8:00 AM "Journeying With Joy" Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr., Sunday, January 5, 2025

31:42 Rest yourself. Don't get musty on my cord. I'm so happy that the Lord has breathed on us and allowed us to see a brand new year. Every first time visitor friend, would you stand so I can salute you? We can honor you. Just stand up wherever you are. Any visitors, any friends.

32:03 Y'all, in the words of Dr. Tarr, double crank it up. Let them know what's up y'all. Good to see you. Good to see you. Thank you for coming. Y'all our PE, our pastor emeritus dropped in. looking cleaner than hospital sheets. Y'all let him know we appreciate him. I honor you. I love you. Happy New Year to you. And you look like new money before taxes. God bless you, man. God bless you. And so he said he just came to hang out. And I'm grateful for that. That just, my heart is even bigger today. And I'm just happy that the Lord has allowed us to get to church. Amen. Happy the Lord has allowed us to get to church Can I do this? Let me jump right into the word

32:54 Yeah, let me jump right into the word because the word speaks and the word says more than anything I can say. First Peter chapter 1 verse 6 through 9. Thank you media team. Thank you ambassadors. Thank you music ministry. And to each and every one of you, thank you pastor support team.

33:22 I'm appreciative of you. 1 Peter 1 6 through 9 6 through 9. in this you rejoice even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials so that the genuineness of your faith being more precious than gold that though perishable is tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed although you have not seen him Jesus you love him and even though you do not see him now you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy James Version says unspeakable unspeakable joy for you are receiving the outcome of your faith the salvation of your soul man just read that out the message Bible real quick I know how great this makes you feel even though you have to put up with every kind of average aggregation aggregation in the meantime pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him with laughter and singing because Because you kept on believing You'll get what you're looking for You'll get your

35:27 I don't know what You'll get what you're looking forward to Total salvation Thank you, you may be seated For the next couple of weeks as the spirit leads I'm going to jump into a series called Journeying with Joy somebody say that with me journey and with joy now let me read you this post that was on Instagram yesterday I bumped into it yesterday and it sums up exactly how I feel this morning all of this is going to make sense in a minute ran into this post that says isn't this what you asked for you asked for discipline and life gave you distractions You asked for strength And life gave you hardship You asked for patience And life gave you delays You asked for wisdom And life gave you tough choices You asked for peace And life gave you chaos What if the battles you're avoiding Are the keys to becoming Who you are meant to be Thank you.

36:43 Resisting distraction builds discipline. Facing hardship builds strength. Enduring delays builds patience. Making tough choices builds wisdom. Mastering chaos builds peace. The obstacle is the way. well I bumped into that after receiving a call from Pastor Pope Pastor Sharp there's been a little issue got a little situation are you free? I said I might be you about to just throw me in the deep end of the pool you going to throw me in the fire?

37:35 and he said yeah I got Damien and I got Pastor Vassar and I got Deacon Greg we on the line and we want to click you and I said what's going on? The internet is not working at the church. There's an issue with the router. We will not be able to stream tomorrow. Can I click you? And I said no sir. No, sir, don't click me in nowhere. He said, are you refusing to get into the call? I said, I am. I said, I want the internet to be working tomorrow. He said, it's not going to be working tomorrow. I said, well, all right. Well, you have a good night. Did I do it? My wife heard a little of the conversation. She said, everything all right? I said, yeah, it's fine. The internet not working. We can't stream on the first Sunday of the new year. And then what? I said, they wanted me to get in the call. I refused.

38:28 She said, yeah, yeah, yeah. I sat on the couch, pulled my phone out, and I could feel my face was tense, and so some said relax your face I relaxed my face before I knew that I was asleep for an hour Before I went to sleep though I said The year of joy This is how you want to start The year of joy Screens off router issues Gotta get it replaced Nobody on the virtual shift can watch live today For the first time in over five years We've not had an issue like that And this is the first Sunday of the year of joy this what you doing Jesus But what if inconveniences are the route to God introducing joy in your life? What if God uses pain to teach you joy?

39:37 Fifteen killed in New Orleans. Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas. president, 39th president's funeral yesterday and we go on this week folks sick that are terminally ill part of our church right now already beginning their transition towards home young people finding their fathers on the floor deceased, all of this is how we've walked into this new year and I'm trying to figure, year of joy and the spirit said don't call it the year of joy if I can't put you in situations that will make you discover it. There is no real joy until you have to deal with real pain. Because pain and joy are not enemies.

40:38 They're allies. And it is pain that teaches us what real joy is. The reason why the last couple of days in Chicago have just fed my soul with all this sunshine is because we've had days of cloudy skies. So I have embraced the sun differently because I appreciate it differently when you have not had it. Am I? Am I? Am I? Okay. okay um and so and so god says hey hey hey man y'all y'all y'all you don't walk in this year with no uh toxic positivity don't walk in this year with your heads in the clouds don't walk in this year disillusioned by the what pastor said is the year joy and the second week i lost my job third week. I lost my family member. It comes with the territory of living. But you will experience joy creeping in in moments that are the most dark, the most painful. Matter of fact, sometimes we create joy and sometimes joy is just going to sneak up on you.

41:49 You're going to be in the middle of a hard situation and you'll look around and say, now why am I laughing and crying at the same time? How am I having such a beautiful day and such a horrible day at the same time because Rick Renner says that God's joy is how he handles the devil in our lives. I'm about to come get you. Some of y'all just looking at me. See, happiness is based on circumstantial pleasure, merriment, hilarity, exuberance, excitement or something that causes one to feel hopeful or to be in high spirits. These fleeting emotions of happiness Although very pleasurable at the moment Usually go just as quickly as they come That's Rick Rayner in his book Sparkling Gems from the Greek He goes on to say But joy See happiness, don't miss this It's circumstantial Happiness depends on what's happening And when you don't like what's happening You lose some of your happiness So you need external stimuli, something outside of you that makes you happy.

43:00 But joy is unaffected by outward circumstances. In fact, it usually thrives best when times are tough. It is God's supernatural response to the devil's attacks. I need you to get that if you don't get anything else. that happiness is external and needs something on the outside to keep you up. But joy, that thing is on the inside. And I can't describe to you with us not being able to stream this morning, with all the news I know about members going on right now, with all of what I feel, walked in the sanctuary after telling folks, make sure it's not hot for weeks and weeks and weeks. And I walk in and it feels like a sauna. and all of that, I still have joy and chaos. You listening, but you ain't listening.

43:54 Because I'm up here singing and dancing. You didn't know how I was really feeling because I can't control the weather right now. I can't control technology right now. I can't control who's sick or who's past right now. But there is something on the inside that is an internal inner gladness that you know the devil can mess up. And that's why folk at your job don't like you. That's why people in your family can't stand you because you walk in smiling and you walk in happy and you walk in with some joy and positivity. What's wrong with her? Ain't nothing wrong with her. It's just that she has decided the years of me letting you set the temperature of my life is over and I get to determine how I walk through the door. I get to determine with the help of Christ how I face life's challenges. So on my lowest moment, I can lift my hand the highest.

44:51 On my darkest day, I light up the room. I'm not waiting on light at the end of the tunnel. I'm going to light it up while I'm in the middle of the tunnel because this joy that I have, I wish I had some help in this room this morning. The world didn't give it. See, see, see, let me help you, let me help you, let me help you. The Greek word for joy is chara, C-H-A-R-A. Greek word for joy is chara. I may be saying it wrong, but it's the best way I can say it. And that's how I'm going to say it until I know how to say it better. Chara, C-H-A-R-A. Everybody say chara. Now, that's the Greek word for what? Now, let me give you the Greek word for grace, charis. C-H-A-R-I-S. charis Greek word for joy is what? chara Greek word for grace charis now charis is the original word chara is a derivative a derivative of charis which means I cannot really experience joy if I have not fully experienced grace so happiness can be human but joy is always divine because some of us who are connected to christ and have experienced grace have a rhyme and a reason to always rejoice not in you not in your money not in your job but according to philippians 4 paul said rejoice in the lord since i have his grace i have access to his joy let me ask you a quick question do you know what grace is the unmerited undeserved unearned blessings of god anybody here made it because of the grace of god you qualify for the joy of God since you know about the grace of God anybody who's a believer in Jesus Christ

46:57 come on wave your hand if you gave your life to him wave your hand you are a candidate for joy This is important because joy and grace go hand in hand. And since joy isn't human-based, happiness comes and goes. Rather, joy is divine in origin. And not only that, y'all, joy is a fruit of the Spirit.

47:28 Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. and I'm going to get to this later on because I got weeks I'm going to probably preach about joy from now to Easter prepare to be sick of me because we going to joy our way through the first three months of this year I came to snatch down the strongholds of depression and anxiety and fear and low self esteem and years of trauma that have had you trapped in sickness and sadness. I came to fight hell in 2025. You will not take another year from God's children. and when we start singing I still got joy and chaos I have peace that makes no sense and I won't be going under because I'm not held by my own strength because I built my life on Jesus he's never let me down faithful through every season so why would he fail now and then you look at your neighbor and say, he won't.

48:41 Rain came Wind blew My house Is built on you I'm safe That's where your joy is I know who's getting inaugurated in a few weeks just like you But we're safe Am I too loud? Am I too loud? This is out of no book. This is what the Holy Ghost gave me. Pleasure is for the body. Happiness is for the mind. Joy is for the soul.

49:17 Pleasure is for the body. Ooh, look at him. Him cute. Six pack. Tricep by self. Chocolate, just like you like. Ooh, look at her. She thicker than grits Ooh, past the kovasi Blame it on the goose Got me feeling loose Blame it on the trunk Got me in my zone Blame it on the alcohol for the body That's for the body That's pleasure for the body Sex for the body When it's done wrong Just for the body Did you miss it? When it's misused, it's for the body Let me say it again for those that's gonna quote me wrong sex misused is just for the body. Sex, that's right. That thing will change your soul. Are you skipping in places you've never seen? Keep looking straight ahead from the prudes Pleasure is for the body But that's not going to hold you forever Happiness, that thing Gets those happy hormones In the brain, the trifecta Happy hormones, dopamines And oxytocin And serotonin That happiness is for the mind but joy that thing is for your soul can I ask you a question who in the room has ever felt some joy I mean you didn't need weed you didn't need an edible you didn't need a boo you didn't need a friend to come watch the movie with you you were by yourself in your pajamas You were invited to go somewhere and you made up a reason why you couldn't go because there will come a season

51:23 where you got so much joy with yourself. I don't need all that extra stimuli. Some of y'all in 2025 prepare as you heal from the inside out. You won't need the club as much as you used to need it. It ain't your vibe no more And then some of your friends are going to say You changing, yes I am Because if any man or woman be in Christ He or she is a Isaiah 43, 19 says Behold I do a new I'm supposed to change Boo boo If you don't get nothing else, write this down. Joy is a feeling of inner gladness, delight or rejoicing rooted in our relationship with Christ. Joy is a feeling of inner gladness, delight or rejoicing rooted in our relationship with Christ.

52:22 Joy is a feeling of inner gladness, delight or rejoicing rooted in our relationship with Christ. Joy is a feeling of inner gladness Delight or rejoicing Rooted in our relationship with Christ That's easy to say when you're on the mountain but when you're in the waiting room at the hospital and they move your loved one to hospice and the job says we're about to shut down and downsize and pink slips are being passed you have to at that moment tap in to something deeper than pleasure something deeper than happiness you gotta go wake up and revive your joy and say this is inner gladness, delight and rejoicing. That's not rooted in a paycheck, not rooted in who stays alive and who dies, not rooted in who likes me and who doesn't like me, not rooted on who stays or who leaves.

53:28 It's not rooted in any external stimuli. It is rooted in my relationship with Jesus Christ. Let me give you a couple things that we got to get out of here. 1 Peter 1, 3-9, y'all. Journey with joy. I didn't want to preach this. My text, Pastor Jenkins, was supposed to be the main text of the year. Psalm 5, verse 11. We'll get to that because I'm preaching by joy to Easter. We'll get to it. But the Holy Ghost. I'm not on play when I say that. The Holy Spirit led me to 1 Peter considering bombs and terror attacks and sicknesses and deaths and all the heaviness that we entered this year with. The Lord said, go to 1 Peter chapter 1. Peter's writing to people who are suffering.

54:22 The Gentiles are suffering. They have pressure from Rome. They have pressure from the Jews who don't feel like their faith is legitimate. Their taxes are higher. Their restrictions on where they can buy property, who they can marry, how they can vote. They were walking around with shirts that said Gentile lives matter too. They were getting pulled over For DWG Driving wild Gentile It was hard being a Gentile It was rough being a Gentile And yet Peter writes And I can only give you two or three today Because I see y'all next week But he writes and gives us a couple reasons Why we can still greatly rejoice Because in verse 6 Did you see that? Verse 6 coming up on the screen In this you rejoice even if now for a little while you had to suffer various trials now I need everybody to pray that I don't get too loud right through here because I feel like preaching verse 6 in this what is the antecedent to this what is the this in this you rejoice some scholars says that it's what happens between verse 3 and 5 other scholars say it's what happens between verse 6 and 9 so since I can't tell you what this is I'm going to tell you what happens before verse 6 and I'm going to tell you what happens after verse 6 so either way we covered because Peter is right in the people in the middle who are suffering saying in this you greatly rejoice wait a minute rejoice would have been enough because to rejoice means to jump around spin around and lose your mind in happiness and elation and joy and exuberance and he says don't just jump around spin greatly do it greatly jump up spin around and enjoy Jesus to people who are suffering in a world with a tyrant about to be their next president and a people who are yeah and listen and i'm not mad that the republicans won i i'm really mad that decency civility and kindness lost i just dropped the bar that y'all weren't ready for it ain't republican and democrat

56:32 it's the soul of a nation that all need to turn back to god y'all ain't ready for me y'all not ready for me but in spite of all that you got a reason to greatly rejoice you got a reason you have a reason to greatly rejoice and i need to tell your neighbor i have a reason to rejoice here it is we have assurances that anchor us in the face of difficulties we have assurances that anchor us in the face of difficulties verse three through five just in case this this is connected to something that precedes it can we just look at verse three through five and i can't break it all down so I'm gonna just tell you to highlight some things that I have you running for the rest of the week blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ by his great mercy underline that he has given us a new birth underline that into a living hope through the resurrection underline that of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable undefiled and unfading underline inheritance and that inheritance is kept in heaven for you who is the you? You who are being protected okay by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ by his great mercy. Somebody holler as loud as you can great mercy. You have great mercy working in your life.

58:11 Don't know what that is? God's compassionate, divine kindness overlooking your faults, working things out for your good. Because of his great mercy, say this loud too, he's given us a new birth. That means I don't care how you were born, you can be born again. In Christ, we get to get in the water like we did in our mother's womb when we were in the water and in the ambiotic fluid. You were born the first time you came out the water. Your mother knew it was time to birth you because her what broke? Water. So when you get saved, you get back in new water because you have a new birth, y'all. Now listening, into what kind of hope? A living hope. It's a hope that's alive. Somebody said, no, my hope is dead, not in Christ. You have a living hope. You got a new birth and you got great mercy.

59:05 And then on top of all of that, which none of y'all are shouting about right now. Let me give you another reason. And you got an inheritance that is undefiled, never gonna perish, and is kept in heaven for you. Please don't be a hater in 2025. If you do anything this year, find your way out of hateration over to congratulations because everything that God has assigned for your life, it is kept in heaven for you. Hell can't touch it. Water can't drown it. Wind can't blow it. and a hater or family member can't keep you from getting it, I wish you praise him. If you can't praise him for the inheritance, praise him because he's keeping it for you. And he's not just keeping it for you, he's keeping you. Because the last line says, you who are being protected, not you who have been protected, because I'm being protected right now.

59:59 Great mercy Living hope New birth Undefiled inheritance Kept in heaven And on top of all that I'm being protected Being protected Being protected Being protected I'm cutting from your ears down to your soul Being protected No weapon formed against you shall be able to prosper being protected the Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear I need 50 in the balcony and 50 on the floor and when this air is on on the virtual ship I need 50 out there to give God praise for no other reason than I'm being protected uh-uh if I said I've been protected you could clap but I say it right now there are angels you can't see grace you can't touch, protection you don't feel, working that's keeping your heart beating every beat. I'm being protected. And all of those spiritual blessings give me joy.

1:01:11 In this, I greatly rejoice. I got a living hope. I have great mercy. I have an inheritance because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. and if he was resurrected I can be resurrected too and I'm being protected and you gonna walk your goofy self up and think you about to take my joy and God done put all of this in place for me to be well the devil is a liar all these blessings and somebody gotta ask you to shout you ought to walk in here loose you looking at minister tuesday and deacon and lois walking you ought to start walking with them i don't know what y'all doing down here at the altar but if y'all walking i'm walking too thank you lord for great mercy thank you for goodness thank you for favor somebody ought to giving praise right there.

1:02:11 Not for a house, not for more money, but thank God your soul is anchored. Wait, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to do that. Wait, because it's about to mess you up too. We have assurances that anchor us, but this is the last one. This is the last one. I got to stop here. We have already persevered through incalculable difficulties. We have already persevered through incalculable difficulties. Incalculable. You can't count them. So many things you've already come through. All right, y'all looking at me. All right. Verse 6, verse 6, verse 6, verse 6. In this you greatly rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials. Now, let me be real.

1:03:07 If I was five years younger, I would have shouted this church to the ground off of for a little while. and right now somebody could get happy on the promise that even if I suffer it can't go but Little while. Little while. Little while.

1:03:43 And that little while can be some weeks, some days. But then I started living and I got older. I realized little while can be years. Little while can be decades. And for some people, little while is a lifetime. But in the grand time of life, it's still just a... So I like that. But that ain't what blessed me. What blessed me was the past tense. Even though you've had to suffer various. King James Version says manifold issues. Okay, okay. Y'all don't like that? I don't like that? Message Bible, message Bible, message Bible, message Bible. I know how great this makes you feel. even though you've had to put up with every kind of aggravation.

1:04:39 which means part pause appreciate this you've come through too much already to be bamboozled out of knowing God has power Is it the road? Is it the mic? What's going on? I said, you've come through. Too much. When Pope called me yesterday about technology not working, I said, you talking to the same pastor who preached to an empty room for two and a half years. As long as the people can get in the building. The same God that helped us navigate technology in a pandemic is going to help us get through one Sunday where we came straight. I ain't worried about this when I've already come through.

1:05:43 And so let me explain why you cannot relate to half the people in your life. You've been through so much heavy stuff that what other people think is heavy ain't heavy to you. and so they trying to figure out why you so insensitive i'm not insensitive but i've been through so much and god has pulled i'm getting loud pulled me through so much that i'm not insensitive i'm just insightful and i know if he did it before no no no no right through here i'm about to release you so they can hear you on the dan Ryan give God praise for every various incalculable inestimable trouble you've ever gone through that God already showed you he can work that thing out if he's never worked anything out for you don't say nothing be quiet but if he made a way pay the bill healed your body shut down your enemies open the door release some appreciate Tell him thank you I'm not going to worry about what's ahead Because I know what you did So do me one favor, shake somebody's hand real tight Hold it like you got the Holy Ghost And use sanitizer later, please use sanitizer later I want you to look them in the face Say neighbor So this year It's the year of joy Tell them do me a favor all year long remind me of one thing the Lord will provide let that hand go find another hand say neighbor you know we sit in this section tell them remind me every Sunday the Lord will provide he did provide he will There goes your joy

1:07:51 There goes a praise break There goes a hand up There goes a runner There goes some appreciation There goes gratitude Cause I know he'll provide I know he'll make a way I know he'll fix it Come on, don't wait on no music. Just open your mouth. You've had to come through so many. Everybody stand there. I'm gonna ask you a question. I need you to holler back at me. Did he keep you in 2019? Did he open doors in 2020? Did he sustain you and your family through 2021?

1:08:48 Did he breathe life into you for 2022? Did he keep you in his hands in 2023? three and all year long last year did he bless your life if he did it before to God be the glory for the great things he's already done so when the enemy try to play you you gotta clap back You got to clap back. Y'all know a clap back. As you're sitting there trying to exhale, it means you got to respond with some attitude. He trying to play with you right now, make you think this is it, it's over, it's all bad, it's all dark.

1:09:43 Too many victories are in the files of your memory for you to act brand new right now. Every hand lifted. Don't lift it high. Just lift it. Get in the receiving position. Our hands are lifted because we want more joy.

1:10:09 Lord, thank you that we don't have to avoid pain. We don't have to lie to each other. We don't have to pretend to be happy. but over time God just let that joy rise up in us let that joy fill our homes let that joy fill our conversations let our vocabulary and our conversations our word choices what we choose to say to each other let joy season even our bad days let our words reflect it let our attitudes reflected let our living reflected let our relationships reflected let our parenting reflected let our entrepreneuring reflected let our dreaming and our visioning reflect joy and our hands are lifted because we know if we need it you can give it God we pray like David in Psalm 51 restore the joy of our salvation yeah we we got saved some of us but we lost our joy down through the years and this year we snatch it back. God with our hands still lifted. If somebody walked into 2025 needing Jesus because there is no joy without grace. There is no grace without Christ. Somebody needs Jesus send them down. If they need a church home send them down the aisle. If they need a new change and a new day and a new season send them down the aisle and later on when this hits the airwaves may they accept Christ even through the screen.

1:11:49 We pray right now for true salvation, true redemption, so that the God of salvation can become their God. The Savior who offers salvation can become their Savior. The grace that was spilled on the cross can now become our grace. And we thank you for that. And because of those things, we have joy. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen. Look at somebody. Smile at them.

1:12:18 Look at them. Smile at them. There you go. You get a moment to create some joy right now. Look at them. Look at the smile you just made them smile. You just did that. That's how much power you have. Smile at them. Say, hey friend, I'm glad I sat by you. If you need Christ, come on. If you need a church home, come on. If you need to make some changes, come on. Come on, kick off the new year.