Jesus Came From The Hood

As I stand before you today, I want to break down some walls and shake up some mindsets. And talk about Jesus Came from the Hood.

See, too many people think God only moves in the big places, the shiny places, the perfect places.

They think blessings are reserved for the palaces, the suburbs, the well-to-do.

But if you read your Bible, you’ll discover that our Savior was raised in a place people laughed at, a place people overlooked, a place they dismissed. Nazareth wasn’t Beverly Hills, it was the hood.

It’s alright to say it, Jesus came from the hood.

We must know and understand that God shows up in the overlooked places

Nathanael asked the question can anything good come out of Nazareth?

In other words, ain’t nothing coming from there but trouble.

People don’t expect anything good to come out of that place.

All you find there is pain, struggle, and disappointment.

Nobody looked at that neighborhood and sees any potential.

The world wrote them off as a dead end.

All they seen coming from Nazareth is failure and heartache.

This sounds familiar.

Because people have said the same thing about some of our neighborhoods. Can anything good come from the projects? Can anything good come from Jackson, Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, or Memphis?

But what I love about God is that’s just how God works.

He chooses what people reject. He shows up in the hood to remind us that greatness is not about location, it’s about destiny.

God can take a drug addicted and turn them into a preacher.

“God can take a gang member and turn them into a missionary.

God can take a dropout and turn them into a scholar of His Word.

God can take a thief and turn them into a teacher of righteousness.

God can take a prisoner and turn them into a prophet of hope.

God can raise up greatness from the gutter.

God can make presidents and Kings from the hood.

Here’s what I love about Jesus. Jesus Identifies with Our Struggles.

Don’t miss this: Jesus didn’t grow up in luxury. He knew what it was to live where resources were limited.

He knew what it was to be talked about.

He knew what it was to live with a reputation on His neighborhood.

He knew what it was like to be judged by where you came from before they even knew who you were.

He knew what it felt like for the whole block to write your story before you had a chance to live it.

And yet, the very place he came from is the same place that shaped Him for His ministry.

If you came from the hood, Jesus knows your grind. If you came from struggle, Jesus knows your pain.

Whether you’re grinding late nights like Gen Z, juggling life like Millennials, carrying responsibilities like Gen X, building from nothing like the Baby Boomers, enduring silently like the Silent Generation, or persevering through storms like the G.I. Generation, Jesus knows your struggle, He feels your pain, and He’s walking with you every step of the way.”

That’s why Hebrews 4:15 tells us, We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses. In other words, He knows what it’s like.

He came from the hood, so He can help in the hood.

May I tell you that your Hood Does Not Define Your Horizon.

Listen, your starting point does not have to be your ending point.

Jesus came from Nazareth, but He didn’t stay stuck in Nazareth.

He went from the hood, to hood. But most of all he went from the hood to the cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to glory.

That’s a word for somebody in here this morning. Just because you started in the hood doesn’t mean you’ll finish in the hood.

What people use to disqualify you is the very thing God will use to empower you.

I understand that my past doesn’t cancel my promise.

My hood can’t block my hope.

Scripture: John 1:46

Nathanael said to him, Can anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him, Come and see.

Let me get through with this thang.

This verse takes place early in Jesus ministry. Philip had just encountered Jesus, and was convinced that He was the Messiah.

Excited about who Jesus was, Philip wanted his friend Nathanael to meet Jesus. But Nathanael’s first response reflects a common human skepticism: Can anything good come out of Nazareth?

You see Nazareth was a small, insignificant town. It was not known for anything remarkable, economically, socially, or even spiritually.

People in Israel often dismissed it. Nathanael’s question is more than curiosity, it’s doubt, judgment, and perhaps even prejudice.

This moment highlights one of the most radical truths of the gospel: God often chooses the overlooked and the underestimated. Jesus wasn’t born in a palace or a city of renown. He came from a place that society ignored, he came from the hoods of Nazareth.