Hey. Thanks so much for listening to Sandals Church. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Hi, guys, and welcome to Sandals Church. It's so good to be back. Thank you for the break, and let's just give a hand to all of our communicators over the summer who did a great job. Incredible. Yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:One of the things that that helps me rest so much at Sandals Church is just the incredible gifted staff that God has blessed us here at Sandals Church. And people always ask me what's the secret sauce, and it's all of our staff. So let's just give our staff a hand and just say thank you so much. We love you. So we are embarking on a new series, and and and I always say this, and I think all pastors think whatever series they're preaching is the most important series of all time, and I legitimately am lying to you every time I think these are the most important things.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Otherwise, why would I communicate that? But one of the things that as as the world gets more and more confusing, we as Christians have to understand, okay. What is the core of my beliefs? What what is the foundation of what I believe and what I think? You know, this week in Maui, man, our hearts just break for people who've lost everything.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And while I appreciate people reaching out for thoughts and prayers, one of the things that bothered me the most, I saw this on TikTok, and this is what it said. It said whatever you believe, we need you to believe in that now and pray. That's not helpful. You know, some people believe in lettuce. You know?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you can go to your lettuce right now and say whatever you want to it. It's not gonna change anything. And so here's the thing. Some of us as Christians are that same way. Well well, whatever you believe, whatever I believe, whatever they believe, it's all good.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's not what Jesus said. You so You see, it's it's okay for you to believe whatever you want, but that doesn't mean you're right. And so this series is about the essentials. What are the essentials? When we when we boil it down, what do I need to believe about the Bible, about God, about the church, about me, about my role, about what I'm supposed to be doing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because here's the thing, every single one of you is operating right now according to an essential belief. I love you, but many of you are wrong. And that's why you're miserable. Because at the core of who you are, your beliefs are leading you in the wrong place. You know, Tammy and I, we got stuck in New York City, and you say, oh, sorry, pastor Matt.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Actually, Newark. Okay? So now you can have some compassion for me. You know, you can die in New Jersey. No offense to Melody, but it's true.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I was super confident when we were taking the subway of where we're going. And you know what's funny? We ended up in the wrong place. We thought we were headed to SoHo, one of the wealthiest, fanciest districts of Manhattan. We ended up in the ghetto with drug addicts, crime, and my wife was ready to leave me at that very moment.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I led us with confidence to the wrong place. Do you know that's where a lot of us are? We're confident, but we are headed in the wrong direction. And so what I want you to do today is say, Jesus, if if if I'm headed in the wrong direction, would you redirect me? Not because of what Matt said, but because of what you said.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So let's just pray real quick. So if we're married, maybe maybe our marriage is headed in the wrong direction. Look, you got lots of love, but you're still lost. Amen? You know, Tammy and I still loved each other, but we could have died in love.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And some of you are raising kids, and you love your kids, but you're leading them in the wrong direction. Some of you, you're sitting in church and you're a good Christian and you're all about Jesus, whatever that means, but you're still headed in the wrong direction. Some of you, you came to church today and and you don't even know why you're here. But God is leading you to change your direction, and he wants to speak to you. So let's just pray and ask God to change our direction so that we understand the essentials so we know which way to go.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray in the name of Jesus. God, there are so many opinions about life today. There are so many arrows pointing this is the way. Lord, help us to know the true way.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Give us the right directions and teach us the essentials so that we can have a compass that points to true north, so we can live our lives in the right direction. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Dani Crowley:Hey. We are so excited that you're here and to have pastor Matt back with us this week. As we begin a new series, we'd like to invite you to partner with us, and you can do that by going to donate.sc. But for now, let's get back into the message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Whenever you talk about the essentials, nobody agrees on them. People have their opinions about the essentials. Even in our church, even amongst our staff, if we sat down and we said, what are the essentials? We come up with a different list. In Luke chapter 10 verse 38, there's an argument about what's essential.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's between 2 women. Amen, guys? And they're arguing over what is the essential of a woman's role. And here's the thing, ladies. It's not a man saying you need to sit in the kitchen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's a woman saying, girl, get in the kitchen and help. And often times, I found this. Women are the most competitive with each other about roles of women. In Luke 1038 to through 42, it says as they continued their travel, Jesus entered into a village. And a woman by the name of Martha welcomed him, and she made him feel quite at home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like she's doing good. Right? She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha, listen to this, was pulled away by all she had to do. Anybody busy?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah, you're not the only one. She was busy in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. Anybody ever thought this? If I just work hard enough, my kids will pay attention and they'll come help me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My husband will stop watching the game and join me. It doesn't work that way. Right? She said, master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Anybody feel like that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It all falls on me. Tell her to lend me a hand. And the master said, Martha, dear Martha, he said, you're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. Listen to this. One thing only is essential and Mary has chosen it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to me, Christian. You can love Jesus and miss the one thing. You woah, woah, woah. You can be having dinner with Jesus and miss the one thing. You can welcome into your home and miss the one thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He says it's the main course, and it won't be taken from her. You see, number 1, it's easy to get worked up about nonessentials. Amen? And if you don't believe me, single people get married today. Like, I'll marry you for free.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Man, you think as singles, man, you're like, I just got it all figured out. Get married. And if that doesn't work, have a couple kids. Because life is hard. Life is hard.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's hard to agree on what the essentials And we all lie to each other. Well, if we just love each other, yeah, you'll fight more. That's what's gonna happen. Love doesn't agree on the essentials. Love says if you loved me, you would agree on these essentials that I've written down and thought about.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And if you just loved me, you'd agree to them. Amen? And that's why there's marriage counseling. Luke 10:41. The master said, Martha, dear Martha, he's not putting her down.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's not making fun of her. He says, listen to this. You're fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over TikTok. Anybody done that? Married couples.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody ever argued over stupid stuff? Which way does the toilet paper go? I don't care. Just please use it. Use it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? Which way? I don't care. I just want there to be toilet paper in my time of need. Amen?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you, you you're just arguing over stupid stuff. I mean, there's this senior couple in our church, they're in their seventies. And the husband is arguing with his wife over the color of the walls. I'm like, bro, I surrendered that decades ago. My wife has one rule.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's the rule for the decoration of our house. Just make it look like you married a man. Amen? That's all. There's not 2 women living here.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Just make sure, like, there's occasionally a man shows his presence. That's it. It's easy, amen, to get all worked up over dumb stuff. We've all done it. We've all done it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, it's easy to argue over stupid stuff. It it just is. Number 2, it's hard to agree on what's essential. It's hard. Christians don't agree on what's essential.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Somebody came up to me and they were concerned about America. You know, America. And this is what they said. If we could just get all Christians together, we could change the world. I just laughed.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Everybody in my house is a Christian. We can't decide on a restaurant, much less the direction of our country. Amen? So what happens to you? What what happens to me?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. What what pulls you away? Some of you, it's your job. It's your stress. Like, here's the thing you need to know about Christianity.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You can't just maintain it. You'll drift away from it or you will work hard towards it. Life is constantly pulling you away. I love it when I meet Christians. Like, yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I haven't been to church in a while. I'm just so busy. I'm like, oh, you're the only one. Like like, you're you're you're the only one that's busy. Look.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're all busy. We're all rushed. What are you rushing to? That's the question. Later, she stepped in.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She said interrupting them. You see, busyness doesn't just wreck your life. It wrecks the lives of those around you. See, this is the problem. Listen to me.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If in your marriage, one of you has forgotten the essentials, you could pull the other one away from the essentials. You see, disobedience loves company. Oh, you don't need to go to church. You don't need to be in community group. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I've heard this. I've heard this. I've heard this. And the next thing you know, you're not in church, you're completely away, and you've totally forgot what you committed to at one point in time in your life was the most important thing. This happens in all relationships.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So many marriages, I hear people say this. Well, we just grew apart. No. You made a decision to not constantly try to work together. Later, she stepped in interrupting him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Master, don't you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand. Now if you're a mom, is helping the kitchen important? Absolutely. Some of you guys, that's why I never help in the kitchen because I'm a man and I follow Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I mean, you're a man and you're about ready to not have a wife, so you better help out. But here's the thing. Here's the subtle thing as Christians. Some things are important but not essential. So let me give you an example, and I don't think this will offend any of you because most of you are poor.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The word inheritance. See, I already lost you. Like, yeah. I don't have any. I was talking to a good friend of mine this week.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He said his dad died, owed him $12, and he had to pay for his cremation. Okay. That's an inheritance. The word inheritance, it occurs in your bibles somewhere around a 170 times. You know what that means?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's important. My parents, write that down. But listen to me. But Jesus does not define it as essential. Luke 1213 through 14.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Someone in the crowd said, Tim, teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me. It's in the Bible a 170 times. Jesus replied, man, who appointed me judge over and arbitrator between you 2? You know what Jesus just said? It's not essential.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So many of the things that we fight about as Christians are important, but they're not essential. And this is why we keep dividing, and this is why we keep losing. Something can be important. So what I'm saying today is the things that we cover in this series are not the only things in the Bible that are important. Here's the thing.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:If you don't know what's essential, you won't be able to prioritize what's important. That's the problem. You see, helping out in the kitchen is important, but it's not essential in this setting. What was essential is this is a theological argument about what Christian women should do. We're still arguing about the roles of women in the church.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In my own denomination, they're kicking people out over this issue. Now let me say this, the role of women in the church is important. It's not essential to our mission. It's not. And that is the story of Christianity.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You wanna know our story? Our story is arguing over the non essentials, and then dividing. We were all 1 church. Did you know that? We were all Catholic at one time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Catholic, the word means universal. And then there was a discussion amongst the bishops over who should be in charge, and the guy in Rome humbly said, it should be me. And the bishops in Antioch and in Jerusalem and in Alexandria and many other countries in the world, they disagreed. They said, hey, we're all equals, and the Pope said no. And so we split.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We split. Look, who's in charge is important. Is it essential to our mission? No. And then Martin Luther came along and he said, look man, this this is this is really ugly.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We're we're taking all this money from the poor and we're building this incredible, place in Rome called Saint Peter's Basilica. He says, this isn't right, and we're telling people they get saved by what they give. Look, is that important? How how are you saved? Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But again, the church divided. It just kept dividing, and then we came to America, and and and, you know, we're like, we're Baptists, that's where I come from. But then there was this issue called slavery. And did you know this? There used to only be 1 group of Baptists, and then the issue of slavery split us, Southern and Northern Baptists.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you say, well, slavery is important. Right? Absolutely. But there was slavery when the Bible began. It wasn't essential to the core doctrine and the mission of the church, and so we split.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you say, well, I think that was a good thing. Yeah. And then now there are 270 different versions of Baptist. Why? Because they can't agree on the essentials.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And you say, okay, well, Pastor, I'm not a Baptist. Okay. You might be worse. You see, most Christians today don't belong to a denomination. Did you know that?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Sadly, even more Christians. Oh, I love Jesus, so I don't just love the church. They don't even belong to a local church. Why? Because they're not Baptist.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They're their own denomination. How do you know if you're your own denomination? You say things like this. Well, I've always thought. Not yet.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. You and CS Lewis. You too. Yeah. Yeah.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Tell me, oh wise one, what you've always thought. You might be your own denomination if you say saying things like this, well, I've always believed. Well, listen. You know, I didn't realize you were the, you know, the second coming of Jesus. Please tell us and teach us the wisdom that you've gathered from your many years of theological study.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How about this one? Well, I just think God wants me to be happy. Oh, you go to the First Church of Happiness. And isn't that interesting? So many people attend that church, and yet we're more miserable than we've ever been.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what the book of Psalms says? Happy are those whose God is the Lord. Let me give you a new verse. This is out of Matt Brown. Chapter 1 verse 1.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Miserable are those whose God is not the Lord, but whose God is themself. That's that's the Bible of today. God just wants me to be happy. The Bible says happy people are the ones that know Him and follow Him. So it's easy to get messed up right on the essentials.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's hard it's hard to agree on what the essentials are. Number 3, only Jesus truly understood the essentials. Not me, not you, only Jesus. Listen to this. One thing only, Jesus says, is essential, and Mary has chosen it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Listen to what Jesus is lovingly saying because some of you, your name is Martha today. You've chosen the wrong thing. Well, my family is first. That's important. But, man, if you if you're making your family god, you're raising little devils.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Well, my marriage comes first. Hey. Your marriage is important. But if it's your god, you're both gonna become the devil. For some of you, America, that's your god, and you're helping transform and make this country more like the devil.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, even politicians who didn't believe in god when they wrote our constitution knew god first, nation second. He said this is the main course, and it won't be taken from here. Here's the good news. If you wanna know the essentials, Jesus will let you have it, and he won't let anybody take it from you. You see, Jesus has laser focus when it comes to what matters most.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know what you and I have when it comes to essentials? ADD. Jesus only gave us 2 essentials. Some of you, you've been Christians your whole life and if I asked you what these are, you couldn't name them. You love God?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yep. You a Christian? Absolutely. Is Jesus your Lord every day? What are the two essentials?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's kind of important, right? They're called the great commandment and the great commission. Just 2 things. 2 things that you and I are supposed to be about. Now these aren't the only things that are important, but these are the essentials.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing. These two things guide everything else that is important. It's not saying we can't have opinions, we can't have theological convictions. It's just saying that we must interpret the important through the essentials. And if we ever get this wrong, we will make the important issues God, and we will miss out on the one true God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And it's not just you and it's not just me and it's not just the Baptist church or the Lutheran church or the Catholic church that misses out on the essentials. It was the Jewish faith who missed out on the Messiah. Why? Because they were in love with what was important, and they missed the essential one. So what is the great commandment?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And I wanna challenge you to memorize this verse. This thought, this idea is in the gospel of Mark, the gospel of Luke, but I wanna challenge you to memorize this in Matthew. In Matthew 22, 35 through 40. If you have kids, challenge them to memorize this. What does it mean to be a Christian?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What does it mean to follow Jesus? Well, what did he say? You see, one of them, an expert in the religious law, he tried to trap him with this question. He said, teacher, what's the most important see the word? There's the trap.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What's the most important commandment in the law of Moses? You see, this is why you're not in community group, because you can't stand when somebody's important list is different than yours. And so you are willing to abandon the essentials over your list of what's important. And that is why you are not living the blessed life that God has called you to live. And Jesus replied, he doesn't hesitate.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What's the most important thing? Oh, well, I'm glad you asked, and here you go. Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. This is the essential.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Anybody ever seen a religious brand called the essentials? What does it say? It doesn't say love God. What does it say? It says fear God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Now that's important, and no offense to anyone in our church who works for essential. It's just not the essential. Fearing God is important, but it's not essential to what Jesus said. Jesus didn't say the most important commandment is to fear the Lord. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but you know what the end of it is?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Loving God. Loving God. Oh, and the second, the second, love your neighbor as yourself. How are you doing on that one? Tammy and I, we moved into a new home.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We got this beautiful patio designed by Tammy. It looks like a man kind of lives there occasionally. We're sitting out, and my neighbor has erected a light in his backyard. It's his backyard. This is America.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He can do what he wants. But his light hums, and it distracts me from the peace of Jesus. And I'm sitting there looking at this light, and I turned to my one of my kids, and I said, you know what? I'm thinking about shooting that light with a bb gun. I said, or I could go over and knock on their door and ask them to turn it off.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My daughter says, I think you should go with the second one, dad. I said, I hear you, but I'm really, you know, I'm torn. You know? You see? You know what's important to me?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:My peace, my backyard, my serenity, my nirvana. You know what's important to Jesus? Me loving my neighbor. You know how God works, Tammy? And I went out for a walk.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Guess who was out in front of their yard. My neighbor. It's like, dang it. I don't get to shoot the gun. And you know what my neighbor was?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Great. Fantastic. Some of you, well, I would have called the police and the authorities, and I would have filed a complaint. I would have been a good American and sued them. Or you could do what Jesus said and go talk to him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's great. He gave me his number and said, anything else you need, let me know. Listen. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these 2 commandments. Love God and love people.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:How are you doing? You're like, f f. Yeah. Write your Christian report card, f. Some of your report card says in the wrong class.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's what it says. Next, Jesus gave us the great commission. Some of you are so concerned with young people today, just concerned about their direction, about their aimlessness, about their inability to have any kind of serious truth inside of them. And that's because we as the older generation didn't present it in a compelling way. What makes so many of the hyper liberal, hyper progressive causes attractive to young people is it gives them a god and a purpose.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Do you know that your Jesus has not just given you a god to worship but a purpose to live out? That's right. And Jesus came and told his disciples. He says, listen to this. I have given I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:He's in charge. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. Right? All the commands are important, but we must interpret them through what?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The essentials. And be sure of this, I am with you always even to the end of the age. Some of you have been Christians for a year, for 5 years, for 10 years. Some of you have been to Christians for 50 years, and you've never once made a disciple. I meet Christians all the time.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What what what what what are you hoping for on judgment day? And here's what I hear Christians say all the time. I just want God to know I was a good person. Now that's important. Like, if you're a bad person, would you change today?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, feel free to change. But do you think Jesus is gonna give you a hug because you were good? You're you oh, you were a good boy. Thank you. Can you imagine if you asked your children to take out the trash and they never did their entire life, and it just trash piled and piled and piled and piled?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then your kids wanted to have a discussion about whether or not they were good. Yeah. But the house reeks because you never did what I asked you to do. Remember one time I got an argument with my son. He took the trash halfway.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't know what happened. I wasn't there. Something between the house and the street, there was there was an emergency, something more important than what he was called to do. And so I came out in the trash can. It's interesting that the guy, when he came to pick it up, he didn't think it was his job to walk down my driveway and get the trash, and so the trash wasn't taken out.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Here's what my son said. He said, I almost did it. And I was like, okay. My bad. You know, we're gonna start rewarding partial obedience.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. And I said, I almost paid your allowance. Sis close. Do you know why we don't lead people to Jesus? Because it's easier to argue about Jesus than it is to lead someone to Jesus.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It just is. You know, one of the things, I love about going on vacations, nobody knows who I am, nobody cares who I am. That's not true in our city. People know who I am. They have an opinion on on on who I am.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And especially other Christians, they love to criticize what I do and how I do it. I hear all the time, well, I just I hear Christians say say say things that sound so smart. I just don't believe you should watch a pastor on a screen. I was in church last weekend. I was on the 3rd row.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Melody was preaching. I tried to look at Melody so hard. I just I I tried. You know what I did? I started looking at the screen.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I'm on the 3rd row. She's right there. I started looking on the screen. Do you know why I looked on the screen? It's better.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It's better. Can we just say that? Like, preaching is better when my head is 8 feet wide. It's better. It's better, especially if you show up late and you're in the cheap seats.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Is that Melody or Matt? I don't know. But we're are we're arguing about how people hear the gospel. What's essential? The gospel.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:In my own denomination, who should preach? Who? You know what the book of Acts says? Everyone. Everyone.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When the holy spirit fell, it wasn't just the men who looked drunk. It was the women too. The Holy Spirit fell upon everybody. And the Jews were like, I don't know. I don't know.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:What about the roles of women? And Peter stands up and quotes Joel and he says, hey, guys. Joel told us about this. He said, in the last days, both men and women will prophesy. They will speak the words of God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. When Jesus rose, there were no men. He's like, man, I would really love to tell the world I'm alive, but we don't have any dudes. And he didn't have, like, just, like, like, PhD women. Like, he had married Magdalene.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:She was like, you know, like You know? You know? She's like, go tell him Jesus shows. I was like, okay. Okay.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Like, right? If you want a witness, it's not the one who you take out like 7 demons from. That's not your spokesperson. Jesus says, go tell him. Ladies, the great commission doesn't say men go into all the nation.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:To all the nations and preach the gospel making disciples. Do you know what it says? Believers go and make disciples. Why would God in his infinite wisdom put 50% of the church on the bench? I just wish we had more players.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:K. The role of women is important. It's important. Yep. But you know why the world's so confused?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Because the church hasn't presented a healthy picture of the fact that men and women are different and yet equal in the eyes of God for love and service. Amen. Yes. And the world's just gone crazy. Here's what's most important.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Jesus is the savior of the world. Yes. Have you told anybody? Have you told anybody? Ever?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I was at the gym working out. I know it's pretty obvious.
Morgan Teruel:And a
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:guy came up to me and he said, hey, Pastor Matt. I said, hey. I said, you go to Sandals Church? He said, I haven't been in a while. I said, well, I'm back this weekend.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Will you be there? He said, I don't know. I said, you need to be there. Because we're going over the essentials of what you say you believe. For some of you man, Christianity's like the gym.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know how a gym makes money? Do you know? Some of you know. You contribute. The gym does not make money off people who come.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The gym makes money off people who don't cancel their membership, but just keep mailing in the check. You know what I love about Sandals Church? I love that it's broken down. It's dirty. It needs a refresh.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I went to Europe with Tammy. We went to Greece, to Rome, and you see beautiful churches that just look like pieces of artwork. You wanna know why there is nobody's in them. Nobody's in them. We want our carpet to be worn.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:We want our walls to be worked because we are here to reach the world. Here's what your life is about. Love God. Love others. Make a disciple.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And let me tell you something. If you're a parent today, you are raising little disciples, and the problem is some of you are discipling them to the wrong God. The Great Commission doesn't say, go ye therefore and make little professional athletes. It doesn't say, go ye therefore and make scholars. It says make disciples.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Make disciples. My wife and I were in the car, and we were listening to a leading pastor. And he said something that sounds so true, but it's not. He said this. The church was at its best at its beginning.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Didn't that sound good? Yeah, man, pastor. Everybody loves Acts 2. Oh, they shared everything in common. They listened to the the words of the Lord every day.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They were full of spirit. They they gave money as they had need. Here's the problem. They didn't reach one person from another nation. They love God.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They love each other. They forgot the great commission. And here's the problem with churches. We become a cruise ship for Christ. Come on.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Oh, I just wanna be an Acts 2 church. Really? They hadn't led 1 Gentile to Christ. Not one. They hadn't done it.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:So God had to send persecution to drive them out. I don't know how more obvious it has to be. In Acts chapter 2, the Holy Spirit falls, and everybody speaks in a foreign language. I don't know what God has to do. Like, if you just wake up and you're speaking French, I think the Lord has spoken.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Right? What God is saying is the nations need to know me. The nations. You see, they missed some of the essentials. There's only there's only 2.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Love love God, love others, that's 1, and the next is the great commission. Tell somebody about Jesus. And here's the thing, man. So many of you, I love you, and some of our staff, you're in small groups with a bunch of people you know and love. Listen to me, then it's not a Jesus group.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Some of you, you've been Christians for so long and you've never discipled anybody. There are people in our church, and I know you know them, you probably sat next to them, they don't know anything. They don't know anything. And you're like, lord, why does sandals have so many sinners? Because you're in a group with all your friends.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When's the last time you discipled somebody? When's the last time you sat down with somebody? Said no. We even have Christians that are confused. I hear Christians say, well, I've always thought.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I don't care what you think. Your thoughts scare me. I care what Jesus thinks. What happened when he said the most important commandment is to love God and love others? They killed him.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then what what happened after he was resurrected, he told him to go, they sat. He sat. For the next couple of months, I wanna challenge you to do a couple things. Number 1, get in a community group, and here's why. You're like, well, I've heard all this stuff before.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Yeah. It's having a huge impact on your life. Here's why. And and and and I'm gonna insult my profession. If you just listen to what I'm saying and you don't discuss it, you will forget 90% of what I said 10 minutes after you either walk out of church or press click.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:But if you discuss it Yes. If you talk about it, that goes up 10 times. Listen to me, Christians, if you teach it, if you prepped for a small group, I know, shocking. You prepped, you prayed, you wrestled, it goes up another 100 times. Come on.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, here's the thing that God knows. Why did he tell every one of you to make a disciple? Because he knows this. The way he makes the gospel stick is when you learn it and you teach it. That's how it sticks.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Amen. That's so good. Yep. Remember that show a couple years ago, are you smarter than a 5th grader, and you realized you're not? You know who is smarter than a 5th grader?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:A 5th grade teacher. You know why? Because they don't just hear it. They learn it, and then they teach it. That's how the church grows.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:That's how the church grows. Now you don't have to preach like me in a microphone, but you do have to preach to somebody. You do have to tell somebody. And let me just say this. Some of you guys have been Christians long enough.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And here's the thing about discipleship. All you gotta know is a little bit more than everybody else. Can you imagine if Martha was your discipleship group leader or Mary the you know? Like, what she got? Heroes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And then you gotta move on to somebody else because that's where she is. But some of you, you could help guide people through this series that just don't know, that just don't know. Man, our world is broken, and our people are hurting. And you can be a group leader, and you can help transform and change somebody's life. And some of you, listen to me, you just started coming to church and you've never been in a group in your life.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:I want you to know this. Before Jesus died on a cross, he started a small group. It's the first thing he did. And some of you are like, oh, no, no, no, no, no. I can't do that.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:When Jesus called the Apostle Peter to be a part of his small group, you know what Peter said? You got the wrong guy. You got the wrong guy. And Jesus said, I got the right guy. I got the right guy.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You see, Jesus picked the leftovers to change the world, and Jesus has handpicked each one of you to change the world. But we don't change the world by going to a protest. We don't change the world by changing someone's vote. We don't change the world by yelling facts at people. Does that does that does that change you?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:You know. You know, we change the world by discipling somebody who's interested in knowing about Jesus. Interesting. That's how we change the world. No matter what we cover in this series, I want you to be able to know that there are 2 essentials.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The great commandment, love God, love your neighbor, and the great commission, make a disciple. Make a disciple. Because when you get to heaven, I don't wanna hear, well, Matt never told me. Because Matt just did. And I quoted St.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Matthew, amen, to all of you. You got matted twice today. And here's what the Lord's gonna say, did you love me? You say, of course I do. Like Peter, you know how we show God we love him?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Through obedience. You know how we show God we love him? By loving our neighbor. You know how we show God we love him? By telling others about his love.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:Love God, love others, make a disciple. Make a disciple. And if we do this, we can change the world together. We can change for those of us who still live in California. Does California need some changing?
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:It desperately needs some changing. Like, you know what California is waiting for you? For you to be obedient to the essentials. And we need to start loving God, loving each other, loving our neighbor, and sharing the gospel, and making a decision. So I'm a challenge you right now.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:The Holy Spirit, if you've been a Christian for longer than a couple years and you have never led a group, you need to do that. And whether you've you're brand new to our church or or today's your first day, you need to get in a group, and we're gonna make that happen because my sermons will inspire you, hopefully. But relationships change you. That's right. Yes.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:They change you. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray in the mighty powerful name of Jesus, we just ask your Holy Spirit to come upon us. And God, I I just ask your Holy Spirit to come upon every old, crotchety, stuck in the cement Christian in our church who's waiting for you to change the world when you've asked them to change the world. I pray that they would be convicted right now, and they would start a group, and they would get off Facebook and get in your book, and start making disciples.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown:And, Lord, for every new person that's here today who's looking for a change, who wants to find happiness, Lord, that's ultimately found by knowing you and loving you, I pray that they would take that scary step to get in a group and to just go with us on this journey as we go over the essentials. As you teach us to love you, as you teach us to love each other, and as you teach us all to be disciple makers, we pray this in Jesus' name, amen.