Refuel Throwback: "Let's Have Some Fun Part 3" Rev. Reginald W. Sharpe Jr 011723

1:27 I don't care if I'm the only one in my office that's going to do it. I'm having fun. And that is a commitment that you have to have in your life to not waste your life. Let me not get ahead of myself. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., when he died, they said that his heart looked like the heart of a 60- or 80-year-old man. He was only 39 years old. Because the heart looking like that was a reflection of the stress he lived under. constant threats to his life his home was bombed one night with his family on in on the inside of the home in montgomery alabama he was constantly dealing with his phone being tapped by the fbi he was constantly under the surveillance of the government because when you are a man focused or a woman focused on justice trying to help people you become a threat to the system you become a threat to the to the higher ups the status quo and here martin luther king jr was not just dreaming but he dared wake up and what i loved when i started researching him this year i saw a different side to king i'd never seen before i have some pictures that are going to show while i'm talking uh king enjoyed life he laughed he played he enjoyed his children um andrew young uh um the Honorable Andrew Young, who was the first black mayor of Atlanta.

2:54 Either he was the first black mayor or the second black mayor of Atlanta. I think Maynard Jackson was the first black. But Andrew Young, either way, he was Honorable Andrew Young. He was working with King. He said the day that King was assassinated, they were on the inside of that room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, having a pillow fight. King was upset that Andrew Young didn't tell him some intel that he needed to know. And when he was upset about it, instead of him fussing or cussing, he picked up a pillow and threw it at Andrew Young. And there commenced a pillow fight moments before he died. He was in the hotel room playing. Oftentimes, another one, Congressman John Lewis. He was found in an interview that Oprah did called The Playfulness of Dr. King. and John Lewis said that King was a jokester. He used to talk about the fact that everybody wanted to be around him when the cameras were on.

3:51 He said, now which one of y'all are going to be around when the bullet starts flying? And he would joke with them and then he would pretend like he was preaching your funeral. That was just preacher fun. But he was a jokester. He enjoyed life. He was seen multiple times smiling and laughing. Now, he was a man under enormous stress. But the pictures you see is a man who still enjoyed life, is a man that knew how to have fun. And that's what I want to hone in. Miss Ivory Collins Shepard, my first first lady, grew up with Dr. King in Atlanta. And she told me no matter when you met him, he was the epitome of that poem, If That Says, You Can Walk With Kings and Never Lose the Common Touch. Dr. King no matter how high he went had a PhD by the age of 26 in systematic theology Dr. King Dr. King this is no honorary doctorate he earned a PhD intelligent man a studied man and under all of this stress all this pressure Nobel Peace Prize was given in his early 30s visited the White House multiple times he still kept the common touch let me tell you something lean in a little bit lean in because some of y'all are wondering now what are you talking about preacher what you talking about preacher you've got to learn how to have fun when you cannot alleviate stress huh even when you cannot alleviate the pressure when you cannot eliminate the stress in the middle of it you better learn how to laugh you better learn how to enjoy yourself and have a good time this is where i'm trying to lay the foundation let's have some fun so last week we talked about re-examine your trust in God can I give you some more can I give you some more right out of this text we learned that Philippians is the joy letter somebody say the joy letter 11 times in the book of Philippians we see the word joy five times we see the word rejoice or be glad interchangeably in the book of Philippians and Paul was what when he wrote this incarcerated he was in prison writing to the first church he planted on european soil the church of philippi

6:05 and he's writing to the philippians so the first thing i told you last week was re-examine your trust in god but here's another thing i need you to re-examine if you're going to enjoy your fun you need to re-examine your togetherness somebody say togetherness go back up to verse one and verse two of Philippians chapter four I'm in the message bible I want you to see something I want you to see something I want you to see something now I'm gonna warn you there's a difficult name I'm about to pronounce and even when I say it it's probably wrong but I'm gonna do the best I can number verse one of chapter four says my dear dear friends I love you so much I don't want the very best I do want the very best for you you make me feel what such joy fill me with such pride now don't waver stay on track steady in God verse 2 I urge you Odea and sentichi to iron out their differences and make up God doesn't want his children holding grudges it was two sisters at the church of philippi who mad about something now we don't know what the disagreement was we don't know who crossed who we don't know who said what to who we don't know who came for who we don't know who stepped on whose shoes while the other one was shouting we don't know who took whose seat at which service we don't know who took whose parking spot that they thought we don't know what happened we don't know who uh thought they were gonna be the leader of the ministry and didn't become the leader of the ministry and they got mad we don't know who thought they deserved the solo but then they gave the solo you you odia thought it was her solo and then here comes in t-ch and saying t-ch took the solo and now now you do you odia don't want to sing no more because i used to be the one up there singing i didn't got sent teacher in my place and Paul writes to the church and says there's two women up there who need to get it straight.

8:12 God does not want God's children holding grudges. Listen, it's hard to have fun when you mad at everybody. It's hard to have fun and relax in any atmosphere when you have some unresolved tension with people that you should have fixed months ago. oh i'm getting close pull your feet back because i'm coming stepping through stepping through i'm on toes today jesus said if you have a problem with anybody your brother your sister go to that person this is the one scripture that nobody believes in church oh i know it's true because we go to three four people on the side before we go to the one that did it so now you don't involve three four five six seven people with something you could have handle one-on-one and then jesus says if it doesn't work out one-on-one then you bring a mediator who is wise who's not coming to make a bigger mess of this who can help y'all hear each other out and he says and after the mediator can't fix it y'all need to treat each other like gentiles he says that in jewish context they treat that treat that person like somebody who has more to learn.

9:27 Not blocked. Not canceled. Not delete. Not snooze for 30 days on Facebook. Huh? But just treat that person. Not dismiss them. Not erase them. Not eliminate them out of my life. I'm getting my scissors this year. I think you need to cut it. No, not all of that. Not all of that. Just treat them like somebody that got a little bit more to learn. let me ask you a question because before january is over this is what you got to get straight who do you need to have a conversation with and whatever the outcome is you just need to get it off your chest where you stand regardless of if they accept it or not because it's not your job to make them accept what you're saying but it is your job to free yourself huh talk sharp i'm doing the best i can see if you are the person that's trying to avoid conflict outside of yourself here's what you're doing you're creating conflict inside yourself so some of you who avoid things and you don't help stuff in for years and months i just don't want conflict i just don't want no problems i don't want no problem well you don't have a problem out there but you got a problem in here so now you're harboring hatred and grudges that you should let go and you need to tell sentiche and you odia hey y'all y'all need to get back on the same page i noticed philippi had to be black church because who else in the church named you Odia and said T.J.

10:55 tell somebody re-examine your togetherness if you're working with somebody and you got something going on don't don't involve the whole office you in a ministry got something going on and you can't go to that person and tell them don't involve everybody else in the ministry huh you got something in the family one of your cousins ticked you off at the funeral last April at the cemetery because everybody else was grabbing roses and they grabbed a whole flower. All they were supposed to do was grab a rose. They even took a whole plant home. And you man ain't said nothing. And you done brought 15 more cousins in because what you really want to do is have people share in your hatred. And then some of you who are really childish, here's how childish as you are, you don't like your friends if they can be cool with somebody you don't like.

11:56 So you want everybody to share in your misery and your immaturity. How can you have fun and you mad at people who really y'all should have fixed that two, three, four months ago. So if you want to have real fun in your life, Paul is like, yeah, I'm writing about joy yeah i'm writing about rejoicing yeah i'm writing about having fun latoya but listen if y'all can't get along how much fun are we gonna have all right y'all don't like me it's okay i'll be back next sunday i'll try again re-examine your old last sunday when i said re-examine your trust in god we were bouncing around here but now we in verse one and two y'all like me back then you ain't want me now i'm just playing it had nothing to do with nothing re-examine your trust in god re-examine your togetherness here's another one here's another one re-examine your thankfulness re-examine your thankfulness go to verse six go to verse six i told you i'm just jumping around because there are principles all in this joy letter that we need somebody say thankful i'm back in the message bible verse six message bible verse six says don't fret or worry that's what we get out of the king james version it says be anxious for nothing uh-huh don't fret or worry instead of worry and do what pray let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers letting God know your concerns y'all see this before you know it a sense of God's wholeness everything coming together for good will come and settle you down it's wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry from the center of your life.

13:46 Now the NRSV version, put that up on the screen, verse 6. NRSV version, verse 6 says something a little different. Verse 6 says something different in the NRSV version. Here's what it says. It says, do not worry about anything but in everything by prayer and supplication with what? With thanksgiving. if you want to have fun in your life if you want a life of celebration lightheartedness playfulness fill your life with thankfulness it's so simple that i'm about to get no amens because people were waiting on me to say something deeper how thankful are you let me tell you a secret um uh okay this is really bad but i'm gonna tell you it happened because it's a true story we i was on this call on zoom once and right at the end of the call the leader said i want to close in prayer i want to close in prayer i had already had a heavy day and so i was just happy to get off the zoom like everybody is when they've been on zoom all day long and so i'm ready to get off zone but they said let's pray i said well i'm a christian let me stay for the prayer and y'all let me tell one of my friends coined the phrase she said it became the struggle olympics everybody began oh pray for me yeah pray for my cousin she in the hospital with with covid pneumonia tuberculosis and her eyebrows fell off lord i'll pray and then another one get up lord pray for me too pray for me too man my marriage just need a little prayer then i it just went lower and pray for him pray for my son he done he won't go to school no more pray for it just got a little pray for my grandmama she's bumped a bunion on the corner of the dresser trying to get in the bathroom 2 a.m in the morning she can't put no pressure but just pray oh before I knew it I had hit leave meeting I left I said I'm sad enough on my own I don't need nobody to help me be most sadder why when it comes to prayer

15:54 do we only list what's wrong but when it's time for prayer when is the last time when somebody said do you have a prayer request yes can you thank god for me that i'm still alive can you thank god for me that some of my family members are still here can you thank god for me that my check cleared last week can you thank god for me that my child is doing as well as they can in school in spite of how crazy everything can you thank god for me that i see favor on people's lives in the middle of a famine and people are somehow still prospering in a pandemic can we go to God with some gratitude instead of always dragging everybody down to the ground if you want to have fun in your life you gotta focus on what you got left focus on what's good folk i'm getting ahead of myself that's a whole nother point you gotta thank god come on y'all just write in the chat one thing you're thankful for what are you thankful for say it out loud whatever it is thank you lord that last week i was in school all last week from monday uh tuesday through Saturday had school.

17:10 Thank you, Lord, that that class is over. Thank you. Hey. I feel Willie need to come grab me right there in the flat. Hey. Thank you. I got more papers to write. I'm not finished with the program, but I am thankful I made it through the class. You see what I'm saying? We were sitting around and oh, Lord, Jesus. Can I just talk? Can I just talk to you? Because I'm trying to tell you. you become sickening to people when all you got is negative you become sickening you you literally toxify i don't even know if it's a word you literally poisonate. I don't know if that's a word either. And if you don't understand toxify and poisonate, you stank up the room when you don't bring any gratitude to the room. And don't just be thankful to God.

18:10 Show some thankfulness to the people who've been good to you as well. Don't just, listen y'all, I'm trying to tell you, if you want people to do more for you, if you want people to support you sometimes you got to pause and let them know you appreciate them you appreciate what they do i called rev pope randomly last week and said doc i want to say thank you sir i thank you for what you do i've called elder vassals and thank you call my staff miss wendy deacon linda brother lamont uh ashley kb damian folks behind the scenes vanessa riri people that you don't really see every week but I couldn't do what I do without just saying thank you and thank you are two words that are so simple that we often forget so you need to have vertical thankfulness and you need to create more horizontal thankfulness because let me tell you what's gonna happen I really want you to lean up and get this because it happened to me today as tired as I was when I walked in the room people's energy made me have some joy you know when when you when you give out of a good place on the day you need it most it'll come back to you you know what i'm saying literally stuff i've said laughter that i've given people were able to pour that into me today so the reason i'm so smiley up here with this bright red shirt is because the room made me thankful to be here the people serving behind the scenes with a good spirit and a smile made me more thankful just to be connected to fellowship i don't know if i'm helping nobody your marriage will be stronger if you appreciated each other more if the only time you open your mouth is for a critique if the only time you and your child's face is when they do something wrong I'm trying to tell you.

20:06 You need thankfulness. Somebody say thankfulness. So I need you to re-examine your thankfulness. I need you to re-examine. Watch this. Your togetherness. I need you to re-examine your trust in God. But there's something else I need you to re-examine. I need you to re-examine your thoughts. The NRSV version. Come with me. The NRSV version. Chapter 4. Verse 8. watch paul shift this thing now we talked about the peace of god verse six seven and we've talked about the god of peace verse nine we we jumped around a while on that last week and that's some good stuff but it's in the middle of the peace of god and the god of peace where you got work to do because i don't care how much peace god can provide if you don't keep your mind off of mess if you don't keep your mind off of trivialities if you don't keep your mind off of the things that poisonous and drama filled and negative and nasty i don't care how much peace god surrounds you with you're going to be disturbed on the inside come on come on here we are here it is verse verse eight finally beloved if you can see it on the screen read it with me no matter where you are finally beloved whatever is true whatever is honorable whatever is just whatever is pure whatever is pleasing whatever is commendable if there is any excellence if there is anything worthy of praise do what? Think.

21:34 Think on these things. So, I don't feel no fun, preacher. I mean, like, I mean, I mean, I mean, like, I know God gave you this or whatever, but like, for real though, I don't feel no fun, Rep. Like, Rep, I ain't feel no fun, bray.

21:57 Well, that ain't got nothing to do with me, bray. Thank you. and has everything to do with what's on your mind oh i'm about to come get you i'm about to come get you i'm about to come get you so we're sitting around at my grandmother's house after my auntie dent's funeral now it was four months and nine days approximately when i did my auntie janice's funeral and i did my auntie dent's funeral they were very close two aunties in that period of time and i buried an uncle in the middle of all that i forget that i've done three eulogies for major family members that were close to me and I'm just still pushing so after the funeral it just all hit me and I'm sitting around like man both of them gone looking at the cemetery they side by side the thing messed me up like they're gone and one of my cousins looked at me and said but Reg look at the room my grandmama was sitting in the room one of my aunts who was very sick last year was sitting in the room. She said, just look at the room. She said, I know we lost some, but look at the ones we didn't lose.

23:02 y'all because at that moment what she did was grab my thoughts she grabbed my thoughts off of loss and grief and lack and put it back on whatever is true whatever is noble whatever is good whatever is worthy to be appreciated and so i want you to grab your thoughts this week when you see yourself shifting down grab your thoughts i uh i shifted my mind at morehouse college and i was never the same i'm done i'm done literally i'm done this is my last little point i might have one more point but ain't nothing major uh i shifted my mind at morehouse and i was never the same i believe there is a devil but i also believe the devil has no power over me when i began to shift my thoughts on that my life shifted and it wasn't just me i believe there's a devil but i believe the devil has no power over me why because somewhere i read in the book of romans chapter eight somewhere in there it says something if god be for you who can be against you now i'm sorry i don't have a holler here to make you really pay attention but I hope that the content of what I'm about to tell you will hold you for a lifetime.

24:24 If God be for you, it does not matter who is not for you, including the devil. Because even the devil has to have a conversation with God before he does anything in your life. because the last time I read in the book of Job there's a hedge and even Satan knows it because Satan said I would have gotten to him but you got a hedge it's amazing to me when the devil know how far he can go and so I decided I decided if God before me who could be against me I don't give the devil any energy you know people walk up you know the devil is busy I say I don't care I don't care how busy the devil is god is busier it's my you know the never the devil don't never go to bed so does god never go to bed psalm 121 says he that keepeth israel shall neither slumber nor sleep and the devil is not god's equal the devil is god's tool the devil is a tool that god uses to push and prod the believer in the direction they need to go the devil has a purpose come here paul there was a given to me lest I become arrogant.

25:46 So I decided to shift my thoughts and whenever you shift your thinking, you shift your living. so yeah i believe the devil's real satan or in the hebrew the hasatan the accuser of the brethren i i believe i believe it but i don't care i believe there's some people who are messy all around the world i don't care there's some people that don't like me i don't care there's some people who have power that have the power to shut a door and to influence because watch this now when people can no longer control you they try to control what others think of you and so there are people who have power to control how others think of me or what i do or who i am i don't care because i am convinced that god is for me when i gave jesus my life when i submitted myself to the holy spirit when i pray when i fast when i ask him to help me it's a sign that he's for me in christ through christ god is for you so why are you worried about a hater why are you worried about an enemy why are you worried about somebody who's difficult they cannot hinder or hurt the plans and the prosperity of god that shall rest on your life i wish i had a church right through here because i would ask you to turn to your neighbor and tell them chill all the way out chill all the way out you gotta shift your mind don't worry about all that nasty negative no good stuff we're gonna have fun this year we're gonna have fun this year pick you a song and stick with it get you a playlist call it your fun playlist and all the music may not be gospel huh i just get you a fun playlist and this is the music when i need my mind to get off of the pressure and the stress and the difficulties i turn on this music because this music helps me vibe these are the phone calls i'm not accepting until i have the capacity to accept them this year so i i

28:00 i need to change some names in my phone to check your capacity so every time it rings i don't know who it is on the other line but this is somebody i gotta check my capacity for and if i don't have the capacity for them today, I'll call you back. Because it takes too much work to keep your mind stayed on the Lord. Thou will keep you in perfect peace. Shalom, shalom. Peace, peace. If you keep your mind stayed on thee semi-colon because you trust in thee all right all right all right y'all don't like me today because i'm i'm i'm a little more quiet but i'm trying to give you something you got to re-examine your what your thoughts re-examine your what togetherness you got to re-examine your what your thankfulness and then lastly and finally watch this you got to re-examine examine your thoughtfulness i'm about to mess you up about to mess you up all right i'm going into king james i'm going in the message bible verse 10 verse 14 here it is philippians 4 verse 10 14 now this one i really want you to read out loud because we think we know these texts but we don't know the full context behind the text that really gives the beauty of the text here it is read it with me if you can see it verse 10 i'm glad paul is writing verse 10 verse 10 all right they didn't get verse 10 on the screen but i'm gonna read verse 10 and just stay right there till i catch up to where you are i'm glad in god far happier than you would ever guess happy that you again showing such strong concern for me not that you ever quit praying and thinking about me you just had no chance to show it actually i don't have a sense of needing anything personally here it is on the screen now y'all finally caught up with me i'm i've learned by now

30:10 to be quite content whatever my circumstances put the scripture back up on the screen for me thank you i've learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances watch this i'm just as happy with little as with much with much as with little i found the the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry hands full or hands empty whatever i have wherever i am i can make it through anything in the one who makes me who i am that was that was verse 13 in the king james version it says i could do all things through christ who give me strength but let's keep reading i don't mean that your help didn't mean a lot to me it did it was a beautiful thing that you came alongside me in my troubles verse 10 listen again i'm glad in god far happier than you would ever guess happy that you're again showing such strong concern for me now watch this come back to me now come back to me now paul is in jail and the philippians didn't have an opportunity to care for him send him anything couldn't send a fruit basket a card couldn't send a cash app a zale for a while they couldn't even get in contact with him and he said but now that you all have access to me because some people believe he's not imprisoned in an actual jail he's on house arrest and they are guarding and keeping him at home so now he has access to his his parchment and his quail pen again which is how we get this letter in the first place because if he was in a certain kind of jail in Rome he wouldn't have been able to communicate with anybody so he's in house arrest and now because they have access to him again he's thanking them for how kind they have been let me ask you a question when is the last time you've been good to somebody when is the last time you just were good to somebody for the sake of being good to them now I'm not saying this because fellowship doesn't take care of me but I am saying this because a lot

32:15 of pastors are in this place which makes them retire early or quit when people don't know how to show appreciation for a high capacity job that always demands your presence and your energy when is the last time you showed appreciation and should nobody have to ask you to appreciate them if somebody has been blessing you somebody's been good to you somebody has taken care of you paul says i'm happy because y'all took time to just care can i testify for a minute i'm serious now i'm not saying the fellowship is not taking care of me because fellowship has i know what paul means i know what it feels like for people to bless you and you like what me for real latoya had death she's back latoya shine her grandmother passed and we thank god for you being back serving again but but in the office before i walked out come on we give it up for latoya thank god for your presence i i know it ain't easy to come back because life hadn't all changed it's heavy sometimes but in the back she wrote a thank you letter that was so kind I had to read I said I want to read this can I read it can I read it Pastor Sharp and Lady Bree from the bottom of my heart I am grateful to Fellowship Chicago family for all the prayers and support before and after my grandmother made her transition when I called the care line Deacon Winfield prayed over my grandmother on speaker phone a few hours before she passed he shared my info with Reverend Monica and she called after my grandma passed to console pray and encourage our family Elder Vassar and Sharnita called and text almost every day to pray for our family.

34:02 And for me, when I got COVID, Pastor, I appreciated you calling to pray for me. Even during your time of loss, you still found the strength to call and support my family. Thank you. Minister Tuesday blessed us in song at my grandmother's service. I love my church. As leaders of our church, I wanted you both to know that I'm thankful for all of the love then and now.

34:26 As you put money in it. You see what I'm saying? Now, see, I'm trying to open, I'm showing you my world so you can really reexamine your world. Do you know how good this feels? When you're around people so often who can find the bad and everything good, got a critique instead of a compliment, don't like this, and when they did like this, they didn't say what they did like, but they're quick to say what they don't like. Do you know how good a thank you note feels? I'm sorry. I'm not loud today. I'm not going to holler today. I'm going to save my voice and go work on my papers when I leave. But what I am trying to tell you is if you want to hear for fun, stop waiting on fun to find you. You go create it. Stop waiting on fun moments to come to you and make the moment fun. Make your house fun.

35:20 Make your work fun. Make your responsibilities fun. Make your marriage fun. Make your dating life fun. make your single life fun make your friendships fun make serving and ministry fun make having to do the hard stuff fun well i mean i mean i mean i mean i just don't see fun it's because you ain't made it it's because you so selfish that you forgot your real blessings of not in what you get is what you give you have not given any thoughtfulness you have not kept your thoughts on what they need to be on you have not trusted god you have not fixed all the fractures and worked on your togetherness so no you're not gonna see fun because you're not a fun person to be around because if you want a friend you gotta show yourself friendly flip it if you want some fun you gotta bring fun if you want a good vibe you gotta be a good vibe let me pray for you god in heaven i thank you that we can make it through this i thank you that our story is not over i thank you that whatever we're in right now this too shall pass that things are going to get better but god thank you for this convicting message for those who are actually listening thank you for reminding us before this month is over to get it straight between Uodea and Centisha.

36:54 Whatever it is, help us to stay together. Help us to focus on our thoughts, reexamine our thoughts. God, help us to reexamine our thankfulness. God, help us to reexamine our trust in you. God, help us to reexamine our trust.