Untitled Sermon

In 2010 Dr. Monica R. Miller, Theologian and Africana Studies Professor at LeHigh University Bethlehem, PA

Said: “The celebration of black history is both a necessary corrective to the exclusion and misrepresentation of blacks in American history and an affirmation of black life passed on from one generation to the next. Contrary to the timeline of many 19th and early 20th century textbooks, black history is much more than a shallow overview of the conditions of slavery and the emancipation of enslaved Africans in the Americas. Yet African and African American contributions to history have often been denied, ignored, devalued, or purposefully hidden and attributed to Europeans and Euro-Americans. The need to reverse historical mis-education and set the record straight on the historical, cultural, scientific, political, and social achievements of ethnic African and African American peoples has been a main thrust behind the celebration of black history.”

“The celebration of black history is both a necessary corrective to the exclusion and misrepresentation of blacks in American history and an affirmation of black life passed on from one generation to the next. Contrary to the timeline of many 19th and early 20th century textbooks, black history is much more than a shallow overview of the conditions of slavery and the emancipation of enslaved Africans in the Americas. Yet African and African American contributions to history have often been denied, ignored, devalued, or purposefully hidden and attributed to Europeans and Euro-Americans. The need to reverse historical mis-education and set the record straight on the historical, cultural, scientific, political, and social achievements of ethnic African and African American peoples has been a main thrust behind the celebration of black history.”

Today inaugurates for us at New Life the official launching of Sankofa Sunday. Which is an African word from the Akan tribe in Ghana, West Africa. The literal translation of the word and the symbol is:

“it is not taboo to fetch what is at risk of being left behind.”

SANKOFA symbolizes the Akan people’s quest for knowledge among the Akan with the implication that the quest is based on critical examination, and intelligent and patient investigation to inform one’s forward progress.

In essence, I believe that our prisons are full of men and women, the failure in our school systems, the mismanagement of platforms, self-hatred, and the devaluing of one another in our communities across this nation is because I believe we have stop telling our story and honoring God through tell His story in our lives.

“Those who have no record of what their forebears have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from the teaching of biography and history.” Carter G. Woodson

Joshua 4:4-7

Joshua 4:4–7 NLT

So Joshua called together the twelve men he had chosen—one from each of the tribes of Israel. He told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.”

Joshua 4:21–24 ESV

And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

In order to move forward at times, one must remember how that have made it thus far…

One of the dangers of our culture and community not only for us as a church of multi-ethnic identities but as a people is to move forward without having any real value to how we made it over or why we should even celebrate the Lord’s doing in our lives culturally and communally. Every one has a story…

God through Moses has led the people of God out like (Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Josiah Henson, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and David Walker).

Joshua has been selected by God to take the people of God who has recently been freed from oppression and bondage in Egypt which is a picture of the world into the place of their promise.

But before they could enter the place of the promise the Lord gave them one important instructions before they could move forward, conquer their enemies, and fully possess the land of Promise. They needed to REMEMBER!!!

6 We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?

Joshua 4:6 NLT

We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’

POINTS: 12 Stones of Memorial

1. How God’s Presence Protected Us!

Stone One: His Power

Donald Stone One: His Power

Stone Two:

Stone Three:

Stone Four:

2. How God’s Presence Provides for Us!

Stone Five: Grace

Stone Six: Stamina

Stone Seven: Bringing Old Things to an End

Stone Eight: New Beginnings

3. How God’s Presence Makes All Things Possible Through Us!

Stone Nine: Advancing Through Obstacles

Stone Ten:

Stone Eleven: Deliverance

Stone Twelve: Salvation

Conclusion: We ultimately become the living memorials of the goodness of Jesus Christ