McKay Vandenberg: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is McKay, and I'm a part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matt, teaching from our series, the gospel of Matthew. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. Now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Welcome to Sandals Church. I just wanna start off with a question. How many of you've ever got in a stupid fight? Raise your hands. K.
I was watching this woman at a Southwest Airlines terminal losing her mind, smashing a computer, and then being arrested and carried off. And I wonder, as she's sitting in a cell, if she thought that was worthy of her expression. And I praise God, you've never seen me, amen, on the news like that. But how many of you guys ever fought like a stupid fight? Come on married couples, like this morning.
Man, I tell you as a pastor, I have done marriage counseling with, let's just call them stupid people. But there was a couple once that they had a big fight over how they would spend lottery money if they won. Can we just agree that's dumb? I mean, can you imagine? But so many so oftentimes, we're fighting over things that are in the future that may never happen.
Every time I mention this, there's always one of you that has to send an email, that has to send a note. I've actually been stopped at the mall and been corrected. But one of the things that people fight over is the correct way to roll the toilet paper. I had a guy say, pastor, it says on the box over the top. Do you think he got the point of whatever I was trying to say?
Look, I'm just glad there is toilet paper. Amen? Anybody with kids? Yeah. How about this?
You ever gotten a fight just to prove you're right? One time we ended a trivial pursuit game. Ended it. Ended the family night. Ended everything because I swore I was right and the game was wrong.
Now for the record, I was right. But you know what I'm saying? The game was wrong. But I ended family night. Tammy and I didn't talk.
It was a mess. My dad actually gave me a little talk afterwards. He's like, you need to chill out. You know? I was like, really?
How about this? A perceived insult or slight. How many of you gotten in a fight with your your in your in your marriage because of an eye roll? My favorite one is the indiscriminate sigh. Sometimes just be in the car and I'll be like, my wife's like, what's up?
I'm just breathing over here. That's all I'm doing. So oftentimes, look, we we fight with our brother and sister over stupid stuff. We fight with our spouse over stupid stuff. We fight at work over stupid stuff.
And here's the thing as a Christian, I want you to know, there's only one war worth fighting. And so today we're gonna talk a lot about war language and fighting language. And I just want you to remember, especially as a Christian, if we get this wrong, we're not fighting for God, we actually are fighting against God. And there's only one war worth fighting. So let's open our bibles to Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 42.
And we're gonna start off with this. Jesus believes souls souls are worth fighting for. K? And I want you to hear that. That's the only thing worth fighting for and as we go through this message, as we go through this sermon, I want I want you to think about when's the last time you fought for somebody's soul?
Like you wrestled for somebody's salvation. When's the last time you did that? Because if we want revival to break out in California and and here's the thing, I heard a prominent pastor this week, somebody that I respect and love. And here's what he said, if Sacramento passes this bill, you need to flee the state. No.
No. No. We need to fight for this state. We don't surrender it. Okay?
Amen. We fight for this state and we wrestle for souls. We're trying to save souls. And if California would understand that, look, we're not against you, we're for you. We're trying to get you to live forever with God.
That's what we're trying to do. So in Matthew chapter 10 verses 34 through 36, these are some of the most difficult words for Christians to wrestle with. And Jesus says this, he says in verse 34, do not think that I have come to bring peace. Let's stop there. Wow.
Can we just let that sink in? Here's the number one reason that Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah. Because the bible says that the Messiah will bring peace. I believe Jesus will bring peace but he had to win the war first. He had to win the war first.
He says, do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. And here's the thing, he is fighting for your soul. He is fighting for your soul. And here's what the the bible says that Satan is the God of this age, that Satan is the God of this earth.
And if you are not God in heavens, then you are the God of this earth. You are Satan's property and Jesus is coming for you. He's fighting for you and he wants to deliver you. But listen, it gets more difficult. For I have come to set man against man, man against his father, and daughter against her mother, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And that's very, very difficult. So listen to me. Jesus is not anti family. He's pro family. Family was his idea.
But here's the problem. For some of you, the number one person against your faith is your own family. In CS Lewis's scary book, The Great Divorce, which is not about marriage. The Great Divorce is about heaven and hell. People being divorced from God forever.
There's this scene that I will never forget where this young man is stepping in to heaven for the very first time and his own mother is demanding of him that if he truly loved her, he would walk out of heaven and come with her to hell. Wow. I'll never forget that. That's what broken love does. Broken love says it's all about me.
Perfect love says it's all about God. And oftentimes, our parents, even though they did their best, if they're not careful, they will cause us to fall in love with anything and everything but God. For some of you, you're dating someone right now and you love them more than any other person in the world. But listen to me, are the greatest enemy to your faith. And Jesus may be calling you to break that off today because you're not strong enough to love them and Jesus.
You will end up hating one and loving the other. For some of us, it's our own kids. You worship your children. Listen, you're to love your children but you're to worship God. He is to be first and foremost.
But here's the thing I want you to know, Jesus did not come to bring peace, he came to bring a sword and there is a fight here and you have to decide which side are you on. And you can't say, I'm Switzerland, there is no Switzerland. There's Satan's side and there's Jesus' side. Sometimes a person's enemies will be those in his own household. I want you to think about that.
Which side are you on? Now if that sounds harsh, if that sounds rough, if you feel like well, I don't feel like a loving God would ever set family against family, son against father, mother against daughter. If you don't believe that you've never truly loved something. I wanna show you a picture of me and my grandson, think they have it available. That's that's last Sunday in between services and he's pondering the theology that I just brought to our church.
But let me tell you something, is it wrong or sinful for me to wanna protect him? What if somebody kidnapped him? Can I go Old Testament on that person? Can I go can I get an amen? Like I am going after that person.
I would readily lay down my life without a thought I would die to save him. Here's the thing, his parents are wonderful. I love my son-in-law and I love my daughter. But what if they were the threats to his life? I would do whatever I could to save him from them and here's the thing, sometimes that happens on earth.
The people that are supposed to protect you are the very ones that are threatening the eternal destination of your soul. And God is willing to fight for you even if that means it's against mom, even if that means it's against dad, even if that means it's against brother or sister. Whoever is in the way of saving your soul, Jesus says I'll go right through them. I will go right through him. And I want you to think about that.
That's how much souls matter to God. So let me ask you, have you ever fought for someone's soul? The apostle Paul says this, he says, fight the good fight of faith. Right? There's stupid fights and then there's good fights.
When's the last time you fought the good fight? When's the last time you you fought for your marriage? Listen to me, if you're married and you're not praying for your marriage, you're not fighting for your marriage. Tammy and I were driving from the airport yesterday coming getting ready to leave Denver and come back and I saw a billboard and it was lawyers and it says this, divorce only ends marriage. It doesn't have to end your family.
And I thought, what? What is that? Divorce wrecks everything and everyone that is loved in the context of that marriage. Well, if you don't pray for your marriage, you're not fighting for your marriage. Men, think about the world that you're sending your kids out into.
If you don't pray for your kids, you're not fighting for your kids. Listen to me, single people, if you're not praying for your future spouse, if that's what you want, then you're not fighting for your future spouse. You need to be contending for the faith and we must pray. Ephesians six twelve, look at this verse. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, the problem is not people.
We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities. Listen to this, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. I'm gonna tell you something I've never told anyone and I was convicted about this this morning. Every single week when I drive here to preach to you, 40 about 40,000 people a week hear this message when I preach. Every single week on the way when I leave my house, I get in my car and I drive here to the studio, my throat begins to tighten.
And I just I just naively have just said, you know, it's allergies. It's our beautiful Riverside air. Can I get an amen? But do you know something I've noticed? It never happens any other time except when I'm about ready to preach.
And you know what I did today? I said, Jesus, I want you to remove whatever has its hands on my throat. And I want you to rebuke it in Jesus name. Think about that. I'm your pastor and I just blindly am saying it's allergies.
Blindly saying it's phlegm. God just blessed me with phlegm, you know. But I noticed it only happens about halfway here from my house and I can feel this. Something is impressing upon me because here's the thing, something knows this is a battle. You think this is just church.
You think this is just good for your family. Something knows that people can be delivered, souls can be saved, and he will lose people if the gospel is preached. And so what does he try to do? He tries to silence the voice of the preacher. And I want every one of you to know that's never shared your faith, you've given in to that hand.
You've been silenced. It has choked your faith out of your mouth. We don't fight against people the next time you're on Facebook, I have to respond to this. Listen, we're fighting for souls. We're fighting for souls.
Tammy and I this week we were in Colorado Springs and I was with a group of pastors together and one of the pastors was retiring. Forty seven years preaching. Forty seven years. Like some of you can't even imagine being that old. He's been preaching for that long and he's getting ready to retire.
And he was begging us begging us as preachers fight the good fight, remain in the race, don't give in, don't give up, don't have an affair, don't blow up your marriage, don't blow up your church, fight the good fight, finish the race. Listen to what Paul says in second Timothy. He says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith.
I've been your pastor for almost twenty eight years. I have watched pastors come and go. I've watched some of them remain in the faith and I have watched some of them walk away from their faith. And you know why that is? Because it's a battle and there are casualties in war.
And what people lose is their faith. I wanna ask you on your deathbed, will you be able to say, I fought not like hell, I fought like heaven to save souls. I fought like heaven to save souls. This pastor as he's retiring, he showed us a video that he played at his church of how he got saved. You know, I got saved in the seventies, they used have this thing called bus ministry.
I kid you not young people. Churches just just show up on with buses and tell families, we'll take them. And in the seventies, they're like, what could go wrong? Take them, you know. I can't be can you imagine just some weirdo on a bus?
We'll take your kids for a couple hours and bring them back okay. But this man pulled up to a house and there was a young man there, and he said, yes. And he came to church and gave his life to Christ. And this pastor has preached and and celebrated. He he's written books that have sold millions of copies.
Do you know why? Because somebody shared their faith. And so when he retired, guess who he brought up? This little old man in a cowboy hat. It was so cool.
The guy must have been 170. I don't know. But you know what he did? He thanked that man because his parents weren't Christians, they didn't go to church. And he said, you saved my soul.
And because of you, there will be thousands upon thousands in heaven. Listen to me everybody that works with kids. You wanna change the world, change a kid's life. Change a kid's life. Next, Jesus is inviting me to join him in this fight.
Here's the thing, the the world wants you to fight for everything. It wants you to fight for our environment. They wanna They want you to fight for, you know, sexual freedom in every area. They want you to fight for women's rights. They want you to fight for their political, you know, preference.
Here's what Jesus wants you to do. He wants you to join him in his fight for souls. That's what he wants. And so many of us even as Christians are distracted and we think we will win the fight through politics. Listen to me, that's the devil's scheme.
And I'm not saying politics don't matter, but they're not souls. We need to join Jesus in his fight, in his fight. Remember when they tried to make Jesus king, you know what he did? He's like, no, no, no, no, no. Not running for election.
That's what he said. Matthew ten thirty seven to 39. Look at this. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. These these are harsh words.
Whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And some of you say, well, I don't I don't understand this pastor Matt. I don't understand how a good God could ever ask me to love him more than my mom, to love him more than my dad, to love him more than my wife, to love him more than my husband, then you don't understand his love.
Listen to me, this is an invitation to battle. God forbid, Trump does not make peace with Russia. God forbid, and we have to go to war. Young men and young women in our country will have to make a decision and here's the decision, do they love this country more than their own life? This is a battle cry.
Jesus is saying, join me in the fight. You gotta come and fight. You gotta step up. You gotta join this. If you truly want me, you have to be willing to say no to yourself.
You have to love me more than your mama. That's what a soldier says when they go off to war. I love this country more than you mom. I love this country more than you dad. I love this country more than my family, more than my right to get married, more than my right to have children.
This is battle language. Come and join me Jesus says. And this is why the world does not understand our convictions about sexuality, our conviction about tithing, our conviction about church attendance because we have so lowered the bar to join his army. Jesus says come and die. And we've all said, well, kind of agree.
You know. You know, I'll fight as long as I can sit my latte, you know, from the back, you know. Jesus wants you to know, listen to me, this is all out war. And listen to me, it will cost his life and it may cost yours. This is battle language.
So when you read this, you're like, oh, this is sound like the loving kind gentle Jesus. Listen to me. When you have a fight and you have a general, do you want him to be like, they're kinda nice. I think they're care bears or do you want him to be like, let's go. Jesus is a general here.
This is the Jesus of Revelation who has a tattoo on his side of his leg that's, you know, his robe is dripped in blood and he attacks the armies of hell and is victorious. And he's saying, I want you on my team. But here's what he's saying, you're either on my team or you're on the other team. Matthew sixteen eighteen, we're gonna get to this in a couple weeks but I want you to hear this language. I will build my church Jesus says, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
This is not a defensive strategy. This is an offensive charge. What he says church is we are going at hell, we are going at Satan and I don't care how strong their defenses is. I don't care how strong their gates are, we're breaking through. We're breaking through and we need to be about this.
We need to take ground. So many churches I I have pastors all the time. I don't understand why Sandals has to have so many locations because we are called to take ground. We will not give up any other ground to California, any other ground to hell. This is God's country, this is God's state and we're gonna win it for Jesus, amen?
Amen. Come on. Man, here's the thing, People they don't apologize for anything. You noticed people believe crazy stuff? Crazy stuff and they're all bold about it.
Why can't you be bold? You got the right God, you're on the right team, you got the right message. First Timothy one eighteen, Paul writes these words to a young pastor. He says, Timothy, my son, here are my instructions for you. Okay.
So when we come to church and we have decided to become a disciple, these are God's instructions for our life. This is God's manual for living. Listen to what Paul says, based on the prophetic words spoken about you earlier, may they help you fight well in the Lord's battles. Now he's not talking about marriage is hard, kids are hard, the 91 Freeway is hard. He's talking about you have to wage war, and you have to do so carefully.
The smallest book in your New Testament is Jude. It's one chapter. I wanna read very carefully one verse. This is the brother of Jesus. Listen what he says, Jude one three, dear friends, although I was very eager to write you about the salvation we share.
Here's what he's saying, I wanted to teach you some amazing things about Jesus. However, I felt compelled to write to you and urge you to contend for the faith. That word contend means to win over against. He's saying you gotta fight for your faith. You gotta fight for your faith.
Listen to me, if you're a college student, don't just want you to survive college, I want you to thrive at college and share your faith. I want you to share your faith. And here's the thing you say, well, couldn't do that. Let me tell you something. I was in college once in 1854.
You know what I'm saying? I was in college. I had a professor write on the board. Satan is not real. I laughed.
I laughed. He says, you believe in you believe in Satan? I said, Jesus does and that's good enough for me. That professor gave me a d and I told my parents stands for dynamic. But here's the thing, college students don't be afraid to confront a stupid professor.
Now maybe don't do it the way I did it. Maybe you get a c stands for Christ. But here's the thing, you've got to contend for your faith. You've got to contend. Listen what he says, I felt compelled to write you and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to who?
You. You. If we don't preach it, who will? If we don't teach it, who will? If we don't gather and worship for God, who will?
It's you, there is no plan b. And so what Jude says is I gotta write to you, I gotta remind you, you are the warriors, you are the team, you are the army. So start fighting, not against people, for people's souls. For people's souls. Next Jesus challenges me to support my spiritual leaders in this fight.
Listen what he says, Matthew ten forty through 42. Whoever receives you receives me. Now, remember who he's talking to, the 12. Remember Melody's sermon a couple of weeks ago, the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few, pray to the Lord to send out harvesters into his field. And then my sermon, he selects the 12 then last week he sends them out as sheep amongst wolves.
And then here's what he says to them. Whoever receives you receives me. Listen to this, whoever receives you receives me and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. Listen very carefully and pray about these words because most Christians forget this. The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward.
Amen. Listen to me. When you hear God's word coming out of somebody's mouth and you bless that person as a prophet of God, here's what God says, I'm a bless you. Amen. Listen what he says.
Jesus goes on because he knows we're slow. And the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. Listen to me very carefully Sandals Church. You may not be a pastor but on the day of judgment, if you honored your pastor, you loved your pastor, you prayed for your pastor, here's what Jesus is saying, you will receive his reward. But if you came against him, if you criticized him, if you belittled him, if you gossiped him, listen to me, you don't have a problem with your pastor, you have a problem with your Lord.
And whoever Jesus says gives one of these little ones, that's how much confidence Jesus has in me. Matt, he's a little guy. Why are you guys laughing? That hurts, know. And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple.
Truly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. Now listen, kids are important, children are important, kids ministry is important, but the little ones here are pastors. The little ones here are preachers. The little ones here are missionaries. And here's what Jesus is saying.
He's saying, listen to me, don't mess with the leaders on my team, support them, pray for them, encourage them. What happens to an army that shoots its leaders? That army loses. Tammy and I were at a pastor's conference this week and I gotta tell you, I prayed with pastor after pastor and pastor's wife after pastor's wife and they wanna get out of the ministry and here's why, not because of God but because of God's people. One woman with tears in her eyes, she said, God's people are so mean.
Aren't you glad we're sheep and not wolves? Amen. You know what I'm saying? Can you imagine if we're getting bit by wolves in the church? It broke my heart.
I was so heartbroken about how some of God's people treat their pastors. And I know I know you're gonna send me an email and tell me about this pastor who makes this money and this pastor has a private jet and this pastor who's done this. Listen to me very carefully. Two to 4% in every profession of people are bad. Two to 4% of cops, two to 4% of doctors, two to 4% of politicians and preachers are evil.
But listen to me, overwhelming majority 95, 96% of pastors are God fearing good people that need your support. Amen? That's what they need. So instead of throwing darts, why not say prayers? I remember one time I was in the lobby of our church, and a guy came up with a water bottle.
I said, oh, maybe I'm gonna get a couple of cold water just like Jesus said. And then I noticed there was no water in it. And he just started crunching the water bottle in anger as he was so angry at me. And I even after our conversation, I didn't know why. One time a lady came up to me with a cup of cold water, I kid you not, and dumped it over my head in the lobby.
And she said, don't want you to get prideful. I'm not kidding. In front of our church poured water over my head. Look, I get it. Are some pastors arrogant?
Yes. And God will deal with them. But don't get in the position where God has to deal with you. So here's the question. What can I do to support my pastoral leadership?
Okay. Here's the thing. Look at this. What can I do to support my pastoral leadership? Respect the position they hold and the work they do.
My grandson was born in January and here's the thing, he was born and he was not breathing. I watched the medical team at Kaiser Permanente scramble and they saved his life. I have never been more grateful for the position of medical professionals and the work they do than in that moment. How many of you have ever had a pastor, a minister, someone when your marriage was on the line, when you were a mess and they came in and they rescued you and they prayed for you and they saved you and you forgot to appreciate the profession and the work they do. Because here's the thing, it is not an easy job.
It is not an easy job. And here's the thing, people today, you you wanna know what they don't wanna be? Pastors, and I don't blame them. First Thessalonians five twelve through 13. Dear brothers and sisters honor those who are your leaders in the Lord's work.
They work hard among you and give you spiritual guidance. Listen to this, show them great respect and wholehearted love because of their work. Amen. Here's the thing is, I get it. There are idiot pastors out there, don't go to their church.
Don't go to their church. Go to a church with a good pastor, a godly pastor, someone who preaches the word of God, someone who calls sin sin, someone who calls people to salvation, go there, get involved there, pray there, support there, and get away from those Christians that are so holy that are holier than now who criticize everything God's doing. Next, give them the benefit of the doubt. Do you know how many emails I get about something we didn't do, someone we didn't call back, someone we didn't minister to, something that we didn't care about, something that we weren't involved in. Listen to me, every single prayer request that comes to our church goes through a computer system where we keep a record of who we call and who we don't.
And do you know how many times I get emails and text messages and and and and I run into people who say we didn't follow through and we did. Sometimes people lie. Now here's the thing, if you tell me we didn't follow-up, if we didn't call, if we didn't go, I'm gonna find out. And let me tell you something, I'm gonna be very upset as the pastor of this church if we said we would minister and we did not. But here's the thing, I would say 99.9% of the time we did and the hurting person is hurting.
They didn't get what they wanted but they were ministered to. They were ministered to. And here's the thing, when somebody says we didn't show, we didn't go, we didn't pray, that's almost always the devil. We did. We were there.
And if we weren't there, we'll get there. We'll get there. But here's the thing, be careful. Listen to what Paul says to Timothy. Look at this.
He says, do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses. Even when people cry, tears do not communicate the truth. Sometimes guilty people believe they're innocent. Be very, very careful. And here's the thing is, man, you're really convicted that we need to be ministering to more people, join us, become a minister and help us minister.
Right? Because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are what? Few. Next, find a way to support them in ministry. Find a way.
I get it, man. Life is tough. Life is difficult. I'm I know you have You don't have enough hours in the week, but you wanna know what you do have the exact same amount of hours the Lord Jesus did. Amen.
That is one way you are exactly like him. You have twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. Figure out a way to help support. First Timothy five seventeen, let the elders who rule well Now we don't use that language at our church. There's multiple words, you know, to describe leaders.
Why don't we use elders at Sandals Church? Because when I started this church, I was 27 and it felt weird to be called an elder. I didn't even have facial hair. Okay, you know what I'm saying? Shouldn't an elder have a beard?
Yes, I will in ten years. Okay, I looked 12 when I started this church. So we use the term pastor which is shepherd. Your sheep, I'm a shepherd. That's okay, not the shepherd, that's Jesus, I'm an under shepherd.
So but one of the words that Paul uses to describe pastors in the church is elders. Let the elders who rule well, do you see that word? Rule, I know you're like, I'm an American. Okay, pray about it. Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor.
I don't wanna preach this. I don't wanna say this. But my job is to preach the word of God whether it's comfortable for me or not. Pastors get criticized for making too much money rather than what the text says, they should make more money than they do. And I'm not looking for a raise, I'm taking care of.
I'm just saying this, when your pastor gets a new house, when your pastor buys a new car, celebrate it. Celebrate it. Pray for him. Praise God our pastor got a new station wagon. A minivan for the Messiah, come on baby.
Praise God that our church is able to take care of our pastors so they can afford a car that's safe. That they can afford a house to raise their kids in. Let me tell you something, We need to celebrate that. Okay. So consider an elder who rules where they have double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.
Why is that? That's the primary way God motivates and moves his church. The primary way God motivates and moves his church is through preaching. And we as a church, we need to celebrate that. We need to encourage that.
Because without preaching, churches sit and do nothing. But we need to be challenged. We need to be pressed. And we need to support our pastors. I'm on a church board, not for this church, but for other churches.
And I don't know why, but the guy who leads our board, he's a military guy. And so we have 7AM board meetings on Fridays on my day off. And I'm like, Lord, I'm just like your son Jesus being persecuted, you know, when I have to wake up and be a part of these board meetings. But this last week, was on this board meeting and we were praying for a church pastor in San Francisco. Think of all the places to go and plant a church.
And he was telling us of his hardships and his struggles. And here's what I said, what can sandals do to support you? I'm not there to criticize, I'm there to support. What can I do to support you? You tell me what we can do because we can do things as a 40,000 person church that somebody of 40 in San Francisco can't do.
What can we do to support you? And here's the thing that broke my heart. He said, can't believe that you would ask that because his experience is not from Christians. What can I do to support you? How can I give you a cup of cold water?
Because here's what I know. I know he's a prophet been placed in San Francisco. And when I bless him, when we bless him, guess what God does? He blesses me, he blesses you, he blesses us. How many of you want blessings?
I do. I do. Lastly, we're gonna close with this. And this is the most important thing. I I really wanna emphasize this.
Pray for them regularly. Pray for them. Man, I know some of you are in a financial place where you can't give to the church and here's the thing, God never asks for what you don't have ever. But we can all pray. We can all pray.
Look at Hebrews thirteen seventeen through 18, we're gonna close with this verse and then we're gonna pray for our leaders. Obey your spiritual leaders, there's that word again, you're like, I'm an American, can't do that, I get to vote. Okay, pray about obeying your spiritual leaders as an American. No, that's not what it says. Obey obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say.
Oh, that just some of you are like, I'm going to another church. Well, hope they preach on that next week at that church. Obey obey your spiritual leaders and do what they say. Why? Listen to me.
Because their work is to watch over your souls. And they are accountable to God. Here's why you need to pray for me because I'm gonna stand next to God and be judged for what I said, what I did, how I spent my money, how I led this church, how I led my family, whether or not I was faithful to my wife. I am going to stand before God as a messenger of God and I would like that judgment to be quick. So pray for me.
Look look at the ending of this. Give them reason to do this with joy. The number one research on church pastors is done by an organization called Barna. Most pastors are depressed and would leave the pastorate if they could. That's most.
Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. Listen what he says, and then he pivots and says pray for us, which is what we're gonna do. For our conscience is clear and we want to live honorably in everything we do. Don't you love Paul?
Man, I love him. So here's what I want you to pray for three things as we close. First one personal fire. You know what we can't have revival here if our pastors aren't on fire for God. Fire and revival starts with preachers.
You wanna know the last time we had a movement of God? The nineteen sixties and before that it was Billy Graham in the nineteen forties and both of them started with preachers preaching. We gotta have a fire in the pulpit and then there will be one in the pews. Pray to God to set our pastors on a good fire. Amen.
Not unlike a, you know, crazy terrorist fire. I have to qualify that nowadays. Next, would you do this? Would you pray for their families? I think the hardest job in the world is to be a pastor's wife.
My wife has lost friendships. She's had been she's been assaulted and just screamed at in public because of something I did or I said. Sometimes she didn't even know I said it. She didn't even know I did it. But she was confronted.
Pray for their kids. It is not an easy life. And then lastly, would you pray for their protection? Can I tell you something that I'm very proud of? We are a 28 year old church.
We have never lost one pastor to an affair or any kind of scandal. Amen? That okay. Listen to me. That that is not pride, that is the heavenly father's protection.
He has protected this church. He has protected this church. How many of you want him to continue protecting us? Amen? I do.
I do. So here's what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna ask all of our pastors and ministers in the room to please stand and we're gonna pray over them. And we're gonna ask the Lord to give them personal fire. We're gonna ask the Lord to protect their families.
Amen? And we're gonna ask the Lord to intercede for their wives and their kids. So would you guys all extend your hands as we pray? Heavenly Father, I just am so grateful that there are men and women in this church that have said no to careers and money and have said yes to your calling. And Lord, they serve us as ministers who will give an account for our souls.
Lord, bless their families, bless their marriages, protect their children, protect their wives, and let us be a church that comes alongside and says thank you. And whenever we can, we offer a cup of cold water. Lord, help us to be a church where pastors wanna flock to, move to because they know the people of Sandals Church care for their shepherds. They know that Sandals Church cares for their pastors. Lord, bless this church, give us a fire and let it start with our ors.
We pray in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: Now what a timely word for us as we think about what it means to be together as we fight the good fight and to support our spiritual leaders. And one thing I wanna do is we just call this service to a close is first to say thank you for being a part of the service today. But secondly, we would just love to know who you are and the ways that we can be supporting you. I would love to know if Sandals Church has served you and blessed you in our own leadership. And so send us a quick note at online at sandalschurch.com.
Grace and peace. We'll see you next week.
Morgan Teruel: Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandalschurch.com.