West Wednesday

25:12 I want to put a tag on this text and for a few moments with your prayers, I want to talk about game, recognize game. Game, recognize game. Thank you. Have you ever felt like you were just about to score and then the goal got moved? Yeah. I think that most deaf put it, when you start keeping up pace, they start changing up the tempo. Have you ever found yourself feeling the frustration of playing the game they have set up only to discover it's not designed for you to win? You can play the game. Do your best only to discover that every time you keep up pace, that's when they change the tempo. The goals get moved.

26:10 My nephew Cedric is here and now that he's here, I want to share with him something I've shared behind his back. Sed came to visit me several years ago. We were in the facility on Keast and Sed is hanging out with me, comes with me to the office. And when we get to the office, I have some appointments. One appointment is with a banker. We're trying to get a loan in order to facilitate construction of what would become our home here on Wheatland Road. And I am in a meeting and the banker has arrived early. Cedric is downstairs. And when I come downstairs, Cedric is entertaining the banker by playing the banker on his Game Boy. Cedric has won every game that they have played.

27:05 And when the banker sees me, he says, this is your nephew. I said, yes. Well, your nephew is really good at this game. But every time I get good at the game, he changes the rules. The moment that he said that, I looked at Cedric, gave him the black power salute. And then I turned to the banker and responded, now you know what it's like to be black in this country. because every time we learn the game, that's when y'all changed the rules. We got upstairs and when we got upstairs away from Sid, he then said, before we get to business, would you mind explaining to me what you said in response to my statement downstairs? I said, I'd be glad to. Have you thought about the fact that you all continuously move the goalpost every time that we get ready to score.

28:05 He said, no, I don't understand what you mean. I said, think about it. Look at the history of this nation. We receive emancipation after doing everything we could as a people through both the Underground Railroad and our disruptive ways of escaping enslavement And then emancipation comes about and you change the rules just when we thought we would get 40 acres and a mule. Reparations for the work that we had done. Building the economy of this nation on our bloodied backs. And then you change the rules and we did not get our reparations. And then not only that, but we got good without reparations during Reconstruction. All throughout the South, we were able to elect representatives that went to Washington, D.C.

29:11 But that's when you decide through Rutherford B. Hayes to change the rules and remove troops from the South that were protecting African Americans. and that unleashed a post-Reconstruction backlash. After barely a decade of Reconstruction, there was a Reconstruction backlash that unleashed the Ku Klux Klan, a Reconstruction backlash that caused some 6,500 black bodies to swing as strange fruit from southern trees to use the language of Billie Holiday between 1880 and 1950. Y'all changed the rules when we got good at the game, but that did not stop us.

30:05 We kept getting good at the game in spite of the fact that 1896, the Supreme Court, no friend of ours, ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that we were to live in a society of legalized Jim and Jane Crow apartheid. But even with that, we got good at the game, and somehow we were able to build our own economic communities. We built them from Rosewood to Black Wall Street in Greenwood. We built them from Dallas to Detroit, from Chicago to Florida. We were able to build our communities. And then we brought our flavor and brought about the Harlem Renaissance where our literary genius was manifest in the likes of Langston Hughes and Paul Lawrence Dunbar, not to mention the late, great, and amazing Audrey Lord, not to mention the writers who somehow showed us their genius in spite of finding themselves locked behind closed doors.

31:25 And so we can hear, who is it? Paul Lawrence Dunbar write, I know why the caged bird sings, I me when his wing is bruised and his bosom sore. He beats his bars as he would be free. It is not a carol of joy nor glee, but a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core. But a plea that upward to heaven he flings. I know why the caged bird sings. Our genius kept on breaking through. We already, I guess that's why I got to give it to you like this. Tupac Shakur described us as the rose that grew from concrete in that the concrete of your structures did not block us or stop us from blossoming and becoming all that we have become. But y'all kept on changing the rose.

32:21 Every time we got good at the game, we got good at the game. And because of the genius of, who was it? Charles Hamilton Houston who had at Howard University his protégés including Thurgood Marshall to understand that they would not just to become attorneys who get paid but they were to become social engineers who would make America better and as a consequence it brought about the May 17th, 1954, Brown v. Board of Education, which legally broke the back of Plessy v. Ferguson, it set the stage for Rosa Parks to get so tired of injustice that she decided to exchange tired souls for tired feet. And as a consequence, it ignited, here it is, the Civil Rights Movement or the second reconstruction.

33:21 And for just over a decade, we marched and we sat in and we prayed in and we stood in until we broke the back of oppression in this country and finally ushered in a full multiracial, multi-ethic, ethnic democracy. We did that. And then y'all changed the game and brought in the second most corrupt president in the history of this country, Richard Nixon, who was escorted and elected into the White House on the Southern strategy, which was racism that was subtle. And beneath the surface, they didn't call us the N-word, but there was a subtle understanding of what Nixon was doing through policies because of the white resistance and fatigue with all that had taken place during the civil rights movement.

34:24 Y'all changed the game. Y'all changed the rules when we got good at the game. And then, y'all, it kept on happening because we kept getting good. But the gooder we got, then the harder they came for us because, you know, we elected a black family into the White House in 2008, and they for eight years, according to Ta-Nehisi Coates, for eight years we were in power, and that must have upset them because the Tea Party was organized, and before you know it, there was a birtherism that was articulated by the first most corrupt president in the history of this country because it's almost as if when we get good at the game, they decide to change the rules.

35:17 And then after the Obama presidency, they decided it was time to elect someone who wasn't subtle in white supremacy, but someone who was blatantly about white nationalism. And as a consequence, my sisters and brothers, for what, two terms now, We have found ourselves discovering that especially in this second term, there's been an all-out determination to dismantle the very infrastructure that was built up by the gains of the civil rights movement. I'll say it one more time. Every time that we learn the game, that's when they change the rules. Every time we get ready to score, that's when the goal gets moved. down. Somebody's looking at me right now thinking about on your job. Watch this. You got good at your job and before you know it, watch this. They began to minimize your value in a real sense. Not only did they minimize your value, but they put someone over you not as qualified as you that did not look like you and they began to sabotage and set you up to bring you down and make the work environment so hostile to your skills. They're trying to break you. They're trying to bring you down. Do you feel like sometime when you're about to score, that's when the goal post gets moved.

36:53 When you're about to score, that's when they change the game. Y'all still not getting it. I'll give it to you like this. Have you ever watched as your budget got slashed? And as your budget got slashed, you're getting disrespected. And then you're given busy work in spite of all that you've accomplished, in spite of all that you've done. And now all you're giving is busy work that is really beneath your skill set. It's beneath your talent. It's beneath the accomplishment. you've made, but it's designed, watch this, to move the goalposts because when your review comes in, then your review comes back negative because they're trying to reduce you. I'm just trying to say we live in a nation where every time you're about to score, they will move the goalposts. Well, my sisters and brothers, it's because of how this thing has been structured. Isabel Wilkerson, She talks about it in her book, Caste, C-A-S-T-E, which says there is a hierarchy of value in this country and in places, in empires.

38:10 And this hierarchy of value values some more than others. And as a consequence, policies are set out and the policies reflect the hierarchy of value. And you recognize at the top of the hierarchy are white males. As a matter of fact, think about it. It was set up in the structure of this country. The structure of this country, I think I'll give it to you like this. Is it not funny as we celebrate independence that those who declared or signers of the Declaration of Independence, three-fourths of them owned African slaves. I think I'll give it to you like this. They signed a Declaration of Independence because they were tired of taxation without representation. And they decide to write a declaration that declared we hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

39:14 Now, let's keep it real. And y'all looking at me real strange. This is July 5th, and I hope you didn't come here thinking you weren't going to get what you're about to get right now because somebody is going to have to keep it a buck on this July 5th. Well, I'm just trying to wake y'all up and let you know I came here on one today. I've been on one all week long, and so my on oneness has gone to another level because it's July 5th. So if you have trouble with this, you feel free right now to seduce this because I've come to say to this nation that every time we get good at the game, that's when y'all decide to change the rules because you can't handle our game. And game recognizes game.

40:10 Yeah, game recognizes game. And so given that, my sisters and brothers, we are in a nation that is always playing games with us to make sure that we do not win. And I hope I'm not messing y'all up and confusing you about the fact that you were born into a country where only wealthy white males have been set up to win. If you ain't wealthy, white, and a male, then you don't qualify to win. in this country. Y'all gonna catch this later on. But in the meantime, I gotta keep this thing moving because understand my sisters and brothers that the structure has been set up so that we are, to quote Dante King, public enemy number one. The structure has been set up so that Franklin Richardson is right in his book Witness to Grace that we are penalized because of the color of our skin.

41:14 Have you ever thought what craziness it would be if you get in a game and every time you try to score, you are penalized. And when you ask what it is that you did, they say it's because of the uniform that you're wearing. There's no way you can win if you're penalized for your skin. You're penalized because of what, of how God created you. It's something sick about that. Well, I got to keep it moving. Not only are we penalized for our skin, not only are we public enemy number one, not only is this a caste system, but Reverend Jesse Jackson put it this way, and that is we live in a nation where if you're not careful, you'll always focus on the sins within and not think about the sin we live in. All over the country today, you're going to hear sermons that will castigate people for the sins within.

42:17 But they won't deal with the sin we live in. Because in the mind and heart of our creator God, our Lord and liberator, God created all of us to fulfill the possibility that God gave us. God created the heavens and the earth and declared it was good. And then God created us in God's image and God's likeness, all of humanity. No matter what your skin color, it's a reflection of the creative genius of our great God. God made all of us red, brown, yellow, black, white, all precious in God's sight. God made all of us straight or gay. God says, I made you. God made all of us in God's image and in God's likeness. And yet there are structures that are set up to make sure that you don't win the game.

43:16 There are structures that are designed to ensure that you take ale after ale. And the ale is your living ale. Yes, there is the sin within and the sin we live in. And that's what ticked Amos off. Amos is ticked off. Amos is minding Amos' business. Watch this. In Tekoa as a rancher, a rancher. I had always read that text where he got called while tending fig trees as a shepherd from Tekoa. But then Ron Sider, I'm studying this text. and Ron Sider writes that in the Hebrew, the word for shepherd or translated shepherd is really rancher. It means that Amos is comfortable. Amos is doing well himself.

44:13 Amos is comfortable, doing well. Wait, in Tekoa. Tekoa is on the backside of nowhere. Tekoa is hood. Tekoa is on the other side of the tracks. Y'all not getting this. Tekoa is South Dallas. Tekoa is Bontong. Tekoa is Oak Cliff. That's my hood. Tekoa is the triple D. That's where Tekoa is. But watch this. Somehow in Tekoa, he's built a comfortable life. I like that because it lets you know it ain't about where you are. It's what you do where you are. It's not about where society puts you. It's about what God does through you and for you. In spite of folk trying to block you, y'all missing your shout because some of y'all got a testimony as the first in your family to get not one degree but several degrees.

45:12 As the first in your family to do as well as you're doing because you came from Tekoa, but God raised you up and blessed you in spite of where you came from. And y'all, I'm not done. The text then says God calls him while he's comfortable. Now, now, I'm going to slow this down right here because it's a word for somebody who's comfortable. And God is disrupting your comfort zone with a call beyond where you are. So God can do something through you that's bigger than you. And I'm simply trying to say God did not create us to be comfortable. God did not create us to chill in a comfort zone. But God creates us and then calls us so God can use us to make a difference in the world around us.

46:12 And somebody's looking at me right now. I'm in your Kool-Aid. I just called your flavor. And the bottom line is, yeah, you've been kind of comfortable. But these last, what, 18 months have disrupted your comfort zone. They've disrupted the comfort zone of this country. And look what Amos does. Amos now leaves Tekoa, goes to Bethel. And the book lets us know Amos sees all kinds of corruption in the court system. He sees a wickedly widening wealth gap because of exploitation as the greedy exploit the needy. He sees all of this. And Amos says, this is not right in the sight of God. This is the sin we live in. I hope y'all get that. And God is disgusted. God is displeased.

47:05 And when he gets to dealing with Israel, understand he's already talked about the other nation because God is concerned about justice even in foreign policy. God ain't pleased that this country is the number one purveyor of violence in the world to use the language of Martin King. God ain't pleased with the fact that this nation has been complicit in the genocide in Gaza. God is not pleased that this nation has partnered with Israel in taking over Gaza. Now 75% of Gaza has been taken from the indigenous Palestinians in that nation. That ain't of God. God ain't in that. God is moving through Amos speaking to this nation as you declare and celebrate 250 years of a so-called democracy. No, there's hypocrisy in your democracy and God says about this democracy I can't stand your festival. I hate and despise your praise when you go to church on Sunday because you've divorced it from justice for people.

48:26 And if you don't have justice for people, then I can't stand what you're doing. And there is an expiration date on your structure. There is an expiration date because the old folks said God don't like ugly and God ain't too clean on pretty. But here's the good news. The good news is God in this text, verse 21, I hate. Meaning, I mean, it's strong language. It's like, and I looked it up in the Hebrew and it's hate. God says, I hate your festivals. Okay. Festivals, festivals.

49:17 Passover. The Feast of Weeks. Where they Passover, they celebrated their emancipation. It was their Declaration of Independence. It was their Fourth of July. And God says, I hate your Fourth of July. I hate your fireworks display. I hate what you're doing in the New York Harbor with all of your shifts. I hate all of this because I see your injustice. I see how the greedy are exploiting the needy. I see what your court system did to Carmelo Anthony. I see what your court system did. I see how a police officer in Mississippi killed a one-year-old black baby and it barely makes the news. I see what you're doing to black women in terms of maternal mortality in a so-called advanced country.

50:18 And yet in this country, black women die at a rate like countries that don't have advanced health care. I see what you're doing. I see how you allow economic exploitation. I see how you've allowed this corrupt criminal cult leader to get $2 billion since he's been in the White House in just 18 months. And while he gets $2 billion and sends our kids to war in a war that's unconstitutional and undeclared, I see that. And I see that he can make $2 billion, but we've got 140 million Americans who are economically insecure. We've got Americans who are deciding if they're going to pay for their prescription or they're going to pay their bill. We live in a country like that, and God says, I see it, and I'm sick of it.

51:16 But the good news is what is ain't gotta be. But let justice roll down like waters. Righteousness like you never. There's still time to change. There's still time to turn this thing around. I ain't coming through like I need to. Last night, I'm trying to pray and prepare. And Deb gives me every hint that she can that she wants us to look at the fireworks together. I'm trying to hear from heaven. And Deb wants to see the fireworks. And you know how she does it, brother? She hints. A hint is a declaration. Okay?

52:10 Brothers, that's free. That's free. That's not in the sermon. But always understand it's a hint now. But interpret it as you better show up. So I stopped hearing from God because God told me, listen to your wife. So we go out and we're looking at the fireworks. Oh, say can you see by the dawn. I mean, we're looking at the fireworks. And then I have a flashback. I have a flashback. Watch this. To years ago, little boy and little girl were with their parents evidently in this store. And they're looking for fireworks.

53:03 And watch this. Little boy says to his big sister, I want to go outside to watch the fireworks. Now, it's noon. He said, I want to go outside. to watch the fireworks and so I just I'm ear hustling but it ain't my business so I keep on moving about my business and and then he just starts to have a tantrum I want to go outside to watch the fireworks now you know who it wasn't would have been snatched. You know, so, so, so, so, so. Yeah, oh, I just had a flashback because I did that one time, man, and it didn't come out good. And so, but I want to go outside and watch fireworks. And finally, his big sister said, the fireworks ain't outside right now, but isn't it the 4th of July?

53:57 She said, yes, it's the 4th of July. Well, I want to go outside and watch the fireworks right now. And then the sister came back with, but you can't see the show until it gets dark. And I came to tell y'all on the 5th of July, it may be dark in this country right now, but God says whenever it gets dark, that's when the show is about to start. And every time it's gotten dark in this country, God has started a show for justice and liberation. It was dark during slavery. But that's when the show came on and the Underground Railroad got us to freedom. It was dark in this country. But that's when Rosa sat down and the fireworks went off and we experienced the civil rights movement. God says it's dark right now.

54:50 But I see all over this country, there are fireworks about to go off. Fireworks for freedom. Fireworks for justice. Fireworks to renegotiate this democracy. So, so, how does it work? I'm almost done. Tech says it works. And I love this. When we recognize, please recognize, here it is. This is good right here. and that is I'm gonna say it slow because it's really a shout uh and that is okay commemoration and celebration are empty watch this unless you recognize the need for liberation no no that ain't what I want to say no that's that's what I want to say but I want to say it like Juan Floyd Thomas would so Juan you're gonna like this commemoration and celebration become empty unless you bring the same energy for justice was that all right Juan you better bring that same energy i like that that that's real culture right there bring the same energy when you bring the same energy because when game recognizes game game recognizes game means authenticity recognizes authenticity real recognizes real so when game recognizes game god says i ain't impressed with your commemoration and your celebration unless you bring that same energy when it comes to justice.

56:42 If you don't bring that energy when it comes to justice, don't show me your fireworks in New York Harbor. If you are not bringing justice to those who find themselves behind prison walls, make sure that you bring the same energy. I thought that was good, but it didn't work like, didn't hit like I thought it would. So, so I'm going to read the text. So y'all won't, well, no, I am not making this up. It's just, it's just good because game recognizes game. Look, look, look what the text says. I, I hate, I despise your festivals. Festivals. You know what they are? weeks, the festival of weeks, which is a celebration of the harvest, the festival of Passover, a festival, a celebration of liberation. But here's what you do. You got to bring that same energy to justice. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh, wonderful movie was Hidden Figures. And in the movie Hidden Figures, there's a scene that just really messes with me to this day. In this scene, Hidden Figures, You know the story of the bold, bad, brilliant black sisters who were really the brains behind this country going into outer space.

58:06 And the sad reality is in this nation's determination to always erase us. So many of us had never heard about Katherine Johnson and all of those amazing sisters who in watch this. situations that were oppressive, rendering them second class. They gave first class service and the nation experienced success. It wouldn't have experienced had these first class women in second class situations not given first class service. And y'all, in this movie, there's a scene where there's a protest going on across the street. A protest for justice. A protest to bring down injustice and oppression. and Jim and Jane Crow signs and segregation. And watch what happened there across the street is the protest. But in the foreground is a brother.

59:02 And the brother has two choices to make by way of drinking water. He's thirsty and needs hydration. And one water fountain is inferior and dirty. It says colored only. The other water fountain is clean and pristine. It says white only. He looks up at the protest going on across the street and decides to still drink the water from the colored fountain. And y'all, it hit me. Too many of us are content to drink the water. There was a protest for freedom going on across the street. But instead of joining the protest, he kept on drinking the water. And I came to church today to simply say, if you're going to follow Jesus, at least stop drinking the water. If you're going to follow Jesus, at least have the courage and the faith to stand against injustice.

59:59 I mean, Jesus did that. We often miss out on what happened on Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday, it's Passover season. Passover, Jerusalem, oh, this is good, would have before Passover, population of 50,000. During Passover, Jews came from around the world and it would swell, scholars say, to one million people. And when that many people were there, can't wait for worship and celebration in the temple. You had money changers. And the money changers would exploit those who did not have. the money changers were set up to make sure I'm going to charge exorbitant interest rates I'm going to be your payday loan dealer I'm going to be your car title loan dealer and so people because they didn't know and had any other choice they would get ripped off and exploited but here comes Jesus Jesus is riding on a donkey and the book lets us know while riding on a donkey the crowd cries out Hosanna and then the text says at the end of the march on Jerusalem Jesus goes into the temple and sees the exploitation going on. Jesus says to the DJ play Parliament Funkadelic. I'm gonna turn this mother out and Jesus then begins to overturn the tables of the money changers.

1:01:38 What is he doing? Jesus is saying because I cannot stand injustice, I'm going to use my power. I just got, I just came from a parade. I just came from a marsh, but it's not enough to have a celebration and see exploitation and not do anything for liberation. And I simply came to say, look at the text. I hate your festivals. I can't even stand your offerings. Your songs. Now you know what he's talking about. He done left the system and he's talking about worship. He says, I don't even want your worship. I don't want your praise. I don't want your praise songs. If you were not translating that praise into justice.

1:02:31 Y'all know I listen to Lurie Daniel Favors. and Loree Daniel Favors, awesome advocate, activist, attorney. Sister messed me up. She was talking about how she was walking down the street and came across some Jehovah Witnesses and all this going on in the country. It's right after the election of 2024 and in the first few days of his office where he said he'd be a dictator on day one and he is erasing the gains of the civil rights movement. And so the Jehovah Witnesses stop her and they try to witness to her. And so she decides to engage them. And when she engages them, here's what happens. She says to them, so now what does all of this that you're telling me in the Bible have to do with how Trump is erasing your rights?

1:03:27 And so they could not answer. And that's when she concluded, and I quote, she said, God, deliver me from rituals and faith that simply make me feel good in the midst of a situation gone bad. But give me what it takes to stay sane in the craziness so I can rise up and fight the insanity. And I'm simply trying to say, when you know God for yourself, coming to church ain't just to make you feel good. coming to church ain't just to make you feel that everything is going to be fine. No, you come into church just like electric cars pull up to a station. And when they pull up to that power station, they get plugged into power. They don't get plugged into power just to stay there. They get plugged into power.

1:04:20 So when they leave there, they have the power to go in their journey. When y'all come to church on Sunday, plug in. When you get plugged in, receive the power that God has for you. But don't stay at the station. You get up from the station and you go out in the world to make the world a better place because you are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.

1:04:50 Okay. I got to give you something else. Here it is. Watch this. God also says through Amos, symbolism without the substance of justice ain't about nothing. Because what's going on in the text is a lot of symbolism. And I've discovered that oppressors will satisfy your appetite for justice or try to satisfy your appetite for justice with symbols that distract you from true justice. Okay, I'm going to say this and hear me in love because I mean it in love. I was real hyped when they said they were going to make a coin with Harriet Tubman on it. No, $20 bill with Harriet Tubman.

1:05:51 I wanted that thing. Harriet? and the symbolism was powerful because she'd replace a racist who's on it right now. Harriet on a 20. I couldn't wait for my Tubman. I was going to just get nothing but Tubman. Tubman, Tubman, Tubman. Here a Tubman, there a Tubman, everywhere a Tubman, Tubman. And of course the racist in chief got in and vetoed that. And then when Biden was president, they released a coin with Tubman's face on it. But the coin was not for going in circulation. It had a face on it. It was in the shape of a coin, but no value. because they will appease us with symbols that substitute for real justice.

1:07:00 Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. Now, this is going to mess you up. But again, hear me in love. I'm so proud of and I will always thank God for that warrior, that hero, that shero, that amazing woman who decided that Juneteenth should be a holiday. That's a bad sister right there. At the age of 89 years old, 89, she walked from Fort Worth to D.C. because she was so determined that we commemorate Juneteenth that she didn't just march on Washington. She walked from Fort Worth to D.C., collected millions of dollars in the process. And now Juneteenth is a holiday and it should be. It should be. Because Juneteenth is the real meaning of what the 4th of July should be.

1:07:58 Because all those years we had July 4th, but not Juneteenth. and that meant July 4th was empty. July 4th was fake. July 4th was phony until we got Juneteenth. But Juneteenth is a holiday celebrating freedom but we still ain't free. So, so this is July 5th. This is my holiday, July 5th. You know why? Because Frederick Douglass, for whom I'm named, 1852, is invited by a women's group in Syracuse, New York, to address them because they had heard of his exploits through his oratorical sharings as he had talked about, his life, his bondage, and his freedom.

1:09:04 And he was going all over the north. He even went to Europe and went on a speaking tour there and they wanted to hear this silver-tongued orator for freedom. Speak, watch this. on the celebration of the Declaration of Independence. And they invited him to speak July 4th, 1852. Frederick Douglass said, hail to the knoll.

1:09:32 I'm not speaking July 4th as you celebrate the Declaration of Independence. I'm going to speak July 5th. And so on July 5th, Frederick Douglass speaks before a packed hall and asked them at the beginning of the speech, I don't know why you invited me to speak to you because the question becomes, what to the slave is your 4th of July? And he began to unpack the hypocrisy in the democracy of this country. But note with me, it wasn't on July 4th. It was on July 5th because according to Lloyd Bitzer, who writes about the rhetorical situation, the rhetorical situation, I'm about to shout you, was one of continued oppression. In the South, you had enslavement.

1:10:26 In the North, you had second-class citizenship for people of Ebony Hu. That's the rhetorical situation. And Frederick Douglass decides to bring his rhetorical situation into the rhetorical situation and says, what I'm going to do is use July 5th to give you a lens through which to look at July 4th. And I'm simply trying to say, y'all, yesterday, oh, what a wonderful party. Some of y'all partied last night. Oh, what a great cookout. You had a good cookout yesterday. But y'all, unless we look at July 4th through the lens of July 5th, then July 4th will become a slap in our face of what injustice continues to render in this nation. I ain't Frederick Douglass, but I got another question. What to the othered and oppressed in this country and around the nation is your semi-quincentennial, your 250th anniversary?

1:11:33 but a harsh reminder of the fact that your aspiration as a democracy is something that you continue to aspire to but have yet to reach. What to the othered and oppressed that you continue through systems of injustice to hold back as second-class citizens in what you call a first-class country? What to the othered and oppressed, those whose skin has been kissed by nature's son, who built this country for free, who have never been repaired with reparations and the repairing of a structure through reconstruction that does not allow them to participate fully in the beauty of democracy? What to those who have been rendered second class because of how God created them and because of who they love is your semi-quincentennial.

1:12:32 But a reminder that liberty and justice for all is really liberty and justice for y'all. What to the other and oppressed who are women? God created in God's image and likeness. But a reminder that because of how God created women, you've rendered them second class through sexism, sexism, misogyny, and misogyne war. What to the other and oppressed who find themselves in other countries and exploited by your imperialism and your militarism is your celebration of liberty and justice for all. But a reminder, it's just liberty and justice for the up and in who have the right skin color and enough money in their pockets. I'm simply trying to say symbolism without substance. Ain't no good.

1:13:29 All right, I lost y'all. So I'll go ahead and get quick with this. Final thing the text says, and I love this, and that is there is power and possibility in the pivot that's portrayed. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Okay, I know I talk fast, but dang. Let me just do it again so y'all can get this. It's right there in the text. It's just really good. It says, verse 23, take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps, but let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. I know I talk fast, but dang, I'll go back to verse 21. I hate, I despise your festivals.

1:14:22 I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. And the offerings of your well-being of fatted animals, I will not look upon. Take away from me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the melody of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Can I give y'all room to shout everything before verse 24 was overruled by what was portrayed by way of possibility. Yeah, you've messed up. Yeah, this nation ain't what it should be. But I still have a dream. I still believe in your possibility. I still believe because there's a pivot. But let justice roll down like waters. but conjunction, function, overrule what's before, but let justice roll down like waters.

1:15:25 Justice, justice. Can I give you my definition of justice? Justice is having the back of those whose backs are against the wall. Justice is wiring systems and structures with love. justice my sisters and brothers is enoughness justice is ma'at in the language of our Egyptian ancestors which means harmony and balance justice is what God wants for all of God's children let justice here it is roll down like waters righteousness ever flowing stream I look that thing up and the picture is of waters that are rushing and they're rushing and they're recreating riverbeds they are recreating the structure that had been there before moving rocks out of the way removing any impediments out of the way it's a rushing water that is moving justice This is what God calls for.

1:16:32 Here it is and I'm done. So this week I was in a lot of cities and so I'm trying to remember which. Yeah, I was in Oklahoma City and I forgot what day I was there, but I was in Oklahoma City. Wednesday, Wednesday I'm in OKC. And y'all, I get picked up in a sprinter. In a sprinter. Lord Jesus. Have you ever seen a sprinter? Yeah. I mean, this thing is big, long. And I look at the front of it. It's a Mercedes Sprinter. I get in the Mercedes Sprinter and it's the top of the line Mercedes. What's that called? The top of the line with Mercedes?

1:17:12 Maybach. What? Don't hate. Celebrate. God's going to make sure you participate. I am right. I get picked up at the Oklahoma City Airport. in a Mabok. Oh, y'all. Once I saw the Mabok, you know I had to strut. I strutted into the Mabob. It was the roughest ride. I've ever experienced. But it's a Maybach. It's a Maybach. And so I get a Maybach and beautiful driver, brother. Good dude. Just good dude. Good dude. And he was just really excited. He's driving me and wanted me to do a video in the Maybach that he could put online.

1:18:11 And I'm right. And, yeah, I mean, and so, so the Maybach is, and then finally, finally, we passed the hotel where I'm supposed to stay. And so, but I'm writing. And so finally I knocked on the thing and he lets it down. I said, you know where I'm staying? And he said, yeah.

1:18:40 I said, you just passed it. He said, I know. I said, so can you tell me what we're doing? Because I need to go to the room and, you know, kind of get ready for the night. He said, yeah, Pastor, I missed my turn. And so I'm going to have to turn around so we can get you to your hotel. Now, now, I thought about Zan Holmes because Zan Holmes says, if you're on a bus going in the wrong direction, it makes no sense to get up on the bus and then run down the aisle in the right direction. Because if you're still on the bus and you're running in the right direction, but the bus is going in the wrong direction, then you still are going to end up where you don't plan on being. I'm on a Maybach, y'all, that I had strutted in. I'm on a Maybach, y'all, a Maybach that looked good on the outside, but it was going in the wrong direction.

1:19:38 A Maybach that was fly and fire on the outside, it looked like it had all this power on the outside but it was going in the wrong direction. It made no sense for me to get up on the Maybach and run down the aisle in the right direction. It was time to turn the Maybach around. I simply came to tell y'all on July 5th in the spirit of the man for whom I'm named, This country is going in the wrong direction. It ain't enough to get up and run in the right direction. We've got to turn this thing around. So let's turn it around and do justice, love mercy, walk only with our God. Let's turn this thing around until there is quality health care for all of God's children. Let's turn this thing around and beat our swords into plowshares and study war no more.

1:20:36 Let's turn this thing around and let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. It's time to turn this nation around. We can do it. We've got the power to do it. Let's turn this thing around because mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. Let's turn this nation around. because James