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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. Welcome to Sandals Church, and welcome to this series called old rules for new life. Today, we're gonna talk about an old rule that most of us as Christians are like, yeah. I got that. But so many of us, because we we don't really look into it, and we don't dig deep into it, often many of us break this commandment every single day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I wanna challenge you, not just to judge the world about this issue, but to judge yourself and say, Okay, God, where have I stolen? So this is another incredibly short command. And it's literally just a couple of words, Exodus 20:15. And it says, you, that's you, pray about if that's you, shall not steal. And here's one of the interesting things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This command is repeated 3 times in the Torah. Three times in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. Three times it's spoken. Why would God say something 3 times? Because many of us, we don't want to be stolen from, but we will steal from others.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so here's the rule. Each and every week, I'm trying to give you a rule, old rules for new life. So here's the rule. Here's what I want you to pray about. Here's what I want you to think about.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Rule number 7, enjoy what you can earn. Don't steal what you can't. Some of you are so miserable because you're focused on what somebody else can earn. You wanna be miserable today? Go down to Newport Beach, rent a boat, look at all the houses.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen? I mean, it will make you miserable because you can't earn enough to buy that. And so what happens is you get bitter, you get anger. Angry, you compromise morally, and then you start doing immoral things to make money so that you can have that. And we need to teach our kids this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Money is not the goal, integrity is. Integrity makes you rich. So earn what you can, whatever you can, and don't steal what you can't. And that's the problem with social media today. When I grew up, I didn't know how poor I was because I couldn't see how rich other people were.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You You know, we had railroad tracks. We didn't have Instagram that could see on the other side of the railroad tracks. Everybody was poor where I grew up. Nobody had stuff. But all of a sudden in our world today, even the poorest kids can see what they don't have and it makes them miserable.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so here's the thing. Don't look at what others have, look at the integrity that you have. That's what makes you rich according to God. So we live in the state of California. Okay?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I know some of us watch online and you are blessed to not live in communist California. But we live in a state that has minimized this sin. Number 1, don't minimize the sin of theft. It is a sin. It is.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And that's hard for some of us as Christians. We're like, well, you know Okay, look, there's ministry and generosity. And then there's the sin of theft. Those are different things. I'm not saying we shouldn't help people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm not saying we shouldn't care for people. But look, our state is in real trouble. My wife asked me to go to Rite Aid to develop film. I'm like, who develops film? My wife is like, we do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And what she meant is you do. That's what she meant. And so, I went to Rite Aid to develop film, and I saw something amazing. I saw a woman come into the store with no pants or underwear. That's amazing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But if you live in California, that's a Tuesday. Amen. Right? That's a Tuesday. Tuesday is no pants, no underwear day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so, she walked into Rite Aid with no clothes on. I mean, she had she had a shirt kind of on the top. And she went straight down the alcohol aisle, grabbed 2 12 packs of beer and walked out. Couple of things happened there. Number 1, she stole.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number 2, that's a controlled substance. In our government, we have a specific law enforcement agency that deals with firearms, tobacco, and alcohol. You see, when I was a kid, that was a major theft and a major problem. And she walked right out. No pants, but she had some booze.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? She was gonna have a good day. And I told the manager, I said, didn't you see that? And here's what she said. She comes in every day and does that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, listen to me, we're not gonna have stores in California. They're gonna pull out. They're gonna go somewhere else because you are able to steal whatever you want. And let me say if you're a young person, the only person you're stealing from when you steal is yourself. You are robbing yourself of the joy of earning something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to listen to Jesus. Jesus says this. He contrasts stealing with what he came to do. John 10:10, Jesus said, the thieves. These are one of the adjectives that God uses to describe the devil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The thief, his purpose is to steal and to kill and to destroy. You see what's happening in the state of California, because we are allowing stealing, We are killing this great state and we are destroying the lives of young people because we are robbing them of the privilege of buying what they can earn. There's beauty in that. Jesus says, my purpose is not to steal. My purpose is not to destroy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My purpose is not to kill. He says, my purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. And what is that? It's not just salvation. It's integrity.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's integrity. Listen to me if you're young. Stealing is the devil's work. That's the devil's work. And that's hard for us because we've so minimized this in our culture.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It doesn't just affect the person who's robbed, it affects the person who steals. This is a huge problem at all of our campuses. At the end of service today, I'm gonna ask some of you guys to volunteer to work in the parking church because someone's taken their catalytic converter. It's happened. And as a pastor, I feel so bad when a guest comes to our church and they can't even drive home because somebody robbed them while they were in the house of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so we have to be aware of this and say, okay, part of the way we change our culture is not just incarcerating people, but it's changing our hearts and saying, okay, I'm gonna be a different person. And let me just say this. I want you to imagine for a second, for those of you who aren't on board with this and you're making all kinds of excuses for the theft we have, I want you to imagine if we could just magically wipe away all of the theft, how much more money we would have for kids in school, How much more money we would have for healthcare? How much more money we would have for the environment? How much less things would cost?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because every time you do buy something, in there is the cost of theft. They put that in the cost of doing business. Things would be cheaper and there would be more money to help people who truly need it. Stealing helps no one. It actually wrecks our society.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So teach your kids not to steal. Don't do it. Number 2, listen to me, especially if you're a parent, and if you are don't have kids, listen to me. Maybe your parents didn't teach you. So I want you to pay attention.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Number 2, don't steal a work ethic from the next generation. Some of us are robbing the next generation of the joy of work. Proverbs 2125. This is a proverb. This is from a, from a dad in Proverbs chapter 1, and from a mom in Proverbs 31 trying to raise their son.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody raising a boy? Hang on. Hang on. Okay? And you're like, well, we have daughters.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. They're easier in some ways. I know you don't think so, but, man, I know. They're both crazy. Hang in there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Despite their desires, listen to me, the lazy will come to ruin. Listen to me if you're young. Vision is not enough. Well, I'm gonna be an influencer. Even influencers have to work.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay? You gotta post, my fingers hurt. Get over it. Get over it. Everybody that's successful works.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're like, well, some people inherit their wealth. Was that you? Nope. Then go to work. Go to work.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's the reality. And one of the things is we despise people who work and are successful. I'm amazed when I look at Elon Musk, what he did to be where he is today. Listen to me if you're young. He worked a 100 hours a week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you are like, I didn't know there were that many hours in the week. 100 hours a week, rented an apartment where he slept, and he and his brother shared one computer where they coded together. And he's an immigrant from Africa. Crazy. But he worked, and now he's one of the richest people on earth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Desire, vision, dreams, not enough. It's not enough. What happens? They will they they they will fail because they refuse to work. It's not enough to have a vision for your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have to step into hard work. And we've told our kids, follow your hearts. Well, at some point, your hands and feet have to follow your heart. Amen? And let me show you how to do this.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We shovel. Look at this. We shovel. Let me say this. If you're a parent today, I love you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But making everything easy for your children when they are young will make life impossible for them when they are older. Here's one of the things that I I never thought about as I parented. I always focused on I wanna give my kids what I didn't have. I never thought about what are the things that my parents gave me that I need to repeat. You see, saying no was easy for my parents because they didn't have any money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You want that? No. No. No. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you can afford it, it makes it harder to say no. But let me let me say this as a parent. You can say no to your kids even though you love them. God loves you, and he says no to you every day. He just said it right now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. K? So making their life easy is not helping them. Now some of you are like, yeah. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Today's drill sergeant, dad. No. No. No. No.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:No. You don't have to make their life hard because it's already hard. It's already hard. I remember saying this to my oldest daughter. She was on the mountain bike team.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She picked the worst sport in high school because it's really hard. And right before every race, she'd be all teary eyed and not wanna not wanna go. And she would say, this is so hard. And here's what I would tell my daughter. I said, honey, life is hard, and this is gonna prepare you to do things you don't want to do.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So stop crying and go, right? Listen to me, life is hard. Help your kids find a hard sport. Help them wrestle through a hard subject. It's okay to face difficulty.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Next, teach them that work is better than wealth or fame or leisure. I don't know why we've made an idol of doing nothing. I love my wife. I love going on vacation. I can sit on the beach for about an hour, then we're getting divorced.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. We gotta do something. We gotta do something. We gotta do something productive with our day. And the most miserable people are the people that do nothing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And one of the reasons so many of our seniors are checking out right after they retire is because they believe they can just sit on a couch and eat and live a productive life. It messes with their brain. It messes with their heart. It messes with their body. I was walking through sandals this week, and and there's a woman in our church named Anna.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I said, do you work for me? You know, and I didn't wanna say anything because you can't ask how old people are. You can't do that. It's illegal. I said, Anna, do you work for me?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because, you know, she looked like maybe she's retired. I'm not saying that, but that was just my my hunch. And here's what she said. Oh, no. No, pastor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She said, I work for you for free. She said, I'm retired. She said, but I gotta do something to keep my brain sharp. And you know what she does? She works in her accounting office.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. She she does that for free. That's my favorite employee. I'm gonna give Anna a raise. I'm gonna triple.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm gonna triple her free salary. But isn't that interesting? God did not make you to sit on a couch and watch Fox News or MSNBC or whatever it is that makes you wanna jump off a cliff. God made you with a purpose. And some of you, as you become seniors, you finally have the time to do some real work.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let me tell you something. If if you're older, you're in your 4th quarter. K? I I only watch NBA games in the Q4. Do you know why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because that's what matters. That's what matters. You're in your 4th quarter. You're not done. The game's not over.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know how the time, you have the resources, and you got the smarts. Those of us who are younger, we're still trying to find our brains. Amen. You have an opportunity to make a real difference. Proverbs 1224, listen, work hard and become a leader.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why should you teach your children? If you're a young person, why should you work hard? Because it changes you on the inside. It's not about wealth. It's not about influence.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not about fame. It's about changing who you are. Listen, work hard and become a leader. Be lazy and become a slave. That's what scares me to death about our younger generation.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You think government should do everything. What do you think you're going to become? When government becomes mom and dad, you be a, you become a kid forever. And you're a slave. America has a lot of brokenness, a lot of sin.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One of the things we got right was hard work. And we're forgetting that. Everything free comes with a cost. It comes with a cost. And don't believe it that it's truly free.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K? Next, if you're a parent, teach them to work through problems. Any married people in here have a problem ever? My wife and I, we worked through a discussion this week. We don't have fights because we're believers.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We had a discussion. I was so exhausted. I was so exhausted, man. It's hard to work through problems. It's why so many people can't stay married because they don't know how to work through problems.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One of the things, if you got multiple kids, and by the way, if you just got one kid, that's cheating because you always know. You always know who did it. When you got multiple kids, man, they're all lying. Who did it? They're like, we don't know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was aliens. You aren't you? What's is he in the news? But you know, when your kids fight, you know what they're learning to do? Work it out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's one of the reasons I think kids are stressed out, and this is my own theory and my own philosophy. When I was a kid, we came home from school, my mom said, go outside and don't come back in until it's dark. You know? I I I could've said, mom, I'm gonna go out and play with hyperdimer needles. She's like, okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Have fun. But listen to me. You know what happens when your kids in their room with video games and everything is done for them? They don't have to make it work because other kids are hard. Other kids are difficult.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Other kids are mean. Some are cruel. But guess what you're learning? You're learning how to negotiate. One of the things I think needs to happen if you're an educator, I think we need to extend the school day and extend playground, and just literally have a half an hour where you're like, just go out there.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just as a principal, just watch him. You know, you don't want a kid to get killed, but, you know, just watch. Let it get close, and then you intervene. Because our kids our kids need to learn what game are we gonna play, whose team are you on, what are the rules? But we do all of that for them, and then they become adults and they don't know how to do anything.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I even think bullies have a role. Amen? It's part of the reason I have any self control at all. Do you know where this mouth would have gone as an adult without a bully? I'd be in real trouble.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You'd be watching live from prison. Because what bullies taught me is there's limits to what I can say. There's only so much a bully can take from somebody who's, you know, 2 feet 3. K. Next, teach them to work for the family.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna know why we have such a hard time getting people to volunteer at church? Because parents didn't teach children to volunteer at home. That's why. Your kids, our church members think everything should be done. Well, I just show up and it happens.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We have no idea how to make something work. A 100 years ago, your kids were up at 4 AM. That's why they had 12. Not because they loved them, because they needed them. You don't have to pay your children.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. Get up. Milk the cow. You want eggs? Go get them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right now now kids are like, dad, the cereal's empty. 100 years ago, that had been a you problem. Go out in the field, get some grain, and then make your cereal. Here's the thing is, you are doing a disservice, and here's a kid's superpower. Here's what kids know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They know if they absolutely suck at what you asked them to do, you won't ask them again. That's their superpower. I don't know. You're you're a kid like straight a student, and they just turn into a total moron. Like, I can't do the dishes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They can. They can. Now listen to me. It it might not be as good as what you would do, but that's okay. They need to learn to be a part of a family, and here's why.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What happens when they become moms and they become dads? You're going to need to prepare them for how a family works. You're not just raising your son or your daughter, you're raising a future mom. You're raising a future father. When I challenge my son, when I challenge my daughters, now my girls are married, my son's still at home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When I challenge him, I say, listen to me, one day you're going to be a dad. And there, your kid might be lippy, right? You might be raising a Matt Brown. I'm never having kids. I'm never getting married.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay, well, here's what it means to be an adult. Adults do what they have to do over what they want to do. That's adulting. K? Adulting is not challenging your parents to help your vacation continue.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not adulting. Adults choose to do what they want to do over excuse me, what they need to do over what they want to do. So if you're raising girls, anybody remember Cyndi Lauper? Girls, just what? Wanna have fun.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, you know what moms want? A nap. That's what moms want. So listen to me. Here's the thing, and I see I've seen this oh, as your pastor for 25 years, I have seen young girls turn into women who become moms, and they're in absolute shock because life goes from all about them to never about them.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, your body becomes a food dispensary. Right? And it's not like the puppy that you can just put in the cage for a couple hours and go out. It goes everywhere with you. And I watch young women in shock because nobody's ever told them, hey.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When you have a kid, that thing goes with you everywhere. Everywhere. And it eats and it poops and and right? And, you know, and it's it's tough. And we need to train girls and raise girls to say, look, man, you know, if you ever want to be a mom, this is what that looks like, and so you need to learn to help out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You need to learn to be a part. You need to learn that it's not all about you. And some of us as moms and dads, we've turned our little girls into princesses, and that's not really helpful as a mom because princesses need people to do things. And I love your little girl. She's not a princess.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're not a king. Wife's not a queen. And I know because I see you're giving. Amen? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So alright. Boys. What do boys wanna do? They just wanna play. You know what dads need to know how?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How to serve. Most of the marriage counseling we do at Sandals Church is because a woman has married a boy who wants to have sex, but he doesn't know how to serve. That's the problem. Teach your young men how to serve. Now this is a thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're not gonna wanna get up. They're not gonna wanna get out. You know, I was in the military. My drill sergeant didn't really he didn't really care that 3:45 wasn't an appropriate time in the morning to get up. You know what our drill sergeants used to do?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now I know it's the new military and they're doing yoga and stuff. But when I was in it, when I was in the military, our drill sergeant came through with trash cans. That's how we woke up. And he was never in band. He couldn't do it to rhythm.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you know what happened? I changed. By the end of my boot camp training, I could wake up to the sound of the of the lights as they came on. And I told my dad when I went to the military, I'm gonna go out and find men that respect me. I called my dad and just apologized.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, my dad yelled at me, but I would never see his tonsil, you know, as he was yelling. And we just watched the drill sergeant's tonsil. I'm like, oh my gosh. Do you know how close you have to be somebody to see that? Next, this is huge.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Teach your kids to organize their life. You know why your kids can't clean their rooms? They got too much stuff. I can come over today. We can fix that problem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We can donate some toys, amen, to some poor kids. That's all you do. You tell you tell your kids. Here's the truth. My wife can organize much more things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If there could be someone right now in my wife's closet hiding, and we would never know. Her shirts when she pulls them out is like I mean, I I just can't even I can't even imagine. People come and see my closet, and literally about 10 people have said this. Is this all you got? You know why?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's all I can organize. Half the pastors at Sandals Church, if they're medium to small in size, they're wearing my old clothes. You know why? I I cannot organize. I have a choice.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I can fold them or donate them. Amen? I donate. I'm like Jesus. I give it away.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's the thing is you're giving your kid too much to manage. Some can manage more than others. That's just the way that it is. I don't have my wife's organizational skills, so I just have less clothes. It's fine.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I get in less trouble. Amen? Guys, less underwear, less underwear to be on the floor. That's all I'm saying. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Teach them to make the world better. Can we just stop telling kids to follow their hearts? Do you guys know that we don't have enough airline pilots? Like, nobody wants to fly planes, and you make a lot of money. Anybody want good airline pilots?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody? I prefer excellence. You know? Do you want that kid that's like, I feel like we're gonna make it. No way, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want somebody that that that that is gonna get my family safe to wherever we're going. Not everybody gets to live in Hawaii. We gotta get there somehow, and nobody takes boats anymore. Somebody's gotta fly. Somebody's gotta be a cop.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Somebody's gotta be a fireman, a teacher. Somebody actually has to make the world a better place. We can't all be influencers. You know? We can't all be famous.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Somebody actually has to do something. Let's do something. Do you know that they're asking doctors some of your doctors, have you noticed they're getting older? It's because they don't have enough young ones coming up. Pretty soon, you're gonna help your doctor when they come in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. What's going on? Like, doc, I think you need some Advil. Last point. Teach them to work for God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Can you just imagine if we all just everyday realized that when we went to work, we were working for the Lord. Colossians 3:23, whatever you do, whatever you do, work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. Work for God, whatever you're doing. Alright. Number 3.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Don't steal from others. I wish I wish that we just didn't even have to cover that. But it's a problem. And I want you to know it's not just a problem today in the church. It was a problem in Ephesians 2000 years ago.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It was such a problem that the apostle Paul, when he wrote a letter to the Ephesians, he had to address it. Ephesians 428, listen to this, let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor doing honest work with his own hands so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. You see, some of you don't realize the reason we work. Here's why so many young people are not motivated to work, because the old capitalist motivation was work so that you can have a bunch of stuff that they realize they don't need. The Christian motivation for work is work so that you have something to give.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:For 20 years, Tammy and I have said, Lord, increase our giving. Increase my capacity to give. Now what has to happen for me to have more to give? I have to make more money. You see, without margin, there is no ministry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now our country doesn't understand that, our world doesn't understand that, everybody is spending more than they make, and it's why people feel like they have nothing to share. And it's not that you don't have anything to share. It's that you haven't yet prioritized your money that you make to express the generosity of God. That's why. You see, the way out of stealing is learning to give.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's the way out. Stealing is all about you. It's all about me. And some of you today, you need to repent, and you need to say, Lord, I've stolen. You see, here's one of the problems.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:This is why so many of our neighbors don't wanna come to church, because they hear us say one thing and then they watch us live. Romans 221 says, well then, if you teach others, why don't you teach yourself? Listen to this. You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? That's in Romans.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And many of us, we have, and we make excuses for it. Right? How old's your kid? 14. How old is he when he goes to Disneyland?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:12. How old is your son? 4. How old is he when he goes to Disneyland? Oh, he's 2.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, what are you teaching your kids? You're teaching your kids that it's alright to steal when it benefits you. You go to an, you know, all you can eat buffet? 12 and under eat for free, and your 22 year old, you're like, you're 12. You're 12.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're 12. What what are you doing? You're stealing. You see, the problem is what you've taught your kids is it's wrong for someone to steal from you, but it's okay for you to steal from someone else. And here's the problem.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You have all kinds of reasons why what you do is okay. But you know what? So does the thief who's under your car taking his your catalytic catalytic murder. He has a reason. You don't think he has bills?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You don't think she has bills? You don't think they have problems? You see what it's this whole cycle. Years ago, I preached on stealing and we covered the story of Nicodemus. And Nicodemus says, whatever I have stolen, I will pay back 4 times.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I only remember stealing 2 things as a kid. 1 was a spider from a store and my mother made me go back and apologize. And the other thing was I stole a Star Wars action figure from my cousin. My cousin is not a Christian. He doesn't go to church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So I calculated the value of that action figure times interest for 25 years and multiply it by 4 like Nicodemus was and sent him a check. He said, you don't have to do that, because. I said, I actually do. He said, well, I didn't even know you stole it. I said, but I did.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now my cousin and I, we don't agree on a lot of things, but I think he agrees that his cousin who is a pastor has integrity. And so you might say, well, that was ridiculous, but what is my cousin's soul worth? It's worth more than that action figure ever was. And so some of you need to say, how have I stolen? Whom have I stolen from, and how do I make this right?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if you're a thief, man, come to the church, come forward for prayer, and let's talk about how we can help you figure out your spending, come up with a budget, and maybe work some extra hours or an extra job until you can get your finances right sized. Listen to me. As a Christian, need doesn't give you permission to steal. Let me say it again. Need does not give you permission to steal.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you find yourself with a need and you're tempted to steal, come to the church. Let us help you. Because it's not stealing when we give it to you. That's a gift. That's benevolence.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And this is a generous church. This is a generous church. We just sent a couple $100,000 to Turkey, couple 100,000. What are we doing this week? We're sending you more money up to Lake Arrowhead and the surrounding communities.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Why? Because as the Lord has given to us, we give to others. That's what we do. And we're not just helping sandals people up the mountain, we're helping anyone. Anyone who'll say they has they have an eat.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And we're doing that because that's what God does. Think about this. The most famous verse in all the scripture, for God so loved the world that he what? He gave. He gave.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He didn't steal. He gave. He gave. So how do we steal from God? Number 4, don't steal from God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do we do this? It's with our time. Let me just prove to you how big of a sinner you are. You ready? I preach on the Sabbath, which is God is like take a day off.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you're like, I'll pray about it. That's how big of a sinner you are. You can't even chill in the name of God. We rob God of the Sabbath, and we rob God of the time that we should devote to him to serve on the Sabbath. Man, look, we got tons of people coming back to church and we need more help.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's just the bottom line. It's great. It's great that people come back to church, man. And it's great. It is so fun to preach to a full house at Hunter Park and at your campus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, someone at your campuses are hitting numbers that you haven't seen in 3 years. Praise god for that. But you know what that means? Those people need to be served when they come here. So I want you to do me a favor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I wanna celebrate a good friend of mine, Scarlett. Come on up here. Let's give her a hand. So Scarlett, wait for this, has served in kids ministry, the blue shirts, for 20 years. Let's give her a hand.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Glad you. Glad you. Thank you. She was she was nervous. I was gonna make her do a cartwheel or something.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So but but I want you to know this, and and listen to me, and I I shared this with Scarlett before the recording. You know, it's so hard for me to get you guys to serve, and I don't wanna make you feel guilty. I just oh, I guess I do. The book of Ephesians says that one of my jobs is to equip you for the work of the ministry. And and Scarlet has done the work of the ministry.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And this is why what Scarlet does is so important to me. Kids ministry is the hardest area for us to get volunteers, and here's why that breaks my heart. Because in kids ministry and youth ministry, we have the biggest impact. The biggest impact. You wanna change the world?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Start today by investing in a kid at Centrel's Church. Because what they can't hear at their local public school, what they can't hear anymore on a sports team, they do hear here, and we don't apologize for it. You are loved by God and you were made in his image, and you have a purpose and God has a plan for your life, and we don't apologize for that. And let me just share with you, my wife and I are in counseling. And one of the things that we're studying is what does it look like to be a secure person in the way that we love?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so I have an unsecure attachment, it's called dismissive avoidant. And then there's the secure attachment. And so it says here's what's broken, and here's the goal. And here's the amazing thing. When I look at the secure attachment, not at my brokenness, but when I look at my beauty, many of the things that I do right are because of the experiences I had in church as a young man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me, parents. Every single one of you is not going to be be able to raise a complete child by yourself. You're a sinner and you're gonna have blind spots and you have your own brokenness. Here's the beauty of the local church. Other adults don't have your same brokenness and they have beauty where you lack it and they can invest in your child.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And so as a young man who has struggled with insecurity, I was always the smallest kid. I felt unseen, and oftentimes, I felt unloved, not because of what my parents did, just because that's what it means to be a kid. I had church members that said, I see you. I love you. I care for you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You're gonna make it one day. I can't wait to see what you do. I didn't get that in school. I didn't get that in sports. I got it in the local church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And when we serve kids, we're telling them you matter. We see you, and we love you. Here's what Paul says in Romans, never be lazy. You can Sabbath, never be lazy. But work hard and serve the Lord, what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Enthusiastically. I want you to pray about how you can serve the Lord specifically on our weekends. Parking lot team, greeter, kids ministry, production. It takes a whole army of Christians to pull off the weekends. And as we approach Easter, I'm thinking we're gonna have about 20,000 people at church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let me ask you, how many thousands of volunteers do we need to make that happen? And that's our job, and we should want to do that. We should want to greet people. We should want to welcome people because our job is not just to know God. It's to make him known.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And the way we do that is telling people about Jesus. Alright. This last point is gonna be challenging, but I love you. How do how do we rob God with our treasure? Malachi 3:8, will a man rob God?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me, Christians do it every day. The average Christian in America gives 1.8% of their income to church. 1.8%. And a lot of people say this. Well, churches are all about money.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, let me say this. The reason they have to talk about it more than they want to is because people are all about money. Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. This is God talking.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But you ask, how do we rob you? This is the lord in tithes and offerings. Hold on. He says you are under a curse. He says the whole nation of you because you are robbing me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, here's one of the lies we say God will understand. Do you like it when you're robbed? God doesn't either. He says bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. How do we send money to Ukraine?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When there's food in the house. How do we send money to Turkey? When there's food in the house. How do we send money to Lake Arrowhead? When there's food in the house.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How do we hire staff? How do we pay our bills? How do we do ministry in this community when there's food in this house? We're not a college. We don't get to charge tuition.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know? That'd be great. Did you like the teaching today? Did you? Did you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Okay. Here's the bell. He says, test me in this, says the Lord almighty. And see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room for it. Do you know the Bible says we're not to test God?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Except in the area of our giving? The Lord is daring you to trust him. Daring you. Daring you to trust him. And he says, look, man.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you'll trust me in this, I'll bless you in this. And here's why you can never out give God That's right. Ever. Come on now. So pray about this week in your small group, in your community group.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Talk about this. How can we serve God with our time, and how can we honor God with our treasure? I'm not saying it has to be 10%. I've said that multiple times. We are not under the law.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're under grace. But I don't think 1.8% reflects grace. I mean, did Jesus Christ die on the cross so we could give 80% less? Is that, is that, is that what he was doing? I don't understand that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So figure out a number, figure out a plan, and let's trust God together and let's prepare together as a church as Easter's coming, because people are gonna come one time. How many of you guys go to a restaurant, go to a hotel, go somewhere on vacation and you have a bad experience? You're gonna go back? No. We're gonna have people that come to church one time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if they have a bad experience, they're not coming back. Now listen to me, church, God's gonna hold us accountable for their experience. And we want to make sure there's room for them, for their kids in the classroom, that there's parking places for them, that there's ushers that can help them, man. We got dark worship services, man. I walked into church last week, ran right in the back of somebody.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's not my fault. I have ADD. I walk in like this. But we need production people to help make sure that people can hear. And it doesn't matter how old you are.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, your kids, you know, sometimes backstage before I come out, I got a 12 year old that's running my check. That's 12 year old smarter than I am when it comes to this thing. I don't know how to operate that. It's like, here you go, pastor Matt. Thank you, Jimmy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We'll take anybody. We as well. So pray about it. Say, god, where can I serve? Where can I give?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How can I stop stealing my time and my treasure from a god who's given me all the time that I've enjoyed and all the treasure that I have? Let's pray together. Heavenly father, we we pray in the mighty powerful name of Jesus that we would not be a people who steal, but we would be a people who give. Give generously of our time and give generously of our treasure. Holy Spirit, don't just convict us in this area, but convince us to trust you.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Convince us to move forward in this area, and let us prepare for the thousands of people who are coming back to church. Let's make sure that there is a place for them, and let's make sure that we are devoting our time and our treasure so we can serve them and serve you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Hi.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Thank you so much for watching. If this material is helping you to further your authentic relationship with Jesus Christ, I wanna encourage you to move from being someone who watches content to someone who participates and helps give towards this content. I want you to know that no amount is too small. Jesus Christ himself makes the biggest deal out of the smallest gift, and so whether that's $1 or $5 or $10, every dollar helps us in our mission to reaching the world with this vision of authenticity. So if God is prompting you, if the Holy Spirit is moving you towards generosity to Sandals Church, I wanna encourage you to go to donate.sc.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's all we ask, give whatever God asks you to give, and we will just pray over that and ask God to bless that so that we can reach more people like you with this life changing message.