Name It and Claim It – Part 7

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.

Here’s what we focused on last week:

• The purpose of all cultures is to advance the Kingdom of God, the center of which is Jesus (Acts 17:26-28).
• In this regard, Israel is our lead (Matthew 15:21-28).
• God’s dealings with the Jewish community presents this precedent: He things for the entire world in particular cultures.
• If we submit our cultural to Jesus, He will use it for His glory.
• For this church, the cultural distinctiveness of African-Americans is .
• We are intentional about African-American culture and to the needs of African Americans and people of African descent.
• Here’s why: Because we believe African American culture is a to the world.
• 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.
• At this church, African Americans will receive the comfort of the Lord for their historical pain and then extend that comfort to other people for and . (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)
• People who join this church who are not African-American will share in the African-American story and .
• They will receive the blessing of (Ruth 1:16; Ruth 2:10-12; Ruth 3:9-13).

Building A Real Wakanda

The Holy Spirit is our .

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

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)

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)

One Greater Than Solomon

• I Kings 4:29-34
• Matthew 12:42
• I Corinthians 1:30-31

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