10:45 AM “Life Part II” Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr., Sunday, July 20, 2025

32:29 Amen, amen, amen. Amen. I'm excited to be able to share the word today. Some of you who are guests and visitors may not understand why I'm standing behind a podium like this. Our summer sermon series is entitled, It's All Fun and Games. And so every Sunday we have used a game or a game show to parallel with the gospel of Jesus Christ to walk away with some practical and biblical lessons on how we can live better in Christ. And so today I want to invite you to Luke chapter 10. I don't want to preach long. I just need your help to preach. And we all get home. Amen. Amen. My family looking kind of sleepy already.

33:17 Uh-huh. They done bucked and jerked. all last night Luke chapter 10 Luke chapter 10 Luke chapter 10 Luke the gospel of Luke chapter 10 and I want to read verses 1 through 3 out of the new revised standard version and then I want to moonwalk down and read verses 17 through 18 Luke chapter 10 verses 1 through 3 reads like this after this the Lord appointed 70 others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. That's good right there. Sometimes he can't go, so he'll send you to go represent and represent him in the places he intended to go. He said to them, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

34:13 Therefore, I ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Verse 3, go on your way, Listen, Jesus says, see, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Verse 17, the 70 returned with joy. okay verse three i'm sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves they returned back to jesus and they returned with joy saying lord in your name even the demons submit to us yeah that's enough right there the 70 return with joy saying lord in your name even the most powerful power has to submit to us. Thank you. You may be seated. The 70 return with joy saying, Lord, in your name, even the demons submit to us. I want to talk today from this thought, life part two, life part two.

35:23 Last week's sermon was from the board game, life. And this week I want to use that same game again and just make this part two. Last week we learned something, didn't we? We learned that life be lifing. You can't always control what's going to pop up in your life. As it is in the game of life, you really don't know once you spin where you're going to land. If you knew what was coming around the corner, you could prepare for that differently, but life isn't like that. You don't know what's coming. You just have to accept it and respond to it once it happens. We learned that Forrest Gump said life is like a what? Box of chocolates. Because you what? Never know what you're going to get. Life is interesting. And we learned last week that there will be spontaneous burdens.

36:18 Stuff that just pops out of nowhere. Have you ever experienced that? Spontaneous burdens. But then we also learned that at the same time, there'll be simultaneous blessings. and that what allows us to respond to life so boldly is because you have a subconscious boldness. The text, 2 Corinthians 4, verse 8 and 9, For we are troubled on every side, but we're not distressed. That was last week's sermon for those of you who were in church. And then you're perplexed, but you're not in despair. And you're persecuted, but you haven't been forsaken by God. And you've been thrown to the ground, but you haven't shattered. because at the same time, while you're troubled on every side, God will put a cushion on your consciousness. God will buffer you for the battle. God will massage you through the midnight, and God at the same time won't allow trouble to do but so much, and that's really what I want to continue talking about today because in that game of life, you cannot give up just because you hit a bad spot in the game. Pastor Pope put it like this. You're one spin away from a breakthrough.

37:30 You're one spin away from the opportunity that can shift you in the direction that you need to go because every spot that you land in in the game of life is not a bad spot. Some spots you want to land on because it opens doors to new possibilities and opportunities. I like that right there because that's really what we're learning today in this text is that life with Jesus is always better somehow that if you just can stay close enough to Christ if you stay close enough to Jesus if you get your mind and your heart locked up to the heart of God and keep intentionally trying to grow as a disciple of Jesus and as a believer of Jesus life with Jesus is better because even when you land on a bad spot that won't be the last spot you land on yeah I'm preaching already I said if you hit a bad spot that won't be your last spot so you got to keep spinning until you land where you really want to land but with Jesus even even when you have a bad day Jesus is so amazing that you can't really walk around and say you've had a bad day with Jesus you can say you've had bad moments in the day but but you can't give the devil your whole day you you know I I had a bad morning but I ain't had no bad day long as I have breath in my body and strengthen my muscles and sanity in my mind and a family I could call and resources I could still pull from I might have had a bad moment but I ain't never had a bad day with Jesus somehow I can still say this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be made glad in it. Go and tell your neighbor you can do this thing called life. Go and tell them you can do this thing called life. You just got to spin again and trust that eventually God is going to help you land where you're supposed to land even when it's challenging, even when the odds are stacked against

39:35 you even when you have a setback even while you're grieving even when you're going through a storm even when people are all on your track trying to talk about you and pretend like they're your friends but really they're your enemy even when you're surrounded with haters even with trump trumping and the white house white housing even with all of that still i decree and declare life with jesus is better and he'll help you make it through things you didn't think you can make it through that's what's going on in the text Jesus here sends out the 70 and in Luke chapter 9 at the beginning he sends out the 12 but Jesus realizes there's still more to do it the the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few so he he runs it back he circles the block he spins the block and he says I need to send 70 more of you all out there and he's straight up with them about what's going to happen. He tells them, I'm sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves.

40:34 But verse 17 reveals they all returned and somehow they still had joy. It's just interesting to me that God sometimes will send you into some strange seasons and some strange places, which means stop blaming all your rough spots on Satan. Sometimes it has been divinely designed for you to go and serve and be and thrive in some rough places because it ain't about you. He needs you to go to the places he intended to go. He needs a couple of witnesses who will stand up even against all odds and say, for God I live, for God I die, I'm ride or die. it may be rough but for the rest of my life i'm gonna serve him and it's amazing to me that life with jesus gets better if you just stick close to jesus can i tell you about this and we're gonna move on i i haven't made it to my introduction at all today i'm just gonna jump on in this sermon y'all ready or no when you walk with jesus when you do life with jesus number one here's what to happen we will have a mysterious durability we will have a mysterious durability come on say that i have a mysterious durability it's so simple you're gonna miss it he sends them out and he tells them in verse three straight up i appreciate a straight up savior he says i'm gonna send you out like lambs in the mist of wolves now verse 17 and the 70 return with joy all right verse three i'm send you out like lambs in the midst of wolves verse 17 and they all return with joy i'm sending you out like defenseless shielded list lambs before wolves verse 17 and all of them returned and live to tell the story i'm sending you out not like sheep like lambs which means you are young you are defenseless you are vulnerable you are immature but i'm sending you out like lambs in the midst of predators lions and tigers and bears oh my and by verse 17 all of y'all are

42:47 gonna come back and still have joy and be able to tell about what you've gone through i cannot explain to you how god could send us out like lambs in the mr wolves and we survived to tell it and have joy but I can tell you this it's a mystery how God will keep you it's a mystery how God will give you a durability to sustain yourself in seasons and around people that were designed for your downfall don't make me preach hard can you just thank God for three seconds that I'm still here and I don't even know how I made it with all the racists and all the sexists and all the misogynist and all the hatred and all the violence and all the white supremacists and all the homophobia and all of the evil and all the wickedness in high places and all the trumpites and all the maggots and all the stuff that's been sent to knock you down you're like a lamb among wolves and you still got joy if somebody in this church already you've been happy since you walked in church 35 minutes ago and everybody around you trying to figure out they ain't singing that good he ain't even preaching. What's wrong with you? If you knew the stuff I survived just to walk in this room, if you knew the wolves that had my address, if you knew the weapons that were forming against me, the fact that I'm still here with any kind of joy is a testimony all in itself.

44:18 It's a mystery how he can send lambs among wolves and they don't get eaten alive. But it's also a mystery how Daniel didn't become dinner in that lion's den. Everyone else had died in that same den, but it's a mystery how God can preserve you in the same place others died in. It's a mystery how you can walk through valleys and you don't have to fear, when you can walk through floods and you won't be overtaken, and when you walk through fire, you don't get burned. It's a mystery how weapons can form and be aimed at you and have a target right on your back, and they still can't prosper. It's a mystery how the chemical composition of water can be turned and transformed into wine within seconds. When actuality, it takes years for good wine to be produced. So the real miracle of water into wine is that God can do in seconds what others needed years to do. It's a mystery that you've lost loved ones and you still can smile.

45:20 It's a mystery that you lost your job but you still have your joy. It's a mystery that you're grieving, but you're still growing. It's a mystery that you've panicked, but you're still being kept in perfect peace. It's a mystery that you're tired, but you're not terrorized. It's a mystery that you've been concerned, but you're not consumed. It's a mystery that grace is the answer for thorns in the flesh, and resurrections are still the outcome of every crucifixion. It's a mystery that people can cut you with their words, but still you rise. It's a mystery that God being for you eradicates the need to worry about whoever is against you. Can somebody give your mysterious God some unmysterious praise because he's kept you in some mysterious ways? Oh, y'all just patty-caking this morning. Who in this room that can say, I made it and I still can't tell you how? I pay my bills every month and I still can't tell you how.

46:16 I still put up with my family members and I still can't tell you how you like lambs in the midst of wolves you have a mysterious durability but not only that we will manage through the uncertainty I like this right here because life with Jesus is always better no matter what you go through you're going to have a mysterious durability but you'll be able to manage through the uncertainty verse 4, watch Jesus he says carry no purse don't take a bag, don't even take no kicks Put your J's up. Don't carry no sandals for this. And greet no one on the road. Don't be out there begging people for nothing. Verse 5, whatever house you enter, first say peace to this house. And when your peace, and if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person. But if not, it will return to you.

47:11 Basically, if they don't receive you, it's cool. The peace you gave out, it'll just come back to you. What a word. If you don't want the peace I got, don't worry, I'll take it right back. If you want the love I got for you, I'll take it right back. Verse 7, remain in the same house, eating and drinking, whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house whenever you enter a town and his people and they welcome you. eat what is set before you cure the sick who are there and say to them watch this what the kingdom of god has come near to you now that's what you say if they receive you you look at them and say the kingdom of god is near to you reggie remix god is close uh-huh now verse 10 but whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you go out into his streets and even the dust on your feet wipe it off in protest against them uh-huh one version said shake the dust off your feet some of y'all too dusty because you let dusty people mess up your spirit we we ought to have a dust shaking service well all we come do for the whole service is shake off everything people wanted to stick to you.

48:39 You better shake some dust off your feet right now. Somebody said something to you crazy this week. Shake it off. Your family didn't think you would become anything. Shake it off. You've been through a bad breakup. Shake it off. Lost your job and don't want to go to work tomorrow. Shake it off. now after they reject you what are you gonna say yet know this the kingdom of god has come near what does that mean read your remix god is close did you just miss that if they receive you tell them the kingdom of god is near god is close if they reject you tell them the kingdom of god is near God is close because your refusal to receive me don't change the closeness of my God he's still close whether you like me or not whether you receive me or not the kingdom of God the rule the reign the supremacy of God is still close to you no matter what you walk through because life is uncertain but no matter what is uncertain you have a God who is certain and you cannot rest on people because they are fickle and flaky you gotta rest on a God who says I will never leave you I feel like preaching I wish you helped me who in here can say whatever happens my God is close to me and he walks with me and he talks with me and he tells me that I am his own how do you manage the uncertainty know that God is close even when people are far away I'm trying to tell you that's the only way you're gonna make it in this world because folk will switch up on you folk will look you in your face and say I'll always be there they lying But I got a God who keeps Israel and he neither slumbers nor sleeps.

50:41 I got a God who will walk with you through the flood and the fire. so stop losing sleep because people acting brand new whether they receive you or reject you don't tell somebody God is close y'all hear me but y'all ain't feeling me because if you really heard what I just said to you you will flip that chair over and start shouting right now look down your row and say God is close to you when you go to work tomorrow God is close when you trying to figure out how to take care of them babies God is close when you grieving trying to come back from that heartbreak God is close to you we have a mysterious durability, we will manage through the uncertainty, but number three, we will make it to share our testimony oh God's so good, he's gonna keep you so you don't have no choice but to testify well what's the testimony verse 17, hold on, and when I read it this time, let's see if you'll shout over what you should've shouted about when I read it the first time let me read it real quick, let's see if y'all will wake up and get it the 70 returned Wait a minute.

51:53 until you've been sick and could not get where you wanted to get to you don't know what a miracle it is just to return I want to take 10 seconds and give God praise for the places I was able to return after I shouldn't have made it back at all you return to yourself after a battle after a valley, after depression, after the funeral anybody ever came back Two teams... And you ain't just come back. You got the nerve to come back with joy. And folk on your road trying to figure out what's wrong with her, say, baby, you don't know the half. But this joy that I have, the world didn't give it.

52:43 And the world can't take it away. Wait, I'm trying to hurry up. The 70 return. with joy. And what's their testimony? It's right there verse 17. They start saying, Lord, in your name. Even the demons. submit to us wait wait wait wait but I'm glad that they were specific they didn't just say hey Lord the demons submitting to us no they said they submitted but they only submitted when we use your name that's why arrogant people exhaust me because your name may be special but your name ain't all that but I got a name that'll make cancer get back in order I got a name that even when you have cancer and you can't change it you will live with peace in your mind I got a name that'll sustain you through the heartbreaks of life I got a name that'll reverse addictions Come on and act Pentecostal real quick and just text somebody and say, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.

54:11 There's a name that'll shift things. There's a name that'll solve things. It's a name that'll soothe things. It's a name that'll correct things. It's a name that'll heal things. It's a name that'll work something out. There is power in the name of Jesus to break. Don't play, don't play, don't play. When you get in trouble, there's a name that works for you. and even the demons have to submit to the name Jesus ain't it good news to learn it ain't your name, it's Jesus' name and some of y'all are not fighting demons, you gotta go to work tomorrow some of you gotta deal with some hellacious family members and I ain't just saying that cause mine here, I love all mine but no matter what you gotta deal with there's a name and at Greater Travelers Rest Baptist Church in the pastor's choir that's what we call our children's choir Ms. Ivory Collins Shepherd and Deacon Eugene Slaughter made us learn this hymn as little children there is a name I love to hear Brother Lamont I love to sing his word It sounds like music in my ears.

55:32 Y'all don't know that. The sweetest name on earth. Oh, how I love Jesus. No, y'all don't like that. That problem that I had, I just couldn't seem to solve. I prayed and I prayed, but I kept getting deeper involved. But I turned it over to Jesus and I stopped worrying about it. I gave it to the Lord and he worked it out. Go on and praise him on a Sunday Because his name heals all His name delivers all It works So, I know I told this story before, act like you never heard it. Bree and I's first Chicago Bulls game, we were taken with Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. You can't go nowhere with Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson without stopping every three seconds for somebody to take a picture. This is when he was walking strong, he was good.

56:29 Everybody wanted a picture with Reverend Jackson. I thought we would never get to our seats. We finally got to our seats. I mean, good seats. seven rows from the court. I said, this is nice. I was good. Seven rows from the court, sitting by Reverend Jesse Lewis Jackson. You can tell me nothing. Little boy from Decatur, where it's greater, you can tell me nothing.

56:53 But somebody walked up to us right before the game started and said, no, no, no. No, we can't have you sit down here because your knees don't have any space. He said, I would move, but I got a whole row. Lady Bree and Pastor Sharp and my son and some other guests. I can't leave them. And he said, I'll be right back. Man ran up to wherever he ran up to, ran back down. He said, Reverend Jackson, you and your guests come with us. We all stood up, turned and walked with Reverend Jackson. Walked through doors that were supposed to be locked. Walked in places at the United Center. Ain't nobody really supposed to walk through, but because we were walking with Reverend Jackson. Because of his name alone, we move from seats to suites.

57:38 If his name can move you from seats to suites, what can the name Jesus do and accomplish in your life? Somebody just holler that name Jesus. but oh I'm done we have a mysterious durability we'll manage through the uncertainty we'll be able to make it to share our testimony even the demons submit to us when we call your name but can I give you one more for free we'll be mesmerized by God almighty it gets even better y'all verse 18 Jesus said oh y'all think that's something don't you y'all think it's something that the demons submit to you in my name. He said, let me tell y'all something I've seen. I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning. For my biblical scholars, you know that's a reference for when Satan got kicked out of heaven trying to get God's glory.

58:38 Now, if you are paying attention, you're going to get a real good shout. It did not say, I watch Satan. It doesn't say, I'm watching Satan. It said, I watched. Why are you fighting somebody that's already failed? He's already fallen. And so he's down trying to pull you down so you can live where he lives. The best thing you can do every day is get up and stand up just to show Satan we are not on the same level. You fail, I'm not.

59:14 You're low, I won't be low. I watch Satan fall from heaven like a flash of light. See, watch it. This ain't literal. It's metaphorical. I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions. Don't try it. It's metaphorical. It's just showing you you got a lot of power because every snake don't slither. Some speak. Every scorpion don't sting, some wear Make America Great Again hats. and you got authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy and nothing will hurt you and Jesus closes out right here verse 20 I'm done nevertheless do not rejoice at this don't you just rejoice cause a demon submitted to you in my name no that's a little shout let me give you something big to shout about. Don't rejoice at this that the spirit submits to you but rejoice that your name are written in heaven oh church folk don't know when to shout let me help make it plain you shouting over what you've done for God the real shout is what God has done for you that you couldn't do for yourself can you reach over and shake somebody