Four Hundred Years!

About this sermon

Introduction After having been kidnapped from their villages in what is present-day Angola, forced onto a Portuguese slave ship bound for what Europeans called the New World and stolen from that ship by English pirates in a confrontation off the coast of Mexico, some “20 and odd Negroes” landed at Point Comfort in 1619 in the English settlement that would become Virginia. The 400th anniversary of the Africans’ arrival in what is now the USA is being observed this year. The Association for the Study of African-American Life and History is taking the lead in paying tribute to resilience and perseverance. We should pay tribute as well. Today, we will! Today’s message will unearth the spiritual significance of our 400th anniversary in the USA. Today’s message will also unearth some practical and principled pointers to help us get along (better) with both ourselves and others. While you may be inclined to think these two (2) subject areas are incompatible, this is the table The Lord has prepared for us today. Enjoy the meal! The 400 years show the USA: HOW LOW PEOPLE CAN TAKE US. (COLLECTIVELY) 1. Your oppressor deals shrewdly with you. The enemy does not have a basement. Exodus 1:10 2. Ralph Ellison’s book, Juneteenth, highlights a verbatim account from Rev. Hickman which describes how Blacks had been negated in the USA during slavery and afterwards: eyeless, noseless, teethless, tongueless, footless, foodless, motherless, fatherless, plowless, mindless and Godless. 3. Joseph’s brothers threw him in the pit and left him. Genesis 27:24 4. The Romans put Jesus on the cross and left Him to die. Matthew 27:30-49 HOW LOW PEOPLE CAN TAKE US. (INDIVIDUALLY) Hatred lowers; love lifts. Psalm 30:1 1. Sometimes you have to teach folk how to treat you in any relationship. 2. Relationships can cause you to fight, flight or freeze. Fight 1. Without – You can fight the enemies outside of you and/or the relationship. 2. Within – You can fight the enemies in side of you and/or the relationship. 3. Each other – You can fight each other. Flight 1. Yourself – You can abandon your core values. 2. Your mate – You can abandon your mate or loved one. 3. Both – You can abandon both yourself and your mate. Freeze HOW FAR FORGIVENESS CAN BLESS US. 1. Black folk model collective forgiveness, not foolishness, towards the USA. Matthew 6:12 2. Black folk model collective grace, not guilt, towards the USA. Psalm 86:15 3. Black folk model greatness! a. Miles Alexander ̶ elevator doors b. Otis Boykin ̶ artificial heart pacemaker c. Marie Van Britton Brown ̶ home security system d. Mark Dean ̶ color IBM PC Monitor and Gigahertz Chip e. Richard Spikes ̶ auto gear shift HOW HIGH GOD CAN LIFT US. Genesis 15:13-15; 1 John 3:2; Romans 4:17 1. After 400 years, Israel plundered Egypt. Exodus 12:36 2. Abram received great possessions from an “alien land.” Genesis 12:20 3. The Lord promises Biblical prosperity for those who make The Lord their Shepherd! Psalm 23:5, 6 4. Somebody on your row is coming out (of a stranger mindset) with great possessions! 5. We, as a people, will get to The Promised Land!