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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
Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Rocky. I'm the campus pastor at Sandals Church of Medifee. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this incredible message. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people.
Pastor Rocky Stone:But for now, let's get into this message.
Pastor Matt Brown:I wanna welcome you to Data San Luis Church, and we're gonna talk about something I think we all assume everybody knows about, but we're all in different levels. I'm gonna talk about worship. We're we're all at different levels. Some of us are brand new to Christianity, and so we're coming to church for the first time, and the songs on the screen are a little intimidating. Like, I always think when we sing that song, he's the fourth man in the fire.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like, we got people who like, why is anybody in the fire? I thought this was about not going to hell. You know? Like, they're they're a little confused about the songs that we sing. Some of us, you know, we're we're committed Christians and and worship is an important part of our life and we wanna get to church on time so that we don't miss because we realize how important worship is to prepare our hearts to hear from the word of God.
Pastor Matt Brown:And and some of us are super deep, and every song we're evaluating critically and theologically, and we're asking, is that true? And some of them aren't that true, but, you know, we're still excited about them, and and we appreciate them. But worship is an important part of your life. And if you're gonna stay in church, if you're going to live the Christian faith, this is something that we all have to grow in. But the vision of Sandals Church is not to be performative.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's to be authentic. And so I wanna talk to you today about how to authentically worship Jesus. And so we're gonna look at a very famous passage today from a very very different example. Typically, Palm Sunday, is a Sunday where we celebrate Jesus and we worship Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and we look at it from an academic perspective. But I want this to be a class study on how to worship Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:K? So first point, I want you to write this down. To authentically worship Jesus, I must write this down, prepare to be obedient. Now, how many of you work out, go to gyms? Raise your hands.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay? You ever gotten to the gym and forgot something? I do this all the time. Oftentimes, it's my ability to get in the gym, you know. It's it's literally my my pass.
Pastor Matt Brown:But sometimes I'll forget my water. I'll forget my clothes. I'll forget something. A lot of times we forget things on the way to church, and we just we just don't prepare. We don't think about our attitude.
Pastor Matt Brown:We don't think about our heart. And I just wanna encourage you, on your way to worship, whatever campus you attend or whether you you you you watch online, I want you to prepare yourself specifically to be challenged. Because this is where we lose so many people. Like, you love church, love church, no, I'm out. I didn't like that.
Pastor Matt Brown:And oftentimes, it's the moment where we're challenged, which is where worship really begins. And Jesus prepares for worship. So in Matthew twenty one one through three, and Jesus and the disciples, they approached Jerusalem. Remember he said, we're I'm going there to die. I'm gonna be crucified.
Pastor Matt Brown:He he's prepared them for this. As Jesus and the disciples approached Jerusalem, they came to the town of Bethpage, which literally means house of figs, that's what it means, on the Mount Of Olives. And Jesus sent two of them ahead. He says, go into the village over there, he said. And look at this, as soon as you enter it, you will you will see a donkey tied there with its colt beside it.
Pastor Matt Brown:Untie them and bring them to me. And he says, if anyone asks you what you were doing, just say the Lord needs him. So what I want you to do this week is I want you to go to a Ford dealership and just just steal a Mustang. You can get the hybrid model if you want because you care about the environment. And if anybody tries to stop you, just say the Lord needs it.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Lord needs it. Like, this is what Jesus is asking him to do. He's saying, hey, go into that town over there, and I want you to borrow somebody's mode of transportation. And if they try to stop you, just say, I need it. And so what I want you to see here is there's gonna be some things at every level, whether you're new to Christianity, where you've been a Christian a long time, or or or you're ready to go all in with Jesus, there's gonna be some things he asks you to do that you're gonna be hesitant to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:And that's when worship kicks in. That's what worship is. Worship is saying, you're Lord, I'm not. Worship is saying, you're God, I'm not. Worship is saying, you're in charge, I'm not.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what worship is. Worship is an act of surrender. I may not always get God. I may not always understand Jesus, but I'm always called to worship Jesus. And so here's just, you know, I think we've been in church for a long time.
Pastor Matt Brown:We we just kinda go right past the fact. This is a really weird event. Go into that town and steal, you know, somebody's donkey. And the disciples don't even hesitate, they just do it. What would your life look like instead of resisting Jesus you started list just started listening and obeying?
Pastor Matt Brown:How different would your marriage be? How different would your finances be? How different would your worry be? If you started listening and trusting, look, I don't always get it. It doesn't always make sense.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not my plan, but I'm trusting you Jesus, and I'm gonna worship you this week. I want you to write this down. I cannot worship if I refuse to be obedient. And some of you, you lie to yourself every week in church. You're like, hands up.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm all in. And Jesus is like, you're not even part of the way in. You know? And for a lot of us, if we're not careful, it's just to show. Okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:Energy is not obedience. Now some of you need energy, man. I see you coming to church. I'm like, you need to drink coffee, a Red Bull, and if that doesn't work, try something illegal. I'm just kidding.
Pastor Matt Brown:Kidding about the illegal part. But we need we need to be ready to worship, and so we gotta prepare. I wonder what God has for me today. I wonder what God has prepared for me today. I wonder what God wants to do in our church this week.
Pastor Matt Brown:I wonder where God wants to lead me. I wonder where God's gonna call me. I wonder where God's gonna challenge me. Jesus says this in Luke six forty six, and it's probably the verse I use the most often to challenge Christians. Luke six forty six.
Pastor Matt Brown:So why do you keep calling me Lord, Lord when you don't do what I say? And a lot of Christians believe in Jesus, but they're not obedient to Jesus. A lot of Christians go to church, but they don't submit to what they learned at church. And listen to me, your life will not change unless you invite Jesus to change your life. So to authentically worship Jesus, look at this, I must humbly enter God's space.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, did anybody in here grow up Catholic? Okay. Catholics get this. Right? So when you go into mass, oftentimes you begin like this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? Your head down, you say a prayer, you kiss your necklace. And I'm not saying we're going Catholic. I'm just saying we've gotten so casual we may be missing out on Christ. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, we're casual about everything. I took my wife out for Valentine's Day, and we celebrate Valentine's Day early because we're so old, it counts. Can I get an amen? Like, if you're a young guy, that may not count. You might need to do two Valentine's Day, and she'll tell you, it doesn't matter.
Pastor Matt Brown:It does do two. But we celebrated Valentine's Day early, but here's the thing. You know what I did? It's our thirty fourth Valentine's Day together. So we dated amen.
Pastor Matt Brown:We dated four years before we got married, but do you know what I showed up with, guys? Only the ladies in here know. The guys are like, what is this that thou hast brought to thine date? Flowers. I showed up with flowers.
Pastor Matt Brown:And when I called the place, said, look, I don't want a big old bouquet with a vase. I want something I can bring for a date. I want it in paper. I want it to look like, you know, I I just picked it up. Now I didn't just pick it up, guys.
Pastor Matt Brown:I planned it. My wife was so impressed. She goes, oh my gosh. There's a little bag of water at the bottom. I was like, yes, there is.
Pastor Matt Brown:And you know what happened when we were out to dinner? People noticed. And it wasn't even Valentine's Day, but do you know what people said to us? Happy Valentine's Day because they read why we were there. And we were there to celebrate our love.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so here's the thing, when we come to church, we've gotta be ready for this. We gotta be ready and say, okay God, how am I going to enter into your presence? So here's the thing, If church is just the same as every place you go, then it's never gonna be any different than any place you go. So when you walk into church, maybe you walk into the lobby and before you go in, you say a prayer. And I know a lot of you have friends here and you're saying hi and you're checking your kids in and some of you have to repent because you beat your kids on the way to church.
Pastor Matt Brown:I I get all that. I I I understand. I understand that it's not always easy to get to church, but we need to take a moment to prepare ourselves to enter into a place of worship. Okay? The world has changed.
Pastor Matt Brown:We're we're we're way too casual. We used to be way too formal. You know, thank God we're not from like a hundred years ago where you changed outfits seven times a day. Remember that? I mean, that's just crazy.
Pastor Matt Brown:But some of you have one outfit you wear everywhere. You know what I'm saying? And so so what I'm saying is prepare yourself to humbly enter into your place of worship and just say, okay, God. And some of you don't realize this. When we pray, there's a reason we bow our heads and close our eyes.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's to close our eyes because we all have ADD. Amen? And some of you, when I say close your eyes, we're looking at each other and I know you're not closing your eyes. But we bow our heads as a symbol of humility, that's why we do that. So I wanna encourage you when you come to church, humble yourself as you enter a place of worship.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I want you to look at Jesus. Jesus is going to Jerusalem. It's the temple is there. It's the holiest city in in Israel. Jerusalem is the capital.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's a place that God loves. It's a place that God has chosen to hear the prayers of his people. And when Jesus enters into the city, he enters it so differently than any other king in the history of the world. Matthew twenty one four through seven. This took place to fulfill the prophecy that said, tell the people of Jerusalem, look, your king is coming to you.
Pastor Matt Brown:He is, do you see it? Humble. He's humble. He's riding on a donkey's colt. Now think about this.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is in the age of the Roman Empire. The Roman Empire has legions of soldiers with powerful horses, horses wearing armor. They were feared you could hear the army before you saw them. And yet Jesus rides into Jerusalem not on some beautiful Arabian horse, but on a borrowed donkey's colt. And by the way, it's not even adult donkey.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's a baby donkey. Mark tells us, listen to this, it's a donkey that has what? Do you know? Never been ridden. Why is that important?
Pastor Matt Brown:How many of you guys would jump on a horse that's never been ridden? Now that's fun. That's a good way to sprain your ankle. Amen? What is God trying to teach us?
Pastor Matt Brown:No matter how wild you are or naive you are, when you allow yourself to be led by him, it's peaceful. It's a beautiful thing and it's a little nugget that many of us have missed. Horses have to be broken in when they are broken in by a human being, but when it's God, they're just like, okay, Lord. Okay. But here's the thing I want you to understand.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey in the name of peace. Does anybody know what he will ride in the book of Revelation when he comes? A white horse with blood tattooed on his thighs. A very different Jesus is returning. He died on the cross so that you could have peace with God.
Pastor Matt Brown:He will return as God's great warrior to face his enemies and defeat them once and for all. If you're not a Christian, I would encourage you to accept this Jesus so you don't have to meet the next Jesus. Amen? Even Braveheart's gonna be like, woah. Look at verse six.
Pastor Matt Brown:The two disciples did as Jesus commanded. You know what? Go find a horse in that town, and if anybody wonders why you're stealing it, just say I need it. And they just do it. They just do it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And let me say again, there's gonna be some things, especially when you're new to Christianity that you do not understand. You will be blessed if you just trust him. Just trust him. So they brought the donkey and the colt to him, and they threw their garments over the colt and he sat on it. And this was the prophecy out of Zechariah nine ten.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is what God's Word said the Messiah would do when he came into his own city. He would arrive humbly. He would arrive not like a king, but like someone who was interested in peace. He did not come to attack us. Listen to me, he came to save us.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so we cannot worship a humble king if we come into worship arrogantly. We've gotta humble ourselves. And for some of us, you know, you're like me, that that's not so easy. We gotta do that. Next, to authentically worship Jesus, look at this, I must boldly proclaim my love and appreciation.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now how many of you guys watch the Super Bowl? Anybody watch Super Bowl? K. Not very many. By the way, the statistics are going down, down, down of the of the percentage of Americans that watch Super Bowl.
Pastor Matt Brown:When I was a kid, everybody watched Super Bowl, and now less and less people watched the Super Bowl. But I gotta tell you, I didn't like the Super Bowl. You wanna know why? I'm not a Seahawks fan. Like, if you're a Seahawks fan, this is the greatest moment my life.
Pastor Matt Brown:Oh my gosh. I got a tattoo of a blue and green eagle on my chest. It's a war hawk. It's a Seahawk. And I'm just like, nice.
Pastor Matt Brown:I would have spent money elsewhere. Amen? You know what I'm saying? But if you're an Eagles fan, excuse me. Yeah.
Pastor Matt Brown:Seahawks fan. Seahawks fan. That was one Eagles fan, still grieving. If you're a Seahawks fan, it was a great game. If you're a normal human being, it was boring.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the thing, you wanna know why worship is boring? You're not even a fan. You're not a fan. You're like, oh, the game was mid. Pastor's sermon, I've heard better.
Pastor Matt Brown:I think he threw a couple of picks. You know what I'm saying? That's all I'm saying. But we come into worship with a critical eye because we're not here to celebrate Jesus. Look at this, Matthew 21 verse eight.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want you to underline this if you got your Bibles. Most of the crowd spread their garments. What does that mean? Not everybody worshiped. Not everybody on Palm Sunday was thrilled to see Jesus riding into town on a colt.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of them were very, very upset by this. Some of them were very, very angry about this. They were not ready to boldly proclaim their worship. And here's the thing, you wanna know who had the hardest time worshiping Jesus on this day? The religious people of the day.
Pastor Matt Brown:They were the most critical. They were the most upset. But the poor people, the needy people, the hurting people, they spread their garments on the road ahead of him. And others cut branches from trees and spread them on the road. Look at verse nine.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus was in the center of the procession. When I started Sandals Church in the late nineteen nineties, there was a song by Matt Redman. I remember the first time I heard it, and it was getting back to the heart of worship. Very, very simple song. You know, everything sounds cool when you're from England.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. You know, don't you wish we all had an English accent? But he sang this song and he said, I'm coming back to the heart of worship. And the lyrics were so simple, but so powerful. And and the song said, and it's all about you.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's all about you, Jesus. And what happened in the nineteen eighties is churches began to change the way they worshiped. We had what was called the Jesus movement in America and hippies got saved and and and hippies would take rock and roll music and they would learn from that and bring it into the church and the church did not like how music changed. They were very very upset by it. And here's the thing, nobody likes change, especially when it wasn't your idea.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? We all love it when it's our idea. This is gonna be great. But when it's somebody else's idea, we all hate change. And if you don't believe me, how was the Super Bowl halftime?
Pastor Matt Brown:You're like, I watch something wholesome. You know? Okay. You know, I turned over that channel too. He's not so wholesome.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? I mean, here's the thing is, nobody likes change. And especially in the church and unfortunately, we we fight about change and we miss what God is trying to change in us. And so Matt Redman wrote this song, I'm coming back to the heart of worship and it's all about you. And the religious leaders of the late nineteen nineties said that's not at all about Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:I actually had my worship pastor when I was in Huntington Beach tell me, I don't get that song. I was like, what? That it should all be about Jesus? You don't get that? And he didn't get it.
Pastor Matt Brown:He didn't like it and we wouldn't play it. What's sad is that church is almost dead today. And what that song birthed was a movement. And let let me just say this, our worship isn't perfect. Our worship isn't always amazing.
Pastor Matt Brown:But here's the thing, I would rather sing a new song that's real than an old song that's dead. And it's actually biblical. This book of Psalms says, let us sing a new song. And some are like, well, I don't like how loud it is. It's loud so we don't have to hear your voice.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? I mean, I am so appreciative of our amplified sound. I actually recorded a song with my voice on AI and I thought AI could help me. And I was gonna send it to Tammy. I will never send that to anyone.
Pastor Matt Brown:I paid a yearly subscription, $40, to improve my voice, and AI could not help. So bad. It was so bad. Verse nine, Jesus was in the center of the procession. Here's when worship gets off, when you're at the center of the procession.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's when it becomes a problem. Well, here's what I like or here's what I think or here's my taste or here's my style or they didn't sing my favorite song or they sing that song I don't like. When Jesus is at the center of your worship, you'll like every song as long as it's about him. Jesus was in the center of the procession, but notice here, not everyone was excited. The people who had the hardest time were the religious leaders who, by the way, decide after this event, he's gotta go.
Pastor Matt Brown:And the people all around him were shouting. Worship is supposed to be loud. And some of you guys, I watch you, you know, at Hunter Park, I could sit in the back and I watch the screens and I watch you guys, you're like, oh. You know? Come on.
Pastor Matt Brown:You guys can worship. Guys, you can worship. You worship your sports team and they they don't even love you. You know? You guys gotta show up.
Pastor Matt Brown:You guys gotta praise God. And he said, praise God for the son of David. The son of David. They're saying the Messiah is here. Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord.
Pastor Matt Brown:Praise God in the highest heaven. How do you whisper that? Praise God. Praise God. Look at this.
Pastor Matt Brown:The entire city of Jerusalem was in an uproar as he entered. Entered. And look at this, who is this? Who is this? One of the things that you need to know why our worship is so important, when lost people come to church, people who are not Christians, our worship according to first Corinthians actually convicts them.
Pastor Matt Brown:God actually uses our worship to reach lost people and to begin to move in their hearts. I've told this story many times, but I I I ran from God. I ran from God's calling. I joined the military. I thought with camouflage, God wouldn't be able to see me.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I remember my my sergeant said, we're gonna go to church today. I said, it's Sunday. You can't make me go. He said, I can't make you go on Sunday, but he said, I can make your life miserable on Monday. So we went to church.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? And I remember walking in and hearing the song Amazing Grace being sung. That's all I heard. I can't tell you what the preacher said. I can't tell you what the passage was on.
Pastor Matt Brown:I can't tell you who I spoke to. It was worship that convicted me of my sin. And I said, God, I'm running from you and I'm sorry. So some of you guys are like, let's just get to the word. Let's just get to the sermon.
Pastor Matt Brown:Sometimes the sermon that people need to hear is your song. And he said, Who is this? Who is this? And the crowds replied, look at this, it's Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Isn't that interesting?
Pastor Matt Brown:Who is he? It's Jesus. So to authentically worship Jesus, I must invite Jesus to challenge the way I'm used to worshiping. We all have favorite songs. We all have, you know, favorite decades.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like for me, I love the eighties. I love all things eighties. You know, we could be depressed, guys could wear eyeliner. It was super cool. We all have our favorite genre of music, but we need to let Jesus challenge us.
Pastor Matt Brown:We need to let Jesus challenge the way that we worship. Matthew twenty one twelve through 13. So Jesus, right, he enters into Galilee. He says, I want you to go and borrow a donkey's colt. I'm gonna get on it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he comes into the city. Look at this. Matthew twenty one twelve through 13, Jesus entered the temple. So think about this. The temple is the place where Jewish people worship God.
Pastor Matt Brown:God just entered the temple. Jesus entered the temple. And what does God do when he enters the temple? He began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. Now to to their defense, they thought they were doing what God wanted them to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:K? They weren't intentionally intentionally violating something. Here's the thing is they had not changed with the times. Jerusalem became so popular. So many people began coming to Jerusalem for worship that they actually started selling things in the Gentiles court.
Pastor Matt Brown:There were multiple courts in the temple, some for Gentiles, some for Jewish women, some for Jewish men only, some for Jewish priests only, and one spot, the holiest of holies, only for the high priest one day a year. So the temple went from for everybody to just one person one day a year. It went from all inclusive to extremely exclusive. And what happened is the one area that was designated for everybody is the area where they decided to sell things. And so people could not enter into worship and worship God.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to me. They had become about the business of religion and they forgot the purpose of religion. And so what does Jesus do? He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. Listen what he says, he said to him them, the scriptures declare, my temple will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now here's the thing, a lot of us, the first thing we do is we become critical of the church. The first thing we do is, here's the things we need to change at Sandals. I've been writing a list. Thank you for your list. You can email those to pastordanzombardi@sandalschurch.com.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the thing, instead of confronting the church, here's my invitation today. Let's invite Jesus to confront us. What does Jesus need to drive out of my worship? Because in his day the problem was selling things, keeping Gentiles away, keeping people with disabilities away, keeping seekers away. That was the thing he needed to drive out.
Pastor Matt Brown:But we're in church today. We're listening to this message today. We're watching online today. We're here. We have access to him today.
Pastor Matt Brown:So he doesn't need to drive somebody away from us, but he might need to drive out something within us. So let me help you look for some things to kick out today. How about this? A critical focus on others. This is an epidemic in our society.
Pastor Matt Brown:We can see the evil in others, but we cannot see it in ourselves. This is an epidemic in America. And if America doesn't fix this, America's not gonna make it. But it's not just America that has this problem, it's the church that has this problem because Christians in the church has this problem. We have a critical focus on others.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's just the way that our world is currently shaped. And we exist in our world, and we see what's wrong with everybody else. Right, ladies? If you're in Target and you see some mom whack their kid, you're like, she has a problem. If you're in Target and you whack your kid, you're like, my kid has a problem.
Pastor Matt Brown:So we have a critical view of others. Next, look at this, a self righteous view of myself. Let me just tell you, this right here is my greatest barrier in worship. This is the table that Jesus needs to flip over every single week. I have a self righteous view of myself.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now this one's huge, and I don't mean to offend anybody, I mean to offend everybody. Amen? Political talking points, left, right, center, we got churches talking more about politics than they are about Jesus. Listen, I mean, we just all admit that everything is corrupted by politics? Everything's a political talking point.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let's reserve the church for Jesus. Let's make it for him and let us all be convicted. Amen? And so here's what I wanna challenge you. I wanna challenge you to worship today.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, I lost some of you when I talked about the halftime in the Super Bowl. You're still like, bad bunny, bad bunny, bad bunny. We're not here to talk about that. It's not the Super Bowl halftime show. This is Jesus' show.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is his house, and he's the one we're here to celebrate. Look at first Timothy two eight. In every place of worship Where are you right now? You're in a place of worship. Some of you didn't know that.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's a place of worship. I want men to pray. Why? Because ladies already pray, guys. They're praying for you in every place of worship.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want men to pray with holy hands lifted. Some of you guys, you've never done that. You're like, you're like, well, I got a bad shoulder. Well, maybe God will heal it. Lift it.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want men to pray with holy hands. Lift it up to God. Do you know what worship is? Worship is surrendering. Here here you go, God.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here you go. I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God. Listen to this guys, free from anger and controversy. Everything's controversial nowadays. Everything.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, some of you guys, you're just like, oh, I just I can't believe what's happening to the Super Bowl. Really? You feel like Super Bowl halftime shows have been just wholesome and and and just just beautiful and God honoring for like what? Like like the last thirty years, every single year, it's just bad. But some of you guys just woke up today.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like, oh my gosh, the world's going to hell. Yes. Yes. And we don't want you to go. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:We're trying to save you. Okay. Look at this next one though. So empty rituals. They're just things that we have to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:And some of you guys are learning. You come from, you know, other denominational backgrounds. You you you come from, you know, Catholicism, and that's great. I'm glad you're here. You know, I I I don't disagree with everything that's Catholic.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, I I don't love everything that's sandals. We're doing the best we can. No system is perfect. And the second you think your system is perfect, that's when you know it's broken. But we have to we we we can't get so caught up.
Pastor Matt Brown:We have to say, you know what? God doesn't care about how the building looks. He cares about how we're building our lives. What are we building our lives on? And so we we gotta be careful.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, ritual is great until it's all about the ritual and not at all about Jesus. And that's what Matt Redman was writing about. We gotta get back to the heart of worship. It's not about singing hymns. It's not about singing Gregorian chants.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not about just singing scripture. It's about lifting up the name and singing to Jesus. It's all about you Jesus. But here's another one that keeps us from worship. The negative self image.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of you guys, you come into church and you're like, man, I'm no good. I'm terrible. I can't get anything right. Do you know what you're doing? You're self focusing.
Pastor Matt Brown:Even though it's negative, and by the way, it's not negative. Look, if God thought there was nothing good about you, he wouldn't have given up his life for you. He loves you. He made you. You were created in his image, in his likeness, and you're made to reflect his glory.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's the beautiful thing that we can come to church and we can confess our sins and God can take them away. I mean, some of us man, we're just we can't worship because we're overwhelmed with worry. Because if we're honest, we feel like God has a lack of concern for us. He doesn't see me, he doesn't care about my bills, he doesn't care about my stress, doesn't care about my anxiety. I want you to know that the Apostle Peter writes these words, cast all your cares upon him for he cares for you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Do you know which of your concerns he cares about? All of them. If it's a concern to you, it's a concern to God. But here's here's the last thing I want you to see in this. And this is so important.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I was so proud of our church last weekend. It was such an amazing weekend for our church. To authentically worship Jesus, I must look at this, make room for hurting people in my place of worship. Why was Jesus so offended with what was happening in the temple? Because it was excluding hurting people.
Pastor Matt Brown:So check this out, two thousand years ago, if you went to the temple and you weren't Jewish, you could only go to the area of Gentiles. Let's say you were Jewish, but you were handicapped. Listen, you could only go to the area of Gentiles. That was your only place to connect, that was your only place to pray. And Jesus said, the very space that is reserved for the people that need me the most, you've made it a den of thieves.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's saying you've made it all about money and you have not made it about me. I was so proud of all of our ministers last weekend. I was so proud. Many of them last weekend on Super Bowl weekend, you know what they did? They prayed multiple services for people.
Pastor Matt Brown:There was a moment at our our 10:00 service where we were just overwhelmed at Hunter Park with people who needed prayer. And I don't know what your experience was at your campus, but, you know, some services, people just poured forward. In other services, it was a trickle. But in this particular service, man, there was just too many people. And our worship leader who had led us in worship all weekend long, you know what he did?
Pastor Matt Brown:He jumped up. He ran out there, and he jumped off the stage, and he started praying for people. And I was like, that's a worship leader. Can I get an amen? That's a worship leader.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I was so proud of our church because the heart of worship, and this is what so many churches get wrong, is they miss the mission. The mission is hurting people. And some of you you've been Christians your whole life and you've missed this. You celebrated Palm Sunday over and over and over again and you've never seen what Jesus does right after this event. So he has this incredible parade where he he borrows a donkey.
Pastor Matt Brown:He comes into town. People are are are laying down branches. They're calling out, Hosanna, the Lord saves. They're worshiping. They're praising God.
Pastor Matt Brown:People criticize him, but he comes into town and look what he does in verse 21, verse 14. The blind and the lame came to him. Do you see this? In the temple. Do you know why?
Pastor Matt Brown:He just made room. He just made room. Listen to me. I don't know how broken you are. I don't know how messed up you are.
Pastor Matt Brown:But I want you to know that Sandals Church was created not for perfect people, but for broken people who wanna be healed. Amen? That's who we are for. We are for people who wanna change, who wanna grow, who don't wanna give up, who wanna be changed, who wanna be saved. And look at this, the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them.
Pastor Matt Brown:And all the critics, the leading priests and the teachers of the religious law saw these wonderful miracles and heard even the children in the temple shouting, we can't have children praising God. Somebody's gotta stop that. Somebody's gotta stop that. I literally heard about a church and I can't say where where it is. I want to so bad, but I can't say.
Pastor Matt Brown:They they merged with another church. This is what Sandals Church is. And we we've merged with other churches and that's how God has given us 14 campuses. But they merged with another church, this dying church full of old people and the old people kicked them out. Do you wanna know why?
Pastor Matt Brown:Too many kids running around. I think the Lord is gonna have words with that church on Judgment Day. Look at this. We can't have children praising Jesus. Praise God for the son of David.
Pastor Matt Brown:But the leaders were indignant and they asked Jesus, do you hear what these children are saying? Yes, Jesus replied. Haven't you ever read the scriptures? And by the way, this is a slap. They're supposed to know the Bible.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's like, hey, smarty pants, Haven't you read God's word? Of course, they have, but they don't worship God and his word. For they say look at this. For they say, you have taught children and infants to give you praise. Man, isn't it sad that some of you parents brought your kids today and they worshiped as a child better than you have as an adult.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know? You go go look at the three year old sound system. It's not as good as the one in the worship center. They don't care. They're just like Jesus loves me, that's pretty cool, let's have a cracker.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's amazing what children get. I was talking to a family member of mine that's struggling deeply and I encouraged her to go to church. You know what I told her? I said, your kids will love it. You know what she told me?
Pastor Matt Brown:My kids loved it. Ain't crazy? They don't know anything. They can't even read this. They're like, this is cool.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is cool. Man, last verse, verse 17. Then he returned to Bethany where he stayed overnight. Man, listen, as long as my worship is all about me, then it has nothing to do with Jesus. Satan has used worship and worship wars to divide the church when worship is supposed to unite us on Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:So let me ask you. What do you need to change today about your worship? Are you ready today to return to the heart of worship? Are you ready today to throw down your cloak? Are you ready today to lift up your praise?
Pastor Matt Brown:Are you ready today to be like a child of God that sings out and praise God and thanks him for who he is and what he's done? Are you ready to come back to the heart of worship? Nothing fake, nothing wrote, just something real. Here's the thing, I believe that the worship of Jesus will transform your faith in Jesus. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. Love you guys. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, worship is one of those things that's deeply personal, but also corporate God. And we all have different levels of confidence in our singing, in our abilities, but God let us today praise you and worship you in a way where it's not all about us, but it's all about you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Bring us back to the heart of worship as a church. Let us become a worshiping church. I pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos:Man, we pray this week wherever you happen to be watching from that you would be set free to worship as an act of love and obedience that you would find yourself just unapologetically lifting your hands as you follow Jesus. And listen, if our, church, if this content of this sermon is blessing you and helping you as you follow him, I wanna encourage you and ask you to pray about supporting the work that God is doing in and through Sandals Church. To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support. Grace and peace.