“Shattered: What Do You Do When Life Falls Apart?” Reginald W. Sharpe Jr., Sun Sept. 27, 26

1:14:56 You don't play with that kind of faith my grandma Harper say you stay so close enough to God that if you fall you got something to fall back on Mm-hmm. My grandma sharp the day she found out my uncle was hit by a car and killed May 2018. I ran by the house to check on her. That lady was in there watching the gospel station singing when peace like a river attendeth my way when sorrows like sea billows roll I'm telling you the truth she was in there singing whatever my lot that's the kind of faith you got in you whatever my lot thou has taught me to say I didn't want to say it but life just taught me Thank you.

1:16:06 He left me in the classroom of life long enough And he taught me Taught me to say It is well Pass it down your road It is well It is well It is well It is well Miss Elizabeth is well Jarman family is well Bowen family as well Shaffer family Ward family as well Ezekiel 37 the hand of the Lord came upon me you don't have to stand please don't because we'll run I'm very serious don't push me I'm close to the edge and The hand of the Lord came upon me and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and he set me down in the middle of a valley.

1:17:17 It was full of bones. He led me all around them. There were very many lying in the valley and they were very dry. Very many, very dry. And he said to me, mortal, human, can these bones live? And I answered, oh, Lord God, you know. You know. I started this sermon series a few weeks ago, and I didn't understand why, because it wasn't on my plan to preach this series. But the more life keeps unfolding, I realize that the mind of God is wiser than anything I can fathom.

1:18:11 God will tell you something on a Monday because he sees something coming on a Friday. and uh and so the lord has us in this series everybody say shattered shattered because that's what ezekiel was experiencing bones everywhere these bones that symbolize the house of israel and even the bones were saying we are dry we have lost our hope all possibility of life is gone the bones were saying this and god took ezekiel out in what would be called a theophany and an experience where God revealed something out of it was an out-of-body experience that God wanted to reveal to the prophet of Ezekiel so he took him by hand and that's what I told you a couple weeks ago that when life shatters and life falls apart I'm in part three of that series I'm gonna get I'm gonna get finished with this one day but until then I'm gonna preach it to the Lord tell me to stop so y'all might as well say amen because I'm gonna preach everything the lord tell me to say today i got 15 minutes on the clock so the lord's hand led him out there and when life shatters and things fall apart i told you you have to remain unnerved did i not tell you that some seasons god will send his word but some seasons god will just take you by his hand and he won't just take you by his hand he can skip he'll carry you carried him out and let him down and he sat there and he had to relax and observe while he was still remaining unnerved because some seasons God will sit you right there and you have to look at what the reality is it doesn't help you at all to ignore what the reality is it was very many bones they were very dry and you need to look and analyze the reality of what's going on look at the world we're living in it's very dry i'm proud of our social justice ministry to take a moment in worship and to check in and ask are you registered to vote and here is a scan that you can put on your phone to make sure your address your name everything's in order because listen here if we don't vote in

1:20:19 november we're not gonna be in 2026 we're going back to 1926 you better hear me and all this well I don't vote, my vote don't count. If it didn't count, they wouldn't fight so hard to keep you from doing it. If it didn't count, Mega Evers wouldn't have lost his life in Jackson, Mississippi. And Reverend Jesse Jackson wouldn't have given his life. And Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker and Martin Luther King Jr. and all these folks. C.T. Vivian and Fred Shuttlesworth down in Birmingham. House being bombed. They weren't fighting because the vote didn't matter. they fought because they knew that the vote was your voice look around these bones are very dry but ballrooms are being built these bones are very dry but you know statues golden statues are popping up all over dc these bones are very dry yeah but five thousand dollar checks may be given to you if you vote for the republican party and the same liar that lied about the last check is the same lie that lied about this one.

1:21:23 These bones are very dry. Very dry. And I need you to open your eyes, open your mind and pay attention to just how dry these bones are. And then on top of that, God revealed that he can preserve. Didn't we see that a couple of weeks ago? God can preserve. Remember, God can preserve. Because I told y'all, if five of y'all gonna catch it this morning, that it's not a valley of dry fossils.

1:21:48 Come on here. it's a valley of dry bones fossils are mineralized rocks and and nothing can be revealed other than the shape of what it used to be but but bones even after death bones weeks months years later can still reveal dna deoxyribonucleic acid bones still have life revealing properties and possibilities even in bones and so all you may see right now is a valley of bones but i gave you a reason to shout because at least you got some bones left because bones are going to be the material of your next miracle missed it bones are going to be the material of your next miracle at least you have something to start over with can we just park right here i know we done shouted cried had a good time in church but can i find 15 people in every section that can give god this kind of praise i'm thanking you you didn't take everything i i i'm i'm thanking you you left me with something and bones matter because when jeremiah almost wanted to quit preaching he said i would have kept i would have stopped preaching but his word was like fire shut up not in my tendons shut up not in my tissue shut up not in my muscular system shut up not even in my mind it was shut up in my bones if you want this to go out you gotta go down deep in my bones a man died one day they threw his body on the body of elisha the successor of elijah and when that dead body leaned on the bones of the prophet elisha that dead body came back to life y'all ain't listening it's some power in bones and if all i got is bones left i got a reason to keep trusting god because what he's really revealing is that when you get to a dead end don't let that signify that everything has come to an end because what looks like the end of a road the late sandy f ray would say is just a bend in the road and do i have a witness that god will knock down a dead end sign and put a subdivision

1:23:58 behind it. Now unto him who's able to meet you at a dead end and start your destiny over from the dead place. That's why we come to church. That's why we shout. And y'all stop being Easter Christians. Stop being CME Christians. This ain't the season for CME Christians. We're CME. Glad you asked. You only come on Christmas, Mother's Day and Easter. This ain't the season to be a CME Christian. every Sunday is Easter every Sunday we ought to celebrate resurrection, residue resting on your life every day you wake up you ought to be reminded of a God who will take a dead end situation and breathe on it and bring it back to life do I have some witnesses that what looks final to you looks familiar to God God ain't worried about no dead bones.

1:24:58 There was a man named Walter Williams who died. 78 years old. He died at his house, cardiac arrest. His family members said he died. The nurse that was there keeping him at the hospice said he died. Then the coroner in the city said he died. Then the funeral director came to pick up the body and he said he died. I want y'all to know that next morning, that body bag started moving. The family members said he died. The coroner said he died. The hospital nurse said he died. The funeral director said he died. They got to the funeral home getting ready to embalm him and his legs start kicking in the body bag. You ain't never prayed till you seen a dead body bag start moving and you know that the man was dead. I want y'all to know that man, they opened that bag and that brother was still alive. Walter Williams, 78 years old down in Mississippi. You can Google it if you think I'm making it up. Walter Williams, 78 years old, came back alive in that body bag. they discovered his defibrillator kicked in it was something on the inside that wouldn't let him die and if you still sitting there looking at me like huh you at the wrong church today the reason why the devil is confused looking at you is because the devil said you were dead demons said you were dead hell said you were dead your family thought you were dead enemies thought you were dead and you start kicking in the body back or something on the inside wouldn't let you you die.

1:26:22 I dare you to give God any kind of praise for the moments it was almost over but you kicked back in. that's why you here that's why Elizabeth had to get to church that's why the Jarman family is in church that's why you push your way to church because in spite of how heavy it is something in you will kick in greater is heat that is within me than heat that's in the world I ain't even mean to tell y'all that I just got happy I'm trying to tell you God can preserve so what looks like devastation to you is really preservation from God If you got anything left, remix how you review it and say this ain't devastation, this is preservation.

1:27:07 Went through a breakup, congratulations, that was low key a breakthrough. That's preservation. Some people he took out of your life because they will hurt you now but he didn't want them to kill you later. That's preservation. They fired you, thank you, because I would have died of a heart attack in here with all this stress. You fired me, thank you. You gave me a free vacation. that ain't devastation that's preservation remix how you review whatever bones are left in your life and can i tell you something else can i tell you something else whenever life shatters and and you don't have much left you got to respond with your hope conserved i told you to remain unnerved i've told you to relax and observe i've told you to remember god can preserve but now i need you to respond with your hope conserved can y'all see what happened in verse three it's in your bible i didn't make anything up he's standing there with all these bones very dry very many which means it was a large catastrophe and they've been out there a long time and god the maker of the creator the the maker of the ends of the earth the creator of all things the one who put the sun in the center of the solar system and is never needed to get a replaced bulb.

1:28:27 God who set the migration trail for butterflies. God who put blackness in oil, whiteness in snow, viscosity in oil. The God who put blue in sky, green in grass. Red in roses. The God that gave the kangaroo is hop, the cheetah is spots, the dog is bark, the cat is meow, the pig is oink, the cow is moo, and the roach is run. God! looks at Ezekiel and they ain't gonna call him a nickname mortal human being dusty one Can these bones live? I'm glad it wasn't me, because if I was Ezekiel, I'd have to say, is you cool?

1:29:24 you brought me out here and now you gonna ask me in the middle of political devastation can these bones live not only that lean up lean up people forget Ezekiel has not just experienced political death with all these bones representing the whole house of Israel Ezekiel 24 he's experienced a personal death his wife died and God told him when she dies don't grieve go back to church and act like nothing's happened it's in your bible Ezekiel 24 verse 15 through 18 so now you are the God who got the nerve to ask me can these bones live could my wife live you want to have a conversation with me about possibility after death and you're going to ask me about these bones.

1:30:22 What about my boo? See, y'all ain't never had to wrestle like that. What are we talking about here? Why are you asking me? Can these bones lift? But be clear, the answer is never looking for the answer. Y'all so asleep. God ain't never asking a question to get an answer. In Sunday school, they taught me God is omniscient, which means God knows everything that's from classical theology but then I went to seminary and learned about process theology and omniscience does not just mean that God knows everything but it means God has such creative divine wisdom that God knows how to bring good out of everything whether you're a classical theologian God knows everything or whether you're a process theologian and God just knows how to bring good out everything either way Lord why are you asking me a question about bones but God never asked for an answer for himself God is just setting you up with some space for rumination so you can get to a revelation the answer never needs your answer he wants you God wants you to have a moment to wrestle with what he's asking you so that you can get a deeper revelation of what he's trying to reveal to you that's why he asked adam where are you he knew exactly where adam was he made him and put him in the garden and saw that he had sinned and was trying to hide himself walked up to cain and said where is your brother abel he knew exactly where abel was he just wanted cain to wrestle with the other crime he has just committed he knew exactly where ezekiel was in that situation when he said can these bones live he walked up to Abraham one day and said is there anything too hard for God he didn't need an answer he wanted Sarah and Abraham to wrestle with the fact that they were sending lol text messages when God told them that they were going to get pregnant in their 80s and their 90s he asked a

1:32:29 question to Elijah what are you doing here he knew why Elijah was in that cave but he wanted Elijah to wrestle with why he was letting people drive him into depression. He knew that Isaiah was about that life, but he said, whom shall go for me and whom shall I send? Because he wanted to give Isaiah space to wrestle with his call. So Isaiah would eventually say, send me, I'll go. He knew when he was talking to Job, who was tripping and upset because he was struggling. He had lost some of his family and his finances. and Job kept hurling all these questions up to God and finally God got sick and said, Stand up, Job. Let me ask you something. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Where were you when I stored icicles? You got a GED? You got a PhD, Job? Stand up and answer me.

1:33:21 Where were you when I made all of this? And now here comes God looking at Ezekiel. Can these bones live? He had the answer. He just wanted Ezekiel to wrestle with the question. And I like Ezekiel. I like Ezekiel. Ezekiel from the south side. Yeah. Ezekiel said, no, you ain't going to box me in like that, Jehovah. Respectfully, let me think about this. Hold on. Can these bones live? Hmm. I'm not going to say yes. because that could kind of show arrogance and certainty like I know you're going to do it when I really don't know if you're going to do it. So I'm not going to say yes because that would make me an optimist. And then on the other hand, I'm not going to say no because that would make me a pessimist because I don't know, God, when you want to, you do a whole lot of things that don't make any sense.

1:34:20 So I'm not going to say yes because that's an optimist. I'm not going to say no, that's a pessimist so let me just hit it in the middle and be a realist here's my answer, Lord you know church folk don't know when to shout can I holler at some people that have lived long enough to know I don't have to know you can ask me something right now I don't owe you an answer and I'm not about to bend my brain trying to make it make sense I have learned how to lift my hands and say Lord you know this is your valley these are your bones these are your people and it's your power and whatever you want to do Lord it's in your hands I'm trying to tell you you may not shout over this but lean up I'm trying to give you something that you can carry when church is over you better learn that certainty is not a necessity on your walk with God you don't need certainty you better learn how to put it in his hands Lord, you know.

1:35:26 Can this family come back together? Because they've been out of their mind a long time. Lord, you know. Can I finish school? I don't know. Sometimes I feel like it, sometimes I don't. Lord, you know. Is America going to be all right, Lord? Lord, you know. And then that is also a prayer.

1:35:48 Sometimes you don't have to be praying for 10, 15 minutes. Because the Bible says over in Matthew, he knows what you have need of before you even ask. One day I went to hear a preacher preach. The preacher got up before the sermon. He said, let us pray. Lord, you know in Jesus' name, amen. I said, that's my kind of preacher and that's my kind of prayer. You better have some Lord, you know prayers. He knows that the weight is heavy. He knows that the hurricane is swirling. He knows that money's gotten funny. is there anybody other than me that's glad you got a God who knows he knows he knows Jesus knows all about our struggles he will guide till the day is done there's not a friend like the lowly I know why y'all ain't shouting cause you want me to tell you you got some money coming and you got a job coming but when life falls apart y'all need nobody trying to make me be a cheerleader I need something for my soul that'll remind me when I don't know what to do.

1:36:56 He knows all about it. Look down your row and tell somebody, he knows, he knows. He knows what your family needs. He knows what America needs. He knows what your son needs. He knows what your church needs. And I need somebody around here to just lift up your hand and say like Ezekiel, I don't know what these bones are gonna do, but I do know you know. And as long as you know, I don't have to know. But in my not knowing, I do know this, you're still able to.