"Mind Your Business" Rev. Reginald W. Sharpe Jr. Wednesday May 18 2022

3:12 we're getting ready to continue our series thank you band for being here thank you to our media team and all of you who make this possible there's so many people on the virtual ship that make this possible where are you watching from tonight where are you watching from tonight drop that in the chat drop that in the chat wherever you're watching from i want to know the city and the state that you're watching from go ahead and drop it in the chat tonight we want to know i'm waiting on you to drop it i'm waiting on you to type i'm waiting on you to drop it we look at that that's important to us wherever you're watching from on the virtual ship tonight we don't take it lightly we're in the middle of a series entitled uh six ingredients for a happier your life and tonight we're jumping in on the third ingredient last week we dealt with the second ingredient a week ago we dealt with the first ingredient the first ingredient was in protect your internal peace protect your internal peace and the way we do that is by making sure that we do not uh suppress things on the inside of us until it begins to rot so the first thing is what protect your internal peace write that in the chat number one that's the first ingredient protect your internal peace and number two last week we talked about always give yourself something to look forward to wasn't that rich out of hebrews 12 2 for the joy that was set before him jesus endured the cross despising the shame and now he is set down at the right hand of the throne of god and so tonight we're jumping in on the third ingredient are y'all ready somebody say ready the third ingredient is this to a happier life and y'all not ready you said you're ready but you're not ready the third ingredient is this mind your business mind your business unless i waste time explaining to you why this is going to make your life happier let's jump right into the word of god come with me to proverbs chapter 26 and i want to go to verse 17 proverbs chapter 26 verse 17. I want to walk you through three scriptures tonight that are going to explain

5:20 to us why it's important to mind your business, mind your business, and how much happier you can be if you get out of other people's business and just focus in on your business. Because if you be honest, you got enough business of your own and you have, it takes enough energy to take care of your business that you really don't have time to be focusing in on other people's business. Check this scripture out proverbs chapter 26 verse 17 one little verse when you grab i'm in the message bible when you grab a mad dog by the ears i just read that wrong let me reread it you grab a mad dog by the ears when you butt into a quarrel or disagreement that's none of your business I just love God's word because we make it deep but it's really really simple it's like grabbing a mad dog by the ears when you butt into something that has absolutely nothing to do with you when we were in school elementary school middle school y'all remember the little girls used to say this is an a and b conversation and you need to see your way out of it uh-huh because sometimes you can protect your peace by saying when somebody brings something to you or when you see an issue you say wait a minute that has nothing to do with me that has nothing to do with me i know a lady in ministry right now who every time she's in an intense meeting she's in ministry she's called to ministry every time she's in a meeting at her church and somebody say well reverend such and so and so what are we gonna do about da da da da da a reverend so and so we got this on the table and what are we going to do? Somebody called in and they're furious or they're asking da-da-da-da-da.

7:04 She said, that is not my cross to bear. That's her response. I think it's golden. And we need to learn that's not my cross to bear. And you can have a happier life when you decide that has nothing to do with me. I pray for them. I wish them well, but that is not my battle and that has nothing to do with me. There are times where you do have to get involved. There are times where your opinion doesn't matter. And usually I can tell you this little secret. Lean up. Usually your opinion does not matter until it is asked for. Y'all not ready for me tonight. I'm giving this simplest little lesson. But I'm trying to tell you. Nobody cares what you think really until they ask you. And so you can save yourself the energy sometimes. Parents save yourself the energy. You can sit there and see from A to Z. but until that child asks you specifically mama what do you think they are really not open to your advice and i'm talking more to your adult children if they're younger it doesn't matter what they think sometimes you got to teach them i'm not talking about the little ones i'm not talking about 12 and younger i'm talking about when they get in those teen years and those 20s sometimes you have to let people fail let people fall so they can learn for themselves you know how some people say uh old folks say some folks don't believe fat meat is greasy and if they don't believe it's greasy let them learn by themselves but don't you go grabbing a rockwiler and a pit bull who's already upset by the ears because you're jumping into something that has absolutely nothing to do with you i cannot tell you the release and the joy and the peace and the increased quality of sleep that comes from minding your business i was at a pastor's conference a few weeks ago down in houston and and the innocent he didn't mean no harm innocent pastor walked with me and said did you hear about such and such church and such and such pastor i said i ain't heard nothing because the church i passed up there on 45 43 south princeton avenue chicago illinois 60609 they look they take all my energy my energy is there we're trying to grow

9:13 We're trying to make sure we re-enter the sanctuary and make sure our church members come back who we ain't seen in two years. We up here working and growing the ministry, trying to have a year of fun. I don't have energy to focus in on what church and lotty dotty and everybody's doing around. I don't have time for that because you can. I'm getting ahead of myself. You got to focus. You got to focus. Somebody say focus. Write it in the chat. Focus. and you cannot do that by butting in a fight a quarrel a disagreement an issue that is none of your business let's go to another text since y'all didn't like that one let's go to another text first thessalonians first thessalonians 4 11 write these down you're gonna need these the message bible says first thessalonians 4 11 watch what paul tells the church of thessalonica this is the advice he's giving church people hear me I'm about to get loud on purpose this is for church people Paul is writing to the who the church this is for leaders this is for Christians this is for people who claim to be followers of Jesus ding ding ding ding ding listen first Thessalonians chapter four verse 11 here it is what does it say pastor thank you I'm glad you asked here it is stay calm Semicolon Mind your own business Semicolon Do your own job Period You've heard all of this from us before Comma But a reminder never hurts Paul says hey I need to give y'all a reminder Stay calm Mind your own business Do your own job do you know how many people do the opposite of all three of these things they can tell somebody else what to do and what they shouldn't done but they don't do their job they can tell they and everybody you heard you've seen have you do you know i heard i saw and their stuff is raggedy they slip hanging

11:19 they girdle not tight enough their shoes flopping off their feet you got the wrong undergarments on huh you're stuff sloppy and you and everybody else's business just a busy body busy body busy just got to do all over the place and the bible says stay calm mind your own business and do your own job and you know what really irritates me about some people It's some people that can critique everything somebody else does, but when they do something, it's the biggest hot mess you've ever seen. If you focus more on being a constructive creator and not a critical critiquer, I'm talking tonight, I think I need to back the thing up and say it again. If you focus more on being a constructive creator and not a critical critiquer, Or the energy you took to critique, you could have been building something.

12:21 You could have been solving something. You could have been making something. But here you are, a busybody in everybody else's business and doing everybody else's job for them, but you can't do your own. I'm trying to help you. If you want a happier life, mind your business, do your own job, stay calm. And you can stay calm when you mind your own business and do your own job. and you can do your own job when you mind your own business and when you stay calm. And you can mind your own business when you do your own job and you stay calm. You see how it flows together? That's why he put a semicolon. Because it all flows. It ain't over. It all ties together. And a lot of us have lost happiness in our lives because we let too much in our ears. There are two gates to the mind.

13:13 Your eyes and your ears. And some of us have let too much in our ear gate that is now corrupting and toxifying our minds. There's some things you don't need to hear before you go to bed. There's some stuff I don't need to hear it. I don't have the energy for it. I don't have the capacity for it. And now you're about to mess up my rest because the later it is I hear this or see this, listen, you got to be careful what you're scrolling on social media. You can see the wrong thing right before bed and you and somebody else's business on another part of the world, another part of the city, another family. And now your mind is all thinking and you imagining and you worrying and you're anxious because you did not mind your own business. That's why sometimes you need to fast from social media. Some people laughed at me when I went on a fast for 40 days during Lent. Listen, I'm about to go on another one because when I came back on social media, I realized I wasn't missing anything. Because it's a quick way to be in everybody else's business and not be building your own.

14:17 You're looking at what everybody else is doing, their success, their trip, their vacation, their wedding, what they're posting. And now you're losing energy on building the life you want because you're jealous and envious and comparing your life to somebody else. I'm trying to help. If you want to help your life, cut some stuff off. Mute some people. you ain't got to block them but you can show mute them and that means they're not going to be popping up you can on Facebook you can snooze them for 30 days look for the snooze button that means you won't see anything they post for 30 days now you're still my friend but I'm going to snooze the shenanigans out of you you're just as snoozed as you can be you're just posting away I don't see nothing you snoozed and you're muted and you don't even know because you got to protect your happiness your peace your joy your your you are y'all feeling me tonight i'm trying to help you here's another scripture i love this scripture it's one of my favorite scriptures one day i'm gonna preach it and when i preach it i pray god give me all the strength down to my pinky toe to preach it the way i really want to preach it but this text right here john 21 john 21 i'm gonna start reading from verse 17 all the way to verse 23 so you can catch the catch the story i want you to catch the story catch the narrative jesus is resurrected from the dead and uh he's giving peter a second chance you know peter denied him and so he comes back he comes back verse 17 and then he says to peter a third time he asked him three times peter do you love me peter do you love me do you love me do you love me he tells him feed my sheep feed my sheep feed my sheep i'm giving you the quick version it's deeper than that but that's that's what's happening he asked him do you love me if you love me feed my sheep verse 17 through 19 this is what happens Then he said a third time, Simon, son of John, do you love me?

16:09 Peter was upset that he asked him the third time, do you love me? So he answered, master, you know everything there is to know. You've got to know that I love you. Jesus ignored him. He said, feed my sheep. I'm telling you the very truth now. When you were young, you dressed yourself and went wherever you wished. But when you get old, you'll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don't want to go. he was saying that you're gonna die like i died and peter was he was killed crucified upside down that's how peter died and so jesus was telling them one day listen they're gonna take you where you don't want to go you you're not gonna dress yourself you're not gonna have any power and he said this to hint at the kind of death by which peter would glorify god and then he commanded him follow me turning his head Peter noticed the disciple Jesus love following right behind him watch this y'all this is a good movie so Peter just found out uh Jesus Jesus just told Peter hey hey bro you ain't gonna die a smooth death but when you get older you gonna die a horrible death but it's gonna bring God glory you're gonna do some great things now watch it turning his head Peter looks to John the disciple Jesus love following right behind when Peter noticed him he asked Jesus, so master, what's going to happen to him?

17:29 I know you told me what's going to happen to me, but what's going to happen to John? Y'all watch the swag, the sarcasm, the subversive answer Jesus gives. Verse 22, Jesus said, if I want him to live until I come again, what's that to you? You follow me. that is how the rumor got out among the brothers that this disciple wouldn't die but that is not what jesus said he simply said if i want him to live until i come again what's that to you he looked at peter and said what happens to john ain't got nothing to do with you you you better be glad i'm still calling you and using you after you denied me three times and deserted me on the night i was crucified i just asked you three times do you love me i just told you i'm gonna use you to use you to do some great ministry i need you to feed my sheep i need you to keep following me and your response is what what jesus i know i'm gonna die like that but but what about john and jesus like that has nothing to do with you come here a little close i'm up here about to start sweating i'm gonna work myself up reading this text i'm trying to tell you some of us are just like that in our lives you can't focus on what god has called you to do because you wonder well what about them watch it here's how we do it here's how i know i'm right here's i know i'm right we do it with the folk we don't like what you're gonna do about them they they you get them lord sick sick of god get them they hurt me they were immature they were they they what you're gonna do and Jesus is like, I got them.

19:11 You focus on you and your joy, your happiness is going to come from you minding your own business. Don't worry about what's going to happen to John. I got John. John is going to have to face what he's going to have to face but that doesn't happen. He said if I want him to live forever, he's going to live forever. And his point to Peter is stay in your lane and drive your car to the destiny that I have for you. I don't know who this is for today, but I'm trying to tell you, you are missing out on happier happiness, greater greatness, because you are focusing on what everybody else got going on, and you're just a busybody, and you can't focus. And when you mind your own business, three things are going to happen, and I'm done. It frees you to do you.

20:04 it focuses you on you and it fences you in to see you that's the point it frees you to do you it focuses you on you and it fences you in to see you i can't worry about what's going on across the fence and everybody else's field and everybody else's pasture i'm fenced in because I need to see me and some of us need to get out of windows and go back to the mirror did you hear me get out the window and go back to the mirror and look at yourself and work on yourself you need self-improvement it's time to have some self-compassion that's that's that's compassion that you give to you it's time for you to go back home and do some self-work and some of us find joy oh I'm about to step on a big toe scoot your feet back some of us find joy in knowing others are suffering because it gives us space not to focus on our own suffering we like to see people fall so we don't have to look at the fall we just had we like to hear marriages are falling apart because now we don't we could talk about what they did wrong and we don't have to Look at the fact that ours is one banana peel away from being in a cemetery.

21:30 We like seeing other people going through. We do because we can talk about them. But an immature person loves to focus on others. Loves to hear the juicy gossip. But a mature woman of God, a mature man of God, says what Ivory Collins Shepherd, my first first lady, told me when I asked her, how do you deal with difficult people? and she looked me in my eyes and she says that which i dislike in another i try to correct it in myself in other words she was saying mind your own business don't worry about them their energy don't worry about their negativity don't worry about their messiness if you see them and you don't like it make sure you fix that in yourself somebody write in the chat i'm free to do me uh-huh i say i'm free to do me somebody write in the chat i'm focusing on me uh-huh and number three i'm fencing myself in to see me i'm freeing myself i'm focusing myself and i'm fencing myself i'm setting up some boundaries and stop letting people use you as a garbage can calling you telling you about everybody else no no no no no you you better be careful is them calling you today and tomorrow they're going to be calling somebody else on you.

22:58 So be careful. Set an invite. Listen, I keep a certain aura around me. If somebody asks me, I can't tell you exactly what they asked me, but they asked me, I can't tell you exactly what they asked me but but just listen I'm gonna give you as much as I can somebody asked me does such and such such happen to you as a pastor and I said no that has not happened to me since I've been pastoring when I was in Macon Georgia pastoring for three and a half years and now that I've almost been here three years that question they asked me never happened and I said it's never happened because I don't carry myself in that way I said there is an invisible little force field around me that folks know. Don't bring that to him. Don't do that to him. See, sometimes your energy will eliminate certain things. Are y'all feeling me?

23:52 It's hard to be in this church talking by myself sometimes. But we're going to stay virtual until the Lord releases us to come back. But I really hope you feel me. You've got to create a certain energy around you where it's like, uh-uh, don't even bring that to him. Don't even try him. Don't even come at him with that because he not on that. She not on that. And people will learn what to bring to you. But if you let them bring you trash, they gonna bring it forever. But if you hold yourself like royalty, it's gonna be hard for them to bring you pettiness. That's the nicest way I can say it. But I hope you mind your business. Somebody touch your heart and say, Lord, help me mind my own business so that I can have a happier life. Say it out loud. Say, Lord, that's a prayer. Help me mind my own business so I can have a happier life. Let me pray with you.

24:47 Lord, I thank you for this word. I thank you for the way you're stretching us with these six ingredients for a happier life. We're working to protect our internal peace. We're working to always give ourselves something to look forward to. And now tonight, God, we're working to mind our own business. I pray you free us. I pray you fence us in. And I pray you help us to focus. I ask, oh God, that you would touch that woman I see in the spirit who is unhappy because she's been comparing her life to somebody else. I pray, oh God, that you touch that young teenager who is working, overworking, trying to keep up with somebody else. God, help us realize that the grass is often not greener on the other side of the fence. It's astroturf. It's not even real. help us to realize that where we are and how we are and the season we're in is usually the best right here where we are because even if it's not what we want it to be you can help us grow our water right here on this side of the fence so help us to be satisfied help us to be secure and help us to be content in this season this is our prayer in jesus name we pray amen amen and amen if you don't know jesus you can accept him tonight if you need a church home you can come tonight. I pray that you open up your heart to this series. I pray you share it. Send it. Say, hey, my pastor is teaching six ingredients for a happier life during the year fun and we need these ingredients so we can apply this word to our lives. I love y'all. That's all I got tonight.

26:14 Look at these seven ways to give. Look at these seven ways to give. What's this song? What's this song it sounds good yeah yeah i smile it's a happier thing yeah yeah you look so much better when you smile when you look you look better go ahead and smile show all your 13s show your fives show your whatever whatever you got come on show i love y'all and i pray that god fills you with joy laughter and peace peace go ahead and sow that seed tonight thank you for being generous thank you for trusting God's word I'll see you all soon see you Sunday hey it goes up from here it gets better from here make sure you keep on smiling make sure you keep minding your own business may your struggles keep you near the cross may your troubles show that you really do need God may your battles end the way they should not the way you want them to may they end the way they should and may your bad days prove that God is good may your whole life prove hey that God is good. Have a good night. Have a good tomorrow.