Rat Race

They say that – 
“Trap money good, but rap money’s better” 
But I’m chasin’ the King of Kings 
Not whips, chains, and cheddar... 
If you’re livin’ for that rat race 
You’ll only end up with a rat’s fate 
Trapped in a rat maze 
Until you break your neck  
Just to get a taste… 
  
Trappin’, rappin’, stackin’ 
Gettin' money in the rotation 
Got a steady cash flow, but your soul’s runnin’ dry – 
(Damnation) 
Sippin’ on that “you” syrup 
Instead of sippin’ on that Good stuff 
That purifyin’ Living Water 
And you’ll need way more than two cups 
  
Because I’m spittin’ like a fountain 
With a faith that can move mountains 
You see, the dead’s been risen 
So you know what that means – no body count 
Because when it’s all said and done 
It’s a casualty of one 
The death of death in the death of Christ 
From dark sky to Son rise – a new day’s begun 

(cf. Mark 8:36; 1 Timothy 6:10; Hebrews 13:5)

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

A Hum

"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” - John 3:8 ESV

Something; A sound of some kind

Spinning in my ears like a hurricane

Affecting and effecting …

From the top of my head to the bottom of my feet

Urging me, pushing me, conversing with me -

I...am...transformed.

Becoming alien to family and friends alike

A totally different being than yesterday

There is no turning back, for I now understand -

Transmission to transmission, it has no end

“Comprehend or Perish.”

When He speaks, I listen.

(cf. Psalm 143:10; John 14:26; Luke 12:12)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Hyde & Seek

A part of me wants to come out and say, “hi”
But there are two that reside
Inside of this mind I keep confined from the general public
To make sure that everyone's safe
Because you can never really tell who's gonna show
Up in the rafters or ducked down low -
Behind the bushes in the park or at a local picture show
Or I could be in plain view...you just never know
So please don't assume based on appearance’s sake
That a snake is not a snake because his rattle never shakes;
For in the tall grass of obscurity, I wait and I lie
And when the sun goes down, remember:
Jekyll always runs into Hyde…

(cf. Jeremiah 17:9; John 3:19; James 3:10; 1 Peter 2:11)



Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Precipice

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.  - (Jude 1:3-4 ESV)

 

We are on the precipice of an exodus...

The stuff we’re hearing out of most modern-day pulpits

Amounts to an epic fail

Pastors pontificating on bar stools

Telling old wives’ tales

Not intoxicated by the Word

But drunk off of themselves

Proper prophesying

Appears to be a dying art form

While the power of positive thinking
And prosperity of wealth are the norm

We are on the precipice...

The pursuit of Truth has been relegated to the shelf
As these wolves in stealth mode are pointing the flock
In the direction of the self-help section
They've got new laws to cover your flaws
Telling me that my excellence is in my ability to excel at Lent
And that when I survey the wondrous cross
I can bet my last dollar that the Lord wants me to be rich

Rob Bell says to just say no to the notion of Hell
And Joel Osteen says I can have it all and have it right now
(Did I forget to mention that both of those are bestsellers?)
Oh well - Farewell to the deferred gratification
Of being face to face with the Savior
And since everybody wins
There's no need to repent
For our misguided thinking and behavior

We are on the precipice...

Of becoming obsolete

Watered down like a sandcastle edifice

And now the dry bones are starting to surface

As the evidence to our detriment

The axe has been laid at the root

John the Baptist said it first

And if he was alive today

They'd still be trying to put that dude

In a pine box and a hearse

"Off with his head!"

But blessed are the dead

Those who die in the Lord from now on

We are on the precipice of a resurrection...

But I thought you knew that all along?!

(cf. Judges 21:25; Luke 3:9; 2 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 2:19; Revelation 14:13)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Rose

She dreams of being treated like a queen

She wants to be known

Wants to be seen…as a human being

She longs to be treasured

Not measured on her features and appearance

She knows she’s meant to be more

Than an object of lust

For men who leer

It makes her flesh crawl

Every time they get near her

But the reality is

That it’s all she’s ever known

Papa was a rolling stone

And when he was home

He was a boulder of destruction

Tearin’ up the house in a drunken rage

And hittin’ her and mama in the face

For missing a simple instruction –

While he’s still cussin’, still fussin’

It was disgusting…

She had to get away

But in her haste to find safety

She started looking for love

In all of the wrong places

Many a days wasted

On suitors that shouldn’t suit her

Because all they wanted to do

Was use her up, then lose her

Sugar, spice and everything nice

Is replaced by sex, deceit, and deadly vices

To those who know her

She’s a rose of a different kind

Not altogether lovely

But fine enough for a good time

And her new man don’t mind sharin’

“‘Cause I bet those dudes will pay top dollar

As hard as they be starin’”

Now she’s out there as eye candy

As her reality sours

The breath of strange men heat up her neck

And she’s getting paid by the hour

She’s been rejected so long

That she resolves to accept it

Believing that it’s better

To play by her own rules

Than to go through life dejected

She says, “The situation is screwed up

And since no one else seems to give a f---

I’m gonna make the most

Out of my station in life;

Make some money and get high – bottoms up”

Truth is she’s feeling stuck

And her identity is in shambles

A rose that’s lost her petals

Instead of a lily among the brambles

Built for love and dominion

But worn down by others’ opinions

She fails to receive the mantle

For which she was attentively intended

New day, new city

While the nights all look the same

And she cries herself to sleep

Because the showers can’t remove the shame

My sister, you are more than the sum of your deeds

Don’t listen to the deceivers

You’re more than just a perverted history

Of a long line of leavers

You were created with dignity and purpose

For a lover who sticks closer than a brother

He wants nothin’ but the rose

And gave it all to show that you’re worth it

(cf. John 8:1-11)

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Trafficking the Girl Next Door

During the 1980s, mothers used the phrase "stranger danger" to caution their children about the possibility of kidnappings. It was the idea of seeing your missing child's photo on the side of a milk carton that caused many U.S. families to warn their kids about abductions. The possibility of human trafficking wasn't even on most parents' radar screen.

Yet during the same time period, a 13-year-old Miami girl became one of the countless children to fall prey to a sex trafficking scheme. Only in recent years have U.S. officials realized the trend is just as alarming at home as it is abroad. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, human trafficking ranks second only to drug trafficking as the fastest growing criminal industry worldwide. And half of those trafficked are children.
In 1985, Katariina Rosenblatt, her teenage brother, and their mother left their South Florida home to escape Kat's abusive father. Katariina's mother was trying to hold down a job while caring for her children. The family lived out of a Miami Beach hotel, where the kids spent most days unsupervised at the swimming pool. There, Katariina was approached by Mary, a sophisticated 19-year-old who took an interest in the young teen. "She was everything I thought I wanted to be," Katariina says. "Thin, pretty, blond hair, and blue eyes."
The sexual, verbal, and physical abuse Katariina had endured from her father left her damaged and vulnerable, a weakness Mary quickly sensed. Offering her friendship and sisterly advice, Mary began telling Katariina about local men who would take care of her, give her money for food, and offer fatherly love. In reality, Mary was a recruiter for a local child trafficking ring.
"The devil doesn't come with a pitchfork," Katariina says. "He's much more deceptive. For me, he came in the form of a girl in a red bikini."
Led by Mary, Katariina soon found herself sequestered in a room with a 65-year-old man who attempted to purchase her, still a virgin, for $550. Refusing the marijuana she was offered, Katariina narrowly escaped the exchange and fled back to her hotel room. It was the first in a series of trafficking scenarios she would face as a young teen, and the only one she would manage to escape unscathed.

 God's Whispers

 In the following years Katariina became ensnared in a series of trafficking exchanges, all unbeknownst to her mother. In one instance, she went to a sleepover at a friend's whose father was a pedophile and worked as a trafficker. Katariina was taken to an apartment-style brothel in a neighboring county and exploited by a 40-year-old man who fostered her cocaine addiction and began making her dependent on him and the future men who would exploit her in exchange for drugs, food, and temporary affection.
Continued...

via todayschristianwoman.com

Beef

“What’s beef?”

That’s the question everybody wants to know

In other words:

“Do we have a problem and how do we settle the score?”

Well, what it’s not is what happens

When MC’s battle with songs

It’s when all you’ve got left

Is nothin’ but wrong…

 

Beef is when the creature

Takes the created order

Only to use it as a weapon

And lead the Maker to a slaughter

It’s when you look your Creator

Right in the eye

Seal your love for him with a kiss

While you’re piercing his side

 

Beef is what happens

When the Devil asks a question

And we forget what God said –

Even start to second guess him

Next thing you know

We’re runnin’ –

Lookin’ for clothes

Duckin’ behind trees

Every time the wind blows

 

It’s when even after all of that

He still pursues you with love and grace

And to show your appreciation

You throw it back in his face…

 

Yeah, that’s beef –

Sometime it’s your own people

Not the lions in the wilderness

But the wolves under the steeples

They’re runnin’ with the numbered

Talkin’ about peace

(A very beautiful notion

Covered with a steel-toed cleat)

 

Now some beefs are big

And some beefs are small

But the one I’m talkin’ about

Is a result of the fall

 

Beef is when it’s over two thousand years later

After he showed us true love

And dudes still call him a “hater”

It’s when he finally comes back

He’ll be clearin’ his name –

Stoppin’ the world on its axis

And puttin’ death in the grave

Then the Judge will be handin’ down

That long prison sentence;

An eternity in Hell

In a few short minutes

 

Beef is when you hear

That he’s the King of the World

But it doesn’t even matter

Because you’d rather be screwin’ your girl

 

Beef is when your sin debt

Is gettin’ bigger and bigger

While hold you hands out for that handout

Like, “Pay me, Nigga!”

 

Now some beefs are big

And some beefs are little

But when it comes to his Word

You can’t change one dot or tittle

 

Beef is self-righteous man

Comin’ up lame

Failin’ to see that they lack the capacity

To bring about a soul change

Thank God for the God-Man

Because he took the blame

On Calvary Hill

Where beef and redemption

Come from one and the same

 

So…What’s Beef?

 

(cf. John 3:36; Romans 1:18; 2:5,8; 5:9; 8:1; Ephesians 2:3; Colossians 3:6; 1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9)

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Don't Feed the Animals

If you tell them that it’s an impossible notion
That we come from God’s spit
Don’t be surprised when you start feeding lines
About how we descended from monkeys
And people start going ape-shit
Seeking more mayhem than Miller
A bunch of highly evolved gorillas
That spent the last four years in University
To become a more sophisticated killer

Tell me again why I should be elated
That the Simian is kin to me?
So what you’re saying is that Planet of the Apes wasn’t a movie…
It was actually a documentary
What a relief – I was starting to get perturbed
Because some Uber-geek says we’ll be cyborgs before 2043
But he’s a genius…and I’m disturbed?! I’m obsurd?!
Nerds…

It’s like Hannibal Lecter
Stepped down from a lectern
And started leading lambs to slaughter
Without even so much as a head turned
“Man can’t live on bread alone
Because it’s in his nature to be a cannibal.”
Ladies and gentleman:
Cesar has just left the zoo
So please resist the urge -
 DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS.

(cf. Genesis 2:7; John 9:6)

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Spare Change

What becomes of the beggar on the street?
Is he begging or is he selling?

Can some spare change save his life

Or, will change for him spare mine?

And what's with his sign?

No gimmick- he just wears it with a grin

Not bad, I guess, for a man

Who thinks the world is gonna end

It's his saving grace-

And it's my truth that I'm not ready to face

For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, ‘You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.’
- Deuteronomy 15:11 ESV  

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

- Matthew 5:3 ESV

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Descending Man

Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations. All of them will answer and say to you: ‘You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!’ Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers. - Isaiah 14:9-11 ESV

 

Sin sells while bells ring

Like dinner time in Hell…

The taste of forbidden fruit over time becomes telling

Rebellion against conventional wisdom

Led to decisions based on indifference

And humanity is left searching for its significance

Life now is nothing more than forensic

As gender is now gone into oblivion

And a mother’s womb 

Has become a tomb for a countless number of infants

Between assisted suicide, ethnic cleansing genocide

Peace through superior firepower

And religion cloaked in deceit 

Hiding behind a military façade

Wars and rumors of wars

As we beef about same sex, safe sex

“Who’s to blame for a tanking economy?”

Or “Who should America attack next?”

We take one step back

When it comes to human trafficking

Global warming burning us up like a sauna

Our souls have grown cold as we ready our beds

God truly must be gracious

Because for reasons unbeknownst to us

He didn’t just destroy all in a flood

And He hasn’t left us for dead…

 

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.  - 2 Peter 2:4-10 ESV

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Ground Zero: God & Mammon (Economics to the Glory of God)

In this installment, we take time out to address how the ideas of a nation's ecomnomic and political philosophies and policies are deeply rooted in its theological foundations (or lack thereof).

We also share a little bit from our heart about why we do what we do and why we feel the necessity to continue on our mission of the Great Commission...

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me."  - 1 Corinthians 15:10 ESV

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

 

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Y.O.L.O.

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” - Luke 13:1-5 ESV


And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. - Hebrews 9:27-28 ESV

You only live once                                                                                                                             

And there ain’t no time to be messin’ up

You could stop breathin’ at any moment

And as if that wasn’t stress enough

We still got these bangers

Runnin’ around with them choppers

And they don’t need a good reason

To run up on us and pop us

And what about religious extremists

Deceived about the meaning

Of what “Jihad” really means

So they’ll snuff you without even thinking

I was born in a land

That convinces me that I’m free

But apparently

That liberty don’t mean a damned thing

If you don’t have a voice to speak

We’re livin’ on borrowed time

Because the fruit on our vine is venomous

So now we’re trippin’ on ourselves

Because our new balance became minimus

A non-existent federal reserve

With no capacity to protect and serve

So now the Popos gotta go kick doors in

Just so our peace of mind can be secured

Welcome to the world of the numb and the reckless

Where cash is king

And sex is at the top of the “to-do” list

We love friends with benefits

Instead of being friends that benefit

You’d rather be feelin’ on her chest

Instead of fillin’ her with significance

Life is a vapor

It only takes a second to waste it

Second chances are a scarcity

And so few of us realize

Exactly how sacred

You’ll go from YOLO to no-go

Tryin’ to rock your wares like J-hova

But remember

When the Author steps onto the stage

The show’s over.

Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low—they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets—before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.  

- Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 ESV

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
- James 4:13-16 ESV

Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Zeros & Ones: The Spirit of God

This week, we continue our study on the Person of the Holy Spirit. Specifically, we look at the operation of the Holy Spirit in the life and ministry of our Lord to grasp a better understanding of how the Spirit operates in our own lives...

 

"Understanding how the Holy Spirit operates in the life of our Lord has more to do with our own lives than we could ever imagine."  - Sinclair Ferguson

 

 

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)

Ground Zero: TULIP (A Brief Explanation on the Doctrines of Grace)

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. - Romans 9:16 ESV

A brief, but biblical, examination of the fundamental tenets of Reformed Theology, the doctrines of grace (also known by the acronym of TULIP):
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance (and/or Preservation) of the Saints
We discuss why we as a community stand by these truths based on their biblical foundation. Also, we do this as an offering to help clear up any confusion about what people often refer to as "Calvinism" (or "Augustinianism"); to show that these points are not the invention of John Calvin (or Augustine before him), but what is clearly taught in the Scriptures themselves. These five points, are linked in a chain which only have one goal...to show the sovereignty, merit, and glory of our salvation belong to a merciful and gracious God alone.
We pray that as you ponder these things, that you also search the Scriptures to find out whether or not these things are so.



Soli Deo Gloria,
Shon

Posted via email from THE CENTER (ROOM 116)