Name It and Claim It- Part 6

Review

For the last couple of weeks, we’ve looked at the between the Word of Faith doctrine and race.

Specifically, we began to explore what it meant to link the movement to the African-American church.

And in our case, we are a predominately African-American church in a that is primarily non-African-American.

Let me summarize what we’ve concluded and present additional clarifying language about this dynamic:

• We welcome all and administer healing to everyone God sends to our church while calling attention to the specific needs of African Americans.
• The African-American cultural tradition is the in a gumbo that has the potential to become increasingly diverse with new and varied ingredients.
• At this church, the African-American experience is the paper for a gift God is sending to Whittier and the world.
• However, inside the box is a balm that will restore to health all who are open to receive, whether they are African-American or not.
• This church will be a spiritual who treats who enters the building with top-notch care.
• The care we give is linked our pain.
• We discussed the treatment of African- Americans in slavery and slavery’s aftermath.
• God promises not only to us from the pain of those experiences but to empower us to minister to others with that same comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
• Comfort is to what was causing you discomfort.
• If the comfort you receive is specific, so is the comfort you .
• The comfort, rest, refreshing, and wisdom we receive from the Lord we with others.
• We are rebuilding black identity, community and culture starting with as the first building block.
• We are inviting non-African Americans to be a part of the black story just as has invited us all to be a part of the Jewish story.
• As we learned from the book of Ruth, joining another culture’s story does not necessarily mean you lose who you are. If is in the midst of it, you gain who you are.
• God’s dealings with the Jewish community presents this precedent: He things for the entire world in particular cultures.
• There is also precedence of God doing this within Greek, Roman and other cultures.
• The purpose of all cultures is to point Jesus (Acts 17:26-28).
• went from being black music to American music; it was the first original American art form.
• Looking at the historical adaptation of black culture for impact, we will intentionally use it as an incubator for Kingdom work.
• People of African descent are hyper-; they are walking upon which God wants to place the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Building A Real Wakanda

Getting into the promised land requires being attentive to God’s (Deuteronomy 6:23-25; Proverbs 1:20-23; John 1:1; John 1:14; John 7:37-39).

We have to for wisdom from the Holy Spirit the way Wakandans mined for Vibranium and real African kingdoms sought wisdom (Proverbs 2:1-7; I Corinthians 2:7-10).

Askia Muhammad, King of the West African Kingdom of Songhay, 1493-1529

“When Askia Muhammad, a Muslim, made his pilgrimage to Mecca in 1497. . . .he and his followers conversed with doctors, mathematicians, scientists, and scholars, and they learned much about how to improve the administration of the government, how to codify the laws of Songhay, how to foster industry and trade, and how to raise the intellectual level of the country. . . .Traders from Europe and Asia visited the markets of Gao, which was the political center of Songhay and home of its royal dynasty, and Timbuktu, which was an important place of learning. . . .It was in education that Askia Muhammad made his most significant reforms. Not only Timbuktu, but also Gao, Walata, and Jenne became intellectual centers where the most learned scholars of West Africa concentrated. By the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a distinctly Sudanese literature was emerging. Timbuktu’s University of Sankore offered studies in grammar, geography, law, literature and surgery” (John Hope Franklin and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham, From Slavery to Freedom, A History of African Americans, 9^th Edition, 2011. p. 16)

The Holy Spirit is our .

and God-seeking are connected (II Chronicles 26:4-5; II Chronicles 26:7-10; II Chronicles 26:15).

God’s wisdom leads to and prosperity. (Proverbs 3:1-10; Proverbs 3:13-18).

When we are wise in our dealings, we can the curse:

• From servant to ruler (Proverbs 17:2)
• From poverty to royalty (I Samuel 2:8)
• The Joseph Story (Genesis 37:27-28; Genesis 41:37-44)
• The Esther Story (Esther 2:8-9; Esther 2:12-15; Esther 2:16-17)
• The Daniel Story (Daniel 1:1; Daniel 1:3-5; Daniel 2:46-49; Daniel 6:1-3)

Dr. Joshua D. Smith, Ph.D., 2020