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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.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi, guys, and welcome to this amazing series. Man, I've been hearing so much good, so many good reports from from people, man, who've never even attended church and they're watching this. How many of you guys are enjoying this series? Raise your hands. Amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's so great. And there's just so much beauty in the Old Testament that many of us forget as New Testament Christians. And so today, we're really going to change from conceptually what we believe about God to practice. And so the first commandment is no other gods. The second commandment is no idols.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Pastor Fredo did an amazing job last week with not being a hypocrite and really not taking God's name in vain. But today, we're gonna talk about rhythms, and today's rule is this. The old rule for the new life you want is this, spiritual rhythms bless my everyday life. You are never going to become what you do occasionally. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you eat a carrot, you're not healthy. If you go to the gym once, you're not in shape. And just because you have a Bible in your bedroom, doesn't mean you know God. You see, we're becoming what we do every day. And so here's where God wants to shift your life, from just something that you believe out there to something that you live right here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And part of the reason so many of you don't feel blessed, I love you, it's because you're not blessed. And that's because God is something that's in your head or God is something that's in heaven. He's not in your everyday life. And so what we want to do on the weekends, on Saturdays or Sundays or whenever you watch online is we wanna help you integrate what you believe about heaven to your life on earth. And there is no better way to do that than the principle of the Sabbath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I want you to notice here as you read through the 10 Commandments, that this is the first word in the commandments that is the word remember. Why is that? Because the Sabbath is Sabbath is the first thing we forget. Oh yeah, I believe in God, and so many of us as Christians were creasters. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Christmas and Easter. I remember you, and here's the thing is, God wants us to build our lives around him. And so what I want you to notice as we read through this commandment is that God ties the Sabbath to creation, and it's so important. So Exodus 20 verses 8 through 11. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's separate. It's dip it's different. 6 days you shall labor and do all your work. Well, you got 6 days to get done what you need to get done. God gives you one day to connect with him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But the 7th day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it, you shall not do any work. You or your son. Hey, amen kids. Let's go to church, dad.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can't mow the lawn. Or your daughter. Amen? I don't know what, you know, daughters do except be beautiful and pretty and bother their dads. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm kidding. I love my girls. Or your male servant. That'd be nice. I don't have any servants, but if you have one, even they get a rest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Or your female servant or your livestock. I got a dog. That's it. She sabbaths every day. Or listen to this, the sojourner who is within your gates.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, even our guests need to learn to rest in God. Oftentimes, the first thing we abandon when we have guests is the Sabbath. Isn't that interesting? And the commandment is, hey, when your friends and your family come to visit, teach them how to rest in God. For 6 days, the Lord made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and he rested on the 7th day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he made it holy. Everything in God's creation is about rhythms. When you look at Genesis 1, it's about rhythms. The 1st day, the 2nd day, the 3rd day. One of the things that God wants to teach you when you open your Bible is to be consistent.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Parents, teach your children to live consistent lives with rhythm. They need to get up at the same time. They need to go to bed at the same time. Eat the same foods, go to church on the weekends. When you create rhythms, listen to me, you create rest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to know that the Sabbath is the way that we build our lives around something that's bigger than us and all of this is modeled in creation. The moon is smaller than the earth and it orbits, it rotates around the earth every 27 and a hash ish days. Think about that. The earth rotates around the sun, that's where we come up with our year number. The sun is rotating around the center of the Milky Way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now, what's the Milky Way rotating around? We're not really sure yet, but there's something big out there that we can't identify that all the galaxies seem to be moving around. That's why the Bible says the heavens declare the glory of God. There's something, listen to me if you're a doubter, if you're a skeptic, there's something out there that's bigger that all creation is moving around. And the Sabbath is the way that we remind ourselves right here, right now, that there's something bigger in my life than me, something more important than the work I do, something more important than the money I make, and something more important than the knowledge I have, and so I Sabbath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the Sabbath is the way that we create a spiritual rhythm. Now let me say this, spiritual habits are hard to build, but easy to break. Bad habits are easy to build and hard to break. Do you see the difference? This year in January, right, we all have New Year's resolutions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you can't even remember yours and you're like, yeah, what was that? But in 2023, I decided to give up sugar. Okay. Not easy. Like, if you don't think you do drugs, give up sugar today and you will realize you do drugs, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, my gosh. For the 1st 3 days, I woke up every morning. I need sugar. I need sugar. That's all it was.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then they they put that crack at the grocery store right when you walk out. You know. Oh, my gosh. That's not even made with peanuts. I can eat it because I'm allergic to peanuts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? I'm like, oh, cashews. It's the Lord's will. And it was really, really difficult. It It's really, really difficult, but I got through it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Whole month of January, no sugar. It was not easy. Here's the thing. I got invited to a Bible study this week, broke my habit. Didn't even realize it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sat down at a men's Bible study. Somebody put Valentine's Day hearts on the table at a men's Bible study. Why, Lord? Why? I don't want anyone in that group choosing me, loving me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Without even thinking about it, we were starting the book of John. I just reached over there in my mouth crunching before I realized I just broke a habit. Broke a habit. That easy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, man. It's hard. Now I gotta start over. Okay. Here we go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's why we have to build these things into our lives every single week. Look. We talked about this last year in a sermon. Harvard has come out with a study that says people who attend church every week are healthier, happier, and live longer. At least once a week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, it's like God knew something about us. Right? And here's the thing they found. People who only attend once a month or every other month don't receive the same benefit. So the moon revolves around the earth once a month.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? The earth revolves around the sun once a year. God has asked you to revolve your life around him once a week. And if you don't do this, you're out of orbit. You're out of rhythm.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what happens when things get out of orbit? What happens when things get out of rhythm? There's chaos. Chaos. And this is where some of you are living and you're blaming God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God's saying, hey let's get back in orbit. Let's get back in rhythm and let's start now. So here's why you need a weekly Sabbath. Number 1, the weekly Sabbath teaches me how to rest. Like if you don't believe you need to be taught to rest, you need to have children.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody anybody have little children? Like little children are cute and wonderful until they're not. Amen? Right? They can go from the desire of your heart to a demon right in front of your eyes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But my kids man, I love my kids. Look look, I was I was a good dad. I would play with my kids. You know, we'd have a good time. The night was always great until I would say these words.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's time for bed. It's time for bed. And they would act like they've never heard this command in their life. You ever watch the kid when they freak out? And so my oldest daughter would try not to freak out, so she would be like trying to hold it in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? And then and then my middle one, you know, start running through the house freaking out. Like, you would have thought I said you will never eat again. You would have thought I said you will now may have jobs and pay the rent. Like, all I said is you're gonna sleep in a mattress that I have prepared for you in a room that your mother has designed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like we're gonna read to you, love you. I'll check under the bed for you and the closet. Freak out. Freak out. You see, here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Infants resist and toddlers and immature children resist rest. How you doing? Well, I don't need it. I can worship God in my own way. You know what you're saying?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can go to bed whenever I want. Do you know that 70,000,000 Americans can't sleep at night? 70,000,000. They can't sleep at night or stay awake during the day. I mean any of you guys addicted to monsters?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, could there be any more honest labeling? Right? What are you drinking? It is turning you into a monster. Those claws are yours.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What are you doing? And some of you like, well, I just can't get comfortable at night. Listen to me. The worst bed today is better than what King slept on a 100 years ago. You ever heard this saying sleep tight?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't let the bed bugs bite? Do you know why we said that? Because in the West, they used to tighten beds. They were made with rope, and so you tighten the bed and you stuffed it with hay and animal hair, and guess what's in there? Bugs that bite.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Teach your children that, you know. They'll never sleep. So think about this. We got Tempur Pedic.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We got sleep medication. We got morning lamps. Man, some of you wake up to hello, princess. I mean, like you just you just, you have this whole thing in your life and you can't sleep. Do you know why that is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. I love you. Your life is out of rhythm. Here's what Proverbs 3/23 says: When you lie down, you will not be afraid. When you lie down, listen to these words.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Your sleep will be sweet. When's the last time you had some some sweet sleep? I don't know about you, but some mornings I wake up and it looks like I fought someone all night long and lost. Right? I lost.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was so embarrassing. Pastor Dan and I were at a conference and and, it was a different time zone and I couldn't sleep all night long and and and I don't know if you know this but they they some of you guys don't know this. Women know this. They sell these things that go under your eyes to take away your bags and and I just own it. So, but but I it looked like I fought Mike Tyson in the hotel room.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I just came down to the to the free buffet in the morning with those gold eye patches on, and all these megachurch pastors were just looking at me like And all their wives were like, honey, where'd you get that? You know, I was like, you know, girl, Amazon. Right? But I just I just owned it and our executive pastor, Dan Zabardi, is just like, oh my gosh. I gotta be purty.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? But when's the last time you had, listen to me, sweet sleep? Some of you wake up more tired than you went to bed. Man that's your soul shouting. We're out of rhythm.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're out of rhythm. And the Sabbath helps put you back in rhythm. And so here's the thing. You're gonna wanna do everything but Sabbath, and the Sabbath is the only thing that can give you rest. So Proverbs 3 is all about this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me. Listen to me, my son. Listen to the Lord's wisdom. That's what Proverbs 3 is all about. And some of us are rejecting the wisdom of the Sabbath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're saying I don't need it. Yes you do. Yes you do. Number 2, a weekly Sabbath helps me create time to learn. You see, when you're little, they create a schedule for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have to go to school. They decide when school starts and they decide when school ends. They decide when there's a break and they decide when there's a summer. Right? They decide all of those things to create a schedule for you, so you are what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Forced to make time to learn. And when are kids the worst? On their own time, homework. Right? I mean, most of you didn't do it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're like, yeah, I didn't believe in it. So here's the thing is we need to force ourselves to make time. Acts 13:44, the next Sabbath. Listen to this. Almost the whole city gathered to what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:To hear the word of the Lord. Not just Christians, not just Jews, the whole city. I wonder what city that is. It's the same city that's in the news today. It's the city that had the earthquake.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The whole world is gathering around them as they try to dig out loved ones who've been lost. Now we don't call it Antioch anymore, but that's the city, that's the spot. They weren't shaken by an earthquake, they were shaken by the word of God. And they were changed. So changed that it's the first place that you and I were first called Christians.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Because something changed in them. And let me just challenge you. At Sandals, we have a weekly message from God's word. I know what your friends say, we don't preach from anything but God's word.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? But God's word. Like I'm not making this stuff up. We're in Exodus 20 right now. All I do is preach from God's word.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what we do. So when people say, why do you go to church? It's because you need to hear God's word. You need to make time to hear God's word. And God speaks powerfully through his church, and we've seen this throughout history that God identifies and uses gifted communicator communicators to speak to our hearts.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Probably part of the reason that you go to Sandals is for whatever reason, in God's sovereignty, that God has used me to speak to you. There's there's tons of churches that preach God's word. Great churches, wonderful churches, amazing churches. For whatever reason in God's sovereignty, he has selected me and you to be together, and he's given you ears and me a mouth. Amen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We all know that. To speak to your heart. So at sandals, we do this every single week. Why do I need to do this? Because I have to Sabbath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And one of the things we do on the Sabbath is we listen to God's word. Remember in Antioch, everyone in the town came to hear God's word. Next, we have a weekly community group to talk about God's word. I know many of you, you're you're not sure what you think about that. Let me just tell you that you are going to forget 90% of what I say 10 minutes after I say it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you discuss it, your memory and your ability to recall and understand what I've said goes up 10 times. All you have to do is talk about it. That's why your heads are full of nonsense because we talk about dumb stuff. Amen. I mean, I'm stuck in one of those houses.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't care what the Kardashians are doing but I know. I know. I mean, I know about British royalty, and I'm not even British. I'm Irish, but I know about their royalty because we're talking about it. You know what you know about?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What you talk about. What you talk about? I mean, Super Bowl rides this weekend, some of you know every single player on on both teams' rosters. You don't know any of the players on God's roster in his word. Not one because you don't talk about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, well, their names are hard to say. Have you met a football player's names? I mean, some of those some of those white dudes from Ohio, I'm like, how many how many consonants can we get in a name? Can I buy a vowel? No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? Next. Well, I just wanna go deep, pastor. Okay. We have a thing called the debrief.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Any question you have? Any concern? Any thought? Man, this week's last last week's debrief, we talked 90 minutes Yes. On whatever you wanna talk about.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't blame me. You didn't send the question. I don't like to say, today, I wanna answer this question. No. I answer your questions.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So that's what we're doing as a church. We're going as deep, listen to me, as you want to go. That's up to you, but it all starts on the weekend. K? And we can we can all learn.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some are like, well, I've I've heard this before. Look, I was in that men's Bible study, you know, where I ate the candy love hearts. And these guys were studying Listen. These guys were studying a passage I've actually written on. I've actually published an article on the passage that they were talking about and I saw something in their discussion I'd never seen before.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are just regular dudes reading God's word. And I was like, oh, I'd never seen that before. You see the word of God doesn't change, but your ears do, and your heart does, and what you're able to receive does. So some of you, you thought the Sabbath was all about a day. The Sabbath is about your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not just a day. It's your everyday. We're all building our lives around something. We're all rotating around something, and if you're rotating around the wrong thing, you're not going to be blessed. Period.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next. Number 3. A weekly Sabbath gives me a regular opportunity to serve. Here's the truth is, I I think we all know we should serve more. We we all do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K. It's why parents, you miss the one day where it sign ups for snack bar. Like, oh, I can't be there that day. We all know we should serve more. You can't worship a servant and not serve.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you've never noticed this, that many of the miracles that Jesus did were on the Sabbath. Jesus didn't go to Sabbath, he went to serve. And he, that's the primary reason he got killed man, because they said you can't do that on the Sabbath. And he said, oh you can. You see, the Sabbath was not about no work.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's about a different kind of work. Right? 6 days you work for yourself. 6 days you make money for yourself. 6 days you handle your business.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:On the Sabbath, you handle God's business. And the Jews who crucified Christ, the Jewish leaders, missed the point of the Sabbath. And we're gonna get to that. John 914. Now on the day which Jesus had made mud and opened the man's eyes was what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A Sabbath. You see, church isn't just about coming and hearing, church is about coming and serving. And I wanna speak to those of you who watch online. Look, I get it. Some of you live too far from a campus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you for health reasons or or work reasons, you're not able to attend. I understand that, and by the way, some people have to work on Sabbath, like who? Cops. Please. Man, people break into our parking lot at church, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We need cops. We need you to work. Doctors. Amen? Because you're like, oh, I can't have a heart attack.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's Sabbath. Military. So there's some things that have to get done, and we have to understand this. Some people have to work. But listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just because you work on, you know, our formal times of worship, Saturday or Sunday at Sandals, what that may mean is you need to create another formal day because you have to Sabbath. You can't be like I missed it. No no no no. You have to make it. You have to make it happen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So when you come to the Sabbath, and so here's the thing. If you're online, maybe you attend online, try to find a way to come and serve at a campus of your choosing once a month. Because we we got openings everywhere. I don't know if you know this man. Like we're we're hiring.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Yeah. We are hiring volunteers. Okay. The pay the pay ain't great, but God is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? Yeah. I love me some volunteers. But but here's the thing is, when people come here, they're judging us way before they judge the sermon. Were they welcomed?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Were they parked? How did you check-in their kids? I mean, come on, man. We've all been to public school. Not a lot of love there all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But there should be love here. And you know why that is? Our teachers aren't getting paid, and there's nothing wrong getting paid, teachers. I need you to get paid so you can tithe. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? But listen to me. There's a difference when somebody's volunteering to be there. There's a beautiful thing about that. You can volunteer on production staff.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You you can volunteer all there's all kinds of ways where you can volunteer, man. And what you're doing is you're saying this isn't about me, this is about God. And there's all kinds of things we can do. So many people are hurting. So many people need to be loved.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So many people need to be cared for. And for some of you, you know, if you're sitting in church, you're like, what's my ministry? They might be sitting right next to you. Because you don't know. I was sitting in that Bible study this week, young handsome man sitting next to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, too handsome, you know what I'm saying? You know, like runway model handsome, Like, don't like them handsome. You know what I'm talking about. But immediately after, he said, pastor, can I talk with you? I said, sure.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said, my wife's left me. She's taken my kids, and my heart is broken. You see on the outside, everything looked perfect. On the inside, everything was broken. And had I just gone on appearance, I would have missed it all.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, for some of you, you you think, well, greeting doesn't matter. Helping people find a seat. Man, it's so dark in our worship services. I'm sorry, man. We're just gonna we're trying I mean, I trip over people all the time, run into a short person.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, sorry. You know? I didn't see you there. I I have ADD. When I walk in, I'm just like, But we need people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hey. Can I help you find a seat? You know, can you can you help a believer, a Christian make room? Could you be like Jesus and Sly? You're so holy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Thank you. Thank you. Some people need a personal invitation to obedience. Amen? Yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So there are all kinds of places to serve. Number 4, the weekly Sabbath, listen to me, and this is this is gonna be difficult, but I love you, reminds me to consistently give. I love you guys. But people who attend regularly give on a more regular basis than our online community. I love you online.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I love you. But people that come to church regularly give more regularly. So if you're online and that's where God has you, that's fine. I want you to listen to me. First Corinthians 16 2, on the 1st day of every week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So Christians started off worshiping on the Sabbath exclusively, just on Saturdays. And as the tension grew between Jews that believed in Christ and Jews that rejected Christ, there's a shift. We quit meeting on the Sabbath and we started meeting on what's called the Lord's day, the first day, the day that Jesus rose. That was a Sunday. He rose on a Sunday.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So there's an argument still amongst Christians over which day should we meet. I don't think God cares about the day. I think he cares about a day. So that that's my personal opinion. That's where we have Saturday night services and Sunday services.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just give God a day. So he says, on the 1st day of the week, each of you, not some of you, not pray about it you. Okay. Not I'm gonna check with my small group, you. Each of you is to put something aside and to store it up as he may prosper.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:For what? The offering. And here's the thing, it's it's easy to forget. It's easy to forget God financially. That's why the Sabbath's first word is what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Remember. It's easy. Last year I forgot. Not like the whole year. Don't judge me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But I went to do my taxes and my giving was way less to sandals than it normally is. And so I assumed it's a sandals problem. Right? Because, you know, call them, I'm like, what what's going on in the financial department? You know, you guys are you guys paying attention?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so so here's what happened. I had surgery last year in December, and so, normally, December is the month where I I look and I make sure some of my giving is regular. But sometimes, you know, when I go speak somewhere or I write something or do I get extra money, and so at the end of the year, I wanna make sure that I've given Tammy and I tithed 10%. You decide what you want. I wanna make sure that I give at least 10% to my local church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And because I'd had surgery in December, I had I had failed to do that. And, so 2022 taxes was painful because my my taxes were high and my giving was lower than normal. And so I just said I just said, man, you know. So this year in December, I had to make sure that I that I was caught up because I normally do that. And so I just wanna say as your pastor, I make mistakes in this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's not about legalism. It's about Sabbath. It's about building my finances around God. So, you know, and I just want to say this. If you're coming to church like, I knew it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is what they're all they're all about money. Look, the world is all about money. Okay? When we pay our electric bill at Sandals Church, you know, SoCal Edison isn't like, Pray about it. No, that's not what they say.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? They're like, here's the bill. You know, I was talking with this business guy, and he's like, he's like, yeah, times are tough. I'm like, man, at least you get to tell people how much they gotta pay. I'm like, pray about it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you imagine if your car salesman, like, just pray about it. You're like, I did. God said 0. 2nd Corinthians 9:7, same language. Each of you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How many of you? Each of you should give what you've decided in your heart. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. Why? Because God loves a cheerful giver.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you don't wanna give it, God doesn't wanna receive it.
Audience:Right. Yeah. That's right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's right. Bottom line. So here's the thing. I I wanna challenge all of our church. Some of us give when we feel like it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what I mean by that is you're like, that was a good sermon. I'm gonna put a little dollar in there or something. I don't know. K? Can you can you not stress me out?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, I'm I'm already aging like a dog. We just need to stop that, dude. The best way for you to give is just get on the app right now and set up regular giving. You decide whatever that is, and just start giving regularly. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I believe that believers should give 10%. That's my personal conviction. You do what you believe. K? This is not a cult.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? You do whatever the Lord says for you to do. But here's the thing. The best thing that helps the church out is when it's automatic from the bank so it's consistent, so we know how to budget. K?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't want the church budgeting like this. What we wanna know is, okay, here's our people. This is who's on board. This is who's with us, and and and and so we know we can hire people. We can pay our bills.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We can open a campus. So what has to happen is some of you give occasionally. What I need you to move to is giving weekly or regularly, and just set it up. That's what my wife and I do. So we have a tithe that comes straight out of our account from my bank to the church every month.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not what I missed last year. What I missed was the extra things that I was paid for. I wrote a book. I did some speaking. I did some traveling, and I failed to give on those things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what I missed. So I wanna encourage you. Make sure that you do that. Pray about it. And so I realized some of you come from couples where one husband or the wife is not a Christian.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have to honor them in the process. You can't make them do this. You just go to your spouse and say, I had really liked to give, but I want to do this with your blessing. We don't wanna strong-arm our spouses to give to a God they don't either know or feel like giving to. Why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because God loves a cheerful giver. K? And let me say this as parents. One of the things that was really helpful for for me as a kid was my parents helped me to give. So I got an allowance and then they helped me give 10% of that allowance.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I got to see my parents give an offering. One of the things you can do with your kids before you come to church when you're sitting in the parking lot is have the family pray over the offering. Say, hey, God. Bless this and use this to glorify your name and reach the lost. Bring your kids involved with that so that they see that mom and dad want to give and enjoy giving.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? Just like, you know, we love giving gifts to our family. We love to give gifts to the Lord. It's why Jesus said it is better to give than it is to receive. And the Sabbath helps us do that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number 5. The Sabbath gives me a break from my mind. Amen. Ain't anybody crazy? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, I tell you what. You know why you can't sleep at night? You can't turn off your brain. The Sabbath helps you regularly turn off your brain. I love what John says in Revelation 110.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet. Okay? Some of you guys are trapped in the bus of your brain and you need to get out of that bus. Amen. Some of you got a couple people on that bus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what I'm saying? And they're all talking right now. Like, if you're here, yes, I am. No, I'm not. That Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because I'm talking to you. But here's the thing. Part of the reason we can't sleep at night is anxiety, worry, fear. Here's what psychologists tell us. Psychologists tell us that anxiety anxiety, worry and fear come from a fixation on ourselves.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What's gonna happen to me? What can't I control? What can't I do? So when we're stuck in our heads, we're overwhelmed with anxiety. How do we get out of that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We take the attention off ourselves and we put it on God. That's what the Sabbath does. Okay. When we come to Sandals Church, we we don't sing how great is Matt Brown. Like we don't sing that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We sing how great is our God. Sing with me. How great is our God. Do you see what I'm doing? We're taking attention off ourselves.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're taking the attention off our news because there's never tonight at 11 God's in control. That's never happening. It's never happening. Right? Philippians 46.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to this. Do not be anxious about anything. Well, no. Not that. But in every situation, what about this one?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes. That one. By prayer. By petition. You know what the difference between a prayer is and a petition?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Prayer is something that you do once. A petition is a prayer over and over and over again And with thanksgiving, you know what that is? Worship. Present your requests to God. And we need this every week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then what happens? And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts, wait for it, and your minds in Christ Jesus. You see anxiety comes from focusing on yourself and peace comes from focusing on God through worship. I can't tell you how awesome it is to worship with people. It's just something powerful.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now if you watch online, you gotta work on this because you got the kids running around, got a naked kid in the middle of living room, you know, whatever's going on. He's like, I'm worshiping. But it's one of the reasons it's one of the reasons we darken the lights at our campuses. Right? So you can be free and people aren't seeing you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're being led in worship through the stage through you know, hey, guy. Well, this is about God. Part of the reason we amplify the sound is so we don't have to hear your voice. Like, we love you. Like, the Lord loves your voice.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We struggle with it. So right? Like, I love I love to sing in church by myself. It just Yeah. I'm The the Holy Spirit's like, Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like when I sing the Holy Spirit, Simon Cowell is like, I don't think that's your gift. But here's the difference. So why do young people love music? You ever wonder? It's so they can check out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're they're checking out. Right? So so they're afraid to be alone with their thoughts. So they have all this you know, everywhere they go now, people are you know, now people have, like, full on sound systems on their heads. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But it's so they can check out. It gives them a break from their minds. You see, worship is the exact opposite. It's not so that we check out. It's so that we can check-in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hey, god. It's a direct pathway to heaven. It's a beautiful thing. And if and if you are a young person, you know, I don't wanna sound like the old guy, but I am. I watched the Grammys this week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? Not because I wanted to, because I'm married. You know? Like, no man said, let's watch the Grammys. But I watched it, and I got to watch Sam Smith perform Unholy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I know a lot of Christians are all upset. I'm actually kind of proud of Sam that he's honest because that's what that that music does. I mean, think about it. He had women dancing in a prison as he dressed up like Satan, which is what so much of that music actually is. It's just usually more clever.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sam Smith was honest. He wants to live an unholy life. You see, worship music helps us to live a holy life. And so much of the Grammys music is about what's wrong and bad. Worship music is about what's good and true.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And we need that. We need that. Okay. Number 6. A weekly Sabbath helps me locate a spiritual family to love.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you came from bad families. You're recovering from broken marriages. You know what a weekly Sabbath helps you to do? It helps you to identify people who are after the same things you're after. You see, anybody can say they believe in God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do you know when they do? When they're showing up and serving and giving and worshiping. That's how you know. Oh. Right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Check this out. Acts 16:13. And the Sabbath day, we went outside the gate to the riverside. I love that. Where was sandals started?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:At the riverside. Come on now. That'll preach. So this is in Philippi in Macedonia up near Greece. He said, listen to this, where we supposed there was a place of prayer.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The apostle Paul went to church where one didn't even exist. He was hoping there might be some people there. And guess what? There were. And he said, we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Wasn't even a dude there. You know? But he came and he said, you know what? I wanna be a part of this. If the apostle Paul, who wrote half your Christian Bible, went to church when he wasn't even sure if it was there, what should you do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're here. Are you? We're here. You're invited. You can be a part.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's important. Next, the weekly Sabbath helps me practice becoming who Jesus is calling me to be. You see this is this is where so many churches are changing, and so many churches are wrong. I hear this all the time. God loves you exactly where you are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yes. He does. And he loves you too much to let you stay there. The world view of compassion is not compassion, it's cruelty. Think about what we do in California.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What do we do to drug addicts? We give them clean needles, that helps. It's terrible. We're not loving them, we're being cruel to them. Mark 2 27, and he said to them, Jesus said, the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, the Sabbath was never about a rule. Some of you don't know this. It was never a commandment. Did you know in the Hebrew Bible the words aren't the 10 commandments? We don't get that until King James translates the Bible into English.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not called the 10 commandments. In Hebrew, I think you got it in front of you, they could give you the font. This is Hebrew without vowels, but it says, the 10 words. The 10 sayings. What are the first five books of the bible?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy? Genesis in Hebrew, Beresheet in the beginning. Genesis, Exodus, Vayrat. These are the names or excuse me. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:These are the names. Exodus. Shemot. I should know this. I don't have it in front of my notes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Shemote, Exodus, excuse me. In the beginning, these are the names. Vaykra, there we go. Leviticus, he called out. Numbers, Be Midbar, of the wilderness, to what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Devarim, to his words. What are the Ten Commandments? The first ten words. This is where we start. This is where we start to follow God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is where we start to love God. The Ten Commandments, listen to me, are an invitation from God to a better life. The life you've always wanted. The life he's called you to live. The life out of the wilderness.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The life out of bondage. The life out of slavery. It's a life where we orbit and we rotate around God's truth. And really the Sabbath isn't the end of the week, it is the center of our lives. So Jesus says, the Sabbath, right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You weren't made for the Sabbath. He says, God made the Sabbath for you. Permission to rest, permission to learn, permission to love. Listen to this, Jesus says, come to me all who are weary and heavy burdened, and I will give you what? Rest.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble at heart and you will find rest, listen, for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. I just wanna close with an invitation, by God, through Jesus, to change your rhythm. Would you just bow your head and close your eyes? And I wanna ask you a question, what is it that you're holding on to so tightly right now that's wrecking your life, that's ruining your spiritual rhythms?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What is it that you are fixated on and focused on and rotating your life around that's running you? What is it in your life that's keeping you from sleep? What if you just gave that to Jesus right now? What if you just released that to Him? What if you just said, here Lord take this, and release it to Him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I promise you whatever it is you cannot carry, but he can. And he will sleep just fine with that burden upon his shoulders. And you will sleep better with it off yours. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, right now every single one of us has anxieties and worries and fears and concerns and things that overwhelm us, things that we're focusing on and we're actually building our lives on and around, and these things are controlling us and destroying us.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:God, we wanna give that to you right now. Teach us the Sabbath. Teach us to rest. And let us take the first step by handing that which we cannot carry to you. We pray this in Jesus' holy name.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen.
Audience:Thank you so much, you guys, for being a part of our service today. I wanna invite you in to be a part of our relief efforts that are happening both in Turkey and Syria. They're experiencing so much loss as a result of these earthquakes, and so we've decided to partner with Convoy of Hope, to finance them and bring shelter, food, and all kinds of relief to both families and individuals who have been displaced from their homes and even those who have lost family members and friends who have died. And so we want to encourage them. We want to support them.
Audience:And so I would encourage you to go to sandalschurch.com/relief and make a donation today that will go directly to convoy of hope and all of their relief efforts that are happening in both Turkey and Syria. I also wanna invite those of you in who are part of our online community to help serve us as a church. Pastor Matt gave us a solid challenge about spiritual rhythms and how we can open up our lives to serve other people. And so if you are not at a campus or not close to a campus, I would encourage you to reach out to me directly. You can reach me at alfredoramos@sandalschurch.com, and I would love to help connect you and have a conversation with you about what it looks like to help serve other people who are part of our online community and those who we digitally are wanting to reach with the gospel of Jesus.
Audience:And I cannot wait to chat with you about that grace and peace.