Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 Chris Reinhart. I'm the campus pastor at Sandals Church San Bernardino. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this incredible message. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people.
Chris Reinhardt:But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi and welcome to Sandals Church, man. It's so good to be back with you guys today. I have a special announcement. I'm just super excited to announce this weekend at Sandals Church, we are launching officially Sandals Church Corona. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, it's incredible. We were supposed to launch about a month ago and some of you guys don't know this, but the week of our official launch, the entire campus flooded. And so we had to postpone our launch and we had to replace a bunch of equipment, but our whole team just really really scrapped and worked together and we were able to replace almost everything that was damaged in the flood in a couple of weeks. And so let's just give a hand to everybody at Corona who rallied and got that together. But I gotta tell you, so I was on my way on a Friday to film the welcoming video inviting people to come to Sandals Church Corona.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And they're like, don't come. And I was like, what's going on? And they're like, yeah, we're not opening this weekend. And I was really convicted. I gotta tell you something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know, Sandals Church is we're a machine, man. We've worked out a lot of kinks. We do a lot of things really well. We're great at budgeting, finance. We we we we just have an incredible incredible team.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I was super convicted that when the campus flooded, I really felt like the Holy Spirit said, you're not praying enough for our campuses. And I I just got I wanna confess that as your pastor, our vision is being real. And, it's not just about, dollars and cents and buildings, it's about prayer. And so what I wanna do with all of our other 13 campuses is I want us to join together today and let's pray for Corona. The fact that they're opening today is a miracle of God and we wanna join them because there are people in the Corona area.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're gonna be set free from the burden of playing pretend. And they're gonna be able to experience a very, very real Jesus. And and here's the thing about Jesus and and that's what we're gonna talk about today. Jesus knows all your crap and he loves you anyways. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He loves you anyways. And so let's just extend a hand. I don't even know which way Corona is, so just point wherever point whichever way you want. But Corona, if you would just receive, okay? I don't want you to pray for yourself.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna pray for you today. So let's pray. Father, we pray in the name of Jesus for this this birthing of a church today. So many Christians are fleeing California, Lord. We wanna take ground in California.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Lord, we don't want one person in this state to be lost. We want everyone to come to know the love of Jesus Christ and be changed by it. So bless them today. Bless pastor Brett, his family, his team, everybody president, just present, Lord. I pray they would know we are we are 14 locations, but we are one church with the vision of being real with self, God, and others.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Bless them today. We pray this in Jesus name. And all God's people said, amen. Amen. I love you, Sandals Church Corona.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't wait to get there. I've wanted to launch a campus there for about ten years, but it has been very, very difficult for us to do that. So so this weekend is a big weekend at Sandals Church. I want you to open your Bibles. If you're visiting for the first time today, I mean, I I just believe God has something special for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're going to read some scriptures that when I was a young man in my early twenties, I was I was trying to put my life together. I was trying to figure out what about Christianity I believe, what about Christianity I deeply needed. And I didn't know this at the time. I didn't know that God was gonna lead me to this chapter that we're talking about today. And this chapter was gonna change my life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And this chapter was gonna cause me to plant a church whose vision was being real. And so I hope today that you will understand that Jesus is radically different from every religious experience you've had. And so when you open to Matthew 23 and you look at verses one through 37, the title will be the seven woes. And it's Jesus just going against railing against the religious powers of his day. The very people that God had selected to protect people were the very people that were hurting God's people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The very people that were supposed to point to get people to heaven, listen to this, were the very people according to Jesus who were preventing people from getting into heaven. And so he goes after him. But I felt compelled this week. I I don't I don't wanna focus on the things that the Pharisees got wrong. I I don't want you to leave here today critical at all of religious people because it's too easy to be critical of religious organizations, of religions, of churches, of pastors.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to leave here today in love with Jesus. I want you to see seven reasons, not seven woes, but seven reasons to love Jesus. Because he is radically different than any other religious leader in the history of the world. And I don't care how you were raised, Jesus wants to resurrect you today and he wants to change your life. So let me give you the number one reason why you should fall deeply, madly in love with Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at this, Jesus always practiced what he preached. He was he was a man of integrity. He was a man of his word. No lie ever came off his lips, rolled off his lips, were found in his thoughts. Everything that he said was the truth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And for so many of us this has not been our experience as a Catholic, as a Methodist or even at Sandals. And so many of us what we do is we reject God because of the people who wear his uniform. Don't miss out on Jesus because somebody who represented him lied to you. Don't divorce yourself from the truth of God because Jesus always practiced what he preached. So let's look at Matthew 23 verse one.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, look at this in verse two. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat. Now this doesn't mean anything to us, but back then that was their power. That was their authority. It represented deep, deep power.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the people were supposed to listen to what these pharisees taught and to what these teachers preached because they had the authority supposedly of God as they sat in the seat of Moses. Look at what he says in verse three. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you, pause. We love to dismiss the truth of Christianity because of the lies of a preacher. Look, if your doctor is smoking a cigarette telling you to get healthy, you don't be like, you know what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That whole health thing is a scam. The doctor may be a moron, but you're a moron if you don't listen to your doctor. Can I get an amen? Okay. So just because you've googled some idiot pastor lying, doing something terrible, it doesn't mean that what they're saying is false.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It means they're false. So Jesus says, do what they say but underline this, but do not do what they do. If you're raising kids, raise your hand if your parent. You wanna mess your kids up, say one thing about Jesus and live a different life. That will mess your kids up.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because at the end of the day parents, you know what our kids end up worshiping? Whatever we worship. And we may say it's Jesus with our mouth. But if we're honest, it's our boat. If we're honest, it's our free time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If we're honest, it's our comfort. Kids watch what we do. Most of Christianity is caught, can I get an amen? Not just taught. He says, do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what Jesus was never accused of? Being a hypocrite. Never once. Now they didn't like what he said. They didn't agree with what he said.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But they never said you say one thing and you do another. He always practiced what he preached. Verse four, look at this. They, not Jesus, they tie up heavy cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders. Man, if I was attending a church, the first thing that I would do is I would ask myself, is this pastor, is this person practicing what they preach?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Or are they putting something on me that they don't put on themselves? One of the things that I promise you, I will do my very best to never ask you to do something that I am not willing to do myself. I ask you to tithe because I tithe. I ask you to serve because I serve. I ask you to pray because I pray.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I ask you to read your Bible because I read my Bible. I'm asking you to do what I'm doing And I'm asking you to do it because I know I need it. So be very very careful. No pastor is perfect. But are they trying to live out what they preach?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. But they themselves are not willing to lift a finger. To lift a finger to move them. Everything they do is done for people to see. Man, that's an amazing thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:People are all about looking righteous. And by the way, do you wanna know what social media is today? It's the religion of our day. People are not nearly as good as they project, Okay? You are not the man, you are on the gram.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? You just are not. You are not. It's just false. The reason we're in love with social media is it projects righteousness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, I'm so offended. Oh, I'm just I'm just so amazed that other human beings would be sinners. When will they ever understand? Social media is becoming gross. It's becoming gross.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Instagram is a phylactery. Instagram is a tassel. It's how people in our culture display their righteousness before others. You know, nobody no married couple post their fight. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now they post the makeup photo afterwards. You know, they're like, oh my gosh, we just love each other so much. Okay. So look what they do. They make their phylacteries So let's let's pause here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long. So so why does a Jewish person I was Tammy and I were just on an airplane this week and a orthodox Jewish man, he went into the restroom, came out and he had the phylactery tied on his head and he had leather ropes bound around his forearm and he had the tassels on his waist. So why do Jewish men do that? Because the Bible says that the word of God needs to be on your forehead and tied around your hands. Now here's the problem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't believe God ever meant for you to tie a box on your forehead. Okay? Here's what I think he was saying. The word of God should always be on your mind. And the word of God, listen to me, whether you're a contractor or a teacher or a police officer, the word of God better be on your hands when you do what you do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see the whole point is don't just go to church and be one person from ten to eleven or 8AM to 08:45 or whatever time you go to service or Saturday night, but be that person every day of the week. Let the word of God be bound on your mind and let it be wrapped around your hands. Remember that. Let there be a symbol, the tassels are, let there be a symbol of your faithfulness everywhere you walk. Because you can have a phylactery on your forehead, you can have tassels around your hand and you can have them on your waist and still be a hypocrite.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God doesn't care about your religious costume. Look for Halloween, you can dress up as Chewbacca, you are not him. You're not him. And I know some of you wanna be, but it's okay. Verse six, they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, this is the devil for every Christian sitting in the seat of power. They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplace and have people call them rabbi. Verse eight, but you are not called rabbi for you have only one master and look at this, and you are all brothers and you do not call any one earth father. Now if you grew up Catholic, this is problematic, isn't it? You see, that man in that uniform is not your dad.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your father's in heaven. You have one father. You see what we believe at Sandals Church is even though I'm your pastor, I'm your brother. I'm your brother. I'm a fellow idiot trying to follow Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can I get an amen? Jesus says, look at verse 10. He says, for you have one father and he's in heaven, nor are you to be called teacher for you have one teacher, the Messiah. What he's saying is this isn't a race to be number one. Verse 11, and you've heard this now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is probably the third time we've heard this teaching in Matthew. The greatest among you will be your servant. Wouldn't it be great if it said celebrity? Wouldn't that be awesome? I'm just serving Jesus with my millions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The greatest among you will be your servant. Look at verse 12. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled and those who humble themselves will be exalted. The greatest threat to my faith is my celebrity. It is evil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Fame and attention does nobody any good. No one. If my wife was in here, you'd heard a amen. Amen. Here's the thing man, we love to give people praise.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's like that's like having surgery to have cancer removed and thanking the scalpel. I just appreciate you scalpel, you cut you cut so perfectly. Thank you for what you did. All I am is a scalpel in the hands of Jesus to change your life. That's it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm a tool. I'm a tool. Okay. Somebody somebody just said that's right. That'll be your last time in the studio.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pastor Matt's a tool. No, no, he's he's right. He's right. That was hurtful, but he's right. Okay, look at this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:People love the seat of authority, but hate the weight of responsibility. Oh. That's why politicians are always running for a new position. You stunk at mayor, but let's give a shot at governor. What could go wrong?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You screwed up this state, why not all this states? That's the problem. That's the problem. Okay. Number two, why should you fall in love with Jesus?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus prioritized relationships over religious rules. Now be careful because some of you gonna amen that you're like, that's why I'm an idiot and I snort coke. No. Listen to me. Rules matter.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? The Bible is full of rules. Jesus is not saying throw out the rules. He's saying, don't put the rules over people. Put relationships over the rules because if you're not careful, you will become as evil as these Pharisees.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And this is what Jesus teaches us. He says, man was not made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath was made for man because you need a break. You need to rest. And somebody like, no I don't. Okay, put down the monster energy drink and listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes, you do. You need rest. You need rest. This is why so many people, man, you would rather numb yourself from the stresses of life than listen to God who gives you the purpose of life. Jesus says, Matthew twenty three thirteen to 15, woe to you, you teachers of the law and you Pharisees, you hypocrites.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. Can I just say any church that is disgusted by the people in their community they're called to serve is not the church of Jesus? I remember my friend brought his mom to Sandals and I said, what did she think? He said, she said, there's a lot of sinners here. Here's the thing, and she thought that was off.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I said, yeah, this isn't the place for her. We should put a sign above every sandals that says all idiots welcome. Welcome. You know, there's a place for you. Listen, he says this, they're blocking people from God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You yourselves do not enter nor will you let those enter who are trying to. Can I just tell you this from my experience, the hardest person in the world to save is not the person who thinks they're going to hell? It's the person who knows they're going to heaven. That's the person that's hard to save. Woe to you teachers of the law, you Pharisees, you hypocrites.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this, you travel over the land and the sea to win a single convert and then you make that convert twice as much a child of hell as you are. You are not getting into heaven because you followed the rules. Christianity begins when you admit you can't follow them no matter how hard you try. Raise your hand if you're married. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now just the dudes. Okay. You you try. Right? Like right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like these are the my favorite fights are like when Tammy thinks like I'm not trying. Here's what's so sad. I'm doing the best I can and I still I still like miserable failure. You know? Oh my gosh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like I try and it just doesn't work, you know. You know the people who think they're perfect, they're not really trying. They're just they're just not trying. You know, it's like your idiot cousin, you're like, yeah, I know how to live. I'm like, dude, get a job.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why don't we start? Why don't we start with, you know, waking up before noon? Listen to me, Christianity is not about following the rules, but about following Jesus. What Jesus does is he teaches us why the rules matter. Why they matter.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so here's the thing, Jesus prioritize relationships over people. I wanna challenge you to read through your bibles and find one time where Jesus criticizes a sinner. His harshest words are always for religious people. He had prostitutes that came to his feet and violated the laws of that time. A prostitute could not touch a holy man and he allowed them to touch his feet and wipe away their tears with her hair.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He didn't say anything to her. He welcomed her. But the Pharisees, he said, you guys, you're a mess. Next, I love this. Jesus always keeps his promises.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, listen to me parents, you gotta learn this. I I learned this the hard way. My oldest daughter was about four and I'll never forget it. And she said, daddy, and she grabbed my cheeks because she needed my attention. Because her dad struggles with the disease known as ADD.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And she says, daddy, and she squeezed me. And she said, are you promising or are you promise promising? Now, does that mean? That means that I had promised and what? Broken my promise.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me parents, don't promise things to kids that you can't guarantee. One of the things that I learned to say is I hope we can go to Disneyland this weekend. I'm really looking forward to it. And I'm gonna do everything I can to make it happen. Because there's two things that you need to teach your kids.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number one, that your word is your bond and number two, life happens and we don't always get to do what we wanna do. One of your jobs is to teach your children how to manage disappointment. Any adults in here been disappointed lately? I was like, this is called adulting. So it's important in my four year old and I was a pastor of our church at the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My four year old is saying, daddy, are you giving your word or are you giving your word word? Jesus every time he spoke, it happened. Every promise he made will happen. He never lied once. Every word he spoke is the truth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He always kept his word. Listen to Jesus, Matthew 23. Woe to you you blind guides. For you say if anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at this. But whoever swears by the gold in the temple is bound by the oath. You blind fools. So basically, here's what they said. You know what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can go to church and you can swear to God, which you're not supposed to do, but you can swear to God and put your hand on the church and then it doesn't count. But if you put your hand on the altar in the church, then it counts. Do you see how stupid that is? See what they're looking for, listen to me, is a way to lie. And Jesus says, you blind fools, which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now you need to pay attention to this. If you're new to Christianity, you don't know this. But if you've been a Christian for a while, you know you are the temple. So when you make a promise and it comes out of you, it just came out of the temple. So let your yes be yes and your no be no.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what the Lord says. Verse 18, you also say if anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing. But whoever swears by the gift on the altar is bound by the Do you see the stupidity multiplying? You blind men, which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Jesus has taken these PhDs to school.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can I get an amen? Mean, he's just like, you guys are stupid. Therefore, if anyone swears by the altar, they swear by it and by everything on it. Do you guys understand that we represent God? We represent God to the world.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing, here's what I would love in California. I would love if Californians said this, I don't believe in Jesus, but I believe that Christians are honest. Can you imagine? Yeah, I don't get that whole resurrected stuff, but those dudes don't lie. Wouldn't that be great?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If that was our testimony, that's what Jesus is saying. If you represent me, stop lying because the devil is the father of lies. Jesus is the son of truth. Can I get an amen? Come on now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. Come on. That was too late. It's too late. Here we go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it, who dwells in you? The Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and the one who sits on it. Man, this will preach.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, Jesus cares more about me than my money. And don't amen that. It is true. It is true. Look, I wish we didn't have to talk about money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Raise your hand if you're married. Do you wish you never had to talk about money? Wouldn't that be great? Wouldn't it be great if you just talked about donuts, vacation? Like, you know what I'm saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And and if and if that is you, you're broke. Can I you know, you're like, I don't know what happened to all of our stuff? Here's the thing. I wish we never had to talk about money. Because here's the thing, I I did not get into this profession to make money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I proposed to Tammy this and I don't recommend this. This is what I said. I said, are you ready to be poor for the rest of your life? That was literally my opening sentence. You know, and she was so in love back then she's like, okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're gonna live on love not money and that lasts about two weeks and then you have to make money. But here's the thing, listen to me. I don't want you to give until you wanna give. Don't. All I'm doing you is teaching the principles, but you decide whether or not you live them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I want you to listen what Jesus is saying here because the Pharisees they became all about money. And they would take money from people and they would dress in beautiful clothes and act like they were royalty. Listen what Jesus says in Matthew 23. Woe to you, you teachers of law and you Pharisees, you hypocrites. You give a tenth of your spices, mint, your dill and your cummin.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay, those are just spices. Those are the things that my wife sends me to the grocery store and I cannot find. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law, justice, mercy and faithfulness. Now hold on, why do I believe in tithing? You should have practiced the latter without neglecting the former.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You blind guides, you strain out a gnat, but you swallow a camel. So how do we do this? Well meaning Christians will ask me this, pastor should I tithe on the gross or the net? You're straining on a gnat while you're swallowing a camel. I don't I don't know why Christians put me in that position.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Tammy and I we've been grandparents for a year. Can I just tell you, we have a hard time controlling ourselves when it comes to spending money on that dude? Like he he can wear shoes for a week and I'm like, don't care because his foot's growing so much. And I'm just like I'm just like spend it, buy it, get it. You know, he has enough stuffed animals that he we could lose him with all the stuffed animals that he has.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you know why? We love him so much we don't think about the cost. That's how your giving should be at church. Instead of asking, what's the lowest amount that I should give, the gross or the net, you should say, I love God so much. Somebody in the church should tell me, hey, you need you need to cut back.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And as far as I know, we've never told the sandal like that. Hey, bro, cut back to giving. Cause what Jesus is saying is, look man, life is more important than money. Money is merely a reflection of your life. You wanna know what you worship?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look where your money goes. That's what you worship. All money is is an arrow and it's pointing to what matters to you. So here's the thing is, look, come to church. Don't ever give until you want to.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I trust God. I've believed in God for almost thirty years of this church and God is always taking care of me. Always. I remember one week the offering was $10. If I got a 100%, we're host.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? You know, they're like pastor just take it all. It was such a low offering. Our accountant called me. It was like, did you empty out the offering?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was like, no bro, that was it. And by the way, was a $10 bill. It wasn't even like 10 ones. One person gave or somebody made change. I don't know what happened.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't I don't know. I'm just saying this. I tell my kids this all the time, there's no greater joy than trusting God with your money. And I tell my kids this, you're robbing yourself. You're robbing yourself of the joy of giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alright. Next, with Jesus, this is Sandals Church, man. This is so good. I don't have to play pretend. I'm so sorry for how you were raised, you were raised wrong.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The church is not the place to fake it till you make it. Okay? You know where you don't fake it? You don't fake it in the hospital and you don't fake it at church. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You come to church and you need to get real because here's the thing, if you wanna heal, gotta get real. We cannot fix stuff we don't know. When I was a kid, you go to church, we always had the unanswered prayer or the the scary. The unspoken request. Excuse me, that's what it was.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The unspoken request. And there'd be 27 unspoken requests and one prayer for their dog. I'm like, I'm not I'm not praying for your dog, know. I'm not praying for that. Sorry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know you love your dog. Listen to what Jesus says, Matthew 23. Woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites. Does anybody feel a theme here? You clean the outside of the cup.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So think about that. Somebody hands me this cup and they only clean the outside. How disgusting is that? It's like how your teenagers wash your cups. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what that is, dad. You clean the outside of the cup but inside it's full of greed and self indulgence. Jesus says, you blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and dish. Listen to this, and then the outside will also be clean. I bet every single person in this room at one point or another has felt like they're too tall, too short, too thin, too fat.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what God doesn't care at all? How you look on the outside. And if you don't believe me, look around. There is diversity around us. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? I wish I spent more time paying attention to the size of my heart than the size of my nose. Don't look at it. Just don't don't look at it. As we get older, it just keeps growing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's why I have the mustache. I'm trying to cover it up with a plant. But we all do this. Right? We focus on the outside.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God could care less. He cares about what's on the inside. You you you wanna know what Christianity is really about? It's about looking within and this is scary and saying, wow, that's ugly. And then hearing the words of Jesus, but I love you anyways.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. I love you anyways. So I hear all the time why Sandals Church got named Sandals and no one's right. Let me tell you why. It's two reasons.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The verse, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring news? And then I was a soccer player. And I had ugly feet soccer players. I don't know why the devil is their feet. It's the most gross thing you've ever seen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I would not wear flip flops or sandals around anybody unless I comfortable with them because I was embarrassed of my feet. I mean, small children would would question it. It would be like, what what is that? You know, they would run and cry to their parents. It it was horrible.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what I Here's why our church's name is Sandals, is because I wanted to start a church where people could see the very ugliest parts of me and still love me. That's why. That's why it's Sandals Church. And listen to me, if you get that vision, your life will change. Jesus, woe to you teachers of the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, you are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. So Jesus is teaching, we're approaching Passover, he's about to die. The Jews, the religious Jews would go out into the hills and they would spend a great deal of time and money cleaning all of the headstones so that people on their way to worship God didn't accidentally step on a grave and become unclean. And so at this time, the tombstones are particularly what? Bright.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But what he's saying is there's still a corpse inside. Stop focusing on the way that you appear on the outside, but let God change who you really are on the inside. I've talked about this a couple of times. This is a game that Tammy and I play because I make her. But it's called Shadow Work and it's conversations with your inner self.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what I love about this game, I found it online. It says, your shadow reveals who you really are. And I think often time in dating, what we do is we present our very best selves and then we get married and like this is my shadow. He's gonna be with us forever. But do you do you know why do you know why we don't share our shadow side in our dating life?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because we're afraid we'll be rejected. Here's what marriage is. Marriage is not giving up on somebody because they have a shadow. That's what it is. And it's not easy and it's difficult, but it is worth it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's what is in the church. And this has been a great game for Tammy and I and it's not really a game. I don't know why it has that word on it. But we will we'll read through a couple cards at night, couple times a week before we go to bed. And it's just a great great way of talking about the fact that we're both imperfect people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Trying trying to love each other and be like Jesus. So Jesus says in verse 28, in the same way on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Can I just be honest with you as your pastor? There are things in my heart that I wish were not there. You know, I I I just I just I just wish I was a better person.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's what you need to hear, I'm trying. It's not like, you know, I'm not giving it my best. Here's the thing, my best is not what Jesus can do, it's just not. And it's why I'm a Christian. Okay, next point.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Alright, we gotta we gotta we gotta go fast. You guys are listening slow. Jesus was honest about hell. Now let me say this. He's not honest because he's mean, but because he doesn't want you to go there forever.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Matthew twenty nine thirty three. Woe to you, you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites, build tombs for the prophets and you decorate the graves of the righteous. Look at this. And you say, if we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of prophets. And by the way, let me pause here and every single young person here today, part of the reason you hate America is you assume that a hundred years ago you would have done better.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if that's what you really believe, you're like a Pharisee. The truth is you have no idea what you would have done. The world was different. It was different. And that's what the Pharisees are doing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're saying, we wouldn't have killed Isaiah. We wouldn't have killed Jeremiah. And yet they're about ready to kill the son of God. Verse 31. So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Look at verse 32. Fill up then the measure of sin of your ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers. How will you escape being condemned to hell? Listen to me, people will tell you, well Jesus never talked about hell, he just did.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what he's saying is, who's gonna help you escape? You can't get out, you're stuck. And by the way, listen to me, there are some of you that say, if God is love, you would never send anyone to hell. What makes you think people are sent to hell? CS Lewis says the gates of hell are locked from the inside.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It is the future you chose and refuse to repent from. Jesus is trying to save you from your choice. He's trying to rescue you from your sin. And you say no, no, no. A loving God would never send me to hell and you choose to send yourself there on your own.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? But I I want you to notice this. Here's why you should love Jesus. Here's why you should become a Christian. Here's why you should change your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He just called them a brood of snakes. How many times did he call them hypocrites? He's not a fan of these people. He does not like them. He says you're condemned to hell and there's nobody that can rescue you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But listen to me, you wanna know why I love Jesus? Because Jesus loved me first. Amen. Look at first John four nineteen, we love because he first loved us. He just called them snakes, vipers, hypocrites, can't stand them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Who's gonna rescue you? Verse 34, look at this. Therefore, I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. He's not given up on the snakes. He's not given up on the vipers.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's not given up on the hypocrites. He's saying I'm gonna send people to you. And let me tell you why some of you are sitting in the church today, because he has sent a prophet, a sage and a teacher to you to wake you up and get you saved. Come on now, get an amen. Amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Come on. And then look what he says. This is what he says. He's gonna send us all these people but he says some of them you will kill and crucify. Can you imagine killing the doctor that's trying to save your life?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says, others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue them from town to town. Verse 35, and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah. Here's what he's saying, you've killed every prophet I've sent you from a to z, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. Now listen, all this condemnation, all this negative talk and let's end with these verses Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You who killed the prophets and stone those sent to you. Listen to Jesus, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Do you hear this? The very people that are gonna crucify him he says, I just wanna hold you. I just wanna save you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I just wanna love you. Who is like that in the history of the world? No one but Jesus. No one but Jesus. Stop apologizing for being a Christian.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Stop being all quiet about it. There's no one like Jesus. No one has ever loved you, died for you, cared for you, put up with you except for Jesus. And we need to celebrate that. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, let's just bow our heads and close our eyes and let's just thank God right now for Jesus. Lord, there are not just seven reasons to love Jesus, there are 7,000 reasons to love Jesus. And I'm so grateful for your love, I'm so grateful for your hope and I'm so grateful for your grace. But right now Lord, I pray if anyone needs to change their life and give their life to you Jesus. I pray they would do this in this moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That they would surrender to love today. In Jesus name we pray and all God's people said, amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:We just wanna take a second to say thank you for joining us here at Sandals Church wherever you might be. And our hope and prayer is that you would once again fall in love with Jesus this week and see seven or 7,000,000,000 reasons why you should love him and follow him. And listen, if our church has helped you in the journey of you following him, I wanna encourage you to support the work that God is doing here at Sandals Church. To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support. Grace and peace.