Zac Applegate: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Zach, and I'm part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We're so happy to have you join us today as we listen to this message with pastor Matt Brown teaching from our series, Big Fish. If If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: A couple of years ago, I took my son on a field trip. Any dads do that? Yes. Your hands need to be up, dads. It's a part of being a father is being miserable on a bus with stinky kids.
But we went to LA, and we went to a Jewish museum. She was introducing and talking about Jewish history. It was fantastic. And she said, emphatically, she said the Jewish people have never made proselytize. They've never tried to convert people to Judaism in their history.
And she said this with joy, and I went, excuse me. And, again, this is nothing against Jewish people. I worship a Jewish guy. His name's Jesus. Love my Jewish brothers and sisters.
They give us the scriptures. But I said, excuse me, ma'am. I said, what do you mean? Jews have never tried to win people to their faith. And she said, yeah.
That's not what it means to be a Jew. And I said, well, what about Jonah? And she just looked at me stunned. And she said, I've never thought about that. And so I thought how sad it is for a Jewish person to be teaching children about the Jewish faith and to miss the big picture of what it means to be Jewish.
And what it means to be Jewish is the same thing of what it means to be Christian. It's to share the good news of a loving God with the world. It's to try to make converts. But here's why in a political series, we're in a series called big fish. Because if you miss Jonah and you miss the big fish, you miss the big picture of what God wants to do with your life.
In Proverbs 2918, where there is no vision, the Bible says, the people perish. And this is what can happen to your faith. You can be devoted to your faith, but if you don't have a vision for your life, you're gonna perish and you're gonna lose God's will for your life. So I wanna ask you today, what is God's vision for your life? You see, a lot of times in a political series, we think about what's God's will for America.
Let's take a step back and ask, what's God's will for your life? What is his vision for your life? Because his vision for your life is a lot like his vision for Jonah's life. And if we miss the big fish, we miss the big picture, and we miss the big opportunity to be an example of who God's called us to be during these very, very difficult times in our country. So God's vision for my life listen to this.
This is the big picture. This is the big fish of Jonah is to learn to value people like he does. Now you say amen, but that's hard. How many of you have some people you don't like? Raise your hands.
Come on, be honest. If your hand's not up, they're sitting next to you. But we all have people we don't like. And here's the thing. We are in a country right now that is very divided.
Half our country really doesn't like Donald Trump. Half our country really doesn't like Kamala Harris. What's gonna happen? I don't know. But if we as a church don't learn to love people we don't like, how are we any different?
And this is what happened to Jonah. You see, in Jonah's time, they had a political enemy. They were the Ninevites, not good people, not terrible people, disgusting people, cruel people, evil people, mean people. Right? So it would be God's will to destroy them, to smite them, to wipe them off the face of the earth.
You see, if you don't know Jonah, you don't know God. In Jonah chapter 1 verses 1 through 2, this is the first book and the only book in the Bible that begins with these words. The Lord gave his message. It's the only book that begins with and the word of the Lord said. Many of the books in the Bible begin with a character name or a verb to describe what's supposed to happen.
Jonah begins with this. This is God's word, and we need to remember that because this is the big picture of God's big heart for people. He says to Jonah, now get up and go to the great city city of Nineveh. At this time, it was most likely the capital of Assyria, who, by the way, was Israel's great enemy, who did not wish Israel peace and love and happiness and hope. And listen to what he says.
He says, announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are. Now let's pause there because every single English translation interprets these words in the most negative light possible. Announce my judgment against them. That's not actually what the Hebrew says. The Hebrew says, go and preach over them.
The word translated against is actually over. Preach over them, listen to this, that I have become aware of their wickedness. This is what Jonah's message is, not I hate you, but I see you. I see you. What if as a church, instead of saying I hate you, we said I see you?
God sees you, and God wants to give you an opportunity to repent. And you say, well, pastor Matt, you don't know what the other side is doing. Well, let me tell you what the Ninevites were doing. You know what the Ninevites would do to people? Just for fun, cut off their lips.
Just for fun and make them speak. Cut off their hands and make them try to eat. The Ninevites were famous for skinning people alive. They were wicked. They were evil.
They were arrogant. They were terrible. And they were Israel's greatest, listen to me, political threat. And yet God said reach him. God said reach him.
Ezekiel 3311, another scary book in the Bible. Here's what God says. As surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord listen to this. I take no pleasure in the death of wicked people. Now sometimes, I wanna take a little pleasure.
Amen. I'm like I'm like, Lord, just, you know, just kill them. I mean, you ever had a day on the 91 freeware? You're like, smite them. Smite them.
I mean, that's what road rage is. Road rage is, I'm God. You're just a little thing tick in my way, and I'm gonna take care of you. Here listen to what God says in Ezekiel. I only want them to turn from their wicked ways so they can live.
Listen to me, Sandals Church. People are the big fish. We catch people. What kind of people? All kinds of people.
All kinds of people. Man, it's amazing what god can do as a church if we just let down our nets again and trust god. And so many people say America's too far gone. Well, no. No.
Maybe our hearts have grown too cold. In Luke 5 10 through 11, Jesus told Simon, he says, don't be afraid. From now on, you will be fishing for people. That's the big fish. That's the story.
And as soon as they landed, guess what Peter did? He left everything, and he followed Jesus. So let me tell you what we do at Sandals Church. K? We catch people, all people.
Gay people, straight people, republicans, democrats, atheists, Buddhists. You name it, we catch people. The next thing we do is we pray for people. 1 Timothy 2:1-four. Listen to what Paul says.
I urge you. I urge you. God's not gonna make you do this, but he says I urge you. First of all, to pray for all people. If you're a Democrat, that means Republicans.
If you're a Republican, that means Democrats. If you're a Californian, pray for all our politicians. They're nuts. I don't know what they're doing, but pray for them. Ask God to help them.
Amen. Does Sacramento need help? Yeah. I think so. I think so.
Unless their goal is to have hyperdormic needles on every beach. It's a problem. We have a problem. And what we need to do as a church is figure out how can we unite together on issues that affect all of us, not just my own issues. Ask God to help them.
Do they need help? Yes. Intercede on their behalf. Listen to this. And give thanks for them.
Oh, that's gonna be hard. That's gonna be hard. That's right. Listen to this. Pray this way for kings and all or who in authority.
K? Why? So that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases god, our savior. Listen to this.
Who wants everyone to be saved and understand the truth? So I wrote a letter yesterday, 2 letters. 1, praying for Donald Trump if he's president, and I'm gonna read it to you after the week of January 6th. There's some specific things I think he needs to change about the way he leads. I wrote another letter for Kamala Harris.
And if she wins, there's some specific things I hope she'll change as our leader. Because either way, here's what we need to do as a church. God is aware of who won. Do you think God's in heaven going, I wonder. I wonder.
I don't know. The polls I don't Jesus is like, look. The polls say in this swing state, and the Lord's like, I know. I just wish I knew what was gonna happen.
Morgan Teruel: Hey, everybody. Thank you for being a part of Sandals Church online today. Before we continue on in the message, we just wanna take a moment to invite you to be a part of the work that God is doing here at Sandals Church by going to give dot sc. For now, let's continue on into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: When we all go to the polls, Jesus and the father aren't eating popcorn going, I wonder how this is gonna work out. Now that doesn't mean we shouldn't vote. And here's what breaks my heart. 40% of Christians in the state of California don't vote. 40%.
Like, part of the reason Sacramento's a mess is you're not helping change it. So I wanna encourage you. I'm never gonna tell you how to vote, but I'm gonna tell you you should vote. And that's important because these people decide the future of our lives. And if you don't believe me, go back to 2020 when you couldn't work, you couldn't go out to eat, and you had to stay in your house.
These people can make or break our future. So vote. But what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna pray for either because that's what God's called me to do. Now here's the thing. Is it always easy to do what god asks you to do?
No. If my wife ever wants to win an argument, all she has to do is, are you my pastor or my husband right now? And I know I've already lost. Because what she's saying is, are you gonna actually practice what you preach? Right now, when you're upset, when you feel unheard, when you feel unseen.
You see, god's vision for my life is to learn to see people like he sees people. He cares about people. Next, God's vision for my life is to see how quickly I run from his commands. Man. Do you know all 10 commands begin with a negative, the famous 10 commandments?
Don't, don't, don't, don't. And do you know why that is? Because we do, do, do, do. Couple of years ago, we were on a pastoral retreat. And I was walking up the pier on Malibu, and there was a a swimsuit model with her g string, you know.
And I I don't know if this helps what was what she was doing. But I was in the lead. I'm the lead pastor, the big fish. And I saw all of her cheeks, all of her glory, and I turned back to all of our pastors, every one of them. And I said, don't look left.
What do you think they all did? That's how we are as Christians. God says go right, we go left. God says go left, we go right. And then we complain to God why our lives aren't blessed.
So God said, the word of the Lord came to Jonah. Listen to the commandment. Arise and go to Nineveh. Jonah chapter 1 verse 3. Or let's call this Matthew Brown chapter 1 verse 3.
But Matthew got up and went in the opposite direction. Anybody raising a child? You take your child to the outlet. Don't put your fingers in here. I must, father.
He went the opposite way, listen to this, to get away from the Lord. He went down to the port of Joppa where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. So let me explain this. If you don't know where Nineveh is, it's Iraq. And if you don't know where Tarshish is, it's Spain.
So that's like the Lord telling you Californians, go to Catalina and you get on a plane to New York. He found a ship leaving for Tarshish. Now think about this. He's fleeing the lord. That means he's gotta sell his house.
He's gotta sell his stuff. He's gotta take all of his possessions. He's gotta liquefy everything to get out of town to get away from god. He bought a ticket and he went on board, hoping to escape the Lord by sailing to Tarshish. Man.
Luke 6:46 says this. So why do you keep calling me lord, lord when you don't do what I say? Do you know what's wrong with America? It's not the wicked people. It's the godly people.
2nd Chronicles 714 doesn't say, when the wicked people finally repent, God will bless the earth. 2nd Chronicles 714 says, when my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, I will hear from heaven and heal their land. Stop expecting wicked people to live like Christians when Christians live like wicked people. Come on. Listen to me, Sandals.
So many of you are so pro life. Prove it, serving kids ministry. Prove it. You care about kids. You care about single moms who made the right choice.
Help raise their kid. Help raise their kid. Because for a lot of us, righteousness is marking a box, and we feel like we've done something today. You know what righteousness is? Coming alongside a mom and said, okay.
Maybe you made a mistake. Maybe you connected with a guy who's not great. But you know what? You made the right choice, and I'm gonna come alongside you. And I'm gonna help you raise this kid.
Amen? That's righteousness. That's righteousness. It's making room for people who've committed acts of wickedness who wanna make a change. That's what the church is.
What does Ezekiel say? God doesn't want the wicked people to die. He takes no pleasure in their death. He wants them to live. Let me tell you what sin does.
Sin destroys. God helps you live.
Zac Applegate: Amen. That's right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: That's God's vision. That's God's vision. God's vision, and you need to listen to me some of you, who've been running from God. God's vision for my life is to know that he will do whatever it takes to reach me. And sometimes, what he does is a little scary.
And some of you right now, I don't know what you've been doing. I don't know where you've been, but you've been running from God. But I want you to hear me. If he sent Jesus to preach in hell, then he will have no problem sending a storm to preach to you. And I hear Christians all the time say, well, God would never send anything difficult our way.
Have you read Jonah? And let me say, wait till next week. The storm is just the start. It's just the start. That's just the beginning.
Next week, Jonah will wish he drowned in the storm. God will do whatever it takes. Listen to me. God will risk your life to save your soul. He'll do it.
I've seen it over and over and over again. Some of you are running from God. I have news for you. You can't. You can't run from God.
You can't run from him. Jonah 1:4 through 6, but the Lord hurled. Now this Hebrew word, it amazed me. It's the same verb that is used to describe someone throwing a spear. I just want you to look at your life.
And God says go left and you run right. And the Lord's like, do you think I could get him? Do you think I could get him? Do you think do you think I could get him? Like, the Lord is the best Monday night quarterback in the history of the world, And you're just running.
And Jesus is like, dad, you got this. You got this. And you're just like kaboom. You can outrun God. You cannot hide from God.
There's nowhere you can go where he isn't. Turn the lights off. He sees. Go to Vegas. He sees.
But the lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea causing a violent storm. I wonder if what you're going through is happening to bring you back, to bring you back. And let me say this about America. We may have to go through a violent storm to bring us back. I don't want that.
That's why I'm urging you. That's why I'm urging you to vote, but that may have to happen for us to come back. And if you don't believe me, read what God does to Israel over and over and over again
Zac Applegate: That's right.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: In the Bible. He caused a violent storm that threatened to break the ship apart. Man, Jonah made a bad choice. Jonah's a Jew. Not a lot of great swimmers in Israel.
They got one lake, Sea of Galilee. It's not a sea. I've been there. It's a lake. He's not a great swimmer.
He just made a real bad choice. He got on a boat. Doesn't even have a motor. Not even a motor boat. It's a sailboat.
The lord's like, I got them. Fearing for their lives, the desperate sailor shouted, listen to this, to their gods for help. Isn't it interesting that nonreligious people often wake up sooner than religious people? Isn't it crazy? Like, your neighbor's never been to church, aren't right with God.
Their lives blow blow up. They're like, we need Jesus. You, a Christian, a follower of Jesus, you bet there's a storm all around you, and you're like, I don't know what's going on here. And Jesus is like, I do. Listen to this.
And they threw the cargo overboard. Do you know what storms help us? They help us identify what really matters. What's really important? When you're diagnosed with cancer, you don't care what kinda couch you have in your living room.
It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. When you lose your health, do you know what happens with all that stress at your job? It just doesn't matter. All the idiots at your work, you're just like, it's okay.
Because you don't care anymore because you realize what's important. They threw it all away. All their cargo, all their load. This is all their wealth. They don't care.
But I want you to hear this. But at this time, Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold. I wonder if this is where the American church is. America is facing an incredible storm. The world, I don't know if you've noticed, it's on fire.
It's on fire. We got problems everywhere. Problems everywhere. And we got Christians internally fighting. We got Americans pointing the finger.
We got the left who thinks the right is the greatest enemy. We got people on the right who think the left's the greatest enemy. And we have the most people in the world, China, over a 1000000000 people, who have the largest peacetime buildup of an army since Germany in the 19 thirties. And what are we doing? We're sleeping.
We're sleeping. And we don't realize what the big issue really is. And, again, I'm not talking about Chinese people. I'm talking about their government. Their government.
And we're just right? I want you to just run through all your top issues. Is living one of them? Is live where is living on the ballot? Because I've not heard anybody say a thing about that.
Anybody heard about our debt? I watched the presidential debate. Not one mention of $30,000,000,000,000 in debt. Not one mention. I promise you if our sandals, if our church was 1,000,000,000,000 in debt, that's all I'd be talking about today.
That's it. That's the only issue. Not one mention of the really important stuff, but a lot of nasty name calling, eye rolling, contorting of faces. Because the church is asleep. The church has been asleep.
Listen to me. I I want you to hear me. A lot of you a lot of you are pro life. That's great. Neither platform has signed off on that.
That's a problem. Our country has moved so so far away from God. It it's a problem. We've been asleep. My wife and I, we went to a political event and she asked me because I was a poli sci major when I was in college.
She asked me, she said, do you feel like this was supposed to be your life? Do you feel like you're supposed to be up there? And I said, no. The lord saved me from that. The lord delivered me from that.
The lord's called me here. The lord's called you here. Listen to this. So the captain of the ship went down after him. Isn't that interesting?
We got one believer on the ship. He's asleep. The captain says, go wake him up. And he said this. How can you sleep at a time like this?
And let me say this to you. How can you sleep at a time like this? I've been in California my whole life. I have never seen anything like this. When I was a youth kid in in in the eighties, we had to go look for a homeless person to minister to them.
Now they come to you like the day of the dead. Right? They're everywhere. They're everywhere. And some of you guys are just like, I'm gonna move further and further and further away from the problem until there is nowhere else to move.
Wake up. Stop sleeping. Get involved Because Sacramento has gone insane. Insane. And we need to be a part of saying, hey, look.
It's not left or right. What's the right thing to do? Let's just do that. What's the best decision for the most people? Let's let's do that.
He says, get up and pray to your god. Isn't that interesting? Do you know what Californians, if they knew what to do, they would tell the church, get up and pray to your god. Wake up and pray to your god. Stop complaining.
Stop whining. Get up and pray to your god. There's so many of you old people in our church. And and and if you have a gray hair, I'm talking to you. Stop complaining about kids and work on volunteer on Wednesday nights and help change the world.
Get up. Get up and pray to your god. Make a difference. Maybe the reason the kid wants to be a cat is they don't know about Christ. Maybe that's the reason.
Get up and pray to your god. Listen to what he says. Maybe he'll pay attention to us and spare our lives. Now this is one of the things I want you to notice. This is an important, important verse.
Because in Jonah, both the captain of the ship and the king of of Nineveh repent, hoping, and praying for God's goodness. And we miss this oftentimes as the church. You see, God sends storms to wake us up. I'm not praying for this. I'm not hoping for this.
But the week before 911, we had a low attendance Sunday at Sandals Church. The week after 911, we had no room to take in all the people who came to church. Because when those towers fell, a lot of Americans woke up, and they went, oh. Oh. And it was a life changing event.
Now the problem with that is, now for most young people today, that's just history. That's right. It's not a part of their story. I hope and pray that's not what it takes to wake us up, but that may be what it does take. And we got all of us worrying about all these all all these trivial things.
God wants to wake the church up. God wants to wake you up. God wants to wake me up. Next, God's vision for my life is to to discover who I really am. Anybody made some bad choices in here?
Yeah. That's how you discover who you are. I'm watching my kids. They're all in their twenties now. And I I thought teenage years were tough.
But as I'm reflecting, I remember what it was like to be in my early twenties. Thinking you're an adult but not being able to pay for anything like an adult is very, very difficult. And and and thank God I was able, and this is nothing on our young people. I know it's different and times are different. But one of the things that helped me to grow up was getting married and having kids and learning to have a passion and responsibility for more than me.
That really helped me grow up. But I told Tammy, it was in my twenties where I really discovered who I was, And I discovered who I was through my mistakes. And I went, oh, that's not me. That's not me. In Jonah 17, it says, then the crew cast lots.
Now if you don't know what this is, we're not exactly sure, but it's some kind of, I would say, dice throwing, but it really wasn't dice. It was stones with certain things painted on them. But it would be very, very similar to us throwing dice. And when they would throw dice, the dice would signal this person, not that person, this person, not that person. And so they would throw these lots to see which of them had offended the gods.
Now here's the crazy thing that had caused the terrible storm. They knew this is not a normal storm. We got nonbelievers that just said, you know, somebody from heaven threw this at us and caused this terrible storm. When they did this, listen to this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit. The Bible doesn't say that you shouldn't practice magic because it's not true.
It says you shouldn't practice it because it's dangerous. We don't know what demons know. We don't know what the spiritual world knows, and God is trying to protect us from that. But let me tell you something. I was at high school.
I was a junior in high school, and I was at a party when I first started drinking. And I was trying to be cool, and I was trying to pretend I was something I wasn't. And somebody brought out a Ouija board. How many of you guys know what a Ouija board is? I I was a Baptist kid.
I didn't know what it the ouija or however you say it. The ojai. I didn't know how to pronounce it. And they started playing a Ouija board, and there was another girl from my church that was playing. And I knew enough.
Right? I was Christian enough to know, yeah, I'm not gonna play that, but I didn't leave. And then one of the kids said, Matt, it keeps spelling your name, m a t m a t. And I thought it was a joke. And then one of the girls from my church looked at me with tears in her eyes, and she said, Matt, I'm not moving this.
It's calling you out. And I left that day. I left. So I want you to see this. They're they're throwing these stones.
Who is this? Who did this? And the stones say, Jonah. Jonah. And they look at Jonah.
Why has this awful storm come down on us? They demanded. Listen to this. Who are you? Who are you?
What is your line of work? Man, how many of you go to work every day and nobody knows you're a Christian? Nobody knows that you're a follower of Jesus? Nobody knows that you go to Sandals Church and there are people all around you. They're going through a divorce.
Their marriage is on the rocks. Their kids are struggling with with some kind of addiction, and you just go to work every single day, head down, keeping to myself, and no one knows who you are. Now I'm not saying walk around work, you're going to hell, you're going to hell, you're going. That's not what I'm saying. With your t shirt turn or burn, that's not what I'm talking about.
But I'm talking about, do people know who you are? When I was getting my haircut today, I was sitting in there. Do you know what the manager of my place said? He said, good to see you, pastor. I'm glad you're here.
He said it in front of everybody. I want people to know who I am. People should know who you are. Good to see you here, Christian. I'm glad you came today.
Good to see you here, believer. I'm glad you're in here today. Good to see you here today, follower of Jesus. I'm glad you're here today. Do people know who you are?
And he says, what country are you from? What is your nationality? Wow. Isn't it amazing how things get political so fast? When Donald Trump first ran for office, he was running against Hillary Clinton, and I was in India.
It was 2 in the morning. I had a 3:30 AM flight from Mumbai to Germany and Germany to LA. And if you know anything about these international flights, it doesn't matter what time it says it's taking off. It's gonna be a while. K?
That's just, you know, that's just the way it is in other parts of the world. You just hope that it's on the day that your ticket says. So I show up to the airport, and I go through security, and a police officer in uniform, military uniform comes up to me, and he waves me over. And they take me in the back. They take me in a dark room.
They sit me down on a table. They open all of my bags. All of my things are open, and they bring in the spotlight, and they shine it in my face. And the guy asked me this question. He says, what do you think of Donald Trump?
Donald Trump's not even the president yet. He's still running. And I said, what do you think of Donald Trump? Because whatever you think is what I think. Because I wanna go home.
And I'm sitting there thinking, how am I gonna explain to my wife that I'm in a prison in India because of Trump? And I got through that. Thank God. I thank God I was a little clever, and he just wanted to talk, and then he let me go. And it didn't matter because the flight was, like, 7 hours late, so I was fine.
But do you know what storms do? Storms reveal the real you. I wish that wasn't true. You get married, you're so in love on your wedding day. That's not the real you.
You're not a princess. You're not a prince. I don't care if you rented a carriage. I did a wedding once. The gal came in on a carriage for, like, a half a mile.
Their marriage lasted 6 months. I was like, there's a problem in the kingdom. Do you know who you really are? You really are who you really are when you haven't slept, when you're upset at each other, and you're not being heard, and you're wondering if you need to leave. That's you.
That's you. Moms, you're not who you are when you're holding the baby and they smell so good. It's when there's vomit all over you. There's urine on your leg and it's not yours. And it's 3 in the morning, and you gotta get up and go to work at 6, and you haven't slept.
That's the real you. Storms bring about the real us. You're not the real you when you're giving to the lord because he's been so good to you this year. You're the real you when you write that tithe check and you say, man, I don't I don't know where this is coming from, but lord, here you go. Storms reveal the real us.
Jonah answered, I'm a Hebrew. I'm a Hebrew. And I worship the lord, god of heaven, who made the sea and the land. The storm helped remind him of who he is. Now here's the good news.
Here's the great news. Some of you are like, wow, blowing it, pastor. Me too. Me too. God's vision for my life is to know he can still use me even after I've blown it.
Amen? Come on. Let's clap for that. If you're not dead, your story isn't over. God said go left, Jonah went right.
Right? He sold everything, he flew from the Lord, he wanted nothing to do with the Lord. Now let's give Jonah a little credit here. God didn't say preach to the Israelites about Nineveh. Right?
God didn't say type a nicely worded letter of rebuke on the Internet on Facebook to Nineveh. A lot of your other prophets in your bibles, that's what they get to do. They get to write a letter to the Jews condemning other nations. God said, oh, no, no. You're not gonna post a Facebook message.
Oh, no, no, no. This isn't an Instagram live. You're gonna go live and preach against the wicked people who skin people alive. And Jonah was like, I don't think so. You gotta give Jonah a little credit because God was asking Jonah to do something extraordinary.
The sailors were terrified when they heard this, for they had already for he had already told them, listen, that he was running away from the Lord. And this is crazy. Non Christians, oh, why did you do it? Why would you do that? And since the storm was getting worse all the time, they asked him, what should we do to you to stop this storm?
And Jonah says, throw me into the sea. Wow. I would have said, well, can't you jump on your own? I mean, that's that's what I'd be thinking. He says throw me into the sea and it will become calm again.
He said I know that this terrible storm is all my fault. America's problem are believers' faults. We're the salt. If the salt loses its saltiness, the meat goes rotten. Do you know how many people at Sandals the last couple years we've lost at Sandals because California's gotten bad?
I said, I know. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm here. Does California need the Lord? Yes.
Do you know that every major modern revival in America's history started in California? 1906 in Azusa. 1949, Billy Graham in LA. The Jesus Movement, Orange County. The 19 sixties.
If God's done it three times in California, I gotta believe he's gonna do it again. Okay? So so let's stop running, and let's start being the church. But the sailors rode even harder to get the ship to the land. But the stormy sea was too violent for them, and they couldn't make it.
Then they cried out to the Lord, Jonah's God. Oh, Lord, they pleaded. Don't make us die for this man's sin. Isn't it interesting that the church is afraid that God will judge America for wicked people's sin? The wicked people understand, God, don't judge us for the righteous man's sin.
Zac Applegate: Wow. Come on now. Wow.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: And don't hold us responsible for his death. Oh, lord, you have sent the storm upon him. Listen to this. For your own good reasons. Ain't that great?
Like, we don't wanna get into your business. You know? Like, I don't know why you did this. This is between you and him. Then the sailors picked up Jonah and threw him into the raging sea, and the storm stopped.
And the sailors were awestruck by the Lord's great power. Do you know what would happen to your family and friends that won't go to church if you truly repented and truly gave your life to Christ? They would be awestruck. And listen to this. And they offered him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
Now just stop here. Do you think they did that on the boat? With what? They threw everything over. Here's what I believe and here's what the Jewish missiona teaches.
They turned that boat and they went back to Joppa, and then they hiked their little buns to Jerusalem. And then they went up to the temple of the one true God, and they paid for a sacrifice and they offered it and they became disciples of the one true God. God used the disobedience of Jonah and still blessed somebody. It's not too late for you. It's not too late for me.
It's not too late for America. What we gotta do is quit worrying about everybody else and say, lord, what have I done? How can I change? Because that's the big picture. And the story of Jonah is that he missed it.
He missed it. And you say, oh, but pastor Matt, America, America, America. Listen, I get it. God had a bigger picture than even Israel. He had a bigger plan than even Jewish people.
He had a plan for the whole earth. He had a plan for every nation. He had a plan for every person. That's the big picture. That's the big fish.
And listen to me. If you catch it, you got Jesus. If you miss it, you've missed Jesus. Let's pray. Heavenly father, we just pray in the name of Jesus, lord, that you would just help us catch this big vision.
God, I realize it's it's such a stormy time politically. There's so much angst on both sides. Let us be anchored in the truth of our mission to reach people whether they're wicked or not, whether they're believers or not. God, help us to be different from Jonah and go in the direction you've called us. I pray this in Jesus' name.
Amen.
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 sandals church.com.