Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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
Welcome to the Sandals Church Podcast. My name is McKay and I am part of the online team here at Sandals Church. We are so happy to have you join us today as we listened to this message from pastor Matt Brown teaching from our series, be real. If you've enjoyed our content, consider leaving us a rating to help this podcast reach more people. But for now, let's get into the message.
Pastor Matt Brown:Hi, and welcome to Sandals Church. I just want you to know that I'm having an allergy attack. So if I fall over dead, another pastor will come up and finish the sermon, and you will be blessed and ushered out quickly. But, so, hopefully, I'm gonna be okay. We're gonna try to get through this message today.
Pastor Matt Brown:But the vision is being real, so I'm gonna be very real with you, me, and my phlegm today. Amen? So I don't know if it's the smoke in the air or I I I I bought my dog some some new dog food, and I think maybe well, I shouldn't be eating the dog food. Amen? That's why you need to give more.
Pastor Matt Brown:But, but I think I'm having an allergy attack today. And but our our vision is to be real. So last week, I I came out, and I wore a suit. Some of you were horrified. You're like, oh my gosh.
Pastor Matt Brown:Where am I? But but this is what this is what I want sandals to be, very, very real, very relaxed, just just who we are. We started in SoCal, and, it's where God's called us. It's a difficult place to minister, but it's where God's called us, and I wanna talk today about building authentic Christian community. I mean, how many of you guys wanna go to a fake church?
Pastor Matt Brown:No. But so many churches are becoming fake. The pope this week the pope the pope said, all religions lead to God. The pope said that today. Now if you grew up Catholic, that should break your heart.
Pastor Matt Brown:That should break your heart because the Catholic church was meant to glorify 1 God and his son, Jesus Christ. And there's so many churches becoming fake, caving to the pressures of culture, caving to the pressure of just our communities. But what we wanna do is we wanna surrender to the teachings of Jesus. Amen? And so in order to build authentic Christian community, here's what I wanna challenge you to do today.
Pastor Matt Brown:Number 1, I wanna challenge you to listen to the teachings of Jesus. Not what your neighbor says, not what your mom says, not what I say, but what Jesus says. That's what Sandals Church is all about. What are the teachings of Jesus, and how do we wrap our lives around them? Not how do we wrap Jesus around our lives.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was listening to a theologian this week, and he said this is the number one problem of Christians in the world. How do we surrender to as little of God as possible and fit him into as much of our life as possible? And he said it's the complete opposite. So one day, Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Now I've been there.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amazing, amazing place. It says great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. Now I just want you to know that one of the things that people say negatively about sandals is the size. Wherever the words of Jesus are taught, great crowds will come. And so just know that.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's been happening since he began. When you preach the gospel, people respond. 15,000 of them at Sandals Church since we started have surrendered to Jesus and been baptized. Let's give a hand for that. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. He noticed 2 empty boats at the water's edge. I've said this many times. One of the things that makes Jesus so different from most of us is he's a noticer. He notices things.
Pastor Matt Brown:For the fishermen had left them and were there washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asks Simon, its owner. Now what you need to do is you need to ask the owner first. Amen? Unless you're the Lord.
Pastor Matt Brown:Then you just step into the boat. You're like, the lord needs it. He stepped into the boat. He said, I need your boat. He said, push it out into the water.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so he sat in the boat, and he taught the crowds from there. The teachings of Jesus, if you'll just sit, if you'll just listen, will transform your life. If you just say, Jesus, tell me. Speak to me. Talk to me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Years years ago when we started Sandals Church, John 831-32, some of you know this verse. Jesus said to the people, listen to this, who believed in him. I don't know who you believe in, but if you believe in Jesus, listen to me. He said, you are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And then here's the verse everybody knows.
Pastor Matt Brown:You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Now I don't wanna be controversial, but I'm a USC Trojan fan. K? Not because I went there, but because I went to Cal Baptist and they don't have football. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what I'm saying. And if they did have football, we'd get slaughtered. That's just the truth. So don't hate on me. I just like USC Trojans.
Pastor Matt Brown:But years ago, I went there to meet with one of their famous Christian professors, Dallas Willard. And as you walk into the building where he taught for years, there's a slogan on top of the building, and it says, the truth shall set you free. The problem is USC, and this is not a criticism. This is just a reality. They've divorced themselves from the first part of the verse.
Pastor Matt Brown:Those who believe in me and remain in my teaching will know the truth, and the truth will set them free.
McKay Vandenberg:Hey, Sandals Church. Thank you so much for joining in today's message with pastor Matt Brown. I wanted to take a quick moment to invite you into the work that Sandals Church is doing. One way you can do that is by giving financially. If you head to give dotsc, you can do so there.
McKay Vandenberg:For now, let's get back into our message.
Pastor Matt Brown:See, this is why today many of your kids say, well, this is my truth. No. That's your opinion. It's not your truth. There is the truth and then there's your opinion.
Pastor Matt Brown:But this is why we got all these kids running around today who think their opinion, their feelings are truth because we've divorced it from Jesus. Psalms 11929, keep me from lying to myself. I learned this years ago. The person I lied to the most is myself. Give me the privilege for knowing your instructions.
Pastor Matt Brown:The teachings of Jesus are a fact checker for Matt Brown. It reminds me that I tend to color coat things to to present myself in the best version of me. Like, I love it when my wife said, well, you said. And I said, well, that's not what I meant. You ever said that?
Pastor Matt Brown:That wasn't the tone of my voice. But oftentimes, what life does is it mirrors back unpleasant ways that we behave, ways that we feel, ways that we think, and things that we do, and we shield ourselves from that. Right, moms? When you see another mom beating their kid at Target, she has a problem. You need to call the police.
Pastor Matt Brown:When you're beating your kids at Target, you've done all you can. You're like, you know what? It's their time, Lord. Take them out. So authentic Christian community requires a true mirror, which is the word of God, the teachings of Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is why your family, your friends don't wanna come to church because they don't want the mirror. They don't want to see things the way they really are. The next thing is for authentic community, if we wanna be a real church of Jesus, okay, and we decide this by the way, not just with what we believe but with what we do, every single day, Sandals is making a decision. Are we following the teachings of Jesus? Are we remaining remaining in them, or are we drifting from them?
Pastor Matt Brown:The next thing a real authentic Christian community requires is going a little deeper than I am comfortable. K? Last week, we we we, announced our new campus in Redlands to the community of Redlands. Give a give a hand for that. And so I'm out there.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm meeting people I've never met before. Some lady handed me a goat. Now I gotta be honest with you. That's a little that's a little more than I'm comfortable with. Like, I don't wanna pet your dog, much less your goat.
Pastor Matt Brown:But I held her goat and she put it on the internet. Some of you have seen it. And I don't know who was more scared, me or the goat.
McKay Vandenberg:But I
Pastor Matt Brown:was like, the goat's heart is beating really fast. She's like, yeah. It has a condition. I'm like, but listen to me. If you're gonna follow Jesus, he's always going to take you deeper than you wanna go.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. He's always gonna take you farther than you wanna go.
McKay Vandenberg:That's right. Amen. That's right.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's always gonna push you further than you think you can go. Luke 5 4, when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, now go out where it's deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish. Where are you preventing Jesus from taking you deeper? Where where? Because so many of you, you've been in church for years and you're so comfortable.
Pastor Matt Brown:You're comfortable in your small group. You're comfortable where you serve. You're comfortable in your life. Let me tell you something. Oftentimes, comfort is the enemy of Christ.
Pastor Matt Brown:I think the devil wants to make us comfortable. Jesus wants us to go deep. But you know why we don't go deeper? Because we're afraid. Fear is the enemy of authenticity.
Pastor Matt Brown:It is. This is why you don't get into a small group. This is why you don't start a catalyst group. This is why you don't serve. This is why when you're sitting in church right now, you're you're just hoping to Jesus that we don't shake hands.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, Tammy and I, we went to a church during COVID where they broke bread and passed it for the Lord's supper, and we hugged. I was like, if they greet us with the holy kiss, I'm out. Amen? I'm like, I'm not doing this. You know, and they pass the common cup.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm like, not so common. Here you go. I'm not putting my lips on that. But fear keeps us from doing a lot of things. Where is fear keeping you from going deeper?
Pastor Matt Brown:Isaiah 4110 says this, don't be afraid for I am with you. Don't be discouraged for I'm your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand. Couple weeks ago, I was at the beach with my daughter and some of her friends were there and one of her friends was sitting on the beach with me and I said, do you wanna go in the ocean?
Pastor Matt Brown:Do you wanna go in the ocean? And I said, no pressure. Do you wanna go? Because because ocean is scary. Anybody agree?
Pastor Matt Brown:K? And if you're not amen and you haven't been in the ocean I tell my wife all the time, it's the only sport I know of where you can still be eaten alive when I'm surfing. You know? So I said, do you wanna go deeper? I said, you can go with my daughter, but here's the truth.
Pastor Matt Brown:If you drown, I will be the one that comes and saves you. I said, come on. Let's go. So I put a life vest on her, got her out there, and we started heading, and the waves were coming, and I was talking to her the whole time. I was like, you're gonna be okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is nothing to worry about. And every time the waves would come, I could feel it grab my hand. Said, see? You're okay. You didn't drown.
Pastor Matt Brown:We haven't been eaten. Nothing has touched our feet. But here's why I was so proud of her. After we did that, we got in safe. You know what I noticed about an hour later?
Pastor Matt Brown:Guess who was in the ocean without me? She was. She'd conquered her fear and she'd learned to enjoy the beauty of the waves. Some of you, you you've never enjoyed the beauty of Jesus because you're so afraid. Here's what he's saying.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's saying, take my hand. Let's get in a small group. There might be some weird people in there, but I will be with you. I will be with you. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I'll be with you. You'll be okay. You can hold the goat. This allergy attack may be that goat. I want you to do this this week.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want you to make a list of things that unhealthy fear has kept you from. Unhealthy fear. Now I'm not talking about, like, if you're 20 years old, you're like, yeah. Let's jump off a building. Okay?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's not what I'm talking about. That's stupidity. I'm talking about things that unhealthy fear are keeping you from. And for a lot of you, it's keeping you from a deeper relationship with Jesus. Now I want you to make a second list of how it's hurting you relationally.
Pastor Matt Brown:What if fear is keeping you from the marriage you want because you're afraid to talk about it? I would encourage you this week, just say this. I'm afraid, honey, to talk about this. Start with that. Start with honesty.
Pastor Matt Brown:What about your family? Like, your family is not where you want it. Just start with this. Hey, I'm really afraid to talk about this issue, but can we talk about it? No judgment, no condemnation, not pointing fingers.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm just really afraid to have this conversation. You know, my wife always says, can I be real with you? And I always say, no. No. I'm like, I need you to be less real with yourself, with God, and me.
Pastor Matt Brown:And then she tells me whatever she's thinking anyways. Where is an unhealthy fear keeping you from friends, from pursuing friends? Jesus is inviting us all to go deeper. And here's the thing. It's uncomfortable for all of us at every level because the moment you've become comfortable, you're probably not following Jesus into the deep.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now why don't we follow Jesus? Why don't we trust him? Why don't we have the church relationships that we wish we had? Here's what I wanna challenge you to. Authentic Christian community requires trusting Jesus despite my past results with people.
Pastor Matt Brown:Anybody met a person? K. Don't point at them. People are hard. Do you know who killed Jesus?
Pastor Matt Brown:People. People. It wasn't a shark or a bear. It was his own people. Luke 55, master, Simon replied, we've worked hard all last night and didn't catch a thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:I hear this all the time. I tried church. I tried religion. I tried Christianity. I've had people tell me, I went to seminary.
Pastor Matt Brown:The Lord would say, well, let's go out again. Let's go out again. Listen to this, but if you say so, I'll let the nets down again. Some of you in your bibles, I just want you to circle those words. I'll let down the nets again.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'll let down my guard again. I'll trust again. So many of the people I meet at our church always ask, where did you go to church before? And sometimes they'll share with me hardships, heartache, terrible things that happen at churches. And I always just say, I'm so sorry.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm so sorry. And then I just tell him, not everyone is perfect here. Not everyone is safe here. Wouldn't it be nice if evil people just raised their hands? You know, I'm going to hurt you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this time, listen to this, this time their nets were so full of fish, they began to tear. They began to tear. Sandals is a big church. It's hard to press in. It's easy to get lost.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's easy to disappear. But what if you waded out into the water again, trusted Jesus again, got in a group, got in a team, and started to press into relationships? Let me tell you something. There's a few scary people at this church. There's a there are thousands of amazing people at this church.
Pastor Matt Brown:Thousands. Listen to this. A shout for help brought all of their partners in on the boat, and soon both boats were full of fish and were on the verge of sinking. Wow. I wanna encourage you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Press in again. Try this again. I get it. People are hard. Relationships can burn you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And and and people are not easy. But listen to what Jesus says. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you. Listen, because of me. Now if you're the idiot, that's on you.
Pastor Matt Brown:But if you're trying to serve Jesus, you're trying to win people to Jesus, and and you're doing it in the best way possible and people criticize you or people say bad things about you, you know what? Jesus says, you're blessed. He says, that's on me. Now don't raise your hands because it'll hurt my feelings, but how many of you know somebody that has critical feelings towards sandals in me? Don't raise your hands because I'll start crying.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the thing that breaks my heart. 99% of those people are Christians. But you know what? I'm doing the best I can. I'm trying.
Pastor Matt Brown:It would be so easy to just say, you know what? People are hard. People are terrible. Nobody cares and walk away. And then I would walk away the from the thousands of lives, some that are in this room, some that are at the campus, some that are watching from home, the lives that would have been changed because of this vision.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? Listen to what Jesus says. He says rejoice and be glad because great is your reward in heaven. Great is your reward in heaven. For in the same way, they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Pastor Matt Brown:If you wanna be liked by everyone, Jesus is probably not for you. He's probably not for you. What if Jesus has new friendships for you at Sandals? But you're gonna have to stop mourning the past friendships and say, Lord, bring me the new friendships. Not perfect people.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to me. Jesus people. Jesus people. And so I wanna encourage you. Press in.
Pastor Matt Brown:I know it's scary. I know Sandals is big. I know there's a lot of campuses. I know sometimes we drop the ball. You signed up, we didn't get back to you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Hey, we're we're not a perfect organization. We make mistakes. Press out again. Try again. Call the office.
Pastor Matt Brown:Say, hey, I turned in a volunteer card. I haven't heard yet. Hey, I signed up for a group. I haven't heard yet. And give them the benefit of the doubt.
Pastor Matt Brown:Maybe they did call you. Maybe we read your number wrong. It happens. It happens. Authentic Christian community requires, this is huge, becoming vulnerable and sharing my personal struggle with sin.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay? Last week, I wore a suit. This week, I'm wearing sandals. And a lot of you don't know this, but the first Sandals logo, the s was 2 sandals together. Some of you, like, oh my gosh.
Pastor Matt Brown:Yep. It was. And you're, like, was it really? Yeah. Because I drew it.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now to make it work, it's 2 left feet, which is perfect for us. Say, man, we're, like, we're trying, Lord. We're trying. But the only way to go deeper is to be vulnerable. And this is scary in your marriage.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's scary with your kids. It's scary at work. It's scary at church. But you've got to learn to be vulnerable. Let me tell you why the church doesn't work.
Pastor Matt Brown:The church doesn't work when we all play pretend. The church doesn't work when we play dress up. Now I'm not criticizing churches that that that dress nicely. I'm just saying that's not the vision God gave us. You know?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's not the vision that God gave us. I want you to come as you are and learn to be as real as you need to be. Luke 5:8 through 10, when Simon Peter realized what happened I love this. He fell to his knees before Jesus and said, listen to these words, oh, lord, please leave me. I am such a sinful man.
Pastor Matt Brown:You wanna know how you know when you're really close with Jesus? It's when you feel like you should be super far from Jesus. When you're like, lord, we can't do this, that's when you know he's holding you. He's right there. For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught as were the others with him.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, Tammy and I, we went to Redlands. We saw all these people walking in. I was walking in. They didn't have a parking space for me, so we had to park way far away illegally. We are walking in.
Pastor Matt Brown:But you know what? That's a great problem to have. Right? There are a lot of churches that have upfront parking. That's one of the requirements for Sandals Church, not enough parking.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? We won't buy it. If there's too much parking, we're not interested. But there were these 2 young men and they reeked of weed. And I could hear him talking about, what's going on?
Pastor Matt Brown:And I walked right up to him and I said, there's a new church coming in town. It's a church for people like you, and you can come just as you are. And if you want, you can come with me and there's food there. I was I knew they might have the munchies. I was like, there's food there.
Pastor Matt Brown:Yeah. And they said, well, what's it all about? I said, this is a place where you can get real with each other and with God and yourselves. And the stone kid said, cool, man. Cool.
Pastor Matt Brown:And that's right when we walked past the taco truck and I lost him. There's like But listen to this. His partners James and John and the sons of Zebedee were also amazed. Can I just tell you how amazing Sandals Church is? Like, you guys have no idea.
Pastor Matt Brown:My wife and I are walking around the Redlands, community, and we're just thinking, oh my gosh. Did we ever imagine that this was got what God would do? I didn't think we would ever own one building. Not one. Not one.
Pastor Matt Brown:I remember when it was a step of faith to buy a truck and trailer. I was like, lord be with us. I remember when I ran that truck and trailer into a gas station. I did that. It's an arco that no longer exists.
Pastor Matt Brown:I saw everybody diving. I was like, why are they jumping? And then I realized my trailer hit the gas pump. Yeah. This is awesome.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's why I don't serve on those teams anymore. But I had no idea what God was gonna do. And here's the thing is, the Lord is saying, man, I've got this amazing catch for you if you just trust me and go out again and go a little deeper and step into community and and and just and just try. And you're like, lord, I I I did that once. I shared my feelings once with someone, and they didn't handle it well.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I just say I'm sorry? I confessed my sin one time at church and they all gossiped about me. Can I just say I'm sorry? Sandals is not a perfect place, but it does have an amazing vision. Amen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. That's right. An amazing vision. So last week, we talked about John. He said, I'm just a disciple whom Jesus loved.
Pastor Matt Brown:This week, we're talking about Peter, and in a second, I'm gonna talk about Paul. Next week, we're gonna get into James, but they're all saying the same thing, and some of you have been a Christian your whole life, but you've missed this your whole life. Here's the guy who wrote half the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, and he's writing to a young pastor and he says this, this is a trustworthy saying and everyone should accept it. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Listen to this, the guy who wrote half your Bible and I am the worst of them all.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm the worst of them all. If you want to know the secret sauce of sandals, it's been this. For almost 30 years Isn't that crazy? I started sandals when I was 11. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:Not so real. But for almost 30 years, I've been standing on stage and saying I'm not perfect, but I know who is. And people have been drawn to that. People have been drawn to that. Now does it make some churches uncomfortable?
Pastor Matt Brown:Yes. Being real should make us all uncomfortable, but it's drawn people who don't go to church. I was talking with the family at our Hunter Park campus 2 weeks ago, a family of 13. I said, how did you hear about us? He says, oh, our daughter invited us to Father's Day.
Pastor Matt Brown:I said, that's great. I said, where did you go to church before? And the mom says, we we've never been to church before. That's who Sandals Church is reaching. They've never been to church before at all.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's who we wanna reach. But in order to do that, church has gotta go a little deeper. You gotta hold goats. Amen? You gotta hold goats.
Pastor Matt Brown:The church is full of them. Jesus said. We don't know who's a goat and who's a sheep until the end. It'd be nice if you could see the horns. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I see you. Next, authentic Christian community requires discovering my god given potential to make a difference. Every step of the way can I just be honest with you? I felt like God's got the wrong guy. I'm not holy enough.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm not talented enough. When we first started, I I I felt too young. Now I feel like, am I too old? I constantly feel like, Lord, I can't do this without you and I think that's exactly where he wants me. Said, lord, I need you.
Pastor Matt Brown:I need you. Listen to what Jesus says to Simon Peter. Jesus replied to Simon. He said, don't be afraid. From now on, you will be fishing for people.
Pastor Matt Brown:Look. I don't know what you do for a living. I don't know what you how you identify yourself as, but if you trust Jesus and you really press into this authentic community, you're gonna discover things about yourself you never knew. You're going to be given gifts that you never knew you had. You're going to do things, go places, and see things you never would have seen if you just trust Jesus and you press in to this idea of being real.
Pastor Matt Brown:And you say, Lord, I'm not worthy. I can't do this, and you should pick somebody else. And he says, you're precisely who I wanted. Amen. Listen to me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Every one of the 12 disciples Jesus called were the leftovers from who the rabbis didn't pick.
McKay Vandenberg:Amen. That's right. You're right.
Pastor Matt Brown:They weren't picked. As soon as they landed, listen to this, they left everything and followed Jesus. Here's the thing. If you get real with Jesus, he'll show you who you really are. He'll show you what you can really do.
Pastor Matt Brown:Ephesians 210, for we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus. Listen to this. So we can do the things he planned for us long ago. You have no idea.
Pastor Matt Brown:You have no idea what God wants to do for you. You have no idea what God wants to do through you. I was sitting in a meeting with a guy that's gonna run for governor of our state. He went to Sandals Church for 15 years. Who would have thought I'd be leading and spiritually directing the potential governor of our state?
Pastor Matt Brown:And yet, there he was all along sitting in a seat. You have no idea what God might do through you if you just trust him. He can take a guy with dyslexia. He can take a guy who struggles reading. He can take a guy who's terrified to stand in front of people and talk, like, right now, and use him to speak for to 1,000.
Pastor Matt Brown:What could he do through you if you just said, you know what, God, I'm gonna quit playing games and I'm just gonna get real. I'm just gonna get real. Couple years ago, Tammy and I had the opportunity to go to Paris and, was really looking forward to the day, except we took children. I don't recommend that. It was it was a rough day.
Pastor Matt Brown:It was a rough, rough day, man. I I literally we we we went in, and, we saw this beautiful chapel, amazing chapel. And right when we got inside, tears were in my eyes. My son's like, dad, I gotta go to the bathroom. I'm like, okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:We've been in line for 3 hours. We went to the Louvre. We went to see the Mona Lisa, and my kids were bored out of their minds. They're like, where are the snacks? But I got to see the Mona Lisa just for a second.
Pastor Matt Brown:How many of you guys have heard the Mona Lisa? Raise your hands. K. If you haven't, you need to Google it. Not right now.
Pastor Matt Brown:In a second. But did you know this? It has been described as the best known, most visited, most written about, most sung about, and the most parodied work of art in the world. Why? Why?
Pastor Matt Brown:I wanna have them put the picture up here and I I want the camera crew to zoom in on her. Let's zoom in. I'm a get out of the way. Is she beautiful? You think so?
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay. We're he's being real. I don't think she has a future modeling. That's my opinion. But here's the thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:Why why is she so famous? It's because she's a real authentic masterpiece of Leonardo da Vinci. She's not famous because of who she is or how she looks. She's famous because of who painted her. She's famous because of the artist behind her.
Pastor Matt Brown:That could be you if you let Jesus recreate you, redraw you, redevelop you. Do you know what people will draw? Do you know what will draw people to you? It's when you become real because that's what people want. They wanna meet authentic followers of Jesus, Christ in his community.
Pastor Matt Brown:And that's what Sandals Church is all about. So why Sandals? I always hear all kinds of answers for why that is and I'm like, I kinda know because I invented it. But I was a soccer player, and there were years when I was growing where I probably needed new cleats, but I had to wear last year's cleats because that's what the budget had. And so I had ugly feet, terrible feet.
Pastor Matt Brown:Just think of those commercials with the toenail fungus guy. That's what all of my toes look like. Now I've been healed. They've created medicine and prayer. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:But when I was a young guy, I would only wear sandals around people if I was totally comfortable. My first Thanksgiving with my wife and her family, her nephew said, what's wrong with your feet? He said that at Thanksgiving. And here's the thing. I wanted to start a church where people people could see the very worst of me and still love me.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, Peter felt seen. Lord, I don't I don't deserve to be here. You got the wrong guy. Lord, you need to get out of here. I'm a sinner.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm a sinful fisherman. And Jesus says, come and follow me, and I will make you a fisher of men. That's the vision of Sandals Church. How beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news. And Sandals Church has brought good news to thousands of people, but God is not done.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we have to hold on to this vision of being real with each other, of pressing into relationships, pressing into community. Because no matter how big Sandals gets, it's always gonna be as small as your small group. And that's what you need to do, and that's what you need to know. And our work is not done. Look at our communities.
Pastor Matt Brown:Look at our cities. People need Jesus. People need Jesus. They need an authentic, real relationship with God. And God, for whatever reason, in his sovereignty, just like he chose Peter, has chosen you.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's chosen me to bring this vision vision of being real to California and the world. Amen? Amen. Amen. Listen.
Pastor Matt Brown:I love you guys. You know, God in his sovereignty decided to let my voice be whatever it is today because I think he wanted to dial it back so we could dial in to the vision that he has for us. So let's just close in prayer, and let's pray for our church. Sandals Church is a precious place. It's a beautiful place, and it's an important place where lives are changed because of this vision of being real.
Pastor Matt Brown:Before we pray, I spoke at a church last week, and I'm not gonna say the name of it because you guys would know it. But the pastor talked about all the movements of God in California, the 1906 Azusa Revivals, the Jesus movement of the sixties, Billy Graham's 1949 sermon in Los Angeles. And he said this. He said, I believe the next great movement that God is doing will start in California, and he's doing it through Sandals Church. And then he introduced me to preach.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I gotta be honest with you. I told him afterwards. I said, all I see is our flaws. And he told me, he said, I see a movement of God. And he said, I'm cheering you on.
Pastor Matt Brown:Cheering you on. So let's pray that whatever God is doing, this would just be the first just first ripple of a giant wave, of a giant movement in California once again and then America where people are real with themselves, real with God, and real with, just others. Amen? Wouldn't that be awesome? Let's pray for our church.
Pastor Matt Brown:Heavenly father, in the name of Jesus, we pray, Lord, that we truly would be a movement of God. Lord, that you would take these 14 campuses, Lord, and you would help us change the lives of thousands of people where we invite them into the boat with Jesus, where we encourage people to paddle out a little deeper and to get a little more real, to make more room in our hearts for you. Lord Jesus, be with our church, this precious church called Sandals, and help us to be true carriers of this vision, to be more real in our families, to bore to be more real in our friendships, and to be more real at this church. We pray this in Jesus' name, and we ask for your blessing. Amen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Thank you so much for tuning in today. If you want more content from this series, we have a YouTube playlist linked in the description. And if you want more information about who we are and what we do, you can go to sandalschurch.com.