Dare to Dream: Sermons for African American Self-Esteem

By Jeffrey Hunter

Dare to Dream: Sermons for African American Self-Esteem is a collection of thirty-five sermons with a message of liberation, hope, and high self-esteem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543472219

Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey Hunter was licensed to preach on April 30, 1989 by Presiding Elder Clarke Robert Hawthorne at Bishops Memorial AME Church in Columbia, SC, he was ordained an Itinerant Deacon in the AME Church on October 27, 1990 at Mt. Pisgah AME Church in Greenwood, SC by Bishop Frederick Calhoun James, and he was ordained an Itinerant Elder in the AME Church on September 29, 1995 by Bishop John Hurst Adams at Bethel AME Church in Columbia, SC. He has taught in the Religion Departments of Allen University in Columbia, SC, Limestone College the Columbia, SC campus, and Newberry College in Newberry, SC. He received his education from Benedict College.in Columbia, SC, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, SC, Erskine Theological Seminary in Due West, SC, Bethany Theological Seminary in Houston, Alabama, and United Theological Seminary in Dayton, Ohio. email: [e-mail] website: JLHunter.moonfruit.com

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Copyright © 2018 by Jeffrey Hunter.

ISBN:                Softcover                     978-1-5434-7222-6

                          eBook                           978-1-5434-7221-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are taken from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, Copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Website

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Rev. date: 01/17/2018

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Contents

1.     A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

2.     FIT TO FIGHT

3.     GOD IS A WARRIOR

4.     NOT I, BUT CHRIST

5.     RAISING BRANCHES

6.     MY DUNGEON SHOOK AND MY CHAINS FELL OFF

7.     DARE TO DREAM

8.     COME OUT DE WILDERNESS

9.     BLACK AND BEAUTIFUL

10.   REST FOR THE OPPRESSED

11.   YOUR BLUES AIN’T LIKE MINE

12.   SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT

13.   SUFFERING INJUSTICE FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE

14.   THE REJECTED STONE

15.   A CHANGE IN PLANS

16.   BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

17.   CAN A DEAD THING REALLY LIVE AGAIN?

18.   CELEBRATING THANKSGIVING WITH PRAISE

19.   COMFORT IN TIMES OF CRISIS

20.   GOD STRUCK ME DEAD

21.   HOW LONG, O LORD?

22.   IT’ S A FAMILY AFFAIR

23.   LET THE CHURCH ROLL ON

24.   O HAPPY DAY

25.   SEEK THE LORD

26.   SOMETHING GOT A HOLD OF ME

27.   THE KING OF CRUELTY REJECTED THE PRINCE OF PEACE

28.   THERE’S A CROWN FOR ME

29.   WAKEUP YOU SLEEPLYHEAD

30.   WALKING THAT HOLY GHOST WALK

31.   WE ARE ONE IN THE SPIRIT

32.   WHERE ARE THE NINE?

33.   WHO SHALL SEPARATE US?

34.   YOU CAN’T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER

35.   I ASKED HER FOR SOME, SHE WOULDN’T GIVE ME NONE, BUT SHE SPREAD IT ALL OVER TOWN

MY AFRICAN QUEEN

You’re My Ebony Gem From The Motherland

A Precious Diamond Produced From African Sand

The Lost love That have Been redeem

You’re The Ruler of My heart, You’re My African Queen

Your Kingdom is My Soul, Your Throne is My heart

I yearn to Have You Near whenever we are apart

I hear Your Lovely Voice singing In My Dreams

I See The Beautiful Face Of my African Queen

Glamorous eyes That Sparkles In The Moon Light

Soft Silk ebony Skin That Shines Like The Night

Beauty Like This I Have never Seen

You’re Irresistible, You’re My African Queen

Your sweet Wet Lips I long To Kiss

Your warm And Tender Body I Can’t Resist

These Are passionate Feelings That comes From within

You’re The Love Of My Life, you’re My African Queen

When I’m Holding You, My Heart Beats Like The drum

My Desire for you Makes me succumb

In Our Lover’s paradise we will Reign Supreme

I will Be Your King and You Will be my African Queen

BY

JEFFREY L HUNTER

"I was drawn to the power of the African American Religion tradition to spur social Change.

Out of necessity, the Black Church had to minister to the whole person. Out of Necessity, the black Church rarely had the luxury of separating individual salvation from Collective salvation.

It had to serve as the center of the community’s political, economic, and social as well As spiritual life; It understood in an intimate way the Biblical call to feed the hungry and Clothe the naked and challenge powers and principalities.

It was able to see faith as more than just a comfort to the weary; rather, it was an Active, palpable agent in the world."

Source: The Audacity of Hope by Barrack Obama, P. 206-7 Oct.1, 2006

SERMON: A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

TEXT: ROMANS 12:2

"And Be Not Conformed To this World, But Be Retransformed By The Renewing Of Your mind,

That You May Prove What Is That Good And Acceptable and Perfect Will of God."

The Apostle Paul tells us here in our text…… Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. But many of us we waste our minds ... We waste our minds on the flesh, we waste our minds on trash,

We waste our minds on nonsense; we waste our minds on foolishness,

We waste our minds on worldly things.

But Paul tells us. .…

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

But what is a mind?

Early Psychologists contents the mind was a substance present in a person, but it took up no space and could not be weighed, seen or touched.

Some people thought that the mind, like muscles, developed through exercise, so that the way to strengthen the mind was to give the faculties work to do.

Later on some psychologist and philosophers said that the mind was the sum total of all a person’s conscious states. This meant that the mind was simply a mass of thoughts, memories, feelings, and emotions.

Another theory states that mind is the foundation and the source of feeling, thinking, and willing. This foundation is distinct from the acts which it produces. The mind is the ultimate source of sensation, images, feelings and thoughts.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind ...

To be conforming means to be in agreement or harmony, to act in accordance with the prevailing standards or customs. In other words it means to be like the world. Everybody else is doing it, so I believe that I’ll do it too. But Paul tells us do not be conforming to this world, don’t be like the world. Don’t agree with what the worldly folks are doing. Be in the world but not of the world.

I John 2:15 tell us. ...

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. ...

For all that is in the world are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life."

God told the children of Israel. .…

Be ye holy, for I the Lord am Holy

To be holy means to be different, to be different from the world. Don’t be like the worldly folks. Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…

To transform means to change…

To change in composition or structure.

To change in character or condition.

To change appearance or form.

To change in one ability or potential.

It means to change. And Paul tells us that we must make this change by renewing our minds.

I believe that if we as African-American are ever going to make a change we must first renew our minds.

If we as a race are ever going to get ahead we must first renew our minds.

If we are ever going to pick ourselves up from out of the slums of poverty, we must first renew our minds.

If we are ever going to stop being dependent on the welfare system, we must first renew our minds.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

But I see people every day waste their minds.

Every time a teenager drops out of high school, he is wasting his mind.

Every time you drive by and see a young person standing on the street corner with nothing to do, he’s wasting his minds.

Every time you see a brother or sister strung out on crake or cocaine they are wasting their minds.

Every time a teenage girl gets pregnant out of wedlock she is wasting her minds. Because if she was using her mind she wouldn’t have ended up in that situation. You don’t get pregnant by using your mind.

We have more African American Males going to prison than we have going to college and they are wasting their minds.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.

But it is all too often that many of us act mindlessly. We act like we don’t have any sense; we act like we are unintelligent. We spent much of our time talking fool talk and acting crazy. I heard someone say An Idle Mind is the devil playground. And many of us our mind is Idle. But if we as a people are ever going to rise, we must stop acting mindless and start using our minds.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind.

During the 1970’s there was a popular situation comedy T.V.

Show called Sanford and son. Staring the late Redd Foxx.

Whenever Redd Foxx’s TV son did something stupid, he would use the line that he made famous and calls his son. A big dummy. What Redd Foxx was trying to say was he was not using his mind at the time.

Nobody likes to be called dumb. But there are some people who fail to use their mind. There are some people in the bible that can be classified as dummies.

Esau, the oldest son of Isaac and Rebecca and brother to Jacob, will always be remembered as the man who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. He was a person who made one of the dumbest personnel decisions and one of the dumbest and worst business deals in history. Esau was not using his mind when he sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. You see Esau was hungry after returning from hunting and his mind was in the flesh. He had his mind on the world. Esau was conforming to this world.

To understand why Esau made such a bad bargain, we must look for a minute at what a birthright meant in ancient times. Esau and Jacob Were fraternal twins. However, since Esau was considered the eldest. The firstborn or eldest son of a household had certain birthrights. He received authority and honor and a Double portion of his father’s inheritance. The eldest son often acted as the priest of the family in offering sacrifices and the priestly garb was kept for him. He also received a special blessing from the father. In this case the blessing would have included the promise made by God to Abraham which was passed from one generation to another.

Esau did not realize that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Esau was not using his mind and he gave his brother Jacob his birthright for a bowl of soul.

If Esau had used his mind and kept his birthright, through him rather than Jacob, all the families of the earth would have been blessed.

If Esau had kept his birthright, his descendants would have been as numerous as the stars in the heavens and the sands along the shores.

If Esau had used his mind and kept his birthright, his descendants would have inherited the land flowing with milk and honey.

If Esau had kept his birthright, Joseph, Moses, Elijah, David, Esther, and other heroes and heroines of God’s covenant people would have been among his descendants.

If Esau had kept his birthright, even Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son of God, would have been one of his descendants.

Somebody a long time ago should have told Esau that a mind is a terrible thing to waste. Because Esau sure wasted his mind that day he sold his brother his birthright for a bowl of soup.

How dumb can one be?

Someone has said that if we hold a penny close enough to an eye it will block out the sun. A penny can in no way compare with the sun, and yet if we hold it close enough to an eye we will lose sight of the sun. How foolish it would be to Forget about the sun and concentrate only on the penny. How foolish it would be to act as if the sun didn’t exist because we were captivated by the penny. How foolish it would be to look at life from the perspective of a penny held too close and miss the Sun and yet that is precisely what Esau did.

He was hungry and tired; all he could feel were hunger pangs and all he could see was Jacob’s pot of soup.

Church when you are in the world and your mind is on worldly things you are living only for the moment, you are not thinking about the future…

After Esau ate the soup the next morning he was hungry again. Paul tells us do not be conforming to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

It’s dumb to sell out one’s morals beliefs, dignity, integrity, self-respect and salvation for that which satisfies only for a little While.

We need to renew our minds and hold on to our birthright.

If we hold on to our birthright as God’s redeemed and blood-bought children we will inherit that which satisfies and lasts throughout eternity. Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well, Every one who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. Jesus told a group of hungry People I am the bread of life, he who comes to me shall not hunger. Therefore, church, be smart, hold on to your birthright, for we can receive a double portion of the inheritance. Jesus said, in my father house are many mansion; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Be smart and hold on to your birthright. Jesus said whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Be smart and hold on to your birthright because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.

I would like to say to the young people you need to use your minds. I would just like to say to the young ladies, that when school gets out, for the summer the boys will be listening to all the hottest songs. When they come back to school in the fall they will be ready for the girls.

They will say to you girls, you got that whip a peel or they will call you Honey Dip or I’m sweet on you They will look you up and down and say Freak me: or girl I bet I can make you sweet

Girls they will stop and look at you and say, My, My, My or Hoot there it is.

They might ask you, Can I rub you the right way.

Or There ain’t nothing wrong with a little bump and grind

They might even say, I want to make you lose control. or Could you be the most beautiful girl in the world.

Because you send me swinging.

Girls they might walk behind you and say, let me ride that donkey or give me some of that sweet potato pie

some of the guy who Ain’t too proud to beg might say to you, Girl please don’t go or I would never do anything to hurt you. or I’m so alone They will say to you, I want to be more than a friend. I will be your comforter. And baby if it ain’t good enough, I’ll work harder.

Then There Will Be Some guys Who will not Speak To You using A Complete Sentence. As A matter of Fact, They are not Using Complete Words. They Will Just Look at you And say,

All I want To Do Is A ZOOMA ZOOMA ZOOM

"I Like The Way You comb Your hair,

I Like The Stylish clothes you wear,

It Just the Little things You do,

That make me Want Get Next To You,

And Woo I Like It."

They may Even Ask You What’s Your Class Schedule Is,?"

Then they Will Say oh never mind.

"You can do Me In The morning,

You Can Do Me At Night,

You Can Do Me Whenever You want To Do Me."

I Suggest A Song For The girls. If The boys are Going To Be quoting

All these Songs I Suggest That The girls Tell Them Like Envoy Said,

"You Never going To get It,

You never going To get It.

MY Loving."

Young People you need To Use Your Mind Because A Mind Is a Terrible Thing To waste. I know That Most Of you Will Not Waste Your Minds. I Know That Some Of You In Here will Go On To College And Other Places Of Higher Learner. I Want You To Know That God Will go With you.

I Want You To Know That What Ever you decide To Study God Will Be there. Whatever you are Studying In School God Is There.

You Might Be Studying HISTORY, And God is there,

Because the Calendar Is Set By His Birth And His Death.

You Might Be Studying SCIENCE, And God Is there,

Because He Sat The sun, The Moon, And the stars.

You Might Be Studying MUSIC, And God is there,

Because He Tells Us to make a Joyful noise unto The Lord.

You Might Be Studying BIOLOGY, And God Is there,

Because he Made You And Me.

You Might Be studying ENGINEERING, And God is There,

Because One day He took Nothing From no Where And Created the Whole Wide World.

You might be studying EDUCATION, And God Is there,

Because He Said Take My Yoke and Learn Of me.

You might Be studying ARCHITECT, And God Is there,

Because He Said, In My Father’s houses are Many Mansions, I Go to prepare a place for you.

You might Be Studying AGRICULTURE, And God is there,

Because the Earth is the Lord And The Fullness Thereof.

You might Be studying MATH, And God Is there

Because He have A Number That No Man can number.

You Might Be Studying GRAMMAR, And God Is there

Because He Wrote The 10 Commandments and the Writing Is On the Wall.

You Might Be Studying LAW, And God Is there,

Because He Is The Righteous Judge Of Us All. I heard someone Say,

He Is A Lawyer In The Courtroom.

You Might Be Studying MEDICINE, and God is there

Because Earth has no sorrow that heaven can not heal. Someone said

He is a doctor in the sick room.

You might be studying ENGLISH And God is there,

Because in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God,

and the word was God.

You might be studying PSYCHOLOGY, And God is there,

Because you have to be transform by the renewing of your mind.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.

There is No secret what God can do, what he done For other he will do for you.

WE SERVE A MIGHTY GOD.

He’s smoother than MICHEAL JACKSON.

We serve a mighty God.

He’s stronger than SHAQ O’NEAL.

We serve a mighty God.

He’s Fresher than he FRESH PRINCE.

We serve a Mighty God.

He’. can hang longer then MICHEAL JORDAN.

We serve mighty God.

He has more moves than MC HAMMER.

We serve mighty God.

He Can be in more Places than JESSE JACKSON

He stays up longer than ARSENIO HALL.

He can reach more people than OPRAH WINFREY.

and He Is a better father than BILL COSBY.

We serve a mighty God.

SERMON: FIT TO FIGHT

TEXT: EPHESIANS 6:10-11

10. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

11. Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

This letter to the Ephesians closes with a passage that recognizes that the Christian way of life will not be easy. There will be hard trails and great tribulation. Sometimes on this Christian journey, the road gets rough, and the hills are hard to climb, there will be ups and downs, heartaches and headaches.

I heard someone said, "Sometimes I am up and sometimes I’m down,

Sometimes I’m down to the ground." I heard the songwriter said,

"My way may not be easy you did not say that it would be

But it gets dark, I can’t see my way you told me to put my trust in thee,

That’s why I’m asking you, Lord helps me to hold out, Lord helps me to hold out, until my change come."

The believer’s daily life is part of the cosmic struggle between good and evil. Those on earth are exposed to the cunning of the devil, to oppression from evil human rulers, and to attacks by the spiritual armies of wickedness.

Christians must not underestimate the strength of the enemy. They must not rely on their own strength alone. They must find additional strength in the Lord.

Christians must prepare for attacks upon the faith. The warfare is spiritual and demands spiritual weapons of offense and defense.

That is why Paul said. ...

"Finally be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his right.

Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your