As I was sitting today watching a documentary of Mother Teresa, it so inspired me to really think about missions. What is missions? Is it just going to another country and helping them with a work? Is it just going somewhere else and preaching the Gospel? What is it? In listening to Mother Teresa and the call that she had on her life, to go to the poorest of the poor, to go where most Christians would not dare to live, much less visit. This inspired me to write. What does it mean to reach the unreached? Jesus said that before He returned, the Gospel of the Kingdom would be preached to every creature. Do we understand that there are still many in our world who have not heard the true Gospel once. When we think of missions we often think of going somewhere else, to another country. But what God has been speaking to me, is the fact that there is an unreached people group right here in our Ghettos. When ever an unreached people group is reached, the next step is to create a translation of the Bible in their own language. there are so many who, though they see Churches on every corner, those Churches, for the most part have not communicated the Gospel in the language of the people. Now I'm not talking about changing the Bible to make it comfortable for people, but to translate it in a way they understand. As many in our Ghettos cry out for help by way of crime, sex, drugs, and hopelessness, we as the Church need to take up the mantle of missions and begin to reach the unreached people groups in our hoods.
God bless
Dee
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
FORGIVENESS AND PRIDE
Has anyone ever hurt you? Have you been overlooked by someone? The fact of the matter is that we all have been hurt at one time or another, its what we do with that hurt that matters. The Bible speaks about forgiveness a whole lot. There is just something about this act called forgiveness that has power that the human really cant understand. It is so powerful how the God of the universe came up with this concept called forgiveness.
Jesus is the very image of forgiveness, He gave us the ultimate example. True forgiveness comes from a heart of love, and the only way to know that kind of love is to know the God of love. Forgiveness is a choice, just like love is a choice, but when you have been hurt its alot easier said than done. Jesus promised us that we would go through tribulation, and that includes being hurt by others. Forgiveness has a way of freeing us, and helping us look at the offender in the same way that God views them, with love.
It's important to understand that real forgiveness means that you can really release the person, and Jesus gives us a perfect example of how that is done. He sat down and ate with them. Remember, His disciples all left Him, but when He rose from the grave, He found them and sat with them and loved them. To truly forgive, means that you can act the same way you use to act with them before they hurt you. What would stop someone from forgiving?
Pride. Pride is that thing that keeps the offense ever before us. It has to be the most prideful person who can not forgive someone else for something they did to you, but forget all the times that we hurt, betrayed, and offended the Lord. Pride can keep us from being free, from being liberated. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it's for us.
Let us forgive as God forgave.
Love
Dee
"Till the culture knows."
Jesus is the very image of forgiveness, He gave us the ultimate example. True forgiveness comes from a heart of love, and the only way to know that kind of love is to know the God of love. Forgiveness is a choice, just like love is a choice, but when you have been hurt its alot easier said than done. Jesus promised us that we would go through tribulation, and that includes being hurt by others. Forgiveness has a way of freeing us, and helping us look at the offender in the same way that God views them, with love.
It's important to understand that real forgiveness means that you can really release the person, and Jesus gives us a perfect example of how that is done. He sat down and ate with them. Remember, His disciples all left Him, but when He rose from the grave, He found them and sat with them and loved them. To truly forgive, means that you can act the same way you use to act with them before they hurt you. What would stop someone from forgiving?
Pride. Pride is that thing that keeps the offense ever before us. It has to be the most prideful person who can not forgive someone else for something they did to you, but forget all the times that we hurt, betrayed, and offended the Lord. Pride can keep us from being free, from being liberated. Forgiveness is not for the other person, it's for us.
Let us forgive as God forgave.
Love
Dee
"Till the culture knows."
Monday, August 2, 2010
THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF HIP-HOP
Between the years 1981 and 1985, Hip-Hop was at its heyday. If a New Yorker went to any city in the U.S., the people of that city would know that they were from New York. How would they know? By the way the New Yorker dressed.
There was a distinctive way that Urban kids dressed, and it was not so much what they wore, but how they wore it. For example, you would rock a terry clothe Kangol, and fill it with plastic so that it would be a bubble. Rockin Lee suits with British Walkers or Playboys, Rockin Le tegre shirts and shorts, B.V.D nylons, putting permanent creases in your lees. When it came to sneakers that was a whole different story. Because kids in the Ghetto did not have alot of money to keep buying new sneakers, the object was to preserve the sneaker and continually make it look new. So what we would do is scrub the sides with a toothbrush, and then take this white shoe polish and polish the rubber so it looked new. Then we would take the laces and hand wash them, then, we would iron them so they would look fat. Again, it was not what you rocked that set you apart, because everyone was wearing the style, but it was how you rocked it that made you unique.
In the same way, we as Christ followers are called to be distinct, we are called to stand out and not be like everyone else. In other words when we enter into a place people should know that we are different. In the same way that Hip-Hop, in that era, made sure that they looked tight, we should also make sure that we are rockin our gear (Christianity) tight as well.
Remember, we are called to be salt and light, and we are not called to blend into the culture but to offer hope to the culture, and that hope is only found in Jesus Christ. Don't get it twisted though, we are not better than anyone else, we are just forgiven.
Peace and God Bless.
Dee
"Till the Culture Knows."
There was a distinctive way that Urban kids dressed, and it was not so much what they wore, but how they wore it. For example, you would rock a terry clothe Kangol, and fill it with plastic so that it would be a bubble. Rockin Lee suits with British Walkers or Playboys, Rockin Le tegre shirts and shorts, B.V.D nylons, putting permanent creases in your lees. When it came to sneakers that was a whole different story. Because kids in the Ghetto did not have alot of money to keep buying new sneakers, the object was to preserve the sneaker and continually make it look new. So what we would do is scrub the sides with a toothbrush, and then take this white shoe polish and polish the rubber so it looked new. Then we would take the laces and hand wash them, then, we would iron them so they would look fat. Again, it was not what you rocked that set you apart, because everyone was wearing the style, but it was how you rocked it that made you unique.
In the same way, we as Christ followers are called to be distinct, we are called to stand out and not be like everyone else. In other words when we enter into a place people should know that we are different. In the same way that Hip-Hop, in that era, made sure that they looked tight, we should also make sure that we are rockin our gear (Christianity) tight as well.
Remember, we are called to be salt and light, and we are not called to blend into the culture but to offer hope to the culture, and that hope is only found in Jesus Christ. Don't get it twisted though, we are not better than anyone else, we are just forgiven.
Peace and God Bless.
Dee
"Till the Culture Knows."
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