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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
This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Pastor Matt Brown:Today, we're gonna talk about fear and anxiety. How many of you have ever wrestled with fear or anxiety? Raise your hands. Okay. This is a huge, huge issue in our culture.
Pastor Matt Brown:And it was something that's always been a part of my life, but something that I didn't realize how to hold on my life. You know, right now at Sandals Church, we send people on mission trips all over the world. We do incredible works. We have incredible teams. We have an incredible system and staff that help us do that.
Pastor Matt Brown:But when it all started, it was just me. And so we decided we were gonna take a group and we were gonna go to South Africa for the first time. And we led an incredible just group of people in our church that were trusting God, you know, we could barely make our rent, but we're gonna go to Africa and make a difference. And the problem was nine eleven happened. And if you don't remember that, for some of you, it's just in the history book, but for us it was reality and the world changed.
Pastor Matt Brown:All of a sudden, getting on an airplane was just really, really scary. And so we took the team, we got on the plane, and I had never had a panic attack before. So if you don't know what it feels like, praise God, the Lord has blessed you, amen? But I had never had one before, and I had one right before we got on the plane. And, you know, you never went through security before, before this, man.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, go go back and watch Sleepless in Seattle, and you could walk right to the tarmac, right to the terminal. They let anybody in. It didn't matter, you know, what you look like or where you came from. But all of a sudden, our world changed, and they were checking us with metal detectors. And I had a panic attack and collapsed in front of the team I was leading at Sandals Church.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I would love to tell you that the Lord healed me, that I was fine, and I went with him. The first missionary trip ever in the history of Sandals Church went without me. I did not make it. Can you imagine? Now think about getting on an airplane, like, we're good because the pastor's here.
Pastor Matt Brown:And then all of a sudden, he didn't get on the plane, like, we're all dying. That's what I would have thought. And I gotta tell you, I was really overwhelmed. And I went to counseling and a counselor helped me realize that nineeleven didn't cause my fear and anxiety, it just made me aware of it. One in five Americans have issues with chronic fear and anxiety.
Pastor Matt Brown:One in three Americans will have it at some point in their life. And here's what I want you to know about fear and anxiety. It can rob you of the life you were meant to have. Fear and anxiety can rob me from a couple of things. Number one, the ability to be present.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, when you're always worried and you're always stressed, you're not where you are and you're missing out on the moment you're in. Some of you can't even engage with worship right now because you're worried about something that might not even happen. And you rehearse threats over and over and over again. You know, I've never had a structural engineering class. I don't have an engineering bone in my body, but I used to scan airplanes when I would fly looking for something that was broken like I could tell.
Pastor Matt Brown:I think that I think that engine is not firing properly. You know, I'd always keep my eyes on the flight attendants to make sure that they were okay. Right? Because if they panic, I panic. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:And and it's biblical. Amen. The Bible says, lo, I am with you always. That's what it says. It's the King James.
Pastor Matt Brown:But the next thing is fear can keep you from experiences. Anxiety shrinks your world. Some of you, if you're not careful, eventually in your life, you won't even be able to leave your own house. And it keeps you from starting new friendships, taking risks, trusting God. Here's the thing that breaks my heart about that trip.
Pastor Matt Brown:That was my last opportunity to take a trip with my grandfather and my dad. They were waiting for me in an airport in Atlanta and I never showed. I'll never get that back. I'll never get that moment back because I gave into fear and anxiety rather than trusting God. And for some of you, it can cause you to miss opportunities.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay, some of you guys, you're afraid to get married. You're like, I gotta marry a 10. Yeah, you're not a 10. So many guys in our church think they're supermodels. You're not even super.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay? Much less a model. But but here's the thing is, all opportunities have a level of risk. We were in the living room sitting with my mother-in-law, and I were just talking about the fact as a leader, I've never been a 100% about anything. You know, some leaders are like, 100%, 100%, and they're always wrong a 100% of the time.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know what I'm saying? And my mother-in-law says, well, you were a 100% about Tammy. I was like, no, about 75. About 75. If you go back and watch our wedding, I'm literally doing this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, I'm a 100% now. Amen. I married up. Amen. But I didn't know that then.
Pastor Matt Brown:And some of you say, you you say, well, you know, that's why I'm not married yet because I'm just not sure. Look, part of the relationship is the risk. It's saying I'm all in, better or worse, no matter what. And you're never gonna love on that level until you take the risk. So guys, just ask people what number am I?
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of you are a four. Okay? You're a four. You can't tell a girl what her number is amen. But guys, you just tell them, you're a 3 and A half.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay? So here's the problem. When you miss opportunities, the safe choice always wins. And let me ask you, is the safe choice always God's choice? You can say no to careers.
Pastor Matt Brown:You can say to moves. You can say to no You can only say to a yes to something that has absolutely no risk. And then here's the next thing. If you give in to fear and anxiety, it will never allow you to have real rest. Some of you don't need, you know, a sleep machine, you need the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay? Now I'm not your doctor. If he tells you or she tells you, you need the machine, wear the machine. Don't be telling, my pastor said. But here's the thing, your nervous system will never fully shut down and you will never fully recover if you are overwhelmed with fear.
Pastor Matt Brown:So put down the monster energy drink and invite the spirit. So the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a young pastor who was struggling. So here's what was happening. There was an emperor in Rome, his name was Nero, and he was psycho. You think our leaders are bad?
Pastor Matt Brown:He burned Christians at the stake. He banned Jews from living in Rome. He was psychotic. And Timothy lost his faith for a bit. And the Apostle Paul writes him a letter, look at two Timothy one:seven.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's our verse for today. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, amen? And of timidity, but of power, love, and self discipline. Let's say it again. For God has not given us a spirit of fear.
Pastor Matt Brown:We get that on our own. You don't need that, you have that. Of power, love and self discipline. And here's what Paul tells young Timothy, you gotta fan into flame the gift that was given you by the laying on of hands. And that's what we wanna do today.
Pastor Matt Brown:We wanna fan into flame the spirit's gift over us. And that is the gift of power, love and self discipline. Now the Greek word is Delia. And here's what it means, not to offend anybody, it means cowardice, cowards. God has not called you to be a coward for Christ.
Pastor Matt Brown:It can be translated timid, like a little puppy scared to step out. It's not reverence, it's not caution, it's cowardice. And that's what the Holy Spirit replaces. Maybe the reason your marriage can't get fixed is you're a coward when it comes to dealing with a problem. Say Holy Spirit, give me strength.
Pastor Matt Brown:Help me face this. Some of you would rather get divorced than face the issue. If you're overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, I wanna challenge you to be open to the Holy Spirit and invite his spirit in four areas of your life. As a pastor, I see this over and over again. Our vision is to be real, so we're gonna be real today.
Pastor Matt Brown:We're gonna talk about real fears that people express to me. The Holy Spirit can help me overcome number one, look at this, my fear of death. Can we just be honest? I'm not afraid of flying. I'm afraid of crashing and dying and being mangled and having you all see me on the news like, you know.
Pastor Matt Brown:I look at that stuff too. You know, and you feel bad later, but in the moment you just look. It's not the flying that I was afraid of, it's the dying. That's the number one fear the Holy Spirit wants to get rid of today. Now we talked about this verse last week, but it's important for this week.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now this can be a little bit confusing because it refers to the spirit of Christ and the spirit of God and the Holy Spirit all in this passage. But I want you to understand God is spirit. So Jesus has a spirit, the Holy Spirit is a spirit and God the Father is a spirit. So don't get lost in this, but listen to what Paul writes to the church at Rome, who by the way is being persecuted and survived Nero. Romans eight, he says, but you are not controlled by your sinful nature.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is great. He says, you are controlled by the spirit if you have the spirit of God living in you. And you say, well, how do I know if I have the spirit of God living in me? This is why it's so important. And remember that those who do not have the spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the point he's making. If you don't have the spirit, you don't have Christ. Verse 10, And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, look at verse 11, this is so encouraged. The Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. It gets even better.
Pastor Matt Brown:Verse 11, the spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead Remember that last week? Who raised Jesus from the dead? The spirit of God. The spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, here's the good news.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's why you don't have to be afraid of death. He will give life to your mortal bodies by the same spirit living in you. You don't have to fear death anymore. Here's what I said at a funeral a couple months ago. I said, how many of you've ever had a bad dream?
Pastor Matt Brown:Nobody in here? Okay. I'm gonna pray the Lord blesses you with one this week. You ever had a bad dream and you wake up and you're like, thank God. Thank God.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's just a dream. That's what I think is gonna happen when Christ returns. All this pain, all this suffering, all this heartache, all this death is just a bad dream. And I don't mean it wasn't real. What I mean is eternal life will be more real and we'll forget the bad dream that was and will be filled with what is.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? And the second you remember that, you're gonna be okay. And here's the truth that I came to. This year I've flown over a 100,000 miles. I don't even worry anymore.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I want you to hear me, those of you who battle fear and anxiety, this is a real miracle, not a fake miracle, a real miracle. Tammy and I were actually talking about this one night. I said, I can't believe the Lord took away my fear of flying. It's gone. It's gone.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't even look at the flight attendants anymore. I don't even care. I don't care when the plane shakes. I don't care when it drops. Every now and then I've given a little whoo.
Pastor Matt Brown:And here's why. I'm about the Lord's work and I'm doing his business. And if it's my time, it doesn't matter if I'm on a plane or on the ground, he can take me home. Okay? You can't outrun God.
Pastor Matt Brown:God's not gonna be like, where is Matt? Okay. Acts four thirty one, they were filled with the spirit and they preached with boldness. God turned cowards into the courageous. He flipped fear into courage and he can do the same thing for you that he did for me.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm a living witness to the power of the Holy Spirit. Next, the Holy Spirit can help me overcome. And this is huge. A lot of you were raised in churches where you were guilted and you gotta go forward. You know, every single weekend, you become an aisle athlete, every weekend go forward to get saved, go forward to get saved, not sure it worked, gotta go forward every summer camp, you know, every revival, stop doing that.
Pastor Matt Brown:If salvation is in your hands, you've already lost. The Holy Spirit wants to ease your fear of losing your salvation. Let's look at Ephesians one thirteen. And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit. Remember we said there's no varsity level Christians and JV Christians, we're all Christians.
Pastor Matt Brown:We all receive the Spirit. Now that may look differently in our lives. It may have been a different experience, but we've all experienced the Spirit. He identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago. Now look at verse 14, the spirit is God's guarantee.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, if you have your Bibles, it might say sealed and I'm gonna talk about why it says sealed in a The Spirit is God's guarantee. You wanna know why you're saved? You're guaranteed by the presence of the Spirit in your life. The Spirit is God's guarantee. It's not a warranty that expires, it's a guarantee that's forever.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? The spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us an inheritance that he promised. Guaranteed. Okay, now this word is not easy to say. It is Aren't you glad we don't speak Greek?
Pastor Matt Brown:The stress on the id, it means to stamp. Back in the ancient world, if a king had a ring, it would have his signature on the signet ring and he would stamp it over wax. And what that meant is it was unbreakable and it was true, it was his. And what God is saying is the Holy Spirit is God stamping you with his mark saying you are his for ever. Nobody messed with it, amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. And that's why Paul says nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Not death, not life, not angels, not demons, not things above, not things below, nothing on this earth can separate us from Jesus. Because you are sealed in the spirit. Ephesians one thirteen, the actual form of this word, and I know you guys don't know Greek and that's okay, it's an aorist, active, indicative.
Pastor Matt Brown:And what it means is it's past tense that already happened. You've already been sealed forever. It's not going to be undone. You were sealed by the Holy Spirit as God's mark, you belong to him. Okay, you may be able to get rid of a tattoo nowadays with lasers, but you cannot get rid of the seal.
Pastor Matt Brown:You are marked by God. And that mark will never come off you because you were marked the day you confessed, the day you believe, the day you follow Jesus, and it never removes that. So stop letting people guilt you or scare you. Are you really saved? Maybe they just want more people to come forward at the end for the invitation.
Pastor Matt Brown:You only need once, you only need to respond to an invitation once, you give as much of yourself to God as you understand about God. Okay, you're not saved because you have right theology or you said the prayer the right way, or you're not saved because you said it the wrong way. And here's the thing, we're not saved because we hold on to God, we are saved because God holds on to us. Amen? Can you imagine if your two year old fell out of an airplane and you're like, now hold on to daddy?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's ridiculous. What would you do as a parent? You would never let go. And that's how God is with you. Ephesians four thirty, it says, and do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live.
Pastor Matt Brown:Oh, now you're scaring me, Pastor Matt. You just said we don't lose our salvation. How on earth is this possible that I could grieve him? He says, Don't grieve the Holy Spirit by the way you live. But look at the next part of the verse.
Pastor Matt Brown:Remember, he has identified you as his own. There's that word again, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. God saved you when you believed. One image, two verses telling you, if you've repented and believe there's nothing that can take you out of God's hands. I hope that settles it for somebody.
Pastor Matt Brown:I hope that gives you peace. Men stop worrying about hell, let's get some more people in heaven, amen? Let's do that. What we celebrate, what we worship is not our faithfulness, but his faithfulness. God says, I will never leave you.
Pastor Matt Brown:I will never forsake you. You know, this is one of the scariest verses in the Bible. Even if heaven and earth pass away, that's kinda scary. He says, I'll never leave you. Next, the Holy Spirit helps me overcome my fear of being alone.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is one of the huge fears in our society. People are more digitally connected than ever and we're more relationally separate than we've ever been. In The UK, they have a new branch of government, it is called the branch of loneliness. People are alone in The UK. And by the way, a relationship with a screen is not a relationship with a person, You need personal connection.
Pastor Matt Brown:One of the things that we do with our grandsons is we make eye contact. They need to see the sparkle in our eye, light up the sparkle in their eye. It makes them feel safe, makes them feel seen, makes them feel loved. And here's the thing, screens are good, but you don't get it from a screen. But here's why I want you to know, the Holy Spirit makes me God's child by adopting me forever.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus said this in John fourteen eighteen, I will not leave you as orphans. He says, I will come to you. Look, your parents may have abandoned you, your spouse may have abandoned you, people may have abandoned you, Jesus will never abandon you. Amen? That's not who he is.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's an adopter, not an abandoner. Romans eight fifteen, So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, look at this. You received God's spirit when he adopted you as his own children. And now we call him Abba Father.
Pastor Matt Brown:Abba Father. Listen, you don't need me to pray to God for you. You don't need a priest to pray to God for you. You don't need the Pope to pray to God for you. You can pray to God yourself because he's your dad.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's your dad. This week I got to take my grandson, he's almost two on a walk. We went together and the real reason we were on a walk is I was terrified to babysit him alone for that much time. So we had to go fill our time. Amen guys, we gotta fill our time.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so we were walking to the park and this squirrel, I don't know if this squirrel's been watching YouTube videos of kangaroos in Australia, but this squirrel jumped in front of my grandson who was a couple feet ahead of me, appropriate level, Madison, appropriate level. Well, he wasn't like down the street. He was in front of me. But this squirrel jumps out and goes like this. And this squirrel I don't know what they feed him in Loma Linda.
Pastor Matt Brown:This squirrel was just jacked, dude. He was, like, on TRT. I don't know what's going on. And my grandson got scared. You know?
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, see this little scroll is like, my grandson's, oh, oh, oh, And you know what I did? I just stepped in front of him because I was always there. Even though he couldn't see me, I was always there. And you know what he said? Papa.
Pastor Matt Brown:Papa. And then he looked at the squirrel and he said, big papa. Big papa. And he just started strutting, you know. He's like, I got my gang with me.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know what that squirrel did? Took off, man. Took off. Because then I got, you know, I started flexing. But it's funny that things that we're afraid of that our father, our big papa in heaven is not afraid of.
Pastor Matt Brown:Not afraid. Some of you guys, you're afraid of scary movies, right? And they always make scary movies about possession and demons and devils. You ever wonder what the devil's afraid of? His name is Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus. When Jesus encounters a demon possessed man, you know what they say? Are you gonna beat us up yet? Is it our time? They don't even, like, squirrel up.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know what I'm saying? They're just like, okay. Right? They're just like, do is it is it time to lose? Why is it that demons know how strong your father is in heaven, but you forget?
Pastor Matt Brown:Romans eight sixteen, for his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children. Let me tell you something, love for a child is something crazy. If my grandson were in danger, I wouldn't hesitate. I wouldn't even have to think about it. I would save his life in a heartbeat and give up my own.
Pastor Matt Brown:And isn't that what God's one and only son did for you? He didn't hesitate to give his life to save your soul. You know what the cross proves? The cross proves that Jesus is serious about his love for you. I was telling my wife, I don't know what this says about me, but I follow a bunch of therapists on TikTok.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm just like, it's free, man, I don't even have to pay. But I was listening to one of my favorite therapists this week on TikTok. And she said, it doesn't matter if people say they love you. What matters is how they treat you. Man, I don't know who that's for, but it was for me.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I want you to think about Jesus. He didn't just say he loved you. Look at how he treated you. Your life was more precious than his own. Greater love has no one than this, the Bible says, than he who lays his life down for a friend.
Pastor Matt Brown:So what that means is Jesus is serious about how he treats us. And some of you need to remember that. So much fear and anxiety would go away this week if you realized how important you are to God. Think about that. Some of you are missing out on life because you don't realize how important your life is to him.
Pastor Matt Brown:God loves you. God cares for you. And the only reason you're here today is because God has been intervening and protecting you long before you even knew who he was. God wants to do a work in your life. And I want somebody to be set free today.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want somebody to start flying today, amen. I want somebody to start going on trips and trusting God and stepping out and joining a group and serving on a team and praying over somebody. Some of you've never prayed over somebody because you're afraid. And the Holy Spirit wants to help you. You're like, well, I don't know what I'm gonna say.
Pastor Matt Brown:Well, that's where the Holy Spirit helps you, but you gotta open your mouth. You gotta move your lips for God to speak. And if you say no, God will not empower you. You gotta say yes. Next, the Holy Spirit helps me overcome.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this is huge. My fear of not having enough. Listen to me young people. It never goes away. It never goes away.
Pastor Matt Brown:The bills just get bigger. Can I get amen all people? They just get bigger. This week, I took a church member out to lunch. That's not true.
Pastor Matt Brown:We went out to coffee, which is not actually true. We went out to tea because we're too old to have coffee that late in the afternoon. That's how you know when you're old. When people are like, do you want coffee? You're like, what time is it?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because when you're young, don't care. Right? You're just like, yeah. What can happen? I'm up all night.
Pastor Matt Brown:Yeah. You know, when you're over 50, you're like, literally my wife and I greet each other each morning with this. How was your sleep? That's how old we are. That's how old we are.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I just said, I just I knew he had he owns a business and I knew that he had gone through a tough season. And I just said, how do you navigate that? Because I don't know if you guys have noticed this, you know, and by the way, I just wanna say thank you for the generosity. It's not your generosity, it's the expensive things. I mean, my wife sent me to Jimmy John's to get two half sandwiches, two half sandwiches.
Pastor Matt Brown:The guy, you know, like told me the price and I was like, do I get tires with that? Like, Does it all come with an oil change? You know, I thought I miss I thought I misheard him. And so I was just asking him, how do you do this? And here's the thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I'm meeting with him trying to figure out how are we gonna pay for all the expenses of Sandals Church. Sandals Church is growing. We got four campuses that need more space. We gotta build that. I've asked God for him to lower the buildings from heaven and that hasn't worked.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so I was asking him, here's what's hilarious. He said, you're asking me how I can teach you to trust God. He said, I'm going to a meeting tomorrow to raise 200,000,000. And you know what I was so grateful for? I don't have his problem.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was like, I feel better about my situation. Good luck with yours, buddy. But here's the thing, we all have to trust God. And that's really where fear wins, is when we don't trust. Think about why you're afraid of death, you don't trust God.
Pastor Matt Brown:Think about why you're afraid of losing your salvation, you don't trust God. Think about why you feel alone, you're not trusting God. You're not trusting that he's there, even if you can't see him. And the same thing is true with our finances. And let me just settle this.
Pastor Matt Brown:I think the challenge of finances is the whole point. And here's what my friend said to me. He said, you know, Matt, I know you believe that one day and Sandals is gonna be debt free in about eight years. He said, listen, I wanna encourage you not to make that an idol. He said, there's a church in Downtown LA that's been debt free for thirty years and they threw a big party and they celebrated it and they said, we don't have to ask people to be generous anymore and guess what happened?
Pastor Matt Brown:The bills are paid and the church still died. He said, I want you to I don't want you to make an idol out of being debt free. He said, I think if Sandals is gonna keep growing, guys have to keep trusting. He just said, be really careful. And I said, I agree with that, but I still want you to write a check.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let's both trust. You know, and and and there's just been a lot of things, know, like like today, Moreno Valley, I don't even know how they're watching the sermon in Moreno Valley. Maybe they're all on their phones like, yeah, this is so good because the screen broke there. You know? And the problem is when contractors come, they see a big church, you know what they think?
Pastor Matt Brown:Big pockets. You know, the power has been going out in here, the lights go out. I mean, every time I watch myself online, I'm literally like, I'm not that white. I mean, I'm white, but I'm not a ghost on Scooby Doo. What is going on?
Pastor Matt Brown:Don't look at how white I am right now. But what we found out is the cameras had to be replaced and the lights have to be replaced and the power has to be upgraded and all this stuff. So we brought on an expert in this room to update this room. And he said it was about a million bucks. Yeah.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what I said. And he said he was giving me a deal. You ever had that guy? I'm like, don't feel like that's a deal, bro. And so we got a great team.
Pastor Matt Brown:We got a great team and they've been working the numbers. We got volunteers at our church. We have people that don't just give money and tithes and offerings, they give their expertise. And we work the numbers and we crunch the numbers. And then we're trying to figure that out.
Pastor Matt Brown:And here's why this room matters. Some are like, well, who cares? Well, this room, this sermon is the sermon that most people see. So this service has the greatest evangelistic outreach of any service that we do. Listen to me, this service lives on forever on the internet.
Pastor Matt Brown:And then I was at church on Sunday, trying to figure out how are we gonna raise all this money? Where's all this money gonna come from? Right? I'm trying to trust God just like you. And a single mom came up to me and she said, God told me to talk to you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And she started sharing her story and my heart broke. Because she couldn't pay her rent and be honest with you, she told me how much her rent was. Was like, dang. It's like a lot more than Jimmy John sandwiches. Because what's happened to rent guys?
Pastor Matt Brown:It's gone up. It's crazy. And I gotta be honest with you. My heart was, yeah, I got problems too. I wanna confess that as a sin.
Pastor Matt Brown:I got problems too. And I said, we'll take your information, we'll take your name and we'll see what we can do. And then the Holy Spirit spoke to me on the way home. He said, pay your rent, you idiot. I said, okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:And then he said, pay two months. And then he said, ask if there's any other needs. She had car problems, had car trouble. And I just wanna confess as your pastor, right before this message, we told her what we're gonna do. And here's the thing is, if this can happen to me, it can happen to you.
Pastor Matt Brown:We get so caught up in what we gotta pay that we forget that what's more important than our debt is our debt to him. And that we trust him. And so here's the thing. I got a phone call and I always hate that, you know, when someone wants to talk to me. It's very rarely good.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this guy from Florida wants to talk to me. His name's Adam and he's a good guy, but I still didn't wanna talk to him. And you know what he said, they go to another church in Florida. Here's what he said. He said, we watch your sermon every week.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, my daughter's away at college and girls in her dorm are watching it. Our family is talking about what's happening at Sandals Church. He said, is there something you need me to give to? Does anybody think maybe there's a God in heaven who hears us? Amen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. Let's go back. Can we can we go back to the passage in Romans? Let's throw it up here. Romans eight, and the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.
Pastor Matt Brown:For example, we don't know what God wants us to pray for. I didn't even know what to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed with words. The Holy Spirit heard my groan when I heard the cost of this studio. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the spirit is saying. And that Holy Spirit spoke to Adam in Florida.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he heard how much this is and he said, we wanna give to that. And they took care of half of it and he said, we're gonna do more, amen. For the spirit pleads, hold on, let's go back. For the spirit pleads for us, the spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's will. Stop turning your financial needs over to fear, turn them over to God.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he will meet your needs. But listen to me, I've learned this over and over again, the blessings come after you trust. Some of you want God to meet your need and then you'll trust him. God says, trust me and I'll meet your needs. Philippians four nineteen, God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:I wanna ask you, what need do you have for God to meet? Let's invite God to meet those needs this week. Let's invite God to settle once and for all our fear of death. Jesus rose, so will I, I'm good. Let God settle our fear of losing my salvation.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not up to you, it was up to you. None of us would get saved, amen? You know, like we'd all get to heaven and Peter would be like, good try. It was good effort, but no, it's not about our effort, it's about Christ Jesus. We're never alone because God is always with us.
Pastor Matt Brown:And listen to me, God sees your deepest needs financially and he will meet them. But you and I have to learn to trust him. And I'm so grateful for the wisdom of Peter who said, don't make an idol out of being debt free, make sure you're worshiping God. So let's all just enter it to a time of prayer. And we're gonna enter at our campus in a time of worship and we're gonna sing a song by elevation.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's called do it again. So here's what I want you to do. If you're watching at home, I want you to just say, hey Siri play. I hope she doesn't answer right now. Hey Siri play Do It Again by Elevation Worship.
Pastor Matt Brown:There's another guy that has a song Do It Again and I'm not sure it's Christian. So, Elevation, Elevation Church, Elevation Church, Stay focused. And we wanna that was terrible. We wanna end the service trusting that the same God who moved mountains before, amen, will do it again and again and again for our church. So let's all stand and I'm gonna pray over us to trust God.
Pastor Matt Brown:Heavenly Father, we pray in the name of Jesus. Lord, we trust that you're gonna do it again and again and again. You're going to show up, God. Help take away our fear, help take away our anxiety, and help us to trust you, Lord, with the things that matter most. Lord, we turn over these worries, we turn over these fears to you, and we ask Holy Spirit with you to fill us with abundance as we trust in Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:And all God's people said, Amen.