stopped tackling for you. He's never stopped coming for you. God loves you. And some of you, you've gone through a whole lot of hell.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have no idea how God is moving so he can get you out of hell into heaven. Exodus 1 22, Then pharaoh commanded all his people. Pharaoh was the most powerful man on earth. And he was frustrated with the Jewish people and he didn't like them anymore. And he didn't know Joseph.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He didn't know what God had done for Egypt through the people of God. And he commanded that every son that is born to the Hebrews, listen to this, you shall cast into the Nile, drown all the baby boys. He said, but let every daughter live. See they could use the women, but the men, the men were a threat. Pharaoh says, kill all the boys.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Kill them, they're too numerous. They're too blessed. They're gonna take over us. But listen to this, pharaoh said, kill all the boys. That was pharaoh's decree.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But pharaoh had a daughter. Later, when the boy was older, Moses' mother brought him back to pharaoh's daughter who had adopted him as her own son. And the princess named him Moses, for she explained, I lifted him out of the water. You see, pharaoh said, drown Moses in the water. But pharaoh's own daughter said, no, no, no.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've lifted him out of the water. Moses' name means, pharaoh's word means nothing. Look, you're you're all you're also worried about what everybody else is saying. What everyone else is saying cannot undo what God says about you. Pharaoh said, Drown him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But pharaoh's name means I was not drowned. I was not drowned. Moses' name means God delivers. I don't know what you're going through, but listen to me, if you're not dead, God is delivering you. He's delivering you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My aunt Opal used to say, What doesn't kill us makes us stronger. And that is so true today. The reason you're not dead today is because God is still fighting for you. God is still working for you. The reason your, your marriage isn't over, the reason there's, there's a penny in your bank account is because God is fighting for you and he's blocking for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And instead of being focused on what God has not done for you, you need to ask, God, what are you doing for me? Because you have no idea the pharaohs in your life that have spoken death over you, but God has said, no, No. Jesus looked at Peter and he said, Satan has asked for you. He has asked to sift you, but I Peter have prayed for you. Man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your mama might not pray for you. Your daddy might not pray for you. Your own husband, your own wife, your own kids. But your savior in heaven is praying for you right now. Satan has asked for you, but Jesus is blocking for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pharaoh is trying to drown you, but God is gonna pull you out of the water, man. And you need to look for that because the twenties have been trying to drown us, pushing us down, pushing us under over and over and over again. But the story of Exodus is God's will lifts us up. I still need God because number 4, God is calling me to follow him. This is the story of Moses.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is the story of Exodus. This is your story. In in Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 through 4, it says, one day, one day could be today. Today could be your day. Today could be the day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You could be listening to this this sermon in your car. You could be listening to this on a podcast. You could be driving down the freeway. You could be stuck in traffic. This could be your day that God speaks to you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One day, Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law. Moses is no longer a prince of Egypt. He lost his temper, he killed somebody. He thought he covered it up. You see, God does not block you from all of your mistakes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sometimes God allows you to experience the penalty of your sin. So Moses took things into his own hands and he killed a man. And he thought he covered it up and his own people ratted him out, so he fled. He fled into the wilderness. He changed his culture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He changed his religion. He changed everything about himself, but God still knew who he was called to be. He was herding the flocks of Jethro, a priest of Midian, another religion, And he led his flock, this is so important, far into the wilderness. He's trying to run from God. And that's what some of you are doing today.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You are running into the wilderness. You've put your head down and you've said, God isn't real and I'm gonna focus on myself. I'm gonna focus on my life. I'm gonna focus on making money. I'm gonna focus on pleasing myself.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna focus on the wilderness. I want you to know Moses ran as far as he could. You can never outrun God. Because here's the whole point of your life. Everything that's happening, everything that's going on in your life, everything is moving you to your mountain with God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's exactly where Moses ended up. Running away from God, guess where he came? He came to Sinai, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire in the middle of a bush. And I don't care what Joe Rogan says, man, Moses didn't smoke a joint.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Moses stared in amazement. He didn't do shroons. He just met El Shaddai. He stared in amazement. Though the bush was engulfed in flames, it did not burn.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It did not burn. You see, God does not want to destroy you. He wants to enlighten you. It didn't burn up. Moses said, This is amazing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. He said, why isn't that bush burning up? You see, God is moving in your life to get him to get you to be curious about who he is. Why isn't this, why isn't this bush burning up? He said, I must go see it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When the Lord saw Moses coming to take a closer look, listen to these words. God called to him from the middle of the bush. Moses. Moses. Have you ever heard God call your name?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My wife and I were having a conversation last night about how many words our dog knows. You know, she plays dumb, our dog, but she knows things. She knows where the candy is. You know, I know chocolate's supposed to kill dogs. Not our dog.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:40 pieces of seized candy for Christmas. She ate it all. Passed gas, she's fine. You're like, well, did you take her to the vet? No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She was in God's hands. I just lost all our dog lovers. Right? But she knows her name. Her name is Reese, like Reese's Pieces.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She's a little chocolate, a little brown. A lot of nuts. Right? A lot of nuts. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Whenever we have people over, people wanna pet her. I'm like, I don't know. We don't know if she's a Christian. I'm pretty sure pretty sure she worships the devil. So but she knows her name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She knows her name. My wife, when she gets super frustrated with me, when the dog's not responding, she'll say, Matt, call the dog. She's not listening to me. You know what Tammy's saying? She needs to hear from her master.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. My dog knows who the master is. I wish other people in our home were as smart as my dog. But listen to me. She knows my voice.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you know your Father in heaven's voice, or are you dumber than a dog? Are you dumber than a dog? God is calling you today. Moses, Moses, Moses. You say, well, if God loves me, why am I hurting so bad?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That pain is God's voice calling you. Why, why are you doing this? Why are you living like this? How long are you gonna be in the wilderness? Like every generation, right, every generation raises up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm on a party. Yeah, that always works out. You know? I'm gonna do drugs. I wanna see a billboard.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, my life was a mess. I did meth and everything got better. Then you'll never see that billboard because it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It destroys.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is calling you. He's calling you. But some of you say, why? I'm not religious. Let me tell you why you should be.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because God is calling you to a better place. It's a better place. Man, I've been around the world. Anybody traveled in here? California is like greatest place on earth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know we have people in other states. I love you. You're just there because it's not communist. So I don't wanna hear about it. I wanna hear about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:California is beautiful. It's beautiful. One of the most gorgeous coastlines in the world, mountains, snow, deserts, has every climate on earth. California has it all, has it all. But it's hell.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's hell. You know why? Because our state said, we don't need God anymore. We can just invent these rules on our own. We can just make this up as we go along.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, we've transformed California from a golden state to a hellish state. Do you know those people used to move here? I know. So young people are like, what? Yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My family, my family moved here. 1st in the twenties, my family were pickers. They picked in the fields of the Central Valley, and then they moved to the canneries. Some of my aunts and uncles were born in the field. We were called Okies and Arkes, 2nd class white citizens of California.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then my other grandfather came after the war, after the oil bust in Texas, and he came to California to start a life for his family. And now it's a mess because we've invented our own God, we've gone our own way. We've we're enlightened. You know the worst book in the Bible? Some of you didn't know this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's called Judges. It's called Judges. And what it shows is the best of us have no judgment at all. The book of Judges ends with these words, and each man did what was right in his own eyes. And it destroyed the people of Israel.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you are saying that, well, I just, I just believe people should do whatever they wanna do. How's that working out? How's it working out? Oh, our kids just seem to find themselves. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How we doing? How we doing? We have the highest rates of depression and suicide we've ever seen amongst our young people. It should be their best years and we've said, be whatever you want. Shoot.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pick your own gender. Man, I don't even go to Cheesecake Factory. Do you know why? Too many options. I have ADD.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a real condition. Give me In N Out Burger. Amen? 1, 2, or 3. That's why they have a bible verse on the bottom of their cups.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But some of you are saying this. Well, I'm just gonna let my kids find their own path. No. No. No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're gonna hand them over to the wolves. You're gonna hand them over to the wolves. The wolves don't love your kids. The wolves want to eat, use and destroy your kids. God in heaven wants to deliver them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Moses went into the wilderness. He was a prince. He lost it all. He lost everything. God delivered him and he kept going his own way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He kept running from God and that's what some of you were doing. I'm just gonna find my own way. I'm gonna make up my own religion. I'm gonna marry Jethro, the priest of Midian. Who doesn't matter?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wrong God. Wrong God. I'm gonna do yoga. I'm gonna be a vegetarian, right? I'm gonna judge all of you because I'm superior.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Thank you. It doesn't work. It doesn't work. God is calling you to a better place, a better place. Exodus 3:8, So I'm gonna come down and rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Our God is a God who delivers. Couple years ago, Tammy and I went to Washington, DC, and we went to the Bible Museum. Now I know everybody hates the Bible Museum. It's fantastic. One of the most powerful things I saw at the Bible Museum, it's an actual translation of the Bible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's called the Slave Bible. You ever wonder how Christians could enslave black people in this country? Many of them gave slaves a different Bible. You wanna guess what book wasn't in the slave Bible? Exodus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They gave slaves an edited version of scripture because they were afraid of the promised land that God would encourage them to go. Some of you, you've made yourself your own slave, and you have eliminated this book from your life. And you enslave yourself to your desires. You enslave yourself to your ideologies. You enslave yourself and you've put yourself in your own wilderness, and it is not made for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you wonder why you're miserable? God says you're in the wrong garden. He's calling you to a different garden, into their own fertile and spacious land. Listen to this. It is a land flowing of milk and honey.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Milk and honey. You wanna know what Palestine is like? California. When you go to Jerusalem, you wanna know what it looks like? Temecula.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a beautiful land. You know what Tel Aviv looks like? San Diego. God's not stupid. He's like, we're gonna stay there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:San Diego, if you're watching from San Diego, I can't even pray for you. Your life's so good. Right. You're basking in glory. That's where God called them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're like, no, Egypt. Egypt's got a little river and then desert and sand. It's awful. No. I'm gonna go my own way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What does Moses do? He flees to Saudi Arabia. Ask some of you. I'm gonna show you, God. The only thing that's cool about Saudi Arabia is oil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's it. And they hadn't discovered it yet. And that's what some of you are doing. I'm gonna show God. I'm gonna go my own way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Good luck. This week was my son's 20th birthday. And here's what I begged him. Don't be stupid, follow God. Because the wilderness is real and it'll eat you up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you, you're gonna spend your whole life blaming God because you're in the wilderness and he's gonna say, I never called you here. I came to deliver you. Here's the next thing you need to know is God is calling you to be the very best version of yourself. You know why we don't like New Year's? Because New Year's convicts us, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Fatter, older, dumber. Like, some of you did not read one thing last year. One thing. I mean, you're heading in a trajectory where you go to In Now Burger, you're not even gonna be able to say 1, 2, 3. You're gonna go, ah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, we're not getting smarter. Right? You see they got AI now. Kids aren't gonna write term papers anymore. Listen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you're a kid, that's not gonna benefit you. It doesn't help you if the computer gets smarter. Have you watched Terminator? Jeez. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is calling you to the best version of yourself. God says this to Moses. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people, Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses protested.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, we love to protest, amen? We love to protest. But Moses protested to God. Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Moses had no idea who he was, and you don't either.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what C. S. Lewis says the hell is gonna be? Hell is gonna be when you get to see what you could have been and what you settled for. Angels in heaven are pulling their hair out as they look at you and your potential, and they go, what is he doing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What? You have no idea what you can do. You have no idea if you just surrender to God. I like the wilderness. I like pulling cactus out of my, you know what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have no idea. I had no idea 25 years ago what God would do with my life. I had no idea. Some of you don't know this about me, but but I have a real fear of public speaking. That's unfortunate.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I was in junior college, this is a true story, I took public speaking. It was one of the first general ed classes that I took in junior college. And the teacher, because she was torturous and satanic, decided that she would just do 2 minute free speech introductions. And my last name is Brown, so we went in alphabetical order. And there was no a's in the class, and so I went first.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And she said, start with your name. And this is what I said. I just froze. I froze. Do you know in seminary, I failed preaching?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:True story. Somebody write that preacher a letter. His name is Doctor. Schaus. He hates it when I share that, but I was so bad I was so bad, he used to have keys in his hands when when you were doing something he didn't like when you preach.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I remember one time I was in the middle of a sermon, and his keys hit me in the chest. And I was like, Oh, man. So I took preaching again. Right? But here's the thing is, I thought preaching was about me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Once I figured out it was about God, my life changed. As long as your life is about yourself, you're gonna be a mess. You're gonna be in the wilderness. You're gonna try to impress people that don't like you and don't like themselves either. Everyone around this is insecure.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know how you get secure? You submit to who God's called you to be. It's amazing. You know what Moses says? I can't talk.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't talk. I how am I gonna speak to pharaoh? This this is the pinnacle of civilization at this point. The Greeks hadn't even, you know, started poetry yet. They don't know any of that stuff.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Egypt is the top of what humanity has to offer. And he's been with sheep in the middle of the wilderness. And God says, I'm gonna choose you to speak to the king. You see, the Bible is full of stories where God uses people who feel small and he uses them in huge ways. God is calling you to the best version of yourself.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, God's calling you and me to a better way to live. Look at modern life. Are we better? Are we getting better? We're technologically advancing, but I think emotionally and spiritually and physically, we're regressing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God is calling you to a better way to live. He's calling you. Some of you don't know this, but the first five books of the Bible, you already know Exodus is not the name. But I'm gonna give you the first five books of the Bible in their Hebrew names. And this is what I want you to know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's why you don't read your Bible every day, because the devil knows it will speak to you every single day. In our English translations, the first book of the Bible is Genesis. The Hebrew word is bedesheet and you're like, yeah, I'm sick of that. You know? Just like what it sounds.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bedesheet means, it's not a guss word, it means in the beginning or of the beginning. 2nd book of the Bible, Shemot. In the beginning, Shemot. These are the names. 3rd book of the Bible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know why I'm holding up 2 fingers. 3rd book of the Bible, Leviticus. Vaykra, he called. In the beginning, these are the names he called. Numbers, Bemidbar.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In or out of the wilderness. In the beginning, these are the names he called out of the wilderness. Last book, Deuteronomy, Devarim. Devarim can mean 3 things, word, things, or essence. In the beginning, these are the names he called out of the wilderness to his word, to his things, to his essence.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna change your life? You need to know the old rules for your new life. Because some of you have dismissed the old rules. You've said, you know what? It's old.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's the law. I don't need it. You need it. Because we live in the wild and we need rules to help us survive the wild. In the beginning, these are the names, your name, my name, our names.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are the names he called out of the wilderness, Out of the wilderness. Listen to me. What do you tell your kids? Don't live like the wild. You're not a wolf.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're a lamb. You're a child of God. Don't live like everybody else. We do not evolve Christians. We are born again.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In the beginning, these are the names that he called out of the wilderness to his word, to his things, to his essence. Matthew 2214, Jesus says some of the most important words. For many are called, but few are chosen. God is gonna call every single one of you, but God only chooses those who respond to His gracious gospel. God has chosen those listeners who choose the devarim.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How does John announce Jesus in John chapter 1? In the beginning was the devarim. And the devarim was with God and the devarim was God. And the Devarim has dwelt among us. You see, God has chosen all who choose the word.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Have you chosen the word? Have you chosen? Moses said, here I am, Lord. Here I am. And God said, don't come any closer, the Lord warned, but take off your sandals.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pretty cool name for a church. Take off your sandals for you are standing on holy ground. What just happened to Moses? He was invited into the very presence of God because he answered the call. Who does God choose?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:All who respond from the very beginning that he calls out by name from the wilderness, from the wilderness, right, to himself. And what is the Devarim? It's his word. It's different things. Jesus says, behold, the kingdom of God is right in front of you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? The Jews said, where is it? He said, it's right here to the things of God and to what? His essence. That is what God is calling you to.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what the 10 Commandments are all about, delivering you from the wilderness. I just wanna end worship today with with worship today and I just wanna challenge you wherever you are. Some of you are deep in the wild like Moses. Some of you are far from God. Maybe in this time of worship, you can just slip off your shoes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I pray that they smell well. And you could just worship and you say, God, I've been in the wilderness too long. I'm coming back. I'm coming back. Because God is calling your name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's calling you out and he's calling you to Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly father, in the mighty powerful name of Jesus, we pray God that in this new year in 2023, you would call us out by name of the wilderness. Lord to yourself.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, move in us, move through us. Let 2023 be the year where we no longer live in the wild, but we live in your word. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm pastor Matt Brown. Thank you so much for watching this content. The reason that we produce this content is to help you build an authentic relationship with God, with yourself, and ultimately with others, people just like you who are furthering, their relationship with God. If you would like to transition from someone who just watches this content to partner with us so that we could produce that content, I would really like to invite you to go to donate.sc. This is the best way for you to become a part of what God is doing at Sandals Church, to share this message of authenticity all across the globe.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Thank you so much for your time, and I appreciate your generosity.