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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
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 we hope you enjoy this message.
Pastor Matt Brown:A couple years ago, I was just scrolling mindlessly through the Internet, just looking at stuff I shouldn't have been looking at, and I came across this skinny old guy, and I was like, who is this guy? And no, it wasn't me. But I started listening to this guy and his name is Jordan Peterson, Doctor. Jordan Peterson. And instantly, I just gravitated to this guy.
Pastor Matt Brown:I bought his book, and his book changed my life. Okay? This book is as good as Everyday Miracle, amen? But Jordan Peterson's first book, 12 Rules, listen to this, 12 Rules for Life, listen to this, an antidote to chaos. Men flocked to him.
Pastor Matt Brown:80% of all book sales are women. Men bought this book. This book is over a 1000 pages, and they read it and they gravitated to him, and Jordan Peterson became the father of the Internet. It was wild. So men ran to Jordan Peterson.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's what changed as I've followed Jordan Peterson Peterson. Men ran to him. Guess what Jordan Peterson ran to? The Bible. He instantly realized, wow, I need something deeper than this.
Pastor Matt Brown:Now Jordan Peterson, I would call a liberal professor. Now classical liberal, not woke liberal, but a but a a classical liberal. And he instantly realized, hey, what these guys need, and this is a non Christian. I don't believe he's a Christian. I believe he has an admiration and an appreciation for Christian values and morals.
Pastor Matt Brown:But what he said was young men need something deeper than I can provide, and he ran straight to the bible.
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.sc, you can do so there.
McKay Vandenberg:For now, let's get back into our message.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want you to know today that I believe that young men desperately need the bible. They desperately need truth. And even Jordan Peterson, the father of males on the internet said, guys, we need to not forget this stuff. Because there's a consequence that happens when a society forgets the word of God. I remember years ago, my daughter, Kennedy, was reading through the Bible, and there's nothing better than when your kids are reading through the Bible.
Pastor Matt Brown:And she came to me and she said, dad, what does this verse mean? And it was Isaiah 3 12. And I'm gonna read it to you because this bothered a young woman. Here's what it says, Isaiah 3:12. Youths oppress my people and women rule over them.
Pastor Matt Brown:My people, your leaders mislead you. They confuse you in the direction of your paths. She said, Dad, what does this mean? I said, What it means, honey, is that Israel's men failed. Israel's men walked away from their duties.
Pastor Matt Brown:And what happened is the Bible says children led them and women ruled over them, and listen to me ladies. This isn't a knock on you, but when godly men fail, good societies fall. They're destroyed. Absolutely destroyed. And why is that?
Pastor Matt Brown:Some of you are like, well, godly men are chauvinist, godly men are old fashioned, you know, godly men mistreat women. Those aren't godly men. Those are men who claim the Bible, but they have not read the Bible. And ladies, let me tell you why you need to be praying for our church that we raise up godly men. Number 1, godly men treat women with love and respect.
Pastor Matt Brown:Amen. Amen. Love and respect. And that is so important and so essential. In 1 Timothy 52, the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a young pastor.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen to what he says. Treat older women as you would your own mother. Wow. And treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters. You see, we got men running around today.
Pastor Matt Brown:They don't know how to treat their moms and they don't know how to treat their sisters and they don't know how to treat the girls down the street. And they are completely lost. The Bible says you're to treat your mother with love and respect, and older women deserve that same love and respect. And let me tell you something, guys. If a woman isn't your wife, she's someone else's, so treat her with love and respect.
Pastor Matt Brown:In 1st Peter, he writes, in the same way you husbands Right? So it's not just single guys that gotta treat older women as moms and younger women as sisters. Married guys, here's what the Bible says. In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together, and you're like, I don't understand her.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's why God wrote the verse. She may be weaker than you and some CrossFit chicks are like, oh, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Listen to me, ladies. If you're stronger than your husband, the exception simply proves the rule.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what exceptions do. You're like, oh, I know this one girl. Yeah, okay. But for the most part, men are a lot stronger physically than women. We're not equal in that category.
Pastor Matt Brown:We're not equal in our bone density, and we're not equal in our muscle structures. And we live in a crazy society that's get getting women hurt because people falsely teach that we're the same. It's not the same. The other day, my wife and I were working out, and I wasn't thinking. I just said, hey, babe, can you grab me my dumbbell?
Pastor Matt Brown:And she tried. She tried. She was like, what is in this thing? And I'm like, it's weight, but I wasn't even thinking because I hand her her dumbbells. I'm like, here you go.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here you go. And she's like, And Amy, I did it just for a moment when I was like, yeah. Yeah. Listen to this. She may be weaker than you, but she is your equal partner in God's gift of new life.
Pastor Matt Brown:So listen, guys. Treat her as you should. Listen to this so your prayers will not be hindered. If you abuse your wife, your God will not let God will not listen to your prayers. Years ago, I went to a leadership conference.
Pastor Matt Brown:It was actually John Bevere. We had him at our church. And at first, I didn't like John. John's a yeller. John's charismatic.
Pastor Matt Brown:John just yells his whole sermon. And I'm in Hawaii, and I just I'm like, never go to a conference in Hawaii. Never. Because you you don't wanna be at the conference. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm like, I could be surfing instead of listening to this white dude yell at me. And John Bevere was preaching through his book, Honor's Reward. And let me tell you something. About halfway through his message, I heard God speak to me, and God said, you have not been honoring your wife. So we got back to the hotel.
Pastor Matt Brown:I said, baby, in the bedroom. She was like, woah. I was like, no, I gotta talk to you in the bedroom. And I sat her on the bed and I got on my knees, and I said, I have not been honoring you the way that I should. Please forgive me.
Pastor Matt Brown:Guess how many campuses Sandals Church had at that conference? 1. Guess how many books I had written at that conference? 0. Since that moment, Sandals now has 14 campuses.
Pastor Matt Brown:We've seen thousands of people baptized. My marriage has never been better. Why? Because all those prayers that I was asking, God was waiting for me to submit to him and honor my wife. Amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:So if your business isn't growing, maybe it's not your business at work. Maybe it's your business at home. And you need to go home and you need to get on your knees and you need to say, you know what? I've not been honoring you. I've not been treating you the way that I should.
Pastor Matt Brown:There was another pastor at that conference with me at the same conference. We got in the jacuzzi later, we were talking, and I said, what did you get out of that conference? Here's what he said. He said, I heard God say, I need to let people honor me. Although, woah, I heard him.
Pastor Matt Brown:I heard a different message. How successful do you think that guy's been? Not successful at all. What he heard that day ruined him. What I heard that day set me free.
Pastor Matt Brown:Honor your wives. Ephesians 528. Husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. When you criticize her body, you're criticizing your own. All these guys, baby, you need to work out.
Pastor Matt Brown:Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Like, what's going on, like, right here? What is that? All these guys in our church think you're a 10. Maybe if you and your buddy add your numbers together, you're a 10.
Pastor Matt Brown:Right? Listen to what the Bible says. He who loves his wife loves himself. The Bible says when you get married, the 2 have become 1 flesh. So when I criticize Tammy, I'm criticizing myself.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, godly men who love and respect women, listen to this, value their mother's wisdom. Come on, mamas. She's like, I've been saying this. Right? The book of Proverbs 15:20, A wise son brings joys to his father, but a foolish man despises his mother.
Pastor Matt Brown:Why is that? Moms know things. Like when you're dating, ask your mom. She'll be real. Is she the one?
Pastor Matt Brown:Your mom was like, no, that's she's the devil. She's the devil. And there's one thing that women know. Women know how to spot evil in other women. They got like radar.
Pastor Matt Brown:Do do do do do do do, the devil. You gotta learn to listen to your mom. And you know why that is? She risked her life to give you life. She risked her life to give you life.
Pastor Matt Brown:When my kids talk back to their mom, I remember my wife with morning sickness. Every morning we would wake up, hey, Tammy. Wow. Those are kids. My kids have no idea what their mom has sacrificed to bring them into this world to raise them.
Pastor Matt Brown:All the sleepless nights, all of those things. Listen to me. Listen to your mom. Listen to your mom. Godly men who love and respect women see the importance of a wife.
Pastor Matt Brown:You see, we got a lot of Peter Pans in our society who wanna have sex, but wanna don't wanna step up and be a man. That's not what God's calling to. God is calling you to the great adventure of responsibility. We got so many young men in our culture, so many young men that are playing video games, and in their fantasy life, they're a hero, and in their real life, they feel like a 0. Why is that?
Pastor Matt Brown:Get off the screen and get out there. Now, I get it, guys. Girls are scary. I understand that. Every time my wife says, can we talk, I feel like diarrhea's coming, amen?
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm just like, woah. Ladies, you have no idea how scary you are. I get it. Dating life is scary. Do you know there's a there's actually a chapter in the Bible on dating?
Pastor Matt Brown:It's Proverbs 31, And ladies Or hold on, ladies. I wanna be a Proverbs 31 wife. Do you know that Proverbs 31 is written by a woman? It's not for women. It's for a dude.
Pastor Matt Brown:And the mom is like, son, I know you're stupid. I like her. No. Over here. And here's what the woman in Proverbs 31 says.
Pastor Matt Brown:Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband, listen to this, can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. You wanna know one of the reasons I love my wife so much? She has enriched my life.
Pastor Matt Brown:We got all these couples, they're dating. Oh, he's just like me. Okay, that's a problem. You know what makes you stronger as a couple? Your differences, not your similarities.
Pastor Matt Brown:If you both see and feel the same thing, you are both blind to the same thing. She will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good and not harm all the days of her life. Now, ladies, I don't wanna criticize you, but I'm gonna. Social media has destroyed dating.
Pastor Matt Brown:And this is not a feeling. This is Google. Google knows what you like, ladies. Google's watching. A 100% of women on dating apps are selecting the same 15 to 20% of men.
Pastor Matt Brown:And do you know what 80% of men feel? Unloved, unwanted, unseen. Men who feel that they have no sexual prospects and no relationship with God are dangerous men. So you got all these ladies choosing the same guys, and you're like, oh men are jerks. No, just the 15% that can have whatever women they want.
Pastor Matt Brown:The rest of us guys, we're just lucky to get 1, are waiting. We're waiting. Please, heck me. Heck me. Because you know what?
Pastor Matt Brown:A dating app doesn't show personality, integrity. It doesn't show work ethic. Remember, ladies, beautiful things in the wild are deadly. Pick up the ugly animal. It will just, it'll love you.
Pastor Matt Brown:It'll love you. You see that snake that looks gorgeous? Leave it alone. You're gonna die. Kiss the ugly toad, not the beautiful one.
Pastor Matt Brown:You kiss the beautiful one, you're gonna die. But you know people who are dating singles, you make you love to make lists. Here's what I'm attracted to. Okay. You know what godly people do?
Pastor Matt Brown:They read the list of what God finds attractive, and it's a different list. Read Proverbs 31. You won't see the word sexy in it. You know? Find someone sexy.
Pastor Matt Brown:Proverbs 31 says get a Volvo. It's reliable. That's what it says. Don't laugh. I drive a Volvo.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay, warning. We're gonna get real. So just prepare yourselves. This is Sandals Church, this ain't your mama's church. K?
Pastor Matt Brown:I warn you, you could have turned off the screen or walked out. Godly men work to control their sexual desires. I was talking with my son-in-law, and even, you know, both my my older kids have been married for a couple years, and we're really wanting to be grandparents and they're in sin. But I just said, you know what? What do you what do you want, a a boy or a girl?
Pastor Matt Brown:And he's like one of my sons is like so I don't care. I said, well, if you have a son, you have to worry about his penis. If you have a daughter, you have to worry about every penis. And my son-in-law was like, you have just unlocked a new fear. I was like, you're welcome.
Pastor Matt Brown:And why is that? Listen to me, guys. All all unrestrained male sexuality is a disaster for society. It is. It is.
Pastor Matt Brown:Why? Because it destroys society. It destroys society. Many of you, you've read the Bibles, you've read Sodom and Gomorrah, and you're like, oh, this is anti homosexual. No.
Pastor Matt Brown:Sodom and Gomorrah is about when men do whatever they want. They're not having sex with men in Sodom and Gomorrah. They wanna rape angels in Sodom and Gomorrah. When male sexuality runs amok, when it does whatever it wants, it destroys you. Come on, guys.
Pastor Matt Brown:Is there any man in this church that's proud that you look at porn? Yeah. I'm liberated. No, you're a slave. Nobody feels good.
Pastor Matt Brown:And if you do, you're lying. Nobody feels good at, like, looking at that stuff. It doesn't make you feel like a man. It robs you of your God given manhood. All of it.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we don't talk about this. Like we're all talking about Israel and Gaza, we have young people marching at universities, protesting, sitting in. No one has said anything about the 100 and 100 of Israeli women that were raped on October 7th. Where's the Me Too movement now? What were those women doing?
Pastor Matt Brown:What were they guilty of? Going to a concert and being Jewish. We see it with P. Diddy. All the money in the world, all the money in the world, all the power in the world, and what's he doing?
Pastor Matt Brown:His sexual desires have run amok, and it's destroyed him, guys. It's destroyed him. He's not coming back from this, and we see this over and over and over again. Last week we went to Palm Springs for Mother's Day. We had to celebrate a couple weeks late late, and when you're 50, guys, like when you're a young man, you think, oh, I might have to go pee.
Pastor Matt Brown:When you're 50, you're like, I have to go pee. Come on now. Yeah. So I had one of those moments, you know, where where I'm trying to listen to my wife because it's Mother's Day and I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh. And I was just like, I gotta go.
Pastor Matt Brown:And so I run to go use the restroom, and I'm running into the restroom and I hear, Sir, sir, sir, sir, stop. And I'm like, I'm just going into bathroom at P and there's a security guard in Palm Springs. Listen to me. I didn't hear about this. I didn't read this.
Pastor Matt Brown:I experienced this. And the security guard said to me, only 1 man in the restroom at a time. Now why in Palm Springs do they only want 1 man in a restroom at a time? Do you know what male gay sex involves? 2 men, and when you have male sexuality that's run amok and does whatever it wants, it has sex in bathrooms, in public places, and that's disgusting.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's the problem. When it's just men following their desires, it destroys you. In Palm Springs, they gotta pay security guards to stand in front of restrooms because the city ordinance is not enough. And again, I'm not attacking the gay community. I'm saying, guys, this is what happens when it's just about you.
Pastor Matt Brown:It destroys you. And I meet people all the time, well, God just wants me to love. You've not read God's version of love. I just had this conversation with my 21 year old son, and do you know why that is? He's surrounded by other 21 year old men who are just saying, just follow your desires.
Pastor Matt Brown:Just do what you want. And I'm saying, look, you gotta decide. You gotta make the decision. Do you wanna follow God or not? And I'm gonna tell you what God's word says.
Pastor Matt Brown:See, we got all these wannabe Christians that wanna change God's word. Just tell people you're not a Christian. Quit trying to change his word. 1st 1st Thessalonians 4:3 through 8. God's will is for you to be holy.
Pastor Matt Brown:Okay, pastor. I wanna be holy. I wanna be a saint. Okay. Read the next verse.
Pastor Matt Brown:So stay away from all sexual sin. Well, I don't feel like God would have given me desires if he didn't want me to act on them. Okay. Let's read the next verse. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor.
Pastor Matt Brown:Not in lustful passion. Like who? Like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. Man, guys, we gotta decide. You gotta decide what you follow.
Pastor Matt Brown:Your desires, your passions, your sexuality, or Jesus. They are 2 different roads. They're 2 different roads. Listen to the next verse. It gets tougher.
Pastor Matt Brown:Never, the Bible says, harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife. Why? For the Lord avenges all such sins. Listen to this, as we have solemnly warned you before. Now, unfortunately, there's many people in our audience that have experienced adultery and I'm not here to pick on you, but for those who have not experienced it, I'm here to save you.
Pastor Matt Brown:When Sandals Church first started, we got a phone call. A couple had experienced adultery. The wife had found out it was a mess. It was a disaster. Tammy and I rolled up.
Pastor Matt Brown:We'd barely been married a couple of years. The husband got mad and ran off, swearing he was gonna hurt himself. The wife went into the bathroom, took a bunch of pills, and tried to kill herself. I panicked. I didn't know what to do.
Pastor Matt Brown:I didn't call 911. We threw the girl, the woman in the car and we drove as fast as we could to the hospital, to the emergency room. As I'm driving, she wakes up. She loses her mind. She frantically, she starts kicking.
Pastor Matt Brown:She starts scratching, she starts losing her mind. I'm driving down the highway wrestling a full grown woman in the front seat of my car. Her mother was in the back seat crying. My wife is in the back seat. What do we do?
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm saying help me help me help me and we're trying to get to the hospital because she's foaming at the mouth. Finally, I get her in a headlock and my wife gets her legs down, her mom gets her feet down, she rolls over with her head in her lap and she looks right up at me guys, right up at me into my eyes, and here's what she says. Don't ever do this to Tammy. I was like, okay. Got it.
Pastor Matt Brown:Got it. That's as close to adultery as I've ever come. Man, it destroys lives. It destroys marriages. It wrecks kids.
Pastor Matt Brown:If you're a Christian man, God has called us, listen to this, to live holy lives, not impure lives. Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules well, Christianity is about relationship, not rules. There are some guidelines. I mean, some of you Christian I you're you're like a person that goes to the bowling alley. You just start throwing your ball everywhere.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm a Christian. It's not about rules. It's about relationship. And you're killing everybody with your 16 pound ball. He says this, whoever does this is not disobeying human teaching, listen to this, but is rejecting God.
Pastor Matt Brown:I was scrolling through TikTok the other day, and it's a former worship leader who's abandoned her faith, makes fun of Christians, says she never felt it. Here's the truth is, can we just be real? She just wanted to be a rock star and the church was a platform, and now that platform wasn't big enough, so she's on to new and better. And here's what she said, she said, who said I can't sleep with my boyfriend? Who said?
Pastor Matt Brown:God said. God said. You have to decide whether you believe in God. That's not my choice. That's your choice.
Pastor Matt Brown:So what do you do? And especially our young men, what do you do? You run from sexual temptation. I don't go to a strip club and pray that the Lord will help me. I don't do that.
Pastor Matt Brown:I don't do that. I was at the gym working out one time without my wife getting swole And a woman came up to me. She said, you're the best looking man in this whole gym. I was like, she said it was a small gym. You know, she said she said, you wanna go out?
Pastor Matt Brown:I said, no, I'm married. She said, I don't care. You know what I did? I just left. You know what she said I was walking away?
Pastor Matt Brown:Rude. I don't care. Never spoken to her again. Never spoken to her again. Why?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because when she said I was good looking my head started floating. You know, she said I was sexy and I'm like, I come home from work my wife's like. That's how it happens. Right. Right.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's how it happens. Flee from sexual immorality. Well, it's just a conversation. What could happen? A lot of things can happen.
Pastor Matt Brown:Well and then I hear Christians say this, well, all sin's the same. You have never read your Bible. Let me read the Bible for you. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. And let me tell you, young people, the medical industrial complex has sold you out.
Pastor Matt Brown:They don't care about you. They care about profits. They care about prophets, and God will never sell you out because he cannot be bought. So what do you do? And let me say, you know, I I I tell this to young men all the time.
Pastor Matt Brown:It gets easier. It gets easier. You are not as driven by sex in your fifties as you are in your twenties, and anybody that tells you they are, they're lying. They're lying. It gets easier.
Pastor Matt Brown:It gets easier. But in your twenties, in your teens, it's difficult. In your thirties, when you're overwhelmed with responsibilities, it's difficult. But if you discipline your body like an athlete, it will get better. 1st Corinthians 927.
Pastor Matt Brown:I, Paul says, I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Who knows what your body should do? God does. He made your body. He made your body.
Pastor Matt Brown:I want you to imagine you go get on an airplane. Let's say you're flying to Florida, you're flying to New York. I don't know what you're gonna do for the for the summer, and you get on the airplane, and the pilot comes on the radio, and he's, you know what? I'm feeling, like, kinda cool today. Let's do some back flips in this 737.
Pastor Matt Brown:And he wants to do some loop de loops on your Boeing 737 that's a passenger aircraft. How many of you want to be on that plane? If your hand's up, you're stupid. That plane is not designed for that. And do you know why we know that?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because Boeing says don't do that. That's not why we built that. And then we get mad at God. We're like, I'm gonna do loop de loops with my body, and God's like, that's not how I built you. And you're like, oh, I'll I'll show you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Crash. And then you're mad at God. And the Lord's like, read the manual. It's called the Bible. Paul says, I discipline my body as it should.
Pastor Matt Brown:Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others, I myself might be disqualified. It doesn't matter how many people I help get saved if I lose my soul. Just this last month, I've lost 2 other friends, faithful as far as I know for 20 30 years in ministry. They're disqualified. They're disqualified.
Pastor Matt Brown:Well, how did you make it, Matt? When I got turned on, I ran. I ran. And that's been offensive a couple times to my wife. She's like, well, you shouldn't get turned on.
Pastor Matt Brown:I'm like, okay, you know. I just run. I just run from the situation. I don't hang out. Why?
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what the Bible says. It doesn't it doesn't pray. It doesn't say fast. It says run. Some of you guys are just hanging out.
Pastor Matt Brown:Well, you know, she needs the Lord too. You're just like Jesus. Run dude. Run. Next, godly men help raise the next generation.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's what godly men do. The greatest joy of my life is being a father. Today's Father's Day, man. It's it's a joy to be a father. It's not something to run from.
Pastor Matt Brown:It's something to run to. I've loved it. I've loved it all. The sleepless nights, the stinky diapers, the temper tantrums. I love watching them read their first book, ride their first bike, love their first day at junior high, Loved their last day of junior high.
Pastor Matt Brown:Loved high school. Loved college. Loved walking my girls down the aisle. I've loved it all. Listen to me, guys.
Pastor Matt Brown:An adventure is not a video game. It's being a dad. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord. Guys, too many of you have given the wife all the responsibility for teaching your kids about Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:Women are great, but they can never be men. Statistically, do you know how we know when children go to church? When they become adults? When their dads were in church, when they were kids. Godly men are to teach kids to follow Jesus.
Pastor Matt Brown:To follow Jesus. What if, guys, you spent as much time teaching your kid about Jesus as you did trying to get them to go pro in baseball. What would happen? I mean, some of our parents here driving all over the place, and 1% of your kids, 1% of your kids are gonna make it pro or get a scholarship. 1%!
Pastor Matt Brown:And we're neglecting the other 99% who are not going pro, so I told my kids, you're not going pro. And you know I know that. Look at your mom. Look at me. This is where you came from.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is what you got to work with here. But let me tell you something. Here's one thing I want my kids to do is to know and love Jesus. Amen. Next, godly men, you know what your job is?
Pastor Matt Brown:You're to encourage a real work ethic. Listen to me, parents. You destroy your kids when you go, oh, look how pretty she is. You know what she can't control? How she looks.
Pastor Matt Brown:Oh, look how smart he is. Does anybody remember standing in the IQ line? You can't control how smart you are. Oh, look how strong he is. He can't control his strength.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know what a kid can control? Their effort. And do you know why American kids get wasted by the rest of the world? Because American kids give up. It's too hard.
Pastor Matt Brown:Don't tell your kids they're so smart because what you're telling them is everything in life is easy. One day somebody will be smarter. One day they'll find a subject they don't get. Teach them to work through it. Teach them life is hard.
Pastor Matt Brown:That's the adventure. God made you strong. God made you able to work through difficult things. Don't give up. I love it when you work so hard.
Pastor Matt Brown:I love it. You know what mommy loves? You know what daddy loves? When you try. When you try.
Pastor Matt Brown:We have to encourage effort. And by the way, if you've ever read your Bible, that's what God encourages, effort. Effort. Next, godly men must allow kids to take appropriate risk. Ladies, I love you.
Pastor Matt Brown:Mothering can be smothering. This is why we got all these kids that won't go outside. All you ladies are watching all those shows where you get raped, murdered, killed, abducted, and then you tell your kids, like, are you are you going outside? Are you are you going outside? Do we have the tracker on you?
Pastor Matt Brown:Guys, our job is to intervene and say it's okay if they play in the front yard. I'll sit on the porch. It's okay if they throw the ball. I threw dirt clods at my brother in the eighties. That's what we played with.
Pastor Matt Brown:Well, he might hit him. I hit my brother a bunch of times, and he hit me. It's okay. Let them have appropriate level, well, they might get hurt, they might get hurt, and you know what they'll learn? They can heal.
Pastor Matt Brown:They can heal. Guys, your job is to tell the mom, kill. It's okay. Now don't go throw them off a building, you know? See if he can fly.
Pastor Matt Brown:No, that's not that's not what I'm saying. I'm not saying be abusive. I'm not saying be neglectful. I'm saying allow for an appropriate level of risk. What's happened to our societies?
Pastor Matt Brown:Why did we shut down everybody's business? Why did we close the church? Why? Because our society's become overly mothering. We wanna keep everyone safe.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we may have wrecked our country, and people still died. People still got sick. You can't save people from everything. Next, godly men allow their children to experience consequences. I remember I was 10 years old.
Pastor Matt Brown:My grandpa hired me to work on his ranch. He's gonna make some money and paint some trees. My grandpa took me out to the fence. He said, see this fence? I said, yeah, grandpa.
Pastor Matt Brown:He said, it's electric. It keeps the bulls out. Don't touch it. My grandpa Ed was standing there, grandma Flow. What do you think I thought as soon as he said, don't touch it?
Pastor Matt Brown:I remember out of the corner of my eye, I'm reaching for the fence. I remember my grandma, Flo, coming to save me, and my grandpa Ed stopped her. I grabbed the fence. My hair is standing up. My teeth are clenched.
Pastor Matt Brown:My jaw hurts. And my grandpa says, I bet you won't do that again. Fast forward, my mom has a dog. She's afraid to put a bark collar on it. I'm like, I got electrocuted as a kid.
Pastor Matt Brown:Listen, we've become too soft. We've become too soft. Now I'm not saying let your kids electrocute themselves. I'm not saying that. My grandpa, it was the eighties.
Pastor Matt Brown:It was a different time. I still can't remember my teeth. I'm just saying. Some of us are so afraid to give our kids a consequence because we don't wanna hurt their feelings. You know what you're doing?
Pastor Matt Brown:If you can't hurt your kids' feelings, you're destroying their life. Those who spare the rod of discipline hate their children. That's what the Bible says. Now I'm not saying go get a bat. A bat, a bat.
Pastor Matt Brown:You know, I'm not saying abuse your kids. I'm just saying your kids need discipline, and you gotta figure out how to do it. I see parents at a store that, you know, they got a 2 year old. What am I supposed to do? I'm like, just put them down.
Pastor Matt Brown:Like, I'll hold them down for you. You know what I'm stronger than? Every 2 year old on earth. Bring every 2 year old from every country, and I will win. And we got these parents.
Pastor Matt Brown:What am I supposed to do? Be the parent. Be the parent. Well, the 2 year old wants, who cares? Those who love their children, listen.
Pastor Matt Brown:This is what the Bible says, care enough to discipline them. Last point, and this is near and dear to my heart. Godly men must help the church invest in kids who have no male role model. James 127, pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress. You know what that verse means?
Pastor Matt Brown:No dads. No dads. That's what God wants us to do. And in the next verses, and refusing to let the world corrupt you. Do you know how the world corrupts you?
Pastor Matt Brown:It makes you think that life is all about you and it's not. Life is all about God. I have so much more to say. I have so much more to teach. This is part 1 of 2.
Pastor Matt Brown:Don't miss next week, guys. There's more that God wants to teach you about being godly man. There's so much more, But here's what I wanna say, some of you guys, you feel so defeated, you feel so discouraged. It's hard to be a man today. Here's the primary problem with America today.
Pastor Matt Brown:We are so focused on the sins of our nation's past, We can't see the problems of the present. Every single one of you ladies, you've been told your whole life you make less money than men. That was true for a long time. And now, ladies, if you're 35 or younger, you make a whole lot more money than men. Women under 35 have more education, make more money.
Pastor Matt Brown:They own more property. In our state of California, the majority of young men who graduate high school cannot read at an 8th grade level, and we're yelling at them, read your Bibles. They can't. They don't know how because we've been in a state that promotes because we don't want to hurt their feelings, and then we send them out in a world where they can't make sense and they can't think and they can't read and they don't feel like men. And so what do they do?
Pastor Matt Brown:They retreat to their bedrooms. They look at porn. They play video games, and they stay a Peter Pan. Some of you guys are like, well, I'm never gonna grow up. I can't do it.
Pastor Matt Brown:You can. I bought this shirt. It says Ava. It's a surf brand, but I bought it because in Hebrew, B is V and V is B. I want you to know there's an Ava who loves you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And today is Father's Day. He loves you, he's seen you, and he wants to help raise you. You're like, well, that's too late. No. No.
Pastor Matt Brown:No. He's in the business of raising things again. He can reraise you. Amen. And you didn't have a father, you didn't have anybody that taught you, God understands that.
Pastor Matt Brown:He knows that, and he's there for you. I wanna encourage you today. If you need a second chance today, if you need a do over, we have this thing called baptism. You know what baptism says? It says I'm done with the past and I'm ready for something new.
Pastor Matt Brown:Here's the beauty of Christianity. No matter what you've done, no matter where you've been, no matter how you failed, if you repent of your sins and place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, your father from heaven will forgive your sins. And baptism today is that symbol of you going under the water. Listen repent and place your faith in Jesus Christ. You wanna know why he was the man you could never be, and he died for you, but he loves you and he wants to redeem you.
Pastor Matt Brown:And here's the reason why I want you to do that today, because you can get right with your father in heaven. The next reason, some of you men, you've never been baptized, and you need to show your kids how to repent. You need to show your kids how to publicly declare your faith. You need to lead today. And the first step is telling your kids, daddy's not perfect either.
Pastor Matt Brown:I need Jesus just like you need Jesus, and you need to get wet. And then today, dads, we're gonna do something special. If you've got kids who've repented of their sins and placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, you know what we're gonna help you do? Baptize your own kids. And do you know why that is?
Pastor Matt Brown:Because you're the father God gave them. And you say, you know what, I'm not the father they need. God thought so. God thought so. And he'll come alongside you and he'll help you.
Pastor Matt Brown:But you need to repent today. You need to get right with God today. So I'm gonna close, and last week we had the ladies pray over us. This week, I'm just gonna have the men, If there's something going on in your life that you know this isn't godly, and I don't need to know what it is, but I'm just gonna pray over you. If there's something you need to repent of, if there's something you need help of, if there's an area where you need God in your life, I'm just gonna ask you to stand, and I'm gonna pray over you.
Pastor Matt Brown:So right here in the in the room, if there's anything that you need from God right now, men, would you just stand and I'm gonna pray over you? Thanks in the back right there. Is there anybody else? Any men in here? I don't care what it is.
Pastor Matt Brown:It could be being a husband. It could be your finances. You could be struggling with depression, anxiety, I don't know, but I want you to know this, God sees you and God loves you. And listen to me, men, this series isn't over. Come back next week because it's part 2.
Pastor Matt Brown:Let me pray over you. Just lift up your hands. Heavenly Father, I pray over every man. I don't know that it's ever been harder to be a man. I don't know that it's ever been more discouraging to be a man.
Pastor Matt Brown:But Lord, you have created these men in this age and in this time and in this place because you know something about them that they don't know about themselves. They are stronger than they know. They are more resilient than they know, and you've made them men. Strengthen them and inspire them today to become godly men, godly husbands, godly singles, godly fathers, godly mentors, godly men. It's what our nation needs.
Pastor Matt Brown:And we pray that today you would start with these brave men standing. Bless them, empower them and strengthen them in Jesus name I pray. Amen.