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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
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.
Hi, guys.
Welcome to essentials.
Man, I'm just so glad to be back here with you guys just this weekend.
And I want to talk to you about one of the most important essentials to your Christian
faith.
It's about sharing your faith.
So many Christians matter of fact statistics, and I don't know if they're true or not
because I don't take them, but here's what all the research says.
99% of Christians 99% of Christians never share their faith, the exact opposite of a Jesus
who left the 99 for the one, and we have 99 that will go nowhere for not even one person.
And last week, Melody did an amazing job challenging you to serve.
But there was a portion in her message where I got a little triggered.
I got to be honest.
Does anybody remember, like, failure?
Anybody ever have, like, a real failure?
Well, she talked about the fact that she wasn't a track star.
She's not a runner, but I was okay.
And I know it's hard to believe this because I'm 52 years old, kind of like Taylor Swift,
but not 22, 52.
Just the same, but a little more wrinkly amen.
But I was a track athlete for most of my youth.
Matter of fact, I ran all the way into college, and I had the privilege of going to one of
the powerhouse track schools in the state of California.
It was called Hiram Johnson High School.
Matter of fact, if someone's from the Sacramento area and they hear me say, I went to
Hiram Johnson, they just kind of look at me because they think I'm the wrong color.
That's why they're like, you do know you're white?
And I'm like, yeah, I do know I'm white.
But I was fast.
I was fast, and I made it onto our four by one track team.
And so I got to run with some of the fastest students in our state.
Some of these students went on to run in the Olympics.
That's how fast they were.
But Melody talked about last week in her message about this thing and how important it is.
And I want you to know that in CIF Finals, our team was predicted to be number one.
We were faster than everybody.
We were stronger than everybody.
We had beat everybody in our heat multiple times.
We had matching sweatsuits, man, we looked like Ll Cool J, and we were there to play, you
know what I'm saying?
All the young people are like, who, he's an actor now.
But he was super cool in the 80s.
But I ran the third leg.
I ran the turn.
I don't know why, but God made me to run the turn.
Not everybody can run the turn.
It's crowded.
It's impacted you got the fastest person giving it to you, and you got to hand it off to
the second fastest person.
Some people don't know that the longest leg of the four by one is the second, and then the
next longest is the last.
That's why in the Olympics, sometimes Usain Bolt will run number two because you want
those legs going as far as they can.
But the third leg is where everything gets messed up.
And unfortunately, in CIF finals, this was handed to me and I dropped it.
The sound you just made is why I've been in counseling for 20 years.
I still remember this sound.
I still remember the audience who had all gathered to see Hiram Johnson to watch the white
kid who stood out.
I was the only white kid on the track, and we failed that day.
The apostle Paul says, run the race in such a way to win.
Listen to me.
You can't win if you drop the baton.
It doesn't matter how fast you are.
It doesn't matter how much you try.
It doesn't matter how much you pray.
If you don't hand the baton from one to another, you lose.
99% of you are dropping that baton, and I know you're fired up America.
America.
Let me tell you what's wrong with America.
We're losing Christians.
And you're not going to change America through votes.
You're not going to change America through a politician.
You're going to change America by handing the baton from one Christian to the next and
sharing the gospel.
That's how we do this.
And I just want to challenge you today.
Are you ever going to share your faith?
Are you ever going to do it?
So let's just pray and let's ask God to challenge us, because I know there are pastors
that don't share their faith.
I know that there are lifelong Christians that never share their faith.
And sharing your faith, listen to me, is an essential of the Christian faith.
Because, like Melody said last week, we are only one generation from extinction as
Christians.
Jesus is the savior of the world.
But listen to me, he made the church the hope of the world.
And if we don't do our job, there will be no church in the next generation.
So let's pray together and ask the holy Spirit to convict us and to empower us today, not
just to worship Jesus, but to share Jesus.
Let's pray.
Heavenly Father, I just pray that your holy spirit would speak to us, that you would
convict us, that you would move in our lives.
And, God, I know today I'm going to ask Christians to do the one thing they would rather
never do, and that's tell somebody about Jesus.
God, I pray that you would empower them to be obedient today and to share their faith with
somebody this week.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.
Thank you so much for joining us for service today.
I want to take a quick second to invite you to support the work that God is doing in and
through Sandals Church.
You can do so by donating at Donate SC.
For now, let's get back into the message with Pastor Matt.
If you ever come to Israel with me, I always choose to preach a sermon at a particular
place.
I like to divide it up.
I like to give all the pastors an opportunity to share.
But I always like to share my faith, my story at the Temple of Dan, you may know it as the
Gates of Hell.
Jesus preached one of his most famous sermons at the gates of hell.
In Luke, chapter nine, verses 18 through 20, jesus left the crowds to pray alone, and only
his disciples were with him.
So here's the thing about Dan.
It's beautiful, absolutely beautiful.
Think like a desert oasis.
There are springs that come up from the bottom of the mountain and they pour into the
valley.
And the temple of Dan becomes listen to this.
The Jordan River.
And it just flows and it's beautiful.
Some of the most pristine farmland in the world.
And so Jesus takes them there.
There's cool water, there's a cool breeze there's, beautiful surroundings.
But he takes his disciples into the heart of paganism.
You see, the reason the pagans believed that the Temple of Dan was the gates of Hell
because the spring was so deep, it could not be measured.
And so they thought it went to the center of the earth.
So Jesus took them to the gates of Hell and he said, who do people say that I am?
Why would Jesus take the disciples into crazy town?
Let me tell you this.
The crazier the world is, the more you need to know who Jesus is.
He takes them right into Crazy Town, to the Gates of Hell, to the Temple of Dan, where the
priests there had sex with goats.
Yeah, I know that's not in your Bible notes, but that's where Jesus took them.
That's how crazy that place was.
Jews, traditional Jews would go nowhere near it.
Who do you say that I am?
Well, they replied, some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say you are one
of the other ancient prophets risen from the dead.
And then he asked them, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter replied, you were the messiah sent from God.
This story occurs in Matthew six, Matthew 1613 through 16, and Mark 827 and 29.
It's in three of the four Gospels because it's an essential story to your faith.
You see, this is why you need to know this passage to share about Jesus.
Number one, I must know who Jesus is.
I don't not argue about who he is, but I must know.
Then Jesus said to them, but who do you say that I am?
And Peter answered, listen this the Christ of God.
Some of you are new to Christianity and you don't know jesus'last name isn't Christ.
That's not his last name.
His true name is Jesus, the Christ, the Messiah.
He's the Son of God.
Christ is a title like president or governor.
It's a statement of who he is.
Do you know Jesus?
Do you know him?
Tammy and I recently started watching the TV show The Chosen, and I like a lot of it, and
I don't like some of it, but thank God, their choice for Jesus, he kind of overcomes the
flaws of the show.
And I love it when he calls the disciple Thomas.
And Thomas says, I've spent my entire life counting and measuring.
And Jesus says, I will teach you a different way to count and measure your life.
And when he said that, I got chills and I got goosebumps on my arms, because that's the
Jesus I know.
The Jesus I know taught Matt Brown how to count and measure his life in a different way.
Do you know Jesus?
Do you know him?
Some of you have studied Him.
Some of you've learned all kinds of things about Him, but do you know him?
The other day, I was incognito, had a hat on and some glasses, and some people were
talking about me.
Yeah, I thought I'd stick around, maybe I could learn some things about myself.
It's amazing the opinions that people have about me, the things that people do for me and
oftentimes listen to me.
The gifts that people give and the things that people say reveal the knowledge of me.
That's true.
Or it reveals they've seen me a couple of times on screen.
Do you really know Jesus, or do you just know things about Jesus?
You see, the Jesus I know, I know he's challenged me to count and measure my life
differently in a world that's all about making your life count.
And we don't call it measuring your life.
We call it fame, we call it influencing, we call it likes, we call it shares.
Jesus teaches you how to have a different life.
You see, if you are worshiping the wrong Jesus, you're going to be living the wrong life.
Who do you say that I am?
You see, Jesus asked this question because he knows the world is crazy, and it is only
your knowledge of Him that will stabilize you in the midst of this nuttiness.
And I keep thinking that we've maxed out on crazy.
Anybody else?
I feel like we're good.
Anybody nervous for 2024?
I'm a little nervous because the 20s just keep rolling in nuttiness.
Like, it just keeps rolling.
It just keeps getting crazier and crazier and crazier, and the crazier the world is, the
clearer you need to be about Jesus.
So in order to share Jesus, I got to know Him.
Number two, I got to know why he came to Earth.
Why did he come?
In the Gospel of John, there's this crazy guy, a crazy guy for a crazy time, wearing camel
hair, eating insects and bugs.
And you lost me at that, dude.
And you think that's crazy?
They're trying to make us all eat bugs, by the way.
They're trying to get rid of beef.
You're all going to be like John the Baptist eating your burger, not knowing that that was
a cricket.
But in John 129, the next day, this crazy camel hair wearing freak saw Jesus coming toward
him.
Listen to what he said.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Do you want to know what's wrong with our world?
It's not politics.
It's not wokeness.
It's not fascism.
It's not racism.
It's sin.
It's sin.
And our world loves to talk all around it, but never identify what's wrong.
The world and everything in it is broken because of sin.
And if you want to see this, firsthand, go have a baby.
It comes out beautiful and perfect.
And you think, there's nothing that you could ever do to make me not love you.
And then three in the morning with diarrhea on your hands and vomit on your shoulder,
you're like, yeah, we've arrived.
We've arrived.
As the kid is yelling at you, right?
Yelling at you.
And then you love that kid.
You pray for that kid.
And then that kid says the most loving things a parent ever hears.
You have ruined my life.
Oh, I was under the assumption I was trying to give you a life.
I didn't realize it was the killer of all joy.
And what you see firsthand is, even though you love your child more than anything, how
broken the world is.
And you see sin in them, and then you see it in yourself.
You see it in yourself.
What's worse parents is sometimes you see your sin in your kids.
Oh, that's fun.
You ever seen your child sin?
And the Lord's like, that'll preach.
You're like.
Okay, lord.
Careful, careful.
The Apostle Paul writes a letter to the most powerful city the world had ever known.
No one had ever conquered the world the way the Romans did.
They thought they were better than everybody else.
They believed everyone else was beneath them.
I found this out when we were in Greece.
The Greeks don't call themselves Greek because it's a Roman slur.
You know what it means?
Not Roman.
You're good.
You had Plato, but you ain't roman.
So back off, buddy.
The Apostle Paul writes this inspired letter to the arrogant believers in Rome, and he
says, for everyone has sinned.
We all fall short of God's glorious standard.
You see, the Romans, when they marched into army, they carried a standard that intimidated
that.
It caused their enemies to run in fear when the Roman standard was raised.
And Paul says that's the wrong standard, that there's a higher standard.
There's a better standard.
There's a more glorious standard.
And none of us meet it.
None of us meet it.
Why did Jesus come to Earth?
Because even the great Rome, even the great America, has fallen short of God's glorious
standard.
God's glorious standard.
And we all know this.
We all know this.
In our Declaration of Independence, we wrote, for all men are created equal.
And then we violated that sacred statement by enslaving some men.
You see, even when we get the slogan right, we fall short.
We fall short.
You can get it right on paper and miss the fact that you've got it wrong in your heart.
For we all fall short of his glorious standard.
Yet God why was John so excited to see Jesus?
Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight.
How does he do this?
He did it through Christ Jesus, when he freed us from the penalty of our sins.
You see, one day you're going to stand before God and you're going to face the penalty for
everything you did.
For everything you did.
You're going to be accountable for what you did and what you thought of.
Oh, man, can you imagine, guys, if your wife could hold you accountable for your thoughts?
Like, just set me on fire right now.
The scariest thing ever is when my wife says, what are you thinking?
You don't want to know.
I don't want to know.
And we're all going to stand before God.
Who knows us?
Who knows what we did?
Who knows what we didn't do?
Who knows what we should have done?
Wow.
And let me just say this for everybody who has a problem with this man, I don't meet my
own standards.
Anybody ever feel like you should be a better husband?
You should be a better mom, you should be a better son, a better daughter?
That's your standard, and you fall short of yours.
Now, let's talk about God's.
For God presented Jesus as a sacrifice for sin.
You see, here's what every religion misses.
How are you ever going to be good enough for God?
You see, if you're a Muslim, you just got to try.
You just got to try.
You got to work hard.
If you're a Hindu, you just got to hope.
Maybe if you're a Buddhist, you pray really, really regularly.
You detach yourself hoping you can experience nirvana in some way.
But for us, as Christians, we don't have to be perfect, because we know who was.
We know who was.
People are made right with God not because of what you've done, because of what you think,
because of what you believe.
People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life for what
you for you.
And why are we so afraid to tell the world about this?
Why Jesus set us free by shedding his blood?
I want you to listen to me.
Jesus, in his best moment, died to save you from your worst moments.
If you're honest with yourself at all.
Let that sink in.
In his best moment on the cross, he died for you.
In your worst moment, your private life, the life that no one sees.
Tammy and I were out to dinner, and can I just say this?
If you know me, can you just acknowledge that so you're not just watching me in secret?
And I was looking at our waitress, and I was like, Man, I feel like babe, I feel like I
know her.
I feel like I know her.
And I said, Do I know you?
And she goes, no.
So the waitress said no.
She goes, But I do go to your church, and we work out at the same gym.
But she was right.
I don't know her, and she doesn't know me.
She watches me, but she knows me.
And I was like, You've been watching the whole time?
Thank God I got a soda water.
Amen.
God is good.
God is good.
But, you know, so many people today, they believe a false gospel.
Here's the falsest a gospel can be.
Well, I just believe in being a good person.
Don't you think Jesus wishes we could have just been good people?
Lord, they're trying.
Wait.
What if we just help them be better?
Here's what the prophet Jeremiah said about trying to be a good person.
This is what the Lord says.
Cursed are those who put their trust in humans, who rely on human strength.
What happens when you try to be a good person?
Listen to what Jeremiah says.
They turn their hearts away from the Lord.
When you say I'm good enough, you're saying Jesus wasn't.
You're saying Jesus wasn't.
You see, this is a false gospel everywhere.
Everybody just believes.
Well, if I'm just a good person, you'll what, earn eternal life?
What makes you so special that God's like, yeah, you get eternity.
You get eternity.
Most of you are blessed to have the years.
You have, much less forever.
You see, we all fall short.
We all need Jesus.
So I got to know who Jesus is.
I got to know why he came.
Does anybody feel like the world's broken?
Does anybody feel like it's getting worse?
Man, fast.
I mean, I thought the 80s were wild.
I wish my kids could live in the 80s because it was way better than now.
Way better, way less crazy to share about Jesus.
Listen to this.
I must be able to share what Jesus has done for me.
Maybe the reason you don't share Jesus is you forgot what he did for you.
This is all the testimony, is it's not a bunch of memorized scriptures.
You don't have to have a degree in theology.
You just need to be able to say what Jesus did for you.
There's this guy in the Bible.
He didn't even see Jesus when he got saved.
He's blind.
He's blind.
He never met him.
And he's getting literally interrogated put down, going to be kicked out of his community
because they want to know, who was this that allowed you to see?
And so they called him a second time.
In John, chapter nine, verses 24 and 25, they called in the man who had been blind and
told him, told him, God should get glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a
sinner.
This is what the blind man says.
I don't know whether he's a sinner or not, but I know this.
I was blind, but now I see.
That's a testimony.
That's a testimony.
How has Jesus changed you?
What did he save you from?
To build a testimony, you have to answer this question why are you a Christian?
And because my parents were.
It's not an answer.
It's not an answer.
Why are you a Christian?
How about this?
Why do you go to church?
You're just bored on Sundays.
You're like, there's nothing going on.
I hate the NFL.
Why do you go to church?
You see, maybe the reason your friends don't come to Sandals is you haven't articulated
why you need Sandals.
What has Jesus done for you?
What has he done for you?
That's all it is.
It's a testimony.
All I know is I was blind, and now I see.
There's a woman at a well, and she says this, come and meet the man who told me everything
I ever did.
She doesn't even know who he is.
She thinks maybe he's the Christ, but she's not sure.
And what happens?
Her whole town gets saved.
So why are you a Christian?
What has Jesus done for you?
Why do you go to church?
This is how you build a testimony.
This is how you build a story.
Because here's the thing.
Listen to me.
The world no longer believes in the Bible.
But if they know you, they might believe you.
And for hundreds of years, the church had no Bible.
Paper was precious.
Scrolls were limited.
Many pastors and priests were illiterate.
You know what we had?
We had a testimony.
I was blind, but now I see.
I just want you to look at the world.
Do they look like they see?
The world is confused about very, very simple things.
The world doesn't even know what gender is anymore.
That's how lost the world is.
And that's not to put anybody down that's struggling with gender dysphoria.
Jesus loves you.
This church loves you.
But you deserve the truth, because Jesus said, the truth is what sets us free, not
indulging people in lies that buries people to share.
Jesus number four, listen to this.
I must lovingly share what I believe Jesus can do for others.
Can I just say this?
If you're trying to win arguments on Facebook, on social media, around the coffee pot,
then you are not winning souls.
Look, when my wife and I in our marriage and we love each other, when we're trying to win
an argument we both lose.
We both lose.
I want you to remember what's at stake.
You're trying to win a soul.
You're trying to win a soul.
I know many of your friends.
They go to good churches, and there are great churches out there.
Fantastic churches, got better facilities than we have.
They've been a church longer than we have.
They're more established than Sandals is.
I want you to understand what Sandals Church is all about.
I went and met with a dean of spiritual life last week at a local Christian college, and
he said, Tell me about your church.
Tell me about your church.
What kind of students should I send to Sandals?
And I want you to listen to what I said.
I said, you got a lot of Christians on your campus.
He said, yeah, we do.
I said, I don't want any of them.
I know he did the same thing that you just did.
I said, Sandals is not built for Christian kids.
We're a mission oriented church.
I want you to give me the kids that have screwed up.
And here's the thing.
They think there might be a God who can help them.
I said, you send me that kid.
You send me that kid.
And let me tell you, this is why your friends, I just don't get Sandals when I try to
reach them.
Jesus did not come to save the church.
He came to save the lost.
And the church has forgotten that some of you are judging the lost rather than trying to
reach the lost.
When I started Sandal's church, this verse haunted me.
Haunted me, would not let me go.
Colossians four, five, and six, live wisely among those who are not believers.
Make the most of every opportunity.
Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response
for everyone.
A couple of weeks ago, I was preaching in church, and there's a couple, they've attended
Sandals for a long time, and they're concerned about me, worried I've gone mini woke.
Look, I'm barely awake.
Amen okay?
I'm barely awake, and they're just sitting there frowning at me while I'm preaching.
And right in front of them is a gay couple, and they've come to church.
Why?
I don't know.
We can't be any more clear about what we believe about sexuality.
I've been abundantly clear.
I've been clear for 27 years.
I've lost friends and family members because I'm so clear.
But I want you to understand.
I'm trying to preach a sermon that ministers and feeds to an old grumpy, cult couple and
to a gay couple that's come to church.
And here's what I want you to understand when I'm preaching, I believe that people should
be able to meet Jesus before they reject Him.
I just want that to sink in.
Don't you think the world should have the opportunity to meet the savior of the world
before they reject Him?
But sometimes, because of the way we preach and the way we've gathered and how political
we are, people say no to us, and they never get to meet him.
I see all these young athletes, man.
Dion Sanders Sons.
He wears a jersey.
It says him on it.
Let me tell you something.
Sanders Yang him.
Jesus is him.
Jesus is that guy.
Jesus is that guy.
And what we got to do as a church is we got to do whatever we can to get people to meet
him.
Him.
He's that guy.
And sometimes what that means is we're a little uncomfortable.
I always think about the church that met at the home where somebody cut a hole in the
roof.
Would that make any of you uncomfortable?
If in small group, somebody just, hey, we want to be a part of this.
We're going to drop a GoPro down from your ceiling so we can broadcast this.
I'm guessing 99% of you would be sure that was the devil.
Amen.
The devil.
He's doing it again.
You see, the church grows when Christians are willing to be uncomfortable.
Can I just tell you, if you're a Christian and your soul is saved, I'm not trying to reach
you.
I'm trying to equip you.
I'm trying to reach the lost.
The son of man came to seek and save that which was lost.
Lost.
Last week, I was in the lobby at Sandals Hunter Park, and a woman came up to me, and I
didn't understand the conversation.
I got all the details wrong, except she knew a 20 year old young woman who's dying of
cancer.
Let me just tell you, I told my wife this.
We've been through a lot of stuff.
Our kids are not easy.
We've never had to deal with that.
And she said, Would you be willing to go and pray with her?
Sure.
I drove about an hour away because I committed before I knew how far it was.
We got there, knocked on the door.
One of our pastors was already there because he was on time.
I was late.
And here's this mom who's got a daughter that's 20 years old dying of cancer, and this
woman lets two grown men in her house that she does not know.
You see, that's what desperate people do.
She let two grown men come in, and we sat down and we prayed with a 20 year old girl who
has an aggressive form of spinal cancer.
You want to know what her name was?
Grace.
She doesn't go to church.
Hasn't been in church.
I said, did you know your name is in almost every letter the Apostle Paul writes in the
Christian Bible?
She didn't know what her name meant.
And I said, here's the thing.
I said, I don't know what God will do.
I said, But I know what Jesus can do.
I said, Would you let me pray over you?
And she said, sure.
And right there in her downstairs.
Bedroom.
Everything about her life has changed.
She used to live in the upstairs.
Now she lives in the downstairs because she can't walk.
She's paralyzed.
I prayed for her.
But you know what I prayed?
I didn't just pray for healing.
I prayed for revealing.
I said, Lord, I want Grace to know who you are I want her to know who you are, because I
know what you can do.
And I know my prayer and my touch and my power can do nothing.
But I know your prayer, your power, and your touch can do everything.
Amen.
And then she told me.
She said, I don't go to church.
I said you can.
She said, I'm paralyzed.
I said, we have church for free online.
I said, Is that a smart TV, right?
She said yes.
I said, you can watch right there.
It's all for free.
It's all for free.
Listen, I know many of your friends.
I don't know why they got to watch it on a screen.
I don't care how people hear.
I don't care how people watch.
I want people to be saved.
That's what I want.
And let me tell you something.
Part of the reason we do what we do is so that we can reach people who are never going to
walk into a church.
And by the way, did I mention she can't walk?
She can't walk.
She can't get here.
But God sent someone here and sent me to her because he cares about her.
He loves her, and he sent His Son to die on the cross for her.
Listen, Sandals, I know I'm not as political as many of you want me to be.
I'm not trying to win arguments.
I'm trying to win people.
I'm trying to win people.
One corinthians 922.
This is another just huge verse for us at Sandals Church.
The Apostle Paul says this to the church at Corinth to the weak.
I became weak to win the weak.
He said, I have become all things to all people that by some possible means, I might save
some.
Listen to me, Sandals.
We can't save everybody, but we can save somebody.
We can save somebody.
And instead of getting discouraged about how the world's gone crazy, let's start looking
for that person that God's calling you to share the Gospel with in order to share Jesus.
And this is the thing that most seminary students miss.
I ask seminary students this all the time.
If you don't know what seminary is, it's cemetery for Christians.
It's where you go to kill your faith.
But here's what I tell them.
What's the most important thing to be an effective pastor?
And they all answer the same thing love God.
Oh, that's good.
What does the great Commandment say?
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and listen to Jesus.
And the second is equally important.
You must love your neighbor.
If I'm going to share about Jesus.
Listen to me.
I got to love people.
I love people.
Many churches, great churches.
You know what they love?
They love God and their tradition.
I will break every tradition we have to reach your neighbor for Christ.
I don't care about your traditions.
Life is too short.
We have one life to win the lost, and we have all eternity to celebrate those salvations
for Christ.
We got one chance, and here's what the world thinks.
The world thinks that the church is here to judge them.
No.
What did Jesus say?
What does the gospel say?
John 316 for God so loved the world, not that he hated the world.
Yeah, this world.
This world he loves it that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish, but have eternal life.
But that's not it.
That's only John 316.
Some of you have never heard 17.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save the world through
Him.
Come on, man.
This last week, we celebrated my mom's 77th birthday, and she's in here.
I'm not going to look at her right now.
She's in here.
My mom does this, and I don't know that she knows she does this, but she says this to me.
She says, I love you.
And she says it's so cute, and she says it's so sweet.
And I'm so thankful that I was blessed to be raised in a home where I knew I was loved.
Most of your neighbors were not raised in that home.
Most of those people at your job, at your work that drive you crazy, they never had a
parent that said, I love you.
The world is broken.
It cannot be repaired, but it can be healed by Jesus.
And I just want to say to anybody that's visiting our church today as a guest, we don't
get things right.
Maybe we didn't greet you when you came in.
I'm sorry, man.
I don't know.
Maybe somebody flipped you off when you were trying to park.
I mean, sandals?
Who knows?
I just hope it wasn't a pastor.
Amen.
That's what I hope.
Maybe you didn't know where to sit, and I know it's dark.
We're trying to figure that out.
That's why we're asking for more money, so we can turn the lights on brighter.
But I shared this with the young adults when I spoke to them a couple of weeks ago.
I'm so sorry that Christians do not behave like Jesus loves you, but I want you to hear it
right now.
And as I prepared this message, I just believe that there's somebody that needs to hear
this.
God loves you.
You may not have had a mom or a dad on earth that said that, but you have a Father in
heaven who's saying that right now.
And he didn't just talk about love.
He actually did something about love.
And I want to say this to you.
No matter who you are or what you've done, you have a Father in heaven who loves you.
And Sandals, we need to live like that's.
True.
So in order to share about Jesus, listen to this.
I must listen to people.
You want to know why our churches aren't growing?
And I don't mean the Sandals churches, because all of our camps are.
I mean the church.
You want to know we're not growing.
We're not listening to people there's.
All these churches say, oh, you should teach the Bible verse from verse.
Show me where Jesus does that.
Show me the sermon.
When Jesus says turn to Leviticus.
Chapter Two no.
He saw hungry people.
He fed them.
He saw confused people.
He gave them clarity.
He preached to the people's needs.
The Pharisees and Sadducees had their noses in the Bible, and they never saw the people.
James, the half brother of Jesus, and I always love quoting him, because can you imagine
what it would have been like to live with Jesus?
You talk about some pressure.
What are you going to be James, when you grow up?
Not like him.
I'm going to do my best.
But can you imagine the one time you think you got him as James because Jesus wandered
off?
Where is he?
In the temple teaching mom.
So I guess he's not getting a no no, James.
No.
He was doing his father's work.
Okay, listen to what he says.
My dear brothers and sisters.
See, he knows what it's like to be a brother.
My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this.
Everyone should be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to become angry.
My worst moments as your pastor have been when I've gotten angry.
My worst moments.
We're not here to win arguments.
We're here to listen to people.
We're here to listen.
Number seven I must share Jesus.
I must do it despite my fears.
Anybody afraid.
Oh, but they'll reject you.
That's a problem.
That's a problem.
The Apostle Paul shared the same concern that you have.
So listen to what he said.
He said, Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, my words may be given to me so that I
will fearlessly make known the mystery of the Gospel.
We all need prayer.
We all need to be convicted to share our faith.
But I know it's scary.
I know it's scary.
I know it's frightening to put yourself out there.
You're afraid you're going to say it wrong.
You're going to say you're going to get it wrong.
Here's the thing.
You and I, we don't save anybody.
Jesus saves.
We're only responsible to share.
So we're going to end today with two calls for action.
The first call in just a second.
As I'm wondering, if somebody came into church, wouldn't it be interesting if somebody got
saved on a weekend at Sandals Church, where we're supposed to be?
We're supposed to be sharing the Gospel.
Like this message was primarily for believers.
Wouldn't that be amazing if the Holy Spirit was working in somebody's life this weekend
and God was speaking to them and they came to church for the first time and they heard
they're separated from God because of their sin?
But there's a way.
There's a way to make that right.
And there's a way because God loves them, and he sent his only son to die for them on the
cross.
And all they have to do to be saved and be made right with God is confess their faith in
Christ.
It's pretty simple.
So the first call, is there anybody at any of our campuses or even online that wants to be
saved?
You know you're far from God, and you know you need to be saved.
So I'm just going to ask you to stand right now, wherever you are, at whatever campus you
are, if you feel like you're apart from God and you're not right with God, let me tell you
something.
Jesus can fix that right here, right now.
All you have to do is stand.
All you have to do is stand.
Is there anybody that needs to get right with Jesus today?
You know what?
I'm going to guess?
I'm going to guess that at some of your campuses, somebody stood.
And so let's just give those people a hand.
That stood.
Praise God for them.
Amen.
And here's the thing.
If you're watching online, would you just type in I'm standing?
Because we can't see you.
Just type in I'm standing, and somebody will reach out to you.
Here's the second challenge.
I'm going to challenge every person that's a Christian in here to stand if they need to
confess to God right now that they've not been sharing their faith as they should.
If that's you and you're a Christian and you've not been sharing your faith the way you
should, would you please stand right now in this audience at your campus?
If you're sharing your faith, feel free to sit.
But if you're not and I want you to know what's at stake.
The salvation of the world is at stake.
Tammy and I, we go to a gym.
I don't think there are Christians there.
If they are, they're grossly underdressed.
But I tell my wife all the time, the reason I want to go to that gym is because I know
there's people that are lost there.
And just this week, somebody came up to me that I had the pleasure of leading to Christ.
His name is Matt.
A lot of matt's need.
Jesus.
So you know what he said to me this week at the gym?
He said, hey, I don't mean to bother you.
He said, but would you baptize me?
He said that in the gym?
Said, of course.
And this is what he said.
I'm so thankful for the role you've played in helping me get saved.
I want you to hear that.
I want you to help baptize somebody that you helped get saved.
Amen.
So let's pray together.
Heavenly Father, I just pray in the name of Jesus that we'd all be convicted.
Gosh.
Even our staff.
We're professional christians.
We work at a church, and we don't share the gospel.
God help us to share.
God give us that person this week, that person of peace that you're already working in,
that you're already moving in, Lord, that needs you.
Lord, help us to share the gospel with that person.
And for Lord, if there's anybody who stood to receive Christ, let them automatically start
as a share of the gospel.
Let them tell somebody of what Jesus did for them today.
We pray this in Jesus name.
Amen.