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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
This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Pastor Matt Brown:At some point in time in your life, a Christian friend, somebody you know, somebody you love, man, they're gonna be Pentecostal and they're gonna ask you this question. Have you ever been baptized in the spirit? And for a lot of us, we're like, I think so. I don't know. And for some of us, we're like, I don't even know what the Holy Spirit is today.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we're gonna be talking about him for the next couple of weeks at our church. But I gave my life to Christ at Harvest Christian Fellowship and it was a powerful experience. It was life changing for me, but I was hanging out with some of my Pentecostal friends and they were like, did you receive the baptism of the spirit? And I was like, no, I don't even know what that is. So they invited me to a special service at a Pentecostal Church on a Tuesday night, warning, warning, you need to be ready for one of those.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was not. I grew up Baptist. I had no idea what I was in for, but you know what? I wanted all of God you know, that God has for me. Anybody else?
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, if there's something that God has for me, I want it. And so I went to this service, a little Baptist kid, you know, not knowing what to expect on a Tuesday night, and it was everything you think. Wild, crazy, insane. People were being slain in the spirit. And if you don't know what that is, it's where they touch their foreheads and they pass out.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like like, if that happens at Sandals, I'm calling 911. Amen? Like, if you pass out, you're going to the hospital, but at a Pentecostal church, the spirit moved. So it was crazy. And so what they said is, if you've never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, come forward.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so I reluctantly did, I was scared to death, but I'd already told all my friends I'm gonna do this. And so I went forward and people are dropping everywhere. And if you're a woman, they put a courtesy blanket over the top of you because, you know, things stick out if you're wearing a dress. So but if you're a dude, we just watch everything. So I'm up there and and people are dropping everywhere.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I go up there with my friends, they get slain in the spirit. And wouldn't you know, everyone receives a spirit except one guy. This guy. I'm the last guy standing on stage and I'm like, God, what is your problem? Lord, slay me in the spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I gotta tell you, I was so pressured. I was about ready to fake it, which some people do. I was about ready to just be like, woo, you know, take a header for Jesus. And then all of a sudden they brought out the big dog, the senior pastor of this church. And they're like, this guy is a real sinner.
Pastor Matt Brown:He needs double spirit. And so he comes over to me and he puts his hand on my forehead and he says these words. I kid you not. Holy Spirit, set this young man's balls on fire. He says that, I open my eyes.
Pastor Matt Brown:We lock eyes. I don't want any of this. And I run out of the church literally in front of all my friends jumping over bodies, getting my Heisman. I am out of there. And I was like, what on earth is that?
Pastor Matt Brown:The church is weird enough. We don't want that. And so here's what's funny. Twenty years later, I became friends with that pastor. And he told me, he said, that is not what I said.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, I said Holy Spirit set him on fire from the balls of his feet to the top of his head. And I was like, that makes more sense. Amen. That Okay. So here's what I wanna say.
Pastor Matt Brown:Sometimes in church, we don't hear what was said. Can I get an amen? And we react to what we think was said and we run out. So let me encourage you. Hang in there and let's walk through this together so that we can all receive all of the spirit that we need.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I want you to know Sandals is not a Pentecostal church, that is not who we are. I have Pentecostal friends, I love them, I pray for them. I have Bible church friends that desperately need the spirit. And my Pentecostal friends need some Bible. Can I get a amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:Like we wanna be who God's called us to be. And so I wanna talk to you today about what I believe these charismatic gifts are and how to receive them and understand them when the spirit is speaking. So today I wanna talk about learning to echo. Do you know what an echo is? An echo is right, you speak in a cave, it goes out and it what?
Pastor Matt Brown:It comes back. The gifts we're talking about today are you hearing God and echoing back what God has said. It doesn't need to be manipulated, it doesn't need to be coerced, it doesn't need to be practiced. And here's why, here's what I wish I would have known as a young Christian. Let's take a look at one Corinthians twelve thirteen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay, so if you're wondering why doesn't Sandals Church believe in a secondary baptism in the Holy Spirit? It was a one time event that happened in the book of Acts to those in Jerusalem, those in Judea, and those in Samaria and the ends of the earth. And here's what God is saying, Everybody gets all of me. It doesn't matter what your race is. It doesn't matter what your religion is.
Pastor Matt Brown:God's spirit is is pouring out on all people and he confirms what Jesus said in Acts one:eight. So when we open our Bibles to what Paul says, it seems to be very different. And this is why church is split. The book of Acts, if you just had that, you would say, Oh, I need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. If you read the letters that Paul writes, he always assumes, listen to me, that every believer already has the spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this is why there's tension. This is why there's disagreement. So I'm gonna try to help you understand why what we believe today. And it's so important that I actually wrote a position paper. I never thought I would do this, but I thought you need to see in writing what it is that I've worked through over thirty years, loving my Pentecostal friends, loving my Bible centered church friends, and saying, God, who do you want us to be as a church at Sandals?
Pastor Matt Brown:So you can read that, you can download it on the app. And if you're an old person like my mom, I love you, it's her birthday today. Happy birthday, listen, you can print it. Prove Doesn't that I love you? Okay, you can print it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so we're gonna have that for you. It's about 12 pages. I'm not exactly sure where it finished, but I wanted just a small thing for you to read through, pray through, and ask the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, is this who you are? Is this what I'm supposed to be about?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because I'm not the final authority on the Holy Spirit. If you have questions about him, so do I. We're all growing, we're all learning. So let's take a look at one Corinthians twelve thirteen. But we all have been, now if you remember English class, is that present tense, past tense or future tense?
Pastor Matt Brown:Public school people, past tense, past tense. So it's not you all will be baptized. He says, but we all have been baptized into the body by one spirit and we all share the same spirit. There are not varsity Christians and JV Christians. We are all Christians and we all have the spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now let me say this, you may experience him uniquely and differently than I do and that's okay. You're a unique individual and so am I. So here's what I want you to know today. I can only echo the Holy Spirit, listen to me, when I listen for his voice. The Holy Spirit is speaking every time we sing, every time we pray, every time we gather, the Holy Spirit of God is speaking and what we wanna do to become dynamic Christians is learn to echo back what God is saying.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not what we wanna say, it's not what we think, It's not what we feel. It's not about emotions. It's about echoing what God is saying. And let me just ask you, do the people need to hear what you think or what God thinks? And if you don't know, it's what God thinks.
Pastor Matt Brown:We got enough people and their opinions on social media. So let's take a look at Revelation two:seven. Jesus is speaking to the churches. Anyone with ears to hear. Now, if you have ear, touch it.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's you. Anyone with ears to hear. And if you don't have ears, it's still you, okay? Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying to the who? The So when we're gathered together, the Holy Spirit is speaking.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's what I want you to know. Jesus says this over and over and over and over again in the book of Revelations. Not once, not twice, multiple times, Jesus says, Anyone with ears, listen to what the Holy Spirit is saying. Why would Jesus need to say this more than once? Because we don't listen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Anybody have children at home? Okay, God has children in the church and they don't listen either. So he's saying, listen, the author of Hebrews says it this way. That is why the Holy Spirit says, so the Holy Spirit speaks actively, not just in the past today. That is why the Holy Spirit says today, what day?
Pastor Matt Brown:Today, when you hear his voice, remember he's a person. Don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled. And so that's my prayer for you today, is that if the Holy Spirit speaks to you, you would echo back what he is saying. Not what you want him to say, not what you need him to say, but this is what the church needs. The church needs the spirit to speak and the church needs to listen and echo this back.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, if you go back to last week, Acts chapter two, baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit falls, they speak in tongues. Now their tongues were languages that people understood. We're gonna talk about a different kind of tongues today. But I want you to remember just two chapters ago, there was a baptism of the Holy Spirit. Let's look at Acts four thirty one.
Pastor Matt Brown:So these same believers are to gather together. These same people that were baptized in the Holy Acts four thirty one, after this prayer, the meeting place shook. Okay. In California, we call that an earthquake. In the Bible, that's called the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? So after this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the spirit. Here's what I want you to see. Even people who were baptized in Acts chapter two with the Holy Spirit needed a filling. And that's why you need to come to church every week.
Pastor Matt Brown:We need to be filled by God's word. We need to be filled by God's worship. We need to be filled by God's spirit each and every week. How many of you guys have ever eaten a meal and you were full? Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:And then the next day what happened? You were starving, right? You were starving. The same thing should be happening to you if you are an active Christian and you were in the right place with God. Sunday can't come quick enough or Saturday night can't come quick enough because you're starving to be full of whatever the Holy Spirit has prepared for you that week.
Pastor Matt Brown:So here's the difference, Acts chapter two, they spoke in tongues. Acts chapter four, then they preached the word of God with boldness. So the Holy Spirit is always active in communication. That's really what he does. He helps us communicate with God and for God.
Pastor Matt Brown:So here's what I want you to know. The Holy Spirit can speak words of wisdom to me that I share with others. How many of you have a family member, a friend, man, a spouse, somebody at work that they are making a catastrophically stupid decision? Don't look at them right now, but just be like, yeah, I've heard of people like this and then just Holy Spirit, like right there. But we all have friends that need wisdom.
Pastor Matt Brown:Has anybody noticed common sense is no longer common? We should start calling it uncommon sense. People are getting dumber even though there's more information. People need words of knowledge from God. One Corinthians fourteen:one, the Apostle Paul says, Let love be your highest goal.
Pastor Matt Brown:What should be your highest goal? Love. If you didn't know that, it's love. If we're not loving, we're not full of the Spirit. He says this, But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Holy Spirit wants to give each and every one of you a gift. I was terrified of public speaking. Absolutely terrified. Failed it in junior college. Do you know how hard it is to fail a class in junior college?
Pastor Matt Brown:And it's not like I didn't show up and try. Can I get an amen? But when God called me to preach, he gave me an ability to speak and preach for him. So the Bible says that we should all seek these gifts. We should pray for these gifts, but he says, especially the ability to prophesy.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. Okay? And the ability to prophesy, which pastor Fredo's gonna talk more about in detail in a couple weeks, is the ability to speak for God. This is a delicate thing and a careful thing that we need to do. But it's something we all need.
Pastor Matt Brown:How many of you guys when you come to church, you wanna hear a word from God? Can I get an amen? Okay, half of you. The rest of you, you need to hear a word from God. You don't need to hear my thoughts, you need to hear his thoughts.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the thing that's amazing. Sometimes when I'm preaching, like if you guys saw my notes, there's not a lot there. And this is why I don't teach people how to preach because I'm not exactly sure how to do it. Do you know why? Because the Holy Spirit taught me.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't understand why I do what I do. So I show up here, I got a bunch of verses and I just start talking and at some point I hear God speak at the same time you hear God speak. It's a weird thing. There are sometimes in my sermons where I'm like, yeah, I should probably do that. Same thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:So here's what I wanna know. Here's why you need prophecy in your life. Man, anybody raising a kid raise your hand for raising a kid, okay? Your kids need you to speak prophetically over them. Here's what young people are wrestling with, identity.
Pastor Matt Brown:Who am I? You speak prophetically over him. This is who you are. This is what God wants you to do. And you speak words of wisdom, words of a powerful and useful and meaningful future, and you gotta speak that over them, but you gotta hear it from God.
Pastor Matt Brown:You can't make it up. You gotta speak it over them. I remember the first sermon I ever preached. It was terrible. I preached on the book of James, one sermon, the whole book of James.
Pastor Matt Brown:I had no point, many chapters, no point. And our piano player came up to me and you know what he did? He spoke a word over me. He said, There are great things in store for you. You're going to preach to thousands.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was scared to death to preach in front of 50 people. And he said, Thousands. But he said, Don't give up, God is with you. It was one of the most powerful moments of my life. And we need to do this for young people.
Pastor Matt Brown:God is with you. He's gonna move in you. And we need to speak prophetically over them. And this is so important because they don't know what they're gonna do, but God knows why he made them and what he made them for. One Corinthians fourteen:three, But one who prophesies strengthens others, encourages them and comforts them.
Pastor Matt Brown:Why do we need to do this in the church? To encourage, to strengthen and to comfort. We need to speak that. So what does that look like? Somebody's in the church and they say, I feel like God's abandoned me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Would God ever abandon you? There's a Bible verse that says he won't. Even if heaven and earth passes away, God will never abandon you. So we can speak prophetically and we can say, God will never abandon you. He's close to you right now.
Pastor Matt Brown:I've said this over and over again when I'm meeting the sick and praying with the poor in spirit and they say, I feel like God has abandoned me. You know what I say every time? He has not, he sent me. He sent me. And I say that every single time, God has not abandoned you, God has not forsaken you.
Pastor Matt Brown:He is right here right now and he sent me to remind you of that truth. First Corinthians twelve:eight, To one person the spirit gives the ability to get wise advice. Okay, you want people with supernatural advice in your life. And to another, I love this, the same spirit gives a message of special knowledge. So I want you to think about this, all these gifts, prophecy, preaching, tongues, words of knowledge.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is God speaking to us. We don't know this. We can't do this. God speaks to us and we echo it back. So years ago, Vivi, formerly Diaz, now Buzanski, and I were in a meeting with a young lady in our church.
Pastor Matt Brown:And if you don't know her last name, you need to be able to speak in tongues to say it. Can I get an amen? Buzanski. But we were meeting with this young lady. And the reason Vivi got dragged into this is because I don't meet with young women alone.
Pastor Matt Brown:I just don't do that. I don't think it's safe or wise for our church. And so I invited Vivi into this. Neither of us knew her at all. And she came in and she's like a lot of young people struggling with their identity, struggling with their self worth, believing there was nothing of value in her life and wondering if ending it was a possibility.
Pastor Matt Brown:So this is a nine eleven prayer moment. Can I get an Amen? Like we need to speak truth into her. And the whole time while she's sharing, I don't know her at all. I hear these words over and over and over again, cutting, cutting, cutting.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I can't cut it off. These aren't coming for me. These aren't my thoughts. God is saying the word cutting. So here's what I said.
Pastor Matt Brown:I feel like God's telling me, you cut yourself. I don't know this at all. There's no evidence of this at all. And she starts bawling. Remember this moment, Vivi, you and I were in there.
Pastor Matt Brown:And guess what? She had been cutting herself. That was from the Lord. All I did was echo back what he was saying to me. Every single one of you has had this experience.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Lord has spoken to you and most of you never act on it. You talk yourself out of it. You say that can't be God. That's just a weird feeling. And here's what you say.
Pastor Matt Brown:Did you hear what I said? I didn't say God is saying. I said, I feel like God is saying. That's one of the reasons Paul says to test what the spirits say, because not all spirits are the Holy Spirit. Demons talk too.
Pastor Matt Brown:So we gotta be careful, but we've got to learn to speak what the Holy Spirit is saying. Acts two seventeen, In the last days, God said, I will pour out my spirit upon some people. What does it say? All people, that includes you, that includes me. We don't have varsity Christians who get the spirit and JV Christians who pray for the spirit their whole life, that's abusive and it's terrible.
Pastor Matt Brown:And by the way, speaking in tongues is not evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. The Bible says the fruit of the spirit is evidence of the spirit in your life. You may get tongues, you may not, but all of us get the Holy Spirit. He says, Your sons and your daughters will prophecy. It's one of the reasons we allow women to speak at our church.
Pastor Matt Brown:In the last days, God says women will speak. And it's important that we allow them to do that. Right? We don't just wanna hear from the dudes. We wanna hear from God.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? He says your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. Ain't that cool? So if you're young, God's got a lot in store for you. If you're old, God's not done with you.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I'll talk more about this on the debrief. But here's what I want you to do. Read the position paper. It's not that long and come on, it's not that complicated. I wrote it.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I tried to write it in such a way that I could really help you why I came to this understanding. I'm not saying charismatics are wrong. I'm not saying Bible teachers are right or Bible church is right. I'm saying we wanna be full of the spirit. But here's what I believe.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not about us getting more of the Holy Spirit. Listen to this. It's about us giving more of ourselves to the spirit. It's not him holding out on us. It's us holding out on him.
Pastor Matt Brown:Next, the Holy Spirit can help me pray. Man, I've got a gal in my small group, my community group for years, and she's afraid to pray in public. Now part of that is because she signed up for a small group with the pastor in her small group. But you know, I've encouraged her over and over again. And many of you are scared to death to pray.
Pastor Matt Brown:You need to understand this. The Holy Spirit will help you pray. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. And you're like, how do I do that? You say this, Holy Spirit, help me pray.
Pastor Matt Brown:Romans eight twenty six, And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. Man, for example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. Now here's what I would encourage you to do. How many of you guys, you know, somebody saying in your community group, I don't know if I should get married. Don't know if I should take this job.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't know if God's gonna heal me. And they throw that out. Here's what we do as Christians. We're gonna pray about that. Before you do that, do this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Holy Spirit, is there something you wanna tell us? You just stop and ask the Holy Spirit to speak. And then you go around the room and you say, did the Holy Spirit tell anyone anything? That's it. It doesn't have to be weird.
Pastor Matt Brown:It doesn't have to be, cut the chicken's head off and we run around with flags. We just go, Holy Spirit, did you say something? And here's the thing, listen to me. Sometimes the Holy Spirit speaks and sometimes he doesn't. So what's the answer if he doesn't speak?
Pastor Matt Brown:We need to pray more. But sometimes he speaks, he speaks. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed with words. So now I'm gonna talk about praying in tongues. Many, many people have this gift.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want you to know, I do not have this gift. When I was younger, I had a lot of shame. I had a lot of guilt. I didn't understand why God gave this gift to other people because my charismatic friends said it was for everybody and it was the evidence of the Holy Spirit in their life. And if I didn't have it, I wasn't baptized.
Pastor Matt Brown:I think that does damage. That does real damage and it leads to two things. People feeling like they're not really saved. And let me say this, people faking it. Tongues is one of the easiest gifts to fake.
Pastor Matt Brown:Because if you're just going, how do I know? How do I know whether that's real or not? Listen to me, it is a real gift. And the Bible says, Do not forbid it. We do not forbid it at Sandals Church, but listen to me, we don't force it.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's a gift, it's not the most important gift. One Corinthians fourteen fourteen, For if I pray in tongues, my spirit is praying, but I don't understand what I'm saying. So again, here's how I understand the gift. I don't have it, but my friends that I do believe actually have it and don't fake it, here's how they've described it to me. They hear words that they don't understand when they're praying.
Pastor Matt Brown:And these words keep appearing. And so if that's happening to you, listen, say them back. Speak them back to God. God is speaking to you in a way that you do not understand, say it back. The point is not that you understand, the point is that you echo what God is saying.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now here's the thing, why don't I believe that everybody should speak in tongues? Well, go to the Bible, remember that? One Corinthians, right? Twelve thirty, Do we all have the ability to speak in unknown languages? Do we?
Pastor Matt Brown:Do we all have the ability to interpret unknown languages? What does it say? Of course not. Not everybody has the gift of preach. Not everybody has the gift of giving.
Pastor Matt Brown:Not everybody has the gift of service. Not everybody has the same gift. We are a body of Christ. I don't have 72 toes, amen? I have many do I have?
Pastor Matt Brown:There we go, 10. I had to think, I had do the math. And any more than that would be a little odd, unless of course you have more than that, love you and we're glad you're at Sandals Church. But in charismatic circles when everybody has the same gift and that becomes the most important thing, guess what happens? They neglect the other gifts.
Pastor Matt Brown:One Corinthians 14 eighteen-nineteen, I thank God that I speak in tongues more than any of you. So why don't we speak in tongues in Sandals Church? Verse 19. But in a church meeting, that's what we're in right now, I would rather speak five understandable words to help others, Listen to this, than 10,000 words in an unknown language. You see the purpose of language is to understand.
Pastor Matt Brown:Years ago, we had one of my Pentecostal friends come preach at Sandals Church. And I told him, I was like, we do not speak in tongues in our service. I said, please don't do that. Like you do whatever you want at your church, amen, your house, go nuts. This is our house, please don't do that.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he did so good until the last service. In the last service, I could feel it, you know, when the charismatic is getting the happy feet, I'm like, I'm like, oh no, Lord, here we go, here we go. And I I just I know him and I love him and he just let it rip, you know. I bought a Honda, which you know at Sandals we drive Toyotas. You know, that's a joke that I use against my charismatic friends.
Pastor Matt Brown:But it was like an episode of Harry Potter. We have this guy on the stage praying in the spirit and I'm in the back like praying against him. I'm like I'm like, Holy Spirit, shut him up. You know? And I was really frustrated with him and here's why.
Pastor Matt Brown:Sandals reaches a lot of people that have never been to church before. We already believe in a virgin birth, a guy who was dead that rose again. Can we just stop there? We don't need to add all of this other stuff. And the Apostle Paul says, don't do this because there are non believers present.
Pastor Matt Brown:He says, when you speak prophetically, they will say surely God is in this place. They will be convicted by the spirit. Next, pray powerfully, man. I wanna encourage you to do this. This verse is so important.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I think it's one of the most neglected verses of the Holy Spirit. Romans eight eleven, the spirit of God whom we're talking about, who raised Jesus from the dead. I just wanna stop there. Some of you've been a Christian your whole life and you don't know how a dead guy could rise. Let me read it.
Pastor Matt Brown:The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. What if you just started praying like that was true? What would happen if you just started praying that? And just as God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, listen to this, He will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living within you. You wanna know how you're gonna rise from the dead?
Pastor Matt Brown:The Holy Spirit. So here's what James says, And if you're sick, you should call the elders of the church to come and pray over you. So many of you guys, every single week at church, you know God's calling you to come forward, he's calling you to receive prayer, and you are saying no to the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. Listen to me, if you could have fixed your marriage, would have done it. If you could have fixed your finances, you would have done it.
Pastor Matt Brown:If you could have self cured your cancer through self talk, you would have done it. Ask the Holy Spirit. Ask the Holy Spirit. Verse 15, such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick. Now listen to me, I have prayed over the dead and watch them rise.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I have prayed over the sick and watch them die. This is where my Pentecostal friends do a lot of damage. You don't know what God's gonna do. You only know what he can do. And I wanna encourage you to pray that way.
Pastor Matt Brown:I always say that, God, don't know what you're gonna unless you get a word of knowledge and then be careful with that. God, I don't what you're gonna do, but I know what you can do. Faith is not in what God will do. Faith is in what he can do. All right, this next verse is for all of us at Sandals Church, the Holy Spirit can inspire my praise and worship.
Pastor Matt Brown:You guys need to wake up. This is why I want Pentecostals in our church. They come energized. They don't need a coffee. They are the coffee.
Pastor Matt Brown:Do you guys know that most of the songs we sing are charismatic songs? There's a reason they write them because their worship is full of the spirit. Our worship is full of something else. Pray about it. Also starts with s.
Pastor Matt Brown:Alright. And we hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things that God has done. One of the things many people miss in Acts two is that worship was something that came out of their lips after they spoke in tongues. First Corinthians fourteen fifteen, Well then what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit and I will also pray in words I understand.
Pastor Matt Brown:I will sing in the spirit and I will also sing in words I understand. Man, if you have the gift of tongues, here's what I wanna encourage you to do. You can utilize this in church in a quiet way that doesn't make you the spectacle. As soon as you become the spectacle, Jesus is not the spectacle. And you can also sing in tongues.
Pastor Matt Brown:You can do that. Just don't make a scene. Okay? Don't make a scene. That's why we don't have flags at Sandals.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay, we don't run around getting crazy because Jesus is the flag. Amen. He's the one we're praising. Ephesians five nineteen, sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs amongst yourselves. Listen to this and making music to the Lord in your hearts.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't need to hear it. I don't need to hear it. I already have a hard enough time singing on the beat. And then I got over you riding your Honda and I'm like, man, what am I gonna do? So listen to me, you can do this in worship here.
Pastor Matt Brown:We don't stifle the spirit, we just don't force it. And that's important. Next, the Holy Spirit decides my gift. I decide whether to use it or not. Like I wish I had the gift of singing.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like I'd fire more melody all of them like boom. Like dude, you know what I got my guitar and I'm gonna let it rock. But if I led worship, you'd all leave. I don't have that gift. You don't get to decide your gift.
Pastor Matt Brown:You only get to decide whether or not you use it. I'm gonna close with this verse, first Corinthians twelve eleven. It is the one and only Spirit who distributes these gifts. So who decides which gift you get? The Spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:You can ask all day long. You can pray all day long. You can ask for tongues until Jesus comes. If the Holy Spirit doesn't wanna give it to you, he will not give it to you. And here's what's so sad, many of you are chasing gifts you don't have rather than using the ones you do have.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's the one and only Spirit who distributes all these gifts and he alone decides which gift each person should have. Years ago, was at a conference and I was at a table with a bunch of young leaders from our church and we had this old guy in a suit at our table and I just thought it was weird that he was at the conference. After lunch, he came back to me and he said, All day, I've been wondering why I'm here. I don't fit in and this is not me. He said, but I believe the Holy Spirit brought me here not to go to the conference, but to speak to you, Matt.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, used to be a pastor of one of the largest churches in San Diego. I had an affair with my secretary. I lost my church. I lost my faith. I lost my mind.
Pastor Matt Brown:And the Holy Spirit is here telling me to tell you don't make that mistake. Hold on. What if he didn't have the courage to speak that to me? This scared me to death. This scared me to death.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Holy Spirit sent some old dude in a suit to tell me don't blow it. And a lot of my friends have blown it. God can give you a word of knowledge. God can give you a word of truth. God can give you a tongue.
Pastor Matt Brown:Your job is to echo back what God has said. And that's the purpose. So let's just end the service today and let's ask the Holy Spirit to give us whatever gift he has for us and to fill us with his presence. Amen. We don't need to be baptized, but we need to do we need to be full.
Pastor Matt Brown:We need to be full of the spirit today. And let's enter into a time of worship. And let's actually praise God like Jesus rose from the dead. Can I get an Amen? Let's actually do that.
Pastor Matt Brown:And let's actually let these people that we've invited to church today know we believe this stuff and we're excited about this stuff and this stuff matters. Let's pray. Holy Spirit of God, we ask right now for your presence and your filling and your empowerment. God, I believe you've given each and every one of us a gift. Some of us Lord, you're gonna prophecy.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of us, you're gonna give the gifts of a word of knowledge. For some of us, Lord, you're gonna anoint our prayer life. And for some of us, Lord, you are anointing our praise right now as we speak. Lord, some of us will receive the gift of tongues. Lord, some of us will receive the gift of preaching and teaching.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of us will receive the gift of giving and serving. Lord, whatever the gift is Lord that you give, let us use it right now in this moment in your most holy church to serve you Jesus until you return. We pray this in Christ's name and all God's people said, amen.
Fredo Ramos:What a word for us and I don't know about you, but I want to live and act and pray as if the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead live lives inside of me, and the way that I carry myself. And we pray that same thing over you guys. Thank you so much for being a part of service today wherever you are watching from. And listen, we understand that many of you, attend other churches and you are giving faithfully there and we are so proud of that. But if Sandals Church is serving you as you follow Jesus, I wanna encourage you to pray about making a second gift to support the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church.
Fredo Ramos:To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support. Grace and peace.