8:00AM "Trouble" Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr. Sunday, June 1, 2025

32:59 If you're feeling weak, tap back into your joy and watch God refuel you with some joy. Thank God for the sanctuary choir this morning. Amen. Grab your Bibles. Come with me to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. Psalm 27. The 27th Psalm is my responsibility as your pastor to tell you there are no chapters. in the book of Psalms. I don't ever want to hear anybody from fellowship say, come with me to the 27th chapter of Psalm. No. It's just either Psalm 27 or the 27th Psalm. And some people get deep. Come with me to the 27th number of the Psalms. That ain't necessary. You're just trying to sound deep. Like you went to extra Sunday school classes. It's the 27th Psalm or Psalm 27.

33:59 Each Psalm is a hymn from the Jewish hymn book. If you're not standing, I invite you to stand in honor of God's word as we share this moment in solidarity. Of course, if you're not able to stand in body, stand in spirit. But don't just be defiant just for the sake of being defiant when the Lord has blessed you with good knees and good feet to be able to stand. The 27th, amen. It matters that you're on one accord now. Amen. The Lord done got my voice back. I feel like pastoring and preaching. I feel all right now. You should have messed with me in May. You found the wrong month to mess with me. Come on, the 27th Psalm, verse 4. Verse 4. Matter of fact, I'm wrong. Not the fourth verse. I want to go to the fifth verse. 27th Psalm verse 5 verse 5 verse 5 it reads like this out of the King James Version just one little line for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me he shall set me up upon a rock for in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion that's all i want to talk about today i want to talk about trouble trouble trouble somebody say trouble thank you you may be seated if you haven't been able to deduce or figure it out yet we're in a new sermon series and that's why the stage of the pulpit rather looks like this because for the rest of the summer all of the messages will come from games and game shows. I'm entering into a new series during this year of joy called it's all fun and games and so as we continue to grow in our joy and as we continue to grow through

36:04 this summer 2021 2022 2023 i did summer playlist anybody remember that it was a summer playlist i picked a song and pulled the sermon with the scripture with the song last year we did message and a movie and every every uh every sunday through june and july the sermon tied into some movie but this year the lord led me to do something different during this year of joy and I want to pick a game or a game show and tie it into the biblical scripture to help us grow through this summer. I want to thank our creative team for creating a brand new pulpit. Shout out to Ashley Cheeks and her team for pulling this together and I thank them for helping me be creative. I can't do it by myself. Psalm 27 verse 4, in the time of trouble. Well, I don't know if you have ever seen it, but there's a game called Trouble.

37:01 There's a game called Trouble. And I grew up playing this game, and Lady Bree and I enjoyed this game. We rediscovered the game during the pandemic. You know, we were all quarantined at home trying to figure out stuff to do. We were doing all kind of stuff trying to just get through the day. We pulled out games we haven't touched in years and found the manual, had to relearn how to play the game because the trouble we used to play in the 90s ain't the trouble that they have now. Trouble changes.

37:34 So an expeditious Google search explains that trouble is a board game where players race to get all four of their colored pieces around the board into the finish zone. All you're trying to do is leave home and get to the finish zone. You're not safe until you get to the finish zone. The game is known for its unique Pop-O-Matic die roller, which is a dome-shaped device that rolls the dice when it is pressed. And here's where the fun begins. Depending on what number you roll on the die determines how many spaces your piece gets to move. However, trouble occurs when an opponent's piece lands on the same space as one of your pieces and you are forced to send your piece back to the beginning of the game. Trouble occurs when you roll a one and all of your opponents get an opportunity to move one of their pieces from home into the game and you don't get to move at all.

38:36 The entire game consists of one goal. Whoever moves all four of their pieces from home all the way to the finish zone first wins the game. It sounds simple, but there's one problem, and that is each player keeps running into trouble. Every time you try to advance something or someone keeps trying to set you back. unexpected trouble unanticipated trouble unforeseen trouble out of the blue trouble and lady brie and i were were were reintroduced to the game trouble starting during the goal the global pandemic someone lands on you you roll the wrong number sometimes you get yourself in the trouble sometimes someone else gets you in the trouble and we both played the game as children but we hadn't played it in many years and we noticed two things we really needed the manual because we couldn't remember how to play and the board game as i just said has changed over the years the same trouble we used to face in the mid 90s is not the same trouble you bump into playing the game in the mid 20s of the 21st century wasn't no facebook in the 90s wasn't no social media in the 90s. Wasn't no Twitter in the 90s. Wasn't no bloggers on YouTube in the 90s. Hear me, trouble has changed. It's still trouble, but it's a different kind of trouble. You may have never played the game trouble, but everyone listening to me knows something about trouble. Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or liberal, we are all in trouble. On this Friday, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of more than 500,000 immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. We are in trouble. The war between Israel and the Palestinians rages on breaking ceasefire agreements that were negotiated in March. We are in trouble.

40:44 Our government is bullying universities to only admit certain students into their schools while canceling DEI programs all across the nation. We are in trouble. I, like some of you, were wondering why the Trump administration was bullying Harvard University with so much intensity. Well, allegedly Trump's son was denied admission into Harvard. So now he is demanding that international students or so-called less qualified students are kicked out so more qualified white children can get in. We are in trouble. Lawmakers and senators are blindly following a president, behaving like a dictator, and they keep forgetting what America's prophet MLK tried to explain when he said, y'all better be careful how you treat each other because we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality tied in a single garment of destiny. whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly y'all we are in trouble it may be immigrants in trouble today but it could be you in trouble tomorrow it could be palestinians in trouble today but it could be your country tomorrow it could be black children in trouble today but it could be your children in trouble tomorrow we are in this thing together we can't sit idly by while one group suffers because if if one of us is in trouble all of us are in trouble y'all we are in trouble a president who is a convicted felon keeps kicking out so-called criminals out the country how sway married to immigrants but keep kicking immigrants out the country won't ban guns but will ban books won't allow blacks into certain leadership position because we don't deserve it but european slave holders thought enough of us to snatch us from

42:55 our native soil and ship us to strange lands because they knew how strong we were now you want to erase history no ma'am pam tell it all and don't leave out the part of how we still rose in the words of tupac like roses out of concrete learn how to walk without having feet y'all we are in trouble, national trouble, global trouble. Someone seated before me is in deep trouble emotionally, heartbreaks and breakups and hard decisions to make. Some of you are encountering mental trouble. You can sit there and act like everything's all right if you want to, but somebody's encountering a mental trouble right now, anxiety, insomnia, depression, bipolar diagnosis, disillusionment that floods your soul. Some of you are experiencing physical trouble, diseases that you can't get rid of, health scares, surgeries on the calendar, high blood pressure, cancer, strokes, or your body just keeps getting older. And it doesn't matter if you're geritol, Tylenol, Pepto-Bismol, or alcohol. You keep aching and aging, and it seems like the more you lay down, the harder it is.

44:08 y'all ain't gonna holler at me somebody has financial trouble or family trouble or church trouble or private trouble or relationship trouble david the giant slaying musician sheep boy king from bethlehem knew all about trouble rejected overlooked envy threatened hunted, persecuted, afraid, discouraged and David picks up his pen in Psalm 27 and writes in the time of trouble. There are some things that God will do to help you through your trouble. Is there anybody here? No already you need this word. You're glad you pulled up at the eight o'clock service because you've been trying to navigate some trouble in your life. Well here it is number one. The first thing I want to tell you is we all will be hit with trouble ain't nothing deep it's just direct stop sitting there acting like you special stop sitting there acting like you just can't believe this happened to you welcome to the club in this life you're going to have trials and tribulation Jesus said but be of good cheer I've already overcome the welcome to the party if you in trouble you are not by yourself everybody's sitting on your road got some trouble they can sit there act like they bougie and churchy and saved and ain't nothing affected them somebody ran into some trouble this morning just trying to find a parking lot parking spot in the parking lot at fellowship you are running the trouble right here just trying to get in church somebody saved the seat that you wanted to sit in and you felt trouble just sneak up in your chest.

45:52 We all are going to get hit by trouble. Look at your neighbor and say everybody, everybody. I don't care how long you've been saved. I don't care if you're a new Christian. Everybody. The woman and the man. The seasoned saint and the child. 90 year olds and 9 year olds. We all are going to be hit by trouble. Trouble like in what Alicia Britt Shelley's book, The Night is Normal talks about. That'll preach right there. The night is normal. She said nighttime offers us holy invitations to love God more. She's trying to normalize night in her book. Everybody is going to go through nighttime. Everybody is going to go through trouble. It's what the poet Ernest Hemingway once said. Life breaks all of us, but some are made stronger in the broken places. And catch this, and everyone it doesn't break, it kills you have to let life break you sometimes so the new you can emerge but if you keep trying to suppress the moment of breaking it'll kill you just go ahead and break go ahead and fall out and watch God resurrect you because ain't nothing smaller life's gonna hurt all of us at some point welcome to the club Horatio Spafford maybe you've never heard of him but Horatio Spafford's wife and four daughters were on a ship that was involved in a terrible collision and sunk in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean. His wife Anna is the only one who survived. When she made it safely to shore, she sent a telegram back to her husband and said, saved alone, what shall I do?

47:32 He set sail for England and during his voyage, the captain shared with Mr. Spafford that they were passing over the spot where it was believed that the shipwreck occurred and all the lives, most of the lives were lost. Well, Horatio Spafford picked up his pen and wrote, when peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well with my soul. That hymn was written by a man enduring the troubles of grief, the troubles of sadness and the troubles of great loss. Everybody is going to be hit with trouble. I don't want you walking around disillusioned. I don't want you walking around feeling like woe is me. I need you to understand that you're going to get through and go through some trouble sometimes. But here's the best thing you can say Deacon Danelle when you're going through. Tell people I'm going through.

48:36 missed it the best thing you can say when you're going through is i'm going through which means if you're going through eventually you got to come we all will be hit with trouble but it's not just that reality friends that we all will be hit with trouble number two god's hand is active in our trouble verse 4 verse 5 says in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion who is that he God in the secret of God's tabernacle shall God hide me he shall set me up upon a rock verse 6 and now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me church folk don't know when to shout. In the time of trouble, I almost got happy in my house just reading the scripture. In the time of trouble, which means there's an expiration date on it. In the time of trouble, a.k.a.

49:42 in the day of trouble, which means it can't last but so long. In the time, during the segment, during the session, during the experience, you got a God who will hide you under his tabernacle hide you under his pavilion hide you in the secret places of his tent only god can leave you out in the open and hide you at the same time only god can have you out front but still have your back anybody know i feel like preaching he'll hide you but you got to go back to verse one to really get your shout because David's been trying to tell us since the psalm open in psalm 27 he said the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear how you know that unless you've been in the dark the lord is the strength of my life of whom shall I be afraid how you know he'll be your strength unless you've been weak when the enemies come upon me to eat up my flesh they stumbled and fell though a host I'm talking about a big number of people cause you do know some people that don't like you gotta go find other folk that don't like you cause they too cowardly to not like you and confront you by themselves so they gotta go get a group of other folk who don't like you when a host comes upon you to eat up your flesh even in this will I be confident can you high five somebody and tell them I ain't scared of none of y'all. I will stand ten toes down knowing that God's hand is active in my trouble. He covers me and he calms me. He calms me and he covers me. He covers me and he calms me. He calms me and he covers me.

51:39 Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God and he'll calm you and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will God cover your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus let me ask you a question I gotta move on has anybody been covered by God has anybody been calmed by God he shall set me up on a rock. I was shouting over the fact he covered me. But that wasn't my shouting this season. It's the fact, Miss Valerie, he'll calm you. He shall set me up upon a rock. Verse 6, and now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me. Watch this. This is military language because if you're in a fight and you're set up on a rock, nobody can sneak up on you.

52:48 You see them before they see you. So God will put you in a position of victory. Not to be seen but so you can see. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. This is too good. This is too good. This is too good. So I'm reading in the commentary about Psalm 27, and I got to read to you what they said because this shouted me. It may not shout you, but it shouted me. Here's what it says. God delivers us from the misery of earthly afflictions and sets us high upon a rock where the surge of earthly perils cannot reach you.

53:31 Some stuff can't reach you. even if it reaches you. some afflictions may touch my existence but it can't touch my essence wait a minute y'all not feeling me because if you were feeling me you would start shouting without music i'm trying to tell you you got a god whose hand is so active in your trouble that some stuff that used to get to you ain't gonna get to you and even if it gets to you it ain't gonna get to you where are my mature Christians who can testify some stuff they used to keep me up at night baby I'll sleep straight through the night cause when you really been through hell flames don't scare you when you done fought armies a hater don't scare you when you done had to bury loved ones mess don't scare you Anybody calmer in this season?

54:37 Have you noticed your blood pressure has decreased? Your breathing has increased? You have woosahed your way through so much and people are confused that with everything you go through and everything you've been through, you're still in your right mind and you ought to tell them, he set me up on a rock and some stuff may get to me, but it ain't got to me. Covered and calmed. And trouble is still raging. But he'll cover you in the middle of it. He'll calm you in the middle of it. So your real shout is not that you're out of it. It's that you're in it and you can still be confident.

55:24 We all are going to be hit with trouble. God's hand is active in your trouble I know his hand is active even in the game Because if you land on certain places It ain't trouble, it's a blessing Even in the game trouble If you land on certain spots, it's a blessing If you land on a spot with two X's That means you get to go again Can anybody thank God for another chance? If you land on the warp spot you get to advance across the board and be expedited back to the finish zone. Some places you land, God will speed you up through the trouble. You don't even have to navigate all of it. He'll speed you up. Now unto him, who's able to do exceeding and...

56:17 If your opponent pops a one, they don't move, but you get to move, which is a reminder sometimes the people against you can help you. Wait a minute, I need to park right there just for two more seconds. Can you thank God for every time your enemies end up blessing you? He made your opponents your footstool. He prepares a table in the... We all are going to go through trouble. God's hand is active in our trouble. Can I give you one more for free? We owe God praise for assisting us through our trouble. Oh, yes, you do. Oh, you owe God praise. Sitting there talking about, does it take all that? Why they that loud? I mean, I mean, I mean, it ain't got to be that loud.

57:10 I mean, can she sit down knocking? You stand up. Do they have to walk up to the front and be obnoxious every Sunday? yeah because they've been dealing with stuff that's obnoxious all week why can't they come and give God some obnoxious praise since he brought them through some obnoxious circumstances oh I got Bible I got Bible and I now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about me therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy I will sing yay I will sing praises unto the Lord. I owe God some sacrifices of joy. Wait now, because this thing got good to me too, because some of y'all are like me. You've read Psalm 27 all your life, and you get to this verse, and you say, now what is a sacrifice of joy? I was trying to figure it out, and y'all, author Wiser, who wrote a commentary on Psalm 27 verse 6 says this, sacrifice of joy and thanksgiving.

58:06 David surrenders, watch this, his whole being to God who is the sole object of his happiness. He promises that he will joyously testify to his Lord and will sing praises to the name of the one to whom alone he owes everything. And then I put the Reggie Sharp remix on it. We owe God everything because God has been our everything. so when he says I'm gonna offer a sacrifice of joy he said I'm gonna make a vow I'm gonna make a promise to respond to life with joy because I wouldn't have made it through life without you missed it so you got choices you can sit there and become resentful about what you've gone through You can sit there and become miserable reflecting on all the trauma you're still navigating.

59:04 Or you can be like David in verse 6 and say, I'm going to make a vow. I'm going to make a promise. Every time I get into your tabernacle, I'm going to open my mouth and testify that I wouldn't have made it back in here if you hadn't kept me through my trouble. If you hadn't soothed my wounds. If you hadn't comforted me through my grief. if you hadn't still my enemies if you hadn't hushed my storm if you didn't hold me through the midnight i need somebody anybody everybody to forget about yourself concentrate on him and worship him and give god a sacrifice of joy and say this joy that i have the world Y'all too quiet for me If you've been through great trouble Give him some great praise If he brought you through a great storm Give him some great worship If he carried you through some stuff You wouldn't have made it out of Open your mouth you owe God some joyous worship you owe God a joyous hallelujah you owe God a joyous thank you Jesus if it had not been for the Lord so I'm done, so I'm done, I told y'all I told you earlier in the message that we needed the instruction manual we wouldn't have known or remembered how to play the game correctly without the manual and just yesterday I pulled the game out the box and the manual fell on the floor and Lady Bree said, oh no, don't lose the manual and that's what I want to tell you as I close this little sermon today whatever you do don't lose the manual the manual is one of the best ways to learn how to navigate trouble correctly I read the manual and it says in Psalm 46 God is our refuge and our strength a very present help in trouble I read the manual and it says in John 14 let not your heart be troubled