Dr. Jamal Bryant 94' - Morehouse Baccalaureate 2005 (POWERFUL TESTIMONY)

good afternoon and welcome on this historic day at Morehouse College I have the very great honor of introducing our 2005 baccalaureate Speaker he is an alumnus whose many outstanding achievements who have made us exceedingly proud the Reverend Jamal Harrison Bryant a member of the Morehouse class of 1994 Reverend Brown is Bryant is founder and pastor of the empowerment temple in Baltimore Maryland the fastest growing african-american Episcopal congregation in the nation was more than six thousand members Reverend Bryant who served as director of the end of n-double a-c-p s youth and college division before accepting his called to the ordained ministry is a pastor with a global mission and a particular focus on youth perhaps he is so effective at motivating young people because he himself on this is correct failed 11th grade and dropped out of high school and then later earning a bachelor's degree from Morehouse College and a Master of Divinity degree from Duke University Reverend Bryant is a living breathing example of the fact that one can truly overcome obstacles and succeed in life even more in your program it says he is currently pursuing a PhD in theology from Oxford University in England well last week he received his PhD a powerful speaker Reverend Bryan has been featured in several national publications appeared on a number of well-known television programs and the hosts himself a weekly broadcast powerful life that airs in the United States the Caribbean England and in Africa ladies and gentlemen please help me welcome back home to Morehouse our 2005 baccalaureate speaker the Reverend dr. Jamaal Harrison blah [Applause] trapped in the tension between time and eternity 2004 ad the scene was in Athens Greece with the entire global village tuned in to see the opening of the Centennial Olympic Games they watched cheering on as the light was in fact found itself flickering once mourn again although cameras were rolling from around the world representatives from over 72 nations were in attendance at that Greek Coliseum the end of the hour after all of the teams got back on their vans and went back to their respective places of lodging the cameras were shutting down the lights were being turned off but then in the distance they saw another runner staggering into the Coliseum some of the sports analysts were laughing and jeering to themselves asking here we are over three hours after the ceremonies and he's still trying to come in to the games one sports reporters stayed with him and watched him as he saw that there was a blood trickling from his elbow saw that there was a gash in his knee but he's still staggering towards that flickering light after it is that he completed that sports reporter stuck a microphone in his mouth and asked him why in the world after everything is finished are you still staggering towards the end after the cameras are now gone home after the hoopla has concluded after all of the well-wishers have found themselves now looking for some rest that runner from Tanzania looked straight into the camera and said I am a runner from Tanzania I did not come 7,000 miles to start a race I came 7,000 miles to finish a race and in this Martin Luther King International Chapel you have before you some 400 proud men who did not come to Morehouse to start a degree but they've come to finish a degree and we come to celebrate them to president Massey I thank you for honoring and humbling me with this auspicious opportunity to the Board of Trustees I extend to you flapping accolades and exceeding gratitude for allowing me to in fact stand and have the unmitigated nerve to say I speak on God's behalf - Dean Chappell I think - Dean card I thank you for being a gatekeeper for ecumenical excellence in an arena and in an economy of spirituality where prayer has in fact found itself as a loss don't remove despair we have come today to rejoice to understand that weeping can only endure for a night but joy has got to come tomorrow morning I'll never forget my freshman week here at Morehouse College which was embedded into us the words of our former gracious president dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays said the tragedy in life is not reaching your goals but having no goals to reach said the calamity and life is not that you didn't reach the Stars but you had no stars to reach for so the greatest tragedy in life is not failure but the greatest tragedy is low aim and low aim is sin Dean Carter you have to understand that in the Maisie and hermeneutic of sin the sin is in fact having low aim this is in fact a different perspective from the Apostle Paul who understood that sin was in fact falling a falling short and not getting towards at the mark as it is that he edged in the epistles but what Benjamin Elijah Mays wanted to leave as a legacy for the men who would come through Morehouse College is that beyond having in fact a nice car and having a six-figure salary beyond having the bling beyond living in the suburbs I want you to aim high and that is in fact the mandate that is allotted towards these 2005 graduates that there is a crown above your head that you've got to grow tall enough to wear that this is an institution this is an institution that is not in the business of manufacturing players and pimps and hustlers but this is institution that is about changing lives in revolutionising the thought process not just of Atlanta Georgia but even around the world how there is a great and a scathing indictment amongst our men that deals with the theme of a being underestimated for any biblical in the building you are acutely aware of their great pericope in 1st Samuel Chapter 17 wherein we find that there is in fact a Philistine giant by the name of the lieth who hovers tall at ninety and nine inches who is in fact a great proportion piece of protoplasm he is in fact a man of tremendous girth and tremendous capability and there comes across the hill there comes a young man from Morehouse who didn't take steroids a young man from Morehouse who did not cheat his way through a young man from Morehouse who believe in the possibilities and they went our to president Massey of that time and said put me in the fight and Goliath who was in fact a great of manifestation of corporate America a great manifestation of racism a great manifestation of economic inequity a great manifestation of zip code redlining a great manifestation of an agenda to keep the poor poorer and the rich richer said how in the world are you gonna get that young man who in fact found his way getting through a historically black college on set-asides and federal aids and grants and loans out is he gon fight me and some young man from Morehouse said put me and I got what it takes to fight the system and turn it on its head that Philistine giant said how can he possibly fight me he doesn't have at the background he doesn't have the pedigree he doesn't have the finance he doesn't have all of the great accouterments of a capitalistic society but what he had different from every other soldier on that battleground was some fight and my dear Morehouse brothers I pray that as you exceed lofty heights of success that you don't lose your fight I hope that you understand there's more in life than giving a s500 sitting on 22s I hope that you understand there's more in life than having a platinum Rolex on your wrist I hope you understand there's more in life than having your picture after you get married in Jet magazine but I I pray that in your life that you are able to do something that will confound the wisdom of this world you have the capacity with your great intellectual prowess to find the cure for HIV you have the capacity to find that the cure for cancer you have the capacity to serve as a mentor for some young boy who doesn't have a father figure in this house you have the capacity to let America know that there is a greater mandate on our lives than singing and rapping and dancing and playing basketball but you have the capacity to say I think therefore I am it's it's a terrible thing to be underestimated and perhaps many of you who are here under the sound of my voice have never been underestimated but as president Massey alluded to I've been underestimated before in 1988 I was a student at Baltimore City College preparatory high school and I failed out of that high school and I'll never forget my exit interview when they were putting me out of the school with my parents there I've Matchett of my advisor said to my parents put your son in trade school he doesn't have the capacity to go to college and do anything intellectual but I thank God that I had praying parents and preying palates knew that there was more to me than what my teachers could see I said your son is caught in the pendulum he's not sure whether or not he wants to be Eddie Murphy or Martin Luther King jr. whether or not he wants to be a class clown or a civil rights activists I flunked out of high school and I had to go get a GED and in cada I came here for the early college preparatory program I was sponsored by a Morehouse man by the name of mr. Paul Walker from Columbia Maryland he wrote a letter to the Dean of Admissions and said this young man has some potential I completed all of the work from the early college program and I applied to Morehouse this great institution and they told me they don't let men into Moor house with GEDs her so I went back home brokenhearted and disheartened but the day before school opened I got a call from the admissions office that said a young man who was scheduled to come to Morehouse at the last minute changed as man if you can get here tomorrow you can get in the school four years later I graduated from Morehouse College three years thereafter I graduated from Duke University how seven years after that I graduated from Oxford University with a PhD and I don't know how you understand the miracle of God but the woman who told me I wasn't gonna be anything it's now a member of my church because there is something about being underestimated if you don't understand my example biblically there is three Morehouse men by the name of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego who found themselves in a fiery furnace and all of their community didn't think they were going to come out alive but you knew that they were Morehouse man because you can tell a Morehouse man but you can't tell her much and they made up in their minds no matter what happens we're not gonna bow down and King Nebuchadnezzar looked in the fiery furnace and said we put three Morehouse men in but on graduation day I see for Morehouse men coming up if you don't believe that example I remember 2,000 years ago of a consummate Morehouse man by the name of Jesus Christ they hung him high your name checks him why he hung his head and then he died but three days later like any good mother house man [Applause] power in being underestimated when you understand that who you are is not predicated on what other people think of you who you are has nothing to do with how your family supported you or didn't support you when you understand who you are is greater than your economic background who you are is greater than your address who you are is greater than what fraternity you pledge who you are is greater than your last name but the Bible says greater is he that is within me than he that is within the world and so I got on the plane from Baltimore Maryland this afternoon to fly to see 400 strong Morehouse men graduate into their destiny and so because I am a gospel preacher and gospel means of good news I cannot leave you in a bad state of affairs but I came to tell you in the event you've been underestimated I got good news in the event there were some people who didn't believe in you I got good news in in the event there was somebody that didn't support you I got good news in the event that's your family didn't think you are gonna graduate I got good news what's the good news preacher I saved a bunch of money on car insurance [Applause]

Channel: Inspiration Station

Views: 110,748

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Keywords: dr jamal bryant, empowerment temple, baltimore md, jamal bryant, morehouse college, 2005, morehouse, bishop noel jones, city of refuge la, td jakes, noel jones, newbirth cathedral, megafest, woman thou art loosed, darwin hobbs, tasha cobbs, kirk franklin, maranda curtis, timothy flemming, dewey smith, superbowl sunday, los angeles, west angeles, charles e blake, holy convocation, cogic, cogic shout, praise break, cogic praise break, serita jakes, motivation, eric thomas

Id: bhPeb6hitIg

Length: 16min 55sec (1015 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 21 2018