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.
Imagine the shock: the long awaited Messiah, prophesied for centuries, didn’t come from Jerusalem, or Bethlehem, the birthplace of kings (though He was born there). He came from a town that nobody thought could produce greatness.
Philip didn’t try to argue with Nathanael. He didn’t debate about Nazareth’s value. He simply said, Come and see.
Philip understood that faith often requires a personal encounter over intellectual proof.
God doesn’t always convince people with arguments; He reveals Himself through experience.
And here it is, we can’t always explain God to doubters, we just have to invite them to experience Him for their self.
But here’s what I love. God has a ways to defy human expectations: People looked at Nazareth and saw nothing. God looked at Nazareth and saw His Son.
Faith requires stepping into the unknown: Nathanael was hesitant, but his willingness to come and see, which led him to a life changing encounter.
This is true for us we must step out in faith to witness God’s power.
By coming from Nazareth, Jesus connects with ordinary, the overlooked, and marginalized people. He meets us where we are, regardless of our background, reputation, or location.
Let me tell you about a young man named Jamal.
Jamal grew up in a neighborhood where the streetlights barely worked, where sirens were part of the lullabies at night, and where dreams often got lost in the shuffle of gun shot.
His father wasn’t around much, his mother worked two jobs just to keep food on the table, and his older brother was already caught up in of crime.
From a young age, Jamal felt the weight of the hood pressing down on him. Teachers wrote him off. Friends laughed at him. Even some family members said, “Boy, you’ll never make it out of here.” Every day was a fight just to survive, let alone thrive.
One night, after yet another fight at school, Jamal walked the empty streets feeling defeated. He saw the graffiti, the boarded-up houses, the broken dreams around him, and he whispered, God, can anything good really come out of here?
That same night, an older neighbor invited him to a small church down the block. Skeptical, tired, and a little desperate, Jamal went.
He heard the preacher talk about Jesus, and how He came from Nazareth, a place no one respected, and yet He became the Savior of the world.
He heard that Jesus knew what it was to feel rejected, overlooked, and underestimated, for the first time, Jamal felt like he was somebody, because He realized God understood the hood, and more importantly, God understood him.
Jamal gave his life to Jesus that night. But it wasn’t instant success. He still had to face challenges—temptations, failures, setbacks—but every time he wanted to give up, he remembered: If Jesus could rise from Nazareth, I can rise from here.
And I need to tell somebody here today: your hood doesn’t define you, your pain doesn’t disqualify you, and your past doesn’t cancel your promise. Just like Jamal, and just like Jesus, you can rise!
I may have came from the hood, but the hood didn’t stop my hope.
I may have had some struggle, but struggles don’t have me.
And I came to tell somebody today: don’t let your Nazareth limit your faith. Don’t let your hood silence your hope. If Jesus came from the hood, you can rise out of yours too.
The hood can’t stop me and it can’t hold me down. Because with Jesus on my side.
