11 AM "It's Up From Here!" Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe, Jr., Sunday, January 29, 2023-2

52:58 In these kind of atmospheres when you don't know what to do just ask God fill me up when your presence comes in the room and just dwells like this this is where you can ask God for exactly what you need. These kind of atmospheres are where people get healed. Y'all listen to me. These atmospheres are where your mind can get regulated. You can be refocused. And so right in your seat, you don't have to lift your hands high. Just say, fill me up, God. Fill me up. I got a lot to do. I'm trying to handle a lot. I have dreams. I have goals.

53:50 I need you. Fill me up. so I can live in an overflow space. There's no strain. I just want to have overflow. Everybody connected to me can benefit from what you poured into me. I need overflow. I want overflow. More of you, less of me. More of you. More of you, more of you, more of you, oh God. More of you. We long for you. We need you. We got to have you. We got to have you. It's too much going on in the world. us to not have you one time I love you, Jesus. One time. I worship. I worship and the Lord. Just want to tell you.

54:42 Lord, I love you. Lord, I love you for anything. All right. Listen, we thank God for God's presence today. We thank God for this atmosphere. I hope you feel welcomed already.

55:03 I feel like I owe y'all an apology for the way we move over here on the ship. but I don't really owe you an apology because this is the Lord's doing and it's marvelous. Has anybody ever walked in this church and felt stronger by the time you left? Have you? Where are my folks? You ever walked in feeling kind of cloudy and down and by the time you left, you felt stronger. I thank God for that. I want all of our first-time guests and visitors and friends, can you stand? Can you stand wherever you are? I just want to acknowledge you, show you some love today stand up and wave at us wave at us come on god bless you thank you for being here thank you appreciate y'all appreciate you those of you in the overflow those of you in the back and where is lorraine ryan one of our faithful virtual ship members wave at us wave at us god bless you she came today to be in the room first time on the ship today god bless So if anybody's mean to you back there, you tell me after church, all right.

56:11 Make sure everybody's acting right, acting right. Y'all give this mass choir a hand. They came in here playing no games. No, for real. Let's thank God for a choir that sounds good. And got the anointing. Thank y'all so much. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy. Thank you, thank you, thank you. There's a lot I need to say, but what I want to do is just jump on in today. I'll get to some of this stuff on the end. but the presence of the Lord is here and I want to be obedient. I want to acknowledge we have one mayoral candidate. There are nine people running, nine candidates running for the seat of mayor of Chicago and one of them are with us today in worship. State Representative Cam Buckner is here with us at our 11 o'clock service. Would you stand up State Representative Cam Buckner? You all help me show him some love. God bless you. Asking God to give you what you need for this race and of course we are praying that the person who would best serve Chicago will win and somebody who really cares not just about the high and the mighty but some of those in disinvested communities and disenfranchised disinherited families we need people that care so God bless you on your race and I thank you for being with us here today listen everybody received a vision book everybody received a vision book we're praying for the family of Deacon Tony Rogers. A beautiful, classy funeral yesterday for Brother Larry Rogers Sr. Come on, y'all clap it up for Deacon Tony and his wife, Miss Vanessa.

57:47 And all of you who were there yesterday. We had two funerals yesterday, praying for Miss Pamela in the passing of Lord have mercy. Come on, Brother Jesse. There it is, Jesse Lee Matthews the third. I got so much on my mind, but we had two funerals yesterday. They both were classy. Brother Jesse was a faithful Omega man. Brother Larry Rogers was a faithful Kappa man. what a day of celebration it was. It was a lot of shade being thrown at both of the services. And a lot of cussing happened yesterday too at these funerals. Yeah, yeah, there's some cussing saints. I said Lord, only the capers and the queues would have a celebration of life and their own family members up cussing on the microphone. I said, Lord, what kind of church is this?

58:44 But it really was a beautiful day praying for you. Y'all, yesterday for Brother Larry Rogers, every politician in Illinois, I believe, stopped by this church to honor their man's life. Our governor came by yesterday. congresswoman and congressmen congresswomen rather and congressmen and judges from all over it was just a glorious day of celebration and I'm grateful for each and every one of you for serving and sacrificing in your seat was the vision booklet the vision booklet grab it grab it grab it grab it did everybody receive one did everybody receive one it should have been in your seat you should have received one on your way in the room well I wanted you to have the vision with you I want you to keep this because the Bible says in Habakkuk, write the vision and make it plain. Now, I know y'all done shouted and we done worshiped. And by right now, it's time for some of you all personally, y'all feel like it's time to go home.

59:40 But I got a few things I need to tell y'all. And so tell your neighbor, wake all the way up. Wake all the way up. Next time, bring you a little Gatorade. Next time, bring a little Gatorade. When you come to fellowship, you got to be hydrated. You have to wear deodorant. You understand? You need to put a little water, a little bottle of water in your pocket because we get to then over here. We believe in praising and worshiping God. And so wake all the way up. Did everybody get a vision book? Everybody got a vision book? I want to jump in and just share this with you. And this segues right into my message today. And so I'm going to walk you through the book quickly. But it's important that we are moving together during this season of vision. And so I'm grateful we had a meeting with our leaders. I'm forgetting something already. Yeah, I know what I'm forgetting. I want y'all to help me thank God for our staff who made this happen in less than a week and a half. Pastor Pope made this book himself with the graphics and all.

1:00:43 Y'all show some love. Now, don't be a hater. He made it, helped us with the graphics. Our staff helped. But I asked him, I said, man, who did this? he said yeah you know I put together and he had to because I only gave him a half week notice amen a week and a half notice and we might have been praying that this showed up today and we might have had to wait on FedEx yesterday around 11 o'clock to see if they would make the delivery so you could have these books so somebody ought to thank God for the angels who made sure we could flow in our vision today and to all of our leaders who met with me last Tuesday thank you the letter from the senior pastor grace mercy and peace from God our creator through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. If you're watching online, you can download the book on our website, fellowshipchicago.com. You can get your own copy at home. Grace, mercy, and peace from God our creator through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

1:01:36 God has been immeasurably merciful to all of us. We are all blessed to be recipients of a new year. I'm excited that we are all walking into 2023, the year of fun 2.0, with the purpose of focusing undivided attention on next. as we focus as a church on what's next for us I pray that you become more focused this year on what's next for you as you pray and seek what God has next for you it is my hope that we will all remember that the disciplines we develop today will impact our tomorrow fellowship deep in my heart I am persuaded I know for sure that although we have a legendary history behind us we also have a miraculous destiny ahead of us When we all join together, serve together, pray together, give together and trust God together, then nothing will be unachievable for us. Will you sail with us on this fascinating voyage into the bright days of our future?

1:02:36 Remember when the waters become turbulent personally and collectively that our souls have been anchored in the Lord. With all this going for us, my dear, dear friends, stand your ground and don't hold back. Throw yourselves into the work of the master, confident that nothing you do for him, the Lord, is a waste of time or effort. First Corinthians 15, 18 message Bible. So let's follow. Let's follow God's vision and instructions as we anticipate a year of more than you ever expected. surprises, holy astonishment, sudden blessings, net breaking favor, boat sinking increase, debt cancellations, and mind blowing testimonies. In the words of Deuteronomy 2 and 3, let's go north. It's up from here, overflowing with peace, peace. Yours truly, Reginald Wayne Sharp Jr.

1:03:35 Thank you, thank you, thank you. our vision statement here at fellowship chicago it sticks with us so year to year we may have different themes but our vision statement is important let's read together one two three let's read fellowship chicago is a historic multi-generational church committed to sharing and showing the gospel of jesus christ through acts of love and generosity with a dedication to individual growth and social transformation through worship arts and intentional ministry that's very very important that's our vision statement and then how we enact this vision is through our mission and we accomplish our mission here our vision rather here in the acronym of the ship t teaching h hospitality e engagement s service h holistic ministry which means we care about your holistic being, your trichotomous being. You are not just a spirit, but you are a body and a mind.

1:04:37 So there's mind, body, spirit. So when you come to this church, if you notice, I'm not just preaching about your spirit, I'm trying to help your mental health. And I'm trying to offer you suggestions to take better care of your body because it is our bodies that carry our spirits. And it's our minds that set the engine and the pace of how we live. So we focus on holistic ministry. I, we do that through innovation. We're not just interested in what we've done before. We are innovative here. So we are doing new things and we are taking risks so that we can evangelize the people otherwise we would miss. And P, we do that through praise and worship. Our core values here are education, worship, fellowship, evangelism and generosity. Did y'all know that? That's why every time I say it's time to give, people start clapping because one of the values here is generosity. People randomly get blessed. Earlier today, I said, it's giving time. And the sister in the choir stand hollered out loud. I said, who was it? Who was it?

1:05:34 She waved a hand. I said, I got $500 for you. I just want to sow into your life. Last Sunday, there was a young lady who joined the church. I looked her in the eye and I said, sister, I thought she was a high school student because she looked so young. She said, no, I'm a sophomore in college. I said, sophomore? She said, yeah, I'm a transfer student. As soon as she said transfer, I felt tension and transition because if a student is transferring I know it's some tension and some transition somewhere because I was once a transfer student I looked her in the eye and some said you need to sew into her right now she left here with no less than $3,000 last Sunday at the 8 o'clock service y'all feel me here so we don't just believe in asking you to give when you give God has blessed us to be givers as well it's reciprocal around here I found out later that that young lady had been transferring from multiple schools because her mother couldn't afford to keep her in school so the offering we raise without even knowing her story is actually going to help her finish this semester this year y'all feel me here trying to tell you generosity evangelism and shepherds don't beget sheep sheep beget sheep if fellowship is going to grow if you're going to evangelize, it's because you go into your offices, talking to your family, strangers in the grocery store, strangers online, you're posting about the church, and you're inviting people to Jesus. So evangelism, generosity, fellowship, worship, and education. We're big on that. I'll say more about that later. Last year was lit. It was the year of fun, and we had some fun. We focused on faith, unity, and what? Meeting needs. Check out all the things we did last year, and some of these things we had never done before in the 72-year old history of fellowship we appointed our first woman as chairperson of the deacons ministry she's back there standing right now wave at us y'all show deacon the lowest some love that's major it's major some churches still won't even ordain women to preach or be deacons

1:07:39 and and the bible clearly shares in romans chapter 16 that phoebe was a diakonos deacon in greek amen but y'all not ready to talk about the bible amen and so we do have our first woman chairperson of our deacons we had the board and experience led by miss wendy and elder vassar weekend we got in the whole team that were with them we had ash wednesday drive through we selected four new trustees the virtual ship atlanta pop-up game night two times message and mimosa and one of our members who i won't point at told me pastor i think it's time for tequila and testimonies i'm not gonna point at him right here sitting in the center with glasses i'm not gonna point at him but it's not gonna happen amen it's not gonna happen y'all could do that on your own and we cruise with the ship you've tripped with the pastor down to a large youth day in mississippi what a fellowship commemorative service that was lit fun photos every week floating on the screen capturing what you're doing to incorporate enjoyment and fun in your own life we gifted a whole cart to one of our members last year we have parking lot outdoor baptism silent saturday service prayer and delivering service with the women's ministry thanksgiving dinner with the pastor the sharps advent candlelight and oh my lord we gave over 30 or 40 000 to high school students that's not even on the list but it just hit me yeah we've been giving some money out here and yeah we bless those high school students with collectively 30 to 40 000 so that they can have scholarships from our church legacy sunday honoring pastor emeritus and dr tariff always showing love to the evans family hosting two we hosted two ministerial interns from morehouse college uh Elijah Gatlin and Damari Craddock who those young men blessed our church we had our first mending conference for the brothers last year and we had a kid zone easter egg hunt in fuller park we've done that before down through the years but those are just some of the highlights that god blessed us with and now here we are in 2023 the year of fun 2.0 we're no longer just focusing on faith well we always will focus on faith we're gonna always be unified we're gonna always meet needs but this year the acronym has expanded what are we doing y'all focusing undivided attention and deuteronomy 2 verse 2 and 3 reads like this really 1 through 3 in the message bible let's

1:09:49 read it together this is our text for today and this is the text that undergirds the vision that god has given us for this year then we turn y'all ready to read 1 2 3 let's read then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea as God had instructed me. We worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long, long time. Then God said, y'all been going around in circles in these hills long enough. Go north. God helped them to focus on what was next. They have been stuck in that season long enough and God told Moses to tell the children of Israel it's time to go up. It's time to shift. It's time to go north. Not southbound. We're going northbound. Next page says that there are vision casters. There's vision catchers. There are vision carriers. The reason I met with the leaders first is because those are our catchers. The worst thing a vision caster could do is have a vision, throw it out and it hits the ground because nobody catches the vision.

1:10:55 And so we have to have vision catchers and vision carriers. So all of you, congratulations today. If you are a member or friends of Fellowship Chicago, you are a part of the catching and carrying team to help us make sure that the vision God has given us becomes a reality. Go on and clap for your neighbor since you're sitting by a catcher and sitting by a carrier. Here are 10 goals quickly as I can. Number one, these are our goals to accomplish this year. we plan and we pray that god will allow us to welcome 500 new members into our church this year who become who become who become who become who become active servants and participants in the ministry we don't need any more pew warmers at fellowship chicago don't join this church oh they sing good oh i like pastor shard preaching i'm gonna join no wrong reason if you're joining this church in this season it's because you have gifts that you want to share with us you have talents that you want to share with us you believe in the vision here you like what we're trying to do here and you want to be a part of the work so if you are a member and you do absolutely nothing that changes this year amen lights amen lights thank you and so that changes and so i do believe that god can send us how many members did we have to join last year miss wendy what is it give me roughly right under 600 new members joined in 2022 can we celebrate that so we thank god for that we thank god for that number two we want to revitalize our children's ministry and youth ministry all that word revitalize means is to breathe life back into it the root word is vitals whenever you check your vitals what are you doing you're checking the pulse you're checking to make sure the blood pressure is right we're revitalizing our youth and children before i say anything else can we thank god for miss mona and her team with the youth let's thank god for miss gwen and miss monica with the children come on they've done a phenomenal job doing a phenomenal job and i want to say thank you for the work that's being done we i have youth pastors around the country who've told me i said

1:13:01 man i don't feel like we there yet i don't feel like we're there yet he said but y'all are doing a whole lot more than most churches are every fourth sunday we give it to the youth every fourth sunday you're hearing and constantly hearing children on the platform and what i want to do is every time we gather for worship, the vision is, if we have 8 o'clock worship in this sanctuary, the children need to have their own 8 o'clock experience. If we have 11 o'clock worship in this sanctuary, the children need to have their own, you know, worship experience on their level at the 11 o'clock. If we have refuel on Tuesdays, which is coming back in March, just wait, stop pulling up here, looking for refuel on Tuesday. It ain't happening. It's going to be you and Jesus until the end of March. just you just wait on the lord and be of good courage i'm coming give get a pastor some time to breathe amen and so here we are refuel when we come back the plan is the children ought to have a space to not just grow in the bible but if they have homework that needs to be done they can go in their area on their level and have refuel same thing with the youth ministry they may not uh go to youth church every sunday but at least three sundays out the month they have a space for worship and it's available maybe they won't have eight and eleven we'll work through all those details but are y'all seeing what i'm saying i grew up in a church where the easter day we had to get up and say something in front of the church and we had to do recitations and we had to recite thank you lord for this day i just want to say happy easter day and it you know nobody really cared what we were saying and we thought it was cute and wanted to move on but do you know children learn how to stand up in public and speak eloquently not like some of the stuff i see now how you doing what's your name no you learn how to enunciate you learn confidence and then all i might have said was i just want to say happy yesterday all the mothers all the baby you were so good today and i walked around thank you i felt like i was somebody somebody-ness is built in church for our children i wish i had more noise somewhere in this sanctuary it's up to us some of the

1:15:14 greatest singers and psalmist and songwriters they got their foundation in church so i want this church to be a place that literally births young people who love jesus at a young age because if you train up a child in the way that they should go i still believe that scripture when they get old they will not depart from it and listen they may try to depart but it's still in them and you don't have a vibrant church if you don't have a vibrant children and youth ministry so we're revitalizing and taking that to the next level and i'm excited to work with our leaders to make that happen number three revitalizing our singles ministry i can't tell you 2021 the singles met every month 2022 it died down well i've had the singles come to me say pastor It's hard out here. It's hard out here, Pastor. We're trying to put the sing in single. And it's hard to sing sometimes.

1:16:10 And so I'm all ages, 60-year-olds. Pastor, what you got for us is hard out here. We're trying to live right, trying to do it right, Pastor. You got any advice? And let me just throw this out here while I'm here, while I'm here. The sister-in have a request that when events happen, especially for the singles and the young adult ministry, the sisters have asked me on behalf of them to let the brethren know you're missing in action And on behalf of myself, I want to say to the brothers, you're missing in action. Message and mimosa. If you happen to be looking for a saved, sanctified, fine sister, and you didn't show up to message and mimosa, brethren, you're missing your blessing. I mean they walking where the men at? I said Lord have mercy Lord have mercy Brothers I'm trying to tell you y'all listen I'm not telling you to come to church just to see the sisters what I am saying is if one of the reasons you come to church after Jesus after the word if I'm talking to single brothers single brothers talking to single brothers none of you rusty dusties pastor said no I ain't talking to you Somebody say single.

1:17:50 I'm just saying be more active. You might meet your wife. You might meet your future boo. And then we're going to write up, revitalize our marriage ministry. Let me see all the hands of those of you married in the room. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. It's a beautiful thing. Come on, y'all celebrate these folks married. Don't hate. Celebrate. One day you'll participate. but marriage folk need some help too and so we have a marriage ministry I thank God for Jerome Reynolds and Monica Reynolds y'all just clap it up for them I thank God for their work we just want to take this thing to another level it's too many marriages in trouble we need space to be honest, be real and when we meet together if I'm a part of it, we're going to have real conversation because there's enough fakeness out here in the world we need to come together and talk about how we can better, you know, breathe some life into our marriages. Let the church say amen.

1:18:42 Number four, we want to establish a grief support ministry here and a cancer support group here. And already I'm excited. I've looked at her three times now. And one of our cancer survivors, Deacon Linda Denard, is going to help us birth the cancer support group at our church. Along with Miss Roxanne Montgomery. who doesn't come to church in person, she's online this morning. We see you, Miss Roxanne. Thank you for standing with Deacon and our grief support group, not just for those who've experienced death, but in divorce, transitions, loss of job. Anytime you've felt a transition or a loss, there's grief involved. And so I want a consistent ministry here where people can come and find the support they need while they're grieving because it's after the funeral when the real pain hits, when everybody leaves.

1:19:35 And so we need something in place holistically and constantly to help people. Number five, we want to increase the number of participants on our faith and wisdom prayer call. That speaks for itself. You know you've not been on there, and so I'm talking to you. I want you to at least find two or three days out of the week. We pray five days together during the week, one day on the weekend at 12 on Saturday, 7 a.m., and I need you to make that sacrifice. It's a powerful thing. The reason our church is on fire is because of this faith and wisdom prayer call. I'm trying to tell you, Our church is standing on a legacy of prayer. And I thank God for that. Elder Monica, we love you. Prayer team. All of our prayer team members, stand up. Stand up. Stand up, prayer team. Y'all give them, show them some love. Thank you. That ain't easy waking up early to drink water and make sure your voice is clear. Uh-huh.

1:20:28 You got to. You got to. I guess you sound like there's a frog in there somewhere. Number six, we're going to host four ministerial interns. take it up an ante during the summer to equip pastors and equip them rather for pastoral and administrative church duties in the ministry in april april 12th i preached my first sermon in 2006 i was 15 years old i've been preaching now 17 years i'm only about to be 32 in february but 17 of these 32 years i've been preaching so y'all like why are you so old i've been doing this since I was 15 and there have been a lot of pastors, a lot of mentors, a lot of churches that poured into me to help me be ready to be your pastor. I didn't make it here by myself. So what I want to do is pour back into younger ministers. So we had two young men last summer. They're going to come back, but we're going to add two young ladies so we can be equitable and giving them an opportunity to learn, to lead, and to see behind the scenes of ministry.

1:21:31 And I'm looking forward to pouring back the way people will pour it into me. Amen. And then we're going to expand the pastoral team of fellowship to care for the flock congregation on the ship, in this room, on this piece of land. But also, we need a pastoral team to help us manage and care for virtual ship members. Did you just see my sister? Where you from, sis? Holla back at me. Gainesville what? Virginia she came all the way from Gainesville Virginia to be on the ship today you know that's faithfulness that's dedication she you feel like I'm your pastor for real don't you for real for real I'm your pastor and I'm proud to be your pastor all the way in Virginia so here's what has to happen as our church keeps growing say this with me we do have note sections in the back of the book so if you want to write a note write it on the phone the word pastor in Greek literally means overseer. Somebody say overseer.

1:22:28 Pastor Jenkins brilliantly, brilliantly stated at Pastor Javon Moore's installation that often in our church context, our church context, we transform overseer to overdoer. So people leave when the pastor don't show up to their event, when the pastor can't make every funeral, when the pastor missed my birthday party, when the pastor didn't have time to meet with me, on roll, there are over 3,000 people who are on the roll, members of this church. Am I telling the truth? Over 3,000. There's no way that one human being can stay alive and keep their hairline. and have any level of joy, exuberance. I'm telling you right now, mine is leaning back.

1:23:23 I have a great barber who's a friend that sticks closer than a brother, but I've looked at my hairline. I said, now, Lord, why? That doggone pandemic took some up out of me. I said, we can't do it like this. Jethro told Moses, go find you some people who can help you carry this weight. That's why the first move I made as pastor was bringing on an executive pastor. I'm so glad for Pastor Pope. I don't know what to do. Because he has helped lift the weight. He serves as a liaison between me and every area of this church. But the day may come where it's not Elder Vassar. He may become Pastor Vassar. to help us carry the weight of ministry. The day may come, not saying it's going to happen, but the day may come where it's not just Elder Monica Foster, but it might be Pastor Monica Foster.

1:24:23 So it's a team of people. We're going to have a youth pastor, and we're going to need a pastor of the virtual ship, and that's just the beginning of setting up an infrastructure infrastructure that where people if i can't call if you hear from pastor monica if you hear from pastor pope if you hear from pastor vassar you heard from the pastor because we all on the same this is this is novel and new for the black church context because we like saying ain't but one pastor i have no ego problems that's why i'm the senior pastor because over time i will lead the pastoral team of fellowship, but I'm always going to be the H, never mind, I'm just kidding. Just kidding. amen and if you know what I was about to say you need prayer to my old pastor no you know what I was about to say cause you done told somebody that come on over to number 8 number 8 here's a vision we're gonna eliminate how much money a million dollars of our debt and we're gonna do this through our fun first Sundays come on let's clap it up y'all it's done I'm telling you now it's done if everybody plays their part put it back on the screen if everybody brings $100 just a thousand people because some people are not going to do it they don't have faith for this and some don't even have finances for this and that's fine but those are bubtizing offerings that are going to stretch and sacrifice if a thousand people I told you how many members we got on roll on roll on roll but roll and real are two different things so if just a thousand people bring a hundred dollars that's how much money one hundred thousand dollars if we do that for 10 months february through november we will reach our goal of a million dollars and i speak by faith that this is not going to take november to finish

1:26:29 That's it, that's it, that's it, that's it, some faith rewind it's not gonna take as long as we think it is okay that's what i'm talking about for real you gotta believe it if you want to see it and so we're not just gonna ask you for your finances we're making some internal financial edits to our budget this year so that we can lessen what goes out so we're readjusting the budget so our spending goes down tremendously so some ministries are going to be frustrated this year. Can I get a requisition for? No, you can't. Because this year, if y'all want to bring your resources together and do something, do that. But this year, we're focusing our undivided attention on getting rid of this debt and making sure we can move into what God has next for us. We're going to readjust the budget that's already in progress and then we're going to lead two 40-day church wide financial fasts.

1:27:35 Church, always get quiet when you say that word. Fast means you stop doing something. You abstain. So as a church, from Ash Wednesday, February 22nd to April 9th, the only expenses going out of this church will be for the overhead charge of just taking care of what it means to run this building. We're going to take care of our salaries and make sure everybody still gets paid unless the media team keeps cutting up. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Love you. and we're going to take care of Jesus week. We're going to take care of Jesus week. We're going to take care of Jesus week. So it's going to be lit. That's the only expenses we're going to do during the 40 days of February 22nd. That's the Lenten fast. So we're also going to fast from sweets, breads, and fried foods. Yes, you can use your air fryer. I'm not about to argue with y'all for the fourth year in a row.

1:28:27 Talking about what is an air fryer fried? Yes, fried. But since you determined to fry with an air fryer, you go on and fry with air fry. I'm through arguing with you that you take it up with God. But we're not going to eat fried foods. We're not going to eat bread and any sweets. That includes any drink, pop, soda, none of that for 40 days. We did it last year. We're going to do it again. But on top of changing our eating we're going to actually fast as a church financially but I'm going to challenge you to pick which financial fast you want to do. These are your three options. Watch how your neighbor cut up right now. during the Lenten season I'm telling you watch them they about to cut all the way up during the Lenten season Monday through Saturday Sunday you do what you want to do during the Lenten fast that's not included Sunday we come worship do what you want to do but Monday through Saturday we're disciplined with our fasting and I'm going to challenge you not to buy any new clothes or shoes Monday through Saturday for 40 days Thank you.

1:29:27 Didn't I tell you they were gonna cut up? Oh! It just took their breath away. Got a hundred shoes stuffed in the closet with nowhere to go. I had to add shoes because I got two members of my church who said, he said clothes, not shoes. So clothes and shoes. I ain't gonna point at nobody sitting over here who did that. Another one, if that's too much for you, no eating out. Monday through Saturday. If that's too much for you, no online shopping. No Amazon. Monday through Saturday and Sunday you do what you want to do some of y'all saying I got that Sunday you heard what he said about Sunday about to charge this thing up listen you do what you want to do but I'm challenging you because a lot of what we do is wasteful and so God is not just about to help us get our house in order at the ship God is trying to help you get your house in order and when you look at how much I'm talking about my generation specifically I know there are other generations every time I say that I'm talking about me, myself and I I is a millennial and I know millennials eat out a whole lot I'm talking about me I know if I look through my spending records it's a whole lot of eating out I know if I stopped eating out and I did in the pandemic I saw an amazing increase.

1:31:12 Who in the room went through that pandemic and you said, oh Lord, I never knew I could have this much sitting in the bank because you didn't have to dress up. You didn't have to get your hair did. You didn't have to get your nails. You did your nails yourself. You went and got that little nail removal stuff and put that aluminum foil around your own nail with the cotton. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. because I was helping Brie wrap hers up. Yes, I know. That's how y'all make it. Don't act like you don't know how to do it now. With the cotton. In terms of the cotton, then you wrap it in aluminum. You got to sit there and wait. Just hold your fingers out like that. So when we all come together, you won't just see an increase in our giving here and a cancellation of debt here. You're going to see it in your own house. Finally, we're moving around the bend. Number nine, increase our scholarships awarded to graduates working to attain bachelor's and master's degrees.

1:32:10 We want to do more. Our Clay Evans scholarship, keep that strong. I told you already, and we're just trying to get stipulations in place. don't forget we were gifted $25,000. It's no secrecy here. $25,000 was given in the sharp name for an HBCU graduate. The only pause that we have unfortunately is we got to put something in place so people can apply for the scholarship. The money is ready but by June of this year that scholarship is going to be ready. Now I'm not going to give out the whole 25 at once. We're going to start easy and then we had to find creative ways to keep some money in the uh-huh so we can keep growing this until it moves and becomes the sharp foundation all right that's another conversation but but that's just ultimate vision long term we're going to give and bglo you know that stands for black greek letter organizations now at the eight o'clock service i ask all the alphas to stand black greek letter you know that is zeta sigma kappa i'm missing some uh-huh all that who just did a stand up aka that's aka all right now no no no no no no stand up that was good all right all the aka stand up all right look at this whoo look at this all these pinkies pinky promises no no no stand stand stand all my deltas stand up stand up come on deltas I didn't ask for all that.

1:33:41 Follow the vision. I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. All right, all Greek letter organizations stand up. Let's just skip it because I don't want to hear all these noises. Come on, everybody stand up. Omegas, kappas, zetas, alphas, who am I missing? Sigmas, sigma, gamma, rho, iotas, everybody, everybody. All right, now, here's the vision. Come second Sunday of June, each of you all get together and come up with a scholarship so that you can set the stipulation so that young students coming out of high school can get an Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity scholarship, can get an Omega Psi Phi fraternity scholarship, can get an AKA Delta Sigma Gamma Rho scholarship from this church. We're not just going to wear our letters. We're going to make the vision come alive for these young folks.

1:34:34 Amen? Now, I can't speak for y'all other folks, but the alphas stood up at eight and said we're gonna start the first scholarship with no less than two thousand all the alphas are gonna get together and provide a two thousand dollar scholarship to some young man on his way to either hbcu or another college i need y'all to get together y'all y'all ski wheat over after church ends ski wheat and whoo real loud and y'all just all gather together in one spot after church because that's the vision come on let's clap up for what god is doing that's what to thank you may be seated y'all feel me here that's what we're trying to do and then finally i have no pictures i have no promises for you but i do have a vision lastly that i want to introduce before this year is out the 2030 vision i plan to be around here a long time that's my plan when i got here amen thank you for wanting me to be here because there's about 50 that didn't clap.

1:35:33 Oh, my God. Jeez, I guess. When I started, I was 29 years old in 2020. The vision God gave me is I want to be here 30 years collectively. I'll be 59 when I retire. It's my plan. The church will be 100 years old when I retire. When I retire, it'll be 2050. that's my plan i started in 2020 holl at you 2050 that's that's that's sharp's plan chick-fil-a is not planning for 2024 they're in their meetings and their executive board meetings planning for decades ahead right now conversations are happening for fellowship for the next decade and you ought to thank God for leaders, trustees, a staff that's helping us think long term.

1:36:31 I'm going to tell you all the truth. I'm already done with 2023. I'm going to be here. I'm going to be present. I'm going to do all this stuff. But as a leader, my vision, my head, what I see, I'm all the way down the road. That's where a leader has to live. We have to lead leaders. Listen, you got to live in the past and the future. That's why you have crazy. every leader is a little off because when people come to you with mess and small stuff they hurt my feelings, you're looking like baby, I'm thinking about 20, 29 and you're telling me somebody hurt your face I don't have time for that mess I'm trying to plan for our babies, our children I'm thinking ahead, but what I'm not going to do is give you a bunch of promises and pictures I want, by the time I bring you what I see we're going to be so far down the road I'm going to be inviting you to grab your shovel and come break ground with me. Amen?

1:37:25 That's what I see. I ain't saying no more. I ain't saying no less. But that's what I see. Now, now, now, now, now, now. Check this out. Check this out. Check this out. Check this out. Now, go back to Deuteronomy chapter 2. Speaking of what's next, and I promise you, I ain't going to be long, but I promise you, I don't like preaching to people who have no vision for their future. I'm sorry. I just can't take it because if you think all there is for you is right now, I'm not the kind of preacher you need. I believe with all my heart down to my pinky toe that God will do more than you've ever expected. I believe it. I live that. I stand on that and go to Deuteronomy 2 and let's read this together because I want you to see. our title of the sermon today is is up from here and i need you to speak that i know you have sleep it's fine you about to wake all the way up watch you just just keep on watching just keep on watching you about to wake all the way up tell the person beside you it's up from here that's the wrong person it's too sleepy find another one wake them up say it's up from here if you're watching online write it in the chat say it's up from here touch yourself and say it's up from here i i came to talk to the people who hit rock bottom i came to talk to the people who got to a dead end i came to talk to the people who thought it would never get better than this god's word for your year is that you have to focus your undivided attention on what's next because it's up from here verse 1 chapter 2 here it is deuteronomy then we turned around moses is reflecting over what happened then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the what Red Sea read with me as God had instructed me we worked our way in and around the hills of Seir for a long long time then God said you've been going around in circles in these hills semicolon do what do what that means go up it's up from here he told them you've been walking

1:39:37 around in circles long enough you've been in the same place long enough you've been talking about the same possibilities long enough you've been dreaming the same dreams long enough you've sketched out your vision plan and your vision board long enough it's time to make a move and go north how do we go north watch it number one there has to be a revisitation that births recalibration there has to be a revisitation that births recalibration now i remember i remember if few years ago I had an accident I hit a curb and I threw my car out of alignment and so when I drove that little 2001 Ford Taurus the wheel the steering wheel was leaning to the left I was driving straight with a wheel leaning to the left I thought I was straight I thought I was doing good but one of my friends who was a little more knowledgeable about cars he said bro what are you doing you're trying to drive straight with a crooked wheel I say yeah but everything seemed to be fine I just got to kind of hold it this way and if I hold it to the side it actually goes straight he said yeah but you're ruining your tires you're messing up your car he said take this to a mechanic to get realigned you need this car to be recalibrated so you can stop driving crooked on straight roads some of us are trying to drive straight but we need to be recalibrated if we're gonna go to another level if we're gonna go up from here you gotta stop driving crooked while God's trying to send you down a straight street so what do you mean a revisit revisitation will help birth a recalibration is right there in the text verse 1 then we turned around and went back into the wilderness following the route to the Red Sea well if you go back to Deuteronomy chapter 1 verse 40 they're actually following instructions from God God tells them although you are headed to the promised land although you are headed to the land of canaan right now i'm sick of y'all i'm sick of

1:41:43 all this negativity i'm sick of all this doubt i'm sick of you all forgetting all that i've already done for you in the past god tells moses tell him to turn around and go back in the wilderness and start heading towards the red sea could you fathom a people who had already been delivered out the red see could you fathom a people who had already survived days and years in the wilderness listening to their leader turn them backwards because God said so why do I need to revisit where I've already been if we're supposed to be going to the promised land well sometimes God will turn you around to make a revisitation for your own recalibration I thought he delivered us the Red Sea. Why are we going back? That's the point. You need to be in a position where you can be reminded of what he already brought you through. You need to get back in the wilderness so you can remember how he made water come out of a rock. How he fought your enemies you could not defeat. How he sent manna from heaven every day to make sure you had what you need. So sometimes God will send you backwards so you will have the right recalibration before you go forth who am I hollering at today can somebody in this church help me thank God for the stuff he's already done shake off that sleep and give God a real praise because some of y'all have been survivors in a wilderness some of y'all came through a red sea some of you have seen your enemies defeated and decimated and it was nobody But God but unless he took you backwards you wouldn't have the fortitude you need to go forward so if there's any church that ought to be happy about what God is doing at this church is folks that have been around fellowship every time I think about the fact that this building stood for seven years due to racism and discrimination

1:43:50 and God and Reverend Evans and the faithful members of the ship stayed together seven years during an embarrassing season and it felt like we were walking backwards but now unto him who is able to do it see if he did it before alright here it is I'm going to preach y'all going to sleep if he did it before he will do it again the same God right now is the same God back then have you ever seen a slingshot do you know the physics of a slingshot is that the elasticity of the band puts a strain going backwards And the further you pull that slingshot backwards with strain will actually give more speed to the projectile to go forward. More strain, more speed.

1:44:45 More strain, more speed. Y'all still sleep. More strain backwards, more speed forwards. some of you are in this room and you feel defeated because it feels like life has been pulling you backwards and God said this ain't your straining season this is your training season and I gotta pull you back because the more I pull you backwards it's actually setting you up to have victory when I let you go somebody who needs God to speed up some stuff open your mouth and don't thank God for the success Thank Him for the strain. Thank Him for the struggle. Thank Him that the elasticity didn't break under the pressure. Look at somebody and say, sometimes you got to go backwards. But whenever you go backwards, it's a setup for God to take you further, farther, faster.

1:45:46 Sleepy people in this church I said he's about to take you further farther Faster Look at your neighbor beside you and say get ready You feel like you've been going backwards in your marriage Going backwards in school Going backwards in your I'm supposed to be further along by now So you think But what you don't know is Every backwards step is going to be paid off because a setback, come here Pastor Jenkins, is a set up for a... so he sent them backwards so they would have enough sense to embrace what he was trying to do forwards so sometimes you gotta revisit where you been to recalibrate yourself to say y'all we already been through this he sent them backwards here's another if this is up from here for you you're not just going to have a visitation that births recalibration you're going to have to experience elimination before elevation y'all not going to like this but you do know the children of Israel were some interesting people I mean complaining full of doubt and in Exodus chapter 13 it's revealed that they could have made it from the Red Sea to the promised land in 11 days.

1:47:21 But God said, no, I can't take them the easy route. Because if I take them the easy route, and the moment they see war in the Philistine territory, they're going to turn around and go back to Egypt. Watch how God works. So he takes them the long way on a complicated path so that quitting won't be easy. if it was so easy if it was straight as soon as i hit conflict i just turn around because i know where i am my bearings i know i know if i just turn back i can get back it's like driving in chicago without a gps that's what god did he sent him on a road trip you new to the city without a gps you ain't got no choice but to keep going because you don't even remember where back is Hiss!

1:48:17 so he complicated the journey and now for 40 years they've been wandering in the wilderness and while they were out there let me tell you what happened they got close to canaan land aka the promised land and god says send some spies out there now y'all gonna spy the land since you want to spy because i already gave it to you but since you don't believe that it's really yours send the spy can i just tell you this revelation that just came to me in gmail godmail skip the spy step If it's yours, stop itching up to it. Let me put my foot in it first. If God said it's yours, jump in it.

1:49:08 Go with some confidence. Some stuff you don't need to spy out. because the spies may bring the wrong report back and out of 12 spies only two Joshua and Caleb came back and said we can do this Mo, let's go Pastor Mo, we got this bro God told us yeah, it's some fruit there, grapes there it looks good there, it's some big people over there but we got a big God we can do this and the other 10, we be not able We be, I know it was some Africans in there We be not able We saw ourselves as grasshoppers and they were giants. and the negativity became visceral and it became infectious and the people who listen listen it don't take but one nasty spirit to infect and corrupt a whole ministry and God says since you're doubting and since you're dissension filled and since you're dysfunctional, y'all going back to where you came from.

1:50:27 Forget the promise. I'm sick of all of y'all, and I'm going to lay you into the promise on purpose until everybody who doubted, everybody who's full of dissension, everybody who's dysfunctional, I'm going to wait until they die. and I don't think y'all quiet are y'all with me and I don't think God was trying to kill people he was trying to kill a spirit and I'm with God today I want to kill that doubting spirit I want to kill that drama message spirit I want to kill that negative spirit because some of us are postponing our promised land because we got the wrong spirit Tell the person beside you, get away with me with all that mess. Yeah, talk like you're down there. Get from around me with all that doubt. If God said we can have it, we can have it. If God said we can eradicate a million dollars, I believe we can eradicate five million.

1:51:24 If he said it, he's able to make it come to pass. Get from around me. You postponing my promise with all that negativity. So God didn't let them go to the promised land until a whole generation died. Because your elevation will be preceded by elimination. Everybody cannot go with you to your next level. Lean up, lean up, lean up. Stop begging people to stay in your life. They may be making it easier for you to accelerate your promise. Go on and leave if you got to. Go ahead and do what you got to do. I ain't mad at you, player.

1:52:17 It was good while it lasted. But in this season, I need some people ride or die ready to walk into the fullness of what God has for me. It is for me. Somebody open your mouth for the next 20 seconds and get loud and praise your God that he's got some elevation for you. You may lose some people along the way. Let them go. You might have to do this by yourself Let them go You might have to apply by yourself You might have to dream by yourself You might have to pray about this by yourself You don't need prayer partners for everything So one day I'm trying to get on a plane and make my flight down to Atlanta, trying to make some program we had a couple weeks ago, me and Bree. And we were on time. We got to O'Hare on time. You know that's a miracle.

1:53:22 Got to O'Hare on time, coming from the south side. On a Friday evening, made it on time. Got through security on time Get on the plane, they not on time And I'm sitting there Normally I don't get frustrated Because whatever's going on I want y'all to fix that on the ground Because ain't no gas stations in the sky Ain't no mechanic shops in the sky So y'all fix it, I'm cool But I didn't understand why we were sitting there And it looked like everything was in order I mean everything Flight attendants in order, pilots in order Everybody, I'm looking back It's already on the plane Everybody's just sitting there And nobody said nothing 50 minutes later after I woke up from a nap Finally the pilot comes on and says I want to apologize about the delay We had to de-ice the plane This plane just came from Minnesota The temperatures were so frigid that there has been an accumulation of ice and sleet On the plane So we had to de-ice the plane I said y'all could have de-iced this plane a long time ago So we could have been gone Y'all done got us delayed a whole hour almost to de-ice So I went to Google Google is a friend It's this closer than any brother I want to know what is de-icing the plane mean because they're up here talking about they got to de-ice the plane we could have been gone and we could have been gone and they talking about de-icing so I google like it's going to fix something I'm googling let me see let me see if y'all know what y'all doing I google and I discover that de-icing is a mixture of propylene glycol that is heated to about 150 degrees it's a mixture that is made up and pressurized with pressurized intensity sprayed on a plane and the mixture of propylene glycol along with water heated to 150 degrees and pressurized being sprayed on the plane it eliminates ice and sleet off the wings of the plane because in order for the plane to take off safely there's a certain weight balance that's needed on the wings so if it takes off and the ice or the sleet

1:55:29 changes or shifts the weight it will turn a safe flight into a hazardous flight but if you want a smooth takeoff you got to go through the process of being de-iced let me holler at the people that's mad. It's been taking a long time. Let me holler at the people that's tired of waiting on the Lord to come through for you. Calm yourself down. God is sending you through a de-icing season so when this thing takes off, it'll be the safest flight you have and somebody ought to help me on this side of the church. Give God praise that his word says, they that wait on the Lord, he will renew your strength you will mount up Anybody ready to take off? If you find being where you always been, doing what you always done, sit right there looking like you don't hit me.

1:56:29 But somebody who's ready to go up from here, give God praise because the weight is shifting. He got to get off. He got to get some of this weight off you. He got to get some of this stuff off you. He got to make sure this takeoff going to be all right. Touch somebody on the shoulder and say he's taking the weight off. He's taking the weight off of you. Too many people, too much negativity, too much trauma, too much drama. You need to beat the ice. All right, I'm sorry. Out here in the spirit We're cleared for takeoff Buckle your seats If the cabin pressure changes Just make sure you put your own mask on first I can't promise you you won't have some turbulence, but I can promise you I know the pilot and he's gonna make sure this plane lands safely.

1:57:44 A visitation, births, recalibration, elimination comes before elevation. Can I give you one more? There's some revelations for your confrontations. I'm done. We're going home. I know y'all ready for brunch. Here it is. There are revelations for your confrontation. Can I tell you a secret? There is no progress without pressure. many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of them all weeping may wake up choir endure for a night but joy comes in the morning joy coming does not cancel the possibility of weeping Thank you.

1:58:36 In this life, Jesus talking, you will have trials and tribulations. But be of good cheer. I've already overcome the world. The fact that he's already overcome the world does not change the fact that there will be trials and tribulations. When I was growing up, I never played basketball publicly But my brother and I would play shoot till you miss in the driveway Oh, I can shoot it now Problem is, I never learned how to play with pressure So what makes NBA stars who they are They get paid that much money Because they know how to shoot until you miss too But they know how to shoot it under pressure There is no greatness for you If you don't learn how to manage pressure you can only be great if you learn that pressure comes with the territory okay y'all think i'm making this up so here's your revelation for the confrontation here's your revelation for the pressure here it is keep reading verse two verse two then god said y'all read with me it's that good it's that good then god said you've been going around in circles in these hills long enough. Do what? Turn up. Go north.

2:00:06 That'll work too. Command the people. You're about to cut through the land belonging to their relatives. The people of Esau. Now Esau's brother was Jacob. We're a part of the Jacob family but God made provisions for Esau who ultimately those people are called the Edomites which were considered the enemies of the Israelites. The Israelites come from the lineage of Jacob and they're about to pass through the territory of Esau. can I teach? the people of Esau who settled in Seir read it now they are terrified of you but restrain yourselves don't try and start a fight I am not giving you so much as a square inch of that land I've already given all of the hill of Seir to Esau, he owns it all paid them up front for any food or water you get from them.

2:01:03 Keep reading. Verse 7. God, your God, has blessed you in everything you've done. He's guarded you in the travels through this immense wilderness for 40 years now. God, your God, church for don't know in the shop, has been right here with you. Here's why I don't want you fighting your enemies because after all these years, you haven't lacked one thing. God said stop fighting your enemies because in this season they're going to feed you. they have water you need they have food you need they have resources you need without me getting loud can i holler at the folk who can testify you've seen god use your enemies to bless you come on where my church where my church have you ever seen god use the chief hater in your life be used as the chief officer to bring in your blessing.

2:02:21 He didn't say fight your enemies. He said he's going to feed you in the presence of your enemies. so here are 3 revelations for the confrontation don't fight your adversary focus on the almighty you're going to be fortified for the adventure one more time don't fight your adversary don't fight your adversity focus on the almighty you're going to be fortified you're going to be strengthened for the adventure A, holla at me don't fight your adversary B, focus on the almighty C, you're going to be fortified for the adventure. You think y'all tired. I'm more tired too. But I feel a shift about to hit this room. Say it one more time. Don't fight your adversity. Focus on the Almighty. See, you're going to be fortified for the adventure. Oh, that's right there in that text. Take your eyes off your enemies and start seeing them as your friend. Maybe that's why the text says he prepares table in the presence of my enemies maybe it's not a table for retaliation it might be a table for reconciliation if there is a table that means there's two sides maybe some of your enemies you need to mature yourself enough to learn how to sit down and eat with the people who were trying to kill you because God will use what they meant for evil Do I have one witness that God will work all things together?

2:03:55 Yes, he will. Let me show you, let me show you, let me show you. On December 18th, there was a young man at the Patriots Raiders game out in Las Vegas. His name is Jerry Edmund. Went to the game, sitting up in the nosebleed section and watch how this sister harasses him when she realizes that the Raiders are beating the New England Patriots. Look how calm he is. That's how calm he is. Some of y'all saying it wouldn't have been me. Because you too close up in my face. and I don't know you like that they got a name for folks like that for women like that they got a name for that look at her, look at her, I mean see about right by that time I'd have grabbed that hair I'm just kidding I'm just kidding, I'm non-violent, I'm Martin Luther King Jr.

2:04:54 but look at her, look at her, look at her, all that all that. He did not give her any energy. He did not fight his adversity or his adversary. That week, the person recording posted it online and it went viral. We found out his name was Jerry Edmund. He got a call from the owner of the New England Patriots and said, I want to apologize for your bad experience. Next week, will you come be my personal guest? I have some items signed by the players. He invited him into his office. His name is Robert Kraft. He's the owner of the New England Patriots. They hung out for the whole game. The young man, because he didn't fight, was moved from nosebleed seats to warm, cozy suites.

2:05:51 And I came to let you know that can't nobody fight your battle like God. I came to let you know that can't nobody make a way like God. So I know the person on your road is sure enough ready to go home by now, but I dare you to shake their hand or put your hand on their...