Dr. R.A. Vernon -- The Miseducation Of The Negro
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00:04:54 - Welcome man to Cleveland, Ohio where God lives.
00:05:20 Clap your hands everybody.
00:05:23 So grateful to all of you who are here
00:05:26 and to the class of 2024.
00:05:28 (crowd cheering)
00:05:31 About 10, 12 years ago, we made this cognitive commitment
00:05:41 that at the Word Church, we believe in Jesus and education.
00:05:45 That God does help those who help themselves, amen.
00:05:49 So to those who do not have a degree,
00:05:51 but you're an entrepreneur, you work with your hands,
00:05:53 you're doing great stuff, that's all cool in the game,
00:05:56 as long as you're being the best you
00:05:58 that God has put you on earth to be.
00:06:00 (crowd cheering)
00:06:01 And so we're so grateful.
00:06:03 I see so many guests today, we're grateful.
00:06:05 I see some of my wives, sorority sisters
00:06:08 who came from all across Ohio to be with her today.
00:06:10 Praise God for them, amen.
00:06:12 Delta Sigma Theta and all of you that are members here
00:06:15 to the sororities that are present and fraternities
00:06:17 and those who got on your college gear
00:06:19 and just everyone present,
00:06:21 I think God's gonna speak to us today.
00:06:22 Y'all need a word from the Lord, everybody, come on.
00:06:24 (crowd cheering)
00:06:25 Now let me say as a kind of a precursor
00:06:29 that today is a different kind of subject, okay?
00:06:31 It's spiritual theological,
00:06:32 but also educational and practical.
00:06:35 Yes, yes, practicality, but yet didactic in its delivery
00:06:40 because I really want you to get a hold of this fact
00:06:43 that in the black church,
00:06:45 we bring our emotions and our brain.
00:06:47 Yeah, I want you to preach until I feel something,
00:06:52 but then preach until I learn something.
00:06:56 You receive that, say amen, pastor, amen.
00:06:59 And so if we pull it off, you should feel something.
00:07:01 I don't wanna go to church
00:07:02 and it feels like seminary or college.
00:07:05 I'm not in college on a Sunday, I'm not in seminary,
00:07:07 I'm in church, I wanna feel God.
00:07:09 At the same time, some churches specialize
00:07:11 in emotive reaction and you don't learn anything.
00:07:15 I think the two can be conflated
00:07:16 if you're at the right church and you both feel and learn.
00:07:20 Is that cool in the game?
00:07:21 All right, let's tag this and then I'll let you sit down.
00:07:24 Here it is, if you have your Bibles or your phone app,
00:07:27 Exodus 14, Exodus 14, those who are using your phone app,
00:07:31 that's good, get it, make sure it's on vibrating,
00:07:34 get to your phones, Exodus 14.
00:07:35 If you're here for the first time, it's cool in the game.
00:07:37 We're gonna flash it on the screens.
00:07:39 Exodus 14, the message version,
00:07:41 Eugene Peterson says in verse 12, "Back in Egypt,"
00:07:45 somebody gonna shout as soon as you catch this,
00:07:47 "Back in Egypt," look what the enemy
00:07:49 would try to do to your brain, "Back in Egypt,"
00:07:52 watch the devil now, "Back in Egypt,
00:07:54 "didn't we tell you this would happen?
00:07:56 "Didn't we tell you, leave us alone here in Egypt?
00:08:00 "We're better off as slaves in Egypt
00:08:05 "than as corpses in the wilderness."
00:08:10 Mathematic thrust on this graduation education weekend,
00:08:13 the miseducation of the Negro.
00:08:16 The miseducation of the Negro, you may take your seats.
00:08:22 I hope you don't go to heaven until you know something,
00:08:26 particularly as a black person,
00:08:28 but all persons of all colors present,
00:08:31 about Carter G. Woodson.
00:08:33 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, comma, PhD.
00:08:37 Dr. Carter G. Woodson, comma, PhD,
00:08:39 born in 1875 to two illiterate parents.
00:08:43 His parents didn't know how to read or write
00:08:45 Carter G. Woodson, they were former slaves.
00:08:48 They didn't teach him math or social studies
00:08:51 or science or English because they couldn't read or write.
00:08:53 He was self-taught, self-taught.
00:08:56 And then we talk about Dr. King, who, watch this,
00:08:58 graduated from Morehouse at 18, high school students.
00:09:02 He didn't go to Morehouse at 18, he graduated at 18.
00:09:06 He went at 15 and graduated at 18.
00:09:09 Well, just the antithesis is true regarding Dr. Woodson,
00:09:13 who did not even go to high school until he was 20,
00:09:16 because back then pedagogical pursuit
00:09:19 just wasn't as easy as it is today.
00:09:21 He didn't even go to high school until he was 20,
00:09:24 not because he wasn't smart enough,
00:09:26 because he finished in two years.
00:09:28 And from there he goes on, watch this,
00:09:30 and gets his bachelor's degree
00:09:32 from Berean College in Kentucky.
00:09:33 From there goes to the University of Chicago
00:09:36 and gets his master's degree,
00:09:37 and then goes to Harvard University
00:09:39 and becomes the second black man
00:09:41 to get his PhD from Harvard.
00:09:42 I wonder, do you know who was the first?
00:09:46 W.E.B. Du Bois, first black man to get his PhD
00:09:50 from Harvard University.
00:09:51 Carter G. Woodson was the second.
00:09:55 Can I tell you, he then decides that one of his calls
00:09:58 in life is to help black people understand their history.
00:10:01 Most people don't know, but he's the originator,
00:10:05 the progenitor of Black History Month.
00:10:07 In the second week of February,
00:10:09 he decided that should be sort of Negro Learning Month
00:10:12 about their history, because he was a part of an institution
00:10:14 that he paid dues to about the history of America,
00:10:17 but they weren't interested in the history of black America.
00:10:20 And so he's the one that had the idea
00:10:23 the second week of February,
00:10:26 which turned into Black History Month
00:10:28 for us to learn about ourselves.
00:10:30 Can I tell you something cold-blooded?
00:10:32 You talk to millennials, this makes me laugh,
00:10:34 anybody from the '80s and '90s,
00:10:36 and you say the miseducation,
00:10:38 and they'll say of Lauryn Hill.
00:10:40 (audience laughing)
00:10:43 Yeah, the miseducation of Lauryn Hill,
00:10:45 like she's the original gangster of the miseducation.
00:10:49 You'll love this.
00:10:50 She got it from Carter G. Woodson,
00:10:53 who wrote his book, "The Miseducation of the Negro" in 1933.
00:10:58 Now don't hate on the miseducation of Lauryn Hill,
00:11:01 because that's top 10 album of all time.
00:11:04 (audience applauding)
00:11:05 Oh, I know y'all Christians.
00:11:06 Yes, right behind "Amazing Grace" comes.
00:11:08 (audience laughing)
00:11:11 I know you're so saved you don't know Lauryn Hill,
00:11:13 but some of you know "The X Factor,"
00:11:15 and some of you know "Zion" and "Doo-Wop" and "That Thing."
00:11:19 And then my favorite song on the album,
00:11:22 because it's Lady Vernon's favorite song to sing to me,
00:11:25 ♪ Can't take my eyes off you ♪
00:11:29 ♪ You're just too good to be true ♪
00:11:31 ♪ I love you, reindeer ♪
00:11:34 (audience laughing)
00:11:36 ♪ And it is quite all right ♪
00:11:39 So tomorrow while we're cooking,
00:11:41 one of the kids are gonna play that,
00:11:42 and she'll come running to me,
00:11:43 because that song makes her think about me,
00:11:45 so therefore it is my favorite song.
00:11:48 Don't hate.
00:11:49 (audience applauding)
00:11:51 Make up a song for your husband.
00:11:53 What's your husband's song that you sing to him?
00:11:56 But the kids know she's gonna come running
00:11:58 whenever you play that.
00:11:59 But in a very real sense,
00:12:01 Lauryn Hill cited when she was being interviewed,
00:12:03 and I think this is critical,
00:12:04 she said, "The title of the album
00:12:06 "was meant to discuss those life lessons,
00:12:08 "those things that you don't get in any textbook,
00:12:11 "things that we go through that force us to mature,"
00:12:16 she said, "Hopefully we learn."
00:12:18 Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,
00:12:20 she got from the original gangster of that title,
00:12:24 the miseducation of the Negro.
00:12:28 Let me just tag this by giving you an opening verse.
00:12:31 Verse four, Exodus 14.
00:12:33 Let's do this.
00:12:34 If I do this right, you'll get Bible,
00:12:37 you'll get history, you'll get hyped about your future.
00:12:40 If God helps me, and I think he will,
00:12:42 you'll get all of the above before we're done.
00:12:43 Then I'll make Pharaoh's heart stubborn against,
00:12:47 and he'll chase after them.
00:12:48 I'll use Pharaoh and his army to put my glory on display.
00:12:53 Then the Egyptians will realize that I am God,
00:12:57 and that's what happened.
00:12:58 I just said something cold-blooded.
00:13:00 All of you who grew up in Sunday School 101
00:13:03 know the story of the Israelites
00:13:05 running from the Egyptians through the Reed Sea,
00:13:08 or the Red Sea.
00:13:11 Most of you think about,
00:13:12 come on, if you didn't learn it in Sunday School,
00:13:15 then you watch Prince of Egypt on DVD.
00:13:16 Raise your hand, praise God, amen.
00:13:18 But either way it goes, you remember,
00:13:20 they're busting a move, they're leaving Egypt,
00:13:23 Pharaoh's army is right behind them,
00:13:25 but there's something you missed in the text
00:13:27 that should blow your mind,
00:13:29 because the Bible does not say
00:13:30 that the devil made Pharaoh chase them.
00:13:33 That would make sense to me theologically and cognitively.
00:13:38 Let's start with what the Bible says.
00:13:38 The Bible says God's people are leaving Egypt,
00:13:40 they're tired of slavery, he's releasing them,
00:13:43 let my people go, Moses tell Pharaoh.
00:13:45 The brother with a stick and a stutter
00:13:47 who became a leader like no other
00:13:49 becomes their leader and leads them out.
00:13:51 They're on the move, they're gone.
00:13:52 The Bible does not say, and the devil changed his mind.
00:13:56 The Bible says God said,
00:13:58 "I'm gonna harden Pharaoh's heart,
00:14:01 "make him chase the people that I let go,
00:14:04 "why, what reason, so that when they come through it,
00:14:07 "I'm gonna get the glory out of it."
00:14:09 You didn't say no.
00:14:10 I just started this sermon,
00:14:13 but let me pause quickly for a parenthetical and tell you,
00:14:15 some stuff you're going through is not even about you.
00:14:19 Some stuff you're going through, hate to tell you,
00:14:21 is for one reason, God's trying to get glory out your life.
00:14:25 Everything you go through is not the devil messing with you,
00:14:29 some stuff God allows to come to you
00:14:32 so that when you come out of it,
00:14:33 somebody gonna have to say, "Can't nobody do me."
00:14:36 Is there anybody that would say,
00:14:40 "God, in my life, be glorified.
00:14:43 "Whatever I gotta go through for you
00:14:44 "to get glory out of my life,
00:14:46 "it might not make sense to me,
00:14:48 "it might be tough, it may be a child hurting me,
00:14:51 "somebody I'm trusting playing me."
00:14:53 But if you're gonna get glory out of it,
00:14:57 God, you be glorified in my life.
00:15:00 Lord, I wanna be happy, but I'd much rather be holy.
00:15:03 So make me what you want me to be.
00:15:05 The Bible says, watch this in verse five,
00:15:07 then we're going somewhere,
00:15:08 "When the king of Egypt was told that the people were gone,
00:15:11 "he and his servants changed their minds.
00:15:14 "They said, 'What have we done?'
00:15:16 "Letting Israel," okay, here's some teaching,
00:15:19 "Our slave labor go free."
00:15:23 I like the message version.
00:15:24 "What have we done?"
00:15:25 Watch what they thought.
00:15:27 Come here, this is not a regular Sunday.
00:15:28 Matter of fact, let me just give you a coming attraction.
00:15:32 Don't miss next Sunday, 'cause I'm preaching a new series
00:15:35 called Strike While It's Hot.
00:15:36 It's a double entendre.
00:15:39 You only get two weeks of summer in Cleveland.
00:15:42 And so the Holy Spirit told me to tell you,
00:15:44 strike while it's hot.
00:15:45 You didn't shout.
00:15:46 This is your moment.
00:15:47 This is your time.
00:15:49 This is your opportunity.
00:15:51 Strike while it's hot.
00:15:52 Don't you be passive another summer, not another year.
00:15:55 God's been putting something on your heart to do.
00:15:57 God's been putting something on your heart to pursue.
00:16:00 And we start this series next week.
00:16:01 Jam the place, bring everybody you know
00:16:04 who's been too passive, too laid back, too scared.
00:16:07 Strike while it's hot.
00:16:08 I'm sorry, hit somebody, say strike while it's hot, baby.
00:16:13 One of my sermons is gonna be called
00:16:15 It's Getting Hot In Here.
00:16:16 Y'all missed that, praise God, I gotta go.
00:16:18 But strike while it's hot.
00:16:19 I mean this because notice what the Bible says.
00:16:21 What have we done, verse five, the because,
00:16:24 letting our slave labor go?
00:16:26 If I don't teach you who will,
00:16:28 you must read every book regarding the cotton industry.
00:16:32 The cotton industry is the reason why
00:16:34 the dominant culture of America,
00:16:36 which would be white people,
00:16:37 have more money than the average black people.
00:16:39 Not because they're smarter, not because we're lazier.
00:16:42 When you get a 200 year head start
00:16:44 because of the cotton industry,
00:16:47 every slave movie you watch,
00:16:48 what are the black people doing in the movie?
00:16:50 Picking, that was the primary means of income
00:16:54 back in the day, not oil, not gas,
00:16:56 cars weren't blowing up like that.
00:16:57 There were no big planes and jets.
00:16:59 What was the idea to make money?
00:17:02 Cotton, so when you get a 200 year head start,
00:17:06 'cause somebody, okay, all entrepreneurs raise your hand.
00:17:10 How much money would you have
00:17:11 if you didn't have to pay nobody?
00:17:12 (audience murmurs)
00:17:15 So there are people who just because
00:17:17 we had one black president,
00:17:19 like to say we should have caught up.
00:17:21 You had a 200 year head start to build wealth,
00:17:26 which puts you at an advantage income wise,
00:17:31 and so we're still struggling in some ways
00:17:33 to catch up with that indifference,
00:17:35 but ooh, look at somebody say, but here we come.
00:17:38 Go ahead, praise God, amen.
00:17:40 (audience applauds)
00:17:42 Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:17:44 So the first thing I want you to drop in your notes
00:17:47 is that miseducation leads to false indoctrination.
00:17:51 Come on, this is not gonna be a regular sermon.
00:17:54 I need you to put your thinking cap on with me.
00:17:56 I know you have the Holy Spirit,
00:17:58 but bring your brain today
00:17:59 because I want you to catch this
00:18:00 in chapter four of Dr. Carter Woodson's book,
00:18:03 and by the way, it's less than 100 pages.
00:18:05 Google it, cost you like $10.
00:18:07 You can have it by Tuesday on Amazon.
00:18:09 Read "The Miseducation of the Negro."
00:18:11 I'm so mad at myself.
00:18:13 Every black person I've read, you cannot go to heaven,
00:18:15 particularly as a young black man,
00:18:17 without reading Howard Thurman's
00:18:19 "Jesus and the Disinherited."
00:18:21 Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery."
00:18:24 Souls of black folk, W.E.B. Du Bois,
00:18:27 are must-reads, a rite of passage for all of my sons
00:18:30 before they leave the house.
00:18:32 At least know that there were black men
00:18:34 who did not have the advantages that you have,
00:18:37 and yet they decided to be what they needed to be.
00:18:40 So Booker T. Washington's "Up from Slavery,"
00:18:43 Howard Thurman's "Jesus and the Disinherited."
00:18:48 And of course, Carter G. Woodson's
00:18:50 "The Miseducation of the Negro."
00:18:52 He talks about, and I want you to read this
00:18:56 and write it down because there's something very powerful
00:18:58 that he says.
00:18:59 In chapter four of his book,
00:19:01 trust me, it's gonna get gooder and gooder,
00:19:03 he talks about education, it's on the screens,
00:19:05 under outside control.
00:19:08 Education under outside control,
00:19:10 which means when somebody else teaching you
00:19:14 who don't have your best interests in mind,
00:19:16 when somebody else is teaching you stuff that is anti-God,
00:19:22 one of the reasons, and by the way,
00:19:24 delay does not mean denial, and not yet don't mean no.
00:19:28 Now I know I've been talking about the word academy
00:19:32 for a long time, but if God lets me live,
00:19:34 we gonna open up the word Christian academy.
00:19:37 (audience applauding)
00:19:38 I should have done it earlier.
00:19:40 I should have done it earlier.
00:19:42 In some ways, priorities were out of whack.
00:19:44 You only know what you know once you find out you know it.
00:19:46 Now I know what I know, I'm gonna do what I gotta do.
00:19:48 Why? Because show me a Christian school, I'm waiting.
00:19:51 Show me a Christian school that's predominantly
00:19:54 African-American with African-American instructors
00:19:57 that specialize in helping you understand
00:19:59 black ethos and thought, also real Christianity,
00:20:03 not that right-wing Trump-Jesus theology.
00:20:06 I'm talking about real theology.
00:20:08 Matthew 25, "I was hungry, you fed me."
00:20:13 The black Jesus of the Bible, not the figure you see
00:20:17 with his head laid on his shoulder by Michelangelo.
00:20:20 Jesus was not white with blue eyes and good hair.
00:20:23 He had nappy hair like sheep wool, eyes like balls of fire,
00:20:28 but miseducated Negro.
00:20:31 (audience applauding)
00:20:34 And so I told my wife, "Our church won't be big enough.
00:20:37 "I want several campuses all across Cleveland and Ohio,
00:20:40 "and well-meaning black people will pay money
00:20:43 "for their child to go someplace where they don't have
00:20:45 "to guess who's coming in the bathroom,
00:20:47 "what they're being taught, who sleep with who."
00:20:53 You can hear about Jesus, good education,
00:20:56 and be number one in academics at the same time.
00:20:59 I wish I had some principals and teachers in here.
00:21:02 We need that, so give me the money for it.
00:21:06 (audience applauding)
00:21:09 Somebody fund the whole thing, I'll open it next week.
00:21:12 I know I got a lot of irons on the fire,
00:21:16 debt cancellation, schools, but I'd rather have a pastor
00:21:19 with too much vision than none at all.
00:21:22 Yeah, I want you to catch this because,
00:21:24 so he talks about in his text,
00:21:25 please read "The Miseducation of the Negro,"
00:21:27 because he talks about how even black schools,
00:21:31 right then in the early 1900s, watch this,
00:21:33 had white principals, and even though
00:21:35 they're supposed black schools, white principals
00:21:38 are not letting them come through the front door,
00:21:40 not letting them sit in the same lunchrooms.
00:21:43 And he says this, and I quote, only smart people today,
00:21:45 smart people are people who would actually want to be smart
00:21:48 will listen today because he says, and I quote,
00:21:50 "Negroes trained under such conditions without protest
00:21:54 "become downright cowards, and in life
00:21:56 "will continue as slaves in spite
00:21:59 "of their nominal emancipation."
00:22:02 Nominal, one of my favorite words, nominal.
00:22:05 Come on, you're smart, by name only, nominal.
00:22:08 That's all nominal means, nominal marriage on Instagram
00:22:11 where y'all don't even sleep together.
00:22:13 But you're trying to front like you in love
00:22:14 and don't even talk, just trying to take some pictures
00:22:16 and get some likes and some hearts, but the devil is alive.
00:22:18 I don't want nominal stuff by name only.
00:22:21 Whatever I say I be, I wanna be that.
00:22:24 So he talked about nominal emancipation
00:22:26 and that Abraham Lincoln had signed the Emancipation 1863.
00:22:30 So on paper, this is what Dr. King said,
00:22:32 do what you said on paper.
00:22:34 Because even though you said we were free in 1863,
00:22:37 we were not free, which is why we have Juneteenth.
00:22:41 Because the original freedom was not really freedom,
00:22:43 it was just nominal.
00:22:45 Oh, y'all not talking to me.
00:22:47 I don't wanna just be free and public.
00:22:49 I don't wanna be a public success and a private failure.
00:22:53 Whatever I say I am, I wanna be that.
00:22:56 Now the reason why won't nobody stay with you,
00:22:59 the reason why don't nobody wanna date you
00:23:01 is not because you ugly, it's because you too free.
00:23:04 See, some people only like bound people
00:23:09 so they can help them untangle their lives.
00:23:12 But when you know who you are in Christ,
00:23:14 some people can't handle your freedom.
00:23:17 I wish you'd touch somebody and say,
00:23:18 I'm a free black woman.
00:23:20 I'm a free black man.
00:23:21 I wish I had somebody that knows John said in John 18 36,
00:23:25 whoever the son, Jesus said,
00:23:27 whoever the son sets free,
00:23:33 is free indeed.
00:23:36 I got a word for five people, 30 second commercial break,
00:23:39 I call you free in Jesus name.
00:23:41 Oh, I call you free spiritually, come on.
00:23:45 I call you free emotionally.
00:23:47 I call you free financially.
00:23:49 You ain't gotta kiss your bosses behind
00:23:51 and die your teaching on Apple.
00:23:53 My grace will get me an A.
00:23:54 Can I get 10 people that God has set you free?
00:23:58 I call thousands of people watching me
00:24:00 all across the world free.
00:24:03 Not nominal emancipation,
00:24:11 but true emancipation.
00:24:14 Yeah, yeah, so before I move, I want you to catch this
00:24:19 because miseducation will lead to false indoctrination.
00:24:24 Some of you, the first people who indoctrinated you
00:24:28 was ignorant parents.
00:24:30 Well-meaning but ignorant.
00:24:33 One of the things I heard my whole life, I can't stand it.
00:24:36 And from family, you've heard all this too.
00:24:38 Girl, ain't nobody got no money.
00:24:40 This family ain't got nothing, they never had nothing.
00:24:44 I wanted to raise my hand and say, won't be me.
00:24:45 Can I get 10 people?
00:24:48 I break that curse.
00:24:49 I don't know what y'all had before I got here.
00:24:53 I just know what the Vernon name mean right now
00:24:56 and what it shall mean after my death.
00:24:58 Can I get some people?
00:24:59 False indoctrination.
00:25:01 Yo daddy ain't nothing and be careful with men
00:25:03 'cause men ain't no good.
00:25:04 They'll come and they'll go.
00:25:06 So you got into your relationship looking over your shoulder
00:25:08 instead of looking towards your future.
00:25:09 Your mind can be so messed up
00:25:11 because they're watching stories and swiping on their phone
00:25:13 instead of teaching you to read books.
00:25:15 So that's why Jesus sent you to the Word Church
00:25:17 because whatever your parents and family didn't do,
00:25:19 Jesus is gonna do through this church.
00:25:21 Maybe you didn't know how to be single,
00:25:23 but you better now.
00:25:25 Maybe you ain't know how to be married,
00:25:27 but you better now.
00:25:28 Why?
00:25:29 Because we're giving you real truth.
00:25:32 He over there brainwashing them.
00:25:36 Show is,
00:25:38 I guess this is gonna be an Instagram moment,
00:25:42 so let me finish it.
00:25:43 Some of you need to be brainwashed.
00:25:45 You need God to wash your brain.
00:25:48 Wash me and I'll be clean.
00:25:50 My problem is not the stuff I think about.
00:25:53 My problem is the stuff I can't unthink.
00:25:56 So God, wash everybody out my mind
00:25:59 that I've been to bed with.
00:26:01 Wash everything out my spirit that was negative.
00:26:03 Wash bad teaching out my mind.
00:26:05 Brainwash me.
00:26:06 Because so a man thinketh, I feel like preaching.
00:26:10 So is the Ephesians,
00:26:11 for it be renewed by the spirit of your mind.
00:26:14 You come to church to get your brain washed
00:26:17 from the negative satanic stuff
00:26:19 and God help me to rethink and reprogram me and renew me.
00:26:23 Throw your hands up and say, brainwash me Jesus.
00:26:30 Wash my whole brain.
00:26:34 Get the toxicity and the negativity
00:26:38 out of my cognitive domain.
00:26:43 (audience cheering)
00:26:46 Thinking, thinking.
00:26:48 You always hear me quote Thurman.
00:26:51 Ask not what the world needs,
00:26:52 but rather ask what makes you come alive.
00:26:53 For what the world needs is people who have come alive.
00:26:56 One of my second favorite quotes is by Dr. Woodson.
00:27:01 Dr. Dr. Woodson, because he says something
00:27:04 that many of you missed, but Dr. Carter G. Woodson says,
00:27:07 "When you control a man's thinking,
00:27:10 you do not have to worry about his actions.
00:27:13 You do not have to tell him to sit here or go yonder.
00:27:17 He will find his place and stay in it.
00:27:21 You do not have to send him to the back door.
00:27:23 He will go there all by himself.
00:27:26 In fact, if there is no back door,
00:27:28 he will cut one in for his special interests,
00:27:32 his education, or dare I say his miseducation
00:27:36 makes it necessary."
00:27:38 Unquote.
00:27:39 (audience applauding)
00:27:42 When a man got your mind,
00:27:44 he'll have you doing stupid stuff with your body.
00:27:46 When somebody got your mind,
00:27:50 they'll have you doing stuff that's anti you.
00:27:53 Yeah, when you control a man's thinking,
00:27:54 you control his actions, right?
00:27:57 You hear brothers like, "I got her mind.
00:27:59 I got her mind.
00:28:00 I got her mind."
00:28:01 He meant that.
00:28:02 I got her mind.
00:28:03 'Cause he realized once he had your mind,
00:28:05 he can get your actions.
00:28:07 The enemy is after your mind.
00:28:09 Which is why I don't have time because kings don't clown
00:28:12 and clowns don't become kings.
00:28:14 (audience applauding)
00:28:17 So I can't worry about,
00:28:18 I can't worry about who want me to hoop and holler.
00:28:22 And that was the most exciting sermon I ever heard.
00:28:25 Too many people are under my watch
00:28:27 whose blood will be required.
00:28:29 The blood will be required in my hands
00:28:31 if I don't inform you.
00:28:33 So I'm back to reading the book a week.
00:28:34 I got off of that a bit, reading the book a week
00:28:36 because I gotta keep my mind fresh
00:28:40 so that every time you come in here,
00:28:41 your spirit is growing and your mind is growing.
00:28:44 I don't care what you heard about your singleness.
00:28:46 Girl, you young, you got a cute shape.
00:28:47 Forget that preacher, you got all this love to give.
00:28:49 But they ain't telling you about the soul ties
00:28:52 that the brother leaves.
00:28:53 (audience applauding)
00:28:56 Be careful because the devil never shows movies.
00:28:59 He shows previews.
00:29:00 (audience applauding)
00:29:02 Okay, I'm going, I'm going.
00:29:04 How many of you were watching a preview
00:29:07 during the Super Bowl and you thought to yourself,
00:29:10 I gotta go see that?
00:29:11 What you didn't know,
00:29:12 they took the best three scenes from the movie
00:29:15 and put them all together.
00:29:17 And by the time you get to the show,
00:29:18 you say that is not as good as the preview looks.
00:29:22 I'm sorry, next time a brother walk up,
00:29:24 you talk to yourself, say preview, preview, preview.
00:29:27 Show me the movie, the movie, the movie.
00:29:31 'Cause that's all previews.
00:29:33 (audience applauding)
00:29:35 I'm going, Delta, stop laughing.
00:29:37 Delta's laughing at me.
00:29:39 (laughing)
00:29:43 Look at somebody, oh Jesus, I've been dated to preview.
00:29:45 I never missed.
00:29:46 Pass it in, tell me, I never did see the movie.
00:29:49 I'm married to preview, Jesus Christ.
00:29:52 I can't believe I got married to preview.
00:29:54 Praise God, I'm married to preview.
00:29:56 Y'all ready to turn up?
00:30:03 It's Memorial Day weekend, let's go have some fun,
00:30:05 but let's go ahead and turn up
00:30:06 because verse 15 is gonna blow you away.
00:30:09 Then the Lord said to Moses, okay, what happened?
00:30:12 They're stuck, right?
00:30:12 Here they are, they're at the Red Sea,
00:30:14 Pharaoh's army behind them.
00:30:16 Come on, y'all know this story, look at me.
00:30:17 Pharaoh's army is behind, pursuing them,
00:30:20 ready to kill them, Red Sea in front of them.
00:30:22 We can't cross the Red Sea because we'll drown.
00:30:25 We got the army in back of us trying to kill us.
00:30:28 What we gonna do?
00:30:29 So the Bible says Moses prays to God, he does.
00:30:31 He prays and says, listen, your boy needs your help.
00:30:33 I don't know what to do.
00:30:34 Then the Lord said to Moses, why are you crying after me?
00:30:37 Okay, y'all don't want no real theology.
00:30:40 People kill me thinking they know the Word,
00:30:42 thinking they know the Word,
00:30:43 thinking they know the Word,
00:30:44 everything through prayer and supplication,
00:30:46 which is an isolated text.
00:30:48 And be careful with isolationism
00:30:50 in your hermeneutic delivery.
00:30:52 All I'm trying to tell you is be careful
00:30:53 with an isolated text out of context.
00:30:55 Everything through prayer and supplication,
00:30:57 which means, yes, you should pray
00:30:58 about everything meaningful,
00:31:00 particularly when you don't know what to do.
00:31:02 Any woman with a newborn baby and the baby start crying,
00:31:05 you don't have to lay there and pray in tongues
00:31:06 and say, shit, I feed her.
00:31:08 Okay, y'all not catching this, amen.
00:31:12 God would say, why are you praying, Helfa?
00:31:15 Get up.
00:31:16 Yeah, sometimes, Helfa, you just need to say Helfa.
00:31:20 I mean, I just been in prayer.
00:31:23 I just been in prayer.
00:31:24 Prayer about what?
00:31:25 Some stuff you ain't got prayer about.
00:31:26 I'm sorry.
00:31:27 I'm so glad God is backing me up
00:31:30 'cause some deep person, some deep person,
00:31:33 I guess that leads me to number two,
00:31:34 miseducation can lead, you'll love this,
00:31:37 to extreme spiritualization.
00:31:39 Miseducation can lead to extreme spiritualization.
00:31:45 In other words, you got that mother or father
00:31:46 that over-spiritualizes everything.
00:31:49 Everything is Jesus.
00:31:50 Everything, you can't say nothing.
00:31:52 Well, what with Jesus?
00:31:53 Say nothing, mama.
00:31:54 Jesus is morally neutral on this song.
00:31:58 It's not a church song, but it's not a demonic song.
00:32:00 Over-extreme spiritualization.
00:32:02 God says, stop praying.
00:32:04 God says, Mo, you know what to do.
00:32:06 Don't pray right now.
00:32:07 Bust a move.
00:32:08 I'm gonna give you a quote.
00:32:10 I'm gonna give you a quote by Napoleon,
00:32:12 the Frenchman war hero, who said,
00:32:14 "Take the time to deliberate,
00:32:16 "but when the time for action has come,
00:32:19 "stop thinking and go in."
00:32:20 Somebody, I'm preaching much better than you responding.
00:32:26 He says, "Take the time to deliberate,
00:32:29 "but when the time for action has come,
00:32:31 "stop thinking and go in."
00:32:33 You don't know how good that is.
00:32:35 All I'm trying to tell you is that people
00:32:37 who walk up to me and say, "Pastor, I'm praying
00:32:38 "about moving to Atlanta.
00:32:39 "I'm praying about opening this business.
00:32:40 "I'm praying about doing this."
00:32:41 And I prayed for you in 2019, 2020, 2022.
00:32:45 And at some point I said, "Don't you walk up to me."
00:32:47 No more in your life about going to Atlanta.
00:32:50 Get on the first plane or catch a big wheel.
00:32:52 Take your behind to Atlanta and take your shot
00:32:55 'cause you didn't pray about this for four years.
00:32:57 Go ahead and fail at it and get it out your system.
00:32:59 Some of you need to fail at it and get it out your system.
00:33:05 At least it'll be out your system.
00:33:06 If God is putting something on your heart to try,
00:33:08 take your shot.
00:33:10 Sometimes good money is lost money
00:33:12 if it teaches you your...
00:33:13 There's some money that's worth losing
00:33:18 if it points you in the right direction.
00:33:20 All lost money ain't bad.
00:33:23 (congregation applauding)
00:33:27 Some of you, you burning up so bad
00:33:30 to take your shot on something, but you won't take it.
00:33:34 Take your shot.
00:33:35 God is saying, "I'm tired of talking to you about this."
00:33:38 He says to Mo, and you all know this part,
00:33:43 and let's just go for it.
00:33:44 He says to Mo, "Pick up your staff
00:33:47 "and raise your hand over the sea.
00:33:49 "Divide the water so the Israelites
00:33:51 "can walk through the middle of the sea."
00:33:53 I got one question.
00:33:54 God, why don't you just say abracadabra?
00:33:58 If you're God and you are omnipotent and have all power,
00:34:05 why we gotta do the rod thing?
00:34:07 Why don't you just say, "Water, stand up."
00:34:12 You created water, water is submitted to you,
00:34:17 so why you want me?
00:34:18 Because God, hear me, uses people.
00:34:22 I want you to catch this.
00:34:25 So here's a sermon for you.
00:34:27 The old Baptist preachers used to preach this all the time.
00:34:30 Use what you got.
00:34:31 Oh, I come to tell all of you
00:34:35 on this graduation education weekend,
00:34:37 there's something that you got.
00:34:39 There's something you got that's supposed to provide for you
00:34:42 and give you peace.
00:34:44 There's something that you do
00:34:46 that nobody on your row can do better than you.
00:34:49 Don't die.
00:34:52 Yeah, someone has truthfully said
00:34:53 the two greatest days of your life
00:34:55 are the day you were born
00:34:56 and the day you discover what you were born for.
00:35:00 Yeah, you don't need ambiguity at 50.
00:35:05 (audience cheers)
00:35:07 Uncertainty, that's all.
00:35:09 My life, you'll love this, is absent of ambiguity.
00:35:13 You don't even know what I just said.
00:35:15 I know what I'm not good at, you'll love this.
00:35:19 I know what I don't wanna learn.
00:35:21 Pastor, you need to learn that.
00:35:24 No, I pay you to learn that, praise God.
00:35:27 I'm not learning that at all, praise God.
00:35:28 I'm not gonna learn that one bit.
00:35:30 You like your check, then you learn that, praise God.
00:35:33 I'm gonna learn how to fight demons on Sunday morning
00:35:36 and cast out spirits out of people.
00:35:38 That's what I do.
00:35:39 You get paid to hold my ladder so I can do that.
00:35:43 Y'all not talking to me, y'all not talking to me,
00:35:45 y'all not talking to me.
00:35:46 I'm trying to help you understand
00:35:47 there's something that you do
00:35:49 that no one can do better than you.
00:35:51 I came to tell you that everybody
00:35:53 is not gonna pursue formal pedagogy or formal degrees,
00:35:58 but my God, can you put a weave in a girl's hair?
00:36:02 You put a weave in a girl's hair so tight,
00:36:06 even when she fight, it won't come out.
00:36:09 She don't even have to guard it.
00:36:11 People think, I wish I had 10 people.
00:36:13 Can't nobody do construction work like you.
00:36:16 Can't nobody drive a bus like you.
00:36:18 Nobody can do vocational work like you.
00:36:20 Nobody can do electricity and plumbing like you.
00:36:23 This is what you do.
00:36:25 I need you not to be arrogant, but to be honest
00:36:28 and say, "I'm sorry, Pastor, this is what I do."
00:36:30 Can I get, you gotta know what you do.
00:36:33 You gotta know what you do
00:36:35 because what you do is gonna pay you.
00:36:37 Everybody may not sit in a classroom,
00:36:40 you may sit in a trade school.
00:36:41 You may sit in front of a computer
00:36:43 and learn how to handle that computer.
00:36:44 We all know people who become millionaires
00:36:47 during the pandemic just because they knew
00:36:48 what to do with their camera, all right?
00:36:50 They became viral and got all kinds of money and followers.
00:36:54 I'm just telling you, find out what you do.
00:36:56 Minister Josh, props to him.
00:36:59 He should be on his way to his honeymoon.
00:37:00 Got married to Amber yesterday, everybody, praise God.
00:37:03 (congregation applauding)
00:37:06 And I was standing here and I did the ceremony.
00:37:08 "Do you, Josh, take Amber to be a lawfully wedded wife
00:37:12 "to hold and to have, to honor, cherish, love,
00:37:14 "and love as best as you do your part,
00:37:15 "keeping yourself only after her?"
00:37:16 And I got through and some of the girls in the bookstore
00:37:18 walked to me and said, "Pastor, we watched you do
00:37:20 "that whole ceremony and wasn't reading nothing.
00:37:22 "How you do that?"
00:37:24 I was thinking to myself, this is what I do.
00:37:26 This is how I feed Victory Rose Vernon.
00:37:30 This is how I feed my five children.
00:37:33 This has helped me shake president's hands.
00:37:35 This has taken me all over the world.
00:37:37 This funny looking boy from the projects of Longwood.
00:37:40 The girls didn't think I was cute.
00:37:42 I couldn't hoop as good as I wanted to.
00:37:44 But give me a mic, I wish I had 10 people.
00:37:46 Give me a mic, just give me a mic.
00:37:50 If you give me a mic, we'll eat.
00:37:51 You give me a mic, we'll travel.
00:37:53 You give me a mic, I wish I had five people.
00:37:55 But this not about me, this about you.
00:37:57 I wanna know what do you do?
00:38:00 And you can't lose half your life
00:38:02 not walking in what you do.
00:38:06 Pastor, I'm the best grandmother in this church.
00:38:09 Lord Jesus, my children know I'm the best grandmother
00:38:12 that ever lived.
00:38:13 Bring 'em to me, I got 'em.
00:38:14 I'll speak into his life stuff I should've spoken to you.
00:38:16 I'll be better as a grandmother than I was as a mother.
00:38:19 I'm the best father, I'm a parent, I'm a young person.
00:38:21 I'm a creative, which is the new thing
00:38:24 so many young people are doing.
00:38:25 You're not crazy 'cause you wanna be a creative.
00:38:26 Everybody's not meant to sit in a class
00:38:28 and do social studies all day and English all day.
00:38:30 Some people thrive in that context.
00:38:32 Some people go out of their brains doing that.
00:38:34 I'm not here to trap you.
00:38:36 I'm here to tell you to do something.
00:38:38 I'm here to tell you to do something.
00:38:41 Yeah.
00:38:42 Chapter five of his book, and I'm wrapping up.
00:38:44 Oh, I'm right on time.
00:38:45 Chapter five of his book, he talks about the failure
00:38:47 to learn to make a living.
00:38:50 The failure to learn to make a living.
00:38:52 Keep in mind, this is the early 1900s, okay?
00:38:55 And I need you to understand, when I say vocation,
00:38:58 some of you are different.
00:38:59 You gotta read, read "Up from Slavery"
00:39:01 by Booker T. Washington.
00:39:03 Then you have to read "Souls of Black Folk" by Du Bois.
00:39:05 They were the Malcolm and Martin of the early 19th century.
00:39:09 They didn't agree on everything.
00:39:11 Okay, Du Bois is this erudite, aristocratic cat,
00:39:14 has his PhD from Harvard.
00:39:16 He's sort of on that, you know, that side.
00:39:18 He walks in, he's dressed to the dime.
00:39:21 There's no hood in Du Bois.
00:39:22 Du Bois thinks on his high-level education,
00:39:25 he's like, "Look, we've been slaves too long.
00:39:26 "I'm tired of working with my hands.
00:39:27 "I'm gonna find the talented tenth of our people."
00:39:31 The talented tenth.
00:39:32 Look that up, the talented tenth.
00:39:34 Let's find the top 10% of people in our race
00:39:38 that can lead us into economic power.
00:39:41 And Booker T, on the other hand, said,
00:39:43 "No, I'm gonna open up the Tuskegee Institute
00:39:44 "because some people still might wanna work
00:39:46 "with their hands.
00:39:47 "You still need electricians and plumbers
00:39:49 "and construction brothers."
00:39:50 And Du Bois is like, "No, I'm tired of working
00:39:51 "with my hands.
00:39:52 "I wanna work with my brain only."
00:39:53 And Booker T is like, "No, you can use your brain
00:39:55 "and some people wanna use their hands.
00:39:57 "All I'm trying to tell you is figure out what you do.
00:40:01 "Figure out what pays you.
00:40:02 "Things are secular.
00:40:03 "And now we're swinging back around
00:40:05 "where electricians are in demand
00:40:06 "and plumbers are in demand
00:40:08 "and people who can fix stuff
00:40:10 "because AI can't do everything."
00:40:12 (audience cheering)
00:40:15 Y'all making me work hard today.
00:40:18 Is that good, everybody?
00:40:21 And so the reason why I talked about extreme spiritualization
00:40:25 somebody who I love in my family, I'm telling you,
00:40:28 told me when I got ready to go to college,
00:40:30 "Why are you going to school when Jesus will be back soon?"
00:40:33 Somebody I trust, that was the advice I was given.
00:40:38 Why are you going to school?
00:40:39 So I got my doctorate degree at 40
00:40:41 when like Dr. King, I should have had it in my 20s.
00:40:44 My brain is good enough, I think.
00:40:46 I'm not lazy, but there was no push to say you can do it.
00:40:50 Don't get so trapped in church that you don't get your money.
00:40:53 Oh, y'all not talking to me.
00:40:56 Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry.
00:40:59 Lean on somebody and say,
00:41:00 "I got the Holy Ghost and some money."
00:41:01 Go ahead, tell three people.
00:41:02 (audience cheering)
00:41:05 Okay, so then finally, you'll love this.
00:41:11 Chapter five, the failure to make a living.
00:41:15 I'm done.
00:41:16 In other words, what is it?
00:41:17 My son graduated, I'm so proud.
00:41:19 You'll see him in a minute.
00:41:20 Raphael finished high school and I was so happy.
00:41:24 And Brother Coleman, Elder Coleman,
00:41:28 his son graduated too, him and Ralph,
00:41:31 Rachel and my wife were pregnant together.
00:41:32 We getting old, brother, praise God.
00:41:34 They were pregnant together.
00:41:35 And now they both just graduated high school.
00:41:37 I asked Ralph and I asked all my children,
00:41:40 so what you gonna do to eat?
00:41:42 Yeah, yeah.
00:41:43 What you gonna do to feed my future daughter in love
00:41:45 and grandchildren?
00:41:46 What you gonna do to feed them?
00:41:47 Forget daddy's money in terms of you.
00:41:48 What you gonna do to feed them?
00:41:49 Like what is it that you gonna do to feed them?
00:41:51 Start thinking about that.
00:41:52 I said that in the ninth grade.
00:41:54 Discover who you are.
00:41:55 What makes you come alive, as Thurman said, right?
00:41:57 What makes you come alive?
00:41:58 What you gonna do to eat?
00:41:59 Ask your children that.
00:42:00 What you gonna do to eat?
00:42:02 What are you gonna do that absolutely pays you?
00:42:04 Well, a college degree does help with that.
00:42:06 And those who don't have degrees,
00:42:07 don't ever hate on people who do.
00:42:09 Yeah, don't hate on people who do.
00:42:11 Y'all ready for this because I want you to catch this.
00:42:13 Y'all pray for me, I need prayer, I need prayer.
00:42:15 Anybody ever been in the car
00:42:18 and somebody was going slower than you?
00:42:21 And you sort of put your light on,
00:42:26 blink of light, whatever,
00:42:27 and it was a passing lane, it wasn't illegal,
00:42:29 and sometimes it was, praise God, amen.
00:42:31 But you just kind of, I want you to stick with me.
00:42:36 I'm in the car, the Lord knows this,
00:42:38 my wife is my witness, and she'll tell you this.
00:42:40 Sometime I'm just not in a hurry and I'm flowing,
00:42:42 and somebody will be behind me.
00:42:44 I want you to catch this.
00:42:45 And they'll go around me.
00:42:46 I want y'all to catch this.
00:42:48 I'm never even a little bit upset
00:42:52 when somebody go around me.
00:42:54 Conversely, this guy was in front of me,
00:42:57 he's not headed no place.
00:43:00 Driving Miss Daisy, I ain't exaggerating, praise God.
00:43:04 I go around him.
00:43:06 As I'm going around him,
00:43:07 I see him cussing me out with his hand.
00:43:09 I'm trying to figure out, if you're not in a hurry,
00:43:13 why you mad I am?
00:43:16 Okay, y'all got it, okay, okay, okay.
00:43:18 Y'all didn't say nothing.
00:43:20 Okay, I wish I had 10 people.
00:43:22 Why you mad at me for passing you?
00:43:26 When somebody pass me, you know what I be thinking?
00:43:28 Oh, go get what you gotta get.
00:43:29 Get what you gotta get.
00:43:31 I ain't mad, I ain't cussing, I'm not in a hurry right now.
00:43:34 You see, there's some people who don't wanna go fast,
00:43:36 but don't want you to pass them.
00:43:38 The devil is a liar.
00:43:39 I wish I'd tell somebody, go ahead, tell somebody.
00:43:41 I gotta go around some stuff.
00:43:43 There's some stuff I can't wait on for my family,
00:43:45 I can't wait on for nobody, even my spouse.
00:43:47 I gotta do what I gotta do to get where I gotta get.
00:43:51 (audience cheering)
00:43:54 So there's some people who are perpetually never in a hurry.
00:44:00 Don't get mad at somebody who is.
00:44:03 So I tell people, somebody who finishes their education,
00:44:05 don't you hate on them
00:44:06 because that's the route they chose to take.
00:44:08 And then I wanna give you this, and I'm in my seat.
00:44:10 Miseducation can limit my occupational acceleration.
00:44:14 Yeah, miseducation can limit my occupational acceleration.
00:44:18 Wonderful read on the benefits of a college education.
00:44:23 I won't even stay here,
00:44:24 but to those of you who have children
00:44:26 who are considering higher education
00:44:28 or higher learning, one movie was, here it is.
00:44:31 Number one, increased access to job opportunities.
00:44:34 Increased access to job opportunities.
00:44:36 He doesn't mind me saying this, Elder Carr,
00:44:37 who you all know, my dear brother,
00:44:39 and my brother and my wife's sister's husband,
00:44:41 all that, came back after retiring from the military,
00:44:43 decided he wanted a second career.
00:44:45 And here's what's amazing,
00:44:46 he comes back to the States and decide,
00:44:48 "I want a second career."
00:44:49 And just because he had a college degree,
00:44:51 a bachelor's degree, the federal government hired him,
00:44:54 and all the applications said was,
00:44:56 "Must have bachelor's degree."
00:44:58 Now, it didn't say what you had to have a degree in.
00:45:00 He got the job having no experience
00:45:03 in the field he got hired for.
00:45:04 His boss said, "I don't know how you got this job
00:45:06 "because you don't even know what we do."
00:45:09 But by that time, he had already had the job
00:45:11 and was already killing the game,
00:45:12 and they couldn't let him go.
00:45:14 But he could have never got in the door.
00:45:18 So there are some places that say, "Degree necessary."
00:45:22 I tell people, degrees are keys.
00:45:24 If you're going down a hallway and you have the right keys,
00:45:27 you can't get in certain doors without the keys.
00:45:29 There are some places that invite Pastor Vernon,
00:45:31 there are other places that invite Dr. Vernon.
00:45:34 Y'all not talking to me.
00:45:36 Yeah, when I lecture at schools,
00:45:38 when I teach in seminaries,
00:45:39 they invite Dr. Vernon, not Pastor Vernon.
00:45:41 Pastor Vernon has 10,000 members,
00:45:43 we don't want Pastor Vernon, we want Dr. Vernon.
00:45:46 (audience cheering)
00:45:49 So it's not for everybody, but it is for somebody.
00:45:54 Number two, preparation for a specialized career.
00:45:57 Preparation for a specialized career.
00:45:59 It just broadens you.
00:46:00 Increased marketability.
00:46:03 Number four, increased earning potential.
00:46:06 There's plenty of data that suggests
00:46:07 college graduate majors can expect
00:46:09 their starting salaries to increase over time.
00:46:11 According to the government data,
00:46:12 the average salary of a bachelor's degree
00:46:14 recipient is $67,500,
00:46:17 with the current national average just below 56,000.
00:46:21 So it can help you in some cases.
00:46:23 We ought to clap for these college graduates
00:46:25 over here, everybody.
00:46:26 (audience cheering)
00:46:29 I'm outta here.
00:46:31 I love you.
00:46:32 Put the next verse on the screen and I'm in my seat
00:46:33 because I want y'all to catch this.
00:46:35 It's gonna bless your life.
00:46:36 The Bible says the angel of God,
00:46:38 let's just shout on our way out.
00:46:40 Let's sort of finish where we started.
00:46:42 The angel of God that had been leading the camp of Israel
00:46:45 now shifted and got behind them,
00:46:48 and the pillar of cloud that had been in front
00:46:50 shifted to the rear.
00:46:51 Y'all didn't say nothing?
00:46:52 Happy Memorial Day.
00:46:54 Go cook your chicken.
00:46:54 One more time, put it back up.
00:46:56 The angel of God that had been in the rear,
00:46:58 had been in the front, shifted and got behind them.
00:47:01 Y'all didn't say nothing, I'm gone.
00:47:03 I'm just giving you your church shout.
00:47:04 If you need a church shout,
00:47:05 I've been deep and heavy for 30 minutes,
00:47:07 so let's leave on a church shout.
00:47:08 Y'all ready?
00:47:09 The angel that was in front of them,
00:47:11 when they got ready to cross the Red Sea,
00:47:13 the angel got in front of them and said,
00:47:15 "Stand up, water."
00:47:17 A sovereign sidewalk stood up on liquid legs,
00:47:19 and they walked across on a sovereign sidewalk
00:47:21 straight through.
00:47:22 Once they got in the middle of the sea,
00:47:23 the same angel that was in front of them
00:47:25 bust a move to the back.
00:47:27 And made sure that the enemies couldn't catch up with them.
00:47:31 Y'all just missed y'all's shout.
00:47:33 Y'all didn't shout, but hit five people,
00:47:37 say God got your back.
00:47:38 Go ahead.
00:47:39 When you pursue what God wants you to pursue,
00:47:42 your enemies can't stop you,
00:47:43 your haters can't stop you,
00:47:45 'cause the same God that has your front
00:47:47 will have your back.
00:47:48 That's why David said, "Surely, goodness and mercy
00:47:53 "shall follow me all the days of my life."
00:47:56 Can I get 50 people on school days weekend
00:47:59 that will praise God that God got your back?
00:48:02 He was there for elementary,
00:48:04 He was there for kindergarten,
00:48:05 He was there for junior high,
00:48:07 He was there for high school,
00:48:09 He'll be there during college,
00:48:10 He'll be there when you retire.
00:48:12 I'm sorry, hit two more people,
00:48:13 say God got your back.
00:48:15 That's the wrong person.
00:48:19 Walk over to somebody and shake their hand
00:48:21 and say in the name of Jesus,
00:48:22 you are covered by the blood.
00:48:23 In the name of Jesus, Satan cannot destroy you.
00:48:27 In the name of Jesus,
00:48:29 all that God has destined for you
00:48:31 shall come to pass.
00:48:34 Clap your hands today in Jesus' name.
00:48:37 (audience applauding)
00:48:40 I said, clap your hands in Jesus' name.
00:48:43 Oh, praise God for pursuit.
00:48:47 Praise God that He washed your brain.
00:48:51 Praise Him that He renewed your mind.
00:48:54 Praise Him you're not the woman you used to be.
00:48:57 You're not the man you used to be.
00:48:59 Everybody sit down one minute, don't walk.
00:49:04 The miseducation of the Negro.
00:49:06 I'm determined that Satan even wants to pit us together
00:49:09 as black people, pit us against each other.
00:49:11 I was thinking about something,
00:49:12 I'm thinking of doing a podcast,
00:49:13 it'll be so controversial, I don't care,
00:49:14 probably have a million views,
00:49:16 'cause somebody needs to say it.
00:49:17 All I'm hearing is people, and I mean this,
00:49:20 talk about why they are renouncing
00:49:22 their fraternity or sorority.
00:49:25 I'm getting ready to do a podcast called
00:49:26 Why I Will Not Renounce.
00:49:28 Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated,
00:49:32 because the devil's trying to make you think
00:49:34 that there's some sort of dichotomy
00:49:36 between fraternity, sorority, and Christianity,
00:49:39 which pits us against each other.
00:49:41 Like anybody who's frat or sorority,
00:49:44 let me show y'all something.
00:49:45 Everybody in this room that's fraternal or sorority,
00:49:48 stand up right quick, y'all clap for 'em right quick.
00:49:51 Now do you think all these people
00:50:00 are being led by the devil?
00:50:01 (congregation laughing)
00:50:05 And forget all them, me.
00:50:07 Next time somebody says something,
00:50:13 you say, "I know it got to be okay,
00:50:14 "'cause my pastor in it."
00:50:15 If you think I'm gonna risk having
00:50:17 the largest church in Cleveland,
00:50:19 and children feeding my children,
00:50:21 and the Holy Spirit of God knows,
00:50:22 some people don't read enough to know exactly
00:50:25 what something stands for,
00:50:26 and I want you to understand,
00:50:27 I can't speak for no other sorority,
00:50:29 no other fraternity, but Alpha Phi Alpha
00:50:30 has Christian principles,
00:50:32 and we're in line to help people.
00:50:35 All black people got is the black church,
00:50:37 and black sororities, and fraternities.
00:50:39 Four million people who are frat or sorority,
00:50:42 that's helping with voting rights,
00:50:43 and feeding the poor, and changing lives.
00:50:46 The enemy wants to put us against each other,
00:50:48 but my podcast shall answer all questions.
00:50:54 All right, do me a favor, watch this video,
00:50:58 and then let's get ready for graduation time.
00:51:01 Y'all ready?
00:51:01 Come on, clap your hands, praise God, amen.
00:51:04 (audience applauding)
00:51:07 (gentle music)
00:51:09 (gentle music continues)
00:51:13 (gentle music continues)
00:51:16 (gentle music continues)
00:51:20 (gentle music continues)
00:51:23 (gentle music continues)
00:51:26 (gentle music continues)
00:51:30 (gentle music continues)
00:51:33 (gentle music continues)
00:51:37 (gentle music continues)
00:51:41 (gentle music continues)
00:51:44 (gentle music continues)
00:52:07 (gentle music continues)
00:52:11 (audience applauding)
00:52:34 I'm so happy to have Dr. Will accompany me today.
00:52:37 Come on, and Dr. Vernon.
00:52:40 And in case some of you don't know,
00:52:43 when they put these three bars on your robe,
00:52:44 that means you finished your doctorate degree,
00:52:46 which is as high as you can go
00:52:48 in terms of PhD or doctorate of ministry.
00:52:50 So when you get three bars,
00:52:51 that means you went all the way up there.
00:52:53 Can we clap for these doctors on the stage?
00:52:55 Praise God, amen, praise God, amen.
00:52:58 All right, thank you for your time and not walking.
00:53:01 We wanna get right into it.
00:53:02 Maestro, hit it.
00:53:04 Thank you, Ebony.
00:53:05 Deacon Ebony's gonna read the names.
00:53:06 Do me a favor, I want you to act like
00:53:09 you're at a black graduation.
00:53:11 Now let me see.
00:53:13 We ask that you make no noise
00:53:16 until all graduates have received their diplomas.
00:53:18 (audience applauding)
00:53:20 Got it, praise God, amen, praise God, amen.
00:53:23 All right, Ebony, read every name slowly,
00:53:27 loudly, and clearly, amen.
00:53:29 Ready, say it, let's get it.
00:53:31 Starting with high school,
00:53:33 Maya Gaines, Maple Heights High School.
00:53:36 (audience applauding)
00:53:39 Caleb Gray, Brush High School.
00:53:45 (audience applauding)
00:53:49 Timothy Mitchell, Cuyahoga Falls High School.
00:53:53 (audience applauding)
00:53:55 Zariah Brantley, Squinsburg High School.
00:53:59 (audience applauding)
00:54:02 Wayne Carnegie, Warrensville Heights High School.
00:54:07 (audience applauding)
00:54:11 Sariah Dennis, Twinsburg High School.
00:54:14 (audience applauding)
00:54:16 Cherish Mambo, Shaker Heights High School.
00:54:20 (audience applauding)
00:54:23 Alana Brooks, Bedford High School.
00:54:27 (audience applauding)
00:54:30 Angelea Bragg, Warrensville Heights High School.
00:54:37 And Cuyahoga Community College, College Credit.
00:54:42 (audience applauding)
00:54:45 Ilaya A. King-Goyi, Brush High School.
00:54:55 (audience applauding)
00:54:58 Antonio Coleman II, Solon High School.
00:55:07 (audience applauding)
00:55:10 Joshua Thomas, St. Edward High School.
00:55:22 (audience applauding)
00:55:25 Raphael Vernon, Revere High School.
00:55:31 (audience applauding)
00:55:52 Jasmere English, Woodridge High School.
00:55:55 (audience applauding)
00:55:58 - High schoolers of 2024 at the Word Church, my man.
00:56:11 (laughing)
00:56:15 Amen.
00:56:16 Y'all step back a little bit, praise God.
00:56:21 - And who do we have next?
00:56:23 - Next up, our associate degrees.
00:56:26 Jamie Shepherd, vocational degree,
00:56:29 radio and TV broadcasting, Ohio Media School.
00:56:34 (audience applauding)
00:56:36 - Praise God.
00:56:37 - George Wilson, associates of arts degree,
00:56:42 Lakeland Community College.
00:56:44 (audience applauding)
00:56:48 Ramiro Hernandez, associate of science,
00:56:52 Cuyahoga Community College.
00:56:54 (audience applauding)
00:56:57 Unique Younger, associate degree of applied business,
00:57:02 Ohio Business College.
00:57:05 (audience applauding)
00:57:08 Ryan Harris, oh, I'm sorry, excuse me, sir.
00:57:15 That was all of our associates.
00:57:18 - Yes, praise God.
00:57:19 (audience applauding)
00:57:20 Associate degrees, I love it, I love it.
00:57:23 I love it.
00:57:26 Who do we have next?
00:57:27 - Next up, bachelors.
00:57:28 Ryan Harris, bachelor of arts management,
00:57:32 Notre Dame College.
00:57:33 (audience applauding)
00:57:36 Michelle Mosley, bachelor of arts in general music
00:57:43 with a focus in vocal pedagogy and literature,
00:57:47 Malone College.
00:57:48 (audience applauding)
00:57:51 Tanya Steger, bachelor of arts, Cleveland State University.
00:57:59 (audience applauding)
00:58:02 Riley Freed, bachelor of arts in history,
00:58:06 Seton Hall University.
00:58:08 (audience applauding)
00:58:12 That's it?
00:58:13 - Bachelor degrees, everybody, come on.
00:58:16 (audience applauding)
00:58:19 - Ebony, to get a master's degree,
00:58:24 you ought to master something.
00:58:26 To get a doctorate degree,
00:58:27 you ought to be an expert in something.
00:58:28 Who mastered something this year, come on.
00:58:30 (audience applauding)
00:58:33 - Tiajra Malcolm, master of business administration,
00:58:37 Bowling Green University.
00:58:39 (audience applauding)
00:58:41 - Come on with it.
00:58:44 (audience applauding)
00:58:47 - Gabriel Kinsley, master in clinical mental health,
00:58:51 John Carroll University.
00:58:54 - Come on, brother.
00:58:56 Gabe in the house.
00:58:57 (audience applauding)
00:59:00 - Tiara Hansen, master of science in nursing,
00:59:08 Chamberlain University.
00:59:10 (audience applauding)
00:59:13 - Roderick Jones, master of chemistry,
00:59:26 Cleveland State University.
00:59:28 (audience applauding)
00:59:31 - All right, front.
00:59:39 - Cynthia Lynn Troutman,
00:59:41 master of clinical mental health counseling,
00:59:44 Cleveland State University.
00:59:46 (audience applauding)
00:59:49 - That's my grandson's grandmother.
00:59:55 That's my grandson's other grandmother,
00:59:57 praise God, amen.
00:59:58 (laughing)
01:00:01 - Ashanay Heron, master of business administration,
01:00:05 Arizona State University.
01:00:08 - Yes, that's her daughter.
01:00:10 (laughing)
01:00:12 Yes.
01:00:14 - Sharina Scott, master of business administration,
01:00:18 University of Phoenix.
01:00:20 (audience applauding)
01:00:23 Miles Campbell, master of business administration,
01:00:27 Louisiana State University.
01:00:30 (audience applauding)
01:00:36 - Kiera King, master of social work,
01:00:40 Cleveland State University.
01:00:42 (audience applauding)
01:00:45 Demarjay Hogan, master of sport industry management,
01:00:52 Georgetown University.
01:00:54 (audience applauding)
01:00:57 Anaja Vernon, master of divinity,
01:01:05 Columbia Theological Seminary.
01:01:08 (audience applauding)
01:01:10 - I had a baby.
01:01:11 My daughter.
01:01:13 - Ashley Franklin, master of social work,
01:01:23 Cleveland State University.
01:01:25 (audience applauding)
01:01:28 That's all on our masters.
01:01:32 - That's all, what about the online people?
01:01:34 You wanna say them now?
01:01:36 The online people?
01:01:37 We've done them now.
01:01:39 I got one question for you, Ebony.
01:01:40 Is there any doctors in the house?
01:01:43 - We got a doctor in the house.
01:01:45 (audience applauding)
01:01:47 - Is there a doctor in the house?
01:01:49 Call her up.
01:01:50 - Mekka Usamade, jurist doctorate,
01:01:53 Louisiana State University.
01:01:57 - Come on now.
01:01:58 (audience applauding)
01:02:02 (laughing)
01:02:04 Is that enough of it?
01:02:07 That's it?
01:02:08 Y'all step forward, everybody, please.
01:02:10 Step forward, step forward, step forward.
01:02:12 Step forward, anybody we didn't call that was on the list.
01:02:15 Anybody we didn't call that was on the list,
01:02:17 we wanna recognize you.
01:02:18 Right quick, everybody sit down right quick.
01:02:20 Stand up, if you're not on the list,
01:02:21 but you graduated this year, would you stand up?
01:02:23 If you graduated from college this year,
01:02:26 or high school.
01:02:26 (audience applauding)
01:02:28 Praise God, we appreciate you.
01:02:31 We appreciate you.
01:02:32 Are you ready, Alvin?
01:02:34 Ladies and gentlemen, the class of 2024!
01:02:39 (audience cheering)
01:02:42 That's all right, I'm gonna have to.
01:02:50 - Get down, baby.
01:02:51 - Amen, praise God.
01:02:53 (audience applauding)