Are You Scared?
(TO LIVE OUT LOUD FOR JESUS?!)
2 Timothy 1:7 (KJV) declares, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind”. While 2 Timothy 1:7 is not a promise given to sinners, I recently listened (intentionally) to a hip-hop song that left me both indignant and, in some ways, impressed.
At the beginning of the song, with the crowd joining in, the rap artist proudly and loudly yelled out, “RAP IS SOMETHING YOU DO, HIP HOP IS SOMETHING YOU LIVE!” Once the song began, he rapped about money, diamonds, gold and surprisingly, his wife.
He went on to brag about how great he was, what he had done, what he had achieved for his hip-hop culture; he made it his specific duty to point out how so-called “Christians” are afraid to debate, converse or “battle” him! Some of his specific lyrics included statements such as.
“Your spirit ain't ready, your church ain't ready
Your bishop ain't ready, your deacons ain't ready
Your preacher ain't ready, your ushers ain't ready
At the temple of hip-hop, we teach many.”
He told his audience which, at that point I suppose included me, that “god” had done great things! He even talked about Jesus, but was careful to point out, “NOT THAT MAN ON THE CROSS!”
After listening to several more bars, I thought to myself, “Who does this guy think he is!? What moxie! What nerve! What arrogance! I had a whole boatload of “whats” for him that I deemed a “big-mouthed unlearned, arrogant clown”! But was he right about what he said?
It was at that moment that God dropped on me the biggest “what” of the episode. Right in the middle of the song, God said to me, “WHAT ARE MY PEOPLE DOING? I.e., why are Christians so quiet about their salvation and experiences?
Remember the words of the song? “RAP IS SOMETHINGYOU DO, BUT HIP HOP IS SOMETHING YOU LIVE”.
When I see rappers and sinners in general, they are proud, and they are vocal about it! Why then are we so quiet? They dress like they serve the devil. Why do they dress like they do? They brag about their sinful lifestyles. Why don’t we champion the righteousness of God? They laugh about who they robbed. Why don’t we talk about who God blessed? They speak about how they cheated and how they “got over on a weaker “fool”. Why don’t we testify (loudly) about who God blessed, how we embrace holiness, how we strengthen our brothers because we are fools for Christ’s sake? Because of the power given to us at Pentecost, our bold testimony should be that we are not ashamed of the life that the Holy Ghost inspires in us!
Through these young, strong, worldly sinners, the devil is using music to teach and train a new nation of deplorables and obstinate ingrates! They refuse to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and holiness as right! Therefore,
I was both impressed and envious at their boldness. Simultaneously, I was indignant! My Holy Ghost indignation rose rapidly! Calling wrong right and right wrong, they have the nerve to ridicule us? They think we are not “woke” and that our message is out of touch and outdated. Here’s part of the reason why they think it:
Even the biblically abominable LGTBQ, gay and lesbian crowd is loud, vocal, fighting for “rights” and for the most part, even made holiness SCARED to speak up and out about the sons of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It’s high time that the church rise up, raise strong brothers and sisters who are unabashedly eager to rep the blood of Jesus! We need saints of God to get loud, get vocal and get Jesus out into the airways like never before!
We have the words of eternal life! We are the ones representing the God that gave them their talent. They need to be made to see the shame in their way of living, not us about ours!
For the preaching of the cross is foolishness to those who perish; but unto us who are saved,
it is the power of God.
1 Corinthians 1:18 (KJV21)
My inquiry before God:
“Lord, how long will your holy ghost endowed people of the name sit silently in timidness, sneakily bobbing to the enemy’s evil beats without raising a standard against sin?”
It’s time to wake up, get up, speak up and put a muzzle on some of these demons! It’s time to live repentance so that we can shout repentance from the housetops! Only then will the church reclaim her power to live out loud for Jesus!
Oh, that we could look the devil square in the eye and retort:
“My spirit IS ready, MY church IS ready!
MY bishop IS ready, MY deacons ARE ready!
MY preacher IS ready, MY ushers ARE ready!
MY teachers ARE ready! MY pastor is ready!
At the temple of JESUS, we teach many!
“Imagine the face of a sinner if you looked at them and loudly said, “Since hip-hop is something you live, JESUS is someone YOU need!”
We are the head and not the tail! AND IT’S TIME WE STAND UP AND LET THE DEVIL KNOW JUST WHO’S REALLY IN CHARGE!
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation…
Romans 1:16a (KJV)
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and
sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory
of his Father with the holy angels.
Mark 8:38 (KJV)