Dr. Jamal H. Bryant, STOP BUYING A BUNCH OF CRAP - July 23th, 2023
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00:00 2 Kings chapter 6 verse 25 we'll be reading today from the King James
00:14 Version. Would you read silently as I read aloud? And there was a great famine
00:22 in Samaria and behold they besieged it until an ass's head was sold for four
00:30 score pieces of silver and the fourth part of a cab of doves dung for five
00:37 pieces of silver. You may be seated.
00:43 Thank you, you're the only member I got. Thank you.
00:49 And there was a great famine in Samaria and behold they besieged it until an
01:02 ass's head was sold for four score pieces of silver and the fourth part of
01:08 a cab of doves dung for five pieces of silver. In the last two weeks that we
01:16 have in this Broken Rich series, how many of you have been blessed by this series?
01:21 We only have two Sundays to go. I want to encourage you to take notes, there's
01:27 some principles and some points that I think are gonna be a blessing to you
01:30 long after this day is over. I want to preach today using as a subject, "Stop
01:36 buying a bunch of crap." Stop buying a bunch of crap. Look at the person
01:46 beside you telling, "My friend needs this word, my friend."
01:51 Stop buying a bunch of crap. After we put away the hand sanitizer, tore off the
02:04 mask, and erased social distancing, there was another pandemic facing the populace
02:14 that was lodged under mental health which spawned a new kind of therapy.
02:23 You're not gonna believe it, there's a new line of therapy called financial
02:29 therapy. The field suggests that while 60% of Americans are presently stressed
02:38 about their personal economy, the root of the stress can be traced to their
02:46 spending habits, which are braided into three different cornrows. Three different
02:55 cornrows. The first one is self-esteem. Self-esteem impacts your spending habits.
03:05 The second one is gonna throw you off, it is trauma recovery. Trauma recovery
03:13 influences your spending habits. The third one is a scarcity mindset. A
03:23 scarcity mindset. These three things, self-esteem, trauma recovery, and a
03:30 scarcity mindset. If this is true, then the problem may not be the bank, the
03:40 problem may be your brain. To get out of the basement of low self-esteem, you may
03:50 need Aaron Sky Kelly's book entitled, "Get the Hell Out of Debt." Get the hell out
03:59 of debt. She argues we want what feels good even if it is not good for us. So
04:10 when we don't feel good about ourselves, we try to assuage a feeling with a thing.
04:18 We assuage a feeling with a thing. When we feel stepped on, we buy new shoes. When
04:29 our heart is broken, we buy something to put in our stomach. When depressed, we get
04:37 a new dress. Low self-esteem will have you with a closet that is full and a
04:47 soul that is vacant. Imagine if Joseph's self-esteem was around his robe when his
04:58 brother snatched it, he would have never been able to flourish. New clothes can
05:06 never cover old wounds. New clothes will never cover old wounds. You have to find
05:15 identity in your calling and not in your clothing. So you know who it
05:24 is that you are no matter what it is that you put on. At some point in your
05:30 life, at some points in your life, you will have a financial crisis, whether it's
05:40 from the loss of a job, inflation, divorce, death, illness, or an accident.
05:51 The trauma can leave you not opening your bills for months, or it'll have you
06:02 opening your wallet for days. Overspending is not an effective coping
06:12 mechanism. Going to buy a fur coat with the insurance money will not keep you
06:20 warm from grief. Bundles and a full set will never cover the fact that you don't
06:27 like being a single parent. Getting a new car will not stop you from remembering
06:35 how you were ignored as a teenager. Going through surgeries will not extract the
06:45 fact that you hate yourself. Buying every new bag cannot assist you in unpacking
06:54 your baggage. When Job lost everything, he did not go shopping. When Job lost
07:05 everything, he went worshiping. When you are going through going to Lenox and
07:12 Phipps, it's not gonna fill that void, but you've got to go to the rock that is
07:18 higher than you and I. I know some of you have never been there, but there's some
07:24 people in the room, here's your shout, who have had to start over more than twice.
07:30 But you found out, I will look to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help
07:36 is what comes from the Lord. The most pervasive spirit is the scarcity mindset.
07:48 The scarcity mindset, which is living in a perpetual place of believing there
07:56 will never be enough, is the uphill battle of reminding yourself that
08:04 whatever you are going through is just temporary. I need you to help me preach, I
08:11 need you to help me preach. How about you look at the person beside you and tell
08:14 them it's not permanent. Look at the person on the other side and tell them
08:19 it's just temporary. The scarcity mindset attempts to convince that you will
08:28 always be in lack, that you'll always be paying student loans, that credit card
08:36 debt will not come to an end, that you're always going to receive harassing phone
08:43 calls. But I wanted to remind you that weeping can only endure for a night, but
08:50 joy has got to come in the morning. I got to remind you it won't always be like
08:56 this. Sooner or later it's going to work in your favor. Late in the midnight hour,
09:03 God will turn it around. If these three areas hold true, that what influences our
09:15 spending habits the most is low self-esteem, trauma, and scarcity, then it
09:24 helps us to better understand the spending habits of black people. We
09:32 transact, I need you to hear this, over one trillion dollars a year in spending.
09:39 As a collective entity, we are the 13th wealthiest people in the nation.
09:48 Collectively, we have more spending power than Switzerland. We have more spending
09:56 power than the Netherlands. Y'all not saying anything to me, but we don't
10:02 understand that the Kwanzaa principle of cooperative economics. One trillion
10:10 dollars of spending power, and I couldn't understand it, Dr. Tamer, until I read
10:15 the Nielsen spending report. They said, watch this, 52 percent, I want you to
10:21 write this down, 52 percent of black people look at spending, look at shopping
10:28 as relaxing. 52 percent of black people look at shopping as relaxing. So as a
10:41 consequence, Negroes don't go skiing. We don't go kayaking. Y'all ain't saying
10:51 nothing. We don't go rollerblading. We gonna pick where we going on the trip
10:56 based off of what kind of shopping they got. If you know I'm talking to you, just
11:03 blink at me twice. We look at shopping as relaxing when only 26 percent of the
11:13 rest of the population does. As a consequence, we see shopping, watch this,
11:21 as a hobby. That's what I do in my free time. I'm not quilting. I'm not collecting
11:30 stamps. I'm not collecting silver dollars. I shop. I shop when I'm bored. I'm shop
11:39 before I go to sleep. Right now, right now, those of y'all that got something in your
11:45 cart right now, raise your hand. You got it in your cart right now. You just
11:49 waiting on when you gonna get it.
11:55 Amen. Lord help the children of God.
12:02 The Federal Bureau, listen to me, the Federal Bureau of Labor and Statistics
12:09 report that we spend up to 30 percent of our income on shopping. 30 percent of our
12:21 income goes to shopping. We spend on average $2,300 a quarter on things that
12:30 are visible. Clothes, jewelry, cars. We buy it, watch this, for stuff that is visible
12:43 because we want to make an investment for that which is public. So we do not
12:51 mind shopping for public affirmation when we will not do private wealth
12:59 building. We spend $54 million a year on hair.
13:08 $54 million a year on hair. We spend $152 million a year on perfume. We spend
13:22 $700 million a year, this is just black people, $700 million a year on
13:30 liquid soap. We are clean while living dirty.
13:41 So you smell good, your hair looks good, your nails are good, you got brand new
13:48 church clothes, and you got all of that with no insurance.
13:56 You got all of that with no stocks. You got all of that with no investment
14:03 portfolio, but you smell good. We just keep buying a bunch of crap. You don't
14:16 think I'm talking to you. We are buying a bunch of crap. Would you look at the
14:23 person beside you and say, "Pastor, preaching to you today." We buy a bunch of crap.
14:32 Pastor, prove it to me. You are spending every month for 500 cable channels and
14:41 you watch four. You got the super package and you watching the same four channels.
14:53 How much money have you spent upgrading Candy Crush? You got gym memberships and
15:03 you ain't been since January. You buying a verified status on social media and
15:12 nobody knows you. You paying for storage units and you need to throw all of that
15:22 stuff away.
15:25 You keep going to the supermarket buying groceries as if you still have a full
15:38 house. And at the end of the month you got to throw all of that food away
15:44 because your children ain't there no more. Stop wasting your money.
15:54 You remember the prodigal son who got his inheritance early. The
16:10 Bible says he spent all that he had, hear this, on riotous living. And somehow
16:18 through Vacation Bible School we have shrunk that experience from
16:22 riotous living to a riotous night. The prodigal son lost his inheritance, hear
16:31 this, because of a lifestyle not because of an event. Always going to the club,
16:41 always existing for entertainment, always buying out the bar, always treating
16:49 people who wanted to trick him. Isn't it amazing? It is only after he spent all of
16:57 his parents money that he looked for a job. He functioned out of entitlement. And
17:06 those of you who are parents in this room, make sure that you don't raise
17:11 black children who have white privilege.
17:16 Thinking that they supposed to have it, don't you dare. Let these little Negroes
17:22 have Gucci and Louis and they ain't got no job and got no grades and got no
17:28 chores and got no accountability. You gotta stop it. Your responsibility as
17:37 parents is raise them to leave you.
17:45 Raise them to leave you so that you are not taking care of grown Negroes. In
17:57 2 Kings, in 2 Kings the children of God are in a rough spot. The stock market has
18:05 crashed, the dollar has gone down, and there's no grain to be found. They are in
18:14 a famine, watch this, and they are God's children. I can lay my anchor down right
18:23 there. These are God's children and they are in a famine. I do not want you to get
18:33 deluded from these evangelical prosperity doctrinal preachers who will
18:41 suggest to you that because you have favor you will never struggle. Because
18:47 you have the grace of God, it doesn't mean that you're not gonna go through a
18:50 rough season. But God said if you suffer with me, then you will reign with me. I
18:58 can't hear nobody in here. I need those of you that can bear witness that while
19:04 I was in a rough season, I still had Jehovah Jireh. When I didn't know how I
19:10 was gonna feed the kids, the Lord made a way somehow. When checks were bouncing, I
19:18 still never seen the righteous forsaken or a seed begging for bread. God will be
19:27 with you even when you're financially strapped. God will be with you even when
19:35 you ain't making a bunch of money. God will be with you when your bank account
19:41 is in the negative. God will be with you when you got cut off notices on the
19:48 nightstand. God will be with you when you ain't collecting child support. God will
19:56 be with you. The children of God are in a famine and I want you to see how they
20:06 start spending while they're in that famine. The Bible says that they start
20:12 buying the head of an ass, the head of a donkey. They give you in our text today
20:20 the measurements of that head. Watch this and I need you to understand that in
20:25 today's dollar they would have been spending three hundred and twenty
20:29 dollars for the head of a donkey. That don't mean much to you until you
20:36 understand the book of Leviticus says that the donkey is unclean. And here are
20:43 the children of God spending money in the midst of a deficit, in the midst of a
20:50 drought, on something that does not line up with their consecration. Furthermore
20:56 you've got to understand here this is that the head of the donkey has the
21:00 least amount of protein. It has the least amount of nourishment but they're
21:06 prepared to spend three hundred and twenty dollars on something that will
21:10 not feed them. Moving outside of the spiritual let's look at it metaphorically
21:16 that ladies and gentlemen the ass, the mule, the donkey represents that which is
21:22 stubborn, that which will not move. Those of you that remember you are what you
21:29 eat. It's that they were becoming stubborn in their thought and in their mind
21:34 frame because they were taking on the persona of that which they were
21:39 consuming. Many of you will not get to the next level in God because you are
21:45 too stubborn. You think you got to keep doing the same thing and you're
21:51 looking for different results. But God said there's got to be a shifting in
21:56 your mind to understand that when I move I ain't got to move the way I did last
22:01 year. I'm gonna move in a completely different way and I don't know how
22:06 many of you all are prepared to embrace it but I believe God's getting ready to
22:11 move differently on your behalf. The way that you saw a breakthrough happen
22:17 before is not how God gonna do it next. He gonna flow in a different way. Ladies
22:26 and gentlemen they're in a famine and they're spending money on the head of an
22:31 ass, on the head of a mule, on the head of a donkey. Donkeys are in fact in the
22:39 Bible a hundred and forty six times. A hundred and forty six times but every
22:45 time that you find one they are riding it not eating it. Many of you have your
22:53 placement in the wrong place. That there are some things you should never be
22:59 consuming. You just have to use it for what it is. May I say to you don't make
23:05 your job your life. That is not where you supposed to end up. That's
23:11 just where you supposed to hang out until your vision gets off the ground.
23:16 You gotta let your manager know don't threaten me this ain't what I live for.
23:21 I'm just here until God releases me to the next season of my life. Ladies and
23:31 gentlemen they're wasting money on the head of a donkey, the head of an ass. But
23:38 I need you to see where else they are spending money. They are spending money
23:42 y'all ain't gonna believe it, buying the droplets or buying the
23:49 excretion, buying the crap of doves. They are so hungry they are now selling what
24:02 is on your windshield. God help me. And they are eating it. Y'all ain't saying
24:12 nothing to me. It's one thing for me to have to deal with crap is something
24:18 altogether different if you think I'm gonna pay for it. Y'all ain't saying
24:23 nothing to me there. That there are people who are playing you low. They
24:28 think that you are so invested in their foolishness that you are willing to pay
24:34 for their mistake. You gotta be careful how you handle me. Just because I didn't
24:41 check you don't mean I didn't know you were trying to play me. But I realized
24:47 there's some stuff I am NOT gonna pay for. Ladies and gentlemen I need you to
24:55 see what is taking place. I need you to see what is taking place. They are
25:00 paying for doves dung by the ounce. And doing a cross-dollar analysis it is
25:10 costing them $23 an ounce for doves crap. And they're willing to pay for it
25:21 because they're in a famine. Pastor, I cannot find the significance of this
25:27 doves crap. What does it mean? What is God trying to show us through this
25:33 text? You remember when it is that Jesus was baptized, that his cousin baptized
25:41 him and Jesus submitted himself to the will of God. That the Heavenly Father
25:47 turned on the audio-visual system in heaven and made an announcement to the
25:51 entire earth and declared, "This is my Son in whom I'm well pleased." You remember
26:00 when Noah is coming through the ark and has gone through a turbulent storm and
26:06 floods came and covered the entire earth. When he opened up that hatch it was a
26:12 dove that arrived to declare that the storm has passed over. New Testament and
26:19 Old Testament theologians concur that the dove is representational of the
26:25 presence of the Holy Spirit. I need you all to stay with me. It is representational
26:31 of the presence of the Holy Spirit. Now go back to our text and the children of
26:37 God are spending money on doves dung. They are not spending money on the dove.
26:48 They are spending money, stay with me class, on what the dove excreted. So it is
26:55 the residue, watch this, of where the dove was but is no longer present. I think I
27:05 lost you. A whole lot of churches are dying because they are eating off of
27:11 where the Spirit used to be. But I don't want to be where the Spirit used to be. I
27:19 want to be where the Spirit abides. Some of y'all are shouting off of an old
27:26 testimony, off of an old witness, but those of you that want the presence of God
27:33 right where you are, I dare you to lift up that hair and open up your mouth like God
27:41 filled me up.
27:44 Hallelujah. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. You may be seated,
27:54 thank you. You may be seated, thank you so very much. You may be seated in the
27:59 presence of the Lord. Hallelujah. And so they're going broke in the midst of a
28:07 famine on stuff that can't feed them, on stuff that cannot fulfill them, on stuff
28:15 that will not meet the need. Bob Marley once said that if all you have is
28:22 money you are broke. Hallelujah. But God is getting ready to shift you into a
28:30 realm of faith that you didn't even know that you needed. I'm so sorry it took me
28:38 this long just to get to this point. He said for me to announce to you today
28:42 that I needed to put you in a position of a famine in the earth. What's this? That
28:50 it is not about grain and corn and milk and bread. He said, "Jamal, tell them they
28:56 don't even know why they came to church today." Hallelujah. They had no idea
29:03 why it is that I had them log on online. He said, "I've been trying to get their
29:10 attention because they were so deep-seated in the desert, in the famine,
29:17 that they don't even recognize where they are. That where they are is where
29:23 they need me." Pastor, unpack that for me. In other words, God told me to tell you
29:30 if you can hear my voice that he's got you in this position. Because where you
29:36 are, I'm waiting on my worshipers, where you are and what you need, here's your
29:43 shout, "Money can't buy." Oh my God, I got to get out of here. He said, "I want to see
29:52 how you will expend yourself physically, spiritually, emotionally if what I need
30:01 is healing. I need God to do something in my body that the doctors don't know how
30:10 to do. What I need is joy in my heart because I'm sick of being depressed and
30:18 sick of being anxious and sick of being stressed out. What I need is love for my
30:26 family because we barely speak to each other. We don't even relate to one
30:31 another. We don't even hang out or communicate with each other." He said, "Look
30:37 at all the stuff you have spent money on, but I'm wondering on this Sunday morning,
30:44 will you spend yourself trying to get what only I can release?" Hallelujah. Can I
30:53 tell you, praise is the best thing that ever happened to broke people because
31:00 when I run out of money, I never run out of giving him glory. I will bless the
31:08 Lord at all times. His praise.
31:15 Hallelujah. I feel glory coming in just about two minutes. I'm telling you, I feel
31:25 glory coming in just about two minutes. Would you look at the person beside you
31:29 and tell them, "It's my treat." Look at your neighbor, tell them, "It's my treat."
31:34 What you need from God, I'm getting ready to pay for it. What you've been waiting
31:42 for God to do, I'm gonna put myself on the line. Would you open up your mouth
31:49 and pay for your peace? Open up your mouth that this joy that I have
31:59 is yours. Hallelujah. No music, please. Hallelujah. Thank you, holy God.
32:10 Hallelujah. Thank you, holy God. I feel something getting ready to move in
32:19 this room. I need you to grab that neighbor real quick and say, "Neighbor, I
32:25 got a family member that's been real sick. We can't afford it, but God has
32:34 already paid the bill. I can't hear nobody." I need you to take that neighbor's
32:40 hand. Say, "I got a friend that's depressed, a friend that's unhappy, a friend that's
32:48 suicidal, but when I give God glory today, their heart is about to shift. They're mine!"
33:05 Hallelujah. Oh my God. I've been teaching you for the last two months about broken
33:19 rich. I've been sharing with you about leasing and buying, about LLCs and trusts,
33:27 about investments, about renting and owning, and God arrested me this week
33:34 while I was in preparation and prayer to come to you. He said, "Jamal, don't you
33:39 dare talk to my children just about material stuff, and they have not gone
33:45 for the gift of the Spirit." Y'all ain't saying nothing. They have been
33:50 stretched themselves for the fruit of the Spirit. There's got to be a sound.
33:55 Y'all ain't saying nothing. Last week, y'all was tearing the church up, believing
34:01 God was gonna get you a new house, but I want to know how will you shout if you
34:06 gonna get a new heart? You're getting a new mind frame. You're getting a
34:12 brand new spirit.
34:24 Hallelujah. There's getting ready to be a sound that's gonna erupt in this room for
34:33 those of you who have been in your own desert storm. You've been going through
34:39 stuff and you don't even know how to get out of it. All the more it may not even
34:43 be you, your child been going through something, and you don't know how to
34:48 reach them, you don't know how to connect with them, but gifts ain't gonna bring
34:52 them out of it. Money ain't gonna bring them out of it. But one day when I was
34:58 lost, Jesus died on the cross, and I know it was the blood that saved me. This,
35:11 ladies and gentlemen, is going to be the test of your spiritual maturity. If you
35:20 fail this, ignore everything I've taught you in the last four weeks. God wants you
35:28 to go after his heart more than you go after his hand. Y'all ain't saying
35:35 nothing to me. He wants you to go after his heart more than you go after his
35:41 hand. How will you shout if you got to drive the same car, live in the same
35:48 house, have the same paycheck, but you got joy unspeakable? And this joy that I have, the
35:58 world!
36:01 There's a sound in this room. I'm coming, Jonathan. There's a sound in this room.
36:13 There's a sound in this room that God mandates from us so that we don't treat
36:19 God like an ATM. We don't treat God like a sugar daddy. We don't treat God, watch
36:28 this, just like we need something. But I want to hear the sound of those of you
36:34 that know I want God more than I want anything. And if I lose everything and
36:40 still have my soul intact, it's worth all of it. For just 30 seconds, open up your
36:49 mouth and shout unto God for what money can't buy. Open up your mouth.
37:00 Come on, I can't hear you. For what money can't buy. Come on, I want more joy. I want
37:13 more peace. I want my right mind. I'm not gonna spend my life chasing after money.
37:23 I'm chasing after God.
37:30 Lift your hand, I want to pray for you. I want to pray for you.
37:49 I'm gonna tell you what conventional cultural wisdom will never tell you.
37:55 Please lift that hand, sir, ma'am, those of you online. Listen to me. Having all
38:02 the money in the world will not make you happy.
38:07 There's a whole lot of people who are millionaires who are miserable. Billionaires
38:16 who are getting ready to break down. But God will give you a peace that passes all
38:22 understanding. He'll give you a joy that is unspeakable. That hand is lifted. I
38:33 want to say to you, my mother's mother, Pauline Lucas Williams, in
38:40 sainted memory, raised ten children in the projects of New York City. Ten
38:47 children in the projects and didn't lose any of them to drugs. None of them had a
38:55 bullet in their body. Y'all ain't saying nothing to me.
39:04 And I have never ever in my whole life did I ever hear my grandmother complain.
39:11 Watch this, while living in the projects.
39:16 Need that hand lifted. It was in my lifetime. I saw my grandmother get her
39:25 first car. It was in my lifetime. Hallelujah. But my grandmother knew this joy that I have.
39:41 The world didn't give it.
39:47 The world can't take it away. Prosperity doctrine. Listen, prosperity doctrine is
39:59 an insult to your grandmother's faith. The favor of God don't come with private
40:08 claims. Favor of God doesn't come with Bentleys. The favor of God helps you to
40:18 keep your head when all those around you are losing theirs.
40:25 I don't know. Listen to me. I need y'all to listen to me. I didn't hit a
40:34 nerve with the enemy. I didn't hit a nerve with the enemy. I need y'all to
40:39 help me. Dr. Hill, I didn't hit a nerve with the enemy. They just told me all of
40:44 our internet just shut down. I need y'all to hear me real quick. The enemy don't
40:50 want this word to go forth. I need those of y'all that know that God is getting
40:55 ready to ship some things. Come on, I tell you to open up your mouth. Come on, I tell
41:03 you. Would you cry out loud? Come on, come on. I need you to open up your mouth. Fight for the glory.
41:15 Fight for the glory.
41:19 Lift up that hand, let me pray. I mean all of them down. Facebook down, YouTube down,
41:31 the website is down. Y'all ain't saying nothing, but God gonna get glory out of
41:37 this. He is gonna get glory out of this.
41:42 I need you to lift up that hand. Lord, I pray for every person with lifted hands
41:53 that whatever they don't have the money for, you'll give them the faith for. I
42:03 pray dear Lord that you will do something unconventional. You'll do
42:08 something innovative, something out of the box in order for the need to be
42:15 missed and for the issue to be addressed. God, we trust you with our whole heart. We
42:22 don't know how you're gonna do it, but we know that you're able to keep us from
42:28 falling and to present us faultless before your grace. And those of you who
42:35 are trusting God, here's your shout for what money cannot buy. Would you give God
42:42 your best shout of Thanksgiving right now?
42:47 Come on, open up your mouth. Open up your mouth. I can't hear you. Open up your mouth.
42:59 (crowd cheering)
43:03 (crowd cheering)
43:05 (electronic music)
43:08 [BLANK_AUDIO]