You Listen To Hip-Hop/Rap Music!?!

Last week I went to Lamp Mode's "Hold Em High" Concert.  Lamp Mode is a Christian hip-hop/rap record label.  When I told people that I went to a hip-hop/rap concert I get mixed reactions.  The majority are surprised (mainly because I like country and bluegrass so much).  A few even still look down on the genre because they are either unaware of Christian artists or they don't believe it is Godly to listen to this style of music no matter what.

Well I would like to take a moment to let you know why I not only listen to hip-hop/rap, but why I am a big fan of it now.

1.  When I listen to artists such as Shai Linne, JSon, Tedashii, or many others it's akin to getting a sermon.  In fact, I've listened to sermons that don't have nearly as much depth and theological weight as some of their songs.

2.  Many people that I know teen's through 30's really like rap as a genre.  So for me to do a better job reaching out to them as a pastor I must enter into their world.  It is ludicrous for me to expect them to take up my personal music taste.  As long as what they are listening to is God honoring, or if I can point them in that direction with their genre, why would I fight against it.  Music is the language of the soul.  So by learning to listen to their music, I am learning how to communicate with their hearts not just their heads.

3.  After having listened to a good amount of Christian Rap artists it has now become one of my favorite genres of music.  I listen to a Tedashii album like I listen to a Disciple album.  I listen to Shai Linne's 'Doxology' like I listen/sing along with a Matt Redman album.  It has become a source of edification and a source for worship.

So if you have never listened to hip-hop/rap before because you only think of trash that passes for rap music in secular society, I encourage you to check out some of these Christian artists.  I would love to point you in the direction of some very Godly men with up lifting and challenging lyrics.

Likewise, if you have a friend and/or family member that listens to secular rap get them a Christian rap album as a present.  I would suggest something by either Andy Mineo or Lecrae to get them started.  These lyrics will start to affect their soul in ways only God knows.  Moreover, I think these guys are just as talented if not more talented than most secular artists.

Now y'all holler at me if you got any questions!  :-)

Appreciating Patience

We say God is patient, but all too often I don't think we really appreciate that thought.  I would like to help with that understanding that concept.  Now I could say look at all the prophets and how many told the people to repent and turn to God and still they didn't listen.  However, I think that approach is part of what makes it difficult to understand how patient God is just as much as just looking at a single verse stating,

 “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” (Psalm 86:15, ESV)

Instead, I want to look at one man's life.  That man is Jeremiah, nicknamed the weeping prophet.  Why was he called the weeping prophet?  The answer is simple.  His ministry started when he was a young man and it spanned a couple kings.  He was called by God to preach to the people repentance.  The problem is that they would never listen to the words God gave him.  Lastly, he would see many of his countrymen die and the best hauled off in shame to captivity.  Pretty hard cup to swallow, but drink it he did.

He started his ministry off with this declaration:

   “Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” (Jeremiah 2:12–13, ESV)

He lets them know that there are two primary sins that they are guilty of.  The first is that they left the One True God.  He who is the author and sustainer of life.  Jesus picks up this imagery of living water when he talks to the woman at the well (John 4).

The first sin alone would be enough.  The second is both sad and a slap in the face.  They gave God up for something that is worthless.  Not just worthless but detrimental.  Think about the image of a broken cistern for a moment.  It can't give you fresh water nor can it hold the water in it.  So because it is stagnant it carries disease to all who come to it.  So instead of life, they receive death.

Now several decades pass.  Jeremiah is no longer the youth that he was.  He has continued to spread the message of repentance that God gave to him.  As a result, he has been beaten, imprisoned, and had his life threatened at different times.  During the final siege of Jerusalem he is thrown into a broken cistern and partially sinks into the filth.  Then the king has him removed from the cistern because he needs some advice.  However, Jeremiah tells the king that he doesn't want to say anything because he won't listen and will just want to kill him.  So, after the king promises not to kill him Jeremiah gives the same answer.  He tells him if he asks God for forgiveness, walks out the gates, and surrenders he will be taken into captivity, but will have his life as a reward.  

The King refuses. (Jeremiah 38)

Jeremiah is an old man and God's patience for his people has come to an end.

The cities defenses fail and the city is taken.  King Zedekiah tries to escape, but he is overtaken by his enemy.  His sons are killed in front of him and he is blinded with the death of his sons being the last thing he ever saw.  He is led away naked with the best of his people, that weren't killed, into exile for 70 years.  The most tragic timeout in history.

God was patient with his children for a long time.  He kept calling them to repentance.  He allowed natural consequences to happen because of their disobedience.  But still they would not turn back to him.  We call Jeremiah the weeping prophet...but how do you think God felt as he watched his children being led away into exile because they wouldn't turn to Him?

God is extraordiarily patient with us.  However, that patience eventually runs out.

The Good News:

1. God disciplines us because He loves us!
2. Discipline in this life is not meant to be permanent, but to bring us to repentance.
3. God always gives hope of restoration in times of discipline if we seek Him.

So, if you have had people in your life calling you to repentance listen to what they have to say.  Don't harden your heart against God for something as meaningless as wealth or your pride.  Turn to God before it is to late.  Don't test God's patience!

If you have children...don't be surprised when they disobey you.  However, if they are willfully defiant don't be too proud to ask for help to reach them.  God used Jeremiah and other prophets.  Use the people God has put in your life to help you.  Do everything you can to bring your kid(s) back to God, including changing yourself, because you don't know when God's patience will run out.

Check out my favorite parenting book!  It teaches us how to change our kids by changing ourselves first.

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Parenting-Raising-Children-Shapes/dp/B004HBBSQI

Spiritual Mothers

We are quickly approaching another Mother's Day!  Just two years ago this day took on special meaning because my beautiful Sophia was born the day before Mothers day that year.  As a result, it would be very easy for me to write about how amazing and sacrificial my wife has been for our family, what my mom did for me and my sisters, and what countless other mothers do daily to raise their children.  Instead, I want to go in a slightly different direction.

Take a look with me at the following passage:

   “Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.” 

(Titus 2:3–5, ESV)  

So why would I pick this passage to discuss Mother's Day?  The reason is that while it is difficult for a woman to go through 9 months(ish) of pregnancy and go through the ordeal of labor pains to deliver a baby this is not the most difficult part of motherhood.  Instead, it is only the beginning of the pain and sacrifice a mother with go through.  Moreover, you do not have to have participated in this beginning stage to motherhood to be a spiritual mother.

Some women are unable to have a child.  We live in a fallen world and that includes not just our spirit but the body that it indwells.  But I want to encourage you women of faith that are unable to have a child that you can still be a spiritual mother.  That is what Paul is telling us.

In the passage above he begins by stating what a mature Christian woman should look like.  This includes reverence, not attacking other peoples character, and not leaning on alcohol instead of the Holy Spirit.  I see too many women referring to wine as the thing that gets them to the end of the day of Facebook.  It saddens me.

The reason it saddens me is because these women have not had mature women in Christ teach and demonstrate to them what it looks like to be Godly.  I have been blessed to know many mature women in Christ.  The problem is that the church in this country has done a poor job on helping people get into one on one discipleship relationships.

If you are young in your faith and/or life and want to know what it means to be a woman of God and would appreciate help to get there I encourage you to get in touch with your church's women's ministry, pastor, someone you look up to, or ask me for a name of a mature woman to help you start growing closer to Christ and your family.

If you are a woman who has been blessed to have other Godly women raise you up and be your spiritual mothers I would encourage you to start praying about who you could adopt as your spiritual daughter.  Realize I didn't say think about whether or not you want to do it.  Instead, I told you to do it because that is what God desires you to do according to this passage.

My hope and prayer is that my own daughter will have several women that she calls her spiritual mothers, like my friend Ilene pictured above reading to her.  The reason is the more Godly women she has in her life the more likely she is to turn to God in her daily life.

Remember, you don't have to be perfect.  No mother is perfect.  All you have to be willing to do is to be open and honest with your spiritual daughter, be willing to make sacrifices for her, and know that from time to time she might hurt you as she grows in Christ.

But in the end, you will be so glad that you made the sacrifice to be a spiritual mother!

Prayer...A Lot Like Dancing

Lately, one of my favorite things has been whenever Sophia asks me to turn on Dij.  This means that she wants to me to play Captured by The Digital Age.  Once the song begins to play she says hand, hand, hand.  So I grab her hand and we begin to dance.  Right now that means a lot of bouncing up and down, throwing one leg up, standing on my feet, and me holding her while I dance with her in my arms.  I'm doing most of the work right now.  But slowly she will start to like other music to dance to and her skills will increase beyond recognition.  

Prayer is a lot like this.  Let me explain.  Replace Sophia with you and put God where I was.  When you are a child in your faith you are unencumbered by much of the formality that we sometimes attach to prayer.  We pastors teach different forms of prayer like ACTS, Lectio Divina, The Lord's Prayer, etc....  Now those are all helpful, but sometimes we sacrifice to much.  Instead, what we sometimes need to do is let our heavenly Father know the tune that we would like to dance with Him and let Him lead us.

What does he mean the tune?  Well think about it.  We often decide to listen to music that either matches the emotions that we are currently feeling or that we want to start feeling.  When I am worn out I'll play Worn by Tenth Avenue North.  When I'm angry I turn on Johnny Cash's song Mobil Bay.  Don't ask why it works for me, it just does.  Or I might put on Anger Management by Lecrae.   When I just wanna praise God I'll turn on I Saw The Light by Crowder.  That song makes me want to dance every single time!  

The point is that God let's me call the tune and the Holy Spirit leads me as I pray and try to sort through the emotions that I am dealing with.  It isn't always pretty.  Sometimes I stand on God's feet and let Him do all the dancing/talking while I just cling to Him like my precious Sophia.

As the years have passed I have learned more intricate dance moves.  One of which is Lectio Divina, which I will explain/demonstrate next time.  But just because someone else you know is a better skilled dancer doesn't mean that God doesn't enjoy dancing with you just as much.  I dare you to ask any father to answer the following question:  Which would you say you enjoyed more...Dancing with your daughter when she 2 or when she was 22 the night she got married?  I believe the answer to that would be something like this.

It's hard to compare.  I love her the same and our relationship has evolved over the years.  But no matter how old she is or how well she dances, I will always delight in dancing with my darling daughter.

So my hope and prayer is that if you have been avoiding God in prayer because you are afraid you will mess up, it will look/sound funny, be embarrassing, and/or step on God's toes...let me encourage you to stop fretting.  No one but your heavenly Father will see it when you mess up.  All He cares about is that you want to spend time with Him on the dance floor.

So pick a tune of joy/silliness, sorrow, contemplation, or a mix playlist and step out onto the dance floor of prayer with your heavenly Father.  You won't regret it.