The Debrief Podcast with Matthew Stephen Brown

Recorded live with 300 of their closest friends, Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie talk through how to be real with ourselves by identifying our core struggles and strengths.

What do you do when your family isn’t ok with you being real? How exactly do we humble ourselves? Is all religion pointless? Listen in as Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie talk through what it means to be real.

Did God give people free will to knowingly send some to hell? Does forgiving someone mean you need to like them? And where did the Sandals Church vision of being real come from in the first place? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie answer listener questions and dive into the Sandals Church origin story.

How does Sandals Church view homosexuality, what exactly is the unforgiveable sin and is it ever possible to lose our salvation? This week Pastor Matt tackles the tough questions we hear quite often at Sandals Church.

Plenty happens before we record each episode of The Debrief, and most of the time the mics are on. Now's your chance to listen in on some behind the scenes fun with Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie and some of our most recent guests.

How do we know if God will answer our prayers or not? What makes God more likely to perform a miracle? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie wrap up the book of Acts and share what’s ahead for the Debrief in 2017.

What happens when a Christian commits suicide, are some sins worse than others and do people really have free will? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie talk through Acts 26 and what the greatest Christian of all time had to say when he was on trial.

Can going to prison ever be a good thing, how do we handle hard times and when did the bible stop being cool with multiple wives? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie jump into Acts 25 and what happened when a new Roman governor came to town.

When is it ok to rebel against the government, will God really judge everyone and how do we know the Bible is reliable? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie walk through Acts 24 and Paul’s latest trial.

How to respect bad leaders, why you may have to say sorry even if you were right and how to respond when things seem absolutely out of control. This week Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie geek out about Thanksgiving and get into Paul’s showdown with his fellow Jews in Acts 23.

How do you grow in your faith when you’re really busy and making sense of apparent contradictions in the bible. Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie picking up from last week’s cliffhanger as Paul gets his people to listen closely before he says one word to make them all want to kill him.

If two people both feel they’ve heard from God and disagree, how do you know who is right? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie walk through Acts 21 and what happens when a bunch of religious people can’t seem to figure out what to do.

How should church really work, how do we watch out for wolves and how do we know what God is asking us to do? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie follow along as Paul continues his wild journey in Acts 20, taking the scenic route, bringing a guy back to life and dropping some pretty serious bombs on his fellow Christians.

How should Christians exercise our right to vote? Is choosing not to vote, or voting to legalize marijuana, a sin? Can someone be a true follower of Jesus and get into politics as a career? And should Christians all agree on who we elect for president? In this special episode, Pastor Matt Brown offers real answers to our tough questions about politics and voting.

Can we still expect miracles to happen, should we pick fights with demons and what’s the deal with sorcery? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie walk through Acts 19 and your questions, with a couple of surprises along the way.

Can you be friends with people who don’t share your faith, how should Christians handle Halloween and when should you just walk away? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie tackle your questions and the story behind Acts 18.

What should you do when you’re wronged, how do you deal with a difficult boss and what does it actually mean to actually be a good person? This week Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie talk through Acts 17 and answer your follow-up questions.

Is stress actually a good thing? Pastor Matt, Justin and Stephanie talk through conflict, stress and circumcision and what happened when Paul came across a couple of very strong-willed women.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen talk through how to survive conflict, why Christians go to church on Sundays and how to talk evolution. The team walks through Acts 15 and what the early church decided Christians really can and can’t do.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen are together again to talk through whether or not you can lose your faith. As they get into Acts 14, they discuss if God only works through open doors and why the Bible talks about people tearing off their clothes when things get weird.

Melody Workman and Stephanie Keen team up with Pastor Matt Brown and Justin Pardee to answer questions about picking a church, predestination and government sorcerers. The crew also talks through Acts 13 and how to respond when we face outright rejection.

Purgatory, dinosaurs and a belly full of worms. This week’s conversation on Acts 12 and audience follow-up questions cover everything from whether Christians get special protection from bad things to whether or not prayer actually changes anything.

Melody Workman joins Pastor Matt and Justin to answer questions about religious flexibility, the Catholic church and eating lizards. We get in to Acts 11 with questions about repetitive scripture, the first missionaries and responding to so-called prophets.

Plenty of people who have no interest in going to church still pray when they really need something from God. Does God listen to or answer the prayers of those who aren’t really Christians? Pastor Matt Brown, Claude Hickman and Stephanie Keen talk through how to know if God wants us to do something or go somewhere that might be taboo.

It’s a fact commonly recognized that one of the greatest plot twists in any story when your sworn enemy decides to join your team. In Acts 9, that’s exactly what happens to the early church. Was it a good idea to ask some questions first? Or should we just accept everyone with open arms? And what happens when someone other than Jesus tried to raise a person from the dead?

For the first time in forever, Christians leave Jerusalem and start telling people in other cultures and countries about Jesus. Along the way they come across a magician and a traveling eunuch. In this episode, Pastor Matt Brown shares why it’s ok to ask God for specific things and what we’re really supposed to do to be saved.

Acts 7 is primarily a speech by Stephen walking through the entire history of the bible. Why on earth did a guy who was facing death choose to offer a history lesson as his defense?Pastor Matt Brown shares what Stephen was really doing and what this means for us.

When the church experienced racism, how did the apostles respond? What does the bible actually say about different degrees of sin? Finally, how did Stephen go from serving food to becoming an even greater speaker than Peter? Find out as Pastor Matt Brown is joined by special guest Pastor Tim Timberlake.

Flying into the sky, healing people with your shadow and prison breaking are just a handful of the supernatural tricks we see in Acts 5. Are these abilities available to us regular people, and what’s the difference between wrongful rebellion and following God instead of human authority?

Once the church started to get up and running, early Christians immediately started running into trouble with the government and leaders of their day. Were they a band of rebels set to take down the empire, or were they wrongfully accused of doing wrong? All this and more as Pastor Matt Brown walks through chapter 4 of Acts.

Maybe it’s just us, but it seems like when it comes to the Holy Spirit people can get a little weird. In this week’s episode, Pastor Matt Brown talks through what receiving the Holy Spirit actually looks like, why baptism matters and how to share your faith in a way that isn’t pushy.

Every episode of The Debrief kicks off with a cold open that comes straight out of the conversations that happen before we start recording that week. But every time we pick out our favorite (a process we've affectionately termed "mining for cold gold"), many other great moments get left behind in the vault. This week we're taking advantage of summer travel schedules and bringing you 30 minutes of outtakes from our recordings so far!

When Jesus rose from the dead, he hung out on earth for 40 days. What did he do that whole time? And what did he mean when he said his followers would get baptized with the Holy Spirit? And did rising from the dead stop people from wondering if maybe Mary made that whole virgin birth thing up? Pastor Matt Brown unpacks all this and more as we walk through the first chapter of Acts.

In what may have been the most action-packed Sunday in history, [spoiler alert] Jesus rose from the dead and appeared to many of his followers - often without even letting them know it was him. Pastor Matt Brown talks through Luke 24 and why Jesus seems to be so tricky, what his return means for us and what exactly Luke is trying to get across in his gospel.

Illegitimate trials, unnecessary torture, mob rule and political maneuvering were all defining features of the last night of Jesus’ life on earth. What elements of this had to happen and what parts were just awful events that resulted in the death of Jesus? Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen walk through Luke 23 and what exactly happened when Jesus died.

Was Judas ever really a good guy? Why did Jesus tell some fishermen and tax collectors to start carrying swords? Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen walk through some of the last moments of Jesus’ life in Luke 22, as well as what Jesus’ last night with the disciples looked like just before he was arrested.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen dive into Luke 21 and Jesus’ warnings about the end of the world. Other awesome topics include: the destruction of Jerusalem, the Abomination of Desolation, what real persecution looks like and Jesus’ favorite camping spot.

How should we punish people for crime? How did Jesus always beat his opposition at their own game? And what on earth will marriage and sex be like in the next life? This week Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen talk whether or not there will be free will after we die and what the difference is between heaven and the new earth.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen talk marriage, healing lepers and ministering safely. Walking through Luke 19 they discuss how Christians should treat people they disagree with, how God expects us to use our time, money and skills and what to do if you have one very special donkey.

In this week’s episode Pastor Matt, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen continue the conversation and dive into Luke 18. They discuss the importance of persistent prayer, having child-like faith, what you may have to to give up to follow Jesus, whether it’s better to be single or married and the difference between a choice and a calling.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen cover everything from “is my divorce a sin?”, “how do I forgive the person who abused me as a child?” to “what is the rapture?” As they talk through Luke 17 they explore what forgiveness looks like, the power of faith, self-service vs serving God and signs of the end of the world.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee, and Stephanie Keen carefully walk through chapter 16, arguably the most confusing passage in all of Luke. They discuss the importance of Christians being clever in today’s world, whether or not money is evil and how to be strategic with it, divorce and being ready for the afterlife.

In this week's episode Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen walk through Luke 15 and discuss the beliefs of Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons, what it means to count the cost of following Jesus, the movie Risen, C.S. Lewis, how God likes to party and who the older brother represents in the parable of the prodigal son.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen talk through chapter 14 of Luke and what prayers God does and doesn’t listen to, whether or not Christians are supposed to follow Jewish law and what Jesus means when he says “hate everyone else”.

After an Easter weekend that saw more than 10,000 people at Sandal Church, Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen slow it down to talk Luke 13. On the docket: Eternal capital punishment, discerning the differences between evil spirits and physical injuries and the importance of work in a relationship with Jesus that’s supposed to be based on faith.

In preparation for Good Friday services at Sandals Church, Pastor Matt Brown and Creative Director, Dex Alexander sit down for a working conversation about the theology of God's wrath and Jesus' work centered on this challenging segment of Isaiah 53:10, "It was the will of the Lord to crush him."

Pastor Matt Brown answers questions from Luke 11 and 12, including whether or not God knows everything, what Jesus says is unforgiveable and why you should watch out for killer whales.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen walk through Luke 11 and questions from Sandals Church community groups about what happens when God speaks, what to do with your herbs and how to know if God is saying “no.”

The gang dishes out yet another in depth discussion answering questions from small groups at Sandals Church. This week the conversation ranges from what it costs to follow Jesus, to who should go overseas and the pros and cons of biblical numerology. Pastor Matt Brown and Pastor Wayne Cordeiro of New Hope Oahu sit down to talk about how they met and how to find the perfect mentor.

Pastor Matt Brown, Justin Pardee and Stephanie Keen unpack Luke 9 and questions from community groups about whether or not Jesus is God, presidential candidates and why we don't always understand what Jesus has to say. Special guest (and Pastor Matt’s wife) Tammy Brown talks about what’s coming for women at Sandals Church.