Pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant--The Audacity of Hope

today the audacity of hope' the audacity of hope look at the person beside you tell him you got some nerve they met me the audacity of hope' freshman senator from Illinois is Barack Obama has written a book entitled the audacity of hope' in this book he calls for a centrist view of politics then so that all of America is represented by the government in those who serve it he says that the American populace has to expand their way of thinking because we are not a monolithic people but all of us are not going to have the same view have the same perspective but all of us ought to be making a difference in this treatise Senator Barack declares that we ought to all have some issue that drives us to making a change and an impact while it is that we all can agree on abortion and same-sex unions and welfare he argues forthrightly than all of us ought to agree that our children ought to have a better place to live then we ought to be doing something so that the next generation will know that we were here and we made a contribution on their behalf he argues that in this audacity of hope' then our aim are to be to rekindle the dream of America I want to forthrightly differ from vulnerable senator that our dream ought not necessarily be about America but it ought to be about a global worldview because the God that we serve is not just the God of America but he is my dear friends also the god of Iraq he is also the god of Palestine he is also the God of Israel he is also the God of South Africa he's also the God of Haiti he's also the God of South America is also the God of Cuba how dare we have the nerve to think that God is just the God of America how about God is everywhere the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof the audacity of hope' exemplified for many of us on this past Tuesday when we lined up in election stations across the state of Maryland casting our ballot in our vote because we understood realistically that our vote is our voice but it is interesting to note that before senator Obama wrote the audacity of hope' he wrote a book previously entitled the dreams of from my father and in this book the dreams from my father subtitle race and inheritance for the next generation he talks about how his father man fact made a sacrifice so that he might have a better way of life and when it is that we cashed it votes on Tuesday we were in fact living out the dreams of how foreign parents and our ancestors who went before us they exemplified the humiliation the degradation of trying to go to polling stations in the South where they were insulted with such questions as how many bubbles are in a bar of soap how can they recite from memory the entire US Constitution when the poll workers themselves could not read when they had to face relentless fire hoses and barking dogs at billy club sticks at the hands of policemen who were insecure in their own right that a new generation and nation was about to emerge they were having their churches burned and having their schools of bombed and were having their fathers lynched from Sycamore trees like fruit but they found that it was in fact a worthy cause because they were not fighting to vote for themselves but they were fighting so that their children and their children's children might have an opportunity to have a better way of life our four parents thought it as a menial sacrifice that they began to sing even while they were marching to the polling stations if I can help somebody as I pass along if I can cheer somebody with a word or with a song then my living will not be in vain the interesting dichotomy between that generation and this one is that they were working and marching singing and praying not so that they could get a new Packard not so that they could get a new Chrysler not so that they could get a fourteen model car but they were fighting marching being Lynch being sacrificed being killed having their houses burned because they wanted to make sure that their children will not have to live through what they're going through the thing that is startling and unnerving for us is that we're living in a Jay age and in a generation where parents are not living for their children but they're living for themselves and so we're living in an age where the D parent will look wonderful like they just walked out of any fashion fair while their children look like five miles of bad Road we're living in a place where parents are in competition with their child I want to you live back the years of yesterday that will never return so it's hard to walk through the mall and distinguish the parent from the child how because you have 40 year old and 37 year olds who are suffering from midlife crisis in threatened by a 16 year old and a 15 year old and then they come to church and because they can't wear what they used to wear then they want to regulate laws and give new tenants that skirts need to be a certain length that our shoes ought not be that high but when you were that age you didn't have a problem with it but now that your feet hurt and now that your ankles have swelled up and now that you got veins popping out through your legs you now want to be the sheriff for who oughta wear what but God says that when it is that you prosper you are not prosper for you but you ought to be prospering so that another generation might be able to come behind you the past couple of weeks we've been focusing our attention on Joseph and how it is that his dream is coming to bear how it is that the Lord gave him a dream as to how he was going to lead how he was going to rule and how he was going to rain but I want to backtrack just a little bit and not just so much talk about Joseph but I want to talk about his great grandfather Abraham because you understand that there is in fact an African terminology called Sankofa and Sankofa means that flying forward we look backwards that you cannot know where you're going unless you know where you've come from and we cannot really understand the measure of who Joseph is until we understand where he has come from I dare you to sit here today and act as if you just arrived on your own some semblance of your stick-to-itiveness he is in fact regulated to somebody out of your past who knew how to struggle and persevere they had 10 12 and 14 children they didn't have WIC they did not have welfare didn't have headstart programs but they understood that there was a standard of excellence and here you are with a master's degree and you can't even raise the two children that you have been entrusted to you something is wrong you're making more money think your grandparents ever saw but you're filing bankruptcy your credit is jacked up you haven't even purchased a home because you are so busy trying to floss and invest in things that don't matter that your children don't even understand why you're working overtime when they don't want you to work overtime they just want you to spend time there's a new thing out called PTA if some of you would just show up to the school at least once a month and not wait for your child to be left back stop waiting for the test scores but I'm saying that I have to make an investment in my child if I don't then who will and so now we've got teachers who have to be teachers and parents because the parents are not doing their job but if we would raise up a generation of parents who are stop trying to be their children and understand that you are not created to be your child's friend you are not created to be their peer you are supposed to stand a level of excellence so what your child don't like you they're just supposed to respect you and say as for me in my house we shall serve the Lord there has to be some level of excellent some sign of expectation and we find that through Joseph's great-grandfather by the name of Abraham watch what happens read it when you get home in Genesis chapter 14 verses 12 through 24 ha Abraham's that nephew lot has in fact been captured by enemy forces and you'll notice something strange on that takes place is that his nephew Locke has in fact been captured as well as all of the possessions but I like the style of Abraham Abraham makes up in his mind that even though this is not my biological child even though he is not the fruit of my womb he is a child of my community and because he is a child of my community I have an obligation and I have a moral responsibility to fight until no child is left behind I hope I can help somebody in here in it strange that all these politicians that were elected on Tuesday talked about crime talked about prisons talked about Iraq but I want to know who's gonna speak up for our children who's gonna talk about the inequitable number of our children who are being placed in special education and a being track for Prozac and for ritalin who is gonna speak up for our children when our 14 year old girls are not becoming impregnated by 50 your own boys but then being impregnated by 19 and 21 year old Negroes who need behind be behind bars for statutory rape but you would your silly self allowing them to go on business as usual saying children will be children the devil is a liar children need a parent who will say I will fight for you even if you're not my child somebody say preach black man where will there be a place for us to pause to say that our children are our priority even if they did not become raised in our house I in the old school you could not in fact mess up on the street how because before you got home somebody was calling your house but now we're living in an age where parents are afraid of their own children where grandparents will not even go outside of the house we've got to raise a standard of excellence how to let our children know you will respect adults you will in fact have some discipline you not gonna talk everything you feel like saying there was a time when I was growing up and I'm not that far removed how that we I had to be excused from the room because this was grown for business but now you cussing in front of your child crying about some man in front of your child what's wrong with you don't you understand that you are to model before your child what supernatural success looks like I know you wounded some time I know you're stressed some time but go in your room and shut the door and when you come back out you better stop prophesy if God be for me who in the world can be against me after it is that he went in to fight you'll notice that he didn't fight by himself but the text says he got 350 men what would happen if our children would see men fighting for them how it is unnerving for me to go through public schools and the only man in the building is teaching gym or a janitor how are there not any men who will take time to educate our children so that their first encounter with a man is not the police a lawyer or a parole officer if we could just get men in the church to understand that I got a responsibility because somebody made an investment in me and if these men would have enough focus and discipline to help the child without jhana holla at the mama then the children would understand that you ain't got to be no pretend uncle you ain't got to be mr. so-and-so but you can just be a brother from the church who's concerned about our children and making a difference I wish I had some real men in the building who understand that if men assume their responsibilities children will be at a better place after the battle watch what happens Abraham who in this sex is known as Abram runs into a priest by the name of Melchizedek Melchizedek translates to be a king of righteousness is very interesting because he just got back his son he just got the possessions that the enemy had stolen and he runs into a priest when he runs into a priest the priest tells him in no uncertain terms be clear Abraham your victory was won by God you did not do this because it's not by night it's not by power it's only by his spirit I did just look at your neighbor and tell him the fight is over the fight is over because the battle is not yours it is the Lord's can I tell somebody let me school you real quick every battle you came through if you came through it without losing your mind it wasn't because you were that clever it ain't because you that smart is because you had a God in the background who was fighting for you I know some of y'all have had a perfect life but there are others of us who had to fight way through everything that we've been through and the reason why you're shouting is because you know if it had not been for the Lord on my side where will I be just shake somebody and tell him he fought for me he fought for me because they were trying to get me fired he fought for me because I got generational diseases he fought for me because I had so much stress I should have lost my mind he fought for me because there was some situations I don't even know how I got out of he fought for me say your your victory was delivered by God because Abraham understands and realizes that this is true how the Bible says that he ties he ties unto of the priest the king of Mount Chezza Dec he's saying now Chazz a dick because it was God that brought me through then I want to tie the just so that the King will know that I am appreciative understand this that you are never tied if you think you're fighting by yourself you are only tired when you understand that the battle you came through was fought by a force that is stronger than you and so you'll notice if you'll survey the sanctuary most tithers are fighters please don't think that life has been easy but if you're tithing that you understand that I came through some stuff and I can't even pay for what it is that God has done for me and y'all think I'm just talking about monetary material and tangible stuff but notice this about that Abram tithes are not just because the battle was fought in one he ties it wasn't because his child came out I want you to understand that when you tie the God will start doing something in the life of your child I don't know where you are but they're 15 of you who got a child that's dropping you crazy you got a child that's on the verge again some destiny mistakes you got a child who's been surrounded by the wrong crowd but God said when you tithe I'll put a head fence a protection around your children I know some of y'all aren't shouting but watch this if I were talking about cars you beat an the church up if I would tell my being a millionaire you'll be going cuckoo for cocoa puffs but if I'm telling you that whatever your child is trapped in then when you start to tithe God will stop kicking down doors and say get your hand off that child God has got a destiny for them hit us he seals he seals what God has done through tithing and he fights him for bringing his child out here this the tithe is the Amen to a prophetic deck look declaration how so what you've got to understand is that when untying I'm saying Amen to what he promised so note this you are not tithe if God hasn't promised you anything but when you're tithing you're saying god I agree and I believe I think I've got some Joseph's in here watch this who know God has given you a dream can I help you this way whenever God gives you a dream he gives you a dream that is beyond your budget whenever God gives you a dream he gives you a dream that is beyond your finances because God's got to test your faith but to see if you trust me with vision even when you don't have provision so the enemy looks at you crazy with a wayward eye how you got these million dollar dreams with hundred dollar budget but they don't understand that favor is better than money and I'm talking to some folks who are pregnant right now with a million dollar idea on a hundred dollar income but God said if you're faithful over a few things your ruler over many the thing I like about God God will always make you look better than your finances so looking at you this morning got no idea how bad you struggling how long you been without how you been scratching and surviving but you thank God every time I give to God God will give it back to me press down shaken together running over elbow your neighbor and say he gave it to me he gave it he gave it to me how can God trust me with a lot when he can't trust me with a little bit high if today God we're to give you a million dollars but you got to ask yourself would he be able to trust me how when he can't trust me with 40,000 he can't trust me with 50,000 how but I dare you to just find some money and say he can trust me he can trust me because I understand how what it means to sow in the God I know I'm talking to everybody but there 300 of you in here who learned this year had a faster how to tithe how to pray how to celebrate while you were going through a drought and even why you are going through the drought can I show you the mercy of God is that when you should have been evicted when the car should have been repossessed when the utility should have been cut off you just kept sowing into the house of God and God said I can't believe you got that kind of faith your family looking at you crazy if you look in the mirror you looking at yourself crazy as a matter of fact you were saying I can't believe I'm doing this but I believe in a God who is my Jehovah Jireh God I wish I had some Tigers in here who know that God has broken the back of poverty that every time I stepped out on faith God always showed up he's making Abraham is making it out of the enemy territory in the King trash to often cut him a side deal the King offers Abraham the deal you keep the possessions let me keep the people the king of Salem tries to make this deal with Abram you keep the possessions I'll keep the people and Abraham operating in wisdom since I will not be a lord and seduced by possessions I'm tithing not so I can get jewelry I'm tithing not because I need a new chariot I'm tithing not because there's a house I got my eye on here this I'm tithing because there is a responsibility on me to bring people out huh I know that this isn't this isn't popular did you hear what I just said what happens what happens to your faith if through your tithing you never see a monetary benefit but people who you are connected to get liberated no I don't know if you just heard what I said what if you never get the Mercedes you never get the BMW you never get the split-level home you never get the promotion or the raise but everybody in your family is free in Christ Jesus huh I can tell some of y'all are selfish but God said if you're tied to me I may not give you our houses and land but I'll make sure your family is drug-free yes alcohol-free is jail free y'all ain't talking back to me so God said when you tied I'm gonna make sure your family is free I I want to know it ah before you tithe do you care about people or do you are you just driven by things because I can't bless you with things if it's gonna make you arrogant towards people I can't I can't bless you with things if having things is gonna make you feel like you better than other people how God said this was wrong with the body of Christ is we started shouting and clapping and celebrating trying to get stuff and we forgot to go get people but God said if you go get people I'll give you their stuff seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all other things shall be added unto you just find somebody very quickly I got to get out of here but find somebody who you don't know and tell them I care about your future I care about your future I care about your destiny I want to see you do well I am not jealous of you I am not intimidated I am NOT threatened not only do I want to see you do well I want to see your children do well not only do I want to see your children do well I want to see your children's children do well can you imagine how church would be different if we could destroy the spirit of jealousy if we could stop hating on other fokin stop talking about other people but when we see people blessed rejoice with those that rejoice it's when I see you care about people that you feed the homeless clothe the naked go visit those who are sick and carriage those who are in prison don't you dare begin to think Church is about you our church is so that people who don't have what you have might be able to be inspired you before you complain about what you got you better know there's somebody living worse than you you ought to have a heart to say God how can I help somebody else I know it's 7:30 in the morning and you came to just sitting your own cubbyhole in mind your own business but I'd a to just tap your neighbor and say I'm excited about your future I don't know what God's gonna do for me but I just feel like if I'll just celebrate you but that God will see my heart is pure you'll see that I got no jealousy in my body I want to see you in your wealthy place I gotta stop being selfish in my spirit God help me be seated please be seated please just God I I wish you would just care about people care care about people you see somebody fall don't talk about them pray for them care about people you see somebody struggling so something into their life care about people be seated please be seated ah be seated please hey you if you learn to care for other people how God will send somebody to care for you oh look at your neighbor tell him I care about you I care about you I want to see you in your purpose I want to see you in your rightful place I want to see you performing the mission of your life I want to see you happy I care about the people around me says the Lord says Abram because you passed the test and picked people over possessions what I'm gonna do for you is I'm going to give you a multi-generational blessing how that the blessing I'm getting ready to speak over your life is going to outlast you how about this Genesis a blessing I'm getting ready to speak over your life is going to bless your children's children I wish as a people we would have some foresight but to not just live in the present but start living for the future how you oughta beads so living so that what it is that you went through your children will never have to endure how we live in such an age where we think we doing something go and broke paying for weddings that don't last six months but when you live in a wealthy millionaire context just pay for the wedding I want to be able to give you a house y'all ain't talking back to me I am a third generation tiser my grandfather wasn't either my father was at either I Emmett either and so I've set the stage so that my daughters will become Josefina's so that would ever dream my daughters have they won't even have to worry about money but because they had a grandfather that tithe because they had a father that time because they had a grandfather that time whatever they dream about will come to pass look at your neighbor tell them your dream has already paid for your dream has already paid for I think I missed you let me make that prophetic announcement in here your dream is already paid for y'all missing it let me give it to you again your dream is already prayed for let let me give it one last time your dream is already paid for something your great-grandmother did is now financing your dream here's how we see it oh I I need just fifteen of you to just shout my dream is paid for uh my grandmother never went to college but she paid for it six o'clock in the morning just just singing in the kitchen my my dream has already paid for how they never saw the kind of stuff I saw now never flew on the plane but my dream has already paid for I'll never forget uh I was uh a student at Morehouse College and I was a student at Morehouse College I was driving home one Thanksgiving and driving home one Thanksgiving and and I I spent all my money on the gas I spent all my money on on the gas and figured I'd be all right that my parents would hook me up when I got home III got as far as Virginia and in Virginia I had a problem because I spent all my money on gas and in Virginia they have tolls yeah so yeah I'm at a bad place and I'm in Lyon I'm in lying I waiting to pay the toll and I'm trying to come up with my story of when i'ma tell are the toll clerk as to why I don't have three dollars and and can she just let a brother pass now I want you to know I was very selective very selective as to which line I was gonna be in because because I wanted to get in the line on somebody who look like how they would have some sympathy for my case and so I get in the line get in the line I got no money all my money was used for Gaius I get up to the toll I get up to the toe roll down my window and I got my story in my mind I and and the lady I looked out of the window and say excuse me sir are you Minister Jamal Bryant I said yes I'm innocent mama she said you a preacher I say yes I'm a preacher she said I'm the person in front of you I said you preached at their son's high school graduation and and and they said they couldn't pay you but they wanted to pay your toll I'll kill you you can go right on through because the person in front of you paid for you to go through can I just stop right there I want you to understand doors have been open for you even you didn't have money for yourself there was somebody that winner head of you so that the tow could be open how dare you sit here and act like you deserve to be here you ought to shout for the people that paid the way for you so that you might be able to drive through when your resources ran out huh how better clothes how better close after this Abram goes to sleep and when Abram goes to sleep this is well close Abram has a dream he has a dream about his descendants who will be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the beach and he never lives to see the dream come to pass and our taking a long way home he doesn't see his dream manifest even though he's a tither and now some 10 chapters later we run into his great grandson who we got no record of him ever tithing but he's got a dream the great grandfather who's a man of faith Abraham father of the faith never sees his dream come to pass but now his great grandson is dreaming hi and his great grandson dream comes to pass watch this with no money down and and Joseph don't even understand it's got to work out because his great-grandfather had the audacity of hope' now faith is the substance of things hoped for is the evidence of things not seen so some of y'all are gonna catch this but I want you to understand that some of your grandparents died frustrated and unfulfilled because they were never able to see their dream come to pass but do you know why so many doors are being open for you God is not answering your prayer he's answering the prayer somebody who had the audacity of oh how how can I crystallize this I my my sister my sister is way smarter than me way smarter me she has her bachelor's degree master's degree a PhD in clinical psychology she finished her PhD by 24 and went to all three at Duke University all three and all three degrees paid for all right I went to Morehouse on probation my my father's preacher revival to pay my tuition and and not my sister because I didn't have the grades my sister got me into Duke because because she was so upstanding as a student so she got me in the Duke and my sister and I who's two years younger than me I'll graduate it the same day hey now watch this uh III graduated with my Master's and she graduated with her master's she two years younger than me the same day all right yeah I'm saying that cuz I don't want you to miss the audacity of hope' forty years to the date before I graduated my maternal grandfather was the head cook at Duke yeah and the only way he could get on Dukes campus is because he had to have his chefs uniform on so when my sister and I graduated the same day we weren't there because of affirmative action we weren't there from no set-aside and status quo we would have because we had a great-grandfather who was shucking peas and bacon chicken y'all ain't talking back to me who understood one day I'm gonna have kids on this campus god I wish I could get somebody who understand that you are here because somebody prayed for you because somebody had you on their mind somebody took the time and I'm so glad that they pray be seated your tithing has an audacity of a hope you'll never see my grandfather never lived to see my sister and I graduate never been on a plane never saw all it is never saw his grandson preaching on television but while it is they were calling him boy as a green man he refused to let that make him better but understand if I keep doing what God has given me for this season my grandchildren are gonna have a better way of life I wish I had somebody in this building who understand that what I do today is going to affect two generations down the road if if you don't have that kind of prophetic vision don't ever tithe but if you want to see your great grandchildren inherit stuff that you work for then tithing is what you got to learn how to do all yours about all eyes are closed lord I pray that two generations from now will be able to live off of the overflow of what we do today I pray they're two generations from now the pastor of this church won't even have to think about a mortgage two generations from now the path of this church won't have to worry about financing empowerment Academy two generations from now we won't have to do anything special for the homeless because they'll all be fed two generations from now on men will be out of prison will be a competence adjourned Douglas and Morgan State University - two generations from now teenage pregnancy will be something out of the pay us two generations from now drugs will be a distant memory two generations from now our family will be working in cohesion and in unity God because we've got the audacity of hope' that even if we don't see it the next generation will be able to stand on it and is out of that hope that we give you glory even now somebody give God some praise for the future of your family come on I tell you somebody come on if you know your family is gonna be better come on praise Him even right now that's your great-grandchildren who you may never see who you may never meet we'll be the beneficiaries of what it is that you do send to your feet send your feet of you with yarn this building will be on your sanctuary I want you to start a model and a legacy of faith for your great-grandchildren I want them to be able to say they got saved on a Sunday in November and because of their faith

Channel: Chip Dizárd

Views: 162,002

Rating: 4.754601 out of 5

Keywords: Empowerment, Temple, Jamal, Bryant, Preaching, Baltimore, Maryland

Id: 1jQ29yFWPvA

Length: 40min 32sec (2432 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 06 2006