Morgan Teruel: Thanks for tuning in to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision as a church is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. We're glad you're here, and we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Hi, guys. Welcome to Sandals Church, and we are in the 3rd week of our series called different. It feels like the 3 1000th week, but I am glad you guys are here. And today, I wanna talk to you about peace, a different kind of peace. I believe that we need this peace because we live in an extraordinarily anxious world.
One of the things that we've realized over the pandemic is how anxious young people have become, young adults have become, men, adults of all ages, and we're just literally seeing this epidemic of anxiety, this epidemic of stress. And now with the looming conflict, between Ukraine and Russia, we're just kind of sitting under this shadow of will there be peace? Will our leaders, pray for our leaders. Will our leaders, right, be able to negotiate some kind of peace? And the Apostle Paul writes to the church at Ephesus and he talks about peace.
But here's what I want you to understand. It's not the peace that the world gives or that the world promises. It's the peace that Jesus gives. So we're gonna begin in Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12, And it begins with this word, remember. And that's what I want you to be thinking about the whole time I'm talking.
You need to remember this. Because one of the reasons you struggle with anxiety is you forget to remember God's peace. So anxiety is something we feel from within. Peace is something we receive from above. And so we have to remind ourselves, okay, God, I need this peace that's not in me.
It's in you. It's not anywhere here, it's above where you are, and I need that today. And I just want you to think about this fact. Church attendance is at an all time low, and anxiety is at an all time high. And we're gonna talk about why that is, because there's an interesting study I'm gonna talk about that just came out of the University of Harvard.
Okay? Or Harvard University. Sorry. I gotta say it right. Right?
Because, you know, they they I didn't go to Harvard. Right? So Harvard University. So, but an interesting study about church and mental health. It's amazing from a university that just appointed, you know, a devil worshipper as their chaplain, but they do get it right sometimes, okay?
All right. So, Ephesians chapter 2 verse 12, remember. Remember. Okay? Why do you have all the conflicts in your marriage, conflicts with your kids?
Because you forget all the good times and you focus only on the bad times. So part of being a believer is remembering. Remember that at one time, listen to this, you were separated from Christ. You were separated from Christ. So much of anxiety is feeling alone, feeling all by myself.
No one sees me. No one cares for me. Paul says, that's how you used to be. Remember that. But something changed.
You were separated from Christ. You were alienated from the Commonwealth. So many young people today, I don't fit in. I don't have my group. I don't have my people.
I don't have my friends. He says, listen, you were alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel. What he's saying is you weren't in. Well, listen to this. He says, you were strangers to the covenants and to the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But Man, I love big buts. Amen? But, but, don't get it twisted. But, but now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace. Man, you wanna know why the world doesn't have peace?
They don't have Jesus. You wanna know know why you don't have peace? You forgot Jesus. He himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down the flesh, the dividing wall of hostility. Right?
You wanna know why we can't all just get along? There's a dividing wall of hostility. But he abolished it, the law of commands and the express, they were expressed in the ordinances, that he might create in himself 1 new man in place of 2. So making peace, listen to this, he might reconcile us both to God in 1 body through the cross. Man, so many young people today wanna talk about equity.
Only the cross can produce equity. That's it. That's it. He chose to lower himself so we could all be equal. Thereby killing the hostility, he came and preached, listen to this, peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
You see, some of you grew up in church. Some of you've never been to church. You all need Jesus. You all need Jesus. And some of you are like, boy, I hope somebody hears this today.
I hope you hear it today. All my friends, man, every time they go to church, man, they're like, my ribs are sore. I'm I'm like, why? My wife is just like, bam. Bam.
Ladies, what if you let the Holy Spirit poke you instead of you just breaking your husband's ribs today? Maybe he has a word for you. Maybe there'd be more peace in your home. If you started listening and let the message be to you, you're like, oh, we're getting another church. Listen to this.
For in Him, we both have access in one spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, listen to this, and members of the household of God. Man, that is God's plan for you. You were far away, but God brought you near. You were alienated, you were an enemy.
But listen to me, Jesus Christ made you a family member, a family member. Number 1, write this down. The peace of Jesus can calm my anxious heart. It can. So many of us are battling anxiety every single day.
You are overwhelmed with the world because you are underwhelmed with what Jesus has done for you. Ephesians 2 14, for He Himself is our peace. Both Jews and Muslims use the same word to greet each other. It's pronounced differently, but it's spelled identically. Jews say shalom.
Muslims say salaam. Same word. Same word, but they can't get along. You know why? They need Jesus.
They need Jesus. You know why you can't get along? You need Jesus because Jesus is our shalom. Jesus is our salaam. That's who He is.
He is our peace. Every single letter in the New Testament begins with, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. But here's the thing you need to know about the peace of Jesus. It's different. It's different.
And you need this kind of peace. Like the world offers peace, it's not peace. It just means we're not dying today, amen? That's what it means. Like another day.
Listen to what he says. He says, peace I leave with you. Now, he left, but he left you with his peace. He says, my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, amen, thank God.
Not as the world gives. He says, do I give it to you? He says, so let your hearts not be troubled. You know why you're overwhelmed with life? You're focused on the news.
It's bad news. You need to refocus on the good news. And the good news is this, you can have peace. He says, so don't be afraid. Don't be afraid.
God wants to bless you with his peace. When's the last time you felt blessed with peace? When's the last time you were like, I'm so peaceful, like, I should be a yoga instructor? When have you ever thought that? You know?
When have you ever thought that? Man, Christians should be like that all the time. We should be the most peaceful people. Jeremiah 17:7 through 8 says this. Blessed is the man you wanna be blessed?
You see, peace, shalom, is a blessing from God. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord. And some of you are like, well, I do. Well, maybe you do. You think you do.
Whose trust is in the Lord. Listen. He is like a tree planted by water. Now, if you're in California, listen up. Right?
We need water. We need water. Vegas too. Arizona, I see you. Listen to this.
It's like a tree planted by water. It sends its roots out by the stream. Listen to this. And it does not fear when the heat comes. Man, the heat's coming every day.
Like in SoCal, I think summer's just ticked off. It's like, I'm not leaving. I'm not leaving. I mean, some of you, you watch online like it's a 1,000 degrees every day here. Hey, man.
There's gonna be people from California in hell. They're like, it's not that bad. I just I you know? You know? People from Canada are gonna be freaking out.
California's gonna be just like, no. I'm just gonna lay out. It's it's literally been horrible. Right? Yes.
It's horrible. But listen to this. When you are the person that trusts in God, when you are the person that plants yourself near the water that he gives, you don't freak out when the drought comes because you are not fed by the weather. You are fed by the God of the weather. Now, think about that.
So many of you in your marriages, you're freaking out because of everything that's happening around you because you have forgotten what's inside you. You forgot. For its leaves remain green and it is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Man, how many of you guys want this life? No matter what happens, right, you get laid off, you lose your job, you're concerned about interest rates.
I mean, we got we got a couple in our small group. They're buying a house. And I don't know if you know this, but when you buy a house, it usually takes longer than you think. Their house is new. It's building, and interest rates keep going up every month.
Their house isn't done. They're losing their minds. Look. If your peace comes from interest rates, man, you're in hell right now. You're in hell.
But if your peace comes from Christ, it doesn't matter how the market fluctuates. It doesn't matter what happens in home prices. It doesn't matter what everyone else is doing because your peace comes from what Jesus did for you. But here's the thing. Somebody like, oh, I want this peace.
You're like, tell me, pastor. How can I have this peace? I'm glad you asked. K. Now now what I'm gonna say is offensive and raw, but this is real.
Look, if you want the peace of Jesus in your heart, then get your butt in church. K? Here's the thing is, men, church attendance across every denomination, everywhere is at an all time low, and anxiety, depression, and suicide skyrocketing all time highs. Harvard University did a study on what impacts the emotional health of people the most and what they realized. It's not a drug that changes hearts, that changes attitudes.
Here's what Harvard here's the conclusion that Harvard came to. Regular church attendance makes the biggest difference in people's psyche compared to any other thing in America. Harvard University said that. And they didn't believe their own research, so they automatically ordered a second study. And the statistics changed.
Church had a bigger difference in the second study than it did in the first study. And some of you guys are like, oh, that's amazing. It's because you didn't listen to Jesus. You wanna stop being depressed? You wanna stop being anxious?
Man, stop rooting for your sports team. That's the devil. Some of you are more passionate about a team that doesn't even care, doesn't even know you exist than the God who knows you exist and died for you. Here's what the studies revealed. Ladies, I love you.
I love you. Statistically speaking, women are far more anxious than men. Did you know that? Yeah. I think it's because men are clueless.
But, you know that's what I think. Listen to me, ladies. 68% of women who attend church regularly, 68% of women do better when they sit their butt in the house of God. Did you know that there is no medication made by any company that has that effect? 68%.
68%. Look, you can almost be 70% better and you don't even have to pay. You just have to sit. I mean, my gosh. You gotta sit in the doctor's office.
Amen. That gives me anxiety. I'm sitting in there. Everybody's coughing, hacking. If I wasn't sick when I came in, I am now.
Almost a 70% decrease in anxiety and depression for women. Men, not quite as good. Right? Your heads are a little thicker. We're gonna talk about why that is in a second.
Men had a 33% decrease in anxiety and depression. Here's the thing though, parents, listen to me. Here's what Harvard's found. Church has the biggest impact on our children. Suicide, depression, anxiety, skyrocketing.
Kids who go to church, plummeting. Plummeting. Man, your teenager is far more likely to harm themselves, unless of course they've met Jesus, then they've died to themself. This is a Harvard study. Self destructive behaviors are cut in half, and emotional well-being doubles.
You don't get that from travel ball. Yeah. Did you feel me? Old people, are you here? I love you.
Old people live longer, are healthier, and are happier just by going to church. You wanna hear the catch? You're gonna hate the catch. You see, this is a real study done by real researchers at a real hospital. Here's the catch.
The people who experienced the highest rate of benefits are people who go to church at least once a week. I'm lucky if I get you once a month, and you wonder why it isn't working. I wonder why God made the Sabbath once a week. Anybody anybody wonder? Maybe God knows something you don't.
You see, every single week, we need a word from Jesus, every single week because the words from the world make us crazy. But we all make all kinds of excuses, right, to keep us from Jesus. We do. Even Christians who think they're close to Jesus make excuses for Jesus. One of my favorite ones is Martha.
Martha write, tell my sister to stop worshiping and get her butt in the kitchen. We got stuff to do. But the Lord answered her, Martha, Martha, listen to this, you are anxious and troubled about many things. He says, Martha, Mary's not the problem, you are. You are.
You see, Jesus knows Mary doesn't need more chores, she needs more of Jesus. Man, parents, when you suspend your kids, you restrict your kids, don't restrict them from church. What are you doing? They don't need less church. They need more church.
I know what we're gonna do to make you better. We're gonna cut out church. There's parenting 101 of what not to do. And somebody's like, well, it's their favorite day of the week. Praise God.
Praise God. Listen, we all have different reasons why we can't make it to church. We we all do. You're busy. Let's compare schedules.
I would love I would love to sit down. I wanna look at your life. I wanna look at my life. Anybody feel like they need to just clone yourself? You know?
I need, like, I need, like, to clone a husband for Tammy. I need to close clone a father for my children. I need to clone a pastor. I mean, I'm literally going I preached, like, 18 times in the last 2 weeks in 5 different locations. Somebody told me this week, I really enjoyed your sermon last week.
I was like, which one? Which one? Somebody gave me a gift, something that I said make the made them really laugh. I didn't get the joke. I can't remember the joke.
They're like, that's so funny. I'm like, it is. I have no idea. I have no idea what you're talking about. And they're probably right.
I probably said it, but I don't remember it. Right? You're busy. Look, you have the same 24 hours a day, 7 days a week Jesus had. You're busy.
Listen to me. You know what church does for me? It slows me down. It slows me down. The reason so many of you are full of anxiety is your lives are full of chaos.
Do you know what battles chaos? Rhythms. Rhythms. Structure binds anxiety. And we live in a world where we're given far too many choices.
Like, nowadays, kids have to pick their gender. I'm not kidding you. That's helpful for life. You know, I couldn't even pick a career. I couldn't even find my classes in high school.
Amen. Anybody else? Now I gotta find my gender? I'm like, that's terrible. It's terrible.
And I'm not saying listen to me, parents. I'm not saying it's a legitimate struggle for some kids. We just shouldn't have made it every kid's struggle. Some of you tired, anybody tired? Man, I didn't sleep all night, not all night.
I don't know what it is about when I have to get up early in the morning, we had to get up at 4 to get Tammy to the airport this morning at 6. I was like, who's the moron that booked this flight? And Tammy was like, you did. And you know why I booked it? Because it was the cheapest, man.
What what was I thinking? I probably saved, like, $8. And I'm mad at her. Man, you're tired. You know what church does?
It gives your soul a rest. Anybody ever come back from vacation exhausted? Like, I've learned I'm so glad to be back at work. I gotta rest, man. There's an epidemic of depression.
Do you know what depression and anxiety are promo are are most prominently focused on? Yourself. Do you know what worship does? Worship takes the attention off you and puts it where it should be. Worship lifts us up.
One of the things I've had to put back in my rhythm because on a typical weekend, I'll I'll preach 5 times. Five times. Like, you guys are like, I gotta get through this message. I gotta hear it 5 times. Okay?
Five times. And it's so embarrassing in small group because people would be like, what does this verse say? And I'm like, because I'm already on the next week's message by the time we're in group. But listen, here's one of the things I've noticed. I need worship.
Listen to me, families. My wife and I have realized we need worship together. We've also realized we love sitting with our children in worship. It's so peaceful when no one's talking. Everyone's singing, right?
You know what, it's an amazing thing when we're not talking about the stresses of life, but we're singing about the goodness of God. There's something magical about that. Okay? Man, you go to Disneyland. I I mean, I I lose my mind in lines at Disneyland.
Praise God. There's no lines at church anymore. Nobody's going. Come on. Just come right in.
There's no lines at church. You can sit wherever you want. You can sit at the front row and just stare at me. Can I just ask you this though? If Harvard, a largely godless institution, knows that you need Jesus every week, why don't you?
Why don't you? Harvard just appointed a Satanist as their chaplain. I'm not kidding. But Harvard knows you need Jesus. And some of you are like, I'm good.
You're not good. You're not good. And some are like, oh, I'd come to church. I hear this all the time. I'd come to church.
I love Jesus. I can't stand people. I hear that all the time. Point number 2, the peace of Jesus can kill my hostility towards others. You know what needs to die?
Hostility. Hostility. Listen to Ephesians 2:15, that Jesus might create in Himself one new man in place of 2. You don't wanna know what Paul's talking about? Racism.
Anybody think we still struggle with that? Man, let me tell you something. One of the things that Jesus Christ came to do was to break down the barriers of race. But some of us are far more political than we are spiritual. Jesus Christ died so he could take different ethnicities and bring them together as one in his family.
And here's the thing that was so beautiful about COVID. For the first time in my life, I saw black churches, Latino churches. I saw Catholics, Lutherans, protestants, charismatic, weirdo churches. There are some strange Christians out there, man. And you're like, why is that, pastor?
Go to last week's message on grace. Yeah. That's why they're in. That's why you're in. We were all together as one.
Do you know why I struggled this week so badly? Because whenever I preach on peace, I'm attacked by the devil every time. Every time. Because here's the thing, Satan can do nothing to you with your peace with Jesus, but he can destroy our peace with each other. During COVID for the first time in my life, I saw churches of every ethnicity unified.
I've never seen anything like it. And some of you forget. Some of you forget. I'm not gonna say who, Republicans. Some of you forget who was the pastor that led the charge to open the church.
Does anybody know his name? I know. Matt Brown. Matt Brown. Me.
And I was a part of it. I was a part of it because God was at work in it. Then 2 words changed it. 2 words. George Floyd.
2 words. And all of a sudden, Christians that were together were ripped apart. We ran from Jesus, and we ran to our political side, to our racial side, to our personal team. Satan knows how to divide us. And some of you say, well, what what happened to George Floyd was racist?
I think it was demonic. It was demonic. It was more than racist. It was demonic Because Satan knows how to divide us. He divides us politically.
He divides us ethnically, racially. He divides us among gender lines. He divides us among sexual lines. Right? That's what the world does.
They divide us, and they emphasize all the ways where our group is getting just messed up and left out. That's what the world does. Jesus says, no, I want all groups to know here's what I did for you. Here's what I did for you. Not just His people, the Jews, but all people including you, including me.
So that He could make one new man in place of 2. So making peace, and He might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross. Through the cross. Thereby killing the hostility. Killing the hostility.
You see, men, you know the number one reason why I think church doesn't help your anxiety? Because I don't think your anxiety is rooted in fear. I think it's rooted in anger. Part of your anxiety in your mind is anger in your heart. It's why I had to quit listening to talk radio.
I don't call talk radio. I call hate radio. I don't listen to talk radio and come home more like Jesus. Amen. Anybody else?
My wife's like, take a lap. Take a lap. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians. Remember the book of Ephesians? That's the book we're in.
He says, don't sin by letting anger control you. Men, this is a life verse I had to memorize. In my thirties, when my wife and I would have conflict, when we dis disagreed, I would get big, I would get loud, I would become angry. Listen to me, men. Anger is a great way to end an argument, but it is a terrible way to solve your problems.
I would get big and I would get loud, and I would get angry, and that's not of God. It's not of God. And so I memorized this verse, Colossians 3:15. He says, don't let your anger control you. Listen to Colossians 3:15.
Let the peace that comes from Christ control you. We're all in this room controlled by something. You choose. Listen to me, man. Some of you, you have the you have Jesus in your heart, but you have the devil wrapped around your ankle, and he is dragging you down everywhere you go.
Do not let the sun go down while you're still angry. You're like, pastor, that's why we fight all night. We're just like Jesus. That's not what the text means. Listen to me.
Do not let the sun go down on your anger because it gives the devil a foothold. The reason you don't have peace in your heart, men, is you got the devil around your ankle. And you take him to work, you take him to your home, and you take him to church, and you wonder why you don't experience the peace of God. Man, I started, the debrief, which thank you so much for all your amazing questions. But one of the questions we didn't get to on the show this week broke my heart.
Listen to me, ladies. It was from a young lady in our church, and she gave me this question. She said, my boyfriend has a habit of doing something, and whenever he does it, it scares me. My parents want me to leave him. What should I do?
Anybody notice what she didn't put in the question? What he's doing. So I asked her, what is he doing? What is he doing? And here's what she said.
He gets drunk, and he gets angry, and he scares me. And then it broke my heart. Remember last week when I said Christians don't understand grace, don't know have discernment with grace, and don't know when to use grace? And if sweetheart, if you're listening, I'm not putting you down. I'm trying to build you up.
Ladies, you work way too hard to save dating relationships, and you work way too little to save married ones. You know what I told her to do? I said, listen to me. Give him grace, but run from him because he doesn't need to change for you or anyone else. He needs to change for himself.
Listen to me, man. Paul says that we are not to be too harsh to our wives and to our children. We are not to provoke them to anger. Men, where do our children learn anger from? Primarily from us and some special ladies that are present.
Like, you're super gifted. You know? But listen to what Paul says to a young pastor, and you wanna know what church this young pastor pastors? The church at Ephesus. Some of you didn't know that.
1st and second Timothy are written to the pastor of Ephesus. He writes to Timothy and he says in every place of worship you see, Timothy was like me at Sandals. He had multiple congregations that he oversaw. Listen to this men. I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy.
Some of you men know more about why the Twin Towers fell in New York 20 years ago than you know about why Jesus rose. We are not, we are not called to be a people of controversy. The Apostle Paul, and we're gonna get to this in this series at some point when he talks about we're fighting a different fight, he tells us to put on a different armor, a different armor, a better armor. I mean, part of the reasons the Ukrainians are doing so well is listen to me. They got different weapons.
They got different weapons. They were getting slaughtered. They got new weapons and they started winning. What if you had new weapons? And one of the weapons God wants to give you is new shoes fitted with the gospel of peace.
It's not the gospel of the pissed off. It's the gospel of peace. I know that was rough. That hit her hard. She was like Oh, the children.
Right? I mean, what does the world know about us? You gotta get angry. Show me the verse. Show me the verse.
You gotta have peace. I don't want that. I mean, my gosh. Do we need anybody else in this country marching in the name of love pissed off? Is there a shortage of pissed off people in the name of love?
It's the gospel of peace. It's the gospel of shalom, shalom. Call it whatever you want. You need it from heaven. Romans 14/19 says this, So then let us pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.
Do you know what we spend most of our time talking about where we disagree? When's the last time you talked about the good things that God is doing? I don't know. What is it about us as human beings? And let me tell you something.
The older you get, the worse this gets, man. Old people write, I got the corns. My backaches, my headaches. My husband makes my heartache. And, like, you can put them down.
You're you're you're headed on the same road, getting negative every year. Listen. We we've gotta work towards mutually building each other up. Paul says this in Ephesians 4:3. We should be eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.
My greatest heartache over 25 years as pastor has been the relationships I've lost. It hurts. This week, I got to take out a staff member who's worked for me for 18 years. That's like a prison sentence. Right?
18 years. You know what he told me? He said, I love Sandals Church. I love working at Sandals Church. You know what he said?
Because Sandals Church changed my life and saved my soul. Sandals Church is not a perfect place to work, but the reason he's made it 18 years is because he remembers the big deals and he's been able to navigate the small deals. And it meant so much to my wife and I. Listen, that's rare. That's rare.
Man, people don't stay married. People don't stay at church. People don't stay at their jobs. People don't stay anywhere anymore because we don't have God's peace.
Morgan Teruel: Thanks for listening to the Sandals Church podcast. Our vision here is to be real with ourselves, God, and others. At Sandals Church, we wanna see a movement of authenticity take place all over the world, and donating to the work of Sandals Church helps make that happen. If you wanna support this movement here at Sandals Church, I wanna invite you to visit donate.sc. Thanks again for listening, and god bless.
Pastor Matthew Stephen Brown: Look. When we fail to maintain peace, things get out of control. So many of my Republican friends are so excited that Tulsi Gabbard left the Democratic Party this week. I gotta tell you. I I'm I'm bummed because the thing I loved about her, and I don't I don't agree everything with her, but what I loved is she was willing to speak against her own party in the name of peace.
But what happens to people that speak against their own party in the name of peace? They get kicked out because anger gets votes. Peace doesn't. 1st Corinthians 14:33. For God is not of God God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
War is confusing. Everybody has a plan until they start shooting. And that's what Tulsi Gabbard was saying months ago, months ago. War is chaotic and unpredictable. God is not chaotic and not unpredictable.
He is steady and true. The same today, the same tomorrow, and the same forever. And let me tell you something. First Corinthians 7:15, God has called you to peace. You to peace.
I was meeting with a church member a couple weeks ago, and I asked her, ladies, I said, how's your relationship with God? She said it's never been better. I knew it was a lie because I know how her relationships with friends are going. You see, we can't have peace with God if we don't have peace with each other. Can I just ask you, how do how do you have peace with God?
Last week's sermon, grace. How how do you maintain peace with people? Have you met a person? Have you made have you made people? You know, like, right?
This is hard. Last week at Hunter Park Live, I I told the church, I said, I don't like all of you. Yeah. Their reaction was very I I watch people go I I was like, have have you met all of you? Like, have, like, you know?
In the lobby that day, somebody he said, pastor, that was a great sermon today. I don't usually agree with you, but today was great. Thank you. Thank you. Man, listen.
The peace that Jesus offers can make me right with God, but listen. It can make you right with one another, and it can make you right with yourself. Ephesians 2 17, and He, Jesus, came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. That's what I'm doing every week, by the way. I'm preaching to people who are far from God and people who are close to God, but we all need the same message.
Can I ask you a question? Do you have the peace of God right now? Do you have the peace that surpasses all understanding? Or are you filled with more anxiety than you are peace? Are you filled with more depression than you are peace?
Are you filled with more anger than you are peace? I'm not saying you're perfect, but I'm just saying can you sense the peace of God in your life? Because that's what Jesus Christ came to give you, is peace. And let me tell you something. To experience this peace, you have to make a conscious effort to be different from everyone around you.
Because Jesus said narrow is the road that leads to life, and there are few that find it. I met 2 men in our church this last week who've started a a small group for people in the LGBTQ community. And let me say this. If you're gay, if you're a part of the LGBTQ community, I want you to hear me very clear clearly. Sandals is a welcoming church for everyone, but I want you to hear me.
But Jesus is inviting you to a different life. And I asked the guy that leads this group. He's a gay man. I said, why why do you go to Sandals? Listen to what he said.
He said, I knew I was gay from a very early age. He said, I knew I was different. He said, but I always believed in God. He said, eventually, I found myself in a church that was opening and affirming. Listen to these words.
I said, why'd you leave that church? He said, because I asked the leaders. I asked the pastors. I asked my friends in this church that was open and affirming. He said, when did you get the peace?
When did you get the peace? He said I asked that question for years. He said people would ignore it, divert to another topic, or laugh about it, And then he realized one day, he said they don't have it. And then he realized he didn't have it. And that's why he said why I'm at Sandals Church.
He said because I know you love me, and I do. He said, but you want me to have the peace of God. I want you to listen to me very carefully. Our passions will often lead us down a road that is different from the spiritual peace that God wants to give you. And so many of you as Christians, gay, straight, young, old, rich, and poor, you are following your passions, and you were divorcing yourself from the peace of God.
Do you have that peace? Do you have the peace? Not the peace that the world gives, but the peace that Jesus gives. Man, that peace caused my friend, listen to this, to leave the pleasures of life for the peace of God. And it was a tough choice, but for him, it was the only choice.
And so many of you who are not gay or straight, what are you doing? Do you want God's blessing? Do you want God's peace on your marriage, on your relationships? Then you need to honor God with your bodies. You need to honor God with your choices.
You need to invite the peace of God. Romans 5:1 says this, therefore, since we have been justified with by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Listen. You cannot earn this peace. You can't earn it.
But what you can do is raise your white flag and you can surrender. And here's the thing, because of Jesus Christ's death on the cross, you can have peace with God, the peace that surpasses all understanding. Listen to me, the peace that is worth more than anything this world has to offer, it's shalom, it's shalom, it's peace, and we only have it through the one who died. Would you bow your heads and close your eyes right now, and I just want you to ask God. Say God, do I have this peace?
Do I have this peace? Is it in my heart, is it in my life, is it in my marriage, in my friendships, in my relationships, God do I have this peace? And if you don't, would you just ask him for it right now? Say God I need this peace, I need this peace. Here's what you're gonna hear from God, then I need an apology and I need you to believe in my son Jesus Christ and I need you to follow him because listen to me, that's the only way God will allow you to experience his peace.
Why? What does Ephesians say? Because Jesus is our peace And if we don't have him, we don't have it. Let's pray together. Heavenly father, I pray for every person, every marriage, every soul, regardless of our age, regardless of our gender, regardless of our struggle, regardless of our sexuality, God, I pray that we would all experience your peace.
Holy spirit, would you just rain down your peace on everyone right now who's raised their white flag, who has said, I need to become a person of peace through our savior of peace. Lord, the world needs more peace. Lord, we need more peace. This church needs more peace. Holy Spirit, give us this peace.
Soak us with this peace. Fill us with this peace. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.