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At Sandals Church, our vision is to be real with ourselves, God and others. This channel features sermons and teaching from Pastor Matt Brown and other members of the Sandals Church preaching team. You can find sermon notes, videos and more content at http://sandalschurch.com/watch
This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was reminded last week in community group of how weird church can be when you first start. So some of you, you never grew up in church, you never been to church, and you stumble into Sandals, and you're like, what is going on? Why are people's hands up? Why are people making noises? You know, why do people shout amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:What does that word mean? And so all of us when we come to church, right, we we come from either a different perspective or no perspective at all. And today, we're gonna talk about how to authentically worship Jesus. And one of the weirdest things for people who are coming into church for the first time is worship. And so some of you have no idea why we sing, no idea why we pray, no idea why we take the Lord's Supper.
Pastor Matt Brown:You don't even know what that sentence means, the Lord's Supper. And some of you, you've been in church for a long time, and you've forgotten why we do what we do. And so today is an important, important day. And so I want you to open your Bibles to Matthew 26. We're gonna look at 16 verses.
Pastor Matt Brown:Remember, these are the last moments of the life of Jesus Christ. So last week, right, he talked about, look, not everybody's going to heaven. A lot of people are going to hell. You don't know who a sheep is. You don't know who a goat is.
Pastor Matt Brown:And today, we're gonna soften because this is a tender moment with Jesus. Last week, we got the harsh realities of eternity. Some of us are going to heaven. Some of us are going to hell. And and not everybody's going to the same place.
Pastor Matt Brown:But this week, we're gonna look at a softer, intimate moment with a woman who gets it. She understands what worship is. And guys, I want you to pay attention because women just are better at this than us. And I don't want you to think, you know, how do I become effeminate in my worship? But how do I learn from the way that oftentimes women worship?
Pastor Matt Brown:And what does that look like for me as a dude? How do I do this? Because I want worship to be authentic, not staged. I don't want you to look at someone else and do what they do. I want you to look at Jesus and do what he's calling you to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? Amen. Okay. So real worship, underline this or or write this down, sees what others miss. So some of you, you know, you're sitting around, you're at a campus, you're like, oh my gosh, some of our campuses look like churches, some of our campuses look like boxes, amen, that we've tried to turn into churches.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of you are watching from home, and right now, I'm literally competing with Cheetos. Can I get an amen? And then we all know I'm gonna lose to Cheetos. And so real worship starts with seeing something that most people miss. It's not just songs.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's not just bible verses. It's not just a talk. That's what I love about Sandals Church. People don't know what to call what I do. They're like, great talk.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm like, thank you. That's when you know you're dealing with a non Christian. Right? They're they're brand new. And, it's not just a talk.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's a sermon. It it's a message from God to you. And these aren't my words. We're teaching his word. And so what I want you to pay attention to is don't miss what God wants to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:So most of our people today are gonna be watching, from a campus. We have 14 campuses across Southern California. Then we have a whole another church that gathers online. But here's what you don't know. I'm gonna talk about worship today, and guess what's the one thing we couldn't do in studio today?
Pastor Matt Brown:Worship. You don't know this worse it wouldn't work. The speakers won't work. We couldn't sing. We couldn't praise.
Pastor Matt Brown:None of that could happen. But here's what I want you to know. Isn't it interesting that God knew today we're gonna talk about authentic worship? And authentic worship isn't singing. It isn't music.
Pastor Matt Brown:It isn't speakers. It isn't a sound system. Authentic worship is something much deeper. Now that's not something that we planned. I think it's the devil trying to prevent you guys from engaging with God.
Pastor Matt Brown:But here's the thing. When we strip away all the lights, when we strip away all the talent, when we strip away all the music, when we strip away everything and it's just you and Jesus, can you still worship? So real worship sees what others miss. So what I believe is God God is trying to draw you into something today. So let's look at Matthew twenty six one through five.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let's open our Bibles. So when Jesus had finished saying all these things, remember last week, some of you were goats, amen, and you're going to hell. So it's all scary. When Jesus had finished saying these things, he said to his disciples, this is really important. He says, as you know, Passover begins in two days.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus Christ is gonna be crucified. He's gonna be a dead man in two days. As you know, Passover begins in two days, and the son of man will be handed over to be crucified. And guess what the 12 disciples hear? The same thing your kids hear when you say, can you take out the trash?
Pastor Matt Brown:Nothing. It's gone. It's gone. They saw your mouth moving. They heard the words.
Pastor Matt Brown:Somehow, it didn't go in their brain. Can I get an amen, parents? They missed it. Now look at verse three. This is important.
Pastor Matt Brown:At the same time, the leading priests and elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas. I've been in this house. This house still exists or at least the foundation of it. I've been to this place, large house, palatial house. Think Newport Beach.
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen, Riversideers? K. Gorgeous, gorgeous house. At that same time, the priest and the elders were meeting at the residence of Caiaphas, the high priest. Now look at this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Plotting how to capture Jesus secretly and kill him, but not during the Passover celebration. Here's what they're saying. We're gonna come up with a great plan. We're gonna kill Jesus, but we're not gonna do it this weekend. And yet, this is the very weekend God had ordained for them to do it.
Pastor Matt Brown:So they don't see what God is doing. They're missing these are professional worshipers missing the greatest worship service in the history of the world. Not where we worship God, but where God descends and dies for us so that we can worship him and be with him forever. They say, but not during the Passover. They say, or the people may riot.
Pastor Matt Brown:Don't you love politicians? We don't want people to know what we're really up to. But here's the thing, they did not want to arrest and crucify Jesus that weekend, but it's the very weekend God wanted them to arrest and crucify him. So listen to me today. God is up to something.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't know whether you get it or not. I don't know whether you catch it or not. But here's the thing, real worshipers see what others miss. So think about that. When you enter into church, what does God wanna do?
Pastor Matt Brown:What does God wanna say? Where is God wanting to move? You see, worship isn't about our production. It's about your ability to sense what God is doing. Next, real worship costs something.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I want you to write this in your bible. Salvation is free. Worship is always expensive. Salvation is free. Worship is expensive.
Pastor Matt Brown:It just is. Because if it doesn't cost you something, it's not worship. And a lot of you guys, I love I love people in our church always trying to get a church or Sandals a deal. They're trying to get us something for free. That's great.
Pastor Matt Brown:We love free stuff. That's not worship. Free stuff is not worship. It's something that costs us. That's why we call it a sacrifice.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what that's what it's called. So look at Matthew twenty six six through seven. Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. Now, is huge. This is a death sentence in the ancient world.
Pastor Matt Brown:So we don't know who this guy is, but God had done a miracle in his life. And can I just say, some of you, God's done a miracle in your life? He saved your marriage and you forgot about it. He healed you from cancer and you forgotten about it. Look, you are lost, but now you're found and you forgotten about it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And that's why when you come to worship, you're just here to get, you're not here to give. So I want you to notice, the man who is healed of leprosy by God in a miraculous way is not the one who worships. He's the one who observes worship. So while he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar, look at this, of expensive perfume and poured it over his head. Now think about that.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, we just always read the bible. Isn't it interesting that just random people are always just crashing Jesus parties? You know, they're just always, like, bursting in. You know? And and I mean, you just don't ever know who's coming to your house when you invite Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? Because some weirdo people can show up. You know what I'm saying? And so they're just have they're they're they're having a dinner. Jesus Christ is you know, he's got he's got he's got a carb up.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? He's got a tough weekend go coming. You know? He's gotta get some protein in. He's going to the cross.
Pastor Matt Brown:He's not going to the gym. He's going to the cross so you can get to God. Amen? And so he's gotta carb up. He's gotta protein up, and they're having this last meal or almost last meal.
Pastor Matt Brown:And all of a sudden this woman bursts in. And she just goes right to Jesus and she pours this expensive perfume over his head. Now here's the thing. Most scholars believe this perfume represented about a year's salary. Not 10%, 100%, all of it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And she poured it over his head. You see true worship is not about what God is gonna give me, but it's about what am I gonna give God. So there's this guy in the Old Testament, his name is David. And he's he he has a lot of struggles like you, like me. He makes a lot of mistakes like you, like me.
Pastor Matt Brown:But here's the one thing David got right. It is one of the things that God loved most about David. The Bible describes David not as an idiot, not as a moron, not as a sinner, not as an adulterer. The Bible describes David as a man after God's heart. David was a worshiper.
Pastor Matt Brown:David was a worshiper. Look, you may get a lot of things wrong in your Christian faith. Let's get worship right in our Christian faith. Amen. Let's get it right.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so here's what he says in second Samuel twenty four twenty four. So somebody wants to give him his offering to God for free. And here's what he says, I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing. He says, I'm not I'm not coming to worship to give something I got for free. Salvation is something you get for free.
Pastor Matt Brown:Worship is something that costs you. Now, let's jump into this text. Let's let's push a little deeper. Real worship changes the atmosphere. Now here's the thing.
Pastor Matt Brown:There's gonna be moments in your life, and I I hope today is one of those moments. There's gonna be worship services in your life, and I hope today is one of those worship services where everything changes. It's no longer church. It's no longer a sermon. It's no longer me talking, but somehow, someway, God starts talking, and he meets you in this place.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, when real worship happens, the atmosphere changes. When God shows up, he messes everything up. Amen? I mean, he just starts moving things. And for some of you, it's been way too long since that happened.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, worship is a practice. But when's the last time you heard God preach to you? When's the last time you heard God speak to you? Verse chapter 26 verse seven. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of ex full of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.
Pastor Matt Brown:So not only is the perfume expensive, but what is expensive? The jar. The jar. She got this jar Tiffany's. Amen, ladies?
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. And guys, if you don't know what Tiffany's is, you're single and that may be why may be why you're single. But here's the thing, the jar was expensive, the perfume is expensive. But God moved in her life, and she's the only one aware of what's about to happen. Jesus told the disciples, it's not like he said, hey, guess what we're gonna do this weekend.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, the son of man will be crucified this weekend. The very people who are gonna crucify him this weekend say, we're not gonna do it this weekend, but she gets it. She gets it. And I want you to think about what happened to that room when the jars opened and the perfume is poured. Anybody ever been in an elevator with somebody wearing too much cologne?
Pastor Matt Brown:Can I get an amen? Right. You know. Amen. You know.
Pastor Matt Brown:Anybody got a friend that wears too much cologne? K. Don't look at them. Just, like, just nod in that direction. Like some of us, man, we just we bathe in that stuff.
Pastor Matt Brown:Feel free to just bathe and then you don't have to wear that much stuff. Amen? Amen? No. No.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's too much. But we've all been around somebody, right, that's fragrant. You know it. You know it when you walk into a room with somebody wearing a sweet perfume or a sweet cologne. Right?
Pastor Matt Brown:So it prepares us. It it it moves our mind. Smell is a powerful force. Everything in the room is different. It no longer smells of food.
Pastor Matt Brown:It no longer smells of male b o. Right? It smells of this beautiful fragrance. But here's the beauty. When God moves through one of us, listen to me, he's prepared to move through all of us.
Pastor Matt Brown:God moves through one woman and changes the whole room. Changes the whole room. When's the last time God moved in your life? You want God to move in your marriage? Let's let God move in our worship.
Pastor Matt Brown:You want God to move in your kids? Let's invite God to move in your life. You want God to move in your finances? Let's ask him to move in your heart. When's the last time there was just a fragrance, something happened in church that changed your life.
Pastor Matt Brown:There have been moments like that periodically through Sandals history. Moments that defined us as a church. Moments that launched us forward as a congregation. Moments where we were something and we left changed. Not one person, but all people in the room.
Pastor Matt Brown:Everybody was affected. Everybody was shaken. Everybody was filled. Now these moments don't happen week after week, and if we believe they do, we're faking it. These moments are something special.
Pastor Matt Brown:Second Corinthians two fifteen, the Apostle writes this letter to the church. He says, our lives are a Christ like fragrance rising up to God. He says, but this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and by those who are perishing. You see, non believers will never get worship, but Christians can't ever miss worship. When's the last time your life was a fragrance to the Lord?
Pastor Matt Brown:When's the last time you opened up your life like this woman opened up this jar of perfume and you said, God, it's yours. God, I'm pouring it all out. God, I'm giving everything. When was the last time you did that? Why don't we do that?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because real worship, look at this, will be criticized always. Man, if you just wanna just go on a negative tour on TikTok or Instagram, just follow commentary on worship services at churches. I mean, people hate music. Pep people just bust me all the time because there's a screen. Oh, they got an LED wall.
Pastor Matt Brown:It must be the devil. Look. Do you know what this is? This is sixteenth century technology. It's called a book.
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of you should go buy one and read one. But this is technology. This was information gathered in one place. And now we call it the Internet. Right?
Pastor Matt Brown:So we just we just wanna embrace change. But people are critical of how we sing, what we sing, what we do, how we present. I mean, you name it. And so here's the thing. Sandals Church started as the smallest church in Riverside.
Pastor Matt Brown:We were the smallest. So if you think small is holy, we were holy. We were so holy. And now we're probably the biggest. And so now people criticize us.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now people call us, and this is not like a complimentary term. This is a derogatory term. They call us the megachurch. And so I was, scrolling on TikTok this week. Do I like you guys do?
Pastor Matt Brown:Instead of reading my bible, I was reading TikTok. Do you read TikTok? I was observing TikTok. And, you know, our phones listen to us. Did you know that?
Pastor Matt Brown:They listen to us. And so there's this whole stream of just making fun of megachurches. And I look at this one, and it's this pastor coming out on this LED wall. So, like, he's, like, riding this LED wall like a bull, and the congregation's going nuts, and he's just praising the name of Jesus. And, oh my gosh, I just started reading the comments.
Pastor Matt Brown:Did you know Christ is not in the comments? So let me this is just commentaries about megachurch. And by the way, this is us. This is what we are. I'd I've never come down on a LED wall, but listen to this.
Pastor Matt Brown:What a waste that could be going towards those in need, 1,766 likes. How much money did they ask from their followers? 1,495 likes. They're like, hell no in AAW on feeding the poor, but I'll check this out. 1,020 likes.
Pastor Matt Brown:I like this one. What bible verse is that, bro? 783 likes. Like, that was just some of the commentary. But here's the thing that made me so sad.
Pastor Matt Brown:It wasn't actually a church service. It was Justin Timberlake at his mirror conference. It wasn't even a church service. But people are piling on the church and bagging on the church, and Christians everywhere is like, yo, that's why I left. Because you went to a Justin Timberlake conference?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's why you left the church? And here's the sad thing. Even I was fooled. I was like, man, I wish we had that church budget. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I'd be like, you know, coming down. Even I was fooled. Look, people love to be critical of worship. Let me tell you, one of the reasons we have 14 campuses, let's just set the record straight, it saves money. It's way cheaper than building, you know, an arena that the Lakers could play in.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's way less expensive to adopt churches that were dwindling in attendance. And so for us to put up a screen and put in a staff, it's way more cost effective. And I believe it's a better act of worship financially to the Lord than building, you know, sandalsarena.com, and yet people still criticize. Why? Because it's always easier to be critical of the spirit than to be convicted by the spirit.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen? Thank you for the golf clap. That was a good one. Okay. Let's look at Matthew twenty six eight through nine.
Pastor Matt Brown:And just so you know, if you find yourself being critical of worship, it's because you're a Christian. Look look at this. Verse eight, the disciples were indignant when they saw this. What a waste. These are not the goats.
Pastor Matt Brown:I mean, one's a goat. Right? Judas. The other 11, they're all sheep. The disciples were indignant when they saw this.
Pastor Matt Brown:What a waste, they said. Right? This is the number one criticism that large churches get, how we spend money. It's so much easier to criticize how a church spends money so you never feel convicted to actually give money. Do you know who's the least critical of our church?
Pastor Matt Brown:Our givers. Do you know who's the the most critical of our church? Our hoarders. It's just true. Verse nine.
Pastor Matt Brown:It could have been sold for a high price and that money given to the poor. What they're saying is, Jesus, don't you I mean, can you imagine challenging Jesus? Jesus, don't you realize you've just wasted our worship budget? Listen to me, a critical spirit in me can prevent the movement of the Holy Spirit on me. First Thessalonians five nineteen, don't do not put out the spirit's fire.
Pastor Matt Brown:What happened to your life? You quenched the spirit. You've turned to a critical spirit instead of inviting the spirit to convict you. I want you to in your notes here, to know that this is the moment Judas turned on Jesus. And it was over a financial issue of how the Lord was spending money.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now, do some churches misappropriate funds? Absolutely. Absolutely. And here's the thing, God's gonna hold you accountable for what you give and he's gonna hold me accountable for how I spent it. Okay.
Pastor Matt Brown:So on the day of judgment, you all feel free to pray for me. Pastor Matt's gonna be over there for a while as I give an accounting not only for my life, but for our church and how what we did with the funds that we we we were given in his name. This is serious stuff. But I want you to see here, this is how people turn from Jesus into a Judas all the time. They get critical of something in the church, they get wounded and they walk away.
Pastor Matt Brown:It happens over and over and over again. And then they start a blog, and then they have a post, and then they, you know, it's just it's just constantly. Because you can get a a whole lot more likes on Instagram from criticizing the church than you can from sharing how you were convicted of your sin in the church. It just gets you a whole lot more followers to be negative in our culture. It just does.
Pastor Matt Brown:And I'm not saying the church should never be criticized. I'm not saying the church always gets it right. I'm just saying we gotta be careful that we're following Jesus, not Judas, who's telling us, hey, guys, this way. Verse 14. Then Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 disciples, went to the leading priests and asks, how much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's the most disgusting sentence in the Bible. What will you pay me to sell Jesus out? It's why Jesus said you can't serve God and money because in the end you're gonna worship one and not the other. Look at this. And they gave him 30 of silver.
Pastor Matt Brown:And from that time on Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. Some of you don't know your Bibles, you know, the way that you wish you would. But the first five books of the Bible is called the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. And in the book of Exodus chapter 21 verse 32, there's a specific command about 30 pieces of silver. And here's what it says, if the bull in your field, gores and murders a slave in someone else's field, you must pay that owner 30 pieces of silver.
Pastor Matt Brown:Jesus Judas just sold out Jesus for the price of a slave. Do you understand that? And by the way, don't miss it. That's what the Pharisees thought his life was worth. Do you understand?
Pastor Matt Brown:This is huge. They just thought the precious blood of Jesus was only worth the penalty for your animal killing someone else's slave. Real worship will be remembered. Amen. Look at verse 10, Jesus comes to her rescue.
Pastor Matt Brown:But Jesus aware of this replied, why criticize this woman for doing such a good thing to me? Why would we why why would our culture ever criticize? Here's what I say. If there's a church in Texas and their pastor's coming down on an LED wall, what does that have to do with me? What does that have to do with my worship?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's not my church. And let me say this, if that's what your church is spending money on, go to another church. But isn't it amazing that we all will pay money to go to a concert where we think that's amazing, but if we do it in God's God's house, it's a sin. Why is it that the things we love in Vegas, the lights, the talents, the music, why is it that we we want that excellence there but not in our church? Jesus says, look, you will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Look at verse 12. This is so good. She has poured this perfume on me to prepare my body for burial. She's the only one that gets it. I'm about ready to die.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this is what Jesus says, verse 13. I tell you the truth, wherever the good news is preached throughout the world, this woman's deed will be remembered and discussed. Look, instead of criticizing the church, this week in community group, why don't you discuss her generosity and compare it with yours? You know why we would rather criticize the church than compare our generosity with hers? Because her generosity will convict us all.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's just so much easier to be critical than it is to be convicted. And we as a church have to maintain a posture that says, we wanna live a life that makes a difference. We wanna live a life that's remembered. We've all wasted money. How many of guys ever bought something stupid?
Pastor Matt Brown:Raise your hands. Okay. I'm scared to death when I stand before God of all the dumb things that I bought. You know, you're up at night, two in the morning halfway through that pint of ice cream. Can I get an amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, used to used to have to stay up late to buy dumb stuff. Now they sell it to you on TikTok. It's terrible. You go, I've always needed that. And and ten seconds late earlier, you didn't even know that existed.
Pastor Matt Brown:We've all bond bought dumb stuff. But I want you to see here, the disciples' criticism is that the money was wasted. And Jesus says, no. No. No.
Pastor Matt Brown:The money was used for worship. And here's the key. Money that's used for worship is never wasted, and God says, will always be remembered. Always be remembered. So what do we do?
Pastor Matt Brown:How do we end? How do we become more like her? And isn't this sad to say, less like the 12 disciples. They had three years of uninterrupted Bible teaching and real life experience with Jesus and at the very end they still fail. They still fail.
Pastor Matt Brown:What is it that you need to learn? What is it that's missing from your worship? Real worship always starts with brokenness. Now, if you're if you're new to Christianity, you're like, wait a minute, pastor. I'm already broken.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's why I'm in church. Okay. Look. I'm not talking about abuse. I'm not talking about trauma.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm not talking about any other terrible things happening to you. I'm talking about something that's desperately needed in you. K? This isn't offense. This isn't a crime.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is reality that God needs to impress upon you. Because here's the thing. Here's what abuse and trauma says, that everything that's wrong with the world is outside of me and been done to me. And here's what the gospel says, the real problem is what's inside of you. And this is why it's so offensive.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so we all need to ask ourselves, when's the last time in worship I was broken by God? In a good way. Because here's the thing that you need to know, when God breaks something, he rebuilds it better. Amen? Always.
Pastor Matt Brown:But here's the truth. You will never truly ask for God until you know how desperately you need him. Amen. You just won't. You just won't.
Pastor Matt Brown:So I want you to think about that when you're praying for your spouse that doesn't believe. When you're praying for your kids that have walked away. When you're trying to share the gospel with your boss. Listen to me. People only turn to God when they realize how broken they are and that he's the healer and they need him.
Pastor Matt Brown:And all 12 disciples missed it. So I want us to flip back because this story is told in Mark in a slightly different way. But Mark tells us this story in Mark fourteen three, and I want you to see the verb that he adds to the sentence poured. Mark fourteen three, she what did she do to the jar? She broke the jar.
Pastor Matt Brown:What does that mean when she broke the jar? Could the jar ever be used again for more perfume? No. She gave it all. Her act of worship started with brokenness.
Pastor Matt Brown:She broke the jar and then poured the perfume on his head. She was all in. No going back. Listen to me. If she was carried out by by Simon the leper's family, by Simon the leper's servants, if she was pushed away for the disciples, if if her worship wasn't welcomed, if Jesus didn't want it, if she was pushed away, cast away.
Pastor Matt Brown:There was no going back. She was all in because she was broken. When's the last time you had that experience in church? Psalms fifty one sixteen through 17. You do not desire a sacrifice or I would offer one.
Pastor Matt Brown:You do not want a burnt offering. The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart. Oh God. True worship always begins with brokenness that leads to repentance, that leads to revival in your life and mine.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to me if you're a Christian. The longer it's been since God broke your heart, the farther you probably are from him. When's the last time God broke your heart? Over a year ago, Tammy and I, we went to England to HTB. It's a famous church in London, England, and there's a revival taking place.
Pastor Matt Brown:And one of the bishops said, I have a word from the Lord. He says, anybody's church in here have the name Wood in it? I was like, no. And Tammy's like, Sandals Woodcrest Sandals Woodcrest. I was like, Woodcrest.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he said, there's an ember there, and God wants to bring revival to Sandals Church. And I shared that, and and I wanna just confess and ask for forgiveness. I put a lot of pressure on Woodcrest. Now, here's the thing. I shared what I knew.
Pastor Matt Brown:And just so you know, God doesn't always tell me everything. And so people are like, well, what's God gonna do? How's he gonna be revival? And I'm like, I don't know. That's all I got.
Pastor Matt Brown:I got that's the words I got from the Lord. And then on Good Friday service, we were planning to come to come into Hunter Park. And at the last minute, my wife made a change. Right? Husbands, that's what you do.
Pastor Matt Brown:When the wife makes a change, you go with it. Amen? That's how revival breaks out in the home. So so we went we went to Woodcrest. This was not of my planning.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is not this was not me. And we went to Woodcrest for Good Friday service, and it was a great service. But here's the thing you need to know. My job is to be a pastor. My job is to run a church.
Pastor Matt Brown:And oftentimes, instead of worshiping, you know what I'm doing? I'm criticizing what's going wrong, what needs to change, What do we get wrong? I I just I go into work mode rather than worship mode. And pastor Tim in the Woodcrest Church asked us to come forward and they gave each one of us a nail on Good Friday, and they said, what is your sin that's keeping you from God? And for the first time in a long time in worship, heard God speak to me.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he said, you've lost your first love. Yeah. I was devastated. I tried to keep it together because people are looking at me, pastor Matt's here, he's here, he's here, he's here. I didn't wanna cause a scene.
Pastor Matt Brown:I could barely get home. I got home and God said, Revelation Revelation chapter two. I'm gonna try to read this. This is what the Lord spoke to me. Revelation chapter two verse one.
Pastor Matt Brown:Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus thus says, the one who holds the seven stars in the right hand who walks amongst the seven golden lampstands. Listen to this, this is what God spoke to me. I know your works and your labor, and your endurance. I've worked hard. I've worked hard for you guys.
Pastor Matt Brown:I've I've given my best. And that you have not you will not tolerate people who call themselves apostles who are not. And you have found them to be liars. And you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name. And you have not grown weary, but then God says this, but I have this against you.
Pastor Matt Brown:You have abandoned the love you had at first. And here's here's what I wanna confess as a church. The last five years have worn on me heavy. The politics, the anger, the divisiveness, friends that been in our church for a long time leaving, going, criticizing. And here's what God convicted me on on Good Friday.
Pastor Matt Brown:On the day we're supposed to remember his suffering, I was consumed with mine. And I just wanna confess to you as a church that that's my sin. And I confess it to Tammy on Good Friday. I confess to you. I confess to Woodcrest that the ember that God wanted to start at Woodcrest wasn't you, it was me.
Pastor Matt Brown:It was a fire that was going out in me because I had made my worship work, And God had to make my work worship once again. And so I asked for your forgiveness. And here's what the Lord spoke to Tammy and I on Good Friday. God can only do in our church what he first does in us. I can only take you to a place that I'm going.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so what I would just ask you is as you forgive me as your pastor, as I humbly try to repent to you. Look, if I can make worship a work, have you made worship a work? Is there an ember in your life that's going out and if you're not careful, what God says in Ephesus will happen to you, he'll take his lampstand somewhere else. Because what God wants is revival in all of us. What God wants is revival in our church.
Pastor Matt Brown:What God wants is revival in you and in me. And what we wanna be like is this woman that was broken and poured it all out for Jesus. Because I don't know about you, but when I meet Jesus face to face, I don't wanna drop a perfume left in my bottle. I want it all out for him in his name. Let's bow our heads and let's pray.
Pastor Matt Brown:Father, we ask right now in Jesus name, God, are we where we we're supposed to be with you? Are we worshipers or have we made church a work? God, are we like the disciples who have a critical spirit, Lord? Or are we like this beautiful woman who had a convicted spirit? Lord, let us be worshipers who worship with authenticity.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let us constantly come before you. And God, if there's anyone in this church like me who needs to repent, let us repent. Because God, it doesn't matter how hard we work if we're not in love with you, we're missing the point. God help us to get the point today. I pray all these things in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.
Fredo Ramos:We just wanna take a moment to say thank you wherever you are watching this service from, and we hope and pray that in your brokenness, you would sense God's love and his presence spark a fire in your own soul and life to once again return to your first love and to pour out all you have as an act of worship to Jesus. And listen, if anything that we are doing as a church online is serving you in your discipleship journey, wanna encourage you to pray about how you can support that work. To do so, can go to sandalschurch.com/support. Grace and peace and we'll see you next week.